Recently, I saw a video of a guy having fun with Spectrier, and in the middle of the match, my brain went "Damn... It would make a nice balloon... Balloon mount..."
A daydreaming later, I thought that Glastrier was also a good possible balloon, and wanted to just relate the idea, knowing I'd never be able to write the whole story...
It is 3 am, I wake up at 7, but at least, I was able to slap myself until I finish this story. It took a lot of setup, I am not 100% satisfied with it. But al least, I did something!
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Feeling so weak…
Calyrex was hovering above the snow. It was alone since a few days now. It never thought it would feel so weak, but with all those years, the human’s faith was so low that they even let its own statue deteriorate! It thought of leaving their crops to their own, but it wasn’t the only consequence of this trouble, now, its mounts are running free!
Its regal self was now forced to use its own power to not have its legs in the snow. And even with that, it wouldn’t be long before it had to roost. The need to find a patch devoid of snow was growing bigger. But it was the cold season, and it would be hard to find one without leaving the region, or going to a nearby cave with pokemons that could use its weakness…
Unless…
It sighed. The humans may have been ungrateful, it would be rather easy to just take control of one and hiding in its living place. Those wooden dens were giving it chills from how unnatural they were, but many times it saw the human being able to survive the harshest cold that were making it need to borrow Glastrier’s powers to support. Calyrex didn’t liked the idea, but it was the less precarious situation available.
It took quite a long moment to notice the less social of the pack, but once what was left of its power was used, the king put the human to sleep on their sleeping area, and it found a place where nobody would spy from the outside.


It had been a few days now. The human hadn’t noticed the guest inside the house, but the king managed to rest a bit in this alien space. The sight of the broken statue was making it sad each time it would watch by those transparent walls. It was spying carefully on the humans too. Their kind have changed so much since the last time it interacted with them. The king was confused by some behaviours. Why were they looking at this tiny device so much?
One day, something else caught its attention.
The village’s kids were often playing. Carefree and full of energy. It noticed they rarely were playing close to the statue, so the recent destruction shouldn’t have been an accident. But today, they got something strange.
It was the first time it was seeing a pikachu flying… Thought, it wasn’t quite moving. It also had a weird path, like if it was following the kids. At a point, they came closer, and it saw that there was a kind of thin rope holding its tail. This rope was held by one of the kids, and they were laughing while watching it floating around. They seemed to have a lot of fun until they apparently lost the control of the pokemon, and it went in a tree. One of them started crying, and they quickly moved away. Nothing else special happened that day.
In the night, after putting the human to sleep, the king stared outside once more, and saw a slight glimpse of yellow in the tree. It was quite late, and the night guard was far. The king sneaked out to check what this was and noticed that the “pokemon” wasn’t alive. Relief came as this poor thing would have frozen over the day. But what was more surprising was that the thing was transparent, and looking hollow…
Unable to truly understand this thing, but curious, the pokemon took the toy and pulled it out of the tree. Unaware of how close the sharp branches went of it, or that it was dangerous to begin with.
Once in the home, the king took more time to inspect the thing. It was seeming that it wouldn’t let gravity let it down and would always try to reach the ceiling. The king lost its psychic grasp at some point and had to reach for it with its physical body. It noticed it was quite soft, even if firm. And it can squish to a mere pressure. It didn’t take long for the smart pokemon to understand that this was somehow holding air in, hence why it looks hollow.
The inspection went further during the night. The king couldn’t understand what the skin of the item was, but it felt a bit vegetal. More experimentation happened before one stress test too much happened, and as the sun was about to rise…
BANG!
Calyrex was shocked. This thing was so loud, and the shock whipped the king. The shockwave also pushed it afar. It didn’t take long before the human rushed in the room. “WHAT TH-“The king quickly reacted and took control of the human once more. Movement was happening outside, and it took a bit of acting to make him pretend that a sneasel came inside and tried to steal berries. The suspicions stopped faster than expected, and the king calmed down. The situation wasn’t ideal, however. It wouldn’t be long until someone noticed that the human was being weird, or until the human noticed that it wasn’t remembering any evening and would start raising the question. The king prepared its escape from the house, but before, it looked a last time at the weird thing it was studying the whole night. It now was little bits that weren’t looking like a pokemon anymore. It would look weird if it left this here, and it was still curious about it. The king took all the scraps and ran away from the village.


The situation was still a bit better than it started. The rest made it able to survive easily and get able to protect itself during night. Back to the shrine, the king took some time to inspect the human item a bit more. The material used was still alien for it, but it was like it felt natural. The king spent a bit of energy to train making substitutes in case of attack, and the more it tried, the more it managed to make something close to that matter. First, it was totally flat, and no matter how the king tried, it was unable to fill it with air. It later noticed, among the scraps, that a tiny special bit that seem different. It noticed that, with a bit of magic, you could work on it and unfold it, revealing a hole. It tried to add a little neck to the next substitute, and as it was flat, the king got able to add air inside of it through this hole.
The next issue was the resilience. It needed a few tries to make one as big as the original. The king tired out a lot with all the substitutes, but they eventually made a great alarm if something approached. A mere thread making them loudly waking up the king and make it ready to fight, if the opponent didn’t run away from the noise and blast.
A few weeks later, the pokemon made the process easier for it to make, and even later, it was able to make them take shape. It soon made a copy of the original but tried to go further.
It was rather fun the first time it found itself in front of a copy of it own self, but as it was testing the new item, it mind went back to its first goal: The king needs a steed.
It remembered them perfectly after the centuries spent along with the two mounts, so it wasn’t long before there were two perfect copies. But the first rides were quite disappointing. The horses wouldn’t be able to handle the weight of their king after a few bounces and would rupture soon.
A long focus later, it was right in front of it: Two large horses, already filled to the right size. It was finally time to go back to business! And the good part being that there won’t be need to create reins, the ride being already under the royal control.
Sitting on the ice ride, the king felt both weird, and powerful. It was just a substitute, but the feeling is almost the same. The king channelled its power, feeling about to cast its lance…
But it didn’t come. The decoy may have the shape of the original mount, the power was missing. The couple was still just having psychic and grass powers. No real ice powers would come to the king’s hands.
Another try later, and the king noticed they couldn’t use the astral barrage either. A long sight happened. This have been a fun time experimenting with the human items, but it wouldn’t be any use to get back its former powers.
Deception filled the king, and it flopped on the ghostly ride. At least, it was pleasant. But the king wasn’t looking for comfort. Not right now.
Out of nowhere, a thought came in its mind. There wasn’t much to do with those two useless mounts, but at least, the king could have its fun! It trotted along the old shrine. Hoof clopping replaced with soft squeaks that wouldn’t echo far, but the more time passed, the faster the king tried to go. The horse moving thanks to the psychic powers of its master, it was quite fast! Using the air-filled limbs to propel themselves wasn’t as energy consuming as levitating and rushing at the same time. It was funnier than expected but wouldn’t last. Calyrex wouldn’t use this a lot outside of the shrine. It would make it difficult if they ran into a human or that a frightened pokemon would attack the duo. The king also noticed how weak those rides were when anything sharp would come in contact, so a hidden rock in the snow, and the king would be propelled far away…
Coming to a stop, the king looked at the other ride. The immobile eyes almost staring at it. A smirk came, and the rider shouted to its own self:
“Spectrier! Shadow ball!”
A little focus later, and a deep purple round “substitute” appeared in front of the horse, growing like a shadow ball, it hit the ice horse, only pushing it a bit, the ball falling on the ground and softly bouncing.
“Come on, can’t you hit harder?” The king thought. Squeezing its mounts hard between its arms and legs. The ride creaked in complaint and the duo ran toward the ice horse and tackled head on, resulting in a loud combination of squeaks, and the three pokemon falling. The king instinctively levitating to prevent the harsh contact with the rough ground. The two horses went flying away and bounced against the ancient walls before landing near to each other. This sure was fun! But he thought it would be right to take “revenge” against the ride that just dismounted its royal self.
“Bad lackey! Glastrier, let’s team this ruffian a lesson!”
Coming on the back of the ice horse, the king put it back on its four hooves, and went nearby, where hanging low ice stalactites stood. The king took the longest one it could find and broke it from the ceiling. It looked rather pointy, and a touch of the tip made the king’s smirk grow.
“Glastrier! Glacial lance!”
Both comically trotted slowly toward the laying down horse, and the king lifted the “lance”, ready to impale the culprit’s chest.
“I will be magnanimous. Kneel before me and my royal steed, and I may spare thy pitiful life!”
The horse didn’t move. The king let out a comical sigh and raised the lance. “You asked for it!” It exclaimed as the tip of the “lance” met the puffed-up chest.
KABOOM
The power of the blast made the two pokemons fly away and almost meet a wall. The king’s powers being the only thing making the contact at full throttle avoided.
The king got puzzled. This was way more powerful than expected. It looked down at its actual ride, and pondered about finishing it quickly, or taking a little time. The self-made “lance” did the choice, as the king tried to poke the solid rump of the horse, but the weapon shattered, the impact of the blast making it brittle.
“Damn, you are stronger than expected… But since physical attacks won’t work, let’s try special instead!”
The king looked around for the knot, but it didn’t appear anywhere. But after a quick search, it remembered it was in a hidden place. Those mounts were supposed to be useful, not just fun; the king raised the tail and found the little appendice. It didn’t take long to open it, and the king gently stroked the strong looking rump while holding the hole shut. “I can genuinely say that you will be the first mount that will make me do this. So, enjoy your privilege!”
The king inhaled and exhaled into the horse. The rump slightly growing with the newly added pressure. Inhale and exhale, the horse took the “attack” quite well, only getting a bit more transparent and rounder…
The king halted its endeavour. The horse was supposed to be about to break at any moment, but the strokes were showing another tale. This buck sure would take a lot more!
Pausing to catch its breath, the king watched around, and noticed that the “shadow ball” was still here. Levitating was a bit tiring after all the workup, so the king thought a throne would be welcome. It sat on the large orb, surprisingly holding the rider with its massive size, but making a plain round one should be easier than a shaped one, hence the resilience for the size and the low energy spent.
Now comfortable, the king resumed the “special attack”. One puff after another, the resilient buck was looking more and more fragile. But the king was getting slower and lower too. The hand laying on the large horse feeling how tight the horse was getting. Thinking of what happened with the last, it was getting more and more reluctant to see this one throwing its royal self away, especially with that size!
One last puff, and the king was panting. It sure was a lot of hard breathes… Tying the knot back without thinking of it, the king gently pushed away the horse, and felt a bit down.
It was so massive! The purple orb throne was enough to fit a mount inside, but this horse could easily fit that orb between its gigantic legs!
A tear came out from the king. Despite how fragile it knew the horse was, it was looking so powerful! Buffed legs looking like strong muscles, the sized looking about to break mountains with each step. No matter where it was, the real ride was probably as strong as this one was showing to be…
Nearby, the leftovers of the ghost ride were laying. It hadn’t resisted this long, but if the king had taken care of it, maybe it could have been looking like that too, ready to spread calamities with a single breath…
Putting the scraps on the ice horse, the king floated toward the large back and sat on it. It was feeling so great! Every inch of the tight rubber almost being a tribute to the real one. Strong, large…
“I miss you so much guys…”
The king hugged the large horse, the scraps in hands. It instinctively made the horse slowly trotting. Every movement coming with a loud creak from the distorted rubber.
Not really looking around, just letting its mind and the horse’s steps bringing them where they could, the kind didn’t notice a swablu that was passing by. Staying far from this terrifying-looking monster, the pokemon landed on the top of the shrine, at a good position to keep an eye in case it had to fly away from the danger. The roosting on the roof made the ceiling under shake a bit, and a fragile stalactite fell off…
…And landed right on the giant rump.
KABLAM


The king didn’t even try to stop its fall this time. It was just disappointed and laying down in the snow. Whatever it was doing, it was always a failure. Well, it wasn’t like it really took care this time, but this feeling of comfort was missing too hard…
“I should just give up and find some help…” It thought.
But where? No pokemon would be strong enough to help with the making of the reins…
The king sighed heavily. It needed a human… A trustful human…
Preparing another trip to the village, it stared at the “shadow ball”. The blast propelled it so far it would be tiresome to retrieve it. As it departed, it heard a loud sound, and deducted someone found it.









MONTHS LATER
Life sure have been better. The king sure was full of apprehension when it offered that human to catch its royal self, but the human said that he wouldn’t want to use such a powerful being to reach the top. “It would be like cheating!”
The human said that it would call this king for help if needed but let it in possession of the ball that caught it. The king wasn’t free, but the jail wasn’t this much restrictive.
And at least, it was now going along with its two mounts. They were reluctant to come back, of course, but a good show of power and the reins of unity would do the job. The king was a bit more permissive too, seeing how dependant of them it was. Everyone was happy in the end…
And if the king really needed to release some steam, it now had a way to not waste all this energy. Its substitutes were stronger and better every day…
… As long as the originals wouldn’t find them out!