Hello, everybody! Jack of Knaves here, welcoming you all back to The Legend of Arceus! Last chapter got us off to a surprisingly good start, considering how short and sweet the prologue was.
Now then, before we start, I would just like to clear up something, namely Rei's relation to Lucas. They are related, but only because Arceus, via time travel, basically wrote Rei into Lucas' bloodline by making him and Akari Lucas' ancestors. Before Arceus warped him to the Hisui Region, Rei was just some random kid who was kinda sorta copying Lucas' style like a fanboy and coincidentally looked very similar to him. Although, to be blunt, apart from different haircuts, hair color options, and outfits, most of the male Pokèmon player characters from Sun and Moon onward do have very similar facial features, most likely because of the art style, but that's besides the point, that point being that Rei is not Lucas himself or Lucas' cousin, but is instead some random kid who became Lucas' ancestor thanks Arceus effectively writing him into Lucas' bloodline via time travel.
Well, in all honesty, I think that was all I wanted to go over. Let us begin!
UPDATE: Hey, guys. So I just got an interesting comment on here on fanfiction in regards to Dawn's ancestory that I feel I need to address. Said comment pointed out how weird it would be if Lucas and Dawn were dating and were also related by blood. First off, I only said that Rei and Akari were part of Lucas' bloodline, and Lucas' bloodline alone. They have no ties to Dawn's bloodline at all. Akari resembling Akari is merely a genetic coincidence, or perhaps reincarnation, I don't know, but suffice it to say that Lucas and Dawn are not related, or at the most, are distant enough relatives where it doesn't really matter.
Furthermore, I cannot stress this enough, but Rei and Lucas ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON. They may look similar, but they are not the same guy, and I refuse to buy into the theory that they are, unless Nintendo or Game Freak come out and say otherwise. End of subject.
All right, NOW let us begin!
Chapter One
A Rude Awakening
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"WAKE UP!" an older male voice yelled, causing Rei to begin to stir from his slumber.
"Ugh… five more minutes, Mom…" grumbled Rei as he turned over on his side as three more voices spoke up.
"Osha!" said the first voice.
"Rowlet!" the second voice hooted.
"Cynda!" squeaked the third and final voice.
"Ohhh… do wake up, won't you?" the older male voice spoke.
"All right, all right, I'm up, I'm up!" yelled Rei as his hand reached for what he assumed was his alarm clock… only to find himself in for quite the burning surprise.
Rei leaped about a foot in the air, howling in pain as he hopped around, trying to quell the intense burning sensation.
"Osha!" one of the earlier voices said before a burst of water splashed onto his hand, quelling the pain.
As he slowly recovered from the painful experience that he had just been through, Rei began to notice several things about his surroundings.
One: his hand looked somewhat burned, which would explain why he felt as though his hand was on fire, that being because it probably was. Fortunately, most likely due to the symbiosis between humanity and Pokèmon, his hand looked as though it might sting a bit for a couple days, but would otherwise be fine.
Two: there were three Pokèmon that Rei was more than certain were not native to the Sinnoh Region, thanks to having read up on the results of Professor Rowan's research, which he had conducted and completed thanks to the help of his assistant, Dawn Hikari, and the Sinnoh League Champion, Lucas Kouki.
Three: there was some old guy in a funny looking purple hat wearing what seemed to be the usual professor's attire with an… uncomfortably familiar-looking insignia on his left-hand breast pocket, and given the fact that the three Pokèmon with him seemed to be Water, Grass, and Fire-type, Rei would hazard a guess that this man was a Pokèmon Professor. Problem was, he was pretty sure the only Pokèmon Professor in the Sinnoh Region was Professor Rowan.
And four: Rei was clearly not in his bedroom, which was the last place he remembered being when he went to sleep, and had apparently been whisked away to an unknown beach in who knows where.
What… happened last night…? Rei thought to himself. Slowly, the memories of the dream he had had with that shimmering light calling itself Arceus returned to him. It said that I would find myself in a world that seemed strange to me, Rei recalled, before a startling thought occurred to him. No way… does that mean…?
Rei was pulled out of his thoughts when the man spoke. "You gave me quite the shock, falling from the sky like that! But, thank goodness, apart from your hand getting singed by Cyndaquill's flames, you seem unharmed!"
"Wh-where am I? Who are you?" Rei asked, a faint hint of uncertainty in his voice.
"Why, this is Prelude Beach!" the man jovially exclaimed. "As for who I am… well, I could ask you the same thing! I mean, you fell from the SKY. I mean, who in the world does that?!"
"Oooookaaaayyy… and this Prelude Beach is where, exactly?" asked Rei, having never heard of Prelude Beach in his life.
"...the Hisui Region?" the man said, mild confusion in his voice.
"The Hisui Region… right…" Rei said, a feeling of worry creeping into him. Yeah, that means nothing to me. I mean, there's Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, Galar, and… probably a whole bunch of others that I'm forgetting, but I KNOW I've never heard of the Hisui Region before…
Rei was pulled out of his thoughts when the man spoke again. "I must say, your clothing is… unusual. You wouldn't happen to have an acquaintance in these parts, would you?" the man asked.
Rei sighed and shook his head. "I doubt it…" he said, a touch of sadness in his voice as the reality of his situation began to sink in.
"I see…" the man said. "You seem to be in a bit of a pickle… might I offer some directions? Do you have somewhere you can stay?"
Rei shook his head in sadness once again. "No, nowhere…" he said sadly. "To be honest, I hadn't even heard of the Hisui Region until today, so I highly doubt I know anyone here…"
"I see…" the man said, placing his hand on his chin in thought. "So, you don't know anyone here, and you don't even know where to spend the night… well, this is a proper pickle indeed. Are you quite sure you'll be able to survive?"
"Somehow, I guess…" Rei mumbled with a shrug. "But, in all honesty, I don't really know what to do…"
"I see…" the man said. "Well, no proper gentleman would abandon a person in such need!"
"Rowlet!" one of the Pokèmon, a Rowlet from the Alola Region by the looks of it, cried, apparently agreeing with the professor.
"Cyndaquil!" the second Pokèmon, a Cyndaquil from the Johto Region, cried, also in agreement.
"Oshawott!" the third Pokèmon, an Oshawott from the Unova Region, said in agreement.
The man turned to look at the Pokèmon as they cried out. "Oh my! I'd completely forgotten! I'd just caught up to these three runaway Pokèmon when you tumbled out of the sky. It's almost like they knew you'd appear here!" the man said.
"Well, Pokèmon do seem to be more attuned to things that humans aren't, so for all we know, that could be the case," Rei said.
"Ah! So you do know what a Pokèmon is!" the man said with a smile and nod. "My, that's a relief! Even though you fell out of the sky, it seems we have some common ground, eh?"
Rei smiled. "Certainly seems like it," he replied.
"Yes, well, these Pokèmon belong to me, mysterious creatures that they are," the man said, before remembering something important. "Oh, yes! And what might your name be?"
"Oh, um, name's Rei, Rei Teru," said Rei with a nod and as much of a smile as he could muster under the circumstances.
"Ah, Rei! That name has quite the ring to it! I imagine it must have some lovely meaning," the man said. "Ah, but I do apologize! I haven't even introduced myself! My name's Laventon! I'm something of a Pokèmon Professor. That is to say, I'm a scholar seeking to deepen humanity's understanding of Pokèmon. Yes, Pokèmon such as these three here, whic-" the professor started to say before all three of the Pokèmon that had been standing beside him bolted off running, or in the case of one of Rowlet, flying, away.
"Oh, blast and bother!" Laventon cursed. "My darling Pokèmon! Why must you run from me again?!" Laventon then turned to face Rei. "I'm terribly sorry, but do you think you could help me round them up?"
"Well, I-" Rei started to say.
"Please, I beg you!" cried Laventon before he took off running after the three Pokèmon. "Wait, you three! Waiiit!"
Rei stared after the professor as he ran before chuckling and heaving a sigh. Guess I'd better help him, the teenager thought before he took off after the professor. However, he had only made it about twenty feet when the sound of loud beeping caught his ears, causing him to stop in his tracks.
Strange… where is that beeping coming from? thought Rei as the beeping continued to ring out. Following the beeping to its source, Rei discovered a small device that seemed to resemble a phone, as well as what seemed to be a set of earbuds.
Hmm… I can feel a strange power emanating from this device… thought Rei as he examined the device. A second later, the device's screen lit up, and some form of message appeared on the screen.
A1PHAPKMN: I bestow upon thee this Arc Phone. With this, thou will receive GPS (Godly Positioning Software) guidance to the destination in the Hisui Region thy mission or whatever favor may take thou, as well as whatever custom waypoint thou create. Additionally, with the Pokètalk Application, thou will be able to transcribe thy Pokèmon companions' speech from their tongue into thy own. Oh, and thy music library is intact.
Do not forget thy mission: seek out all Pokèmon.
Well, I guess that explains the earbuds, Rei thought to himself as he placed the Arc Phone and earbuds into his shorts pocket, before continuing his pursuit of the professor. Thankfully, Rei found that the professor wasn't too far ahead… and that he seemed to be throwing rocks at the Pokèmon, which were landing about four feet in front of him.
The professor heaved a sigh. "Alas, yet another miss!" the man said dejectedly.
"Uh, Professor? What're you doing?" Rei asked.
The professor jumped a little before he turned to face Rei. "Aha! I'm glad you've come to my rescue, my new friend from the sky! I've tried catching my little runaways by throwing some Pokè Balls their way, but I'm not the best at this sort of thing, you see…" Laventon explained.
Rei blinked a couple times. This guy can't even catch Pokèmon… how exactly did he become a Pokèmon Professor, in that case? the boy snarked in his head.
"I'd love for you to give it a go, if you're up to it," Laventon said.
Rei smiled and nodded. "Sure, I'll give it a shot!" he said.
"Splendid! Here's some Pokè Balls for you!" the professor said as he pulled out about fifty tiny Poke Balls and dropped them into Rei's hands. Rei put the Pokè Balls in the shorts pocket that his Arc Phone wasn't in before pulling out one of them and figuring out how to enlarge it to full size. Once he'd done that, Rei took a moment to examine one of them.
It was certainly different from the Pokè Balls Rei had known in the Sinnoh Region. The locking mechanism looked different, almost like it ran on steam, and the usual red was instead almost an orange color, and the white was instead a wooden brown color.
"Ah, I suppose I had better explain how these Pokè Balls work," Laventon said. "You see, Pokèmon have the ability to transform into pure energy and shrink down to minuscule size! And that's where Pokè Balls come in! They're something of a more recent invention. If you throw a Pokè Ball at a Pokèmon, it'll cause a biochemical reaction within them, causing the Pokèmon to shrink down and fit inside, as comfy as can be! And with that, you've got yourself a Pokèmon!" the professor explained.
"However, Pokè Balls aren't a hundred percent perfect. Sometimes, even though they've shrunk down, the Pokèmon is still a bit too big for its britches and will escape. Although I hear a company in the Kanto Region is working on an experimental Pokè Ball that catches any Pokèmon without fail, among other improvements," said Laventon.
"I know we just met, but I've no one else to turn to. The only other member of the Survey Corps aside from the captain is currently bedridden after running afoul of a Shinx's Thunder Shock. I'd be awfully grateful if you could help me catch these three runaways. Now, the proper technique is to take aim with the Pokè Ball and then let it fly! Though, far be it from me to say so, given my own dire lack of skill in that area…"
"Hey, don't beat yourself up, professor. I'll catch these Pokèmon, don't worry," said Rei.
A Little While Later...
The sun was starting to set by the time Rei managed to capture all three of the escaped Pokèmon, but in the end, he managed to successfully capture all three.
"Oh, what a relief to have them all back!" said Laventon as Rei handed over Rowlet's Pokè Ball. "You see, these three Pokèmon only just arrived in our village to help out with our research. They won't even listen to anyone yet! And as I mentioned before, they bolted from the village, almost as if they knew you'd come falling…" the professor trailed off for a moment.
"But, either way, Rei, I was taken aback by how well you use Pokè Balls… how is it that you catch Pokèmon so ably and without even a hint of fear when you've only just arrived here? In all honesty, one can't help but think there's a reason you appeared here and now," the professor said.
"And I think part of that reason has something to do with this Arc Phone," said Rei as he pulled out the Arc Phone and showed the professor the message that was displayed on it.
"Arc Phone, you say?" the professor said as he gazed long and hard at the divine smartphone. "What an odd device… could it guiding you somehow?"
"Certainly seems like it. It says to 'seek out all Pokèmon,'" Rei said as he put the device back into his pocket.
"Hmm…" the professor said thoughtfully before an idea struck him. "Ah! Rei, if you'll indulge me for a moment, there's something I'd like to share with you."
"What is it, Professor?" asked Rei.
"You see, Rei, my boy, I have a dream: to compile this region's first complete record of its Pokèmon! We in the field call such a catalog a Pokèdex," explained Laventon. "Yes, a proper Pokèdex is a wonderful work of research, containing detailed records of all the Pokèmon to be found in a region."
"But… in order to properly document Pokèmon, one must first, of course, catch them. And therein lies the rub, I'm afraid. Pokè Balls have only just been invented, and not many have mastered the skill of using them," lamented Laventon. "Enter you, Rei Teru- a person with a clear talent for catching Pokèmon! Your goal is to seek out every Pokèmon, and mine is to have all those Pokèmon caught. A situation ripe for teamwork, don't you agree? Come on, now, what do you say? Shall we help one another out, my boy?"
Before Rei could give his reply, his Arc Phone vibrated and beeped within his pocket. Pulling it out and activating it, Rei saw that he had another message.
A1PHAPKMN: The scholar makes a sound argument. Agree to his proposal.
Well, if Arceus says so, then I guess I have no choice. Not that I was gonna say no anyway… thought Rei as he put his Arc Phone back into his pocket before he gave his reply.
"All right, Professor. You've convinced me. I'm in," said Rei.
The professor let out a hearty chuckle. "Then whoever you are and from wherever you may be, I welcome you with open arms!" he said. "Come now, my boy! We have a Pokèdex to complete! But, first things first, let's get these Pokèmon back to the village! Then, we'll sort out your lodging and find you some proper clothes, and all that."
As Rei and the professor began to make their way towards the village, Rei couldn't help but cast a glance towards a mountain that he assumed was Mount Coronet... and as he did, the teenage boy felt an ominous presence emanating from the swirling rift above it.
And Rei couldn't help but feel as though that rift had something to do with the reason he had been sent here...
And that's a bingo! Yeah, I decided to have Jubilife Village and Akari's introduction be in the next chapter. And yeah, I thought it would be a fun idea to have Arceus be a second opinion, as well as have the Arc Phone be able to speech-to-text translate Pokèmon, just for fun, except for Pokèmon like every Psychic-type ever, Darkrai, Shaymin, Cresscelia, the Lake Trio, and so on and so forth.
Anyways, if you like what you saw here, then be sure to fave, follow, review, and join us next time as boy meets girl! See you then!