Ever since I'd woken up in my fourteen to fifteen-year-old Pokemon training body, I'd been stronger than ever. I wasn't exactly an Olympic bodybuilder, but I was stronger than a normal teenager would be by a wide margin—more horsepower than most people.
Superboy was a living industrial machine in terms of power.
I watched as he lifted the equivalent of a tank, feeling just a bit impressed. While the gym didn't seem to have the sort of super advanced equipment you sometimes saw in comic book gyms, all the barbells were made to hold far more weight than any commercially available one. The plates Superboy was lifting had some massive numbers as well.
"What do you think?" I asked Empress as she did bicep curls.
"It's a lot more intense than my dad's home gym," the fit young woman said, struggling one more rep before lowering the weight with a sigh. "Seriously, this place is insane. We need a gym like this!"
"We can make a better one," I say, just little bit annoyed but trying to hide it. "Besides, Alakazam can help us train even better. His telekinesis can act like increased gravity."
'Act'. I tried not to mention it too often, but some Pokemon moves didn't seem to just be named for fun. As far as I could tell, moves like Gravity did just that. Increase gravity. Pokemon didn't exactly break physics, but they did bend the rules enough to seem like it.
We'd tested it a bit, and once Gurdurr finished the gym, we'd be able to have a place even superhumans would find worth working out in.
Until that time, this base kicked the shit out of ours, and I knew it.
Superboy smirked briefly at me, but I let that go. Sort of. Kid was more of a jerk than I expected. No, a different kind of jerk. Grumpy, rather than being overly confident.
"Pele gave us permission to expand within a certain space," I explained to Empress. "So Gurdurr should be able to make us a really damn good setup soon enough. We'll have room for some real cool shit."
"Pele?" Superboy lowered the weight he'd been lifting and looked over. He wasn't even sweating the bastard. "The Hawaiian goddess? Pele-honua-mea?"
"...Yeah?" I said, a bit surprised at his perfect pronunciation of the words 'Pele of the sacred land' in the original language of Hawaii. Alakazam had to run me through it a bunch of times to get it right, and I still sounded like a foreigner when saying it. "Know a lot of goddesses?"
"All of them," Superboy rose up and tapped the side of his head. "I have it all up here."
I put the pieces together instantly. "Wait, so Cadmus just loaded your brain up with information on mythology? What else?"
He looked uncomfortable. Or angry. Or grumpy. His expressions seemed to stay in a certain range. "Math, history, science, languages. Anything they thought I would need."
"Aww, that's not fair," Empress grumbled, crossing her arms. Even under her helmet, I could imagine her pouting. "I wish I had school just downloaded into my brain."
"I don't," I crossed my own arms. "The idea of someone shoving knowledge into my brain without context, without nuance freaks me out. I'm okay with Alakazam, he's my guy, but people digging into your mind and giving you their version of knowledge just…"
I shivered. Superboy looked more uncomfortable but also eyed me with some trepidation.
"That's why I offered to let you dig into your own brain if you wanted," I told Superboy, finally confronting the elephant in the room. "Let you go in and figure out what you want to keep, toss out, make sure Cadmus didn't leave some codeword that lets them mind control you-"
"Let me go in?" Superboy, to my surprise, didn't get more annoyed. Instead, he looked surprised. "I thought you wanted your… Pokemon?"
"That's what they're called."
"I thought you wanted them to mess with my head?" He almost growled the last part.
Oh. I did sort of think of it that way. I'd misspoken just then. Technically I didn't know if he could just get shoved into his own mind so he could compartmentalize his mind… But shit, maybe that was what he needed.
If Superboy was uncomfortable with anyone fixing his brain, why not let him fix it himself?
"It's up to you," I said honestly. "If you want someone else to help you, that's fine. If you just want to go in yourself, you can. The best route would be to enter your mind with someone you trust to keep your head safe. Maybe Kaldur or M'gann, someone who can keep a level head and protect you."
I rubbed the back of my head. "And again. Knowledge without wisdom, without the memory of obtaining the images and information, is dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Empress asked, confused.
"Let's say someone shoves the full knowledge of every book approved by a certain person. What if that person is biased in way Superboy isn't, or has prejudices about the world and life he doesn't, like they believe in a flat earth." I asked pointedly. "Then Superboy gets only those facts without any nuance or dissenting opinions to go along with it. On the other hand, if they did give you unbiased knowledge, that you have knowledge of something working, but not how it works."
"...What?" Empress asked, befuddled.
"Okay, like… a bomb," I looked at Superboy. "Lets say you get knowledge of how to put bomb together, right? But you don't know why those parts have to get put together that way, you don't know how careful you should be, you don't know how big the boom might be. All you have is the stripped down knowledge, without the nuance that comes with time and training."
"...Tch," Superboy let out, sighing. "It's not that bad."
"Are you sure?" I asked. When all I got was a glower I decided to quit while I was ahead, instead moving to the next exercise. Maybe he'd listen, maybe he wouldn't, but at least I'd tried, right?
Still, at the end of the brief workout we'd done, I was left annoyed. Empress had fun though I think.
A bit later, we'd traded partners, so to speak. When Kaldur, Orca, and Mudkip came back, Empress kidnapped Aqualad to talk shop about magic, which was fun to listen to as Mudkip and I watched. Orca drifted over to Kid Flash and watched him play Tyrunt in a video game, which led to Mudkip and I half-listening to two very different conversations.
Magic from Kaldur and Empress in the kitchen, science from Kid Flash and Orca in the living room right next to us.
"The magic you utilize is truly fascinating," Aqualad said in that deep voice of his. "In Atlantis, we've used the same magics for centuries. We are powerful, but the magic you describe is more versatile than I imagined. Darker, as well."
"That's voodoo for you," Empress giggled. I shared a smirk with Mudkip as we watched her act like… well, like a teenage girl with a crush. "I love it, but it has a bit of a stigma. I tell people about it and they think of voodoo dolls, killing chickens, and Kevin Smith singing."
"Who is Kevin Smith?" Kaldur asked, befuddled.
"...You're lucky you're cute." Empress said without thinking before she started. "Uh, I mean uh…"
Kaldur grinned, looking flattered and amused.
I tuned into Kid Flash and Orca's conversation.
"The Appellaxians are the first comparison I can think of," Kid Flash said, looking at Tyrunt thoughtfully. He'd let my dinoboy take over the console and Tyrunt was currently playing Dragon Quest… which was multiple levels of ironic. "Energy beings inhabiting bodies made of different materials? That fits, right?"
"Except, Pokemon are flesh and blood," Orca pointed out. "Even Mimikyu, who is the closest to being pure energy, is a biological being. Pokemon seem to straddle the line."
"Oh, I fully accept that," Kid Flash said, crossing his arms and nodding wisely. "But I'm going with the closest analogue I can think of. I've still got like… a billion questions. Like those Pokeballs. They can turn things like Pokemon into raw data for storage, right?"
"Yes!" Orca said happily, sounding excited. "I have a theory that it can also be used to store any sort of matter, not just Pokemon."
"Seriously?" Kid Flash turned to look at her, grinning. "That would be amazing! They could… um-"
He stopped, seeming distracted. Then I realized he wasn't meeting Orca's eye level, and hid a smile. Yeah. She was… impressive.
"I mean uh, if you could figure that out," he forced himself to continue. "That could solve so many issues. Do you have any prototypes?"
"No, not at all," Orca shrugged. "My specialty is biology, especially marine biology. As you can see, I'm still learning with that discipline." She waved over her form, chuckling a bit.
"I think you look great." When Orca looks over at me, along with Kid Flash, I realize I spoke aloud. I cough, turning back to focus on Empress and Kaldur's conversation, only to see them smirking at me. I look down to see Mudkip doing the same.
A Mudkip smirking, by the way, is hilarious.
"Anyways… I might as well lay this out there, since we're all talking about magic, and science, and Pokemon," I say aloud, ignoring the looks I'm getting. "Orca already knows this, but in my world, Pokemon Professors follow a series of different disciplines. The most famous, Oak, studies ecology, but it's a wide range."
"Pokemon breeding, for example, is based on body types, rather than species. So Mudkip, for example, can have children with a whole host of Pokemon, not just other Mudkip, and the child can be either a Mudkip or a member of the other species. They can pass on useful traits that way."
"But one of the most mysterious things about Pokemon, is their ability to Evolve." I said, leaning forward and frowning. "Pokemon evolution isn't just changing to master their environment. It's a consistent way of growing in power. Alakazam, Gurdurr, and Marcargo, are all examples of stronger forms of their species."
"And there are theories that there are more powerful forms. Ones strong enough to match the gods of the Pokemon world."
"Gods?" Kid Flash scoffs. "So, more powerful Pokemon, then?"
"Some people say that. But I've met a god," I mumble. "Met Arceus. Met Pele. Gods are different from just being superhuman. They are… there is a presence to them. Wally, you've probably felt that kind of power, right? When you run. At the edge of your senses, something drawing you in, a strength beyond your understanding."
"Uh… no?" Kid Flash looked bewildered. Then he frowned. "I mean… B- I mean the Flash, he said that sometimes-" Kid Flash scoffed. "But no, my powers come from science. Not hocus pocus."
The idea of that bewilders me. In my world, Wally West was the master of speed. Barry and the rest, they eventually got as fast as he was. But Wally was the one who turned being a speedster, accessing the speed force, into an artform.
"Okay… well, the point I was making is that Pokemon knowledge is kind of an evolving discipline. So I'm interested in what Orca will end up uncovering. We have a unique perspective in this world, right? We might discover something my old world never considered."
After all, we still didn't know what Marcargo's evolution would lead to. She was the first Pokemon to ever have an evolution influenced by another dimension's divinity. She might find levels of power never discovered. The idea was exciting.
"Yeah… yeah whatever," Kid Flash said, still giving me an odd look. "So, Orca, you have any paperwork on your studies?"
"I would be a bad scientist if I didn't," Orca said with a grin. "Oh, you won't believe the strength to weight ratio on these guys! Tyrunt's jaws can slice through a car engine!"
"They can!? I let him nibble my fingers earlier!"
"...Well, maybe be more careful next time?"
While Orca and Kid Flash kept talking, I looked over at Kaldur and Empress, moving to join them.
"What you were talking about earlier," Kaldur asked me, looking curious. "You seemed convinced that KF had access to some sort of power beyond just his speed."
"He needs to eat after he runs for a long time," I say softly.
"So?" Empress mumbled, looking bewildered. "Everyone needs food for energy."
"The Flash doesn't. And if his powers needed food to fuel them, he'd need to eat more than a zoo of elephants to match the energy he outputs," I say softly. "I wonder how much of that is actually his powers, or him subconsciously following what he thinks is logical."
Huh… if a Pokemon could connect to the speed force, it would be… Deoxys, maybe? In it's speed form? …Oh, duh. Regieleki. I didn't think of the latter generation Poke's too often, but of course the speedy god of lightning would be able to use to speed force. Ha! That would be hilarious. Long as I didn't have to fight… him…
"Really hope irony doesn't hit me down the road," I mumbled.
"I don't know why you said that, but in my experience, it always does," Kaldur said.
"...Thanks bud."
"Mudkiiiip," Mudkip sighed.
Later, I rode Magcargo as she roamed into the armory, where Clock King and Robin were still talking.
"I mean, sure, a lot of our stuff is pure style," Robin said. "But we have a standard kit that we bring on everything. It'd be nice if we brought everything on every mission, but bat-shark repellent isn't going to be useful every time."
"...Is it really called 'bat'-shark repellent?" Clock King asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Nah. Batman gets annoyed when I put "bat" in front of everything," Robin said cheerfully. "But yeah, I can help you come up with a standard set of gear to share with your whole team. Except for the guns."
"I did wonder about that," Clock King said. "While I do avoid them, I can't help but acknowledge the lack of firearms among you and your contemporaries. Is there a reason for that? Many of your opponents can be subdued by firearms without worries about killing them."
"There's a few reasons… some personal," Robin's cheeriness fell a bit, but he continued speaking. "But guns aren't always useful. They're lethal first and foremost. You carry a gun, expect to kill someone when you use it. Our weapons mean we can take people in to serve sentences. Ninety percent of the time, if we run into someone who can survive bullets, they can't be taken down by them."
Marcargo rubbed at Robin's side as he spoke. Without looking, he began scratching the top of her head, still speaking. "There's more, of course. Legally we'd need to give proof we can carry them. Amusingly? Batarangs are street-legal. And then there's the fact that bad guys feel safer to fight us when they see we don't have guns. If we had them, they'd go into cover more, run away. The second they see we don't have guns, they rush at us, expecting an easier fight, or at least a fight they won't die from."
"Hm… I can still think of arguments for the other side, my boy," Clock King said.
"Sure. But at the end of the day, Batman and I don't like guns, and that's the biggest reason."
"Fair enough."
"Mar…" Marcargo sighed as Robin kept petting. He looked at her, then did a double-take. "Wait, when did you get here?"
"Cargo!"
He blinked under his mask, then shrugged and went back to petting her. "So obviously I can't suggest anything that is really secret, but I can tell you the standard that most people know about."
Robin began pointing around the room at the various bits and bobbles around the armory, Clock King and I listening closely. Some of it was familiar, right out of the DK books I'd read as a kid. Some surprised me. Batarangs and grappling hooks, sure. Lockpicks and cameras, yeah. But then things like simple lasers or a blowdart gun, those were surprising, though Robin explained the reasoning for them easily enough.
But Clock King especially seemed to get something out of the conversation, his body language practically vibrating as he listened and asked questions. And then they got to the Batmobile.
"...I swear, if we end up with a steampunk car as a team vehicle, I'm going to be annoyed," I mumbled to Magcargo as the questions blew up in volume.
"Cargo!" Magcargo said.
"You'd love one? You traitor," I said playfully, scratching her chin.
"...Smiley?" I asked, bewildered when I found him in the same room as Alakazam and M'gann. He was meditating near them. Seriously. As I approached, I heard his MP3 player speaking.
"Inner peace… inner peace… inner peace…"
"Is that from Kung Fu Panda?" I asked. Smiley raised a thumbs up, but continued to meditate.
"He is more peaceful in mind than you would think," Alakazam thought towards me. "His rage is that of a storm in the distance. Dangerous, but peaceful as well. Beautiful, in a way."
"And scary," M'gann shivered. "I can feel it. He isn't… normal, is he? The only person I've ever felt with more suppressed rage is Batman."
When Smiley glanced at me, I shrugged. "Hey, that's a compliment. The number of people anywhere near as pissed as Batman can be counted on a single hand."
Kratos and Doomslayer, maybe? A few others, but my brain was stuck on video game comparisons.
"Kyu!" Mimikyu waved at me from the shadows. She'd discarded her costume in the center and seemed to be resting in Alakazam's shadow. I felt that little tickle of disturbance at the sight of her, but pushed through it to join them.
"So, what are you guys doing?"
"Exploring each other's minds," M'gann said out loud. "And each other's memories. It's been so long since I did this with someone who wasn't my uncle. Your world is so amazing! I want to see it one day."
M'gann shifted forms, suddenly becoming a Gardevoir floating above the floor. "And Alakazam is teaching me how to change into them. Sadly, I can only do them in appearance. I would love to turn into them completely."
"You speak as though the possibility wasn't there," Alakazam said, smiling. "Perhaps you should look into it. Your people's shapeshifting may be more comprehensive than you believe."
"...Ooooooh," M'gann's form flickered. For a moment, I saw white skin, before she shifted back into her 'original' body.
Right. Secret White Martian. I'd leave that alone. If this team was the same as kids from the comics, they'd be fine… unless I had to help.
"So… I'll join you," I sit down next to Smiley, who pats my shoulder, then goes back to meditating as well.
It was nice… though M'gann shifting into different Pokemon got kinda distracting. Always psychic, always humanoid and feminine in appearance. Gardevior, Gothitelle, Meowstic, Hatterene, Delphox, she had a host of them to choose from…
There waswere a surprisingly large amount to choose from. I decided not to comment, and just keep meditating.
Later, we all gathered in the Zeta-Tube room to get ready to leave.
"Next time, you guys should come to my neck of the woods," I said as I shook Kaldur's hand, grinning. "We can visit Hawaii's beaches. Show you the sun, sand, and babes."
Empress coughed.
"And studs, sure, if that's what anyone prefers," I said.
"T-That's not what I-" Empress sputtered.
"I would appreciate that," Kaldur chuckled.
"Same here!" Kid Flash shouted. "Hawaii on a vacation? Awesome!"
"That's if we don't have to go on a mission," Robin said.
"We can make time," Clock King said.
"Gurdurr!" Gurdurr barked proudly.
"Gurdurr says when you visit, our base will kick yours' butt," I translate, getting a nod from my fighting boy.
"Looking forward to it." Robin chuckled.
"Thank you for speaking with me, Alakazam," M'gann said respectfully.
"It was a pleasure, child. You have more power and potential than you know. It will be an experience to watch you grow." Alakazam said fondly.
"Mudkip?" Mudkip asked.
"No, I don't believe her species evolve. I meant grow in the sense of experience and skill."
"Kip."
"Perhaps."
Superboy then walked up to Alakazam. They stared at each other. Finally Alakazam nodded. Superboy looked relieved, backing away and crossing his arms. Who knows what passed between them, but both seemed satisfied.
"It was fun talking with you," Orca said to Kid Flash. "I love my team, but the only science guy we have is Clock King, and he's all tech-based. Hopefully, we can keep talking."
"...Huh?" Kid Flash blinked, finally looking her in the eye. He blushed, but recovered quickly (appropriately). "Yeah, that would be great! We can talk shop. I've got some ideas that might help you out, and I'd love to look into your research more too. It'll be fun!"
"Magcargo!" my lava girl said, smiling.
My grin dropped. "...Baby girl. What did you do?"
"What?" Robin looked between us. "What did she do?"
"Welp, time to leave!" I grabbed my pokeballs and summoned back everyone. "Something happened at home, time for us to check it out!"
"Kahu. What did she do?" Kaldur asked, bewildered.
We disappeared in flashes of light. As I left, I shouted back. "You… might have some more room around here! She was halping!"
And before I could expound, we were back in Hawaii.
Kaldur/Aqualad
"...Halping, huh?" Robin said, staring out in front of them.
A huge portion of the mountain had been… hollowed out. Just a giant cavern that stretched the length of the mountain went up for dozens of feet.
"This looks more solid than I thought," Kid Flash said, joining them in a burst of speed. "The walls are strong, and the whole thing looks like it was made to last."
"How did that lava monster do this in a single day!?" Robin asked, bewildered.
"I am unsure… but maybe we don't tell the league about it yet," Kaldur said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Superboy asked, his boots digging into the new stone floor.
"This could be… ours. Our space to change. Make our own. The league has provided us much. This could be for us."
"Just us…" M'gann said. She smiled. "I like the sound of that. We could put lights in, set up some areas for different things! This could be amazing!"
"Halping… who says helping like that?" Robin asked.
"This is going to be 'whelmed' all over again, isn't it?" Kid Flash asked in return.
"It might be!"
As Kid Flash and Robin continued to banter, Kaldur smiled. Yes. This could be good for them. It would be fun, to have a space of their own to change to their desires. He could build a real magical study room, somewhere he could bring Empress to share ideas.
Empress had been a very impressive woman. If he was single he would have been tempted… Kaldur decided to reach out to Tula soon. He missed her.
For now, Kaldur would need some paper. "KF. Run around and figure out the layout of this place, and then we'll divide it between us. Maybe leave some spots for when visitors come."
"Sure… Oh dang, there's another hole! It leads to a lower level!"
All in all, Kahu's team visiting hadn't turned out too bad.
Author's Note: Magcargo and Heatran might as well be sisters.
But yeah, this was fun. I didn't want to do EVERYTHING in this chapter when it comes to how the teams will interact, but I wanted to show the teams influencing each other in little ways. It's boring to cross them over and just have them end up the same people as in the show, so I started some small things with this meet up. See if you can spot them all.
As for the lateness of the chapter, it's due to Christmas. I had most of the chapter done. December 5th or so hits, I have to take over for my boss while she uses her vacation days... then I have to keep doing it. Every single day. I got maybe three days off in December. Keep in mind, she's not a jerk or anything, it was literally a use them or lose them situation, but it still meant all the time I'd want to write was spent in a vegetative state... sorry guys.
Still. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. And if not, I'll try my best to make the next wait shorter.
OH! And LeBlancRegular043 made a tvtropes page of... well, of me. Which is a crazy honor to contemplate. Shout out to LeBlanc, and thank you again. DesertChocolate - TV Tropes
As always, the next chapter will be on my , and I'll see ya'll later.