Overgrow Forest

[IFBench]

Looking up, Coleane saw the biggest Noivern she's ever seen flying alongside her...and a human on his back.!

"Everything's great! Mostly!" she said in human as she soared through the forest. Ah, this was the life she dreamed of back home! Soaring through the air, with humans! All she needed now was...to be a hero...

Oh, if only...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

<Did she just—?>

<Yes. Spoken Galarish. I'm as surprised as you are.>

Malachai kept matching the tropius' flight path. Below them, it was hard to see anyone who might be down on the forest floor. The tropius didn't seem worried, at least, so maybe nothing was wrong. Indeed, if she was particularly sapient, perhaps free aerial roaming was part of her routine.

"Uh, your Galarish is... really good! How—"

Laura paused to ask herself if what she was about to say was completely dumb. Tropius didn't speak, right? She'd have heard that. Like, sure, they had family social structures and fantastic mammalian sign and vocalisations and all, but they didn't have the mouths for verbal speech even if they had the speech centres in the brain for it, which they didn't.

"How the fuck are you talking?" she called, a tinge of desperation on her raised voice.

<Everything about these circumstances is nonsense,> grumbled Malachai.

 

[IFBench]

"Oh, I've always been able to! Every human I've met has been really confused by that!" Coleane said. She still found it weird that humans couldn't understand Pokemon in the human world. Weren't humans able to do anything?

But then again...

No, don't think about that right now. Focus on flying and talking.

"I just...talk! It's as natural as flying for me!" Coleane said. "Also, what does fuck mean?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Laura made a face that bordered on confusion and frustration.

"What, since birth?" she asked, in abject perplexity. "Surely someone taught you...?"

Malachai huffed, and pulled ahead a little.

<Pokémon seldom speak in fluent Galarish, Tropius,> he sent, irritably. <Do you not marvel that you alone among pokémon have this ability?>

 

[IFBench]

"Oh, my partner can speak too! And everyone from where I come from!" Coleane said with a flap of her wings. "I come from a world where Pokemon like me are normal! I still find it a bit weird that humans can't understand Pokemon in the human world, though."

She looked to the skies, smiling. She wished she could have a human friend on her back like that Noivern, and carry them through the skies.

Too bad Gen was afraid of heights.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Well, that explained it. Or, not so much explained it as... justified it.

"Well they can," began Laura, flustered, "but like, with so many species all with their own vocalisations and body language, the paralinguistics alone take years of study, and—"

<Pokémon mouths and vocal cords cannot, as a rule, produce the phonemes of human languages, any more than humans can make sounds like this.>

Laura knew what was coming, and clapped her hands over her ears. Malachai bellowed, shaking the trees below, with a warbling peal that followed the bassy roar.

Laura shook her head free of the ringing sound. Motherfucker was gonna give her tinnitus.

"Point taken, Mal. Uh, Tropius? I'm Laura, this is Malachai. Humans and 'mon can communicate in our world, but it's like he says. 'Mon can't vocalise like you. But since you can... what are relations between 'mon and humans like where you're from?"

 

[IFBench]

"Oh, where I'm from, humans don't exist, besides the heroes! Almost everyone looks up to them, including me! They've saved the world, and helped lots and lots of Pokemon!" Coleane said, flapping her wings again. "And my name's Coleane! Nice to meet you!"

"...oh! And in the human world, they 'train' Pokemon and help us battle better, and it's really cool!" Coleane added. "I'm a trainer myself!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Laura squinted into the wind, trying to make sense of the reply. Humans don't exist... except they do, and they save the world. And in the human world, trainers existed... except also Coleane was a trainer. It was like talking to a little girl, or something. A young kid on their first circuit.

"I'm a trainer, too," she replied, deciding that interrogating the matter as if she was talking to a peer wasn't going to teach her much of use. "Malachai here is one of my team. We saw you flying alone, and wondered if your partner was another one of the missing guests. Are you sure you're safe flying alone?"

 

[IFBench]

"Yeppers! I used to be a courier! I flew on my own all the time!" Coleane said. "My partner is ok, I think he's talking with one of the other guests. He's an Oshawott! He's really really cool!"

"What other Pokemon are on your team?" she asked, craning her neck up. "I have HTML the Porygon, Shiver the Aurorus, Gen the Oshawott, and Virnia the Vibrava!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Neat names!" replied Laura, over the sound of wingbeats. Did a world of only pokémon have HTML? What? "My other ace is an inteleon!" she added. No point in relaying a list of her entire team, especially when so few were likely to be permanent members. Didn't really make for great light conversation, either.

"Glad you and your partner are alright," she called, "but be sure to stay safe!"

<She will do as she wills,> rumbled Malachai, privately. <As will you.>

 

[IFBench]

"We will! I'm sure Gen is having fun right now!" Coleane said, smiling. She wondered what he was doing right now. Probably some cool human stuff!

"I should actually go look for him!" she said. "It was nice meeting you both!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Good luck, Coleane!" replied Laura. "Take care!"

Malachai pulled up, rising well above the treeline, and away from the tropius.

<She's not the guilty party,> he sent, flatly.

"Absolutely fucking not," replied Laura, chuckling.

<><><><><>​

 

[Sinderella]

The cops had said don't leave the area. Odile had said fuck that. Nobody told her what to do, ever. Well, except Odette. And sometimes Enora. And sometimes Clovis. And sometimes the other scientists.

Okay. Scratch that. Cops didn't tell her what to do. She could not be bound by the shackles of the law. Besides, nobody had seen her anyway, so it was easy to just quietly roll out of sight. She wouldn't have been surprised if Enora or Odette had no idea if she was even gone. If they did, well. She'd apologize later or something. It's not like she was up to anything bad. Just exploring and whatnot while everyone else was stuck at the cove with their heads in their asses.

She rolled to a stop next to a tree before hovering up to a branch. This was a pretty nice forest. They hadn't been out here yet, so she could at least say that she'd beaten them to it. But really, she should drag them here. Big trees, nice breeze, no fires...

She yawned again. Fuck, she hated being sleepy.

Nonetheless, she allowed her eyes to slip shut for just a moment...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Sleet allocated a portion of her snooping each day to the forest. It was partly because the forest was fucking huge, and she hoped to get lucky enough to spot something by chance by searching bit-by-bit, but it was also partly because it was fun. She liked how easy it was to hide, and how many 'mon there were to mess with, and how many bugs she could snack on freely. Kindof a shame to not have a human around to be disgusted by insectivory, though.

Occasionally, there'd be someone even more fun to mess with! That weird dead-bush lookalike 'mon. Taking a nap. What a dumbass. Sleet's smirk reached her earholes as she leveled one hand against the other wrist to steady it, and let her eye nictitate to a narrow point. Even a light splash would be really funny, as tempting as it was to land a really good hit just to be nasty. But no, she was just teaching stupid visitors a lesson about situational awareness with kidnappers around.

PSSSHHTD!

Sleet used Snipe Shot!

 

[Sinderella]

Occasionally, there'd be someone even more fun to mess with! That weird dead-bush lookalike 'mon. Taking a nap. What a dumbass. Sleet's smirk reached her earholes as she leveled one hand against the other wrist to steady it, and let her eye nictitate to a narrow point. Even a light splash would be really funny, as tempting as it was to land a really good hit just to be nasty. But no, she was just teaching stupid visitors a lesson about situational awareness with kidnappers around.

PSSSHHTD!

Odile's eyes snapped open at the sound of something rushing through the air. Headed for her. Her wings enclosed around her body, just in time for the shot to splatter across them. Gods it was cold. Ice water bad.

"̵̢̖͕̝̍̀̈́ͅḆ̴̈́̃̐̓̀Ĭ̴̞̬̈́T̵͕͔̣͈̣͐̒́C̷̨̨͈͕̾Ḥ̷͉̭̈́,̴̪̞̘̣̭̀͋̿͛͌ ̶͎̋̌͗Į̶̫̱͆̈ ̶̻̩̳̒͜W̷̭̙̓I̴̧̪̣̜͇̋̒̋L̸̨̧̛̟̣̻̒̂Ḷ̸̢̬͗̅̇́̏͜ ̸̼̼̅͜F̵̨̨̮̠͕͠U̶̧͈̘̖̅C̴̮͚͓̪͇̓͋̇̑͘K̴̖͈͕̈͜͝ ̵̳͍̊̽Y̶̹̹̿̄̆͠͠O̸̢̟̣̪̊̀̃U̸̥̘̐̈́̀R̸̨̲̍͒ ̴͉̣͙̅̊̚͝A̶͎̝̿Ś̶̫̺͔̓̾̄̃S̴͙̞̩̰̽͗̋ ̸͕͈͖̣̿̒͆̓S̴̭̀͋̍̅Í̸͕̪͔͙̲͛̿͛̑Ḑ̴̯͍̹͂̑͜Ë̶̜͇̜́W̸̛̼̤͔͇͊́̄̏ͅA̴̛̦͑͋́Y̵̱͆͋̄́͜S̶̞̘̖͔̊̚͜,̴̨͐̀͑"̴̛̣͂̽ she bellowed as she fell backwards with the force of the shot. However, she managed to gain her balance as she fell, landing graciously on her feet just before morphing back into her human form. The only difference here were her hands, which closely resembled jagged and pointy branches.

She was slowly realizing that she was like one of those humans who did not like to be woken up.


"̸̮̪͇̉͘̕ͅỸ̷̬̤͎͔̏O̶̬̰̎̈́Ṷ̷̞̩̱̀̾͆ ̷͉̻͗̌͝W̶̢͇͖̝̲̚Ä̵͚̭̥̳̓̇̈́N̴̖͉̺̈́̕N̷̜̜̆̽̄̍̆A̷̡̛͈̯̼̎̐͝͝ ̵̰̗̠̱͊̽G̸̣̊O̷̖̬̯̽?̶͈́͂͘ ̸̻̳͛̓̚͠͝Ḽ̴̮̰̠̍̓̐Ë̸͇̘̥̄͋T̴̼̮̩̯̺͂̓̔͗S̵̨͕̩͌̃̊ ̸̮͔̤͔̕Ģ̴͚̠̺͐̔̃Ő̸͇͇̓̓̀.̵̱̈́ F̴̡̺̹͊̈͝U̵͖͇͠C̸̼̜̓̽͗̄̆K̵̼̝̓̓́́ ̵͉̈́̃͆̓̒W̷̱͑͗͠I̴̢͓̥̖͖̊̓́̉̕T̶̡̾̄́̀̉͜Ĥ̶͍̟̄ ̷͚͍͝M̷̛̬͓͖̘͈̊̕Ý̴̥̜̤̝ ̶̢̜͙̹̐N̸͙̈̔̈͠Ä̴͖́̈͗̈́P̵̫̐̀,̴͓̙͉̟͌͜͝͠͝ ̷̢̘͉̩͗̏̂̀̀I̷̤͙͓̳͎͂̋̔̇'̷̳̲̙͉̙̐̉L̸̝̣̏̕L̴̺̲̍̂̈́ ̴̦̑F̶͖͙̭͓̭̿͋̈́̒Ṳ̸̹̘̳͂̽̊͑C̸͇͚̺̃̈́K̷̪͍͒̍̏̂͠ ̸̲̪̱̐́͆̓̈́Ẁ̷̡̧̲̱̽̀͑Ḭ̵̃̈́͘ͅT̶̥̠̟͇̮̓H̸̱̦͚̝̝̽͌̃͝ ̵͇̻̐̓̈́̔͜Y̷̳̬̮͆O̵̠̝̮͗͐̄͜Ṳ̵̡̓̑͋͌R̷̖̹̐͠ ̴̳͚̅̈́I̵̺̫̦̊̽N̶̖̠̒̚̚T̴̢͎̹͉͌̕E̷̪̞͝S̷̰̠̾Ṭ̵͎̲͕̔̕Ȉ̷͚͚N̷̨͖̩͐͠Ȩ̷͉̖͌͗̔̊̌S̶̱̫͍̕͝ͅͅ.̶͖̳̱̻̉̇̉̈"̷̰͓̀

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Sleet snickered loudly.

"Ssleet does not have an assss-hole, only cloaca," she jeered. "Kind of ammm an assss-hole, though, yes."

She peered at the human guise, wondering whether it was just an illusion, or true shapeshifting. Interesting. Weird, too. And maybe whatever Type this one was didn't agree with her Snipe Shot. Interesting, also.

"Badd place ffforr a nap," she growled, still snickering. "Don'tcha know therrre is a murrd'rrr'rrr arround? Who arrre you, any way?"

 

[Sinderella]

"Ssleet does not have an assss-hole, only cloaca," she jeered. "Kind of ammm an assss-hole, though, yes."

She eyed the gecko thing intently. An Inteleon, it looked like. And evidently a huge pain in her ass.

"̵A̷r̵e̷ ̵y̴o̶u̸ ̴p̸a̸r̴t̸ ̷f̵u̴c̷k̶i̵n̶g̴ ̸s̴n̸a̴k̸e̵ ̴o̴r̸ ̴s̷o̵m̵e̶t̸h̵i̴n̵'̴?̷ ̵F̴i̶n̷e̸,̵ ̷I̶'̶l̶l̵ ̵f̴u̵c̷k̶ ̵y̴o̷u̶r̴ ̴c̸l̸o̶a̶c̴a̶ ̸s̸i̸d̴e̸w̵a̶y̶s̷,̸ ̸s̷a̴m̸e̵ ̸g̴o̷d̴d̷a̶m̵n̷ ̵d̷i̶f̶f̸e̵r̵e̸n̸c̶e̵.̷ P̴r̴e̷s̶e̶n̷t̶ ̷i̵t̸,̸ ̶b̶o̶z̷o̸.̸"̴

"Badd place ffforr a nap," she growled, still snickering. "Don'tcha know therrre is a murrd'rrr'rrr arround? Who arrre you, any way?"

She flicked her wrists a few times, as if anticipating having to slash at something with her branch blades. "̶O̵f̶ ̷c̷o̶u̸r̵s̶e̷ ̷I̷ ̴k̷n̸o̴w̵.̵ ̷A̵n̴d̵ ̴d̴o̸ ̷I̶ ̸c̶a̶r̸e̶?̵ ̴N̸O̴.̸ ̸N̷o̴b̴o̵d̵y̸'̴s̶ ̶f̴u̶c̸k̵i̷n̴g̶ ̷w̸i̶t̷h̴ ̷t̸h̵e̴ ̵l̸i̸k̴e̴s̶ ̵o̴f̴ ̷m̷e̶,̶ ̷I̴'̴l̴l̸ ̵f̵u̴c̵k̸i̴n̴g̶ ̵k̸i̷l̷l̷ ̴t̷h̶e̴m̴.̶"

Granted, she'd get a lot more edgeway on that killing thing if Odette was around. Actually, she probably should not have left Odette's side, regardless of the stupid coppers. But, Enora was with her, so they'd be fine. She knew exactly where they were at all times, so. Plus, the cops were around them so nobody would attempt anything dangerous...provided the culprit wasn't a fucking imbecile and trying to stay hidden.

Man, tiredness made people do stupid things. Not fun. She'd need to get back.

But, either way, nobody would think twice about fucking with a legendary like her. She knew how to commit murder too, dammit.

"̷I̸'̸m̵ ̶V̵e̶n̴i̵r̶a̶,̸ ̷b̶u̷t̴ ̵m̴y̸ ̸v̸e̷s̷s̶e̴l̷ ̴c̴a̸l̶l̷e̶d̷ ̸m̵e̵ ̵O̴d̷i̵l̷e̸.̸ ̷S̴o̵ ̵y̶o̸u̷'̸l̸l̶ ̷c̵a̸l̴l̶ ̶m̷e̸ ̸O̸d̶i̸l̴e̷.̵ I̵'̷m̴ ̴t̸h̵e̸ ̶L̴E̴G̵E̶N̵D̴A̸R̴Y̶ ̷o̵f̷ ̵W̷r̸a̷t̶h̸,̵ ̸w̷h̸a̴t̸ ̷a̵b̵o̷u̴t̷ ̶y̸o̷u̵ ̸I̷n̴t̸e̴l̵e̷o̷n̶?̴ H̵a̵v̶e̶ ̵a̶n̵y̵t̶h̷i̵n̶g̴ ̵e̷l̵s̴e̴ ̴b̸e̷s̷i̵d̶e̷s̶ ̶y̵o̷u̴r̷ ̷f̷a̶t̷ ̵c̴l̴o̸a̴c̸a̷ ̵a̷n̷d̸ ̶y̶o̶u̷r̷ ̷c̵o̶l̷d̸ ̴w̸a̶t̶e̵r̴ ̶t̴o̶ ̷s̷h̸o̴w̴ ̸f̵o̵r̵ ̵y̶o̴u̸r̸s̸e̴l̶f̶?̵"̴

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Sleet giggled continuously to herself. Fuuuuck, this one was so upset, it was beautiful. Sleet had created art. Sleet had expertise at the craft of pissing people off. And so easily this time!

"All rrreptiless have cloaca, mother fuckerrr. Don't rreally carrrre that you'rrre Legendarrry, this forrrest is wherrre Sleet does what the fuck Sleet wantss. Like look forrr clues."

Sleet used Foresight in Overgrow Forest to snoop about!

@Flyg0n

Cold water, she'd said. Specifically.

"So sorry about the waterrr. Would you prreferrrr ice?" hissed Sleet, grinning broadly.

 

[Sinderella]

This damn lizard. This damn fucking lizard. Obviously getting a kick out of aggravating her. Well, joke was on this damn lizard; did it KNOW that it was dealing with the EMBODIMENT of anger? So it was a given. Ha. Fuck them.

"̴T̴h̴e̷ ̸f̵o̶r̶e̷s̷t̸ ̵i̷s̸ ̸a̶l̷s̴o̴ ̵w̴h̵e̵r̴e̵ ̵I̷ ̷u̶s̴e̵d̶ ̶t̷o̸ ̸d̸u̵m̵p̸ ̶b̸o̶d̷i̷e̸s̷.̸ ̶W̵h̴a̸t̴'̵s̴ ̶y̷o̸u̴r̶ ̷p̴o̴i̵n̵t̸?̸"̵

She could look for clues, yes. Or she could wait for Odette. She'd found absolute jack fucking all at the lake yesterday, and she had a bad feeling about having looked so hard...

Her eyes blazed with aggravation at Sleet's follow-up question. No ice. Never any ice.

"̶W̵o̸u̴l̸d̶ ̵y̶o̸u̴ ̴p̵r̴e̸f̴e̷r̷ ̸i̶f̸ ̷I̶ ̴s̴e̴w̸e̸d̸ ̸y̵o̶u̶r̷ ̶c̵l̶o̷a̸c̴a̴ ̸s̶h̷u̴t̸?̴"


She cracked a doubtful smirk and tapped one of the jagged branches to her chin. "̷W̷a̷i̵t̷ ̴a̵ ̶s̴e̶c̴o̶n̸d̷,̴ ̷I̸ ̵b̸e̶t̸ ̷t̸h̴a̶t̸'̵s̸ ̴a̸ ̸k̸i̸n̵k̴ ̵s̷o̵m̸e̵w̴h̸e̴r̵e̸.̸"̵

 

[Flyg0n]

Sleet giggled continuously to herself. Fuuuuck, this one was so upset, it was beautiful. Sleet had created art. Sleet had expertise at the craft of pissing people off. And so easily this time!

"All rrreptiless have cloaca, mother fuckerrr. Don't rreally carrrre that you'rrre Legendarrry, this forrrest is wherrre Sleet does what the fuck Sleet wantss. Like look forrr clues."


@Flyg0n

Cold water, she'd said. Specifically.

"So sorry about the waterrr. Would you prreferrrr ice?" hissed Sleet, grinning broadly.

Sleet is snooping! ... .... ...

For all Sleet's investigations, and her keen eyes, there seemed to be nothing out of place to see in the forest, aside from the twig pile known as the supposed embodiment of wrath.

There's nothing to see!