Arms of Arceus

“Welcome back,” Fluttershy said as Maud pulled the unconscious hulks out of the tunnel. “Harmony said the tables that she sent with us should do fine. I hope they do.”

“Do you have Boulder’s treats?” Maud asked as Torri untied her load and Fluttershy’s nurses began placing the hulks on tables.

“Of course,” Fluttershy said as she took a bowl from a nearby medical cart. It had several dozen brown and grey biscuits inside of it, with a note written for the ponies. “Pinkie Pie says that she and Applejack baked them together. I hope he likes them.”

“Pinkie knows Boulder’s tastes,” Maud said as she took a biscuit and held it up to her pet. Fluttershy couldn’t tell if the rock enjoyed it or not, or even if he was eating it, but she smiled all the same.

“Any word from the other expeditions?” Torri asked as she took a glass of water offered to her by a Chansey.

“Not that I know of. I’ve been too busy treating the wounded here to watch for news from the city. I know that Sasha was sending a scouting party through their portal ahead of her main group, but I don’t know if they’ve even had time to find anything yet.”

“I’ve met with my second team of Beedrill,” Suzuki said as she landed next to Torri. “They’re monitoring the perimeter while my first team rests. I’ll be taking both of my teams into the Badlands tonight.”

“Then you should really get some rest, too,” Fluttershy said as she offered Suzuki a cup of water. The Mega Scizor bowed her head in thanks as she took the glass. “What do you have attached to your shield?”

“They’re spear shafts,” Suzuki said, proudly. “I’ll be sending them home with the antlers and horns I gathered earlier.”

“You’re really into trophies, aren’t you?”

“I’ve just now started my collection. It’s kinda fun, really.”

“I didn’t complain because those animals already seemed to be growing their antlers and horns back when they arrived here, but… just try not to really hurt anything when you’re… um, trophy hunting.”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I didn’t kill for these, nor was I about to. Though I promise to keep it in moderation from here on out. Afterall, only the best can enter my collection!”

“Now Tom, why don’t you tell your brothers what you told me?” Fluttershy said as she softly patted the hulk’s enormous shoulder. They sat around their operating tables where they had been for the last hour as they discussed their relationships with Fluttershy.

“Well, I just feel like I gets no respect,” Tom said. He paused a second to blow his nose on a handkerchief that had once been a part of his loin cloth. “They’s always been mean to me, ever since we was small.”

“You gotta understand,” Bert said, his tone uncomfortable and pleading. “We lives in a bad place. No one respects our family anymore after Da went nutters and started talkin’ in chicken speak. We had ta learn how to talk to ‘em, and that wasn’t easy.”

“What Bert means is we had to be hard on you, little brother,” Bill said. “We had to make you stronger to face the bad stuff of the world and survive!”

“You two had good intentions,” Fluttershy said. “However, I think you went about it the wrong way. If the world is harsh, then you need to support one another to survive it, not tear each other down. You can’t make the world kinder if you, yourselves, aren’t kind.”

“You’s a wise one you are,” Bill said with tears in his eyes. “We’re sorry we ever wanted ta eat you and your friends. I’m especially sorry fer bitin’ that pink egg thing when I woke up, and not just ‘cuz she broke my nose.”

“That’s alright,” Fluttershy said as Miracle, one of her two Blissey nurses, huffed in anger before returning to her work on an injured doe. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

“The Beheeyem have arrived,” said Fluttershy’s other head nurse as she walked up behind the group. “Should I have them begin mind alteration now?”

“Um,” Fluttershy said, nervously. She looked to her new charges, then back to the Blissey who waited patiently for her response. “I don’t know, Hope. We’ve made such wonderful progress here.”

“Lady Suzuki and Lady Torri were both insistent that the minds of these hulks be altered so that they remember nothing of us.”

“That would mean our newfound friendship would be gone, too, right?” Bert said, sadly.

“I don’t want that to happen,” Fluttershy said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I know! I’ll have a talk with Suzuki and Torri about this! I know they’re busy, but I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Understand what?” Suzuki said as she landed next to Hope. “Let me guess, you don’t want to alter their minds?”

“Well, we’ve made such great progress here… And besides, no one in their village will believe them, anyway.”

“I don’t like letting them go without covering our tracks, but that’s the least of our worries right now. While you’ve been absent from the psychic link for… patient privacy reasons, my Beedrill and I have made a serious discovery. I’ve already called on Torri, but I think you need to see this, too.”

“Oh? Is it… dangerous?”

“Not unless we’re spotted, now hurry up! Torri is waiting for us at the forest’s edge.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy said as she spread her wings and rose into the air.

“Madam,” said Bert as he reached a hand out to call her back. “Madam Fluttershy!”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I was thinkin’,” Bert said as he rubbed the back of his head shyly. “I knows you’re goin’ out to do somethin’ dangerous now with your friends, and we probably won’t be staying here much longer, anyway. Before we might not see each other again, I was thinkin’ of givin’ you this.”
He held out his wooden spoon, offering it to Fluttershy as a gift. She took it gingerly, appreciating the thoughtfulness behind Bert’s actions.

“You’re sure?” she asked, as she looked down at Bert.

“I’m sure,” Bert said with a broad smile.

“Oh, thank you so much. I know that this is your special cooking spoon. It’s a wonderful gift! I promise to take good care of it, friends.”

Fluttershy turned to Suzuki, a pleading look on her face. Suzuki knew what the pegasus was asking without having to hear the words.

“Fine, they don’t have to be mind wiped,” Suzuki said with a sigh and a small smile. “Though you three had better get home now. A terrible storm is coming, and you should warn your people. Have the Machoke and Gurdurr lead you out of the forest, and be safe.”

“Yes ma’am!” the hulks said together as Fluttershy and Suzuki flew off.
Fluttershy opened a storage flap in her armor, enchanted to be larger than it seemed, and placed the spoon next to the note she had taken from Lord Bartholomew.

“It looks like you’ve got your own little trophy collection,” Suzuki said as she glanced back at the pony.

“They’re more like mementos,” Fluttershy said as she closed the flap. “Some things deserve to be remembered.”

“Aye, friend. They do.”

“What took you guys so long?” Torri asked as Fluttershy and Suzuki landed next to her. Fluttershy looked from the Excadrill and her three Krookodile, to the twenty-four Beedrill hovering above the ground at the border of the Badlands. The bug-types always seemed angry and territorial, but there was a strangeness in their eyes and the way they moved their heads that spoke to Fluttershy of fear. Even though she couldn’t see their auras, she had a feeling that her friend Treehugger would call them “crazy scared”.

“We came as fast as we could,” Suzuki said, already looking out on the horizon. There were many rock formations nearby, and far in the distance loomed a massive, imposing mountain shaped like a grasping hand. Though the pegasus tried to locate the thing Suzuki was worried about, she could see nothing of note.

“Well, I brought my personal guards, and Maud. You’re here with Fluttershy and all of your Beedrill. Let’s get moving! I wanna see what pulled me away from my tunnels! Why won’t you just tell us again?”

“Because…” Suzuki said, her stare falling suddenly as if pulled out of some nightmare. “Because I don’t want to spoil you with my fears. I want your unbiased opinion. I want to know that my Beedrill and I aren’t just seeing things.”

“Is it that bad?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t think it’s anything good, but… I just can’t be sure without more opinions.”

“Fine, let’s get moving, then,” Torri said as she led her Krookodile into the Badlands.

The group traveled for two hours, past sun bleached bones and parched, yellow grass. Teams of hyenas and packs of lions roamed this landscape, though none of them seemed interested in attacking the Pokémon as they rushed across the dying ground. Suzuki had led her swarm throughout much of this land in the last four hours, and they had been forced to make a reputation for themselves among the wildlife here. She hadn’t gained any trophies, though she had considered it several times. All thoughts of trophies had vanished when she had laid eyes on the enemy, however.

The sky was a darker shade of green here than it had been in the forest. This land was a scavenger’s paradise, with the signs of a broken civilization etched throughout it. Where rock formations didn’t loom ominously, there were broken buildings and the wreckage of rusted cars and road systems. Suzuki had seen signs of humanoid hulks living here during her first exploration. She thought she saw several heads peering at them through windows now, as they passed through what must have been a city suburb at one point. She made note of a woman grabbing her young child and pulling him back inside their broken house. The Pokémon had most certainly been spotted, but that didn’t matter. The only thing she cared about was further west.

The group traveled deeper into the ruins of the civilization that had preceded Greenland. The buildings in this area were less broken and blown out than the ones further back, but the feeling of gamma contamination was worse than anything the group had experienced thus far. Still Suzuki led them, further into the heart of this dead society, until they reached its center.

The ground was clear of buildings, here. The soil was strangely damp and soft to the touch.

“Are we getting close?” Torri asked as she gave her friend a worried glance.

“It’s just past this hillside, but we need to stay hidden,” Suzuki replied as she crouched down. Her Beedrill landed and began crawling across the ground, each step full of caution as their heads darted around nervously.

When Suzuki had first found it, her heart had sunk. She’d had a desperate need to tell Torri and Fluttershy and report back to the city, but she had been so afraid of the psychic link being spied upon that she hadn’t used it until she was well clear of the Badlands. She hadn’t been sure if she should send word back through the portal to God’s Breath immediately, or get a second opinion in case she had been wrong. After a brief debate with herself, she had decided that she needed the others to see this before she called upon the city’s time and resources.

“There,” Suzuki said as she pointed down the hill. “What does that look like to you?”

Suzuki heard a sharp intake of breath from Torri, and she looked down to see the same horror on her face that Suzuki felt. There was a strange satisfaction in being right, though there was no happiness in it.

“All I see are a bunch of stone buildings, with an army of shadowy Pokémon patrolling the dirt path that connects them,” Fluttershy said as she peered down at the scene. “Is there something I should know about that? What are those strangely shaped creatures with one eye? They aren’t quite like the others. What is this place?”

“It’s the Ruins of Alph,” Torri and Suzuki said, together.