Chapter 4: Family Feast
It was quiet, not as quiet as when he woke up in the forest but still quiet. For the first time in a while, he felt calm, safe, maybe even like he made a new friend. The friend was over 10 times his size and looked like he could crush a building if he wanted to but they were very nice to talk to. With that in mind Phantump began to think about what he brought up earlier and managed to get enough courage to ask.
"So….. what is your son like?"
Giratina looked down "Oh? Well, he is kind, cheerful, a little bit of a prankster but is always welcome to new pokemon."
Phantump smiled at that, but began to wonder again. "Where is he right now?"
"Probably playing with Froslass, but you will see them soon enough I'm sure" Phantump shuddered, something Giratina noticed. "Is there anything wrong?"
"Oh, nothing just…. Thinking about the scary lady."
"Ah, yes. She's nice really, she just can't show it most of the time."
"Why not?"
Giratina looked away a little "Well…. Let's just say her job means she has to be cold to pokemon, even if deep down she cares"
"Oh, OK!" Phantump understood, after all, a job was very important to have, at least that's what he had been told by his parents years ago.
The pair entered a large room with a table filling most of the space. 2 seats were at the head of the table, one bigger than the others, for his new friend, the other already filled by another pokemon. This one was a light grey, 2 black horns and dark pink hair with green eyes and a bright hoop around their stomach. They seemed to be happy to see them. "You took your time sweetie, and who did you bring with you?" This voice sounded female but also male at the same time, balancing the line of which gender they were. What Phantump did notice was the love between them, they were together for sure.
Giratina smiled "This is Phantump, he is our guest for dinner. 2 more should be coming..." he looked behind him and sighed "...though it seems they got lost along the way"
The pokemon chuckled a little "I'm sure they will turn up at some point." They then turned to Phantump "it's nice to meet you hun, the name is Hoopa."
Phantump gave a shy wave,Giratina floating over to hug Hoopa "How was your day darling?"
"It was fun, I went to town and did some shopping"
"Town?! Without telling me?!"
"What? Don't you trust me sweetie?"
Hoopa still smiled while Giratina looked very worried as if he'd seen a tree with a scary face or a big Mightyena. "You know I do but- it's too risky right now, with attacks left and right I-... just don't want to see you get hurt or worse"
Phantumps head perked up a little "Attacks? Is- everyone OK?"
The 2 looked at him and quickly smiled, but Phantump knew that was what grown ups did when they wanted to lie. Giratina spoke up "Yes, nobody has been badly hurt yet…." They both went silent for a minute, it was a little creepy, phantump didn't know if he wanted to break the silence.
But the silence was quickly broken by a quickly growing scream "NYYYYOOOOOOOW!" The voice was young and shaking, like a child who swallowed 10 tones of sugar, and coming through the door was an orange fan with what appeared to be a face on it, circling the room rapidly. Froslass followed slowly behind and held a hand out "OK, it's time for food"
The fan stopped and pouted "Awww, but we just started the game!"
"And we can resume after food, promise"
"Hmmmm… OK!" The fan floated over to Froslass and dropped into her hand, the face disappearing as above it an orange orb with the face from the fan and small lightning bolts for arms. They quickly zipped to a chair next to Giratina and gave a loving smile "Hi mom, hi dad!" Before looking at Phantump "Oh we have guests? YES!" With but a blink the child was in Phantumps face and grinning "Hi I'm Rotom! I LOVE meeting new pokemon! Probably because I don't get to meet many, or leave the castle! Don't know why though" Rotom looked down to see a shrunken and shaking Phantump. Rotom backed up and smiled softer "Oh uhhh, too much huh? Sorry, just don't talk to pokemon much, well other than mom, dad and Froslass of course. What's your name?"
Phantump shook off the initial shock and stuttered "Phantump!"
"Wow, you sound as young as me! Maybe we can play! I have all sorts of fun things we can use and-"
"Rotom, table manners please." Froslass stared at Rotom, not as creepy as usual but still scary before the ball of energy went back to his seat and patiently sat, though fidgeting a lot.
It was a few minutes later that Rotom seemed to be bored and looked to Phantump again. "Hey! Do you have a favourite colour?"
Phantump blinked a little "Hmm? Oh well... I really like white and red"
"OOOO mine is orange! And orange is made with red so we instantly have something in common!"
Was... was that how that worked? He guessed it made a little sense. "Cool. Orange is nice too"
"I wonder what ELSE we have in common... OOO what about foods?"
"Well I used to like macarons a lot"
Rotom looked confused "A Mack or Ron? Do they make the food?"
Phantump chuckled a little "No, a macaron IS a food, its famously made in Kalos" Phantump thought for a second "Oh, you don't know what Kalos is do you?"
"Nope! But if the food is anything it sounds like a great place , maybe you can take me some time!"
"Oh sure." he was now curious as he looked at the fan still in Froslass' hand "what's that?"
Rotom turned to it "That? Oh that's one of my toys, I can possess anything with a machine in it! Me and Froslass use them to play games like air fighters, witch and her magical water maker, save the princess (personal favourite) and temple escape! Froslass is very good at the last one!"
Froslass looked away a little "well, your traps are always hard to get past"
"I know but you can dodge them like WHOOSH!" he zipped to the left "And duck them like BOOSH!" he zipped down "And escape like BADADADAAAA!" he goes up and lets off a small discharge of electricity "Its so cool!"
Froslass then did something odd, Phantump was more than surprised by it, for only a second it seemed like her purple went to a deep red around her cheeks and she showed craks of a smile, but only for a second. "Yes, I suppose that is cool. But not nearly as fun if the traps were easy"
Phantump was happy, the 2 were great together, he wished he had a friend like that... it was kind of lonely back home, but at the same time, something else was in his mind, something said earlier that kept playing on his mind. The food soon arrived though, a feast of soul essence that was left behind when souls moved on, all made into various dishes, from frozen pops to a soul stew and even a big cake that was decorated with a white and red icing. Phantump smiled but looked around, Miss teacup and Sir sword weren't here yet. Giratina sighed deeply "Dear, could you-?"
He didn't finish the sentence before Hoopa pulled a yellow hoop from her body "Yep, one second sweetie" she threw it to one side, the ring staying in place and expanding to almost Giratina's size. With a click of her fingers the hoop glowed with a new blue interior and out fell Sinestea and Honedge, the hoop then coming back to Hoopa as she put it back on. Honedge dusted himself off and looked around for a second before turning to Sinestea "Told thou it was a right"
The Sinesteas eyes rolled "Knock it off, it was supposed to be a left and you know it" they both then realised what they were doing in front of a king and promptly stopped before they angered their host, going to a more silent anger as they went to sit opposite sides of each other. There was a small silence for a few minutes as they began eating before Giratina spoke up "so, i think it's time i fulfilled your request. But to explain your situation, we're going to have to go back, before the portal was made, before the kingdom's were formed, before I became king, at the creation of this world itself…"
