Basculin and Klang

The public garden of Striaton City was a beautiful place. A large magnificently carved stone fountain sat in the center. All around it were neatly trimmed flowering hedges, thick green bushes cut into the shapes of various Pokemon, and tidy perfect grass. A monumental arch served as an entrance point, while a trellis tunnel led to the northern route. And in perfectly formed riverlets, pools lined out pathways with their sparkling blue waters.

But this water was very dangerous.

Within one set of pools, there lived the red Basculin. They were mostly green, but had a stripe of bright crimson that symbolized their fierce spirits. They had sharp teeth that made for fearsome weapons. Within another set of pools, there lived the blue Basculin. A stripe of pure blue along their upper sides showed their pride in being Pokemon of the water. They had strong jaws and stubborn attitudes.

The Basculin were, in fact, the same species. But one wouldn't know that from observing them. The red-striped Basculin and the blue-striped Basculin despised each other. While their pools were separated on the surface, there were underground tunnels that connected them. And those tunnels were war zones.

Today, the tunnels were invasion routes. A pack of blue Basculin rushed through two tunnels to surround a pack of red Basculin. "We are getting revenge for your invasion of our pools yesterday!" the lead blue Basculin called out.

"What?" the lead red Basculin shouted back. "We invaded you for revenge for your invasion the day before!"

"We invaded then because you were throwing rocks into our pool."

"Well we did that because you chucked rotten berries into ours!"

"We did not do that!" the blue Basculin claimed.

"Yes you did, you sniveling dundering blue dolts."

"No we did not, you pea-brained delusional red idjfits!"

Above the water, a Steel Pokemon watched and listened to the exchange. He was made up of several gears linked in constantly turning union, but he was of one mind. As a visitor to Striaton, he was supposed to be helping his Trainer with the Gym in this town. But that boy was trying to get the attention of a girl, so the Klang had some time to kill. And he'd never observed Water types in their home environment before.

This could be entertaining, he thought to himself.

In the water, the Basculin were still hurtling insults and accusations at each other. "Well you dimwits started this whole mess!" the red leader said.

"We did not," the blue leader said. "Your greedy ancestors kept trying to steal our pools away from our ancestors! So it's really your fault."

"No, your ancestors were trying to steal our waters from our ancestors since the town was founded!"

"Well you red maniacs have been trying to take over all waters since the beginnings of time!"

"There is no way that is possible, you wimps!"

There was a chorus of growls and hisses at that. "Okay, that's it! We're going to massacre the lot of you! Charge!" And both sides of the blue Basculin invasion force started fighting the red Basculin defensive force.

The water erupted into activity, ripples going every which way, splashes popping up at random, Basculin wrestling each other up to the surface. While it had been fairly clear, now all the dirt was whipped and frothed up, making it harder to follow the battle. The Basculin would bite fins, slam into each other, shoot bursts of water, all while snarling, growling, hissing, and yelping. Loose scales, tinged with bodily fluid, would appear on the surfaces, only to get whirled away in the violent motions of the battle.

Observing this, the Klang wasn't sure which side he'd root for. The blue Basculin were technically the invaders, but apparently these groups would fight each other for any reason. And sometimes, he knew he saw a red Basculin fighting another red, while sometimes the blues would attack each other. Perhaps the battle stirred them up into a frenzy. The Klang felt grateful to be part of a more civilized species of Pokemon.

His Trainer was still distracted by the girl, even when the Klang got bored of watching the Basculin battle. To pass the time, he started running his gears at high speeds. It turned his stead klicks into a low buzz. Then, he fired off one of his mini-gears, sending it flying out of place. it whirled over the pools, but he kept grip on it with his natural magnetism. When it started to go too far, he pulled back on it, causing it to return and fly over his largest gear. It splashed through the fountain's spray before coming back and settling back to place.

Outside of battle, it was something to do when bored. Really really bored.

The water was completely cloudy and rolling thanks to the battling Basculin, so no point in trying to watch them anymore. The Klang wound himself up and fired off another mini-gear, shooting it to tear off a partly dead leaf from a tree across the pool. But when he pulled back on it, a pair of Basculin made a massive splash near him, causing him to get wet. This startled him enough that he lost grip on his flying gear. Its momentum caused it to pop straight up into the air. Although he tried to get a magnetic hold on it again, the mini-gear came plummeting down, still spinning, into the pool of water the Basculin were fighting in.

One of the Basculin got nicked by the falling gear, but blamed it on someone behind her and started attacking the nearest Basculin in that direction.

The Klang stared into the water, feeling frantic. His mini-gear was down there! If it was out of place for too long, he'd get disoriented and sick. And if it was down there for too long, it'd rust and be awful. He had to get it back.

Without a second thought, he jumped into the water, causing his gears to spin at high speed. This made a tremendous disturbance that caused most of the Basculin to stop fighting and wonder what was going on. The Klang growled metallically. "You dumb fish have made me lose my mini-gear! And if I don't get it back quickly, then I'm releasing a charge through the water to zap all of you!"

"How dare you presume to challenge us!" a red Basculin shouted, then rammed into him. it caused a resounding clank throughout the water, probably doing more damage to the fish than to the gear Pokemon.

"Because I can shock all of you at once," the Klang said menacingly. He started storing charge power, making sparks appear between his gears.

They may have been violent, but the Basculin didn't want to be on the receiving end of a charge made in anger. They swam around looking, but the water was still murky. Then a blue Basculin found the mini-gear sticking out of the mud, grabbed it, then swam back over to the stranger. "Here you go, fuss budget," he sneered. "Now get out of the water!"

The Klang got a magnetic hold on his mini-gear, then replied, "Gladly; I wouldn't hang around any of you unless I had to." Then he jumped back up onto land. He had to go over to another pool of water to wash the mud off his mini-gear before returning it, but it didn't have a dent or scratch to it.

After the interruption, the blue Basculin decided to retreat to their area, ending the battle. One thing both sides could agree on, although they didn't tell each other, was that they were glad to be more civilized than that dumb Klang. He should have known better than to jump into a battle that was none of his business, and to keep better track of his parts.

The next day, the red Basculin held an invasion of the blue Basculin's territory, in revenge for making them look bad as the blues had found the Klang's mini-gear first.

…

Klang White entry: Spinning minigears are rotated at high speed and repeatedly fired away. It is dangerous if the gears don't return.

Black entry: Red and blue Basculin get along so poorly, they'll start fighting instantly. These Pokemon are very hostile.