Chapter 3: A Cozy House

The puffball waved at the lucario in front of him. The bipedal canine just analyzed Kirby from top to bottom before turning to her daughter. “Banny, could you explain to me what is this Pokémon?”

Kirby turned to the scorbunny and tilted his body. “Are we gonna tell him the truth?”

The bunny put a paw on her chin. “Yeah… it’s the smart choice here…” Banny sighed and looked at her father. “So dad… this is Kirby and he uh… came from another world…”

Treth’s eyes widened as he looked back at Kirby. “Wait… you’re from another world!?”

Kirby nodded. “I live on a planet called Popstar! It’s so cool there!”

The lucario was honestly not buying it, judging by his expression. So he decided to close his eyes and took a deep breath. In the eyes of the aura canine, he could see two burning auras in front of him, one that he recognized as a kind and loving aura that belonged to his daughter. Besides his daughter’s aura, there was a monstrous aura that was constantly changing colors like a rainbow in the form of a star, it was so big that it looked like it went into the very sky. “What the!?” Treth opened his eyes and summoned a bone staff made out of aura, getting into a fighting position. “Banny, get away from that thing!”

Kirby and Banny flinched, a surprised and confused expression appearing on their faces. “W-what!? Dad, what’s wrong!?” Before she could ask more, the lucario charged forward and hit Kirby with the bone, launching him onto a wall and making a small round crater. “Kirby!!!”

“Stay back, my daughter! That thing’s power knows no bounds!” The scorbunny looked at her dad in shock. She looked back at the astrali, who slumped on the ground. “Come on you monster, show me your true colors!”

Banny got in front of her father with a serious face. “Dad, stop!” Treth flinched and looked down at the bunny. “Kirby did nothing wrong! Whatever you think he is, he is not that!”

“But Banny-”

“Dad!” The scorbunny shouted while stomping on the ground and looking to the side, having a bit of difficulty speaking to her father as her feet started to heat up a little. “I would’ve died if it wasn’t for him…”

Treth’s eyes widened a little as he looked back at Kirby who slowly got up, groaning a little. The puffball looked back at the lucario with a grimace. “Just what was that for…?”

The canine frowned, tightening his grip on his weapon before dissipating it. Treth walked up to Kirby slowly and crouched to be on Kirby’s level. “I am… truly sorry for doing that. I acted out on instinct after I saw your aura.”

“It’s fine, really!” Kirby then tilted his body. “But… what do you mean my aura?”

The lucario nodded. “Yes… auras are the essence of one’s being. Some Pokémon can see auras while others can manipulate them to their own ends. When I saw your aura… it looked like the aura of a god…”

Kirby looked aside sheepishly. Is it really that easy to find out what he actually is? Or is it that some of these creatures are just that powerful? Either way, the puffball had to come up with an excuse that might lessen his status a little. With a rub on his side, he said with a smile. “Nah, it’s just… I’m a really strong guy! And it’s also because um… I found something really powerful that made me have the power that I have now! I’m really not a god… if I was, that cool attack you did wouldn’t even hit me that easily!”

Treth analyzed Kirby with careful eyes before sighing. “Alright then…” He glanced back at Banny before getting up and looking back at the astrali. “I must thank you on behalf of saving my daughter, it is really appreciated.”

Kirby grinned. “It’s no biggie! I’m just glad I was there in time!”

The scorbunny decided it was a good time to approach and ask her dad the question she had been holding. “So… dad?” The lucario turned to her with a hum. “Can… can Kirby stay here?”

Treth flinched a little. Something as terrifying as this… Kirby staying in his house could really cause some trouble. He looked back at Kirby. “Do you have somewhere to go Kirby…?” The puffball shook his head with a frown. The blue and black canine made a thinking expression before coming to a conclusion. “Unfortunately, I cannot take you in…”

“Huh?” The scorbunny’s ears fell. “Why not, Dad?”

“Thinking about it, we don’t have the supplies necessary for a third person to be living with us. Yeah, sure, we have the space, but everything else is a bust…”

Banny frowned as she looked down. However, Kirby pat her back reassuringly. “It’s fine Banny, I’ll find another place to live temporarily, no worries!”

The bunny turned her head to the astrali. “Again, with what money?”

Treth took a step forward. “I think I can help with that.” The duo looked at the lucario who was smiling. “And I don’t mean the money issue, I meant your temporary home.” Kirby tilted his body in curiosity. “My best advice is for you to join an exploration guild.”

Banny’s ear perked up as she gasped. “You want… Kirby to become an explorer?!” Her father nodded. “Are you sure that’s the best option?”

Kirby rubbed his side. “What’s an exploration guild?”

The scorbunny looked at the puffball. “In short, they are places that recruit Pokémon to go explore, catch outlaws, and save Pokémon inside Mystery Dungeons. Like that distorted place, we were in the forest.”

The lucario looked at her daughter with a questioning but annoyed look. “Why did you even go into that dungeon alone in the first place, Banny? I know it’s a low-threat dungeon, but still…”

The bunny clasped her paws behind her and started twisting her foot. “I… I went to search for something that I thought looked important… I didn’t ask… to go with you because I thought you wouldn’t believe me…”

Treth looked a bit unamused but sighed nonetheless as he put a paw on her daughter’s arm. “Look Banny, I understand that you wouldn’t trust an adult knowing your… history, but I am your father, you can trust me with anything, understood?”

Banny slowly nodded. “Alright, Dad.”

The lucario smiled slightly then looked at Kirby. “Well, back as I was saying before… if you join the exploration guild, it’ll give you food and a place to sleep.” The puffball perked up at the mention of food. “As long as you work for them, that is.” He nodded as the canine put a paw on his hip. “Although… I think it’s rather a bit late to assign you at the moment… I don’t mind keeping you in at least for one night.”

Kirby smiled with a childish glee. “Thanks, sir!” At least the puffball was taught manners for situations like these. He never thought he would need manners, but Meta Knight insisted (forced) him to learn them. They were used basically anywhere that was a bit fancy, and honestly, Kirby found it a bit annoying. But now, it seemed he had to use it for basically everything in this world because he didn’t know how these Pokémon acted.

“Oh, just call me Treth, no need to be so formal with me.”

Or… he didn’t need to use manners most of the time it seemed. “Oh, alright then.”

“Anyways, are you hungry? I made some food as it was getting a bit late.” The canine said while smiling. Kirby’s eyes glistened as he nodded, already drooling as he thought about the potentially delicious food he was about to eat.

The family and the puffball entered the dining room of the house. Kirby stood on a hay seat along with Banny while the lucario went to fetch the food. The scorbunny turned to the astrali. “Hey Kirby, I have a question.” The puffball turned to her. “What kind of food do you eat on your planet?”

Kirby grinned as he supported himself on the wooden-carved table. “There are tons of delicious food back in my world! There are fruits, meats, drinks, and energy drinks! And my personal favorite, a Max Tomato!”

Banny’s eyes glistened as she put her paws on the table. “Ooh! I can’t wait to try them all! Except for the meats, I can’t eat any.” She sighed. Well, Kirby figured that was the case since he saw the bunnies in the forgotten world only eat grass or vegetables. “So um…”

Kirby decided to interrupt the rabbit with his own question. “So Banny, where’s your mother? Wouldn’t you have one or is it just your dad?”

Banny’s ear dropped as she looked aside, her face morphing into a sad expression. “Well… she’s…”

Before the scorbunny could say anything more, the lucario came back with two plates, balancing one on each paw. On one plate, there were green vegetables along with some pink and green berries. On the other plate, there was a mix of everything. There was some kind of cooked meat, as well as the same kind of green vegetables along with blue and red berries. Treth put the food on the wooden table, Kirby already drooling as he looked at the food. “Well, here you go. It isn’t much but-”

To his shock and surprise, the puffball opened his mouth wide and he started sucking the entire food along with the plate. He swallowed the food whole then removed the plate from his mouth and held it with his nub, even without fingers. “That was so good! Do you have more? Can I take another one?!” Kirby asked childishly.

Meanwhile, the blue aura canine just stared with his jaw dropped. He stuttered, trying to fathom how he did it. “T-the… wha-…“

The bunny whispered to him. “Trust me, this isn’t the weirdest thing he can do.”

After calming down a little, Treth recomposed himself and cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, I just made one plate for each.”

Kirby’s face dropped. “Awww….”

The lucario shrugged after picking up Kirby’s plate. “Don’t worry, in the guild you will get to eat bigger plates than this one, that’s for sure.” Kirby perked up with a big smile as he heard that.

While the Pokémon were busy eating, Kirby went to explore the house a little. The room he decided to go to was the kitchen, however, he wouldn’t try to eat anything because he promised the lucario that he would behave. As he checked the stone walls, he looked at a window and saw something he wasn’t expecting. The puffball saw a strange figure obscured by the shadows, there wasn’t anything that could be made out of the figure except for the weird red scarf around its neck and three blue digits pressing against the window. “Huh!?”

Suddenly, the figure jumped away from the window at high speeds, losing them from sight. “Hey!” Kirby exclaimed as he ran to the round window and looked through it. Instead of seeing the figure run away, all that he saw was a log of wood on the ground. Kirby tilted his body confused.

Before the astrali could think about it any further, Banny entered the kitchen. “Kirby?” The puffball looked back at the bunny. “Is there something wrong?”

He looked back out the window before looking back at the scorbunny with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing. I just thought I saw someone.” He then shrugged. “My imagination, hihi!”

“Well… if you say so…” She suddenly perked up. “Oh! Wanna go train with me? It’s too early to go to bed, so I usually train before going to sleep!”

“Alright then, I’m down!” The puffball said with glee as he followed Banny through a back door.

The backdoor led to a wide area that had some trees around the place. There were no other houses in sight. “Woah…!” Kirby exclaimed in wonder. “Is this your backyard? How come there are no other houses?”

Banny rubbed her nose patch as she grinned. “Simple, my house is on the southeast edge of the town, so behind my house is kinda like my private training grounds!” With that, she puffed her chest and let out a small fireball from her mouth as it impacted a tree with a painted target on it.

Kirby’s eyes glistened as he watched that display and looked at Banny. “You can breathe fire!?”

The scorbunny put a paw on her hip as she posed smugly. “Yes, I can! Pretty cool, huh?”

Kirby thought back on the first time he met Banny, being cornered by those three poochyena. “Wait, if you could breathe fire from the start, why didn’t you use it on those poochyenas back in the dungeon? The only thing they could do was bite and scratch…”

The scorbunny flinched as her cool moment ended. She cleared her throat as she looked back at the puffball. “That’s… because I got cornered, and I was being pinned on the ground!”

“I don’t remember seeing you getting pinned…” 

Banny waved her paws in front of her. “A-anyways… wanna try some target practice as well?”

The puffball immediately nodded. “Of course! Can you shoot a fireball at me?”

Banny tilted her head in confusion. “Uh… why?”

The astrali grinned. “I’ll be fine, trust me!” 

The scorbunny sighed and shot another small fireball, but this time, aimed at Kirby. The puffball started sucking the air in front of him along with the fireball. Feeling its essence, Kirby swallowed it and glowed with star power. The top of the puffball’s body started burning constantly, and around the base of the flame, a golden crown appeared with a blue gem on the front.

Kirby became Fire Kirby! Banny’s eyes glistened in wonder. “Woah! That’s so cool!”

The astrali analyzed himself as he took a look at his nubs and touched the crown on his head. It seemed that when he inhaled the elements themselves, he got the normal copy ability. “Nice, I still have my old abilities!” 

“So… you could shoot fire now that you have that… fire on your head?” The scorbunny asked as she got a bit closer to Kirby.

“Yes, I can!” The puffball grinned. “Watch this!” He said as he turned to the target on the tree. He sucked a small amount of air and then shot out a flamethrower directly onto the target, burning a wide area of the trunk. Kirby looked back at Banny, who had her jaw dropped at the sight of such a powerful flame. Kirby threw his nubs in the air. “How was that?”

“For the love of Moltres flames… that looked so… INCREDIBLE!” Banny went towards Kirby and started to circle around the puffball, bombarding him with questions. “How did you make a flame that big? Are you a professional at shooting flames? Wait, is it that big flame on your head helping you or-”

Kirby was starting to get dizzy while trying to spin, following the scorbunny circling him. “Uh… I can’t seem to answer them all, sorry…” However, while spinning he thought he saw another slim figure, who also seemed to be wearing a scarf, standing on one of the branches. However, after shaking his body and looking back to the exact branch… no one was there. “Huh…?”

Banny looked at Kirby’s confused expression and crossed her arms. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong, Kirby?” 

The astrali looked back at Banny and rubbed his back. “Oh, it’s just my mind playing tricks on me again.” He giggled sheepishly. “Anyways, let’s go back to training, it’s been a bit since I practiced with fire anyways!”

“Well… alright then.” The two of them returned to their little training session, taking turns to each hit different trees. The scorbunny kept targeting trees close to her, while the astrali targeted the trees a bit further away. However, it got a bit late and Treth called them back home. Kirby discarded the ability and entered back into the house along with Banny.

The trio went to the second floor of the house where there were three rooms, one on each side and one being the door for the bathroom. The lucario then pointed to the door on the right. “That’s Banny’s room, you can sleep there with her. However, you may need to share beds.”

“That’s fine by me!” Kirby exclaimed.

Treth nodded as he opened the door to his room. “Alright, with that, I shall go to bed. Goodnight my little bunny, goodnight Kirby.”

“Goodnight!” The astrali and scorbunny said in unison before Treth entered his room and closed his door, followed by the duo as they did the same.

Kirby looked around at Banny’s room. For lack of a better word, it was… empty. There was a wall with a single round open window on it, two cabinets on each side of the room filled with boring-looking books, and a red scarf with white stripes on it. In the middle of the room, there was a stack of hay on the floor. The scorbunny went to it and sat on it and smiled at the astrali. “Well, this is my room, hope you like it.”

The puffball hid his honest opinion about the room and only said, “It’s really cozy!” as he went to check out the room. He went to the window first and looked out, seeing some lit-up windows from other houses while he could see some torches on the street. He then looked back inside the room and his eyes locked on with the very important-looking scarf on the cabinet. “Hey, is that scarf yours?”

Banny looked at the scarf and her expression shifted again to a sad one. “No… that’s my mother’s scarf…”

Kirby perked up at that. “Oh yeah! Where’s your mother, by the way? Won’t she be late for bedtime?”

The bunny looked away as her ears dropped. “Kirby… she’s not coming home anymore…”

Kirby tilted his body in innocence. “Why…?”

Banny grimaced. “She’s dead…”

The puffball was taken back by that slightly. He wasn’t that stupid, he knew what death meant. After all, more of his recent friends had experienced having someone close die. Taranza was the most affected by grief, but after some months, he recovered with the help of the Star Allies. Well, if the scorbunny was suffering through that, Kirby would stay by her side until she cheers up again! The puffball went to Banny and stroked her back gently. “Hey, it’s fine… don’t worry, you’ll get through it…!”

Banny smiled sadly at the astrali. “Kirby, I’m fine, that was like… some cycles ago, I’m alright.”

“Well if you say so…” Kirby then smiled softly at her. “Let’s just go to sleep, alright?” Banny nodded and lay on the stack of hay on the floor. “Um… where’s the bed?”

The bunny looked at Kirby in confusion. “What do you mean? This is the bed.”

“Oh! Alright.” Kirby then laid beside the scorbunny on the same hay bed, looking away from each other. “Goodnight Banny!”

“Goodnight Kirby.” 

With that, both of them closed their eyes and fell asleep, Kirby started dreaming about the new kinds of food he ate that day, while Banny was dreaming about a really fantasized version of her encounter with the puffball. Overall, everyone slept normally…

Or… is what I would say if it wasn’t for a slim and frog-like bipedal Pokémon, with a slimy scarf wrapped around their neck, revealing themselves with a puff of smoke, his apparition being completely silent. “So… this is the destroyer of worlds that the prophecy was talking about?” The figure muttered to himself with a slightly muffled male voice as he got a sack from the satchel on his side. “This clearly must be a joke…” He opened the sack and grabbed the puffball, putting him inside it. “At least I shall give it credit for that fire ability it used…” With that, the frog left from the window, taking Kirby with him.