Hey folks! =D Next part of Voyage is here!

Once again forced to make port our heroes hear stories of a mysterious haunted mansion. What will they find there? Perhapse a new crewmember with powers as unusual as Petie's? And what of this mysterious "Francesca" who has been pursuing them?

Anyway hope everybody enjoys, please fav & comment, and have a great day! =D

Characters owned by me

Pokemon & One Piece NOT owned by me

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Voyage:
Sorrowful Girl: The New Crewmember is a Doll!?





“I can’t believe you go us lost…”

“Shut up! I’m new at navigating okay!”

“You better hope we didn’t end up in one of the other blues…”

“You want me to turn you into a toddler?”

“You wouldn’t, we both know that.”

“… shut up and help me find somebody to ask directions from.”

Two days sailing from their encounter at “Swalot’s” and the idea of being bounty hunters still fresh in their mind Petie and Jules had found themselves completely and utterly lost… which considering Petie was rather new to the whole “Navigator” role wasn’t that surprising. They’d docked at a small, quaint looking port town on a lush looking island. The place had a homely feel to it with old styled houses and cobbled streets, an outdoor market with merchants selling their wares, and happy smiling people…

“Pardon me ma’am…? Ma’am? Hey! Don’t walk away!”

Okay not so much the happy smiling people. In fact from the moment the two had docked and got off their ship they’re received nothing but cold glares from the towns people and been ignored, which was making their short stop over to ask directions last a lot longer than they had planned since nobody would answer their questions and they couldn’t find a single sign with the name of the town on it. Finally the two sighed and collapsed against the side of a building, the only good thing about their booties being the fact the soft shoes meant trekking back and forth across the town hadn’t made their feet sore. A few minutes later they were considering just going back to the boat when they heard snippets of a nearby conversation.

“The haunting struck again last night… four loafs of bread stolen…”

“Again? Damn that house, even it being burned down hasn’t ride us of that cursed family.”

“Yeah, they still haunt us now from there stupid hill… looking down upon us like they’re better than we are. Damned outsiders.”

“Right, glad they’re gone… now if only the ghost would go away too…”

“Scuse me.”

Petie blinked and finally noticed Jules wasn’t next to him anymore. He groaned and put his head in his paws when he saw the riolu had walked right up to the talking people. “Where’s this haunted house supposed to be?” Jules asked innocently, completely oblivious to the hateful glares the two were giving him. He tilted his head to the side as they stuck their noses in the air and turned away from him. “What did I say?” he asked as they walked away and Petie came over and patted his shoulder “Forget about them… it’s obvious this town doesn’t want us here so how about we live and ask for directions some other place?” he offered hopefully… and praying Jules’s question didn’t mean what he thought it meant.

“But I wanna explore the haunted house!”

Yep, it meant exactly what he thought it meant. “Jules, I don’t think that’s such a good idea…” he said, trying in vain despite what he knew was coming. “But I wanna go see it…!” Jules whineed as the puppy eyes and pout he’d been expecting showed themselves. Petie sighed and hung his head, having long ago learned to accept defeat when it reached this point “They said it was on a hill… I saw some hills on the edge of town…” he mumbled weakly making Jules giggle and clap happily before gabbing Petie’s paw and dragging the reluctant bear to the edge of town as fast as they could waddle.


******************


“Wow… what do you think happened to this place?”

“Offhand? I’d say one heck of a fire…”

“Yeah…”

“I can see why they think it’s haunted…”

“Yep… lets go inside!!”

“… I knew you were going to say that…”

Once they’d gotten outside of town finding the haunted house those people had been pretty easy. It stood on the tallest hill before the forest and had a path leading up to it. At one point the place had been a beautiful mansion, obviously built by somebody with enough money to insure themselves and their family comfort, but now it was just a blackened shell surrounded by scorched ground. To be honest the smell of burned wood was strong enough both boys only needed to follow their noses to find it. Shattered windows, fallen walls, and a partially collapsed roof gave the blackened building a creepy and abandoned feel.

“Who do you think lived here?”

“Dunno… but the villagers didn’t seem to like em.”

“That’s not saying much, I get the feeling they wouldn’t like anyone who’s not from their little town.”

“Yeah… come on!”

Petie squeaked as Jules tugged him forward into the building past the partially smashed door swaying on its hinges. They found themselves in a blackened foyer with the remains of a large staircase to the second floor that had collapsed in on itself at some point during or after the fire. Both boys shuddered softly, an eerie feeling coming over them as their booties lightly rustled the ashes on the floors. They were sure this place had been grand once… but looking at the broken and torched furniture and picture frames around them it just came off as creepy. The atmosphere of the place was thick and almost smothering as Petie felt his fur stand on edge till something touched his shoulder.

“Hey.”

“Aaaah!!”

“Aaaaaaaaaahh!!!”

“Don’t DO that! You nearly made me wet myself!”

“Sorry…”

“Now what did you want?”

“Somebodies watching us.”

“… please tell me that’s a bad attempt at a joke.”

“Nope.”

Petie whimpered as Jules looked around warily, the atmosphere around them suddenly feeling that much more on edge. The riolu slowly and stealthily waddled, as weird as that sounded, through the room with Petie following close behind not daring to risk getting left alone in here. He could hear it distinctly now as his ears twitched, the soft rustling of something small moving nearby. He hoped it was just rattata’s… he PRAYED it was just rattata’s… but the fact it moved in time with them, making sure it kept them “In Sight” made him fear otherwise as he felt himself grow tenser and tenser with every passing moment.

“GOTCHA!”

“AAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

That time Petie did wet himself as Jules sprang forward with lightning speed and grabbed something that had been lurking in the shadows. Petie watched in terrified awe as whatever it was struggled against the riolu as Jules pulled into the light. Bracing himself for whatever horror it might be Petie saw that Jules was holding a… plushie? Yes, yes it was definitely a plushie. Club limbs, soft cloth, button eyes, heck Petie could even see the stitching. It was a persian plushie wearing a captains coat… and it was currently fighting like mad to get out of Jules’s grasp.

“…… that’s a plushie…”

“Yep.”

“… a moving plushie.”

“Yeah and it’s putting up a pretty good fight too!”

“… think it’s a fruit user?”

“Dunno… hey! Are you a fruit user?”

The plushie didn’t answer and was instead face palming at the question “… is that a maybe?” Jules asked before squeaking as the plushie kicked him in the stomach, it didn’t hurt but did catch him off guard, and the plushie managed to pull free. It hopped a good distance away, brushed itself off, and adjusted its coat before looking like it was coughing to clear its throat for a moment before it… talked “Geeeeet oooooout!!!” he said, sorta anyway… its mouth didn’t open but sound came from it all the same, in a groaning, scary voice. It waved its arms at them menacingly. Petie and Jules just stared at it blankly for a moment.

“So you ARE a fruit user then?”

The plushie face palmed again. Before the two could say anything there was a brief wooshing sound as the normal sized plushie suddenly swelled up till he was the size of a full grown persian… which meant he towered over the two boys easily. Their jaws dropped as they looked up to him as he coughed lightly into his fingerless paw “Okay boys I’m serious, you need to leave.” He said, again his lips not moving, in what they assumed was his real voice. It sounded deep and cultured with just a slight roll to the end of the syllables. “So leave before I have to make you.” He said reluctantly picking up what probably had been part of the stairways banister and pointing it at them threateningly.

On reflex Petie threw his hands up and the banister turned into a slightly larger then normal rattle. They’d never seen a plush toy look shocked before but the persian managed to pull it off quite well as he first dropped then stared at his transformed club. Petie and Jules suddenly heard a rustle behind them and turned to find two more giant plushies emerging from the shadows. One of them was a plump looking prugly in a pink apron who was giving them a disapproving look. The other was a slim delkatty in a simple green dress who seemed to be giggling as she eyed them curiously. They boys gulped nervously.

“Petie?”

“Yeah Jules?”

“I don’t think they’re fruit users…”

“Me nether…”

The two boys ended up back to back whimpering as the three closed in. Petie considered using his powers on them but they were plushies after all so he kinda doubted if it’d work. “I think the teddiursa is a devil fruit user.” A bassy but feminine voice coming from the purugly said. “Maybe they’ll be able to help!” a chirpy ladies voice came from the delkatty as she clapped her paws together, grinning broadly. “Very well then…” the persian said “You two, come with us.” He motioned for them to follow him and with the two other plush toys nudging them along from behind they didn’t have much choice but to obey.

They waddled along through the burnt house for a brief while till they came to what looked like a panel in the wall that popped open like some kind of secret room surrounded by debris. Oddly enough while the outer walls were burnt black they seemed to be standing firm unlike the rest of the house. Also they could see trails of ashes and soot where little feet went in and out of the room constantly… considering how small the tracks were they were obviously the plushies. With a little more gentle nudging from their cloth captors the two allowed themselves to be led inside… and stopped in shock as they looked around at the completely unburned room.

It was some kind of safe-house and looked pretty bare, with only a single open and empty safe, a desk, a few mostly empty shelves in it… and a cubchoo girl curled up in the corner with the scraps of what the two immediately guessed was the stolen food from the village. They stared blankly in confusion as the plushies, now shrunk back down to normal size, went past them and began to try and get the girls attention. The boys looked at each other and Jules opened his mouth to say something… but Petie cut him off “If you say you think she’s the fruit user I’ll smack you.” The riolu promptly shut his mouth.

The girls ears twitched at hearing Petie’s voice as she trembled softly as she looked up with soft golden eyes full of fear and confusion. “W-who…” she whimpered softly, her voice like a pidoves cooing, as she tried to scoot further into the corner. Petie could feel Jules about to bounce forward and introduce them with his usual vigor and quickly put a paw on his best friend’s chest to stop him before slowly stepping forward himself “We’re not going to hurt you if that’s what you’re wondering.” He said, gently and evenly “As for who we are… well… pirates… or bounty hunters… we’re kinda not sure.”

She flinched visibly at the pirates comment as the persian climbed into her arms to give her a reassuring hug and whispered something into her ears. She sniffled and listened intently before looking back up to them “H-he says you h-have a… d-devil fruit power…” she stuttered softly. Petie nodded, not daring to get any closer for fear of spooking her “Yeah… it’s kinda the reason we’re dressed like this… I ate the Goo Goo Fruit.” He said, trying to hide his blush. She noffed timidly “I a-ate the Omocha O-Omocha no Mi… t-the Toy Toy Fruit…” the plushie stood proudly as she said this. Jules tilted his head a little in confusion.

“So you can turn things into toys?”

Her face went red at that question as she vigorously shook her head “N-no! I c-can just b-bring them to l-life and make t-them strong and b-bigger.” She said quickly curling up more with the Persian and whimpering as the plushie gently patted her cheek to sooth her. Petie waited a few moments for her to calm down before asking the next question “… what’s your name?” this caught the girl off guard as she looked up, meeting Petie’s eyes for a moment before answering in her soft voice “I’m… Anna… Anne Snowlocke…”

“I’m Petie Julafton.”

“And I’m Jules Elapsie!”

“I-it’s n-nice to meet both of y-you…” she stuttered as the two slowly came over and sat down next to her, trying hard not to spook her or sit on the plushies. She curled up a little more as they sat down but didn’t try and flee. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Petie finally asked the question that had been on his and Jules’s minds since they’d arrived “What happened here?” Anne whimpered and looked down softly “D-do you really w-want to know…?” she asked and both boys nodded. Taking a shaky breath the ice type hugged the persian closer and sniffled.

“M-my father was a p-pirate…”


******************


My father was a pirate… by that I mean he stole things at sea, a lot of things, but he never killed anyone! He never went as far as some of the pirates you hear about… but he was still really wanted cause of the money he stole. Once he had enough wealth for his dream he gave up piracy to pursue it… which was to settle down and raise a family with enough money so they’d never want for anything. That why he built his house out here in the outskirts of the West Blue. Nobody would recognize or know about him here and the villagers being suspicious of him was a small price to pay for that.

So he and mommy settled down and built the mansion of their dreams… and then I came along. We were happy together and I grew up without a care in the world kept safe from the villagers scorn by my parents. The only thing that marred our perfect lives were my father’s old… associates. They came by every once in a while demanding from my father some treasure they knew he still had from his days of piracy, but he always managed to send them off empty handed and without a fight. He always told me they wouldn’t do anything since the worst they could do was tell the marines he was here… and he could just as easily tell the marines where they were. Back then I believed him and thought our happy times would go on forever…

Then one night it all changed. Sick of going home empty handed they set fire to our mansion after father sent them away again. I just remember the smell of smoke, the heat of burning, and my father whisking me out of bed so fast I ended up bringing the plushies I was sleeping with along. He carried me to what he said was a safe-room and left me there saying he was going back for mommy… and I never saw him again. When I came to my sense I realized that I was trapped, the falling rubble had blocked the only way out and to get through it I would need to be the size of a toy. I… I broke down crying then. I don’t know for how long.

Eventually I began to explore the room and finally came to the safe… my father had never bothered to properly lock it since he thought it was hidden well enough so I opened it and found a fruit inside. Yes I did know what devil fruit was but I was a little emotionally distraught at the time. Still shell shocked I responded on instinct and tried to eat it… but it tasted horrible so I could barely make two bites before I threw it aside and curled back up to cry more. That was when it happened… I felt someone comforting me and whispering words of encouragement and when I opened my eyes… THEY were looking up to me. After I finished screaming they explained I’d eaten a devil fruit… and that’s all they knew. No I’m still not sure how it all works.

Anyway thanks to my ability to make toys large and stronger they first slipped through to the other side and then got big to clear away the rubble. Finally free of that room in who knows how long I found something horrible… the villagers had just let the fire burn itself out! They hadn’t even tried to stop it and I’m fairly certain they didn’t come looking for survivors. Anyway once free of the safe-room I started searching the mansion until I found… I found… found…


***************


Anne broke out bawling as the persian tried to comfort her and the purugly motioned the boys to come over so she could whisper something to them. Petie was fighting the urge to try and hug Anne since he was fairly certain she’d scream as the two crouched down so their faces were even with the plushie. “Anne found her parents burned corpses…” it sounded so strange coming from a plushie that it took a moment for the two to grasp what had been said as the purugly went on “After that she just… broke down. We buried her parents and have been trying to care for her ever since and… hey!!” the plushie cried as the two promptly turned away from her… and pulled Anne into a hug from either side.

The girl let out a frightened squeak and looked about to panic as the two wrapped their arms around her but at feeling what was likely the first embrace of another living creature since the fire she buried her face into Petie’s shoulder and cried. Deftly the persian slipped from her grasp letting her embrace the teddiursa back as she sobbed into him. Jules looked a little put out at not being chosen but continued to hug her anyway. Slowly her crying died out but she continued to hug Petie who by now had started to timidly rub her back in an attempt to help.

“… Anne?”

“… y-yeah?”

“...... wanna join my crew?”

“What…?” the cubchoo leaned back from Petie, looking at him in confusion. Taking a deep breath Petie began to explain, with Jules helpfully chiming in, about his powers, the reason the two were at sea, and the current mission of the Cuddlebutt Pirates… or Bounty Hunters… they were still on the fence about what to call themselves. Anne, out of sheer confusion, listened intently as they told the story and sat silently looking down when they finished. “So… how about it? Wanna join…?” Petie offered, trying to give her the best winning smile he could. She just looked at him for a moment before finally speaking up.

“D-does your ship h-have a doctor?”

“… um… it’s just me and Jules… so no actually.”

Slowly getting to her feet and brushing off the ash stained nightgown she was wearing Anne spoke in the most confident voice she could… which meant she was only a little louder than earlier “T-then I w-would like to request to c-come aboard as y-your ships d-doctor please!” she noticed the two staring blankly at her and blushes, fidgeting on her feet “U-um… m-mommy was a d-doctor before she and father married… s-she taught me a l-lot of what she knew…” Anne mumbled weakly… before squeaking in surprise as Petie stood up and help out his hand to her “Well then, welcome to the crew then Doctor.” He said smiling as Jules giggled, his tail wagging a mile a minute. The cubchoo just blushed softly and timidly took the offered hand.

“J-just call me Anne please…”

“Ready to go!”

The trio blinked and looked down. There was all three plushies with a large bag of what they guessed was everything important to Anne that was salvageable. When they noticed the expressions on the kid’s faces the toys just shrugged “What? We’ve been hoping someone would come and save Anne from herself for a while now… so come on! Times a wasting and I want to see this ship of yours!” the persian said as the plushies gave Anne the bag and preceded to lead the trio out of the burned mansion.


****************


Sneaking Anne through the town in the middle of the day had proved to be rather difficult… but the fact the villagers refused to even look at Petie and Jules provided a good distraction so long as the girl snuck around where they boys were and soon enough they were safely back on the Sea Cradle. The first thing they did was show Anne to the shower so she could wash off all the ashes they were fairly certain were ground into her fur at this point while the boys raised anchor and set sail. They were more than eager to never see this miserable little village again as their little ship cut through the waves to the horizon. Everything was going quite well… until they heard a shrill scream from below deck.

Both boys rushed downstairs to the bathroom where the plushies had been guarding the door and were now banging on it, calling inside to find out if Anne was okay. “M-my c-clothes…” a weak whimper came from inside. The boys groaned, immediately knowing what happened “You can come out.” Petie called “I doubt it’s any worse than the outfits I got stuck with.” By now the two were used to their silly looking outfits so they didn’t think much of them… though they were worried that Anne might just refused to come out… until the door opened.

“H-ho-how d-do I l-look…?”

The stuttering cubchoo seemed to have gotten the same basic outfit as Jules with a baby blue and white color scheme. Her long silver hair was done up in cute, childish pigtails held back by a blue bandanna and like everyone else on the crew she was wearing a comically thick cloth diaper with blue rubber pants that gave her a slight waddle as she moved. Instead of the shirt short enough to show his belly that Jules got she was shorting a striped sundress that barely went an inch past the top of her diaper. To top it all off a pair of blue booties adorned her feet. Her now clean fur sparkled softly in the light as he cheeks were adorned with a soft pink blush as she looked at them. Like everything else Petie’s powers had affected she smelled lightly of baby powder.

Petie felt a blush come to his own cheeks as he looked to her, fidgeting a little himself “Y-you look beautiful.” He said, giving her an awkward smile and trying to hide his blush. Jules meanwhile just looked confused at the two blushing bears. “Oh!” Anne squeaked, a look of realization on her face “I n-never introduced you to my friends!” she said motioning down to the plushies who, as if on cue lined up “W-would you like t-to t-tell them your n-names please?” she asked, getting a slight smile from all three of the toys.

The persian was the first to step up and give them a confident smile and a slight bow “I go by the name of Black Bart. Feel free to call me B.B. if you wish. It is a pleasure to be aboard your ship Captain Petie.” He stepped back letting the delkatty step up next “My names Suzy.” She said with a giggle as she curtsied “Thank you for getting Anne out of her funk.” She stepped back as well, meaning only the purugly was left… who instead opted to enlarge herself and scoop Anne up making the cub squeak and blush “I guess this means I have to check your diaper from now on.” She said in a soft teasing voice, rubbing noises with the bear before looking down at the boys “And my name is Nanny. I’ll be taking care of Anne and you two from now on.” She said before setting Anne down and shrinking back to normal size. The two looked at each other, not sure what to make of this. “Welcome aboard then…” Petie finally said “It’s nice to have you”

BOOM!!!

Everyone screamed as the ship rocked and bounced in the water like a bath toy throwing them into a little heap. Luckily the padded floor let them bounce right back up and scurry upstairs, Anne moving the slowest thanks to not being use to moving in a diaper. Petie threw open the door, stepped outside, and promptly froze in his tracts making Jules and Anne run into him sending the three sprawling. As they pulled themselves to their feet they looked up in terror at the much bigger ship less than ten feet away from them and currently having them at broadside with its cannons. One of which was still smoking from the warning shot it fired a moment ago.

The ship was large and made from some dark wood with panted pink accents and oddly enough hearts decorating it in various places like the portholes, the banisters, and even the cannon ports. There was also this weird fluff that looked like wool or cotton in various places to decorate it. The ships figurehead looked to be a beautiful Alomomola woman with her hands in the praying position. Flying from the top of the mast was a black flag with a heart with the details of a skull printed on it and two shepherd’s crooks crossed behind it. On the deck of the ship was no less the twenty morphs of various species including vulpix, lopunny, and swablu all wearing various outfits with pink in them and trimmed with fluff or with some kind of fluffy accent on them like a scarf.

Standing on the railing in front of all of them was a mareep lady. She was normal sized for her species, meaning only a foot or two taller than Petie’s crew, but was insanely developed with almost unnaturally large curves and breasts… which were in plain view because the only concealing clothes she was wearing was a pink bikini that barely hid anything. Draped across her shoulders was a pinks captains coat matching the large hat she was wearing with her Jolly Rodger printed on it. The only other clothes she was wearing were a pair of boots. She pursed her supple lips into an unpleasant looking smile as she looked down at the three.

“Hmmmmmmm, my name is Captain Francesca Valentine of the Valentine pirates… and it looks like my luck has delivered again for I spy one… no TWO fruit users. Hello dearies, I’ve been looking for you.”


To Be Continued…