Chapter 4: In Which More Things Are Bloomed Than Necessary
Susano was still holding up the gate for them when they left, and once they were safely out he released the lever and the gate came crashing back down.
"Dad!" Kuni cried. "You were holding it up this whole time?"
"Well of course!" Susano replied. "You're my son! I wouldn't leave you in there to fend for yourself!"
"You kind of did, though," Chibi said. "But seriously though, why is that gate so heavy?"
Susano and Kuni were too busy having a love fest to answer Chibi, and Tsuki was unwillingly stuck in the middle of all the hugs.
"Look Dad, we got the mirror! Er, well I guess it's a plant thing, but either way, they're both shiny!" He swung the pokemon up to show Susano.
"Buddy-buddy," it murmured.
"Oh no, it's not looking very well…" Kuni said.
"That's probably because you've been waving it around," said Chibi.
"We'd better hurry and bring it to that girl!"
They went back to Kamiki, where the girl was still crying into her sleeves and Link was still trying to figure out what her problem with him was.
"Hey, we brought your mirror-shiny thing back," Kuni said. Chibi bloomed it to make it look less droopy. In a shower of sparkles the mysterious pokemon and the girl disappeared and were replaced by Sakuya.
"Ah, thank you Chibiterasu and little Kuni," she said.
"Wait, that girl was you?!" Link gaped.
"I'm surprised it took you this long," Sakuya replied dryly. "In any case, young son of Amaterasu, come with me to the Guardian Sapling…"
They followed her up and Chibi fulfilled his duty by blooming her tree and ridding the sky of ugly purple for what he hoped would be forever.
"Well, that was easy," said Link, remembering the good old days when it took about five times to bloom a tree as big as Sakuya's Guardian Sapling.
"Now, Chibiterasu, I have a favor to ask," Sakuya said. "Nippon is once again threatened by a mysterious evil, and as Amaterasu is apparently unavailable at the moment, it's your duty to revive any other saplings you come across on your travels. If you could do so…"
"Oh shit, Chibi, she's tryin' to make you her bus boy!" Link whispered.
"Bus boy?"
"An errand runner! A gopher! DON'T LET HER TURN YOU INTO A GOPHER!"
"Chibi can decide for himself," Sakuya said, giving Link a hard glare.
"I like blooming things," Chibi agreed. Sakuya beamed and Link despaired.
"Well then, that's settled." Sakuya clapped her hands, pleased.
"Noooooooo, Chibiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii," Link wailed.
"Oh shut up," Sakuya snapped. "In any case, Chibiterasu, you must save Nippon!"
"You mean Japan?" Chibi said. "Yeah, I'm on it. Gotta just bloom these trees first. And dig up more turnips. And help Mrs. Orange."
Sakuya watched helplessly as Chibi and Kuni dicked around in Kamiki before finally heading off into Shinshu Field.
"Why must they all be competionists," she groaned.
"Sake?" Link offered.
Chibi revived the Sapling in Shinshu Field because he was tired of seeing the ugly cursed zone and because it prevented him from exploring. Much to his disappointment, however, the only thing there was to explore was Awesome Tarou's house (which he'd already seen), some guy who kept hitting him with a stick (which was rather unpleasant), and the pyrotechnics' hut.
"What's a pyrotechnic?" Chibi asked.
"I dunno," said Kuni.
Apparently it meant 'dead person', because all they found was a man lying face down on the floor.
"Is he…dead?"
"Don't be silly, Mutt, this is a kid's game. No one dies in a kid's game."
Suddenly, a strange rumbling emerged from the dead man's body.
"W-What was that?!" Kuni cried, leaping away.
"I said…I'm not dead yet…"
The man rolled over and extended a hand towards them. Chibi power slashed it instinctively and Kuni whacked him upside the head with his wooden sword. They waited for a minute or two in silence, staring at Tama's limp body.
"Great," said Kuni. "You killed him!"
"No I didn't, you're the one who hit him with your sword!"
"Mutt, we've gotta cover this up!" Kuni flailed. "Fix him! You're a god, right?"
Chibi bloomed Tama. Nothing happened.
"Stupid Mutt, blooming doesn't solve everything!"
"Yes it does," Chibi protested.
"Anyway, try the other one, Rejuvenation or whatever!"
Chibi tried Rejuvenation and ended up fixing some random hole in the floor.
"Maybe Dr. Redstache in Yakushi village can help?" Chibi suggested.
Kuni's eyes lit up. "Yeah! Great idea! Let's hurry up and go, Mutt!"
As soon as they entered the village they were met by the little girl Link inspired from Chapter 1, who seemed to be the only little girl in both Yakushi and Kamiki combined.
"Oh hello again, little doggie," she said. "And Susano's adopted son. Are you here to see the fireworks? This is the best place to see them, I know because this is the only place I will ever go to watch fireworks!"
"Really? But the sky is so ugly and purple," Chibi said, frowning at his nemisis: the purple sky.
"This might be the last time I get to see them, though," the little girl sighed. "I don't have very long left to live. I have a weird disease and it's going to kill me within the year."
"Wait, what? Within the year? I thought this was a kid's game, why are you going to die?" Kuni cried.
"Yes, I thought I was safe as well," she went on. "But you know how it is sometimes. The plot has to go along."
"Who said anything about this plot nonsense!" Kuni shouted. "This is injustice! Don't worry, we'll protect you, right Mutt?"
"What?" Chibi said. All he could think about was if he could bloom the flower on the girl's head. He was sorely tempted to try, but refrained.
"Oh, by the way, can you take us to Dr. Redstache's house?" Kuni said.
"Oh, it's easy. It's straight ahead."
By "straight ahead" she meant you had to go up and around and downward slightly to be on the right alignment with the doctor's house, since someone thought it would be a great idea to build a village suspended in the air between two mountains and make everything on different planes from each other. In any case, they reached the doctor's house at last, only to find him wringing his hands outside the doorway in anguish.
"Demons have thrashed my house! My poor herbs are in danger!"
"I think that's our cue to do something, Mutt!" said Kuni.
"Yeah!" said Chibi. He bloomed the trees in front of Dr. Redstache's house.
"That's not really what I meant…" Kuni said.
"Sorry, had to do it."
"You're not sorry at all."
They went inside and kicked the asses of all the silly demons, and at the doctor's request put the sun back up in the sky to make his herbs grow.
"Finally," Chibi smirked, convinced that was the last he'd see of purple sky ever again.
"Lor-gol-a-marcy!" cried Dr. Redstache when they came back inside. "My herbs! They be growin' delicious!"
"Cool," said Kuni. "Then do you mind bringing some to Tama? He's a little, uh, incapacitated…do you, by chance, have anything that cures death?"
"Wait." Dr. Redstache turned and glared at them. "Did you just say Tama?"
"Um, yes…"
"No can do, siree!" the doctor cried, crossing his arms in a huff.
"Wait, but we need to fix him or Mutt here'll be accused of murder!"
"It wasn't me, it was him!" Chibi protested.
"Tama is a no-gooder who wants to use my herbs for fireworks," Dr. Redstache spat. "Fireworks, of all things! And he also said my 'stache wasn't sexy! It's totally sexy." He fiddled moodily with his sexy red 'stache. "Anyway, it's a no—wait, where do you think you're taking me?!"
Chibi and Kuni dragged Dr. Redstache up the hill to where the little girl whose name was apparently Ayame was waiting for the fireworks to start. Chibi dropped Dr. Redstache and Kuni took a deep breath.
"Okay, so long story short you need to fix Tama because we accidentally killed him and by we I mean it was mostly Mutt's fault and anyway this girl here is sick and will die soon and all she really wants in life is to see the fireworks tonight—"
"I have other things I want to do in life too," Ayame interrupted. "Like become one of doggie's companions and travel Nippon."
"Well you won't, spoilers," Kuni said.
"Also it's Japan, not Nippon," said Chibi.
"—but anyway stop interrupting me so she'll die and she wants to see the fireworks but you're being a butthead about it because Tama did some stuff that I don't remember but basically he's the only one who can make fireworks here and I'm really not doing this just for myself so I won't be called a murderer for the rest of my life okay?"
"Wow, that wasn't a very short story," Chibi noted.
Dr. Redstache looked abashed. "Weeeeellll…" he said. "Fine. I'll do it. But only for the little girl, understand?"
"Whew! Thanks!" Kuni cheered. They went back to Tama's hut, where he was still lying dead on the floor.
"Hmmmm…" Dr. Redstache said.
"What is it? Can you fix him?" Kuni asked, hovering over his shoulder.
"He's dead alright," he said. "I don't know of any herbs that cure death…"
"Oh noooo!" Kuni wailed.
"…but I did dabble in the dark arts when I was younger," Dr. Redstache continued, standing up and cracking his hands behind his back. "Let's see if I can perform a little necromancy."
Before Dr. Redstache could try, Tama's body moved of its own accord and grabbed his ankle.
"I said…I'm not…dead…yet!" he hissed. Kuni shrieked and hid behind Chibi. "Does no one know the symptoms of a cold? Cough."
"Death is not a symptom of a cold," Dr. Redstache proclaimed.
"Huh? Hey what're you doing here?!" Tama coughed some more and brought himself up into a sitting position, staring accusingly at the doctor.
"Don't misunderstand!" the doctor replied gruffly. "I'm only helping you because a little girl wants to see your fireworks!"
"I don't want your help!" Tama said stubbornly.
"Hnnn, well fine! Be miserable! I brought cold medicine and everything too, but if you'd rather make fireworks in this state then be my guest!"
Tama squirmed, undergoing an internal struggle. "What kind of medicine?"
"Cherry flavored Pepto Bismal."
"You monster."
"Grape Tylenol if you admit my moustache is sexy."
"Urrrrrghhhhhhhhhh," Tama groaned. "Fine! Haulghlghlche."
"What'd you say?"
"It's a very sexy moustache!"
"That's right," Dr. Redstache grinned, handing over the medicine. Tama downed it and looked infinitely better. "Whoo! Time to make some rad fireworks!" He danced around the room and threw some herbs and powder together, which prompted Chibi to draw in the shape of a bomb. The bomb exploded the roof and revealed a constellation.
"Oh child of the Sun Goddess, we are the young Bakugami, the offspring of giant explosions! Use our power to clear your path whenever you're in trouble!"
"Somehow I feel like that's a bad idea," Chibi said. "I think I'll stick with bloom, thanks though."
"WAHOOOO! THAT WAS GREAT, WASN'T IT, KIDS?" Tama turned to face Dr. Redstache. "You can leave now, Redstache."
"Huh. So much for a 'thank you, my savior',"
"Who's my savior! This dog saved me more than you did! He gave me back my inspiration!"
Chibi smirked at Kuni.
"See, I'm his savior, not his murderer."
"What!"
"Murderer."
"S-Shut it!" Kuni snapped. "Anyway, let's get outta here, Mutt. I think they'll be at it for a while. And we've gotta protect Ayame from her disease!"
"How can we protect someone from a disease?"
Kuni ignored him and they returned to Yakushi to watch Tama's fireworks on the top of the hill with Ayame. While she was busy being enthralled by the fireworks, Chibi sneakily bloomed the flower on top of her head.
"So how was it?" Kuni asked when the show was over.
"Amazing!" she said breathlessly. "I feel rejuvenated! Like I've been cured of disease!"
"It's because I bloomed her flower," Chibi said.
"I don't think so. It was probably the fireworks."
"Well, whatever," Chibi said. He yawned. "I'm tired. Let's go to sleep."
"Yeah, it's waaay past my bedtime," Kuni agreed, stretching.
"I'm not going to sleep, I'm going to party," Ayame said. "You guys are wimps."
"Well, we're only kids after all," Kuni said, already drifting off.
"And I'm a—I'm a god so…I can do whatever I—" Chibi was asleep before he could even finish the sentence.
Ayame shrugged and skipped off to have a glorious tea party and necromancy lessons with Dr. Redstache. Link was there too because he always crashed parties, even the ones with tea.