This is a Pokémon AU story I've had in mind for quite sometime. It serves as both my celebration of the new Pokémon Sun and Moon games about to be released as well as my thank you to the KnB and Akakuro fandom which has been a huge part of my life, even when I wasn't writing. I also hope to use this to kickstart my slow return to writing Akakuro. Thanks guys!
Ps. Unlike my other stories, the Akakuro in this one isn't exactly the main plot so please don't be expecting any Akakuro for a while! Please just enjoy the Pokémon AU :)
Chapter 1: A Johto Welcome
Johto was a pretty strange place, Kagami decided. With its traditional eastern buildings and cobblestone streets, it was region deep-set in its traditions and mythology - a very different place compared to the bustling, skyscraper-filled Unovan cities that Kagami had grown up in. Instead of crisply pressed suits and pencil skirts, the people here wore long, elegant kimonos and traditional garments, especially in places such as Ecruteak City, Violet City and Azalea Town. Sure, the teenagers and youngsters were a little more modern and wore the more familiar jeans and T-shirts, but that was mainly for practicality's sake as they headed off on their journeys and adventures. The majority of the adults and small children were mostly dressed in traditional wear, with the exception of those in the port city of Olivine and Goldenrod City - Johto's main bustling metropolis.
Kagami, dressed in his street style clothes and hoodie which were considered normal in Unova, attracted lots of attention from the Johto residents and he could feel his abnormally large eyebrows twitching at the unwanted attention he was receiving because of his clothes. Sighing, he decided to continue ignoring the strange looks he was receiving and rummaged through his bag to retrieve a crumpled piece of paper with the instructions from his mentor and close friend, Alex, on what he had to do after arriving in Johto.
After getting off the ship at Olivine City, he had already made his way to the destination scribbled on the piece of paper - Azalea Town. He had only managed to get a brief glance at the sights and scenery of Johto - including the famous Tin Tower of Ecruteak - because he was supposed to be meeting this person called Kuroko Tetsuya at the entrance the Azalea Town Gym. Well, here Kagami was, at the entrance to the Azalea Town Pokemon Gym, at the suggested time, but there was no one else in sight.
And Alex wasn't picking up her Xtransceiver.
Kagami could only sigh as he recalled the events that took place a mere 48 hours before Alex shoved him out of her house with only his shirt and a backpack full of clothes and necessary Pokemon Trainer equipment on his back and his faithful Dewott by his side. She then cheerily forced a small piece of seemingly scrap paper and a boat ride into his hands before bidding him adieu. Apparently, as he found out later from her on the boat ride to Johto, she had wanted one of the trainers under her to visit the faraway region to collect a few native Johto pokemon so that she could also have a look at them. It seemed that that one trip to Johto the previous month was not enough for the exuberant Pokemon professor.
"Tatsuya doesn't come back here often enough, and to be frank, he still mostly uses Unovan Pokemon," she explained to him over his Xtransceiver.
"But why do I have to go?" Kagami practically yelled into his own Xtransceiver, only stopping short of just doing so because of the other customers with him on the boat's deck.
"That's beeecausee you're my star Trainer, Taiga!" Alex drawled out, grinning at him. "Of course, if it had to be anyone, it has to be you! And you know I definitely can't go travelling for so long. You know, region Pokemon professor and all that."
"I was about to get my sixth badge," Kagami groused, clearly unhappy with his interrupted match with Skyla of Mistralton City when he rushed out after getting an urgent call from Alex.
"That's fine, you can still battle and beat gym leaders in Johto too! Besides, I've heard loads of stories about the strength of the Johto Elite Four. They're clearly something else…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kagami sighed, already submitting to his mentor's absurd request, as per the usual. "Hope they really are that strong…"
"Oh, you have no idea, Taiga."
And that close to a day ago, and Kagami was now here in the faraway, strange land of Johto with a missing guide. He was about to give up and head inside the Gym to do some battling - that would at least be more entertaining than what he was currently doing - when he heard shouting and a loud commotion coming from the other side of town. He saw a few puffs of smoke circling the sky above that area and had a distinct feeling that there was trouble.
"Dewott!" He called out his starter. The little blue bipedal Pokemon appeared in a flash of light, its black little eyes trained on its trusted Trainer, ready for battle. "Let's go!"
Then he turned and sprinted over to the other side of the rather small town. At the path connecting that part of town to a narrow Route was a well. As Kagami got closer, he could spot the thin puffs of smoke escaping the mouth of the well. An old man was standing just at the entrance to the well, staring into its darkened mouth. The well's shadows cast a shroud over his face but even then his look of abject terror was clear.
Even as Kagami approached, his heavy footsteps disturbing the soft grass under his feet, the old man didn't turn, only continuing to stare in horror into the well. Kagami and Dewitt exchanged a look, as only the best of friends and partners could do, before the redheaded teen awkwardly cleared his throat and reached out to tap the old man's shoulder.
At this, the man gave a start - a little horrified gasp - and tensed up, eyes whirling around frantically. Upon seeing Kagami, he gave a small sigh of relief. "Thank Ho-Oh you're not…" His words trailed off into a mumble as he murmured his relief, before his eyes narrowed, warping his face into one of a stern expression. "You shouldn't do that, young man," he chastised. "Especially not with those…"
Kagami's cheeks burned red at the chiding. "Sorry about that," he scratched at a spot at the back of his neck - a nervous habit, he was once told. "I was just wondering what all the commotion and smoke was about."
The old man hesitated, as though afraid of who may be watching them. He beckoned Kagami closer. "It's them again," he whispered. "The ones in black. They just stormed into the well and started terrorising the Slowpoke. They brought in huge scissors and knives and were holding onto the Slowpoke with their hands… Everyone ran out at once and escaped back into town. I don't dare to imagine what those poor Slowpoke must be going through right now…"
Scissors? Knives? Kagami - born and bred in the modern Castelia City, Unova's bustling financial capital - instantly thought of those articles in the news back home, articles of underground gangs and tortured Pokemon.
"What are they?"
"Just down the ladder of this well is a cave. They should only be a little deeper in there. We were on a nature trail to admire the beauties of this cave and left many of our bags where we were when they came. They shouldn't be too far from there - Wait, what are you doing!"
Kagami paused as he climbed over the mouth of the well to grab onto the ladder, dark red eyes shifting upwards to glance at the old man. "I'm going to help?" Dewott chirped his agreement from his position at the rim of the mouth.
The man's eyes surveyed him critically, before they moved over to his partner's. "I've never seen this Pokemon before," he admitted, patting the blue-furred creature on its head. "Please be careful. Those guys look different - crazier, more extreme. Please, be careful."
"Don't worry, we will," Kagami grinned, starting to descend down the ladder, Dewott just after him. The wooden ladder shook slightly at their combined weight, but they've handled worse in Unova before.
"As long as you know what you're doing."
It didn't take too long to reach the bottom of the well, and the hard ground below them made as satisfyingly solid sound as they jumped off the ladder. Surrounding the small area of ground on all sides was a very small pool of water, shallow enough that Kagami could wade through, with Dewott peddling effortlessly beside him. Beyond the pool was a the cave entrance, and Kagami took this time to pull out his flashlight - a Trainer's essential - to illuminate the darkened cave. Slowly, carefully, the Trainer and Pokemon made their way through the cave.
As they rounded past boulders and stairwells of ground and dirt, navigating the confusing terrain of the cave, they finally reached a narrow corridor where there were large hiking bags and equipment strewn over the cavern floor. Kagami turned to the side to inspect the abandoned tools, whilst setting them to the side of the corridor so that he and Dewott wouldn't trip.
"What are you doing here?"
Kagami whirled around, and prepared to shout out a command as his partner tensed for action. His eyes scanned his surroundings frantically for any signs of guys in black as he shone his flashlight from left to right, floor to ceiling.
Only to find absolutely no one there.
Maybe the absurdity of the past few hours was finally catching up to him. Maybe the creepiness of the cave and the old man's ominous words were haunting him like that phantom voice. Because there was absolutely no one in sight.
"I'm not crazy right?" He turned to his partner who only gave sniffed the air and gave a confused whine in response.
"No, you don't seem to be," the phantom voice said once again, causing the redhead to jump once more. "I'm right here." There was another chirp now and Kagami turned his flashlight to shine to the left a little more. And promptly got the shock of his life.
There, standing before him in the glare of the flashlight, was a short blue-haired boy with deadpan eyes and a small little Eevee in his arms. The little brown Pokemon chirped in greeting, only to shrink away into its Trainer's arms at Dewott's answering growl.
The boy inclined his head in greeting. "Hello," he said, his voice as inexpressive as his clear blue eyes. "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya and I would like to know what you are doing here."
Kagami squinted at the boy. Dressed in a white hoodie, pastel blue shirt and black pants, he certainly didn't seem like the guys the old man mentioned. Besides… his name felt rather familiar…
"'Sup, I'm Kagami Taiga," he said. "I thought there was something wrong here and decided to help out."
"Kagami Taiga?" The boy echoed, a flash of familiarity lighting those expression-less eyes for a moment before it went out like a light. "Then you must be the one Professor Riko mentioned. A Unovan Trainer under Professor Alexandra Garcia, correct? I'm supposed to be your guide."
"I-I guess." No wonder that name sounded so familiar.
"We don't have much time," Kuroko said, already starting to hurry along the corridor. "I've managed to stop most of them here, but the others have already moved deeper into the cave. I was going to follow them when you came."
"Okay." With his larger size and big footsteps, Kagami easily caught up to the much smaller male, his speedy Dewott easily keeping pace with both humans.
As they wandered deeper into the cave, they eventually came to a large cavern with very limited ground area, but a spacious pool of Slowpoke. Kagami could hear Kuroko breathe out a sigh of relief as they saw the Slowpoke gathered at at a rock in the middle of the pool.
At the edge of the pool was a small team of seven, almost all dressed in black with a giant red R emblazoned on their shirts. The only exception to this was a tall, muscular teen with dark grey hair. Slightly smaller than Kagami himself, the boy was no less menacing as his dark narrow eyes hungrily eyed the dazed-looking Slowpoke in the pool. A black, quadruped Pokemon with grey horns on the top of its head stood silently by the boy's side. And, as Kagami's red eyes caught sight of glints of steel in the teen's hands, he felt his heart twist in dread.
By now, the goons had noticed them, calling out in panic to their leader who finally teared his eyes away from the pastel pink Pokemon. The difference between the teen and his subordinates was clear. Whilst they were tensed and nervous, eyeing Kagami like he was a ticking bomb, the teen stood aloof and unfazed in the tense atmosphere of the cavern.
Before Kagami could do anything - ask about what they were doing, demand them to stop, call out an attack for Dewott to follow through - Kuroko's voice resounded through the echoey chamber.
"Haizaki-kun, hello."
At that, everyone jumped, with the already very high-strung goons actually jumping and the cornrow-hairstyled teen tensing up. Even Kagami, having totally forgotten about the presence of the smaller boy, let out a startled gasp at the sudden voice. Even so, Kuroko essentially ignored the reactions by everyone else and had his sky blue eyes focused only on the leader of the team.
After recovering from the sudden shock, the leader, probably named 'Haizaki', relaxed once again and just grinned up at Kuroko in baleful amusement.
"Tetsuya…" He drawled. "Nice seeing you here."
"Haizaki-kun, please stop this."
"Sorry, Tetsuya," the growing grin on his face was anything but sorry. "This is my job now."
With a flick of his wrist, Kagami and Kuroko were surrounded by his subordinates, all of whom were calling out their Pokémon. Out of the three species of Pokémon sent out, Kagami recognised only one - the Poison type Pokémon Koffing. The other two included a purple snake and a hovering ball of steel.
"Dewott," Kagami cautioned as his Pokémon tensed for battle, painfully aware of the fact that he only had one Pokémon with him. "Be careful."
Out of the corner of his eye, the Unovan trainer caught sight of Kuroko reaching for a Luxury Ball.
"Espeon," the blue-haired teen called out softly, throwing the black and gold Pokeball. An elegant lilac Pokémon with a long, split tail burst forth in a flash of white. It purred a little as it lifted its head to look at its owner.
"Koffing, use Poison Gas," one grunt ordered. "Hey you two, get your Ekans to follow up with Bite or Poison Sting or something!"
"R-right. Ekans, Bite!"
"Poison Sting!"
At once, the two purple snake Pokémon lunged forward and Kagami deduced that they were the afore mentioned Ekans.
"Dewott, dodge and use Razor Shell."
From the way the grunts were calling out moves and panicking when they didn't go through, it was easy to tell that they had very limited battling experience. Kagami frowned as he called out for a Water Pulse against one of the two Magnemites - the name of the steel-like Pokémon. Why did the intimidating Haizaki have such incompetent henchmen?
"Kagami-kun, Magnemite's part electric type." Kagami jumped as he registered Kuroko's voice. Kuroko's Espeon hadn't actually been of too much help so far so Kagami had - once again - almost forgotten about the blue-haired teen.
"Couldn't you have told me that earlier?" Kagami yelled in exasperation as he watched the Magnemite easily hold up against the Water type attack. "And why aren't you helping?"
"I think we should focus on Haizaki-kun." There was urgency in his voice and his blue eyes glanced over at the tall teen.
Haizaki was using the battle as a distraction to wade across the pool to the Slowpoke. Before Kagami could do anything, Kuroko had already called out an attack.
"Espeon, please use Swift. Please don't allow Haizaki-kun to get to the Slowpoke."
The purple feline Pokémon immediately kept to action, launching an barrage of star-like attacks at the area of water in front of Haizaki, stopping him from advancing any further.
"Good job, Espeon," The Pokémon purred at the praise. "Please go help the Slowpoke. Use Protect."
Espeon then ran across the pool, cutting past Haizaki and his Pokémon to climb atop the rock the Slowpoke were on.
By this time, Dewott had already taken care of the grunts' low-level Pokémon, plodding over to stand beside his trainer.
As Haizaki caught sight of Kuroko's Espeon, his annoyed expression changed. Instead, an all-knowing smirk had spread across his face.
"Is that the same Eevee I saw two years ago? My, how it has grown," Haizaki said tauntingly. "And this is the same Pokémon that Ak-"
"Please stop this, Haizaki-kun." Kuroko cut in, his eyes glowing in determination. "The Slowpoke have done nothing to you."
"Except for having extremely valuable tails," Haizaki shot them another smug smirk. "But alright, since you asked so nicely, and we used to be best buds. Tet-su-ya."
Kagami could see Kuroko tense up slightly at that and Haizaki's smirk only widened at Kuroko's discomfort.
"Houndoom, let's go. We have other things to take care of," Haizaki instructed his Pokémon. "Flamethrower."
The canine-like Pokémon opened its mouth at them and Kagami could only shout a quick "Dodge!" before a hot blast of fire shot from the Pokémon's mouth, creating an arc of fire between Kagami and Kuroko and Haizaki's grunts.
In the chaos as Kagami called for his Dewott to douse out the flames, Haizaki and his henchmen had fled.
"Urgh, they got away," Kagami gritted his teeth.
"At least the Slowpoke are alright," Kuroko said, smiling softly as he turned to look at the pink Pokémon on the small rock space. "Espeon, come here."
Kagami could only watch, slightly captivated, as the purple Pokémon obediently trotted over to its Trainer's side, leaning into Kuroko's pants to nuzzle at his legs. Kuroko smiled fondly, kneeling down to pet his Pokémon and praise it for a job well done. Espeon could only purr at the attention it received.
Not too long later, Kuroko straightened himself up again and turned back to Kagami, saying, "Let us get out of here, right, Kagami-kun?"
"O-oh, right."
When they made it back to the entrance of the cave, there was a small crowd looking over the mouth of the well to look at them. As they took a step out of the cave and into the fading light of the sun, the crowd cheered and shouted their thanks and congratulations, even as they made their way up to the mouth of the well.
"Thank you, young man!"
"I knew Unovan youths weren't that bad after all!"
"Thanks for helping us!"
Kagami could only stop and frown up at the crowd of grinning faces as they didn't mention Kuroko at all. Before he could say anything, he felt a small tug at the hem of his pants.
"You should get moving, Kagami-kun." Kuroko didn't seem all too bothered about the fact that people didn't recognise his effort. So Kagami sucked in a breath and continued making his way out of the well.
Once out, they were greeted by the happily smiling faces of a few middle-aged people dressed in travel clothes. The old man from before was amongst them, a very small smile playing on his lips.
As they properly climbed out of the well, the people started their descent down the ladder into the well. Kagami guessed they were the hiking group who first encountered Haizaki and his goons.
Just then, the sound of multiple footprints reached Kagami's ears as he took in the sight of a horde of teenagers running in their direction, worry and concern etched into their faces.
They were lead by a short brown-haired girl as they came to a stop in front of Kagami. Her critical eyes seemed to scrutinise Kagami thoroughly as she asked, "You're the one who went into the well, correct? Do you know where Kuroko-kun is? Is he alright?"
"I'm right here, senpai," Kuroko said gaining the attention and focus of the crowd of teenagers.
"Good, you're safe." They all seemed to heave a sigh of relief at this. The girl then turned back to Kagami, her expression confused. "And who might you be?"
"Kagami. Kagami Taiga," Kagami responded.
At this, the girl's face lit up in excitement. "Oh! You must be the one staying with us! The one Professor Garcia told us about!"
"Alex told you?" Kagami asked.
"Yes," the girl affirmed. "Oh, and I'm Aida Riko and here are..."
"Riki-senpai," Kuroko gently cut in. "Kagami-kun must be very tired. We should bring him to the Pokémon lab and allow him time to rest first."
"Oh yes," Riko's smile turned a little sheepish. "I'm not sure if Professor Garcia had informed you, but you'll be staying with me and my dad for your stay. My dad's the Jhoto region's regional Pokémon Professor. Please feel free to ask him anything you like. For now, please follow me."
With that, she turned on her heel and started leading the way to her father's laboratory. The men formed a protective barrier around the two of them as they were jostled to move along too.
I hope you enjoy that! Feel free to talk to me about KnB, Akakuro, Pokémon or anything in general! :)