Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or any of the Legendaries. I'm just playing around with them for a little while.
Night on the Town:
"Rayquaza, I do not believe this is a good idea."
"Oh, hush. You're stuck in the ocean, how would you know?"
"But what if-?"
"I'm sure the Titan Trio can survive for one night, and what Arceus doesn't know won't hurt her. C'mon 'beast of the sea', live a little!"
Resigned to the fact that Rayquaza was not about to let him go without a fight, Lugia allowed the dragon pokemon to lead him over to the cluster of bright lights that he knew was a human city. What they would be doing specifically was something the other Legendary was keeping to himself, though the fact that he was leading them straight to a city seemed to hint at something that Lugia knew would not end well.
Coming down to the forest outside of the bustling metropolis, Rayquaza's dragon form folded down into a tan-skinned human with yellow eyes and green clothing. Looking around for any passerby, he nodded in satisfaction before turning his eyes to the sky and waving the other Legendary down. Lugia plunged down through the treeline, changing into a human with paler skin and white clothes, with violet markings in the appropriate places and an overcoat with long, almost baggy sleeves. A hat with a similar look as his crest adorned his head.
Rayquaza gave the other Legendary an appraising look.
"Is something wrong?"
"Nope, you look fine. Now c'mon!"
Lugia was then partially tugged by the arm down the foothills leading down to the city. Rayquaza gave the reluctant guardian an innocent grin, and Lugia felt the urge to bolt back for the ocean as fast as he could go once they stepped into the busier areas of the city. He had never seen so many humans in one place. Not to mention all of the glowing signs and moving metal machines that were swarming up the black-stone-streets. It was a bit much to take in at once, and Lugia found his neck twisting every which way to see it all.
Rayquaza sniggered lightly at the slightly amazed look on the face of the 'Beast of the Sea'. The Legendary could cause a hurricane, but present him with a human city and he was goggle-eyed. It would have been almost hilarious if he hadn't been the same way when he had first come here.
Leading Lugia over into a less-crowded street, Rayquaza turned to the slightly overwhelmed Legendary with a knowing grin.
"I wonder if I looked like that when I first came here?"
Despite the fact that Rayquaza knew Lugia would never actually say anything, the other's brow still furrowed at the implications of the statement.
"Didn't Arceus say that you were confined to the ozone layer?"
"Yeah, but Groudon and Kyogre hadn't fought in a while, and I was bored. Besides, I always wanted to see what the humans did for fun."
Lugia shook his head at the blithe tone, a small grin floating across his face in spite of himself.
"What are you getting me into?"
"Something fun. Come on, you pessimist."
Allowing himself to be tugged along, Lugia gave a wane smile as the incognito Legendary steered him towards a booth on the sidewalk. The sheer volume of scents coming from the stand was enough to make anyone's mouth water, and the 'Beast of the Sea' found himself drawn to the man's seafood selection. He had almost picked up a particularly tantalizing Magikarp-on-a-stick when a very disgruntled voice sounded from over his head.
"I hope you can pay for that."
The somewhat sheepish Legendary looked right up into the face of a very displeased human, who glared down at him as though he were something particularly foul-smelling that the cat dragged in. Quickly drawing his hand back, Lugia sputtered out that he had no money and was not intending to buy anything, or something along those lines. Either way, the human seemed to just grow even more aggravated at the hurried answer.
"Well, I don't have time for you loiterers! If you have no money, move along!" The fact that the burly human had started to wave his arms in an effort to drive him off was more than enough of a reason for Lugia to put as much distance between him and the stand as possible.
It honestly was not that surprising for the guardian to notice that Rayquaza had not followed him over to the booth, and was instead opting to stand at the corner with his arms crossed, a knowing grin on his face.
"Has that happened to you as well?"
"Eh, yes, although you backed off a lot quicker than I did. I really never got the hang of the whole 'money for food' concept."
Lugia got the feeling that there was more to the story than that, but chose not to press the issue. Still, Rayquaza did not seem to be done showing him the sights. Quietly, they edged over to a group of humans gathered around a pair that was, spinning on what looked like two sheets of cardboard laid out on the street, with a boombox next to them. The group around the two cheered as they managed to get themselves upside-down and still keep spinning like tops. The crowd sang in tune to the somewhat coarse music [Lugia learned several new words that he did not care to use anytime soon.], and the performers flipped themselves up and took a bow, gesturing grandly to the crowd.
"I wasn't aware humans could move like that." The ocean-going guardian commented to the quietly surprised Rayquaza.
"It's a first for me too."
The next stop on the wind dragon's list took the both of them past a rather derelict building with more of the loud, booming music emanating from the entrances. Lugia winced as the heavy wooden door was suddenly thrown open, and a young man stumbled out.
Lugia, who had always had a sense of helpfulness when it came to others, as Rayquaza had learned, did something that was not what one would consider doing. Reaching out mentally, the Legendary's mind gave the human's a brief look-over, just to see if he was in some kind of danger.
"Lugia-." Rayquaza started, eyes widening as he realized what the disguised Legendary was doing, but too late. The human male promptly vomited, and the mental backlash caught Lugia by surprise. The Wind Legendary dragged him off before he could join the human, making it about three blocks before he deemed it far enough away. Thankfully, there was a park bench nearby, at which he pushed the other down onto the wooden seat. As soon as he registered the change, Lugia groaned lightly, clasping a long-fingered hand to his head.
"Talk to me, Lugia. You alright?"
"I-I will be. Sorry, I did not expect that."
"Yeah, I gathered. Be careful about who you link with here, even if it's just for a minute. Did you break the connection?"
"Yes. I still feel…"
"Sick?"
"Yes, that."
There was a brief silence from Rayquaza.
"Tell you what. I'll get you something that'll help with the aftereffects, just wait here."
Before Lugia could so much as protest, he darted off, leaving the slightly dizzy Legendary on the bench. Knowing that it would be pointless to go after him, Lugia settled back on the bench and waited for the world to stop spinning. It helped that the park around him was quiet, and smelled firmly of nature. It reminded him of the Brass Tower before it had been destroyed.
Once the feeling of sickness had disappeared somewhat, Lugia's thoughts turned to what he had just seen in the human building.
Why did humans do that? Didn't they realize how much it hurt them?
"Hey, check out the weirdo. Who wears clothes like that anyway?" The furtive jaunt snapped Lugia out of his thoughts just in time to notice that the group of humans that had been across the street just moments ago were smirking, and coming over to the bench he was seated on. Jumping lightly, he almost bolted if not for the fact that he was curious as to what they wanted.
"Can I help you with something?"
"Maybe you could 'help' us." One asked, with a look in his eyes that reminded Lugia of Ho-Oh when he was in a good mood.
"Yeah, like what kind of geek squad did you crawl out from?"
"I…don't understand."
"What, you live under a rock or something, freak?" One of the others spoke up, and Lugia concealed a wince. Did they mean to fight him? He hoped not.
"Hey, talking to you, space cadet." One said, plucking him firmly off the bench and setting him on his feet in one smooth motion. He definitely did not like the look in their eyes now. If he were to fight back, it might involve changing back, which was something he could not risk. However, if he stayed-.
"There you are!"
Lugia jumped at the familiar voice, and all heads turned to see Rayquaza making his way back, an expression of relief on his features.
"Didn't I tell you to wait for me? You should know better!" He nearly scolded, passing the fellow Legendary a wink before resuming his façade.
"This your friend?" One of the hulking teenagers asked before pushing the stunned Lugia into Rayquaza, who just managed to avoid having the other crash into the two Styrofoam cups of…something.
"Yeah, new around here, the poor tourist. He's from way out in the country."
"You can tell." A human at the back of the group sneered, and a barely perceptible flicker of anger went across Rayquaza's face before it smoothed out into an impassive mask.
"Well, I think we're done here." He said, a little bit too clipped to play his part, and lightly nudged Lugia to his side, somehow managing to lead him off while holding the two cups. Then a single sentence made the taller male stop dead in his tracks.
"Yeah, let's let the two fags get back to their date."
Though Lugia might not have realized what the term meant, the blossoming look of rage on Rayquaza's face told him he'd rather not know. Still, for the sake of the unaware humans behind him, Lugia knew he would have to defuse the other Legendary's wrath.
Giving the other a light tug on the arm, and going so far as to put an arm around the shoulders of the slightly more volatile Legendary, Lugia managed to keep Rayquaza moving ahead, and away from the jeering crowd. It wasn't long before they left the group of humans behind. Luckily for them, there was another park bench a small ways away, and easily out of the others' reach.
"You should've let me deal with them." Rayquaza said, the calm tone of his voice not entirely overriding the angry undercurrent that belayed it.
"It would have been unnecessary." Lugia protested, deciding to shift the other's attention before Rayquaza changed his mind. "What are those?"
"Something humans call a smoothie." The wind dragon explained, handing him one. Lugia peered cautiously at the fruity-smelling liquid inside before he remembered something.
"How did you get this? I thought you needed to pay in order to get food."
"Well, you see…" That didn't sound promising. "…the guys that were dancing had a lot of that money in a can next to the music-making machine, and I just 'borrowed' one of the pieces of paper and put what they gave me back in the can. They didn't even notice!"
"Are you sure?"
At this, Rayquaza looked slightly cautious. "Well, we might want to keep moving around the city, but otherwise, I think we should be fine."
Lugia decided not to question why they might want to be doing that, and just went along with it when Rayquaza pulled him out to the other side of the park nearly fifteen minutes later. Still, on the positive side, the human food was rather good. Cold, and strange smelling, but good.
All in all, it was a good night. Still, though, when Slowking had given him an inquisitive look when he returned back to the Orange Islands, Lugia hadn't really known what to say in response. There was a lot of it he wasn't sure he could explain, or really wanted to.
Yeah, though I was all gung-ho to do this idea, I'm not entirely happy with the ending. Then again, it didn't seem like there was any other way to really finish this proper. Has anyone else had a problem like that?