Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Adamhuarts]

"Ivy was born ready for science!" she said while holding her bottle up like a trophy. Things were so exciting! What could go wrong?

 

[Fusion]

"Hell yeah!" Puddle cheered, quickly flicking the top off its soda and jamming it into its head. Already Puddle could feel its power skyrocketing! It was overflowing! And it tasted fabulously purple!

"I-I think its workin'!" Puddle laughed and threw up its arms. It got a little off balance, but managed to stabilize before it fell off the side of the table. All the soda accomplished was making Puddle bigger, which didn't really count as evolution, it thought. "Actually, nah, I might have to try another..." Puddle grabbed a blue razzberry soda and violently shook it.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Ivy observed Puddle, and she wanted to go a step further. If she took in not just the soda, but the bottle too, maybe that would give her an advantage.

With her optimized plan set, Ivy lifted the bottle and opened it. She ate the whole bottle before it even finished fizzing. Her body size didn't change at all, and she just stared at Puddle blankly. Where did the bottle go? One of life's many mysteries some say.

"Nothing happened. Ivy should try another bottle also." Ivy grabbed another bottle and started jiggling it.

 

[Fusion]

"That looks a whole lot smarter than what I was doin'," Puddle hummed, nodding its head as it watched Ivy just eat the whole thing. Using all of the bottle meant you used all of its nutrients, that bottles are definitely known to have. That was probably how science worked; using everything to explode gooder. Just like using everything to hit harder! It just made sense!

As it finished shaking the blue razzberry soda, Puddle tried to mimic what Ivy did. Which was easier said than done, the bottle was kinda just stuck in its mouth. How the hell did Ivy do that, she was, like, the only other person here shorter than Puddle! Or as short as Puddle... whatever.

That was another soda down, but Puddle didn't explode. It did gain a slight blue hue and it looked blobbier than usual, but that wasn't cool like an explosion was! "Dammit! How many soda's do we gotta eat?!" Puddle groaned, reaching for a lime soda. "...Wait I thought I only ordered one, where'd the rest of 'em come fr-*hic-om?" A bluish-purple bubble came out of Puddle's mouth when it hiccupped. "Whoa..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Whoa, Puddle is changing color! That's so cool! It's Ivy's turn again now!" Ivy downed her second bottle, though without consuming the whole thing this time around. It didn't work the first time, so she wanted to try just doing what Puddle did before.

After the second, Ivy tried a third Strawberry flavored drink. Like the previous two, it tasted very fizzy and weird. Yet despite her efforts, whatever void existed inside Ivy prevented anything from changing in her appearance no matter how many bottles she took.

"This isn't working," Ivy moped, shoving the emptied bottle off the table. "These drinks are too weak for a great and mighty Ivy."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle's head dropped slightly, and its entire body slooshed. "But evolvin' by myself would be lame..." It put its hand to its chin and hummed, thoughtful. "Maybe you gotta drink the adult stuff? I've heard that shit called the 'strong stuff' so maybe you'll evolve from drinkin' 'em?"

It popped the greener soda into it's head, growing a tad bit more and gaining a greenish hue. Noticing this, Puddle let out an aggravated groan. "I ain't a damn Kecleon, why aren't I evolvin'?!" It kicked the empty soda bottle off the table, which shifted all of its weight. Any attempt to rebalance only shifted everything even further to the other side, which also tilted the table, which also made balancing even harder.

"Uh oh..." Puddle muttered, tossing an arm out to hold onto something. It grabbed, well, something, but it didn't know what. That probably didn't matter anyway, so Puddle pulled as hard as he could.

And got hit in the face by some fruit punch soda, knocking it off of the table to splatter on the ground. Like dropping a water balloon that had too much water in it.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Puddle's head dropped slightly, and its entire body slooshed. "But evolvin' by myself would be lame..." It put its hand to its chin and hummed, thoughtful. "Maybe you gotta drink the adult stuff? I've heard that shit called the 'strong stuff' so maybe you'll evolve from drinkin' 'em?"

"Ivy already had the strong stuff before with big bird! Most of them were evil though," Ivy said, tilting her head with a hum. Maybe if she asked for something even stronger, it just might make her evolve!

"Uh oh..." Puddle muttered, tossing an arm out to hold onto something. It grabbed, well, something, but it didn't know what. That probably didn't matter anyway, so Puddle pulled as hard as he could.

And got hit in the face by some fruit punch soda, knocking it off of the table to splatter on the ground. Like dropping a water balloon that had too much water in it.

"Wah! Puddle!!!" Ivy's eyes glowed in panic and she dropped the bottle in her flowers and peeked over the edge of the table.

"Oh no... Puddle has turned into a puddle!" she said, eying its ultra stone lying in the middle of the goopy fruit cocktail.

 

[Fusion]

"Oh no... Puddle has turned into a puddle!" she said, eying its ultra stone lying in the middle of the goopy fruit cocktail.

The Ultra Stone pulsed with a gentle purple glow, then the goop splattered around started to bubble slightly. "I should could call myself, 'Puddle Pudd'. Pretty sure someone thinks that shit's funny..." They fall didn't hurt, but it like... imagine a toddler hitting you with a big piece of paper in the face. It was like that, but less fun.

...Ok it was kinda fun, but Puddle wouldn't want to do it again.

...

Well...

After a moment or two, Puddle completely reformed, back to its normal size, leaving a clear syrup on the floor. "Wha- goddamnit! I can't even keep my bein' bigger?" it groaned, its shoulders sagging. "Maybe I need a bigger explosion..." What could possibly go boom better than fizzy things... Again, Puddle's immediate thought was Astrid, but Puddle wasn't a fox so that probably wouldn't work as well. Then an idea came to it! "Blast seeds! I gotta eat a whole lotta 'em I bet!"

"Ivy already had the strong stuff before with big bird! Most of them were evil though," Ivy said, tilting her head with a hum.

Something Ivy said earlier finally registered with Puddle. "...Who's big bird? Are they strong? Can they blow us up?" it asked, getting more excited with each question.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Big bird is the tinfoil shiny birdie. Has Puddle not seen him before? Ivy doesn't think he can blow us up." Though she said that, Ivy couldn't tell whether that was really the case or not.

 

[Fusion]

"Awww..." They sounded kinda strong too... what a pity. Although honestly Puddle still had no idea what Ivy was talking about, it couldn't remember and birds made of metal... but a chill did run out its back when it thought about it. It might've been for the best that Puddle didn't remember...

"O-Oh well, hehe... Wanna go find some blast seeds and blow up for realsies?" Puddle asked, an excited gleam in its eye. Of course the soda science wasn't gonna work, there's wasn't any blast soda, why would they explode enough for someone to evolve? It came to Puddle so clearly now!

Not wanting to forget this revelation, Puddle grabbed Ivy before she could answer and carried her out of the cauldron. "I hope you were gonna say yes 'cuz it's way too late to back out now! It's time for even sciencyer science!"

<><><><><>

 

[TheGOAT]

The week marched on, reminding a weary Astrid there were still things to be done. In the Pines, she’d become grumpy for all of five minutes when the consensus had shifted mostly towards healing Arceus instead of Diyem, though she hadn’t shown it. Maybe Diyem had felt her feelings? Either way, at least they were going to save their friends. No matter what, that wasn’t a concession they could afford to make.

And so she’d trained and trained, twice warping to the Air Continent to practice her explosions in remoteness and privacy. But she’d had enough of that. It was time to do something else, like drink and temporarily forget her struggles. She’d told herself that as a joke and nothing more, and believed as much right up until her forepaw made contact with the Cauldron’s squeaky door.

Looking around and walking the aisle, she cracked a small grin. Nobody immediately recognized her, which meant no alien celebrity treatment. Thank goodness.

She eyed the bar and began to approach… until she froze, seeing someone who would indeed recognize her.

She squinted. Diyem? Off by the far wall, he was sitting at a booth adjacent to a Crawdaunt with its head down on the table. ‘Diyem. To your right, it’s Astrid.’

She began approaching. ‘…Any reason you’re sitting so close to that guy when this entire wall is lined with vacant booths? Not judging, I’d just have thought you’d want to distance yourself.’

 

[Namohysip]

The little Charmander glanced at Astrid. It was a wonder how they allowed someone who looked so tiny into a bar, but based on how the barkeep was giving Diyem the occasional glance, yet quickly looking away whenever Diyem looked back, he probably did something terrifying as proof.

This patron was dumped. Badly. It fuels me more than any drink would.

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid invited herself to sit, assuming goodheartedly that Diyem would suffer from doing so himself.

‘Oh. Well,’ she fell silent for a moment after settling in, ‘this is quite a time to get dumped. What could the circumstances have even been? I mean, the world almost ended. You’d think there would be more love confessions, not breakups, eheh.’

The self-fulfilling silence persisted. She coughed. ‘…Bad joke, sorry. Changing topics, ummm, how long will it take you to get your strength back just by going to bars and doing this?’

 

[Namohysip]

Months. Diyem looked at Astrid, wondering if she'd order something. He had ordered something basic so he'd at least be allowed to sit. He didn't really know what. He'd picked something randomly from the menu without much of a care. The Guild paid for it anyway. Which is why it's so important that the Tree of Life accelerate the important parts of my recovery, namely Team Spectrum's return.

It's not so bad, Diyem added sarcastically. It only took me multiple eras to regain my strength the first time.

 

[TheGOAT]

Eras? Astrid shuddered. Eras in geology meant hundreds of millions of years, and probably something big in other fields of science. Diyem didn’t seem high on geology—she imagined it would touch upon sensitive topics for him—but she could still infer from his comment that he was a certified oldhead. It explained the steadfast grumpiness, notwithstanding the ‘made of negativity’ side of things.

She drummed her paws on the table, ordering only lemonade when the server came around. ‘Soo. The Tree of Life. What do you know about it? And besides Eiiiee—uh, besides your mate, what exactly sets it apart from more accessible sources of energy in Cibus?’

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem visibly twitched when Astrid nearly said her name, but he masked it well. He must have just been taken by surprise. There's a lot of it, Diyem said. It's raw and readily accessible. And I am most familiar with it because I'd drawn from it before. You could say that I have a history with the Tree. Any other source won't be as efficient... or may simply be incompatible. Not to mention, this Tree is no longer in use, which means it has low risk to being used.

 

[TheGOAT]

‘We’ll need every last drop of it then.’

Diyem was impossible to read. For one, his head didn’t stick very far above the table. Astrid remembered his strength in the Abandoned Lab, and then considered that this Charmander was who they were left with to power their bodies, to protect their souls, to eventually send them home…

‘Is there anything I should do to prepare? I’ve been experimenting with some stuff in private lately, but it’d be nice to know what to expect.’ Her lip twitched. ‘With Xerneas especially. That name’s been thrown around a few times.’

 

[Namohysip]

Xerneas... Guardian of the Tree of Life. Some call him the very manifestation of it, in a sense. If there is anybody who would want be gone, it would be him. We would need to be very careful. I do not know what he is capable of in this world on his own... Usually, he is known for strengthening others.

Diyem glanced left. A waiter had approached with a plate of what appeared to be wings, though Diyem could tell they were fake meat. Subtleties that most couldn't pick up on. So that's what he ordered.

"Mm," Diyem said as thanks to the waiter, then went back to staring at Astrid wordlessly.

I do not really know if, had I full authority, it would be better if I or Arceus were restored, if we had to choose.

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid played with the straw in her drink, shrugging. ‘As long as we get our friends back and continue the fight, I’m willing to do whatever it takes.

‘Xerneas must be reasonable, right? He might not like your, um, kind, but the situation is kinda desperate. I do wonder if the other legends will pressure him. Arceus being in peril could be the bargaining chip we need, since we’re going the honesty route…’

 

[Namohysip]

Perhaps. Or perhaps they still don't believe us and are merely playing along. Can we really tell? Diyem snorted, taking a bite out of the first chicken wing, crunching the bones like it was a normal thing to do. ...We should prepare for everything. The worst. And then some.