A grim and gritty future lies on the horizon...

After a political revolution, a new philosophy has gripped the world of Pokemon. Pokemon themselves have become seen as near-human, sentient beings in their own right, and the now-restrictive government has laid down new laws: no Pokemon training. No fighting, as it is viewed as excessively cruel. Pokemon must be left in their natural state. Even owning them as pets has been greatly discouraged.

The way of life of the people is changing drastically. Children are no longer permitted to be trainers, but instead must remain in school until the age of eighteen. Motorboats have replaced riding on a surfing Pokemon's back, and small airplanes have replaced hitching a ride on a flying Pokemon. The industrialization of the world at large is starting to creep in; forests and grasslands are suffering as the bicycle and motorbike roads are sprayed bimonthly with Repel to keep the wild Pokemon from straying onto the path. And now, guns are commonplace - after all, nobody has their Pokemon to protect them.

Of course, there were those who spoke out against it - but the opposition was silenced as thirty-two year old spokesperson Ash Ketchum was gunned down in front of his home, and his favourite Pikachu euthanized 'for its own good'.

Why? It was simple - old rivalries still continued. It didn't take long for organizations like Team Aqua or Team Rocket to realize that people would pay good money for pokemon on the black market, and they would pay even more for a space to battle as they had in the old days. The new governmental restrictions were heavy and burdensome - but in exchange for raking in the money hand over fist, there was a collective agreement to support the measures.

At whatever cost.

Violence has skyrocketed now that the measures are in place - a population so used to easily battling to resolve conflicts, now armed with guns... The rivalries have turned deady. Hoenn is a bloodbath in the ongoing wars between Team Aqua and Team Magma, characterized by drive-by shootings and motorcycle gangs. The authorities are powerless to stop the conflict.

But where some see slaughter, others see a prime business opportunity.

While Hoenn has remained embroiled in conflict, Team Rocket has quietly and efficiently allocated their resources to become a leading power in the black market - a role roughly equivalent to being a mob boss, and not just that, but leader of all the bosses. As they slip into a role, Team Rocket has become less of a 'team'... and more of a 'family'.

The constant fighting between Team Magma and Team Aqua has created an opportunity - specifically, an opportunity for Team Rocket to make their move in Hoenn. The underground is tired of the constant fighting - and heightened danger - of Magma and Aqua's secret speakeasies...

So Team Rocket has founded a secret bar in Slateport City, where Pokemon trainers may freely display and fight their Pokemon.

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TL;DR - You know the gritty, edgy treatment things like Transformers and G.I. Joe have been getting? This is Pokemon: The Movie, as directed by Quentin Tarantino, with a splash of Lakadaisy thrown in.

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The setting for most of the action will be the Speakeasier Bar, run by Team Rocket. It is underground, in an expansive set of caves renovated into an Art Deco style. The main bar serves many alcoholic drinks, and there are televisions set up so that patrons can watch the fighting in the arena a few rooms over. There is also a large gambling area with poker and roulette. The main bar also has a small stage, with a piano off to the side. Usually there is live music, occasionally there are even cabaret acts.

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RULES

1. Don't be an asshole.

2. Respect the mods and respect your other players.

3. Understand RP may get up to R-rating because of violence (and cursing), but lemon roleplays are not allowed in chat.

4. In-character actions have in-character consequences. Understand the setting. If your character brags about being a trainer or struts around with their pokemon, they're going to get swift government action taken against them.

5. No powerplaying. Control only your character's actions. (Exception to this: see #4 and #6. If your character does something so egregious as to call the full attention of the NPC government, there will be consequences. But if you try to awesome your way out of such a situation, you'll pretty much be violating those two other rules. So, kids, don't do it.)

6. No godmoding. Your character has to be realistically powerful. No hidden gods, no super ninja pirate princess ballerina astronaut badasses. No get-out-of-jail-free cards.

7. You are not your character. See #4 - in-character actions have IN-CHARACTER consequences. OOC actions have OOC consequences, not IC consequences. IC actions do not have OOC consequences. Don't take in-character conflict personally, it's immature.

8. Use the best grammar and spelling you can. There are no post minimums, and I don't even expect long posts, but the point of this RP is to have fun taking the setting 'seriously'.