Chapter 2: A New Town, A New Mystery
“... zzz…zzz...” Was the sound of slumber, steady breaths and an occasional snore. A normal occurrence when one sleeps soundly.
But the thing with sleep it, it can be broken with just the tiniest of sounds.
“... Ditto!” Edgar said as he jolted awake, acting as a catalyst to startle and awaken a slumbering Acacia, who as a result fell off the stool she had fallen asleep on, the tremor of which more than likely woke up the whole house AND caused a book to fall on the mare’s head.
“... Rgh.” Acacia groaned irritably and rubbed the back of her poor head.
You see, as a result to yesterday’s long Story Time session, courtesy of Edgar, the discussion had moved into Acacia’s personal study/bedroom. And no, stop right there. Just no.
The room was organized, bookshelves filled with books and shelves that held papers and documents. There were even some complicated diagrams on the walls. On the working desk was a large tome, a chemistry set, a microscope and a sealed jar filled with pink jelly.
Pink jelly with a funny face.
Acacia blinked and got up from the floor, fixating on the jar. “... What the...”
“DIT ditto!” Edgar said, naturally the meaning escaped Acacia.
“...Oh, the translation spell wore off... Hold a second.” She concentrated for a moment and cast the spell again.
“As I said prior, MAGNIFICENT morning!” Edgar yelled from inside the jar, already at peak condition.
Acacia herself blinked slowly, still drowsy. “A morning pony… thing... tartarus.”
Edgar laughed in his jar. “But of course! Were I not fully awake in the morning, I’d be wasting valuable minutes of freedom! Hohoo!”
“...” Slowly, but surely Acacia’s not-a-morning brain was catching up to what she was witnessing. “... Why are you in a jar? For the matter, how did I get here?” She said, becoming aware of her surroundings.
“Funny story that!” For some reason Acacia tensed at the word ‘story’ “Last night you seemed so immersed in my tale that you picked me up with Psychic, carried me here and jammed me into this jar. You were even considerate enough to seal it up.”
“... What.” Acacia said flatly, what Edgar said making no lick of sense to her.
“I know, right? I mean, obviously it felt a bit strange, but I merely assumed it was some sort of tradition. In a way, it’s like offering the protective borders of a house.”
“... A jar… is a house?” Acacia asked in her drowsy confusion.
“Why, it has walls and if you account for the lid it also has a roof. That is what makes a house isn’t it. Might I say, it’s a really considerate gesture, to offer protection for the night like this.” Edgar explained his insane reasoning.
“... I need coffee.” Acacia said and walked out and slowly opened the door.
“Now hold on! This reminds me of a story I once heard that-” The Ditto’s words were muffled by a door slamming and a mare running downstairs. Every fiber of her body told her “NO” in big bold metaphorical letters to stories for the next two weeks for reasons she could not remember.
So, instead she trudged off to the kitchen to make a cup of joe. And breakfast, since the twins could be up at any mo-
“Mom! We heard a noise!” Midday Glow yelled from upstairs.
“It’s okay, honey. Forget about the noise.” Acacia replied, still coming over her drowsiness.
“Okay!”
With a sigh and a small crack from her stiff neck Acacia quickly left the coffee to brew and made some breakfast just in time for two hungry fillies to appear down the stairs. Midday Glow was energetic in the morning, but Noon Light took after her mother and looked half asleep.
“Morning, kids.” Acacia greeted the twins.
“Morning!” Was the shared reply, though with varying levels of enthusiasm. It was just another reminder that despite looking the same, those two were different.
The twins took positions in front of the dining table, and were promptly slipped two quickly made hay sandwiches. There were no murmurs, just eating to get their bellies filled. Acacia herself finished up her coffee and felt much better after drinking it.
“Hey, mom.” Midday Glow asked, being the first to finish her meal. “Where is the detective thingy?”
“Oh, he’s in the study.” At least Acacia hoped he was male… that would need to get clarified sooner rather than later. The name sounded masculine enough by analysis… she thinks. Seeing her daughter get off she added a sharp “No, you can’t go there.”
“But mom!” The elder twin whined.
“We’ve already been through this, my study is a place you aren’t allowed to go to.” She reminded her child, who sat back and pouted. “It’s only because I love you.” She got a tongue stuck out at her for that, but Acacia just laughed.
Upstairs some glass shattered. The mother of the family knew what that meant, but her kids didn’t.
“... Mom, is that another experiment?” Noon Light asked, almost dozing off into her sandwich.
“No, of course not sweetie. Mommy does not do that anymore.” Acacia answered sweetly.
“TALLY-HO- Ohdear!” Came a brief shout as a pink blob barreled down the stairs and landed face first into the floor. Midday Glow stopped to look at it and Noon Light did doze off, her face buried in her sandwich.
Some time later Acacia was walking the peaceful streets of Sunset Hills, saddle bags on her back. She had gone shopping for the day after sending her little rascals to school. There was a minor problem though.
“Hmm, a mighty fine township this is.” Edgar pointed out, peeking out of the saddle bag. For whatever reason he had snuck aboard before Acacia had managed to leave the house.
Acacia hushed him, keeping her voice low. “Don’t speak. Be quiet.”
“But how can I? This place has many features to describe.”
“Arg, hush!” She cast a spell and established a mental link with the Ditto. “Look, I don’t want everypony to panic from suddenly seeing a living mass of gelatinous-”
“Mental communication? How MARVELOUS! This should fix the issue of me talking, would it not? In fact, this reminds me of a story-”
And the mental link was gone. Luckily it seemed that Edgar was none the wiser and most likely kept on mentally telling his story.
Acacia kept trotting, occasionally greeting a few friendly faces, including one griffon. She eventually arrived to a small store simply called Everypony’s Everything. Short and to the point. She entered the establishment with a bell ringing, signalling customers had arrived.
From behind a counter popped up, and I mean that literally, a brown mare with an odd mechanical gizmo over her left eye. She spoke with some form of accent. “Well, if it ain’t miss professor. How’s the kids?”
Acacia smiled warmly. “Energetic as ever. And please, don’t call me that. Those days are behind me.”
The mare behind the counter shrugged. “Fine, no skin off my back.” She said casually. “And business’ been slow, as you might recall me saying a few days back. But let’s not talk bankruptcy, what’re ya buyin’?”
“And what makes you think I’m here to buy anything. Can’t a friends just come and say hello?” She asked teasingly.
“Can that jokesty talk, sister! WE both know you only come ‘ere to buy things. Cause I’m the only provider. Now give Gizmo your bits~!” The shopkeeper demanded with a snake-like hiss in a playfully mean way.
Acacia rolled her eyes in amusement and reached into her saddle bag, the one not occupied, and pulled out a bag of bits, which were quickly snatched by the shopkeep.
“Yess~, Gizmo like them bits.” She said before dropping the joking creepy talk and going back to business. “So, what’ll it be?”
“Oh, you know. The usual.” Acacia said while subtly leering at her saddle bag, which moved a bit.
“Darn shame, sister. I don’t deal in those no more. Gizmo is a good pony now, straight as a nail!” Gizmo the Shopkeeper said with an earnest look in her eye.
Acacia again rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.”
“Yeah, yeah. Some papers, forms. You want another notebook?”
“No, I think I’ll manage. But there is one thing I do need.”
“Oh yeah? What’ll that be?” Gizmo the Shopkeeper asked, taking a sip of a glass of lemon juice she pulled out of nowhere.
“An empty compendium.”
Gizmo the Shopkeeper spontaneously spat all the juice at an unfortunate Acacia. The look on her face was of utter shock and disbelief. “Care to run that by me ‘gain?”
An unamused, and drenched Acacia sighed at how this day was starting out. “I said I need an empty compendium.”
“... Girl, you be crazy if ya’ think Gizmo can find something like that! D’you even know how much of a dent that could put in my business?” A big bag of bits was dropped on the counter, which were quickly nabbed under the counter. “Gizmo is ha-aaaappy to serve, master~.”
Acacia shot Gizmo the Shopkeeper an amused look.
“... Why’s you looking at Gizmo like that?”
“No reason.” Acacia lied, smiling a bit smugly.
“Dit-” *smack* Acacia jabbed her saddle bag.
Gizmo the Shopkeeper gave her a quick look. “Somethin’ up?”
“All is fine.” Acacia lied through her teeth with a pleasant smile. “Now, the things I wanted-”
An assortment of items, mostly papers, quills and plenty of ink were dropped onto the desk in a flash. “Here ya go. Now that special order be takin’ a while, so scatter. Gizmo’ll send ya a notice.”
Acacia picked up the things with her magic and put them in her saddlebags. “Efficient as always. See you around.” She turned to be on her merry way.
“Wait a second.” Gizmo the Shopkeeper called out after her.
Acacia looked back. “What? Did you not tell me to scatter?” She said playfully. But the shopkeep looked dead serious.
[center “You hear them rumors? About some odd things bumping about?” She spoke in a hushed tone.
Acacia sighed, exasperated. “I’ve said this a hundred times, rumors are only rumo-”
“EEEEEEEEEEEK!” A piercing feminine scream came from outside, to which both mares reacted, charging outside, though Gizmo the Shopkeeper was out first despite Acacia having a clear lead.
Other residents seemed to have also taken note and more than a few rushed to see what had happened. Gizmo the Shopkeeper was the first on the scene, with Acacia just on her tail. What she saw was… bizarre.
A gray, black maned mare that many in town could identify as Scaredy Cat, curled into a ball on the ground, shivering from fear and drenched in some sort of sticky substance. “Oh, that be gnarly.” The shopkeep commented. “And ve-eery disturbin’.”
Acacia ignore her and moved over to investigate as more ponies gathered over to see what the fuss was about. The first the she did was wave a hoof over Scaredy Cat’s eyes. There was a reaction, so she wasn’t catatonic. Next she looked her over to see if she was injured in any way, which luckily wasn’t the case. Finally she inspected the substance.
It seemed to be some sort of slime, though she was unable to determine it’s origin or nature. She’d assume it wasn’t anything harmful, but still nabbed some of it into a small container for testing.
“Cat, can you hear me?” Acacia asked the distraught mare. When she nodded weakly she continued to her next questioned. “Cat, what happened?”
“... M-monster… s-slime...” Scaredy Cat managed to utter in her almost neurotic state before descending to unintelligible whines.
Acacia glanced around and saw the forming crowd. She stood up and addressed the ponies. “Alright, there’s nothing to see here. Everything appears to be fine. Would somepony get Cat somewhere nice and warm? And get her cleaned up while you’re at it.”
Bronze, the only griffon living in Sunset Hills stepped forward amongst the ponies. With some help from Acacia he got Scaredy Cat on her shaky hooves and began to slowly lead her off to her house.
With some further help from Gizmo the Shopkeeper, Acacia managed to convince everypony that all was fine and make the townsfolk disperse. If the community in Sunset Hills is anything, it’s tight.
The shopkeep turned to address the mare with an intense stare. “Ah told yeh. Weird things go bumpin’ aboot. Gizmo ain’t no liar no more.”
“I wasn’t going to imply that.” Acacia said calmly, looking around for possible leads and frustrated at the lack of any. Whatever did that would most certainly left a trail. “I do however admit that this is peculiar.”
“Eye, Scaredy ain’t been tha’ scared in a long time. Maybe it’s ‘cus she started gettin’ visits from tha’ gri-”
“That is not what I meant.” Acacia frowned at the shopkeep’s leaps in logic and love of rumors. Gizmo the Shopkeeper shrugged and went back into her shop.
Acacia peered into her saddle bag to maybe question Edgar about this. However she was shocked by a discovery.
The Ditto was gone.
“Oi, somepony’s been messing with Gizmo’s stash!” The shopkeep yelled angrily.
“It is time.” A voice said calmly, following the trail. “This time that passes not in a second, but an instant, and those who do not grab hold of it be left in the dust of time!”
Edgar twirled in place before coming to a sudden halt. He posed in his new black miniature top hat, his shiny gold monocle and his unbelievably dashing grey fake-stache which he had liberated from a good shop owner in the name of the investigation at hand.
“Prepare thine self, evildoer! This mystery will not be left unsolved as long as I, Edgar Holmes, Ace Pokèmon Detective, am on the case!” He proclaimed to absolutely no one but reality itself as he took back to observing a trail of slime he had found.
“Whom ever assaulted that poor lady must be behind this trail, of that I am certain!” Unknown to Edgar, as his Ditto body moved over the slime it also wiped the trail in it’s wake. Oblivious to his doings he pushed onwards, following the trail.
“No villainous villain get’s away in my dream!” He muttered at the universe at large.
He followed and followed until the trail ended. It’s final destination was an seemingly abandoned shed at the far edge of the town. Not a soul seemed to be around, but it was clear this was the villain’s hideout.
Instantly Edgar’s Super-Mega-Detective-Genes kicked into action. He stood, short but proud, nubby appendage pointed at the shed as he shouted like a magnificent beast “Ah-HA! Your path reached a dead end, evildoer! Prepare to face the voice of justice!”
“No!” Came a voice inside. Edgar blinked. It sounded weak, sobbing. Scared. “P-please don’t- I-I didn’t mean t-to...”
Still, Edgar stood his ground. “I demand you open this door! I promise by my honor, if there is no conflict, no harm will befall you.”
“... R-really?” The voice sobbed.
“Well, I sure as crumpets just gave my word. And amongst most of his glory, Edgar Holmes is no liar! He is the very PINNACLE of truth!” The Ditto proclaimed with a proud twirl of his fake-stache.
“...” There was a lot of silence. Until “... Edgey…”
The door of the shed shot open as a mass of mauve and lavender crashed into the Ditto and grabbed it into tight grasp. “Gah! Surprise tackle, my weakness!”
“Uncle!” The assaulter, a female Goodra called out as she huggled the Ditto to it’s limit. “What’s up? Did you get shorter? Am I bothering you? Hey, why are you a ditto? You sound different. That mustache is so rad!” Goodra prattled on excitedly.
Edgar was a bit dazed, but his mind was working perfectly. He looked closer and saw that this Goodra wore a green scarf around her neck. This was rather familiar. “Well I’ll be a psyduck! If it isn’t Goomey. What are you doing here lass? The last time I saw you you were just a little Sliggoo.”
“Oh, it’s, like, forever ago. I evolved, see, see?” Goomey the Goodra said as she held the Ditto in her arms. She started speaking rapidly, getting more anxious as she went on. “I got a trainer, that was… something, and then there was fighting and I fell asleep and then I woke up but the world was, like, not the same as when I fell asleep and I was scared and wanted to hug someone and I saw a weird ponyta and tried to hug it but it screamed and I was so scared so I hid in a shed then I heard you and was way more scared but then I figured out it’s you and I was so HAPPY!”
By a small miracle, Edgar was able to follow along with that. “Well it seems like you’ve been through a lot, my friend.”
It was clear as crystal, the memory of Edgar meeting a Sliggoo in his younger days. He’d helped the poor thing out, sheltered and fed it for a while and even given it a scarf to remember him by when it came time for him to get going. He even gave her a name, Goomey, which was a bit redundant but cute.
Naturally, being present in his dream in an evolved state was a bit odd, but Edgar blamed his unrivaled imagination.
But for now he was getting crushed by an incredibly scared and incredibly affectionate Goodra who was just on the verge of tears. Luckily his new physique allowed for such abuse.
“Now, Goomey, be a good lass and calm down, would you? I can’t seem to think while being manhandled in such an affectionate manner.” Edgar said as the Goodra’s tight hug was getting very distracting.
Goomey sniffled a bit and plopped down sitting onto the ground, loosening her grip but still holding the Ditto in her arms. “O-Okay...”
“Thank you, dearie. Now let me think for a second here...” Edgar closed his vision and fiddled with his fake-stache as means of concentration. Trying to deal with this situation was not going to be simple.
Sure, he could just continue with the original plan of apprehending the culprit, but doing that to a friend was no way to go. An alternative would be to seek forgiveness for the misunderstanding, which was the best solution, but to do that he’d need help.
“... Alright, I have a plan.” Edgar announced, his eyes opening wide. Well, as wide as Ditto’s do anyway. “First off, I need you to hide in the shed until-”
“No!” Goomey interjected in a hurry. “I don’t wanna be there, it’s dark and scary!”
Edgar slapped his face with his nub arm. “Well, there goes that. But worry not, for I,” he posed, pointing at the Goodra as his mental theme song started playing. “the MAGNIFICENT Ace Detective Edgar Holmes have a failsafe! You leave the talking to me and be silent. We need to get sneaky!”
“...” Acacia stared.
“...” Edgar stared.
“...” Acacia stared.
“...” Goomy stared.
“... What?!” Acacia screamed.
Watson’s Journal
Entry.2
I had forgotten what sleeping leaning to a tree was like. What a drag. My back is still killing me.
The morning may not have been pleasant, nor was I expecting it to. Still, I may be too used to sleeping in a real bed. This will not become an issue, I hope.
My initial investigation proved nearly fruitless, although I can now safely assume I am definitely on Kalos anymore. In fact, I hypothesized this may be a whole another planet. Some minor evidence seems to support this theory, but I need more information to be sure.
Saw a Pangoro too. Damn thing was as confused as I was yesterday, except I handled it much better. It was taking out it’s deranged aggression on a tree when I came along and, Arceus knows why, it shifted its interest to me. Fending it off was childsplay.
After I wiped the floor with it I asked it some questions. The Pangoro seemed to respect me somewhat- I don’t know why -so I got to ask plenty. Unlucky for me Pangoro did not know much more that I already didn’t know, although it mentioned something weird a small distance from my current location. I’ll check it out later.
The Pangoro and I parted ways in peace, and though I hope it stays out of trouble I also hope we don’t cross paths again. The fur-face almost scratched my hat to shreds.
Now my main agenda is find out about this ‘weird‘ thing.
And I suppose finding that idiot.
Whatever.
Entry.2, End~☆
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We need more of Edgar talking. He's a really fun character. Also the story feels off when the citizens aren't seeing a bunch of smaller pokemon around town like. It's one of the most essential things in one of these new world stories.
PS: I notice that you're using a changeling tag. I hope you intend of keeping with the continuity provided in A New World, A New Way - Swarm. If the changelings are going to be antagonist for this story, they should be extremists under Chrysalis rather than being associated with the majority of the population.
PSS: I'm wagering that Watson is an Alakazam or Kadabra.
4935593 The Pokèmon will start appearing in town soon enough. Or maybe the ponies have not noticed yet. Also... well, let's just say I do have something small planned for a changeling.
I will also try my best, but sometimes Edgar just has to be in the sidelines for the sake of the story at large. He may think the world revolves around his mind, but he is still just a cog in the machine.
Fair warning. It looks like some of your BB code is a bit off. Otherwise good work and it was a neat touch actually seeing Edgar become serious when it comes to his work.
4936612 Well, I can't seem to find them. And of course a detective needs to take his job seriously, or else the bad guy gets away.
I like this guy more by he minute, him, Commander Sev and Jayce are my favorite characters so far, and I think the good Holmes will hold that position for a good time.
I keep reading Gizmo the Shopkeeper's lines in Granny Smith's voice for some reason.
4937486 That image is hilarious, considering Gizmo the Shopkeeper is pretty young. And I seriously have no idea what her accent is, so let's say it's all of them at different times.
4937142 Why thank you. I'm sure that will Inflate Edgar's ego for the rest of the week.
4937648 Oh so I hope he does!
Oh my god this story is great. 8/8 m8
You see, what's holding me back from reading this story is that I don't think I can handle that much ham at once, at least Sev has some characters holding the ham back, and Jayce is not hammy, he's just childish and adorable.
4945716 You are entitled to your opinion. This is a more comedic tale than most, so your apprehension is understandable.
Wow, of all the places my artwork could be, the last place I expected it to show up was on Fimfiction. Read it a bit, and it is quite hammy indeed. Haven't played 6th Gen, but I would extrapolate that Edgar would say "good show, chap."
4950603 That's yours?! Wow, sorry then for using it without really asking, but I found it off of Google image search. It's still really nice.
And Edgar, while having some rather English vibes, is by human standards an odd person. He can talk however he pleases.
4952187 If you're interested or didn't know the original dA post is here, but I had said "use if you want, I don't care" in the description so it would be harsh of me to retract that now. And thanks for the compliment; I was just surprised that an old picture of mine from years ago would resurface here. Everything leads to ponies, I suppose.
And to be perfectly clear, you don't have to credit me if you don't want to, it's an old picture of mine and I have no particular attachment to it. Cheers!
4952266 Well, thank you anyway. It's really nifty.