//------------------------------// // 240. Communicating. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle- “Please, stop ruining my week Jaded… now what was the thing you received from that god Arceus?” I turned from the nuisance of an Abyssinian I was hiring to help out with a variety of things, to the longma Tianhuo who was training my guards and is on loan until either ‘the lost’ return or the Tambelon mission happens. Apparently Tianhuo had something important to show me and I wanted to get away from the Canterlot nobles for a bit. “Jiutian is not telling me why I need to hold onto this and I don’t know who Arceus is, but I was wondering if you can identify what this object could possibly…” The moment Tianhuo showed it to me, I knew what it was. Why would a ‘god’ be sending it to her though? “I know what that is! It’s a cell phone…” It was kind of hard to look directly at with how much power was in it. I was going to have to ask Sunset about this, but apparently a god sent it and the longma goddess Jiutian confirmed its intent to not be of negative connotations at the very least. It wouldn’t be in Tianhuo’s hooves otherwise. “Did you receive any information on how to use it?” “Just that we needed to wait half a day before using it and that has almost happened.” Well that would explain the power it was giving off Tianhuo, it was like the mirror portal and needed energy to work. “What is a cell phone?” “Well… it’s a device that can connect two people across vast distances.” With the kind of power this cell phone was giving off? Across dimensions likely, but who is this Arceus and why would he want to talk to Tianhuo or maybe… maybe it wasn’t Arceus we would be talking to. “It’s important that you don’t lose it, also make sure it isn’t stolen or taken by anyone, keep it on you at all times!” “We will make sure to keep this device within our grasps, but what of activating it?” Fœnum Tianhuo was hard to tell apart from our world’s Tianhuo, the only difference between them seems to be that one is a vegetarian by choice. “It’s almost done charging apparently and we’ll be able to activate it soon to see if I’m right.” If I had to guess, I’d say ‘The Lost’ are currently still alive and found a way to get communications back to us. “I think we might be able to talk to Pom with this if I’m right… but the question is, what did it cost them to get this to us if it is them that sent it?” “Truly?” Equus Tianhuo’s eyes lit up with an active blaze of passion, a pink mass poked itself out of Tianhuo’s shadow making curious whining noises. “It is okay Blighter, just something that may be good news.” All the Canis Minor next to the table stopped eating in unison and were suddenly alert and looking at the device like hawks. All four of them sniffed the air and from what I could guess, they were committing the smell to memory. Somebody would have to be a complete idiot to try and steal the device with Canis Minor actively defending it. -Aurora Kingdom Castle, first floor guest room, late evening, Pom- We were off in a corner of the room by ourselves. Dolly just finished drinking some water and lays down next to me. She suddenly seemed to have realized something when she sat up and turned to look at me in a panic. She just ate and it was probably on her mind, so I could guess what she was about to ask. “Uh… Pom… where are we going to get more kibble?!” It was about time Dolly thought of that, this world doesn’t seem to be a highly technological civilization. In fact the technology level of this world seemed fairly low tech, to the point there wasn’t likely anything within miles of us that could be considered high tech. Yet this world could still be invaded by Digimon? Call me curious where that was going to happen, because this world looked to be below Equus as far as technology level was taken into consideration. “Dolly, it’s okay, I’ll take care of you.” I would too, she was definitely my responsibility now with the blessing of her parents and I wouldn’t leave family in the lurch. “As long as you are with me, you know you don’t have to worry about food or water. I will see to your needs and it’s not that big an issue Dolly, I’ll be doing a lot of unique nutritional cooking for you. If you want to remain independently sufficient of me in an emergency, we’ll work on foraging and survival training together.” “You obviously haven’t seen me after I’ve gone a week without kibble.” Dolly rolled her eyes and put her left paw over her face. “I don’t want to have to rely on you for everything, I’m not going to be some burden you have to treat like royalty. I already got enough of that from my neighbor Clarissa Corgi rubbing her pet Hugo into my family’s faces. She was a prissy stuck up snob that has a silver spoon shoved so far into her mouth that it was practically coming out her backside! I want to at least be capable of taking care of myself somewhat… so yeah, foraging and survival training, sounds fun.” “At least you’ll live…” I sighed sadly, making Dolly sit up with worry while looking at me. She knew exactly what I meant. “Come on, lay back down... we have some things to talk about.” “I know…” Here Dolly looked a little uneasy as she laid down on her back and idly rubbed at her right shoulder while not looking in my direction. I carefully rolled and repositioned myself, slowly slid my left hoof up under Dolly’s torso. My right went over and slowly pulled her into a gentle hug, she titled her head to put her nose against my chin and I felt her flick her tongue out at my face. It made me giggle a bit. “It still hurts doesn’t it… the worst we can do is forget. Never forget, I know what it feels like to die too.” Something even I knew what felt like, even if I wasn’t conscious for that particular moment, I had nearly died a dozen times before then. The realization of having a broken familiar bond that didn’t look like it could be rebuilt still hit me like a ton of bricks. “I can forgive many a thing, but I will never forget the pain Dolly. Pain can teach us a lot of things in life, this is not new to you considering how you lost a mother at a young age.” “Is it true… that your heart didn’t actually stop when it happened?” Dolly was asking about the strange phenomena that had happened while my body was vacant of my active mind back in Basemax. That was while she and my friends were up in space defeating decidedly tyrannical lizards. “No… my heart didn’t stop. If anything… it actually sped up to a point that it looked like it stopped on the heart monitor and my body probably was in a state where it was going to die as it absorbed the shocks. It’d still be akin to me having a heart attack.” Which was terrifying, since I was now too afraid to actually use my Dancing Flame technique. My heartbeat wasn’t going out of control and my body might have finished adapting to do it, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep it under control if I started using it again. A part of me had to have been conscious for that given the way my head tilted in the recording. I wasn’t about to give up my recently returned good health so soon for anything if I could help it. Arceus healed me to where I would have been had I been given all the time in the world to recover fully from my mostly self-inflicted injuries. I felt great, but for how long would that last? This world seemed quiet, but after seeing what Geoff and his unit was capable of, the horseshoe was going to drop soon and we would have to be ready for it. I mentally looked at the frayed edges of many bonds, most of them torn, but capable of being rebuilt. One familiar bond thread… was just sitting there completely destroyed. Dormarch gave us whatever he had. We don’t know what that meant as Digimon apparently thrived on the bonds they had to their partners, Dormarch could literally take my feelings and wishes to turn them into personal strength according to the Digivice. I wished I was around to give him that needed strength to survive. Feeling a tug, I felt Dolly looking at what I was mentally, the many bonds that were tentatively waiting for reconnection. “All of them are my family now too huh…” Dolly did mentally pull away when I started to rub her belly, she sighed happily and relaxed in my grip. “You’re too fluffy and soft for your own good you know.” “Well aware, but people like me being fluffy and soft. I also think you enjoy being coddled a little.” Not that I would do this too much though, especially if Dolly wanted to keep an independent streak going. Still, Dolly knew she had to depend on me at the very least for necessities and I do enjoy taking care of others. “Just don’t expect me to not try and return the love a little when you do this Pom.” Dolly stated lazily as she rolled and gripped me with her legs in a full body hug and nosed my fluff in a needy fashion. “So, familiars of your world have a unique quirk that mine doesn’t…” All the familiars I’ve ever had stuck to the two way street. I can give energy to my familiars, I can take their pain unto myself and there is the small things that we give each other upon initial bonding. “The ability to share our strengths… and weaknesses.” Dolly intoned while looking at me, her ears flopping onto my chest as I rolled onto my back. It was more than that, she once helped get control of the uncontrolled Dancing Flame state with what amounts to a mental twitch. “You’re ignoring the part where we can quite literally control or command one another depending on the circumstances.” I said out loud, it was quite upsetting to know that I had that kind of power over Dolly. It was the one odd thing about familiars of Dolly’s world, the aspect at least was within reason. It’s not like Dolly could immediately steal control of all my organs or something for asking her to pick up something for me. “Not… ignoring it entirely… as being a thing that is. It’s just that I don’t see a reason to worry about it too much. We know each other way too well to really abuse it… except trying to save each other in dire circumstances and trying to make the other run.” It explained why Dolly and I can give our unique abilities to one another with varying levels of success. “Besides, we can’t do it maliciously… Right?” Dolly can bark blast, magic wolf claw, bark breaker and possibly even do Dancing Flame if I were to give her access to my capabilities. In turn she can give me flow-motion, the ‘Aero’ spell and momentum control, not sure I’d actually want to use ‘haste’ though. “There’s still a lot of bad things that we can do without malicious intent Dolly.” I carefully rolled Dolly so that her forehead met mine and I gave her all my anxiety, worries and even the many scenarios where such a thing could go horribly, horribly wrong. “There’s still ways we can hurt one another through it and I’ll give you a quick rundown mentally. Close your eyes and let me in to give you the footnotes.” “Oh… whoa… yeah okay, that’s why you’re kind of the brains here.” Dolly you were many things, but stupid was not one of them. Being stupid is something I was only going to allow as long as it was harmless to everyone we cared about. “Can that… can that really happen to you… to us?” I raised brow at Dolly as we kept our foreheads pressed together. “…” Dolly licked my cheek in reassurance and then rested her face against mine her cute floppy ears tickling my nose, we silently communicated with one another as I held her close. “You know, you could slow down on the whole active imagination thing. Your mind is acting like it’s running a mile a minute.” “I intend to avoid directly going to war, when one inevitably starts, to the best of my abilities.” I didn’t think we could avoid seeing the start of one on this continent. I was already recognizing the signs of a veritable powder keg, a possible spark that sets things off might be as innocuous as someone coughing lightly in the wrong direction. -Shanty- I sat in a different corner of the room looking over my scythe cane, I also be taking glances at Pom and Dolly. I looked towards the metal egg that is being Dodo, not much be going on with him and I not be knowing how to speed along his progress. I just be taking up the egg and holding it close. “Those two be sweeter than the sweetest dessert I can ever possibly be eating.” It be a bit sad of me to say that I was mildly jealous of the warmth the two were sharing. They had a lot of comforting between them, but it is being very understandable why they be needing it. Dolly first be leaving her home behind, then she be leaving her world and family behind without the ability to contact them and she recently be losing family in Dormarch. Though it seems like Dolly may not look it, she be absolutely needing Pom to comfort her. “Yeah, but I’m sure you understand what home means to Dolly and what it’s like for her to travel beyond to continue helping us. Her home is with Pom now...” Ocellus put a hoof around me and I leaned in to the comforting touch. “What do you think Pom was trying to teach you when she signaled for you to ask about the western kingdom?” “That I be needing to pay attention to the things others might miss, both being the big and small pictures.” Pirates were entrenched in politics whether between themselves or others, Pom is still being a great teacher. “Yeah, Pom must have some reason for not wanting to directly go after the Riolu or Lucario guys or deal with the northeastern kingdom of Ignis letting those raiders through unopposed. That would solve an overall major problem.” Smolder be only seeing the small picture, I think Pom be seeing the bigger one at play here and I not be knowing what information she had. “Pom could also have let us head down south to find and check on that Captain Skeeball person.” Ocellus stated a second after also in thought. “In fact, it seems like she’s expecting fighting to be already happening in both places. I can understand why we’re not going diplomatically at least, but south is an allied kingdom to Aurora from what we’ve been told.” Yes, but what about things we don’t be knowing or haven’t been told? “So then we must be asking, what is being so special about the kingdom to the west that has Pom’s attention? Aside from the fact that it be neither helping nor hindering this kingdom? In fact, didn’t King Evan state he be having friends in that direction? If he has friends there, then why are they not helping Aurora with these problems?” That is being a most suspect thing in and of itself and Pom has notably been great at determining things from a number of unusual details before. “I think Pom might be avoiding a fight too, though she may be seeing something bigger that we haven’t. Also we can’t just be leaving everything to Pom.” “Pom wants more information from a safer place at the most, the western kingdom doesn’t seem to be doing anything aside from the export and sales of medicines.” Ocellus be looking at Smolder and me with a thoughtful frown. “It seems like the safest bet for finding information quietly and we can see things from the neighboring kingdoms perspectives. Also, you’re right Shanty, we do need to take some of that pressure to keep us safe and perform off of Pom.” “WAHH!” We all jumped and watched as Jiri slammed through paper and wood door frame to slap face first into the floor. “I’m… okay…” “Say Jiri, where do you come from?” Ocellus be doing something that had a lightbulb going off in my head. “I come from Aurora Kingdom’s southeastern underground warrens, the Wooloo flock lives to the west of my home among the Tauros, Miltank and Boufallant. They are usually south of the castle here.” As Jiri spoke, Pom and Dolly came over to us. Pom seemed interested in Jiri. “If you ask me, I think the normal type Pokémon are too set into the farming lives and we need more heroes, like a rescue team!” We be listening to Jiri talk about rescue teams and their vague importance elsewhere on this world. “What would you see as your worst quality?” We be eyeing Pom for that question. “Ulp… well… I don’t want to say this… but in the efforts of friendship I’m… rather clumsy. An accident is how I got stuck with the ‘Dragoon’ title when I knocked out a Dragapult that was causing trouble. No actual heroics were done by me if anyone tries to talk me up.” One would be wondering about the story of how you got the title more after that Jiri. “I wouldn’t mind becoming a hero, I guess I’ll even get my chance tomorrow to show that I’m of good character. Even if all they are asking me to do is pick up and move supplies. It’ll at least be for the good of the kingdom right? The kingdom needs more active Pokémon at the very least.” “What are fighting type Pokémon usually like?” Pom was getting a lot of information for very little in the way of questions. “Well, they can be of any personality like the rest of us, but in general fighting is the life blood of most fighting type Pokémon. Challenge them in any given way and you’ll have no end to those wanting to test their mettle in a spar. Whether the spar is a battle of wits or of pure muscle, it matters little to a fighting type.” They be sounding like my kind of people to meet in a bar Jiri, mostly to do the ‘La Perm’ technique of throwing a stool one foot. “They tend to be too honorable or downright aggressive, in any case expect them to always have a decent or even great control of their bodies with primarily melee focused moves.” “Moves, I’ve heard the term before, but can you explain it as if we were complete idiots and didn’t know anything of this world?” Ocellus decided to beat Pom to the punch this time. “Moves are a variety of things that Pokémon can do. Usually in the vein of offense, defense and utility that can alter a battlefield, effect the user positively or an opponent negatively.” We were all being willing listeners Jiri. “What moves do you have?” Smolder brought up. “A normal type, a fighting type, a fairy type and… well the flying type is my worst move and how the Dragapult incident happened, but it would be so helpful against fighting type Pokémon if I could aim it correctly.” We stared at Jiri uncomprehendingly long enough for her to realize why we be doing so. “Oh… right! My normal type move is Quick Attack, it makes a Pokémon gain an incredibly short lived burst of speed to get in close and hit an opponent. My fighting type move is Drain Punch, when used my paws will glow brightly and if I land a hit with them, it will injure my opponent and heal myself compared to the injury I deal. My fairy type move is called Play Rough, I quickly and volatilely do as the attack suggests by becoming childishly rough and tumble for a bit. As for my last move… it’s called Bounce and it allows me to jump ridiculously high and then hit an opponent with the full weight of my body striking down on them before I ‘bounce’ off.” “…” Pom glanced at us and we didn’t get much of that either. “Well that sounded interesting and all, I take it the elements are important?” “Yeah, every move has an element associated with it which determines how hard our attacks will hit based on the type of Pokémon they are hitting. Some Pokémon can become outright immune to certain types of attacks, like normal types are known for being immune to ghost type attacks, but ghost types are also immune to normal type attacks.” We would be spending the next minute or so learning about the intricacies of same type attack bonuses and what the elements would do to other Pokémon. Fighting types like Riolu were weak to flying, fairy and psychic type attacks, but the evolved form of Lucario had metal type added on to their fighting type. This made Lucario ironically weak to fighting type attacks, along with ground and fire type attacks. “As you can already guess, it’s a bit complicated to keep straight. Just be wary of what a Pokémon can do if you pick a fight. I’ll just… take that corner over there, I can’t wait to go on that mission tomorrow morning!” As Jiri went to set up for bed, we all heard the sound of something beeping loudly. Pom quickly made her way over the bag and quickly pulled out the device Arceus gave her and saw a hoof print on the screen. Looking at the rest of us, Pom be quietly pressing that hoof print with anticipation with us all looking over her shoulder. -Pom- The device glowed brightly and before I knew it I was looking at image of Tianhuo floating above the device. We both flinched and then blinked at one another. “Tian… Tian?!” My heart wanted this to be real. “Pom?! I assume those are Smolder, Ocellus and… Shanty?” Tianhuo’s attention was brought to Dolly when she barked a greeting with a wagging tail. Tianhuo sighed and shook her head with a bright knowing smile. “I am glad to know you are safe and that you are looking healthy.” That’s when four puppies popped in the air and they were barking a variety of things at me. “Baa-baa! Is Baa-Baa okay!?” My god puppies, they definitely haven’t forgotten me and they were safe with Tianhuo. Being able to hear and see them, with them being able to do so in turn was making me feel so very happy. “Those are your god puppies? They’re adorable!” Dolly seemed happy to make their acquaintance. “Hey I’m Dolly, I’m looking out for your Baa-Baa!” “Need you Baa-Baa!” My poor god puppies. One looked at Dolly. “Is 'pretty' family?” “Pretty?” Dolly, despite not taking much pride in her appearance, still blushed. “How long do we have?” Tianhuo brought my attention back to her. The answer was ten minutes, nowhere near enough.