KAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!
Yes, I am still alive, for those few who actually care about this story. Wellll, I looked back at the rest of my story and it made me want to cringe. The writing style was awful! So now, I am changing it up a bit. First of all, this chapter is about 4 times longer than any of my other chapters. Secondly, I sprinkled a bit of third-person and scene breaks in to spice things up a bit. Third, I gave Cress and Dak their first Pokémon. Seeing as how only ONE PERSON bothered to request any species, I had to pick one for Cress. Said Pokémon is a woobie, and if you don't know what that is, then go to TV Tropes. Fourth…ly, whatever, this fic is going to M-rated because I think that some of the things that I mention not necessarily describe (I mention rape) might necessitate a M-rating. Fifth, I (hopefully) improved the way I deliver dialogue, making the sentences flow a bit more. Also, key note, I will TELL YOU if I am abandoning this story, I will not randomly stop. I may be gone for as long as a year, but I WILL update unless I specifically say I won't, or I get killed or something.
PS: I sincerely thank all of you who have suffered through this story. Look, heres the idea. Just take all of the facts out of the previous chapters (except for Kerin knowing Cress is a Cresselia) and keep those, but ignore the rest. Just think of what has happened so far as… back-story, albeit, a crappily written backstory.
I don't own Pokémon
The Beldum/metang in this chapter is not mine, it was an idea that Ri2 gave me permission to use.
Speaking of Ri2, everyone should read Latias's Journey and Brave New World. That is, if you have the time to read 1,000,000+ word masterpieces
I reserve the right to create Deus ex Machina as I please.
Finally, here it is, the 8th chapter of Child of the Dreams
Today was finally the day: I was about to set out on my first actual adventure. Sure, I had been around Full Moon Island and Canalave a bit, but that was nothing compared to what was out there in this wide new world. I was ready to go out and see this new home of mine.
As soon as everyone had woken up, we tried to make plans for our immediate journey. The process should have gone smoothly, but there was one little problem.
We all had conflicting ideas and destinations.
"I want to go to Veilstone!"
"No, let's go to Alamos!"
"Veilstone!"
"Alamos!"
"Veilstone!"
"Alamos!"
"WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE SO I CAN HEAR MYSELF THINK!"
With that, Dak and I shut up, knowing all too well what happens when you piss off a woman. While we had only known her as a mother for a few days, we had seen Cresselia get mad a few times. We counted ourselves lucky that the presence of a Psychic Academy was nearby, as it provided a good excuse for why there would be occasional hurricanes of psychic energy.
"Now that we are all calm, let's think of a more logical solution, shall we?" Kerin asked, seeming to beg both me and Dak to stop fighting while she was around.
Not gonna happen.
"If we go to Alamos Town, we could go see the Pokemon Contest!" While I had realized that the games and shows that I had watched were not completely accurate, they were surprisingly correct on some points, such as Alamos being well known for its Contests. Ever since Pokemon Sapphire, I had been addicted to the contest games. As a side bonus, if we went to Alamos, we could find Darkrai, which Cresselia had tasked us with doing.
"But if we go to Veilstone, we could go to the casino there, and then spend our winnings in the Department Store. Doesn't that sound like more fun than going to some boring old contest?"
Once again, Dak was showing just how dense he could possibly be, having apparently forgotten all about the reason we needed to go to Alamos Town: Finding Dad!
"You make it sound like we would be able to walk right in to the casino, win all of their money, and become rich in a matter of seconds. You never even stop to think these things through!"
"Guys…," Kerin started to try and diffuse the situation but it was already too late.
"Maybe if you would give it a chance, I'm sure that we would be able to make a lot of money," Dak countered, trying to maintain his position."
"Guys…"
"We should go to Alamos!" I said this without even realizing that I was starting the cycle which had made up our last fight.
"No, we should go to Veilstone!"
"Almaos!"
"Veilstone!"
"Alamos!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP! BOTH OF YOU BE QUIET!"
Oops. We had forgotten that a temperamental woman was sitting next to us.
"I SWEAR, IF YOU KEEP FIGHTING, I'LL…I'LL BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF BOTH OF YOU!"
We both knew that it was no idle threat. While it was true that both Dak and me were not as human as we appeared, Kerin was a Psychic. And even thought she couldn't directly affect Dak (Though she didn't know this) she could easily bombard us with objects that either weren't nailed to the floor or weren't bolted to the ground.
After she had a chance to calm done, she spoke up again.
"Seeing as how you two are both way too immature and stupid to come up with a proper plan to follow, I'll just have to come up with one. Now, neither of you are registered trainers, am I right?"
We nodded gingerly, not wanting to awaken the beast that was her rage.
"Well then," she started to say, "there is really only one logical course. We have to go to Sandgem Town."
"Why do we need to…" Dak started to ask, but Kerin fixed him with a glare that would have turned a gorgon to stone. He promptly followed the correct course of action and shut up.
"As I was saying, if you two want to travel through the world, you'll need Pokémon. In order to carry Pokémon, you will need to get registered."
"Wait, are we going to have to take a test or something, because I didn't study or anything." At this bone-head response from Dak, both me and Kerin simultaneously face-palmed.
"There's no test or anything you dunderhead. All you do is you go in, see Professor Rowan, fill out a few forms, have an incredibly invasive background check performed, and you get to choose your Pokémon."
"What Pokémon can we get?" I asked, wondering if it would be the standard Fire Water Grass trio that was showcased in all of the games.
"It varies. It all depends on what he catches on his own journeys. For example, one year he went off to do some research in the mountains, and he came back with a bunch of Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon. I got lucky and managed to get an unusual Beldum."
"What do you mean by unusual Beldum?" I asked this, expecting to get an answer such as that it was a shiny Pokémon, or that it had three claws instead of four.
"It had a mustache."
"Say what?"
"I'm not kidding you, it had a mustache! That and the fact that it could use Psychic as a Beldum just made it a badass!" Kerin seemed to be quite proud of her beldum
"But Alakazam have mustaches, and they can use Psychic!" I argued.
"But Beldum aren't supposed to learn anything but Take Down, and they aren't supposed to get facial hair." She pointed out, looking quite smug.
"Could you show us this Beldum?" Dak asked, looking quite interested in seeing a mustachioed Beldum.
"Unfortunately, it's not with me right now."
I snorted. "A very convenient excuse."
"Just wait until we get to Solaceon Town and I pick it up from the Daycare. Then you'll see just how powerful it really is."
"Anyways," I said, trying to get back on track, "We were talking about going to Sandgem. Is there anything we need to pack in order to get there?
Kerin looked at me blankly.
"You know, tents, food, a map, a phone, hiking gear, etc." I elaborated.
"Its only about a days hike to Sandgem, why would need all of that stuff?" asked Kerin, "Besides, if we start off right now, we should be able to make it before dark!"
"What about lunch?"
"We can just stop at some restaurant in Jubilife. After all, yours truly has plenty of money to pay for any meals we may need."
"Your sure it will only take a days hike to get there?"
"Come on Bro, stop being such a worrywart!" Dak chimed in cheerfully, just as ready as Kerin was to get going.
I gave into the two, as I was ready to be off as well. However, I made the conscious effort to grab a map, assuming that, as she was an obviously experienced trainer, Kerin would have a compass of some kind.
If I had known how wrong I was, I would have insisted that we bring along all of the hiking materials I had suggested earlier.
"What happened to the road?"
It was a rather innocuous comment, but it was the context of the situation that was the problem.
Somehow, we had gotten lost during the short hike between Canalave and Jubilife.
"I told you we should have brought a tent and food." I said, feeling a bit smug at the fact that I had totally called us getting lost.
"But this was only supposed to be a day hike! I don't understand exactly how we could have gotten lost!"
"Which is why we should have brought emergency supplies, EMERGENCY, as in, in case of the unexpected, use this! Now what are we supposed to do?"
We were currently in a large tree filled forest, in the middle of the night, with no visible path. Somehow, what was supposed to be a secret shortcut that Kerin had discovered had turned into a nightmare.
"Please tell me you at least have a compass on you." If we at least had a compass, we could figure out a general direction to head in to get to Jubilife.
"Ummm…."
I sighed, having read enough stories to know where an answer like that would lead.
Rubbing my temples, I tried to figure out a plan that would result in us finding our way to Jubilife. Of course, once I tried to think of something logical, Dak came up with something illogical.
"How about this, we split up and go different directions. If we don't find the road within an hour, we return here!"
Kerin, being much too tired to think logically, agreed and went off one way, while Dak went another. I was left standing where I was, too dumbfounded by the sheer stupidity of the suggestion, that I didn't realize that they had both left, until it was too late.
Of all of the stupid ideas, why did you have to think of that one, I thought to myself, The one thing that you never, ever, do when your lost is split up! You don't know where you're going to end up, how you will find each other again, how you'll …
I kept mumbling to myself as I walked in the direction I thought was north, thinking that I would figure out a way to find Dak and Kerin once I found the road.
My mumblings stopped once I heard what sounded like a party going on nearby. Hoping that it was someone who could give me some directions (As well as being naturally nosy, something I inherited from Cresselia), I decided to look and see what was going on.
I didn't like what I saw.
What I saw wasn't really a party, but was more of a victory celebration. It seemed that a group of Mightyena, Poochyena, Houndour, and Houndoom had just attacked a group of the Ralts evolutionary line. I could see many of the aforementioned Pokémon circled around a fire, either danicing or getting drunk on mixtures of various Berries and other herbs. When I looked past the circle, my fists clenched. I saw the bodies of several Ralts and Kirlia lying in a pile near a cave in the side of a small mountain, some of the corpses being used as food by some of the raiders. The caves were also being used, as I saw some Gardevoirs (still alive)being dragged into said caves by some of the bigger Mightyena and Houndoom… something that I really didn't want to think of at length. As I got closer to the revelers, I saw something else that was possibly even worse than the raping (and probably subsequent killing, as none of them came back out of the cave) of the Gardevoirs.
In what I thought was a simple bonfire, I saw what I thought at first were logs. Once I got close, it became clear that the fire wasn't being fueled by dead trees.
It was the burning burning bodies of several Gallades, almost burnt beyond recognition, save for the blade arms that are unique to Gallades. To make it even worse, some of them were still alive, flailing around as they slowly burned to death.
Though the sight of these atrocities infuriated me, I wasn't filled with a berserker anger, rather a cold calculated rage. I had already decided that these Pokémon were going to die, now I just needed to figure out how. If I charged into the clearing, I would almost certainly die, as all of the Pokémon in the clearing I was targeting were either Dark-type or had a Dark-subtype. As the majority of my moves were Psychic based, I would be unable to damage them with direct attacks. I would have to come up with something sneaky, something indirect…
"So… good raid? How did I do?"
The speaker in question was a young Poochyena. The raid on the Grace tribe was the first raid he had taken part in, and he wanted to be told that he had done well. If it turned out that he hadn't done well enough in the raid, he would be demoted back to gathering food for the females and other children of the tribe.
The scarred Mightyena, one of the elders of the pack (elder as in he had killed many other Pokemon) who was being asked this question, sighed, as this had not been the first time he had been asked the question.
"For the last time Small-Bark, it is not up to me alone to determine your future in this pack. After the celebration, all of the elders will convene to evaluate the results of the attack. At that time we will…" The Mightyena trailed off, his ears picking up on a suspicious grinding noise.
"Is something wrong, Elder?" Small-Bark asked.
Said Elder had not gotten to his position by being a good politician (Though that had something to do with it). He had achieved his status by being in many battles, over many terrains. The sound he was hearing, which was steadily getting louder, was something he remembered from the time the pack had taken on a group of Graveler who had ambushed them.
"ROCKSLIDE! EVERYONE, MOVE NOW!"
Most of the revelers paid him no heed, as they were either too drunk or too stupid to pay attention to him. Those that did hear him were not able to act fast enough. It didn't matter.
It was already too late for all of them.
Above the celebration , on the mountain in which the cave systems spiraled through, there was a ledge that was weakly connected to the mountain by a large boulder. All it would take for the ledge to fall off and start a rockslide would be one strong punch.
Or one strong telekinetic shove.
While the grizzled old Mightyena was able to react in time, none of the other raiders were able to. The rockslide came thundering down the mountain like a herd of enraged Tauros, crushing everything in its path.
Namely, the bodies of the ones camped at the bottom of the mountain.
With a final plink of a pebble, the rock slide came to an end, covering almost the entire clearing that had been, just a few minutes ago, a clearing full of celebrating Pokémon and dead corpses. There was no longer any evidence that the pack had even existed.
Well, almost no evidence.
Looking on from the edge of the slide, the Mightyena that had casually been berating a young Poochyena only a few minutes ago was astonished at the turn of events. The pack had been doing so well lately, having conquered and massacred many tribes of Pokémon, seeming to have no enemy that could stop them. But then one freak accident, and the tribe is left with only one member.
He then stiffened, because he realized that there were traces of Psychic energy in the air.
Whirling around, he challenged the dark woods surrounding him. "I know you are there Psychic! I know that you caused this! I will avenge the Midnight Raiders! Come out and face me like a true Mon, instead of some sniveling coward who uses sneak attacks to get rid of their enemies!"
His only reply was silence. Oh, and a whirling tree trunk hurled at him telekinetically from behind.
The Mightyena blew apart the tree trunk with a Shadow Ball, and yelled out, "Is this all you can do? You are just like those weaklings of the Grace tribe, too cowardly to do anything but fight from afar."
Saying this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as a blur shot out from the woods and revealed itself to be a Cresselia of unusual coloring. Upon seeing the cold rage in the eyes of the Dream-Maker chills were semt down the Mightyena's spine.
His last thought before he was bisected by the Cresselia's wings was I knew I should have retired.
After ending the life of the last remaining members of the Midnight Raiders, I turned to leave. Before I left the clearing, I stopped, as my senses had picked up on something.
Someone was still alive.
I turned to the rock pile and, using my telekinesis, easily tossed aside boulders and rocks that were above the place where I had sensed the spark of life.
As I removed the last boulder, I discovered that the spark was coming from beneath the pile of mutilated Kirlia and Ralts. Steeling myself, I dug down through the pile, reaching a Ralts that was, according to my senses, still alive.
I picked up the Ralts and did one last scan to see if there was anything else that was still alive. Besides the spark, there was one, partially obscured spark. I shifted the rocks that were over the spark, moving them to cover up the pile of corpses of the Emotion and Feeling Pokémon. I dug through the rock until I found the corpse of a female Houndoom.
Carefully moving the female's body aside, I discovered a small, black and red flame patterned egg. Apparently, the female had realized she would be unable to escape the rockslide, and had sacrificed herself to protect her egg.
The nobility of such a sacrifice brought a tear to my eye, and I decided to take the egg with me, thinking that it would be a good gift for Dak.
As I turned away from the clearing, I didn't realize there was someone else near the clearing.
The watcher, a human in a suit designed to make them invisible to all beings, both human and Pokémon, held a radio up to their mouth.
"This is Gamma, reporting in."
The radio was silent for a moment before a reply issued out of it. /Go ahead Gamma/
"Sir, I spotted Target Sandman not far from Jubilife. I thought the reports and scans said that it was still on Full Moon, over."
/The scanning device was down for a few weeks for maintenance. Stand by for confirmation scan./
A few minutes later, a reply crackled out of the radio. /Agent Gamma, scans indicate that Target Sandman is still on Fullmoon Island. It is possible that you may have seen it, but whatever the case, it is on Fullmoon right now. Continue to report any sightings of either target. Confirm objective/
"I understand, Gamma out."
A cloud passed over the moon, and when it went away, the being was gone.
"Where could he be? We've been waiting here for hours." Kerin was starting to get impatient.
Somehow, defying all of the Laws of Common Sense, Dak and Kerin had found their way to the road. They had then traveled along it East to Jubilife, until they found each other. Now, all they needed was Cress.
"Maybe splitting up wasn't such a -" Dak started to say.
"GUYS!"
"-bad idea after all" he finished. He then noticed what was in Cress's arms. "Wait, is that an injured Pokémon?" he asked, concern in his voice.
"Shit, it is," Kerin exclaimed. "C'mon, we have to get it to a Pokémon Center!"
After rushing the injured Ralts and the egg to the Pokémon center, and getting the story of how Dak and Kerin had managed to somehow make their way to the road, we waited in the lobby of the Pokémon center to wait for Nurse Joy's diagnosis. After waiting for a few hours, we got really anxious when we saw Nurse Joy come out of the Emergency Room.
"Well, how is it?" referring to the Ralts.
"It was a close one, but the Ralts will live," the Joy replied. "It had many injuries, such as broken limbs, asphyxiation, and a collapsed lung, but we managed to repair all of its injuries. I must ask how it came to be so heavily injured." She looked at me suspiciously. "It looks like someone beat it to half to death."
I immediately understood what she was implying.
"W-wait, it wasn't me! I found the Ralts this way! I had nothing to do with how she ended up like this!"
"Yeah, me and Kerin can vouch for him! Right, Kerin?" Dak asked.
"Mrs. Joy, I can tell you, as I am a psychic, that Cress is telling the truth." Kerin said this in a completely serious tone, the honesty quite evident in her voice.
"Its okay I believe you. Besides, most Pokémon-abusers would not bring their victims in for healing."
We all sighed in relief. I really didn't want to have the experience of breaking out of jail as an accomplishment this early on in my adventure.
"Okay, now all I need is the Ralts's Pokéball and your Trainer ID number and we'll be all set," stated Nurse Joy.
At this my face paled. We hadn't gone to Sandgem to get registered as a trainer yet, so legally I couldn't carry any Pokémon. What was I going to do? I didn't want to just leave the poor Ralts there, but I didn't see anyway around the regulations.
"Well?" Nurse Joy was starting to get more than a little impatient. Her shift was over in a few minutes, and she wanted to be able to get at least a couple of hours of time in the local gambling establishment before she had to go to sleep in preparation for her weekly morning shift.
"The thing is… I don't have an ID yet, I haven't gotten registered yet," I said, looking a bit Mareepish as I did.
"Do you have any other Pokémon?"
I was confused at the question. "Ummm…no."
"It's easy then. You can have the Ralts as your one legal Pokémon. You are, however, disallowed from using this Pokémon from battling, participating in Contests, or doing any other such activities until you are registered as a trainer. You are also required to get a Pokéball for her ASAP."
At this point, Kerin came back into the conversation. "You can have a Luxury Ball from my Item Storage if you want. I'm probably not going to catch another Pokémon, so its all yours."
As she moved over to get in line for using one of the several computers that lined the nearby wall, Dak started to ask Nurse Joy about the egg.
"Oh, we scanned it to see if the embryo was alright. It turns out that it's a male Houndour, in good shape, although…"
"Although what?" Dak pressed, feeling bad news was on the way.
Nurse Joy sighed and then continued. "There is a chance that the pup might not evolve into a Houndoom, and if it does evolve, it will evolve really late."
Both me and Dak blinked simulataneously and asked the same question, also simulataneously.
"Why?"
"Chansey and I are not too sure, but we think that it may have been laying on or near an Everstone, you know, the stone that prevents evolution, for a good chunk of its time in the egg. Some of this energy may have been absorbed by the embryo, thus preventing or delaying its evolution." Nurse Joy explained.
"As long as it doesn't result in the little guy being in pain or dying, I don't really care about the evolution part." Dak said. "I assume that the same rules for ownership apply to me as well, right?"
"Yes, but as soon as the egg hatches, there will be other things you will need to do to take care of the pup, as you must remember, it will only be a baby. Mr… what did you say your name was again?"
"Dak." prompted the boy.
"Mr. Dak, you follow me so I can elaborate on the methods of baby Pokémon care. Mr. Cress, you can go and get acquainted with your Ralts, she is waiting in room 3."
As Dak was dragged off to learn the rules of childcare, I walked off to room 3. Flying through my head were worries about how the Ralts would react, having been first taken from its normal life by raiders, and now having been taken to a human city.
Apparently she had taken it pretty badly.
When I walked into Room 3, the first thing I saw was a Ralts trying to hide underneath a pillow.
The room in question was designed with the purpose of comfort in mind, sporting an array of colorful pillows that were so brightly dyed, it could quite possibly burn a person's eyes out of their head. Each wall was also painted a different color, furthering increasing the sensory input into one's mind.
I wasn't sure if it was the clashing colors or the fact that she was in a human dwelling that scared the poor little Ralts more. Either way, it was my job to comfort her.
"Hey, little one, its all right, theres no need to hide." I said in my most soothing voice possible. Of course, a human voice is probably not the most soothing thing a Pokémon could hear, so it just made the Ralts hide herself even more.
I sighed. I wasn't going to get anywhere with this young Pokémon.
At least, I realized, I wasn't going to get anywhere with her as a human.
I glanced around, checking to see if there were any cameras, not seeing any, I then psychically locked the door to make sure no one was going to interrupt. The slight surge of Psychic power I released while doing so must have caught the attention of the Ralts, as she peeked out from beneath her hiding place.
I released my shapeshift, turning back into a Shiny Cresselia.
Much better I said telepathically, being careful to limit it to this room. After all, I didn't want Joy to get curious.
The Ralts gasped. "Dddream-Maker!" She ran out of her hiding place from beneath the pillow and ran over to where I was floating. Then, to my surprise, she hugged me.
"Ohh, I knew someone had to have heard my prayers, I just knew it!" She said this with a great deal of happiness, acting like a 5 year old who had just discovered that Santa Claus was real.
"Little one, what are you talking about?" I asked, feeling a bit out of depth.
"While the raiders were taking us, the slaves that is, back to their central den I was only one among several others of my evolutionary line. The entire way, I was praying to you, the patron of the Psychic types, for aid. All of the others just laughed at me, saying that there were no gods if something like the raiders could happen. If only they had listened to me.." The little Ralts looked like it was about to cry.
"Shh…Shhh its okay, they are all in a better place now." I said trying to calm it down. I picked her up and started rocking her back and forth like a baby, which in actuality, she was, seeing as how she was only a few years old. Out of nowhere, I started humming some kind of lullaby, the smooth tones of which quickly put the tired Pokémon to sleep. I smiled, as it looked like the little Ralts wasn't going to have any problem coming with me.
That reminds me, I need to remember and ask her what her name is.
I turned to walk out the door (making sure to change back first) and unlocked the door, leaving the horribly designed room behind, being careful with the Ralts in my arms.
I ran into Kerin right outside the door, where she apparently was waiting for me.
"Well?" she asked, referring to my luck with the Ralts. I smiled and showed her the bundle in my arms, at which point she gavee off an "awww" , as the little Emotion Pokémon snuggled deeper into my chest.
It was then that I noticed an obvious lack of stupid comments, so I immediately asked Kerin where my brother was.
She shrugged her shoulder towards the medical room. "He's still in there getting lectured by Nurse Joy on what to do as the parental role model of a young Houndour."
At that moment, Dak walked out of the room looking like he had just had an encounter with Death itself. Nurse Joy came marching out nehind him, spouting off commands like it was going out of style.
"You also have to make sure you give a lot of attention, make sure to keep it warm, make sure it blabla bla blab la bla blablabla." It was unending!
Thankfully, Nurse Joy saw the Ralts sleeping in my arms and "awww"-ed just like Kerin did, switching from one victim errr… patient, to another. "How did you get it to attach to you so fast? It looks like it hatched out of its egg believing that you were its parent." Nurse Joy stated, looking a wee bit confused at how well I had managed the Ralts.
I shrugged. "I just have a way with young Pokémon I guess."
"Well, if you are all ready with your new Ralts, and if this young man is ready for the duty of hatching an egg (Dak cringed, much to my smusement), then I will go, I have some gambling to do tonight!"
"You gamble?" I asked, now really confused.
"Sure, why not, I need a hobby." With that, she left the Pokémon center, not even bothering to wait for her replacement, making a beeline for the local gambling house.
Kerin was the first to recover from the sheer bizzarity of the situation. "Amazing bizzarity aside," she started, "there is something we need to do before we leave Jubilife."
"What's that?" I asked, more focused on my Ralts than on Kerin.
She held up the piece of plastic that all men instinctually fear: a credit card.
"We're going clothes shopping!"
I didn't dare to disagree, understanding that there was no way for mr to get out of the planned trip.
Dak just moaned, whether from the idea of going shopping, or the sheer amount of knowledge Nurse Joy had pumped into his mind, no one knew.
The shopping experience was not all that bad, as me and Dak were focused on more important things.
Dak was trying to sort through the information that Joy had told him, actually doing something smart for once and writing the information down while he remembered it. The Houndour egg sat right next to him, doing nothing (as it was an egg).
Ralts had woken up and was insistent on me explaining to her everything in the human building, apparently having re-imprinted on me as her father, as she kept close to me at all times and refused to let go of me.
"What's that?"
"It's a rack of clothing, clothing is what humans use to keep warm."
"What's that?"
"It's a set of stairs, humans use them to go higher in a building."
"What's that?"
"It's a door, humans use them to enter and exit buildings."
"What's th…"
While not angered with my pseudo-daughter in anyway, I was starting to get exasperated with the sheer amount of questioning. So it was with a grateful heart that I was dragged off by Kerin to try on clothing. After trying on a few average outfits ( jeans, T-shirts, etc), I saw something hanging on a rack off to the side that actually looked interesting.
Actually I saw a couple of things that looked interesting.
Apparently, in a few months, there was to be some kind of centennial celebration of… who else but me and my brother? Actually, it was a celebration honoring our parents, the original Lunar Pokémon, the ones who currently held the jobs of dream-makers. The main celebration was to take place in the towns of Eterna and Celestic (As neither would be able to hold all of the celebrants by themselves), with several smaller celebrations being held all over Sinnoh.
Anyways, the store had already stocked clothes for the occasion, having many different suits and dresses with different patterns. What had caught my attention was a pair of robes.
One of the robes looked much like Darkrai himself, having a dark tattered appearance, along with a jagged red collar and a white plume (I read the placard and it said it was just an Altaria plume). Hanging on a stand next to the robe was a necklace with a brilliant blue sapphire with a single flaw in the center, giving it an eye-like look. To make the robe even more expensive, it was apparently woven out of silk dyed with crushed obsidian.
It was what was standing next to the Darkrai robe that really caught my attention. It was a robe of pale yellows and purples in smooth patterns (which instantly made me think of Mom). It also had crescent shaped extensions on the back that were supposed to imitate my real wings.
Even though it was only an imitation of what I looked like, I knew that I wanted, no needed to have it.
The other thing that I saw, that could benefit both Dak and me, was a kind of sweater called a Breeder's Pouch. It basically was a sweater that someone had taken and sewn a large roomy pouch to. The description, which I only skimmed over, said that it was designed for the purpose of carrying small baby Pokémon around with the breeder, not requiring that the Pokémon be in its Pokéball. I glanced over at Ralts. Even though I had already put her in a Pokéball, she had expressed a desire to stay outside with me. However, it was getting late in the year and frost was starting to set in. With no fellow tribe members to erect safeguards and protects (moves I hadn't learned yet), she could quite possibly freeze to death outside.
If I got this Breeder's Pouch, that wouldn't be a problem.
It would also make it easier for Dak to carry his egg around with him, as he couldn't leave the egg in a Pokéball, and it would be awkward for him to carry it around in his arms all of the time.
I brought said garment to Kerin's attention, and she agreed that it would probably be for the best if me and Dak each got one, as the large amount of walking we would have to do to get between towns would probably be too exhausting for the young Pokémon. We got two of the same size, as both me and Dak were exactly the same height.
Ralts, having noticed that everyone was getting clothes, wanted to get some too. The fact that, as a Pokémon, she didn't need any, or that she didn't even know what clothes were for, meant nothing to her. After a long argument between the three of us (Dak, Kerin, and me), we decided to keep it simple, and got her a small pink bow.
While Kerin went off to try all of her clothes on a second time to make sure that they fit, I went up to a sales clerk to ask about the ornate robes that I had seen on display.
"I'm sorry, but those robes aren't for sale." The manager said apologetically, "Didn't you read the placard?"
When I had asked the sales clerk about the robes, I had been redirected to the manager of the department store. It was there that my hopes had been crushed.
"Ummm… no?" I said, looking Mareepish once again.
The manager sighed, apparently having had this conversation before. "As the placard, which you didn't read, says, the robes are not for monetary sale. They-"
"If they're not for monetary sale, then what are they for sale for?" I asked.
This interruption annoyed the manager, as he had to count to five before he was able to respond.
"As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, the robes are not for monetary sale. In order to purchase them, you would have to trade something just as rare."
This got me thinking. I did have something that might be considered rare. Over the weeks I had spent on Fullmoon, I had woven two necklaces of Lunar Wings. One of these necklaces I had given to the boy who had been trapped in a nightmare, the other I still had. The question was, would the manager consider it rare enough?
I had to ask him what would be counted as rare.
When I did, he responded in a snooty manner, trying to show off his "fanciness."
"Items that would be rare enough to trade for the robes you are seeking would have to be as rare and valuable as the robes themselves. Items that would be counted as such would be those with a link to the Pokémon commonly referred to as the Legendaries. Ancient frescos, manuscripts about an encounter with a legendary, or best of all, an item that was directly used by a Legendary."
Now that I knew what I had was valuable, I wanted to know exactly how valuable it was.
"Does the Legendary that it comes from affect the value?" I asked, hoping that I would be able to get those robes with my necklace.
"In a way, yes. Normally, the more well known the Legendary, the more valuable the item is worth. At this time though, items that have to do with either of the Lunar Pokémon, or just with the Moon itself take more precedence due to the festival in a few months."
Bingo.
"So if I were to offer," I started, "something like, I don't know, a necklace of authentic Lunar Wings," holding up said necklace, "would that be valuable enough for the robes?"
The manager's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, but quickly changed back to their snooty look. The gleam in his eyes didn't go away, though.
"It all depends on the quality of this object you have, as well as its authenticity. If you would please follow me, we can quickly determine exactly how fake your necklace is."
Judging by the tone in his voice and the way he used the word "fake", he obviously doubted that my Lunar Wing necklace was real.
I couldn't wait to see the look on his face.
As we left the store, Dak asked, "What was wrong with the manager? He looked like he was about to keel over."
"Oh, nothing." I answered, glancing down at the two packages I was carrying. The first thing I'm going to do as soon as I get registered, I thought, is put these things in storage on a PC. After all, I wouldn't want to damage them before the festival.
"Awwww, Ralts looks so cute curled up in her new home."
I glanced down at the pouch on my new sweater. I did have to admit, Kerin was right about the cuteness. Seeing Ralts curled up in the warm pouch, fast asleep, and sporting her new bow, made me almost want to go "awwww."
Emphasis on almost.
The talk about Ralts made Dak look down at his own pouch, which was currently holding the Houndour egg. More than ever he wished that his egg would hatch, not just because of the fact that he would also get attention, but because he wanted to see a little Pokémon in his pouch. He quickly shook his head, trying to clear it of all of the unmanly thoughts.
"Look, there's Sandgem!"
Me and Dak were shaken out of our musings at Kerin's outburst, and we looked up and saw the entrance to Sandgem Town.
Well, what do you think? Its better, right?
It would be much appreciated if those who are reading would drop a review (preferably signed but Anonymous ones are alright) to tell me what you thought of it. If you think it is good, then you can say so, but PLEASE add on suggestions, or what about it was good, rather than the old "This is GrEaT, post more!" or things along a similar vein. Also, no questions about when the next chapter is coming out, as I will post it when I post it.
May all of your dreams Come True.
Kyron7