Chibi Pika said:
Very cool background plot so far, as I like the legend and war behind the story. As Breezy said, Legendary control can be difficult, but as I'm writing a Legendary fic myself, I've found the best way to control them is to not involve Pokéballs of any kind, not allow the characters to ever battle with them(as in battling for entertainment or tournament purposes), and involve some sort of way they need to prove themselves. Using, but not abusing Legendaries is the key to success
~Chibi~;249;
Wow. I was afraid to post this until I got commentary from an excellent author like you. Thanks for the help, and it will change my idea about how they are used. [spoil] My plan is to have the Beasts come into play around chapter 3, when the destinies of my characters awaken.[/spoil] I was going to have some method to prove themselves worthy of the position. [spoil] That's what chapter 4 is about. But I have changed my mind about letting the characters "capture" them. I was going to let the characters keep their legendary Beasts after the second war (the majority of the fic involves a second war), but now I have decided not to. It will stuff up the ending so badly.[/spoil]
I'm still working on Chapter 1, and am about halfway done. I'm just trying to decide on what Pokémon each character will have. I am fond of keeping Pokémon stats in my RPGs. HP and levels will still be going on here, but it will be a behind-the-scenes thing.
EDIT: Chapter 1 is finally up!
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Chapter 1: Pokémon Scholars
It was a beautiful spring Friday afternoon in Ecruteak City, as three young adults studying to become Pokémon Historians continued their research into Ecruteak's past. The professor of the class was a renowned expert in the field of archaeology, and had contributed to the discovery of many legendary Pokémon, some of which are rumored to roam the world today.
"That will be all for today, my pupils. I shall remind you that your compositions for this class are due in three weeks. I am not accepting late papers," he announced as the class was dismissed.
Out of all the students of his entire Pokémon Legends History class, Aravan was by far the most excited to leave class that day. A junior hoping to someday become a master of Water and Ice Pokémon, he stands six feet strong. He has enrolled in the Pokémon Legends History class to learn more about his favorite Pokémon: Suicune, the legendary Beast said to be the north wind reborn. When he is not busy with his schoolwork, he trains his Pokémon in an effort to locate, battle with, and capture the legendary Pokémon he idolizes so much.
"Whew. I'm glad the weekend is here! I need to catch up on my training!" Aravan joyfully announced to his friends, Josh and Ace.
"Me too. I'm sick of listening to that old cur babble!" Ace remarked smartly.
"Ace, he's an expert in the field, and he's not a cur. Maybe old, but not a cur. You may not like him, but I do. If you knew you would have to put up with such a 'cur', as you put it so smart-alecky, then why did you enroll in the class?" Josh asked Ace.
Ace was puzzled with himself over Josh's question. "Gee, Josh. I never really gave it much thought. It's just some filler class to get elective requirements."
"Ace, you could have taken a much easier elective than this. This class is in-depth, as you know quite well. There has to be another reason."
Ace, still puzzled, struggled to come up with a response to Josh's indirect question. Ace is a lover of fire Pokémon, and is in great physical shape. He has a desire to play professional soccer, but also has a passion for heated Pokémon battles. Though he does not enjoy the class as much as Josh or Aravan do, the professor gets Ace's attention almost instantaneously when he mentions Entei during a lecture. Ace does not look into the legendary Pokémon much, but his favorite is Entei. That has been reflected in the topic for his research paper for Pokémon Legends History: the significance of Entei in the history of Pokémon Origins.
"Josh, I have something to tell you, and you alone." Ace subtly said to Josh.
"And what would that be?" Josh replied. But he then remembered that Aravan was with them, and instinctively slapped his forehead with his hand. "Oh, that was a stupid question. Where do you want to talk about this?"
"How about my room, at seven o'clock tonight?" Ace suggested.
"Fine with me. I'm not doing anything anyway. I will be in the library until then. If you feel the need to talk about this earlier, that's where I'll be."
"See you then!" Ace replied in agreement as he ran off for his dorm.
Aravan, curious about Josh's conversation with Ace, slowly walked over to Josh. From the nervous look on his face, there was obviously a lot on his mind.
"Josh?" Aravan asked, hoping to get Josh's attention.
"Yes?"
"What were you and Ace talking about?"
"Aravan, that is none of your business. Why do you have to be so nosy all the
time?"
"That was rude, Josh."
"OK, Aravan, OK. We were talking about his research paper that's due in three weeks. But that's all I'm going to tell you. I'm going to the library," Josh quickly stated as he ran off for the library downstairs.
"Josh, wait! ...He's already gone. Oh, well. Time to catch up on my training."
And so, the three eager students went their seperate ways. Eager to train his Croconaw and Houndour, Aravan immediately left campus for the areas surrounding Ecruteak City, where wild Pokémon and skilled trainers were itching to battle. Ace left for his dorm, where he wasted away the rest of the afternoon reading books. He never even thought about his assignment once. Josh, on the other hand, could think about nothing but the assignment, and consequently, spent the rest of the afternoon in the campus library. The entire time he was there, he could never get his mind off Raikou, the legendary Beast of Thunder. It is said to have the ability to achieve land speeds unmatched by any other Pokémon.
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About two and a half hours later, it was nearly time for Josh and Ace to have their conversation about class that afternoon. After researching many related legends, Josh came to an astonishing conclusion that he thought would get him a Ph. D. in Ancient Pokémon History. Excited to report his findings, he frantically darted through the building to Ace's dorm.
"Ace, you will not believe what I just discovered from my research! It could be revolutionary!" Josh exclaimed, unable to hold back his joy.
"Josh, why are you working on that now? The paper's not due for another three weeks! Oh yeah, you're being the overachiever you always are. What?" Ace replied, trying to get Josh to speak softer.
"Sorry about that hollering, Ace," Josh apologized, heavily breathing in and out in an effort to douse his excitement. "I looked into the history of the Beasts along with a couple of other legends, and I came to an astonishing conclusion. It ties together the Ecruteak legends and the origin of Pokémon battling. I checked out all four of the books I referenced in composing this idea. That way, we have them for future reference. Listen carefully."
The idea immediately got Ace's complete attention. "I'm all ears, Josh," he confirmed.
"All right. Let me retell the story of the Legends of Johto, all of which once resided in this very city. There were once two towers in Ecruteak City; the Brass Tower to the west, and the Tin Tower to the east. Each tower was the roost of a powerful, legendary bird Pokémon. But one day, a tragedy befell the Brass Tower. A massive lightning bolt struck the tower, and the two bird Pokémon fled immediately. The lightning bolt sparked a tremendous fire that raged for three days and three nights. After the third night, when the sun was about to rise, a massive storm came up out of nowhere. This storm produced torrential rainfall, putting out the fire. The once beautiful Brass Tower was now but a smoldering ruin.
To make matters worse, three legendary Pokémon resided in the Brass Tower when it burst into flame. The three Pokémon were said to have been born of lightning, water, and fire. Those three Pokémon died in the tragic fire. After the torrential rainfall subsided, the legendary bird Pokémon of rainbow colors shined a spectrum of light into the smoldering tower, reviving the three legendary Pokémon. They are said to sleep in that tower to this day, doing nothing but testing mankind by letting certain individuals get close."
Ace was in shock over what he had heard. Though he had heard this legend from the professor before, he had not heard it in such a fashion as to be so easily understandable. "Wow, Josh. You must be obsessed with the legendary Pokémon to know the story this well. That answers all the questions I had for you after class this afternoon."
"Excellent. Now let me tell you about the origin of Pokémon Battling. This legend occurs shortly after the one I just told you, about seven centuries ago. It demonstrates how corrupt we are as human beings."
Ace became confused at Josh's last sentence. "Corrupt? That's not what I have learned here. According to the professors that teach me here, man is basically good."
Josh quickly refuted Ace's point. "If man is basically good, then how can you explain what I am about to tell you? Anyways, I do not want to start a religious discussion; those can go pretty haywire."
"Fine, Josh. I'm listening." Ace snapped back.
"Many centuries ago, the world was a free, peaceful, and prosperous place. This was when humans first tamed wild Pokémon and brought them into their families. They helped with many tedious and difficult tasks, causing the civilization to progress. Now keep in mind that they didn't have Poké Balls back then--"
"They didn't?! Then how did they capture the Pokémon?" Ace inquired loudly.
"They befriended Pokémon that are weaker and easy to capture," Josh answered. "Any strong Pokémon, like the ones we have now, were too dangerous to tame. Heck, my Charmander would probably be too dangerous for an ordinary family to bring in. Anyway, back to the story. But one day, a group of wild Pokémon were attacking a few random people, when suddenly, a Spearow belonging to one of the families flew out in front of the attacking Pokémon and drove them away with a few Gusts of wind. It was this one freak accident that caused the aristocrats to do a great deal of secret research into this incident. They reproduced the incident many times, using different Pokémon to defend against the attacks. After many months of research, the aristocracy discovered that Pokémon were excellent fighters.
After this incredible discovery, the government of Ecruteak began to slowly turn away from a peaceful aristocracy into a militant totalitarian dictatorship, with surrounding establishments in terror of the abilities of the Pokémon. Little did they know that another civilization, supposedly located where Goldenrod City is located now, had made a similar discovery almost simultaneously. When that establishment was invaded by the Ecruteak military, a fierce battle took place between the two armies. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, human and Pokémon. That was the beginning of the Great Pokémon War, the war that started Pokémon battling."
Ace listened intently the entire time Josh retold the legend. By this time, it was already dark outside. "So mankind discovered Pokémon battling through a vicious power struggle? And today it's a very popular sport?" Ace asked Josh, with the intent of confirming his reasoning.
"That is exactly what I have read, and when you think about it in today's context, it is quite sickening. Using Pokémon to win a power struggle... Well, that goes to show you that power corrupts."
"I will agree with you on that, Josh. Too much power in the hands of a single individual does tend to make that person corrupt," Ace agreed.
"Then you just refuted your own point that man is basically good. If man is basically good, then power should not corrupt; instead, that man would use his power for the benefit of mankind. But that does not happen. Take a look at world history. Just under a hundred years ago, a power struggle overseas lead to a world war that nearly wiped everything out. Millions of lives were lost in a short period of time, just to stop the regime of one power-hungry individual. Think about what that was like, only with Pokémon. That's what the Great Pokémon War was like."
The point Josh made seemed to penetrate the mind and soul of Ace. No matter how hard he tried, Ace could not imagine a world war of Pokémon battles in an effort to end a power struggle. He was nearly speechless. The response he gave several minutes later was a struggle for him to utter. "Though you have given me plenty of time to visualize such a war, what I can imagine cannot even come close to how you described it."
Josh was getting more and more anxious to get to his point, and started speaking more rapidly as a result. "Back then, the powerful Pokémon we know today, like Charizard, were weapons of mass destruction. A single one could wipe out an entire village almost effortlessly. As the war dragged on, the battalions left had stronger and stronger Pokémon. This war never seemed to end. The sources I looked at never gave any details about how the war actually ended; however, I have come to my own conclusion, and it makes more sense than any other idea I have tried to come up with. This idea ties both of the legends together. This is why I was in a rush to meet you tonight."
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As Josh started to wrap the two legends together, someone knocked at Ace's door.
"I'll get it, Josh," Ace offered.
Ace opened the door, only to see that Aravan had dropped by after finishing his training for the night and grabbing a bite to eat. He immediately let him into the medium-size, fairly clean dorm.
"What's up, guys?" Aravan wondered.
"We're discussing the legend--"
Josh interrupted Ace again. "After I went to the library to research for my composition assignment due in three weeks, I came to an astonishing conclusion. I was building up the context, and was about to share my point with him--when you walked in the door."
Aravan all of a sudden became curious about what Josh had researched, and wanted to go to the library to look up information about Suicune's role in the legends, but Josh pleaded him not to leave; Josh said he could tell it better than the books in the library can. They squabbled for a few minutes, until Aravan finally gave in. He then muttered in a defeatist tone, "All right, Josh, you win. Tell me about your conclusion."
"Thank you," he replied. "Now, here is where I believe the legends tie in together. Listen carefully, or you will not be able to follow this. From the moment the first Pokémon was commanded to attack in the Great Pokémon War, the power struggle was vicious, and only got worse as lives were lost. Clearly, individual battles were being won, but neither side had an overall advantage for the vast majority of the war. The locations of war lines shifted from time to time, but no one side could really gain any significant advantage over another. It was absolutely brutal. With each confrontation, the lives of hundreds of people and Pokémon were lost, as both sides took no POWs."
"I'm not a war person," Ace declared. "What's a POW, Josh?"
"A prisoner of war," Josh answered.
"So what happened to civilians that lived in villages that were captured by the enemy?"
"The women and children were killed, and the men either had to join their army or be killed. The Pokémon the families might have would be used for the war effort, as were any rations and other supplies the family had. Anything that could be used. It could very well have been "total war", but I doubt it got that far before it was broken up. That's what I am about to get to with my story."
"Oh my god!" Aravan and Ace exclaimed at the same time.
"It is scary, isn't it? The idea of total war," Josh replied, unphased by his friends' reactions. "Both sides were running low on men and supplies, but the men left all had very powerful Pokémon; also, the war was mainly concentrated east of Ecruteak City at that point in time. The tide of the war was beginning to shift at this point. When the losing army, which I will hereafter refer to as the rebellion, became boxed in around the east side of Johto, it seemed that the rebels were doomed... until three warriors in yellow, blue, and red armor, one in each color, came rushing in on the backs of extremely large four-legged Beasts."
"Whoa! I don't believe it!" Aravan was in utter shock over what he had just heard.
"Let me finish my story," Josh requested. "I'm almost done. Anyway, these three warriors, mounted atop incredibly fast Pokémon, rushed to the aid of the rebels. The powers of the warriors' Pokémon far outclassed the Pokémon the enemy generals had. Though the generals tried to retreat, they could not even make it back to Mahogany or Azalea before the Beasts caught up to them. Knowing the powers they were up against, the entire enemy regiment surrendered, ending the war. The world was at peace...for a time. For that period of time, these warriors were praised for saving the Johto region from a war that could have engulfed her in complete destruction.
Some time after the war, the warriors and their Beasts were summoned to Tin Tower. There they met the guardian of the Beasts, the flying Pokémon of rainbow colors. That day, the warriors swore upon their lives to guard this Pokémon. But there were still some trainers loyal to the recently defeated enemy. They gathered other trainers not affiliated with the warriors yet, and stormed the tower. This skirmish resulted in more deaths, including the deaths of the three warriors who so gallantly rode in from the west to save many, many people from dying at the hands of the enemy Pokémon. The three Beasts were so enraged that whoever didn't retreat from the tower immediately was a dead man."
"You're talking about Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, right? And Ho-oh is the guardian?" Ace asked in a confirmatory tone.
"Yes, and yes," Josh replied.
Ace and Aravan were both speechless at Josh's conclusion. To them, it seemed too fantastical, yet at the same time, it made a great deal of sense. It was a paradoxy, in that sense. Josh, however, was still grinning in his excitement. There was a passion in him not present in anyone else Aravan or Ace had met in their lives. A passion that appeared not to be just a fantasy.
"It's running on eight o'clock, and I should start organizing my notes for my research paper. See you," Josh said as he headed for the door.
That reminded Aravan of something he wanted to do back at his own room. "I should get going too, Ace. See you in class Monday!" he remarked as he left the room, following Josh.
On the way back to their rooms, Josh summarized to Aravan what he discussed with Ace before he got back from training. It was a long walk down the winding hallway, giving Josh plenty of time to adequately explain to Aravan how he came to the radical conclusion he was still excited about. He begain to wonder how he could get to sleep that night.
"Josh, I can imagine how you feel. I wonder what will become of this next week," Aravan wondered.
"Well, my room is down this hall to the left. Looks like we will be going our seperate ways now. See you, Aravan," Josh said.
"Later, Josh!"
Aravan and Josh headed their seperate ways, back to their rooms. Aravan was ready to retire for the night, but Josh couldn't help wondering about his discovery. He was on the computer, analyzing and outlining his notes until nearly ten o'clock in the evening. In an attempt to get his mind off the legends, he turned on the ten o'clock news, only to his dismay. This was the top news story of the night: "A distant chain of islands directly south of the Johto region has been conquered by a mysterious group of trainers allegedly linked to an underground criminal syndicate. The sudden attacks were conducted for no apparent reason. The central police force agency of the Johto region has sent spies to get insight on the sudden political takeover. All we know is the group appears to be a radical, militant band of trainers building up a sizable military force on these islands. Speculators suggest that Johto could be the syndicate's next target, with Ecruteak City as the main target of the invasion. In other news..."
Josh immediately turned the television off in anger after hearing the headline. Normally, this kind of news would only affect a person closely following current events, but Josh could not get his mind off the potential development of this syndicate after hearing the form of the enemy and doing all the research he did.
"Damn it!!" he exclaimed in his anger, trying to vent his frustration. "Whatever this criminal syndicate is, it can't be good news! If this is going where I think it is, this will be World War III--or worse, the Great War all over again! The police better get this situation under control before it hits the homeland. This is starting to scare me, but I should not be surprised. Like all my professors have taught me: 'If you do not learn from history, it will repeat itself.' Well, those police better have learned from history--we may not be so lucky this time if war becomes imminent!"
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All this chapter is...is an introduction to the characters, with a juicy plot detail or two in there. *gets ready to dodge tomatoes again*
