Meeting the Makimur
"So, what do we do now, oh great queen of the mankeys?" Kameron chortled as we pushed our way through the thick vines.
I scowled at him. "I think it would be a fine idea if we tracked down Reximur and the rest, and actually studied them," I replied, trying to keep the annoyance from my voice.
He laughed at my expression. "I'm sure you'll laugh about this later."
"Ponyta," his stead whinnied and suddenly stopped. Its flaming mane and tail were causing the bushes in the vicinity to sizzle and some of the leaves crinkled. That was the problem with fire pokemon in forested areas.
"Makiki makikimur!" Something chattered, dropping down onto the branch in front of us. It was another Makimur.
"Maki, maki makiki murmur kimur!" Maki stated. The newcomer was slightly larger than he, with more silver in its blue mane and luminescent gold eyes.
"Makiki!" They seemed to be arguing. I think the Makimur was trying to stop us continuing further.
"Maki, let me explain!" I tried to grab Maki, but he leaped easily from my grasp and perched on a tree branch out of my reach. I stared at the new Makimur. "I have come here to study your kin, not to hurt them. It is my aim to learn how you survive, how you behave and the relationship you have with the Mankey and Primape."
The Makimur quirked its head at me. "Kimur!" It shouted and suddenly bounded away.
"What was that about?" Kameron asked.
"I don't think it likes us much, probably because I am queen of their enemy."
"But they came to help you? Why would they disagree with you now?"
"Maki kiki makimur murmur kimur," Maki said, dropping down from above. ("They do not trust you.")
You will notice that while I cannot understand other people's Pokemon, I have been around Maki so long, I understand him well enough. It's not what they say, it's the way they say it. "But they came to help me?" I couldn't fathom it myself, but at the moment the Makimur came back, this time with company.
Its companion was almost three times the size of Makimur, with a longer cape/mane and shorter tail. It clung to the branch and looked at me.
"You want learn about us?" It said in passable english, causing both Kameron and I to gape in amazement.
"You can talk!" Kameron stuttered.
"Of course can talk, I study with human tribe, they teach. You want to study us, yes?"
"Yes," I said urgently, "I've been sent out here to learn about your behaviour."
"We no want be study, we know want be learned about. We want be left alone by trainers."
"What?"
The giant Lemur Pokemon sighed. "If outside world learn about us, then outside world come find us, catch us, put us in little ball and fight. We had problem with tribe, but mankey, primape and us, we beat them, make them leave alone us. If you take word of us away, people then want catch us. We no want be trained."
I glanced at Kameron. He shrugged helplessly.
"It is a noted fact that Makimurs are very hard to train," I said.
"MakikiKI!" ("I resent that!") came from the tree above me.
I ignored him. "Because they are so inquisitive and curious, that most trainers cannot teach them anything."
"MakiKI!" ("I learn lots!")
"We teach self," the giant Lemur replied. "It be the way. We no need human to teach us fight, we fight good."
"Yes," I said, "but word has been passed around about your people, you are known of. Therefore, it would be better for you if I studied you and spread the word that you could not be trained at all, then nobody would bother."
"Except humans who want prove themselves." It pondered. "And if they fail, they lose Pokemon."
"And then other know we no trainable. Not bad idea. We think about it. But what we get out of it?"
This was a hairy question. I doubted they would be too keen on the answer "you would be known about the world over", and "it would help the humans realise your plight" was inaccurate because the jungle was not an any risk of being chopped down, yet. But there was one thing…
"We could solve your problems with the Mankeys and Primapes," Kameron butted in.
The giant Lemur Pokemon laughed. "Oh, good say, they no like you as Queen cos you want peace, yet offer help solving it. This be interesting to see. I go ask Reximur." It turned and leapt back through the branches, its weight making them dip and bob in an almos disturbing fashion.
The Makimur crouched on the branch and watched us. I don't think it trusted us much at all, and was not going to let us past without a fight. I glanced at Kameron.
"Well, we have a problem to solve, the Mankeys and Primapes like fighting, so won't stop for a peaceful solution and the Makimur, Reximur and whatever the other one calls itself, do not want to fight. What are we to do? Planned war?"
"You said you had an idea before," Kameron pointed out, "what was that?"
I shrugged. "That the Mankey and the Primape could have small fights amongst themselves, silly isn't it?"
Kameron pondered a moment. "Not really, humans quite like fighting too, but fighting nowadays is so dangerous, what do they do instead to vent their competitive instincts?"
"Fight Pokemon?" I asked.
"Yes," he said, his voice showing that wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for.
"Makimaki!" Maki shrieked. ("I know, I know!")
"We can't get them fighting with Pokemon," I said, "that's just too weird to mention."
"Then how about somewhere between your original idea and the Primape's idea? Sport!"
"Sport?!"
Kameron sighed. "Man, are you a bit dim today. What better way for them to vent their anger without harming each other than by getting them to play competitive games."
"There's one problem with that idea though," I interjected. "What happens if one group thinks they've won and the other group insists they've won? A fight will break out and it will be worse than before."
"Now you're thinking, girl," Kameron said, grinning slyly and patting me on the shoulder. He had long since dismounted from the Ponyta, which was grazing listly on moss and tree bark. "They need some sort of referee and rules."
"But if the referee is a Primape, than they will want the Primapes to win… Unless," I stared at Kameron, "unless the referee is human, it's not as if they don't have human captives!"
"Yeah," Kameron said gleefully, raising his upraised palm for me to slap in a high five. "Did you hear that, little makimur?" He asked.
"Makiki mur!" It replied, sounding excited and a little delighted. "Makikimur." It then sprang from the branch and disappeared into the trees.
"I think it liked the idea," Kameron chuckled.
"Well, it is a good idea, and it took both of us to come up with it."
"We may a good team." Kameron added.
"Yeah," I agreed, "the best."
"Maki MURR!" ("Yeah, right on!").
A short while later and we were sitting beside what appeared to have once been a fountain. What is was doing here was anyone's guess, but it still appeared to be working. Marrill immediately jumped from Kameron's pocket and played in the water, shrieking "marrill!" delightedly. After seeing her pleasure, I released Razor, Ozmos, Florion and Snuggles. Razor dived into the fountain and started chasing Marrill, trying to bowl her under with his long snout. Vaporeon groomed herself and looked around for something to eat. Florion, on the other hand, took one look at his hungry -eon friend and immediately clambered up a tree with almost as much ease as the makimur.
"I didn't know he could do that?" Kameron said.
"I guess there's a lot we don't know about them."
We were surrounded by Makimurs, and their evolution, which seemed to be called Maximur. Reximur and the Primape King were seated in a tree a distance away, having a heated argument with each other whilst one of the Primape's captives mediated. They were discussing the rules for this "game" and the penalties for breaking them. I was seated on a tree stump that had been carved by the wind and rain into an uncomfortable armchair. In my hand was my notebook, making furious notes and the occasional sketches. Kameron, on the other hand, had his hands, or rather his pockets, full. Three young Makimurs had crammed themselves into each of his trench coat pockets, whilst another one was trying to groom his hair and half a dozen were trying to sort out what our backpacks contained. Once again, Razor was carrying a young Makimur on his back and executing little leaps in the air, fanning his fins to keep balance whilst the youngster hung on for dear life.
I had already learnt a great deal about the –imurs. It appeared that the females were in charge, something I whole-heartedly approved of, Reximur it appeared, was actually a female, not a male as I had previously suspected. She ruled the troop, more or less, with the Maximurs being next in the hierachy, followed by the older Makimurs, then the younger. The Maximurs, particularly the female ones, got the selection of food and places to sit or sleep.
It was the young Makimurs that fascinated me the most though. They played for hours, throwing clods of earth at each other, teasing my Pokemon, wrestling and leaping around in the trees as though their legs were actually made of springs. It was now easy for me to see why they were so hard to train. Maki had apparently not been very young when he was brought in, for these were like Maki on sugar. Maki had got on a sugar high shortly after I'd got him, when we were eating out in a cafeteria, he had decided to sample the sugar bowl. I hadn't noticed until he was leaping from table to table and sampling everyone's food. This was a little like that. That occasion had been hideously embarrasing, and I had come very close to sending Maki back to Professor Oak.
Suddenly Florion came leaping down the tree branch, crying in alarm. "Flori, flori!"
A huge, brown bird swooped down after him. "Fear oooow!" It screeched, its claws sending him flying, where he tumbled to the ground and did not move.
"Vapor!" Ozmos cried in alarm, running to his side, nuzzling him with her cold nose.
And then, swinging past on a vine, came a silver-haired man.
And swinging back the other way came an astonishingly attractive woman, her rainbow-coloured hair flying behind her like a trail.
"To protect the world from Temptation"
"To unite all people in humiliation!"
"To denounce the evils of mischief and love!"
"To extend our reach to the world's above!"
"Loki!"
"Freyja!"
"Get them guys!" I shouted.
"Hey," Loki pouted, "you're supposed to let us finish."
"Marril, water gun!"
"Ozmos, Razor, same thing!"
"Fearowww!" Fearow swooped around, a blast of wind from its wings sending Ozmos tumbling over in the dirt.
"Sea draaaa!" Seadra didn't water gun, he hydro pumped, the blast from his snout dousing the Fearow in seconds. It crashed to the ground, Makimurs fleeing in its wake.
"Look at all these pretty, rare Pokemon," Freyja said cheerfully from where she now stood atop a branch. "I think the new boss would dearly love these for his collection." She smiled slyly and brought out a Pokeball.
"New boss?" I asked. But I was not to be answered.
"Go Jynx, seduction dance!"
"Jynx."
An almost attractive Jynx materialised in the clearing, and started swaying and dancing. I could see many of the male Makimurs and Maximurs becoming entranced by her fluid movements, and one by one, they moved to surround her, dancing in whatever way they could.
"I didn't know there was such a thing as a seduction dance," I said to Kameron, but it was too late, for he was also joining in the dance. I glanced around me, all the male Pokemon had been entranced, leaving me with a few Makimurs, the females that weren't our foraging, and about two dozen Makimurs, Ozmos and Marrill.
"Loki, drop the net," Freyja commanded. "Loki? Loki!"
Loki stood on his branch, mouth gaping, body moving vaguely the same as the Jynx. He was lucky he had not yet fallen out of the tree.
"Must I do everything myself?" Freyja sighed, pulling a net gun from somewhere it could not possible have been before hand. It was part of the magic of cartoon.
I drew my eyes away from the dancing Jynx. "Fetch Reximur, one of you!" I shouted at the remaining Makimurs, which scattered off into the trees. "Ozmos, Marrill, this is up to us! Ozmos, mist attack now!"
Ozmos still crouched near Florion, who was still unconscious, I hadn't scooped him up in all the flurry. She stood on her hind legs and exhaled sharply, thick cloud erupting from her mouth and hanging in the air.
"Oh haha," Freyja gloated, "have I got a surprise for you! Go Kadabra!"
"Kadabra!" It hissed menacingly, materialising on the floor and waving its spoon menacingly. It was hard to see through the increasing cloud, but I didn't think it was the Kadabra I had dropped out the window. Her Abra must have evolved. And I was pretty sure she hadn't had Jynx before.
"Confusion attack, now!"
I never knew what to do against psychic Pokemon, especially Kadabras. Some of the Maximurs were trying to drag the males away from the Jynx, who kept on dancing. Unfortunately, the cloud stopped her "attack" from reaching Kadabra, who was almost certainly male. It waved its spoon and sent Ozmos chasing her tail in the dirt, completely bewildered.
"Marrill, watergun, now!" I wished I knew more of Marrill's attacks, but this was all I had, not very effective against a psychic Pokemon. Except that this time it actually sent Kadabra wheeling back. It was then I realised something, this Kadabra was not as strong as Loki's one.
Suddenly, Jynx shrieked, "jynx!" and stopped dancing, causing the males close to her to drop from mental and physical exhaustion. She reached down and lifted something up. It was Snuggles. The normally cowardly Buru had bitten her! Now was the chance we needed.
"Get them, boys!" I shouted. The air was filled with thick cloud. Something barrelled into my stomach, knocking me over, it was Snuggles, he had been thrown at me and looked almost stunned. Jynx must have kissed him. She then resumed her dancing, and re-entranced all of the males.
I recalled Snuggles, congratulating him. It was the bravest thing he had ever done. Kadabra had teleported whilst I was distracted and knocked Marrill out, by hitting her with his spoon. It stared at me.
"Kadabraa!" It hissed, its voice deep with menace and with obvious ill intent in mind.
"Reximurrr!" Suddenly the leader of the Lemur Pokemon marched into the clearing. She stared at Kadabra, golden eyes glowing, flickering.
"Kadabra, confusion attack!" Freyja's voice was hoarse.
"Rexi!" Reximur bellowed, and suddenly two Maximurs leapt up on either side of Freyja, grabbing her arms and dragging her away, kicking and screaming, through the tree-tops.
"Kadabraaa!" It waved its spoon, sending a beam of psychic light directly at Reximur.
Reximur waved her hands in front of her, and, like had happened with the Mankeys, the ray rebounded off an invisible wall, straight back at Kadabra.
"Braa!" Kadabra squealed and tried to teleport away, but its concentration was disturbed by another Maximur landing on its back, sending it tumbling into the dirt.
"Reximur!" A beam of light came from both of Reximur's hands and enclosed the Kadabra in a glowing cocoon. Another beam finally knocked out the Jynx, and freed all the captive males. Kameron collapsed in the dirt and Loki tumbled backwards from the tree, to be caught and carried off by Maximurs.
"Who they?" The talking Maximur asked, wandering over.
"They're Team Rocket, they steal rare Pokemon," I informed it, then realised my error.
"They come, to steal us? You led them here? You go now, not lead thief to our home."
Reximur's eyes flashed. "Rex!" She said, pointing away from the clearing.
"Go, not come back," Maximur translated, probably adding some garnishing of its own. "You help solve our problem, but bring new one. Must leave now!"
"What about Team Rocket?" I asked.
"Rexi reximur rexi ximur!" Reximur stated.
"They be let go in dark part of forest, they get out, long time pass. We no hurt them, even though they try hurt us. We no like that. Now, collect your Pokeslaves and go!"
Simultaneously, both Reximur and the talking Maximur waved their hands at us, pushing us away. I had already recalled most of my Pokemon, now I recalled the others. I was most worried about Florion. When I had gone over to check on him, Vaporeon was nudging him sadly and whimpering. He was not dead, but I did not know how long he would live. We would have no choice but to return to the Primape temple.
"Makiki?" Maki jumped on my shoulder. ("Leaving so soon?")
"We have to," I told him, "they don't want us here. You don't want to stay do you?"
"MakiMAKI!" He shrieked, shaking his head furiously. ("What a stupid question!") "Makimurr mur murmur," he motioned to a smaller, paler Makimur that had followed him to the edge of Reximur's territory.
"You have to say goodbye to your friend?" I ventured a guess, I still could not understand him perfectly.
He looked at me as if I were stupid. "Maki murr murr," he said very slowly. Suddenly it clicked.
"You want to bring her with you?" I asked, hazarding a guess about the Makimur's gender, for she was smaller and more submissive than most of the Makimur females I had seen.
"Maki!" He nodded.
I looked at her. "Well, the more the merrier, I guess, come on girl, I've got another spare shoulder for you."
"Maki," they both said happily, simultaneously.
As we left, it was with great sadness and some joy, for our new companion. Also many questions. Where had Freyja got her Jynx from? How had they found us here? Who was this "new boss"? Why had Loki not demanded I return his Kadabra? Had he found it? I guessed it would be some time before these questions were answered. I was wrong.