11 1/2. Voices of Spring
“Was Mason really the best pony to send?” Paige asked Tapu Lele in an offhand, but still passive-aggressive sort of way. She had gone to the mailroom on the pretense of having envelopes to send, but upon finding out that Kite Flyer was on lunch break, Paige had stuck around for a chat.
No, he wasn’t the best option, he was who we had on hand. Tapu Lele said from behind a mountain of paper, haggardly organizing mail into boxes with Psychic. He is helpful for keeping in touch with the Hunt for Arceus. Besides, I need you here. You’re more oriented for battle than he is. Not to say that he’s useless, he’s just...less useful in a fight, and more useful elsewhere.
“Hmm.” Paige nodded absently, hiding a smile by fixing a teetering stack of envelopes. “By the way, why are you here and not with the Chief?”
He’s gone home for the day. And I still have a couple hundred forms and papers to look over before I have to attend to my...side job.
“Well, good luck with that,” Paige called over her shoulder as she left. “I hope your new co-workers are more agreeable than the ones you found here.”
You too. Lele thought to herself, picking up a large stack of envelopes addressed to Barodius and heading back to her desk in Barodius’s office.
For the first time since the pokemon appeared, Paige was able to wait outside Rafe’s school to fly him home. She sat on a bench in the shade of some palm trees and watched the usual squirrels try to figure out how to deal with the weird electric ones that were trying to steal their food. There weren’t any students around in front of the building, since the school day had ended two hours ago. Still, Paige could hear the muffled, faraway hoofsteps and conversation of students who had stayed for club meetings and tutoring sessions. In one of them, she knew, Rafe was wrapping up his tutoring session for aspiring law students. As soon as Rafe finished and came out, he and Paige would fly to the beach together. There, Paige would drop him off to the ocean and then she could finally go back home.
Paige’s bag buzzed, so she dug around it for her pager (hah! paiger) and examined the screen.
Blank? She was sure she heard…
The bag buzzed again, and Paige opened the whole thing to let a small puff of yellow fly out.
“Lil cousin?!”Paige gasped. “How long were you in there?”
“Cutie!” Lil cousin could only say as he buzzed off towards some flowers decorating the school’s front entrance. Paige guessed that he must have hid in the bag that morning, and fasted until he couldn’t take it anymore.
Paige sighed, leaning over the side of the bench, watching him so that he wouldn’t get snatched up by a hungry bird, pokemon or otherwise. Lil cousin stumbled through the air towards a nearby bush and landed on a wide, bright red hibiscus flower. Then, with the finesse of a rhinoceros, shoved his whole face into it. Paige chuckled to herself as Lil cousin finished the nectar in that bloom and squeezed out in a puff of pollen.
“Paige!” Paige didn’t bother turning around as Rafe swam up to her bench. “I missed you! What made you bail this morning?”
Paige’s smile wavered. It was only just yesterday night that Nurzak had abandoned the operation to try and find his daughter. Paige hoped that Floria wasn’t captured by Barodius like Nurzak thought, because that could mean he meant for Nurzak to disappear, too.
Rafe nuzzled his silent, solemn friend. Paige couldn’t tell him just how dire things were. “I slept in.” Paige said, twisting the truth into technically-not-a-lie. “There was so much work management dumped on my lap yesterday that I missed a couple hours of sleep getting it all done.”
“Oh, same.” Rafe laughed as Lil cousin buzzed back from his snack and plopped onto Paige’s head. “Uh, about the missing sleep, not about...”
“Hey Rafe, did I ever introduce you to Lil cousin?”
“Cousin?” Rafe echoed, looking around the schoolyard before realizing that Paige was pointing to a beefly perched between her eyes.
“Oh, you little…” Rafe let his insult trail off as Paige snorted with laughter. He crossed his fins and turned away in a dramatic pout.
“I’m sorry, sheesh! Such a diva.” Paige gave Rafe a playful punch, still giggling.
Rafe puffed out his cheeks and gave her a side-eyed stare. But then, something occurred to Paige. She paused, eyes widening in realization.
“Hey...Rafe, do you know that translation spell you used on Milotic?”
Rafe continued to act juvenile for a few more moments, but then he put two and two together. He looked back at the tiny pokemon on Paige’s head.
“...I think so.” He carefully approached Lil cousin, who looked up at the bubbled pony seal in interest.
“Hi, um...Little Cousin, right?” Rafe asked gently. “Can I cast a translation spell, so I can understand you?”
Lil Cousin’s eyes lit up. “Cutie!” He jumped off of Paige and buzzed in circles around Rafe’s head. “Cutie cutie cutiefly!”
“I think that’s a yes.” Paige giggled.
“Ok, ok, hold still!” Rafe tried to follow Lil cousin, until he finally landed back on Paige’s head again. Rafe closed his eyes to concentrate, his horn glowing as he brought the spell he wanted to mind. The magic pulsed and shifted, going from pure power to a set of instructions to attach to a target. Rafe opened his eyes and aimed it at the fuzzy yellow fluff on Paige’s head.
The spell was aimed, then it hit Lil cousin in a brief, painless beam of magic.
Lil cousin blinked a few times, then started grooming his head with his front two legs. Paige went a little cross eyed as she tried to look for any change Lil cousin might have suffered. Lil cousin shook himself one last time, then spoke.
“Can...you hear me?” Lil cousin asked in a timid, but surprisingly deep voice.
“Yeah, I think so.” Rafe said slowly as Paige’s wings drooped in surprise.
“Very good!” Lil cousin proclaimed, buzzing into the air. “Then it is about time I properly introduced myself. I am Wolfurio, soon-to-be Pro Hunter (just as soon as I am strong enough to try and pass the Hunter's Exam). I am wholly grateful to the both of you, strange narwhal and Missus Paige, and in your debt until such time that I can repay you.”
“...Wolfurio.” Paige repeated.
“Yes?” Lil cousin--or rather Wolfurio--asked, landing on Paige’s beak.”
“That’s...your real name? Wolfurio?”
Wolfurio chuckled. “I didn’t mind the nickname you christened to me, Missus Paige. It was a rather endearing little moniker, wasn’t it?”
Paige blinked a few times at the cutiefly’s word choice. “Thank...you?”
“Well, Paige?” Rafe sniggered.
Paige gave him a disapproving stare and flared her wings. “I’m leaving for the beach.”
A whoosh of air rattled Rafe’s bubble as Paige took off. Rafe realised he was being left behind and hurried after her into the air.
“What’s the matter?” Rafe smiled his widest, most innocent smile as he caught up to Paige. “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it?”
Paige lifted her foreleg and poked Rafe’s cheek through the bubble. Rafe stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry, expelling a stream of air bubbles into his water one. Paige snorted, dropping her arm and ducking her head to try and hide it.
“Missus Paige!” Wolfurio yelled over the wind. “Forgive me, but where are we going?”
“I’m dropping the Rafe off to his home!” Paige explained, pointing down at the dock they had met at that morning as it came into view in the light of the setting sun.
“Is that the narwhal’s name?” Wolfurio asked as Paige began circling over the beach.
Rafe’s bubble caught the deep orange and flushed pink of the sunset as he let himself drift down to the sand. Once he was at ground level, he looked around for other ponies, then quickly and quietly slipped under the docks and into the water.
A moment later, his head broke through the surface a few meters from the shore. He swept his mane out of his eyes with a fin and caught sight of Paige, still wheeling through the air. They waved to each other one last time, and Rafe ducked underwater and Paige turned around in the air towards home.
She wouldn’t quite get there, but that’s for later.
Lele set down the last of that day’s paperwork on the Chief's desk with a mental sigh. It was getting late, and she still had to find Gerson and that graveler before her Barodius did.
Lele’s eyes wandered over the desk’s surface, which was littered with strange knick knacks that Lele could hardy imagine served any practical purpose. Mostly tourist junk like snow globes and dancing paperweights, but also hand carved trinkets that Lele suspected had some sort of pony enchantment, and a framed picture of a purple batpony with a white mane.
Lele groaned suddenly, clutching her head. She hated it in here, the Chief must have a truly powerful artifact hidden amongst these toys to be affecting her so much. But so far, she hadn’t located it no matter how many times she scanned his desk.
Lele floated out the room, resisting the urge to slam the door behind her. She was dead tired already, and she wished she could just reabsorb her physical manifestation into her ruins for the night, but she still needed to cross the island and---
Whoah! Lele jerked back, just barely avoiding getting stabbed by Crackle’s horn. I’m so sorry, sir. I should have been watching where I was going.
After about 10 seconds of silence, Lele took a second look at the unicorn she had almost collided with. It was the Captain, Lele’s eyes weren’t deceiving her, but the normally explosive policepony was uncharacteristically silent. He had stopped to pick up the mail Lele had sent flying, slowly grabbing each individual envelope with his magic and ordering it into a stack.
Captian? Lele studied his face. He wore a solemn expression, his eyes ringed with deep bags. Is everything alright?
He didn’t answer right away. Lele almost thought he hadn’t noticed her until he finally murmured, “Everything’s fine, private.”
...Right. Sorry to bother you. Lele floated to the side to let him pass. Crackle slowly trotted away, yellow, slitted eyes fixed to the ground in front of him.
Lele was suspicious, but she decided she wouldn’t let it get to her. She shouldn’t be wasting time.
Lele left the station and floated through the cool night air. The hour was later than she had thought, there were absolutely no ponies outside at all, and the nocturnal animals and pokemon had full domain over the moonlit streets. They scattered in reverence as Lele passed them, continuing with business as usual in her wake.
It didn’t take long for Lele to pass the town limits, and by then most of her fatigue had already worn away. Perhaps it was just relaxing to be outside after all that paperwork. Lele was passing by the base of Mauna Kea again, by the piles of boulders covered in vines and bursting with wildflowers that Gon and Lele had found the graveler in.
She wound her way up the path, following the trail to the place Gon had been. Lele was excited by the prospects of getting back in touch with one of her totem pokemon, especially an old friend like Grandma Sala. Lele had been so entrenched in her work that she didn’t have the time to look for them all. She had already used a ping to look for them, but they were either too far away for her to notice, or...
Lele tugged at her hair curls. It wouldn’t do her any good to dwell.
She snapped herself out of her daze and tried to focus in landmarks. Although the half-moon shone bright, he couldn’t see anything familiar, just an overgrown field of grasses and flowers. Out of the corner of her eye, Lele noticed a strange growth of plants.
Lele paused to give it a closer look. It seemed to be a rectangular structure, covered in tangled vines. The vines didn’t seem to have a firm hold, however, and left large swathes of the thing uncovered. Lele used the weakest Flash she could muster so that she could look at the thing and not attract attention to herself.
It was a roadside sign. A familiar roadside sign, a warning to pathfinders of a nearby active volcano. One with a bright red circle and line.
Is this it? Lele wondered to herself. It didn’t look like the place Gon had seen at all. There were a lot more rocks...and less...plants…
Lele was beginning to realise how oblivious she had just been.
Gerson? Graveler? Lele called with openair telepathy. It’s me, Tapu Lele.
Lele?
“We’re over here, Milady Tapu!” The old turtle called, waving furiously with a new wooden cane.
“We found another one of you!” The graveler called, pointing to the pokemon sitting behind him.
The pokemon’s horned shell gleamed, and split upwards. Tapu Bulu floated up, the familiar sound of his bell ringing was enough to bring tears to Lele’s eyes.
It’s been too long, little sister.
Lele didn’t bother with words, she just rammed herself into him, hugging him like he was about to disappear. Bulu laughed and hugged her back.
It’s been much too long.
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8857682
Really? I didn't see a fic like that yet. Can you post a link?
I'm writing a story set in Marelantis, and completely forgot that this was related to it.
I'm still reading it.
9063933
Okay.
I’m still reading this, Hell, I only just found it!
And I’m enjoying it immensely!
My only question is, if a Cutiefly evolves at 25 and you need to be at least 30 to be a hunter, wouldn’t Wolfurio be a Ribombee then? I know Gon would be a Lucario probably too so there’s probably some personal preference, but I had to ask.
9063933 9063958
The other story set in Marelantis is A New World with New Seas, that got cancelled early on.
Sometimes I feel bad because it feels like I'm trying to make The Tides Have Turned "replace" Alola to a New World!, even though both stories will probably forever remain in For Review limbo. I came up with the idea without taking this into consideration, and I didn't even realise that parts of this were set in Marelantis at first. It would have been too much of a hassle for me to completely revise an idea I got attached to in order to fit with someone else's story. Oh well.
Also the stories need to bee up to speed with the new seasons & movie.
9107499
It doesn't matter which specific story that one example was, because every story I have read has the Pokemon all placed randomly. Sometimes Pokemon who know each other are placed close to each other, but sometimes they are placed nearly a whole continent or more away from each other. Simply put, there was no sense of order when it came to where they ended up.
9107593 Okay. I thought the arctic one was referencing A New Horde.
So the four mystic pokemon tapus are trying to pick a fight with all the legendaries.
The thing is the tapus can not really argue well about going back to earth because their region is the most peaceful
9383465
well, not in this story or at least not yet. At this stage they're more focused on getting back together after being scattered across Equestria.
9064452
I'm, what, six months late? Huh. Sorry about that.
Anyway, Wolfurio isn't a hunter yet, he just wants to be in the future when he trains up enough to evolve/ take the test. though, since the exodus that will most likely be harder than usual...
I've been reading your story and anyway if you are writing a story it should be because you want to and other people enjoying it is a side benefit