Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: A Blessing Too Good

DuskForm · Jun 2, 2022

Author's note
Hello. This is an OLD version of the chapter. I left it here to leave some context about the reviews below. If you wanna check the improved version, please check out this link: https://forums.thousandroads.net/in...y-dungeon-a-blessing-too-good.1186/post-63415

She was going to die here.

Despite being barely sentient, the small creature could figure out that much. Her flailing did nothing against the current’s crushing strength, dragging her body down, mocking her pathetic attempts at resurfacing. Her cries for help echoed through the night. The feral Pokémon nesting on the trees or swimming against the tide, her only audience, ignored her. Her life was of no matter to them, after all.

Water flooded her mouth and nose. It was getting harder to breathe. Her lungs, her throat, even her chest ached. Then her head was slammed under the surface once again, and no amount of flailing and squirming and struggling and thrashing would bring it up again.

Bubbles escaped her lips as she let out one last, garbled cry.

Then there was silence.

Cobalt was having the time of her fucking life right now! The tarts! The muffins! The mascarpone! The cookies! The pies! AND THE CAKES! Ooooh, the cakes! So sweet! So creamy! Slowly, she picked up a slice from the whitest and fluffiest of those creamy delights, licking her lips, before bringing it to her mouth and-.

h̸̨̨̛e̡̨̕l̷̡̀p̴͏

The Lucario got catapulted out of her sweet dream and into the soot-filled cave that was her home. She got up all of a sudden, banging her head against a wall. With an annoyed groan, she got up on her feet, scratching the base of her Aura feelers.

…what the hell was that?

h́͜e̴͠l̷̶̛͡͠p̶̴͞

Ah, there it was again.

Before she could even question the situation, she felt herself being pulled towards the exit, her step-tep-teps muffled by the grass as the full moon’s light slithered on her chest pike.

Weird, she hadn’t felt a pull like that since….

Memories flooded her brain like a river, and the situation suddenly got a lot more serious. Quite dangerously so, as well! She broke into a run, without questioning what was waiting for her… wherever she was going.

Suddenly, something caressed her feelers. It was faint, but the Lucario screeched to a halt. The pull was coming from that Aura. An Aura so small, so distant, so… fleeting. She made a b-line towards it, heart racing in her chest as she started crossing the forest. It was always… scary to feel a life slither away, like water escaping from her fingers.

This time, it wasn’t gonna happen. She wouldn’t let it happen. So close. She could hear the murmuring river, she was so close. So close, in fact, that she could clearly sense a second aura, one that was very much powerful and very much hungry. Oh… oh, no. NOOOO, NO NO NO NO! She was not gonna let that happen!

A glowing, bone-shaped staff appeared in her left paw as she summoned a Bone Rush, which she then proceeded to inflate and flatten, until it turned into a thick, rectangular shield with two metal straps to put her arm in. With that, she barged through the last few trees, literally uprooting them, until she was out of the forest and into the clearing.

There was a Luxray near the river, a feral one, judging by its aura. And right next to it lay a… Stufful. Cobalt’s eyes widened: this one was sentient. Why was there a sentient Pokémon so close to her cave?! Questions for later; the Stufful’s Aura was very much fading, and the Luxray looked very much ready to eat them.

With no hesitation whatsoever, the Lucario sprinted towards the Gleam Eyes Pokémon, muttered a quick “Sorry”, and unceremoniously smacked its face with her shield, sending it flying in the sky. No mon and nothing in a three-miles radius would hear it land.

Now that the main threat was out of the way, Cobalt could deal with the Stufful. They were laying on their back and sounded like they were having trouble breathing.

“Hey”. The Lucario gave them a few light taps on the shoulder. “Hey, can you hear me?”.

No response. Cobalt put two of her fingers on the Stufful’s breastbone and compressed the chest one-and-a-half inches in depth one time, two times, three times, fou-.

HPFFFFFTRRRLLLLHRGRRRHH!

A drizzle of water erupted from the Pokémon’s mouth with a soft gargle. Cobalt let out a sigh of relief; the kid was going to live to see the sunrise of tomorrow! As the Stufful began to cry, Cobalt wondered what she was going to do with them; the best thing to do would be to walk the river’s path backwards, towards the nearest settlement.

Towards home.

Cobalt shivered. She hadn’t visited Groveleigh in over a decade or so, and the innkeeper whose face she had punched in a booze-driven rampage was probably out for her blood.

She really didn’t want to repeat a similar experience, especially while carrying a goddamn baby with her. Speaking about the baby….

They were still crying. Poor thing…. Cobalt kneeled down and picked them up, cradling them in her arms. Fear, like a merciless wave, kept washing over her brain through her Aura feelers. She could only imagine how terrible it must’ve been for them; to find themselves drowning in a cold, raging river; to have water fill their lungs; to meet a hungry feral and a stranger; to be so far away from home.

h̴elp ̵̵͢h̵̛e̸l͠p͝ ̷҉h̷èl̛p͞ hé͟lp̕ ͏̨śt̕ąy̸̴̛ ̨͡aw͢͞a̡͟y̵͠ ́h̡͟e̸͢l̴̛͢p ͢ḩ͞e͘l̸͜͝ṕ̕͟ ͘͟͠w̷̛ho̷͠ ̶a̢̧r͘͝e͘͝ ͞y͘͠o̵u̸̡ ̶̡h͡҉ȩ̛l̶̢p̨̢̕ ̵̨͟h̡͞e̴l̨p҉ ̵h̶̛͘e͏̴̵lṕ͢ h̀el̡p̵͠ ̷͞m̛͟o̴͝m̷ ̴he͘lp

Again.

A light pull. A fleeting tug at her mind. Cobalt stared at the Stufful intensively; was this their doing? But how? How could they pull her like that?

“Well, well”, she said… damn, was her voice always that raspy? Then again, she wasn’t exactly used to hearing it; she seldom had somemon to talk to. “Aren’t you a peculiar one?”. She tilted her head; how old could they be? Two months? “…I’ll be honest with you; I have absolutely no idea how to care for a baby”. She slumped the still crying baby on her shoulder. “Yo-ho-ho, now to Groveleigh we go!”.

And with that, she began to walk.

She could smell blood yards before the town came into sight. The air also happened to be littered with murderous intent, pounding her brain like a Gogoat ramming a door.

Nope!

Nopenopenopenopenope!

No way she was going to drop a goddamn child in there! Who in their right mind leaves a child in a city that reeks of bloodlust and rage?! Nah, it was better to wait until things had calmed down. It would probably take a couple of days; she could handle a child for that long, right?

Speaking of the child, Cobalt could feel their ‘pull’ fading. She gave them a quick glance, panicking, only to let out a sigh of relief upon seeing their closed eyes and dopey face.

D’awww! They’d fallen asleep! So cute!

Well, at least she would have time to think on the way home, now that her ears weren’t being annihilated by their constant screaming. She had too many questions; who was this child? Where were they from? What was their name - did they even have one? And most importantly, how were they pulling her?

An image of w̨ h͟ ̵̕i͡ t̷ ̀͜͏e flashed through her head. Cobalt felt like she was supposed to know what it was, but she had no idea, which was just deeply unsettling. It did nothing but remind her of the first and only time she had been pulled before, only bringing up more questions than answers.

The Lucario shook her head. Questions for later. For now, the best move was to take the kid with her, and wait for the next day to visit the town (alone) and ask questions. Yes. Yes, that sounded like a good plan! Who knows, maybe she would be able to find the kid’s parents, too!

…if they had parents in the first place, that is. Living parents.

DuskForm · Jun 2, 2022

Edited on 04/12/2022

Chapter 1

Convergence - Part 1

The strongest stench of rotten wood she’d ever smelled in all her life harpooned her nostrils as she entered the room - which was to be expected from the cheapest inn in town, if the half-broken sign at the entrance had been anything to go by. Still, the little Pokémon brought a hand to her mouth, retching. She had a quick look around; the only light source in the entire room was a small, sputtering lantern hanging from the ceiling, shedding faint sizzles of quivering orange and red, the flames shivering and dancing at the cold wind’s mercy. Her pupils contracted upon noticing it, the lantern’s light reflecting on her big, heliotrope eyes. She blinked a couple of times before focusing on what was ahead of her.

The Espurr barely managed to close the door behind her and make the short path that separated the entrance from the hay bed under the window before collapsing, exhausted. Everything in her bag rolled out on the floor as it fell next to her. Alas, she was too tired to do anything about it; her body felt like it was on fire, so she simply allowed herself to get some rest.

Because to say her day had been eventful would be an understatement, but she didn’t want to think about that. In fact, she didn’t want to think about anything that wasn’t the sweet, sweet coma-like state induced by the ever merciful Cresselia!

She gazed at the inky, star-dotted sky outside for a bit, before closing her eyes. And as her mind dozed off into the soft darkness of unconsciousness, ignoring the stinging sensation of hay against her back scar, she finally fell asleep.

I̶͜ ̛͢w̵̕͞o̡ń͜d̡̕e̕r̡͜ ̶̵̛w͡h́a̶͠t ̸̷̛I'̸̵l̶̕ĺ͠ ha̛҉̧v̴́͢e ̶͘f̀o̡r̶͜͡ dį̸n͘n̴é̕r̨͞.͘͟.͘.҉

She blinked slowly in the sea of white.

…What?

What the heck was this place?

It was candid and brighter than a Sunny Day, but it wasn’t overwhelming; if anything, it felt… soothing, in a way she couldn’t quite explain, almost like her soul could simply drift off and slowly fade in the pallid light at a moment’s notice.

.́҉͢.͏.͜҉He͏̸͢y̢ ̵ý҉o͟͡ ͏w͜ḩ͘͜o̷̧͟ ̀͟t̛̀h͟e̷͞ ͡h̴̶e̢͏́ck ́́a̸̢͟re͜ ̷̡y̧ou͡?̡̕

She brought a paw to her head, wincing.

Those words hadn’t been spoken.

If anything, they had been planted into her head.

…Was that how telepathy felt like?

..͠.̢͏He͡ll̛̕o?͏̷͡ ̨C̵a͢ņ҉͞ y̛o̷̸͞u̵͡ ̶̧h̷è̢a̧̢r͜ ͜mę̧͞?̴̀

Crap.

This wasn’t good.

This wasn’t good at all.

The words were all muffled and sizzling, as if enveloped in a thick veil brimming with electricity.

Oh̵,̡͝ t̵͡͞hȩ̛̀r̀ȩ̧ ̡you ̡̀͏a̕r̡͡e̢

…Whoever that was, it looked like they were able to see her, while she had no idea where they were.

And she did NOT like this one bit.

She took a step back.

.̡.͡.Wa͡it͠,͠ w͜hęr͢e͢ ̕ar̕e you͡ g̀ǫing?̛

And then another.

Then the crackling of electricity transpired through the pallid light.

Her eyes shot open as she jolted awake, gasping for air. What… the heck was that…? Was it a dream? It had to be a dream, right? Right? It was too surreal to be anything else than a vision of her mind! But… she remembered it. She remembered it vividly, unlike the faint smokes of Cresselia’s words that would usually be forgotten in a heartbeat.

Something broke that string of thought, however. Something big, yellowy and six-eyed. Something that was apparently busy crawling towards her with their four arching legs.

It took her brain a few seconds to register the scene.

…Oh, wow, there was a Galvantula in her room….

…

…

…

…OH SHIT THERE WAS A GALVANTULA IN HER ROOM!!!

OH GODS OH CRAP OH HECK OH NONONONONONONONO THIS WASN’T HAPPENING!!!

Her first instinct was to get the hell away from the EleSpider Pokémon, but her body simply refused to listen to her brain. Crap, had they used Thunder Wave on her?! Was that what the weird sizzling noise at the end of her ‘dream’ was?

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap…!

She tried to let out a scream, but the Galvantula was already gagging her, so the only thing to come out of her mouth was a weak, muffled cry. Soon enough, she found herself tied head to toes.

“Now, now”, the electric bug whispered, his voice a coarse shiver in the dark. “There is no need to panic yet. Be a good girl, and no one has to get hurt”.

With that said, he unceremoniously lifted her and placed her on her back, before crawling outside the window and into the night, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

She wanted to struggle. She desperately wanted to do something, but… what was there to do? Paralyzed, tied up and gagged, there was nothing she could do. She was utterly powerless, like a wild Oshawott orphan at the mercy of the ocean’s mighty waves. A small tear flourished in her eye; at the end of the day, nothing had changed - no matter how far away from home she was, how much she struggled, how much it took her to get this far, she was still helpless and pathetic… like always.

…What was she expecting, anyways?

As if things would ever change for her.

When the Galvantula crawled down to the ground, the Espurr’s ears already couldn’t capture the noise from town anymore. She wanted to cry; to just… curl up and cry herself to dryness. The Galvantula tilted his back, and she fell on the ground with a muffled thud, the wet grass soaking her fur. A cold breeze was blowing on her skin now, as the smell of fresh grass entered her nose, along with… something she couldn’t identify. It was similar to a dusty old floor that hadn’t been cleaned in ages.

“…So that’s her?”, a coarse, masculine voice asked. “…Seems kinda small, not gonna lie”.

“We were told she was seventeen”, the Galvantula replied. “I mean, look at her - this is the seventeenest girl I’ve ever seen!”.

“Yeah, but it seems kinda weird that a seventeen-year-old managed to purchase a stay at an inn!”. The Espurr felt something nudge at her shoulder, before being turned on her back, meeting the crimson gaze of a Zangoose. He was standing next to a cart hooked to a Mudsdale. “Literally, what kind of dimwit moron sees a fucking kid in the streets and doesn’t wonder where their goddamn parents are?! Is she REALLY seventeen years old?!”.

“Uh… maybe she just lied about her age?”, the electric spider suggested, hauling the Espurr on the cart. “I mean, we did that pretty often too, right?”.

The Zangoose blinked a couple of times. “…Ah. That… actually makes a lot of sen-”.

The Mudsdale let out an irritated neigh, stomping its hooves on the ground.

“Yeah, yeah, very cool, we should probably go”. The Galvantula hopped on the cart… but not before giving the Mudsdale an apple, which it gladly ate in two bites. “Bessy is getting nervous, and we have like… eight hours before the stablemaster finds out we stole her”.

His partner in crime stared at him dumbfounded before joining him on the cart. “…You named it?”.

Their conversation seemed to fade away as the Espurr began to really understand how bad the situation was. Those two weren’t just some random kidnappers; they had come for her. They were here to bring her back home.

This had to be a nightmare….

She had literally just arrived in town, how the hell did they find her already?! Was it something she had left behind, or… or was her mother actually capable of predicting her every move? Was that what all those mind-reading sessions were actually for?!

…She had tried so hard, but in the end… it was useless, wasn’t it? Maybe… she shouldn’t have tried in the first place….

Tiredness finally overcame her, and she fell asleep once more.

She was in a bedroom. The damp, sticky floor and the dirty, web-covered walls surrounded her from all sides. Ah, so it was her bedroom. Of course! She slowly stepped towards the metal door, its engravings pulsing with black ripples of Dark power. Slowly, she stretched her paw towards the golden handle, her breath heavy with anticipation.

“No”.

Her paw stopped half a hair’s length away from the handle. She slowly turned around, ears twitching, fur shivering, her eyes widening upon meeting the tall figure standing in the hallway.

“You were trying to run away”.

“N-No, I just-”.

“Yes you were”.

“But-”.

“No”.

“I-I was just wondering if maybe there was another way we-”.

“No”. The figure took an apple out of its quivering shadow. “There’s only me. There’s only my way. I know best”.

She bowed her head. “Y-Yes, ma’am…”.

“Now, follow me”.

Before she could obey, however, the entire hallway quaked.

And she woke up all of a sudden, with the light of the Sun shining through her half-closed eyelids. She blinked a couple of times, wondering where her bedroom was. Then, memories from the day before started flooding her brain like a downpour. She had a quick look around and- yep, she was still tied up, still laying in a cart, and still paralyzed.

“Hey, good morning, princess!” the Zangoose announced. “Listen, uh, we’re about to enter the Shattered Peaks, so the ride might get a bit bumpy”.

…Shattered Peaks?

Wait, wasn’t that place a Mystery Dungeon?

It was totally a Mystery Dungeon, right?

AND THEY WERE GOING TO CROSS IT ON A CART?!

This was madness. This was foolish. This was some dangerous, dangerous stuff, and they were all going to die!

DuskForm · Jun 9, 2022

Edited on 01/11/2022
And then again on 26/02/2023

Chapter 2

Convergence - Part 2

From her position, she could only see the pointy mountain tips passing by as they entered the Dungeon, like granite teeth waiting to close shut behind her. The cacophonic lull of silence slowly enveloped them as they went deeper and deeper into the pikes’ depths, until there was nothing left but the dark cracks and wrinkles in the gray stone, the forever-threaded flattened ground, and the stinging, frigid air.

“…alright, I’m going to say it”. The Galvantula’s sputtering voice broke the silence. “Don’t you think this place is, like, unusually quiet?”.

“I was just about to say the exact same thing”, the Zangoose admitted, before pointing to a deep, pitch-black cave. “Isn’t this the territory of that hyper-aggressive Aggron we fought yesterday? It-”.

Suddenly, the loudest, most outraged roar in the world echoed through the mountains, sending a shiver down the Espurr’s back. She shouldn’t have run away! She should’ve listened to her mother and stayed home! Now she was going to get mauled to death by a wild Aggron, and then it was going to eat her, and then nobody would even know she had died, and then- and then- and then-

Her line of thought was interrupted when the Mudsdale neighed, stomping her hooves on the ground.

The electric spider jumped on the ground. “Bessy says it’s getting closer”.

“What?”. The Zangoose blinked. “Wait, what?”.

“Trust me”, his partner in crime replied, caressing the Mudsbray’s nose. “I have been around horse ‘mon since I was a little kid. I’ve developed, like… a special connection with them, y’know what I’m saying?”.

A second roar, much closer to them than the first one, prevented the Zangoose from replying. Instead, the Cat Ferret Pokémon merely climbed down from the cart, walking up to the Galvantula’s side, his claws shining in the late morning’s sunlight.

The Espurr could now hear the beast’s heavy steps shaking the ground as it got closer and closer, vibrations traveling through the ground, up the cart’s wheels and into her bones.

The Galvantula slowly assumed a fighting stance, ready to protect his friend with fierceness, and Bessy with HIS LIFE if necessary! The Aggron was getting closer now; he could literally feel the quakes through his exoskeleton.

As for the Zangoose, he sharpened his claws against each other - sure, the idea of fighting a hulking eight-hundred pounds agglomerate of flesh and metal wasn’t particularly enticing, but if his partner in crime was ready to lay down his life for the sake of the mission, THEN SO WOULD HE! HE WAS RUNNING ON TWO HOURS OF SLEEP, DEEP-ROOTED ANXIETY AND AN OREN BERRY, HE WAS READY TO EITHER FIGHT GOD OR BECOME HIM!!!

The Restraint Pokémon, restrained in the cart, could feel those emotions, and found herself unable to disagree with the fact that she was also feeling anxious as all hell, mostly because A GIANT FERAL BEAST WAS COMING THEIR WAY WITH WHAT SHE COULD ASSUME WERE MURDEROUS INTENTS!!!

Finally, the head of the monster emerged from the depths of the cave, its steely scales shining in the sunlight with the glimmer of a thousand Suns. The creature crawled out of the tethering darkness, before standing on its hind paws and roaring once more, slamming its tail on the ground. A warning signal.

The Galvantula squinted his eyes menacingly. “Bring it on, mate…”.

With a last, furious roar of extreme anger and murderous vibes, the Aggron attacked.

The Espurr couldn’t really see the battle happening - mostly because she was tied in a cart with no way of performing even the most minuscule movement, and her proficiency with Psychic moves was laughable -, but she could damn well hear it. The crackling of electricity, the clanking of metal, the swishing of claws, perfectly harmonized in a cacophonic dance of violence and destruction. Not like the outcome would matter; being torn apart by a furious Aggron didn’t sound much better than going back home.

She started wondering how her mother would react upon seeing her. Would she be… angry?

…yeah, probably. She was very likely to metaphorically kick her ass to dust. And ground her for a thousand years at best.

Oh. Oh, now she was crying again. Of course.

She hated this. She hated all of this. She hated how the escape she had planned for months was cut short in less than a week; she hated how easily those two had kidnapped her; she hated how there was nothing she could do to change the situation.

She hated how utterly weak she was.

“Uhm… h-hey there?”.

The Espurr’s brain was quick to craft and send a signal to her body to jump in surprise upon hearing an unknown, feminine voice a few inches away from her face. Of course, with her being paralyzed, the signal failed to reach the body, so the girl couldn’t really scream in surprise and flee, even though she really wanted to.

…that said, the voice sounded weirdly… familiar. She felt like she had already heard it somewhere before. If only she could turn back and see who it belonged to….

“I-If it’s alright, I’m- I’m just gonna-”.

Then, she felt herself being grabbed by her silky harness and dragged down the cart and on the Dungeon’s rocky pavement. As she watched the cart, the criminals and the Aggron shrink away into the distance, her mind became clogged with questions. Who was this Pokémon? Why was she helping her? Where had she heard her voice before? Where was she taking her? If they managed to escape the Dungeon, what would happen next? What did she want from her?

…why would she bother helping her?

Her head started to hurt - an intense spurt of interrogatives, lack of sleep, and the fact she had been paralyzed at least twice in twenty-four hours probably played a part in the throbbing pain hammering her skull like a… like a… like a hammer.

Her brain was too tired and hurting to come up with similarities.

Soon, she felt herself slow down, and her gag and constraints fell to the ground a moment after. The paralysis was starting to wear off as well! Now she could move her joints a bit, though the rest of her body was still very much numbed.

“Uuuuh, thaaaaank yooouuuhhh-!”. Oh. Oh gods, that sounded so stupid. Had the paralysis stiffened her mouth?! “Ah, s-shorryhyeh, I-”.

“N-No, no!”, the other interrupted her. “I s-should be the mon to apologize- I mean, you probably have no idea what’s going on right now- b-but not in the ‘you are dumb’ sort of way- oh gods I am so rude I’ve basically kidnapped you and I haven’t even introduced myself and-”.

“Wuh- n-noooh!”. The Espurr sluggishly managed to get herself in a sitting position. “I-Ih anyhing, Ih nheehd t’ t’hank you fhorr… for shaaaving me! Ah, wait a sekhondh…”.

She turned around, wanting to face her savior. The Psychic cat soon found herself looking at a small, pink, fluffy critter with brown legs and a white snout and ears. A Stufful. She was wearing some kind of leather harness around her shoulders, and a satchel on her back. Her eyes were like dark emeralds, each pierced by an abyss of black. It felt like staring into puddles of jade.

“…uhm…”. The Stufful raised one of her forepaws, frowning. “W-Why are you staring at me like that…? Are you alright?”.

“What- ah, yeah, yeah, just- gimme a second.” She stood up, shaking the dust off her fur. “My name is Espurr, by the way. Thank you for saving me!”

“N-No problem,” the Stufful replied. “I-I’m Ursa, by the way.”

“Well, glad to meet you!” Espurr said. “Now, how about we try to find a way out?”

The Stufful’s eyes widened, ears drooping, as her lips receded. “Hahah… y-yeah, let’s… let’s go…”

Espurr raised an eyebrow. “…are you alright?”

Ursa’s lips trembled for a second before forming a smile as pulled her ears up. “Y-Yeah, yeah, don’t worry!”

…Well, that was a weird reaction, but Espurr didn’t question that, opting to simply follow the Stufful as she made her way towards the exit.

DuskForm · Jun 16, 2022

Chapter 3

Through the Silent Rocks

This was weird. Unnervingly weird. Mystery Dungeons were supposed to be brimming with hostile ferals. But as she gazed around, upon the unmoving rocks, the stale air and the silent midnoon sun, Espurr began to wonder whether her new acquaintance and her really were the only living things in there… apart from the murderous Aggron, and the kidnappers and their Mudsdale.

Her fur had been standing on end for quite some time. The silence was killing her - it made her feel like something, anything could jump out and ambush them at any given moment. She glanced at the Stufful, who appeared to be… weirdly calm, walking silently and steadily.

And then, all of a sudden, Ursa broke the silence. “So, uh… Espurr, right?”.

“Y-yes, that is… me”, she replied.

“You, uh… h-have you ever done, uh… some… some weird stuff?”.

“I… I don’t know?”. What kind of question was that…? “L-Like… what sort of weird stuff…?”.

“L-Like, you k-know…”. She paused for a second or two, before averting her gaze. “I-I can’t really t-think of a g-good example right now, s-so… nevermind, hahah… hah…”.

…well, that was an odd thing to say….

“Right…”. She remained silent for a little while, before adding; “This Dungeon is… eerily quiet, don’t you think?”.

“Really?”. The Stufful turned around, her face contracted into an expression of surprise. “Weird… ah, wait, now that I’m actually listening… yeah, it’s a bit quiet”. She smiled awkwardly. “B-But you should’ve seen it when I arrived! I-It was brimming with ferals! It was a real piece of work, heheh…”.

The statement prompted Espurr to raise an eyebrow. “…so you’re meaning to tell me that you went through… I don’t know, a few Dungeon floors full of aggressive, screeching, hungry, bloodthirsty beasts… all on your own?”.

Ursa blinked, a look of genuine confusion sculpted on her muzzle. “Uh, yeah?”. Then, her eyes quickly widened, as if in fear. “T-That’s normal, r-right?! E-Everyone c-c-can do that, right?! Right?!”.

The psychic feline was taken aback by the Stufful’s worried voice and expression. “I… I don’t know…? I… I mean, I just find it weird that a single mon could just… go through even a single floor of ferals on their own. Unless they’re like… really experienced? But, uh… I’m not really an expert on battling, so… I’m not sure?”.

The Stufful blinked a couple of times, before saying: “Can you please not tell anyone about me having cleared three dungeon floors on my own…?”.

Espurr tilted her head to the side. “Sure thing, but… why?”.

Ursa raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘why’?”.

“I’ve already said I’m not an expert on battling”, the cat started to explain, “but the ability to go through three Dungeon floors alone sounds… impressive, to say the least. Why would you want to keep it a secret?”.

“I have my reasons, alright?”, she answered. “I am just gonna say that if word of this comes out, I will be in a crapton of trouble! So please, for the love of Arceus, promise me you won’t tell anyone”.

With nary a thought, Espurr nodded. “Don’t worry; I won’t blabber about this to a soul”. She blinked a couple of times. “…also, maybe you should stop looking at me, and pay attention to where you’re going”.

…and, well, I will tell ROY about this. I just have to! But that would have to wait; she didn’t have any writing supplies with her. Alright, as soon as I can get a piece of paper and something to write with, I-.

“Ah, wait! Waitwaitwaitwaitwati!”. Ursa’s sudden flurry of ‘wait’s interrupted her line of thought. “I got an example! Have you ever, uh, thrown someone out of a window? With, like… your Psychic powers?”.

…her?

Throwing someone out of a window?

Her?

With Psychic powers, no less?

Her?

The helpless little princess?

She unintentionally scoffed; the mere idea of her even thinking of using Psychic powers was simply ridiculous.

“No”, she answered, averting her gaze for a while. “I’m… not as good with that kind of stuff as I should be… and really, look where you’re going…”.

“O-Oh…”. The Stufful’s ears drooped with disappointment. “W-Well, that only means y-you’ve got r-room for improvement, right?”.

Espurr inhaled. “Alright, look… I know where you’re coming from. Pokémon get stronger the more they train; that’s the norm! But I am… not like that. I’m not proficient with moves, like, at all. I don’t know if I’m… sick, or whatever’s wrong with me- can you look where you’re go-!”.

THUNK!

Espurr winced as Ursa violently smashed her head against a wall of rock. Her eyes went wide as she scurried over to check on the Flailing Pokémon, shouting: “ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”.

“I’m fine!”, the Stufful reassured her, seconds after literally extracting her head from the stone… leaving behind a sturdy carved image of her face. “Ah, shucks, you were right…”.

Espurr blinked a couple times. Alright, that was… completely unexpected. Common logic dictated that the Stufful face should’ve caved in. Instead, she bore witness to the sight of Ursa simply taking a couple steps back, shaking her head like she hadn't just smashed it against a wall. "…what in Distortion are you made of?".

“Mh?”, she mumbled, before glancing back at her accidental piece of art. "…oh. That. Yeah, I, uh… I'm just tough-skinned! Got that from my mom. Probably". She averted her gaze. “B-But, you know, maybe that wall was just exceptionally frail, hahah… hah…”.

“…alright”, she simply replied, still trying to wrap her around… whatever it was that she had just witnessed.

“S-So, uh… Espurr, right?”, Ursa continued as they began to move forward again. “Where ya from?”.

“Pezerepoite”, she answered immediately.

Now, it was Ursa’s turn to be confused. “…and that’s… where, exactly?”. To the psychic feline‘s appalled reaction, she could only chuckle nervously. “I am, uh… not well-versed in geography. Like… at all”.

“…”. Espurr sighed. “The Aeonic Empire’s capital”.

“Ah. Sure. The Aeonic Empire”. Ursa quickly nodded. “Right. Of course, of course”.

They remained silent for a little while, with Ursa leading the way and Espurr following behind, trying to figure out what to do from then on, because she had never imagined she would actually get this far.

I suppose I should first find somewhere to rest, she figured. Then, I could also use some stable income, so I’ll probably have to find a job… wait, CAN I even hold a job?! I’ve never worked a day in my entire life! Holy Arceus I will get fired for sure on my first day-.

Her thread of thought was interrupted by Ursa’s voice, asking: “And, uhm… where is that, exactly?”.

“…where is what?”.

“The… thing there, what didya call it… the Aerobic Empire?”.

“The Aeonic Empire”, Espurr corrected her, her brain still trying to process the magnitude of the Stufful’s ignorance of basic geography. “…do you even know where we are now?”.

“Psht, of course I do!”, the Stufful bragged. “We’re on the mainland!”.

“I… yeah, but which part of the mainland?”.

“The, uh… the mountains…?”.

“…this is less like not being well-versed in geography and more like having never set a foot in a school”.

Which was a much better description of her overall education process, but sssssh! Espurr didn’t need to know that. In fact, the only things she wanted to tell her were the how and why of their encounter.

Ursa wished there were a simpler way to do those things. A way that maybe wouldn’t make her sound like a complete lunatic after already having made a complete fool of herself with her ignorance. Now Espurr was going to think she was an idiot, which would make it even harder for her to explain what was actually going on! It would make her look like a nutjob, a kook! A complete basketcase, a fruitcake - wow, there were lots of words to express a mon’s craziness - an utter loon, a krank, a-

“Is everything alright?”.

Ursa nearly jumped when she felt Espurr’s hand on her shoulder. However, she managed to correct her reaction, so instead of leaping, she simply arched her back. “Yeah!”, she lied. “Yeah, I’m fine, I was just… overthinking a little, heheh… heh…”.

The psychic feline didn’t seem too convinced - and Ursa couldn’t really find herself to blame her; she knew better than anyone how much of a weirdo she could be at times.

“…right”. Espurr averted her gaze - much to the Stufful’s relief - and tilted her head. “So, uh… how long do you think it will take before we get out?”.

“Oh, uhm, well, I, uh, I don’t think the Dungeon’s had enough time to mutate”, Ursa guessed, “s-so we should be able to leave from where we entered, which should be right- ah!”. The Stufful stopped abruptly, with Espurr almost bumping into her. “Yep, this is it!”.

The psychic cat had to arch her spine back to fully view the gaping stone maw that was the entrance - or exit, in their case - to the dungeon. Despite it being daytime, it was somehow covered by an impenetrable darkness - Espurr chalked it up to Dungeon nonsense.

And after three seconds of intense staring, the two of them took a step forward.

Refreshing.

That was the only word Espurr could come up with to describe the feeling that pervaded her once she had set a foot outside. The wonderful wind messing up her fur; the cool breeze tickling her nose; the gusts kicking dust in her eyes. It irritated her eyes, causing her to blink many times.

But finally. Finally, they were out. Out of that goddamn Dungeon. Espurr allowed herself to breathe some nice, fresh air. She then looked at Ursa, who had lain on her back under the shade of a tree, and approached her.

“Uhm… thanks for saving me”, she said while sitting down next to her. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be in a heap of trouble right now”.

“Mh?”. Ursa gave her a quick glance, before going back to stare at the sky. “Oh, you’re… you’re welcome”. She had to tell her. She absolutely had to tell her. It was now or never. “So, uh…”. Wait, wouldn’t she ask for a demonstration from her, then? Oh gods, that would mean telling her about what an absolute freak she was….

Espurr raised an eyebrow. “What?”.

Ursa was quick to backpedal. “Nothing, n-nothing, I was just, uh… thinking. About stuff. Like, uh… are you going somewhere, or…?”.

“Well, I was in Manchelton before those two kidnapped me”, the psychic cat replied, “and I left my bag in an inn there, with all my stuff in it, so… I would like to go back there and take it back”.

“Ah, of course, of course. Manchelton”. Ursa closed her eyes for a second, weighing her options, before asking: “And how far away is that, exactly?”.

“Uh, I think… it’s a two days walk”, she replied. “Why are you asking?”.

“Oh, nothing, I was just… wondering if you would… like me to come with you”.

“…what?”.

“Uhm, y-yeah”, the Stufful continued. “I mean, I’m also trying to reach a town, a-and from what you said, Manchelton sounds like it’s the closest, s-so we could just… you know… walk the road together until we get there, a-and maybe… maybe we could also… talk for a bit. If, uh, if you don’t mind the company…”.

Espurr blinked slowly, staring the Stufful in the eyes. “…you want to travel with me?”.

“Uh, y-yeah?”. The Flailing Pokémon sat up. “I-I mean, I can understand it if the idea makes you… uncomfortable, but-”.

“N-No, no!”. Espurr quickly shook her head. “That’s not what I wanted to say, it’s just… I’m not sure that would be a good idea, I mean… I suck at using moves. I literally cannot battle, or… be useful in any way, why would you want to travel with me?”.

“Because… I think it would be fun, you know?”, Ursa replied. It was a half-lie, but she still wasn’t ready to confront Espurr about that thing. “And we could… I dunno, stand watch while one of us is sleeping-”.

“Yes”.

“W-what?”.

“I am coming with you”, Espurr explained. “Your comment about one of us standing watch while the other sleeps made me realize that I’d like to stick with someone who can clear three Dungeon floors on their own”. She paused. “…which actually makes me sound like a complete opportunistic jerk, but… yeah, I think we should stick together! A-And if we get my bag back, I will totally pay you for everything”.

…that made her sound like a rich snob just now, didn’t it?

“N-No, you don’t need to pay me”, the Stufful quickly said. “It’s just… a favor, alright?”.

Espurr didn’t buy it. The Stufful didn’t seem to bear any ill-will towards her, but ever since her whole rambling about them meeting in a dream, it had been clear that there was something she wanted from her.

“Well, then, do you wanna go?”, the Stufful asked her all of a sudden. “Unlike the Land and the Ocean, those kidnappers of yours won’t be locked in an eternal struggle with that Aggron. And they also have a cart; I suggest we put some distance between us and them, just in case”.

Oh crap! She had COMPLETELy forgotten about those two! “Let’s go!”, she said as she heaved herself on her paws. “The sooner we get to Manchelton, the better!”.

And with that, they both started walking, leaving behind the Dungeon, its emptiness, and two very frustrated fellas who had just taken notice of their absence from it.

DuskForm · Jul 5, 2022

Chapter 4

Dream

“What is wrong with you?!”.

“What in the name of Arceus were you trying to accomplish?!”.

“Is this what your idea of ‘help’ is?!”.

“Ooooh, you ‘didn’t mean to’ - yeah, that sure is gonna fix everything, isn’t it?!”.

“You really wanna help? Then go. Go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it is far away from here, and NEVER COME BACK!”.

The Stufful kept strolling through the infinite rows of cobblestone houses and huts, with countless faces giving way to her, but still staring.

They were always staring.

But only from afar.

Every time her gaze wandered towards a window, she would see a group of Pokémon sitting around a table. Eating. Drinking. Talking. Shouting bitter words, laughing, weeping, crying in joy.

Being together.

She tried to approach it - the mass of darkness with many eyes and mouths, all of them talking - but the closer she got, the further away it retreated.

“Freak!”.

“Stay away!”.

“No, no, no!”, she shouted, desperately trying to get a hold of the ever-slippering mass of black. “Don’t run away! I will do everything, anything you want! Please! I need you!”.

But no matter how fast she ran, the faces in the dark were still slithering away from her, sinking into the surrounding forest, until there was nothing left. Just silence. She slowly turned around, her gaze meeting the empty houses, the voided huts, the unmoving, stale air.

She pursed her lips. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, after all. Yes, yes, they could all go away and die in a pit for all she cared! She didn’t need ‘friends’!

Not at all.

…not even a bit….

“…bunch of pricks…”, she said as she casually entered one of the empty houses. “Bunch of… stupid, stupid idiots…”.

It was cold now. The little candles illuminating the dining room were nothing more than smothered stubs of molten wax. She slowly, clunkily dragged herself to… to… ah, there was a room with beds; nothing too fancy, just a bunch of stray heaps and covers laying on the floor.

With a clunky pace, the Stufful walked into the bedroom - which she assumed belonged to Pokémon of her own age - and snatched a red blanket, before crawling out the window and into the forest.

She heard noises from afar. Shouts and cheers of happiness, sighs of relief - because That Thing wasn’t there any more - because she wasn’t there anymore.

Well, the joke was on them! She had already gotten what she needed! She stopped in front of a tree with an ‘X’ mark on its bark, and sat under it, amidst other amenities and tinkers; a brick, a spinning top, a wooden stick and so, so, SO many other things! The Stufful closed her eyes as she wrapped herself in the blanket; yeah, she didn’t need any of them, she… she was happy like this….

…she was happy.

She was HAPPY!

SHE WAS HAPPY!

SHE WAS HAPPY!

“I AM HAPPY!”.

Ursa jolted awake, screaming while trying to hold on to the red blanket. What she ended up grabbing, however, was a worn out piece of leather. She stared at the coarse piece of cloth, then glanced at her side, where Espurr was kneeling down right next to her, the campfire’s blaze shining against her purple eyes.

“I believe it is time for us to switch”, she said. “Also, uh… not to pry, but I noticed you were moving a lot in your sleep; were you having a nightmare?”.

Ursa covered her mouth to yawn, before rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, but it’s nothing to worry about. Thank you for standing watch”.

It was now Espurr’s time to yawn. “Yyyyyeah, no problem”. She wrapped herself up in her own piece of cloth, and literally just collapsed next to the fire. “Goodnight, then”.

The Stufful nodded her head in acknowledgment, but the psychic cat was already fast asleep by then. Ursa watched her for a few seconds, before diverting her gaze to the road they had taken; a simple, bare path through the woods, flattened and consumed by the thousands of Pokémon who had threaded on it over the centuries, including the two of them. A half-day of walking was all that separated them from Manchelton. And then… then, what? Espurr would go on her merry way, and she’d never be able to find her again, to tell her that she was much, much more powerful than she thought!

And then… then, what? What would happen next? The psychic cat would still go on her merry way, right? There was no way she would ask her for help! After all, they had known each other for, what? One day? Maybe two? Ursa knew where that thread of thoughts would lead her, so she quickly focused on herself; what would she do after reaching Manchelton? She really didn’t have much of a destination when she first left the island; as far as she understood, that was something both herself and Espurr had in common - wait, no! That wasn’t the moment to think about similarities between them!

The Stufful slapped herself in the face - violently. Focus, focus, focus, she had to focus on something else- the fire! The fire. Yes. Yes, that would do. While still paying attention to the environment around her, Ursa sat near the crackling flames, and focused on their heat. Breathe in. Breathe out. Simple as that.

The fire felt warm. Just like the houses back home….

She clenched her Everstone harness as those memories flashed back… for about an instant, as she gritted her teeth and pummeled them back into the pitless abyss, where they belonged, before she could lose her nerve.

But the houses-

No.

The village-

No.

Gods, this wasn’t the time for nostalgia! She had put it all behind her now, so why was she still upset about having left?! Why was she feeling so… so… unaccomplished? Was she… homesick?

No, no, what?! Why would she feel homesick?! What was up with that-?!

No.

It wasn’t the time for those questions. Ursa closed her eyes and resumed breathing. In and out. Inhaling and exhaling.

Then, she looked at the sky. It seemed to have gotten more… purplish. Sunrise would come in… what? Four hours? Maybe three and a half? She allowed herself to sit down and lie against a tree, right next to Espurr. Her gaze fell on the psychic cat, whose ears were slightly twitching in her sleep. She winced; that was… normal, right?

…right?

As far as she remembered, Espurr used their ears as valves to control their psychic power. To control their massive psychic power. To control their massive psychic power that, if left uncontrolled, could do some pretty messed up stuff.

…maaaaaaaybe she would take a couple of steps back. Just as a precaution.

Hypocrite.

Ursa literally froze midstep, her lips pursed.

Hypocrite! If you want to stick to your ideals, you will sit next to her without complaining!

With that thought, the Stufful obeyed her conscience and slumped back in her place, keeping an eye on Espurr just in case things went… awry. And the more she observed the feline move in her sleep, the more she began to wonder what she was dreaming about.

“I have been waiting for you”.

Espurr found herself in a room. The only things there besides her were a coffee table and a golden Meowstic sipping what smelled like black tea.

The younger psychic cat nervously took a sip of tea, only to have her gag reflex triggered. What the heck, it was WAY too bitter! She quickly dumped the whole sugar bowl into it and softly folded the liquid before taking another sip, placing the teaspoon back on the saucer. Alright, that was better!

“Mmmh… not one for bitter flavours, I take?”. The Meowstic took another sip. “Though, I guess that is fair. To each his own”. He put the cup down and looked directly into her eyes. “Greetings, Espurr”.

“Ah, uh- greetings?”. She took another sip. “Who are you…?”.

“Just a Meowstic”, he replied, “but this is not about me as much as it is about you”.

She tilted her head after taking another sip. “What do you mean…?”.

“You and your friend will meet Absolute Evil”. He also took a sip. “And it is paramount that you defeat it”.

“…isn’t that kind of a big thing to ask?”. Espurr put the teacup down. “I mean… we literally just met”.

The Meowstic nodded. “A fair observation, but not something you need to worry about. We will have plenty of time to get to know each other better in the future. But for now…”. He stood up and unfolded his ears, Espurr suddenly being stared down by a pair of eerie green ‘eyes’. “I bid you adieu”.

There was a blinding flash of gold, and…

…Espurr woke up to find herself back in the woods, staring at the morning sky. She blinked a couple of times, her breathing heavy and irregular. What was that…? What in the name of Mesprit was that?!

“Uhm…”.

It was only then that the psychic feline noticed that she had apparently towards Ursa in her sleep.

“Oh… hello”, she said, heaving herself on her feet. “Uhm… I should’ve asked this before, but… did you sleep well?”

“Mh? Oh, yeah”. The Stufful dumped some soil on the flickering embers, extinguishing the fire. “Supremely well”. She then started rummaging through her bag, before pulling out two apples. “Here”. And with that, she passed one to the Espurr… right before shoving the other one into her mouth with no dignity whatsoever. “Mhbvh vh shfld fhtharth mhfvingmhf-”.

Espurr tilted her head. “What…?”.

Ursa swallowed and began tying her bag to her waist. “I said that maybe we should start moving”.

The psychic cat blinked a couple of times. “Right…”. She then stared at the apple for a few seconds, before muttering a quick ‘thank you’ and scarfing it down.

“And, uh… how did you sleep?”, Ursa asked.

Espurr tilted her head. “What do you mean?”.

“I- sorry, that was weird to ask-”. Wouldn’t be your first dumb question. Idiot. “Uhm- a-anyways, you ready to go?”.

The psychic cat tossed the apple’s core to the side of the road. “Heck yeah!”.

And with that, they set forth once again.

DuskForm · Jul 25, 2022

Chapter 5

How to Cross a Bridge

It was already noon when Espurr noticed the red rooftops. “Ah, I think we’re close… yup, that’s Manchelton alright!”.

Ursa followed her gaze. True, there were a few houses ahead, on top of a steep slope, right before the mountains. Squinting, she noticed the smoke coming from a few chimneys, and the bustling streets filled with Pokémon of all shapes and sizes.

Damn, that almost felt… nostalgic, in a way. It reminded her of… home.

“Uh, are you alright?”.

Espurr’s voice yanked her from her thoughts. “Bwuh? Of course I’m alright”.

The psychic feline stopped and crossed her arms. “Theeen why did you stop?”.

Ursa blinked a couple of times. There was indeed more distance between her and Espurr. And she was also sitting down, her paws wrapped around her leathery harness.

“…alright, maybe I’m not exactly… jumping at the idea of going to Manchelton”, she confessed. “I mean… it’s been a few years since I’ve last been into a town, so, you know, I’m just… a bit nervous, I guess?”.

Espurr tilted her head. “What? Wait, didn’t you say you were from an island? The closest one is Rocria, which is like… what? More than one-thousand miles from here?!”.

“Hey, hey, hey!”, Ursa shouted, almost defensively. “I never told you I came from an island!”.

“You literally said you had reached the mainland”, Espurr pointed out. “Like, yesterday. You literally said it yesterday, and that’s not even the point of this conversation! How in Arceus’ name did you manage to live without going into settlements?!”.

“Uh, by feeding on wild berries and ferals?”, she replied. “I usually bathe near rivers”. And literally half a second after saying that, she immediately regretted opening her big freaking mouth.

Gods, she had just painted herself as a complete savage, hadn’t she? And now, Espurr was gonna ditch her, and she was going to be all alone again, and she would have to-.

“Why?”.

“…what?”.

“Why would you do that?”, Espurr asked. “Why would you live away from civilization?”.

“…it’s personal”, she said through her teeth. “Like, really personal”.

“Oh”. The psychic cat crossed her arms. “Uhm… wanna talk about it, or…?”.

“N-No, no”. Shaking her head, the Stufful resumed walking. “You know what, nevermind, let’s… let’s just go”.

Espurr wanted to say something. Ursa seemed quite sad - but since she didn’t know what to say exactly, she simply opted to follow the Stufful, hoping that maybe they could talk more later.

The first thing Ursa noticed about Manchelton were its paved, polished streets - a far step away from Sackengen’s, where she would constantly get her paws dirty. Every. Single. Day.

The second thing was the roaring river that separated her from the town, churning wildly and with great speed.

The third thing was the wooden bridge that arched over its waters. It looked pretty structurally sound, with its iron reinforcements and stone arks. Of course, there was no way she was going to get even remotely close to the river, much less go directly above it, but she had to admire the architectural craft, it sure gave the bridge a rather sturdy aura, and what the heck was she even thinking about now?

“Uhm… are you sure you’re alright?”.

Ursa turned around. Espurr was right behind her, her eyebrows contorted into an expression she wasn’t familiar with.

“I mean”, the psychic cat continued, “you look a bit… I don’t know, nervous?”.

“What?”. Ursa raised an eyebrow; what was Espurr even saying now? “That’s absurd, I’m not nervous!”.

“You’re trembling”.

The Stufful looked down again. She was, indeed, trembling.

“…alright, so maybe I’m a tad anxious”, she admitted. “So what? What are you gonna do about it? You’re not one of those head doctors, are you?”.

“…I’m not saying you should see a therapist”, Espurr replied. “I’m just saying that… I dunno, it sort of feels like there’s a lot of stuff you’re bottling up-”.

“Look, I don’t know what to tell you”, she said almost defensively. “I’m not bottling up anything. I’m fine! I don’t need your help”.

“…ah. I see”. The psychic cat averted her gaze, bringing a paw to the back of her head. “Sorry. You said you didn’t want to talk about it, and yet here I am, completely going against your desires”.

The Stufful blinked twice in confusion. “N-No, I’m sorry for shouting. I massively overreacted there, heheh… heh…”. Oh gods WHY WAS SHE CHUCKLING-. “S-Sorry, I’m just…”. Changetopicchangetopicchangetopic-. “A-Anyway! We should probably, uh, go! Yeah!”. She stared at the bridge and, most importantly, at the water flowing under it. “Piece o’ cake, hahah…”.

Yeah, this was going to be easy! She just had to take that first step on the bridge! The rest would come naturally, right? Like, come on; how hard could it possibly be to cross a simple bridge?

Fifteen. Minutes. Yeah, she had counted them! Fifteen WHOLE MINUTES, not one more, not one less! For FIFTEEN MINUTES had the Stufful been staring at the goddamn bridge like she’d seen some sort of otherworldly apparition, and Espurr was about to lose her MIND! You know what? Screw it! She’d had enough!

She stopped pacing back and forth like she had been doing for the past quarter of an hour, her head quickly turning towards Ursa. “What’s the hold up?!”.

“I DUNNO!”, the Stufful almost shouted. “I AM TRYING!”.

“WELL THEN TRY HARDER!”. Her patience was about to expire. “COME ON! IT’S NOT THAT HARD!”.

“I FREAKING KNOW!”, Ursa replied.

…alright, screw this. Without so much as a word of warning, the Espurr immediately got behind the Stufful and started pushing her.

“Wha- wait- what are you-”.

“I’m hauling your butt to the other end of the river!”.

“YOU’RE WHAT-”.

“COME ON!”.

“WAIT NO NO NO I-”.

It took her some effort (Ursa was way heavier than she’d thought), but after a minute or two she finally managed to push her on the brink of the bridge.

Only to literally collapse face-first on the ground.

That was the day Espurr learned that her Espurr body wasn’t made to handle too much physical effort.

Ah crap, my limbs feel like boiled Wimpod innards.

“Uhm… are you alright?”, she heard Ursa ask.

“Yes, I feel stupendous, thank you for asking”.

“…you feel stupid?”.

…damn, her voice was dripping with innocence. She slowly rolled over. “No. I was being sarcastic”. A moment of silence. “…sorry for shouting earlier”.

“Ah, it’s… it’s alright, I probably needed that extra push-”.

“N-No, really, I am sorry-”, Espurr tried to say, but she was almost immediately interrupted by the Flailing Pokémon.

“Listen”. She sat down. “You wouldn’t have had to shout at me if I hadn’t stood in front of the bridge like an idiot. But!”. She tapped her foot on the wooden planks - which made them creak rather loudly, something she hoped Espurr wouldn’t notice - and crossed her arms. “Despite me being a complete dumbass, you waited for me to cross the bridge when you could’ve gone into town yourself, and… I just wanna say, I really appreciate that. This feels like it could be the start of a great friendship!”. Oh gods why the CHEESY FRIENDSHIP LINE-. “Uhm… i-if you want to, that is…?”.

Espurr slowly raised her left eyebrow. “I, uh… alright? I mean… sure, I guess we can… be friends?”.

Those six words were all it took for Ursa’s brain to go from its usual solid state to a mushy, gooey soup of tender friendliness. For about three seconds. Then it was back to normal.

…oh my gods, you are actually roping her in the scrambled mess that is your life, what is your problem? You really think she’s gonna be happy, hanging out with YOU of all ‘mons? How much time do you think it will take her to realize just how miserable you’re making her feel? She’s gonna dump you. She’s gonna dump you, and you will have lost the only nice thing you’ll have ever had in your pathetic, sad excuse of a life. And you will have nomon but yourself to blame. Are you REALLY going to put the two of you through this?

…crap, she hadn’t thought about this! How in tarnation was she even supposed to begin telling Espurr about the massive arse-crunching dumpster-fire that was her life?! The crazy dream-vision stuff, the powers, the Sun Bear Children- no, that wasn’t going to be an issue, because she was NOT going to talk about the flippin’ Sun Bear Children!

“You alright?”.

She slowly turned her head upon hearing Espurr’s voice. The psychic cat had apparently heaved herself on her paws, and was waiting for her on the other shore.

“Uhm, I will wait for you”, she added.

…Espurr was nice. She didn’t want to drag her into her terrible life - she didn’t deserve it! But she had a duty towards her! A duty to tell her that she could be so, so much more than a helpless cat! And so, she took a step forward, focusing more on the bridge than the water aggressively flowing under it. It seemed to work well! Y–yeah, she just had to put a paw after the other, and- there!

She felt a really weird sense of accomplishment upon touching the stone-cold pavement. And then a weird rush of heat towards her cheek as Espurr quickly wrapped her arms around her neck.

“Awww, see? You did it!”. She quickly loosened the hug. “It wasn’t that hard, now was it?”.

Ursa didn’t answer. She was too busy trying not to literally collapse on herself, because WHAT WAS THAT WAS THAT A HUG DID ESPURR HUG HERWIJNNIHIEBOFWANIEBDWIEOPWEUDNOW-.

“…I’m starting to think you lied when you told me you were alright”, the psychic cat noted. “You look like your brain’s been run over by a pack of Mudsdale”.

Which was a rather accurate depiction of Ursa’s inner thoughts. For a second, she had felt her small fluffy arms around her neck, and then her soft fur against her chest, and these were totally normal thoughts to have, right?

…right?

“Uh, I have no idea what you mean by that”, she lied. “My brain is, uh, encased in a very sturdy skull, and it’s got this weird ‘no Mudsdale hooves allowed’ policy, so, uh, yeah, I’m fine”.

Espurr squinted. “That’s exactly what someone who’s gotten their brain trampled on by a pack of Mudsdale would say…”.

“Oh come on!”, Ursa protested. “You can’t just hug me and compliment me, and then tell me I look like an idiot!”. She paused. “…by the way, I am being sarcastic - please feel free to call me out on my stupidity anytime”.

“Wuh- nah, I was kidding!”, the psychic cat explained, right before starting to walk towards the town’s center. “But let’s go, now; I’m not sure how long a bagful of coins (and other things) will last unattended”.

Ursa followed her. This was going great. Too great. Something in the wind made her fur stand on end - something was going to happen. Something was going to happen, and her friendship with Espurr would be ruined even before starting, and then she would see how much of a goddamn freak she was and then-.

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. This was not the time to have a public freakout; in fact, no time was the time to have a public freakout, like her last one in - ah, what was it? Somethingegen?; especially since her last one in Somethingegen.

…she wondered how many months it would take to rebuild those houses - hopefully, not too many.

It only took them half-an-hour to reach the alleged inn, and Ursa could already tell that it was in desperate need of cleaning. From the rotten wooden door to the fatiscent canopy covering the entrance, everything seemed like it was still standing only thanks to Arceus’ mercy. She could barely read the words carved on the half-broken sign hanging from a pole - ‘Ye Olde Lil’ Gasthaus’.

“Damn, it’s not as bad as I remembered it”, Espurr confessed. “In fact, I’d say that it looks even worse in broad daylight”.

Ursa didn’t say anything, her Mudsdale-crushed brain trying to process what she was seeing. Espurr had offered to pay her back for the meat, right? She must’ve had the money… but then, why was she sleeping in that… place? Had she… lied to her?

She took a deep breath. Alright. It didn’t matter if she didn’t have the money. It was stolen meat anyways. And Espurr probably had her good reasons to lie to her, so in the end, really, it didn’t matter at all.

“Let’s see if I can get my bag back”. And with that said, the little psychic entered.

Ah, yes - with much joy did she recall the two - or three? - days she had spent trying to forget the awful smell of rotten wood that was now vehemently crawling into her nostrils.

Apart from the stench, there weren’t many ‘mon inside; a Bibarel gulping down what could’ve been their sixth glass of beer; a Haxorus with a scar on their left eye half-asleep on the table; a Zangoose hugging a Seviper; and, last but not least, a Floatzel standing behind and polishing a wooden counter - that was the ‘mon Espurr was looking for, and the one she immediately walked up to.

“Hey, uh, excuse me?”, she said, standing on her clawtips - the counter was incredibly tall for her. “Ma’am?”.

The innkeeper stopped what she was doing. “What?”.

“Uh, hi”, she started, sheepishly. “Uhm, my name’s Espurr, and I, uh… do you remember me? I’m sure you get lots of customers, but, uhm, I had to leave my room for a while, due to… unforeseen circumstances. And, uh, then I found out I hadn’t taken my bag with me, so, uhm… do you still have it?”.

The Floatzel blinked a couple of times, before resuming her scrubbing. “Espuhr, you say?”. She tilted her head, never interrupting eye-contact. “Mmmmh… ah, yes, yes, of couhse!”. And at that point, she looked somewhere behind Espurr’s back, brought both her hands to her mouth and hollered: “BAZZA! COME HEEUH FAW A SECAWND!”.

Espurr turned around just in time to see a small door creak open, letting out a lot of steam and noise. And in walked a- oh, she did not know this one. They looked like a Mankey? Or a Monferno? But like, more blue? And with a large tuft of blue fur on their head?

“…hey”, he said, right before turning to the Floatzel. “What’s the mattah?”.

“Take this young lady to the Lawst Items Room, see if she finds hah bag”, the Floatzel explained, pointing to Espurr.

“Alright”, he nodded, before gesturing for the psychic cat to follow him. “This way, this way…”.

Alright, alright- as SOON as she gets out, you go ‘hey, Espurr, we need to talk’, and tell her EVERYTHING. Ursa nodded to herself while waiting for Esp- for her friend outside the inn. …crap, I have no idea how to be friends with somemon… friends do stuff like… hanging out with each other, right? A-And sharing stuff, and… what else? They… they… train together? Maybe? And…. She closed her eyes, trying to remember what the kids back home used to do. They play games with each other? L-Like, with a ball… yes, b-being friends means going out and kicking a ball around, right?

Yeah! And she also remembered that time she tried to wrestle said ball out of a Pancham’s hand and ended up breaking both his arms.

…maybe she wouldn’t ask Espurr to play with a ball. Like, just in case she accidentally kicked it in her face with enough force to smash her skull.

…well, shit, I guess I really am a freak of nature! She let out a long sigh. Gods, why did her brain have to pull out the Pancham?! I am never going to forget that, am I? The image of the Playful Pokémon screaming while rolling on the ground with arms bending at unhealthy angles flashed in her mind. …apparently no.

“Ursa”.

Upon hearing her name, the Stufful turned around. Espurr’s head was poking from the tavern’s ajar door.

“You coming in?”. The psychic cat showed her a leather bag. “I got my bag back. I’ve got us a room for tonight, so, uhm… you know…”.

Ursa didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she simply stared at the door for a few seconds. “…are you sure?”, she then asked. “I mean… how many ‘mons are inside…?”.

Espurr raised an eyebrow. “I dunno, I think… seven, or something? Is that a problem?”.

“Uuuuuuuh-”. Don’ttellherdon’ttellherdon’ttellhershe’llthinkyou’remessedintheheaddon’ttellher-. “N-N reason, just, uh… you know what, nevermind!”.

And with that said, with her brain almost going nuts and under Espurr’s perplexed gaze, she strolled in the tavern.

DuskForm · Sep 3, 2022

Chapter 6

NO!!!

Never in her life had she regretted a decision so quickly. The tavern was crowded! Were there really just seven Pokémon in there?!

‘Breathe in’, she told herself. ‘Breathe in and out, and everything will be fine and dandy, and you won’t freak out, and Espurr won’t think that you’re a complete lunatic…’. She inhaled. ‘I can do this. Probably’.

The Stufful slowly made her way to Espurr, who was standing before a really tall, orange Pokémon with some sort of tube around her body, going behind her neck- oh, they were a Floatzel, weren’t they?

“Uhm, h-hi”, she saluted, stuttering - why was she stuttering-, “uh, b-beautiful day we’re having, am I right?”.

The Floatzel blinked. “It’s literally gawnna rain in two secawnds…”.

“HAHAH I KNOW RIGHT?!”, Ursa interrupted her. “That’s EXACTLY what I was going to say! Rain’s god for the plants, after all! It makes those leaves wet!”.

…alright, there were eyes on her now! Lots of eyes on her! And Espurr was 100% judging her right now. Oh gods, why did she say that?! With that stupid, stupid tone, too! She might as well have worn a huge sign around her head saying ‘hey, look at me, I am a complete weirdo, do not approach me if you value your brain cells!’, this was-.

“Hey, uh… you alright?”. Espurr’s voice yanked her back to reality. “You’re kind of… shivering”.

“Bwuh?”. Ursa blinked a couple of times, before realizing that she was, indeed, trembling a bit, her paws tightly clenched around her harness. “Oh, uh, no, I am fine! I’m just… a bit cold, yeah”.

Espurr raised an eyebrow. “…cold. Sure”.

There was a long moment of awkward silence, before the Floatzel simply announced: “Alright, uhm… room’s numbah is three”. She produced a rusted key from under her flotation sack, handing it to Espurr. “Heeuh’s the key, bye!”. And with that, she swiftly jumped behind the counter, and resumed polishing it.

As for Bazza, he remained silent for a few seconds, before awkwardly walking back to the kitchen, glancing at the Stufful all the way before disappearing behind a door.

“…well, uhm… neat”. The psychic cat held the key high. “Follow me!”. She waddled over to a staircase next to the counter.

Ursa followed her. A few creaking noises from the floor made her fur stand up, but apart from that… yeah, she was managing! She hadn’t accidentally shattered anyone’s spine so far - that was an improvement, right?

The room looked rather comfy. A wooden floor, four walls, a ceiling… heck, there was even a straw bed!

A STRAW BED!

“Wow, this is so cool!”, she said, looking around. “So fancy! Oooh, it’s even got a window - nice!”.

“…yes, it has a window”. Espurr placed her bag on the ground and started going through her possessions. “Alright so… money? Check. Paper? Check. Pen? Check. Food? Check… yup, that’s everything!”.

She then looked up… only to be greeted by the sight of Ursa laying next to the straw bed, eyeing it like it was some sort of huge diamond.

“Ooooooh, this must be so soft!”, she heard her whisper while poking the hay with her paws. “Like a cloud! A little cloud of straw!”.

For a split second, Espurr asked herself whether she’d be able to find another traveling companion amidst the inn’s clientele. But then again, if it hadn’t been for Ursa, she would probably still be in that cart right now, heading towards the Aeon Empire.

Heading home.

A shiver ran through her spine as the old mansion flashed into her mind for a split second - with its lush gardens, sitting atop one of the prettiest hills in Moncland, surrounded by green, with its dusty hallways, littered with ominous paintings of generations upon generations of Pokémon, all staring down at her, judging her….

…aaaaaaand that was enough thinking about that place for today!

Espurr simply pulled out a sheet of paper, a quill and an ink lid. Well, well, well, what to say now?

She could begin with ‘dear Roy’- no, wait, that was too informal for a prince! But then again, he was her friend… if the letter fell in the wrong hands, however, people would find a lack of formality suspicious, especially from a - supposedly - random Espurr… but what if Roy thought she hated him?!

AAAAAAGH! THIS WAS A NIGHTMARISH CONUNDRUM!

“Whatcha doin’?”.

She turned around; Ursa was standing behind her, hay hanging from her fur - like she had rolled over in the beds. A few blades of straw were scattered on her muzzle in a way that made her look like she had a mustache!

“Oh, I’m just… writing a letter”, she explained, trying not to giggle at the sight. “To a friend”.

“Wow, cool!”. The Stufful sat down, tail wagging, and took a loaf-position, folding her paws under her belly. “Who’s it for?”.

“…a friend”, she replied. “…why?”.

“Oh, uh, nothing, nothing, it’s just…”. She remained silent for a few seconds, right before averting her gaze. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone write a letter before - how’s it going?”.

Espurr shrugged. “Not great, to be honest… I kind of don’t know where to start?”.

“Well, you could start from the beginning!”, the Stufful chipperly proposed.

The psychic cat’s ears quivered for a split second. “…I know. That’s how starting stuff works, usually”.

“Oh, y-yeah, I… I suppose you’re right”. The Flailing Pokémon remained silent for a second. “Uhm… s-so, uh… who’s this friend of yours, exactly?”.

“I met him at school”, she lied. “We got along pretty well and-”.

Ursa gasped audibly. “You went to SCHOOL?! That’s so cool! You must know so many things!”.

Espurr stared at Ursa in disbelief. “…yes, Ursa, I went to school… what about that?”.

“Uh… nothing!”, the stufful chipperly exclaimed. “Nothing at all, we all went to school, we are LITERATE!”. She turned around and walked to her straw bed like someone who was trying too hard to appear casual. “We can READ! YEAH!”.

The psychic feline remained silent for a while.

…finding another traveling companion wouldn’t be an asshole move, right?

Ursa was acting weird now, and that worried her a lot. The thought of being locked in the same room with her for a night seemed… slightly terrifying.

Wait, no!, she reprimanded herself. She saved me! So what if she’s a little… odd? I still owe her, holy heck!

She shook her head. No time for that now; she had a letter to write!

THIS WAS SO GREAT ESPURR WAS SO COOL SHE WAS LITERATE SHE KNEW HOW TO READ AND WRITE AND SHE WAS SO COOL AND SMART-

Wait, no! This wasn’t the time to gush about Espurr! Trying to muster all of her inner calm, Ursa sighed and stared at the door that her friend would soon come through.

She started repeating the dialogue out loud.

“Ah-ehm… hi, Espurr, can I talk to you for a second? Sure, Ursa, what is it? Well, you see, you are basically a demigod, and I am a fucking idiot, this is going to be so embarassing, she’s going to think I am a lunatic, and then she’s going to ditch me, and-”.

“Who’s going to ditch you?”.

Ursa basically jumped in the air; oh gods, she was so caught in her own monologue that she hadn’t even noticed Espurr entering the room!

“Uh, nothing, nothing-”, she quickly answered. “So, uh, did you manage to send your letter…?”.

“Well, I put it in the mailbox”, the Psychic type answered, “but Arceus only knows when it will arrive… or when he will respond…”. She shrugged. “Ah, well, what can you do about it, am I right?”. Sitting down, she pulled out a book from her bag; it looked rather old, with its black cover half dangling and golden decorations peeling off. “Well, uh… I’m going to read for a while, so-”.

“W-Wait!”. Ursa inhaled, staring the creature in those heliotrope eyes of hers. “…there’s something very important that I’ve been meaning to tell you”.

Espurr blinked.

Something important?

She hoped it wasn’t about that whole dream thing…

“Shoot”.

Ursa didn’t answer immediately, but Espurr could almost feel the gears turning in her head. “…you have superpowers”, she ended up blurting out.

“…what-”.

“I know it sounds insane”, the Flailing Pokémon continued, sitting down with a weirdly loud THUD, “but you are, like… way more powerful than you think”. She paused for a second. “…and, uh, the same actually goes for me… it’s… kinda scary, to be honest”.

…Espurr didn’t reply. Well, not vocally, at least, but her expression was a mixture of confusion and doubt, with a contour of bafflement and annoyance. Mostly annoyance.

And then, after seconds that seemed to stretch into eternities, the psychic feline spoke.

“Sounds to me like someone’s high on X-Eye Seeds”. She gave a light chuckle before opening the book to a page with a folded corner.

…oh gods she had just laughed at her, why did she have to sound so stupid all the time?!

“N-No, it’s true!”, she insisted. “L-Like… I can lift a house! A-And so can you, we just need to-”.

“NO!”.

Ursa froze. Did… did Espurr just scream at her…?

“What’s up with you and thinking I’m special?!”. The psychic feline shut the book closed with a thump! “Well?!”.

The Stufful flinched, taken aback by the feline’s sudden aggressiveness. “N-Nothing, it’s… it’s just…”. She remained silent. “…sorry”.

Ursa turned around, going back to her hay bed, sitting down on it with a little flump, before turning to face the wall.

Good. Espurr recovered her book and started to read from where she had left off, eager to know whether Pelagius and Lynn would kiss under the fountain and make their relationship known, or go to the Northern front against the Kastos barbarians….

She fell asleep soon after.

DuskForm · Nov 8, 2022

Chapter 7

Another Dream

“You don’t even feel bad about this, do you?”.

Espurr swallowed her own tears. Gods, her fingers felt like they were on fire! “I-I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better next time-”.

“Oh, of course you will”. The Espeon’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “Like when you promised you’d get a hang on battling”.

“I-I am working on t-that…”, she whispered. “I’m getting better…”.

“Yeah. Sure”, her mother sneered. “You say you’re getting better, but last time I checked, you couldn’t even perform a simple Tackle - a Tackle, Espurr. A literal two-year-old can do better than that - and you call this ‘getting better’? You are a complete disappointment, both to me and your ancestors!”.

“I-I know, Mother, but I’m trying my best-”.

“Well, clearly your best isn’t enough! You should try to do someone else’s best - why can’t you be more like the Charitons’ daughter?! That girl is younger than you, and yet she can already perform a Psyshock! Meanwhile, I ended up with a complete waste of space who can’t even Tackle!”.

Espurr lowered her head. Her mother was right - she was, in many aspects, a complete failure. A disappointment. A stain upon her family’s history. It was frustrating; WHY couldn’t she actually be more like the Charitons’ daughter?! What was wrong with her?!

Well, the answer was, of course, that she was a completely worthless piece of garbage who would amount to nothing more than a huge disappointment for anyone that had even the tiniest bit of hope about her.

…maybe she shouldn’t be wasting everyone’s time…. Maybe she should just… stop.

Yeah… why not just stop? After all, what was the point in trying, when the obvious result would be failure?

N̴o̸

Espurr blinked a couple of times. What was that…?

I̸ ̷w̶i̵l̸l̸ ̷n̴o̸t̷ ̶h̵a̶v̵e̴ ̸i̵t̶ ̴t̵h̸i̶s̸ ̶w̶a̸y̴

W-what was that?!

The piano room started crumbling, slivers of light and mist seeping from the cracks.

I̴ ̵w̸i̷l̶l̸ ̴h̵a̵v̶e̴ ̶y̸o̶u̴ ̷b̸e̵c̸o̴m̶e̸ ̴t̸h̴e̵ ̷s̷t̷r̵o̶n̴g̶e̷s̸t̸ ̸o̴n̷e̵ ̸t̸h̴e̶r̴e̴ ̶i̶s̸

Espurr fell on the shimmering floor as a filament of mist began to approach her.

w̵h̶e̵t̵h̶e̶r̵ ̸y̴o̵u̵ ̸l̴i̴k̸e̶ ̷i̵t̶ ̵o̶r̸ ̵n̴o̶t̵

No no no no no she had to move move move somehow somewhere where to though where to how why was this happening what was this who why where for palpitations heat heart beating faster than a maddened galore of euphoria and death and sound and so much more than thought flowing through her head ears pulsing guts clenching eyes shaking as the tentacle’s tip brushed against her che s t f u r a n d . . .

“AAAAAAAAAAAGH!”.

Espurr jumped back, only to find herself laying on the inn’s room’s coarse wooden floor, making the scar on her back itch. Her breathing still heavy, she took a look around her. Same shoddy room as the night before… same straw beds… sunlight brightening the room, the singing of bird Pokémon coming from outside, the smell of cherry pie, the rumbling of her stomach in response….

…wait, what?

The psychic feline slowly turned around, only to find a small plate on the floor, a slice of reddish pie happily sitting in the middle of it, accompanied by a tiny wooden fork. She raised her gaze, meeting the verdant eyes of a smiling Ursa.

“Good morning”, the Stufful greeted her. “Have you slept well?”.

Espurr remained silent for a second. Her sleep had been anything but peaceful, especially after that scene with the white tentacle and the distorted voice. Which she was recalling surprisingly easily. What was even that about?! Dreams were supposed to come from either memories or the intervention of the Sleep Duo, and she knew for certain that she wasn’t relevant enough to warrant the attention of Cresselia and Darkrai.

“Yes!”, she lied, smiling. “Quite wonderfully, actually! Thanks for ask-”. Her answer was interrupted by a rrrumbling noise the likes of which she had only heard in the most violent of storms. “…what was that?”.

“You’re welcome!”, Ursa replied, ignoring the last question. “You fell asleep while reading your book, and I didn’t want to wake you up, so I brought you some breakfast!”. She puffed her chest out, beaming proudly. “I brought it to you aaaalll the way up, and I didn’t even break the plate!”.

Espurr blinked. Once, twice, then thrice. “…thank you-”. And then, there it was again! BBBBBBRRRRRROMBLE! A deafening sound, the wrath of Zekrom bestowed upon her ears. But this time, she was quick to notice both Ursa’s wagging tail and her slight drooling. “…diiiid you get some breakfast for yourself?”.

“Ah, uh… no, not really”, the Stufful admitted candidly. “I didn’t have enough money”. She smiled. “Plus, I wanted to wait for you to wake up…”.

“…what?”. The psychic feline awkwardly heaved herself on her two feet. “Why?!”.

“Because food tastes better when you’re eating it with your friends!”, Ursa proclaimed… only to immediately lower her head. “Well, that’s… what my sister would say, at least”. Fuck, why did she have to go back to those memories….

As for Espurr, she was slightly taken aback by the Stufful’s claim. Up to then, she had thought of their relationship as nothing more than a mutual fulfillment of each other’s interests - with Ursa protecting her, and her paying Ursa -, but this… this was rather unexpected. Her gaze kept going from the slice of pie to the Flailing Pokémon, who seemed to be brooding a bit, staring at the floor with her ears drooping.

…well, there was only one thing left to do.

“No, no, those are Oren Berries - see the greenish stem? These will make you sick!”.

“Focus, Ursa… close your eyes, empty your head… good!”.

A dark paw slowly stroked her head while she was sitting alone under the rain, rotten Tamato sludge dripping down her face.

It hurt.

Why did it hurt?

How did it hurt?

A rotten fruit couldn’t possibly have damaged more than a Flamethrower - and in a way, she was fine. Her body was unharmed.

…well, what was that pain, then?

Was it the enraged yelling? Was it the countless shouting faces?

What was it?

…maybe it really was just the Tamato-.

CLINK.

Ursa came back to her senses, her trip down to memory lane interrupted by the noise of wood meeting porcelain. She looked up. And right in front of her stood Espurr, holding the cherry pie slice with both hands. She could see the entire room reflected into her heliotrope eyes. It was amazing how big and clear they were….

“…well?”, she then asked. “Are you going to sit there all day, or do you want to eat?”.

The Stufful blinked a few times, confusion arising in her brain. “What…?”.

“You said that food tastes better if you eat it with friends, right?”, the psychic cat said. “Well, how can you eat food with your friends if you don’t buy food for yourself in the first place?!”. And much to Ursa’s surprise, she ripped the slice in half. “You absolute… doofus”.

And then she- she- oh gods, wait- was she- WAS SHE OFFERING HER HALF HER SLICE?! WHAT?!

Without waiting for a reply, Espurr placed the half-slice in one of her paws. “I’m sorry for screaming yesterday, by the way”. She sighed. “It was totally uncalled for. It’s just that-”.

The rest of the sentence was lost under Ursa’s sudden sobbing.

Oh, no. Espurr’s eyes dilated. She had made her cry. Oh, no, no, no-.

“N-No, w-wait, don’t cry-”, she attempted to comfort her. “I’m sorry if I said something inappropriate-”.

“I-It’s not that!”, Ursa managed between the tears, sniffling. “I-It’s just that… y-you’re the first ‘mon who’s ever shared any food with me in a long time”. She inhaled, seemingly calming down. “…I got a bit emotional, that’s it”.

“…ah”. Alright, this Stufful had gotten emotional upon being shown a smidge of common kindness. Espurr didn’t know whether to feel curious, amused, or deeply worried by the implications of that. In the end, though, her stomach’s protests helped put those thoughts aside. Questions for later; now, FOOD!

“This is the best cherry pie ever”.

“Yup”.

“Like, this place is the cheapest inn, but whoever made this? They deserve a raise”.

“Heh, I couldn’t agree more”.

“Honestly, this is so good, I almost forgot that we still haven’t found Espurr”.

Luc’s ears drooped. “Oooh… right”. The Zangoose sighed. It had taken them longer than expected to reach Manchelton - a destination they had chosen by hoping that the Espurr would come to get her bag back. Failure to bring her to their client before the established date would mean huge trouble for them - the your-life-will-be-ruined kind of trouble that could get them in jail forever. “…oh, we are so screwed-”.

“We’re just gonna treat this as a learning opportunity”, the Galvantula shoveled the last piece of pie into his pincers, “and never deal… with… Aeonic…”.

“Mh?”. Luc raised his eyebrows. “What?”. He followed his friend’s gaze… and his eyes fell on the Espurr and Stufful walking out of the door that led to the rooms upstairs.

And said Espurr and Stufful noticed them, as well. The psychic cat’s eyes went wide.

This wasn’t happening….

As for the Stufful, she just sort of… stared at Luc. Right before raising her paw and waving nervously.

There was a moment of silence as the two kids awkwardly walked over to the exit, before walking out and closing the door behind them - while still maintaining eye contact.

Luc blinked a couple of times. Espurr with a bag, accompanied by a Stufful wearing an Everstone harness. Yup, it was them. There was no mistaking it. It was 100% them.

After all, what were the chances of meeting another random Stufful with another random Espurr?

A moment of silence followed, before the Galvantula immediately jumped on the floor and darted towards the exit.

Luc, of course, followed him immediately.

They had plans for kidnappings in broad daylight - and besides, what were two children going to do to stop them?

Yeah, this would be easier than stealing candies from a dead baby! What could possibly go wrong?

DuskForm · Nov 29, 2022

Chapter 8

The Espeon with the Black Hat

“Oh gods oh crap it’s them it’s them it’s them-”, Espurr muttered under her breath as she hurried over to the square - where she hoped that the number of Pokémon present would help deter any and all kidnapping attempts -, Ursa in tow. “We’re screwed.We’re so screwed-”.

“Hey, now, no need to panic”, the Stufful reassured her. “You offered me pie, Espurr. This means that we’re now best friends forever, and I won’t allow anything bad to happen to you, ever”. She paused for a second. “…anything that hopefully doesn’t require a violent solution”.

“…alright”, Espurr said, heading towards the exit from the town, “now you’ve gotta tell me why you’re willing to go to such lengths for me! I offered you a slice of pie, I didn’t save your life or anything!”.

“…you gave me food”, was the reply, given to her with a kind of straightforward innocence she had never experienced before. “Good food. So naturally, that makes you my best friend forever, and I will protect you with my life”.

“…isn’t that a bit of an overreaction to basic kindness?”, Espurr asked, shooting a glare behind her. Were they being followed? “Do you see them?”.

Ursa followed her gaze for a second. “No, I don’t think so - and also, what the heck are you saying?! ‘Basic kindness’ is when you don’t try to like, murder or stab somemon. You did more than that! You gave me something good to eat!”.

“…those are some worryingly low standards”, the psychic cat admitted, occasionally glancing behind her as they slowly started for… for whatever exit they could find! “Oh gods I don’t see them, where are they hiding, they’re one-hundred percent following us, I can feel it-”.

Ursa’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?! You can sense ‘mons? That’s so cool!”.

“Wha- no, I didn’t mean it like that!”, the feline replied. “I meant it like… like a gut feeling, you know?”.

“Oh, so like, when you need to take a dump-”.

“N-No! It’s… let’s call it a ‘hunch’, alright? I’ve got a hunch that these two are following us, so we must get the heck away from here and-”.

“But why, though?”.

“Why what?”.

“Why are they following you? What do they want from you?”.

Espurr froze for a second, a dark shadow suddenly looming over her gaze. “…let’s. Not. Talk. About that”. She kept glancing around, her eyes darting back and forth, searching for a tuft of golden fluff or white fur amidst the ever-shifting sea of Pokémon going about their daily lives.

…she was troubled. Ursa could see that much. Her friend, the Pokémon who had decided to make an effort to tolerate her, to put up with her, was troubled. And she didn’t know what to do.

Once again, despite all her power, she was completely useless.

And that was why she didn’t have any friends.

Because, for all her strength, she was pathetic.

…but this time, it would be different - it had to.

She opened her mouth and-.

But what if she gets scared?

-and closed it immediately.

I mean, you’re pretty much a tiny monster. Do you SERIOUSLY think that ANYMON out there could love you?

I mean, yeah, Sister was there, but only because she was a freak herself- oh, so now your sister is a freak. Yep, wonderful. I’m sure she’d appreciate this, after all she’s done for you. Not only are you a complete affront to Arceus’ plan, you’re ALSO an ungrateful-.

“Ursa? You alright?”.

She turned around. Espurr was right beside her. “…yeah”, the Stufful lied. “Yeah, I was just… thinking”.

“…well, we better plan our next move”. The psychic cat squatted down and unfurled a fairly small piece of paper in front of Ursa. It had lines and drawings and letters and symbols on it. “I think we should get out of this place as soon as possible”. She pointed at a bunch of letters. “This is the town of Acquafila. It’s a two-days walk from here- wait, do we have food for two days-”.

“I-It’s alright, I’ll just eat what I can find”, Ursa informed her. “I’m… quite the expert Bug catcher, h-heheh…”.

Espurr smiled. “Well, whatever suits you better, but I’m still gonna buy some essentials. Would you like to come with me?”.

And she offered Ursa her paw.

That was the moment when many things happened inside the Stufful’s head.

Oh gods what the heck is going on is she really going to want me to go with her I mean yeah she wanted me to be her bodyguard or something but this is so unexpected I have never been to a place for buying stuff before what if I screw it up what if I sneeze what if I accidentally break someone’s neck oh crap oh crap oh crap I am so not ready for this-.

“Uh, y-yeah! S-S-Sure, I w-w-w- I would l-love to come!”, she stammered.

WHY DID YOU SAY ‘YES’ OF ALL THINGS-.

Espurr stared at the ‘bear’ cub expectedly for a bit, before retracting her paw. “Alright, let’s… go, then”.

“…see, Luc? I told you we should’ve broken into their rooms while we had the chance!”.

The Zangoose sighed. “And do you really think we would’ve been successful in our sleep-deprived state?”.

They had witnessed all of the conversation between the three Pokémon from a narrow, dirty alley.

“Yes”, the Galvantula deadpanned. “She’s just a little girl in the company of another slightly-less-little girl! And we are grown-ass adults! We could’ve taken on them at ANY TIME!”.

“…with all due respect, Gerard, I dare to disagree - yesternight, in your sleepless stupor, you shouted that you were gonna wrestle the Moon”.

“…alright, fair enough-”.

“I mean, where in the WORLD would you find a wrestling ring big enough to fit the entire MOON?! And like, wouldn’t LUNALA have something to say about it?!”.

The Galvantula blinked. “…a wrestling ring- that’s what bothers you?! THAT I WOULDN’T FIND A BIG-ENOUGH WRESTLING-RING?!?!”.

Luc poked his chin with the tip of his claw, his face scrunching from all the thinking. “…and also, I suppose the whole ‘the Moon is in space’ thing…?”, he said tentatively.

“Yes, the Moon is in space”. Gerard sighed. “Anyways, we should probably plan our next move. The Duchess is going to be really mad if we don’t-”.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-.

Gerard almost felt his equivalent of a heart leap in his throat and out of his mouth upon hearing the voice come from his bag. As for Luc, he simply jumped in the air, the frequency being waaaaay too high for his ears.v It took both of them a second to collect themselves, after which the Galvantula dreadily dug the Connection Orb out of his other belongings. The artifact was buzzing, and beeping, and glowing like crazy. Which was a surefire way to both grab someone’s attention and give them a heart-attack, but whatever.

The two criminals exchanged a brief look of sheer dread, before Gerard pressed the button on top of the thing. Immediately, the light inside the Orb warped, showing the face of an Espeon with a black hat, her eyes glowing with Psychic power. Behind her, a wooden guardrail, and behind that, a placid stream. The sound of burbling water could be heard through the device.

“Hi”, she said. Her shoulders were relaxed, and her voice calm. But the coldness of her tone told a very different story. “Gerard. Luc”.

“M-Mrs Frénes-”, Luc stammered.

“It is ‘Your Excellency’ for you”.

“Right, right! Your Excellency! We were not expecting you to call-”.

“I am not finished. As of now, on the nineteenth of Reximya, I am standing on the route to Grantford, right on the bridge above the Kalali creek”.

“Aaaaaah, y-yes”, Gerard muttered, “well-”.

“I. Am. Not. Finished”. She cleared her voice. “Now, do remind me - was this not the time and place of our meeting? The time and place where the two of you would bring me my daughter? Because I believe it is”. She smiled. “So where is she? And you, for that matter?”.

“…alright, we might’ve run into a few… delays”, Luc began to explain.

“Oh? And what, pray tell, might those be exactly?”.

“Well”, Luc began to explain, “it all started when we met this wild Aggron…”.

DuskForm · Jan 4, 2023

DuskForm said:
She was going to die here.

Despite being barely sentient, the small creature could figure out that much. Her flailing did nothing against the current’s crushing strength, dragging her body down, mocking her pathetic attempts at resurfacing. Her cries for help echoed through the night. The feral Pokémon nesting on the trees or swimming against the tide, her only audience, ignored her. Her life was of no matter to them, after all.

Water flooded her mouth and nose. Murky mud covered her eyes. Her lungs, her throat, even her chest ached. Then her head was slammed under the surface once again.

Bubbles escaped her lips as she let out one last, garbled cry.

Then there was silence.

The tarts! The muffins! The mascarpone! The cookies! The pies! AND THE CAKES! Ooooh, the cakes! So sweet! So creamy! Slowly, she picked up a slice from the whitest and fluffiest of those creamy delights floating all around her in the kitchen, licking her lips, before bringing it to her mouth and-.

h̸̨̨̛e̡̨̕l̷̡̀p̴͏

The Lucario was catapulted from her sweet dream into her soot-filled cave. Cobalt jumped to her feet, banging her head against the wall. She let out a groan as she rubbed the base of her Aura feelers.

What the hell was that? Was she starting to feel voices?! Was the isolation finally getting to her?!

h́͜e̴͠l̷̶̛͡͠p̶̴͞

Ah, there it was again.

Before she could even question the situation, she felt herself being pulled towards the exit of her cave, her step-tep-teps muffled by the grass as the full moon’s light slithered on her chest pike.

…She was afraid of what she would find. She recalled the first -and up to then, only- time she had been pulled like this. The burning sensation crawling through her body still haunted her dreams.

Suddenly, something poked at her feelers. It was faint, but the Lucario screeched to a halt. The pull was coming from that Aura. An Aura so small, so distant, so… fleeting. She rushed towards it, heart racing in her chest as she started crossing the forest, for she knew all too well the feeling of life escaping a creature.

She was close now. She could hear the murmuring river, she was so close. So close, in fact, that she could clearly sense a second aura, one that was very much powerful and very much hungry with feral desire for sustenance.

A glowing, bone-shaped staff appeared in her left paw as she summoned a Bone Rush, which she then proceeded to inflate and flatten, until it turned into a thick, rectangular shield with two metal straps to put her arm in. With that, she barged through the last few trees, literally uprooting them, until she was out of the forest and into the clearing.

There was a Luxray near the river, a feral one, judging by its aura. And right next to it lay a… Stufful; wet, tiny, drenched in water. Unmoving. Cobalt’s eyes widened: was that a BABY?!. Why was there a baby so close to her cave?! Questions for later; the Stufful’s Aura was very much fading, and the Luxray looked very much ready to eat them.

With no hesitation whatsoever, the Lucario sprinted towards the Gleam Eyes Pokémon, muttered a quick “Sorry”, and unceremoniously smacked its face with her shield, sending it flying in the sky. No mon and nothing in a three-miles radius would hear it land.

Now that the main threat was out of the way, Cobalt could deal with the Stufful. They were laying on their back, no sound or breath escaping their mouth.

“Hey”. The Lucario gave them a few light taps on the shoulder. “Hey, can you hear me?”.

No response. Cobalt put two of her fingers on the Stufful’s breastbone and compressed the chest one-and-a-half inches in depth one time, two times, three times, fou-.

HPFFFFFTRRRLLLLHRGRRRHH!

A drizzle of water erupted from the Pokémon’s mouth with a soft gargle. Cobalt let out a sigh of relief; the kid was going to live to see the sunrise of tomorrow! The Stufful began to cry, and Cobalt wondered what she was going to do with them. She had NO idea how to care for a baby. She didn’t trust herself enough with caring for a baby. But… really, what else was she supposed to do? Bring them to Sackegen? Would they actually be safer there?

Cobalt shivered. She hadn’t visited Groveleigh in over a decade or so, and the innkeeper whose face she had punched in a booze-driven rampage was probably out for her blood.

The baby was still crying. Poor thing…. Cobalt cradled them in her arms. Fear, like a merciless wave, kept washing over her through her Aura feelers. She could only imagine how terrible it must’ve been for them; to find themselves drowning in a cold, raging river; to have water fill their lungs; to meet a hungry feral and a stranger; to be so far away from home.

h̴elp ̵̵͢h̵̛e̸l͠p͝ ̷҉h̷èl̛p͞ hé͟lp̕ ͏̨śt̕ąy̸̴̛ ̨͡aw͢͞a̡͟y̵͠ ́h̡͟e̸͢l̴̛͢p ͢ḩ͞e͘l̸͜͝ṕ̕͟ ͘͟͠w̷̛ho̷͠ ̶a̢̧r͘͝e͘͝ ͞y͘͠o̵u̸̡ ̶̡h͡҉ȩ̛l̶̢p̨̢̕ ̵̨͟h̡͞e̴l̨p҉ ̵h̶̛͘e͏̴̵lṕ͢ h̀el̡p̵͠ ̷͞m̛͟o̴͝m̷ ̴he͘lp

Again.

A light pull. A fleeting tug at her mind. Cobalt stared at the Stufful intensively; was this their doing? But how? How could they pull her like that?

“Well, well”, she said to herself… damn, was her voice always that raspy? Then again, she wasn’t exactly used to hearing it; she seldom had somemon to talk to. “You really are a peculiar one…”. She tilted her head at the baby; how old could they be? Two months? “…I’ll be honest with you; I have absolutely no idea how to care for a baby”. She slumped the still crying baby on her shoulder, trying to comfort them as she .

And with that, she began to walk back home.

Cobalt would eventually feel their ‘pull’ fading by the time she reached the entrance to her cave. She gave them a quick glance, panicking, only to let out a sigh of relief upon seeing their closed eyes and dopey face.

They had fallen asleep.

She couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight.

Well, at least she would have time to think now that her ears weren’t being annihilated by their constant screaming. She had too many questions; who was this child? Where were they from? What was their name - did they even have one? And most importantly, how were they pulling her?

An image of w̨ h͟ ̵̕i͡ t̷ ̀͜͏e flashed through her head. Cobalt felt like she was supposed to know what it was, but she had no idea, which was just deeply unsettling. It did nothing but remind her of the first time she had been pulled like that, only bringing up more questions than answers.

The Lucario shook her head. Questions could wait. For now, she would bring this child back to her den and figure things out after a good night’s sleep.

She then disappeared into the darkness of her den.

Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: A Blessing Too Good

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DuskForm

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DuskForm

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Edited on 04/12/2022

Chapter 1

DuskForm

Local Bewear

Chapter 2

DuskForm

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Chapter 3

DuskForm

Local Bewear

Chapter 4

DuskForm

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Chapter 5

DuskForm

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Chapter 6

Attachments

DuskForm

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Chapter 7

DuskForm

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Chapter 8

DuskForm

Local Bewear

Recent threadmarks

Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: A Blessing Too Good

Local Bewear

Local Bewear

Edited on 04/12/2022​

Chapter 1​

Local Bewear

Chapter 2​

Local Bewear

Chapter 3​

Local Bewear

Chapter 4​

Local Bewear

Chapter 5​

Local Bewear

Chapter 6​

Attachments

Local Bewear

Chapter 7​

Local Bewear

Chapter 8​

Local Bewear

Edited on 04/12/2022

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8