Poliwhirl, Cofagrigus, and Mantine

The Poliwhirl ran along the beach, regretting his decision to sneak away from his Trainer to explore on his own. Seeing a water-soaked log in his way, he jumped and tried to scatter sand behind him. He could have done well enough in his own training if he'd just stuck to the beach. But no, he had to go into the cave that had large steel chains on it. It had only been one chain arranged in a cross shape with a lock in the center, no door or anything. He had assumed it couldn't be anything really bad, no situation that he couldn't just jump out of.

Instead, he'd woken up that thing. He was hesitant to call her a Pokemon, even though she smelled vaguely like a Shuppet he had run across once. She seemed to be made of gold, some large container with a human-like countenance on her top... front, whatever she was. But ghostly arms reached out of her dark insides, a seemingly countless amount. "You must be tired from running so far," she said gleefully, from much closer than the Poliwhirl wanted. "Come rest with me and you will find eternal peace. Just ask my darling friends." She tried to snatch him up.

Thankfully, the slippery oil that his skin produced kept her from getting a good hold on him; he was able to get right out with a hop ahead and to the right. But then a strange Lopunny that seemed to have dead eyes tried to get him instead. There was a whole bunch of those strange dead-eyed Pokemon with the ghostly Pokemon. Despite that, they seemed just as fast as they would normally be, if not faster. They were covered in dust and cobwebs, like they hadn't moved for a long time.

He considered headed for the ocean instead, to try getting away by swimming and diving. Would they follow him underwater? When he glanced over at the see, he noticed a graceful figure jumping over the waves. The Pokemon disappeared under the moonlit sea briefly, but then leapt out high and flew over the beach, alongside the chase. It was a Mantine, with a single Remoraid trying desperately to hang onto his belly so as not to fall onto the dry sand. "Ahoy there!" the Mantine called. "Somebody lured that Cofagrigus out, excellent work. Keep ahead, sailor, run for the fire!" Then he wheeled back to land in the water (likely to the relief of the Remoraid).

Excellent work? The Poliwhirl couldn't see how this would be good, as that thing, the Cofagrigus, she was trying to trap him inside herself to become like the dead-eyed Pokemon. Hopefully the Mantine had some plan at the fire to deal with her. The Poliwhirl continued running while the Cofagrigus laughed and kept pursuing him. "They couldn't do anything before, they couldn't do anything now," she said.

As he got closer to the bonfire on the beach, he became less certain of what the Mantine was thinking. There seemed to be a party of some sort going on there, with a great many humans and Pokemon dancing to unusual primitive music. Most seemed to be normal people, but there were a few that were dressed even more strangely than the Cofagrigus looked. Still, he didn't have a better idea and the Mantine had come back out of the water to fly around the party.

The Poliwhirl ran right into the warmly lit area, disrupting several of the dancers. But he didn't cause as much disruption as the Cofagrigus and her followers did. The dancers closest to that point yelled and started to run off. However, he was getting worn and the sand had been slowly sipping away his moisture. The Poliwhirl turned around once close to the fire, clenching his white fists high. The Cofagrigus shone brilliantly by the fire's light, intensifying the insane look on her face. While she waved him to come closer to her, her dead-eyed followers came into view as well, a whole twelve dusty Pokemon.

"Hold!" a woman's voice called out sharply, silencing the musicians and causing everyone there to stop. Then she threw something right in front of the Cofagrigus: a simple gold bead necklace.

It didn't seem like much, and a Pokemon her shape shouldn't be able to make use of a necklace (except maybe as bracelets). But her expression quickly turned to that of delight as she snapped it up with a ghostly hand. "Delicious, gold! Maybe I would spare you..." she brought it within her body, but before long he eyes went wide. "Wait, this isn't gold. It's not even suitable to eat."

The woman who had thrown the necklace came towards them. The Mantine followed, starting to hover in the air just behind her. "Sweet mercy, bringing this misled Pokemon to us along with another well suited to taming her," she said. She was one of the stranger dressed humans, with sort dress made of some animal skin with brown fur, a necklace and headdress of various bones (including some small skulls), and white feathers acting as trim in many places. "Poliwhirl, bring forth your power of hypnosis against this Cofagrigus."

While the woman was a stranger to him, she had such confidence and authority in her poise and voice that it didn't seem like a good idea to disobey. He had considered using that against the Cofagrigus at first, but she had risen her followers before he could be successful. On his stomach, he had a transparent layer of skin that showed a spiral of inner tissues underneath. By manipulating his muscles and internal fluids, he could make the spiral appear to vibrate and turn in a hypnotic fashion.

It started to work quickly. "I should... punish you..." she said at first, but her words grew less aggressive as she became entranced by him. Her ghostly arms lowered, then retreated into her golden shell as she relaxed.

"My friend, keep him in place," the woman said.

"Right-o, captain," the Mantine said, flipped the ends of his fins and summoning a spiral of water around the Cofagrigus. It caught hold of her like a whirlpool, even lessened her hold over her minions. The dead-eyed Pokemon had stopped in place, waiting for some order.

"Hwa wat?" the Cofagrigus said, sounding weary.

The woman went right up to the strange Pokemon, without any fears. She pushed a hand towards the Cofagrigus. "Sleep and heed my words," the woman said. And with her orders, the Cofagrigus completely shut herself and went still, floating in the air. "You have pulled many within your coffin, dear lady, I suspect more than you have here. There are those who would kill you, but the spirits of my ancestors tell me that you can be changed with more discipline. I can help you find a more satisfying life as long as you follow my words. First, cast off your hold over these mummies that you have created. You don't need them any more."

"You aren't here to destroy me," the Cofagrigus said in her sleep. "I will obey. I cast off my hold on these mummies." A hand extended out of her coffin-shell for a moment as if throwing something away.

Then the dead-eyed Pokemon seemed to wake up. Some dropped onto the sand in exhaustion, while others looked around in confusion and fear. One of the normally-dressed humans ran up to the Lopunny and hugged her, causing that Pokemon to burst into tears and hug her tightly. It seemed amazing; those were ordinary Pokemon, but the Cofagrigus had complete control over them before. And he could have ended up like them if he hadn't been able to slip out of her grasp repeatedly.

"Now, you will become one of my Pokemon so I can properly train you," the woman said. Not once she had turned her eyes from the Cofagrigus since starting this, even as she held a hand out behind her. "Pass me a fresh Pokeball and one of the crowns."

Another woman tossed the items to her, although the Mantine knocked the ball in the proper direction so his Trainer could catch it. The Poliwhirl worried that it wouldn't work; she was a powerful Pokemon, after all. Although the whirlpool was still in effect, he kept up his hypnotic power just in case. But the woman was able to catch the Cofagrigus without a problem. The ghost Pokemon didn't even seem to struggle.

Once she had her, the woman turned to him and smiled. She knelt down and gave him a hug. "The spirits must have directed you tonight, to help save this troubled Pokemon and her victims. Thank you for your assistance."

"Yeah, yeah!" the Mantine said, dipping some to brush a fin on the Poliwhirl's head as he flew by. "We were going to go after her tonight and it would have been much more dangerous on her turf. You're great!"

"Well I didn't mean to rescue anybody," the Poliwhirl said. But the Mantine just laughed at him and the woman, probably not understanding him, put a light crown on his head. The others at the dance party cheered and gave him a bunch of the bead necklaces, much like the gold one the Cofagrigus had tried to eat. While they hailed him as some kind of hero, he felt embarrassed that this had all happened because of his mistaken pride in trying to train himself. He slipped away from the party as soon as he could, heading back to where his Trainer should be.

…

Poliwhirl Emerald entry: Its body surface is always wet and slick with an oily fluid. Because of this greasy coating, it can easily slip and slide out of the clutches of any enemy in battle. Water 1

Cofagrigus Black entry: It has been said that they swallow those who get too close and turn them into mummies. They like to eat gold nuggets. Ghost 5

Mantine Soul Silver entry: Swimming freely in open seas, it may fly out of the water and over the waves if it builds up enough speed. Water/Flying 2

…

The Poliwhirl's Trainer was slightly drunk when they finally met up. "Man, how'd you get so many beads?" he asked. "Did you impress a lot of girls?"

Elsewhere, the Cofagrigus had woken up near a large box of Marti Gras bead necklaces. "Aw, now I don't have any more mummy friends," she said, picking up a handful. Then she giggled and took some more. "But now I have so many pretty shinies! Pretty pretty!" She then began to dance around until her new Trainer told her to stop for a bit and give out the beads instead.

lol... I like the thought of a Cofagrigus with Marti Gras beads. Have a good Fat Tuesday!

Been away from this for a while; good to be back. Especially since I now have all current Ghost types covered! Yay! I also have over 100 Water types now, but that's still got a few Pokemon left to write about. I've got around 80 Pokemon left to cover for this. Let's see if I can complete those numbers by October when X and Y come out!