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.
The overcast sky kept threatening rain but had yet to do so, and for that reason alone, Juni had gone out. She was going to be pissed if it did rain, but she wasn’t just going to spend all day inside on the off chance it would. A particular rock structure on the way to Pine Town had caught her attention, and she just had to see it in person.
And thus, there she was standing out amongst the dark skies with Fang, her Electrike, sniffing around on the ground questionably. Being an Electric Type Pokemon, Fang had a sort of weakness for and heightened sense towards the ground, so Juni trusted him to be aware of the infrastructure on the off chance it started to collapse or something. Otherwise, it was all on her as she looked around slowly, thoughtfully.
“This rock is very old…” Juni muttered to herself slowly feeling over the wall thoughtfully. “There had to have been a river through here eons ago….” A particular sound had her practically jumping out of her skin and whipping around, however. “Gugh—Who’s there?” she ask-demanded. Fang looked up and squinted. Why was his trainer so fidgety, he swore.
As Freya was holding her Bounsweet, she crossed down the path of Route 6. It was rainy, but she didn't mind it all too much. It was good for Bounsweet to receive rain, because that's how she would gain the nutrients to evolve. A malnourished Bounsweet wouldn't do much evolving, because like a flower, it wouldn't be able to bloom into what it needs to be. So, as she walked through the area, she looked down at Bounsweet, saying to her, "How do you like the rain? It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" The bounsweet cheered in response, as she wrestled herself out of Freya's arms.
With a slight squeal, Freya ran after Bounsweet, hoping that she didn't get into as much trouble as she did the time before. Though, at least last time, the two of them made a new friend together. So, that was something to be happy about. Sadly though, it didn't mean that Bounsweet was gonna find a new friend every single time they ran off. This was especially made known of as Bounsweet ran into a woman looking at the scenery. This led Freya to shout aloud with some fear in her voice, "I am so sorry, please forgive my Bounsweet! She was having too much fun in the rain."
As her fears took the form of a Bounsweet (a strangely large Bounsweet, but a Bounsweet none the less), Juni released a squeaky breath. She didn’t have long to ask why there was a Grass child charging her. Instead, its trainer came barreling in right after and apologizing.
“Groudon-god….” Juni exhaled before shaking her head. “It’s… it’s fine,” she paused not really believing her words but willing them to be true. No harm, no problem. “You just… startled me…” She shook her head and adjusted her glasses. “Who… are you?’ she asked after a moment.
Fang the Electrike rolled his eyes again, turned, and went back to sniffing the ground again. Everything here smelled solid for now…. Hm… but maybe not this part. Pawing the dirt, he smelled a little harder.
With the question asked, Freya took the moment to take in a deep breath, calming her nerves. She then looked towards the red haired woman before her, saying to her, "My name is Freya Callum, and I'm a coordinator. Though, that's mostly my secondary job, because my real one is as a botanist. I know I'm pretty young, but my parents were researchers in biology, which gave me my love for plants. Even though I didn't claim myself as a researcher, it's one of my main goals, along with contests. This is my pokemon Bounsweet, she's a bit rambunctious, but I think I've started to learn that she is that way because of her need for attention. Not in a bad way, but I think something happened to her that made her feel lonely a lot of the time."
With that mouthful said, Freya took a moment to recompose herself a bit more, by asking the woman before her a question, "So, what are you doing here? Are you just observing the scenery, or are you doing some research for yourself?" She wasn't too sure about her motives at the moment, but from the looks of it, she was doing research. However, she wasn't going to just assume what she was doing.
Juni asked for a name and got… got a lot more than that. “Woah… woah ok….Ok…” she blinked a couple of times looking from the girl to the Bounsweet and back again. “Juni Savage… nice to meet you…” She could at least say that much as her brain tried to file away all those details.
A botanist but aspiring to be a coordinator… Well that was new but not completely out there. People changed jobs all the time regardless of age. Her eyes dropped down to the Bounsweet again. A cute sphere now that it wasn’t startling the dickens out of her. Something something loneliness… Ok, got that.
At the questions, though, Juni looked back to the rock formation again. “I’m researching this area a bit,” she answered adjusting her glasses some. “I study thermodynamics, but I’m sort of a geologist on the side…” Or rather, geology was a pratical application of thermodynamics. “Ah… and that is Fang, my Electrike…” she gestured after a moment. Fang… was wearing a weird expression now, though.
As the pokemon is sniffing around on the ground she seems to pick up on some sort of sickly sweet scent... heading north off the track on the route, towards an outlandish rolling hill.
As Freya looked at the pokemon before her, she tilted her head. It seemed as though the pokemon had picked up some sort of scent. She wasn't quite sure what this meant, because the pokemon itself couldn't communicate what the thing could be. As she looked towards her newly founded acquaintance, she asked her, "What's happening exactly? Did you're pokemon find something? If so, I could come along with you. You never know when you'll need a botanist."
Sniffing the ground, testing it carefully, Fang caught a particular smell that had his head raising. It was sickly sweet and reminded him vaguely of incense, but something was different about it. A howl escaped from him.
Juni immediately jolted. She’d just introduced Fang and almost sort of assumed he was going to introduce himself up until that howl came from him. That was… that was a hunter’s call rather than a greeting. “Fang???” Juni asked turning back around to the Electrike who was quickly trotting now north, towards the hill country, after the smell that had caught him. Juni stared for a moment, her brow quirked. She wasn’t sure what could have got him so interested, but whatever it was, she probably had to look into it now, at least.
Looking sideways at (oh shit did she really just forget her name with that long introduction just now? What was it? Think, Juni, think?? No??? Ok, brain. Fine then. She’d just remember her as this weird pink-purple haired girl then whatever), Juni spoke. “Seems Fang’s found something he’s interested in,” she answered reaching up to adjust her glasses and then pinch the bridge of her nose. “Sure, you can come along I guess…” Not like she was exactly one for stopping people for no reason.
Following the small and going towards the hill, it becomes apparent the smell than Fang had picked up. Rolling by your feet as you near the dusty, hilly biome is a thin fog, that had an odd, sweet smell. All around you both is a variation of large and small rocks that look oddly polished- and as you get further off path, towards where the smell is sweeter... the rocks almost seem completely smooth, in comparison to the rough area around you all.
As the girl approved her request, Freya smiled in happiness. She then got her Bounsweet and picked her up as they followed the researcher and her pokemon. The Bounsweet cheered from Freya's arms, excited that she'd get to play around with some different people and pokemon. She always loved the idea of having a whole entire family of people, because it was something that she'd never had before. So, being with Freya and the red haired lady made her pumped up for whatever was to come.
Once they started nearing the area that the electric type pokemon was leading them, Freya noticed some concerning things. The smell that was coming from the area was entirely way too sweet for comfort, and the fact that the rocks around them seemed to be progressively getting smoother as they walked on the path. Something about this made Freya and Bounsweet quiver with fear. They had already gone through the scariness of having fog descend upon the route they were travelling on, and now they were in this place. They was no telling what was going to happen. This could be caused by some sort of pokemon, or even a person who has been staking out on this trail for a while. Either way, Freya did not like their odds.
Juni’s brows furrowed as she watched the Electrike sniff and walk. She’d never actually seen him this interested with a scent before, and she had to wonder what it was about. What was it that he had found? Her eyes flicked sideways to Freya (oh right that was her name, thanks brain) and looked over the Bounsweet in her arms. It was… huge. Huh… is that their standard size or? She’d have to look into it later.
As they walked, though, that scent would waft into her nose, and Juni immediately stopped walking. “The hell??” she growled under her breath immediately pushing her coat sleeve up to her nose. Fang was still moving, though, and she wasn’t about to let him out of her sight. Walking a little faster, she glanced sideways at Freya again. She smelled it too, apparently. As they got to the top of the hill and viewed the fog, though, Juni was quick to whistle and cause Fang to look back. “Stay close,” she ordered. The Electrike frowned but trotted back towards her and matched her pace.
They walked on. Juni’s eyes flashed around, and as she caught sight of the oddly polished rock, she stopped and assessed it. “How strange…” They shouldn’t have been this smooth out here. There was no water around to do that kind of thing to them. Walking a little further, she assessed each and every one. “It almost looks like volcanic glass?” she ask-stated wishing she’d known a little bit more about the area before she’d come.
Continuing on, the smell only got thicker, but around you things start to get almost... weird. You notice the smooth rocks almost seem to be spread out with the exact same distance between them, about two feet apart on all sides- this can't be a random occurrence. Your steps seem to echo around you, though that can't be right- why would the steps echo?!
As you're walking, you hear a faint inhuman shriek from below where you stand, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of pokemon or human life around you- especially the more you traverse this strange hill-
As Freya and Bounsweet got further into the path, she squeezed her even harder than she had before. The smell had gotten stronger as they went along, but it honestly didn't bother Freya as much. With Freya' s background, she had smelt way sweeter things, from ripe fruits, to Bounsweet's bodily fluids. No, not the bad kind, just its sweat and tears. If it weren't for these things, she would probably be just like Juni, covering up her nose. Even though the smell was stronger than the things listed, those smells did desensitize her to caring about it.
For now, all she could really focus on was the creepiness of everything. She didn't like how everything seemed. The set up from the rocks, to the smells, and oh no...now there was more things beginning to happen. With every step the two trainers made, they created echoing sounds that hadn't been formed before. Not to mention the fact that there were screams coming from the ground. There weren't signs of anything causing them. No pokemon, human, or whatever else. All there was were creepy things happening upon creepy things. It was as though they couldn't catch a break.
As her voice began to quiver, she asked Juni, "Where...are...we? I have an urge to follow this track, but the scenery of everything is making it really hard." With this, the Bounsweet looked up at Freya in aggreance. Fear was easily shown from both of their faces, as their eyes darted around while walking.
The echoing sound of her own feet had every hair raising on Juni. She looked from Fang to Freya and back again worriedly. Fang, however, still had his nose to the ground, so she couldn’t be sure if she was being dramatic or not.
And then the scream came from the ground. “Oh my Groundon,” Juni jumped sideways and nearly crashed into Freya had it not been for a few mismatched steps right before. The question that came right after had her looking wide eyed at Freya. Where were they? “R-route six…” she stumbled on the words. That wasn’t the answer either of them wanted, though. As the other words fell, she paused and glanced backwards. “We… we should… probably leave and come back with an exploration team, right, Fang?” Fang was growling now, though. He had sensed or smelled something, and Juni fidgeted uncomfortably. “Fang??”
The hollowness of the ground can't be anything good, but nobody is being cautious- one wrong step and the ground begins to crack around you, exactly two feet by two feet wide inbetween four of the rocks. Thankfully you all were on your toes and nobody fell down, but suddenly sounds begin to ring out from the hole, moans, whimpers...
Just what in arceus' name is going on?! Should you look down the hole or flee? Should you continue walking but be more cautious?
As Freya took a step forward, she felt the ground beneath herself begin to crack. With a yelp, she jumped out of the way with Bounsweet in her hands. She then yelled out to Juni, "Watch for the ground!" Freya hadn't been paying too much attention, due to the constant wailing and noises that were coming from the ground. It was honestly her fault for not being careful enough, and now there seemed to be some sort of crack. Thankfully it wasn't a sinkhole like Freya had thought it was. Though, it was probably a lot worse. From where she was now, she could clearly hear noises coming from the cracks themselves. It was as though there was something below them. Could it have been some sort of burial ground or something? No, that's insane. Or was it? Freya was too anxious to try and figure it out.
Though, she was intrigued by it. Not because she was weird, but because something about it drew her in. For whatever reason, she wanted to look down into the hole. So, as she stood up, she said to Juni, "I uh...think I'll uhm...check it out. After all, someone should, right?" Without even an answer, Freya stepped up to the cracks and looked through them, trying to figure out what could possibly be making those noises.
Crack… snap…. Grack… A shriek broke from Juniper as the ground caved underfoot. She stumbled forward and then back tripping over Fang and causing the Electrike to snarl irritably. It was the Electrike that managed to keep her from falling over completely. “Oh nope oh gods… oh… Groudon….” Juni was speaking incoherently to herself now. Her eyes flashed sideways to Freya who but a moment ago had said something about the ground. Juni was too alarmed to understand.
Wait wait wait what was Freya doing. “What????” she squeaked. “You… you hear that right? That’s got to be— it’s got to be haunted or s-s-something!” She had seen those horror movies! She knew what came next???? In this world where magic was real and science was second fiddle, she could only cling to what she understood of the latter to assess the prior. Gods. “B-b-be careful…” she breathed walking awkwardly towards Freya in an attempt to grab her sleeve and pull her back a little.
With Juni keeping Freya stable, she's able to look down and into the hole. At first you see nothing except what appears to be some sort of strange, rocky passageway down the hole, however upon further inspection you're able to see something moving in the shadows- you can also hear the crying, whimpering and moaning much louder now, and it seems to be echoing around you.
As Freya looked down into the hall, she felt as Juni held onto her. It was a very tense situation, one that Freya didn't want to be apart of. Even now as she was looking down into the hall, she wanted to let out a cry, or even a yelp. She wanted to close her eyes and wish upon a star that she had never actually chosen to go into this fog. She just had to be naive and think it was destiny. Looking down into the hole now, she saw something she definitely didn't want to see in the slightest bit. It terrified her to the point to where she jumped back from all the moaning, whimpering, and that creepy shadow.
She was on the ground now as she was trying to crawl back a tiny bit, saying to Juni, "There's uhh...definitely something down there that neither of us want to see. With this fog though, there's no way we'll be able to guide ourselves back out. Gahhh...I mean, we can't die...right? I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing to go down there, unless we actually can die. I don't know, I'm scared..." Her words had begun to slur together as her nervousness had gone to the point of extremes. However, everything she said was true. The fog seemed to have gotten thick enough to the point where they wouldn't even know how to get back onto the main path. Even if they wanted to run, could they?
Please don’t fall down the hole, please don’t fall down the hole, please don’t fall down the hole. Juni wasn’t sure if she was imploring Freya, herself, or Arceus itself right then. As Freya jumped back, Juni stumbled now nearly falling right over Fang again… The Electrike yelped this time and scrambled around to press against Juni now. She squirmed pulling herself back up to standing and waiting— for what, she wasn’t sure. Even then, each new cry, moan, sound that was coming up from it was unnerving her.
Definitely something down there… Definitely… something down below them. What could she do? What could either of them do? I’m scared. Freya wasn’t the only one. But Juni was the adult here and knew it. No. I have to get her out of here… She shook her head, slapped her cheeks with both hands a couple of times, and forced herself to think. If it was coming from the ground then— “Return, Fang! Come out! Disc!” A beam of light drew in the Electrike, and another beam released a Metang. “Disc, there’s something in the ground. We need a ride.” Juni spoke quickly. The Metang blinked slowly before giving a small nod and lowering. Juni turned and clasped Freya’s hand again. “C’mon, we’ll be safer levitating than on the ground.”
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