Wigglytuff's Guild

[unrepentantAuthor]

What the hell did their names sound like, anyway? She'd have to ask later, it wasn't an important tangent.

I’ve already lost so much, why not lose a little more?

Evidently Thyme had found the loss of his previous life something heavy to bear. Something about his smile, and what Brisa had seen of his daughters, made her trust that he didn't have the same... perspective, as Jesse. Her heart ached a little for the fella, all the same.

"Ah, no. Je- Java couldn't go back and forth. I didn't know going back permanently was an option, not for sure, until it happened. He found excuses not to tell me how he felt about it, or what his human life was like. Said he still couldn't remember. But I can drive a nail in a sandbag, you know? I could tell there was something up."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. Careful, Brisa. The last time she'd talked about this stuff she'd got all gushy down at the Bluff in front of like, three other people. Keep a hold of yourself.

"I don't know that he missed his old life," she said, carefully. "At least, I don't think that was the only thing. To be plain about it, Java was a smart, complicated, ruminating fella. Which drove Sangria crazy, since she's a real straightforward lady. They... argued about it a lot. Silent-like, with telepathy. I don't know if y'all are acquainted with any delphox, but they're psychic. Sometimes I could hear the arguing in my head."

She cut herself off, acutely aware that if she went on too long, she'd upset herself. That... couldn't happen.

 

[Namohysip]

Thyme gave Brisa a knowing look, and Pine glanced off, looking thoughtful.

"Sounds like they didn't get along," Pine said, causing Nanab to bristle.

"Pine, you can't just say that," Nanab said.

"Oh."

"What Pine means," Nanab went on quickly, placing a vine on Pine's shoulder, "is that the circumstances were definitely different for how your human father turned out, yes. It's... definitely not the same, is it? And yet you're here, too..."

"Hmm." Thyme glanced behind him. "Pepper and I having Surf... It took me a long, long time for me to accept that sort of change. For a while, I had this... quiet worry that I might fade away one day and there'd be no warning. Dialga assured me that wouldn't happen, but I wonder if that was some weird excuse my head made up for me to not... totally dedicate to being a Pokemon. It sounds stupid, I know." Thyme rolled his eyes at himself. "But I guess some humans take pride in their humanity. Some of them are afraid to let it go for a while. Isn't that right, Pine?"

Pine silently glared, but it lasted for half a second. His expression went back to normal, like he was relenting. "Guess so."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, considering with care everything that was said. She considered with greater care what to say herself.

"Thanks for sharing that, Thyme. Knowing you had thoughts like that... it helps make sense of what could've been going through Java's head. Y'see, he and Sangria... well, I know y'all are looking at a shinx right now, but my parents saved the world about twenty years ago, and I'm twenty years old, if you catch my drift. If he was thinking stuff like that too... he can't have had time to work out those feelings before he had me to worry about."

She mused for a moment with a paw on her chin. "Don't worry about speaking plainly, Pine. Folks back where I'm from like to think my parents were a pretty pair and won't be told otherwise. You've no idea how cathartic it is to hear someone call it like it was. No, they didn't get along. Maybe once, but not while I was growing up."

 

[Namohysip]

Nanab looked like she wanted to protest at first, but then sighed and shook her head. "Alright, you win this time, Pine," she relented.

Pine looked proud.

"So they had a kid right after saving the world, huh?" Thyme said.

"Someone was thirsty," Pine said, which earned a horrified look from Nanab. Despite this, Nanab had blushed and was trying to hide her smile.

"Yeah, but it was reckless, too," Thyme said. "You can't just do something like that when you don't even know if you'll disappear. But... then again, maybe he didn't know until later... Like if his memories didn't come back until then, or... And then, one day he realizes that he's so many years deep into this life that's only temporary..."

"He might've had a breakdown," Pine theorized. "Maybe one day he got in an argument and decided he'd try out returning home to cool off. And then suddenly he can't come back." He tilted his head, left and right. "Or he's afraid to. Or someone won't let him unless they call him back first, like what happened with me. But you'd need a Voice of Life for that."

"Did someone call meeee?" a deep, yet oddly sweet voice called from outside the medical ward. "Oh, Pine, you won't believe it! They have mochi here! Look!"

A frightening, cheerful Hydreigon drifted into the room, which was starting to feel a little cramped. In his smaller heads were two sticks each of three glazed balls of mochi that glistened in the ambient light, likely all for him, as well as a bag of several more foodstuffs draped under his neck. All three heads smiled when his deep, red-black eyes locked onto Brisa.

"Oh!" he said. "You must be Brisa! It's so nice to meet you! My name is Buffet--I'm the Voice of Life for this world, but don't let that intimidate you!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa smiled helplessly. "Well met, Sir. You can call me Brisket if that's less strange to your ears, we have somethin' of a telepathic translation... problem, concerning names. Gosh, if I'd known my letter was goin' to be given this much consideration, I'd have spent a hell of a lot longer on it."

She gave Pine a thoughtful look. Something about his willingness to say things simple-like was... reassuring.

"Sangria was the thirsty one, if I'm understandin' what you mean by the word," she said, scandalising Nanab even further. "That riolu friend of mine I mentioned tells me she's from a world with both humans and pokémon. She also said there's one hell of a taboo and even legislation stopping humans and pokémon from coupling. You both might be onto something with your contemplatin' about Java havin' a delayed trip off his mental reservation, but what if..."

The idea was right there. Unsettling, but... plausible. She'd been looking at it sidelong ever since that talk with Curio.

"What if he made to settle down only to remember later he weren't supposed to be with someone like my ma? That would... That would explain a lot."

She gulped. "Would y'all mind if I requisitioned some food? I'm mighty peckish and I have a powerful need to not be speakin' for a second."

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, of course," Buffet said. "Please, have some from mine! I'm a bit of a glutton to begin with so I'm sure I can afford to give away some of it."

He set his bag of food down. "It isn't too much, only a snack, so I'm sorry if it isn't enough..."

Pine snorted, and soon it became apparent why.

The bag opened with a dramatic flourish. Within were two sandwiches filled with herbs and meats that nearly overflowed out of the crispy brown breads; one bowl of steaming curry whose aroma rapidly filled the room; a plate of a glistening berry salad that seemed to have a lean toward spicy; five drinks that were the cooler colors of the rainbow with little bubbles of chewy tapioca inside; three bowls of fried rice that seemed to have mixtures of chopped onions, green herbs, and a savory brown sauce; two containers of mushroom stir-fry noodles; a box of stuffed chocolates; and what appeared to be a block of seasoned tofu the size of Brisa's head, soaking in a bowl of clear, dark soup that smelled simultaneously sweet and savory.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Oh, I'm sure I'll survive," Brisa said, smiling dryly. "Many thanks for your kindness, Buffet."

She took a meaty sandwich and some spicy salad for herself and dug in, and oh! Delicious. The food in this world was something else.

"I'm gonna have to get some culinary tuition from your world's chefs while I can!" she remarked, between bites. "Darn good stuff."

 

[Namohysip]

Buffet giggled and settled his large body against the wall to start eating as well, starting with the Mochi. Nanab, meanwhile, was mumbling something to Pine, who nodded back.

They ate quietly for a while, and eventually Thyme had gained enough strength and mobility to sit upright in his bed. With their meals nearly halfway done--even Buffet somehow had downed most of his food by now--Pine looked to Brisa again.

"About what you said before," he said. "It could've been bad timing. He didn't really realize what he did was weird until he got the memories back. And then he's fucked."

"Is it really that weird?" Nanab asked, frowning. "I mean, he's a Pokemon now, right? So..."

Pine shrugged. "I guess if you want to be called a furry."

"I don't... understand those human analogies, Pine," Nanab said with a chuckle.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa made a mental note to ask Curio what a "furry" was. It was probably a pejorative term, judging by the context.

"I'm tryin' not to be crude here, and only since we're already theorisin' about this, and you seem laid-back fellas... what's your take on humans... havin' a family, in this world? Surf and Turf sure seem like good kids to me, so evidently not every example turns out like mine. Even if they and I are both... strong."

She put her paw to her chin again. "Wind and weather, I wish I had my real body here. I was only a luxio back home, but you should've seen me fight."

 

[Namohysip]

"Nothing wrong with it," Pine said, shrugging. "I used to think it was weird but I don't care anymore."

Thyme let out a brief, short exhale through his nose. "Pine gave me shit for it for a while. Then we had a sparring match and made it all better."

Nanab sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Yep, I remember that. You, blowing smoke from your nose like you were the Dragon, and then Pine staring at you like you were paint drying." She looked off. "To be honest, I don't really see what the whole stigma is about, so I could never relate... but I'm glad it's not a problem anymore."

"Ohh, I remember that sparring match," Buffet said, nodding.

"I don't want to," Thyme grumbled, looking away, as he was clearly the one who won handily. "...Right, your original question, though," he added, glancing at Brisa. "Humans and the Pokemon they partner up with tend to get stronger at a much faster rate. Something about how the energy of a human interacting with a Pokemon resonates. And that seems to carry over to their kids. It's pretty nifty, if it wasn't for all the fucking scientists that tried to interview us every damn day for all of spring. Eventually told them off and that was the end of most of it, but it was still pretty damn annoying."

"Mm." Buffet nodded. "A long time ago, there were other humans who had become Pokemon to save the world from a crisis here and there. Always when we needed a boost in power, and therefore a human. Their stories are always quite similar, you see. But the blood of a human tends to dilute enough that the strength boost fades after three, perhaps four generations. Though... sometimes it persists. I heard a humor that Wigglytuff might have had just the right combination of ancestors to get a boost like that... But that's only a theory. I never actually looked into it!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa listened and nodded.

"That's mighty interestin' to hear. It would explain why my parents were so tough they could take on legendary pokémon, and why I used to be able to fight all comers without breakin' a sweat. Not in this body, though."

She thought for a bit, and gave a small chuckle. "I thought I'd get real miserable contemplatin' this. Like, every day I'm trying not to think 'he left me, oh, how terrible', but now we're talkin' about him, I'm just findin' it real nostalgic to hear people swearing like Java used to. It helps to call him by a fake name, maybe. Lets me think on him without feelings gettin' in the way. And thinkin' on him..."

She turned to Buffet. "Sir, you're a Voice of Life, is what I'm told. Do you know if there's any kind of way I could... well, if not bring him back, at least talk to him?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Talk to him..." Buffet said, his three heads frowning pensively. "It's true that I can reach into other worlds... call for help and draw in a willing and able spirit... Yes, it would certainly take time... but it's not completely beyond the realm of possibility. Though, of course, we would then have to make sure he is willing to speak." Buffet looked to Pine, who nodded back.

"The universe itself once had a rule that disallowed humans," Nanab explained. "We had to travel to a place called the World Core, which was a place where we could... well, I'm not sure how to explain it, but..."

"Speak to the powers that be," Buffet said. "Phantoms of Arceus' power and the many Legends of old that flow through the world's essence and persist in the aether. It is a similar power that Jirachi taps into... In the end, Nanab traversed through the Worldcore alone and reached the epicenter, where she made a wish."

"She wanted me to come back," Pine said. "...So did I. She wanted to let me travel from my world to this one freely."

"But the world itself was leery. After all, this is a world for Pokemon, and Pokemon alone. A human hero was meant to be a temporary visitation, not a lifetime stay." Buffet sank down. "It often means that the partnerships and bonds formed between the human and the Pokemon end in tragedy. That might have been the case for your world, too." The smaller heads frowned at Brisa while Buffet went on. "It was considered a necessary evil to maintain world balance for the greater good."

"But the world has a tendency to be lenient on truly strong bonds," Thyme added. "Bone, myself, Pine, and Pita... we were all technically not meant to be here, but we stayed anyway. Fuck the universe's rules. Pokemon are all about using our power to shape our reality. And I'm half Pokemon now, aren't I? So I at least have half a say."

"Indeed." Buffet looked toward Pine. "In fact, for Pine in particular, the contract was simple. When the world was saved, he would leave, and everyone would forget him. It was supposed to be painless for the natives of Cibus. And yet..."

Pine stuck his nose in the air. "Nobody forgot me. So I beat reality."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa drank it all in, tracing notes in the hospital bedsheets with her tail and paws. She marvelled at the story of Pine's defiance of the the rules of the universe itself. She marvelled that this meeting was even taking place.

"It occurs to me that there are now several humans and part-humans in your world since the arrival of my posse. I hope that won't cause problems of its own... but I have this feeling that we can overcome anything. The stories I've heard from you, the stories I've heard from the friends I've made from other worlds - I can believe more than I ever thought possible.

"Maybe even that I can see my father again."

 

[Namohysip]

"At the very least, perhaps for some closure," said Buffet with a nod. "He may not be able to return, or perhaps he can by some other means... or perhaps some time needs to pass first, but the way it was described to me, it does not sound as if the bond he shared was strong enough to remain."

"Sucks, but at least you can get the last word in," Pine shrugged. "You an do that, right, Buffet?"

"I'm... not sure," Buffet admitted. "I will need time. I do not know how long you will be staying here, either..."

"Hey," Nanab said, perking up. "What if you asked her leader, or, um, her mission control person?"

!

"He might have a way to direct you in the general direction, at least, right?" the Serperior went on.

"Hey, yeah!" Thyme nodded.

Oh no.

"He's supposed to be a Voice of Life, too, you know. You two should, like, mingle or something."

What have you done.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Diyem was speaking to her. He was... distressed. She assumed he had a good reason to worry.

Brisa thought fast.

"The fella is pretty taxed keeping up with everythin' relevant to the mission. I wouldn't want to trouble him for a personal errand at a time like this. Course, if he tells me otherwise you'll be the first to know!"

Now for a distraction. Godsdamnit, she wasn't used to this shit. Fortunately, she'd had a needling question waiting the whole chitchat.

"Say, seeing as you're not goin' anywhere just yet, I've always wanted to know more about the human world. Or worlds, as it may be. Would you mind terribly if I asked you what life was like for you fellas before you came here?"

There, how's that for quick thinkin', chief? You fancy telling me how come you were so worried just now?

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem had paused, then sighed. ...Later. I will tell you later.

Thyme and Pine both seemed to darken a little at Brisa's request, but it also seemed like neither blamed her.

"The human world..." Thyme sighed, looking down. "It's a little blurry for me, to be honest. Like a dream. It's hidden behind a wall of amnesia that I shook off a while ago, but, it still has that distant feeling because of it. But from what I know, I'm not from the same world Pine is."

"My world didn't have Pokemon at all," Pine added. "You guys were, uh..."

Nanab gently wrapped a vine around Pine's arm and gripped it firmly. And for the first time, Pine looked smaller, vulnerable... but her presence calmed him.

"I dunno if a world without Pokemon is all that interesting," Pine replied to Brisa. "I dunno. Maybe some other time I'll talk about it."

"Same," Thyme said. "That's gonna need some mental prep for me. It's kind of a sore spot, y'know? Or you can just ask Pepper and my kids. She was crazy curious when my memories started returning and I told her all about it. She totally took notes." Despite the somber tone, there was a dumb smile on Thyme's face. He really did love Pepper...

"Imagine a world without elemental types, or any of the powers related to it," Buffet offered to Brisa. "Where only one species is truly like how we all behave, and the rest of them are all completely feral, not even able to speak, or at least not at the same capacity that humans can. That, I think, is how you can look at the base of Pine's world. It's... truly unlike anything that most of us can imagine."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Well, that's understandable," said Brisa, meaning it. "Jesse used to say the same sorta thing."

Priorities, priorities. Her head was downright stuffed.

"Say, there was somethin' else I've been wonderin'. Names. I don't know if anyone's mentioned this to y'all but your names, when run through the translation telepathy the posse are usin' to communicate, all sound like food items. Sounds to me like our names all sound weird to y'all goin' the other way. I'm dyin' to know what they turn out as."

Maybe that would be a light subject to end off on before she forced herself outta bed and off to look for Curio. Or, alternatively, passed out again. She was feeling rough as a ranger's paws after a desert patrol at the height of summer.

 

[Namohysip]

"Uh." Pine looked at Buffet. He, in return, tittered and went back to eating.

"Well, you see... I guess it must be the translation issue with your names, but..." Nanab trailed off, then sighed.

"Surf was telling me all about your names," Thyme said. "I thought she was joking at first, but after meeting you, Brisa, I think it really did come off that way. Who was it... Owen, right? that was the first one we found out. His name translates to... I think it's what you'd put down if you wanted to write out the sound of big wings flapping. Like... Fwhoosh! ...There, I said his name again."

"Yeah," Pine said. "You guys sound like what they write down in comic books for sounds."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa held her expression steady. Huh. They weren't kidding.

"I was honestly expectin' worse," she admitted. "Least it ain't somethin' awful rude. If you're curious, I'll tell ya what your names sound like to us. Some of them are... appropriate."

She gave a dry smile and gestured with her head towards the hydreigon. "Your voice of life here is named 'buffet', as in, an ensemble of different nourishments. I think that's downright charmin'."

When the conversation reached its ebb, she'd head out. If she had the strength.

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, goodness..." Buffet drew back, startled. "How interesting! I suppose your commander must be trying his best, but some things are just difficult to translate..."

Thyme sighed, smiling. "Ugh..." Suddenly, he had to lay down again. "Still not totally recovered, feels like..."

"You should rest," Nanab said. "It was nice seeing you, um, Brisket. We're going to be hanging around Treasure Town for a few weeks to make sure everything is alright, actually. Help out with investigating. Maybe when things settle down, we can return home--everyone else is still running Paradise, you see." She grinned. "Don't be stranger, now!"