Mystery Continent ~ Northern Pines

[Negrek]

"Huh. Galactic." Rocky tipped his head again. After a second he said, "Nope! Never heard of them. Maybe they don't exist in Marshtomp's world."

Rocky didn't realize Echo was talking about Koa when he was a human. "I know!" he said, eyes glowing bright. "He's really strong, and really cool! And then on the moon, when he did the thing where he changed form? That was the coolest!" Most of the team's form changes were cool. Most of them... like Dave just got kind of drippy, which was gross, but still. Koa's special form was really cool. "He was like a superhero!" Rocky said dreamily. "When he's like that, can he... can he actually fly?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Echo delight turned to surprise. Rocky clearly wasn't talking about Koa's skills as a pokemon trainer. Still, he also wasn't wrong. Koa's special transformation was so cool. Cooler than anyone else's on the team, in Echo's opinion. He couldn't help but grin a little, hearing someone talk about his trainer like that. Koa was kind of like a superhero, wasn't he?

"Yeah, he's the best! I don't know if he can fly but..." Koa had mentioned the idea, during one of their long talks while he was bored and stuck in the infirmary. Something about soundwaves and force and something like that. Echo's grin grew wider. "I bet we could try sometime, now that he's feeling better!"

Sure, Koa didn't have wings, but everyone here could do weird stuff anyway. So who was to say Koa couldn't fly?

 

[Negrek]

"That would be so cool!" Rocky had forgotten all about looking for a pokémon. "But then, if he could fly--you could fly together! Like a hero and his sidekick. And go out and fight crime!" Rocky bounced a little with excitement. Technically everybody on the team already fought crime together, but it would be cooler if they did it while flying! "Does Koa have a special superhero name?" he asked Echo.

 

[Flyg0n]

Echo's gaze lit up. Back home, that would have been impossible. But here, it often seemed like anything was possible. "Oh that would be so cool! We already stopped a few criminals back home, so I guess we're kinda like heroes there too."

He slowed a little bit, thinking. "But he doesn't really have a super hero name. Maybe I should make him one?" he mused out loud. "What do you think?"

 

[Negrek]

"Yes! Yes, you totally should," Rocky said, bouncing more energetically. "It's really important! You can't be a proper superhero without a cool alias. Like Sound Hound or something." Unlike Marshtomp, Rocky was great at naming things. "And you need a name, too, if you're going to be his sidekick!"

 

[Flyg0n]

Echo's ears perked up. "Sound Hound!" he said the name carefully. It was pretty cool. "Maybe I'll see if Koa would like that!" And a superhero name for him? He'd never given the idea much thought before but... He was sort of like a bat, so maybe something with that? Like Batma-

Nah. He glided down to briefly perch on Rocky's head and tapped his wing to his chin in thought. What was that word he'd heard... "I don't know. I've always been Echo. It's weird to think about going by another name, but it would be kinda fun. What about Superbat? Or..." his voice trailed off and he frowned. This was harder than it seemed. Koa was a lot better at picking names. "What do you think would be cool?" he asked finally.

 

[Negrek]

Rocky was surprised when Echo dropped down onto his head, but he was quick to tamp down his flames so Echo didn't get burned. "Superbat is good," Rocky said. "But I don't know. Maybe something more special for you? Since you like honey... What about something like Sweet Tooth! Because you've got big fangs!"

It would be nice if "honey" was in the name somehow. But every version of "honey bat" that Rocky could think of just sounded like a kind of candy.

 

[Flyg0n]

"Sweet Tooth! Oh thats really good." He beamed, nodding to himself. "Sound Hound and Sweet Tooth. I like that!" He took to the air again and did a loop in the air. He couldn't wait to get home and tell Koa in person. Maybe they could even get some kind of cool outfit. People did that, right?

"You're good at this, you know. Are you sure you weren't a human?" he joked. "Koa was always good at names too. Everyone on our team got a really cool nickname!" He flew on for a few more seconds before speaking again. "Who gave you your name?"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky grinned. It was so great that Echo liked his names! Rocky should probably be thinking of one for himself, too. The God Squad all had aliases, didn't they? What kind of weapon would he be?

"Well, the person I'm based on kinda sorta used to be human! It's complicated," he said cheerfully. "Marshtomp was the one who named me. I'm called Rocky because I used to be a rock. Like you!" He giggled. "So Koa's obviously way better at names than he is. Echo's a great name for a crobat! What are the names of the other pokémon on your team?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Almost none of what Rocky said made much sense to Echo, but it sounded interesting all the same. Though he wasn't really sure how someone could come from a rock. He'd never heard of pokemon like that back home, other than actual rock-pokemon. Had Rocky come from a Geodude somehow? But he couldn't have if he was human, right?

With a shrug, Echo just grinned again and gave a chirp of acknowledgement. It didn't matter much what Rocky was. He was Rocky, and Echo liked Rocky. That was enough for him.

"There's a Joltik we met, and Koa named him Hazard!" Echo began eagerly. The only topic he liked as much as Koa was probably his other friends on the team. "Hazard is really cool! He wants to get really strong only as a Joltik. Then there's Rascal. She's a super tough Tyrunt. And she bit Koa. But Koa bit her back, so its ok."

Who should he say next....

"Let's see. There's Anubis! He's a houndoom. And Scrapper is a Breloom. He's a really good fighter! Oh, and Flurry is a Spheal! She's really nice, Koa hatched her from an egg. So thats our whole team. Cool, right?"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky listened to Echo talk about his teammates, flames warming back to a gentle glow. It was actually kind of too bad that Marshtomp wasn't here. He loved hearing about trainers and their teams. And he'd be nice to Echo.

Rocky's eyes gleamed brighter the longer Echo went on, but he waited until the crobat had finished talking before he pounced. "Whoah, you're right! Those are a lot of good names! I think I like 'Hazard' best. And joltik are so cute! It makes things kind of funny, too."

Rocky was a little curious about what "Anubis" meant, but that paled in comparison with one of Echo's other teammates. "I can't believe you have a tyrunt on your team, though! Did you ever meet Coco? She's a tyrunt, too! And she loves biting things!" The real big questions, though... "But how did Koa ever get a tyrunt? They're so rare! And I thought he was human, so... how did he bite a tyrunt?" Rocky chuckled. "At least, bite a tyrunt without dying, I mean!"

 

[Flyg0n]

Echo shook his head sadly. "I don't think we managed to meet Coco." Things just never seemed to line up, although now he really wanted to. She sounded a lot like Rascal "And Koa found a fossil in this big cave he went to! But he wasn't allowed to restore the fossil until he got stronger. I helped him beat the gyms though, so we eventually got to restore the fossil."

Echo pondered the next question for a moment. "When Koa first met Rascal, she was really stubborn. She didn't really trust him, and never listened to him when he tried to help." He still remembered their adventure in the cave, and how she'd been so reluctant to accept his help. "Well, I think Rascal needed to test Koa. So she bit him to see what he would do! Not hard enough to hurt him though. And then Koa grabbed her arm and kinda bit her back! It's not like it would hurt her, but I think it impressed her a lot, that a human would try biting her instead of just accepting it."

He circled in the air for a moment, scanning the forest. "Also, I love talking about my friends, but did you have any particular pokemon in mind you want me to look for? Maybe something Marshtomp would like?"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky laughed. He tried to imagine a kid biting a baby dinosaur, even only kind of--Rascal must have been surprised! That sounded like the kind of thing Marshtomp would do. "That was brave! Probably it wasn't a very good idea, but I can see why Rascal was impressed. Koa's so lucky, though. Finding a fossil..." And somehow Cuicatl must have found one, too. "I guess you'll have plenty of chances to meet Coco. Since she's a familiar, she doesn't have to... leave."

Rocky should try to see her again, too. It had been a while since he'd seen Cuicatl or her familiar. He almost didn't want too, though. He didn't want to think about people leaving. Fortunately Echo gave him an out right away.

"Oh! Right!" Rocky drew himself up and scanned the trees again imperiously. "I don't know what kind of pokémon live around here, but... it needs to be something smaller than Marshtomp! I think around the size of a rattata would be good. And something that lives on the ground." Rocky didn't think most flying pokémon would enjoy squeezing under the porch.

 

[Flyg0n]

Echo's ear twitched, and he scanned the area again. "So how come you want something smaller than Marshtomp?" As he spoke, he kept his ears tuned to the various pokemon in the area. There were some birds, which he ignored, and a few odder pokemon like a Froslass, but he wasn't sure that was right.

Opening his jaws, he let out an inaudible burst of sound, swiveling his ears. "I hear something... There's a Swinub. And some Sneasel! Would something like that work?"

 

[Negrek]

(( omg, swinub was 100% what I was hoping for! I love that it's one of the ones you picked. ))

Rocky smirked. "Marshtomp doesn't like being little, and he's tired of being around pokémon that are bigger than him all the time." It wasn't the real reason... but it also wasn't a lie, either.

It didn't take Echo long at all to find something. Rocky perked up immediately. "Oh! Swinub would be perfect! Which way is it?"

 

[Flyg0n]

((sick. same brain))

Echo chittered in amusement. He thought there was more to it than that, but he didn't want to press. Rocky seemed like he was having fun.

"It's this way!" he chirped, heading north. He kept his pace on the slower side, so he wouldn't leave Rocky behind. "So what was Marshtomp like as a human?"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky bounded along below Echo, going at top speed. He figured the crobat would tell him when he needed to be quiet--until then, it felt good to run!

"Well," he said distractedly, "He was pretty much the same, except human-shaped, I guess! He was a trainer, too. Or kind of still is, well, he got turned into a pokémon before he came here, so it's actually been a while since he was human at all. He hasn't seen his team for a long time now." Rocky paused for a second, not feeling quite so excited anymore. "The legendary pokémon here are pretty nice. But the ones in Marshtomp's world aren't like that. So if Koa's world is anything like Marshtomp's... then I hope your team can keep him safe from them."

 

[Flyg0n]

Rocky was pretty fast, faster than he'd expected. That was good, it meant he could keep up, and Echo could fly faster without worrying. "The legendaries in Koa's world are really nice though! At least..." he paused, the image of Raikou's cold eyes flashing through his mind, and the Entei they'd encountered. "I think they are."

Another memory burned brighter than that of the two beasts they'd encountered. Crimson feathers filling his vision, and blazing rainbow that seemed to light up the sky, and a single feather. "I believe they are. I don't believe they'd hurt humans. Humans are the ones that hurt them," he said softly. Koa talked about that a lot, how humans tried to control them, and enslave them. It made his trainer angry.

Echo frowned. "I don't like that. More power means you should be nicer. Protect others, not use it for yourself."

Echo began to slow slightly. The Swinub wasn't much farther now, it sounded like.

 

[Negrek]

"That's good if they're nice," Rocky said. "Marshtomp's world might just be the weird one! Although... humans hurt legends where Marshtomp's from, too. I guess they just deal with it differently. But you're right! When you get stronger, that means you have to help more people, not hurt them! It's like the difference between Soda and everybody on Team Spectrum."

Rocky could see that Echo was slowing down. He did the same, crouching low for stealth. His tail lashed behind him with anticipation.

 

[Flyg0n]

Echo nodded in agreement.

Several yards ahead, a small Swinub root through the undergrowth, perhaps searching for some kind of food. Its furry brown body was just barely visible amonst the trees and brush, and Echo flicked his ears toward it to indicate its position.

"So how does this work on Cibus?" Echo whispered. Usually Koa was the one who did the catching. That was his job as a trainer. "Do we need one of those pokeballs?"