Leavanny and Klink

It was a blustery day, with a constant wind. Occasionally, they gusted up so strong that lighter Pokemon were hunkered down in holes, to avoid being blown away. The spring flowers where being battered, the forest trees were struggling to hold onto their buds, and sometimes the tall grass would lay flat. Despite this, Miss Zinnia the Leavanny had things to do. She braved the gusts and the slight chill to go fetch berries for her baking.

"Oh dear," she said, as another strong gust blasted through the trees. She had one hand on her leaf bonnet and another hand clutching her straw basket, even though that left her long skirt to flap on her left side. "I hope all the little Sewaddles are in a shelter. This would be a terrible day for the darlings to be out. I'd better get extra berries today, to make sure they don't go hungry."

Moving quickly she got to the berry patch. Normally, this was a lively place full of Pokemon . It was a place to meet with friends, talk about things, and take care of the plants so that they always gave the best berries. But there seemed to be no one else here today. Zinnia sought out berries that had fallen first, making sure that they weren't starting to rot. Then she gathered up specific ones she wanted for poffins: Bluk, Rawst, Pinap, Nomel… oh, and she should get some Orans too, as they would be comforting to young Pokemon anxious over the weather.

She was moving to the Oran bushes when her feet hit something hard on the ground. It felt like metal, but there usually wasn't metal around here. Looking down, she saw something gray poking out from under a fallen branch. The Leavanny knelt down to toss the branch away and saw what appear to be two interlocked gears. But they had faces on them, with the four eyes closed. It was still, with a single leaf caught between the gear's teeth.

"Hmm? It would be hard to sleep out here." She brushed her leafy hand over the little Pokemon, but didn't get a response. It must have gotten injured somehow, maybe in the branch falling on it. "Poor little one. I wonder if the Sitrus bush has ripe berries." She got up and went to investigate.

In the whole berry patch, there was one lone Sitrus bush. Several Pokemon had tried getting another going, but it was a tough one to start. And it took so long to produce fruit that an agreement had come up to only use the Sitrus berries if someone had been badly injured, like the gear Pokemon back there. A few would even preserve the Sitrus berries if no one needed them so they could be on hand later, but Zinnia didn't have any Sitrus preserves with her.

The bush was a curling stalk, like a vine with the strength to stand on its own. And yes, it did have bright yellow berries, six of them. However, on feeling one, she noticed that they were soft and very ripe. The main reason they hadn't fallen off in the wind was due to a brown husk that attached them to the vine. If they weren't used today, they'd go rotten.

"Well, I hope my neighbors don't mind," she said, then carefully plucked the six berries. To avoid damaging them, she placed them in the center of her basket. Five would make a small jar of preserves, while the sixth could revive the stranger in the field.

She walked back over and then had to decide which mouth she ought to feed. A Pokemon with two faces was unusual and neither was obviously the dominant one. So she picked the left one and squished the berry some, to get the juice to it at least. This managed to stir it enough to allow it to eat the berry itself. The right face moved its mouth to mirror the other, but it didn't seem bothered otherwise. However, it jerked, trying to move the two gears. Zinnia tugged at the stuck leaf to get it out. She could only rip a chunk of it off, but that allowed the gears to move and get rid of the leaf themselves.

Watching her with one set of eyes while examining the area with the other, it seemed wary and scared.

"Don't worry," Zinnia said gently. "I won't hurt you, little cutie. But where did you come from? I haven't seen a Pokemon like you around here. How are you doing?"

The two gears turned as the apparently single Pokemon pushed itself upright. It nearly flipped itself onto its faces, then wobbled as it tried to stay upright. "Klink, klink," one mouth mumbled while the other mouth followed a syllable late, "Klink, klink."

On hearing that, she guessed that it was too young to know how to speak properly. "I see; you must be a Klink." She smiled. "But my, you're quite a long ways from home. Did you get blown away?"

The two faces, even though one was upside-down due to their turning, shifted the inner part forward, nodding. But that made it wobble again.

"Looks like you need some time to rest and recuperate. Why don't you come home with me? I'm called Miss Zinnia. If it's not too windy tomorrow, I could walk with you back to the tower where your kin live." She wasn't sure if she could pick up a turning Pokemon like that comfortably, but she wasn't one to just leave a young one alone.

The Klink agreed to that, relieved to have found a safe person to be with. It bit onto the edge of her skirt with one mouth, letting the other gear rotate around it. It was heavy for a little Pokemon, but the Leavanny finished up her berry gathering and headed back home.

Miss Zinnia lived in a small cavern at the entrance to a deep cave system. Some of her kind preferred to live in hollow trees, but there were enough holes in the rocky roof to let in light, but not rain. And even if it was small for a cave room, it was bigger than the space inside a dead tree, which could collapse on its inhabitants.

Although she offered a bed of hay for a bed, the Klink stayed on the rocky floor, after clearing a space for itself. While she worked at her cooking, she had to admit that it made sense. If a little leaf getting stuck could cause so much trouble to it, then a piece of straw or a pebble could also hurt it. She made some of her poffins and started work on the Sitrus preserve. She even left for a while to visit some Sewaddle nests and give them some poffins and berries, so that they didn't have to go out to get something to eat. When she came back, the Klink was still asleep.

In fact, it wasn't until the next morning that she saw it awake again. The Klink seemed much better, floating around her cave home and nudging rocks, baskets, and any other interesting things. The sun weakly shone through one of the skylight holes and the rustle of trees was gentle, not fierce. From that, she could tell that it would be a good day for the long walk to the tower at the edge of the forest, where a powerful Klinklang was said to live.

"Klink, klink?' it queried, sniffing rows of glass jars. Various colored substances filled them.

"These are my berry and fruit preserves," Zinnia told him, putting up the new Sitrus preserve. "Well, that and some mint jellies over there. I like cooking and baking, so I make these to share with my neighbors in hard times like winter. I also sew a lot." She showed off her hands, which had very sharp cutting edges on them. But it was hardly a threat in this situation. "Why, if you were one of my young neighbors, I'd have sewn a leaf cloak for you to protect yourself from the wind."

"Ki-link, klik klik," the Klink replied, shaking his head but sounding polite about it. It probably didn't want another leaf stuck in its teeth.

"It's all right," she said cheerily. "I know now that it wouldn't work on you. So, I made these instead!" She pulled out a pair of little bowties. "Aren't they cute? I made them out of willow leaves and my silk. The back part is a little bit sticky so that you can take them on and off but they should stay on while you're moving around. I've got a mirror on the wall over there if you want to try putting them on."

The Klink seemed uncertain, but curious. So it went over to the mirror and took the two ties by static telekinesis. After it tried placing them in the middle of its faces, Zinnia giggled and indicated they were to go below its mouths. It spent a moment looking at itself.

Proud of her work, the Leavanny smiled. "There; you're simply adorable now. I don't think anybody would be able to resist you now. Well let's get ready to head out, child. We should be able to reach your home before noon if we don't lollygag."

A few weeks later, an older Klink showed up at her home and offered some nuts in exchange for a set of bowties too. Miss Zinnia happily accepted the job; she would sew for anyone who asked.

…

Leavanny Black entry: Upon finding a small Pokemon, it weaves clothing for it from leaves, using the cutters on its arms and sticky silk.

Klink White entry: Interlocking two bodies and spinning around generates the energy they need to live.

Leavanny was the original request, but that entry just begs for a second. And Klink would look so cute with bowties!