Fiery Lands and Stormy Seas (Pokemon Watty Award Winner 2014)

Prologue

Prologue

            Among the many Spirit Families able to bond with Pokemon, there existed the three Great Houses.  The Great Houses, along with the other Spirit Families, were able to share a primal understanding of their partner Pokemons’ hearts.   However, the Great Houses could even go so far as to understand the speech and share thoughts of their Spirit Pokemon. 

            As Spirit Families were revered by the citizens of the tribes they led, the Great Houses were regarded as Kings in the ancient times. 

            In no particular order, the first of the Great Houses was the Forrest family.  They lived among the trees, ever out of sight.  The Forrests were calm and collected, yet deadly and stealthy when threatened.  They made their home in Fortree along with their spirit Pokemon: the Sceptile line.  As of the beginning of this account, they also command the loyalty of Mt. Pyre and the Central Highlands.

            Second, the Brightfires of Lavaridge were ever ambitious conquerors, along with their partners, the Blaziken line.  A family of charismatic warriors, they were loved and feared by their subjects at the same time.  Defeat was but a learning experience for the Brightfires, and they were the first Great House to carve out a large territory of what was referred to as the Mt. Chimney Kingdom.  The Mt. Chimney Kingdom expands from the northern half of Meteor Falls, and encompasses the entire Mirage Desert.

            Lastly, the Marsh family once dominated the seas. They were beloved by all the lesser Spirit families.  Protectors of the individual rights of merchants and sailors across all the waters of Hoenn, they rode across the sea swiftly on Swampert.  The freedom of the sea allowed for goods and ideas to spread swiftly from Lillycove to Dewford while the Marshes oversaw the booming successes from their home in Slateport. 

            However, five years prior to the beginning of our tale, the Slateport Kingdom was divided between east and west.  A rebellion headed by the Spirit Family Glamour of Sootopolis severely weakened the power of the Marshes. 

            Seeing the riches sail past their island city, the Glamours grew greedy, wanting more and exacting taxes and tolls of the merchants.  Eventually, the taxes became overbearing and when the Marshes sent an envoy to Sootopolis to put down the restrictions, they were attacked. 

            A surprise assault led by a Glamour navy murdered the envoy in cold blood mere days after it left Slateport.  Assisted by the Wakes of Lillycove and the Driftwoods of Pacifidlog, Sootopolis had declared itself its own kingdom. 

            At first, the Sootopolis Separatists were overpowered.  The Marshes of Slateport commanded the loyalty of Dewford, Pettalburg, Littleroot, and Oldale.  Merchants and navies from the other side of the sea from Mossdeep and Evergrande also joined against the Tyranical Glamour alliance of Sootopolis. 

            The Great House Forrest, however, stayed out of this war.  “Our place is in the trees protecting our people,” King Davis Forrest had said.  “You may pass through my lands, and do not expect my help, nor harm my people.”

            More help for the Marshes was coming.  King Marcus Spark of Mauville, a rising power and friend of Slateport was marching his army and supporters from Rustboro and Verdanturf towards Lillycove.  If the port could be taken, Sootopolis would be surrounded and its Glamour Empress would have to surrender.  However, not every Great House preferred to watch from the sidelines. 

            Seizing his opportunity, King Carlos Brightflame launched an invasion into King Spark’s lands, eager to expand his own Mt. Chimney Kingdom.  When word of the invasion reached Marcus Spark’s ear, he and his army of people and Pokemon were forced to abandon the siege of Lilycove.  King Spark and his army raced back to repel the invaders out of their homeland. 

            Since Lilycove was able to hold out, Sootopolis kept its power and rebellion afloat.  Reluctantly, King Marsh made a fateful decision in the rebellion.  He had to retreat the stormy east Hoenn Sea.  Morale was low, and the Glamour family had seemingly won the hearts of its inhabitants, promising them the spoils of the rich merchants who once sailed the seas freely.  The Eastern Sea had won its independence, and the Sootopolis Empire was born. 

            King Marsh left the east sea.  True to his friendship with King Spark, he put all of Slateport’s remaining efforts into pushing back the Mt. Chimney invaders. 

            Eventually, they succeeded.  King Spark’s Mauville, Verdanturf, and Rustboro were free again.  The deciding battle took place in the great cavern of Meteor Falls.  Battle hardened King Marsh singlehandedly fought against the King of Lavaridge, Carlos Brightflame, that fateful day. 

            The battle had already been won, and Slateport and King Spark’s men watched the Mt. Chimney army and Pokemon retreat back to their own lands. 

            King Sam Marsh’s Swampert had fought valiantly against King Brightflame’s Blaziken while their Spirit Partners raged in single combat.  Carlos Brightflame had layed down his sword when Swampert had Blaziken pinned to the ground by the throat.  Death for the Spirit Pokemon meant death for its Spirit Human as well. 

            “We should hold him captive,” said Marcus Spark, king of Mauville, as he rode up on his Manectric victorious.

            “We should kill him, and press on into the Mt. Chimney Kingdom as payback,” said old Lord Granite of Dewford, his immense Aggron loomed over him. 

            It was the voice of Lady Love, King Marsh’s wife from Oldale, accompanied by her Gardevoir that stayed Slateport’s King’s hand.  “Let him live,” she said.  “Let them retreat and end this bloodshed, for no more should die now that King Spark’s lands are free from invasion once again.”

            It was said that King Marsh saw the bodies of Slateport men, and Mauville men, and Lavaridge men bloody and face down in the dirt.  Strewn across the cavern floor were the lifeless corpses of wild Pokemon who pledged their loyalties to whichever side.  At the end of a war, these people and Pokemon were all on the same side: the side of death. 

            “Go and sit behind your bloody volcano for the rest of your life,” King Marsh had told the invader and his Blaziken.  Slowly, Swampert allowed Blaziken to rise as Carlos Brightflame followed behind his army in retreat.  As the King of Slateport and his allies watched the invaders disappear back through the darkness of Meteor falls, a glimmer of light cut back towards the victors. 

            A last flaming arrow had pierced through the heart of King Marsh, and a laugh from where the defeated army had retreated was heard.  King Marsh fell to his knees as Swampert rushed to him, desperately hoping to save its Spirit Partner from death. 

            The King of Mauville’s men were ready to chase the armies of Brightflame, if not for the King of Slateport’s final words:  “You are free, now don’t go die for this dishonor.”  As Sam Marsh’s eyes closed, Swampert grew tired as it cradled its partner.  They died together next to the waterfall. 

            The Great Hoenn war crippled Slateport, for they had lost half of their kingdom as well as their King.  King Marcus Spark of Mauville had pledged that day eternal loyalty to Slateport, ready to help and fight if need be.  Meanwhile, Lady Love, the dead King’s wife, went home to prepare her young son, Prince Chris, a boy of fourteen to rule in his father’s stead.     

             For five years, trade slowed around the entire Hoenn region.  The eastern sea was no longer safe for merchants, and those who braved its waters were forced to pay Empress Glamour’s tolls, or die.  It was a new Hoenn after those five years. 

            And in this old Hoenn, our story begins.