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More from jazzfoxrules
Well, this is it, the 'final' chapter of Pike's story!
By far the largest, but after editing, I found I didn't want to split it up, polishing it as it is now.
Pike's questions, he and Faith's relationship, everything is to peak here!
Heh... this is SERIOUSLY out of date, by the time I've made the epilogue to this, it'll be back to the time it would've been last year, lol
All in all though, I'm very happy with how it turned out, even if it was a little late in coming, and although the middle might sag just a little, I hope you can bear with it and find the ending more than satisfactory ^^
Thanks to all who helped me on this, all the input needed to finish it!
Especially to KaeMantis for all her permission to use some younger meanies for a pivotal part of Pike's past!
Penny, Pike, Maile, Glowybutt, all other characters C Chupi
All other mentioned C their players
By far the largest, but after editing, I found I didn't want to split it up, polishing it as it is now.
Pike's questions, he and Faith's relationship, everything is to peak here!
Heh... this is SERIOUSLY out of date, by the time I've made the epilogue to this, it'll be back to the time it would've been last year, lol
All in all though, I'm very happy with how it turned out, even if it was a little late in coming, and although the middle might sag just a little, I hope you can bear with it and find the ending more than satisfactory ^^
Thanks to all who helped me on this, all the input needed to finish it!
Especially to KaeMantis for all her permission to use some younger meanies for a pivotal part of Pike's past!
Penny, Pike, Maile, Glowybutt, all other characters C Chupi
All other mentioned C their players
Category Story / Pokemon
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 67 kB
Everybody Changes, Part 4
“You stand here today, accused of crimes both heinous and unspeakable; do you have any last words before your verdict is delivered?”
“I...” The Vulpix maiden swallowed at the lump in her throat, her reddened eyes tearing as she looked for any sympathetic face, any sign of mercy or forgiveness, but the court did not return it.
Every face was a mask, of the many Vulpix and occasional Ninetales who lined the side walls of the temple’s main hall in their shrine robe finery, none would look upon her; all cast their eyes downward as they knelt in a formal position. Even before her, her father, the Ninetales somewhat less decorated in his robes than the other temple members, yet, all the more formidable looking as he knelt there, eyes closed in pensive thought as he waited.
And beyond him, the veiled curtain hung over the ceremonial throne, the obscured figure was the only one she knew would be watching, yet those blue-lit eyes that pierced the curtain showed nothing of the figure’s expression, no kindness or warmth, only the cold feeling that swept her body as she was being studied, helpless while they read her like an open book.
“I...” She gulped, her eyes watering over further, her lips trembling.
“Speak!!”
The sudden bark of her father jarred the girl, who let out a sob, trying to cover her face with a broken arm. “I... I didn’t...”
Anything further was lost in sobs and hysteria, before a snort of contempt came from the Ninetales who headed the hall, “The decree is Guilty.”
The sobs worsened and murmurs flew back and forth along the hall’s many foxes, but he made no pause, nor any consolation to his daughter as he continued, “Henceforth, you shall be removed of your title, stripped of all your robes and cast out to from the village! You will be disowned forever an-“
“Wait.”
All at once, the hall was silent, even the girl gulped back her cries to small heaves, cradling her broken arm as she tried to sit up slowly for the figure beyond the veil who spoke.
The veil parted and the figure moved forward, a Ninetales like them, but her white fur was decorated in such copious amounts of body paints it was almost impossible to identify her properly, the strangely scant fox bore more jewellery than clothing, the shrine’s infamous blue gems tied in various patterns over her body, jangling with every step she took towards the kneeling girl!
“Child... you say you did not commit this crime, yes?”
A nod was all the mystic received.
“Are you willing to prove your conviction?”
The girl looked up and nodded slowly, feeling a creeping dread crawl over her fur once more as she looked to the twisted smile across the shaman’s face. “Y-yes...?”
The Lucario-painted Ninetales smirked, turning to the hall, “Bring me a Fire Stone.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Silence held in the small room, as Pike and Collette sat together in Miss Cavatica’s cottage, over a hundred miles away and several hundred years later.
“...And that’s the story Faith told me... ever since then, her shrine made it their tradition, their way of showing how ‘dedicated’ they were, that to join the shrine meant that they undergo this... this ritual.
“They evolve by using a Fire Stone shaped like a spike, impaling the new member in their chest, so that when they evolve, it stays embedded there, some kind of macabre play pretend at being Lucarios... as well as giving a quick execution method if ever they betrayed the shrine.”
Silence held again, as Collette slowly stroked her chin in thought, “Now that is a queer tale... Easy to see why you’ve got your head elsewhere when it comes to Faith right now.”
“Say the least of it...” Pike slumped in his seat, drink laying in hand. Retelling the story had shed pressure off his shoulder he had held onto for weeks, yet somehow drained him at the same time, “I’ve been trying to think for weeks now, what to do about it...”
“And you say Faith told you, she knows all about it...?”
“Every little detail.”
“...And she’s alright with it?”
“Yup.”
“So she knows just how dangerous this is?”
“Absurdly so.”
“Well, then!” The old Illumise sat back again, “I don’t see any problem there!”
“What?!” Pike sat up with a start, “but we just went over the whole thing, they’re going to play pin the fire stone in the vulpix and ram it through her chest!”
“You say they’ve been doing this ever since, Pike?”
“Well... yes, kinda half the reason I think they’re order’s a lot smaller now, no half-brained idiot would go through that!”
“So, that would mean everyone else in the family has gone through with it too?”
Pike thought back to Faith’s shrine based family members, her mother, her father... “Run of logic, I suppose... apparently it’s a big deal though, they never show the spikes to one another?
“Even when we all went to their shrine for a week, Faith’s family refused to use the hot springs at the same time as us... they said it was because we were customers and they were hosts... but I guess that was just so we wouldn’t see anything back then...?”
Listening to Pike still, old Mrs Glowybutt poured them both new brews of the warm amber concoction she’d brought, settling a little more comfortably into her own cushions, “And, how did they seem?”
“Well...” There was Lee, the foreboding, yet welcoming shrine master, his wife Su-Lin, certainly where Faith may have got all her enthusiasm from, an ever bubbling well of giggles and eagerness... their kids, they all seemed well meaning enough... if not a little quirky, each more than the last, Faith included. “They seem... fine...?”
“If they have all went through the same ceremony, then why worry?”
Pike shook his head, had the world gone mad? Was he the only one who saw the insanity in this!? “This isn’t like getting a belly button pierced, this is a sharpened spike; even if the thing doesn’t slip and sheesh-kebab her organs, what happens next time Faith trips and rams it into her heart?!”
“Now, there,” Collette clicked her tongue, thinking slowly, “I don’t have those answers for you, Pike.”
Again, the Beedrill slumped in his chair, placing the base of a stinger at his forehead as he groaned, “Then, what am I supposed to do about this?”
“You could try talking to her about it?”
“Talk?”
“Yes, to Faith.” Collette said simply, pushing the plate of biscuits over to him again.
“...We already talked, she already told me all about this!!”
“Mmm-hmm...” She took a spoon to her drink, stirring slowly, “But, I don’t recall you ever telling me what YOU said to her?”
The Beedrill went to speak, but stopped, freezing up with a sudden awkwardness as he tried to speak, say something; all this time he’d spent trying to hide from Faith, trying to stay out of her way, just so he wouldn’t have to talk about it with her... he’d promised to keep this secret, yet here, at the first prodding, with hardly any real coercion, he had spilled everything to this figure from his childhood who he had only recently realised he knew very little about.
“I- I’m not even sure I know how to talk to her anymore; how to handle her? She’s like a bubble... an...” the Beedrill sighed, holding up his stingers for emphasis, “Well... you can get the image.”
Finally, Mrs Cavatica put down her cup.
“Pike, may I say something?”
The beedrill didn’t answer, but cast a strange look at her.
“I think you’re afraid of what will happen to Faith after she evolves.”
Pike didn’t even bother looking at the Illumise, unable to help the poison sting in his voice, “You don’t say.”
“Oh, I do say,” Collette pushed forward, “I don’t mean you’re afraid of Faith getting hurt, you’re afraid of what will happen AFTER she evolves.
“You’re afraid that if she evolves, it won’t just be a spare set of tails Faith changes, aren’t you?”
Pike bit his lip, “Look, I’m worried because my girlfriend might be about to be sacrificed to some phoney Lucario God! How can you say that and try and turn this back on me!?!”
Collette for a moment went very quiet and pursed her lips, pondering for a moment, before finally she spoke, “Because I know you, Pike... and I know why you never came back to my library: because the same thing happened to you.”
It was Pike’s turn to go suddenly silent as Collette continued.
“I know your evolution was never a happy one.”
~~~~~~~~
He was hiding again, his little red wagon’s wheels still turning as it lay tossed away on the grass, the library books scattered across the ground, and him, jammed into the crevice in the rotten tree trunk, trying not to smell the things he hoped weren’t the things he thought they were, trying not to listen to the Haunter’s choruses of jeers, and especially trying not to watch as the ghost and the Ekans began tearing up the books, ripping the pages to confetti, flinging them up into the air, tossing the remains through the hole where he hid.
It was no lie, even as young as he was then, he knew full well the Haunter could just phase through the tree and pull him out, but he just shut his eyes, he closed it out, and wanted it all to go away, if only he could be stronger, if he could be like the knights in his stories, if he could fly in, lance held valiantly and send them running, if only he had that strength, if only he had that courage to fly, to fight for himself!
But it was all for nothing, he could feel it bubbling up in him, the torn feelings, the disgust of his own cowardice, the tears making their way down his eyes, the build up of fluids in his throat; if only there was a way, if only…
“Hey, S-pike!” The Ekans cackled, “Wanna play lawn dart-s? You’re the lawn dart!!” A nod to the Haunter signalled the foreplay was over, with the Weedle sufficiently cornered and cowered enough, it was time for the real fun to begin, as a spectral hand swept into the tree, and swiped around inside with an equally callous cackle, one that quickly faded as he moved his hand about blindly.
“Aaaaant?” The Ekans impatiently called, “C’mon, yank ‘im out already…”
Tired of it all, the Haunter thrust his head inside the hollowed out old trunk, peering around, before yanking himself out with a comedic cartoon ‘pop’, looking back in disbelief to his cohort, “The bug’s gone!! He slithered away or something!!”
And as the pair immediately began their search, combing out and kicking up a fuss in their path, they never looked back at the trunk, where lay nestled deeply in the trunk, a huddled form, with a still-soft shell of brown that had done its naturally-chosen job and hidden him in near-perfect camouflage against the bark.
There, nestled inside, huddled with eyes and mind shut to the world, Pike waited to wake up, waiting to turn into the Knight he knew he never could become.
~~~~~~~~~~
“When you never came home that night, your parents were absolutely beside themselves with worry! They came to the library hoping to find you there...”
The womon topped up their drinks, sighing, “Oh, there was such a terrible panic. We searched high and low until we finally found your wagon sitting by its lonesome; it was luck alone that we didn’t miss you, hidden in that old trunk. Mercy me, you’d slept right through everything!”
“And I know, Pike, that since that horrid day after you evolved, you never came back to the library to my little corner.”
He sat there again, slumped in his chair, eyeing the amber concoction but not touching it as he looked up at her, “You know about that... all this time?”
“You didn’t think I’d abandon one of my favourite book wurmples, did you?”
“But all this time, I never saw you, I-“
“Ah, when you grew into a Kakuna, you really did hide in your own shell; I visited many times, but each time I came, your parents told me you didn’t want any guests. You must have hid for your whole evolution, right up until you hatched into a Beedrill!”
“And so I waited until you would be ready to come back, Pike, but by then you’d matured so fast it was too late: you’d outgrown me and my little corner.”
He shook his head, trying to think back to all those memories he’d forgotten or pushed behind himself. Becoming a Kakuna, everything seemed like a blur from back then; he couldn’t remember anything much of it, so much confusion, so many changes all at once.”
“I never meant to forget, but back then-“
A hand gently patted the broadside of one of his stingers, “But that’s the beauty of it all Pike, how quickly you grew from this tiny Weedle who sat in my corner to the handsome young Beedrill before my very eyes.”
“Just look at you now, almost a grown ‘mon!”
Pike blushed ever so slightly, easing with a small laugh, “I don’t know about that...
“I always imagined evolving was like being knighted, that I’d turn into those brave adventurers from the pages of your stories...” He held up the stingers on his arms, turning them over, twisting them and examining them from every angle as he spoke. “When I finally evolved, it didn’t take very long for me to give up that idea.
“There aren’t many dragons left to slay these days; and the stories never told you what a knight was supposed to when the battles are over.”
He shrugged those stingers, “What are they supposed to do when they can’t put down their weapons?”
“Ah...” Collette chuckled suddenly, “I cannot protect you without holding a sword. I cannot embrace you while holding a sword.”
“Huh?”
“It’s Noriaki Kubo, dear. They do have the Animu in libraries these days too you know.”
Pike blinked, not sure what to make of it, but continuing, “It’s kind of hard to hard to describe what it was like, the first day entering the PCA, I think back then I was the only fully evolved freshman there...
“It was... hard, I don’t think I approached anyone until Sarah started bugging me, and... everything changed, everybody changes.
“Over time, everyone is evolving; everybody’s changing while I’m left standing still, all alone.”
“I don’t know about that, Pike, you have Faith, don’t you?”
No reply answered her.
“That’s what you’re really afraid of, aren’t you: that when she evolves, she’ll feel different toward you too?”
“No. I mean yes! I mean-“ He sighed, “It’s just I’ve seen the effects: Jenn, Wally, Melody... all of them evolved and just seemed to fall apart... and Penny! Penny, evolution really just... I really identified with what it did to her...”
“But do you really think the same would happen to Faith?”
Pike thought slowly and then shook his head, “Maybe it’s not as much that she’ll change... it’s just after she changes, I’ll still be the same.
“I’m fully evolved, I’ll never be able to keep up with her... ever since she came to Viridian I’ve seen the little changes, it’s like I’m watching her slip slowly away.
“It used to be we could tell each other anything online, we were able to talk about anything while we adventured across the net as pokemon rangers...”
Pike let out a weary sigh, “That’s how it used to be: now if she said ‘pokemon ranger’, I wouldn’t know if she was talking about us, that stupid show she and Anubis were in – when did she even start WATCHING that?! – or that stupid space camp everyone’s been going on about all Summer! And now...”
“This is all I’ll ever be, what you see here,” He held up his stingers again, “I’ll never be able to hold her hand, catch her if she’s falling... or... any of the other stuff couples with hands can do.
“I can’t change that anymore than I can change nature.”
The old womon let out a chuckle.
“What?”
“Sorry, just I’ve heard that line before, Pike, a saying of sorts.”
“What kind of saying?”
Collette looked at him with a brim grin and bright eyes, giving herself a moment of anticipation before she spoke three words, “Change IS nature.”
For all the gravity of her words, again Pike was just left looking blank, his mouth hovering as if to ask what she meant, but not quite as quick on the draw as Collette stood up, fuelled by her giddy epiphany! “Everybody changes, even you Pike!
“Change isn’t just about evolving, change is who we all are and the decisions we make that shape us.
“You’re still growing, a young mon who has all his life ahead of him and all the potential in the world. And don’t ever let any mon tell you any less than that of yourself!”
Pike blinked, a little taken back by the old womon’s sudden charge of energy, but still after such a stirring little speech, he felt like he should do something, even if he didn’t quite know what he was supposed to! “Well, what should I-“
“Oh, buzz off, you silly bee!” The womon gave a mock decree as she relieved him of his cup and ushering him up to his feet, “You’ve got more important things to do than sit here drinking tea and biscuits with an old fuddy duddy like me!
“What does every other knight do when the story ends? Save the Princess, live happily ever after, have half a dozen children!”
“What?!?”
“I’m on a roll dear, don’t stop me!” The Illumise laughed, shoving him along as she went, “Whatever happens with your young girl, Pike, you make sure you stick by her and make sure you keep hold of her, okay?”
Already they were moving out onto the porch; Pike buzzed his wings to life, hovering as he set himself ready to go, but stopped suddenly as he hung there, looking back at Miss Cavatica.
“What’s wrong, Pike?”
“It’s just... I’m not really sure what to say to her about all of this, you know?”
Collette just shook her head, “Pike, you’ve went and said all this to me, if you just trust yourself and speak your whatever comes to mind, you’ll be fine.
“After all, if it’s all about the birds and the bees that must make you halfway an expert anyway!”
“Heh,” Pike blushed as he cleared his throat, not much of any reply to the old womon, “Well... will I see you later?”
“Of course! You’ll always be welcome back in my little corner of the library any time, Pike.”
A small smile finally worked over Pike’s face as he nodded, “Thank you, Miss Cavatica.”
“Glowybutt, please!”
Pike stopped again from moving, blinking, “Those words?”
“Hmm?”
“’Change is nature’, who was it that said that?”
“Oh! Ratattatouille, dear,” Collette took one look at the deflated look on the Beedrill’s face and started laughing, “Pixar, wonderful storytellers, my biggest competition in fact!”
~~~~~~~~
“Let’s get this straight.” Pike sighed, “I’m here to make a romantic and compassionate gesture to Faith, based on the words of a talking cartoon Ratatta.”
For understandable reasons, Pike felt a little less bravado than when he’d left Glowybutt’s house; he had landed and trudged the last few blocks just to give himself a bit of time to try and put his head in order, but he’d still ended up in front of the Cartego’s door just as quick: where promptly he’d stalled his courage and stood like a substitute.
What was he really doing here?
To tell Faith he was okay with her being so obsessed with Lucarios that he’d let her shove a spike in her chest just to see what it was like?
He shook his head; how was he supposed to tell her anything when he couldn’t even get his own feelings sorted out first?
“...Suppose I could give her a rock?” He muttered as he went to knock.
Only as he went to knock, the door popped open and he had to jerk back before he inadvertently impaled the Scizor who met him!
“Penny?” Pike blinked.
“Know any other Scizors that live here?” The goggled girl pushed past with a ball of laundry stuffed under one arm as she went round him to the garage.
“Well, no, I-“ Pike shook himself again, suddenly picking up his wings and flying after the girl, “I thought you were staying at the dorm now?”
“Lucky thing about having Faith is she’s always Unlucky. Means mom and dad sometimes ask for help taking care of her, they don’t like leaving her alone on a broken leg, also means I have an opportunity to smuggle some of my equipment back to the dorm!”
She slid open the garage door, Pike just floated there trying to think what part of that statement to point out as morally wrong first, but decided better of it, before pushing his luck further, “Um, I take it Faith is in then?”
“This answers your question?” Penny held up what looked like a pillow case from the ball of laundry at first, however it had a set of holes in peculiar arrangement and bore an extremely pattern that could only be described as ‘girly in extreme’. Pike began to blush vividly as he realised he was staring at a pair of Faith’s oversized bloomers!
“Penny?!”
“That your new catchphrase now?” Penny laughed, even more after she lobbed the underwear straight into the Beedrill’s face! “Heh, don’t blame me, Faith was sweating like a Swalot after that training!
“I’m surprised Sarah’d let her train herself into that state, what kind of training was she up to in a cast?” Penny continued debating as Pike wrestled his stingers through the leg holes of the undergarments to try and yank them off his antennae, “Gotta worry about that girl sometimes.”
Pike popped his head out of the panties, panting, “You don’t know the half of it...”
“Stank to the high heavens, good excuse as any to go do some ‘laundry’,” She lobbed the ball haphazardly into a basket by the washer and made a line instead for a door marked by several large, yellow warning signs, “Princess puffle pants is upstairs bathing - trash bag over her leg - and getting changed if you’d prefer not to be an accomplice here?”
Pike watched as the girl held a set of claws, the two larger sections suddenly seaming together, the lower section crunching into place to form the fully feral looking Scizor claw, Penny putting it straight to use as she grinned and began assaulting the lock on the door!
Pike blinked, but slowly, began to hover backwards out of the garage, for some reason, his eyes fixed on the girl’s claw, “Uh... thanks.”
No sooner had he floated outside did he hear a sudden exclamation from inside, “Godamnit!!”
Pike just blinked again and decided it was best not to look back; right now he had more than enough problems to deal with!
“Ahhh, Piek!”
The Beedrill again tried to apply an airbrake as another bug type femme appeared before him, this time the business-like Maile Cartego was grinning at him devilishly, “Oh, um, hello, Mrs Cartego!”
“Would you liek to help me?”
Pike gulped as he hovered there, there was a little too much fang showed in that smile.
“Um, sure, but... Probably should tell you, right now? Penny’s probably raiding her old laboratory while we speak?” Pike followed easily along behind the Scyther inside.
“Oh? Don’t worry aboot that, me and Jeremeeah deceeded to poot another set of doors eensied... should keep her busy for a leetle wheele.
Pike blinked backwards at the collection of even more muted swearing from Penny, about to raise a point when he felt a hand giving him just a bit more of a shove inside!
“Feeth weel joost be down when she ees ready,” Maile spoke in an almost sing-song voice as she had ushered Pike into the kitchen and began thrusting ingredients into his arms to carry, “Meanwhiel, we make deener.”
“Doesn’t Jermiah- Mr Cartego usually do the cooking?” Pike watched as the Scyther picked through the pile of fruit in no particular order, plucking out a leppa berry.
“Mmm, boot he ees workeeng late today on campoos, Eee do know a leetle cookeeng, you know?”
Pike let out a sigh, nothing much more than shelving for the womon, he thought slowly there... “Mai- Mrs Cartego, you’re a bit of an expert on old tribes, right?”
“Mmm, only een tradeeshoonal sense, Piek,” She chucked a set of herbs carelessly into the pot, “Mye speciality ees beeoloogy, unless you’re asking about the Scyther clans of the Orange Eeslands?”
“No, not really,” Pike sighed, rolling eyes, he’d hoped the womon might have had something to say of the old Beedrill clans.
“You know... Feeth has been talkeeng aboot you?”
“Hmm?” Pike suddenly peaked as he looked to the womon.
“You two, you haven’t seen mooch of each other recently, have you?”
Pike shook his head, hiding another sigh, his eyes drifting to the table as Maile continued to speak, by now, the Beedrill was a little tired of talking, it felt like his head had already too much in it right now to add any more. He was vaguely aware Mrs Cartego was talking about helping Faith whenever she was in need, if there were any troubles...
For some reason, he had found himself strangely fixed on her working with the ingredients.
They had a perfectly good looking knife block, but as she lay a Tamato berry on the chopping board, she reached her hand out, and instead of grabbing one, shifted her hand, her claws suddenly sliding one after the other in a line, the seams sliding together until she held a long, fine blade instead of her hand, slicing down with practised ease on the berry.
She worked with dexterity on the blade unimaginable, yet, simply brushing the pieces she had chopped either to the pot or to the refuse; she shifted her blade back into her own claws, grabbed another berry, and repeated the process.
Take a berry, shift the claws to a blade, chop and slice, change back, and grab another.
Blade, slice, back to claws, repeat.
Blade, back to claws.
Blade, claws.
Blade, claws!
“Are you leeseeneeng, Piek?”
Pike shook himself out of his mindset, yet, as he hovered in his own mind, his eyes widened as he thought, Maile, Penny, both of them, the same!! If it was possible for them, then-
“I have to go!” He panicked, trying to unload his arms on the table there, backing off suddenly, seeing the confused look on her face, “Please, please apologise to Faith, I- I- I just remembered something very important!”
“Piek... are you okay?”
“I’m sorry, just I need to go, really fast, I’ll see Faith at school!”
Maile tried to stop him, but the Beedrill was already off like a shot, even as he was sure he could hear Faith suddenly call out too!
He had to get home, he had to get online and check this right away!
~~~~~~~~~~
Faith sighed, back to school and back to usual, she shifted her backpack a little as she looked at the steps leading up to the building. The campus was near empty this time of morning, but when it was harder to get around, it didn’t hurt to get to school a little earlier than normal.
A cool breeze held in the sunny skies, the Vulpix could feel it, Fall was coming, as pleasant as it was.
Summer was over, but still she was no nearer the decision of whether or not to evolve, she’d hoped that she could have made a choice by now... but then again, she’d also hoped her leg would have healed by now as she looked irritably at the cast on her foot, shifting on her crutch. The thing didn’t even hurt any more, but she’d still have to wait for the doctor to give her an all clear to remove it or battle again...
But even more than that, she’d hoped at least she’d have been able to speak to Pike.
She hadn’t seen him ever since she’d talked to him about evolving, what would happen when she evolved.
She just sighed and shook her head, she’d see him soon, and it wasn’t hard to imagine he was busy getting ready for a new year too! Although, it certainly hadn’t made the last few weeks any less lonesome as she sighed, making her way up the steps.
It was more than a little awkward getting up the steps on crutches, never mind being still unused to the new school uniform Maile and Jeremiah had bought for her, having to go up the steps one at a time sideways, and adding in the fact she had to carry her crutches so awkwardly as she held onto the railing and hopped up one at a time. “Really... should have... kept the wheelcha- aaaaaah!”
She slipped, dropping her crutches as she flailed and tried to grab for the railing again, with little success as her other hand slipped too, was it really going to be this soon? The first day of school, not even through the doors and she’d have to look so useless, getting hurt again?
She screwed her eyes shut, getting ready for the familiar crunch of bones!
But it didn’t come, something caught onto her uniform sweater and kept her from going the rest of the way, she didn’t even have the courage to open her eyes until after a moment, peeking one, then the other, as she looked to see a strange, bonelike set of claws holding onto her.
“Heh... sorry it took me so long.”
She followed along the strange arm, as bony as the claws, suddenly changing to normal black skin, up all the way to his face, as she looked at Pike, the Beedrill grinning helplessly at her.
“Pike?” She asked rather dumbstruck at first, and then looked at the hand holding her again, trying to register what she saw as he helped her back to her feet. “Pike, your arms- I mean your hands! You have hands!”
The Beedrill couldn’t help the massive grin that stayed stuck on his face as he hovered down and picked up the girls crutches, handing her them back before floating back a little.
“Well... someone told me a thing or two about how I could change... although she might not have quite meant it this literally, heh,” he held up the claws on the end of what had once been a stinger, giving Faith a little wave for emphasis, “I kind of got the idea from watching Penny and her mom, how they can change back and forth... turning their hands back into their ancestral forms...
“So, I kind of got it in my head, if they could change their hands back into weapons, why couldn’t I try and do the opposite?
“After a few nights of searching online, turns out I wasn’t the only one with the same idea, apparently back at the reserves there are whole bunches of younger Beedrill who did the same thing!”
He concentrated and slowly, slowly, the claws knitted together, closing the ‘hand’ to a point, where his stinger formed again, without a single seam, and then back again.
Faith was still incredulous, shaking her head, before finally she launched herself, hugging around him, “Pike, this is wonderful!! I mean, you have hands, they work and everything!”
“Heh...” Pike looked down, keeping them both up, before finally, daringly, he ran those new fingers through her hair, his eyes closing blissfully as he smiled, “Took a bit of getting used to, but... it’s definitely everything I wanted.
“Definitely.”
He gently pulled them apart again, smiling as he looked in her face and then cleared his throat, “Faith... I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for maybe not being round lately, but... if you want to evolve... and if that means you have to go through this ritual...
“If your family has a safe way of this making this work, I want to support your decision.”
“You’re sure?” Faith just smiled, one hand grabbing her crutch to stand again, the other slowly reaching, running down his arm. “I mean... us... too, I mean, are we good?”
“We’re good,” Pike nodded, looking as she reached, taking hold of her hand, and their fingers intertwined, squeezed hold. “I-“
“Ahem?” A voice cleared her throat behind them, causing them both to turn.
The figure as business-like as Maile, a Ninetales with red, flaming hair tamed back into a long tenth tail behind her, a pair of very proper looking spectacles and a dangled gold pocket watch completed the look of the polished looking womon who beamed a smile at them.
“I commend you both for coming so early, but maybe you’d both like to wait until you’re off the stairs and somewhere a little safer?” She offered one of Faith’s crutches to the girl.
“Oh! Um, thank you,” Faith laughed, both her and Pike backing off a little nervously, smiling, “Um... Miss-“
“Mrs.” Nodded the woman, folding her arm with a smirk, “Mrs Kindle. You’ll be seeing a lot of me this term.”
As the womon headed on up the stairs with a sway in her tails, Pike and Faith blinked at each other.
“Was that-“
“No, couldn’t be...”
The two just looked at each other and started to laugh as they followed inside.
Change is a fact of life, nothing ever stays the same, but it doesn’t mean that all changes are necessarily bad, or that changes are something you should be afraid of. Sometimes change is needed, sometimes change is good. Change is who we are and what we do. And sometimes, change is what we make for the ones we love.
END.
“You stand here today, accused of crimes both heinous and unspeakable; do you have any last words before your verdict is delivered?”
“I...” The Vulpix maiden swallowed at the lump in her throat, her reddened eyes tearing as she looked for any sympathetic face, any sign of mercy or forgiveness, but the court did not return it.
Every face was a mask, of the many Vulpix and occasional Ninetales who lined the side walls of the temple’s main hall in their shrine robe finery, none would look upon her; all cast their eyes downward as they knelt in a formal position. Even before her, her father, the Ninetales somewhat less decorated in his robes than the other temple members, yet, all the more formidable looking as he knelt there, eyes closed in pensive thought as he waited.
And beyond him, the veiled curtain hung over the ceremonial throne, the obscured figure was the only one she knew would be watching, yet those blue-lit eyes that pierced the curtain showed nothing of the figure’s expression, no kindness or warmth, only the cold feeling that swept her body as she was being studied, helpless while they read her like an open book.
“I...” She gulped, her eyes watering over further, her lips trembling.
“Speak!!”
The sudden bark of her father jarred the girl, who let out a sob, trying to cover her face with a broken arm. “I... I didn’t...”
Anything further was lost in sobs and hysteria, before a snort of contempt came from the Ninetales who headed the hall, “The decree is Guilty.”
The sobs worsened and murmurs flew back and forth along the hall’s many foxes, but he made no pause, nor any consolation to his daughter as he continued, “Henceforth, you shall be removed of your title, stripped of all your robes and cast out to from the village! You will be disowned forever an-“
“Wait.”
All at once, the hall was silent, even the girl gulped back her cries to small heaves, cradling her broken arm as she tried to sit up slowly for the figure beyond the veil who spoke.
The veil parted and the figure moved forward, a Ninetales like them, but her white fur was decorated in such copious amounts of body paints it was almost impossible to identify her properly, the strangely scant fox bore more jewellery than clothing, the shrine’s infamous blue gems tied in various patterns over her body, jangling with every step she took towards the kneeling girl!
“Child... you say you did not commit this crime, yes?”
A nod was all the mystic received.
“Are you willing to prove your conviction?”
The girl looked up and nodded slowly, feeling a creeping dread crawl over her fur once more as she looked to the twisted smile across the shaman’s face. “Y-yes...?”
The Lucario-painted Ninetales smirked, turning to the hall, “Bring me a Fire Stone.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Silence held in the small room, as Pike and Collette sat together in Miss Cavatica’s cottage, over a hundred miles away and several hundred years later.
“...And that’s the story Faith told me... ever since then, her shrine made it their tradition, their way of showing how ‘dedicated’ they were, that to join the shrine meant that they undergo this... this ritual.
“They evolve by using a Fire Stone shaped like a spike, impaling the new member in their chest, so that when they evolve, it stays embedded there, some kind of macabre play pretend at being Lucarios... as well as giving a quick execution method if ever they betrayed the shrine.”
Silence held again, as Collette slowly stroked her chin in thought, “Now that is a queer tale... Easy to see why you’ve got your head elsewhere when it comes to Faith right now.”
“Say the least of it...” Pike slumped in his seat, drink laying in hand. Retelling the story had shed pressure off his shoulder he had held onto for weeks, yet somehow drained him at the same time, “I’ve been trying to think for weeks now, what to do about it...”
“And you say Faith told you, she knows all about it...?”
“Every little detail.”
“...And she’s alright with it?”
“Yup.”
“So she knows just how dangerous this is?”
“Absurdly so.”
“Well, then!” The old Illumise sat back again, “I don’t see any problem there!”
“What?!” Pike sat up with a start, “but we just went over the whole thing, they’re going to play pin the fire stone in the vulpix and ram it through her chest!”
“You say they’ve been doing this ever since, Pike?”
“Well... yes, kinda half the reason I think they’re order’s a lot smaller now, no half-brained idiot would go through that!”
“So, that would mean everyone else in the family has gone through with it too?”
Pike thought back to Faith’s shrine based family members, her mother, her father... “Run of logic, I suppose... apparently it’s a big deal though, they never show the spikes to one another?
“Even when we all went to their shrine for a week, Faith’s family refused to use the hot springs at the same time as us... they said it was because we were customers and they were hosts... but I guess that was just so we wouldn’t see anything back then...?”
Listening to Pike still, old Mrs Glowybutt poured them both new brews of the warm amber concoction she’d brought, settling a little more comfortably into her own cushions, “And, how did they seem?”
“Well...” There was Lee, the foreboding, yet welcoming shrine master, his wife Su-Lin, certainly where Faith may have got all her enthusiasm from, an ever bubbling well of giggles and eagerness... their kids, they all seemed well meaning enough... if not a little quirky, each more than the last, Faith included. “They seem... fine...?”
“If they have all went through the same ceremony, then why worry?”
Pike shook his head, had the world gone mad? Was he the only one who saw the insanity in this!? “This isn’t like getting a belly button pierced, this is a sharpened spike; even if the thing doesn’t slip and sheesh-kebab her organs, what happens next time Faith trips and rams it into her heart?!”
“Now, there,” Collette clicked her tongue, thinking slowly, “I don’t have those answers for you, Pike.”
Again, the Beedrill slumped in his chair, placing the base of a stinger at his forehead as he groaned, “Then, what am I supposed to do about this?”
“You could try talking to her about it?”
“Talk?”
“Yes, to Faith.” Collette said simply, pushing the plate of biscuits over to him again.
“...We already talked, she already told me all about this!!”
“Mmm-hmm...” She took a spoon to her drink, stirring slowly, “But, I don’t recall you ever telling me what YOU said to her?”
The Beedrill went to speak, but stopped, freezing up with a sudden awkwardness as he tried to speak, say something; all this time he’d spent trying to hide from Faith, trying to stay out of her way, just so he wouldn’t have to talk about it with her... he’d promised to keep this secret, yet here, at the first prodding, with hardly any real coercion, he had spilled everything to this figure from his childhood who he had only recently realised he knew very little about.
“I- I’m not even sure I know how to talk to her anymore; how to handle her? She’s like a bubble... an...” the Beedrill sighed, holding up his stingers for emphasis, “Well... you can get the image.”
Finally, Mrs Cavatica put down her cup.
“Pike, may I say something?”
The beedrill didn’t answer, but cast a strange look at her.
“I think you’re afraid of what will happen to Faith after she evolves.”
Pike didn’t even bother looking at the Illumise, unable to help the poison sting in his voice, “You don’t say.”
“Oh, I do say,” Collette pushed forward, “I don’t mean you’re afraid of Faith getting hurt, you’re afraid of what will happen AFTER she evolves.
“You’re afraid that if she evolves, it won’t just be a spare set of tails Faith changes, aren’t you?”
Pike bit his lip, “Look, I’m worried because my girlfriend might be about to be sacrificed to some phoney Lucario God! How can you say that and try and turn this back on me!?!”
Collette for a moment went very quiet and pursed her lips, pondering for a moment, before finally she spoke, “Because I know you, Pike... and I know why you never came back to my library: because the same thing happened to you.”
It was Pike’s turn to go suddenly silent as Collette continued.
“I know your evolution was never a happy one.”
~~~~~~~~
He was hiding again, his little red wagon’s wheels still turning as it lay tossed away on the grass, the library books scattered across the ground, and him, jammed into the crevice in the rotten tree trunk, trying not to smell the things he hoped weren’t the things he thought they were, trying not to listen to the Haunter’s choruses of jeers, and especially trying not to watch as the ghost and the Ekans began tearing up the books, ripping the pages to confetti, flinging them up into the air, tossing the remains through the hole where he hid.
It was no lie, even as young as he was then, he knew full well the Haunter could just phase through the tree and pull him out, but he just shut his eyes, he closed it out, and wanted it all to go away, if only he could be stronger, if he could be like the knights in his stories, if he could fly in, lance held valiantly and send them running, if only he had that strength, if only he had that courage to fly, to fight for himself!
But it was all for nothing, he could feel it bubbling up in him, the torn feelings, the disgust of his own cowardice, the tears making their way down his eyes, the build up of fluids in his throat; if only there was a way, if only…
“Hey, S-pike!” The Ekans cackled, “Wanna play lawn dart-s? You’re the lawn dart!!” A nod to the Haunter signalled the foreplay was over, with the Weedle sufficiently cornered and cowered enough, it was time for the real fun to begin, as a spectral hand swept into the tree, and swiped around inside with an equally callous cackle, one that quickly faded as he moved his hand about blindly.
“Aaaaant?” The Ekans impatiently called, “C’mon, yank ‘im out already…”
Tired of it all, the Haunter thrust his head inside the hollowed out old trunk, peering around, before yanking himself out with a comedic cartoon ‘pop’, looking back in disbelief to his cohort, “The bug’s gone!! He slithered away or something!!”
And as the pair immediately began their search, combing out and kicking up a fuss in their path, they never looked back at the trunk, where lay nestled deeply in the trunk, a huddled form, with a still-soft shell of brown that had done its naturally-chosen job and hidden him in near-perfect camouflage against the bark.
There, nestled inside, huddled with eyes and mind shut to the world, Pike waited to wake up, waiting to turn into the Knight he knew he never could become.
~~~~~~~~~~
“When you never came home that night, your parents were absolutely beside themselves with worry! They came to the library hoping to find you there...”
The womon topped up their drinks, sighing, “Oh, there was such a terrible panic. We searched high and low until we finally found your wagon sitting by its lonesome; it was luck alone that we didn’t miss you, hidden in that old trunk. Mercy me, you’d slept right through everything!”
“And I know, Pike, that since that horrid day after you evolved, you never came back to the library to my little corner.”
He sat there again, slumped in his chair, eyeing the amber concoction but not touching it as he looked up at her, “You know about that... all this time?”
“You didn’t think I’d abandon one of my favourite book wurmples, did you?”
“But all this time, I never saw you, I-“
“Ah, when you grew into a Kakuna, you really did hide in your own shell; I visited many times, but each time I came, your parents told me you didn’t want any guests. You must have hid for your whole evolution, right up until you hatched into a Beedrill!”
“And so I waited until you would be ready to come back, Pike, but by then you’d matured so fast it was too late: you’d outgrown me and my little corner.”
He shook his head, trying to think back to all those memories he’d forgotten or pushed behind himself. Becoming a Kakuna, everything seemed like a blur from back then; he couldn’t remember anything much of it, so much confusion, so many changes all at once.”
“I never meant to forget, but back then-“
A hand gently patted the broadside of one of his stingers, “But that’s the beauty of it all Pike, how quickly you grew from this tiny Weedle who sat in my corner to the handsome young Beedrill before my very eyes.”
“Just look at you now, almost a grown ‘mon!”
Pike blushed ever so slightly, easing with a small laugh, “I don’t know about that...
“I always imagined evolving was like being knighted, that I’d turn into those brave adventurers from the pages of your stories...” He held up the stingers on his arms, turning them over, twisting them and examining them from every angle as he spoke. “When I finally evolved, it didn’t take very long for me to give up that idea.
“There aren’t many dragons left to slay these days; and the stories never told you what a knight was supposed to when the battles are over.”
He shrugged those stingers, “What are they supposed to do when they can’t put down their weapons?”
“Ah...” Collette chuckled suddenly, “I cannot protect you without holding a sword. I cannot embrace you while holding a sword.”
“Huh?”
“It’s Noriaki Kubo, dear. They do have the Animu in libraries these days too you know.”
Pike blinked, not sure what to make of it, but continuing, “It’s kind of hard to hard to describe what it was like, the first day entering the PCA, I think back then I was the only fully evolved freshman there...
“It was... hard, I don’t think I approached anyone until Sarah started bugging me, and... everything changed, everybody changes.
“Over time, everyone is evolving; everybody’s changing while I’m left standing still, all alone.”
“I don’t know about that, Pike, you have Faith, don’t you?”
No reply answered her.
“That’s what you’re really afraid of, aren’t you: that when she evolves, she’ll feel different toward you too?”
“No. I mean yes! I mean-“ He sighed, “It’s just I’ve seen the effects: Jenn, Wally, Melody... all of them evolved and just seemed to fall apart... and Penny! Penny, evolution really just... I really identified with what it did to her...”
“But do you really think the same would happen to Faith?”
Pike thought slowly and then shook his head, “Maybe it’s not as much that she’ll change... it’s just after she changes, I’ll still be the same.
“I’m fully evolved, I’ll never be able to keep up with her... ever since she came to Viridian I’ve seen the little changes, it’s like I’m watching her slip slowly away.
“It used to be we could tell each other anything online, we were able to talk about anything while we adventured across the net as pokemon rangers...”
Pike let out a weary sigh, “That’s how it used to be: now if she said ‘pokemon ranger’, I wouldn’t know if she was talking about us, that stupid show she and Anubis were in – when did she even start WATCHING that?! – or that stupid space camp everyone’s been going on about all Summer! And now...”
“This is all I’ll ever be, what you see here,” He held up his stingers again, “I’ll never be able to hold her hand, catch her if she’s falling... or... any of the other stuff couples with hands can do.
“I can’t change that anymore than I can change nature.”
The old womon let out a chuckle.
“What?”
“Sorry, just I’ve heard that line before, Pike, a saying of sorts.”
“What kind of saying?”
Collette looked at him with a brim grin and bright eyes, giving herself a moment of anticipation before she spoke three words, “Change IS nature.”
For all the gravity of her words, again Pike was just left looking blank, his mouth hovering as if to ask what she meant, but not quite as quick on the draw as Collette stood up, fuelled by her giddy epiphany! “Everybody changes, even you Pike!
“Change isn’t just about evolving, change is who we all are and the decisions we make that shape us.
“You’re still growing, a young mon who has all his life ahead of him and all the potential in the world. And don’t ever let any mon tell you any less than that of yourself!”
Pike blinked, a little taken back by the old womon’s sudden charge of energy, but still after such a stirring little speech, he felt like he should do something, even if he didn’t quite know what he was supposed to! “Well, what should I-“
“Oh, buzz off, you silly bee!” The womon gave a mock decree as she relieved him of his cup and ushering him up to his feet, “You’ve got more important things to do than sit here drinking tea and biscuits with an old fuddy duddy like me!
“What does every other knight do when the story ends? Save the Princess, live happily ever after, have half a dozen children!”
“What?!?”
“I’m on a roll dear, don’t stop me!” The Illumise laughed, shoving him along as she went, “Whatever happens with your young girl, Pike, you make sure you stick by her and make sure you keep hold of her, okay?”
Already they were moving out onto the porch; Pike buzzed his wings to life, hovering as he set himself ready to go, but stopped suddenly as he hung there, looking back at Miss Cavatica.
“What’s wrong, Pike?”
“It’s just... I’m not really sure what to say to her about all of this, you know?”
Collette just shook her head, “Pike, you’ve went and said all this to me, if you just trust yourself and speak your whatever comes to mind, you’ll be fine.
“After all, if it’s all about the birds and the bees that must make you halfway an expert anyway!”
“Heh,” Pike blushed as he cleared his throat, not much of any reply to the old womon, “Well... will I see you later?”
“Of course! You’ll always be welcome back in my little corner of the library any time, Pike.”
A small smile finally worked over Pike’s face as he nodded, “Thank you, Miss Cavatica.”
“Glowybutt, please!”
Pike stopped again from moving, blinking, “Those words?”
“Hmm?”
“’Change is nature’, who was it that said that?”
“Oh! Ratattatouille, dear,” Collette took one look at the deflated look on the Beedrill’s face and started laughing, “Pixar, wonderful storytellers, my biggest competition in fact!”
~~~~~~~~
“Let’s get this straight.” Pike sighed, “I’m here to make a romantic and compassionate gesture to Faith, based on the words of a talking cartoon Ratatta.”
For understandable reasons, Pike felt a little less bravado than when he’d left Glowybutt’s house; he had landed and trudged the last few blocks just to give himself a bit of time to try and put his head in order, but he’d still ended up in front of the Cartego’s door just as quick: where promptly he’d stalled his courage and stood like a substitute.
What was he really doing here?
To tell Faith he was okay with her being so obsessed with Lucarios that he’d let her shove a spike in her chest just to see what it was like?
He shook his head; how was he supposed to tell her anything when he couldn’t even get his own feelings sorted out first?
“...Suppose I could give her a rock?” He muttered as he went to knock.
Only as he went to knock, the door popped open and he had to jerk back before he inadvertently impaled the Scizor who met him!
“Penny?” Pike blinked.
“Know any other Scizors that live here?” The goggled girl pushed past with a ball of laundry stuffed under one arm as she went round him to the garage.
“Well, no, I-“ Pike shook himself again, suddenly picking up his wings and flying after the girl, “I thought you were staying at the dorm now?”
“Lucky thing about having Faith is she’s always Unlucky. Means mom and dad sometimes ask for help taking care of her, they don’t like leaving her alone on a broken leg, also means I have an opportunity to smuggle some of my equipment back to the dorm!”
She slid open the garage door, Pike just floated there trying to think what part of that statement to point out as morally wrong first, but decided better of it, before pushing his luck further, “Um, I take it Faith is in then?”
“This answers your question?” Penny held up what looked like a pillow case from the ball of laundry at first, however it had a set of holes in peculiar arrangement and bore an extremely pattern that could only be described as ‘girly in extreme’. Pike began to blush vividly as he realised he was staring at a pair of Faith’s oversized bloomers!
“Penny?!”
“That your new catchphrase now?” Penny laughed, even more after she lobbed the underwear straight into the Beedrill’s face! “Heh, don’t blame me, Faith was sweating like a Swalot after that training!
“I’m surprised Sarah’d let her train herself into that state, what kind of training was she up to in a cast?” Penny continued debating as Pike wrestled his stingers through the leg holes of the undergarments to try and yank them off his antennae, “Gotta worry about that girl sometimes.”
Pike popped his head out of the panties, panting, “You don’t know the half of it...”
“Stank to the high heavens, good excuse as any to go do some ‘laundry’,” She lobbed the ball haphazardly into a basket by the washer and made a line instead for a door marked by several large, yellow warning signs, “Princess puffle pants is upstairs bathing - trash bag over her leg - and getting changed if you’d prefer not to be an accomplice here?”
Pike watched as the girl held a set of claws, the two larger sections suddenly seaming together, the lower section crunching into place to form the fully feral looking Scizor claw, Penny putting it straight to use as she grinned and began assaulting the lock on the door!
Pike blinked, but slowly, began to hover backwards out of the garage, for some reason, his eyes fixed on the girl’s claw, “Uh... thanks.”
No sooner had he floated outside did he hear a sudden exclamation from inside, “Godamnit!!”
Pike just blinked again and decided it was best not to look back; right now he had more than enough problems to deal with!
“Ahhh, Piek!”
The Beedrill again tried to apply an airbrake as another bug type femme appeared before him, this time the business-like Maile Cartego was grinning at him devilishly, “Oh, um, hello, Mrs Cartego!”
“Would you liek to help me?”
Pike gulped as he hovered there, there was a little too much fang showed in that smile.
“Um, sure, but... Probably should tell you, right now? Penny’s probably raiding her old laboratory while we speak?” Pike followed easily along behind the Scyther inside.
“Oh? Don’t worry aboot that, me and Jeremeeah deceeded to poot another set of doors eensied... should keep her busy for a leetle wheele.
Pike blinked backwards at the collection of even more muted swearing from Penny, about to raise a point when he felt a hand giving him just a bit more of a shove inside!
“Feeth weel joost be down when she ees ready,” Maile spoke in an almost sing-song voice as she had ushered Pike into the kitchen and began thrusting ingredients into his arms to carry, “Meanwhiel, we make deener.”
“Doesn’t Jermiah- Mr Cartego usually do the cooking?” Pike watched as the Scyther picked through the pile of fruit in no particular order, plucking out a leppa berry.
“Mmm, boot he ees workeeng late today on campoos, Eee do know a leetle cookeeng, you know?”
Pike let out a sigh, nothing much more than shelving for the womon, he thought slowly there... “Mai- Mrs Cartego, you’re a bit of an expert on old tribes, right?”
“Mmm, only een tradeeshoonal sense, Piek,” She chucked a set of herbs carelessly into the pot, “Mye speciality ees beeoloogy, unless you’re asking about the Scyther clans of the Orange Eeslands?”
“No, not really,” Pike sighed, rolling eyes, he’d hoped the womon might have had something to say of the old Beedrill clans.
“You know... Feeth has been talkeeng aboot you?”
“Hmm?” Pike suddenly peaked as he looked to the womon.
“You two, you haven’t seen mooch of each other recently, have you?”
Pike shook his head, hiding another sigh, his eyes drifting to the table as Maile continued to speak, by now, the Beedrill was a little tired of talking, it felt like his head had already too much in it right now to add any more. He was vaguely aware Mrs Cartego was talking about helping Faith whenever she was in need, if there were any troubles...
For some reason, he had found himself strangely fixed on her working with the ingredients.
They had a perfectly good looking knife block, but as she lay a Tamato berry on the chopping board, she reached her hand out, and instead of grabbing one, shifted her hand, her claws suddenly sliding one after the other in a line, the seams sliding together until she held a long, fine blade instead of her hand, slicing down with practised ease on the berry.
She worked with dexterity on the blade unimaginable, yet, simply brushing the pieces she had chopped either to the pot or to the refuse; she shifted her blade back into her own claws, grabbed another berry, and repeated the process.
Take a berry, shift the claws to a blade, chop and slice, change back, and grab another.
Blade, slice, back to claws, repeat.
Blade, back to claws.
Blade, claws.
Blade, claws!
“Are you leeseeneeng, Piek?”
Pike shook himself out of his mindset, yet, as he hovered in his own mind, his eyes widened as he thought, Maile, Penny, both of them, the same!! If it was possible for them, then-
“I have to go!” He panicked, trying to unload his arms on the table there, backing off suddenly, seeing the confused look on her face, “Please, please apologise to Faith, I- I- I just remembered something very important!”
“Piek... are you okay?”
“I’m sorry, just I need to go, really fast, I’ll see Faith at school!”
Maile tried to stop him, but the Beedrill was already off like a shot, even as he was sure he could hear Faith suddenly call out too!
He had to get home, he had to get online and check this right away!
~~~~~~~~~~
Faith sighed, back to school and back to usual, she shifted her backpack a little as she looked at the steps leading up to the building. The campus was near empty this time of morning, but when it was harder to get around, it didn’t hurt to get to school a little earlier than normal.
A cool breeze held in the sunny skies, the Vulpix could feel it, Fall was coming, as pleasant as it was.
Summer was over, but still she was no nearer the decision of whether or not to evolve, she’d hoped that she could have made a choice by now... but then again, she’d also hoped her leg would have healed by now as she looked irritably at the cast on her foot, shifting on her crutch. The thing didn’t even hurt any more, but she’d still have to wait for the doctor to give her an all clear to remove it or battle again...
But even more than that, she’d hoped at least she’d have been able to speak to Pike.
She hadn’t seen him ever since she’d talked to him about evolving, what would happen when she evolved.
She just sighed and shook her head, she’d see him soon, and it wasn’t hard to imagine he was busy getting ready for a new year too! Although, it certainly hadn’t made the last few weeks any less lonesome as she sighed, making her way up the steps.
It was more than a little awkward getting up the steps on crutches, never mind being still unused to the new school uniform Maile and Jeremiah had bought for her, having to go up the steps one at a time sideways, and adding in the fact she had to carry her crutches so awkwardly as she held onto the railing and hopped up one at a time. “Really... should have... kept the wheelcha- aaaaaah!”
She slipped, dropping her crutches as she flailed and tried to grab for the railing again, with little success as her other hand slipped too, was it really going to be this soon? The first day of school, not even through the doors and she’d have to look so useless, getting hurt again?
She screwed her eyes shut, getting ready for the familiar crunch of bones!
But it didn’t come, something caught onto her uniform sweater and kept her from going the rest of the way, she didn’t even have the courage to open her eyes until after a moment, peeking one, then the other, as she looked to see a strange, bonelike set of claws holding onto her.
“Heh... sorry it took me so long.”
She followed along the strange arm, as bony as the claws, suddenly changing to normal black skin, up all the way to his face, as she looked at Pike, the Beedrill grinning helplessly at her.
“Pike?” She asked rather dumbstruck at first, and then looked at the hand holding her again, trying to register what she saw as he helped her back to her feet. “Pike, your arms- I mean your hands! You have hands!”
The Beedrill couldn’t help the massive grin that stayed stuck on his face as he hovered down and picked up the girls crutches, handing her them back before floating back a little.
“Well... someone told me a thing or two about how I could change... although she might not have quite meant it this literally, heh,” he held up the claws on the end of what had once been a stinger, giving Faith a little wave for emphasis, “I kind of got the idea from watching Penny and her mom, how they can change back and forth... turning their hands back into their ancestral forms...
“So, I kind of got it in my head, if they could change their hands back into weapons, why couldn’t I try and do the opposite?
“After a few nights of searching online, turns out I wasn’t the only one with the same idea, apparently back at the reserves there are whole bunches of younger Beedrill who did the same thing!”
He concentrated and slowly, slowly, the claws knitted together, closing the ‘hand’ to a point, where his stinger formed again, without a single seam, and then back again.
Faith was still incredulous, shaking her head, before finally she launched herself, hugging around him, “Pike, this is wonderful!! I mean, you have hands, they work and everything!”
“Heh...” Pike looked down, keeping them both up, before finally, daringly, he ran those new fingers through her hair, his eyes closing blissfully as he smiled, “Took a bit of getting used to, but... it’s definitely everything I wanted.
“Definitely.”
He gently pulled them apart again, smiling as he looked in her face and then cleared his throat, “Faith... I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for maybe not being round lately, but... if you want to evolve... and if that means you have to go through this ritual...
“If your family has a safe way of this making this work, I want to support your decision.”
“You’re sure?” Faith just smiled, one hand grabbing her crutch to stand again, the other slowly reaching, running down his arm. “I mean... us... too, I mean, are we good?”
“We’re good,” Pike nodded, looking as she reached, taking hold of her hand, and their fingers intertwined, squeezed hold. “I-“
“Ahem?” A voice cleared her throat behind them, causing them both to turn.
The figure as business-like as Maile, a Ninetales with red, flaming hair tamed back into a long tenth tail behind her, a pair of very proper looking spectacles and a dangled gold pocket watch completed the look of the polished looking womon who beamed a smile at them.
“I commend you both for coming so early, but maybe you’d both like to wait until you’re off the stairs and somewhere a little safer?” She offered one of Faith’s crutches to the girl.
“Oh! Um, thank you,” Faith laughed, both her and Pike backing off a little nervously, smiling, “Um... Miss-“
“Mrs.” Nodded the woman, folding her arm with a smirk, “Mrs Kindle. You’ll be seeing a lot of me this term.”
As the womon headed on up the stairs with a sway in her tails, Pike and Faith blinked at each other.
“Was that-“
“No, couldn’t be...”
The two just looked at each other and started to laugh as they followed inside.
Change is a fact of life, nothing ever stays the same, but it doesn’t mean that all changes are necessarily bad, or that changes are something you should be afraid of. Sometimes change is needed, sometimes change is good. Change is who we are and what we do. And sometimes, change is what we make for the ones we love.
END.
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