Christmas Pokemon One Shots

Traditions that Span the Galaxy: Ikarishipping

Despite myself, I couldn't help but take a deep breath of clean, non-filtered air that I had not been able to breathe for weeks. When the first aliens had made their way to Earth a decade ago it had opened the proverbial floodgate. No longer were we alone in the universe. We learned that Arceus and the other creation legendaries had been very busy and that there were dozens upon dozens of planets out there with sustainable climates for intelligent life. And not only were there other life forms that were similar to humans, but each planet had their own set of unique pokemon to boast of as well.

The thought of traveling to other planets had never really entered my mind since my goal was to become an unstoppable force in the pokemon world on my home planet. But after competing in every single pokemon league across the regions of Earth and beating most of the champions, I found myself feeling annoyingly empty. I had completed my goal, but the idea of becoming champion and having to spend years in one spot seemed almost abhorrent to me. So when I had faced off against a pokemon trainer with an unusual pokemon and found out that she had caught it on an expedition to another world on friendly terms with earth, I had made a decision.

Not one week later I found myself aboard a spaceship bound for the waterlogged planet of Inundatio. Being in space had been fascinating... for a day. It was no luxury cruise and the facilities were incredibly sparse. I spent most of my time in my cabin reading any book I could find from their meager library about Inundatio and the pokemon that resided there while dreading my next meal of dehydrated space rations.

Now that I had made it through the arduous customs office and proclaimed for the millionth time that I was Paul Shinji, a professional pokemon trainer staying for an undetermined amount of time, I could finally look around with interest at this new world. I had heard people call Earth the blue planet because of how large the oceans were, but THIS was the planet that truly deserved the nickname.

Inundatio was a planet that was 93% covered in water and the only land masses were small islands no larger than the Alolan islands. Because of this, the native residents of the planet had actually evolved to be able to live both in the water and on land. My eyes scanned the busy port where only a dozen space ships could touch down at one time. Skin tones that ranged from the palest yellow to the deepest purple with every shade of blue and green between flooded my vision and made me feel very out of place.

Other than their unique skin colorings though, the natives of Inundatio were quite humanoid in their overall shape. The biggest difference in their anatomy were their ears, which had intricate frills like a fish's fins, and as I walked among them I could see several raised lines on their necks which could open once they were under water and become gills, allowing them to breathe easily in both ecosystems.

As I moved from the main port into the city portion I was surprised to see how rustic it was. The streets were unpaved and I didn't see any sign of vehicles making their way through the wide streets. What I did see in abundance though were street performers. Many humans who were obviously here on vacation were crowded around the natives that were singing, dancing, or juggling.

Not one for wasting my time, I walked past them without hardly a glance. That is, until a huge iridescent bubble floated right in front of me, nearly bouncing off my nose. I blinked and glanced to my right where a huge crowd was gathered in a large semi-circle that took up half the street width. Bubbles were sparkling all above the crowds heads and I could hear oo's and ah's coming from adults and children alike.

Just as I was about to turn away a beam of blue and white light shot up into the air. My eyes widened at the show of power and I immediately turned and began wading my way through the crowd. I was not surprised when I heard a few people that I nudged aside whisper my name. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was a celebrity on earth, but I was well known in the pokemon circle for beating nearly all of the champions in an official battle.