Haxorus and Krookodile

Lit by orange-tinted streetlights, the city seemed to be a strange place tonight. Fear and distress scented the air, as did a scent of old bones and arcane magic. There were no cars out on the streets. Instead, there were those monsters, the skeletons of mismatched bones and enigmatic power, capable of clubbing a large man to death and eating his flesh. It was said that most Pokemon could not affect these creatures: Surf would not sweep them away, Flamethrower would not incinerate them, even Psychic did not disturb the necromancy keeping them together. For some reason, they could not enter buildings unless called for. Most everyone hid inside.

Most.

They faced off against each other in the street; one had emerged from a private home, one had emerged from a Pokecenter. One was a dragon, with a natural green plate armor enveloping her body. On the sides of her head, there were long sharp red tusks that were often sharper than man-made blades. The other was a crocodile, with tough scales of red and black. He had a long jaw that was muscled to be a strong crushing force.

Both were uneasy on seeing each other. They belonged to two different Trainers, rivals as much as the humans were. Last time they had met on this street, it had been in an intense battle. They won and lost at about the same rate, but always strived to get better to prove themselves to the other. But there were more important things now, like the skeleton creatures and the one who controlled them. Right?

The Haxorus leaned her head back, bringing her forearms up in front of her. Lowering her head was an aggressive action, a threat to use her bladed tusks. This though, it was a gesture of a cautious truce. Battling her rival would be a waste of energy.

At that, the Krookodile nodded and patted his chest. It would be a waste. An unearthly cry from one of the skeleton creatures broke up the Pokemon's silent exchange. Four of them ran in a jerky manner, raising spiked clubs and broken blades for weapons. The Krookodile quickly gestured his hand out to the Haxorus, then at the skeleton creatures. In this fight, it seems they would be working together.

Haxorus brought her head back to its normal position. Then she quickly slashed an approaching skeleton creature in the ribcage with her tusk. It caused sparks while cutting through two of the bones. But the sparks meant that these weren't real bones. And it also didn't fully stop the creature. So she followed up with another slash, cutting across the thing's skull. Her tusk blade screeched in response, sending more sparks and leaving a deep groove.

While she did that, Krookodile took a deep breath, then bellowed at the skeletons. She knew that move, Swagger, which could empower and confuse. However, it didn't seem to affect the skeletons either way. It also didn't hurt her since it was directed her way. Grumbling at the lack of effect, he then stamped his foot down forcefully, causing an earthquake which did affect her. Although she chittered in annoyance, it did have a noticeable effect on the skeletons. Their bones started to come apart and fall to the ground. Soon, a yellow glow appeared around them, bringing their parts back together.

But Haxorus noted a point in the skull where the yellow glow was strongest. Bracing herself, she pulled her neck away, then slammed the back point of her tusk blade into the skull through an eye socket. The blade made a shriek and gave an unpleasant vibration into her armor. Normally, she didn't get that effect unless she was attacking a Steel Pokemon. But it would still be sharp; she knew that with certainty.

Once she struck the strong part of the glow, the magic was shattered. The bones collapsed onto the road into a useless pile, although the skull managed to stick to Haxorus' tusk. But she was pleased with the result. The monsters weren't as invulnerable as claimed.

On the other side of the road, Krookodile turned his head and snapped his jaws at one of the skeleton's neck. The hardness of the false bones surprised him too; he was able to crush them into small pieces and dust, but it still jarring. Also jarring was seeing the pieces pulled back into place by the dark magic that animated the bones. The strongest glow was the skull part (apparently part of some kind of monkey Pokemon, not a human skull). That would be tough to crush. Then again, he knew of an uncle who had once ripped a car's engine out of its frame with just his jaw power. He could do it. After a smile, he chomped onto the skull and crushed it with all his strength.

Haxorus shook the skull off her tusk, then scuttled aside as another Skeleton tried to club her with its spiked weapon. She could feel that vibration, but it didn't really hurt. Since there would be more, she experimented by focusing the power of her Dragon heritage into her tusks, then slamming them, one after the other, into the undead monster's skull. The fourth skeleton raised its club to strike her.

But then Krookodile spat out the skull fragments at the two skeletons, distracting them. Haxorus quickly destroyed her target while her rival summoned a wad of mud and slammed it into last skeleton's skull. Even that worked.

"Haazooo," Haxorus said in a tone of respect. They could work together on this. Unless he used Earthquake again.

Grunting, he nodded. Not that his power attack could do much against these things. It was destroy their skulls or nothing.

"Krookodile!" a teen boy called out from the Pokecenter door. He was wearing a blue jacket and looking worried. "Get back in here; it's too dangerous."

As he went to pick up the skull that the other had pierced, another teenaged boy opened up the window to the house across the street. "Haxorus, what are you doing out there?"

Krookodile held up the skull and grinned proudly. In the meantime, Haxorus felt it more satisfying to step onto one of the bones. Without the magic, it was weak and crushed easily. They could do something, if they would get brave and come out here with the rest of their Pokemon.

Minutes later, the two boys gathered other Trainers that had been in hiding, then set out to destroy the undead invasion force.

...

Haxorus White entry: Their sturdy tusks will stay sharp even if used to cut steel beams. These Pokemon are covered in hard armor.

Krookodile Black entry: They never allow prey to escape. Their jaws are so powerful, they can crush the body of an automobile.