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.
For once in her life, Julia was attempting to be serious. She stood near the Birch City entrance on Route 7, posture almost comically straight as she looked around for the person she was supposed to meet. She'd accepted a bodyguard-like job for a researcher named Juni Savage since, hey, it'd be a great way to prove herself and get her feet wet with Ranger work, so to speak. She was pretty sure this was where they'd agreed to meet up, but Julia hadn't seen any sign of her yet.
Well, at least she looked more bodyguard-like than usual. On her right sat Shadow, disguised as a Houndour. Not only did it make for a good guard dog look, but his Zorua tail was also slightly more inconspicuous in this form. On Julia's left, Blade stood with her arms crossed and head turned away from Julia. The Pawniard still wasn't happy about her circumstances, but Julia had promised her a chance to fight and had bragged about how Blade had kicked her butt, so if nothing else, she begrudgingly waited to see how this would pan out. Finally, Lucky perched on the top of her head, occasionally flying tight circles around the group in his boredom.
"I'm sure she'll be here any second now," Julia said, both to her group and to herself.
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 6 Zorua - 5/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 2 Pidove - 5/5 Energy Blade - Lv 10 Pawniard - 5/5 Energy
Juniper Savage was a hot mess. She’d underestimated the amount of time her primary investigator would give her to write up a manuscript, and now she had exactly a week to get the data and write it. Lord Groudon, save her.
She’d written as much as she could. Juni had the introduction and abstract already mapped. The conclusions were going to be easy. It was just getting the data from the Grumble Volcano that would be the difficult part. She could have, should have paid an undergraduate to do it, but now they too were in the crunch time of finals week so none of them were available. Groudon, what a mess.
It was quite a trek from Ivy Town, but Juni had made parts and pieces of it before. However, Route 7, the longest route in Arciel, and the Weeping Forest that extended beyond it made Juni nervous. There was just… so much that could go wrong and so few places that one could stop safely and be secure and… yeah. She rather quickly asked around and managed to get a guard for at least part of the trek. That was… that was good.
Somehow, she’d still managed to mess up and get lost coming out of Birch City. Fetch, her Growlithe, had to lead her down the correct way with his nose alone, and yes finally that was her tripping forward and coming up to Julia. “Uh! Hi! S-sorry I’m late. I got lost and uh… J-Juni Savage nice to meet you,” she said quickly adjusting her glasses and then extending a hand. Fetch, meanwhile, sniffed at the “Houndour” and then wagged his tail happily.
Julia probably should have felt at least a little bad that Juni's stumbling, stuttering, and general non-seriousness helped her relax, but that was hard when she was too busy being relieved that maybe she wouldn't have to be such a Serious Sandy, after all. Julia let herself smile and shook Juni's hand. "I'm Julia. Julia Davis."
Blade, meanwhile, stared off into the distance with narrowed eyes. Great, both of these humans were disasters. On Julia's other side, Shadow sniffed the Growlithe in turn and raised his head proudly, smirking. Julia looked down at them, tempted to reach down and pet the Growlithe, but she ultimately resisted, figuring she could at least still be a little serious.
"So, what kind of work are you doing out here?" Julia asked, partially out of curiosity and partially so she'd know just what she was getting into.
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 6 Zorua - 5/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 2 Pidove - 5/5 Energy Blade - Lv 10 Pawniard - 5/5 Energy
Juni managed to smile back at Julia. “Nice to meet you, Julia,” she answered in kind. Juni and Juli, hah, that was kind of funny and something she probably should have registered sooner than that.
At least it made it easier to remember her name. At the question, she turned her gaze from Julia and off towards the long trek that was Route 7. “I’m actually headed to the Grumble Volcano if you can believe it,” she answered adjusting her backpack and weight in turn. “I’m a researcher, and I need to collect some data in the area.” Granted she didn’t assume Julia would go so far down the paths as to get to the Volcano…. But any more than nothing would quell her nerves considerably.
Gulping and messing with her red hair, Juni looked back again. “I’ve got to get there as soon as possible, though.” And with that, she started to walk. Fetch was quick at her heels but still trotting along rather happily unfazed by his master’s vague distress about human things.
"Ooh, that sounds—" Julia started in response to Juni's explanation of where she was going, but then it hit her. "Well, I was gonna say it sounds cool, but it kinda sounds like the opposite." She grinned at her little joke, all part of her attempt to lighten the mood. Shadow let out a quiet "ruff" in response. Lucky tilted his head, not getting the joke. Blade was already regretting her life choices.
Juni said she had to get there as soon as possible and started walking; Julia jogged to catch up and fall into step beside her. "You've got it!" she said. "Lucky, go scout ahead for danger."
Lucky cooed in response and flew off ahead of the group.
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 6 Zorua - 5/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 2 Pidove - 5/5 Energy Blade - Lv 10 Pawniard - 5/5 Energy
Sounds like the opposite of cool. Hot? Juni immediately deadpanned. “Ah, yeah…” she puffed out a bit of air and shook her head a little. With that, she was quicker to start walking. Need to get where they were going and stuff, yeah. Fetch was right on her heels whining a little as he wasn’t actually sure where they were going now.
Still, as they moved onwards, the path seemed reasonably put together for the most part. It was the sound of an electric guitar playing that would eventually have Juni stop to look off in the direction of it. A kid with a couple of powerful looking Pokemon out was strumming along.
As he caught sight of them, he immediately winked at both. “Hello, ladies….” Juni was sure he couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen. Hello fetus… She rolled her eyes and looked back to Julia hoping she wasn’t caught up in this. The kid with the electric guitar shrugged his shoulders and continued playing, strumming out chord after chord. Halfheartedly, Juni guessed his music was ok. For a fetus.
Oof, the joke didn't land. Well, that was okay—Julia would make up for that by being the best guard ever. She picked up the pace to keep up with Juni, scanning the horizon for Lucky. Then, she heard... an electric guitar? She followed Juni's gaze to a boy around Julia's age strumming a few chords. So, okay, his music wasn't that great, but Julia had to admire the tenacity of someone who would drag out an electric guitar and an amp to a route just to play. She raised her hand to wave at him, only to quickly remember that she had a job to do and lower her arms to her sides.
"Carry on, citizen," she said, making her voice sound deeper to be more authoritative. The rocker gave her a look before shrugging, a lazy smirk on his face as he continued playing.
Then, a panicked coo pierced the air. Julia whipped around to see Lucky flying back toward her, followed by an angry-looking Turtwig (who was running surprisingly fast for a turtle) and Rockruff, both jumping up to nip at Lucky's talons. Shadow and Blade were immediately at Julia's side, the former growling with his ears pinned back and the latter slashing her bladed hands together.
"What did you do, you idiot?!" Blade hissed in what many dubbed PokéSpeak.
"I just wanted to say hi!" Lucky cried.
"Guys, quick, defensive positions!" Julia shouted, pointing forward. The group hadn't exactly practiced "defensive positions," but Shadow and Blade quickly jumped forward to stand in front of Julia and Juni while Lucky circled above them.
"Heh, lemme give you a bit of background music," the guitar-playing boy said. He started playing faster, and his Kommo-o joined in as the percussionist by clanging her scales together. It would have been really cool if it had been more... coordinated? Something like that; Julia wasn't exactly a musical expert. Still, A for effort.
"Shadow, hit the Turtwig with Pursuit!" Julia shouted over the music. "Lucky, use Gust!"
Shadow barked and rushed forward. Behind him, Lucky beat his wings to create a Gust... that traveled toward Shadow. With a yelp, he was lifted into the air and tumbled into the Turtwig, who let out an alarmed squeak as the two topped into each other.
"Uh, maybe not like that!" Julia called. "Blade, quick, use—"
But Blade was already acting, glaring up at her opponents with a dangerous spark in her eyes. The Turtwig and Rockruff both shivered as their defenses were lowered by her Leer.
"Uh, yeah, use Leer! Good job, Blade!"
"She should have had you use that," Blade hissed to Shadow. But before the Zorua-turned-Houndour could respond, the Turtwig bounced to her feet, using the momentum to Tackle Shadow. His surprised whine was distorted as he was knocked back, and the illusion around him broke, revealing his true Zorua form. The Turtwig perked up in surprise, then narrowed her eyes with a confident smirk. The Rockruff, meanwhile, got his revenge on Blade and her comrades by using a Leer of his own.
"Lucky, use another Gust on the Turtwig! And try not to hit Shadow this time!"
This time, Lucky flew closer to his opponent before whipping up a Gust of wind. The Turtwig winced in pain, but then her glare fell on Shadow. A red beam shot from the leaves on her head, which hit Shadow and Absorbed some of his energy.
"What was that?" Julia asked. She started reaching for her phone to check her PokéDex app, only to remember she'd turned it off to avoid the onslaught of calls and texts (she really needed to figure out how to turn those notifications off without outright blocking someone...). "Doesn't matter! Shadow, use another Pursuit! Blade, Metal Claw on the Rockruff!"
Blade, relieved at getting an order she could actually agree with, wasted no time in rushing forward and slashing her opponent. Shadow yipped and ran at the Turtwig, who squeaked in alarm and tucked herself into her shell. Still, the Pursuit sent her sliding backwards. The Rockruff desperately Tackled Blade with a growl, but despite Blade's lowered defense, the attack barely fazed her. Her knife-like hands glinted in the sunlight as she wound up for another attack.
"That's enough, guys!" Julia suddenly called, causing Blade to whip her head around in disbelief. Julia took two empty Poké Balls from her pack and threw them, one at a time, at the weakened wild Pokémon.
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 6 Zorua - 5/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 2 Pidove - 5/5 Energy Blade - Lv 10 Pawniard - 5/5 Energy
Julia uses regular Poké Balls on the two wild Pokémon!
As the other Pokemon quickly came forward, Fetch was quicker to get in front of Juni. The latter immediately stopped short. A Turtwig and a Rockruff. They were… actually kind of cute if they weren’t on the attacking end of things. Juni glanced sideways at Julia glad she seemed to be handling it.
She still nearly jumped out of her skin as the guitarist started playing faster. Adjusting her glasses and biting the inside of her mouth, Juni focused forward again. The ranger was… well, she was battling so, that worked. Something itched in the back of her mind, though. Juni wasn’t sure what it was, but that move set didn’t sound right, exactly— and right after the illusion broke, and a Zorua was in place of the pup. “Oh wow…” Those were rare, weren’t they?
As the battle went on and Julia managed to catch both Pokemon, the rocker finally finished his song. “NICE WORK!” he called to Julia.
Juni glanced back towards him again before looking back at Julia. “Thanks for handling that…” she adjusted her glasses and then shook her head again. “I’m surprised to see a Grass and Rock Pokemon together. I wonder if they were friends.” That was for Julia to find out, though. Anyways. Juni’d start moving again.
"Yes!" Julia cheered in a poor attempt at a whisper when both Poké Balls clicked shut. She gave a thumbs-up and a "Thanks!" to the rocker before jogging forward to pick up the Balls. Shadow, meanwhile, found himself caught between being embarrassed at having his disguise broken and being proud of Juni's audible awe at him. The result was him puffing up rather stiffly while Blade rolled her eyes.
"Sure thing!" Julia said in response to Juni's thanks. She looked down at the Poké Balls in her hands. "Maybe they are friends, yeah. Maybe Shellie—" That's what she had decided to name the Turtwig "—was getting bugged by some Fire-types, so Rufus—" That was the Rockruff, of course. "—came to the rescue. Or Rufus was getting attacked by Water-types, and—"
And Juni was already walking ahead. "Whoops!" Julia hurried after her. Luckily quickly flew in next to her, but Blade felt the need to facepalm before going after them. Shadow, meanwhile, moved so that Julia was between him and Juni and then disguised himself as Rufus.
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 7 Zorua - 4/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 3 Pidove - 4/5 Energy Blade - Lv 11 Pawniard - 4/5 Energy Shellie - Lv 10 Turtwig - 2/5 Energy Rufus - Lv 4 Rockruff - 2/5 Energy
Shadow grew to level 7! Lucky grew to level 3! Blade grew to level 11!
Fetch was…. a little surprised and disappointed the other dog was a fox! But! He quickly got over it and wagged his tail anyways, happy to see that everyone was ok. Padding over, he sniffed Shadow briefly before barking happily. Juni chuckled a bit at the old boy being as friendly as he was. She really appreciated it.
Juni might have felt bad for walking onwards without really engaging the other woman in banter about the newly caught Pokemon, but Juni actually didn’t fully register it (whoops). Instead, she’d started walking with Fetch right at her heels thereafter. Fetch glanced sideways again as Shadow now disguised himself as a Rockruff, and a happy bark escaped from him! Sure. he was aware this time of the disguise, but it was still nice to see another dog!
As they walked along the way, Juni tried to think of something to say, anything really. She knew this was just a job, technically but, they could at least make pleasantries or somet—
Whipping out from behind a tree now behind them, a delinquent rushed in to seize Fetch’s tail and yank him back. The Growlithe yelped and barked causing Juni to whip around immediately. “What! Hey!” Juni tried not to squeak but did so anyways. “What are you doing? Let him go!”
I figure we can play this out interestingly! Growlithe [Fetch, lvl 20, large], Vulpix [Snowball, lvl 43, huge!], Metang [Disc, lvl 35, large], Baltoy [Rock and Roll, lvl 4, Tiny!], Blaziken [Pyre, 40, Small], Manectric [Fang, lvl 31, Large]
Shadow sniffed the Growlithe in turn, then waved his tail and yipped a brief greeting. Once he had disguised himself as a Rockruff and earned an approving bark, he barked proudly in return, his mood already lighter. He held his head high as they continued on despite the awkward silence. Julia was prepared to say something, anything, to break it, but she was interrupted before she could even open her mouth by the sound of Fetch yelping in surprise. Julia spun around to see a girl in dark clothes grabbing the Growlithe by his tail.
"Hey, let him go!" Julia shouted. Shadow growled at the stranger, and Blade hissed a warning; even Lucky whipped his wings and cooed in challenge.
The delinquent let out a short laugh. "Or what, little girl?" Her eyes roved down to Julia's metallic leg; Julia recognized the look of smug confidence that appeared on the delinquent's face, and it made a flash of angry heat surge through her. Julia took a step forward with that leg, fist clenched. The delinquent just laughed again and tossed out a Poké Ball. "Murkrow, take them out."
Two birds with one stone: That little phrase flashed through Julia's mind, reminding her that Rock-types had the advantage over Flying-types. "Rufus, go!" Julia shouted, tossing her new teammate's Poké Ball into the fray. It didn't take long for Rufus to take stock of his new situation and crouch down into a battle stance, growling at the delinquent. "Rufus, use—!" Ah, heck, Julia didn't actually know Rufus's move set. "Rufus, attack!" she commanded instead.
Rufus let out a high-pitched yet aggressive bark and charged at the Murkrow to ram into her with his strongest Tackle. The Murkrow didn't even flinch. Julia and her Pokémon, even Blade, widened their eyes in surprise. Without any prompting from her trainer, the Murkrow spread her wings, and her eyes flashed darkly. Rufus's own eyes went even wider as he was subjected to the Night Shade's frightening mirage. "Turtwig..." he whined before collapsing.
"Rufus!" Julia called.
The delinquent started laughing again. "Oh, man, I knew you looked weak, but that was just pathetic! You want me to wipe the floor with the rest of your pathetic little team, or should I just get out of here with my new—?" And then something fell on her shoulder. Something distinctly... wet. She slowly looked at the new stain on her jacket. Then looked up to see a Togekiss circling overhead. Had it just...?
Lucky suddenly let out an excited coo and rocketed up toward the Togekiss, hearts practically visible in his eyes. (Either he was completely unaware of what had just happened or didn't care enough because wow, that Togekiss was beautiful.) His trainer, meanwhile, stood there with her mouth agape, her brain stalling as it tried to process all of the emotions running through it. She was still angry with this delinquent for trying to steal Fetch and for the way she'd looked at Julia's leg. She was worried about Rufus, who still lie on the ground. She was even a little afraid of this apparently super-powered Murkrow. And yet... she wanted to laugh at what had just happened. What was she supposed to do here?
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 7 Zorua - 4/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 3 Pidove - 4/5 Energy Blade - Lv 11 Pawniard - 4/5 Energy Shellie - Lv 10 Turtwig - 2/5 Energy Rufus - Lv 4 Rockruff - Fainted
Fetch barked and squirmed before looking back at Juni. The latter stood there sputtering, her eyes flashing from the delinquent to Julia and then to Fetch again. Don’t lock up. Now isn’t the time to lock up. Don’t— Suddenly the battle had started, and Juni was remembering why she had asked for a bodyguard specifically. Having someone on her side was just enough to recompose her.
A breath escaped from Juni, and she found herself adjusting her glasses and grabbing a Pokeball. She could think now that she didn’t have to do this all on her own. “Snowball! We need help!” she called releasing the beautiful white furred Vulpix. Normally a bashful fellow, Snowball paused to look around and then immediately turned serious! As serious as he could be, anyways.
Before they could even help, however, one of Julia’s Pokemon was downed. Juni squeaked. Fetch whined. Snowball fidgeted uncomfortably looking back at Juni. He could really use an order or something right about now! They needed to… they needed to!!!!!
And then it happened. The delinquent was shat on by… none other than the serenity Pokemon itself. Juni stared for a moment her own mouth agape, color coming to her features and water coming to her eyes. Don’t laugh… don’t laugh… don’t laugh… Fetch is in trouble! He’s— Her eyes dropped only to find her Growlithe running towards her now quickly back to her legs (and between her and Snowball). The delinquent was so shocked by the shit that she’d just… let him go suddenly.
And then Juni was laughing. Sharp, pained, side-shaking laughing, she fell back and immediately found her face licked by her happy (old man) puppy in the process. Snowball remained facing the delinquent, his eyes watching the Murkrow carefully. Just as it went flying at him (or rather Juni and Fetch, probably), Snowball retaliated with an Ice Beam that splayed out and caught the Murkrow off guard. Its wing froze briefly and it went clattering to the ground, fluttering and squirming.
Juni's laughter unwound the tight knot that had formed in Julia's stomach, and Julia found herself laughing right along with her while Shadow snickered at her side. Blade just stared incredulously for a few moments, then looked up to where Lucky and the Togekiss now circled. On the one hand, she couldn't believe her teammate had just been shown up by poop. On the other hand... she couldn't say it wasn't effective. She just wished her trainer would stop laughing and focus.
Juni's Snowball reacted quickly to the Murkrow's next strike, freezing the Darkness Pokémon in her tracks with a well-placed Ice Beam. Blade decided to capitalize on the Murkrow's vulnerability by running at her and slashing with a Metal Claw as she passed. It didn't do nearly as much damage as Snowball had, but Blade chose to blame that on type advantages.
Meanwhile, up in the sky, Lucky fluttered around the still-circling Togekiss, who watched the scene below carefully. "You're really pretty!" Lucky cooed.
"You're sweet," the Togekiss chirped in return, sparing him a quick glance and a smile. "Is the Growlithe okay?"
"Growlithe? What Growlithe?" Lucky followed the Togekiss's gaze downward. "That Growlithe? He looks okay to me!"
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 7 Zorua - 4/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 3 Pidove - 4/5 Energy Blade - Lv 11 Pawniard - 4/5 Energy Shellie - Lv 10 Turtwig - 2/5 Energy Rufus - Lv 4 Rockruff - Fainted
As another attack landed on her Pokemon, the delinquent scrambled to grab its Pokeball (dropping a lot of things in the process) before uttering the single most cliché line imaginable: “I’ll get you back for this!” before finally retreating. Juni lay there panting (still being licked by a very happy Growlithe) for a good solid few seconds before slowly sitting up again and rubbing her face before adjusting her glasses.
A sigh escaped from her before she wrapped both arms around Fetch and hugged him tight to herself taking in a slow breath of his warm fur again. Looking back up at Julia, Juni smiled softer than before. “Thanks for… thanks for helping rescue Fetch… I…” Her nerves were actually a little frayed now that she was done laughing, but for the most part, she felt a little better…. Looking forward to the items dropped and then up to the circling Togekiss, Juni called up to her as well. “Thank you, Togekiss!”
Huh… what all… was just left on the ground there, actually? Anything worthwhile?
"Hey!" Julia shouted. She took one step forward to chase after the delinquent, only to realize that that'd mean leaving Juni behind. She practically pouted before yelling: "I'd better not see you again!" Yeah, that'd show her. Hopefully. She turned back around to see Juni sitting up and walked over to the older woman
"I'm glad he's okay," Julia said in regards to Fetch. "Snowball helped out a lot, too." She smiled and offered her hand to help Juni to her feet.
The Togekiss sang out a note in response to Juni's thanks and flew down lower with Lucky following. "Thanks a ton, Togekiss," Julia said. "Y'know, you helped us out a lot—even if it wasn't how I expected—" She snickered. "—and Lucky really seems to like you." Lucky cooed his enthusiastic agreement. "Do you wanna come with us?" She held out a Poké Ball, which the Togekiss hovered down to inspect.
Party Status: Shadow - Lv 7 Zorua - 4/5 Energy Honey - Lv 5 Teddiursa - 5/5 Energy Lucky - Lv 3 Pidove - 4/5 Energy Blade - Lv 11 Pawniard - 3/5 Energy Shellie - Lv 10 Turtwig - 2/5 Energy Rufus - Lv 4 Rockruff - Fainted
(I have no idea if Blade would have gained a level from that battle or not.)
Julia uses a regular Poké Ball on the wild Togekiss + 10% Ranger friendship capture bonus!
Fetch was mostly unscathed, just a little more ruffed up than usual. Shaking out his fur as he panted, he smiled at Juni. She smiled back and pet him gently. “I’m so glad you’re ok…” He was an old boy. He didn’t need to do all the heavy fighting. Scooping up what had been dropped, Juni pocketed it before taking Julia’s hand to get to her feet. Snowball preened a bit at the acknowledgment and gave a small cry thereafter. Yes! He was very powerful (even if he wasn’t evolved! Hmph!).
As the Togekiss seemed to agree and decided to go with Julia, Juni couldn’t help but smile a bit. “You know they’re a sign of serenity,” she half laughed. “I guess it really did bring about some sort of peace.” Even if it wasn’t in the way she had ever imagined either. “Either way, congrats and thanks.” She smiled a little more thereafter.
Claiming: 116 Pen, Greenery x2, Oran Berry x3, Iron x2
06
04
00
Greenery x2, 
Oran Berry x3, 
Iron x2
