Rift

Prologue:

This story takes place many years ago, in a time less civilised than ours. In those days, Johto and Kanto were in an uneasy peace. The fact that both powers were busy locking horns allowed piracy and slavery to flourish in the less well defended areas. The fact that the continent of Hoenn had poorly enforced laws regarding slaves meant that business for such men thrived. One particularly infamous privateer was the dreaded Captain Treacher, whose name struck dread into the citizenry of Johto. During a previous war, he had obtained his Letter of Marque from Kanto's king, and even now in peace, continued to terrorise the coastal regions of Johto. What made this one man so much more fearsome than his contemporaries was his novel use of pokemon. While most people regarded pokemon as pets or decorations, Treacher was one of the first men to realise the potential of such beasts as weapons, ushering in a new era of warfare, more brutal than ever before.

Chapter 1:

Lucy felt the golden sand shifting beneath her, as she squinted at her opponent. Her rapier felt heavy in her hand, and sweat from her soaked brow was causing her eyes to sting, made worse by her long brown hair which plastered her moistened face. Sweeping it aside, she launched a sudden attack, lunging forward at the grinning man. Stroking his carefully groomed beard thoughtfully, he parried without any visible effort, and with a whip of his wrist, riposted so ferociously that the rapier was thrown from Lucy's grip. His blade ended at Lucy's throat, the blunted end so cold against her skin. The man sighed, and lowered his training blade. "Your attack was rushed, and it was too easy to predict! Again!" He motioned with his rapier at her sword which lay askew in the sand. Glowering, Lucy picked it up.

"En Guarde, madame!"

The clanging of their blades rang out loudly in the early morning sun, but here at this secluded beach there was no-one to hear them but the occasional wingull, and so the illicit fencing lesson continued undisturbed.

Later that morning, drenched in sweat, Lucy crept back into her family mansion, just West of Azalea Town. The growlithes that guarded the back entrance were no problem, since she had befriended them long ago as a young girl. They were smart, and seemed to understand that she needed them to remain quiet. As her father was the magistrate and local lord, he was still in town, as he often was for periods of days, attending to business, thus giving her a little bit more freedom. However, her mother would still be around, and she certainly wouldn't approve of a girl learning to fight. It was fortunate that her mother didn't seem to bother checking up on her till breakfast. This gave her plenty of time. She ordered a servant to run her a bath, lying back in the large tub, as two of her maids, Anna and Maria poured in hot water. She quickly cleaned herself up, her thoughts still dwelling on the handsome Rafael. He was one of the greatest swordsmen in his home continent of Hoenn, and quickly made a name for himself all over the world as a teacher. And on top of that, he was certainly very easy on the eye... And he had said that he could think of few men of her age who could rival her with the sword! She sighed inaudibly. There was no chance of that fantasy working out; after all, the magistrate's daughter couldn't marry a lowly swordmaster, regardless of how famous or attractive he was. Especially not one from that barbarous southern continent! The fact that at thirty years of age, he was over ten years older than her was no issue at all. After all, the man that her father had promised her to, the magistrate of Cianwood, was almost forty. In fact, at nineteen, she was marrying much later than many of her friends.

She breakfasted in silence with her mother, and for that she was grateful. It allowed her to slip off into a world of her own creation, where there was action and excitement. As it was, the hardest decision she had to make on a daily basis was what to wear. But in her mind, she was off exploring the jungles of Hoenn. Her mother's voice brought her suddenly back to reality.

"Sorry, mother?"

"Pay attention when I speak to you!" her mother pursed her lips in a severe fashion. "Two days from now, you'll be boarding a ship to Cianwood to meet young Rutherford"

It took all of Lucy's self control to no blurt out, "Hah! Young!?" Instead, she sat meekly in silence as her mother continued.

"Now, I want you to save your best outfit for when you meet him. We must impress him!"

She sat and half listened as her mother droned on, about dressing to 'emphasise her assets'. Rupert Rutherford was by all accounts a dry and dull man, not much given to earthly pleasures. 'It'd take pretty big assets to impress him!' Lucy almost giggled aloud at the thought, but stopped herself as her mother continued her rant.

"You're ever so thin, dear, couldn't you put on just a little weight? And you must carry your parasol when you go out in the sunlight, why, your skin is becoming far too dark..."
Pasting an attentative smile onto her face, Lucy plunged back into the dream world.

As the morning wore on, the sun still blazing in the sky, Lucy's carriage rushed towards Azalea Town, drawn by two powerful looking rapidash. Inside, glad for the protective shade, Lucy sat with two maids, carrying a message for her father. Twice a week, in what had become a ritual, Lucy was allowed to travel to town, in order to meet with her friends, all respectable young women from respectable families. Today was somewhat special, since there was to be a party later on that evening. Her mother had considerable reservations about her attending such an event without her, but the fact that her father would be there allayed her fears. To Lucy, who preferred her privacy in an already hugely stifled life, her father's presence was simply an annoyance.

Anna and Maria giggled almost incessantly, and occasionally let Lucy in on the jokes, though it was clear that they felt uncomfortable talking to her. In much the very same way, she felt very out of place here. It was amusing, however, that Anna and Maria spent most of their time gossiping and sniping at other women, in much the same way as her friends would once she arrived. She wondered if they gossiped about her while she wasn't there. Sadly, she concluded that it was almost certain.

Finally, the carriage pulled up to the magistrates office. She strode into the marble building, no longer impressed by it's detailed decorations, nor the sheer splendour of it. The guards knew who she was, so the security checks were brief, and soon, she came to her father's room. A wizened old servant formally announced her arrival as she walked in. Her father sat behind his desk, quill in hand, and didn't even glance up. His room was vast, with huge windows, allowing plenty of sunlight in. Deep purple curtains framed them, and empty suits of armour lined the long room, holding halberds, pikes and spears. While she waited, Lucy found her eyes drawn to a young spearow in a beautiful golden cage. Unusually for such an aggressive pokemon, it sat quietly on its perch, glancing about the room with short, sharp movements of its neck.

After what seemed to be an eternity, her father looked up. His face cleanly shaven, and framed by middle length brown hair, the same colour as Lucy's. He gave her a stern look, and then enquired, "And to what do I owe the pleasure of my daughter's company?"

Wordlessly, Lucy handed over the enclosed message, and was dismissed. Gratefully, she sped from his presence, feeling as if she'd just had a narrow escape, as was usual after any encounter with her father.

She took her carriage to the sea-side resort of one of her friends, Elizabeth, and joined them as they sat quietly in the garden, discussing the latest rumours. There were only two young women at the moment, since she was somewhat early herself. Elizabeth, a tall, vivacious brunette, remarked to Katherine, "Did you see that Andrina at the ball last week? She looked so ridiculous trying to squeeze into a dress half her size! They say her father is at his wits end trying to find some poor fool to pawn her off to!" Lucy began to drift off into her own world again; it was amazing how someone with as high pitched and squeaky a voice as Elizabeth could send anyone to sleep, but somehow she was managing. As much as she liked her, Elizabeth really could be a tedious bore sometimes. Katherine, Lucy's closest friend, tall where Lucy was short, and well fleshed out where Lucy was somewhat lacking, smiled at her friend's uninterested face. Elizabeth pretended to be offended by this, but in truth, the three of them were close enough to recognise such joking around

A servant appeared with more refreshments, and soon other guests began to arrive, many of whom were mere acquaintances to Lucy. Many of them were wives to friends of Elizabeth's husband, who was entertaining the men elsewhere. No doubt they would be thoroughly inebriated within a few hours, and then the party proper would begin, as would the formal dancing, and rapidly degenerate into a farcical mess. Why they bothered hiring such high calibre waltz orchestras was beyond Lucy. It was a small blessing that Katherine was just as unmarried as she was; this was indeed strange, since someone as obviously beautiful as Katherine would surely have had many offers by now. There was a lot of friction in Katherine's family, and Lucy didn't want to pry. Besides, in matters involving boys, Katherine always opened up to her eventually.

A sudden loud noise caused all heads to turn towards the sea; cannon fire! It was only then that Lucy realised that the entire dock area was in turmoil. Looking out to sea, she gasped aloud. There, racing towards the undefended and empty port, with cannons blazing, was the dreaded red sailed brig of Captain Treacher!

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Author's Note: Here be ye disclaimer. I don't own Pokemon, or any of it's place or town names. All that belongs to Nintendo.

Apologies for such a short chapter; however, it is only intended to be an introduction. From now on, chapters should be longer (though hopefully not too long)

This story is in fact an upgrade of one of my older stories which petered out and failed. Hopefully this time, it'll keep going! The setting, backstory, characters and many of the main events have been completely changed, so it's not THAT similar. Oh well. Enough scene setting, on with some action!