A/N: Thank you for picking up this fic! Please enjoy~
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or their IP. I just own this story and my OCs
After having that conversation with Flint days ago, Lucian had forgotten about Champion Cynthia wanting to develop a relationship with him. His mind was too preoccupied with his own situation.
His visions were constantly of the same dream of that small slumbering child. He didn't know what to think of it. But two weeks later, he had his answer.
A call from the Canalave City Police Department was made requesting the need of League assistance in a matter. For weeks, there had been a strange illness that had fallen over the city. Many people had been reported to fall asleep and never wake up. Electric shock, stimulants, nor anything could wake these victims. Eventually, their bodies, too weak from the illness, gave out. The illness did not discriminate, it took hold of both the young and the old.
The call was made to the League because the local hospital was almost about to run out of beds, and they did not know what to do. They had no idea how to cure the illness; nor do they know what caused it.
Cynthia was the first to hear of the situation happening in Canalave. She was advised to pick someone else from the Elite to go with her to help handle the situation. And of course, she chose Lucian. She picked him because of his knowledge of the area; he did go to college there after all. But really, she just wanted to use that time as a way to build a repertoire with him that could later help her to build a deeper bond; two birds with one stone.
This led to Cynthia and Lucian departing the League to take a plane that would take them to Canalave City.
Canalave City was a bright and vibrant port city.
Because of all the imports and exports that went through the city, there were many cultures that the people there got exposed to. Many of the residents of the city have been known far and wide to be very cultured and educated. Cultures from all over the world had a little home in the city. It made for a beautiful and accepting place, but not for everyone.
Lucian loved getting his education there, especially since his program allowed him unrestricted access throughout the entirety of the famous Canalave Library. But the people there weren't favorable to him.
He was plagued throughout his time in college with roommates and other students accusing him of being a thief. Many Canalavites saw the Children of the Moon as shady because of their connection to the moon and the night. He was even constantly accused of cheating in his classes despite the fact that he worked hard for his straight A's.
He was glad when he finally graduated and moved away.
Though being back again brings him a faint feeling of nostalgia.
When he and Cynthia got off the plane, they picked up their bags, and their driver took them to where they would be staying.
Cynthia normally loved to stay in quaint inns when she traveled so that she could experience the local culture; however, this time she picked a more luxurious place. The hotel that they would be staying in had excellent security and offered late hours for dining, which was exactly what they needed.
Once they were both settled and refreshed, they both were driven to the local hospital to assess the situation and check on the patients.
When they arrived at the hospital, a man by the name of Roy Tanaka greeted them and took them to a small waiting room to talk about the case.
Roy was a stout, middle aged man, who had been working for the Canalave PD for 10 years now. He dressed in a blue dress shirt with slacks and wore a badge around his neck.
Roy led the two through the hospital going up two flights of steps.
In the room, Lucian got himself a small green tea while Cynthia got a black coffee with cream.
"Tell us about the situation," said Cynthia taking a sip from her drink.
"Well," said Roy, "We think this started about three weeks ago. A woman came into the hospital saying that her husband wouldn't wake up. She said that she tried everything but nothing worked. The hospital staff did everything they could for her husband, but he still died two weeks later."
"Do we have a timeline for the illness?" asked Lucian.
Roy nodded his head, "It seems like the illness kills off its host in about 12 - 14 days. Even with the feeding tubes we use, it does nothing to prolong their life."
"And what exactly is our job here?" asked Lucian.
"Help us figure out what caused this," said Roy, "and if possible, find a cure."
"Ok," said Cynthia downing her coffee, "Take us to the patients and their families."
Roy nodded and got up, getting his suit jacket. As he was walking out the door he was putting the jacket on.
Roy passed by many corridors before he got to a station where a nurse happily greeted him.
"Hey Roy," said the nurse with a tired smile, "How's it going?"
"As good as it can be Celeste. I'm here with Champion Cynthia and Elite Lucian. They want to see some of the victims and their families. Would that be okay?"
"Sure," said Celeste, "as long as the patients and everyone else are okay with it."
Behind Celeste was a long hallway that had many glass doors to different patient rooms. Some of the families were inside the rooms while others were outside of them as doctors or nurses administered treatments to their loved ones.
As Roy, Cynthia, and Lucian were traveling down the hallway, there was an immediate gasp.
"How dare you bring this witch here!" said a mother of one of the patients.
The woman had dark brown hair wrapped around her head in a braid. She had deep dark circles from her lack of sleep with an easily seen, tear-stained face.
"After everything my baby has gone through, you bring this witch here. All he's going to do is make everything worse!"
With the woman's outburst, many more comments among the family members started to pop up.
"Witches aren't to be trusted! We don't wan' him 'round our child."
"To think that you lot called on help from the League, and they brought a witch to our doorsteps. Hmpf."
"I guess the witch is here to see whether his brethren killed off their victims."
"How did the witch even get let in through the door? Did he manipulate them?"
"Ever since they let that witch in the League, things have been going downhill."
"Is the witch coming to further harm our children? Haven't they done enough?"
At the large outburst, Roy and Cynthia were confused. Who was this witch that everyone was speaking of? They didn't know what caused this mass hysteria.
But Lucian knew. He didn't look like it, but his heart was about to beat out of his chest. The word 'witch' stung too; the slur tearing at his heartstrings. He hadn't experienced such blatant discrimination since college. It hurt; it always did. But he knew he had to rise above it. He was here to help these people, even if they didn't know it.
While the mass hysteria was still going on, a doctor by the name of Joy Lee came over to the group and said a few words.
"Hey, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to have to ask Elite Lucian to leave. I know you haven't done anything wrong, but I really need this environment to be peaceful for the patients and their families. If you want to ask them questions, Elite Lucian will have to leave. I'm sorry."
Lucian grimaced internally. He knew this was going to happen. He hoped that this wouldn't happen, but he doesn't want to cause any more distress to these families than he's already caused.
Roy nodded his head toward the doctor. He immediately walked Lucian back to the waiting room he had them in earlier before he went back to Cynthia to question the patients' families.
A few hours later, Roy and Cynthia returned to the waiting room to debrief what they learned.
"I don' know," said Roy scratching his head, "I think some of these people are too traumatized to give us the real facts. Talking about some pokemon that does not exist; i don' know. I think that they are just lookin' for something to blame."
"What pokemon were they talking about?" asked Lucian.
"Many of the families were talking about a pokemon that goes by the name 'Nightmarus'" said Cynthia, "Have you ever heard the legend of Nightmarus, Roy?"
"No ma'am, and I've lived here for over 15 years. Moved here from a tiny town around Sandgem."
"Well I think that explains why," said Cynthia, "The legend of Nightmarus is heavily embedded in the culture of Canalave City and of those that live in the Mercury Prefecture. It's the story parents tell their children growing up so they'll be good."
Even though Cynthia didn't grow up in the Mercury Prefecture, she knew a lot about the myths and legends of Sinnoh. Her great-great-grandfather wrote the famous book "Sinnohvian Myths and Legends." The book was a best seller during its time, and her grandmother read it to her religiously while she was growing up.
"I can see that, I guess."
"Let me tell you the Legend of Nightmarus so that you can understand a bit better. Maybe we can learn something from it. Besides, there's always a bit of truth to legends."
Long long ago
The Kingdoms of Kanto and Johto decided to unite as one in order to maintain their power and significance in the world.
However, their unification caused a wave of civil unrest throughout the kingdoms.
With war on the horizon, many fled the two nations looking for a new home.
The people prayed and the Astrals heard their prayers.
The Astrals guided the fleeing people to a land in the North known as Sinnoh.
Sinnoh was a fertile land, but it was cold and suffered from harsh winters.
The people settled all over Sinnoh, but many made their home in a crescent-shaped bay which they called Canalave.
Canalave grew to be a beautiful town that helped connect the new region to the outside world.
One day, three men from a faraway island to the North of Canalave came to the town. They claimed they were from a people blessed by the moon.
They were sweet and kind and only stayed a few days before they went back to their home.
When they left, a strange pokemon shrouded in darkness started to appear in the town.
With its appearance came people becoming weak and tired; some even fell ill and died.
Again the people from the moon-blessed land came to the small town. They only stayed a few days and then they left.
With them gone again, the strange pokemon came out once more.
This cycle continued for months and months. With the strange pokemon being given the name Nightmarus.
Eventually, the strong and courageous people of Canalave ran off the moon people believing them to have cast this horrible monster onto them.
But even with them gone, Nightmarus still reigned.
Nightmarus caused much destruction and havoc, causing those it captured to sleep and never wake up. Other times it casted its victims to experience eternal nightmares; so that they may never know peace.
The people of Canalave were worried for their futures; so they prayed to the Astrals to save them.
Of all the Astrals, Astral Mercury was the one to hear their call and came to their aid.
The people of Canalave told Astral Mercury what was happening in their quaint town.
Astral Mercury was filled with sorrow and compassion and helped the people there.
Astral Mercury called upon one of the seven Birds of the Heavens.
He called upon the bird Diana who lived on the moon.
With the heavenly bird in reach, Astral Mercury plucked one of the wings from Diana and gave it to the people.
Astral Mercury said that anyone who touched the moon wing would be healed of these sleeping sicknesses.
And so the people of Canalave went all around the town letting each person who was cursed by Nightmarus touch the moon wing.
With a single touch, the people were healed.
In honor of this great gift the Astral brought to them, the people named the land 'Mercury' after him.
The End.
Lucian internally grimaced at the telling of this legend. As much as he could see how fascinated Roy and Cynthia were with it, he couldn't find it in himself to even pretend to be paying attention or enjoying the theatrics of it. Not when the legend itself was rooted in a hatred for his people.
The Children of the Moon occupied the New Moon and Full Moon Isles. They would make monthly trips to the area known as the Mercury Prefecture in order to pick a rare plant that was used in cooking and medicinal practices. Because this was land that was not given to them by the Penuh or the Kosong, they only stayed a little while, got what they needed, and left. They only took as much as they needed in the moment which is why they had to make monthly trips.
However, people of the Mercury Prefecture started to blame them anytime something went wrong. It was easy to use them as a scapegoat since they were mostly never there.
This led to the formation of the slur 'witch' since the people of Mercury believed that the Children of the Moon were casting a spell to summon a monster known as Nightmarus to curse them.
"Wow! That was really interesting," said Roy, "I've never heard of that legend before. I guess you can really say there is some deep regional culture here in Sinnoh."
"You're correct," nodded Cynthia, "Sinnoh has such a rich and vibrant culture. It's what I love most about living here. Each life touching one another to create something new. There's always something new to learn here."
"And I thought my little town was superstitious," said Roy, "Seems like this place is even more so. People really seem to be afraid of this Nightmarus creature even though we have no records of it."
"It could be an extinct pokemon," said Cynthia, "We don't know yet. But maybe we'll find out soon."
Word Count: 2,435
Published: Saturday, November 26, 2022
Next "Tentative" Update: Sat., Dec 3rd or Sun., Dec. 4th
A/N: AH! I think my writing is getting better. What do you all think? I really want to try and get this story completed by the end of the year. It's not that long. Please look forward to more!
Please comment as well and let me know what you think :)