pokémon: shades of grey
timeline
1264
tin tower and brass tower constructed in ecruteak city. soon occupied by lugia and ho-oh, respectively.
1843
brass tower catches fire and burns, killing three pokemon inside. lugia flees. ho-oh resurrects the three dead pokemon and flies off.
1931
future professor gregory rowan is born.
1934
future professor omar alerce is born.
1935
future professor samuel oak is born.
1951
devon, silph, and apex, a store geared towards home appliances, founded in cerulean city by stephen devon, jason silph, and daniel apex.
1954
future professor richard elm is born.
1963
daniel apex killed in a car crash in goldenrod. devon, silph, and apex rebrands to s&d technologies and moves to saffron city, relaunching with more poke-centric products.
1965
future professor michael birch is born.
1968
stephen devon leaves s&d technologies after a falling out with jason silph. moves to and founds devon empirical solutions with alexander stone in rustboro city. jason silph founds silph co.
1973
devon empirical solutions grows into the devon corporation. alexander stone is vice president. marketshare for poke-centric technologies between silph co. and devon corp. is roughly 70/30 in silph's favor.
1974
professor samuel oak, based on an idea from kurt, develops a prototype synthetic pokeball and pitches it to silph co., who accept it. independently, professor omar alerce pitches a similar product design to the devon corporation.
1976
mass production of the synthetic pokeball begins. first meeting of the committee on pocket monster research and application in modern warfare (CPMRAMW). fire ravages the stadium at indigo plateau, burning it to the ground.
1977
a legal battle breaks out between silph and devon over synthetic pokeballs. construction of modern-day indigo plateau begins.
1979
synthetic pokeball use overtakes apricorn use by aspiring trainers and researchers. pokemon training by lower middle-class children and teens rises exponentially. marketshare for poke-centric technologies between silph co. and devon corp. is roughly 55/45 in silph's favor.
1981
pokemon training and battling is becoming an international fad, and an increasingly lucrative market for businesses and entrepreneurs. pokemon centers - basically hospitals and hostels for pokemon and pokemon trainers - are established in most major towns, and pokemon shops - stores geared specifically towards pokemon training, breeding, and battling - open up all across kanto, johto, hoenn, sinnoh, and elsewhere. "septeratology" (derived from "tsepi" (pocket), "teras" (monster); more commonly known as "pokemonstrology"), the general study of pokemon, becomes one of the most popular majors for students entering universities.
1982
silph v. devon reaches a conclusion, with silph retaining the rights to the name "pokeball". devon forced to rebrand their product as the "devball" or similar. incidentally, devball sales are restricted to hoenn, western sinnoh, and cianwood city in johto, and silph-brand pokeballs restricted to kanto, johto (excluding cianwood city), and eastern sinnoh.
1985
construction of modern-day indigo plateau completed.
1986
second meeting of the CPMRAMW. tests begin on the military application of pokemon. "pokeball" enters the mainstream to refer to any device intended for capturing and/or storing pokemon. differentiaton between silph- and devon-branded pokeballs wanes, with both devices commonly falling under the "pokeball" title.
1987
silph co. launches "great ball" product line. marketshare for poke-centric technologies between silph co. and devon corp. is approximately 55/45 in devon's favor.
1989
nadja devon is born to stephen and rebecca devon. rebecca dies in childbirth.
1991
professor samuel oak draws up preliminary designs for a digital encyclopedia of pokemon.
1992
stephen devon is murdered at his home by unknown assailants. some blame jason silph, but no evidence is brought against him. alexander stone takes over as president and CEO of devon corporation. nadja devon adopted by professor omar alerce.
1993
cinnabar island lab incident. third meeting of the CPMRAMW.
1994
orre incident. fuchsia pact signed.
1997
events of generations 1&3. beta testing of the pokemon encyclopedia, the "pokedex", begins in kanto and hoenn. devon corporation launches "poketch" product line. marketshare for poke-centric technologies between silph co. and devon corp. is approximately 60/40 in devon's favor. construction of johto battle tower begins.
1998
viridian forest cut down. lavender town pokemon cemetery converted into a radio tower; cemetery moved to a smaller building. cinnabar island volcano erupts, destroying many buildings.
1999
pokeball region restrictions lifted; devon and silph free to sell pokeballs in whatever region they choose. johto begins to express a desire to split away from indigo plateau and form its own pokemon league; kanto and indigo plateau refuse.
2000
events of generations 2&4. fourth meeting of the CPMRAMW. construction of johto battle tower completed.
2001
tensions between johto and kanto grow higher. johto again requests permission to break from the indigo plateau league and is again denied.
2002
johto battle tower burns, killing many trainers trapped within. investigation rules it an arson, but no suspects are recovered. many blame agents from kanto.
2003
league activities in johto are temporarily halted. indigo league demands their immediate continuation but receives no word from the johto government. construction begins on a wall at mt. silver and route 27.
2004
"three strikes" - tohjo falls, bellsprout, and goldenrod incidents. war is declared between johto and kanto.
incidents
CINNABAR ISLAND LAB INCIDENT
name given to the cloning of mewtwo from mew and mewtwo's subsequent destruction of the cinnabar island laboratory facility. very little is known of the incident beyond this, and short of a brief incident in 1997 involving mew, mewtwo, and a number of trainers, there have been no further sightings of either.
ORRE INCIDENT
a minor military skirmish between alett (a small northern country) and orre in 1994. lasting roughly four months, it was the first application of pokemon in modern warfare alongside armed soldiers and combat vehicles; though pokemon had been used in wartime scenarios prior to this, the last war involving pokemon had been fought almost two thousand years prior. many expressed concern for the welfare of the pokemon both during and after the war - many were injured or killed in the fighting, and their power used to wreak havoc on innocents and noncombatants. additionally, the general working conditions and treatment of the pokemon were nothing short of deplorable. following the almost utter decimation of orre, a convention was held in fuchsia city over the future military application of pokemon and several restrictions were set forth. alongside these restrictions, orre and alett signed a cease-fire. this has come to be known as the fuchsia pact.
TOHJO FALLS INCIDENT
the first of the so-called "three strikes" leading up to the war between johto and kanto. on the morning of july 27th, johto soldiers on patrol in the tohjo falls complex stumbled across a number of soldiers from kanto setting explosive charges in numerous locations, in an attempt to sever the passage to the military base at mt. silver, cutting off supplies to and from. after a brief firefight, the johto soldiers retook tohjo falls and collapsed the kanto entrance. the kanto government neither confirmed nor denied giving the order to cut off the northern passage.
BELLSPROUT INCIDENT
the second of the "three strikes" leading up to the war between johto and kanto. on august 11th, agents from kanto successfully set fire to bellsprout tower in violet city; the aged structure quickly burned to the ground, killing many of the monks and trainers within. the arsonists were apprehended by police and handed over to the johto military for interrogation. the kanto government denied any involvement despite the confessions of the men involved.
GOLDENROD INCIDENT
the third and most important of the "three strikes". on august 23rd, a number of armed men invaded p.s. 122, an elementary school, and proceeded to take everyone inside hostage - some 600 children and 30 teachers and staff. this resulted in a four-day standoff with police, during which the terrorists raped and tortured many of the students and teachers. ultimately the standoff ended with the school going up in flames, triggered by several explosions inside. five students managed to escape, though all but one succumbed to the injuries sustained during the ordeal within a few days. kanto vehemently denied any involvement, blaming the actions on a terrorist faction such as team rocket, and johto at first exonerated kanto of any suspicion. however, in the subsequent cleanup of the school, a single military medal matching the traditional designs of the kanto military was found near the charred remains of one of the armed men. johto publically denounced kanto the next day and, following another brief skirmish at tohjo falls, declared war on kanto on september 2nd.