“Couldn’t you shut up for five seconds?” Miu asked as she approached the source of the bellowing, her previous fear replaced with irritation.
Despite being relatively near, the trek was still taking some time and the distant cries of Pokémon were slowly approaching her, the cacophony of screams and the torrential rain not allowing her to even hear her own thoughts. Ironically, she was being constantly saved from the barrage of sounds by even more sounds.
In the distance, she would sometimes hear Roars and Howls of defiance from apex predators trying to one up the original, the Screeches of Bugs going into a panic at the new movement in the forest below, Echoed Voices of Pokémon working together to outdo the bellowing and even Songs trying to calm everyone else, yet they all resulted in the same outcome.
A temporary stop of the mellowing, followed by the loudest scream she had ever heard. The nearer she got, the more it physically hurt to even hear it. Her entire body rattled with the sound, her eardrums almost bursting each time she was too slow in covering them. The resounding cry would echo across the forest, plunging it into silence, only for the bellowing to continue once again. That brief silence was music to her ears, even more than the Songs she had actually heard.
Still, she continued to go towards the mysterious Pokémon despite how ill-advised that choice was. If she was correct, the deafening scream was Hyper Voice, which narrowed down what Pokémon it could be due to Level Up Movepools. From something as weak as a Chatot, to… well, Arceus itself. And while she very much doubted it was god, there were still some favorable options. It could be a Primarina or a Skeledirge, starters that were often near human cities. It could also be a friendly Drampa or even Meloetta. All of those could be good additions to her team, being given an egg from the parents or even convincing a child to go with her.
Of course, the other options weren’t that good. Rayquaza, Hydreigon, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, all those would probably kill her on sight if she was perceived as a threat. Seeing an Iron Jugulis would cement in which region she was though… if she survived, that is. But still, all but one of those were Legendary Pokémon, one of them even living in the ozone layer, what were the chances of Miu meeting them? It could be a Maushold for all she knew.
But as she drew closer, a new sound joined the bellowing… a rhythmic thwack of flesh against flesh, of Pokémon hitting each other, but… it didn’t feel like a fight, but a song using their bodies as instruments, like… drums of war, raising their spirits as the bellowing intensified and new voices joined in.
“Belly Drum… what Pokémon knows both Hyper Voice and Belly Drum?” she asked herself, because it was obviously not a fight, the sounds too in synch for the cacophony to be anything but a performance.
Miu slowed down, more cautious now that she knew the Pokémon she was approaching was boosting itself alongside others. Sure, they would be at half health, but they would be at their strongest too and she had no Pokémon to defend herself with, so it was a moot point. She considered turning back now that she was more aware of the risks, but the cries were still converging to her location; she would need to break through them and she wasn’t sure how aggressive they were. Hiding was her best option, and where else but where they would least expect it; right underneath them? (She ignored the little voice saying she was doing this just to satisfy her curiosity, it was clearly wrong.)
Walking but a few steps more through thinning trees gave way to the sight of a river, and she quickly hid in a nearby bush as she detected movement. A little downstream, there were… armless blue tadpoles paddling in the water without a care in the world being watched on by tense tadpoles with arms and legs. The girl frowned from the cover of the trees, trying to find… a green toad with a goofy smile and a single strand of curled hair.
Politoed, the Frog Pokémon. It's the leader of Poliwag and Poliwhirl. When Politoed roars, they all cower in fear. They gather on moonlit nights at the shores of lakes to form a large chorus. Their cries sound angry and not at all pleasant, but they are certainly distinctive.
Miu frowned even more at the sight of a Politoed in a river, yet that wasn’t the end. Around Politoed there were Poliwrath coming from the forest, despite the fact that said species didn’t normally listen to Politoed. The latter could be easily explained by the river connecting to its lake, but why were Poliwrath here?
As the girl observed the army of frogs, she noticed how the ones not hitting their stomachs were moving their arms and feet around while looking at the sky… in a Rain Dance, she belatedly realized. She cursed their entire lineage as she rubbed her arms to keep herself warm, now knowing the rain wasn’t an act of god, but of freaking tadpoles with limbs.
For a moment, for a single moment, Miu considered following the river downhill in hopes of hitting civilization, since her plans for getting an overpowered starter were shot in the foot. She would need to walk around the strange ritual of those Pokémon to achieve it, but it was probably her best bet.
Then the Poliwhirl jumped into the water and took the Poliwag out in a flash just before a giant monstrosity of wrath and teeth could swallow them whole, its fangs clicking shut empty and the creature growling in anger at its dinner being taken from them as it submerged back, gone before Miu could see but a flash of red in its scales, her mind stuck on seeing a Pokémon trying to eat another Pokémon.
She didn’t have time to react as the river erupted, the Pokémon launching itself in a spiral of water of immense speed to hunt the prey that had escaped, the priority of what she recognized as Aqua Jet boosting them further. But Politoed had been waiting for it as it met the attack head on with a full Body Slam, forcing the carnivore outside the river where it flapped uselessly, its green body not meant for the ground due to the lacks of limbs. Darkness cloaked the creature as the Poliwrath prepared their attacks before it vanished, a great shadow now lurking in the river and safe from the onslaught of Water type attacks that destroyed the ground where it had been on moments prior.
‘Basculegion, the Big Fish Pokémon. This Pokémon is cloaked in the souls of its comrades who perished during a punishing journey to the river of their birth.’ Her mind provided while she stared in shock.
“Poli poli, ed toed!” the Frog Pokémon shouted at the river with a mocking grin and a Swagger in his step, daring its opponent to attack.
“OOOOOOOOON!” It answered back in an Uproar, which the Poli line gladly accepted with Hyper Voices of their own.
The opposing soundwaves visibly clashed, reverberating and causing damage to both sides, yet neither backed down. Unlike before, the entire forest shrieked, all the Pokémon that had been silenced before now shouting their own cries as one, a pandemonium of sounds deafening even the clash right in front of her eyes.
Miu fell to the ground with a wail of her own, yet she couldn’t even hear her own yells. Covering her ears did nothing as the howls of the forest rumbled inside her very bones, not even when her ears began to bleed did the sound stop, overpowering even the ringing in her ears to assault her with the never-ending discord.
“OOOOOOOOO-on?!” despite not being able to hear it, the girl could see the water stopping to ripple from Basculegion’s Uproar, probably the confusion from Swagger finally making it hurt itself.
The Polis didn’t hesitate to capitalize on its mistake, blasting it with their Hyper Voices. The river practically exploded from the sheer sound wave, leaving an empty spot of dry ground in between two masses of water for an instant before both sides rushed in to cover the empty spot. The last she saw of the red Basculegion was him – for red Basculegion were male – fainted on the bottom of the river before being dragged by the currents.
The girl saw more than heard the Polis celebrating under the rain, the ringing in her ears still present. She tore off part of her improvised pouch and wiped the inside of her ears clean, wincing every so often when she thought she heard a particularly loud shout. But these actions were automatic, as her mind was stuck replaying on loop what she had just seen.
A Basculegion just tried to eat a Poliwag.
It felt… wrong, and she wasn’t sure if the cold or the rain was what caused the shiver up her spine. She knew from innumerable Pokédex entries that Pokémon ate each other, but seeing it made it… sink in, for lack of better words. They still needed to eat, just like animals back home, and some of those were carnivores. This world… wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, with the hand wave of synthetic meat that Game Freak had given to make it more PG. If that Pikachu had killed her yesterday, she would have probably eaten the girl’s burnt corpse. It was a sobering thought, realizing how easily a world of magical monster could kill someone.
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So, with that new perspective, she couldn’t help but watch in morbid fascination as the Polis stopped celebrating and Politoed sank into the river, most likely looking to secure their new meal. She wanted to look away, didn’t want to see the river turn red, but her eyes were glued to the waters, waiting, expecting to be proven right.
…
When the first minute passed, she felt uneasy at the lack of activity, yet the pokémon on the shorelines seemed unconcerned as they talked casually between each other in whispers she couldn’t hear. Her first thought, that Politoed got to eat from the carcass before everyone else, was easily disproven by the lack of blood.
…
When five minutes passed, conversations died down and some Poliwrath arrived from the forest carrying berries, which they distributed while they sat and waited for Politoed to return. Miu had theorized that maybe Politoed was trying to lift the corpse onto the ground to prevent torn bits from being taken by the current and thus maximizing the amount of food the whole colony would get to eat, but no Poliwrath had jumped into the river to help him carry the burden.
…
When ten minutes passed, the Poliwag finished their meals, wanting to go back to the water but being prevented by their older counterparts and making them play in the forming puddles instead. Miu didn’t know what to think at this point, what could be taking Politoed so long. Maybe preparing the body by stripping it of its scales so they could more easily eat it? Stripping it of undesirables parts that they couldn’t eat? Taking it to their pond so they could eat it later? She just didn’t know.
…
It was only at the seventeen-minute mark that a huge explosion of water disturbed the monotony. Basculegion resurfaced, bruised yet still standing and glaring at all the Pokémon waiting at the shore. He opened his giant jaw and Miu preemptively covered her ears for another Uproar, yet before anything could happen…
…a Poliwrath lazily threw a berry at the open maw, which quickly clicked shut and began chewing in happiness, his eyes obviously expressing utter bliss.
Miu was flabbergasted at the outcome, and more so when she took in the full picture. Politoed was riding Basculegion like a horse and what looked like silent hollering, and the Poliwag, which had been almost been eaten a few minutes ago, began climbing the predator and joined Politoed in silently screaming, and the overprotective Poliwhirl just… didn’t care beyond sending a few hand motions. The only Pokémon treating the situation seriously were the Poliwrath, who were making threatening gestures, only for Basculegion to simply nod and have the Poliwrath do a 180, suddenly throwing the few remaining Poliwag near them onto the back of the Ghost Pokémon.
They were all having fun together, and Miu’s mind snapped at the stupidity on display. A predator tried to eat them, no, their children, and their response was to feed him and become friends?! ‘Who does that?! In what kind of world does that make… any… sense…’ The girl slapped her forehead and sighed, only now realizing that conventional logic didn’t work in this new world. With that in mind, she tried to decipher what had just happened using her knowledge of Pokémon.
After some pondering, she reached an epiphany; there were no true carnivores Pokémon. Yes, there were predator species, but all Pokémon were capable of eating berries, which made them either omnivore or herbivore, excluding the ones that straight up ate rocks or other miscellaneous stuff. And berries didn’t grow at the bottom of rivers (that she knew of), which meant exclusively aquatic species didn’t have easy access to that source of food. The Poli line could spend longer times outside of water as it evolved, but a pure fish like Basculegion couldn’t. Thus, the colony of Poli could access food beyond his reach and give it to him in exchange for not eating them.
But that didn’t explain how they were now so… accepting! Yes, Basculegion probably didn’t have any other choice, but they completely glossed over that Poliwag almost dying. They just fully trusted him after Politoed did whatever he did underwater, even letting their vulnerable offspring ride the Pokémon that almost ate one of their own less than an hour ago. Did they trust Politoed’s judgement that much, or…
Miu scrutinized them, trying to find anything that would let her understand, yet all she could find were Pokémon enjoying themselves, happy to be together. There was no resentment or tension apparent, not even some hesitation. The girl tried to remember the events, thinking that maybe it had been a game of some sorts, but her memories clearly depicted a predator hunting its prey, the serious expressions of both sides had been clear. But, now that she thought about it…
…they had been waiting for Basculegion to take the bait, it had been a trap using Poliwag as a lure. Then they fought, Basculegion lost and it made less sense! They clearly knew there was a predator around, so they preemptively attacked just to… become friends?!
‘Deep breaths.’ The girl told herself (and ignored the pang in her chest when remembering who taught her to do so), trying to understand the impossible. Maybe… maybe it had been an intervention? Both sides knew each other and had that berry deal, Basculin evolved, starved all of the sudden due to needing a lot more food than before due to its bigger size and they intervened before it escalated? Even then, their friend went crazy, tried to eat a baby and they just brushed it off afterwards. They would need to have either the memory of a goldfish or… they were just that empathic to know what he went through and not judge him for even a second after all was said and done.
That… that thought brought her up short. To just forgive so easily and readily… she couldn’t fathom not being angry in so little time after the fact. Basculegion didn’t even apologize to anyone but possibly Politoed, he just surfaced and they already threw a berry and moved on. It had to be the wrong conclusion, she had to be missing something. Even if they were family, that amount of unconditional love… it belonged in fictional stories for children. It couldn’t happen, wouldn’t happen…
…Yet here she was.
‘Pokémon… they are such strange and wonderful creatures, aren’t they?’ Miu thought with fondness at the familiar phrase, which she slowly realized meant so much more in this world.
Before she could react, they all performed Watersports into the air as a last hurray, utterly drenching her and most of the trees nearby, making her break out in (slightly bitter) laughter. Politoed likely began bellowing again, but she couldn’t hear it. Now that there wasn’t anything holding her attention, Miu noticed that most sounds had been muted at best and non-existent at worst, but hopefully it was temporary… ruptured eardrums healed back, right?
The smile on her face became brittle once she realized the rain did not stop despite no Pokémon continuing the Rain Dance for some time. In fact, she saw a flash of lighting and barely heard the rumble of thunder in the distance. While normally she would be curious about how many Rain Dances it would take to cause an actual storm, right now she was cold, hungry and mostly deaf. The girl considered asking Politoed for directions, but because reality and Arceus personally hated her, the thunder scared them into the river and they swam away.
Miu just… sighed, done with this day, even if she had briefly enjoyed it for a second back there. She decided to avoid the river in case there was another wild Basculegion and just wandered in its general direction. As she walked, she tried to fit Basculegion in her mindscape of possible regions, which was starting to look more and more like Sinnoh… except Basculegion weren’t there anymore, so that was a wrench to her deductions unless she was in fricking Hisui, which would make her quest to capture god both infinitely easier and harder.
Walking without looking, she slipped and fell, cursing up a storm when she saw her clothes caked in disgusting mud. At least the rain was slowly washing it away, but it was a miserable experience. As she got up, she tried her best to get rid of it, but apparently rubbing barely hold-together string was a bad idea as her improvised socks-shoes and bag came undone, forcing her to carry the Leftovers in her hand as she watched the silk sink into the mud and disappear.
Sighing again, she continued her search for a tree that would protect her from the rain as she waited it out, but the best options were already taken by other Pokémon who hissed when she tried to approach them, no sight of the complete empathy of the Polis in sight. Though, in their defense, they were all first stage, so probably children and babies who were intimidated by the big angry human. As she was starting to lose hope, she wondered if maybe she would finally get lucky and find… oh, a cave to hide from the rain, just what she needed.
With renewed spirits, she strolled confidently inside the cave.
…
She confidently strolled right back out when she saw a massive Ursaring giving her the stink eye and taking a breath to charge a Hyper Beam.
“Oookay, forest it is then.” Miu mused out loud with a twitching smile as she looked around.
Tired from walking all day, she chose the nearest tree that provided some cover and put her back against it, hugging her knees to warm herself. Raindrops continued to pester her into a cold, her stomach decided to ask for food again and she still had no idea of where she was going, but at least it wasn’t as bad as it could be.
Just as she coincidentally lurched forward in a full-body sneeze, lighting struck the tree she was under, travelling right to the very base and with the smallest distance between herself and the fatal electricity. A brief fire burnt away the tree’s leaves and branches in an instant before the rain put it away, leaving her completely exposed to the downpour. The muted sound of thunder greeted her ears as the storm flashed overhead, almost like a warning that the saying about lighting wasn’t true and it would strike twice in the same place.
Miu stared at the blackened stump of a tree in disbelief… and promptly laughed while deciding to sleep there anyways out of pure spite, though not before cursing Zapdos, Thundurus and Zekrom to hell and back… and Arceus too, for good luck.