Pokémon and the Elemental Planes: A Review

Perhaps one of the most well-known attributes of Pokémon is their elemental affinities and their ability to manipulate the elements in the form of moves and abilities. An understanding of the mechanisms by which they do so and of the interactions between elemental energies and the physical world requires at least a general insight into elemental planar dynamics. As in-depth explanation of the elemental planes is an exceptionally complex undertaking even for researchers who specialise in this field, this work aims to provide a review of historic and current literature to promote a better understanding of this subject.

Introduction
In the days before the first rudimentary "monster balls" were crafted, the creatures now commonly referred to by the colloquialism "Pocket Monsters" (or "Pokémon" for short) were oft-referred to as "majuu" or "magical creatures" for their seemingly 'supernatural' ability to harness and manipulate elemental forces in ways that were beyond human ability to explain. Even in these more-enlightened times, many humans still think of these elemental abilities as akin to magic, and of the material plane, bound by conventional physics - hereinafter referred to as the prime - as the "natural" reality which these abilities exceed.

This view is a biased one, though this bias is, perhaps, to be expected; humans are, by nature, creatures of the prime - they evolved within its framework and under the constraints it imposes, and for the most part are limited by such. However, through years of close association with Pokémon and studies of their abilities and affinities, it has been discovered that the prime is merely one of many frames of reference which may be applied when observing a far more complex, layered “capital-R” Reality. A particular set of such frames of reference is what we refer to as the elemental planes. Once thought of as a set of discrete dimensions that serve as wellsprings of elemental energies (a misnomer used for historical reasons – they are in actuality an exotic state of wave/particle dualities without an exact equivalent under conventional prime physics), it is now believed that the elemental planes are not as distinct from each other – and from the prime - as previously believed. The elemental planes overlap the prime and resonate with it - and though certain boundaries do exist between the elemental planes and the prime, as well as between the planes themselves, these boundaries are semi-permeable at best, leading to complex and mutual processes of shaping, in which the prime affects elemental energy patterns within the elemental planes, and elemental energy patterns within the elemental planes affect the prime in turn.

Elemental energy interactions and the Draconic Cycle
Elemental energies are often referred to as having a type – a strong correlation with certain patterns or configurations of matter and energy in the prime, whose presence or absence at a particular point in spacetime affects their density and flow at these points. A body of water on the prime, for example, would correlate with higher levels of “Water-type” elemental energy than the ambient levels of such in the air or the ground around it, and the flow of this energy would correlate with the currents within this body of water. An elemental plane, then, is a phase – or “layer” of reality – encompassing all elemental energy quanta (or “gensons”) of a particular type – and in this sense, energy patterns within the elemental planes naturally mirror their prime counterparts. At least eighteen elemental types have been identified and characterised, and multiple systems of classification have been proposed over the years in order to categorise them into groups. Most of these systems were based on their corresponding patterns in the prime and whether they were predominantly based in matter or energy – and ranged from simple binary approximations to complex systems of overlapping circles. These have all proven to be fairly arbitrary and to contain ambiguities that are difficult to resolve – and current systems of type classification generally refer to similarities or differences in the attributes of sub-gensonic quanta collectively known as chromions. The presence or absence, configuration and energy-state of chromions within a genson determine that particular genson’s type and govern its interactions with other wave-particle dualities.

While their direct physical interaction with the prime is negligible for the most part, elemental energies readily interact with each other – and the types of elemental energies also determine the nature and magnitude of their interactions, as well as the products of such interactions. Energies of particular types may be more or less susceptible to interacting with energies of other types, and the results of such interactions may lead to individual gensons “decaying” by losing chromions (not unlike the ionisation of atoms through electron loss) until they reach a practically inert basal state (in this state, perhaps ironically, gensons are closest in their behaviour to prime-based quanta). The ability of an individual type of elemental energy to resist this decay when exposed to energies of a different type, as well as its tendency to react with energies of other types and induce this decay, are often referred to as measures of one type’s effectiveness against the other. Type effectiveness, of course, is a measure of probability, and other attributes may affect the degree of decay that would occur in practice when elemental energies clash – including attributes of density, flow and intensity of these elemental energies in the localised area the interaction takes place in.

The polar opposite of this basal state is the state associated with Dragon-type energies. Dragon-type gensons contain virtually every flavour of chromion in some capacity, and represent the most complete state a genson may attain while still remaining stable. Dragon-type energies, simply put, contain a little something of everything – and thus appear to be associated with the fundamental forces of reality itself rather than any particular patterns in the prime. While Dragon-type gensons are relatively stable and don’t react strongly with gensons of most other elemental energy types (with exceptions to this being few and governed by somewhat unique circumstances), they are highly reactive with each other. However, their interactions do not typically result in complete decay to the above-mentioned basal state – rather, Dragon-Dragon genson interactions tend to result in partial decay, leading to partial loss of chromions into the ambient environment and the transformation of the Dragon-type gensons into those of other types. The chromions more likely to escape into the environment (and thus the types the gensons may decay into) may vary due to indirect influences from their surroundings and densities of other elemental energy types around them. The secondary influences of Ice-type energies in particular are noted for rapidly accelerating this process – ironically, by inducing the naturally fast-moving Dragon-type gensons to move slower and cluster closer together, forcing more complete reactions that often terminate at the basal state. As such, in spite of a different mechanism of operation, Ice-type energies are typically considered highly effective against Dragon-type energies.

Over time, gensons that have decayed to basal state interact with free-floating chromions and serve as crystallisation centres for stable configurations thereof, eventually absorbing them and forming Dragon-type gensons again. These Dragon-type gensons then proceed to interact with each other, decaying over time into gensons of various other types, then into the basal state – and so on in a self-perpetuating cycle. Dragon-type energies, then, may represent the most primordial state of elemental energies – the ‘aether’ out of which other elemental energies coalesce and fills the spaces in between. The unique nature and effects of Dragon-type energies in comparison to all others were readily recognisable even in ancient times – and the creatures most predominantly associated with them inspired fascination and reverence in the histories and mythologies of many regions. Indeed, “Dragon-type” energies were named after these creatures – with greater, “legendary” dragons even playing numerous parts in regional creation myths, perhaps reflecting the fundamental part Dragon-type energies have to play in the elemental energy cycle as a whole.

The cycle, however, is not without its aberrations – perhaps the most notable of which is what has come to be known as the Fairy type. The causes behind the attributes and type effectiveness of the Fairy type baffled researchers for many years, and only recent research revealed the underlying mechanism behind which. Fairy-type gensons contain a highly-stable configuration of chromions entirely unlike any other found in the natural world, and their presence in sufficient concentrations affects the energetic stabilities of other chromion configurations. This leads to particularly violent reactions with the carefully balanced Dragon-type gensons – often leading them to decay all the way to the basal state – and may even influence the configuration chromions take when merging with a basal-state genson, leading to the formation of new Fairy-type gensons rather than Dragon-type gensons. This “viral” mode of Fairy-type genson formation exclusively out of basal-state gensons rather than as a potential result of Dragon-type decay suggests that the Fairy-type may represent an alternate paradigm of elemental energies to those derived from Dragon-type energies – one which somehow integrated itself into the predominant paradigm (a haunting echo of the fae-myths surrounding the creatures associated with the type) and is kept in check by local equilibria. Some hypotheses even postulate that this paradigm may have emerged outside the confines of our reality, somehow seeping into it and “staining” it at some early point in its formation – and that parallel universes may exist bearing a different ratio of these competing paradigms, with some speculative models of such universes having been proposed by researchers of the Fairy type. This outside origin of the Fairy-type, however, is still somewhat controversial and remains a subject of heated debate in the scientific community.

Planar translation and Pokémon as agents and catalysts thereof
In a state of rest, elemental energies of virtually every type are near-ubiquitous in the environment, reacting with each other at a fairly constant rates until local equilibria more or less consistent with prime correlations are reached. These equilibria can be disturbed in a variety of ways, however – and often, energy intensities and densities locally change in response to a disruption of such equilibrium, inducing the decay of residual energy excesses until an energetically-favourable equilibrium is attained again – a phenomenon sometimes referred to as planar correction. A prolonged – or brief but powerful - shift in local equilibria may have far reaching effects that may even physically affect the prime.

The term “planar translation” refers to the physical shifting of wave-particle dualities from one frame of reference directly into another – usually from one of the elemental planes into the prime. Typically, this occurs when planar boundaries intersect and form a localised bridge between the planes through which elemental energies may “physically” manifest. Typically, these bridges are fairly short-lived, low in intensity, and followed by planar correction to baseline values. However, in places where high elemental energy densities of a particular type are naturally abundant over a prolonged period of time (typically many years), such bridges may eventually stabilise and “settle”. Should this occur, the intersection between the prime and that particular type’s corresponding plane becomes broader in scope and the lines between them are locally blurred – leading to a relatively constant flow of ambient elemental energies from that plane into the prime itself, which may manifest in a vast variety of ways, depending on the element and on the location’s natural attributes in the prime. Locations where a bridge has coalesced and stabilised are often regarded as “places of power” for their corresponding elements and may have some dramatic effects on the local environment and ecosystems; For example, areas containing a sustained Grass-plane bridge (such as the Sinnoh region’s Eterna Forest) are oft-characterised by accelerated growth and diversification of the local flora – including both radiation of existing species and apparent de novo emergence of species entirely new to the area. A particularly interesting example is the moss Petramiculum marginata, which has been implicated as an indicator species for stable Grass-plane bridges; P. marginata forms dense mantles of growths on rocks exclusively in the presence of established Grass-plane bridges, and typically in spots where the Grass-type elemental energy densities are at their highest. The species has been found on “moss rocks” in multiple, disparate geographical locations, sometimes separated by thousands of kilometres and the mechanism by which the species colonised such sites is still not fully understood. Specimens of this moss removed from such environments appear to carry a Grass-type energetic charge for a brief while before withering away, and maintaining their growth under laboratory conditions remains a challenge.

Planar translation also occurs as a result of Pokémon activity, and plays a part in the fundamental mechanics of operation behind the way in which these creatures influence the environments they inhabit. Pokémon are, of course, perhaps the most successful and diverse domain of multicellular organisms native to this planet – found within virtually every ecosystem and biological niche and frequently possessing a wide array of close symbiotic relationships with other organisms (both microscopic and macroscopic, Pokémon and non-Pokémon in nature). Despite the great deal of variety in forms, habitat, ecology, diet, intellect and degree of sentience (ranging from basic animal intelligence, through full human-like sentience, to alien thought processes difficult to even speculate on) – The elements of Pokémon biology to which they owe their success are highly conserved across all species of Pokémon currently described (suggesting likely common ancestry, though the exact nature of such ancestry is still a matter of debate). Such conserved elements include their incredibly robust, resilient and adaptable cellular makeup – owing to both structural factors in the prime (protecting them from physical and environmental stresses) and to their strong, intrinsic connections with the elemental planes (typically one or two in particular per species) which permit them to manipulate the flow of elemental energies in order to absorb or redirect potential damage of elemental sources by “instinctive” induction of planar bridges within and around their cells. This natural resilience is compounded by strong regenerative capabilities, permitting Pokémon to recover even from serious injuries within fairly short periods of time. These regenerative capabilities can be accelerated dramatically with exposure to certain stimuli, and also play a significant part in assorted metamorphic processes inherent to certain species-lines (such as Pokémon evolution and temporary form changes, including those brought upon by processes such as Mega Evolution). These particular attributes permit Pokémon to thrive in environments and under conditions that humans – whose biology does not possess such high affinities to the elemental planes – would not be able to withstand without technological intervention.

In addition to these intrinsic “passive” elemental attributes, Pokémon are also capable utilizing localised planar translation in order to augment their physical bodies or to create a variety of elemental effects commonly referred to as moves. Typically, a Pokémon using a move would use a desired plane’s corresponding pattern in the prime as a seed (for example, by igniting a flammable oil secreted from a gland, creating a spark of fire) to induce the formation of a planar bridge (or to bolster an existing one typically used to power an otherwise-passive ability or an element used for display purposes) and draw elemental energies across it in high-intensity spikes or surges. While the planar bridge is sustained and planar translation takes place, gensons are transformed – manifesting in ways that are quite similar, if not exactly identical, to their plane’s associated patterns within the prime, and these manifestations may interact with matter and energy in the prime in the same manner they would have were they composed of prime-native matter and energy. A burst of Fire-type energy, for example, could manifest as a searing tongue of flame and burn flammable objects, whereas a burst of Water-type energy could form a raging torrent, even in a place where humidity is otherwise scarce. Even the largely-inert basal-state gensons may sometimes be harnessed as vectors of pure kinetic energy to augment what is commonly known as “Normal-type” moves. When the bridge is no longer sustained, these manifestations tend to rapidly decay as ambient energies begin to self-correct and elemental balance is restored, though their effects on the prime may linger – a fire started by a Fire-type move, for instance, will continue to burn as long as it has fuel and oxygen, even if the initial bridge is no longer sustained by the Pokémon that formed it. A Pokémon’s ability to form a planar bridge, sustain it and draw elemental energies across it varies by a multitude of factors including its own affinities, vitality and experience – and quite often, the difference between several different moves stems from an individual Pokémon learning to maintain a bridge for longer or draw more energy through it while maintaining the same pattern (a sustained Thunder Shock, for instance, may eventually manifest as a Thunderbolt). Certain moves follow very similar patterns though they draw upon entirely different types of elemental energies, and some skilled trainers and their Pokémon have, in fact, successfully developed entirely new moves by experimenting with familiar channelling methods as applied to elemental energies of unusual types. However, great care must be taken in attempting such feats, as elemental energies may behave quite erratically when channelled into patterns they may not have been “meant” to be expressed through – with effects ranging from harmless dissipation to violent, uncontrolled energetic eruptions.

While planar translation is typically thought of as being from an elemental plane into the prime, there are some examples of the process occurring in reverse. Through planar translation of their physical bodies into the Ghost-plane for a short time, Ghost-type Pokémon are capable of seemingly “phasing” away, reducing their interaction with prime physics to the bare minimum – and at times enveloping themselves in additional energy as they return to the prime, using it to strike their opponents. Psychic-types have been known to take this even further, using planar bridges to rapidly travel between physical anchor points in the prime, possibly maintaining information about their source and destination points, as well as extremely high-resolution information of that which they carry with them, in their minds or within energetic formations within the Psychic plane itself. While planar translation of prime material into planes other than those mentioned above is theoretically possible, no method of doing so without permanently altering the nature of the material translated has been identified as of yet, and interpretation of experimental probe data has been inconclusive at best. Until additional data becomes available it is to be assumed such a process would be too hostile to prime material for any practical applications of such reverse-translation to arise.

Pokémon and the Environment
As creatures intimately linked with the elemental planes, the everyday activities of Pokémon readily affect elemental energy distributions in their immediate areas. Typically, Pokémon have keen senses attuned with certain elemental energy types, and are often drawn to larger concentrations of these energies (as these may indicate a favourable environment to colonise or a good hunting or foraging ground). As a certain degree of delay usually occurs between bursts of activity on the elemental planes and the planar correction processes that follow them, Pokémon tend to leave faint residual trails of elemental energies in their wake, which may accumulate depending on the magnitude of their activity in the area (Dragon-type Pokémon in particular have been observed to function as “generators” of Dragon-type energy, rapidly accelerating the process of Dragon-type genson reformation through their more passive bridges – and so, may serve a vital role as a catalyst in the elemental energy cycle as a whole). Over time, positive elemental feedback loops reinforced by Pokémon activity may lead to the formation of micro-climates and environments that may be difficult to account for only through factors rooted in the prime. Typically, such changes only establish themselves after many years of cumulative exposure. However, highly violent upheavals involving high intensity planar translation may have long-lasting effects on an environment –the more intense and varied the energy types, the more unpredictable and chaotic these effects may be, and the longer they may linger.

Conversely, Pokémon may also be shaped by their environments – and elemental energy concentrations have been implicated in the speciation processes of Pokémon. While most Pokémon are incredibly adaptive creatures, capable of colonizing new areas and taking open ecological niches while remaining fairly unchanged, insulated populations of Pokémon exposed to particularly high concentrations of elemental energies over evolutionary time may sometimes shift their elemental affinities, leading to rapid and sometimes extremely dramatic transformations, with some so-called “regional forms” taking on elemental attributes that appear diametrically opposite to their progenitor populations. The exact process that causes such changes in affinity to take root is unknown – and though certain Pokémon moves and abilities exist that may temporarily alter the elemental affinities of a particular individual, artificial attempts to permanently manipulate these affinities have often proved unsuccessful or introduced grave complications – and such practices are considered unethical and are highly frowned upon, if not outlawed altogether.

In addition, certain theories of Pokégenesis – the apparent emergence of entirely “new” Pokémon species, unheard of before a certain point in time and whose evolutionary history is indeterminate – suggest that such new species form due to Pokémon-adjacent species (both micro- and macroscopic, some of which only exist naturally in symbiosis with existing Pokémon species but are not acknowledged as a species on their own, some of which existing independently and serving ecosystem roles not fulfilled by “full” Pokémon) being changed by exposure to elemental energies and certain outside stimuli in the prime, eventually giving rise to a new species of Pokémon. It is, however, quite possible that like the formation of regional variants, these processes merely represent an existing, rarely seen species taking an entirely new form due to elemental affinity shifts, and becoming far more successful and prominent due to this shift. Further research is still required on this topic, and as it is difficult to impossible to observe the emergence of an entirely new species within human lifetimes, an answer to this conundrum may never readily present itself.

Humans and elemental energies
Humans, as previously noted, do not possess the innate links to the elemental planes demonstrated by Pokémon – merely one of the myriad ways the internal biology of the two separate domains of life represented by humans and Pokémon differ from one another. It would be remiss to say, however, that the actions of humans have no effect on the balance of elemental energies – both through alterations made to the environment as consequence of human activities leading to shifts in local equilibria, and through assorted human-Pokémon interactions, both intentional and incidental. The association between humans and Pokémon has an incredibly long and tangled history, filling numerous volumes beyond the scope of this review, and it is through this association that humanity became aware of the elemental planes and of ways to harness their energies for the mutual benefit of both humans and of those Pokémon that chose to align themselves with them.

For many such purposes, technology has yet to surpass the natural abilities of Pokémon working in tandem with humans and such partnerships are still incredibly prevalent across all walks of life where human and Pokémon live and work. Nonetheless, the study of the ways Pokémon interact with elemental energies and a biomimetic approach to engineering opened the door to many exciting possibilities. Manipulation of Electric-type genson fields to increase the output of existing power plants allows larger-scale, cleaner energy production, reducing resource consumption significantly. Sensors permitting visualisation and analysis of elemental energy fields provide insight into their interactions with both the ambient environment and living creatures – and elemental spectrography is currently utilised in a variety of implementations, from the scanners used to quickly identify Pokémon species built into the common Pokédex, through higher-resolution devices used by forensic scientists to extract information from the merest residual energy patterns left in crime scenes, to broad-scope survey drone-based systems designed for prospecting large areas for resources, for structural analysis and potential fault-point identification in large buildings or even for monitoring of ecosystems for environmental conservation purposes. Study of Psychic-type teleportation has led to the development of functional teleportation and long-term digitisation and reconstitution technologies, utilizing electronic data buffers in place of psionic ones. In recent years, research has even been made into other forms of energy Pokémon appear to be capable of naturally interacting with through innate biological mechanisms – from the natural bio-energy that appears to fuel the rapid physical changes brought upon by evolution to the augmentation of elemental energies through exotic particles of potential exoplanetary – or even exodimensional – energies. Research into more practical utilisation of such energies, however, has come under heavy scrutiny due to concerns of potential harmful exploitation for energy production and potential weaponization. Historical precedent for the latter, unfortunately, is recorded in the annals of past millennia – the most egregious of which is the tale of the weapon that ended the great Kalos war, supposedly designed originally as a bio-energy transfer device for medical purposes before being amplified and harnessed as a weapon of mass destruction, the effects of which on the elemental equilibria in the region resonate to this day.

It bears noting that as interactions within the elemental planes may subtly affect the prime, it is quite possible that such interactions may also be gradually affecting human biology as well. Through interaction with a particular elemental energy type and, usually, synchronisation with Pokémon attuned with that type, it has been discovered that humans may develop their own degree of sensitivity to the same. Typically, this sensitivity is fairly limited - just enough to sense major planar disturbances on the edge of their consciousness, or gain a somewhat deeper understanding of the flow of energies while “attuning” their mind to that of a Pokémon. However, in some extraordinary cases, often involving elemental types commonly associated with living beings (such as Fighting, Psychic and, perhaps ironically, Ghost-types), and through a combination of intense focus and sometimes certain infused items acting as amplifiers, some humans have even been capable of producing measurable elemental effects in the prime (though generally, still not to the extent demonstrated by Pokémon. While the idea of human elemental attunement was initially scoffed at as “mysticism” and “pseudoscience”, and so-called “psychics”, “channellers” and “aura users” were once considered nothing but charlatans – recent work and examination of humans alleged to demonstrate minor elemental capabilities, as well as trainers who appear to be naturally drawn to and specialise in association with particular types, have identified some recurring emergent differences in biological structures in such individuals that were not commonly present in the general population otherwise – and some such differences even demonstrating some degree of gensonic resonance, lending some potential biological basis and credence to this phenomenon. However, human elemental attunement is still rather poorly understood, and it currently remains unknown whether these individuals represent outliers, genetically predisposed for such changes - or whether such attunement may theoretically emerge in all humans, and should the latter be the case, the exact mechanisms by which attunement may develop in various individuals. The full potential of human attunement, and whether or not it may become more common over time, as generations of exposure to elemental energies may bring the species “closer” to the elemental planes in similar ways to Pokémon, are also questions that remain, at present, little studied – and certainly pose exciting possibilities for future research.