//------------------------------// // 242. Arbora Town. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Greenleaf Kingdom, Southwest of Greenleaf/Aurora Bridge, Pom- The arrow was the only thing that really sold it to Geoff as being a Decidueye that had attacked me with an intended lethal shot. Even lacking Dancing Flame, I had thankfully saw the shot incoming and evaded. An arrow doing that kind of damage was kind of haunting. Decidueye apparently came in two flavors. I had first thought it to be a flying type, because it’s a giant owl. While it was capable of flight, it being a flying type wasn’t the case apparently. They were either a grass and fighting or a grass and ghost depending on appearance. They lose their flying type in their final evolution. The one I saw was a grass and ghost type Pokémon. The fighting type version of a Decidueye would naturally be bad for our normal type friends, the ghost version of that Pokémon was worse because it was outright immune to normal and fighting type attacks. Normal types wouldn’t be on the winning end of a battle if all they had were normal or fighting type attacks, they were quite certain of that given the Decidueye’s grass attacks could get quite powerful. Speaking of types, I’ve come to determine that typing has some basis in some form of logical sense. I hoped Arceus didn’t fudge with physics too hard when he created this world… that had a continent shaped like him on it. I don’t think I was ever going to let go of the continent thing. “Uh quick question Mr. Geoff, why are we heading southwest? Isn’t the castle in the northwest?” Jiri ask while tugging and her fluff nervously with her paws as her ears flexed. “We’re not going to the Greenleaf Castle. We’re heading to Arbora, the town to the southwest of the bridge to buy the required medicinal supplies.” Geoff answered with a calm demeanor despite the fact we were all alert for that Decidueye. He only gained that knowledge from my description as all he and the others saw nothing but a shadow as having attacked me, yet I was able to describe it clear as day and it was in broad daylight that I saw it. Yet everyone aside from me said it was a shadow that hopped away? “Good thing too, I don’t like the idea of tussling with a Decidueye no matter how attractively mysterious and dark they can be. Wouldn’t want to go through a foggy forest or the hedge mazes with the ghost version of a Decidueye coming after us. It’s a good thing we can skirt the forest and head south through the wide open grasslands until we reach Arbora. It won’t attack us in broad daylight and wide open spaces where it can’t hide, even if it has the advantage on us. I hope it doesn’t have a unit and is acting solo... maybe we can even reason with it?” That’s quite doubtful Geoff, it seemed fairly surprised that I could even see its face or eyes. “Arbora?” Jiri seemed curious about it and we weren’t hiding our curiosities so well either. “Never been outside of Aurora territory before I take it Jiri? Aurora doesn’t have big towns, barely even a few buildings to call a town or give a place a name. I’ve been to all the surrounding kingdoms and they tend to have at least one or two towns aside from their castles being a center point or gathering place for Pokémon of a given kingdoms territory.” Despite the slightly busted up chin Geoff was still as talkative and friendly as ever… now if he would stop making overt passes at me. “I hope you find this all informative Pom, because a lovely lady such as yourself needs to experience all the good things in our world and not just the bad, like someone trying to kill you. I’ve been about as far as Chrysalia, Violight and Pugilis, but I’ve never been as far as Terrera or Illusio. While I’m well-traveled, the eastern parts of the continent were a bit too dangerous for a lone cleric such as me.” The minute Geoff said Chrysalia, I saw Ocellus’s eyes twitch a bit. Sounded too much like Chrysalis to her I take it, she’s complained a lot about the changeling queen. From what Smolder has told me, Ocellus was once forced to look like Chrysalis for about an hour. That was obviously psychologically scarring for her and Smolder was the one that helped her through it. Changelings certainly had deep rooted issues with Chrysalis though. “No I haven’t been outside of Aurora, but I’ve been all over Aurora. This is… new to me.” Jiri still had me wondering what a Dragapult was or why she avoided describing the accident that ended up with her defeating it and getting the title Dragoon. Whatever Dragoon meant in the context of this world, Jiri didn’t look like a cavalier… and help me if cavalier dogs existed in this world as I don’t think I could actively take the pun right now. “Arbora shouldn’t be too far now, I think we can currently see the verges of it. Maybe we can offload the two Riolu units that attacked us on them for detainment?” Geoff was right, we did kind of do a number on the Riolu and I didn’t want them coming after us again… or more specifically me. Still, I couldn’t just leave a bunch of puppies lying on the ground injured after we beat the snot out of them for attacking us. Looking ahead we saw a town that looked like it was built out of gardens, considering there were plant like beings running around everywhere. Even on the edges of it we could see what looked like two legged mushrooms running around a playing with walking acorns. There were bizarre pink creatures with twirling leaves hovering around in the air with similar green creatures that looked slightly large and had rotating flowers. There was even a Pokémon that looked like a popcorn kernel. It seems like there was a festival going on. “This be looking like fun.” Even as Shanty said that she was eying the forest north of the town full of colorful looking Pokémon we were approaching. We heard some music as we entered through the archway of living plants signifying ‘Arbora’ spelled out in vines. Beyond the archway we saw a group of Pokémon that looked similar dancing in the square and spreading sweet scents everywhere. There was a green monkey playing a drum. A strange Pokémon reminiscent of the acorns with a leaf sticking out of its head, but with arms. It was playing a flute. Last one was a Pokémon that looked like it had roses for hands and its head was bristling brightly with petals that was playing a violin. “We’ve probably caught the town on a good day, so we should be getting a good deal on the medicine at least.” Geoff stated as he pulled us completely through the entrance. “Halt!” Two bipedal mushroom capped Pokémon wielding spears approached us. “Are you bringing or are you buying?” “Buying, also we brought a bunch of injured Riolu into town. could you see to them? They attacked us at the bridge." Geoff motioned One of the two green umbrella capped Pokémon came forward and looked into the cart to see the unconscious Riolu. "They are Breloom guards, they are just doing their job.” “Well I’m liable to believe they attacked you.” The Breloom stated as he looked at all the unconscious Riolu in the cart. “No way would normal types want to take on this many fighting type pokemon at once, also one of you is a Wooloo and you guys are anything if dependable in one aspect.” The speaking Breloom simple cross his limbs and tapped his spear against his shoulder waiting while staring expectantly at Geoff. Almost as if he was waiting for Geoff to… “Well I should think I’m dependable. Like how your claws depend on being well manicured, they are so delightfully sharp looking.” Geoff said in a lofty tone. “… can we go on a date?” “Five sentences before asking. A new record for a Wooloo, the last one asked in seven.” The second Breloom stated. “Should I have asked in four?” Geoff stated pleasantly. I gave the Breloom a worried looked, I opened my mouth. “Before you ask, yes Wooloo have that exact reputation everywhere. You can’t meet a Wooloo that isn’t complementary, otherwise it’s a Ditto. You’re not a Ditto or a Wooloo, so I’m betting you’re an outside context thing that the gods might be currently playing with. Please enjoy your stay and avoid situations leading to imminent disasters your groups have the tendency to heroically stop.” The first Breloom nodded so sure of himself, I was curious what this world was like that he was able to call out the gods or even know of outsiders. “Also thank you for noticing and no, I already have a ‘mon’ that I’m happily engaged with.” “Telling him that won’t actually stop him.” I said earnestly. “It won’t.” The Breloom agreed while shaking his head sadly. “Do you want another?” Geoff offered cheekily with wagging eyebrows. “Please sir, we’ll deal with these Rapscallion Riolu if you just stop before you hit the point where you’re as annoyingly charming as any other Wooloo… Brisk go get a Chansey and tell her specifically that we’re dealing with ‘injured trouble makers’. They probably lightly damaged the bridge to Aurora knowing things like I do. I swear with the way things are going I expect it to be destroyed soon, especially if they are intent on stopping you guys doing a medicine run.” Yep, the Breloom has definitely met Wooloo and this just solidified the reputation of Wooloo on this world for me. He also seemed quite keyed in to what was going on without asking much. The second Breloom saluted and ran off. “Anyway we’re having a small festival here so please don’t start any fights in town. If you have to fight anyone, take it outside town.” “Um, can I just state that I was attacked by a Decidueye for no apparent reason?” I asked because it was still on my mind and this town guard seems to be on the ball about a lot of things. “It’s a good thing you didn’t go through the forest towards the castle then, that guy has been causing all kinds of trouble around here lately. If you see fog in the nearby forest, stay well away from it if he’s actively hunting you. We’ve been calling him Robbing Hoodlum, concerning the thefts going on around here. Not that we knew it was a Decidueye aside from the arrows, since some Pokémon can possibly mimic those arrows, it’s actually good to get a confirmation that it’s a Decidueye at least. Nobody could identify the problem Pokémon before because it was always enshrouded in strange shadows, there’s something unnatural about it that is not normal to regular Decidueye.” He looked at me specifically with curious gaze and then the rest of my group, ignoring Geoff and Jiri. “While you’re here you might even find a Pokémon or two willing to journey with you at no cost. Ask around, make small conversation and or see what tickles some Pokémon’s fancy, Pokémon are always looking for others to connect with. While you outsiders may seem fairly decent in a scrap given I doubt two normal types KO’d twelve fighting types, you’re going to need Pokémon to handle some of the weirder stuff as you travel around randomly doing whatever it is the gods might think you’re going to. Usually outsiders are turned into Pokémon, but in this case you’re apparently an exception. You in particular seem like you would be good with a Furfrou or even a Rockruff alone considering your odd outsider canine looks to be exceedingly well cared for and has seen some vicious fighting and suffered a great emotional loss. Kind of hard not to see it in her eyes, but you’re keeping her above the negativity when she used to do the same for you.” Dolly, looking quite shocked, tilted her head curiously to stare at the mushroom monster. She didn’t say anything. “Can I ask a question, why does it seem like the Greenleaf Kingdom is quiet about the raiders from the north, which we’ve caught red pawed here? There also seems to be problems in the south too.” Jiri was asking a question we were all curious to hear from this rather informative Breloom. “We’ve been kind of hoping people wouldn’t notice our problems if we stayed quiet about it, it’s an internal issue and nothing for you to seriously worry over. Until it becomes everyone else’s problems, then go for broke in dealing with it for us. We still have plenty of medicine for all the other kingdoms in various areas of the kingdom for sale and I doubt you will be able to transport it back without trouble.” For some reason I really liked this guy, he was very much on the up and up about the situations going on around here. “So find some Pokémon to assist you back to Aurora, you’re sadly going to need that extra help.” “What do you know of other outsiders?” Ocellus asked. “Usually that they are turned into Pokémon and end up in a lot of weird situations. Some stay in this world, some leave it behind to return to whence they came. Rarely do we ever see outsiders like you guys that aren’t turned into Pokémon. Still, whether you do a lot or a little, the impact will be felt by all you involve yourselves with.” That’s when the Breloom’s partner came back with what looked like a large oval shaped Pokémon. “Try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum please.” “Where are the trouble making patients?” The Pokemon took one look at the Riolu and sighed. “Them?” “Yes.” Smolder stated bluntly. “The Riolu Raider’s broke through Ignis bridge and attacked you at the Greenleaf and Aurora Bridge didn’t they?” We nodded as that was the assumption we had, she too seemed to be quite knowledgeable about some things. “Great, just great, if the current king of Aurora were to blame this on us, we’d all be at each other’s throats so fast our heads will spin clean off! Wait, is that Aipom still king? I haven’t been in Aurora in a while and I’m the current head nurse of this town.” “No, you big beautiful round Chansey you!” Geoff said with sparkles in his eyes. “The king of Aurora is currently an Eevee.” “Nice to know and no, just no, please stop before I have to heal you too… because you seem perfectly fine with that busted chin already and I will beat you within an inch of your life even if you will enjoy every second of it.” The Pokémon stated holding an angry fist out to Geoff. She sighed audibly. “Look… I’ll give the other visitors some extra money up front if you help transport the fainted Riolu for me, instead of having me carry all of them. It would certainly make things a lot easier on me.” “For a rotund and lovely lady such as yourself... sure!” Geoff stated with a bright smile. “There are so many wonderful Pokémon around here, like my cute friend Jiri here! Speaking of, Jiri, can you go find the medicine shop and wait for me to show up?” Jiri nodded and started to saunter off looking at the vibrant plant life, acting like a true tourist. “Here, enjoy the festivities and maybe hire some Pokémon on me. I’ve got idiots to deal with… hopefully I won’t have to Giga Impact your Wooloo friend into submission for being too fresh with me, come along!” The Chansey turned and waved Geoff forward as we hopped off the cart. This left me holding a small bag of money. “That was… interesting…” I said slowly. “You haven’t even been in our world for a whole week if you think that was interesting, things only get worse from here as outsiders usually means chaos is coming. We should probably be preparing for some huge war or something.” The Breloom guard stated flatly. “Well enjoy your stay in Arbora. Oh and ask for the guild of traveling Pokémon companions, you’ll find some friends real fast just by showing up! Some Pokémon just want companionship more than anything else, others just want a good fight and then there’s the Pokémon like me who just wants the peace to stay entirely peaceful! Can we go one week without a disaster! Anyway with that in mind, we’re heading out to make sure no one cuts us off from Aurora again, this will be the fifth time someone has thought to destroy our bridges and replacing them is getting annoying without a rock type contractor on standby.” After launching a blast shaped like his claw into the air, the two mushroom headed Pokémon set off towards the northeast in the direction we came from at a run. Those two might be a well known Pokémon unit. We all stood there awkwardly waiting for something to happen, nothing did until Shanty made a first suggestion. “So… food?” Always the first thing on Shanty’s mind, behind stealing rum and the first being Dodo who she was carrying on her back in her bag alongside the scythe staff. “Maybe, lunch is rolling around, but they might have an open feast if a festival is going on so we’ll wait on that. I’ve been interested in the band playing that music. Excuse me, but what kind of Pokémon are you, if you don’t mind answering? You’re really quite beautiful and you all smell nice.” I approached the dancers and the music players as they stood in front of a fountain and flowers enjoying the sun. It wasn’t hard to tell they were grass types. “Also, I would like to ask for directions.” “Of course and thanks, we always accept compliments that are not Wooloo related. Given that you passed Luke’s personal inspection or else he wouldn’t run off to stop what might be another problem, outsiders like you are always interesting and a Hoothoot and a half. You also usually have some incredible stories. I’m a Lilligant by the way and my two dancing companions are Bellossoms, dancing is kind of a thing for some Pokémon and we’re this towns morale boosters.” She said brightly, swaying back and forth with her two friends. They all bowed to us with polite enthusiasm. “Over there is a Nuzleaf, a Goovkey and Roserade. I take it you enjoyed the music and the dancing?” Each Pokémon in turn waved and then continued playing jovially. “You guys are really good, but I think you might be missing an instrument or two that can add flavor to the music, but you’re dancing is spot on.” I received happy nods. “Can you direct us to the guild?” “Sure head that way down the street. It’s the tavern looking place down that way, looks like a giant Skiploom called the Saucy Skiddo… oh right. It looks like one of those floating Pokémon in the air with the spinning flowers. If you smell something strong then you’ve likely found it, every place in town has wonderful smelling flowers and we’re some of the best smelling. That place though, it always smells more like a brewery.” Opposite of the way Jiri wandered off, I blinked and noticed that Shanty was no longer among us and sighed. We had to go stop her from finding rum and stealing it all. “If you’re looking for friends, then there’s no better place.” “Thank you for the warm welcome and the directions. Come on, let’s go stop Shanty before she gets into trouble.” The word ‘tavern’ was probably what set her off. For where there are taverns, there’s rum. Smolder, Dolly and Ocellus let me take the lead and we noted the buildings around tended to be built in the shape of Pokémon, they looked oddly sturdy despite the oddity. When we arrived we found Shanty arguing with someone. -Shanty- There had to be some there, my rum senses be tingling like crazy! I be on the run towards the building and be looking for the tasty treasure inside, maybe Pom can be paying for it before I be drinking it all this time? I be seeing the roof of a building with a yellow flower and that must be being it since it looked like the Pokémon floating about. I ran towards the building at a gallop with a hint of glee burgeoning on my face and I was about to go in the entrance when I slammed into someone else and we both be flopping to the dirt. “Hey, watch where you be going you scurvy landlubber!” I shouted at the one who interrupted me going into the tavern as I got up and looked at them. “No, you watch where ‘you’ are going you blasted bilge bungler!” Getting a better looked at the person I be running into, she seemed to be a goat like me… except she be covered in leaves around her neck leading all the way back to her tail. “Did you just be calling me an amateur? I’m going to be being a great pirate that has ever traveled several worlds!” She be making me angry and I be getting up to glare at her. “Nobody be talking to Captain Shanty like that with such disrespect!” “A captain you are most certainly not! I can read you quite well, you’ve unfortunately decided to cross horns with a scourge the likes of Favela!” Favela and I be butting heads and growling at one another. “Do you want to leave town so we can get into a proper row or do you be intend to be challenging me in something else?!” I shouted back. “Favela challenges you to a rum drinking contest!” Be liking this girl already, I can be telling we would be being the best of friends. “You’re on if you can even be getting a barrel with how young you are!” I stated with a big grin. “I bet you can’t even hold your rum like a true Gogoat!” She pulled back and announced haughtily. “Ma, I got a got a challenger here and she seems to be ready to lose to a true drinker of fermented fruit!” “Only if you can be drinking it all before I can!” I stated as I followed her in. -Pom- “This will end in tears, I just know it.” I said blandly. “She seems like someone Shanty would get along with. Despite how angry they sounded their emotions were more excited and positive.” Ocellus stated with wonder. “Also I think we just found this world’s equivalent of Shanty who looks just as rum obsessed as she is. Given ‘Favela’ is basically another word for a ‘Shanty-town’ in Brayzil. Though it has very negative connotations… which is actually perfect for Shanty.” -Shanty- “Go!” I took up the glass and downed it in three seconds, Oran Berry rum be tasting good but I be expecting some sweetness that wasn’t there. I slammed my glass down at the same time as my opponent Favela. “Ooh… you are good! Keep us topped off ma, this could take a while! Go!” We both downed another glass. “We might need to switch to Pecha Berries ma, this one is a contender!” “Oh my daughter… where did I go wrong?” The large goat with tons more leaves and large horns stated blandly before shaking her head. “Oh right, it’s when I let you have your first taste of rum when you were teething. You wouldn’t drink any milk afterwards.”