Event 6: Temporal Terraforming!

PMD-Explorers Event 6 Part 3

Day 2 - Plans lain out

In the distance, the sun had barely detached itself from the horizon. Yet, there the Pokémon were, already on site. The Tao villagers spread over the area and began working on their designated tasks.

Peter was planting shoots behind Marston's digging. Whenever he ran out of shoots, Elliot from Second to None would be there to give him another supply of those. After about three hours of planting like this, Peter took some rest so that Marston could water the plants with his Hydro Pump fired upwards.

During this time, the little rescuer wondered about Rameon's invention the latter spoke about the previous night. He was always excited about things like these; things that would solve many of life's problems. The descriptions of the Sandshrew had left him dreaming that night. Soon, very soon, he would be able to see it with his own eyes.

For the time being however, he had some more pressing issues to deal with. His ears turned in the direction of two Pokémon not too far away. Peter could hear the shouts from his friends. That wouldn't do! He got up and walked to the pair of rescuers.

"This is not what I asked you to bring! I need flower seeds, not bush seeds!" the little Burmy complained.

"Flower seeds, bush seeds... Who even cares what kind of seeds those are?" Sienna from Team Aurora spat out. "I won't be going back and forth a hundred times to give you different seeds!"

"That's what you were assigned to and there are Pokémon who actually are putting some effort here so—"

"There there guys!" Peter quickly interrupted them. "If we don't get along, we won't ever finish in time! Please, don't get into fights!"

"What? I'm not fighting! I'm just doing what I was told to do: bring seeds to the ones I was going to help," Sienna rebutted. "I'm not charging anything for that and you should all be thankful for that. Otherwise, you wouldn't even see me here."

"So this is what all merchants think about? Money, money and again money?" Huey yelled. "PK herself volunteered to help, and yet—"

"I said stop it!" Peter interjected, jumping between the two, hands held in front of them. The Pikachu glared at them in turn. "I don't want to hear issues because of the guilds we're in. We're together in the same problem, and it's together that we'll work our way out. Sienna, nobody is getting paid to do this, but we are all putting our all so the forest doesn't die. Do make an effort, please."

A pause ensued with both Huey and Sienna sulking.

"I-is everything okay?"

The three of them turned towards the Beautifly who just came around. It was Rose, from Metamorphosis, with a watering can in the hand.

"Yeah," Huey replied before letting a sigh. "Don't mind it. Let's continue."

"Myra!" Peter shouted to a Mareep carrying bags of seeds some distance away. "Have you got some flower seeds with you?" Peter asked her as soon as she was closer.

"Oh, you need some? Here's one bag. I have bush seeds as well if you need any."

"That won't be necessary. Thanks!" Peter cheered. He took the flower seed bag from Myra's back and put it down. "There you go Huey."

Hardly had the conflict been resolved that Peter could hear yet more shouts across the forest, not too far from where they were. He hurriedly entrusted Huey and Sienna their tasks and loped to the other side, where he found Shania from Team Slumber and Opal from Team Rowanberry. The rukus had stopped, but it was evident that something was wrong.

The Abra had her legs crossed and was floating some centimetres above the ground, a spherical force field wrapped around her.

"Opal? What happened?" Peter asked the blue Corsola.

"Miss Shania here was taking a nap and when I asked her to get working, she got all angry and turned into that floating thing... How am I even going to work if she stays in the way?"

"I'm afraid we can't do much... From what I know, Abras need more sleep than we do and... nobody can wake her up if she's in there. Rameon's working on something to help us, so don't worry too much about it. Just maybe, you can help me move her to the side so you can work?"

Opal remained immobile and silent for a moment, looking at Peter with emotionless eyes. "Yeah... and while she dozes around, I'll be working more than everyone else around? Sure..."

Peter let out a long sigh and began knocking Shania's bubble. "Shania, you hear me?" He waited for an answer, but none came. It was no surprise really; from what he knew, the psychic barrier was almost as strong as the move protect, and not mentioning soundproof. Peter knocked harder. "Shania, please wake up and move a bit to allow Opal perform her task."

The Abra remained unfazed by it, if not for the slightest twitch of her eyelid that Peter thought he noticed.

A quick glance towards Opal told him that he wouldn't be able to change her mind about Shania. Peter turned back to Shania and lifted his paws. Eventually, he leaned on the Abra's psychic bubble and began pushing it.

"Hey! Did Shania fall asleep again?"

Peter and Opal turned around, seeing a familiar Sandshrew approaching them. He was pulling something behind him. A cart? A box? Whatever this was, Peter was sure it was the invention he talked about the previous night.

"Aww com'on Shania, you had your full 10 hours of sleep last night..." Rameon moaned, giving Shania's shield two firm knocks. Receiving no response, he turned to Peter and Opal. "Sorry about that... It sometimes happens when something annoyed her on top of being tired. Forgive her, please. Anyway, I think what have here might just solve our problem," he said with a grin, his right paw proudly tapping the new invention.

Peter's body stretched as he tried to look over the Sandshrew's shoulders. He could see some sort of machine in a wooden box, itself attached to wooden wheels and two thick wooden bars sticking out of it. Presumably those were used to pull the whole thing.

"Woah... did you really make that?" Peter ask in disbelief.

"It seems crazy huh?" Rameon chuckled, before letting out a resisted yawn. Dark circles immediately appeared under his eyes.

"I see you pulled an allnighter with that," Peter laughed. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I should be okay, thanks. Maybe a nap." Rameon yawned again, his mouth opening even wider than seconds before. "I guess I'll take Shania with me. Ah, someone should pull the plougher-sower. You add the seeds here, the water here and push this lever down."

Peter observed Rameon indicate what he should do to make the 'plougher-sower' work. It was really impressive how the Sandshrew seemingly had thought about everything should be working! "Okay, I think I got it. Do you need some help going back to the village or—"

"Oh no no, don't worry. I'll be fine," Rameon quickly rattled off. He placed his palms and claws onto Shania's psychic barrier and began pushing her away. "I—I'll be there for the night shift. See you!"

Peter waved to the pair of Pokémon moving away and looked again at Rameon's machine. "I guess that will compensate for Shania's and Rameon's absence for a while Opal. I'll go find someone who'll be able to pull this. Would you continue in the meantime?" Peter didn't wait for an answer; he was already running across the remains of the forest. "Thanks a bunch Opal!"

The defiling ground around Peter had little bumps scattered at regular intervals. That was good; it meant that there was some progress with the planting. Further ahead though, his ears could pick angry chirps. The Pikachu's eyebrows creased his brows. It had never occurred to him that so many disputes could arise with such simple tasks. Maybe the tasks themselves weren't as simple as he thought?

When he got closer to the din, he found Dil, the Staravia from Suledin and Anther, the Sawsbuck from Team Trample, arguing over something...something about speed? Around them, seeds lay scattered on the ground.

"I can't go any faster than this Dil! I'm seriously going as fast as I can, but—"

"But what? I thought that you chose to pick the digging task yesterday night because you were good at it! But I realise that you're just a Slowpoke! Are you even putting any effort in your task?"

"What!? How can you say that?"

Dil ruffled his feathers with a sudden squawk. "I say what I want!"

Peter sighed. This was desperate. "Um... guys?"

"What?" Dil replied, briskly turning to the Pikachu. "Oh Peter! Could you tell this mister Sawsbuck here to get moving faster? Look at what he made me do!"

Peter didn't bother to look down again. His ears flopped down as he took some more steps towards the pair of Pokémon. "Look, I don't want to hear any more shouting. It's draining me having to resolve all the petty problems—" Peter suddenly held back on his words. In front of him, Dil was giving him a piercing glare. "I-I mean, I need Anther for another job right now. I know you're fast Dil, so uh... could you try helping Worbel with the sowing? He's a bit slower and the others have been digging for a long time now."

Dil didn't immediately move. He stayed there, staring defiantly at Peter. "I hope he'll be more useful not digging like that." The Staravia turned his back to them and took to the air, tail whipping up the winds as he did.

"I'm sure he doesn't really mean it, Anther," Peter tried to reassure the Sawsbuck.

"I guess only time will tell..." Anther mumbled. "Anyway, you needed me for something?"

"Oh right! There's—" Peter was interrupted by the familiar chime of a bell. "I guess I'll tell you after lunch. Come!"

This time, their meal was of better quality than the previous ones. Ovaltine explained that the recent harvest had been much better with the sun coming back and that the land around Tao was fantastic for cultivation. Things were starting to look good!


Some of the Pokémon left after the meal. They would be coming back at sunset to pick up the work after a good rest. Peter told Anther about Rameon's new tool and told him how to use it. At first, it was strange to see Anther pulling the invention around, but soon, they found that it was a great tool. It dug through the ground with its twin ploughers, it later dropped enough seeds in the freshly overturned ground and lastly sprayed water on top of it all!

Peter bid farewell to the group of Pokémon staying till the end of the day, asking them one last time to avoid disputes among themselves.

***

By the evening, they all met again at the Spinda Café. From what Peter gathered, things had been going well throughout the rest of the day. About a bit more than third of the whole field was done with and Acuon's estimates were encouraging, though it still meant that they had to work throughout the night to maintain the pace.

The refreshed teams consisting of Heal Bell, Second to None, half of Team Obelisk, Bae, Rainbow Chasers, half of Team Aurora and half of Team Tankers set to Creeping forest. Yoon the Hoothoot, Kipton the Rotom and Elliot the Flaaffy were the ones lighting their way. The scenery around them had a whole new appearance. The abundance of shadows gave their surroundings a completely different and ghostly feel.

When they arrived on the field, they picked up the tools left behind by the previous Pokémon. Knowing that they would be coming soon, there was almost no possibility of them getting misplaced and it eliminated the need to transport them back and forth.

They began working close to each other at the suggestion of Peter. It would have been difficult to work in those conditions with limited light if they had to split up and he felt like it would be more reassuring for everyone else.

And so they began working under the stars and the steady lights of their companions.

"So... Second to None huh? You're the one who picked that name right, Maxwell?" Peter heard Treble say.

"Elliot couldn't find a name," Maxwell admitted, "so, I picked it instead. What about it?"

"Well, I was wondering if you really live up to your team's name, in every aspect of it, that's all," the Chingling deadpanned.

"Is that a challenge I hear?" With that, the Larvitar had stopped digging. He was looking at the bell Pokémon, eyes appear to be burning with a flame brighter than the tail of his Flaaffy partner, Elliot.

Treble didn't utter another word; his body began glowing golden. Little clods of earth rose from the ground and saplings flew to fit into the holes.

On the other side, it seemed that the Larvitar accepted the challenge. He immediately set to work. Digging with his hand, forcing seeds into the hole with his other, he was quickly pacing alongside Treble.

Quite unexpectedly, Peter found Elysia, Treble's sister to quickly follow them. "Hey Treble! Wait! I can't water both your saplings so fast!"

Peter's heartbeat picked up. He could imagine countless arguments going over those two Pokemon if neither of them was satisfied. But somehow, this lifted the spirits of everyone else working around. With extra effort, everyone worked harder, as far as their body allowed it. Takao had taken the place of Anther with Rameon's invention. The latter was glad that his plougher-sower turned out to be as useful as he hoped it to be.

The night was long. They took turns with small breaks of sleep but kept on with the work. It wasn't long before the first rays of dawn became visible beyond the horizon.