Sojaveña Wilds Brisa's Cabin

[Jackie Cat]

Some folks live clustered close together, for safety. But not all.

The rough scrubland east of Frontier Town stretched out into the distance, uninhabited for the most part. Just the occasional wagon or traveller on foot, trudging along the dusty highway. But a few miles past the edge of town, a hilly, broken stretch of land bore a single hand-built structure. It was a wooden cabin built on a stony knoll, overlooking the other side of the elevated land, and large enough for a small family to have plenty of space among themselves. Its walls were well-weathered, and outgrowths of weeds obscured the mossy pathway up to the front door. One might assume it had been abandoned for quite some time.

From here, you could see Frontier Town to the west, framed by purple-shadowed mountains, or the Silver Ravine to the north, through which the river of the same name flowed, or a vast stretch of near-barren land out east. Before the climate changed, this place was called Desert Knot. The climate hadn't changed that much.

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[windskull]

Nip let out a loud yip as he hit the ground, the breath driven out of him as he tumbled to a stop. He lay there for a moment, dazed, before pushing himself to his feet, ignoring his body's aching protests.

As he started to take in his surroundings (an overgrown path, an old rundown building similar to those he'd seen in Theran Village, a sloping hill leading towards a wide s stretch of scraggly shrubs), he noticed how warm he felt with the sun beating down overhead. Instinctually, he tried to flash freeze the air around him hoping to accumulate ice on his fur as a means of cooling.

But nothing happened.

He tried again. But again, nothing happened.

He let out a growl, flexing his claws, only to freeze and stare at them. Once white, now they were stained deep purple and seemed to excrete a thin, filmy substance. Narrowing his eyes, he flexed them again, turning his attention to his fur. A darker patch decorated his chest, but he otherwise looked the same. He was still a Sneasel. Still himself, but something had changed.

And he didn't like it one bit.

With a frustrated hiss, he turned his attention back to his surroundings. As far as he could tell at the moment, he was alone. Weren't they all supposed to land together? He walked back to the top of the knoll, scanning the surroundings for any signs of movement. Then he sniffed the air in hopes of picking up a familiar scent. Failing that, against his better judgement as a hunter, he called out, "Hello? Anyone out there?"

 

[Tetra]

The first thing Koa noticed was that it was so hot. The heat surrounded his fur, pressing in on him. The second was that it was dusty. It had been all of five seconds and his fur and mouth and nose felt dusty. And third, and most concerning, was that it looked empty.
All he saw was desert-y reds and browns and a seemingly abandoned cabin?

His ears flicked unconsciously, and he sniffed the air. Nothing... What happened to all the pokemon from before-

"Hello? Anyone out there?"

Koa's ears perked up and he trotted around the cabin and spotted... Well, it looked a lot like a Sneasel. Except the colors and size were wrong. But he definitely looked like one of those heroes that cloud spoke of.

Koa hesitantly approached. "Hey there," he called. "You're one of the heroes, right? Do you know what's going on? Wasn't there supposed to be a bunch of us?"

This 'Sneasel' looked like the only one around. The cloud thing hadn't made a mistake, had it?

 

[windskull]

"Hey there," he called. "You're one of the heroes, right? Do you know what's going on? Wasn't there supposed to be a bunch of us?"

Someone else was here. Nip's ear twitched, then he turned to face the voice.

The other Pokemon appeared to be some form of electrike. Nip thought he remembered seeing him in that strange spiritual place.

Giving himself a full body shake, he replied, "Yes, I was there. But I haven't the faintest clue why we ended up here. And I haven't seen any of the others, either."

 

[Tetra]

Koa glanced around uneasily. "Okay uh...." Had their mission gone wrong already? He hadn't expected this when he'd agreed to the call. He'd thought that Voice would be around, and they'd go somewhere with the other pokemon, save a town or a region. A sudden longing for Echo and his team washed over him. He didn't know anyone here.

"Maybe we should check out the area. They have to be around somewhere, right?" he glanced between the cabin, and the distant glimpse of the town. "We could check the cabin?" It didn't look like anyone used it, or was home, but it was the closest thing.

 

[windskull]

"Even if we got separated, they shouldn't be too far away," Nip agreed. But as he looked at the cabin, he hesitated. Looks could be deceiving. And for all he knew, there could still be someone inside.

"Maybe..."

He sniffed at the air again, hoping to pick out any fresh scents. Then he crept towards the cabin, keeping low to the ground. Once he was close to one wall he reached out to experimentally scrape at the old wood. "I could probably climb this. Maybe I could spot something from up there. If not, then trying inside is our next best option." As much as he hated to admit it. But out here with no supplies and no direction, walking off into the wilderness without some form of information sounded like a death wish.

 

[Tetra]

Koa briefly felt a sense of jealousy as he noted the Sneasel's claws and bipedal body. Must be nice to have a body that could still do things a human could. He shrugged it off. "Maybe the person who lived here needs our help? Try climbing it and see if there's anyone else around."

He stood up, placing his front paws against the door. "Hello? Anyone home?" Putting his nose to the ground, he sniffed at the door of the cabin, trying to pick up on any fresh scents. Which was still such a bizarre notion to him. But so cool, too. He could smell so much more as an Electrike, it was sick. It felt abandoned but maybe if there was someone inside he could smell them...

 

[Jackie Cat]

The wind picked up a little, and Koa's nose was bewildered for a moment with the scents of desert grasses, of arid dust, of insects, which he could hear crooning to each other in creaky stridulations. But as he concentrated on local scents, the smell of the cabin itself became clearer to him. The wood itself, strongest of all. Traces of furred mammals, long-stale. But there—! A more recent scent. It smelled... of arthropod, but also of electricity? How his nose even knew what a bug smelled like, he didn't know, but he was pretty sure. He had the strangest feeling that he could trust his sense of smell in this body.

 

[Tetra]

It took a few moments for Koa to sort through the scents he picked up. Electric and... bug? Weird. He didn't even know how he knew that. It smelled recent too, but nobody had answered him... "I only smell electricity and bugs," he said. Curiosity tugged at him, and he contemplated opening the door. Except that would be trespassing. But what if the person inside needed help? The Voice.. Cloud thing could have sent them here for a reason, even if their arrival had been less than graceful. A quick peek couldn't hurt.

Koa awkwardly rose up on his hindlegs, contemplating if he could reach the knob, and bemoaning his lack of hands. And height. If he reached as high as he could he just barely snag the handle. Frowning, he paused and dropped back to all fours. He glanced over to the strange Sneasel, realizing for the first time he hadn't even gotten his name. "Unless you can see something from the roof, I'm going to check inside. I don't think anyone's home but maybe we can find something useful."

 

[windskull]

Upon agreement from the electrike, Nip began his ascent, claws digging into the rough wood as he scrambled higher and higher. He carefully balanced himself on his tip-toes as he reached the top, squinting and straining in hopes of finding any sign of the others.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Atop the cabin, Nip had an even better view of the surrounding landscape. The river was a streak of liquid silver across the dry earth, and the town looked like a model in miniature of a settlement. There were no obvious people where he could see them, just some distant birds travelling, a few bugs that might not even be sapient, and – much further up the dusty road – what might have been some kind of wagon or caravan.

Just as he was about to stop scanning the surroundings, he spotted a flash of blue and yellow, downhill from the cabin and hard to make out amongst all the scrub and stone.

The inside of the cabin held no signs of present life, but plenty of previous habitation. Koa saw a coatstand, a standing clock, a dresser full of plates and glasses... There was an obvious main room of the dwelling, which served as a kind of living room, dining room, and kitchen, with a large stone hearth and chimneyplace. Stairs to the upper floor. Pencil-sketches of the local landscape hung up on the walls. A door to what might be a storage room, or perhaps a study. All intact, but untouched for months at least, according to his nose.

 

[windskull]

He stared off at the distant town for a moment, trying to determine how long it would take to get there. Maybe if they followed the river a ways, they'd be alright...? He wasn't the best fisher, but maybe he could catch something.

Right about then, though, a flash of movement caught his attention. He squinted where he'd last saw it. If it was one of their own, surely they would have approached? He couldn't be sure if they were friend or foe.

Mildly unnerved, Nip scurried back down and followed the electrike into the building. "We might be able to make it to that town before night if we start walking soon, but we'd have to find food along the way," he announced. "I saw no sign of the others, but I don't think we're alone."

 

[Tetra]

As far as Koa could tell, the cabin seemed empty. No sign of anyone... If they had been sent here to help, he had no idea who or what they were meant to help. In hindsight, he wished he'd tried to get more from the Cloud Voice. Although they had seemed somewhat clueless. His gaze trailed to the stairs. He felt bad enough about intruding. Surely if someone here needed their help they would make themselves known.

Mildly unnerved, Nip scurried back down and followed the electrike into the building. "We might be able to make it to that town before night if we start walking soon, but we'd have to find food along the way," he announced. "I saw no sign of the others, but I don't think we're alone."

Koa dragged his gaze away from the stairs and to the Sneasel that had followed him inside. "Right, we should get going then. The town is a good place to start. Unless you think we should check upstairs, but I can't smell anyone." He started for the door, then paused, mentally facepalming(-pawing?) himself. He'd still not gotten the Sneasel's name. Craning his neck slightly, he looked up at the Sneasel.

"Oh uh... My name is Koamaru. Do you w- er have a name?" He'd almost reflexively asked 'do you want a nickname' except he realized that would probably be rude to ask. He was a pokemon here, not a trainer. He could hardly go around asking other pokemon if they wanted nicknames. Did other pokemon just like to call themselves by their species here?

 

[windskull]

Nip dipped his head respectfully towards Koa. "Greetings, Koamaru. My name is Nip." Then he turned his attention back towards the stairs. "If you didn't smell anything then I don't see much point. Unless you want to scrounge for supplies here."

He winced, uncertain how the electrike would react to the suggestion. "Probably not a great idea though. If someone still lives here, they won't appreciate us helping ourselves."

 

[Tetra]

"Nice to meet you Nip." Odd name. Not that he could judge but it almost reminded him of the sort of nickname a trained pokemon would have... He almost missed Nip's next words.

"Scroung- You mean steal?" he yelped. He clamped his jaw shut. Nip probably hadn't meant it like that, right? It could be the Sneasel instinct talking. A pokemon thing. "No way, we can't just help ourselves, this stuff probably belongs to someone. What if they're just on vacation or traveling?"

Koa fought the instinct to jump to conclusions about a person he didn't even know, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He pushed down his unease. Nip was a Sneasel so it probably didn't mean anything. And if the Voice thing summoned him, he was a hero too. "Sorry I didn't mean it like that," he said hastily. "You're right, we should get going and try to get to that town," he said, trying to sound amiable.

Without saying anything else, he hurried out the door.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Koa hurried out the door, and came almost face to mandible with a brightly-furred spider larger than he was.



"Why, now, what's a lad like yourself doin' out this way?" rasped the galvantula, in a breathy, skittering voice. "And ya got a friend with ya, is'at so? Let's have a look at ya, kid. C'mon out."

The galvantula sounded – and looked – old, his fur coarse and greying. Some of his legs bore small cuffs and straps, in which were secured small tools. A set of goggles was perched on his head, with several tiny lenses for each of the spider's eyes.

 

[windskull]

Nip's ear twitched. He should have known others would react like that. It was a lousy idea, anyways. Stealing had gotten him in enough trouble as it was.

He moved to follow Koa out and opened his mouth to say something, only to freeze mid step at galvantula jumpscare. Slowly, he inched forward to stand beside Koa, trying to keep his prickling fur flat. "Greetings," he began. "Apologies for our intrusion."

 

[Tetra]

Koa almost jumped out of his fur and tensed on instinct, his hackles momentarily on end. After a second he relaxed as he recognized the pokemon as a Galvantula, an older one too. He didn't seem to be a threat.

His nose twitched. Was this the scent he smelled earlier? This could be the Galvantula's home. A brief sense of guilt flashed through him. What if the Galvantula got angry at them for poking around?"
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "We didn't mean to trespass, we were just trying to help. We were sent here by someone to help this world but... We got seperated from the rest of our group."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Well, ain't ya just the politest pair o' lads this side o' the river," creaked the spider, with a papery chuckle. "You can relax, I don't mind your bein' here, whatever the reason. Mayhaps I can be of help to you two. I'm Galvantula Alejandro, but y'can call me 'Al' if tha's a jawful for ya. Ya got names, son?"

 

[Tetra]

Koa allowed himself to relax fully. This Galvantula seemed nice. It made him miss Hazard fiercely though. He was sure his Joltik would have loved this.

"Koamaru," he replied. "It's nice to meet you Al. Have you seen any other travelers like us?"