It shouldn't have caught anyone by surprise, but only two people saw it coming. Clarence Ketchum, Ash Ketchum's youngest child, and his friend, Mr. Arnold Collins. 

[hider=The Looming Disaster]
Ash's five children seemed to be destined for success... well, mostly. His oldest child became a gym leader, his next oldest child became a member of the final four, and Clarence's other two older siblings were on very promising Pokémon journeys. Clarence didn't share the same level of passion for Pokémon that his older siblings had, and this was amplified by Ash's decision to move to Jubilife City. 

Ash was becoming sick and was now in his late forties. His wife had already passed away and the medicine was only available in the city. The trip was now tiring to him, and he wanted to settle down. So, he bought a small apartment, and, in order to pay for the expensive medication, Clarence got a low paying job doing chores for Arnold, a young man who owned some offices within the city. Clarence mostly did cleaning, fetched coffee, and did other tasks. But he liked his job, because Arnold told him wonderful stories. Unlike most stories told to children, these stories typically did not focus on Pokémon, but instead consisted of funny experiences his coworkers had, or a time when he got lost in the woods when he was little only to discover that his sister was playing an elaborate prank on him.

Suddenly, around Clarence's ninth birthday, Arnold began to get increasingly stressed. He put his work aside, which usually consisted of plugging numbers into a computer or calculator, and started writing letters. This perplexed Clarence, and finally, after a few months passed, Arnold explained.

"I've noticed something alarming. Very alarming. You see, there is a lot of focus on Pokémon in this world. Everyone loves them. And that's beautiful. And amazing. And I respect that," said Arnold. "But there is a slight... problem with this."

"First of all, there is little job diversification. Everyone is a Pokémon researcher, Pokémon nurse or doctor, manufactures items for Pokémon, or does something related to Pokémon. There aren't many farmers. There aren't many human doctors."

Clarence nodded. Jobs like farmers, plumbers, electricians, or doctors were rare. Most people were Pokémon trainers. Even the miners typically only worked part time so that they could train on the side. Clarence remembered when the sink at his house broke when he was four and it took four days for a plumber to travel into the region to fix it. 

"So, we don't have many people making food. Soon, we'll have food shortages. However, given how stable our economy has been, the amount of berries around us, that shouldn't be an issue as long as we organize and pull ourselves together. However this requires something that we lack. A government. Somebody, or a group of people, taking charge. Right now, even if there is leadership, it's based on who has the strongest Pokémon, not on who is the best leader."

Arnold continued, pointing out the flaws with the economy and the system. Inflation.

Clarence sort of understood the predicament. But he left fairly confused. He wouldn't think about the conversation again for about a year...
[/hider]


[hider=Rise of the Teams]
Over time, many of the villainous teams slowly dissolved. Team Galactic was the first to go, running out of funds and resources. Team Aqua and Magma essentially beat each other into submission, and, rather unsurprisingly, experienced a total collapse. Team Plasma weakened, but there were still a handful of members lurking in the underground. However, they would eventually become more of a club or secret society than a legitimate team.

Teams Skull, Flare, and Rocket found themselves in the same state they always had been until one day, Eric Collins, one of the secret leaders of Team Rocket received a letter from his brother, warning him of the world's imminent financial doom. So, Eric spoke with Team Rocket's leaders and organized them in order to take advantage of his brothers observations, while most others ignored Arnold's concerns. The leaders of Team Skull were smart and began to realize why Team Rocket was acting in the way it was, and mimicked their behavior. 

When the economy collapsed, Team Rocket quickly stepped in and provided cities with aid in the form of food... under one condition. Team Rocket was in charge. Desperate, they agreed, and Team Rocket quickly took control of several regions, along with Team Skull. Team Flare was slower to act, but had a great deal of money that they were sitting on already, and used that to get their foot in the door.

Finally, Team Unity formed, and began to take control of various areas as well. Team Skull took control of Islands and the Alola region. Team Flare took control of the cities in the Kalos region. Team Rocket took control of the cities in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. Team Unity quickly took over Sinnoh and Unova.

The focus for these teams was to take people's money. And that's what they did. They soon had monopolies and control. Leadership was in place. And it was in the form of four different dictators.
[/hider]

[hider=Your Character]
Thankfully, the small towns have retained their independence, and your character has freedom. They will journey through the Pokémon world, and I will control Clarence, NPCs, and wild Pokémon. However, your characters goals are up to you. Will you overthrow the new leadership with your influence? Or take it's place? And who will your starter Pokémon be?

CS
Name: 
Gender:
Bio:
Appearance:
Goals:
Personality:
Inventory: [A reasonable amount of Pokédollars and items]
Pokémon: [Limited to starting out with a maximum of two. You first one must be less than Level 10 and the second must be under Level 7. These can not be legendaries or shiny]

Pokémon's CS
Pokémon: [i.e. Squirtle]
Pokémon's Nickname: [If your Pokémon has no nickname, leave this blank]
Level:
Gender:
XP: [Leave at 0 for now]
Moves: [Maximum of four. Make them moves the Pokémon can actually use. No Magikarps that can use fly or Ember]
Nature:
Stats: [HP, attack, defense, etc. You can use Bulbapedia to determine a fair distribution of these, and they will be randomly generated ahead of time for any additional pokémon you encounter.]
Other info: [Any specifics about their personality beyond the one word description of their nature.]
[/hider]

Still want to do some work and refine this, but I want to see if anyone is interested first and has any questions. I plan on this being a bit silly and ridiculous at times.