A/N: Hello all! Welcome to Pokémon Mystery Legend! There's a bit of history with this story. I first wrote this story when I was 11 (back when the most recent generation was Unova, if you can believe that). I uploaded this story at one point, but deleted it because I thought it was cringe. Fast forward 10 years later, and I just got married! After getting married, we were organizing some of our stuff, and I ended up digging up some old stuff: the handwritten original version of this story! My wife is really into fanfiction/stories, so we ended up reading it together. It was her that ended up encouraging me to finish the story (she wants to find out how it ends)! I'm definitely going to fix certain parts of the story and rewrite it, but without further ado, here is Pokémon Mystery Legend!
Prologue
It was an early morning. Dew was present on the rocky ground, but it was still very brisk.
A group of Pokémon gathered around a clearing in the coniferous forest. Several Pokémon stood up in a line as they were called up onto a raised stage one-by-one by a large quadrupedal Pokémon. This leader figure had mostly black fur, with areas of light blue fur as well. He was a Luxray. His eyes shone with an air of seriousness and purpose.
"Drake!" the Luxray called, as a small lizard Pokémon began walking up the stand. The Pokémon had a bright, though controlled, fire on his tail, and was gold in color. This Pokémon was a Charmander. He walked slowly but deliberately onto the stage.
Luxray then began, "Congratulations junior explorer, on your graduation from junior exploration team training! You, have a strong will. Use that will to make wise choices. I hereby pronounce you eligible to participate as an official explorer guild member at the novice level." Upon the end of this short speech, the large crowd began to cheer. The loudest cheer had come from an adult female Infernape. Drake smiled back innocently at her and the rest of the crowd as he walked to the other end of the stage.
"Flint!" the Luxray then called, which prompted a small monkey Pokémon to confidently stride onto the stage. This Pokémon had a short tail, also on fire, which flared wildly. He seemed to be holding in his excitement as best as he possibly could, to no avail. This excited Pokémon was a Chimchar.
"Congratulations junior explorer, on your graduation from junior exploration team training. You, are brave. But, always remember to be careful, and place others' safety ahead of your own. I hereby pronounce you eligible to participate as an official explorer guild member at the novice level–"
"WOOHOO!" Flint shouted as he jumped up on the stage. The Luxray silently chuckled as the crowd began to cheer. "I did it dad! I did it mom!" the Chimchar yelled, looking at a male Blaziken and the female Infernape in the crowd. The Chimchar exited the stage gleefully, as the last Pokémon was called to the stage.
"Galvan!" the Luxray called, his voice slightly but noticeably more tender than before.
A yellow mouse Pokémon then walked onto the stage. He had a jagged tail which moved in nearly perfect form as he marched up to the platform. This Pokémon, a Pikachu, had a strikingly similar aura to the Luxray he walked towards.
"Congratulations, son, on your graduation from junior exploration team training. You, are a leader. Remember that as a leader, you must always put yourself last. I hereby pronounce you eligible to participate as an official explorer guild member at the novice level."
The Pikachu then turned to face the crowd as they all cheered for him. The Luxray put an encouraging paw on his shoulder; they both scanned the crowd, and rested their eyes on a female Raichu. Atop the Raichu was a much smaller mouse Pokémon, a baby Pichu.
As the crowd died down, the Luxray began to speak again, "We will have a feast in the guild hall. You are all welcome to attend." The crowd then dispersed as they gradually started walking towards the hall.
"Go, catch up with your team." the Luxray said to his son. "Your mother and I will meet you there." "Thanks dad!" Galvan said, with a sense of pride in his voice. The yellow mouse Pokémon then began to run over to his friends, Drake the Charmander and Flint the Chimchar.
"Hey guys!" Galvan said, "That was pretty exciting! Either of you feel any different now that we're official guild members?"
Flint responded instantly, his tail flaring up as he spoke. "You know it! Now we can accept real missions!" He had a starry-eyed look on his face.
Drake, in contrast, was awfully quiet, seemingly off in his own world. "What about you?" inqured Galvan. This seemed to snap Drake out of his trance. "I guess it's kinda cool" he responded with his trademark awkward smile.
"You bet it is!" Flint chimed in. "Now let's go get some food! I'm starving!"
"Me too" responded Galvan. They then began to follow the crowd to the hall, Galvan and Flint in front, with Drake trailing closely behind.
It was midday in the summer at the lake. The mugginess and heat would have been unbearable if not for the cool, refreshing water of the lake. Many water Pokémon were playing in the water near a beach-like area.
"I wonder if she'd like sea shells…" said a moderately high pitched voice. In an area somewhat far away from the other Pokémon at the beach, a small blue quadrupedal Pokémon was walking around, deeply focused on the sand, while picking up a small white sea shell. He had a blue fin on his head: he was a Mudkip. The fin on his head began twitching and unfortunately he didn't notice it as he walked forwards scouring the sand, and he walked into two larger Pokémon, who grinned at him maliciously. The Mudkip cowered before them, knowing what was about to happen.
The Pokémon both looked like weasels, and one was orange and the other yellow. These Pokémon were both Buizels, but one of them was a slightly different color.
"What do we have here?" the yellow one said wickedly. "A clumsy weakling, that's what!" the orange one laughed as he tripped Mudkip with his leg and took the shell out of his hand, crushing it. The Buizel merely threw the crushed pieces on the ground while giving a high-five to his brother-in-crime. The two then chuckled villainously as they walked away, leaving Mudkip alone.
Some time later, the Mudkip had remained in the same spot, staring at the sunset.
"Hey Marlow…" called a feminine voice. Walking up beside him was a small blue penguin Pokémon: a Piplup.
"Hey Selena…" the Mudkip replied, sounding defeated. The Piplup, Selena, looked around for a bit, saw the broken sea shells, a small bruise on one of Marlow's front legs, and pieced the story together.
"You want to talk about it?" "No." As Mudkip remained sulking, his fin began to twitch again. "Ummm–"
Then, out of the water came a huge splash, as a small blue crocodile-like Pokémon flew out of the water, insanity in his eyes.
"Why is friend Mar-mar sad? We shall do the cheering of up!" the Totodile exclaimed. He then stretched his face sideways.
"Hey Karl!" Marlow exclaimed, chuckling a bit, starting to feel better.
"Now… Mar-mar, Sellie, do you wish to go on big adventure?" Karl asked, a glimmer in his eyes as he slapped an explorer's hat on his head.
"Sure, let's do it!" Marlow replied, "You wanna come along too?" he asked Selena. With a relieved smile, she replied, "Of course! Where to today?" she asked as they began walking.
Karl's reply was instantaneous "I was thinking we could go to the caverns underneath the lake again! There were so many sparkly rocks there and they look so cool!" "I suppose we could," replied Selena, "but we'll have to make sure we don't stay out too late. We won't be able to tell how late it gets without the sunlight." "We'll be fine!" replied Karl, as he dove into the water.
Marlow, though quiet, had a wide grin on his face, happy he could spend time with his two best friends.
The burnt orange light from the sunset glimmered through the window into the tree library. Carved inside of a humongous sequoia tree, the inner walls housed thousands of books. There were several spiraling staircases leading up to higher floors, though the higher floors were empty due to the late time. The first floor was also rather empty except for two Pokémon. One Pokémon appeared to be a grass snake Pokémon, and had her face buried in a book. She wore a small pink flower on her head, and her eyes focused on the book like a laser. This Pokémon was a Snivy. The other Pokémon was even smaller than the Snivy, and stood atop a desk with a sign reading "Librarian." This Pokémon was very tiny, and was shaped somewhat like a bee. The Pokémon had a small scarf and had two wings moving very slowly as they reflected the sunlight. This librarian was a Ribombee.
In a soft, high-pitched voice, the Ribombee called to the other Pokémon, "It's about time for me to head out. I'll trust you to lock up when you leave."
The other Pokémon merely nodded, her face still buried in her book.
"Uh-huh…" she mumbled, without lifting her head at all. The Ribombee merely smiled as she silently floated out of the library.
Though it seemed like only a few minutes, the Snivy remained in the tree library for several more hours. She was so engrossed in her book, that she only realized how late it was once it was too dark for her to read the pages.
There was a candle near the entrance, probably left by the librarian, so the Snivy, remaining in her chair, reached out with her vines to pick up the candle. Much to the Snivy's dismay, the candle was just out of reach, so she decided to walk over to it and retrieve it the "old-fashioned way."
As she walked towards the entrance, she heard footsteps and talking in the distance. "I bet she's been reading books all day at the library." said a female voice. "I wonder what she's been reading!" replied a male voice. "Me too." the female voice replied, "Though, I sometimes worry that she's a little bit too into books." "I don't know about that. She probably just loves reading!" replied the male voice. They were at the door.
Snivy opened the door with her vine whip, holding the candle in her small hands.
"AAHHH! A GHOST!" screamed the male voice. Startled, the male Pokémon jumped. He was a quadrupedal Pokémon with a large bulb on his back: a Bulbasaur. "Relax Reed… It's just Lyn..." the other female Pokémon said, giggling. This Pokémon was also quadrupedal, and had a large leaf on her head: a Chikorita. The Chikorita especially stood out with a purple necklace that glistened with sparkles from the candlelight.
"Hi Flora. Hi Reed." the Snivy responded. "Sorry if I startled you." She spoke in a somewhat subdued tone, and she kept her eyelids partially closed, perhaps because the candlelight was a bit bright?
"YOU LOOKED LIKE A GHOST!" Reed responded, his nerves still calming down. Flora, the Chikorita, playfully slapped him on one of his front legs with her leaf.
"So… what have you been up to all day?" Flora asked. "Reading." responded Snivy, dryly. "Do you wanna tell us about what you were reading?" At this, Lyn perked up a bit. "Sure!"
"I've been reading about some ancient legendary Pokémon. The legends are truly fascinating. I was reading about Rayquaza and the legend of Dark Rayquaza and the dark dimension and also about this Pokémon named Giratina and this place called the distortion world and about this Pokémon called Celebi and the Mew and this place called the tree of life and another legend about a Pokémon called Arceus and…"
Flora and Reed gave each other a knowing smile, and chuckled to themselves silently hearing their friend talk so enthusiastically about her books.
It was midnight in the dry desert, a bright crescent moon shining down on the cold, desolate sand. Large hills were scattered throughout the desert, as a light wind carried dusts of wind in varying directions.
The desert seemed dead at this time, except for one lone Pokémon climbing one of the hills, with a long trail of red footprints behind him. This Pokémon looked like a green gecko, and had a fresh red scar on his right eye, tears flowing from his left eye. The Pokémon shivered, and the pace of his steps were erratic, yet he continued forward.
At one point he collapsed onto the sand, almost unable to get up, at which point a green aura began to surround him. Gathering the last of his energy, he pulled himself up and began marching forward again.
A/N: Thanks for reading this far! Please give me a like/follow if you liked it, and leave a comment telling me what you thought and if there are any improvements you'd like for later chapters!
