Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

315. Tales of Tasks.

-Pokémon World, Ransei Region, Kingdom of Aurora, evening, Ocellus-

“That’s so neat!” One of Geoff’s Wooloo friends stated with interest at Geoffs story about how he started looking like a Lycanroc in the wool department. One would think he would start looking like a wolf, but apparently Geoff’s ‘Copycat’ move took liberties with his appearance to mimic that of what the Rockruff brothers could eventually look like when they evolved.

We were almost back to Helper’s Hamlet when we ran across Geoff’s unit or more to the point for a pun, flock, if we’re taking Geoff being a Cleric into consideration as their shepherd and spiritual leader seriously. Kind of hard to do given the whole, Wooloo are perverts ‘no exceptions’, thing they have going on.

We’ve seen some really weird stuff, Geoff being stuck in Pom’s Wolf’s Clothing mode wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen. That it actually permanently enhanced his capabilities was something else and from what I’ve heard of Lycanroc, they tend to be ridiculous fast like Geoff now is. It was fairly fitting to say the least.

Pom and Dolly started stirring at the same time in synch with one another.

Everyone paused and had been wondering how Pom would be when she eventually woke up. Tianhup said they ran into a slight snag with contacting Queen Novo about the Chrysomallus.

Dolly was the first to sit up and bark something, before whimpering and rubbing at her head. She turned to look at Pom as she sat up in a sweat and gasping and the feelings of panic coming off her let me know she probably hadn’t wanted to wake up for some reasons, she even quickly started to pat her back as if searching for something that wasn’t there.

Her eyes were still dull, but there was some life in them… at least more than before Geoff ripped her a new one.

After apparently finding out there was nothing other than the wool on her back, Pom sighed with relief. A rather curious thought that she could feel any relief when her anxiety output basically doubled a second later.

“So…” Pom started as if she hadn’t stopped talking or reacting to us at all. “Do you need anything?”

“For you to be okay for one.” My words made her flinch and Dolly cuddled up against Pom trying to calm her down.

“Sorry for shutting down… but… we didn’t exactly get that spirit expert help now did we?” Pom suddenly asked with a less than enthusiastic manner.

At least we got most of the physical injuries dealt with, though Smolder's was still going to be a while yet.

“Nonsense, for I am right here.” Lucha Mundo stated with grin.

“Ah… so you’re not just Geoff’s wrestling teacher and really odd friend that he’s likely already hit on at least fifty or so times.” That was an understatement Pom, he’s asked that at least twenty or so time every ten minutes since Mundo seems like an acceptable target to Geoff.

“Yes, he has done that, and yes, I have turned him down every time. ‘Persistent Perverts of the Plains’, doesn’t even begin to describe a Wooloo’s rather insatiable exceedingly friendly tenacity.” Mundo stated with his wing, cape or arms crossed and nodding. “That does not reduce me from a capacity to be of service as to help you and I will be one of your traveling companions from here on. First order of business… rest, lots of it, no work, just thinking, talking and spending time with friends and loved ones. You can do this without running off to help someone in need of help yes? I think you need some time to be selfish for once in a safe environment and Aurora seems to be quiet and peaceful enough for that.”

“…” Pom obviously liked the idea of being selfish, the problem would come with the execution as Pom has quite a few notable tendencies that would make this hard for her to accomplish.

“I hope you realize that asking Pom to relax is kind of big problem for her, because the only time I’ve ever seen her relax is when she’s frolicking through flowers or when she has nothing pressing to do or going on.” After taking a moment to let that sink in, I added my thoughts further to the cause of helping Pom recover from whatever is wrong with her. “Thankfully there are plenty of places to do so around Aurora. Don’t worry about us Pom, we can keep ourselves busy with any tasks Pokémon might have for us at the guild and we won’t leave Aurora for any reason without you.”

“It will be a challenge to be sure.” Mundo nodded to himself. “We will actively face it together… with donuts!”

-The next day, Team Harmony Guild, Canard-

“So Pom’s got some kick back in her, but she’s not exactly back yet.” Not what I was worrying about too much. “They’ll be trying to keep her calm and from doing anything all day, I heard that was going to be quite a task.”

Pom needed some help and relaxation, thankfully she had teams of friends raring to go on that front. A good team will always pull together through thick and thin.

“So how about this one Canard?” We were looking over a board of missions or tasks the rescue team members could perform.

Seemed simple enough from what was described of Rescue Team work when we were on our way to Aurora coming from Violight, though I was kind of having trouble with the normalcy of the request considering how long I’ve been stuck traipsing around the digital realms.

“Sounds good, but…” I looked at Sami and she looked at me innocently. I would never like any saurian, but darn it my partner was adorable at times. “How long will this take and will the pay be worth it?”

“Should be, seems a bit much that someone is willing to pay us this much money for cleaning kites out of a tree.” Which meant something was up with this request Sami, but it seemed so easy… a little too easy. “Well come on, hey Mr. Foffo, we’re taking this one!”

“Sure, thing… just let me finish up this report, Fiffi is still on maid and medic duty for the Castle and is under Chan’s purview and Maiden Jig is reorganization our budget to include the recent lofty donation made by Geoff. Okay, I’ll sign your mission out now.” Foffo then started to write up something and then he passed it to Sami. “There, you are officially on this commission. The client is a bit south, by southwest near a large tree.”

“We’ll also take this commission, since it seems related.” I stated after pulling another one down.

“Hmm… quite right, you even already know the client of this one!” Foffo stated with good cheer.

-Half an hour later-

“Thanks for bringing me along!” Cleffa was joining us for this task and she seemed perfectly happy to help with getting kites out of a tree.

“Well we needed someone who could identify the client for us and Sami isn’t a Pokémon, the client is a Sudowoodo?” I haven’t been in this world for long, but I was curious what our client was like.

“Oh it’s a slim brown Pokémon that tend to pretend it’s a tree and has Ditto face… it does the whole tree thing quite poorly.” The tiny Cleffa was proven correct seconds later.

“Hi there!” The Pokémon that was Sudowoodo was posing as a tree next to two trees, one was full of kites. “Are you here for my commission?”

“Yeah, we’re supposed to get kites out of a tree and pile them up in one spot… why are there so many kites in this tree in particular?” Floating wind devices were all over the one tree, I thought it was a little odd.

“Well this section of the plains is particularly windy and this tree is the only place a kite could get stuck in.” I glanced at the tree next to the one the kites were stuck in, there wasn’t any kites in that one and I wasn’t going to comment on it.

-One hour of work later-

“My grappling hook is proving pretty useful.” Don’t exactly think it was meant for pulling kites down Sami, but it was shockingly effective at doing that as long as I was using it. Otherwise Sami has been slammed into the relatively large tree at least four times at this point.

“There all the kites are out and piled up.” I dusted my hands of this mission.

“Oh thank you, here’s the…” The Sudowoodo was about to pay us when something shifted.

“Thank goodness, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer!” The second tree screamed and then ran to the pile of kites and then started picking them up and eating them. “So many tasty kites om-nom-nom!”

“What in the world?!” I shouted as I backed away from the second smaller tree started eating a bunch of kites.

The monster had one large read eye, two limbs with three claws and six roots it walked around on. The tree just came to life and in the joints of wood was a black spooky substance.

“That would be a Trevenant, one that seems to really like eating kites... for some reason.” Sudowoodo stated with shock.

“Uh… if don’t tell anybody about this… I’ll pay you on top of what he was going to!” The Trevenant said and then stuffed another kite into his mouth and bit down with a loud crunch. “So much paste and string, this is a really good one!”

“You are so much like a Woodmon or Cherrymon, because they too eat kites.” There was a look of wonder on Sami’s face as the hidden tree monster continued to decimate the pile of kites, there was also a slight hint of anger. “So many digital kites lost to those mouths… those Jungle Trooper bastards.”

“We’ll take the extra pay.” I said for the both of us, because I seriously didn’t want Sami to do anything drastic.

I was also trying to avoid drawing attention to Cleffa.

“Thank you for helping me get my kite back Mr. Thunderbeak.” Whispered Cleffa as she quietly started heading back to the town, all while sneaking away with a single little pink kite covered in bows while the Trevenant was busy devouring all the other kites violently.

That would be two commissions and a little extra in one trip.

-Helper’s Hamlet, Guild Hall, Approximately around the same time that Canard and Sami took their commission, Shanty-

“So cleaning up the calmer part of the river between Greenleaf and Aurora? That doesn’t sound too exciting Shanty.” No, you just not be getting it Favela!

Where there’s trash, there’s also treasure, I be dumpster diving a lot when I was younger so I would know how to make at least some money to buy barely stale food. I be living this long, so I must be doing something right when it came to scavenging and dredge stuff up from the river sounded it was being a calm adventure while Pom was busy resting and or being told to not help anyone. It might be driving her nuts, but I want Pom to have some life back in her.

“Oh ye’ of little faith my pirate companion.” Shaking my head at Favela’s naiveté I turned to my other crew member excitedly. “Dodo be getting the wagon, we’re going treasure diving! Foffo we will be dredging the river… don’t be giving me that look, I am being good enough for some swimming.”

“I’m still somewhat concerned about your recent scars, but okay, fine, if you think you can do it. I’ll be sending someone out to watch you though, just to make sure nothing bad happens.” Foffo signed off on the mission and then be passing it to us with a smile.

-One hour later at the Aurora riverside between Aurora and Greenleaf-

“I hope you realize that I’m not going to be very much help in the water.” We didn’t be expecting you to swim Dazzle, but since you and Frizzle were here… we could use help whenever Favela needed to drag something in.

“Don’t be worrying, I’m just going to do some treasure diving… and practicing my ten minute breathe hold on the side.” For some reasons my reassurances didn’t be making the frown on Dazzle’s face any smaller.

“Can you swim Frizzle?” Sighed out Dazzle to her companion, Frizzle answered the question with a smile while nodding. “Okay, then let’s get this started. Apparently there are several things that we were specifically asked to remove from the water, anything else we find is ours to keep. First order of business… really?! Okay this is odd, but… we need to remove a wooden desk from the river. The Bidoof apparently lost it a while ago and want us to find it so they can use it for décor in a small dam somewhere in the Ignis and Aurora portions of river. We also need to find a Cubone Skull Helmet and parts of a wagons, if we can find the wagon’s cargo it’s all ours.”

“What be the cargo?” It could be something interesting at the very least.

“Well it was a shipment from Aurora to Greenleaf, some general stuff and… er… I don’t how you’ll react to this but there’s also some rrrrr-uuuuu-mmmm---…” Time slowed down for as Dazzle got to that word and then I was already swimming towards the bottom of the river, I be being halfway there already.

-Dazzle-

In a blink Shanty was gone a colossal pillar of water was shooting up in the air.

“… she really likes rum huh?” The fact that she was immediately in the water and had disappeared the moment the M sound left my mouth was rather impressive. “Okay Favela you’ll be using Vine Whip to search the river while Shanty is working on fishing up her drink supply. Frizzle I don’t know how this water will affect you given it’s not the same as the water in your world, but you can help if you feel like.”

Dodo looked at us and warbled something.

“What, what is it Dodo?” After a moment we witnessed Dodo’s eyes started glowing. After a really high pitched noise, he projected the image of elongated divot. “Is that the bottom of the river?!”

Dodo warbled merrily in affirmation. That’s when Shanty started finding the bottles that Dodo detected rather quickly if that was her dot moving around underwater at Water Type speeds. Oh right, she was connected to Dodo like Pom was connected to Dolly.

A second later Shanty erupted from the river with eight bottles of rums, four in her front hooves, one in her mouth, two sticking out of her ears by the bottlenecks and one hooked on one of her hind legs. She dropped all the bottles off and I collected them and put them in the wagon.

“I will be getting all the rum!” Shanty announced loudly before inhaling and flopping back into the water with a large splash that made me back away hastily.

“While she’s doing that, do you think you can fish up the desk Favela?” Seeing where the desk was indicated I moved over to the approximate location Dodo was showing and Favela sent two vine whips into the what.

“Yes, but I, Favela, am going to need some help doing so, got my vines on it, can you help me pull?” We moved to both side of Favela and grabbed onto her horns. “Can you pull by my vines instead of my horn please?”

We reoriented our grips on to both the vines Favela had in the water and started pulling, we eventually got the dragged the desk out and it was, surprisingly enough, in perfect condition and didn’t look like it spent even a day in the water.

“Ow, ow, ow, my vines are a bit sore…” We looked over to see what Shanty was doing and saw three small treasure chests that could fit in the palm of my claw full of Poké, twenty seven bottles of rum and a tired Shanty. “How did she manage that in the time it took us to pull the desk out?!”

“All the rum, all of it!” Shanty stated with a crazed look in her eyes before diving back in, likely knowing there was still loaded rum bottles left in the river.

“Okay, missing Cubone Skull Helmet and wagon pieces, can you help us with that too Dodo?” We received a friendly trill and I nodded to myself as he started locating the other stuff, but he was apparently focused on finding all the rum lost in the river for Shanty. “Looks like the skull is buried under some of the river silt, you’ll need to dig around one of the horns with a vine to get a good grip on it. Shouldn’t be too hard to free up. Also isn’t anyone concerned about how Shanty is acting?”

“Not particularly no, it might have been a rum shipment to The Saucy Skiddo from local farms in Aurora and Shanty apparently doesn’t let perfectly good rum go.” Answered Favela immediately.

Dodo also warbled a negative with no worry about how Shanty was acting while shaking his head left and right in exasperation.

“Are you here to help my find my skull helmet?” I jumped a little and turned to the small Pokémon with a large paper bag over his head, his purple eyes visible within the eyeholes of it.

“Gobumon…” Murmured Frizzle in a high pitched squeak, so she saw something familiar in Cubone. Wasn’t Gobumon the prior evolutions of that Weregarurumon guy in the digital world? She must have known him for quite a while, given lived in Server City before I showed up.

“Yes, don’t worry, we’ll get it back for you, in fact we’re doing that right now.” In fact all I was doing is waiting on Favela to fish it up with a vine. The small brown bipedal Pokémon sighed in relief. “Say, how did you lose it in the first place?”

“Whoever shot that Snorlax at the bridge almost took us out with it, losing the skull from my head was a really big downer, but happier alive than all the bones in my body crushed... also Ground Type, swimming to shore was hard for me so I’m lucky that I didn’t drown in the incident. at least the Pokémon I was traveling with gave me this bag to wear. I’ve been trying to get help with finding my skull for a while.” The poor little bipedal guy wilted while sniffling loudly. “I’m so thankful that the Rescue Team finally got around to me, WAAHHHH!”

I gently patted the poor Cubone on the back, avoiding his back spike as I carefully tried to calm him down. Surprisingly, my being a Salazzle was no longer commented on and nobody seemed to fear me around here. Aside from the fact that quite a few Pokémon heard I evolved while working with the Rescue Team Leader Pom. Those sewers are going to haunt my memories for quite a while, but I’m stronger for it.

“Gah, I’ve found it with my left vine, but something just bit onto my other vine! Someone grab my right vine and pull it out, my left has a grip on the skull helmet!” Favela was whimpering and Frizzle immediately moved to grab her right vine and give it a sharp yank. A massive Magikarp was soon flying from the river and left flopping on the shore, we’ll throw them back in after we’re done here. Favela quickly thrust her right vine back into the water. “Darned Magikarp… be holding on for a little… huh?”

“What is it?” Suddenly the vines reeled in and with them came a two horned skull helmet that I knew Cubone were known for wearing.

“I think Shanty just helped me get it free from the river bed.” Favela stated with a smile. “Guess she’s not too busy down there.”

A Gyarados launched upwards out of the water and then flopped over to start slowly floating down the river, leaving us confused as to how that happened. We shrugged it off, considering it was getting up or attacking us.

“Yes!” The Cubone was about to rush forward and take his skull cap back, but I stopped him.

“Hold up, we need to clean it out first before you try putting it back on.” After having said this, I jumped when Shanty burst from the water.

“Found another rum bottle under that skull, but that big serpent thing got in the way! Nobody be getting between me and my rum, nobody!” Shanty took a few gasping breathes and then dropped back into the water while leaving the bottle of rum on the shore, I took it up and put it with the others in the collection Shanty had going.

Wait… did Shanty just spend several minutes in the water without breathing? Also she just beat up that Gyarados over a bottle of rum? Well now, that had my spine was tingling with fear. She beat it without churning the water too much or even a huge fight... and she did it underwater too. That was kind of terrifying considering how strong Gyarados’s usually are.

“I’m just so happy to have it back!” Cubone whined while hugging the clogged up skull helmet to himself, his spraying tears was getting his paper bag wet to the point that parts of it started disintegrating. “Though yeah, you’re right, I need to clean it out before I can wear it again.”

-Around the same time that Shanty, Dazzle, Favela and Dodo took on their river dredging mission, Guild Hall, Smolder-

“We could do this one, seems simple enough…” There were some pretty weird missions, heard Airship Mauled started doing something like this before we got stuck hopping across worlds. It’s been pretty weird that I’m starting to think of a pop-up town between Ponyville and Appleoosa.

“It’s just cheering someone up, that sounds oddly… simple.” Ocellus stated looking faintly suspicious, making me wonder if she’d be willing to do something like this. “Let’s take it to Foffo, then we’ll see about it. Though it feels kind of wrong to be paid to help out a friend.”

“Well Pom did say if we wanted something, then we’d have to make our own money at times.” Money isn’t what made me greedy, Ocellus is what made me greedy. “Besides we could put that money back into the guild by hiring someone to find a good dating spot for us.”

“I can tell you a good spot for free, I heard Arceus valley to the east has a nice view of the ocean in the morning.” Eriflamb stated with a chipper attitude as he passed us by. “So has anyone come in to help me cleaning up the bath house?

“Yeah, Pristi and Pichochi will be on it, expect them to fight over who cleans up more. Maybe this is why Swablu and Minccino can’t live in the same general region…” Foffo posited before taking up our request and looking it over. “Seems simple enough, do you think you two could do it alone? I know some of your traveling companions would be willing to help.”

A loud squeak was heard and I blinked and saw Lit skittering along Ocellus’s back. What was the little lightning tick doing here?

“Huh, it seems he wishes to help you, I’ll sign off on it.” Foffo does so and Lit squeaked with smiling eyes as he passes the signed mission confirmation over to Ocellus.

“I wonder why Lit isn’t with Dolly, much less Pom.” Yeah, it was something to be curious about Ocellus, but I’m sure Pom and Dolly were fine.

We’re in Aurora, how much trouble could those two… no wait… its Pom… of course they are in some kind of trouble. Well hopefully they could deal with that themselves, it can’t be that huge an issue if nobody is panicking about something outright.

“Eh, it’s probably nothing too big or else we’d be hearing about it.” Please note my tone Ocellus, we do not need another incident and Pom needs a relaxing day.

“You think something is happening, but you don’t want anything to do with it.” That was the gist Ocellus. “Fine, but I would like to say that we are good friends with Pom. If there was a problem we missed, then we can only get away with ignoring it because we were busy with something else. Let’s go find this person and help them.”

I looked at the missions specifics and noticed something familiar about the Pokémon at the location. The Buneary Warrens, as in the place Jiri was from.

-Approximately an hour later-

It took us some time to find the right place, we had to ask a few of the underground housing Pokémon about who we were looking for. It didn’t take us long to find out it was Jiri’s family we were looking for, specifically one of her little brothers, inside a nice community that was a Buneary warren.

Hope they didn’t expect Jiri to show up, she was still laid up after the battle between Ignis and Aurora… then again the mission was to cheer someone up and it was sent to the guild and not a message to the castle so they really couldn’t be expecting Jiri right?

“Okay I’ve knocked, we just have to wait.” It looked like Ocellus was as intrigued as I was about this commission. “Do you think this is one of Jiri’s little brother?”

“Ocellus, if Buneary are anything like Equestrian rabbits, like Angel Bunny for instance, then she undoubtedly has a large family.” After a moment of thought, I considered why Jiri was so gung-ho to be an actual hero. “You don’t think it’s because Jiri had so many accidents and got that Dragoon title right?”

That bunny put up one Tartarus of a fight against the Ignis rebellion forces, said forces that broke up with the loss of Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu. Banditry was still a thing but a minor problem at best considering we managed to get through Ignis and back without trouble.

We still had Geoff’s militia watching the bridge, but so far nothing bad has happened.

“Yes, who is… oh my!” What came out wasn’t a Buneary. It was likely Jiri’s future form, a Lopunny and she seemed fairly soft spoken.

“Hey there, we’re here about the commission to cheer someone up… also are you one of Jiri’s older sisters?” This brought a laugh out from the large bunny, she was twice as tall as Jiri was if you counted the large ears that go the entire length of her torso. She had fluffy thick creamy fur on her brows, ear tips, writs and legs up to her knees. Aside from that she was brown furred and she seemed calm.

“Oh no, I’m not Jiri’s older sister, though it is quite nice of you to think that. I’m her mother.” The Lopunny stated with a bright tone, before becoming a bit wary. “How is Jiri by the way? Is… is she okay?”

“Jiri’s fine, if resting from a pretty heavy and long battle, but she’s recovering fairly well. She has a habit of befriending bears that are apparently going to be larger than her and they are her best friends and she leads her own unit fairly well.” So Ocellus just confirmed that we were going to be dealing with one of Jiri’s younger siblings. “She held off more than three hundred Pokémon at the bridge between here and Ignis, she was quite a sight in that battle and we knew she was protecting Aurora with all her heart for a reason. It was a bit surprising that she didn’t evolve by how much of a fight she put up. Aside from that, can you confirm this commission?”

“Yeah, our family has had a habit of having slow but greatly timed evolutions in particular, but it sounds like my little Jiri has become a real hero despite still being a Buneary. Thankfully she’s a real hero now, instead of all that stuff with the Dragapult making her an accidental one.” She motioned us forward into the underground warren through a round wooden door. “Yes, this is the place the commission was talking about, come on in. There was another reason for the commission aside from the stated one of cheering up one my kids… it seems we found something that Jiri might be able to use eventually in her military career. She is in the Aurora military service and not the Rescue Team right?”

“That’s correct, she joined Aurora’s military forces and her first mission was escorting medical supplies from Greenleaf.” I answered as we sat down, we were motioned to take a seat at a table and I took a seat next to Ocellus as we waited. “It became kind of involved with finding out what was happening in Fontaine and things kind of went from there. Jiri’s proven to be quite a powerhouse, even if she is rather clumsy. She really pushed herself so hard to make sure Aurora wasn’t invaded in that last fight, I can see why she made a declaration that she had something to protect.”

“That’s my little Jiri… has she stopped using Bounce entirely?” Jiri’s mother asked patiently with a little worry. “She has always had something of a bit of cursed luck using that move and it’s something of a Buneary and Lopunny trademark. As Pokémon we’re kind of jumping fanatics.”

“Well no, but she’s at least making sure her target will be directly in front of her or absolutely clearly in her path before using it.” Smiling at Ocellus’s answer, she nodded to us. “She’s really talented with a shield and spear, never saw anything quite like it and Pom, our friend and the one who started the guild, only trained her in the use of a spear for a few days. She’s a natural at both offense and defense from what we’ve heard and seen of her.”

“That’s good to know, because she’ll likely need that jumping power of hers in her line of work. Excuse me for a minute to get that special thing for my daughter, also I’ll need some time getting our sad sack out of his little hole so you can try to cheering him up too. I think he personally needed someone to talk to and I heard good things about your guild. You girls wait right here, I’ll be right back!” With that the Lopunny bustled off leaving Ocellus, Lit and I sitting at the table… well Lit was more on the table then sitting at it.

“She seems nice.” Ocellus stated in a cheerful manner. “Her emotions were generally positive about hearing what Jiri has been up to. A little sketchy around the mention of her bear friends, mostly worry, but there was quite a bit of pride around hearing Jiri being the leader of her own unit.”

“Yeah, real down to earth family… to the point of being in it.” I said with a grin, Lit chittered happily with four smiling eyes. “I swear I’m feeling Applejack, if she were a warrior.”

“For me it’s more of a Rainbow Dash vibe, loyalty to family, kingdom and friends.” This was a nice place to relax Ocellus. I had a feeling you were thinking about something specific, so I’ll broach it now in the only way I knew how, as bluntly as Gallus tends to do with the rest of us.

“Are you thinking about Pom right this moment?” That my question caused her to jolt and look away from me was kind of funny, she got caught and called out.

“Yes… I’m still quite worried about her. You have no idea what feeling the emotions of those around you is like all the time and turning it off isn’t exactly easy for me to do. I’ve been trying since it’s become a liability, but it’s so intoxicating to know what others are feeling at any given moment.” Yeah, that was definitely a big problem for you Ocellus. At least you knew how I felt about you. “Though I have been trying to learn how to do the turn off thing lately, so as to not get pushed out of being able to help people during times of crisis when emotions run high, it’s not going very well. Pom… she’s been something of a constant blowing wind of negativity to me, but that doesn’t mean I can handle other emotions than anxiety particularly well. I just know what anxiety feels like better than most changelings ever could, it kind of borders on terror or outright fear. I mean concentrated malice will always outright take the fight out of me, but that… there’s no amount of anxiety that could stop me from trying to help Pom with whatever is bothering her. Not that she’ll tell us if we’ve missed something or haven’t noticed the things she takes care of for us when we’re not looking.”

“Yeah, Ember told me about the constant burdens of leadership, I’m beginning to understand why being a leader is not exactly entirely a great thing unless you’re good at keeping people from going off rails. Goodness knows Shanty wants more pointers on how to build and keep together a crew of pirates that’ll be like family for her, kind of hard for someone who’s had a run of bad luck when it comes to having any family at all… kind of know the feeling given the ‘no show’ parents.” I let that one sit in the air for a while, Lit whined and gently tapped my claw with a leg in an understanding manner. “So glad Ember forced me into the Friendship School, wasn’t exactly doing much otherwise before.”

Dolly was probably too caught up in worrying about Pom to notice that Lit likely gave her and Pom some space. The little guy was quite independently sure of himself, even if he really likes to be Dolly’s benign tick.

“Okay girls sorry it took so long, here’s my little Bunnelby and here’s the thing for Jiri.” It looked like a marble, but even I could tell there was something behind the stone I was looking at.

“Is this a mega stone?” I asked while gazing at the two brown colors in the marble, I remember seeing that Chulainn guy use one of these to fight Pom. Pom destroyed it and he immediately reverted back after totally skewering her with his fist spike.

“Yes, it’s a Lopunnite, it’ll allow a Lopunny to mega-evolve. I don’t need it, but I’m sure Jiri could make better use of it than I ever could.” Jiri’s mother started to introduce us to the smaller rabbit she dragged out. “Now about my little boy here.”

“I know I’m adopted, you really don’t have to pretend to care.” Muttered the dull grey more normal looking rabbit with brown neck scruff, feet and at the tips of his shovel sized ears.

“You’re still my son though, regardless of whatever you may think of me. I do love and care for you.” Lopunny didn’t let the smaller rabbits mood or apparent disdain get to her, she still nuzzled the smaller rabbit affectionately before turning to us. “Can you please get him out of the burrow for a while and help him work through his feelings? He’s been cooped up in the burrow since his sister Jiri set out to become a real hero to be looked up to.”

“Of course we can, that’s why I’m here. Feelings are actually kind of a specialty for me.” That was definitely you Ocellus, I’m more of a brute force blunt approach to friendship kind of person.

“So what are these two weirdoes anyway?” This Bunnelby guy continued to be a sour and depressing mood, we had our work cut out for us.

“Just a couple of outsiders that work for the local Rescue Team Guild.” The smiling Lopunny earned an interested ear raise from the dour Bunnelby.

-Thirty minutes later-

The Bunnelby was cheered up and talking to a Bidoof about digging and underground construction. We were also becoming good friends with him since we knew his sister. He had some hero worship for Jiri, even if her accidents weren’t entirely heroic.

The stories of her battles since she started living at the castle or in the hamlet had pepped him up quite a bit as we meandered around the grasslands together.

-Helper’s Hamlet, Pom-

“Are you sure?” I asked searching Mr. Foffo’s gaze, I can tell he was somewhat upset that he couldn’t help me with my dulled feelings.

“Yes, I am quite sure there is nothing for you to do here Lady Lambchop, though you might want to spend time with your favorite companion.” Foffo was of course talking about Dolly, who was by and large sticking to me like glue when she could be out playing and enjoying herself.

“Come on, Pom, no one needs anything of you today, besides you’re supposed to be taking it easy!” Dolly barked at me irritably, but she wasn’t going to leave me in a lurch I could already feel that much coming from her side of our bond.

“Fine, fine… I’ll try to relax… say maybe I could help Mr. Schlurp…” I tried again.

“I’m good!” Mr. Schlurp shouted while waving his tongue in a friendly manner at me before I could even suggested helping him cook. Pristi and Picochi already took care of the cleaning.

“Oh… well… this feels kind of weird.” I’ve never been so absolutely needless before, I suspect that everyone was doing something to not give me a reason to be doing anything helpful.

Nobody needing my assistance in a fight was nice, but nobody needing my assistance at all was something unheard of to me.

“… I… could… erg… play fetch with you.” Dolly, you hated fetch, you even gave me the reasons why you hated fetch and if you were more like you’re brothers you’d likely come up with a three hour long presentation for why you wouldn’t play the game unless you’re life absolutely depended on it.

“You… don’t have to do that for me Dolly…” I sat down at the nearest table and Dolly took up a seat next to me.

“Do you have any hobbies that are not helping people or taking care of something? Even my brother Dylan has hobbies, all you have is work and helping anyone. Do you even know how to ‘fun’ Pom?” That’s a good question Dolly, because… well cooking was a useful hobby, but Mr. Schlurp already stopped me on that. Everyone was making sure I was having a relaxing day through sheer force of will at this point. “Also you’re still sounding a bit hollow there.”

I know Dolly, but how do you expect me to feel anything positive with the idea that I might grow wings, sure the flying with nary but a thought would be fun, but… the downsides were a sticking point.

“Can you blame me, I already told you the secret of what a Chrysomallus is. Yet you’re still going to persist with being bound to me.” I’d give her that, she wasn’t going to bow out on me even knowing what she does… it was kind of relieving that she was sticking to me.

“Well of course, I’m not much of a quitter concerning you Pom. I’m willing to be called your dog if you ever needed me in that capacity… which you thankfully don’t and it’d be quite awkward when we’re family to act that brainless. Still someone as awesome as you needs a spunky pup like me to keep you in the green as much as possible, because you are quite easy to depress and drop into the red.” With the way things have gone can you blame me Dolly? “I wouldn’t blame someone for being themselves Pom, try to think more positively. It might not happen.”

Relaxing is not something one does when they took survival courses while living in the wilderness with a bunch of canines for most of their early life. All the cooking, cleaning and spending time with Tianhuo was the best parts of my life, frolicking was fun, but I can only do that for so long before I start wanting to get involved with civilization.

“It’s not a matter of ‘IF’ it’ll happen Dolly, it’s a ‘WHEN’ it happens.” Thankfully it didn’t seem like today was that day.

“Then you should be trying to enjoy life as much as possible Pom, I know I’m trying to enjoy as much time with you if you’re even right about that particular subject.” It was strange that Dolly could even sit still considering how much energy she had and she was practically doing it for my sake. “Why spend the time between now and ‘THEN’ if the ‘WHEN’ ever occurs being a constant depressing sink of emotions, you deserve at least some happiness.”

“You’d think so wouldn’t you? The whole Chrysomallus thing is going to blow up in my face eventually… just you wait Dolly.” It was a matter of ‘WHEN’ and that was not now, but eventually and I had no clue when it would pop up. “This whole adventure I’ve been on is seeking to change me into something I’m not.”

“What a worrywart? A pensive quiet person that likes to think too hard? Someone who doesn’t like fighting, but will do so if needs must? If you wanted someone who knows you right now, it’d be me. You need something to keep your mind off things and… what about giving me a bath. That’ll keep you busy for an hour or so and I won’t smell like I crawled out of a dump truck.” Not that you’ve crawled into one recently, but bathing wasn’t your thing and I knew you were only suggesting things that I might appreciate doing for you. “You like doing things for others Pom, it’s kind of like watching Dylan do stuff for other. Takes me forever to convince him to have fun, always too busy cleaning the house or focusing on the safety for others. Lunch Mound guy wants you to do something relaxing and you’re having a problem relaxing because you don’t have a hobby. Something beyond fighting and your continued survival. Which admittedly you are amazing at camping… hm…”

“His name is Lucha Mundo, also you’re not wrong Dolly. Most of my hobbies were born of necessity.” Taking care of others was one of my favorite things to do and it was always a free activity.

“Why don’t we go camping together at the top of Arceus Valley place we started at in this world and wait until night to look at the stars together? I bet the view is great what with the lack of city lights getting in the way.” You’re going to keep making suggestions until I agree to something aren’t you? “Well no duh Pom, but it’ll be at least fun to look around top of the valley’s mountain for a bit. If you want me to run around and leave you to yourself, then you’re going to have problems with me not being near you with how you currently are.”

I smiled a little and let out a huff.

“Alright, let’s go see if the Kecleon’s have a tent and some portable cooking gear, it’s been a while since I’ve done some outdoors living… first we’re getting you a bath, even if you are going to get into some dirt or mud anyway.” I waited for Dolly to lunge at me with affection, after a small pump of her paws in victory of course.

-Later that evening at the top of Arceus Valley, east of Helper’s Hamlet near a grove of apple trees-

So this is where Geoff kept getting his apples from.

“My brother loved to look at the stars, now he’s exploring the ones back in my home dimension.” Dolly was staring at the clouds after all the running around we did to build a perfect camping sight… it was weird that I was just going camping with only Dolly for company, apparently Lit wandered off at some point and it took a while for Dolly to notice her favorite tick wasn’t clinging to her back. He was off enjoying some time with Ocellus and Smolder for some reason. “So much weirdness in the stars here, not anything I’d recognize. Not that I’m big on star gazing, but hey, it’s pretty!”

“Yeah, I wonder when the people here will start charting out their stars, they don’t seem to think much beyond their world… though they’ve had outsiders here before me, make me feel less special in a way. I kind of need that feeling to persist Dolly.” I was also wonder what other life Arceus was watching in this universe he created. This was peaceful, surrounded by flowers, no visible danger for a mile and spending some quiet quality time with Dolly. “I don’t want to be anything overly special, never wanted to be, but I guess I can’t stop being special to the people who see me as a friend or family huh?”

“Yep, too late for that Pom! Still, I don’t think you’ve changed all that much from when you started this adventure, though you couldn’t have gone through all the stuff you did without a little change. You’re still being true to yourself, you’re just… more now. If that makes any sense, it’s like how I’ve change a lot and yet I’m still the spunky sporty pup that my family misses. I like to think I’m fearless and feisty, but even I can’t be that all the time. I’m mostly afraid of what could have happened to you had I not found this strange sensation between us.” I slowly ran a hoof over Dolly’s head affectionately as we relaxed side by side. “You could still try to learn how to fly with wings made of wool like you did back in Saint Canard… flying seems like something you still want to do. You could take up hang gliding as a hobby, you don’t even need a hang glider! Just a sense of where to find some thermals to ride into the sky.”

“Yeah, but I kind of want to do that with Tianhuo. It’s kind of hard to get upward momentum… even with as light as I am. Still heavy enough that gravity will pull me back to the ground just like you Dolly.” However I was not denying the possibility of preparing for the moment my back suddenly sprung wings with golden or possibly white feather. “At least we can glide down in the morning.”

“Yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about Pom!” Dolly stated as she continue to roast the apple over the fire. I was about to warn her about pulling it out and a few other things. “I know not to eat the core or any seeds, I’ve done this before Pom.”

“…” I sighed.

“Look… I’m not going to let it happen.” Dolly suddenly said as she pulled her apple from the fire and blew out the flames with a small gust of green winds from her mouth. She apparently learned a new trick in breathing out magically infused air. “Not while I’m around! With me you won’t need to resort to that or… Shock Ram…”

Right, Dolly felt what it was like for my body to go through Shock Ram while I was numb to all the damage it does to me.

“You can’t make that a promise can you…” I said bitterly and Dolly didn’t respond, she carefully bit into her roasted apple and started chewing quite thoroughly.

After Dolly swallowed loudly, she glanced at me.

“So when do you think it’ll happen… like what, tomorrow?” Dolly, even I know it’s not going to happen that soon.

“Not that soon, it doesn’t exactly seem like a quick process, but I really won’t have that much time left…” I held out a leg and flexed, a golden glow shimmered along it coming from my wool and I could feel a faint hum in the back of my head. “Once it becomes a full body thing…”

“I know that you’re not just going to die immediately just like that… are you Pom?” Dolly asked with a stern voice through a mouthful of apple she was making sure to chew thoroughly.

“Well you’re right, it will not kill me immediately or even be the reason I would die… but…” I just wanted to be a regular Lambkin right now and not have to think about this. “Eventually… it’ll get me killed, but it won’t kill me. Just you wait and see why this is a bad thing, since it’ll undoubtedly become a bit too much for me to deal with after a certain point. Are you sure you want to stick by my side knowing what you do?”

I slowly let the golden glow fade back to being regular white wool, letting the campfire continue to light our campsite. I looked to the sky at the moon and saw a figure flying in front of it and spreading their wings. That must be Lunala, don’t honestly know if she actually controls the moon or just interacts with it.

“Of course I’m going to be by your side! Come on, give me and yourself at least some credit her Pom!” Dolly was so sure, she was smaller than I was and yet so much braver than I currently felt. “You’ll definitely see Tianhuo, your home and your god puppies again! So… uh… awkward moment to bring this up… but can I get a belly rub? You know, no one out here to see it and all… so I can’t be too embarrassed about it.”

“That’s me, the belly rub machine for dogs… and best living pillow of the people.” I groaned out and then started to tickle Dolly’s belly with my left hoof.

“Oh yeah, a little to the left… Mmm… maybe I can take on some of that Chrysomallus energy you have and just, you know, dump it off to the side somewhere?” Dolly looked very relaxed under my hoof as she took another juicy bite out of her apple.

“I don’t think that will work, or that you can handle the backlash of trying to do so.” There was a reason I was not going to let Dolly take any of it from me, considering the potential harm it could do to her without benefitting me in the slightest.

“I’m not going to let this power of sacrifice thing kill you… not without a fight somehow.” Dolly… I’m a literal living example of the words ‘Sacrificial Lamb’, this is not a power I would ever want you messing with. The possibility of you becoming something like a ‘sacrificial dog’ just for trying, it is not something I want on my conscience even if you are willing. “We’ll think of something Pom.”

Dolly wilted afterwards at knowing my thoughts on the matter.

“We’ll try to at least…” I had a mind that could run like a super computer apparently. Even if I could speed my mind up with a Dancing Flame, there was no solution that I knew of.

“You know once they hear about this, our friends will be trying to do everything in their power to make sure you don’t… you know…” Dolly snuggled into my side, she didn’t whimper, but I could feel her pressing a smile against me and was hugging me with everything she had.

“I know they’ll try too…” I said a second later with a haunting dullness to the sound of my own voice grinding against my ears in this warm and nice evening.

“Look, would Tianhuo want you to give up?” No, she definitely wouldn’t Dolly, but would it really help to tell my wife what’s happening to me? She’ll be both parts furious and sad, not to mention more worried about me than she already is. “At least try to be livelier Pom, that’s all I’m asking for here.”

“Okay… I’ll try to be a bit livelier Dolly, but don’t expect me to go to absurd degrees with this hanging over my head.” Currently the device Arceus gave me was with Ocellus, but I might have to talk to Tianhuo tomorrow night. So much to tell her and so little time. “If Tianhuo asks me though, I’m going to tell her what I know about my current issues. I would never keep secrets from her. I’ll try to condense it all into eight minutes or less, because that’s the most I’ll be getting.”

We quietly ate our food and then decided to do some howling at the moon, we eventually stopped howling and crawled into the tent to snuggle together for a bit until we fell asleep.

My sleep was a tiny bit more restful than usual, even if the local sleep related deities weren’t involving their selves in my dreams.

At least Dormarch was here for me too, in spirit at least... to help the dreams not become waking nightmares.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

They had a run in with a kite eating tree, and got away without getting cramp?

Jiri is taking on armies as she is, has yyet to evolve,a nd when she does, recieves a Power Up? I really hope she doesnt sneeze, otherwise Giratina would be getting knocked clean out of the Distortion World.

Would be intresting to see her one shot Regigigas, or have Arceus have to use Teleport, Protect double action multiple times in sequence.

Poms getting time to relax? Even Murphy takes time out to think of new and intresting ways to deal with those who dare mock him?