Chapter 65: A Cool Story (about Sunkern)
Important characters
Jessie (Male Tentacool/Ex-Human)
Riley & Pichu (Male/Female ranger duo)
-"Hey Jessie, are you- Woah! Are you alright? You look like you just lost a fight with a Drowsie!"
"Thanks, Riley. You're the model of sensitivity."
-"Ah, sorry."
-"Pi-chu?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just... went through something."
-"Oh, gosh. Well, I'm here if you ever wanna talk about it."
"GOOD! BECAUSE I REALLY WANNA TELL SOMEONE ABOUT IT!" Jessie immediately casts aside his stoic facade and breaks down into a goopy mess, forcefully pulling both his friends into it and spilling his metaphorical guts out over his recent boyfriend drama.
"A-AND HE'S DOING OKAY. AND HE'S LIVING HIS BEST LIFE. AND HE'S- HE'S SO- SO BEAUTIFUL!"
-"PIIIIIICHUUUUUU!" The weeping pokemon clung to each other, filling up Jessie's tank with their tears.
-"That uh, that sure sounds like a lot. I'm sorry that happened to you... but are you sure it was okay to let him go like that without telling him anything? I could translate if you wanted to send him a message."
"No, no he- *sniff* he's happy now. I've already decided to live as a pokemon so it would be selfish of me to pull him into my drama just so he can- so he can love a- a- A JELLYFISH!"
-"Aw jeez, there there. Um, Pichu? Lil help?"
-"Pichu-chu."
"Th- *hic* anks." The sobbing pokemon takes the outstretched handkerchief and wipes his eyes... he can't blow his nose since he still doesn't know where it is or if he even has one.
-"Right well, I guess I'll just respect your decision, if that's what you really want. But will you be alright? I mean, we have a pretty important job to do, but we can manage ourselves if you need more time."
"I'd like to take you up on your offer, I really would..."
-"...But?"
"So I will!"
-"P-Pichu?!"
"Kidding! I'm kidding, really. Sorry, just trying to get back into the old Jessie mindset! Jokes! Love my daughter! Do good... No, I'm sorry, I can't just throw myself back into it." The slightly deflated Tentacool sinks a little deeper into his tank.
"Look I- I don't feel good asking this, but do you think you could give me some lighter work than you were hoping? I really do wanna help, but I'm not sure I could do everything you're asking for in my current state."
-"I guess it would be pretty hard to negotiate with various pokemon clans when you're emotionally charged... Sure. Let's see, instead of that can you... Oh! We have a small group of Sunkern and Sunflora who frequent the park North of Goldenrod. Do you think you could handle just talking with them for now? Getting some info and maybe their cooperation with our field agents?"
-"If not, I totally get it! We can always try-"
"No no, it's fine. I think I can handle a single pokemon group, as opposed to all the ones on our list... Actually, I may remember something about Sunkerns that might help."
-"Pi-chu!"
-"I know that glint in your eye, you've got a plan! The old Jessie didn't go anywhere after all!"
"Heh, guess not." Wiping his face one last time, he resolves to give this assignment all the effort he can muster.
It was difficult going for the local rangers, being unable to get the trust of these normally friendly and outgoing pokemon. For some reason, the lot of them seemed terrified of something, some unseen threat lurking around corners and inside of shadows. And no amount of prodding or assurances seemed to calm their jitters.
-"Jessie... we're at a loss. Can you please do something to help out? Talk to them. Maybe they'll be more willing to trust a pokemon?"
"I'll do what I can. In fact, I think I can help. Put me in the fountain for a minute, will you?" *splash*
"Ahem, attention everyone!" The shy pokemon poked their heads out of the grass, just a bit.
"I'd like to tell you all a story. Gather round and I'll tell you all the tale of The Brave Little Sunkern." Slowly, the tiny pokemon wandered over and stared up with rapt attention...
One story session later and the Sunkern and Sunfloras were all out of their shells and ready to mingle! 'I'll have to thank Alakazam later for trapping me in that illusion... I mean, I have a pending lawsuit against that guy if pokemon ever get rights in this region, but I gotta say, he writes a mean story!'
They were all such lovely company, so upbeat and willing to drop everything to entertain their new friend. It was hard to stay sad when such a friendly group of perpetually smiling pokemon wanted to talk to you about everything from the weather to what you ate that morning.
They all had ample sunshine and water from the fountain. And each individual one was excited for what tomorrow's breakfast would be. Cute~
They also made quite excellent lookouts! Each flower pokemon peeking out of the grass noticed, with extreme detail, the faces of every human, pokemon, or animal that made it's way through the park. Many of them were even able to recount their details enough to sketch out said visitors for Jessie. Though they mostly used sidewalk chalk rather than pencils, so the details were still a little fuzzy.
Jessie of course offered to draw some of the visitors for them, which led to one thing and then another, and soon he was doodling every little thing the floras asked him to. Cute~
But back to serious matters, it seems that after a number of mysterious pokemon, phantoms or chimeras, moved through this area scooping up all kinds of bug pokemon, all of them moved off toward the city and were never seen again! This memory was almost enough to shake the smiles off their flowery faces. After spending some time giving them hugs and comforting those who lost friends, Jessie had a lot to think about.
"So it sounds like Scyther, Pinsir, Beedrill, and Butterfree, were all taken from here by those chimeras. But no Ladyba, Ledian, or any pre-evolutions of any of the pokemon that were taken. Strange. Is there anything else you could tell me?"
-"Flora flora, Sunflora! :( "
"I see... It's strange to me that only those pokemon were taken. All final stage bug type pokemon, and not even all of the pokemon that live in the National Park. There's a pattern here."
-"Flora? :/ "
"It's almost like... Yes, that's it! All of those pokemon show up in the Bug Catching Competition held at the park! And what's more, they're the pokeon worth the highest point total! But pokemon like Ladyba and Spinarak which are worth 0 points weren't taken at all!"
-"Sun-Sunflora! :O "
"From what I know of chimeras, they tend to take people and pokemon that match well with one another. So that would mean the victims of those abductions were all bug type trainers who were after the highly valuable pokemon in this competition! Thank you, you've all been a great help in solving this case."
-"Sun flora flora! :D " Cute~