Frillish and Xatu

They were really quite beautiful, especially if seen in the morning when a number of them were swimming together. The Frillish were like jewels that blended into the sea waters, the blue males that could become nearly invisible in the right conditions and the pink females that vibrantly seemed to dance in the underwater currents. Drifting along with the flow, clusters of them would gather and fill the water with songs that seemed alien to Earth.

They also lost some of their allure when one knew what their songs meant.

"I once successfully hunted a Scolipede," one of the males boasted.

"That's got to be a lie," another male said. "You couldn't get our immobilizing toxin into one of them."

He smirked. "Who says? I found a way to make it work. He was quite a hefty one too, so it took some wrestling to get him into the water. But once I did, I feasted for two weeks on him alone. Quite an unusual taste, but I got tired of it after a while."

"Well I've gotten some of those humans all on my own," the other male said.

"That's not hard," the boastful male said. "I mean, what have they got, hmm? They're not as protected as other Pokemon; I've heard some talk that they aren't even Pokemon, which would explain why their attacks are laughable at best."

He glowered. "But they make things; they give sticks and stones sharp points and edges, turning such lousy things into dangerous objects. And have you seen what they do to other Pokemon? They tame some of the wildest Pokemon out there; I saw one that was giving orders to a dragon, and it obeyed without a fuss!"

"That's just hearsay. Nobody knows where they came from, only that there's no way they can last long as they are. I don't mind easy prey every now and then, but they're just too easy."

The other male got angry and attacked him. But after grappling for a few moments, the boastful one proved that he was stronger, constricting the other's tentacles into a submissive posture before flinging him away. The group of Frillish then split up, as the morning sun was rising higher and it was time to do other things.

A female Frillish approached the victor. "You must be very strong in order to get a Scolipede into the waters all by yourself," she said, bashfully flirting with her eyes.

"Oh, certainly," he said, moving closer to her and brushing against her body. "I'm ready to evolve, I'm sure, but I don't really need that extra strength right now. Although if a cutie like you would ask, it wouldn't be any trouble."

She floated back, not giving in so soon. "It depends. But since you're such a great hunter, I was wondering if you could help me with a certain Pokemon. I spent all of yesterday trying to get it; I was exhausted by the time I went back to the depths. It was still there when I checked earlier this morning."

Eager to impress her by helping, the male Frillish gave a gracious sweep of his tentacles. "I'll take on the challenge. I have plenty to eat myself, so you may have it once we get it in the water."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. Then she jetted herself through the waters. "This way!"

They approached one of the many small islands that was out here. Typically, these places were good hunting grounds for land creatures, although the struggle to get them into the water was much tougher than trying to capture a sea creature. But many of the Frillish liked the taste of the land creatures more, only taking prey from the sea if they had no luck on the shore.

Out on a rock that jutted out of the waters during normal tides, there was the Pokemon she had been trying to catch. It was tall and covered in feathers, mostly green but mostly white on its wings. A bird Pokemon; those were a challenge, as they could fly out of range at the least disturbance. But he smiled confidently at her and began to approach the prey.

As he did, something peculiar struck him. This bird was standing on that rock, incredibly still. It did not blink its eyes, nor move its wings. Even as he approached, it remained motionless. For a moment, he wondered how it could be hard to catch. Maybe it was tired now after having avoided her all of yesterday. The male Frillish gave a small smile of satisfaction and quickly lashed his tentacles out of the water, to paralyze it with poison and bring it below the waves.

And he completely missed. The bird Pokemon had flown off its perch the instant he would have captured it, keeping just out of reach. Once the Frillish pulled back underwater, the bird landed on its rock and continued its vigil.

"That's just exactly what it kept doing yesterday," the female Frillish said.

"It likes to tease us, then," he said. "No matter. I'll get it." He swam around to the other side of the rock, where the bird had its back turned to him. He didn't have a lot of space to work with due to other tidal rocks, but that did give him a better reach out of water.

And the bird evaded his grasp once more.

This continued for the rest of the morning. Eventually, the female had grown tired of watching and went off to hunt for something in the sea. But the male kept at it, trying to bring this elusive prey down to the depths. The bird remained silent, still save for the moments it was escaping him. It always returned to its exact same poise.

After morning turned to afternoon, and afternoon to evening, the male Frillish was starting to get frustrated and weary as well. But his pride was at stake. He said he would capture this prey and so he would keep at it until he did. Taking a chance, he swelled himself with water and drifted up into the air itself to battle the bird. He couldn't maintain this for long, but if it was long enough, that would be worth it.

And then the bird finally spoke. "Today is not my day to die."

"How do you know?" the male Frillish said, readying himself to attack.

The bird tilted its head. "I see when and how I will die. I see when and how I was born. Neither moment is now. Xatu has spoken."

"You can't see that."

"I do," the bird affirmed. "I see that your kind has hunted these waters for centuries, and they will hunt them for centuries more. I see that you have been a bold hunter, succeeding where many have failed. I also see that you will submit to the humans."

Sparked into a rage, the Frillish curled up his tentacles. "Never! I will never submit to anyone!" He lashed out at the bird with all of his might, but once again it flew right out of his attack.

This time, the bird attacked back; not successfully, but the ensuing battle caused the Frillish to miss the approach of one of the humans until it threw a net over him. Being captured like that was something of a shock, causing him to struggle fruitlessly while the human dragged him back to the sandy shore. But he could pass through this material, right? He calmed himself in order to do that, but the human caught him trying and struck him with a strange metal rock that disrupted his attempt to be immaterial. He was take in the net further into the island, where he was released into a pool of salt water. Its outlet into the sea was blocked off with more of that strange metal, so that he could not escape. As he was trying to get his bearings, the human tossed some meat into the pool and began to watch him. The strange bird soon joined him.

They were giving him food? The only reason he could see for giving away food was for attracting a mate, and neither of those creatures qualified for that. Despite that, the human continued to come and give him food every day, trying different things to find out what he would or wouldn't eat. Then it started trying to teach him commands for attacking, defending, and other tasks. The bird, a Xatu, accompanied the human and helped translate the strange language it spoke. One time, the Frillish tried to attack the human with a poison that should have killed it. But it was back the next day, its wound wrapped up in a white material. And once again, it fed and instructed him.

The human was a strange creature, but the Frillish did find himself submitting himself to its will, and prospering for it.

…

Frillish White entry: They paralyze prey with poison, then drag them down to their lairs, five miles below the surface.

Xatu Leaf Green entry: They say that it stays still and quiet because it is seeing the past and future at the same time.

There is just so much to explore with Pokemon. Like what was the world like before Pokeballs were invented? And why are humans there? It's a much more glaring issue than in real life, since Pokemon are so immensely powerful that even regular ones can revamp the landscape, yet they obey humans. Some might say that Pokemon were genetically engineered, or mutated, from normal animals. But in game canon, there are references to Pokemon being in the world before humans, and they'll be there after humans are gone. So why humans?