A New World, Detective Style!!!

Chapters

Chapter 1: You're in a new world, Sir Detective!!!
Chapter 2: A New Town, A New Mystery
Chapter 3: This is a horrible idea!
Chapter 4: Operation Apology, commence!
Chapter 5: Fire&Flames Incorporated, aka trouble!
Chapter 6: Flickering flame, a dangerous friend

Chapter 1: You're in a new world, Sir Detective!!!

“-and so I deduced that the butler did it!” Was the opening narration, or rather an end to a very long non-sequitur. “It was obvious when you consider that no sane man keeps a Grimer in his bedroom, especially if you consider it wasn’t in it’s pokèball. It was guarding something!”

The fancily mustached man spoke to the screen of his personal PC, twirling his stache magnificently.

The person on the other end laughed shortly, clearly a woman. “Always out on your adventures, aren’t you Edgar?”

“But of course!” Edgar proclaimed, puffing his chest to look more regal, though his slightly round physique made it more comical than anything. “A man is not a man unless he spends his free time solving the mysteries life presents him.”

“And you did all of it yourself, no doubt.” The woman asked in a teasing tone.

“Ahem...” Edgar couched. “To give credit to where credit is due, Watson was an immense help, as per usual. Why, he’s just downstairs brewing tea, shall I call him over?”

The woman chuckled. “No need. Considering what he has to live with, I think he has earned his peace and quiet at the end of the day.”

“As you wish.” Edgar conceded, like a gentleman!

“Alright, to get back to the original point before Story Time,” The woman said calmly “I just wanted to make sure you are there when we start negotiations.”

The man just twirled around dramatically and pointed his index finger at the screen with righteous conviction! “Must you even ask. If I were to miss such an event, what would I be? A cowering coward? No, ma’am! For I am the eyes and ears of justice!” He said, his voice rising as he got more into it. “Were I to refuse this invitation, I’d be nothing but a heartless knave!”

Another chuckle came from the woman. “I appreciate it. Your presence and connections should make this just a bit smoother.”

Edgar patted his chest and laughed heartily. “Haha, but of course! After all, what is a man? Nothing were it not for his friends!” He finished with another round of booming laughter.

“Well, in any case. It’s good to hear you have such a positive outlook at this.”

Edgar glared at the screen seriously, twirling his mustache with a hand while the other rest behind his back. “Were I to say this is an easy feat, I’d be amongst the vilest of liars. Nay! I’d be far lower!” He suddenly shifted into a heroic pose with his hands on his hips. “However, I have utmost faith in you, our shared acquaintances and your plan.”

Another laugh from the woman’s end. “Always the dramatic one…Thank you. Those are comforting words.” The woman said sincerely. “Well, till we meet again, Edgar. Farewell.”

“The very same, Cynthia.”

With that the PC’s screen turned off, dispelling the woman’s image. Edgar stretched and looked out of the window. He currently inhabited his own room and personal study in the house he had bought many years ago. Well, it was really a small mansion, but Edgar was not picky on details. If it has a roof and walls, it’s a house.

He glanced at the streets of the town and the people and Pokèmon that meddled together. Trainers, travellers, kids, all sorts of people.

He averted his gaze and walked over to his comfy armchair, sat down and relaxed. He could smell the soothing scent of herbal tea brewing downstairs. Watson made the most delectable tea in Kalos.

He off-handedly grabbed a small silver bell and rung it a few times. At the exact moment his mind was assaulted by a mental message.

‘I am not your slave! Get off your fat behind and come get your tea.’

Edgar chuckled, expecting a response just like that. Sometimes it was just fun to mess with him every now and then.

Leaving the comfortable confines of his chair he opened the door to his study and headed for the stairs. But as his foot began to descend down, his whole body felt sudden feeling of weight. His foot slipped and he began to tumble down the stairs and time seemed to slow down.

His vision began to darken as he heard the sound of a tea cup shattering in the kitchen. As the fall continued he felt darkness take his consciousness away.

“Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home.”

Forests were not places ponies. They were often dense, dark and quite possibly dangerous. The nefarious Everfree forest comes to mind when thinking of such places. Not in the least a place ponies normally wished to traverse.

But as it happens, Dayglow Woods is nothing like that. Trees positioned just the right distance from each other, always lit at daytime and most likely one of the most safe places in Equus, not counting all the towns and cities. It was a place even children could play in safely.

Speaking of which.

“See anything interesting yet?” Asked a small filly who traversed the forest with another, nearly identical looking filly. These two were so identical in fact that it would be impossible to tell them apart from one another without a different cutie mark. Which they lacked.

“Not yet. Gimme time.” The other filly answered, inducing a small groan from the other.

These two were Midday Glow and Noon Light, earth ponies and identical twins and they were out exploring. But there was one problem.

You see, Dayglow Woods, while one of the safest areas in Equus, and partly because of it, was to put it in a simple word: Dull. Boring. Uninteresting. Take a pick.

Still, these little rascals wanted to find something exciting to waste their day on.

“... We’re not gonna find nothing. Let’s go home.” Noon Light complained, tired of their fruitless quest.

“Nope! I’ve gotta feeling.” Midday Glow defended this endless waste of personal time. “I know something’s gonna happen. I feel it in my funny bone.”

“That’s not a real thing!” Noon Light interjected. She was not above begging to get her way, so. “Let’s just go home, please big sis...”

Midday Glow made an effort not to glance at the puppy eyes her sister was giving her. Those things were dangerous. “Just gimme a while longer.” She kept an adamant attitude. “I promise, if we don’t find nothing in ten minutes we go home. That okay?”

“Well...” Noon Light said, trying to think of any reason not to.

“Please? For big sis?” Midday Glow asked hopefully.

After a moments thought Noon Light smiled. “Okay, fine. Ten minutes, but that’s a promise, you hear?“

”Right on, sis!” Midday Glow exlaimed and pulled her sister into a cute hug. “Now let’s not waste any time. This feeling just keeps getting more intense!”

“You know what mom said about getting excited over feelings.” Noon Light reminded her sister of their mother’s lesson of not putting too much faith in gut feelings.

“I can’’t help it! It’’s just… just...” Midday Glow tried to come up with the words to describe her feeling. She just shook her head. “I just know something big is gonna happen. I know it!”

“Ditto!”

The two froze on their tracks. “Did you hear that?” Midday Glow asked, just to verify it was not just her.

Her sister nodded, looking around. Normally all you hear in Dayglow Woods is ruffling of the leaves or the occasional woodland critter or pony who wanders there.

“It came from this direction, I think.” Midday Glow said and began trotting ahead of her sibling. “Come on, sis!”

“Hey, wait up!” Noon Light called after her sister and gave chase.

It did not take much time for the noise to make itself known again, but this time they could hear it quite well. It was closer.

“DIIIITTO!”

“... zzzz….zzzz-amgh-Pumpernickle!” Edgar muttered as he jumped awake only to be assaulted by sunlight. “Ahh, rays of morning rage, weakness of tired eyes!” He bellowed out and squinted, placing a hand over his eyes to let them adjust.

As they did, he was quick to note, “Hmm, it appears I am not in my house anymore” he deduced by the lush forest in front of him. He also took note of a pink thing in front of his eyes. “... How very strange.” He tried to grab it, only for the lump to move as his arm did. “... How ludicrously curious.”

He jumped up from his supposed sitting position and gave his surrounding as look-see. Immediately his brilliant mind was coming to a deduction of this mystery. “Aah, I see what is going on! I clearly remember falling down some stairs. Then there was a voice. Ergo...”

Pause for dramatic effect.

“... This is a dream!” He announced to the air around him. He looked at his hands, only to see two pink gelatinous lumps. “Why, that certainly explains why I feel different. Based on the pigmentation and looks of it, my dream self appears to be a Ditto. Must be a reflection of my shapely figure, yes!”

He laughed at his own horrible pun.

“Oh well, time to see what this dream has in store for me. I do like a good nap and I doubt Watson will just leave me lying around...” Her cupped his supposed cheeks, probably making his now silly Ditto face look even sillier. “My word, that gives me an idea!”

He pointed one appendage forward, pointing at absolutely nothing. “First agenda of this dream, find the mental image of Watson! Even in a dream a great detective is little without his loyal aid!”

“Onward-” He began and immediately fell on his face… however that works with no real feet. He pushed himself up easily enough. “Hahaa! My mind truly is fantastic. Of course the motor functions are different now that my form is altered. No matter, all is in the mind and nothing beats mine!”

He then slowly, extremely slowly moved forward, lurching along the ground with the grace of a snail, only slower. “Watson!” He called out in hopes his partner and loyal vassal was near enough to hear his call to action.

‘... I must be quite the magnificent dreamer. This moving thing is surprisingly testy. But nothing will dominate...’ He struck an utterly ridiculous pose, pointing his lump arm high in the air before shouting at the top of his lungs. “MY MIIIIIIND!”

For a moment he sounded like an opera singer.

“Woah...”

Edgar turned like lightning to the new voice, only to fall flat on his face. Again. Getting up was no challenge, and he saw a head poking out of shrubbery. It looked like a Ponyta, sort of. The coat matched, but the mane was not of billowing flames but blue hair.

Edgar did the first thing that came to mind. He raised his nubby hand-thing and yelled. “Salutations!”

Midday Glow’s eyes sparkled as a huge grin rose to her face as she jumped out the the bush and began hopping around like the kid she is. “I knew it! It knew something was gonna happen!”

While the Ditto just looked at the cute little Ponyta-type-thing when another identical one jumped out the the bush. “Sis, what are you yelling… about...” Noon Light’s words stopped as she too saw the pink mass with a funny face.

Said Ditto however. “Good gravy, they’re multiplying! Via bush no less!” He said in shock. “And clones too! My mind truly is a work of art. I should really write this down when I wake up. Novel writer fame, here I come!”

Midday Glow pranced to her sister, ignoring the pink creature for just a moment. “See, see! I told you I got a feeling sis!” She said proudly, not even trying to contain her excitement.

Her sister was too preoccupied with the pink blob more than anything. “What… is that?” Noon Light pointed at the smiling blob. With a face.

“Why, I am glad you asked, young miss.” Edgar said, speculating this was a young child. “For you see, I am the magnificent-”

“I’unno. It keeps saying ‘ditto’ a lot. Maybe that’s it’s name?” Midday Glow interrupted.

Edgar’s mind got quick on work with this new data. “... Aah, how realistic my mind is! Of course I cannot speak normally. I am a ditto in this dream. Oh mind, you flatter my unimaginable imagination.” He praised himself, even if the two little foals only heard a tirade of “Ditto dit-to di ditto” or the like. “But this is implying that these two are not pokemon. Curious.”

Midday Glow trotted close and poked the blob. She laughed. “Haha, it feels like jelly.”

“Don’t touch it!” Noon Light yelled. “It might be dangerous.”

Midday Glow gave her sister a flat look and pointed at the goofily smiling face of the Ditto. “Does it look dangerous to you?”

And while Noon Light wanted to retort, just looking at that utterly silly smile and those beady eyes made her rethink her claim. She sighed and she too gave the pink jelly monster a poke. “... Hey, it does feel like jelly!”

“Ora~, acceptance!” Edgar shouted with gallant joy. “Also, that tickles.”

Midday Glow grabbed the pink blob and found out it was kind of light. she more or less showed it in her sister’s face. “Let’s go show this to mom!”

“What? No!” Noon Light refused the idea and pushed the blop away. “We can’t take some...” She looked to Ditto over, which just kept smiling like a doofus. “... thing home with us. We don’t even know what it is.”

“Mom could.” Midday Glow rebutted adamantly and as much as Noon Light wanted to rebuke that, she honestly could not.

“... Okay fine. But make sure nopony else sees it.”

“What, like a secret?” Midday Glow asked.

“Yeah, a secret.” Noon Light confirmed.

With a grin that reached ear to ear Midday Glow hoisted the pink mass onto her back and trotted along, followed by her sister.

“Yes, onwards my steed!”, Edgar exclaimed with great glee.

Getting out of the forest and onto a pre-made path through the woods was easy. These parts were like a playground to the kids from these parts and Midday Glow and Noon Light were very aware of their surroundings so getting onto the dirt road was no challenge.

The suns light made the leaves of the trees and even the grass appear orange as it slowly started setting.

The two fillies and their now secret blob monster kept on their merry way, with Midday Glow talking to the adorable pink mass.

“Wait till you meet our mom. If anypony knows what you are, it’s her.” She claimed proudly.

“Ditto!” The Ditto replied, though it’s meaning escaped the fillies understanding.

“Mom knows a lot of stuff. Maybe it’s because she reads a lot, but she just knows things we don’t. It’s really cool sometimes.”

“Ditto.”

Noon Light groaned. “Why are you talking to it, big sis?”

Midday Glow shrugged. “I’unno. I just feel like it gets what I’m saying.”

“That another feeling?” Noon Light raised a brow.

“Well, it was right before, right?” Midday Glow answered with and question, to which Noon Light just decided to drop the subject.

“Dit-to ditto!” The Ditto chimed.

Soon the path ended to a wooden bridge that crossed a large stream of somewhat deep crystal clear water. It was a pleasant sight and a sign that the fillies were nearing their destination.

You see, just a small distance away from the Dayglow Woods exists Sunset Hills, a peaceful little hamlet known for it’s stunningly gorgeous sunsets. It’s location at the far edge of Equestrian borders and limited means of travel make it hard to reach, but those few who came to visit sometimes choose to never leave.

While not as bustling as another small town, Ponyville, it is a safe place with a calm atmosphere. A place anyone could relax in and enjoy a little peace and quiet. Friendly citizens, stunning views and a safe atmosphere made it a perfect little village.

On the edge of the town called Sunset Hills is a simple, lone house detached from the rest of the village. This was the fillies home and destination. Getting there unseen was easy. Not many traversed outside this time of day and opted to relax indoors. The sun was setting already and most ponies opted to go prepare for the night.

The little fillies sneaked up to the front door of the house and opened it with a dual chime “We’re home!” before closing it swiftly behind them to avoid outside detection.

“Welcome back.” A sweet mature voice called out of what was most likely the kitchen. It was the fillies mother, judging from the maternal tone it carried. “How was your little adventure?”

“Yeah, about that.” Midday Glow said, putting Ditto onto the floor. “Mom, could you come here for a second?”

You could almost hear the frown their mother made when she heard that and the sound of her hooves drew closer. “Did you get hurt again sweetie?” She asked her daughter as she stepped into the hall, only to stop and look at the blob, which was looking at her.

Edgar could see the familial ties. The color of the coat as well as the color of the eyes was the same. Only the mother’s mane was a different color, green as a vine. He also note a horn on her head and an image of an open book on her flank.

Noon Light spoke up next. “Big sis found this thing in the woods.”

Midday Glow continued with a big smile. “And we thought if somepony knew what it was, it’s you mom!”

Their mother trotted close, looking at the Ditto curiously. Not like a scary unknown creature, but as a point of interest to be studied. She rubbed her chin as she looked it up and down. “... Fascinating.”

“Ditto!” The pink blob replied to the compliment.

The mare’s eyes narrowed slightly as she bent down to have a closer look. “... I’m not sure I know what this might be… hold a moment.” With that the mare trotted up the stairs and soon returned with a large book in a telekinetic grasp. The pages flipped as she read certain parts.

“What are you looking for, mommy?” Noon Light asked.

“Just trying to determine and narrow down possibilities. That and find… Ah, here it is.” She stopped the pages and read the page in front of her. “Alright… This isn’t too difficult. Barring the possibility it can’t think, this should work. Kids, get behind me for a bit, for safety reasons.”

The two fillies did as told and positioned themselves behind their mother’s forelegs as her horn began to glow azure.

“Ditto!” The Ditto quipped as it was struck with a tingly sensation. A glow of azure surrounded it’s body. “Dit to dit- a Psychic. I suspected as much!”

The two fillies “ooh”d as their mother smiled. “I knew that would work.” She set down the book and lowered her head to the blobs level. “Hello there.”

Edgar immediately shot his nubby limb up in the air in greeting. “Salutations!”

The mare smiled warmly. “Well, thank you.”

The Ditto stopped at that for a good two seconds before crying out in joy. “Huzzah! My gift of speech be restored. Or rather, your understanding of mine, am I wrong?”

Them are was visibly surprised as she blinked with a dumbfounded expression. “Why… yes, that is exactly what I did. I just adapted our minds to your language with a translation spell by sampling your words and mind. How could you tell?”

“Elementary! There are two options to adapt or to change and it is far easier to translate a mind to an unknown tongue than teach one to speak your own.” Edgar told his theory. “As you see, my logic is infallible.”

The fillies looked on with a mix of wonder and confusion. Confusion mainly because that sounded a lot like something their mom would say. The mare in question looked amazed.

“Such intellect… What are you?” She asked, mainly herself, but the Ditto saw it fit to answer.

“Me? Oh, currently I am what you’d call a Pokèmon, a Ditto, to be precise.”

“ Pokèmon? Ditto?” The mother of the fillies wondered out loud. “I can’t say I am familiar with the terms… This is a new discovery!” She got really excited all of a sudden. She quickly caught it and stopped. “Calm down, Acacia… Calm...”

Edgar laughed heartily with his now squeaky voice. “Ahh, I can already tell I speak to a fellow intellectual. Greetings to thee!” He extended his nub arm for a shake, which he got returned.

“... Feels like jelly.” The mare noted.

“That’s what we said!” The twins exclaimed.

The Ditto twirled his non-existent mustache, lamenting how unnatural it felt. “Well, to get formalities out of the way. I am Edgar Holmes, ace Pokèmon detective!”

The mother of the twins chuckled at the overflowing energy this little guy had. “I’m Acacia, and these darlings here,” she pulled the twins into an embrace. “are my daughters, Midday Glow and Noon Light.”

“Well, admittedly that makes more sense than my bush theory.” Edgar replied, earning a confused look courtesy of the mare. The little ones did not seem to mind.

“Wow, a detective! That sounds cool.” Midday Glow said in awe.

“I’m just surprised it can talk.” Noon Light said with less enthusiasm.

This did not bother Edgar, no. He was basking in the attention. “Charmed to meet you, madam and little ladies. And yes, being a detective is, quote end-quote, cool. Solving mysteries and discovering truths, such is The Way!”

“The… Way?” Midday Glow asked.

“Yes, The Way..” Pause for dramatic effect, then Edgar did the most dramatic pose his Ditto body allowed, which was not that impressive. “The Way of an Agent of Justice!”

While Noon Light was not that impressed, Midday Glow was eating it up and clapping her hooves in excitement. Acacia just smiled at her daughter enjoying herself. Still, somepony had to break the mood.

“Alright kids, it’s late.” Acacia said as both the twins groaned in protest, knowing what was coming.

“Mom, no! I want to talk to the detective thingy.” Midday Glow whined in protest.

“And I’m not sleepy!” Noon Light protested, but was embarrassingly betrayed by a yawn.

Acacia shook her head, her look firm. “It’s getting late and you two need your sleep, or else you will never grow up and get your cutie marks.” She teased the two. This seemed to work as the two bid their farewells and zoomed upstairs.

Edgar chuckled. “What a funny dream this is.”

“Excuse me?” Acacia asked, wanting to know if she heard that correctly.

“Oh, nothing of note. Don’t mind the shifting tone of this conversation.” He laughed again at his stupid Ditto pun.

Acacia would question this, but she had other things in her mind. “Well, now that we have private time,” She said, her magic bringing a notebook from upstairs, along with ink and a quill. She dipped the quill in the ink and smiled a bit maniacally. “tell me all about these Pokèmon.”

Edgar sweatdropped a bit, but soon got over his passing sense of dread. “Well, to start with, let me tell you how the world was created. You see...”

And thus began an epic tale of how the universe came to be, but it is simply too long and awesome to be put to proper words. Followed by another story, and another. Really, Edgar was just on fire as his tales got more and more ridiculous and more and more sidetracked from the original point.

So to save your time suffice to say that the rest of the evening was spent talking and listening, mostly talking. And that’s how it ended. Goodnight!

Watson’s Journal

Entry.1

This journal I is finally proving to be a worthy investment.

Something is wrong. One moment I am brewing tea in the kitchen and the next thing I know I wake up in a field. This is far from normal. Geographically I cannot say my current location, but this is for sure. I am not on Kalos anymore.

I cannot seem to locate Edgar either. What that round imbecile is doing, I cannot even begin to guess. I’ve contemplated many times in the span of writing this of just leaving him wherever he may be. However, as much as I’d like to negate the fact, he is a friend. An idiot, but a friend. Not to mention the problems he’ll get into if I am not present.

I swear, if it weren’t for me, that fool would be dead by now, or at least missing a kidney.

Keeping tabs on my situation I deem crucial. Thus why I will keep this journal to keep note of all important events.

It’s late, so I will stop here and will survey the area for answers first thing in the morning.

Entry.1 End~☆

Chapter 2: A New Town, A New Mystery

“... zzz…zzz...” Was the sound of slumber, steady breaths and an occasional snore. A normal occurrence when one sleeps soundly.

But the thing with sleep it, it can be broken with just the tiniest of sounds.

“... Ditto!”Edgar said as he jolted awake, acting as a catalyst to startle and awaken a slumbering Acacia, who as a result fell off the stool she had fallen asleep on, the tremor of which more than likely woke up the whole house AND caused a book to fall on the mare’s head.

“... Rgh.” Acacia groaned irritably and rubbed the back of her poor head.

You see, as a result to yesterday’s long Story Time session, courtesy of Edgar, the discussion had moved into Acacia’s personal study/bedroom. And no, stop right there. Just no.

The room was organized, bookshelves filled with books and shelves that held papers and documents. There were even some complicated diagrams on the walls. On the working desk was a large tome, a chemistry set, a microscope and a sealed jar filled with pink jelly.

Pink jelly with a funny face.

Acacia blinked and got up from the floor, fixating on the jar. “... What the...”

“DIT ditto!” Edgar said, naturally the meaning escaped Acacia.

“...Oh, the translation spell wore off... Hold a second.” She concentrated for a moment and cast the spell again.

“As I said prior, MAGNIFICENT morning!” Edgar yelled from inside the jar, already at peak condition.

Acacia herself blinked slowly, still drowsy. “A morning pony… thing... tartarus.”

Edgar laughed in his jar. “But of course! Were I not fully awake in the morning, I’d be wasting valuable minutes of freedom! Hohoo!”

“...” Slowly, but surely Acacia’s not-a-morning brain was catching up to what she was witnessing. “... Why are you in a jar? For the matter, how did I get here?” She said, becoming aware of her surroundings.

“Funny story that!” For some reason Acacia tensed at the word ‘story’ “Last night you seemed so immersed in my tale that you picked me up with Psychic, carried me here and jammed me into this jar. You were even considerate enough to seal it up.”

“... What.” Acacia said flatly, what Edgar said making no lick of sense to her.

“I know, right? I mean, obviously it felt a bit strange, but I merely assumed it was some sort of tradition. In a way, it’s like offering the protective borders of a house.”

“... A jar… is a house?” Acacia asked in her drowsy confusion.

“Why, it has walls and if you account for the lid it also has a roof. That is what makes a house isn’t it. Might I say, it’s a really considerate gesture, to offer protection for the night like this.” Edgar explained his insane reasoning.

“... I need coffee.” Acacia said and walked out and slowly opened the door.

“Now hold on! This reminds me of a story I once heard that-” The Ditto’s words were muffled by a door slamming and a mare running downstairs. Every fiber of her body told her “NO” in big bold metaphorical letters to stories for the next two weeks for reasons she could not remember.

So, instead she trudged off to the kitchen to make a cup of joe. And breakfast, since the twins could be up at any mo-

“Mom! We heard a noise!” Midday Glow yelled from upstairs.

“It’s okay, honey. Forget about the noise.” Acacia replied, still coming over her drowsiness.

“Okay!”

With a sigh and a small crack from her stiff neck Acacia quickly left the coffee to brew and made some breakfast just in time for two hungry fillies to appear down the stairs. Midday Glow was energetic in the morning, but Noon Light took after her mother and looked half asleep.

“Morning, kids.” Acacia greeted the twins.

“Morning!” Was the shared reply, though with varying levels of enthusiasm. It was just another reminder that despite looking the same, those two were different.

The twins took positions in front of the dining table, and were promptly slipped two quickly made hay sandwiches. There were no murmurs, just eating to get their bellies filled. Acacia herself finished up her coffee and felt much better after drinking it.

“Hey, mom.” Midday Glow asked, being the first to finish her meal. “Where is the detective thingy?”

“Oh, he’s in the study.” At least Acacia hoped he was male… that would need to get clarified sooner rather than later. The name sounded masculine enough by analysis… she thinks. Seeing her daughter get off she added a sharp “No, you can’t go there.”

“But mom!” The elder twin whined.

“We’ve already been through this, my study is a place you aren’t allowed to go to.” She reminded her child, who sat back and pouted. “It’s only because I love you.” She got a tongue stuck out at her for that, but Acacia just laughed.

Upstairs some glass shattered. The mother of the family knew what that meant, but her kids didn’t.

“... Mom, is that another experiment?” Noon Light asked, almost dozing off into her sandwich.

“No, of course not sweetie. Mommy does not do that anymore.” Acacia answered sweetly.

“TALLY-HO- Ohdear!” Came a brief shout as a pink blob barreled down the stairs and landed face first into the floor. Midday Glow stopped to look at it and Noon Light did doze off, her face buried in her sandwich.

Some time later Acacia was walking the peaceful streets of Sunset Hills, saddle bags on her back. She had gone shopping for the day after sending her little rascals to school. There was a minor problem though.

“Hmm, a mighty fine township this is.” Edgar pointed out, peeking out of the saddle bag. For whatever reason he had snuck aboard before Acacia had managed to leave the house.

Acacia hushed him, keeping her voice low. “Don’t speak. Be quiet.”

“But how can I? This place has many features to describe.”

“Arg, hush!” She cast a spell and established a mental link with the Ditto. “Look, I don’t want everypony to panic from suddenly seeing a living mass of gelatinous-”

“Mental communication? How MARVELOUS! This should fix the issue of me talking, would it not? In fact, this reminds me of a story-”

And the mental link was gone. Luckily it seemed that Edgar was none the wiser and most likely kept on mentally telling his story.

Acacia kept trotting, occasionally greeting a few friendly faces, including one griffon. She eventually arrived to a small store simply called Everypony’s Everything. Short and to the point. She entered the establishment with a bell ringing, signalling customers had arrived.

From behind a counter popped up, and I mean that literally, a brown mare with an odd mechanical gizmo over her left eye. She spoke with some form of accent. “Well, if it ain’t miss professor. How’s the kids?”

Acacia smiled warmly. “Energetic as ever. And please, don’t call me that. Those days are behind me.”

The mare behind the counter shrugged. “Fine, no skin off my back.” She said casually. “And business’ been slow, as you might recall me saying a few days back. But let’s not talk bankruptcy, what’re ya buyin’?”

“And what makes you think I’m here to buy anything. Can’t a friends just come and say hello?” She asked teasingly.

“Can that jokesty talk, sister! WE both know you only come ‘ere to buy things. Cause I’m the only provider. Now give Gizmo your bits~!” The shopkeeper demanded with a snake-like hiss in a playfully mean way.

Acacia rolled her eyes in amusement and reached into her saddle bag, the one not occupied, and pulled out a bag of bits, which were quickly snatched by the shopkeep.

“Yess~, Gizmo like them bits.” She said before dropping the joking creepy talk and going back to business. “So, what’ll it be?”

“Oh, you know. The usual.” Acacia said while subtly leering at her saddle bag, which moved a bit.

“Darn shame, sister. I don’t deal in those no more. Gizmo is a good pony now, straight as a nail!” Gizmo the Shopkeeper said with an earnest look in her eye.

Acacia again rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.”

“Yeah, yeah. Some papers, forms. You want another notebook?”

“No, I think I’ll manage. But there is one thing I do need.”

“Oh yeah? What’ll that be?” Gizmo the Shopkeeper asked, taking a sip of a glass of lemon juice she pulled out of nowhere.

“An empty compendium.”

Gizmo the Shopkeeper spontaneously spat all the juice at an unfortunate Acacia. The look on her face was of utter shock and disbelief. “Care to run that by me ‘gain?”

An unamused, and drenched Acacia sighed at how this day was starting out. “I said I need an empty compendium.”

“... Girl, you be crazy if ya’ think Gizmo can find something like that! D’you even know how much of a dent that could put in my business?” A big bag of bits was dropped on the counter, which were quickly nabbed under the counter. “Gizmo is ha-aaaappy to serve, master~.”

Acacia shot Gizmo the Shopkeeper an amused look.

“... Why’s you looking at Gizmo like that?”

“No reason.” Acacia lied, smiling a bit smugly.

“Dit-” *smack* Acacia jabbed her saddle bag.

Gizmo the Shopkeeper gave her a quick look. “Somethin’ up?”

“All is fine.” Acacia lied through her teeth with a pleasant smile. “Now, the things I wanted-”

An assortment of items, mostly papers, quills and plenty of ink were dropped onto the desk in a flash. “Here ya go. Now that special order be takin’ a while, so scatter. Gizmo’ll send ya a notice.”

Acacia picked up the things with her magic and put them in her saddlebags. “Efficient as always. See you around.” She turned to be on her merry way.

“Wait a second.” Gizmo the Shopkeeper called out after her.

Acacia looked back. “What? Did you not tell me to scatter?” She said playfully. But the shopkeep looked dead serious.

[center “You hear them rumors? About some odd things bumping about?” She spoke in a hushed tone.

Acacia sighed, exasperated. “I’ve said this a hundred times, rumors are only rumo-”

“EEEEEEEEEEEK!” A piercing feminine scream came from outside, to which both mares reacted, charging outside, though Gizmo the Shopkeeper was out first despite Acacia having a clear lead.

Other residents seemed to have also taken note and more than a few rushed to see what had happened. Gizmo the Shopkeeper was the first on the scene, with Acacia just on her tail. What she saw was… bizarre.

A gray, black maned mare that many in town could identify as Scaredy Cat, curled into a ball on the ground, shivering from fear and drenched in some sort of sticky substance. “Oh, that be gnarly.” The shopkeep commented. “And ve-eery disturbin’.”

Acacia ignore her and moved over to investigate as more ponies gathered over to see what the fuss was about. The first the she did was wave a hoof over Scaredy Cat’s eyes. There was a reaction, so she wasn’t catatonic. Next she looked her over to see if she was injured in any way, which luckily wasn’t the case. Finally she inspected the substance.

It seemed to be some sort of slime, though she was unable to determine it’s origin or nature. She’d assume it wasn’t anything harmful, but still nabbed some of it into a small container for testing.

“Cat, can you hear me?” Acacia asked the distraught mare. When she nodded weakly she continued to her next questioned. “Cat, what happened?”

“... M-monster… s-slime...” Scaredy Cat managed to utter in her almost neurotic state before descending to unintelligible whines.

Acacia glanced around and saw the forming crowd. She stood up and addressed the ponies. “Alright, there’s nothing to see here. Everything appears to be fine. Would somepony get Cat somewhere nice and warm? And get her cleaned up while you’re at it.”

Bronze, the only griffon living in Sunset Hills stepped forward amongst the ponies. With some help from Acacia he got Scaredy Cat on her shaky hooves and began to slowly lead her off to her house.

With some further help from Gizmo the Shopkeeper, Acacia managed to convince everypony that all was fine and make the townsfolk disperse. If the community in Sunset Hills is anything, it’s tight.

The shopkeep turned to address the mare with an intense stare. “Ah told yeh. Weird things go bumpin’ aboot. Gizmo ain’t no liar no more.”

“I wasn’t going to imply that.” Acacia said calmly, looking around for possible leads and frustrated at the lack of any. Whatever did that would most certainly left a trail. “I do however admit that this is peculiar.”

“Eye, Scaredy ain’t been tha’ scared in a long time. Maybe it’s ‘cus she started gettin’ visits from tha’ gri-”

“That is not what I meant.” Acacia frowned at the shopkeep’s leaps in logic and love of rumors. Gizmo the Shopkeeper shrugged and went back into her shop.

Acacia peered into her saddle bag to maybe question Edgar about this. However she was shocked by a discovery.

The Ditto was gone.

“Oi, somepony’s been messing with Gizmo’s stash!” The shopkeep yelled angrily.

“It is time.” A voice said calmly, following the trail. “This time that passes not in a second, but an instant, and those who do not grab hold of it be left in the dust of time!”

Edgar twirled in place before coming to a sudden halt. He posed in his new black miniature top hat, his shiny gold monocle and his unbelievably dashing grey fake-stache which he had liberated from a good shop owner in the name of the investigation at hand.

“Prepare thine self, evildoer! This mystery will not be left unsolved as long as I, Edgar Holmes, Ace Pokèmon Detective, am on the case!” He proclaimed to absolutely no one but reality itself as he took back to observing a trail of slime he had found.

“Whom ever assaulted that poor lady must be behind this trail, of that I am certain!” Unknown to Edgar, as his Ditto body moved over the slime it also wiped the trail in it’s wake. Oblivious to his doings he pushed onwards, following the trail.

“No villainous villain get’s away in my dream!” He muttered at the universe at large.

He followed and followed until the trail ended. It’s final destination was an seemingly abandoned shed at the far edge of the town. Not a soul seemed to be around, but it was clear this was the villain’s hideout.

Instantly Edgar’s Super-Mega-Detective-Genes kicked into action. He stood, short but proud, nubby appendage pointed at the shed as he shouted like a magnificent beast “Ah-HA! Your path reached a dead end, evildoer! Prepare to face the voice of justice!”

“No!” Came a voice inside. Edgar blinked. It sounded weak, sobbing. Scared. “P-please don’t- I-I didn’t mean t-to...”

Still, Edgar stood his ground. “I demand you open this door! I promise by my honor, if there is no conflict, no harm will befall you.”

“... R-really?” The voice sobbed.

“Well, I sure as crumpets just gave my word. And amongst most of his glory, Edgar Holmes is no liar! He is the very PINNACLE of truth!” The Ditto proclaimed with a proud twirl of his fake-stache.

“...” There was a lot of silence. Until “... Edgey…”

The door of the shed shot open as a mass of mauve and lavender crashed into the Ditto and grabbed it into tight grasp. “Gah! Surprise tackle, my weakness!”

“Uncle!” The assaulter, a female Goodra called out as she huggled the Ditto to it’s limit. “What’s up? Did you get shorter? Am I bothering you? Hey, why are you a ditto? You sound different. That mustache is so rad!” Goodra prattled on excitedly.

Edgar was a bit dazed, but his mind was working perfectly. He looked closer and saw that this Goodra wore a green scarf around her neck. This was rather familiar. “Well I’ll be a psyduck! If it isn’t Goomey. What are you doing here lass? The last time I saw you you were just a little Sliggoo.”

“Oh, it’s, like, forever ago. I evolved, see, see?” Goomey the Goodra said as she held the Ditto in her arms. She started speaking rapidly, getting more anxious as she went on. “I got a trainer, that was… something, and then there was fighting and I fell asleep and then I woke up but the world was, like, not the same as when I fell asleep and I was scared and wanted to hug someone and I saw a weird ponyta and tried to hug it but it screamed and I was so scared so I hid in a shed then I heard you and was way more scared but then I figured out it’s you and I was so HAPPY!”

By a small miracle, Edgar was able to follow along with that. “Well it seems like you’ve been through a lot, my friend.”

It was clear as crystal, the memory of Edgar meeting a Sliggoo in his younger days. He’d helped the poor thing out, sheltered and fed it for a while and even given it a scarf to remember him by when it came time for him to get going. He even gave her a name, Goomey, which was a bit redundant but cute.

Naturally, being present in his dream in an evolved state was a bit odd, but Edgar blamed his unrivaled imagination.

But for now he was getting crushed by an incredibly scared and incredibly affectionate Goodra who was just on the verge of tears. Luckily his new physique allowed for such abuse.

“Now, Goomey, be a good lass and calm down, would you? I can’t seem to think while being manhandled in such an affectionate manner.” Edgar said as the Goodra’s tight hug was getting very distracting.

Goomey sniffled a bit and plopped down sitting onto the ground, loosening her grip but still holding the Ditto in her arms. “O-Okay...”

“Thank you, dearie. Now let me think for a second here...” Edgar closed his vision and fiddled with his fake-stache as means of concentration. Trying to deal with this situation was not going to be simple.

Sure, he could just continue with the original plan of apprehending the culprit, but doing that to a friend was no way to go. An alternative would be to seek forgiveness for the misunderstanding, which was the best solution, but to do that he’d need help.

“... Alright, I have a plan.” Edgar announced, his eyes opening wide. Well, as wide as Ditto’s do anyway. “First off, I need you to hide in the shed until-”

“No!” Goomey interjected in a hurry. “I don’t wanna be there, it’s dark and scary!”

Edgar slapped his face with his nub arm. “Well, there goes that. But worry not, for I,” he posed, pointing at the Goodra as his mental theme song started playing. “the MAGNIFICENT Ace Detective Edgar Holmes have a failsafe! You leave the talking to me and be silent. We need to get sneaky!”

“...” Acacia stared.

“...” Edgar stared.

“...” Acacia stared.

“...” Goomy stared.

“... What?!” Acacia screamed.

Watson’s Journal

Entry.2

I had forgotten what sleeping leaning to a tree was like. What a drag. My back is still killing me.

The morning may not have been pleasant, nor was I expecting it to. Still, I may be too used to sleeping in a real bed. This will not become an issue, I hope.

My initial investigation proved nearly fruitless, although I can now safely assume I am definitely on Kalos anymore. In fact, I hypothesized this may be a whole another planet. Some minor evidence seems to support this theory, but I need more information to be sure.

Saw a Pangoro too. Damn thing was as confused as I was yesterday, except I handled it much better. It was taking out it’s deranged aggression on a tree when I came along and, Arceus knows why, it shifted its interest to me. Fending it off was childsplay.

After I wiped the floor with it I asked it some questions. The Pangoro seemed to respect me somewhat- I don’t know why -so I got to ask plenty. Unlucky for me Pangoro did not know much more that I already didn’t know, although it mentioned something weird a small distance from my current location. I’ll check it out later.

The Pangoro and I parted ways in peace, and though I hope it stays out of trouble I also hope we don’t cross paths again. The fur-face almost scratched my hat to shreds.

Now my main agenda is find out about this ‘weird‘ thing.

And I suppose finding that idiot.

Whatever.

Entry.2, End~☆

Author's Note

And no, I have no idea what Gizmo the Shopkeeper's(title mandatory) accent(s) is supposed to be. I really don't.

Chapter 3: This is a horrible idea!

“... What?!” Acacia screamed, both shocked and for some reason amazed at the sight she was witnessing.

In her house, her home, around her table was sitting a little pink slime with a cheery grin on it’s face and what looked slightly like a dragon DRIPPING all over her floor. Having tea. Edgar held a cup in both of his nubs and Goomey held a cup between her hands.

Edgar sipped his tea carefully and Goomey blew into hers before doing the same. “Why, hello again!” The Ditto yelled a greeting. “Glad you could make it. I got an extra cup for you, ma’am.”

There really was a third cup ready. But that was largely ignored by Acacia looking at the DRAGON in her home, the sight of which made her scared… and very intrigued, but mostly scared!

“Wh-…ho-…What?!” Acacia managed from the amount of surrealism she was witnessing.

“Goo goodra.” The drippy dragon said, but of course Acacia did not understand a word of it. It was waving though.

“Hm? Not a tea person? I could’ve sworn you were… Oh well, my bad!” Edgar said to fill the silent void.

“... A dragon.” Acacia muttered with a slight twitch in her right eye. “In… My home...”

“AHA!” Edgar quipped. “You are very observant indeed! Not as observant as I, that would be impossible, of course. Yes, my friend here is indeed a Dragon-type, and a fine one at that.”

Acacia glared icicles at the Ditto, who either did not notice or remained oblivious. “You! You brought it here, didn’t you?” She said in an accusing manner.

Edgar frowned, as much as a Ditto can. “But of course I did! How else could she have gotten inside?” He said as if it was obvious. “Oh, by the by, your door really needs a lock. I highly recommend it.”

The twitch in Acacia’s eye got more prominent. “I. Want it. Out.” She said coldly.

Edgar and Goomey shared a look and simultaneously looked at the mare. “Why in good heavens would you want that?”

“Wha- Why wouldn’t I?” Acacia asked, questioning why she even should ask.

“Why, don’t you know tea parties are more fun with company?” Edgar responded cheerfully.

Acacia did not even try to wrap her head around how that made sense in this context. “I am not going to allow that near my kids.” She stated adamantly.

“Goodra?” The dragon asked, sounding a bit excited for reasons Acacia dreaded to imagine.

“By Arceus, woman! Have you looked at little Goomey here?” Edgar said, jumping on the table to point at the CLEARLY not little dragon. “Does she look like she could harm even a butterfly? Look at those eyes.”

Acacia dubiously looked at the big dragon. On a closer inspection it looked… really cute for some reason with those big eyes and easy on the eyes colors… What distracted her from all that was the slime dripping off of it.

… Then something clicked.

“Hold on a minute!” Acacia stomped her hoof down, startling the dragon, funnily enough. She connected the dots. “That is the thing that attacked Cat today!”

“... Well, blast! I thought you’d have forgotten about that.” Edgar admitted, still seeming unusually cheery given the accusation and the tone in which it was delivered.

“How could I? Cat is one of my best friends!” Acacia pointed a hoof at the Goodra “And this thing attacked her!”

“Now, now. You know how unsavory assuming is.” Edgar scolded the grown up mare as if she were a mere child.

Acacia took a breath and swallowed the condescending talk. “Explain. Now. Twenty seconds. Go!” She demanded.

“Well, I followed a trail from the scene of the incident to a shack at the edge of town. There I found this old friend of mine, distraught and frightened. In distress she attempted to find comfort by hugging your friend, but it got seen the wrong way. End of explanation!” Edgar said talking very fast while keeping each word understandable.

Acacia thought about it and it seemed to cover all the bases and seemed logical. “Alright, and how are you sure of this?”

Edgar laughed. “Haha, but I asked my friend here of course. Oh, which reminds me! Miss Acacia, this is Goomey. Say hi to miss Acacia.”

“Goo!” The slime dragon greeted with a wave.

Acacia looked grossly at the dragon, still suspicious but for the love of her could not really find it in her heart to ignore such a cute looking creature. “... Hi.” She said with a small wave of her own.

Goomey, for her part looked ecstatic. “Goodra goo goo dra!”

“She says, “Wow, I’m so glad you don’t hate me!”.” Edgar translated.

“How can you understand that?” Acacia had to ask.

Edgar simply laughed. “Why, because currently both of us are Pokèmon in this dream so of course we can understand each other! It’s common sense.”

Ignoring the part about a dream, something inside Acacia woke up. “A Pokèmon, you say?” She approached the Goodra, completely forgetting her fear and analyzing her head to toe. She cast a translation spell while she was at it.

“Uhh… What is the weird Ponyta doing?” Goomey asked Edgar, only to be answered by Acacia.

“I am taking notes of your physique, size, consistency and any minor details.” She said like a scientist would. “I also wish to know more of these Pokèmon, so this is a good start as any. Also, I am a pony, not what you think I am, though I imagine it is a Pokèmon similar to appearance of pony-folk.”

Goomey ‘ooh’d from amazement. “Wow. Uncle, she sounds smart.”

“That she does. Not as smart as I, but still an impressive array of knowledge this lady seems to possess.” Edgar admitted, remembering how scientific her study looked. “Are you a scientist, by chance?”

“A professor, actually.” Acacia said, lightly touching Goomey’s body to get a feel of it’s slick and slimy texture. She also took slime samples and put them into small jars. “Though I stopped going by that title when I had my children.”

“I like kids!” Goomey quipped with a smile but was ignored.

“Oh, so that is where your researcher’s spirit comes from? You remind me of some friends of mine.” Edgar said, twirling his fake-stache.

“Oh, really- Why do you have stuff on you?” Acacia asked, only now taking note of the Ditto’s new apparel, the little hat, the monocle and the grey mustache.

“Oh, you mean my DASHING apparel?” Edgar said with a dramatic twirl showcasing his clothes.. “Why, a good detective always accessorises to look the part while out on an investigation. ”

Acacia gave him a very flat look. “You rummaged Gizmo’s stash, didn’t you?”

“I most certainly did!” Edgar said without missing a beat. “It was for the sake of the investigation though, so no harm done.”

Acacia decided against ranting on how stealing was bad because she highly doubted Edgar would listen to it. Something more pressing came to her mind. “Whatever. Look, could you and your friend just leave for a time before the kids sho-”

“Mommy, I saw a weird bird at school today...Wow~” Noon Light said from the door.

“Mom, is that a dragon?” Midday Glow asked, staring at Goomey.

The mother of the twins slapped her forehead. This timing was the worst. The twins were immediately by the slime dragon, looking at it with wonder in their big eyes. The Goodra returned the looks with one of utter joy.

“Yay!” Goomey said and instinctually grabbed the kids into a slimy hug, much to the kids surprise, Edgar’s amusement and Acacia’s horror. After a very short huggle fest the two were let go, covered in slime.

“Eww...” Noon Light said and looked disgusted while her sister did not seem to mind.

“Wow! A real dragon!” Midday Glow said in awe.

Acacia groaned and picked up the twins in her telekinetic grasp. Both protested but before a word could be thrown in, Acacia interjected. “You can talk all you want after a bath. Mother has had a rough day and the last thing she needs is two slimy kids walking about.”

Goomey looked as the kids were dragged off to what was most likely the bathroom. Then she looked at Edgar with wide, comically teary eyes. “Moms are scary...” She whimpered.

Edgar laughed and jumped to pet Goomey’s head. “That they are, my dear. That they are.”

After a bath, hours of talking, fawning over the dragon in the house and general childlike behaviour the twins finally tuckered out and could resist the temptation of slumber no longer. Acacia took the two sleeping children to their room and tucked them in.

Apparently the kids had seen some odd looking things while in school, which Edgar said could be other Pokèmon based on the twins descriptions. Taillow, Oddish and Butterfree were amongst a few.

When Acacia returned she addressed the two Pokèmon present.

“Okay, so what happens from now on?” She asked them.

Edgar jumped onto the table again to make his presence more noticeable. “Well, the intention was to ask forgiveness for Goomey’s misunderstood actions today, but it is a bit too late today for that. Tomorrow will have to suffice.”

“I’m really sorry.” The Goodra said remorsefully.

Acacia sighed. She understood the intention and could even respect it, but not the means. “And how, mind you, will you do that?”

“Well simple. We walk to town with you and your translator skill and sort it out!” Edgar proclaimed, very sure of himself. Goomey seemed impressed, clapping with a gleeful smile on her face.

Acacia, not so much. “What? That’s your plan? To just go out there and do it?” She asked not at all certain this was a good course of action.

“In essence, yes. A simple, HEARTFELT apology should suffice to fix any gap, wouldn’t you agree?.” Edgar said.

“...” Acacia was at a loss of words. This plan was so sure to fail. “No, no no nonono. No! It’s not going to work like that!”

“Alright, since you have insight on the subject I will allow you to contribute to my magnificent plan.” Edgar said in a way Acacia had trouble seeing as anything but pride talking.

Still, she took a breath and started tearing the plan to shreds. “Alright, first of all. The mare your friend scared, Scaredy Cat is… well, you should be able to guess by the name, very easily scared. If my estimate is anything she’ll have locked herself in her own house for the next few days.”

“Second, I doubt you’d get your chance. The ponies here, while generally friendly are a tight lot. We look out for each other and everypony liked Cat, more or less. If they figured out your friend here is the cause for her distress, they’d act upon it. Not to mention the added confusion of other creatures that might be about.”

“Third, what you ask of me is impossible. I can cast and maintain a translation spell but only for a few individuals for the span of a twenty-four hours or less. My maximum capacity is four ponies, which is now filled for me and previously my kids. I don’t have enough power to use it on a town full of ponies.”

Edgar stood perfectly still, his silly face more neutral than usual. It seemed like he was actually thinking for once. “We sneak into this Cat’s apartment and apologize there!” He shouted gleefully, breaking the illusion.

The mare just walked into the kitchen and wordlessly whacked her head onto the wall for a good two minutes straight. When she came back her forehead was all bruised. “That...” She tried but lost the words for a moment due to prior head trauma. “How can you be so smart yet go so stupid at a drop of a hat?”

“Why, thank you!”

“That’s not a compliment!” Acacia yelled, quickly putting a hoof on her mouth. The idea of her kids waking up from her shouting just crossed her mind. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “Okay… Okay, just give me a moment. Give me until tomorrow, I’ll figure something out.”

“But what if-”

“Stop!” Acacia commanded, looking at the Ditto sternly. “I will think this through because I have knowledge you lack due to not being a native. I have a bigger chance of pulling any of this off than you. This town is my home, this is my friend you talk about. I’ve got this.”

Edgar seemed caught off guard by such a strong interjection. He had to forgotten it until now but the force of will a mother has can be quite immense. Goomey looked at the Ditto who slowly started chuckling.

“Alright, you’ve made your case.” He admitted, tipping his tiny hat to the mare. “My hat goes off to you. That was a good verbal debate. I very much enjoyed that.”

Acacia did not agree. “Just don’t do anything stupid. Now, as for another matter-”

*knock, knock, knock-ity, knock*

Everyone shut up. Acacia spoke in a hushed tone. “Be quiet and hide.” She then walked up to the door. “Who is it?”

“Oh, don’t you recognize the knock meant solely for you, my dear?” A flamboyant male voice said from the other side. Acacia gagged mentally and checked to see if Edgar and Goomey had gone yet. Since she didn’t see them she opened the door and came face to face with a handsome white stallion with a flowing golden blonde mane.

“What do you want, Casanova?” Acacia asked, not even trying to hide her annoyance at this unwanted visit. The stallion just flicked his mane a bit and smiled flirtatiously.

“Can’t a stallion just come see the owner of their heart every so often?” He said with a wink. Acacia tried not to puke.

“Well, I guess that heart is in pieces then.” She answered in disgust. “I’ve told you once and I will tell you again. I refuse to out with you and your two-timing ass. I have kids to take care of, now beat it.”

She tried to close the door but Casanova’s hoof was in the way. “Please, my dear Acacia, can’t you at least give me a chance? I promise I’ll break up with my marefriend.”

“Uh-huh. Which one?” Acacia asked sharply with a mean look in her eyes.

The question seemed to shut him up. “Well… Err...”

Acacia rolled her eyes and forced the door close. “Goodbye, Casanova.”

“Wait, my dearest-” The door slammed shut in his face. Acacia growled at the nerve of that asinine idiot. No matter how many times she drove him off he just came back. Casanova was like a cockroach. A lovemad cockroach who hits on everything female it sees.

She used magic to seal her door shut so he couldn’t get in and started looking for the two Pokèmon. Surprisingly they were very good at hiding, as she saw no trace of them.

No, scratch that. There was a clear trail of slime… going up the stairs…

“... Oh, don’t you dare tell me.” Acacia muttered and followed the slime to… the door to her room. “... They better not have laid an appendage on my bed.”

“We said we were sorry!” Edgar said in his defence. But Acacia was having none of it.

“I don’t know how you managed it, but not only do I need to clean my sheets very thoroughly, but you also ruined a bulk of my research in the matter of minutes. You are lucky I have backups, or I’d dissect both of you!” She said, seething with anger.

The mare, the Pokèmon and the former human all stood outside, behind Acacia’s house. The two did not know why yet, since Acacia was the one who dragged both of them there,

Goomey sniffled and looked at the ground in shame. “I-Im’s sorry…*sniff* I didn’t mean to...” She whimpered weakly, holding back tears. Goomey had always been rather sensitive.

“I too must say that… what transpired might have gotten a bit out of hand. I will take full responsibility, for the idea to hide there was mine.” Edgar said, trying to stand straight and sounding at least a bit remorseful, though his pride stopped him from showing it.

Acacia sighed and kicked the ground by her feet. Immediately a patch of grass behind her house opened up, revealing a secret passage. “I forgive you, but as punishment you two will sleep in the containment cham- I mean basement.” She corrected herself hastily.

Edgar and Goomey, both surprised such a thing even was there peered down the secret hatch. There were stairs leading to darkness, the lights of the day just barely reaching the bottom.

Goomey immediately began to whimper. “I-I don’t wanna go in the dark...”

Edgar frowned and looked at their host. “Come on now, don’t you think this is a wee bit extreme?”

“Nope.” Acacia said flatly. “You messed up my room, you pay for it. I’ll let you out first thing in the morning and expect you to learn your lesson.”

“But-” Edgar tried to object.

“Get in the hole!” Acacia ordered, pointing at the black chasm.

Edgar knew he could not win this argument, but that was the biggest thing in his mind. He looked at the horrified looking Goodra gazing into the “basement”. He knew very well Goomey was scared of the dark.

He poked the slime dragon’s leg to get her attention and offered his nub arm for moral support. Sniffing lightly the dragon grabbed the nub and pulled the Ditto into a hug, searching for comfort and courage from him.

“Don’t worry, dear. Uncle Edgar will protect you from the shadows!” The Ditto Detective proclaimed words of encouragement. They seemed to work as Goomey tried to put on a brave face and slowly descended down into the “basement”, carrying Edgar with her, holding him close to her chest.

When at the bottom they turned to look up as Acacia who was looking down at them. “Believe me, I take no pleasure in this. I know it’s scary, but you did nearly ruin some of my life’s work.” She told them, sounding really sincere. She grabbed the hatch to close it. “Have a good night, you two.”

The hatch started closing as all light begun to fade, but then it came open again. “Oh yeah, if you feel like you’re being watched, ignore it. It’s just your imagination and nothing else. Night!” Acacia said and closed the hatch, leaving the pair in complete darkness.

It did not take long for Goomey’s courage to falter. Her whole body began to shiver as she sat down on the ground. Edgar the darkness did not bother, but he was really worried for her.

“Come now, my dear Goomey! Do not give in the the oppression of the dark! As a wise man once said, there is nothing to fear but fear itself!” Edgar said, filling his words with nearly infectious courage and bravery. Or foolhardy stupidity.

“... Who said t-that?” Goomey asked, nestling the Ditto in her arms. Then he laughed merrily.

“Why, ‘tis I! For none is wiser than Edgar Holmes!” He proclaimed with a booming yet squeky voice. “And as Arceus as my witness, I will not allow any harm come to you, be it from dark or otherwise! This I swear on my honor!”

This seemed to work a little as Goomey giggled just a little and hugged and nuzzled him. “Thanks, Uncle.”

“It is my pleasure, dearie.” Edgar said, glad he could make his friend feel better.

Goomey lied down on the ground and tried to get comfortable, though she was still very tense. Fear of the dark was not so easily bested. Time passed as both tried to get used to the dark, but there simply was no light source to provide any.

But suddenly a flash of light entered the room, making Goomey shield her eyes as it vanished as fast as it had appeared. Then she felt an hand on her shoulder, which freaked her out but seized as she then felt a warm protective embrace.

“Sleep tight.” Edgar’s voice said. “I will watch over you.”

Overcome by a feeling of safety, Goomey relaxed and allowed herself to sleep. But before she could, they both heard something very interesting in their heads.

“Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new. I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm. You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace.”

Watson’s Journal

Entry. 3

Visited that area Pangoro told me about and… Well, let’s just say my theory of this no longer being earth holds water. There was a town populated by a species that shared similarities with a Ponyta, but I am not stupid enough to not recognize that they are not Pokèmon.

The place, I didn’t ask for the name, was in panic. I learned later it was due to the Pokèmon suddenly appearing all over. It seems me and that Pangoro are not an isolated case, but this seems like a mass migration. The Pokèmon were as confused, some even frightened, but I was able to smooth things over with both sides.

Being psychic has it’s perks.

It seems a lot of pokemon were transported here. I was approached by an Abomasnow that claimed to be Professor Rowan. I knew the name well, another of Edgar’s numerous friends across the world and a famous Pokèmon researcher from Sinnoh. I was a little dubious at first, but he seemed to know me.

No doubt it’s that idiot telling his mind numbing stories again.

I am not fully certain if he is telling the truth, but for now he has asked to accompany me. Apparently he wants to meet Edgar. I didn’t say no. Arceus knows I need help looking for that damned detective.

Speaking of which. I, and most likely every living thing on this planet, got an interesting mental transmission today, apparently from the great Arceus himself. He explained what had transpired, what he had done and, while his wording of the situation was horrible and will cause mass hysteria, confirm to me that that fat idiot must be around, somewhere.

I will have a chance to talk with “Rowan” now, so maybe we can trade information.

Entry.2, End~☆

Ps: When/if you ever meet Arceus, punch him in the goddamn face!!!

Author's Note

"No, you don't understand. EDGAR IS THE ONE IN THE HOLE."
- Ryan Haywood, Achievement Hunter.

I like to Iimagine that if Edgar and Pinkie Pie ever met, the two not only would get along strappingly, but would totally get each other. And Acacia is showing some really bad vibes. But hey, mothers, am I right?
Oh, and Arceus called, he wants his full dialog back. "It's too long! Read the original A New World, A New Way to see it! Support the offiicial release!"

And our good friend Watson meets up with a familiar face... name. You get it.

Chapter 4: Operation Apology, commence!

It was early in the morning when Acacia woke up, as was her habit. Her internal alarm clock just started ringing, waking her up at that exact moment every day. Old habits die hard, and this one was immortal.

She got up and went straight downstairs, ignoring her messy bed hair. She automatically trudged into the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. She wasn’t an addict, it was just a good way to wake up in the morning.

After drinking the bitter beverage and reinvigorating herself she entered the bathroom to comb her hair and wash up. While doing so she remembered the voice she heard yesterday in her head, telling her, and from the sounds of it all of Equus about the Pokèmon and humans and whatnot. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that for now, so she finished up and headed out.

When she opened the front door she could have sworn she saw the biggest caterpillar she had ever seen moving in a distance. As much as she wanted to go investigate she had a promise to keep. So she just shrugged it off.

She trotted to the back of the house, stepped on a spot on the ground and opened the secret hatch to the “basement”. She peered inside and called out. “Hello?”

Immediately she got shoved aside as a slimy dragon charged out and basked in the sunlight “Yes, light! I never want dark again!” Goomey said happily, though all Acacia heard was a bunch of Pokèspeak.

Acacia herself blinked, a little bit of slime in her mane. She frowned while casting another translation spell, knowing she’d need to take a shower now. Then she noticed something that made that seem insignificant.

Out of the dark “basement” rose another Goodra, though there was something very different about it. Mainly the face, which was familiarly silly. Not to mention the grey mustache, the small top hat and monocle on it’s face.

“... What?!” Acacia screamed in confusion.

The odd Goodra looked at Acacia and raised a hand in greeting. “Ah, miss Acacia. Top of the morning, ma’am!” Edgar said in his high pitched voice, tippin his tiny hat.

Acacia walked closer. “How- what?” She blubbered while trying to find her words. “There’s two now? You’re- how did you-”

Edgar laughed. “I was surprised too when I woke up. It seem I’ve somehow tapped into the Ditto’s ability to Transform through my subconscious. Shows how amazing my mind is, wouldn’t you say? In fact, this gives me ideas-”

“Wait, wait!” Acacia said, holding her hoof up. “You can transform?”

“As a Ditto, yes. They can transform into nearly anything. Except for the face. For some reason that sticks.” Edgar explained, looking himself over.

Acacia really wishes she had her notebook ready, cause her inner professor just woke up. “That’’s…. That’s incredible!” She beamed at this discovery, observing Goomey, then Edgar’s new shape. “They… they are identical, well except for the face but… This is amazing!”

Goomey looked confused while Edgar was basking in the glory. “Well naturally! It takes a mind of a genius to use this ability without knowing it’s mechanics, hahahaha!” He said laughing a whole lot, not noticing that his body began to glow and shrink back into a Ditto sized lump. He suddenly stopped laughing. “Oh, is it over already? The world got so much bigger all of a sudden.”

Goomey waddled over while Acacia was in her own world. “Is this what these Pokèmon can do?” She muttered to herself, excited about all the scientific gold she was witnessing. “If this is only a part of it… what are the possibilities, or where do they end? Oh, this is getting me all sorts of fired up!”

Then Edgar popped her bubble. “Yes, bask in my glorious skills! I have no limits to my power! Muahahahaa!” The Ditto boasted obnoxiously, though it was a bit amusing to watch.

Acacia sighed, putting her thought in the back of her mind. “Oh well, it’s morning, you’ve learned your lesson in the basement where there is absolutely nothing.” She said, walking to the hatch, ready to close it. “Say hello to the basement.”

Goomey peered in and immediately backed away, only squeaking a short “Bye.”

Edgar on the other hand. “May thee fare well, dwelling of Darkness! You were a worthy adversary for the night! I salute you!” He yelled into the dark “basement”. Acacia just rolled her eyes and closed the hatch, sealing the room.

“B̢͘͜͝͝y̵̸̧͢ę̛́͟-̸̴͢͜B̢́͠͝͝ý̶̡͘e͜҉̶̡͠,̸̵̀͘͜ ͝͝F͟͏̴̵ŗ͟͞͞i̢͜҉̷͝ę̛͠n̶͝d͘̕”

After a quick shower, preparing breakfast for herself, the twins and two freeloading Pokèmon, sending her kids off to school and Edgar futilely trying to Transform again, Acacia had gone into planning mode. She needed to figure out a way to settle the misunderstanding between the seemingly sweet, child-like and innocent Goomey and the unbelievably neurotic local and bestie, Scaredy Cat.

Her first problem was getting Cat out of her house, where she always holed up after a panic attack or a big scare, which were often. This wasn’t that hard, as she had options and ideas.

The second would be the apology itself. She did not doubt that it couldn’t work, but how to go about it was a different question. For now she could not find a way to do it effectively without a huge uproar.

After a while she set off outside to start with the first part. Unfortunately she got a stowaway.

“Are you sure you do not require my amazing input?” Edgar asked, hidden in the mare’s saddle bag. Again.

“Yes. Positive.” Acacia asked a bit irritably. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave your friend… Goomey alone in my house?”

“Oh please. What happened yesterday was an accident. Goomey will be fine.” He waved the question off.

Goomey laid on her back, staring at the boards in the ceiling.

….

Staring at the wood.

….

Staring at the brown, the deep, woody brown.

….

“This is boring.” The Goodra noted, sighing deeply as her antenna twitched impatiently.

“... I really hope you are right about that.” Acacia said, fearing for the sake of her home. Something came to her mind. “Oh, Edgar can I ask you something while we walk?”

“Ahh, you seek knowledge? Very well, tell me the mysteries you wish unravelled!” The Ditto said, more than glad to help.

“I am going to assume you heard that mental speech yesterday.” Acacia started, keeping her voice low so she would not look too crazy. “Who or what was that?”

“Well, that was apparently the mighty Arceus, the Alpha Pokemon and effectively a God himself.” Edgar said, earning a surprised look from Acacia.

“Pokèmon have a god?” She asked.

“Well, yes and no. You see, according to ancient tales Arceus was not only the first pokèmon but the first being as well.” He continued, twirling his mustache inside the bag. “It is said he hatched from an egg and created the whole world my home exists in and by extention Pokèmon and humans as well.”

Acacia frowned dubiously. “That’s exaggeration, right?”

“Well, I can’t say I know my legends, nor do I particularly care, but make no mistake. Arceus is the most powerful Pokèmon there is. Apparently powerful enough to transport a multitude of Pokèmon and humans like me here.” He explained sounding a bit confused himself. “Really makes me doubt my dream theory, honestly.”

“Well, that sure sounds powerful- wait. What was that dream part?” Acacia asked, intrigued.

Edgar was surprisingly quiet for a few second. “Err… well, when I woke up here I might have thought this were a place inside my dream.” He said sounding a bit embarrassed.

Acacia laughed a bit. “Wow, must’ve been a shocker to be proven wrong.”

“None sense!” Edgar chimed strongly. “I took the news valiantly!”

-Yesterday, “Basement”-

“...Uncle? Why aren’t you moving?” Goomey asked, poking Edgar’s catatonic Goodra form.

“Valiantly!” The Ditto said again, for some reason, trying to keep his manliness intact. Acacia did not dwell on that too long.

“Well, whatever the case, take a look.” She said, having stopped. Edgar peeked out of the saddle bag.

They were in the middle of town now and they could both note something. Mostly the lack of ponies save for a few about and the abundance of creatures of different sizes and appearances being about. Those resembling bugs, birds and some mammalian-like ones were dominant in numbers with a few weirder ones here and there.

“... While I find all of this very interesting, scientifically, I did not see any of these yesterday.” Acacia said, containing her inner professors wishes to go and see everything. “It seems that the majority of ponies here have taken note of it and are too scared to go outside.”

“Yes, this is a predicament. But it seems just a few are not afraid to see what is happening.” Edgar said, noting maybe three ponies that were looking at the Pokèmon with some form of interest. “Maybe things will go well and this will fix itself. Most of the Pokèmon I see are peaceful by nature and mostly friendly.”

“I hope you are right.” Acacia said as she continued walking but did not get very far before being approached by two ponies. One was a blue coated stallion with a silver mane and the other was Gizmo the Shopkeeper.

“Hey, Professor!” The stallion waved with a friendly smile. On his back was a cute little Chikorita. “Glad to see you around. Have you seen these… things? They are literally everywhere.”

“Ya, they be all over.” Gizmo the Shopkeeper said, a duo of gears that moved against each other floating behind her. “Gizmo found this thing in her shop. It went ‘Klink Klink Klink’, or some such, but fer love o’ me I can’t recognize wha’ it is.”

Acacia rolled her eyes. “Okay, first of all. Moonfall, don’t call me Professor. And yes, I’ve noticed. And Gizmo...” She turned to adress the mare with a gizmo over her eye. “... Just don’t try to sell it.”

“Ey ‘ey! What’re you thinkin’ Gizmo is?” Gizmo the Shopkeeper interjected, pulling the Klink into a hug. “Don’t ya see how precious this ‘ere thing looks? Alive, no less. Gizmo don’t do slaves.”

“Just checking.” Acacia deadpanned. “In fact, I too have had… encounters with these creatures, though more in depth.” She opened her saddle bag, deciding now is as good chance as any. She cast a translation spell on her two acquaintances as the Ditto jumped on her back.

“Salutations, ponies!” Edgar said, twirling his mustache.

“That speaks?” Moonfall gasped while Gizmo the Shopkeeper looked less impressed.

“Eh, Gizmo has seen stranger.” She said with a shrug.

“Inquiry: They can understand us now?” The Klink suddenly spoke with two mechanical voices speaking in tandem.

“They can? Sweet!” The Chikorita said with an excited jump.

Moonfall and Gizmo the Shopkeeper looked at their current Pokèmon followers, Moonfall being obviously the more shocked of the two.

“Now this can talk too?!” Moonfall screamed, taking it well(not).

“He hey, you speak all snazzy, Klinky!” Gizmo the Shopkeeper said more neutrally, accepting the surreality as it came.

“Clarification: Is Klinky what you wish to call us?” The Klink asked.

“Sure, whateve’. Havin names is always more fun, ya?” The shopkeep said with a grin.

“Solution: Then we shall identify as Klinky. Greeting: Hello.” Klinky the Klink said.

“Wassup, little dude!” The shopkeep greeted back.

“How are you so calm that a piece of metal suddenly talks?” Moonfall asked to question the shopkeepers sanity.

Acacia put a stop to that with a firm “Can it you two! These creature, Pokèmon as they are called, are supposedly friendly beings with intelligence that matches ponies or any sentient being. If you cast a simple translation spell you should be able to understand them.”

Gizmo the Shopkeeper nodded, understanding what Acacia was saying. Moonfall nodded as well, though a bit more slowly.

Acacia continued. “Good. Now Moonfall, Gizmo. Since you two have seen them try to spread the word that these Pokémon are not to be feared. Also, find some unicorns to cast translation spells so communication is possible. Got it?”

“Yeah… I guess I get that.” Moonfall replied, deciding not to question what the prof- Acacia said. He’d heard rumors. Gizmo the Shopkeeper just saluted.

“But where’re you off to, gal?” Gizmo the Shopkeeper asked. “You seem to have a goal in mind and we be just a distraction.Gizmo can read ya like a book.”

“... Let’s just say I need to go talk with Cat.” Acacia said, not revealing too much of her plan.

“Ohh, Gizmo get’s what yer trying to do!” The shopkeep said with a meaningful look. “Then ya probably going to Bronze’s. Well, good luck wi’ that!”

Then Gizmo the Shopkeeper dragged Moonfall and their respective pokemon partners off to spread the word. Acacia continued her way, only now noticing that Edgar had been quiet throughout the entire conversation.

“Something wrong?” She asked, a bit concerned at the sudden period of silence from the normally vocal Ditto.

Edgar chuckled, looking back at the ponies trotting off. “Well, it wouldn’t feel right to interrupt such a well crafted moment you had there. Impressive planning skills, you have. With more to spread the word things will be easier in the long run. Very clever.” He said sounding very sincere, which was almost touching.

“Well, I just pretty much did what came naturally.” Acacia chuckled humbly. “It’s not that big of a deal, really.”

“Come on now, don’t demean your talents.” Edgar said with a hearty laugh. “You have some natural leader material in you, and that is not something you see every day.”

Acacia blushed a bit out of embarrasment and laughed nervously. “Well, I do help out around town a lot. Dealing with problems helps you get to know ponies around, so my words usually hold a lot of weight around here.”

“Then that only makes my point.” Edgar said, adjusting his monocle. “It takes a lot of wisdom and social skills to be a leader but also those who are willing to listen to your words, something you obviously possess.”

“Okay, stop it already!” Acacia scolded the Ditto though was unable to hide her amusement. “I’m not into that sort of responsibility. I’m simply a helping hoof who helps anypony in need of it.”

“Very well then.” Edgar dropped the subject, keeping his hamminess levels surprisingly low during all of it. “Say, I must ask. Who is this Bronze fellow?”

“Well, Bronze Beak is the only griffon living here in Sunset Hills. Moved over a good six months ago.” Acacia explained. “He is integral to my plan. You see he and Cat are… close.”

“Ah- HAA!” Edgar exclaimed, returning to his usual volume and hamminess levels. “My honed super Detective senses are tingling! Yes, I can see it clear as day! A ROMAN- MPFFF!” His mouth was filled with a hoof from an annoyed mare.

“Don’t go yelling stuff like that around! What they do with their lives is their business, so can it!” Acacia said demandingly before retracting her hoof, which was not as slimy or sludgy as she would have expected.

The Ditto Detective coughed in an embarrassed manner. “Ahem… My sincerest apologies. Sometimes I get lost in the thrill of solving a case.”

“That wasn’t a case!” Acacia noted.

“Well, it is if you think about it as connecting the dots from your vague but very suggestive wording...” Edgar tried to justify his logic. Naturally Acacia was not buying any of it.

“Just don’t bring anything like that up, or I will hurt you, if Bronze doesn’t do so first.” She warned the Ditto, who did a salute in the way her could. At least he seemed to understand.

Acacia stood in front of a door and knocked. There was no answer so she tried again, this time calling out. “Hello? Anyone home?”

There was still silence but before Acacia could knock again the door creaked open as a griffon with bronze colored feathers peered out. “... Oh, Acacia Ma'am. What is it?” He asked with a deep voice.

“Bronze, I need your help. I need to speak with Cat, but… well, you know how she is right now.”

Bronze Beak frowned. “I’unno. She needs her space, so I suggest you try in a few days.”

“... Ye-eeeah, about that.” Acacia tried to think of a way to segway into her point, but drew a blank. “I think if this simmers it could get worse.”

The griffon raised a brow. “What do you mean?” He asked.

“Well, I made a discovery about what happened to Cat yesterday.” She said a but unsurely, noting how Bronze’s eyes narrowed at the mention of it. “And… well… Oh, Celestia how am I going to explain this...”

Acacia then felt a poke on the back of her head, an idea hitting her. “Oh, I might as well let the one who brought me to the discovery tell you the detail… Just one question.”

“Shoot.” The griffon muttered, curious as to where this was going.

“You seen the… creatures outside, have you not?” Acacia asked while subtly setting up a translation spell, dispelling some older ones to make room.

“I have. An odd bunch, those are. Part of the reason I doubt Cat will be coming out anytime soon.” He said flatly.

“Then allow me to explain, good sir!” Edgar said, hopping on top of Acacia’s head. The Griffon was caught off guard and backed off on instinct, but quickly assessed that the small pink blob could not be a threat in any way.

“... Well, I was going to lead you into this a bit slower, but this is Edgar.”

“... Hi.” Bronze said tersely.

“Yes, yes. Good to meet’cha!” Edgar said, tipping his hat and twirling his mustache. “As the good Ma’am was explaining, I came upon the reason for your… friend’s encounter the day prior to this.”

“Explain.” Bronze said as if giving the blob permission to continue.

“Yes, well the assault was a pure misunderstanding on the part of the culprit, who happens to be a dear friend of mine and the sweetest thing alive.” Edgar explained as he would explain a case, with confidence and a certain charm. “You see, my friend was at the time extremely confused and frightened. In her confused state she tried to find comfort to her plight.”

“As it happens, said form of comfort comes from hugging something with affection, but due to the local’s and her own lack of knowledge this plea for comfort was seen as an attack, so she fled the scene, even more frightened and confused than before.”

He took a breath for the first time since starting. “Do you understand what I tell you, sir griffon?”

Acacia could only look at Bronze’s usually stoic face nervously. He seemed to be thinking over what he was just told, really thinking about it. “And you are sure it was just a misunderstanding?” He finally asked.

“I swear this on my name as Edgar Holmes, Ace Pokèmon Detective! May my soul be sucked out of my body were I to lie!” He proclaimed, placing a nub on his chest… area… thingy.

Again a pause in everything. Then Bronze spoke. “Alright. You seem honest.” He said with a small, barely noticeable grin. his next question was aimed for the mare. “But tell me, Acacia Ma’am. What do you need me for?”

Acacia smiled. This was going very well. “I wish to sort out this matter with an apology between Cat and the mistaken party, Goomey. But to do that I need her out of her house. I know she trusts you a lot more than anypony else in town, so if she’ll listen to anypony, it’s you.” She explained. “Oh, and this Goomey is a dragon made of slime. Just a heads up so nopony freaks out.”

The final part about a dragon made Bronze Beak frown, but he knew Acacia was a pony you could trust. “... Very well. I’ll come along and see what I can do. But if I can’t convince her, then you just have to wait. I will not force her into this.” He said calmly, but it was evident he cared about the mare very much.

“That’s all I ask.” Acacia said with a relieved smile. She then lead the way with Edgar on her back chatting to the more reserved Bronze Beak who followed. The conversation was mostly one sided.

Unknown to them, on the roof of the building a Pokèmon looked down at them with a pair of very mean looking eyes. It looked at the mare, the griffon and Ditto depart before growling menacingly.

“Heatmor...”

Watson’s Journal

Entry. 4

Odd. The more I spend talking with the alleged Abomasnow Rowan the more I am inclined to believe him. All his stories match reality, as far as I know.

Today started off slowly, but we got a move on after some talking. We haven't covered that much ground, but seeing as we have no clue where we are in comparison it's pretty safe to say that's pointless.

I cannot say surely where we are going, so we just picked a direction and started moving. I have to admit, walking around with another being I can talk to is a lot more fun than walking in utter silence. Safety in numbers is also in play. I can also respect a man who can stay professional and cool even when this happens.

Of course all can’t be good. On one of our breaks the Professor seemed to disapprove of my habit. It’s not his business but he is entitled to his opinion. As long as he leaves me and my addiction alone, we have no problems as far as I am concerned.

Now he wants to learn how to use his Moves, which I should have anticipated, but didn't, so that’s how my time will be wasted for a while.

I blame Edgar for this.

And Arceus. Especially Arceus.

Entry.4, End~☆

Ps. Still will punch Arceus, I swear to the stars!

Author's Note

So the plan to reconcile between the town scaredy cat, Scaredy Cat and Goomey is on the way but something ominous looms in the distance.

And our good friend Watson is hellbent on that punch Arceus thing, now accompanied by Rowan.

Chapter 5: Fire&Flames Incorporated, aka trouble!

“- and so, after encountering the truly ridiculous trio of thieves, my trusty sidekick sent them flying high!” Edgar pompously told his story while twirling his fake-stache “And so I once again aided in solving the mystery of the disappearing rice cakes! A humble feat, perhaps, but I will never forget the looks of gratitude in the townsfolks eyes, especially the children.”

Bronze Beak chuckled lightly. “Sounds like you’ve got a knack for helping others. I can respect that.” He said sincerely.

Acacia was less thrilled and had stopped listening a long time ago. Much to her relief they had reached their destination. “Okay here we are.” She said.

They had come to a house that looked like it was built into a giant tree stump, which looked like it had seen better days. There were two windows in the front on both sides of an old wooden door. But something strange caught their eye.

Some roughly egg shaped pink creature was standing in front of the door, and Edgar knew exactly what it was.

“Well, this is curious.” He thought out loud. “What could a Chansey be doing here, I wonder?”

“Another Pokèmon? Great.” Acacia said with a glint of intrigue and approached the Chansey. “Excuse me? What are you doing?”

The Chancey turned around to look at who was talking. Acacia noted the egg it was carrying in a pouch in it’s stomach. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t hear you come.” Chansey said, her voice soft and kind. “I heard someone inside this tree being in distress, so I’ve tried to see what I could do to help.” Chansey looked a bit downcast afterwards. “Sadly, it seems I can’t get in to see what is wrong.”

Acacia and Bronze looked at the Chansey oddly. Acacia was the first to speak. “Well, the one living here is… easily frightened, so maybe you should let us do things from here.”

Chansey nodded and moved out of the way to give them room.

Acacia walked up and knocked on the door exactly once and the response was immediate. “Go away!” The shrill voice of Scaredy Cat yelled in fright.

“Cat, it’s me. Acacia. I just want to talk to you about something, so if you could come out-” She got cut off really quickly.

“No! No outside! M-monsters everywhere… no!” Scaredy Cat yelled frantically. Apparently the presence of Pokèmon had not gone by her.

Acacia sighed and stepped away from the door. “All yours, Bronze.”

“Go and so your best, sir Griffon!”, Edgar chimed in before jumping off Acacia’s back to converse with the Chansey. “Greetings! Mind if I ask some questions?”

Chancey smiled brightly at the Ditto. “Not at all.”

“Very well then. First off, my name is Edgar Holmes, Pokèmon Detective extraordinaire..” He began, and as that was going on the Griffon was taking his chances with Scaredy Cat.

First off he knocked on the door softly, so softly in fact it was hard to hear that he actually knocked twice in one movement. There was a moment of silence before Scaredy Cat whispered softly through the door. “B-bronzy?”

“Yeah. It’s me.” Bronze Beak responded in a soft and kind tone. “Listen, Acacia really needs to talk to you.”

“B-but… monsters… everywhere. I saw!” Scaredy Cat said fearfully, voice shaking a bit.

“Don’t worry. I’ve seen them. They won’t hurt you.” Bronze said reassuringly. A moment passed in silence again until the sound of locks getting opened one after another could be heard. And Cat had a lot of locks, at least ten of them. Then the door slowly creaked open just a bit and Scaredy cat peeked out.

“... A-are you s-sure? T-there’s h-hundreds...” She said, nervously looking about. Bronze Wing replied with a gentle smile.

“Doesn’t matter. If they try, I’ll get ‘em.”

For a moment is seemed like it was working as Scaredy Cat opened her door more and more. Then…

“Good news everyone, I have gained knowledge!” Edgar yelled, jumping into view. The door was promptly slammed shut with a loud shriek. “I’ve come to tell you of my incredible findings and… why do you look at me like that?”

“It’s a mystery.” Acacia said coldly as she and Bronze glared icicles at the Ditto. She then let out a frustrated groan. “Great, now she’ll never come out. This day can’t get any worse.”

Even Bronze growled a bit at the outcome.

“... Hold on, did I interrupt something?” Edgar had the gall to ask, only to be answered by two looks that could kill in a second were that possible. “... Ah, I see your contempt is growing. I… err..” He muttered, looking for a way out of this situation. Then he saw a Pokémon in the distance that might be the answer to his prayers. “Eureka! I have a plan!”

In a second he was jumping off to talk to a creature that looked like a floating ball with a piece of fabric for a tail. Acacia and Bronze traded looks of dubiousness when Edgar returned, followed by a Chimecho. “Alright, this here will solve this matter. I guarantee it!”

He got two doubtful glares, but Chansey clapped her hands in realization. “Oh, I see! That’s very clever.”

“And how is that going to help?” Bronze asked, still doubting anything would work at this point.

“Now, hold on. Let me show you my magnificent idea. Hey, Chimecho!” Edgar said to the Wind Chime Pokemon, who turned to look at him. “That thing I talked to you about. Think you can do it?”

“Yup, yup!” Chimecho said in a childlike voice, bobbing it’s body as a yes.

“Very good. Now Chimecho, use Heal Bell!” Edgar said, pointing at the door with great intensity. The Chimecho let out a soothing noise that rung all around the area. The unicorn and the griffon quickly felt a sensation of calm as the noise resonated in the air.

As the sound continued, the door creaked open, much to their surprise. Scaredy Cat poked her entire head out, eyes close but clearly listening to the soothing noise. What shocked the two even more was the fact that she stepped fully outside just a few seconds later.

Acacia and Bronze Beak gaped at this small miracle they were seeing as Cat opened her eyes to look at the source of the sound.

“... What is going on?” Acacia asked, eyes still wide. Edgar laughed softly.

“Why, that is Heal Bell, a move that heals the body from ailments. I just used it a bit creatively.” He explained as Chimecho stopped the sound and looked at the not-so-frightened mare with a smile.

“Uhh, cat...” Acacia started off to make sure her friend was alright.

“... That was…. beautiful...” Scaredy Cat said in awe, reaching over to touch the floating Chimecho, that answered with a happy “Chime chime!” “Thank you!”

Acacia would have put up a translation spell, but her quota was full. She couldn’t spare to sever an older link right now, which she believed was on Gizmo and Moonfall. Instead she just smiled warmly along with Bronze at the unbelievable sight they witnessed.

Naturally Edgar had to break their moment. “Yes, I do love it when a plan comes together! Everyone, witness my mind in action!“ He shouted with a hearty laugh. Luckily for all of them Scaredy Cat was too distracted with the cute Chimecho nuzzling her with affection.

It took a few minutes for them to explain to Cat what was going on. Chimecho’s presence seemed to calm her down enough for her to get her to follow them, something that made Acacia note possible therapeutic applications. Nestled to Bronze’s side with Chimecho’s tail wrapped gently around her neck in a hug Cat walked behind Acacia who carried Edgar. The Chancey also followed them.

But it did not take long before things started to go very wrong.

Back at the house, Goomey was dying of boredom. She was rolling on the clear area on the floor, unwittingly spreading her slime everywhere. Then she stopped and jumped up.

“I can’t take this anymore!” The Goodra yelled in frustration and walked to the door, threw it open, walked through and slammed it shut behind her. She took a deep breath of the fresh outside air contently.

“Sorry Uncle.” Goomey said with a sigh. “I just can’t stand this much waiting.”

Then she sniffed the air. Her eyes opened up in surprise. There was something weird smelling in the air. It was very faint but she could notice it. She sniffed the air again to confirm it. Then she looked towards the town.

There was smoke.

“Well, that’s ominous.” Edgar said.

“No kidding.” Acacia replied. The two had noticed the smoke rising not too far from where they were. She addressed everyone present. “Everypony… and Pokèmon, there might be something up in town. Let’s see if we can help others out, but be careful.”

Bronze nodded, as did Chancey who was practically going by now. Scaredy Cat looked at the smoke hesitantly but nodded after a light reassuring squeeze from Chimecho’s tail. Scaredy Cat, Bronze, Chimecho and Chancey went ahead, leaving Acacia with…

Two empty saddlebags and empty air.

“... I seriously need to keep an eye on Edgar all the time.” Acacia muttered, trotting to see what was going on in town. To tartarus with that wandering Ditto.

Seconds later a pink masses came out of the bushes nearby. “Excuse my leave, but I thought I saw something in this here bush...” Edgar stopped, looking for the companions who were not there.

“Well… Bugger.” He lamented, but got over it. “Oh well, this happens. Off to investigate that smoke! And you know as they say, where there is smoke-”

Just then a pillar of flames erupted towards the sky just a few building over. Ponies and Pokèmon alike fled from where it originated.

“-there is fire. Onwards!” Edgar finished, rushing to the scene by hopping on the ground. He had found hopping to be faster than trying to crawl with no legs.

And when he came to the source and turned a corner, he was met by a sight of a lot of fire. Luckily none of it was on the buildings yet, but the ground was getting scorched. In the middle of the flame sea stood a very mean looking Heatmor.

“Hahahahahaa!” The Heatmor laughed maniacally flicking its tongue of fire. “Yess! Burrrn! Flee from the Flame!” The it shot a Flamethrower into the sky while laughing like a lunatic.

Edgar looked at the scene behind cover, inspecting the area. From a distance he could see Acacia and Chancey aiding some ponies and Pokèmon who were fleeing the Heatmor.

Then he did something even a brain dead chimp would call stupid.

He jumped out of cover and threw a pebble at the Heatmor, hitting it square in the face. The small sound the useless attack made upon contact silence the Anteater Pokèmon’s laughter. The silence was… stunned.

Then it slowly looked at the Ditto. “You threw that stone?” It asked, surprisingly calmly. Edgar showed no fear and pointed at Heatmor with burning passion!

“Indeed I did! Shame on you for scaring innocent people with that fire. You should be ashamed of yourself, mister!” Edgar passionately scolded the Heatmor, who kept glaring at him menacingly.

Then it laughed again. “Hahaha! Shame? Pathetic!” It spat venomously. “They fear fire, so what? Fire burns. Fire hurts. Fire is fear! I am the Goddess of the Flame, hahahahaa!” The heatmor proclaimed... even though it’s voice was very masculine and clearly male.

Edgar frowned, being too stupid to know fear. He kept pointing at the Heatmor with righteous justice! “You, my not-good friend are delusional and I will NOT condone this behaviour in a town environment!”

“... Hah...Hahahahaa!” The Heatmor roared in mocking laughter. “Oh yeah, then what are you gonna do about it, spud?”

Edgar’s whole body might as well have turned into stone, because that’s how still he was. “... Erm… Excuse me?”

“You heard me, mite! What are you gonna do about me, the Goddess of Flame, Fire and the Burrrn?” The still clearly male Heatmor asked, stomping the ground threateningly.

Edgar was very silent as a lone tumbleweed hopped along right behind him for no reason.

“... Well, to be perfectly honest I didn’t think that much ahead.” He admitted, gulping a bit. “Also, I have come to realize just how alone I am given current circumstances.”

Why couldn’t Watson be here when you need him?

The Heatmor roared in laughter and aimed a Fire Blast at the Ditto who barely managed to hop out of it’s path. “That’s was a warning, tiny! I won’t miss next time, so how about you scamper to whatever hole you came from SO I CAN ROAST YOU ALIVE! Nyahahaaa!” Heatmor and began firing Flamethrowers at Edgar, who to his credit was very good at dodging them.

“Oh dear oh dear oh dear- YOUCH!” He jumped and yelped as his backside got a bit too close to the fire, burning him mildly. Heatmor stopped his barrage to laugh at the Ditto.

“Hahahaa! Yesss, fear the burrrn, you pink snot! Fear the Goddess!” Heatmor proclaimed like the deranged lunatic he was.

And then another pebble hit him square in the face. Deafening silence ensued as Heatmor slowly craned his neck to look at the Ditto still holding a throwing pose. The two stared at each other for a good minute.

“...”

“Tally-ho!” Edgar said, raised his tiny top hat in farewell and quickly hopped on away.

Heatmor shrieked in utter rage, spouting fire into the sky before giving chase and firing Flamethrowers at the Ditto’s general direction.. “I’LL FRY YOU, YOU INSOLENT SNOT!”

Edgar hopped as fast as he could and was able to maintain a healthy gap between him and the deranged Fire-Type as his mind tried to come up with a strategy. Ponies and Pokèmon alike saw the mustached Ditto run from the crazed Heatmor and, despite their morbid curiosity and confusion opted to stay as far from that as possible. They were just glad that Heatmor wasn’t interested in them.

Even Chansey and Acacia who watched from the sidelines were utterly dumbstruck.

“What. The hay. Is he doing?” Acacia asked, both herself and the universe.

Chansey shook her head. “Honestly, I have no clue either.”

“Will he be alright, even?” Acacia asked, not because of concern but more out of curiosity.

“Well...” Chansey said, thinking about it. “Ditto aren’t really all that powerful, unless they transform and even then-”

“Yeah, he can’t do that I think.” Acacia interjected.

“... Well, then I don’t think your friend can take that Heatmor on.” Chansey said apologetically. Acacia frowned slightly and gave Chansey a deadpan look.

“Making a lot of assumptions there.” She commented blandly.

They kept looking and saw Edgar hop into a bush to hide, and at first it seemed to work without a cinch, Heatmor passing it in blind rage, then stopping in the following confusion to where the pink bastard had disappeared to.

Then Edgar just hopped out of the bush like a freaking Oddish and threw another pebble, hitting Heatmor on the back of the head. Again the Fire-type turned his neck excruciatingly slowly to glare at the pest of a Ditto, eye heavily twitching as his rage reached critical mass.

“... Toodaloo!” Edgar quipped cheerfully and hopped off again as Heatmor roared in absolute rage and pursued, now so angry it forgot to use Flamethrower and just tried to swipe at him with his claws. Every single Pokèmon, pony, and a griffon in near vicinity sweatdropped near simultaneously at the sheer stupidity present here.

Acacia most of all just stood there with her mouth wide open and eyes being an odd mix of an annoyed glare and being so wide open they could fall off at any second. “... Excuse my Prench, but what the buck!” She exclaimed, very glad her children weren’t present to hear that.

Chansey had no idea what was going on and kept silent, just trying to even slightly comprehend what was happening.

The game of cat and mouse continued with Edgar stopping suddenly and hopping high as Heatmor sank his claws into the ground, effectively landing on the Anteater Pokèmon’s face and jumping off when he tried to swipe him, causing Heatmor to claw his own face.

“GRAAAH!” Heatmor roared, now enraged enough to forget how to speak coherently and holding his face in pain. It turned to the Ditto who was blowing a raspberry at him, enraging him even further. The chase moved on, slowly turning into more of a comedy routine than an actual chase.

“What is his logic with this?” Acacia asked, exasperated, now starting to grow, disturbing as it was to her, a morbid curiosity with Edgar’s mindscape.

Edgar for his part hopped and hopped as fast as he could, keeping out of reach of Heatmor’s dangerous claws. His headway was good but he was getting tired and in his fatigue he landed wrong and did a rapid pirouette by accident. Before he knew it he was pinned into the ground firmly in between two of Heatmor’s claws.

“No! Lack of physical exercise, my greatest weakness!” Edgar hollered in despair as Heatmor began laughing more and more maniacally after finally catching the annoyance that had plagued him.

Acacia got worried and tried to rush over but was stopped by Chansey who stepped in front of her path. “What are you doing, he needs help!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you throw yourself in certain harm’s way.” Chansey said firmly. “... Besides… I don’t think you should be worried.” Acacia didn’t know what to make of the surprisingly reassuring way Chansey said the last line, only gritting her teeth and forcing herself to look on.

The Heatmor had stopped laughing.

“THERE! Pinned and trapped like the vermin you are! I hope you like barbeque, because this’ll be a ROAST!” Heatmor said with a manic giggle and a happy flick of the fire tongue, clearly satisfied with the capture of the pest. “The Goddess of Flame loves fried verming. Any last words before dinner is served?”

“... Just one, actually.” Edgar said, unbelievably calm given his circumstance. Heatmor’s glare intensified as he brought his face closer to the Ditto, his tongue of flame flicking dangerously close.

“And what might that be, pest?” The Fire-type asked in a venomous tone.

Edgar smiled widely and chimed in a cheerful sing-song tone. “Distraction~!”

“... What?” Heatmor uttered, briefly seeing a blue glow to his right before having a mass smash into his face.

“Aqua Tail!” Goomey shouted and flung her blue glowing tail that resembled a raging torrent of water so hard at the Heatmor that it sent the Fire-type a good four meters high before causing him to crash down, head first.

It didn’t look like he was getting up if the swirls in it’s eyes were any indication.

“You okay, Uncle?” Goomey asked Edgar, picking him up from the ground.

“I’m fine, my dear. Bloody good timing, if I do say so myself. Good job!” The Ditto Detective said, patting Goomey’s head affectionately, much to the Goodra’s delight as she started smiling goofily at the praises.

Around the area where Pokèmon and ponies alike were watching the scene were whispers and murmurs, mostly from the ponies. Amongst the masses were Gizmo the Shopkeeper, who was clapping, accompanied by her Klink. Moonfall whose jaw had left an imprint on the ground along with his Chicorita, who was cheering. Bronze Beak and Scaredy Cat, both snuggled close to each other with the griffon whispering something to the mare under his wing.

And Acacia had fallen on her flank from surprise and shock. Chansey smiled happily, though she looked very relieved. “I figured as much.”

“... What?” Acacia asked, half to what Chansey said and half to the attack Goomey had done just now.

“Well, I had my suspicion when I talked to him before, seeing as humans apparently changed into Pokèmon, but...” Chansey started, looking at the Ditto being held by a happily smiling Goodra. “I think I’ve heard about him before.”

Acacia shook her mind out of the gutter and blinked. “Huh?”

“I heard a story from my trainer once, of an eccentric Pokèmon Detective. She told that he is supposedly very odd and highly unpredictable, but his mind is a very potent force and that he has made a name for himself in high places for his eccentric way of handling things.” Chansey said with a serious look in her dotty eyes.

“... You know, for some reason I can actually believe that.” Acacia admitted, trotting over to the Ditto and the Goodra holding him. Edgar noticed her coming and waved.

“Ahh, good day miss Acacia! I seemed to lose you somewhere just a while ago, but I will forgive you for your mistake!” Edgar said as hammily as possible as if the thing with the Heatmor was nothing more than a usual walk in the park.

Acacia was not as easily amused. “What in Tartarus was that just now?”

“... I am afraid I know not of which you speak. Please specify.” Edgar said like a senile old man.

Acacia growled, jabbing her hoof at the downed Fire-type. “That! What were you thinking?” She asked again angrily.

Edgar was quiet for a bit before his lightbulb lit. “Oh, yes! Why, I just defeated a maliciously mad menace. No need to thank me, it’s all part of the job!”

Acacia groaned in annoyance, wondering how something who was supposed to be smart could be so stupid. “Why, oh why, did attack that thing? It was obviously way bigger and more dangerous than you!”

“Elementary!” Edgar said, attempting to place a pipe into his mouth but he didn’t have one, much to his diappointment. “Well bugger, now I’ll need to find one of those- Nevermind! I will explain to you how I defeated this danger in detail!”

“You did nothing but throw pebbles at it! That’s only slightly more than mosquito bites!” Acacia yelled at him, losing her patience. But the Ditto didn’t hear her anymore and started talking.

“You see, it was quite obvious I could not do much to this Heatmor on my own, it is a fairly strong Pokèmon after all. That said, I had to opt a different strategy. Naturally I could not go all out offensive, but that is where my GENIUS strikes!” He said, gesturing with his nubby arms wildly.

“Firstly I had to make sure that Heatmor wouldn’t target any civilians, so I had to take the shot and sacrifice myself as bait. Irritating the Heatmor proved very effective and allowed me to construct a plan.”

“You see, I figured that if I got Heatmor mad enough it would grant me a perfect chance to catch it off guard. Anger makes you stupid, as they say in psychology books. This also hinged on my prediction that Goomey here would likely grow very bored in the house, leaving it at some point despite promising me otherwise. Naturally she would notice the smoke coming from the flames and come see what was wrong.”

“And from there it was all about buying time and timing it just right. Now you may applaud my MAGNIFICENCE!” Edgar finished. “Speaking of the fire, how’s that going along?” He looked about and saw some Water-type Pokèmon using Water Gun to put out the fires Heatmor had caused.

“Aah, I love it when a plan comes together.” Edgar said and leaned back in Goomey’s arms all relaxed-like.

Acacia found her eye twitch making a comeback as her mind tried to wrap itself around Edgar, his admittedly brilliant plan and his unbelievably shifting scale of Brilliance and Idiocy. While her brain perplexed leaving a blank look on her face Bronze Beak, Scaredy Cat and her Chimecho approached them.

“Hey, I told Cat what’s up.” Bronze said, his wing place protectively over the nervous looking mare that eyed the slime dragon a bit suspiciously.

Goomey, recognizing the mare laughed nervously and looked apologetic. “Uhh… hi?” She said, but Cat couldn’t understand her. Realizing this Bronze translated.

“She says “Hi”.” The griffon told Scaredy Cat.

The nervous mare gulped and gathered courage to speak up. “H… He-hello.”

Goomey lowered her head and looked sad. “I’m sorry for scaring you. I-I didn’t mean to.” She sniffed sadly.

“She says she is sorry for frightening you yesterday, and that she didn’t mean to.” Bronze translated again.

Scaredy Cat looked at the cute slime dragon looking sad and honestly, what kind of monster could be mad at a face like that? She put on a strained smile and said “I… It’s okay. I forgive.”

Goomey sniffled and looked at Cat, who looked back, both beginning to smile slowly.

“...Auuggh...” A moan came from very close, spooking both of them. Scaredy Cat was spooked so bad she jumped and clung onto Bronze’s head like a frightened cat. Goomey just dropped Edgar who fell flat on the ground, on his face, with a shout of “Lordy” from the good detective.

Right a few steps away the Heatmor sat up, rubbing his head. “Man, my head feels like a rock concert...” The Anteater Pokèmon looked around and saw a perplexing pony, another scared pony, a glaring griffon and a battle ready Goodra looking at him.

Except Edgar whose face was on the ground where no one cared about him.

“... What?” The Heatmor asked out loud.

Watson’s Journal

Entry.5

Not much has happened I should note about. Travelling blindly is a tiresome task. I look back and think I should have asked for a map in that previous town. An idiotic mistake, in hindsight. At least Professor Rowan is good company, when he get’s off my back about my habit.

IT’S MY HABIT! PISS OFF!

Pardon that outburst, just needed to let it out. I seem to be growing stressed, most likely due to not knowing what that fat idiot is doing and where. Heaven forbid he get’s himself killed. I don’t think he knows even the basics of battling Pokèmon, or fighting in general. Stupid slob!

… Where was I?

Oh, right. We met another human today. A Whimsicott that claimed her name was Cheryl. I knew the name and verified her identity with a series of questions with a few controls added into the mix to confuse her if she was just claiming to be her. She passed.

Apparently Cheryl is looking for her pokemon partner and happened to cross paths with us. Seeing as we are all looking for something I saw no issue with Cheryl joining us, at least for the time being. Rowan didn’t oppose the idea either.

Aaaand as of writing this I realize that now I have two nearly useless humans turned Pokèmon who can’t fight well if we get attacked. God Damnit.

Well, at least Rowan seems to be a fast learner and Cheryl seems eager enough. Going to go waste my time with those two now.

Entry.5, End~☆

(One of the control questions was if she had ever saved a Pokèmon from a raging river. How precious.)

Ps. Never again leave the Journal laying around where anyone can find it. This is supposed to be a private log, for ~~Arceus’~~ Heavens sakes!

Pss. Never again underestimate Rowan. His Ice Punch is a monster.

Author's Note

All seems well but - GASP- there is a foe to be bested, once Edgar stops being a witless idiot.

Also, Watson is making new friends. Poor sod.

Chapter 6: Flickering flame, a dangerous friend

There were a large assortment of eyes looking at a certain Anteater Pokemon. This list included, but was not limited to:

An angry looking griffon whose glare could melt a steel door.

An utterly horrified and frantic looking earth pony mare who was still clinging to said griffons head like a frightened cat.

A unicorn who looked at Heatmor with a mix of contempt and scientific curiosity.

Gizmo the Shopkeeper, whose headpiece gizmo was zooming in on Heatmor’s interesting and cool physiology, accompanied by Klinky the Klink

A tiny gleefully grinning Ditto who sat on top of Goomey’s head, trying to look intimidating and failing spectacularly.

And a glaring Goodra who was currently holding the Heatmor in the air by his chest. The Heatmor in question was wildly flailing his limbs about in the slime dragon’s very strong grasp.

“AAAAH! Not the face! I need it to look pretty!” Heatmor screamed in panic as he continued his fruitless attempts to escape Goomey’s hands.

“Be silent, fiend! Thou has a lot of sins to pay for!” Edgar bellowed, pointing his accusatory nub at the Heatmor.

“Yes. I hope you are prepared for punishment.” Acacia added, voice cold and chilling as ice.

Heatmor was basically sweating bullets and flailed his arms about. “Wait, wait! I can explain! Don’t hurt me!”

“That better be a darn good explanation.” Acacia said with a glare.

“I wasn’t me! Okay?” Heatmor said hurriedly “I-I must’ve hit my head ‘cause I remember standing on a cliff. Yeah, that’s it! I fell and hit my head!”

“That sounds dumb.” Goomey said, tightening her grip just a tad.

“Gaah! I’m not lying! Just hear me out, okay?” Heatmor stuttered, fearing for it’s life.

Edgar looked at Acacia and spoke to her. “Miss, I leave this charlatan in your capable hands! Now if you’ll excuse me.” He then hopped off Goomey’s head and bounced his way to the crowds.

Speaking of the crowd, many ponies were not conversing with Pokèmon. Just a few moments ago Acacia had gathered all the unicorns in town to set up a Translation Field, a sort of invisible magic bubble over the entire town that allowed anything within the area of Sunset Hills to communicate despite the language barrier.

Apparently this was some very complicated magic as six out of the twelve unicorns had fainted immediately after it was finished. Apparently it was due to magic fatigue. But that is beside the point.

“I’unno, gal.” Gizmo the Shopkeeper said, eyeing the Heatmor through her headpiece. “I don’t see no lies, bu’ Gizmo is real suspicious. Something up with this bruv here.”

“Thanks for the opinion, miss Lie Detector.” Acacia replied dryly, focusing her deadpan looks at the Fire-type with all the intensity of a very upset mother, something that seemed super effective. “Alright, spill the beans, mister. And be quick about it!”

Heatmor whined quietly, the most pathetic sound ever heard. “I-I got a condition, okay?”

“Extrapolate.” Acacia ordered, causing Heatmor to gulp nervously.

“Ah, it’s kindasorta, like, a kind of...” Heatmor rambled a bit before trying to get a hold of whatever loose nerves he had. “Look, anytime I hit my head I just sort of black out, you know?”

“And what happens then?” Acacia pressed on, much to Heatmor’s growing displeasure.

“L-look, I told you I black out! I don’t know specifics, it’s a medical condition.” Heatmor defended his point, trying to shield his face as if expecting a hit any second.

Heatmor looked kinda pathetic to say the least, and everypony and mon watching more or less silently agreed on that.

Acacia remained doubtful, however. “And what sort of medical condition is this? More over, how can we tell if you’re lying?” Her glare intensified to frightening levels, causing a series of shivers run across Heatmor’s body.

“I-I wouldn’t lie! Honest! I would never- HURGH!” Heatmor made a weird noise as a frying pan smacked him on the head, knocking him out instantly. What was holding said pan dropped back onto the ground with many sets of eyes on him.

“Edgar, what the hay!?” Acacia roared so angrily that a good amount of ponies, and a gryphon as well as some Pokèmon stepped at least a step away from her.

Edgar looked as nonchalant as one could. “Oh, I was just putting a theory I made into action. A test, if you will.” He explained while twirling his mustache.

Acacia’s eye twitched. “And what sort of test involves knocking a creature out with a frying pan?! That makes no sen-”

“Hush.”

“Don’t you hush me, mister!”

Edgar hushed the furious mare again and pointed at Heatmor’s body. It twitched as his eyes shot wide open in a familiarly manic glare. “Unhand me, you filth! How dare you touch me, The Goddess of Flame and Embers? I will BURRRN YOUR SOUL-HUGRH”

Again Heatmor was silenced and knocked out with a good hit on the skull by Edgar and his Frying Pan of Knock Outs +2TM!

“Stop doing that! And what did you just do?” Acacia yelled at the pink blob again.

“Elementary,” Edgar said as if everything were obvious. “I’ve heard of this a few times on my many travels. A Forced Delusional Personality Shift caused or catalysed by head trauma. Though I wouldn’t personally call it a medical condition it is a real thing. A very rare thing, but that’s beside the point.”

“You see, when our acquaintance here bumps his head on something their mind goes through a shift from the normal personality to a delusional one. In this case a lunatic pyromaniac and a bit of a wimp, if I dare say my opinion. Unfortunately, I can’t say which one of the personalities is the delusional one.”

“... I don’t follow.” Acacia said plainly.

Edgar cleared his throat and hummed thoughtfully. “Well, this is something I can’t say with certainty. Unless I knew this poor sod before this shift first occured it is virtually impossible for me to tell which is the real personality and which is the delusion.”

“So what you are saying is that this guy-” Acacia pointed at Heatmor, who was beginning to come to again “-is crazy but we have no way of knowing if it’s the bad kind of crazy or the benign kind of crazy?”

“In it’s primary essence, yes-siree!” The ditto proclaimed with an attempted fist pump that looked a lot more comical than it was supposed to.

Goomey was in awe. “Wow, you are so smart, Uncle!”

Acacia groaned and facehoofed. “This day just keeps getting better.” The sarcasm in her tone was thick as chocolate fudge.

“... I think don’t like rock concerts any more...” Heatmor whined, rubbing his poor head.

Edgar gestured to his Goodra friend. “I think it’s alright, Goomey, my dear. You can let the boy down now.”

“Okey-dokey!” Goomey said and gently set Heatmor back onto the ground. The Anteater Pokèmon seemed more than happy with this and practically snuggled with the ground.

“Oh, sweet earthen crust, my friend.” He cooed, actually cooed to the dirt.

Ignoring that scene, Acacia calmly walked over to the pink blop and yanked the Frying Pan of Knock Outs +2TM! out of Edgar’s nubby grip. “Give me that before you go insane with power.”

“Why, I have simply no awareness of what thou me-” He got flattened under the pan and now was pooled flat at the bottom of a small crater “-an… I take it you are a tiny bit frustrated-” He got smacked with the pan again for good measure, thrice, though he didn’t seem to mind too much, apparently. “... I assume this is the point where I am to get the hint.”

“Much obliged.” Acacia said with an eerily cheery smile, handing the Frying Pan of Knock Outs +2TM! to Gizmo the Shopkeeper, who immediately hid the wonder pan into her magical invisible pocket. Because that is a thing.

Edgar remained surprisingly quiet in his crater while a horrified Goomey watched Acacia go, locking her previous assessment into stone. “Moms are scary...” She whimpered like a wounded puppy.

“That they are...” Edgar said, for once in his life too scared stiff for melodrama.

“... This place is so loco, man.” Heatmor said, sounding just a bit like a dirty hippie, hugging his dirt..

After peeling Edgar out of the crater and Bronze leaving to get Scaredy Cat and her Chimecho home, the group sort of disbanded.

Acacia took Heatmor to the crowd so he could publicly apologize for the minor damages he had caused, partly due to Acacia’s glare scaring the Fire-type stiff. The townsfolk of Sunset Hills were pretty good sports about all of it, once they heard of Heatmor’s condition(now shortened to FDPS).

Gizmo The Shopkeeper and Klinky the Klink went back to Everypony’s Everything. Apparently, since Gizmo the Shopkeeper had nearly anything in stock, the townsfolk went to her for things and due to this fire incident business was booming. OPPORTUNISM!

The Chansey had been looking after a few Pokémon that Heatmor had managed to injure during his maybe delusional rampage. After apologizing to the ponies, Heatmor had more than sincerely asked her if he could make up for what he had done as his alter-ego. Now he was making up by helping the Pokèmon he had hurt.

Edgar and Goomey for their part broke off to interrogate… ahem, question any Pokèmon and ponies they came across, Edgar doing most of the talking while Goomey just looked cute. Most of it involved asking details of the event, you know, detective stuff.

However, Edgar did ask a few Poèmon about a certain thing.

“... Hmm...” A Surskit said in thought. “... Sorry. Haven’t seen anyone with that description.”

“Blast!” Edgar ‘cursed’. “Oh well, thank you anyway, ma’am.”

“Sure!” Surskit chimed and walked off towards the river.

The Ditto Detective sighed in defeat. Sixth one and still nothing on him. Goomey gazed up at Edgar sitting atop her head.

“Hey, Uncle. Who’s this Watson guy? Is he a friend?” She asked innocently.

“Watson… hoo boy, my good Watson.” Edgar said with a nostalgic chuckle. “I can’t even remember how much I’ve experienced with that son of a gun. He has been my loyal assistant and partner for so long.”

“What’s he like?” Goomey asked, growing interested.

“Well, Watson was… has always been a rather unique specimen. Very unique indeed.” Edgar said vaguely. “I met him, I think, a few years after I first encountered you. After a bit of a bumpy start we became partners, him and I. A perfect duo, I might say. With my brilliant mind and his wit and abilities we were unstoppable.”

“Now, to give credit where credit is due, Watson has saved my hide a lot more than my pride cares to admit. Sure, I am a little accident prone, but Watson has always been there to pick up the pieces and drag me out of whatever well of despair I’d fall into.”

“He sounds nice.” Goomey said, trying to imagine in her head what Watson was like.

“Oh hohoho!” Edgar laughed merrily. “Well, he might not show it too outwardly, but he is a good man, as far as I am asked. A little bit snappy, but don’t let it fool you. He cares.”

There was a silent moment between the two. Then Edgar sighed.

“To be perfectly honest, even to this day I am yet to fully figure Watson out. The boy is so groundbreaking in so many ways and breaks his own mold so severely I cannot help but wonder how he does it.”

“What do you mean?” Goomey asked.

“Well… that is a hard thing to answer without meeting him. Let’s just say that Watson is unlike anything you have ever seen before. Once I witnessed him knock out a Tyranitar with a clean uppercut.”

Goomey’s eyes basically light up in sparkles at that. “Wow, he sounds awesome!”

Edgar let out a bellowing laugh in his squeaky voice. ‘Note to magnificent self: Find a way to restore these bellowing lungs to their original capacity!’

“That he is, my good dear.” Edgar said, looking at the horizon, wondering how his partner was doing. For he was sure that Watson was out there. “That he is.”

Watson’s Journal

Entry 6

Dear journal

I hate my life.

Good news out of the way first(because heavens know I don’t want to sound depressed right off the bat). I don’t think I need to coach Professor Rowan anymore. I don’t know how, but that Ice Punch he mastered is monster. I sparred with him and while I still won he caught me off guard a couple of times. Gotta respect the guy.

Cheryl is a lot more complicated case. She is eager to learn but there is a bit of an issue with changing that learning into practical use. I don’t know how to go about this, but I will mull it over for a day before trying anything.

Which brings me to the bad news, involving the titular Whimsicott WHO KEEPS LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDER!

… She’s gone, thank the stars. I swear her clinging on me is getting annoying. I don’t know, maybe my masculine image makes her feel safer in a strange land It’s just annoying!

Anyway, screw that tangent. Cheryl keeps trying to steal my pack. I swear, I will need to sleep with one eye open and looking at my pockets. That woman has the most dextrous and sticky fingers I’ve ever seen, though I imagine being a damn Whimsicott helps.

STOP INTERVENING WITH ME AND MY ADDICTION! IT’S MINE AND IT’S MY BUSINESS!

Okay, might need to go punch a tree or something. My stress levels are spiking and I do not want to explode suddenly. Hopefully I’ll find that fat goof soon so I can at least try to feign relaxation.

Entry.6, End~☆

PS. Next night, find a good place to hide the stuff. She did it again!

Author's Note

In this chapter:

-I made a psychological condition and almost nothing relevant happens!

-I keep teasing you about how badass Watson is, but still won't have him officially appear!