Beldum's Story

The Beldum zipped down the barren alleyways, over fences and between dumpsters, as quickly as the psychic energy could propel the platinum-coloured metal creature. The portal was within line of sight after several turns, much to it’s immense relief.

The final stretch. This time, the Beldum dedicated full attention to propelling itself toward the portal. It was the fastest the Beldum had ever managed to achieve- it could feel the dust from the streets ping harmlessly off of the tough lens that protected it’s black and red eye. The voices of it’s pursuers reached it by the time it was half-way across the block where the portal sat. The voices drowned out as the bass-line hum of the portal overwhelmed all other sounds.

Darting past some security personnel, the shiny Beldum soared into the portal, where it found itself in a city park similar to the place it had just left. The first thing it spotted was a large welcome sign, identifying the new location as “Ridgecrest.” The city itself seemed similar, yet distinctly alien in it’s architecture, as if it were located on another planet. The Beldum was not aware that such a concept was plausible; it was focused on more pressing matters.

The Beldum did not have time to waste. With no vision on the Beldum, the pursuers would have only a minute at-best before the shiny Beldum would be able to lose them completely. The Beldum continued forward for several metres before jerking to the right. From there, it rounded around the portal and searched for a place to lay low. The distantly surrounding buildings were too far for the Beldum to get behind before the pursuers could cross the portal’s threshold.

Eventually, it spotted a tree that appeared similar to an oak tree, except the trunk was enormous, and the leaves were thick, uncountable, and a lush green. The Beldum hovered as quickly as it could up the tree to hide amongst the thick branches. With the shade, the Beldum’s shining body would not alert anyone to it’s immediate presence. The exertion of psychic energy left the Beldum greatly fatigued, so it rested itself upon one of the thicker branches to rest. The lens shifted slightly as the Beldum adjusted it’s vision to zoom in on the portal. From there, it waited and hoped that the pursuers would officially lose the shiny Beldum.

Verse had a lot on his mind. Everything lately had just been a little much and he honestly just wanted to leave. He had done it before, why not now? Maybe because now things seemed a little more... serious. Tired of stomping around the city he came to a stop under a tree, slipping from his head that cowboy hat he wore almost non-stop. Inside was still a suspicious little CD that he had honestly just forgotten about with everything going on lately.

And then something shot overhead. His head tilted up, staring at the rustle of leaves, either caused by the darting figure or a panic of birds leaving. Curiosity, and trouble, crossed into Verse's mind and almost as if a compulsion he started climbing, digging his claws into the tree with no care for the damage they caused. He would scale up a couple of branches, then stop, already high enough that falling would hurt a stumpy guy like him.

"Hey," he called out in a hushed tone, "Hey you. On the run from somethin'? Maybe I can help you out." He couldn't see them yet, but worst case scenario they'd be violent and he would just go for the ground.

A single black and red eye within an orb of white metal and some transparent lens material poked out from above the branch pit, so it could get a look at the whispering one. The tell-tale brown spines of a Sandslash were clearly visible since it’s head was partially covered by what appeared to be some kind of human-made hat. The Beldum’s lens shifted as it zoomed back out from the previous level of magnification. From the perspective of the Sandslash, the red ring grew smaller.

A voice seemed to echo in the Sandslash’s mind, a staple ability for psychic-types. The voice matched the Beldum’s non-psychic voice, synthetic, metallic, and only slightly lower-pitched than a Magnemite. “This one is being pursued by-“

The portal shimmered and rippled as two humanoid figures soared through the solid light mid-stride. With them were two pokemon: a Pansear and a Houndour. Though the Houndour had a sensitive nose that could track scents, the Beldum’s metallic nature did not produce a scent. The duo and their respective pokemon split up to circle around either side of the portal. They watched near and far for any sign of their quarry.

“… Those ones,” the Beldum finished.

The large, sensitive ears of the Pansear twitched as it appeared to hear something that no one else could hear. The Pansear turned directly towards the tree, where it saw the Sandslash digging his claws into the trunk. The Houndour noticed it’s friend’s alertness and barked to it’s master. The two trainers examined the nearby oak tree and nodded to each other. Together, the four of them approached and circled to get a better position around the tree.

“Mine psychic energy is nearly depleted,” the Beldum’s echoey voice bounced in the Sandslash’s brain, “I cannot move until I rest.”

Partly practical in nature, Verse considered carrying the other pokemon. But on examination of its size he considered running. Why not? Not like anyone would see him. Ah, but could he live with himself if he did? Not likely. "How heavy are ya?" he asked as his head turned about to see the approaching pokemon. Spines on his back bristled apprehensively. Okay so outrunning a Houndour while carrying a Beldum? Not a chance. But swinging a Beldum...

One of his claws tugged free of the tree and slipped into his mouth, a small low whistle blowing into the air. He also abandoned his tree branch, one claw still digging into the bark as gravity dragged him down to the earth. It was a long shot, but he had to try something, and direct confrontations were far from Verse's normal method of approach. Man, where the heck was Bic when you needed him? He'd tear into these assholes without hesitation...

The Beldum, though intelligent, was not familiar with human systems of measurement, so it could not correctly answer that it was slightly over two hundred pounds, over three times the weight of the Sandslash. It did, however, know that it’s heavy metal body was over three times the weight of the Sandslash, so that was the answer it provided via the psychic voice.

It considered the option of if the two fire-types were used to light up the tree with the Beldum still amongst the branches, and using that moment to escape while the heat waves and smoke impeded their vision, if the flames didn’t burn the Beldum like a cooking utensil first.

The two trainers noticed the Sandslash, completely in the dark on what it was trying to accomplish by climbing the tree. It did appear suspicious enough to serve as a lead for their chase, not to mention that the Pansear’s sensitive hearing had already tracked the sound of metal shifting on oak branches. The cowboy hat seemed to tell the two trainers that the Sandslash had a trainer, but they didn’t know where said master was.

“Sandslash, where’s your trainer?” The Houndour trainer called.

What a damn good question. One he honestly couldn't answer. But he'd be stupid not to use it. With this prompt, he raised one claw and pointed upwards for the branches overhead. While he hadn't considered the likelihood of these grunts setting the tree ablaze, he had figured that if the tree had someone in it maybe they would give up and go away. He tried to play it cool, bristles on his back nice and calm, but should worst come to worst he could always throw up something small and nasty.

He also had to appreciate the patience of the pokemon. He'd seen others that would already be accusing him or trying to get up the trees. But every little moment gave him just a little more time to think and plan. And hope for back up.

One grunt relaxed at the perfectly ordinary answer, as did his Pansear. “Well, have you seen a Beldum pass through here? Metal bullet-shaped pokemon, one eye, white exoskele-”

“Excuse me, Trainer?” The other grunt interrupted by calling up the tree. “Hello?”

There was no response. Apparently the other one had called the Sandslash’s bluff. The Houndour did not seem to buy the bluff either, as it's eyes somehow managed to meet the single eye of the Beldum through the thick leaves of the tree. From the perspective of everyone on the ground, the canine appeared to simply growl at the tree itself.

“What are you doing?” The first grunt asked, obviously not quite getting it.

“If this Pokemon’s trainer were really up this tree, they’d have responded by now,” The second grunt replied, “I think there’s something else up there.”

The Beldum did not have sweat glands, but it would if it did. The Pansear looked to be a far more capable climber than the heavier bulk of the Sandslash. All it would take is the Houndour to keep the desert mouse busy.

The grunts seemed to think the same way. With some quickly shouted commands, the Pansear circled around to rush towards the tree. The Houndour, however, rapidly approached to engage the Sandslash. From the perspective of the grunts, the Sandslash seemed to be protecting their quarry by lying.

The Beldum remained motionless, desperately waiting for it’s psychic strength to return.

Dangit all to hell. Why couldn't nuthin' go his way? Well no time for that, he had a couple of angry looking firemons coming at him. Well one of them, the other seemed to be either flanking or going for the tree. Not to worry, Verse had several back up plans. The last of which was 'high tail it outta there', but heck, new friends deserved a little more help than that. And if he managed to save this Beldum he was sure he would have a new friend.

One claw swung back in a large telegraphed gesture, then swung down for where the Houndour would arrive, but not with the intent to hit it, he was trying to make it stop, dodge, break its momentum to give him a second to work. That slashing claw wouldn't cease until it struck the dirt around the base of the tree and within seconds dirt would be flying as claws burrowed fiercely into it and bristles almost seemed to vibrate along his back. Sand and dirt tossed around him to either side, and then when he had a nice Verse-sized pile he curled up and started to spin, all those little bristles catching the loose ground and throwing it up in the air, causing quite a whirl until there was a sandstorm rapidly building around the pokemon.

For a squat guy, Verse sure could make a lot of movement when he needed to.

The Houndour kicked off it’s forelegs to back off from the initial strike, but it was not fast enough to escape the walls of the building vortex of the large sandstorm. The Houndour’s trainer held an arm up to deflect grains of dirt with his padded sleeve so he could focus on the battle that just started.

The Pansear and his trainer were out of range of the sandstorm, since they were flanking the tree. The Pansear closed the distance easily with the Sandslash occupied. With it’s strong hands and feet, it practically flew up the tree trunk.

The Beldum, from it’s position, could see everything clearly. The grains of sand that did reach up the tree harmlessly plinked off the Beldum’s tough metal exterior. The Pansear was clearly a more pressing concern. The Beldum twisted the orb and pushed against the branch it was resting on. It lifted itself up with the short golden claws, and dropped down over the edge.

Even if the Pansear saw it coming, it was dedicating it’s momentum towards climbing up, and had no time to dodge the dropping two-hundred pound steel-type Pokemon. The impact was enormous, and let out a resounding clang as metal bashed against bone. The Pansear was knocked-out instantly from the gravity-enhanced Take-Down.

The trainer, dumbstruck, scrambled to check on the Pansear. The Beldum felt rested enough for two more minutes of hovering, so it took that advantage and made some distance between itself and the trainer. The Pansear’s trainer produced a pokeball and returned the monkey-esque creature to the weird storage device. From there, the trainer switched that pokeball for a second one. Reviving the Pansear would have to wait, as far as the grunt was concerned.

From the second pokeball sprang the hulking form of a Hariyama. The Beldum lay on the ground, trying to spend as little psychic energy as it could. The Beldum knew it would need it against a fighting-type.

Verse was just about to deal with the Houndour, really he was, when there was something that sounded like a shell hitting the earth. His spinning slowed and he lashed out with his claws, wrapping them around the front legs of the Houndour and sweeping its paws free from the ground into the small burrowed nest he had. Verse kicked furiously with his back legs to kick himself out of the hole at the same time as he buried the Houndour in it. It was a suitable sand tomb, for the most part, not entirely firm but enough to keep the dog stuck for the time being. A moment later he was darting on all fours around the tree in time to see the Hariyama appear.

Dangit, it was looking like he could only rely on himself...

The Houndour frantically dug to try to escape the sand tomb. Even the grunt rushed in- covering his face with his arm- and helped dug with his free hand. Though the grunt also had a second pokeball, the grunt didn’t seem to want to use it.

Meanwhile, the Hariyama stepped heavily towards the resting Beldum. It lowered one of it’s massive hands to grip at the Beldum, preparing to simply pluck it from the ground and hold on tight to prevent it's escape.

The Beldum let loose another burst of psychic energy, and propelled itself away right before the Hariyama could make contact. This would easily buy the approaching Sandslash enough time to intercept, even if the sloppy landing several metres away did jar the Beldum’s senses for a few seconds.

Verse was in full sprint mode on all fours and in a hurry. For a moment he had planned to just tackle the damn thing. Headbutt it. Take it down to the ground. Then he remembered that really wasn't his expertize. Instead he veered sharply to the side and lashed out with one claw, intending to slash or gouge at the pokemon as he passed. Hell, Bic would be proud if he could see such a vicious attack...

Where the Beldum landed, he might have though he was seeing double, as a pair of Sandshrews hurried over to him with curious tilts of their head. "You with boss?" the first asked lacking any semblance of surprise in its voice. The first of the Sand Five were arriving to their bosses call, a reliable bunch of Sandshrews and Sandslashs that Verse could always seem to rely on. He looked out for them like an older brother and in turn they did what he asked. While the whistle wasn't obvious, to them the actions were. If Verse was fighting it wasn't because he was trapped. No he must have been protecting someone. A little unusual, but they would just assume and not ask questions.

The approaching pack was nothing short of a miracle in the Beldum’s eye. When two of the Sandshrews greeted with their question, the Beldum’s psychic voice filled their heads. “I must thank your friend and the rest of you when this engagement is over,” the echo in their brains said as the Beldum’s lens shifted to focus on the Sandshrews.

The Hariyama cringed as the sharp claws gouged the muscle that packed his legs to the trunk-sized thickness that was common among their species. It was so focused on the Beldum and the approaching reinforcements that it failed to notice the Sandslash strike low from the side. The Hariyama was forced to one knee as the gash severely weakened it’s stance.

In a panic after seeing the two Sandshrews appear to help the Beldum, as well as the Hariyama being too slow to catch the low attack, the trainer fired a red beam from the ball that the Hariyama materialized from. The Hariyama was pulled back into the storage device, and the grunt retreated back to his comrade. By then, the second trainer had successfully dug the Houndour out of the sand trap.

“We need reinforcements, sir!” the retreating trainer gasped.

“Agreed,” the other trainer replied as he recalled the Houndour into his own pokeball. “Boss ain’t gonna like this one bit. At least we chased it to our side.”

The two grunts escaped the now-dying sandstorm and scrambled for the portal once more.

Verse let out a chuckle, making a rude gesture with his claws. "An' don't come back 'til you've grown some chest hair you coward-ass punks!" he shouted after them, obviously proud of himself. He turned about and wandered towards the Beldum and his crew. "I wasn't expecting you guys to be around here. Guess its a good thing I called huh?" The pair nodded enthusiastically at him.
"Yeah boss, it was a long journey but we caught wind of you coming down this way through the network."
Verse gave a small salute. "I'll be back at the safehouse later, you guys should skedaddle for now." And with that, both Sandshrews darted off.

Verse turned his head towards the Beldum again. "As for you... Mind tellin' me what that was all about?"

The Beldum pushed itself up onto it’s golden claws, where it stood straight vertically like a bullet. It’s eye was trained on the retreating grunts and the portal they escaped through afterward. “They, and others, chase me for my apparently unusual exterior.” The orb turned, and the lens shifted once more as it refocused. “Why my skin is so valuable, I know not.”

It rose from the ground with a low, rumbling hum that eventually reached a frequency outside of all ranges of hearing. The low energy required for such a low amount of exertion allowed the Beldum to slowly recover psychic energy even when hovering, though fully resting allows the energy to return much more quickly. “Honestly, thank you for the assistance. I owe you one.”

"Don't mention it," Verse answered with a hint of bitterness in his tone. He couldn't prove it, but he had a feeling he knew who those grunts were working for. Smuggling and poaching pokemon? Yeah. That had Maycross Industries all over it. "Well, if you're planning on hanging around the city for a while, I've got a place you can hide out. I figure you don't exactly belong to a trainer now do you." It wasn't really a question. "Well, city can be real scary for someone not used to it. Figure maybe you need some help getting around it just for a little."

“That sounds like a better option than trying to return to the caves back home only to hover into an ambush,” the Beldum replied, indicating the portal. “A safe place would be welcomed, even amidst a human habitat.”

The Beldum turned around in the air to really examine it’s surroundings. It was quite a large settlement, with tall buildings with an exterior of reflective glass, surrounded at their bases by hundreds of smaller buildings. The Beldum eventually turned back to the Sandslash. “Lead the way, friend.”

The warehouse was a reliable old thing a little bit away from the city center. No one paid it any mind and those inside could come and go as they please either through the large roller door at the front or the rusty old side door. Inside was the barest of living conditions, a tire swing, some blankets tossed about on the floor with a few cushions and a large bag of pokefood that had slowly been eaten into, either by the occupants or by visiting pests. A careful eye might spot a purple figure coiled in the rafters, asleep as always.

Arriving was yet another Sandslash to make a total of three and his apparent new friend, a Beldum, who he talked to as they moved.

"This is the hideout," Verse explained as he pushed the side door open with a loud creak and a scrape along the ground, "Well its ain't really a hideout anymore. No one uses it. Uh..." His head spun around as he spotted Bic and the two Sandslashes in it. "Oh, hey Bic. Where's uh... Where's Natasha."

The Beldum’s lens shifted as it’s vision grew accustomed to the darker space of the warehouse. It got a good look at the fire-type called Bic. The Beldum’s attention to everything else in the warehouse ceased entirely when it saw that Bic appeared to be… bleeding…? The Beldum couldn’t tell for sure what with it’s eye still getting used to the darkness, and the distance between them.

“Are you hurt?” The Beldum’s psychic voice echoed with concern in the brains of everyone in the vicinity after the Sandslash "Verse" asked his own question.

"She was injured fighting for the cause." He growls out in response to Verse, obviously less than happy to see him after their falling out, slowly he comes to a standing position to better face the new arrivals, the movement agitating his wounds making him grit his teeth more in irritation than pain, angry that the human had been able to injure him at all, let alone make Natasha have to be helped by the other humans.

"She's at the humans lab being healed," he admits, still thinking pokecenters are labs thanks to what Verse had told him earlier in their journey together. Gesturing to his own pair of new scars as if in way of explanation to the new thing that smelled of metal, "Her hide isn't as tough as mine," Flaking the blood away he reveals that the wounds are already well on their way to being healed, he'd simply burned them shut when the bleeding began to irritate him.

"So," Bic says, stalking forward he circles the new pair, examining them and scenting the air. He could tell they'd been in a fight, recently even. That didn't sound like Verse, snorting in amusement he comes to stand in front of them. "What do you want?"