Seismitoad and Skarmory

The marsh was a quiet place where not much happened. At one time, Seismitoad had to fight for his position as leader and keep Pokémon from the nearby wetlands from invading. But that had been a long time ago. Now that they knew of his power, others didn't challenge his authority. It helped that he kept things peaceful, negotiating arguments, punishing troublemakers, and dealing personally with problems. But the peace was, well, boring.

That afternoon, he was sitting on an old stump watching over his domain. The young Pokémon were playing and wrestling with each other, nothing to be concerned about. Seismitoad periodically hit the sides of his fists together, making the bumps there vibrate. It gave off a deep drumming sound which could be heard even outside his marsh. When others heard it, they knew that he was watching.

Although really, he was bored. He considered starting up a tournament for the marsh's Pokémon to participate in. There really wasn't much to do and that would satisfy more Pokémon than just himself. But what should it be a competition of? Battling was the first thing in mind, but that would give a clear advantage to himself and any evolved Pokémon. Rock busting? The thing was, he was better than that then anyone else in the marsh, as he could vibrate the bumps all over his body and demolish any boulder he could punch or tackle. Maybe a tug of war? But splitting the marsh's Pokémon into two groups struck him as a bad idea. It might go beyond a friendly competition. Small teams might be okay provided he made sure that it stayed civil. Team battles? That would even things out, especially if the teams had to be approved by himself first. Or assigned…

A silver blur passed through the air, giving him pause. What was that Pokemon doing flying that close to ground level? Seismitoad waited to see if it would pass through again. Instead, a massive clamor filled the air as it crashed into a large tree. It struck him as the expected result of the dumb decision to fly so low and fast, save for the volume of the accident. But, it wasn't like he was doing anything important today. He got up and went over to the tree.

The tree itself was a goner; a spray of tan splinters stood up from the stump, with some bent back and still attached to the main trunk. Something like that should have taken the impact of a flier readily. However, the Pokémon that was right in front of the tree seem to be made of metal. Its silver and blue steel feathers were bent near his head, but otherwise unharmed from the impact. The Skarmory itself was struggling clumsily onto his feet.

A heavy Steel-type that flew? It was tough to imagine; Seismitoad had heard of Skarmories before, but had always thought that their actual metal was limited. Not covering its body. "That sounded painful," Seismitoad said.

Spreading a wing out towards the splintered stump, Skarmory replied, "It jumped out at me, I swear! Arrest this foul tree."

He looked at it. While there were some tree-like Pokémon, this clearly was not one of them. "It's a tree," he said.

"That's what they want you to think," the Skarmory hissed. "It looks like a tree but is in fact a foul tree, part of a secret cabal of insidious plant life that is looking to take over the world. If you're walking, they lift up their roots to trip you. If you're flying, they jump in your way to make you crash. You'd better do a thorough check of the trees around here and make sure there aren't more foul trees around. You know them by how many 'accidents' happen around them, and the blood-thirsty aura they emit. Eventually, they will kill and replace us all."

Hmm, a crazy Pokémon visitor. That was certainly different. "At least you defeated that one," he said going along for fun.

He closed his wings to sit at his sides and checked on the brown bag he was carrying. "Yes, but it was very close. If I hadn't been blessed with my natural armor, it would have defeated me instead. I was on my way to deliver vital messages to the fighters who are looking to break up this foul tree cabal. You ought to join us; it could save your home, family, and friends in the end."

Looking at the bag, Seismitoad recognized a human symbol. This Skarmory worked for the human's postal office, delivering letters. As far as he knew, it was a public service, not an organization for fighting conspiracies. "I'll consider it," he said. "Were you going to Iccirrus? It's not too far from here, just southeast along that path." He pointed out the way that the humans kept clear.

"Yes, exactly there," the Skarmory said. "Thank you, good sir. I will bring back a pamphlet for you if I can smuggle it past the foul trees that must be hiding through those woods. They hate paper products, as you can imagine. Keep alert and remember, check out all the trees." He then started running off down the path to town.

"You be careful!" Seismitoad called. Foul trees… how silly. He went back to his log and considered how to arrange his group battle tourney to entertain everyone.

Two weeks later, the foul trees attacked.

…

Skarmory D/P/Pt/B/W entry: Despite being clad entirely in iron-hard armor, it flies at speeds over 180 mph.

Seismitoad White entry: It increases the power of its punches by vibrating the bumps on its fists. It can turn a boulder to rubble with one punch.

Yeah, Skarmory's entries repeat a lot. And it took over this story completely.