Chapter 4- strange hedgehogs
Audrey: the strange unidentified Pokemon were a bizarre sight as it was but it was clear that they, along with the strange Pokemon of species we were more familiar with, such as Pikachu, weren't the only type of inhabitants on the island...
Audrey, Walter and the others, some with their Poke Balls still in their hands posed to throw and call out their chosen Pokemon, and the Pokemon already out of their Poke Balls such as Audrey's Vulpix and Walter's Lucario, gazed at a new type of creature as it stood on the brow of a hill as it released a strange call to the strange Pokemon, causing them to fly or run to it. To their astonishment they realised that the new form wasn't a human. The creature was bipedal, but it resembled an animal of some type. Its fur was mostly ivory yellow and its back was armed with downward pointing spines and it had two pointy ears sat atop its head. It sported a pale orange muzzle and belly patch and it appeared to wear some type of jewellery around its neck and on its arms: a necklace and bracelets. The necklace was adorned with some strange objects while the bracelets were brightly coloured, some of them glinting in the sunlight. Despite resembling a giant Pokemon, the creature possessed hands with five fingers like a human, and it was moving these hands as it uttered a series of strange noises to the gathered Pokemon around it. Based on how it moved its hands and positioned its fingers, it was clear it was using gestures. Francine stepped forward and squinted at the creature. "That creature looks just like a bipedal Sandslash," she said, "particularly the Sandslash that inhabits the snowy mountain of my home region, Alola."
"Only Sandslash doesn't have human-like hands like they do," said Walter.
"It's communicating with those Pokemon," said Audrey as she watched the Sandslash-like creature continue to utter a sequence of squeaks, clicks and chirps to the Pokemon gathered around it, accompanied with a series of hand movements and gestures. Then after finishing communicating with the Pokemon, the creature turned its gaze to the humans and their accompanying captured Pokemon. Behind it, more bipedal Sandslash-like creatures appeared. These creatures' fur came in a variety of colours but mostly bright red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, and white. The creatures sported muzzles with a black nose protruding just below the eyes. Those muzzles' colours ranged from pale orange to yellow and many of them wore jewellery. Then when the bipedal Sandslash's eyes found the outsiders, looks of suspicion came upon their faces and the one that had appeared first, the bright ivory yellow one, began to approach the humans.
Audrey and company backed away warily as the ivory Sandslash continued to approach them and as soon as it was close enough to the humans, the Sandslash stopped. At first, a moment of silence hung over the Sandslash and the human outsiders and their Pokemon. On the hill's brow, the other bipedal Sandslash began to whisper to each other, curious eyes on the humans and heir Pokemon while the strange Pokemon hovered or stood nearby. Audrey's group exchanged glances before gazing at the Sandslash nearest to them. However, a few of them gazed at the other bipedal Sandslash in the background.
"Those Sandslash can speak?" asked Walter in a low voice. Then suddenly, the Sandslash nearest to them broke out into an utterance of gibberish-like nonsense such that the humans could not understand what it was saying and based on the sound of its voice, it was male. Even the Pokemon accompanying the Trainers exchanged confused glances but it was clear that the Sandslash was speaking in a language not known to the humans. The Sandslash also looked displeased, and it was slightly scowling at the humans as it spoke to them in the unfamiliar language. The Trainers exchanged glances once again as the Sandslash stopped speaking and glared at them.
"Can that creature speak in a recognisable language such as English?" asked Lisa. When the Sandslash heard this, its frown hardened.
"Yes, as a matter of fact we can," it said in a strange accent. Lisa flashed a blink of surprise and shot this look at the Sandslash. Then Julio, the team leader, stepped forward and began to question the creature.
"Well, that's good to know," he said, "Now if you don't mind me asking, who are you and what are you?"
"We didn't mean to cause a disturbance," put in Audrey, her Vulpix sat on her shoulder once again.
"We discovered this island by accident and when we saw those strange creatures such as the floating Tentacool," said Lisa, a nod to some of the floating tentacled creatures, some of them white with three slender tentacles, blue markings, nail-like antennae and a single pinkish eye in the centre of their heads, "We became curious and were compelled to investigate."
The bipedal Sandslash (which really isn't a Sandslash but was spiny like one) followed Lisa's nod to the floating creatures.
"Those Wisps over there?" he said, "Why should you be curious about them?" his gaze then travelled over the other creatures, among them the strange Pokemon with floating balls over their heads, he strange bipedal dragon creatures with a saddle and some of the birds, "Along with those Chao, Yoshi and Flickies and also their friends who had settled here?" he nodded to the more familiar (and true) Pokemon such as the Pikachu, Eevee and its evolved forms, Meowth and the Starter species. His scowl then hardened. "This island is SUPPOSED to be hidden and inaccessible to humans like you. How did you find it?"
"Some friends of ours who are monitoring a population of a Pokemon species called Lapras discovered it," said Julio, "and we had been sent to investigate it and find out what sort of Pokemon lived here."
"And to see if it needed protecting," put in Francine. The other Trainers and their out-of-Pokeball-travelling Pokemon nodded in agreement. Audrey's Vulpix then gazed at the floating Tentacool-like creatures which she and the others now know to be called 'Wisps' and not Tentacool, as they floated together and just above a small group of Mareep, Cranidos and Pansage, Pansear and Panpour and gazed at the group. Vulpix was especially fascinated with the Wisp type that was red and orange, had three blue eyes and had heads and tentacles shaped like flames. The male bipedal Sandslash then glared at Audrey, Julio and company.
"We don't trust humans," he replied, "and secondly, we can protect ourselves. We don't need your help in our defences against various threats."
As he spoke, another Sandslash, a female bright cyan one, walked in.
"Tsu'tey," she said to the male, "If those humans mean no harm..."
"Kida, can you please return to the others and let me deal with this," commanded the male, whom Julio and the others assumed was named Tsu'tey and the female, Kida. The female Sandslash, named Kida obeyed and left, leaving the male Sandslash to continue to talk with the humans.
"Um, as I was saying," he went on, "We are capable of protecting ourselves. We have three other Hedgehog clans that live here alongside us; the Shimo, the Kaji and the Inazuma Clans who specialise in utilising he powers of ice, fire and lightning respectively, as well as our co-inhabitants," he gestured to the Pokemon and the other creatures on the island such as the Wisps, "to help deal with any threat that arises, no matter how great even though some threats had been almost overwhelming. Now leave this island, at once. You're not welcome here, and take those outsider creatures with you," he nodded to the accompanying Pokemon standing around or with, or riding on their Trainers. Julio was about to protest but Audrey put a hand on his shoulder.
"Julio," she said.
"Not now, Audrey," replied Julio in irritation.
"Please, Julio, we'd better do as that bipedal Sandslash says," said she.
"Sandslash?" asked Tsu'tey confused.
"It's a type of Pokemon that has spikes on its back and clawed feet," said Audrey.
"We're Hedgehogs," snapped Tsu'tey grumpily, "Now please leave this island. You're making our co-inhabitants around here uncomfortable and I don't want any of the Hedgehogs from the Shimo, Kaji and Inazuma Clans to see you intruders."
Julio gazed at the Hedgehog patriarch (who he now knew wasn't a Sandslash) and paused a bit while Audrey and the others pondered over the word 'hedgehog, a word foreign to them. There was no Pokemon called 'Hedgehog' and this word did not exist much in their world, except as a classification of a Pokemon species. After his pause, Julio commanded his group to prepare to return to the beach and the boat but he gazed one last time at Tsu'tey.
"May we respectfully request that we make peace with each other and keep our meeting a secret," he said, "After all, we do have villainous groups who roam our world, and many of them are poachers who capture Pokemon from their habitat to sell for money but that is one of their motives," he then gazed at the crowd of Pokemon and strange creatures who weren't 'true' Pokemon but were called Wisps, Chao, Small Animals and Yoshi, "and further, we would like to study these creatures as they may be EXTREMELY rare and thus sought after by those poachers, especially those unknown Pokemon species like those Tentacool-like creatures you have called 'Wisps'..."
"They are NOT Pokemon," snapped Tsu'tey grouchily, "They are Wisps. They may have powers similar to Pokemon but they are not Pokemon. Neither are the Chao, Small Animals and the Yoshi..."
Kida, his mate, returned to his side and tried to convince him to trust these humans.
"Please, Tsu'tey, give them the benefit of the doubt," she said, "We have had too many threats that had nearly overwhelmed us..."
Tsu'tey gazed at his mate and then at some of his tribe members who also wore the same pleading looks on their faces. Finally, he made up his mind.
"Very well," he said, before gazing sternly at Julio and his group, "But I want you to know this, human, if you truly ARE a threat, we WILL do something about it."
"Okay, thanks," said Julio, before turning to leave, "We've gotta return to our home place now and we'll see you again at some point in the future. We're only gonna study the ecosystem and these strange inhabitants and work out away to protect them from any group of poachers who would threaten them..."
Tsu'tey maintained his stern glare as Julio then followed his group back to the beach and the boat.
As Julio and company walked back to their place of docking, a crowd of the strange Pokemon watched on. A small group of Shellos, a Pokemon resembling a sea slug and came in two forms in the Sinnoh region stopped frolicking in one of the lakes and gazed at the humans as they passed by. A type of Chao that was red all over, had spikes on its head and was muscularly built like most Fighting-type Pokemon stopped sparring and also shot the humans and their Pokemon a look. A cloud of Wisps of various colours also flew in and gazed at the humans curiously. Lisa gazed at one of the blue-green Wisps, especially at one of its tentacles that was shaped like a lightning bolt.
"That blue-green Wisp creature could be Electric-type," she said, "Its lightning-bolt-shaped tentacle reminds me of Pikachu..."
"And those jawed creatures look like they could be Dar-type based on their sinister-looking appearances," said Walter as he gazed at the purple U-shaped headed Wisps and violet-coloured flower Wisps, both of which had sharp toothed mouths instead of eyes. Then his Lucario walked up to one of the strange birds, a Flicky and a pink one, and examined it up close. The pink Flicky had pigtails and an additional feather on its head, purple markings, a heart-shaped yellow-orange torso patch and green eyes. When the Flicky saw the bipedal wolf-like creature approach it, its eyes suddenly flashed aqua blue and two pebbles levitated into the air, also enclosed in an aqua blue aura, making Lucario stop warily. Walter came in and watched the Flicky then poise to throw the rocks at his Pokemon, clearly threatened by its presence.
"That bird Pokemon must be Psychic-type or perhaps Psychic/Flying?" he said.
"Come on, Walter," called Julio. Walter obeyed and called his Lucario to leave the Flicky alone. Lucario did so and as it left, the pink Flicky released the rocks from its telekinetic grasp and dropped them back into the grass. Then an Alolan Raichu levitated to it on its tail and began to talk to it and the Flicky entered into conversation with it.
Audrey and company soon stepped into the boat and departed for their sail ship, the Blue Passho. As they rowed away, they glimpsed more strange bipedal Hedgehogs, apparently another tribe or perhaps one of the clans Tsu'tey mentioned, and their colours were rich red and orange. Their spines rose in a way that they resembled flames and Francine, who was from Alola, was reminded of a certain Trial Captain who had hair shaped like that. These Hedgehogs also wore decor that resembled flames or the colour of fire and they were surrounded largely by many Fire-type Pokemon, such as the Fire-type Starters, Flareon, the Fire-type evolution of Eevee, Vulpix like Audrey's Vulpix and the fire-like Wisps that were coloured red and orange and had three blue eyes arranged in a triangle. Julio and company gazed at the clan as they gazed back at them curiously and continued their return trip to the Blue Passho.
Audrey: from that day on, we made peace with Tsu'tey and his clan, the Yozh Clan and their co-inhabitants, the Shimo Clan who were masters of ice and who lived on what the Hedgehogs have named Icecap Mountain ; the Kaji Clan who were masters of fire, and the Inazuma Clan, the masters of electricity. They were a fascinating community who lived together peacefully with each other and the inhabitants of the island. We kept our promise not to harm the island, which we have named Yozh Island or Hedgehog Island after the sapient species that lived there, as we then spent the next coming months studying the ecosystem and building a Pokedex of the native species. Some of us even befriended the Hedgehogs and they showed us their way of life and their customs, some of which were honouring a certain group of powerful Pokemon we know from the Kanto region and also Galar however, we were curious as to how those Pokemon-like creatures such as the Chao and Wisps ended up here in the Pokemon world. Some Pokemon inter-dimension scientists assumed that they could be from another world, like a group of certain Pokemon-like creatures Francine had heard of in stories of Ultra Wormholes...
Sorry for the LONG wait but I had other things to do. I hope to contribute more time to this crossover story