Heracross and Dugtrio

Three Heracrosses were in the field. The two males were horn-wrestling, having locked the crosspieces against each other while they attempted to flip the rival. The female watched from nearby with interest. Her horn was longer than either of theirs, actually. Not really surprising; the girls never horn-wrestled each other, so never took the chance of breaking the end off. The males did quite often.

But this might be the last match for some time. The three of them lived in the Safari Zone and, as far as they knew, they were the only Heracrosses currently here. Therefore, whichever guy won this battle got the girl and reigned supreme in this land. At least, among the three of them. Thus, they were using most of their force for this match, even though it took a risk to their impressive horns.

"Rhyhorn!" the female squealed in alarm, as a hefty charging Pokemon rushed their way.

That jerked them out of their focused competition. The older of the pair snapped his head back too quickly, breaking off the end of his horn. Gasping more in embarrassed surprise than pain, he ran away. The winner ran over to the female and stayed with her as the gray Rhyhorn rumbled by. He was roaring in delight.

"Those guys are crazy," the male Heracross commented as the Rhyhorn carried on into a dirt embankment.

"We might want to get out of the way, in case they're competing too." But first, she tapped his horn with her own. "I'm glad that you won, even if it was because of that weirdo. I didn't want to leave you."

He clicked proudly, then followed her into the trees, out of the way of the Rhyhorns. She didn't stop there, though, but continued on to the edge of the Safari Zone. There, a deep ditch kept them inside. In case one of them tried to climb out, there was a row of thorny hedges on the other side of the ditch. Thorny, and emitting a scent that repelled most Pokemon. On the other side, or so the bird Pokemon reported, was another deep ditch keeping outside Pokemon from wandering in.

"Do you wonder what it's like over there?" she asked.

"Um, wouldn't it be the same as in here?"

"Maybe. But I hear there's no Rhyhorns over there."

"Really?"

"That's what the humans say; I've heard them. They also say that this is the only place for Kangaskans and Scythers."

"Huh. That sounds nice. The Scythers especially; I don't know how many times they've tried lopping off my horn with those wicked arm blades of theirs."

"Me too. But I also hear the same for Chansies and us."

"Well the Chansies I could do without. They can get annoying. But other Heracross? Surely there must be others out somewhere."

"That's not what they say. They come here for us sometimes."

"Those humans can show up at anytime, anywhere in here," the male thought aloud. Then he had a horrible thought. "They could take either of us away at any time." After all the work he had put into getting where he was and staying there, would he have to let her go without any notice?

"They could. I've thought of escaping before. But there's those ditches and hedges. And the gate guardians. And the glowing lights that shock you when you try to pass them by."

He nodded, having encountered those electrical fields before. "We might be able to climb over the building."

"They'd catch us at that real quick. There's always several humans over there." She shifted the plates on her back to flutter her small transparent wings. "I do wish our wings were enough to go over those ditches, rather than only being able to give a boost to our jumps."

He thought for a moment, then said, "I could throw you across the ditches and to the other side."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! I can throw anything really far."

"That is an idea..."

"You just watch." He put his horn around her waist, then flung her far over the hedges. Then he realized the problem; he had no idea how to get himself over those ditches. He also had no idea if she fully made it to the other side. "Uh-oh."

Actually, she had cleared the other side by several feet. She also had no idea how to get him over or for her to get back. She was finally outside of the Safari Zone, a dream she had held for her whole life. But instead of feeling happy, she felt terrible that her dear friend had been left behind. "Oh no. I should have said no." She sighed and closed her eyes. "If any spirit would think kindly of us..."

A tremble underneath interrupted her prayer. When she hopped back, a strange brown Pokemon popped its head out of ground. Rather, she lifted her three heads as six eyes peered all around. "Hmm... oh, hello there.

A second head added, "We've not seen something like you before."

The third asked, "What are you?"

"I'm a Heracross," she replied. "What are you?"

"Well that depends."

"We are Diglett siblings that have not split ways yet."

"So we are a Dugtrio."

"Except we're not really one, but three."

"So we don't know why we are said to be advanced."

"For we are the same, correct?"

"Certainly."

"Like the Dudrios?" the Heracross asked, thinking of the odd three-headed birds she saw around the Zone.

"Similar, we think."

"Oh, but if you can dig, that's great. Could you help me? My mate tossed me over the ditches, but then we can't get him over here. Would you dig him a tunnel to come here?"

"That would be easy for us," one head said.

"Easy favor, but still, what could you do for us?"

"I don't know, but I'll do something," she said. "Please help us."

"Well there is one thing," the third head replied.

"Are we sure we want that?"

"We've always wanted to try."

"Let's go get her mate, and we'll figure it out on the way."

"He looks like you, right?"

The Heracross nodded. "Right."

"Okay, it shouldn't take long."

The Dugtrio triplets dove back into the ground. Through their shared lower body, they could sense the state of the soil, including where those ditches were. They couldn't go as fast as usual, for they had to make this tunnel solid for the male Heracross to make it through. Still, several minutes later, they broke surface again.

The nice thing about having three heads was that they could check in all directions at once. They easily spotted the male Heracross, looking mournfully across the ditches. "There you are!" one head said.

"Right where the girl said you would be."

"She sent us to you, she did."

He perked up, then darted over to them. "You saw my mate? She made it over?"

"Quite well, it seems."

"We're to bring you to her."

"Follow us." They moved back into the tunnel.

He wasn't too sure about following a strange Pokemon underground. But to get back to her... he went into the tunnel. It was a tight fit and dirt tumbled across his back as his progress disturbed the structure. At the other end, the Dugtrio triplets dug into the ground to get out of his way. He was glad to be out of that claustrophobic space and back into familiar trees, but even more glad when he saw her. "You made it!"

"You came!" She came over and they rubbed horns affectionately.

The Dugtrio appeared again. "Aw, that's sweet."

"Glad to have helped you both."

The two Bugs turned to the Ground Pokemon. "So what can we do for you?" the female Heracross asked.

"This might sound odd," one started.

"But we always wondered what it's like to fly."

"And since you said he tossed you over here,"

"We wondered if you might toss us."

"It is really weird," one of the heads said, ducking closer to the ground.

"But it's one of those crazy dreams, you know?"

The Heracrosses looked at each other. "If that's what you want, we can do that," the male said. "But you have to come out of the ground first."

"Oh dear," one said.

"We've never been out of the ground."

"But, I suppose, it's the only way we'll get into the air."

"Okay," one said nervously, then led the other two heads out. Her lower body was something like a Slowpoke's, a brown body lying on the ground. Although her clawed hands and back feet were nothing like what a Slowpoke would have.

"You're bigger than I expected," the male said.

"But we should be able to toss her together," the female pointed out.

"True. You ready?"

"As much as we can be."

To the female Heracross' count, the pair got their horns under the Dugtrio, then tossed her over the trees and out of sight. "I hope she lands safely."

"Yeah. So, we're free! Do we want to look for our kin?"

"Certainly." The two left to explore, not sure of what they would find, but glad to be with each other.

Some distance away, the Dugtrio crashed into a bush. "That was wild," one said, her mind still spinning from the height below her instead of above.

"It wasn't like our dreams," the second commented.

"I'm not sure we want to do that again."

"But it was fun," the third added. "I hope they do well."

"Let's go back underground. I'm hungry." So they dove back into the earth.

…

Fire Red entry: Heracross has sharp claws on its feet. These are planted firmly into the ground or the bark of a tree, giving the Pokemon a secure and solid footing to forcefully fling away foes with its proud horn.

Dugtrio Emerald entry: Because the triplets originally split from one body, they think exactly alike. They work cooperatively to burrow endlessly through the ground.

Another idea I had for this was using the crazy Heracross lady in the first gen remakes…