Shining Tales: Desert Blade

Prologue

The rain pelted hard into the stormy ocean, dropping from the storm laced night sky. It was as if the heavens were at war and the results were hell on earth. The wind howled loudly through the air and all water pokemon down below retreated as deep as they could go, hiding until the destructive deluge had stopped. One would have to be absolutely insane to think about traveling through the storm. To do so in a small wooden boat no less would require the most dangerous mixture of bravery and lunacy. This precise concoction exactly was paying off for four pokemon in particular who were attempting to brave the brutal sea as best they could.

'Hold on!'

There were huge cracks in the vessel the moment that the words were shouted from the captains mouth. Their boat splintered down the middle after an especially violent wave had crashed aboard. The leader and one of his companions slipped and slid across their wet floor, doing everything they could to not topple overboard.

'Ugh!' The captain grunted, clanking his blue metal body against the damaged starboard. His green friend was a little more stable and elegant, managing to leap up over a skidding piece of wood and land atop the poop deck, squinting his eyes to try and see in the darkness.

'It's impossible to make out anything!' he yelled out, his smooth voice rippling through the barrage of sound.

'That's what you're worried about!?' shouted the captain, trying to remain standing on the wet surface.

'It's for docking purposes!' the green pokemon yelled back, a flash of lightning illuminating the horizon and causing him his eyes to light up. 'There! Land! I saw land!'

'Some docking this is going to be.' grunted the captain as salty water splashed on to his face. He shook it off and spun round, seeing another of his companions burst through through the door from the lower decks. In contrast to the more elegant quadrupedal bodies of him and his green friend, this brown pokemon was stocky, broad and low built to the ground. Pure power in the form of a pokemon.

'Where were you!?'

'I couldn't stay out here for long could I!?' the brown pokemon scowled, his gravelly voice making him difficult to be understood in these conditions. 'I can't stay on one side, I'll probably capsize the ship!'

'Don't be ridiculous!' the leader shouted before looking back up. 'How far away is that land?'

The green pokemon was about to respond before another wave drenched the top of the boat, dousing him in freezing water. He gasped for breath, looking more annoyed at the fact that his appearance was now disheveled than anything else.

'I don't know! Like...' He craned his neck, his skin bitter cold. 'A mile away?'

'Great...' the leader clenched his teeth while his burly companion gulped.

'That's a long time to swim!' he said as their ship continued to break apart slowly due to the torrential storm. It was as if the great Kyogre was punishing them for daring to bring justice to the seas he worked so hard to create.

'For us three yeah,' the leaders voice was more confident now. 'but not for another!'

He spun round to face the front of the ship, praying for the fourth member of the crews safety and well being.

'Keldeo!' he screamed at the top of his lungs. 'Where are you-'

A massive bolt of lightning pierced the centre of the ship, ripping straight through the wood and sending all three pokemon tumbling backwards violently. The boat was split in two, the front of it breaking away from its crew at the back and floating devilishly away from them. They all rushed to the edge, hoping against hope that they wouldn't see their little friend bobbing away into the distance, straying further and further away from his big buddies. They didn't. Instead, they heard him.

'Guys!' the unicorn like pokemon shouted, his little blue head bobbing out of the bottom deck in the seperated ship and his tone desperate. 'Cobalion! Virizion! Terrakion! Help me!'

'Keldeo!' The leader, now known as Cobalion, was thinking of all the ways to reach his little friend before he disappeared in the storm. His teammates, the vain green Virizion and the stoic brown Terrakion were attempting to hold themselves down as the wind became stronger and stronger, the streaks of lightning becoming more persistent. Two bolts came forking downwards at blinding speed but were both countered by Virizion skilfully dodging one and Terrakion shrugging the other off like it was a scrunched up paper ball.

'Guys!' Keldeo continued to shout, the boat segment cracking all around him and his pleas for help seeming more hopeless. 'Don't leave me!'

'What are we going to do!?' Virizion landed next to Cobalion while Terrakion applied his mass to one side to steady the tipping vessel. 'He's too far away!'

'I'm working on it.' Cobalion's expression was of anguish and dismay as he watched the far away hulk of the ship containing Keldeo move further in the distance, now unable to hear the cries for help. 'We need to-'

Cobalion couldn't finish his sentence as a shout from behind him made himself and Virizion spin round at the sound of the panic in Terrakion's voice.

'Rogue wave!' he yelled, backing off beside Cobalion. In front of them all, fast approaching was a monstrous tidal wave, at least twenty feet tall. It was bearing down on the shattered and pathetic little ship, ready to descend and unleash its massive power. Despite the daunting force of nature preparing to ruin their night, Cobalion stood tall in the face of fear. He extended his front right leg and flared up a blue shape made of his own energy. He nodded at the other two by his side and they both did the same, the three moves shaping themselves into the form of large swords and all pointing up at the rogue wave. We'll find you, Keldeo, thought Cobalion, shoulder to shoulder with his partners. We never leave a pokemon behind.

'All for one!' he yelled loudly over the storm.

'And one for all!' the other two finished off. The wave eventually dropped, the huge volume of water plummeting onto the brave Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion on their wreckage. As the water brought one half of the boat down to the depths of the ocean floor, the other half containing the distraught Keldeo continued to drift further away in the direction of the land that had been spotted earlier. He had no idea what would await him when he landed on this mysterious land or what kind of pokemon would be there. He slumped down on his front, his expression miserable. The wind and lightning had died down a bit but it was still pouring with cold rain, almost to rub it in his face that his friends had been defeated just before the storm calmed down. Keldeo still had faith however that they were all still alive. A measly tidal wave could never take down the swords of justice! It was wishful thinking but he remained optimistic. After all, faith and optimism was what had saved this new land a few months ago from a force of evildoers. A peculiar country known only as Charom.