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The other thread says to me that there's potential in the overall continuity of the Pokémon games for good discussion. Here's a place to generate a dialogue and discuss your analyses and theories and anything else about the setting's continuity and world details. Keep it polite though!
For my part, here's my screed about the origination of Mega Evolution and Infinity Energy in Hoenn, which kicked this off:
I've also been thinking about the nature of Poké Balls lately, thanks to the debut of a new type of "ancient" Poké Ball in Legends: Arceus. As far as we know from the games, Poké Balls were originally created using Apricorns, with this practice being especially prominent in the Johto region. But it's a delicate process that requires a very skilled craftsman. (It is currently not clear as to whether the Legends: Arceus Balls use Apricorns in their construction - we'll have to wait and see!) Eventually though, modernized industry was able to replicate it in such a way that mass production of Poké Balls became possible, with companies such as Silph Co. and Devon developing specifications for all-new kinds of Poké Balls, and production lines like the Poké Ball Factory in Kalos pumping them out in large numbers. Even a piece of fairly crude modern technology - the Cram-o-matic designed by Hyde - can create Poké Balls out of Apricorns, although the Ball variants that a master craftsman like Kurt can produce can only rarely be replicated by this machine. Perhaps that's not a limitation of the Cram-o-matic, however - maybe there's just something about modern technology in general that can't quite accomplish what the ways of old can. After all, Apricorn Balls remain incredibly rare, despite companies like Silph and Devon having far more resources at their disposal than Hyde, who's operating out of a small, isolated dojo.
Or maybe these companies enforce an artificial scarcity on these Ball variants, in order to maintain their market value?
Or maybe they could mass-produce them using modern technology, but it would be extremely costly to do so. After all, in Sun & Moon, the Aether Foundation develops the novel Beast Balls, but we are told by Looker that even a single one costs millions of dollars to produce (please ignore the fact that you can farm unlimited Beast Balls from him anyway). However, in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, with access to the advanced technology of the Ultra Recon Squad, the Aether Foundation becomes capable of producing Beast Balls so easily that they can sell them for a mereP1,000 per Ball! Apricorn Balls could represent a similar phenomenon - maybe with the technology of Ultra Megalopolis, mass-production of Apricorn Balls would become more feasible, but right now, our current technology on its own would struggle severely.
But of course, there's also the question of how exactly Poké Balls work. Not only in terms of "Are the Pokémon stored in them conscious or not, and if so, what do they experience and perceive while inside?" (I would argue that the games very much suggest that the Pokémon are aware of the world outside of the Ball.), but also, what (scientific?) principles are at work to achieve the effect of storing a Pokémon inside of a tiny Ball? It may be easy to imagine that companies like Silph and Devon can create a mechanism that operates by converting matter into energy or data and vice-versa, but surely that sort of thing wouldn't have been around in the Apricorn and Legends: Arceus days. Sometimes I think that the principle may actually be something more magical or mythical - perhaps someone wished upon an Apricorn that a Pokémon could become their partner, and thus it came to be. Who knows?
Lastly, I figure I have to at least mention Drayden, who claims to have been alive since before Poké Balls existed. Presumably the writer of B2W2 just forgot about all of the Apricorn stuff, which seems to date back several generations, but if you're willing to look past the obvious real-world answer, it does make you wonder. Could Drayden just be unbelievably old? Who says humans in the Pokémon world have the same life expectancy as us in the real world? Sure, maybe he's referring to modern Poké Balls, but that seems unlikely to me, given what exactly he says: "When I was little, Poké Balls didn't exist yet. Sometimes Pokémon would run away from awful Trainers who didn't try to understand them."
For my part, here's my screed about the origination of Mega Evolution and Infinity Energy in Hoenn, which kicked this off:
Infinity Energy was used to create advanced technology, such as the motor for the Submarine Explorer I, a power source for the Mossdeep rocket, and teleport pads, but it certainly is based on research about Mega Evolution:
> Scientist: "We had to do a whole lot of research into Mega Evolution to develop Infinity Energy. It was all based on the legend of Rayquaza that the Draconid people passed down for the past several thousand years.
What do you say? Since you did work alongside us to save the world and all, I guess I could tell you about my research results... Want to hear about them?
Understood! Ahem... To begin... It appears that within Rayquaza’s body resides an organ with the same power as a Mega Stone. I have dubbed it the mikado organ. We believe Rayquaza usually inhabits the stratosphere, where its instincts prompt it to consume small meteoroids that fall into the atmosphere. The meteoroids merge with Rayquaza’s internal energy to create an effect similar to a Mega Stone. We believe that, thanks to its mikado organ, Rayquaza can undergo its own Mega Evolution, manifesting sufficient power to repel both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. As we can gather from legends, Rayquaza has swooped in to put a stop to their clashes many times in the long history of the world.
Those who saw the way that Rayquaza, possessing this special power, reacted to their Key Stones to transform itself, began research into the subject. It came to be recognized as a form of Evolution, a new possibility for Pokémon. And what we stitched together from all of this long research is the current theory of Mega Evolution. A part of Rayquaza’s entry in the Pokédex was even edited due to this bit of folklore.
...Ahem! And that, while simplified quite a bit, is what I have deciphered from the ancient records of the Draconid people about the relationship between Rayquaza and Mega Evolution."
The Mega Stones in Hoenn seem to just be meteoroids or stones that get infused with Hoenn's rich natural energy. Several of them are found just lying around throughout the game, long before anything involving Kyogre or Groudon kicks up. For example, Wanda's boyfriend gives you an Aggronite after clearing the rocks in Rusturf Tunnel and says this:
> "I found that when I was digging for the tunnel. I felt like there’s some mysterious power coming from it, but I don’t think I could do a thing with it."
Which means it was probably buried in there for quite some time, rather than being artificially created by the Devon Corporation. That being said, it's also revealed in the games that Tabitha/Shelly used to work for Devon, and Team Magma/Aqua was able to achieve a lot of their technical projects due to the information this gave them access to (ooo, corporate espionage, in my Pokémon?). Consequently, we know that Team Magma/Aqua were experimenting to figure out how to artificially engineer a Red/Blue Orb, which are similar in composition to Mega Stones. Take what Maxie says at Mt. Chimney, for example:
> Maxie: "So what is it that we must do to awaken this slumbering giant? Our research has led us here, to Mt. Chimney. Yes, here...to this very Meteorite. If we create the right conditions, we should find ourselves able to alter this Meteorite's qualities. Yes, even into a Mega Stone. Even into a Key Stone. And here, at Mt. Chimney— Hmph... I should not say too much. That is the end of today's lesson."
So it definitely seems possible that you could "forge" a Mega Stone using a potent source of natural life energy - which is what Infinity Energy is. According to Steven's dad,
> Mr. Stone: "The energy that could be gained by the sacrifice of so many Pokémon... There are surely many people who would call it reprehensible. But my grandfather, the president of Devon before me, said this... 'Couldn't we use the energy to improve the lives of people and Pokémon?' And so he developed our greatest creation here at the Devon Corporation: Infinity Energy."
It seems that Pokémon are the most readily available source of this energy, but there are natural "wells" of it that also exist, such as Mt. Chimney and the Cave of Origin, and Team Magma/Aqua was hoping to exploit the former until they got confirmation of the real Orbs being kept at Mt. Pyre. The large meteor that slammed into Sootopolis in the distant past cracked open one of these wells, releasing natural energy which is what woke Groudon and Kyogre up that time. (And according to Zinnia, it seems that when the two clashed a millennium before then, Hoenn was "overflowing" with that energy, so I guess a lot of it got used up by their Primal Reversions and also maybe just by naturally settling and/or dissipating for the next thousand years, such that it was limited to just these specific wells by the time of the Sootopolis impact.) That meteor, of course, then became the massive Key Stone that allowed Rayquaza to Mega Evolve:
> Zinnia: "The people had a wish—a memory from a thousand years before... They wished that the Legendary Pokémon clad in emerald light would appear again. The huge Meteorite that lay at the heart of Sootopolis gave off a boundless brilliance. In its brilliance, it resembled a vast and powerful Key Stone. And once again, Rayquaza descended from whence it came in the heavens. The people fell to their knees before Rayquaza and made a wish for salvation. As they did, a great change came over the Legendary Pokémon."
... likely because it soaked up a huge amount of the energy that was kept in the Cave of Origin. Likewise, there's the Meteorite that you nick from Team Magma/Aqua at Mt. Chimney - as you progress through the game, it changes shape, increasingly resembling a Mega Stone, until it is finally consumed by Rayquaza, which gives it the power it needs in order to Mega Evolve again.
All of which to say that it seems as though soaking up natural life energy = Mega Stone or Key Stone. In Kalos, the huge influx of life energy channeled by the ultimate weapon seeped into the ground, irradiating regular stones and turning them into Mega and Key Stones. In Hoenn, there was originally an abundance of the energy all around, and meteors that would fall there would become infused with it just by impacting. (Quoting Zinnia again, in her account of the earliest Groudon/Kyogre clash: "And the meteoroids fell in their multitude upon a waterfall that had long been home to a tribe of Dragon-type-Pokémon users... [...] The meteors shone with a rainbow brilliance, as if some great life was held within. That was when, as if drawn by the brilliance, a Pokémon that shone in a blazing emerald hue descended from the heavens...") This gave us the Mega Stones that we can pick up from the start of the game. But additionally, the huge wave of energy that erupts from the Cave of Origin after we deal with Groudon/Kyogre ourselves seems to create an all-new wave of Mega Stones, as that's when a lot of new ones pop up all over the place, like the Mewtwonite X in Littleroot or the Scizorite in Petalburg Woods. Here's some more evidence:
> Wanda: "Do you remember how light came falling out of the sky a while ago? I found this [Gardevoirite] in the yard that day. Actually, I found two, and I gave the other to Wally. It’s a pretty stone, and I’m sure your Pokémon would be delighted if you let one of them hold it!"
> Mom: "Remember the night you went to see the star show? Well, I found this [Lati@site] in the grass out front the next morning! Isn't it pretty, the way it sparkles? It's like a rainbow!"
(Actually, in thinking about it, that second one might be one of the Litleonid meteors that we watch at the end of the Delta Episode, breaking through the atmosphere and soaking up the refreshed natural energy that's floating around because of the Cave of Origin event.)
I've also been thinking about the nature of Poké Balls lately, thanks to the debut of a new type of "ancient" Poké Ball in Legends: Arceus. As far as we know from the games, Poké Balls were originally created using Apricorns, with this practice being especially prominent in the Johto region. But it's a delicate process that requires a very skilled craftsman. (It is currently not clear as to whether the Legends: Arceus Balls use Apricorns in their construction - we'll have to wait and see!) Eventually though, modernized industry was able to replicate it in such a way that mass production of Poké Balls became possible, with companies such as Silph Co. and Devon developing specifications for all-new kinds of Poké Balls, and production lines like the Poké Ball Factory in Kalos pumping them out in large numbers. Even a piece of fairly crude modern technology - the Cram-o-matic designed by Hyde - can create Poké Balls out of Apricorns, although the Ball variants that a master craftsman like Kurt can produce can only rarely be replicated by this machine. Perhaps that's not a limitation of the Cram-o-matic, however - maybe there's just something about modern technology in general that can't quite accomplish what the ways of old can. After all, Apricorn Balls remain incredibly rare, despite companies like Silph and Devon having far more resources at their disposal than Hyde, who's operating out of a small, isolated dojo.
Or maybe these companies enforce an artificial scarcity on these Ball variants, in order to maintain their market value?
Or maybe they could mass-produce them using modern technology, but it would be extremely costly to do so. After all, in Sun & Moon, the Aether Foundation develops the novel Beast Balls, but we are told by Looker that even a single one costs millions of dollars to produce (please ignore the fact that you can farm unlimited Beast Balls from him anyway). However, in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, with access to the advanced technology of the Ultra Recon Squad, the Aether Foundation becomes capable of producing Beast Balls so easily that they can sell them for a mere
But of course, there's also the question of how exactly Poké Balls work. Not only in terms of "Are the Pokémon stored in them conscious or not, and if so, what do they experience and perceive while inside?" (I would argue that the games very much suggest that the Pokémon are aware of the world outside of the Ball.), but also, what (scientific?) principles are at work to achieve the effect of storing a Pokémon inside of a tiny Ball? It may be easy to imagine that companies like Silph and Devon can create a mechanism that operates by converting matter into energy or data and vice-versa, but surely that sort of thing wouldn't have been around in the Apricorn and Legends: Arceus days. Sometimes I think that the principle may actually be something more magical or mythical - perhaps someone wished upon an Apricorn that a Pokémon could become their partner, and thus it came to be. Who knows?
Lastly, I figure I have to at least mention Drayden, who claims to have been alive since before Poké Balls existed. Presumably the writer of B2W2 just forgot about all of the Apricorn stuff, which seems to date back several generations, but if you're willing to look past the obvious real-world answer, it does make you wonder. Could Drayden just be unbelievably old? Who says humans in the Pokémon world have the same life expectancy as us in the real world? Sure, maybe he's referring to modern Poké Balls, but that seems unlikely to me, given what exactly he says: "When I was little, Poké Balls didn't exist yet. Sometimes Pokémon would run away from awful Trainers who didn't try to understand them."