PD: Legacies - IC Thread Book I

[Qoorl]

Pokedream Legacies, Book I: The Survival of Kolm

Kolm is a small village, located in a forested area, with the sea just to the north. The exact name of the land has been lost since the cataclysm. Wild pokemon and the occasional marauder have troubled the village for years, but Nick has been able to run them off for the most part. However things are about to change...

"Give us whatever supplies ya got and we'll leave ya alone for about a month or so!" shouted the bandit at the gate. There were about five of them, dressed in a variety of scavenged clothing and hand crafed armor. Nick, hefted his shotgun and leveled his gaze on the one making the demands.

"We don't have to give you scum anything! We'd be happy to trade for supplies or even help out if you have people wounded by pokemon attacks, but we won't be bullied."

The bandits grumbled and looked at each other. Guns were exceedingly rare, as was good medicine, none of them wanted to tangle with Nick. The spokes person looked as if he was ready to pack it in before one of the bandits in the back, pushed the others out of the way.

"Dietrich, are ya sure, man?" The spokesbandit asked. Dietrich gave him a withering look before turning back toward the gate.

"Look, we gave you a chance, now I'm gonna show you, exactly why you should do as we say," Dietrich said, giving Nick a smug look. His hand went up to his shirt, pulling the neck down to reveal a strange stylized tattoo. It glowed for a brief moment and then a form took shape in front of him. It was a hazy field of energy for a moment before it became solid.

"Nidorino, Poison Sting!" Dietrich shouted. Nick brought his shotgun around but, the Nidorino was too quick. Needle like spines shot from it's horned head, striking into the young man. Nick crashed to the ground, much to the shock of the towsnpeople gathered. He had always been their protector and to see him beaten so easily...

"Now," Dietrich began, "Let's talk about those supplies you're going to give us." The bandit rested his hand on the Nidorino's back. Looking from one villager to another, as if daring them to challenge him. Then he froze as a figure appeared on the hill behind the ramshackle houses of Kolm.

The purple robed figure's face was obscured by the hood of his robe, but he seemed to radiate an aura of danger. He watched the bandits for a moment and then, surprisingly, Dietrich turned and started to walk away. The bandit who had previously begin making demands whined at him.

"What are ya doin, Deet? WE got em now, there's nothing they can do to stop us from takin whatever we want!"

"We're not ready, Nidorino needs to be stronger, or we'll have to wait for the old man to die. There are other villages around here to pluck, we'll be fine," Dietrich replied as he kept going. The Nidorino disappeared back into his tattoo and the bandits followed him into the forest.

The purple robed man strode into town and knelt beside Nick and checked him over. The townspeople of Kolm all knew of the old man but he rarely had anything to do with the village other than trading every once in a while.

"He'll live, but you need to get him somewhere he can rest," The man said. Then he rose to his feet and pointed at James and Vindicaire, "You two. If there's any chance that this village is going to continue to survive, you're going to need to come with me." He turned and headed down the path to his house.

[Kirby]

It was a good sunny day, excellent for fishing. James caught a bunch of fish today, 5 magikarps and 1 goldeen. He let go the goldeen, figuring that if he catch it later as a Seaking, he could get good money for the horn. Its not like it could go anywhere, it was a dead end pond he could just catch it another time. He ate 3 magikarps today, a generous meal for anyone in a post apocalyptic world. The rest he planned to sell. Suddenly there was a commotion from the village. Must be bandits again.

James quickly rose to his feet and ran to the village. The bandits where usually vicious and people got hurt, as a man of the Oak family, he knew a bit of medical information knowing how to heal with berries. If things got bad enough, he had some stuff from the old days too, although he usually preferred berries since once they where gone they where gone.

He got there just in time, Nick looked bad poisoned, luckily he had some berries stocked up from last season. There was also this purple robed man there too. He wanted us to get Nick and come with him. Looking at Nick a second time, James quickly realized it would take more then a few berries to cure this kind of poison, he needed some serious stuff. James knew how to make concentrated antidotes out of berries, but the process took months to ferment and he last batch was months from being ready, if used now they would only make Nick worse. He gave Nick a few sitrus berries, they would keep him alive for now but would only delay the inevitable. Hopefully this purple robed guy had some antidotes or else Nick was a goner.

[The Editor]

"I'll need to take a look at that shotgun later," Vindy said to himself, following the man. Of course Nick was more important than any bit of technology, but that weapon was pretty handy, and it had taken a bit of a beating when Nick had fallen on it.

[nyrisis]

Trinity had just come back from foraging for food in the forest when she heard a commotion at the gate. She dropped everything she'd spent hours gathering and ran to see what exactly was going on. Bandits probably, but she always loved to see Nick in action. When she got there a crowd had already gathered. She watched as Nick fell to the ground without even a fight. The bandit called his pokemon back to him and it fused into a tattoo on his chest with an eerie glow. "What the Heck?!" Trinity thought, but she was only momentarily distracted. There's no way she was gonna let some bandits get away with this; she tried pushing her way through the now very large cluster of people. Just then a man in a purple hooded robe walked to where Nick had fallen. The crowd parted as he made his way. He spoke to the bandits and they reluctantly scampered off. Wusses! Then the man in the hooded robe pointed to two other villagers, James and Vindicare. He told them to come with him and they took Nick's unconscious body. "James and Vindicare?! Seriously!" Trinity thought, as they walked away and the crowd dispersed, "No way am I gonna sit around and let them have all the fun!" So, trying her best to sneak quietly, she followed the boys....

[Qoorl]

The robed figure continued up the path, if they brought Nick along, he'd do what he could, but he was already doing what he had promised himself he would no longer do; interfere.

At last they arrived at the ramshackle wooden shack, farther out than any of the other houses in the village. Interesting smells drifted from the windows and the door as he opened the door. Inside the house was a mishmash of herbs, books, pieces of deritus from the old world and who could tell what else. A large Stunky with strange purple eyes perched on a shelf and chittered as the group entered. The man turned his head as he entered the doorway, his gaze seeming to settle right on Trinity's hiding spot. He left the door open and turned to his visitors.

"You'll need the power that pokemon can bring to the village. There are also a variety of things you can recover from the outside world that can benefit your people as well."

He sighed and scratched the Stunky behind the ears.

"Unfortunately, there is only so much I'm willing to do. I am more than happy to advise you, and let you know where you might travel to gather both the artifacts of the Old World, and pokemon to help you. More importantly, I can provide you with Pokemon of your own."

He paused for a moment, retrieving and old bottle from inside a cupboard. He handed the bottle to James.

"This will help with young Nick's poison. Now where was I...AH yes. I have ways of gathering a pokemon for each of you to use. The trick is... how you intend to control it. Before the cataclysm, people used technology... pokeballs. I have a few I could give to you and you can recover more...however time has not been kind to much of the old tech and sometimes they fail to work. There is another way as well... the ancient art of Pokemancy can bind one to you... I cna teach you much of the art if you're willing to listen... but perhaps it might be better to try and restore the lost arts of technology to the world as well. The choice is for each of you to make."

[The Editor]

"I trust technology more than mysticism," said Vindy. "If I can see it and hold it, I can make it work."

[Kirby]

James followed the man back to his house. First thing he saw, when the man opened the door ,was a big purple rat. The man referred to it as a “Skunky.” James had lived in this area is whole life, and had never seen such a creature. This man must be from far off.

After chatting with this for a bit, the man gave James an antidote. Before administering it to Nick, James looked at it. It looked new… too new. Usually antidote concentrators had think crusty berry juice all over them, and where rusting away from years of use. But this was sparkling clean… even an antidote found in old cellar, was at least where a bit rusty and dusty, but this none of that. After James administered the antidote the results where immediate, much faster then his home made concoction and there was plenty left too! His antidotes needed the whole container. James slipped the container into his pocket, hoping to study the antidote and, possibly replicate it.

Now the man presented James and Vinny with a choice. The choice was between technology and pokemon. Vinny had showed him the schematics of a piece of tech to him once, very confusing. James told the man he wanted pokemon.

[nyrisis]

Trinity followed the group to a shack and hid behind some foliage close to the door; she noticed it had been left open. "Senile old man, anyone could be listening!" she thought rolling her eyes. Fortunately, from this vantage point, she could not only hear every word, she now had an excellent view of what was going on. She peered inside and saw a collection of odds and ends she'd love to snoop.. um... inspect. She listened closely to the conversation, "our own pokemon!... pokemancy!" This is far to good a chance to pass up.

Trinity emerged from her hiding spot and stood framed in the doorway. "So, are these two special, or is this an open invitation?"

[Qoorl]

In the flickering candlelight of the shack, it became apparent that the face beneath the hooded robe was further obscured by a porcelain Duskull mask, more strangeness from afar.

"Heh... it's an open invitation if you think you can handle it. Watch the other two, it looks like they're going separate paths, so you can see how both work. Now, to get down to business."

The man rolled aside the hide rug to reveal a strange series of patterns inked into the wooden floor. He then lit some incense and rummaged through a chest in one corner.

"Allright, Vindicaire," he said, tossing a pokeball to the young man, "It's not something that I can do very often, but I'm going to call for the pokemon from... away. It takes a lot out of me, so each of you only has one shot at this. Now, that gadget you've got isn't terribly complicated, I think you can figure it out."

He turned to James and handed him an inkwell and a scrap of parchment with a symbol painted on it, "Now, as for you, start painting that on your arm, but DON'T finish the last few marks until I've summoned your pokemon."

One last turn toward Trinity, "When they've finished up, you can make your choice, and then the real challenge for you three begins."

He began muttering in some strange guttural language as he inked additions into the pattern on the floor. An almost electric hum filled the air, a wind started to pick up, threatening to sputter out the candles and causing the smoke from the incense to dance madly.

Suddenly the pattern began to glow and a form started to take shape. It looked for all the world like a large ball bearing with magnets sticking out of it; A Magnemite.

The purple robed man looked toward Vindicaire.

"Well... go for it."

[Kirby]

The man gave Vinny a simple pokeball to catch pokemon. But James? No James has to take out his paint set and make tatoos on my arm. It would seem a little unfair if poke balls weren’t so rare. James thought he might have some problem painting it but the design looked simple enough so he decided to stop complaining. Suddenly the dude did some sort of crazy magical shit and a magnet monster appeared. James almost shat his pants.

[Qoorl]

As Vindicaire made his preparations, and Trinity watched, the man began the ritual to someone a pokemon for James. More words, more glows, and another creature appeared in the midst of another pattern. It was small, round, and blue with a large spiraling pattern in it's chest... Poliwag.

"Allright James... focus on the Poliwag and finish the final marks on the sigil, Quickly!"

[nyrisis]

Trinity watched the hooded figure do his magic tricks. She seriously contemplated both options. She knew she'd never been very good with technology or been interested with old artifacts of the past; however, she HAD always wanted a tattoo. The decision wasn't a difficult one for Trinity. "Alright Old Man, I'm ready." She smiled at James, "May I borrow that paint?"

[The Editor]

Vindy quickly looked the pokeball over. He remembered seeing a diagram of one in an old tech book somewhere; push button and throw seemed to be the key to operating it.
"Alright," he said, "let's give this a shot." He adopted what he hoped would be a suitably dramatic pose, pushed the button on the little ball, then flung it at the floating steel ball. The ball sailed through the air, arcing gracefully towards the magnet pokemon, seemingly aiming for the large eye in the middle of its... body, Vindy guessed, then suddenly split open, enveloping the pokemon in a red light. Seconds later the Magnemite was sucked in and the ball closed, falling to the floor. It rocked back and forth for a few seconds, then was still.
"Did I... did I do it?" asked Vindy.

[Qoorl]

The Man nodded, "Well done... you have a pokemon now. But let's see... still have to summon something for the girl now."

He made the same series of incantations and once again, the floor glowed with an unearthly power as a pokemon took shape. It was an armadillo like creature with a yellow carapace... Sandshrew.

"Focus... and use the sigil."

[Kirby]

James finished up the tatoo. Suddendly James and the poliwag glowed brightly but then as soon as it happened the brightness disappeared. James wondered what should he do now. Does the poliwag now obey him? What should he do with this thing?

"Hey man, what do I do now?" asked James.

[nyrisis]

Trinity carefully traced the sigil on her arm. It was difficult when drawing it upside down; however, she thought it looked pretty close. She did as James had and waited to draw the last lines till the hooded man summoned her a pokemon.

She watched the hooded man repeat his hocus-pocus babbling and conjure up a small ocher-colored beast with a short stubby tail and pointy little ears. It was precious! It took all of Trinity's will not to lunge for it and squeeze it to pieces! ^_^! She finished the symbol and there was a sudden yellow flash. And then... nothing. Was that it?

The... sandshrew... (she thought that's what the old man had called it) looked up at her with shiny black eyes. Trinity lost her control. "SQUEE!" she shrilled and scooped the little pokemon up in an enthusiastic (yet gentle) embrace...

[Qoorl]

The man crossed his arms and watched as the trio finished their capture/bonding.

"Good, very good. Yes, that is exactly what you're supposed to do. Vindicaire, you can figure out how to get the ball to release your pokemon... out of the ball, it SHOULD follow your commands, allthough some of them can be a bit... quirky."

"Trinity, James, Just focus and call out for your pokemon to return and it will be absorbed by the tatoo. Focus and call it forth to bring it out, much the same as the pokeball. I can teach you a ritual for binding new pokemon yourself... but not yet. Get used to your new companions. They represent one of your greatest assets now."

He turned away from them, pacing a bit.

"Now, however you need to leave the village. Head south. There should be a ruined town not terribly far from here. If all goes well you should be able to find supplies that will aid in the development and survival of Kolm. More importantly, the journey will make you... and your pokemon stronger. Stronger trainers and stronger pokemon means less chance that the bandits have of overtaking Kolm. You shouldn't need more than a week out there and I'll make sure nothing happens to the village in your absence."

He paused, petting the Stunky again.

"I'd recommend leaving as soon as possible, gather whatever supplies you need and say whatever goodbyes you have. The sooner you get there and back, the safer Kolm will be."

[nyrisis]

Trinity hugged her pokemon close, and looked up at the hooded man with concern in her eyes. "What about Nick? Is he gonna be ok?"

[Kirby]

“Nick will be fine,” said James. “All he needs now is a good nights sleep in the morning he will be as good as new.”

James still was suspicious about the hooded man, a lot of things still didn’t match up. But it sounded like a nice relief from the drab life of catching fish. James had no more relatives left in town aside from a few cousins and aunts, that he barely knew. His mother and father died in a bandit raid years ago. He would spend the night packing, and possibly studying the potion some more.

James quite liked his Poliwhirl. He had seen a few while fishing a few times, but never this up close. He found the swirl interesting. Unlike other water pokemon James has encored, this Poliwhirl seemed to be able to move around on land, no run around on land. The thing was quite energetic. He hoped it would calm down as he and Poliwhirl grew closer.

[nyrisis]

[Kirby]

O.O

[The Editor]

Godsdamn that Sandshrew is cute.

"James knows his medicine," said Vindy to the girl. "I'd trust his judgement." He pressed the button on his pokeball again, letting the Magnemite out.
"Hello, um... Magnemite. My name's Vindicare, but most people call me Vindy."
The Magnemite stared at him, then let out a short buzz.
"Uh... Okay. Maybe I should give you a proper name. How about..." Vindy looked around quickly for inspiration, deriving it from some wire he spotted on the ground. "Coil?"
Magnemite bobbed up and down a little, spinning its screws, then buzzed again.
"Is that a yes?"
Buzz.
"Hmm... I guess that'll have to do. We'll have to work on communicating first, I think. But for now, I'd better go pack. Okay Coil, return."
Vindy pointed the pokeball at his Magnemite, now named Coil, but nothing happened. Coil stared at him.
"Umm... Return?" Again, nothing. "Hang on..." He poked at the ball for a few seconds, then tapped it against a metal bar.
"Third time's the charm. Return!" A beam of red light shot out and the Magnemite disappeared back inside.
"Percussive maintenance always does the trick," Vindy said, then quickly left for his workshop. He'd have to take a closer look at it before they left.

[nyrisis]

Trinity walked home, her sandshrew waddling along behind her. She went over a list of things she'd need with her new poke-pal," supplies for potions... I'm not as good as James, but I have some skill, bandages, all my pokecards in case we need to barter our way outta trouble, food...wait... what does a sandshrew eat?!" The pokemon looked at the girl and blinked.

"Ya know it feels pretty weird calling you sandshrew. You're way to cute to be a shrew. If Vindy can name his magnemite, I can certainly name you... would you like that?" The pokemon chittered in what seemed, at least to Trinity, to be agreement.

"hmmm... Sandy Cheeks?"

The pokemon seemed to glare.

"Ok, Ok... that's a definate no."

Trinity thought, "Dune?"

The sandshrew leapt into the girl's arms and snuggled to her.

"Alright then, Dune it is."

Trinity gathered everything she thought she'd need into an old leathery satchel, and headed to the gate at the entrance of the town.

[geromy]

Gerant studied the ball intensely. Never in his few years as a smith had he ever seen anything like it. The red and white sphere had confounded him since the moment he found it this morning. All of his smithing books had failed him, even the ones on sphere forging. The sphere had even kept him from the commotion outside.
He had asked a few of his neighbors, none of them knew a thing about it. There was one person he knew he could ask, however. WHile heading to the market he had seen the man walking about, always thoroughly invested in his books. This man seemed awfully smart he might know a thing or two about the odd orb. Stumbling though his books, he went out the door and to the mans house.

[nyrisis]

"Oh my gosh, I hope they haven't left yet!" Trinity exclaimed to her pokemon who was doing it's best to keep up as she ran through the market to the gate on the other side of town. She looked up just in time to run smack into a very confused looking man.

After regaining her senses a bit she picked herself up and helped the man out. "I'm SO Sorry! Gerant... right?" She noticed something at her feet, something Gerant had been carrying. "Hey! WOW! Is that a Pokeball you've got?"