The Friendly Necromancer
- Thread starter Sengachi
- Start date
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- Tags
- pokemon pokemon trainer
I'm pretty sure ventriloquism still involves opening your move, just minimizing it as much as possible. That may be enough, or just be less painful. Training would be a bitch in either case. His soul is literally leaving.
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
Easy!
They become a scientist over time due to their unique contributions, and their science buddies decide to get them a text to speech for better communications.
They have experiments to run after all!
...
Glados, I'm turning them into Glados.
They become a scientist over time due to their unique contributions, and their science buddies decide to get them a text to speech for better communications.
They have experiments to run after all!
...
Glados, I'm turning them into Glados.
Jamie Roberts
Hávamál 127
- Location
- N/A
- Pronouns
- she/her
GLaDOS is haunted. And for that matter, Aperture at large is probably more thick with Ghost Types than Lavender Town. Considering the... disastrous Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, the place is probably crawling with Banettes specifically.
That said, GLaDOS is not a pure Ghost Type. Ghost/Steel Type, no question. I know it could be tempting to swap Steel for Electric, but GLaDOS's discouragement mechanisms trend away from electrical-shocks and more towards Turrets and the big grabby-claw.
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
Don´t forget that steel type is mostly about it´s high resistances, which is why, at the end of the first game, you need some really powerfull weaponry to take her down.
Anything else would be not very effective after all.
Chapter 14: Home Is Where The Heart Is
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Chapter 14: Home Is Where The Heart Is
Pokemon have been, from the very beginning, spoken of as friends and partners to the humans of the Pokemon world, helping them with various tasks from farming to constructing buildings to exploration. Many people in the Pokemon world take Pokemon with them on a journey to gather Badges from Gyms and compete in the various Pokemon Leagues as Trainers, using them in battles against Pokemon both owned by other Trainers and found in the wild.
-----
Soft music drifted out of Diya's pokedex, slowly bringing it into the waking world. The Banette opened its eyes and stared at the ceiling. It lay there without moving as the music got louder, the pokedex's alarm gently prodding it to get up.
Diya blinked slowly, digesting yesterday's events.
Its friends knew it was a Banette now. They knew about the boy. They cared about the boy.
Yesterday had been a rollercoaster of emotions. Even now it still couldn't put words to what it had felt as it realized that it could just tell people about the boy and they would care. It didn't have to go on a world-spanning pokemon journey to get people to look at the boy's face and see something worthwhile there. It could just stop hiding and tell people the truth. To the right people, the boy mattered simply for having existed.
But the emotional turmoil of the moment had hidden a very simple and obvious question from Diya. One which hadn't occurred to it while the grief of disclosure and the relief of being seen were ripping through it.
…
Music continued to drift out of the pokedex.
...
Now what?
Banettes possessed abandoned things to force their existence in the world's face. To drive home that they had mattered once, with the point of a curse if that's what it took. Diya had chosen a softer path to honor the boy's existence. It had believed, and still did, that earning the boy recognition as a trainer would be more appropriate for him than demanding recognition from the boy's terrified parents with deadly curses dripping from its lips.
But now it didn't need to do either. The boy already mattered to more people than just Diya. And if Bashak and June weren't enough, if the other Shuppets in Canopy Town weren't enough, Diya could just tell more people. Claire would probably listen to it. Leader Ahmad would. Heck, if Bashak and June were at all representative, Diya could walk up to just about any person in the street, tell them the truth, and they'd care about its boy's death.
And why even care about what might happen afterward? Banettes were supposed to throw themselves headlong into their vengeances with no thought of what came after. Traps, defending pokemon, retaliation from those close to its targets, none of that mattered. A Banette would gladly die driving its point home. Diya had only met one Banette in person, but Shuppets passed along tales of their grownup brethren's exploits. It knew that much.
Why shouldn't the Banette tell every single person it could? Why not go on television and tell the world? Let the law and public revulsion carry out the more traditional Banette's vengeance for it, and let the books people would write about its odd existence carry the boy's memory into the future.
Why not do that right now?
Diya swallowed.
Because then … then its journey would be over.
It didn't know exactly what would happen after that. Maybe scientists would want to study it. Maybe thrill seekers would travel to battle it. Maybe it would be deemed a threat or its necromantic body an affront to decency, and people would try to destroy it. But whatever happened, it was afraid that would mean its journey would be over. It wouldn't be able to travel with Bashak and June after all.
Diya rolled over in bed and hugged its Piplup plushie close to its chest.
This was stupid. What did a Banette care about what came after? A Banette's most powerful power was the ability to open its mouth and craft a self-sacrificing curse from its own soul, potent enough to drag even the strongest pokemon into death along with it. It was what they were known for. People thought of Banettes and what came to mind was their curses.
So why was Diya afraid of losing what it had?
There was a knock on the door, five quick raps that broke its train of thought. "Hey," June said through the door. "There's breakfast downstairs in the cafeteria. They made shakshuka. It's eggs poached in tomato sauce, I'm pretty sure you can slurp them up without opening your mouth to the air. It'll probably be messy as heck, but we really should be trying to diversify your diet and that's what napkins are for anyway. So come on, don't be late."
"…"
"Uhhh, knock back if you heard me?"
Diya lifted one heavy arm and thumped its knuckles on the bedside table.
"Cool! I'll see you in a few! Oh and Bashak's coming over as well, I asked Claire and she said it's fine if he eats in the cafeteria with us even though he's not staying here. So don't keep him waiting! Also, Claire saw you weren't feeling too good last night, so she left some sweets for you with the nurse who works the morning shift."
Oh. Diya swallowed. That was very kind of her.
"Um, you still there?"
Diya knocked on its bedside table again.
"Ah, good! Of course you are. Well, I know last night was rough, so if you want to talk about it any more Bashak and I would be happy to help. And I'd say hugs are available if you need them, but you're getting them by default so-" Diya could all but hear June shrug through the door. "You're getting all of the hugs. As many as you can handle. So come downstairs soon!" June's footsteps receded down the hallway.
Diya blinked steadily, staring up at the ceiling as if a fog had lifted and suddenly it could actually see what it was looking at.
Right. That was why it didn't want to lose what it had. Because what it had was worth holding onto.
Diya squeezed its Piplup plushie hard enough to wring Svartis out of it. It received blurry mental impressions of coffee from her the moment she woke up, and it assured her there would be coffee in the cafeteria. Then it got up out of bed and opened the curtains, letting the morning sun wash into the room.
It shouldn't keep its friends waiting.
-----
Breakfast was subdued, but not in a bad way. June tried to ask if Diya wanted to talk more about last night and Diya simply put her off with a shake of its head. It would rather burrow into Bashak's side and cuddle up to him silently, and June seemed to get it. The three of them took their time and ate, quietly enjoying the peace. And messily enjoying it, in Diya's case. It turned out that while it was possible for Diya to slurp up shakshuka whole, the process was exactly as messy as June had predicted.
The sole exception to the peace was when Igor tried to steal one of Diya's eggs. Diya fed the egg to Greta instead, who was being a very good girl and not trying to steal anyone's food, which aggravated the small bug pokemon badly enough that June had to put him in a timeout.
That disruption aside though, breakfast was calm. Even the Misdreavus Diya could sense lurking outside, doubtlessly waiting for the right moment to prank them, was considerate enough to wait its turn. It was with a full belly and a warm heart that Diya finally pushed away its plate.
Across from it, June was smiling.
Diya didn't feel like fishing out its pokedex to type at her, so it just arched one eyebrow at her and looked pointedly at her mouth.
"Hm?" she said. "Oh! Why am I smiling?"
Diya nodded.
June shrugged. "You're happy, when last night you were sad. That's reason enough for me to smile."
Bemused by that answer, Diya shifted where it was leaning against Bashak so it could look up and see what Bashak thought of it. Only to find that Bashak was staring down at it with an even sappier and wider grin than June's.
Oh. Diya squirmed a little, burrowing deeper into Bashak's side as warmth flooded through its chest.
After a comfortable silence, Bashak cleared his throat. "Diya, I was thinking. Would you want me to teach you how to make a cold weather shelter?"
The Banette looked up at Bashak quizzically. It was a bit confused so it pulled out its pokedex. <We learned how to set up tents in school?>
The herder shook his head. "I mean making one from scratch. No tech."
It was still confused. <I'm not very vulnerable to cold anymore.> Between its faerie fire and the half-puppet nature of its body, it would have to get very cold indeed for Diya to be threatened by the weather.
Bashak shook his head again. "In case someone you're with needs it," he explained.
That got Diya to stop and listen to what Bashak was actually offering, and it blinked. With modern ball storage as it was, there was really no reason for someone to be caught out in the forest without a tent for shelter. Even most of Canopy Gym's winter survival lessons hinged on the notion that one would have proper equipment with them. And for good reason, even the most experienced ranger likely wouldn't make it in a bad blizzard without equipment. Bashak knew that and Diya knew that. Learning how to make a shelter from scratch wouldn't actually be useful to the Banette.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that Diya would know that no matter how bad things got, it would be able to do its best to keep its companions warm.
Tears sprang up in its eyes and it swallowed. Diya pressed itself back into Bashak's side and nodded. It would like to learn that very much.
---
Bashak led Diya and June into the forest, crunching the snow underfoot and ducking under branches. He'd given them some reading to do before they left, and now he quizzed them on it as they walked. "Shelter locations, what's important?" Bashak asked over his shoulder.
"Being sheltered from the wind is very important, especially if you want to build a fire." June answered.
Diya took a glove off to add to her answer, putting it back on as soon as it was finished typing. <Leeward side of a big tree or rock is good for that.>
Bashak nodded, but prodded further. "But the problems with that are…?"
June answered before Diya could take off its glove again. "There needs to be a prevailing wind direction for that to matter. Building next to a tree can still be helpful even if there's no set wind direction though, because if there's enough snow you'll get a snow depression around the tree. You can build that depression up into a snow wall to protect you from the wind."
The herder nodded, then looked at Diya. "Anything to add?"
It nodded. <Building under a tree also makes fire risky. If it melts snow in the branches, the snow can collapse. Also, be careful around the ground snow near trees. The roots can melt unstable voids in the snow.>
That earned the young trainer a smile. "You did your reading."
Diya nodded very firmly. Yes. Yes it had.
"So, ways to get around that?"
Again June beat Diya to the punch. "Build the fire away from the tree and your shelter. For warmth, you should instead heat rocks next to the fire -not inside the fire so they don't explode- and use those to warm your bedding. If your shelter is well-made that'll be enough heat to last you through the night."
She got a nod for that. "Anything to add, Diya?" Bashak asked.
The Banette held up a gloved hand. Its eyes narrowed, glowed, and then a ball of blue fire flashed into existence above its hand with the snap-hiss of an acetylene torch igniting. It looked up at Bashak and smiled. The heat from the ball could be felt on all their faces.
"...not what I was thinking, but okay."
June cut in curiously. "I've been wondering, do those fires use up oxygen?"
Diya shook its head, then paused and waggled its other hand back and forth. It put out the faerie fire so it could answer. <It doesn't need air. But if I make it hot enough to ignite the air, the air still burns.>
"Ah. So as long as it's not that hot, if you use it to keep you warm in a shelter it won't use up oxygen?"
Diya nodded.
"That's so useful," June said with a hint of awe.
Bashak voiced his agreement. "Very useful. But you should still heat rocks for warmth. Or water bottles, water is actually better, June." He turned back to Diya. "Unless you can do that while asleep?"
It could not, and it shook its head no.
The herder nodded. Deciding he'd asked them enough questions he said, "Let's start."
The shelter design they were practicing was as small and simple as they came, little more than a triangular wedge large enough to fit oneself inside. Cramped simplicity was the point though. Small meant less space to heat and simple meant easy and quick to construct.
To make it, one first cleared and padded the ground, then propped up a long straight branch with one end on the ground to act as the spine of the shelter. Sticks were propped up along the spine to make two slanted walls. The walls were covered with a tarp if possible or whatever was handy if not. The goal was for that layer to be as airtight and watertight as possible. That was then covered with layers of pine branches, weeds, fallen leaves, whatever was available that could make air-filled space and resist water. Then that was covered with another airtight layer, and that weighed down with snow - which Diya learned was a surprisingly good insulator itself. Once that was done, all that was left was to climb in and pack the entrance with snow.
With a hole for air. The hole was important.
June offered to clear the ground and strip some pine needles to pad it with, while Diya set off to find the wood they needed for the shelter with Bashak and Greta in tow.
Bashak got out his spindle and distaff and spun as they walked. He couldn't ground the Mareep wool with his copper wire while they were moving so it snapped out crackling sparks, but the herder bore it without flinching. Diya accepted his silent company gladly, happy to have a friend.
They walked until Diya found a young dead tree, killed by lightning long ago. The Banette looked back up at Bashak, gesturing to him to ask if this tree was good enough.
The herder simply raised an eyebrow. 'You tell me,' the look said.
Diya frowned at the tree. On its own it would have simply taken the wood and been done, but something in Bashak's expression made it hesitate. What about this tree would make it bad to use? In the boys' wilderness classes in school, he'd always been taught to seek trees like this for firewood, if possible.
A moment later it hit Diya. For firewood. The Banette sighed through its nose. With one gloved hand it reached out and yanked on a branch, tearing the desiccated wood away with a single jerk. It was fragile. Diya wouldn't trust wood like this to bear the weight of snow above it. The Banette had been following inherited instincts without even thinking about why.
Bashak smiled and nodded, confirming its thoughts.
The Banette took off a glove and typed to its friend. <I need living wood, don't I?>
"Yup."
<Should I really do that just for training?> The boy's conservation lessons were drilled into its brain. One trainer taking something from the land might not do much, but every trainer taking something from the land could strip it bare.
Bashak nodded again. "Mhm. I checked with Leader Ahmad. Just don't take too much from one tree and kill it."
Well if that was the case-
The Banette held up one hand and let loose with a blast of night shade, honing the black and purple ribbons which twisted through the air to a cutting edge. There was an explosive crack and two thick branches fell from a living tree beside it. Another spray of cutting ribbons pruned the branches down to straight segments and Diya set about collecting what was thick and long enough to be usable.
Behind it, Bashak swore softly under his breath, mirrored by a quiet yip from Greta.
Alarmed, Diya turned around. Had it done something wrong? It looked around into the forest. Was there a wild pokemon?
"No no, it's-" Bashak sighed. "You were holding back in our spar," he said, as if that explained everything.
It didn't, so Diya tilted its head. It got its pokedex back out. <Yes?>
"By a lot."
It showed its friend the screen again, <Yes?>. Friends didn't do stuff which could hurt their friends or their friends' pokemon in spars. His point was…?
There was a serious look in Bashak's eyes. He spent a long moment eyeing Diya before he spoke. "You could have killed your boy's parents easily."
Diya flinched, not so much at the statement itself, but just at the topic being brought up by someone else. It wasn't sure it liked not having control over when and why it thought about it. It nodded in answer though.
"But you're here. Learning to keep people warm."
It nodded again, hesitantly. Yes? And?
The older boy smiled. He stowed his spinning supplies in one big hand and reached out with the other to give Diya a half hug. "You're a good kid." He pressed a kiss to the top of Diya's witch hat, just hard enough that it could feel it.
Diya's heart beat heavy and warm inside its chest. It swallowed hard. Before it could even question itself, it typed something to Bashak, <I'm not a very good Banette.>
It wasn't sure what it was expecting from Bashak in response, but a bemused 'my friend is an idiot' look was not it.
"Nah, you are."
…
Bashak was not elaborating.
<Because…?>
"June told me how you were with the Shuppets."
Diya did not think this lightly, but sometimes Bashak could stand to be more like June and explain himself. <And?>
"Your boy needed proper parents, right?"
Diya frowned. It still wasn't sure it liked other people being able to bring that up outside of its control. <Yes.>
"Don't Ghost pokemon too?"
The young ghost almost snapped back that they weren't human, and they didn't need to be raised like humans did. But then it thought about it, with its cold thumb hovering over the keypad.
The one time it had met a Banette as a Shuppet, it had felt like it was like meeting the most important person in the world. Diya had danced about it front of it, bursting with the need to show the cool older spirit what it could do. Look how bright its faerie fire was, look how strong its night shades were! It could even do a weak shadow ball, see, see?!
It had meant the world to it when the Banette sent back the memory of Diya's powers, tinged with impressed congratulations and accompanied by tips for how to pull together a more stable shadow ball. Diya had practiced fanatically every night for weeks after that, riding the high of its elder kin's compliment.
Underneath its robes, Svartis dozed half awake, still not quite ready to greet the day after Diya's morning coffee. Diya thought about how scary and frightening it would have been for her if the Ghastly had come into being in the city without it. How intimidating and alien would the human world have been to it? Instead its companion was a little ball of inquisitive curiosity, and so comfortable with humans and their pokemon that it felt safe snoozing right next to a battle-ready pair.
Diya's eyes stung. Did Ghost pokemon need parents too? It didn't know. Even the sole Banette it had known had only stayed long enough to pick up the trail of the former owners it was hunting. Banettes like it burned hot and fast, they didn't stick around to guide others into the world after their evolutions.
Maybe they should.
Bashak stood to the side, waiting patiently. He didn't push Diya for an answer. When Diya set off to cut down more branches without a word, he simply followed, taking his spinning back up in silence.
In the distance Diya felt a flicker as Canopy Town's resident Misdreavus shadow-hopped from one hiding spot amidst the trees to another. The ghost had been following Diya on and off since the game of tag. Waiting for the right chance to prank and startle it, Diya had assumed.
When the Misdreavus made its appearance, darting out of the shadows to drop off what tiny twigs it could carry and then vanishing again, Bashak didn't comment. Well, he jerked in alarm and swore and Greta barked in alarm, and the Misdreavus oozed well-fed satisfaction. But he calmed down quickly and didn't interrupt when Diya ran its fingers through the Misdreavus' ghostly hair tendrils and patted it for a job well done, despite the twigs being too small to possibly use.
The Misdreavus leapt through the shadows back into the forest, coming back to deliver more too-small twigs. It earned headpats in return, full marks for effort.
Bashak didn't say a word. He let Diya think.
June and Diya's shelter, when they finished it, was declared perfectly serviceable by Bashak. He couldn't actually fit inside of it because they'd sized it for themselves, cutting a comic figure when he tried and found he could barely squeeze in up to his shoulders. But Greta curled up inside for him and seemed cozy enough for him to declare their attempt a success.
And throughout the whole process of building the shelter, Diya thought.
It thought about all the excitable Shuppets in Canopy Town which dreamed of one day becoming a Banette and burning out in a blaze of vengeful glory. It thought about Svartis, and its heart ached at how lost she would be without it. It thought of the Misdreavus that was still shadowing it even now, staring with awed fascination at its Mismagius hat whenever it thought Diya wasn't looking.
It didn't give its answer to Bashak until they got back to town. A single nod, which Bashak understood and answered with a smile.
Maybe even ghosts could use a parent's love.
And maybe Diya could find its own way to be a good Banette.
There is new fanart! It's amazing and I'm beside myself!
This lovely bit of fanart was done by Large_Egg, posted here. Go give them a comment if you like it!
It's also serving as the new icon for the story, if you're wondering about the change, and you can find this in the Chapter 1 threadmark, serving as a cover to the story.
This lovely bit of fanart was done by Large_Egg, posted here. Go give them a comment if you like it!It's also serving as the new icon for the story, if you're wondering about the change, and you can find this in the Chapter 1 threadmark, serving as a cover to the story.
Pokemon have been, from the very beginning, spoken of as friends and partners to the humans of the Pokemon world, helping them with various tasks from farming to constructing buildings to exploration. Many people in the Pokemon world take Pokemon with them on a journey to gather Badges from Gyms and compete in the various Pokemon Leagues as Trainers, using them in battles against Pokemon both owned by other Trainers and found in the wild.
-----
Soft music drifted out of Diya's pokedex, slowly bringing it into the waking world. The Banette opened its eyes and stared at the ceiling. It lay there without moving as the music got louder, the pokedex's alarm gently prodding it to get up.
Diya blinked slowly, digesting yesterday's events.
Its friends knew it was a Banette now. They knew about the boy. They cared about the boy.
Yesterday had been a rollercoaster of emotions. Even now it still couldn't put words to what it had felt as it realized that it could just tell people about the boy and they would care. It didn't have to go on a world-spanning pokemon journey to get people to look at the boy's face and see something worthwhile there. It could just stop hiding and tell people the truth. To the right people, the boy mattered simply for having existed.
But the emotional turmoil of the moment had hidden a very simple and obvious question from Diya. One which hadn't occurred to it while the grief of disclosure and the relief of being seen were ripping through it.
…
Music continued to drift out of the pokedex.
...
Now what?
Banettes possessed abandoned things to force their existence in the world's face. To drive home that they had mattered once, with the point of a curse if that's what it took. Diya had chosen a softer path to honor the boy's existence. It had believed, and still did, that earning the boy recognition as a trainer would be more appropriate for him than demanding recognition from the boy's terrified parents with deadly curses dripping from its lips.
But now it didn't need to do either. The boy already mattered to more people than just Diya. And if Bashak and June weren't enough, if the other Shuppets in Canopy Town weren't enough, Diya could just tell more people. Claire would probably listen to it. Leader Ahmad would. Heck, if Bashak and June were at all representative, Diya could walk up to just about any person in the street, tell them the truth, and they'd care about its boy's death.
And why even care about what might happen afterward? Banettes were supposed to throw themselves headlong into their vengeances with no thought of what came after. Traps, defending pokemon, retaliation from those close to its targets, none of that mattered. A Banette would gladly die driving its point home. Diya had only met one Banette in person, but Shuppets passed along tales of their grownup brethren's exploits. It knew that much.
Why shouldn't the Banette tell every single person it could? Why not go on television and tell the world? Let the law and public revulsion carry out the more traditional Banette's vengeance for it, and let the books people would write about its odd existence carry the boy's memory into the future.
Why not do that right now?
Diya swallowed.
Because then … then its journey would be over.
It didn't know exactly what would happen after that. Maybe scientists would want to study it. Maybe thrill seekers would travel to battle it. Maybe it would be deemed a threat or its necromantic body an affront to decency, and people would try to destroy it. But whatever happened, it was afraid that would mean its journey would be over. It wouldn't be able to travel with Bashak and June after all.
Diya rolled over in bed and hugged its Piplup plushie close to its chest.
This was stupid. What did a Banette care about what came after? A Banette's most powerful power was the ability to open its mouth and craft a self-sacrificing curse from its own soul, potent enough to drag even the strongest pokemon into death along with it. It was what they were known for. People thought of Banettes and what came to mind was their curses.
So why was Diya afraid of losing what it had?
There was a knock on the door, five quick raps that broke its train of thought. "Hey," June said through the door. "There's breakfast downstairs in the cafeteria. They made shakshuka. It's eggs poached in tomato sauce, I'm pretty sure you can slurp them up without opening your mouth to the air. It'll probably be messy as heck, but we really should be trying to diversify your diet and that's what napkins are for anyway. So come on, don't be late."
"…"
"Uhhh, knock back if you heard me?"
Diya lifted one heavy arm and thumped its knuckles on the bedside table.
"Cool! I'll see you in a few! Oh and Bashak's coming over as well, I asked Claire and she said it's fine if he eats in the cafeteria with us even though he's not staying here. So don't keep him waiting! Also, Claire saw you weren't feeling too good last night, so she left some sweets for you with the nurse who works the morning shift."
Oh. Diya swallowed. That was very kind of her.
"Um, you still there?"
Diya knocked on its bedside table again.
"Ah, good! Of course you are. Well, I know last night was rough, so if you want to talk about it any more Bashak and I would be happy to help. And I'd say hugs are available if you need them, but you're getting them by default so-" Diya could all but hear June shrug through the door. "You're getting all of the hugs. As many as you can handle. So come downstairs soon!" June's footsteps receded down the hallway.
Diya blinked steadily, staring up at the ceiling as if a fog had lifted and suddenly it could actually see what it was looking at.
Right. That was why it didn't want to lose what it had. Because what it had was worth holding onto.
Diya squeezed its Piplup plushie hard enough to wring Svartis out of it. It received blurry mental impressions of coffee from her the moment she woke up, and it assured her there would be coffee in the cafeteria. Then it got up out of bed and opened the curtains, letting the morning sun wash into the room.
It shouldn't keep its friends waiting.
-----
Breakfast was subdued, but not in a bad way. June tried to ask if Diya wanted to talk more about last night and Diya simply put her off with a shake of its head. It would rather burrow into Bashak's side and cuddle up to him silently, and June seemed to get it. The three of them took their time and ate, quietly enjoying the peace. And messily enjoying it, in Diya's case. It turned out that while it was possible for Diya to slurp up shakshuka whole, the process was exactly as messy as June had predicted.
The sole exception to the peace was when Igor tried to steal one of Diya's eggs. Diya fed the egg to Greta instead, who was being a very good girl and not trying to steal anyone's food, which aggravated the small bug pokemon badly enough that June had to put him in a timeout.
That disruption aside though, breakfast was calm. Even the Misdreavus Diya could sense lurking outside, doubtlessly waiting for the right moment to prank them, was considerate enough to wait its turn. It was with a full belly and a warm heart that Diya finally pushed away its plate.
Across from it, June was smiling.
Diya didn't feel like fishing out its pokedex to type at her, so it just arched one eyebrow at her and looked pointedly at her mouth.
"Hm?" she said. "Oh! Why am I smiling?"
Diya nodded.
June shrugged. "You're happy, when last night you were sad. That's reason enough for me to smile."
Bemused by that answer, Diya shifted where it was leaning against Bashak so it could look up and see what Bashak thought of it. Only to find that Bashak was staring down at it with an even sappier and wider grin than June's.
Oh. Diya squirmed a little, burrowing deeper into Bashak's side as warmth flooded through its chest.
After a comfortable silence, Bashak cleared his throat. "Diya, I was thinking. Would you want me to teach you how to make a cold weather shelter?"
The Banette looked up at Bashak quizzically. It was a bit confused so it pulled out its pokedex. <We learned how to set up tents in school?>
The herder shook his head. "I mean making one from scratch. No tech."
It was still confused. <I'm not very vulnerable to cold anymore.> Between its faerie fire and the half-puppet nature of its body, it would have to get very cold indeed for Diya to be threatened by the weather.
Bashak shook his head again. "In case someone you're with needs it," he explained.
That got Diya to stop and listen to what Bashak was actually offering, and it blinked. With modern ball storage as it was, there was really no reason for someone to be caught out in the forest without a tent for shelter. Even most of Canopy Gym's winter survival lessons hinged on the notion that one would have proper equipment with them. And for good reason, even the most experienced ranger likely wouldn't make it in a bad blizzard without equipment. Bashak knew that and Diya knew that. Learning how to make a shelter from scratch wouldn't actually be useful to the Banette.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that Diya would know that no matter how bad things got, it would be able to do its best to keep its companions warm.
Tears sprang up in its eyes and it swallowed. Diya pressed itself back into Bashak's side and nodded. It would like to learn that very much.
---
Bashak led Diya and June into the forest, crunching the snow underfoot and ducking under branches. He'd given them some reading to do before they left, and now he quizzed them on it as they walked. "Shelter locations, what's important?" Bashak asked over his shoulder.
"Being sheltered from the wind is very important, especially if you want to build a fire." June answered.
Diya took a glove off to add to her answer, putting it back on as soon as it was finished typing. <Leeward side of a big tree or rock is good for that.>
Bashak nodded, but prodded further. "But the problems with that are…?"
June answered before Diya could take off its glove again. "There needs to be a prevailing wind direction for that to matter. Building next to a tree can still be helpful even if there's no set wind direction though, because if there's enough snow you'll get a snow depression around the tree. You can build that depression up into a snow wall to protect you from the wind."
The herder nodded, then looked at Diya. "Anything to add?"
It nodded. <Building under a tree also makes fire risky. If it melts snow in the branches, the snow can collapse. Also, be careful around the ground snow near trees. The roots can melt unstable voids in the snow.>
That earned the young trainer a smile. "You did your reading."
Diya nodded very firmly. Yes. Yes it had.
"So, ways to get around that?"
Again June beat Diya to the punch. "Build the fire away from the tree and your shelter. For warmth, you should instead heat rocks next to the fire -not inside the fire so they don't explode- and use those to warm your bedding. If your shelter is well-made that'll be enough heat to last you through the night."
She got a nod for that. "Anything to add, Diya?" Bashak asked.
The Banette held up a gloved hand. Its eyes narrowed, glowed, and then a ball of blue fire flashed into existence above its hand with the snap-hiss of an acetylene torch igniting. It looked up at Bashak and smiled. The heat from the ball could be felt on all their faces.
"...not what I was thinking, but okay."
June cut in curiously. "I've been wondering, do those fires use up oxygen?"
Diya shook its head, then paused and waggled its other hand back and forth. It put out the faerie fire so it could answer. <It doesn't need air. But if I make it hot enough to ignite the air, the air still burns.>
"Ah. So as long as it's not that hot, if you use it to keep you warm in a shelter it won't use up oxygen?"
Diya nodded.
"That's so useful," June said with a hint of awe.
Bashak voiced his agreement. "Very useful. But you should still heat rocks for warmth. Or water bottles, water is actually better, June." He turned back to Diya. "Unless you can do that while asleep?"
It could not, and it shook its head no.
The herder nodded. Deciding he'd asked them enough questions he said, "Let's start."
The shelter design they were practicing was as small and simple as they came, little more than a triangular wedge large enough to fit oneself inside. Cramped simplicity was the point though. Small meant less space to heat and simple meant easy and quick to construct.
To make it, one first cleared and padded the ground, then propped up a long straight branch with one end on the ground to act as the spine of the shelter. Sticks were propped up along the spine to make two slanted walls. The walls were covered with a tarp if possible or whatever was handy if not. The goal was for that layer to be as airtight and watertight as possible. That was then covered with layers of pine branches, weeds, fallen leaves, whatever was available that could make air-filled space and resist water. Then that was covered with another airtight layer, and that weighed down with snow - which Diya learned was a surprisingly good insulator itself. Once that was done, all that was left was to climb in and pack the entrance with snow.
With a hole for air. The hole was important.
June offered to clear the ground and strip some pine needles to pad it with, while Diya set off to find the wood they needed for the shelter with Bashak and Greta in tow.
Bashak got out his spindle and distaff and spun as they walked. He couldn't ground the Mareep wool with his copper wire while they were moving so it snapped out crackling sparks, but the herder bore it without flinching. Diya accepted his silent company gladly, happy to have a friend.
They walked until Diya found a young dead tree, killed by lightning long ago. The Banette looked back up at Bashak, gesturing to him to ask if this tree was good enough.
The herder simply raised an eyebrow. 'You tell me,' the look said.
Diya frowned at the tree. On its own it would have simply taken the wood and been done, but something in Bashak's expression made it hesitate. What about this tree would make it bad to use? In the boys' wilderness classes in school, he'd always been taught to seek trees like this for firewood, if possible.
A moment later it hit Diya. For firewood. The Banette sighed through its nose. With one gloved hand it reached out and yanked on a branch, tearing the desiccated wood away with a single jerk. It was fragile. Diya wouldn't trust wood like this to bear the weight of snow above it. The Banette had been following inherited instincts without even thinking about why.
Bashak smiled and nodded, confirming its thoughts.
The Banette took off a glove and typed to its friend. <I need living wood, don't I?>
"Yup."
<Should I really do that just for training?> The boy's conservation lessons were drilled into its brain. One trainer taking something from the land might not do much, but every trainer taking something from the land could strip it bare.
Bashak nodded again. "Mhm. I checked with Leader Ahmad. Just don't take too much from one tree and kill it."
Well if that was the case-
The Banette held up one hand and let loose with a blast of night shade, honing the black and purple ribbons which twisted through the air to a cutting edge. There was an explosive crack and two thick branches fell from a living tree beside it. Another spray of cutting ribbons pruned the branches down to straight segments and Diya set about collecting what was thick and long enough to be usable.
Behind it, Bashak swore softly under his breath, mirrored by a quiet yip from Greta.
Alarmed, Diya turned around. Had it done something wrong? It looked around into the forest. Was there a wild pokemon?
"No no, it's-" Bashak sighed. "You were holding back in our spar," he said, as if that explained everything.
It didn't, so Diya tilted its head. It got its pokedex back out. <Yes?>
"By a lot."
It showed its friend the screen again, <Yes?>. Friends didn't do stuff which could hurt their friends or their friends' pokemon in spars. His point was…?
There was a serious look in Bashak's eyes. He spent a long moment eyeing Diya before he spoke. "You could have killed your boy's parents easily."
Diya flinched, not so much at the statement itself, but just at the topic being brought up by someone else. It wasn't sure it liked not having control over when and why it thought about it. It nodded in answer though.
"But you're here. Learning to keep people warm."
It nodded again, hesitantly. Yes? And?
The older boy smiled. He stowed his spinning supplies in one big hand and reached out with the other to give Diya a half hug. "You're a good kid." He pressed a kiss to the top of Diya's witch hat, just hard enough that it could feel it.
Diya's heart beat heavy and warm inside its chest. It swallowed hard. Before it could even question itself, it typed something to Bashak, <I'm not a very good Banette.>
It wasn't sure what it was expecting from Bashak in response, but a bemused 'my friend is an idiot' look was not it.
"Nah, you are."
…
Bashak was not elaborating.
<Because…?>
"June told me how you were with the Shuppets."
Diya did not think this lightly, but sometimes Bashak could stand to be more like June and explain himself. <And?>
"Your boy needed proper parents, right?"
Diya frowned. It still wasn't sure it liked other people being able to bring that up outside of its control. <Yes.>
"Don't Ghost pokemon too?"
The young ghost almost snapped back that they weren't human, and they didn't need to be raised like humans did. But then it thought about it, with its cold thumb hovering over the keypad.
The one time it had met a Banette as a Shuppet, it had felt like it was like meeting the most important person in the world. Diya had danced about it front of it, bursting with the need to show the cool older spirit what it could do. Look how bright its faerie fire was, look how strong its night shades were! It could even do a weak shadow ball, see, see?!
It had meant the world to it when the Banette sent back the memory of Diya's powers, tinged with impressed congratulations and accompanied by tips for how to pull together a more stable shadow ball. Diya had practiced fanatically every night for weeks after that, riding the high of its elder kin's compliment.
Underneath its robes, Svartis dozed half awake, still not quite ready to greet the day after Diya's morning coffee. Diya thought about how scary and frightening it would have been for her if the Ghastly had come into being in the city without it. How intimidating and alien would the human world have been to it? Instead its companion was a little ball of inquisitive curiosity, and so comfortable with humans and their pokemon that it felt safe snoozing right next to a battle-ready pair.
Diya's eyes stung. Did Ghost pokemon need parents too? It didn't know. Even the sole Banette it had known had only stayed long enough to pick up the trail of the former owners it was hunting. Banettes like it burned hot and fast, they didn't stick around to guide others into the world after their evolutions.
Maybe they should.
Bashak stood to the side, waiting patiently. He didn't push Diya for an answer. When Diya set off to cut down more branches without a word, he simply followed, taking his spinning back up in silence.
In the distance Diya felt a flicker as Canopy Town's resident Misdreavus shadow-hopped from one hiding spot amidst the trees to another. The ghost had been following Diya on and off since the game of tag. Waiting for the right chance to prank and startle it, Diya had assumed.
When the Misdreavus made its appearance, darting out of the shadows to drop off what tiny twigs it could carry and then vanishing again, Bashak didn't comment. Well, he jerked in alarm and swore and Greta barked in alarm, and the Misdreavus oozed well-fed satisfaction. But he calmed down quickly and didn't interrupt when Diya ran its fingers through the Misdreavus' ghostly hair tendrils and patted it for a job well done, despite the twigs being too small to possibly use.
The Misdreavus leapt through the shadows back into the forest, coming back to deliver more too-small twigs. It earned headpats in return, full marks for effort.
Bashak didn't say a word. He let Diya think.
June and Diya's shelter, when they finished it, was declared perfectly serviceable by Bashak. He couldn't actually fit inside of it because they'd sized it for themselves, cutting a comic figure when he tried and found he could barely squeeze in up to his shoulders. But Greta curled up inside for him and seemed cozy enough for him to declare their attempt a success.
And throughout the whole process of building the shelter, Diya thought.
It thought about all the excitable Shuppets in Canopy Town which dreamed of one day becoming a Banette and burning out in a blaze of vengeful glory. It thought about Svartis, and its heart ached at how lost she would be without it. It thought of the Misdreavus that was still shadowing it even now, staring with awed fascination at its Mismagius hat whenever it thought Diya wasn't looking.
It didn't give its answer to Bashak until they got back to town. A single nod, which Bashak understood and answered with a smile.
Maybe even ghosts could use a parent's love.
And maybe Diya could find its own way to be a good Banette.
Hey everyone! It's been a while!
Long story short, my new PhD advisor is better than my last one in that he exists and is an advisor and under him I can complete work relevant to a dissertation, but he's not necessarily a good advisor. Working for him can be pretty exhausting and motivation draining, and doesn't always leave much energy for other stuff. I have been managing to get some writing done anyway, but a lot of it was one-shots and personal projects which aren't ready to see the light of day yet. It's been hard to want to knuckle down and put my all into one project when I spend so much of the day doing just that under a demeaning boss.
Anyway, I can't necessarily promise a more consistent update schedule for this fic, but I can promise it's not dead yet. I love this fic, and I dearly want to see it through.
Long story short, my new PhD advisor is better than my last one in that he exists and is an advisor and under him I can complete work relevant to a dissertation, but he's not necessarily a good advisor. Working for him can be pretty exhausting and motivation draining, and doesn't always leave much energy for other stuff. I have been managing to get some writing done anyway, but a lot of it was one-shots and personal projects which aren't ready to see the light of day yet. It's been hard to want to knuckle down and put my all into one project when I spend so much of the day doing just that under a demeaning boss.
Anyway, I can't necessarily promise a more consistent update schedule for this fic, but I can promise it's not dead yet. I love this fic, and I dearly want to see it through.
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Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
Diya continues to be very huggable. I am glad June agrees.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
BRILLIANT!
Amazing artwork!
and I love how much thought is put into the story, and the characters thoughts.
and here i thought it would be the Litwik line that would be the ones to be like candles burning from both ends...
Wonder if Diya's situation also has some hidden benefits?
Amazing artwork!
and I love how much thought is put into the story, and the characters thoughts.
and here i thought it would be the Litwik line that would be the ones to be like candles burning from both ends...
Wonder if Diya's situation also has some hidden benefits?
- Location
- United States
Glad to see this again. Diya's thoughts just ooze significance. It feels like Banette have another evolution that requires max friendship to unlock.
If this was a power of friendship shonen anime I'd say they need max friendship, then use that self sacrifice move to protect their friend.
If this was a power of friendship shonen anime I'd say they need max friendship, then use that self sacrifice move to protect their friend.
Ghost moves appear to be tied at least partially to mindset. This radically different mindset may allow for a new move. However, I believe that the path to a new evolution is very different. Letting go. By her own admission she left the parents alive not because killing them was wrong, but because becoming a Pokemon trainer was a better way to fulfill her purpose. Letting go and forsaking her vengeance in favor of living her life, as opposed to holding back out of fear, may hold the key to a new path.
- Location
- United States
That's an option. The reason for my thought is that a Banette's is to make the person/world regret casting aside that toy or item (or person). But what if instead of punishing those responsible, they instead find someone new to love and care for the toy.
It's a bad analogy but I'm thinking of it as an abusive relationship. Punishing the abuser is the first instinct but still leaves the abused alone and unloved. By helping them recover and find happiness and love again is so much more important and sadly much rarer.
It's a bad analogy but I'm thinking of it as an abusive relationship. Punishing the abuser is the first instinct but still leaves the abused alone and unloved. By helping them recover and find happiness and love again is so much more important and sadly much rarer.
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
I think the real answer is that there is no evolution-
The difference is not in strength or form, but simply in action. Those that pursue their vengeance until the very last are consumed by it and burn away, leaving their temporary might as nothing but a fiery flash before the end of existence.
One who does not, however, holds the same power indefinetly.
I would find it fitting for the difference not to be power or fancy color schemes, but what you choose to do with it.
There is no arbitrary hurdle to pass, only choice.
To me it is more like being stabbed by a friendly knife, but in a good way.
The difference is not in strength or form, but simply in action. Those that pursue their vengeance until the very last are consumed by it and burn away, leaving their temporary might as nothing but a fiery flash before the end of existence.
One who does not, however, holds the same power indefinetly.
I would find it fitting for the difference not to be power or fancy color schemes, but what you choose to do with it.
There is no arbitrary hurdle to pass, only choice.
To me it is more like being stabbed by a friendly knife, but in a good way.
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Professor Vesca
Good News Everyone!
Do Bannettes really stop existing after fulfilling their vengeance?
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
I have always seen it more as most falling in the pursuit of their vengence, successful or not.
Most people have pokemon after all, and something tells me that Umbreon will take offense to their trainers murder or injury.
Surgery isn't the worst metamophor for the story.
Firedon
Lazy Sleepy Cat
- Location
- Germany
Given the way what I'm assuming Curse is described here, it's highly likely that a good number goes out that way and Banette are pretty unique in that if they fulfill their vengeance without Cursing and feel aimless afterwards, they can just open their mouth and poof. There's also the fact that Diya is being affected by being in the boy's body if I remember correctly, so most other Banettes won't have the "meat" of their puppet get in the way of anything.
I get the impression that they have a massively-powerful self-destruct move. Sure, it may be massive overkill in a lot of cases, but with their vengeance being the sole purpose of their existence, why hold anything back? I don't doubt that there are banette out there that have outlasted their vengeance, if for no other reason that that sometimes something will happen to their target before the banette arrives, but it'll be rare... rare enough that there being no evolved members in a shuppet community is very much the norm. That, and banette will often pursue a target, and thus leave whatever shuppet community they may have hailed from.
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
They really shouldn't. Most of them avenge puppets or teddybears or old toys. Non-sentient and non-sapient balls of artificial fluff.
Harming people for forgetting about them is just excessive. That's where the alien morality so common with most spirit based myths comes in I suppose, but that doesn't change the fact that from a human perspective, it's assault over a teddy bear.
These are humans who know that random objects can gain awareness. I am not actually familiar with much of the pokemon lineup, but I suspect that quite a few of them are some derivative of inanimate objects, and Banettes are likely amongst the least sympathetic of those, with others being far better at justifying compassion towards them. A morality based far more upon the idea that the world around oneself has its own basic dignity and rights might actually be quite well supported by available evidence, and evolutionary pressure...
Not that Banettes are particularly sympathetic or rational, but... Morality shouldn't be completely divorced from reality. If banette can derive a grudge from an object, with the shuppet involved having no direct relationship with that grudge, then that is strong evidence that grudges exist independently of Banette. If inanimate objects can have hurt feelings, then, well, it has the potential to complicate moral quandaries. Maybe Pokemon humans should dedicate long and involved respect rituals to every single thing they interact with. Maybe they should just accept that such an effort is completely unreasonable and they should just trample over these theoretical hurt feelings and contain the problems with sufficient violence. *shrugs* I don;t actually know if it should make a difference, but I do think that there is enough there for a reevaluation.
There are these things called hundred year spirits in Japanese culture which become alive and aware after living for a hundred years. From the wiki it includes things like
the Tsukumogami were harmless[citation needed] and at most tended to play occasional pranks,[citation needed] they did have the capacity for anger and would band together to take revenge upon those who were wasteful or threw them away thoughtlessly – compare mottainai.[citation needed] To prevent this, to this day some jinja ceremonies[citation needed] are performed to console broken and unusable items.[citation needed]