Strings of Legend

A/N: Quick thing before we begin, this story is mostly set in the anime universe, but there are a lot of head cannons, and a few outright changes. The main one is that the pokemon journey starts at 16, not 10, because who gives out harbingers of death to ten-year-olds? Just clearing that up quickly to avoid confusion. Anyways, let's get started!

(Edited to shorting the overly long intro)

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first match of the 57th annual Pokémon league!" the announcer said, and the crowd went wild.

The two competitors eyed each other from opposite ends of the field. On one side was Erin. He was a fighting-type trainer, clearly. He had tape wrapped around both of his arms, and a martial arts outfit over the rest of him. A Scrafty stood beside him. Nobody knew what to expect. Martial artists were a dime-a-dozen, but he was clearly skilled if he made it into the top 16 trainers in all of Sinnoh.

His opponent, Kelia, though? She was even more mysterious. She wore a deep black robe, covering her whole body. She was unreadable. Nobody knew who she was. She had no family in the audience. There weren't interviews with the press. She just appeared in the top 16, like a ghost. She had a Gardevoir by her side, in a matching white cloak. It couldn't be said that she had bad team theming, at the very least. Other than that... Well, besides her name, you couldn't even tell she was a girl.

Kelia had the clear advantage, here, with her fairy-type moves easily able to carve through the Scrafty. But if Scizor played it right, using physical moves and playing it safe, it might stand a chance. It was all up to how they played it.

Without further ado, the countdown to the start of the match begun. 10... 9... 8... 7… 6…

5… 4…

3!

2!

1!

GOOOO!

"Scrafty, Crunch!" Erin yelled.

Scrafty moved with impressive speed, rushing up to Gardevoir. Two massive teeth appeared before it, going in for some surprise damage before Kelia could react. But as they snapped downwards, the white-robed Gardevoir wasn't there anymore. She appeared behind the Scrafty, like it hadn't attacked at all.

The Scrafty was fast. It reacted and turned quicker than any Scrafty had right to turn, launching another crunch without the need of Erin to tell it to do so. For most trainers it would catch them completely off guard. It seemed, though, that Kelia wasn't most trainers. Gardevoir just wasn't there when the teeth pounded down. After that, the Scrafty tripped up. While it was ready for the first mix-up, it wasn't ready for the second. It was quick to recover, it got back up to its feet in less than a second, but it was too late. The Gardevoir took advantage of the tiny opening, ending it with a single moonblast.

Erin wasn't going to let that get him down. "You did your best, Scrafty," he said. "Return." He thought over his options for a few moments, then snapped his fingers. "Go, Scizor!"

The Scizor spawned out, it's red metal coat flaring against the sun. When spawned, it didn't rush the Gardevoir. It stuck around the back this time. Waiting for the Gardevoir to make its move first, then getting the upper hand by reacting to that. They stared each other down for about two seconds. The moment the Gardevoir realized the Scizor wasn't going to strike it down, the Gardevoir raised its hand. Something like 50 balls of psychic energy summoned in front of her and fired straight at Scizor, barely giving it any time to react at all.

Scizor, like the Scrafty before it, was faster than it looked. Erin's strategy seemed to be all about speed and agility. It ejected its wings and took to the skies, dodging the balls of psychic energy with ease. One ball did graze the Scizor, but it did little damage, as it resisted psychic. After surviving the initial assault, it dived down straight at the Gardevoir. One of its claws turned silver: A metal claw, for a super-effective hit. Gardevoir, as expected, teleported away. As Scizor clawed, it spiraled around, ready to hit the Gardevoir right as it appeared behind it. Of course, it wouldn't have worked if Gardevoir had teleported farther away. But it Erin thought right. It appeared right behind Scizor. Right in the way of its metal claw, with no way to dodge in time.

The impact brought up a spray of dust, making it impossible to see. It was clear the attack connected. But did the Gardevoir tank it, or were its meager defenses not enough?

The dust settled. And Gardevoir stood. She stood, unscathed, blocking the attack. She carried a sword of pure psychic energy in her hands, between the metal claw and her physically fragile body.

The announcers went wild. "Is that a Gardevoir or a Gallade?"

Both sides ignored them. Their minds were on the battle. And it was getting interesting.

The sword disengaged with the claw. And there was a small lull. The Gardevoir gracefully took a few steps back and bowed. After a moment of hesitation, Scizor followed suit. They levied their weapons at each other, one sword, one claw.

And without another moment of hesitation, they each charged.

The swords clashed. Gardevoir's psychic sword held true against the steel, ignoring the type disadvantage like it wasn't there at all. The Scizor was clearly a worse fighter, letting a few blows through, but it was no slouch. After a minute of fighting, they were just about evenly matched. In fact, Scizor started gaining an upper hand. Even if Gardevoir was more skilled, Scizor had more power to its blows. And Scizor found an opening. A small opening, but an opening nonetheless. Whenever its iron claw struck low, its pure power pushed Gardevoir's sword downwards. Far enough downwards that if the next strike went high, there'd be no way to block it. So Scizor swung low again, forcing Gardevoir to block low. After Gardevoir's sword disengaged, momentarily stunned, it went for a blow to the head, where the sword couldn't reach in time.

Too bad it forgot Gardevoir could teleport away. Which it did.

The psychic sword appeared with Gardevoir behind the Scizor, slashing again. Scizor winced, despite the not very effective hit. Each individual hit was doing very little damage, but type advantages didn't matter if Gardevoir didn't have a scratch, and Scizor had many of them. The weak cuts were adding up.

The Gardevoir teleported again, aiming for its right side. Again, it couldn't block.

The battle completely changed. It stopped being even close. The Gardevoir no longer just fought sword-to-claw. It used teleport to maneuver around the Scizor, faster than it could keep up with. The Scizor couldn't block the assault, only blocking maybe one in eight swings., and had no way to fight back. Erin also finally realized the meaning of the cloak. It helped hide Gardevoir's movements, making it hard to read its body language to predict it's moves ahead of time. It was almost unfair. One swing would start on its left and end on its right. It would swing, hitting head on, then teleport in a way that the follow-through would hit again. All the hits showed. Scizor started moving slower. It's movements heavier. It stopped even blocking one in eight attacks. Scizor was just about fainted, still without a single hit on Gardevoir's name.

Something changed. As Gardevoir prepared for a finishing blow, a light appeared in Scizor's eyes. The next time Gardevoir teleported, the strike was blocked. Not only blocked, but parried. It knocked Gardevoir out of its Zen mode, leaving it wide open. Scizor's counter-strike missed Gardevoir by centimeters. The White-robed figure shook it off and kept teleporting, keeping up the assault, but not one hit connected. No matter where around it the strikes were aimed, they were blocked. Maybe Scizor was just a hit from fainting, but it would have to be hit to make that happen. As its determination grew, stronger and stronger, Scizor began to glow, and Gardevoir was knocked backwards.

Tape wrapped around Scizor's arms. Its hands became more human-looking, looking like a human's but wearing very deadly mittens. Its body became slimmer, even more agile than before. Its wings became like miniature swords, sharp enough to cut through diamond. It finished its transformation, a mix of the Scizor and Erin and something entirely new. They had achieved burst evolution, only possible between the closest of trainers and Pokémon. Erin seemed as shocked as everybody else.

Known as natural mega-evolution, it was first used by the runner-up of the Kalos league 5 years back. It was still shrouded by mystery. Research was still being done, but with very few test subjects existed at all to research on, it was slow. It seemed only possible for human-like Pokemon, but that might've been coincidence. It was nearly unbeatable without using mega or burst evolution to combat it. It was a power boost so strong it was almost banned.

As the announcers frantically explained that, the battle raged on.

Erin smiled. "You're tough. But unless you want to unleash your mega Gardevoir, I think you aren't ready for this. This might be the first time this has happened, but I can guarantee you, you're going down."

Kelia said nothing.

Scizor reached out its newly formed hand and a sword appeared in front of it. "No more claw vs sword," Erin said. "It's time for a true duel."

Gardevoir and Kelia simultaneously nodded their heads.

Scizor launched its razor-sharp wings outwards and flew at Gardevoir. Gardevoir jumped towards it, and chaos broke loose. To the audience, it was impossible to see anything. The combatants were moving too fast for the naked eye to see. Gardevoir was everywhere at once, teleporting faster and faster, but Scizor was even more impressive in blocking every strike and striking back just as much, just for Gardevoir to block in return. The swords clashed so fast there was at least one sonic boom.

The two combatants floated upwards into the air. Gardevoir was immune to gravity. Scizor had wings. Both would die to one hit, but not one hit was getting through. Scizor started striking with its razor-sharp wings to protect its back. Gardevoir teleported to fast it was out of existence more than it was in it. The two started spiraling towards the ground, fighting all the way. The clashing was like music. Clink, clink ching-ching-ching! Clink-cl-cl-clink CHING! And with a final blow, the final note of the song, everything went silent. The two figures crashed to the ground and another cloud of dust came upwards in the giant crash. The crowd was silent. And when the victor unveiled, the shock didn't subside. The plain old Gardevoir had defeated the burst-evolved Scizor. And it still didn't have a single scratch.

The rest of the battle went by quickly. No other pokemon could do anything like the Scizor could. The Gardevoir swept the rest of the team without a single scratch on it.

After the battle, the robed figure and her Gardevoir left without another word.

The speculation went wild. Who was this challenger? How did their Gardevoir get so fast without burst evolution? Did it burst evolve, but the cloak hid it? The other contestants that would soon have to face her themselves straightened their belts. The press all wanted interviews, offering tens of thousands of P for an exclusive interview. But in between battles, no one could even find her. It was like she was a ghost. There for the battle, and then gone.

The only one to get any sort of contact from Keilia was Erin. The day after the fight, he got a letter. It read as follows:

To Erin…

I want you to know, you fought well.

The fight against your Scizor might've been one of the closest fights I've ever had. It's the closest fight since I did my 'special training,' at least. And I want you to know, I had fun. I might not have shown any emotion during the battle, but I enjoyed myself. And for a trainer as strong as you, you deserve an explanation.

I beg of you, come back next year, stronger than before. Get your Scizor even stronger. If I have my way, you shouldn't have to worry about your other Pokemon, but we'll get there when we get there. My point is, if I were anybody else, you would've won. I want you to know, you're probably the second-best trainer here. Unless everybody here's as good as you! Then I have my work cut out for me.

You almost beat me. I'll say that much. There were several strikes that missed by a millimeter. With an offense like yours, I wouldn't have lasted even a grazing blow from you. There were so many times I thought I had won, and you just got back on your feet. I beg of you, come back next time and face me in the champion's chair. Because I know I'm making it that far.

I should explain to you: That Gardevoir?

It was my only Pokemon.

You were closer than you thought. You thought you couldn't beat one of six? You thought you played horribly? No, you couldn't beat one of one.

Best wishes for your future,

Kelia- Girl of mystery
Erin rolled up the letter. Who was this girl? This ghost? If she was really telling the truth, this person stupid enough to enter the Pokemon League with only one Pokemon and somehow also smart enough to win?

Who was Kelia?

I'll tell you. I am Kelia. The girl who swept her first match 6-0 with a single Pokemon. The girl who brought a single Gardevoir to the entire Pokemon League. Why do I only have a Gardevoir? How did I get here? Who am I? To understand that, we must go back to the day I first got my Pokemon. The day I turned 16 years old… Both the worst and the best day of my life.

My alarm went off, but I didn't want to get up. Not because I was too tired. But because of what getting up entailed. It was my 16th birthday. Which meant I had to get my first pokemon and go on a 'journey.'

I haven't believed in that stuff since I was ten. My rose-colored glasses were off.

Mom called from downstairs. "Come on! You don't want to be late, do you?"

You were supposed to go into a lab, and pick one of the three pokemon. The three 'starters.' If you didn't like that, there were other options, like the safari zones, and making a bond with a pokemon in the wild. But most got one of them.

"Coming!" I yelled.

Some people felt the labs were inhumane. Keeping the pokemon all cooped up in balls, making them happy, of course, towards the trainers who released them, but just as a façade to get free. Maybe other labs were like that, and that's awful. Mine wasn't, though. I had a different problem.

"Hurry up! If you're too slow, you might not get one at all!"

I… how do I say this? I can see people's emotions. Physically see them. I can see the bonds. How much people like each other. How much pokemon like each other. I think I'm known as an empath. I don't know where it came from. My parents don't have any parents. It's been like this as long as I remember. I used to think everybody saw like this. What a shock it was to learn I was unique, huh? I've asked, even other empaths don't see it like that.

My mom came to my bedside. "Get up!"

For example, I saw hundreds of strings coming out of my mom, to all sorts of people and other pokemon. From love to hate to ambivalence to friendship to everything in between.

"Alright, alright," I said.

Just because our lab was good, just because of the humane conditions, everything the pokemon did, it was an act. A façade. Maybe a stronger bond would form later, but the pokemon themselves learned they had to be nice only because it meant they could see the world. They didn't care for their trainer at all. Even a pokemon found in the wild has a respect for the trainer, generally. A caught wild Caterpie has a stronger bond than a Charmander with its trainer.

I rolled out of bed. I quickly changed into a nice, sky-blue dress. Might as well have my clothes be bright and cheery if I wasn't.

I slowly shuffled towards the lab. I saw a few kids walking away with their pokemon. Hugging them. The pokemon snuggled them back. Love at first sight. And their emotional bonds were practically nothing.

It was sad. Because there was nothing I could do. Nobody would believe me. Who would believe that their starters were just putting on an act? I wish everyone could see what I saw. I could see strings float through the air. Colors representing the different bonds. It was blinding, but it never stopped being beautiful. Humans to humans, pokemon to pokemon, humans to pokemon. A flock of Wingull flew overhead and the lines connected them. But looking at them, it was heartbreaking.

I stepped into the lab. I put on a fake smile. It was time for the moment I had been regretting. The starter. All three of them looked at me with that false smile. I looked with a false smile back. The professor gave me a speech but I didn't hear it. I heard the emotions. Pride. Happiness. Not a trace of doubt. He didn't even know they were fakes. Unlike me, he believed in the power of the love at first sight of a pokemon.

I looked at the three pairs of glassy eyes. Turtwig. Piplup. Chimchar. It didn't even matter. None of them were really my friends.

The walls started closing in around me. I couldn't breathe. Was this what a panic attack felt like? At that point, in my panic, it was clear as day, and I saw the path of fate. Like an emoI saw the line through the future I was supposed to take. I was supposed to grab my pokemon. A Piplup. Those glassy eyes, they would never truly go away. After so long trying and failing to get it to form the bond I've only seen with those who weren't given their starter, I would give up. I would try to let it go into the wild. And I wouldn't even have the courage to do that. Out of my other 5 pokemon, my starter would be the only one I didn't know. Nobody would ever remember me. No one would know about how their Pokemon truly felt. I was supposed to live my life knowing I could've made a difference.

I don't know if I was truly seeing the future. It might've just been my imagination. Honestly, I didn't care if it was only what I felt or if it was the truth. At that point, when I was at my lowest, I made a choice. I wouldn't pick a glassy-eyed puppet. If this was the way my journey was supposed to start, then I didn't deserve a journey.

So, I ran. The professor, taken by surprise, could only watch as I sprinted out the door and into the forest. I ran. I didn't know where I was going. I ran. I was going anywhere but one of those false clinics. I ran and ran and ran. I followed no path. I was hopelessly lost as the trees swallowed me. Maybe I would get lost and die here. If a pokemon attacked, I couldn't defend myself. I didn't have a plan. But I couldn't bear to look at those cold, blank eyes any longer.

After running until I couldn't see a sign of civilization as far as the eye could see, I finally stopped to rest.

Maybe I should've followed my fate. Maybe I should've come up with a more sound plan than just "Run." I could've gotten supplies. I could've brought a pokedex. Heck, I could've bought a few pokeballs.

I shook my head and tried to forget all of that. Enough self-doubt. I looked at the forest. There was a beauty here only I could see. The lines connecting all the bugs in the trees. The Rainbows of rivalries, loves, hates, friendships, indifferences, honor. It was beautiful.

I smiled as I closed my eyes and the tears came down.

I felt something wipe my face, getting rid of the tears. I opened my eyes and saw a Kirlia drying my tears.

I instantly knew something was wrong. No emotional strings came out of her. came out of her. She was just… there. I didn't how good a person she was just by glancing at her, like I could with almost anybody else. She was a blank slate.

It might not seem that big. But for me, it was. Imagine you meet someone new, and they're just a black outline. You can see what they generally look like, but nothing more. That's what it was like for me. After seeing the lines for all those years, looking at the Kirlia was like I was blind. She was almost alien.

In my shock, "Thank you," was all I could muster to say. She had wiped my tears. Even with the thoughts of if all Kirlias were like this swirled through my head, my thoughts of asking who she was, I couldn't even put them into words. Weren't my inner turmoils complicated enough? The confusion and gratitude just mixed with the anger, sadness, happiness, and who knows what other emotions to just make a mess.

"Lia, Kir," Kirlia said, which I can only assume meant "You're welcome."

This Kirlia… even though I couldn't see anything about it, it felt like it was a kindred spirit. There was no logic behind it, but I felt in nonetheless.

I got up. I didn't know where I was going. But I was going towards the future. This Kirlia made up my mind about that. So I started to walk away. Wherever my path might have lead me, this Kirlia was a sign.

As I walked, I turned back to the Kirlia, still standing there by the tree stump I was sitting on. Overcome with emotion even with such a small act of kindness, I spoke. "Kirlia, we're probably never going to meet again. And even though all you did was hand me a tissue leaf, I want you to understand how I feel. I'm not going to ask you to be my pokemon or anything, I don't care about that, not anymore. You probably deserve better. But… please understand that words aren't enough. Your small act of kindness saved me. So, thank you."

I walked away into the forest. I hesitated, half-expecting the Kirlia to follow. But it just stood there, watching as I walked away.

Just as I was turning around a corner, A voice in my mind screamed out, "WAIT!"

I turned quickly. I saw Kirlia extending a hand out to me. Reaching out. I could've kept walking, but I made a choice. I walked back towards her and looked her over. I was still blind. She was alone in a web of emotional strings. We both looked the other over.

"Who are you?" I said.

"Who are you?" I heard the voice in my head say at the same time. I was right, it was telepathy.

We stared each other down for a few more seconds.

I sighed, a bit of my earlier sadness coming back. "Why do you care?" I said.

Kirlia looked at me for a few seconds, as if unsure what to say. "The strings?"

I froze.

"You can see them?"

"Can you see them?" We said simultaneously. The strings of emotional connection... she could see them, too? I wasn't alone?

I was in shock. But I had a more important question.

"Do all of your line see them?" I said.

I waited in anticipation. Did this mean I was part-Gardevoir or something? That would be something. But Kirlia shook her head. "Do all humans see them?"

She looked at me with the same look I gave her. She had been alone. I shook my head.

"Let me guess," I said. "You came up to me because I'm the only one who's lines you can't see."

Kirlia nodded. "Yeah. But also because you were hurting."

I couldn't think of anything else to say besides "Thank you."

We sat in silence for a bit. What was there to say? I was just confused. All this time, I thought I was alone. But here's this Kirlia, just as lost and confused as I was.

"What now?" I said.

The Kirlia didn't have an answer.

I looked at the ground. And suddenly, my whirlpool of emotions came back to me. I didn't know why. My sense of fear, anger, sadness, it spiraled inside, even stronger than it had before.

I couldn't join this Kirlia, only to betray her later. I couldn't see her emotions, I couldn't know if I hurt her. I would do something to lose her trust forever.

The Kirlia, the pokemon who's name I didn't even know, said, "A-are you okay?"

I looked at her with a wistful expression. "No. No I'm not."

I turned and ran. Kirlia grabbed my hand with hers, and time froze. I felt a flash of… something. A feeling I didn't recognize. An emotional string came out of me. It flew across my vision and connected me to her.

Time moved again, and I broke free of her grip and ran away. I wanted to leave everything behind. But I couldn't ignore the string, always at the edge of my vision. A color that I didn't recognize, an emotion of mystery. I ran, deeper and deeper into the forest. The line didn't get any thinner. Distance meant thickness. She was following me. The forest got darker and darker. She didn't deserve someone like me. She didn't need a trainer.

As I ran faster and faster, as the forest got darker and darker, I kept running. I ran headfirst into a sleeping Luxray.

I tripped over it and fell. Kirlia stopped just short of it.

It woke up. And it was angry. As it prepared to strike, Kirlia hit it from behind with a blast of psychic energy. "Don't just sit there! Run!"

The Luxray was angry. It launched a thunderbolt at Kirlia. Kirlia pirouetted out of the way, but she still hit with some of the sparks. "What about you?" I said.

"I'm fine! Go!"

The Luxray howled. Suddenly, yellow eyes opened all around us.

"Go! This is your only chance before they're alert!"

I didn't run. Not any longer.

I did a roundhouse kick, hitting the luxray in the back. I grabbed Kirlia's hand sprinted in between two of the sentries. I made it, but the rest of the pack started running after us. And the two of us were already out of breath.

"If we don't make it out of here alive, I blame you."

"If we do make it out of here alive, I blame you."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, we're about to die anyways, so does it really matter?"

The wolves continued to gain on us.

"Any bright ideas?"

"I was about to ask you that."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the one with the psychic powers!"

"I'm pretty much dry from talking with you, to be honest. Telepathy is hard!"

"Are you kidding me? Then stop talking!"

"Ever since we got connected by this string, it's just as easy as talking, though!"

"Too little, too late!"

A luxray launched a thunderbolt at me. Kirlia pushed me down and it sailed over my head.

I looked back at the Luxrays. They wanted blood. But I saw something. Their bonds with each other… some of them were weak. Meaning we might be able to use them against one another.

I called backwards, "Hey! If you catch us, who's going to get to eat us?"

I know, it's a tad cliché, dealing with people like these. But it definitely did the trick. Even if they didn't show it, their lines toward one another got weaker. More distrustworthy.

I tried to use telepathy. "Kirlia, stop! I have a plan."

Kirlia nodded. We both just stopped and braced ourselves. One of the Luxray dived at us, though. It didn't work…

But it hit a barrier. A protect. Kirlia had used protect.

I had one last chance. "It's only 30 seconds until the protect wears off. You'd better decide who gets us!"

A few Luxray pounded on the shield, but none of them could get through.

"Come on! Oh, I bet it's like, whoever gets us gets to eat us, right? Or does the leader get a bigger cut? Or maybe the one I tripped over, you want revenge, right? Come on, who gets the biggest cut? Step forwards."

It shouldn't have worked. Still, it was the only strategy I had.

The Luxrays started growling at one another. I shut up, so they'd stop paying attention to me. Where the links were weakest, arguments started forming.

Kirlia and I slipped into the wilderness as they fought.

After that, we ran. Not a word between us, we just ran, with whatever energy we had left. We left the dark forest behind us.

We reached a clearing. We walked over and slumped against 2 trees.

"Hey Human?"

"Yeah?"

"You never told me. What's your name?"

"It's Kelia. What's your's?"

"My name is Eris."

"Nice to meet you, Eris."

A/N: Hello, viewers new and old! Welcome to my first Pokemon fanfic! If you like, favorite. If you want to see more, updates are twice a week, so follow for that! And if you really like it, post a review telling me so! It really does help give me the drive to keep pushing forwards. And constructive criticism, it just tells me how I can improve. So tell me what you think, please! Make yourself more than a statistic!

I will respond to every review. So post away!

Oh, and thank you for giving my story the time of day. I can tell you, I won't disappoint you here. Expect more action in the future, and expect more character. Those are my specialties. If you liked the action here, trust me, that's not the exception. Action is my strong-suit in writing.

So, some may know me from my somewhat popular SU fanfic, The Infinity Link: Bonded by Fate. I've put that on hold for now. For those who want information from me, post a review or PM me and I'll answer your questions. Long story short, about 4k words got deleted when my computer died, and I can't work up to courage to try again. Anyways, you want more of my style, this is the place to go now! This is where my passion is.

Next time: We're going to meet Eris' parents. No more spoilers! See you then.