7 Chapter 6

The first Pokémon was spotted in South Korea on August 21st, 1999. School children in Seoul were learning their times tables when a knocking sound came from the closet. The nearest child looked over, entranced. He stood up against his teacher's advice and walked over to the door and grabbed at the handle. A high pitched voice hummed behind the door and suddenly more children were leaving their chairs and piling around the door. The first child had difficulty pulling the door open—they had a certain weight to prevent small children entry, but that didn't seem to work against multiple small children.

The teacher stood back in horror as the sounds started increasing from behind the door. All the things she could have imagined couldn't even come close to what was behind that door.

The door swung open slowly and a pink fleshy arm poked through the crack. It ended in a three-clawed hand with one finger extended outward. The children's jaws opened wide as the door opened further to reveal the pudgy figure hidden in the darkness. Two small wings on the back wiggled in sync with its index finger. Two ears with brown tips poked through and reacted to the new environment.

The creature was a Clefairy. Unknown to these children, but to millions of children worldwide would know the fairy-like Pokémon commonly found in Mt. Moon. If these had been American children, they might have reacted with joy or unending excitement. However, South Korea hadn't seen the release of the original Pokémon titles, so children would only be exposed to the media through the television show which wasn't as widespread in the region.

This was the reason the panic and fear set in real quick.

The children screamed, and the Clefairy, normally a peaceful creature, started wagging its finger faster—the beating of its small wings increasing in tandem. There was a point glowing at the tip of its finger—this was a skill Clefairy were proficient at—a skill that many people in the coming years would grow to fear.

Clefairy was using its Metronome attack.

Metronome gave a randomized chance to pull any move from every available Pokémon—it allowed trainers to weaponize their own luck to overcome tough situations. Pokémon that otherwise didn't wield massive power tended to rely on craftier methods such as these.

When the news reports started filling out of the elementary school that caught ablaze that hot summer day—people initially started to blame the arid climate in the surrounding area until more havoc and chaos began spreading through as more and more experiences began being documented.

It took little time for the wave of PokéMania that was hitting the world to turn into a wild course of hysteria and global fear over the devastating potential of such creatures.

Of course, not all situations ended as those in Seoul had. Even when a furry creature known as an Eevee appeared in the streets of New York just a few blocks away from Ren and Azzy people initially backed away in fear, but after containment, the United Nations came to the decision that, while the potential for danger was higher than anything they had ever experienced before, the Pokémon that had appeared all over the globe seemed to share traits and behaviors with other animals.

The world was changing—must faster than anyone could realistically adjust to. And for two small boys in a New York orphanage, that couldn't be more true.