Additionally, Celebi is no longer available.
Now, let's get this story started! (-o-)
The story begins in a small town known as Phoenix Rest. It was quite old, yet had only recently seen much of its population. After all, it had been built in a region that wasn't supposed to exist.
Satellites had been invented years ago, and it was long believed that every region in the world had been discovered. Yet some bold Pidgeot riders had attempted to fly around the world on a series of unfavorable wind currents, and doing so found a massive region that was somehow completely invisible to technology. This, of course, had attracted millions of curious eyes.
As people began to explore, they found that there were huge kingdoms living there, seemingly right out of the middle ages. They identified themselves as belonging to the region of Regiras, and had lived here since "the time of the creators."
The story didn't stop there. They had once been in trade with the rest of the world, but a long time ago they had sealed their borders. They were willing to open them again, so long as the rest of the world did not try to hurt them or their culture. The world agreed, and had not yet broken their agreement.
This small town was near the seashore, and so many people settled here. But there were still some locals, and this is where the story truly begins. (-o-)
Ray Derevin was eighteen years old. He'd lived in Phoenix Rest his entire life, him and his grandmother. His grandmother was the village elder, and helped run the affairs. Ray did his best to assist, but it wasn't easy to handle the rapidly incoming settlers.
Now Ray had to hurry to the docks, for a new ship had just sailed in.
Shoving the last of his toast in his mouth, Ray grabbed one of the Pokeballs on his belt. Like most of the natives, his Pokeballs were the old-fashioned wooden kind, though he'd seen the flashy metal ones the settlers used. Personally, he thought they were a bit too flashy.
He noticed people starting to get off the boat. Argh, he had to hurry! There was no one over there right now to greet them!
"Checkmate, go!", he shouted, tossing out one of his Pokeballs. Popping out was his loyal Corviknight, which squawked excitedly.
"We need to get to the harbor fast!", Ray said, and Checkmate knelt down to allow him to climb on its back. Ray leaped on, avoiding the rough metal edges, and Checkmate took flight, flying straight for the harbor.
As Ray approached the boat, he noticed that there were words on the side and a symbol. The words read Goldenrod Archaeological Institute, with a strange green Pokemon as the symbol. Ray remembered hearing stories of the Time Fairy. This Pokemon looked rather similar.
As he landed, he noticed there were four people waiting at the beach, while two more were unloading crates of supplies. I steered Checkmate in for a landing, and hopped off as soon as his talons hit the sand.
"Good job. Return.", Ray said, holding out his Pokeball as Checkmate disappeared inside it.
He gave a winning smile, looking at each of the four people in front of him.
Standing in front of the landing party, there was an old woman who was clearly the highest-ranked person there. Her skin was dark and tanned from years in the sun, and her gray hair was trimmed short and professionally. She wore a faded white lab coat and khaki pants, and was supporting herself with a cane. She adjusted her spectacles, frowning slightly.
Behind her, there were two men and a woman. The two men appeared to be twins; both had the same muscular build, humorful eyes, and long messy brown hair. They also both appeared to be around thirty-ish. They both wore brown shirts and pants, with an orange vest on top of it. They both wore a bandana, though one's was red and the other's was blue.
As for the woman? She was around eighteen, standing nearly as tall as the two men. She had long black hair pulled back in a headband, which was white. She had cheerful brown eyes and a big smile, although Ray noticed her twisting a mint-colored bracelet nervously. She wore a white skirt and shirt, and seemed to be the most prepared for the hot day.
The old woman walked up to Ray, and said, "Hello. My name is Professor Cypress. My team and I are here to dig up and study some ruins. Who is the mayor here?"
Ray answered, "You're probably looking for my grandmother, the village elder. She's not available right now, but I can give you a tour of the area and find you a place to stay until she is."
Professor Cypress replied, "I suppose that would be all right. What is your name?"
"My name is Ray Derevin, Professor.", he answered.
Professor Cypress nodded. "Good to meet you, Ray. These two gentleman behind me are Aaron and Daren, and the young lady is Clara."
Ray gave a short bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Now, let's see this town of yours.", declared Professor Cypress.
Ray led them up the shore and onto the main road. Most of the houses here belonged to the natives, and were quite old. They were made of cobblestone and wooden beams, and had survived everything thrown against them. At the farther parts of town, one could see the brand-new brick houses belonging to the settlers.
As he walked down the street, many of the locals waved and gave a good morning to Ray. Ray smiled and waved back to them. The natives knew each other quite well, far better, in fact, then Ray suspected the settlers knew who they traveled with. It was quite comforting.
Ray soon arrived at the town square, where citizens and their Pokemon sold their goods. Many of their wares were made or grown at home, unlike most of the items the settlers brought with them. Ray wondered why people would want to buy the same things as everybody else, instead of having something special and unique every time. It was things like this that confused him.
"This is the marketplace, our closest equivalent to the Pokemarts back at your home.", Ray explained, "We have everything you could possibly need here."
He gestured towards an old farmer and his Mudsdale, which was carrying a cart full of fresh berries. "That man is Old Robins. His produce is always the finest quality, and he doesn't charge much more for it. If you need food, he's the man to go to."
Ray pointed towards a young man and his Blissey, who were currently healing a girl's Oshawott. "That's Doctor Kind. He'll restore your Pokemon free of charge, and he also sells potions. His family has been doing that since the founding of the village."
Ray pointed towards a young man with spiky hair, with six Pokeballs on his belt and a large covered cart. "That there is Battler Joe. If you can defeat his Pokemon, he'll reward you handsomely."
Then Ray noticed Clara walking over to the centerpiece of the market.
It was a tall, moss-covered stone statue, one which had been standing there for about five hundred years. It showed a fully-armored knight, raising a sword to the sky and a shield in front of him. The shield had the symbol of a fiery bird on it, known as the Wings of Joy.
The rest of the group noticed it as well. Professor Cypress walked over to it, looking quite curious. "What is this statue of?", she asked.
Ray replied, "It's a statue of one of the last Legendborn, Sir Ricardo. He was known as the Phoenix Knight. It took the Tyrant's entire army to defeat him, and he weakened them to a point where this town successfully drove them off and retained its freedom. They built a tomb for him and laid him to rest, and put up this statue to honor his memory."
Clara walked over, asking, "Hey, isn't that the site we were commissioned to investigate?"
Ray froze. "What?"
Professor Cypress nodded. "Indeed. The king of this part of the region would like to show the world more elements of his culture, and that includes his kingdom's history. He hired us to uncover this ancient tomb in order to learn more about the ancient order that was the Legendborn."
Ray replied, "But...one of the first things we learn in this village is that the tomb should never, ever be disturbed."
Professor Cypress said, "There's really no reason why we shouldn't. Worst that could happen, we run into some Ghost-type Pokemon. Listen, this is for the benefit of your region. An old, well-preserved site like that would have priceless information on this world's history, and could help us learn more about the Legendborn and their true role in it."
Ray knew that was sensible, but it still seemed wrong to him. "The village elder would have to agree to it. And I know she wouldn't."
Professor Cypress replied, "The king already got her cooperation in the matter. So that won't be much of a problem."
Ray was startled. It was his grandmother who'd told him that the tomb should be left alone. Yet she had agreed to the dig? Well...Ray knew that everyone wanted to know what was in there. But would they overturn the tradition of letting their hero rest just for that?
Ray decided he wouldn't worry about it just now. He'd talk to his grandmother about it at dinner.
"Well...let's finish the tour, then.", he sighed. (-o-)
After the tour was over, Ray took a walk in the woods near town, trying to clear his mind. The expedition team had started setting up camp and surveying the area, even though they still had not met with the elder yet.
Ray wondered why the tomb had been forbidden in the first place. Sure, it was disrespectful to mess with the dead, and everyone greatly respected the hero buried there, but it seemed there was a much deeper reason behind it. A hidden one, buried under centuries of legends.
Ray wanted to know more. He'd always been fascinated by the stories of the Legendborn, had always wanted to know more than the storybooks had said. It was true; no one had ever found an archaeological site related to them before, so all that was known was the mysterious, perhaps exaggerated stories about them. But did it have to be this particular site they had to investigate?
Ray wasn't sure why, but something felt distinctly wrong about opening up the tomb. A deep gut feeling told him it was a really, really bad idea. That was unusual to say the least.
Ray sighed. He did not want to think more about this right now. He knew one thing that would take his mind off of it, at least for a little while.
"Vivian, go.", he said, tossing out a Pokeball.
A cute fluffy brown fox appeared, beaming excitedly. "Ve-voi!", it shouted, and leaped onto Ray's shoulder.
Ray chuckled and scratched it behind the ears. "Who's a cute widdle Eevee, huh?"
"Veevee!", Vivian replied, leaning into the scratches.
Ray soon heard the sounds of a camp being established. He frowned. "That's odd.", he commented, "I don't think I was heading over there."
"Ve-voi?", asked Vivian.
"I think it has something to do with the tomb...", Ray mused, "But what?"
"Eevevoi!", Vivian declared.
"Okay, I guess I'll keep an eye on this.", Ray said, "If they open the tomb, I want to be there. I don't like the fact they're doing it, but I want to know everything about the Legendborn I can and this seems to be the only way to do so."
"Eee-voi!", agreed Vivian.
Ray nodded, and slowly made his way to the dig site. (-o-)
Clara shivered. It was happening again.
Around her, time was twisting. For a moment, it sped up, then moved backwards in slow-motion. The tents rose and fell, Aaron and Daren moved forwards and backwards, and Clara's head ached as it tried to process it. Finally, mercifully, time fixed itself and began proceeding at its normal pace.
This was the third time it had happened in the last twenty-four hours. And there was no signs of it stopping.
It had all started with her last expedition. She'd just joined the team, as they embarked into the depths of the Ilex Forest in search of the legendary Celebi's Shrine. Somehow, Clara had gotten separated from the group and found the shrine. After that, she met the small, green Pokemon who'd given her the bracelet and warned her that the world would need her soon.
Then she'd found herself back with the group, and then these weird time distortions had started.
Now she was on another expedition, right after the last one, and she was worried something similar might happen. Something just as bad - or worse.
Of course, no one seemed to think something was wrong, other than the fact that they were low on time and funds. The failure of the last trip had not looked good for them, and the team needed to find something big - fast. So now they were digging up the tomb of a mythical hero.
Clara noticed Aaron walking over to her, his Crobat flying eerily silent behind him. The huge purple four-winged bat had always given her the shivers, but its echolocation skills were not to be underestimated. Many a find had been found with its ears.
"Hey, Dracula detected a whole bunch of odd shapes below us that we think might be the remnants of a battlefield. Daren is currently using his Steelix to open up a plot for us to dig in. We need you to help with the digging.", Aaron said.
"Um, yeah, I'm on my way.", Clara replied, standing up.
She followed him over to a large twenty-by-twenty square of freshly cleared dirt, Daren and his humongous iron snake standing proudly above it.
"Did we really need to clear this much?", Clara asked, "This should just be a warm-up dig for the tomb."
"Well, Ferris here got rather excited when we found this right at the the top.", replied Daren, gesturing to something in the dirt.
Clara's eyes widened. It was the remnants of a Bastiodon, wearing rusty armor clearly forged just for it.
"Impossible!", exclaimed Aaron, "A prehistoric Pokemon...in the middle ages!? That shouldn't exist!"
"That's right.", replied Daren, "Either we have ourselves evidence that these Pokemon didn't go extinct when we thought they did, or perhaps its evidence that the Legendborn, and their gods, actually existed."
"What makes you think that?", asked Aaron.
"Well...some of those gods supposedly are able to bend time. Perhaps they magicked this Pokemon out of the past and into their own time.", Daren replied.
Aaron shook his head. "You always believed in those legends. I'd believe in errors in the fossil record before I believed in time-bending gods. This could also be a hoax, a fake placed here as a publicity stunt."
Clara broke up the discussion. "We'll just date the fossil and the armor, see if they line up. Your Steelix can determine the metal's age, right?"
Daren nodded. "Ferris could do that in her sleep. Can your Xatu date the fossil? I mean, it supposedly can see the future, could it check the past? Hey, that means it could check the armor too."
Clara shrugged. "I guess Anani could do that, though I've never tried before. Go Xatu!"
She tossed out a Pokeball, and popping out was a large green bird, with two red feathers on its head and white-and-red stripes on the edges of its wings. It had a strange black patch on its stomach with a pattern that resembled a pair of red eyes.
The Xatu immediately shivered, squawking nervously and backing away from the hills in front of it. Daren looked behind him, scratching his head.
"Huh, guess it doesn't like the area. Might be reminding it of Ghost-types?", he said.
Clara replied, "Anani is very receptive to visions of the future. Perhaps she saw something about this place?"
Daren shivered. "I'd hope not. Let's just assume it's the Ghost aura?"
Clara shook her head. "She's never acted like this around Ghost-types before, not even when I ran into a Misdreavus back home. We can't ignore this."
"Let's talk about this with the professor.", suggested Aaron, "She'll know what to do."
Everyone nodded, and started heading to the professor's tent. (-o-)
AN: That's the first chapter done! Feel free to review and let me know what you think. Until next time!