Jellicent, Pawniard, and Cranidos

His body ached when he woke up; a rough hard floor was underneath him. Nearby, he heard familiar sounds of metal against rock. The young man opened up his eyes and saw what he expected from the sound: his Pawniard was scraping her arm blades against the blue rock of his Cranidos' head. When he'd first seen the red and silver Pokemon do that, he had been concerned about her hurting the ancient Pokemon. But Craig never seemed to mind it when Silviya used him to sharpen her blades; it might even have made them friends quicker. Now it was just a familiar routine.

A familiar routine in an unfamiliar place. The Trainer sat up, wincing as his bruises became painful. At first, he seemed to be in a decrepit old cabin storehouse: weathered and rotted wood made up the walls and floor around him, while the crates were broken or collapsed. But there was also dried seaweed, fish bones, and broken shells. Looking down one hole in the floor, he saw dark water rippling with tides.

Now that he had stirred, the two Pokemon looked to him. Craig immediately came to his side, being careful to walk on stronger boards. "Craaaiiii," he whined, turning his gaze around uneasily before looking up to him for guidance. The Cranidos didn't like being indoors, although wooden structures didn't usually bother him.

"Where are we?" the young man asked, patting Craig's head. "I heard that your kind came from ancient jungles, so you should be all right with the dampness and the wood. Although it strikes me as creepy too." It was so quiet, with the main sounds being his Pokemon and a strange wind outside.

"Tch," Silviya said, examining her blades. After swishing her arm blades through the air to her satisfaction, she looked over the ones on her torso. She had bladed edges everywhere and was meticulous about keeping sharp. But even going through her routine, she was watching the walls and door, wary of whatever else was here.

"I know we were on the beach, but I don't remember seeing a building like this, over the water," the Trainer said. "What in the world attacked us?" He rubbed Craig's chin, to calm him. With that, the Cranidos nipped him gently, then went over to the door to watch for something. The Trainer dug into his bag for some aspirin and a bottle of water. While waiting for that to kick in, he tried to make contact with someone, anyone would do. But his cell phone wasn't getting a signal, no matter what he tried.

Now that he was feeling decent, the Trainer got up and left the room. Silviya immediately stopped her blade check and set herself to walk ahead of him. She waved at Craig to keep close to his side. Seeing his Pokemon decide on being defensive of him, he could only guess that whatever had brought them here wasn't friendly towards humans.

"I'll trust your judgment, Silviya," he said, heading through the old wooden hallway. The floorboards creaked under his and his Pokemon's weight, although watching the Pawniard showed him where he could and couldn't walk. There were other rooms branching off from the hall, but there was only more wrecked furniture. While he spotted some windows, they were covered in mold, grime, and seaweed. It was like being inside of a ship. At one end of the hallway, there were a set of stairs that when down into the water and up into a lit space. He hadn't gotten a Pokemon he could use Surf with, so the only option was going up.

What they walked up to see was incredible: a castle made of dozens of shipwrecks. It could have just been a pile of ships; some were old like the wooden barge he had woken up in, while some were new like a metal ferry sitting at the top of a tower nearby. But the way that they had been stacked and arranged seemed deliberate, with walkways made of debris between various vessels. They appeared to have come out onto a courtyard made up of the decks of eight ships smashed together, with with an extra fortified structure up ahead. Around them, there were tall towers made of stacks of ships, as well as an outer wall. Far above, there was a bright sphere as the sun pierced through the water. But he couldn't tell how far under the surface they were.

Even on seeing this patchwork ship castle, there were two things that were more impressive than that. First, there was a large air bubble surrounding half of the courtyard, including the ship they were on. Even Craig, who would sink like the rock he'd come from, would be fine as long as the bubble stayed. Second, there was a large statue in the middle of the courtyard, nearly at the edge of the air bubble. It was of a large oceanic Pokemon that was unfamiliar to him, but the attention it was given seemed like it should be a legendary.

Inhabiting this ship castle were a number of ocean Pokemon, but most prominently Jellicent. Their ghostly forms filled the water; a few even came into the air bubble, swimming slowly and keeping an eye on the three of them. The young man had heard that Jellicent were a danger of sea travel, sometimes sinking ships that came into their territory. But kidnapping a human and two Pokemon from the beach? Why would they do that? If they had done it. He didn't remember what happened then, only that he had felt something painful across his back and blacked out a few seconds later. Then again, an unusual amount of people had disappeared from that beach in the past month.

Three of the Jellicent came closer to them. The two males were blue, light patches in the dark water. The female was bright pink, easily seen and elegantly frilled. However, brighter colors like that often indicated tougher Pokemon. At his side, Craig gave a small roar, trying to be intimidating but not being big enough to do so. Silviya was more effective at that, simply running her arm blades across those on her hips for a piercing shriek of steel.

"What do you want?" the young man asked.

The three Jellicents made eerie warbles and turned aggressive. He had no hope of being able to understand them, but he usually found Pokemon more responsive when spoken to. More worrisome, the possible battle didn't look good. Silviya should be fine, but Craig was out of his element here. The Trainer had been trying to solidify the Cranidos' loyalty, and a quick defeat would not help that.

But if he remembered his facts right, there was a way to get through this. He spoke with confidence, to boost that of his Pokemon and to help intimidate the wild ones. "After a fight? Fine. Silviya, Feint Attack one. Craig, follow up with Assurance. I believe in you both."

With a glint in her eyes, the Pawniard obeyed quickly, darting ahead and stabbing one of the males with a Dark power around her blades. Craig charged after that Jellicent; since he wasn't as nimble or quick as Silviya, his headbutt came after her attack. As both attacks were Dark in nature, that Jellicent as eliminated.

The other two then attacked, one blasting a large amount of water at Silviya; she was barely hanging on at the end of it. The female then sent some kind of ghostly hex at Craig, hurting him but not as badly. While the young man was about to order his Pokemon to do the same to another one of the Jellicent, a fourth one came up behind him and grabbed hold of his arms with her short tentacles. Being pulled so close to her made him feel sick despite the painkiller he had taken earlier.

Craig noticed first, yelping before he rushed for the Jellicent that had the captive human. The Jellicent made a sound of warning, putting one of her fins on his face as a warning that she could kill him at any moment. Unsure of what to do, the Cranidos stumbled to a stop and whined for someone to help. Silviya hissed in a hostile tone, running her blades together again. But she was more cautious, especially on noticing that more of the Jellicent had moved in.

With some kind of curse making it hard to move his body, the young man was lifted into the air. The Jellicent swam to the statue and dumped him there. His Pokemon came over in pursuit, but stopped by his side as the Jellicent came to surround them. What was going on? He hadn't believed that Pokemon would kill a human. But here, it seemed all too possible. It didn't help that the deck in front of the statue was dark.

"What are all of you doing?" he asked, trying to sit up but finding himself weak. He looked up at the statue. However, its face was hard to read, along with its purpose. Looking back at the large Jellicent, he felt that attacking them further would prove fruitless as there were so many and they were willing to attack him. He bowed his head. "Whatever it is, would you please take these two Pokemon back to the surface, at least? They would have a better chance on land."

"Shuuzuu," Silviya said, touching his cheek sadly for a moment. Then she turned and slashed her blades at the air in front of her, sounding for a minute like she was cursing the Jellicent group. At first, Craig was bewildered, but then he barked in support of her. If this did turn worse, then they were going to fight no matter the odds.

The Jellicent did not seem intimidated, but when they started discussing things with the Pawniard and Cranidos, they did not seem hostile either. The young man watched for a while, trying to decipher their negotiations. At the end of it, all but three of the Jellicents departed. One went to the watery part of the statue's stand and took out some thin stone tablets. Another picked up Silviya and Craig, with the third took hold of the young man. The three then took them back to the surface, even giving them smaller bubbles of air so they could keep breathing.

I'm not sure why they changed their minds; it might have been something Silviya had said. Or, knowing what I do now, it may have been because I asked for them to be saved before myself. But it was soon known that they weren't the only Pokemon acting strangely. They had knowledge of the great disaster to come and they might have been testing us humans before it fully struck. The tablets I had been given would reveal the prophecies, but before I could know enough to help, I had to find someone who could translate the text.

…

B2/W2 entry: Its body is mostly seawater. It's said there's a castle of ships Jellicent have sunk on the seafloor.

Pawniard Black entry: Blades comprise this Pokemon's entire body. If battling dulls the blades, it sharpens them on stones by the river.

Cranidos Diamond entry: It lived in jungles around 100 million years ago. Its skull is as hard as iron.

For the ninth day of Christmas... a story about loyalty. In keeping with that, this Pawniard is named after a Bisharp I'm using in my current game. Although I need to stop coming up with such tempting ideas for longer fics. My imagination is way too active (although I wouldn't trade it away for anything!).