*I don't own Pokemon or any of their characters. I also don't own the Kingdom Hearts song 'Fate of the Unknown', from which this story's title was inspired
Bright grey eyes slowly opened to see that their owner was not in any place she knew. The honey-colored hair on the back of her neck stood up as she took in her surroundings. From the ancient statues, large platform, and broken columns scattered about to the solemn, almost holy feel of the room, it was soon obvious that the girl was in some kind of abandoned temple. Where was this place? Was she even still in Kalos anymore?
Suddenly, the daughter of Kalos' finest Rhyhorn racer felt that she was no longer alone. A quick glance confirmed it- there were others here, all looking to be of similar age, with the youngest only looking so by about a few years. If the expressions on their faces were any indication, they seemed to feel the exact same way she did when she had first opened her eyes.
Those same eyes were momentarily drawn to several of them- a boy with a mature air wearing a red ball cap that she swore she recognized from somewhere, a boy wearing a backwards black and yellow ball cap that seemed to be a bit more immature than the first boy yet no less capable, a girl using a bandanna to style her hair so that only her two long bangs were loose, a girl wearing a white beanie over long grayish-blue hair, a girl using a white and pink ball cap to keep her thick brown hair up in a ponytail , and a boy wearing a red visor and a blue jacket that she recognized as a popular style in Unova. Each one of those people were accompanied by somebody of the opposite gender, yet somehow those companions didn't seem as dynamic to her.
Wait… if the others had partners, then did that mean she had one as well?
Glancing around, she spotted a boy wearing blue clothes and a red hat looking over the others as well. Obviously a fellow Kalosian due to the style of the jacket and boots, she quickly took in his chin-length black hair and seemingly confident stature. As if feeling her attention, he glanced over at her with dark grey eyes. When they made eye contact, she suddenly knew that just like how all of the others she had noticed before had a companion, this boy was hers. A part of her felt scared at this new development- what did this mean, having a companion that she was pretty sure she didn't know? Were they soul-mates, or something similar? Seeing the same fear in his eyes made her realize that maybe all of the others were in the same boat as her.
It was, perhaps, a good thing that they were all distracted by what happened next.
A golden light suddenly erupted from the far wall, threatening to blind those who stared right at it. As all of them shielded their eyes, she could hear what sounded like delicate hoof beats approaching closer. When they stopped, the girl dared to lower her arms.
Her jaw dropped as she took in the sight before her, as did the others in the room. A majestic white and gold being stood before them on the large platform, gazing down at those gathered before it with obvious authority. Vaguely equine in shape, the girl's eyes were drawn to the golden wheel framing its back. This being looked so familiar… but why?
Vaguely, she registered the girl with greyish-blue hair and her companion whisper a name with awe filling their voices. However, that name never reached her ears, leaving her to wonder who the being in front of them was.
The humans and the being stared at each other for several long seconds. Then, the being lowered his head and closed its eyes. Suddenly, the space between it and the humans was filled with what the girl knew had to be several different species of Pokémon. However, unlike the Pokémon she was used to, these Pokémon all carried a sense of real power.
Were these… the Legendary Pokémon?
While that question danced in her head, her eyes were drawn towards one of the Pokémon towards the edge of the platform. While not the tallest Pokémon there, it was certainly one of the most regal. Obviously a type of stag, a magnificent set of pale blue antlers with dark blue protrusions crowned its head while its blue and black body was being held up by white hooves that were very reminiscent of the white and gold being's own hooves.
As if sensing her attention, the Pokémon turned its head so that it was staring back at her. It blinked, and then reared onto its hind legs. While it did so, its pale antlers suddenly flared with golden power and the dark protrusions erupted into several different colors. When its front hooves landed back on the ground, the stag lowered its head and stood in a stance that the girl read clearly- while this Pokémon was very beautiful, it was definitely not a pushover.
Seemingly recognizing her epiphany, the Pokémon snorted as its power lowered back to its previous levels and the antlers returned to their previous state. Raising its head back up, it pointedly looked towards the white and gold being- which the girl suddenly realized must be a Legendary Pokémon as well.
Looking back towards that initial Pokémon as well, the girl was stunned by the sheer amount of love she could see in its eyes as it looked down at the other Pokémon. After a few moments, the incredible Pokémon looked back towards the gathered humans. The love turned into sadness as once more its eyes closed.
Suddenly, some of the Legendaries disappeared from the platform. As they did, the remaining Pokémon's eyes, including the eyes of the stag that she had interacted with, filled with fear as new humans appeared before them on the platform. Each of these new humans were grouped together to form seven distinct groups, each one standing before certain Legendaries. While most of the humans in each of these groups were faceless, nine people were not. It seemed obvious to Grace's daughter that the people with recognizable faces were the leaders of each of the others.
The girl's eyes focused on the group standing in front of the Pokémon she had connected with. While their reddish-orange outfits and hair were extremely tacky in her opinion, the man standing in front of them, their obvious leader… was not. Granted, styling his incredibly orange hair like a Pyroar's mane was an interesting choice, however his sleek black suit with a fur collar and red-orange trimming complimented it well.
When his blue eyes met hers, suddenly images of various Pokémon tied to strange stones and the stag attached to all sorts of wires that obviously hurt it filled her head. Gasping in horror, she watched as the power of all of the struggling Pokémon was absorbed by those same stones, and the Legendary Pokémon's own power was absorbed to the point where it turned into a tree, too weak to fight back. Suddenly, a large flower-like machine bloomed out of the ground. While the orange team watched with glee and their leader watched with resignation from an obvious safe-house and tossed their Pokéballs away, the machine fired out a huge beam of light towards the sky. When the beam came back down, she could hear the terrified screams filling her head as an explosion cascaded across the entire world.
Horror filling her mind as the smoke cleared, the girl saw that the only survivors of that explosion were those that had hidden in that safe house. All of the rest of humanity, all of the Pokémon including that wonderful stag… dead.
Why? Why would anyone do such a horrible thing? Why would someone kill so many people… make all of Pokémon kind extinct… just… WHY?!
TAKE WHAT YOU SEE HERE, AND HOLD IT CLOSE TO YOUR HEART.
Finally tearing her eyes away from the orange-haired man, the girl looked around in slight confusion. As the Legendaries and the humans threatening them faded away, she saw that many of those that had gathered were acting like how she felt. She watched as many of them wiped tears away from their eyes. Suddenly feeling wetness on her cheeks, the girl touched them to realize that she too had been crying.
If she had been crying thanks to what she saw… did all of the others see something as well?
REMEMBER THIS MOMENT.
Confused, all of the remaining humans looked back towards the only being left on the platform. An understandingly sad light filled the Pokémon's red eyes. Folding its legs, the white and gold being eventually laid down in front of the gathered humans. As it did, Grace's daughter got a sense that the large Pokémon didn't want to involve them in whatever this was, but had no choice.
STOP THEM. DON'T LET THEM SUCCEED IN THEIR PLANS.
Closing its eyes one final time, the Pokémon nodded its head once. When it opened its eyes again, the girl could feel herself fading away from the scene. Looking around in a panic, she saw that all of the other humans were fading away as well.
As she struggled to stay, she heard the Pokémon's final plea imprint onto her soul:
PLEASE… SAVE MY CHILDREN.
Bellamie jolted awake as a deep gasp left her lips. Looking over at the clock, she noticed that she still had two hours until she had to start getting ready for her last days at school.
"What… what was that dream?" she whispered as her right hand lightly grabbed her forehead. As she pondered that question, the Pokémon's plea still echoed in her ears. For a couple of minutes, she thought about the giant Pokémon, all of the Legendaries she had seen, and all of the people that had shown up. She knew it had to mean something… however, she had no idea exactly what it all meant.
Eventually, however, her eyes grew heavier once more. Resolving to fully think it over when she was more awake, she turned over in her bed and soon fell into a dreamless sleep.
Warning: Long author's note ahead.
A/N: Okay, well here's my foray into the Pokemon fandom! Now, originally I was just going to do a story based on my Pokemon X Nuzlocke run (which I'm really excited about, since it'll be my first Nuzlocke), and I was going to start it with the infamous "Welcome to Pokemon" speech that Sycamore gives. However, as I was reading 'A New World, A New Way' by zeusdemigod131 (which is a REALLY good crossover story, btw, and I TOTALLY recommend it- fair warning, though, it's a Pokemon/MLP crossover) and listening to the song that gave this fic it's title I had a plot bunny attack with this question:
What if Arceus, worried about his Legendary children, reached out via a dream to those he felt would be able to stop the various Team Leaders from succeeding in their plans and asked for their help?
Thus, this dream sequence was born. However, the plot bunny wasn't fully satisfied with this. It offered to me a suggestion that I quite liked, and I hope others do as well- allow others to use a variation of this dream sequence as the beginning to their OWN Nuzlocke challenges using all of the Pokemon generations that use my own Nuzlocke rules!
So, if one wants to take this challenge on, these are the guidelines that I ask you to follow:
-In order to connect all of our stories, the title MUST be 'Fate of the Unknown: *insert character name*'s Tale'
-Tweak this prologue to fully fit your character better, and if you can try to insert the description of someone else's character to further tie our stories together.
-Follow these Nuzlocke rules:
1. If your Pokemon faints, it's dead (unless, like me, you're playing Pokemon X and it's the battle with Xerneas- that particular Pokemon CAN restore life, remember!)
2. You MUST try to catch the first Pokemon on every route, however you can catch any other Pokemon you encounter on a route- after all, it would be unfair to lessen your chances of catching Shinies or other rare Pokemon.
3. Unless one of them is a Shiny, no multiple Pokemon of a single species.
4. If you catch two or more Pokemon on a route, and you're playing a Gen 6 game, one of those Pokemon MUST be Wonder Traded out.
5. Once you defeat the Champion, all above rules are null and void (I, personally, am using the idea that Revives are so expensive that only Champions can afford them to help explain why other characters just don't use them in my own story. However, if you have another idea for this, I encourage you to use it!).
So, should anyone like to take this challenge-esqe thingie on, please share your stories! I'll be posting links to everyone's stories on my dA profile (my username is the same as here), so just check back there occasionally if you would like to see how others take this challenge on.