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Niall had never strayed far from the beach before, but today something had triggered his curiousity. What lay beyond the shores on which he lived? What kind of pokemon? So he'd made his way towards the woods, passing a few familar sites--he spotted the all too familar celebi brat, carrying a basket of who knew what. Ugh. He didn't mind Brenny. when the kid wasn't bothering his sister. Niall hesitated, upon reaching a house. He stared. He wasn't too fond of humans, his trainer and her mate were the only two he truly trusted. He was still skittish. He wasn't sure he wanted to continue.

Dea was inside, her Pokemon all helping her with the chores.

"You know, I can do this by myself,"she reminded all of them.

"We know, Mama. But everyone needs help. Let us do so,"Fluff piped up, his tail wagging slightly.
"You can't say you don't appreciate the help,"Lighting added, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. Dea sighed, seeing the others look at her. She nodded her head, knowing it was pointless to argue with them when they all agreed.

Nope. He didn't want to continue. Niall turned to walk back the other way, giving a shiver. This had been too much adventure for him, he could see that now. This place, though it was beautiful, was not for him. There were too many trees, and it was hard to see the sun. And that house had too many voices coming from it. He was sure there was a large nest of humans swarmed up inside.

"Hey, can someone go outside and check the mail for me please? I haven't done so yet,"Dea spoke up.

"I can go look, Dea. Anyone want to come with me?"Lightning asked, looking at the rest of the family.
10 mins ago

Tristan looked up from the puzzle he'd been doing. He alone, apparently had felt Dea should do something for herself. He wanted her to get better, to improve, and he didn't think doing everything for her was going to help with that. "I'll go with you," he said, standing. He grabbed his jacket, opening the door. "Come on," he said, beckoning Lightening out. He hesitated, catching sight of Niall. Huh. The kid looked familiar, maybe he'd seen him on the beach at some point. "Hey kid!" he called, moving towards Niall.
Niall turned, eyes widening. He was sure he'd been caught. He was relieved when he saw it was someone, quite like him. A pokemon person. "Hi," he greeted Tristan, hesitantly.
AnimeNandrew
Lightning had followed Tristan outside, then seemed to stop when she saw someone she hadn't met before.

"Hello, my name is Lightning. This is my friend, Tristan,"she greeted politely.

Niall thought Tristan looked familiar, and so addressed him first. "You live here?" he asked, blinking. He supposed it was a nice place to live, but it seemed so... Human. Blegh. He made a face, and then glanced towards Lightning. He winced, moving to hide behind Tristan. These were both electric type pokemon! And he was a water type. If they grew angry, they would use their moves and cause him to faint. One of the magikarp in the area had told him about that. "Do you want to play?" he asked. It seemed like the best way to avoid being zapped.

Lightning could see this new guy was scared to death.

"You know, we aren't going to hurt you, right? Tristan and I are pretty nice, if you get to know us. Everyone inside is,"she explained gently, giving her 'brother' a look.


"Yeah, we won't hurt you," Tristan agreed, rather encouragingly. "We're all friends here." He paused, glancing towards the house. Maybe they could show Niall that there was nothing to be afraid of by inviting him inside. "Come on, there's plenty of people you can meet," he said, smiling at the younger boy. "I bet you'll make friends." He glanced at Lightning. He wanted to tell her to move slowly--this kid was like a wild pokemon, at least, it seemed, around strangers. "We can show you how to play a game," he invited.

Lightning caught the look from her brother and gave a soft nod of her head. From the look, she knew they wanted to go slowly with this one, like they had to for him.

"Yes, there are all kinds of games we can show you. She walked closer to his brother.

"Go inside ahead of us and warn them. You know how Fluff is and if he is like you were, Dea may throw him as well,"she whispered.

Tristan nodded his agreement, going inside. "Well, we haven't gotten the mail yet," he said, glancing towards his mother. "But we have found something else. You guys will have to be gentle, he's pretty scared. I think he's come from the beach. He's probably never been away from it alone before, and--" he glanced out the window, to see how Lightning was doing. "So er. Be nice, I guess..."

Niall was intriqued. "Games?" he asked. He liked games, he was fond of playing them with his sister. He gave a nod. "Alright. You can teach me."


Dea looked up when Tristan came back in and listened to what she said. She looked to Fluff and then to Eilam.

"Fluff, could you come help me with some snacks please?"Eilam spoke up. He had gotten Dea's look. Fluff nodded eagerly as he followed Eilam into the kitchen.


"Oh yes, we have lots of games. You like games?"Lightning asked.


Tristan gave Dea a grateful look. It'd been hard for him to adjust as part of the family, after what'd happened to him. He didn't want the same thing to happen to this kid, when he was obviously so frightened. "Thanks mom," he said.


"I do. I play them with my parents and Aoife." They were fond of board games. And swimming games, but it was too cold for them to swim. He knew, though, that being an ice pokemon would allow him to swim in even the most frigid temperatures--just not with his parents.

"Of course, I know how you were when you first came here. Figured it would give Fluff something to do and help him,"Dea smiled.

"Oh, what are your parents like?"she asked.


Tristan opened the door, beckoning Lightning inside. He gave her a thumbs up, to indicate it was alright for her to bring Niall inside.

Niall paused at the question. What were his parents like? They were the best. They'd found Aoife and he stranded on the shore of the beach, when he'd been caught in a net. They'd cut him free, they'd saved his life. They'd took them home, kept them warm, fed them, and when the twins had found their star, they'd adopted them as their own children. "They're great," he said, eyes brightening as he spoke of them. "They're really nice. Momma is really good at cooking, and Daddy's good at making things. Momma's teaching Aoife and me to cook, and Daddy and I play a lot."

Lightning saw Tristan's signal and nodded her head discreetly in his direction.

"Oh, your family sounds wonderful. I sure hope you will like mine,"she smiled, leading the way into the house.


"They are," Niall beamed, allowing himself to be led into the house. "Mom likes me to find shells for her. She has these shelves, and I want to fill them with things Aoife and I've found for her. Sometimes I find other things, though. One time I found this really green-rustyish coin and I thought it must have been a real treasure, but Dad cleaned it with some sort of stuff and it turned out to be just an old penny! But Momma kept it anyway."

While the cool weather never really bothered her, the Seel lass had opted to remain inside. Not because she had any sort of fight or anything with her brother, not at all. She, in fact, had company over! Her wonderful Celebi friend Brenny was over! Sitting around the coffee table in the living room, a game of Story Cubes spread out table top, Aoife looked up from the game with raised eyebrows at her brother's entry. It hadn't seemed like he had been out all that long, but perhaps he got bored playing by himself. However, it seemed like something was bothering him. Niall wasn't saying anything but sort of just hovering around looking grumpy.

Lightly drumming her fingertips on the bottom of the plastic cup that she and Brenny were using for shaking up the story cubes, Aoife hummed thoughtfully to herself, glancing between the scattered nine dice they were using for this round and her brother. She lowered her voice to something just above a whisper. "Brenny, I think something is bothering Niall."

Brenny turned to look at Niall, in the telltale way so the other boy knew they were talking about him. Oops. "I think something is," he said, looking back to Aoife. Niall was hovering like a dark cloud of negativity. Huh. That was strange, Niall always seemed so happy, at least when his sister was around. He glanced around for Iona or Dugan, to explain the situation. "Maybe he's in trouble and can't play with us," he said. "He must be really upset about it..."

Niall crossed his arms. "I'm not in trouble," he said. Stupid Brenny, stealing his sister. It wasn't fair. He'd wanted to build a snowman with her. Why couldn't mom send him away?

Brenny's obvious swivel to look at her brother had Aoife waving her hands quickly in front of her in a "No, no, no!" manner. She hid her face briefly in her hands before folding them on the coffee table. "Well, no...I don't think so," She agreed with her brother. If he was in trouble, their parents wouldn't just tell him that he wasn't allowed to play with them. They'd send him to his room or something.

"Niall, why don't you join us? We're playing Story Cubes! You know we've gotten a couple of new expansions recently so we're breaking them in! It's fun." He seemed so grumpy. Aoife didn't like seeing her brother upset and she frowned. "Is something the matter?"

"I don't want to play with him," Niall explained, frowning. He uncrossed his arms, crossing the room to sit between the two. "I don't like him looking at you like that," he added, glaring at Brenny. "Stay away from my sister."

Brenny was baffled. He stared at Niall, and moved away slightly. "Er. Okay...?" he said, making a face. Niall was acting strangely. They hadn't always gotten along, but they tended to nowdays...

Sitting back a bit, the Seel lass huffed a sigh, folding her arms at her waist. "Looking at me like what, Niall? We're just playing. I don't understand why you're mad at Brenny." Aoife didn't much care for this vein of conversation. She, of course, loved her twin, but she was very fond of the time spent with the Celebi boy too! Perhaps if she turned the conversation elsewhere? Frowning, she chewed on her lower lip. "Niall...you came in with a sorta funny look on your face. No snowman luck out there?" She fiddled with one of the unused die that they had scattered around the edges of the tables, making a little stack of extra dice as she spoke.

Niall sighed. If they didn't know what was going on, maybe it was still okay. "Nothing... Nevermind. Can I play?" He glanced at Brenny, and gave him an awkward smile. "I'm sorry for being mean, Brenny." He hesitated at Aoife's question, looking away from her. "Nah, no luck. The snow turned all gritty from the sand." He didn't want to admit having been frightened. Not to his sister.

"Well sure!," Aoife enthused. We can shake up some new dice for a whole other story! You know we have the base, but Mom and Dad just got some new mixing dice sets for us the other day! We now have Prehistoria with dinosaurs and ancient critters and things, Enchanted with fairy tale creatures and objects, and an additional set proper called Voyages for awesome adventures and epic tale telling!" Her brother's apology to Brenny gained him a thankful, happy smile from his sister. Good! She wanted them to get along. Flipping the cup right side up, she looked between the two boys. "Shall we use a little bit of everything? Some from the basic set, some from Voyages, and some from the mixes or more from one set or the other? We gotta pick nine." The girl frowned lightly, a faint furrow creasing her brow, at hearing of her brother's misfortune out on the beach. "I'm sorry to hear that, Niall. Maybe later or tomorrow we can ask Mom and Dad to take us to the park so we can play in the snow and not have to worry about sandy snow." Something was still bothering him. He had paused before answering her question, and he didn't look at her when he answer. "We can make snowmen proper there."

Niall was glad to be accepted into the group, even if it was partially on false pretenses. He wanted to keep them apart as long as possible: and keep as far away from what had frightened him, until Iona was around to dispel it. "I think we should use a few from each, yeah. A princess could go on a voyage or something!" He noticed Aoife looking at him, and hesitated. He took her hand, giving it a squeeze. He would tell her later about the burst of color. "Yeah. I'd like to go to the park."

Brenny smiled. He wad glad everyone was getting along again. "You can go first," he offered.

"Sounds good to me!" Aoife nodded, pleased, and began randomly selecting dice from the various sets and mixes before dropping them down into the bottom of the cup. The squeeze to her hand eased a little of her worry. Returning his squeeze, she bobbed her head. "We can ask them when they come around. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I mean, it doesn't snow often on the beach, but when it does it is generally for only a short while and it isn't a 'good' snow," she said, finger quoting 'good' for emphasis. "I'm sure they'd understand." The offer to go first sat well with her, so she picked up the cup, clapping a hand over the top to prevent dice from flying out and escaping, and gave it a really good shake before upending it to let the dice fall where they may. When the story cubes came to a stop, Aoife leaned forward again to see what she had to work with.

"Let's see," She drawled out. "A bee, a neat tent, a map, a tiara, a forest, a fairy, a tower, a clock, and a magnifying glass. Hmmm. Let's see." The girl pondered briefly on the direction her story would take and then she began, tapping her index finger on each die when she came to refer to it in her story. "Once upon a time, in a forest there lived a bumblebee. It was a good little bee, though the bee had a secret! It hadn't always been bee! It had been a young noble lady! Her father had taken the help of a fairy for granted and to punish him for this, the fairy turned his beloved daughter into a busy, little bee. In fear and confusion, the once noble girl flew out and away from the tower in which she slept, leaving her father holding only her tiara that had fallen from her head as she shrank and changed. day, the noble bee came across a boy tending his family's hives on their homestead hidden away in this forest. He noticed the lone bee hanging back and held out his hand for the bee to perch on so that it could rest its wings. Flying in the noble bee landed on his finger, wiggling her antennas when he gently petted her fuzzy back. He seemed nice. Maybe he'd be kind of heart and brave enough in spirit that he'd be able to understand. She had tried to tell others of her plight, which had nearly gotten her squished in the past! Or those she told simply saw her as a bee doing its wiggle dances. Still, she had to try! Time was running out! She didn't know what her father was doing about her plight, but she couldn't leave it all to chance.

"Oh, please, sir," The bee pleaded. "Can you understand me? I need your help. I need to find a magic woman traveling in a caravan. A man in the nearby market has a map that shows the path that the caravan always sticks to. Time is running out for me! I have a week left before I'm stuck a bee forever! I want to be a girl again. Please understand me, please!" She waited as she searched the boy's face with her multifaceted eyes. The boy blinked, astonished. He actually heard the bee talk! Or was it the bee girl talk? He had never met a talking bee before. Though she said she used to be a girl.

"Well, sure, I guess! I will help you. I mean, there isn't much you can do all by yourself. I've finished with the hives for the day so that was the last of my chores for the day. I'll take you to the market and we can see if we can find this map." Raising his hand so she could perch upon his shoulder, he set off to the market once she found a place she was comfortable with. He talked to and with her, listening to her story in full on the way. Once they arrived they found the man selling the map, and they learned that it was a magic map! There was a mark on the map that moved around wherever the caravan was. It took some haggling but the boy got the map for a decent price. Luck was on their side for the caravan that this magic woman was working, living, or just traveling with was actually not that far off. Racing back to his family's farm, he gently tucked the noble bee into his front pocket, hopped onto his father's horse and raced off to meet up where the mark was on the map. They raced and raced and finally saw and heard the sights and sounds of the trade caravan. In the far back of the settling nomads, a small but pretty tent had already been erected. A spire rose from the center of the tent and wind chimes tinkled softly from the support posts. The noble bee emerged and flew into the tent, frantic and excited at the prospect of returned to her normal self again. The boy waited outside. From within the tent there came muffled sounds of talking, music, and then suddenly lights and a rush of wind! The boy staggered, shielding his eyes from the bright light.

When he lowered his arms, out stepped the bee girl, a beautiful noble girl once more, sweet bee pollen still dusting her hair and lashes. Her eyes welled with tears, "I'm me again. I'm me! Thank you so much for your help! Thank you!" She hugged the boy. "You've done so much for me already, but could you do me one more favor and help get me home. You'll be rewarded for your kindness, sir, I swear it!"

"Well, I've gotten you this far,' The boy said. "It wouldn't be right of me not to see you all the way home." They both mounted the boy's horse and rode back to the girl's family's castle . And rewarded the boy was. The noble girl's father said that the boy could have anything he wished for. And what was his wish, you might ask? Well, his wish was simple. To marry the girl as sweet as bee pollen, if she would have him. The two went on to become the greatest of friends and eventually marry, and they lived happily ever after. The End!"

Aoife nodded at the conclusion of her story, smiling, quite happy with how it turned out. "I think I did okay. Didn't I, you guys?"