Bibarel, Ursaring, and Cubchoo

Things were bad. The stream was overflowing from the spring melt-off. Normally, this was controlled by way of the Bibarel dam. But the area it was in was a mess. Only a third of the dam was left; the branches and sticks that made it up were scattered all along the stream banks. Shortly before the sun rose, the dam had been broken, washing it and many nests away. Six of the Bibarels were sitting in a circle discussing the work, while a number of Bidoofs ran about getting the lost materials.

"See, that's why we do the big work in the summer," the oldest Bibarel said. "Water's moving too fast to work safely. We need a big branch to slow the flow down."

"We can work in that, we're strong," one of the young Bibarel said.

"And we're do you expect us to find a branch big enough to cross the whole stream?" another asked. "We might as well knock down an entire tree if that's what you want."

The old Bibarel shook his head. "No, that would be wasteful."

"What about one of the trees that collapsed during the winter?" another asked.

"It would be weak, but it might hold long enough," the old one said.

"I told you, we can work in this." He slapped his tail onto the ground to show his defiance. "We'll weave the branches together like always and seal up nest areas with mud."

"The mud would wash out before it could set up," the old one said, shaking his head. "We either get the felled tree here as she suggested or wait until the water slows down. Doing work now would be fruitless otherwise, as well as potentially harmful."

"You're a coward," the younger one said.

Then, a roar interrupted their discussion, causing many of the Bidoofs to run off. A furious and damp Usaring stormed through the bushes to reach them, carrying something small and white in his left paw. "You flooded my den," he growled.

"It wasn't our doing," the oldest Bibarel said. "The spring flood came so..."

"It's your dam, so it's your fault that I woke up soaked!" the Ursaring shouted, tossing down what he held. "And this thing ended up in my den too."

The small Pokemon sat up, looking unconcerned about the angry Pokemon that had been carrying. While it looked like a smaller Ursaring, it was white furred instead of brown. A shiny drop of snot hung from its nose. "Hullo!" he said. "I am Cubchoo, come from the mountains."

"Hello," one of the female Bibarels said.

"Apologize for your insolence and fix that dam!" the Ursaring demanded.

"It wasn't our doing," another Bibarel said. "There was a huge wave of water and ice that wrecked it."

"Likely story," the large bear said.

"Actually, it was," the little bear said.

"Fix it!" the Ursaring said, ignoring the Cubchoo.

"What was it?" the one female Bibarel asked the Cubchoo, as she was nearest to him and already talking with the young one.

"Avalanche," the Cubchoo said, sniffling a little. But its snot drop kept hanging. "There was a big ice block that kept building over the winter at the spring, holding lots of water. I was climbing on it earlier and it cracked and burst under me. It made a huge amount of ice, water, and snow fall down, and I fell down with it. It was fun!"

In the meantime, the oldest Bibarel was trying to calm the Ursaring down. "We're working out how to do it safely."

"You should do it quickly or I'll smack you lot around, drag you up some trees, and tie you all to the tops," he said.

"But you're neighbors," the Cubchoo said. "You should work toge..."

"I don't care," the Ursaring said. "I just want a dry den!"

"If you want it done fast, then you should help us," one of the younger Bibarel said. "You're just lazy and wasteful, pulling off entire tree branches just to get at one apple."

"I'm strong! Need proof?" he flexed his paws making sure his sharp claws were visible.

"Maybe you could..." the Cubchoo started to say, but then gasped before sneezing. A blast of ice came from his nose, enough to freeze the Ursaring solid with a large amount of ice around him. "Hooo, excuse me," the little bear said, rubbing his nose.

"Nice going, kid!" a Bibarel said, although they all looked the same to the Cubchoo.

"Aw, are you sick?" the female near him asked.

The Cubchoo shook his head. "Nuh-uh. It's just the pollen down here. My snot is nice and sticky, so I'm fine."

"Gross," another one of the Bibarel muttered.

The oldest Bibarel walked over and looked at the frozen block of Ursaring. "Well, this fellow is large and solid now. Let's use him to block the flow of water to do work. You two, go fetch one of the felled trees; I don't know how long he'll last underwater. You two start checking on the recovered wood and shape it if need be. You and me will start direct work on the dam once there is a slower area of water flow."

The Cubchoo sniffled. "Oh, can I help? Since I'm here anyways."

"If you can get the water the freeze up to help the slow down, that'll help," he said.

"I'll give it a try. We'll succeed with the power of teamwork, cause teamwork is the best!"

"Teamwork involves using a frozen Ursaring as part of the team?" one of the Bibarel asked as others looked at each other, just as confused.

"He's helping!" the Cubchoo said, smiling.

They couldn't argue with that; it was certainly helping more than his threats of beating them up.

…

Ursaring Heart Gold entry: Although it is a good climber, it prefers to snap branches with its forelegs and eat fallen berries.

Bibarel SS/HG entry: It busily makes its nest with stacks of branches and roots it has cut up with its sharp incisors.

Cubchoo B2/W2 entry: Their snot is a barometer of health. When healthy, their snot is sticky and the power of their ice moves increases.

For the sixth day of Christmas... Cubchoo thinks this is a story about teamwork, but I don't think so.

Edits: fixing (thankfully consistent) typos.