Pokepalace Writing

Stories and stuff I've written for this one group I'm in on deviantArt. IDK. Just feel like posting it here.

First, pics of the char I use for it. A Slowbro girl by the name of Ebony:

Chibi-

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Normal-

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Dominatrix! (Halloween costume, lol)-

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First story I wrote with Ebony, was a prompt around the word "Pumpkin"

Pumpkin Patch Nightmare

It was a crisp autumn day like a perfect apple with a tangy bite to it that hinted at colder days to come. Ebony was walking along a well-worn path admiring the many colors of the turning leaves, and thought she even spotted a Sawsbuck or two. She was on her way to a job she'd heard about in a tavern.

It had promised fresh air, lunch, and most importantly decent pay. She was to help harvest pumpkins. She came upon a tall fence and a gate. Above the open gate was a sign that read Ol' Man Gregorz Pumkinz 'n Cowz, so this would…be the place. She guessed. With a shrug of broad shoulders she went in.

Walking along the poorly cleaned dirt path she saw fields of giant orange pumpkins, and Miltank. There were lots of Miltank, with a Tauros or Bouffalant thrown in for good measure. She suppressed a shudder. Why did it have to be cow Pokemon. The things skeeved her out. For work she could handle it. Money had to come from somewhere.

Suppressing her grimace she walked up to the group of people already working at cutting the squashes free of their leafy prisons. "Um, hello? I heard you need help with the harvest?"

A wiry old man with a Tauros' ruff of fur trailing down his navel grayed with age and an impressive pair of horns that seemed broader than his shoulders turned towards her. His three tails excitedly wagged around his thighs. With a grin he showed off many missing teeth, and a broad hat with holes cut for his horns protected him from the sun. "We shore do li'l missy! Mah famous pumkinz are too much for most tah handle! If yer up fer the task go right ahead 'n' help out the fellas!"

Ebony blinked at the odd speech patterns, and the reference to herself as "little". "Um. Alright. Do I just pick them or…? I'm not used to this kind of work, and I want to make sure I get ripe ones."

"Hee-hee-hee! Yer a silly one arentcha?" He shook with the laughter and she wondered vaguely if he'd come apart with it. "Ya just tap 'em and lissen fer the thud! Then ya chop em with about a hand-length of stem and yer good ta go! Throw 'em in the cart when yer done! The missus will bring out drinks evvry so often. She's doin' lady stuff." He tapped his bulbous nose and winked at Ebony at the last. The cart he indicated was a wooden contraption rickety as he was. She spotted at least five parts that could do with replacing and resisted the professional urge to offer.

"Alright. That sounds simple enough." She nodded at him and scurried off to a group of promising looking pumpkins. Pulling out a long knife she settled down to work.

After awhile she found herself next to a Rattata with a shock of purple hair, buck teeth, and whiskers that twitched in time with his tail and ears at every sudden noise. "Alright," she asked. "Do you know why they wanted mercenaries for this? They're big enough pumpkins, but I fail to see how they're too much for normal workers to handle."

The Rattata jumped slightly. "Ah. Yes. The pumpkins. You don't know the legend?"

She wrinkled her eyebrows. "What legend? I'm afraid I don't pass through here much."

His tail fluffed out a bit, and his beady eyes glanced around. "Right. Of course you haven't. Well…," his voice dropped and he motioned for her to come closer. "You see, there are these ghosts."

"Ghosts?" She tilted her head curiously.

He nodded his voice dropping into near imperceptibility. "They come out, mostly at night. Floating with eyes like flames or embers. Faces with hideous unchanging grimacing. They attack. Their leader rides a jet black mount and has no head. They say the floaters are false heads sent by the forces of evil to torment him by his loss. Any who he catches watching will be executed and forced to join his tormentors."

She blinked slowly. "Oh."

"Indeed. Watch your back. Gregor really should just move his farm but he's far too proud so the only people he can convince to work here anymore are mercenaries like us."

Forcing a smile she moved to a new patch. "Right. Nice talking to you." Contemplating the oddness of the described event Ebony lost herself in the action of picking pumpkins absently drinking when someone handed a glass to her. She never even noticed when dusk began to fall.

Her only warning like many times before was the chomping down of Lady Ivoria Persimmonia Cereslet Starlingpath upon her tail. Startled she rolled behind the wagon she'd been depositing her pumpkins in. Not that it did much to conceal her large frame. The shadow combined with her dark clothes hid her far more adeptly.

Coming towards her and spreading through the fields as far as she could see were small flaming lights gently bobbing up and down. A thick purple fog seemed to fill the area that made her want to cough. As the lights came towards her she realized they were flickering from grimacing faces.

Forward she creeped, not for the first time cursing the light color her hair had turned post-merge. Slithering among the vines she saw a dark figure on what appeared to be a black Rapidash orange flames shining like a beacon in the night. Instead of a head a flaming pumpkin adorned the rider's neck. A pair of Houndoom stood by his sides.

Noting the distance between her and the house she realized that there were two ways this could go. Waiting for her inevitable discovery by the monsters, or panicked flailing.

She chose the latter.

Reaching around she found a discarded rake that had probably been used for fallen leaves. As she brought it up to the nearest gourd a thwacking sound filled the air as it broke apart…revealing a Yamask underneath that fled on discovery tears in its eyes. In her continued thrashing she broke open more of the pumpkins revealing Litwick, Gastly, and Yamask under each.

"WHOA STAHP," the rider yelled, as one of the Houndoom opened its mouth to let out a gout of flame which caught on some dried out leaves leading to the fields being on fire. Ebony didn't really notice on account of her running away in terror from the haunted pumpkin patch but as she left the rider let out an anguished cry of "Ah! Mah pumkinz!"
Ebony ran into the woods overtaken by a blind panic before she was overcome by exhaustion and hid under a bush before passing out. It was morning when she woke to the feeling of dew dripping down her face. Clumsy from her unorthodox sleeping arrangements she struggled to her feet. Brushing herself off she dazedly made her way into town.

Making her way in she found a stall selling pumpkins owned by a plump Teddiursa woman with curly short brown hair and a crescent moon on her forehead. She twitched her rounded ears a bit as she smiled. "Why honey, you look a bit worse for wear. Were you caught in that awful fire in Gregor's field?"

A flush rose to Ebony's cheeks as she avoided eye contact. "Yeah…sort of. I was pretty far away from the worst of it. What are they saying happened?"

"Lots of hearsay. Apparently one of the Houndoom he kept for herding cattle got spooked and blew fire everywhere. Fortunately one of his Miltank knew Rain Dance so it wasn't too big of catastrophe, but it still took out what was left of his pumpkin crop. Anyway want a pumpkin?"

She smiled, "Oh yeah. What's the biggest one you have? I need to do some baking."

"Oh? Are you celebrating something?" She said as she hefted a pumpkin three times the size of Ebony's head.

"Nah, this is revenge." She said as she paid for it before making her way back home.

She made so many pies.

The second story I wrote, was a prompt about the word "tolerance"

Tolerance

"Quack."

Rolling over Ebony buried her head under her pillow, and grunted before falling back asleep.

But, a few minutes later, "Quack."

Pulling the blankets over her head resulted in a few minutes of peace, and then little duck feet started making points of pressure up and down her back. Resolving to ignore it only worked until it made it up to her shoulder, and with a tug and some flapping revealed her upper body to the cold air.

In response she pulled it back over herself tighter. Soon she heard the crash and tinkle of trinkets being knocked on the floor and subsequently breaking. Blinking she raised her head and glared at the Ducklett. "What do you want?"

"Quack.", said the Ducklett as it stared up at her with neatly folded wings, looking completely innocent of any wrongdoing.

"You're hungry."

"Quack.", with a nod the Ducklett hopped on to the foot of her bed and stared at her.

Squirming and not wanting to emerge from the warm sleepy fog that encased her brain Ebony flopped half out of bed so that her torso was on the ground and her legs were still encased in the blankets.

She shrugged at the Ducklett. "Well, I tried."

In response the Ducklett perched on her head. "Quack." It began to peck at her ear. "Nnngh, stop that.", batting at the Ducklett, Ebony managed with difficulty to pull herself up by the bedpost. She stood there for a few minutes trying to get her newly woken brain in order.

"Pants. I need pants." After a few minutes elapsed Ebony had managed to half crawl half roll to a pair of pants she had haphazardly dropped on the ground. Scooching around she managed to get them on without actually standing up.

Going through her mental checklist she realized a shirt would also probably be necessary. She looked up, hey a shirt hanging off the small table. Using the table as a prop she managed to drag herself up and get the shirt on. Sleepily with her shoulder dragging across the wall she managed to get herself to the kitchen area before sitting on the table and half-falling back asleep.

"Quack."

The Ducklett had jumped on the table and started to peck at her hands. Groaning Ebony batted it away. She tried to think of something in her house to feed it. Going out to get food for her quasi-pet was beyond even the limits of her own considerable tolerance.

Mentally she went through the list of provisions in her kitchen while the Ducklett pecked at her feet. Finally she recalled that Mrs. Jenkins, the miller's wife had given her a few loaves of bread in exchange for taking care of the Diglett that kept getting in her garden.

Shambling over to the cabinet she pulled out the remains of a loaf of bread and some butter. She broke the bread in half. One half she crumbled into a bowl for the Ducklett, the other she slathered in butter before shoving it into her own mouth.

The Ducklett had descended on its meal of bread crumbs with glee, practically snorting them they disappeared so fast. After it had finished, it let out a happy quack before settling under a table, and shutting its eyes in avian bliss.

Ebony hopefully looked out a window to check the time, and while this series of events had started before the sun had properly risen, the day was now clearly in motion. Mourning the lack of opportunity to go back to sleep, she set about properly preparing for the day.

The third, and last for now, was for the group's new year event seeing as my scanner, camera, and tablet are all sorta having technical difficulties ATM. In it, members could make a wish via folded paper stars for Jirachi to grant.

If I Could Have Just One Wish...

It was a cold and lonely day in Elpis. Barely before the new year, Ebony was alone. It was both a familiar and a new feeling. Her family had never been overly celebratory, but at least they'd been there. When she was with the mercenaries there had been raucous parties, but she had never been bold enough to join for very long.

This year she was alone, and it was highlighted by all the friends she had been making lately. None of them were anything near close enough for her to request spending the holiday with them. Gloomily she made herself some hot chocolate. Even her Ducklett was nowhere to be found.

It was then she heard the crashing noise. Before she properly registered the sound the shockwave went through her house, rattling the doors. As soon as she got over the initial shock, she was in motion. Striding down to the source of the well, she found where Mr. Kalloss, a solidly built Excadrill had been digging a new well for Mrs. Potts.

Assessing the situation, she realized that while Mrs. Potts' vegetable garden was now more of a hole in the ground everyone seemed to be accounted for and mostly unharmed. Except for Mr. Kalloss who was lying on his back with a dazed look, presumably from escaping. He was being attended by Mrs. Potts, and Ebony assumed the chubby Audino widow would be throwing up more of a fuss if he wasn't actually going to be fine.

She joined the small crowd who was overlooking the hole in the ground about where the well had been planned to be. It was a gaping morass that she shuddered a bit at before taking a step back from the edge. She could faintly hear the sound of running water below.

Bustling through, a short man who seemed unmerged, but had a beard to rival a Walrein's came through. "Ah, Ebony just the young lady I wanted to see!"

Ebony pointed to herself in confusion. She honestly had no idea who this bristley individual was, or what he could want with her. "Me?"

"Yes you!" He eyed her up and down before speaking, a stern tone in his voice. She was questioning the merits of backing towards the pit of doom. "You see, when that sinkhole opened up- terrible business, glad Kalloss got out in time, he's a good lad." …the lad, Ebony thought to herself, was well over 30 but she kept quiet as he continued rambling. She got side-tracked staring at the way his beard flicked and jiggled with his mouth movements. A bug had started making its way towards his mouth. "Anyway, as you can see you are just the person to help!"

Ebony jumped at being directly addressed. "Uh, yeah! I'll do whatever I can to help!" she agreed trying to hide that she hadn't heard a word he said in quite some time.

"Excellent! I knew you'd be up for it!" Mrs. Potts came up and started scolding the old man. "Now, Harold! You can't be expecting as lovely a young girl as our Ebony to do all that work on her own!" Ebony blushed "Uh, really ma'am I don't mind…"

"Nonsense! We can't expect you to find us a new yule tree just because the old one fell in the sinkhole! Evin was careless enough to leave it there before setting it up in the town square, he should at least help you!"

As they looked around, the solid 20 year old who was partnered to a Makuhita was nowhere to be seen. Ebony felt a bit awkward. "I'll just… go on ahead then. Send him up when you find him." Potts eyed her up and down "You won't do too much will you?"

Ebony waved her hands to block the glare. "No, no! I'll wait for him before doing too much! I promise!" As fast as she could manage, Ebony fled the scene. She stopped back at her house long enough to grab a cart she figured she'd be able to shove the tree in before making her way to the forest.

As she made her way around the mountain road a bump jostled the cart, and she heard a familiar quacking. "So, that's where you went." She smiled as her pet Ducklett scolded her. It was nice to have company. "We're looking for a nice Yule tree. So like a big triangular one I guess???"

Eying her from his perch on the edge of the cart, Ducky flew up and disappeared from site. She tried not to feel disappointed. Of course he wouldn't want to stick around in the cold. He was probably going to visit someone who'd feed him fresh bread or something. She wished him luck.

As she wandered around the strangely empty feeling forest, she came across a glade where a Sawsbuck was grazing. It bound off after noticing her presence, but she heard a faint quack. When she looked up, there was her Ducklett, all fluffed up on one of the lower branches of a beautiful spruce tree. He looked very proud of himself. "Did you find that tree for me?" She asked peering up at him, shading her eyes against the sun bouncing off the snow.

Ducky quacked in affirmation. "But it's so big!" She was delighted at the find, even as the logistics of moving it ticked through her brain. "How will we even get it down?"

"Leave that to me ma'am!" A rather scrawny teenage boy chased by a Makuhita appeared at the edge of glade. She eyed him doubtfully. "Uh, you sure? I can help…"

"No!" He said hurriedly, and in a slightly panicked tone that told her Mrs. Potts had been at him. "It's quite alright! Hang on, stand back…" Taking his own advice he pulled Ebony's cart back. Bemused she followed. "Okay! Now! Hithit! Cross Chop!" Jumping forwards, the Makuhita obliged "Makuuuu…hitaaa!" With two strikes the tree was sent crashing to the ground. Ducky flew out hurriedly, quacking his irritation.

Ebony blinked. "Huh, okay. Now what? We load the tree in the cart, your Makuhita taking what sticks out and running it down to the village?"

Evin, well she hadn't gotten a name but who else could it be really, nodded. "Yeah! I just made Hithit carry it before, but this one is a lot bigger! Hithit, get it in the cart!" The Makuhita nodded, hefting the tree so it was partially in the cart. Ebony stabilized the base, while the Makuhita held it somewhere closer to the tip. Evin took the cart. "Ducky," she asked her pet, now residing on her shoulder. "Could you fly ahead and tell us if anything is in the road?"

Quacking in affirmation he flew on ahead, and they began the trip down the mountain. It was mostly a smooth trip down the path, with Ducky only needing to warn them once or twice of minor pitfalls, and in one instance a mother Ursaring and her Teddiursa crossing the road. They made it back with only a few hours left in the day.

Mrs. Potts greeted them. "I see you made it back." She looked sternly at Evin. "You didn't make this nice lady do all the work did you?" He shook his head frantically, eyes wide. "No! Honest! She only found it, really!" Ducky quacked sternly, to which Ebony smiled sheepishly "Really, I didn't even do that much. Ducky found the tree." He puffed out his chest feathers in pride.

They spent the next few hours shaping the tree, and then draping it in everything they wanted the new year to bring. Candies and cakes. Garlands made of carefully dried flowers just for this occasion. A few young women had brought carefully carved figurines of babies to show their wishes.

Ebony felt quite at peace, taking part in the festivities. Even Ducky was helping to hang things on the higher branches. Mrs. Potts clapped her hands. "Alright! Now, everyone has their wish in mind, yes? We have tags made up on the table, don't crowd there's plenty of time. I'll show you how to fold the paper stars, and anyone who has trouble with writing can ask for help."

Everyone crowded around the table, except for a few who had already made their stars up. Ebony reflected on the warm feeling she had and thought: "This warmth…if only I could share it with all of those important to me…" With that she knew what her wish was. Careful to keep it legible, she wrote it down, before blowing on the tag a minute to dry it. Then she rather clumsily folded it into a star. In past years her sister had made fun of her, saying how Jirachi would never take a star so ill-made, but here hers looked no worse than a few of the children's, and everyone knew Jirachi wouldn't be so cruel as to deny a child's wish just because they couldn't properly fold a star.

Handing Ducky the star he flew off to hang it on the highest point of the tree, all misgivings she'd held earlier in the day long forgotten.