Happiny and Blissey
Lilac the Happiny hopped along the stools by the kitchen counter, excited by all the activity around her. The humans were preparing for the New Year's Eve party tonight. They even had the neighbors over helping. Their little girl laughed at Lilac. "She looks like a happy fluffy bouncy ball," she said.
"That she does," one of the women said.
"I'm happy, happy, happy," Lilac sang. She stopped over by her mother, a larger and prettier version of herself. The little Happiny dug in her pouch and pulled out a smooth oval rock. "Here you go."
Chantal the Blissey smiled as she took the white rock. "Why thank you, sweetie. It's kind of you."
Lilac giggled, then hopped onto the counter. There were several cartons of eggs there, but no ordinary eggs. The humans had spent all day on these 'surprise eggs': cutting small holes in them, draining out all the contents, drying them out, then filling them with sparkling confetti and glitter, and finally sealing them back up. Apparently at midnight tonight, they were going to smash these eggs over each other's heads. It sounded fun.
The mother in the neighboring family pulled out the container with all the yolks and whites. "So what are you going to do with this?"
"I'm making my special eggnog," she replied. She was pulling out several kitchen tools from the drawers. "But you only want a little bit of this at a time."
She laughed. "One of those 'special drinks', I see?"
"Not exactly, if I know what you're thinking. Have you ever had a Blissey's egg?" She glanced over as Lilac started for one of the surprise eggs out of the carton. "No, Lilac, those are for later." She picked up the Happiny and placed her back on the stool.
Lilac pouted. "Aw, I just wanted to play."
Chantal took the white stone and gave it back to her daughter. "Here, have this."
She grinned as she took it. "Yay, I have an egg now!" She put it in her pouch and began hopping across the stools again.
Footsteps thudding down the stairs announced the arrival of Lilac's Trainer, a fifteen year old girl. She was dressed oddly today, in her darkest colored casual clothes, black if she had it. She even had a black hair ribbon to tie back her long brown hair. And she'd used a different kind of makeup too, one that made her face paler. It was a look that she'd been shifting into for the past few weeks, but hadn't gotten dramatically dark until today.
Lilac hopped over to the nearest stool, then squealed and waved her arms. "You look spooky! What happened?"
The girl patted her absent-mindedly. "Mom, I'm going over to Jeremy's party now."
"You be careful, Sunny," her mother responded while she measured things out for the eggnog. "Don't let them pressure you into doing anything you don't want to."
"I know." She grabbed her coat and turned to leave.
Lilac hopped off the stools and ran over. "Hey, hey, what about me?"
Sunny shook her head. "Not tonight; I can't take a Happiny to a party with the cool kids, sorry."
She drooped as the door slammed shut. "Aw, why not?"
Chantal came over and picked her up. "It's okay. She'll play with you tomorrow."
"I hope so."
Sunny's mother sighed. "I get worried about her hanging out with those kids. I can't see anything really wrong with them, but they're so pessimistic and brooding. Kids shouldn't be like that."
"They're being teenagers," the other mother said. "It should be just another phase."
"I hope that's all. Still, I've seen that Jeremy boy wearing a t-shirt that said 'The world is hopelessly lost'. It sounds awful."
The Blissey considered that, tilting her head. "On the other hand..."
Lilac squirmed around. "What, mom?"
She put her down. "Let's go after Sunny and see what those kids are all about. But we've got to be sneaky and not get caught."
She giggled. "Sneaky! Cool!"
After leaving the house, the pair of Pokemon found the teenager walking along a path. By moving quietly behind bushes, they were able to sneak up on her. It did help that she was distracted in thinking about the party.
"Jeremy is just too awesome and cool," Sunny said to herself. "Everybody wants to be like him. And if I talk to him enough, I might be able to get him to be my boyfriend tonight." She squealed, then stopped and shook her finger. "No, not like that. He's not interested in girls who squeal. I have to be cool and mysterious like him."
"Why's she talking to herself?" Lilac asked.
Chantal hushed her, then continued following as the girl began walking again.
"Cool and mysterious," she repeated. "Only the night will listen to my cries. That's perfect."
"Is she sad? Should we make her happy?"
The Blissey frowned, then brushed the fur on her arm back. "She's not sad, just pretending to be so. She's actually excited and hopeful."
"Huh? But then why would she say something awful sad like that?"
"I don't know. I've seen people act happy when they're really sad, but not act sad when they're really happy. Let's keep following for now."
A couple blocks over, they arrived at Jeremy's house. The party was being held in the backyard. It was all teenagers there; not a single adult was around. Gritty music was playing on the stereo and nobody was dancing. The kids were all talking or playing a card game. A group of Pokemon hung around, but they were all spooky or creepy sorts, like three Grimers, several ghosts, and a Honchkrow. Strangest of all, to Lilac's eyes, was the fact that they were all wearing black or near-black. Some wore a vivid red too, but it didn't help to lighten the spookiness.
Sunny walked up to a boy in a long black coat and longer red scarf. "Hi Jeremy," she said in a bored sort of voice, then sat down with the group around him.
"So you came to my cheap party too?" Jeremy asked sarcastically. "Are you also ignoring everyone's weak-minded attempts to wish for a happy new year?"
She sighed. "Yeah. It'll still be the same boring stuff over and over again."
"Mom, why are they all acting upset about the holiday?" Lilac asked, tugging at her mother's skirt frill. "They should be happy and celebrating."
"I still don't know why," Chantal responded. "None of them are truly unhappy, although a number of them are bored. Let's see if they're just waiting on something to happen."
So the Happiny and Blissey sat and watched the party. Nothing seemed to happen. All the teens talked and complained about whatever they were talking about. They drank the punch and ate the snacks, but then called out on the host on being cheap (something he seemed strangely proud of). The card players griped about losing or acted as if winning was nothing but chance. And there was never any dancing, singing, real playing, or laughing.
After an hour, Lilac huffed. "This is the worst party ever. There aren't even any balloons."
"Hardly a decoration," Chantal agreed, eyeing some origami boxes made from black paper.
Sunny was still talking to Jeremy. "I know my name doesn't fit in," she said, looking embarrassed to be talking about it. "I thought about changing it, though. Something like Luna, maybe."
"It is awful that people can name you before they know what you're going to be like," Jeremy agreed.
"But I like her name," Lilac said.
"Well this won't do," Chantal added, picking her up. "Come on, we're gonna crash the party!"
"All right!" she cheered as her mother leapt the fence, surprising some kids lounging in lawn chairs on the other side.
"Let's ring in the happiest new year!" Chantal called out, throwing a cloud of mystical sparks in the air as her daughter somersaulted to the ground.
The teenagers all stared, not sure if they should mock the Blissey or cheer with her. The party-going Pokemon mumbled, having been content with the lackluster bored air. Jeremy bolted up in his chair, eyes wide. "Hey, who let those two losers into my party?"
"Sunny, Sunny, Sunny!," Lilac called out, scrambling over to her Trainer with her arms held up. She hopped into her lap without asking. "Don't change your name."
"They belong to my mom," Sunny answered, trying to salvage some pseudo-bitterness to keep face around this group. "Did she send you two after me?"
"No," Lilac answered.
"We came to make this party a party," Chantal said as she pulled her last egg from her pouch. She tossed it up spinning, then caught it. "So everybody can be openly happy and not falsely sad!" Next, she expertly cracked off the top half, revealing a soft boiled inside, and presented that to Jeremy. "I've only got one right now, so it goes to the host. I'd have brought some eggnog too, but that might be a little strong for you kids."
Jeremy looked at it puzzled. "An egg? That's weird."
"How'd she cook it without a fire?" another kid asked.
"She just does from time to time," Sunny answered. She considered for a second, then added, "They are pretty good, to tell the truth."
"An egg a Pokemon cooked on its own?" Jeremy asked skeptically. "Guess it's no big deal." He took a bite of it.
"Do we have to put up with such pink and pastel Pokemon hanging about?" another girl asked darkly, getting a few laughs. "They're for little kids and sick people, not us cool party people."
"This party's not very cool," Lilac complained. "It's no fun at all to just sit around complaining about nothing to do."
"You have no clue about the coolness of an epic lament," a nearby Ghastly sneered.
"Wow, these are really good," Jeremy said. Then he laughed. "That's amazing that you can do that, Blissey. Thanks."
While the kids around him gasped, Chantal bowed. "You're welcome. I'm always glad to make others glad."
"Is that some kind of happy drug?" the rude girl said loudly. "That's crazy."
"It is not a drug," Sunny said sharply. "It will leave you a little weird for a bit, but it's perfectly fine."
"It's really great," Jeremy said dreamily, then held the rest of it up to the rude girl. "You want a bite?"
She cringed. "Not if it'll kill my cool."
"It's not like that," Sunny muttered, uncertain of if she should glare at Chantal and Lilac for crashing the party or at the other girl for making nasty remarks about them.
Jeremy laughed. "Kill your cool? Come off it. You know that it's all fakery and facade."
The rude girl was now puzzled. "Uh, yeah, we know others are fakes..."
"Everybody here is fake," he went on. "Especially me. I act all depressed and stuff because it gets all you girls attracted to me."
"What?" at least three girls nearby (including Sunny) asked in shock.
He shrugged. "So what if I get dates out of pity? I still get far more dates than any other loser in school, which means that I am the best guy around." He smiled, too blissful from the egg's influence to care who heard him.
"Is that it?" Sunny asked, standing up in a flash of temper. "I came to this terrible boring party and you're just faking everything?"
"I probably wouldn't get any girls if I didn't fake stuff so well," he responded.
Sunny went over and slapped him across the face. "Well that's what I think of that!" Then she stormed out, carrying Lilac with her. Chantal, and soon after, every other girl at the partly, followed her lead.
Lilac popped her head over her Trainer's shoulder and stuck her tongue out at the Ghastly. He responded in kind, spooking her into gasping and looking away.
When it was just her, Lilac, and Chantal, Sunny put her Happiny down. "Sorry for that, girls. And, thanks. If I'd have known that he was a true loser, I wouldn't have gone to that stupid party in the first place."
"You live and you learn," Chantal encouraged, patting her on the back.
"I never really liked how I looked in all this black anyhow." Sunny pulled the black ribbon out of her hair. "I guess there's still time for me to clean up, change, and go to the other party. I wasn't looking forward to the cheesy games, but it'll be better than all that bad poetry about 'another awful new year', right?"
"Of course you have time," Chantal said, nodding.
Lilac squirmed while trying to wave her arms. "Yay, we're gonna go to a real party! Let's smash some eggs over people's faces!"
Her mother chuckled. "Over their heads, dear, and only the surprise eggs."
…
Happiny Pearl entry: It carries a round, egg-shaped rock in its belly pouch and gives the rock to its friends.
Emerald entry: If it senses sadness with its fluffy fur, a Blissey will rush over to the sad person, however far away, to share an egg of happiness that brings a smile to any face.
Posted for the obvious holiday. The surprise egg is a real New Year's tradition. I'm not sure where from exactly; I think South America. But I've made them a few times and it's fun. Heh, egg of happiness…