Chapter Text
Before the invention of cameras, ultra beasts were once thought of as simply a myth. Tall tales of grandeur told by wandering Pokémon trainers, horror stories made up to scare people, or even mass illusions. Sure, there was the occasional painting or poem dedicated to one throughout human history here and there. However, there have never been any recorded events of trainer being able to CATCH one. Or, for the matter, even properly observed and studied. No, most of the time the witness would draw their best from memory after a very brief encounter. The most commonly encountered ultra beast was Nihelego, which is the ultra beast we’ll be focusing on.
In some terribly unlucky situations, a human would follow an ultra beast into a wormhole, never to be seen again. And in the case of the rare few who did manage to find their way back again, were described as behaving as though they were possessed by demons or lost their soul. On the RARE occasion, the ultra beast Nihelego would arrive in a loving and affectionate mood. Often occurring after a meteor shower. Sometimes their movements were described as being rather drunk. The few humans regardless of gender, who’d encountered Nihelego in this state claimed that it would quickly affectionately wrap their arms all around their body, and prick them. Not hard, but just enough to be felt. The victim, or lucky individual, would feel their hearts beat faster, feel flushed, loose control of themselves and….well, I’m sure you’d guess what happened!
Yes, I’m sure you can imagine with such varied fabulous fables of the ultra beasts, and no singular depiction on what they looked like, it was hard for the Pokémon scientific community to accept ultra beasts as real. That is, until one was finally recorded on camera. And sure enough, that ultra beast was a Nihelego. It was the year 1935. A small camera crew was outside of a film studio after a long they of work. They just shot an outdoor scene for a film on a particularly hot summer day. Which, by the way, was also after a meteor shower. The man just about struck his cigarette when he heard it. It was just as his grandmother described the sound. The bell-like sound cries of the Nihelego. He grew up hearing stories of caution from his grandma, after she lost her older sister to one. She had mated with Nihelego on a day much like that one. After Nihelego left, it was all her sister could think of. Day and night her mind and body ached and craved to be with Nihelego. Each day, more and more until she snapped and disappeared forever. Though his grandma said this as a way to protect him, this only made him fascinated and wish to capture one.
Anyways, he heard the cries, and quickly switched the film reel in the camera. The man said he’d be back as he frantically ran over to the nearby hill the cries were heard from. 3 or 4 of the other members of the crew out of morbid curiosity. There, on a clearing behind some trees was Nihelego! Not just one, but three! At first, it wasn’t clear what the Nihelego was doing. It just looked like they were dancing with each other. But after a while, a heavily scented translucent ooze started to ooze where their tentacles were interlocked. Because of the ooze, it was easier to see that the Nihelego had two orifices (egg pouches) just above where their longest tentacles start. Orifices that were each occupied by each other’s tentacles. The air was filled with the sticky sweet scent and their high pitched squealing. After about an hour, the Nihelego removed their tentacles from their orifices, and started to ejaculate the ooze into a mouth like opening on the top of their heads. No one was sure how long it was until the Nihelego finished their mating and left for Ultra Space, but all of the film reel was used up.
At first, no one outside of the studio believed the film. It was ridiculed and deemed an elaborate hoax. They were sure it was just puppets. Plus, with the film’s quality and being black and white, it was a bit to see exactly what was going on. However, as time went by (and as technology advanced), more ultra beast sightings were filmed. The science community saw the error of their initial judgement and recognized the importance of the film. One scientist was even able to find and retrieve the dismembered tentacle if a Nihelego. After much data sight tracking she was able to predict when and where that Nihelego was going to appear. Her destination: Iron Island, Sinnoh. Unfortunately, some unforeseen event delayed her to her destination. For when she found the lone ultra beast, a hostile Steelix had its sight on the Nihelego. In one mighty strike, the Pokémon had managed to dismember one of Nihelego’s tentacles. Though the ultra beast’s body was able to grow it back within seconds, it loudly shrieked and shook in pain the whole time. Not only did the scientist nearly lose her hearing to the shrieks, but a wormhole had managed to open up right beside the beast. Almost as though it were a parent that heard the cries of it’s kid. Anyhow, from the dismembered tentacle, the scientist had discovered that the translucent ooze the tentacles would leak was composed of strong pheromones. Further analysis and tests revealed that the ooze’s aphrodisiastic properties would only work if the subject had direct skin contact with the barbs. Otherwise, it would have no affect. The Nihelego arrived during Sinnoh’s winter season, therefore the tentacles’s barbs were retracted. This confirmed the theory Nihelego entered their ‘mating season’ whenever the temperature in their wormhole residency heated up from a comets solar winds or flares, etc.
An interesting feature the scientist noted was that the heavy scent of the aphrodisiac smelled differently from subject to subject. For example, one subject said that it reminded him of his mother’s homemade pumpkin pie. Another said it reminded him of freshly cut spring flowers after a morning dew, strewn across a babbling brook with a hint of lemon. These were the subjects’ favorite scents. In her lab, she discovered that the aphrodisiac was structured in a way to become highly addictive within an afflicted body. Denial of the ooze to their body caused strong withdrawal symptoms and cravings. And possibly even cause insanity.