Skill Swap Shop

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Malachai's a noivern," Laura answered, practically reeling off the information on automatic by now, "but he's an Atlantic bluewing, so he's a lot bigger than the more common inland noivern. You don't need to worry about him, you know; he's fully sapient, and smarter than most humans. I, uh, saw that face you were making, eheheh. He'd consider eating a human something like cannibalism, I guess. Prefers fish."

<Sushi,> sent Malachai, with what looked like a smirk. Was that... a joke?

"Anyway..."

The site of Sigmin's and Nox's disappearance seemed much as previous sites had. Was there anything else to be gleaned, anything new...?

Laura released Sleet with a grimace. The inteleon manifested in a dramatic pose more suited to some seductive salazzle superstar than a supposedly suave spy-species. Sleet caught Laura's eye, and snickered at her.

"Be serious," said Laura. "Need your sharpest eyes; this is another ambush site."

To her credit, Sleet straightened up immediately.

[Oh, gotcha. Gimme a sec.]

@Flyg0n

Sleet used Foresight!

 

[Flyg0n]

"Be serious," said Laura. "Need your sharpest eyes; this is another ambush site."

To her credit, Sleet straightened up immediately.

[Oh, gotcha. Gimme a sec.]

@Flyg0n

A scattered set of tracks peppered the area, giving the impression that Sigmin and Salandit had been trying to dodge attacks. However, following the direction of the tracks, they soon split off unexpectedly. One set, the Salandit's, broke off to the left. Sigmin's tracks jerked sharply towards a copse bushes, then out the other side again. Odd...

Following his tracks into the bushes revealed something stranger. A vague sort of clearing, if you could call it that, where the earth was soft and muddy. Judging by the prints in the soft earth, it seemed Sigmin had knelt there for a moment. And in the ground was drawn... a circle? Why had he stopped to draw a circle? Or perhaps... perhaps it wasn't a circle, but a letter? Maybe some kind of message.

 

[HelloYellow17]

"Malachai's a noivern," Laura answered, practically reeling off the information on automatic by now, "but he's an Atlantic bluewing, so he's a lot bigger than the more common inland noivern. You don't need to worry about him, you know; he's fully sapient, and smarter than most humans. I, uh, saw that face you were making, eheheh. He'd consider eating a human something like cannibalism, I guess. Prefers fish."

“…right. Yeah. Sorry. I’ve just…never seen anything quite like him.” Wes sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Had he really been that obvious? “Anyway, uh, nice to meet you, Malachai.”

Novo chattered in amusement at Wes’ discomfort and turned back to Malachai. “Do not mind my trainer. He is very cautious of anything he is unfamiliar with, and not without reason.”

Laura released Sleet with a grimace. The inteleon manifested in a dramatic pose more suited to some seductive salazzle superstar than a supposedly suave spy-species. Sleet caught Laura's eye, and snickered at her.

Huh, Wes had never seen that Pokémon either, but the mischievous glint in her eyes was certainly familiar. He’d seen that look on Neo and Nani too many damn times.

He didn’t get a chance to ask about her, though, because she immediately took off into the bushes, then came back only a second later, signaling everyone to follow. Wes frowned at the circle drawn in the ground.

“Not sure what this means. Could be…a symbol for something. Or a drawing. Or…a letter.” His face darkened at the last suggestion. “O. For…Orzo.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Laura pulled a face, tilting her head to look at the marking from different angles.

"I guess? A circle doesn't have to be an initial 'O', but it could be... It looked like Sigmin and Nox each headed a different way. Maybe Nox's tracks can tell us something else...?"

Sleet signed fluidly and with a bored expression: [There are like eight of us here, and we arren't finding out anything new. We should just throw a party and get to know each other before the flying dickhead comes and kidnaps us.]

Laura shot Sleet a withering look. It only gave the inteleon more power.

"Heyyy, gorr-geoussz," she rasped in the direction of the other humans present. "I'm Ssleet, and it'ssz a pleasurrre to meet you~"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Neo tilted his head. Was it…normal for humans to understand Pokémon where this human was from? He chirped. “You are the first human I know who can understand me when I talk! I can talk to humans with brain pictures and feelings, but they don’t understand me when I talk out loud!”

Jade chuckled. "Well, you'd love where I come from, then. It's not anything special there, plenty of people are better at it than me." She gave the excitable Espeon a small smile. "Seems like you and your trainer are pretty close, even without him knowing any Pokéspeech."

She abruptly realized that Laura and Wes were scrutinizing one half of the tracks, then glanced around to see where Nine had gone. Looked like he was following the more lizardy looking of the tracks. Maybe he'd found something...?

Nine used Foresight!

 

[Flyg0n]

Jade chuckled. "Well, you'd love where I come from, then. It's not anything special there, plenty of pneople are better at it than me." She gave the excitable Espeon a small smile. "Seems like you and your trainer are pretty close, even without him knowing any Pokéspeech."

She abruptly realized that Laura and Wes were scrutinizing one half of the tracks, then glanced around to see where Nine had gone. Looked like he was following the more lizardy looking of the tracks. Maybe he'd found something...?

The Salandit tracks moved in erratic patterns, looping and zigzagging and crisscrossing in absolutely nonsensical ways. And it had worked, it seemed for a little bit. There was evidence that kidnapper had tried to launch some kind of projectile attacks, which he'd managed to dodge at least a few times.

And then, tiny bits of burnt gras or earth could be seen - he'd tried to counter attack, maybe trying to keep the kidnapper busy?

A little further along, there was a scorch mark on a tree. And just below that tree, along the top of a bush, lay not just the gray flecks they'd spotted before, but pink ones too. Not many, but enough to be noticed. Not far after that, the Salandit tracks came to an abrupt halt. He'd been taken.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade bit her lip. "More of that dang paint. Why is it such a big deal for them to stay disguised? It's not like anyone has seen any of these attacks."

Nine sniffed at the odd, sweet-smelling paint. "*It also doesn't fit with the use of blinding tactics.*"

"Right, yeah. Like, even if the culprit is gold or whatever, I don't see why they'd need to go for paint when they've had plenty of other ways of not getting caught." Unless it was purely for the sake of getting close to their targets...?

 

[HelloYellow17]

"Heyyy, gorr-geoussz," she rasped in the direction of the other humans present. "I'm Ssleet, and it'ssz a pleasurrre to meet you~"

Wes jumped at the unexpected, guttural sound, but it was the fact that he understood it that had him speechless. It took him a moment to find his voice.

“You—right. Yeah. Pokémon around here can talk, I guess. Sorry, I’m…not used to it.” He glanced at Jade and Laura; neither of them seemed the least bit fazed by this. Apparently he was the odd one out here.

He ran a hand through his hair and nodded at the…new Pokémon. Sleet? Did she say that was her name? “…Hi.”

He had no idea what else to say.

"Seems like you and your trainer are pretty close, even without him knowing any Pokéspeech."

Neo lit up and bounced lightly on his paws. “We are very close! We are family! We have been with him since we are small and—”

He was cut off by a bark from Novo. The Umbreon had tailed after Nine and was now calling Wes over to look at some new clues. As everyone approached, Novo blinked at Nine and hesitantly wagged his tail.

“You have a keen nose to find these. You smell very strong, too. I am called Novo. Is that girl your trainer? What are you called?”

"Right, yeah. Like, even if the culprit is gold or whatever, I don't see why they'd need to go for paint when they've had plenty of other ways of not getting caught."

Wes shook his head with a small frown. “I think the disguise is for when they aren’t attacking. So they can move around without causing too much suspicion, especially if they’re impersonating someone.” He knelt and gathered a few of the colored flakes between his fingers. “Odette and Mitch—uh, they’re other trainers that were on the boat with us—they reckon the culprit might be Orzo—you know, that little hoop ghost guy? Or they think it might be a Pokémon similar to him that’s impersonating him. I don’t know a whole lot about that kind of Pokémon, but all the hints seem to line up that way.”

Then he scowled. “The Flash is for a different reason. It’s not just to conceal themself, it’s to catch the target off guard and disable them. A cheap trick.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Sleet snickered gleefully at Wes' nonplussed reaction. People were usually weirded out by her talking, but these other-dimensional humans were especially weirded out. Mostly. It was fun. And this boy was awkward. Sleet liked awkward.

"Wessz, rrright?" she rasped, sidling up to him. "Let'ssz just ass-ume the culprrit is Orrrzo and have sszome fun. What do you forr fun?"

She grinned at her victim with an expression that would make it clear that she would find every possible response hilarious.

Laura rolled her eyes at the inteleon's antics, and shoved her hands in her pockets. Everything led back to Orzo, or an Orzo-impersonator, performing the abductions. So, how to trap and subdue him, or his doppelganger in disguise?

"There's no sensible next step but to talk to Orzo," she muttered. "And try not to go stir crazy before then, I guess, since he's hidden away recovering..."

Malachai, still watching for threats, sent a wordless assent into her head. Nothing more than a calming vibe, sure, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

 

[HelloYellow17]

"Wessz, rrright?" she rasped, sidling up to him. "Let'ssz just ass-ume the culprrit is Orrrzo and have sszome fun. What do you forr fun?"

…Sweet baby Arceus. Was this mon hitting on him? Wes stared for a solid five seconds, completely at a loss for words. How in the hell was he supposed to reply to that?

“I…uh.” Gods, he looked like an idiot, he was sure. It didn’t help that such a question, even in a more innocent context, was difficult for him to answer. “I…like to battle. In colosseums, with my team, ah, that’s Novo over there and that’s Neo, and. Uh.”

Gods-dammit. He was not going to let this…Sleet, whoever she was, make a fool out of him. He cleared his throat, straightened up, and fixed her with a withering glare. “To hell with it. You always greet people like that? I’d ask what you like to do for fun, but clearly your answer is to be a little shit.”

…Nice going, idiot. He’d been hoping to make a decent impression for once, but now he was picking a fight with a Pokémon he’d just met ten seconds ago.

"There's no sensible next step but to talk to Orzo," she muttered. "And try not to go stir crazy before then, I guess, since he's hidden away recovering..."

Wes couldn’t have been more thankful for the excuse to turn his attention elsewhere. He turned away from Sleet to address Laura. “Well, actually, we…don’t have to wait long.” He glanced around before dropping his voice to a murmur. “A group of us are breaking in to his room tonight. To put an end to all of this. Hopefully.”

It occurred to him that maybe she was already aware of this. He coughed and shifted awkwardly. “Wasn’t sure if you knew that or not, but, well. There you have it.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

Neo lit up and bounced lightly on his paws. “We are very close! We are family! We have been with him since we are small and—”

He was cut off by a bark from Novo. The Umbreon had tailed after Nine and was now calling Wes over to look at some new clues. As everyone approached, Novo blinked at Nine and hesitantly wagged his tail.

“You have a keen nose to find these. You smell very strong, too. I am called Novo. Is that girl your trainer? What are you called?”

Nine wasn't quite sure what to make of the excitable Espeon. He seemed naive and trusting... but at the same time, his human was clearly anything but. That was interesting, especially if they'd been together for so long.

The Umbreon seemed like the more sensible of the two. Nine gave him a respectful nod and said, "The girl is my human, and she calls me Nine. I'm with her because we both face a common enemy back home. Although... it's different not knowing who our enemy is here," he added with a furrowed brow.

Wes couldn’t have been more thankful for the excuse to turn his attention elsewhere. He turned away from Sleet to address Laura. “Well, actually, we…don’t have to wait long.” He glanced around before dropping his voice to a murmur. “A group of us are breaking in to his room tonight. To put an end to all of this. Hopefully.”

Jade stood up from where she'd been kneeling, brushing the dirt from her jeans. "Right, yeah--Odette mentioned that earlier." She wasn't sure if it seemed too optimistic to think that all of this would end so easily. "It sounds like most of the legendaries on the island are on our side, at least. It feels a lot better knowing that." Unlike back home, where half of them didn't want anything to do with her group.

 

[Flyg0n]

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