Aron and Sableye

Two men sat in an office. One was an old miner, his beard dark gray from all the mine dust. His hair lay stuck against his head after years of wearing a helmet lamp. The other was the new mine owner, a man who kept expensive and rare stones under glass, but had never gone into a dark tunnel in search of those stones. A metallic rotating fan unsettled papers and ruffled the thin curtains on the window.

"These new methods are unnatural," the old miner said. "You're only going to find low quality stones, making for more work on everyone's part."

"Your methods are too slow, old one," the owner replied. "And your pricing charts? Ridiculous. There's hardly any profit."

"There's enough for this island to thrive."

"In bamboo structures with few amenities? You have a strange definition of 'to thrive'."

"We are happy; that is what matters. Besides, what about the Pokemon?"

"What about them?"

"This is their home. You'll be driving them out cruelly. And they do such fine work as it is. The Arons make fine steel for us to start with."

"But we have no control over quality and quantity."

"And the Sableyes refine the jewels, which is why they're of such good quality."

"Yes, but that's why glass baubles are bought more often than jewels despite the differences in rarity. Most people don't want something that has been deposited, so to speak, by a Pokemon."

"That's why it's been an island secret for generations."

The owner still shook his head. "I am giving people what they want: a good choice of clean stones. You will obey the new rules or I will drive you all off this island. I'm sure I can get plenty of workers from the mainland to replace you."

The old miner got up. "The Pokemon are capable of vengeance. I'm simply warning you."

Two weeks later...

In one of the ventilation shafts, a trio of Sableyes huddled near the surface. The golden spot of sunlight on the edge of the tunnel was foreign to them, and unpleasant. They were creatures of darkness, ghosts of the underground. As such, the only reason they were so close to the patch of sun was that they had been driven to desperation.

Their sharp claws ached to dig, but any noise would draw the attentions of the guard Pokemon. Their violet bodies were harder to sustain, due to waning energy. And their eyes, normally sparkling like underground moons, were beginning to look dull. One of them began creeping back down the ventilation shaft.

"What're you doing?" another hissed. "Those Pokemon are cruel, like their masters. They'll rip us apart."

"But we're starving. We have to do something or we'll die again."

The thought weighed heavily on them all. All ghost Pokemon had died at one point. If luck was on their side, they could have a second life. But should a ghost Pokemon die, there was no going back. And they all could remember strange after-death experiences that frightened them. Thus, they were truly more scared of death in their ghostly lives than in their first lives.

"A lucky find," a voice came from above. "Good evening, neighbors."

The three looked up to see a small steel-gray Pokemon that was covered in black freckles. But she too seemed to be suffering. Her armored skin was loose and duller than their eyes currently were. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to say, "What sort of 'good' is it? It's terrible!"

She held up one of her stubby feet. "Ah, but we have a plan. If you'll come up to help, and if everything works right, you'll have more gems than you can eat tonight."

"Why should we trust you?" the Sableye retorted.

"Because we won't be eating tonight unless you help, and we can't stand to be in such a debt. So, would you help?"

"Can we at least wait until the sun goes down?" the youngest Sableye asked.

The Aron shook her head, causing her armor to quiver. "We've watched the humans and they make the last run right after the sun goes down. We don't have much time as it is."

"So what are we doing?"

"Come up and see."

Reluctant to face the sun, but too hungry to care for long, the three Sableyes crawled out of the ventilation shaft. It was dim with evening, yet much too bright for their comfort. When their eyes adjusted, they saw a mass of Arons, possibly every single one on this island. It seemed that the female who had spoken to them was one of the healthier ones. Others had bad dents in their armor. A few were barely hanging onto life.

Their guide picked up her stubby foot again and pointed towards a set of rails nearby. "They've got those electrified so we can't nibble on them, but they've also got every open iron deposit guarded. The sneaky humans actually followed us, then drove us out of the tunnels. However, thanks to some noble sacrifices, we've discovered the source of the electrical power: that large box thing there."

The large box was about the size of a small shed. There was a hum of electrical power from the shed. With no windows and only one door, a thick cable ran from the shed to the rails. The unfortunate Arons who identified this source were lying just outside the door.

"We can't knock it down without getting shocked badly," she told the Sableyes. "But once the power is down, we have another plan to repay you for destroying the box."

"Can we manage that?" one asked the other two.

"If we are to survive, we must," another answered.

"Okay then. That box will be demolished."

Their first move was to fling Shadow Balls at the cable. Then they tore off the roof and peered inside. Although they didn't know what a generator was, they could feel the power it emitted. The Sableyes used their skill again until it stopped building power, then tore the shed apart with their claws. As the outer shell was made of plastic, it was of no use to either species. But the inner workings did have some metals, so once the charge died, the Sableyes were able to distribute those to the weaker Arons.

Once the cable was cut off, the Arons put their second plan into motion. Two males went up to the rails. For the sake of the group's survival, one took a bite of the rail to release the charge, nearly killing himself in the process. The other then went up and nibbled down the metal. After the sun vanished below the horizon, he stopped and came back to the group. Feeling bad for the first one, a Sableye went over to pick up the shocked Aron. She gave him a metal gear to eat in the meantime. Then they all waited some distance from the tracks.

The Sableyes were about to ask what they were doing, waiting when they were all obviously hungry, when the mine cart train came. Powered by its own motor, it ran down the tracks carrying a full load of delicious smelling gemstones. It seemed the humans had taken another way out of the mines, as there were none accompanying the twelve cart train. It carried on its own way until it hit the nibbled away section.

There was a tremendous crash as the carts derailed, spilling their cargo everywhere. Eagerly, the three Sableyes went for the raw gems while the mass of Arons went for the rails and the steel carts. It was indeed more gems then they could possibly eat, even as hungry as they were. They thanked their smaller neighbors several times over before taking a fair sized hoard back to the ventilation shaft to hide.

Unfortunately for the mine owner, someone leaked a security tape that showed this raid to the regional media. People were outraged by the state of desperation the Pokemon had been driven to and demanded that the new practices be stopped. Before long, the mine owner was forced out of business and the Arons and Sableyes were free to move about the underground once again.

…

Ruby entry: This Pokemon has a body of steel. To make its body, Aron feeds on iron ore that it digs from mountains. Occasionally, it causes major trouble by eating bridges and rails.

Emerald entry: It digs branching holes in caves using its sharp claws in search of food-raw gems. A Sableye lurks in darkness and is seen only rarely.

Seems like quite the expensive eating habit to upkeep.