Unova Tonight: Special Report
You settled comfortably into your recliner with a sigh; today had been a long day at work. Castelia City would've been difficult for anyone to maintain and keep clean even if there were only people living within the great metropolis, however with so many Pokemon, both trained and wild, running around not only out in the open on the roads and sidewalks but, also, tucked away into the nooks and crannies, then working as a maintenance worker in the city was a hard job. The normal wear and tear of cars and feet was joined by the wildly varying treads of Pokemon as they moved about. Today it was some Pidoves that had, unfortunately, made a nest inside some of the electrical boxes near one of the major causeways. A surge that had gone through the system had ended up setting their nesting material on fire and, well, several city blocks had been left without power for a good several hours today. The Pidoves were fine, thankfully some people might say, it seems like they'd been out and about when the surge had happened. However, the little Patrats with wings hadn't taken kindly to them taking care of the burnt remains of their nests. Somehow a Tranquil had even been with them and had made the entire process of clearing things out a very painful mess.
Whatever. You were home, you were in front of the nice, widescreen TV that your last paycheck had paid for, and now you were looking to sit back and watch some television. You turned on the channel, flipping it to the evening news to see what was happening and just set the remote to the side, waiting for the overly designed sting to finish before they got to the actual show.
The evening news opened up, oddly enough, with a select scene of the latest viral craze to hit the net. A clip from the famous magician, David Drain performing his latest feat of 'magic'. An old and tested trick of his, the magician, dressed in black leather and rocking some black eyeliner, lifted his hands into the air and, under his psychic powers, raised his body up and up, floating over the gap between two buildings above a busy street in Unova. As he made it halfway, however, suddenly he started to jerk about wildly, hanging perpendicular to the ground as several screams, not only from the production crew but the crowd, watched as a wire that had been carefully tucked away snapped, leaving the performer precariously placed above heavy traffic.
"Good evening, I'm Selina Naternicola and this is Unova Tonight's 8 P.M. Special Report. You may have seen video clips of people like these all over the internet. Magicians, occultists, ghost-whisperers, those who profess the ability to see the future and those who simply refer to themselves by one word; psychic. In this age of the net, the common man has access to a great deal of information on psychics and their like as well as a myriad of content; testing one's self for magical or psychic abilities, making use of them or scammers promising young people easy to learn means of becoming psychic or learning to speak to the dead. Yet while many of these individuals end up, sooner or later, exposed much like Mr. Drain in the opening clip, there is a fascinating world underpinning the nature of individuals with psychic capabilities. Unova Tonight's very own Chet Galerino reports." The screen suddenly cuts to a field, video footage from the net featuring a handful of Abra sleeping in the tall grass, occasionally teleporting at random as they dozed.
"Psychic abilities in the world of Pokemon are neither an uncommon nor controversial scientific field of study. Many people, while they might go their entire lives without seeing a Psychic-Type Pokemon like these Abra, will hear stories involving them, watch videos of these online or even have a close family member recounting a particularly dangerous encounter with what can be a very volatile Pokemon type." The screen cuts to a teenager, slightly overweight, wearing a black t-shirt.
"I-I don't know what rightfully happened. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when all fo a sudden a hoarde of Slowpoke were just right on top of me. I don't know how they did it but I damn near lost my mind when they started hitting me with those crazy psychic waves of theirs." A video starts playing after, logged onto a local social media site by one of the teenager's friends, as he walked in and amidst a small number of Slowpokes sunbathing on the beach before he started yanking some of them around by the tail, he and his friends laughing before, quickly the Slowpokes turned on him.
"Psychic-type Pokemon are regarded both as extremely helpful Pokemon, with their psychic abilities able to lend them unique capabilities in helping elderly or disabled persons in need with their daily tasks, and as a dangerous and highly effective Pokemon for combat within the various Pokemon Leagues, with numerous Psychic-Type Pokemon featuring on numerous Champion and Elite Four Teams. It is a dual nature that, while it fascinates the Pokemon Professors around the globe, does not arouse a passionate debate. The same cannot be said for the same topic when discussed in the context of human beings." The screen cuts to a man dressed in a casual suit, the name card listing him as a psychiatrist as he adjusts his glasses.
"I've had many patients come into my office claiming some manner of psychic ability or another. Thankfully, most of the ones who come my way are usually being pushed by family to seek treatment for their delusions. I can tell you from personal experience, no one who has come my way has actually demonstrated psychic abilities. It seems, in the best case scenario, to be delusions of an unhealthy mind."
"Ask enough people in the professional scene their opinions and, half the time, this is the response you'll hear; professionals both medical and scientific denouncing the claim of psychic abilities in humans as being fraudulent at worst and treatable delusions at best. Doctor Heinz Levowitz, a professional in human psychology and psychiatry, is but one face in a sea of professionals who back up this claim. Yet in recent decades it is a claim that has come under serious fire as more and more examples of people presenting with psychic abilities appear in the public eye. A result of the increase in Net viewership and the potential monetary gain made in presenting as a psychic and the increasingly common tools that the common man can get to make their fraud easier, according to the doctor."
Doctor Levowitz shakes his head. "Look, it's already been a rather well-known fact that most magicians either operated with misdirection or the use of actually Psychic-Type Pokemon in the past. Stage acts in the 20s like Harley Ethel made use of Kadabra hidden behind the curtain to wow crowds with her escaping from impossible traps and seemingly life-endangering situations. Nowadays you don't even actually need the mechanical knowhow to set up wires or a Pokemon capable of using moves like Psychic or the like to fool millions of people online; editing software is becoming so advanced that such scams are becoming, increasingly, a dime-a-dozen." A video begins playing of an online channel demonstrating one such of these tricks using editing as their primary means of manipulation plays out.
"Professionals like Levowitz claim that the rise in social media offering not only social validation but, increasingly, monetary validation, inspires a great many scammers to farm out this content, especially as it concerns targeting children who are intensely susceptible to this sort of content." Hard cut to a swarthy young man holding a fidget spinner as he stands in front of his camera.
"Alright, guys! We will be doing the 3 A.M. Darkrai Summoning Challenge in a moment, but first, if I can spin the fidget spinner for five seconds without touching it then you have to smash the like button and subscribe!"
"While true that many of these cases do indeed seem to be less than scrupulous, many members of not only the broader scientific community but, also, the Pokemon community have stepped forward to counter that not only are psychic capabilities in humans possible, they seem to be becoming increasingly common." A beautiful woman in a tasteful green skirt wearing a white lab coat appeared on the screen, 'Pokemon Professor' appearing just under her as she spoke.
"While I can not only appreciate but also welcome skepticism in these cases where children are being targeted, I think this age-old suspicion of people claiming psychic capabilities has perhaps reached a point where it is actually becoming harmful to the fields studying it and its potential relationship to Pokemon."
"Professor Aurea Juniper, a major figure in the Pokemon Scientific Community who specializes in the origins of Pokemon, brings a different eye to this debate than many; the seeming increase in these sorts of capabilities among those close to Pokemon or in similar communities."
"I think the clearest example of what are unquestionably psychic abilities forming in people has to be found in the Kanto League out east. The Gym Leader, Sabrina, demonstrates what are unquestionably shows of psychic abilities, specifically telekinesis on her part." A video begins to play, one that was rather clear, befitting such a famous and well-regarded League as the Kanto Pokemon League. In it a challenger presents themselves before Sabrina, the young woman merely standing at the opposite end of the gym floor as she raises a finger. A Pokeball suddenly unclips itself from her belt and floats into the air before, gesturing forward with her finger, it flies out and strikes the ground, opening up to release an Alakazam.
"Indeed, famous worldwide for the numerous videos featuring her matches against trainers attempting to climb the summit of one of the world's Premier Leagues to become its champion, Sabrina is a now worldwide figure famous not only in the field of Pokemon but also in the study of paranormal phenomena." The video clip ends with Sabrina calling the ball back to her hand and catching it in mid-air. "Many video editors and forensic video analysts have studied Sabrina's matches and their recordings for any sign of untoward edits or hidden tricks and, to date, none have been able to prove that she's a fraud. Though some, like Mr. Levowitz, present a rather simple answer."
"Well, it seems rather easy to me how a Gym Leader that has a full team of Psychic Pokemon might be able to pull off something like this which doesn't involve psychic powers but, well, you tell me."
"Unova Tonight reached out to Ms. Sabrina for comment but we have yet to receive word from her." A sudden cut to the exterior of a library in Sinnoh suddenly comes into the frame as the camera slowly zooms down to the head librarian, a bookish-seeming woman who strode confidently into the building. "So if it is true that there are psychics among us, where might they come from? Unova Tonight reached out to a local Sinnoh Mythology expert, Mina Kari, who runs the Canalave Library for what is becoming a common explanation among a certain field of Pokemon experts."
"In many cultures around the world you will have a similar sort of mythology concerning the origin of Pokemon and their relationships to humans. There are numerous myths and stories relating to the closeness between Pokemon and people, Many stories will feature Pokemon shedding their skins or their fur to look like humans, with some even becoming brides for them as is the case in many northern stories, others are simply about humans forming close bonds with Pokemon and becoming indistinguishable from them. While fanciful, it isn't exactly inexplicable either. Many Psychic-Type Pokemon especially are very human-looking. Mr. Mime, Jynx, Medicham, Hatterene, Tapu Lele, Gothitelle... Gardevoir," Mina seemed rather bashful when mentioning the Pokemon as the news report flashed pictures of each of the Pokemon as she listed them off. "It's not exactly infeasible that, at one point in time, humans may have shared particular... closeness with these types of Pokemon and, thus, eventually their psychic abilities would have manifested in people as well." Stock footage of Mina going through her library and picking a random book off the shelf as she studied it.
"A bold claim, though one hotly contested by many communities. While most simply view it as being outrageous and even inappropriate, others mock the idea altogether."
"Look, it's well known that the people of those islands are a bit... repressed. So I'm not surprised that some there would jump immediately to closeness with Pokemon. However, we need to be serious about our science here, because the truth of the matter is obvious and right in front of all of us." Said a man wearing a brown suit with a wild head of hair.
"Mr. Gio Loukantos is the 'leading expert' in his field on the Historiographic Channel show 'Ancient Subterraneans', a program in which pseudoscientists declare that many of the events of world history and paranormal phenomena are controlled by a race of subterranean mole men who created both humans and Pokemon."
"Now am I saying that mole men are causing psychic powers to appear in people?" A pause as he raised his hands expectantly. "Yes, yes I am."
"You know, I try not to be harsh with anyone looking into the origins of Pokemon and their potential relations with people, but I do wish that some people would take it more seriously. Maybe focus instead on Pokemon from space; you know, something actually scientific," Professor Juniper said, sounding exhausted.
"Professor Juniper, as a specialist in the Origins of Pokemon, has her theory for why humans may be showing more psychic abilities in recent times."
"In Kanto, there's a particular mountain called Mount Moon, when translated over that is. Local Pokemon experts who have been studying the mountain have been uncovering a great deal of evidence of meteorites having impacted the region from space, leaving a great deal of extraterrestrial material on the surface. Mount Moon isn't the only place this has happened; I'm sure if your child went digging out in your backyard sooner or later they'd discover a Moon Stone somewhere deep down in there. Now, these asteroid chunks present themselves in various ways, as I said Moon Stones are perhaps their most well-known face, but the various other stones also typically have similar chemical and mineral construction to Moon Stones. They also share a radioactive energy signature. Now, many people hear radioactive and panic but, in truth, Moon Stone energy is benign to people, this has been known for a long time now, but their radioactive energy does present an unusual reaction in several Pokemon, causing them to evolve. Now, several Pokemon evolve through the use of Moon Stones and other various types."
Professor Juniper produced a small list of Pokemon. "Now, while not many of them gain a Psychic-Typing upon evolving, a good number of them do start with one. Of those who don't have either trait, they do have some way of performing Psychic-Type moves. Clefairy and its line, for example, or Togepi's eventual evolution into Togekiss, both possess Metronome, both evolve through some use of stone with this very similar extraterrestrial radioactive energy. Now, earlier I said that it has been well known that humans are not affected negatively by the energy from these stones. However, what if that wasn't strictly true? What if, through exposure to this energy, we could take on Pokemon abilities of some type or another? It's not a perfect explanation, but it's the most scientific one that we've been able to get other laboratories to test for."
"Indeed, several labs working alongside Professor Juniper have been conducting studies into Moon Stone and its effects on humans. While nothing has been discovered yet, biologists at the University of Unova, considered a second-order school of less prestige compared to Oran University, did bloodwork when attempting to find signs of lingering Moon Stone radiation in people who came into contact with it. What they found was shocking."
"Instead of merely finding radiation leftover in the body's system, what we discovered in the bloodwork was far more alarming than that; microscopic chunks of Moonstone that were not only in the blood of people, but could be found in all of their body tissue." Cut to a black-and-white video of tiny chunks of barely visible rock under a microscope, floating around in someone's blood.
"Deemed 'Micro-Moon Stones' by the scientific community, it is still unknown if this material poses any health concerns to humans. However, it would seem to validate Juniper's potential theories about the source of psychic powers in humans and who knows what other concerns for the health and wellbeing of people around the world."
"W-Well, this isn't what I had in mind and quantities of Moon Stone that small probably don't-"
"Sabrina has also turned down Unova Tonight's request for a blood test to see if she has Micro-Moon Stone in her bloodstream." Chet Galerino declared, dead-on into the camera, back in the studio before he leaned back in his seat and turned to Selina. "Sel."
"Wow, what a terrifying report, Chet. And this is only a part-one, you say?"
"Indeed! Unova Tonight Viewers can tune in at the 11 O'Clock hour for Unova Late-Night for the continuation of my report as we delve into-" You turned off the tv with a groan as you stood up and walked to the kitchen. You needed a drink.
