chapter 14
The day after the incident with the cultists, Shadow and Valerie received their next “paycheck,” and with some chipped in from the others, they had enough to make the trip, considering they could find inexpensive shelter in the great gambling city. Berries were picked for the journey, tickets were bought, and farewells were exchanged. Now, Valerie and her mate were on their way to Las Pegasus, to find her parents.
“I… I can’t believe that I’m finally going to see them again. After five years.” A tear rolled down the Poison-Types face, which was quickly wiped off by a black paw.
“Yeah. It’ll be nice to meet them. I hope they aren’t as hotheaded as your brother though,” the Umbreon snarked.
Valerie chuckled. “No… I think he got that more from our uncle, Lecter. He was a Jolteon, and was constantly picking fights with other wild Pokemon… Up until he challenged a trainer and got captured. Haven’t seen him since. He’s probably doing well, he was pretty strong so I bet his trainer liked him.”
Shadow frowned slightly. “Humans don’t only look at their Pokemons strength. I was pretty feeble for an Eevee when I first started out with Tyler.”
Ears flattening, Valerie defended herself. “I… I didn’t mean it like that… I just meant maybe it helped.”
The Umbreon smirked. “Don’t worry about it, you haven’t exactly had the best experiences with humans.”
“Heh… Yeah. But I really don’t have anything against humans. I met the Gym Leader for the nearby town a few times since he trained in the forest we lived in a bunch of the time, and he was pretty nice.”
The Dark-Type shrugged. “Alright. Just remember, that Nurem guy was pretty much the worst of the worst. There aren’t many even comparable to him, and I know that NONE of the humans Arceus brought along are like him. If there were, and I heard about them, I’d probably be one of the first people to sign up for the hunting party.”
Valerie smiled, and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I know you would, and I’d be right there with you. Just don’t do anything rash if you do hear about those types of people, alright?”
“Of course,” he then replied to the peck with a nuzzle, which she happily returned. The two lovebirds began getting comfortable, and waited out the rest of the trip.
The sun was setting as the train finally pulled into the station at Las Pegasus. It was not at all what Valerie had expected. She hadn’t been sure what is was she was expecting, but it was definitely not the towering buildings, long roads of flashy signs, and lively streets of Equestrias gambling center that she observed from the window. It was just about the polar opposite of Canterlot as a large city. Instead of haughty and dignified unicorns flooding the streets there was a hodgepodge of different pony races, much more evenly balanced than the capitol. Despite all of these sighs, she was still focused on the ocean which could barely be seen from the moving train. Somewhere along that shoreline, were her parents. And she couldn’t wait to find them.
Once the train was fully stopped she and Shadow exited before the stampede of other passengers, and quickly navigated their way out of the station and onto the bustling streets. They didn’t even bother to try asking for directions from the ponies since they wouldn’t be able to understand them anyway.
They were able to make it to the port just fine, but realized upon reaching it that it was far too expansive to simply search around and hope to find two random Vaporeon.
Shadow spotted a nearby Politoed, and signaled Valerie to come with him to talk to it.
The Politoed was currently watching the water intently, apparently searching for a meal in some form. “Cmon… One of those local fish. Just come a little closer… cmon…”
Shadow approached the Water-Type slowly, making sure not to startle him. After a few moments of debating how best to introduce himself and ask for information and directions a rather large fish swam up closer to the surface, and began feeding on insects floating on the surface. The Politoed quickly leapt down and closed his jaws around the fish, which he shook around violently above the water before swallowing it whole.
Shadow grimaced at the sight, and Valerie sighed, a slight smile upon her face. When she saw the look on the Umbreons face she chuckled, “It’s the same way my parents used to hunt, except with magikarp, and they would keep carry the it out and tear it up for us to eat.
The Umbreon nodded, slightly uneasily, and turned back to the Politoed who was pulling himself out of the water now. Figuring that that was as good a time as any, he approached the frog Pokemon.
“Excuse me, my mate and I were looking for her parents who we believe may be staying somewhere in the docks nearby. They’re two Vaporeon by the name of Flo and Hector. We were hoping you may have seen or heard about someone by that description.”
The Politoed burst out in laughter, “You know those two? Of course I know about them, they caused quite the ruckus first day here. Those two were duking it out with some Croconaw over who got to use this old collapsed drain pipe as a den. I don’t blame em’ honestly. It was a pretty nice place, if I was still with my mate we’d probably try for it too.”
Valerie beamed, they were so close! “Did they win? If so where is it? I have to see them!”
The frog laughed again. “Those reptilian bastards didn’t stand a chance. Your folks both knew Thunderbolt, and neither of the Croconaw had any good moves up their sleeves. Wasn’t even a fair fight.” He then looked up the shoreline. “The den is somewhere up along there, about a half mile I suppose. It’s by this old, rotting fishing dock. Looks like it’s about to collapse. You’ll probably know it when you see it, especially since the drain sticks out pretty far from the shoreline. Good luck. And if you’re passing by this sort of the shore, swing by if you like. You seem like… interesting folks. I’d love to learn more about ya.” The Politoed then went back to looking for food, waddling farther south along the shoreline.
It didn’t take long to cover the distance between the Politoed’s fishing area and the dock he had mentioned, and once they found the dock, the den was easy to find. Valerie stopped above it, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. What if her parents had changed like Frederick? What if they weren’t accepting of her evolution? What if they blamed her for her brothers deaths? What if it wasn’t actually them? All of these questions continued to build up in her mind, and her heart beat faster and faster.
Shadow, sensing her distress, licked her cheek, and nuzzled her neck. “It’ll be fine, c'mon. Let’s go meet your family.”
This helped the Veneon significantly in calming down, and her breathing and heart rate slowed back down to normal. “You’re right,” she mumbled apologetically. “I should just be happy to finally be here. But… it’s just been so long. It was easy with Freddy, I didn’t expect it at all and just went with my gut… but now… I’ve just psyched myself out so much from thinking about it. How am I supposed to introduce myself? ‘Hi I’m Valerie, your long lost and now freakshow of a daughter.”
The Umbreon frowned and shook his head. “You aren’t a freakshow, and are you really gonna make me repeat myself? Okay then. It’ll be FINE. Just relax.”
“Yeah… I know in on my logical side that you’re right… but my emotional side is a whole different story.” She sighed. “Let’s just get this over with.” She stood up and moved down the shoreline, coming around to the opening of the sewer drain. It was a typical concrete pipe, about an inch thick on the sides, and about four feet in diameter. Farther inside was a larger chamber, largely brick and mortar, ending about six feet in where there had been an apparent cave in. A raised walkway ran along the right side below which was a pool of relatively clean water, about six inches deep and containing some algae and small fish. Shadow could definitely see why there had been a fight over it. It was a perfect home for a pair of Vaporeon.
Unfortunately, the perfect home was currently empty. Which wasn’t exactly heartening to Valerie, especially considering what they had heard about the fight over it. “You don’t think something bad happened do you?”
Shadow looked around some more. “I don’t think so, that cave in looks pretty old and settled since there’s all that algae on the rocks closer to the water, and that Politoed did mention before that it was caved in, so there aren’t really any signs of a struggle. They may just be out hunting like the Politoed.”
The Veneon sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. You stay here, and I’ll go out to look for them some more.” She then exited the cave, and wandered off farther to the north around the dock.
Shadow took this time to move farther into the cave, stepping up onto the walkway to keep from getting wet. When he reached the end of the walkway he took a better look at the brown boulders blocking off the rest of the sewer system. Upon his examination, he noticed one of the rocks looked… off.
“Oh Arceus… That’s not a rock that’s a…”
“An egg. I know. Now you have five seconds to back off before I tear out your throat.”
Whipping around, Shadow was greeted with an irate mama Vaporeon, currently baring her teeth at him. “Woah woah woah! I mean no harm!”
“Right. You’re probably buddy buddy with those two lizard assholes. Now get out before I carry out on my threat.” The Water-Type advanced forward some.
“No really! I’m here with Valerie!”
There was a spark of hope in her eyes, before it was smothered by skepticism. “How did you learn that name?” She demanded.
“She’s outside somewhere looking for you! I’m…” he almost spilled the beans about their relationship, but remembering Frederick decided to put it on hold. “... a friend. We came here together to find you and your mate.”
The Vaporeon considered for a moment, before coming to a conclusion, “If what you say is true, what’s my name?”
Shadow stuttered for a moment, “I… I know Valerie mentioned it once or twice… Um.... Fleur? No… that isn’t right.. F… F… It starts with an F.” He considered for a moment, “Flo! That’s it! Flo right?”
“Well at least you got it right eventually. Let’s step outside, I don’t quite trust you yet.”
Shadow followed along willingly, stepping back out into the afternoon sun. Glancing around he saw another Vaporeon approaching with Valerie draped unconscious over his back.
Shadow growled low, “What did you do to her?”
The male of the Water-Type duo huffed, “Calm down, I just used Yawn on her. She should wake up soon. In the meantime how about you explain why you two are intruding on our den.”
Shadow sighed, still glaring at the Vaporeon. “Well, your daughter and I were looking for you two.”
Upon her mates confused expression the female explained, “He claims that he’s here with Valerie. I suppose that would be her if he’s telling the truth. I want to believe it, but I’m not so ready.”
“It’s true!” Shadow defended, “Your name is Hector, she’s Flo, your other children are Frederick, Eric, and Marc. They all disappeared about five years ago, except Frederick… I’m not sure how much longer he was around with you two before he went off with that trainer.”
Hector glanced to Flo, both of them considering the Umbreons words. After a few moments, the male of the two spoke up. “I guess we should wake her up to find out if he’s telling the truth or not. She’ll probably be able to prove it better. You wouldn’t happen to know Heal Bell would you?”
Shadow glared, “Yes. I do. Heal Bell.” His eyes glowed for a second and after a moment Valerie’s eyes fluttered open.
“Wh… What happened?”
Shadow helped her up, “Your dad used yawn on you. They don’t believe me about you actually being Valerie.”
The Poison-Type sighed. This is exactly what she was scared of happening. “I guess we should have expected you not to, Frederick didn’t either. Go ahead, ask away.”
Before either asked a question, Hector’s eyes widened and he darted forward and wrapped his legs around the Veneon. “No need, just hearing your voice is enough proof. You sound just like your grandmother.”
“I do?”
The Vaporeon released her, “Absolutely! I never thought I’d see you again! And here you are again out of the blue! What happened to you? You mentioned you met Frederick? What about the others?”
Valerie grimaced slightly, then smiled. “I’d love to tell you all about it, even the more painful parts. It’s been so long!” She looked back to Shadow then, “Shadow, do you think you could give my parents and I some time together? How about you go to that Italian place we passed on the way here, I think it was called Francine’s or something,”
The Umbreon nodded, “Sure, you three have fun catching up.”
Once Shadow was gone, Flo invited Valerie inside. “Before we get started,” the Vaporeon pulled a round looking stone off the back wall. “I’d like for you to meet your newest sibling.”
Valerie gasped, “Oh my Arceus! I’m going to be a big sister again!” As soon as the words left her mouth Valerie’s heart stopped. She had meant to tell them in a gentler way.
“What do you mean again? What about Eric?” Concern showed in Flo’s eyes.
“I… well… They... He…” She whimpered. “I’m sorry.”
The mother Vaporeon’s eyes saddened, “Sweetie, I know that whatever it was that happened to them couldn’t have been your fault. Just… tell us what happened.”
Valerie sniffed, she knew this moment would come, but she still didn’t feel ready for it. “Marc, and Eric, they… they’re both dead.”
Flo came over and wrapped the Veneon in a hug, “Oh honey! Please tell me it was quick!”
“I would be lying if I did.”
The hug tightened, “Please, tell me what happened.”
Hector stepped forward, “Honey are you sure-”
“YES! I need to know what happened to my babies,” she looked back to Valerie, “No matter how horrible. I need to know.”
Valerie nodded, then gulped. “I’ll start from the beginning.”
Five Years Ago
“Ha ha ha! Bet you can’t catch me Val!” The little Eevee darted around between rocks, dodging his younger sister’s attempt to tackle him.
“Give it back Marc! It’s mine! I found it!”
“I don’t know why you’d even want some stupid old Leaf Stone, that’s not even how you evolve into a Leafeon dummy!”
“I know that! I just want it as a decoration for the den!”
“Then why do you care so much about me having it? We share a room!” The older Eevee taunted.
“Because the last time I found something cool you hid it and ‘forgot’ where you put it.”
Eric finally caught up to the two, “Guys! We’re way too far away from the den! We’re gonna get in trouble with Mom and Dad if they find out we’re out here.”
“Whatever, you’re the youngest, I think that the big Eevees, like Valerie, Frederick and I are fine this far out!”
“That’s not what they said when Frederick got grounded last month.” Valerie retorted, defending her younger brother.
“Feh, whatever goody two paws. Have your stupid rock back.” He tossed the Leaf Stone back to his sister.
The female Eevee only grunted in response to having it returned. “Finally, now we should head back. Eric is right. It’s especially dangerous out with this fog!”
Marc looked around, “Meh, whatever. It’s just some stupid fo-” his sentence was cut off as a dart suddenly appeared in the Eevee’s neck. “Wha- What the…” he then fell over, unconscious.
Before either Valerie or Eric could react two more darts came out of the fog and impacted their chest and leg. Valerie made one last feeble attempt to call out for help to her parents or brother, but all that came out was a small groan, before she fell over, and went into a deep sleep.
Valerie groaned as she slowly woke up, her eyes fluttered open, and she was greeted with the sight of a human boy, clad in simple clothes. His hair was black, his eyes were green, and...he appeared to have been crying recently. All around them, the floor and walls were white and slick. Even the ceiling appeared to be uniform, only broken by a square of light. Around her were Marc and Eric, only slightly coming to.
“H...Hello,” the boy said to Valerie and her brothers.
“Wha… Where are we?” Marc managed to groan.
“The lab,” the boy said in response. “And...I’m sorry, in advance. I...I’ve never seen an Eevee before, and you don’t deserve what’s about to happen.”
Eric began to panic, “What’s a lab? What’s going to happen to us?”
Vincent slowly got up from the corner and walked a little closer before sitting in front of the trio. “They study Pokemon here...but not everyone makes it,” he said solemnly. “They...send me in to calm the new arrivals down...But you deserve to know what’s going to happen.”
Eric’s eyes began to shine, “I w- want my mommy!” He began to sob uncontrollably, and his siblings joined as well, their sobs slightly weaker.
Vincent merely opened his arms up in an offering for a hug for all the little Eevees, who accepted.
Just then the door opened, and a man in scrubs marched in, grabbing Marc, and Vincents arm. “It’s time for the experiment to begin. Come along subject 37.”
Vincent fought only a little against the pull, he knew it was pointless, but he wanted time to say one final thing to the two that would be forced to remain. “I’m sorry,” he said again, before he too was dragged through the door.
Valerie and Eric waited anxiously for several hours, neither sure what to do besides cry to themselves and hold each other. After some time the door opened again, Valerie and Eric looked to him hopefully, but the boy just shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Wh-What did they do to him?” Choked out Valerie.
“You...don’t want to know,” Vincent said, sitting in the corner and sniffing. “They made me watch. They always do. And…”
“You have to tell me! I need to know what happened to my big brother!” The Eevee demanded.
Vincent sighed, “Fine, but remember you wanted to know.” He stopped for a moment before continuing. “They took a Metal Coat, an item associated with steel types, and melted it down. Then… they injected him with it.”
Valerie’s eyes widened, and more tears gathered at the corner. “What? Why? Is he okay?”
“...” Vincent couldn’t bring himself to look at either of them. His lack of response told them everything.
The two began to sob again, and Valerie could only imagine what they’d do to her when it was her turn.
Two weeks had gone by since Marc’s passing. Valerie still hadn't fully accepted it. She had accustomed herself to the schedule in the lab somewhat, but it still felt wrong. One of the aids took her just before mealtime, and she was helpless to resist as she was carried down the narrow corridors in the firm grip to what she believed her certain doom. A door opened to another room, and she was unceremoniously dropped on a table in the middle. It was then she got her first good look at the doctor.
He was rather tall, pale, and had similar black hair to Vincent. His eyes, however, were blue, hidden behind thin glasses. He wore a long lab coat, and his hands were covered in blue gloves. “It is time to begin the next experiment in new evolution and forcing it,” he said.
Valerie tried to jump off the table, but was caught and placed back off the table by a mechanical hand, which strapped her down. The doctor took out a purple vial labeled “Toxic Orb,” and he stuck a needle into it, drawing some out. “We will begin by injecting the subject with the contents of the orb.” He brought it down to the struggling Eevee, and held one of her arms still, and injected the serum into her shoulder.
Valerie screamed. The moment the liquid entered her bloodstream her flesh felt like it was on fire! She struggled and writhed in agony as the poison took hold. One of the aids brought down a hose which was forced into her mouth, and a smooth sour liquid poured down her throat.
“The subject has begun being fed our liquid rare candy concoction.” The doctor narrated to an unknown individual.
Another aid spoke up, “Doctor, it’s pulse is dropping.”
“What? We can’t allow that!” He then barked out a series of orders, mostly unintelligible medical jargon that Valerie didn’t understand, not that she was paying attention. “Inject ten cc’s of adrenaline! Raise the pulse!”
Valerie barely felt the pinch in her opposite shoulder as her body was burning from the earlier injection, and despite their best efforts her pulse was still dropping. She could hear a loud beeping noise nearby, which after a few more moments turned to a single long drone, then suddenly, everything seemed to slow down. Her head fell to it’s side, and she caught sight of Vincent, in tears in a corner.
He mouthed something to her, which she barely registered. Then suddenly, her body began to glow. All of the staff around her backed away, shocked at the spectacle taking place. Valerie felt her limbs stretching, her barrel expanding, causing the straps around her to tighten. Her vision whited out for a moment, and when it came back it seemed as if her eyes weren’t pointing in quite the same directions as before. Her tail expanded and she felt something heavy on the end, causing it to fall down to the table with a soft clunk.
There was silence in the room for a few moments, before all present, except her and Vincent burst into applause. “The experiment was a success!” Cried out the doctor. Success? What were they trying to do? Valerie felt her mind returning to her slowly, and the burning from before was converted into a refreshing, cool feeling, causing her muscles to relax.
“Return the subject to her room, we can conduct further experimentation with her later.” She heard the doctor say, and then the restraints were undone, and she felt gloved hands pick her up. The trip down the hall was a blur, and she suddenly found herself in the room she had come to know in the past few weeks.
The confused former Eevee stood herself up, and looked around. “Big sis?” She whipped around to find Eric behind her. “Is that you big sis?”
Valerie blinked for a moment. Seeing her brother from this angle was odd, as she was now considerably taller than her younger sibling. “Yes it’s me.”
Eric approached cautiously. “What did they do to you? Are they gonna do that to me?” He asked fearfully.
The Eeveelution looked down. “I… I don’t know. I don’t think they’re going to try the exact same thing again.” She then felt a pair of small paws wrap around her abdomen. “Wh- why are you hugging me?”
“You’re still my big sis! Please stop crying Valerie!”
She smiled, and returned the hug, neither aware of the devastating effects to come.
Valerie finished recounting the story, tears staining her fur. “I spent five more years there. I saw hundreds of other Pokemon come and… go. Each and every one reminded me… of… of…” She then felt her mother’s arms wrap around her from her right, and her father’s from her left.
“Shhhh. Honey. It’s okay. You aren’t there anymore. You’re safe. And with family again.” She heard her mother whisper in her ear. The Veneon felt something wet on her shoulder, and she knew exactly what it was.
Valerie teared up again. “Thank you. Mommy.”
Shadow entered the shop, the name “Fredericks” planted on a sign by the doorway. “Better keep him away from this place, egomaniac.” The second he stepped in he couldn’t help but inhale a lungful of restaurant air. Those dishes smelled absolutely delicious!
The griffon at the front greeted him. “Seating for one?”
“Four actually, more are coming soon.”
The griffon blinked a few times before sighing. “So...you’re not one of those psychics, then,” he said, before turning to the kitchen. “Mary, I could use some help translating!” he shouted.
Shadow stood in the doorway for a few moments and sulked about the language barrier. “Too bad those spells only last a few hours.” He looked to a blackboard outside, reading over some of the foods listed, the special of the day being a Supreme Pizza. There was also the “Pony Friendly” special, which featured more vegetarian ingredients.
“Ack, when will these barriers of word be overcome? We cannot always rely on little Vincent…” With those words, the shiny Sandslash chef came out and stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the restaurant proper. “How many today, little Umbreon?”
“Four please.”
Mary turned to the griffon and held all four of her claws up and nodded once. The griffon nodded as well, beginning to retrieve four menus from the podium. “Hold it,” she said with a bit of bite to her voice, before turning back to the Dark-type. “Table or booth? Pony friendly menus, or non?”
Shadow considered for a moment before replying. “Table would be best, and it’s just my mate and her parents so non-pony I guess.”
Mary nodded again, before holding her claws in a T for the table preference, then shaking her head to indicate that they did not need the green menus the griffon had been going for. With another nod of his head, Fredrick replaced the green with red and hopped down from behind the podium.
“This way,” he said, leading his latest guest to one of the few free tables that would hold four at this time of day.
Shadow seated himself, then realized that he was too short. Looking guiltily to the Griffin, the server sighed, and retrieved a booster seat for him. Once the Umbreon was comfortable he looked over the menu, and decided to ask for a simple cheese pizza, since he didn’t know the preference of the others. Since he couldn’t ask to delay it and didn’t want to bother the chef again he could only hope it wouldn’t be cold by the time the others arrived.
Luckily the minute hand on the clock only went halfway around before the others arrived. Valerie quickly ran over to their table and hopped up in the booster seat with Shadow. Flo and followed close behind, having to make do with a normal chair.
Seeing his confused look at the absence of her father Valerie explained. “He’s staying behind with the egg. Oh! That’s right! I’m gonna have a new little brother or sister!”
Shadow smiled, “Yeah, I saw the egg before. Congratulations. I guess we need to come back again some time in the future.” He looked to Flo, “How long do you think before it hatches?”
Flo sipped from a cup of water at the table, “Well I laid it two days before we came to Equestria, so it may yet be a while until it hatches.”
Valerie slouched a little and smiled, “Aww, now I gotta wait.”
Her mother smirked and smacked her lightly on the shoulder, “You must have changed a lot in the last five years. You used to be the patient one!”
“If you think I’ve changed you should see Frederick!” She laughed. “Did I mention he’s a Sylveon now? Honestly that’s the last evolution I would have expected him to pick. I always imagined him as a Jolteon or a Flareon, with that temper of his. He’s even worse now.”
“Oh? That’s a shame, I had hoped maybe he’d become more level headed when he got older, and not taken after his uncle so much.”
Valerie giggled, “Well your hopes are sort of in vain. He’s worse than ever, but he’s still a sweetheart on the inside.”
Shadow gagged, “Can we just eat the pizza now? Before it gets cold.”
“Sure honey,” Valerie laughed.
Flo’s eyes widened. “Honey? Are you two- oh my Arceus!”
The Vaporeon jumped onto the table, walked across, and squinted at the Umbreon, who leaned back as far as he could in his chair with wide eyes. “Hmm… Yep. You’re good boyfriend material.” The Water-Type then returned to her seat.
Valerie sighed in relief, “Frederick would have to disagree with you on that one I’m afraid. He actually got in a fight with Shadow back in Canterlot when he wouldn’t leave. We finally convinced him to let me stay with him, but they still don’t like each other very much.
“Ha! Sounds a lot like your uncle when your father first met me. He thought I was just some whore. After we got to know each other better he decided I was only a slut. I just thought ‘It’s a start.’”
The whole table laughed, then dug into the pizza, The only talk for some time was Flo complaining that it didn’t have anchovies. As they ate they mingled some, Flo occasionally asking Shadow about his life with Tyler, and more detail on how he and her daughter met, which he answered to the best of his abilities, occasionally looking to Valerie for any indication of what she was and wasn't ok with him sharing.
That was about when there were the sounds of a...commotion in the kitchen. Screaming, metal and water being thrown about, and wood impacting something at high velocity. And then the intelligible screaming started. The screaming that was somewhat...familiar to Valerie.
“È goffo idiota! I told you I needed pureed tomatoes, not chunks! This sauce is worthless!” There was some more banging and a young colt in a kitchen uniform was ejected forcefully from the kitchen.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please!”
With another bang, a shiny Sandslash threw the door open and put one claw under the colt’s chin, holding him still as she looked at him for a moment. After that moment, she snorted and nodded, which seemed to relieve the colt...for all of a second after which the mop and bucket were thrown at him.
“You know the rules! You mess up in my kitchen, you are on janitor duty for a week!” the chef proclaimed.
The colt winced, and took the cleaning tools, knowing better than to argue. He began by cleaning up the large puddle of chunky red sauce that was slowly leaking it’s way out of the kitchen.
Once the scene was over, the atmosphere in the restaurant returned, although it was slightly more tense now. Valerie was still fixated on the doorway. “I know that Sandslash.”
“You do?” Shadow mumbled, spitting out a bit of cheese as he spoke.
Instead of replying the Veneon dropped from her chair, and padded over to the kitchen, giving the mess from before a wide berth. She pushed open the swinging door a bit, “Excuse me, Mary?”
“You, get that pot down to a simmer!” the shiny Sandslash said, pointing a wooden spoon at one of the colts like it was a conductor’s baton. The pony scurried to obey her, even through the language barrier. “You, check on that dough! And you-” Here the Sandslash turned to Valerie, blinking a few times. “You...seem familiar,” she said aloud, spoon dropping a few inches.
“Heh, you’d think someone like me would be harder to forget.” She grimaced a bit under the chef’s glare.
“I did my best to forget a lot,” she said tersely. “And I learned a lot more besides. You do seem rather...unique, I will grant you. Did we know one another?”
Valerie blinked in surprise. She had expected her to at least remember her somewhat. “My name is Valerie, I was one of the other… Subjects under Nurem’s ‘care’.”
“Valer-...oh I am ever so sorry for not recognizing you,” Mary said, finally dropping the spoon and moving to give the poison-type a hug, before reconsidering and backing off. “It’s been a little bit since I broke out, you know. I tried to forget some of the more...tragic things.”
The Poison-Type nodded. “I understand. It’s nice seeing you! We all really missed your cooking after you were gone, especially Vincent.”
“No need to tell me that,” the Sandslash said with a laugh. “Little Vincent has already come by before. He is just the cutest little Abra…”
“Vincent is here?” Valerie broke out in a grin, that was not something she had quite expected to hear.
“Yes, and if we are going to catch up on old times, I am going to take my break and escort you back to your seat,” the chef said, picking her spoon up and glaring at the colts...who all quickly got back to work. With a snort and a smile, the chef held the door open for the Poison-type. “After you.”
Valerie entered back into the dining room, once again sidestepping the slightly less large red puddle. As they passed it Mary clacked a few of her claws together, causing the colt to hurry up in his ministrations to his mess.
They went over to the groups table, as they approached Valerie introduced the Pokemon. “Mary, this is my mate Shadow, and my parents Flo and Hector. Everyone, this is Mary, she was another subject back at the lab.”
Mary nodded at the parents before turning her eyes on Shadow. The Umbreon suddenly felt as though Mary was Valerie’s mother, and not Flo, with how she was staring at him. The Sandslash took another step towards him and hummed a few times. “You are courting?” she asked, glancing at Valerie as she asked the question.
“Um… I guess you could call it courting,” was the awkward reply. The Sandslash gave off a humph and continued to inspect the Umbreon.
“He knows well enough about your form, I take it, and the drawbacks,” the Sandslash commented.
The Umbreon nodded, “Yeah, I’ve been helping her a lot with that, especially since I know Heal Bell.”
“Good,” Mary said with a nod and a sad smile. “But not all wounds are...external, little one. I know that one well enough.” With a soft sigh and a shake of her head, the chef turned back to Valerie. “But enough of depressing things. How have you been since the shift, Valerie?”
“I’ve been doing fairly well. We hit a few… bumps,” she saddened for a moment, but quickly returned to her previous demeanor, “but overall it’s been good. I found my brother again, which I admit while it was good it was also a bit of a hassle. And I made some pretty good friends back in Canterlot. What about you?”
The Sandslash waved a claw around to indicate the restaurant. “I have not been doing badly either. Once I showed that griffon what a real red sauce should taste like, he let me stay. And despite a...small bump of our own here throughout Las Pegasus, things have been calm and good for us. Little Vincent was most eager to taste my cooking again.” Once the Sandslash looked at the table, she chuckled a little. “As were you it seems.”
“Heh… Yeah. I didn’t even realize it was yours until a minute ago, but it was so good I feel guilty for not recognizing it and dashing into the kitchen the second I tasted it,” the Eeveelution giggled.
“Well if you want, I do have a griffon-friendly pizza recipe that I can have ready in about twenty minutes. Give you all a reason to stay and talk, and I’ll even toss in some breadsticks for half-price,” the Sandslash offered.
The whole table grinned, “That would be great!” Exclaimed Valerie. “And would it be too much to ask if we got just one teansy recipe to take back with us? I promise the chef where we’re staying is probably one of the few chefs worthy of your cooking!”
“Well if you speak so highly of him, then I can probably trust him with one of my recipes...but the next one will cost him one in return, little Valerie,” Mary said, scratching behind the Eeveelution’s ear with one of her claws. Just the tip of one of her claws, and she remembered to not touch anyone with it afterwards.
“I could probably do that, his pastas are his equivalent to your pies.” She grinned.
“Don’t let that griffon hear that,” Mary said with her own smile. “He’s not half-bad at making his own noodles, even if his sauce-work leaves much to be desired. So, one pizza and an order of breadsticks?” the chef asked, to make sure she got it all right before vanishing again. With a small round of nods coming from the Eeveelutions, the Sandslash ducked back into the kitchen.
“She seems nice,” commented Flo. “How exactly did she manage to cook in the laboratory anyway? You’d think that ‘doctor’ would keep a tighter hold on knives and heating elements.”
Valerie rubbed the back of her head with a paw. “Well… uh… she doesn’t really need knives, since her claws are much sharper than other Sandslash. But the doctor let her near cooking equipment since it boosted morale among the other subjects when they got good meals… and the… suicide rate would drop.”
“That’s… um… a nice sentiment I suppose,” was her mother's reply.
“Yeah… sentiment…” Valerie looked down at her plate.
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6072472
Most of the stronger guys at the end were in on it and helped make helix and the others believe that he has a slew of powers that aren't normal.
I thought her dad stayed to watch the egg, but he's with them at the end.
6170350
I don't know what you mean *eyes dart around*.