Pokedex One-Shots (PG)

[Baton Passer]

Short sweet and to the point.

Sometimes one has to mix things up a bit, and the Cacnea story was intruguing.

I recall an earlier statement of mine about turning a small event into a story.

That cactus story wasn't just a small event, it was a single string of thought.
And I read it through.

It was a complete story, about a single string of thought, that there is a feat I must say.

Im sorry if Im beginning to sound like that squirrely dude who wont leave you alone but dangit you just keep going well.

I wonder, do these stories take drafting or do they get through with just some touchups?

Because while I am impressed with your writing, I am always stunned by the ideas that you have.

I wonder, are you still taking guest fics?

[Ysavvryl]

These are writing exercises, as I said at the very start. I usually take an afternoon or so on them, writing and some edits (not always a perfect job; my longer fics will get proofed/edited half a dozen times or more). A few, like the Lugia and Ho-oh story, take me a few days to get down. When you write one to two thousand words nearly every day, it gets ingrained in your habits to pick apart all kinds of ideas for potential stories.

Yeah, I still take guest entries. Just PM it to me first and get my approval; I can help edit it and suggest improvements.

And now, we have Pokemon fighting undead forces, because the fandom seriously needs more undead... kidding! Though I'd be delighted by a Pokemon vampire story. I'm iffy on this one; it could be a much longer stand alone story. And according to the other entry, Haxorus is actually a pretty nice Pokemon despite its intimidating looks.

In Process: April Fool's!
On deck: Leavanny, Krabby, Makuhita, Onix, Cacturne
Reserve: (Easter)


Haxorus and Krookodile


Lit by orange-tinted streetlights, the city seemed to be a strange place tonight. Fear and distress scented the air, as did a scent of old bones and arcane magic. There were no cars out on the streets. Instead, there were those monsters, the skeletons of mismatched bones and enigmatic power, capable of clubbing a large man to death and eating his flesh. It was said that most Pokemon could not affect these creatures: Surf would not sweep them away, Flamethrower would not incinerate them, even Psychic did not disturb the necromancy keeping them together. For some reason, they could not enter buildings unless called for. Most everyone hid inside.

Most.

They faced off against each other in the street; one had emerged from a private home, one had emerged from a Pokecenter. One was a dragon, with a natural green plate armor enveloping her body. On the sides of her head, there were long sharp red tusks that were often sharper than man-made blades. The other was a crocodile, with tough scales of red and black. He had a long jaw that was muscled to be a strong crushing force.

Both were uneasy on seeing each other. They belonged to two different Trainers, rivals as much as the humans were. Last time they had met on this street, it had been in an intense battle. They won and lost at about the same rate, but always strived to get better to prove themselves to the other. But there were more important things now, like the skeleton creatures and the one who controlled them. Right?

The Haxorus leaned her head back, bringing her forearms up in front of her. Lowering her head was an aggressive action, a threat to use her bladed tusks. This though, it was a gesture of a cautious truce. Battling her rival would be a waste of energy.

At that, the Krookodile nodded and patted his chest. It would be a waste. An unearthly cry from one of the skeleton creatures broke up the Pokemon’s silent exchange. Four of them ran in a jerky manner, raising spiked clubs and broken blades for weapons. The Krookodile quickly gestured his hand out to the Haxorus, then at the skeleton creatures. In this fight, it seems they would be working together.

Haxorus brought her head back to its normal position. Then she quickly slashed an approaching skeleton creature in the ribcage with her tusk. It caused sparks while cutting through two of the bones. But the sparks meant that these weren’t real bones. And it also didn’t fully stop the creature. So she followed up with another slash, cutting across the thing’s skull. Her tusk blade screeched in response, sending more sparks and leaving a deep groove.

While she did that, Krookodile took a deep breath, then bellowed at the skeletons. She knew that move, Swagger, which could empower and confuse. However, it didn’t seem to affect the skeletons either way. It also didn’t hurt her since it wasn't directed her way. Grumbling at the lack of effect, he then stamped his foot down forcefully, causing an earthquake which did affect her. Although she chittered in annoyance, it did have a noticeable effect on the skeletons. Their bones started to come apart and fall to the ground. Soon, a yellow glow appeared around them, bringing their parts back together.

But Haxorus noted a point in the skull where the yellow glow was strongest. Bracing herself, she pulled her neck away, then slammed the back point of her tusk blade into the skull through an eye socket. The blade made a shriek and gave an unpleasant vibration into her armor. Normally, she didn’t get that effect unless she was attacking a Steel Pokemon. But it would still be sharp; she knew that with certainty.

Once she struck the strong part of the glow, the magic was shattered. The bones collapsed onto the road into a useless pile, although the skull managed to stick to Haxorus’ tusk. But she was pleased with the result. The monsters weren’t as invulnerable as claimed.

On the other side of the road, Krookodile turned his head and snapped his jaws at one of the skeletons' neck. The hardness of the false bones surprised him too; he was able to crush them into small pieces and dust, but it was still jarring. Also jarring was seeing the pieces pulled back into place by the dark magic that animated the bones. The strongest glow was the skull part (apparently part of some kind of monkey Pokemon, not a human skull). That would be tough to crush. Then again, he knew of an uncle who had once ripped a car’s engine out of its frame with just his jaw power. He could do it. After a smile, he chomped onto the skull and crushed it with all his strength.

Haxorus shook the skull off her tusk, then scuttled aside as another skeleton tried to club her with its spiked weapon. She could feel that vibration, but it didn’t really hurt. Since there would be more, she experimented by focusing the power of her Dragon heritage into her tusks, then slamming them, one after the other, into the undead monster’s skull. The fourth skeleton raised its club to strike her.

But then Krookodile spat out the skull fragments at the two skeletons, distracting them. Haxorus quickly destroyed her target while her rival summoned a wad of mud and slammed it into last skeleton’s skull. Even that worked.

“Haazooo,” Haxorus said in a tone of respect. They could work together on this. Unless he used Earthquake again.

Grunting, he nodded. Not that his power attack could do much against these things. It was destroy their skulls or nothing.

“Krookodile!” a teen boy called out from the Pokecenter door. He was wearing a blue jacket and looking worried. “Get back in here; it’s too dangerous.”

As he went to pick up the skull that the other Pokemon had pierced, another teenage boy opened up the window to the house across the street. “Haxorus, what are you doing out there?”

Krookodile held up the skull and grinned proudly. In the meantime, Haxorus felt it more satisfying to step onto one of the bones. Without the magic, it was weak and crushed easily. They could do something, if the humans would get brave and come out here with the rest of their Pokemon.

Minutes later, the two boys gathered other Trainers that had been in hiding, then set out to destroy the undead invasion force.

...

Haxorus White entry: Their sturdy tusks will stay sharp even if used to cut steel beams. These Pokemon are covered in hard armor.

Krookodile Black entry: They never allow prey to escape. Their jaws are so powerful, they can crush the body of an automobile.

[SugarPesticide]

By Pokemon vampires I hope you mean that the Pokemon themselves are vampires, rather than humans. FF.Net has too many Twilight-esque fics focusing on Drew or Ash being a vampire or demon or something :/ Bloodsucking Seadra or Togekiss would be very awesome, though.

But anyway, zombies! :D Love it. The description of the abandoned street set the tone very well, and the fight followed up on that to a T. I especially liked how Krookadile and Haxorus set their rivalry aside to take down the zombies; the gestures of making a truce were a nice touch, too, giving the scene more depth.

It also didn’t hurt her since it was directed her way.

Although it was directed her way, maybe?

On the other side of the road, Krookodile turned his head and snapped his jaws at one of the skeleton’s neck.

Should be skeletons', since it's a plural. But aside from that, flawless ^^;

[Ysavvryl]

Yeah, Pokemon vampires. I don't think vampire romance works out too well, unless it's for compounding the horror.

April Fool's Day, but I do have an entry ready. It's one of the best video game shopkeepers around.

In process: Leavanny
On deck: Krabby, Makuhita, Onix, Cacturne
Reserve: (Easter)


Kecleon


Some people working on the Pokedex got all the glory: the professors, the kids who became Champions. But there were a lot of folks who did work and were only known as names in the contributors list (which very few people actually read). There were technicians who kept the internet database available and up-to-date. There were the analysts and editors who looked over tables of raw data and chose what to put as average statistics and general growth. And there were photographers who got all the pictures, both amateur and professional.

And then there were people like her, Pokemon watchers. Trainers were great for getting information about Pokemon; at least, info on captive Pokemon. Watchers were important for gathering data on Pokemon in the wild. Camping out in Pokemon territory, she saw how Pokemon interacted with each other, both their kin species and those who were not. Some species antagonized each other, like the Zangoose and Seviper populations. Others worked hand in hand (paw in paw?), like the Jigglypuff and Clefairy groups which occasionally gathered to sing in rounds. Still others would ignore any other Pokemon around.

Right now, she was preparing for an extended stay on Mount Pyre, to make observations of the Pokemon living there. A good number of the residents were Ghost types, including some who were rumored or known to go invisible. But that was no longer an obstacle. She now had special eyeglasses and a camera lens that would allow her to see normally invisible things.

She left Fortree heading east. Mount Pyre was actually southeast of here, but the route to get there from here meandered and was full of ledges. While one could cut out a good amount of time by cutting through the forest, there were only unmarked footpaths in there. Not being familiar enough to know to correct ones to take, she opted to take the official route instead. Even if that meant walking around a large crater lake and then walking back over it to the other side.

She paused right before the wooden bridge suspended over the lake. There were other log bridges built like this one around Hoenn, mostly over small rivers. However, this one was over a large lake. There was a twenty-five foot drop to the water’s surface, and a good thirty feet at least to the bottom of the crater lake. Despite this, there were absolutely no guard rails on the sides. There were posts every few feet holding up the bridge, but nothing to prevent people from falling off. She hated crossing this particular bridge, but most sides of the lake were walled off by cliffs; the one shore was on the south edge.

Someday, she would earn the right to use Fly and avoid this bridge altogether. Or maybe find a Pokemon willing to Teleport her around things like this. Staying in the center of the bridge, the watcher walked briskly along. Just look ahead, she told herself. Look at the ribbons on the posts if you must. But don’t look dow-ow!

Grimacing from her stubbed toes, she stumbled back until she regained her balance. She’d obviously walked into something. However, nothing was there. And whatever she had hit was off the surface, so it couldn’t have been the logs. What was it? Nothing?

And she had just the thing to check. Smiling, she pulled out the glasses from her bag; they appeared to have a smoky gray tint to them, but it was actually a film that let her human eyes see just past their visible range. She looked down at the bridge.

There was a Pokemon there. But not a Ghost type. She would have walked right through a Ghost and just had a strange cold feeling. No, this was a large lizard type Pokemon, with a long curling tail and a frilled head. A Kecleon.

On realizing that, the watcher felt excited. It was known that Kecleons lived somewhere in this area, but few had been recorded wild. That was due to their ability to shift their scales to mimic any surface and any color. If one was caught, it was most likely due to the zigzag stripe on their belly, which could shift color, but not texture. This one was laying on its belly to bask in the sunlight, hiding its stripe. As a Normal-type, the watcher had walked right into it.

She was supposed to start a study of Mount Pyre’s Pokemon… then again, who knew when she’d run into another Kecleon? Maybe she could use a quick observation of this one to request a search and study of them later. Even if it meant hanging around this bridge for a long period of time, it would be fascinating to study a rare Pokemon like this in the wild.

After taking its picture with and without the revealing lens, she took out a Pokeball to confirm that this was a wild Pokemon. The Kecleon turned its head to observe her when she brought it out. She didn’t need to battle it, though. All she needed to do was get the Pokeball’s status screen to indicate that it was a valid target. As captured Pokemon were stored as digital data, it changed them just enough for electronics to tell the unseen difference between a captive and wild Pokemon. As it confirmed that this Kecleon was indeed a valid target, she put the Pokeball away and looked for a place to sit for a bit.

On this crazy rail-less bridge, the best spot was near one of the support posts. The watcher walked around the invisible Pokemon and put herself by one of them, closer to the Pokemon’s head. Most of them felt more secure if a human watcher was in their sight. This Kecelon eyed her, then put its head down and relaxed again.

There was a slight breeze, but nothing to worry about. The watcher became absorbed in recording data about the sighting. Granted, there wasn’t much to write about when a Pokemon was just sleeping there, but any observation could turn out to be important. In the background, she heard footsteps running across the bridge. But she was busy transferring the pictures and sorting out a new file to really notice.

That is, until a teen girl ran right into the Kecleon, tripping right over it and falling on her face.

The watcher jumped, nearly tossing her notebook computer off the bridge and into the lake. A Sceptile turned around and bounded back to the girl in concern; it made a worried query about her condition. On the other hand, the Kecleon merely looked up, undisturbed that someone had just tripped over it.

“Are you okay?” the watcher asked, turning to her bag. “I can get you a first aid kit.”

She got up onto her knees and felt her face. Nothing was bleeding, so it seemed. “No time,” she said, getting onto her feet. “Gotta race.”

But before she could run off, the Kecleon raised its upper body higher off the ground. Its tongue snapped out in the blink of an eye, snatching a candy treat out of the girl’s pants pocket. While it lay back down and worked on getting the wrapper off, she jumped and nearly stumbled into her Sceptile turning around. She couldn’t see the Kecleon, though.

She could see her. “Hey, what was that for, you weirdo?” she complained, rubbing her hip.

The watcher held her hand up. “I didn’t do anything, I swear. You can’t see it, but…”

“Gangway!” a boy yelled, rushing down the bridge with a Swampert right behind him.

That was kind of scary, the watcher thought, seeing a bulky Pokemon like that rushing right for her. She grabbed her bag and pulled her knees closer. Nearby, the Sceptile crouched down, ready to fight, or at least stall them. But then the boy tripped over the Kecleon too, crashing into the girl and causing her to yelp. Their combined motions sent them tumbling off the edge of the bridge and into the lake. The Swampert veered off the edge after its Trainer just before it hit the Kecleon. As the first crash sounded, the Sceptile leapt off the bridge too.

Stunned, the watcher just sat there for a moment, blinking. What were those kids up to? A race of some kind? She would never want to race across a bridge like this herself. When she looked over the side, she could see that the boy was clinging to his Swampert, while the girl had called out a Gyrados. The two were arguing.

And the drop left her feeling dizzy and sick to her stomach. She hated straight drops and agreed to the Mount Pyre watch primarily because it didn’t have many steep grades. She would still have to avoid the cliffs, though. When she looked back, the Kecleon still looked unbothered by the fuss it was causing.

There was another pair of footsteps running across the bridge. Now, there was a boy and a Blaziken rushing across. That would really not end well, the watcher thought. So she waved her hand. “Watch out kid, there’s a…”

“Stay outta my way!” the boy called back, moving himself to the other side.

Good, the watcher thought. He’d at least miss the Kecleon. But his Blaziken was still in the middle, so she tried to wave it over too.

No luck. Not only did the Fire Pokemon run right into the lounging lizard, but the Kecleon stretched its tail out at the right moment to catch the boy and cause him to fall over too. Out of concern for its Trainer, the Blaziken tried to grab hold of him to keep him from hitting the bridge. But their combined motions conspired to throw them off the bridge instead, and into the lake just like the pairs ahead of them.

The watcher looked to the Kecleon, who was still working at the hard candy and lazing about. It curled its tail in and settled its forelegs under its chin. A perfect picture of contentment. Or amusement?

“You really get a kick out of that, don’t you?” the watcher asked.

“…cleon…” the Pokemon muttered softly. But there was a sparkle like laughter to its eyes.

Lesson of the Day: If you don’t want to be the April Fool, don’t hurry.

…

Kecleon Sapphire entry: Kecleon alters its body coloration to blend in with its surroundings, allowing it to sneak up on prey unnoticed. Then it lashes out with its long stretchy tongue to instantly ensnare the unsuspecting target.

[floracat]

Yay! Yay! YAAAYYY!!!!! I love this! I love all the different short stories. Are you really going to do all 649? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you did. Add me to the PM list PLEASE!

And can I make a request? Meloetta maybe? It's my favorite Pokemon, I just love music!

[Ysavvryl]

I am going to give completing this my best shot. I'm over halfway there, at least.

I read Leavanny's entries and thought that it'd be cute with a smaller Pokemon. So I looked for one and came across Klink. First I thought, no, it'd be kind of weird. But then I went ahead and took Klink because it's a weird combo.

In Process: Krabby
On deck: Makuhita, Onix, Cacturne, Meloetta
Reserve: (Easter)


Leavanny and Klink


It was a blustery day, with a constant wind. Occasionally, they gusted up so strong that lighter Pokemon were hunkered down in holes, to avoid being blown away. The spring flowers where being battered, the forest trees were struggling to hold onto their buds, and sometimes the tall grass would lay flat. Despite this, Miss Zinnia the Leavanny had things to do. She braved the gusts and the slight chill to go fetch berries for her baking.

“Oh dear,” she said, as another strong gust blasted through the trees. She had one hand on her leaf bonnet and another hand clutching her straw basket, even though that left her long skirt to flap on her left side. “I hope all the little Sewaddles are in a shelter. This would be a terrible day for the darlings to be out. I’d better get extra berries today, to make sure they don’t go hungry.”

Moving quickly she got to the berry patch. Normally, this was a lively place full of Pokemon . It was a place to meet with friends, talk about things, and take care of the plants so that they always gave the best berries. But there seemed to be no one else here today. Zinnia sought out berries that had fallen first, making sure that they weren’t starting to rot. Then she gathered up specific ones she wanted for poffins: Bluk, Rawst, Pinap, Nomel… oh, and she should get some Orans too, as they would be comforting to young Pokemon anxious over the weather.

She was moving to the Oran bushes when her feet hit something hard on the ground. It felt like metal, but there usually wasn’t metal around here. Looking down, she saw something gray poking out from under a fallen branch. The Leavanny knelt down to toss the branch away and saw what appear to be two interlocked gears. But they had faces on them, with the four eyes closed. It was still, with a single leaf caught between the gear’s teeth.

“Hmm? It would be hard to sleep out here.” She brushed her leafy hand over the little Pokemon, but didn’t get a response. It must have gotten injured somehow, maybe in the branch falling on it. “Poor little one. I wonder if the Sitrus bush has ripe berries.” She got up and went to investigate.

In the whole berry patch, there was one lone Sitrus bush. Several Pokemon had tried getting another going, but it was a tough one to start. And it took so long to produce fruit that an agreement had come up to only use the Sitrus berries if someone had been badly injured, like the gear Pokemon back there. A few would even preserve the Sitrus berries if no one needed them so they could be on hand later, but Zinnia didn’t have any Sitrus preserves with her.

The bush was a curling stalk, like a vine with the strength to stand on its own. And yes, it did have bright yellow berries, six of them. However, on feeling one, she noticed that they were soft and very ripe. The main reason they hadn’t fallen off in the wind was due to a brown husk that attached them to the vine. If they weren’t used today, they’d go rotten.

“Well, I hope my neighbors don’t mind,” she said, then carefully plucked the six berries. To avoid damaging them, she placed them in the center of her basket. Five would make a small jar of preserves, while the sixth could revive the stranger in the field.

She walked back over and then had to decide which mouth she ought to feed. A Pokemon with two faces was unusual and neither was obviously the dominant one. So she picked the left one and squished the berry some, to get the juice to it at least. This managed to stir it enough to allow it to eat the berry itself. The right face moved its mouth to mirror the other, but it didn’t seem bothered otherwise. However, it jerked, trying to move the two gears. Zinnia tugged at the stuck leaf to get it out. She could only rip a chunk of it off, but that allowed the gears to move and get rid of the leaf themselves.

Watching her with one set of eyes while examining the area with the other, it seemed wary and scared.

“Don’t worry,” Zinnia said gently. “I won’t hurt you, little cutie. But where did you come from? I haven’t seen a Pokemon like you around here. How are you doing?”

The two gears turned as the apparently single Pokemon pushed itself upright. It nearly flipped itself onto its faces, then wobbled as it tried to stay upright. “Klink, klink,” one mouth mumbled while the other mouth followed a syllable late, “Klink, klink.”

On hearing that, she guessed that it was too young to know how to speak properly. “I see; you must be a Klink.” She smiled. “But my, you’re quite a long ways from home. Did you get blown away?”

The two faces, even though one was upside-down due to their turning, shifted the inner part forward, nodding. But that made it wobble again.

“Looks like you need some time to rest and recuperate. Why don’t you come home with me? I’m called Miss Zinnia. If it’s not too windy tomorrow, I could walk with you back to the tower where your kin live.” She wasn’t sure if she could pick up a turning Pokemon like that comfortably, but she wasn’t one to just leave a young one alone.

The Klink agreed to that, relieved to have found a safe person to be with. It bit onto the edge of her skirt with one mouth, letting the other gear rotate around it. It was heavy for a little Pokemon, but the Leavanny finished up her berry gathering and headed back home.

Miss Zinnia lived in a small cavern at the entrance to a deep cave system. Some of her kind preferred to live in hollow trees, but there were enough holes in the rocky roof to let in light, but not rain. And even if it was small for a cave room, it was bigger than the space inside a dead tree, which could collapse on its inhabitants.

Although she offered a bed of hay for a bed, the Klink stayed on the rocky floor, after clearing a space for itself. While she worked at her cooking, she had to admit that it made sense. If a little leaf getting stuck could cause so much trouble to it, then a piece of straw or a pebble could also hurt it. She made some of her poffins and started work on the Sitrus preserve. She even left for a while to visit some Sewaddle nests and give them some poffins and berries, so that they didn’t have to go out to get something to eat. When she came back, the Klink was still asleep.

In fact, it wasn’t until the next morning that she saw it awake again. The Klink seemed much better, floating around her cave home and nudging rocks, baskets, and any other interesting things. The sun weakly shone through one of the skylight holes and the rustle of trees was gentle, not fierce. From that, she could tell that it would be a good day for the long walk to the tower at the edge of the forest, where a powerful Klinklang was said to live.

“Klink, klink?’ it queried, sniffing rows of glass jars. Various colored substances filled them.

“These are my berry and fruit preserves,” Zinnia told him, putting up the new Sitrus preserve. “Well, that and some mint jellies over there. I like cooking and baking, so I make these to share with my neighbors in hard times like winter. I also sew a lot.” She showed off her hands, which had very sharp cutting edges on them. But it was hardly a threat in this situation. “Why, if you were one of my young neighbors, I’d have sewn a leaf cloak for you to protect yourself from the wind.”

“Ki-link, klik klik,” the Klink replied, shaking his head but sounding polite about it. It probably didn’t want another leaf stuck in its teeth.

“It’s all right,” she said cheerily. “I know now that it wouldn’t work on you. So, I made these instead!” She pulled out a pair of little bowties. “Aren’t they cute? I made them out of willow leaves and my silk. The back part is a little bit sticky so that you can take them on and off but they should stay on while you’re moving around. I’ve got a mirror on the wall over there if you want to try putting them on.”

The Klink seemed uncertain, but curious. So it went over to the mirror and took the two ties by static telekinesis. After it tried placing them in the middle of its faces, Zinnia giggled and indicated they were to go below its mouths. It spent a moment looking at itself.

Proud of her work, the Leavanny smiled. “There; you’re simply adorable now. I don’t think anybody would be able to resist you now. Well let’s get ready to head out, child. We should be able to reach your home before noon if we don’t lollygag.”

A few weeks later, an older Klink showed up at her home and offered some nuts in exchange for a set of bowties too. Miss Zinnia happily accepted the job; she would sew for anyone who asked.

…

Leavanny Black entry: Upon finding a small Pokemon, it weaves clothing for it from leaves, using the cutters on its arms and sticky silk.

Klink White entry: Interlocking two bodies and spinning around generates the energy they need to live.

[floracat]

Really nice! I like in the end that there are Klink trading nuts for clothes. Funny and cute! Keep it up!

[Ysavvryl]

This entry is something you might get as an assignment in a creative writing class, in two different exercises. It's partly based off a real world incident that was in the news this past winter and a familiar object made alien through POV.

In Process: Makuhita
On deck: Onix, Cacturne, Meloetta
Reserve: (Easter)


Krabby


Mike the Krabby didn’t feel good, but he didn’t feel bad either, which was an improvement. A few days ago, he had lost his left claw when a much bigger and nastier sea Pokemon tried to eat him. Letting the claw snap off was worth it as he could escape with his life. But there was a price to be paid for that. It left him feeling drained when one of his claws was growing back in.

Not to mention how hard it was to get around with just one claw. It offset his balance terribly, making it difficult to walk straight. Especially when he tried going sideways; the missing claw would invariably cause one or more of his six legs to fumble. While he could still swim fairly well, that limited him to hunting for food underwater. When he didn’t hunt, he had hid to conserve his energy for the regrowth process.

On the sandy sea bottom, he held his claws up and walked around for a while, assuring himself that things were back to normal. After another day, he might even be feeling good again. He was satisfied for now, so began swimming towards the shallower waters and shore. His buddies might be wondering where he was. As long as he didn’t get into any fights, he should be okay.

As he swam along, he thought over a conversation he had while recovering. A Staryu had come by his hiding place, but it hadn’t been interested in hunting him. Rather, it had tried to talk with him about the future, how he ought to plan in case things turned out even worse than just losing a claw. And how he should ask himself if he was really happy, among other such strange things.

That Staryu had been almost like an alien. Mike had never considered the future before. Most of the time, he was concerned with having a shelter, getting food, and trying to be impressive for the female Krabbies. He also spent a fair amount of time thinking on how to avoid fights and keep on living. But all that other stuff, about finding inner balance, searching for his soul, considering that life itself may be art… it was all hogwash. Mike wasn’t even sure what exactly the word ‘hogwash’ meant, but the Staryu had said that his words were not hogwash, which made the Krabby think that it was.

He had his claw back and the ocean looked to be safe. That was all he needed to be content.

Along the way to the beach, Mike swam into a strange shadow in the water. He looked up to see the source and spotted a peculiar form up there. Thin but sturdy legs stood on a sandbar, one narrow foot just touching the ocean surface. From there, a black form stood over the water with a strange angular form that jutted out and extended beyond where he could easily see now. Whatever it was, it was big.

Was it a predator? Alarmed, Mike hastily blew bubbles, forming them into a cloak around his body. To the eyes of many of his fellow sea creatures, this made him look like a bigger threat. He then walked along the seafloor carefully, ready to scurry away should this thing lunge.

It didn’t do anything. Considering that it could be a patient predator that would snap the moment he relaxed, Mike felt it might be smarter to stay away. But then, what was that thing? If it was a new predator, he wanted to know about it so that he could avoid it. And if it wasn’t a predator, it would be good simply to confirm that.

Seeing that the sandbar was long, the Krabby crawled over to the far end of it and climbed out of the water’s surface. After taking a moment to get used to seeing out of water, he checked on the other side. It turned out to be two black things sitting on the sand. One was smaller, on four legs with a long and narrow top, covered in some kind of padding. As for the bigger thing, it must have been what he saw from the water. It was also on four legs, but it was wide and deep, with its body standing high off the sand. On both things, their legs were perfectly straight, not jointed at all.

So this wasn’t a predator, Mike concluded. It seemed to be some object. Probably made by the humans, as they were capable of strange things like this. But what was it doing here?”

His cloak was wearing thin in the air and some bubbles popped. It wasn’t important now as he didn’t seem to be in danger. Climbing some rocks near the foreign objects, Mike managed to jump onto the smaller thing. Although it too was up off the ground, it held him well. He could see now that the larger object had an extra strangeness. Right in front of him, there was a long row of was seemed to be long and flat teeth. Some were black too, but most were white. But they were on the outside and not attached to any mouth. There did seem to be a slit where a mouth could be. None of it had yet moved.

Feeling fairly certain that this was a non-living object, Mike readied himself, then jumped onto the large object. His landing pressed several of the teeth in, causing the thing to make a multi-tone plunk sound. This startled him, so he moved sideways; the teeth kept pressing in and causing those plunking sounds from inside the body of the object. However, this didn’t seem to be anything bad. Just, strange.

He turned about with more plunking and climbed onto the main body. Finally, the noises stopped. The rapping of his feet against the wooden surface seemed to indicate that this thing was partly hollow inside. He rapped his claw against the surface, getting a vibration sound that was like the plunking. More importantly, there was no reaction other than nonthreatening sound. These things weren’t dangerous.

Satisfied with that finding, Mike climbed back onto the bench, then hopped down onto the sands. He still had no clue as to why the humans would make something like that and then just leave it here. All that he could figure was that humans were even more alien than Staryu.

...

Krabby Heart Gold entry: If it senses danger approaching, it cloaks itself in bubbles from its mouth so it will look bigger.

[Ditto123]

Scrafty please?

[floracat]

Hmm. Very good! I like the Pokedex entries. And I see you're working on Meloetta. Sweet! Thank you!

[Baton Passer]

Nice one Ysavvryl.

A pokemon offers an animals point of view on a situation without extensive use of anthropomorphization. You don't have to give the animals a voice because pokemon already have voices, and complex thoughts like ours (or so says the mystery dungeon games). It makes for a believable story, and I agree, this took me a while to figure out what the object was exactly, and I won't spoil, cause I know I hate being given answers. Good topic, kudos kudos!

"Okay, Okay Lois, get ready to laugh."

Carracosta

Smack Down
EQ
Waterfall
Shell Smash

Nickname- B.P.

Cooincidence? I think not XP

[Riarra]

I just love these. I've been reading them for a while now, and they're wonderful! I can't really pick a favorite, but I really liked the Shaymin entry, and the Mystery Dungeon one-shots are always good!

And I'd like to make a request... could you do Quilava and Vulpix, please?

[Missingno. Master]

I like the Leavanny/Klink one. Klink's just a cool Pokemon in general, and you made it seem so friggin' cute.

I'd like to request Klang/Basculin.

[Ysavvryl]

Klink is quite cute! I just met (and caught) one yesterday and saw its animation. It made me smile, but I didn't have room to adjust my team for it. Pity; I'll have to make an excuse to use one later.

Yes, I bought Black recently. Can you tell by the difference in update times? hehe. Adding requests, plus Woobat from elsewhere. However, I've already covered both Vulpix and Quilava (check the index on the first post). Today's entry is an odd couple, a few hours early but for Easter.

In Process: Makuhita
On deck: Cacturne, Meloetta, Scrafty, Klang/Basculin, Woobat
Reserve: (Mother's Day)


Buneary and Onix


At the stage, the Contest Hall was all glamour and style. The floors were kept at a high gloss finish, the vases were kept full of fresh colorful flowers, and the decorations were always high quality. The pictures on the wall kept changing to keep up with rising Pokemon stars and each stage changed appearance according to what type of contest was going on. Every day, hopes and dreams were tested, sometimes rewarded, by the crowds and judges.

Backstage, there was still opulence, but it was less dramatic. The floors were tiled, the walls were plain, and the rooms were small. The furnishings were nice and soft, but the only thing that mattered for her was that the trim on the couch was long, and good for hiding. Down there under the shadows, the Buneary trembled and curled her body up tight. Both of her ears were drawn in, to make her as small as possible. Now if she could just be missed for a little while…

“Lulu? Oh, there you are.”

Nope, it was too good to last. She crawled closer to the wall. There, she ought to be out of reach.

The peach-colored trim was lifted up as the face of her Trainer and Coordinator peered in sideways. One of her eyes had silvery eye shadow, while the other hadn’t been done yet. “Lulu, you’ve got to get ready too. Come on out; they keep this place pretty nice, but there might be dust bunearies under there.”

Lulu shook her head, curling back up. There might be dust under here, but she didn’t care. She did not want to go back on stage again. Not not not. And nothing was going to convince her otherwise.

The human crouched down. “It’s your first big show, dear, and we’ve been practicing for so long. You could be the star this time and it’s for a special holiday event. I know you’ve been eager for it; you can’t let one bad experience keep you from contests forever.”

Yes, it was one bad experience that frightened her. However, she knew that that Pokemon was going to be a part of this show. And that Pokemon was going to try to hurt her again. That’s why she couldn’t go out.

After looking elsewhere briefly, the human girl looked back to the Buneary. “Besides, Balboa’s going to be with you this time. I know that if she gets aggressive again, then he’ll stand up for you. It’s going to be all right.”

Lulu let one of her ears uncurl a bit. Oh right, there was her brother. If he was going to be with her, then things might be okay. They normally weren’t entered in the same contests, as they appealed to two different Contest types. But would his presence be enough to keep her from attacking? It wasn’t supposed to be a battle show, but she said that wasn’t enough to stop her…

“You’ll be fine, sis,” her brother Balboa said, although she couldn’t see him from under the couch. “I’ll be right there on stage the whole time.”

“O-okay,” Lulu said, creeping out from under the couch.

“That’s a good girl,” her Trainer cooed, quickly bringing out a brush to make sure that there wasn’t any dust in her brown and tan fur. “Maybe I’ll train you in battles a bit more before the next show. It’ll build up your courage.”

Her brother slithered up to them. Half-brother, really, which made the relationship even stranger as their shared parent was a Ditto belonging to the girl’s family. He was an Onix and many years older than her. That was evident in the naturally smooth rocky skin he had, which often gleaned dark gray and black under the stage lights. Around a year ago, the girl’s parents had sent her on her journey with Balboa to start with, as well as Lulu herself when she was just an egg. They hadn’t even known what she was, as their mother was notorious for escaping the house and not telling anyone where she had been. But the Onix had sworn that he would protect his younger sibling, no matter what the egg hatched out to be.

Balboa nudged her gently with his nose, avoiding hitting her with his horn. “Most Pokemon are good folks. And the bad ones won’t always get away with being mean.”

“But she’s a really mean one,” Lulu said, although she tried not to tremble again. “And really bad. I don’t want to be mean.”

“It’s not mean to stand up for yourself,” he pointed out.

Their girl looked up at the clock and got worried. “We can’t stall much longer or we’ll get a lateness penalty. Let’s get you into your costumes and I need to finish my makeup.”

Balboa held his head up and gave a happy rumble. “All right! I get to wear my awesome costume for a show!”

Lulu uncurled her other ear and twitched it. “But brother, you’re playing the grass.”

Undeterred, he grinned. “It’s still an awesome costume. And it’ll be fun to play against type.”

Right on the hour, the special Easter show began. Balboa slithered out early, before the curtain even rose, to get into place. Lulu had to admit, his costume was really great. Build on a series of harnesses that went over his body, it had silk-made grasses of various heights and greens on top of a brown cover that helped the illusion that he was a natural part of the ‘landscape’. Although, it was kind of funny that his whole role in the special contest was to simply lie still and stay awake.

Her costume was cute, as usual. She had a sunny yellow checked bonnet with a wide baby pink ribbon and white lace, a white lacy apron with a floral decoration on its front pocket, a painted pink egg in the pocket, and white slippers. While she didn’t see the mean Pokemon, there were only two other Coordinators on this side of the stage.

“And welcome everyone to our special Easter Improv Contest!” the announcer called from the judges box. “Today, nine special Pokemon and six quality Coordinators will come together to tell a spontaneous story for the occasion. The Coordinators are to give their Pokemon instructions according to the storyteller’s prompts, while the storyteller will adjust the story based on how well the Pokemon act. And here is our special mystery storyteller and the Coordinators.”

Lulu clutched her paws together and waited nervously through the introductions of the storyteller and the Coordinators. Then, the story began as the white masked storyteller checked his notes for the Pokemon introductions. “For years upon years, the occasion of Easter has been marked by a special magical Chansey who decorates eggs and hides them to be found by children, offering rewards for those who return the eggs to her. And here is our lovely Easter Chansey!”

“Yaaaay!” came a spirited call from the other side of the stage as a pink Chansey came hopping out. She was dressed to look like a mess, strangely enough, with various colored dyes putting a rainbow of speckles all over her fur. Behind one ear, she wore a large paintbrush. And the egg she carried in her pouch was painted with colored pawprints. The audience laughed.

“And a very enthusiastic girl she is,” the storyteller remarked. “But this year, she has decided to hide her eggs in more places than ever before. She can’t make it to all those places alone, though, so she has called for assistants in her fellow Pokemon. And here they come, one by one, starting with a darling Bellsprout.”

The Bellsprout near her, dressed in ribbons and flowers, came out onto the stage. Lulu watched and listened as the Pokemon cast was called out, one by one as he had said. So far, they all looked to be all right. She even recognized a few from regular shows. And then she got called to come out, as a ‘cuddly Buneary’.

Feeling her insides twisted up in nervousness, Lulu came out. Use the Contest walk, she thought, and she smiled for the audience. But it didn’t work too well this time. She didn’t feel as confident as usual. About the best thing that happened was that she didn’t trip and break the egg in her pocket.

And the storyteller picked up on that. “She’s all eager to help, even bringing a decorated egg of her own, but she’s very nervous about not getting picked. And finally, there came a second Buneary, a pretty and fluffy one.”

Oh no, that was her. Lulu stepped closer to her brother as she came in. Fluffs was indeed pretty, with thick fluffy fur that was the envy of many Cute competitors. And she was dressed very prettily today, in a candy pink bonnet with a red ribbon, pink slippers, and a basket under one arm holding onto real clovers and cute little flowers. She walked with confidence, and smiled at the audience. Although when Fluffs saw Lulu, her smile briefly turned wicked.

The Chansey was clapping, oblivious to any tension among the others. The storyteller went along with it. “Ah yes, seven sweet young Pokemon have answered the Easter Chansey’s call for help. Now they must prove their enthusiasm and artistry to become the Easter Chansey’s assistants.”

For several minutes, they went through various actions. The storyteller would suggest something, like singing a song. The Chansey’s Coordinator would give her instructions to sing something, then the others would have their Pokemon copy what she had done (save for Balboa, who had to stay still and be grass). While Lulu did her best to do a good job, Fluffs was all attitude, acting snobbish. She took the cues, but didn’t always follow exactly.

And then there came a game, which the Chansey decided would be Patty-cake for some reason. Lulu ended up paired up with Fluffs. Knowing that the humans wouldn’t understand them, the other Buneary smirked at her. “Oh, it’s the coward again. I thought I told you to get out of Contests.” She shifted the clover in her basket, revealing a small knife hidden in there. Then she whispered, “I can make sure that your career is absolutely ruined if you decide to keep going.”

Curling both her ears up at the sight of the knife, Lulu hopped back. “Um, um, the play…”

“I don’t care,” she whispered again.

“Hey,” Balboa said, breaking his character to lift his head up and glare at her.

Although he looked a bit goofy wearing that serious expression with the ruffles of grass, it startled Fluffs enough that she dropped her basket. “Eek! Where’d you come from?”

“And an Onix unexpectedly digs up through the ground, interrupting the games,” the storyteller said, accompanied by laughter from the audience. “What is he up to, I wonder? Trying to stop the Easter egg hiding?”

Balboa was still glaring at Fluffs. “Don’t mess with my little sister,” he said sternly.

“Hey, hey, what’s up?” the paint-speckled Chansey called out, hopping over. She spotted the glitter of metal among the spilled clover. “Oh, what’s this?” She picked up the knife to where everyone, the audience, the judges, the Coordinators, and the storyteller, could tell it. Seeing that it had come out of Fluffs’ basket, she fumed. “Now what are you doing threatening another Pokemon during an improv play? That’s horrible manners.”

“It seems a strange twist has come up,” the storyteller said, working his mind quickly to explain the situation. “The fluffy Buneary wants to be the best Buneary and is willing to threaten others to back down, so she’s tried to scare the cuddly Buneary into giving up. But the legendary guardian of the Earth has noticed and sent a champion to keep anyone from being hurt. And I don’t think the Easter Chansey is too happy with someone bringing a weapon to her gathering.”

The Chansey picked up the basket, put the knife in it, then handed it to Fluffs’ Coordinator. “Now you leave the play,” she ordered. “Miss Lulu can play with Vicky instead. That gives us even numbers.”

“Sure,” the Bellsprout said, waddling over to center stage on her thin roots.

“Now I’ll go back to being grass,” Balboa said, then put his head back down and closed his eyes. However, he remained alert in case of further trouble.

At the end of the show, both Lulu and Balboa earned special occasion ribbons for their efforts, while Fluffs was banned from ever entering Contests again.

…

Buneary HG/SS entry: You can tell how it feels by the way it rolls its ears. When it’s scared, both ears are rolled up.

Onix Leaf Green entry: As it grows, the stone portions of its body harden to become similar to black-colored diamonds.

[Riarra]

However, I've already covered both Vulpix and Quilava (check the index on the first post).

Oh, darn. Serves me right for going off of memory instead of checking. ^^; Sorry about that!

Anyway, I liked the Easter entry! It was a very creative way to bring both Buneary and Onix in together (and I never, ever imagined just how evil a Buneary could be).

And to finish this off, since I did just check the first post, can I request a Sealeo/Luxio entry, please?

[floracat]

I was looking at all your stories when I saw your PM. This was good! I liked it because, when you think of Buneary, you think they're all sweet and fluffy. But Fluff's wasn't, it brought a stinkin' knife. A KNIFE!!! I think I speak for all of us when I say that I have never seen a story that had a fluffy little bunny threaten someone else with a knife. Ha! Keep up the good work!

[Ysavvryl]

I have seen another little bunny with a knife; look for Bun-bun of the webcomic Sluggy Freelance.

As for this entry, Makuhita was a bit tough. I got several ideas based on it, but it took me a while to pick one. On a trivial note, there's a third Pokemon in here that I decided not to include the entry of... but when I saw it for the first time, for some reason, I got a scene similar to this in mind.

In Process: Cacturne
On deck: Meloetta, Scrafty, Klang/Basculin, Woobat, Sealeo/Luxio
Reserve: (Mother's Day)


Makuhita and Darumaka


As it was morning, many of the farm Pokemon had been let out to roam the pastures. But the barn wasn’t quite empty. At the table, a Makuhita was finishing off its traditional big breakfast. He would become a guard when older and evolved, but for now he prepared and did miscellaneous tasks. A Darumaka was also inside, but he was bounding all over: hopping off the walls, racing around the hay-lined straws, and running along beams. Although he had been brought in by one of the kids, he didn’t have a permanent assignment on the farm.

“I hope they don’t release me,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “I like my boy, I like traveling, but what do I do here when my boy is here? I don’t want to leave, but I’ve got to do something. What do I do today? They don’t like me chasing the Mareep.” His rushing around brought him to land on the table that the Makuhita was eating at. “Hey, hey, what’re you gonna do now, Frankie? Fritz needs to do something important.”

The Makuhita twitched the ears on top of his head, then picked up his food dish to put it away. “Train.”

Fritz darted off the table and on top of the food cabinet. “Train? You always train when awake. But you eat so much that you stay fat-sy. I don’t mind doing chores, because it’s important, and some training is important, but training all the time? What do you do for fun? I always have some fun every day. What do you have fun doing?”

“Training,” Frankie replied. Now that his things were set aside to be washed, he headed for the door.

“How can so much training be fun?” the Darumaka said, bounding off the cabinet. “I mean, some training is fun, but after a while, I get tired and bored with it, so I stop.”

“Sleep more,” he advised.

Before the conversation could continue, the farmer appeared in front of the barn door. He was pushing a wheelbarrow with two large bags, several small bags, and an assortment of tools in it. “Ah, Frankie, Fritz, I found you both in the same spot. Good. I have something I need you two to get done.”

Fritz yapped his agreement and rushed over to the other side of the wheelbarrow. Putting his paws on the edge, he peered in. “Oh, yes, yes! I’ll help if it means that I can stay with my boy here at the farm. What do I do, huh? I’ll do whatever it is as best I can.”

Smiling, the farmer patted the red furred Pokemon. “Easy now, Fritz. Here, I have some goods that need to be taken to the town market today.” He picked up the two large bags and set one down. “I’m gonna put these bags of goods on you two, so don’t get them damaged. And take these bracelets so that the market workers know which vendor you’re taking things to. Get them there before noon; the vendor might have some things to return, so wait until you know you have them, then come right back home.” He knelt down to put one backpack onto the Darumaka.

Fritz saluted with his right paw. “Oh yes, I can make deliveries! I’ll get there good and quick, and not damage anything! You just watch my fiery trail.” Once he had the backpack and bracelet, he darted off towards the road.

The farmer chuckled, then helped Frankie put his pack on. “Enthusiastic little guy. Okay, Frankie, I gave you a few things that might bruise if you handle them roughly, so be careful. And make sure that little fellow stays on track and gets the job done. He’s a good Pokemon, I can tell, but he doesn’t keep his focus well.”

Nodding, the Makuhita got the bracelet on his own wrist. “Will do.” He picked up a few supplies for himself, then started off towards the road at a quick walk. If he had things that could get bruised (probably fruits and berries), he didn’t want to be running.

At the road, he found Fritz looking down both ways. On seeing him, the younger Pokemon looked sheepish. “Um, uh, I haven’t been to town except with my boy. Which way is town? And how far is it?”

Frankie pointed with a gloved hand to the east. “Stay on the road and we will get there.”

Fritz laughed. “Hey, that’s more words than usual out of you! Okay, I’ll race you there! And I’ll be there first!” He took off down the road, with the Makuhita following at a less hurried pace.

Rushing along, the Darumaka was in high spirits. The air was nice and warm, with a happy sun shining overhead. The dirt road felt great as it passed underneath his paws. Inside, he could feel the fires burning (but this was entirely a good thing, since he lived by and loved fire). Oh yes, he could be a delivery Pokemon? He would get parcels distributed fast. Sure, he’d have to figure out how to get them all to the right spots, but they would arrive as fast as a wildfire driven by the wind!

But… this road was so long. He saw fences and farms pass by on either side. There were several trees around, but not many buildings. Before, he hadn’t really noticed, as he’d been focused on entertaining his boy and fighting battles for him. But where was town? And Fritz was starting to feel tired.

On pausing to take a break, he felt his internal fires cool down. Maybe there would be time for a quick nap? Fritz closed his eyes and was soon asleep.

Some time later, Frankie came upon the Darumaka sleeping at the side of the road. He knew the farmer’s son liked this Pokemon a lot, but also knew that his kind wasn’t all that suited for farm life. Sure, his fires would be nice in the winter, but not if he couldn’t sit still. The Makuhita still hoped that the younger Pokemon could find the discipline to be a good worker. Maybe when he evolved.

He nudged him with his foot. “Fritz.”

“Hmm?” The Darumaka opened his eyes and got up. “Oh, hey Frankie. What’re you doing here…? Oh, the deliveries! You caught up! Well that’s not gonna last. I’m still gonna get there first and beat you! Catch me if you can!” Then he hurried off once again.

Frankie shrugged and went back to his quick walk. He was fairly certain that he’d encounter Fritz again, before they reached the market. Actually, it would be better that way.

As he thought, he came across the Darumaka again. He wasn’t asleep this time, just drinking carefully out of a stream. But he did look and sound weary. “Oh, no good, no good. There’s nothing to eat around here and I so hungry… the road is so long, why does it have to be so long. Town should be just right there; it’s more fun with the humans around.”

“Patience,” the Makuhita said, coming over to get a drink himself. The water wasn’t quite as nice as the good stuff humans got out of bottles, but it was suitable.

“This is a long trip,” Fritz complained. “Why you seem so awake and ready still? I’ve been trying to find nuts or berries, but there’s nothing edible around. Why you still going?”

“Good breakfast,” Frankie explained. Wanting to help, he pulled out an oatmeal and berry bar that he had grabbed before he left the farm and offered it to him. It was something the human women made, and they were great travel food. “Eat well.”

The Darumaka took it with glee. “Oh, thank you! You have saved me! I must learn to be better prepared, be like you. You don’t mind, right?” He took the bar out of its plastic wrap and chomped off a quarter of it. “Iff wovfff disfff stuffff.” Then he swallowed. “It’s hard to live on a farm, right? Cause on the road, you mostly battle and that comes naturally. But farm stuff, that’s not always easy. I didn’t think town was so far away. But! I will get there first, to show that I’m still worthy!” He bit off another piece of the oatmeal bar, then took off running.

Frankie twitched his ears. “Don’t get sick,” he said. Then he took out another bar and ate it while walking along.

An hour after that, the Makuhita caught up with the Darumaka a third time. This time, Fritz was huddled by a rock, shivering. “Oh no, oh no… no, I can be brave, I am brave for my boy. But he is so tough; there is no way around him. What do I do, what do I do?”

“What happened?” Frankie asked, stopping by the rock.

Fritz pointed with a shaky small paw. “Th-there’s a BIG tough Pokemon blocking the road. I can see town, yes, yes, but he is blocking the road and will let no one pass. I would have jump past the fence, run, then jump the fence into town, but he gives me the evil eye and I run away. I fight good, yeah, but not good enough to beat him.”

Nodding, the Makuhita waved him to come out. “Then, we both fight. Come.”

“You sure?” When he got another nod, Fritz came out. “Um, okay. I’ll try. But he’s big, and tough. I hope we don’t get smushed.”

A bit further down the road, they came to a place where the fences came right up alongside the road. In the center of the road, there was indeed a great big and tough looking Pokemon standing there, stirring up dust with his front hoof. A large bulk of fluffy brown fur surrounded his head, but the long sharp-pointed horns made sure it was taken for a credible threat.

When he saw them, the Bouffalant bellowed. “I am a road block!” he yelled. “None shall pass by me! Be gone, heathen invaders!”

“Eep,” the Darumaka said in a little squeal, drawing his limbs in closer to become compact. He was trembling.

On the other hand, Frankie took off his backpack and set it on the side of the road. Then he pounded his fist into his chest, making the bulk of his stomach area wobble. “Delusional,” he said, then rushed down the road at the Bouffalant.

The other Pokemon snorted and lowered his head, putting his horns in the Makuhita’s way. While Fritz watched wide-eyed, Frankie ignored the horns and rammed his stomach into the Bouffalant’s head. The blow was powerful enough to knock the larger Pokemon back a few feet. Then, the Makuhita pounded his chest again.

“Get out of the way,” he said sternly.

Now it was the Bouffalant who seemed frightened. He sniffled. “Bully.” Then he trotted off, running when he felt himself out of sight.

Coming out of his defensive curl, Fritz hopped over to Frankie. “Oh, you’re amazing! I have to learn to be brave like you. I have to be a great Pokemon so that they don’t ever release me and I can stay with my boy. How do you do it, huh? Will you teach me?”

“Never give up,” Frankie said, going back for his backpack.

Fritz scratched his head. “Ah, okay. I will get better, you will see.” Looking at the gate into town, the Darumaka grinned, then rushed to get past it. “And hah! I got to town before you did! It was very close, though, and you probably did a better job. Um, where’s the market?”

Frankie chuckled as he walked into town too. “Come with me.”

…

Sapphire entry: Makuhita has a tireless spirit – it will never give up hope. It eats a lot of food, gets plenty of sleep, and it trains very rigorously. By living this way, this Pokemon packs its body with energy.

Darumaka Black entry: When its internal fire is burning, it cannot calm down and it runs around. When the fire diminishes, it falls asleep.

[floracat]

395! You've written stories about 395 Pokemon! I know cause I counted!

I've always admired how you can take two unlike Pokemon and make an awesome story from the two. Like with the Arceus and Doduo one. Two unlike Pokemon, yet awesome story. That's what I like so much about this thread.

[Ysavvryl]

Sure you didn't get some of the guest entries? I may recount myself if it is really different from what I've got in my reference file. I just knew that I was getting close to 400.

In Process: (Mother's Day)
On deck: Meloetta, Scrafty, Klang/Basculin, Woobat, Sealeo/Luxio
Reserve: (#400)


Cacturne


A pair of humans walked across the desert. Since this place was remote, days of travel from the nearest town, this was unusual enough. But these two looked foreign… smelled foreign. They wore clothes that were not faded from the sun, and did not have any sand grains, thorns, or stickler seeds on them. And they smelled faintly of oil, smoke, and harsh chemicals. The only scent that was common of that in the desert was smoke, and even their smoke was different than what the fire Pokemon produced.

Standing alongside a footpath, the Cacturne closed her eyes as they approached. Standing as she was, she blended into the landscape, matching the non-moving tall cactuses. It was late day, so she was awake but not ready to move yet. There was still sunshine falling onto her tough green skin.

“Are you sure we ended up in another world, instead of just teleporting to a place in our own?” the smaller man asked. He smelled nervous, but he didn’t seem to notice her.

“Of course we ended up in another world!” the taller man snapped. “I was the one who set up the portal to do that, so this must be a different place. And we’re going to bring back proof of this, once we find something that is definitely different.”

“Can’t we just take back a sample of one of the plants? Its genetic structure would likely be different from anything on Earth.”

“If you think I’m going to be satisfied with something mundane like that, you clearly don’t know me well enough.” They stopped near her, in the shadow she cast.

The Cacturne opened her eyes a slit to see the pair checking some kind of machine. The shorter one said, “I don’t see why you had to drag me along. And close the portal back. If you can’t target where we’d end up, how are you going to target our home world?”

The taller man grumbled, “It’s easy, but the explanation would fly over your daft head. I know what I’m doing, even in bringing someone like you along.” He then looked around, so she closed her eyes again. “Of all the places we could have shown up, we had to get a dead desert. I should have sent a camera on a pole in first. That’s the only problem,” he quickly said the last part. “Targeting these portals is going to be a pain, but that’s the only fault of my technology.”

“Yes sir,” the smaller man said in a defeated tone of voice. It was like one who knew he was with a mad man and knew better than to argue sense into him. But then, why would he be following a mad man? The Cacturne lived out in the desert, but even she had better sense than that. “This place doesn’t look all that dead, though.”

“This desert is going to cause us only minor obstacles,” the mad one said. “I know all about survival. Like if you need water, all you have to do is this.”

The Cacturne then felt a sharp metal object slice into her hip. The shock of the unexpected pain was so intense that she froze up in fright. Although she knew it was metal, she felt that there was something different about it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have cut in so deeply. Perhaps in being human made instead of something a Pokemon grew.

“Well doesn’t that just beat all,” the tall man grumbled. “You’re supposed to get water out of these things, not rusty sand.”

“D-did that cactus just move?” the other asked. He stepped further up the path, away from her.

“It’s a dumb old plant,” he said, walking away briskly. “We’ve barely been here an hour and you’re already experiencing heat delusions? Worthless. Come on; I’m not responsible for what happens if a pansy like you gets lost.”

Opening her eyes back up, she saw them continue down the footpath. Normally, Pokemon did not hurt humans. It was allowable if it was in self-defense. However, she hadn’t acted in time. Perhaps it was okay if she made him feel the hurt she did.

But the cut hurt enough that she didn’t want to move her legs. She focused her energy on transforming the sun’s energy into healing energy for her. With time, her sandy blood stopped flowing and the cut closed up tight. The pain relented some, but she still felt an ache there. By that time, the sun was down.

Good. Night was the best time to move. Carefully, the Cacturne moved her injured hip to step onto the path. It wasn’t too bad until she had to move her other leg and got an increase in pain from the cut. After a few steps, she figured out how to adjust her stride so that she didn’t have weight on her injury for long. Then she limped along the path, following the foreigners’ scents.

Even though some time had passed, their smells were strange enough hat she easily picked them out over everything else. She was quite used to tracking this way. When she was out hunting, the Cacturne would follower her prey throughout the night, and even into the day some, until they grew too weary from the harsh desert. She usually didn’t have to deal with a pain in her hip, though. But she did not want to give up on this pair unless she absolutely had to.

They had wandered around in places, but always returned to the path. It was not like a trail of a prey animal, which would try to confuse her if it knew she was there. No, this was the trail of a pair of oblivious beings. What were they doing here? If they kept on like this, they would perish before reaching civilization. Not that it would be a bad thing to her. Pokemon weren’t supposed to hurt humans… but if they died, well, meat was meat. That was the ruling of the predators.

After getting over a hill, the Cacturne spotted the two strange humans examining an item. They had objects that cast out a beam of light in front of them. The tall one dropped it. “It’s just a boot,” he said, disgusted. “Who would ever just leave one old boot in the middle of a desert? I can understand if it was a pair near an old skeleton, but why one?”

“Maybe it has a manufacturing mark?” the other suggested. “That would prove that this was a different world.”

“Make my proof an old boot? How ridiculous.”

The short guy was trying to be helpful, the Cacturne noticed. But why was he hanging around the obnoxious tall one? Whatever the case was, she made sure she had plenty of needles, then fired them at the jerk’s hip. They were small, gray, and thin, probably not like the weapon that had hurt her.

But they were still effective, causing him to yelp when blood was drawn. “Who the..?” the tall one shouted, turning around and stopping his threat when he cast his light at her. It was nearly as bright as the sun, causing her to wince and briefly lose vision of anything beyond the whiteness. Still, she limped a few steps down the hill towards them, growing a new set of throwing thorns.

“I think it’s that cactus you tried cutting for water earlier,” the short man said, nervously backing away again. “So this really is a different world.”

“Well what right does it have to attack me?” he demanded, now aiming his light beam at her eyes. In response, she closed them and threw her next set of thorns towards the sound of his voice.

There was scrambling to get out of the way. “You did slash into it and hurt it.”

He snorted. “We ought to capture it; it may be a plant, but it would be perfect proof!”

“And how do you intend to capture an angry walking cactus that can throw thorns at us?”

“Shut up, imbecile. This is not the time to turn into a wise cracker.” He aimed the light beam away from her, so she risked opening her eyes again. Her view was vague, but quickly sharpened as he pulled out another handheld machine. “I do have a bunch of its thorns now. We can use genetic tests to prove that we were here. I am a genius.” Then he fired the other machine off behind the two men.

A glowing blue orb traveled several feet from the machine, then stopped and formed a number of spinning rings around it. Quickly, the rings expanded. A strange black space appeared there; the Cacturne sensed an intense power of time and space concentrated in those rings.

“Right,” the short man said to his companion, then fled with him through the portal. After they were both gone, the blue orb swallowed up its rings and vanished.

Her eyes adjusted to the dark again, the Cacturne looked down at the footprints of the two men. Hopefully, that was the last she would see of them. Since no other creature seemed to be about, she limped over to a tall plain cactus and stood there with her back to it. The desert was a dangerous place, even to its inhabitants. A predator who displayed a prominent limp like she had now could become prey itself.

…

Cacturne Emerald entry: After spending thousands of years in harsh deserts, its blood transformed into the same substances as sand. It is nocturnal, so it hunts at night.

(No way, I did not know nocturnal mean that! *laughs* How silly.)

[floracat]

396 Pokemon. I didn't count the guest entries.

This was good! I love sci-fi stories. I've always wondered what would happen if people from our world came to the Pokemon world.

And yes, nocturnal means that they're active at night.

floracat