Desire is the root of all suffering.
It may be strange to start with Siddartha Gautama's (Buddha) quote itself, but it's strangely appropriate when one is reborn. For when one has nothing to do, the mind begins to wander. But when Engaged, utterly and completely Lost in whatever they're doing, then concepts and notions such as desire and suffering fade into the background.
That's what being reborn into the Pokemon world is like. After the League was established, violence from Pokémon and hunters came down to an all-time low.
"The logic of violence determines the structure of society."
Borders and boundaries are separated between structures that can cause violence from guns and other weaponry. The threat of someone owning a gun reduces the likelihood of a home being invaded.
The League, for all of its faults, such as its subjugation of Raquaza, is the only thing that keeps organizations like Team Rocket in check, with Pokémon being the weapons that both sides use.
Why I bring this up is because of my very "special" upbringing. My mother is currently Arianna, a future Team Rocket executive who's busy climbing the corporate ladder. Do sins of thy mother count as their own?
Quite frankly, growing up without a father in such a household was quite stressful. At 5 years old, I called the cops on them. It was easy to get away with when only an Ekans was around at home. My mother now sits in jail, while I live off her savings plus the money made from selling our house and Pokémon earlier.
After spending most of my time studying, at the ripe age of 10, I can finally start my journey. But before that, I need to visit my mother first.
Walking down toward the dark and wet dungeon underground, I find myself shaking my head at the clearly poorly maintained facility here in Cinnabon Island. Grey brick walls surround all 4 sides, with the only view of the outside being the inside of a volcano. That such a place is being maintained by Blaine, who's not yet a gym leader of the Elite Four, really sheds any rose-tinted glasses I might have had of the league before. Perhaps this place becomes one of the main reasons Blaine becomes a gym leader in this location. A prison break needs to be controlled. Johto, my home region, feels nicer, but Kanto is where I'll have to start my journey. If nothing else, just the mere fact that I reported on Team Rocket has probably got me on some hit list, I think.
So lost in thought that I failed to notice myself finally arriving in front of my mom's cell. Instead of being immobilized, she merely has a ceremonial pink chain, likely to prevent aura usage, tied around her ankle. Her cell is luxurious from the outside. There's a bedroom cabinet with a mirror on it that happens to match her queen-size mattress set and pink sheets that raise an eyebrow. Along with the teaset and countertop, it feels almost obscene to call her a prisoner.
As I raise my eyebrow while wondering how many prisoners she had to—
"Oi! I heard that!" The red-headed mother who's staring at me responds.
"Hmm... maybe you're just making up for your insecurities? For I never—"
Bang!
Looking at the teacup smashed on the floor, I click my tongue at what was probably great tea being wasted. I haven't cut my hair, so our fiery red manes look similar, only it seems that my disheveledness makes me look more like a prisoner than her. Apparently, I inherited my temper and red irises from her, too, but that's a story for another time.
"It's a good thing you're nothing like your father."
"Again, I never said anything. Perhaps deep down you feel the need to project yourself onto me because you feel bad about how bad a moth—"
Bang!
This time, the teacup is smashed against the bars of a cell, and my skin gets a taste of how scalding boiled liquids can get with advanced tech from Pokémon. The answer is very.
"Hiss—"
"Ha! Serves you right, you creepy little shit. You don't seem to realize the value of brown-nosing and empty promises. There's a reason I was on the executive track back in the day."
"Just because you were great then doesn't make you great now. But if you really didn't blow yours up to better conditions, that must mean you sold information."
Silence prevails, and I literally feel a chill down my spine, colder than the abandoned warehouse I've grown up in afterwards. You've got to save money where you can.
"I didn't expect a brat like you to deduce what I say. That said, the doctors always said you had a different aura about you when you were born. Perhaps that's why you're so creepily smart for your age."
Naturally, I did not need to explain my rebirth to anyone. Fortunately, the previous owner was quite taciturn growing up, so when my soul took over at the age of 5, no one noticed my abnormalities. Except for Ekans, who looked after me. I wonder...
"How did you ever decide to have an Ekans look after a 5-year-old?"
"Ah, we already defanged it during an experiment, but instead of releasing it back into the wild, I figured I could see what happens when you remove the organ responsible for secreting poison along with it. Keeping an electric collar on it for obedience felt like a natural boundary that keeps it from harming you while raising you as well."
That reminds me of the quote I mentioned earlier about the violence creating structure by setting a pecking order amongst 3 sick beings in a household. You could probably make a sitcom out of it.