Dawn of
THE FIRST DAY
-72 Hours Remain-

Pichu and Clefairy found themselves standing in the middle of Clock Town, a bustling burg that was much more technologically forward than anywhere in Hyrule. Pichu turned around and realized they had just come walking out of a huge clock tower, which currently read 6 am.

"Ah, Clock Town. The center of Termina, the most depressing land in the world," Clefairy said knowingly. "Every time I visit this place it makes me want to kill myself, but I usually just end up punching Cleffa instead."

"What's with all the carpenters?" asked Pichu, who was watching the various Bidoofs carrying long wooden planks around and nailing some large structure together.

"They're setting up for the Carnival of Time, which is a big celebration they hold every year that takes their minds off the futility and mundaneness of their existence. It's sad, really. But enough about that. Let's go find the Great Fairy."

Pichu froze up in horror. "The what?" he cried. "Those sins against nature followed me here?"

"Oh, don't be such a baby. The Great Fairy will be able to tell you what's up with that curse on you, and just between you and me, Nuzleaf doesn't stand a chance against her."

Pichu frowned, wondering if it was worth it having to expose himself to one of those scantily clad nightmares again. "I dunno… actually, I kinda like being a Snivy."

Just then, a Lillipup who had been prancing through town noticed Pichu and stopped dead, letting out a throaty growl. Pichu noticed this too late and shrieked as it threw itself at him and started viciously mauling him.

"This also pleases me," Clefairy decided.

"Okay, Great Fairy it is," Pichu groaned in pain after the Lillipup had contentedly skipped away. "Woah. Uh… Clefairy… is the moon supposed to look like that?"

"What?" Clefairy realized that Pichu was looking up at the sky from his current position and followed his gaze. "What are you HOLY &*?#ING MOTHER OF &*?# IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY WHAT THE &*?# IS THAT?"

The two of them were staring up at the most enormous moon they had ever seen, floating less than a mile above the earth and looking ready to drop out of the sky at any moment. This would have been frightening enough on its own, but the moon also happened to be staring back at them with a pair of huge bloodshot eyes and a wide toothy grimace that was twisted into an unspeakable expression of pure malice and evil.

"Hey, kids! Don't forget the Carnival of Time in three days!" said a completely oblivious Bidoof carpenter, slapping a flyer over Pichu's face before skipping off.

"It's official. I hate this place," said Clefairy.

––

"Mister Mayor! Mister Mayor!" Pichu shrieked, throwing open the door to the mayor's office in East Clock Town. "The moon is falling! And it has a face! I swear to Entei I'm not crazy! Well okay, maybe I am a little crazy but I'm definitely telling the truth about this!"

"What the hell? Who let the skink in here?" demanded a Bibarel standing in the office. Pichu realized he had walked right into an argument between the Bibarel, who was the head carpenter, and the captain of the guard, a Furret.

"You idiotic child, we've all seen that moon already!" the Furret growled at Pichu. "Which is why Mayor Lucario must issue an evacuation order! Most of the townsfolk have already taken shelter without waiting for the mayor's orders!"

"You cowards! Do you actually believe the moon will fall?" Bibarel snarled at him. "The confused townsfolk simply caused a panic by believing this ridiculous, groundless theory! Not like us Bidoofs, the strongest and most intelligent Pokémon in existence and the utter epitome of evolution! We shall not be swayed by this senseless panic! On with the carnival, I say!"

"Erm…" muttered the mayor, shrinking back in his chair. He was basically a spineless loser despite being a Lucario, which should give you an idea of how very, very lame he really was.

"You imbecile!" Furret whacked Bibarel over the head with his spear. "Has the giant chunk of rock failed to catch your eye? At this time every year we're overrun by tourists, so why is the town empty?"

"Big deal! Celestial bodies grow faces all the time, isn't that right, Mayor Lucario?"

"Um…"

"What are you drinking? All must take refuge!" Furret screamed.

"On with the carnival!" Bibarel screamed back. Finally they both lost their patience and went at it right there in the office, flying into a chaotic scuffle with Bibarel clubbing Furret over the head with a two-by-four and Furret stabbing Bibarel with his spear.

"I don't get paid enough for this," Mayor Lucario sighed, swigging from a bottle of whiskey. Pichu and Clefairy had left several minutes ago.

––

"Well, as always, the town government is completely useless. Looks like it's up to me to save this world," said Pichu, puffing his chest out heroically.

"Just kill me now," Clefairy muttered.

So they fell back on their original plan and traveled to North Clock Town, where the Great Fairy made her home. As they walked through the tunnel that led to the Great Fairy Fountain, however, they immediately realized something was off.

"What the crap happened here?" Clefairy demanded. Rather than a Great Fairy waiting inside the fountain, there were just a bunch of little fairies floating around. They didn't appear to resemble any Pokémon of any kind, and were instead just a bunch of bulbous heads with tiny little bodies and wings.

Clefairy glared at Pichu. "Something happened to the Great Fairy! This is your fault, isn't it?"

"How the heck is it my fault? Granted I'd probably do something horrible to her if I got the chance, but…"

"Young one, please hear my plea!" came a voice from seemingly out of nowhere that made Pichu jump. "The one called Nuzleaf has broken me and scattered my pieces! Please find the missing Stray Fairy and return it here!"

Pichu raised an eyebrow at Clefairy. "What was that about Nuzleaf being no match for her?"

Clefairy frowned. "Wait… Nuzleaf did this? But why? He wouldn't hurt anybody unless there was some sort of monetary gain involved… and maybe for fun once in a while… hmm, maybe I should have a talk with him. Anyway, Pichu, let's go find that Stray Fairy!"

Pichu groaned loudly. "Do we really have to?"

"Would you just grow up already? If we don't help the Great Fairy you'll be stuck as a Snivy forever!"

"…Yeah, I think it's worth it."

"And Termina will be crushed by the giant moon!"

"Still worth it."

Clefairy grabbed him and threw him out of the Fairy Fountain, then followed after him. The two of them ended up wasting all day looking around town for the missing fairy, and by the time they arrived at the Laundry Pool night had fallen.

Night of the First Day
-60 Hours Remain-

"That moon is definitely getting bigger…" Pichu said with a shiver, gazing up at the enormous chunk of rock above their heads.

"Yes, the bad news is we're all going to be horribly crushed in a matter of days and there's likely not a thing we can do about it. The good news is, look, a fairy!"

"You're right, I feel so much more hopeful about the future now."

Sure enough, another big-headed fairy was floating above the creek in the Laundry Pool, casting a glow over the otherwise darkened area.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go and get it!" said Clefairy, nudging him up to the creek.

"Hang on a sec… you've got the magic fairy floating thing going on. Why don't you get it?"

"Because I've got better things to do and I enjoy watching you suffer."

"You know, you vaguely remind me of someone."

"I'm sure she was very attractive. Now get going!" Clefairy snapped, shoving him into the water. He began shrieking and flailing around before he realized that as a Snivy, he had the ability to hop on water.

"Woah! Check it out! This is awesome!" he cheered, skipping back and forth across the creek. "Ha ha ha! I could do this all ni – " He abruptly plunged into the water and didn't resurface.

"…On second thought, maybe it'll be faster if I get it," Clefairy decided.

––

A while later, Clefairy re-entered the Great Fairy Fountain while carrying the Stray Fairy in one hand and dragging the waterlogged and half-drowned Pichu along in the other hand.

"You're really lucky you have me, you know," she muttered, slapping Pichu on the back and causing him to cough up more water. "Oh Great Fairy! We brought your… uh… piece of yourself… man that sounds wrong…"

All of a sudden, the Stray Fairy let out a squeal of joy and flew out of Clefairy's hand to join the other fairies. They began spinning around each other faster and faster before they vanished in a flash of light and an enormous, bikini-clad Clefable rose up out of the water with a deafening shriek of a laugh.

"Hoo boy," Pichu sighed, picking up a shard of rock to stab his eyes out with.

"Clefairy, and you of the altered shape," said the Clefable, "thank you for returning my broken and shattered body to normal. And please put the rock down."

Clefairy yanked the rock out of Pichu's hands before he could do anything. "Yeah, whatever… so, since we saved you and stuff, that means you can turn me back to normal, right?"

"I'm afraid not. The dark magic that Nuzleaf used on you is much more powerful than my own."

Pichu's eye twitched. "THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THAT?"

"Now, now, don't worry. I can still assist you by granting you a new attack."

And with that, the Clefable caused a beam of bright light to come down and envelop Pichu. He began to grow lightheaded and sway around like he was stoned or something, and when the light faded away he had somehow learned a new attack.

"Congratulations! You have now learned Energy Ball," said the Clefable. "You can use this to launch an attack on your enemies."

"Uh, okay, but how does this help my Snivy problem?"

"The Pokémon who lives in the observatory outside of town may know of Nuzleaf's whereabouts. But be careful not to underestimate that child's strength."

"Yeah that's great, but again, how is this attack supposed to help – "

"If you ever regain your true form, come and see me again!" the Clefable said very unhelpfully, vanishing back into the water with another ungodly laugh.

"DAMMIT WOMAN!" Pichu shrieked as Clefairy dragged him back outside. "Seriously, I could already fight! How does this improve my situation at all?"

Clefairy rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe you could try launching Energy Balls at the moon and blowing it up."

Pichu brightened up. "Yeah! That's a great idea!"

At this point it was a little after midnight, and an elderly Froslass was floating down the nearby path with a very large bomb bag slung over her shoulders.

"Anyway, Pichu, the Great Fairy always gives out gifts for a reason. I'm sure you'll find a use for that new move somehow."

At that very moment, a nasty-looking Sneasel suddenly came racing down the path in the opposite direction as the Froslass and rammed into her. She cried out and fell to the ground, and the next thing she knew the thief had swiped her bomb bag away and was running off with it.

"My bombs! Somebody stop him!" she cried.

Pichu whirled around. "STOP, FIEND!" he shrieked and flung an Energy Ball at the Sneasel, causing the bomb bag to violently explode and instantly killing him.

"Oops."

"Wow. You're an idiot and a complete psychopath. You must be a real devil with the ladies."

"Well, I did kinda have a girlfriend, but she had to flee the country after trying to assassinate the princess for dressing up like a man."

"Uh huh."

––

A/N: Yeah, I miss Togetic too… but on the bright side, I love Clock Town. Love love love it.