Ruin Scares

“Alright Bellflower!” Vivian held up her Eevee/Woobat fusion staring into his eyes. Or, well, the fur that covered where his eyes probably were... or did he have eyes? He was part woobat, after all, so maybe he only used echolocation... Vivian shook her head, that didn’t matter right now she’d solve that mystery another day, “You’re going to be my guide today.”

Bellflower tilted his head. Admittedly Vivian wasn’t sure if he had any thoughts going on in his head. It was difficult to tell sometimes. Still he was the only fusion she had that she could rely on for this. Being new she didn’t want to bring Anemone along to, what she thought, might be a bit of a frightening place. That’s what she heard from others anyway.

“We’re going to go take a look at those ruins.” Vivian grinned. “I bet it looks so cool... Maybe we’ll even find something interesting. Ah, but I can’t forget...”

Vivian set Bellflower back onto the ground and picked up her woven basket. She wasn’t going on a mission to gather plants and flowers (this time), but the basket did make it much easier to carry the couple of eggs she wanted to take with her. Now that Lupine finally hatched she felt she could finally take time to bond with some other eggs... it’s just a shame she couldn’t carry any more than a few with her at any time.

“Now we’re good to go. What do you think Bellflower, ready to go on an adventure~?”

The Pokemon jumped a couple of times to give a “yes” answer. Vivian couldn’t help but wonder if he really understood where they were going, or even cared, but the enthusiastic response just made her feel confident that taking him was the right choice.

“Off we are then!”

Vivian felt grateful for her choice in clothing... for the most part. Her top was pretty warm but she could’ve done with better pants instead of just her skirt, fishnet, and leg warmers... though it was far from the worst at least. The sudden temperature drop near Lostlorn Ruins wasn’t unexpected, she’d heard about it often when talking with people while preparing for her journey, but she did underestimate how drastic it was. On the bright side Bellflower didn’t seem too bothered at all. Even when she felt the hair on her arms stand up he didn’t even flinch.

“Still...” Vivian checked on the eggs in her basket. She’d brought a cloth for them,  but did worry that it wouldn’t be enough to keep them warm.

“Vee?” Bellflower’s cry took Vivian’s attention back. He wandered over to what looked like a broken pillar and began investigating it. This, at least, was a sign they were getting closer to the actual ruins.

“It definitely looks old alright...” Vivian reached out to gently touch the pillar. She worried that putting too much pressure would cause it to disintegrate... and honestly the texture didn’t assuage her worries at all. Even as she rubbed her finger across the stone ever so slightly bits of it crumbled to the ground.

“Hmm... yeah we should be careful.” Vivian said. “Don’t get too close to these, they could crumble.” 

Vivian gently nudged Bellflower away from the pillar with her foot and urged him to continue on. Just as she asked he took the lead guiding her through the area and, she hoped, away from any dangerous pokemon that might be lurking about. Even so though she couldn’t help but feel like they were constantly being watched... she just prayed it wasn’t because they were being seen as prey.

All those thoughts quickly left her being replaced with a sense of awe when they came across a larger collection of ruins. Though they were old and broken down she could still make out enough of their previous shapes to get a sense for what the place might have looked like in the past. It must’ve been some kind of neighborhood, though she couldn’t imagine what life would’ve been like. 

Out of curiosity she tested one of the half-crumbled stairs leading into a decently kept together house (though without its roof and with walls shorter than they probably were in its prime). When the stare didn’t crumble under her step she walked into the doorway. Only things made of stone survived so any furniture that might’ve existed at one point no longer decorated the former house... still Vivian did see some things of interest. Bowls and cooking utensils mostly.

“Hmm... I almost wish I could go back in time to see this place when it was populated.” Vivian walked back down the stairs spotting Bellflower nearby and inspecting some discarded ancient items on the ground. “This is pretty cool as is, though.”

One of Bellflower’s ears twitched and he looked up, turning towards Vivian. Then he jogged over and sat down looking up at her basket.

“What’s up? You wanna look?”

They’d been walking for a while, so she saw no harm in taking a bit of a break. She sat the basket on the ground and, in the process of kneeling down, noticed Bellflower pawing at one of the eggs.

“Woah relax... I can take it out of the basket for you.”

Vivian pulled the egg out of the basket right away but, immediately, noticed something very different. The bottom of the egg was completely gone and replacing it was... a ghostly vapor? That’s the best she could describe it. Alarmed, she sat the egg down and attempted to help the pokemon hatch the rest of the way.

“There was no shaking at all!” 

It didn’t take long for the fusion to become free and, thankfully, it seemed to be unharmed. When Vivian finally relaxed enough to get a good look at it the ghostly vapor immediately made sense... being part Misdreavus. The other half, as best she could tell, looked to be a Tinkatink.

“You certainly didn’t make yourself known...”Vivian said. The hatched fusion looked at her with what looked like indifference... but she was just glad it seemed to be healthy. The other egg didn’t look like it was quite ready to hatch yet.

“Well you don’t seem like you’d be uncomfortable in a place like this. So I think we can continue exploring-”

As she said that a shadow crossed the corner of her eye making Vivian turn her head. The thing was fast whatever it was and she couldn’t see any sign of something having passed by... not even the dust on the ruins seemed to have been disturbed. A ghost type pokemon of some kind maybe?

“...What do you think Bellflower?”

Bellflower, who had busied himself with inspecting the new fusion, looked at her blankly. Clearly he didn’t seem to care one way or the other whether they stayed or went. The feeling of being watched that she felt before had only grown in strength, though, making her much less inclined to continue on. As much as she liked the ominous atmosphere... admittedly she didn’t do well with actual scary things. At most she could put on an act around others.

“We wouldn’t want to be caught here while it’s dark... Maybe we should head back. For now.” Vivian knew she was just making excuses, but she started to think going alone might’ve been a bad idea. Especially considering her pokemon, currently, might not be as trained as needed for the journey.

Another moving shadow in the corner of her eye caused Vivian to stand up suddenly and rigidly straight. She gathered up her basket and second egg before ushering both Bellflower and the hatched fusion back towards the direction they came. “We’ll come back and look around more later! Yeah! Maybe I’ll bring a journal too, or something.”

Vivian didn’t waste any time trying to get away from the ruins, at least.As soon as they passed by the pillar they saw before she started to feel more relaxed, but at the same time a sudden movement made her jump. While the second egg decided to take longer to hatch it, apparently, decided it didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun.

“Ooogh you sure picked a time to start this!” Vivian mumbled. She didn’t stop walking, only slowed down, as she tried to wrestle the egg out of the basket to give it more room to hatch. While she felt more relaxed she didn’t feel at ease, so it would have to deal with hatching while they walked.

The egg itself didn’t seem to mind though. It hatched rather easily, pieces of eggshell falling to the ground in a trail that Vivian hoped no pokemon would follow, and she could clearly make out the fusion in no time. The skull mask was unmistakable as a Duskull, while the body shape was very reminiscent of a Deino. Though it was by chance Vivian couldn’t help but think about the fitting coincidence of both pokemon hatching being part ghost type.

“Well. It’s nice to meet you both. Wish it was during a better time.”

The Deino/Duskull fusion hopped out of her arms and onto the ground to start running immediately probably, she assumed, to stretch its ghostly legs. Vivian was just grateful she wasn’t carrying so much weight anymore. Still, the more she thought about the situation, she couldn’t help but laugh about it.

“This will be a story to tell.” She glanced over her shoulder briefly, “Maybe I’ll come back again and try to find that shadow.”

For now, though, she looked forward to getting back home and actually taking the time to get acquainted with a couple of new fusions.