//------------------------------// // 254. Taking a licking. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Ransei, Aurora Kingdome, Helper’s Hamlet, Bathhouse Areas, Pom- “So wait… a water type bathhouse is… just water?” Makes some sort of sense I suppose. “At least the Clauncher and Clawitzer are getting help.” Happiny took care of Evan’s military forces first. The Rattata and Skitty were back up in a short amount of time. As for the leaders of the ambush, Evan was fine, Motochika needed some healing for doing a bit of frontline fighting and Maiden Jig had extreme amounts of exhaustion and needed to rest. After the leaders and local military were taken care of, Happiny then proceeded to take care of my group. Quetal would make a quick recovery despite the Claunchers clawing him up and shooting him at close range, he gave far better than he got. Dolly had a few cuts and scratches from the Claunchers while on the defense. Shine had taken quite an amount of battering too, resilient to the water attacks but not their claw related attacks. Both Favela and Shanty were mostly fine if a little exhausted. Dazzle had stuck close to me and had helped the Blastoise go down quickly, but aside from minor exhaustion she was untouched. Ocellus and Smolder stayed out of most of the fighting, but it’s a good thing they weren’t noticed or shot out of the air. Me in particular, I’m fairly happy that the most of what I did was running around and very little fighting. I really don't know if I could have taken the Blastoise. After us Happiny was seeing to the Clawitzer, Clauncher and the Blastoise. Which is what I was currently watching as Motochika assisted the one medical expert working for Evan. Geoffs unit was just left lying in the street where they appeared after rescuing them, kind of mean thing to do to the major heroes of the whole battle. Though it’s almost understandable that Happiny was saving them for last, because I think one of them was moaning in pleasure as much as pain… I'm just going to move on from that disturbing thought. As strange a monster as the Blastoise was having cannons that it can poke out of its shell, apparently made of the same material as the shell itself, it was a good thing that the fighting didn’t last long and our ambush took out the major issues before the backup appeared. The Clauncher were really the biggest issue the entire battle next to the Blastoise that would have torn through the rest of our forces had Evan not toppled it by thinking ahead. All in all we successfully rescued a number of water Pokémon with a much smaller force from an unknown controlling entity. The entity was inevitably going to be an immediate priority to deal with if it ever figured out how to expand its influence beyond the southern portions of Fontaine. I was currently watching as the Clauncher rested in the water of the pond like bathhouse area. I silently compared Clauncher and their evolution form of Clawitzer. Clauncher had two claws, one of which is slightly larger than the other, could fire from both of them and were in general mid-range and close-range specialist. Clawitzer had slightly larger bodies with thicker shells. One of their claws turns into a spike they can dig into the terrain to brace themselves for firing the other which became a ridiculously cumbersome biological cannon that was bigger than their body, making them mid to long range nightmares with how powerful their shots were. I could see the tradeoffs of the evolution, Clauncher would protect the Clawitzer at shorter ranges. They were both likely more maneuverable in water than on land and I can see why Motochika said the controlling force behind this were not a military minded genius. They left the Clawitzer units vulnerable by themselves without the Clauncher to act as defensive lookouts when they were focused on other targets. The whole battle could have gone far differently than it actually did if the controlling entity was a tactical mastermind. In all honesty… I’m reminded of the energy shooting shrimp robots that we fought back on Elhorn, I seriously doubted the shrimp robots could match the firepower of these Clauncher and Clawitzer though. “Quick question, how did they spew more water than their bodies can possibly feasibly hold?” Asking because I saw how much firepower the Clawitzer got out and all of it was in the form of huge wads of water, streams of water and or a few streams of exploding bubbles from the Clauncher. “Is this all based in the pocket dimension thing that lead to you being called Pokémon?” “Well, yeah, every Pokémon basically has a pocket dimension as part of our bodies to store elemental energy for our moves, so water types turn energy into water efficiently. Before you ask, they swim around in water to naturally convert water into energy for their attacks to begin with. You’d rarely see a water Pokémon with a fear of water, but it can happen. Water Pokémon, until they are completely drained of energy to do water attacks, can fire absolute gallons of the stuff without stopping… its quite terrifying for a partial fire type like me.” That can be imagined Dazzle. If I were made of living fire, I wouldn’t want a Pokémon trying to put me out with that kind of raw force. “It’s the same principle with most Pokémon really, we live in environments specifically geared to give us the element energy specific to our needs. For Normal Types, this is easy as any environment works for their energy needs even if their attacks are common and not exactly overly effective against anything. Pokémon can naturally regenerate energy outside of said environments, but it takes longer based on our health. So water Pokémon can’t actually make water from nothing and have to stay hydrated to do their attacks, because otherwise this entire world would be just underwater and nothing but water Pokémon if there wasn’t some conservation of energy going on. It’s one of the lessons I paid attention to growing up as a princess, I’d prefer it if you didn’t think of me as one.” One of the wetly bandaged Clauncher looked our way and blew a bubble out of its left claw in a friendly manner while making some weird sounds. Happiny was slowly working her way around the Clauncher first and would finish off with Blastoise. “Interesting, so all Pokémon have some form of elemental energy they are attuned to, which is the concept of Same Type Attack Bonus from living in the same environments as the energy they tend to utilize. Does it work in abstract concepts as much as it does logical?” Plants absorb water, water beating extinguishes fire, fire burning grass or plants was all fairly logical. I’m having a problem with the logic of ‘normal’ as an element, mind you I’m just currently focusing on the areas around Aurora at the moment. “If you want abstract, that’s what legendary Pokémon tend towards, they embody the elements or concepts to an absurd degree that normal Pokémon can barely match at times. If you’re a Pokémon that is of a generally ineffective typing that is up against a legendary, the chances of victory are… close to impossible. The thing I said about the whole world being underwater? That can actually happen with Kyogre, who can actually flood this world and is nice enough not to… we might actually see them if we’re going to liberate Fontaine.” Please Dazzle, tell me that we wouldn’t have to fight something on par with Arceus. “Legendaries tend to wake up when the world is threatened and if the threat is large enough, then one will show up. So far it seems like the threat to Fontaine isn’t world ending or worth the effort yet.” “Speaking of these Legendary Pokémon, do you see them as gods?” I’m asking you specifically here Dazzle. “Well some Pokémon do worship them as such, but everyone knows that Arceus is the one above all. No one will contest that as he was the first Pokémon to ever exist.” Dazzle stopped and looked at the sky as things slowly slipped into the evening. “If anyone says that they defeated him, then he likely faced them with barely anything approaching the full scope of his actual power. It wouldn’t even be a fraction I can tell you that much. I’m actually of the mind that we don’t need to bow and scrape to the Legendary constantly and would rather focus on what’s in front of me and hope to never meet one that has issues, specifically with me being alive.” “Hmm…” So Legendary Pokémon showed up when the world is in turmoil? Chances are, I’m going to end up fighting one eventually to get crushed like an insignificant gnat. “So want to join us tomorrow on an adventure to look for someone who can cook? Aside from me I mean.” “Yes, I am officially a part of your companion traveling team right? Unless you think this mission will be so dull that I wouldn’t even bother with it, I’d rather make that judgment myself.” One last question Dazzle and then we can do other things into the evening. “What if we eventually have to go to Viperia?” This question from me notably made Dazzle pause and looked worried, she opened her mouth to say something and then thought better of it. “It’s okay, you don’t need to go everywhere with us.” “…” Dazzle didn’t say anything, but the Salandit did hug me tightly while shivering. I returned the hug and had a feeling this would come up with Quetal and Shine if we ever approached the kingdoms of Nixtorm or Spectra. -Early the next day- I’m become increasingly lacking in size as a sleeping aid with the number of people that crawled into my bed without disturbing my rest. Had I not known these people, some who are only recent acquaintances, I would be more uncomfortable about this given situation of being cuddled all over. -A few hours after breakfast, southeastern Aurora- Dolly, Dazzle, Shanty, Favela, Eriflamb and I were off to look for someone that can cook as commissioned by the Fennekin with us. To that end we were going to look through some farmlands and asking the local Pokémon around here about anyone that might be capable of that when it was time for us to leave. The fire type Pokémon himself couldn’t cook and I was the designated cook so far. On a side note we were swiftly running out of kibble and Dolly was actually rationing it quite well… this made me have to cook for her more, but I like to do that in general. Cooking for the entirety of the Helper’s Hamlet though… yeah, no. The grasslands of Aurora were a nice and beautiful verdant green, with meadows of flowers, ponds and farms. It was making me somewhat nostalgic for my little ewe days. “So nothing so far on finding a cook for the general area of the guild, it’s going to need one if the number of Pokémon living there increases further.” Eriflamb stated as his big fluffy ear hair bounced as we walked along. Apparently the thick hair sticking out of the little fire fox’s ears were to help with absorbing the heat his body naturally generates. The biology of Pokémon can get quite fascinating and a little bizarre. “Okay, I’m going to ask another Pokémon, let’s hope we get a positive response this time. Uh hello, can I talk to you for a second!” We’ve been looking around for a while and I saw an interesting Pokémon to address, it was a bird holding a stalk of some kind. Looks to be an onion. “Sure, what do you need?” The bird responded while holding the onion at the ready, it looked to be a weapon for him. “Do you know where we can find a Pokémon that knows how to cook?” I didn’t know the name of this brown feathered bird’s species, but he didn’t seem violent. “Hm… cooked food… Skovet and Greedent are out. Wouldn’t last long enough to actually cook the food.” It looked like he was actually thinking about this as he sat next to a pond and rubbed at his head with what I’m now remember is a leek. Less sharper in flavor than an onion, but good for soup. Could have used some of that the other night actually, Smolder and Ocellus were happy to talk to Gallus and hear that things have been going pretty well for the griffon. “Okay, try asking Monsieur Furfrou, that way! He seems fancy and well fed, one of the few Pokémon that live in Aurora that has a home that isn’t a barn like the farmers live in.” “Thanks!” We waved by to the bird who continued to relax at the pond. -Monsieur Furfrou’s home- Well it wasn’t hard to find, lots of Equus Prance aesthetics. It seemed to be a small cottage, one that was notably occupied by dog Pokémon. “Well at least know they’ll be friendly.” Dolly grinned at me and I rolled my eyes with a drawn out insufferably sigh. “Let’s get this over with.” I moved forward. “Hello.” “Ah, a lovely lady has come to this small and humble vacation spot.” Said a dog covered in thick white fur had black skin, a somewhat round nose and his accent with soothing on the ears. The unusual thing about this guy? He looked too much like a normal, completely average, everyday dog to be considered a Pokémon. “Monsieur Furfrou I assume?” I’m only assuming because there were other dogs around here that looked far more abnormal. “Well I’m definitely not the Lillipups or Yampers.” He gestured at one, then the other with a paw. “But yes, I am Monsieur Furfrou, what is it that you seek? I can introduce you to some nice Rockruff that grew up here and would like to travel. A pair of Lycanroc came all the way from Cragspur some years ago to safely raise some pups near here, I’m sure they would follow a lovely vision like yourself anywhere you want to go if you’re a traveling group of outsiders as they are old and spry enough to go wandering. Word has gotten around that more outsiders were around, the Wooloo seem excited at the prospect of chatting you up… then again they are excited to chat anyone up.” That’s kind of what I’m afraid of Monsieur Furfrou, picking up more canines than I know what to do with. Taking a glance at the two notably types of dog in the area I noticed that the Yampers gave off sparks of electricity as they ran about and the lillipups having oddly thick facial fur that made them resemble a flower. Yampers were definitely electrics types. “We’re here to find someone that can cook for a small town that was recently built near Aurora Castle by the Bidoof, do you have any Pokémon to suggest towards that end?” After a few minutes of hemming and hawing, I finally received a thoughtful look. “I do have a suggestion miss, but you’re going to end up seeing the Rockruff anyway. The Pokémon I’m thinking of is in that given direction.” That’s when he proceed to describe a Pokémon to us, more for my sake than that of the Pokémon following us around. “It has an extraordinarily long tongue, pink skin, some stripes of a varying colors, it is large and has an incredible sense of smell despite the tongue being its most prominent feature making you think its sense of taste was what was grand about it. You know what, I think its best I led you to it.” “Going somewhere? I’ll come with Monsieur!” A speedy female said as she ran up to us, she resembled a larger more streamlined yamper and was positively glowing with energy as she moved about excitedly. “Can we go to?” One of the lillipups around asked. Oh no, here we go… -Five minutes later- Well we saw who we were looking for, he had a cauldron and was stirring something and humming to himself, his ridiculously long tongue hanging down his front. He sniffed at the boiling soup as his thick tail shifted side to side. “That’s a Lickitung, their saliva is adhesive, paralytic and worst of all itchy rash inducing. Their tongue is actually twice the length as their body is tall.” Monsieur stated as we took in the three adorable light brown male puppies that looked like they had solidified rock like fur running around their necks like collars. “Those would be the Rockruff I mentioned.” “Be a little more careful, I’m cooking here!” The Lickitung stated with his long tongue making it sound horribly slurred and hard to understand, the three running puppies had made the cauldron wobble a bit with their roughhousing. I made my way forward and was about to introduce myself when three shadows knocked the puppies down and then leapt forward. Blinking as I saw a familiar trio again, I sighed… mostly in relief that these guys weren’t dead. I also thought Vetali said that it would take longer than this for them to come back or attack us again. They must be pretty stubborn if they sought us out. “Prepare for trouble.” The Seviper known as Jessie stated as she pointedly looked at my group with unrestrained anger. “Make it double.” The Mareanie known as Jame stated with a fairly dark tone, but I was too happy to see they were alright. “To protect the world from devastation.” Jessie continued as if they rehearsed saying this hundreds of times in front of a mirror… so the next part would be. “To unit all peoples within our nation.” Followed James. “To denounce the evils of truth and love.” Stated Jessie as she flexed her tail and the bled on the end of it. “To extend our reach to the stars above.” James said holding all his head tendrils up high. “Jessie.” Jessie posed. “James.” James posed with her. “Team pocket, stealing faster than the speed of sight!” Meowth said as he posed between them. “Surrender now or prepare to fight!” They all announced while pointing at my group standing a little bit away from the canine Pokémon that showed us the way to the cooking Lickitung that didn’t look amused in the slightest with the trio. “So do you do that every time you decide to bother someone or…” I was trying to find the words for this without sounding rude. “That doesn’t matter! You outsiders and that Skiddo are going to pay now that we’ve found you!” Jessie was angry about the scar on her body. “You want to go then let’s go!” Dolly made sure her helmet was on her head correctly and then kicked her skateboard up into her front paws as she stood up. Shanty pulled her scything cane from her back and held it at the ready. Dazzle narrowed her eyes and she her lips were bubbling with a froth. Favela readied a stance to fire off her Razor Leaf move. Eriflamb started to inhale and exhale flecks of flames and his tail rose up in an aggressive manner. “Uh, Jessie, James… they have a Salandit.” Meowth pointed to Dazzle who looked about ready to spit a ball of toxic liquids at them. “And you’re point Meowth?” Well Jessie, I had heard that the Salandit was exceedingly capable poisoning even poison type Pokémon. Dazzle carried multiple Pecha berries on her so she doesn’t accidentally kill someone with said virulent poison, but I’m getting the idea that you exactly didn’t care about the fact that she showed more thought for the possibility of seriously harming others than you ever could Jessie. “Well my point is… we kind of just kicked an ant’s nest here and the Salandit ‘should’ be the most of our problems.” At least Meowth had the decency to notice the problem, like all the canines of various strengths in the surrounding area glaring at the three of them. There were even several green canines that showed up with their ears and fur sticking straight back crackling with lightning. They already had a read on the situation given they were forming up with all the canines and growling. “Oh, hey cousins!” A Yamper said with a cheerful bark, the little guy was adorable with the lightning sack giving off some sparks. “… maybe we should leave.” At least James had enough brains to see where this was going when there was this many Pokémon glaring at them. “Not until I get a pound of flesh out of that wooly outsider’s companion, the bushy little b-aahgghFFFTTT!” Jessie was cut off by swallowing a ball of poison fired by Dazzle directly into her mouth. It seemed she had impeccable timing and aim, as Jessie looked immediately ill after swallowing it. “That… okay… my head may be spinning a bit, but I still think we can take all of them! All seventy two of them!” There weren’t that many of us here near the large tree the Lickitung continued to cook under. “Visual issues already? That… is far too fast, she will really need a Pecha Berry soon.” Dazzle looked like she was considering giving her one, since she just pulled one out. “Take your berries and shove it, I’m a poison type and I can tough this out and none of the eight of you that are now twice your sizes for some reason are going to make me feel otherwise!” Jessie was wobbling back and forth as if she had vertigo. “Salandit poison is just propaganda and hype!” “I think you should actually take the berry Jessie and that we should just leave.” Meowth was actually concerned for her health, which was fairly nice of him. He was also concerned by the sparking of electricity and the preparations of attacks all around. Considering that she was immediately dizzy after swallowing the stuff and looked to be having a migraine headache… if she were smart she would just take the Pecha Berry. “I’m a poison type Meowth we simply don’t get poisoned… also why are you on fire and why is the fire an entire rainbow of colors?” Apparently that was true Jessie, unless you were hit by a Salandit with a move that can poison from what I’ve just seen. “Catch.” Dazzle threw the berry to Meowth and he caught and tucked it away somewhere. “You’re going to need to force that down her throat soon or at least get some of the juice in her mouth.” “Ahem… Mr. Schlurp, could you speed up this rather sad situation before all the three rather rude Pokémon end up poisoned by the rather nice Salandit and subsequently make the rest of us beat them to within an inch of their lives?” Monsieur looked down his raised nose at them. “The use of such language in front of a gentleman such as me is quite abhorrent, even more so when it is about to be stated with children around.” “To be fair, I, Favela, did use Swagger on her several times.” Favela commented idly. “That’s after they be threatening to take our money after attacking all the nice guards in Arbora Town and want to hurt us just for being outsiders to gain fame. I think they were also going to be stealing our medicine shipment for Aurora so…” Shanty trailed off and was fairly unafraid right now, even more so when we watched Mr. Schlurp stretch and slap his tongue against James and Meowths backs making them both freeze up. “Jess…” James tried to see through the rictus of his now very still body, with his poisoned spike tentacles pointed upwards he left himself open to be paralyzed. “Ie…” Meowth finished looking equally stiff. That was some insanely fast acting paralytics, glad it wasn’t me getting hit by that tongue. Mr. Schlurp looks like he could swallow most small Pokémon whole. “I’m a mighty danger noodle, we will not lose so easily!” Announced Jessie who was now facing the opposite direction and pointing the tip of her tail at the shadow of a tree. It also didn’t help that Jessie was wilting quite badly as her body started discoloring. “You’re indigo coloration offends me sir Peek of Chu for you are not a Gengar, not until I’m through with you… have at you!” She started to stab at the shadow of the tree pointlessly, doing little aside from disrupting the dirt. “Well they have a Pecha Berry, so I think they’ll be fine… when I do this@” That was when the Lickitung, known as Mr. Schlurp, wrapped his tongue around all three of them and then spun them around once and sent the three of them flying away into the sky. A tiny sparkle could be seen as they disappeared over the horizon. “Well then… Mr. Schlurp, my wonderfully attractive associate here needs someone with cooking expertise and she was wondering if you would be willing to take them up on an offer to move into some humble dwellings near Castle Auroa?” Monsieur Furfrou asked politely with a bow, the pink monster with the paralyzing tongue bowed back. “I am sure it will be worth your while and you’ve always enjoyed cooking for large crows… as much as you like eating.” “Sure thing, where’s the town? Oh want to eat first?” Despite the nasty looking tongue and the slurred speech, he got all the canines he knew wagging their tails as a scent rose from the cauldron. -Some travel time later, Helper’s Hamlet- “Yeah, this seems like a nice place!” Surprisingly, despite the tongue, Mr. Schlurp never slobbered on any of the food he prepared and was quite careful about the preparations therein. Eriflamb considered the mission a success and paid us some Poké he scrounged up from somewhere after having been Poké-nabbed by the weird Bidoof and would owe us some favors later, he’d also continue working the bathhouses. “Can we stay too my friend?” I turned around and look at all the expectant canines that were started look around the town. “This place looks lifeless and in need of good company!” Can I ever get a break? “Probably not Pom.” I didn’t say that out loud Dolly, please don’t respond to my internal thoughts out loud. ‘Sorry, but it is kind of funny to watch you attract canines like crazy’. Don’t even get me started Dolly… can we at least hold onto some hope that those three won’t come after again? -Foot of a mountain in Ignis, Jessie- “AGGHHh…hah… hah… what… what happened?” Catching my breath and calming myself down after some immense amount of confusion, it felt like something had just hit me in the chin because it was still sore from a rather sharp blow. I flicked my tongue at the air to get a taste for where we were and noticed some juice dribbling down my cheek I wiped it away with my tail. “Where are we? It smells like brimstone… are we in Ignis?” I felt absolutely awful, like I was more than three fourths of the way dead. It took me a moment, but I finally notice a half bitten Pecha Berry next to me. “Yay… she’s… okay…” James stated from where he was impaled by his head tendrils on a nearby boulder his body shivering as if he was trying to remove his tendrils from the boulder. “Good…” Meowth stated from face on the ground next to me, his body visibly shivering with what I finally noted as paralysis as well, his right leg was extended into the air for some reason. “Took a licking… will keep on…. kicking..,.” We were all hurting and I for the life of me couldn’t remember how we ended up like this, all I can remember is the horrid taste of something going down my throat. Well, whatever the cause, I knew that revenge was the only answer!