Leaf

  —

  I was still laughing as we retreated to our room to talk. Laughing heartily!

  I mean, I got it! I really did! Emily, the older girl, was being a responsible person, honestly. She saw a fresh, first-year trainer practically surrounded by multiple fae, one of which was a Morgrem, and got reasonably worried for my safety. I certainly didn't hold it against her… Trying to grab my shoulder instead of just calling out? While I was almost surrounded by our teams, plural? That was so unthinkingly dumb it was hard to believe, but she had been almost panicking…

  Erin was loving the distraction from her Performance planning, grinning widely as she closed the door behind us, but Alex looked far more irritated by this little interruption.

  Emily and her… I wasn't sure, but I assumed her sister flinched back as all of our Pokemon came back out in a huge wave of red. Mom apparently decided that our room was an appropriate place to growl, too. They both went pale as moms huge head came down to stare directly into their eyes as she rumbled, but I just laughed and pushed her head away. Well, I pushed on her jaws, and she lifted her head. The rest of our Pokemon were also glaring at her… Actually, not Tinkatink or Morgrem. They were both laughing at the girls, and not in a nice way. I frowned slightly at the sight.

  "Morgrem! I won't tell you not to enjoy their terror, but don't corrupt Tinkatink!" He grinned at me.

  "That girl is an idiot, and I dare you to tell me it's not funny! I know you can lie, but you rarely do. Tinkatink? Well… I wouldn't call it corrupting her, that implies intent! I'm just enjoying myself. Tinkatink simply… finds similar things amusing…" I glared at him.

  "You might not intend to corrupt her, but one malicious fae on my team is enough for me! I mean… Yes, it was funny, Tinkatink, but remember our talks about being nice? I laughed, but I didn't keep laughing!" Tinkatink didn't stop giggling at the girls, and I turned my head back to them. They looked even more shocked now, and they flinched back as my eyes met theirs.

  Oh, yeah… My eyes… It was cool, sure, but they certainly flashed more than Erin's, probably because I communed a lot. Well, because I actually talked a lot, I was always communing… Maybe I could learn to stop the flashes, somehow?

  "How did you know he doesn't… intend to corrupt her?!" Emily was stunned, and I couldn't help the giggle that broke out.

  Me and most of the room, actually. Even Yanmega clacked his fangs together a few times, which I had to assume was a laugh of some sort. Ahab was still glaring at them unrelentingly, and with murderous intent, but he did slap his kelp against his wheel a few times.

  Slightly surprising, but I had gotten to know him a little over the past few weeks. He might be a murderous ghost, but he certainly liked us. I got the feeling he would actually love Erin in a few more weeks, considering how happy he usually seemed. Happy to have a larger anchor, to grow, to see the world beyond the ocean floor… Happy to kill and consume varieties of life force…

  I stopped giggling long enough to speak. Barely.

  "I'm a Fairy Master! I literally just communed with him! I mean, I didn't reply through communion that time, but I wanted Tinkatink to hear, too, and she still can't commune very easily yet." I really enjoyed the look on the older girl's face. She looked like a Magikarp, mouth opening and closing in confusion! The younger girl finally spoke up for the first time, and she looked far more intrigued than scared… Still a little scared, though.

  "You communed with him? But your nose isn't bleeding?" I snorted a little.

  "I'm, uhh… special, I guess? Communion doesn't hurt me." Now she looked like her older sister! An older sister who was squinting at me.

  "Wait, that doesn't make sense! How can you-" I cut her off with a raised hand.

  "Listen, your concern was appreciated, but I have no need to tell you anything. What would I get out of it, other than spreading an advantage?" Not that I cared about keeping an advantage, actually. I just didn't want some random trainer to attempt to trick a fae into the same kind of bond that Hope had been 'tricked' into… I got the feeling that chances were unfortunately high they would simply die when the fae figured it out.

  "You're a Fairy Master? At… thirteen?" I shrugged at the younger girl's question.

  "Yeah? I mean, Erin's a Dragon Master at fourteen…" Erin lightly glared at me, but they barely did more than glance at her. Erin's status was kind of known, of course. Mom was a walking, growling sign that said 'Dragon Master here!', even if they hadn't heard of her before, so it wasn't exactly shocking.

  Alex practically growled out her words when she finally spoke up.

  "So, Leaf is fine. Thanks for your reasonable concern, but if that's it? We'd like to go back to enjoying ourselves today. Alone." Wow, she was glaring at them… Although, yeah, I kind of got it. This had been funny, but I wasn't about to tell two strangers everything, and we had made vague plans for today…

  Emily shook her head a little, then met my eyes.

  "If you're actually a Fairy Master, then I guess you're fine… Actually, could I get your help, in that case? Just a quick communion, if it actually doesn't hurt you?" She was weighing me with her eyes, and I scowled at her. Judging from the way her eyes widened, the whites of my eyes once again flashed pink!

  "First of all, your little test is offensive." Mom growled from behind me, even as Hope started growling again! I hadn't known she could even do that!

  "Second… Why? I thought you were from a family of contractors? Shouldn't you know what you're doing?" She flushed a little, and muttered her next words.

  "Because one of my Pokemon won't obey me, somehow… The contract should compel obedience, but they disobey me sometimes…" She trailed off at the glare on my face.

  "Release them, then. Let's see why a fae who should be compelled to obey you isn't." I knew that most trainers treated fae like that, but still… Her choice of words kind of pissed me off.

  I really wish I had asked what Pokemon she had before I told her to release it, however.

  Hope didn't just growl this time as she popped in front of me with a short-range Teleport, either.

  "Faaaable! BLLLE!" She was pissed, and Stabby was right there with her in a second, even as Morgrem flinched backwards, hair forming into one huge halberd blade above his head before he moved to my side. Tinkatink actually ran to Alex and jumped into her arms.

  The rest of the room reacted similarly, growls and glares erupting from everyone, chief among them mom's huge rumbling growl. I didn't blame any of them, either. I liked fae! I was completely numb to the sense of wrongness each and every one gave off these days, too!

  The Togetic was still the worst thing I had ever seen in my life. Not as horrific as that monster of a Clefable in Mt. Moon, but even it didn't feel as wrong as this… thing in front of me.

  It floated there, smiling widely, happily. Despite myself I almost found it cute, but then the knowledge of what this thing was came rushing to the forefront of my mind.

  The Togepi line had been a huge surprise to Erin, actually. Apparently in the games and show, the Togepi line wasn't just good, they were seen as good luck charms, as bringers of happiness! Here? She had looked sick when I told her what they were like in reality.

  The Togepi line did bring happiness here. Well, sort of. They brought 'happiness' to the unfortunate parents whose Egg they had replaced, actually, even before they hatched. They didn't warp minds like a psychic did, either. The parents knew their Egg shouldn't have those colors, that specific pattern of colors. They knew the baby Pokemon that 'hatched' out of part of its shell had replaced their own child, and that their actual Egg was long gone, eaten by the Togetic or Togekiss that laid the little horror.

  They knew all of this the entire time they were compelled to care for the Togepi, up to and including defending it with their lives… Or literally starving themselves to death caring for it, even as it cheerfully, gleefully ate every scrap of food they brought it. They were compelled to do all of that 'happily' on the outside… Not so much in their own minds…

  Erin had called them 'demon cuckoos', and after she told me about the bird 'animals'? It was close enough, even if Togepi were worse!

  I felt the Togetic reach out to try and commune with me, and I got mad!

  Not as mad as Hope, of course.

  I could sense what happened in that soul-space even when I wasn't fully there, and I didn't need to see it fall out of the air to know what had happened. Hope, Stabby, and Morgrem had all… slammed it. Hard. Then Morgrem had stabbed it, somehow, while Hope held it down and Stabby, for once, didn't stab.

  He just pressed it down with unrelenting force, and I could hear it start to scream for a brief moment. I practically snarled out my next words.

  "Guys, let it… talk. It can't take from me, but if it so much as twitches closer to me, feel free to go wild." I ignored the wide-eyed Emily as I closed my eyes, letting Hope pull me fully into that in-between place.

  The Togepi line apparently looked like an… Egg, here. An Egg that was still struggling, even as Hope's huge form pinned it down, Morgrem's stick-figure of dark embers off to the side with one arm driven into it. Stabby towered over everything, and part of him somehow stood on it. I could practically hear its 'shell' cracking, but… I really didn't care.

  'You have one chance to explain what you were attempting to do to me. You can't lie, no, but if you try to mislead me, to be deceptive, I'll let them do whatever they want to do to you! Listen closely to me when I say this, and know it to be true: You will be completely, totally honest and free with your information, or you will cease to exist!'

  It froze under Stabby's… foot? It froze, then seemed to sigh as Stabby lifted a bit of the pressure off of it. Off of her.

  "I was just going to say hi! Maybe also, uhh…" Stabby's foot came down again, and after a brief scream he let off again.

  "I was going to see if I could compel you to trade for me…" Oh, hell no!

  My 'voice' here was furious as I sent one last message to everyone.

  'Don't let her up, or let her do anything. I'm going to talk to this idiot, see what her little contract says about this… thing.' I could feel her amusement at my choice of words, and I knew right then and there that this fae would never be nice.

  Yes, no species was responsible for the actions of every other of its species. Look at Stabby and Hope! Even Snazzy, Ian's Weavile! No individual was defined by their species! This Togetic, though? She knew what her line did was horrific, and she found it so amusing!

  I opened my eyes and practically growled out my next words.

  "Let me see your contract, you idiot!" Emily flinched back from my gaze, but her sister was apparently made of sterner stuff… That, or she was just dumb.

  "Don't call her an idiot! She didn't choose to have a Togepi!" My glare lessened slightly, but only very slightly.

  "Then she has my sympathies, but there's no way a Togepi was able to compel a whole family of contractors! That thing is a prime example of its species, in fact! I'm certain there's good, nice examples of the Togepi line out there, but that is not one of them!" She flinched back from my snarl, even as Emily pulled out a laminated… note card?!

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Here, it's just a copy of it, but it's the exact same as-" I cut her off.

  "No, let me see the actual contract." She frowned, but dug back into her pack, pulling out a small lockbox. She turned away from us briefly and unlocked it, quickly pulling out another note card! My glare couldn't get any fiercer as I took it from her hands.

  It certainly tried to as I read the contract.

  I didn't use them, obviously, but I had done a lot of research on contracts, and this one seemed perfect. Was perfect, actually, considering a family of contractors had worked on it… Except for the part where Togetic, or Togepi, had signed.

  Specifically the part where they had misspelled their signature.

  Most fae, and Pokemon in general of course, couldn't read or write. Well, they could, but they had to learn, and very few bothered to learn other than some psychics, or those that could interact with humans more freely, like Dexter. Hecate was actually learning from him occasionally… So when a fae signed a contract, they simply wrote their species name out, and all contracts had an example below the place where a fae would sign. The knowledge that the symbols they wrote out was their signature was enough to make it their signature…

  This one read more like Tegepi, rather than Togepi. It was slight, though, barely noticeable, and after a moment of squinting, Hope joined me in my mind briefly. There was a surge of admiration from her for a brief instant, actually.

  "She somehow managed to weave some misdirection directly into the paper. It's actually VERY impressive… Anyone not a fae, or you, looking at this would read Togepi. It's such a tiny effect that it isn't broken by a regular person closely inspecting it. If she had tried the whole word, it would be obvious even to them, but this? They would have never seen through it…" 'Thanks, Hope… What should I do? This fucking thing will get her killed sooner rather than later if I just leave them be! It's kind of weak, actually, but…'

  "I… Well, you might actually approve of my choice, but maybe tell the idiot first?" 'Good idea… I got so mad I was actually about to give you the go ahead…'

  My eyes popped back open and I glared at Togetic, even as I noticed Hope physically restraining it, Stabby hovering in front of its face with an evil glare as Morgrem waited with his halberd raised. Togetic looked slightly panicked now. Good!

  I turned my glare on Emily momentarily, before I looked over at Stabby.

  "Stabby, could you dispel this glamour, somehow?"

  I ignored the gasps from the two idiots as Stabby nodded and floated over, glare never leaving Togetic's face until he saw the contract. His eyes widened in surprise for a brief moment before a torrent of pink fae magic slammed into the contract. After a few moments it stopped and he zoomed back over to glare even harder. Erin was glaring murderously as well, of course, but Alex looked… not afraid, but more wary than mad, holding a shaking Tinkatink as Grace stroked her back, trying to calm her down.

  I handed the contract back to Emily, fury in my voice.

  "You don't have a contract with that thing, Emily. It very cleverly tricked you. Honestly, it was an impressive deception, even to Hope and Stabby." Her hands shook as she read her useless contract, and when she finally got to the signatures, she went pale.

  "She could have… taken from me at any time!" I nodded at her as she met my eyes again.

  "I haven't asked what it intended to do with you yet. I need to know what you intend to do now, actually. I can ask it, but only if you want to have… her as your Pokemon. She intended to compel me into trading for her, actually." Emily's eyes widened briefly before tearing up a little and closing. Her voice was so small and sad when she finally spoke.

  "I… Ask her why, please…" I got the feeling she wouldn't like the answer…

  I let myself slip back in-between, glaring at the cracked Egg on the 'floor' of the… plane we were on? I knew this space didn't actually look like an endless flat plane of smoke, but that's what my brain showed me.

  'What were your intentions towards Emily? I won't ask you why you forged a fake signature. That's obvious, and I don't even blame you for it… much. I'd blame any other line less than I blame you, though. I can feel your… maliciousness.'

  She laughed from underneath Stabby.

  "I didn't have anything in particular planned, actually!" I glared at her.

  'What sort of things did you have planned? Give me another non-answer and you will regret it. You can float without your wings!' She could feel the truth in my statement, but instead of getting scared, she… got amused?

  "I planned many things! To assist her in her goal to lead her family! To slowly, carefully take her emotions, her feelings, until she was an empty husk! To use her family's compound as my breeding ground! I planned to help her throughout her life, only to pluck her greatest victory from her hands with a perceived betrayal! I planned to peacefully leave her at some point! I planned on finding a competent contractor that would actually help me Evolve again!" She began to laugh.

  "I planned many things! I hadn't decided which one I would follow through with, yet!" I felt sick as she continued to laugh, even as Morgrem stabbed her again.

  I pulled myself out again and sighed.

  "She didn't sign it because she didn't want to bind herself, and I don't actually blame her for that, not very much, at least. She planned many things. Betrayal, slowly taking everything from you, using your family compound as a breeding ground, leaving peacefully, finding another trainer that would help her Evolve… She hadn't decided what to do yet, though…" Emily somehow got paler, even as her sister began to lightly cry, hugging her from behind.

  I let her collect her thoughts for a few moments, but we couldn't just leave this thing in here while she took a few days… Well, Pokeballs and stasis, sure, but…

  "Emily? What do you want to do?" She thought for a couple more moments before she met my eyes.

  "If she'll actually sign the contract, then that's it… I never expected her to be… nice…" I winced at the sadness in her voice. Yeah, she probably thought they had something of a bond…

  I popped back in-between, glaring at Togetic.

  'You heard her. Will you actually sign the contract? My following statement is meant not as a threat to force cooperation, merely a statement of fact. Should you refuse to sign it, you will be disposed of. I am no stranger to malicious Pokemon, but you are beyond malicious, somehow. You are wrong. What is your choice?'

  She went still for more than a minute, but I didn't stop 'glaring' at her, even as Morgrem somehow formed a blade out of his stick-figure arm that wasn't currently buried in her.

  Her voice was resigned as she spoke again.

  "I will… sign the… contract…" I frowned, but… She wasn't my Pokemon…

  I pulled myself back out and gently spoke to Emily.

  "She said she will actually sign the contract…" Emily didn't look happy, of course, but she nodded and pulled out a pen to remove the old, fake signature.

  "Hope, let her up please. Morgrem? If she tries anything whatsoever, remove her head." I ignored the gasp from the younger girl… Who was my age, yes, but I still didn't know her name!

  Morgrem nodded, face completely serious for once. He was taking this more seriously than anything I had ever seen from him, but considering the grinning Togetic looking dismissively at his halberd-hair? It wasn't that surprising… Enjoying the pain, the fear, the torment of others? That was still somehow not nearly as… evil as this thing, and he was just as horrified by it as we were.

  In short order the horrible Pokemon signed the contract, and I got to witness first hand how they affected fae. When my fae made me a promise, it wasn't necessarily forever, but it was close. They couldn't go against the promise unless I gave them permission, or excused them from it going forward. I was able to do that because they were agreements between us, not… laws.

  Contracts worked a lot more like a true contract for the fae. It bound them to follow the contract exactly, and unless there was a stipulated way out of it, they were ironclad. Forever. Even if the contract was destroyed, their contractor dead, they still remained in their mind. It was why most refused to sign a contract that didn't have an escape route, so to speak.

  This one did not have an escape route.

  Togetic was not happy as the bindings seemed to sear themselves into her mind, but I truly didn't care. She was as… dark as fae got, even darker than my literal Dark Fairy…

  I also decided then and there that I would never use contracts for my fae, even if I somehow lost whatever 'specialness' that Hope gave me. It looked painful, and I knew that it was… wrong to do to most living beings. Most living beings despised the Togepi line, though, for very, very good reasons… Reasons this one embodied, and wholeheartedly enjoyed…

  Togetic floated up after Hope released her and glared at me with murder in her eyes… For a moment. Then I felt Stabby crush her a little, and she stopped.

  Emily was still pale as she put the contract away again, and her sister looked worse, like she would pass out at any moment.

  "Why didn't you get rid of that thing before it hatched?" Emily's face was so sad as she sniffed.

  "It… My mom has an Azumarill, a very nice, kind one… She gave me one of her Eggs last year, before I went on a trip to Sinnoh…" I winced as I saw where this was going.

  "It got… replaced while I was there. I was compelled, but my Sylveon noticed. He couldn't break the compulsion himself, but he knew how to call my family, show them the Egg over video even if he can't, you know, talk… My mom came and got me, brought me home, helped me break the compulsion… I should have killed her before she hatched, but…" She trailed off, and I could work that out for myself.

  It wasn't her Egg anymore, but… it was an unhatched Pokemon. Less than a baby, despite its natural ability to compel. It probably felt wrong to kill it… Even if the Egg it had replaced had been from a Pokemon she was friendly with. There was no guarantee it would have been like… this, either. Highly likely, yes, but not a certainty. Pokemon species had inclinations, but each was an individual… Pokemon didn't choose their species. Probably? I was relatively sure that fae, at least, didn't choose. It was probably more of a natural inclination thing for fae…

  I let Emily collect herself and turned to her sister.

  "So… I think we haven't heard your name? I'm Leaf, that's Erin and Alex, and you are…?" She flushed a little and sniffed deeply, clearing her throat.

  "I'm Anya… Thank you for helping Emily…" She trailed off as Emily shook herself out.

  "Well! I… I really didn't expect all this when I saw a kid with a Morgrem, not to mention the other fae… Why do they have names?" She looked a bit steadier now, and I laughed.

  "Well, Stabby got his name from 'playing' with Cleffa and Clefairy poachers, actually!" She went pale as he smiled.

  "He's not my Pokemon, though, he's Erin's. Well, he's her best friend, and just so happens to be her Pokemon at the same time." Stabby laughed and nodded, even as Emily gave Erin a piercing look that she returned, eyes blazing. Emily flinched back a little.

  "I named Hope, though!" Her head whipped back around to me, hers and Anya's, their mouths falling open.

  "It goes badly when they don't like the name, actually. Hope loves spreading hope, though, and she obviously loves her name! I'll name Tinkatink and Morgrem when they fully Evolve. I need to know them, and I'll commune with them when I finally do. They'll agree to their names before I ever say them out loud."

  They were silent as they stared at me in… oh, I've seen this one before!

  "I think I broke them?"

  Erin and Alex burst into laughter. Well, the entire room burst into laughter, even… Togetic, and I glared at her intensely for a moment before she got the hint and returned herself.

  I'd rather not have to even see such an… evil Pokemon, personally.

  —

  —

  Emily and Anya finally left around noon… after the entire morning was wasted. Obviously the… issue had been resolved before then, so why noon?

  Apparently I was owed money for my 'services', and I wouldn't say no. Between the TM's I had bought and Tinkatink's cache of metal, I was almost completely broke. Had been almost broke, actually. It had taken them a few hours to get ahold of their apparently busy parents, and another hour to explain what had happened, but once it was all said and done?

  Well, I had the most money out of everyone here now… even if you combined Erin and Alex's money. Emily's parents had been extremely grateful, obviously, and had been… a little too generous, honestly.

  In fact…

  I glanced over at Dexter as he floated next to Erin's head. We were heading to the Museum for a short visit, considering there wasn't much else to do in this city… There was one place I wanted to go, though…

  "Dexter, can you come here for a second, please?" He bobbed up and down, his equivalent of a shrug, before zipping over to my head. I deliberately turned away from Erin and Alex, and didn't actually speak. I knew Dexter could run my lips through lip reading software, and after a moment he shrugged again and nodded.

  Erin and Alex were giving me looks now, but I just smiled at them. Sweetly.

  "Don't worry about it! So, looking forward to the Museum? I heard they recently received an exhibit from Kalos, a set of armor, some weapons, even a branch of their Tree of Life, supposedly!" It sounded kind of cool, honestly? I wasn't some sort of… weapons enthusiast like Erin, but old Kantonian warriors hadn't used full metal armor, so it would be different, at least?

  Erin stopped walking, though, face pale. Alex and I looked at her in confusion, but she closed her eyes after a moment, shaking her head. She then just… kept walking, like nothing had happened!

  "Sis, what did you think about?" She glared at me for a moment, before looking around. She found a nice little corner next to a house and its steps that we followed her to, and after a moment Stabby and Hecate popped out. The air around us seemed to grow stagnant, and I knew that there was a barrier keeping out all sound around us now.

  One hand rose to cover her mouth, and her eyes were deadly serious as she looked at us.

  "The 'Tree of Life' isn't a tree, it's the dormant form of a Legendary… Honestly, it's almost certainly not somehow one of Xe- it's horns, I really doubt they would allow any to be removed… So really, I just got nervous for no good reason, I guess?" She frowned at our intense looks.

  "I might tell you later tonight, but not here next to some random person's house while Hecate and Stabby keep everything quiet. Don't even breathe the word Legendary, though." We nodded at her and the barrier dropped. Erin sighed.

  "I really need to control my reactions better… You know what would be cool, though?" We both glared at the pure excitement in her voice. That usually meant a bad time for someone.

  "It would be bada- awesome if one of the weapons was a Honedge! They are easily a top ten species for me, not to mention their resistances and immunities! Steel/Ghost is almost busted, honestly… Not that I would be capturing something part of an exhibit, of course! I'm not a criminal!" I breathed a sigh of relief.

  Wait, but she mentioned it, and Erin kind of generated chaos…

  Crap, I really hope there isn't a Honedge there, because it would probably sense how insane Erin was! I didn't know a lot about the species, them being one of the rarest species, but… If anyone could wake up an ancient ghostly blade, it would be her!

  wrongness in those nearby.

  wrong that even other fae look at them and go 'Kill it with fire'.