Philip Hacker wrote:

has anybody given thought to the history of the Pokemon world? How did
the Pokemon League come about? How were pokeballs invented? and so on.

I actually was thinking on that for a SM/Pokemon crossover that I may or
may not write.

...

The source of a Pokemon's power is the same magics that powered the Moon
Kingdom.  The Pokemon Islands (or whatever the area where they live is
called) were originally a game preserve.  Charmanders and Bulbasaurs,
for instance, were to the people of the day as white tigers and ocelots
are to us: rarely seen outside of some kind of zoo, with areas set aside
(like the P.I.) for them to survive.

The fall of the Moon Kingdom spelled the end of such niceties...or would
have, had the P.I. not had their own source of magic (similar to a
backup generator, but enhancing rather than merely providing magic power
in its vicinity) in case their feed from outside ever got cut off.  When
the alert came that the Moon Kingdom was under attack, whoever was in
charge of the P.I. set its magic to hide them, since that was their only
chance to avoid being ravaged by the war.  This hiding was set to last
until an "all clear" signal was received.

Of course, that signal never came.

Over the next millenium, the outpost of game keepers grew into a town,
then a city, then many cities.  Given who founded human civilization in
the area, rituals surrounding Pokemon - for example, questing to become
a Pokemon trainer - became a central part of the local culture, handed
down from generation to generation.  At the same time, the ever-present
hiding magic shielded the P.I. from the rest of the world: although they
did trade with their neighbors, none who left remembered the fantastic
powers of the Pokemon, nor did any map made by outsiders ever call the
P.I. by their true name - if they showed the islands at all.

The Pokemon League and pokeballs are products of this culture, although
the pokeballs rely on the P.I.s' magic to work.  So, if you ever see a
pokeball for sale, know that it may once have held a Pokemon, released
when the pokeball failed as its ship sailed out of range of the Pokemon
Islands.

...

So, what do you think?  (And no, I *don't* work for Nintendo; that last
bit just suggested itself spontaneously...)