[Approximately 50 years ago.]
Noriko Kitamura poured over the blueprints spilling over her grand old mahogany desk. She inspected one which detailed the construction of one of the buildings currently being erected on the north-western side of Kanto. She carefully studied the dimensions and estimates, noting them down on a slip of paper. She cross-referenced it with the stack of purchase orders that required her signature for approval. Satisfied with the requests, she pulled out an ornate pen and signed her name on each with a flourish.
The last rays of the sun streaked through the windows behind her. Noriko pulled off her glasses, the gold rims glinting as it caught the light. She closed her eyes and pinched her nose, sighing as she fell back into her high back chair. It had been an especially long day. One that had the potential to end badly, due to a particularly brazen theft that occurred overnight. Noriko had tasked her security team with investigating the incident, but as it turned out, they were not needed. The pokéballs were recovered earlier that morning by Izumi Potenza, to Noriko's relief.
The incident would have placed Project Indigo in dire jeopardy. Having close to one hundred pokéballs unaccounted for was an embarrassment that Noriko could not bear. She had only just taken control of her father's companies and switched the focus of the entire conglomerate to Project Indigo. Something like this made her look incompetent, and there was no plausable way to spin it if the truth got out. She scrambled her most trusted people to catch the culprit and recover the pokéballs. While she counted Izumi among those people, she did not expect her to pull through so quickly in Noriko's moment of crisis.
Ever the trailblazer, Izumi had found the missing items and returned them before lunchtime. She strutted in to Noriko's office triumphant, and greeted her with her usual wisecrack smile.
"Hi, Nori!"
Noriko greeted her with a restrained smile of her own. She stood in front of her desk and was being debriefed by her Chief of Security, who had a habit of being long-winded in his reports. Noriko understood immediately that he had no new information. He still droned on, and Noriko loathed having her patience tested in this manner, so when she saw Izumi, she welcomed the distraction.
"Thank you very much," she said, and quickly joined her new guest who was perusing a bookshelf. The man excused himself with a bow, and left.
"Where did you find it?" Noriko asked. She had always been direct, not one to fluff about.
"Saffron City. I had him since Pewter, though," Izumi replied. "I wanted to give you the good news in person, Nori, to surprise you. But you knew about it the moment I entered the building."
Noriko noted the disappointment in Izumi's face, and softened her tone. "You know me, I see everything," she joked, gesticulating dramatically. Izumi chuckled. "Thank you, truly. You've saved me from a huge embarrassment."
"Oh, it's nothing, Nori! Our families are both involved in your project, after all."
Noriko motioned towards her desk. "Come, sit." Noriko slid into her chair and Izumi hopped onto the desk, ignoring the chair across from her. Noriko stifled a chuckle.
"So, how's it going?" Izumi asked.
"Very well! We are slightly ahead of schedule on pretty much everything." She coughed. "Well, except for the gyms."
Izumi arched an eyebrow. Noriko's words were delivered without accusation, but they did have a whiff of concern about them. While it was true that the Potenzas were tasked with building special arenas around Kanto, a major step in legitimizing their illegal pokémon fighting ring operation, the family had been dealt a heavy personal blow a few months prior, and it had effectively stopped progress on their part in Project Indigo.
Izumi took a minute to collect her thoughts before answering. The Potenzas had suffered dearly in the past year. The family had been cleaved in half, first losing their matriarch, and then Izumi's brother a few months later. Her father could not bear it, and had rendered himself a hermit, shut off from the rest of the world. Noriko sympathized with them, having seen Izumi take on the family mantle of her own volition and managing to fend off crafty opportunists even as she worked through her own grief.
"The gyms," Izumi declared, "will be completed ahead of schedule, Nori. I promise."
Noriko touched Izumi's arm gently, regarding her stiff posture. The two of them had been through so much together, having grown up close, along with Izumi's brother. Their little group had been on innumerable childhood adventures. Izumi was the youngest, and also the loudest. Her brother was a year older, sickly but always up for some fun. Noriko was a year older still, and technically she was their aunt by marriage, but that did not matter. They had spent a considerable portion of their early lives together – they were inseparable back then.
But about three years ago, all of that changed. Noriko's priorities shifted, and their care-free days came to an end. She felt an acute awareness of her role in breaking up the group, but there was no regret. She had made the right choice devoting her energies to her Project Indigo, and she was sure Izumi and her brother understood that.
Even so, Noriko found herself wishing to go back to simpler times.
"I think Gio would be proud of you," she said.
"Oh, I know he is," Izumi replied, relaxing her posture. "He would have had so many wisecracks about the missing pokéballs!" She paused, remembering a fond moment with her brother. Noriko could have picked out any one of her own memories of Giovanni and his trademark tomfoolery and Izumi would recognize it instantly. "He'd be proud of you, too," she said.
A long, sombre silence descended upon them.
Izumi sniffed and slid off the desk. "So," she began, rounding the table to stand next to her friend, "I've been thinking about Project Indigo lately."
Noriko perked up at that. Izumi had not seemed particularly interested in the project when she had first explained it to her, but Noriko had put it down to Izumi's family troubles at the time. Or maybe her elevator pitch just wasn't engaging enough. Well, it sounded like she was about to get a second chance.
Izumi smiled. "Care to present your idea once more?"
Noriko eagerly rummaged through the papers on her desk, and pulled out a map of the Kanto region. This time, she would be sure to express the passion in her dream. She took in a deep breath, and began.
"Here is a map of the Kanto region. As you can see, we have a handful of settlements, dotted all across the landscape. Most of the developed area tends to be situated to the east: here at Lavender Town and Saffron City. As we move westwards, there's Fuschia and Pewter, and then massive swathes of wilderness, the entire area marked crudely as Viridian Forest. There's Cinnabar Island to the south, but it's basically a volcano with a tiny village.
"Notice how only Saffron and Lavender share a connecting line? They are fairly close together, but the rest of Kanto is, frankly, a lawless jungle.
"We live in a dangerous world. Pokémon roam the uncultivated backwoods and any journey through our land is fraught with peril. We have built safe, insulated places, but in my opinion, we have remained far too isolated. Compelled by the threats posed by pokémon to cower and hide."
Noriko paused. She may be pushing a little too much in demonizing pokémon. Not every species was completely wild. She looked over to the side, where Midnight, her umbreon, was. Asleep in his basket, as docile as can be.
And yet, the majority of pokémon were not docile. There were some that were actively hostile. She decided that she had made her point, and continued on.
"But what if there was a way to mitigate the threat posed by wild pokémon? What if we could tame them, and put them to work? In the past, we had to rely on a small, elite group of specialist tamers who forced their services on vulnerable villages, charging them a 'protection tax' that was both clear extortion and simply unavoidable."
Noriko pulled out a pokéball. "Well, what if we, as ordinary citizens, had the means to tame pokémon by ourselves? I'll tell you what, this is what emancipation looks like. And with it, the opening up of the economic silos in remote hinterlands, and the beginnings of free trade between, say, Saffron City and Cinnabar Island.
"Imagine it: the entire Kanto region, safe to travel and trade between cities and towns via purpose-built routes. I'll admit I was inspired by the system of trails employed by the Sevii Islands. The informal government there saw the benefits of connecting the islands, and have been able to place some tamers under their employ in a peculiar arrangement that fits with their unique situation.
"For the rest of Kanto, my idea involves something similar: Tamer Houses. There would be one in each town, and they would basically be community centres. I think you wanted to rename this, right Izumi? What did you want to call this?"
"Yes, your plans seem solid, but there's going to be a lot of finesse and greasing the wheels if we are going to get anywhere. In short: marketing. The term 'tamers' has too negative a connotation, due to that group's past transgressions. We can't simply ignore them, since they serve an important role, but if we want the public to get on board, we're going to have to rebrand.
"So, instead of 'tamers' we now have 'trainers', and the specialists would be given the responsibility of defending their settlement, among other things. They would also be given 'gyms' which fit with the narrative of training pokémon for the benefit of the city or town, and their official title would be 'Gym Leader'.
"This whole push to modernize Kanto is going to meet with fierce resistance, Nori, so branding will be important. Though, I'm pretty excited about it!"
Noriko placed her fingers on the bridge of her spectacles and closed her eyes for a moment. The action was a childhood habit that meant she was deep in thought. She considered Izumi's idea, and was relieved to have her help with the project. She was right, Noriko's plans made perfect sense to her, but she had a very rigid, focused view when she went about achieving her goals. She couldn't just dream up ideas and make them happen, the world wasn't quite so simple. Though that didn't mean those ideas were not achievable, just that crossing the finish line required flexible, out-of-the-box thinking.
Izumi waited patiently for Noriko. When she opened her eyes, she bowed her head appreciatively and smiled.
"Yes, of course, Izumi. Thank you."
"So what are these other markings?" Izumi asked, tracing her fingers over some areas that seemed to have been circled at random.
Noriko grinned. "You know how you like that saying, 'go big, or go home'?"
Izumi nodded slowly. Noriko tempered her enthusiasm, preventing her usual tendency to haphazardly blurt out her thoughts, which would have ruined the reveal.
"Well, I think there's an important lesson in having Saffron and Lavender so close together. They have a trade route, and they provide protection and have each heeded calls from the other for help during pokémon swarm events. It's safety by proximity. So I've extended Project Indigo to include constructing three more cities, complete with a gym and a hospital, connected to Saffron by new routes!"
Izumi watched as Noriko pointed out each one on the map. She pursed her lips, processing the new information.
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"This was already a very ambitious plan," she murmured, "and I see your point about more interconnected towns. But wouldn't this push back your timeline of completion? I mean, building entire cities..."
"Yes, we are at least another couple of years away from fully realizing my plans, but we've made great strides already. Saffron is the most developed city we have, there's already a building that can easily convert into a gym, it has a world-class hospital, and the commerce that takes place there accounts for well over sixty percent of Kanto's entire economic output.
"Fuschia Gym is nearly complete, and Pewter's is about halfway constructed. To my eyes, once construction gets back into full swing, I think we would be in good shape to tackle city building!"
Noriko's enthusiasm was infectious, and Izumi smiled as she took in the map in its entirety. This plan was immense, inspiring and historic. She frowned as her eyes swept westwards, and placed her finger on the top left area.
"Indigo Plateau. We've still got a ways to go there, don't we?"
"Hmm, you're right, we should aim to complete Indigo Plateau as soon as possible."
"Oh, then this might throw a spanner in the works, and I know how annoying those can be, Nori..."
"What is it?" Noriko asked eagerly.
Izumi gave Noriko a knowing look. Truth time.
"Your grand dream is marvellous, Nori. It is visionary and I don't mean to detract from that in any way. I feel privileged to be able to contribute to something that is sure to shape Kanto and its future for many years.
"But Nori, it's not enough to just make it so. 'Build it and they will come' is not how something of this magnitude works. You're going to need to convince the people of Kanto that this is what they want. You will need a way to bring everyone together to champion for the unity you want to create.
"So, I have an idea, but it's going to require more resources than you had originally earmarked for this project."
Izumi waited, gauging Noriko's facial expression. She looked thoughtful, not irritated, so Izumi carried on.
"I propose a Kanto-wide pokémon tournament. We take the group of volunteers that helped in the pokéball trials and make them honourary trainers. We give each of them a starter pokémon and teach them about raising and training it, and pokémon fights.
"Now, for this tournament to work, we'll need a way to slim down the numbers. I was thinking we could promote the construction being done all around Kanto by having the trainers tour the region via the newly-built routes and challenge the gyms for recognition. Those that defeat the gym leaders advance, and the others are eliminated.
"Once a trainer defeats all of the gyms, they qualify for the tournament, which would be held at Indigo Plateau in a purpose-built stadium. We can broadcast the whole thing live and crown the winner in a big ceremony. It would solidify your dream, it would be something that every Kantonian would remember for the rest of their lives!"
Noriko bit her lip and considered the idea. "So, a sport, then. You want to bring everyone together through a national sport."
Izumi blinked, and shrunk back slightly. As ever, Noriko had taken all of five seconds to boil it down to its essence.
"I love it, let's do it!" Noriko beamed. "I have so many ideas!" She proceeded to write down her thoughts, mumbling incoherently as she filled a notebook with sketches and scribblings.
"Woah woah Nori, slow down! Let's focus on the infrastructure first."
Noriko stopped herself. "Yes, of course. Scope creep. It is a legitimately good idea, though. We're definitely going to pursue it." She glanced at her wristwatch and stretched. "This was a really productive talk, Izumi! I feel more excited than ever about Project Indigo, so thank you. Though, I have a meeting soon that I need to prepare for."
"Is it the Oak kid?" Izumi asked.
Noriko nodded. "Yes, and I have a feeling he's going to reckon in our plans somehow. Don't worry, I'll keep my cards close to my chest."
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The Silph Co building in Saffron City was already the biggest and most impressive structure in the city before Noriko convinced her cousins to change their business model. Instead of making various ghostbusting paraphernalia, the company pivoted towards research, development, and large-scale manufacturing of pokémon technology. Gone were the paper talismans, wooden prayer beads, purification wands, and many other items of religious significance. They were replaced by home appliances, modern medicine, pokémon food and, in the near future, a new technology would be added that was recently christened the "pokéball".
The switch necessitated expansion, and so the Silph Co main office building was under construction, as five new floors were being added. The lower six floors were all still operational, with the research labs on the second floor running at full capacity.
It was here that Noriko had decided to meet young Samuel Oak. She wanted to use the venue as a tool in her negotiations with him, a ploy to convince him to come work for her. She recognized a keen mind in him during the pokéball trial, and had a gut feeling about Oak and his untapped potential. But first, there was the ugly business of intellectual property rights to deal with.
"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, Mr Oak," Noriko said, extending her hand in greeting. Oak grasped her fingers in his small hand and sat down.
"Good to see you again, Miss Kitamura. It was no trouble, my parents had some business to attend to here in Saffron, so the timing was quite fortuitous," Oak smiled.
"Would you like something to drink? Tea, or perhaps a glass of juice?" Noriko signalled to one of her assistants to bring refreshments.
"Sure, thank you."
Noriko appraised the young boy sitting across from her. He wore old, faded blue denim coveralls, with a light-brown short-sleeved shirt underneath. There were little marks and stains on the front, and its buckle loops were tinged red, rusted-over. The coveralls only reached his knees, as if half its pants were torn off. His backpack also looked to have seen better days.
Noriko mused over the ensemble as she balanced a pen with her fingers. Despite all of that, Oak seemed completely comfortable in what he was wearing. Noriko had a feeling he didn't much care for appearances.
Oak had pulled out some papers from his backpack and noticed Noriko's thoughtful expression. "Oh, I guess I should explain my attire. I was out looking for new pokémon to draw, and the activity usually requires a fair amount of stealth! I spend a fair amount of time on my stomach, prone and hiding in the tall grass, so my coveralls have served me well over the years."
Noriko nodded. "I see. Did you manage to find some pokémon?"
"Yes, most recently a clutch of pidgey and a jigglypuff, outside Saffron's northern gate. It was curious how they interacted, I expected a confrontation but they seemed to be enjoying a meal together." Oak flipped open his sketchbook and pointed to his drawing of the scene. "It's quite something, really. It is amazing to think that different pokémon understand one another and co-operate peaceably in diverse groupings. Almost like they share a unique common language!"
Noriko held back a chuckle. It did not take much to get this young man to talk about things he was passionate about. His depiction proved he was a skilled artist as well.
The refreshments arrived. Noriko picked tea and Oak chose juice.
"On to business, then."
Oak nodded.
Noriko opened the binder containing two sets of documents. After Oak had offered a name to the technology that Noriko and Silph Co had spent the better part of two years developing, Noriko made a quick call to the company lawyers and had them hammer out a contract granting them exclusive rights to the term 'pokéball'. She ensured that Oak would be properly compensated for his idea, but her fellow board members preferred the less honourable route, being particularly miserly in their offer.
She was tasked with presenting their version of the contract first; if it was rejected, she was free to present hers.
Noriko paused, realizing a problem. "I'm terribly sorry, Mr Oak, but since you are underage, unfortunately we need your parents to sign on your behalf. My apologies, I should have made that clear in the meeting request."
Oak smiled, and handed over the documents he'd pulled out earlier. "I think this will fix that problem."
Noriko looked them over, surprise dawning on her face. These documents provided Samuel Oak, age twelve, legal emancipation from his parents. He was seen as a fully-fledged adult in the eyes of Kanto law, with all of the privileges that entailed.
Noriko gulped down her tea as she considered the thorny implications that arose from his seeking emancipation from his mother and father. He was clearly a smart boy, but these papers pulled Noriko's thoughts in a heart-rending direction. She suddenly felt an unlikely kinship with Oak, as she remembered her own familial issues.
"My parents are good people," Oak said quietly, staring at his feet. "They are understandably wary of having their son near dangerous magical creatures. They hemmed me in when I was younger, in the name of safety, and I don't begrudge them for doing so."
Oak sat up and, with bright eyes, continued: "I think my natural and immense curiosity won out in the end. They realized that they could not contain my exuberance for pokémon, and neither could the law."
Noriko nodded. All children below the age of eighteen were required to be in the presence of a parent or guardian when outside settlements. Saffron's four gates in particular enforced this law with extreme prejudice.
"So these documents..." Noriko began, afraid of breaching a personal boundary, but curious nonetheless.
"When I brought up the topic of emancipation with my parents, it wounded them deeply. I thought it would be a solution to the problem the law had posed, and I had not considered what it insinuated. That was entirely my fault, regardless of my innocent intentions.
"But I could not drop it, and in the end we all signed the papers with tears in our eyes, knowing in our hearts that it was for the best. Still, they will always be my Mum and Dad, and I will always love them, and it does not matter what a few silly documents say, not a whit."
A pensive silence descended on the two of them, each sipping their drinks quietly.
Unfortunately, Noriko's quandary with her family was beyond the purview of Kanto's laws and judiciary. She had spent the last three years laying the groundwork, and she was nearly ready to enact a solution. Learning about Oak's experience had given her a small amount of courage, and she was determined to reach a similar resolution in her own life.
Memories of her mother slipped into her mind. She felt a heat rise up under her collar, and she gripped her cup tightly, willing it not to shake. The memories passed, and she set the cup down.
"Circling back to the matter at hand," she said, tapping her fingers on the contracts, "we've prepared two offers for your consideration. They both grant Silph Co exclusive rights to the term 'pokéball', with the key difference being compensation."
She picked up the first one with a scowl.
"The first is perfectly straightforward," she droned. "You agree to a transfer of the rights to the name, and Silph Co will direct a one-time payment in the amount of P$1,000,000.00 to your personal account by the end of the day today."
Noriko scoffed audibly. Though she had already known about the contract coming in to the meeting, hearing herself speak it out loud brought renewed disdain for the offer. It was, simply, an insult.
Oak seemed unmoved by the large windfall being presented. Good. Noriko continued.
"The second involves paying out a percentage of all sales of the pokéball, including variants, to you every financial quarter, in perpetuity." Noriko allowed a small smile to play on her face. This contract was fair and reflected the massive role this boy would play in the technology's future success. "The choice is yours, Mr Oak."
"May I ask, what is the percentage?"
Noriko scanned the contract and found the number. She put the documents down on the table and tapped the figure with her pen. "Two-point-five percent," she said proudly. She was certain Oak would pick her offer over a single quick payday.
"Make that five percent and we have a deal," Oak replied, barely taking any time to consider.
Noriko froze. A negotiation, of course. It was unexpected, but the Oak boy had clearly thought about this and knew how to use the leverage he had to his advantage. The only reason she'd picked such a low percentage in the first place was in order to get her contract past the company board. Her smile turned into a grin; this would be a short negotiation. She would happily agree if it meant proper recompense for Oak while simultaneously sticking it to the unscrupulous board members of Silph Co.
"We have a deal, Mr Oak."
Noriko struck out the low number and wrote a large "five" above it in correction. She signalled one of her assistants to prepare the amended version while they finished their drinks.
Oak's eyes wandered over the lab they were in. Machines with lights in different colours were flashing on and off. Experimental chemistry was being conducted in one corner of the lab, where synthesised solutions were bubbling or being carefully mixed together. In another far-off corner, pokémon attacks were being tested and quantified. Eventually, his eyes fell on a group of technicians in white lab coats huddled around what looked like a pokéball. Curious, he stood up and walked over, with Noriko following.
One of the technicians recognised Noriko. "Good afternoon, Miss Kitamura."
Noriko greeted the group and gestured at the pokéball. "How is resiliency testing going?"
The man puffed up proudly. "We gained valuable insight from the trials, ma'am. The biggest takeaways were that the pokéballs were too fragile and that they were unexpectedly heavy. We've managed to increase durability by forty percent, while decreasing overall weight by three-point-five percent. In addition, the metal alloy being used in our latest design seems to hold up well against most basic pokémon attacks, like String Shot or Thunder Shock."
Oak could not contain his interest. He nodded at the pokéball. "May I?"
The head technician glanced at Noriko, who gave her assent.
"Be careful there, kid," the man warned.
Oak picked up the pokéball gingerly and examined it with eyes full of wonder. Noriko waited, figuring a little satisfaction of his curiosity would bode well for her future recruitment plans.
"My friend Kurt makes pokéballs from apricorns," he remarked, admiring the prototype's sheen. "Not as high-tech as this, of course..."
The assistant returned with the amended contract, and Noriko and Oak signed it, making it all official and binding. They each kept a copy.
"Thank you again for agreeing to meet with me, Mr Oak. Once the prototypes pass our rigorous testing, the first batch of pokéballs will be shipped to PokéMarts throughout Kanto. That should be roughly four to six months from now. As per our agreement, five percent of all sales will accumulate and be disbursed to your account every financial quarter. Do you have any questions?"
Oak looked like he had suddenly realised the immense promise of the labs at Silph Co. "Oh, lots! But first, thank you, Miss Kitamura. This has been an... interesting meeting. I am certain our paths will cross again!"
Noriko smiled, and thought about Project Indigo. Yes, and it would be sooner rather than later.
They said their goodbyes, and Noriko went back up to her office.
On her desk, a stack of purchase orders waited for her. She diligently went through them, thinking of the long day that had just passed. The stolen pokéballs. Project Indigo. Izumi's regional tournament idea. The meeting with young Oak.
But her mind ruminated most on the latest iteration of the pokéball prototype. Its promising performance meant that her most important life goal would soon be achieved.
Her family would be free, and her mother would be avenged.