Pokemon: The Legend Hunters

-The Ultima Tournament Grounds-

Perched atop the central office building, which contained guest services as well as poke’mon center, he looked out from his presidential office window at the sun setting behind the main stadium. It’s retractable dome roof hiding the sun and giving it a golden aura. Surely this was a sign of good things to come.

He turned and looked out the opposite window at the hotel that would soon be full of guests and trainers here for the tournament. A grand opening celebration that would rival the yearly Poke’mon League Tournament in scale and would make this place a household name.

To the north were numerous smaller battle fields, were the first round of large tournaments would be held, as well as non-tournament battles. The south end held various rides as well as games for poke’mon to test their skills out side of battle. He expected the Rattata Races to be quite popular.

Yes, it was all coming together, tomorrow the guests would begin to arrive and his dream would finally come true.

-Elsewhere-

Panting, a boy in his mid teens ran down a dark alley, his Luxray trailing along behind him, firing off Thunderbolts every few feet at their pursuers. Unfortunately, this alley ended in a locked gate, and the boy had nowhere left to run. The pursuing Nidoking had them cornered.

”Guess we’ll have to go back through them then, eh Chuck?”

The Luxray nodded his head.

”Alright then, Take down!”

Luxray charged and bowled over the Nidoking, who collapsed after only one try at standing up again.

”Damnit. That was my last one,” one of the shadowy pursuers said as he recalled his Pokemon.

”I’m out too.” A woman said.

”Same.”

The boy smirked, “Guess you’re just gonna have to let me go then huh.”

The woman smiled wickedly, “I don’t know about that. You’re Luxray looks like it’s on it’s last legs.”

The first man continued, “And by my count, he’s your last.” He said as they finally stepped out of the shadows. Each wore a black uniform trimmed in blue with a gold symbol over their heart, where a badge would be on an officer of the law. Each also wore a mask that covered all of their face but their mouth and leaving their hair free.

The third cracked his knuckles, “Which means your outnumbered.”

They charged, the first kicking the surprised Luxray in the ribs, lifting it off it’s feet and sending it into the wall where it crumpled to the ground.

“Chuck!” the boy screamed, but was able to say nothing more as the second mans fist smashed into his face sending him sprawling back against the fence. The first man continued to kick Chuck as the second man restrained him and the woman started searching his pockets. Finally she found a feather on a string hanging from his neck. The feather gleamed brightly in dim light, reflecting multiple colors.

“A rainbow feather, Ho-Oh,” she said.

”Give that ba-“ the boy was silenced by another fist to the jaw.

”We’re done here, lets go.”

The trio ran off, leaving the boy beaten and demoralized, and Chuck curled up and whimpering in the trash.

It was a good day. The sun was out, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He walked along the sidewalk ,with his Poliwhirl at his side, riddled with trash Ranging from Styrofoam cups to Plastic beads. He let his head swing to the sky.

"Ah! Just the most beautiful day! What could go wrong?" He hadn't expected what would happen next. Right as he crossed an alley he heard foot steps running in his direction.

"Get outta the way kid!" the first man said, pushing him aside.

"What? Whoa! Whoa!" The push from the man sent him toppling over. He hit the ground hard with his leather jacket. His Poliwhirl helped him back up to his feet letting out a slight grunt while doing this. He regained his posture and looked over to see the three people getting in a van. The driver hit the gas and they were off with a screech.

"Wonder what was up with those guys?" He looked down the alley maybe at the end it had his answer. Might as well. He signaled to Poliwhirl for it to come along. He walked down the wet and dirty looking alley.

After a few minutes of twist and turns he reached the end of the alley. It came out into a dead end. The place looked roomy for an alley. Almost situated like a box. He noticed a slumped over figure, and one Pokemon too!

"Whoa! These guys look pretty beat up!" He rushed to the boy throwing him over his shoulder. While Poliwhirl picked the Luxray very delicately.

"Let's get these guys to a Poke'center alright Pole? He rushed back out the way he came. Hoping these guys hadn't suffered severe injuries.

Alex sighed as he sat on the boat. He was bored out of his mind again and didn't know what to do to fix that.

"Hey, Espeon, what should we do?" He asked his Pokémon, looking over at the pink cat like creature. It looked up at him, almost as if it were thinking, then yawned and laid down.

"Well, you're not fun, are you?" Alex stood up and walked over to the window. "Why did I have to agree to go on this boat to get to that tournament anyway? Couldn't I have just flown on Crobat?"

He looked over and saw a few people swimming around in the pool on the boat and decided to have a little fun.

"Hey, can my Pokémon go into the pool?" He asked the lifeguard, who nodded, not knowing what was about to happen.

"Thanks, Empoleon, come on out!" With that, he tossed a pokéball at the pool, the giant penguin Pokémon coming out in a flash of light and landing in the pool with a splash.

"Hey! You can't let a big Pokémon like that in the pool! I thought you meant something like a Marril or a small Pokémon!" The lifeguard yelled at him, as he laughed.

"Lighten up, it's like it's gonna hurt anyone, right? What's the problem with letting something as big as it in there?" Alex asked as Espeon came out of his room and watched.

"Listen kid, you either put that back in it's pokéball, or you're off this ship," the lifeguard warned as Alex sighed.

"What, this is the ship that's taking me and my Pokémon to a tournament, why can't they all be out?" he asked, frowning up at the man. Before the man could reply, another person walked up behind Alex.

"Kid, you're welcome to join us on the trip to the island, but this is the spectators boat, trainers are supposed to have left yesterday to get there, so why are you on this one?" the person asked, as Alex turned around, to see the captain standing there, an annoyed look on his face.

"Uh... About that, I sorta over slept yesterday and missed the boat... And, I asked someone if there was another one, and they said this was the only other one... And when I asked about flying there on my Pokémon, they told me that that would likely get me disqualified, so..." he trailed off, recalling Empoleon into it's pokéball and taking a couple steps back.

"Well, do you have a ticket for the boat then?" the captain asked, backing Alex into the lifeguard's post. Alex searched his pockets and shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't, but I'll do you one better, I'll do preform a mock battle with any other trainer that's on this boat, even if they're not competing in the tournament, how's that sound?"

The captain thought for a moment then nodded. "That could work very well, give our passengers a good show, and psych them up for the tournament... Alright, you have a deal, but you better not do some stupid thing like win in one move, got it kid?" Alex nodded and slipped out between the lifeguards post and the captain. "Right then, later today a battle will happen, go make the announcement now... Bye!" He rushed off to his room and collapsed on the bed, looking over at Espeon. "Why didn't you warn me something like that could happen?" The Pokémon yawned and curled up again, almost as if ignoring it's trainer.

A few hours later, Alex sighed as he got up to get ready for the battle. When he walked over to the door, his pokégear rang.

"Hello?"

"Alex, is that you? There's been a news report coming in from all over the place, it seems as if a trainer on that island that you're headed to was found beaten, his Pokémon hurt badly as well!" came Alex's mothers voice as she looked panicked on the other end.

"What? What do the authorities say happened?"

"Don't know, they're not letting any more information out to the public yet, but I'll keep you updated on it if you don't find anything out first," his mother said before ending the call.

"Great, now I have to worry about something like this on top of my battles now, and the tournament... Maybe I should have taken my chances flying?" Alex walked out of his room and was almost instantly pushed back in by a large number of kids, all appearing to be trainers, wanting to battle him. "Wha!?"

-Ultima Tournament Grounds: Pokémon Center-

Sitting on a couch in the pokémon center, Christo held an icepack to his face. He didn't know what to do. Chucks ribs were broken and he might not recover in time for the tournament even though his match had been pushed back, and worst of all, Ho-ohs feather was stolen.

A once in a lifetime encounter with the lgendary bird had left him with a shatered pokeball and a shimmering feather. Whenever he held it he felt like he ha a special connection with the bird. Now those goons had it.

"Hey! So, you doing OK?" He looked at the boy sitting on the couch. He was holding a ice pack to his face. The guy had bruises all over him.

"So I never got your name, and just for the record mines Zanderson!" He didn't know the kid over there. He just felt the need to help him...after all that happened and all. He looked down at his glove. It had a Symbol of a Crystal on it. Out liked with a real Crystal. His Fragment called upon Suicune. He knew those guys had taken it. He could feel the essence of another Legendary, and that's probably what those guys had taken from him. He went and sat down beside the kid.

-Ultima Tournament Grounds: Pokémon Center-

"Christopher, but I prefer Christo."

He rubbed gently at his neck, were the feather used to hang, "I thought they were after my pokemon. I think what they took might have been worse." He shook his head, "ah, forget that. It was just a... a keep sake." He stood up and took the ice from his face, feeling the bruises gently, "Thanks for getting me out of there, you might have saved Chucks life and I don't think I would have liked waking up in garbage." He tossed the ice pack aside, "I'm gonna head back to my room. The nurse said I could see Chuck tomorrow. Good luck in the tournament." After he finished speaking he turned and headed for the door.
--------

Nails Torgen -Ultima Tournament Grounds: Rookie Grounds-

He'd been wandering around the tournament grounds, getting the lay of the land when he saw a huge sign over a fenced off section of rocky dirt and grass that read, "Rookie Grounds!" and underneath it said in smaller print, "Tournaments Held Daily!"

On a smaller board on one of the pos was a sign that read, "Eligible Trainers:
-Have had their Trainers License for less than a year
-Have two or fewer Gym Badges
Eligible Pokemon:
-Pokemon in their first stage of evolution"

"In other words, a childrens tournament." he reasoned. It sounded interesting, he'd have to check it out later, but for now he wanted to keep exploring.

An eighteen-year-old boy by the name of Darrien was running laps through a quiet forest, his team of Pokémon happily following behind, determination in the eyes of some, sheer enjoyment in the eyes of others. His emerald green eyes reflected the aforementioned determination.

A Growlithe was in the back of the group, purposely slowing down as he let a young Eevee run ahead of him, making sure the Pokémon didn't fall behind. Keeping pace with the trainer was a Houndoom and Manectric, a Mightyena directly to the left of the first. The Luxio didn't seem to care for any specific formation, racing ahead of the group and falling behind again, zig-zagging in front of them and turning sharply whenever he pleased. None of the others seemed to care, however, as they never collided or tripped up; they were all used to it by that point.

This was their routine. The whole team, human and Pokémon, trained together daily, running through the forests, mountains, fields, or whatever other terrain they happened upon in their travels. However, this time was different. They were there for a reason--a big tournament. Little did they know, trouble was waiting.

Inside the boy's pack, along with PokéSnacks, eight or nine minimized PokéBalls, his PokéDex, and his deposit of cash, there was also a small, blue velvet case. Inside was a sparkling green leaf, its edges neat as if it weren't able to be torn. As far as the trainer knew, it couldn't be. Whenever he held it he thought he could almost feel the presence of Celebi, though he didn't entirely believe it. Still, it was a powerful enough feeling to convince him to keep the object, even carefully store it. He had never spoken a word about it to anyone except his Pokémon, and he had no plans to share his find. It was something special.

"We're almost at the Pokémon Center. We can rest once we get there." He called back to his team. The Growlithe and Houndoom barked in response, the Manectric giving a silent nod. Turning his head to the Mightyena after not hearing him bark, he asked, "You okay, Fang? You tired?"

Almost as if he were offended, Fang barked in protest, speeding up slightly to prove Darrien wrong.

"Alright, alright, I believe ya! Don't leave us all behind now!" He called out, laughter detectable in his friendly voice.

Training an Alakazam, Imogen thought, was like training a dragon. Ulysses was infinitely more intelligent than she was, yet, because he was a Pokemon, and it was just inherent in his nature, or something, he allowed himself to be captured in a PokeBall. Perhaps he saw Imogen's training as a service, an opportunity presented in her for him to hone his abilities to a fine point, and to travel more extensively than he would otherwise. Ulysses, far more than Imogen's other Pokemon, enjoyed meeting new Pokemon, and with his superhuman memory, she barely needed a Pokedex.

Ulysses's frustration was apparent. He had never attempted to learn an electric type move before, and it was proving difficult. He had read the TM disc already about a dozen times, and yet was unable to make the Shock Wave form, despite profuse spoon-waving. Trainer and Pokemon waded through the tall grass, looking for wild Pokemon for Ulysses to practice on.

A tiny Roselia appeared in the grass. It picked its head up when it saw the Alakazam and his trainer appear, and braced itself for the inevitable combat.

"All right, Ulysses, use Shock Wave!" Imogen called. As the Alakazam geared up, raising one spoon over his head like a beacon, the Roselia blew sweet-smelling pollen at the two of them. Sweet Scent shouldn't cause too many problems; Imogen was sure her Alakazam could take anything the wild Grass Pokemon threw at him.

Electric sparks danced across Ulysses's head and arms, then from spoon to spoon. They twisted and wiggled as the Alakazam tried to focus on channeling his energy into a proper Shock Wave. He pointed his second spoon directly at the Roselia, and Imogen watched intently as a few feeble sparks flew from the end of it.

Frustrated, the Alakazam slammed his two spoons together into an x shape, bowls pointed at the Roselia, and used what was unmistakeably a professionally executed Psychic. He gave a "harrumph" as the Roselia fell over on the ground, unconscious.

Imogen rolled her eyes. Perhaps another day.

---

Kathryn watched as young girl from Cerulean City took on an older girl who appeared to be from Sinnoh, by the looks of her Pokemon, in the third level of the children's tournament. Having made acquaintance with the Kanto girl, Lauren, Kathryn was rooting for her, although she appeared to be losing at the moment.

Both girls had two Pokemon left, and Lauren's Zubat was putting up a fight against the Sinnoh girl's Gastly.

"Astonish!" Lauren yelled, and her Zubat flew in the face of the Gastly, which reeled back in surprise. A shout of "Gastly, use Payback!" sounded from the other side of the arena, and the Gastly attacked with purple energy, knocking Zubat out of the air.

Lauren repeated her last command, but the Zubat's flight this time seemed jumbled. The confused Zubat careened into the wall of the stadium, and, having exhausted itself, fainted.

"Return," Lauren mumbled. She threw a PokeBall, shouting "Go, Paras!" The small crab-like Pokemon appeared in a flash of red. "Spore!" was the first command.

Green spores floated from underneath Paras's mushrooms and engulfed the Gastly, which immediately fell asleep. As it floated along, the girl from Sinnoh shouting at it to wake up, Lauren called for Paras to use Slash. The Paras jumped, bringing one of its large front feet through the Gastly's ghostly body, and having no effect whatsoever.

"Nuts!" Lauren shouted, "I forgot, it's a Ghost! Uh... Leech Life!" The Paras obediently gripped the sleeping Gastly and drained it, not dealing as much damage as Slash would have, but at least having an effect. After Paras released it, the Gastly awoke, and it's trainer's first call was "Curse!"

The Gastly writhed in pain, and a dark shadow fell over the Paras, which squinted as if in some pain itself. Gastly, having been on its last legs, fainted, and the Sinnoh girl sent out a Misdreavus.

"What's Curse?" Lauren called to Kathryn.

"It's a weird move," she said into the stadium, "The Gastly loses some health, but Paras will take damage after every round of the battle."

"Oh no! I've only got one Pokemon left!"

"Don't worry, so does she," Kathryn said, gesturing to the Sinnoh girl. "It's still anyone's match."

Lauren raced back to the stadium. "Confuse Ray!" the older girl called to her Misdreavus. Paras stumbled, and heard the second call of "Use Spore!" but crashed into a wall in the attempt. While Paras was still disoriented, the Misdreavus attacked again, sending a wave of psychic energy at the already befuddled Paras, which then flinched with pain again, taking damage from the Curse.

"Let's get it together, Paras!" Lauren yelled, "PoisonPowder!"

Paras shook its head and opened its mushrooms again, this time sending purple powder over the Misdreavus. After shaking off the dust, but not before it had taken effect, the Misdreavus flew quickly at the Paras and lunged at it, knocking the Paras again off-guard. The poison had already begun to take effect, but the Curse had a greater effect on the Paras, which fainted.

Lauren exited the stadium, into the adjacent Pokemon Center, dejected.

"It's OK," Kathryn said as she walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "There's another tournament tomorrow, and you can enter as many times as you want."

Lauren mumbled as she popped a fully healed Zubat out of its PokeBall. She pulled out a Poffin and began to feed it to the Zubat, which made a sound Kathryn assumed was happy. Cave Pokemon weren't really her thing. Lauren, however, caught her Pokemon in Mount Moon in Kanto, so naturally they were all cave-dwellers. Her other Pokemon included a Geodude, Clefairy, and Sandshrew.

"You did well, friend," she said to the Zubat. "Ghost types are tricky. Since they're amorphous, you can't use moves like Slash."

"What's a morphous?"

Gabe quietly was walking down the ships hallways. He saw a crowd congregating around a room. Random people yelling "Battle me!" or absurd things such as "I WILL SCREW YOU!". He flipped up his dark hood as his lucario (louy) followed.

He smiled as he craved a battle.
The yound man nodded his head toward louy using telapathy to communicate with louy.
"You up for some fun?"
Louy: "I think I could use some excersice.

Gabe pushed through the crowd shoving people on his way. Louy snarling at anyone who dared to touch him. As Gabe walked into the room, his jaw dropped as he saw him. It was Alex his arch rival from the last four tournaments. They split the battles two and two. At least he could get some extra training in before the tournament started.

"Hey Alex!" He walked up to him and gave him a bro hug. "You still causing trouble?"
Louy(Telepathy): Hello there.

Alex was a little surprised to see Gabe there, but at the same time, he figured that he would see him at the tournament if he knew him well enough. "Gabe, long time no see, I was just about to do a few matches here on the ship, and seeing as I'd probably be facing you last, why not? Let's move to the upper levels of the ship now, that way we don't accidentally cause it to sink, remember that one time?" He chuckled, remembering one time they were arguing over who would get the last onigiri, and they had a battle that caused some severe damage to the ship they were on, and causing a large sum of money to be lost from the both of them.

"So, what'll it be? A one on one match, a double match, a full team match?"

Gabe laughed at the thought. "

"Yes I do remember vivdly. We should go on the pidgey deck. They have a pool so it will be good for our water pokemon too. How about a full team battle with 2 on 2? I think we could use the practice...
Gabe looked at Louy trying to hold back the other ametuares.
"We should probably be going soon."

Gabe turned around and yelled "Everyone dispersed. If you want to see the battle you'll have to go to the upper deck."

Darrien and his team of loyal Pokémon soon exited the forest, the human slowing to a stop and gazing around at the landscape. "Umm...Huh..." What he saw ahead of him was mainly large hills, grass, and plenty of dirt.

Not exactly where he had intended to go.

Rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, he turned to look at the waiting Pokémon around him. "Well, guys, we took a bit of a detour...I guess. Wrong turn in the forest, maybe?"

The Houndoom softly barked while the Manectric silently nodded, both showing their agreement. The Growlithe simply sat down with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, lowering his head and quickly scratching behind his ear with his hind paw.

"Anyway, maybe time to get on track a bit...What do you think, Melena?"

The Luxio remained silent, though his tail flicked up before falling back to the ground. Darrien had to assume that meant 'yes'.

Nails Torgan - Rookie/Free Battle grounds and Forest

Nails walked past the Rookie Tournament grounds eating a corndog. He'd seen most of the grounds, even strolled down the board walk( were he bought the corndog), only to realize he hadn't looked at the forest.

As he walked by he noticed a young girl being consoled over losing the tournament. He didn't see another battle going so it must be over. He was surprised at first, that a tournament could have started and ended between his visits, but the realized there couldn't have been many elligable trainers here in the first place. The tournament was probably only three rounds long at best.

He continued on through the free battle grounds, noting that the highest numbered arena he saw was thirty but he'd only passed ten, making him wonder how many there were.

The forest was cool and calm and he stopped to just soak it in before continuing.

The corndog long gone, he walked with the stick in his mouth and looking around for wild pokemon. He didn't see much, at least none that interested him, just a pachirisu scurrying across the branches and a pidgey and starly fighting over territory.

Imogen walked along the sandy beach, Alakazam in tow. She cuffed her pants up as she waded into the water, then removed a black and yellow PokeBall from her belt and enlarged it before throwing it into the water. A large blue and yellow Pokemon emerged as the ball soared back to Imogen's hand. Milo, the aptly if unoriginally named Milotic glided through the water and allowed his trainer and the Alakazam to climb onto his back.

Milo shot out into the open sea, the breeze flapping Imogen's hair as she turned to face Ulysses. "Now you're going to have to use Shock Wave, my friend," she said. The Alakazam snorted, his mustache rustling in the wind. Imogen called for Milo to slow down once they got a good ways away from the shore.

After a few leisurely flaps of Milo's large yellow tail, a dark shape appeared next to them in the water. With a splash, a large Sharpedo jumped from the water, releasing an unearthly Screech from its jaws. Ulysses and Milo winced.

"Distract it with Kinesis!" Imogen yelled. Almost before she had spoken, the Alakazam had raised a spoon at arm's length to his left side. The Sharpedo regarded it coolly, until the bowl, seemingly of its own accord, bent down to touch the handle. The Sharpedo blinked.

"All right, now use Shock Wave!" As Ulysses warmed up, pointing his now un-bent spoon directly at the Sharpedo, the water Pokemon let loose a fierce jet of water from its mouth, which was expertly aimed right at the spot where the bent spoon had been a moment before. Ulysses shuffled down Milo's back, then returned to his stance.

A similar process of concentration unfolded, with Ulysses fixating himself on creating the electric shock necessary to follow Imogen's command. Yet, as before with the Roselia, the electricity would not come, even as the Sharpedo began to charge full tilt toward where Ulysses stood. The Alakazam kept his stance as long as he could, and at the last moment switched to Psychic, at full power.

To his astonishment, the Sharpedo was completely unaffected, and continued to use Skull Bash as if nothing had happened, knocking the wide-eyed Alakazam off the Milotic's back and into the ocean. Disgruntled, Ulysses climbed back onto Milo before the Sharpedo could attack again.

Ulysses looked at his spoons in astonishment. He did not have access to Imogen's Pokedex, and did not know that Psychic type moves would not affect the Dark type Sharpedo. He thought he might be losing his touch. To test this, he used Psychic on Milo.

Imogen saw what he was doing, and yelled "No! You'll dump us int---" Splash

As she flailed around, trying to tread water, Imogen yelled at Ulysses, "You idiot!" and heard an unamused snort from the Alakazam. She didn't realize until it was about ten feet from her and rising out of the water that the Sharpedo was now headed towards her.

"OH SH---"

Milo took this to mean "Use Aqua Tail!" and brought his enormous yellow tail down on the Sharpedo with a loud smack.

The Milotic picked Imogen up with his nose and she slid down his neck to meet the sopping Kadabra. "I told you to use Shock Wave," she chided. Ulysses gave her a significant look. "No," she said, "Psychic doesn't work on him. And I know what you're thinking; it's not because he's too stupid. Mind tricks just don't work on him. But lightning, on the other hand, works wonderfully." Ulysses glared in response. He had taken considerable damage from the Sharpedo's previous attack, and Imogen thought that another Skull Bash could take him out.

The Sharpedo floated in the water for a few moments before realizing it was in the middle of a battle. Once it found Kadabra again, it began to charge. Ulysses, on Imogen's command, reluctantly resumed the Shock Wave stance, concentrating. It was like Psybeam, he figured, except instead of directly affecting the foe's mind, he had to make that power somehow emanate from his person, or, perhaps, his spoon. He closed his eyes tightly. How do thunderclouds do it? How does Plusle or Minun do it? It seemed so easy to watch an Electric Pokemon execute the attack... The Sharpedo was now about ten feet from him.

A sharp pain flared in the Alakazam's brain, and he opened his eyes. They usually glowed a purplish hue when he used Confusion, but now they seemed to spark with static electricity. Imogen stared at him, biting her tongue, as what looked an awful lot like a Shock Wave started around Ulysses's head, then shot down his arm to the spoon. In the split second it took the wave to jump from the end of the spoon to the Sharpedo, a much brighter wave followed it, along the same path from head to spoon to fish. The force of it pushed the Sharpedo back in the water, even though he had been charging at full speed a fraction of a second earlier.

Ulysses folded his arms and glared into the water, as if it was the Sharpedo's fault he hadn't been able to use the attack before. Imogen shook her head at him and rolled her eyes, then told Milo to head back to shore.

"Unless of course you'd like to try another?" she asked Ulysses. He shrugged, which was usually as enthusiastic a "yes" as anyone could get out of him.