#pokemon fisherman | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

catra-writes · 1 year ago

Text

The fisherman and the merman

Finally! Night has come and all deep sea creatures that aren't nocturnal have gone to sleep. All except Lugia. He pretended to fall asleep until his family was before he swam off. The young male swum passed the pod's edge and up towards the surface. By the time he reached the surface the bright light he was told was the sun had begun to rise.

Lugia was excited to be away from his nagging family of merfolk and explore what the surface has to offer. His luminescent tail flicked beneath him as he kept his head above the water. As the young merman looked around he spotted someone else...looking right back at him.

Now the problem was, humans and merfolk didn't get along, in fact they practically hated each other and had a long dispute for years. So you could imagine how Lugia felt when he saw this boy that looked around his age, getting ready to go fishing in a boat he had at the docs and staring at him a few feet away. Or at least how he was supposed to feel at this moment.

Lugia should have felt scared, weary or something but he didn't. Instead Lugia felt calm, bashful even. The boy stared back with a similar bashful look. Lugia swam closer. "Hello" he greeted the young fisherman.

"Uh-hi there" responded the human to the merman.

"I'm Lugia." The merman spoke again.

"Nice to meet you Lugia, I'm Gary." The fisherman smiled. The two shook hands after their short greeting, one dry and warm human hand in one wet webbed hand. Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched. Lugia had been followed by his older sister and the priest of Gary's town had come to talk about the day before the fisherman went to work.

The two spotted Gary and Lugia interacting and didn't like it. The sister swam back to inform the family and the priest hurried to speak to Gary's mother. "I've never met a merman-or any merfolk before" admitted Gary. "You're amazing!" He marveled.

"And I've never met any human before" Lugia said with a chuckle "you're quite interesting, yourself!" He added.

Later after they had gotten to know each other and spent some time conversing, they unfortunately had to split ways. Gary went on with fishing work before heading home to find his mother speaking to the town's Priest in the living room. "Mom? Father Aberdeen? What's going on?" He asked as they noticed him come home.

"Gary I forbid you from talking to that sea creature again." Gary looked at his mother in confusion and Father Aberdeen spoke up to explain.

"I saw you speaking to the creature. I spoke to your mother and we both agree you aren't to do that again. It's dangerous." He warned.

"Lugia isn't dangerous, he's nice-and charming even!" The teen argued.

"Young man you will listen to your mother's wishes." The priest said sternly.

"Yes sir..." Gary nodded.

Meanwhile, Lugia had swum back home hoping his family was still asleep. Unfortunately his elder sister woke them all when she reached the Pod and told them all what she had seen. When Lugia returned, his mother and father were waiting for him, the rest of his siblings surrounded him, giggling about the fact he got in trouble.

"Lugia why did you disobey our rules? You know the surface world isn't for merfolk and humans are a danger to us!" Exclaimed his father angrily. His mother looked just as disappointed in him as his father and elder sister who remained behind them with a sly smirk on her face.

"But the surface world is nothing like you said! It's warm and beautiful!" He tried reasoning with them.

"Dialga has informed us you met a human. Your older sister is in charge of you and your younger siblings. She followed you under our request and told us about your little encounter." Said his mother.

"You aren't to go near that boy again! He could catch you up like any other fish! Do you understand?" Huffed his father

"But Gary is polite and-!" He was interrupted

"Do you understand?!" Repeated his father.

"...I do..." Lugia sighed in defeat and was told to go hunt with his siblings for breakfast as they had missed it while waiting for him to return.

Some time had passed and Gary once again slipped away to see the surface. He wanted to see Gary again too. He wasn't the only one that slipped away, Gary went back to the docs to see if Lugia would be there again.

The two once more met up at the docs and began to talk. "My family has forbidden me from coming here and speaking with you but I couldn't listen, I had to come." Lugia said sadly to Gary.

"My mother and the town's priest have told me the same. I had to see you again, they don't understand." Gary huffed.

"My mom always listens to the priest, she doesn't know the things he's done before" grumbled the human.

"My sister is nosey and cares for only her own amusement. Dialga followed me last time but I've made sure I came alone tonight." Lugia explained.

"What if we got away?" Gary asked.

"Got away? Like left?" Lugia questioned. He didn't quite understand what Gary was talking about.

"Yeah. Got away from all this. What if we left all our troubles behind? We wouldn't have to deal with being told right from wrong, what to do and where to go. We decide!" Gary exclaimed, smiling at his own idea.

Lugia seemed a bit nervous about it but not completely against it. "I'm not sure, how would we do that?" He asked. He couldn't help but feel worried like it might go wrong. His family would know he was missing and search for him.

If they found him with Gary they could do anything to his friend, who knows what would happen if the humans found out too! "It just seems so risky..." Lugia pointed out.

"I know, that's why we should plan things out. Come back again three nights from now, we'll come up with something but for now we should wait so they aren't suspicious." Gary instructed.

Lugia nodded. "Alright I will. I have to go now but I'll be back in three nights. I trust you, Gary." The young merman told his friend.

"I trust you too, Lugia. Be careful." The young Human told the humanoid sea creature before the two then split ways. Lugia dove back into the cold night waters, swimming away and back to the deep where his family slept. Gary watched a little while, watching Lugia's tail fin flap into the dark before turning from the docks and running down the streets of his town towards his home where his mother was surely asleep.

The next day, Lugia returned home with a few of his siblings after hunting. He hadn't caught much, at least not as much as the others had. He couldn't get his mind off Gary and the worry about the coming night.

He wasn't sure why, but it felt like something dangerous was coming and they picked a bad time...Lugia's parents had noticed his lack of a catch and how he seemed so lost in thought. They thought they were a bit too harsh on him the other night so his mother pulled him aside to talk.

"Lugia you appear unsettled. I'm sorry if our rules are too strict but you do know that we have these rules to keep you and your siblings safe, right? It's dangerous above." She informed him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as she spoke to him about how the restrictions were to keep them all safe, but Lugia couldn't believe her. What did she know about the surface? Had she ever been up there? He doubted it.

"I hope you can see this is all because we care. You mustn't go up to the surface. It's dangerous beyond what you know." She insisted.

"I understand, mother." Lugia told her. But he didn't. Why was it so dangerous, what could be so terrible? It was beautiful up there...but she'd never understand, none of them would.

The next day Lugia's feeling of concern was getting worse. He felt as if something big and bad was on its way...he simply brushed it off as concerns of the risks of trying to leave. His parents finding out and trying to find and stop him and Gary as well as the humans trying to prevent them from leaving...but he trusted Gary to have things figured out.

He even did some thinking on it himself. He could disguise himself so his family wouldn't recognize him. He of course would slip away at night and even had a few ideas in case Dialga attempted to follow him again.

He spent the day and night preparing and thinking behind his family's back, when they weren't paying attention he'd gather a few things and hide them in a special place. Within their coral-made home he had a small and somewhat hidden crevice between pieces of coral where he could hide his things.

The next day, Lugia overheard his parents having a conversation, one that worried him so much more. "I can sense it, love. In the water. Tonight there will be a very big and very dangerous one." Said his mother.

"I feel it too, so do the prey. They are fewer, seeking shelter. The water is rougher and colder.." his father admitted.

"I fear the young can sense it too...Dialga and Lugia seem affected most..." his mother expressed her concerns.

Lugia couldn't help but believe they were talking about that very feeling he's had these three days and it spiked his anticipation for the nearing night. "Our home will be safe from the coming storm. However dangerous it may be we will be alright. We don't need to worry or make our young frightened." Insisted his father in an attempt to console and comfort his wife.

"Of course.." she nodded. Lugia felt his hearts beat hard and rapidly in his flat ears. A storm? That's terrible! He had to warn Gary as soon as he possibly could. He'd leave early tonight. He had to risk it to make sure Gary would be alright!

That night, his parents had urged him along with his siblings into their large clamshell beds. Lugia got into bed and waited. He waited for them all to fall sleep, then quickly went to the crevices where he had hidden a makeshift dummy of himself out of tied up kelp vines stuffed with stones, seaglass poking out to look like his luminescent scales as those dull when the merfolk sleep to avoid detection.

He placed the dummy on his clamshell bed, laying a blanket or two of seaweed over it and closing halfway. Now it really looked like he was sleeping as they don't produce any air into the water when they sleep either.

For the merfolk sleep means stealth as to avoid any possible deep sea predators. Lugia felt bad about his choice to leave but he had made up his mind. He was going to Gary to warn him of the storm, going to leave for a new home...

Lugia quickly swam off, checking behind him ever so often. He didn't see Dialga so far so she must have fallen for his dummy trick. The longer he took the worse his feeling of worry got. He didn't have any more time to waste! He had to see Gary!

Lugia stopped checking for his sister, just swimming fast towards the surface with anticipation. He was careful not to swim too fast to avoid getting tired. He'd need his strength but he also needed to make sure he got there on time.

Finally he made it to the surface, to the docs, and to his meeting spot with Gary. "Lugia! I'm here!" He heard Gary's voice as he glanced about but where? "Look up at the boat!" Gary called again in a slight whispered tone. Lugia glanced up to see Gary smiling back down at him from his fisherman's boat.

"Gary! There's a problem! A big one!" Lugia said, frightened.

"Calm down, keep your voice low. Look, I have a map so I know where to go! There's an island with a lagoon we can get to-" Lugia interrupted Gary from his explanation with one of his own.

"There's a huge dangerous storm coming any minute now, I can feel it! It isn't safe we chose a bad time-" Gary then interrupted Lugia in turn.

"That's perfect! We'll use it to our advantage and get away now. I'll set out, you follow close. I'll even tie this rope to my ship and hand you the other end so we don't get separated." Gary explained and left to do so. Lugia bit his lip with anxiety. Was Gary really sure about this? Would their plan work? They would find out soon enough as the storm was just about upon them.

The rope was tossed down to Lugia and he took hold of it tightly as the ship began moving out of the docks. Once they were out on the water, the surface of the waves were sharp and choppy, Lugia had to go under and grip the rope even tighter than before so as to not lose it.

Each passing moment he could feel the waves getting bigger and stronger, the storm grew much more dangerous. How did Gary know which way to go? Do humans have that sort of sense of direction merfolk had?

Suddenly he felt a huge push in the water that made the rope pull up and snap. No! This wasn't good! Lugia brought his head up to the surface only to get hit with something solid. It wasn't water, it was a piece of the ship that hit him right on the head, making his vision blur. He searched the waters in panic for Gary as he saw the ship come apart from the large crashing waves.

He knew this wasn't a good idea! It was too dangerous and now they're both paying! Where is Gary?! "Gary?!" Lugia shouted over the sounds of the storms as best he could. Suddenly he saw it. Gary's hand shot up and grabbed a plank, pulling himself above the water holding on for dear life.

He coughed and wheezed, implying water got into his lungs when he fell in. "Lugia!" He called out to the merman, his eyes shut tight. He must have gotten hurt! Lugia swam for him in a rush, not quite giving the rest of his surroundings any mind as his focus was on the human.

"I'm coming!" He shouted back. He was almost to Gary when the sound of another giant wave came rushing towards them. Lugia looked up at it in pure fright...his mother was right. The surface world was so much more dangerous than he had ever imagined. He never knew the water could be like this...

The wave came crashing down on the fast, barely giving Lugia a chance to look back at Gary with an apologetic look as the disaster rained down so terribly, not that Gary could really see it... That was the last they saw of each other before all they could see was the light of the surface draining into a cold, dark, black nothingness...an empty void.

To this day no one could find either of them. Just a wreck of a fisherman's boat at the bottom of the sea rotting away after years of being tossed under and broken from that storm. Some think they succeeded in getting away, some think they drifted far apart never to be found, so many different endings to this tale made up by merfolk and human alike. None are sure which ending is true.

1 note · View note