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.
Julia stared in wide-eyed awe at all the sights that Birch City offered, her mouth opened up in a wide smile. It was such a big city, yet it was so natural with its parks and its roof and wall gardens. All of the plant life gave the city such a fresh, crisp smell that filled Julia's lungs and left her buzzing with even more energy than she'd set out with. She couldn't believe she was actually here. Getting through Route 6 in the middle of the night hadn't been easy, but thanks to the Pokémon at her side and pure determination, she'd made it to Birch City. Unfortunately, the lab had been closed when she had arrived, so she'd stopped at the local Pokémon Center for a restless night of sleep, but now, she was finally on her way.
The Pokémon walking alongside her, Shadow, was an Eevee—or at least, he looked mostly like an Eevee. The slate-gray tail, which was much shorter than an Eevee's fluffy brown-and-cream tail, gave his true identity away, but he'd mastered the art of using Julia's legs to hide that tail when a passerby got suspicious. It helped that people tended to look away from Julia's prosthetic leg to avoid looking rude; anyone who dared to stare got growled at despite Julia's chipper insistence that it was fine. Luckily, it was too early for many people to be out since Julia had insisted on getting up the moment the lab opened to the public (equally as luckily, Shadow was used to Julia's tendency to get up early, even if he preferred nighttime, himself).
"Oh, there it is!" Julia exclaimed, pointing at a sign that said "Birch City Lab." She looked up at the building it labeled. Huh, she'd expected a lab to be fancier-looking. Maybe with a cool domed glass roof. Oh, well. She sped up to a jog, and Shadow easily matched her pace, letting out excited Eevee-sounding cries.
"Helloooo~?" she called into the lab the moment she poked her head in.
The lab was relatively empty at this time of day - perhaps everyone hadn't yet arrived? - with only the most dedicated assistant milling about, tending to the various projects they were working on (or perhaps they'd simply been dedicated enough that they'd slept there overnight? who knows). At Julia's entry very few looked up; this was a common enough occurrence nowadays that perhaps there was no need for surprise, but there was a blonde woman sitting at a nearby desk nursing a cup of coffee, who looked up at the brunette's arrival. After perusing the papers on her desk for a moment, she stood, walking over to greet Julia properly.
"Julia Davis? I'm Professor Holly. We've been expecting you." The way her mouth twitched in a ghost of a smile was enough of an indicator that they hadn't been expecting her quite this early, but new arrivals to the region were usually pretty eager to get their first pokemon partner, so perhaps it was to be expected after all. Turning, she moved over to a well-worn case sitting on another desk and unlatched it to reveal three pokeballs within. These she picked up and opened one after the other, releasing the pokemon inside.
"These are the starters we've picked out for you."
"Nice to meet you!" Julia greeted. Professor Holly seemed like a serious-business type, but that did nothing to dampen Julia's excitement for what was to come.
She watched eagerly as Professor Holly released Julia's three choices from their Poké Balls. The first to emerge was a Furfrou with, to Julia's surprise, fur that was already styled to make him look like he was wearing a white-and-pink bonnet. He tilted his head with a curious little whine before taking a couple of steps forward to sniff at Julia, who giggled and reached down to scratch him behind the ear.
"Aww, hey, buddy," she said.
Shadow slid in next to her, watching the Furfrou carefully. After a few moments, the light around Shadow shimmered and then converged until instead of an Eevee, another Furfrou with the same trim stood there, differentiated only by his slate-gray tail. The real Furfrou yipped in alarm and scrabbled back with his left front paw raised, a move that Shadow copied half a second later. The Furfrou tilted his head. Shadow tilted his in return. The Furfrou lowered his paw. Shadow did the same. Like a slightly out-of-sync mirror, Shadow copied the Furfrou as it stepped forward again and sniffed. Julia couldn't help but giggle as the two slowly circled and examined each other, Shadow doing his best to mimic the Furfrou's every movement.
Next, Julia's eyes fell on the huge Staryu that floated nearby, surrounded by an orb of water. She'd never seen a regular-sized Staryu before, so she wasn't sure how this one compared, but it had to be at least four feet tall. An "absolute unit," as she'd seen commented on some giant Pokémon pics. The Staryu seemed to be watching Shadow and the Furfrou, but it was difficult to tell thanks to its lack of eyeballs. Julia paced to one side of it; it slowly turned its red jewel toward her as she moved, so she guessed that was its way of seeing.
"Hey, there," she said to it. She wasn't sure how to describe the alien sound it made in return, but at least it seemed friendly, albeit not very energetic.
Julia turned toward the sound of the Furfrou yipping in alarm again to see a second giant Staryu floating there. The original Staryu seemed much less surprised to see its copy... or at least, Julia thought it did. Again, it was hard to tell with the Staryu's lack of face. When Shadow drew closer, Julia couldn't help but peer around to see the telltale Zorua tail sticking out the back, right in the center of the faux Staryu's body. She bit her lip to keep herself from laughing; as funny as it looked, she knew Shadow was proud of his illusions, even with this obvious flaw, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
She caught something orange-brown moving below her, but before she could react to it, the Teddiursa jumped up and grabbed ahold of Shadow's tail. The Staryu-Shadow let out a loud, alarmed alien noise that dissolved into a Zorua's yip as his illusion broke and he tumbled backwards on top of the Teddiursa, who cried out in surprise. Shadow shook his head back and forth and, without getting off the Teddiursa, turned and growled at her. To Julia and Shadow's visible surprise, the Teddiursa started giggling. Shadow clambered off of her as she continued to laugh and stared at her for a few moments. There was a familiar shimmer of light, and Shadow seemingly transformed into a Teddiursa with a Zorua tail. The real Teddiursa stood, her giggles subsiding, and put her paw to her mouth as she looked at Shadow, head tilted. She started to walk around to Shadow's back, but Shadow turned and paced around her, leaving the two to walk in a circle. The Teddiursa picked up her pace, and Shadow did the same until the two were running around each other, laughing in the same voice. Eventually, Shadow sped up so he could tackle the Teddiursa to the ground, both still laughing.
"She's perfect," Julia said, grinning at this display. "Right, Shadow?"
Shadow gave a little Teddiursa-sounding growl of assent, tail wagging behind him. The real Teddiursa nudged him off, and Julia took the chance to pick her up.
Holly watched as the Teddiursa was selected. It seemed like a good match. Nodding her head, she returned the other two and then stepped forward to hand Julia the Teddiursa’s Pokeball. “Don’t forget to consider a name for her. I have also prepared some supplies for you,” she went on walking to a shelf and pulling down a box with Pokeballs and Potions. Handing it over to Julia thereafter, she paused. “Do you have any questions for me? If not, you are free to head out on your journey.”
Julia looked down at her new companion, who was hugging one of Julia's arms while absentmindedly licking her free paw. Already, the perfect name was coming to mind, which she said out loud: "Honey." Was it a terribly original nickname? No. Was Julia any good at coming up with original nicknames? Judging by the fact that her Zorua was named Shadow, also no. But Honey at least seemed satisfied with her new name, smiling behind her paw and letting out a little growl.
Julia set Honey down so she could take the Poké Ball and the box of supplies. "Thanks!" she said. "I don't guess there's anything special I should know about taking care of a Teddiursa, is there?"
A small quirk came to Holly’s lips as Julia asked such a standard question. Heh. “Teddiursa are known for being foraging Pokemon… in the loosest sense of the word. She may beg you for food, and you should be aware it’s your job as her trainer to ensure her diet is well maintained,” she answered. “Otherwise, the best teacher is experience.” And Holly stood by that fact. “Any other questions, or are you ready to start your journey?”
Julia nodded firmly. "Got it." At her feet, Honey reached out to hold onto Julia's leg so she could look up at her with begging eyes, but she pulled back when she realized that the leg she'd been reaching for was made of metal below the knee. She tilted her head as she examined it with a curious little growl; Shadow kept an eye on her, tail twitching in case the Teddiursa tried anything. Julia didn't seem to notice any of this.
"Nope, that's it!" she said when the professor asked if she had any other questions. "Thanks a lot! C'mon, guys; let's get going!"
Julia bid farewell and waved as she exited the lab, her two partners at her side. She found a bench a little ways away and sat down. She pulled out her phone to check the map... only to be met with a black screen. Right, she'd turned her phone off. She stared at it for a few moments, a rare frown on her face. Shadow, who had dispelled his illusion and looked like his normal self for once, jumped onto the bench and rested his head in her lap with a concerned whine; Honey scrambled to climb up on her other side and sat next to her. Julia forced a smile and gave them both a scratch behind the ears.
"It's okay," she said. "I'll just do this real quick."
She held down the button to turn on her phone and set it down next to her while she waited for it to boot up, taking a deep breath of the cleansing morning air. It really was different from Pine Town, which always smelled a lot earthier than this city of plants... though Julia guessed those were earthy in their own ways. It was nice, either way.
She and Shadow winced as her phone began rapidly vibrating and dinging with an onslaught of notifications; Honey pulled back with a startled growl and stared wide-eyed at the device. Julia's smile was more strained this time. "It's okay, Honey," she said. "It's just my phone." Yeah, just her phone blowing up with a billion notifications from her parents, probably...
She waited until it stopped to finally pick it up and check the screen. Yep, just as she'd thought: Tons of missed calls and text messages, mostly from her dad, some from her mom, and a couple from others in town who had her number, all of which Julia swiped away before unlocking her phone.
"All right, which way should we head from here?" she asked as she pulled up her map app. "Route 1 seems like the obvious choice, but we could also try Route 7 and hit up Ash City. Ooh, there's a Cycling Road past there, too! I wonder where we can get a bike..."
A notification from her dad popped up while she and her Pokémon were deciding where to go. Julia swiped it aside, too, but not before catching a couple of words:
tell me your ok
Her grip tightened on her phone, causing Shadow and Honey to look at her with concern. An idea struck her, and this time, the smile that spread across her face was genuine. She opened the camera app, put it in selfie mode, and held her phone above her.
"Smile!" she said. Shadow looked up and smiled at the camera with a wag of his tail; Honey stared at the device while licking a paw, still seeming confused. Julia snapped the pic and quickly drafted a text, trying not to look at the flood of messages that preceded it:
Made a new friend! :D
She sent the message off and then turned off her phone before she could get a response. She stood up, making sure she had all her supplies with her.