Author Notes: This is based off of the video game, obviously, and not the anime or the manga. For those of you who've played any pokemon video game, you should get a kick out of this. I hope. ;)
Please review and tell me what you think, how you like this little collection, and what well-known fandom you'd like to see Kaiba thrown into next!
"Quagsire, return!"
Kaiba held the pokeball out in one hand as his pokemon returned to it with a flash of light. He tucked the pokeball back into his messenger bag, then looked at his Feraligator. The Pokemon blinked at him impassively, and Kaiba sighed, wishing that he could get more of a reaction from the creature. Even with pokemon companions, his long journey had become quite lonely.
He turned and entered the cave, hoping that this truly was the end of his journey. He wove through the labyrinth of caves and tunnels, going up and down several levels until he had no idea how deep he was or where he was in relation to the entrance. Then he finally found his way to the final decline that would carry him to the deepest portion of the cavern. When he got there, the five kimono dancers from the Ecruteak City dance theater. They stood frozen around a giant gong, watching him expectantly. That was when he pulled the tidal bell out of his pocket. He studied it for a moment, then wrapped the silken ribbon around his fingers and shook it.
The lovely sound rang out, echoing off the cavern walls. After a moment, the large bell before him, the one the dancers surrounded, began to sound on its own with no apparent cause. The five women began to dance around it, and other large bells in the cavern began to ring too. Seto didn't understand what was going on, but when he heard the cry of a pokemon that he didn't recognize, it suddenly made sense to him. The bells stopped ringing, the women stopped dancing, then the five of them spoke to him in what sounded like a single, wise voice.
"That is indeed Lugia, the guardian of these islands from ancient times... So many have tried again and again, only to fail... Seto, your heart in complete harmony with the tidal bell has finally allowed it to appear... Kaiba, don't you see? Lugia... it must have been waiting for someone like you all this time. Wouldn't you agree?" The kimono girls bowed to him, which was a bit startling, then exited the cave in single file.
He watched them go, then turned back around and followed the echoing cry of Lugia, letting the excitement of the legendary pokemon's presence revitalize him. This was what he'd been working towards his whole life. Ever since he was a kid reading stories to his little brother about different pokemon, he'd been enthralled with the white, blue-eyed, dragon-like legendary known as Lugia.
He walked towards the edge of the water, the tidal bell still in hand and his most powerful pokemon at his heels. He had almost reached its very edge when he heard another cry, the same one from before, and the water became turbulent.
At last, the legendary pokemon he'd always dreamed of meeting surged from the surface of the water in its full glory and power. He could feel the wind from its beating wings, could see its glowing blue eyes. He was breathless with awe as the creature gingerly lowered itself into the water again, but this time in the portion that was at the very edge of the pool from which it'd emerged. It landed right in front of him, floating int the water with its wings tucked in at its sides, its tail skimming the surface, and its neck arched so that its head hovered only a couple feet in front of him.
Seto was hardly thinking about what he was doing when he lifted his left hand and tentatively reached out towards the pokemon's face. He stopped, though, when his palm was a few inches away from its wet skin. Was it his reverence that made him stop? His belief in the sacred nature of this powerful creature?
Lugia leaned slightly forward and rested its head against Seto's hand, making the skilled pokemon trainer gasp as a flood of emotion overwhelmed him. Lugia pulled away from him, throwing its head back and emitting another fierce cry as it spread its wings and began to glow all over. The light was so strong that it blinded him, and he lifted his arm to cover his eyes.
A wild Lugia has appeared!
He blinked and lowered his arm again once the light had disappeared, then dropped his jaw in shock. Lugia was nowhere to be scene. In its place stood a beautiful young woman in a flowing white kimono lined with blue and silver. She stood only as tall as his shoulder, a slender little thing, but clearly mature. She had long white hair that was done up simply with two long blue chopsticks sticking out of it. She was pale, but not in a sickly way. It was as if she were a statue, and her skin was made of mother-of-pearl.
He expected to see her fall to pieces when she moved, taking a dainty step forward, but no, she was a real, live woman. Flesh and blood, lungs breathing, heart beating. And those sapphire eyes lifted towards his, rendering him entirely speechless.
Wild Lugia used attract! Seto Kaiba is now infatuated!
"My bell," she said, her voice clear and soft as a Swablu. She held out one hand and asked smoothly, "May I have it?"
"What? Oh, of course!" He was flustered, and while he tried to hide it, he couldn't will away his blush. He handed her the tidal bell after untangling its ribbon from his fingers. She held the bell by the ribbons and shook it, making the metal tinkle cheerily. She giggled, pleased by the sound, and shook it again. Kaiba felt a strange warmth in his chest as he watched how delighted she was with the simple gift he'd given her, but lost all focus again as she looked at him directly and smiled with those perfect pink lips.
"Thank you for returning this to me," she murmured, lowering her eyelashes in a way Kaiba found to be quite alluring. "I've been waiting for someone like you to bring it back."
"Someone like me?" he asked faintly, still quite stunned by everything that was happening.
"Someone whose soul is pure." She stepped closer to him, close enough for his breath to stir a stray white hair. "What is your name, my noble trainer?"
The warm way she said his name made his mouth go dry. He swallowed hard, licked his lips, and answered, "Seto Kaiba. And you're..."
Seto Kaiba flinched!
"Lugia." She smiled graciously, and he knew in that moment that he was in love with her. He'd loved the legend of Lugia all his life, ever since his mother had first read it to him as a little boy. Now, his love was starting to transform into a very different kind of love.
She lifted a small, well-formed hand and began to reach towards his face, then she froze, concern flashing across her face.
"Are we alone?" she asked suddenly, and her apparent worry made him jump at the opportunity to reassure her.
"Yes, we're alone. The Kimono Girls left and nobody else is here."
"Are you sure that nobody followed you?"
"I-I didn't think to check, but I'm fairly certain that nobody did," Kaiba answered, sounding more and more by the moment like a teenage boy talking to a pretty girl for the first time. "You know, there's something I always wondered about you."
"Really? And what's that?" She sounded intrigued as she played coy.
"If you're the guardian of the seas, then why are you psychic/flying type? Why not water?" He felt like the question was obnoxious, but the question had been preying on his mind for years. She didn't seem to think that it was obnoxious at all. It was a perfectly valid question.
"Because it's symbolic. I'm not just the guardian of the seas." She lowered her voice to a whisper, making him lean forward to hear her better. "I'm the guardian of the soul. Our souls, Seto are now joined. Do you realize that?"
"They are? How?"
"When you touched me," she explained smoothly, lifting both her hands, palm outwards in a way that prompted him to do the same, and press his palms to hers. "The purity of your soul called out to mine. That's why you could even summon me at all. Because you're the only one who is worthy of me."
"Worthy of you? In... what way?" He had a guess at what she meant, but he wasn't sure if that's really what she was talking about, or if his instincts were just reminding him that he'd been traveling alone for a very long time.
She giggled innocently, then smiled at him with sheer amusement.
"There's a more common way for two to become one, Seto. I'm sure you're familiar with it."
Wild Lugia used Lovely Kiss! It's super effective!
The moment her lips touched his, he lost all control. He pulled her closer, crushing her breasts against his chest, but she didn't seem to mind. They dissolved into passion right there in the cave, laying together on the fabric of her untied kimono. Her bare body sparkled in the dim light.
This was a turn of events that he had never dreamed of, but he was so glad of it. This was better than he could have ever dreamed.
Seto Kaiba used Wrap! It's not very effective...
In the afterglow, he wrapped her in his arms and some fabric from her dress to keep her warm, fighting the urge to fall asleep. He didn't want to miss a single moment of this miracle.
Seto Kaiba is asleep!
Wild Lugia is feeling drowsy!
Seto Kaiba has woken up!
"Did you hear that?" Lugia sat up suddenly, hugging a piece of blue cloth to her chest. Seto paused in the process of pulling on his pants to listen, but heard nothing.
"No, what is it?" he asked, trusting her psychic abilities more than his own hearing.
"People are coming." She sounded alarmed, scared, and stood suddenly, hurriedly pulling on her shift as Kaiba pulled on his shirt. He lifted her kimono for her so that she could put her arms through the large sleeves.
"Can you tell who they are?" he asked, lifting his bag over his shoulder at the same time that she was tying her kimono.
"Does the name 'Team Rocket' mean anything to you?" She turned towards him with a look of concern as realization struck him.
Seto Kaiba used Foresight!
"They're bad news." That was an understatement. "If they're here, then we need to get out of here now."
"The only way out is through the air or through the water, because they'll be blocking the cave passage," she pointed out. Sudden sorrow filled her eyes as she said, "I'll have to transform back if we're going to escape."
"Then that's what we'll have to do," Seto said, not noticing the sadness that filled her. He could hear their voices now in the distance, the cavern carrying the echoes of their whispers quite far.
Lugia nodded and bowed her head, pulling the tidal bell out from the folds of her robes, as well as a shell bell. With one in each hand, she rang them both together, the sounds blending beautifully, as if they were made to be rung together. Then she began to glow again, the light intensifying, and Kaiba shielded his eyes once more. When the light disappeared, the legendary pokemon was in her place once more. She nodded towards her back, indicating for him to climb on, and he obeyed, grabbing a firm hold on the spines lining her back.
"There it is!" the Team Rocket administrator shouted as he led a clump of grunts into the cave, pointing towards Lugia. Kaiba, on her back, was out of their sight. Lugia cried out, her cry sounding more beautiful to Seto each time he heard it, and flapped her wings fiercely, lifting into the air and hampering the Team Rocket members with the gust.
Wild Lugia used Fly!
Lugia maneuvered her way through the hole in the ceiling of the cave and flew out over the ocean, Kaiba clinging to her for dear life. She took him for quite a flight, and it was something they both enjoyed. She hadn't emerged in many years, so she liked seeing how the landscape had changed since she'd last seen it.
When they finally landed, it was at the top of the waterfall by the Safari Zone. He climbed off and threw himself down in the grass, appreciating the feeling of solid ground beneath him again. Lugia lay down in the grass beside him, her head right by his, her cobalt eyes watching him intently.
He turned his head to look at her and smiled, lifting a hand to stroke her beak.
"Thank you for getting us out of there. If we hadn't left, you would have been in danger. We should be safe here, though."
She blinked at him, but didn't transform as he expected her to. His smile faltered, and a horrible thought crept into his mind.
"You... can't transform again, can you?"
She shook her head, making him sigh as a fresh ache filled his chest. He stared at the sky as he absorbed this information. He lay like this for a while, only stirring when he noticed Lugia nibbling at his backpack.
"What are you doing?" he asked, sitting up with a look of confusion. She nudged at the flap, and he opened it for her. She dove her head into his bag, rummaging around in it and spilling some of the contents in the process. When she pulled her head out, an empty ultra ball was held delicately in her beak. Kaiba was busy putting his things back in his bag and didn't notice this at first, so she set it on the ground and nudged it towards him.
"You want me... to catch you?" he asked in disbelief, and she nodded in answer. He stood, looking at her with uncertainty. She stood too, looking at him expectantly. He took a deep breath, looked at the ultra ball in his hand, then pulled his arm back and threw it at her. The ultra ball absorbed her and snapped shut, rocked a little on the ground, then went still.
Wild Lugia was caught!
He picked up the ball and released her again, hating the idea of seeing her imprisoned like that. Only once he released her again did he realize that she was still holding both of her bells: the tidal bell and the shell bell. She gave the tidal bell to him, dropping it into his hand, and he tucked it safely into his bag, not wanting to risk losing it.
"I'm really going to miss you," he whispered, trying to suppress his grief, and she nudged him gently. He threw his arms around her neck and hugged her. She held him close with her wings, and her whispered a promise to her: "I'll never love again. I'll love you forever."
A week later, while he was training his Altaria for the Elite Four, Lugia laid an egg. She didn't want to let anyone touch it, and she wouldn't release it until he brought a Chansey to her, and she finally allowed the Chansey to care for her egg. As Seto was handing the egg to Chansey, he took a moment to just hold it in, feel its warmth, feel the life inside its shell. He looked up at her with a curious expression, and she just nodded to him, looking quite pleased.
"My child is a pokemon," he murmured to himself in disbelief.
She became one of his primary battling pokemon after that, a critical part of his team when he defeated the Elite Four, and then Lance, the champion. He never sent her to a PC either. He never wanted her to be out of his sight.
He kept his promise, never loving anyone ever again, no matter how lonely he got. Even when an upstart trainer named Yugi defeated him and took his title as champion, leaving him frustrated and depressed, he never sought a lover. He could tell that this bothered her, that she wanted him to be happy, but he knew that she was the only thing he needed to be happy. He built himself a home on the side of Mt. Silver, isolated from everyone but the most skilled trainers who could forge their way through the treacherous mountain paths to that part of the mountain. His brother visited him there more than anyone else, for the which he was glad.
Lugia's egg incubated for months, and he worried many times that it was dead, but it was warm and moving and perfectly alive every time they checked it. When it finally hatched, Lugia was there to see her offspring's birth. Within a few days, the baby was already learning how to fly.
The day came when Lugia needed to leave, to take her offspring back to the Whirl Islands. She didn't know how to articulate this necessity to Seto. One morning, she and her baby nuzzled him copiously in farewell, then they took off together, flying out over the land as he watched them in shock and grief. He heard her cry one last time before she disappeared into the horizon, but he never saw her again.