//------------------------------// // 357. Fairy Odd Welcome. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Airship Mauled, The Witch’s Fare, Fizzle- I was not a morning pony sometimes, but having a small chimera clinging onto my back that was hungry. They woke me up early and I was their choice for this morning. Silvers loved Jade, but sometimes they chose to bother me instead and I should spend more time being affectionate with them. As I put Silvers down to scamper around a bit, I turned to see Tianhuo with her head resting on the table and the device before her. I quietly made my way over to her and shook her a bit to wake her up, the puppies were immediately up and looking about in confusion as they tumbled about due to Tianhuo’s sudden movements. They had fallen asleep on Tianhuo, once they noticed me attempting to wake up Tianhuo they quietly went to play with and protect Silvers. Both Poms had seriously smart puppies and they knew how to play with children. Speaking of puppies, Equus Pom’s puppies were just incredibly adorable and friendly, they wouldn’t attack anyone unless they caught Jaded doing something they didn’t like. Might have had something against Jaded personally, because they certainly didn’t treat Kuril as someone highly suspicious… either that or they can sense semi-evil Abyssinians. “Huh, where… oh… Pom finally called the other night. We had hours to talk this time, apparently a true monster managed to steal the device from her.” Then you cried yourself to sleep Tianhuo, apparently happy that she was still alright… I would know the feeling. “Want some breakfast and time to talk about your woes?” I can make breakfast, just not as well as Jaded does. Maries can’t cook, well at least Mara and Mary can’t, Maria can because she learned how to make Cottage cheese and related dishes that went well with. “Our little scamp woke me up and they are moving into the more solid foods phase of their life… such as chewing through bones. Those poor drop bears. Anyway, we thankfully we have plenty of fish jerky, because otherwise it would be hard to keep little Silvers fed.” I understood what Jaded meant by saying Kuril makes so much fish jerky that the entire town of Palicoast couldn’t possibly eat it all. We had barrels of the stuff and several hungry omnivores and carnivores. “Lambkin are actually quite complicated, Pom even more so than any normal average lambkin.” Tianhuo sighed and rested her head against the table. “I’m coming to appreciate a lot of things from what Pom’s absence has wrought and I will try to hold onto Pom with all four of my hooves at the first opportunity I can get with everything I have.” “Hey, can I get an order of batter fried scrambled eggs quick, I’ve got a scheduled fight with a nightmarish frog shaped horror today and the guy really doesn’t like it when adventurers miss their appointments to fight them?!” Flamberge ‘the obnoxiously loud’ everybody, a dragon that was basically everyone’s brother. Surprisingly he wasn’t hanging out with Fortitude, Skelly or Sweetcakes today. “Oh… do you guys need a moment!” “On it!” Stated a cheerful looking Fresh Start as she trotted her way to kitchen looking bright and fresh, now there was a mare that was a morning pony and it made sense that she was staffed underneath Celestia at one time with her special talent for being an… early bird. I waited for a moment, but nothing explode, no violent falling down or upstairs occurred, Jackie must not be in right now or else a tree might have come crashing through the window or something just to get at her. “Okay, I know what’s about to happen and I’m still going to ask anyway… where’s your brother Fortitude?” My asking bluntly was followed by me counting down from three… two... “I am Fortitude the fantastically fragrant…” It sounded to be coming from the far north and yet it was so quiet and faint. I’m glad I’m not in Ponyville right now, because Fortitude probably bellowed that at the top of his lungs to even be heard from that distance. Still, how does he know when someone is talking about him? “In Ponyville from the sound of it, he’s helping Starswirl research possible routes to safer access to Tambelon with Starlight and Sunburst the next bearded!” Flamberge nodded to himself with a simple smile. “Surprisingly my brother is good at translating ancient Yak Viking texts for the magical frosty portals made by the one legend simply known as the Yakhalla bridge watcher that keeps the living from bothering the dead unless they have important business in Yakhalla!” “Hey Fresh, Silvers is hungry and she’s starting to gnaw at ‘Uncle’ Flamberge.” Not that they’d be able to bite through dragon flesh, but that didn’t stop my little Silvers from trying with all three of their mouths. “Start prepping the high calorie diet and I’ll be in there in a minute.” Silvon was failing miserably despite already having some strong baby dragon teeth, Silvers better not start eating entire couches when they get older. That would get quite costly quickly, at least Flamberge was taking their attempt to chew on him with good humor. -Pokémon Realm, Fairy Type Kingdom of Titania, one of the Fairy Dust Islands, beach, morning, Pom- I stretched out and yawned, yep, body still hurts and I’m a walking pain factory. Nothing I can do about that without medical supplies and only with what I have on me. I had a Pecha Scarf and the Arceus Device, left my empty bag with Dodo so I could fight unencumbered. My right leg has finally recovered and isn’t bleeding anymore, but I’m missing more than seventy percent of my wool… at least I don’t have to worry about the cold around here. If we do have to head to Nixtorm it’s going to be a slightly bigger problem. Dolly still had her three colorful bands with Dormarch’s Digivice, a pecha scarf, her helmet and skateboard, not that a skateboard would be helpful on sand for its casual use as sporting equipment. Quetal had that Razor Claws that apparently would help him with evolution eventually. Well… I better get started on helping Dolly and Quetal with something to eat. I needed to learn how to use my wool like a living wire anyway after how I got into position to attack Gilgamesh, so I’m to become a living fishing rod. At least it’ll be better than doing it with my bare hooves, had to feed a pack of hungry canines somehow and fishing can be relaxing in a way. -An hour or so later, Dolly- Pom went fishing so we’d have something to eat upon waking up, apparently with the amount of wool she has, she was learning to using a single strand to help her catch fish and did a decent job of it. Using less wool to do more things would help her somehow, I’m not sure how it all works. I took a chunk out of the roasted fish with my teeth, it was delicious and well cooked, proving that Pom has done this before for her other canine friends and probably her little puppies. Quetal was also enjoying some fish as we ate. Personally Pom collected a few fruits to eat for herself and share with me and Quetal, she even managed to dig up a few vegetables from somewhere and seemed particularly happy about it. “It’s been a while since I’ve done some quiet foraging, I didn’t hear too many Pokémon around here… this island is rather unusual in how quiet it is aside from all the normal insects.” Pom commented idly drawing my attention to her. “So… we’re on the east side of the island according to you Quetal, are we going to check inward now?” “I’d rather do anything else than go to… Nixtorm.” Quetal was a bit twitchy when saying the name of the place. Must have been nearly as bad as when something is wrong with one of my family members, which now includes Pom who is just as twitchy about life in general and rightly so given the stuff we’ve been through and seen. “I just want to confirm we’re all going inland to look around a bit before deciding that we might need to brave the sea with a makeshift raft.” Given Pom’s camping skills and the fact that she can turn camping supplies into a functional hang glider, I’m not particularly worried about our survival here as this place seems to have a lot of plentiful stuff. Now out on the ocean, that’s a different story completely and I would rather have Shanty here for that. It’s amazing that Quetal even managed to get us here without having to do, oh what is it called, where you need to blow water out of peoples lungs… or was that blowing air into lungs so the water blows out? Something my stepmom would definitely know, but I didn’t feel like calling the ‘fam’ right now. Don’t want Dylan or whoever picks up to be too worried about whatever I’m getting into this time, that or they’d be jealous I’m on an island paradise with no clue how we were getting off or where we were going. At least Pom would have time to relax here. -After breakfast, Quetal- Don’t think about it, just don’t think about it. I’m here for Pom and Dolly if they end up going there, but I don’t want to think about it… it’s been a long time since I made my way to Greenleaf to get away from there. Greenleaf was one of the most peaceful places in Ransei and it was quiet, I was just looking for an opportunity to do something with myself. So I find myself as a Pokémon companion and was definitely getting my name out there, even if I haven’t been doing anything too big… mostly since I refuse to use Ice Type moves and I had a problem with Dark Type moves. Who was to know how much trouble Pom could get dragged into? Well I know now, but I wouldn’t mind following her to a place I despise just to see what happens out of morbid curiosity alone. Not that I would enjoy the trip, but it was the only part of Ransei nearby that I could easily recognize since I knew those mountains very well. “Let’s go.” I got up after making sure the fire was put out and we stirred some water into our small fire pit and threw some sand on it. It was time to head inland and see if there was any sign of civilization, I seriously doubted it though. Surprising to be in a tropical warm place next to the frozen hole that is the Kingdom of Nixtorm. -Ten minutes later, Pom- “Do you hear that?” As we traveled through the underbrush, full of bushes, trees and standard insect noises. There wasn’t too much sound of large animals going on around here, but I did hear something watching us. There was something out there giggling just enough for us to barely hear it or at least that’s probably what it would like to think when it had two beings with a canine sense of hearing and who knows how Quetal’s feather ear worked. Also there were signs of civilization here, the way some of the nearby grass was cut was too precise to have been done by bugs that weren’t intelligent. There were pathways around here, they just weren’t very noticeable or big and were narrow. They would only be faintly noticeable to an untrained eye. My paranoia has proven to be right more than once and right now my mind was blaring loudly that intelligent beings lived on or near this island. “Be careful, we could be walking into an ambush at any moment.” A concerned Quetal stated as his eyes darted about and he held his claws aloft. “I can already tell we’re being watched.” “Something smells off…” Dolly stated. “What’s that smell in the air?” I took a sniff and smelled something sweet, it was almost as if something were made of sugar was around… “Hi there!” My reaction to the sudden presence of a floating blob of liquids in my face wasn’t exactly the calmest to say the least nor was it the most dignified given my sudden flailing. The liquid creature flowed around my left hoof as I lashed out at the sudden surprise and it continued to have a smiling face despite my attempt to hit it. “Say, do you want to eat me?!” I finally quickly flicked the blob back with my hoof and they went flipping backwards with a joyful sound. “Wawawawa-whoo, I’m getting dizzy!” Eventually the blob righted herself and floated back over to us with an ever cheerful smile on her face. No threatening motions were made, but seeing a smiling, living, floating blob of whatever it was made of still had me on edge. “Wha- why would I want to eat you?!” I finally answered the question, this Pokémon seemed far too cheerful to me to be discussing something like this. “Well that’s because I’m really quite a delicious, want a taste?” Said the smiling Pokémon before floating closer to me in an affectionate manner as bits of liquids popped off the floating liquid blob. Said bits of liquid came from the wobbly udder like digits of liquid sticking out of the top of the blobs head before reconnecting with the main body. “Er… no thanks.” At least the blob of floating liquid respected my wishes and floated backwards a bit. “A Milcery?” Quetal stated as he looked at the creature, he seems to have recognized its species at least. “Well this might hint at where we are. Given there’s only one kingdom I can think of where Milcery are seen, that might not necessarily be a good thing.” I’ll keep that in mind Quetal. “Well where…” I couldn’t get my question out as we were interrupted by the floating blob again. “Oh right, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself!” I’d think you were ruder for suddenly interrupting my question. “My name is Curdle, nice to meet you! … now what was I supposed to be doing again?” “She’s a Fairy Type, Fairy Types come in a variety of small, cute and pink or a just general love of the color, with the outliers being powerful and exceptionally magical. Magic in like what you have Pom. They have the lowest variety of any species, but plenty of Legendary Pokémon. They still have higher population than Psychic Types despite lacking in variety.” Given Quetal hadn’t dropped his guard around Curdle, I wasn’t going to either entirely. “Fairy Types are known for being disarming, cheerful and most of all… highly distracting or several varieties of cunning or just plain outright idiotic with no common sense whatsoever. Like you’d be ultimately surprised they have lived as long as they already have levels of lacking common sense. They are weak to Poison or Steel Type Pokémon attacks. A lot of this stuff is what I heard when I took a ship from Valora to Greenleaf, with a stop in Chrysalia. I’m not nearly as well traveled as Dazzle or Geoff, but I’d like to think my adventures with you prove that I’m trying to be helpful… even if I’ve not been exactly great in battle. You’ve already met a few, like Cleffa, the Ralts to Gardevoir line and a few others.” “I wouldn’t worry about how helpful you’ve been Quetal, you’ve been here for us since we first showed up in Greenleaf.” I got a heartwarming smile from Quetal and a light blush as he rubbed at his feathery ear lightly. “Also you did save us from drowning and you’re very smart at the very least.” “Aww… so sweet, like me!” Curdle stated pleasantly interrupting the heartwarming moment of friendship. “Are you sure you don’t want a taste of all of this? If you don’t have any water, I’m a perfectly good substitute!” “Could you not proposition me with eating you alive please?” I stated as bluntly and with as flat a look as I could send the Milcery. “Well okay, but you have no idea what you are missing out on, I’m like a melted hot fudge sundae of flavor!” That… was rather disturbing to hear Curdle, could a Pokémon really taste like a hot fudge sundae and why would it want to? “Now what was I supposed to be doing here… I know it was something important…” “They are as distracting as they are easily distracted.” Quetal once again nodded at the idea of what we were seeing was a common disposition among Fairy Types. “I believe we’re in the Kingdom of Fairy Types.” “Well technically not yet, we’re more like on the outskirts that all the Fairy Dust islands present, the real kingdom is kind of a thing on its own and interconnected by… oh right!” Curdle seemed to finally remember what she was here to do, also she giggled at herself loudly. “I’m here to… er… do something with the thing… gee I’m really not good at this… wait it started with a G! Galloping… ground… gentrification… good… great… gallant… gross… ” Despite the constant smiling I noted that the liquids wilted, so the emotions on her face did not represent her true feelings so much as her body language does. I’m making a note to pay more attention to the Fairy Types body language going forward than the innocent and constant cheerful smile on her face that is not changing. Also noted that she didn’t mind the idea of getting eaten, just what kind of trouble have I gotten into this time? At least it wouldn’t be my fault since there was nothing we could do about being on this island in the first place. “On average Fairy Types have a rivalry with Ghost Types in pranking, in battle they tend towards misdirection more often than not with their moves like a Dark Type can and they are not exactly powerhouses except where Dragon Types are involved. Dragon Types are absolutely terrified of them despite the immense size disparity, even the biggest Dragon Type would be terrified of Curdle here.” Very informative Quetal, at least we were learning something here while waiting for Curdle to remember what it was she was supposed to be doing here, I’m pretty sure I have a good idea given she was sent this way. “They don’t like iron, steel or cold metals, they also don’t do well when poisoned and considering you’ve seen what Cleffa can do… they can be as tough as something several times their size and hit with just as much force.” “So a bit deceptive in nature?” I stated while glancing at Curdle who seemed lost in her own little smiling world, her body language was reading thoughtful even as her smile said she was happy otherwise. Yeah, definitely going to pay more attention to body language than their faces. “Gerund… glutes… greetings… generic… gills… wait a minute, what was that word I said two words ago?” Curdle stopped and then addressed me. “Uh ‘greetings’ I believe?” I’ve heard of tails of the Fae on Equus, glad we weren’t dealing with them. The Fairies on Equus were highly dangerous to talk to, I wonder if Pukwudgies counted as Fae? "Speaking of, I'm Pom, this is Quetal and that's Dolly." “Yes, that, that was what I was supposed to be doing! Greetings and welcome to the Fairy Dust Islands, you’re not properly in the Titania the kingdom of Fairy Types yet, this is the outskirts with all the islands being interconnected into a single mass by a magical system. Our kingdom is hidden within ‘The Dream’, a mystical realm that requires entry via a ‘Fairy Type Circle’ monitored and operated by the mushroom Pokémon known as Morelull, they are really small mushrooms. All of our islands are connected to ‘The Dream’, despite the name it is very much a real place and things really physically happen there! It’s only called ‘The Dream’ because of how whimsical the place feels, you know, despite being an inverted negative dimensional wedgie of mystical Fairy Type energy encompassed pocket space that can keep out the likes of even Gilgamesh.” As Curdle floated about our heads, Dolly actually took a chance at her with quick strike from her tongue. This was while I was filing away the information about the Morelull. “Oh, finally, a taker! How do I taste, am I as delicious as I think I am?!” Somehow I thought Dolly would eventually take a crack at Curdle, she did seem to be the type to want to know what a Milcery tasted like. “A bit way too sugary for my liking.” Dolly stated and I still can’t believe she ate a part of Curdle, mostly out of what I’m assuming is a morbid amount of curiosity. “I’m having some regrets, taste like I bit straight into a cake like that one time… hey don't give me that look, it was a carob cake. Anyway, I’m an athlete, well technically a super hero now… even if my body doesn’t quite feel nearly as super as my magical abilities, I’d still like to at least stay fit. That’s not really a big problem with all the running around we do.” “Dolly has a specific kind of diet meant for her, you’re a bit too sweet or sugary for her palette and she’s very sorry, but she cannot appreciate or eat you like that.” I answered for Dolly, paraphrasing her words. Dolly rolled her eyes at me and then we went back to paying attention to Curdle. "Also thanks for trying to keep my mind off the death and destruction that Gilgamesh caused, but I don't think it's going to work Dolly. Good hustle really, I'm surprised I'm not more worried about what our friends are doing even if they are physically alright." Dolly felt okay to me after ingesting a bit of Curdle, I’m not going to worry about it too much until an hour or two later from now. If Dolly doesn’t show any symptoms of anything wrong, it’s nothing to worry about. Well I would still worry about Curdle seeming like she wants to be eaten, she seemed nice enough. “At least I’m nutritional and not made of fatty substances like some might think I am!” Curdle seemed genuinely upset that she was not to Dolly’s tastes. My mind was a bit boggled by both the fact that Dolly tried it and that Curdle didn’t seem to mind. “So anyways, the King of the hidden Fairy Type kingdom of Titania is Lord Oberon, maybe the Ponyta Prowlers mentioned him? He sends greetings to you and yours, you are to be our wonderful guests! I don’t think he’s taking no for an answer here, but I don’t get the feeling he’s going to press the issue. Oh and I am supposed to tell you where you enter ‘The Dream’ is where you will eventually exit ‘The Dream’, that is unless Lord Oberon allows you to exit at a different Fairy Dust Island or a point on the mainland of Ransei that we have marked out and we don’t have many of those. As guests you’re free to come and go as you please.” “A few quick questions before we decide on going anywhere, does the king know one of his Ponyta Prowlers betrayed him? Also what was the damage from Gilgamesh’s attack on your kingdom?” I just had to know these two things. “Yes, Lumber Spry did him proud by helping to save you from that targeted assassination attempt on your life. Though it’s kind of sad to hear Inky Dye was a spy.” Despite her faces cheerful countenance that was her face, Curdle’s body drooped somewhat like a pancake and it seemed to drip tear shaped bits of fluid that floated back upwards into the whole mass. “While we didn’t receive any serious injuries, or any injuries at all for that manner thanks to ‘The Dream’ being safe from the dimensional portals Gilgamesh made that let him rained weapons on everyone, we are quite sad that a lot of other people were hurt so badly.” “So we’re welcome there as guests up to a point, what is the point we shouldn’t cross?” If this were the Fae on Equus, I would definitely be running in the complete opposite direction right about now. “Also how would we find the nearest ‘Fairy Type Circle’ as you called them to get into the kingdom proper?” “Yes, you’re welcome to come visit and leave at any time, as guests we are assured to treat you with respect as long as you don’t running around setting things on fire or do anything too outrageously stupid, dangerous or violent. Basically just be tourists and you’ll be fine, especially with me as your guide!” Okay Curdle just made my sense of danger shoot straight up by saying she’ll be our guide on the principle of what we’ve already seen of her already. “Given you’re relations with the Ponyta Prowlers is positive, Inky Dye being an evil chain monster thing aside, I will be able to show you how to find the Morelull and get access to the mushroom circles they watch. The Dream is a very nice place, very big city. Lots of Fairy Types and a few other Pokémon that have found themselves lost on the road of life in one way or another.” “Does anyone else feel like this is going to go horrible places or is it just me?” Dolly we were on a paradise island apparently connected to a dimensional pocket fairy realm. Shenanigans are all we can expect at this point, with everything else being completely unexpected surprise for bad or ill. “I don’t think it’s going to be too horrible, I just think some unpleasant is going to happen in general.” Quetal was on the same wavelength as the rest of us, especially me as my paranoia skyrocketed about actually entering this ‘The Dream’ place. “The both of you should know me by now, I’m already expecting something to happen. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if something untoward doesn’t happen to me.” With me banged up as I am, yeah, we wouldn’t exactly win a pitched battle with two or more units of Fairy Types unless they weren’t nearly as strong as unicorns were with magic. “Oh trust me, Lord Oberon would not let a single thing happen to his personal guests on his watch. He can be a bit scary when he’s angered.” Curdle continued to be a pleasant voice, the demeanor of her body shifting to more playful movements as she floated about. “So do you have anything else to ask or can we get going?” “Now when you say Pokémon that get lost on the road of life…” Quetal trailed off and held a claw out at Curdle. “Oh that, it’s like how Lord Oberon intercepted you before you directly ended up in Nixtorm. You might have been killed by the indestructible monster currently slowly destroying the Kingdom of Ice Types.” Curdle suddenly earned our complete and undivided attention. “Lord Oberon should probably work on his aim better, instead of hitting sand you all nearly drowned… we should have asked some Water Types to help you guys out with that or at least have had them on standby.” Okay so Lord Oberon is ridiculously powerful, but he’s not perfect, good to know. So what did he intercept us from and is that why we are still alive? Aside from Quetal having to perform above and beyond what he should be normally capable of. Still didn't make him evolve though, I suspect he wouldn't until after we arrived in Nixtorm. “Can you describe what that monster looks like?” I was still certainly worried about how we ended up in the ocean instead of on the beach, but depending on the answer I’ll make a judgement call of whether or not to believe Oberon has our best interests at heart. “It’s a massive beast, one of wretched cold metal, billowing red eyes, said to be completely heartless and unkillable to the point the legendary in the region Articuno is having a problem finishing it off and is slowly being whittle away. It has two barrels strapped to its back, it smells like death and it specifically reeks of Salazzle poison that for some reason couldn’t finish the job.” That sounds very, VERY, familiar to me and I’m sure Dolly was thinking of the same thing. “It is said to be an undead metal skeletal dragon nightmare with stained red bones, with a nasty mindless need to kill the living.” “Pom, that sounds an awful lot like that X monster that attacked us while we were leaving the Dormarch realm.” Yeah, that did sound a lot like Skull Chaosdramon X and it was currently contained to Nixtorm. “… We’re going to Nixtorm aren’t we?” “We’ll talk about it later Dolly.” Though knowing that innocent people were possibly in grave danger was itching at me to head towards Nixtorm, because I knew what the threat was. I just didn’t know how to actually deal with it once we go there. “For right now, I think it’d be better to see what Lord Oberon wants with us. He wouldn’t have diverted us from that kind of imminent death if he didn’t want to talk or at least ask for something for helping us in return. So how soon does Lord Oberon want to see us?” There’s actually no ifs ands or buts about it, we were going to end up in Nixtorm eventually and would have to face Skull Chaosdramon X and figure out how to deal with it. I mean we had a digivice right, maybe it could do something? I really doubted that Quetal, Dolly and I could face Skull Chaosdramon X even with two entire kingdoms at our backs. “Whenever is convenient for you, you don’t need to rush to see him or he could just come see you if it’s a really pressing matter if he wasn’t busy making sure our kingdom is safe. It’s a good thing Gilgamesh didn’t hit anything when he attacked the Fairy Dust Islands, Oberon made sure he couldn’t even hit the jungles outside our doorstep.” Curdle waggled her little liquid wings. “That was about all he could do though, ‘The Dream’ is as close to safe as one can get… except when we’re not actually safe from each other. Let’s go find the Morelull around here and get something to drink at a good juice bar I know about!” -Fifteen minutes later, Quetal- A Morelull was a bulb with two eyes, with three roots sticking out of the bottom of it as a foot, whereas out of the top of its head were three mushrooms that could light up its surroundings. They would probably be more visible at night since they were a glow in the dark kind of Pokémon, during the day time like this morning and it still hasn’t hit noon, they were a little harder to spot. They looked like simple creatures and they basically just survived off good soil. They were idling near a circle of red capped mushrooms looking almost as if they were trying to pretend to be normal mushrooms, doing a fairly good job of that if their eyes didn’t give them away in the sunlight. “Hey, you guys, I got guests who want to enter ‘The Dream’, so can you get the circle up and running for us?” Curdle asked pleasantly. As I’ve noticed from watching Pom, I shouldn’t be watching Curdle’s smiling face, but her body to see what her true emotions were like. It seems like she had a face that was stuck in perpetual happiness… which was terrifying. She wasn’t being very deceptive, so she wasn’t one of the more cunning Fairy Types who would try to deceive us, I think she was sent to talk with us because of that very fact. “Ooh guests of Lord Oberon himself? Well okay then!” The Morelull led us to the circle of mushrooms and we watched as they danced by hopping in a circle around the circle while twirling and flipping randomly. “Okay, it’s open, now step or float into the portal and be on your way!” Nothing had changed about the mushrooms, nothing had changed about the circle, but there was an energy in the air that I didn’t feel before. Unlike Psychic Type energy, I was not immune to Fairy Type energy. “Okay everyone, here we go. Watch your first step, it can be quite a doozy!” With that and flying loop, Curdle flew straight forward and disappeared into thin air as she pass into the airspace of the circle of mushrooms. Pom looked at me warily, sighed and calmly walked forward and disappeared making Dolly immediately leap forward after her. I grumbled a bit about having to deal with Fairy Types, but as long as this is going to be to bothersome, then I’ll be fine with it. I too walked forward and blinked as I watched Pom roll down a slope and slam into a pile of mud sending a fountain of it flying upwards. “It’s already started…” I sighed to myself. “Rrr?” Dolly seemed to ask questioningly by the look in her eyes and the noise she made. “Fairy Types love to prank people and if you’ll look at what’s at the edge of the mushrooms surrounding us.” I pointed out with a claw, some kind of slippery oil leading to the slope we were immediately facing upon arrival. “Grrrr…” Dolly started growling at Curdle as she understood the implications of what just happened to Pom. “Hey, I said to watch that first step, all of you heard me before I even went through the portal, both clearly and succinctly!” Yeah, this is why you pay attention to whatever a Fairy Type says, they tend to mislead even if they don’t mean to. “It’s not a malicious prank at least, I mean they would have used cement at the bottom if they were being outright malicious instead of soft, and mostly clean, mud.” “I think it’s more on you for saying that in a joking manner and not meaning it literally to watch the first step as soon as the portal transports you here.” I calmly retorted as Pom picked herself up and used what little wool she had left to clean the mud off of herself by rotating it around her body quickly and fluffing it out as much as she feasibly could. “Dolly, calm down, I’m all right… mostly.” Pom looked up at us as she stretched out and we heard several painful cracking noises. “Right, entirely cracked skeleton full of microscopic fractures. I’m in immense amounts of pain… got any Sitrus Berry Juice at that juice bar you know about by any chance?” “We do and again I’m quite sure Lord Oberon won’t mind you taking your time, as there is no urgent matter for which he would want to talk to you currently. Now behold… ‘The Dream’!” Curdle pointed a small liquid flipper forward and we all looked to the massive sprawling colorful city that mixed plants, building and everything else together. We even had quite a view to the fountain where we arrived, at the top of which was a tiny bug Pokémon. The hill we were on was in a park and looking at the statue, said bug Pokémon probably was probably a Fairy Type and the eponymous Lord Oberon. The guy was tiny, given the life sized statue was smaller than I was. It’s not the size of the statue that mattered in this case, it was the quality of the craft and I think it was good quality, but I was no expert in masonry. The city lay sprawled out before us and I was very wary of the feeling in the air as Pom went to a nearby sign board with a map of ‘The Dream’ and the various exit points around the city back to the Fairy Dust Islands. “Gee this place looks suspiciously shaped like a fairy, I wonder if he’s taking cues from Arceus in designing the shape of this place.” Pom stated dully as she looked at the map of ‘The Dream’ and started comparing it to the nearby statue. Yep, a Fairy Type Pokémon certainly made its image in the shape of an entire city, like Arceus made the entire continent of Ransei in his. We were at the head of ‘The Dream’ apparently, a calming meadow place full of flowers and a gentle breeze… this guy definitely knew a good place to start Pom off with at the very least to be as non-threatening as possible. So I’ll choose to believe that the slippery oil leading into the patch of mud thing was a one-off, for the time being anyway... Not that I would lower my guard as long as I was here though. Oberon might not mean us harm personally, but nobody said anything about his subjects. At least Pom could get some rest and relaxation, maybe some legendary grade healing. We needed all the rest and relaxation we could get, especially when Pom got that look in her eyes when she heard about the monster roaming around in Nixtorm. It was probably better that we let the Kingdom of Nixtorm fall, but that was my personal bias speaking. Dolly apparently made a comment that tells me that Pom knows exactly where it came from and may possibly know how to deal with it. One way or another we were going to end up in Nixtorm, I had to mentally prepare myself for a lot of things to come. I might even learn a Dark Type move for once and give up Double Team for it. I would keep a stranglehold on Substitute though... it makes me feel like I still have a brother sometimes. I wonder if they had a Gulpin support station around here for that or would I have to do it myself through meditation? -Origin Space, Arceus- “Where did they go?” Bahamut asked as he saw the three disappear upon entering the ‘Fairy Type Circle’. “The realm of the Fairy Types known as ‘The Dream’, with Lord Oberon overseeing them. We probably won’t be able to watch them for a while, but they will be fine… if not, Oberon knows I can come in at any time to make things ‘FINE’.” I will let Lord Oberon decide things from here until Pom comes back out, I trusted him enough to not hurt Pom or her companions egregiously. “He knows better than to cause too much trouble, not if he intends to do what I think ultimately intends. Now what is Buzzwole Gilgamesh up to?” “He seems to be traveling the lands with his Greenkidu just looking for weapons and adventure, screams murder hobo to me… then again murder hobos are some of our favorite mortals.” Tiamat stated with several toothily grinning heads. “They’ll do a lot of weird things for fifty gil and a simple scan materia.” “In general because they can be altruistic despite their habits of running into people’s homes and then looting them dry before continuing on with their adventures.” It seemed Bahamut was aware of those he has empowered previously, I did not understand his or his sister’s fascination for the murder hobos of the worlds they lived in. That was a difference between us, I prefered idealistic friendly idiot heroes who struggled every step of the way to get to where they are with the raw power of friendship. Pom basically exudes friendship power by existing, probably why she mystically contaminated a hamster, dog and cat in the previous world she was in. That it culminated in super powers was not my problem as it was not my world to worry about aside from possible dimensional invaders. “It seems Shanty is taken to trying to learn how to do a flying slash from Kenshin, it’s not going too well… despite the fact that Kenshin doesn’t have to do it himself and could simply just instruct her how to as he’s a talented enough teacher even if his body is currently not up to the task.” Mew was keeping an eye on the situation in Valora and watching the resting heroes still picking themselves up from the complete mess and uncertainty that is current Illusio. “Should we really let the other Gilgamesh roam around, we could just kick him back into the void like he wants with his buddy.” “No, let him explore this world a bit, he’s much better than the other Gilgamesh and won’t try to kill everyone to make heroes rise up against him to save the world from an even greater darkness than he.” I grinned a little bit at the idea percolating in my head. “In fact he’ll just steal or fight for every great weapon that isn’t nailed down or doesn’t have an owner… which is why I’ll figure out a way to get him to meet an Aegislash eventually.” “Oh lord of all… an Aegislash, really now?” It seems Mew has guessed where I was going with that. I mean an Aegislash Excalipoor wouldn’t be impossible to cause and effect into existence right? I might actually give him an Aegislash Excalibur, one with an exceedingly nasty temper about wielding itself if I was feeling like a jerk… some other fun ideas were coming to mind about this too! This other Gilgamesh would have to actually work for it though. “Anyways, who wants Quiche?” I asked as I levitated several tray loads of quiche with Fairy Type energy.