Jesse sniffed around a little, pricking up his ears and letting a low silent growl begin to form in his throat. Something wasn't right here. Were they still in the trial grounds, anyway? He wasn't sure any more. There sure as hell wasn't a path this deep into the woods. Pokémon noises filled the air, yet his trainer marched on with confidence that was certainly misplaced.
There were different scents here, and he glanced around with confusion to see if the others could sense anything, either. Ferdi was still perched nonchalantly atop the trainer's shoulder, preening his feathers again; Akoi was dragging his bone in the ground, occasionally tossing it up and catching it; Nemue was stumbling on with her usual clumsy gait at her side. None of them were perturbed in the slightest.
He could still smell something, though. He didn't know from where, or what it was. But he knew that something was off in these woods.
"I'm sure that those Revival Herbs are in here somewhere… just a little further," Makani assured the team, giving them all a little pet. "Oh? Are you okay, Jesse? You seem on edge."
The Lycanroc whined and rubbed himself against her, trying to push her back towards the trial site. They weren't supposed to be here – they could be endangering themselves. What was that smell?
The trainer knelt down and pet his head slowly, looking him right in the eye. "It's okay, buddy, I'll be careful. If we don't find one out here, we can go right back to the entrance and start again. Okay?"
She gave him one more pat before standing up, taking a few more steps forwards – and her feet were swept out from underneath her and she was whipped upside down with a yelp. Unable to react in time Ferdi fell from her shoulder and landed with a plop on the forest floor, instantly shaking himself down and preening all his feathers back into shape.
Obviously all the other Pokémon were hysteric; Jesse was the most worried, leaping up as high as he could to try and reach her, but none of the other three could climb and with Ferdi's feathers in such a state he would never be willing to get up no matter the risk. Akoi tried to scale the tree, but slid straight down again; none of them had special attacks to hit the rope binding her ankles, or at least ones that wouldn't burn the whole forest down.
"Oh my gods. Oh gods. What do we do," Jesse huffed, his breathing out of control and ears pinned right back.
"Just relax for now! We'll find a way to get her down, with Mr. Razor Leaf or not," Nemue replied gently, staring up at the dangling trainer caught in the rabbit snare.
"I'm not sure what you guys are saying, but the blood's going right to my head and it's not feeling too good right now," she groaned, trying not to retch.
Ferdi stopped preening, finally, and flapped up to the closest branch within range and fired off a Razor Leaf. It bounced off the rope with a twang, and at once all their jaws collectively dropped.
"What kind of fucking rope can withstand that?!" Akoi yelled, tossing his bone to the ground in frustration. "Ugh, what do we do now?"
"Just… keep calm! Don't panic, anyone!" Nem cried out in an effort to stop anyone from cracking, but it was too late. Ferdi moved from trembling to flat out earthquake-scale shaking, almost falling back off his tree and onto the floor.
A black shape shot between a few trees, until something alighted on a branch a few yards away from where the Pokémon had gathered and smirked mischievously.
"Hey, how's it hanging?" someone drawled in the most obnoxious accent any of them had ever heard. "Quite literally, it seems, eh bud?"
Jesse whipped around before the others and drew back his lips in a snarl.
"Where the fuck did you come from? I haven't seen Murkrow around here before," he replied without breaking eye contact.
"…Me neither… and I'm from these parts. Have you, Aki?" Nemue asked, tilting her head to the side.
"No, I haven't. You must be a trainer's Pokémon, then… where are they? Your trainer? You've got to have one!" he blurted, grabbing his bone and lifting it back up threateningly. Ferdi was still on the floor in shock.
"Me? Trainer? Nah, you got the wrong bird, bud. Would any Trainermon you've ever seen… look like this?" He lifted his left wing and almost half the feathers were torn, some missing altogether.
"Damn… well, if you can't help us, do us a favour and get lost? Our trainer needs help fast and you're not really contributing to the cause," the Marowak replied with a grumble.
Before the bird could fit in a reply, though, something bigger and definitely not a Pokémon blundered through the bushes, eventually shoving aside a branch or two and stepping boldly into the clearing. Makani could only see them from upside down, but she could already tell that this… child, apparently, was in pretty rough shape. Her dark hair was messy but short, and a lone twig poked out of one side that she hadn't appeared to have noticed yet; the dappled light from the canopy fell on dark and dusty skin. With a laughing croak the Murkrow took off lopsidedly, winging its way across the copse towards the girl who held out her arm for it to land. With her other, she shoved a few leafy plants into a shoulder bag, and Makani knew immediately what it was.
"Oooh, Revival Herbs!" she said aloud before she couldn't hold it in anymore and promptly threw up onto the ground below. The strange child winced before nudging the bird; he promptly flapped away and started to fiddle with the snare's knot.
"So who are you and what are you doing in this wood?" she demanded, right as Murkrow finished untying the rope and letting Makani plummet towards her own mess. Nemue skidded onto the scene, knocking her away in the nick of time, and almost immediately Jesse and Ferdi were on top of her ensuring she was alright.
"Thanks, I guess," Akoi mumbled, tossing his club.
"Eh, no problem, bud," the shady bird chuckled momentarily. "Not often we get visitors, mm?"
"Shut it, Murkrow. God, don't tell me you're another trial-goer?" she huffed. "This isn't part of your dumb trial. Get lost and go back where you came from."
Makani stood up and brushed herself off, snorting out the last of the vomit and wiping it away with a tissue. "Alright, I'm sorry, but I only came here for Revival Herbs. I couldn't find them anywhere else, and thought this was still part of the trial. I'll go now… I guess…"
Right as she turned to leave, headed back where she had come from, when a small bound package hit her in the back. Bending down to pick up whatever it was, it was a few Revival Herbs wrapped in paper and string. The girl had vanished into the wood without a trace remaining.
Frowning in confusion, Makani started back towards the trial, slipping the herbs into the forage bag with the other ingredients she'd been sent to fetch. She was still wondering about the girl in the forest and what was going on. Sure, her empath abilities were slightly skewed upside down, and she wasn't quite sure what the deal was with that kid. They couldn't be much older than 7, surely? And that Murkrow was aggravating her team quite a bit, it appeared.
"Ugh. I never want to have to go through that again," Jesse sighed shakily, pinning back his ears and turning to Nemue. "That was terrifying."
"Yeah, me neither… gods, keeping Ferdi and you calm is what I don't want to have to repeat." The Mudbray continued to stumble over roots and branches as she went, blundering into a tree a few times.
"At least we won't ever have to see them again. There's no way I'm coming back to this forest, nuh uh," Akoi grumbled, still dragging his club. "I don't want to have anything to do with this place, never again, I swear…"