Your Friendly Neighborhood Ecoterrorists

The recent announcement of Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby has sought to breathe new life into the fictitious Hoenn region. Indeed, longtime Pokemon fanatics will don their backpacks and charge up their PokeNavs in order to take on the reboot of the original Ruby and Sapphire. We at WLIA feel that this makes now the perfect time to hold a discussion of judgment on the two alleged villains of the series - Maxie, the leader of Team Magma, and Archie, the leader of Team Aqua.

Maxie and Archie are ecoterrorists. There is no better way to describe the goals and means through which these two men orient their respective factions. In the real world, they would have both the EPA and the FBI in hot pursuit, not to mention the Bureau of Land Management and countless other regulating agencies. Here's a quick rundown of some of their "missions."

• Team Aqua makes three assaults on the Devon Corporation in order to steal a package containing mechanical parts for a naval vessel. The first assault is in Petalburg Woods, the second in the Rustboro Headquarters, and the third in the Slateport City Oceanic Museum. Their immediate goal is the construction of their own aquatic research vessel.
• Team Magma steals a meteorite from an independent researcher. Their immediate goal is to induce a volcanic eruption at Mt. Chimney, which would send lava runoff down the island and into the ocean. Cooled lava would harden and increase the size of the island, but much of the island would be scorched as a result.
• Team Aqua attacks the Fortree Weather Institute in order to steal a weather controlling pokemon known as Castform. They wish to use this pokemon to make it rain on various parts of the island region.
• Team Magma attacks the Mosdeep City Space Center in order to steal rocket fuel. They wish to use this material to induce a volcanic eruption at Mt. Chimney.

As you can see, the things they do indeed have the potential to inflict heavy collateral damage to businesses and even to the general public. That said, can we really consider their actions to be unjustifiable? Truly, Team Magma only desires to help people by offering up more land for them to cultivate. Meanwhile, Team Aqua only desires to help people by offering up more fresh water for them to consume. These goals are incredibly noble ones and, circumstantially, their means may actually be necessary.

Pokenomics - Ecruteak City

Name: Ecruteak City
Notable Urban Locations: Kimono Dance Theater, Ecruteak City Gym, Burned Tower, Tin (Bell) Tower
Notable Rural Locations: Mt. Mortar

Case 1: A Historical Hub: Applying the Past

The two towers of Ecruteak City are said to have been built centuries ago with the purpose of promoting unity among all creatures. However, one was destroyed by a great lightning fire. Rather than rebuild the tower, the citizens left it as it was.

It stands purely as a symbol of the ideals of the past, something which we can hold on to and try to emulate better in the future. Even colossal historical failures can be worth remembering if solely for our ability to not make the same mistake twice.

Take Manzanar for example. Roughly six thousand acres of land in the Owens Valley were cordoned off to create housing blocks and agricultural fields. The 504 barracks first constructed in 1942 would go on to house over ten thousand Japanese-Americans. Quality of life was rather substandard, with harsh climate and poor sanitation from overcrowding of the facility.

Despite all this, those interned at Manzanar did all they could to create a tolerable quality of life. Recreational facilities, churches, and temples were constructed within the camp. The US government paid interned workers a small wage, but by pooling those wages those interned were able to construct a general store, a beauty parlor, a barber shop, a bank, and a printing agency all within the camp itself. Through cunning and perseverance, the Japanese-Americans had created their own autonomous society.

The benefits did not stop there, though; following advances on the Pacific Front, the Americans began to lift some of the restrictions placed on Japanese-Americans. When this occurred, the churches and service organizations banded together to create a job-training-and-sponsorship agency with which to send interned citizens across the country for work opportunities. Administrators of Manzanar camp even got involved, lending their support as the war came to a close.

Manzanar proved that even a terrible idea could be turned into a good one with time, creativity, and lots of optimism. But if we completely wiped away that history, then the world would never know. In the same vein, Burned Tower preserves the foundation of unity which it was built upon, and that has to count for something.

Perhaps the toughest question is what to keep and what to discard. In prior articles we have looked at making many changes to the region, disregarding the significance those former locations would have had if preserved for hundreds of years. We must continue to be careful and consider the long-term significance of every change we make, as we make them.

Pokenomics - National Park

Name: Johto National Park
Notable Events: Bug Catching Contests

Wildlife Conservation, Education and the Study of Entomology
North of Goldenrod City and southwest of Violet City is the Johto National Park. There is a small picnic area at one end of the park, while the main area consists of a fountain with two different types of tall grass. Trainers are free to battle within the park, and the park is also home to some of the rarest bug pokemon in the region (Pinsir, Scyther, and Venonat to name a few).

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the National Park holds a bug catching competition. Trainers have twenty Park Balls, twenty minutes, and one of their pokemon. They are tasked with catching the best bug pokemon they can find during that time. First place receives a Sun Stone, second place receives an Everstone, third place receives a Gold Berry (also known as a Sitrus Berry), and the consolation prize is a normal berry or a Shed Shell.

As a government-sponsored service, it is a good one because it promotes the study of insects (known as entomology) and the conservation of public lands. In a sense, National Park is something of a bug hatchery (similar to a fish hatchery, but with bugs obviously). Populations can be studied, processed and transported relatively quickly thanks to the idea of holding a catching contest multiple times per week. Promoting it as a recreational site also ensures that the visitors take good care of it, like they would a campground.

Entomology is a rather interesting field in itself, and one that most of us fail to acknowledge. It has all sorts of applications in areas such as food production, forensics and ecosystem management; therefore, it is of top priority for the region to ensure a continued interest in field operations. Entomology has also been a key inspiration for devices such as drones and spider tanks, which can have all sorts of unique applications!

I suppose my only real "What-If" for this geographic location would be expanding the park boundaries and studying more varied creatures. For example, with the proximity to Violet City (where flying types rule), one would expect emphasis on flying type research, but there isn't really any. Why not build a suitable habitat with which to study them?

The southeast edge of National Park contains a small access road which connects Route 35 to Route 36, serving as a bypass. Ceding this territory to the park would provide more than enough room to build an elevated platform between the treetops, not unlike ones discussed for Route 32 earlier.

Pokenomics - Goldenrod City (Underground)

Name: Goldenrod City
Notable Urban Features: Department Store, Underground Path, Game Corner, Radio Tower, Bullet Train, Goldenrod City Gym, Cyclist Shop
Notable Rural Features: Johto Day Care

Case 3: Bazaar of the Bizarre
Linking the Northern and Southern districts of Goldenrod city is a massive underground shopping district. Because it is not regulated by Johto law enforcement, trainers are allowed to battle freely, and vendors are allowed to make transactions without adhering to any strict policy. This, then, is the seedier part of the city, the textbook "Bazaar of the Bizarre."

Much like Black Lagoon's Roanapur, Star Wars's Mos Eisley, or the notorious Akihabara, this is a place where one can expect to be easily swayed into impulse buys, easily ripped off, easily pickpocketed, and maybe, if they are lucky, the proud victor of some strange and legendary product. That said, what one most often comes for is not the product, but the unique culture which can be found in these locations.

On one level, you have the pure yet basic oddball list of archetypes: street performers, freelance artists, the occasional prostitute, religious missionaries; all of these unique people just trying to eke out a living are out and about doing the things they truly enjoy (and yes, there are prostitutes who enjoy the work they do). There's a childlike innocence to it all, like a carnival or theatre. Your rationale then becomes that you are willing to risk the danger to witness something of true beauty.

But then you have that other level, the one which fronts for the mob, the mafia and so forth. You know it to be there, you understand that it is pulling the strings, and for some reason you find yourself compelled to dig deeper, to see more of that dark underbelly. You become a willing compatriot of the Criminal MO, and it feels good.

Honestly, we need more of this in the world - more Roanapurs, more Mos Eisleys, more Akihabaras, and more Underground Paths. The future is not building up; it's building down.

Pokenomics - Goldenrod City (Northern District)

Name: Goldenrod City
Notable Urban Features: Department Store, Underground Path, Game Corner, Radio Tower, Bullet Train, Goldenrod City Gym, Cyclist Shop
Notable Rural Features: Johto Day Care

Case 2: Regional Communication
With the release of the PokeGear by Silph Co. came the ability to add application cards to it. One of the more popular cards out there was the Radio App which accessed streaming radio through the region's AM/FM frequencies. Johto's radio tower is located within Goldenrod City.

Radio has always been rather versatile both as a form of entertainment and as a tool for absorbing information. In many ways it even beats out video because it only uses one sense (hearing) instead of two (hearing + vision). This means that one can be doing other things while still absorbing the audio into their mind. Additionally, the content played on talk radio is generally of a different kind than on television, and regarded by many to be superior in depth and quality.

Pokenomics - Goldenrod City (Southern District)

Name: Goldenrod City
Notable Urban Features: Department Store, Underground Path, Game Corner, Radio Tower, Bullet Train, Goldenrod City Gym, Cyclist Shop
Notable Rural Features: Johto Day Care

Case 1: Premium Goods and Services
Goldenrod City is best known for its department store, the only place in the Johto region to purchase a variety of unique items. It is the one-stop shop for any trainer or Pokemon professional. Of particular note are the ability to purchase Technical Machines (TMs) and permanent stat-enhancing vitamins, which can be anywhere from 1000 pokedollars to almost 10,000 pokedollars!

So, why Goldenrod?

I mean, if you think about it, it doesn't really make much sense, does it? This is only the third gym stop on a trainer's quest to win the eight badges. Most trainers at this stage have very little money, and thus cannot take advantage of these exquisite offerings until much later. This requires them to travel back and forth a lot which for efficiency's sake makes no real sense. Of course, it does make sense when we take into account a variety of other factors, such as:

• It may not look it on the surface, but Goldenrod is very much a port city. Port cities are almost always economic hubs because land transport of goods has never been efficient. For Johto, the only real alternatives are Cherrygrove City and Olivine City, and they have their own problems. Goldenrod does make for good compromise.
• Goldenrod City has always been optimal for rail construction, with magnet rail eventually replacing traditional rail. It lies on a latitudinal parallel which lay between clusters of mountains, ensuring quick and easy construction.
• Goldenrod City is closer to Azalea Town's resources than Violet City.

In a sense, Goldenrod is the capital of Johto and since Johto doesn't have its own real league, shouldn't the capital city be considered the location for the toughest trainers to meet? Shouldn't it be the location of the eighth gym?

Surprisingly, though, turning Goldenrod City into an 8th gym location would not be too hard, especially considering the geographic layout of the region. Thanks to our original What-If in regards to the reconstruction of Dark Cave, it would be so easy to do. Then, the Gym Progression could very well look like this:

1) Blackthorn City

2) Mahogany Town

3) Ecruteak City

4) Olivine City

5) Cianwood City

6) Violet City

7) Azalea Town

8) Goldenrod City

(Disclaimer: A lot of you may want to criticize me for either taking the game too literally, or trying to create some Fascist-level linearity to a game where backtracking is clearly a core element. I just want to remind you that this set of articles is merely a series of fun musings centered on the most economical decisions when terraforming the regions, and has little to do with the actual gameplay. Don't take it seriously.)

Pokenomics - Azalea Town (East Half)

Name: Azalea Town
Notable Urban Features: Azalea Town Gym, Slowpoke Well, Charcoal Kiln
Notable Rural Features: Ilex Forest, Union Cave

Case 2 - The North-South Arterial (Fisherman's Pier)
So building into our previous post about getting commerce to and from Azalea Town, the eastern connector is Route 32, which runs north-south from Violet City. It is one of the longest routes in the Johto region, and for a beginning trainer it can be quite arduous to make one's way through. In fact, a Pokemon Center was constructed at the Union Cave entrance in order to accommodate the onslaught of weary travelers.

Though not necessarily marked on the map, the route is home to a long fishing pier which loops east around the route's hilly terrain. It's much faster to traverse and easier to maintain, but is also congested with skilled trainers itching for a fight. We've seen similar architectural layouts for bridges on Kanto Highway 12 and Hoenn Cycling Road.

With the Violet City article's second case, we discussed building out Dark Cave's existing pathway as an underground tunnel, but rarely do we discuss building over land features (largely in part because bridges and mountain roads are expensive as hell). That said, platform segments over impassable terrain are quite useful both as methods of crossing obstacles and as areas with which to congregate.

Therefore, let's take this idea of the Fisherman's Pier to its logical extreme - piers on top of piers. Notwithstanding the massive horizontal span reserved for the magnet train, there is room to superimpose a secondary platform which runs planar to the hillside terrain, further increasing the surface area open to access by people. Trainers could move battles to the upper levels while keeping the lower levels relatively unrestricted. The possibilities are relatively endless, but the general rule of thumb is to get from point A to B quickly without loss of functionality anywhere along the line.

Pokenomics - Azalea Town (West Half)

Name: Azalea Town
Notable Urban Features: Azalea Town Gym, Slowpoke Well, Charcoal Kiln
Notable Rural Features: Ilex Forest, Union Cave

Case 1: Forestry Exports
In our last post we discussed how Wood is the premier building material in the Johto region. Even though many buildings use stone for their wallwork, many traditional buildings rely on wood for the roofing as opposed to metal sheeting. Internal structures and aesthetics are also composed largely of wood or wood byproducts. Finally, wood sees extensive use in charcoal, which of course has a wide variety of applications both consumer and industrial in the region.

In the Johto region, the best wood comes from Azalea Town's Ilex Forest, cut by an experienced family of woodcutters at the Charcoal Kiln (with their pet Farfetch'd). Thinking practically, this wood would then have to be transported by ground or naval travel, but doing so requires overcoming certain logistical hurdles.

The path which winds its way through the Ilex Forest is so overgrown with trees that "you can't see the sky." As such, it would need to be maintained year round, and closed during periods of severe weather (torrential rains, mudslides, etc.). The only real alternate route is east through Union Cave, then north along Route 32 (to be covered next article).

However, if you look on an aerial map, you can catch a glimpse of a small access road which terminates near the shoreline of Route 34 (accessible with the Surf HM). Would this not make a great place to build a harbor? Cutting along the western cusp of the forest would make the path slightly longer, but it would increase the amount of usable area within the forest proper. Who knows? Maybe it could cultivate a smaller community between Azalea Town and Goldenrod City.

(TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ARTICLE...)

Pokenomics - Violet City (and Outlying Landmarks)

Name: Violet City
Notable Urban Features: Violet City Gym, Sprout Tower, Earl's Academy
Notable Rural Features: Dark Cave, Ruins of Alph, Mr. Pokemon's Laboratory

Case 1: Cultural Exploration and Education
Violet City is very much a historical and anthropological epicenter among cities in the Johto region. Both the Ruins of Alph and the Sprout Tower have stood for centuries in-series, with frequent visits by researchers to better understand the arrangement of each structure.

For example, the Ruins of Alph are arranged in such a way to be ceremonial in nature, but also functional for agricultural purposes. In fact, there seem to be many parallels to the Chaco Anasazi (CE 700 - CE 1300). This was a North American civilization which made the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist, and proceeded to build a network of urban epicenters connected using a vast roadway system (this will be very important later). The Anasazi were ultimately wiped out when drought and ecological blunder led to massive deforestation and starvation.

The architectural setup of Sprout Tower (called "jūkōzō"), meanwhile, reflects the real-world dilemma of creating high-rise buildings to be earthquake-resistant. This is further examined in future iterations of the game (HeartGold/SoulSilver), where the internal beams are surrounded with a highly flexible, crosshatched series of wooden planks. Though it is largely Japanese in nature, the high-rise preference is very much in the realm of something the Anasazi would do.

In a modern context, one of the primary purposes of Violet City as an economic hub is to investigate and apply technologies of the past with newer, cheaper materials. It would make a lot of sense to plop down a great Library or University in this type of city compared to other cities in the region.

Case 2: Inter-regional Transport
The region surrounding Violet city is presented with a rather interesting problem. While there is a great intersection of highways to the west (with connections to Goldenrod City, Azalea Town, Ecruteak, and Olivine City), to the east is a completed connector to Cherrygrove City, New Bark Town... and that's it. There are two one-way land routes to get from Blackthorn City to Cherrygrove City. However, no such reverse route exists.

A rather pleasant "What If" would be to create a bi-directional tunnel through the existing Dark Cave route. Throw down some concrete and light fixtures and you'd have an underground analogue to Kanto's cycling road. Now that's something I feel could be really efficient!