Shaymin Village

[DragonD]

Alya whistled while she waited for Puddle's response, touching and playing with the gracidea petals that took the place of her flower like she usually did. Kindle looked back at her, and spotted the toying with the petals. "What did you do this time?" He asked, knowing her enough to tell she had just made something devilish.

Alya gave him an innocent smile. "Come one, trust your sister a little more."

"You..." Kindle had been just about to say "You aren't my sister", but choked on the words when he realized how harsh they were. The ninetales gulped it down in shame, just as he saw the familiar smiling as she read Puddle's message. "Can you show me the chat?"

"Yeah," Alya answered while typing up a response for Puddle after seeing their message.

...

"Hello?" Kindle said after a few seconds.

Alya's smile only grew. "Oh, did you want to see it now? You know, since you only asked if I could show you but not for me to show you." With a little chuckle, she finished Puddle's new message, having bought enough time with her shenanigans to type it down without Kindle interrupting her.

"Oh you..." Kindle said while turning in place to bite her, but since she was directly behind his head, the ninetales only managed to spin in place a few times without being able to reach the shaymin as she just laughed at him, before sending the message.

> "Get in a little further, look for the dumb ninetales spinning in place with a shaymin familiar on his back."

 

[Fusion]

"Dumb Ninetales..." Puddle hummed, walking further in. Sure enough, there they were, a Ninetales nipping at a Shaymin familiar. Well, Puddle didn't know if that Ninetales was dumb, but he was definitely being made a fool of. Was enough to make the Scraggy familiar chuckle.

Puddle oozed on over, keeping half of its body formed so it didn't drop its bag, and may or may not recorded a video of the Ninetales spinning like an idiot. Might be a good pick-me-up for the team. With a good bit of fox spinning recorded, Puddle reformed entirely and sat on the ground, nodding at Ayla. "Yo sis. How'd you get 'im to spin like that? Wave his favorite treat around or tell 'im about the piece of paper stuck on one of his tails?"

 

[DragonD]

Kindle stopped spinning as soon as he heard the voice, and turned to Puddle. "...What?" He said, unsure of what Puddle meant, before suddenly realizing that he was talking to Alya, and about him. The icy ninetales blushed so intensely he could have been mistaken for one of his fiery cousins, starting to stutter a little as he attempted to come up with an explanation.

Alya on her side, just smiled widely and turned around on top of Kindle. Or more exactly, melted herself before reforming in her new position, looking at Puddle. "Well, hello there!" She wasn't sure how to call Puddle yet, so she just grinned at him before answering his question. "You see, thee ancient art of making ninetales look like idiots consists of messing with them just enough and then making sure they can't reach you." As soon as she said that, Kindle turned his head and bit her now-exposed leg. Of course, the only thing he managed to do is to get a mouthful of familiar goo, what a lovely taste. The fox gagged and spit, getting Alya to laugh again.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle sputtered and laughed. It mighta been rude to think it but Kindle was definitely missing some smarts up there. Gods, what a nice change of pace. "Alright, wow, great job Kindle. You really showed her," the familiar snorted, reaching into its bag and pulling out a generic cola and handing it to the icy-tales. "Here, to wash that out. I got a whole lotta these too, but if Ayla can get you that easily, I might run out sooner than I thought!"

"So, is this all y'all been up to around here? I don't think I've seen either of ya often," Puddle asked and said, handing a soda to Ayla. Orange, the most easily liked flavor. "If you've been here long enough to learn how to mess with a Ninetales here, I should visit more often."

 

[DragonD]

"Oh, I'm a young familiar." Alya said while taking her bottle, taking a sip at it. "Only awakened about a month ago or so. I heard things have been a lil crazy around here while I was snorin. But I need no time to learn how to mess with my brother here." She said while tapping Kindle's ears, causing him to snap back to reality and look at her, then at the bottles.

Kindle sit on his hind legs as he let out a sigh, and raised a paw to accept the cola. He barely had time to react when he saw a black tendril suddenly shot out from behind him and snatch away his cola. The ninetales turned around in time to see Celeste taking a sip from his bottle, before taking another from her own. "...Why."

"I'm seeing which one do I like the most, duh." She said as she took a second sip at Kindle's cola, before handling it back to him. Kindle looked at the mouth of the bottle, now full of black familiar goo. "...I hate you."

 

[Fusion]

"Only a month ago? Shit, how long ago was that? So much happened, I definitely lost track of time and all that," Puddle sighed, drinking its blue raspberry pop. "It's safe to say you missed a lot, but honestly, I don't think anything from before a month ago really mattered as much. Do you at least know us familiars are siblings? Diyem's our dad, Joule's our... other dad, Eien's our mom..."

It paused, taking another sip while looking at Kindle. They might've known, they might not have, and Puddle would be one to tell them all this. But like, their brother sister dynamic was so nice... Maybe Puddle didn't have to tell them now. "That's about it, really. Part of why I'm here, checkin' in on my younger sis and all that."

A little smile grew on Puddle's face. Simply saying it had a little sister was nice. Relaxing.

 

[DragonD]

"Awww..." Alya said as she looked at Puddle, while Kindle was busy trying to get the goo off his bottle so he could drink. "Hey, Puddle, who is your... Err... Shit. Kindle, how do we call the people linked to a familiar?"

"...And you ask me?" He said while taking a sip of his cola. He had managed to get off most of the goo, but there was still a little that got into his mouth. The fox gagged, but refused to spit out again so her closed his eyes and gulped the whole thing down. Kindle made a weird face after doing so, before shuddering and returning to normal. "I'm the guy that could get lost in a cardboard box and you ask me."

 

[Fusion]

"Host. They're our host," Puddle said, handing Kindle another soda. Grape, this time. "Mines is named Vix. She's a weird Chandelure, has a mouth, attracted to edgy jerks..." it sighed, shaking its head as its smile started to fade. "I dunno where she is, but this cool lookin' Scrafty jerk with a glass head showed up when the team was fightin' and I haven't seen Vix since."

It felt like it was reminiscing, in a weird, kinda sad way. "I know she's alright at least, I'd feel it if she died or got hurt, so it ain't nothin' to worry about. Just got finished dealin' with one of her fuck ups too, so as long as she ain't givin' me more work, it's fine."

 

[DragonD]

"Attracted to edgy jerks you say?" Alya said while snatching away Kindle's new cola before he could grab it and taking a sip, to his consternation. "Then you are a walking repellent." She tapped on Kindle's head with the bottle. The fox looked up, and grabbed the cola. "...I have never felt so insulted by what I think was a compliment."

Alya didn't quite process the weird scrafty part. She stared at Puddle for a few seconds, before shaking her head and putting it on her list of weird things about cybus. A list that, of course, had herself included. She, however, did understand the next part. "Ohh, yeah... That weird link between host and familiar that connects us..." She tapped on Kindle's head again, before smiling wickedly. A second later, the fox jumped, nearly spilling his soda as he looked around frantically. Alya just laughed.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle grinned, snickering. Going from Karat with his stoicness to this comic relief was a fucking godsend. Rocky would honestly love hanging out with Ayla and Kindle, Puddle thought. Must be nice being so carefree and shit...

"Yeah, edgy jerks are her go to, but foxes? Shit, I think she has a soft spot for every fox we've met, which is like... three. And only one of 'em tried to actually kill her. Try an' guess which one she's adamant about being close to?" Puddle took a longer sip, finishing its bottle and grabbing another. Cream Soda. Hm... "Vix could probably use someone like Kindle around, I think all this serious shit is gettin' to her. She could use someone so easily teasible to bring her back to earth."

 

[DragonD]

Alya finally jumped off Kindle, leaving a funny-looking black spot on the fur of his back where she had been. "Didya hear that? If you ever wanna get close to Ms. Vix, try to kill her." She floated next to Puddle, before asking. "Oh yeah, if you ever want to fetch Kindle for a while for your host, just tell me. I'll just put him on a leash and hand him to ya." Kindle narrowed his eyes when he heard that. He wondered if any other host got put to shame by their familiar as often as he did. He doubted it.

Regardless of her done, Alya's smile did waver a little when she heard Puddle talk about the serious stuff. After a few seconds of consideration, the shaymin let out a sigh. "You know, whenever someone talks about that stuff I want to go out there and help figure it out, maybe tie up Kindle and force him to come with me. But honestly, I still have no idea what the hell is going on half the time, barely know anyone, haven't caught up in what happened... I just feel out of place, ya know? Until I... We... can get back on track..." She looked at Kindle, who seemed to be listening. "Sometimes the best way to help is to not get in the middle."

 

[Fusion]

"I'll keep that in mind. I can try my hand at makin' a Ninetales look like and idiot, and Vix gets another friend to friendzone her."

That little smile from before came back, a bit bigger than before. Sounded like most familiars just had that sense of wanting to help, which one should expect, seeing how their hosts are all heroes and whatever. Debatably. "Yeah, you got a point sis. I'd love to step back and let all this stuff handle itself but I... can't. I dunno, somethin' just keeps tellin' me to do what I can, like I have to. It's a good thing we don't really need sleep since I would be sleep deprived as hell at this point."

Another long sip, Puddle's cream soda was almost done. It didn't taste as sweet as usual, but Puddle didn't mind. "I ain't gonna be all that busy, it looks like, so maybe I'll hop on by more often. Fill y'all in on everything, bit by bit. Y'all ain't gotta worry about chippin' in just yet--" even if Puddle knew something big was coming everyone's way, "--so just sit back, relax, and keep messin' with your brother."

The Scraggy looked at Alya was a cheery smile on its face, nodding. "Until y'all feel comfortable enough to try and chime in with the rest of the gang, I'll be right here for ya. Assumin' I ain't puttin' out another fire Vix set, or someone else."

 

[DragonD]

"Oh yeah... Not having to sleep is a blessing. You have no idea how much stuff I manage to pull on Kindle while he is resting." The fox at this point decided to just drink the rest of his cola silently. Clearly, opening his mouth would just end up in Alya shaming him even more. "And you don't have to remind me, I'll keep torturing him every day. Isn't that right, Kindle?" The fox grunted.

"And it would be great if you did. The sooner I get to do something else than torturing Kindle, the better." She said while floating back to the fox, and sitting on top of his head. "Jeez, I am kind of glad Kindle hasn't done much in here, else I would have to spend all my time fixing his problems like back home."

 

[Fusion]

"I'm sure he ain't all that bad. Last time I checked, the Shaymin that live here don't take shit from nobody. So seein' how you're both basically livin' here, safe to say Kindle isn't prone to fuck up like some of the rest of the team," Puddle chuckled, offering Alya a pineapple soda. "There is a lot to cover, though. I don't wanna drop everything on y'all at once, and I already told ya about us familiars so... maybe we can take it easy for a lil bit before goin' on to the next bit."

Normally, you couldn't tell Puddle was tired just from looking at it. Now, though, it was starting to melt. Probably the only thing it has in common with its host at this point. To try and hide it, Puddle drank more soda and figured it could change the subject before it got to him. "Speakin' of family, what's the deal with the two of you? I get siblin' vibes from between ya, kinda. Ayla certainly acts like a sister, and Kindle's as much a pushover as a kid brother." It gave Kindle a titter and another soda, root beer. "No offense, I can relate to that."

 

[DragonD]

"Probably because we are family." Alya said while tapping on Kindle. "Or at least, the real me is Kindle's sister. Not biologically, but honestly we don't give a damn."

"Is part of why I could accept Alya so quickly." Kindle said softly as he got the shaymin off his head. "We both know that family doesn't need to mean sharing blood. Or species. Or whatever is the difference between familiar and host." The ninetales said as he pressed Alya against his chest as if to comfort himself, until he felt the cold ultra stone inside her against his paws and looked down. "Sorry."

"Don't think about it." She said while moving a little upwards. "And yeah, he is a total pushover when I'm around. Mostly when I'm around, though. Don't let the ninetales appearance fool you..." She stretched up, and began pinching Kindle's check. " This guy here is still a scaredy vulpix. He just got turned into a ninetales when arriving here for whatever reason."

 

[Fusion]

"Family, huh? It's nice, ain't it?" Puddle chuckled, grabbing another blue raspberry soda. "Before the reveal of all us familiars bein' family, shit, I felt pretty alone. I don't know what I was to Vix before this, but she said she ain't ever met a Scraggy before comin' here, and then we started driftin' apart. To make matters worse, I was... literally a push over. Someone stronger than me wanted somethin', they got it. Ain't nobody listened to me neither."

And it was kinda debatable if anyone did now, other than Rocky and maybe Cola... perhaps a few other familiars, too.

"I'm... kinda jealous I ain't got a past to remember, I think. So I took to bein' the best brother now that I can be. It feels right, carin' 'bout my own family, you know? It's... it's all I got right now." Another chuckle, but a bit more downtrodden than before. "N-Not like that's a bad thing, I'm happy after all, haha! Feels like I was meant to do this kinda thing, be a brother an' all that, hehe."

 

[DragonD]

Alya chuckled. "Ah, headache, my old friend..." Despite her words, she clearly didn't have anything roughly similar to a headache anyways. "I never met about half the species I have seen in here. We don't have dark matter and stuff in our world, so this is all new." She looked to Puddle again when she heard the last part. "You know, memories or no memories, I kind of feel the same. I have on me what he thinks his sister is like, and I know that made me but is not the same..." She looked up to Kindle who looked down at her at the same time, listening. "And even so, I just want to be the best sister I can even though I don't have anything she had. It just... feels right." She looked at the ground, seeming resigned. "Even though I'm not his sister."

"...You are my sister," Kindle said softly.

She looked at him again. "You know that I'm not her..."

"You are not Celeste." He interrupted her. "I know that, and I honestly don't give a shit. You are Alya, you are my sister, and I don't give a shit about what anyone says."

Alya looked at him for a while, silent for the first time in about the last month. She gulped down, and hid her face so no one would tell she was on the verge of tears.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle would have mentioned how it was having headaches for... wow, maybe about a month despite how it shouldn't be having those, but... seeing Ayla and Kindle bond like that damn near brought a tear to Puddle's eye.

It flowed over to Ayla and wrapped her in a lil hug, just now noticing how she was just barely smaller than it was. It wanted her to know it was already to tear up, but saying that felt cliche, somehow. That, and there wasn't a guarantee that Puddle wasn't gonna start tearing up itself and sound like a crying child.

What Ayla and Kindle had, this sibling's by choice thing, was heartwarming. Sweet, even. Some would call it beautiful, but that would be entirely cliche and Puddle was above that. And what would that mean about Puddle if it was jealous over a cliche?

"Ya'll are pretty great, you know?" Puddle hummed, grinning up at Kindle. "Shit, I wish I checked on ya'll sooner, hehe. That was probably the sweetest thing I've seen in the... several months I've been me."

 

[DragonD]

Ayla laughed, feeling a little more comforted. "Yeah... Kindle has his moments. I remember all of them... They are pretty nice. His sister is lucky... I'm lucky." She said as she pushed the fox away a little. "And... Thanks... For coming."

Kindle chuckled a little, knowing he just put Alya in a very uncomfortable position. "Yeah... We aren't getting much chance to talk to people, with everyone being dragged in a hundred directions and stuff, us included. So having a little pause to talk to someone when it doesn't involve the fate of the world is pretty great."

"Specially if that person has a good taste in drinks." Celeste finished, looking at the empty bottles on the side.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle chuckled, rubbing the back of its head. "Hey, someone has to, right? I dunno if it's a real hobby, but drinkin' sodas kinda turned into one, maybe. It's rare I ain't got one or two on me, hehe."

"I'll be sure to keep the world savin' shit outta here whenever I visit. That is the last thing I wanna have on my mind all the time," Puddle nodded, standing up and rolling its shoulders. It felt good. Things were good. This was good. "Like I said before, I'm gonna help ya'll catch up an' stuff. Maybe bring some other familiars too, I know at least one of 'em would love this place, and maybe get a kick outta messin' with Kindle too." The Scraggy grinned at Kindle, then chuckled. "Then again, Rocky's 'bout as soft as they come. Which makes 'im so great."

"Oh, if ya'll are into fightin', we got a sis named Luz that..." Puddle paused, blinking. Come to think of it, how was Luz doing? They've barely even talked recently, haven't they? Catching itself staring for a moment, Puddle shook its head and finished. "Yeah, we got a sis named Luz that loves a good throwdown. Familiars ain't all that strong, but she's definitely got some power behind her, hehe! And if we're meetin' everyone... Ayla might have to meet up with Diyem sooner or later. And... maybe Joule too."

Ayla and Kindle had a lot to do, catching-up wise, but it wouldn't be that bad to help 'em out. It was already loads more immediately satisfying than sticking Puddle neck out for Karat. The familiar shook its head, sighing, then grinned once more. "But that's all for later, yeah? I got helluva lot more soda, and I'm takin' today off from stressin' over shit. I'm gonna fuckin' relax." And to prove its point, Puddle fell on its back with a splat, half melting into a puddle.