Dear Daisy
As the League... soldiers, I think, fan out, I see a couple of pokémon among them, a pair of Bisharp, and a Nuzleaf, the latter of which leaps into the trees to act as lookout.
Unfortunately I have no way to tell if these guys are League but I’ll just have to trust them on it and roll with it. One thing that we can do is request that the girls and I take the Radiotite back. That way even if they are Chainers they can’t get their prize without blowing their cover.
I go up to the nearest person and make my request. “We should be able to get it back safely, the only caveat is that the containment chamber might still be wrecked, but we have suits for it.”
The soldier shakes his head. “No, sorry. We’re going to wait until the researchers get here. We’re not releasing the pokémon to anyone else.” he says, eyes flinty.
“Fine... I’m just saying we’ve been duped by the Chainers before, I wouldn’t call this a success until it’s all over. Slimy bunch of guys but they’re smart.” I look to the blasted tree with Chainer painted all over the remains. “Most of the time.”
The soldier nods. “Understandable, but still. You need any medical attention, by the way?” he asks, eyes flicking over me. It sounds like he doesn’t think I do, and I don’t, but still.
“Nah, we’re good. The suits protected against any lingering radiation, and overall his pokémon are the most hurt due to... whatever psychopathic brain rewiring they did to them. Oh, yeah, that Smokroach is wild, and there was a Hostileon but a Ranger is getting it medical attention. The Machamp is the biggest problem. So I guess if you just take the Smokroach back to Rustoil that’ll be it for that end.”
He looks down at the Smokroach, which is sitting by my foot. “Huh. Seems to like you.” the soldier comments. Looking down, I raise an eyebrow at the Smokroach, who is chewing apart a piece of plastic and rubber from the Chainer’s suit remains.
“Well, it would be nice to have another Bug type on the team...” I kneel down to the Smokroach like earlier and address it. “So how about it? Wanna come along? Fair warning, we won’t be headed to Rustoil for a while so you won’t be ‘home’ for a while if you join.”
The Smokroach looks up at me, still chewing, giving no other signs of life, let alone interest one way or another.
“Uh... is that a no?” I honestly can’t tell. The Smokroach makes a small shake of the head. “So... No that’s not a no, or yes it is a no?”
The Smokroach just stares at me, giving a slow blink as it finishes off the scrap of rubber. “Smok.”
I‘ll be honest, I thought it would be easier to understand pokémon. “Well, we’ll head out once the researchers have the Radiotite and if you want to come with... just follow us I suppose. If you wanna go back to Rustoil you should stick with the League guys.”
“Smok.” I wish I had a pokémon that could translate like Rocket’s Meowth. Speaking of... I’ve seen James, and he basically turned the Rockets into good guys... so what did Meowth do without a life of crime? Go back to the Fuchsia City streets?
As I’m pondering, the sound of footsteps comes through the forest, shortly after a four-tone signal comes from the trees, presumably the Nuzleaf notifying the soldiers. The scientists break the treeline, all suited up. Within minutes, they’ve collected the pokémon, and are heading back. The League is about ready to leave as well, the two Bisharp having loaded the Machamp into the VTOL and then ignored the Smokroach, who doesn’t seem to want to go with them, I guess. The soldiers load back up, and begin to lift off.
We decide to follow the researchers back and hand the suits over once we’ve returned to the facility. “So was anything else stolen, or just Radiotite?”
“Just some lab equipment, but most of it was too damaged by the EMP from Radiotite’s attacks to salvage. We’ll have to order some new machines, but we’ll be fine. Hey, how far are you headed?” the researcher asks.
“We’re planning on going through the desert to get our third badges, but once our league challenge is up we’ll probably explore Otaria quite a bit. Is there something we could deliver for you or such?”
“Well, if you’re headed towards the Russet Plateau, it’d be nice if you took a package of hardcopy notes and test results up with you. There’s a naturally radioactive cavern under the plateau’s base, and some of our research is into the effects of extremely long-term exposure.
“Alright, Russet Plateau? That’s...” I check the éTech map for the location and see that it’s actually a League town, and has a Gym. We’d end up there one way or another. “Yeah, we can do that I think.”
The researcher hands me the package and I take it, sticking it in my bag that magically (or rather, technologically) shrinks it down along with anything else I put in it. I wonder how that works, but however it happens it’s very efficient and explains how the bag in the games can hold so much stuff. But really... to me it just looks like a standard satchel. Single strap for the shoulder and a fabric bag. At least... it looks and kinda feels like fabric.
Either way, the package fits perfectly and I’m ready. As long as nothing preoccupies us again, next stop is Crevasse Village.
We end up walking the rest of the day, stopping at another rest stop, and continuing on the next day. According to the map, we’re about... fourteen days from Crevasse Village by this road. There’s a potential short cut through the woods, but there’d be the risk of no campsites and hostile pokémon aplenty to deal with. I decide I shouldn’t be the one to choose and ask the girls. “Two weeks of safe walking, or take a risk and only go for a few more days?”
Twilight thinks, and votes the shortcut. “There’ll be more chances to collect rarer and more powerful pokémon, and train our own, something very unlikely to happen while on the road.”
Rarity shakes her head. “But at the same time, if we run into something really dangerous, we won’t be anywhere near a place to aid our pokémon, or save us if we get injured!” she counters.
The two debate back and forth, but both have solid points. With a sigh, I take out my éTech and get a RNG app going. “Odd number we go Shortcut. Even number, we go the long way.”
The app gives us a twenty-three. “Okay, shortcut it is.” Twilight says, sounding happy she’d won the small argument.
Rarity simply sighs and readjusts her bag on her back. “Very well, forest it is... but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I roll my eyes. “We’ll remind you to rub it in our faces if it comes to that, but come on, we aren’t going to be totally alone. Well we will but we won’t be going in totally blind.” I access my éTech again and open up the map. Once I get the name of the forest we’re going through, Midia Forest, go figure, I check it against Chatter. “We’ll see what advice other trainers have about the place. See? It’s dangerous, but not unprepared.” I feel pretty smart right now. “Okay... let’s see...”
First post:
Lots of bigger pokémon the deeper you go. Lots of tough pokémon. Good training area, but pakc lots of revives n stuff
The second is a little better, and doesn’t make Twilight wince from spelling mistakes:
Be careful about Nidos. they have dens all over the forest. Also Victreebel started growing there, and they eat people no joke.
“Alright, so we should put these Repels to use if we get in trouble... And we still have those Max Revives from earlier so we’ll be okay for a bit. Rarity, if you have any Sitrus berries planted I suggest we use them instead of potions as they’ll likely do more good than what we can legally buy right now.”
Rarity, in typical fashion for a decent gardener, harvests her berry pots and gets about five to six berries per plant. Unfortunately I was the only one with Sitrus berries, her plants having mainly Pecha and Oran. Still we have literal handfulls of Oran berries so that should be fine.
I hand Rarity my remaining Sitrus berry to grow for later. “Okay, so we’re set for healing and restorative items, we have Repel, and Escape Rope, not to mention some decent Fire types and Geodude knows Dig in an emergency. I say we’re set. Anything I’m forgetting?”
The two think. “Nothing I can come up with, Anthony.” Twilight says. “Oh, and we should probably make sure to have this app I found, for the éTechs, it makes it work as a flashlight.” she says, pointing to, well, a flashlight app. Sure enough, it makes the screen turn into a super-bright light source.
Rarity and I get the app, luckily free as with most ‘adventure utility’ apps and we consider ourselves ready. After that, we simply turn to the forest, and step off the path.
Almost instantly, it’s darker than nighttime. Indistinct shapes make up everything, to the point that it’s hard to tell if something near or far, and the flashlight app becomes invaluable to us all, as the color is adjustable. Something I remember from my science classes is that red light doesn’t ruin your night vision, and we all use that in order to see clearly.
Twilight takes a bit of convincing that light color affects eyesight but when she tries to use a spring-green color to match the forest, she quickly agrees she saw better with red. “Science.” I say. “Isn’t it amazing what you can learn?”
“Well, pony eyes are likely different from human eyes so it probably isn’t exactly something I’d send to Celestia along with my actual discoveries.”
“Still, human eyes and pony eyes are different enough that ponies see a color humans can’t. What did you call it? Octarine?”
“Mmhmm.” Twilight says, confirming my accuracy. “It’s the color of unicorn magic.”
The conversation continues and so far there aren’t any real issues. No giant pokémon at least. Rarity gets caught on a branch, but it doesn’t tear her clothes so we don’t have to stop, but when she does scrape her pants she makes us all wait while she gets out her sewing kit.
A growl issues forth from the undergrowth nearby, making all of us jump.
My natural instinct is to grab a ball off my belt and Twilight does the same, though I’m not sure whose ball I grabbed until I throw it out and Chantlette materializes. Twilight’s choice, or lackthereof, is Wispeery.
From the undergrowth comes... an Ivysaur?! Hell yeah!
I make the command first and order a Hex attack. Chantlette pauses, taking in the situation but follows through.
The Ivysaur shakes its head, taking the attack before extending vines and moving to strike with them, until Twilight calls for a Night Shade, the attack catching the Ivysaur off-guard.
“Confusion!” I decide to use a Super-effective move. I’d rather come out of this with less damage than a new Pokémon.
The Ivysaur takes the hit again, and cries out, resuming its Vine Whip attempt, smacking Chantlette across the face before grabbing her and rearing back to throw her.
I make a tactical recall, but the vines seem to prevent it, the wrap effect in place. Damnit, uh... Litwick! “Flame Burst!” I yell as I toss out my Ghost type.
Litwick not only begins letting out enough light to actually let us see in this gloomy forest, but also lets loose a blast of fire that wraps around the Ivysaur and blasts it. The grass-type cries out in pain and rage, and lets loose a torrent of razor-sharp leaves. No need to guess what move that is.
“Fire Spin, burn those leaves up. Chantlette, Confusion again!”
My pokémon leap into action, metaphorically speaking, and the Ivysaur tries sending out a cloud of noxious purple pollen, while Twilight orders another Night Shade.
The pollen falls onto Chantlette, and Litwick gets scraped by a leaf but does manage to burn the rest. After a bit more punishment I recall Chantlette, not wanting her to be knocked out so easily. She’s definitely poisoned right now.
It takes Twilight sending out Pignite, but the Ivysaur eventually gives up and saunters away. It wasn’t that badly hurt from what I can tell but it was just fed up with us. Damn... I can’t imagine what it would take to catch that thing. It must be high level.
Rarity hands me a Pecha berry which I feed to Chantlette immediately and she’s cured. Luckily nobody on our end got that badly hurt, Chantlette being more caught off-guard than damaged by the vines, and Litwick took that leaf like any fire-type would, and is decently healthy still. But if it weren’t for Pignite I doubt the Ivysaur would have given up.
“Still... not bad, a close scrape, but not bad.”
The girls agree and Rarity replies with “Speaking of scrapes, if I can repair my pants now...” She gets out her sewing kit again and this time there’s no interruption. “There. Much better. Oh I can still see where I mended it. I’ll need some new pants later...”
“Fine, but for now let’s get through this forest. Chatter says it took this guy about only two days to get through.” Admittedly I saw his team, and he’s higher level than all my stuff combined and he already had his sixth badge... but we can manage, right?
Nevertheless I feel fairly confident we can make it. It’ll just take us a bit longer. The éTech, in it’s infinite pre-programmed wisdom, calculates it’ll take at least a week to get through. Ouch. “Well, it’s still about half the time it would take for the safe route.”
“You say that so dismissively.” Rarity comments as we walk. “You know this is dangerous, we’ve seen it’s dangerous... there’s still time to go back and just walk a bit further.”
“A week of walking is not a ‘bit’ Rarity.” I reply. “And I’m sure we’ll be alright as long as we stay smart about what we’re doing and keep moving.”
She gives a long, theatrical sigh, rolling her eyes. “As you say, Anthony. Either way, we should get moving, no matter the direction we choose.” she says.
“Agreed, now are you finished mourning your pants yet? We need to get going before it gets even darker.”
She sighs in response again. “I do not mourn clothing, though it is a shame. Yes, I’m finished. It’s just a rough fix. Perhaps if I had better light or you held your flashlight steady it would be better but... C’est la vie. Let’s move on.”
It’s a bit more walking but eventually we decide we need a rest. My éTech’s satellite clock says it’s afternoon and we were wrong: It really can’t get much darker in the forest. This means that our internal clocks will be the ones deciding when to sleep and when to move. I just hope our internal clocks are in sync or this could be a problem.
There’s some noises from the local pokémon but they either don’t want to bother with us or are too far away to notice us for now. Our best bet is to stay quiet and hope we don’t run into anything like that Ivysaur.
Most of our brief rest is spent in silence as we just rest our legs, the girls opting to switch back to ponies simply so they can move longer distances. I’m given the option of becoming a pony as well to help with travel but a stink eye is all it takes to dissuade Twilight’s offer.
We’re preparing to leave when we hear a hiss-click, coming from just above my head height, followed by something streaking out of the canopy and slamming into Twilight. The pony cries out in surprise and fear, and we get a glimpse of an Eeveelution... specifically another Arachneon.
That would be the downside to being a pony. You are smaller and therefore more likely to be considered prey or competition. I toss out Geodude and he gets to work on defending Twilight without need of an order. I just focus on keeping my éTech aimed at the Arachneon so he can see it.
My pokémon swats the offending pokémon off of Twilight, and the Arachneon rounds on Geodude. Its red eyes gleam in light of my éTech, and I’m struck with a pang of irrational fear. The wild pokémon puts on a burst of speed, snarling and snapping at Geodude, and I call for him to use Rock Throw, the super-effective move should at least stun the thing.
Geodude rips up a chunk of rock, and chucks it at the Arachneon, who nimbly dodges the attack before racing forward, but not at my pokémon. Instead, it’s heading for Twilight again, who is only now starting to get back up, shakily.
I toss out Gulpar and hope the two of them can manage to hold it off. The Depth Ball opens and out comes Gulpar, swimming in mid-air as usual, who eyes the situation but waits for an order. Geodude doesn’t wait, though, and swats the Arachneon back on his own.
“Bite!” I order Gulpar and he goes for it. “Twilight, you okay?” I’m having a hard time trailing Arachneon with my light and it’d be nice to have Twilight to help light up the place with her magic.
Twilight, doing her best to get out of the way, is lifted by Rarity’s magic as Gulpar opens its huge mouth, starry-looking inner mouth dazzling the Arachneon for the few precious seconds needed for the eel to complete the attack, jaws wrapping around the Eeveelution.
I come up with a very quick way to end this little battle and shout it out before I can really think about what I’m ordering. “Gulpar, Swallow!”
The small, struggling bulge of the Arachneon begins to move faster, until I see a vague movement, like a second jaw, inside of the Gulpar’s mouth, and the Arachneon goes still. Then, it begins to slide back into the Gulpar’s body, becoming visible as it passes into the see-through parts of the eel-pokémon. The Arachneon’s neck is clearly broken, blood smeared on the insides of the Gulpar’s throat.
I decide to recall Gulpar so we don’t have to watch while he digests. My stomach is a bit turned but I do manage to say that “Well, it was either it, or us and I’d prefer it not be us.” I figure it’d be best if we each had one of our pokémon out each at least for immediate protection and Twilight chooses Lichengst, I pick Ghowl, and Rarity already has Glorious strapped to her back.
I notice that, on the back of Twilight’s neck, are a pair of spots of blood, fairly large and oddly colored in the red light of our éTechs. Ghowl’s body actually looks like it’s glowing a bloody red in the faint light, and seems to radiate it in all directions.
“Uh, you get bit Twi?”
“I- y-yeah.” she says, stammering a bit. She wipes at her forehead, as if hot, but the dark is actually a little cold.
“You’re poisoned I’d say. Arachneon likely gets its name from being spider-like so we should treat this like a spider bite. Problem is, I don’t recall the procedure.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m f-fine.” she says, looking at me with slightly glazed eyes. There’s no way that’s ‘alright’, and even Rarity is trying to get her attention. Unfortunately, Twilight doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to her, instead rubbing her muzzle with a forehoof.
I sigh. “Rarity, hold her down while I look this up.” Thank god for world-wide wifi. I pull out my éTech and check for ‘Arachneon bite’.
The notation on it says that ‘poison fang’ isn’t even a possibility, but the data mentions that the tail’s spines are actually poisonous. That means it’s not the bites that’re poisoned, but rather another injury I haven’t seen yet. But how do I help her? I search the internet again, this time for ‘Arachneon poison’ “Rarity, you look for where the wound is while I look for how to treat it.”
The search this time lists it as a ‘standard pokémon-based venom.’ It also mentions that standard antidotes for trainers and any poison-curing method for Pokémon should work without any problems, provided it doesn’t take more than an hour or two to get used. Apparently, waiting more than an hour or so can cause permanent nerve damage. But it’s listed as a ‘minor chance’ side-effect otherwise. That’s a minor side-effect?
I take a Pecha berry from Rarity’s bag and tell Twilight to eat it. “Hopefully your pony physiology should make that work good enough. Good thing you guys heal fast.”
Twilight shivers as she takes a bite of the staunchly sweet Pecha berry, chewing and swallowing, then coughs, and collapses, shivering and shaking, sweat pouring off her. Damnit, why didn’t that work? The only thing I can think of that might be causing her to still be poisoned is either she can’t use Pecha Berries, which is silly considering she made use of Antidotes earlier, or what’ever poisoned her is still doing it.
Wait, the Arachneon’s tail is made of spines, like quills... like on a porcupine. Which are barbed.
“Rarity! Have you found the wound like I asked yet?” Honestly I trust her eyes in this darkness more than I trust my own. Rarity snaps out of her shock of Twilight’s collapse and levitates her éTech over Twilight, switching it to white light. It hurts our eyes a bit, but it’s a lot more illuminating. “Find it? We’re looking for a-”
Right there, sticking barely out of Twilight’s haunch, are the broken ends of at least three long, hollow quills. A quick check of the éTech reveals that yes, this is a fairly common problem, and to also check for ones broken flush with the skin, or just under it.
“Rarity, think you can get those out of her? They’re barbed, so don’t pull them straight out or it’ll get worse.” I am fully relying on Rarity now since I know for a fact I know nothing about what needs doing and hope Rarity’s extensive list of talents includes light surgery or something.
Rarity nods, gulping once, focusing her magic to three points, a few tiny specks of light flitting over Twilight’s coat, pushing down the fur nearby them. Twilight winces, still shivering, until the tiny orbs of light resolve into four more magical grips. Rarity whispers something to Twilight, who winces, before the quills are pulled out. To my vague horror, the needles slide out, long and still wickedly sharp, and one is at least two inches long before the break, and another is almost four inches long. Twilight, for her part, doesn’t cry out, merely whimpers piteously. As much as I chide them for being so unprepared, I can’t say I blame her. The quills look like jumbo-sized needles from my nightmares, complete with barbed tips fit for a torture device.
This time, she’s able to eat a Pecha Berry, but there’s no way we’re going anywhere for a little while, not with her so injured. As much as I’d like to suggest a potion, I’m not sure it’d be 100% effective, given that Twilight’s still shivering a bit after eating two of the poison-healing berries, though not traumatically.
“So... I guess Rarity’s right. We should just get out of here now and take the boring path. Boring is boring, but boring is also safe.”
“Finally realized that such decisions should not be made with a simple coin flip?” Rarity asks, still mothering Twilight a bit.
“Yeah yeah... You’re right and I’m wrong, now let’s get Twilight out of here.” I get Ghowl to fly up through the treetops and find us the shortest route out of the woods, while I get Pignite to help me in carrying Twilight, myself supporting her back while her pokémon takes her front.
In a few moments, Ghowl soundlessly breaks through the canopy and simply circles around. She hoots once, then lands on my shoulder, giving a small shrug. Checking my eTech doesn’t help either, as it simply shows I’m in Midia Forest, on the west side, and somewhere off the path. The estimate puts us three days from the nearest place with a pokémon center, and that’s a ranger station. Heading back to town, it seems, would be just as arduous, and I’m not sure where, precisely, the road is, other than ‘vaguely east’. The GPS doesn’t show what direction I’m facing, either, so that’s no help.
Rarity sighs. “Is this the part where we just start yelling for help and hoping someone hears us?”
“No, it’s the part where we think up a real plan. Not all of my plans have been awful, just most of them.”
“I’m just saying-”
“Say nothing, I’m trying to think! Okay, here, we figure out a way to tell which direction we’re facing, spray ourselves with repel and head east, the quickest route out of here. It’s the afternoon. And if the sun sets in the West...”
“Well, I’m sure your Ghowl can point us east, then, as that’s where the moon would rise from, right?” she asks. At my nods, she gestures for Ghowl to get moving. “It’s the fastest way, then.”
“Ironic.” I say. “We tried to take the fastest way earlier and it found us in this mess... now we’re trusting the fast way again and hoping we make it out of here with Twilight’s nervous system intact.”
“Well, I don’t see you coming up with a brilliant way to find the road!” she counters, “It isn’t as if we can teleport there; Twilight’s the only one of us who can do so with any distance!” she sounds irate, and I understand why, but it’s still pushing my buttons.
“Right back at you! You’d be dead a while ago without me, you wanna say this is my fault? Fine, what’s your genius plan? Oh wait, It’s the same as mine!”
Rarity begins to shout back, until purple-pink glows encase both our mouths, and we’re both silenced by Twilight. “Please... I’m feeling better... already. It’s j-just really painful... that’s all.” she says, standing on wobbly legs, and she’s clearly favoring her right back leg, the one whose haunch was injured. “Just... let’s keep going, otherwise we’ll j-just be stuck. Any bird pokémon c-can find north, and we’ll head that way towards c-Crevasse Village. I’m getting better, I just need to exercise care with my l-leg.” she says, blinking every time she stutters.
“I’ve been a lot of things to you Twilight, but today I’m going to be your parent. No. We’re going back. If it takes us a week to get through here when all this happened in a few hours, it’s not safe. We’re going to take the long way.”
“It’s the same d-distance to Crevasse Village. I checked it on m-my éTech. We may as well finish our journey, r-rather than w-waste it.”
“Fine, but you’re taking the middle.” I reply firmly. “You’re in no condition to be at the front and we are not letting you take the back to be picked off. It’s the rule of nature to go after the sick and injured for the easiest kill, and I’m not sending you home in a body bag. Or worse, in pieces.”
Twilight nods. “Unders-standable. I think we should also have at l-least two pokémon out each, for safety. Anthony, you should s-send out Litwick and have Ghowl out, for light, Rarity, you should h-have Glorious and Ledian, for the s-same reasons, and I’ll have Pignite and Wispeery out.” she says. As she talks, she sends out Wispeery.
Given that half the pokémon she mentioned were already out, Rarity and I toss ours out, Litwick hopping on my shoulder and Ghowl taking the other one. Glorious unsheathes from Rarity’s back and floats behind her as Pignite and Wispeery taking either of Twilight’s sides keeping the injured pony surrounded on all sides. Ledian seems the least comfortable with the situation but soldiers on.
Our little circle around Twilight never falters as we all keep pace with each other and we’re left relatively alone. A few sounds scare the heck out of me every now and then but other than our nerves being on constant high alert we’re mostly safe... though this could just be the calm before the storm.
Along the way, we see other pokémon in the gloom of the dark forest, but none challenge our convoy. Eventually, we wander far enough and are getting tired, that we come across a huge clearing, easily a hundred feet across. A single large boulder sits in the middle of the clearing, covered in moss. The sky above is just turning to night, stars twinkling gently in the gathering dusk.
This seems like a good place to rest for a bit so we all sit down. “Sorry about yelling at you Rarity.” I saw, taking a deep breath. “I was stressed.”
Rarity ponders my apology for a minute but accepts it. “I understand, and I admit that, with the information we have about the world compared to yours you have kept us relatively safe... But that does not entitle you to be the boss of us, this is a team, and while you may lead us your word is not final and you need to learn to accept that you are not in charge.”
“Fine. Well it’s getting dark out, what do you think we should do? Sleep or keep going after a brief rest?”
“I think sleep is in order,” Rarity says, “Twilight could use the rest, and so could I.”
“Alright... but we should probably have a lookout guarding us just in case. I don’t think many of the natives would like us sleeping in their forest.”
Rarity nods. She begins to speak with her Honedge, as Twilight and I set up tents. Rarity is still helping as she speaks, driving the small metal stakes with precision even when her attention and gaze is pointed elsewhere, and the sword-pokémon keeps caressing her with its long banner-arm. It’s a little unnerving, actually. Still, it’s very helpful, and we get ready quickly. Rarity speaks up. “I think we can leave the Ghost-types on watch. Glorious says that it doesn’t need to sleep often, and Wispeery can keep them company.”
“Alright. And not much gets by Ghowl so she can watch from... well, wherever she feels like really.”
Ghowl rises and glides from my shoulder to the little group of Ghosts, before landing on a tentpole, using the T-shaped bit as a roost. Still as silent as ever there’s not even a click of her talons on the plasticy material.
I get into my hammock and close my eyes, hoping I don’t have to open them again for a long while. I’m worn out from all the excitement. Sleep comes almost instantly...
When I wake up I note that, by the gray in the sky, it’s that magical time of morning just before sunrise. Magical, because there must be some reason I’m awake at this god-awful hour... wincing, I just lay back and try to sleep when I hear a noise.
“Bella~~some!” Looking up and unzipping the entrance to my hammock-tent, I look out at the mossy rock, and see a Bellossom standing atop it. The sun is just beginning to send its first few rays across the land, and lights up the Grass type from behind perfectly. Suddenly, there’s rustlings in all directions, and I realize that a huge portion of the field is covered in Oddishes, each burrowing peacefully into the ground. A few look odd, being decidedly redder than the rest and having their leaves in the shape of ‘earmuffs’ or ‘headphones’ instead, and are unburrowing instead. A series of fast shapes flit in from the tree line, and eight hummingbird-looking pokémon line up, each slightly higher than the last. It only takes me a moment to realize why, as each one’s wings are holding a tone at a different note along the octal scale.
An Exploud stomps out of the forest, standing next to the rock, a pair of Whismur following and sitting down, and several grass types filter in as well. It only takes me a few moments to realize why the positioning of the rock felt odd, as I realize the Bellossom is using it as a conductor’s stand, and holds out a long stick to use as a baton.
I get comfortable and wait for the little show to start. I’m still tired but this has my attention.
The Bellossom points to each of the hummingbirds in turn, who beats their wings faster for a moment to sound their note louder, checking each one for being on tune, and the Exploud has its mouth open, catching each tiny note and feeding it back to the clearing at full volume. One final hummingbird pokémon, larger, less dumpy and more streamlined, and begins to beat its wings to produce sounds like a violin, cello, and drum set all in one. Then, wonder of wonders, I see a small, humanoid pokémon step up just a single ledge below the Bellossom, looking like a small child with a series of notes streaming off as its green hair.
A Meoletta! Man, if it wouldn’t disturb the musical I’d try to catch it right now!
The pokémon orchestra is finally rounded out by a pair of Farfetched landing, pulling out actual violins of their own and using their leeks as bows, and they all begin to play.
Many of the pokémon are clearly just there as spectators, but the Oddish-looking pokémon are joining, the hummingbirds are playing notes that sound like most of the orchestra between the nine of them, and the Exploud is swaying gently as it transmits the sound for the entire forest to hear, the Meloetta singing oddly familiar lyrics.
After a few minutes, the performance is over and I give a light golf clap, the Meoletta bowing to its small audience, and I note that the girls slept through the whole thing. Only our pokémon and I are awake, still, we’re very happy.
Soon though, drowsiness catches up with me again and, still hearing the beautiful song in my head, I drift off again.
The sun is high in the sky, likely almost noon, before I notice it through the thick canopy around the clearing and I wake up, seeing the ponies chatting over hot cups of coffee, likely having used their own mix each as Rarity seems awake and chipper while Twilight definitely seems under the effects of near hyperactivity induced by all the chemicals in her instant coffee mix. With a sigh I slip out of my hammock and sit down to join them. “So I take it Twi’s feeling better?”
“Yup!” she replies, nodding her head energetically. “Never felt better!”
“That’s probably the coffee, but if you say so.”
“I’m glad that we managed to get this far. Sorry about yesterday though, I hope I wasn’t much trouble.” Twilight says, smiling.
I wave it off. “You didn’t get stuck on purpose, so... water under the bridge. So what are we talking about?” I figure I’ll tell about the little performance this morning when I get the chance. Maybe I should have recorded it...
Rarity looks over to me. “Well, actually, we both had the strangest, but most peaceful dream this morning. We were discussing it to see how similar it was... Is there a keeper of dreams in this world?” she asks.
“Yeah, Cresselia. Darkrai deals with the nightmares. And this dream wouldn’t happen to have involved a bunch of pokémon singing and making music, would it?”
“Er, I’m not sure about pokémon, but yes. It was such a lovely piece...” she says. Given that there’s very little sign of the whole event at this point, I can understand why they thought it was a dream. I wonder if that happens every morning here, or only on certain mornings? Or just at random?
Either way, “It’s noon and we should probably get going again. We still have a lot of forest to get through.”
The girls nod, and we take about ten minutes to take down the tents and pack away breakfast, and only after we’re done actually eating breakfast. Once more, we get set for the dark forest, stopping when I see one of those Oddish-like pokémon go wandering by, the most ‘I have no fucks to give’ look on its face. Every other one I’d seen this morning had the same look.
I figure we might as well leave it be and continue on. If it doesn’t care, then we don’t either I suppose. Then again that could be just it’s default expression. Either way it’s not being a bother so we silently agree to just pass by each other and not interact. I do hope to get through this place fast after all.
We make our way back into the forest, and begin heading north. For the first hour or so, with all our pokémon out, there’s little that disturbs us, beyond a couple of territorial Nidos that get taken down easily. The ground is getting rockier and hillier, and we keep coming across remnants of various areas, burned to the ground. And then...
Then we come to what at first seems like another clearing, until I recognize the remnants of a house, partially overgrown, the blackened wood and stone underneath the obvious remnants of a burned house. Looking around, I shiver a bit, and the oddly geometric shapes start making more sense, the shadows of a dead town seeming to pull closer all around. Ghowl moves closer along my shoulder to my head, evidently as spooked as I am. A mournful noise fills the empty, burned village, and I look around for its source, Twilight and Rarity doing the same. Finally, we realize there’s a tower in the center of town, still standing, a bell tower. H- how did I not see that walking in? Either way, we should explore it.
I mean, as long as we’re prepared... which we seem to be, considering this far we’ve actually had no problems at all with our entire teams out and ready, aside from obvious exceptions like swimmers and young, our team is full of pretty decent escorts so I’d say we’re ready for some exploring. Heck, we might even be able to snag some unburned loot from the houses maybe.
“Alright, let’s check it out. Just keep a lookout for anything suspicious.”
“A burned down village in the middle of a trailless forest... sounds like a great place to explore.” Rarity says, smiling.
Twilight agrees in similar fashion and we begin walking forward, more or less straight to that interesting bell tower. So far there’s just burned village but there’s probably something important here, right? I intend to find it, and the best place to check is the biggest building, which happens to be the bell tower.
We make our way there, the only oddity to the ruins being that there seems to be no pokémon here. Small puffs of ash rise with our every step, and I realize there’s no signs of rain here, but also no sign of the sun, just heavy gray clouds overhead. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea... Ah, where’s my sense of adventure? It’s probably nothing, just a large lingering ash cloud or something, no big deal.
We walk until we pass a ruined house, a crunch from underfoot catching my attention. Moving my foot, I look down and see... a doll. Or part of one. My shoe broke the plastic of the face, leaving it cracked, broken. It is, otherwise, oddly pristine amidst all this ruin. The body from the shoulder down on one side and the armpit down is gone completely, besides some stuffing leaking out onto the ground.
Oh man, I just remembered something really funny. ‘You are a diamond in the rough, like a flower surrounded by.... shrapnel an’ stuff.’ Hahahaha, oh Scooter... Okay so it’s a doll and not a flower but still, it works because it’s a pretty thing amidst a bunch of garbage. Well, broken now, but still.
Laughing lightly to myself I move on, heading for that bell tower. There’s gotta be something cool in there.
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When a 6 badge crew is taking time to get through a location, you Know you need gear, at the least an Abra or other teleporter for surface transport.
Currently, Im assuming a Malamar in that Bell Tower.
Second is a giant final evolution psychic control fire breathing pokemon that looks like a Bell Tower.
Well, theres already been a Legendary, usually theres not two in the same location? Except for the Dogs?
6872031
Which Legendary are you talking about? Meloetta is very rare, but not a legend.
6874061
I apologise, I thought Meloetta was non breedable, and classed as Legendary in that way.
6874520 At the risk of sounding condescending... Lots of common Pokemon can't breed.
6874520
6874771
For example, Ditto is technically non breeding, as there is no way to get a new Ditto via breeding. As well, Nidoqueen is considered non breeding due to the special rules surrounding it.
Heck, there's a few Legendaries that do breed, Volcarona and Manaphy/Phione. And it says in the dex that Heatran breed, just not in conditions humans could replicate at the time of the games.
6872031 I am expecting something like the legend of Orochi, a multi-headed serpent with a shrine on its back. The popular and recent media interpretation is an eight headed dragon with each head possessing a power or ability and personality and a maiden eating penchant. Okami was fun. Just replace the shrine with a bell tower.
6875004 Nope, that's not it, though it would be interesting to see a Pokemon representation of that. What do you think, Quantum?
That random purple text is ominous.
6877840 that's what I was going for, so thanks.
6875321
Hmm... An Orochi-Shrine pokemon? I think that's a possibility. Thank you for the idea, I do believe I'm going to add in a new evo line today.
6874061 It might be in this Region!
6883270
No, Legendary status is regardless of region.
6883270 Or another one that the group will go to after this one. What? You think I'm doing a pokemon fic and only visiting one region? That's lazy. As they say, beating the league is only one step in the journey.