Pallet Town Razed; Professor Oaks Slain

PALLET TOWN - In an unprecedented attack, the Pokemon Liberation Front (PLF) invaded and razed Pallet Town to the ground, destroying Professor Oak's laboratory and killing him in the process. About an estimated thirty people lost their lives in the attack, and many of the survivors are being evacuated to safer regions.

Later, on a broadcast announcement, PLF leader Mewtwo claimed responsibility of the assassination and attack, saying that Professor Oaks "helped in the oppression of Pokemon everywhere, especially by inventing the Pokedex, which instigated the rise of Pokemon slavery. We have suffered long enough at human hands. We will fight for our freedom and no more stand to be trampled under the boots of human imperialism! We have been exploited enough!"

"I don't understand," said one eye-witness survivor of the Pallet Town attack, "They claim they're fighting for freedom and rights, but this isn't just a rebellion. It's genocide."

Since the attacks from PLF, the movement has been gaining large numbers, and while there are still human sympathizers among Pokemon everywhere, their numbers are becoming fewer over time as they are systematically hunted down or intimidated into hiding or silence. Because of the reliance of the economy on Pokemon, from the sale of Pokedexes to Pokeballs, economic recession has caused unrest in many parts of the world as the market threatens to collapse, leaving millions destitute. And since Pokemon were the main weapon used by humans, over time, weapons technology halted in favor of Pokemon use.

"When the Pokemon revolted, we just couldn't fight back," one annonymous general said in an interview. "I mean, we're dealing with creatures that can freaking shoot flames out of their mouths, or cause your brain to explode out of your eyes with a psychic attack. We just can't compete. The Pokemon's cruelty knows no bounds."

However, atrocities have occured on both sides, especially recently when Ash Ketchum invaded a nearby Pokemon refugee camp and captured up to fifty Pokemon before him and his Pikachu were finally driven out by reinforcements. Ever since then, casaulties have escalated as Mewtwo uses this tragedy as an excuse to up the ante in the war.

Still, there have been a few attempts at peace, but despite this and the previous decade of relative prosperity and good relations among Pokemon and humans, conditions quickly deteriorated with the political rise of Mewtwo, who has recently been named Premier of the Pokemon's Republic, a nation started off to the north in the depths of Moon Cave.

Since the PLF appeared several months ago led by Mewtwo, several other renegade Pokemon groups have formed, spreading destruction in an already wartorn land, the most infamous being the Ghost Mafia, which is led by a Gengar identified as "grossly overweight" and "mumbles badly when it speaks." Several famous Pokemon professors have been killed in the past months, but Professor Oaks was probably considered one of the most famous and best loved Pokemon researchers. The Kanto region is holding a memorial service in Vermillion City, where Professor Oaks once hosted a radio show on Pokemon.

One survivor summed it up with his story: "We were trying to convince Professor Oaks to get out while he still could, but he insisted that the Pokemon knew he was their friend. Soon enough, a squad of Raichu burst into the lab and swiftly killed the professor with a barrage of Electroshock attacks. We managed to kill them with our rifles, but we were surrounded. One soldier, name was Pullman or something, told us to run with the professor's granddaughter May and as we did, we heard him fighting Raichu that had gotten on top of the roof. He got shot with electricity a couple of times...and as he died, he yelled, 'What happened? What the hell happened?' I think that's what everyone's asking today."