Sausage notes: Could it be? The end of the first day!?
Nawww, as if. After all, as everyone knows, there's only one game where they explore Time. XP (Actually, we're in the same region as that game took place in, so...)
Also, please forgive the length! (Almost 2,000 words of it is author's note bullshit, because I don't know how to shut up, but still!)
Last time: Buneary and her friends have a lesbian pool party, and a different party of explorers takes down a milk hooligan to save a fairy bird's boobies.
You read that right, people who are tuning in for the first time, but felt like checking out the latest chapter, first. XD
Chapter Twenty One: The Night Beckons
Buneary took several deep breaths after she and the others reformed on the beach outside Beach Cave. Goodness, teleporting via badge was definitely something she had to get used to.
It was a good job they'd already been at the end of the dungeon. That was the only time teleporting via badge worked, for some reason. Maybe that's where the dungeon's mysteriosity was at its weakest? That was just her guess, anyway.
She checked herself over. Where she'd once been bare, she was now fully covered up, thanks to the help of Grumpig. The other girls were also covered up, not having the same problem with Klutz that she did. Must've been nice...
"Welp," Grumpig started, stretching out her back, "time to report back to base, so we can get ourselves some dinner."
"Sounds like a plan to me~" Maractus chimed.
"Yeah!" Buneary agreed eagerly.
As they walked across the beach, Buneary looked up at the sky. It was beginning to darken and grow more orange by the second. Gosh, it was starting to get late. How long had they been in that cave, exploring and playing in the water?
Not long enough for the krabbys to come out and blow their bubbles, disappointingly, but oh well.
As they approached the stairs leading up the cliff, towards Treasure Town, Buneary felt an uncomfortable gurgle in her stomach. Uh oh, all the food she'd eaten that day was starting to catch up with her.
"Say, uh..." she started, "I don't suppose there's a bathroom around these parts, is there?"
"Oh, a bathroom?" Grumpig asked, stopping as the others did the same. "I dunno, actually... I guess we could go looking for a bathroom tile in the dungeon, or something."
She tilted her head in intrigue. "A... bathroom tile?"
"Yeah, you know, it's a tile that produces a private area to be used as a bathroom."
"Ah, okay! Um, but what's a tile, again?"
"Oh, you don't know?" Maractus asked. "They're like traps, but they're good for you!"
Buneary smiled. Ah, like the wonder spring tile thing, then! "Ooh, alright! That's pretty cool~"
"Yeah, definitely," Grumpig replied with an amused huff. "Ever since that incident with the Tree Of Life, they've been regularly showing up in bigger varieties. Uh, like the bathroom one."
"It's almost like the tree being saved caused all these new tiles and traps to appear!" Maractus added. "When we first joined, we never had anything as useful as instant bathrooms!"
Grumpig nodded. "Heh, yeah. Glad we don't need to use bushes or dead ends, anymore."
Buneary nodded along with her. That was for sure! She could've done with those while she'd been on the Blazing Squad.
Actually, thinking about it, she should've seen some of those tiles earlier this year, right? The events from Supernatural had only happened last year! Why was her island so behind on things like tiles, wands and bursts of mysteriosity, and that sort of stuff? It was so strange.
"Well, anyway, we don't need a bathroom tile," Grumpig continued. She pointed up the stairs. "I just remembered, we can just barge into Wigglytuff's place and peruse it for a toilet."
"'Peruse'! Teehee, that's so nerdy, Grumpig!" Maractus giggled out.
Grumpig sassily put her hand on her hip with a roll of the eyes. "Hmph, hey."
Buneary giggled, too. "Well, I get what you mean. Okay, sounds good~" she said, beaming. "That means I can see Wigglytuff's place, too!"
"Then it's settled! Off we go to Wigglytuff's~!" Maractus chimed.
The three girls quickly climbed the stairs and, after a very short walk past Spinda's Café, climbed even more stairs towards the Wigglytuff Guild.
Buneary took in the sight as they reached the top of the rocky stairs and Grumpig caught her breath. All sorts of decals lined the sides of the path that went across the peak of the small mountain.
Wooden logs were embedded in the ground to form odd cross shapes... unlit fire pits stood on tall stands, filled with coal for burning later... flags stood on poles bearing an emblem of Wigglytuff's face... a tall totem pole stood on each side, both heavily decorated to resemble many types of different pokémon, all standing on top of each other... and in the middle of it all, at the end of the path, was a huge tent shaped like a wigglytuff, its door blocked by iron bars.
It was hard for Buneary to contain her excitement. She almost felt like she was in the Time & Darkness book, now, entering with Munchlax and Phanpy for the first time~!
The girls walked down the path. Buneary almost instinctively avoided a large, round hole in the pathway, with only a grate made up of thick wooden beams tied together in crisscrossing patterns, to stop people from falling down... but no, wait, this was the security system for the guild, wasn't it? Visitors had to stand on it for identification before they would open the door for them.
Buneary gulped and slowly stepped onto it. Seeing how the pit descended into darkness flared up her anxieties. Ohh, she hoped it wouldn't break...!
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" a trio shouted from below, all sharing the same masculine voice.
Though startled, Buneary smiled widely. Ohh, just like the book! That must've been Diglett! Uh... three of him...?
"Whose footprint, honeybuns? Whose footprint, honeybuns?" a trio of voices called out from somewhere further in the distance, all female.
Buneary's smiled faltered into a confused frown. Huh... since when was Loudred a trio of girls? And... honeybuns?
"The footprint is buneary's! The footprint is buneary's!" Diglett's voice rang out again.
Buneary's smile returned, though lighter this time. Well, it seemed like she was clear!
Grumpig and Maractus went through the same procedure of stepping onto the grate for identification. Afterwards, the bars receded upwards, into the head of the tent.
Before they could step inside, three heads poked their way through the rocky ground in front of them. They seemed to belong to an extremely feminine dugtrio, with yellow hair sprawled against each of her heads. Uh, their heads...? She didn't remember what she'd decided on for that sort of thing...
"Hello! I'm Dugtress! How may I-?" her heads all asked at once, stopping with widened eyes as she seemed to spot their badges. "Oh, I see!" She smiled. "Members of Donphan's guild, isn't that right?"
"You got it, lady," Grumpig replied. "Just wanting to show our friend here the loo, if that's okay with you."
"Yes, absolutely! Come on in, come on in!" Dugtress replied, her heads bobbing around excitedly. She retreated into the ground, after, which remained strangely muddy for a second before hardening into solid rock again.
Well, that explained who the feminine voices belonged to, Buneary guessed. Maybe Loudred was away for the time being. That is, if he was even still a part of the guild.
"Sweet! Their bathroom's all yours, Buneary~" Maractus chimed.
"Thank goodness," Buneary replied, relieved that she managed to avoid any antics this whole time.
She walked into the tent. It was a simple room with a signpost sitting next to a large hole.
Peering into the hole, she could see that it led lower into the guild. To go down, one had to use a sloped, wooden ladder.
Buneary gulped. Oh dear, that was a long way down.
She gripped onto the ladder and started down it. As she put each foot on a lower rung than the last, bringing her down further and further into the guild, she felt a sense of dread loom over her, as if more antics were around the corner.
After today, she was flipping expecting it!
"And... I think that about does it for the events leading up to now," Sneasel finished, leaning back against the wall of the wonder spring they'd found outside the caves.
Togetic shivered, despite also being in the lovely hot water of the spring. "Jeez... manhandled by two different, horrible pokémon in one day!" She frowned sadly. "My luck must've really run out."
"Stupid piece of crap," Oricorio muttered angrily, sitting beside her in the spring. Thankfully, he seemed far less flustered than he'd been an hour ago. "This is all that stupid pikachu's fault! Who does he think he is, anyway!?"
Everyone else who was sharing the hot spring - save for Spiritomb, who was outside of it, cooking food for everyone nearby - shared frowns and worried looks alike.
"No... No way, we've gotta think about this more, man," Eiscue said, putting a flipper to the ice cube on his head. Considering the hot water, it was a miracle it wasn't melting, though maybe the spring had some magical properties? Togetic wanted to think so, anyway, because it was fantastical and cool!
Noctowl clicked his tongue. "What even is there to think about? That pikachu is scum! It's basic logic!" he argued.
"No way! Something smells rotten about all this!"
"I must admit, that pikachu is exhibiting some strange behaviors," Stunky admitted. "Perhaps we should figure out some details, so we can have a clearer picture on this."
"That guy groped me!" Togetic said in annoyance. "He's beyond needing a clearer picture!"
"You're right, but hey," Noctowl cut in with a big breath, "if we get a better understanding of this mouse, we might have a better plan of how to kick him to the curb."
Togetic let out a grumpy huff. "Well, I guess..."
"It's settled, then," Stunky said. Leaning an arm on the side of the spring, she looked Spiritomb's way. "Spiritomb, darling, would you mind fetching me something to write with?"
"At once, Miss Stunky...!" Spiritomb replied in that creepy voice of his. He hovered over to the kangaskhan rock they'd produced with an orb earlier and ruffled through the pouch on its stomach.
Ponytale giggled airily. "Wow... it's like he's your, like... butler, or something~" she chimed, sounding strangely less cheery than she'd been an hour or so earlier, when Togetic had met her.
Stunky tilted her head at her. "Hm? Why, darling, that's because he is my butler!"
"Whoa, really?" Eiscue exclaimed in surprise.
"That is correct, Mister Eiscue...!" Spiritomb replied. "I have served her family for a... good number of years, now...!"
"Goodness," Sneasel said, "you weren't joking about being well off, were you, Stunky?"
She giggled. "I suppose not! Truly, I'm blessed, both for my wealth and my beloved butler~"
"You flatter me, Miss Stunky...!" Spiritomb replied.
"On a team with your own butler..." Noctowl murmured, shaking his head. "Well, whatever works, I guess."
"He's a valuable ally, darling, don't you worry!" Her eyes lit up as Spiritomb hovered closer and gave her a pencil and a notepad. "Oh, speaking of which! Thank you, Spiritomb!"
"You're... quite welcome, Miss Stunky...!" the ghost replied, returning to the pot he'd left over an open flame to continue cooking.
Togetic sighed. "I wish I had my own butler," she mumbled.
"Well, I dunno about that," Oricorio replied, grinning with his wings behind his head, "but you could become my cute maid, if you like!"
She huffed, trying not to smirk herself. "I'll bet you'd like that, wouldn't you, mister?"
"You bet!"
She huffed again, though mostly to hide a giggle. After his little escapade earlier, she knew he was just full of it. He could be so cute!
"So, how're we going about this?" Noctowl asked Stunky, who was hunched over the side of the spring on her front, notepad in front of her.
"It's simple, darling," she replied. "First, we shall do a recap of the crimes we know he has done, so far."
"Well, that's easy!" Oricorio exclaimed, frowning. "He groped Togetic! Uh, and you, too."
"Well, we know he's done that to me, the scoundrel, but how do we know he's done the same to Togetic?"
"Uh... well..." Oricorio said, stalling.
"To be fair," Sneasel started, "the staraptor we encountered earlier sounded like he was rather obsessed with ladies' chests, too. Namely to get some 'milk'. It might have even been him."
"Yeah, I guess I can vouch for that..." Togetic added. "That guy's obsession with breast milk was beyond parody!" Especially from what had happened while she'd been unconscious, according to everyone else.
"Wait, wait!" Oricorio quickly interjected. "I just remembered! The staraptor said he'd 'found' her like that!"
"Hmm, and he didn't seem like the type to lie, either..." Sneasel added, crossing his arms.
"Wait... is everyone, like... pregnant, or something?" Ponytale murmured, tilting her head.
Everyone did a double take.
"Huh? What?" Eiscue asked, looking back and forth between all girls present. "What did I miss!?"
"... Oh! No, I get it!" Togetic said. She let out a giggle. "No, that staraptor's just a dummy! I told him he wouldn't be getting anything out of me, and he just ignored the heck outta me!"
"Besides, you're not pregnant, are you?" Noctowl asked the pony with a raised eyebrow. "The idiot went after you, too, right?"
Ponytale blinked. She let out a really airy giggle. "Yeahh, I guess not. Not yet, anyway..."
Togetic noticed Sneasel do a tight-lipped cringe at hearing that. He also noticed Eiscue giving him a knowing smile while chuckling. Err...?
"Um, a-anyway, let's go back on topic, shall we?" Sneasel quickly said. "What sorts of valuables have been stolen so far? And what has been left alone?"
"He's stolen my bag, and Spiritomb's," Stunky replied, scribbling down more notes.
"He left all my stuff alone!" Eiscue said happily.
"Nothing worth stealing, perhaps?" Sneasel suggested.
"I doubt it. He took all of my stuff, and I had nothing especially good," Noctowl huffed. He indicated towards his empty bag, which had been left with the others near the spring. "Thankfully left the camera alone, though, for some reason."
"Hmm, too valuable, maybe?" Sneasel paused. "... Oh, dear, that's a contradiction, isn't it?"
"Right you are, darling!" Stunky replied, still scribbling things down into her notepad. "It seems his preference for stealing isn't an easy one to pin down."
"Anyone else got anything to share?" Noctowl asked.
"Didn't steal my nectar bottles," Oricorio said.
Noctowl knitted his eyebrows. "Your... what?"
Tearing a small hole into his chest coverings, Oricorio reached inside and pulled out a small bottle of pink liquid, holding it up to show off.
"Whoa, whoa, you can store stuff in there!?" Eiscue asked in amazement.
Oricorio put his bottle back in place. "Only these, 'cos they're so small."
"It's the same place girls put their boobies..." Ponytale said, "so I guess it makes sense..." She looked up towards the orange sky. "... If it's only small stuff, does that make you an a-cup...?"
He gave her a weird look. "Huh? No way! I just don't want it bulging out!"
Togetic laughed at the image of Oricorio with a bulging chest. As if he didn't already look girly enough as he was! She smirked cheekily at him as he frowned at her with a huff.
"Well, if it's news to us that you've got stuff in there," Noctowl said to Oricorio, "it'll be news to that dumb rat. So that's why he didn't steal that."
"Makes sense, so we'll discount that one," Stunky replied, making more notes.
"He stole my stuff..." Togetic said with an annoyed sigh, rubbing her wrist where her looplet had once been. Her stomach dipped sharply. "Wait... oh no!" She whipped her paw up to the feathers on her head. She felt around for a while before screeching. "My lucky coin! It's missing!"
"Oh, that coin toss one?" Oricorio asked, frowning worriedly.
"Yes, that one! Oh no, no, no, no!"
"What's so special about it, anyway? Just get a new one," Noctowl asked aloofedly.
She glared at him. "I can't just 'get another one'! That coin was special!"
"Why?"
"I got it when I bought stuff from those sneasels in Venture Village! They gave me a little too much change by accident, and if they're giving away extra money, then you know it's got to be lucky!"
"Th-That's... not entirely accurate," Sneasel started flusteredly. "They have their charitable moments! Occasionally..."
Noctowl let out a small laugh, while the others gave the weasel odd looks. The ones in the know, anyway.
"Oh, that's my Sneasel..." Ponytale said happily. "He's good at seeing the good in people...~"
"Q-Quite, thank you..." Sneasel muttered, the cringe from before returning at full force.
Togetic would care more, but right now, she didn't have the heart to. "Ohh, my poor coin...!"
"H-hey, don't worry about that coin," Oricorio interjected. Smirking, he pointed to himself with a thumb. Or at least, what passed for a thumb. "Tell ya what. When we get up there and I rough that pikachu up, I'll get you the coin back!"
"Thanks..." she replied with a small smile. She hoped so. Even if he couldn't manage it, she appreciated that he was willing to go that far for her.
"As tragic as this is, and you have my sympathy," Stunky began, "I doubt he could ever guess at the value of your coin. So it's just like pocket change to the ruffian, I'd imagine. So let's file that under 'minor petty theft'."
"I guess..." She was right, Togetic supposed, even though it meant the world to her.
"If we're discussing his bad deeds," Sneasel started, "we shouldn't forget that you two, Noctowl and Oricorio, were thrown off the side of a cliff."
Oricorio frowned, and Noctowl frowned even more.
"Why not me, though?" Togetic asked, perplexed.
"Well... if it's true about what that pikachu did to me, darling..." Stunky started, frowning sympathetically, "let's... just say that he didn't plan on throwing you away immediately."
The hot water she was in did nothing to quell the shivers of disgust from travelling up Togetic's spine. "Ughhh, he better not have done anything to me! Even if it's just fondling he did, I'm going to fondle his face with an explosion!"
Eiscue laughed. When she turned her frown on him, he audibly gulped and rubbed his head. "Uh, sorry..." he muttered.
"Oh, so, uh... what, like... nice stuff did that little pikachu do?" Ponytale asked. "Eiscue thinks he's nice, so, uh... I dunno..."
He turned an eager smile her way. "Glad you asked! Well, I already told ya that he saved me from those shadow pokémon... but I don't know if I mentioned that he leapt off from zapdos-only knows where to do it!"
Everyone reacted in surprise, including Togetic, who blinked.
"Him? Really?" she asked.
"Yep! And you know how far it is to fall from one of them weird blade things that stick outta the mountain!"
"Rather remarkable, if true," Sneasel commented. "For him to go out of his way like that is quite surreal, for him."
"Well, it's certainly the same man," Stunky summarized. "You did say he was a frowning pikachu with a ponytail, Eiscue, dear, so he matches the description of the man I met..."
"Yeah, no doubt about it," Noctowl agreed. "If we're guessing motives, next, that frowning's probably it. The lowlife must have some sort of deep rooted rage, or something, if he's frowning like that all the time."
"Yeah, and he wanted to take it out on all of us, the big jerk!" Togetic added, splashing the water with a paw angrily.
"But not Eiscue, I suppose...?" Ponytale said, face scrunched up in confusion.
Everyone paused at that for a while, not sure how to respond. The air went quiet, save for the gentle sounds of the rippling water and the soft sizzling of Spiritomb's cooking.
It was a good point, Togetic guessed. Wouldn't he take it out on Eiscue, too? It wasn't exactly like he'd been helping purely to save his own skin, after all. He'd even jumped down a few mountain 'blades' to help!
She took a second to cup some water and pour it over her head feathers. She'd already gotten rid of the sticky substance - one which had smelled oddly like an elixir, for some reason - but she couldn't be too sure.
While she was grooming her head feathers, something occurred to her. "That's it! Aha, I've got it!" she chimed, clapping her paws together.
"Got what?" Oricorio asked.
"He hates women! And anyone who associates with women!" She pointed at Eiscue. "And because you weren't with a woman, he thought you were cool!"
"Hmm... makes a lot of sense, actually!" Sneasel said. "Especially after you both covered that, um... crude topic about a lady's parts."
Togetic blinked. "Huh?" She raised an eyebrow at Eiscue. "What's this I'm hearing, Eiscue?"
The penguin bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Eheh, well... we were talking about things we like about girls, so..." He shook his flippers in front of him defensively. "W-We didn't say anything super weird, or anything! He said he's more of an ass man than I am, but that's it!"
Almost everyone stared with various levels of bewilderment.
"... Pft. Wow, Eiscue," Noctowl murmured, amused.
"Oh, you are such a boy, Eiscue!" Togetic reprimanded with a roll of the eyes. He was so laddish!
"W-Well, y'know...!" Eiscue stammered, his face going red despite all the ice he was wearing.
"Uh, eheh, as I was saying..." Sneasel started again. He awkwardly cleared his throat before continuing. "Do you suppose he attacked after hearing that you enjoy women, Eiscue? After all, he teleported away afterwards, right?"
"Well, I mean, maybe? But why did he say he liked asses, but then went for everyone's boobs? That's just weird, right? And still, why didn't he steal my stuff!?"
"Who's to say he wasn't thinking of it?" Stunky suggested, scribbling down more notes. "There's a chance he decided to cut his losses before someone found him and stopped him. It is a public space, after all, so pokémon are bound to wander in on his actions, sooner or later."
Eiscue groaned and slumped back in the spring, defeated. "Man, I dunno..."
"Do not worry, Eiscue! We will get to the bottom of this, I guarantee it!" Sneasel reassured.
"Dude, I hope so! All this drama is making my head hurt."
"Well then..." Spiritomb started, floating over the wonder spring to look at them, "allow me to... soothe your poor aches and pains with some apple and hondew stew."
"Oh, sweet!" Eiscue said excitedly, practically leaping out of the water to get towards the food. "I'm so starved, you have no idea!"
"Hoho, well then, let's conclude this after some food, shall we?" Stunky asked in amusement, putting her notepad and pencil down. "I am, as you might say, utterly starved!"
Everyone agreed and got out of the wonder spring, towards where the food was already laid out on the floor in bowls fashioned from leaves.
Even as she eagerly picked up a bowl for herself, Togetic couldn't stop thinking about that horrible pikachu. When they found him, he was getting his butt kicked, for sure!
Walking down a hall in Wigglytuff's guild, Buneary smiled to herself, now far more refreshed than before. Thankfully, she'd been able to go about her business hassle free, unlike what she'd expected. A far cry from all of her shenanigans, earlier!
She looked around as she travelled. The walls were entirely made up of the brown rock of the mountain, plus lots of orange bricks lodged into various random spots.
Vines, roots and branches hung from every little inch of the walls, and colorful flowers lined the sides of the floor, giving the place a very natural feel. Grass was even spread across the ground like a carpet, making it very comfortable to walk across. It was a wonder that Tree Hugger Kakuna hadn't joined this place, instead!
Even though it was getting darker out, sunlight still streamed through the halls, thanks to the many windows in the guild. That was definitely a benefit to having a guild in a mountain instead of under the ground.
Right now, there were no pokémon milling about, so it felt a little empty. Were they still on their missions, or something?
Walking into the main lobby, there was more stuff to see! There was a corridor on the other end of the room, leading to what looked like the kitchen... a large hole in the corner of the room, being guarded by Dugtress... a large, yellow wooden door decorated with a wigglytuff curl insignia, which was currently closed... and a statue of a croagunk in front of an empty circle of rocks for some reason, or another. Had there been a croagunk in the book? She didn't really remember, to be honest.
After briefly glancing at some of the numerous wooden signs adorning the walls, she made her way up the ladder leading to the next floor. It was slightly sloped, making it easier to climb, but she still couldn't imagine for the life of her how Donphan had climbed this thing, way back when.
On the next floor - the one filled with notice boards containing missions aplenty - Buneary noticed Grumpig and Maractus chatting with someone off to the side. Someone with a somewhat screechy voice.
On moving closer, she let out a slight gasp when the person came into view. Oh, legends, it was Chatot! The guildmaster's right hand man!
She suddenly got very nervous. Ohhh, he was well known for his grumpy behavior, and for loudly snapping at people he didn't like. He'd even sent Team Destiny to bed without any dinner, all for failing a simple mission! A simple mission that Team Skull had sabotaged for mischief!
Oddly, though, the bird looked less grumpy and more tired right now. He had dark creases under his eyes, and he was frowning wearily. The picture she'd always had of him in her mind didn't quite match what she was seeing.
She antsily hung back at a distance as he talked with Grumpig and Maractus, wondering what they were saying to him.
"Y'know, I think you should just go to the party, Chatot," Grumpig said, continuing an unknown conversation. "You sure as hell need the rest."
"Yeah!" Maractus said. "And your brother would sure appreciate it~!"
"You must be crazy!" Chatot replied in utter bewilderment while flusteredly flapping his wings. "That would mean leaving the guild purely in the hands of the guildmaster! I don't trust him to not leave it in shambles while I'm away!"
"He has his wife to keep him on a leash, doesn't he?" Grumpig asked.
"She's just as bad! She actively encourages his behavior!"
Maractus giggled. "Wellll, you say that, but ever since they had kids, they seem a lot less rascally, these days!" she said.
"Yeah, she's right," Grumpig added. "The way they are right now, I'm sure they can hold the fort. Besides, look at you! You're practically deteriorating from stress as we speak! You need time away."
Chatot looked like he was about to argue, but deflated with a heavy sigh. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're right." He folded his wings behind his back. "Maybe a short vacation is necessary to avoid an early grave."
"Hooray~!" Maractus sang, shaking her body around to the sound of rattling.
"Good," Grumpig added happily. She chuckled. "Last thing I want is a funeral being hosted by Wigglytuff."
"Har har..." Chatot replied with a roll of the eyes.
Oh dear, Chatot was just that stressed, was he? Poor guy... maybe there was a reason for his grumpiness, after all...
He suddenly seemed to catch sight of Buneary, as his eyes lit up in intrigue. "Oh, this is your new acquaintance, right?"
Buneary froze up. Eep! "Uh... h-hello!" she replied.
"Here she is, the gal of the hour," Grumpig said in amusement, looking her way.
"Hiya, Buneary~!" Maractus chimed, hopping over to her.
Chatot walked over, himself. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Buneary," he greeted. He sighed, eyebrows knitting tiredly. "... Even if you joined Donphan's guild, as opposed to ours."
Buneary began to sweat as her brain strained for the safest answer possible. "Oh, h-haha, sorry... I just... I..."
"Yes, yes, because of the book, I know," Chatot sighed. He frowned. "For the record, I apologized profusely for the 'no dinner' incident, once we learned of Team Skull's intentions!"
Buneary stared. "Oh... really?"
"Yes!" He angrily fluttered his wings. "Ughh! I don't know why that butterfree omitted that part of the events, but don't believe it for a second!"
"I guess it helps that it was only a dramatization, to be fair," Grumpig added.
"As far as the general populous is concerned, I'm worse than the devil!"
"Aww, that's no good..." Buneary said sadly. "Well... even if the book doesn't think so, I think you must be nice, if you said sorry!"
Chatot's eyes lit up. "Oh, you think?"
Buneary smiled. "Yeah! Besides, you helped Team Destiny out a whole lot with saving the world, so that's really good too, right?"
He proudly puffed his chest out while beaming. "Well, I'm glad someone noticed~!" He chuckled to himself giddily before straightening himself out. "Well, thank you, Buneary! You might not be a part of the guild... but be sure to come to me if you ever have questions about anything! I am the head of intelligence in the guild, after all~"
Buneary beamed. "Thank you!"
"Look at you, ever the friend maker," Grumpig said to her with an amused snort.
"Our new friend, the friend maker~!" Maractus chimed, picking Buneary up to give her a big hug.
Lodged in a firm grip, Buneary yelped at the stinging sensation all over her body. The needles were back in full force, it seemed! Ouch...
She strained a smile through her pain. Well, she was glad everyone was happy, at least. Even someone like Chatot! Maybe this newfound happiness would help him enjoy whatever party he was going to~
Noctowl let out a huff as he finished the last of the stew. That had been pretty nice, actually. Slightly dry, sure, but the spiciness more than made up for it. Spiritomb knew what he was doing when it came to food.
Pushing his bowl away - or rather, the leaves Spiritomb had fashioned into a bowl - Noctowl glanced around at the others. Most of them were just idly chatting amongst themselves while eating, or having finished eating.
Curious, he listened in on some conversations.
"So how many different nectars are there?" Togetic was asking Oricorio.
Oricorio took his spoon out of his beak and swallowed. "Uh... four of 'em!" he answered. "There's one that turns me ghost-type... y'know, the forme I was when I met'cha. There's one for fire, one for psychic... and the one I am right now's electric!"
"Cool!" She giggled. "Are they all as giiirly as this one~?"
Oricorio spluttered and frowned at her. "Quite calling 'em girly! I make 'em macho!"
"Heehee! Sure...!"
Noctowl huffed with an amused smirk. Macho, huh? Like hell.
Still, as in denial as that guy was, Noctowl appreciated how much he'd helped out, even though he was a complete stranger.
He'd even gone to the effort to insist that no one had seen Togetic's tits. Everyone had known it was bullshit, but he and the others had decided to play along, anyway. Knowing how emotional Togetic was, maybe that was for the best.
He turned to a different conversation. One between Eiscue, Sneasel and Spiritomb.
"Hey, y'know, that staraptor said something weird at some point," Eiscue started, rebalancing his ice cube, as he'd partially removed it to eat. "Sort of like it was from some whack language I'd never heard, before."
"Hmm... might you be talking about the word... 'babushka'...?" Spiritomb suggested, smile as large and crooked as ever.
"Ah, I know that one," Sneasel said. "It's Russian for 'grandmother'."
"Ahh, how... clever of you to know such a word...!"
"Yeah, dude, how do you know Russian!?" Eiscue asked in awe.
Sneasel grinned proudly. "They spoke it often in Stormur Town, where I was born," he explained.
Eiscue paused. "Oh, uh..." He rubbed the side of his ice head. "By the way, that Russian? Totally not a whack language, am I right? Haha..."
Sneasel chuckled. "It's okay, Eiscue. Admittedly, I only know bits and pieces of it. Sadly, because of my roots as an orphan, I had no one to teach me properly."
"Aww, dude, that sucks," Eiscue replied sympathetically.
"As a fellow orphan... you have my... condolences," Spiritomb added.
"Oh, you're an orphan, too?" Sneasel asked in surprise.
"That is correct...! Though, thankfully, Miss Stunky's family were kind enough to take me under their wing. In return, I dedicated myself to... servicing them in any way I could...!"
"How wonderful!" Sneasel said happily. "I'm happy everything managed to work out so well!"
"... Wait, are we thinking the same thing when you said 'servicing?'" Eiscue asked, worriedly.
Spiritomb chuckled darkly. "Perhaps so...!" he replied. It didn't seem to reassure the penguin at all.
Noctowl shook his head bemusedly. Obviously, that's not what the ghost had meant. Well, he assumed, anyway.
Either way, good for them for managing to escape the sticks.
He turned to the final conversation taking place, between Stunky and Ponytale. Knowing that horse, he didn't exactly expect anything engaging to be said.
"So... it's not a fashion statement?" Stunky asked in surprise, raising her spoon to her mouth for another bite of stew.
"No, not really..." Ponytale responded as absently as ever. "I didn't even know I had any purple... stuff on my face." She tilted her head. "Wait... unless it's when the snow fell on my head..."
The skunk chewed for a bit before swallowing. "Uh... snow, darling?" she asked in confusion.
"Yeah, because it's Christmas..." Ponytale gasped and smiled. "Oh! Merry Christmas~"
"... Darling... it's currently May. Christmas isn't for another seven months."
The horse looked at her like she'd just spoken gibberish. "Huh...? But... it was snowing..."
"If that were the case, I'm certain there'd be snow lying around, somewhere. If not, then wouldn't you at least see it falling?"
Ponytale stared at her. After a while, she let out an airheaded laugh. "Oh! I guess so! I didn't even think about that...!" She kept giggling as her face lit up with a blush. "That's embarrassing... I've already wished everyone a Merry Christmas. They must think I'm all, like... mad, or something."
Stunky laughed along. "Oh, my dear, you're quite something else. Well, try again in seven months, and we'll see then!"
"Okay! Oh, uh... and thanks for the flirty comment, but I'm not, like... into girls..."
"... I... see?" Stunky responded, face scrunched up in confusion. Shrugging, she giggled again. "Well, either way, I'm sure you would know if I was really flirting, darling, so no need to worry about that."
"Oh, okay."
Noctowl huffed. Yeah, that had gone about as amazingly as he'd expected.
Seriously, though, she'd taken something as simple as that as a flirt? It hadn't even been a damn compliment! Did people compliment her that little? Or did she constantly think people were flirting with her?
Well, whatever. The owl rifled through his depressingly empty bag for his camera. Getting it and aiming it upwards, he took a snapshot of the mountain. Against the light orange tint that was now lighting up the sky, it looked stunning.
"Oh! Is that a camera?" Ponytale suddenly asked.
Realizing she was talking to him, Noctowl looked over at her. "Yeah?" he replied.
"I know how to, like... do an image projection thing with psychic energies. I could let everyone see your pictures, if you want..."
"No need, thanks. I'll just take them to a camera shop, later, for printing."
"Actually, dear, this might be useful," Stunky interjected. "If you've taken a picture during your fight with that pikachu, we could maybe get a clue or two on his motivations, and perhaps on how to beat him!"
"Couldn't hurt," Oricorio added, looking their way.
Eiscue swallowed the last of his food down and shoved his ice cube back down onto his head. "Yeah! Maybe there'll be something to clear Pikachu's name!" he stupidly added.
Everyone else had turned their attention Noctowl's way expectantly.
The owl huffed. Everyone against him, huh? Well, whatever. "Alright, fine," he said, shrugging exaggeratedly. "I don't know what you expect to see, but if you want to look so badly, then go ahead."
"Okie dokie...!" Ponytale chimed, moving over to Noctowl, who'd placed his camera on the ground in front of her. The horse's horn - along with her mane and tail - glowed in flashing colors as she held it against the camera.
A pastel fog appeared in the air, which quickly began to form into different colors. In seconds, it took the form of a picture Noctowl recognized as having taken before. One of Eiscue and Togetic fighting against a horde of ledyba and ledian inside of a giant cave. One that was filled with hundreds of precariously narrow pathways of rock everywhere one looked.
"Oh yeah, Mt. Travail!" Togetic said in recognition. "That was fun, until Eiscue fell down to the bottom floor from the top!"
Eiscue laughed. "Oh yeah!" he said. He rubbed his back tenderly. "I still remember how much that one hurt like hell! Haha..."
Noctowl rolled his eyes. "What did you expect, destroying the bridge with an icicle?" he muttered.
"Didn't think it would break, man, c'mon..." Eiscue defended sheepishly.
"You're just lucky we can fly, mister, or there'd be trouble!" Togetic reprimanded, making him more awkward.
The colors of the picture Ponytale had formed started to shift to different ones, this time brown, pink and green. Quickly after, it began to resemble an image of Noctowl wincing with a spiky arm wrapped around his neck. The one with an arm wrapped around his neck was winking straight at the 'lens', her other arm going straight forwards, off screen.
"Oh, you're friends with Big Fun Maractus?" Stunky asked.
"Apparently," Noctowl replied. He rubbed his neck as he remembered the event. "She saw my camera and just couldn't help herself."
"Oh, how sweet~"
He looked at the others. Most of them were smiling pleasantly, except for Oricorio, who was staring with widened eyes.
Looking back at the picture and seeing the grass-type's giant tits, he suddenly figured out why. He didn't blame the other bird, honestly.
Soon, the image's colors shifted again, quickly resembling an image of Togetic and Eiscue in a cramped room, and with Noctowl in the back pointing a camera forwards. They were staring at their own reflections in confusion, the whole room being made up of mirrored walls.
"Aha! I've been there, before!" Sneasel said eagerly. "Crystalline Maze, am I right?"
"Right," Noctowl replied. "We expected crystals, but it was more like a hall of mirrors."
Sneasel chuckled. "Makes for an interesting time!" He let out a breath. "It was fun, until Salandit thought she saw something ghostly in one of the reflections and went running."
"Huh, did she see something ghostly?" Oricorio asked.
"Well... I'm rather sure it was Gourgeist she'd seen, so... sort of."
Noctowl huffed in amusement, while others who were in the know chuckled or giggled along.
After a while, the colors changed to more brown and pale yellow ones. Before long, the image cleared into a picture of a female buneary standing on some sand. She was looking straight up into the eyes of where the lens would be in confused curiosity.
"Ah yes! That time early this afternoon, when we met Wallflower Buneary!" Sneasel proclaimed happily.
"Is she a friend of yours, perhaps...?" Spiritomb asked.
"Absolutely! She was so adorable!" Togetic cooed.
"Too bad she's joining Donphan's place and not ours, huh?" Eiscue said with an exaggerated shrug.
"Ooh, is that so?" Stunky asked, her eyes lighting up eagerly. "I shall enjoy having a pleasant girly chat with her once we get back, then~"
"And I shall enjoy... servicing her...!" Spiritomb added with a dark chuckle, earning a look of concern from Noctowl, Eiscue and Oricorio. Does he say that sort of thing on purpose?
"I liked all the mashed potato she had on-" Ponytale started before stopping to tilt her head. "Wait... no, she said it wasn't mashed potatoes... What was she wearing...?"
"Pft, mashed potatoes?" Noctowl asked incredulously. "The hell are you even talking about?"
"Y'know, the stuff... she's wearing... everywhere."
The image zoomed in on Buneary's fluff, as if to make a point.
"Darling, it's simply fluff," Stunky replied. "My father actually had a blanket made for me and my big brother, woven out of quality buneary fluff. It is extremely soft and comfortable, so I am quite jealous of those delightful rabbits!" She squinted at the picture. "Though... has this one shaved a bit...?"
"Wow...!" Ponytale said in awe, seemingly ignoring her latter point. She giggled airily. "Much better than mashed potatoes, then..."
The others responded in amusement, but Noctowl only shook his head. Good legends... "Yeah... Anyway, any other pictures?" he asked to get the ditz back on track.
"Okie dokes...!" she replied, her horn briefly glowing brighter.
The colors on the image shifted to form a large, gray, pinecone-like shape. Actually, it was Mt. Bristle, wasn't it?
"Almost found the right one!" Oricorio said. "C'mon, get to the one with the pikachu already!"
"Okie dokes," Ponytale repeated.
The horse skimmed through several more pictures, one after the other. It seemed she was going through the selection at random, because the picture with the creepy grass eevee wasn't showing up.
Noctowl clicked his tongue. Well, whatever. It's not like he really wanted to see that weirdo again, anyway.
Before he could think any more on the matter, another picture formed. A brown and yellow one.
Letting out a huff, he turned to look at the top of the mountain. It was much darker against the setting evening sun.
Honestly, he still thought this was a waste of time. They should be thinking up a plan of action to beat that mouse senseless and take back their stuff. Not shuffling through his photos, like he was showing off a vacation he'd been on recently.
Well... admittedly there was some pride to be had in it. Perhaps he would show his photos off again in the future, if he ever got a minute.
Most of the crowd suddenly gasped, or made other shocked noises. Glancing around at them, he saw them staring at the screen-like fog, eyes widened to various degrees.
He frowned, curiosity and dread building in his gut. Oh, shit, what had he taken a picture of? Had he unintentionally caught a couple fucking in the bushes, or what?
He looked at the screen and got damn near the biggest shock of his life. He was lying unconscious on the ground in a heap, with the ponytailed pikachu behind him. The mouse was reaching for his bare ass, which was sticking high into the air, cheeks clearly on display.
The owl stared a hole into the image. He felt his face go as hot as it could go from sheer embarrassment and sheer fucking rage.
"Ohh... jeez," Oricorio muttered awkwardly.
"Guess I wasn't the, uh... only one," Togetic muttered sheepishly.
"Wow... that's a weird thing to take a photo of..." Ponytale mumbled. She tilted her head. ".. How did you take it when you're over th-?"
Ignoring her, Noctowl flew towards the image and harshly flapped his wings. Multicolored fog was sent scattering away, completely dispelling the image. "That motherfucker! That's why he let me keep my fucking camera!"
"Dude, Pikachu..." Eiscue muttered in disbelief.
"For what it is worth, Mister Noctowl..." Spiritomb started, his usual crooked smile unwavering, "it is a fine behind that is certain to have pleased the ladies...!"
"I concur...!" Stunky agreed, fanning her face.
"Do I look like I give a shit!?" Noctowl shouted. He gave a hard stomp, cracking the rocky ground under his talons. "When I find that little bastard, I'm going to kick him to death!"
"Oh... my...!" Stunky replied, fanning her red face harder.
"What he's done is terrible, yes..." Sneasel said, frowning. "I suppose anyone is a target. Man or woman."
"Spite. It must be fucking spite," Noctowl snarled. "I'm going to go and spite him back right now!" He began to take off to the air.
Sneasel hopped to his feet. "W-Wait, settle down, Noctowl! We should all go together!"
"Yeah, Noctowl!" Togetic added. She held her spoon up. "Besides I haven't even finished eating!"
"Fine! Finish up, then we're all flying up there together!" Noctowl ordered. He was too pissed to give a shit about any sort of pleasantries.
"Legends, who knew you were so assertive, Noctowl, dear~" Stunky murmured with half-lidded eyes.
Noctowl rolled his eyes and ignored her. He knew that sort of look when he saw it, but he couldn't even be paid to give a shit at this point.
"Man... I guess we should... go and see what Pikachu has to say, if nothin' else," Eiscue muttered.
"Good luck," Noctowl retorted. "You won't have long. When I find that stupid, cold pikachu, my claws are going through his damn eyes."
"Oh... I'd better get my Heal Beam, like... warmed up and stuff, then," Ponytale said.
"He'll fucking need it."
"Cold Pikachu..." Sneasel murmured. He clicked his claws. "I think we finally have a name for this fiend! If he frowns and acts as cold as you say, then it's only fitting!"
Everyone agreed with the weasel's logic. Noctowl included. 'Cold Pikachu' huh? Appropriate, because when the owl got up there, one very basic thing was going to happen.
That mouse was going to be stone cold dead.
Now waiting next to the Rapidash Express stand - which was currently unmanned - Buneary's paws were planted firmly on her face. While going down the stairs leading away from the guild, she'd remembered a horrible detail that had sent her embarrassment into overdrive once again.
"Ohh, what will he think of me now?" she whined.
"C'mon, kid," Grumpig replied, rubbing her on her rolled up ear. "He's just a kiddiewinks, so it was just an overreaction on his part."
"Ohhh, but he's still going to remember everything he saw for the rest of his life, though! I'm so mortified!"
"Give it a year, and he'll wanna see more~!" Maractus joked impishly.
Buneary pouted at her. "That doesn't help...!"
Maractus giggled. "Yeahhh, I guess not. I just wanted to see you do that cute pout again, I'm sorry."
Buneary couldn't stop herself from pouting harder, which made Maractus more gleeful. Hmph! She had a lot to pout about, lately...
"Pft. Now whose jokes are naughty?" Grumpig scolded, though with a light smirk. She looked at Buneary. "Anyway, kid, don't worry. I just thought up something."
Buneary looked at her curiously. "Huh?" she murmured.
"Alright, well, I'll just tell him that the 'chinchou who'd joined' got so embarrassed that she left. But then we ran into you, so it all works out."
"Will... Will that work?" Buneary asked, looking at her hopefully.
"Dunno, but it can't hurt to try."
"We didn't drop Buneary's name at any point, did we?" Maractus asked.
Grumpig scratched her head. "... Er..."
Buneary frowned anxiously. This wasn't going to work after all, was it?
Before Grumpig could give an answer, some loud shouting came from the entrance to Spinda's Café, surprising the three.
"For fuck's sake, Mom!" a familiar man's voice yelled. "Stop this shit and just go home!"
"N-No, I..." a womanly voice slurred before hiccupping. "I'm gon' go... wait for my love t'... t' return to me..."
"You're drunk as shit! You're not going fuckin' anywhere that ain't home!"
"Hoo boy..." Grumpig muttered.
"Death Threat Octillery?" Buneary murmured, hopping over to see what the commotion was.
Stopping in front of the café's entrance, she saw two octillerys on the stairs, struggling in a grapple. One was the very masculine octopus she recognized quite well, and the other was another octillery. Though far more feminine, she was almost the spitting image of octillery. In fact, she was the one who had been drinking in the café earlier, wasn't she?
Lower on the stairs behind the octopi were some other pokémon Buneary recognized. Tree Hugger Kakuna, Surprise Slugma and, interestingly, Trap Spinarak.
Everyone looked rather awkward, except for the cocoon, whose expression was unreadable.
"Hey, what's going on over here?" Grumpig asked, moving over to see all the commotion. "Octillery, why're you wrestling with the locals?"
Octillery strained as he spoke. "My mom's trying... to fuckin'... get up Sky fuckin' Peak to find my... shitty deadbeat dad...!"
"He'll be there thish time... my hero, Amphrorosh..." Octillery's mom slurred dreamily.
"No, he won't!"
Grumpig's lips stretched in a grimace. "Oh..." she muttered.
"Oh dear," Maractus added, hopping next to her with a sad, awkward frown.
On noticing Buneary, Spinarak's, Slugma's and even Kakuna's eyes seemed to light up. The former two climbed on the walls of the stairway to squeeze past the octopi, until they were able to slip out of the trap door and get closer to Buneary.
"Hey, Fuzzy!" Spinarak greeted, smirking along with his back pattern. "Long time no see! It's been, like, six hours since we last met! Pretty much an eternity!"
Slugma silently laughed at his joke.
Buneary giggled lightly. "It feels like it, honestly, with how busy I've been..." She glanced over Octillery's way. "Uh... what's all this about Octillery and his mom?"
"Hey, Maggy, show her the thing you drew for me," Spinarak asked, snickering lightly to himself while his back pattern grinned.
Slugma nodded and reached into her bag with her face. After a few seconds, she brought out a piece of paper with a drawing on it and offered it to Buneary.
"Oh?" Buneary murmured, taking it from her. Getting a closer look, it seemed to be drawn in the style of a comic book, its art resembling a cute child's drawing in style.
"Oh, that's so cute~" Buneary cooed. "You drew this, Slugma?"
Slugma nodded while smiling proudly.
"She's a smeargle in the making, this one!" Spinarak said, making slugma's smile go full on beaming.
Happy, Buneary decided to read it. The first panel showed a large, spiky mountain with an arrow pointing towards it on the snowier parts. The next panel had a sad octillery with exaggerated breasts trapped under a pile of what looked like snow. Or at least, Buneary assumed it was snow.
The next panel showed that same octillery now out of the snow, her tentacles gleefully wrapped around a ditsy, smiling ampharos who was holding a shovel. A loveheart was floating above them.
"Oh, this 'Ampharos' saved her life?" Buneary asked.
Slugma nodded eagerly.
Buneary glanced off to the octillerys. Grumpig and Maractus were trying to pry them off each other, while Kakuna watched on, seemingly saying something to them.
Buneary let out a breath. Oh dear... this was going to get depressing, wasn't it?
Reading on, she saw that the next row started with a panel depicting the two drinking something. The drinks were red, and were inside some odd v-shaped glasses with a stick coming out of the bottom. The two pokémon had red squiggles on their cheeks and their expressions were dopier than usual.
Buneary didn't really understand. Were those drinks special, or something?
The next panel made Buneary's eyes widen. Now lying on a straw bed, the octillery had her two oval-shaped breasts out, while being nudged in the groin by the ampharos' comically large, bendy penis. Both had goofily gleeful expressions on them.
Buneary bit her lip from awkwardness. Umm...
Spinarak laughed. Looking up, Buneary also saw Slugma silently laughing, too.
"Was waiting for ya to get to that part, Fuzzy!" the spider joked.
Slugma nodded repeatedly amongst her snickers.
Face heating up, Buneary's lips stretched. "O-Oh... you," she muttered. Well, she certainly didn't expect that from Slugma's cute drawings...
Shaking her head free from the image, Buneary read on. The next panel had the octillery lying in a straw bed all by herself, accompanied by a bunch of lines in the shape of an apparently missing ampharos. The octillery had a large, sad frown.
Buneary frowned sympathetically. Aww... well, that explained a thing or two. This ampharos clearly didn't make for a very good lover or father, it seemed.
As if to bring the point home, the next panel showed the octillery standing next to an egg. It had a gaping cracked hole in the side of it with a visibly angry remoraid leaping out. The word 'FUCK' was written next to him in large letters. Buneary found it pretty funny, despite the somber tones.
The next panel showed the female octillery gazing up at the mountain in the distance. A ghostly image of the top half of the ampharos was above the mountain, overlooking it.
Below the female octillery, taking up the rest of the page, was a large flowery speech bubble. Buneary expected something somber or sappy to be said in it, like 'I will wait for you...' or 'I miss you...'
Instead, it read: "CUM BAK, FGT!" with a frowny face at the end.
It admittedly got a chuckle out of Buneary, bringing her out of the somber mood. Well then.
She handed the comic back to the cheeky slug, who took it in her mouth, obvious amusement all over her face. "Well, that was an, um... interesting way to get up to date," Buneary said with a light giggle.
"You're right about that," Spinarak joked, giving a wink with his back pattern. "Maggy needs to start her own comic series, pronto!"
"Heehee, maybe!"
Slugma grinned gleefully at their praises.
After offering her a smile back, Buneary looked over at the others. Grumpig seemed to be leading Octillery's mom somewhere else, while the others were heading Buneary's way.
"Okie dokes, we got through to the gal, so Grumpig's gonna take her back home," Maractus said, an air of relief to her voice.
"For fuck's sake..." Octillery grumbled, looking distressed. His eyes flashed with recognition when he spotted Buneary. "Oh, it's you." He gave a simple, half-hearted wave with a tentacle. "Yo."
"H-Hey," Buneary replied, frowning sympathetically. "Uh... sorry you had to go through that..."
He shrugged. "Naww, s'alright. Least I found her before she got stuck halfway up the shitty mountain again..."
"Mmhm," Kakuna hummed, hopping next to him. "While I appreciated the natural beauty of Sky Peak, last time that happened, I'm sure we would have all preferred sleeping that night."
Slugma nodded, a stretched grimace on her face.
"Oh dear..." Buneary sighed. So this wasn't just a one off occurrence, then...
"Ugh... after all the shit today, fucking around with swords, and boney perverts, and water-rock idiots, and that shitty bidoof, and my fucking mom, I just wanna go home and fucking sleep," Octillery mumbled tiredly.
"Aww..." Buneary blinked. "... Water-rock? You mean like...?"
"Yeah, those guys," Spinarak interjected. Though he was smirking, his back pattern was grimacing. "It took my team, his team and some random grouchy mons we met to take 'em out, plus interest. It was a barrel of laughs all 'round!"
Slugma nodded, a sheepish smile plastered on her face.
Buneary pulled a face. Yeesh... she was glad she hadn't gone with them, then. Though maybe they could've used the extra help...
She pondered what to say, though was stopped by a familiar, energetic girl's voice further down the road.
"Hellloooo~!" Dash Crash Rapidash sang, running onto the scene. "I'm here, ready and waiting to take you to, uh... wherever you're headed!"
"Hi, Rapidash~" Maractus sang. She looked at the horse in surprise. "Gee, actually, weren't you working this morning?"
"I was! But, well, I needed the extra money to get into that club where they let you feel the men's muscles, so..." Rapidash paused to kneel and wiggle her bum around in the air in excitement. "Ooohh, can't wait, can't waaait~!" She stood up again to look at the group. "... Uh, so yeah! Overtime!"
Maractus laughed. "Well, okay! Don't overdo the overtiiime~"
Spinarak chuckled. "Two spazzes for the price of one. Ain't we lucky?" he sassed.
Slugma laughed silently and nodded.
"So, on that note, who's coming with?" Rapidash continued.
"Um... we're waiting for Grumpig to get back, so..." Buneary started.
"That's right. We'll be a while," Kakuna said.
Rapidash stared blankly. "... Oh..." She paused for longer, before shrugging heartily and detaching her harness. "Welp, there's my excuse to break and hang out by the beach!" She rushed off to the stairs leading to the beach in question. "Call me when you need meeee~!"
Everyone stared after her.
Octillery sighed loudly. "Legendsdamn it..." he grumbled.
Kakuna put a pincer to the man's side comfortingly. "Don't worry. We can rest by the beach, too. In about twenty minutes, we can even watch the krabbys blow their bubbles, if you want," he suggested.
"Ooh, that sounds nice!" Buneary chimed. "I'd love to do that with you and everyone else!"
"Same!" Spinarak added cheerfully. "Any chance to laze about is one I'll take. Let's do it!"
Slugma nodded eagerly, her smile big.
"Heh, there ya go," Kakuna said to the octopus. "So how about it?"
The octopus' eyes lit up slightly at their words. "... 'Kay," he said.
"Teehee, yaaay~!" Maractus sang, shaking her body to a distinct rattling sound. "Guess we get to watch the show after all~!"
"Guess so~!" Buneary replied just as eagerly.
After making sure to leave a note for Grumpig - thanks to some paper and pencils Slugma had on her - the group headed towards the beach, ready to relive the iconic scene from Time & Darkness.
"... They're coming."
Bradley gave Ben a curious glance at the ominous statement. "... Who is?" he asked.
"The group you mugged, of course," the leafeon elaborated, his usual smile not faltering. "I wondered if it would be another day they came for you, but no. Not after all the humiliation~"
Bradley's ears dipped. "Oh..."
Ben got up from where he was seated - next to the hoard of things they'd stolen that day - and wandered elsewhere into the cave, towards the entrance. "I'm not sure when I'll be back, so feel free to get some sleep if you want, little monster! You've been awfully busy today, after all."
"Alright. Thanks."
Ben disappeared into the darkness of the cave. As he left, Bradley wondered if it was a good time to bring his thing out and get busy.
He wandered over to the kangaskhan rock Ben had placed earlier and rifled through the open pouch on its front. When his paw brushed against a book, he brought it out.
It was a simple, brown, tattered book, with a holster on the front. In the holster was his pen. One that was decorated like a rayquaza.
He opened the book up to the latest page and began to write.
997 A.E, 13 May, Friday
Hey, Journal.
Ben took me to Mount Bristle to hurt more pokemon today, and take their things.
I hurt a machop, a stunky, a spiratome, a noctowl, a togetic, a bird that resembled a cheerleader (I'll look it up later) and an eiscue. Ben even fondled the stunky and togetic's tits to punish them more.
To make things worse... Ben thinks some of them might come back for more.
So much violence... and it was all my fault. I'm sure of it.
It wasn't all bad, though. Ben gave me a present. The special band we'd stolen from the stunky. Does he finally respect me, even if just a bit?
Also the eiscue... I think we became friends. He was friendly to me. It made me happy.
... But I had to hurt him to save him from being 'punished'. He probably doesn't like me much anymore.
... At least the weather was sort of nice today.
Alright, that's it. Bye, Journal.
Bradley closed his journal and slipped his pen back into the holster on the front. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, ignoring the stinging in his eyes.
Oh well... maybe tomorrow would be a better day.
Dear Blazing Chimchar
Hello! It's me, Buneary! I wrote, just like I said I would, so please don't worry!
I think I chose the right guild! Everyone is so friendly to me, even though I just got here!
Right now, I'm sitting on the beach with some of my friends, including Sasspot Grumpig and Big Fun Maractus from Team Nebula, who let me join them, just like that!
The krabbys are blowing their bubbles, just like in the book! I'm so excited!
Okay, that's all I can think of to say today! I'll write again soon, Chimchar! I love you!
Lots of love, W̶a̶l̶l̶f̶l̶ Blazing Buneary!
xoxo
Sitting on the beach with the others, Buneary let out a satisfied breath as she looked over her work, using some paper Slugma had let her borrow. Pleased, she gave the slug back her pencil. "Thanks again, Slugma~" she chimed.
Slugma gave her a cheery smile in return as she took back her pencil with her mouth.
"Man, d'you think you used enough exclamation marks, there?" Spinarak joked, looking over her work while sitting between them.
"It's like the letters I write!" Rapidash added amusedly.
Buneary pouted at them. "Well... I-I was excited!" she argued.
"Haha yeah, apparently!" Spinarak replied, grinning just like the pattern on his back. "Never seen someone shout so much in a letter before!"
Buneary pouted harder. She pouted harder still when she noticed Slugma silently laughing at his joke. Hmph!
Her pout hardened enough to almost look like a frown when she heard Grumpig, Maractus and Rapidash join in the laughter, and noticed that even Kakuna seemed amused. Plus, Blues Cacturne - who had returned to play his 'guitar' while lounging next to an eager Maractus - seemed to grin harder as he played a gentle tune.
Octillery, instead, just rolled his eyes in apparent exasperation, saving the rabbit from doing some kind of super pout.
"... Show's about to start," Cacturne suddenly said in his surprisingly baritone voice.
Everyone quickly turned their attention forwards. A load of krabbys and corsolas were walking into place, along the beach, over the many rocks overlooking the sea, and on the top of the rocky entrance to the cave.
Buneary beamed. Ooh, how exciting! She was about to live out a part of history!
Her eyes widened when she noticed a corsola and a krabby she recognized, walking into place on top of a large rock. Oh, shoot, those were the ones who were Cheerleader Corsola's cousins or something, right? Thank legends they didn't seem to realize who they were at the moment...
After another minute, the legendary event happened. The krabbys and corsolas began to blow a steady stream of bubbles, quickly filling the sky with them. They flew into the air and were caught by the gentle breeze to float across the water, out to sea. The bright, orange sky was captured in their wavering, spherical reflections in a glimmering glow.
Buneary was enraptured. Words couldn't describe how lovely this sight was. Needless to say, it was every little bit as gorgeous as the book had described, and more. Especially as Cacturne's gentle music took on a more whimsical melody, joining the soft crashing of the ocean waves.
"Beautiful," Kakuna said simply, staring in awe.
"Yeah, it is, ain't it, bro? " Octillery replied. Looking, Buneary saw that his frown seemed to have lightened up substantially.
"Hm. Nature at its finest."
"Almost usurps the constellations for their aesthetics," Grumpig said, nodding in appreciation.
"Naww, this is way better!" Maractus chimed. The music hit a brief odd note as Maractus nuzzled Cacturne's side. "A sunset, all these cool bubbles, and a hottie playing sweet music for me, all at once!"
"Oohh, I know, right? Heeheehee!" Rapidash added eagerly. She tilted her head at the male cactus unsurely. "Wish he had nice muscles, though..." She blinked and shook her head rapidly. "Uhhh, no offense! Of course!"
Cacturne huffed with a smirk and kept on playing music without a care in the world.
"Man, some guys just get all the girls, eh?" Spinarak joked, not sounding upset in the least.
"I guess so," Buneary replied with a sheepish smile.
Chuckling silently, Slugma nodded. She pulled her lips together as if contemplating something. She glanced all around with her eyes before resting her side against Spinarak's.
He reacted in light surprise, his back pattern even making an 'o' face. "Huh, well..." He and his back pattern grinned. "Guess the quality beats the quantity, eh?"
Face being dusted a light red, she beamed and nodded at him.
Buneary smiled gleefully. Oh, how cute! Whatever had happened in Drenched Bluff must've been good for their friendship, that's for sure~
The whole group continued to watch the pretty show together to Cacturne's lovely music. It was so wonderful and relaxing that Buneary couldn't stop a yawn from escaping. Man, was this what it was like to be at one of those resorts? It was just what she needed after having such a long and tiring day. She could already feel all the tension in her muscles she'd built up over the day start to melt away into nothing.
Completely relaxed, she let her head droop to the side. She even let her eyelids sag. She was so relaxed that she didn't even mind as the music seemed to fade.
Mmm, so relaxing...
"Alright, I'll go over the plan now," Noctowl explained, looking over everyone as he spoke. "Make sure you listen, alright?"
He was currently flying upwards through the evening sky, holding Eiscue by the flippers with his talons as he flew. Sneasel had his claws jammed into the side of the penguin's ice cube of a head, using it as an anchor.
Spiritomb was flying nearby, with Stunky holding onto the weird pot thing his body was residing inside. Togetic and Oricorio were flying while holding Ponytale by a front leg each. Togetic was using her paws and Oricorio was using his legs.
Everyone seemed to be paying Noctowl attention. Well, it was hard to tell with Ponytale, but whatever. He continued all the same. "Alright, most of us have Keen Eye, right? I know I do."
"Same here, my friend!" Sneasel replied.
"As do I!" Stunky added. "Whatever could your idea be, dear?"
"I have a shade orb," Noctowl explained. "I'll use it in the cave we found that pikachu in to make the place pitch black. Afterwards, us three Keen Eye users will go in there and attack, while he's unable to tell what's going on."
"Ah yes, we'll be able to see while he can't, correct?" Sneasel asked.
"That's the plan. Everyone else will hang around outside the cave, in case he tries to escape."
Ponytale tilted her head, momentarily throwing off Oricorio's flight. "Huh, but won't he, like... just see us, and zap us, and grope us, and stuff?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's pretty bright out here, still," Oricorio said, looking around at the dark hues of orange the sun was still giving out.
"It's magical darkness," Noctowl explained. "If you're inside the area of effect, you won't even see your own feet. Not even with electricity."
"Wow, that's actually a pretty good plan, Noctowl!" Togetic praised.
He grinned smugly in response.
"I agree...!" Spiritomb added. "You must be some kind of... genius...!"
"... Thanks?" Noctowl muttered, his grin fading. He hoped that wasn't sarcasm.
"I dunno... Pikachu's a pretty smart dude, man," Eiscue said, unconvinced. "When I got blinded by a shadow mon, he threw an eyedrop seed my way. After that, I was all peaches 'n' rainbows!"
Noctowl clicked his tongue. "Shit, if he uses that, then this'll all have been a colossal waste of time," he muttered.
"Aha, actually...!" Sneasel said, patting his bag. "Earlier today, I managed to buy a silence orb! I... believe it might help our issue."
Noctowl grinned. "Right, great. If we smash it, it'll make the whole place completely silent. We'll sneak up on the bastard before he can even think about using his shitty seed."
"Huh? Why smash it?" Oricorio asked, frowning in confusion. "Breaking it's not gonna help us!"
"Some orbs work differently when they're smashed, dear," Stunky replied. "Luminous orbs, for instance, emit a bright flash when broken, as opposed to showing a bright map of the floor."
"Ohh, right, right. Well, guess it's the best plan we've got, then."
"Why don't we just... like... run in, and beat him up, or something...?" Ponytale asked.
Everyone paused. Noctowl, however, just let out a huff.
"Brutish tactics only work on retards," he scoffed. "To outsmart an actual criminal who knows his stuff, we need to actually think smart."
"Very wise words indeed...!" Spiritomb praised. "Spoken with such... earnesty, at that." He chuckled darkly.
"... Yeah." Whatever.
Buneary's eyes slowly fluttered open. Huh? Where was the music? Why was the sand so soft and fluffy?
Pushing herself into a seated position, she stretched and groggily looked around. She was currently in a room of some sort, carved out of stone. She was on top of a large, soft, round mattress, with a blanket draped over her legs.
Her eyes widened. Wait, where the heck was she?
When she saw the gems embedded in the wall, softly illuminating the room with their glow, it suddenly clicked. Oh, they were the same as the ones back at the guild! Wait, so did that mean...?
She stood up and glanced around the room. Her bag containing all of her stuff was leaning against the wall, close to a sturdy wooden door.
She blinked. So... was she back at the guild? She hopped over to the door and opened it up to peer though. She found herself in a hallway with tons of doors lining the walls. Looking down the hall, she saw an area she recognized. The area of the guild where Donphan and Snorlax's room was, with its large, decorative doors.
Noticing how dark it was - due to the gems only giving off a light hum of light, at best, unlike earlier, when they'd been brighter - Buneary realized how late it probably was. Aww man, how did that happen? Had she fallen asleep on the beach, or something?
Knowing that her friends had likely taken her back home while she'd been sleeping was a bit embarrassing... She couldn't deny that she was happy to have avoided Rapidash's carriage ride, though.
Her stomach grumbled randomly. Uh oh, she'd missed dinner, hadn't she? Oh drat, and it sounded like it might have been tasty, too! Big Bang Gourgeist's pumpkin and pumpkin pie, right? Something like that, anyway. Aww...
She slunk back into her room dejectedly. Well, she had her cookies from home, she supposed...
As she went back in, she suddenly noticed a sheet of paper on the wall. It seemed to have writing, so she took it off and read it.
'Heya, Miss! Snorlax here! Looks like you conked out before we could show you to your new room! After the day you've had, I can't say I'm surprised, though! Haha!'
Buneary beamed. Oh! A letter from Relic Finder Snorlax himself! Did this count as an autograph? Heehee~
She continued to read it. 'Anyways, I may as well say what I was going to say here. There's a basin in the corner of the room with a small lever for starting and stopping the water flow. Use that if you need a drink, or a face rinse, or whatever you like using water for!'
Buneary glanced at the corners of the room until she spotted a rocky sink of some sort. Next to it was a lever. How handy!
She glanced back at the note. 'Next to the door, there's a light switch. You can turn it to make the room brighter or darker as you wish! I forget what Gurdurr said makes this work, but feel free to set it to your liking!'
Buneary tilted her head. Gurdurr? She wasn't sure who that was. It would be amazing if it was the one from the book, Gates to Infinity, though!
She continued reading. 'Last but not least- Actually, scratch that, there's another thing! You can lock and unlock your door with your badge. It's not here yet, but knowing how fast Mr. Director works, you'll probably get it by tomorrow. The badge, that is, and not the door.'
Buneary beamed. Ooh, her own badge! She was excited already! She'd only ever heard of them in books and seen her new friends wear them, but had never gotten one during her time as a member of the Blazing Squad, so this would be new for her!
She read on. 'Last but not least, for real this time, you have some food waiting for you in the kitchen! You didn't think we'd let you starve, did'ja? Just toss a fire seed into the slot, press the ignition button, and shove it into the oven until it's hot again. Hope you're good at cooking haha!'
Buneary's smile grew wider. Oh, wonderful! It looked like she could save her cookies for later, then!
There was one last piece of the note. 'Alrighty, that's all. Welcome to the guild, Buneary!
- Snorlax'
Buneary beamed gleefully. What a lovely letter~ She had to put this somewhere safe and cherish it forever! After all, it wasn't every day she got a personalized letter from one of her heroes!
For now, though, she supposed she would do what Snorlax had suggested and go get herself some food!
After washing her face with the room's sink - something that was cold and horrible, making her less than happy - she quickly left the room and started down the hallway, towards the spiral staircase that would lead to the kitchen.
As she went, she couldn't help but glance around at the dim guild anxiously. This place sure could be a bit creepy at night...
It was a good job they kept the lights on, even if just dimly, because she would have freaked out, otherwise.
She stopped, eyes widening in dread. Wait... how would she know which room was hers?
Uh... maybe she should put something in front of the door, so she didn't get lost...
On that note, she turned to go back. It was a good job she hadn't made it far, yet...
After flying for another ten or so minutes, Noctowl and the others touched down on the mountain 'blade' that he and Oricorio had been thrown from. With that, they did some light searching until they found the cave the pikachu had been hiding in.
They hid around the corner and asked Spiritomb to go through a wall with his ghostly abilities, to check and see if the mouse was even there. After a minute, the familiar disturbing face of the ghost peered through the wall, making Eiscue leap a foot in the air in fright.
"He's there, it seems... having a pleasant little kip...!" Spiritomb confirmed in a hushed voice.
"Even better, but let's not get cocky," Noctowl said quietly. "Sneasel, get ready with that silence orb."
"Roger that, my friend," Sneasel whispered eagerly, holding the orb aloft. One with an image of a struck out musical note inside.
Inching over to the cave's entrance, treading on small vines as he did, he held the orb inside with a displeased breath and what looked like a light grimace, for some reason. There was a brief, quiet sound of glass cracking before the air grew deathly silent.
Noctowl moved his beak to give out further instructions, but no sound came out. He felt the rush of air come out of his throat, and the vibrations of his vocal chords, but that was it. Damn it, the effects must have leaked outside of the room. Well, whatever.
He looked around at the others, who seemed to be coming to the same realization about the sound, judging by the looks of surprise and confusion on their faces, and the look of sheepishness on Sneasel's.
Noctowl nodded and indicated to himself, Sneasel, and Stunky, making sure the others could see it. The two other pokémon in question nodded back and gestured positively.
Noctowl indicated to the rest of them, and pointed to the sides of the cave. They seemed to understand.
Good. Everything was set in motion. They were going to get this little shit and kick his ass straight back to the boonies, where he belonged.
He slowly strolled into the cave, pulling his shade orb out of his bag as he did. Pretty soon after they entered, he could see a yellow heap on the floor, hunched over and surrounded by a bed of leaves. The pikachu, for sure.
Gritting his beak in irritation from the mere sight of the little bastard, Noctowl slowly strolled closer. He didn't have to worry about making a sound, but movement was still something to consider, in case the mouse noticed it.
He glanced around as he moved, taking note of the surroundings. Large spikes lined the walls, as always. The debris from their earlier encounter with the mouse was still lining the side of the cave in a large heap, making a slope of rubble. Vines stretched across the ceiling in a cluster, a detail he must have missed the first time he'd been here.
Once close enough, he took a quick snapshot with his camera - of course while making sure to deactivate the camera flash - and indicated to the others to stand in a half circle formation around the pikachu. Thankfully understanding him, the weasel and skunk did exactly that, standing a fair distance to each of the sleeping mouse's sides.
Nodding, Noctowl held up the shade orb and willed it to work. At this distance, there was absolutely no way the pikachu would be able to react before they'd already pounced him.
The orb briefly shimmered until a thick, dark fog spilled out. It rapidly filled up every inch of the room, making the place so dark that it was as if they were inside a basement deep underground with the lights turned off.
Focusing his vision, Noctowl could easily see though it. He assumed that Stunky and Sneasel were the same way, as they were facing the mouse, preparing attacks.
It was almost time. Before he got to work, though, he decided to just make sure. He activated Future Sight to have a glimpse of what was to come.
It was... pitch black. Huh, could he not see through the darkness with Keen Eye if it was a vision of the future? He had to take note of this for the future. No pun intended.
Dispelling the vision, he smirked and flung his wing out, gesturing to attack.
Sneasel launched a fully powered stream of Icy Wind, laden with darkness from Nasty Plot. Stunky launched many watery balls of Acid Spray, one after the other.
Their attacks pelted the pikachu in a harsh assault. Although silent, the effects were clearly devastating, completely engulfing the rodent in darkened frost and steaming acid.
Noctowl spread his wings in a sign for his allies to stop. Noticing him, they did just that. Wanting a slice of revenge himself, he flew towards the mouse and grabbed him in his talons, ready to throttle him into unconsciousness.
He ignored the stinging in his talons from the lingering ice and acid, and looked the little idiot in the... eyes?
His grip on the yellow piece of shit tightened, tearing it to shreds. It was a fucking plush of a psyduck!
He flung it to the floor and yelled out a warning to the others, who stared in astonishment. This was definitely a fucking trap.
No sound came out of his beak. Oh no...
He glanced all around. He noticed a shimmer in the darkness from the ceiling. Before he could check, his vision went completely black.
He frantically looked around, his heart beating heavily in his chest. No matter how much he focused his vision, he couldn't see a single thing. It was like his ability had just vanished into the wind.
The only sensations he had on him were the feeling of the rocky floor against his talons, the wind brushing his feathers as it went through the cave, and the faintest smell of grass, likely from the cave's foliage.
He tried to find the entrance to escape and regroup, but the darkness was all encompassing. It could be right in front of him, and he would have no clue.
Trying not to panic, he began to think of a plan of action. This was okay. It wasn't like the pikachu could see, either, so this was fine. Hell, thanks to the silence orb, Noctowl and the others couldn't even be heard.
He took to the air and flew a fair distance away, so the mouse wouldn't remember his position. Landing, he reached into his bag. What items did he have on him again? Earlier, Eiscue had been nice enough to give him a small handful to help out.
He felt a couple of orbs, but without sight, he had no idea what most of them were. He felt seeds, but it was hard to remember what was what without seeing them for himself. He felt the partially used quarter wand, as well as another unknown one, but it would be stupid firing them blindly. What if he hit an ally?
He stopped shuffling through his bag. Ugh, nothing for it. He took several steps backwards, hoping to find a good place to lay low until the orbs wore off.
He sensed a rush of wind to his side. Twisting to face it, he held up a defensive posture.
... Nothing happened.
He swallowed hard. This was damn insane. That mouse had no way of knowing where he was. Unless...
Noctowl's eyes widened. The eyedrop seeds.
He scowled. Oh, fuck this! He grabbed the first wand he could find and held it in preparation. He didn't remember what Eiscue had given him, but the second that pikachu came his way, the rat was screwed!
He cautiously paced around in the darkness. He stumbled lightly on some rubble, but held firm. Now where was that son of a bitch...?
He stopped as his leg brushed against a large, outreaching vine. He made a move to step over it, but some paws harshly pushing into his back made him stumble forwards.
He flailed as he fell, letting out a silent shout in alarm. Everything stung as he crashed into the rocks, but thankfully, his head landed on something soft.
Groaning, he picked himself up. He quickly felt at whatever his head had landed on with his wing. It was fuzzy and squishy, like some weird watery pillow.
Ugh, whatever! Frowning, he twisted around and fired his wand in the direction he'd been shoved. There was a soundless rumble in the distance of the cave, but he couldn't entirely tell what it had done, because of the inky darkness. An explosion from a blast wand, maybe?
He glanced back at the thing he'd landed on. What had that been, anyway? Something useful?
Getting an idea, he quickly took his camera out of his bag, flipped the flash on, and took a picture of the thing he'd landed on. Although most of the resulting light was swallowed by the darkness, there was just enough for him to see the object.
It was Stunky, unconscious and lying on her back.
The sight sent an immediate jolt of shock through Noctowl's entire system. C-Crap!
Sweat dribbling down his face, he put away his camera, slowly turned around and prepared his wand. It hadn't shattered, yet, so it still had some use.
One hit... All he needed was one hit, and he was sure this would turn around.
He felt his side sting, like someone had thrown a stone at him. He turned on his heel and fired his wand in the direction it had come from.
The beam it fired instantly hit something, causing an explosion close enough for him to see, despite the darkness. For the brief moment the area around the impact site lit up... he barely saw its target and froze up.
Sneasel. He'd taken the full brunt of the blast. His look of shock and pain imprinted itself into Noctowl's retinas as the area went dark again.
Sweat poured down the owl's head. Fuck. Fuck!
... He had to use the orbs. He'd been worried about it before, because orbs affect anyone the user considers to be a target, which is no good if the targets are unknown due to darkness... but screw it!
Tossing the wand away - which somehow hadn't broken yet - he yanked out an orb as fast as he could. With no time to use the camera's flash to identify it, he held it above his head and used it.
After it harmlessly shattered, he felt water splash onto him from above, soaking him. It smelled soapy and pleasant.
Shaking it off himself, he growled and hurriedly reached for another orb. He wasn't about to get beaten by that dumbass mouse again!
Something sharp heavily impacted his stomach, sending him flying backwards, winded. He silently yelled in pain when he felt lots of sharp stabs into his back, stopping him dead.
He tried to move his wings, or his feet. The aches and pains made him struggle, but he forced himself to move. To win.
He felt something wooden tap him on the beak.
He paused and stared. Something wooden, like... a wand.
... Shit.
A brief flash lit up the darkness before everything went black again.
Ponytale stared at the cave entrance, which was all dark and black, and... stuff.
She glanced at the others. Eiscue, Spiritomb, Togetic, and Oricorio were all in fighting poses of different sorts, waiting for... stuff to happen. She hoped there wouldn't be too much fighting...
Oh well, if Sneasel was taking care of it, maybe they'd be okay! He was so strong and cool and stuff, after all. Heehee...~
After a minute, her mind wandered. It was still so quiet... she couldn't even hear herself breathe. Is this what it was like to be, like, deaf or something?
She wondered if deaf people had better eyesight. Wait, but... if a deaf person was inside the cave, they'd be all blind, too. But they wouldn't have better hearing, because they're already deaf. That sounded awful...
Maybe someone who was deaf and blind had a better sense of smell and touch to make up for it.
... What if they didn't have those either?
Ponytale felt a shot of fear and panic go through her at the thought. Ohh... scary... She hoped she didn't lose everything. It sure would make it hard to see her sister again, one day.
... Wait... the feeling of fear and panic wasn't from her... Was it coming from... inside the cave?
Oh dear, that wasn't good. What if it was her Sneasel, or her friends? Oh, but it could just be the pikachu... He was probably really scared, because of the darkness and the pain...
That was sort of sad... but he was, like, a groper and stuff, so maybe it was good, instead.
She looked at the others. They didn't seem to have noticed anything was wrong... so maybe it was alright.
Another bunch of minutes passed. Eventually, something poked out from the darkness, making everyone jump.
It was... a brown, feathery wing. Oh... it must be Noctowl's.
Everyone glanced at each other and back at the wing. They couldn't see the rest of Noctowl, because of the darkness, but it was probably him.
Noctowl's wing turned around and beckoned towards the cave in big, floppy motions. It receded back into the darkness, out of view.
Everyone stared at the cave. Eiscue shrugged and walked inside, quickly followed by Spiritomb. Togetic and Oricorio gave each other a confused frown before following.
Ponytale smiled and wandered into the cave, behind them. Well, it looked like everything was good, now. That was nice...!
As she went inside, and faintly smelled something grassy, everything went completely black. It was like her eyes were missing. That was okay, though... with Sneasel in here, she felt really safe, and stuff...~
... But... why was she shuddering so much?
Buneary glanced around at her new room with a satisfied grin.
After eating a big slice of that delicious pie - which'd had a sweet sugary crust, a soft, creamy and sweet filling, and a blob of stingingly sour filling in the middle - she'd spent the last ten minutes or so taking things out of her bag and placing them around the room in as tidy a fashion as she could.
Her books were in a bunch of neat towers... her jar of cookies was perched next to the small bag of money she'd found in the bluff... her black, orange-spotted cloth keepsake from her mother was neatly folded near the bed... and her picture of Wildfire Village was on the floor next to her bed, too.
Well, that was that! She was fed, her room was looking all lovely... and now she had nothing to do. After that long nap, she wasn't nearly tired enough to go back to bed.
She looked over the picture of her old home to pass the time. She remembered how Blazing Cyndaquil - who'd once gone by 'Coloring Cyndaquil' - had gotten everyone together to pose for a picture, which he'd quickly jotted down.
She saw herself standing in-between her brother, Blazing Chimchar, and Elder Slowking. She pouted when she saw how sheepish and awkward she looked in the picture. Cyndaquil hadn't needed to capture her exact likeness. After all, when he'd inserted himself into the picture, he'd given his likeness huge muscles...
Oh well. She would use this picture as her inspiration to become a better explorer! One day, when a new picture was made, she would stand tall and proud and be respected by all! Hopefully.
Smiling at the hopeful thought, she decided to think about what to do. Blinking, her smile widened when she thought of something very fun to do indeed.
Going to her bag, she reached inside and pulled something out. A blue, rounded, rubber stick with bumpy ridges all around it.
She clicked a button on the bottom of the device. It began to vigorously vibrate. She grinned. Ooh, she was excited already! This was going to be a pleasant evening indeed~
"Oh man, oh man, oooh! I still can't believe how purrfect that movie was! Meowie!" Delcatty squealed with a big spring to her step. She turned to beam at her partner. "I'm never gonna get any sleep tonight! It's left me just way too excited! Heehee~!"
Walking next to her, Manectric dodged around some spikes littering the floor, a light frown on his face. "Ja... it vas gut. I guess," he replied softly in his usual deep accent.
She tilted her head at him. "Hm? What's the meowtter, Manectric? Didn't'cha like it?"
"Hmm, vell, how to say it..." He readjusted the lock-on specs he was wearing to improve his bad vision. Their green lenses flashed briefly in the moonlight. "... I prefer ze book."
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! You do?"
"Ja. I-I mean... it vas gut, but..." Stopping, he reached into his treasure bag and pulled out a book. Also stopping and looking at the cover, Delcatty saw that it was the same book as the movie they'd just watched: The Prince and the Stars.
Sitting, he opened the book and, while glancing through it, continued, animatedly moving his arm as he spoke. "Ze general pacing vas too fast compared to ze book, ze scene vhere Amaze Pikachu escapes ze space train vas missing ze important discussion between his talking laser kunai und zose thieves, und zey colored Sea Shanty Buneary's hat crimson, vhen it vas supposed to be blood red, to symbolize her love of battle!" He panted, having done the whole rant without stopping.
Delcatty blinked. She giggled. "Manectric, your love of the finer details is so funny~"
His face went red. "N-Nein, it isn't funny..." he mumbled, putting his book back into his bag and standing again. "It's a legitimate concern."
"Well, I see what'cha mean... but, if you ask me, the big screen is so great for stories!" She posed with a paw to the sky. "The dazzling effects..." She did a handstand on her front paws, "the climactic sounds..." She flipped forwards to land and pose on her hind legs, "seeing our favorite characters talking, and moving in fluid motion..." She twirled around and posed on her fours, "... it's all just so meownderful~!"
She noticed Manectric giving her the usual soft smile he did when she talked about her favorite things. "Ja... it ist pretty gut, vhen you put it zat vay."
Delcatty beamed. "I know, right?" She gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "And don't worry! The book will exist forever, so you can read that if you like it more~"
He nodded happily. "Ja! Danke."
She nodded back and continued walking. "Now, let's find somewhere to sleep, so we can start our mission tomorrow!"
"To find ze outlaw who is causing trouble, take notes on her habits, und report back to ze authorities. Or capture her, if possible."
"Exactly!" She tapped her explorer badge. A white one with gold wings and a shiny dark-gray button. "Then we of Team Shire shall be taken seriously as detectives at long last! It is our destiny~!"
"Ja!" He tapped his similar badge. "Ve shall use our immense knowledge of sci-fi, ze greatest genre of zem all, to become vorld famous!"
She giggled in excitement, making the bobbles on her purple, pillow-like neck brace wobble. She was wondering how to reply when a red beam of light formed in front of her and Manectric, surprising them both.
Manectric gasped loudly. "Finally... like in ze books, Space Trek und Space Vars, ve're receiving an intergalactic traveler! Ve're finally going to ze Star Continent!" he exclaimed, beaming.
"Meowzer! I can't wait!" Delcatty sang, letting out a gleeful squeal. "I always knew we were the main characters of our own story!"
The red beam of light fully formed into... a pokémon. A red stunky, from the looks of it. One who lightly sparkled in the moonlight.
They blinked.
"... Oh. It's not interstellar life," Manectric said, his normal frown returning. "It's just a shiny pokémon."
"Aww," Delcatty remarked. She smiled. "Oh well! Another time, meowbe."
Manectric sighed. "Ja..."
She looked over the skunk that had teleported in. It was lying on its back, asleep. Actually, she had large boobies, so definitely a woman.
The cat patted down her own small chest, resting under her yellow and white striped zinc band and her neck brace. She, like her partner, was only a teenager, so she hadn't quite grown in yet. She couldn't even imagine being as big as this girl. She hoped it wouldn't get in the way of her dream of being a detective if they did grow like that.
She frowned in concern when she noticed how banged up the skunk was. She was covered in bruises! "Oh! Manectric, this poor girl's been hurt!" She went over and tenderly rubbed the stunky's head. "She needs some TLC as soon as possible."
"Ja, you're right," he replied in concern. "Vell, say no more. I vill carry her until ve find some gut shelter!"
She smiled at him. "Thank you, Manectric! You're much stronger than I am, so that's a relief~"
Some light red dusted his cheeks. As always, he enjoyed a good compliment! "Danke. Um, or razer, you're velcome." He moved over to pick the skunk up. Sliding his head under her from the side, he managed to get her on his back easily enough. However, he soon gave a sheepish frown as she settled. "... U-Um... her, uh... 'brusts' are, um..." He cringed. "... Zis is very inappropriate."
Delcatty giggled. They weren't even uncovered, the silly puppy. "It's okay. I won't tell her you touched her 'meowers'~ Heeheehee!"
He choked out an embarrassed cough. "Uh... d-danke..."
The duo walked away, in search of somewhere to take care of the woman.
Buneary gasped sharply. Ohh yes!
She squirmed in utter delight as she rubbed her massager up and down on herself. The sensation was utterly delightful, making her indulgence feel like pure bliss!
She was practically breathless. Wow...
... this book was amazing! She could see why Sneasel liked it so much! Greatest Lucario was so charming!
She was lucky she had her massager on hand, though. One that she'd bought a while back from Mrs. Gastrodon to get rid of aches and pains. Rubbing it on her shoulders and her neck as she read was really helping her avoid straining her neck too much. And after all the adventuring she'd done that day, she'd really needed this, anyway.
For sure, though, she wondered if she should invest in a desk or something to read at for comfort. Would they even let her put one in here? She had to ask someone tomorrow.
Putting that aside, she read on. According to the book, the world had once been made up of clans and gatherings of specific pokémon over fifty years ago. Things like towns and villages as everyone knew them now simply hadn't existed, and everyone had effectively been a wild pokémon.
However, one day, in the Air Continent, Greatest Lucario - a riolu at the time - had been found by a herd of kricketunes as an egg, who'd taken him in as their own.
After living with his new family for a few years, he'd eventually come across a wooper, a scyther, a solosis and a kecleon while exploring for food.
Though they'd originally hated each other - due to coming from different clans with different species - they'd become friends some weeks later, after they'd realized they'd all shared the same dream one night. One that had told them to come to a certain place to meet 'their destiny'.
On learning that they had all been adopted into their clans, too, Riolu had convinced them that they should go to the place their dreams had spoken of to 'explore' it.
Because the place was across the ocean, according to their dreams, they were currently making their way towards it in the book. However, en route, they'd encountered an angry herd of bouffalants, who were currently in a territory war with some sawsbucks. Both had turned on the team, who were currently trying to fight back and escape.
Well... she said 'escape', but while running away, Riolu was currently beating every single one of the enemy pokémon with dexterity and strength that was so amazing, it almost seemed unreal! How was he managing it!? Because of that, now they were running away from him!
She tried to imagine it in her head. She pictured him dodging each Giga Impact at the very last second, only to do a stylish twist that tripped up his attackers, sending them sprawling. She pictured him falling to the ground with style while throwing his Aura Sphere high into the air, showering the area with explosions that hit everyone but his friends.
Her happy grin grew dreamy. Oh, what an attractive sight it must've been! By that point, he'd been an adult riolu, so she could only imagine how attractive he'd looked, taking on each fight and winning as if it were nothing.
With strength like that, he'd probably had rippling muscles, and a stunning back. Probably a very nice bum, too.
She pictured it and scrunched her lips together. Oh dear... why was she thinking hot thoughts now, when she should be enjoying her story?
She shook her head and tried to focus again. It didn't take long before her mind drifted to how he would probably look fighting in the nude.
She slapped her paws over her face. Ughh! Why was she acting like this? Maybe it was because of all the dirty antics she'd been involved in that day. From the copious amounts of times she'd flashed herself accidentally, to all the nudity she'd seen, herself. Such as from Sneasel.
On that thought, she suddenly remembered his impressively large penis. She chewed on her lip as an itchy, tingly sensation made itself known down under. Oh no...
Stunky's eyes slowly fluttered open. Urgh... what had happened...?
The last thing she remembered was stumbling around in the darkness, trying her hardest to find the exit and warn the others. A sharp pain had soon followed, which itself had been followed by her consciousness fading into dreams she wouldn't dare repeat out loud. No thanks to that annoyingly handsome mouse.
She tried to stand, but found she couldn't. All her limbs ached, and her body felt like it weighed heavier than lead. She'd fainted again, for the third time in the day, hadn't she?
She quickly checked herself over. Thankfully, she wasn't uncovered, unlike the last time she'd tangled with that pikachu. Still, she found herself fuming. She clenched a fist hard enough to make her palm sting. Ohh, that... little...!
She let out a breath. She glanced around herself to check her surroundings. She was outdoors, though inside what appeared to be a wide crevice with spikes loosely lining the tall walls to her sides. The dead end to a ceiling-less tunnel, it seemed.
Okay... nobody was around, so it seemed she could take her meditative procedure to calm her nerves and prevent giving into anger. Closing her eyes, she steadied herself.
She took a deep breath... and released it...
... she took another deep breath...
... and shouted, "FUCK ME IN THE ARSE! THAT LITTLE SHITHEAD! MOTHERFUCKING FUCK TWAT! FUUUUUUCK!"
She took a sharp breath and hissed out an exhale. Afterwards, she smiled lightly in content. Much better~
Well, with that out of the way, it was time to figure out what to do. None of her friends were around, so she had to figure out some sort of plan...
"Oh, uh, eheh," a soft, feminine voice sheepishly started from behind. "Meowdy..."
"Ja, h-hallo..." a more masculine, accented voice added quietly.
Stunky froze up. She strained her neck to look behind herself and noticed a delcatty and manectric appear from behind a large, prickly tree.
She had to suppress a shriek as heat shot up to her cheeks. Oh, bugger, she hadn't noticed them at all!
Her eyes widened further when she got a good look at them. They were only children, weren't they? Teenagers, at most, but still!
"O-Oh, um... h-hello, there, children!" Stunky stammered.
"Did, um... something bad happen?" the delcatty girl in a white and yellow striped scarf asked, staring at her in bewilderment.
"Oh, no, not at all...!" Stunky strained her brain to think of an excuse. "I... simply... coughed."
"Uh... it sounded like svearing, zhough..." the manectric boy wearing black glasses with neon green lenses replied.
"No, no, darlings!" Stunky quickly interjected. With some difficulty from fainting fatigue, she balled a fist and held it to her mouth to cough loudly. "Hkauffk! Heeff! Thkarf!" She stopped to force a smile. "See? It's a..." She swallowed. "... A tympole in my throat."
The kids stared at her.
After a long, awkward pause, the manectric cleared his throat. "... Vell, it's gut zat you seem to be avake, at any rate," he said, readjusting his glasses.
The delcatty giggled. "For sure! Anyway, we're gonna get you some berries and other stuff to help you recover. Meowkay?"
Stunky sighed dejectedly, her embarrassment swelling. Oh, for the love of legends...
She tried to collect herself. At least she could be worse off, she supposed. Even if it was hard to imagine how...
Lying on her side, Buneary panted out a gasp as she rubbed the massager against her vagina. It pushed her lips apart and vibrated against her clitoris in a melody of buzzing and wet sounds.
The vigorous stimulation and the bumps on the massager rubbing against her most sensitive part made her shiver in delight. Oh, fudge, she hadn't realized how much she'd needed this...!
She struggled to control her shaky arm long enough to turn the page of the dirty magazine she'd bought from a kecleon in secret a while back. It had hot, muscular, naked men feeling around at each other. A dewott and a quilava.
Picturing herself stroking the attractive bodies of the men as they stroked her back made the experience oh so much better. She could barely form any rational thoughts as she continued strumming herself, sending jolts of sensitive pleasure through her with each stroke and turning her heavy pants into soft moans and squeaks.
After some time, she finally went over the edge, hunching over and spasming as waves of euphoria washed over her. Panting heavily, she removed the massager from her wet cleft and laid on her back, her chest heaving from her breathing.
Phew... she felt so much better, now~ She was rather worn out, though.
She turned off her massager and glanced off to the side. It was so weird, though. She'd had the strangest feeling of being watched, halfway through... but obviously, no one was there.
She looked at the picture frame, which she'd turned away from herself before she'd started. Nothing dampened the mood quite like having her family watch her at her most private moment. Thankfully, that hadn't quite happened yet, though she'd had to awkwardly make an excuse for why she'd been so sweaty and out of breath, once.
She paused for a little while before shrugging and slowly getting up onto her shaking legs. She was just being paranoid, she was sure.
She waddled over to the sink, After cleaning herself up and tidying her fluff back into place, maybe she could finally get somewhere with her book.
She really hoped there wasn't any sort of sexy scene waiting for her in it, though. If she tried anything like that again, she probably wouldn't wake up tomorrow...
Sneasel slowly crawled along the ground. His limbs felt like lead, but still, for the past twenty minutes or so after awakening from unconsciousness, he'd tried to get through the dungeon as best he could.
Urgh... he couldn't believe they'd lost to that pikachu, again. He wasn't even sure of how he'd ended up somewhere completely different on the mountain to where the cave had been. Right now, he was in a rocky plain, with large hedges of spiky rocks surrounding him every which way. The sky was dark, indicating that it was clearly night time.
Had the scoundrel thrown him off the mountain, like he'd done with Noctowl and Oricorio? A fall like that would have surely been enough to make the dungeon teleport him somewhere else to avoid death.
He made a move to readjust his cape. Grabbing at thin air, he stalled before clenching a fist. Curse that Cold Pikachu! Not only had he put his friends into danger, but he'd taken his bag and cape, too! Having that zen scarf fashioned into a cape had cost a pretty penny!
He huffed out a breath. Oh well, that didn't matter! There was still hope! He just had to crawl his way up the mountain, until he found either his friends, or a reviver seed! They would turn this around, yet!
He crawled for another minute or so before he felt an otherworldly force pull at him. He yelped in surprise as he formed into a bright, white light and was carried away elsewhere. What was happening!?
Seconds later, he reformed somewhere completely different. He was now in a narrow corridor of spiky walls, with lots of other lights forming around him. Mere moments later, all the lights formed into his friends, dotted around in unconscious heaps.
Sneasel stared in surprise. What on Earth...?
He suddenly noticed that there were two pokémon he didn't recognize, standing by Stunky. One was a delcatty and the other was a manectric. The former was smiling happily while the latter seemed stoic.
"Meowdy, anyone who's awake~" the delcatty chimed. "I used a rollcall orb to bring you all here! Well, Stunky did, anyway."
"That's right, darlings," Stunky replied to her cheerfully. She sounded rather fatigued, though, which was a sign that she'd fainted, too.
"Oh... splendid stuff, thank you!" Sneasel replied, though strained from fainting fatigue, himself. It was a relief that everyone was safe!
"Oh... ze only vun who's avake is ze sneasel..." the manectric muttered, glancing around.
"Oof... I guess so," the delcatty said, deflating slightly. "Whoever that pikachu is sure is a big monster, huh?"
Sneasel frowned dejectedly and glanced around. As mentioned, everyone was present. They all also seemed to be bruised, battered and unconscious, barely even stirring. "Oh, blast... we truly have failed this time, haven't we?" he said as the situation set in.
Stunky also frowned, albeit sympathetically. "Sadly, it seems so... That pikachu was far, far craftier than we took him for."
"Yes, very much so..." Tsk... Cold Pikachu was indeed a force to be reckoned with.
Oh well. At least it seemed like they'd made more friends! He absolutely had to get acquainted with these good Samaritans!
He mentally prepared a grand speech to introduce himself with. A sudden yell of surprise, however, shocked him out of his thoughts.
"W-Where am I?" Ponytale squealed, her face uncharacteristically contorted in fear. "H-Help!" She struggled to stand up, and just collapsed to her bruised side in her attempt. She frantically panted while futilely flailing her legs.
The sight was enough to make Sneasel immediately worry. That was very unlike her, indeed! "P-Ponytale, settle down! What's wrong?" he asked concernedly.
Ponytale didn't listen and just cowered into a ball to shiver and murmur in fear.
Sneasel immediately felt sympathy for her. Lord Arceus, what had that rodent done to her!?
His heart skipped a beat when he noticed that her chest was partially uncovered, allowing a breast to flop freely.
He felt his face redden, though from embarrassment or anger, he wasn't certain. The pikachu had struck again, as promised! Legends only knew what other dastardly things the evil mouse had done!
He glanced at the others. The only ones awake were Stunky, the delcatty and the manectric, though their gazes were all equally worried. Even as the dog looked away sheepishly.
Sneasel crawled closer to Ponytale, straining his muscles to the limit to do so. When close enough, he stroked her mane. "There, there, Ponytale. It's alright now."
The pony's ears pricked. "S-Sneasel!" she cried out, nuzzling into him for comfort.
Putting aside the awkwardness he felt at the intimacy, he gave her a sheepish hug and continued to stroke her mane. "Y-Yes, there's no need to worry, anymore."
At the end of the day, despite all of her 'quirks', she was a normal woman who was just as easy to frighten as anyone else.
He noticed the delcatty stroll closer and comfortingly stroke the horse's back, herself. She didn't say anything, but rather just hummed a calming tune.
Ponytale just murmured in response before going still. It seemed as though she'd let herself relax just enough for her injuries to take her into unconsciousness.
"Legends, is she... alright?" Stunky asked in concern, grunting as she tried to pull herself closer.
Sneasel quickly checked the pony over. Thankfully, she'd not had any other coverings removed, so chances were she'd only suffered having one breast exposed.
"I believe she's okay, generally speaking," he replied. Shifting into a more comfortable position, he frowned sadly. "Even if not 'the worst possible circumstance', so to speak, it must have been a terrible experience to have scared her so badly."
"No joke..." Stunky muttered. She sighed. "Perhaps we should let everyone rest for the night. Tomorrow, we can talk about our situation with Cold Pikachu, and what we can do about it."
Sneasel's frown turned determined. "Quite right. He shall rue the day he caused us such upset!"
The manectric's eyes brightened significantly. "Oh, z-zat is exactly vat mein favorite sci-fi hero from To Hone A Laserblade vould say! Captain Talonflame!" he explained, the tone of his voice nearly rising an octave in excitement.
"Ooh, you're right!" the delcatty agreed happily, beaming at him.
"Ja! Zat is how I know you are ze gut guys! Only vun vith a heart of solid gold vould be so bold vith his vording!" He brought a book out of his bag and brandished it. "Zat is true in all ze stories, after all!"
Sneasel blinked. "Oh, w-why thank you!" A small smirk worked its way onto his lips. Well, he wasn't one to turn down such a hefty helping of praise, even despite the situation! Even if a bit unorthodox!
"You're velcome!" The manectric put his book away and frowned determinedly. "It is settled! I vish to help you take down zis 'Cold Pikachu'!"
"Count me in, too!" the delcatty added, standing with a confident smirk. "I don't wish to stand by while such a terrible, big monster exists! We shall use our skills as detectives in the meowking to flush out that villain!"
"Oh, what a lovely sentiment, thank you!" Sneasel chimed in appreciation.
"I agree. Though... your parents won't mind, will they?" Stunky inquired, scratching her chin.
"I don't know my dad, and my mom couldn't care less~" the delcatty responded quickly, as if she'd had the response prepared.
"Ja... same," the manectric added, pausing awkwardly.
"Hmm..." Stunky murmured, seeming unconvinced.
Sneasel didn't blame her. This was a rather dangerous mission to involve kids in.
He paused in contemplation. Unable to come up with a reasonable answer, he sighed. "Well, before we decide upon anything rash, why don't we rest up for the night, first? Legends know we're unable to do anything in this state."
"Right you are, dear," Stunky replied, to which the kids also agreed. The skunk suddenly smirked. "Now, um... are you planning on cupping Ponytale all night? If so, how very forward of you~"
Sneasel raised an eyebrow and looked down at the horse. He realized with a start that he had her uncovered breast in his open palm.
He yelped. How long had he been sitting like this?
The delcatty giggled along with Stunky, though the manectric just cleared his throat and looked away. "Mein legends..." he muttered, red faced.
His own face heating, Sneasel glanced away and did his best to tuck Ponytale away. Thank Lord Arceus that she wasn't awake right now...
TO BE CONTINUED!
Finished: 16/05 (May)/2023
Word count: 19,166
VGS2's sausage notes: Alright, the day ended, so the fic's over, piss off.
... Wait, what do you mean the plot just started!? Fuck! D:
Ah well, I guess I'll keep writing, then. If only because I like you sexy bastards so much. XP Thanks for keeping up so much so far! You're great!
Oh, before I forget... Delcatty and Manectric were thrown my way by AnimeJewel246! She was kind enough to give me their personalities, their team name and even their titles! What a gal!
That said... I must admit that I threw in the 'meow' gimmick and the German accent myself, just for the fun of it. XD Blame Sunhat Leafeon's meowisms and an offhand Hetalia joke from ravengal!
Today's shameless promotion: About Her
Author: Carson55
Universe: Pokémon Anime (Sinnoh)
Main species: Pikachu (Ash's), Buneary (Dawn's)
Summary: Pikachu embarks on a new adventure in Sinnoh but it turns out that it's new for entirely different reasons thanks to Buneary coming into his life. What awaits them in the future?
Romance: Lots! (Fluffy and sappy!)
Wackiness: A fair amount! (Sinnoh antics!)
Lewdness: Occasional jokes!
Action: Lots!
Grittiness: A fair amount! (Predators!?)
Length: Seemingly long!
Man, if you love PikaBun, then this is the fic for you! It's very reminiscent of the fics written in the good ol' days by me, ravengal and MewLover54, as well as others. The personalities are really good and the plot is fun and suspenseful, too, so you can't go wrong!
Even better, if you read his story on AO3, he's trying to get a picture commissioned for every chapter of the story, the madman! Go check it out now, and leave a comment to be one of his best friends forever!
Fun mistakes of the day (Of which there's way too many, oh Jesus):
#1: 'Ever since that incident with the Tree Of Beginning,'
(What, is there a mew there? And a lucario? Actually, considering the plot of Super, and how you can play as a riolu, maybe I'm right on the mark. XD)
#2: "When we we'd first joined,"
(No, Maractus! Not when you're talking about bathrooms!)
#3: 'Wooden stakes were embedded in the ground to form cross shapes...'
(It's not wrong, if you ever look at a picture of Wiggly's guild, but maybe I shouldn't have written it in such an ominous way... XD I guess this is where Chatot puts members who were so naughty that they go a step beyond no dinner.)
#4: 'Thought startled, Buneary smiled widely.'
(Buneary has a conscious thought for the first time)
(Y'know, on that note, it's come to my attention that some people are incapable of thinking in words and pictures. Isn't that crazy? O,o
Here, let's try it with an experiment. Try thinking of a made up animal. What sort of animal is it? What sort of body and parts does it have? How big is it? What colour is it? What textures is it made up of? What sorts of behaviors does it exhibit? What does it sound like?
Now, what sort of animal did you create? And, more importantly, how much difficulty did you have picturing this new animal in your head? If you managed to do it without too much difficulty, then well done! You're a super thinker! If you had an extreme amount of difficulty, or you just couldn't, then... uh, sorry, but you might be an NPC. XD Try and train yourself so you, too, can be a super thinker!)
#5: '"Oh, I see! Memebers of Donphan's guild, isn't that right?"'
(They came from the guild's basement and refuse to get off 4chan.)
#6: 'Peeing into the hole, she could see that it lead lower into the guild.'
(Damnit, Buneary, that's not the toilet!)
#7: "you weren't complaining about being well off, were you, Stunky?"
(My tired brain used the wrong word and made Sneasel a sasspot by accident. XD I wonder if Stunky would find him hotter this way?)
#8: '"I wish I had my own butler," Toetic mumbled'
(Toetic & Earl)
#9: 'He could be so icute!'
(Apple's new product. I wonder how long it'll take until the next one after that comes out?)
#10: 'Tearing a small hole into his chest Oricorio reached inside and pulled out'
(When Oricorio tries to imitate Kano, but fucks up horribly)
#11: "You did say he was a frowning pikachu with a ponytale, so he matches the description of the man I met..."
(Imagine this super scary motherfucker coming at you while riding on a my little pony. XD Intimidating!)
#12: 'There was a corridor leading down a corridor...'
(How big is this place!? It's only a small mountain, after all! (Though I guess the bottom floor could be partially underground, thinking about it.))
#13: 'He'd even sent Team FDetsinty to bed without any dinner'
(Did the team have a stroke while saying their team name, or what? I guess it's like the fic Ambition's Shadow, where you're not allowed to change it the second it leaves your lips.)
#14: "She's just as bad! She actively encourages her behavior!"
(Whoops! Apparently, Chatot hasn't learned from Super Mystery Dungeon, and still thinks Wigglytuff's a girl. Must be all the stress getting to him.)
#15: 'He suddenly seemed to catch eye of Buneary,'
("Oh, thanks, Chatot~" *Plops it back into her eye socket* "I was wondering where that had gotten off to!")
#16: 'The horse's horn, mane and tail glowed in flashing colours as she held it against the camera.'
(What did she hold against the camera exactly? All of the above?)
#17: 'A cave filled with hundreds of precariously narrow pathways of rock, high, low and all around.'
(Look, I'm shit at describing scenery, okay? XD)
#18: "[What did you expect, destroying the bridge with an icicle?]"
(Shit, because I've been trying to write more anime-based fics lately, I've started getting into the habit of doing this pokéspeech thing again. XD I guess Noctowl prefers speaking in his owl-language.)
#19: "And I shall enjoy... servigning her...!"
(Please don't, Spiritomb...)
#20: 'The horses skimmed through several more pictures,'
(As if Sneasel needed more horses to worry about!)
#21: 'Before Grumpig could give an answer, some loud shoting came from the entrance to Spinda's Café,'
(Uh oh... O,o)
#22: 'The former two climbed on the walls of the stairway to squeeze pat the octopi'
(*Pat pat*)
#23: "Uh... what's all this Octillery and his mom?"
('Ello, 'ello, 'ello? What's all this, then?)
#24: 'Buneary pulled a face. Yessh...'
(Reminds me of the thing Eggman yells when he finishes a stage in SA2. "Yesh!")
#25: "Okie dokes, we got through to the hal"
(While the evil computer AI refuses to do stuff for Dave, I guess he'll do it for Miss Big Tits. XP)
#26: 'the group headed towards the beach, ready to relieve the iconic scene from Time & Darkness.'
(The beach isn't a toilet, either!)
#27: 'Dear Blazoiong Chimchar'
(Curse my huge hands! Now he sounds French, for some reason.)
#28: 'Her eyes widened when she noticed one of the corsola frowning at her'
(Can you see the continuity problem here? Fingers on the buzzers, gents!)
#29: 'joining the soft crashing of the ewaves.'
(Buneary's going to browse the internet using the free beach wi-fi. To look at what, you may ask? Well...)
#30: 'She was so relaxed that she didn't even mind as the music seemed to face.'
(Noice, face is my favourite music genre! Face is the greatest in Koridai!)
#31: 'After a minute, the familiar disturbing faghost returned.'
(Oops... XD Uh... it's a British cigarette ghost! Wooo...!)
#32: 'This was a definintely fucking trap.'
(I know I'd fuck up whatever I was saying, too, if I encountered a trap like that. O,o)
#33: 'He yelled in apin'
(He has a sharp voice!)
#34: 'but he forced himself to move. To iwin.'
(Nope, too late. VGS2 Wins! Flawless Victory! FATALITY)
#35: 'It resided back into the darkness, out of view.'
(It lives in the darkness...)
#36: 'Why where was the music?'
(Who, what, where, when, why, how was the music!?)
#37: 'Her bag containing all of her stuff, including her bag,'
(The bag consumes itself endlessly, creating a deadly null void that eradicates everything it touches. The perfect way to end the already shit night, in other words.)
#38: 'Buneary glanced at the corners of the room until she spotted a rocky wink'
(He then proceeded to punch her in the face, run out of the room and then up the stairs while Eye of The Tiger™© plays.)
#39: 'She'd never gotten one during her time as a member of the Balzing Squad.'
(How can you become a member without your own copy of Ballz to play!? What a poser.)
#40: 'He flailed as he fell, letting out a silent yell in alarm.'
(Poetry in motion)
#41: 'She remembered how Blazing Cyndaquil - who'd once gone by 'Colouring Cyndaquil'
(Bloody 'ell! 'e's Bri'ish, innit, guvnah!? Off fer some fish 'n' chips on Chewsday after goin' down t' pub!)
#42: 'before the air grew deafly silent.'
(I guess it's not wrong, per se... XD)
#43: 'and a blob of stingingly sour blob of sour filling in the middle'
(It's overflowing!)
#44: 'Going to her bag, she reached inside and pulled someone out'
(Who's inside? I hope it's Bradley.)
#45: 'As always, he enjoyed a god'
(Manectric converts and becomes a good Christian boy)
#46: 'showing the area with explosions that hit everyone but his friends.'
(Man, aura is so overpowered. You can even use it to show people small movies, I guess.)
#47: 'Seconds later, he reformed somewhere completely different. He was now a narrow corridor of spiky walls'
(Something went wrong with the teleportation, and now Sneasel's turned into the most evil robot master of them all: Spiked Wall Man)
#48: 'Sneasel crawled closer to her, straining his muscles to the limit to do do'
(*Cries* Why are you doing this to me, Sneasel? I just want to end the chapter... XD If nothing else, we know why he had a shite cape last chapter, at least...)
#49: 'Ponytale squealed, her face uncharacteristically contorted in fear written all over her face.'
(Wut? I think Ponytale's high again if she has two faces.)
#50: "I don't wish to standby while such a terrible, big monster exists!"
(Instead, she wishes to save power by shutting off properly.)
#51: 'He realized with a start that he had her breast in his open pal.'
(Hot?)
-Bonus Mistake from ravengal's fic, Birds of a Feather-
#52: 'It sounded like they were quite a few of them in her'
(Funnily enough, ravengal also added a scene that takes place in total darkness, to chapter 2 of her PMD fic. Uh... it went a bit differently, though. XD Piplup's not gonna like it when the lights come on and he finds out the whole guild ran a train on Torchic.)
- And one from A Gracious Gift, lol -
#53: 'but there had been several buneary, too, so... he wasn't going to cunt it.'
(Pikachu, what happened in that dream of yours, exactly...?)
-Bonus scene ravengal wrote while I was getting ready for bed-
The girls walked down the path. Buneary almost instinctively avoided a large, round hole in the pathway, with only a wooden covering made up of thick wooden beams tied together in crisscrossing patterns, to stop people from falling down... but no, wait, this was the security system for the guild, wasn't it? Visitors had to stand on it for identification before they would open the door for them.
Buneary gulped and slowly stepped onto it. Seeing how the pit descended into darkness flared up her anxieties. Ohh, she hoped it wouldn't break...!
"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" a squeaky voice called out from below.
Suddenly, a laser shot up through the grate, blasting Buneary to smithereens.
"... Well, shit," Grumpig said as the ashes scattered on the breeze. "There goes our newest member."
Maractus laughed, shaking out a comedic melody with her giant maraca tits.
And then the day finally fucking ended. G'night, everybody!
-Extra bonus scene ravengal wrote while I was getting ready for bed-
She nodded back and continued walking. "Now, let's find somewhere to sleep so we can start our mission tomorrow!"
"To find ze outlaw who is causing trouble, take notes on his habits, und report back to ze authorities. Or capture him, if possible."
"Exactly! Then we shall be taken seriously as detectives at long last! It is our destiny~!"
"Ja. Zen ve shall be assigned to help a rookie lawyer vith spiky hair, like zat guy over zhere." He pointed to a gumshoos using Stakeout by the edge of a cave.
-Extra Extra bonus 'notes for writing later' I made for myself with no context-
- Eating
- What is babushka
- Purpe shit on face
- Haha I guess it not a christmas
- Do you remember the last thing that happened after you disappeared
- Camera
- Bastard
- When to kill this cold pikachu haha name.
Alrighty, that's it, love you, tata for meow! c:
