30 years ago, the great pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum arose as a pokemon trainer. The legendaries sensed his great potential and chose him as one of the heroes of legend. Ho-oh flew overhead to mark this occasion. During his training career, he saved the world from calamity a great many times. But he retired nearly twenty years ago. The world of pokemon has changed. Civilization has advanced. Ash has settled down and now lives alone with his wife and two children. The evil that threatened the world has retreated into hiding... for now. We begin our story not on a warm, sunny day with a happy-go-lucky rookie trainer somewhere in the vicinity of Pallet Town, but on a stormy night, in a cave well below the ocean’s surface...
The Beast of the Sea
Prologue
Drip. Drip. Drip. Besides the occasional screech of a Zubat or scuttle of a Krabby, the drip of leaking rainwater was the only sound that could be heard. Even the pokemon of legend at the cave bottom weren’t making a sound. They were too deep in slumber.
That is, for now at least...
For outside the cave, a small speedboat dared to brave the storm. Most people wouldn’t brave the storm. The pilot of this craft was just too dull to use sense. His name was James. He worked for Team Rocket, hence the blood-red “R” on his black uniform. He turned off the motor and drifted ashore, beaching himself and stopping with an almighty jolt.
James climbed out of his boat, trying to remove it from the sand. After several failed attempts, he kicked the boat in frustration. This, of course, hurt his foot very much. However, it also loosened the boat from the sands and it sat in the water. James quickly climbed aboard and dropped the anchor of the ship into the depths below, stopping the drifting. Not that this would matter to him later.
James stealthily entered the cave, remaining undetected. He kept going for nearly an hour, until he finally hit the cave’s absolute lowest point: the Lugias’ nest. He had waited for this a long time... James took out a small bag and threw all its contents into the air. They looked like small beads, until they connected to each other with energy beams, replicating the same capture rings used by Lawrence III nearly thirty years ago.
The energy discharge caused by the creation of the connecting beams created a great thunderous noise, which immediately woke the nearby Lugia. The two legendary birds took what little flight they could within the confines of the cave, aiming to end this quickly and get back to sleep.
One of them, who was slightly larger and of considerably old age, let loose a thin Hyper Beam and moved it to hit and destroy every last one of the rings created by the man. Meanwhile, the other one, nearing its fully-grown state, dove straight for its attacker and hit him hard with a tremendous headbutt, knocking the man across the room and into the deep pool of water there.
The older bird slowly collapsed onto the ground. The younger one quickly flew over to see if its parent was okay. The older Lugia looked up and gave the younger one the following instructions:
Go to Kanto. In Pallet Town, you will find a boy, fourteen years old. The other legendaries and I have sensed great promise in him. You should sense him, too, when you near him. Transfer some of your powers to him. He will need them in the upcoming calamities.
That was the last that the two would see each other. The younger one wrapped its wing around the older one’s neck, then withdrew it and began to make its way out of the cave. Upon getting out of the cave’s interior, the Lugia took flight eastwardto Pallet.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the vicinity of the Sevii Islands...
A man with glowing red pupils and a sharp brown suit had watched the whole thing on a videophone. Annoyed at his minions’ stupidity, he slammed a glove-covered hand onto the table, rattling his coffee mug among other things. Then someone knocked on the door outside.
“Come in,” he growled. The doorknob turned slowly, and then a slim woman in her mid-twenties with black shoulder-length hair and a black suit with a big blood-red “R” on the back strode into the room and sat in the chair in front of the man.
“Status report, I presume?” he asked, still scowling. The woman frowned.
“Yeah,” she said, “but you seem to be in a worse mood than usual, Gio. What’s up?”
“I just watched James get himself killed on the monitor. What’s more, the healthy one flew away,” Giovanni said. He said this casually, like he didn’t care about someone being killed.
“Well, he was an idiot. It was going to happen eventually,” the woman said, just as simply. “Now, you wanted a report on Project Sigma?”
Giovanni sighed. “Yes, Soara, I would like a report on Sigma.”
Soara smirked. “Nine weeks,” she said, holding up nine fingers, “then you can make as much chaos as you want. Just one set of legs left, but we’re outta stuff to make it with. We need some time for that.”
Giovanni growled deeply. “Raid the other teams’ warehouses. Go take materials from the public. Do whatever you need to, just finish the project and do it now!”
Soara gave Giovanni a sour look, then stood up and sternly said “Watch your temper. It’ll get done, so stop yelling.” She then left the room briskly, not wanting to get caught in the middle of one of his mood swings. She began to think back to the cause of these violent eruptions.
Ever since right before he had ordered the project to be started four years ago, his eyes started glowing and he began acting odd. What’s more, the old coot was near-seventy, but didn’t look or act a day over forty (besides the extreme moodiness).
There must be some sort of cause... Soara thought, but I’ll look into it later. Right now, I need to finish up work. She quickly walked to the elevator, and then pressed a button with an odd symbol in it. The elevator began to move backwards, and then stopped, and then it began moving downward at great speed (for an elevator). The door opened and a great light shone through into the elevator car. Though temporarily blinded, Soara slowly walked into the room ahead...
To be continued...
