"Where'd it go?" The large man yelled at his smaller companion, mere feet behind him, looking around frantically.
"I think it went over there!" He pointed at my hiding place.
Shit! I thought as I dashed away farther into the forest. I had heard humans disliked venturing away from their overly beaten paths. These humans seemed like the kind not well adapted to rough travel.
Are they still after me? It's been at least seven minutes... I delved into my surroundings using my psychic powersto see how close they were to me, and see that they were heading in the opposite dirrection from my position me, I decided to double back on my trail.
After safely throwing off my trackers, I went back to my tribes grove. When I got back, I was greeted with silence, and an empty grove. I sat down on a log, and recalled what had happened today...
-Earlier the same day-
"Hey Laura! Laura Laura! Laura! Sis! Sis! Sis! I found something!" Jess, my little sister a Ralts, said, off already to where ever she was going.
"IF you'd stay still for ONE second, I might be able to actually understand what you wanted more often." Talking to a cloud of dust... I ran after Jess, following her trail of psychic energy she left behind for me to follow.
When I caught up with her, she had a stick in her hand, poking a large lump sprawled out on the ground. It looked like a pile of human clothes, and extremely tattered.
"What to you think it is?" She asked, poking ever more forcefully.
"Looks like a pile of human clothing... They smell horrible." I said, plugging my nose at the scent.
Jess continued to poke it as I walked around the area, looking for tracks, and any life. I was startled when I heard a snap and a grunt from the pile of clothes behind me.
I snapped around, seeing the pile rise and rub it's apparent head. "The hell did that stab come from?" It said, yawning. I was too focused on everything else to notice anything other than what my eyes showed me in front of me. STUPID! I bashed myself mentally for putting my sister in danger.
"Get back home, and tell everyone to hide." I started to walk towards the human, acting friendly. He looked at me, lust in his eyes. I picked him up before grinning mischeviously, holding him about six feet in the air.
"H-hey! Let me down, to dumb pokemon!" he said, flailing about, trying to grab a tree branch or some other type of leverage out of my psychic grip.
-Present-
I sighed, thinking about how dirty my dress got. I walked over to the stream and took off my dress. I found the rock we usually used to wash our dresses on and proceeded to scrub the evil dirt off my beautiful white gown. I took some time to wash myself off as well. I shivered as the cold water trickled down my spine.
I sent out a psychic message to the tribe, telling them I led the humans off. I always wait before calling them back, so that I may wash myself in private. I'm afraid of them seeing my scar, even if it's origins are noble, for my kind, a scar is a disfiguring feature. My kin are obsessed with perfection. Mine is on my left leg, which if it weren't there, would be perfectly identical to my right.
A few Gardevoir teleported back and again returned to the hiding place to confirm with the others that the area was safe. We are a very cautious tribe, if our trail header (me) gets caught and is forced to tell where our home is, they won't know where the panic hole is, because they aren't allowed to know. I've never been showed where we go when a human is near, and won't be until I find a mate. If the trail header gives away the grove location, and is somehow forced to tell the others to return, there are others sent beforehand to confirm that there isn't any trickery afoot.
After triple checking the area, the tribe returned, all 52 of them. Everyone went back to what they were doing; foraging, cleaning, building, the daily work of an expanding village. I returned to my shelter, greeted by my sister. She jumped into my chest spike and embraced me in a hug.
"I had a bad feeling about today," she said, "but I knew you'd get back okay."
"I always do, don't I?" I hugged her back and lifted her into the air, "No human can ever catch Laura of the Gemini woods!" I laughed and tossed her high in the air. She screamed with glee as I caught her again and spun around, embracing her in another hug holding her like a mother would her toddler who had recently fallen asleep in her arms. I carried her over to the bed of leaves and sat her down.
"It was tiring today, those goons didn't give up like the rest." I laid next to Jess, who had already closed her eyes. "Don't sleep too hard tonight, they may come back to the area." I warned her.
"The sentries will wake us up if they return for a beating." She mumbled, turning away from me, and drifted into the sleeping world of dream.
I was called outside by one of the village elders. How'd I screw up this time? I wondered to myself as I walked outside.
Guinevere, our strongest member, passed by and gave me a sideways glance of worry. She was one of the few among the tribe who knew about my scar, and she was the only one who didn't hold pity in her eyes when she looks at me. I made my way to the elders hut, since she refused to settle the matter via telepathy, I assumed it was important.
"You called?" I said as I pushed the leaf draping out of my way.
She looked at me and went back to crushing berries into powder, "Mind giving me a hand?" she motioned to the herb crusher next to her.
"If that's all you wanted, wouldn't someone who's better at this? If you don't mind, I'd like to get this out of the way before it gets dark." I said, not caring how she was going to respond. I was tired and grouchy.
She gave a tremendous sigh, and turned away to placed her crushed berries into a pouch before turning back to me, "Today was the first time a human has gotten that close to the village." She stated, "I'm concerned that it might be wearing down on you. You are our best Trickster, but I worry that you may be losing your edge."
She was right, within the last two weeks, more incidents with humans had increased at a worrying pace. It seemed like more and more humans were travelling through the woods than usual. Normally, we only have around 3 humans traveling through a month. We've had close to 20 pass within proximity of the village.
"You think I might have caused it?" I hoped I was wrong.
"Yes, Laura... I called you here to ask you to leave, or retire from your position." She said, with a saddened look. Leave? Unheard of. "Many of our tribesman are wary of you, and not one has a solid reason. I would prefer you stayed, for the safety of our village, but, it would be best if you left."
I had a feeling this was coming, and it sounds like she has decided for me. "I'll be gone tomorrow, I have to let Jessica know before I go, though." I said, controlling my emotions as best I could, but my hands shook still, despite my best efforts. "Don't expect to see me anytime soon." I said as I turned to leave.