Fanfiction: Gotta Camelotch Them All (Merlin/Pokémon)
th_esaurus requested a Merlin/Pokémon ficsnippet in this entry, but it became a little long for a comment, so here it is!
(This is an expansion of a commentfic I wrote some months ago, so some of you may have seen the opening before.)
I apologise sincerely for the title.
Title: Pokémon: DragonFire Red Version (or 'Gotta Camelotch Them All')
Fandoms: Merlin/Pokémon
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1,800ish
Summary: In which Pokémon appear in Camelot.
"Merlin," Arthur says. "What is this?"
'This' turns out to be a strange animal, sitting on Arthur's bed and looking around as if lost. It is gripping a bone tightly in both paws, and its head is almost completely covered, worryingly, by what looks like another animal's skull.
"Yes, Merlin, I can see that," Arthur says, rolling his eyes, when Merlin tells him what it is. "What's it called? I've never seen anything like it."
"If I knew what it was called," Merlin says, "don't you think I would've mentioned that?"
"You're useless," Arthur says. "Take its helmet off so we can see its face."
"Why can't you do it?" Merlin demands.
Arthur gives him a look.
Manservant. Right.
Merlin approaches the animal, carefully, and puts out a hand to touch the skull. The animal hits him over the fingers with its bone, which hurts, and then bursts into tears.
Merlin and Arthur stare at it.
"I think maybe we should just ask Gaius," Merlin says.
-
"What you have just described to me," Gaius says, giving Merlin and Arthur a very strange look, "is a Cubone."
"Great," Merlin says. "What do we do with it?"
"Well, I think we consider how in the world you could have seen one," Gaius says. "It is a creature of legend. Cubone do not exist."
"Right," Merlin says. "Well, it might not exist, but it's here. In the castle."
Gaius raises an eyebrow, and then there's a knock on the door and Morgana enters, carrying what looks like a fox cub in her arms.
"I'm sorry," she says, keeping her voice low. "I think it's been attacked. I don't know whether you can treat it, but..."
"Pix," the fox calls, weakly, and Merlin suddenly realises that he has never seen a fox with six tails before.
"What is that?" Arthur demands.
"It's hurt, whatever it is," she says, bringing it to Gaius.
He peers at it over the top of his glasses, and strokes its blood-matted fur, and then lifts it carefully out of her arms and sets it on the table. It paws weakly at the wood, then curls up and falls asleep.
"Is that another legendary creature?" Arthur asks. "I've certainly never seen one before."
"Of the same sort, yes," Gaius says.
"How can that be? They look completely different."
"But they are both from the same set of legends." Gaius looks intently at the fox. "This creature is called a Vulpix. Both Vulpix and Cubone are what are known as Pokémon. There are hundreds of different species."
"Cubone?" Morgana asks, at the moment Arthur repeats, "Hundreds?"
"Are we going to be finding hundreds of these in the castle, then?" Merlin asks.
"Let's hope not," Gaius says. He pauses, then adds, "Arthur, fetch the Cubone so we can have a look at it."
"Merlin," Arthur says, "go and get the Cubone from my chambers."
"Merlin," Gaius says, sternly, "is my apprentice. He may need to know how to treat Pokémon in the future. He is staying here."
Arthur stares. "I'm the Crown Prince. I'm not supposed to be running around fetching animals."
"Morgana, go with him," Gaius says. "You can bear the indignity between you."
Morgana, evidently too amused by Arthur's protests to object, nods.
"You just said it's legendary," Arthur says. "We don't know what it could do."
"According to the legends, Pokémon do not attack humans."
"It attacked Merlin!" Arthur points out. Whilst Merlin thinks that this is a fair point, he is not entirely happy about Arthur's using it to justify Merlin's going instead.
"Unless provoked," Gaius amends.
Arthur seems about to protest some more, but all of them are somewhat distracted when the sleeping fox gives a small sigh, and with the sigh comes a flame that sets Gaius' much-abused bench alight.
"Is it magical?" Arthur demands, staring at it. "I should tell my father."
"Mention none of this to the king until we know why they are here," Gaius says, beating the fire out with a cloth. "Cubone," he adds, after a moment, "cannot breathe fire."
Arthur is fairly easily persuaded after that.
"Now," Gaius says, when the door has closed, "we can find out more about our unexpected guests."
Merlin quickly realises why Gaius sent Morgana and Arthur out of his chambers; the device he brings out is a strange red object, which displays changing pictures and speaks in a voice unlike that of any human Merlin has ever heard. It is obviously magical.
"Cubone," the device says, when Gaius has fiddled with it a little. "The Lonely Pokémon. Its mother dies in childbirth, and so it wears her skull to remember her. Because of this, nobody has ever seen Cubone's real face."
There is a short silence, broken only by the snuffles of the fox.
"We should probably avoid mentioning the origin of the skull to Uther or Arthur," Gaius says, eventually.
-
The Pokémon don't actually seem to be doing much harm, accidentally setting things on fire aside, but Merlin's got a feeling there'll be trouble if Uther finds out about them, and so he pays a visit to the Great Dragon.
"Hello?" Merlin calls as he walks into the cave, and then he stops and stares.
"Hello, young warlock," the Great Dragon says.
"Char," his friend adds.
"Er," Merlin says, his eyes on the orange dragon's flaming tail. "I was going to say there are Pokémon in the castle, but, er, it looks like you already know. That - that is a Pokémon, isn't it?"
"Charizard," it says.
"Of course I know," the Dragon says. "I was the one to bring them here."
"You brought them here?"
"It is terribly lonely, being the last of one's kind," the Dragon says, extending his wings. "The dragon Pokémon are not true dragons, and Charizard is not even Dragon-typed, but there is still a kinship that runs deep between us."
"Right," Merlin says. "Can you put them back?"
"Why do you wish them gone?" the Dragon asks. "They will not harm you."
"The Cubone hit me."
"Then you must have upset it, in which case it has every right. A Cubone's life is not easy."
"Seriously, you can't send them back?" Merlin asks. "Because Uther's going to find out about them, and he's not going to be happy."
"Uther's unhappiness is no concern of mine." The Dragon considers Merlin. "Think of this as an opportunity. You could be a fine Pokémon trainer."
"A what?"
"Ask your friend, the physician," the Dragon says. "One day you will give me your thanks."
-
Arthur accosts Merlin the moment he steps into the courtyard the next morning.
"It won't leave me alone," he hisses. "I tried to leave it with Gaius, but when I went out of the room it wouldn't stop crying."
"Bone!" the Cubone says.
"It's like you," Arthur says, which Merlin thinks is a bit unfair. He's never actually clung to Arthur's leg before.
"Has the king seen it?"
"Not yet, but I can hardly conceal it if it's always wrapped around me like this. And then there's Morgana with her Vulpixy... thing."
"It won't let go of her either?"
"She won't let go of it. Gaius made up some sort of potion for it, and now it's trotting along at her heels. I keep telling her it could set the tapestries alight at any moment, but she won't listen. I think she's actually thinking of names."
"Good morning," Gwen calls, walking past.
"Eeee!" agrees the little brown rabbitlike creature on her shoulder.
Arthur kicks a boulder. It makes a disgruntled noise and hops away.
-
"Gaius," Merlin says. "What's a Pokémon trainer?"
"In the legends, a trainer befriends Pokémon and raises them," Gaius says, examining the Pokémon that turned up amongst Merlin's clothes this morning; it is blue and white and looks a bit like a snake, but Gaius has assured Merlin that it is friendly and non-poisonous. "The Pokémon protect him, and in return he provides them with care and affection."
"Do you think I should try it?"
Gaius raises an eyebrow. "Well, given your talent for getting yourself into trouble, you could certainly do with some protection." He turns back to the Pokémon. "This is a Dratini. A Dragon-type Pokémon. It is extremely rare."
It doesn't look like a dragon, Merlin thinks, which is just as well, because his experience of dragons has been very frustrating. "I thought all Pokémon were legendary."
Gaius smiles. "True, but some legendary creatures are even more surprising to encounter than others." He lifts the Dratini. "In perfect health, if a little undersized. Very rare indeed. Very powerful." He drapes it over Merlin's shoulders. Merlin sits very still, half-expecting to be choked, but the Dratini just tucks its tail under its chin and lies there like a scarf, looking curiously up at him. "If you want to try raising a Pokémon, I think this one fits you perfectly."
-
"Oh, not you, too," Arthur mutters, rolling his eyes, when he sees the Dratini around Merlin's neck.
"Sorry," Merlin says, grinning sheepishly, before something occurs to him and his grin drops. "Has the king found out yet?"
"As it happens, he has."
"And?"
"Given that my father now has a giant dog that breathes fire," Arthur says, "I think you'll be allowed to keep your... whatever it is."
-
Over the next few days, Pokémon become an increasingly commonplace sight in Camelot. Merlin becomes more and more fond of the little Dratini sleeping around his neck. Morgana is never in the corridors without her Vulpix, sleek and well-groomed and a little haughty-looking, trotting along before her. Gaius is assisted in his medicine-brewing by something called a 'Chansey'.
Arthur eventually accepts that the Cubone isn't going to leave and names it 'Merlin'. Merlin is flattered at first, but he realises the real reason behind the name about the third time he comes running to Arthur's assistance and finds he's actually talking to his Pokémon.
Arthur stops complaining about it after it knocks out a group of bandits with a well-aimed bone throw.
-
"It has come to my attention," Uther announces a fortnight after the Pokémon started to appear, his Arcanine by his side, "that there is a new evil amongst us. I speak, of course, of the Psychic and Dragon types."
Merlin spends the rest of the day trying to find a way to magically conceal his Dratini inside a small ball.
As if he didn't have enough to hide already.
(This is an expansion of a commentfic I wrote some months ago, so some of you may have seen the opening before.)
I apologise sincerely for the title.
Title: Pokémon: DragonFire Red Version (or 'Gotta Camelotch Them All')
Fandoms: Merlin/Pokémon
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1,800ish
Summary: In which Pokémon appear in Camelot.
"Merlin," Arthur says. "What is this?"
'This' turns out to be a strange animal, sitting on Arthur's bed and looking around as if lost. It is gripping a bone tightly in both paws, and its head is almost completely covered, worryingly, by what looks like another animal's skull.
"Yes, Merlin, I can see that," Arthur says, rolling his eyes, when Merlin tells him what it is. "What's it called? I've never seen anything like it."
"If I knew what it was called," Merlin says, "don't you think I would've mentioned that?"
"You're useless," Arthur says. "Take its helmet off so we can see its face."
"Why can't you do it?" Merlin demands.
Arthur gives him a look.
Manservant. Right.
Merlin approaches the animal, carefully, and puts out a hand to touch the skull. The animal hits him over the fingers with its bone, which hurts, and then bursts into tears.
Merlin and Arthur stare at it.
"I think maybe we should just ask Gaius," Merlin says.
-
"What you have just described to me," Gaius says, giving Merlin and Arthur a very strange look, "is a Cubone."
"Great," Merlin says. "What do we do with it?"
"Well, I think we consider how in the world you could have seen one," Gaius says. "It is a creature of legend. Cubone do not exist."
"Right," Merlin says. "Well, it might not exist, but it's here. In the castle."
Gaius raises an eyebrow, and then there's a knock on the door and Morgana enters, carrying what looks like a fox cub in her arms.
"I'm sorry," she says, keeping her voice low. "I think it's been attacked. I don't know whether you can treat it, but..."
"Pix," the fox calls, weakly, and Merlin suddenly realises that he has never seen a fox with six tails before.
"What is that?" Arthur demands.
"It's hurt, whatever it is," she says, bringing it to Gaius.
He peers at it over the top of his glasses, and strokes its blood-matted fur, and then lifts it carefully out of her arms and sets it on the table. It paws weakly at the wood, then curls up and falls asleep.
"Is that another legendary creature?" Arthur asks. "I've certainly never seen one before."
"Of the same sort, yes," Gaius says.
"How can that be? They look completely different."
"But they are both from the same set of legends." Gaius looks intently at the fox. "This creature is called a Vulpix. Both Vulpix and Cubone are what are known as Pokémon. There are hundreds of different species."
"Cubone?" Morgana asks, at the moment Arthur repeats, "Hundreds?"
"Are we going to be finding hundreds of these in the castle, then?" Merlin asks.
"Let's hope not," Gaius says. He pauses, then adds, "Arthur, fetch the Cubone so we can have a look at it."
"Merlin," Arthur says, "go and get the Cubone from my chambers."
"Merlin," Gaius says, sternly, "is my apprentice. He may need to know how to treat Pokémon in the future. He is staying here."
Arthur stares. "I'm the Crown Prince. I'm not supposed to be running around fetching animals."
"Morgana, go with him," Gaius says. "You can bear the indignity between you."
Morgana, evidently too amused by Arthur's protests to object, nods.
"You just said it's legendary," Arthur says. "We don't know what it could do."
"According to the legends, Pokémon do not attack humans."
"It attacked Merlin!" Arthur points out. Whilst Merlin thinks that this is a fair point, he is not entirely happy about Arthur's using it to justify Merlin's going instead.
"Unless provoked," Gaius amends.
Arthur seems about to protest some more, but all of them are somewhat distracted when the sleeping fox gives a small sigh, and with the sigh comes a flame that sets Gaius' much-abused bench alight.
"Is it magical?" Arthur demands, staring at it. "I should tell my father."
"Mention none of this to the king until we know why they are here," Gaius says, beating the fire out with a cloth. "Cubone," he adds, after a moment, "cannot breathe fire."
Arthur is fairly easily persuaded after that.
"Now," Gaius says, when the door has closed, "we can find out more about our unexpected guests."
Merlin quickly realises why Gaius sent Morgana and Arthur out of his chambers; the device he brings out is a strange red object, which displays changing pictures and speaks in a voice unlike that of any human Merlin has ever heard. It is obviously magical.
"Cubone," the device says, when Gaius has fiddled with it a little. "The Lonely Pokémon. Its mother dies in childbirth, and so it wears her skull to remember her. Because of this, nobody has ever seen Cubone's real face."
There is a short silence, broken only by the snuffles of the fox.
"We should probably avoid mentioning the origin of the skull to Uther or Arthur," Gaius says, eventually.
-
The Pokémon don't actually seem to be doing much harm, accidentally setting things on fire aside, but Merlin's got a feeling there'll be trouble if Uther finds out about them, and so he pays a visit to the Great Dragon.
"Hello?" Merlin calls as he walks into the cave, and then he stops and stares.
"Hello, young warlock," the Great Dragon says.
"Char," his friend adds.
"Er," Merlin says, his eyes on the orange dragon's flaming tail. "I was going to say there are Pokémon in the castle, but, er, it looks like you already know. That - that is a Pokémon, isn't it?"
"Charizard," it says.
"Of course I know," the Dragon says. "I was the one to bring them here."
"You brought them here?"
"It is terribly lonely, being the last of one's kind," the Dragon says, extending his wings. "The dragon Pokémon are not true dragons, and Charizard is not even Dragon-typed, but there is still a kinship that runs deep between us."
"Right," Merlin says. "Can you put them back?"
"Why do you wish them gone?" the Dragon asks. "They will not harm you."
"The Cubone hit me."
"Then you must have upset it, in which case it has every right. A Cubone's life is not easy."
"Seriously, you can't send them back?" Merlin asks. "Because Uther's going to find out about them, and he's not going to be happy."
"Uther's unhappiness is no concern of mine." The Dragon considers Merlin. "Think of this as an opportunity. You could be a fine Pokémon trainer."
"A what?"
"Ask your friend, the physician," the Dragon says. "One day you will give me your thanks."
-
Arthur accosts Merlin the moment he steps into the courtyard the next morning.
"It won't leave me alone," he hisses. "I tried to leave it with Gaius, but when I went out of the room it wouldn't stop crying."
"Bone!" the Cubone says.
"It's like you," Arthur says, which Merlin thinks is a bit unfair. He's never actually clung to Arthur's leg before.
"Has the king seen it?"
"Not yet, but I can hardly conceal it if it's always wrapped around me like this. And then there's Morgana with her Vulpixy... thing."
"It won't let go of her either?"
"She won't let go of it. Gaius made up some sort of potion for it, and now it's trotting along at her heels. I keep telling her it could set the tapestries alight at any moment, but she won't listen. I think she's actually thinking of names."
"Good morning," Gwen calls, walking past.
"Eeee!" agrees the little brown rabbitlike creature on her shoulder.
Arthur kicks a boulder. It makes a disgruntled noise and hops away.
-
"Gaius," Merlin says. "What's a Pokémon trainer?"
"In the legends, a trainer befriends Pokémon and raises them," Gaius says, examining the Pokémon that turned up amongst Merlin's clothes this morning; it is blue and white and looks a bit like a snake, but Gaius has assured Merlin that it is friendly and non-poisonous. "The Pokémon protect him, and in return he provides them with care and affection."
"Do you think I should try it?"
Gaius raises an eyebrow. "Well, given your talent for getting yourself into trouble, you could certainly do with some protection." He turns back to the Pokémon. "This is a Dratini. A Dragon-type Pokémon. It is extremely rare."
It doesn't look like a dragon, Merlin thinks, which is just as well, because his experience of dragons has been very frustrating. "I thought all Pokémon were legendary."
Gaius smiles. "True, but some legendary creatures are even more surprising to encounter than others." He lifts the Dratini. "In perfect health, if a little undersized. Very rare indeed. Very powerful." He drapes it over Merlin's shoulders. Merlin sits very still, half-expecting to be choked, but the Dratini just tucks its tail under its chin and lies there like a scarf, looking curiously up at him. "If you want to try raising a Pokémon, I think this one fits you perfectly."
-
"Oh, not you, too," Arthur mutters, rolling his eyes, when he sees the Dratini around Merlin's neck.
"Sorry," Merlin says, grinning sheepishly, before something occurs to him and his grin drops. "Has the king found out yet?"
"As it happens, he has."
"And?"
"Given that my father now has a giant dog that breathes fire," Arthur says, "I think you'll be allowed to keep your... whatever it is."
-
Over the next few days, Pokémon become an increasingly commonplace sight in Camelot. Merlin becomes more and more fond of the little Dratini sleeping around his neck. Morgana is never in the corridors without her Vulpix, sleek and well-groomed and a little haughty-looking, trotting along before her. Gaius is assisted in his medicine-brewing by something called a 'Chansey'.
Arthur eventually accepts that the Cubone isn't going to leave and names it 'Merlin'. Merlin is flattered at first, but he realises the real reason behind the name about the third time he comes running to Arthur's assistance and finds he's actually talking to his Pokémon.
Arthur stops complaining about it after it knocks out a group of bandits with a well-aimed bone throw.
-
"It has come to my attention," Uther announces a fortnight after the Pokémon started to appear, his Arcanine by his side, "that there is a new evil amongst us. I speak, of course, of the Psychic and Dragon types."
Merlin spends the rest of the day trying to find a way to magically conceal his Dratini inside a small ball.
As if he didn't have enough to hide already.