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.
It wasn't very long after she'd gotten her Charmander from the lab that she had set out on the route leading out of the city, intent on getting to the next town so she could be one step closer to taking on the gym leader there. She had changed into something a little warmer to stave off the cold and had managed to acquire two more pokemon to her team thanks to one of the games she'd seen before leaving the city. Although she had little in the way of pen, Faolan planned to take on a few odd jobs in the next town over to make a little bit of income and so had splurged without much guilt.
Chingling she wasn't too familiar with, but the egg that had been dropped had been labelled as "Torchic" and she had immediately wrapped it up in one of her spare scarves so she could keep it warm enough to hatch. She held it against her chest as she walked, Fembra keeping up a decent pace beside her, and they both picked their way through the hills en route to the city over. As she walked, she had pulled up the pokedex app on her phone and was perusing through it attentively, checking the data entries of her two pokemon, their stats, and all their move pools studiously.
Fembra seemed content to walk on in silence; although she had seemed to warm up to her new owner easily enough, she hadn't quite gotten to the point where she felt comfortable calling out to get her attention without good reason to. It was silly in a way, since they were basically partners; but still, the fire-type couldn't shake away that bit of social anxiety and so had fallen into a comfortable, companionable silence.
They'd been on the road for a little while before a movement in the grasses ahead caught Fembra's attention, and she in turn tugged Faolan's pants to get her attention. The blonde readjusted the egg in her arms and lowered her phone in time to catch a reddish-orange fox crawling out of the brush, almond eyes locked on them both.
Faolan arched a brow. It seemed that fate really wanted her to make good on the idea of challenging the gym with all fire-types. That or it just really wanted her to have a team that could burn down whole forests. Practically the same thing, really.
Well, she supposed now was as good a time as any to test out her battling skills. Turning her blue eyes to Fembra - who shyly looked up in return - Faolan crouched down to the pokemon so that she could be closer to its eye level and spoke softly.
"Do you think you can do this?" The Charmander hesitated, but gave a small nod. Faolan gave her an encouraging smile and stood, and Fembra slowly headed past her trainer to the Vulpix that was now seated, its tails fanning gently from side to side. There was a moment or two where they simply stood and stared at each other until Fembra cried out her own name in either a greeting or a challenge, Faolan couldn't tell. The Vulpix responded in kind, but it was a quieter sort of sound, and Fembra paused again before looking up at her trainer. Did the Vulpix not want to fight?
The blonde turned to look at the Vulpix, who was still seated and regarding the pair of them curiously. There was a docile look in its eyes, and it hadn't attacked right away. Fembra was poised and ready to fight regardless, just waiting for the orders. What hesitation there had been was gone in the face of her wanting to prove her worth to her trainer, and the blonde considered this carefully before coming to a decision. She noted that the Vulpix had went from looking at the both of them to simply looking at Fembra, and after checking the limited number of poke balls in her inventory Faolan came to a decision.
"If you want to come with us," She began, catching the Vulpix's attention. "Then we welcome you to come along. If not, we'll leave you be. Sound good?" The creature didn't say anything, and the soft look in its eyes was the last thing she saw before she chucked the pokeball at it in an attempt to capture it.
Well, that was unfortunate. Not only did the Vulpix break free, but it also somehow left the pokeball in pieces as it disappeared into the bushes. Fembra looked visibly upset and deeply sorry, and even turned to her trainer to accept whatever punishment or scolding was waiting for her - only to pause when saw the blonde staring at the broken pokeball with a rueful expression in her eyes.
Fembra ventured a timid "charr?" and, when that did not work, she moved a little closer to tug at her trainer's pant leg. That seemed to get her attention, and when Faolan looked down and met Fembra's eyes the fire-type gazed earnestly back. She would do better, that look said. Next time, they'd get it.
Whether or not Faolan accepted this was unclear, but nothing else was said and she looked back towards the road. "... Let's keep moving."
As they continued on their way, the blonde kicked the broken pieces of the pokeball into the brush and out of sight.
They had hardly gotten more than a little further ahead before they came across a kid who stepped out to block their path. He couldn't have been no more than ten, and he was brandishing a pokeball and striking the sort of pose that implied that he watched a fair amount of Saturday morning cartoons. Leering up at the blonde he set his shoulders back and declared, "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"
Faolan stared. He was quite small. He also had two other pokeballs on his belt, which probably meant he had about three pokemon if she were to count what he was holding in front of her. Certainly more than what she had on her right now. Balancing the egg in one hand, she set the other on her hip and looked to Fembra. The pokemon had shied away as soon as he'd appeared and looked like she was torn between running to hide behind Faolan's leg and preparing to fight.
The blonde sighed. They still had a ways to go, and it would be best not to tire Fembra out unnecessarily.
"Sorry, kid," When she spoke the boy blinked, taken aback by her thick accent. "We're not in the market for battling." She made to step around him, but he lowered his pokeball arm and scampered up to her with wide eyes.
"You're not from here, right? What accent is that? Is that a Galar one?" He fired off the questions in rapidfire succession, practically bouncing on his heels with each syllable. Blinking in confusion, Faolan tilted her head curiously at his enthusiasm but began to answer each one in kind.
The boy proved surprisingly good company and even walked with her for a little while, asking numerous questions about the region and the pokemon there, paying special attention to Dynamaxing. She responded to each as best she could and, once his curiosity was satisfied, the pair went their different ways and she continued on to Cedar Town.
Some time had passed since Faolan and the young trainer had parted ways, and she'd made her way to one of the rivers leading into the coast that dotted the landscape here and there. She had debated heading to a small copse of trees to take a short rest when a bright flash of orange, yellow, and blue caught her eye amid the tumbling waves of the ocean. Her curiosity piqued, she adjusted the egg in her arms - which had begun to warm and even shake a little, almost as if the pokemon within were eagerly anticipating its own arrival - and made her way to the rocky shoreline where she could observe better.
The waves crashed against the rocks and the orange and blue fish suddenly leapt out of the water, jaw snapping at some perceived morsel of food before it splashed back into the water. It was so grumpy looking it was almost cute, and even though she had been close to getting something bitten off she couldn't help but feel endeared towards it.
Fembra didn't have any such thoughts about the fish, as the moment it had fallen back into the waves she was at her master's side ready to fight. Faolan could just make out the blur of orange rippling beneath the waves, showing that the fish was still there waiting to get another chomp at a prospective meal. Glancing over to her partner pokemon, Faolan thought a moment before uttering a command.
"Give it an ember, let's see if we can't get it to pop out again."
Fembra obeyed readily and blew a steady stream of flaming bolts into the water. The air was filled with clouds of steam amidst the sounds of sizzles as fire met water, and upon seeing the mist rise above the water it wasn't long before the Carvanha was launching itself into the air again in search of another meal. It snapped at the tendrils of smoke curling up from the water, and Fembra reared back to avoid being bitten. Faolan didn't seem too bothered by this and was quick to issue out another command. "Hit it with an Outrage, Fembra."
The Charmander's eyes glowed red and she became outlined in a red glow. As the Carvanha began to freefall back into the water Fembra slammed first her paw/fist into it, then spun into a heavy slam with its tail. The Carvanha plopped back in the water with a heavy splash, but it was soon launching itself back out with its jaws snapping viciously. Having been consumed by the Outrage move, Faolan didn't have to issue any more commands and instead watched as Fembra gave the fish another fist/tail combo, only this time instead of letting it fall back into the water Faolan whipped out a pokeball and threw it as fast as she could at the fish while it was still in midair.
Faolan knew the Outrage move well enough that she knew there was a probability Fembra would be confused either right away, or a little bit after. To prevent her from hurting herself the blonde immediately took out the Charmander's pokeball and returned her to it before placing it carefully back with the others in her team. As she bent to pluck up Carvanha's pokeball floating in the water, she saw a strange creature with big, round eyes and a pink top looking up at her from under the waves. The effect caused it to appear slightly distorted, but before she could investigate further the egg tucked under her arm gave a mighty shake and began to emit a noise that sounded suspiciously like cracking egg shells.
Her attention momentarily diverted, Faolan looked to the egg in time to see a hole appear, followed by a small beak as it began to slowly chip away at the shell from the inside. Unsure whether or not she should help it, she watched carefully as a beady eye peered out at her followed by a shrill chirp as the pokemon within sounded out a greeting. The bird pokemon managed to peck himself free just enough he could poke his head out, and then eventually got the rest of his body loose and hopped himself to freedom.
It was rather large as far as most Torchics went, coming up to stand at a height taller than any other Torchic she had seen before. She gave the bird a pet on the head and then, remembering the pokemon in the water, she moved to peer back down into the ocean but was met with the deep blue of the sea. It had probably fled during the Torchic's hatching. Faolan wasn't too bothered by it, though; even if she had missed out on whatever it was that had been in the ocean, she still had a new pokemon on her hands.
The Torchic proved to a bit of an odd sort; occasionally they would come across a pebble or a shell, and everytime (everytime) it would try and eat it. When it inevitably couldn't, it spent the rest of the walk with it in its mouth until they inevitably came across another one, at which point the fire-type would fling what was in its beak into the water and scamper over to the new item. Faolan wasn't sure if it was hungry or just a little odd, and simply let it be since it wasn't doing much harm.
At some point when they were walking along the beach Torchic came across a particularly impressive shell and flung the rock in its beak into the ocean. Immediately a sharp cry sounded from the waves and the blue fin of a Mudkip popped out of the water. It made another plaintive cry and spit out a stream of water in retaliation that landed just at their feet. Faolan recognized it as one of the starters from the Hoenn region, the same are that Torchic was from. Not wanting the freshly hatched Torchic to be hurt prematurely, she gently corraled it back behind her leg and took out Carvanha's pokeball. She tossed it into the ocean beside the Mudkip, who was now looking at what was going on around it with interest.
Carvanha emerged with a splash and a snapping of its jaws like it were hungry. After checking the pokedex for its moves Faolan directed it to use Focus Energy just as the Mudkip slammed into it in a Tackle attempt. Although the hit knocked Carvanha backwards, the Mudkip also let out a cry of pain at the Rough Skin of her pokemon as it was hurt. She almost didn't have to direct her pokemon further - it was only a second after she'd issued out a Bite command before Carvanha went crazy, chomping into the Mudkip with its sharp teeth before the pokemon began to swim hastily away to avoid further attacks, Carvanha in hot pursuit. As it was swimming towards the shoreline and safety she took the opportunity to throw a pokeball at it.
Well, that wasn't fun. Whether through sheer terror or the fact that it really didn't want to be captured, Faolan watched at the Mudkip managed to break itself out of the ball and also break the pokeball in the attempt. Both pieces of the device fell into the water with tiny splashes, and the pokemon quickly dived underwater and fled. Carvanha looked fully ready to give chase and had even turned around by the time she pulled its pokeball out and withdrew it.
The Torchic behind her leg peeked out, then looked up at her in question. She only gave it a pet on the head before turning and resuming her walk down the path, the bird at her heels. Eventually she allowed Fembra out of her ball, and though momentarily disoriented the Charmander was quick to keep up with the pair of them as they walked. The blonde counted what little supplies she had left; one pokeball left. She'd have to save it for something really nice.
Eventually the beach began to bleed out into grassy plains, and she liked to think she could see a city far off in the distance. It was still a ways away, though, but it was nice to know that they were making some progress. Torchic and Fembra seemed to get along decently, which she could only chalk up to the shared trait of being fire types; although Fembra was tiny in comparison to the huge bird, she seemed not to mind much. She did still stay more or less hiding on the other side of Faolan's leg, but that was something they could work on later.
Far off in the distance Faolan saw the familiar figure of a Stonjourner, and although it was tinier than most it filled her with a sense of nostalgia. It was all by its lonesome so she didn't move to actively bother it, and besides that, her attention was suddenly diverted at the sound of Fembra speaking up beside her. Up ahead there was another Galarian type she recognized sitting half-in the water beside a pile of shells, and -- oh, there went Torchic. It showed no hesitation in running up to try and take one of the shells for itself, and although it was large enough to intimidate it was clear that the Corsola was not having it.
As soon as Torchic ran up the Corsola slammed its body forward, Tackling the bird and making the fire-type immediately turn around and start running back. Fembra immediately moved forward defensively, but even from behind Faolan could see that she was scared at the sight of the creepy looking pokemon. The blonde fingered the pokeball remaining in her bag. With the way things were going they were more than likely going to run into more pokemon, and she only had one ball left. She appreciated the nostalgia elicited by the Corsola, but not enough to potentially waste another pokeball on it.
Carvanha had done well enough so far and they were close enough to the beach that it wouldn't have to go very far to attack. She tossed its pokeball into the water and it emerged with another frenzied snapping of its jaws. The Corsola nearby looked alarmed, but it was determined to protect its shells at all costs.
Like before, Faolan started off Carvanha with a Focus Energy just as the Corsola started glowing a bright blue to try and Disable the attacks. The first Bite had the opposing pokemon flinching in response, and before it could get another one Carvanha was biting again, and again, chomping greedily at whatever it could get. The Corsola fired off a Tackle that was accompanied with cry of pain similar to the Mudkip's at Carvanha's Rough Skin, and as soon as Faolan called out for the water-type to Rage out, the battle was over. Carvanha worked itself into a frenzy, splashing water violently as it slammed into the Corsola over and over, and when the ghost-type was floating in the water and Carvanha was going in for the killing blow, only then did Faolan retrieve him and put him away.
She debated the fainted pokemon and her last remaining pokeball. Maybe next time.
As they left, Torchic took the opportunity to run up and take one of its shells, but when it saw the Corsola floating aimlessly nearby the shell was returned carefully before it ran off after its trainer.
Although they had made it off the beach, their path still took them by the water and so it shouldn't have come as much surprise that they got accosted by a Corphish. Faolan didn't understand what it was saying aside from its own name, but Fembra actually looked even more shier than usual as it continued in a tone that sounded rather akin to catcalling. Was her pokemon actually being catcalled? The Torchic kept running around in circles at their side, but at the Corphish's jeers it calmed down enough to looked first at Faolan, then at Fembra.
Fire types had a clear disadvantage to water, so using either of them would be a bad choice, but she did have Carvanha and a few potions. It seemed like they'd only run into water types so far, so it would be a good idea to get the pokemon healed up for future encounters, as she was fairly certain they still had a little ways to go.
Her decision made, Faolan walked to the shoreline a bit away from the Corphish so she could free Carvanha. Once it was floating in the water she sprayed him gently with the potion and rubbed her finger over one of his yellow fins affectionately. It was hard to tell if he enjoyed the touch or not, but he didn't shy away or attempt to bite her finger, so she could only interpret that was a good thing. Regardless, he seemed to appreciate being healed up, and once that was done he turned to look at the Corphish still catcalling and began to snap his jaws hungrily. The Corphish paused only briefly in his taunts, faltering, and then Faolan gave the command to attack.
The Focus Energy didn't do much, but it had become something of a routine by now. Corphish Hardened itself to the attacks before rushing forward to Tackle Carvanha with water spraying up the sides and splashing at Fembra and Torchic uselessly. They jumped out of the way regardless and watched on as the Corphish's attack hit with a wet slam, and like the other pokemon before it it let out a cry of pain at the contact with Rough Skin. Carvanha was quick not to let it get away and jetted forth with a Bite attack, happily sinking its teeth into the hapless Corphish and making the creature flinch at the impact. While it was momentarily stunned, Carvanha flew into another Rage like before and slammed its body into the pokemon at high speeds over and over again; by the time Corphish managed to get out an attack, the Water Gun struck with such minimal damage that it didn't phase Carvanha in the slightest. Eventually the combination of Rage and Rough Skin wore the Corphish down, and it gradually stopped moving.
Carvanha disoriented himself enough in the attack that, instead of going for the killing blow, he slammed himself into one of the small, grassy cliffs jutting over the water. The self-inflicted attack confused him momentarily, and before he could do it again Faolan returned him to his pokeball and looked over the Corphish fainted in the water. Well, at least that took care of that. She looked to Fembra and Torchic, who were staring at the floating pokemon in awe, and the three continued on their way.
Used a potion on Carvanha! +5 Energy Battled and fainted Corphish, +1 level, -1 Energy to Carvanha Fembra - Level 5 Charmander (4/5 Energy) Chingling - Level 3 Chingling (5/5 Energy) Carvanha - Level 9 -> 10 Carvanha (4/5 Energy) Torchic - Level 1 Torchic (5/5 Energy)
06
04
00
