Pokémon: Life Finds a Way

Owen POV

Joseph Stone. Jacob Silph. The names had unlocked something in my mind—a connection to the Pokémon world I remembered. In that world, Devon Corp. and Silph Co. were untouchable giants. They controlled the markets, fueled trainer culture, and were synonymous with innovation. But in this version of reality, they were tied to my family. Executives of the Hammond Foundation. The realization sent my thoughts spiraling.

If I was right, and if my memory of the original Pokémon world was accurate, the events that shaped this reality must have unfolded very differently. In the timeline I knew, the original Owen Hammond—if such a person had even existed—likely hadn't survived the accident that claimed my father's life. With no heir to carry on the legacy, John would have been left to shoulder the burden of grief and loss alone.

It wasn't hard to imagine what might have happened next. Devastated, John would have handed control of the foundation to his most trusted executives before his health and spirit deteriorated further. In his absence, Stone and Silph would have divided the empire between them, carving out their respective corporate empires from the Hammond Foundation's remains.

The implications were staggering. The foundation—once a symbol of innovation and cooperation—would have been reduced to a memory, its achievements absorbed into the machinery of corporate ambition. The family legacy would have been erased, buried beneath the success of two giants.

And why had no one stopped them? That question lingered, but the answer came almost as quickly: money. In a world where the trainer economy dictated everything, corporations like Stone and Silph would have had the resources to buy silence, loyalty, and power. Those who resisted could have been swayed with promises of the "greater good" or simply swept aside by the sheer weight of their influence.

This theory explained why the Hammond name was absent from the Pokémon lore I remembered. It wasn't that we had never existed—our contributions had simply been rewritten, credited to those who had taken control after our fall. The achievements of Stone and Silph were built on the foundation laid by my ancestors, their legacy obscured by time and greed.

But this wasn't that world. In this timeline, the Hammond Foundation still stood, and my family's dreams—though unfinished—were still alive. My father's vision of advancements of Poké Ball. My mother's dream of sanctuaries for baby Pokémon. My grandfather's passion for resurrecting the ancient past. These aspirations had been left incomplete, but they hadn't been forgotten. They were waiting—waiting for someone to pick up the torch and carry them forward.

The weight of that realization settled over me like a heavy cloak. I didn't know how to shoulder it, how to live up to the legacy of those who came before me. But one thing was clear: I couldn't let their dreams die. I couldn't let the Hammond name fade into obscurity.

For now, the answers I'd uncovered left me with more questions. What role would I play in this story? How could I contribute to a legacy that felt larger than life? I didn't have those answers yet, but as I stared out at the night sky, a flicker of determination stirred within me. I didn't need to have all the answers—not yet.

For now, I had a single guiding thought: the past was a foundation, not a shackle. And the future? That was mine to shape.