A self-insert fic where a man is turned into a teenager, shoved into the Pokemon world for four months, then unceremoniously dropped into the Young Justice universe next. He is not happy.
Monsters Of My Own
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Author's Note: This is the reboot of the fanfic Adorable Murderbeasts. I based the team of this story on one I built while writing the original story.
The story is below, let me know what you guys think.
------
Arceus is a fucking asshole.
Anyone who knows Legendary Pokemon knows that most of them share that trait. In my case though, I was feeling that way out of personal rage.
I tumbled through a world of red lights, trying to reach my hands out for anything.
"You asshole!" I shouted into the void, getting no answers. I screamed it again, just to hear my voice in this empty space.
What the hell happened!?
------
My name is Mahmoud. Four months ago, I'd woken up in the Pokemon world. Yeah, just like that. No answers, no one to blame. Just me, in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, waking up in a Pokemon Center. I didn't even have my smartphone.
What was worse was that I'd woken up about 15 years younger than when I went to sleep.
Do you know how annoying it is to not only show up in another world, but to be a teenager again at the same time? I wasn't one of those guys who was obsessed with relieving their youth. Being an adult, having actual agency and power in my life, was something I didn't want to lose.
Instead, I was an overweight teenager again. Years of working out and building muscle, my large and glorious beard, all gone and replaced with my awkward teenage self. I was around 15 or 16ish. Just before I started taking care of myself.
I spent that first hour I was awake staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, eyes tracing my olive-brown skin and brown eyes. I'd also lost height and muscle, all replaced by a paunchy stomach that wrestling practice and years of on and off workouts would slowly erase.
I eventually left the bathroom and the room set aside to see what the world looked like.
It took about five seconds for me to realize where I was. It was right when the Onix rolled past.
He was massive. The boulders that made up his form were as wide around as I was tall. He went through the halls of the Pokemon Center with incredible grace, his body clacking together as he moved. He turned his head to look at me. In real life, those slanted eyes had a physical effect on me. The long spike on top of his head looked particularly lethal.
There's no doubt in my mind that anyone who had seen that would have done what I did. Slowly turn around and go back into my room, the Onix ignoring me as he continued to roll towards the small child calling him 'Danny'.
I'd been ROBbed. I was self-inserted. Or, in this case, inserted.
I sat in bed for a bit, just taking in the feel of the blanket under my skin. It felt real. I pinched myself. Yep, real. I stared out the window. A Fletchling was watching me through the window, the bird Pokemon cocking his head to the side.
So yeah. My first day inserted into the Pokemon world was just me freaking out at the new situation I'd found myself in. In my home universe, I'd written a few Self-Insert fanfics. One of them even involved Pokemon quite heavily. That helped me a bit.
Once I got my bearings and stopped freaking out, I managed to find the bright side of things. Well, I also had to get used to the weird hair colors. What accident of genetics makes pink hair? Or makes all Nurse Joys and Officer Jenny's share the same appearance?
The Pokemon Center I woke up in was in the middle of Galar, the region that showed up in Sword and Shield. Basically Pokemon Europe. It was kind of funny, hearing Pokemon trainers talk in Scottish, British, and Irish accents.
Sadly I hadn't gotten around to playing the Sword and Shield games, but I had one advantage. I'd been found in the woods with nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, and had spent time confused and asking dumb questions anyone would know. People assumed I was an amnesiac kid who knew nothing. I let them think that.
It let me get some free food, basic necessities, and my first Pokemon, gifted to me by a kind Nurse Joy who wanted to make sure I was protected. A Mudkip.
Mudkip was adorable. He had that big blue fin, the orange fins on his cheek, and it turned out that he liked my dumb jokes.
I didn't start off having a goal other than survival. I'd come into the world of Pokemon at a time when peace was the only thing to worry about. I wasn't the main character of some crazy Isekai novel, I was a random guy. Two people, Victor and Gloria, they were the main characters. They'd stopped the bad guys, saved the day, and made a legend of their own. The other regions had been helped in similar ways. I wasn't about to save the world. It had been saved.
So I decided to enjoy myself. I was in the POKEMON world! Once the shock stopped, I realized what a crazy awesome situation I'd found myself in. I began by training Mudkip and myself, trying to get to a state of healthiness. I learned how to work with Mudkip, to fight in trainer battles. Galar didn't really have a training school the way the other regions did. But it had casual training.
I spent time building a team and enjoying the world. While I missed my family, I knew they were safe in my world. Without a way back, I decided to just keep training until I'd become good enough to draw the attention of Dialga or some other legendary who could travel the Multiverse.
But man. The Pokemon world is beautiful. There was an untamed look to it all, breathtaking buildings, incredible landscapes. Mudkip and I visited cities that looked like the sorts of places I'd only ever seen in travel magazines. I started in the south of Galar, in a small town called Postwick. From there, Mudkip and I started north, traveling through picturesque landscapes, past rivers, and lakes, buildings, a massive city that looked like a Steampunk artist had gone nuts. Then I got to an airport and spent all the money I'd gained boarding a plane to Sinnoh. If I wanted to find a way home eventually, I'd need to head to the place where the space-time warping Legendaries lived.
It was only when I reached Sinnoh that my journey really began. And I poured my money into my Pokemon team. Without having to worry about rent, I could spend my money on food, healing, and training. Mudkip was soon joined by a Slugma that I caught. Then a Mimikyu and a Gurdurr. I got my hands on a fossil and got it revived, a process that had been mastered decades ago (Seriously, these fuckers had perfected cloning technology and they didn't use it.) That got me Tyrunt, a rambunctious and selfish little guy that I loved dearly.
The last Pokemon I got was Alakazam. I'd been looking for a beater. As much as I loved my team, I knew I'd need some real power. So I found myself an idiot. He was a frustrated guy whose Alakazam wasn't listening to him, and selling it. I found him in the Pokemon world version of EBay, and immediately put every cent I had into buying it.
The Alakazam I got was a badass. He treated me more like a rambunctious teenager than anything. But I was fine with that. Time would get us to work together.
But before I could get to working on my plans, Team Rainbow Rocket showed up in Sinnoh. The batch of morons were really just the last remnants of that team. An interdimensional team that had been created by the one Giovanni who hadn't gotten his ass kicked by a ten-year-old. And the second they showed up, I started hunting.
Interdimensional. As in, they had the tech to travel dimensions. I wanted it. I went after them with all the power I had.
The first Rainbow Rocket member I found was a grunt causing chaos in the streets of Veilstone City, wearing the familiar Rocket gear. He said something arrogant as his Raticate attacked a young woman. Gurdurr went after the Raticate, my arrogant fighting type smashing the rat with an I-beam.
And I punched the Rocket grunt in the face. I still think back on that fondly, the man staring at me in shock as he fell on his back, nose bleeding. "B-But you aren't supposed to punch other trainers!"
"You're literally attacking people in the streets. We aren't playing tournament rules, moron."
I imagine seeing a teenager beat the shit out of a crying grown man as a Raticate was turned into a tennis ball was a hilarious image.
Then, about a month after I started hunting them down… I found the device. A machine Rainbow Rocket was working on, trying to pierce the veil between worlds. A few beatdowns later, I tracked them to the caves near Oreburgh City. Me and my Pokemon rushed in as a group, fists and powers flying as we attacked them, the Grunts and their Pokemon trying to stop us. We found our way to the scientist making the device. The machine created a portal, and I got ready for a fight.
It was about then that I realized my mistake. In those four months, I'd forgotten one thing. Why had I shown up in the Pokemon world? What had brought me there?
Arceus showed up. And that motherfucker blew up the machine with a single Judgement blast, sending me tumbling through the dimensions.
Of all the convoluted fucking…
I pulled my Pokemon back into their balls just before he sent me into the portal. The last thing I saw before the red void was that smug drama llama staring at me with those wise eyes. Asshole.
And now I was cursing to myself while tumbling through nothingness.
------
"...The void is vast. Incredibly vast, stretching out into the horizon, farther and farther, entirely scarlet, until the mind begins to boggle at the insane size of it all… It's also boring as fuck."
I had my legs and arms crossed, sitting on nothing as I spun around and around in a world without gravity. I was scowling. Hard. All I had on me was my Pokeballs. I'd used all my potions except a couple full restores during my run through the cave. And unlike the Pokedex wielders, I didn't have a giant bag and a thousand sponsors to help me get a small armory of items.
And no, I wasn't bitter about those spoiled badass kids.
It was in the middle of my twisting dance across nothing that I felt a force pulling on
me. I could barely feel it. But after about two hours flipping through nothingness, any change was obvious. The force I felt pushed me across the void. Or pulled me. It felt like both and neither at the same time.
"...If this doesn't send me to Earth, I'm going to lose my mind."
I hit the sidewall that did and didn't exist, because of course it had to be as confusing as the rest of the place, and went tumbling through the air.
It was about ten feet until my back slammed into the ground. Stars filled my vision as I sprawled then, scrambling and rubbing my butt and back in a vain attempt to chase away the pain.
"Ahhhhh!" I yelled in pain. "Son of a-AHHH!" I grit my teeth as I got up, looking around.
"...At least it's pretty," I said after a moment. The place I'd landed on had a perfect view of the ocean.
The sky was bright blue, with beautiful white clouds. The ocean sang as it crashed against a beach of black sand. At the edge of the beach was a forest of dark green trees, before the forest became a field of green grass. I was standing atop of a hill, letting me get a good look at it all. Another large hill was across from me, shining different shades of green from all the plants growing across it.
"...Am I in Alola?" I asked myself curiously.
It looked like the place, based on the pictures I'd seen. Same pretty beach. Same humidity.
I shrugged off the jacket I was wearing to protect me from Galar's chilly weather and rain, wrapping it around my waist. Then I took off Mudkip's Pokeball from my belt and popped it open.
The tiny mud fish Pokemon appeared in a flash of red light and the familiar 'snap-hiss!' of a Pokeball opening. He opened his eyes and looked around. On seeing me, his black eyes closed as he smiled.
"Mudkip, Mud!"
"Hey buddy," I couldn't help my smile. I kneeled down and rubber Mudkip's head, scratching at the smooth skin next to his head fin. "We've got trouble…"
"Kip?" he asked curiously.
I patted my right shoulder. Mudkip hopped up there and held on as I stood up and looked around. "This look familiar to you?"
He shook his head.
"Damn. Well, Arceus," that dick llama. "Sent us through the portal… Why?"
Mudkip and I shared a confused look. He sighed and shook his head, pointing his paw at the valley behind the beach.
"What, you want to go down there?"
Mudkip nodded. "Kip, Mudkip."
Four months of interactions made it practically second nature to understand Pokemon language, a combination of body language and tone.
In this case, Mudkip had a point. There were buildings down in the valley. And honestly, it made more sense to try and find out where we were while we discussed things. Multitasking.
I assure you, the language Pokemon use is capable of doing a lot with a few moves and sounds.
With a plan in mind, I started marching. Wherever we were, at least it was civilized. There were houses, some signs of farming, and a car rolling along. While cars weren't quite as popular as Pokemon for traveling, they were still used by those who didn't have bigger Pokemon to travel with.
Mudkip and I talked as we walked. "We were traveling for months, Mud. Months. Fighting every Rainbow Rocket we could get out hands-on in the Sinnoh region. Why, after all that, does Arceus show up out of nowhere and shove us through a portal?"
"Kip."
"I really doubt we did anything new to draw his attention… Or maybe he's the ROB?"
Enough time with Mudkip had led the small water to understand my slang. He frowned thoughtfully but said nothing as he looked around curiously.
We walked for a little longer before reaching a road, which I started following. We continued for several minutes, taking in the views around us. The place really was pretty. After Sinnoh and Galar's chillier climates, sunshine and the smell of the ocean in the distance gave me a skip in my step.
A truck passed us, a brown-skinned man with a straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt on driving it. He gave me and Mudkip an odd look. Mudkip waved at the man, who slowly waved back, almost swerving off the road he was so distracted.
"Mudkip?" my buddy asked.
"I don't know, man. People are weird wherever they are."
With that little bit of philosophy, I continued into the valley. We passed a few houses and people working in fields, who ignored us entirely. Soon, I saw something interesting. A tourist shop. Granted, it was called 'Waipio Valley Artworks', but I knew a tourist shop when I saw it.
I walked up, ignoring a man seated at a table as he smoked a cigar. There was a newspaper stand there. Pretty damn old school, but welcome. The man smoking a cigar stared at me as I walked up the newspaper stand. I looked at it, ready to place some Pokémon Dollars in it.
I stopped, staring. Rather than the familiar symbol I'd gotten used to next to the price there was a dollar symbol. A symbol from my world. For the currency I'd used back home.
My heart stopped, then started again, pumping harder. The thought consumed me. Home. I was home again. I stared at the symbols before me, eyes dropping to the newspaper being sold. The newspaper was called the 'Star-Advertiser'. The date was March 2nd… 2010!? I was sent back in time! What the hell?
Then I saw the headline.
"Superman Prevents Eruption!"
"..." Mudkip stared between me and the newspaper. I stepped back and sat down on the floor.
The man with the cigar took a puff. "So. What is that, a mutated dog or something?"
"Or something… You ever heard of Batman?"
"That urban legend?" the man asked.
I thought so.
"Fuuuuuuuuuu-"
The story is below, let me know what you guys think.
------
Arceus is a fucking asshole.
Anyone who knows Legendary Pokemon knows that most of them share that trait. In my case though, I was feeling that way out of personal rage.
I tumbled through a world of red lights, trying to reach my hands out for anything.
"You asshole!" I shouted into the void, getting no answers. I screamed it again, just to hear my voice in this empty space.
What the hell happened!?
------
My name is Mahmoud. Four months ago, I'd woken up in the Pokemon world. Yeah, just like that. No answers, no one to blame. Just me, in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, waking up in a Pokemon Center. I didn't even have my smartphone.
What was worse was that I'd woken up about 15 years younger than when I went to sleep.
Do you know how annoying it is to not only show up in another world, but to be a teenager again at the same time? I wasn't one of those guys who was obsessed with relieving their youth. Being an adult, having actual agency and power in my life, was something I didn't want to lose.
Instead, I was an overweight teenager again. Years of working out and building muscle, my large and glorious beard, all gone and replaced with my awkward teenage self. I was around 15 or 16ish. Just before I started taking care of myself.
I spent that first hour I was awake staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, eyes tracing my olive-brown skin and brown eyes. I'd also lost height and muscle, all replaced by a paunchy stomach that wrestling practice and years of on and off workouts would slowly erase.
I eventually left the bathroom and the room set aside to see what the world looked like.
It took about five seconds for me to realize where I was. It was right when the Onix rolled past.
He was massive. The boulders that made up his form were as wide around as I was tall. He went through the halls of the Pokemon Center with incredible grace, his body clacking together as he moved. He turned his head to look at me. In real life, those slanted eyes had a physical effect on me. The long spike on top of his head looked particularly lethal.
There's no doubt in my mind that anyone who had seen that would have done what I did. Slowly turn around and go back into my room, the Onix ignoring me as he continued to roll towards the small child calling him 'Danny'.
I'd been ROBbed. I was self-inserted. Or, in this case, inserted.
I sat in bed for a bit, just taking in the feel of the blanket under my skin. It felt real. I pinched myself. Yep, real. I stared out the window. A Fletchling was watching me through the window, the bird Pokemon cocking his head to the side.
So yeah. My first day inserted into the Pokemon world was just me freaking out at the new situation I'd found myself in. In my home universe, I'd written a few Self-Insert fanfics. One of them even involved Pokemon quite heavily. That helped me a bit.
Once I got my bearings and stopped freaking out, I managed to find the bright side of things. Well, I also had to get used to the weird hair colors. What accident of genetics makes pink hair? Or makes all Nurse Joys and Officer Jenny's share the same appearance?
The Pokemon Center I woke up in was in the middle of Galar, the region that showed up in Sword and Shield. Basically Pokemon Europe. It was kind of funny, hearing Pokemon trainers talk in Scottish, British, and Irish accents.
Sadly I hadn't gotten around to playing the Sword and Shield games, but I had one advantage. I'd been found in the woods with nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, and had spent time confused and asking dumb questions anyone would know. People assumed I was an amnesiac kid who knew nothing. I let them think that.
It let me get some free food, basic necessities, and my first Pokemon, gifted to me by a kind Nurse Joy who wanted to make sure I was protected. A Mudkip.
Mudkip was adorable. He had that big blue fin, the orange fins on his cheek, and it turned out that he liked my dumb jokes.
I didn't start off having a goal other than survival. I'd come into the world of Pokemon at a time when peace was the only thing to worry about. I wasn't the main character of some crazy Isekai novel, I was a random guy. Two people, Victor and Gloria, they were the main characters. They'd stopped the bad guys, saved the day, and made a legend of their own. The other regions had been helped in similar ways. I wasn't about to save the world. It had been saved.
So I decided to enjoy myself. I was in the POKEMON world! Once the shock stopped, I realized what a crazy awesome situation I'd found myself in. I began by training Mudkip and myself, trying to get to a state of healthiness. I learned how to work with Mudkip, to fight in trainer battles. Galar didn't really have a training school the way the other regions did. But it had casual training.
I spent time building a team and enjoying the world. While I missed my family, I knew they were safe in my world. Without a way back, I decided to just keep training until I'd become good enough to draw the attention of Dialga or some other legendary who could travel the Multiverse.
But man. The Pokemon world is beautiful. There was an untamed look to it all, breathtaking buildings, incredible landscapes. Mudkip and I visited cities that looked like the sorts of places I'd only ever seen in travel magazines. I started in the south of Galar, in a small town called Postwick. From there, Mudkip and I started north, traveling through picturesque landscapes, past rivers, and lakes, buildings, a massive city that looked like a Steampunk artist had gone nuts. Then I got to an airport and spent all the money I'd gained boarding a plane to Sinnoh. If I wanted to find a way home eventually, I'd need to head to the place where the space-time warping Legendaries lived.
It was only when I reached Sinnoh that my journey really began. And I poured my money into my Pokemon team. Without having to worry about rent, I could spend my money on food, healing, and training. Mudkip was soon joined by a Slugma that I caught. Then a Mimikyu and a Gurdurr. I got my hands on a fossil and got it revived, a process that had been mastered decades ago (Seriously, these fuckers had perfected cloning technology and they didn't use it.) That got me Tyrunt, a rambunctious and selfish little guy that I loved dearly.
The last Pokemon I got was Alakazam. I'd been looking for a beater. As much as I loved my team, I knew I'd need some real power. So I found myself an idiot. He was a frustrated guy whose Alakazam wasn't listening to him, and selling it. I found him in the Pokemon world version of EBay, and immediately put every cent I had into buying it.
The Alakazam I got was a badass. He treated me more like a rambunctious teenager than anything. But I was fine with that. Time would get us to work together.
But before I could get to working on my plans, Team Rainbow Rocket showed up in Sinnoh. The batch of morons were really just the last remnants of that team. An interdimensional team that had been created by the one Giovanni who hadn't gotten his ass kicked by a ten-year-old. And the second they showed up, I started hunting.
Interdimensional. As in, they had the tech to travel dimensions. I wanted it. I went after them with all the power I had.
The first Rainbow Rocket member I found was a grunt causing chaos in the streets of Veilstone City, wearing the familiar Rocket gear. He said something arrogant as his Raticate attacked a young woman. Gurdurr went after the Raticate, my arrogant fighting type smashing the rat with an I-beam.
And I punched the Rocket grunt in the face. I still think back on that fondly, the man staring at me in shock as he fell on his back, nose bleeding. "B-But you aren't supposed to punch other trainers!"
"You're literally attacking people in the streets. We aren't playing tournament rules, moron."
I imagine seeing a teenager beat the shit out of a crying grown man as a Raticate was turned into a tennis ball was a hilarious image.
Then, about a month after I started hunting them down… I found the device. A machine Rainbow Rocket was working on, trying to pierce the veil between worlds. A few beatdowns later, I tracked them to the caves near Oreburgh City. Me and my Pokemon rushed in as a group, fists and powers flying as we attacked them, the Grunts and their Pokemon trying to stop us. We found our way to the scientist making the device. The machine created a portal, and I got ready for a fight.
It was about then that I realized my mistake. In those four months, I'd forgotten one thing. Why had I shown up in the Pokemon world? What had brought me there?
Arceus showed up. And that motherfucker blew up the machine with a single Judgement blast, sending me tumbling through the dimensions.
Of all the convoluted fucking…
I pulled my Pokemon back into their balls just before he sent me into the portal. The last thing I saw before the red void was that smug drama llama staring at me with those wise eyes. Asshole.
And now I was cursing to myself while tumbling through nothingness.
------
"...The void is vast. Incredibly vast, stretching out into the horizon, farther and farther, entirely scarlet, until the mind begins to boggle at the insane size of it all… It's also boring as fuck."
I had my legs and arms crossed, sitting on nothing as I spun around and around in a world without gravity. I was scowling. Hard. All I had on me was my Pokeballs. I'd used all my potions except a couple full restores during my run through the cave. And unlike the Pokedex wielders, I didn't have a giant bag and a thousand sponsors to help me get a small armory of items.
And no, I wasn't bitter about those spoiled badass kids.
It was in the middle of my twisting dance across nothing that I felt a force pulling on
me. I could barely feel it. But after about two hours flipping through nothingness, any change was obvious. The force I felt pushed me across the void. Or pulled me. It felt like both and neither at the same time.
"...If this doesn't send me to Earth, I'm going to lose my mind."
I hit the sidewall that did and didn't exist, because of course it had to be as confusing as the rest of the place, and went tumbling through the air.
It was about ten feet until my back slammed into the ground. Stars filled my vision as I sprawled then, scrambling and rubbing my butt and back in a vain attempt to chase away the pain.
"Ahhhhh!" I yelled in pain. "Son of a-AHHH!" I grit my teeth as I got up, looking around.
"...At least it's pretty," I said after a moment. The place I'd landed on had a perfect view of the ocean.
The sky was bright blue, with beautiful white clouds. The ocean sang as it crashed against a beach of black sand. At the edge of the beach was a forest of dark green trees, before the forest became a field of green grass. I was standing atop of a hill, letting me get a good look at it all. Another large hill was across from me, shining different shades of green from all the plants growing across it.
"...Am I in Alola?" I asked myself curiously.
It looked like the place, based on the pictures I'd seen. Same pretty beach. Same humidity.
I shrugged off the jacket I was wearing to protect me from Galar's chilly weather and rain, wrapping it around my waist. Then I took off Mudkip's Pokeball from my belt and popped it open.
The tiny mud fish Pokemon appeared in a flash of red light and the familiar 'snap-hiss!' of a Pokeball opening. He opened his eyes and looked around. On seeing me, his black eyes closed as he smiled.
"Mudkip, Mud!"
"Hey buddy," I couldn't help my smile. I kneeled down and rubber Mudkip's head, scratching at the smooth skin next to his head fin. "We've got trouble…"
"Kip?" he asked curiously.
I patted my right shoulder. Mudkip hopped up there and held on as I stood up and looked around. "This look familiar to you?"
He shook his head.
"Damn. Well, Arceus," that dick llama. "Sent us through the portal… Why?"
Mudkip and I shared a confused look. He sighed and shook his head, pointing his paw at the valley behind the beach.
"What, you want to go down there?"
Mudkip nodded. "Kip, Mudkip."
Four months of interactions made it practically second nature to understand Pokemon language, a combination of body language and tone.
In this case, Mudkip had a point. There were buildings down in the valley. And honestly, it made more sense to try and find out where we were while we discussed things. Multitasking.
I assure you, the language Pokemon use is capable of doing a lot with a few moves and sounds.
With a plan in mind, I started marching. Wherever we were, at least it was civilized. There were houses, some signs of farming, and a car rolling along. While cars weren't quite as popular as Pokemon for traveling, they were still used by those who didn't have bigger Pokemon to travel with.
Mudkip and I talked as we walked. "We were traveling for months, Mud. Months. Fighting every Rainbow Rocket we could get out hands-on in the Sinnoh region. Why, after all that, does Arceus show up out of nowhere and shove us through a portal?"
"Kip."
"I really doubt we did anything new to draw his attention… Or maybe he's the ROB?"
Enough time with Mudkip had led the small water to understand my slang. He frowned thoughtfully but said nothing as he looked around curiously.
We walked for a little longer before reaching a road, which I started following. We continued for several minutes, taking in the views around us. The place really was pretty. After Sinnoh and Galar's chillier climates, sunshine and the smell of the ocean in the distance gave me a skip in my step.
A truck passed us, a brown-skinned man with a straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt on driving it. He gave me and Mudkip an odd look. Mudkip waved at the man, who slowly waved back, almost swerving off the road he was so distracted.
"Mudkip?" my buddy asked.
"I don't know, man. People are weird wherever they are."
With that little bit of philosophy, I continued into the valley. We passed a few houses and people working in fields, who ignored us entirely. Soon, I saw something interesting. A tourist shop. Granted, it was called 'Waipio Valley Artworks', but I knew a tourist shop when I saw it.
I walked up, ignoring a man seated at a table as he smoked a cigar. There was a newspaper stand there. Pretty damn old school, but welcome. The man smoking a cigar stared at me as I walked up the newspaper stand. I looked at it, ready to place some Pokémon Dollars in it.
I stopped, staring. Rather than the familiar symbol I'd gotten used to next to the price there was a dollar symbol. A symbol from my world. For the currency I'd used back home.
My heart stopped, then started again, pumping harder. The thought consumed me. Home. I was home again. I stared at the symbols before me, eyes dropping to the newspaper being sold. The newspaper was called the 'Star-Advertiser'. The date was March 2nd… 2010!? I was sent back in time! What the hell?
Then I saw the headline.
"Superman Prevents Eruption!"
"..." Mudkip stared between me and the newspaper. I stepped back and sat down on the floor.
The man with the cigar took a puff. "So. What is that, a mutated dog or something?"
"Or something… You ever heard of Batman?"
"That urban legend?" the man asked.
I thought so.
"Fuuuuuuuuuu-"
verycoolname
Not actually cool
Ooh? I'm liking this start! I wasn't a fan of the weird angst about being the 'real' trainer in the last version.
Soooooo *glances around totally inconspicuously* Young Justice Huh? There's a lot of interesting creatures you could find y'know? *whistles* Wonder if he has any pokeballs?
On another note, how are Pokemon gonna work here? Since they're obviously biological(most anyways) that's part of their abilities, but their energy and element generating abilities could fall anywhere on the spectrum of magic to chi/qi to Marvel-like Mutant Abilities.
Also really interested in how Pokemon Moves work here. Will they have more flexibility and be part of a broader power-base, or act more like specific magic spells in function?
Also,pls tell me the move limit doesn't exist here!!!
On another note, how are Pokemon gonna work here? Since they're obviously biological(most anyways) that's part of their abilities, but their energy and element generating abilities could fall anywhere on the spectrum of magic to chi/qi to Marvel-like Mutant Abilities.
Also really interested in how Pokemon Moves work here. Will they have more flexibility and be part of a broader power-base, or act more like specific magic spells in function?
Also,pls tell me the move limit doesn't exist here!!!
I'm assuming, considering that this is a reboot, it will play out similarly to his earlier YJ/Pokemon fic Adorable Murderbeasts.
Only this time with a less experienced team at his side and probably more build up.
Chapter 2
"-uck," I stared at the newspaper before me, then looked at Mudkip. He cocked his head to the side cutely, curious as to why I was freaking out. "Come on bud. We need to figure shit out."
Ignoring the man with the cigar again, we left to head towards the beach. Once we got there, I took stock of things.
"Okay, Mudkip. The world we're in is called the DC universe… or one of them. I think."
"Mudkip."
"Look, I know it's confusing, but there's like fifty-two different DC universes… Well, more like 104 if you include the dark multiverse."
"Mudkip?"
"Doesn't matter. In the end, no matter what DC universe we're in, we'd have the same problem. Food, water, shelter, and figuring out what to do from there."
In some ways, it was to my benefit that I'd been dropped into another world already. I had experience on my side. That and the fact I'm a huge damn nerd. First, I had to think about where I'd found myself.
Hawaii. I'd never been here before, though like a lot of people I'd dreamed of it. Only so many times you can rewatch cinematic masterpieces like Johnny Tsunami without wanting to visit the place. At least Hawaii was civilized. I mean, there were still some sections of wild territory I could hide in, but at least they had milkshakes.
Actually, milkshakes brought up something else. Namely, money to buy the milkshakes. I had 3000 Pokemon Dollars. All completely useless now.
"Mudkip," I looked down at my bud. He raised an eyebrow at me. Then he looked at one of the Pokeballs on my belt. One I always felt reluctant to open.
"...He's going to be so damn smug," I said.
Mudkip sighed, giving me a little look.
I sighed in return, reaching for my belt and popping off the Pokeball, snapping it open. He appeared in a bright red flash before me.
"Alakazam!" he cried proudly. The Pokemon before Mudkip and I was about a foot shorter than me, with brown fur going from dark to pale across his body, and two long protrusions coming off his nose that looked like a mustache. His three-fingered hands each clenched a spoon. He looked around for a moment. Then his eyes met mine.
I felt a mind press against my own, the telepathic touch not invasive, but questioning. With a bit of a grimace, I let him in.
"What have you done, young one?" the voice said in the tone of an ancient elder admonishing a student. Well, I say voice. Really, it was his thought-speak, his mental thoughts being conveyed directly into my mind. Only Pokemon who had a strong psychic power could do it.
"I've had fuck-all to do with this," I said with a scowl. "Here."
I sent a mental image of what had happened, trying to convey it as clearly as I could.
"As ever, your thoughts are a chaotic mess," Alakazam said with some admonishment. "However, I see what you mean. Much like my world, this one was seen through the lens of fiction in yours… I have to wonder if Team Rainbow Rocket was attempting to access this world, or if Lord Arceus was sending us here."
"My money is on that llama," I said immediately. "Explains how I showed up in the Pokemon world from the start."
Alakazam nodded. "...You have already come upon the problem we must solve. Survival. We are in this world, whatever the circumstances. You have experience with similar places."
"Not Hawaii," I said with some trepidation. "I don't remember anything about the islands."
"A failing of your world's education, I'm sure," Alakazam ignored my glare. "Then we must discover what we can. Without a flying Pokemon on our team, we are left with much more simple forms of reconnaissance."
"Hopefully we're on the Big Island," I said without thinking. I blinked thoughtfully at that. Oh right. I guess I knew a few things about Hawaii, if only from random facts overheard as the years passed, like someone in the Netherlands knowing a few things about Ireland.
"You will need to speak to those who live here, then," Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back, shaking his head. "Get your bearings. If this world truly is a DC universe, we will have enemies we may need to fend off."
"Not likely. Even with you guys, I'm probably going to end up being just one more random guy trying to help, not someone enemies will try to hunt down," my time in the Pokemon world had beaten any concept of how 'special' I was out of me.
"Don't be foolish," Alakazam narrowed his eyes at me. "You may be random. I and your Pokemon are not."
Fair point. Cloning was depressingly common in comics. And Pokemon had DNA, whatever their fantastic powers. For a moment, I thought of Rainbow Rocket. Those guys may have been chumps, but a few Pokemon had been enough to make them dangerous. I could knock those guys out with a couple of punches, but their Machops and Haunters would tear me apart.
Whatever. That wasn't the issue right now.
"Alakazam, can you stay here and make some sort of shelter with Gurdurr?"
"You want me to do grunt work?" he asked pointedly.
"Wouldn't be talking so big if I had gym badges," I grumbled to myself. "And no, I'm not asking you to build it specifically. I'm asking you to keep my favorite construction worker from going nuts."
Alakazam narrowed his eyes. Then he twisted his spoons around before placing them at his waist. "Good point. Then I would suggest we go somewhere more secluded," his voice echoed in my mind. "If Hawaii is as much of a tourist trap as you believe it to be, then I am most surprised we haven't been seen yet."
"..." Mudkip and I shared a look.
"You've already been seen. With a Pokemon," Alakazam sighed. "Very well. Summon the architect."
I grabbed Gurdurr's Pokeball and popped it open. As he was summoned, he twirled his weapon of choice in his hands, a large steel I-beam.
"Gur, GURDURR!" he roared as loud as he could, crowing his dominance to the world.
"Quiet down, you steel-brained buffoon!"
"Calm down," I told Alakazam. "If you sensed someone nearby, you would have told us."
He gave me the sort of look my dad used to when he thought I wasn't getting the point.
"Gurdurr," the rambunctious fighting type stuck his tongue out at Alakazam, then laughed happily.
"You are my least favorite person," Alakazam said with a shake of his head.
Gurdurr stuck his tongue out at him again.
"Get along you two," I said with some trepidation at this duo I was trying to get to work together. "Gurdurr. We need somewhere to live," a glint came into his eyes. "Nothing crazy! Just something temporary. As long as it can block some rain and cold," I looked around the sky. "It looks pretty early in the morning, but I'd rather have the place ready in case Hawaii decides to start a storm."
Not much risk of that, considering how beautiful the day looked, but you never knew.
"...Gur."
"No, it doesn't need a pool."
"Gur, Gur."
"Look, you can add in rooms to a building later, but this needs to be TEMPORARY. Extremely so! It doesn't need a cathedral spire."
Gurdurr gave me a look like I was asking him to betray everything he stood for.
"Dude, we'll build something crazy later," I said with a sigh. Seriously, Gurdurr's were supposed to be obsessed with demolition. Why was mine the only one who loved creating things? And why was that somehow more of a problem?
"We will take care of it," Alakazam said while raising his spoons high. Gurdurr and him traded a brief glare before they nodded at me.
I hesitated for a moment. Then I sighed and nodded. "Come on Mudkip."
"Would it not be better to carry him in his Pokeball?" Alakazam asked pointedly as Mudkip hopped onto my shoulder again.
"If I get jumped by Doomsday falling out the sky, I'd rather have my tiny water cannon out and ready to fight back."
"If Doomsday showed up, you'd die."
"But not as fast if Mudkip is around. He'll go back in by the time we get near people. Right now, I want to make sure we avoid getting blindsided."
"Kip!" Mudkip said with some pride in his voice.
Alakazam sighed as Mudkip and I walked off.
------
Mudkip slipped back into his Pokeball once we were close to our destination. I went back to the tourist shop, entering inside confidently. I walked up to the cashier, a bored looking older Hawaiian man who had a white t-shirt on. The store was interesting inside. I could see dozens of handmade items, from vases, to bowls, to small Hawaiian paintings and other art. There were also a lot of pictures of the area, with spectacular views of the beach two Pokemon were currently bickering on.
"Aloha," the cashier said with a small smile as I walked in. "What can I do for you, kane?"
"Kane?" I blinked, surprised.
"Means man, boy," the Hawaiian man said with a grin. "You need help looking around?"
"Not really," I said while walking up to him. "I'm actually a bit lost."
"Ah," he looked outside. "You can't find your parents, eh?"
Oh right. I'm in a teenage body. Fucking…
"Nothing like that," I said with a grimace. "It's more that I've been hiking for a while, so I wanted to know if you had a map I could take a look at?"
"Ah," the man nodded, apparently used to dumb tourists getting lost around here. "I gotcha, kane. Here," he turned and rummaged through some stuff before pulling out a map and taking a look at it.
As he did, I linked my mind to Alakazam's. He paused in keeping Gurdurr from building a second story to look through my eyes. It was a trick we'd figured out. Alakazam. One of the smartest Pokemon in existence. And capable of memorizing everything he ever read. Good way to take advantage of that power was to have him do it through my eyes.
As the map was passed to me, I held my gaze steady on it. The man helpfully pointed at one section of the map. "We're right here. The beautiful Waipio Valley!"
"It's a gorgeous place, that's for sure," I agreed, getting a proud smile from the man.
I took a closer look at the map. We were on the Big Island, the largest section of Hawaii. Well, we were a VERY long way off from home. In more ways than one. If I remembered correctly, it was also not very densely populated. It had a lot of people, but not as many as a place it's size could contain. Which meant I had more of a shot at hiding around here. Nice.
"Thanks for the help," I told the man with a smile.
"Sure you don't need anything else?" he said in the tone of a man hoping for a customer.
"I'm good. I might come back soon though," I said quickly, lying as I rushed out of the door. Just then I realized something and stepped back through the door. "By the way, you know Batman?"
"The superhero?" the cashier said, surprised. When I nodded, he grinned. "Yeah, he's on the Justice League, right?"
"Your man out there thinks he's an urban legend," I said with a chuckle, nodding towards the older man outside still smoking his cigar.
"That's Akamai," the cashier rolled his eyes. "Probably doesn't care about anything outside the valley. He still thinks the Civil War was yesterday."
I grinned at that. I knew the type. With a final wave, I headed out.
I walked fast until I was out of sight of people, then brought Mudkip back out.
"We might be better off than I thought," I said to my water bud, stopping to let him back onto my shoulder before I continued walking. "This place may be a tourist hotspot, but if we had to pick a place to hide out on the islands, we've got a chance."
The Big Islands would have lots of wilderness for us to dip into. I didn't have to worry as much about my Pokemon getting kidnapped and cloned, or worse. Not yet, anyways. In the last world, the goal I'd settled on was finding a way to my Earth. Being in DC didn't change that goal. In some ways, it made it both easier and harder. While transdimensional technology in this world was relatively common, it was also guarded by the sorts of people you wouldn't want to mess with.
My right hook and Pokemon could handle things in the world of Pokemon. Most grunts hadn't learned how to fight to the level of martial artists, and I could depend on my Pokemon to take down the superhuman threats.
DC, on the other hand, was chock-full of bad guys who were either martial artists training to kill you with a flies wing, tech geniuses with power armor, or people who used the forces of the universe to crush buildings. Or all three, if you were phenomenally unlucky.
I was pretty sure I was phenomenally unlucky. I'd do my best to build up to hunting down a way to travel home. For right now, the goal was survival.
Mudkip and I got back to the beach after another long walk, finding the secluded section Alakazam and Gurdurr had chosen for our temporary abode. Gurdurr was working on a roof now, tying fronds together. I felt some relief that Alakazam had succeeded in his goal of holding Gurdurr back from going too crazy.
The house he'd made was built with wood, put together so it was a single room large enough for all of us. It must have taken little more than an hour, considering how long the walk was from the beach to the tourist shop. The magic of Pokemon vitality and strength.
"Nice job buddy," I said to Gurdurr.
"...Gurdurr," he said in disappointment.
I sighed. "I know. Don't worry, next time I ask you to build something, you'll be able to go all out," he gave me a narrow-eyed look. "I promise."
He gave me a bright smile at that, nodding. With more enthusiasm, he tied the final piece of the roof, finishing off the house.
"Now, I believe sustenance will be necessary," Alakazam pointed out, the elder Pokemon floating on air, his legs crossed, spoons spinning over his palms.
"I regret wasting my last Lava Cookie while we were fighting in those damn caves," I grumbled. Team Rainbow Rocket really loved their damn poison-types. A Tentacruel had hit me with a Toxic while I'd been choking out his trainer. I'd had to toss her aside and chow down on the restorative pastry to cure the poison coursing in my body.
By the way, Lava Cookies in the Pokemon world are rice crackers. Not cookies with melted chocolate in them. Disappointing. Still delicious, but disappointing.
"Focus," Alakazam admonished me. I sighed and nodded.
"Mudkip, go ahead and head out into the ocean. We'll need some fish. Enough for all of us."
Mudkip nodded firmly, hopping off my shoulder and rushing into the waves, barking excitedly before disappearing under the water.
In the meantime, I pulled out another Pokeball and snapped it open.
In a flash of red light, a small creature appeared. She was red, shaped like a slug, with cute little eyes and a big smile. The tiny thing blinked slowly, looking around as she started moving around. When she saw me, she smiled affectionately.
"Slugma!"
"Hey, girl," I smiled at her and rubbed her head. Slugma felt so warm. Not quite burning, but enough to feel it. "We're gonna need a fire soon."
"You're using a living creature of magma as a lighter," Alakazam said with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm working with my friends to find a way to survive the day, yes."
He didn't say anything to that, only chuckling.
Slugma let out a cute gurgle as she accepted headpats. I looked over at Gurdurr. "I'm going to imagine that you made a chimney in there."
He had the decency to look embarrassed.
"It's fine. Can't stop you from showing off entirely."
"Gur."
"Slugma, can you go light it?"
"Slug!" she said happily, going over to enter the house, Gurdurr watching her nervously as she left a trail of burning leaves.
"I believe, Mahmoud, you are forgetting a few things."
I didn't reply to him, knowing he'd say what was on his mind soon.
"We were sent here by Arceus… Here. Of all places in this world," Alakazam pointed out slowly. "Why this place? Why this time? I know you. While you are proactive in most aspects of life, you do not enter battle unless prompted."
I looked out into the ocean for a moment, thinking. Alakazam watched me, our minds pressed against one another. Then he backed away.
He was right. There had to be a reason I was in Hawaii. In the DC universe. I wrote a fanfic similar to this once upon a few months ago, though the memory of what that story had entailed escaped me now. This was different though. Why had I been sent here?
I pondered that for a moment longer, staring out at the sun beating down on the ocean and beach.
------
Mudkip brought back a bevy of fish that I didn't know the names of, making sure to get some seaweed while he was at it. The little guy was always worried I didn't eat enough greens.
Slugma had a small fire lit very quickly, so I was soon cooking fish and squid over a flame. With the food cooking, I released my last two Pokemon.
First, my dinoboy.
"Tyrunt!" the miniature T-Rex let out a roar as ferocious as he could make. Which, despite his cuteness, was pretty darn ferocious. He was about the size of a large dog, with most of his body being his massive jaws. He looked around at us, taking in the wooden shelter we were in. Then he smelled the food. Narrowing his eyes, he prowled toward a large fish currently steaming over the fire. "Tyyyyyyy."
"Not even going to say hi?" I said with a grin.
He looked over at me. "...Tyrunt."
Then he looked back at the food, salivating.
I chuckled. Before I could pop the last Pokeball, Mudkip did it for me. My last Pokemon sat briefly on the sand, her yellow outfit flopped over. After a bit, she stood up, her costume popping into its full height. Two long yellow ears with black tips perked up as she looked up at me with her real eyes, two fake ones on the head of her disguise cocking to the side. She cooed at the sight of me, zipping forward to hug my leg.
"Mimikyu!" she chirped.
I bent down and gently rubbed her back. Mudkip hopped over to join us, bumping his head with hers, getting a pleased sound from her. "Hey, girl. We're in a weird spot."
Slugma and Gurdurr walked over to greet Mimukyu, the disguised Pokemon preening at the attention. I sat in the sand and reached to take the fish and squid out of the fire, only for it to float over to me. Alakazam. He spread it out so everyone had a large portion, then we got to eating. As I chewed into some squid, I broke down my plan.
"Here's the idea. First, I wanna head somewhere with a volcano."
Slugma was circling around us. Thanks to her body's physiology, if she stopped moving, she would begin to cool, eventually breaking apart. Thus why she continued to strafe around us while happily eating. At me mentioning volcanoes though, she perked up.
"Yep. We're going jewel hunting," I said easily. "If we head out to the right place we can get something nice. Alakazam?"
"There are some places we may be able to look," Alakazam stroked his mustache. "I will need more information, however. The map that you saw was sadly not informative on active volcanoes."
"We'll head to a town first then," I stroked my chin. For a moment, I missed my beard. As a teenager, all I had was some tiny wisps. "One with a library, or at least internet connection. Find out a bit more about Hawaii. We'll need a raft. Thankfully, I played a video game that taught me how to build that."
"You are saying that specifically to annoy me."
"Little bit. Jokes aside, you feel like giving us a tug?" I asked Mudkip.
Mudkip nodded, eyes sparkling. "Mudkip, Mud!"
Then in that case. "Tyrunt," the small dinosaur looked up at me, his mouth full. It was adorable. "You'll need to stay in your Pokeball for the foreseeable future," he stared at me, surprised. "Just for now. You and Gurdurr."
Gurdurr jumped, annoyed. Tyrunt and Gurdurr let out twin sounds of anger and disappointment.
"Guys, we'll be on a raft, in the middle of water. Tyrunt, you're too heavy. And Gurdurr, you haven't learned how to swim."
Both stilled at that. Tyrunt cocked his head. Then he looked over at Slugma. She was still circling.
"Yeah, Slugma too," I said with some discomfort. Half my team was going to be useless out on the water. Well, not useless. Gurdurr could technically fight really damn well if he had a solid boat to work on. But not a rickety ass raft, where he might fall into a raging ocean and drown.
Better to stick with those who would survive.
Slugma burbled a sound, her sadness clear. Mimikyu went up and hugged her friend, the two girls resting against each other for a moment.
"For now, bed," I said with a sigh. "Tomorrow, we'll head out and find a way to get to the right place. Slugma?"
The small lava monster nodded. She pressed her forehead to Mimikyu before backing up to look at me. I raised my Pokeball and pulled her back into it in a flash of red light.
Slugma, sadly, could never spend as much time with me as the others. She could never sleep. The only rest she could get was in her Pokeball. Anything else meant death.
I pushed the melancholy thought away and laid down on a bed of leaves. Tyrunt rushed to my left side, resting his head along my arm, his tail landing on my belly. Mudkip went to my right, my arm wrapping around him.
Mimikyu carefully removed her Pikachu costume, hanging it up on a random piece of wood sticking out of the wall. I carefully hid my horror at the sight of her true form. While I'd seen it a lot since getting her, I could still never get used to it. She was still cute, but somehow her body filled me with terror as well. She hopped onto my chest and wrapped long eldritch arms around me, letting out horrifying contented sighs.
Alakazam floated on a telekinetic wave of power, his spoons floating over his palms. Gurdurr strode over to the door, carrying his steel I-beam.
"Not going to sleep?" I asked Gurdurr.
He looked back at me. Then he raised his I-beam and slammed it endfirst into the sand, embedding it next to him. "Gurdurr."
He would guard us while we slept.
I frowned. Finally I nodded. "Okay… Wake me in thirty minutes, okay?"
Gurdurr nodded firmly.
The last thing I heard before sleeping were the snores of my infant T-Rex, and the sounds of Gurdurr and Alakazam speaking peacefully.
------
Author's Note: First night in the new world. Next chapter will be more action-packed, promise. In the meantime, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where all chapters show up four days ahead of time for only five bucks. Later!
"-uck," I stared at the newspaper before me, then looked at Mudkip. He cocked his head to the side cutely, curious as to why I was freaking out. "Come on bud. We need to figure shit out."
Ignoring the man with the cigar again, we left to head towards the beach. Once we got there, I took stock of things.
"Okay, Mudkip. The world we're in is called the DC universe… or one of them. I think."
"Mudkip."
"Look, I know it's confusing, but there's like fifty-two different DC universes… Well, more like 104 if you include the dark multiverse."
"Mudkip?"
"Doesn't matter. In the end, no matter what DC universe we're in, we'd have the same problem. Food, water, shelter, and figuring out what to do from there."
In some ways, it was to my benefit that I'd been dropped into another world already. I had experience on my side. That and the fact I'm a huge damn nerd. First, I had to think about where I'd found myself.
Hawaii. I'd never been here before, though like a lot of people I'd dreamed of it. Only so many times you can rewatch cinematic masterpieces like Johnny Tsunami without wanting to visit the place. At least Hawaii was civilized. I mean, there were still some sections of wild territory I could hide in, but at least they had milkshakes.
Actually, milkshakes brought up something else. Namely, money to buy the milkshakes. I had 3000 Pokemon Dollars. All completely useless now.
"Mudkip," I looked down at my bud. He raised an eyebrow at me. Then he looked at one of the Pokeballs on my belt. One I always felt reluctant to open.
"...He's going to be so damn smug," I said.
Mudkip sighed, giving me a little look.
I sighed in return, reaching for my belt and popping off the Pokeball, snapping it open. He appeared in a bright red flash before me.
"Alakazam!" he cried proudly. The Pokemon before Mudkip and I was about a foot shorter than me, with brown fur going from dark to pale across his body, and two long protrusions coming off his nose that looked like a mustache. His three-fingered hands each clenched a spoon. He looked around for a moment. Then his eyes met mine.
I felt a mind press against my own, the telepathic touch not invasive, but questioning. With a bit of a grimace, I let him in.
"What have you done, young one?" the voice said in the tone of an ancient elder admonishing a student. Well, I say voice. Really, it was his thought-speak, his mental thoughts being conveyed directly into my mind. Only Pokemon who had a strong psychic power could do it.
"I've had fuck-all to do with this," I said with a scowl. "Here."
I sent a mental image of what had happened, trying to convey it as clearly as I could.
"As ever, your thoughts are a chaotic mess," Alakazam said with some admonishment. "However, I see what you mean. Much like my world, this one was seen through the lens of fiction in yours… I have to wonder if Team Rainbow Rocket was attempting to access this world, or if Lord Arceus was sending us here."
"My money is on that llama," I said immediately. "Explains how I showed up in the Pokemon world from the start."
Alakazam nodded. "...You have already come upon the problem we must solve. Survival. We are in this world, whatever the circumstances. You have experience with similar places."
"Not Hawaii," I said with some trepidation. "I don't remember anything about the islands."
"A failing of your world's education, I'm sure," Alakazam ignored my glare. "Then we must discover what we can. Without a flying Pokemon on our team, we are left with much more simple forms of reconnaissance."
"Hopefully we're on the Big Island," I said without thinking. I blinked thoughtfully at that. Oh right. I guess I knew a few things about Hawaii, if only from random facts overheard as the years passed, like someone in the Netherlands knowing a few things about Ireland.
"You will need to speak to those who live here, then," Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back, shaking his head. "Get your bearings. If this world truly is a DC universe, we will have enemies we may need to fend off."
"Not likely. Even with you guys, I'm probably going to end up being just one more random guy trying to help, not someone enemies will try to hunt down," my time in the Pokemon world had beaten any concept of how 'special' I was out of me.
"Don't be foolish," Alakazam narrowed his eyes at me. "You may be random. I and your Pokemon are not."
Fair point. Cloning was depressingly common in comics. And Pokemon had DNA, whatever their fantastic powers. For a moment, I thought of Rainbow Rocket. Those guys may have been chumps, but a few Pokemon had been enough to make them dangerous. I could knock those guys out with a couple of punches, but their Machops and Haunters would tear me apart.
Whatever. That wasn't the issue right now.
"Alakazam, can you stay here and make some sort of shelter with Gurdurr?"
"You want me to do grunt work?" he asked pointedly.
"Wouldn't be talking so big if I had gym badges," I grumbled to myself. "And no, I'm not asking you to build it specifically. I'm asking you to keep my favorite construction worker from going nuts."
Alakazam narrowed his eyes. Then he twisted his spoons around before placing them at his waist. "Good point. Then I would suggest we go somewhere more secluded," his voice echoed in my mind. "If Hawaii is as much of a tourist trap as you believe it to be, then I am most surprised we haven't been seen yet."
"..." Mudkip and I shared a look.
"You've already been seen. With a Pokemon," Alakazam sighed. "Very well. Summon the architect."
I grabbed Gurdurr's Pokeball and popped it open. As he was summoned, he twirled his weapon of choice in his hands, a large steel I-beam.
"Gur, GURDURR!" he roared as loud as he could, crowing his dominance to the world.
"Quiet down, you steel-brained buffoon!"
"Calm down," I told Alakazam. "If you sensed someone nearby, you would have told us."
He gave me the sort of look my dad used to when he thought I wasn't getting the point.
"Gurdurr," the rambunctious fighting type stuck his tongue out at Alakazam, then laughed happily.
"You are my least favorite person," Alakazam said with a shake of his head.
Gurdurr stuck his tongue out at him again.
"Get along you two," I said with some trepidation at this duo I was trying to get to work together. "Gurdurr. We need somewhere to live," a glint came into his eyes. "Nothing crazy! Just something temporary. As long as it can block some rain and cold," I looked around the sky. "It looks pretty early in the morning, but I'd rather have the place ready in case Hawaii decides to start a storm."
Not much risk of that, considering how beautiful the day looked, but you never knew.
"...Gur."
"No, it doesn't need a pool."
"Gur, Gur."
"Look, you can add in rooms to a building later, but this needs to be TEMPORARY. Extremely so! It doesn't need a cathedral spire."
Gurdurr gave me a look like I was asking him to betray everything he stood for.
"Dude, we'll build something crazy later," I said with a sigh. Seriously, Gurdurr's were supposed to be obsessed with demolition. Why was mine the only one who loved creating things? And why was that somehow more of a problem?
"We will take care of it," Alakazam said while raising his spoons high. Gurdurr and him traded a brief glare before they nodded at me.
I hesitated for a moment. Then I sighed and nodded. "Come on Mudkip."
"Would it not be better to carry him in his Pokeball?" Alakazam asked pointedly as Mudkip hopped onto my shoulder again.
"If I get jumped by Doomsday falling out the sky, I'd rather have my tiny water cannon out and ready to fight back."
"If Doomsday showed up, you'd die."
"But not as fast if Mudkip is around. He'll go back in by the time we get near people. Right now, I want to make sure we avoid getting blindsided."
"Kip!" Mudkip said with some pride in his voice.
Alakazam sighed as Mudkip and I walked off.
------
Mudkip slipped back into his Pokeball once we were close to our destination. I went back to the tourist shop, entering inside confidently. I walked up to the cashier, a bored looking older Hawaiian man who had a white t-shirt on. The store was interesting inside. I could see dozens of handmade items, from vases, to bowls, to small Hawaiian paintings and other art. There were also a lot of pictures of the area, with spectacular views of the beach two Pokemon were currently bickering on.
"Aloha," the cashier said with a small smile as I walked in. "What can I do for you, kane?"
"Kane?" I blinked, surprised.
"Means man, boy," the Hawaiian man said with a grin. "You need help looking around?"
"Not really," I said while walking up to him. "I'm actually a bit lost."
"Ah," he looked outside. "You can't find your parents, eh?"
Oh right. I'm in a teenage body. Fucking…
"Nothing like that," I said with a grimace. "It's more that I've been hiking for a while, so I wanted to know if you had a map I could take a look at?"
"Ah," the man nodded, apparently used to dumb tourists getting lost around here. "I gotcha, kane. Here," he turned and rummaged through some stuff before pulling out a map and taking a look at it.
As he did, I linked my mind to Alakazam's. He paused in keeping Gurdurr from building a second story to look through my eyes. It was a trick we'd figured out. Alakazam. One of the smartest Pokemon in existence. And capable of memorizing everything he ever read. Good way to take advantage of that power was to have him do it through my eyes.
As the map was passed to me, I held my gaze steady on it. The man helpfully pointed at one section of the map. "We're right here. The beautiful Waipio Valley!"
"It's a gorgeous place, that's for sure," I agreed, getting a proud smile from the man.
I took a closer look at the map. We were on the Big Island, the largest section of Hawaii. Well, we were a VERY long way off from home. In more ways than one. If I remembered correctly, it was also not very densely populated. It had a lot of people, but not as many as a place it's size could contain. Which meant I had more of a shot at hiding around here. Nice.
"Thanks for the help," I told the man with a smile.
"Sure you don't need anything else?" he said in the tone of a man hoping for a customer.
"I'm good. I might come back soon though," I said quickly, lying as I rushed out of the door. Just then I realized something and stepped back through the door. "By the way, you know Batman?"
"The superhero?" the cashier said, surprised. When I nodded, he grinned. "Yeah, he's on the Justice League, right?"
"Your man out there thinks he's an urban legend," I said with a chuckle, nodding towards the older man outside still smoking his cigar.
"That's Akamai," the cashier rolled his eyes. "Probably doesn't care about anything outside the valley. He still thinks the Civil War was yesterday."
I grinned at that. I knew the type. With a final wave, I headed out.
I walked fast until I was out of sight of people, then brought Mudkip back out.
"We might be better off than I thought," I said to my water bud, stopping to let him back onto my shoulder before I continued walking. "This place may be a tourist hotspot, but if we had to pick a place to hide out on the islands, we've got a chance."
The Big Islands would have lots of wilderness for us to dip into. I didn't have to worry as much about my Pokemon getting kidnapped and cloned, or worse. Not yet, anyways. In the last world, the goal I'd settled on was finding a way to my Earth. Being in DC didn't change that goal. In some ways, it made it both easier and harder. While transdimensional technology in this world was relatively common, it was also guarded by the sorts of people you wouldn't want to mess with.
My right hook and Pokemon could handle things in the world of Pokemon. Most grunts hadn't learned how to fight to the level of martial artists, and I could depend on my Pokemon to take down the superhuman threats.
DC, on the other hand, was chock-full of bad guys who were either martial artists training to kill you with a flies wing, tech geniuses with power armor, or people who used the forces of the universe to crush buildings. Or all three, if you were phenomenally unlucky.
I was pretty sure I was phenomenally unlucky. I'd do my best to build up to hunting down a way to travel home. For right now, the goal was survival.
Mudkip and I got back to the beach after another long walk, finding the secluded section Alakazam and Gurdurr had chosen for our temporary abode. Gurdurr was working on a roof now, tying fronds together. I felt some relief that Alakazam had succeeded in his goal of holding Gurdurr back from going too crazy.
The house he'd made was built with wood, put together so it was a single room large enough for all of us. It must have taken little more than an hour, considering how long the walk was from the beach to the tourist shop. The magic of Pokemon vitality and strength.
"Nice job buddy," I said to Gurdurr.
"...Gurdurr," he said in disappointment.
I sighed. "I know. Don't worry, next time I ask you to build something, you'll be able to go all out," he gave me a narrow-eyed look. "I promise."
He gave me a bright smile at that, nodding. With more enthusiasm, he tied the final piece of the roof, finishing off the house.
"Now, I believe sustenance will be necessary," Alakazam pointed out, the elder Pokemon floating on air, his legs crossed, spoons spinning over his palms.
"I regret wasting my last Lava Cookie while we were fighting in those damn caves," I grumbled. Team Rainbow Rocket really loved their damn poison-types. A Tentacruel had hit me with a Toxic while I'd been choking out his trainer. I'd had to toss her aside and chow down on the restorative pastry to cure the poison coursing in my body.
By the way, Lava Cookies in the Pokemon world are rice crackers. Not cookies with melted chocolate in them. Disappointing. Still delicious, but disappointing.
"Focus," Alakazam admonished me. I sighed and nodded.
"Mudkip, go ahead and head out into the ocean. We'll need some fish. Enough for all of us."
Mudkip nodded firmly, hopping off my shoulder and rushing into the waves, barking excitedly before disappearing under the water.
In the meantime, I pulled out another Pokeball and snapped it open.
In a flash of red light, a small creature appeared. She was red, shaped like a slug, with cute little eyes and a big smile. The tiny thing blinked slowly, looking around as she started moving around. When she saw me, she smiled affectionately.
"Slugma!"
"Hey, girl," I smiled at her and rubbed her head. Slugma felt so warm. Not quite burning, but enough to feel it. "We're gonna need a fire soon."
"You're using a living creature of magma as a lighter," Alakazam said with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm working with my friends to find a way to survive the day, yes."
He didn't say anything to that, only chuckling.
Slugma let out a cute gurgle as she accepted headpats. I looked over at Gurdurr. "I'm going to imagine that you made a chimney in there."
He had the decency to look embarrassed.
"It's fine. Can't stop you from showing off entirely."
"Gur."
"Slugma, can you go light it?"
"Slug!" she said happily, going over to enter the house, Gurdurr watching her nervously as she left a trail of burning leaves.
"I believe, Mahmoud, you are forgetting a few things."
I didn't reply to him, knowing he'd say what was on his mind soon.
"We were sent here by Arceus… Here. Of all places in this world," Alakazam pointed out slowly. "Why this place? Why this time? I know you. While you are proactive in most aspects of life, you do not enter battle unless prompted."
I looked out into the ocean for a moment, thinking. Alakazam watched me, our minds pressed against one another. Then he backed away.
He was right. There had to be a reason I was in Hawaii. In the DC universe. I wrote a fanfic similar to this once upon a few months ago, though the memory of what that story had entailed escaped me now. This was different though. Why had I been sent here?
I pondered that for a moment longer, staring out at the sun beating down on the ocean and beach.
------
Mudkip brought back a bevy of fish that I didn't know the names of, making sure to get some seaweed while he was at it. The little guy was always worried I didn't eat enough greens.
Slugma had a small fire lit very quickly, so I was soon cooking fish and squid over a flame. With the food cooking, I released my last two Pokemon.
First, my dinoboy.
"Tyrunt!" the miniature T-Rex let out a roar as ferocious as he could make. Which, despite his cuteness, was pretty darn ferocious. He was about the size of a large dog, with most of his body being his massive jaws. He looked around at us, taking in the wooden shelter we were in. Then he smelled the food. Narrowing his eyes, he prowled toward a large fish currently steaming over the fire. "Tyyyyyyy."
"Not even going to say hi?" I said with a grin.
He looked over at me. "...Tyrunt."
Then he looked back at the food, salivating.
I chuckled. Before I could pop the last Pokeball, Mudkip did it for me. My last Pokemon sat briefly on the sand, her yellow outfit flopped over. After a bit, she stood up, her costume popping into its full height. Two long yellow ears with black tips perked up as she looked up at me with her real eyes, two fake ones on the head of her disguise cocking to the side. She cooed at the sight of me, zipping forward to hug my leg.
"Mimikyu!" she chirped.
I bent down and gently rubbed her back. Mudkip hopped over to join us, bumping his head with hers, getting a pleased sound from her. "Hey, girl. We're in a weird spot."
Slugma and Gurdurr walked over to greet Mimukyu, the disguised Pokemon preening at the attention. I sat in the sand and reached to take the fish and squid out of the fire, only for it to float over to me. Alakazam. He spread it out so everyone had a large portion, then we got to eating. As I chewed into some squid, I broke down my plan.
"Here's the idea. First, I wanna head somewhere with a volcano."
Slugma was circling around us. Thanks to her body's physiology, if she stopped moving, she would begin to cool, eventually breaking apart. Thus why she continued to strafe around us while happily eating. At me mentioning volcanoes though, she perked up.
"Yep. We're going jewel hunting," I said easily. "If we head out to the right place we can get something nice. Alakazam?"
"There are some places we may be able to look," Alakazam stroked his mustache. "I will need more information, however. The map that you saw was sadly not informative on active volcanoes."
"We'll head to a town first then," I stroked my chin. For a moment, I missed my beard. As a teenager, all I had was some tiny wisps. "One with a library, or at least internet connection. Find out a bit more about Hawaii. We'll need a raft. Thankfully, I played a video game that taught me how to build that."
"You are saying that specifically to annoy me."
"Little bit. Jokes aside, you feel like giving us a tug?" I asked Mudkip.
Mudkip nodded, eyes sparkling. "Mudkip, Mud!"
Then in that case. "Tyrunt," the small dinosaur looked up at me, his mouth full. It was adorable. "You'll need to stay in your Pokeball for the foreseeable future," he stared at me, surprised. "Just for now. You and Gurdurr."
Gurdurr jumped, annoyed. Tyrunt and Gurdurr let out twin sounds of anger and disappointment.
"Guys, we'll be on a raft, in the middle of water. Tyrunt, you're too heavy. And Gurdurr, you haven't learned how to swim."
Both stilled at that. Tyrunt cocked his head. Then he looked over at Slugma. She was still circling.
"Yeah, Slugma too," I said with some discomfort. Half my team was going to be useless out on the water. Well, not useless. Gurdurr could technically fight really damn well if he had a solid boat to work on. But not a rickety ass raft, where he might fall into a raging ocean and drown.
Better to stick with those who would survive.
Slugma burbled a sound, her sadness clear. Mimikyu went up and hugged her friend, the two girls resting against each other for a moment.
"For now, bed," I said with a sigh. "Tomorrow, we'll head out and find a way to get to the right place. Slugma?"
The small lava monster nodded. She pressed her forehead to Mimikyu before backing up to look at me. I raised my Pokeball and pulled her back into it in a flash of red light.
Slugma, sadly, could never spend as much time with me as the others. She could never sleep. The only rest she could get was in her Pokeball. Anything else meant death.
I pushed the melancholy thought away and laid down on a bed of leaves. Tyrunt rushed to my left side, resting his head along my arm, his tail landing on my belly. Mudkip went to my right, my arm wrapping around him.
Mimikyu carefully removed her Pikachu costume, hanging it up on a random piece of wood sticking out of the wall. I carefully hid my horror at the sight of her true form. While I'd seen it a lot since getting her, I could still never get used to it. She was still cute, but somehow her body filled me with terror as well. She hopped onto my chest and wrapped long eldritch arms around me, letting out horrifying contented sighs.
Alakazam floated on a telekinetic wave of power, his spoons floating over his palms. Gurdurr strode over to the door, carrying his steel I-beam.
"Not going to sleep?" I asked Gurdurr.
He looked back at me. Then he raised his I-beam and slammed it endfirst into the sand, embedding it next to him. "Gurdurr."
He would guard us while we slept.
I frowned. Finally I nodded. "Okay… Wake me in thirty minutes, okay?"
Gurdurr nodded firmly.
The last thing I heard before sleeping were the snores of my infant T-Rex, and the sounds of Gurdurr and Alakazam speaking peacefully.
------
Author's Note: First night in the new world. Next chapter will be more action-packed, promise. In the meantime, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where all chapters show up four days ahead of time for only five bucks. Later!
He's a Rock-Type baby, so he's got a weakness to water. Also, he doesn't know how to swim. He's a baby. Which is my way of saying you're right, he'll learn eventually, he just hates water as a rock-type.
BerserkerZeroOne
(Unexploded Supernova)
- Location
- On your left!
I wanna see him being found by Batman as he's fighting villains and after the battle Slugma or Mudkip evolves and Bats is all WTF!?!? and he's asked if he's okay when he reports it and he just Bat-stares at people who ask.
- Location
- England
Seems a bit odd that he's building a raft to go hunt gems, or whatever. I would have thought the first move would be to beg, borrow or steal some money for the phone and contact Lucius Fox or similar. "Friendly, interdimensional castaway here. Could you help me getting set up?"
Let's face it, he's bound to end up tangled up in the local super crowd. Best to introduce yourself properly and try to avoid the comical misunderstanding phase with optional fight.
Well time to terrorise the f*ck out of every villain in Gotham with Mimikyu.
Btw are you working under the 4 moves per pokemon rule or just as many moves as reasonable that your pokemon should know.
Btw are you working under the 4 moves per pokemon rule or just as many moves as reasonable that your pokemon should know.
Draegoon
Demon Lord of Greed
- Pronouns
- He/Him
QUESTION! does he have mega stones (keystone to obviously, they'd be useless otherwise)? specifically a Swampertite because partners and because Mega was the best gimmick added to any pokemon game and that's just my opinion so peeps don't try to fight me.
also i quite enjoy your fics so please keep up the great work, because this has amazing potential, Dial is an Omnitrix si and the Omnitrix is OP if used correctly and you are, and whilst it's finished Adorable Murderbeasts was a really enjoyable read.
also i quite enjoy your fics so please keep up the great work, because this has amazing potential, Dial is an Omnitrix si and the Omnitrix is OP if used correctly and you are, and whilst it's finished Adorable Murderbeasts was a really enjoyable read.
Chapter 3
I didn't waste time the next morning. I had learned to work fast when I could. The goal of survival still existed. To that end, we needed money. Which meant getting the raft done, heading to a town, and finding a volcano for Slugma to swim in for valuable minerals.
Tyrunt, Gurdurr, and Mudkip helped to gather branches we needed. Tyrunt used his powerful jaws to cut through thick branches, Mudkip pulled them together into tight bundles, and Gurdurr carried them to the beach. As the three physically strongest Pokemon I had, they were perfect for the job. I was glad I'd spent as much money as I could on Protein vitamins for the trio.
Once the branches got to the beach, Slugma got to work. Being a fire-type, she had little to no issue making sure the branches were smooth, shaping them a bit where they'd been cut a little off.
Once we had enough branches, Mimikyu happily toddled over to them, reaching out from under her costume with long shadowy arms. She separated the branches out, humming to herself as she created piles of thin, thick, and thicker sticks.
"Mimi, mimimi, Mikikyu!"
"Slug, mamama, Slugma!"
The two tiny Pokemon sang happily together as they got their work done, a little bit off-key, but still having fun.
Gurdurr left the branch gathering group to join me. We got to work, pulling the logs together. We went for a simple design. The bottom had three strut… things? Which the platform would rest on top of, with a small shelter in the shape of a tent in case of rain.
Alakazam, in the meantime, kept us in contact mentally while he took vines in hand and twirled them together, keeping watch for anyone coming over. The plan was that if someone did come by, he'd hit them with a Confusion. Maybe excessive, but it would leave them off enough for him to lead them off. There had been no need for that thus far, thankfully.
He was also doing something far more important though. He was tying himself to the land. So that if we had to return, he could simply Teleport us.
That's how the move works in reality. A Pokemon who knows it meditates in one spot, focusing to make a location a new point in reality that they could return to with some passengers. It was insanely hard to do, taking time, energy, and effort, and necessary if he wanted to teleport anywhere that wasn't within his line of sight. It was why all he could do was keep watch and tie vines into ropes. I couldn't even comprehend how hard that sort of thing was.
Alakazam finished up the ropes, Gurdurr tying the raft together nice and tight. It was about 9 feet long and as wide as I was tall. Cramped. But I didn't need a cruise ship. I just needed a way to get from point-A to point-B.
Once we were done, I stood before the raft, grinning down at it. I had to take my shirt off in the heat and humidity, and wiped away the sweat from my forehead as I turned.
"Nice job guys," I said proudly.
Gurdurr placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest. Tyrunt let out a small roar of noise, while Mimikyu and Slugma wiggled happily next to each other.
After a moment to enjoy their joy, I sighed. "Okay. Time to go."
Which meant those on my team who couldn't swim would need to enter their Pokeballs.
Slugma looked sad, but hugged Mudkip and Mimikyu, giving me a resigned look as I pulled her into her Pokeball. Tyrunt let out a gruff noise as I pet his head before I put him away, while Gurdurr twirled his I-Beam around before he was also pulled in, leaving me with Mudkip, Alakazam, and Mimikyu, who proceeded to get to work.
Alakazam, Mimikyu, and I hopped onto the raft, along with some of the fish we'd cooked last night. Mudkip went behind it and gave it a hard shove, his insane strength letting him push the raft outwards into the water with only two big shifts. As soon as we were afloat, Mudkip dived into the waves, swimming around us. I took a rope and tossed it to Mudkip, who grabbed it and wrapped it around his shoulders. Just like that, we were on our way, flying through the waves with Mudkip laughing a bit.
I sat down, shirt still off, and enjoyed the spray on my chest and face, while Mimikyu curled into my lap and Alakazam began to map out our route.
Times like that, watching the ocean ahead of me, a beautiful island to our side, with my Pokemon beside me, made me a lot happier to be where I was. I could just take in view, and be happy that I was, in some way, living a dream I'd had as a little kid. Traveling around the world with super strong animals in my pocket.
"It is rare that I sense contentment from you," Alakazam said, strolling over to me.
"Guess I should stop before I end up surprising you," I snarked.
Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back. "I would rather you didn't. Your anger over your loss is justified. To be sent to a world that isn't yours cannot be easy. But I encourage you to continue finding happiness where you can, young one."
On hearing that, something occurred to me. I stroked my chin, looking up at Alakazam. "I forgot. You guys left your world as well, now…"
Mudkip tilted his head up to look at me. Mimikyu nuzzled closer to me, while Alakazam shrugged.
"Yes. I am hopeful that your efforts will bear fruit. Not just to find a way to freely enter and exit your world, but my own now."
"I'll uh," I slumped my shoulders. "I'll do my best, Alakazam."
"I know. Despite some of your deficiencies, a fear of hard work has not been one of them."
"Deficiencies, huh?"
"Oh yes, a multitude. But that is fine. It is better than my last master."
At that, I fell silent. After all, Alakazam wasn't a Pokemon I'd caught. He was one I'd bought. Sometimes, trainers and Pokemon just didn't fit together. That was a fact. And Pokemon wanted to fight alongside those that they worked with. Team synergy was important. After all, if weaker Pokemon and humans didn't work together, then society would have fallen apart in the world of Pokemon.
So what had led to Alakazam, one of the most powerful Pokemon I'd ever met, getting sold for money? What went wrong between him and his former trainer. I didn't know. Maybe I'd never know.
"I'm glad you're here, man."
"I am not. I believe this world will create trouble for us... But I am glad I have you."
------
The plan was simple. Get to a city. Then, do whatever I could to get information. Or more specifically, get Alakazam information.
I was already doing that, sharing what I could about DC universes I was familiar with. Mudkip listened as he pulled us along, Mimikyu resting her head while we went.
I talked about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, about the monsters of the DC universe. Some of it was information he already had of course, we'd talked about my interests before. But with this stuff becoming relevant, a refresher wasn't a bad thing.
At some point though, Alakazam sensed the minds of humans nearby. I quickly wrapped my face up in my t-shirt, while Mimikyu woke up and hid under the shelter in the back of the raft, Alakazam joining her. Mudkip slipped under the raft.
Looking as though I was alone, I watched a boat slowly approach me. It was a fishing vessel at a guess, with an older woman at the helm. She gave me a wave. I returned it. And we continued on our way.
It was likely not going to be the last time we'd cross paths with other boats. Good thing we'd made plans for just that scenario.
Alakazam and Mimikyu came back out of the shelter, while Mudkip continued to pull us along. As he did, Mudkip poked his head out of the water.
"Mudkip?" he asked me.
I looked at him, trying to think of a way to answer. "If you'd asked me a few years ago, I might have said yes, I want to be a superhero. But right now I'm not thinking about that. I mean, if we end up finding people in trouble, I want to help, same as we did in your world. But actively becoming a hero isn't the goal right now."
"And if becoming one aided your goals?" Alakazam asked.
"Mimikyu," the small costumed nightmare looked between the three of us, the head of her costume bouncing with every turn of her head.
I sighed. "Becoming a superhero was a dream of mine. And I'd still kinda like to do it. But I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to do it," none of my Pokemon spoke. I think they knew I wanted to vent. "Maybe it's just years of having that dream beaten out of me by, you know, life. Or maybe it's reality reminding me of all the logistics required to be a hero. We'd need money, food, travel. Oh, and we'd need to put ourselves through sometimes literal hell."
"That's no exaggeration either. Rainbow Rocket had Pokemon to make themselves dangerous. But the bad guys in most DC universes I know… they're sometimes a kind of evil that I can't understate. Worse, a lot of the ones I'm worried about are competent. They know just what to do to fight back. To stay alive. And to kill. Rainbow Rocket would come at us laughing and parading around with an army of Pokemon. Deathstroke would take me out with a bullet from a mile away while I slept."
"...Still though…"
I rested back on my hands as I sat on the raft, looking out at the ocean.
We travelled for a long while in peace as the thought filled my mind.
------
We reached my destination soon enough, a section of beach near where we were trying to get to. We put the raft near the beach. Then I put Mudkip and Mimikyu away.
This place was going to have people. No matter how few, I couldn't take the risk they would be seen. The last thing we needed is some smarmy scientist or alien lover trying to figure out what the strange creatures were. No matter what Lilo and Stitch taught me, people wouldn't believe me if I just told them Mudkip was a dog.
Alakazam, however, I left out of his Pokeball to wait with the raft. I needed his ability to see through my eyes and memorize whatever I saw. He saw me off without a word, but I felt his mind pressed to mine as I walked away.
The small town of Honokaa, a tiny place of around 2000, was a long walk from the beach. Thankfully, my time in the Pokemon world had gotten me used to hiking. Four months of walking and fighting had made my pudgy teenage body into one that was a lot more built for hard labor. I walked past a lot of homes and businesses, but a lot of the place was just open fields and bits of rainforest. It was kinda awesome, how nature blended together with civilization. I avoided streets as much as I could, sticking to nature as much as possible.
I finally reached the town after a 2 mile hike, relatively short. After some quick questions, I found someone who pointed out the way to the library, which was apparently across the street from the high school. Perfect.
Honokaa was thankfully small enough that I didn't meet too many people in the streets as I walked towards the library. I ended up across the street from the high school, and stopped to look over it. Apparently class was not in session, because kids were out and playing in the schoolyard. I chuckled at the sight of the kids playing together, hanging out, talking with friends, and eating. Must have been lunchtime. Had I ever been that young?
Then I looked down at my teenage body, winced, and entered the library.
Inside the library was similar to others I'd been in, with the same basic layout, wooden bookshelves, and the good old Dewey Decimal System in place. A librarian gave me a hard look as I entered, which I ignored. I simply walked in and headed directly to the computers. Thankfully they didn't seem to require a library card to enter into them. I just had to agree not to visit anything risky like porn sites.
I quickly got to work. Alakazam's mind pressed to mine as we both looked at the monitor.
So this was the world we'd found ourselves in. A DC universe very familiar, but also very different. They'd had JSA, currently had a Justice League, had a lot of the heroes I know. But it was also oddly young. It was 2010. The DC comics had been stuffed with heroes by the time it had been 2010 in my world. But this one was barely scratching the surface.
And then there were the big threats. People didn't seem familiar with things like… well, like Darkseid. The Lanterns they knew were Green. Gotham hadn't been hit with an earthquake in decades.
"It is likely you are the only one who knows the possibility of such things," Alakazam whispered in my mind. "Though I know what you are thinking."
He did. Maybe the big threats didn't exist. Maybe the small ones didn't. After all, this world was different in a dozen little ways.
For example, the Justice League of this world had been formed in 2003, to fight a threat called the Appellaxians. Not Starro or White Martians or any of dozens of things that brought the Big Good Team together.
This world was familiar in an odd way. But how much of what I knew was real? Should I warn people? Some of the things I wanted to warn people about might be summoned by the very things I'd do to stop them.
"We'll worry about it later," I said in my head, my own mental speech not as elegant and smooth as Alakazam's was. I switched to the second bit of research we had to focus on. Gemstones and where to find them.
Honokaa was far from the sorts of volcanoes Slugma would want to go to. But if I wanted to have a steady source of gemstone, making the journey would be worth it. Alakazam, for some reason, seemed like he already knew what I was going to decide before I even had the information.
He was like that sometimes, seeming to see just a few steps into the future and letting me catch up to him. I suspected it was a combination of intelligence and psychic powers that let him do it. I didn't know if he could see into the future. He never cleared it up. But I had faith in him.
So when I made my choice, he was ready for it.
"Kīlauea. We'll head there. Slugma will be able to dive deeper than anyone, and an active volcano will make it so much easier for her."
"Good. How will we get there? The raft may not last until we get there."
"You're not going to ask why I'm not going to Mauna Loa instead?" I asked mentally. I wish my mental voice wasn't so loud and scratchy, even in my own mind.
"I assume it is because it is the most active. Or was there something else."
It wasn't a question. I frowned thoughtfully. "I just… it seems right."
It took me a second to realize I'd said that outloud. A man reading nearby gave me a strange look. I ignored him and looked up the directions between the library and the volcano, Alakazam memorizing them in an instant.
"Then let us depart. How will we go?"
I rose and headed to the exit while talking in my mind once more. "The volcano is what, 70 miles away? That's about a day and a night of walking. I don't mind leaving the raft here and booking it on foot."
"Very well. Let us get moving. I will meet you here," he sent an image of a section of road along the way.
I headed out, thinking to myself. "Hopefully we can get there without hitting any trouble."
"Yes. Hopefully."
"...Why do you sound so mysterious?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
------
Author's Note: I'm sure Alakazam is just hopeful.
Next chapter has fight scenes.
Wait. Is that why he was being mysterious?
Consider supporting the story on Patreon to get early access to new chapters of this and Dial!
I didn't waste time the next morning. I had learned to work fast when I could. The goal of survival still existed. To that end, we needed money. Which meant getting the raft done, heading to a town, and finding a volcano for Slugma to swim in for valuable minerals.
Tyrunt, Gurdurr, and Mudkip helped to gather branches we needed. Tyrunt used his powerful jaws to cut through thick branches, Mudkip pulled them together into tight bundles, and Gurdurr carried them to the beach. As the three physically strongest Pokemon I had, they were perfect for the job. I was glad I'd spent as much money as I could on Protein vitamins for the trio.
Once the branches got to the beach, Slugma got to work. Being a fire-type, she had little to no issue making sure the branches were smooth, shaping them a bit where they'd been cut a little off.
Once we had enough branches, Mimikyu happily toddled over to them, reaching out from under her costume with long shadowy arms. She separated the branches out, humming to herself as she created piles of thin, thick, and thicker sticks.
"Mimi, mimimi, Mikikyu!"
"Slug, mamama, Slugma!"
The two tiny Pokemon sang happily together as they got their work done, a little bit off-key, but still having fun.
Gurdurr left the branch gathering group to join me. We got to work, pulling the logs together. We went for a simple design. The bottom had three strut… things? Which the platform would rest on top of, with a small shelter in the shape of a tent in case of rain.
Alakazam, in the meantime, kept us in contact mentally while he took vines in hand and twirled them together, keeping watch for anyone coming over. The plan was that if someone did come by, he'd hit them with a Confusion. Maybe excessive, but it would leave them off enough for him to lead them off. There had been no need for that thus far, thankfully.
He was also doing something far more important though. He was tying himself to the land. So that if we had to return, he could simply Teleport us.
That's how the move works in reality. A Pokemon who knows it meditates in one spot, focusing to make a location a new point in reality that they could return to with some passengers. It was insanely hard to do, taking time, energy, and effort, and necessary if he wanted to teleport anywhere that wasn't within his line of sight. It was why all he could do was keep watch and tie vines into ropes. I couldn't even comprehend how hard that sort of thing was.
Alakazam finished up the ropes, Gurdurr tying the raft together nice and tight. It was about 9 feet long and as wide as I was tall. Cramped. But I didn't need a cruise ship. I just needed a way to get from point-A to point-B.
Once we were done, I stood before the raft, grinning down at it. I had to take my shirt off in the heat and humidity, and wiped away the sweat from my forehead as I turned.
"Nice job guys," I said proudly.
Gurdurr placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest. Tyrunt let out a small roar of noise, while Mimikyu and Slugma wiggled happily next to each other.
After a moment to enjoy their joy, I sighed. "Okay. Time to go."
Which meant those on my team who couldn't swim would need to enter their Pokeballs.
Slugma looked sad, but hugged Mudkip and Mimikyu, giving me a resigned look as I pulled her into her Pokeball. Tyrunt let out a gruff noise as I pet his head before I put him away, while Gurdurr twirled his I-Beam around before he was also pulled in, leaving me with Mudkip, Alakazam, and Mimikyu, who proceeded to get to work.
Alakazam, Mimikyu, and I hopped onto the raft, along with some of the fish we'd cooked last night. Mudkip went behind it and gave it a hard shove, his insane strength letting him push the raft outwards into the water with only two big shifts. As soon as we were afloat, Mudkip dived into the waves, swimming around us. I took a rope and tossed it to Mudkip, who grabbed it and wrapped it around his shoulders. Just like that, we were on our way, flying through the waves with Mudkip laughing a bit.
I sat down, shirt still off, and enjoyed the spray on my chest and face, while Mimikyu curled into my lap and Alakazam began to map out our route.
Times like that, watching the ocean ahead of me, a beautiful island to our side, with my Pokemon beside me, made me a lot happier to be where I was. I could just take in view, and be happy that I was, in some way, living a dream I'd had as a little kid. Traveling around the world with super strong animals in my pocket.
"It is rare that I sense contentment from you," Alakazam said, strolling over to me.
"Guess I should stop before I end up surprising you," I snarked.
Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back. "I would rather you didn't. Your anger over your loss is justified. To be sent to a world that isn't yours cannot be easy. But I encourage you to continue finding happiness where you can, young one."
On hearing that, something occurred to me. I stroked my chin, looking up at Alakazam. "I forgot. You guys left your world as well, now…"
Mudkip tilted his head up to look at me. Mimikyu nuzzled closer to me, while Alakazam shrugged.
"Yes. I am hopeful that your efforts will bear fruit. Not just to find a way to freely enter and exit your world, but my own now."
"I'll uh," I slumped my shoulders. "I'll do my best, Alakazam."
"I know. Despite some of your deficiencies, a fear of hard work has not been one of them."
"Deficiencies, huh?"
"Oh yes, a multitude. But that is fine. It is better than my last master."
At that, I fell silent. After all, Alakazam wasn't a Pokemon I'd caught. He was one I'd bought. Sometimes, trainers and Pokemon just didn't fit together. That was a fact. And Pokemon wanted to fight alongside those that they worked with. Team synergy was important. After all, if weaker Pokemon and humans didn't work together, then society would have fallen apart in the world of Pokemon.
So what had led to Alakazam, one of the most powerful Pokemon I'd ever met, getting sold for money? What went wrong between him and his former trainer. I didn't know. Maybe I'd never know.
"I'm glad you're here, man."
"I am not. I believe this world will create trouble for us... But I am glad I have you."
------
The plan was simple. Get to a city. Then, do whatever I could to get information. Or more specifically, get Alakazam information.
I was already doing that, sharing what I could about DC universes I was familiar with. Mudkip listened as he pulled us along, Mimikyu resting her head while we went.
I talked about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, about the monsters of the DC universe. Some of it was information he already had of course, we'd talked about my interests before. But with this stuff becoming relevant, a refresher wasn't a bad thing.
At some point though, Alakazam sensed the minds of humans nearby. I quickly wrapped my face up in my t-shirt, while Mimikyu woke up and hid under the shelter in the back of the raft, Alakazam joining her. Mudkip slipped under the raft.
Looking as though I was alone, I watched a boat slowly approach me. It was a fishing vessel at a guess, with an older woman at the helm. She gave me a wave. I returned it. And we continued on our way.
It was likely not going to be the last time we'd cross paths with other boats. Good thing we'd made plans for just that scenario.
Alakazam and Mimikyu came back out of the shelter, while Mudkip continued to pull us along. As he did, Mudkip poked his head out of the water.
"Mudkip?" he asked me.
I looked at him, trying to think of a way to answer. "If you'd asked me a few years ago, I might have said yes, I want to be a superhero. But right now I'm not thinking about that. I mean, if we end up finding people in trouble, I want to help, same as we did in your world. But actively becoming a hero isn't the goal right now."
"And if becoming one aided your goals?" Alakazam asked.
"Mimikyu," the small costumed nightmare looked between the three of us, the head of her costume bouncing with every turn of her head.
I sighed. "Becoming a superhero was a dream of mine. And I'd still kinda like to do it. But I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to do it," none of my Pokemon spoke. I think they knew I wanted to vent. "Maybe it's just years of having that dream beaten out of me by, you know, life. Or maybe it's reality reminding me of all the logistics required to be a hero. We'd need money, food, travel. Oh, and we'd need to put ourselves through sometimes literal hell."
"That's no exaggeration either. Rainbow Rocket had Pokemon to make themselves dangerous. But the bad guys in most DC universes I know… they're sometimes a kind of evil that I can't understate. Worse, a lot of the ones I'm worried about are competent. They know just what to do to fight back. To stay alive. And to kill. Rainbow Rocket would come at us laughing and parading around with an army of Pokemon. Deathstroke would take me out with a bullet from a mile away while I slept."
"...Still though…"
I rested back on my hands as I sat on the raft, looking out at the ocean.
We travelled for a long while in peace as the thought filled my mind.
------
We reached my destination soon enough, a section of beach near where we were trying to get to. We put the raft near the beach. Then I put Mudkip and Mimikyu away.
This place was going to have people. No matter how few, I couldn't take the risk they would be seen. The last thing we needed is some smarmy scientist or alien lover trying to figure out what the strange creatures were. No matter what Lilo and Stitch taught me, people wouldn't believe me if I just told them Mudkip was a dog.
Alakazam, however, I left out of his Pokeball to wait with the raft. I needed his ability to see through my eyes and memorize whatever I saw. He saw me off without a word, but I felt his mind pressed to mine as I walked away.
The small town of Honokaa, a tiny place of around 2000, was a long walk from the beach. Thankfully, my time in the Pokemon world had gotten me used to hiking. Four months of walking and fighting had made my pudgy teenage body into one that was a lot more built for hard labor. I walked past a lot of homes and businesses, but a lot of the place was just open fields and bits of rainforest. It was kinda awesome, how nature blended together with civilization. I avoided streets as much as I could, sticking to nature as much as possible.
I finally reached the town after a 2 mile hike, relatively short. After some quick questions, I found someone who pointed out the way to the library, which was apparently across the street from the high school. Perfect.
Honokaa was thankfully small enough that I didn't meet too many people in the streets as I walked towards the library. I ended up across the street from the high school, and stopped to look over it. Apparently class was not in session, because kids were out and playing in the schoolyard. I chuckled at the sight of the kids playing together, hanging out, talking with friends, and eating. Must have been lunchtime. Had I ever been that young?
Then I looked down at my teenage body, winced, and entered the library.
Inside the library was similar to others I'd been in, with the same basic layout, wooden bookshelves, and the good old Dewey Decimal System in place. A librarian gave me a hard look as I entered, which I ignored. I simply walked in and headed directly to the computers. Thankfully they didn't seem to require a library card to enter into them. I just had to agree not to visit anything risky like porn sites.
I quickly got to work. Alakazam's mind pressed to mine as we both looked at the monitor.
So this was the world we'd found ourselves in. A DC universe very familiar, but also very different. They'd had JSA, currently had a Justice League, had a lot of the heroes I know. But it was also oddly young. It was 2010. The DC comics had been stuffed with heroes by the time it had been 2010 in my world. But this one was barely scratching the surface.
And then there were the big threats. People didn't seem familiar with things like… well, like Darkseid. The Lanterns they knew were Green. Gotham hadn't been hit with an earthquake in decades.
"It is likely you are the only one who knows the possibility of such things," Alakazam whispered in my mind. "Though I know what you are thinking."
He did. Maybe the big threats didn't exist. Maybe the small ones didn't. After all, this world was different in a dozen little ways.
For example, the Justice League of this world had been formed in 2003, to fight a threat called the Appellaxians. Not Starro or White Martians or any of dozens of things that brought the Big Good Team together.
This world was familiar in an odd way. But how much of what I knew was real? Should I warn people? Some of the things I wanted to warn people about might be summoned by the very things I'd do to stop them.
"We'll worry about it later," I said in my head, my own mental speech not as elegant and smooth as Alakazam's was. I switched to the second bit of research we had to focus on. Gemstones and where to find them.
Honokaa was far from the sorts of volcanoes Slugma would want to go to. But if I wanted to have a steady source of gemstone, making the journey would be worth it. Alakazam, for some reason, seemed like he already knew what I was going to decide before I even had the information.
He was like that sometimes, seeming to see just a few steps into the future and letting me catch up to him. I suspected it was a combination of intelligence and psychic powers that let him do it. I didn't know if he could see into the future. He never cleared it up. But I had faith in him.
So when I made my choice, he was ready for it.
"Kīlauea. We'll head there. Slugma will be able to dive deeper than anyone, and an active volcano will make it so much easier for her."
"Good. How will we get there? The raft may not last until we get there."
"You're not going to ask why I'm not going to Mauna Loa instead?" I asked mentally. I wish my mental voice wasn't so loud and scratchy, even in my own mind.
"I assume it is because it is the most active. Or was there something else."
It wasn't a question. I frowned thoughtfully. "I just… it seems right."
It took me a second to realize I'd said that outloud. A man reading nearby gave me a strange look. I ignored him and looked up the directions between the library and the volcano, Alakazam memorizing them in an instant.
"Then let us depart. How will we go?"
I rose and headed to the exit while talking in my mind once more. "The volcano is what, 70 miles away? That's about a day and a night of walking. I don't mind leaving the raft here and booking it on foot."
"Very well. Let us get moving. I will meet you here," he sent an image of a section of road along the way.
I headed out, thinking to myself. "Hopefully we can get there without hitting any trouble."
"Yes. Hopefully."
"...Why do you sound so mysterious?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
------
Author's Note: I'm sure Alakazam is just hopeful.
Next chapter has fight scenes.
Wait. Is that why he was being mysterious?
Consider supporting the story on Patreon to get early access to new chapters of this and Dial!
Once I met up with Alakazam and placed him in his Pokeball, I started walking. I still had the fish we'd cooked last night, so I wasn't going to be hungry. For now, I'd be able to make my way to the volcano after a nice long walk.
"Fuck this, fuck this, fuck this, fuck this."
Okay, maybe I'd gotten used to hiking in the Pokemon world, but I still freaking hated walking. I marched down the road alongside the ocean, one boring step after the other.
This was so much more boring than in the Pokemon world, too. At least there I'd had Mudkip, Tyrunt, or any of the others to talk to as I went. Here, forced to hide my Pokemon, I was feeling kinda lonely. I pushed onward.
Cars passed me on the road, people walked past me, and the humidity and sun beat down. And I kept on walking.
After about 2 hours, I'd gone about 8 miles at a guess. I needed a break. I headed over to the ocean, dropping near a secluded beach, and brought out Mudkip.
"Mudkip?" he looked around, confused. "Mud?"
"Nah, not yet. I just wanted to get some water," I gave him a chuckle when Mudkip rolled his eyes. "I know, I know buddy. But I've been walking in the hot ass sun for two hours."
"Mudkip, Mud," he shook his head with a sigh and nodded.
A few Water Guns later, and I no longer felt like I was dying of thirst. I passed Mudkip some more fish, and we sat by the ocean for a bit, my legs recuperating from the long walk. After the break, Mudkip slipped back into the Pokeball, and I got back to marching.
At some point, I really needed to get more clothes. The shirt I was wearing was starting to get soaked through. I walked through the town of Paaulio, then 'Ō'Ōkala. Well, they were more like groups of buildings than towns.
Four more hours of walking and night was beginning to fall. I took my time about it. Technically, I could walk pretty damn fast, but the last thing I wanted to do was expend my energy on something stupid. Slow was better than exhausted.
"...Why did I leave the raft behind?" I said with a sigh at one point.
Well, because… Goddamnit. I didn't even think of it until now. I'd just fallen back on the habit I'd built in the Pokemon world of walking where I could. A couple of times I'd hired out a Taurus though. That had been FUN. Riding on the back of a superpowered bull, crashing through boulders as I laughed.
Filled with nostalgia, I soon reached the outskirts of a farm. The moon shone down on the ocean, a beam of silver light on blue that reflected across the sky. I breathed in the chill ocean air, feeling the breeze push past me to whistle through the trees. I thought about stopping to rest. I could still continue walking for a few hours, but my instincts told me to sleep.
I looked over at the farm. It was very quiet now, with the road I'd been walking on empty of any cars. That didn't surprise me. Even when the sun had been up, barely anyone had driven past me. This place was as quiet as the countryside could get. That was the nice thing about the country. Nighttime was a real thing, not a vague suggestion with people still working and roaming around in brightly lit cities.
I took a small detour from the road to head into a grove of trees, hoping I could find a good spot to nap. As I headed in, I realized that despite my thoughts earlier, the farm I was near was relatively active.
The farm was next to the ocean. As I came up to the grove, I could see that the large barn and house blocked the view of some docks, where I could see a large boat being set up. People were roaming from the back of the barn to the boat, carrying packages as they went. Two guys were standing guard.
I hid away when I saw they were holding guns, ducking into the grove of trees.
"What the fuck?" I twisted my head out of cover, keeping to the shadows.
Yep. Guns. Two men were watching the area around them as more men of Asian and Pacific Islander origins continued carrying packages. I slowly fell back until I was behind the trees enough that no one could see the red flash of a Pokeball opening.
Alakazam opened his eyes as he appeared, meeting eyes with me. Our minds met.
"We got trouble. A bunch of guys with guns transporting shit onto a boat."
At that mental warning, Alakazam narrowed his eyes. Together we moved to the grove of trees, Alakazam cocking his head at the sight as we hid in the grove.
"Hm, you are correct. So what?"
Testing me again. No problem, I'd actually thought things out a bit.
"Can you read their minds and tell me what they're transporting?"
"One moment," he closed his eyes. For a moment, I waited. I knew how he liked to work. Alakazam COULD have ripped the information out of the minds of the guys. If he wanted to be phenomenally cruel, take forever, and make them freak out as he did. There's a reason mind control tends to be an insidiously slow affair. It's better to make people think it was their own idea to do what you wanted.
In the case of Alakazam, all he had to do was ask them a simple question, using their own mental voices.
"Why are we here?"
Save your RvB jokes until later.
Alakazam opened his eyes after a couple of minutes. "They are smuggling drugs and guns into Hawaii from California and Canada."
"Seriously?" I sighed, finally speaking, though I kept my voice very low. "Still, this can be good for us. I'm guessing they have already paid for it?"
Alakazam smirked. "They have. The money is being guarded by several men. What are you thinking?"
"We take advantage of the sudden boon we've found," I stretched my head out, narrowing my eyes. "We have a small army of bad guys. Usually, I'd ignore them."
Alakazam gave me a very skeptical look.
"I'm serious," I scowled at him. "I want to get us home. One group of bad guys smuggling isn't going to end the universe. So usually, I'd leave them. But if we head in there, not only can I steal a gun or two, but we can take their money and buy things we NEED. So yeah. We go in."
"Yes, let us make this entirely logical attack, with no moral reason to do so."
"You're a smart ass, you know that?"
"I take pride in it, young one. What is your plan?"
"Divide and drown."
------
I hid back and brought out my full team, making sure Alakazam hit them with thought-speech to be as quiet as possible. I scratched out a quick map of the area to describe our jobs.
My initial plan was to have Gurdurr, Tyrunt, and Slugma burn down/destroy the barn and house, but that was a lot of destruction that could be traced back to my ass by cops. So for the moment, I'd keep things subtle. For a Pokemon Trainer, anyways.
This wasn't going to be like the operations we'd done before though. In some ways, they were easier on my Pokemon, and harder on me. When I ran in to punch people in the other world, bad guys were shocked enough that I could knock them out and leave their Pokemon masterless. If I did that here, I'd get shot. I had to rethink how I fought.
After explaining the plan, I had to contend with one little thing.
"We're in another world, about to fight possible trained killers… And you want to be on standby?" I asked Alakazam.
"The others need the experience," Alakazam said simply. "As do you. I will keep the team in contact together, I will interfere if something truly dangerous happens. But you all will be able to handle this."
I decided to concede to that. Alakazam was a powerful asset. But I needed to let the others get stronger as well. Only so long as Alakazam was really ready to jump in if need be.
"Fine. Then we'll get to work. Mudkip. You're up. Slugma, I'll wait for Mimikyu to make her move, then hit the cart so you can make your move," I said, indicating one of the carts that was used to transport things. "I doubt I need to go over the plan again beyond that. Let's get started."
My Pokemon grinned at me. Mudkip spun and dived into the creek nearby, swimming out to the ocean. Mimikyu kneeled next to me and Gurdurr, who hefted his I-Beam. Tyrunt, with his darker covering, rushed out into the tall grass around the farm. Slugma pulled back into her Pokeball, and I hefted it in one hand to get ready for my moment. Alakazam crossed his arms and floated on air, his mind connecting ours.
Mudkip swam towards the boat the smugglers were using, waiting until he was out into the ocean. Then he opened his mouth, sucking in a massive amount of water. I was sure some of what he was doing involved some form of hydrokinesis, or the power to control water. Because when sprayed outwards, a huge amount of water rose upwards from the ocean, rushing forward until it was about 15 feet tall, and moving thousands of pounds of water.
Which is my long way of saying Mudkip used Surf.
One of the guys on the boat shouted out in shock when he realized what had happened. But by the time his friends realized what had happened, it was too late. The big wave of water slammed into the boat and dock, pouring over the railings and sweeping the men on them overboard. The guys on the shore turned around, surprised as they watched about 8 guys now swimming in the ocean next to sinking drugs and guns.
Mimikyu struck then with a Shadow Sneak attack. Her shadow extended out from her. I held back a shiver at the chill I felt in the air, like knives on skin, as her shadow stretched out until it was behind the guy pushing the cart I'd chosen. The guy didn't have time to look away from the sight of his allies bopping in the ocean before his own shadow raised behind him to form the shape of a giant Mimikyu of darkness. Then the darkness slammed into him, dozens of hits in moments. He gasped in silent pain as he fell forward.
That was my cue. I raised my arm and threw Slugma's Pokeball. The guy Mimikyu hit flew back from the cart, leaving no one near it. The Pokeball landed in the cart, then snapped open, Slugma appearing in a flash of red light. The smugglers turned to look just as she blew out a burst of flame in the form of an Incinerate that ignited the cart's contents instantly. My plan had been for her to light whatever was in the cart on fire to force the smugglers to choose between the guys who had been swept into the ocean and the cart with burning merchandise.
BA-BOOM!
Instead, the cart exploded instantly. People were sent flying as they screamed, and the fires rose up into the sky while smoke filled the air.
"Oh shit!" one of the smugglers yelled in shock as the sky was rocked by the explosion. I blinked, trying to understand what had happened. "What happened to the meth!?"
At that statement from the guy, I realized EXACTLY what had happened. Crystal meth and fire. They don't mix well.
Then Slugma came out of the flame, looking around in confusion at the remains of the cart she had destroyed. One of the smugglers noticed her, and screamed in surprise, drawing the attention of the others.
"What the fuck is that thing!?" one guy yelled.
"Shoot it!" the guy who said that raised his submachine gun and unleashed hell, bullets flying into Slugma's body.
She blinked as she continued moving towards him. The metal bullets melted into her body. I grinned as her Weak Armor ability kicked in. With every bullet that struck her, she lost a bit of defense. But she also got faster and faster, until she was in the midst of the group. She leaped from the ground and slammed them in the chest with a Return, the normal type move devastating the poor guy and sending him flying back on the ground.
That was when Tyrunt struck. He ran at high speed, the tall grass separating around him in a way that reminded me of a scene from Jurassic Park, the small dinosaur leaping out of the grass. A smuggler who had been shooting at Slugma was grabbed by the back of his shirt. One of the others turns at his scream, only to see a quick glimpse of the dinosaur pulling his friend into the tall grass. He shouted, rushing in after his friend with a few more guys. They ran around in the glass, trying to find their friends. And one by one, Tyrunt stuck, his rocky head knocking smugglers out as he laughed, a barking roar of noise that I found cute.
I don't think the screaming smugglers felt the same way.
In the ocean, the smugglers who had fallen in realized what was going on, and tried to swim to shore. Then one of the guys was pulled under. He screamed just before he sank underwater as Mudkip held onto his ankle. Mudkip was laughing as he let the guy go, then pulled another and another, forcing them back into the ocean. A few guys on the docks seemed ready to aid their friends.
Then Mudkip jumped out of the water, the moonlight sparkling through drops of water that followed him. His eyes glittered as he opened his mouth, white energy sparkling in his jaws for a moment before a beam of that energy slammed into the ocean. Ice sprouted from the spot he hit, freezing the swimming smugglers. They shouted as they tried to swim away, but were trapped in freezing water up to their shoulders.
Mudkip landed on the dock and faced the smugglers there, who raised their guns to point at the new monster in their midst. Water surrounded him like a shield and he rushed forward, hitting three men with the force of a Waterfall crashing down, sending them off the dock and skidding across the ice, one man's butt slamming into his struggling allies head.
Then Gurdurr came in with Mimikyu. The fighting-type Pokemon had left his I-Beam next to me since that thing would have killed anyone it hit. Instead, he ran straight for the distracted and terrified smugglers with his bare fist, a shit-eating smile on his face. One guy shot at him. The bullet barely dug into his tough body before Gurdurr 'gently' decked him in the face. His nose shattered and he was sent down onto his back in a spray of blood. Gurdurr grabbed the guy's rifle and hefted it. With a grin, he lifted his brand-new club and ran forward again, smashing the rifle into a guy's leg with a bone-shattering force.
Mimikyu, on the other hand, lashed out with her shadow arms, grabbing a guy and pulling him close.
"No, no, nononononoNONO!!!!"
He was pulled in under Mimikyu's power to the shadows she was hidden in nearby, where his screams continued filling the air. Then two more arms sprouted. Followed by eight more. One guy had tears falling down his cheeks as he shot at the darkness while screaming, only to be pulled by his ankles to fall on his back with a sound like meat slapping concrete, and he and four other guys were pulled into the darkness.
"Guys," I said through the mental link, feeling a little guilty. "Tone it back. They're a lot more fragile than you'd think," I winced again when the sound of a Waterfall attack cracking ribs came from Mudkip's direction.
My Pokemon calmed down just a bit. Thank god, because Mimikyu and Tyrunt's sections calmed down with the terrified screams.
One of the smugglers, to my surprise, made a smart decision. He turned and ran for it, jumping over a shadowy arm, avoiding the tackle Slugma tried to hit him with, then booked it towards the house.
I narrowed my eyes. There was no one in the house, but there was likely a car he could use to leave…
"We can't let anyone escape."
I looked over at Alakazam. He gave me a look of annoyance before sighing. His eyes glowed for a moment. Then his body followed, shining a bright white before he disappeared in a flash of static.
The running smuggler was panting as he ran. A burst of static appeared in front of him, and Alakazam appeared. He raised a single hand. And the guy froze in place, floating mid-run. His muscles twitched as he tried to keep moving, but was held in the grip of psychic power, his eyes twisting widely as he soundlessly met eyes with Alakazam.
"It was a good idea to run," Alakazam said reluctantly. A spoon flew into his hand, the metal twisting and bending in his fist as he raised it like the weapon it was. "Sadly, your higher level of intelligence has forced my attention. Sleep. And forget this night."
The smuggler passed out, falling onto the ground with a small sigh.
I kept an eye on the battle. Soon though, it was over. My Pokemon were standing amongst piles of smugglers, guns resting around the area as the few men awake groaned and moaned in pain. Alakazam's eyes flashed. Those guys passed out instantly.
It was only then that I came out of the woods. I felt a little guilty that I'd hung back and let my Pokemon fight, something I'd done rarely before. But the various guns on the floor reminded me why I'd done it.
Mudkip used a Scalding blast of water on the iceberg he'd made, melting it apart. I went over with Gurdurr onto the dock and helped Mudkip pull the guys he'd knocked out onto the dock.
Tyrunt and Mimikyu did the same sort of clean-up with the guys they'd knocked out, dragging them out to lay them on the dock side-by-side. Slugma burbled happily as she chewed on a shotgun, the metal melting in her mouth as she came over to join us.
Alakazam, in the meantime, headed over the barn, where an important package had been waiting.
Soon, working in tandem, we'd gotten the bad guys together on the dock. I looked over the large group. God, fifty guys? What sort of gang had so many guys all working in the countryside? Granted, if I had to bet, they were likely from two different gangs, but still…
Then I looked at the drugs that were laying around the area before ignoring them for the guns.
Damn. I was pretty sure NONE of Hawaii's extremely strict gun laws would allow submachine guns, assault rifles, and shotguns. And yet, there we were. Not just the guns they'd been carrying, but the ones in the crates that had been getting transported. It was a damn armies worth.
I grabbed a pistol out of an open crate. The side of the handle had a 'Sig Sauer' emblazoned on it, while the barrel had 'P365' written on it. I didn't know anything about the gun in particular, but I knew Sig Sauer did good work. I took some ammo and a holster as well. I would have loved a semi-auto assault rifle, but that was rather hard to hide.
Alakazam came over with the package that had been hidden away in the barn, in a secret compartment only a mind reader could have found. A briefcase floated on waves of telekinetic power, landing in my arms. I stared at the lock on the metal case, then passed it to Gurdurr. He quickly tapped the lock, sending pieces of metal flying and denting the case inward. I placed it on the ground and popped it open.
Then I stared at the money.
"...What the fuck did we walk into?" I asked, shocked.
There had to be over a million dollars in hundred dollar bills there. Enough money to change lives.
"..." I looked around the docks. Then I closed the case and handed it to Gurdurr. "I don't want to steal police evidence, but we might need this money to survive," I said with a sigh. "Hopefully they'll be happy with all the rest of the evidence. But we need a better way to restrain these guys."
Mudkip barked, looking at the water around us. I chuckled. "Not without giving the hyperthermia."
"Slugma!" I looked at my small slug monster. "Slug, ma, ma!"
"...That could work," I said thoughtfully.
I noticed something then, floating on the ocean. It must have been washed overboard when Mudkip's Surf hit the boat and dock. It was bone-white, with holes drilled into it. I cocked my head to the side as I looked at it, then leaned over and picked it up out of the water. I was surprised by how heavy it was, considering it had been floating. I shook it out and took a close look at it. A hockey mask, the kind that would be worn to protect the wearer from pucks and sticks on the ice. Or, you know, hunt teenagers around Crystal Lake.
"What do you think?" I turned and raised the mask to my face.
Mudkip cocked his head to the side, then shrugged.
"Mimikyu!" the small costumed nightmare gave me an excited look, hopping up and down. She wiggled in place.
"Yeah, I guess I have a disguise like you, huh?" I said with a grin. Mimikyu wiggled more.
"Runt," Tyrunt said, looked a little jealous. I didn't know what to think of that.
"Does this mean you've decided to become a superhero after all?" Alakazam said idly.
"...Let's just get this done," I said with a sigh.
Still, I hooked that cool looking mask on my hip, reminding myself to paint it later.
------
About an hour later, I opened one of the cars we'd found in the house's garage, a big SUV. My Pokemon began to enter the back of the car. Of the five cars that were in the big garage, the SUV was the only one with tinted windows and room for all my Pokemon.
Mimikyu and Mudkip shared the front passenger seat, sitting closely side by side, since they were short enough for no one to see them. Behind the front seats, Alakazam sat next to Gurdurr, the psychic and fighting-type Pokemon glaring at each other before they calmed. In the very back, Tyrunt curled up his body next to Gurdurr's I-Beam, poking his head over the seat between Gurdurr and Alakazam so he could look out at the road.
That left Slugma and me outside the car. We walked together towards the car, Slugma giving her Pokeball a sad look.
"I know you want to hang out with us, sweetie," I looked down at her. "But if you sit still… well, you know."
She stared down at the ground, trailing slowly next to me. "But we'll be at a volcano soon. And when we do," I kneeled down and held her head in my hands, her warmth almost painful against my palms. She closed her eyes. "We'll be together. I promise."
Slugma rubbed her head against my hands, standing still for just a moment. Then I hurriedly grabbed her Pokeball and put her away.
I looked up at my other Pokemon. Mimikyu and Mudkip gave me sad looks, while Tyrunt let out a sad growl.
Then I got in the SUV and started driving. As we peeled off, the sounds of sirens coming towards the farm could be heard.
I knew what they would find. Several crates of weapons and drugs neatly stacked and opened for the night air. A stack of wallets laid out next to them.
And a whole lot of unconscious bad guys buried up to their necks, six feet apart, with spotlights from the boat illuminating them all.
As I drove off, I wondered what the cops would think of all that.
------
As the sun rose up over the horizon, an army of police officers were trying to unravel a mystery.
When the call had come in, the police station had thought it was a prank. The towns on the Northeast side of Hawaii's Big Island were small and peaceful, places tourists would go for nice hikes and calm atmospheres. Namely, not a place with very serious crimes.
So when a man who clearly sounded like a teenager called in, the dispatcher wasn't ready for what he heard.
Around fifty criminals, from possibly different gangs, smuggling in meth and guns into the islands in the dead of the night. It was the kind of thing that happened in movies! Not in quiet towns like his!
"Kid, I don't have time for a prank-" the dispatcher was about to say.
"It's not a prank," the kid said, sounding annoyed. "But I can understand why you're skeptical. Just send a car over. I guarantee you that you'll find something. And hey, if I'm lying, one guy took a short drive."
The dispatcher thought for a moment. Technically, it didn't matter what he thought. All calls had to be taken seriously by regulation. But he wanted to teach the kid a lesson for misusing 911. Finally, he sighed.
"Okay kid, we'll have an officer there in 20 minutes."
Nothing was supposed to follow that. One car was sent out, got to the farm, and went to the back. Then the officer panicked and called everyone he could about the insane mountain of evidence he'd found.
Now cops filled the area, digging the criminals out of the ground, cataloging everything they had, and keeping back a small group of reporters that seemed shocked at what was happening. So did the police. None of them had ever encountered anything on the scale they found that day.
The sun had risen completely when the sound of helicopter blades filled the air. Everyone looked up to see a white and blue striped aircraft singing through the air, coming towards them. It landed in a cleared off-space near the barn. On the side of the copter were three letters.
FBI
As the rotors shut down, one of the officers, an older man, came running up. The helicopter door opened, and a man came out.
He was a dark-skinned Polynesian man, average in height, but thickly built with muscle, his biceps flexing through the brown suit he wore. He had thick black hair cut in rough shape that spoke of a lax barber, a craggy face that seemed unused to smiling, and deep dark black eyes.
Despite his average height, he seemed to loom over the older man that came over to him. "You Chief ʻŌpūnui?"
"Y-Yeah!" the chief said, sweating heavily. "You're the FBI guy?"
"Samuel Makoa," the man looked around, his eyes taking in the view. He dismissed the drugs being photographed by crime scene techs. He was unflinching at the sight of enough guns to arm every man and woman around him being cataloged. It was on the men being dug out of the ground and handcuffed that he finally stopped. He noted a few men being pulled into ambulances with broken arms, ribs, or other injuries.
"How many we got?"
"Fifty-three men," the older man said, his voice weak. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened here. Or at least the worst since I became chief."
"Then you're lucky," Sam said.
"Lucky!?" ʻŌpūnui gaped at him.
"No one died," Sam looked around, his eyes hard. "Someone came here. Several someones," Sam pointed at some footprints on the ground, trailing his fingers around. "Someone's with very strange feet. Claws, paws, some sort of… tentacle? In fact, I'd say only one of them was human. They somehow took down fifty men armed with more weaponry than I've seen outside a Rambo movie without a single death, leaving broken arms and legs."
Sam scowled, his face somehow suited for the motion, placing fists on his hips. "These were supers. We're in big trouble."
"Superheroes?" Chief ʻŌpūnui smiled. "Oh, that would be quite nice."
Sam, veins throbbing in his neck, his jaw jutting outwards, looked at the chief. The chief swallowed.
"R-Right?"
"First, I said supers. People with powers. Not necessarily heroes. For all we know, these were a rival gang. And second… you have no idea who these guys are, do you?" Sam said with a very tight-lipped smile. The chief shook his head. "I'm going to guess less than half own that piece of shit," he pointed at the dock, where a small cargo boat rested in the sun. "Transporting all the weapons and drugs in. But the rest are Silicon Dragons."
Chief ʻŌpūnui tilted his head and pressed his lips together for a moment. Then his mouth opened. "Oh no."
Sam's tight-lipped smile gained some teeth. "That's right. They'll hear about this soon. And when they do, they'll start more trouble than anyone in this island will ever be able to stand."
------
Author's Note: The Silicon Dragons and Sam Mokoa are from the DC Comics, being part of Superboy's run when he lived and worked in Hawaii as a hero. They'll be more in line with the Young Justice universe, but I'm still going to have fun with them.
Let me know what you guys think of the fight and the characterization and such. Next chapter, a road trip begins.
In the meantime, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where the next chapter is already available for the five dollar tier!
"Fuck this, fuck this, fuck this, fuck this."
Okay, maybe I'd gotten used to hiking in the Pokemon world, but I still freaking hated walking. I marched down the road alongside the ocean, one boring step after the other.
This was so much more boring than in the Pokemon world, too. At least there I'd had Mudkip, Tyrunt, or any of the others to talk to as I went. Here, forced to hide my Pokemon, I was feeling kinda lonely. I pushed onward.
Cars passed me on the road, people walked past me, and the humidity and sun beat down. And I kept on walking.
After about 2 hours, I'd gone about 8 miles at a guess. I needed a break. I headed over to the ocean, dropping near a secluded beach, and brought out Mudkip.
"Mudkip?" he looked around, confused. "Mud?"
"Nah, not yet. I just wanted to get some water," I gave him a chuckle when Mudkip rolled his eyes. "I know, I know buddy. But I've been walking in the hot ass sun for two hours."
"Mudkip, Mud," he shook his head with a sigh and nodded.
A few Water Guns later, and I no longer felt like I was dying of thirst. I passed Mudkip some more fish, and we sat by the ocean for a bit, my legs recuperating from the long walk. After the break, Mudkip slipped back into the Pokeball, and I got back to marching.
At some point, I really needed to get more clothes. The shirt I was wearing was starting to get soaked through. I walked through the town of Paaulio, then 'Ō'Ōkala. Well, they were more like groups of buildings than towns.
Four more hours of walking and night was beginning to fall. I took my time about it. Technically, I could walk pretty damn fast, but the last thing I wanted to do was expend my energy on something stupid. Slow was better than exhausted.
"...Why did I leave the raft behind?" I said with a sigh at one point.
Well, because… Goddamnit. I didn't even think of it until now. I'd just fallen back on the habit I'd built in the Pokemon world of walking where I could. A couple of times I'd hired out a Taurus though. That had been FUN. Riding on the back of a superpowered bull, crashing through boulders as I laughed.
Filled with nostalgia, I soon reached the outskirts of a farm. The moon shone down on the ocean, a beam of silver light on blue that reflected across the sky. I breathed in the chill ocean air, feeling the breeze push past me to whistle through the trees. I thought about stopping to rest. I could still continue walking for a few hours, but my instincts told me to sleep.
I looked over at the farm. It was very quiet now, with the road I'd been walking on empty of any cars. That didn't surprise me. Even when the sun had been up, barely anyone had driven past me. This place was as quiet as the countryside could get. That was the nice thing about the country. Nighttime was a real thing, not a vague suggestion with people still working and roaming around in brightly lit cities.
I took a small detour from the road to head into a grove of trees, hoping I could find a good spot to nap. As I headed in, I realized that despite my thoughts earlier, the farm I was near was relatively active.
The farm was next to the ocean. As I came up to the grove, I could see that the large barn and house blocked the view of some docks, where I could see a large boat being set up. People were roaming from the back of the barn to the boat, carrying packages as they went. Two guys were standing guard.
I hid away when I saw they were holding guns, ducking into the grove of trees.
"What the fuck?" I twisted my head out of cover, keeping to the shadows.
Yep. Guns. Two men were watching the area around them as more men of Asian and Pacific Islander origins continued carrying packages. I slowly fell back until I was behind the trees enough that no one could see the red flash of a Pokeball opening.
Alakazam opened his eyes as he appeared, meeting eyes with me. Our minds met.
"We got trouble. A bunch of guys with guns transporting shit onto a boat."
At that mental warning, Alakazam narrowed his eyes. Together we moved to the grove of trees, Alakazam cocking his head at the sight as we hid in the grove.
"Hm, you are correct. So what?"
Testing me again. No problem, I'd actually thought things out a bit.
"Can you read their minds and tell me what they're transporting?"
"One moment," he closed his eyes. For a moment, I waited. I knew how he liked to work. Alakazam COULD have ripped the information out of the minds of the guys. If he wanted to be phenomenally cruel, take forever, and make them freak out as he did. There's a reason mind control tends to be an insidiously slow affair. It's better to make people think it was their own idea to do what you wanted.
In the case of Alakazam, all he had to do was ask them a simple question, using their own mental voices.
"Why are we here?"
Save your RvB jokes until later.
Alakazam opened his eyes after a couple of minutes. "They are smuggling drugs and guns into Hawaii from California and Canada."
"Seriously?" I sighed, finally speaking, though I kept my voice very low. "Still, this can be good for us. I'm guessing they have already paid for it?"
Alakazam smirked. "They have. The money is being guarded by several men. What are you thinking?"
"We take advantage of the sudden boon we've found," I stretched my head out, narrowing my eyes. "We have a small army of bad guys. Usually, I'd ignore them."
Alakazam gave me a very skeptical look.
"I'm serious," I scowled at him. "I want to get us home. One group of bad guys smuggling isn't going to end the universe. So usually, I'd leave them. But if we head in there, not only can I steal a gun or two, but we can take their money and buy things we NEED. So yeah. We go in."
"Yes, let us make this entirely logical attack, with no moral reason to do so."
"You're a smart ass, you know that?"
"I take pride in it, young one. What is your plan?"
"Divide and drown."
------
I hid back and brought out my full team, making sure Alakazam hit them with thought-speech to be as quiet as possible. I scratched out a quick map of the area to describe our jobs.
My initial plan was to have Gurdurr, Tyrunt, and Slugma burn down/destroy the barn and house, but that was a lot of destruction that could be traced back to my ass by cops. So for the moment, I'd keep things subtle. For a Pokemon Trainer, anyways.
This wasn't going to be like the operations we'd done before though. In some ways, they were easier on my Pokemon, and harder on me. When I ran in to punch people in the other world, bad guys were shocked enough that I could knock them out and leave their Pokemon masterless. If I did that here, I'd get shot. I had to rethink how I fought.
After explaining the plan, I had to contend with one little thing.
"We're in another world, about to fight possible trained killers… And you want to be on standby?" I asked Alakazam.
"The others need the experience," Alakazam said simply. "As do you. I will keep the team in contact together, I will interfere if something truly dangerous happens. But you all will be able to handle this."
I decided to concede to that. Alakazam was a powerful asset. But I needed to let the others get stronger as well. Only so long as Alakazam was really ready to jump in if need be.
"Fine. Then we'll get to work. Mudkip. You're up. Slugma, I'll wait for Mimikyu to make her move, then hit the cart so you can make your move," I said, indicating one of the carts that was used to transport things. "I doubt I need to go over the plan again beyond that. Let's get started."
My Pokemon grinned at me. Mudkip spun and dived into the creek nearby, swimming out to the ocean. Mimikyu kneeled next to me and Gurdurr, who hefted his I-Beam. Tyrunt, with his darker covering, rushed out into the tall grass around the farm. Slugma pulled back into her Pokeball, and I hefted it in one hand to get ready for my moment. Alakazam crossed his arms and floated on air, his mind connecting ours.
Mudkip swam towards the boat the smugglers were using, waiting until he was out into the ocean. Then he opened his mouth, sucking in a massive amount of water. I was sure some of what he was doing involved some form of hydrokinesis, or the power to control water. Because when sprayed outwards, a huge amount of water rose upwards from the ocean, rushing forward until it was about 15 feet tall, and moving thousands of pounds of water.
Which is my long way of saying Mudkip used Surf.
One of the guys on the boat shouted out in shock when he realized what had happened. But by the time his friends realized what had happened, it was too late. The big wave of water slammed into the boat and dock, pouring over the railings and sweeping the men on them overboard. The guys on the shore turned around, surprised as they watched about 8 guys now swimming in the ocean next to sinking drugs and guns.
Mimikyu struck then with a Shadow Sneak attack. Her shadow extended out from her. I held back a shiver at the chill I felt in the air, like knives on skin, as her shadow stretched out until it was behind the guy pushing the cart I'd chosen. The guy didn't have time to look away from the sight of his allies bopping in the ocean before his own shadow raised behind him to form the shape of a giant Mimikyu of darkness. Then the darkness slammed into him, dozens of hits in moments. He gasped in silent pain as he fell forward.
That was my cue. I raised my arm and threw Slugma's Pokeball. The guy Mimikyu hit flew back from the cart, leaving no one near it. The Pokeball landed in the cart, then snapped open, Slugma appearing in a flash of red light. The smugglers turned to look just as she blew out a burst of flame in the form of an Incinerate that ignited the cart's contents instantly. My plan had been for her to light whatever was in the cart on fire to force the smugglers to choose between the guys who had been swept into the ocean and the cart with burning merchandise.
BA-BOOM!
Instead, the cart exploded instantly. People were sent flying as they screamed, and the fires rose up into the sky while smoke filled the air.
"Oh shit!" one of the smugglers yelled in shock as the sky was rocked by the explosion. I blinked, trying to understand what had happened. "What happened to the meth!?"
At that statement from the guy, I realized EXACTLY what had happened. Crystal meth and fire. They don't mix well.
Then Slugma came out of the flame, looking around in confusion at the remains of the cart she had destroyed. One of the smugglers noticed her, and screamed in surprise, drawing the attention of the others.
"What the fuck is that thing!?" one guy yelled.
"Shoot it!" the guy who said that raised his submachine gun and unleashed hell, bullets flying into Slugma's body.
She blinked as she continued moving towards him. The metal bullets melted into her body. I grinned as her Weak Armor ability kicked in. With every bullet that struck her, she lost a bit of defense. But she also got faster and faster, until she was in the midst of the group. She leaped from the ground and slammed them in the chest with a Return, the normal type move devastating the poor guy and sending him flying back on the ground.
That was when Tyrunt struck. He ran at high speed, the tall grass separating around him in a way that reminded me of a scene from Jurassic Park, the small dinosaur leaping out of the grass. A smuggler who had been shooting at Slugma was grabbed by the back of his shirt. One of the others turns at his scream, only to see a quick glimpse of the dinosaur pulling his friend into the tall grass. He shouted, rushing in after his friend with a few more guys. They ran around in the glass, trying to find their friends. And one by one, Tyrunt stuck, his rocky head knocking smugglers out as he laughed, a barking roar of noise that I found cute.
I don't think the screaming smugglers felt the same way.
In the ocean, the smugglers who had fallen in realized what was going on, and tried to swim to shore. Then one of the guys was pulled under. He screamed just before he sank underwater as Mudkip held onto his ankle. Mudkip was laughing as he let the guy go, then pulled another and another, forcing them back into the ocean. A few guys on the docks seemed ready to aid their friends.
Then Mudkip jumped out of the water, the moonlight sparkling through drops of water that followed him. His eyes glittered as he opened his mouth, white energy sparkling in his jaws for a moment before a beam of that energy slammed into the ocean. Ice sprouted from the spot he hit, freezing the swimming smugglers. They shouted as they tried to swim away, but were trapped in freezing water up to their shoulders.
Mudkip landed on the dock and faced the smugglers there, who raised their guns to point at the new monster in their midst. Water surrounded him like a shield and he rushed forward, hitting three men with the force of a Waterfall crashing down, sending them off the dock and skidding across the ice, one man's butt slamming into his struggling allies head.
Then Gurdurr came in with Mimikyu. The fighting-type Pokemon had left his I-Beam next to me since that thing would have killed anyone it hit. Instead, he ran straight for the distracted and terrified smugglers with his bare fist, a shit-eating smile on his face. One guy shot at him. The bullet barely dug into his tough body before Gurdurr 'gently' decked him in the face. His nose shattered and he was sent down onto his back in a spray of blood. Gurdurr grabbed the guy's rifle and hefted it. With a grin, he lifted his brand-new club and ran forward again, smashing the rifle into a guy's leg with a bone-shattering force.
Mimikyu, on the other hand, lashed out with her shadow arms, grabbing a guy and pulling him close.
"No, no, nononononoNONO!!!!"
He was pulled in under Mimikyu's power to the shadows she was hidden in nearby, where his screams continued filling the air. Then two more arms sprouted. Followed by eight more. One guy had tears falling down his cheeks as he shot at the darkness while screaming, only to be pulled by his ankles to fall on his back with a sound like meat slapping concrete, and he and four other guys were pulled into the darkness.
"Guys," I said through the mental link, feeling a little guilty. "Tone it back. They're a lot more fragile than you'd think," I winced again when the sound of a Waterfall attack cracking ribs came from Mudkip's direction.
My Pokemon calmed down just a bit. Thank god, because Mimikyu and Tyrunt's sections calmed down with the terrified screams.
One of the smugglers, to my surprise, made a smart decision. He turned and ran for it, jumping over a shadowy arm, avoiding the tackle Slugma tried to hit him with, then booked it towards the house.
I narrowed my eyes. There was no one in the house, but there was likely a car he could use to leave…
"We can't let anyone escape."
I looked over at Alakazam. He gave me a look of annoyance before sighing. His eyes glowed for a moment. Then his body followed, shining a bright white before he disappeared in a flash of static.
The running smuggler was panting as he ran. A burst of static appeared in front of him, and Alakazam appeared. He raised a single hand. And the guy froze in place, floating mid-run. His muscles twitched as he tried to keep moving, but was held in the grip of psychic power, his eyes twisting widely as he soundlessly met eyes with Alakazam.
"It was a good idea to run," Alakazam said reluctantly. A spoon flew into his hand, the metal twisting and bending in his fist as he raised it like the weapon it was. "Sadly, your higher level of intelligence has forced my attention. Sleep. And forget this night."
The smuggler passed out, falling onto the ground with a small sigh.
I kept an eye on the battle. Soon though, it was over. My Pokemon were standing amongst piles of smugglers, guns resting around the area as the few men awake groaned and moaned in pain. Alakazam's eyes flashed. Those guys passed out instantly.
It was only then that I came out of the woods. I felt a little guilty that I'd hung back and let my Pokemon fight, something I'd done rarely before. But the various guns on the floor reminded me why I'd done it.
Mudkip used a Scalding blast of water on the iceberg he'd made, melting it apart. I went over with Gurdurr onto the dock and helped Mudkip pull the guys he'd knocked out onto the dock.
Tyrunt and Mimikyu did the same sort of clean-up with the guys they'd knocked out, dragging them out to lay them on the dock side-by-side. Slugma burbled happily as she chewed on a shotgun, the metal melting in her mouth as she came over to join us.
Alakazam, in the meantime, headed over the barn, where an important package had been waiting.
Soon, working in tandem, we'd gotten the bad guys together on the dock. I looked over the large group. God, fifty guys? What sort of gang had so many guys all working in the countryside? Granted, if I had to bet, they were likely from two different gangs, but still…
Then I looked at the drugs that were laying around the area before ignoring them for the guns.
Damn. I was pretty sure NONE of Hawaii's extremely strict gun laws would allow submachine guns, assault rifles, and shotguns. And yet, there we were. Not just the guns they'd been carrying, but the ones in the crates that had been getting transported. It was a damn armies worth.
I grabbed a pistol out of an open crate. The side of the handle had a 'Sig Sauer' emblazoned on it, while the barrel had 'P365' written on it. I didn't know anything about the gun in particular, but I knew Sig Sauer did good work. I took some ammo and a holster as well. I would have loved a semi-auto assault rifle, but that was rather hard to hide.
Alakazam came over with the package that had been hidden away in the barn, in a secret compartment only a mind reader could have found. A briefcase floated on waves of telekinetic power, landing in my arms. I stared at the lock on the metal case, then passed it to Gurdurr. He quickly tapped the lock, sending pieces of metal flying and denting the case inward. I placed it on the ground and popped it open.
Then I stared at the money.
"...What the fuck did we walk into?" I asked, shocked.
There had to be over a million dollars in hundred dollar bills there. Enough money to change lives.
"..." I looked around the docks. Then I closed the case and handed it to Gurdurr. "I don't want to steal police evidence, but we might need this money to survive," I said with a sigh. "Hopefully they'll be happy with all the rest of the evidence. But we need a better way to restrain these guys."
Mudkip barked, looking at the water around us. I chuckled. "Not without giving the hyperthermia."
"Slugma!" I looked at my small slug monster. "Slug, ma, ma!"
"...That could work," I said thoughtfully.
I noticed something then, floating on the ocean. It must have been washed overboard when Mudkip's Surf hit the boat and dock. It was bone-white, with holes drilled into it. I cocked my head to the side as I looked at it, then leaned over and picked it up out of the water. I was surprised by how heavy it was, considering it had been floating. I shook it out and took a close look at it. A hockey mask, the kind that would be worn to protect the wearer from pucks and sticks on the ice. Or, you know, hunt teenagers around Crystal Lake.
"What do you think?" I turned and raised the mask to my face.
Mudkip cocked his head to the side, then shrugged.
"Mimikyu!" the small costumed nightmare gave me an excited look, hopping up and down. She wiggled in place.
"Yeah, I guess I have a disguise like you, huh?" I said with a grin. Mimikyu wiggled more.
"Runt," Tyrunt said, looked a little jealous. I didn't know what to think of that.
"Does this mean you've decided to become a superhero after all?" Alakazam said idly.
"...Let's just get this done," I said with a sigh.
Still, I hooked that cool looking mask on my hip, reminding myself to paint it later.
------
About an hour later, I opened one of the cars we'd found in the house's garage, a big SUV. My Pokemon began to enter the back of the car. Of the five cars that were in the big garage, the SUV was the only one with tinted windows and room for all my Pokemon.
Mimikyu and Mudkip shared the front passenger seat, sitting closely side by side, since they were short enough for no one to see them. Behind the front seats, Alakazam sat next to Gurdurr, the psychic and fighting-type Pokemon glaring at each other before they calmed. In the very back, Tyrunt curled up his body next to Gurdurr's I-Beam, poking his head over the seat between Gurdurr and Alakazam so he could look out at the road.
That left Slugma and me outside the car. We walked together towards the car, Slugma giving her Pokeball a sad look.
"I know you want to hang out with us, sweetie," I looked down at her. "But if you sit still… well, you know."
She stared down at the ground, trailing slowly next to me. "But we'll be at a volcano soon. And when we do," I kneeled down and held her head in my hands, her warmth almost painful against my palms. She closed her eyes. "We'll be together. I promise."
Slugma rubbed her head against my hands, standing still for just a moment. Then I hurriedly grabbed her Pokeball and put her away.
I looked up at my other Pokemon. Mimikyu and Mudkip gave me sad looks, while Tyrunt let out a sad growl.
Then I got in the SUV and started driving. As we peeled off, the sounds of sirens coming towards the farm could be heard.
I knew what they would find. Several crates of weapons and drugs neatly stacked and opened for the night air. A stack of wallets laid out next to them.
And a whole lot of unconscious bad guys buried up to their necks, six feet apart, with spotlights from the boat illuminating them all.
As I drove off, I wondered what the cops would think of all that.
------
As the sun rose up over the horizon, an army of police officers were trying to unravel a mystery.
When the call had come in, the police station had thought it was a prank. The towns on the Northeast side of Hawaii's Big Island were small and peaceful, places tourists would go for nice hikes and calm atmospheres. Namely, not a place with very serious crimes.
So when a man who clearly sounded like a teenager called in, the dispatcher wasn't ready for what he heard.
Around fifty criminals, from possibly different gangs, smuggling in meth and guns into the islands in the dead of the night. It was the kind of thing that happened in movies! Not in quiet towns like his!
"Kid, I don't have time for a prank-" the dispatcher was about to say.
"It's not a prank," the kid said, sounding annoyed. "But I can understand why you're skeptical. Just send a car over. I guarantee you that you'll find something. And hey, if I'm lying, one guy took a short drive."
The dispatcher thought for a moment. Technically, it didn't matter what he thought. All calls had to be taken seriously by regulation. But he wanted to teach the kid a lesson for misusing 911. Finally, he sighed.
"Okay kid, we'll have an officer there in 20 minutes."
Nothing was supposed to follow that. One car was sent out, got to the farm, and went to the back. Then the officer panicked and called everyone he could about the insane mountain of evidence he'd found.
Now cops filled the area, digging the criminals out of the ground, cataloging everything they had, and keeping back a small group of reporters that seemed shocked at what was happening. So did the police. None of them had ever encountered anything on the scale they found that day.
The sun had risen completely when the sound of helicopter blades filled the air. Everyone looked up to see a white and blue striped aircraft singing through the air, coming towards them. It landed in a cleared off-space near the barn. On the side of the copter were three letters.
FBI
As the rotors shut down, one of the officers, an older man, came running up. The helicopter door opened, and a man came out.
He was a dark-skinned Polynesian man, average in height, but thickly built with muscle, his biceps flexing through the brown suit he wore. He had thick black hair cut in rough shape that spoke of a lax barber, a craggy face that seemed unused to smiling, and deep dark black eyes.
Despite his average height, he seemed to loom over the older man that came over to him. "You Chief ʻŌpūnui?"
"Y-Yeah!" the chief said, sweating heavily. "You're the FBI guy?"
"Samuel Makoa," the man looked around, his eyes taking in the view. He dismissed the drugs being photographed by crime scene techs. He was unflinching at the sight of enough guns to arm every man and woman around him being cataloged. It was on the men being dug out of the ground and handcuffed that he finally stopped. He noted a few men being pulled into ambulances with broken arms, ribs, or other injuries.
"How many we got?"
"Fifty-three men," the older man said, his voice weak. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened here. Or at least the worst since I became chief."
"Then you're lucky," Sam said.
"Lucky!?" ʻŌpūnui gaped at him.
"No one died," Sam looked around, his eyes hard. "Someone came here. Several someones," Sam pointed at some footprints on the ground, trailing his fingers around. "Someone's with very strange feet. Claws, paws, some sort of… tentacle? In fact, I'd say only one of them was human. They somehow took down fifty men armed with more weaponry than I've seen outside a Rambo movie without a single death, leaving broken arms and legs."
Sam scowled, his face somehow suited for the motion, placing fists on his hips. "These were supers. We're in big trouble."
"Superheroes?" Chief ʻŌpūnui smiled. "Oh, that would be quite nice."
Sam, veins throbbing in his neck, his jaw jutting outwards, looked at the chief. The chief swallowed.
"R-Right?"
"First, I said supers. People with powers. Not necessarily heroes. For all we know, these were a rival gang. And second… you have no idea who these guys are, do you?" Sam said with a very tight-lipped smile. The chief shook his head. "I'm going to guess less than half own that piece of shit," he pointed at the dock, where a small cargo boat rested in the sun. "Transporting all the weapons and drugs in. But the rest are Silicon Dragons."
Chief ʻŌpūnui tilted his head and pressed his lips together for a moment. Then his mouth opened. "Oh no."
Sam's tight-lipped smile gained some teeth. "That's right. They'll hear about this soon. And when they do, they'll start more trouble than anyone in this island will ever be able to stand."
------
Author's Note: The Silicon Dragons and Sam Mokoa are from the DC Comics, being part of Superboy's run when he lived and worked in Hawaii as a hero. They'll be more in line with the Young Justice universe, but I'm still going to have fun with them.
Let me know what you guys think of the fight and the characterization and such. Next chapter, a road trip begins.
In the meantime, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where the next chapter is already available for the five dollar tier!
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Being as slugma is made out of magma, I'm doubtful. No internal organs to pulp, probably.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
...he's totally getting mistaken for Sportsmaster at some point, isn't he.
More broadly, I like what I'm seeing so far in the reboot. This team is more balanced than the last one as far as comparative power levels go, but still maintains a good amount of variety and power to work with. Alakazam for smarts, battlefield control, telepathic defense, and communications, Mudkip for aquatic stuff, Slugma for heat and for general tanking of most conventional weapons, Gurdurr for brute force (and apparently construction, which is a fun quirk I look forward to seeing more of; how the hell did he build a fireplace that quickly???), and Mimikyu for if you ever need to channel Batman. Or Ragman. Tyrunt stands out a bit as also being brute force, but y'know, redundancies are important and dinos are cool so whatever. Bonus points for good type coverage, too; back in the Pokemon world, you would have only lacked a potential answer to Fairy once Mudkip evolved. (And maybe you do have an answer to Fairy? I don't remember if any of these guys get an accessible Steel or Poison move.) Anyway, it adds to the verisimilitude of him spending time in the Pokemon world because it shows he took the time to think about what he'd need answers to and find Pokemon to fill that niche.
Unrelatedly, do you accept spelling corrections? I noticed one that's been bugging me but I don't know if you're wanting people to point those out or not.
More broadly, I like what I'm seeing so far in the reboot. This team is more balanced than the last one as far as comparative power levels go, but still maintains a good amount of variety and power to work with. Alakazam for smarts, battlefield control, telepathic defense, and communications, Mudkip for aquatic stuff, Slugma for heat and for general tanking of most conventional weapons, Gurdurr for brute force (and apparently construction, which is a fun quirk I look forward to seeing more of; how the hell did he build a fireplace that quickly???), and Mimikyu for if you ever need to channel Batman. Or Ragman. Tyrunt stands out a bit as also being brute force, but y'know, redundancies are important and dinos are cool so whatever. Bonus points for good type coverage, too; back in the Pokemon world, you would have only lacked a potential answer to Fairy once Mudkip evolved. (And maybe you do have an answer to Fairy? I don't remember if any of these guys get an accessible Steel or Poison move.) Anyway, it adds to the verisimilitude of him spending time in the Pokemon world because it shows he took the time to think about what he'd need answers to and find Pokemon to fill that niche.
Unrelatedly, do you accept spelling corrections? I noticed one that's been bugging me but I don't know if you're wanting people to point those out or not.
So he's gotten a bit of spending money. That good for the present.
Maybe find a hotel and get some decent equipment/food?
I don't mind, believe me. I know I need to improve my writing!
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I don't mind, believe me. I know I need to improve my writing!
That being the case, then...
This is spelled "Tauros".
Chapter 5
Now that we were in one of those incredible inventions known as cars, I could finally get to relax and get some things done. Especially with my ill-gotten gains. Which I would get rid of as soon as possible. Having a briefcase with a whole lot of cash was just asking for trouble.
So, a road trip in action.
With me driving, a few things happened. FIrst, Mudkip and Mimikyu kept changing the channels on the radio, flipping back and forth. Mimikyu wanted as much heavy metal as she could find, bouncing in place as we drove. Mudkip, on the other hand, was a fan of Rap and Hip-Hop. They didn't fight, but whenever the music changed from one to the other, they were nearly opposite in their excitement.
Tyrunt got insanely bored at one point, forcing me to try and figure out games for us to play when he almost started chewing on Gurdurr's girder. It was that or have two super strong monsters destroy an SUV by starting a fight.
So we played a few car games. One that was immediately useful was I Spy. The only problem with that was Tyrunt. Who quickly got way too competitive.
"I spy something white," I said at one point, looking at a sign in the distance.
Tyrunt growled.
"No."
"Gurdurr."
"There isn't a cloud in the sky."
"Tyrunt!"
"N-"
"Tyrunt!"
"It's not that."
"Gu-" Gurdurr went to say something, only to let out a choking sound. I looked over my shoulder.
Gurdurr was panicking, pulling what looked like a random boot that had been in back from his mouth. Tyrunt gave me a very innocent look.
"...Tyrunt."
I turned back to the road with a creased brow. "Yeah. Yeah, it was a sign."
"Tyrunt!" my dinoboy cheered, giving Gurdurr an haughty laugh.
"Unfortunately, physical abuse aimed at the other players leads to a loss of one thousand points, so Gurdurr is winning the game."
Tyrunt gave me the most betrayed look he could, while Gurdurr finished spitting out the boot, coughing.
Despite that little hiccup, most of the ride was more boring than anything. We made good time, and eventually reached our destination after an hour or so. Kīlauea. The most active volcano in Hawaii.
Well, the visiting center. It was still very early, since we'd started driving in the middle of the night, so the place was empty right now. Perfect.
I parked in front of the one story building, noting some tourist trap-style stuff around the place, though it was relatively tasteful. We hopped out of the car after Alakazam took a quick psychic scan of the area. Mudkip hopped onto his place of prestige onto my shoulders, while Mimikyu was held in my arms. I heard a small 'bam' sound. When I turned around, Tyrunt and Gurdurr gave me innocent looks, despite the bump on Tyrunt's head and the fact Gurdurr couldn't hide his satisfaction.
"Oh wow. I wonder why Tyrunt has a bump on his head," I said as deadpan as I could.
"Tyrunt," a very prideful dinosaur said, unwilling to admit what happened.
"Ah, well, I suppose rocks falling from the sky happens everyday."
When I turned away, I could see Tyrunt and Gurdurr trade a grin at their masterful deception.
Honestly, that was just how they got along. They'd fight, scrap, and compete, then suddenly become best friends again. Alakazam sighed in annoyance, while Mudkip shared a smirk with me. Mimikyu, not really understanding what her big brothers were up to, just snuggled deeper into my arms.
I popped Slugma's pokeball. She appeared in a flash, looking around. Then she looked up at me and smiled.
"Slugma."
"Good to see you too," I said with a smile. "Welcome to Kīlauea."
Slugma looked around. She seemed very interested in one particular direction, but circled around me while waiting.
"It's what we're here for," I said reassuringly. "Lead the way, little lady."
Slugma laughed happily, the sound like steam dancing in the air, and charged forward. We all followed her as she headed in the direction of lava.
Well, to be specific, the direction of the best place for her to be able to Dig down to it. She'd know where the thinnest place was.
We walked for a bit, entering the woods. This late, there probably would have been mosquitos, but the living lava creature we followed was sending up puffs of smoke as she went along, bits of the wood that she slid across turning to ash. I made sure to put it out as we went along.
"This island is beautiful," Alakazam said at one point.
"Yeah, it is," I took in the green forest around us, glowing in Slugma's red light.
"Slugma!" she was happier about getting to the lava she was feeling. Not much for forests, my girl.
After a bit, we were out of the woods. I stared at the sight before us.
The floor was mostly grey stone for what seemed like miles, with a couple of small plants sprouting up from the ground. In the distance, a plume of smoke rose upward into a sky that was just becoming lit up by sunlight, giving the place a hauntingly beautiful look.
"Wow," I said softly.
Tyrunt roamed forward, rushing up to a sign that said something. He stared at it for a bit. Then he lashed out, biting the plastic sign and ripping it apart, then ran past it triumphantly. I looked at the remains of the sign.
One of the ripped parts said 'Do Not'. The other said 'Enter'.
Of course.
Slugma ignored the antics of the Rock/Dragon asserting his dominance across the land to move around, her eyes focused on the ground.
"Mudkip?"
"Slugma."
Mudkip hopped onto my head and looked around curiously. We followed Slugma. The heat began to rise slowly. And soon I saw it.
Lava. Deep in the crater, sitting calmly at the bottom. Slugma gave me a proud smile.
"Nice job!" I said proudly. Mimikyu hopped out of my arms to give Slugma a hug, Slugma wrapped around to hug her back before she had to get moving again.
"We had best get to work," Alakazam reminded me gently.
I nodded my agreement. "We'll base ourselves in this area then. Hide somewhere near the ocean."
"Gurdurr!"
I sighed. "Yeah, you'll get to build a base. And yes, you'll be allowed to go all out."
The smile I got from the little guy was pure joy, like a kid who'd just tasted his first ice cream.
"Slugma, go ahead and do your swim," I pet her on the top of her head, getting a happy burble of noise in response. "Stay in contact through Alakazam's link. Try and find gems if you can, but don't feel pressured to."
I don't think the last part sank in, because she gave me a small smirk. Then she glowed alight with red fire, jumping up and diving into the lava with nary a splash.
"...Tyrunt," the dinosaur said while giving me a look.
"Bud, I know you can withstand a lot of fire, but that's molten magma."
He gave the lava a look like he was still tempted to prove himself, before following us.
We walked in the direction of the ocean, Alakazam keeping Slugma in our mental link. Soon we reached a beach made of black stone from years of lava flows cooling there. In some ways, this place was a snapshot of the very thing that had given birth to the islands.
"Okay, Gurdurr," I looked at my fighting boy. "We've got one thing we need. A base. It needs to be secret, out of the way from tourists or park rangers, and have access to the ocean."
The last part was for Mudkip. While he was built for swamps more than anything, he was still more than capable here. So opening up a base to the ocean would give us not just an easy way for Mudkip to hunt for food for everyone, but also a good escape route. After all, around here, Mudkip was an Apex predator in the ocean.
...Well, on my Earth. Forgot that the DC universe had a different set of rules when it comes to the ocean. There's a reason Aquaman's role as king of the ocean is a powerful fucking threat.
"Gur…" Gurdurr twirled his I-Beam around thoughtfully as he looked around. He looked at Tyrunt. "Durr?"
"Runt," Tyrunt said with a shrug.
Gurdurr, unsatisfied with the lack of a real response, gave him a glare. Tyrunt growled out a sigh. "Ty, tyrunt."
Gurdurr smiled and nodded. When he looked at Mudkip, my small water-type nodded.
"Mudkip."
Then Gurdurr looked at Alakazam, opening his mouth to speak.
"No need," Alakazam said immediately. "I am willing to aid you. I do believe it is a mistake to allow you such free reign," he gave me a look, which I ignored. "But I will follow your plan."
Happy with that response, Gurdurr pointed at a cliff in the distance.
"Gurrrrrrrdurr!" then he charged off towards the cliff, the rest of us following along at a rush. As he got there, he twirled his I-Beam. Tyrunt's jaws opened wide. Mudkip jumped off my head.
A metal I-beam slammed into the side of the cliff. Massive teeth dug into the earth. Mudkip hopped over to help. He blasted the excess dirt with powerful bursts of water, sending it away as simple mud that flowed away into the ocean. Quickly, Gurdurr and Tyrunt began creating a tunnel into the mountain, Mudkip sending the dirt away with blast after blast.
"We'll need to put it back as it was of course," I mentioned.
"Gurdurr!" yeah, he knew.
"Okay. Then I'm going to head into town with Mimikyu," I decided at last. "We need a few things if we want to make a home here. Might as well spend some of the money we stole."
Not all of it, of course. There were over a million dollars in that case. No way that I was going to walk around with that much money.
"Let me know if you need us," Alakazam said gravely.
"I will. See you guys soon," holding Mimikyu in my arms, I headed towards where we'd parked.
------
In the SUV, Mimikyu and I headed into town, reaching some place called the Kilauea General Store. Mimikyu followed me inside, sticking stealthily to the shadows, only my mental link to her letting me feel her presence.
As soon as I entered, I marched towards where a bunch of clothes sat, placing underwear, t-shirts, jeans, socks, shorts, a pair of sneakers, and sandals, all in a cart, avoiding the Hawaiian shirts with all my might. Then I went for the food. Mudkip and Gurdurr loved spicy and dry food, so I got them a bag of spicy fish and meat jerky. Tyrunt and Mimikyu were both more fans of sweet and dry, so I got them chocolate covered popcorn, Mimikyu sending me a small burst of happiness as she watched me put them in the cart. Alakazam liked both spicy and sweet food, so I got more of the jerky and popcorn. Slugma liked bitter and spicy food. As weird as that was, I still adjusted to that, getting her some sriracha covered green peas.
Walking around the general store, I picked up some basic fruits, veggies, and meat, taking care to grab what would last longest. Once done, I also grabbed a sleeping bag, pillow, map of the area they sold to tourists, the basic essentials. While I was grabbing those, I felt something interesting from Mimikyu.
She was curious. Fascinated, really. I followed our mental link to turn and look at her.
Then I froze. She was no longer hiding in the shadows. Instead she was out in the open, staring at someone. I looked the same direction.
A pair of little kids were playing with toys, a girl and a boy.
"Pew-pew!" the boy had a small Batman figure in his hands, pretending to fight a small monster toy shaped like a bipedal crystal thing. The girl giggled, holding a Superman toy in her hands. She pressed a button on the back of the toy, and Superman's eyes lit up red, shining on the crystal.
Mimikyu, hesitantly, began to walk towards them.
"Mimikyu, wai-"
"Oh!" the little girl said as I realized my mental warning was too late. "Look!"
The boy turned, and soon the little girl and boy were looking at Mimikyu. She wiggled in place hopefully. I stared at the interaction, worried.
"It's so cute!" the little girl said excitedly.
Mimikyu blinked, then shook with happiness, the Pikachu head of her helmet dancing.
"What's under there?" the boy asked, watching as the little girl ran up to Mimikyu, petting her on the head and cooing at her.
By then I'd made it to them, scooping up Mimikyu into my arms. "Hey, how's it going?" I said to the two kids.
"Hi," the little girl shrank back from me, though she kept her eyes on Mimikyu. "Is that yours mister?"
"Yeah, she is," I placed Mimikyu in my cart, where she continued to send out waves of pure joy throughout our link. That was Mimikyu. She was very receptive to praise. It made me glad and sad all at once, that it took only a little bit to make her day.
"What is she?" the boy asked, curious.
"A cat," I said without preamble. Desperate to change the subject. "So you guys like the Justice League?" I asked, pointing at their costumes.
"Yeah!" the boy's curiosity switched to pride, lifting his Batman toy up for me to see. "Batman is the best!"
"Nahuh!" the little girl held up her toy. "Superman is the best! He's the strongest in the world!"
"Well Batman knows kungking fu!" he said, getting the word wrong and lisping just a bit cutely.
"Superman doesn't need it! He can just go, boom!" the girl displayed what she meant with
Mimikyu, meanwhile, was staring at the kids arguing with fascination. I noted the way her eyes dropped to the toys in their hands.
"What about you, mister?" the boy asked me.
"Me? Well, my favorite hero is Wonder Woman."
He gave me a look of disgust, while the girl looked surprised. "But she's a girl!"
I chuckled at the childish response. "She's awesome, man. Super-strong, fast, and a real warrior. I've always been a fan of swordplay, and she's the best in the world at it. She's awesome."
"...but she's a girl," the boy said, as though that was the end all be all.
"So is my mom and sister, and I think they're awesome as well," I told him seriously.
He didn't seem satisfied with that response, but the little girl giggled at that.
"Well, later kiddos," I walked away from them, noting an older Hawaiian woman who had been watching me suspiciously. She calmed down when I walked away, even giving me a smile.
Mimikyu, in the meantime, became very thoughtful. So when I took a detour to buy some sewing equipment for her, she gave me a very grateful look.
------
Slugma
Slugma dived into the earth, happily swimming through the magma, diving down for hundreds of feet as easily as a fish swimming in the water. She loved the feel of warm heat around her, melting into and through her body. Magma was home, a place she hadn't been in it for a long time. Still, she had something wonderfully new now that she hadn't had as a young Slugma, before she met her trainer.
Through her link to the others, she could feel Mimikyu's current contemplation, Gurdurr's determination and joy, Tyrunt's grim pride, and Mudkip's laidback happiness. She could even feel her trainer, a constant bundle of a dozen emotions, anger, happiness, and calm, somehow blending together. Humans were confusing like that, always displaying a hundred emotions at once.
And above it all, Alakazam, keeping them all in contact as they moved about.
Slugma took solace in the link. Once before, she would be alone when she was in the lava. Now, she was never alone.
...In fact, that felt oddly literal now. Slugma looked around. Something was in the magma. It felt like it was sleeping. Intrigued, she swam towards it. The presence loomed in the distance, floating in the molten material. Slugma's brow furrowed.
She didn't really see under the magma. Such a thing was impossible. Slugma really navigated through her skin sensing currents around her, her eyes taking in the smallest of changes to temperature in ways no thermal camera in existence could ever come within miles of. Every part of her became a living sensor within the heat.
She floated before the being she sensed in the magma. Over eighteen miles underground, she swam around it. And slowly, it began to awaken. Gently, Slugma backed away, eyes wide as she stared at it. For some reason, she wasn't afraid. The being's body began to move. And the magma began to flow.
Slugma stared in awe, as miles of molten stone was pulled in towards the being in the center, before flowing away again. Like the world around her was breathing.
A pair of eyes opened and landed on Slugma. They stared at her. Then, slowly, it moved towards her.
"...Slugma?" the small Pokemon said inquisitively.
A hand reached out. Okay. Now, she was beginning to feel nervous.
------
Author's Note: I swear, cliffhangers don't happen on purpose for me. They just end up happening.
Anyway. Not as much action as last chapter, but they're on their way. Mimikyu had a small interaction. I have been told that no one would believe Mimikyu was a cat. I agree. I just like referencing Lilo and Stitch's love of trying to pass off clearly alien creatures as normal pets.
Jokes aside, only two little kids saw Mimikyu, so no chance of others finding out.
Meanwhile, Gurdurr is beginning his digging session with Tyrunt. I'll be honest. Was surprised that Mudkip can't learn dig as well. Which is fine, because he's on clean up duty.
As for Slugma, don't worry about Pele showing herself to the others for a while in the story. It's going to a bit and is part of Slugma's character development. Not the main characters.
Meantime, please consider supporting me on Patreon. With the current crisis, it's one of the few ways I can make rent, and you guys have been amazing with your support. Hope you have a good day!
Now that we were in one of those incredible inventions known as cars, I could finally get to relax and get some things done. Especially with my ill-gotten gains. Which I would get rid of as soon as possible. Having a briefcase with a whole lot of cash was just asking for trouble.
So, a road trip in action.
With me driving, a few things happened. FIrst, Mudkip and Mimikyu kept changing the channels on the radio, flipping back and forth. Mimikyu wanted as much heavy metal as she could find, bouncing in place as we drove. Mudkip, on the other hand, was a fan of Rap and Hip-Hop. They didn't fight, but whenever the music changed from one to the other, they were nearly opposite in their excitement.
Tyrunt got insanely bored at one point, forcing me to try and figure out games for us to play when he almost started chewing on Gurdurr's girder. It was that or have two super strong monsters destroy an SUV by starting a fight.
So we played a few car games. One that was immediately useful was I Spy. The only problem with that was Tyrunt. Who quickly got way too competitive.
"I spy something white," I said at one point, looking at a sign in the distance.
Tyrunt growled.
"No."
"Gurdurr."
"There isn't a cloud in the sky."
"Tyrunt!"
"N-"
"Tyrunt!"
"It's not that."
"Gu-" Gurdurr went to say something, only to let out a choking sound. I looked over my shoulder.
Gurdurr was panicking, pulling what looked like a random boot that had been in back from his mouth. Tyrunt gave me a very innocent look.
"...Tyrunt."
I turned back to the road with a creased brow. "Yeah. Yeah, it was a sign."
"Tyrunt!" my dinoboy cheered, giving Gurdurr an haughty laugh.
"Unfortunately, physical abuse aimed at the other players leads to a loss of one thousand points, so Gurdurr is winning the game."
Tyrunt gave me the most betrayed look he could, while Gurdurr finished spitting out the boot, coughing.
Despite that little hiccup, most of the ride was more boring than anything. We made good time, and eventually reached our destination after an hour or so. Kīlauea. The most active volcano in Hawaii.
Well, the visiting center. It was still very early, since we'd started driving in the middle of the night, so the place was empty right now. Perfect.
I parked in front of the one story building, noting some tourist trap-style stuff around the place, though it was relatively tasteful. We hopped out of the car after Alakazam took a quick psychic scan of the area. Mudkip hopped onto his place of prestige onto my shoulders, while Mimikyu was held in my arms. I heard a small 'bam' sound. When I turned around, Tyrunt and Gurdurr gave me innocent looks, despite the bump on Tyrunt's head and the fact Gurdurr couldn't hide his satisfaction.
"Oh wow. I wonder why Tyrunt has a bump on his head," I said as deadpan as I could.
"Tyrunt," a very prideful dinosaur said, unwilling to admit what happened.
"Ah, well, I suppose rocks falling from the sky happens everyday."
When I turned away, I could see Tyrunt and Gurdurr trade a grin at their masterful deception.
Honestly, that was just how they got along. They'd fight, scrap, and compete, then suddenly become best friends again. Alakazam sighed in annoyance, while Mudkip shared a smirk with me. Mimikyu, not really understanding what her big brothers were up to, just snuggled deeper into my arms.
I popped Slugma's pokeball. She appeared in a flash, looking around. Then she looked up at me and smiled.
"Slugma."
"Good to see you too," I said with a smile. "Welcome to Kīlauea."
Slugma looked around. She seemed very interested in one particular direction, but circled around me while waiting.
"It's what we're here for," I said reassuringly. "Lead the way, little lady."
Slugma laughed happily, the sound like steam dancing in the air, and charged forward. We all followed her as she headed in the direction of lava.
Well, to be specific, the direction of the best place for her to be able to Dig down to it. She'd know where the thinnest place was.
We walked for a bit, entering the woods. This late, there probably would have been mosquitos, but the living lava creature we followed was sending up puffs of smoke as she went along, bits of the wood that she slid across turning to ash. I made sure to put it out as we went along.
"This island is beautiful," Alakazam said at one point.
"Yeah, it is," I took in the green forest around us, glowing in Slugma's red light.
"Slugma!" she was happier about getting to the lava she was feeling. Not much for forests, my girl.
After a bit, we were out of the woods. I stared at the sight before us.
The floor was mostly grey stone for what seemed like miles, with a couple of small plants sprouting up from the ground. In the distance, a plume of smoke rose upward into a sky that was just becoming lit up by sunlight, giving the place a hauntingly beautiful look.
"Wow," I said softly.
Tyrunt roamed forward, rushing up to a sign that said something. He stared at it for a bit. Then he lashed out, biting the plastic sign and ripping it apart, then ran past it triumphantly. I looked at the remains of the sign.
One of the ripped parts said 'Do Not'. The other said 'Enter'.
Of course.
Slugma ignored the antics of the Rock/Dragon asserting his dominance across the land to move around, her eyes focused on the ground.
"Mudkip?"
"Slugma."
Mudkip hopped onto my head and looked around curiously. We followed Slugma. The heat began to rise slowly. And soon I saw it.
Lava. Deep in the crater, sitting calmly at the bottom. Slugma gave me a proud smile.
"Nice job!" I said proudly. Mimikyu hopped out of my arms to give Slugma a hug, Slugma wrapped around to hug her back before she had to get moving again.
"We had best get to work," Alakazam reminded me gently.
I nodded my agreement. "We'll base ourselves in this area then. Hide somewhere near the ocean."
"Gurdurr!"
I sighed. "Yeah, you'll get to build a base. And yes, you'll be allowed to go all out."
The smile I got from the little guy was pure joy, like a kid who'd just tasted his first ice cream.
"Slugma, go ahead and do your swim," I pet her on the top of her head, getting a happy burble of noise in response. "Stay in contact through Alakazam's link. Try and find gems if you can, but don't feel pressured to."
I don't think the last part sank in, because she gave me a small smirk. Then she glowed alight with red fire, jumping up and diving into the lava with nary a splash.
"...Tyrunt," the dinosaur said while giving me a look.
"Bud, I know you can withstand a lot of fire, but that's molten magma."
He gave the lava a look like he was still tempted to prove himself, before following us.
We walked in the direction of the ocean, Alakazam keeping Slugma in our mental link. Soon we reached a beach made of black stone from years of lava flows cooling there. In some ways, this place was a snapshot of the very thing that had given birth to the islands.
"Okay, Gurdurr," I looked at my fighting boy. "We've got one thing we need. A base. It needs to be secret, out of the way from tourists or park rangers, and have access to the ocean."
The last part was for Mudkip. While he was built for swamps more than anything, he was still more than capable here. So opening up a base to the ocean would give us not just an easy way for Mudkip to hunt for food for everyone, but also a good escape route. After all, around here, Mudkip was an Apex predator in the ocean.
...Well, on my Earth. Forgot that the DC universe had a different set of rules when it comes to the ocean. There's a reason Aquaman's role as king of the ocean is a powerful fucking threat.
"Gur…" Gurdurr twirled his I-Beam around thoughtfully as he looked around. He looked at Tyrunt. "Durr?"
"Runt," Tyrunt said with a shrug.
Gurdurr, unsatisfied with the lack of a real response, gave him a glare. Tyrunt growled out a sigh. "Ty, tyrunt."
Gurdurr smiled and nodded. When he looked at Mudkip, my small water-type nodded.
"Mudkip."
Then Gurdurr looked at Alakazam, opening his mouth to speak.
"No need," Alakazam said immediately. "I am willing to aid you. I do believe it is a mistake to allow you such free reign," he gave me a look, which I ignored. "But I will follow your plan."
Happy with that response, Gurdurr pointed at a cliff in the distance.
"Gurrrrrrrdurr!" then he charged off towards the cliff, the rest of us following along at a rush. As he got there, he twirled his I-Beam. Tyrunt's jaws opened wide. Mudkip jumped off my head.
A metal I-beam slammed into the side of the cliff. Massive teeth dug into the earth. Mudkip hopped over to help. He blasted the excess dirt with powerful bursts of water, sending it away as simple mud that flowed away into the ocean. Quickly, Gurdurr and Tyrunt began creating a tunnel into the mountain, Mudkip sending the dirt away with blast after blast.
"We'll need to put it back as it was of course," I mentioned.
"Gurdurr!" yeah, he knew.
"Okay. Then I'm going to head into town with Mimikyu," I decided at last. "We need a few things if we want to make a home here. Might as well spend some of the money we stole."
Not all of it, of course. There were over a million dollars in that case. No way that I was going to walk around with that much money.
"Let me know if you need us," Alakazam said gravely.
"I will. See you guys soon," holding Mimikyu in my arms, I headed towards where we'd parked.
------
In the SUV, Mimikyu and I headed into town, reaching some place called the Kilauea General Store. Mimikyu followed me inside, sticking stealthily to the shadows, only my mental link to her letting me feel her presence.
As soon as I entered, I marched towards where a bunch of clothes sat, placing underwear, t-shirts, jeans, socks, shorts, a pair of sneakers, and sandals, all in a cart, avoiding the Hawaiian shirts with all my might. Then I went for the food. Mudkip and Gurdurr loved spicy and dry food, so I got them a bag of spicy fish and meat jerky. Tyrunt and Mimikyu were both more fans of sweet and dry, so I got them chocolate covered popcorn, Mimikyu sending me a small burst of happiness as she watched me put them in the cart. Alakazam liked both spicy and sweet food, so I got more of the jerky and popcorn. Slugma liked bitter and spicy food. As weird as that was, I still adjusted to that, getting her some sriracha covered green peas.
Walking around the general store, I picked up some basic fruits, veggies, and meat, taking care to grab what would last longest. Once done, I also grabbed a sleeping bag, pillow, map of the area they sold to tourists, the basic essentials. While I was grabbing those, I felt something interesting from Mimikyu.
She was curious. Fascinated, really. I followed our mental link to turn and look at her.
Then I froze. She was no longer hiding in the shadows. Instead she was out in the open, staring at someone. I looked the same direction.
A pair of little kids were playing with toys, a girl and a boy.
"Pew-pew!" the boy had a small Batman figure in his hands, pretending to fight a small monster toy shaped like a bipedal crystal thing. The girl giggled, holding a Superman toy in her hands. She pressed a button on the back of the toy, and Superman's eyes lit up red, shining on the crystal.
Mimikyu, hesitantly, began to walk towards them.
"Mimikyu, wai-"
"Oh!" the little girl said as I realized my mental warning was too late. "Look!"
The boy turned, and soon the little girl and boy were looking at Mimikyu. She wiggled in place hopefully. I stared at the interaction, worried.
"It's so cute!" the little girl said excitedly.
Mimikyu blinked, then shook with happiness, the Pikachu head of her helmet dancing.
"What's under there?" the boy asked, watching as the little girl ran up to Mimikyu, petting her on the head and cooing at her.
By then I'd made it to them, scooping up Mimikyu into my arms. "Hey, how's it going?" I said to the two kids.
"Hi," the little girl shrank back from me, though she kept her eyes on Mimikyu. "Is that yours mister?"
"Yeah, she is," I placed Mimikyu in my cart, where she continued to send out waves of pure joy throughout our link. That was Mimikyu. She was very receptive to praise. It made me glad and sad all at once, that it took only a little bit to make her day.
"What is she?" the boy asked, curious.
"A cat," I said without preamble. Desperate to change the subject. "So you guys like the Justice League?" I asked, pointing at their costumes.
"Yeah!" the boy's curiosity switched to pride, lifting his Batman toy up for me to see. "Batman is the best!"
"Nahuh!" the little girl held up her toy. "Superman is the best! He's the strongest in the world!"
"Well Batman knows kungking fu!" he said, getting the word wrong and lisping just a bit cutely.
"Superman doesn't need it! He can just go, boom!" the girl displayed what she meant with
Mimikyu, meanwhile, was staring at the kids arguing with fascination. I noted the way her eyes dropped to the toys in their hands.
"What about you, mister?" the boy asked me.
"Me? Well, my favorite hero is Wonder Woman."
He gave me a look of disgust, while the girl looked surprised. "But she's a girl!"
I chuckled at the childish response. "She's awesome, man. Super-strong, fast, and a real warrior. I've always been a fan of swordplay, and she's the best in the world at it. She's awesome."
"...but she's a girl," the boy said, as though that was the end all be all.
"So is my mom and sister, and I think they're awesome as well," I told him seriously.
He didn't seem satisfied with that response, but the little girl giggled at that.
"Well, later kiddos," I walked away from them, noting an older Hawaiian woman who had been watching me suspiciously. She calmed down when I walked away, even giving me a smile.
Mimikyu, in the meantime, became very thoughtful. So when I took a detour to buy some sewing equipment for her, she gave me a very grateful look.
------
Slugma
Slugma dived into the earth, happily swimming through the magma, diving down for hundreds of feet as easily as a fish swimming in the water. She loved the feel of warm heat around her, melting into and through her body. Magma was home, a place she hadn't been in it for a long time. Still, she had something wonderfully new now that she hadn't had as a young Slugma, before she met her trainer.
Through her link to the others, she could feel Mimikyu's current contemplation, Gurdurr's determination and joy, Tyrunt's grim pride, and Mudkip's laidback happiness. She could even feel her trainer, a constant bundle of a dozen emotions, anger, happiness, and calm, somehow blending together. Humans were confusing like that, always displaying a hundred emotions at once.
And above it all, Alakazam, keeping them all in contact as they moved about.
Slugma took solace in the link. Once before, she would be alone when she was in the lava. Now, she was never alone.
...In fact, that felt oddly literal now. Slugma looked around. Something was in the magma. It felt like it was sleeping. Intrigued, she swam towards it. The presence loomed in the distance, floating in the molten material. Slugma's brow furrowed.
She didn't really see under the magma. Such a thing was impossible. Slugma really navigated through her skin sensing currents around her, her eyes taking in the smallest of changes to temperature in ways no thermal camera in existence could ever come within miles of. Every part of her became a living sensor within the heat.
She floated before the being she sensed in the magma. Over eighteen miles underground, she swam around it. And slowly, it began to awaken. Gently, Slugma backed away, eyes wide as she stared at it. For some reason, she wasn't afraid. The being's body began to move. And the magma began to flow.
Slugma stared in awe, as miles of molten stone was pulled in towards the being in the center, before flowing away again. Like the world around her was breathing.
A pair of eyes opened and landed on Slugma. They stared at her. Then, slowly, it moved towards her.
"...Slugma?" the small Pokemon said inquisitively.
A hand reached out. Okay. Now, she was beginning to feel nervous.
------
Author's Note: I swear, cliffhangers don't happen on purpose for me. They just end up happening.
Anyway. Not as much action as last chapter, but they're on their way. Mimikyu had a small interaction. I have been told that no one would believe Mimikyu was a cat. I agree. I just like referencing Lilo and Stitch's love of trying to pass off clearly alien creatures as normal pets.
Jokes aside, only two little kids saw Mimikyu, so no chance of others finding out.
Meanwhile, Gurdurr is beginning his digging session with Tyrunt. I'll be honest. Was surprised that Mudkip can't learn dig as well. Which is fine, because he's on clean up duty.
As for Slugma, don't worry about Pele showing herself to the others for a while in the story. It's going to a bit and is part of Slugma's character development. Not the main characters.
Meantime, please consider supporting me on Patreon. With the current crisis, it's one of the few ways I can make rent, and you guys have been amazing with your support. Hope you have a good day!
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Are we gonna need an Eva in a fat suit for this fight?
sorry, it was the first thing I thought of.
I'm enjoyIng the story! Thanks for sharing it.
sorry, it was the first thing I thought of.
I'm enjoyIng the story! Thanks for sharing it.