PMDU: The Sixth Hour - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Avalodge, Part 1

"Please!?"

"No."

"Please!?"

"No."

"PLEASE!?"

"No!"

Jasper shook his head as he watched Shiloh and Peter bicker in the middle of his lobby.  "Hey guys, could you-?"

"Why not!?" Peter interrupted.  "We're going anyway!"

The Umbreon shook his head.  "Yes, we are going, but to help Guild Assistant Solstice with her research, not participate in meaningless competitions."

The young Aron scrapped his front legs against his face in frustration.  "It's for the pride of the Guild...or whatever!  There's gonna be ice sculpting and soccer and dancing and even storytelling!  I know you love storytelling!"

Shiloh rolled his eyes in exasperation.  "Just because I like Rei's stories doesn't mean I like all stories."

Jasper's bubbles foamed slightly as he held his face in his hands.  As if things hadn't been stressful enough with Jarai being caught, now the entire town was going crazy over the ambassador's party.  It seemed as though it was all anyone had talked (or in this case fought) about for the past week.

As the Umbreon and Aron continued to bicker, a Zangoose in a waistcoat came down the stairs, cautiously skirting the argument.  He approached Jasper with a quizzical look.  "Room 63 and 2/5ths, work for the Researchers, the ambassador's party."

Ray nodded.  "Ah, ewf course.  Speakin' ewf which..."

The water type shook his head as he handed over the recently arrived tickets.  "Compliments of the Hunter's Guild for finding the Riolu."

The Zangoose cocked a half-smile and swept back up the stairs with the slips of paper as Shiloh and Peter still went at it.  "-and then there was that time I saved you from the blasting caps!"

"They were Miazaki mushrooms Peter, a very rare species that-"

"-is very dangerous!"

"-is endangered, and since you decided to crush them I had to pay another fine."

The Aron paused.  "...okay, but how about the time-!"

Both stopped as they suddenly felt Jasper's hands grasping the backs of their necks.  "While your argument is...riveting," he said through a clenched jaw, "I would like it very much if you took.  It.  Up.  Stairs."

<><><><><>

Tobe lifted another crate of berries, carefully placing it inside the Avalodge's back door.  A Pangoro wearing a tattered baseball cap clapped his hands loudly behind the Typhlosion.  "Pick up the pace boy!  We gotta get back to weed!"

Tobe adjusted his leather vest as he sighed.  "Y-Y-Yes P-P-Pa..."

The burly dark type clapped him uncomfortably hard on the back.  "Good boy.  Now I'm gonna get me some of that liquor that Sableye ambassador was round here.  Get me when you're done."

The young fire type sighed again as his father rounded the corner to enter the primary center of the party.  "Sh-She's a F-F-Froslass..." he muttered, praying Pa didn't hear him.  His fears were assayed as the Pangoro kept walking.  Twenty-six more crates later the wagon was finally emptied.  The Snorlax accepting the delivery handed over a small bag of stars and got to work moving the crates into the kitchen.

"Hi!"  Tobe blinked in surprise and turned around to see an Eevee a little younger than himself looking up at him.  She had a small pink bow tied in the middle of her tail, and her fur had the appearance of being freshly cleaned.

Tobe's breath caught in his chest.  This was the first time anyone had ever talked to him without express permission from Pa.  'Is this okay!?' the Typhlosion thought.  'Is Pa gonna be mad if I talk to her!?'

The Eevee cocked her head.  "Are you okay?  Who's Pa?"

His eyes widened in alarm.  'What?!  How can she-?!'

"Read your mind?  I've got telep-...telepa-...I'm gonna be an Espeon, so I can...sometimes anyway."

He blinked rapidly.  "U-Um, okay..."

She smiled widely.  "You don't have to be nervous, I don't know Bite.  I'm Honey."  Honey raised her front right paw, and Tobe gingerly knelt down to shake it.  "It's nice to meet you."

The Typhlosion anxiously rung his hands.  "Y-Y-Y-Yeah, n-n-nice t-to m-meet you t-too..."

"So why are you back here?  Don't you want to join the party?"

Tobe's hair rose with alarm.  "N-N-No I c-can't!  P-P-Pa w-would-!"

"Didn't he say to get him when you're done?  You're done, aren't you?"

He paused.  "...I g-guess..."

Honey sprang up and waved her tail in anticipation.  "Then come on!  The ice sculpting's about to start!"  As the Eevee dashed ahead, Tobe hesitantly followed, sincerely hoping that she hadn't heard him think about how much she remind him of Ma.

<><><><><>

"On your mark..."  The Froslass raised her arm.

"Get set..."  Her Noibat team member raised his wing.

"GO!" they said in unison, dropping their respective appendages and the Noibat tumbling head-over-heels from his momentum.

The crowd cheered as the ice sculpting teams began to chip at their respective blocks.  Jewel and Ray began on their own block, or rather, Jewel did.  With fine, precise cuts, the Seviper shaved the ice into a smooth sphere.  Ray conversely seemed motionless, his eyes squeezed shut and his paws pressed flat against the orb of frozen water.  Once the orb was perfectly smooth, the Zangoose's eyes snapped open and the orb suddenly expanded into an hollow sphere large enough to be a mid-sized room.  Together he and Jewel carved an small entrance into the frozen globe and began to carve swirling lines and geometric snowflake patterns.

Next to them, a Growlithe looked up to admire the couple's work.  "Wow!  Isn't that so cool Tess?!"

His Houndour partner looked at him with an unamused face.  "Brick, spot making bad puns, and stop melting my damn sculpture."  She glanced down at the half-melted semicircle that was supposed to be a replica of the Hunter logo.

As the Growlithe rolled his eyes the bell that signaled fifteen minutes remaining sounded, just as Jewel put the finishing touches on the last snowflake.  She turned to Ray, who had already taken position in the center of the globe's floor for the last part of the sculpture.  "Ready?"

"Ready love.  Just tell me when da lanterns are in place."

The Seviper quickly darted outside the sphere and grabbed a trio of orange lanterns.  She suspended them in the exact center of the icy orb.  "Ready, and...go!"  As she released the lanterns above Ray's head, three spikes of ice shot down from the ceiling, perfecting suspending the lights in the air.  The spires proceeded to gown down and around Ray, extending outside the sphere to form a pedestal.  The normal type took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

It had work perfectly.  The light from the lanterns refracted through both the spikes and the designs, creating an aura of light that projected the designs onto the surrounding area.  From his perspective, the globe looked like a inverted star, with brilliant and beautiful light shinning from every surface.

"And that's time folks!  Tools down!"

<><><><><>

Peter idly toyed with the loose straps of his aviation cap, longingly watching the activities taking place on the ground floor through the railings.  "...Shy, are you-?"

"YES, I am absolutely sure Peter.  Now please stop asking, I need to focus."  Above the Umbreon's head a geometric structure of nevermeltice slowly rotated.  "Anyway Miss Solstice, as far as I can tell, the standard thermal optimization positioning used for most refrigeration units seems to have a negligible effect."

The Swoobat scribbled another note in here book.  "Duly noted Shiloh, thank you.  If you would get started on the artificial liquid replication experiments, I'll round up a few others and be with you shortly."

The dark type nodded and gingerly replaced the nevermelt on the large table in the center of the room.  Navigating amongst the other Researchers, he reached the side of the room with the workbench until he realized Peter was no longer with him.  "C'mon Peter, stay close...Peter?..."