Pokémon Fight and Flight

[ShinyMachoke]

AO3 link

NOTE: this was originally written in 2012. It takes place in the world of PMD-Explorers, a now defunct group on deviant art. I'll try and make familiarity with the group not required to read and enjoy the story. Seeing as this is a 10 year old fic, it needed a lot of editing. My original illustrations from 2012 will be posted, too. This is a completed story, and updates will take place on Fridays and Mondays.

WARNINGS (applies to the whole fic): Violence with death and blood present, depictions of trauma, Pokemon preying on each other, light profanity, mention of infanticide, one bathroom moment.

Chapter 1: Speed Demon (this post!)
Chapter 2: A Chilling Departure
Chapter 3: Trials of Survival
Chapter 4: Journey to Tao
Chapter 5: Second Wind
____________________________________

​

Chapter 1: Speed Demon

A healthy fear and wariness of one’s own surroundings were lessons taught to every young Taillow. Small and relatively weak, speed was the one advantage the tiny birds had against predators, from the egg-stealing Ekans to the sharp-clawed Sneasel. The latter were especially dangerous due to their speed and tendency to know icy attacks, a weakness against most flyers.

A pair of Taillow parents, having lost a clutch of eggs to a hungry Sneasel before, were especially cautious with their children, teaching their chicks the importance of honing their flying skills. One of their daughters, Chirpy (or Cyclone, as she liked to be called), took these lessons to heart. Being the first to learn how to fly, it didn’t take long for her siblings to follow her speedy example.

One sunny afternoon, Cyclone was practice-flying with her sister, Songy (their other siblings being Tweety and Singy... they had faint memories of another brother, Screamy, but he was mysteriously gone one day, said to have fallen out of the nest). The Taillow sisters decided that their practice should take place higher above the treeline, so they could get maximum air and be the safest from danger.

“Watch this, Chirpy!” Songy said as she did a loop-de-loop in the air.

“I told you, call me Cyclone!” the other Taillow shouted, spinning rapidly as she gained altitude. “Get a load of my signature Twister!”

“Well, check out my Aerial Ace!” Songy challenged as she cut through the air back and forth.

“Lame, I’ve got Aerial Ace too!”

“Mine’s faster!”

“Oh yeah? Race you to that pine!”

“Ah, the trees? Wait, Chirpy...”

“Keep up! And don’t call me Chirpy!”

Cyclone sped towards the tall evergreen with fervent wing beats, Songy feeling she had no choice but to follow. The sisters were soon neck and neck, eventually Songy just barely taking the lead. At the last moment, the swift birds expertly gripped onto a bare branch with their talons, their race destination.

“Shoot!” Cyclone said, “You beat me! I woulda won if you...”

Suddenly, a blur of black fur and pink shot past the sisters, and in a flash, Songy was gone. Cyclone froze, dumbfounded until she heard the sound that no Taillow ever wanted to hear: the distress call. A shrill, desperate screaming could be heard far below the treeline, as well as claws swiftly scraping against wood.

A Sneasel.

Not wasting another moment, Cyclone dove below the treeline. Navigating the confusing mess of leaves and branches proved to be a challenge, the Taillow nearly finding herself tangled in the natural obstacles. Once she spotted the Sneasel leaping through the trees, Cyclone concentrated hard, trying to focus so she could use Agility. Her sister’s distress screams could still be heard. It was not too late.

In the blink of an eye, Cyclone finally built enough speed to slam into the predator. Though much smaller than the Sneasel, she was able to knock it down and, to her relief, Songy fell from its jaws. The Sneasel quickly regained its footing, eyes wide in surprise. It looked back, its eyes narrowing as it realized its attacker was just another Taillow.

“Go away! Leave her alone!” Cyclone yelled. She struck the Sneasel with her body again, bouncing back like a boomerang. The move seemed to work, for the creature cried out and fell backwards, crashing into the branches below.

“Good riddance, jerkface! Hey, Songy, where ya at?”

Cyclone flew around until she spotted a trembling blue ball of feathers huddled in the cavity of a nearby tree. She glided to her sister and poked her with the tip of her wing.

“Hey, get up. It’s safe now. I saved you!”

Songy lifted her head, her eyes wide yet dull.

“Um... are you hurt?” Cyclone asked.

Songy just slowly shook her head back and forth as she lifted her wings, slowly flapping them up and down.

“Well it looks like you can at least fly. Boy, you shoulda seen how fast and cool I was! Of course, you couldn’t see how awesome I looked, seeing how you were in that thing’s mouth and all.”

“Stop,” Songy quietly interrupted. “I just want to go home.”

Cyclone averted her eyes, uneasy. She then turned around, looking back to make sure Songy would be following, and the two sisters silently made their way back to the family nest.

***


“You did what?!” Cyclone and Songy’s parents squawked in unison.

“I totally saved Songy’s tail feathers from some slimey ol’ Sneasel! She would have been dead meat if not for me!”

Songy, huddled between their parents, remained silent, her head drooping.

“I told you countless times, only use your speed to escape danger!” their father scolded.

“And I told you, that ice rat came outta nowhere! What, you want Songy to be dead right now?”

Songy whimpered and buried her head under her wing. Her mother began preening her.

The father just sighed. His reckless daughter had a point. “Look. I am glad that you were able to fight that creature off. But please, never endanger yourself again. If you two were more aware of your surroundings, this never would have happened in the first place.”

“Bull! We can’t predict everything!”

“This is why you need to learn to be more cautious, to always be on the lookout!” To prove a point, the father Taillow harshly pecked Cyclone on the head. She glared back, feathers ruffled.

“So, this is the thanks I get?”

“Please, keep your voices down” the mother Taillow interrupted. She continued to gently preen Songy. Cyclone scoffed. How could her sister, her best training partner, turn into this sad sack after one little bad experience? How could her own parents not recognize how heroic and awesome she was?

Well, she would just have to get better, faster, and stronger.

From then on, nearly every day, Cyclone urged Songy to come out and train with her. “Um, not today. I’ll just... stick close to the nest. Train around here.”

“You’ll never get stronger staying at home all day! Come on, Tweety and Singy are too slow and boring, don’t be like them!”

Their morning conversations always ended with Songy remaining silent and Cyclone huffing in exasperation, and then taking off. Their parents had given up trying to get her to listen to their advice. If she wanted to be a daredevil and end up as a Sneasel snack, so be it. There was only so much they could do to ensure her survival.

Cyclone spent her days trying to perfect her moves, sometimes using a dead branch or even a low hanging cloud for target practice. One time, she saw a Caterpie crawling along the forest floor. Cyclone gained altitude and then dive-bombed into the hapless bug, its guts exploding on impact. Wasting a potential meal was never a wise idea, but the spectacle was worth it. It was too bad the rest of her other family members were missing out on all this fun. The rare times Cyclone encountered a Sneasel, she merely had to perform the boomerang slam, U-Turn, to beat them back and ward them off. They were almost too easy to defend against.

 

[ShinyMachoke]

Happy Valentine's day! Ready for some blood and violence?



Chapter 2: A Chilling Departure

One spring morning, the Taillow family found themselves huddled together in a tight cluster, shivering. Cyclone roused from sleep and spotted her father perched at the opening of the tree hole their nest resided in. She hopped up to join his side and was astonished at the sight before them; Creeping Forest was completely blanketed in a thick, white cloak, with odd white flakes plummeting from the sky.

“What is...” Cyclone stammered.

“It’s snow.”

“I’ve never felt this cold in my life.”

“You’ve only been alive for a short time. It stopped snowing shortly before your mother and I had your eggs. This is not right.”

The pair was then joined by the mother of the family. She turned to her mate. “This coldness will give our foes an advantage. Are the kids ready to migrate?”

“Wha... migrate? Why!” Cyclone cried out.

Her father smirked. “Is my headstrong daughter actually scared?”

“No! I’m not scared of some cold, white crap! And I am not going to make it force me to leave!”

The parent Taillow said nothing back, being accustomed to Cyclone’s stubborn arrogance. The pair just hopped back to the nest, rousing the rest of their adolescent children up.

“Tweety, Singy, Songy! Rise and shine, my darlings!”

“Ugh, why is it so cold?” asked Tweety, the lone male offspring.

The parents briefly explained what winter was, and how it shouldn’t be happening at this time of year. They also informed their children that, to ensure the family’s survival, they would have to migrate to a warmer climate for an indeterminate amount of time.

“So we’re all just giving up?” Cyclone squawked.

“Chirpy, get real...” Singy sighed.

“Quit calling me Chirpy!”

Feathers puffed in frustration, Cyclone lunged at Singy, talons-first. Their father was quick to intervene, tackling Cyclone onto her back. The shock of the cold, as well as her father fighting back, stunned the young Taillow.

“Wow,” Cyclone said breathlessly. “Dad... I didn’t know you had it in you!”

The father just gave a sharp peck to Cyclone’s head and stepped back, glaring. He realized that he and his mate may have dropped the wrong hatchling from the nest.

“Chirpy. This is not the time. Especially not now. We cannot stay in Creeping Forest. The Caterpie, Wurmple, and berries we depend on for survival are sure to be killed off by now. And as your mother mentioned, our most feared enemy, the Sneasel, thrive in this cold weather. If you remain here, you will be alone. You will die.”

“I will not die,” Cyclone spat.

Her father just raised his head and puffed out his chest. He looked to his mate and nodded.

“I see other flocks leaving,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The parent Taillow flew from the tree hole, soon followed by Tweety and Singy. Songy half-heartedly leapt to the edge of the nest exit.

“Hey, Songy! Let’s train together! Sure, this snow stuff sucks, but it’ll be a fun challenge!”

Songy turned around to face her sister. In that moment, Cyclone noticed how dull Songy’s once vibrant plumage looked, how she held her head low and shoulders high, how her large, dark eyes glistened.

“I’m sorry, Cyclone,” Songy said. She then hopped from the tree hole and flew off to catch up with her family.

Without a second thought, Cyclone took off after her sister. “Hey, get back!” she cried out, voice echoing through the chilling forest. Despite her weak state, Songy effortlessly soared through the maze of trees and branches. Their previous training had paid off after all.

“Songy! Hey! If you leave me, you’ll be weak like the rest of them! Like all Taillow! We don’t have to flee, we can fight!”

Songy just beat her wings harder, convinced her noisy sister would attract a whole slew of unwanted attention. In the distance she saw not only her family but other Taillow, the birds instinctively forming a flock in preparation for the sudden migration.

The distance between Cyclone and Songy grew and grew. Shouting and breathing in frigid air began to take its toll on the young bird, so Cyclone glided to an old oak tree to rest, the snow-cloaked branch stinging her feet. She panted rapidly and puffed out her feathers. Songy was no longer in sight.

That cowardly traitor. Songy was no different from the rest of those defeatists. Why should some coldness and white junk force them all to give up their home and move away? It was a challenge. Cyclone’s father said that if she stayed in Creeping Forest she would die. She’d prove him wrong. She’d prove them all wrong. Somehow.

Something suddenly slammed into Cyclone, sending her tumbling off her perch. She landed clumsily in the snowy ground, her fatigue and surprise making her forget to open her wings. She frantically looked up and spotted her assailant, a Liepard dangling from the tree branch, scrambling to hold on with its claws.

“Missed! Curse this blasted snow!” the feline hissed, tail whipping in frustration.

Cyclone pulled herself from the snow and shook herself off. She spread her wings, flicked her forked tail, and flew to a nearby shrub to hide.

Wait, hide?

Don’t be weak. Don’t let this cold crap get to you. Don’t be some worthless giver-upper like Dad, Mom, Tweety and Singy. And Songy. Stupid cat. Stupid cold. Stupid, jerk-face cat.

Hatred boiled within Cyclone. Her tiny body trembled, partly from fear, mostly from anger. A soft thud was heard, the Liepard having launched itself from the tree and onto the ground. Cyclone peered from her hiding place. The disturbed snow and stray blue feathers gave away where she was. So what. Let that purple, spotted idiot find her. It would regret it.

Seeing the shaking bush, the Liepard smiled to itself. This was too easy. It hunched down, wiggled its hindquarters, and pounced. The Liepard wasn’t prepared for a screeching ball of fury and hate to come barreling out of the bush with scraping talons and a piercing beak, the latter jabbing it in the eye. The Liepard yowled and swiped its paw, missing its attacker.

“Dummy! Idiot! A...asshole!”

Cyclone continued throwing insults and fierce pecks. The Liepard turned tail and ran. Oh no, it wouldn’t get off that easy. Fueled by rage, Cyclone kept up her assault on the cat, striking it with U-turn over and over.

“Damn pest! Let me alone!” Liepard snarled as it ran.

“Make me!”

“As you wish!”

In the blink of an eye, Liepard’s long tail slashed through the air, striking a shallow cut across Cyclone’s chest. The slash only made the Taillow more determined to show this predator who’s boss.

She flapped her wings harder, flecks of blood flying in her wake. Using all of her strength, Cyclone crashed into the Liepard, sending the much larger creature slamming into an old, gnarled tree. Cyclone had built up so much speed she struck the ground and rolled painfully until she crashed into a snowbank.



Letting out a shuddered breath, Cyclone rose to her feet, crying out as a sharp pain shot through one of her legs. Dread hit her as she realized one of her wings hung limply at her side. She turned to face where the Liepard was. Surely, in an injured and bleeding state, she would become its next meal. Her gaze met the hunter’s. The Liepard just stared at Cyclone, one eye squinted from the injury she inflicted on it. It lowered its ears and retreated, limping, until it was out of sight within the natural darkness of the forest.

Cyclone hunkered down into a resting position. Her body screamed in agony, yet she felt proud of winning this fight. Heck, she’d try and fight off the next fool who tried to mess with her. Even though she figured she would die soon, she’d go down fighting. Death didn’t scare her.

A sudden calm warmth washed over Cyclone’s body as positive thoughts flooded her brain. She was vaguely aware of the concept of good feelings to occur to one who’s life was draining away, however she felt more invigorated than ever, as if something more than blood was pumping through her veins, making her feel bigger, stronger. She glanced down at her chest where the Liepard’s sharp tail struck her and, to her astonishment, instead of a cut there was a wide, V-shaped stripe. It finally occurred to Cyclone that she was evolving.

Cyclone had no idea her kind could evolve. She knew it happened to other beings, she had seen Purrloin and Liepard, Pidgey and Pidgeotto, various caterpillars and coccoons. Her mother and father had just never mentioned evolution.

Swellow.

She knew that’s what her kind were called, somehow. The term just appeared in her mind. Feelings of bitterness and resentment came to the young bird once more. So all this time, her parents could have evolved and faired better in protecting their own young, not to mention themselves? Surely they were aware they could become Swellow. Did they just not want to try? Weak, stupid defeatists. And they’d drag her poor siblings into their life of mediocrity, constantly timid and fearful. She thought about how Songy, once full of virility, grew listless and dull. All because she was abducted by some dumb Sneasel for all of three minutes.

Worthless.

 

[ShinyMachoke]

Chapter 3: Trials of Survival

Cyclone flew to higher ground. She was astonished how smoothly she could fly now. Fewer wing beats were needed to gain altitude and... to do anything, really. A dull ache gnawing at her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t yet eaten today, and she had used a tremendous amount of energy. Apparently, the natural healing powers of evolution were no cure for hunger. Cyclone gently glided off her perch in search of food. While she hated having to be careful, even she knew her recklessness had its limits.

Cyclone found that the sudden cold weather caused the small Bug types she sustained on to die, some frozen in place. If she were not starving, she’d scoff at the lack of challenge. She approached a petrified Wurmple, its body stretched out as if reaching for a leaf at the time of its frosty demise. Knowing Wurmple’s spikey, pink back offered it natural protection, Cyclone pecked at its soft, pale underbelly. It took a few tries, due to its frozen state, but she finally pierced its skin to get to the gooey guts within. She shoved her face into the opening, not caring that she got its innards all over herself.

“Hey!” an angry voice squawked from above.

Cyclone removed her face from her buggy meal and saw an irritated blue, red, and white bird circling above her.

“Oh! A fellow Swellow!” Cyclone exclaimed.



“Fellow this!” cried the other Swellow as it splayed its clawed feet and dove towards Cyclone, barely missing her. A warning strike.
Cyclone flew a short distance and, facing her attacker, shouted, “What’s the big idea, loser?”

“This is my territory, idiot!”

Before the other Swellow could attempt to assault Cyclone once more, she turned tail and flew off. Being newly evolved and barely satiated, she knew she was outmatched. Well, this was what she was up against now. It was a shame she couldn’t befriend that Swellow, ask how it became a cool survivor like her, but apparently her kind were antisocial. So be it. She would have to work extra hard to ensure she’d claim her own territory, fight off other evolved birds. This was the life of a tough Swellow.

As the weeks wore on, Cyclone was pushed further and further from the familiar piece of forest she grew up in. While the small songbird population had all but vacated Creeping Forest, many evolved ones remained, much to Cyclone’s chagrin. Sure, it was entertaining and surprisingly easy for her to fight off ground-bound foes, but aerial adversaries were another story, and the young Swellow was no match for the more experienced birds she encountered. Every solo practice session, every time she wanted to eat, heck, even when she just wanted to casually fly around for fun, was interrupted by a Pidgeotto, Staravia, or some other large bird squabbling about its territory.

Territory this, territory that. Shut up already!

This new area seemed to bring some peace to the worn Swellow. An unnatural clearing formed a path that cut through the forest. Had it not been for the sudden snowfall, various Pokemon would be traversing this road going to and from the nearby Sapling Village. Cyclone knew nothing of the village, or even the towering Castle Draclugia a few miles away. All that mattered to her was that those damn birds had finally left her alone. She had claimed her own coveted territory.

Food was hard to come by, as always. The caterpillars had been cleaned out, and the berries had grown too frostbitten or simply died. One day, in search for a meal, Cyclone spotted something green clinging to the side of a tree. A Metapod. She pecked and scraped it its hard shell, finding no weak point.

Cyclone snorted in frustration. Remembering her training, she flew away from the Metapod, steadily gaining altitude. She grinned, looking forward to the carnage her Aerial Ace would bring forth. She dove downwards, shattering the cocoon upon impact. Instead of gelatinous innards she was met with a cloud of dust. Apparently, some of the caterpillars went into a chrysalis state upon the arrival of the cold snap, yet didn’t have the benefit of an entire spring and summer to gorge on leaves and become deliciously juicy.

“I can’t eat this!” Cyclone cried out. She angrily tore through the dust and ravaged the Metapod’s husk. She cursed, she screamed, she slashed with her talons. She continued unleashing her wrath on tree bark, dead wood, anything in her way. If some annoying bird approached her complaining about TERRITORY now, she surely would have murdered it.



The outrage eventually subsided and Cyclone settled down near the obliterated Metapod pieces. She pecked at the dust and, while dry and unpleasant, still tasted of insect. Every once in awhile she’d have to take a break and ingest some snow to wash it down with. At least water was plentiful. After her meal, Cyclone half-heartedly preened her feathers. Her outburst having taken a lot out of her, she soon gave up. Evening loomed in the sky, tinting the snowy forest in soft blue. Sighing in resignation, Cyclone decided to take roost for the night.

Cyclone settled into a nest of twigs and crinkly dry leaves. She was aware how scruffy and unkempt her plumage looked these days. She felt she had aged a decade despite being barely a half year old.

“I won’t give up,” Cyclone said to herself, voice cracking. She paused, momentarily surprised at how ragged she sounded. “I will beat this cold crap. I won’t die.” Cyclone tucked her head beneath a wing and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

Hours later, Cyclone awoke with a jolt. Despite having so little sleep and being conscious at an unnatural time, she was immediately alert, heart pounding. A terrible wave of dread chilled her to the core. Her head darted back and forth. It was pitch black and completely silent.

It’s nothing. Stop it. Dammit, I hate night time.

A fierce, whistling wind suddenly blasted through the forest. In an instant, Cyclone’s (admittedly) poorly constructed nest disintegrated, sticks and twigs sent flying. Cyclone opened her wings just to be thrown back-first into the side of her tree, the wind pinning her down. Icy volleys of fat snowflakes slapped into the hapless bird. She struggled in place in a blind panic.

Before she knew it, she found herself unpinned but fluttering blindly through the pitch darkness. One moment she was tangled in a dead bush, the next she was scraping along the ground, then she was tossed through the air again. It was a wonder the Swellow hadn’t broken any bones, something she would have prided herself on if she could actually think straight. As luck would have it, Cyclone found herself wedged beneath what seemed to be tree roots. At the very least, they provided some shelter from the blizzard. Cyclone shoved herself deeper under the roots, climbing along the the shallow slope of the earth until she could push herself no further. She would just have to wait this storm out, it seemed.

Did the ground just shake?

It happened, just for a moment. Then again, stronger this time. Cyclone realized what these rhythmic vibrations reminded her of; foot steps. Whatever behemoth these belonged to thundered closer and closer to where Cyclone was sheltered. Just her luck.

“Hey! Hey, Sorbet’s going in the wrong direction! Over here!” someone called out.

A red glow seeped into the entrance of Cyclone's shelter. Despite her intense fear, she treaded carefully from beneath the roots, curious to see where this light was coming from. Her blood ran cold. Bathed in a hellish crimson light stood a massive beast, taller than any tree in Creeping Forest. Before Cyclone could process its features, the light illuminating the giant faded. Shouts from unseen Pokemon were heard. Shrouded in momentary darkness, the monster bellowed a booming, earth shattering roar.

Cyclone had seen enough. She made a mad dash back beneath the roots and, once again, wedged into the burrow as tightly as she possibly could. That terrible roar lingered, permeating the earth, shaking the trees. Cyclone squeezed her eyes shut. Before she knew it, she burst into choked sobs, hot tears dribbling down her face. A shameful act of weakness.

Was this some kind of punishment for not leaving Creeping Forest with her family all of those weeks ago? They were probably safe and warm while Cyclone lay hunkered, freezing and terrified out of her mind in the wake of some otherworldly hell-beast, bawling like a pathetic hatchling. She hated everything. She hated her family, the weather, those other birds, how every day was a constant struggle to survive, and she loathed that fearsome beast. Most of all, she he hated how weak and helpless she had become.

 

[ShinyMachoke]

Spoiler: Notes and Credits

Notes: This chapter and the next contains several characters and concepts that belonged to PMD-Explorers. You can view the wiki here if you're curious about them, and the group itself. As I stated before, knowledge about the group is not required for reading and understanding this story. Cyclone herself is learning about this world, and you get to learn alongside with her :D.
Jill, Ivory, Samual, Lady Merlot, and Sorbet belong to PMD-Explorers and are not my characters.
Tao Village, Creeping Forest (should have mentioned this sooner, whoops), and Castle Draclugia are all places that belong to PMD-Explorers.

Chapter 4: Journey to Tao

Cyclone had no idea how long she’d been hunkered in her shelter. She’d drift off in short bursts only to jolt awake again. She would then remain motionless, hazy thoughts drifting through her head until she’d fall back asleep. Her body boiled, despite the frigid weather. Why crawl from here ever again? It’s easier to just accept a slow death.

That’s what she thought until she felt something pulling on her tail feathers, dragging her through the mud and into the open. A scavenger, she figured, a coward come to prey on Cyclone in her drained state. She promised herself that she’d go down fighting even if she knew she didn’t have a chance. Belting out a hoarse squawk, Cyclone flailed wildly, beating her wings and writhing in place.

“Oh my!” a voice cried out, releasing her in the process. “I didn’t know you were still alive, dearie! My apologies!”

The first thing Cyclone noticed was how blindingly bright everything was. Creeping Forest was never this sunny, even on the most clear days, thanks to the canopy of broad leaves and thick branches. As her vision adjusted, Cyclone found herself face to face with a large, winged, grey dragon.



“You!” Cyclone cried out, voice raspy. “Come here to finish the job after last night, eh?” She struggled to keep her footing due to her burning fever. She tried her best to look intimidating, despite being much smaller than this beast and her feathers being caked with mud and dried tear stains.

“Er, what?”

“Poor birdy thinks you be Sorby, Jill,” a new voice said.

The grey creature, Jill, broke out in a roacous cackle. Cyclone would have felt patronized if not for her illness making things feel hazy and dreamlike.

“Bless me, I ain’t a dragon! Just scouring this place fer scraps, ya see.”

Cyclone looked around, finally realizing why her surroundings were so bright. The forest was a mess of fallen timber, tree stumps, and mud. For the first time she noticed that all of the snow was gone, melted away, the once frigid temperature now hot and dry. She must have been more sick than she realized.

“What... happened?”

“Aye, it be a long story, small one. The important thing is that ice dragon, Sorby, be gone now, and that horrible snow be no more.”

A massive bird of a species Cyclone had never before seen sidled up next to Jill. Scruffy black plumage covered her body while, in stark contrast, her head and neck were a deep pink, bare, except for a topknot of dark feathers protruding from the back of her skull. The strange bird titled her head with concern. “Child, you look dreadful. Are you unwell?”

Cyclone barely listened to either creature. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the forest, her home, being in ruins. Don’t cry. It was bad enough when I was alone. Don’t show weakness.

A gentle nudge in the back broke Cyclone from her thoughts. She spun around, head low and wings raised in a defensive posture. She was met with Jill holding a large, green berry in the clawed fingers on her wings, a toothy smile across her draconic face. Despite Jill’s terrifying looks, maternal warmth radiated from her, putting Cyclone at ease.

“What is this,” Cyclone asked.

“It be a Lum berry, sweetie! It’ll perk ya right up. The talented ranchers in Tao Village grow ‘em. They be a bit scarce now, though. I think ya need it.”

Jill held the berry closer to Cyclone’s face, the Swellow only retreating in response. The larger creature dropped the Lum berry. It bounced and rolled to Cyclone’s feet.

“Well, me ‘n Ivory ought to get going, young one, there’s lots o’ work ta be done. Who knows, you might come ‘cross a team needin’ a new member. Be well!”

With a flap of her massive wings, Jill leisurely raised herself off the ground. A powerful slam from her tail propelled her into the air with impressive speed. She was then joined by her bald-headed partner, Ivory. As they departed, Cyclone noticed that a red ribbon adorned Jill’s neck. It was the first time she’d seen such an accessory worn by someone and, unbeknownst to her, would not be the last.

Cyclone eyed the berry suspiciously, having never been offered anything by a creature of a different species. She had heard about how some of the more clever predators used tricks and traps to catch their prey. Jill certainly looked to be a predator, with her long muzzle full of serrated teeth. Still, she didn’t seem to carry any ill will. Why would a random stranger offer a gift and expect nothing in return?

Feeling on the verge of death anyway, Cyclone figured she had nothing to lose. She pecked at the green Lum berry, finding its skin easy to break. She tore into chunks of berry flesh, the variety of flavors from the juices making the fruit all the more appetizing. As she finished the berry, she found herself feeling better than ever. The gravelly sensation in her throat and chest had all but vanished, and her body cooled to a more comfortable temperature.

Cyclone’s chipper mood quickly died as she took in her surroundings once again. So it was not a fever-dream; Creeping Forest was truly obliterated. Cyclone gasped as she spotted a horribly mangled avian body amongst the rubble. Its plumage was blue, white, and red; a fellow Swellow. A sharp, chilling sensation of vulnerability engulfed Cyclone. Gulping, she hastily took to the skies, shooting like a rocket without the barrier of a thick forest canopy slowing her trajectory.

Spending time in the sky eventually settled Cyclone’s nerves. She began to feel peckish; while the Lum berry was vitalizing, it wasn’t satiating. She spotted a small purple creature, a Rattata, limping along the forest floor. Cyclone had never eaten a living thing that wasn’t a bug, seeing how her kind were small and built more for speed than for strength. Surely, the tiny mammal would put up a fight, a far cry from the usual vacant insects Cyclone preyed upon. Well, time to put my dive bomb attack to good use.

Just before the desperate bird gained enough altitude to ready herself for the attack, she noticed two more beings strolling through the woods; another purple mammal, an Aipom, and a Pidgeotto. Why a Pidgeotto would be hanging out with another of a different kind eluded Cyclone. She glided to a broken tree stump to spy on the unusual pair.

The Aipom excitedly bounded to the Rattata. The rat flatted its ears and bared its sharp incisors in defense.

“Heya buddy, don’t be like that!” the Aipom chattered. “I saw that you needed some help! We can bring you to Tao Village and get you all fixed up.”

The Rattata calmed down a bit, twitching its whiskers inquisitively. “You... don’t want to eat me?”

“Of course not,” the Pidgeotto added. “We’re Rescuers! We’re just doing our job. We know a lot of Pokemon here need help since the Sorbet disaster!”

Sorbet, Cyclone thought. Why does that sound so familiar? Oh... didn’t I hear someone say that name last night? Is that what that monster was? A... Sorbet?

The pair continued their conversation with the Rattata, the little rodent growing more at ease as they talked.

“You guys... you’re so nice! How can I ever repay you?”

“If you’d like,” the Aipom said, “You can join our team and help out other Pokemon when you get better.”

“Ah... I’d like that very much! Thank you!”

“Pleasure is all ours, twitch. I’m Handy and this is my pal, Sanders. Welcome to Team Tickles!”

Cyclone almost blew her hiding spot by laughing. She couldn’t believe what she saw. That poor rat was clearly walking into some elaborate trap. Though the Aipom wasn’t a predatory species, it may be an accomplice to the Pidgeotto. Then again, the bird would be putting in quite a lot of effort just to make a meal of a small, injured animal. The two purple mammals hopped onto said Pidgeotto’s back, and it flew off. How shameful, Cyclone thought, shaking her head, this proud bird carting around living snacks.

Over the next several days, Cyclone saw more and more outsiders traversing the forest. Some cleared the fallen timber, others found unfortunate victims and either rescued them or moved their now lifeless bodies. There were even some, who appeared to be part plant themselves, using their mysterious powers to encourage new flora to grow. Cyclone always quietly observed, intrigued yet bemused. She didn’t get why anyone would help a stranger and gain nothing in return, much like that flyer, Jill, she met days ago. She also couldn’t comprehend why they’d want to help restore Creeping Forest without even living there themselves.

As Cyclone took roost each evening, she’d listen to the stories regaled by the Tao stragglers who decided to stake camp for the night. She’d force herself to remain awake as long as possible, absorbing the travelers’ tales. They not only spoke of their home, Tao Village, but other places too, from the tropical beaches of Alomomola Bay to the perpetually icy Whispering Peaks.

The outsiders also conversed amongst themselves of the current happenings of the world. Cyclone strained to listen anytime “Sorbet” was mentioned. From what she could piece together, he was an ancient dragon, known as a “Kyurem”, who had been awakened to fulfill some purpose. His arrival was what initially brought on the strange snowy weather to Creeping Forest. He was apparently a benevolent beast, regarded well enough to be given a name. One day, for no discernable reason, he flew into a mindless rampage, his wrath bringing forth that deadly blizzard. The villagers were able to subdue and return him to his enchanted hibernation.

Cyclone had become more aware of a vast world much larger than she could ever conceive. Her existence so far had been is so small, so brief, amidst the grand events taking place across the land. Cyclone’s own ignorance angered her. She had to know. She needed to find Tao Village. She had to try and make sense of this chaotic world.

The following morning, while in flight, Cyclone spotted a pair of diminutive outsiders. One was a pale, green quadruped with a large leaf sprouting from its head, the other a fluffy orange chick. The leafy creature stood completely still, eyes closed, a glowing energy pulsing from it, its powers encouraging new plant life to sprout from the ground. The orange chick, meanwhile, plucked seeds from a sack strapped across its body, placing the seeds into the earth. Them. She’d ask them. Cyclone dove straight down and abruptly landed between the two Pokemon, startling the pair.

“You... I dropped all the seeds!” The chick peeped in vain.

“Tell me, where is Tao Village?” Cyclone demanded.

“Um, it’s simple really” uttered the leafy creature. A long, green vine unfurled from one of the buds adorning its neck. Acting as an appendage, the vine pointed to a nearby clearing. “See this path? Just follow it, due east, and you’ll arrive there eventually. You’ll see a huge building on the way, that’s Castle Draclugia. You can rest there if you want, Lady Merlot has...”

“That won’t be necessary,” Cyclone interrupted. As she raised her wings to take fight, she glanced at the frazzled little chick frantically pecking up the seeds scattered all around. She smirked. A bird incapable of flight. How pitiful! Head held high, Cyclone took to the skies, performed several aerial loop-de-loops, then sped off. She didn’t at all hear the two young Pokemon remark about her rudeness.

A few hours into her journey, Cyclone happened upon a massive structure. Dark stones formed a massive building with towers reaching high into the sky, and an unnatural-looking body of water surrounding the structure like a ring. Was this Tao?

The flight made Cyclone rather thirsty, so she approached the water’s edge to refresh. Just then, a large, blue creature burst from the surface, drenching Cyclone. She yelped and leapt back. The water being spoke:

“Ah, I yearned to feast my eyes upon my radiant lady love, but instead I, Samual, have come face to beak with an indigo-plumed scrub.”

“Who are you calling scrub, fish-face?”



The aquatic creature merely stuck its long nose in the air, eyes closed.

“My, what an uncouth pauper! Though from a denizen of this godforsaken forest, I expect nothing less.”

“And I see the residents of Tao are a bunch of jerks.”

Samual paused for a moment, and then chuckled, eyes still closed. “My, as ignorant as you are ugly! This is the wonderful abode of the beautiful, stupendous, delicious, elegant Lady Merlot, Castle Draclugia!”

Oh, this place, Cyclone thought.

“My dear, feral feather-duster,” Samual continued, “if you wish to reach Tao Village, simply look for the Monochrome Tower, a spiraling spire of deep black and vibrant white. I believe that even your primitive avian brain can handle such straightforward direction.”

Before he could react, Cyclone had flown into Samual’s face, nearly knocking him from the moat. He retreated just as quickly as she struck him.

“Handle that, snorkle-nose!” Cyclone mocked as she flew away, leaving a cursing sea dragon in her wake.

 

[ShinyMachoke]

Spoiler: Notes and Credits

Notes: As before, several characters and concepts are not mine.
Tao Village, Pidove Post, Sorbet, Scout, Vergil, and Archimedes all belong to the group PMD-Explorers.
Peep is mine, though!

Chapter 5: Second Wind

As Cyclone flew on, fallen woodland gave way to open fields. Various Pokemon traversed the well-worn paths. Just as she was wondering how close she was getting to her destination, she spotted an impossibly tall, narrow black and white spire in the distance. That must be the Monochrome Tower that annoying fish-thing blabbered about. Well, at least he was somewhat useful. Cyclone made a hasty beeline in the direction to said tower.

She momentarily glanced down and nearly dropped from the sky in shock. Giant heads emerging from the ground? First the ice dragon and now these weird monstrosities! Cyclone slowed down and began gliding in wide circles, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. From what she could make out, the giants were completely still, frozen in place. Perhaps not even alive? Mustering up her courage, she began to descend, curious to see these unusual creatures up close.

After a bit of hesitation, Cyclone fluttered into a landing. The massive heads loomed all around her but, as she studied them, she could tell they were not living beings at all, and never were. In fact, they were dwellings of some kind, assorted Pokemon walking in and out of them. The young Swellow felt a large amount of unease in this strange place, though none of the inhabitants bothered her. She even spotted her worst enemy, a Sneasel, mingling with a group of other Pokemon. It barely acknowledged her, only glancing in her direction momentarily before continuing its conversation with its friends. This place certainly held an unnerving gathering of peace and unity.

“Is this Tao Village?” Cyclone quietly asked herself.

Cyclone locked eyes with a creature she didn't expect to meet; Sorbet. The terrifying, icy hell-beast towered above her. Memories of the dragon amidst the snowy blizzard, bathed in a red glow, roaring ferociously came back to her, along with that dreadful feeling of helplessness and fear. Cyclone crouched down, cowering.

“You do know it’sss not the real Sssorbet, right?”

An Ekans slithered past Cyclone, snickering. The Swellow hopped to her feet and glared at the dragon. Scrutinizing it, she could tell that it truly was fake, its lopsided body transparent. Water cascaded from its maw like crystal clear vomit. Truly a nauseating sight. Cyclone felt like regurgitating in response. A dubious thought came to the Swellow. She smiled.

I won’t lose my lunch over that thing, but I will let loose something else.

Cyclone swiftly hovered above the fountain, took aim, then dropped a healthy blob of guano directly onto fake-Sorbet’s head. Surely, proper vengeance for embarrassing her!

“Hey!” a bubbly voiced called from below. “You can’t do that!”

“Yeah!” another piped in.

Cyclone looked down. In the fountain at the base of the statue were two irate Magikarp. She rolled her eyes. Magikarp’s legacy of being the weakest creature ever to exist was world-famous, known even to her. Not wanting to be heckled by another fish today, especially one as pathetic as a Magikarp, Cyclone swooped down, clutching one of the Magikarp in her talons. She then flew upwards, the hapless fish flopping helplessly in her grasp.

“Ahh! Put me down!”

“Okay!”

Cyclone released her grip on the poor fish, sending it splashing into the fountain. She laughed. She hadn’t had this much fun since she was a young Taillow! She suddenly felt an unnerving presence, like she was being stalked by a predator. Cyclone spun around, ready to challenge whoever dared to spoil her fun. She froze in place, slowly flapping her wings just enough to stay airborn. A huge, no, massive bird leered at her, the sharp, blood-red plumage on its head casting a shadow over its narrowed eyes. Cyclone couldn’t pull away from its intense glare. She was reminded of the Staravia back in Creeping Forest but this creature was far more menacing.



As if the situation couldn’t get more alarming, a Patrat peered from behind the large bird’s neck. Its red and yellow eyes pulsed in a quick, sickening way, causing Cyclone’s vision to blur and swirl into a vortex of confusing colors. She felt herself falling, then large talons tightly gripping her wings.

So... this is how it ends...

Cyclone was never killed, of course. She felt herself continue to be carried, yet she couldn’t tell up from down, nor could she see her captors clearly. Their voices sounded distant and muffled. She could eventually tell she was in a dark place, inside one of those unsettling monster-shaped dwellings, no doubt. Finally she was left alone, though she still felt the presence of glaring eyes piercing her.

After what seemed like hours, Cyclone’s senses returned. Her side ached from laying down in an unnatural position. As her vision came into focus she saw that she was surrounded by solid black bars. A pair of glowing red and green eyes leered at her in the dark.



“Name and place of residence,” the owner of the striped eyes demanded gruffly.

“None of your business!”

The room suddenly shook. No, it wasn’t the room, it was the cage holding Cyclone shaking, struck by the interrogator.

“Name and place of residence.”

“Chi... Cyclone. Creeping Forest.” The authoritarian tone almost made her blurt out her birth name. She hoped he hadn’t noticed.

“Your real name.”

Cyclone sighed. “Chirpy.”

If Cyclone could see in the dark she would have witnessed the figure stifling a smile. “Miss Chirpy, today you were observed vandalizing village property and harassing one of its citizens. In these trying times, we, the Patrat Patrol, must increase security. We have zero tolerance for such a disturbance of the peace.”

“Disturb your peace?” Cyclone shouted, rattling her cage. “My little ‘disturbance’ doesn’t compare to the disaster your guys’ stupid, lumbering dragon caused the forest! It’s an absolute mess! I almost died! What the hell were you jerk-faces thinking?”

The room was suddenly bathed in bright daylight as a small creak was heard. The interrogator jumped. Taking a moment for her eyes to adjust, Cyclone could now see that he was a Watchog, though something about his fur coloring looked off. In the doorway stood the two Pokemon from earlier, the Patrat and the large grey bird with the permanent scowl.

“Always one for dramatics, eh Officer Vergil?” the Patrat chuckled.

The Watchog blinked blearily as he gazed at the newcomer. He composed himself and cleared his throat. “Welcome back, Officer Scout. What did the bosslady say?”

“She said, uh, to just to put the troublemaker to work.” The Patrat scratched the back of his head as he continued. “I was thinking on my way over here, with all of the new Pokemon moving in, maybe Archimedes could use some assistance at the Pidove Post?”

“Hm, she is a bird after all,” Vergil added.

“Wow, your brain is almost as brilliant as your stupid eyes,” Cyclone remarked. All three authoritarian Pokemon turned to Cyclone. Despite her predicament, Cyclone stood defiantly in her cage, chest puffed and crest raised.

“So we have ourselves a comedian, too,” said Vergil. Cyclone tried not to cower as the taller rodent approached her. He laid a paw on the cage door, flipped a hook, and the door swung open with a shrill creak. As Cyclone confidently strode out, Vergil turned to the larger grey bird. “Peep, please escort our young guest to Pidove Post.”

Finally released from her prison and brought back into the outdoors, Cyclone’s first instinct was to make a break for it. The presence of that monumental grey bird, Peep, was a blatant reminder that such an action was unwise. Suppressing her unease, Cyclone turned to him.

“So, Peep,” Cyclone said. “I guess we were both given embarrassing names, huh?”

Peep just glared at her silently. His intimidating gaze alone prevented Cyclone from daring to open her wings. What was with the denizens of Tao Village, anyway?

After a brief march, the two birds arrived at a dwelling modeled after a bird Cyclone recognized, a Pidove. Pidove Post. Clearly, Tao was bursting with creativity. Not surprisingly, they were greeted by a serious-looking Pidove.

In a low, grumbling voice, Peep explained to the Pidove, Archimedes, about the situation with Cyclone. He then left the two alone, taking to the skies. Archimedes sighed as he faced his new assistant.

“May as well get started right away, then. There are still families out there awaiting letters from their loved ones, not to mention the upcoming festival. Lower your head, please.”

“What? Why?”

Not waiting for her to obey, Archimedes gathered a canvas strap in his beak and tossed it around Cyclone, then hopped behind her, pulling it.

“Hey, what are you... ah, tight!”

Ignoring her anxious wing flapping, Archimedes gave a quick yank to the strap until he felt it was sufficiently secure around Cyclone’s chest. She shook the smaller bird off only to find her center of gravity had changed, causing her to topple forward.

“What are you doing, you obnoxious little pecker?!” Cyclone clumsily hopped to her feet only to fall back on her rump. This day just wouldn’t stop injuring the young Swellow’s ego.

“It’s your mail bag, Miss Chirpy. You cannot do your job without it. Now each letter, you see, is addressed with a seal. Its symbol...”

“What?! Stop! I didn’t... what the hell is going on?!” Cyclone flapped her wings furiously, only to hover in circles, her body tilting awkwardly.

“Calm down, the weight of the mail bag just takes a bit of getting used to. Dear lord.”

It was then that Cyclone noticed an oversized sack slumped on her front. She settled down and sighed in exasperation. “What am I doing, anyway?”

“As I tried to explain, Miss Chirpy, these are letters. People write in them, intending for their messages to reach others. Our jobs, as delivery birds, is to make sure that the recipient receives their letter. Seeing as how you’re probably illiterate, I’ll explain. The letters have pictures and digits on them, see?”



Archimedes held up a letter with his foot to Cyclone’s face. “Notice how this drawing looks like a picture of a person’s face? Yet this one has numbers, or symbols, I suppose you’d see them as. These markers match a place of residence. The pictured ones go to the buildings they appear as, while the numbered ones will be going to the new tenements that have been recently built.”

Cyclone’s eyes glazed over at these instructions. More than ever she wanted to go back to Creeping Forest, despite it being in ruins.

Archimedes scoffed. “Humph! I knew you couldn’t handle it! I’ll never find the help I need, and you have to find another way to be free to go back to your home!”

“Wait,” Cyclone said. “You mean if I do this work for you, I’ll be free?”

Archimedes’s chest puffed out in irritation. “Of course! God, you’re infuriatingly dense! You caused trouble in this village, which is a Bad Thing. You get punished, then must pay your dues through community service. After justice has been served, you may do as you please, assuming you have stopped causing trouble! Even a newly hatched chick could comprehend all of this information!”

Cyclone stood to her full height, craning her neck towards the smaller bird.

“Hey, I can bring some stupid little letters to a bunch of dinky little nests! AND, I won’t mess up, not once! I’ll deliver them fast, faster than you could ever do! Just watch!”

Cyclone shot out through the door of Pidove Post, only to, once again, fall flat. She squeezed her eyes shut, flapping in vain in the dust. A gentle, feathery touch on her head caught the furious bird’s attention. She stopped struggling and opened her eyes, her gaze meeting Archimedes’ yellow ones. His expression was soft, almost sympathetic.

“Chirpy,” he cooed.

“It’s Cyclone,” she sighed.

“Pardon me. Miss Cyclone, I know you’ve been through a lot. I can see it in you. I want you to excel at this job, and I want you to be free again. Please, Cyclone, allow me to take you under my wing.”

Just from hearing another mention her favored name, Cyclone was reminded of Songy. How was her sister doing anyway? Did she even make the migration all the way to warmer climes? Would Cyclone ever see her family again? A crushing loneliness suddenly weighed down on her like a heavy cloak. Cyclone’s vision became blurry and she trembled, trying to hold back tears.

“I see you may want to be alone,” Archimedes said. “I’ll be inside. When you’re ready, I will show you around the village and instruct you how to balance with the weight of the mail bag. Tao Village is not such a bad place. Things are just different from what you’re used to. You’ll be fine, Cyclone, you’re a strong bird.”

Once Archimedes was out of sight, Cyclone tread to the back of the Pidove Post. She lied down and, for the second time in her adult life, sobbed heavily. She felt like an absolute failure. A random, stupid act got her trapped in this bizarre place, with its strange rules. After she couldn’t squeeze out anymore tears, she just say motionless, head hung low. She noticed a huge, pink and yellow face staring at her from the distance, one of those abodes in the likeness of some mon.

“What are you looking at?” Cyclone sniffled. “Big, stupid face. Lots of stupid faces. I won’t let you losers keep me down.”

As if to prove a point, Cyclone scrambled up the side of the Pidove Post, half flying and half climbing. Once she made it to the top, she surveyed Tao Village with its gathering of towering, blank faces.

“I’m not letting you keep me down.” A shadow passed the roof of the post. Cyclone looked up, seeing Peep patrolling from the sky. “And I won’t let you keep me down either, you with your stupid-looking head feathers! I’ll show everyone here I’m not some weak, pathetic coward like the rest of you!”

“I see you are well, Miss Cyclone?”

Startled from her sudden company, Cyclone nearly lost her footing. Archimedes grasped the bag strap in his beak to prevent her from tumbling off the side of the hut.

“Ark... uh....” Cyclone stammered.

“It’s Archimedes. What do you say we have something to eat, and then I’ll show you a tour of Tao Village. Does that sound good?”

“Sounds great, but can you get this stupid thing off of me?”

Archimedes obliged, hopping behind Cyclone and loosening the strap. The bag fell with a slump. Cyclone breathed deeply and stretched her wings. Archimedes took the bag in his feet and glided to the doorway of the post. Taking one last look around Tao Village, with its goofy structures, Cyclone smirked, and then followed her new mentor. This community service was just one little setback. Cyclone knew, in her heart of hearts, that it was only a matter of time 'til she would be free to explore the lands, learn its mysteries, and face its challenges. The sky’s the limit.


The End

Spoiler: Closing Notes

So the purpose of writing this story, is that Cyclone was an NPC I made for PMD-Explorers. She was intended to assist the Rescuers Guild who, due to some issues with the real life mods, was underdoing some leadership issues. Someone suggested I make a backstory for Cyclone, so I did and had a lot of fun with it.
Cyclone never did make it as a Guild NPC, and the group eventually closed due to circumstances I won't repeat here (and I don't even have all the details anyway). Well, hope you enjoyed reading the adventures of this angry little bird!

 

[Negrek]

It's been great to see you posting stories recently, and I've been itching to check them out, since I remember your work from ages ago fondly. I know these stories are still relatively old, but they're new to me, and it was a lot of fun to see what you've been up to since the naughties. In this story in particular it was interesting to see a blend of what I remember as being your more naturalistic/animalistic take on pokémon with PMD, which is decidedly not.

I haven't seen many PMD stories that deal with "feral" pokémon as more than obstacles to be overcome or, sometimes, as secondary characters where they maybe act a little weird. It's a lot of fun to see a story focused on one of their lives and how different it is from the pokémon living in the village not far away. I enjoyed the casual grimness of the setting, where Cyclone's miffed that her sister's traumatized by that one time she nearly got eaten or where Cyclone herself thinks nothing of killing caterpie just for fun and even considers something more personlike like the rattata when she gets hungry enough. Kind of makes me wonder how places like the village managed to arise at all, where predators and prey seem totally chill with one another; definitely a stark contrast to life in the forest. I enjoyed the feeling of culture shock she has upon visiting Tao Village, and how she really isn't sold on it at first (or much at all by the time we reach this story's end). Little details like how confused she is by the pokémon-head buildings really drive home how bizarre towns would be to pokémon who'd been living a wild life, even though they're a part of the same world.

Cyclone's arrogant and headstrong attitude is a lot of fun. It's kind of interesting, since this is a backstory--normally you'd kind of expect to see her chilling out a little and maybe coming to understand other people more, but as this is really a prelude to what she'd be doing in the RP, I imagine most of the character development was supposed to come later. It's fun to see her cockiness routinely get her into trouble... but she almost always bounces right back. I also liked the contrast between her and the rest of her family. I wonder if there's often a similar sort of orneriness to pokémon who decide to leave the wild and join a rescue team or settle in the village--something that sets them apart from the pokémon who are happy to continue living in the wild.

Also, love the art! It's always fun when authors are able to illustrate their stories, and the pictures here are so lively and vibrant. Probably my favorites were the very first one with the sneasel, which has loads of energy in the sketchy lines that heighten the feel of danger, and the one with the aerodactyl, which such a lovely warm tone and excellent details and textures. It's obvious your art skills have leveled up a lot over the years!

Thanks for sharing this one, and although the RP it was written before isn't around anymore, I hope you enjoyed revisiting the character and giving the prose a fresh coat of paint.

 

[ShinyMachoke]

Oh man, thank you for the thorough comment! Yes, I was going through some older stories for inspiration/seeing what still held up. The fact that I don't cringe reading this one made it pass the test, lol (I refuse to read any of my stuff on ff.net).

It can be kind of interesting how different pmd group settings treat feral Pokemon. Some they don't exist, some they live more like nomadic tribes, others their brains are just wired differently and are unlikely to change, in at least one it's like they're diseased. I think a lot of those have really unfortunate connotations. I don't recall PMD-Explorers having feral Pokemon as biologically different, some Pokemon just live like wild animals but are still just as bit as sapient as "civilized" ones.

The thing you pointed out in the third paragraph, I never did notice that Cyclone doesn't really change by the end of the story (and why should she, she's perfect and great and everyone else is just too stupid to see, clearly). She gets helped by Jill the Aerodactyl, but is more confused than grateful. Since she was slated to be an assistant to the Rescuers Guild, she would eventually learn how to be more altruistic and a team player. I think the fact that it was written with the group and its events in mind is why it came so easily to me. Usually longer, chaptered stories are intimidating and then I eventually lose interest (coughGuiltyByDesigncough).

Once again, thank you for the comment. I am hoping to keep being inspired and actually writing something new (that's more substantial than a short, fluff fic, heh).

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I was hunting for some lighter fare to squeeze in on a worknight from people I hadn’t reviewed before onsite and… PMD-Explorers, huh? That’s a name that I haven’t heard in a long, long time. But I suppose I’m no stranger to very old experiences sticking with me as fonts of inspiration, and you seem to have gone the whole nine yards with some art bundled in, so let’s see where this goes.

Chapter 1

Spoiler

A healthy fear and wariness of one’s own surroundings were lessons taught to every young Taillow. Small and relatively weak, speed was the one advantage the tiny birds had against predators, from the egg-stealing Ekans to the sharp-clawed Sneasel. The latter were especially dangerous due to their speed and tendency to know icy attacks, a weakness against most flyers.

: “Sounds like a skill issue to me.”

A pair of Taillow parents, having lost a clutch of eggs to a hungry Sneasel before, were especially cautious with their children, teaching their chicks the importance of honing their flying skills. One of their daughters, Chirpy (or Cyclone, as she liked to be called), took these lessons to heart. Being the first to learn how to fly, it didn’t take long for her siblings to follow her speedy example.

I take it that these are ferals/the equivalent of wildmons given that predation is just a fact of life for them in spite of living in a PMD setting. (And I could’ve sworn there was something like meat roots floating around in PMD-E as the workaround for why the townies didn’t need to eat each other.) Definitely an uncommon bird for a PMD story, though I suppose wildmon perspective in general isn’t all that common in this scene these days, so consider my interest piqued.

One sunny afternoon, Cyclone was practice-flying with her sister, Songy (their other siblings being Tweety and Singy... they had faint memories of another brother, Screamy, but he was mysteriously gone one day, said to have fallen out of the nest). The Taillow sisters decided that their practice should take place higher above the treeline, so they could get maximum air and be the safest from danger.

I’m going to heavily take the under on Screamy living past the day after he fell out of the nest there.

Though I’m not sure what the story is behind how you came up with the naming scheme for the Taillow siblings here, but it feels pretty believable to me that wildmons or wildmon-adjacents would opt for “oh yeah, that’s what he does” as a basis for names.

“Watch this, Chirpy!” Songy said as she did a loop-de-loop in the air.

“I told you, call me Cyclone!” the other Taillow shouted, spinning rapidly as she gained altitude. “Get a load of my signature Twister!”

Songy:

Chirpy Cyclone: “Look, I can, okay?!” >v<;

“Well, check out my Aerial Ace!” Songy challenged as she cut through the air back and forth.

“Lame, I’ve got Aerial Ace too!”

“Mine’s faster!”

“Oh yeah? Race you to that pine!”

“Ah, the trees? Wait, Chirpy...”

“Keep up! And don’t call me Chirpy!”

I kinda feel like this back and forth would’ve benefitted from some combination of body language or inner thoughts, especially from Cyclone over the way she just gets blown off by her sister.

Cyclone sped towards the tall evergreen with fervent wing beats, Songy feeling she had no choice but to follow. The sisters were soon neck and neck, eventually Songy just barely taking the lead. At the last moment, the swift birds expertly gripped onto a bare branch with their talons, their race destination.

“Shoot!” Cyclone said, “You beat me! I woulda won if you...”

Suddenly, a blur of black fur and pink shot past the sisters, and in a flash, Songy was gone. Cyclone froze, dumbfounded until she heard the sound that no Taillow ever wanted to hear: the distress call. A shrill, desperate screaming could be heard far below the treeline, as well as claws swiftly scraping against wood.

A Sneasel.

I’m… going to go ahead and guess that Songy becomes that pile of feathers in the Sneasel’s mouth from the first embedded art.

Not wasting another moment, Cyclone dove below the treeline. Navigating the confusing mess of leaves and branches proved to be a challenge, the Taillow nearly finding herself tangled in the natural obstacles. Once she spotted the Sneasel leaping through the trees, Cyclone concentrated hard, trying to focus so she could use Agility. Her sister’s distressed screams could still be heard. It was not too late.

Small grammar error there. Though uh… yeah, I’m going to heavily take the under on Songy living past like the next five paragraphs.

In the blink of an eye, Cyclone finally built enough speed to slam into the predator. Though much smaller than the Sneasel, she was able to knock it down and, to her relief, Songy fell from its jaws. The Sneasel quickly regained its footing, eyes wide in surprise. It looked back, its eyes narrowing as it realized its attacker was just another Taillow.

Sneasel:

Cyclone:

“Go away! Leave her alone!” Cyclone yelled. She struck the Sneasel with her body again, bouncing back like a boomerang. The move seemed to work, for the creature cried out and fell backwards, crashing into the branches below.

Since, really, I’ll be more surprised if both these two live past this chapter.

“Good riddance, jerkface! Hey, Songy, where ya at?”

Cyclone flew around until she spotted a trembling blue ball of feathers huddled in the cavity of a nearby tree. She glided to her sister and poked her with the tip of her wing.

“Hey, get up. It’s safe now. I saved you!”

Songy lifted her head, her eyes wide yet dull.

At first I missed the ‘Songy lifted her head’ part and just thought that she was straight-up dead. Guess that death in the opening content warnings will be a story for another chapter.

“Um... are you hurt?” Cyclone asked.

I mean, she was only set upon by a cat-weasel with sharp teeth and sharp claws. I’m frankly surprised that she didn’t get an artery sliced open at this rate.

Songy just slowly shook her head back and forth as she lifted her wings, slowly flapping them up and down.

“Well it looks like you can at least fly. Boy, you shoulda seen how fast and cool I was! Of course, you couldn’t see how awesome I looked, seeing how you were in that thing’s mouth and all.”

Wow, Cyclone, just wow.

I do wonder if this would’ve benefitted from some added narration showing off Cyclone’s thought process and showing off the context behind this. e.x. if it’s childish naivete and “oh, danger’s gone, we can have fun again” or an attempt to cheer up Songy here.

“Stop,” Songy quietly interrupted. “I just want to go home.”

Cyclone averted her eyes, uneasy. She then turned around, looking back to make sure Songy would be following, and the two sisters silently made their way back to the family nest.

Songy: “Seriously, Chirpy, what the hell?! I almost became lunch to that Sneasel!” >v>;
Chirpy: “Look, I thought it’d get your mind off of everything!” ovo;

“You did what?!” Cyclone and Songy’s parents squawked in unison.

“I totally saved Songy’s tail feathers from some slimey ol’ Sneasel! She would have been dead meat if not for me!”

Songy, huddled between their parents, remained silent, her head drooping.

“I told you countless times, only use your speed to escape danger!” their father scolded.

Songy: “Um… dad? Can you not tell Chirpy that she should’ve just left me behind to get eaten here?” ovo;

“And I told you, that ice rat came outta nowhere! What, you want Songy to be dead right now?”

Songy whimpered and buried her head under her wing. Her mother began preening her.

The father just sighed. His reckless daughter had a point. “Look. I am glad that you were able to fight that creature off. But please, never endanger yourself again. If you two were more aware of your surroundings, this never would have happened in the first place.”

Let’s not even get into how this likely only worked because the Sneasel was a weaker Pokémon and how Cyclone would’ve died horribly if she tried this on anyone north of around Level 10 or so.

“Bull! We can’t predict everything!”

“This is why you need to learn to be more cautious, to always be on the lookout!” To prove a point, the father Taillow harshly pecked Cyclone on the head. She glared back, feathers ruffled.

“So, this is the thanks I get?”

Cyclone: “I saved Songy’s life!”

Father Taillow: “You literally only are alive yourself out from dumb luck at the moment. Seriously, stop while you’re ahead already!” >v>;

“Please, keep your voices down” the mother Taillow interrupted. She continued to gently preen Songy. Cyclone scoffed. How could her sister, her best training partner, turn into this sad sack after one little bad experience? How could her own parents not recognize how heroic and awesome she was?

Because they’re realistic about your odds of survival and trying to go on a “getting stronger” arc as a wildmon-equivalent Taillow is a recipe to become lunch?

Well, she would just have to get better, faster, and stronger.

Father Taillow: “Chirpy! Did you listen to a word that I said earlier?!” ÒvÓ
Cyclone: “Obviously not! Your words basically amounted to ‘let Songy become cat food next time’!” >v>;

From then on, nearly every day, Cyclone urged Songy to come out and train with her. “Um, not today. I’ll just... stick close to the nest. Train around here.”

I kinda feel like this was enough of a jump ahead in time that it would’ve merited making it its own scene here.

“You’ll never get stronger staying at home all day! Come on, Tweety and Singy are too slow and boring, don’t be like them!”

Cyclone, you do realize that statistically, this is more likely to get Songy killed, right?

Their morning conversations always ended with Songy remaining silent and Cyclone huffing in exasperation, and then taking off. Their parents had given up trying to get her to listen to their advice. If she wanted to be a daredevil and end up as a Sneasel snack, so be it. There was only so much they could do to ensure her survival.

Harsh, but nature operates on the rule of:

So you can’t say that their response isn’t realistic. I do wonder if Mama and Papa Taillow’s advice would’ve come off as a bit less heartless if they had done some combination of “it’s our job to step in and protect you if and when we evolve and have actual strength” and emphasizing to Cyclone that their advice of “fly and don’t look back” is precisely because Taillow are weak and can’t do much, and that if Cyclone had gotten even modestly worse RNG, there were strong odds that they’d be grieving for two daughters that night.

Cyclone spent her days trying to perfect her moves, sometimes using a dead branch or even a low hanging cloud for target practice. One time, she saw a Caterpie crawling along the forest floor. Cyclone gained altitude and then dive-bombed into the hapless bug, its guts exploding on impact. Wasting a potential meal was never a wise idea, but the spectacle was worth it. It was too bad the rest of her other family members were missing out on all this fun. The rare times Cyclone encountered a Sneasel, she merely had to perform the boomerang slam, U-Turn, to beat them back and ward them off. They were almost too easy to defend against.

Ah yes, I love a happy ending~

Caterpie’s Ghost: “Excuse me?! How is this happy for me here?! I became bird food!” >.<

And made it to the end of the chapter, where unfortunately life beckons to leave me off. It’s a bit of a simple narrative thus far, but I thought that it was told in a rather charming way, with the art that was included being a nice touch. (I assume you made it yourself given your PMD-E background.) I also liked the wildmon focus that you went with, and without really shying away from the parts where nature is a harsh mistress (excepting Songy not becoming lunch in the first chapter, but I’m guessing the exercise in depression is a story for another day and another chapter). Like it’s something that for whatever reason has become more niche in this fandom, and it’s even less common to run into such perspectives being explored in PMD settings, so kudos for taking the path less trodden. The characters’ personalities were also fun, with Chirpy/Cyclone being the main star of the show as the obvious protagonist and resident daredevil. Like it feels like a pretty believable character arc that she’d have a fateful encounter where she has a “things could be different” about the status quo of her life and grow determined to chase it out, and you’ve set her up quite well to follow up on that in later chapters given that from your chapter listing, she winds up at the main hub town of PMD-E before long.

I’m admittedly not really sure how open you are to critique since I’m not really sure if you still hang around this site anymore, and I gather that this story is pretty “closed book” by this point. If you did ever decide to blow some dust off and drop in some edits, I think the main thing that this chapter would’ve benefitted from is some additive editing. There were a couple parts where I felt that you passed up opportunities to paint more of a picture of the surroundings or how the characters were interacting with each other. The bigger thing that I think would benefit from additive editing is showing off more of Chirpy/Cyclone’s thought process in the narration and showing the gears turning for what’s going on in her mind more. Also, I can’t tell whether it’s a feature or a bug, but I kinda think that there was room to make Chirpy/Cyclone’s argument about “you shouldn’t have fought the Sneasel” a bit more nuanced, since while it’s harsh, there’s definitely a logic to their advice in nature, and “baby girl, I know you don’t want to hear it, but if you keep blindly picking fights with creatures that are tailor-made to kill us, you’re not going to come home one day” feels like the sort of “tough love” thing that a parent would break out… which granted, might not have been the sort of parents they were intended to be given that they went straight for the pecking in a couple of paragraphs.

But all-in-all, I thought this was some good stuff @ShinyMachoke . It’s a bit soon for me to make any sweeping judgements on the story, but it certainly left a good impression. And even if it might take a while, I’ll be back for more sometime down the road.

 

[K_S]

Hii, here to blitz some new blood. Welcome to the forum. As its an older work i'll be gentle on the edit notes.

Love your artwork by the way. Its amazing sketch work and makes the story pop.

AO3 link


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Chapter 1: Speed Demon

A healthy fear and wariness of one’s own surroundings were lessons taught to every young Taillow. Small and relatively weak, speed was the one advantage the tiny birds had against predators, from the egg-stealing Ekans to the sharp-clawed Sneasel. The latter were especially dangerous due to their speed and tendency to know icy attacks, a weakness against most flyers.

Interesting the near cynical rattling off about foes and how the weaker cope by being too quickly feels like a fun nod towards the old "prince with a thousand enemies" tale from watership down...

A pair of Taillow parents, having lost a clutch of eggs to a hungry Sneasel before, were especially cautious with their children, teaching their chicks the importance of honing their flying skills. One of their daughters, Chirpy (or Cyclone, as she liked to be called), took these lessons to heart. Being the first to learn how to fly, it didn’t take long for her siblings to follow her speedy example.

One sunny afternoon, Cyclone was practice-flying with her sister, Songy (their other siblings being Tweety and Singy... they had faint memories of another brother, Screamy, but he was mysteriously gone one day, said to have fallen out of the nest).

Mysterious indeed. I'm a bit baffled how the nest mates didnt notice the fall... regardless of my theroy of probable murder for sanity reasons... i'm amused that all the birds have "y" names. And also tweety, but thats a whole other joke.

The Taillow sisters decided that their practice should take place higher above the treeline, so they could get maximum air and be the safest from danger.

“Watch this, Chirpy!” Songy said as she did a loop-de-loop in the air.

“I told you, call me Cyclone!” the other Taillow shouted, spinning rapidly as she gained altitude. “Get a load of my signature Twister!”

“Well, check out my Aerial Ace!” Songy challenged as she cut through the air back and forth.

“Lame, I’ve got Aerial Ace too!”

“Mine’s faster!”

“Oh yeah? Race you to that pine!”

“Ah, the trees? Wait, Chirpy...”

“Keep up! And don’t call me Chirpy!”

Cyclone sped towards the tall evergreen with fervent wing beats, Songy feeling she had no choice but to follow. The sisters were soon neck and neck, eventually Songy just barely taking the lead. At the last moment, the swift birds expertly gripped onto a bare branch with their talons, their race destination.

“Shoot!” Cyclone said, “You beat me! I woulda won if you...”

Suddenly, a blur of black fur and pink shot past the sisters, and in a flash, Songy was gone.

Black and pink? Ah crud, sneasel feathers are pink, aren't they? Wonder if songy saw a hint of thier attacker before they started looping about?

Cyclone froze, dumbfounded until she heard the sound that no Taillow ever wanted to hear: the distress call. A shrill, desperate screaming could be heard far below the treeline, as well as claws swiftly scraping against wood.

A Sneasel.

Not wasting another moment, Cyclone dove below the treeline. Navigating the confusing mess of leaves and branches proved to be a challenge, the Taillow nearly finding herself tangled in the natural obstacles. Once she spotted the Sneasel leaping through the trees, Cyclone concentrated hard, trying to focus so she could use Agility. Her sister’s distress screams could still be heard. It was not too late.

In the blink of an eye, Cyclone finally built enough speed to slam into the predator. Though much smaller than the Sneasel, she was able to knock it down and, to her relief, Songy fell from its jaws. The Sneasel quickly regained its footing, eyes wide in surprise. It looked back, its eyes narrowing as it realized its attacker was just another Taillow.

Well from the Sne's perspective the kfc to go just summoned a vengeful chicken to wreck vengence. I'd lose my lunch too under those cirxumstances

“Go away! Leave her alone!” Cyclone yelled. She struck the Sneasel with her body again, bouncing back like a boomerang. The move seemed to work, for the creature cried out and fell backwards, crashing into the branches below.

“Good riddance, jerkface! Hey, Songy, where ya at?”

Cyclone flew around until she spotted a trembling blue ball of feathers huddled in the cavity of a nearby tree. She glided to her sister and poked her with the tip of her wing.

“Hey, get up. It’s safe now. I saved you!”

Songy lifted her head, her eyes wide yet dull.

“Um... are you hurt?” Cyclone asked.

Songy just slowly shook her head back and forth as she lifted her wings, slowly flapping them up and down.

“Well it looks like you can at least fly. Boy, you shoulda seen how fast and cool I was! Of course, you couldn’t see how awesome I looked, seeing how you were in that thing’s mouth and all.”

“Stop,” Songy quietly interrupted. “I just want to go home.”

Yeah nows not the time to bring that up, singers got trauma from nearly being nommed, thats for sure. At least cyclones kinda cottening on to it.

Cyclone averted her eyes, uneasy. She then turned around, looking back to make sure Songy would be following, and the two sisters silently made their way back to the family nest.

So for some reason i thought the birds split up into seperate nests once they became flight capable. (Probably leaning too much on r.l. bird biology for that assesment to be honest) so the fact that everyone went to mom and dads nest threw me for a bit of a minor loop.

***
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“You did what?!” Cyclone and Songy’s parents squawked in unison.

“I totally saved Songy’s tail feathers from some slimey ol’ Sneasel! She would have been dead meat if not for me!”

Songy, huddled between their parents, remained silent, her head drooping.

“I told you countless times, only use your speed to escape danger!” their father scolded.

Cy's got a point. If they hadnt acted there would be one less bird in the family tree...

This probably is not helping Songy at all, to be hearing this, after the day they had.

“And I told you, that ice rat came outta nowhere! What, you want Songy to be dead right now?”

Cy's earning an a plus... in tactlessness. Yeah theyre brave but they definitly have checked off impulsivity on thier personality checklist.

Songy whimpered and buried her head under her wing. Her mother began preening her.

The father just sighed. His reckless daughter had a point. “Look. I am glad that you were able to fight that creature off. But please, never endanger yourself again. If you two were more aware of your surroundings, this never would have happened in the first place.”

“Bull! We can’t predict everything!”

“This is why you need to learn to be more cautious, to always be on the lookout!” To prove a point, the father Taillow harshly pecked Cyclone on the head. She glared back, feathers ruffled.

“So, this is the thanks I get?”

“Please, keep your voices down” the mother Taillow interrupted.

Since its been established multiple times in this scene throughout that the cast is, mom, dad, songy, and cyclone that "the mother" seems a bit silly. Mom works just fine here.

She continued to gently preen Songy. Cyclone scoffed. How could her sister, her best training partner, turn into this sad sack after one little bad experience? How could her own parents not recognize how heroic and awesome she was?

Well, she would just have to get better, faster, and stronger.

a line like that. We are cuing up for cyclone to have a " pride gowth before a fell" character arch with bells and wistles on.

From then on, nearly every day, Cyclone urged Songy to come out and train with her. “Um, not today. I’ll just... stick close to the nest. Train around here.”

“You’ll never get stronger staying at home all day! Come on, Tweety and Singy are too slow and boring, don’t be like them!”

Cyclone is not earning any kindness points here... thats for sure.

Their morning conversations always ended with Songy remaining silent and Cyclone huffing in exasperation, and then taking off. Their parents had given up trying to get her to listen to their advice. If she wanted to be a daredevil and end up as a Sneasel snack, so be it. There was only so much they could do to ensure her survival.

Cyclone spent her days trying to perfect her moves, sometimes using a dead branch or even a low hanging cloud for target practice. One time, she saw a Caterpie crawling along the forest floor. Cyclone gained altitude and then dive-bombed into the hapless bug, its guts exploding on impact. Wasting a potential meal was never a wise idea, but the spectacle was worth it. It was too bad the rest of her other family members were missing out on all this fun. The rare times Cyclone encountered a Sneasel, she merely had to perform the boomerang slam, U-Turn, to beat them back and ward them off. They were almost too easy to defend against.

Hmm this is an odd place to cut off a chapter. It feels like an incomplete scene or thought but that might be my phkne being a pain again...

This is an interesting introduction of a mon perspective piece that feels part tribute to "watership down" part warror cats. The fact that tallow are prey animals (at least at first) appears to merrily skipping over cyclone's head. And i suspect eventually somethings going to mossy out of the tall grass to correct that misconception. But for now her brashness amd enthusiasm feel completely understandable. I've been wondering if this is going to become a trained by a trainer fic from the mon perspective. Or, if, ironically, its going to stay centered in this forest while cyclone tears the place up in thier schenanigans but doesnt go any higher than that.

I'm guessing its not a pmd peice though. Theres been no mention of any type of civilization, and the encounters seem all wild verses wild. A bit of a feral edge to it all.

I had some questions, about socual struxture and evolution, but i'll hold onto them for later chapters. Perhaps theyll be amswered in later reading.

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forums.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I was in the mood for something light tonight in between squaring away some stuff in advance of morning gift-opening and family time, so that brought me back here to see a bit more about how Cyclone’s adventures as a wild/feral Taillow embarking on a quest to grow stronger of questionable wisdom wound up shaking out:

Chapter 2

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

Happy Valentine's day! Ready for some blood and violence?

Ohhh yeah, that’s a good sign for where things are going to go this chapter.

One spring morning, the Taillow family found themselves huddled together in a tight cluster, shivering. Cyclone roused from sleep and spotted her father perched at the opening of the tree hole their nest resided in. She hopped up to join his side and was astonished at the sight before them; Creeping Forest was completely blanketed in a thick, white cloak, with odd white flakes plummeting from the sky.

“What is...” Cyclone stammered.

“It’s snow.”

I take it that this isn’t normal weather here from the way that Cyclone’s just befuddled at the appearance of snow here.

[ ]

“I’ve never felt this cold in my life.”

“You’ve only been alive for a short time. It stopped snowing shortly before your mother and I had your eggs. This is not right.”

Wait, wait, wait. As in it used to snow seasonally here, but until recently it just stopped? I suppose that explains the Sneasel going around in the forest, since I was going to say that it’d be strange for them to be around someplace where snow isn’t normal weather.

Though I do wonder if there was a missed opportunity to get a bit more into Cyclone’s head here at the whole “weird icky weather” and trying to wrap her head around it.

The pair was then joined by the mother of the family. She turned to her mate. “This coldness will give our foes an advantage. Are the kids ready to migrate?”

[ ]

“Wha... migrate? Why!” Cyclone cried out.

Father!Taillow: “Because the alternative is staying here in weather that will actively advantage the likes of those Sneasel that almost killed Songy a couple seasons ago? Also, how do you not feel miserable right now from that chill?”

Her father smirked. “Is my headstrong daughter actually scared?”

[ ]

“No! I’m not scared of some cold, white crap! And I am not going to make it force me to leave!”

Father!Taillow: “I swear to gods, of all the chicks in this clutch to make it this far in life, how on earth is it the one with no survival instinct at all is still around?” >v>;

The parent Taillow said nothing back, being accustomed to Cyclone’s stubborn arrogance. The pair just hopped back to the nest, rousing the rest of their adolescent children up.

“Tweety, Singy, Songy! Rise and shine, my darlings!”

Huh. I’m surprised that all of them are still alive since the last we saw of them given that the first chapter seemed to imply that Taillow childhood mortality isn’t exactly trivial. But I suppose we’ll be getting into the dark and morbid parts a bit later.

“Ugh, why is it so cold?” asked Tweety, the lone male offspring chick.

Well, he wasn’t the lone male of the clutch before Screamy bit it.

The parents briefly explained what winter was, and how it shouldn’t be happening at this time of year. They also informed their children that, to ensure the family’s survival, they would have to migrate to a warmer climate for an indeterminate amount of time.

“So we’re all just giving up?” Cyclone squawked.

Father!Taillow: “What on earth did I ever do to so utterly fail at teaching you the importance of migratory behavior? It’s literally a part of how our kind works! This should be instinctual for you!” >v>;

[ ]

“Chirpy, get real...” Singy sighed.

“Quit calling me Chirpy!”

Singy:

“Mom and dad call you ‘Chirpy’, so-”
Cyclone: “It. Is. Cyclone!”

Feathers puffed in frustration, Cyclone lunged at Singy, talons-first. Their father was quick to intervene, tackling Cyclone onto her back. The shock of the cold, as well as her father fighting back, stunned the young Taillow.

“Wow,” Cyclone said breathlessly. “Dad... I didn’t know you had it in you!”

I think that your priorities are more than a little skewed right now, Cyclone, just saying.

The father just gave a sharp peck to Cyclone’s head and stepped back, glaring. He realized that he and his mate may have dropped the wrong hatchling from the nest.

Well, that got really dark really fast. So there’s where that ‘infanticide’ CW from the first post is coming from.

“Chirpy. This is not the time. Especially not now. We cannot stay in Creeping Forest. The Caterpie, Wurmple, and berries we depend on for survival are sure to be killed off by now. And as your mother mentioned, our most feared enemy, the Sneasel, thrive in this cold weather. If you remain here, you will be alone. You will die.”

“I will not die,” Cyclone spat.

Well, obviously not since there’s three more chapters after this, but… yeah, I think Cyclone’s going to need more than a little help to stay alive. And probably have to dip out of life in the wild entirely. ^^;

Her father just raised his head and puffed out his chest. He looked to his mate and nodded.

“I see other flocks leaving,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The parent Taillow flew from the tree hole, soon followed by Tweety and Singy. Songy half-heartedly leapt to the edge of the nest exit.

[ ]

“Hey, Songy! Let’s train together! Sure, this snow stuff sucks, but it’ll be a fun challenge!”

Songy:

Cyclone: “Oh come on, Songy! You’re normally all over the chance to try and one-up me! Why would this be any different?” >v>;

Songy turned around to face her sister. In that moment, Cyclone noticed how dull Songy’s once vibrant plumage looked, how she held her head low and shoulders high, how her large, dark eyes glistened.

“I’m sorry, Cyclone,” Songy said. She then hopped from the tree hole and flew off to catch up with her family.

Well, I see that someone never got better after that Sneasel attack. Though I kinda wonder how Cyclone didn’t notice this all this time, or if this is meant to be a “current depression” sort of thing.

Without a second thought, Cyclone took off after her sister. [ ]

“Hey, get back!” she cried out, voice echoing through the chilling forest.

[ ] Despite her weak state, Songy effortlessly soared through the maze of trees and branches. Their previous training had paid off after all.

This spot feels like it could potentially be worth expanding a bit with more detail if you ever felt like them.

“Songy! Hey! If you leave me, you’ll be weak like the rest of them! Like all Taillow! We don’t have to flee, we can fight!”

Cyclone, you realize that this is basically anti-advertisement right now, right?

Songy just beat her wings harder, convinced her noisy sister would attract a whole slew of unwanted attention. In the distance she saw not only her family but other Taillow, the birds instinctively forming a flock in preparation for the sudden migration.

The distance between Cyclone and Songy grew and grew. Shouting and breathing in frigid air began to take its toll on the young bird, so Cyclone glided to an old oak tree to rest, the snow-cloaked branch stinging her feet. She panted rapidly and puffed out her feathers. Songy was no longer in sight.

That cowardly traitor. Songy was no different from the rest of those defeatists. Why should some coldness and white junk force them all to give up their home and move away? It was a challenge. Cyclone’s father said that if she stayed in Creeping Forest she would die. She’d prove him wrong. She’d prove them all wrong. Somehow.

I mean, was Songy ever depicted as growing interested in Cyclone’s “gotta grow stronger” arc? Since I kinda got the distinct feeling that she basically hunkered down and withdrew after the whole Sneasel incident. ^^;

… Not that Cyclone wouldn’t have been the type to just not notice that until the last moment based on her present depiction.

Something suddenly slammed into Cyclone, sending her tumbling off her perch. She landed clumsily in the snowy ground, her fatigue and surprise making her forget to open her wings. She frantically looked up and spotted her assailant, a Liepard dangling from the tree branch, scrambling to hold on with its claws.

“Missed! Curse this blasted snow!” the feline hissed, tail whipping in frustration.

Well, damn. It hasn’t even been ten seconds, and Cyclone’s already experiencing the ‘suck’ part of life alone in the snow.

Cyclone pulled herself from the snow and shook herself off. She spread her wings, flicked her forked tail, and flew to a nearby shrub to hide.

Wait, hide?

Don’t be weak. Don’t let this cold crap get to you. Don’t be some worthless giver-upper like Dad, Mom, Tweety and Singy. And Songy. Stupid cat. Stupid cold. Stupid, jerk-face cat.

Cyclone, not that your parents weren’t exactly giant fatalists and threw your baby brother to the potentially literal wolves, but a huge part of getting stronger is knowing what battles you can win. And… uh… I don’t think you’re going to win a fight against a Pokémon that’s the equivalent of Level 20+ given that you’re young enough to not know what a migration is.

Hatred boiled within Cyclone. Her tiny body trembled, partly from fear, mostly from anger. A soft thud was heard came from outside, and she saw the Liepard having had launched itself from the tree and onto the ground. Cyclone peered from her hiding place. The disturbed snow and stray blue feathers gave away where she was. So what. Let that purple, spotted idiot find her. It would regret it.

Liepard:

Seeing the shaking bush, the Liepard smiled to itself. This was too easy. It hunched down, wiggled its hindquarters, and pounced. The Liepard wasn’t prepared for a screeching ball of fury and hate to come barreling out of the bush with scraping talons and a piercing beak, the latter jabbing it in the eye. The Liepard yowled and swiped its paw, missing its attacker.

“Dummy! Idiot! A...asshole!”

Wait, is that the Liepard speaking, or-?

Cyclone continued throwing insults and fierce pecks. The Liepard turned tail and ran. Oh no, it wouldn’t get off that easy. Fueled by rage, Cyclone kept up her assault on the cat, striking it with U-turn over and over.

Wow. She actually was able to chase the Liepard off there.

“Damn pest! Let me alone!” Liepard snarled as it ran.

“Make me!”

“As you wish!”

In the blink of an eye, Liepard’s long tail slashed through the air, striking a shallow cut across Cyclone’s chest. The slash only made the Taillow more determined to show this predator who was boss.

Cyclone, I’ll admit that I’m impressed since I was expecting that you’d be forced to cut and run like two pages ago, but you should really stop while you’re ahead here.

She flapped her wings harder, flecks of blood flying in her wake. Using all of her strength, Cyclone crashed into the Liepard, sending the much larger creature slamming into an old, gnarled tree. Cyclone had built up so much speed she struck the ground and rolled painfully until she crashed into a snowbank.

Cyclone: “Wait, that is the Liepard’s blood that’s flying around right now, right?” ^v^;

Letting out a shuddered breath, Cyclone rose to her feet, crying out as a sharp pain shot through one of her legs. Dread hit her as she realized one of her wings hung limply at her side. She turned to face where the Liepard was. Surely, in an injured and bleeding state, she would become its next meal. Her gaze met the hunter’s. The Liepard just stared at Cyclone, one eye squinted from the injury she inflicted on it. It lowered its ears and retreated, limping, until it was out of sight within the natural darkness of the forest.

I mean, she won at least? Even if she’s now kinda helpless and at the mercy of the forest at the moment… ^^;

I do wonder if the whole “oh crap, I’m hurt and this Liepard has me at their mercy” bit is a bit accelerated at the moment, since IMO you could’ve easily wrung two or three paragraphs out of this sequence just following the panic setting in in Cyclone’s head or something like that.

Cyclone:

Cyclone hunkered down into a resting position. Her body screamed in agony, yet she felt proud of winning this fight. Heck, she’d try and fight off the next fool who tried to mess with her. Even though she figured she would die soon, she’d go down fighting. Death didn’t scare her.

Father!Taillow: “And this is why we flew off without you, just saying.” >v>;
Cyclone: “Did you really fly back here just to rub things in right now?!” >v<

A sudden calm warmth washed over Cyclone’s body as positive thoughts flooded her brain. She was vaguely aware of the concept of good feelings to occur to one whose life was draining away, however she felt more invigorated than ever, as if something more than blood was pumping through her veins, making her feel bigger, stronger. She glanced down at her chest where the Liepard’s sharp tail struck her and, to her astonishment, instead of a cut there was a wide, V-shaped stripe. It finally occurred to Cyclone that she was evolving.

Though just as well since Cyclone in the state she was just in was highly unlikely to have lasted the night.

Cyclone had no idea her kind could evolve. She knew it happened to other beings, she had seen Purrloin and Liepard, Pidgey and Pidgeotto, various caterpillars and coccoons. Her mother and father had just never mentioned evolution.

Swellow.

Cyclone: “Hah! I knew that this was worth it!”

She knew that’s what her kind were called, somehow. The term just appeared in her mind. Feelings of bitterness and resentment came to the young bird once more. So all this time, her parents could have evolved and fared better in protecting their own young, not to mention themselves? Surely they were aware they could become Swellow. Did they just not want to try? Weak, stupid defeatists. And they’d drag her poor siblings into their life of mediocrity, constantly timid and fearful. She thought about how Songy, once full of virility, grew listless and dull. All because she was abducted by some dumb Sneasel for all of three minutes.

Worthless.

Oh yeah, that thought process totally sounds normal and well-adjusted there. /s

I can tell that only good things will come from this.

I do kinda wonder if the earlier part of the paragraph would’ve hit a bit harder being rendered through Cyclone’s inner thoughts so we could see a bit more of those resentments play out, though.

Chapter 3

Spoiler: Line-by-Line

Cyclone flew to higher ground. She was astonished how smoothly she could fly now. Fewer wing beats were needed to gain altitude and... to do anything, really. A dull ache gnawing at her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t yet eaten today, and she had used a tremendous amount of energy. Apparently, the natural healing powers of evolution were no cure for hunger. Cyclone gently glided off her perch in search of food. While she hated having to be careful, even she knew her recklessness had its limits.

Well, that and your body mass increased over eightfold in the span of like 30 seconds. So… yeah, you’re going to need a bit more food than what you’ve been used to hunting up to this point. ^^;

Cyclone found that the sudden cold weather caused the small Bug types she sustained on to die, some frozen in place. If she were not starving, she’d scoff at the lack of challenge. She approached a petrified Wurmple, its body stretched out as if reaching for a leaf at the time of its frosty demise. Knowing Wurmple’s spikey, pink back offered it natural protection, Cyclone pecked at its soft, pale underbelly. It took a few tries, due to its frozen state, but she finally pierced its skin to get to the gooey guts within. She shoved her face into the opening, not caring that she got its innards all over herself.

Cyclone: “Oh sod off! I need this to survive here!” >v<

“Hey!” an angry voice squawked from above.

Cyclone removed her face from her buggy meal and saw an irritated blue, red, and white bird circling above her.

“Oh! A fellow Swellow!” Cyclone exclaimed.

Ah yes, time for Cyclone to learn about how territorial disputes work.

“Fellow this!” cried the other Swellow as it splayed its clawed feet and dove towards Cyclone, barely missing her. A warning strike.

Cyclone flew a short distance and, facing her attacker, shouted, “What’s the big idea, loser?”

“This is my territory, idiot!”

Yeah, I figured. Though I’m a bit surprised that Cyclone never encountered anything like this all this point in her life.

Before the other Swellow could attempt to assault Cyclone once more, she turned tail and flew off. Being newly evolved and barely satiated, she knew she was outmatched. Well, this was what she was up against now. It was a shame she couldn’t befriend that Swellow, ask how it became a cool survivor like her, but apparently her kind were antisocial. So be it. She would have to work extra hard to ensure she’d claim her own territory, fight off other evolved birds. This was the life of a tough Swellow.

I’m honestly surprised that Cyclone didn’t take a swing and need to get smacked down there, since she certainly vibed as the sort of character that would do that since up until the Liepard, she hasn’t had a battle where she just knew she had reason to not be confident in how it’d turn out.

Cyclone: “... In retrospect, if I was this close to evolving, I should’ve stuck with mom and dad since I’d probably have just evolved after the first skirmish wherever they wound up in.”

As the weeks wore on, Cyclone was pushed further and further from the familiar piece of forest she grew up in. While the small songbird population had all but vacated Creeping Forest, many evolved ones remained, much to Cyclone’s chagrin. Sure, it was entertaining and surprisingly easy for her to fight off ground-bound foes, but aerial adversaries were another story, and the young Swellow was no match for the more experienced birds she encountered. Every solo practice session, every time she wanted to eat, heck, even when she just wanted to casually fly around for fun, was interrupted by a Pidgeotto, Staravia, or some other large bird squabbling about its territory.

I kinda feel this is a big enough jump ahead that it probably should’ve been yeeted into an entirely new scene, and it might have been worth showing something like the tail end of another skirmish as Cyclone continues to try to find her new place in the world and flail at it a bit.

Territory this, territory that. Shut up already!

I’m beginning to understand how she winds up bailing for Tao Village next chapter. Though it’s kinda ironic that after growing physically stronger, that Cyclone’s world would wind up growing more constrained since she used to not have to worry about territory and fighting for it, and now she does.

This new area seemed to bring some peace to the worn Swellow. An unnatural clearing formed a path that cut through the forest. Had it not been for the sudden snowfall, various Pokemon would be traversing this road going to and from the nearby Sapling Village. Cyclone knew nothing of the village, or even the towering Castle Draclugia a few miles away. All that mattered to her was that those damn birds had finally left her alone. She had claimed her own coveted territory.

I’m guessing that that place was the stomping grounds of that one Lugia with the vampire-style cloak from back in PMD-E. Merlot, I think it was.

Food was hard to come by, as always. The caterpillars had been cleaned out, and the berries had grown too frostbitten or simply died. One day, in search for a meal, Cyclone spotted something green clinging to the side of a tree. A Metapod. She pecked and scraped at its hard shell, finding no weak point.

Small typo there. Though I’m a bit surprised at how much of a deal the story is making out of Cyclone’s food struggles post-evolution (not complaining, by any chance!), since it feels like one of those logical details that gets weirdly glossed over by a lot of writers for whatever reason.

Cyclone snorted in frustration. Remembering her training, she flew away from the Metapod, steadily gaining altitude. She grinned, looking forward to the carnage her Aerial Ace would bring forth. She dove downwards, shattering the cocoon upon impact. Instead of gelatinous innards she was met with a cloud of dust. Apparently, some of the caterpillars went into a chrysalis state upon the arrival of the cold snap, yet didn’t have the benefit of an entire spring and summer to gorge on leaves and become deliciously juicy.

I mean, if there’s dust inside, are you sure that that’s not an empty shell that someone already sucked dry there? Since that sure doesn’t sound like a living Metapod given that chrysalises IRL very much have a bunch of organs inside. ^^;

“I can’t eat this!” Cyclone cried out. She angrily tore through the dust and ravaged the Metapod’s husk. She cursed, she screamed, she slashed with her talons. She continued unleashing her wrath on tree bark, dead wood, anything in her way. If some annoying bird approached her complaining about TERRITORY now, she surely would have murdered it.

Or else died trying considering how it’s highly unlikely her next encounter would’ve been a fellow just-evolved Pokémon, but let’s not dwell on that too hard. ^^;

The outrage eventually subsided and Cyclone settled down near the obliterated Metapod pieces. She pecked at the dust and, while dry and unpleasant, still tasted of insect. Every once in a while she’d have to take a break and ingest some snow to wash it down with. At least water was plentiful. After her meal, Cyclone half-heartedly preened her feathers. Her outburst having taken a lot out of her, she soon gave up. Evening loomed in the sky, tinting the snowy forest in soft blue. Sighing in resignation, Cyclone decided to take roost for the night.

Cyclone: “Gods, this sucks. I should’ve just sucked things up with mom and dad and evolved during the migration…” >v>;

Cyclone settled into a nest of twigs and crinkly dry leaves. She was aware how scruffy and unkempt her plumage looked these days. She felt she had aged a decade despite being barely a half year old.

Damn. She’s six months old at this point? Though that makes me wonder just how clueless she would be about a bunch of life things given that I get the vibe that most of the other mid/full-evo birds in this forest are significantly older than her.

[ ]

“I won’t give up,” Cyclone said to herself, voice cracking. She paused, momentarily surprised at how ragged she sounded. “I will beat this cold crap. I won’t die.” Cyclone tucked her head beneath a wing and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

I feel like there’s some thought process here on Cyclone’s part that we’re skipping over at the moment.

Hours later, Cyclone awoke with a jolt. Despite having so little sleep and being conscious at an unnatural time, she was immediately alert, heart pounding. A terrible wave of dread chilled her to the core. Her head darted back and forth. It was pitch black and completely silent.

It’s nothing. Stop it. Dammit, I hate night time.

A fierce, whistling wind suddenly blasted through the forest. In an instant, Cyclone’s (admittedly) poorly constructed nest disintegrated, sticks and twigs sent flying. Cyclone opened her wings just to be thrown back-first into the side of her tree, the wind pinning her down. Icy volleys of fat snowflakes slapped into the hapless bird. She struggled in place in a blind panic.

inb4 it’s because of Merlot on a bender

Before she knew it, she found herself unpinned but fluttering blindly through the pitch darkness. One moment she was tangled in a dead bush, the next she was scraping along the ground, then she was tossed through the air again. It was a wonder the Swellow hadn’t broken any bones, something she would have prided herself on if she could actually think straight. As luck would have it, Cyclone found herself wedged beneath what seemed to be tree roots. At the very least, they provided some shelter from the blizzard. Cyclone shoved herself deeper under the roots, climbing along the shallow slope of the earth until she could push herself no further. She would just have to wait this storm out, it seemed.

Small typo there.

[ ]

Did the ground just shake?

It happened, just for a moment. Then again, stronger this time. Cyclone realized what these rhythmic vibrations reminded her of; foot steps. Whatever behemoth these belonged to thundered closer and closer to where Cyclone was sheltered. Just her luck.

I think that it probably would’ve been worth explicitly describing Cyclone feeling the ground shaking sometime before she comments on it.

“Hey! Hey, Sorbet’s going in the wrong direction! Over here!” someone called out.

I recognize that name, but I don’t remember who that-

-fires up Google-

Oh. Oh.

Yeah, that would explain a thing or two about why it suddenly started snowing unexpectedly a little while ago.

A red glow seeped into the entrance of Cyclone's shelter. Despite her intense fear, she treaded carefully from beneath the roots, curious to see where this light was coming from. Her blood ran cold. Bathed in a hellish crimson light stood a massive beast, taller than any tree in Creeping Forest. Before Cyclone could process its features, the light illuminating the giant faded. Shouts from unseen Pokemon were heard. Shrouded in momentary darkness, the monster bellowed a booming, earth shattering roar.

Oh hey, there’s a theme song for this right now:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSrgm61fLvk


Cyclone: “Which is my cue that I need to be far, far away from here right now!” OvO

Cyclone had seen enough. She made a mad dash back beneath the roots and, once again, wedged into the burrow as tightly as she possibly could. That terrible roar lingered, permeating the earth, shaking the trees. Cyclone squeezed her eyes shut. Before she knew it, she burst into choked sobs, hot tears dribbling down her face. A shameful act of weakness.

Was this some kind of punishment for not leaving Creeping Forest with her family all of those weeks ago? They were probably safe and warm while Cyclone lay hunkered, freezing and terrified out of her mind in the wake of some otherworldly hell-beast, bawling like a pathetic hatchling. She hated everything. She hated her family, the weather, those other birds, how every day was a constant struggle to survive, and she loathed that fearsome beast. Most of all, she he hated how weak and helpless she had become.

I mean, it probably would’ve helped to wrap up less of your identity in growing stronger and being able to fight off anything life threw at you, just saying…

Alright, let’s begin the part of this review with an image that basically sums up everything to this point:

I’ll admit, that I wasn’t expecting things to wind up moving this fast narratively, since it’s a bit of a trip for Cyclone to wind up “making it” in her quest to grow stronger, only to wind up crashing headfirst into the limits of “gotta get stronger, gotta do things my way”. Like it definitely feels like the sort of thing that a headstrong and rebellious child would do, ditto at the end when she winds up overwhelmed and realizing that she’s way, way in over her head. I thought that the wildmon perspective that you rolled here was generally done quite well. Like you didn’t shy away from any of the harsher parts of how nature and life for wild animals worked (such as the reveal that Screamy’s fall out of the nest wasn’t an accident but a cold, conscious decision made by Cyclone’s parents out of self-preservation), while still keeping the characters relatable for us as human readers. Once again, the art added quite a bit to the story’s presentation, and it helped bring the moments that it depicted to life quite well.

On the more critical end, I did find myself at a couple points wondering if the short length worked against things at times. Like it made the chapters breezy and approachable, but there were definitely points where I wished that things could’ve slowed down to show more things happening, especially as playing out from within Cyclone’s thought process. I also felt that things were a little accelerated in these two chapters, especially in Chapter 2. Like within 10 seconds of her family shrugging their shoulders and bailing on her, Cyclone almost becomes cat food, and then gets into a running battle where she breaks her wing, and then within a minute after that, she evolves. Like I get that Cyclone would’ve been hosed and the story would’ve ended had she not evolved in short order, but I do wonder if there should’ve been a bit more time passing between those different moments there such that things felt like more of an ongoing process, especially since it’d lend itself well to the premise of Cyclone’s initial gung-ho attitude starting to fray as her priors get progressively challenged and she finds herself increasingly in situations where she can’t just handle everything with her own strength.

But all-in-all, I think what’s there works pretty well as-is @ShinyMachoke , and it’s a pretty engaging backstory for Cyclone that holds up decently even almost a decade after the fact. I’m admittedly not really sure what to expect from the next couple chapters other than that Cyclone presumably won’t be living a wild/feral life for much longer given the chapter titles, but you’ve certainly piqued my interest, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing where things wind up going from here.

 

[Tango]

Chapter 1: Speed Demon (this post!)

Hello, I am here to deliver a review tag review during blitz!

Not sure what to expect, but it sounds like something will be very fast!

Spoiler: Line by Line Reaction

View attachment 2363

So cool to see you have some art! A high speed chase, it seems!

A healthy fear and wariness of one’s own surroundings were lessons taught to every young Taillow. Small and relatively weak, speed was the one advantage the tiny birds had against predators, from the egg-stealing Ekans to the sharp-clawed Sneasel. The latter were especially dangerous due to their speed and tendency to know icy attacks, a weakness against most flyers.

Sneasel would be quite scary indeed. Even speed might not help against it!

A pair of Taillow parents, having lost a clutch of eggs to a hungry Sneasel before, were especially cautious with their children, teaching their chicks the importance of honing their flying skills. One of their daughters, Chirpy (or Cyclone, as she liked to be called), took these lessons to heart. Being the first to learn how to fly, it didn’t take long for her siblings to follow her speedy example.

It's a rough world, for sure. Nice to see Chirpy is so good at flying!

One sunny afternoon, Cyclone was practice-flying with her sister, Songy (their other siblings being Tweety and Singy... they had faint memories of another brother, Screamy, but he was mysteriously gone one day, said to have fallen out of the nest). The Taillow sisters decided that their practice should take place higher above the treeline, so they could get maximum air and be the safest from danger.

Makes sense, but it also makes them more visible, so I wonder if that will lead to a problem...

“Watch this, Chirpy!” Songy said as she did a loop-de-loop in the air.

“I told you, call me Cyclone!” the other Taillow shouted, spinning rapidly as she gained altitude. “Get a load of my signature Twister!”

Aww, it sounds like they are having fun!

“Well, check out my Aerial Ace!” Songy challenged as she cut through the air back and forth.

“Lame, I’ve got Aerial Ace too!”

“Mine’s faster!”

“Oh yeah? Race you to that pine!”

“Ah, the trees? Wait, Chirpy...”

“Keep up! And don’t call me Chirpy!”

An innocent childhood. I get the feeling that isn't going to last given the dangers of their world...

Cyclone sped towards the tall evergreen with fervent wing beats, Songy feeling she had no choice but to follow. The sisters were soon neck and neck, eventually Songy just barely taking the lead. At the last moment, the swift birds expertly gripped onto a bare branch with their talons, their race destination.

“Shoot!” Cyclone said, “You beat me! I woulda won if you...”

Suddenly, a blur of black fur and pink shot past the sisters, and in a flash, Songy was gone.

Wow! This was an emotional gut punch! Did Songy just get eaten?!

Cyclone froze, dumbfounded until she heard the sound that no Taillow ever wanted to hear: the distress call. A shrill, desperate screaming could be heard far below the treeline, as well as claws swiftly scraping against wood.

A Sneasel.

Oh crap!

Not wasting another moment, Cyclone dove below the treeline. Navigating the confusing mess of leaves and branches proved to be a challenge, the Taillow nearly finding herself tangled in the natural obstacles. Once she spotted the Sneasel leaping through the trees, Cyclone concentrated hard, trying to focus so she could use Agility. Her sister’s distress screams could still be heard. It was not too late.

Hurry Cyclone!!

In the blink of an eye, Cyclone finally built enough speed to slam into the predator. Though much smaller than the Sneasel, she was able to knock it down and, to her relief, Songy fell from its jaws. The Sneasel quickly regained its footing, eyes wide in surprise. It looked back, its eyes narrowing as it realized its attacker was just another Taillow.

Yeah! Good one, Cyclone! No way someone could just let their sibling die if they had the ability to try to stop it!

“Go away! Leave her alone!” Cyclone yelled. She struck the Sneasel with her body again, bouncing back like a boomerang. The move seemed to work, for the creature cried out and fell backwards, crashing into the branches below.

“Good riddance, jerkface! Hey, Songy, where ya at?”

Cyclone flew around until she spotted a trembling blue ball of feathers huddled in the cavity of a nearby tree. She glided to her sister and poked her with the tip of her wing.

Oh no... I hope she isn't already gone!

“Hey, get up. It’s safe now. I saved you!”

Songy lifted her head, her eyes wide yet dull.

“Um... are you hurt?” Cyclone asked.

Songy just slowly shook her head back and forth as she lifted her wings, slowly flapping them up and down.

Way too close for comfort.

This fic does a good job helping the reader care about characters so early on!

“Well it looks like you can at least fly. Boy, you shoulda seen how fast and cool I was! Of course, you couldn’t see how awesome I looked, seeing how you were in that thing’s mouth and all.”

Wow Cyclone really doesn't seem very bothered by her sister having almost died. Either that or maybe she is trying to distract her to help calm her nerves? Yeah, I bet it's that!

“Stop,” Songy quietly interrupted. “I just want to go home.”

Understandable. She did almost die.

Cyclone averted her eyes, uneasy. She then turned around, looking back to make sure Songy would be following, and the two sisters silently made their way back to the family nest.

***
View attachment 2364

“You did what?!” Cyclone and Songy’s parents squawked in unison.

“I totally saved Songy’s tail feathers from some slimey ol’ Sneasel! She would have been dead meat if not for me!”

Yeah... I can tell this is going to go over great...

Songy, huddled between their parents, remained silent, her head drooping.

“I told you countless times, only use your speed to escape danger!” their father scolded.

“And I told you, that ice rat came outta nowhere! What, you want Songy to be dead right now?”

Songy whimpered and buried her head under her wing. Her mother began preening her.

Poor Songy.

The father just sighed. His reckless daughter had a point. “Look. I am glad that you were able to fight that creature off. But please, never endanger yourself again. If you two were more aware of your surroundings, this never would have happened in the first place.”

“Bull! We can’t predict everything!”

“This is why you need to learn to be more cautious, to always be on the lookout!” To prove a point, the father Taillow harshly pecked Cyclone on the head. She glared back, feathers ruffled.

“So, this is the thanks I get?”

“Please, keep your voices down” the mother Taillow interrupted. She continued to gently preen Songy. Cyclone scoffed. How could her sister, her best training partner, turn into this sad sack after one little bad experience? How could her own parents not recognize how heroic and awesome she was?

Oh! Cyclone really IS not quite getting the situation!

Well, she would just have to get better, faster, and stronger.

From then on, nearly every day, Cyclone urged Songy to come out and train with her. “Um, not today. I’ll just... stick close to the nest. Train around here.”

“You’ll never get stronger staying at home all day! Come on, Tweety and Singy are too slow and boring, don’t be like them!”

Ah... Cyclone just wants to train and have fun...

Their morning conversations always ended with Songy remaining silent and Cyclone huffing in exasperation, and then taking off. Their parents had given up trying to get her to listen to their advice. If she wanted to be a daredevil and end up as a Sneasel snack, so be it. There was only so much they could do to ensure her survival.

Cyclone really will need to get stronger in that case.

Cyclone spent her days trying to perfect her moves, sometimes using a dead branch or even a low hanging cloud for target practice. One time, she saw a Caterpie crawling along the forest floor. Cyclone gained altitude and then dive-bombed into the hapless bug, its guts exploding on impact.

Well, Cyclone IS a bird... rip Caterpie! 😅

Wasting a potential meal was never a wise idea, but the spectacle was worth it.

The angles are all wrong now. She's ripping the wings off of pre-butterfree's.

It was too bad the rest of her other family members were missing out on all this fun. The rare times Cyclone encountered a Sneasel, she merely had to perform the boomerang slam, U-Turn, to beat them back and ward them off. They were almost too easy to defend against.

Huh... this makes me wonder if Cyclone will end up being a villain in the fic. That would be interesting!

Closing thoughts:
A solid opening chapter! Very curious what direction Cyclone will take as a character. Thanks for sharing!

 

[K_S]

Happy new years and blitz, and am i ever!

Chapter 2 review

Chapter 2: A Chilling Departure

One spring morning, the Taillow family found themselves huddled together in a tight cluster, shivering. Cyclone roused from sleep and spotted her father perched at the opening of the tree hole their nest resided in. She hopped up to join his side and was astonished at the sight before them; Creeping Forest was completely blanketed in a thick, white cloak, with odd white flakes plummeting from the sky.

Wondering if this is Cyclons first winter? Also wondering if snow blindness and glare are going to be an issue for any up and coming high flying schenanigans?

“What is...” Cyclone stammered.

“It’s snow.”

“I’ve never felt this cold in my life.”

Oh boy is that excuse gunna wear out fast.

“You’ve only been alive for a short time. It stopped snowing shortly before your mother and I had your eggs. This is not right.”

I swear if this is another eternal wintrr fic it'll be... 3 thus far, which is a lot for a blitz...

The pair was then joined by the mother of the family. She turned to her mate. “This coldness will give our foes an advantage. Are the kids ready to migrate?”

Yep there be sne' and weav' galore outside. And all of them are going to be itching for a rematch. Thanks a ton Cyclone...

“Wha... migrate? Why!” Cyclone cried out.

Her father smirked. “Is my headstrong daughter actually scared?”

Nope just very very confused.

“No! I’m not scared of some cold, white crap! And I am not going to make it force me to leave!”

Yeah methinks mama bird and da bird needed to really explain winter before this point.

The parent Taillow said nothing back, being accustomed to Cyclone’s stubborn arrogance. The pair just hopped back to the nest, rousing the rest of their adolescent children up.

Shouldn't it be Tailows? To indicate both mom and da bird went all quiet and hopping off.

“Tweety, Singy, Songy! Rise and shine, my darlings!”

“Ugh, why is it so cold?” asked Tweety, the lone male offspring.

I.. I just can't take that name seriously...

The parents briefly explained what winter was, and how it shouldn’t be happening at this time of year. They also informed their children that, to ensure the family’s survival, they would have to migrate to a warmer climate for an indeterminate amount of time.

Wait is our traumatltized bird able to make the flight?

“So we’re all just giving up?” Cyclone squawked.

“Chirpy, get real...” Singy sighed.

“Quit calling me Chirpy!”

Feathers puffed in frustration, Cyclone lunged at Singy, talons-first. Their father was quick to intervene, tackling Cyclone onto her back. The shock of the cold, as well as her father fighting back, stunned the young Taillow.

I mean whike I get Cy' hates thier old name I do not blame Da bird from stepping in. Nows not the time and Cy' is really crossing some lines here....

“Wow,” Cyclone said breathlessly. “Dad... I didn’t know you had it in you!”

The father just gave a sharp peck to Cyclone’s head and stepped back, glaring. He realized that he and his mate may have dropped the wrong hatchling from the nest.

Oh now he confesses to it... though I do wonder if the younger birds know the fate of Screamy.

“Chirpy. This is not the time. Especially not now. We cannot stay in Creeping Forest. The Caterpie, Wurmple, and berries we depend on for survival are sure to be killed off by now. And as your mother mentioned, our most feared enemy, the Sneasel, thrive in this cold weather. If you remain here, you will be alone. You will die.”

“I will not die,” Cyclone spat.

Cue Da bird seriously considering pointing out that did Cy' not notice they had to snuggle together for warmth all night.

Her father just raised his head and puffed out his chest. He looked to his mate and nodded.

“I see other flocks leaving,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The parent Taillow flew from the tree hole, soon followed by Tweety and Singy. Songy half-heartedly leapt to the edge of the nest exit.

“Hey, Songy! Let’s train together! Sure, this snow stuff sucks, but it’ll be a fun challenge!”

Yeah, methinks if Cy doesn't put two and two togrther fast they might be roughing it... ready or not.

Songy turned around to face her sister. In that moment, Cyclone noticed how dull Songy’s once vibrant plumage looked, how she held her head low and shoulders high, how her large, dark eyes glistened.

“I’m sorry, Cyclone,” Songy said. She then hopped from the tree hole and flew off to catch up with her family.

And thus the last flick of common sense has left the roost.

Without a second thought, Cyclone took off after her sister. “Hey, get back!” she cried out, voice echoing through the chilling forest. Despite her weak state, Songy effortlessly soared through the maze of trees and branches. Their previous training had paid off after all.

“Songy! Hey! If you leave me, you’ll be weak like the rest of them! Like all Taillow! We don’t have to flee, we can fight!”

Songy just beat her wings harder, convinced her noisy sister would attract a whole slew of unwanted attention. In the distance she saw not only her family but other Taillow, the birds instinctively forming a flock in preparation for the sudden migration.

The distance between Cyclone and Songy grew and grew. Shouting and breathing in frigid air began to take its toll on the young bird, so Cyclone glided to an old oak tree to rest, the snow-cloaked branch stinging her feet. She panted rapidly and puffed out her feathers. Songy was no longer in sight.

And thus our brash bird is now flying solo.

That cowardly traitor. Songy was no different from the rest of those defeatists. Why should some coldness and white junk force them all to give up their home and move away?

The lack of food leaps to mind.

It was a challenge. Cyclone’s father said that if she stayed in Creeping Forest she would die. She’d prove him wrong. She’d prove them all wrong. Somehow.

Or she'll be a weavil's chicken nuggets. Fair odds either way...

Something suddenly slammed into Cyclone, sending her tumbling off her perch. She landed clumsily in the snowy ground, her fatigue and surprise making her forget to open her wings. She frantically looked up and spotted her assailant, a Liepard dangling from the tree branch, scrambling to hold on with its claws.

Wow i was not expecting a Liepard. Cyclones going full out in the deep end isnt she?

“Missed! Curse this blasted snow!” the feline hissed, tail whipping in frustration.

Cyclone pulled herself from the snow and shook herself off. She spread her wings, flicked her forked tail, and flew to a nearby shrub to hide.

Wait, hide?

Don’t be weak. Don’t let this cold crap get to you. Don’t be some worthless giver-upper like Dad, Mom, Tweety and Singy. And Songy. Stupid cat. Stupid cold. Stupid, jerk-face cat.

Hatred boiled within Cyclone. Her tiny body trembled, partly from fear, mostly from anger. A soft thud was heard, the Liepard having launched itself from the tree and onto the ground. Cyclone peered from her hiding place. The disturbed snow and stray blue feathers gave away where she was. So what. Let that purple, spotted idiot find her. It would regret it.

Seeing the shaking bush, the Liepard smiled to itself. This was too easy. It hunched down, wiggled its hindquarters, and pounced. The Liepard wasn’t prepared for a screeching ball of fury and hate to come barreling out of the bush with scraping talons and a piercing beak, the latter jabbing it in the eye. The Liepard yowled and swiped its paw, missing its attacker.

“Dummy! Idiot! A...asshole!”

Cyclone continued throwing insults and fierce pecks. The Liepard turned tail and ran. Oh no, it wouldn’t get off that easy. Fueled by rage, Cyclone kept up her assault on the cat, striking it with U-turn over and over.

“Damn pest! Let me alone!” Liepard snarled as it ran.

“Make me!”

“As you wish!”

In the blink of an eye, Liepard’s long tail slashed through the air, striking a shallow cut across Cyclone’s chest. The slash only made the Taillow more determined to show this predator who’s boss.

She flapped her wings harder, flecks of blood flying in her wake. Using all of her strength, Cyclone crashed into the Liepard, sending the much larger creature slamming into an old, gnarled tree. Cyclone had built up so much speed she struck the ground and rolled painfully until she crashed into a snowbank.

View attachment 2407

Letting out a shuddered breath, Cyclone rose to her feet, crying out as a sharp pain shot through one of her legs. Dread hit her as she realized one of her wings hung limply at her side

Shes going full on self destruct isnt she? She's either gunna have to evolve or be rescued... in the next ten seconds... that's gunna go well.

. She turned to face where the Liepard was. Surely, in an injured and bleeding state, she would become its next meal. Her gaze met the hunter’s. The Liepard just stared at Cyclone, one eye squinted from the injury she inflicted on it. It lowered its ears and retreated, limping, until it was out of sight within the natural darkness of the forest.

I'm surprised the kitty didnt make a quick kill of the wounded bird. Payback for nearly losing an eye.

Cyclone hunkered down into a resting position. Her body screamed in agony, yet she felt proud of winning this fight. Heck, she’d try and fight off the next fool who tried to mess with her. Even though she figured she would die soon, she’d go down fighting. Death didn’t scare her.

A sudden calm warmth washed over Cyclone’s body as positive thoughts flooded her brain. She was vaguely aware of the concept of good feelings to occur to one who’s life was draining away, however she felt more invigorated than ever, as if something more than blood was pumping through her veins, making her feel bigger, stronger. She glanced down at her chest where the Liepard’s sharp tail struck her and, to her astonishment, instead of a cut there was a wide, V-shaped stripe. It finally occurred to Cyclone that she was evolving.

Cyclone had no idea her kind could evolve. She knew it happened to other beings, she had seen Purrloin and Liepard, Pidgey and Pidgeotto, various caterpillars and coccoons. Her mother and father had just never mentioned evolution.

Swellow.

She knew that’s what her kind were called, somehow. The term just appeared in her mind. Feelings of bitterness and resentment came to the young bird once more. So all this time, her parents could have evolved and faired better in protecting their own young, not to mention themselves?

I get she's got some points. Swellow coukd better protect hatchlings than tailow... but yeah this exoerience is going to dig that bitterness in deep. I also suspect that sje wont be accepted when the rest of her family swing back home.

Surely they were aware they could become Swellow. Did they just not want to try? Weak, stupid defeatists. And they’d drag her poor siblings into their life of mediocrity, constantly timid and fearful. She thought about how Songy, once full of virility, grew listless and dull

Dude Songy has trauma, there is a difference... not that anyone around could explain it to this hot head...

. All because she was abducted by some dumb Sneasel for all of three minutes.

Worthless.

Thanks for sharing. Not as much bloodshed as I anticipated but still a fun fight despite that.

 

[K_S]

Chapter 3: Trials of Survival

Cyclone flew to higher ground. She was astonished how smoothly she could fly now. Fewer wing beats were needed to gain altitude and... to do anything, really. A dull ache gnawing at her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t yet eaten today, and she had used a tremendous amount of energy. Apparently, the natural healing powers of evolution were no cure for hunger. Cyclone gently glided off her perch in search of food. While she hated having to be careful, even she knew her recklessness had its limits.

Cyclone found that the sudden cold weather caused the small Bug types she sustained on to die, some frozen in place. If she were not starving, she’d scoff at the lack of challenge. She approached a petrified Wurmple, its body stretched out as if reaching for a leaf at the time of its frosty demise. Knowing Wurmple’s spikey, pink back offered it natural protection, Cyclone pecked at its soft, pale underbelly. It took a few tries, due to its frozen state, but she finally pierced its skin to get to the gooey guts within. She shoved her face into the opening, not caring that she got its innards all over herself.

“Hey!” an angry voice squawked from above.

Cyclone removed her face from her buggy meal and saw an irritated blue, red, and white bird circling above her.

“Oh! A fellow Swellow!” Cyclone exclaimed.

View attachment 2414

“Fellow this!” cried the other Swellow as it splayed its clawed feet and dove towards Cyclone, barely missing her. A warning strike.
Cyclone flew a short distance and, facing her attacker, shouted, “What’s the big idea, loser?”

And she meets her evil twin. I imagine that sense of fellowship is gunna hold for maybe two more seconds...

“This is my territory, idiot!”

Before the other Swellow could attempt to assault Cyclone once more, she turned tail and flew off. Being newly evolved and barely satiated, she knew she was outmatched. Well, this was what she was up against now. It was a shame she couldn’t befriend that Swellow, ask how it became a cool survivor like her, but apparently her kind were antisocial.

Making an assessment of kind from one encounter? Joy, she's digging herself in deeper and deeper...

So be it. She would have to work extra hard to ensure she’d claim her own territory, fight off other evolved birds. This was the life of a tough Swellow.

As the weeks wore on, Cyclone was pushed further and further from the familiar piece of forest she grew up in. While the small songbird population had all but vacated Creeping Forest, many evolved ones remained, much to Cyclone’s chagrin. Sure, it was entertaining and surprisingly easy for her to fight off ground-bound foes, but aerial adversaries were another story, and the young Swellow was no match for the more experienced birds she encountered. Every solo practice session, every time she wanted to eat, heck, even when she just wanted to casually fly around for fun, was interrupted by a Pidgeotto, Staravia, or some other large bird squabbling about its territory.

she's lucky to have all of her bits. Epecially after ticking off a Staravia.

Territory this, territory that. Shut up already!

This new area seemed to bring some peace to the worn Swellow. An unnatural clearing formed a path that cut through the forest.

Uh oh this sounds either like a big game trail or a trainers route...

. Had it not been for the sudden snowfall, various Pokemon would be traversing this road going to and from the nearby Sapling Village. Cyclone knew nothing of the village, or even the towering Castle Draclugia a few miles away. All that mattered to her was that those damn birds had finally left her alone. She had claimed her own coveted territory.

I wonder how she learns about those places later... and horror nerd i wanna see castle drac' can we make a plot mandated detour? On a more plotty note... methinks shes in a pmd world as a feral 'mon? Most mon games dont have villages...

Food was hard to come by, as always.

And shes gotta eat so much more too! Bird biology is so unforgiving.

The caterpillars had been cleaned out, and the berries had grown too frostbitten or simply died. One day, in search for a meal, Cyclone spotted something green clinging to the side of a tree. A Metapod. She pecked and scraped it its hard shell, finding no weak point.

I imagine the ice isnt helping...

Cyclone snorted in frustration. Remembering her training, she flew away from the Metapod, steadily gaining altitude. She grinned, looking forward to the carnage her Aerial Ace would bring forth. She dove downwards, shattering the cocoon upon impact. Instead of gelatinous innards she was met with a cloud of dust. Apparently, some of the caterpillars went into a chrysalis state upon the arrival of the cold snap, yet didn’t have the benefit of an entire spring and summer to gorge on leaves and become deliciously juicy.

“I can’t eat this!” Cyclone cried out. She angrily tore through the dust and ravaged the Metapod’s husk. She cursed, she screamed, she slashed with her talons. She continued unleashing her wrath on tree bark, dead wood, anything in her way. If some annoying bird approached her complaining about TERRITORY now, she surely would have murdered it.

Day shes having... when you as a bird, ad.it that kfc sounds good, you know its tome to just sleep the day off.

View attachment 2415

The outrage eventually subsided and Cyclone settled down near the obliterated Metapod pieces. She pecked at the dust and, while dry and unpleasant, still tasted of insect. Every once in awhile she’d have to take a break and ingest some snow to wash it down with. At least water was plentiful. After her meal, Cyclone half-heartedly preened her feathers. Her outburst having taken a lot out of her, she soon gave up. Evening loomed in the sky, tinting the snowy forest in soft blue. Sighing in resignation, Cyclone decided to take roost for the night.

Cyclone settled into a nest of twigs and crinkly dry leaves. She was aware how scruffy and unkempt her plumage looked these days. She felt she had aged a decade despite being barely a half year old.

Wonder if shes found some sympathy for Songy yet?

“I won’t give up,” Cyclone said to herself, voice cracking. She paused, momentarily surprised at how ragged she sounded. “I will beat this cold crap. I won’t die.” Cyclone tucked her head beneath a wing and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

Hours later, Cyclone awoke with a jolt. Despite having so little sleep and being conscious at an unnatural time, she was immediately alert, heart pounding. A terrible wave of dread chilled her to the core. Her head darted back and forth. It was pitch black and completely silent.

Wonder if the bug was bad and shes got the bird version of a stomach bug. Sorry i couldnt resist the pun...

It’s nothing. Stop it. Dammit, I hate night time.

A fierce, whistling wind suddenly blasted through the forest. In an instant, Cyclone’s (admittedly) poorly constructed nest disintegrated, sticks and twigs sent flying. Cyclone opened her wings just to be thrown back-first into the side of her tree, the wind pinning her down. Icy volleys of fat snowflakes slapped into the hapless bird. She struggled in place in a blind panic.

Before she knew it, she found herself unpinned but fluttering blindly through the pitch darkness. One moment she was tangled in a dead bush, the next she was scraping along the ground, then she was tossed through the air again. It was a wonder the Swellow hadn’t broken any bones, something she would have prided herself on if she could actually think straight. As luck would have it, Cyclone found herself wedged beneath what seemed to be tree roots. At the very least, they provided some shelter from the blizzard

Her days just getting worse. I hate to suggest she fond a cave... but she needs something more steady in this downturn.

. Cyclone shoved herself deeper under the roots, climbing along the the shallow slope of the earth until she could push herself no further. She would just have to wait this storm out, it seemed.

Did the ground just shake?

It happened, just for a moment. Then again, stronger this time. Cyclone realized what these rhythmic vibrations reminded her of; foot steps. Whatever behemoth these belonged to thundered closer and closer to where Cyclone was sheltered. Just her luck.

Wonder if this is a pyroar? A kinda round two from the earlier kitty incident?

“Hey! Hey, Sorbet’s going in the wrong direction! Over here!” someone called out.

Sorbert? Name like that... is this a trainer from kalos?

A red glow seeped into the entrance of Cyclone's shelter. Despite her intense fear, she treaded carefully from beneath the roots, curious to see where this light was coming from. Her blood ran cold. Bathed in a hellish crimson light stood a massive beast, taller than any tree in Creeping Forest. Before Cyclone could process its features, the light illuminating the giant faded. Shouts from unseen Pokemon were heard. Shrouded in momentary darkness, the monster bellowed a booming, earth shattering roar.

I'm guessing its that phantom tree pokemon (no i dont know the name off the top of my head). Big. Red eyes. Nightmare fuel face, nightmare for a bird whonprobably sub con fears trees bashing into them...

Cyclone had seen enough. She made a mad dash back beneath the roots and, once again, wedged into the burrow as tightly as she possibly could. That terrible roar lingered, permeating the earth, shaking the trees. Cyclone squeezed her eyes shut. Before she knew it, she burst into choked sobs, hot tears dribbling down her face. A shameful act of weakness.

Was this some kind of punishment for not leaving Creeping Forest with her family all of those weeks ago? They were probably safe and warm while Cyclone lay hunkered, freezing and terrified out of her mind in the wake of some otherworldly hell-beast, bawling like a pathetic hatchling. She hated everything. She hated her family, the weather, those other birds, how every day was a constant struggle to survive, and she loathed that fearsome beast. Most of all, she he hated how weak and helpless she had become.

Poor Cy, and even at her lowest she still hasnt gotten over her blasted pride and frusteration. I wonder who this nightmare fuel invader and its party is?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[K_S]

Chapter 4 blitz/review visit

Reads note. I called it! Wow I can't believe I got it right.

Preens

Yes its a small victory. No i don't care.

Preens anyway.

Chapter 4: Journey to Tao

Cyclone had no idea how long she’d been hunkered in her shelter. She’d drift off in short bursts only to jolt awake again.

Hello learning empathy for Songy 101, this has been a long tine coming. But will it sink in through that incredibly thick skull... thats the question.

She would then remain motionless, hazy thoughts drifting through her head until she’d fall back asleep. Her body boiled, despite the frigid weather. Why crawl from here ever again? It’s easier to just accept a slow death.

She sounds like she caught something. Not good in darwin land..

That’s what she thought until she felt something pulling on her tail feathers, dragging her through the mud and into the open. A scavenger, she figured, a coward come to prey on Cyclone in her drained state.

"I mean better this than in her "I will peck your eyes out state", " says every leipard and weavil she's hassled in proceeding chapters of this fic, as a choras

(Line from an au, maybe)

She promised herself that she’d go down fighting even if she knew she didn’t have a chance. Belting out a hoarse squawk, Cyclone flailed wildly, beating her wings and writhing in place.

“Oh my!” a voice cried out, releasing her in the process. “I didn’t know you were still alive, dearie! My apologies!”

Huh this is either the nicest pred ever or a misplaced granny mon.

The first thing Cyclone noticed was how blindingly bright everything was. Creeping Forest was never this sunny, even on the most clear days, thanks to the canopy of broad leaves and thick branches. As her vision adjusted, Cyclone found herself face to face with a large, winged, grey dragon.

View attachment 2423

Its an aerodactyl? Oh dead Cy' is so over her head.

Love the art throughout by the way.

“You!” Cyclone cried out, voice raspy. “Come here to finish the job after last night, eh?” She struggled to keep her footing due to her burning fever. She tried her best to look intimidating, despite being much smaller than this beast and her feathers being caked with mud and dried tear stains.

"Stuggled to look intimidating" said the washed out, faded, feather duster with only one move up her wing: "sass".

Hope Aero is a placid type...

“Er, what?”

“Poor birdy thinks you be Sorby, Jill,” a new voice said.

Sorby you mean sorbert? Wait, are we gunna meet sorbet? Perks up in anticipation.

The grey creature, Jill, broke out in a roacous cackle. Cyclone would have felt patronized if not for her illness making things feel hazy and dreamlike.

Also "grey"s mouth is about the size of Cyclone. Literally shes a gulp away from being offed.

Hope Cy can learn some manners, fast.

“Bless me, I ain’t a dragon! Just scouring this place fer scraps, ya see.”

Cyclone looked around, finally realizing why her surroundings were so bright. The forest was a mess of fallen timber, tree stumps, and mud. For the first time she noticed that all of the snow was gone, melted away, the once frigid temperature now hot and dry. She must have been more sick than she realized.

“What... happened?”

A disaster. Climate change on fast forward? Blame the evil castle its got an evil name.

“Aye, it be a long story, small one. The important thing is that ice dragon, Sorby, be gone now, and that horrible snow be no more.”

They named ragonok themed the ice dragon torn from beowulf sorbert


Head desks.

A massive bird of a species Cyclone had never before seen sidled up next to Jill. Scruffy black plumage covered her body while, in stark contrast, her head and neck were a deep pink, bare, except for a topknot of dark feathers protruding from the back of her skull. The strange bird titled her head with concern. “Child, you look dreadful. Are you unwell?”

Tips head. The vultures being nice?

Cue Cy' blue screening in 5, 4, 3...

Cyclone barely listened to either creature. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the forest, her home, being in ruins. Don’t cry. It was bad enough when I was alone. Don’t show weakness.

I'd vote firmly for "not okay".

A gentle nudge in the back broke Cyclone from her thoughts. She spun around, head low and wings raised in a defensive posture. She was met with Jill holding a large, green berry in the clawed fingers on her wings, a toothy smile across her draconic face. Despite Jill’s terrifying looks, maternal warmth radiated from her, putting Cyclone at ease.

Jill is totally rocking the gsnma mother hen vibe.. shes an awesome example of cognitive disodence and I adore her for it.

“What is this,” Cyclone asked.

“It be a Lum berry, sweetie! It’ll perk ya right up. The talented ranchers in Tao Village grow ‘em. They be a bit scarce now, though. I think ya need it.”

Jill held the berry closer to Cyclone’s face, the Swellow only retreating in response. The larger creature dropped the Lum berry. It bounced and rolled to Cyclone’s feet.

“Well, me ‘n Ivory ought to get going, young one, there’s lots o’ work ta be done. Who knows, you might come ‘cross a team needin’ a new member. Be well!”

With a flap of her massive wings, Jill leisurely raised herself off the ground. A powerful slam from her tail propelled her into the air with impressive speed. She was then joined by her bald-headed partner, Ivory. As they departed, Cyclone noticed that a red ribbon adorned Jill’s neck. It was the first time she’d seen such an accessory worn by someone and, unbeknownst to her, would not be the last.

I'm fairly sure Cy' parked her feathered tail in the center of a main trade road.. so I agree with the "not the last" line.

Cyclone eyed the berry suspiciously, having never been offered anything by a creature of a different species. She had heard about how some of the more clever predators used tricks and traps to catch their prey. Jill certainly looked to be a predator, with her long muzzle full of serrated teeth. Still, she didn’t seem to carry any ill will. Why would a random stranger offer a gift and expect nothing in return?

Feeling on the verge of death anyway, Cyclone figured she had nothing to lose. She pecked at the green Lum berry, finding its skin easy to break. She tore into chunks of berry flesh, the variety of flavors from the juices making the fruit all the more appetizing. As she finished the berry, she found herself feeling better than ever. The gravelly sensation in her throat and chest had all but vanished, and her body cooled to a more comfortable temperature.

Cyclone’s chipper mood quickly died as she took in her surroundings once again. So it was not a fever-dream; Creeping Forest was truly obliterated. Cyclone gasped as she spotted a horribly mangled avian body amongst the rubble. Its plumage was blue, white, and red; a fellow Swellow. A sharp, chilling sensation of vulnerability engulfed Cyclone. Gulping, she hastily took to the skies, shooting like a rocket without the barrier of a thick forest canopy slowing her trajectory.

Spending time in the sky eventually settled Cyclone’s nerves. She began to feel peckish; while the Lum berry was vitalizing, it wasn’t satiating. She spotted a small purple creature, a Rattata, limping along the forest floor. Cyclone had never eaten a living thing that wasn’t a bug, seeing how her kind were small and built more for speed than for strength. Surely, the tiny mammal would put up a fight, a far cry from the usual vacant insects Cyclone preyed upon. Well, time to put my dive bomb attack to good use.

Methinks compassion is gunna need a loooong time to settle in to roost. Hope Cy doesnt do anyhmthing rash I thinknthe mon out here aren't ferals...

Just before the desperate bird gained enough altitude to ready herself for the attack, she noticed two more beings strolling through the woods; another purple mammal, an Aipom, and a Pidgeotto. Why a Pidgeotto would be hanging out with another of a different kind eluded Cyclone. She glided to a broken tree stump to spy on the unusual pair.

Huh a wild caution appears!

The Aipom excitedly bounded to the Rattata. The rat flatted its ears and bared its sharp incisors in defense.

“Heya buddy, don’t be like that!” the Aipom chattered. “I saw that you needed some help! We can bring you to Tao Village and get you all fixed up.”

The Rattata calmed down a bit, twitching its whiskers inquisitively. “You... don’t want to eat me?”

Cue soft blue screen notes from Cy'.

“Of course not,” the Pidgeotto added. “We’re Rescuers! We’re just doing our job. We know a lot of Pokemon here need help since the Sorbet disaster!”

Sorbet, Cyclone thought. Why does that sound so familiar? Oh... didn’t I hear someone say that name last night? Is that what that monster was? A... Sorbet?

The pair continued their conversation with the Rattata, the little rodent growing more at ease as they talked.

“You guys... you’re so nice! How can I ever repay you?”

“If you’d like,” the Aipom said, “You can join our team and help out other Pokemon when you get better.”

Its interesting to see something so mundane and mainstream from an outsider perspective. And Cy' is quite the outsider here.

“Ah... I’d like that very much! Thank you!”

“Pleasure is all ours, twitch. I’m Handy and this is my pal, Sanders. Welcome to Team Tickles!”

Team what now?

Cyclone almost blew her hiding spot by laughing. She couldn’t believe what she saw. That poor rat was clearly walking into some elaborate trap. Though the Aipom wasn’t a predatory species, it may be an accomplice to the Pidgeotto. Then again, the bird would be putting in quite a lot of effort just to make a meal of a small, injured animal. The two purple mammals hopped onto said Pidgeotto’s back, and it flew off. How shameful, Cyclone thought, shaking her head, this proud bird carting around living snacks.

if Cy' isnt careful she might accidentally rack up a record as a murderer in the name of her darwinistic survival.. wouldn't that be the ultimate culture clash?

Over the next several days, Cyclone saw more and more outsiders traversing the forest. Some cleared the fallen timber, others found unfortunate victims and either rescued them or moved their now lifeless bodies. There were even some, who appeared to be part plant themselves, using their mysterious powers to encourage new flora to grow. Cyclone always quietly observed, intrigued yet bemused. She didn’t get why anyone would help a stranger and gain nothing in return, much like that flyer, Jill, she met days ago. She also couldn’t comprehend why they’d want to help restore Creeping Forest without even living there themselves.

As Cyclone took roost each evening, she’d listen to the stories regaled by the Tao stragglers who decided to stake camp for the night. She’d force herself to remain awake as long as possible, absorbing the travelers’ tales. They not only spoke of their home, Tao Village, but other places too, from the tropical beaches of Alomomola Bay to the perpetually icy Whispering Peaks.

So she's getting a full region worth of map via stalking. Wonder if any areas catch her eye?

The outsiders also conversed amongst themselves of the current happenings of the world. Cyclone strained to listen anytime “Sorbet” was mentioned. From what she could piece together, he was an ancient dragon, known as a “Kyurem”, who had been awakened to fulfill some purpose. His arrival was what initially brought on the strange snowy weather to Creeping Forest. He was apparently a benevolent beast, regarded well enough to be given a name. One day, for no discernable reason, he flew into a mindless rampage, his wrath bringing forth that deadly blizzard. The villagers were able to subdue and return him to his enchanted hibernation.

I'm getting mixed messages aboutbhis benign status... but alright...

Cyclone had become more aware of a vast world much larger than she could ever conceive. Her existence so far had been is so small, so brief, amidst the grand events taking place across the land. Cyclone’s own ignorance angered her. She had to know. She needed to find Tao Village. She had to try and make sense of this chaotic world

I wish her luck. She's gunna be fun for character development and culture shock ahoy.

.

The following morning, while in flight, Cyclone spotted a pair of diminutive outsiders. One was a pale, green quadruped with a large leaf sprouting from its head, the other a fluffy orange chick.

Torchick and chikorita?

The leafy creature stood completely still, eyes closed, a glowing energy pulsing from it, its powers encouraging new plant life to sprout from the ground. The orange chick, meanwhile, plucked seeds from a sack strapped across its body, placing the seeds into the earth. Them. She’d ask them. Cyclone dove straight down and abruptly landed between the two Pokemon, startling the pair.

“You... I dropped all the seeds!” The chick peeped in vain.

Wonder why Cy picked these two reforesters?

“Tell me, where is Tao Village?” Cyclone demanded.

“Um, it’s simple really” uttered the leafy creature. A long, green vine unfurled from one of the buds adorning its neck. Acting as an appendage, the vine pointed to a nearby clearing. “See this path? Just follow it, due east, and you’ll arrive there eventually. You’ll see a huge building on the way, that’s Castle Draclugia. You can rest there if you want, Lady Merlot has...”

“That won’t be necessary,” Cyclone interrupted. As she raised her wings to take fight, she glanced at the frazzled little chick frantically pecking up the seeds scattered all around. She smirked. A bird incapable of flight. How pitiful! Head held high, Cyclone took to the skies, performed several aerial loop-de-loops, then sped off. She didn’t at all hear the two young Pokemon remark about her rudeness.

They probably were freaking out over thier scattered seeds...

A few hours into her journey, Cyclone happened upon a massive structure. Dark stones formed a massive building with towers reaching high into the sky, and an unnatural-looking body of water surrounding the structure like a ring. Was this Tao?

The flight made Cyclone rather thirsty, so she approached the water’s edge to refresh. Just then, a large, blue creature burst from the surface, drenching Cyclone. She yelped and leapt back. The water being spoke:

“Ah, I yearned to feast my eyes upon my radiant lady love, but instead I, Samual, have come face to beak with an indigo-plumed scrub.”

“Who are you calling scrub, fish-face?”

View attachment 2424

Oh boy... thus is going to end in bloodshed... and bruised egos...

The aquatic creature merely stuck its long nose in the air, eyes closed.

“My, what an uncouth pauper! Though from a denizen of this godforsaken forest, I expect nothing less.”

Oh brother, I see our seadra kin is a noble... I'm with Cy' there should be a rebellion.. possibly with a guiltine...

(What,? I'm hungry, and he's coded fish fry.)

“And I see the residents of Tao are a bunch of jerks.”

Samual paused for a moment, and then chuckled, eyes still closed. “My, as ignorant as you are ugly! This is the wonderful abode of the beautiful, stupendous, delicious, elegant Lady Merlot, Castle Draclugia!”

I take back my previous statment. No visiting the castle. Ever. The urge to commit theivery and arson would overwhelm me.

Oh, this place, Cyclone thought.

“My dear, feral feather-duster,” Samual continued, “if you wish to reach Tao Village, simply look for the Monochrome Tower, a spiraling spire of deep black and vibrant white. I believe that even your primitive avian brain can handle such straightforward direction.”

Before he could react, Cyclone had flown into Samual’s face, nearly knocking him from the moat. He retreated just as quickly as she struck him.

“Handle that, snorkle-nose!” Cyclone mocked as she flew away, leaving a cursing sea dragon in her wake.

Well that was a fun closing encounter. Wonder how feral meets big(ish) city is going to go down?

Thanks for sharing.