#Kangaskhan Storage

[treasuretownresident]

Bio. 2

Name: Miss Kangaskhan

Age: 45

Species: Kangaskhan (female)

Level: 55

Moves: Fake-out, Dizzy punch, Brick Break, Ice punch.

Ability: Scrappy/Early bird

Held item: Power Band

Likes: Helping customers, little children, her family, meeting new Pokémon, fair business. support her son being an explorer.

Dislikes: Rude customers, seeing her children hurt, her ex partner/former lover.

[lovepmd]

If I remember correctly, you can still access your items during the special episodes as other Pokémon. The earliest timeline wise technically would be Wigglytuff’s as an Igglybuff, then the Team Charm one, then Bidoof’s, then Sunflora’s, and finally Grovyle’s. Admittedly—I’m focusing less on the “controlling another Pokémon” aspect. How would them having access to our items work narratively? We could rule in space-time wonkiness from the present’s Temporal Tower breaking?

Can you imagine a younger Igglybuff opening one of the Kangaskhan rocks to see there’s actual explorer supplies? Obviously, he wouldn’t question it and take this sixteen item bag with him to explore the forest! Team Charm runs into the issue that they’re item account(?) got switched with another teams and they are on a time crunch trying to find the treasure. They can return the items later! (Wigglytuff might remark something similar happened to him when he was younger. Mysterious items that helped him get through a Mystery Dungeon).

Bidoof worrying about making it through Wish Cave. Dungeons with Legendaries are notoriously difficult to find and traverse… The worst ones are ninety-nine floors, how’s he gonna get through that? Even with Snover shoring up type coverage! Then, he noticed there are items there weren’t there when he tries to access his storage. This isn’t his own—none of the berries and apples would be left if it was. Some of the items in this other explorers/teams inventory are mighty tempting. They have TMs—no, no, no.

He just refused to buy a Hidden Power TM. Spending other’s money or using their things was downright rude let alone unlawful. Er, let’s hope the other team won’t mind him dipping into their healing items. He can pay them back.

Sunflora might not notice it at first since she’s one of the more successful explorers. That being said, she rarely ever used throwable items since her leaves were frail. It’s only later she learned that the new Hero/Partner team had a copy of her new fire-type resistant item that she figured she had accidentally used their inventory.

Those items managed to save Grovyle’s tail a few times. Some of the scarves and orbs were dusty, the food itself was preserved in cans/jars… Yet usable. He used the items sparingly since he knows that it most likely belongs to a time paralyzed explorer. It’s only when the sun rises and he can think clearly. He realized the scarf he was wearing was awfully familiar to what his former partner was wearing.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[asimplearchivist]

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷

𝐂𝐇. 𝐈 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍, 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐕 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓.

[𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓼𝓽'𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽] [ 𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ] [ AO3 | SPOTIFY | PINTEREST ] summary ✨ ⤏ lu poses a question that makes eliana wonder about the nature—and the unpredictable forgiveness—of time. pairing(s) ✨ [tba] word count ✨ 4.3k a/n ✨ [header credit] | [divider credit] ⤏ posting the ending arc of a story before the main part of it is perhaps a bold move, but…that thing will take me an indeterminate amount of time to complete (if ever), so I had to silence the voices in my head by at least getting this out of my system. it's been fermenting in the back of my mind since 2016, guys. my infatuation with this old ghost has cursed me in the best (and worst) possible ways. ⤏ any references to what may read as backstory prior to this would be explained in the main story. if I never fully write it out, I do at least intend to flesh out a solid outline here on tumblr, so keep your eyes peeled for that, at least, and I am always welcome to questions either in the comments or in my askbox. I really just want my moots to be able to understand the things I yap on about like I'm stark-raving mad tbh lol ⤏ enjoy the feels-train coming into the station, guys! grab your tickets and climb aboard! :) ✨ MASTERPOST ✨ ✨ ⤏ NEXT CHAPTER ✨

The question that would irrevocably change their combined lives came as a casual, off-handed supposition one lazy, sunny afternoon.

Eliana had been elbow-deep in a crate packed full of orbs that she had pulled from storage at Kangaskhan’s for the sole purpose of sorting the muddled amassment, organizing the ones to keep for the team’s utility or delivery to the ever-growing list of clients mounted to the board on the cave wall, and recycling those of which they owned in excess—and thus didn’t need—at Wynaut’s. She had stayed occupied with that blissfully mind-numbing task since they had eaten a mild breakfast of toasted flatbreads with liberal smears of honey and slices of freshly ripened fruit while Lu had taken it upon himself to reconcile the veritable mountain of job requests they kept stored in a chest, which had gotten quite out of hand considering the lid struggled to properly latch when shut.

They had worked in companionable silence while the sun had crawled towards its zenith, the plunking percussion of orbs clinking into the slotted tray Eliana used for such occasions as the mood to take inventory struck her kept time over the underlying rhythm of papers crinkling and shuffling as Lu compiled them into neat stacks by location and urgency filling the open maw of the bluff sheltering them from the worst of its glaring rays.

The balmy, salt-infused wind helped to wick the worst of the burgeoning summer’s heat, but the lack of clouds had cautioned them to stay indoors nevertheless—while Eliana did require a certain amount of sunlight as a part of her daily nourishment, full exposure with no breaks (while traveling at times harsh terrain and facing feral Pokémon while on missions in unpredictably dangerous mystery dungeons to boot) spelled out the possibility of her photosynthetic ears and tail flagging. That condition was uncomfortable at best—and most grass-types at the peak of health don’t even blink to shed the resulting wilted flora in order to allow for new growth to replace the lost organic material—but, at worst, it could pose somewhat serious health issues if left unacknowledged. Sunning in the mornings or afternoons proved most fruitful and kept her leaves glossy and lush.

It was the first day off their little team had taken in months, besides. They both had needed the break between the back-breaking, frantic jobs that had lately dominated the majority of their time after their recent promotion to Guildmaster Rank not even a month prior. As his most accomplished graduates by far, Wigglytuff had been relying more and more frequently upon them for assistance in maintaining the background runnings behind the face of the Guild—and particularly on Lu for the administration since Chatot couldn’t handle as much of the active work (namely running errands and maintaining documentation) as he used to due to the injury that he had incurred in Brine Cave)—so, despite being at the most stable point of their exploration careers thus far, they were busier than they had ever been before.

That was precisely why Lu’s soft-spoken question took Eliana off-guard like it did—it came unbidden, at completely random, considering that the topic hadn’t even touched the fringes of her mind in days for how severely she’d been distracted by the perpetual stream of waking, eating, packing, hiking, exploring (which usually entailed a rather harrowing combination of rescuing and battling Pokémon who, frankly, should have known better), resting, and repeating it all over again while keeping up with basic chores and routines for thier team to continue working as seamlessly as always.

Perhaps her guilt from the fact that she hadn’t devoted the concept much thought was excusable for this very reason, although it certainly did not alleviate the somewhat painful sensation in the least.

“…Do you ever think about what happened to the paralyzed future?”

It took a long moment for Eliana to compose herself, and she bought time by carefully finishing a stack of Escape Orbs that would afford them a refreshed supply of Reviver Seeds for the coming week. She tilted her head as if to roll the question around within her head, her tail curling over her paws as she parsed an appropriate response. “…Of course I do.”

“Dialga said that the timeline was restored,” Lu continued absentmindedly, eyes trained on the wrinkled parchment clasped between his tarsus pads, but the creases of his melancholic frown gave away the depth of his thoughts on the subject, “and you were brought back, but…what do you think happened to…everything else?”

He left that remark intentionally vague and open-ended for her benefit, no doubt, so she could divert the conversation if she needed to. Lu was also so considerate of her somewhat fragmented feelings on the matter, but she did wish that he wouldn’t treat it as though he should walk entirely on eggshells when bringing up one of the primarily defining moments of her conscious recollection.

“I…don’t know,” she answered truthfully, looking out towards the rippling sapphire ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. “He never told me. I had assumed…”

At her trailing off, Lu raised his considerate gaze to gauge her expression. Besides her furrowed brows, Eliana felt no distress—and after reading her aura just to be certain (because she knew Lu, and she knew how fretful he grew over her), he set the paper down and pinned it with a coin to prevent it from wiffling away in the wind. “…That they’re gone?” he finished tentatively.

To acknowledge her reluctant, if hopeless, conclusion verbally hurt her too much, so Eliana gave him a stunted, singular nod.

“I don’t know, either,” Lu said after a long pause, “and I wouldn’t ever want to have false hopes, but…surely if you were brought back, Eliana, they would have been, too…?”

Eliana didn’t really want to dwell on the possibility. While the notion would vastly alleviate the guilt that plagued her every single time her mind drifted to her old companions (and she, too, had wondered at such a possibility before with the same reasoning), if the contrary were ever to be confirmed, it would grieve her all over again. She still struggled to reconcile their loss—because she had lost them, regardless of whether they had, by some miracle, survived like her, and they were separated by an indeterminate and insurmountable length of time beside—and if such hypothetical hopes were ever disappointed…well, she already had a hard enough time coming to terms with her emotions as it was.

“Maybe,” she offered mildly, returning her attention to her unfinished task. The rest of the crate would likely keep her busy until sundown.

“You know…” Lu resumed his own work, as well, tone then more conversational than cautious. “…we could always ask Dialga. Who knows? Since all the time-space issues surrounding us have been resolved, maybe we could—”

“I find that unlikely,” Eliana interrupted him, coarser than she intended to. When she snapped her head around to look at him, however, with shame lancing through her, he didn’t look ruffled in the slightest—such was the imperturbable nature of her partner, and the rational adult he had grown into from a timid, if somewhat passive-aggressive and hot-headed, youth. “I was brought back as a personal favor to you for saving Temporal Tower. I don’t know that Dialga—or whoever granted that wish—would allow for the timeline to have lingering echoes like that. And if…if they did…survive,” she ground out through gritted teeth, “there’s no guarantee that their memories would remain intact. If everything was overwritten, then…maybe they…maybe they wouldn’t even…”

Lu stood and stepped over to her, coiling his arms around her torso and tugging her into a hug. His warm, broad paws rested between her shoulder blades and stroked the length of her spine respectively, soothing her flaring tide of emotion. She blinked away the sting in her eyes and leaned into his touch with a soft, shaky sigh.

“I understand,” he murmured. “I’m sorry I brought it up. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s alright,” she responded, muffled slightly by the fur cushioning her cheek. “I’m okay, just…I still have a hard time thinking about it.”

“I know. We can talk about it later, or…or never, if you want. It doesn’t affect me nearly as much as it does you, and I hate to see you cry.”

“Lucky for you, I hate to see myself cry, too,” she responded wryly with a sniffle, trying to grasp at the levelheaded disposition she wore most of the time. She didn’t usually keep her walls up around Lu, but she was particularly sensitive about this topic and…well, she had trouble with figuring out what to do with the equal parts grief, guilt, and anger that had come to reside in the scarred hollows of her heart that had once been occupied by her fellow future Pokémon. As she had countless times before since returning from the odd state of limbo in which she’d been trapped for the time between the Tower’s rescue and Lu’s breaking point, she opted to unceremoniously shove the complicated and snaring web of uncertainty to the back of her mind to be dealt with never later. “Do you want to go to Spinda’s tonight? I’m getting thirsty and I found some Joy Seeds we could try.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Lu smiled, although she knew without a doubt that he noticed her deflection tactic. “Let’s finish up all this and we’ll call it a night.”

It didn’t take long to complete their tasks—Eliana tucked all of the excess items they’d elected to trade into a crate for Lu to carry and they discussed what jobs they should take the next day on their easygoing walk through Treasure Town. There was a handful of rescue and criminal apprehension requests for the Mystifying Forest a couple of days old that would be simple enough to complete. They could save the ones farther out for later in the week so they’d have better time to prepare the necessary supplies.

Spinda’s Café was moderately busy, but the background murmur of conversations and laughter helped to distract Eliana’s melancholy mind. She hadn’t quite been able to shake off their discussion of heartaching hypotheticals, even caught up in the soothing routine of taking inventory, so she distracted herself by entering the line to order while Lu when over to Wynaut and Wobbuffet in exchange for prize tickets that they would redeem later, once they weren’t so tired.

Domesticity elicited a more comfortable weariness, however, than exploring did (given the stresses revolving around dealing with the feral Pokémon in the mystery dungeons and their job requests’ oftentimes complex and tenuous mission objectives), and Eliana relished in being able to sit at one of the tables closer to the edge of the room with peace of mind—Kangaskhan had mentioned that their storage limit had been approaching, so Eliana was glad to keep herself busy in such a way.

Lu brought their drinks over once they were done, and they sat in oscillations of companionable silence and idle remarks while people-watching or bringing up recurrent topics that needed updating in context of their exploration team duties.

Not too much later, Bidoof and Corphish descended the stairwell, engrossed in a lighthearted chatter until they spotted the Guild graduates off to the side by themselves.

“Well, howdy!” Bidoof greeted with a toothy grin, “it’s sure been a while, yup yup!”

Eliana chuckled. They’d seen the lot of them only yesterday while checking the job bulletin boards and asking about Croagunk’s stock on special items. “It’s nice to see you two. Would you like to sit with us?”

“Hey, hey! Thanks for the invitation!” Corphish crowed, clacking his pincers enthusiastically. “I’ll go wait in line!”

“Gee, thanks, Corphish!” Bidoof said, clambering up onto the stool to be more closely leveled with the second-stage evolutions. “I didn’t see you two come through the crossroads today, yup yup.”

“We took an off-day,” Eliana told him, leaning down to sip from the dried reed that served as a straw. Lacking opposable thumbs, while something she had mostly grown accustomed to, was not ideal, but given the fact that many other Pokémon also didn’t possess them, there were always accommodations for it. “We’ll probably head back out tomorrow. What did you do today, Bidoof?”

“I sort of did the same,” he replied jovially, “since I filled in for Diglett as a sentry…although Chatot said I was more distracted than usual and didn’t seem very pleased, yup yup.”

“If you did that all day,” Lu said with a chuckle, leaning in and folding his forearms on the table, “I can imagine all the footprints started to blur together after a while.”

“Sure ‘nuff!” Bidoof laughed in return. “My eyes are still dazzled from all the sunshine, yup yup—I don’t know how Diglett can stand it!”

“He’s used to it,” Lu said, “because I’ve asked him the same thing before. He says they’re normally sensitive to light because he’s an underground dweller, but he’s adapted to it since Dugtrio spends so much time outside. Maybe you didn’t strain your vision too terribly—maybe you won’t get a headache on top of it.”

“Aw, I already started getting one, trying to keep up with all the visitors we had today,” the plump mouse Pokémon admitted sheepishly, “and Loudred was extra cranky, yup yup. My ears are still ringing. It didn’t help that I got worked up.”

“About what, Bidoof?” Eliana asked, frowning lightly. While Bidoof had his moments when he frustrated some of the others in times past—with herself included, she couldn’t deny that—he’d come a long way since Lu and herself had graduated. The thought of him getting his feelings hurt by someone else irked her, after all the support he’d given them both throughout the years—and if he had a name to give, one had best believe that she’d have some choice words for whichever poor soul who decided to pick on their mentor. “What happened?”

“Well,” he started, somewhat bashfully, “before you two came along, when I was still the newest apprentice at the Guild, I ran into a little patch of trouble with a group of thieves for a spell. I saw another one of those Pokémon come in—a different one, thankfully—and it reminded me of all of that.”

“Oh, no, Bidoof!” Lu breathed. “Did they show back up? Do we need to coordinate with Officer Magnezone? They didn’t harass you, did they?”

“No, sirree,” Bidoof replied hurriedly, “there’s nothing to worry about there! I haven’t seen their faces turn up around Treasure Town again since the Guildmaster gave them what-for.”

“That’s good,” Eliana murmured. “Were they trying to rob you?”

“Yup yup, my savings,” he said. “I got a mite discouraged with my progress around that time, so I thought about buying a TM to make me stronger. One of them saw it and they tried to ambush me in a secret mystery dungeon they thought no one else knew about. Tricked me right good, they did, but…I got something real special out of the whole thing.”

“And what was that?” Lu asked curiously.

“He got to meet Jirachi, hey hey!” Corphish piped up, his legs tapping the floor as he brought two glasses over brimming with smoothies. “That was his first real mission as a full-fledged explorer!”

“Aw, shucks,” Bidoof hedged, eyes averting and ears curling on his signature expression of embarrassment, “I was just going to say that I found a priceless treasure. I don’t really like spreading that information around a whole lot, you know, since he likes his sleep so much, but since it’s you guys…”

“Right,” Corphish said, setting the drinks down with a clunk upon the table before hauling himself up into the seat next to the normal-type. “I forgot that it’s all hush-hush—I’m sorry, Bidoof.”

“I’m curious, though,” Lu said quietly, leaning closer, “I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned this story, Bidoof. Isn’t Jirachi a Mythical Pokémon?”

“A renowned granter of wishes, from what I’ve heard,” Eliana offered—the trivia case easily, although the reasons she knew it did not…such was the curse of her amnesia, “if they’re awakened from their deep slumbers, that is. I take it that you had a wish granted, Bidoof?”

“He did, hey hey,” said Corphish indignantly, “but he never has told us what it was!”

“It’s sort of personal to me,” Bidoof answered quietly, twiddling his toes. “If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all,” she told him warmly, “I completely understand. You have the right to share something like that or not.” She glanced sidelong at Corphish with an amused look. “Even if others’ curiosity is strong.”

“I never meant anything by it!” muttered the ruffian Pokémon. “I was just curious, is all, hey hey.”

“That’s alright,” Lu assured him. He looked back to Bidoof. “May we at least ask if it came true?”

“It took a little while, but it sure did!” said the normal-type with shining eyes focused on the pair of them. “Even if it got a little scary, I’m so glad I got so experience all that!”

“You said it was a secret mystery dungeon,” Lu continued, tone brimming with that familiar, scarcely restrained enthusiasm he’d always shown information on new, undiscovered places. “Is it really that hard to find?”

“Not really,” Bidoof said thoughtfully, “but it had a passage that no other explorers knew about. The Guildmaster figured it all out right quick.”

That sounded like Wigglytuff, alright. Eliana smiled. “Does the name of that mystery dungeon happen to be Star Cave?”

Bidoof, Corphish, and Lu starred at her, stupefied.

“Why, yes, it is,” Bidoof breathed. “How’d you know that, Eliana?”

“I’ve read about it before in passing,” she explained. “You forget that I spent a lot of hours in the Guild’s library. There’s not a whole lot on this continent that I don’t know at least a little bit about.”

If the trio noticed how she intentionally left out the second half associated with that recollection, they didn’t point it out. She hadn’t spent those late nights combing through dusty tomes, scrolls, and maps alone, after all, and Lu had never been a night owl like she was, so he had usually ended up snoozing away despite his best efforts to be helpful by remaining awake and alert. She could still recall the looming, massive shadow cast against the plastered wall of the last room in the basement level by numerous flickering candles and oil lamps crackling merrily away in the hushed ambience of crinkling paper, notes scratched out with ink quills, and the harmonious layering of rumbling baritone and whispered falsetto indicating points of interest for further study and investigation within the texts in the otherwise undisturbed and cozy silence. The mere image lurking behind her mind’s eye of that pair of broad, pale hands pressing carefully down on the warped, darkened pages to help her track the pacing of the ancient glyphs caused her throat to tighten, so she shook her head to dismiss it.

“I was always told stories about Jirachi growing up,” Lu remarked, sidestepping the elephant in the room with all the grace of a dancer, “but I always wondered whether they were true or not. It’s nice to know that there’s still a little magic in the world.”

“Yup yup, it sure was an amazing thing to witness,” said Bidoof, his onyx gaze glittering in awe in the wake of the (likely far more pleasant) memory. “I think that I’m mighty privileged to have seen it all happen right in front of my eyes.”

Eliana glanced at Lu, noticing a similar expression mirrored upon the aura Pokémon’s face—a sort of childlike wonder that had, to her relief, never been crushed by the harrowing events they’d endured.

By the time they got home that night, they were properly exhausted. Lu cut up some fruit as a late snack for them to eat while they settled down, enjoying the mild salty breeze combing through their fur and tugging playfully at their ears and tails. Neither of them spoke until they finished, tossed their scraps into the compost bin, and got comfortable on their beds. Eliana let out a content little sigh as she curled up on her side, tucking her legs and venturing out with the end of her tail to curl around Lu’s own. It wagged unconsciously in response—a reaction that used to embarrass him.

“Good night, Lu,” she murmured drowsily, her eyelids fluttering shut.

“Good night, Eliana. Sweet dreams.”

“You, too.” That was something with which she struggled, he knew, especially after what she’d gone through with her Dimensional Scream and the nightmares they’d both had leading up to the final confrontation with the perpetrator of her amnesia. It gave the sentiment all the more sincerity.

Eliana did manage to slip into a steady, if light, sleep unplagued by regurgitations of her traumas… but she roused when she felt Lu slip from her grasp and shuffle out of bed. She lifted her head, bleary and confused by her mind still muddled, and squinted at the shape of her partner sitting near the edge of the bluff in the direct park of the wind blasting up the cliff. Her fuzzy gaze passed over his relaxed form, and she picked up on the light thumping of his tail in the dust on the floor and the fiddling of his blunted claws playing with his scarf.

“What’re you so excited about?” she croaked, digging the heel of her paw into the corners of her eyes to dislodge the crust that had gathered there. “The sun’s not even coming up yet, Lu.”

He turned his head, somewhat surprised, and a flash of sheepishness passed over him at the realization that he had accidentally woken her up. “You can go back to sleep,” he told her gently, “I just can’t get my mind to slow down after hearing everything that Bidoof had to say.”

Star Cave, while rarely marked on any save the oldest maps, was one mystery dungeon which they had not yet explored. She had intended to bring it up to Lu eventually, since she kept a list of locations they had been to, but she hadn’t realized that a Mythical called it his abode. She suspected that there was more to Lu’s excitement than the mere idea of investigating a new place, however.

“Do you want to have your biggest wish granted?” she teased with a lopsided grin, turning over onto her front to prop her chin on the edge of the hay pile. “Bidoof made it sound like that guy gets pretty cranky when he’s woken up from his century-long naps—we may not want to fight a sleepwalking Mythical, you know.”

“I’ve already had my biggest wishes granted,” Lu pointed out after a beat, his expression softening as he looked at her. Her flesh warmed beneath her pelt at the fondness warming his crimson irises. “I got to join the Guild, and I got you back. There’s not a whole lot more that I could ask for, to be honest, but the idea of it is still so exciting!” He tilted his head, considering. “Surely there’s at least one thing you’d like to have, Eliana. You don’t ever ask for very much.”

“I don’t know,” she trailed off, glancing thoughtfully out towards the rippling, mercurial sea. One obvious answer popped into her mind, but it wasn’t one she dared give voice to. She shrugged and settled on, “…I’d like to get my memories back, I think…if I had to pick one thing, that is.” She exhaled forlornly. “Even if…if I never see them again, I’d…I’d at least like to remember them.”

Lu turned fully to face her, folding his legs beneath him as his eyes shone with hope at her admission. “…You know,” he said, “we could go check it out, at least. Jirachi might not even be there anymore, since Bidoof found him, or his part of the cave could have been resealed. But if he is there…I think it would be amazing to have our wishes granted.”

“So you do have one?” she queried, quirking a brow.

“I do,” he nodded, “but it’s bad luck to say what they are before they come true.”

“You have a point. Maybe that won’t come back to bite me.” Eliana rested her check on the soft bedding with a gaping yawn. “You should try to get some sleep, Lu. If we want to plan for that trip, we’ll need to get an early start, at least, and get these jobs wrapped up. It’s quite the hike out there from what I remember.”

Lu obediently returned to his bed, and this time he reached out and grasped her paw in his own. “…For what it’s worth, Eliana,” he murmured, “I know it was hard on you, losing your memories, and that it still bothers you, but…I’m glad I got to meet you, despite it all…maybe that’s selfish of me.”

“I don’t think so,” Eliana returned quietly, squeezing the roughened pads of his toes fondly. “I think everything happens for a reason. Darkrai caused it, sure, but…I like to think that our meeting fulfilled some greater purpose in the long run.” She met his eyes in the dark. “I hope you know that I wouldn’t trade it for the world, Lu.”

“I know,” he said softly, and this time they didn’t wake until the sunrise crept over the horizon.

[22marble]

What if Trigun was Pokémon Mystery Dungeon? With no insurance in the world of Pokémon, the insurance wives are exploration wives! 

Kangaskhan Storage has asked the two of them to track damages caused by the legendary Vash the flare blitz, who has a 60 billion ₽ bounty on his head!

But it turns out this fearsome battler is actually a giant chicken ( i’m going to make him Blaziken ) also Wolfwood will be a shiny Lycanroc

I really appreciate your support so if you wanna see more of this silly AU make some noise c: anyone is welcome to add onto this idea as long as you just credit me!

[cinnamon--bagel]

Hi, me again. I needed to experience some catharsis so I've started writing a PMD Explorers Swap fic. Enjoy.

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Marshtomp gulped as she started up the stairs that stood between her and the dreams that had been burning in her heart for years.

Wigglytuff’s Guild stood as a lone bastion atop Treasure Town’s tallest hill. Its tent silhouetted the visage of its Guildmaster against the sky, carving an intimidating figure that could be seen across the coast (even if it did look somewhat juvenile up close). Marshtomp had spent many mornings gazing up at the Guild from the entrance of her cliffside home, lamenting that she lacked the willpower to walk up the stairs and ask for a place in the Guild.

Even if they wouldn’t let her do any missions at first, she wouldn’t mind! They could put her at the front desk, or have her answer mail, or-

She gulped, taking the first step of her monumental journey. This was the closest she had ever been to her dream. Stopping now would be a waste! Yeah! Sunk-cost fallacy!

Before she knew it, she had taken another step. Then another, and another, and-

She turned, looking down at the town that had been her home for the past few months. From this height everything looked… smaller. Emptier.

Granted, many of the tents that made up the homes and shops in Treasure Town had been blown away by the previous night’s storm. From what she had heard, most of the townsfolk had retreated to the underground dojo even as the wind and rain chipped away at its clay-and-bone shell aboveground. 

There hadn’t been any casualties, luckily, but… she had a feeling the dojo would keep being used as a shelter until the townsfolk could get back on their feet. Everyone had come out when the sun rose to put the most important pieces of the town back together - Duskull Bank, Kecleon’s Shop, and Kangaskhan’s Storage - but there was still a lot of work to be done. 

‘Which is why I need to join Wigglytuff’s Guild as soon as possible!’ she reminded herself as she resumed her climb. ‘I’ve been skirting by thanks to the kindness of everyone in town, but I can’t do that when everyone’s working so hard to rebuild! I have to earn my keep!’

And, if it put her closer to her dream of becoming an explorer, who was she to complain? 

That was the last thought in Marshtomp’s head as she reached the summit, faced with two last obstacles before she could cross the threshold of the Guild Tent.

An iron gate and a wooden grate.

“Hmm,” she hummed nervously, clutching her treasured Relic Fragment to her chest. She traced the inscription with a finger as she paced back and forth, spiraling deeper and deeper into her thoughts as the torches crackled menacingly.

‘The gate’s closed, so maybe they’re closed too? It is pretty late, the sun’s setting…’

‘Or, maybe, they keep the gate up all the time so that nobody just wanders in? Maybe it’s to keep criminals out, and I’m not a criminal, so I should be fine!’

‘But it’s almost nighttime, and everybody in the guild spent the day rebuilding Treasure Town… They’re probably tired, I shouldn’t bother them…’

“No!” she declared with finality, spinning on one foot toward the wooden grate. “I’m not putting this off any longer! I’m steeling my nerves and doing-” step, “-this-” step, “today!”

As her foot hit the center of the grate, a bellowing voice erupted below her.

“Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!”

“Gah!” she squealed, falling backward onto her behind. The Relic Fragment slipped from her grip, bouncing down the path away from the guild. Marshtomp stared back at it and sighed. “I just can’t do it…”

She stumbled to her feet and moved to rescue the fallen stone, gazing into its pattern longingly. “Even after I brought my personal treasure to inspire me, I’m too much of a coward to go in.” She turned back one last time, taking in the sight of the Wigglytuff-shaped tent as it stood tall against the evening sky. “At least I got this far today… Maybe I’ll have more courage tomorrow.” Her head hung low as she retreated back down the stairs, eyes blurred and wet.

As Marshtomp reached the bottom of the stairs, she paused, gazing at the crossroads ahead of her. Her legs moved instinctually, taking her somewhere further away from town.

She couldn’t remember when, or why, she started visiting the beach on bad days. Somehow in the blur of time since moving to Treasure Town, she had gotten in the habit of coming to the solitary beach to watch the tide roll in. It was something she had started doing to reassure herself whenever she was upset that, unfortunately, had become a nearly daily habit. 

Even so…

“Oh wow!” she marveled at the hundreds of bubbles lazily drifting through the air, each one catching the rays of the sinking sun and transforming them into a floating rainbow bouquet. She spent several minutes taking in the sight, breathing in the sea, and listening to the Krabby chatter as they blew bubbles into the wind. ‘It’s good to see the Krabby out and about, considering that crazy storm last night… It’s reassuring, like another reminder that life goes on…’ she mused as her eyes trailed a group of bubbles bouncing into the horizon.

As her spirits lifted, her eyes drifted further inland, snapping to an unexpected patch of green near the opening of Beach Cave. “That’s weird,” she muttered as she waddled over, expecting some debris from the town. 

But as she got closer, it became clear that the mysterious pile was moving.

No… breathing!

“Ahhh! That’s a Pokemon! Someone’s washed up on the sand!” She screamed. ‘What do I do? Should I get someone? I don’t know how to treat injuries or help someone who’s drowning! Except, wait, no, they wouldn’t be breathing if they were drowning-’

A sudden cough forced her back into reality. Marshtomp dashed to the waterlogged Pokemon’s side, abandoning any hesitation as she set down her Relic Fragment and rolled the castaway onto their back. But once she got a good look at them, she froze.

The Pokemon - a Grovyle, she was almost certain - had the most frightening scar she had ever seen. Across their left side, spanning from above their arm to their hip, was an oddly colored patch of skin. It almost reminded her of a burn scar, with its dark color and wavering edges. The natural, though faded, red of their belly contrasted with the dying brown of the scar that curved around to the back, forming a shaky half-circle that seemed to be mirrored on their back. The thought of what could cause the half-moon scar sent shivers down her spine. How long would it even take to recover from an injury like that? 

Either way, it had already healed completely. It probably didn’t have anything to do with whatever caused this Pokemon to wash up on the beach. Marshtomp shook her head, chasing away those chilly fears, and reached out a hand to tap their shoulder. “Hey, are you okay? Can you breathe?”

The Grovyle let out a groan through grit teeth, then sucked in a breath free of any resistance. They pushed themself up, blinking wearily. “Where… where am I?” Grovyle muttered, his voice like the rusted hinges on an old box that fought any sort of movement.

Marshtomp couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief as anxiety lifted from her heart. “Thank goodness… You really had me scared there…”  She straightened, putting on her best confident face as she spoke to the newcomer, “This is the beach south of Treasure Town. Do you remember how you ended up unconscious out here?”

Grovyle’s face wrinkled, as if he was thinking deeply about something. As Marshtomp watched his reaction, she couldn’t help but notice several paper-thin scars that dotted the skin unmarred by the grisly scar on his side. They seemed to be far older, given how many had nearly completely faded. As the silence stretched on, Marshtomp began to wonder what kind of person this Grovyle was. Someone who got in a lot of fights or accidents… she hoped he wasn’t a bad Pokemon, especially since more and more Pokemon had been turning to crime recently. Although, she had seen some pretty nasty injuries on Pokemon coming and going to Wigglytuff’s Guild. Maybe he was an explorer!

“I don’t know.”

“Huh?” The sudden comment snapped her back to the present. “You don’t?”

He shuffled a bit, shakily gripping the strap of a bag she had missed in favor of his injuries. “I don’t… remember.” His face, which had already seemed pale, grew more pallid as his eyes darted back and forth frantically. “Washing up on shore, where I came from, nothing. I can’t remember any of it.”

Any suspicion of this Pokemon bled away as his voice grew increasingly desperate. She moved closer, pressing a gentle hand to his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down-

When a sudden blow from behind knocked her into the castaway, knocking both of them down completely. A pair of unfamiliar voices burst into laughter, one laugh deep and rasping while the other was all shrill cackles. Marshtomp got up quickly so she could help Grovyle to his feet.

After checking to make sure he was unharmed, she turned to shout at the pair of intruders. “Why’d you do that?! Can’t you see that there’s an injured Pokemon here?”

“Heh-heh-heh,” came the high pitched laugh of a Zubat, “Can’t figure it out?” He flitted closer, showing that his legs were wrapped around-

“My Relic Fragment!” Marshtomp exclaimed. She glanced at the spot where she had left, her heart sinking.

The second intruder, a Koffing, chuckled as Zubat darted back to his side, “Whoa-ho-ho! What’s the matter? Are you too scared to come get it back?” 

Marshtomp shook in place as the two began to laugh harder. Tears pricked at her eyes as she wished she had the guts to stand up to the two, but what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t even stand her ground when she tried joining the guild, so there was no way she could do something like fight the two of them by herself. All she could do was watch as the two slinked away into Beach Cave.

[tierra-paldeana]

// to distract my mind, i'm still fiddling with the rom hack i made where geeta is a glimmora and rika is a paldean wooper, and now i'm going as far as to replace some NPCs with canon characters that have also been turned into pokemon

so far i put perrin, who was turned into an leafeon, in charge of the daycare

other tentative options:

ryme (houndstone) in charge of the duskull bank

iono (bellibolt?) in charge of the electivire link shop

as for the marowak dojo, xatu appraisal, kangaskhan storage and maaaybe the kecleon market (though i might just keep it the same), i'm open to suggestions for SV characters

[billycorn]

Empathy - Part 3

Blue and Sarah are back, this time as official Rescue Team OCs! Ficlet under the cut! Part 1 - Part 2

Rain fell in a torrential downpour, hammering away at the earth below. Thunder roared and lightning split the sky. The sun was locked behind roiling black clouds. Yet, Charizard flew without a care in the world.

Flapping her wings lazily, Sarah climbed a little higher, wondering if she could get above the storm. She glanced over her shoulder, at the Lucario lying on her back. "How are you doing back there? Need a break?"

Blue gave a thoughtful hum, poking at the protect bubble he'd surrounded them with. Rain splattered against the shield, rolling down the sides; lightning had struck them a few times (possibly thanks to Blue's metal spikes), but the bubble remained strong. Though, Blue could feel himself growing tired, and he couldn't have that.

"Yeah, a break sounds nice. How about you?"

"Still going strong."

Arcing slowly upwards, Sarah climbed higher, moving quickly through the clouds, until they burst free on the other side. Above the storm, the sun beamed down, lighting upon the churning sea of thunderclouds.

Dropping the Protect, Blue sighed appreciatively, relishing feeling the sun on his fur. Still, with the shield gone, he tightened his grip around the bag clutched to his chest. The bag was stuffed with a blanket, and nestled within it was an egg.

"We still need to think of a name," said Blue.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Like I said, his name is Jimothy!"

"Absolutely not. Also, you don't know it's gonna be a boy."

"Yes, I do! Mother's intuition."

Blue couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay, but if it's a girl?"

Scratching at her chin, Sarah looked about for inspiration. "Rain!"

"You want to name a Charmander Rain?"

"No, I want to name a Riolu Rain."

"How do you know it'll be a Riolu?" Blue raised his paw, mouthing the inevitable response.

"Mother's instinct!"

Running his paw over the egg, Blue closed his eyes and smiled. He could feel it's aura, like a heartbeat, flickering warm, soft.

"I can't wait to meet them," whispered Blue.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, me neither."

The hours passed by, Sarah idly chatting the time away, while Blue offered the occasional comment. The storm slowly dissipated underneath them and finally, hidden in the sunset, it appeared on the horizon. Just a dot by the coastline, but quickly growing closer.

Before long, Sarah was circling overhead, her eyes skimming Pokemon Square below. It was just like she remembered it. She could see Kangaskhan's storage, Persian's bank, Makuhita's dojo, even Whiscash's pond. Sarah could even make out a few familiar faces as she dropped lower, but she didn't land in the square. Instead, she glided to a gentle stop by a crossroads, outside a house shaped like a Riolu's head. A sign sat on the front lawn, reading 'Team Starlight'.

Sliding off Sarah's back, Blue stood and stretched, his gaze crinkling as he looked upon his old home. It almost brought tears to his eyes, and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. The egg's aura flickered brightly, as if in response.

Blue readjusted the bag's shoulder strap so the egg hung by his hip, and he lay a protective hand over it. Sarah grabbed his other hand, smiled, and gave him a determined nod.

Taking a deep breath, Blue strode forwards, and knocked on the door. A loud crashing, followed by several voices, came from inside and the door was flung open.

"Blue! Sarah!"

A Butterfree hovered in the entryway, wings flapping so quickly it launched itself into the ceiling.

Sarah threw her head back and laughed. "Caterpie! It's good to see you again! You got big, huh?"

Butterfree straightened up proudly. "Sure did!"

A voice came from further back in the house. "Is that them? Are they here?"

"Yep!" Butterfree yelled over his shoulder. "Come in, come in, let's get started."

Stepping into the house, the nostalgia was like a brick slamming into Blue. He was glad Sarah was holding his hand, otherwise he might have toppled over.

Inside, an Absol was setting out some chairs around table piled high with snacks and drinks; while a Magneton was floating about the ceiling.

Absol smiled at the pair. "Blue, Sarah, welcome home."

Sarah nodded, her throat thick with emotion. "Thanks, Absol. It's good to be back."

Absol went to say something else, when his eyes widened, his gaze settling upon the egg at Blue's side. "Oh, that's..." Absol smiled knowingly. "I was wondering when you two would realize your feelings. Sarah, when did you ask him out?"

Blue huffed and crossed his arms. "I asked her, actually."

Sarah couldn't help but roll her eyes. "After how many hints?"

"Hints? You never gave any hints."

Her jaw dropped. How was this idiot the one she'd fallen for her?

Magneton cackled delightedly as she floated down from the ceiling, where she was hanging a banner. "Blue, for a smart Pokemon, you really are stupid."

"How is this my fault?!"

Sarah smirked, planting her hands on her hips. "You can read emotions."

Blue raised a finger in an 'um, actually' kinda way. "I lost that ability for years!"

"I know that better than anyone," snorted Sarah. "Remember Luvdisc's day, the first year we met?"

Luvdisc's day, the Pokemon equivalent to Valentines. Blue definitely did not remember that day, but even he wasn't stupid enough to admit it.

Sarah flicked her tail and continued. "I gave you a fossilized fire flower."

Blue's head tilted and he looked at the others, but they seemed just as he confused as he was.

Sarah stomped her foot, her cheeks tinting with a deep scarlet hue. "I was so embarrassed I thought my flame would go out!"

The silence was deafening. Everyone shared confused looks, but Sarah just stood there, her cheeks growing steadily darker.

Eventually, Absol patted her arm. "A fossilized fire flower, you said? Perhaps that's part of fire type culture. I certainly haven't heard of it."

Butterfree and Magneton murmured agreements.

Sarah slumped into the nearest chair, her wings drooping. "Wait, you really didn't know?"

Blue smiled weakly, shrugging helplessly.

Holding her head in her hands, Sarah groaned, "I started to give up after that. I thought you just didn't feel the same."

Dropping to one knee, Blue took her hand, slowly prying it away from her hidden face.

"I'm sorry it took so long, but we got there, and it won't be just us for much longer." Holding her chin in his hand, Blue ran his thumb over her cheek. "How about this? To make up for how long I took, I'll spend the rest of my life loving you."

Sarah tried to fight it, but she could feel a smile spreading. "Fine. You're lucky you're cute."

Blue laughed. "If you say so."

Butterfree clapped his hands together. "Well, with that sorted, should we get started?"

Everyone nodded.

Butterfree turned to Blue and Sarah. "Would you like to do the honours?"

Blue and Sarah shared a look and shook their heads.

"We're retired," said Sarah. "You're Team Starlight's leader now. Butterfree, this one is all you."

Butterfree's chest swelled with pride, and he nodded. "Well then, Team Starlight, for reaching diamond rank, congratulations!"

A cheer went up, and the party started, continuing late into the night. Team Starlight's base was filled with unrivalled mirth as old friends chatted eagerly, and light spilled from the home's windows.

Magneton, Sarah and Butterfree were playing a game when Absol sat beside Blue.

"So, where are you living these days?" Asked Absol.

"In the mountains near Everest village."

"Everest?"

Blue ran his paw absent-mindedly over the egg at his side. "Yeah, it's not too far from the Frosty Forest."

"Ah, I see," said Absol. "And what keeps you busy out there?"

"Actually, I'm a teacher now. Sarah leads the local emergency response team, clearing landslides and helping people lost in the mountains, things like that."

Absol laughed. "That does sound like her."

His gaze settling on his partner, Blue smiled softly. "Yeah, it does, but I think she misses being part of a real rescue team."

"Oh? Well, you did found Team Starlight, and Butterfree would be glad to have you back."

"Maybe," murmured Blue. "I guess it depends, Sarah and I will have someone else to consider soon."

Absol chuckled. "What better place to raise a kid? Free babysitters."

Laughing, Blue nodded. "You have a point. I guess, I'll talk to Sarah about it sometime."

Absol nodded, and sat in silence, soaking in the warm atmosphere.

Admist the laughter of his friends, Blue smiled. "You know what, Absol?"

"Hm?"

"I'm excited. I'm really excited for tomorrow."

Thinking back on how Absol met Blue and Sarah, and how far they’d come since, he couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I think I know what you mean."

[askteamsunshine]

Luci@Either: "Er... so this whole place is run by pokemon? Like, the shops 'n all that other stuff?" He peers down the road to the town in question, perplexed but still curious nonetheless about the going-ons there. "There any specific places you like goin' to?"

"Yep!! That's Treasure Town, in all its glory!!" Angel gestures in the direction of the town withan extended paw and a big grin.

The two of them are standing on the outskirts (well, one of them is standing, anyway), but even from here, several buildings can be seen, along with Pokemon meandering about. It's a typical sight for the Shiny Eevee, yet one that feels them with the warm sensation of being home.

"There's lots of places we like to visit - the Kecleon Shop's always your best bet if you need some supplies, and the brothers that run it are great to talk to!! The Makuhita Dojo is great if you need some training. Ms. Kangaskhan is really nice and keeps any items you give her safe in storage. Ms. Chansey runs the local orphanage..."

Angel pauses, then laughs.

"Oh, sorry, you asked for specific places, not a whole rundown!! I can give you a tour later if you want. But, uh, besides all that, there's Sharpedo Bluff that's just a bit outside of town on the other side - it's a cliff that looks like a Sharpedo!! That's also where me and my partner live. The view from there is great!!"

"And there's the beach! It's not far from here. We love going there to relax when we get the chance. It's really pretty at sunset!!"

[gible-love-nibles-archive]

The Start of Team Soup (pt. 3)

So. It's been almost two months since I've done any writing. Oops. Yeah, I didn't really do any in October and I only really started working on this in November. My job has been unexpectedly super draining on my creative juices! So I focused in on just one project to work on, and that ended up being the PMD AU. I definitely want to work on other things I have on the back burner, but I think for now, get used to seeing these funky little critters.

Word Count: 3.1k

Taglist: @crickiss @heart-of-aspiration @halsdaisy @sifeas @jocelynships @imaginemyshipswithme @keyblade-ships @wooboomoomoo @seahydra [If you want to added or removed, tell me in a comment or tag!]

(Please reblog! I like reading tags :])

That night… Clare had a strange dream.

She was in a multicolored space, sleeping but she could still sense everything around her.

“... ... … … … … Where… am I…?  This… is a dream, right…?”

Suddenly, Clare could sense someone else with her.  But they were very faint.

“Hello?  Who are you?  Do I know you?  Should I know you?”

They attempted to speak, but it was barely audible with how far away they were and how soft their voice was.

And already Clare was beginning to wake up.

…

The Chikorita sat up in her bed.

“I dreamt something,” she muttered to herself.  “But I can’t remember what it was about…”  She stared at the basket full of Apples and berries for a while.  Finally, she shook her head.  “I shouldn’t be worrying about that right now,” she internally decided.  “Let’s just worry about rescue work for now.”

She went outside to check her Mailbox.  She found it was void of anything new, so she decided to read the newspaper Giovanni was telling her about yesterday.

“You’re up early.”  Peering over the paper, Clare found Giovanni looking at her with a small smile. “Anything in the Mailbox?”

“Nope.”

The Squirtle sighed. “Yeah, I kinda figured… We’re still really new to this.” Then he perked up. “Hey, why not head to Pokemon Square?  It’s a super helpful hub for rescue teams, and the Pelipper Post Office usually has jobs posted outside.”

With no better ideas, Clare followed behind Giovanni.

…

Luckily, the Square wasn’t far at all.  They followed a short path and crossed a small wooden bridge over a creek.  Giovanni pointed out all the different shops: two Kecleon ran the item shop (one sold general items, and the other sold Orbs and Technical Machines), Persian ran the bank, Gulpin ran the Link Shop—

“Link Shop?”

“Gulpin can link moves together.  If moves are linked, you can use them at the same time!  Just, ask Gulpin if you wanna know more; he explains it better than me.”

Kangaskhan ran a storage shop.  

“If you store any items with Ms. Kangaskhan, they’ll never get lost!  It’s super important that we store any items we don’t want to lose with her in case we faint.”

And finally, Makuhita ran the dojo.

“He can help train us or teach us about stuff in dungeons.”  

As Giovanni and Clare came back to the town center, he noticed the Chikorita’s eyes darting away from others and using her leaf to hide her face. “Everyone’s super nice here; don’t be so nervous!  They just want to help.” 

He then started down the east road, Clare following behind. “And down here’s the Pelipper Post Office.  They’re super up-to-date on rescue information.  We should be able to get some jobs on the bulletin board.” Giovanni began to pluck off some papers from the board.  

“…What do you think we should do about the grass?”  Clare finally piped up.

“What grass?”

“The dead grass in front of our base.  We should probably start thinking about fixing up the whole base, yeah?  We can start small with the grass.”

“Hm… Good point.  Why don’t we focus on that today instead of a job?”

That was how the team spent the next few days, alternating between repair of their base and rescue offers.  It kept them both busy, and it kept Clare’s mind off her strange dreams.

…

One morning, when Clare came out of her house with Giovanni greeting her, the earth began to shake under their feet.

“Eh?”

“What’s going on?!”

They both whipped their heads around to the sound of someone popping out of the dirt.

“Tunnel over here!”

Pop!

“Tunnel over there!”

Pop!

“Tunnels everywhere!  Woohoo!  Digging is so much fun!” The new arrival-- a Diglett-- cheered and giggled to himself before looking around.  “Err, umm… wait, where am I?”

“False alarm,” Giovanni sighed. “No real quakes; just a kid having a blast.”

Diglett whirled around, looking bashful. “Oh my!  My apologies!  My name is Diglett.  I was digging holes around the Pelipper Post Office, so much so that I kept digging all the way here!  I’m sorry I ruined your nice place!”

Clare chuckled. “Frankly, it can’t get much worse.  Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you saying you forgive me?” The Ground type’s eyes sparkled.

“Yup.  Just be careful; most people won’t appreciate holes around their properties.  Try not to dig too many, ok Diglett?”

“Of course!  Thank you!  I’ll still have fun digging, but I’ll make sure to patch up the holes from time to time!  Bye-bye!” With that, Diglett dug back down into the hole and disappeared.

“He said that he was digging holes around the Pelipper Post Office.  I bet we could get there with this hole now without going through town!” Giovanni jumped in with no hesitation.

“…I’m slightly concerned that you did that with no prodding whatsoever.”

…

Another strange dream.  The same multicolored space.

“… … … … … …Back here again.”

Clare sensed another presence.  The same one from the last dream.  Whoever they were, they were a bit closer this time.

They tried to speak.  It was possible to hear them this time, but they were still quiet and unclear.  Clare strained to listen.

“Hello?  Hello?  Can you speak up please?”

Then, the ground rumbled.

“An earthquake?  In my dream?”

The ground shook louder and more intensely.  

“Oh jeez—!  This feels pretty real for a dream.”

The presence vanished, but Clare was too occupied by the ground to notice.

…

When the Chikorita woke up the next morning, she knew her first course of action was asking Giovanni about the ground shaking.  If it was real, he would’ve had to feel it too.  She stretched out on her bed.

“Uhh… hello?”

Clare jolted up.  Was there someone in the house?  A quick look around revealed no one.

“Um, hello?  You are Clare… correct?”

She stepped out of her bed and looked around again.  Still, no one.

“Are… you a ghost?”

“Oh!  You can’t see us, of course!  How very rude of us!” Clare yelped as a Dugtrio burst out of the ground right underneath her feet; she was thrown back a bit onto her bed. “We’re pleased to meet you.  We are Dugtrio.”

“…Charmed.”

“Last night, during the earthquake, our child Diglett was attacked!”

“What?  Diglett?  Attacked?”

“Yes!  He was whisked away to the peak of a tall mountain.  We couldn’t possibly climb somewhere so high up.  That is why we must call upon your help, Clare.  Diglett was abducted by a Pokemon named Skarmory.”

Clare shivered.  If the name was anything to go by, this Pokemon would not be pleasant.

“It’s a vilely vicious ruffian!” Dugtrio continued, absolutely not calming Clare’s nerves. “Please do be careful.  We need your help!  We must go!” And with that, Dugtrio burrowed into the floor, leaving no hole behind.

.........That was so fast, the Grass type barely had the chance to rub the sleep out of her eyes.  But Diglett being kidnapped was much more concerning.  She had to tell Giovanni immediately: they had a rescue mission.

She darted outside, and Giovanni wasn’t too far behind from the left path. “Mornin’!” He greeted her cheerfully.

“Dude.  We’ve gotta go now.  We’ve got a real-deal rescue mission.”

“Woah, woah, slow down; you just came outside.  What do you mean we have a rescue mission?  …I mean, that’s great!  But—”

“Yes, it’s true!” A voice came from below.  Dugtrio burst out of the ground, and Team Soup was flung backwards. “Our child Diglett was kidnapped!  He was taken to Mt. Steel’s summit!  Please, we need your help!  Bye-bye!” Then the Ground-type went back down, leaving a map behind.

Giovanni blinked at his rescue partner. “Alright.  I see what happened now.” A pause. “Wait, Diglett was the kid digging holes around here the other day!”

“Exactly!  We gotta go help him!”

“Mt. Steel doesn’t sound real nice though…”

“Rescue team work isn’t always parades and parties; now, c’mon!!”

…

The two stood across from the menacing cave opening of Mt. Steel.  They couldn’t see inside at all.

“Here we are,” Clare said simply. “Dugtrio said Diglett was whisked up to the peak of this mountain.”

“That’s right!” A voice from underground jolted the two rescuers for a moment.

“Dugtrio?!  You followed us all the way out here?  Without telling us?” Giovanni cried.

“Indeed!” The three-headed (three-bodied?) Pokemon emerged violently from the ground, startling the rescue team again. “The peak is the ninth floor!  Thank you for helping!  Farewell!” He descended as quickly as he came up.

“Er… It’s no problem at all, Dugtrio.”

The two rescuers looked at each other, and nodded.  They both knew what had to be done.

Mt. Steel was the biggest challenge Team Soup had faced thus far.  The first few floors weren't so bad, but the climb only became more treacherous as the pair went up.  The enemies were tougher, but that meant Clare and Giovanni also got stronger in the process.  They even learned some new moves (though Giovanni wasn't thrilled about his move only raising his defense while Clare's was poisoning other Pokemon).

...

“...What's our strategy for Skarmory?” The Chikorita asked when they had a little room to breathe.

“What do you mean?”

“Giovanni, Skarmory's a Steel and Flying type.  We're at a huge disadvantage here.” Giovanni started to open his mouth to respond. “And before you say, 'Oh, then we'll just hit him as hard as we can', almost all of our moves won't be very effective.”

The Squirtle clamped his mouth closed, looking annoyed that he was read so easily.  Then he put a hand to his chin. “Then how about... we POISON him?!” A devious grin flourished on his face.

“Can't.  Steel types can't be poisoned.” And it immediately fell off his face. “Our best bet is probably using the items we've collected.  We can try to talk him down, but I get the feeling he won't be very chatty.”

“Hey!  No matter what, we got this!  We've not failed a single mission, and we're not about to start now!”

Clare smiled at Giovanni's optimism.  It put her a bit more at ease, even as they were climbing up to the summit.

...

The wind whipped around sharply at the top of Mt. Steel, and the near completely flat ground provided no cover.  Square-cut rocks shined like metal in the sun.

“Clare, look!  Diglett's over there!” The little Ground-type was secluded on a small ledge, which seemed to be Skarmory's perch. “Hey, are you alright out there?” Giovanni cried out over the wind. “We're here to rescue you, kid!”

“I... I'm scared...” Diglett whimpered.

Suddenly, something shot up from the chasm between Team Soup and Diglett.  The rescue team jumped back in surprise as it zipped down to the ledge just as quickly.

This Pokemon was a sleek metallic gray with crimson wings and sharp yellow eyes.  

Skarmory.

“You!  What do you think you're doing here?!”

“Uh, I just said what we're doing here.” The Squirtle said indignantly. “We're here to rescue Diglett!”

“Skarmory, let him go.” Clare stepped up, trying not to let Giovanni agitate Skarmory further. “Diglett's done nothing wrong.”

“How can you believe that?!  This is all their fault!  I haven't slept in days because the earthquakes frighten me so!  Every night we have them!  And it's all because of that brat's ilk running around underground!”

“Well, you're not wrong about the earthquakes; there have been quite a lot.  But it would take more than one Diglett to cause something as big as an earthquake, especially if it can be felt all the way up here.”

“You be quiet!  We'll fight if you keep that up!”

“It's no use.  Skarmory's too angry to listen to us.”

“We'll have to fight it out!” Giovanni got into a fighting pose alongside Clare.

Skarmory let out a shrill cry at the two and the battle began.

Skarmory wasted no time in closing the distance between them, and proceeded to slash and peck at the two with his talons and beak.  The two retaliated with their own elemental attacks.  Giovanni was mostly successful at taking a brunt of the damage thanks to Withdraw.  But with Skarmory using Leer to lower his Defense back down, the combatants were at a stalemate.

Clare kept the team healthy with Oran Berries from their supplies, but they only had two left now.  They had to switch strategies and fast.

What did they have?  Pecha Berries, Cheri Berries, Blast Seeds... That's it!

"Gio, catch!" Clare called out to her partner as she threw a Blast Seed towards him.  The Squirtle caught it and didn't hesitate on shoving it into his mouth.

His face quickly contorted into wide-eyed shock as he covered his mouth with his hands.  Skarmory paused for a moment in confusion.  But that was just the hesitation the team needed; the Steel-Flying type got blasted in the face from an explosion from Giovanni's mouth.

Skarmory screeched and stumbled back.  From that and the team's other attacks, it looked like he had been beaten. ”Grrr... I can't keep up!  I'll flee for now!“ The steel bird shot up into the sky once more, crookedly flying away.

It was quiet for a bit before Clare let out a little laugh. “We did it Gio, we did it!!”

“Hey Clare,” The Water-type breathed heavily. “Could you do me a little favor and WARN me next time you DO THAT?!”

”Oh.  Yeah.” Now that feeling of pride was pushed down by embarrassment. “Sorry about that; it was the only thing I could think of.“

”...Eh, it's alright.  I get it.  Water under the bridge.  Now let's worry about Diglett.”

The pair walked to the edge of the chasm.  Clare looked down for a moment, but quickly shot her head back up. “I can’t see the bottom,” she noted with a scared strain in her voice.

“How do you think we should do this?” Giovanni asked, seemingly oblivious to Clare’s fright.  He put a hand up to his chin in thought, then pounded one fist into his palm with a smile. “You can use your vines to stretch me across the gap and I can grab Diglett from there!  Then you’d just reel us back in.”

“...I don’t have vines.”

“...You, should have vines.  Don’t Grass-types usually have vines?”

“Sure, but not all of them.  And I’m pretty sure I’m one without vines.”

There was a long pause.

“Oh Arceus, what are we gonna do.”

An electronic sound from above caught the pair’s attention.  Looking up, two Magnemite were floating down to them.

“BZBZBZZ!”

“Oh, hey!  You’re the Magnemite from Thunderwave Cave!” Clare tilted her head as the Steel/Electric pair drifted closer. “What are you doing here?”

“WE HEARD WORD OF THIS.  WE CAN RESCUE DIGLETT FROM THE SKY.  BZBZBZZ!”

“With… your magnets?  What would he grab onto?  Can he grab on?” The Squirtle quietly talked to himself as the Magnemite flew over the opposite side of the cliff and approached Diglett.

“HOLD ON TO US TIGHT.” “DON’T BE SCARED.  WE WON’T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ZAPPING YOU.”

“Oh… Alright…” It seemed the poor kid had been frozen with fright the whole time.  But now with the helpful Magnemite, his nerves calmed a bit.

…

“Ohhh… I was very scared.  Maybe because I was up somewhere so high… My feet feel like they’re still walking on air.”

The whole party had descended down the mountain and were huddled outside Team Soup’s rescue base.

Giovanni glanced sideways to Clare with squinted eyes. “...Feet?” He whispered.  The Grass-type just shrugged.

“HE HAS THEM?  FEET?” The Magnemite attempted to whisper to each other.

“Well, you’re safe and that’s what really matters,” Clare said to the little Ground-type, trying to steer the conversation away from appendages that may or may not exist.

“Yeah!  Thank you very much.”

“Oh, you’ve been rescued!  Great!  Great!”

Everyone paused and whirled around themselves, trying to find this new mystery voice.

“HM?  WHAT WAS THAT?” “AM I HEARING VOICES?”

“...Dugtrio?” The Squirtle asked to the ground.

“Whoops!  You can’t see us?  That’s terribly rude of us!” As predicted, Dugtrio erupted from the earth right next to Giovanni, making him shriek, jump, and nearly crash into Clare. “Hello.  Dugtrio here.”

“Oh!  Papa!” Diglett chirped.

“Diglett!  You had us worried!  You’re not hurt?”

“Nope!  It was scary, but I’m all right.  It’s all thanks to Clare’s team.”

“Thank you for everything.  You’re heroes.”

“Thank you, but… You should really be thanking the Magnemite.  This rescue would have been impossible without them.” Clare flicked her leaf towards them.

Dugtrio turned to the pair of Steel-Electric types. “Oh, how rude of us!  Thank you so much!”

“NO, NO.  IT WAS THE ONLY THING TO DO.  AND�� HOW BOTH OUR EVOLVED FORMS ARE JOINED TRIOS… I FELT A CERTAIN KINSHIP.  AFTER ALL, POKEMON MUST HELP EACH OTHER.”

“I’m impressed.  Sincerely, thank you.” Dugtrio then looked back at Team Soup. “We must be going.  Clare.  Giovanni.  Thank you.  Farewell!”

“Bye!” 

With Diglett’s final goodbye, the two Ground-types buried under the soil and zoomed off, leaving behind a few rewards for the rescue team.

“WE’LL BE ON OUR WAY TOO.” Magnemite said.

“Wait, wait, wait; hold on a sec, you two!” Giovanni stepped in front of the two.

“WHAT IS IT?”

“Well, I’ve been standing here thinking we couldn’t have done that last mission without you guys.  And we’re probably going to need help like that again.”

“To put it in a less long-winded way: Would you like to join our team?” Clare didn’t fail to notice her partner’s unamused side eye.

“JOIN YOUR TEAM?”

“Yes.  We’d love to have you with us.  O-Only if you want to, of course!  We won’t force you or anything.”

“RESCUE TEAM… THAT SOUNDS FUN!” The Magnemite on the left’s magnets buzzed with excitement. 

“BUT… IF YOU NEED US TO RUSH OVER TO RESCUES… WE NEED SOMEWHERE TO LIVE CLOSE BY.  IS THERE ANYWHERE WE CAN LIVE IN THIS AREA?” The Magnemite on the right tilted itself at an angle.

“Er… Well…” The Squirtle scratched the back of his head.

“OH… THERE ISN’T… TOO BAD.  SORRY, BUT WE CAN’T JOIN YOU.  SEE YOU!” Their magnets continued to buzz as the pair left.

“Well, that’s a shame,” Clare said with a sigh. “But they’re right.  Team members should live close by so they can leave quickly or we can contact them easily.”

“Then we need to find some real estate that we can use!  Then we can start recruiting.”

“How are we gonna do that?”

Giovanni thought about it for a moment, then gained a wide grin and started pushing the Chikorita towards her house. “Let me worry about that!  You just get some rest tonight.”

“...Could you try and sound less suspicious when you say that?”

But he was already running off. “See ya tomorrow!”

Clare just huffed.

[cruisingheightswithdragons]

Trying zero isle north just to get to floor 26 where the orange silk item is and I get there after a lot of trouble and it’s surrounded by water. I left my mobile scarf in kangaskhan storage :/

[viewer-of-many]

(Given which member of the Resorters goes over there, I'm guessing Pawmot is someone in the Jock Squad. Probably Batsby based on that scene in Bot Prom)

After a quick tour of the other facilities, such as Gimmighoul Bank, Kangaskhan Storage, and Xatu Appraisal, it was on to the main place they were heading to- the Kecleon Market. "Hey Kecleon Bros, what's you got for us today?" "Don't call us that, being the same species doesn't make us related!"

(That last part's a reference to something Doc Wyatt said on Twitter-basically, some bots with a similar bot mode can have very different alt modes)

PMD, botbots edition: chapter 2

After a long night(which, for two residents of the cavern, was spent more with setting up than sleeping), the Resorters were ready to start the day! "Alright, a real mission! Let's do this!" "Easy, Scorbunny. This is a big task, we need to prepare in town first." Dave was, once again, confused. "Prepare how, exactly?" "Huh. We never did show you around town, did we?"

[treasuretownresident]

"Hello sweeties, my name is Miss Kangaskhan and I live and own Kangashan's storage with my son, Roger and my recently adopted child, Sylvia. I've owned and lived in this shop for many years and infact this place has been passed down through generations."

[kangaskhan-appreciation]

Kangaskhan keeps your precious Reviver Seeds in storage, completely free of charge. Y’all should respect her more!!

[artist-the-dragon]

"You can count on me, honey!"

~

7. Favorite Shop Owner, in which Kangaskhan is just generally super friendly.

While not exactly a shop owner, something about that warm familiarity she talks with has always made me very happy inside.

[treasuretownresident]

The Shiny Eevee was feeling nervous Infront of Chatot.

"U-um.. I-I got your request from Mo- I mean Miss Kangaskhan from her storage to bring you this P-Perfect Apples, Ch-Chatot Sir!"

A Shiny Eevee carrying and holding on her mouth a basket of perfect apples, nervously waits for her footprint to be identified Infront of the infamous Wigglytuff Guild.

@treasuretownresident

"Footprint detected! Footprint detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Eevee! The footprint is Eevee!"

"Hmm... Alright! You may ENTER! ...Man, it's busy today. Just after we got back, too..."

[trinketstar]

The ending hit even harder on this randomized playthrough since I kinda made up this backstory in my head for kangaskhan.

After seeing so many young pokemon use her storage services on their own cool journeys, she developed a longing for adventure too. Though she’s a little unsure of herself, being an older lady with grown children of her own who have moved away. She gathers up her courage to join the guild after developing a motherly relationship with this funny little celebi she finds on the beach. THEN gets caught up in a whole complicated adventure to save the world that she did NOT sign up for.

Agh that sprite makes it so much sadder. thats her daughter nooooo