Chapter Text
Long ago, the Legendary Creator Arceus made the world and all that is, was, or would be. Upon doing this, He created numerous creatures to embody different aspects of His new world: Time, Space, the Afterlife, Knowledge, Emotion, Willpower, Life, Death, Balance. After that, He went on to create even more new creatures, each one with incredible and powerful attacks and being able to harness the primal elements and the aspects of the world in their own bodies. They soon inhabited the bodies of water, the green lands and the skies above. Living with many other less amazing animals, they soon populated the world over. Many things happened over the course of time, and some things even rose to challenge Arceus. But The Creator always prevailed. For millions of years, the world was at peace.
But this was not enough.
As the years passed, The Creator believed something was missing. Then, one of his creations, Mew, came to him and suggested that Arceus create something else entirely. Something that had no powers as these creatures did. Something that could be amazed by the things they could do and, perhaps, live with them in harmony. The creator accepted her suggestion and, using some of his creature’s shapes as inspiration, he created something spectacular; the Human race. Though primitive, they had potential.
However, things did not work as originally thought. The early people were afraid of the creatures and treated them with hostility, seeing them as demons as they themselves evolved, but stayed superstitious. They even referred to them as “Magical Creatures.” Arceus and his followers had long since left the world for fear their presence would lead to difficulties and problems. Still, some such as Victini, Meloetta and Mew continued to visit in secret and see the Humans evolve. Soon, many animals began to go extinct, but the Creatures lived on. People soon found that despite the powers, the Creatures could still be hunted as normal animals, as many ate each other and could be eaten. So they substituted the ordinary creatures with the Magical Creatures. Between the hunting, the hostility, and overall lack of trust, things seemed to go quickly downhill, and even the Creatures that visited believed that perhaps Arceus’ hopes had been in vain.
Then, something occurred.
In the land of Egypt, when the pyramids were still young, people had begun worshipping the Egyptian Gods: Osiris, Anubus, Horus, Ra. They began to believe that these Creatures were perhaps manifestations or servants of the gods, largely due to some of their resemblances and powers being similar to them. As such, they began to respect the Creatures. These ideas travelled through traders to other lands and others eventually gained the idea of these Creatures not being truly evil. However, they were mostly still left alone and still avoided due to lingering superstition and fear of provoking the wrath of some of the more known nastier ones. Eventually, things changed completely about seven thousand years ago.
One day, a young man was fishing for weaker fish Creatures along the Nile when a Creature known as Bulbasaur passed by. Suddenly, it spotted something in the Nile behind the Human- it was a Creature known as a Barrascewda. Its jaw was known to be as strong as a spear tip and it would swim extremely fast before launching itself at an unsuspecting prey either in or near the water. The prey would be impaled and die almost instantly from the impact. And this man was apparently its next choice of prey! Bulbasaur had never seen this Human before, but without even thinking, it threw sharpened leaves from its bulb and they hit Barrascewda just as it neared the man.
The man was surprised and believed that Bulbasaur was attacking him, but then he saw the Barrascewda flopping on the ground to get back into the water. It soon jumped in and darted toward Bulbasaur, no doubt wishing revenge. The man didn’t want the Creature that had helped him getting hurt, so he quickly called out a suggestion for it to use its Sharpened Leaf attack again. To his shock, Bulbasaur actually LISTENED to him and shot the leaves out, defeating the Barrascewda. The man decided to capture the Barrascewda for his food, as Barrascewda were quite known as a difficult and dangerous, but utterly delicious catch.
That night, the man returned to his home with the food when he found something surprising; the Bulbasaur had followed him home. The young man allowed the Bulbasaur to stay and sup with him, giving it fruits he had grown. Then, when allowed to leave and go back to the wild, the most surprising thing of all occurred; Bulbasaur actually RAN BACK and indicated it wanted to STAY with the young man! The man was shocked, but found that he’d forged a bond with the Creature, believing perhaps the Gods sent the Bulbasaur to him for a reason.
After that, the man and the Bulbasaur worked and lived together, showing off their bond well. Many people were surprised to see a Creature so willingly living with a Human, believing that perhaps the man was right and the Gods wanted the Creatures to live with Humans and vice-versa. Soon, others went out and befriended other Creatures and the land and cities were soon overfilled with their different sounds. The Creatures eventually became something of a way of life for the people of Egypt and as before, the news of this incredible happening soon spread through word of mouth from traders from other lands. The world soon began adopting the Creatures into the homes of many. They used their abilities to aid their Human companions in many ways in exchange for home, food, and care.
Not only that, many Humans found out an incredible discovery; when conditions were right (a certain time of day, near a type of stone, etc.) the Creatures changed forms entirely, becoming often bigger and stronger as a result. Many referred to this as “Divined Growth,” ordained to occur when the people’s deity or pantheon willed it. Many had a certain set of forms to grow into and after that, they stayed that way. And more discoveries were found: That hollowing out the Apricorn fruits, applying a Lightning Creature’s power to it in a stored spot and putting a clasp to release the otherworldly lightning created a special capture object to hold and keep Creatures and help them travel as rather small and compact items to be held on belts and in bags. New items and moves being discovered and invented, such as finding out that a certain large root, a piece of charcoal, and water from a certain sacred fountain were able to increase the powers of certain sorts of creatures. And, of course, the discoveries of new Creatures nearly every day. Either by sea, by seeing them in the sky, the sand, forests and fields, or even discovering eggs mysteriously appearing and hatching. There was no limit to the number discovered. Arceus's dream and hopes had finally come true with his creations living and working together.
Of course, things were not all wonderful. Not only did good people seek to own the Creatures, but bad and evil ones at that. Many of these people saw the Creatures as tools to get what they wanted, or something valuable to sell. Oftentimes, the Creature of a Keeper (as people who owned and worked with Creatures were known as) picked up on their habits and became much like them. While not truly evil as the Keeper, they found joy in showing off their power and ferocity against those of their kind they or their Keepers deemed weak. When a Keeper was arrested or killed, a Keeper's Creature was taken by the leaders of wherever and either given to the army to train, to be given to a better home to treat it kinder and hopefully rehabilitate it, released once again into the wild, or (as a last resort) put down if the Creature proved too unruly or dangerous.
And of course, as mentioned, the Creatures were also used largely in warfare. They were put through grueling training and forced to give more and more of their power against their master's enemies. Raised to attack and destroy the soldiers and any opposing Creatures with no mercy whatsoever. With these Creatures on the battlefield, war became far bloodier.
And as time went on, new ways to use Creatures came about.
Soon, many people from peasants to nobles and even monarchs themselves began using their Creatures in great battles, ordering them like soldiers in fights. Many of these battles were merely for amusement of Keepers and others and to aid their Creatures in becoming stronger. However, there were others who used these battles as ways of gaining far greater prizes: food, water, land, even entire people and kingdoms. Many a war was finished due to a battle by two commanders or rulers duking it out in the battlefield, their mighty Creature's abilities echoing as soldiers and Creatures watched in awe.
And soon, something else was added to the list of possible winnings: The loser's and their Creature's souls.
Yes, two thousand years after the very first bonding of Humans and Magical Creatures, dark forces from recesses unknown began to influence these battles, and began turning the Keepers and Creatures truly wicked and willing to do evil and horrible things. They fought far more brutally than ever, with the loser's losing their souls and making the dark force behind it stronger. Eventually, these "Shadow Battles" erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the entire world and all in it, Human and Magical Creature. The dark force soon proved powerful beyond comprehension, and it seemed nothing could stop it from plunging the world into darkness. Perhaps not even Arceus Himself.
But something DID happen.
A brave and powerful pharaoh, using all his ability and might, as well as his loyal Creatures, locked the vile dark force away, imprisoning it within the seven mystical Millennium Items. However, upon doing so, the pharaoh vanished, believed to have sacrificed himself to save all. The Items were then locked away and the story of the pharaoh and his sacrifice faded into myth and later into seeming oblivion.
But that would not be the case…
Five thousand years later, much has changed in the world. People learned that the Magical Creatures were not truly as such, but more modern scientific marvels. More and more was learned about them in the coming ages: their abilities, their strengths, weaknesses, how items and moves could be better utilized and created, how the changing of forms was actually a form of evolution and adaptation. The Creatures even gained a new name- Pokémon, a term in Japanese (of whom led the world in research on them) meaning "Pocket Monsters," so gained due to the advancements in Capture Capsule creation. From Apricorns to modern technology capable of shrinking to fit in a pocket while not harming the Pokemon inside, the method had evolved as much as the understanding of the creatures they held. The "Pokéball" became the staple of any Pokemon Trainer. Soon, the training and handling of "'Mon" (the common abbreviation) became worldwide. Battles evolved on far grander and less bloodier scales in tournaments to decide who the greatest in the world was. Indeed this new golden age of Pokemon was fantastic.
However, even in light, there are shadows.
For now, in this very age, a boy named Yugi has unlocked the secrets of the long lost Millennium Puzzle. With it, he is infused with ancient magical energies, and has gained a new aid in his life in the form of a mysterious Pokemon. And he will need all the aid he can get, for destiny has chosen him to defend the world from the return of the dark forces that instigated the Shadow Battles, just as the brave Pharaoh did five thousand years ago.