Sandile and Yamask

The Sandile lurked through the desert. He was quite good at it, swimming his way in the looser sands with only his eyes and nostrils emerging into the air. A film coated his eyes, both blending them into the sand and protecting them from the constant sandstorm. With these adaptations, his kind was able to thrive in any desert. This one in particular was great, as the winds shifted the sands often, fooling those who didn't know how to spot a swimming Sandile's wake.

Normally, he stuck to his territory to hunt Dwebbles and young Maracti. It was a good spot, with a large area of loose sand and slumbering Darmantian statues watching over him. And being by those statues, humans often came by. The Sandile often challenged them, hoping to impress one enough that he'd be captured. While it hadn't happened yet, he still kept trying.

Today, there was singing coming from below ground. A human voice.

It was faint, but he heard it through the sand. Closing his eyes and nostrils, he dove into the sand towards the voice. He hadn't heard humans below yet, but they were capable of many strange things. But while he heard the voice more clearly, the Sandile found a rock layer that prevented him from reaching the person.

Swimming back up, he recalled seeing stairs near the Darmantians. He'd never gone down them, as they were just outside of the grounds he defended. But if there was a human down there, it might be worth checking out. The Sandile emerged fully from the sand and walked up the sand dune. The sleeping Darmantians stayed still, as they always did.

The stairs weren't hard to get down, and he got a good look over the room he was descending into. In disappointment, he noticed that he couldn't see the human yet. The singing was still there, though. It seemed to be coming from a black Pokémon that was in the middle of the room, floating above a sinking sandpit. She held a gold mask in her tail, which did look human enough to match the voice.

Now that he was down here, the Sandile decided to check things out. The floor was made of loose sand, but he opted to walk across it instead of swimming in it. On the walls, there were strange markings. Human made? That was possible. The smooth square stones in the wall were definitely human made.

The singing stopped as the black Pokémon noticed him. "Oh, I have an audience," she said, shifting her mask to partly cover her face. "Welcome, Sandile. I am Liliana the Yamask. Do you have a name?"

The Sandile looked up at her. Was she edible? She didn't have needles like older Maracti, but the fact that she was floating made it harder to reach her.

Liliana lowered her mask. "Oh right, you won't have the proper intelligence yet to speak. And humans won't be able to understand me." She sighed, sounding for a moment like she was sobbing. "It's so lonely down here. I thought being reborn as a Pokémon would be wonderful."

While he heard her sadness, the Sandile was wondering more what she would taste like then why she might be sad. He stepped towards her slowly, watchful. He could spring into attack quickly, but the Yamask needed to be in range.

She kept talking. "I used to sing every day; the festivals were especially wonderful. I met the love of my life at a festival. But, I also met… him." She tensed at the thought, then came down lower, towards him. But, towards his side, where he couldn't attack as well. "You should leave this place, Sandile. I cannot do so now, but I plan to. He got turned into a Yamask too, and he's just as cruel as he was in life. If they had really known him, they would have not buried him properly so that he wouldn't have this second life."

From somewhere past the wall, a male voice came to them. "Are you talking about me, little beauty?"

"Oh no," Liliana said quietly. She looked around, then went up and dropped down into a sand pit.

Another Yamask then emerged from the wall. "You can't keep running," he said, flourishing his silver mask. Disappointingly, it was the same voice as before, not a human. He dropped into the sand pit too.

The Sandile looked at the pit. He could go back up to where he knew how to hunt prey, but those Pokémon had him curious. Dropping into the shallow sand, he swam into the pit and dove down when he found a hole.

Moments later, he was falling. The Sandile tensed in panic, but he was soon back on good sand. Looking around, he saw the two Yamasks in the room, floating out of reach again. The female held her gold mask close but shakily. "You already killed me once," she said. "Just leave me alone."

"Why should I?" he asked. "It's quite a coincidence that we were reborn in the same time, right? But still, you are just hatched and I rule over the other ghosts of these ruins. You should come by my side." He grabbed her hand tight, yanking her closer. "Be one of my pretty slaves and I'll teach you how things work in this life. You really can't survive on your own."

"I c-could find other," she looked down and saw him, "other Pokémon. I don't have to stay with you."

"Can you?" The silver masked Yamask turned around and saw him. He chuckled. "What, so a wild Sandile followed you down? Do you really think he could help you?"

"Um," Liliana said, not sure how to respond. The Sandile stepped closer to them.

"This one is just a dumb Pokémon," the male Yamask said, coming closer to him. "He won't recognize you from day to day, he won't understand your words, he won't be able to appreciate you… he certainly won't be able to teach you. We were once humans, so we are far superior to them. Look, I can chase the dumb beast away just like…" SNAP.

The Sandile dropped back down on the sandy floor, the male Yamask firmly in his jaws. In that attack, he had shattered that silver mask; whether it was that or being crushed, he was dead. But his body didn't seem too substantial. Before long, it was like he had only eaten the mask and had some water, not a whole Pokémon.

Liliana's eyes went wide and she floated upwards. "Oh, de-dear…"

"Young lady?" Another female Yamask emerged from the wall. "That one won't be intelligent until he evolves. Until then, he's a predator by instinct. Leave him be."

"I, I see." She left through the wall with the other Yamask.

Coming down here hadn't been too fruitful, the Sandile considered in his simple ways. Those Pokémon didn't make for good meals. He slipped into the sands and began swimming along, searching for the way out.

…

Sandile White entry: It moves along below the sand's surface, except for its nose and eyes. A dark membrane shields its eyes from the sun.

Yamask White entry: These Pokémon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves in past ages. Each retains memories of its past life.

Yeah, I brought in a shiny Yamask, and then had it get ate. Haha! This entry does cover something that I don't get to often, my idea that Pokemon are most likely of varying intelligence levels. Some are very human, like the Yamask; this makes sense because it's supposed to be a reincarnated human. And others are very animalistic, like the Sandile. Like it was said, the Sandile may get more intelligent when it evolves.