Chapter 39
July 5th, 2010
"Magcargo!"
A plume of fire erupted into the air as she said that, the light of it sending Giovanni, Orca, and my shadows bouncing along the walls and floor of the laboratory.
"So what do you think?" I asked Giovanni and Grace, the question applying differently to each of them.
"It's amazing," Grace said, stunned as Magcargo rubbed her head against my chest. "Her internal temperature is way beyond any of our instrument's ability to measure. She should be turning the city into fireball. But she's just warm to the touch! This level of control… Kahu, I know you said Pokemon evolutions are powerful, but I didn't expect such a drastic difference!"
"Neither did I," Giovanni cocked his head to the side. "I suppose there is precedent for it of course. Alola and Galar have been known to have regional variants of common Pokemon."
"Don't forget the Hisui ones."
"Hisui?" Giovanni asked me curiously.
"Ancient Sinnoh? You know, when they had Arcanine that were fire/rock and Electrode that were electric/grass."
"Really!?" he sounded fascinated. "I had heard rumors, but nothing confirmed by historians. Blaine spent quite a bit of time trying to discover if he could evolve an Arcanine to take on those traits."
"Then clearly he should have done whatever Magcargo did," I rubbed the top of her head, hiding some of my suspicions. Magcargo had promised me her 'benefactor' was going to visit soon.
"Clearly," Giovanni agreed sarcastically. He stroked his chin. "Still, this change does interest me. I'd had suspicions that our Pokemon could be affected by the unusual energies of this world. Having proof of it is gratifying. Still, the distribution of powers is so random I'm against experimenting with it."
"This, from the guy who made a super Mew?"
"After years of failed attempts and constant refinement, yes. I did clone a perfected version of a powerful mystic Pokemon. Which is very different from exposing my Pokemon to Kryptonite just to see what happens."
"...Goddamn it, you have Kryptonite?"
"That's not the point."
"You have Kryptonite!?" Grace asked, turning from her analysis of Magcargo.
"As I was saying, this does interest me. It's not a Mega Evolution, but Magcargo is far more powerful than versions I've seen before. For one thing, no Pokemon but Heatran should be able to know Magma Storm."
"Is that something I should worry about?" Grace asked me.
"Certain Pokemon moves can only be learned by specific types of Pokemon. And I don't mean a fire-type using water-type, I mean super-charged shit that can be used by the strongest beings on earth. Heatran is very powerful, and a good girl."
"A good girl?" Giovanni asked skeptically.
"I stand by that. Point is, she has a move that is supposed to be specific to her, but Magcargo learned to unleash it somehow."
"Magcargo!" she said proudly.
I couldn't help the grin as I scratched my head. "Honestly, the best thing is the level of control she's gained. She hasn't scorched anything she hasn't wanted to since she evolved, and she can stand still without issue now."
"Now I just need to figure out how I can take a dna sample," Grace signed, staring at the massive snail-girl. "It was hard enough when she was just extremely hot. I'm worried anything that could take a sample would melt on contact."
"Magcargo," saying that, my lava girl reached her head around towards her new shell. She took a small piece of the solid stone off with her mouth, then gently laid it in Grace's hand.
"Huh… well, it could work?" Grace lifted up the piece of shell and stared at it for moment. "It's still strange that DNA can exist in things like this."
"The world is larger than our mere perceptions of it," I said. "Giovanni and I are from a different world, but there is a whole multiverse of weird shit. I guarantee it."
Hopefully I didn't end up meeting other versions of me though. That wouldn't end well.
"Would you be willing to trade for her?"
Giovanni's question made me blink.
"Excuse me?"
Giovanni smiled. "In my old life, rarities such as your Magcargo always drew me. I could offer-"
"No."
"Not even going to listen to my offer?"
"Would you trade Persian for anything?"
He chuckled, nodding. "Very well. Then what about this? I've been wanting to ask if you wanted to trade your Gurdurr then trade back."
He changed topics so quickly. As though the first question barely mattered. Magcargo leaned against me, giving me a grateful smile. I rubbed her head and smiled at the cutie before thinking on Giovanni's question.
"I don't know if Gurdurr would be down for that. Plus, I have no idea how the trade thing works."
"What are we talking about?" Grace asked.
"Trade evolution, remember? Something about the energies caused by an official trade of Pokemon makes some of them evolve. I think?"
"Actually, I'm not sure either," Giovanni stroked his smooth chin thoughtfully. "I believe that research into it is ongoing. But then, the question must be asked how Conkledurr's appear in the wild if trading is Gurdurr's only option."
He seemed intrigued now. "Yes… in fact, we may want to avoid that. Let's see how all of your Pokemon adjust. It's possible all or none of them will have such unique transformations."
I kept my thoughts on that to myself.
"Oh, Kahu," Giovanni looked over at me lazily. "You mentioned before that you had need of a consultant for technology? Someone to work alongside you in the field when needed?"
"In case we had to disable bombs or hack computers, yes."
"Well the candidate I recommended to you… has arrived."
The lights went out. I briefly panicked, reaching for my hip. The lights snapped back on.
And he was standing about five feet in front of us. Like he'd teleported into the room.
"Jesus!" Grace stepped back. I reeled back, lifting my fists before me. Music was playing in the background, some kind of… electro swing?
"Ahh right on time as always!" Giovanni waved dramatically at the man in front of us. "Kahu, let me introduce you to your new technical support. He does so love a good entrance."
"They do say first impressions are important," the guy who had somehow appeared in the middle of the room met my eyes. I think. He wore a mask, a steel looking one with a grill over his mouth and more prominently, a pair of clocks over his eye, both displaying the time with a classic little hand and big hand.
I double checked a digital clock on the wall. His eye clocks were exactly correct.
"William Tockman. At your service."
He twirled his cane and strode forward with a confident strut, the cane snapping forward to smack into the floor in perfect beat to the music playing over the speakers. He bowed dramatically, sweeping his hat off his head. "Charmed to meet you all."
I lowered my fists. "Um… likewise?"
He swept the hat back on. Even with the mask, I think he was pleased. I took a closer look at him.
Dapper. That was what his appearance screamed to me. He looked dapper as fuck. A classy looking bowler hat on his head, colored the same soft brown as his long coat. His coat reached down to his shins, covering his white shirt, green vest, and black pants, a pair of very shiny looking shoes completing the ensemble. If it wasn't for the mask he would have looked like a man out of time… Pun unintended.
His cane was interesting too. A thick looking thing, with a black sheen except for the handle, which kind of looked like it had a brass capped grip to it.
The music faded away with a final trill of electro beats. The exact instant that it did, he began speaking.
"I must say, I'm excited," he said brightly. He raised a hand up and removed his mask. His face was pale, and looked younger than I expected. His brown hair framed his looks, and his smile was a bit nervous looking. "I've never been on this side of things."
This side of things? Wait… William Tockman.
"The Clock King?"
"That I am," he said, though his nervousness seemed to grow. "You've um… heard of me?"
"Sort of. You once fought… Batman?"
"Oh! Uh, no, I've never had the pleasure. I contended with Green Arrow! He beat me rather thoroughly, to be honest!"
"And since then, he has paid his dues to society," Giovanni intruded brightly. "I decided to take him on. He's quite the intellect!"
"I'm proud to agree," he twirled his cane again, grinning this time. "I hope to work well with you, Mr. Kiaʻi."
"..." I rubbed my face, ignoring everyone. "Clock King… a supervillain."
"Former, Kahu. Former supervillain, and only a single outing at that," Giovanni pointed out. "I did him a favor as a bonus for signing up. In return, you have a talented engineer willing to keep your secrets and do some rather dangerous work as well!"
"I'm not judging him. I'm trying to figure out how much of this is you messing with me?"
"Hm… not much, honestly," Giovanni shrugged. "Mr. Tockman is qualified. Would you disagree with that?"
I thought about the Clock King's of other universes. Here he'd fought Green Arrow once. In others he became a real danger at points. Or a joke. But that was all supervillains in one way or another.
"Should you agree then it would be a lot smoother to let him know your identity. He is well aware of what would be the level of my... displeasure should he abuse that."
Tockman shuddered slightly at that, though he held it in well. "Er. Yes. I would understand of course, Mr. Kiaʻi, if you prefer not to. But I would like to work with you. Mr. Giovanni has provided me aid, and in return he requested I do the same for you and your team. You have my loyalty."
He sounded sincere. I held out a hand, which he took. "I'll need some time to trust you with that," I said, shaking it. "For now? Welcome aboard. I'll keep you alive."
"I'll do the same!" he sounded excited.
Giovanni frowned. "Are you sure about not-"
I looked over at him. He let it go with a shrug.
Tockman seemed nice. But I wouldn't have trusted him with my identity if he had been Superman himself.
"You'll join us on patrol next time," I told him. "Get to know us and our team. How are you with efficiency?"
He practically buzzed in place. "Oh believe me. I know a thing or two about that."
I nodded firmly. "Then welcome to the team… it's unnamed right now, but we're workshopping it down the road."
Clock King. Why not? That would be interesting. And I still had another meeting later on.
An hour later, I waited on a chair by myself in our base. Magcargo had said our visitor was on the way. I'd decided to meet them alone.
So I stared at the door, trying to hide my nervousness as I bounced a small box on my knee, a bottle of fancy alcohol sat next to the chair. A sound behind me made me jump. I spun around, only to sigh in relief.
"You okay?" Grace asked gently. The large whale hybrid woman was wearing a blue sundress, and sat on the floor next to me. Despite that, she was still a little taller than I was.
"Not really. I don't know what's coming up."
"Magcargo told you the person who… I don't know what the word for it is. Her patron?" Grace frowned. "Honestly, I only have you and Giovanni's word her new look is unusual for her species."
"It is unusual," which was an understatement. "And until I meet whoever this is, I have no idea what to call them."
Grace let out a small noise I couldn't quite interpret. Then she noticed the box and booze. "What's up with those?"
"Cigars and booze," I frowned at them. "Alakazam suggested them."
"Why?" Grace asked.
"I have my suspicions, only because we're in Hawaii. I don't know for sure though," I poked at the alcohol, something Amos had passed to me when I told him about those suspicions. The old bastard had said something that sounded immensely dirty, then paled when I clarified things and grabbed the expensive looking bottle out of his office in Giovanni's compound.
There was a knock at the… well, not really door. Whatever you want to call a self-moving wall of stone. I got up and walked over to it. The cave wall separated apart as I approached.
Outside, an old caucasian woman was there, dressed in a red muumuu, her blue eyes just a bit dulled with age. She looked up at me. "Hello sweetie. I was in the neighborhood, and was wondering I could trouble you for some cigars? Maybe a small drink? It's for my health, you see."
"Wha- but both of those things are so unhea-" Grace began to protest.
I snapped a hand up before Grace continued. I smiled hesitantly at the old woman. Her smile faded at Grace's protest, but returned when I held out the cigars and booze. "I don't mind. Here you go, miss."
"Ah, fantastic," she took a hold of them, then grinned at the sight of the booze. "Ooooh. Now that is a wonderful sight."
She looked up at me. After silently staring at each other awkwardly, I stepped aside. "Won't you come in?"
"Ah, mighty kind of you!" she stepped inside.
It was like watching someone 'shrug off' a body. Her transformation was smooth. Almost eerie. Her pale wrinkled skin became a dark and tanned color, smooth as butter. Her frail skinny limbs were replaced with muscular and powerful arms and legs. White hair shifted to become a shiny black like obsidian, flashes of blue-white the color of lightning glimmering through it. Her red muumuu became a red and grey top and a simple skirt of the same color, a bone necklace around her neck and a gold bangle around her left ankle. She was showing a huge amount of skin, revealing her powerful and graceful form.
She also matched Grace in height.
"What the-!?" Grace stumbled back as the woman continued, walking with all of the grace of a queen.
The cave wall shut behind her. The woman walked up to the table and sat on my chair. She leaned back, resting her cheek in one hand. Eyes the color of molten red shone, and lips covered in black makeup quirked upwards. "So. You are Kahu Kiaʻi."
I stood still, unmoving. Her presence was intense. She wasn't just sitting on the chair. It was like… like a black hole. There was a core, a center part that sat before us. And around her you could feel the effect she had on the environment. The room was almost stiflingly warm, right on the edge of being uncomfortable. There was a static charge, just enough to make the hair on my arms rise up.
She was also insanely attractive, but I was getting used to that sort of thing, despite my teenage hormones trying to keep reminding me of that.
"I am," I finally said as I pushed myself to move. I sat down on a different chair, facing her. I looked her over, feeling small. And not just because she towered over me. "I have a guess as to who you are, but I'd rather let you introduce yourself."
"I am Pele."
That was it. No titles, no bombastic voice, nothing else. I am Pele. As though that wasn't a revelation.
I knew, intellectually, that God and Goddesses existed in the DC universe. Hell, I'd been dropped here because of a God of a different universe. Meeting them was very different though.
Pele. Goddess of Fire and Volcanoes. And lightning, dance, war, and a bunch of other things. The creator of the islands of Hawaii, and one of the most important goddesses in the islands. Certainly in her pantheon.
"Should I call you Madame Pele?" I asked as politely as I could.
"Just Pele is fine," she seemed to finish her inspection of me. "Did you know I lived here, when you arrived on the islands?"
"In Kīlauea? No. I know about the myth-" her face twisted at the word. "The rumours," her face calmed. Yeah. Don't call the deity a myth to her face. "But I had no clue. Would it have been an issue?"
"Yes. I would have destroyed your base had you been using me to strengthen my little sister. I would have rained down ash for thirty days and nights, then taken your charred bones and shattered them against the stones of my island. The pain would have been excruciating. I promise you that."
I shuddered. She smiled.
"I don't like being used, Kahu Kiaʻi. I do not like being deceived. I love my new little sister. I would hate to destroy her…"
"Partner," I said immediately. "Pokemon and their Trainers are partners."
"Partner," she rolled the word around. The smell of ozone filled the air, a copper kind of scent. "Yes. So then. Why did you decide to make a home next to my own? Why does your gray one dig, while the ancient beast aids him? Why does the master of oceans visit my lands now?"
She glared just a bit. "I am not a fan of water, Kahu Kiaʻi. My sister chased me with it for centuries. My ex-husband destroyed my creations with it. And now you invite it's ruler into my lands."
I gently raised my hands. "Pele. I am not attempting to intrude. Aquaman is my friend, not me trying to insult you. If I have insulted you, I apologize. I can leave, if you want. I don't want to anger you. I just want to keep my Pokemon safe. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Would you leave so easily?" she smiled without happiness. "After all of your work? What if I tell you to leave? Now. If I flooded the base with magma and destroyed your home?"
"...I can't say I'd be happy," to say the least. "But I wouldn't have much choice other than to accept it. Being chased out of a place I tried to make a home out of. I can't stop you."
She froze just a bit. I knew I'd struck a nerve. Like she said. She'd been chased for centuries by her sister. Nāmaka would attack her relentlessly, destroy her homes, force her to abandon them again and again.
"Don't think I don't see what you're doing," Pele warned me. Her eyes glimmered, I began to sweat under the unbearable heat.
"I made a home. I promise to be respectful. If you wish me to leave, I will. That's all this is."
She glared harder at me. I held my ground. Finally she relented. "I have no quarrel with you building here. Place my symbol on a wall, and leave me offerings."
"What kind?"
"More of these will suffice," she gestured to the booze and cigars. "My little sister. She said her name has changed?"
"...Magcargo."
"Magma and escargot?" Pele's face twisted in disgust. "Really?"
"I didn't choose it."
She seemed to decide to let it go. "Very well. She cares for you. And I sense that a portion of her power came from your belief in her. Take heed, Kahu. That and the actions you have taken against the Dragons are all that save you from my wrath."
"The Dragons?"
The goddess smirked just a bit, her brown skin glimmering in the light. "The Silicon Dragons are of Hawaii. But they get no love from I and my siblings. Continue your war with them. You will have no aid from me, but you have my approval."
That tracked. Deities don't help people with their problems so directly nowadays. Perseus had no idea how lucky he had it. Lucky bastard demi-god.
"Is there anything else I need to know?"
"Nothing. I wanted to take your measure. You are lacking," ouch. "But that is fine. All mortals are. You care for my sister, you fight what I hate, and you show respect. That is enough. Continue as you are. Send me offerings weekly. And do not disrespect the name of Pele."
The powerful Goddess of Fire rose up. Then she took notice of Grace, who was staring back at her. "...Are you a water goddess?"
"Um, no?" Grace said hesitantly. "I was mutated. I'm a normal human other than that. I'm Grace Balin."
"Hm… not a child of my siblings? Or one of the Greek ones?" she said with disgust.
"I'm from Gotham."
"That might be worse," Pele shrugged. "Very well. You may remain in Hawaii."
"T-Thank you?"
"You are polite. Good. Kahu. Grace. If you remain respectful, our next meeting will not be for some time. Pray for that to be true."
A hole opened in the floor, swirling with red hot rock. I lifted a hand to my face, fending off the bright light. Pele stepped into the pool of molten spinning liquid, sinking down slowly. "Tell Magcargo to visit me. Our training should continue."
"She loves you, so I doubt I could stop her from visiting you if I tried."
Pele gave me the first honest smile I'd seen from her. "I love her as well."
Then she sank under the waves of magma. After a moment, the hole swirled closed, becoming solid stone once more.
Grace looked between the former hole, then me. Then back again.
"What the fu-!?" she stopped, then rubbed her face. "I don't even know where to start! Was that really a god!?"
"One of them," I said nonchalantly.
"How are you so calm about this!? She said she would kill you if we don't follow her rules!" Grace looked panicked, which was weirdly cute on an Orca face.
I was still sitting on my chair, and I slowly brought my hands together in front of my face. "It doesn't matter much."
"Doesn't matter?" Grace seemed shocked. "Doesn't matter. An ancient deity worshiped by thousands shows up, a woman with the power to make islands, who threatened to kill you at worst and destroy your base at best showed up, and it doesn't matter!?"
"It does matter. Just not much," I thought carefully as I spoke. "I'm glad that we came to an understanding with her. A few cigars and booze are more than worth it for not having her pissed off at us, and I appreciate her being so understanding," if a little bitchy. So hot though…
"Look, Grace, we need to consider that, on the scale of things, finding out Pele exists isn't surprising. Impressive. But knowing deities ancient civilizations worshiped still exist doesn't change the taste of mustard. We need to acknowledge it, then move forward as best as we can."
"...Are you sure you're younger than me?"
"Arguably," depending on how you counted me being in a 14 year old body, pretending to be in an 18 year old one, while having a 28 year old mind. "The point is, I'm planning to respect Pele's boundaries. Now the next problem pops up."
My phone began to ring. I looked over at it. Kaldur's face shone on the screen right above his number and the accept/cancel call buttons. I answered the phone. "Hey Kaldur. What's up?"
"Kahu," Kaldur's voice sounded exhausted. "It is good to hear from you. How are you?"
"Well, met someone impressive today. Other than that, the day has been quiet. How about you, how'd your whole thing yesterday go?"
"...I believe you may have been right about jinxing myself."
"Wait, what?"
"Have you heard of Cadmus? The genetics research laboratory?"
"Cadmus? I heard about them, yeah," I was beginning to suspect where this was headed… "Why do you ask?"
"We ended up having a bit of an interesting night," Kaldur sounded like he was understating things.
"What happened?"
"We met a clone of Superman."
"...Goddamni-" I stopped, groaning while rubbing my face. Damnit. Superboy. I really thought I had until Doomsday killed Supes to worry about that. "Okay, yeah. See, I warned you about jinxing yourself."
"What happened?" Grace asked.
I covered the mouthpiece. "Nothing for us to worry about I think, but Kaldur had a hell of a 4th of July."
"Didn't we fight a full on war that day?"
"I think he's an overachiever," I removed my hand from the mouthpiece. "Okay, clone of Superman," Grace's jaw dropped as I continued. "Is that the only thing, or was there more?"
"Actually, there was something I thought we could use your expertise on," Kaldur said. "We also met some of Cadmus' other experiments. They call them Genomorphs. Mentally controlled genetic creations that Cadmus used as a military force."
"Well that sounds all kinds of joyous. How mentally controlled?"
"Not as much as they hoped. They are entirely sapient," Kaldur said in a heavy sort of tone. "I thought of your Pokemon when I heard about that. I thought you and Grace could provide some perspective of the social and medical kind."
"And Alakazam making sure they aren't still carrying some kind of mental lock in their head?" I added. "Maybe the same for Superbaby?"
"He won't like that name," Kaldur sounded amused. "That may be something we'll need, though it didn't occur to me until you mentioned it to be honest."
"Really? First thing I'd think of is to clear the minds of everyone involved with that project."
Kaldur hmmed through the phone. "I'll approach Batman about it. In the meantime, I wanted to reach out to you and let you know about what happened. How about you? You said you met someone interesting?"
"Pele, the Goddess of Volcanoes."
"...Seems we've both had quite a day."
"You more than me. All she did was threaten to kill me."
"That seems to be the norm for divine beings."
"How about you tell me your story first. Mine is gonna be shorter."
I leaned back to listen while Kaldur gave the slip on his wild night in Cadmus. I was right. It was a longer story. A pretty fun one too.
Worth a couple episodes at least.
Author's Note: So to be clear. One of the other Pokemon is gonna get an alternate form. ONE. I like a lot of their normal forms, and the only reason I'd give them a new form is because I want to make a plot point that moving to the DC universe has more effects than just a change in location.
Next chapter will be on my in uh... less than 24 hours honestly?