Rise of Atlantis: The Island Nation

[Masa Mune]

Chapter 1: The Test Before The Journey

Dawn broke the calm of the night over the Masa compound, which was an odd happening in itself. Usually night did not mean the activity stopped, but yesterday, and even today, was special. Masa and nearly all of the pokemon awoke at the same time, and though the human wouldn’t admit it, he was somewhat looking forward to the spectacle the later portions of the day would bring.

With so many awake at the same time, it was a rare occasion where breakfast was held in the grand dining hall; and indeed it was, easily seating over 300. It was elegant and intricate, but not gaudy; in fact one would more than likely take the time to marvel at each of the chairs and tables, hand carved and designed so no two looked the same (there was also a strange coating on each of them giving them a strange sheen, but this was barely noticeable and only to protect from various element damage); and the tablecloths, woven only from the finest and most durable of Spinarak and Caterpie silk. The lighting in the room was done by well placed wall candelabras, making everything well visible, but not harsh for nocturnal types, and the walls and ceiling were all plain, heavy, wood, though polished to give a light amber hue to them. The carpeting itself was of a medium blue and made of some synthesized fiber to make it durable to multiple food related accidents and natural pokemon happenings (like the body of a magmar would not easily burn the floor). Finally some rare plants (most received as bonuses from various jobs) finished off the look of the room as the only actual decorations.

Various platters and trays were brought to each table and the meal went by uneventfully save for the brief squabble at some tables over the last portions of certain items. Once Masa sensed most everyone was near finished, he decided now was a good time to speak more on what he had begun to tell them all last night. Getting up quietly enough to not be noticed save by his elite squad (who were all sitting at his table anyway), he then stood on his chair and emitted a powerful, booming voice that filled the room. Everyone looked at the mercenary, stopping eating if they weren’t quite done yet.

“Everyone, it is time for me to expound upon the conversation from last night. It has recently been brought to my attention that I will be returning home soon for an undertaking the likes of which I’ve never seen before. During this time, you must train yourselves to the brink each day, that is one reason why I wanted you to all get so much rest today, for should I fail, you can be sure this compound will become a front, with all of you being the only line of defense left. The other reason for this… some of you will have your first opponents today that are not from this compound. It will be left to you to test these trainers as I only want the strongest to make it through. For as much as I hate the prospect, the ones who make it through will be traveling with me to stop the rise of what I thought to be a mere myth, a place and entity known as Atlantis; as well as to hopefully restore the flows of balance which seem to have been upset. Now I realize these details may not strike you as so, but this is everything I know myself. For now, once you have finished eating, go and start warm-ups, once our guests arrive I’ll decide who you’ll be going up against.”

A silence of understanding filled the room as Masa lowered himself to the floor, but instead of sitting back down,he continued to stand by his chair as he looked over his most trusted squad members, giving them each a glance that seemed to speak a request to follow. In unison the others stood as well and followed Masa out of the dining hall and into the war room in one of the lower levels. The room was fairly plain and cold, having a large table in the middle and a few super computers, tracking stations linked (hacked into actually) to small spy satellites, and other such devices. The room was sound proofed and psi-proofed, making for a secure talking area, of which Masa was the first again, but only to pre-empt Neptune who he knew was about to speak.

“You already know the answer to the question Neptune, so don’t bother asking it.”

Neptune sighed in defeat as he went to listening to what Juggernaut had to say.
<So what are we going to do about getting them here?>

“I already sent out airship tickets a number of days ago, they’ll be arriving sometime today.”

At this point it was an Alakzam’s turn to pose a question, though the “words” more or less echoed from his mind.
<Do you want me to keep a detailed report on them?>

“I thought about it Psychoses, but no, there’s a chance you might be found out… instead I’ve already sent Dopplegang to keep an eye on things as well as report in throughout the flight.”

As if by stage direction, a communication came through one of the computers.
“Hey boss, they’re arriving, but this is a sorry bunch so far… You sure the carriers went to the right people?”

Masa walked over to where the voice had come from and held down a button so he might return communications.
“Yes I’m sure… keep in mind Dopplegang, most of these people only have pokemon skilled enough to fight against the Elite Four, and few of them will have actually trained themselves… Prominence, I’m heading to my viewing chamber, switch communications from here to there.”

The Blaziken nodded as Masa left the room, but before he could switch over, a Haunter suddenly slammed his hand onto the button for returning communications.
<Don’t you dare mess up on this one Dopplegang… if you’re found out you’ll be the disgrace of the Special Tactics Division and I’ll have to have you undergo special training.>

A large comical gulp could be heard on the other end, making it so one couldn’t tell if he was worried or being condescending. In the back of the room a Houndoom let forth a soft chuckle.
<It seems you’ve already given that Ditto enough special training Giest; he’s becoming as hard to read as you.>

<Hades… didn’t realize you were back from hell.>

<Yeah, father isn’t too thrilled with what’s happening either so he wanted me to come back… though my visit was over anyway, I would have been back in a couple days regardless.>

A voice that didn’t belong to Dopplegang broke through the speakers.
“Well, I’m glad we’re all having a grand ol’ time; but I was supposed to have communications transferred over five minutes ago. Since you all seem to be enjoying this game though… Jaws, take Hades a and Giest and hold a special training session of your own for a while.”

A Feraligatr standing in a corner of the room let out a grunt of acknowledgment, before grabbing the Houndoom and biting down on Giests hands so he could be dragged about.

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A man appearing to be in his late 30’s stood at the entrance to the airship. He looked like an experience pilot, dark circles under his eyes and a number of small facial wrinkles as well; but the air-ship was on auto-trip, no steering needed. So he’d really just be accepting tickets and providing refreshments and the like. If that was bad enough, no one had shown up yet and he was becoming annoyed. Playing with his thick, black with grey highlights, mustache and tapping his feet he became more and more edgy. His blue eyes did not speak the calm they should have and finally it seemed as if his suit was starting to melt off of him. However, before it could get to the point where he couldn’t handle it anymore, he finally saw a person in the field. Breathing a sigh of relief he instantly was able to recompose himself. Soon he was accepting tickets from a constant enough flow of trainers of varying sorts, though many seemed to be fairly arrogant which disgusted him. He would have gladly shown those trainers up himself if he were permitted to while on the job. Instead he did what he was told, and just smiled and accepted the tickets. Giving a hearty if not hollow “Irashai” to each pass holder, and showing them aboard the large ship complete with a pokemon battle ring in the center.

 

[Saffire Persian]

The dawn had already broke, the crisp, clear rays chasing away the dark, while ushering in the sun as it sped to take its place in the sky. Still alight with the colors that the dawn always brang, a single, black form darted against the sky, an eerie black silhouette against the pastel sky. The form was draconic, the leathery wings, as red as blood, flapped repeatedly as the dragon forced the wind to make way for it as it bolted through the air.

It was a Charizard - pure ebony in color, save for the red lining of his wings and flaming tail. At a single utterance, the Charizard - superior to most Charizards in size - sped up with a loud roar that echoed through the air - and it would certainly strike a chord of fear in the fainthearted.

The Charizard's name was Azar Syr Rikku'shendra, hailing from the noble line of dragons from the Charisific Valley, and upon his back was a human, blonde-haired and green eyed, with a distinct, thoughtful look etched upon her face. A letter was clenched tightly in her hand, and she looked down on it, perplexed.

The Charizard laughed at this, and the girl frowned at him, causing another laugh to echo amongst the wind. <You look too confused, Selene Caminach. Rarely have I seen you look so.>

"It's the letter."

The Shiny Charizard snorted. <It's a letter. Nothing more.>

"A letter from Masa , Azar. Did he think I wouldn't know his signature?"

<So he decided to get into the habit of writing letters -->

"Since when does he write to anybody? - and it says 'Attention Trainers of the World.' That insinuates I'm not the only one to have received it. Masa just doesn't invite people for a party. It makes me wonder if something's wrong - something has to be wrong."

Azar shrugged. "I will not pretend to know what he's doing, but whatever he's doing it for, he has a reason. So put your thoughts at rest, girl. I think you'll soon find out." The Charizard banked sharply. "Hang on, we're over the forest, now... I think I see the airship up ahead."

Selene heeded the warning, and the dragon rose, before moving going into a dive, tucking in his wings as he skimmed over the land, making a smooth, subtle landing just in front of the airship and an older looking man around the same age as herself.

Selene didn't say much of anything, greeting him with only a nod, showing him the ticket that would let her onboard. He nodded - didn't seem that keen to talk, really - and he had a fake-looking smile (strained by all accounts) on his features.

"Irashai." And that was all he said as she stepped inside the airship, with Azar following close behind.

As she stepped inside, Selene's eyes settled on a large, Pokemon battling ring, and she couldn't help but wonder what Masa could possibly be up to.

 

[Psyched Slash]

Hmm...

Psyched stood at the back of the pack, as was his style. Mind Games stood beside him, periodically asking Psyched if he was absolutely positive that he wanted to do this. Psyched nodded everytime the Alakazam did so, then went back to trying to ignore the uncomfortably large crowd.

It wasn't that hard, though. The airship that all were crowded around drew his attention well enough. Of all methods of travel, by air was easily one of Psyched's favorite ways, and he rarely got an opportunity to do so. The sight of the airship came dangerously close to bringing out the child in Psyched that never really existed in the first place, but he remained quite.

Psyched was far more distracted by something else though. He was extremely angry by the fact that the ticket he had somewhere in one of his pockets -- should probably get that ready -- was delivered directly to his island. He always knew that it would be well within Masa's power to find out where he could be found if the man wanted to, but the apparent confirmation of this was infuriating just the same.

<You will recall that you were almost killed last time,> Mind Games' "voice" ran through his mind.

(So you've been-)

<Twice.>

(-reminding me for a while now...) Psyched thought in answer.

<Well?> The Alakazam pushed, not having the best of memories of the compound himself.

Psyched shrugged. (I don't get enough excitement nowadays... A few potentially fatal experiences are bound to be good for me...) He thought for a moment. (And I have a few issues to bring up with Masa, anyway... You know that...)

The Alakazam sighed and gave up for the time being. The trouble was, the line was getting increasingly shorter and he wasn't having any success in detering Psyched from this little outing.

<You seem so sure it is Masa,> Mind Games tried, even though he was fairly certain it was, too. <If it's not, this will all have been a waste of time.>

(You're just grasping at straws now...) Psyched remarked. (The letter, the bird, and that dream I had... It all just screams Masa... You can always stay behind, you realize...)

Mind Games almost laughed at that. <Someone needs to watch out for you. You're not as young as you were the last time we did this.>

Psyched sighed, and even smiled a little, though that faded quickly enough. As the line grew shorter, Psyched moved with it, though quite a few steps behind it. The last thing he wanted right now was for one of these wannabe trainers to gain any interest in the Alakazam out of its 'Ball and start up a conversation.

When they did finally reach the man taking the tickets, and not without a few more futile attempts by Mind Games to turn Psyched around, Psyched handed the paper over to the older gent' without acknowledging him and moved inside the ship.

<There's something strange about that man,> came the Alakazam's "voice".

(Of course there is...) Psyched replied. (We're dealing with Masa, after all... Normality won't be the norm, if I recall... That's one good thing about that man, anyway...)

And with that, Psyched moved to find the least crowded area he could, making sure he had a view of the battle field at the center, Mind Games following shortly after, trying not to admit to himself that even he was excited about whatever it might have been that would await them.

~Psyched Slash...

 

[katiekitten]

Kate stared at the soft cream paper, rereading the message for what felt like the thousandth time.
"Attention trainers of the world. Put your skills to the ultimate test in a challenge that would make the Elite Four cringe. If you feel up to it, take the airship ticket and head to Artedes Forest and wait on the tree line to receive further instructions.”
She frowned, crumpling the piece of paper in to a ball and lowering her fist. She was at the designated meeting place, an isolated airstrip on the fringes of a broad forest with only one ship waiting on it. Hers.

The sun was just peeking the top of the waving boughs, striving to escape the grasping hands that were branches fighting each other for light. It dove through the top layer, emerging to dapple the ground a soft green, twinkling on the droplets of dew that clung forlornly to the fresh grass. The early morning songs and melodies of the forests bird population wove through the withered branches, soothing her shaking nerves. She stared at her clenched fist, pondering her choice.

To accept this sort of challenge and actually come to take it on, were two entirely different state of affairs. It was alright saying it, but actually following it through... A tough choice. One that she should have considered before hitching a ride on the one-way bus to the middle of nowhere. Well, to late to back down now. She wasn't the only one who had been invited, it seemed. Other trainers had also disembarked the bus and were trudging towards the private jet that awaited them, eyes lit up with excitement. Phinite sleepily poked its head up from the knapsack that hung from Kates’ back, glanced blearily around before retreating into its cosy nest of blankets, twittering to Kate the whole time. By the tone of its voice, it was encouraging her to go, chastising her slightly for her reluctance. So she went.

She would have gone anyway, she had her pride and didn't want it damaged by turning back now, going watery-kneed over a simple flight. She had never flown before, preferring to keep her feet firmly on the ground. That was part of her reason for not catching a bird pokemon, her fear of unsupported movement. What if the balloon was punctured? She would plummet, crashing into the ground at high speeds, being killed instantly on contact. But not before she was given the knowledge that she would die soon after. It scared her, all though she refused to show it. She knew she was over reacting, but that did not make it go away. Rolling her shoulders, she steeled herself and began to approach.

A figure wearing a neat uniform, supposedly the pilot, stood waiting for them at a set of stairs that led up into the box that hung below the balloon, secured by a series of wire cables driven firmly into the metal. A shiver ran down her spine as she gazed upwards, eyes following a cable upwards, startled by the sheer bulk of the balloon. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the pilot accepting the trainers tickets and admitting them inside the plane. A weedy man of thirty, he fiddled with his white streaked grey moustache until he spotted the first wave of trainers advancing, immediately straightening. His blue eyes were sharp and critical, seeming to pierce through you despite his friendly manner. Calling on her confidence, Kate strode forward, smiling, ticket in hand. She handed it to him, waiting as he quickly examined it before stepping back to let her through.
“Irashai!” He murmured after her, his voice low but smooth. She smiled back at him, took a deep breath and entered the undercarriage.

It was a magnificent sight, all plush regal red seats made with comfort in mind. She chose one near the center of the box beside a window, settling herself into the lounge chair and doing up her belt, even though they wouldn't leave until the others had come. No use taking risks with such dangerous machines. She released Phinite, who curled up in a ball in her lap and fell asleep once more. She looked out of the window, watching as other trainers arrived by various means of transport. She didn't know why, but she was uneasy. The trip seemed forboding, to her at the least. Maybe she wasn't the only one. She closed her eyes and waited for her journey to start, preparing herself for the long flight ahead.

 

[mewga]

The beautiful morning sun caressed the beach shore with ribbons of yellow, showing the wake-up call for all pokemon that were not nocturnal. Only four sounds were heard. The crashing waves in the ocean below, the soft tweeting of pidgey waking from their slumber, and most importantly, the soft, barely hearable, padding paws of an absol streaking across the landscape, along with the mightyena padding along. On its back rode a human, clearly in a hurry.

"Do you want me to walk the rest of the way?" The speaker was the human, a tall teen with blue eyes and snowy-coloured hair.

<Not... ... A.... ...Problem.... ...I... ...Can... ...Keep... ...Going...> The absol panted back.

"Come on Sin, take a rest." Without waiting for Sin to reply, the human slided off the absol on to the lush green grass. The absol curled up about two metres away, and the mightyena panted up to the human.

<What now Aeron?>

"Ok. Poachoo, I'm not sure this will work, but try to find a gathering of people that have a passed scent of this letter." Aeron whispered softly in to the mightyena's ear. The wolf pokemon sniffed the letter and took off in to the forest.
Aeron decided to take another look at this letter.

"Signed Maya..... That rings a bell....."

<The airship was right through the treeline.> Poachoo strided out of the forest with a sceptical look on her face.
Aeron peeked through the trees, and sure enough, there was the airship. He practically floated through the croud he was walking through he was walking so fast, his pokemon right behind. He heard one hollow greeting of "Irashai" when he flashed his ticket to board, and saw straight through the man's sad excuse for a smile. He and his pokemon settled themselves down a bit, and found a quiet spot where they could watch the battles. One picture kept appearing in his head, that of a pheonix.

Note: My character will be kinda mysterious, so characterization will be in completely random parts, and not much in those.

 

[Ejunknown]

The wind was viciously strong, making Tasha squint as she peered into the distance. Twenty miles or so ahead was the airstrip, stark black against the rough browns and softened greens of the forest that lay before her. They would reach it in an hour. She sighed and rubbed her face tiredly. Why am I doing this? Something cold pressed into the back of her arm, and she turned too see Moonlight, claws firmly attached to the blanket that served as a saddle, eyeing her with concern. She smiled wryly.

"Everything's fine." The Umbreon gave her an incredulous look. She laughed, giving her a quick scratch, before turning her attention back to her surroundings. She had been riding for nigh on three days now, stopping only at lunch, to eat, and at sunset to get some rest. She had left the night she had received the letter, against her better judgment, feeling some strange urgency to get there as soon as possible. The feeling still hadn't left, and seemed to affect her Pokemon as well...

Looking up, she realised they had just about reached the Airship, and with a word, they slowed to a stop. Rubbing the sweaty neck of her Rapidash, she looked around at the crowd that had gathered. All held tickets and were accompanied by one pokemon or the other, chatting and showing off. I didn't realise there would be so many She mused, taking out her own ticket and edging Inferno towards the ship. Dismounting smoothly by the entrance, she handed the ticket to the middle aged man at the door, receiving an hearty if hollow "Irashai", and entered the craft.

 

[RaZoR LeAf]

Arden read the letter again, checking if there was some kind of hidden message, or an explanation for him being there. Still, he could find no reasoning for why he was there. The note mentioned trainers looking for a challenge. That was where the problem lay, as Arden didn't consider himself a trainer, nor was he up for much of a challenge. Still, his curiosity got the better of him, and chose to venture out of the quiet life and back into the pokemon world to see what the big deal was about. Beside him floated the abnormal and oddly coloured Porygon he had come to be in possession of. Infected with a virus that drastically altered it's programming, he sometimes wished he didn't have a translator to go along with it.

<We're going on that thing?> the small black speaker voiced. Arden looked up to see a huge airship. The balloon itself was the main size, but the passenger section was pretty hug itself, sporting at least two decks, maybe more. <I've seen safer looking wreaks at the bottom of the sea!>

"When have you ever been at the bottom of the sea Pi?" Arden replied, ignoring his comments about the ship's safety.

<I haven't but you'd be amazed what you can find on the internet. Though I suppose you know that already don't you?>

"So you keep reminding me."

Arden boarded the ramp leading onto the airship, which was spacious inside, but not empty looking despite the few people gathered within. A man stood at the door, his age reflecting Arden's but he offered no welcome other than a short "Irashai" as he took the ticket and pointed onto the ship.

<That guy just swore at you.>

"No he didn't stop trying to make trouble or I'll put you back in the pokeball."

Pi shut up, preferring to stay in complete silence than go back into the pokeball which didn't react well to his viral program. With the enigmatic Porygon silenced, Arden looked around the interior of the ship, seeing that this floor offered a large arena for pokemon battles, while above the floor was hollowed out in the centre to act as a balcony for people to watch the battles below. He looked around at the other people gathered, he didn't recognise any of them, but he supposed he wouldn't considering he'd been staying away from the bustle of the training world for a long time.

<This place is dead>

"What did I just say to you?"

<Not to cause trouble, which I thank you for noticing that I'm not. I'm just commenting on how lifeless the atmosphere is. I'm artificial, it's there's one thing I know it's life>

"I thought I told you to stop going on those philosophy web-sites. Anyway, I'm sure that as soon as the ship takes off the atmosphere will liven up a little. There's an arena there, and plenty of pokemon trainers here, I expect someone will want to participate in a battle sooner or later."

<Well if it's use, don't expect me to back you up>

"Wouldn't dream of it."