Fate of the Unknown - Tians Tale Prologue

Fate of the Unknown - Tian’s Tale
An Alpha Sapphire Nuzlocke Challenge
Prologue

She wasn’t where she was supposed to be, nor was she anywhere familiar. She was standing in the remains of an old temple; stone pillars were shattered, debris littered the floor and greenery was beginning to overtake everything. There was a long flight of stairs that lead to a glassy platform by the wall. What this place must have looked like before the destruction.

She was standing on the stairway, still confused as to what was going on. Her first thought was a form of kidnapping, but that didn’t quite explain why she had no memory of an attack. Perhaps she had finally lost it. The stress of the move had eaten away at her still developing mind and she just snapped. Okay, in the movies that could have been possible, but to her it seemed like a pretty valid option. With all the paperwork to change citizenship alone she felt like she could have utterly snapped.

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she finally noticed that she was not quite as alone as she originally thought. Thirteen others, all ranging in age but still young enough to be called ‘children’ stood on the stairway with her. But she couldn’t take comfort in the knowledge that there were others with her, they were all just as confused as she was. There was fourteen of them all in total, herself included; seven boys and seven girls. She half-expected it to be revealed that they were to start fighting to the death as a sick form of entertainment.

One boy, however, who was mostly dressed in red, remained calm despite the confusion. She had seen him before, maybe not in person, but she knew of him; his name was on the tip of her tongue. Then there were the other pair, who she realized must have been from Johto due to their clothes. The boy’s jacket was becoming a popular style for Johto trainers as of late, and the girl’s hat was pretty much sold out within hours.

There were another two who struck her as odd. They were both clearly dressed for winter. How strange, wasn’t it summer right now? It did not appear that she would be getting any answers anytime soon, for no one had spoken up. No one tried to introduce themselves, or even ask if anyone knew what was going on. Some people just stared at their partner in confusion.

Wait, everyone had a partner, so didn’t that mean she had one herself? Turning her head to the side she came face to face with a boy in clothing suitable for biking and warm weather. There was something vaguely familiar about him, like she had met this boy at least once before. But she could not place a name or a first meeting with this boy.

A golden light erupted from the far end of the temple, she needed to shield her eyes with one arm, the light was that intense. She heard the steady trot, trot of hooves beating against the stone floor. She risked lowering her arm and slowly peeled her eyes open.

She could not have prepared herself for the sight before her.

The creature was vaguely equine, reminding her of the mythical Pokémon in her mother’s stories of ancient times. A white and grey creature with golden hooves stood before them. The golden plate around it’s midsection held a radiant aura. Or maybe she was just caught up in the moment and it was really just the sun reflecting off it. The creature bore an air of divinity and creation, but there was something about the creatures eyes that ruined the image of power, like it was just… tired.

She recalled many of her mothers stories, too many of them all at once to form a coherent thought. When she was young she would finish one of her mothers stories by saying that if she ever met one of the Pokémon of legend, there was no way she would have been scared. Youthful ignorance at its finest.

There was a long, agonizing moment when the human children and the being just stared at each other. She smiled to herself, mirthlessly, imagining the other kids were thinking the same thing she was. Now what?

The creature closed its eyes, then bowed its head. The temple was suddenly filled with behemoths of varying sizes and shapes. She could recognize some of them from the stories she heard growing up. At leas one of them stared in her favorite stories involving the Brass Tower. They all carried an air of power, true power from the elements and cosmos themselves.

She balled up her hand in front of her mouth. They were really in the presents of the Legendaries, weren’t they?

Her green eyes fell upon a large blue Pokémon that was obviously aquatic. It was massive, while-like with large pectoral fins that were almost as large as it‘s body. Red lines outlined its mouth, eyes, fins, and lower section above its tail. With one look at the Pokémon and she knew one Body Slam would have taken any opponent out in battle.

She felt the Pokémon’s yellow eyes stare at her. She wasn’t sure if she felt like she was in the presents of something god-like, or if she was prey waiting to be killed. It was so strange to feel so frightened and entranced all at once. This Pokémon, and by extension the others, could kill her without effort. Blinking, the Pokémon turned itself to the side to look back at the gold and white Pokémon. “Arceus…” she whispered in realization.

The Pokémon that was believed to have created the Sinnoh region, and possibly even the world itself. The creator. Essentially god. Now it explained why she thought the Pokémon looked so tired, if the legends were true then Arceus was as old as time itself.

Realizing just who she was in the presence of, all she could do was stare in awe. Never in her lie could she have imagined to find herself in the presence of Arceus. Maybe she could have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Celebi or Suicune, but Arceus? No way.

Arceus’ head bowed once more in melancholy. A few Legendaries disappeared from the platform. The blue Pokémon stared back at her with a look she never would have imagined in something as mighty as a Legendary; fear. Anger. Hatred. Emotions she always thought were too human for something like the Legendary Pokémon. Emotions she always thought Legendaries were above.

On the platform in front of Arceus, several groups of people in strange getups appeared, standing in front of a select few Legendaries. Some, but not all, appeared featureless. In front of the blue whale-Pokémon were a group of people dressed in tattered shorts, and stripped shirts.

Pirates? Really?

Two people stood in front of the group. One of them was a tall muscle-bound man, and the other person may have been female. It was near impossible to tell with their massive mop of hair obscuring most of their features. In front of the two was a person dressed in a form-fitting outfit, with a short, tattered train trailing down his waist. What had caught her eye was the rainbow colored stone embedded onto his anchor pendant. While she was know geologist, she had never known any stone to come in such a color.

She could feel this mans gaze upon her, but she looked away when she heard the crack of lightning. Panic filled her in an instant, her heart began to speed up, and her hands covered her ears. She crouched down as she always did when she was this afraid, but it did nothing to comfort her.

There was water everywhere, from the raging sea, and the pouring rain. People were yelling to get to higher ground as their towns were quickly beginning to flood. Wild Pokémon fled deeper, and deeper into the forest, land-based Pokémon hurried to find higher ground, while the flying Pokémon tried to find shelter from the heavy rain.

A submarine in the shape of a shark-like Pokémon thrashed against the raging waves until it was hurtled onto shore and a hole was bashed into the plating. The seawaters began to rise higher and higher, flooding towns and cities, and Pokémon habitats. The harsh storm capsized even the largest of ships preventing anyone from taking shelter in them. And soon, the sea level was so high it submerged even the tallest mountains, leaving behind only the water Pokémon and what little flying-types there were left.

It was an apocalypse of biblical proportions.

Humanity had been washed away. Land based Pokémon were drowned, and odds were the flying Pokémon would not last long in a water-filled planet.

She buried her head into her knees, unable, and unwilling to see anymore.

TAKE WHAT YOU SEE HERE, AND HOLD IT CLOSE TO YOUR HEART.

Her head shot up to find blue whale-Pokémon and the team of humans behind the great flood beginning to fade away. Standing up, she found that not only had she been crying (which wasn’t surprising, given the storm she just saw), but so had the other kids. Some had had more of a reaction than others, but it was clear that they had all experienced something similar.

REMEMBER THIS MOMENT.

The children looked back at Arceus, its red eyes managed to express a certain sadness in them. Not quite the dreariness of longevity she had gotten earlier, but something else entirely. Arceus had made a difficult decision, and was not going to be happy with either option. It laid itself down, crossing its forelegs over one another as though it were praying. It was trying to get down to the level of the children as best as it could.

STOP THEM. DON’T LET THEM SUCCEED IN THEIR PLANS.

Arceus closed its eyes once more, nodding its head once. Its eyes snapped open and she felt a chill run up her spine. She felt a strange sensation run through her, she looked down at her hands to find herself fading away. A new form of panic began to swell up in her, she looked over her shoulder to find the other kids were fading as well.

Desperate, she looked back up at Arceus, hoping and praying that this was its doing, and hoping that there was no malicious intent in it. Arceus stood back up with its head erect, offering out one last plea,

PLEASE… SAVE MY CHILDREN.

……

As if her nightmare wasn’t enough, the truck had hit a bump which propelled Tian into the air momentarily. She landed back onto the floor, her elbow and hip took the blunt of her landing. Tian squirmed in place, one hand wrapped around her elbow; she rolled onto her back to relieve the ache in her hip. She could hear muffled voices, sitting up Tian found her twin sister seated on one of the boxes watching something on a portable DVD player.

Her sister looked up from her movie with a slight smile on her face. “I think we finally found you a great alarm clock, Sis,” she teased.

Laying back down, Tian grabbed her mother’s Azurill Poké doll, which she had previously used as a pillow, and covered her face with it. Falling back to sleep would have been near impossible now that she was a little jumpy from both her rude awakening, and the nightmare. It did not help in the slightest that Tian swore she could hear the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof of the truck.