Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Since Leo had evolved and gotten certified for surfing in deep water, Gabe had kind of sort of wanted to try it. There were quicker ways to cross the water way between Bass and Plum, but this was more to sate an itch than to get there quickly. He wasn’t necessarily looking for Water Pokemon, nor was he really expecting to stop at any of the small islands between the bigger Plum and the mainland, but …. But well here he was sitting on Leo’s shell back as they pressed further and further through the water.
For obvious reasons, Lizbeth had been kept to her Pokeball, but flying above them, Crowlie was making circles keeping an eye out for anyone or anything that might cause problems for them. The biggest problem, though, seemed to be Leo’s overall frustration with being a surfboard. Gabe, damn you, he had accepted this responsibility with the understanding that it was brought about out of need. You could have taken the stupid ferry you damn bastard. Of course, even when thinking about these things, he didn’t sink into the water like he wanted to and leave the trainer for dead. Perhaps Gabe had inadvertently earned a little respect during their surfing mission together.
They moved along for a while at an easy enough pace and might have done so had not something strange caught Gabe’s eye. “Leo,” Gabe’s voice caused the Blastoise to nearly sit upright from the strain. On seeing the cause of it, the Blastoise immediately turned left and started swimming fast towards one of the small sandbar islands. On top of it, an unconscious Lapras lay sprawled out.
A spray of water, and they were on the sand bar now. Gabe quickly stepped off Leo letting the Blastoise stand up again as they approached. The Lapras was… in bad condition, and Gabe’s teeth grit some from the discomfort. Looking out along the water way again and then to Leo who looked concerned but unsure of what to do, Gabe sighed and shifted the bag on his shoulder down onto the sand. Fishing out a healing potion, he shifted around the Lapras carefully before finding the worst of the damage and spraying it there.
The Lapras immediately squirmed away looking at this human wide eyed and confused. “Relax—“ Gabe started, but the Lapras only shied away from him more. As the Blastoise spoke up, though, she turned to stare and listen at him. She wasn’t… she wasn’t being attacked or threatened. They had just been concerned. She remained warry but allowed Gabe to assess a few more injuries. When he was done, she was feeling better and…. was thankful to him and Blastoise. Gabe paused considering the beautiful sea creature. He wasn’t truly as much a fan of Water Types as he was of Fire, but this one had caught his eye. “Would you consider coming with us?” he asked holding a ball forward.
As the Lapras touched the Pokeball and disappeared inside, Gabe let out a slow breath. He wasn’t entirely sure what he planned to do with a Lapras of all things (especially since he could surf on the back of Leo now), but if nothing else, it was… it was safe now. Heh, maybe she could soften Leo over time or something, or if need be he could always sell it. Something about that particular Lapras though made him feel bad for even considering it, though. Turning to Leo and smiling, Gabe made a head gesture on towards Plum. Once more, they were surfing onwards.
They surfed for a while passing a Clamperl on a sandbar who seemed significantly more at ease and healthy than the Lapras had. Gabe wasn’t particularly interested in such a Pokemon either which made passing it all the easier. Still flying above, Crowlie kept an eye out but didn’t see anything immediately threatening.
They continued moving along through the water making reasonable time, all things considered. As they moved along, however, Leo would feel a thud on his shell from below and would lean up in the water in response. Gabe hissed and scrambled to get up on his shoulders before they completely sank. The Qwilfish that had attacked came up from the water and gave a glare. This was his territory. Leo raised an eyebrow. How could the vastness of the water around them be solely someone else’s? No, it simply couldn’t be. He started to argue back, but the Qwilfish only hissed in response.
Gabe watched the bickering for a moment before snickering softly. “Water Pulse,” he ordered. The Blastoise glanced over his shoulder at his trainer. Was this really worth a full battle over? Ugh but that Qwilfish was infuriating. Generating a blue wave of energy from both his cannons, the Blastoise sent it crashing towards the Qwilfish. The latter cried out startled that a Water move could sting quite like that. Shaking out his body, the Qwilfish Hardened himself and then released a Pin Missile— ready to fight back with everything he had! The attack… bounced off the shell of the Blastoise like water, and while he was a little rattled, Leo wasn’t that injured.
Gabe snorted softly. “Going to have to do better than that,” he smiled. “Water Pledge,” Gabe ordered. The Blastoise summoned up Water type energy in his fist and then launched it forward again. The Qwilfish took the damage and shook it off as best he could before retaliating with a Tackle— which meant nothing to the hard shell of the Blastoise. Both Gabe and Leo rolled their eyes in unison.
“Rapid Spin—“ Gabe stated before immediately regretting it. “Wait—“ But it was already too late. Leo had received the order, and the vindictive part of him was going through with it. Twisting around faster and faster, he stirred himself around. Gabe grasped onto the Blastoise’s shell for as long as possible before being thrown off into the water. The Blastoise then went crashing towards the Qwilfish who was sent flying away from the force. Leo laughed watching it go—
Only to realize his trainer was sinking. What— What wait— Could he not swim???
Gabe could technically swim. He’d learned years ago and had spent time at least once a year building up his swimming strength up just in case he needed it. Living on a coastal city such as Bass had taught him it was good and necessary to be able to.
The problem, however, was he had never been asked to swim with a backpack quite as heavy as the one he had been carrying. The pack hadn’t been filled with that many items, but the heaviest of them was an incubator containing an egg he had received rather recently. It was now dragging his stupid ass down in the water as he struggled and squirmed unwilling to part with it but unable to make it to the surface with it.
That… and he water was absolutely freezing. His muscles wanted to lock up. His chest was tightening. His vision fogged. Lucky for Gabe, however, his massive Blastoise was not about to let him drown. Barreling up under him and raising Gabe up out of the water, Leo breached causing a sharp breath to draw into Gabe right after. Cold. He was so so so so so cold. His hands shook as he fumbled with Liz’s Pokeball and immediately released her.
As her light appeared, the Charmander immediately squeaked worried and started to breathe out rushes of heat to dry him. Arceus lord, Gabe, oh Arceus. Oh Mew. Please don’t freeze. He shuddered and shifted in his bag pulling out the egg untouched within the confines of the incubator. He checked it over for a few seconds before letting Liz dry heat his bag as well.
Cold… he was still so damn cold. Fishing out a Pokeball, he released Reptar who quickly started flapping his wings. The Charizard growled irritably at being called up until hearing Liz’s worried voice. Their trainer had what now??? Looking from Gabe to Liz and then to Leo, he growled. Great. Spinning up a Heat Wave, he did a much better job of getting all of Gabe dry. Liz breathed out thankful despite herself. Oh Arceus, Gabe. She thanked Reptar profusely. He said some irritable ‘you’re welcome’ reply before being asked to be returned. There was too much water around, and he’d rather fly over land. The request was granted shortly after.
All this commotion brought the attention of one fishy electric Pokemon who came swimming up from the depths to see what was going on. Ah, so he had just missed a struggling prey close to death. There were a lot of other strong Pokemon around, though, which made it questionable if it was even possible to hunt to begin with— but still. It should probably just— on crap, the Blastoise noticed it.
The Tynamo immediately Sparked, and suddenly the Blastoise and his charges were getting sprayed with electricity. Everyone yelped. “Liz!” Gabe ordered. The Charmander’s maw dropped, and a flurry of flames went shooting out at the Tynamo. The Tyanmo yelped in response swimming back and preparing to attack again only to get an Aura Sphere from an irritable Blastoise as well. As much as he didn’t like ganging up on a weaker opponent, Leo was also irritated with this opponent.
A ding in capture had Gabe, Leo, and Liz releasing dramatic breaths in unison. That had… that had been a little painful for everyone involved. Gabe returned Liz to rest for now and then eased as much down on Leo as possible to allow the Blastoise to more a bit more fluidly in the water. They moved along for a while with little problem. Occasionally, Gabe found himself glancing down at the egg and its incubator in his bag. He was lucky that it hadn’t gotten wet. He wasn’t even sure what was in it, after all.
Wait, was it glowing a little bit or was that a trick of the light? Gabe squinted a little and rubbed his eyes. Yeah, he was sure it had just been a trick of the light. It was sure bright out here on the water.
Or not— The glow of the egg became brighter even in the daylight, and Gabe’s eyes grew wide. A sputtering sound escaped from him as he was quick to pull the lid off and dump the egg into his lap. He’d paid good money for that incubator, and he’d be damned if he lost it should this thing be big. As it grew and took shape, however, Gabe’s heart swelled.
The light broke, and a new Pokemon was there. Sitting now in his lap taking his first blinks in the world, a Tyrogue stared up at Gabe with a soft confusing in his gzae. “Oh,” Gabe breathed now finally understanding what it was breeders felt when hatching Pokemon. I get it… He wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but he got it for damn sure. Fishing out a Pokeball, he briefly caught the Tyrogue before releasing him from the ball again. “You’re so cute…” Gabe immediately hugged the Tyrogue.
He wouldn’t have nearly as much time to snuggle the baby as Gabe might have wanted to. Crowlie’s voice had him and Leo glancing up and outwards to see just what was out there. And another beautiful sight unfolded. A pod of Mantine and Mantyke were on the water, breaching up and flipping in beautiful displays before falling back to the water again. This would be the first real image outside of his trainer’s face that the Tyrogue would see, and it too would fill his heart with a sense of impassioned wonder. The hardened Blastoise carrying his trainer and this new hatchling kept his face neutral as ever. Yes, yes, they were beautiful, but he was still going to get his charges to the island in reasonable time. Even if that meant surfing under some of the leaping ones.
Gabe’s eyes flashed as he watched a particularly large Mantine fly up above him. Senara has one of those… He remembered the massive futon pancake he had met at the apartment. Gabe was a Fire trainer. He was a Fire trainer. He was a Fire trainer, damn it. But the pettiness won out, and he decided to give at least one a shot. “Gum,” Gabe call-ordered. The Ditto broke off his person and transformed into the massive Mantine before leaping into the water.
A battle transpired after that, one followed closely by not just Gabe and the Tyrogue but also the other Mantine and Mantyke who had stopped to see what was happening. Where the Mantine still had raw power, though, the Ditto had Gabe’s tactics. As it was weakened a couple of times, Gabe threw a Pokeball.
Well damn it, that thing was pretty tough. Gabe snatched the ball from the air and checked it a couple of times to make sure it hadn’t completely broken. “Gum!” he ordered again, and the Ditto was off again. The Mantine bounced, and Gum bounced. The sheen of water dripping off them in the sunlight was blinding for a moment.
“Air Slash!” Gabe called, and the Ditto was quick to swipe some air. The Mantine hissed as it fell downwards and launched a Psybeam up at the Ditto. Psybeam really? Well wasn’t that an interesting move? Interesting enough to have Gabe and the Tyrogue wincing as Gum took the damage and cried out. “After it, Gum,” Gabe ordered. The Ditto shook off the attack and sure enough kept after the Mantine. “Psybeam!”
The other Mantine were watching in awe now as their leader duked it out with a human and his strange Pokemon. As Gabe tossed the Pokeball to try and capture it again, they waited with bated breath.
The Pokeball shook violently back and forth in the air before breaking and snapping in two this time. The light of the Mantine appeared, and this time it dove under the water immediately disappearing from view. A weird noise reverberated up from the water, and all the Mantine were suddenly dividing down deep.
Gum launched upwards about to go down as well when Gabe’s voice echoed. “Don’t,” was the order. Gum landed on top of the water again and let out a strange confused cry. Gabe’s eyes had happened to raise rather than lower, and he caught sight of something on the horizon: dark clouds. “We need to move,” Gabe stated returning Gum, Crowlie, and even the new Tyrogue. There was no damn way he was going to get caught out on the water in that storm. Fuck catching any other Pokemon right then.
Leo was thankful that Gabe had at least some priorities in order. Once everyone was returned, the Blastoise started moving quicker through the water towards Plum. Gabe crouched down and held tight even as the shaking below him got worse. They just needed to move.
They were moving along briskly, but the storm was moving along with them. Gabe grit his teeth occasionally looking out over to the dark clouds before looking forward again to the island still in the distance. “Can’t you go any faster?” Gabe asked. Leo looked over his shoulder and gave a slow warning growl. If he went any faster, he would throw Gabe off his damn back, and neither one of them wanted that at this point.
We’re not going to make it to Plum in time… Gabe bit the inside of his mouth. Golden eyes flashed around searching. We just need an island big enough to set up camp… It caught Gabe’s vision in a flash, and his words came out in short choppy notes. Leo understood, though, and suddenly they were turning quickly towards that particular island where enough land existed that a few trees and plants had found life there. Getting off the Blastoise, Gabe immediately threw down his bag and started to set up camp. It was in these moments that his skills really shined as a survivor if nothing else. Releasing and ordering around his Pokemon, he was able to build up something before returning the bulk of them (including Leo) and bunkering down.
The rain came violently. The winds whipped around hissing and swearing. The water flowed in sheets and buckets. Gabe sat under his waterproof tent chewing the inside of his mouth and mentally praying this damn thing didn’t break. It seemed to hold strong though, and slowly Gabe relaxed again. Peering out of the tent, he watched the sea further off sway and shake under the force of the rain. What even caused this… None of the weather apps, TVs, or otherwise said that it was going to fucking storm but…. But Gyarados were known to kick up these kinds of shitty things out of nowhere, so if he had to guess it was a pack of them or something worse. Ugh…
As he looked through the darkness, though, Gabe did notice something coming forward— a… Gabe squinted What is that? Before he had a chance to even see, the Inkay was hopping into his tent. Gabe startled squirming back and staring at the strange squidley Pokemon. “W—“ Gabe didn’t have time to ask as the Inkay jumped into his arms and immediately started crying. Oh…. Ok, he was doing this now, he guessed. An awkward hand reached up and slowly pat the fishy Pokemon. “There… there?” he asked. The Inkay only cried more, and for a brief moment, Gabe forgot that he had been afraid of the storms just moments ago now in the wake of someone who was much more afraid of them. Ok…
As the storms inevitably passed, the Inkay finally eased up on Gabe. The latter exhaled and smiled a little. “There now, you’re fine,” he spoke. The Inkay smiled weakly back, and a small call escaped from it. Ugh well, hm …. “Might you want to come with me?” Gabe asked fishing out a ball. “I can keep you safe from more storms….”
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