Mielcera. Small village a little way East from Alfornada. It's where those who want to climb to Alfornada start. The Trainers who want to dodge the Bombirdier instead of facing the cavern dragons. They drop rocks and metal scraps and their hatchlings on people and Pokémon for fun. Not even for hunting—they do not need gravity to open the hides and scales of the small lizards and fish they eat. Instead, they seek to make loud clatters with their payloads.
Mielcera. A small village fed by a river. A water wheel spun the old mill, surrounded by flowers. Combee crossed the river periodically to return to their hives. The long horizontal kind, easier on old bones. Further up the river, and a good walk away, the grass gave way to clay—carved from the cliff side. A local supply to keep costs down. Tall above the skyline is an old watchtower, old before the old men in the village were born.
Mielcera, where a local potter is holding a Mexican stand-off with a teacup.
The man stands just outside his workshop, at the end of the street. In his hands is his sculpture tool, hefted and settled in flexing fingers. The teacup floats in the air on the other side, broken pottery glazed and chipped. The eyes glazed on the front squint, and the tiny liquid hand holding its broken handle tightens.
Behind the man stands a teapot, sitting on the table. Freshly fired, stamped, and ready for shipping.
All Mexican stand-offs end someway, somehow. This one ended at an unseen signal. Both man and teacup moved as one.
The teacup charged, floating forwards with its liquid swirling. It bubbled and hissed like boiling water—a war cry.
The man adjusted his stance, carver forwards, like a fencer. The sharp near-right-angle blade thinned by constant use.
The teacup went low first, spinning to build momentum. And as they turned to face the potter again, the liquid drooping over top the lip extended and swiped like a licking tongue.
The potter slashed with his sculpture tool. Once, twice, thrice! The off-coloured tea within the teacup parted easily, and splashed as harmless fouled drink.
Next, the teacup darted right, seeking to circle around a foe instead of overcoming. The purple liquid swirling in their cup gave off pink wafts of steam, leaving a thin mist in their wake. A pleasant smell. Disarming.
Yet the potter remained undeterred, sidestepping right with it. And his scraping tool came down, hitting not the liquid, but the cup itself. Eins, Zwei, drei!
Except! As carver touched pottery, it pierced fabric, not ceramic. The teacup puffed into smoke, and what remained was a cute little plush of a nondescript lizard creature.
The carver made a confused noise, then alarmed as he saw the true teacup reappear in the corner of his eye. The liquid swirling and swelling, something underneath the surface pushing up.
It escaped! It escaped as a tiny purple-pink glow, that soared in the air like a fluttering bird and came crashing into the tool. With a cry, the potter let go of his carving tool as it was sent somersaulting in the air. It flipped over and over until it landed in the teacup's grasp.
Now free of the slicing tool the potter used, the teacup made its dash to its prize.
Yet for all the swiftness of the teacup, it matched not the grace of the potter. He dashed to the teapot and a long leg catapulted him up onto the table, the teapot in his clutch and held up high.
"You shan't take it! Befouled Earl Gray, begone!" The potter cried, and he kicked at the teacup. Uno! Dos! Tres!
The teacup dodged one foot, dodged the next, and then rolled rim over foot back and back away. Not a drop spilled. The teapot cried out in dismay, with the carving tool staining inside its tea. Then, confused, the teapot turned to the street and then, a panic settled on their face. The teacup's decorative finish curling in distress.
There was nothing there on the street. Passing cars in the distance, a man and a child walking towards them, but nothing to be alarmed about.
Seeing nothing, the potter turned back, and was amazed to see that he held his sculpture tool, and the teacup held the teapot. A trick was made on him. He snarled as he clutched his sculpture tool, black tea dripping onto his fingertips. He gripped it and watched futilely as the teacup floated backwards, with the teapot in its grasp.
"Do you... need assistance?" Linh said, approaching near. He had a grey dog peeking out from his shadow. Poppy watched the teacup saunter away with a stern pout. She was holding hands with a Riolu, who did not seem at all aware of his surroundings.
"No no!" The potter said, wiry moustache twitching in embarrassment. "I'm fine! Nothing's wrong!" He hastily climbed down the table.
"Because it looks to me like you're getting robbed by a Sinistea." Linh adjusted the grip on his bag. "Doesn't he, Poppy?"
Poppy looked between teacup and potter. "Yeah... Sinistea!" She rounded on Sinistea, putting her hands on her hips.
Sinistea perked up, a questioning noise as tea splashed.
"Stealing is wrong!"
Sinistea nodded seriously, then hefted the teapot and the tea in its cup bubbled. It sounded like a raspberry.
Poppy gasped. "Riolu! Anti-Ghost!" she commanded.
Riolu sprinted forwards on all fours, and with bared teeth he growled. A dark sheathe forming around each canine. Sinistea watched him approach with indifference, and then a looped eye winked—a light purple glow around Sinistea and the potter. Before Linh or Poppy could say anything, Sinistea was over there, and the potter was right in front of Riolu, mid leap!
"RIOLU! STOP!" Poppy suddenly snapped, like brittle metal snapping.
Riolu spun and tumbled in those instants. Mid-air, and carried by momentum, there seemed to be nothing he could do to stop himself colliding with the unfortunate man. Seemed, as with precision both instinct and technique, Riolu snapped his arms straight up, a blast of blue energy came out. Not Aura Sphere, but something that would one day be it.
It came with recoil, and Riolu slammed into the ground with a whuff.
"Never showed me that before," the potter muttered, before straightening up from his cower, "Ah. Young lady, thank you...?"
A giggle, and they turned. There by the table, Sinistea tossed up the teapot. It rose to catch it, and continued upwards, floating up and behind the workshop—over the shingles and away.
"They're getting away!" Poppy cried, "Come on, let's follow!" She ran after the teacup, righteous excitement fuelling her.
Linh watched her go, then walked right up to the potter. "Hey there. I'm Linh." He stuck his hand out.
The potter watched Poppy's retreating back with furrowed brows. He took Linh's hand, "... Florian."
"If you'd pardon my, well, curiosity," Linh began. "You don't seem all that broken up, about the teapot."
Florian chewed his lip, then nodded.
"Ally Switch needs an Ally to work—doesn't it? Can't swap places with the unwilling." An understanding woof came from Linh's feet—Casket's realisation.
"It's a long story."
"Well, you're going to have to wait to tell it—I shouldn't let Poppy run off without me." He took of his bag and held it behind him, and then dropped it. Instead of hitting the ground, it sunk into his shadow, leaving behind nought but a single grey-white dog hair. With a single wave goodbye, he took off, after Poppy.
Poppy burst into the street, Riolu sprinting just behind her. She stopped, and Riolu ran into her back—tripping over her and into the wall.
"Thief!" Poppy cried out, she pointed at Sinistea, on the other side of the street. A dusty road without others, running at the back of the village—between small houses.
Sinistea hefted the teapot, and twirled. They swirled the tea and it came off as mockery.
"You!" Poppy, grinning, pointed again. "Riolu, anti-Ghost, again! No one to swap with Sinistea!"
Riolu darted forwards, black forming around his teeth, cross the street fearlessly. Oddly, Sinsitea came closer, a nasty gleam forming as a sparkle in the lacy pattern on the cups surface.
To Poppy's surprise, Riolu connects, a solid bite on phantasmal porcelain. One that slipped on the curvature, and sent Sinistea spinning back. Coated in cracks across the pottery. Poppy's heart skipped a beat at the sight, did Riolu bite too hard?
No, those cracks in the teacup. They were glowing. "Weak Armor," Poppy breathe.d A dangerous ability. Every hit reduces the armour, and increases the speed.
Poppy's gaze flickered to the star shape in the cup pattern, and she watches it twinkle. Like a spark of insight—Nasty Plot! Doubled special attack! "Riolu, dodge focus!" She commanded.
Riolu, obedient, dodges away clumsily. More a backflop then a backflip. In his wake a single large, powerful shadowy ball slams through the ground.
Poppy looks away, trusting Riolu to stay unharmed. She raises Tinkie's Pokéball. Riolu doesn't have Dark Pulse yet, can he beat a Sinistea boosted in power and speed?
A Shadow Ball went into the air, a panic throw as Sinistea dodged a kicked pebble.
Poppy clenched the ball, she can. "Riolu! Agility!"
Riolu lands in a sprawl and leaps back upright with a bark of acknowledgement. A glittering shell formed around him before it faded—as if soaking into his fur. Then he moved. The next Shadow Ball Sinistea threw went past the empty air, and hit next to Poppy—the misty orb breaking into expanding waves on the ground. Like ripples. Poppy did not react. "Push forwards! Bite!"
Riolu pounced forwards, maw forwards, teeth forwards. Black and bleak and ghost-cutting. His paws pounded on the pavement in a straight line, directly
towards—"Sidestep left, now!"
Riolu touched the ground with a foot, and pivoted, sharp movements left. To avoid the Shadow Ball Sinistea shot forwards. One misty, malformed, weak and tiny.
Poppy saw the incomplete Shadow Ball and recognised what it meant. "No! Dodge again!"
Yet Riolu did not have the time, the second Shadow Ball came faster, complete and strong. It slammed into his knees, and tripped him onto his face. A skid across the ground under Sinistea, past it.
Sinistea giggled.
Poppy frowned as Sinistea crowed at Riolu. "That's my fault." She said, resolutely, "I made the wrong call."
Sinistea made one last giggle, bubbling like a brook, before daintily floating away.
Poppy scowled, Tinkie's Pokéball raised, "Tinkie, go—"
"Shadow Sneak," Linh said, breath a little faint from running.
A shadowy paw came out from behind Poppy, soaring long and far and many-jointed. It smacked Sinistea in the face and batted it down like a volleyball.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
A crash against the ground as Sinistea cried out. A spray of tea trailing behind it, that left a bad stink in the air. Casket ran into the street, tail wagging, proud.
"Linh!" Poppy commanded, "Go catch Sinistea, I'll help Riolu!"
Linh pursed his lips, but followed her orders. He approached the puddle of tea, shoes scuffing on the pavement and pressing against the blindness-friendly pavement. Bumpy knobs of concrete which the black tea ran between. He stepped into the tea with a soft splish, and then paused.
There was no teacup at the end of the puddle. Only a soft plushie, soaking in the spill. Casket sniffed the plushie, and then picked it up, she held it proudly.
"Hey Poppy," Linh stood up and turned back, "Uh. Sad news. The cups gone. Want to head back and tell Florian the news?"
"No! After them!" Poppy cried out, as she recalled Riolu.
When next they found Sinistea, they saw it crossing the river. bobbing above the water with the teapot in its grasp.
"There they are—Linh! Hide!"
"Why? Sinistea's not paying attention at all." He crouched anyways. Pointlessly, as he was outside of the bush Poppy hid behind.
"We need to ambush them, and you can't ambush someone if you're noticed first." Poppy pushed away the branches. "It's halfway across, let's go!"
Poppy stood up, but was held back by Linh's hand. "Now hold on," he said. "Riolu's not fighting fit, is he? What's your plan?"
Poppy held up Tinkies Pokéball. It shook with anticipated violence.
Linh winced, "Didn't you," what was it? "Didn't you say that you wanted to avoid using Tinkie in Pokémon battles? And shouldn't Varoom get some experience?"
Poppy looked disdainfully at the river. "Varoom can't swim, Tinkie can."
"Casket doesn't want to either." They both looked down. Casket was tippy tapping in the dirt, whining at the thought of river fording. "If you want my help. It's better to get Sinistea where they stop. And look!"
Linh pointed at Sinistea, floating up. "Sinistea looks to be going to that old watchtower. If you steal something, you gotta stash it somewhere, and that looks like what Sinistea's doing. We plan out what we can do, then we get up there and do it."
Poppy nodded, and Tinkie's Pokéball rocked once in disappointment. "Sure. Varoom would be better with flatter ground. And that's what will be up there!" She pointed up at the top of the old watchtower, with it's roof half-caved in.
"Okay. What else?" Linh nodded.
Poppy thought, "... Sinistea's weaker then they seem. Their Shadow Balls were just regular, instead of enhanced as they should be with the power of Nasty Plot. Sinistea must be using Nasty Plot to reach the needed power!"
"So Menace's Spite should be effective," Linh said. "Could lock out Shadow Ball entirely. In fact, Menace should be close to picking up Infestation—a good battle could make the difference." He looked back to Poppy, "About Varoom, does she know any useful Moves here?"
"Yeah! Assurance!" Poppy smiled, "She also has Taunt, so Sinistea can't substitute away again!"
"Then we have a plan—not a Master plan. But a Bachelors." Linh said, then he looked away. "Dumb arse joke."
The room at the top of the watchtower, where the viewing balcony ringed around, was formed of old stone and brick, and had dust everywhere. Everywhere, bar the piles of pottery in the corner. Shattered or intact.
Sinistea hefted the teapot, and placed it down on the ground. It hovered around the pot, inspecting it. Satisfied, it then gently lifted the lid, and dived inside.
The lid fell back into place with a clack.
A moment later, Sinistea rose out of the teapot, facade pouting. The tea bubbled and hissed, and in a furious fit Sinistea threw the teapot away. It cracked against its brethren and broke on them. More sherds amongst ceramic.
Sinistea huffed, a whistle like steam from a kettle, and then froze as it heard something behind it.
"Taunt!" A young girl's voice. Poppy's voice, from the ladder up the watchtower. The roar of a piston just after, a Varoom at her feet screeching.
"Come out, Menace." A man's voice, Linh's voice coming from the ladder. A bit exasperated, "Couldn't even wait for me to get up there? Also, Menace, Spite on the cup." A flash of light arcs up and over Poppy, ending in a thorn bush by Varoom. Menace rasped.
Sinistea sagged and perked up at the same time—enraged and exhausted by foreign power at the same time. Taunt prevented anything that was not violence, and Spite drained power away. It spun, tea spilling in anger, and from the tea a Shadow Ball formed.
Varoom's rock-wheels spun and skidded on the stone, and with a jittering jump start she drove forwards, the ball flying past her. Even as it flies, Sinistea was floating backwards, more Shadow Balls being prepared.
"Bullet Seed—shoot them down!"
Menace shot seeds, colliding with the Shadow Balls and reducing both to green-brown-black ripples in the air. Achieving a stalemate until Varoom leapt off the ground, surrounded by an off-grey glow. Assurance. Sinistea yelped as they dodged, Varoom landing back on the ground, wheels spinning.
Sinistea scowled, spinning between Menace and Varoom, before deciding on Menace—a pink-purple glow spat out of the tea, and floated drunkenly towards Menace.
"Shoot it down, mock their efforts." Linh said, he would have mentioned covering Varoom, but Menace responded better to instructions to be cruel.
Menace rasped, and more seeds shot out, vines too, to smack the Stored Power down. However, to dry crackly hisses, the little pink glow dipped past the seeds and side-winded around the thorny vines.
It twirled and spun and rotated in a barrel roll, arcing towards Menace. It just barely missed, lightly grazing Menace before it popped.
The nature of Stored Power is to improve in power for every boost the Pokémon has. Sinistea has two boosts from Nasty Plot, and one boost in speed from Weak Armor. Stored Power starts out four times as strong as usual, before being empowered by Nasty Plot.
Or in other words. The 'light graze' Menace had felt like ninth degree burns, angry boiling liquid forced down a pipe onto his dead flesh. Menace reeled back and bounced across the floor, eyes spinning in place. Fainted immediately.
Menace's unconscious body rolled directly into Linh's face, and he swore.
Poppy didn't look back. "Varoom! Keep going, lay gas!"
Varoom shot underneath Sinistea, exhaust belching Poison Gas, purple smoke clouds engulfing Sinistea.
Sinistea burst out, and then winced, small purple bubbles floating up and out of the tea, iridescent like soap. It poured itself out and from the spilt tea dark green wilted leaves fell. The clumps of leaves hovered and spun into wet crescents, that shot towards Varoom.
Magical Leaf, unerring projectiles. Unfortunately, twice resisted by Varoom.
"Now, Assurance, straight through!"
Varoom spun, drifting backwards by momentum, and then shooting towards Sinistea. She leapt through the tea leaves to a suddenly panicking teacup.
Assurance hit. Assurance fainted.
"We did it!" Poppy cheered, pumping her fist. "Linh!" She turned. "Oh," she said.
Linh still had Menace on his face, branches curling around him in the Bramblin's sleep. Poppy ran up to him and helped him pry Menace off.
"Linh, we won!" she said again, as Linh climbed up. Menace returned to his ball.
"So we did." Linh took in the fainted teacup, and Varoom running victory laps around it. He then looked around the room; with all of its pottery, broken and pristine teapots. All piled up carelessly. "So, do you see the teapot Sinistea stole?"
Poppy looked around the room herself, all of the teapots were differently shaped, coloured, glazed. But the ones at the tops of the piles looked eerily similar to each other. As if the potter was finalising a design. "...No," she said. "That's weird."
Linh hummed, "What's weird?"
"Look at all these teapots! There's been a lot of thefts, but they're all just thrown around. Why would Sinistea want so many teapots, but also treat them all badly?"
"Here's another weird thing." Linh, on a hunch, threw an empty Pokéball at the feinted Sinistea. It bounced off them, without capturing them. Sinistea was owned. "Who's Sinistea's Trainer? Why take the teapots here, instead of to whoever they belong too?"
"Do you know?" asked Poppy.
"I think I do." Linh did not elaborate. So Poppy puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "Okay! Okay, why don't we ask Sinistea? When they wake up. A Potion and an Antidote should do it."
"Okay." And Poppy walked up to Sinistea, she took a Potion and with both hands aimed it. Sprayed it over Sinistea. And repeated with the Antidote. She sat down to one side, and pulled Varoom into her lap. A cloth in her hands polishing the metal, staining black and purple from the rock residue, and the sludge by-product leaking from Varoom's exhaust.
Linh
sat down next to her, further away from Sinistea. "Scootch back a 'lil, let's not crowd Sinistea?" He tapped his shadow and Casket came out, to get ear scritches.
Poppy scootched back. Several moments later, Sinistea awoke. The loops patterned on the cups front blinking awake. It yawned, and hovered up. Then yelped as it saw Poppy. Dropping down to the ground. It cowered.
"Hey Sinistea!" Poppy began, she stopped when Sinistea skipped backwards, cupfoot scraping the stone.
"Sinis—?" Linh began, and Sinistea skittered further away.
Casket barked something. High pitched.
Sinistea swirled its tea, tilting in a questioning manner. Casket yipped, and then Sinistea relaxed a smidge. Casket then looked up to Linh, and pawed his chest.
She glanced to his pocket, and Linh got the message. Inside his pocket was where some berries were carried. He placed one on the ground, and rolled it towards Sinistea.
Sinistea watched it warily, and then swooped at it—the tongue of tea dripping from the cup lip flowed around the berry, and it was gone when it retracted.
Linh nodded, then from a different pocket withdrew a stick of incense. Drawing interest from Sinistea. He lit it, and Sinistea relaxed fully.
"Sinistea? We'd like to know some stuff about you." Linh placed the incense stick to the ground, "About these teapots. Why you're collecting—"
"—Stealing," Poppy said.
"—Collecting them," Linh finished.
Sinistea watched him carefully as he spoke, judging. Smoke curled around its cup as it listened, thin wispy trails swirling into the swirl the tea formed at rest.
It came to a decision. With a contorted expression, the lace pattern upon Sinistea's face twisted, malforming into images. And those images started telling a story...
"... And that's why Sinistea is stealing your teapots!" Poppy proclaimed.
Florian the potter dumped the teabag in his cup onto the saucer. "Well. Yes. I know this already, it's why I'm making them in the first place."
He took a sip of the tea in silence, before it was broken.