DarkFoxKit: Alright, we got another chapter updated. It's nice to see Berry's mother, though who could her father be, I wonder?
Traveling Master: Well we already left some clues concerning her father, but who's to say when the father will show up, if he's alive or not, or if he even existed in the first place?
DarkFoxKit: What about Dust's father? We haven't seen who his father is either.
Dust: Oh, since the last chapter was about Berry's relationship to the Goodra, will we actually learn about my father's identity soon? I've rather been curious, as I'm sure all the other readers are just as curious as I.
Traveling Master: No, can't reveal anything like that yet. But I can say this, one of the readers was pretty close to guessing our plans for Dust's father. Won't say who, but I was impressed by your guess.
DarkFoxKit: Shh, if you give out any more hints, they'll figure it out. Anyways, for those of you who would ask, Berry's mother may be a Goodra, but… let's just say not every Goodra is as huggy and friendly as stated in the Pokedex. So just brace yourselves.
Traveling Master: You can say that again. Now before we continue on with the story, I have to make an announcement. Due to work related circumstances, I may not be able to write for a bit, depending on whether or not I can get connection to the internet where I'm going. I can't say exactly where I'm going either, but for the next several months, I may be having a difficult time writing. If I can, I'll use whatever time I have and try to write with DarkFoxKit, so we can continue working on this story. We have so much planned for Dust and Berry, so many ideas we wish to bring into our story. And it'd be a shame to be unable to finish it. But we wanted to let you know that we'll still keep trying, we just don't know exactly when or if I'll be able to write following the next couple of months. Sorry for the inconvenience.
DarkFoxKit: On the plus side, if you're reading this far into the future and we're able to write again, then congratulations, you don't have to wait, and therefore, what TM said here is invalid to you. But for the rest of you… yeah, we apologies, hope you guys are patient. ^^'
Dust: Well, as the saying goes, "Patient is a virtue." And I've noticed that we still have many readers from when mine and Berry's first adventures started. They've been patient with us so far, and for that I am grateful.
Chapter 39: A Motherly Love
Waterfall Cavern F8
It had been some time since Dust had lent Ivy his Pecha Scarf. Despite reassuring her that it would suit her better during their time in this dungeon, Dust couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable. He had been wearing the scarf for such a long time, to suddenly not have it felt somewhat unnatural, but he knew Ivy being protected from poison was more important than how he felt.
After searching a bit more on the previous floor, Dust and Ivy decided to move once they found the stairs, hoping that perhaps Berry and Shab would be on the next floor. As they entered the new floor, Dust was expected to run into even more stronger Pokemon, but surprisingly, they barely saw any. That alone put Dust on edge, for he couldn't tell if it was because the Goodra was on the same floor as them, or perhaps they were getting closer to the Goodra's nest, so the wild Pokemon had learned to stay clear of this area.
To try and help clear his head, Dust decided to ask Ivy a question, though he was a bit hesitant to do so due to the question itself. "Hey Ivy, there's something I wanted to ask you, if you don't mind."
Ivy looked at Dust. "What is it?"
"I know it's a sensitive topic, but it concerns Undergrowth. From what I understand, he's the one that… attacked Talon's family. What he did, I can't even fathom why someone would even…," Dust paused for a second, shuddering at the thought of Undergrowth eating Talon's family. "Anyways, I understand that wild Pokemon hunt other Pokemon, I also know that it's natural for certain civilized Pokemon to consume meat, but I still can't understand why someone like Undergrowth would be willing to eat others with disregard to them or those it might affect dearly. Since he's your father, was Undergrowth always like this?"
Ivy frowned. "I didn't get to see my father much. I was mostly raised by my mother. I knew that… my father… Undergrowth was born as a wild Pokemon though, and he never quite let go of his hunting habits. I just… never knew it was this bad. Had I known my father was the Serperior who ate Talon's family… I wouldn't have made it obvious I knew him… or maybe I would've stayed away from the battle with him… I don't know… I felt like I could've done something to hide the fact I was related to a monster like Undergrowth from Talon…"
Dust nodded as he thought about what Ivy had said. "Sorry to bring up the topic, it's just… I'm worried about Berry. I mean, I'm worried about her and Shab since we had been separated, but I'm worried about something else. As you know, Berry has said she's vegetarian and tries to avoid eating meat, though there have been times where she accidentally ate meat."
"How do you accidentally eat meat?" Ivy asked.
"Well the first time it happened was when we ordered food from this restaurant, Berry had gotten a soup, thinking that it had no meat. It was only until after she had finished I had learned there were still some small pieces of meat left in her bowl. The other times usually were caused by Al, which prompted Berry to get very nauseous afterwards," Dust lightly chuckled before continuing. "Back then, those were just accidents, but if that Goodra did end up getting Berry, and since there's a chance Berry is related to that Goodra, what if Goodra starts trying to feed her live Pokemon? I noticed back when she first unknowingly ate meat, she mentioned how great she felt. But what if after spending time with Goodra, she ends up picking up the same habits as Undergrowth? I know she's vegetarian by choice, but I do believe her kind are capable of eating meat. But what if it changes her? Sure, it might be safe with only wild Pokemon, but what happens if she decides to go for an innocent civilized Pokemon. I'd have to stop her myself! It's one thing to fight an wild Pokemon, or an outlaw, but to fight someone who you trusted, someone who is close to you? I don't think I'd have the strength or conviction to stop Berry if that came to-"
"Dust, DUST!" Ivy called out. "You're going on a tangent! Do you really think Berry would be like that just cause the Goodra might make her eat live Pokemon?"
Dust snapped back to attention after hearing Ivy. He realized he was breathing hard now, and that his eyes were a bit teary. He quickly rubbed his eyes before responding. "I… I don't know. Before I was convinced that eating meat might benefit Berry, but after seeing how both Patricia and Undergrowth were hardly fazed by eating another living Pokemon, I can't help but worry what might happen to Berry."
"Those two are… rather power hungry…" Ivy sighed. "I wouldn't compare Berry to them. Look, if you're that worried, then let's keep looking for them, I'm sure that they should be nearby."
Then they began to hear heavy footsteps approaching them. It was then that Dust realized his senses were going crazy as he felt oncoming danger. He was so preoccupied with his own doubts that he failed to realize how close the Goodra had gotten.
"Ivy, get on!" Dust shouted, hoping to get away before the Goodra could get them.
Ivy shook her head. "Just run!"
Ivy took off quickly, reminding Dust that a Snivy's speed was incredibly fast. Dust hurried after Ivy. However, as they were running, a green substance suddenly hit Dust's back legs, it was very sticky and it caused Dust to lose his balance. Dust tried to get up but he lost his footing once more and fell to the ground. He turned to look at the slime, noticing how it looked a bit similar to Berry's slime as he tried to shake it off. But unlike Berry's slime where he had been able to shake it off before, this sticky substance refused to let go of his legs, no matter how hard he tried breaking free.
He reached for the slime, thinking he could maybe use his claws to break himself free, but the moment he touched the slime with his claws, they too ended up getting stuck. Now Dust's right foreleg was in an uncomfortable position, while he only had his left foreleg free, though he knew that wouldn't do him much good.
Ivy ran back when she noticed Dust wasn't with her. She saw Dust on the floor, his feet tangled by a green substance that looked incredibly sticky. However, as soon as Ivy looked up, her eyes went in shock and horror. A big dragon was walking towards Dust. Ivy had never seen this Pokemon before, but she did notice a similarity between this dragon and Berry. For one, their colors matched to a T, and it was leaking out goo like Berry did.
Ivy quickly got in front of Dust in hopes of protecting him. "You won't be taking him, you overgrown slug!"
The Snivy shot out a Vine Whip attack at the big gooey dragon. The dragon gave an amused look as the vines slapped its stomach and shoulder. The only thing that happened was the dragon had a small bit of red aura from the attack.
At first Dust was confused by what he saw, but then remembered seeing something similar with Berry. That's when he realized that this Goodra must have the same ability as Berry. "Ivy! That Goodra most likely has the Sap Sipper ability! Any grass attacks will only make it stronger!"
Ivy frowned as she brought back her vines. "So that's the Goodra?"
The Goodra lashed out her antennae at Ivy and Dust, grabbing both of them and holding onto them tightly. The Goodra then started walking with the two Crusaders trapped by her antennae. No matter how hard they tried to struggle, the Goodra's antennae held them firmly.
If this Goodra and Berry are the same species, then that must mean they share the same weakness too. Dust thought as he opened his mouth, drawing in energy to use Ice Beam. I have no idea how strong this Goodra is, so I better give it all I got!
The Goodra's eyes turned to Dust and she spat out a small piece of goo right on Dust's mouth, completely blocking the Ice Beam. Dust's eyes widened as his Ice Beam could only hit the gooey substance, turning it very cold and hard, not to mention his mouth now felt like it was made out of ice now. While it felt cold, it was most likely thanks to the fact that he was an Absol that he was even able to tolerate having his mouth covered in frozen slime. But his main concerns were not of his mouth being frozen shut, but that he and Ivy were now being taken to where he assumed would be the Goodra's nest. Part of him hoped that maybe they would find Berry and Shab there, but another part of him was worried at seeing them trapped...or worse. Dust could only wait and see what this Goodra would do.
Waterfall Cavern F9
The Goodra was now on the 9th floor, and was walking through the dungeon like it knew its way around despite the Mystery Dungeon always changing and shifting whenever a Pokemon entered it. Dust and Ivy remained quiet, though with Dust he didn't have a choice. He wondered what it would be like to be swallowed whole by a Pokemon. Though he could always ask Al or Berry, since they went through having been in someone's stomach only recently. Though he'd most likely ask Al, seeing how the Charmeleon seems to have an optimistic attitude.
The Goodra suddenly stopped and looked worried about something. She then started to move quickly, her bulky body not doing much to slow her down. There was a lot of splashing as the Goodra went into the water. She frowned as she looked down. Dust and Ivy looked down as well to see why the Goodra was frowning. They both gasped at seeing an unconscious Berry lying flatly just outside of the nest. The Goodra dropped Dust and Ivy into the water before she bent down and, carefully, picked up Berry.
What happened?! Why is Berry like that? And where's Shab? He was with Berry, right? Unless that Goodra… Dust shook away the thought. No, don't assume the worst, he could still be out there. Right now focus on Berry.
Ivy looked up from her position, before she sent out a Vine Whip to the frozen gag on Dust's mouth. The Vine Whip was able to break the frigid goo, letting Dust's mouth free.
"Great, what are we supposed to do now? We found Berry, but she doesn't look too good, and she's in that big Goodra's arms," Ivy whispered.
At first Dust thought about using Ice Beam on the Goodra while she was distracted, but Dust then noticed how careful she had been while holding Berry. The worry expression on the Goodra's face gave him pause as he thought about his earlier conversation with Ivy. Part of him really was thinking of using Ice Beam, but that was on the off chance it broke Dust and Ivy free. The Goodra would still be holding Berry, and he doubts they have the strength to break her free from the Goodra's grasp.
"I don't think the Goodra will harm Berry. If anything, I think she's trying to help Berry," Dust remarked.
Ivy looked at the Goodra as she was cradling with Berry, looking worried. The Goodra then set Berry down into the nest.
"Wait… is that Goodra… is she Berry's mother? Or does the Goodra think Berry is her child?" Ivy wondered.
"Hard to say. She could be Berry's mother, or perhaps if they are of the same evolutionary line, Goodra felt the need to help Berry, seeing how sick she was. Either way, I think it's safe to assume Berry is safe for the time being," Dust explained.
"Then what about us? I don't see Shab anywhere here." Ivy frowned.
The Goodra suddenly turned her attention to Dust and Ivy. The Goodra picked up Dust with her hands this time instead of her antenna, and started to lick Dust as if tasting him. Dust was both terrified and disgusted. Even though he was used to Berry's slime, getting covered in the Goodra's saliva was very unsettling.
"Oh, you wouldn't want to eat me. I've been carrying your...uh… I've been carrying that Goomy on my back for a long time, and her slimes are somewhat poisonous. I don't know how well your body is against poison, but I'm sure it'd give you an upset stomach should you eat me," Dust tried reasoning.
The Goodra either didn't understand Dust, or didn't care about what he said. She did, however, seemed interested when he spoke up about carrying the Goomy on his back. She then turned Dust's body around so she could look at his back. The Goodra then licked Dust's back, which made Dust cringe. The Goodra could tell that the Goomy's slime had indeed been on him.
The Goodra then frowned before she flipped Dust upside down, Dust yelped as his bag opened when the Goodra flipped him upside down, and some items, his Crusader badge, and the client's letter fell out. The Goodra looked down at the badge and the letter specifically. She then put Dust down again, and then she touched the sticky goo on his legs, causing them to suddenly melt off of Dust.
"Crusader…" The wild Goodra said.
Dust was taken back, not expecting to hear the Goodra speak. But he knew he shouldn't waste this opportunity, if she was not being hostile, Dust might be able to free the others too. "Yes, we are Crusaders. We are Team Night Tide. We came here because of a letter that was sent to us… Did you...send that letter?"
The Goodra nodded, understanding Dust's question. She looked back at Berry. "My… child… sick. Tried… feeding her… would help… but she… got worse… she look smaller… and hungry… again."
While Dust would immediately check on Berry's vitals, he knew he had to be careful. Even though the Goodra was not hostile at the moment, she could easily attack him if she felt Berry would be threatened. "I know medicine, I can help."
"Medicine… natural medicine?" The Goodra asked.
"I don't know where she learned to talk, but she is still wild. I'm guessing she doesn't trust mon-made medicine," Ivy whispered to Dust.
Dust nodded as he slowly took a step towards the Goodra while pointing at Berry. "May I check on her and see what is wrong?"
The Goodra looked at Dust for a moment, though she did remember tasting Berry's slime on the Absol's back, so it was very likely they knew each other at least, and Berry obviously trusted the Absol enough to ride on him. Though reluctant, the Goodra tilted her head to the unconscious Berry, giving Dust permission to check on the Goomy.
Again, Dust knew he had to be careful, any wrong move could turn this Goodra very hostile at any moment. So for now, he just focused on Berry. "Thank you."
Dust then slowly went to Berry, noticing how the Goodra was watching him. He felt Berry's forehead and almost reeled back from how hot her slime was. He noticed how pale Berry looked, and how much her slime was dripping.
This isn't good. The Goodra said that she fed Berry and she was doing well, but now she seems to have gotten worse. Dust thought as he continued examining Berry.
Berry then opened her eyes, having regained consciousness. She still felt weak, but she smiled when she saw Dust in front of her. "Dust… you're here."
Dust returned the smile with his own, glad to see Berry was awake. "I'm here," Dust then turned to the Goodra, wanting to ask her a question. "What did you feed Berry?"
"Pokemon," The Goodra answered as though it was obvious.
"Ugh… I… spat them all out when she left," Berry answered to Dust. "Including Shab. After that… I sort of… passed out."
Dust nodded as he turned to the Goodra once more. "I think I know what's wrong with Berry."
"What… is wrong?" The Goodra asked.
"Before coming here, Berry and Shab the Feebas had went to another underwater dungeon. I think Berry was not used to the murky water and it started to cause her to feel ill. We were planning on turning back but then we ran into you and got separated. And while having being fed made her recover a bit, Berry ended up spitting out all the Pokemon you fed her," Dust explained. "Doing so caused her fever to spike, her body is weak from all the strain put on her body."
The Goodra frowned. "Why… spit… your food?"
The question was directed at Berry.
Berry looked over at the Goodra, relieved that the bigger dragon wasn't trying to eat her friend. "Because I'm… a vegetarian… I don't eat other Pokemon."
"Vege… ta… rian…?" The Goodra blinked, unfamiliar with the word. "Don't… eat… Pokemon? But… unhealthy."
"She chooses to only eat berries and vegetables, anything that doesn't have meat," Dust explained. "And no matter how hard you try, or how often you feed her Pokemon, she'll refuse to eat them."
The Goodra shook her head. "Unhealthy! No wonder… my child is… small and sick!"
"Wah…? Her child?" Berry frowned.
"She may be small, but I assure you she is very strong. She trains so that she could protect others. But like you said, she is sick and needs help. We can take her back to the guild and she can get help from-" Dust started explaining when Goodra suddenly pushed him back with her antennae as she stood close to Berry in a protective manner.
Berry blinked in shock at how quickly the Goodra pushed Dust away and stood close to her. The Goodra picked up Berry in her arms, and Berry was still in shock.
"No taking her away!" The Goodra growled. "I stay with her until she is better!"
"Never separate a mother from her child…" Ivy noted while watching the whole thing.
Shab came swimming out from his hiding place and spoke to Ivy. "I figured the Goodra was related to Berry… but I didn't expect her to be Berry's mother."
"Oh, Shab, you've been here the whole time?" Ivy blinked.
"Yeah, I was just hiding in case the Goodra would try to eat me," Shab chuckled sheepishly.
"I had my suspicions about the Goodra being Berry's parent, though I guess we should count ourselves lucky that the Goodra at least is now… somewhat cooperative," Dust replied. "But I don't know how to convince a mother to let her child go with Pokemon she barely knows. Only reason she even spared us was because she tasted Berry's slime on my body. But I doubt that alone will convince her to let us take Berry back."
"If I may make a suggestion, what if we tried looking for any natural medicine outside of the dungeon? We can have the Goodra follow us if she wants to," Ivy suggested.
"Wait… wait a minute," Berry spoke up. "Why are you all accepting the fact this Goodra is even related to me? There's no way I'm related to a Goodra!"
While Dust would normally have this conversation with Berry, sharing his theories and possibly sharing how the Goodra may simply think she's her child, seeing how defensive the Goodra was right now refrained him from sharing those thoughts. Goodra is already on edge from us even suggesting taking Berry back. I don't want to see what she would do if we tried suggesting that Berry isn't even her child.
"How about we go out of this dungeon to find Berry a natural medicine then?" Dust suggested, using Ivy's idea. "You can come with us while carrying Berry."
The Goodra looked to be considering the suggestion. Meanwhile, Berry was still in denial about the Goodra being related to her. She just couldn't see herself being anything like a Goodra, despite the similar colors and slime. The Goodra looked nothing like Berry as far as she was concerned.
"I go with you. Find natural medicine, make my child better," the Goodra stated, still having Berry in her arms.
"Okay, I promise we'll make Berry feel better," Dust nodded before a question had popped in his head.
Seeing how this Goodra was capable of speech, he thought of Jade the Trapinch, how despite being a wild Pokemon, she spoke clearly to him. He remembered how it was Gale that had taught her all those years ago, so he wondered if someone had done the same for this Goodra.
"Also, do you have a name?" Dust asked. I mean, if Jade had one, then maybe this Goodra has one too.
"Tsunami," The Goodra answered.
"Wow, didn't expect the Goodra to actually have a name," Ivy noted.
"It's a nice and powerful name though," Shab remarked.
"I had a feeling she might have a name. Me and Berry had met a wild Trapinch before who also was capable of speech. I figured since Tsunami was able to understand us and communicate, she might also have a name too," Dust explained.
The Goodra who called herself 'Tsunami' looked at Dust, then at Ivy, and finally at Shab. Seeing Shab made Tsunami realize that Berry really did spit out all the Pokemon she fed her. Tsunami frowned at the realization. A Goomy needed to eat meat, otherwise they would stunt their growth, and become unhealthy. Tsunami wondered where her child picked up such an unhealthy eating habit.
"Come… we need to go," Tsunami spoke up to Team Night Tide before she began walking, still holding onto Berry.
Berry still couldn't believe she might be related to this Goodra. She didn't want to be related, because it would mean she was a part of this Goodra's evolution line. Just like in her nightmares. Berry ended up fainting again.
Berry's Dream
Berry found herself in darkness. She looked around, wondering where she was. She could hear muffled voices, but she couldn't tell where they were coming from. She continued to slither on until she felt some kind of wall in front of her. She could hear the muffled voices louder on the other side of the wall. Berry knocked her head against the wall, and saw it cracking. There was light coming through the cracks. Seeing this, Berry kept knocking her head against the cracks over and over until she finally broke through the wall.
Berry blinked, finding herself in the old nest of her Quagsire family. She saw the mother Quagsire who raised her in front of her. Berry looked around for a moment, seeing her brothers and sisters beside her, somewhere just coming out of their eggs, while others haven't hatched yet. Berry looked down, seeing she was in an egg herself.
The mother Quagsire looked rather surprised as she looked at Berry. Though initially confused, Berry saw her mother quickly show her the same loving face she had shown to the others. Berry then saw a second Quagsire walk up next to the first one, also having a confused look. But unlike her mother, who still showed love to Berry, this Quagsire was disturbed.
"Why is that one purple?" The male Quagsire asked. "I don't think it's a Wooper at all. They should all be Wooper."
Berry remembered that her mother's name was Damp, and her father's name was Wave.
Wave then frowned at Damp. "Did you see anyone other than me, Damp?"
"Don't be silly, Wave," Damp responded in annoyance. "It's possible that the egg belonged to someone else, but ended up in our nest."
Berry didn't know why she was suddenly reliving her life. She wondered if Celebi or Dialga took her back in time for whatever reason. Am I being punished? Am I getting some kind of second chance?
"Then we should find it's parents. No point in keeping it here, we don't know what it might do to our children," Wave suggested.
"Wave, don't call her an 'it'!" Damp scolded before she picked Berry up. "It's possible something happened to her parents, so we need to take care of her."
Wait… this is different… Mom and Dad thought I might've just been a defective Wooper. But… they know I'm not a Wooper? Berry blinked in confusion.
"Fine, fine," Wave sighed before having a confused look. "How do you know it's a she?"
"Call it a mother's intuition," Damp answered. "I'm sure that even if she is some kind of dangerous species, we can raise her to be one of us."
Wave looked at Berry, still having doubts, but sighed as he smiled at Damp. "Okay, I trust you and your intuition."
Back in the real world
It was the first time Dust had seen the Spring Swamp. After coming out of the Waterfall Cavern, he was surprised how clean and almost breathtaking the Spring Swamp was, Dust wouldn't have imagined a swamp to be this clean. It would likely explain why Berry couldn't tolerate murky waters like the one at the Sunken Tunnel.
"So this was where Berry lived," Shab noted, looking around himself.
"I believe so," Dust commented. "Now if we can find some of the locals, they could help us find some natural medicine to help Berry."
"Are you sure that they're not hiding due to this big dragon behind us?" Ivy questioned, pointing at the Goodra behind them.
"Right, haven't thought of that. For now, let's just keep moving forward. If we can find some Rawst Berries, that can at least help lower Berry's fever," Dust suggested.
The group started to move forward. Dust couldn't help but hear Tsunami's heavy footsteps following behind him. He looked back at Tsunami for a moment, seeing Berry sleeping in her arms. Dust began to wonder what he would do if Berry ever did let herself evolve and become as big as Tsunami. She would be far too big and heavy for him to carry her anymore.
If anything she would end up giving me a ride. Dust found the thought of Berry giving him a ride amusing, but it was only for a moment. That is if she ever did decide to evolve.
"Tsunami," Dust called out, wanting to ask the Goodra something. "Besides eating… your usual meals, what other ways do you use to help recover when you feel sick?"
"Lots of water," Tsunami answered. "Rest. Eat berry, or two… it works."
"Then it's a good thing we are back in her old home. Maybe resting in these waters will help her recover," Dust explained.
"She was… here… the whole time…" Tsunami frowned, looking rather annoyed.
"I guess that means you never knew Berry had been living just outside the cave you've been living in this whole time," Ivy translated.
Tsunami frowned at that. Not wanting to upset the Goodra any further, Dust decided to try and change the topic.
"Let's not focus on what has already happened in the past, let's focus on helping Berry now," Dust suggested.
"Look around, Dust, there's nobody here!" Ivy gestured to all over.
The swamp was very quiet and empty. Shab was a bit unsettled. "This feels a bit creepy."
"It's unfortunate that Berry is unconscious, she would be able to locate the nearest Pokemon," Dust remarked. "Hello? Is there anyone out there? We are in need of assistance!"
"I can find them, easy," Tsunami stated. "They hide, but not well enough, not from me."
It was then Dust remembered that Berry had to get her ability to sense Pokemon from somewhere. And it would also explain why Tsunami was such an effective hunter.
"Can you point to the nearest Pokemon?" Dust asked.
"There," Tsunami pointed with her antenna.
Dust turned around, seeing a lone Wooper timidly walking over to them. It looked at the Goodra very nervously, but then it looked at the Goomy in her arms, then at Dust.
"... Are you… the Absol partner that Berry talked about?" The Wooper asked Dust.
Dust blinked a couple times, a bit confused by what the Wooper had just said. He looked back at Berry, recalling her tale of her adventure when she came here last time, as well as running into her brother.
"Yes, I am," Dust paused as he looked at the Wooper as he tried to remember his name. "By chance are you Berry's brother… Splat?"
The Wooper almost fell over at the name Dust gave him. "N-no, it's Splash. But, yes, I'm one of Berry's brothers. I… thought that was her in that… big dragon's arms. Berry told me about an Absol partner she had who was sick… I'm guessing that was you, right?"
"You are correct, I'm Dust the Absol. And no need to worry about the Goodra, she's with us," Dust explained. "Berry had fallen ill and coming here was our best hope of helping her."
Splash looked at the Feebas and Snivy were with Dust. "Are… those two with you as well?"
"Yes, we're a Crusader team, we stick together," Shab answered. "We also want to make sure Berry gets better."
Splash looked hesitant, but after getting a closer look at Berry and seeing how ill she looked, Splash nodded as he started heading in a direction. "Follow me, I know where we can go to help Berry."
At hearing that, Dust, Shab, and Ivy were smiling in relief. Tsunami looked at the little Wooper in curiosity, wondering if she had seen this Wooper before. But she was more concerned of getting her child some help.
The group followed Splash.
Before long, Splash stopped and turned to the group. "Wait here a moment, please."
Splash went on ahead while the others waited, wondering what he was doing. Before long, Splash came back to them. "Okay, Dad's out right now. You can bring Berry in."
Dust was confused why it was important that Splash's father was out, but didn't question it. Dust and the others followed after the Wooper, the Absol curious as to what Splash would show them.
"Welcome to my and Berry's old nest," Splash announced.
A Quagsire was plucking some berries from a branch, when she noticed she had some company. She looked up, and dropped the branch of berries in shock when she saw the Goodra towering over her.
*Berry's dream*
It's weird… it's like I'm reliving my life again. Yet it feels like the years are going by quickly… Berry noted to herself as she was floating in the swamp's water.
However, whenever Berry went home, she noticed something that disturbed her. One of her siblings was missing. Damp and Wave were distraught about the missing sibling, and had been asking around if anyone had seen them. But each time Berry went home or woke up the next morning, another sibling was gone. Berry couldn't help but notice that she was getting a bit bigger too, though she just thought her body was getting older and wasn't relative.
Berry had been trying to investigate what was happening to her siblings, why they were going missing, and why another one would end up missing the next morning. But Berry had noticed something strange, each day when more and more of her siblings started to disappear, the siblings that were left were looking afraid of Berry. Berry had no idea why they would be scared of her, but every time she asked, they would all clam up and run away into the water.
As more and more of Berry's siblings disappeared, Berry was beginning to become more and more uneasy. Damp and Wave were starting to become desperate to protect their children. Wave became much more aggressive towards others, chasing them away, while Damp was trying to lay over her babies who were left. But despite their best efforts, another Wooper would be missing the next day.
Now, it was just Splash, the oldest Wooper of the nest, and herself. I still can't find the kidnapper… if there is one… or have they just been running away one by one for whatever reason? Mom had been so heartbroken that it's hard to look at her these days. And Dad… well… he's hard to approach…
Berry then looked over at some of the Mudkip that were playing around. And suddenly, she saw an unwanted familiar face approaching them.
"Well isn't this a surprise. I had my doubts but to actually see you now, I'm actually blown away by how well things went," The Mawile laughed as she walked towards Berry.
"Patricia!" Berry yelled before getting in a defensive position. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I didn't expect the little dragon to know me," Patricia noted in surprise before she gave a smirk, snatching one of the Mudkip up with her big jaw.
"H-hey! You let that Mudkip go right now!" Berry snapped.
"Oh, were you planning on having this one for yourself? Okay then," Patricia casually tossed the Mudkip to Berry. "Though I suggest holding back on your meals, you look like you already just ate."
Berry frowned. "What are you talking about? I haven't eaten anything yet today! And why would you think I would eat this poor Mudkip?"
"Isn't that what you just did?" Patricia grinned.
The confused Goomy frowned before looking down at the Mudkip again, only to see it was gone. "W-what…? What happened to the Mudkip?"
Berry felt really full all of a sudden, and she had no idea why.
"Interesting," Berry heard a new voice speak from behind. Her body immediately tensed, reckoning that voice. "It seems as though her wild and civilized sides are conflicting, though it seems her wild nature is getting stronger by the second. Good."
Berry quickly turned around, seeing a familiar Serperior behind her. She slithered back. "Y-you! You two were the ones who were taking my siblings away!"
Both Undergrowth and Patricia started laughing, with Patricia speaking first. "Wow, master, your plan worked better than I thought."
"Of course it did, though even I couldn't predict this Goomy's reaction," Undergrowth replied. "As easy as it would've been, I'm sorry to tell you but we haven't touched your precious siblings."
Berry frowned. "Wait… do you know what's happening to my siblings then?"
"Well, I can only guess, but don't you find it strange how your siblings have been disappearing while you have been growing?" Undergrowth asked.
The sky suddenly grew dark as Berry was slowly beginning to realize what Undergrowth was hinting at. Berry had noticed she was getting bigger lately, but she had thought… or rather, had been hoping that it was just a growth spurt and nothing more. But the coincidences were all there. Her siblings' disappearances, and her body getting bigger with each disappearance, it was too hard to ignore.
"You… you can't mean… no… no, I would never…! I didn't! I know I didn't! They wouldn't have disappeared because I-... because of me!" Berry shouted.
"Don't believe us?" Patricia rhetorically asked before pointing at something behind Berry. "Then how about asking him?"
Berry frowned, hesitant to turn her back on these two dangerous Pokemon, but she heard someone crying behind her. The Goomy turned, seeing the last sibling she had left. Splash was curled up, looking terrified.
"Splash?" Berry asked.
When Splash looked up, he reeled back in fear. "No, stay away!"
It wasn't the first time Berry dealt with Splash being afraid of her, but it felt different this time. She wasn't sure why. She was sure she never used Absorb on this version of Splash, so why was he afraid?
"Splash, what's wrong? Why are you so scared of me?" Berry asked. "What… what did I do?"
"You know what you did! Every time Mom and Dad were away, or were asleep, you… you…" Tears were rolling down Splash's face as he struggled to finish his sentence. "Why did you eat them? Why did you eat all my siblings?!"
The sky had gotten much darker now. It began to rain.
"B-but… I didn't… I didn't eat them! I didn't eat anyone!" Berry denied.
"Aww, poor little child," Undergrowth mockingly cooed as he used a vine to rub Splash's back. "Losing all of his siblings. I guess that's what happens when you let a dangerous predator sit so close to your hatchlings~"
"W-what are you talking about!? I'm not a dangerous predator! I'm a vegetarian!" Berry shouted.
"Heh, looks like the Goomy hasn't figured it out yet," Patricia grinned. "Haven't you always wondered why you looked different from your 'siblings?' Or how you ended up in a family so very different from you?"
Berry frowned, but she didn't give a verbal answer.
"Patricia, this is all very new to her, we have to treat our experiment with care," Undergrowth explained before turning his attention to Berry. "My sweet, little Goomy. It was no accident that your egg ended up in a nest filled with unhatched Wooper. I wanted to see how your kind would react after hatching and being surrounded by potential prey."
"You were our little experiment, little Goomy~" Patricia smirked.
Berry couldn't believe what she was hearing, it couldn't be true, because she was sure she never ate any of her siblings. Why was it different this time?
Undergrowth picked up Splash with his vine and placed him in front of Berry.
Berry was suddenly outside of her body, and was watching. She had no control of what was going on, she just saw herself slithered towards Splash as Undergrowth let go. Then he and Patricia suddenly disappeared, and in their place was Damp and Wave. Both of them looked horrified as Berry's body began eating Splash.
"No… no… Mom, Dad, that's not me!" Berry shouted, but nobody could hear her.
"I knew this would happen. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you would bring nothing but disaster to my family!" Wave yelled.
"How could you? I thought we raised you right…" Damp cried.
Berry was heartbroken, but her body didn't seem to care. Her body continued to swallow down Splash's body until he was completely gone. Wave glared angrily.
"We need to get rid of you now!" Wave snapped as he reached for Berry.
Wave grabbed the Goomy who was not Berry, and started to squeeze her. Berry couldn't feel any pain, but she was horrified at seeing her father trying to kill her. Though she wasn't too surprised, Wave always had a problem with her, and he had every right to after seeing that she had eaten their children.
However, Berry's body didn't share Berry's guilt, it wanted to live, and it didn't like being treated this roughly. Berry's body let out a loud scream. Suddenly loud thumping noises were echoing across the swamp. With each thump, the land shook as it got closer and closer. Damp was worried about what was coming while Wave was still focused on squeezing Berry's body.
Berry would've gasped if she still had a body. She saw Tsunami, though Tsunami looked far bigger than Berry remembered. She towered over the two Quagsire. Tsunami gave an angry glare at the Quagsire that was trying to squeeze Berry's body, and immediately whipped the Quagsire with her large antennae. Berry noticed the antennae were glowing green, indicating that she was using a Grass element in that whip. Wave immediately fell unconscious, letting go of Berry's body. Damp looked absolutely terrified.
Tsunami then wrapped her antennae around Wave's body, and in one swift motion, swallowed him whole.
"No… Run Mom! You have to get away from here!" Berry cried out, hoping Damp would be smart enough to run.
Damp cried out as she did actually try to run away, only for Tsunami to wrap one of her antennae around her. Lifting her up, Berry thought Tsunami was going to eat her just like she ate Wave, but to her horror, she saw the Goodra started lowering Damp towards her body as her mouth started to open up wide.
"No! Stop it! Stop it, right now! You already ate more than enough, you black hole!" Berry shouted at her body, which of course, received no response.
Berry had no idea how Tsunami was able to fit an entire Quagsire into her smaller body, but she somehow did it. Berry could only watch in horror as she watched her mother, the mother who raised her, get eaten by her body. "No… that's not me, that's not my body. That's just some wild Goomy… a greedy one…"
The Goomy Berry was watching, grew bigger from eating Damp. Then she gave a smile at Tsunami. The Goomy slithered up Tsunami's body, who gave the Goomy a hug. Tsunami began walking away, carrying the large Goomy with her, leaving the now empty nest behind. Berry would be crying if she still had a body. In just one fell swoop, she- no, this Goomy and Tsunami just ate her entire family, and there was nothing she could do about it. Then everything faded into darkness for Berry. Her body didn't need her anymore, so perhaps she was just going to fade away now.
In the real world
Berry could hear laughter in the darkness. She tried to move, but she had a hard time moving. Of course, one couldn't really move without a body. Berry, however, realized she could feel nice, cool water against her skin. That was when she realized she could feel sensations again. She began to open her eyes, realizing she had eyes again.
Her vision was blurry at first, having been unconscious for a while now. Berry blinked a couple times to help clear her vision. As she looked at her surroundings, she saw that she was in her old nest back from when she used to be with her family. At first she couldn't tell if this was another nightmare or reality, but then she heard laughter once more. She recognized one of them as her mother, but the other was one she never heard before.
Berry started to look around before spotting Tsunami in front of her mother, Damp. Berry's eyes went wide with worry when she saw this. She remembered all too clearly what Tsunami did in her nightmare, at least she hoped it was only a nightmare, and what Tsunami was capable of. "D-don't hurt my mom!"
Berry started coughing a bit from yelling so suddenly.
Both Tsunami and Damp looked at Berry, relief in their eyes as they both shouted, "Berry!"
"Berry?" Berry heard more familiar voices.
Turning around, she saw Shab, Ivy, and Dust coming towards her, when the poor Absol was suddenly tackled by 5 of her Wooper siblings. The only one who didn't join in on tackling Dust was Splash, who was going towards Berry himself.
The 5 Wooper were playing with Dust as the others made their way to Berry, who realized she was put in water right next to her next. It would explain why she felt a little better. She was also relieved to see her siblings were alive and well, and not eaten by her. Berry really needed to do something about these nightmares.
While the 5 Wooper were playing with Dust, Shab and Ivy made it over to Berry. Shab gave Berry a hug.
"I'm so glad you're finally awake, Berry, we were so worried about you!" Shab said happily.
"You really gave us a run for our money," Ivy added. "So how are you feeling?"
"I feel… better, though still pretty weak," Berry answered.
"You had a pretty bad fever when they brought you in," Damp spoke up, looking at Berry with loving eyes. "I had to squeeze some berries and feed their juice to you while Tsunami here put you in the water to help you recover."
Berry smiled when she saw Damp. "Mom, I'm glad to see you're doing alright. I haven't seen you… since I left to join the Crusaders."
"Then there was that one time we ran into each other a few weeks ago," Splash added.
Damp smiled. "I've heard about your adventures from your friends here, Berry. It sounds like you've been doing good work out there, and I'm so proud of you."
Berry blushed, she was happy that her mother was proud.
"It looks like your siblings had taken a liking to Dust," Damp chuckled.
"We don't often get to see furry Pokemon around here," Splash explained. "Though they're such little kids, you'd think they would've grown up by now."
"It's a good thing I gave Dust back the Pecha Scarf after he let me borrow it in Waterfall Cavern, otherwise he'd get sick with all those toxic slime rubbing against him," Ivy chuckled.
"That still doesn't stop them from tackling me!" Dust shouted in the background.
"Can you swim?" Mudster asked.
"Can you play in mud?" Digger questioned.
"How well can you use your claws to dig into the ground? Can you jump high?" Hopper eagerly asked.
"Do you like water?" Sticky questioned curiously.
Slappy was slapping her tail against Dust's face. "How much can you tolerate a tail slap?"
"Someone help me!" Dust cried out.
Shab was still hugging Berry. Berry looked over at Tsunami curiously. "So… Tsunami didn't try to attack or eat you, Mom?"
Damp shook her head. "Nothing of the sort, if anything she seemed a bit hesitant to come in. Though after reassuring her that we only wished to help you, she became more trusting. She's also a wonderful conversationalist."
"Tsunami?" Berry blinked.
"They sometimes start talking to each other using the ancient language," Shab explained. "It's hard for most to follow them. Though I could understand them pretty easily. They had a lot to talk about. Hehe, though most of their conversation was about you~"
Berry was now blushing again.
"Wanted… to know how… you were raised," Tsunami explained. "Sorry… you had… a rough child… uh…"
"Childhood, Tsunami," Damp provided.
"Thank… you," Tsunami smiled before frowning as she looked at Berry. "If only… I knew you… were so close… all this time."
"I've been meaning to ask…" Dust spoke up, finally able to get on his paws and walk over to them, though he had the 5 Wooper jumping on his head and back. "How did you lose Berry's egg?"
Berry shook her head. "Wait, how do you know I'm actually your biological child? If I was just an egg when you last saw me, how do you know it's me?"
"Mother's… uh…" Tsunami turned to Damp for assistance.
"Mother's intuition," Damp answered for Tsunami. "A mother could be separated from her egg and may not see her child for many years, but deep down, we are able to recognize our own child."
"Sorry for… attacking… and scaring you before…" Tsunami apologized, looking so guilty about that, that she looked more like a kicked Lillipup than a big scary dragon. "I… thought you… weren't real… just… a dream to… torment me… got mad…"
Berry blinked as she remembered her first encounter with Tsunami. Tsunami had seemed surprised when she saw Berry, and was approaching her to see if she was real. Though when Berry and Splash escaped, they fell down a hole, which Tsunami likely didn't see and thought they just disappeared like illusions. So when Tsunami saw them again… she wasn't angry they were in her territory, she was angry that she was seeing what she thought were illusions again, and attacked to get rid of the 'illusions'. Berry realized that the one time she attacked Tsunami to stop her from potentially killing Splash, Tsunami likely realized they weren't illusions after all. That would explain her sudden change in demeanour after Berry attacked her.
Damp put a comforting hand on Tsunami's side since Tsunami was so much taller than the Quagsire. "What Tsunami is trying to say is that she's hoping you'll forgive her for attacking you and Splash that day."
"It's almost hard to believe this is the same dragon who attacked us," Splash remarked.
Berry had to agree with Splash. Tsunami was different when she's friendly. Berry had always imagined her as this scary, big dragon out to get her and everyone else, but this Tsunami was… friendly, approachable, and almost cute even.
Dust was still curious about a few things though, and since he was right in front of Berry's mother, both of them, they could answer the questions he had. Though the 5 Wooper were making it a bit difficult to concentrate.
"So I wanted to ask this earlier, but thought it'd be best to wait until Berry had recovered. If you don't mind, if you are Berry's biological mother, how did you end up losing Berry when she was still inside her egg?"
Tsunami frowned. Damp decided to speak up, "Perhaps I should tell you, since Tsunami is still learning our language. Is that okay, Tsunami?"
Tsunami responded with a nod.
"It was around the time when Tsunami was a Sliggoo. While rumors exaggerate how poor their eyesights may be, some of it was true. Though that just meant that Tsunami took extra care to make sure your egg was safe," Damp paused as she sighed. "Unfortunately not everything always goes to plan. Despite her efforts to keep you safe from harm, wild Pokemon were still able to track her location. While she managed to fend them off, apparently during the skirmish, your egg had been knocked over and fell into the stream. By the time the wild Pokemon had ran off she realized that you were gone."
It was hard to imagine this big dragon having trouble fending any wild Pokemon in the Waterfall Cavern, though Berry wondered how she would have ended up had Tsunami raised her instead of Damp. Then what Damp said about Tsunami being something called a 'Sliggoo' made Berry blink.
"Tsunami wasn't… a Goodra when she… um… had my egg?" Berry asked.
"No, she told me she was still a Sliggoo at the time," Damp answered.
"What's a Sliggoo?" Berry questioned, which made Tsunami frown.
"If I remember correctly," Dust spoke up. He was a bit hesitant to breach a sensitive topic since it concerned evolution, but seeing how Berry was learning a lot right now, he figured that perhaps now might be a good chance to help Berry. "Sliggoo is what Goomy apparently evolves into. While I haven't really seen any image of Sliggoo, that is what some believe Goomy evolves into."
"So, what you're saying is, a Sliggoo is the middle evolution between a Goomy and a Goodra?" Ivy asked. "And… they're all Dragon type?"
"Yes. We are Dragons," Tsunami confirmed.
"Holy smokes… Berry could one day become like you?" Ivy studied Tsunami for a moment. "Do you know what this means, Berry?"
"Do I want to know?" Berry deadpanned.
"It means you and Tsunami are Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon!" Ivy exclaimed.
Everyone looked at Ivy in confusion, even the other Wooper.
"Legendary Pokemon? Is Berry a Legendary?" Digger asked.
"No, you naive lilypad," Splash sighed. "She said Pseudo-Legendary."
"Oh… what's that?" Digger blinked.
"A Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon is a Pokemon that are supposed to be really strong, at least that's what I remember reading. But I didn't read much about them, I just figured that it was a term describing a strong Pokemon," Dust explained. "Is that what you mean, Ivy?"
"Sort of," Ivy began. "Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon are Pokemon that could rival with a real Legendary Pokemon in terms of power."
Dust almost lost his breath at hearing that. He had never seen a real Legendary Pokemon before, not counting his meeting with Giratina in the spirit world, but he knew they were powerful. The fact that there were some Pokemon that could rival a Legendary Pokemon surprised him.
"I've learned about them from… Undergrowth." Ivy frowned a little. "What makes a Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon is that there are normally a few things to factor; they are Pokemon that have a three stage evolution, their species are considered to be rare, their base forms are usually pretty weak, but their final forms are very strong. Berry's line seems to fit all of that."
Dust would have to remind himself to write this down later when they got back to the guild. He then noticed Shab was admiring Berry, well a lot more than usual.
"I knew you were special from the moment I first tasted your slime, but now you are more special than I'd ever would have imagined," Shab proclaimed.
"Wow, who knew our odd one out sister would turn out to be something like that," Mudster remarked with a whistle.
"I was surprised when I saw Tsunami the first time, and started putting two and two together," Splash admitted. "Berry was never a Wooper to begin with. Though I never knew she was a dragon."
Berry wasn't sure how to feel. She was still having nightmares about being a monster, a dangerous one at that. Though she was glad to see that maybe not the case. After all, she never ate any of her siblings like she did in her nightmare. Tsunami didn't try to hurt anyone here, unlike in Berry's nightmare, and Tsunami even apologized for attacking her and Splash, and even explained why she did. Maybe, just maybe, what she was wasn't so bad after all. But she then remembered her outbursts and how she acted during those outbursts. It would be far too dangerous if what Ivy said was true, and she was a Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon.
"It seems we have gotten off topic, but while unfortunate, at least Tsunami was able to reunite with Berry once more," Damp spoke up. "She told me how she spent many days trying to search for her egg, and became heartbroken when she couldn't find Berry."
"Had I known… she was here… I would… have looked," Tsunami said.
"The Spring Swamp was just outside Waterfall Cavern though, why didn't you look?" Berry questioned.
"Too many dangers… too many Pokemon… wasn't supposed… to leave the cave…" Tsunami answered ominously and vaguely.
Dust was to question more on the topic, but the way Tsunami answered told him that it might be best not to approach the subject. Instead a new question came to mind. "Well, since we now have officially met Berry's biological mother, by chance could you tell us who the father is?"
Everyone seemed to lean in when Dust asked that question, even Damp didn't know who Berry's real father was. Tsunami shook her head, however. "That's… con… con… uh… not infor...mation… I can give. Sorry…"
"I think she means confidential," Damp added.
"Awww, why though?" Slappy whined, along with the other Wooper.
"For safety…" Tsunami replied. "For now… anyways…"
There was some kind of determined look in Tsunami's green eyes when she said that, as if she was preparing herself for some kind of future war. Berry wondered just what Tsunami was possibly involved in.
"Get stronger… protect my child… see him again…" Tsunami said as she looked at Berry.
Confidential? I can understand keeping secrets for safety's sake, but why for so long? Did he even know about Berry back then? If so, why suddenly disappear? Dust thought to himself. Despite getting a few answers, he now felt he had more.
The other Wooper finally hopped off of Dust and went over to the Goodra. Since they saw her as a friendly Pokemon, they wanted to take a closer look at this rare dragon.
"Now children, don't get too rough with Tsunami," Damp warned.
Berry looked at her siblings jumping on Tsunami, and exploring on her body. Tsunami looked surprisingly shy yet delightful at having the children moving on her. One of them, Sticky, Berry recognized, was even bouncing on top of the Goodra's belly.
Splash was the only Wooper who was hesitant, since he remembered almost being eaten by Tsunami. Berry was also hesitant, but she also realized that if she wanted to get over her fear, she needed to accept Tsunami as her mother, well one of her mothers anyways. Damp will always be the mother who raised Berry.
Since Berry didn't feel very sick anymore, she started to slither closer to Tsunami. "Um… Tsunami?"
Berry's siblings stopped as they and Tsunami looked at her. The Wooper children smiled at each other before they got off of Tsunami, likely realizing what Berry intended to do. Dust, Shab and Ivy were also watching intently. Ever since Dust had become partners with Berry, he had learned of all the things that were constantly troubling, from all self doubt concerning her kind, to her fear of evolution, even her fear of Goodra itself, it made him glad to see that she would be reconnecting with her long lost mother.
Tsunami gave a smile as she saw her child approaching her. She was more than happy to welcome Berry with open arms. Tsunami hoped this would be a sign that he would return soon, and they could truly be a happy family together like they had intended.
However, as Berry was about to reach Tsunami's arm length, there was a voice that suddenly shouted, startling all of them.
"WHAT IN MUDDY SWAMP WATER IS GOING ON HERE?!" A male Quagsire shouted.
"Uh-oh… father's angry…" Splash frowned before he and the other Wooper children quickly went over to Damp.
"Uh-oh, things are about to get ugly…" Ivy frowned, already seeing the disaster coming before the Absol did.
"Wave… I thought you wouldn't be back for another hour…" Damp said quietly.
"I finished early and decided to surprise my family, except now we have intruders in our home!" Wave growled before turning to face Tsunami. "Now get out of my home before I force you to, you degenerate overgrown slug!"
"Wave! They're not intruders, I invited them here!" Damp spoke up.
"Have you gone daft?! Have you forgotten how this monster nearly ate our son? And now you decided to invite it?!" Wave shouted.
Splash shrunk in a bit, realizing that telling his dad about what had happened when Tsunami attacked him and Berry may have made the situation worse than it probably could've been.
Tsunami was getting rather angry at the insults, but she hadn't made an aggressive move yet, just looking annoyed.
"Wave, please, don't insult our guest. She hasn't hurt anyone!" Damp snapped. "She apologized for almost eating Splash, and she-"
"She's a wild Pokemon! You know how unpredictable they are!" Wave retorted. "I don't want that overgrown slug anywhere near our children!"
"Please, father, don't antagonize Tsunami!" Berry spoke up suddenly, hopping in front of the angry Quagsire.
Wave looked down at Berry, as if just seeing her here for the first time. He looked up at Tsunami, then down at Berry, seeing the resemblance between the two, which was far too much to be mere coincidence.
"Berry, is that thing your actual mother?" Wave asked.
"She's…" Berry hesitated, realizing she was put in a situation where it would be a lose-lose for her. If she told the truth, Wave would likely hate her forever and become even angrier. If Berry lied, then Wave would likely accuse her of lying, and she would also be hurting Tsunami's feelings. "She's uh… it's… it's complicated, father…"
"Complicated? And what's so complicated?" Wave asked.
"If I may, I could help elaborate on that," Dust spoke up, hoping to help the current situation.
"And who are you?" Wave demanded as he inspected the Absol.
"I'm Dust, leader of Team Night Tide, partner and friend of Berry," Dust answered. "We were doing a mission that took us to the Waterfall Caverns Dungeon, there we ended up meeting Tsunami. At the time Berry had fallen ill, and having no other options, we came here hoping to find any kind of help. Berry was able to recover after having some time to rest here."
"That still doesn't answer my earlier question. Is that overgrown slug Berry's biological mother?" Wave repeated his question.
Nobody seemed willing to answer that question, that is, except for the Goodra herself.
"Yes, she is my child," Tsunami answered, not at all scared, worried, or ashamed to admit that to the angry Quagsire.
Wave was taken back, he had never thought that this slug monster was even capable of speech, but he quickly regained his composure as a new realization dawned on him. "So if you're truly Berry's mother, then why did she end up in our nest all those years ago?!"
"She lost Berry's egg, and couldn't find her, Wave," Damp said softly, hoping her mate would understand the situation before things get worse.
Wave glared. "For 16 years?! I find that to be a bunch of Tauros crap! No, what actually happened was this slug monster, in order to help its spawn grow, it planted the egg into our nest. So when its spawn got big enough, it would devour our children, and then eventually us!"
It stung Berry a lot when Wave called her Tsunami's spawn, and that he would accuse her of devouring her own siblings. Even though they made fun of her for being different, she would never do such a thing. But then a treacherous reminder of her nightmare came back to her. What if he's right? What if I was planted at the nest just to feed on them?
"That can't be true!" Shab argued, looking rather angry himself. "If it was, you would've lost your children a long time ago!"
"That's because I always made sure to keep an eye on them. I made sure that Berry had no chance to ever attack my children. But then I let my guard down. The one time I did, it almost cost Splash his life!" Wave shouted as he glared at Berry. "Just like how your mother almost killed my son, you had almost done the same thing to him all those years ago!"
Splash and Berry gasped in shock at this.
"Y-you… knew?" Splash questioned from behind Damp.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out eventually?" Wave frowned. "If it weren't for Damp, I would've kicked Berry out of the nest long ago."
"B-but it was an accident, fath-" Berry tried to explain only to be cut off.
"DON'T call me 'father' anymore! At first I bought Damp's excuse of you possibly being just a messed up Wooper. But now that I see what you really are, then I know that you are no daughter of mine!" Wave snapped.
"But father, I-!" Berry tried to argue, only for Wave, who had gotten so angry at this point that any logic he had was thrown out the window, spun around and had his tail slam into Berry.
Berry fell back a few feet and hit the water.
To Dust, it felt as if time had stood still. His body was shaking, it was screaming that something really bad was about to happen. Shab looked as though he wanted to swim over and defend Berry himself. Ivy looked ready to run towards Berry. The Wooper children were all gasping in shock. Damp was looking to be in shock too.
Wave was so focused on Berry that he hadn't realized a towering Pokemon was standing right behind him. It was only until he saw that his body was covered in the shadow that he felt as though death was standing right behind him. It looked as if Tsunami was covered in shadows, with her green eyes filled with rage being the only visible thing Wave could see. Tsunami suddenly seemed a lot bigger when she stood up.
Before Wave could react, Tsunami wrapped her antennae around the Quagsire. No matter how hard he struggled, Wave could only watch as Tsunami slowly lifted up until he was eye level with her. Suddenly Tsunami quickly raised Wave high in the air, her antennae stretching to great lengths before the Goodra brought her antennae down, slamming Wave into the ground. The impact knocked the air out of Wave as he coughed up some blood. But Tsunami didn't stop, instead she raised him up again, lifting in the air once more, higher than last time just before slamming him into the ground, causing the area to shake.
Dust had a hard time breathing, already he was shaking before Tsunami had attacked, but after seeing her slam Wave's body into the ground as though he was a simple ragdoll, he remembered how it was only recently that he was trapped between her antennae. He imagined himself being repeatedly smashed to the ground if something bad had happened to Berry back then.
Is this how Berry felt when my mother saw my injured body? Dust thought to himself.
Tsunami raised the already injured and bleeding Quagsire again, this time even higher than before. It was clear she was intending to kill Wave with this next slam. Everyone around her was frozen, too terrified to stop the angry dragon from extracting her revenge on the idiot who hurt her child. Even Dust, Ivy, and Shab felt too paralyzed to stop this.
Berry, however, jumped in front of Tsunami and shouted. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! DON'T KILL MY DAD!"
Tsunami at first didn't seem to respond, her eyes still filled with rage as she stared up at Wave, ready to end his life at any moment.
Seeing that Tsunami didn't intend to stop, Berry did the only thing she could think of doing; she shot out her Dragon Breath at Tsunami's stomach. It worked before when Tsunami was about to eat her brother, she was hoping it would work now.
The attack barely seemed to hurt Tsunami, but it did cause her to look down at Berry. At first she was angry at whoever it was that tried stopping her, but when she saw it was Berry, she started to calm down a bit, though she was still angry with what Wave had done.
"...He attacked you, my own child. He needs to pay," Tsunami said.
"Please… put him down… you've done enough damage to him," Berry said to Tsunami.
Tsunami looked at Berry for a while, thinking about the last time when Berry did the exact same thing when she almost ate that Wooper. Tsunami sighed as she gently lowered Wave to the ground, unwrapping her antennae and releasing him.
Damp immediately went over to Wave to check on him. After a bit, she looked at Berry with a small smile on her face. "He will be okay, but it will be some time before he fully recovers."
"I'm glad he'll be okay," Berry said in relief before she looked at Tsunami. "Thank you… for not killing him."
Tsunami felt a bit odd. Whenever she intended to finish off a Pokemon, she always went through with it. It was just a part of nature after all. However, there had been only one other time someone stopped her from killing off another Pokemon in her bout of anger and rage. Though, seeing the Wooper children she had grown to enjoy the presence of, looking relieved to see their dad was going to be okay, maybe it was for the best that Berry stopped her.
"Berry," Damp called out to get her daughter's attention. "I'm grateful to see you again, even though our reunion was short, it was nice knowing that you've been doing well. But I think it's best if you all leave for now. You know how stubborn your father can be. It will take some time, but I'll try to help him accept both you and Tsunami. And Tsunami, if you ever wish to visit and just talk, I'm always nearby."
Tsunami gave a nod, despite hurting her mate, Damp was still willing to talk to her. It was rather strange, usually Pokemon would run away from her if she showed that much aggression.
"Y-yeah… yeah, we should go…" Berry agreed. "Come on Dust… Shab… Ivy. We've finished our mission here…"
Dust and the others nodded. Dust went up to Berry and crouched beside her. Berry knew what he was doing and climbed up onto his back. She looked back at her family one last time, waving goodbye with her antennae before the group started to leave.
Agoodnameguy: DarkFoxKit: I think it's normal for toothless and big mouth Pokemon like Goomy to be able to swallow a large amount of food, that includes Pokemon. Though even Berry is shocked by this. XD
RollingDisco: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, well that Goodra is Berry's mother, so you were right on the money there. So she's happy to finally see Berry again. The Goodra has a very interesting backstory, which will be revealed much later on.
MagiStep: DarkFoxKit: The Goodra didn't know Shab was Berry's friend, so she thought Shab was prey. Though Shab definitely enjoyed it.
Moondust: Traveling Master: Considering what happened to Talon, it's pretty hard right now for him. Not saying that it's Ivy's fault, cause it's not. But even when they first worked together, he had a hard time because of the reminder she brought. It's easy to hold a grudge against someone, but it's hard, very hard to let go of that hate.
Clam Seashell: Traveling Master: You and Shab both want to surprise Berry with his evolution, and we have ideas on how that will happen. But it won't be happening this soon.
Pearly Heart: DarkFoxKit: Berry is very… conflicted.
The Shining Sage: Traveling Master: Huh, looks like we did miss that, thanks for catching that.
DarkFoxKit: It's actually easy to forget Swords Dance is a Normal type move and not Fighting type, though you could say in this world, Pokemon see it as a Fighting type move, so it's become a Fighting type long after humans disappeared from the world. Like how the move Morning Sun should be Fire type, though it's also Normal type for some reason.
Ember2018: DarkFoxKit: Team Silkwing is an interesting team, they're pretty much the first 'random team' we created without any actual backstories or purpose in the beginning, they were just there for Dust and Berry to interact with for a bit, they were also inspired by Team Tasty from the Explorers series, the team that consist of Swellow and Wurmple. But they end up coming back a lot throughout the series, and we decided to come up with a backstory for why a Starly and a Caterpie were on the same team, and the backstory turned out to be pretty heartbreaking for Talon, and it also created Undergrowth. Hence why Undergrowth has these kinds of ties to Talon. Ivy was added later to help with Talon's fear of the Snivy line, and cause more drama when it turned out Ivy was the child of the very same Serperior who devoured Talon's family.
As for if Ivy is afraid of evolving, she's not actually afraid of evolving, she wants to get stronger. But she is hesitant on evolving into a Serperior until she and Talon can work things out. Ivy doesn't want to make things worse between her and Talon after all.
You've likely seen what happened between Berry and the Goodra by now, so I'll just ask… did you like it?
Hehe, yeah, Shab really quite enjoyed the experience. As for if Berry will ever realize Shab's romantic feelings, maybe, maybe not. Berry is very clueless when it comes to romance, at least when it involves her, since she grew up with the belief she's ugly and messed up. Someone may have to outright tell her for her to realize it.
Berry4Goodra: DarkFoxKit: Berry didn't actually refuse this time, she knows, she can't deny it anymore. But that didn't really make anything better for her, she just feels very conflicted and even more confused now.
Ivy and Talon are going through a rough time right now.
Well now it's confirmed who sent the message.
Traveling Master: Ivy joining is only temporary. We figured in the future, Dust and Berry will have the opportunity to work with other members of the guild. It's somewhat similar to the game, when you gain that extra member who doesn't officially join your team, but is there for the mission. As for Tippi and Talon, we only focused on Ivy being with Dust and Berry, since this story is focusing on those two. Ivy does surprisingly have a lot in common with Berry, when it comes to who their parents are. Not that Berry's mom is evil, but that both Ivy and Berry have conflicting feelings when it comes towards their parents. And as you read, the relationship between Berry and Tsunami is finally revealed, as well as some of the other past questions concerning those two.
Good eye. We do have some plans for some of the other pseudo-legendary Pokemon. Blizza's brother will come into play, and don't forget about Gale's former team, Team Dragon Knights. We have plans for a Master Rank team like them, as well as if we involve Psuedo-Legendary Pokemon or not. Chihiro was an unexpecting decisions we ended up going with. When we first worked on the story, Dragapult was not the first choice for the Guild Leader, but we are glad we went with her.
DarkFoxKit: Again, since English isn't your first language, I highly recommend you double check what you wrote, because there are some questions you're asking that doesn't make sense to us, and we're just guessing on what you mean exactly. I don't know what you're asking about the pseudo-legendaries, just that you're listing the ones we've used so far to us for some reason. And we hadn't included Salamence or Dragonite as of yet, so what are you asking about them? Are you asking why we haven't used them yet? Because if so, then the answer is we just haven't yet, so wait on that. If you're asking about why we're using them, the answer is… we haven't yet, so I don't know why you're asking that.
We haven't decided on who's Cliff's counterpart would be on Team Crimson Raiders since Cliff was too young to officially join Team Night Tide for now. But Metagross is a strong possibility. We have our own plans for Gible.
Traveling Master: When it comes to splitting the team, we tend to try to put them in groups that would benefit the story most. See how certain characters react with another, what they might reveal since they are now with a different Pokemon. We do plan on having more split ups in the future, depending on what's going on in the story.
And yeah, so far Dust has that surprising luck of being with someone with a parental problem. So far it's 2 for 2, and we already have more plans for the team. Dust is gonna have a blast if he ends up working with more members with parental problems XD.
And yes, at this point, it would be a big twist if Berry and Goodra were not related. An even bigger twist could be that Berry's dad is a Ditto...or that Wave the Quagsire is actually her father.
DarkFoxKit: Just wanted to add my two cents in here, while yes, it would've been a big twist if that Goodra turned out to not be Berry's mother, a big twist doesn't always mean it'll make the story better. We already had loads of plans for Tsunami the Goodra, if we were to suddenly change it now just for a plot twist, it would ruin a lot of what we had for Berry. While it did become obvious Tsunami was Berry's real mother, that was kinda the whole point.
Traveling Master: Considering that Ivy and Berry have a lot in common, they'd actually help each other a lot. Both know what it's like to have a strong and also dangerous parent. Only difference is that one is intentionally doing harmful things, while the other one acts in the best interest of their child. Ivy already has known for a long time about her father while Berry is still having some issues with Tsunami, so Ivy will be there to help her out, having a good idea on how Berry is feeling.
DarkFoxKit: Slow down there, Berry4Goodra, we're still only on book 1 of the series, we aren't going to start planning for Legendary Pokemon yet. They're supposed to be mysterious, and sightings of them are extremely rare. We also can't answer your questions about them since, one, they're heavy spoilers, and two, we haven't thought about how to use them yet. We're more focused on our characters, their story, and the plot to focus on the Legendary Pokemon that are out doing their own business in the world. We do have something for Kyogre down the line, but that's all I'm going to say on that.
Lonelyboi69: Traveling Master: XD Oh yes, their motherly support. Just wait until you see the fatherly support. And glad to see that seeing Berry's mom paid off. We always get excited when we finally are able to use the ideas we've been planning for awhile now.
The Moonfox Collective: DarkFoxKit: The Goodra definitely has an interesting backstory, but it won't be revealed until later. And yes, Goodra is Berry's momma. XD
Shab quite enjoyed himself despite being Berry's prey. And Berry is concerned about Shab, completely oblivious to his romantic feelings for her.
Shab hadn't left the nest, just stayed hidden, so Dust and Ivy would need to find Berry in order to find Shab. Shab wasn't going to leave Berry alone. And yes, Berry being a vegetarian hasn't been good for her body.
Traveling Master: As you probably saw by now, Dust is very worried for Berry, and not just her being taken away by Goodra, but how it might have affected her as well. Dust always had a suspicion that there was some kind of connection between Berry and the Goodra, but out of respect for Berry, he never really pushed that hard. So seeing their relationship finally get revealed, it will answer a lot of Dust's previous questions, but it also opens up more new questions.
Goodra sees that Berry isn't well, and a mother's natural instinct is to care for their child, so Goodra will do whatever she can to help Berry, even if it could be dangerous, or wrong at times. Thank you for your patients, hope it paid off as you read this chapter.
unknown2949: DarkFoxKit: Stop asking. No matter how many times you ask or mention it, Human Legendary isn't going to continue. I can't decide what Donfyre will do, he left long ago, he's not writing anymore. Take it up with him, not me.
Guest#1: DarkFoxKit: A Pokemon fanfiction written by Donfyre, but had long been deleted.
Snowfate: DarkFoxKit: Yes, thank you! I got tired of seeing unknown2949's review in just about all my stories, repeating the same thing. Donfyre left long ago, and he isn't writing anymore, so I've gotten tired of unknown2949's constant question and reminder of a story I had nothing to do with.