//------------------------------// // Mother's Love // Story: Thugs and Brushes // by WezzaHD //------------------------------// The Scolipede groggily woke up from her sleep. The last thing she remembered was being in her Pokeball and now she was in a forest. She looked around, finding nothing. She was alone. She couldn't see Ryan, she couldn't see Lucky and she couldn't... "The egg!" She thought to herself before she began frantically looking around. "Where is it? Where did it go?! Why isn't it here?!" She tears the underbrush, the trees, the ground before beginning to cry.”I’m a horrible mother!” A rock hits her forehead. She whips to face the scarved smeargle who threw it.”...Jun?” She frowned. “Is that you? Why did you throw a rock at me?”, she whines. The white scarved Smeargle simply motions her to follow her. It disappears into the underbrush. Venom stares at the spot where it was… until another rock hits her. “Okay. Okay. I’m coming.” Now Venom was in the lab with her egg in front of Greenfluff, who stood behind a chair for his own safety. "Why did you have my egg?" She hissed. "Well... I... You see..." He was stuttering nervously. “Well?” “It’s…” He cleared his throat and regained his composure. "I found it in the forest lying around. It looked nothing like I had ever seen, and there appeared to be no nest anywhere so I took it back to the lab with me." The Scolipede still had narrowed eyes. "Venom, just forgive the guy." Ryan rolled his eyes. "Your egg is fine, so just get it over with." "Alright." Venom sighed at her trainer's brutal honesty. They gave the griffon a brief overview about their world, about Pokemon and about humans. Greenfluff was very intrigued by all of this, as well as being quite confused. "So you none of you have any idea how you got here?" "No." Ryan shrugged. "I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this." Light said. "I just haven't found it yet." "Whatever." Ryan looked out the window with a bored look on his face. "just figure out a way to get us back. There are important things I need to do." "Well you'll need to stay somewhere until we can figure all of this out." Greenfluff thought for a moment. "I don't really know many Griffins that would be willing to let people stay in their house unless they were being paid bits. Not to mention how many of you there are." "We'll find our own place." The Scrafty walked towards the door, followed by Gilda and his Pokemon. “By the way.” Venom said. “I forgot to mention this but I was led here by…” “Former comrade Jun!” They heard Guardian bellow outside, as he held a Smeargle dangling by its tail.         “So about that whiskey,” The unrepentant Smeargle asks the stunned Griffon.         “...”, the Griffon turns toward the place with the smell of food, which Akira assumes to be a kitchen "This is diluted right?" The Griffon simply gave him the whiskey, not answering the question as all he heard was "Smeargle, Smeargle, Smeargle." He chugs it down in one go."Ahh, that's the stuff." Akira sighed in relief. He promptly threw up violently and grumbled,”Yeah. No. Damn it. Why am I such a lightweight? I thought pokemon had freakishly high metabolisms.” "What do you think it is?" The female griffon asked, slightly repulsed by the vomit. "I don't know, maybe it's some sort of dog?" The male one replied. "Dogs don't have paintbrushes for tails and say 'Smeargle'." "Maybe it's some kind of Diamond Dog with a speech impediment?" "That seems to be the only reasonable explanation we have right now. Smarter too by the looks of it. It’s disinfecting it’s wounds." "And then there's..." They both looked up at the Smeargle- sized hole in their roof. "That." The male griffon turned to his wife. "I've got nothing." "You think it has any bits?" "I don't see any pockets." "Maybe it's some sort of unknown animal and it's worth a lot of bits?" "I don't think we can sell it. It was smart enough to sit at a table and drink our whiskey, so it's sentient." “What table? It’s not sitting at a table. It’s sitting ON the table! Which was carved by my grandfather too!” "I can hear you both you know." Akira muttered, not that they could understand him. "Ugh, I'd leave if I had any idea where I was." He looks down at the pile of vomit and sighs,”I should probably clean that up. Come to think of it, I’d probably sell myself too if I was a rare creature.” "So this place is called Griffinstone?" Ryan questioned, trying not to look at Jun with scrutiny. He could see that she was trying not to look at him, averting her gaze to the ground as she sat on Venom’s back, holding the egg while Lucky was perched on the Scolipede’s head. It wasn't even her fault, but there were too many memories that she carried. "Yes." Gilda grumbled. "And we're in some place called Equestria?" "Yes." She spoke with more irritation than before. "What rock have you been living under?" "I just woke up in a place I know nothing about with my guide being annoying creature I barely know anything about so if you could just get on with it instead of talking shit to me then that'd be great." "Hey!" The griffoness whipped around and glared at Ryan. "Watch your mouth!" "Oh like you're going to do anything about it." The Scrafty rolled his eyes. The two locked eyes, daring the other to throw the first punch. "Ryan, are there not more pressing matters at the moment than starting a fight?" Light went inbetween the two. "I believe we should move hastily, and that Nincada might still be following me..." "Fine." They both said. She showed them everything, from the statue to her stand with the griffin scones. They went back to her house, where she let them stay. She had found mysterious creatures in the woods, and maybe if she was lucky enough they would somehow earn her enough bits to  leave. Celestia knew she needed all the luck she could get after her only friend ditched her. Although it wasn't anything new for her today, another look of confusion dawned upon her face when she saw a large hole on the roof of her parent's house. The door opened as she and the Pokemon stepped (besides Venom and Guardian) in the front room to see what looked like a diamond dog in a beret cleaning up a pile of vomit. "Is that another Pokeyman?" She asked Ryan. "Yeah, it's a Smeargle." "I'm actually a 'he'." Akira lowered his glass and stepped off the table. "And I used to be human. And you should teach her to pronounce it correctly." "You too?" Ryan questioned. "Yeah..." He stared at the Scrafty. "Hey, have we met?" "I don't know, maybe? You do sound familiar." "What's your name?" "Name's Ryan, and you are?" The Smeargle's eyes widened as he heard Ryan give his name. "Hey, I said and you a-" “I am going to enjoy kicking your metaphorical ass up and down this lane.” Akira cracks his neck.”Come to think of it, I’m going to be doing that literally too.” “What the hell do you-” Ryan began to say, but stopped in his tracks. Kind of mandatory when a mop handle hits you in the male parts and launches you up through the hole in the roof. “I’ve still got the skills”, Akira smirks,”To pay the bills.” In an astounding show of athleticism, he pole vaults out using nothing but the mop.