Chapter 3
I didn't waste time the next morning. I had learned to work fast when I could. The goal of survival still existed. To that end, we needed money. Which meant getting the raft done, heading to a town, and finding a volcano for Slugma to swim in for valuable minerals.
Tyrunt, Gurdurr, and Mudkip helped to gather branches we needed. Tyrunt used his powerful jaws to cut through thick branches, Mudkip pulled them together into tight bundles, and Gurdurr carried them to the beach. As the three physically strongest Pokemon I had, they were perfect for the job. I was glad I'd spent as much money as I could on Protein vitamins for the trio.
Once the branches got to the beach, Slugma got to work. Being a fire-type, she had little to no issue making sure the branches were smooth, shaping them a bit where they'd been cut a little off.
Once we had enough branches, Mimikyu happily toddled over to them, reaching out from under her costume with long shadowy arms. She separated the branches out, humming to herself as she created piles of thin, thick, and thicker sticks.
"Mimi, mimimi, Mikikyu!"
"Slug, mamama, Slugma!"
The two tiny Pokemon sang happily together as they got their work done, a little bit off-key, but still having fun.
Gurdurr left the branch gathering group to join me. We got to work, pulling the logs together. We went for a simple design. The bottom had three strut… things? Which the platform would rest on top of, with a small shelter in the shape of a tent in case of rain.
Alakazam, in the meantime, kept us in contact mentally while he took vines in hand and twirled them together, keeping watch for anyone coming over. The plan was that if someone did come by, he'd hit them with a Confusion. Maybe excessive, but it would leave them off enough for him to lead them off. There had been no need for that thus far, thankfully.
He was also doing something far more important though. He was tying himself to the land. So that if we had to return, he could simply Teleport us.
That's how the move works in reality. A Pokemon who knows it meditates in one spot, focusing to make a location a new point in reality that they could return to with some passengers. It was insanely hard to do, taking time, energy, and effort, and necessary if he wanted to teleport anywhere that wasn't within his line of sight. It was why all he could do was keep watch and tie vines into ropes. I couldn't even comprehend how hard that sort of thing was.
Alakazam finished up the ropes, Gurdurr tying the raft together nice and tight. It was about 9 feet long and as wide as I was tall. Cramped. But I didn't need a cruise ship. I just needed a way to get from point-A to point-B.
Once we were done, I stood before the raft, grinning down at it. I had to take my shirt off in the heat and humidity, and wiped away the sweat from my forehead as I turned.
"Nice job guys," I said proudly.
Gurdurr placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest. Tyrunt let out a small roar of noise, while Mimikyu and Slugma wiggled happily next to each other.
After a moment to enjoy their joy, I sighed. "Okay. Time to go."
Which meant those on my team who couldn't swim would need to enter their Pokeballs.
Slugma looked sad, but hugged Mudkip and Mimikyu, giving me a resigned look as I pulled her into her Pokeball. Tyrunt let out a gruff noise as I pet his head before I put him away, while Gurdurr twirled his I-Beam around before he was also pulled in, leaving me with Mudkip, Alakazam, and Mimikyu, who proceeded to get to work.
Alakazam, Mimikyu, and I hopped onto the raft, along with some of the fish we'd cooked last night. Mudkip went behind it and gave it a hard shove, his insane strength letting him push the raft outwards into the water with only two big shifts. As soon as we were afloat, Mudkip dived into the waves, swimming around us. I took a rope and tossed it to Mudkip, who grabbed it and wrapped it around his shoulders. Just like that, we were on our way, flying through the waves with Mudkip laughing a bit.
I sat down, shirt still off, and enjoyed the spray on my chest and face, while Mimikyu curled into my lap and Alakazam began to map out our route.
Times like that, watching the ocean ahead of me, a beautiful island to our side, with my Pokemon beside me, made me a lot happier to be where I was. I could just take in view, and be happy that I was, in some way, living a dream I'd had as a little kid. Traveling around the world with super strong animals in my pocket.
"It is rare that I sense contentment from you," Alakazam said, strolling over to me.
"Guess I should stop before I end up surprising you," I snarked.
Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back. "I would rather you didn't. Your anger over your loss is justified. To be sent to a world that isn't yours cannot be easy. But I encourage you to continue finding happiness where you can, young one."
On hearing that, something occurred to me. I stroked my chin, looking up at Alakazam. "I forgot. You guys left your world as well, now…"
Mudkip tilted his head up to look at me. Mimikyu nuzzled closer to me, while Alakazam shrugged.
"Yes. I am hopeful that your efforts will bear fruit. Not just to find a way to freely enter and exit your world, but my own now."
"I'll uh," I slumped my shoulders. "I'll do my best, Alakazam."
"I know. Despite some of your deficiencies, a fear of hard work has not been one of them."
"Deficiencies, huh?"
"Oh yes, a multitude. But that is fine. It is better than my last master."
At that, I fell silent. After all, Alakazam wasn't a Pokemon I'd caught. He was one I'd bought. Sometimes, trainers and Pokemon just didn't fit together. That was a fact. And Pokemon wanted to fight alongside those that they worked with. Team synergy was important. After all, if weaker Pokemon and humans didn't work together, then society would have fallen apart in the world of Pokemon.
So what had led to Alakazam, one of the most powerful Pokemon I'd ever met, getting sold for money? What went wrong between him and his former trainer. I didn't know. Maybe I'd never know.
"I'm glad you're here, man."
"I am not. I believe this world will create trouble for us... But I am glad I have you."
-
The plan was simple. Get to a city. Then, do whatever I could to get information. Or more specifically, get Alakazam information.
I was already doing that, sharing what I could about DC universes I was familiar with. Mudkip listened as he pulled us along, Mimikyu resting her head while we went.
I talked about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, about the monsters of the DC universe. Some of it was information he already had of course, we'd talked about my interests before. But with this stuff becoming relevant, a refresher wasn't a bad thing.
At some point though, Alakazam sensed the minds of humans nearby. I quickly wrapped my face up in my t-shirt, while Mimikyu woke up and hid under the shelter in the back of the raft, Alakazam joining her. Mudkip slipped under the raft.
Looking as though I was alone, I watched a boat slowly approach me. It was a fishing vessel at a guess, with an older woman at the helm. She gave me a wave. I returned it. And we continued on our way.
It was likely not going to be the last time we'd cross paths with other boats. Good thing we'd made plans for just that scenario.
Alakazam and Mimikyu came back out of the shelter, while Mudkip continued to pull us along. As he did, Mudkip poked his head out of the water.
"Mudkip?" he asked me.
I looked at him, trying to think of a way to answer. "If you'd asked me a few years ago, I might have said yes, I want to be a superhero. But right now I'm not thinking about that. I mean, if we end up finding people in trouble, I want to help, same as we did in your world. But actively becoming a hero isn't the goal right now."
"And if becoming one aided your goals?" Alakazam asked.
"Mimikyu," the small costumed nightmare looked between the three of us, the head of her costume bouncing with every turn of her head.
I sighed. "Becoming a superhero was a dream of mine. And I'd still kinda like to do it. But I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to do it," none of my Pokemon spoke. I think they knew I wanted to vent. "Maybe it's just years of having that dream beaten out of me by, you know, life. Or maybe it's reality reminding me of all the logistics required to be a hero. We'd need money, food, travel. Oh, and we'd need to put ourselves through sometimes literal hell."
"That's no exaggeration either. Rainbow Rocket had Pokemon to make themselves dangerous. But the bad guys in most DC universes I know… they're sometimes a kind of evil that I can't understate. Worse, a lot of the ones I'm worried about are competent. They know just what to do to fight back. To stay alive. And to kill. Rainbow Rocket would come at us laughing and parading around with an army of Pokemon. Deathstroke would take me out with a bullet from a mile away while I slept."
"...Still though…"
I rested back on my hands as I sat on the raft, looking out at the ocean.
We travelled for a long while in peace as the thought filled my mind.
-
We reached my destination soon enough, a section of beach near where we were trying to get to. We put the raft near the beach. Then I put Mudkip and Mimikyu away.
This place was going to have people. No matter how few, I couldn't take the risk they would be seen. The last thing we needed is some smarmy scientist or alien lover trying to figure out what the strange creatures were. No matter what Lilo and Stitch taught me, people wouldn't believe me if I just told them Mudkip was a dog.
Alakazam, however, I left out of his Pokeball to wait with the raft. I needed his ability to see through my eyes and memorize whatever I saw. He saw me off without a word, but I felt his mind pressed to mine as I walked away.
The small town of Honokaa, a tiny place of around 2000, was a long walk from the beach. Thankfully, my time in the Pokemon world had gotten me used to hiking. Four months of walking and fighting had made my pudgy teenage body into one that was a lot more built for hard labor. I walked past a lot of homes and businesses, but a lot of the place was just open fields and bits of rainforest. It was kinda awesome, how nature blended together with civilization. I avoided streets as much as I could, sticking to nature as much as possible.
I finally reached the town after a 2 mile hike, relatively short. After some quick questions, I found someone who pointed out the way to the library, which was apparently across the street from the high school. Perfect.
Honokaa was thankfully small enough that I didn't meet too many people in the streets as I walked towards the library. I ended up across the street from the high school, and stopped to look over it. Apparently class was not in session, because kids were out and playing in the schoolyard. I chuckled at the sight of the kids playing together, hanging out, talking with friends, and eating. Must have been lunchtime. Had I ever been that young?
Then I looked down at my teenage body, winced, and entered the library.
Inside the library was similar to others I'd been in, with the same basic layout, wooden bookshelves, and the good old Dewey Decimal System in place. A librarian gave me a hard look as I entered, which I ignored. I simply walked in and headed directly to the computers. Thankfully they didn't seem to require a library card to enter into them. I just had to agree not to visit anything risky like porn sites.
I quickly got to work. Alakazam's mind pressed to mine as we both looked at the monitor.
So this was the world we'd found ourselves in. A DC universe very familiar, but also very different. They'd had JSA, currently had a Justice League, had a lot of the heroes I know. But it was also oddly young. It was 2010. The DC comics had been stuffed with heroes by the time it had been 2010 in my world. But this one was barely scratching the surface.
And then there were the big threats. People didn't seem familiar with things like… well, like Darkseid. The Lanterns they knew were Green. Gotham hadn't been hit with an earthquake in decades.
"It is likely you are the only one who knows the possibility of such things," Alakazam whispered in my mind. "Though I know what you are thinking."
He did. Maybe the big threats didn't exist. Maybe the small ones didn't. After all, this world was different in a dozen little ways.
For example, the Justice League of this world had been formed in 2003, to fight a threat called the Appellaxians. Not Starro or White Martians or any of dozens of things that brought the Big Good Team together.
This world was familiar in an odd way. But how much of what I knew was real? Should I warn people? Some of the things I wanted to warn people about might be summoned by the very things I'd do to stop them.
"We'll worry about it later,"I said in my head, my own mental speech not as elegant and smooth as Alakazam's was. I switched to the second bit of research we had to focus on. Gemstones and where to find them.
Honokaa was far from the sorts of volcanoes Slugma would want to go to. But if I wanted to have a steady source of gemstone, making the journey would be worth it. Alakazam, for some reason, seemed like he already knew what I was going to decide before I even had the information.
He was like that sometimes, seeming to see just a few steps into the future and letting me catch up to him. I suspected it was a combination of intelligence and psychic powers that let him do it. I didn't know if he could see into the future. He never cleared it up. But I had faith in him.
So when I made my choice, he was ready for it.
"Kīlauea. We'll head there. Slugma will be able to dive deeper than anyone, and an active volcano will make it so much easier for her."
"Good. How will we get there? The raft may not last until we get there."
"You're not going to ask why I'm not going to Mauna Loa instead?" I asked mentally. I wish my mental voice wasn't so loud and scratchy, even in my own mind.
"I assume it is because it is the most active. Or was there something else."
It wasn't a question. I frowned thoughtfully. "I just… it seems right."
It took me a second to realize I'd said that outloud. A man reading nearby gave me a strange look. I ignored him and looked up the directions between the library and the volcano, Alakazam memorizing them in an instant.
"Then let us depart. How will we go?"
I rose and headed to the exit while talking in my mind once more. "The volcano is what, 70 miles away? That's about a day and a night of walking. I don't mind leaving the raft here and booking it on foot."
"Very well. Let us get moving. I will meet you here," he sent an image of a section of road along the way.
I headed out, thinking to myself. "Hopefully we can get there without hitting any trouble."
"Yes. Hopefully."
"...Why do you sound so mysterious?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
-
Author's Note: I'm sure Alakazam is just hopeful.
Next chapter has fight scenes.
Wait. Is that why he was being mysterious?
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