Disclaimer: All species and things that are found in the show and games are © Nintendo. This is not meant to infringe on anything, and I give credit where it is due. All characters and original concepts © Michiko.
A/N: What, did you expect something momentous to happen? And in case you wondering, Bagons is the equivalent of Lemmings.
Words: 3620
Pages: 13
Total Words: 6256
Total Pages: 21
In-jokes in this chapter:
2: What did you expect?
"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. "
-- Jean de La Fontaine
Annie never remembered falling asleep, only waking up to the constant chatter of the birds, talking and spreading news, gossip and just chatting, and, more importantly, the insistent prod of Nasa's head against her back.
"Go away," she mumbled, giving the tent an answering thump.
-Up! Day is come, Annie - the sun is up and you should be too! Now come out!-
There was no arguing with her. "Lemme get dressed first, at least."
Annie lay there for a while longer, trying to convince her stiff body that it was time to move and failing. The longer she debated the more likely she was to never get up, she realized, and with a groan struggled to sit up. Gravity from the slope and her own inertia worked against her, making the simple act suddenly very difficult.
Nasa poked her again, and she groaned. "I'm working on it!"
-Work faster, then! Or would you rather no berries at breakfast?-
"Berries?" The fog in Annie's mind had yet to clear, and she only halfway processed Nasa's words. "What berries?"
-Just get out here,- Nasa sighed, sounding exasperated.
Annie sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawning. She pulled off her shirt and changed it for a clean one, continuing to undress and redress in a half-crouching, half-sitting position. Outside Nasa paced impatiently, and darted a little ways away when the tent flap finally opened and Annie blearily stumbled out.
"Alright, what berries?"
- - -
-Is the fire really necessary?- Nasa asked, poking at the edge of the circle of stones that Annie had made the day before.
"Don't do that. And I worked hard on this!" Annie protested, oddly protective of her little fire. Nasa watched her try to revitalize it with no success. "Well, it's still warm... that's a start, right?"
-I think it's amazing you were able to get a fire at all yesterday.-
"Shut up!" the girl yelled, blowing at what she hoped was a still-lit coal and getting a face full of ashes. "Akpth!"
-You just scooped ashes over it, didn't you.-
"Isn't that how you do it?" Annie asked, trying still to find some spark of life from the ashes and failing. She picked up a stick and began poking at it hopefully.
Nasa's ears twitched in a shrug. -Beats me. I never bothered with fire.-
"Of course you didn't..."
The nidorina whirled. -And what do you mean by that?-
"Nothing," Annie said hurriedly, still poking at the ashes with her stick. " Great. It really did die on me. Crap."
-You humans are so odd,- Nasa observed. -All of your curses involve bodily functions. And you want to start a forest fire?-
"No, and that's not true. There's damn," Annie protested. "It's true!" she added at Nasa's derisive snort, though she wasn't sure which one the nidorina was challenging. Couldn't be the swear word one... she'd proved that one, right?
-All right, then. Most,- Nasa conceded, pointedly aiming the conversation. -Bar one, the four-letter ones are bodily functions. What's so bad about feces and mating?-
"Nevermind."
-Odd creatures indeed,- the nidorina repeated, scratching herself with a clawed hind foot.
"Look, are you gonna help or what?"
-I did,- Nasa pointed out. -I found berries. You can't say I did nothing. And you're the one who cares about most of what you do. I think that berries are fine and that making fire will not enhance the eating experience.-
"I did the tent, too," the human pointed out. "You did nilch for that."
-Bah.- Nasa flicked her ear a a fly. -Geegaws and twingle. Twolegger makings. You can mess with it all you want, but I claim no part. What's wrong with a nice, good rock? Maybe some moss--
Annie took the bait. "You always steal my pillow back at the Institute!"
They returned to the old, familiar argument with relish. By now it had borne so many repetitions that it was as if both Nasa and Annie were reciting a scripted banter, but it had lost none of the fun of playing it out. The great Inside VS Outside debate raged on as the two ate, Annie returning now and then to her attempts of resurrecting the fire. She finally gave up, not wanting to waste more matches than she already had, and put the depleted box away.
-I just had a thought,- Nasa said, rising to her feet. -Why not ask around? Y'know, see if anyone's seen a spearow with a black beak.-
"Now that's a thought," Annie replied thoughtfully. "It just might work... but you might get more help if I wasn't around."
Nasa made a few demurring noises, but couldn't really argue with Annie's statement. -But what about you?-
"I'll stay here. I doubt anyone's going to just walk up and pick fights - that's not usually how normal people behave, is it?"
Nasa shook her head. -No, but remember the Cursed Ones, changed by Cybele knows what and stripped of speech. They would. And they have,- she added after a pause. -Need I remind you of the Kanto incident? Of Johto? You remember Johto. I remember Johto,- Nasa finished with a delicate little shiver.
"I come from Johto," Annie reminded her softly. "And I do remember. Came as quite a shock when I could understand you guys."
Nasa laughed. -That's the pokedex's fault, chis, not mine. Are you certain you'll be alright?-
"I'll be fine. Just be sure to be back for lunch, m'kay?"
Nasa nodded, then bounded off into the forest. She stopped to talk to something, then continued on. Annie finally quit watching her and turned to her dex, playing the sound one more time before switching to the games menu.
Pixellated bagons strode across the screen confidently, and Annie set one to being a roadblock. She had never met a bagon personally, but somehow she doubted they were as suicidal and single-minded as the game portrayed them. Still, Bagons was an addictive game, and Annie soon had settled down on the ground, leaning against a tree and working out the level as she had so many times before.
- - -
Nasa sighed deeply, continuing on. So far, her quest had met with little success - more frustration than anything else. Even to herself she sounded dumb: 'Excuse me, but have you seen a black-beaked spearow lately?' How was one supposed to ask such things anyway? Why had she even come up with the idea? It wouldn't hurt for them to be a little more helpful, either, she added ruefully, glancing back the way she had come with a disdainful glare.
She was careful to keep track of where she was and to map everything out in her mind. That rock became a landmark, or the clawmarks she scratched on this tree. She had moved to the side to mark another tree when she saw him.
He was ancient, his once yellowish-tan fur tinted with a dull grey. His whiskers were tattered, and the trademark tuft of hair that was often mistaken for a mustache was scraggly and hung limp. He sat against a tree, hunched over slightly, rocking back and forth, clutching two spoons in his hands and twisting them into varying shapes with his mind. The alakazam's eyes, when he lifted his head and met Nasa's gaze unblinkingly, were unchanged - as cunning and unfathomable as they had been in his youth, and filled with an ancient impassive wisdom.
Nasa did not know what it was about him that drew her. Captivated by those black, bottomless eyes, she walked slowly over, her eyes never leaving his.
He cackled gleefully when she had come. -Nyee hee hee hee! Come then, ask me about spearows. Maybe I'll even answer. -
His mindvoice sounded strained and easy at the same time, halfway between an old man's and a young child's and neither at the same time. He seemed impassive, out to please no one but himself, laughing at the universe as it continued on.
-But you already know, don't you, Elder? What's the point of asking, then?-
-Nyee hee hee hee hee! Do I? What do I know? Nyee hee hee! What do you know? What does anything know? - He laughed again, his eyes glinting with silent merriment. Right then and there Nasa decided that she did not like him.
-Very well, then. Have you seen a black-beaked spearow?- the nidorina asked slowly, forcing herself to be patient. The alakazam cackled.
-And what does it matter, what I have seen? You wouldn't know. I will tell you, if you listen. I will tell you all that matters. -
Never mind, then, Nasa thought, backing away a little. -If it's all the same to you, then, I must get going--
-BE STILL!- The psionic blast that accompanied the order made Nasa's head jerk back in recoil. She obeyed despite herself, sitting down hastily. -All right, then, I'm listening…- Great. Just great. Wonder what's got him bent?
The alakazam's eyes still gleamed dangerously as his spoons jerked upright, for once his full attention resting upon the smaller figure of the nidorina in front of him. -That will have to do, - he said at last, looking annoyed. -I cannot say it is much of an improvement, though. All your kind thinks to is violence and food and all the basic primal instincts. Always thinking of yourself, you are. Aren't we all, though? People like you, and I suppose I, and this new species, called humans. You must understand, though, that they are not from the world we are, here. They come from somewhere else, long ago. They depend on us to survive. -
This concept seemed to strike him as very funny, and he curled up in uncontrollable laughter, cackling silently. It seemed that he had long ago lost the ability to vocalize anything, not even the few sounds that his species could make.
Someone's been at the wrong berries... What is he babbling about, anyway? Nasa's ears drooped as he lectured on, and she watched him in growing impatience. He seemed to her to be the most absent-minded (or insane) one she had talked to yet, and the random changes in subject were beginning to rear her patience thin. -Spearows! Tell me of the spearows, please! Do you know?-
-You're not listening! - he said, one eye fixing upon her accusatorily. -Ah, but what did I expect from you? You're just like all the rest of them, blind, blind… nyee hee hee! Who does see, anyway? What exists but existence? Nothing! Nyee hee hee! Nothing! I tell you, nothing! It will all end as before, and there will be nothing but nothing left! Nyee hee hee hee hee! - He paused, suddenly serious, watching her with a single ebon eye. -The storm will come again. It has before. Wash away all that was and pave the way for what will never be, or what will. The Tempest will come again. And your spearows will be gone, insignificant trivialities in the continuum of space/time. Don't ask! - he warned when it looked as if the nidorina was about to broach the subject again. The hopeful look in her eyes dimmed. -Yes, I have seen one or two. There is a nest not far from here. But what does it matter, when all is come? When a hand may be lent to lean the Tempest's path? -
Nasa blinked. -Lean the tempest- what?- Now he just wasn't making sense at all ... Go! You can get directions somewhere else! she told herself, but Nasa's curiosity kept her rooted to the spot.
-To break the Storm's arrival, - he replied impatiently, as if Nasa was being incredibly dense. -Pointless, of course, but it can and has been done. But what use is it, prolonging the paradox? Life is chaos and order, order in chaos, chaos in order, life in death, all the pointless symbolism that minds insist on having. Darkness is not evil, nor is light good. They are what they are, nothing more. Do not try to add meaning to what is what it is, and listen, listen, truly listen for once for the things you'll never understand. You will, then, once you listen. That is the lesson you must learn, the Stormbreaker's creed. Listen. See what is there, not what you put there. For all your phantom theories, you are blind unless you see what is really there. Can you create something without knowing what it is you want? Can you piece together something that is not there? (Nyeee hee hee hee hee!) Exactly! You cannot! -
-Um… well, thanks for your help, I think,- Nasa said, rising. -I'll go see if I can't find the nest…-
-As impatient as any young kit, the alakazam sighed, almost sadly, as if he pitied her greatly. -Go where you will, you will anyways, but my advise to you- -
-To listen and see what's really there?- Nasa interrupted, thoroughly fed up with his psychological babble by now and eager to get away.
-NO! - he cried, shaking a spoon at her as she winced. -My advice to you, my impertinent friend, is to seek out spoons - but not MY spoons! - and guard them. - He nodded sagely as if his words bore utmost importance.
She left him cackling to himself, thoroughly annoyed and worked up. She didn't know what it was about the old creature that irritated her so - perhaps it was his wheezing thought-laugh, or his seeming insanity. She couldn't make heads or tales of what he was talking about, and the sheer randomness of the conversation had confused her and irritated her all the more. She left at a trot in case he would think of some other thing he had to tell her and call her back.
Some things were more trouble then they were worth.
- - -
Time escaped her, as usual, and it was only when she was reminded by her stomach that Annie realized just how late it was. She checked the time: 1:39. "Eek! Sorry, Nasa, I completely lost track of-"
She stopped. She was speaking to air.
"Nasa?" she asked, standing up and stretching. "Nasa? Nasa, where are you?"
That's odd, she thought. Nasa's usually pretty punctual... why hasn't she returned? "Nasa!" she called, waiting for a reply. "Nasa, this isn't funny, you know! Where are you? Nasa!"
A strange voice called to her, and a chill went up Annie's spine. She whipped out the dex, listening for it again. Could it be...?
-If you're wondering, yes, I found one,- Nasa said hotly, striding off to sulk somewhere. -Probably not worth all the time I put in, though. I had to endure a twenty-day lecture by some mind-lost alakazam saying the world was going to end or something like that to find fçurieés Higher Than Thou.-
"You found one?" Annie asked excitedly, seeming not to hear the rest of what Nasa said.
-Yeah, and good luck with him. He's a piece all his own,- she replied earnestly as a fearow fluttered down to land on the tent's crossbar, looking faintly resentful and at the same time resgned.
The avian's tan feathers were tipped with a dark grey, and his long beak looked as if it had been dipped in black ink. What would have been a comb on the most common subspecies was a bony ridge topped by an elaborate crest of russet feathers that faded dramatically to black starting just a little ways away from the forehead and moving to the base of his head. His eyes were black beads that followed Annie's every movement, and when he spoke, it was with an odd monosyllabic drag and a lilt on the end of his sentences. -Am I understanding correctly that this is a social call only? I am not overly fond of humans as the case rests, and I'm not going to give you any chance of catching me, so don't even think about it.-
"I wouldn't dream of it!" Annie replied honestly. "It's just that we thought your species was extinct-"
-Just because you do not see one of us for a while does not mean we vanish,- the fearow cawed. -Do humans really give up hope that easily? Very well, then, if I've provided ample proof of my existence, I'll be going--
"Wait, please!" Annie called, but the fearow made ready to launch off the tent and make his way back where he had come. "Come on," Annie yelled after him. " Won't you stay just a little while? I don't bite!"
He leaped off the tent, allowing the drop to give him lift. Annie stepped in his way, and darted to intercept him as he wheeled to he left. -What?- he snapped as he backwinged, neatly staying in one spot by fanning his wings both forwards and backwards at every stroke.
"Can't I just collect a little data, for research? Please? I came a long ways to find a black-beaked spearow/fearow strain, and now that I've finally found you you won't even give me the time of day?"
-Two sunshadows past nif-fraa,- he replied tartly. -There. That's the time.-
"You can't be that rude," she insisted. "Don't all creatures at least have some courtesy? Come on, at least hear me out!"
-You're harder to be rid of than a hatchling flier,- he complained, returning to his previous spot. He settled his wings meticulously, making a show of ensuing that not a feather-strand was misaligned.
Annie sighed. "I understand it's not the thing you'd most want to do, and I appreciate that highly..." He's so aggressive, she thought with a mental grimace. I hope they're not all like that... well, at least he hasn't attacked me. That's something, right?
-You. You you you. No. Sorry, but no,- the fearow interrupted. -What's this about, you?-
"No!" Annie cried, starting to become truly annoyed. "Five minutes here, alright? I'm doing a study-"
-Fantastic!- the fearow exclaimed in mock-jubilance, puffing himself up for effect. -Wonderful! I'm so glad for you that I really couldn't care!- He settled back down, his beady eyes fixed upon Annie. -I'm not even sure why I'm still here. Waste of my time. I've got things to do.-
"And you're not wasting mine? And I don't? Oh, please!" The girl looked at him beseechingly, her tone changing from annoyed to persuasive. "You have no idea how grateful so many people will be... if I could just find out about your life, if you'd tell me whatever you're willing to - I don't care what it is - and let me tape it... "
-One condition, then,- he said abruptly, startling her into silence. It took a little while to register just what he had said, her eyes suddenly lighting up. "Really? You'll do it?"
-One condition,- he cawed again, and Annie nodded. At this point, she'd do practically anything she could. She couldn't believe her good fortune - though admittedly he did start to grate on her nerves, he was what she had been sent to find. She had been under the impression that it could take weeks to find anything, if indeed she did find something.
"Name it. I'll see what I can do..."
-Don't bother me again.-
"Can do."
- - -
"Well, that sure was productive," Annie sighed, rubbing her temples with her first two fingers. Nasa grunted something noncommittal, not stirring from the sunny spot she'd found to nap in. "Nightfix, was it?" the girl continued on, more to herself than to anyone else. What kind of name is that? "Well, at least I've got some things... though he could have been a lot more helpful.
-We could have just gone about it the usual way and just watched them...-
"Yeah, but that's a little like spying, isn't it? It seems that it's at least the right thing to do to just go and ask instead of just sneaking around in the dark..."
-And we all know how well that went,- Nasa said sulkily, her back still to Annie as she lay curled.
Is she mad at me? "But it was YOUR idea, wasn't it?"
Nasa didn't reply. Typical...
A ringing sound interrupted her thoughts. "Ah! Hello?" she asked, flipping open her 'dex.
The screen flicked, and the image of a man in his mid-thirties appeared. "Hey, Annie," Brian said with a nod. "I called as soon as I got your message. What's going on?"
"I found them. Well, one, actually," she corrected, glancing down for a moment. "He wasn't very cooperative, but I did get this much, and I'm sending you the clip of the interview, okay?"
"Interview? Annie, what did you do, just go up and ask him stuff?"
"Um... yeah, pretty much," Annie admitted. "It... sorta worked... that counts, right?"
"Well... at least you found out what you set out to do. I'm actually pretty impressed you found one..." He laughed. "Maybe sometimes it's the unorthodox method that works. Just be careful in the future, alright? He could have attacked or the gods know what else. I don't suppose he was very happy to see you, was it?"
"Not really. Anyways, I'll be heading back now, I guess..."
She broke the connection.
"Well, that was..."
-Anticlimactic?- Nasa supplied, and Annie grinned. "I was kinda expecting more from our first adventure... you know, like some ancient legend or a great quest or something. I dunno. It's stupid."
Such is the Stormbreakers' creed... -Eh,- Nasa replied, curled up. Seedless prattle, probably. -Suppose we should go home now?-
"Yeah... besides, I want a bath."
