Starmie and Archen

The night was clear and dark, watched over by a black sky with millions of silver stars spilling across it. The ocean was eerily still, but the silver stars were joined by many more color specks, lights that twinkles in a slower rhythm. Out here where there weren't many lights of human civilization, it was a mesmerizing sight. This was something that had spawned many mythical guesses and artistic visions, clusters of Starmie that gathered on the ocean surface at night, best seen at a new moon.

On an isolated island, there was some activity, an observer watching the lights of the Starmie. It was a young woman, dressed in a white tank top and yellow shorts; her sandals had been discarded by the tent hours ago. By her side, there was a cluster of computer equipment. The screen had a dimming filter over it, and any other lights had been covered up. But it was all active, picking up radio signals and recording everything it got. It was picking up a lot of activity tonight, as it did every night. But it wasn't human activity. It was the Starmie.

It was a pretty sweet deal, agreeing to watch over this project. She was to monitor the equipment and make sure everything was working, as well as take personal observations of local conditions. For that, she got to stay out here for a month. While there wasn't another human out here, she wasn't lonely. She had taken one of her Pokemon, an Archen, to keep her company.

Where was he anyhow? She glanced around and soon spotted him in a nearby tree, his brilliant plumage standing out in the green leaves. He was another project she was working on, observations on a prehistoric Pokemon before resurrection services were allowed to clone any more from similar fossils. As she'd raised fossil Pokemon before, she knew that it helped to have some time alone working with the Pokemon, to build trust. When the Pokemon trusted their Trainer, it was able to adapt to modern society better. That made this radio recording trip even better, although her friends were mostly jealous of her being on a tropical island for a month.

"Archen," she called out, adding a whistle for his attention.

He cawed and hopped across the branches to get closer to her. At the edge of the tree's reach, he paused, raising his wings for balance; the branch wobbled under his weight. Then he came over to her, using more of a slow descent than a glide. Although she had confirmed that he was a Flying type, he showed little aptitude for actual flying. Maybe that would improve with evolution, if he did so. Archen ran the last few steps to her, looking up with a questioning and eager expression.

"We'll do some more training tomorrow," she said. "Although if we manage to hook a Starmie again, I'm going to try keeping it here for a few nights, as a closer observation."

She got up and turned the computer speakers on, setting it to play an audio version of the radio signals that came off the Starmie. It had been discovered in the early days of radio when ships started putting in such equipment. When sailing through Starmie territory at night, the radios would pick up sequences of strange sounds. Sometimes it was passed off as just noise, but there were patterns in it much like Pokemon calls. As radios improved and Trainers with Starmie listened to radios, the source of the sounds was confirmed. But no one had figured out quite why, since the Starmie had other ways of communicating that had been confirmed years before.

"It's a lot like the radio signals people get off Unown," she said, recalling when she gone down inside the Alph Ruins to listen to them as a child, for a dare. It had been creepy at the time, but that was more the atmosphere and the long rows of strange Pokemon statues, all of which seemed to be watching her as she passed by trying to find the ladder out. Listening to these radio signals sent a chill through her nerves, but more from the mysteriousness of these wonderful creatures that shared the world with humans.

As she listened in, there was an abrupt increase in the radio signals. It was normally a rhythmic lazy chorus, like the heartbeat of someone who was relaxing. But this was a racing heartbeat, in response to something that wasn't expected that might need to be fought off. More curiously, Archen froze at the changed Starmie signals. Although she rarely stayed up all night listening, she knew that this was unusual.

"What's going on?" she asked, speaking aloud more for her own benefit. She began checking out the computer and all of its associated equipment. But all the quick tests came up clear, with no obvious problems. She glanced out at the ocean and noticed that the lights coming off the Starmie cores had also increased in frequency and intensity

Archen squawked and tugged at her shorts. He was tense, posture low and guarded. Did he know what the Starmie were communicating? But he was from a prehistoric age and he seemed to have trouble communicating with most modern Pokemon. Was there a tone of warning in this spike?

She got up and ran back to her tent, Archen running behind her. She grabbed her camera and headed back down the beach, much to the concern of her Pokemon. While he nipped at her ankles trying to warn her away, she took a picture with the camera, then fiddled with the settings until she could capture the increase of the Starmie lights across the dark ocean night in a video.

"They started doing this about five minutes ago," she said for the benefit of those she'd send the video to. "I've got the radio tuned to the Starmie's signals, and listen: they're much faster." She took a few steps towards the computer so that the camera would pick up on the noise.

"Kraaaa," Archen cawed, bumping his head against her leg now.

She turned the camera down as Archen looked out to the ocean, with his primitive feathers starting to make him puff up. It wasn't as much as modern bird Pokemon did when afraid, but it was still noticable. "Archen really doesn't like this," she commented. "It's odd that he reacts to them."

And then a new noise came over the radio, an electronic noise as an unsettling deep growl. She turned the camera back to the ocean as a strange light appeared in the sky. It was a silvery white, but shaped as a ring hanging low in the sky. From the island, it was difficult to see, but something black was blocking out the stars by the ring. A band of racing lights appeared with the ring, seeming to outline an otherworldly flying craft.

"What is that?" she asked, watching the video in progress and her own view of the ocean. Many of the colored lights that marked the Starmie out on the ocean surface had clustered tightly together underneath the craft; a flurry of activity seemed to be happening there, motions of pink, blue, and lavender. "Are they attacking it?"

The racing lights appeared again, moving faster and faster until a burst of bright light appeared underneath the craft, briefly illuminating a dark gray flying saucer. Then there was a loud crash of thunder powerful enough that she could feel it in her bones. By her side, Archen began to spread his wings, bracing himself for battle even though the fight was way out over the ocean. His right wing was extended in front of her legs, a particular pose that she knew meant that he was going to defend her. Modern bird Pokemon would do a similar kind of stance for battles they perceived as challenging.

She took a moment to record Archen's reaction before turning back to continue filming this strange battle between a cluster of Starmie, and possibly other ocean Pokemon, and this flying saucer. The craft did not attack as fast as the Pokemon were, but it appeared overpowering. After it attacked with its lightning bolt again, there was a tremendous crash from the battle ground, but after the attack's thunder. She had heard a noise like that once before, attending a sporting match where large bulky Pokemon squared off against powerful monster trucks. It was like the sound of a Rhyperior charging full force into an armored tank. The ring of light crashed into the ocean in response.

Looking out across the ocean, she tried to figure out what had attacked the saucer like that. But there was no moon, only the tiny amount of starlight and Starmie light to see by. It was another dark shape, but enormous, over twice the size of the flying saucer. Something about it reminded her of the outline of a Dragon Pokemon, but she didn't know of any that large.

At least, not without considering the legendary Dragons.

There were a few tense moments following this. The Starmie sent out rapid signals for a time, uneven and frantic, but the electronic growling was gone. And then there was a trumpeting call that filled the air, calming anyone who heard. A group of stars were blocked out as the dragon flew away. The ring of the flying saucer did not reappear and the signals from the Starmie turned into a harmonious song of gratitude. At her side, Archen relaxed and sent out a call adding his thanks as well.

"You know about this?" she asked, turning the camera back to Archen. "I thought stuff like this was nonsense... how long has this been going on?"

There was no way she could get an answer to that, at least not while she was on this island. Within fifteen minutes, the Starmie had calmed down and returned to their usual slow relaxed rhythm. They could return easily to normal life, but this incident would change hers.

…

Archen Black entry: Said to be an ancestor to bird Pokemon, they were unable to fly and moved about by hopping from one branch to another.

Starmie D/P/Pl/B/W entry: At the center of its body is a red core, which sends mysterious radio signals into the night sky.

And now POS includes a UFO story! This pair was tricky to put together. Starmie has a nice entry which refers to the beliefs of ancient people, that they were the reflection of stars brought to life; I originally wanted to use that one. Working it with Archen's two entries was a bad fit, though, and they had been requested together so I wanted it to work. Also, they have different native environments, which nearly always causes me trouble. But then I had this idea, which I ended up liking. It all works out in the end and I can keep up my current pace.