Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

358. Fairy World Conversations.

-Slightly outside of reality in the Ransei Region around the Fairy Dust Islands, Fairy Kingdom of Titania, ‘The Dream’, northern flowery meadows, Pom-

I sat there on a hillside staring out at open space, a space made entirely of pink sky drinking a lot of healing fruit juice from a fairly nearby stand while Curdle took Dolly and Quetal on a small tour. Dolly was keeping me up to date on all the weird things she was seeing here.

There were a lot of interesting things about this place, like the fact that the place was more like a small planet given if I was to walk forward from here I would end up on the underside in an upside down city on the flipped side of what is considered The Dream’s topside in the Kingdom of Titania. You know, instead off falling off the edge into the pink void I was looking into… well it would still be right side up from my point of view so there really is no edge to fall off into and it was safe on this humongous fairy shaped planetoid with a sprawling city of stone and plant built on it.

Metal was not a highly liked material around here, so I wasn’t expecting to see much if not any metal at all while in the Fairy Kingdom.

Place kind of reminded me of the Gravity Gorge Zone back on Elhorn, except not a mass of floating rocks caused by some unknown incident involving the strange technology on that world. Dodo was one of those bits of strange technology, if he wasn’t Shanty’s familiar I’d be far more wary of him given his ability to transform into something else entirely given the new wings and everything.

He was flightless prior with being a machine with only two legs, a body and head on a long neck and him being able to fly now was probably related to Shanty’s wishes that Dodo could actually make happen. Shanty was lucky to have a familiar that could recover from near death from a lava bath.

I wondered what became of my friends back in Illusio? I still had to get them all home and I really didn’t think they were dead, mind you I was definitely on that path personally. Again, not with Dodo being able to fly and so many Pokémon that could teleport in that given region that could move people to safety, like the Magnificent Mentalis.

I think it was a thing to be thankful for that everyone else in all the other kingdoms would be too busy trying to recover from Gilgamesh’s continent wide attacks to really commit to an invasion on other territories, but I doubt Illusio was in any state to defend itself right now considering a large number of military units were torn apart by all the infighting.

Here I sat on a hillside contemplating horrors while overlooking the less than real edge of the small planetary world shaped like a Fairy Type Pokémon at the beautiful pink skies with flowery imagery floating around. Not at all concerned about where all the light for this world was coming from or if there is even a night.

The jovial Vannilish purveyor of the juice stand that Curdle liked also did smoothies and milkshakes aside from mixing juices liberally depending on how well they were stocked. So the smoothie I was drinking was full of healing berries and very nice… though the Vanillish that gave it to me made me concerned about a few things.

Vanillish were a Pokémon that looked like a living snow cone, so understandably I was a little concerned how my smoothie was chilled to perfection. Apparently the Vanillish, an Ice Type Pokémon that had gotten lost and came from Nixtorm to end up in Titania, was very capable with his ice cold abilities and assured me that there were no bits of him in the food since I apparently met my first Milcery before coming here. Looking like ice cream cones was common among the Vanillite line, which was the base form of Vanillish that looked more like a traditional ice cream cone with a flat bottom instead of the cone spike of ice.

Curdle was not an outlier, she was in fact like a Wooloo in having a defining personality trait that is the very stereotypical of the Milcery species as a whole, which was about being both sweet and flavorful. That is both metaphorically as much as literally.

I had yet to meet Curdle’s evolution form, but with the name like ‘All Creamy’… well it kind of spells it out for me for what Curdle would eventually evolve into, just not what it would look like in practice.

Vanillish even told me about the fact Curdle could evolve right now, but was looking for someone to help them with the evolution. First the assistant in the evolution needed to give the Milcery a berry or cookie, something sweet at the very least and then grab and spin the Milcery around clockwise or counterclockwise to change the Milcery into several different, apparently flavorful, forms. Apparently time of day has an effect on the evolution as much as the sweet or berry given to them, they get stuck with said cookie or berries as a natural part of them for the rest of their lives… really weird stuff.

On a side note, one of the rarest choices of Alrcremie forms is apparently the bitter flavor form, because it was rare to find someone who even likes bitter flavors like dark chocolate.

At least Milcery and Alcremie can regenerate their sugary bodies infinitely as long as they had the energy to do so. That they made for exceptionally good pastry chefs gave me pause and dubious feelings about eating anything from a local bakery here.

Fairy Types tended to have long lives since their needs were incredibly simple like Grass Type Pokémon, they just needed flowers and beautiful forestry to live happy lives. Explains why the city almost looks like an entire forest tree top town in and of itself, because Fairy Types had plenty of similarities to the rumored Fae back home on Equus.

The one thing to be entirely thankful for is that the Fairy Types didn’t seem to have the nastier temperament of said Fae.

At least the entire city wasn’t made of Fairy Wood, so that was one worry off my mind about this world exploding violently. No, Fairy Wood was actually found, grown and harvested on one of the islands where Fairy Types hang out mostly when outside ‘The Dream’ as they called Titania’s main capital, a place that can be reached from any of the Fairy Dust Islands scattered in a manner that seemed to be flowing behind the back of Arceus’s neck on the Ransei Continent map.

I hadn’t asked the proprietor of ‘Vanillish Delish’ about Nixtorm yet, but Quetal was from Nixtorm and it felt a bit invasive to ask someone else about what the Kingdom of Ice Types was like without getting to know them first.

At least it was nice to know that Nixtorm was like any other kingdom, with both good and bad people. From the way Quetal tells it, a number of Ice Types can be quite heartless, though that would be a major bias on his part even if he actually lived there at one point.

“Are you feeling lonely? I’m a Cutiefly, it’s not often we get outsider guests.” A small friendly bug asked, tiny needle nose proboscis meant for pollen gathering, two large fairy wings on top of the fluffy body and four legs. Looked less than threatening on a good day, but Pokémon had deceiving amounts of strength as much as Digimon had deceiving amounts of viciousness in their appearances sometimes not matching their actual personalities.

Well Dormarch isn’t vicious or dangerous, though I did kind of want his heart and mind out of me and Dolly and back in a body so that I could hug and cuddle him. My poor sweet boy went through so much with worrying about me and even sacrificed himself to save Dolly and the others and that sacrifice definitely hadn’t gone in vain either. The end result was him being half dead still being stuck in the back of my mind, along with that specific quarter of him literally weighing on it.

The Pokémon before me looked like the previous evolution of Lord Oberon the Ribombee. Ribombee changes include a more bipedal like flying stature while gaining a torso, the previous body becoming the head in the process of growing a smaller torso below that, and two scarf like fur protrusions around the neck that hung down the back.

The one thing to be said about the evolution, is that the Cutiefly seems to get marginally larger and smarter, but the evolution didn’t seem to be adding much more than that aside from a bit more fluff that looks like a cute scarf. Still the end result was going from adorable pony style Breezies to adorable Breezies with a more vertical hippogriff or bipedal dragon form.

A Cutiefly was even smaller than Lit, probably among one of the smallest Pokémon next to a Flabebe without a flower, which was a fairly rare occurrence considering how much power a Flabebe would put into their flower to make it nigh indestructible as long as they could live.

I seriously hoped the people back in Aurora are okay after the sudden attack.

To put it succinctly, Lord Oberon was small and cute looking, but in no way did I think he wasn’t a viable threat considering this realm of pink skies. If a small planet shaped like him existing doesn’t spell it out enough that the guy obviously had power or at least some form backing to even have this realm be built in the first place.

“I’m okay… just thinking about a lot of things, you don’t have to worry about me.” I’m too busy worrying about a lot of other things to really care about focusing on myself too much, my mental issues that I’m bottling and the anxiety of something happening here was building up even if nothing was happening at all.

I was safe and yet didn’t feel like it, even as the Cutiefly fluttered around the flowers talking about pollen in general and how tasty the nectar was today. I wonder what small world problems happened here.

“Not having a good week?” The Cutiefly asked innocently, he seemed nice enough even if his odd addiction for stuffing his face into the nearby flowers was a bit awkward.

“Try the most part of a year that isn’t over yet. I’ve been counting the days.” I grumbled, somewhat glad for Oberon footing the bill for the smoothie I was using to heal my body. Still had a few weeks to go before year had gone by and I spent most of it in pain or traction.

I really didn’t feel safe about being indebted to something called a ‘Fairy Type’, but that’s just my completely rampant suspicions about something bad actually happening around me in this given place.

“Yikes, where you come from must have been really bad, nice to see you ended up in a nice relaxing place for once." The Cutiefly was just being innocently friendly.

“More like it’s all the trouble I’ve had trying to get back to a place I call home, than home itself.” Which was no longer Meadow Hills the last time I checked, but Huoshan upper tier, western side so I could watch the sun set on a beautiful day with Tianhuo. Provided Celestia, Twilight or whoever it is running the sun currently isn’t committing shenanigans again. “Getting home is kind of what’s keeping me going at this point…”

“Okay, so it’s more of a where you’ve been that’s horrible. Some would say it’s not the destination, but the journey itself that’s important. Well no place is perfect, not even here being as idealistic and peaceful as Oberon tries to keep things. Guy leads a hectic life despite seeming entirely unflappable in how he acts.” Which the Cutiefly brought up, so I can ask the question about it when he was done talking. “He’s in fact the most targeted prankster in the Kingdom of Titania. If you’re a prankster around here, then you’re going to want to target him eventually for a whole variety reasons. At least he made a rule about not targeting guests on or with a purpose... semantics is also kind of a thing around here, we Fairy Types really can’t help ourselves sometimes.”

“Are Fairy Types more about body language than actual visible appearances?” This has been bugging me since I started watching the Fairy Types around here go about their businesses in having a nice day. Cute, cuddly looking, but their possible hidden natures had me wary and on edge.

“Yes, but you didn’t hear that from me!” The Cutiefly stated jovially as he landed on the tip of my nose and wiggled some pollen into my nostrils as I inhaled. I promptly sneezed him off my nose in a cloud of nice smelling dust. “Sure we love to keep up outward appearances of being happy and alright, but our bodies give away our feelings far more than our faces do for the attentive like you. We’re really good actors sometimes, which comes up often in the pranking we do. That and the retelling of stories that seemed to go in a specific forced cycle kind of way.”

I have heard that Fae tended to get stuck repeating history a lot, which is why the stories are sometimes living in an endless cycle until something breaks it and causes a different kind of cycles. Depends on if you’re talking about the immortal or the long lived versions that reincarnate into doing the same things if slightly different the next time around.

“I’m not really… big into pranks.” Except when I tried to get Dolly to let go of our bond after making it, which right now would be instant death for Dormarch should our bond break for any reason.

No pressure there… nope… none at all… I’m in denial about a lot of things right now and am not currently spiraling into a completely mental basket case like every Lambkin before me.

Dolly sent me a message that she appreciated my methods, including the one bit with the peanut butter on her nose which I thought was a little bit cruel of me in particular.

“Well expect the unexpected, because it’s far safer than constantly committing violence on one another, at least… we do have a clearly labeled arena for such a thing if you want to get more physical with somebody in a less fun way.” Cutiefly seemed good intentioned and his body language brokered no ill feelings or will. He was as happy as he appeared to be flittering about the flowers and sticking his nose into them. “Ah yeah, the good stuff… I can get really high off of this pollen. So did you want to talk about anything else?”

“Did Oberon send you to look out for me?” I stated flatly.

“Yes, but I don’t think he ever wanted me to tell you that, guys got eyes everywhere because of the rather excessive pranking wars that go on in the city proper. You have gangs, teams and even solo acts, it’s really all kinds of amazing the planning they put into everything they do really when it comes to large scale silliness. Lord Oberon at least wants the safe zones to not be destroyed by our ‘slightly’ excessive, but necessary, pranking practices that is intrinsic to the term ‘Fairy’.” As Cutiefly said this, Dolly sent me a mental image of her smugly dodging a pie that had been thrown her way and avoiding a banana peel thrown into her path a second later before her paw could step on it. Yeah, Dolly probably likes it here, given she appreciates a good, mostly harmless, pranks. “The meadow outskirts like here is a quiet place to get away from all of that stuff, no messing with food either, some people get a bit weird about Alcremie using themselves in their baked goods. It’s no different from bees making honey really and honey basically comes from their backsides. We have laws like if someone is allergic to a pie, then make sure not to use that as pie stuffing for several months and the pies have to be lukewarm at best when thrown… not freshly baked straight out of the oven. We have rules of engagements and everything. I just want to make sure you are doing okay personally and that nobody is continuing to target you after that incident with the whole oil on the hill setup, which was admittedly pretty funny to me given they had created nice soft splashdown mud spot for it so it wouldn’t cause terrible injury, and I’m not just here because Oberon asked me to be. I actually volunteered for this!”

“You have nothing better to be doing than talking to me either I take it?” I queried a second later as bluntly. “Thank you for checking on me. Also yes, I was already hurting before I slipped and went tumbling down the hill and I’ve barely had a day or two to rest since fighting what seemed like a physical god that easily took me out of the fight and could have done that sooner or at any time really. I should really consider myself lucky to be alive after being hit with a powerful beam attack, I think having the healing smoothies on tap more than makes up for the small injuries on top of all my major ones like having a full bodied cracked skeleton slipping down the hill.”

“Your welcome and yeah, it’s not exactly the best way to be introduced to us upon first arriving here. Well I could be doing other things than getting high off of all these flowers, which I am, but talking to a rightfully paranoid being like you is a good way to make a new friend I might not see much of. Travelers and outsiders like you tend to do a lot of weird things as you move around and I’m surprised to see someone trying and failing to relax in one of the most peaceful places I can think of.” Cutiefly stated as he dug his face into a nearby flower and started making moaning noises as he wiggled what passes for his face into it. “I’m quite sorry your first step in this world was a part of someone’s prank just one step beyond the Fairy Type transportation circle. Oh yeah, all the pollen… the good stuff…”

“Do you really need to make those noises?” The guy was kind of disturbing my peace on purpose, which paradoxically was making me more relaxed now that something is upsetting all the quiet constant contemplation and self-reflection of my rather fragile continued existence and the painful deprecation thereof.

That was along with thinking of those I cared for and was trying to get home. Not to mention the friends I had in the Pokemon Realm or even the Digimon Realm. We’ve left behind a lot of friends in our wake like Po and the Furious Five, along with Shifu and then there’s the fact that Oogway passed away and he seemed like a nice grandfatherly type of person. Skunk and Dragon in the first dimension. A lot of friends we made traveling the previous world ‘where dreams can come true’.

Mind you Dodo left his home to be with Shanty as best friends for life, Dolly did the same with me and I hoped we didn’t pick up even more hitchhikers. Goodness knows what would happen if I returned to Equus with fifty plus dogs to take care of, if I could survive being a Chrysomallus long enough to even do so. It was in fact a genuine worry on my part that I magnetize canines to myself… or was I magnetized to them? It seemed to work either way at this point.

Would Smolder be able to forgive herself for being mind controlled? Would Ocellus be able to look me in the eyes given I beat the daylights out of her girlfriend? Is Shanty going to be okay with them and Dodo? As a responsible adult and caretaker I had to get back to the girls, but I was kind of responsible for that metal monster following us back to this world and had to responsibility for it being in Nixtorm. Well it was more like the Digivice’s fault, but it was Dormarch’s Digivice, so again my responsibility.

How am I this useless to really do anything?

I was starting to hyperventilate when a voice cut through some of the rising darker feelings slowly crushing me under the weight of my mind that was trying and failing to rest. This was while dealing with the numerous complications therein of the situation back in Illusio and anywhere in the Western half of Ransei where I had friends. That voice was Cutiefly tearing me away from my descent into a mental spiral of anguish, I was in a field of flowers and not frolicking or happy, frolicking was usually my happy place.

My usual happy place among flowers wasn’t working. The stress had admittedly been getting to me in the last world, it was still there, I was just trying to ignore it and put it behind me to move ever forward to whatever the future will hold.

“You obviously have no idea what Hummingbirds go through when they drink nectar and we can taste the joy of flowers too. While spreading the pollen around to help more grow.” The Cutiefly stated a little too happily and airily, almost sounded suspiciously drunk. “Nature is simple, we Pokémon are not and are a far more intelligent than the average animals around us. We’re very complicated in comparison as the world can be sometimes, you just need to stop overthinking and breathe a little. Maybe clear the air of all those foggy thoughts a little… like this… Fairy Wind!”

With a burst of power from his body, the fog of pollen hovering around my head and suffocating me slightly cleared up and sent the pollen to all the surrounding flowers. Flowing and floating far off on the seemingly weak breeze that didn’t even disturb the natural butterflies fluttering about.

“You are very distracting.” I complimented with a wry smile, as I took a gulp of fresh air. “It’s actually kind of refreshing, but it’s not going to help my issues.”

“Don’t mind me, I’m just making sure you don’t fall into a depression loop and to stop one you need a friend. We Fairy Types tend to have a thing about Dark Types, for the reason that nothing about darkness cannot stop our smiles.” The Cutiefly bowed to me from the flower he landed on. “This Cutiefly will be at your service should you need it while present milady, though I think you’re probably more up to any task physically. Also your Dark Type friend could stand to cheer up some more too.”

“His brother was practically killed on top of him in Nixtorm.” The sudden hissing sound and recoil from the Cutiefly subtle shifted in worrying, not about me, but about Quetal had garnered my attention. He was a genuinely nice person.

“Yeah, something traumatic like that will stick with you, especially if that was the only family you had.” Cutiefly muttered as I held out my right hoof for him to land on.

When Cutiefly mentioned that being the only family Quetal had, it made me wonder about Quetal’s past when the only person he talked about was of his brother sacrificing himself…

“You think everyone in his family abandoned him or are dead?” I asked with a hint of sadness.

“Again, no place can be a bed of roses as surely as the season’s change, no place can be perfectly safe… only safe enough like here. Eventually you’ll have to leave ‘The Dream’, even Lord Oberon knows you won’t stay here forever and you kind of need all the help you can get before you do leave to at least be mentally prepared. I personally think you are a not a in a good place to be traveling.” The Cutiefly seemed kind of sad. “Your Dark Type friend knows you’re going to Nixtorm as soon as you heard about the deadly monster plaguing the lands there and is physically tearing the kingdom apart bit by bit. Lord Oberon knows a lot of things really. Sometimes I wonder how Lord Oberon knows some of the things he does, but then again information tends to flow from where one least expects and can come from the unlikeliest of directions.”

“Didn’t answer my question, but given the general gist of the answer your portraying…” I trailed off and gently put cutiefly on a flower he hadn’t dug his face into. “I think its best if I went for a short frolic, then join Dolly and Quetal.”

“Do you need help finding them?” Cutiefly asked as I got up.

“No, I always know where they are… or at least I always know where Dolly is.” Wouldn’t be hard to find, just follow the trail of prank related destruction. Dolly was more cunning than the Fairy Types initially thought apparently and she was having the time of her life. “Sorry about any mess that gets made because we’re here.”

“Think nothing of it, now go simply enjoy life, then worry about things in the order that you can actually deal with them.” Might do just that Cutiefly. “I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but there will be things outside of your control that you have nothing you can do about. Don’t worry about that and worry about what you can do. I’m small, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do big things, like help someone who looks a bit lost. Most people who end up here usually are…”

With that we parted ways and I went to get another smoothie from ‘Vanillish Delish’ and enjoy what time I had left before my next inevitable painful experience.

-A few hours of Pom frolicking later, an inn, Dolly-

“So we’re living in this weird place for a few days?” Well at least the accommodations were nice and the lights of the glowing dust lamps were pretty, Pom seems to be even a bit relaxed… even if she still seems like a bundle of nerves waiting for something to go entirely wrong. Anybody would be understanding once they’ve been around her for at least a month.

Fairy Types were definitely easy to get into a prank fight with and they really get into it, couldn’t walk down the street without a fart cushion, banana peel or an attempt at a pie to the face happening. That’s just the classic stuff, it’s the outside the box stuff that almost catches me off guard.

I hopped onto a nearby cushion and looked at Pom, she gently ran her left hoof over my head and back affectionately before turning to Quetal.

“Yes, but I’m finding it hard to relax knowing we’re the most interesting thing around for the Fairy Types to mess with. Met a Cutiefly who implied impulse control is a major problem for Fairy Types, really nice guy about it though… a little too into flowers.” Seeing Pom grimace a bit, I tilted my head. “Don’t ask Dolly, you don’t want to know.”

“I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable surrounded by so many Fairy Type… at least they had a move shop with a Gulpin support present for changing out moves.” Quetal did do something weird with a big mouthed blob, but I didn’t understand what it was. “I forgot Double Team and I’m keeping the moves Swift, Substitute and Aerial Ace. I learned a move with a bit more punch for fighting when it eventually comes to it, I just hope I don’t have to use it too often.”

“What’s the move?” Pom seemed interested in hearing it. “It won’t be an Ice Type one considering…”

Pom trailed off looking like she didn’t want to finish saying it, but even I knew the story. Goodness knows what would happen if Dylan went out like that defending me because of something I did.

“…” Quetal looked like he wasn’t going to say it, but then he shivered a bit and looked Pom and me in the eyes. “The move… it feels like I’m taking advantage of you just using it. Come with me I’m sure our guide Curdle knows a place where I can use it safely and I need you to be there for me to see it in action.”

“Okay.” Pom didn’t even think about it, neither did I for that matter, but I wondered what Quetal learned that had him worried about how we’ll react. The dude saved our lives from drowning, he should give us more credit than that. Pom turned towards me and quietly said. “This might be a problematic move for him for some reason, go easy on him Dolly.”

Yeah, forgot Pom can read my mind on a whim, got to watch out for that.

-A few minutes later, training space within the inn-

“So what move are you going to use?” Curdle asked as I sat on Pom’s back watching as things were set up.

Quetal didn’t answer and was focused on a Fairy Wood log, made of the sturdy wood stuff that exploded when you light it on fire when there was enough of it.

Weird properties for wood to have really, glad they didn’t use it as a building material around here, but I guess being high in the air means that an airship is not likely to catch fire at the very least.

I wasn’t about to taste her again anytime soon and usually I liked the taste of sweet things, but not when they were alive or so sickeningly sweet my teeth would rot in an instant. Even had Pom check my mouth a few times, apparently my teeth were fine. In fact my teeth were relatively clean and completely healthy after Pom was through with them. Don’t recall my teeth ever being this healthy, probably had to do with my proximity to Pom or something.

“First…” Quetal mumbled, before splitting into two Quetals, he’s done that a few times. I think even Shanty can clone herself with water. Pom and I couldn’t do that… but at least Pom could naturally move fast enough to leave images of herself behind, I needed to boost my momentum to achieve the same effect or have a ‘Haste’ going.

“Next.” One of the Quetal’s glowed and multiple forms appeared, the problem with those forms is that they looked quite familiar as they launched at Quetal’s Target attacking it, including a third copy of Quetal? I thought he could only do the one temporary clone thing. “That…”

Even Quetal seemed concerned that there was a third copy of him for a few seconds.

“Huh… myself…” Quetal continued looking dumbfounded as he stood there in front of a moderately damaged bit of wood he pushed back with a lot force. “Brother?”

“Whoa, that’s a pretty uniquely rare Dark Type move, very few Pokémon can learn that naturally.” Curdle stated and the way she seemed to flex or shift in the air meant she was happy about something… I think, I had to get Pom to confirm it for me.

“What does that move do exactly?” Pom was more curious than judging and I was curious too, considering I just saw a copy of myself, Pom, Curdle and even Quetal all launch a variety of attacks on the wooden post.

My copy did a single Counter Rave ramming attack, Pom’s copy was already in her beast mode and totally slashed the log with a powerful claw, Curdle’s copy blasted it with a flash of energy and both of Quetal’s copies did his dancing Aerial Ace claw swiping thing that had an arcing bit of air like what Shanty does.

“I just wanted to confirm something… I guess I confirmed I’m my own friend at least…” The way Quetal said that made me whine and wonder what he meant.

“What is that move and why does it bother you?” Pom asked a bit more sternly, not seeming to care that she saw what she looked like when she went total wolf beast.

“It’s a Dark Type move called Beat Up, it’s fairly effective when used as a unit command because it’s been staunchly named Beat Up Battalion by Dark Types.” Quetal looked away. “It’s at its most powerful when you have a lot of friends around that are not knocked out cold… or worse.”

“Then why do you make it sound like it’s an awful move?” Pom asked as she crouched down next to him so I was at eye level giving him a sympathetic look, because I kind of thought the move looked awesome with me in it doing my thing. “It sounds nice that the move seems to rely on friendship.”

“To start, the move is almost entirely useless when I’m on my own, but apparently I can summon an extra temporary copy of myself through my Substitute for a triple attack so a bit more useful than I previously thought it was.” Quetal admitted while continuing to look away, I leaned over and gave him a gentle affectionate nuzzle. It made him blush and back up a bit while coughing into his left claw. “Also it makes me feel guilty for using you in it, it was either I learned this or the move Punishment which punishes Pokémon for using buffing moves like Mundo’s Coaching. Punishment sounded a bit too on the nose to me for how I feel at times.”

“Yes and every attack is either neutral or counted as Dark Type energy, depends on who you ask really… given there is more than one way to do it, like inspiriting your friends to bum rush a given target with Dark Type energy. This is definitely the far nicer version of it. We do have Impidimps around here who’ve met at least one Pokémon that can do that move.” Curdle seemed to have a bit of happiness in her voice. “It’s pretty rare to see in action really, glad I got to be a part of it in your lifetime!”

“You’re not upset that I used you’re appearance in my attack, that draws the viciousness out of me?” Quetal seemed more confused than anything.

“No, because it means you see us as friends, because there’s no way we would be a part of the attack otherwise!” Curdle responded cheerfully while rubbing up against Quetal affectionately, dude didn’t look like he appreciated it though.

I don’t how to feel about having a living liquid cuddle up against me personally, but I’ve had to clean cream out of my fur before on multiple occasions. So would probably be with Quetal on this one.

“You don’t understand, the move makes my friends attack a target without hesitation... doesn’t it bother you to see yourself act like that?” Quetal suddenly received a hugging tackle from me and I latched onto him.

“Well it’s not actually me, it’s just the move right? I’m more curious about the mechanics of how the move generates copies of your nearby friends. You said it doesn’t work if you’re friends are out cold, why?” It seemed Pom was interested in the move to, to the point that Quetal even started sniffling a bit.

“I just don’t want to be seen as another evil Dark Type for using my friends in my attacks.” Stated Quetal who sat down with me still holding onto him affectionately with a wagging tail.

“Well at least I know you think of me as a friend as much as I do you.” Pom responded quietly, after a moment Quetal smirked at her, then back at me and then at Curdle with a slight bit of apprehension and then he started laughing.

“Heh… we’ve been friends for a while… through so many battles, yet I never seemed to excel all that much or feel like I’ve been making much of a difference.” Hey dude, Quetal, your problems are our problems, that’s what friends are for! “Now that I have a chance at evolution, I don’t know if I even want to be a Weavile as I don’t think it would change much about me aside from adding an extra claw and evening out my ability to sense things in all directions.”

“I think Dolly wants you to know…” Pom started to say before Quetal held up his left claw stopping her.

“That we’re friends, yeah, it’s just sinking in for me now how many of those I have gained since I joined the Pokémon Companions that are traveling around with you. Shine is even one of the best ones I’ve ever had, since I think we share some things in common.” Well that’s sad, there must always be at least one person you can confide or take solace with, glad that Quetal had some. I had Fergus the Park Fox and now I have Pom, she even speaks dog too. “I didn’t exactly have anyone before we all met that day in Arbora Town, I was getting by easily enough on the kindness of Grass Types in general and doing small odd jobs. Who’d have thought you wouldn’t mind being friends with someone like me.”

“I’m friends with a dark hero unicorn who in turn has a demon for a friend, I think I’m more scared of that demon than a ball of sunshine like you in comparison Quetal.” Pom stated sarcastically with an actual smile, seeing her smile like that was quite a rarity and worth a lot to imprint in memory.

“Hehehe… this is the pot calling a Quetal, black!” Curdle definitely nailed it and I started laughing.

“Hmph… I need to practice this move. The reason it works the way it does is it generates a copy of any actively aware and viable nearby friends to launch the most powerful attacks they can do depending entirely on my capabilities, that’s the nice version of it. The not so nice one inspirits your friends force them into doing the attacks themselves, I’m basically happier summoning shadow copies of you to help me. Anyway, that’s why your copy goes for a claw slash instead of the Thousand Spears: Huo, as that kind of power is harder for me to replicate with dark energy instantly.” He seemed embarrassed that he can’t make Pom’s copy do her most powerful attack, but he could get mine to do my most impressive ability that’s almost like teleporting that Dormarch could do. In fact, my Counter Rave is fairly similar to his Search Hunter… hrm… so maybe… I looked at my chest and considered where a piece of Dormarch in me was. Huh… even now Dormarch? So cool for a little bro, we’ll find a way to revive you eventually I swear on the Dalmatian family name. “Now that I say it, it’s like I went from one copy generating move to another that can actually do some damage… with a bit of a caveat that I need active friends around to make it even work to its fullest extent. Whatever is the least energy intensive most powerful thing you can do tends to be used, unless I really push all the copies to do something specific that I know your capable of, the power of the move increases per every friend or ally that is nearby that is capable of being used in the attack. It’s a bit of a force multiplier now that the three of us are...”

“Four!” Intoned Curdle cheerfully.

“Separated from the others and we’re going into so much danger…” Quetal stated dully while petering off to glare at Curdle as she smiled at him. “You’re not coming with us Curdle.”

Still not going to stop hugging this dour biped weasel until he cheers up.

“Why is it a Dark Type move if it can be used in such a friendly manner though?” Pom asked again.

“Why do you think it’s called Beat Up? It’s a move that calls on everyone present to be launched at a single target, it’s a fairly brutal attack.” Quetal looked uneasy about that. “Also I can, at any time, force you to attack a target if I chose to inspirit you with Beat Up. There’s using my friends and then there’s ‘USING’ my friends.”

“You’d never use it like that unless you thought it was necessary, given how Nixtorm scares you and you don’t want to talk about the kingdom, it’s fairly understandable of you to seek out a powerful attack to really put you in better fighting ability… even if you just use it with your substitute to create a third clone.” Pom looked away rubbing at her right leg. “What with how things tend to go downhill around me. I don’t have anything else aside from manipulation to get stronger or abusing my special nature, which is really bad to do.”

“I don’t blame you for the things that have happened so far, it’s more like you wandered into them than them being because of you Pom.” Quetal stated waving a claw at Pom’s worrying that she keeps dragging us into messes. Sure I almost got killed in that last fight with Guy-dead-mess, but I’m still here and breathing. I remember Pom holding me and giving me a cuddly warmth. “Life has at least been more interesting than anything, when everything felt tasteless or lifeless before claw.”

“Still looking to be a Dark Type hero?” Pom asked holding out her left hoof.

“I am a Dark Type hero, I just need to step up more.” Quetal nodded and bumped his right claw against it, I added my paw and Curdle surround our paw, hoof and claw with her body while grinning at us.

We all shivered in slight disgust at the smiling fairy blob interrupting a heartwarming moment.

“Coming with you~…” Curdle said in a cheeky disturbing tone. “Also can you help me with my evolution ritual before we head out for Nixtorm?”

“Even if we said no, you’d still follow us wouldn’t you?” Quetal grumbled.

“Yep, friends for life!” The mildly edible monster Curdle is looking to join our traveling group I guess. Should I be horrified by this or find it hilarious? It’s one of those between things where you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Also I want to be an Alcremie for the adventures you guys go on! So which one of you will help me evolve?”

“I’ll do it Curdle. I still don’t know when we’re leaving and we’re not doing so before we meet Lord Oberon, so we’ll talk to him tomorrow to see if he actually wants anything from us.” Well that sounds fair Pom, he was giving us free room, food and a place nicer than out in the cold at night on one of the islands. Civilization was better than roughing it, ask my brother Dylan about it. “If not, then we can ask him about transport or how to get to Nixtorm from here in a safer manner. We can worry about meeting up with our friends later. If they are strong enough to finish off Gilgamesh, then they’ll be strong enough to find us eventually. I just hope, Smolder, Ocellus, Dodo and Shanty will be alright until then.”

Yeah, we were going to have to find them after our adventures in Nixtorm with the giant scary metal death monster that’d look awesome on a death metal album, it’d even be a literal representation of the horror we were going to face!

Night terrors of our future fight with big, metal and deadly... as Shanty would say... ahoy!

Author's Note:

So I took Beat Up and I decided to give it multiple interpretations.

1. Non elemental attack mimicry using Dark Type energy as a catalysts to make copies of nearby allies for the attack. (How the move first worked, with a side of inspiriting intent to assault.)

2. Same as 1, but Dark type energy in every attack launched by the copies.

3. Actually using the allies by inspiriting them with Dark Type energy to force them into attack, this would not earn you many favors. (The non-elemental version of this was a Sneasel's Signature move, later Pokémon games would have it do Same Type Attack Bonus Dark Type move damage per every attack.)

4. Possibly doing both inspiriting and copy creation at the same time for a doubled Beat Up.

All of these are the plausible uses of the move, could you think of anything further? Do I have a good grasp of what Beat Up can do?

Quetal has the title 'Trickster' for a reason and this will change how he approaches a fight instead of sticking back or doing quick hit and runs.

Also what flavor of Alcremie? I'm thinking sour yellow for the joke. What cookie or berry topping as well? Alcremie had so many variations in it's appearance depending on how you evolved them.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

I wonder if Pom has healed up to the equivalent of 1 HP yet given a Rarttata sneeze looks to be taking her down again at this time.

As for the Milcery/Alcremie line, I suspect I might have caught a couple for filling in the Dex, but with an evolutuion that complex, I havent gone anywhere near them. Its as bad as the Battle combos, which Ive given up trying to follow.

I mean, between Natures, Abilities, Moves ,Items, Contests etc etc, even having the manul with All the graphs etc doesnt let me undrestand the data. I need a floating full dimentional interactive Grid set to see the relations that even half decent players can do in their head.

[Herald of Opera]

That they made for exceptionally good pastry chefs gave me pause and dubious feelings about eating anything from a local bakery here.

As you should. Don't eat anything the fae offer you, lassie. That's 101 for dealing with 'em and you're damned lucky to be pointed to someone who's not a local for your sustenance.