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.
Post by Elizabeth Waters on Jan 15, 2020 3:06:50 GMT
word count: 288
Elizabeth's empathic senses had picked up on a little of the panic from Josh when first releasing Haldor. He didn't say anything however thus she didn't pry. Transitioning from the main path into the thick of the woods was both comforting and unsettling. The world beneath the trees was darker, more enclosed and this forest felt old. It did however help protect them some from the wintery chill.
Liz sat crossed legged atop Haldor's head with Raya and Levin alongside her and Ena cuddled in her lap. The steelix had his head lowered so the group wouldn't be rammed by any of the overhanging branches. The path was narrower here but not so badly. If she weren't traveling with another she'd likely have taken the time to venture deeper into the forest and see what they could find. Perhaps another time however.
"Nice and dark in here and pretty quiet. Always did like forests, they're quite peaceful but can be rather intimidating." Liz commented down to Josh as they pressed forward. She wasn't sure what they'd find in here but expected their travel wouldn't go undisturbed. It always seemed like forest pokemon tended to not appreciate humans venturing too far into their domain. Of course as long as they stuck to the main path they'd likely be left alone. Then again, travel was pretty boring when nothing happened.
But hey, at least any snow, rain or ice was unlikely to hamper them in here. Plus with Ena snuggled up to her, Liz was starting to get a little too warm. The steel serpent wasn't exactly the warmest thing to sit on either but she knew he wouldn't have any problems with whatever sort of terrain they happened across.
As the two travelers and their Pokémon ventured into the woods, Josh could see Liz and her team again, the Steelix seemingly crawling along the ground with how low his head was. He could reach up and touch the Pokémon's metal chin if he wanted, but why would he in this weather? It had to be freezing cold. Speaking of weather, it was quite a bit warmer in the woods than outside, coming to him as no surprise. Dense foliage was good at moderating temperatures. The overcast skies further held heat in - he might have to swap to a lighter jacket down the road.
Liz's voice seemed to echo a bit more in the woods than in open areas, though the effect would only be profound at greater distances. "The very first course I ever raced on was carved out of a forest south of Goldenrod," Josh related to the female's love of the deep woods. "Great for beginners. It would be boring for me now, but everyone has to start somewhere." Twilight remained expressionless as ever, her eyes shifting back and forth as she kept them open for potential trouble.
The path narrowed within the first few hundred feet eastward, Twilight often being forced to weave around the metal giant's slithering frame to remain on the road. "Most of the Pokémon I'd like to call my own live in the wide open plains, but you'll see them occasionally in woods like these." Josh released his young, rambunctious trio of Saber, Aslan, and Blitz, the three prancing back and forth across the road, often using its entire width in their play. "Now don't go wandering, boys," he instructed his young team, the three running in Haldor's wake...for now.
Post by Elizabeth Waters on Jan 18, 2020 21:31:56 GMT
word count: 272
The forest was eerily quiet as the group pushed onward. The barren trees were coated with a mix of ice and snow yet they still felt quite close despite the loss of their leaves. Haldor dug a good sized trench in the snowy, earthy forest floor as he snaked along.
The ranger noticed movement in the wintery foliage and a sawk appeared at the edge of the route. She didn't look too happy about their presence. The ranger frowned and glanced to the two fighters riding with her. Both looked ready to take on the blue fighter if Liz asked but the ranger shook her head before reaching for another's pokeball.
"We'll let Ayla take care of this, she needs the practice." The ranger informed them as she tossed the ball onto the forest floor. From it the tropius popped out and warily eyed the sawk. "You got this, use Fly."
Ayla nodded but before she could get into the air Sawk struck with a solid Low Sweep. Ayla stumbled and winced but opened her wings and leapt into the air. Sawk tried to Leer at the flier but she was shielded by the trees. The tropius swooped around and came down full force on the sawk knocking her unconscious.
"There we go, good job. Why don't you return to the pokeball girl until things warm up." The ranger suggested as she recalled the tropius. Her attention turned to the eevee that had approached Josh and she grinned a little.
"Look Ena, it's one of your cousins." Liz chuckled as the flareon perked up and watched the boy and normal type's interaction.
"An Eevee! I want it!" Josh cried as the curious wild casually approached he and Twilight. The small Pokémon touched its front paws together, wearing a besmirking stare, as to beckon the Absol to take it on in single combat. The stoic dark-type backed up, unflinching. "You're on, Saber!" He reached down for the electric-type's Poké Ball, uncoupling it from his belt. "But this time, use nonlethal--"
Before Josh could finish his sentence or use his Poké Ball, the nimble, small quadruped leaped around and over Twilight, scratching and bouncing off Josh's head. "Yeouch!" he cried, slumping aboard the Absol and dropping his Electrike's Poké Ball, thankfully activating the release mechanism in time. The Eevee leaped over to his backpack and started rummaging through it. The next thing he heard was the sound of an Ice Stone clinking against the ground below. Through the thumping pain coming from his forehead, Josh turned toward the Eevee and noticed one of his evolutionary stones on the ground. He cried, "Hey! Give that--"
Too late. Touching the stone with both its paws, the Eevee started glowing a bright cyan color, more than doubling in size. It now boasted ears, tail, and long patches of hanging fur, all with a diamond-shaped motif and in varying shades of blue. Saber, sharing Josh's anger for the very naughty Eevee--no, now Glaceon's thievery, formed a sphere of electricity around itself. He backed up a few feet before lunging into his own electric attack, launching the Electro Ball toward the Glaceon at high speed.
Shrugging the attack off, the Glaceon could only laugh at them, its long hair and tail blowing toward the three and trapping them in a vortex of polar air. Josh slumped lower aboard Twilight, and Saber was completely unconscious within seconds. The Absol shook her head, then her entire body in order to forcefully dismount Josh. Not having to worry as much about his trainer's safety, she went all-out, Pursuing and cutting off the Glaceon's attempts to flee at every moment. When it realized it was cornered again, the wild pointed its tail and fur directly at Twilight, another bone-chilling gale following.
The two exchanged blows, continued exposure to the Icy Winds causing further deterioration to Josh's already unpleasant condition. Twilight looked back to Josh and sounded a cry. No response. Out cold completely. With no trainer's command to hold her back, the Absol raised her forehead blade and came down hard on the ice-type, quickly impaling and removing the potent natural weapon from her foe. After downing the Glaceon, she limped back toward Josh to make sure he was okay.
Mod note: Please remove 1 Ice Stone from Josh's inventory. {WC: 438} {PC: 2} {Josh: 0/53 | Status> KO} {Saber's level is now 6!} {Saber: 0/63} {Twilight: 8/170}
Last Edit: Jan 18, 2020 22:48:32 GMT by Josh Devlin
Post by Elizabeth Waters on Feb 4, 2020 4:52:44 GMT
The unusual circumstances that transpired between the young racer and the eevee were quite something to behold. The evolution to glaceon seemed to give the icy fox quite a boost in power. Everything happened so quickly there was little the ranger could do to intervene.
"Whoa! That was a quite the ill tempered glaceon, geeze." She exclaimed as the young woman hurried over to check on the fallen trainer. "Hey Josh you alright?" She called gently looking to Twilight and approaching slowly so as not to alarm the dark type further.
"Levin, see if Life Dew can help in tending to Twilight." The ranger instructed of the psychic knight. The electrike was unconscious and would require more than Life Dew could provide. Liz however did carry some revives on her just in case. First however she wanted to make sure Josh was alright. The already freezing temperatures plush the icy attack wasn't good for the constitution. The most important thing would be warming Josh back up.
"Ena, quick, come lay beside Josh here and keep close." She continued giving instructions while she stood and hurried back to Haldor who had her pack and camping supplies. "I think it's best we set up camp until he comes around. Haldor, carefully use Rock Slide to create us some shelter. Chani, can you find us some dry brush for a fire? Raya and Ayla, you two be our look outs."
Everyone set about their tasks as ordered while Liz retrieved a blanket from her camping supplies. She hurried back over to Josh and carefully raised him up and wrapped the blanket around him. She glanced around unsure if his team was still out exploring or if they'd all been recalled. Her focus turned to Twilight and she gently patted the ground behind Josh.
"Would you like to let him rest against you Twilight? He needs to be supported off the frozen ground as much as possible." Liz inquired not presuming to order the other trainer's pokemon about. Ena had settled back against the young man's side watching the absol curiously. Levin stood beside the ranger still producing healing vapors into the air to aid all around him.
Raya however had spotted a nidoking relaxing a few meters off not seeming to have noticed them yet. She just hoped the poisonous ground type would continue to mind his own business. A pawniard too seem to be present though her actions were unknown to the lucario.
Haldor had managed to create a rough wall of stone and then dug into the earth encircling it and the others with his serpentine frame. Chani soon returned with a pile of dry sticks and brush and Levin assisted her in putting together a fire circle which Ena easily ignited. Ayla came opened her wings creating a small canopy cover over the fallen trainer.
Once Josh was settled within the circle of warmth, Liz turned to administer a revive to the unconscious elecktike. Now they could really only wait and see if the young man would recover.
Twilight nodded, cuddling as close to Josh as possible to share her body heat with him while he was unconscious. Once Liz's entire team had finished working together to build their makeshift shelter, the combination of Levin's Life Dew and Chani's circle of flames powered by Ena's latent heat aroused the fallen racer after quite some time. "Th...thank you," were the first words out of his mouth accompanied by a groan. "You s-s-saved my life," he continued, immediately reaching for his Litleo's Poké Ball and calling on the young one's help. His mane provided additional heat and warmed the boy up a bit more quickly.
About fifteen minutes later, Twilight heard some rustling nearby. She stepped out of the shelter and noticed a Pawniard snooping around nearby. As the wild approached, the Absol shot it a scary, almost murderous glare. Getting the idea, the wild started slinking off behind the dense thicket of trees to the west. She came back, nodding once more. "That means everything...is okay."
Josh groaned again from time to time. Though his body had warmed up, he was still suffering from frostbite in a couple of areas. Treating it here wouldn't be difficult at all, what with the many fire-types the two had between them. It would be more of an annoyance than a true threat, and the two would almost certainly need to set up camp again to sleep through the night from all the travel time they had lost.
It was upon her return Josh noticed Twilight had likewise suffered grievous wounds in the battle with the Glaceon. Her white skin was frostbitten worse than Josh's was by quite a bit. He struggled to get to his backpack, a few gems clattering out before locating a Potion to spray Twilight's wounds with. Conventional medicine would only do so much, though - the Absol was badly frostbitten. "Do you have anything for...frostbite, Liz?" Josh asked, going silent for a few seconds afterward. "She's not looking good."
Just as he asked Liz for the medicine, Saber bolted from the other side of the shelter, landing directly on top of Josh. The recovering trainer coughed a couple of times. "...Did you do this? I saw Saber pass out in that battle. How can I repay you?" He was grateful that his prized Electrike was okay, but surprised, borderline shocked that Liz, whom he had just met the other day, would use such expensive medicine on Pokémon that weren't hers.
Mod note: Potion is used on Twilight. {8/207 -> 207/207} {Saber: 37/74} {WC: 415} {PC: 3} {Josh: 1/95}
With copious application of medicine, both human and Pokémon, as well as time, Josh was able to recover to the point where he and Twilight would be able to travel through the forest and get to Ash City, where he could get some real help. He never got an answer to his question, either - in fact, Liz had disappeared completely. Perhaps she was an undercover Arciel ranger or something? Either way, he was obligated to repay her somehow if the two met again.
Saber was going to be doing no more battles any time soon, but he still had the rest of his team - particularly Aslan. The fire-type would be valuable in warding off the ice Pokémon that were native to the woods in the winter months. "Aslan, come on out," Josh said, reaching for the number two Ball at his side. The feline let out a cute purr before jogging alongside Twilight.
Another half-mile down the road, Josh noticed a lone Burmy hanging from a tree on the left side of the trail. There was a colony of them on the right side, but he thought it curious only one would be on the left. "Perfect," Josh smiled. "Target practice." He leaned toward the Litleo a little bit, Twilight eventually turning to let his rider face the cub. "Hey, Aslan, this is a perfect opportunity for you. I've noticed you always use your Ember attack up close. While that's great, did you know you can use it from a distance, too?" He pointed toward the lone Burmy hanging from the tree on the left.
As if to prove a point, Aslan faced the Burmy and inhaled deep, spitting a small fireball toward the bug-type. The Ember attack connected right in the center of its cocoon, flames racing up the thread it was hanging on and burning the thread to cinders. The Burmy fell into the snow bank below, putting the fire out but leaving it an easy meal for the next predator to come by. Aslan turned around, smirking. "Wow, you pick up fast!" It wasn't that the fire-type didn't know how to use Ember as a ranged attack - he just didn't want to unless he had to. Of course, Josh had no way to know that--yet. "Nice one! Now, try to keep up!" Josh accelerated Twilight to a trot, still mindful of his wounds. The Absol at this point was a guardian, responsible for keeping him safe. Even the slightest brush could reopen his wounds, and he'd be a goner without Liz to keep him safe...
Mod note: Jance has agreed to turn this into a solo thread. See Discord, #plotting, 2/21/20 6-7 PM CST. {Aslan's level is now 8!} {Aslan realized the power of Work Up!} {WC: 432} {PC: 4} {Josh: 18/112}
Another half-mile went by, Twilight and Josh not seeing too many oddities in the woods. There was the occasional resting ice-type, as well as the occasional cocoon Pokémon colony high up in the trees. He was feeling a bit better, but still couldn't be too careful. Aslan was keeping up with the two just fine, occasionally even scouting ahead. A cute roar from him prompted Josh to have Twilight pick up the pace a little.
When the trainer had caught up, he noticed a Makuhita ahead that looked like it was ready to spar. "Not with that, though!" Josh cried out to Aslan, reaching for the number two Poké Ball to recall him. He reached instead for his number five one containing Blitz the Shinx. When he was about to release the jet electric-type and give him a command, a menacing, angry-looking Geodude surfaced in front of the fighting-type. "Ahh! Run!" He replaced the Poké Ball, the Absol picking up the pace again until the wilds were out of sight.
{WC: 171} {PC: 5} {Josh's level is now 8!} {Josh: 35/130}
Last Edit: Feb 22, 2020 17:52:07 GMT by Josh Devlin
After another quarter-mile of fleeing east, a Honchkrow only a little smaller than Twilight swooped out of a thicket to the south, Twilight forced to weave around the wild Dark-type. The bird was surprisingly quick, able to read and react to the Absol's every move. Not wanting any kind of battle, Twilight turned around and looked for an alternate path east, even if it meant heading through a dense thicket of trees.
The popping noise of a Pokémon emerging from its Ball echoed from behind him, a Zigzagoon and rough-dressed, spiky-haired trainer menacingly staring at the two of them. "This neck of the Weeping Forest is Team Spade's territory. 200 Pen for passage," the leather-jacketed male said with words slurred together.
Josh looked to both sides of the road - he was boxed in! He lowered his mouth to Twilight's ears and whispered, "Protect me, Twilight." Raising his voice back to the thug, he undid the latch on two of his Poké Balls, releasing Aslan and Illumina to defend him. "This is my answer. Disable that Honchkrow with your Thunder Wave!" Josh commanded, both of his Pokémon quick to face the larger bird. When Aslan saw there was no way Illumina would be able to charge her Thunder Wave in time, he bravely dove in front of the Honchkrow's Wing Attack. The flick of the flying Pokémon's wing sent Aslan pinballing into the thicket of trees to the north at high speeds, the Litleo badly bruised and beaten with a single attack.
Josh swapped out the fallen Pokémon with his Shinx. "Blitz, work with Illumina to take the Honchkrow out!" Illumina's feelers were flickering rapidly after stunning the foe with a Thunder Wave - she had already gone through a fierce battle and needed to recharge her supply of electricity soon. Zigzagoon was quick to defend the now-grounded Honchkrow, ramming Illumina from behind and causing her to tumble closer to the black-winged bird.
A telltale sphere of electricity surrounding the Shinx, he charged into the much larger Pokémon. Though Blitz bounced off the Honchkrow's body, it was the electric part of the Spark attack that did all the damage. If the Honchkrow somehow could fly before Blitz's attack, it certainly couldn't now. The blue-haired trainer let out a grumble followed by a loud cry, commanding both of his Pokémon to deal with the Shinx. Having to engage in a two-front battle overwhelmed the young Pokémon. Their final exchange of blows left all four Pokémon in a heap on top of one another, in need of treatment at a Pokémon Center.
Taking the initiative, Twilight ran up to the now-defenseless Trainer, Josh still mounted, and raised his forehead blade. Sweating, the not-so-tough guy let out a scream of terror before recalling his Pokémon and fleeing west. Josh did likewise with his Pokémon. "Thank you," he breathed a big sigh of relief before continuing east, down to only three Pokémon that could fight...
{WC: 501} {PC: 6} {Josh: 55/150} Illumina's level is now 8! {Illumina: 0/131} Blitz's level is now 16! {Blitz: 0/233}
Last Edit: Feb 25, 2020 23:06:34 GMT by Josh Devlin
Josh could have sworn he saw light out of the corner of his eye, Twilight starting to breathe a little heavier from traveling across one of the longest rural thoroughfares in all of Arciel. On the other side of the trees was the cityscape that was Ash City, evening lights on from the sunset obscured by the dense forest on its west side. "We're getting close, Twilight," Josh encouraged his Pokémon, his skin still a little numb from the scuffle with the Glaceon. Perhaps some personal strength or even personal combat training wouldn't be the worst idea, what with how...wild...Arciel's wild Pokémon were.
Twilight gave a simple nod. "Come on, it wouldn't hurt to at least smile." Josh couldn't help but laugh at himself on the inside from the hypocritical statement he just made. He wasn't in the mood to smile himself - he just wanted to get to some place warm and maybe get his frostbitten skin looked at. A Farfetch'd with a leek its own size stood to the north side of the highway, tilting its head as it seemingly stared at Twilight's side while the two were passing. Though Josh wanted to see his team get stronger, he was in no condition to be doing battles. His number one priority was to get to town quickly and safely.
A Poké Ball with a 50% chance of capturing a wild Pokémon. For every post you have already failed to capture the Pokemon, the capture rate goes up 10%, to a maximum of 90%.
The dense woods at last gave way to a new landscape, by far its most prominent feature being Ash City's skyline at dusk. To the south was a rough-looking landscape that seemed perfect for hunting down a certain aerial Pokémon he had thought about catching since he had arrived in the region. That would be a journey for a couple days later though - Josh would be taking a day or two off from the wilderness. He had also heard Ash City had a Gym - perhaps this would be his first.
On the forest's edge were a pair of white, Poké Ball-shaped objects amongst a small pile of trash, Josh only noticing them after Twilight stopped to sniff them. He leaned down to pick them up, making sure they they were unoccupied...which they were. It was that time of day where many were having dinner, making the Pokmon Centers typically not too busy. He hoped he could get right in.
Journey complete. {WC: 161} {PC: 8}
Last Edit: Feb 27, 2020 17:49:38 GMT by Josh Devlin
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