Chapter 1: a brand new world

A dirt path was the only thing keeping someone on track in this forest of dead trees. While there were no leaves here there were a multitude of trees on each side shrouding the forest in shadows, though considering the sun never rose here it wasn't much different from the rest of the land. The forest had grown a reputation over the years of losing anyone who veered too far off the path, yet a lone pokemon stood there, purple round body and spiky hair, eyes a glowing red, locking in a pearly white grin as he walked off into the gloomy dark.

The pokemon knew this forest, he played in it as a Gastly, and he knew a special place hidden in it. There were always rumours of an old relic in the woods, a relic from the old gods, he always denied it though, he couldn't have everybody look for it after all. He started weaving in and out of the shadows like he was a dolphin in water, sinking and rising, he always found ways to have fun but this always felt different, like he was truly free for once.

After a bit he had already reached his destination but had been circling it for no real reason other than to admire it, and also swim some more. The destination in question was a stone structure, left as a remnant of the kingdom's history, once a gateway to other lands it had supposedly remained inactive for a long time. The pokemon admired it's bulk and height despite how hidden it was, but alas it was time to do what he came here to do, the whole reason he was here, the pokemon found a tree to lean on and fell asleep.

2 hours later, the pokemon awoke, he looked up and realised how long it had been, people would start to wonder where he was and if once again he was avoiding his duties. He knew if his boss found out the consequences would not be light, but a few more minutes here wouldn't risk too much. He looked at the monument once more, gave it a look of admiration before deciding to head out, or at least that was his plan, but as he turned to leave, he noticed a glow in the corner of his eye. He turned around to see the portal was… active?

It was emitting a dark purple hue that made him grin even more, and a low quiet hum began to grow in volume. Within mere seconds, figures were thrust out of the portal, all 3 hitting the ground before almost as quickly as it turned on, the portal shut, the glow and hum fading through the forest. this was unexpected, very unexpected, the pokemon thought to himself how this happened, two weeks ago he thought it was a random occurrence, a morsel of luck that the thing even worked once, but twice? Nobody could get it to work for nearly a decade, it working now made no sense. The pokemon shrugged though, the how wasn't important here, and with a calm demeanour, slowly walked towards the new figures thrust into this world.

The pokemon looked at who or what made their way through, the first sight being a small chipped teacup with a purple and orange liquid that seemed to spill out the chip, yet despite being on it's side, the liquid stayed still, and a purple arm was hanging where the top of the handle would be. His next sight was a sword, in a brown but fancy Sheath that had what seemed to be 2 eyes and a mouth with gritted teeth. a single blue eye was also on it's hilt and a dark blue banner, almost hand like, was hanging off the handle. The final sight was a small black wisp whose head was surrounded by a small stump of hollow wood, 2 holes carved out with a glowing pink eye inside each and 2 branches that looked similar to horns or ears to its side. The pokemon got close and began to reach for them to see if they were conscious, but this question was soon answered as the sword jolted up, unsheathed itself with it's banner and swung itself at the pokemon, who dived into the ground to dodge.

The sword's appearance became clear, the sheaths face was decoration or maybe even a decoy, the sword itself was alive. Its voice was male, fancy and confident, though it was hard to tell through the close to panicked shouting. "Back I say! Thou thought thou could just kidnap me and I wouldn't fight back? The NERVE! HOW DARE THOU!"

The pokemon rolled it's eyes, keeping up the grin like it was his neutral expression, his voice being more relaxed yet distinctly mocking, close yet not quite to an olden time gangster "Relax bud, nobody here has been kidnapped."

"HA! Thou expects me to believe that? Obviously thou wishes to take my crown and have taken me somewhere I can not call for backup!"

"Bud, do I look like I care about crowns? Most rulers have big enough egos."

"Is- is thou insulting me?!"

"No, but I am sayin you're being irrational."

The sword looked at the pokemon, almost staring daggers as it clearly showed no trust towards them.

A second voice, a female voice, pierced into the argument. "He's right, if he wanted to kidnap us, he wouldn't have dragged us to an open forest alone, unless he was an idiot of course."

As the pokemon turned his head he noticed the teacup floating a pattern on its side moving much like a face. The voice was calm and sweet but with a lot of audible sass, something the pokemon was very happy to hear "yeah, exactly, i don't know what you can do after all, so goin in alone is kinda suicide right miss…. Uhhhh" he started fumbling for a name

"Sinestea, and don't use miss, it makes me sound old"

"Yeah that's fair."

The sword narrowed it's eye but seemingly could not ignore the facts and begrudgingly put it's guard down.

"So, now we're calm enough for a basic conversation, what's the last thing you guys remember?"

"Well I was In a field practising my moves before suddenly being sucked in by a dark purple vortex i think, i didn't see it for long but i quickly blacked out. And then I woke up here to the sound of you two screaming."

The sword gave a confused look. "Huh, same. Well, I was not in a field, I was in my father's castle but I too remember a strange vortex."

A third voice staggered in and left almost as quickly "uhhhh, I was in the woods when it happened" the voice was a timid one, male, coming from the wisp, the voice closely resembling that of a child.

The pokemon grinned "well well well, that probably ain't a coincidence. And considering what robes and jynx told us, probably means ya gonna be here for a while"

the sword's eye widened at the last remark and showed a look of both anger and disgust "HEY! Thou shall take me back to whence I came this instant! Does thou not know who I am?"

The pokemon took one look before shrugging. "Nah, sorry, got nothin"

"Wha- but- I am Honedge! Ruler of the Caspian kingdom and-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say tin head. Maybe I'll make up a kingdom myself one day."

Honedge was very offended by this and immediately put it's Blade to the pokemon. "Listen here fiend! Thou shall take me back to my castle, or someone of my stature so we can talk, or I will stab thou till thou does"

The pokemon was almost taken back by the shere bravado in the sword's voice, but the grin never wavered, he simply put a hand on the blade to push it down. "Well, I can't take you back to a place I've never heard of, buuuut I can let you see our king. Will that satisfy ya?"

Honedge paused and thought before backing up and picking it's sheath back up "Yes, that shall suffice." he then sheathed himself and stared at the pokemon "Well? Are we going to move or not?"

"Gees, calm down. Welp, all aboard the not getting lost in a dead and vast forest train!" the pokemon exclaimed loudly before remembering the third that came through. The wisp had been looking at the pokemon, but quickly turned away, almost scared for their life as they nervously looked down. the pokemon slowly sank down through the shadows near to the wisp till they were near eye level "hey, it's all gonna be fine kid. You're gonna be safe. You have a name?"

"Y-y-yeah, I'm p-ph-phantump."

"Phantump aye? Has a nice ring to it. Well, the name's Gengar kid, and I'm gonna help ya out, so just stick with me ok?" Phantump nodded, seemingly more confident than before.

Gengar rose back up to a standing position. "Great. Well, if we're gonna get out before sunrise, we better start movin. Just stay close and don't wander off, the place is a livin maze if ya don't know it by heart" And with that, Gengar began to walk off, Phantump quickly trailing him. Honedge looked confused but shook it off into a prideful hover as he caught up with them . Sinestea watched the rest walk off, curiosity and questions floating in her mind, but she realised they were likely her best way to learn what happened and quickly followed behind. Gengar thought to himself as he casually began returning to the path, this was a fun bunch of pokemon, he couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next, but till then, it was going to be a long road to the castle.