Backstory

The following is the background of the story. Nothing revealed here is considered a spoiler; certain information that is meant to be revealed later is left out. The backstory reveals the history of important events that lead up to the start of the story. Episode 1 essentially picks up right where the backstory ends; however, the backstory is revealed in the series anyway, so reading it isn't mandatory before viewing Episode 1.

Creation of the World
Arceus created the Pokémon World long ago with its Plates. Each Plate corresponds to a particular aspect of the world as it exists today. It's a complex process that only Arceus fully understands, but basically, for example, the Rock Plate is responsible for the world's various mountains, canyons, etc. The Electric Plate helped with the advancement of power sources as time progressed. The Psychic Plate helped with humans and Pok é mon excelling as intelligent species.

Arceus then divided much of the landmass into the regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. It also created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, the creation trio. Dialga controls time, Palkia controls space, and Giratina controls antimatter and the Distortion World, a world where time does not flow and space is unstable. The creation trio helped Arceus shape the world.

When humans started populating the world, Giratina showed terrible acts of violence. As a result, Arceus ended up banishing Giratina to stay in the Distortion World, making Arceus and Giratina enemies. Over the course of many years, Arceus acted boastfully and with arrogance, eventually causing every Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, including Dialga and Palkia, to dislike Arceus. Humans, however, adored Arceus.

Origins of Manipulation
Type Manipulation, known simply as Manipulation, is the art of humans controlling and skillfully handling a type, similar to Pokémon. It's been around since ancient times.

There is a Manipulation for each type, except Normal. Humans who are a Manipulator for a type can perform abilities and moves related to that type. It's also possible, but more difficult, to become a Dual Manipulator, which is possessing 2 types and knowing all abilities and moves for those types.

Plates are where the power of Manipulation comes from; it's basically a smaller version of the full power that Arceus can utilize with all of the Plates. Arceus possesses the Plates; they give it power. Without the Plates, Arceus is powerless. It used to be a fact that unless the Plates were somehow stolen, only Arceus could allow a human to become a Manipulator. But, this changed after certain events in the world.

Manipulation in Ancient Times
Arceus allowed certain humans whom it trusted to become Manipulators in these ancient times. Since Plates are the source of all of Arceus's power, the source of each Manipulation was rooted in the Plates. Plates weren't exactly needed for Manipulation, since Arceus just picked people to be Manipulators. When picking people to become Manipulators, the human needed to have a Gem and Zenryoku Crystal of the same type as the Manipulaton that Arceus was about to have the human be. Arceus usually just gave those two items to the human. This allowed for a system of meditation to be done with all three items if the human had those themselves.

Manipulation was meant to be used for emergencies and to maintain peace. This went well for a small while.

But then, humans started using the power of Manipulation for evil and self-gain. Wars broke out. Murders were committed. People wanted Arceus to allow them to become a Supreme Manipulator, which is possessing every Plate and performing a different meditation, allowing the human to control every type, do every ability/move, and have much more power. Arceus never allowed that to happen, but people were demanding it.

All of this angered Arceus and it stripped away the power of Manipulation from everyone. After this, it also wiped away the memory of Manipulation from all humans, hoping to keep it from the world forever. Arceus constantly kept history books of what happened in the world as years went by. It did not, however, remove records of Manipulation from books, but kept those books hidden in Sinnoh, away from humans. Arceus started to grow a lack of faith in humans.

First Meteor Shower
Years went by. At one point, still in ancient times, a meteor shower approaced the world, towards Sinnoh. Humans couldn't anticipate this, due to severe lack of technology, and feared for their lives.

As the meteor shower entered the world's atmosphere, Arceus stepped up and used its full power to stop the meteor shower from harming humans and then destroyed it. This took massive strength and energy. The impact of this encounter knocked all of Arceus's Plates away from it. Arceus fell to the ground, barely able to move (Arceus has to hold two of the Plates in order to call the rest of them to it).

A nearby kid picked up the Fire and Water Plates and gave them to Arceus. This allowed Arceus to summon the other 15. Arceus was grateful for this and grew a little more appreciation for humans again.

Formation of the Tekiyoku
Fast forward to 7 years before the story starts. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket in Kanto, reached out to Lysandre, the leader of Team Flare in Kalos. Giovanni was impressed upon hearing of Lysandre's work with Team Flare, including Zygarde. Giovanni wanted to work together with Lysandre.

The two ended up forming an evil organization for Team Rocket and Team Flare. This organization was named the "Tekiyoku". Giovanni was the leader. The purpose was for the two teams to work together to achieve their goals. These goals included finding more effective ways to capture and control Legendary and Mythical Pokémon so that they could make a better world. The teams worked to build their headquarters at an abandoned warehouse in Celestic Town in Sinnoh, since Sinnoh was fair traveling distance for those in both Kanto and Alola.

Second Meteor Shower
About a year later, another meteor shower was approaching the world. It was headed towards Kalos, in Anistar City. Since humans knew this was coming, most of them evacuated the city that night. However, Lysandre and the rest of Team Flare stayed nearby.

Arceus Captured
Arceus again came to stop the meteor shower, with Team Flare watching. Again, the impact knocked out all of Arceus's Plates and Arceus fell to the ground, immobile. This time, Lysandre picked up the Fire and Steel Plates and was about to hand them to Arceus. Right before he did, he motioned for everyone else in Team Flare to capture Arceus. They bound it up and put it in a big truck to haul away back to the Team Flare headquarters.

A New Leader
Word of the capture spread. Lysandre informed Giovanni of what happened. It turns out that Lysandre had been planning this ever since he learned of the incoming meteor shower, but kept it a secret from those not in Team Flare. After talking, Lysandre convinced Giovanni to give leadership of the Tekiyoku to Lysandre.

The first thing Lysandre wanted to do as leader was to make the Tekiyoku open to every other villainous team from the other regions and all general evil people. Recruitment took place for a few weeks, while Lysandre had Arceus transported to the Tekiyoku Headquarters in Sinnoh and imprisoned it in a triple-reinforced prison at the basement of the headquarters. The prison consisted of extra-durable steel bars in a room, with two incredibly tough see-through domes surrounding that room and it was built after Arceus's capture. This prevented Arceus from escaping with physical strength. Lysandre only told Arceus that he planned to use it to gain incredible strength.

Lysandre's Plans
Eventually, Lysandre called a meeting with every member at the Tekiyoku Headquarters in Sinnoh. Lysandre explained his plan to everyone. This plan basically involved Lysandre using Arceus to gain incredible strength and power so that he could change the world for the better and to benefit all members of the Tekiyoku. This could go a number of ways. Lysandre could have Arceus tell him a certain foolproof method to get other Legendaries and Mythicals to do as he commands. He could also kill Arceus and therefore have other Legendaries and Mythicals fear him and obey him once they learn what the group did.

But what Lysandre mostly wanted was a direct way he could gain power himself, without needing the Legendaries nor Mythicals, but in fact, surpassing them. He guaranteed he'd make a better world for all the Tekiyoku, which earned him applause, more support, and trust.

Then, in front of everyone assembled, he asked Arceus for the way he could do this, since Arceus created the world and should know, letting Arceus know that if it didn't tell him what he wanted to know, he'd kill Arceus right there.

The Return of Manipulation
Arceus realized that they were all serious, so to defend its life, it told Lysandre about a secret long kept from mankind for years. It was Manipulation.

It told the Tekiyoku everything about the use of Manipulation from ancient times. It even let them know where the history books about Manipulation were hidden in Sinnoh, in case they didn't believe Arceus. Those books were hidden in Eterna City. Some members traveled there to get them and brought them back to the headquarters. Upon examining the books, the group believed Arceus.

From there, they went on trips to obtain (more specifically, steal) several Gems and Zenryoku Crystals of each type. Since the group already possessed each Plate from when they fell from Arceus, Manipulation was now possible.

Lysandre agreed to be the first one to try the meditation process, and even try becoming a Dual Manipulator. He chose Fire and Steel to be his two types, the same two Plates he first picked up from the ground in Anistar City after the meteor shower weakened Arceus. It was in agreement that if Lysandre died from this meditation, the other members would kill Arceus. The ritual went successfully and Lysandre became the first Manipulator in years and the first one of the Tekiyoku.

Other members followed, all becoming single-type Manipulators, because of the huge risk of Dual. Eventually, most members of the group were Manipulators. Those who weren't ended up just working behind the scenes for the group and wouldn't go out to fight.

Tekiyoku Takeover
After training with their new powers a bit, Lysandre eventually sent all the Manipulators to different cities in all the regions. He had them take over the regions completely, threatening the citizens with violence if they didn't comply. He even had them disband all of the police forces in the regions. A side effect of Manipulation is that those who are Manipulators cannot be killed with guns nor other firearms; those would just pass right through them. Arceus put that power into the Plates, not supporting the violent nature of such weapons. Because of this, the police had no choice but to surrender to the Tekiyoku and step down completely.

After some time, the Tekiyoku had control of all regions. All the group really wanted was to have no one try to stop them and to collect money from the citizens. Citizens were taxed every now and then to pay large sums of money to the Tekiyoku. Those who didn't comply were punished. After 1 time of missing a payment, citizens were just given a warning. After the second time, citizens were assaulted by the group. But after the third time, citizens were either imprisoned in the usual jailhouses that the Tekiyoku now owned, since the police stepped down, or they were killed, depending on how much money they owed the group. Despite extreme dislike, the townspeople had no choice but to abide by this.

The Tekiyoku also ended competitive Pokémon battling. All Gyms were shut down, along with all Leagues, Contests, etc. To take it a step further, any person caught with a Pokémon using moves would get their Pokémon taken away. There was even a monetary award for those who caught others' Pokémon using moves. There was also a monetary award for those who stole other people's Pokémon and brought them to the Tekiyoku. Some citizens did this kind of stuff to get enough money to pay the taxes to the group.

To make it worse, all people were only allowed to possess one Pokémon at a time. Professors were forbidden from sending more than one of a person's Pokémon to that person. The Tekiyoku installed systems to keep track of if a Professor violated this rule and would punish the Professor (and person) if this happened. The Tekiyoku didn't really care what else citizens did, as long as it didn't interfere with the group's plans.

More on Supreme Manipulation
A person who possesses every Plate can then do a huge meditation with all the Plates AND Arceus. The Plates must be arranged in a particular order in the shape of another triangle on the ground. Arceus must also be nearby. Then, the meditation takes one hour instead of 30 minutes, and if there's a single interruption at all during this, the human dies, no matter when.

When it's over, that person now possesses all types and can do every Manipulation move and ability with little limitations. As stated earlier, this is called being a Supreme Manipulator and it is powerful enough to even beat Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.

It is the ultimate goal of the Tekiyoku, but only one person can be a Supreme Manipulator at a time in the world. It was agreed on that Lysandre would be the one to do this. This is why they didn't kill Arceus after it told them about Manipulation, because they need Arceus for Lysandre to be a Supreme Manipulator. Also, no one can be a Supreme Manipulator without training their Manipulation abilities for at least 3 years. This is also why Lysandre didn't just become a Supreme Manipulator right after he learned about it.

There is no record of a Supreme Manipulator at any time in the world's history.

Other Manipulations
There are also very few instances of a Dark Manipulator in the world's history. Being a Dark Manipulator is almost impossible, due to a certain demon that lives in the Dark Plate, named after the Plate itself, Kowamote.

Furthermore, there are two other Manipulations. One is fairly known among Manipulators, but the other is unknown, even to Arceus. Arceus says that only Giratina knows about it, but did some trick to erase Arceus's memory of it when the two turned bitter enemies. Arceus only remembers that a certain condition needs to be met in order to unlock the Manipulation and restore Arceus's memory.

The history books just mention that there are two extra Manipulations. This makes a total of 20 Manipulations: one for each type besides Normal (17), those two mystery Manipulations, and then Supreme Manipulation.

Alain
The Tekiyoku continued their training and controlling of the regions, awaiting for the day Lysandre could be a Supreme Manipulator. But, there was another person who was a Dual Manipulator in the Tekiyoku. His name is Alain Kenshō Takahata. He helped Lysandre over the past few years and knew him before the Tekiyoku.

Lysandre built great trust between the two. Alain even helped with Team Flare from behind the scenes, since he is very intelligent, even though Alain wasn't a member. Because of this, he wanted to try being a Dual Manipulator like his best mentor, Lysandre. It was successful. Alain is a Psychic and Flying Manipulator. But, there are some things Alain has been hiding...

Alain's Conflicted Feelings
Alain enjoyed helping Lysandre over the years. Lysandre found Alain in Kalos when Alain was abandoned by his mother at a young age. Alain's father died from diseases many years prior. Lysandre gave him a home and looked after him. Alain trusted him. Lysandre got Alain involved in his evil plots, from Team Flare, to making him the first member of the Tekiyoku that wasn't a full member of Team Flare nor Team Rocket.

But once Lysandre captured Arceus and started terrorizing citizens, Alain saw Lysandre in an entirely different light. He didn't like what Lysandre was becoming, and he knew he needed to be the one to stop his mentor. He also knew he couldn't just resist Lysandre upfront, because he would be outnumbered and surely killed.

Alain planned to train extremely hard at his Manipulation skills and one day defeat Lysandre. This is really why he wanted to be a Dual Manipulator, because possessing two types gives him a better chance at winning. He pretended to follow Lysandre and support him, hiding his true feelings from everyone else.

Arceus Plots with Alain
One night -- this is still about 4 years from the present -- while Alain was walking in the basement of the headquarters, watching Arceus, Arceus spoke to Alain. It said that it sensed that Alain wasn't like everyone else. Alain agreed, prompting Arceus to ask him if he's really as evil as the others.

This is when Alain cautiously told Arceus that he can't stand Lysandre and that he plans on getting very skillful with his Manipulation and fighting skills so that he can kill him one day. Arceus warned against this, stating that he would probably be beaten if this happened, since Lysandre would surely have backup.

Arceus suggested something else: something that could stop Lysandre from being a Supreme Manipulator next year. Arceus said it can't tell Alain the details yet and to come meet it the next year several days before Lysandre's 3 required years of training are over. It did tell Alain one important thing, though; he'd need to somehow steal the Psychic Plate, named Fushigi, from Lysandre. Lysandre, by the way, keeps every Plate and keys to Arceus's prison locked up, inaccessible to everyone else. Alain is confident, though, because he's earned Lysandre's trust over the years and is sure he can get the Psychic Plate.

More on Psychic Manipulation
Psychic is a unique Manipulation. Psychic Manipulators have 3 abilities, and one of them is called "Watchful Eye". This unique ability allows users to track another human, using a DNA sample from the intended human to track.

Because of that ability, a while back, Lysandre made the other members give pieces of hair to act as DNA samples, so that they can be tracked at any time by Psychic Manipulators. Alain is aware of this and knows that if he betrays Lysandre, he'd be tracked. But, he's prepared for that.

Arceus Teaches Alain
One night next year (3 years from the present), Alain convinced Lysandre to give him the Psychic Plate, claiming he needed it to create a stronger sense of energy to make his Psychic moves much stronger. Alain possessed the Plate and went down to the basement while everyone else was asleep. There was about 2 weeks left until Lysandre could become a Supreme Manipulator.

In the basement, he saw Arceus and showed the Psychic Plate to it; he stole the keys to the two see-through domes out of Lysandre's room while he was asleep. Lysandre keeps the keys to the main steel-bars prison room on his person, so stealing them would surely wake him. Alain had no idea where the other Plates were. But unlocking the domes allowed Alain to do something with Fushigi. The holes in the steel bars were so small that Fushigi couldn't be given to Arceus, but Alain was in closer proximity to Arceus.

This is good because there is an extra Psychic move that only Arceus can teach to someone while that person is holding Fushigi and Arceus is nearby. There is a small background to this move, though.

Omnipotent Purēto Scatter
Before Arceus banished Giratina and they were still in agreement, Arceus assigned a task to Giratina. This task involved picking random spots around the world to hide each Plate. This was a defensive method. The Plates don't have an effect on other Pokémon; only Arceus and humans benefit from them. But Arceus wanted a way that the Plates could be hidden in case Arceus was ever in danger of a human stealing them all and couldn't defend itself.

This defensive method turned into a move that Arceus created with the Psychic Plate (Fushigi), named "Omnipotent Purēto Scatter". For this move, if Arceus was holding Fushigi and no other Plates, Arceus could spread out all the Plates, including Fushigi, to those spots around the world picked by Giratina. The Plates would always spread out, becoming intangible and passing through natural objects.

Then, Arceus would disappear, going to a deep slumber in spirit. Note that Arceus can't normally disappear like that without the Plates, but when using this move, Arceus could. Then, the Plates would become "dormant" for 3 years. This means that they would disappear from view and be "inactive" and couldn't be used at all.

After the 3-year period, they would reappear in those spots and could be gathered. For this move, the plan was for Arceus to know where two of the Plates were so that it could get them when they're not dormant and then use those two Plates to call the rest of them to it. Giratina told Arceus where those two Plates were hidden exactly, but not the rest, because it didn't matter; once Arceus gathered those two Plates, it could then call the rest of them to it. Those two Plates were the Psychic and Water ones.

Giratina wrote down in history books which region had which Plates, but not the cities nor specific locations. Writing specific locations could be dangerous if humans ever discovered these books. So as a result of this, Giratina is the only one who knows where it hid each Plate exactly, but it won't reveal it since it's now an enemy of Arceus.

A Human's Ability to Scatter the Plates
If Arceus couldn't possess the Psychic Plate to use "Omnipotent Purēto Scatter", though, another human could get the Plate and be taught the move while they hold it and Arceus is nearby, which was, in the past, unlikely since normally, the human would just give the Plate to Arceus. The human didn't need to be a Psychic Manipulator to be taught the move. If a Manipulator used this move (it doesn't matter what Manipulation the human possessed), it didn't cost any energy.

Once the human performed the move, assuming that Arceus was still unable to get the Plates itself, the idea was that there needed to be a way for the human to find the Plates. So, the human user of the move would then be able to track down all the Plates once they weren't dormant after 3 years and keep them safe. Or if Arceus could be given the Plates, only two would be needed to be gathered and then given to Arceus so that it could recover the rest, which would likely be the Psychic and Water Plates since Arceus would tell the human exactly where they are.

The human had the power to track all of the Plates, though, in case other Plates were closer than the Psychic and Water ones. For tracking, the human would be able to pull up a sort of "mini-map" that only they can see. It would show them the regions that each Plate is in. If they're in the same region as a Plate, they could sense the exact city it's in.

However, once in the same city, they could only sense the area of the Plate, but not be led right to it. This is because this tracking functions the same as the "Watchful Eye" Psychic ability, which is functionally how Arceus created the move. That ability doesn't lead straight to a person either because Arceus didn't want it too easy for someone to track someone else, due to possibilities that a killer would easily take an innocent person's life. Arceus had to make this Plate-tracking method similar to Watchful Eye because at the time, it was rushed to make this move by Giratina or else Giratina wouldn't have picked the hiding spots around the world.

If the human was to die during the dormant period, Arceus would just have to hopefully become enabled to get the Psychic and Water Plates on its own later, before another human took them from the locations. Also, another Legendary or Mythical Pokémon could bring the Plates to it.

Legendaries and Mythicals Won't Help Arceus
Back to the present, it's important to note again that the other Legendary and Mythical Pokémon still dislike Arceus, which is why they haven't come to Arceus's rescue. They haven't tried to stop the Tekiyoku either. One reason is that what the Tekiyoku is doing doesn't affect them. Even if Lysandre became a Supreme Manipulator, those Pokémon weren't in danger of having their lives negatively affected unless they were attacked, but they could fight back in that case; Supreme Manipulators can still be killed.

The other reason they're not trying to stop the Tekiyoku is that, even for those Legendaries and Mythicals who do care about humans' lives, they still won't interfere, because there are a LOT of skilled Manipulators, who could easily kill Legendaries and Mythicals if outnumbered. A vast majority of them, however, do not care about humans' lives and wouldn't try to help them.

Alain's Escape
Focusing on what's happening now, this was Arceus's plan: to have Alain steal Fushigi so that it could teach him that move to scatter the Plates. Arceus had to wait until finding someone who was on its side to teach this. Alain learned the move, but when a human learns the move, it takes 7 hours for it to work, and the human user must still possess Fushigi when using it, so Alain had to wait before scattering the Plates.

The next morning, Lysandre called a little meeting in the headquarters with the members who happened to be in the area. Alain knew he had to hurry and use this move before Lysandre got the Plate back from Alain, which luckily hasn't happened yet.

When it was time, Alain used Omnipotent Purēto Scatter. The Plates glowed blue and couldn't be touched. They floated from Lysandre's room into the main area and then shot out of the room, spreading around the world. As soon as this happened, Alain smirked at Lysandre and used the Psychic move, "Stay Back!", which pushed everyone around him away from him and down to the ground. Then, he used the Flying ability, "Soaring Dove", which allowed him to fly out of the room quickly before he could be attacked by anyone. Alain escaped the Tekiyoku.

Right after that, everyone ran down to the basement to confront Arceus, demanding answers on what happened. Arceus, being confident in Alain, informed them about the plan in full detail, explaining the Psychic move that scattered the Plates. The Tekiyoku was furious; Arceus warned them to not kill it because they still needed Arceus if Lysandre wants to become a Supreme Manipulator and to not kill Alain because he's the only one who can sense exactly where the Plates are hidden in 3 years when they're not dormant anymore.

A Race is Underway
Ultimately, it would end up being a race in 3 years. On one side, Alain would get the Plates and do one of two things. He could make enough other citizens Manipulators and gather an army to defeat the Tekiyoku, or the other option would be to gather at least two and then find a way to free Arceus, but that option was unlikely, because Lysandre would probably keep the keys to Arceus's prison very well hidden and would probably do anything to protect them. Either way, Alain had to stop the Tekiyoku from getting all of the Plates.

On the other side, the Tekiyoku had to try to get the Plates before Alain does. Even if Alain gets to one first, they had to try to get it from him with whatever means possible. They wouldn't try to kill Alain before all the Plates were gathered, since Alain is the only one who can sense where they are. Psychic Manipulators would track Alain since they have his DNA. One side would win.

Alain's Traveling Partner
There's one more thing Arceus talked to Alain about that night when Alain was taught that move. There was more talk about the details of Alain's travel when he would journey in 3 years to gather all the Plates. Alain was advised to keep moving as often as possible to avoid being caught, but it also advised him to travel with someone else.

Arceus told him about another young man whom it had been keeping an eye on for many years. Arceus emphasized that this person's heart is in the right place, that he's brave, and that he never gives up. Arceus instructed Alain to contact this person when the 3-year period is almost done and when the Plates are almost finished being dormant, but not earlier than that.

Alain was told to just live as normal of a life as possible in the meantime without getting in trouble and to take the 3-year time period to get better at his Dual Manipulation. When traveling with the young man, Alain was told to keep him out of danger, because the Tekiyoku had no reasons to keep that person alive. Arceus assured Alain that there was something special about this young man that would prove he's the best person to help Alain. Arceus told Alain his name, along with the city and region he lived in.

Alain is to travel with Satoshi Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in the Kanto region.

The Journey Begins
This brings us to the present. The Plates stop being dormant in about 2 weeks. Alain has managed to possess several copies of each type of Gem and Zenryoku Crystal. He has contacted Ash via e-mail. The e-mail introduced Alain a little bit and told Ash that Arceus needs him to meet with Alain in Jubilife City in Sinnoh for something very important. It emphasized that the fate of the entire world depended on Ash's participation and that Ash needed to be fully prepared with traveling essentials. The e-mail couldn't contain too much information, in case it was hacked.

Ash replied that he would meet Alain, even though he doesn't know him. Ash travels to Jubilife City in Sinnoh to meet Alain. This is where the story begins.