Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Pokemon or any of its' characters. This is a fan-based creation and is not endorsed or funded or by any means meant to make a profit. This piece of fiction is solely for entertainment purposes. Please read, review, and enjoy.
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At the bottom of the ocean, a lone Gastrodon shifted uneasily in the sand, staring up through the murky waters at the ever warping reflection of the light of the moon overhead. He had seen the tides and currents turn time and time again watching generations of his fellow blue Gastrodon grow and die time and time again. Before, their only true worry was the fell hook of Pokemon Trainers above the water, trapping and catching their kind within Pokeballs and making the Gastrodon do who knows what! - but that was easily avoided if you knew what to watch out for. This new problem though was becoming harder and harder to avoid, and could no longer be avoided for risk of losing their entire population. The seas were not the calm warm waters he had known as a little slug long ago, but had become a cold vast wastland... and all thanks to the 'creeping black water'. Now, he was watching young Shellos and Gastrodon in their prime mysterious collapse and die within the same sands he had grown...
They were not the only Pokemon dying. The old Gastrodon had seen the corpses of Corsola, Clamperls and others among his own. It seemed that anything that tried to thrive in the sands that the creeping black water had sifted itself into died within days. There wasn't a chance of the sea Pokemon adapting to this strange new ... thing.
The Gastrodon continued to shift in the sand, rippling his foot membrane and tossing grains of sand all over and around him in frustration. What was worse than an invader in your homeland was an invader you couldn't even put a name to. He was looked upon as a leader, an alpha, among his fellow Gastrodon, and they had all come to him for answers surrounding the mystery... but in all of his knowledge, the old Gastrodon knew not what to do.
"We are leaving," said a voice beside him.
It startled the Gastrodon so that he retracted his gelatinous head inwards on itself- a natural shock response- and when the sand finally floated to the bottom and the waters cleared, he eased his head up again and greeted the newcomer.
It was an elderly Kingler with a gathering of other Kingler and Krabby behind him...
"The sea is rejecting us. If we value our lives, we cannot stay any longer."
Gastrodon nodded, "It would seem that way, King Crush."
King Crush, the leader of the Kingler and Krabby, sighed sending a stream of bubbles upward, "As your friend, Azul, I suggest you and your kind do the same. It won't be long now before the creeping black water is in even this sand. We must find more accepting waters..."
"These seas have been our home since the Alpha Arceus... it is hard to simply abandon our homeland..."
"I understand," replied King Crush, looking somber, "It is hard for me too... but I have to think about what is best for our kind. If we stay here, we will die... Goodbye, Azul. We will never forget the kindness of the Shellos and Gastrodon. Kyogre guide you."
"Kyogre guide you," Azul said the blessing back.
More clouds of sand were kicked up violently in the air as the gathering of Krabby and Kingler shuffled nosily through the sand out into the empty open blue ocean. Their spidery legs making soft click-clicking noise on the shell and rock beneath them. By the time the sand cleared enough for the old Gastrodon Azul to see again, they had vanished without a trace... like they had been nothing more than ghosts. The great blue of the ocean like a fog surrounded them...
Azul gazed skyward once more at the rippling full moon. He muttered a clumsy prayer to himself, and then retired to his home to rest for the long and stressful morning that was sure to come.