Rocky Road ~ House of Diyem, Eien, Mellow, and Toast

[Namohysip]

The front of Rocky Road had one of the largest houses, meant for truly gargantuan Pokemon. Diyem took this home for Eien, confident that they would save her. This was a little awkward for some of the residents, particularly Mellow, but there seemed to be accommodations for normal-sized Pokemon to live there comfortably. Like all of the houses in Rocky Road, it came with four basic rooms. There was a living room with some seating on one side and kitchen equipment on the other; further back, down a very short hall, was the bedroom equipped with four beds of varying sizes for what might have been the planned residents. Between them was a storage closet spacious enough for quite a few items and perhaps even Pokemon who needed some time alone; and finally, the restroom in the back corner. While a little large, it was manageable, and left room for huge residents to live in later.

<><><>​

 

[Fusion]

Puddle honestly wasn't paying attention during the meeting in the Lobby, and after Vix went to leave, everything after was just a blur. But Puddle could vaguely swear that it remembered someone saying something about eggs... and Puddle itself telling Diyem that it was gonna tell on him. None of it made sense, but it made the Scraggy snicker nonetheless.

It took a while to find Diyem's place, but it just so happened to be Mellow's place, so it was a lot easier to find than Puddle thought. Mostly... the time was thanks to those dumb, short, stubby legs.

Considering it's body to not really be able to knock, Puddle carried a big stick, and whacked it against the door.

Or tried to... it was more like a twig, first of all, and it broke on the first swing.

"Oh fo-- Diyem! Could ya open up for a second, I uh... wanna talk," Puddle called out. "About stuff... and things..."

 

[Namohysip]

"...What do you want."

The response was somewhere between tired and annoyed. Heavy footfalls got closer to the door until it finally opened, and Shadowy smoke poured out of the room. Most of the home had been converted to a giant indoor garden, but Diyem largely ignored it and only brought back his stuff from when Mellow had tossed it all out. Owen had helped him move back in during a previous morning.

It smelled of burnt food, and the oven seemed to be cooling down.

 

[Fusion]

"Goddamn, did Mellow piss you off too much or somethin'? The hell're you burnin'?" Puddle winced. Hopefully... not Mellow.

"Anyway, uh, I wanted to talk about what happened back at the guild... Somethin' about eggs? I tried to piece it together myself but... all I got was you had eggs," Puddle chuckled, shuddering. Great, now that mental image was back in its head. "And who knows, I might be able to help you cook. Vix read every damn cookbook there was, and I paid attention to most of it."

 

[Namohysip]

"...I am trying to learn how to cook, yes," Diyem said. "It is none of your concern nor business why. But I shall be fine learning it on my own." He turned around, leaving the door open for Puddle to enter and close. "We learned that the Ultra Shades are actually unhatched eggs of some kind. That is all we really know. The elements are Eien, myself, Joule, and your host. So, in your case, your parents are me, Eien, Joule, and Vix."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle walked right in, and had to put all its weight into closing the door behind it. Honestly, Diyem tryin' to cook was kinda cool! Even if Puddle hadn't tried to actually eat things before, eating sounded fun at least.

Diyem is your dad.

"I ain't gotta know why you wanna cook, I was just offerin' to help. A few pointers here an' there should be alright, right?" Puddle grinned, walking beside Diyem. Which... only brought to light just how short it was compared to the dark dragon.

Joule is your dad. Joule. JOULE.

To help relieve or whatever the fancy word was for fix the problem of height differences, Puddle climbed onto a table. "Like, for instance, never go above 450 degrees for anythin' you cook, it won't make it cook faster, it'll just burn shit. Oh! And use more seasonin' than you think when it comes to meats, but less for anythin' else. You can always add more later on!"

Your Mother is fighting a terrifying light god dragon, who is also your mother, because JOULE is your DAD.

"Kinda feels like I'm forgettin' somethin' important... make sure you use clean stuff, make sure you only use fresh food... Don't be afraid to make extra..." Puddle hummed, then shrugged.

Vix is... Vix... is...

The shade paused, blinking. It looked lost, distant, then shook its head. It hurt, again. "...Uh, what were we talkin' about again?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I can sense negativity, Puddle," Diyem replied idly. "I know what you are feeling right now and how much you are trying to mask it. It isn't working. I am a child's worst nightmare." He inspected whatever was cooking in the oven, frowning. It wasn't rising fast enough and something that had dripped to the bottom of the place was burning, causing the smell. It looked like Diyem was trying to cook some bread...

 

[Fusion]

Puddle shook its head, tsking at the "bread" in the oven. Momentarily ignoring everything else being said. "That dough's way too wet, Da--" Puddle hiccuped. "Diyem, yeah. I guess trial an' error is one way to learn, but bread dough isn't supposed to be a... me when you put in the oven. It might be too late to just add flour to it though... and you might need yeast as well."

"And... I know. I can't... hide this kinda thing from you..." Puddle muttered. Its tone was down, yet it kept its grin on all the same. "I just... don't get it. You, Eien, Vix... Joule." It clenched its fists, shaking slightly. "How the hell am I made of three of the strongest things I can think of and a dick, and I'm still... this?" Puddle gestured to all of itself. "I look nothing like any of you, and I'm... well, my name suits me well, in almost sense of the word."

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmph. In the end, you are a lot like a Void Shadow, so I suppose there is some indirect resemblance that way," commented Diyem as he stepped through a book nearby that had apparently been the recipe and instructions for bread. "More heat," he murmured to himself, and then pointed at the base of the oven, where a dark flame formed and seemed to coat the bread inside.

 

[Fusion]

"I... a Void Shadow? How di-- DIYEM NO!" Puddle yelped and grabbed Diyem's arm and tried to pull it aside. "Do you even know how to use the oven? You can't just light the bread with magic fire, you gotta use the actual oven stuff! An open flame is, like, the quickest way to burn bready things!"

God, it was like teaching a giant to be gentle! Because... it kinda was, in a way. "But... how the hell did I end up like a Void Shadow? And, also, what's a Void Shadow again? I'm tryin' to remember anythin' about 'em, and Vix's got nothin' on 'em, and... my head hurts. Thinkin' is hard."

It probably wasn't thinking, but what else could it actually be?

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem growled and pulled his arm aside. "I think I know what I'm doing. I've used shadowflame all the time to keep things warm, and food simply doesn't taste good without it. I'm just using more of it this time to harden up the dough." Diyem continued, but he did move the flame away. The dough bubbled softly.

"Void Shadows are different for some Dark Matters over others, from what I have gathered. Some are mindless aspects of their host, fragments of their full being meant to spread influence beyond where the host Dark Matter is present. Others, they are claimed souls that have been enslaved to serve Dark Matter until their reign ultimately comes to an end. I suppose I am classified as the latter, by semantics... but I think it would be more accurate to depict them as those who had too much to bear in their past lives, and wished to discard it. And now, I spend my time rehabilitating them."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle sighed, relieved that Diyem didn't totally torch the bread. "It's alright to be confident, but bread is fragile. You gotta be gentle, soft, carin'... or at least ease up on it every now an' then. Just... be careful, basically, blockhead."

The scraggy familiar listened intently as Diyem talked about Void Shadows and Dark Matters... but something just didn't add up. Puddle breathed a bit heavier, rubbing the back of its neck. "Void Shadows, like, need a Dark Matter right? Vix's world... doesn't have one. What, uh, would happen to a Void Shadow that didn't have a Dark Matter?"

Shadowy beads dotted Puddle's body, like sweat but made of darkness and just as gross. "A-Askin' for a friend, ya know?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmm..." Diyem hummed. "I do not know. Every world is different. Some worlds are vastly different. If there is no Dark Matter, then a Void Shadow might have been formed some other way. Perhaps from a spirit that could no longer bear its memories, and so they try to seal it away, becoming something shapeless and malevolent. Or perhaps something else, a new way to start a new life." Diyem snorted, intensifying the flame steadily. "But perhaps I am biased. I find Void Shadows to be very useful for both parties."

 

[Fusion]

"I-I... see." Puddle inhaled sharply, then exhaled. Its headache got worse. Irritatingly so. "That's... pretty much Vix, isn't it? That means she is a Void Shadow, right? She's... She's malevolent? Evil?" it muttered, its tail swishing from side to side, anxious. If Vix was evil, wouldn't Puddle be too? It didn't feel evil, and aside from... being angry, Vix didn't seem evil either, but...

"Is Vix gonna be alright? Without a Dark Matter?" Puddle asked, its grin vanishing entirely as it stared at the baking bread, and the shadowfire around it. "We won't... have to fight her, right?"

 

[Namohysip]

"No," Diyem replied simply. "Vix is not someone... that I would personally worry about. Void Shadows without a Dark Matter to drive them... may be hostile, but only because they are afraid and do not know who allies are. Vix already has allies. An autonomous Void Shadow can do as they like, and perhaps, with some recollection, will remember who they used to be.

"...In the end, the Void Shadows I know, the ones who became them on their own... are spirits that wished to forget. To become devoid of memories. A shadow of what they used to be." His brow furrowed. "It is a futile effort. The memories of the spirit are eternal, etched in their tapestries forevermore. They can only hope to mask it for a time. Is bread supposed to move like that?"

 

[Fusion]

"She'll... be fine. She's fine. Vix is already tryin' to remember everythin', so it's fine! She's fine. We're... fine." That was a relief... mostly, probably? No, it was. Yeah, it was. Puddle felt better, kinda. No, it did.

Really, the bread was more pressing than whatever Puddle was feeling, it thought. It was definitely moving... strangely. Which, for bread, meant it was just moving. "I... really wanna say no. I ain't seen baked bread fresh from the oven myself, but I've seen, like, sandwiches I think. Those don't move, right?"

 

[Namohysip]

"No. Bread does not move. I've seen instructional videos and they only expand."

Within the oven, as Diyem eased up on his shadowfire, he wondered if he'd pumped too much of his energy into it while thinking about Void Shadows. He looked at his tail, which had a similar, shadowy flame, and then sighed. "Perhaps I am still reeling from unleashing my full power," he muttered to himself. "Whatever. Perhaps in time, the bread will settle."

"...Ggrrr... rrr..."

Diyem glanced at Puddle. "...I know I'm not the best at cooking, but you don't need to growl at me."

 

[Fusion]

"I, uh, thought that was you, Pops," Puddle muttered, glancing back up at Diyem. "You know, since you're so big. Thought you were starvin' or somethin'."

For safe-- er, surveillance reasons, Puddle climbed onto Diyem's shoulder. Just in case. "That... really wasn't you?"

 

[Namohysip]

"...No. It was not."

"Grr... RRRRRGH... RRRAAAA!"

The oven exploded open from the inside, swinging the door hard. Something flew out of the smoke and the shadowfire, striking Diyem harmlessly in the chest. He tried to grab for it, but it was too fast and it went leaping through the plumes of smoke that now filled the room.

"Get it!" Diyem shouted. "Get that thing! What is--" Diyem lunged for it, but it jumped in the air and landed on his head. It leapt again--Diyem felt the firm crust of some kind of baked good.

It was leaping to a nearby open window. It seemed to be shaped like a rounded loaf of bread, squeezing itself to spring forward. Its front half was torn open, resembling the mouth of a Feraligatr.

"Stop that bread!"

 

[Fusion]

"You do realize this is me we're talkin' about?! Should I try to fuckin' drown it?!" Puddle exclaimed, leaping off of Diyem's shoulder when he first lunged for the crazy bread. The familiar splattered on the floor, into its namesake, and an Idea came to mind. "Oh... actually, not a bad idea."

As fast as Puddle could flow, it oozed up the wall to the open window, covering the opening and pulling it closed. "Alright, baker's nightmare! Try gettin' through that!"