“Nope,” Dustin said, pushing the buttons again. “C’mon, it’s not that hard,” he muttered. “Just...show up already.”
He was on that game system of his again, once more hunting that shiny thing that Rarity could never remember the name of. But it was apparently important to him, so he kept doing it day after day.
“Dustin!” Came Sweetie’s cry from somewhere within the boutique. “Where’d ya go?”
“Just here,” the fox called back, watching the game go through the motions again. He moved his character up to the spot and—
His breath caught. Was that?
The star flashed on screen.
“Oh fucking finally!” he cried out. “Where’s my charm? I need my charm, I need all the luck I can get!”
Sweetie came trotting into Dustin’s room. “Hey Dustin, Whatcha doin?”
“One moment,” he said, digging in his pack. His paw emerged with a curious little charm. It looked to be a teal, four-pointed star with green beads and a blue tassel. “There we go,” he sighed. “Okay. Good luck charm, check. Let’s catch the last shiny I need.”
“Oooooooooo! Shiny!” Sweetie squeaked as she jumped up on to his bed to try and get a good look at what Dustin was fighting. The game panned around to show the two ‘mon in a fight, and Dustin was taking deep breaths as he stared down the last ‘mon he wanted for his collection.
Shiny Thundurus. This would be a lot easier if he hadn’t brought a water-type to try and put it to sleep. “Okay,” he muttered, opening up the menu. “Turn one, quick ball. 10% chance, but it’ll only work on the first turn, and it might actually catch him, who knows?” With a tap of the stylus, the blue and yellow ball flew to the opposing ‘mon.
One shake...and then he was out.
“Oooo!” Sweetie winced. “Always kinda wish that you could catch it with one ball and no fight.”
“Well I could, but the Master Ball feels cheap,” the fox replied as he watched the fight progress. “Charge...not good. Okay,” he tapped a few buttons. “Yawn to put him to sleep and...Nasty Plot. Also not good. Now we boost my catch rate and...Crunch. Okay, super effective, but it’s not using his boosted Special Attack, so I’ll tank the hit. And boom, now he’s asleep. Time to throw balls at him.”
Sweetie blinked. A smirk creased the filly’s lips. “Don’t let Rarity hear that you like to hit things with your balls.”
“Oh har har,” Dustin said dryly. “Okay, two to five turns of him being asleep, let’s throw all the Ultra balls. And one...nope. Two...nope. Three...and he wakes up afterwards, of course. Charge, eessh. Not happy about that. Put him back to sleep, heal up after those Crunches, and rinse and repeat.”
“That’s aaaaaaa….” Sweetie’s brow furrowed. “What’s that one again?”
“Shiny Thundurus, the last one I needed,” Dustin explained. “Flying/Electric, which is why I’m so concerned about him raising his special attack. He probably has an electric move based on it, and I’m using a water type to put him to sleep. Nope, he woke up again. Time to do it all over again, but now...if I’m not mistaken, we’re past turn ten. Timer balls, the ones that get more potent the longer the battle goes on. Time to use them now.”
“The last Pokemon you need or the last Shiny you need?” Sweetie asked tilting her head to the side curiously.
“I’ve already got all the Pokemon I need,” Dustin expanded. “I’m just trying to get a collection of Shiny, Legendary pokemon. Because I messed up the first time and just caught them all. I didn’t know the ones beyond the postgame could show up Shiny. I just thought it was a chance to catch Legendaries from previous-”
Wiggle
Wiggle
Wiggle
Ka-chink.
“Woo!” Sweetie cried throwing her hooves in the air.
“I...I did it,” Dustin breathed. “I caught the last shiny legendary I needed! Yes!” He breathed deeply a few times. “Okay...send to a box, I’ll check it’s stats later. But first!” He pushed a few buttons. “Save. Save right now. Save right fucking now!” Once that was done, he sighed and smiled. “It’s done, the hunt is over!”
“Once the hunt is over… what’s next?” Sweetie asked.
“Well, typically I take them to the photo club and take a picture with them,” the fox explained. “It’s a nice way to show off your shiny team. But I think…” He looked at the charm dangling from his left paw. “I think I know what to do with my good luck charm.”
“What are you going to do with it?” Sweetie asked. “Present?”
“Yup, give it to someone that’ll appreciate it,” Dustin agreed as he closed the game with that soft clicking noise. “I don’t need it anymore, after all.”
That was how Dustin found himself outside of Vinyl and Octavia’s home, knocking on the door.
“I got it!” Came a familiar gruff voice. There was a thud on the other side of the door. “Mother- nnnngggghhhhh…..” Came the grumble. The door opened, revealing a hunched over Geralt rubbing his head. “Fuckin’ low ceilings hiding in the fucking entryway…” He looked up at Dustin. “Oh, hey buddy. ‘Sup?”
“Not much, though you’re not who I was hoping to see,” the fox quipped. “Is Ivy around? I have a present for her.”
Geralt blinked. A look of understanding briefly crossed his face. Then his eyes widened and he grinned. “Ivy!” He called behind him.
“Yeah,” came a quiet call from within the house.
“Your furry boyfriend’s here and he has a present for you.” Geralt shot Dustin a knowing grin, then winked and stepped back and out a side door.
“Geeeraallt! He’s not my…. Boy….. friend…..” The complaint died as Ivy got to the door and saw Dustin. “Ummm… Hi.”
“Hey, so, I finished my shiny hunt today,” Dustin opened with. “And I figured you’d appreciate my ‘good luck charm,’ now that I don’t need it anymore.” He crouched down and opened up his paw, revealing the real-life Shiny Charm for her to take.
Ivy looked at the charm and gasped. Her face went bright red.
“Is she blushing?” Came a gruff hushed whisper from within the house.
“Yes.” Came another more short clipped one. “Now shhhh!”
“How though, she’s a plant, plants don’t have blood. So what’s making her pink?” Came a thoughtful third.
There was a moment of silence.
“What? I actually remember my biology class from High School, okay?”
“Vinyl, you continue to amaze me.” The gruff whisper chuckled.
Ivy appeared not to hear the conversation going on behind her, as her attention was on the charm. “U-ummm, r-really?” She looked up at Dustin. “Y-you wanna give it to m-me?”
“Well, I don’t need it anymore, I finished my hunt,” Dustin pointed out, going to hang it off of one of her arms. “And you’re the only other Pokemon fan I know. I figured I’d give it to someone who appreciates how hard they are to get in-game.”
As if on some sort of instinct, a small thorn popped out of her left arm where her shoulder would be and Dustin hung it on there. On contact, Ivy froze stiff as a board, staring at where his paw just was.
“I think he broke her.”
“Is she turning pink now?”
“Seriously, how and why?! This breaks all laws of biology I know!?”
“Well...I’ll leave you to take care of it, okay?” Dustin patted her on the head. “I’m off to do a bit of maintenance on the games before I call it quits with them.”
With that, the fox left the pink plantmon in the doorway as he turned to leave.
“W-wait!” Ivy called out. Dustin paused, turning to look at her with a quirked brow.
She walked up to him, fiddling with her fingers. “Th-thank y-you.” She shifted from foot to foot. “U-ummm, could you n-kneel down please?”
Curious, the fox did so, wondering what she was up to.
Quickly Ivy leaned forward and pecked Dustin n the cheek. “Th-thanks!” She squeaked and took a step back. “I-I mean th-thank you Dusin… f-for the charm.” She half-tripped over herself as she fled back to the house. The door slammed behind her and Dustin swore he heard singing from within.
“AND CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TOOOONIIIIIIIIIGHT!???!!!”
...He resolved not to question it. Some people were reading way too much into this. He just wanted to give her the charm. He got up and left, though he did catch himself humming the tune as he did.
“I don’t get it.” Vinyl grumbled and she sat on the couch in the living room.
“What’s there to get? He just gave her a present from one fan to another.” Octavia said simply. Sitting next to her.
“I still think it’s cute.” Geralt shrugged as he lounged in a Lay-Z-Stallion, absentmindedly poking away at his keytar.
“No! Not that!” Vinyl snorted shooting a glare at the pair. “How’s she still pink?! It’s been like ten minutes?”
“Just get over the fact that she’s pink?” Octavia asked with a shrug.
“U-ummm, I’m a Shiny Alolan Palmon?” Ivy supplied from her spot in the corner, hidden under a giant blue blanket.
“I don’t think it works that way.” Geralt chuckled. Then his brow furrowed. “At least I hope not… What do we do if she stays pink?”
“I-I don’t mind b-being pink.” Said the blanket.
“You shouldn’t be pink in the first place!” Vinyl snapped.
“Vinyl, let it go!” Octavia facehooved.