The Enigma Tree Finale: Handling Truth
Blackheart Beast
Nani fled from the chameleon pokemon, narrowly dodging his repeated iron ball volleys that came her way. Impact craters of crushed bark and hardwood lined the path of Saito's pursuit. She quickly changed directions, eventually ascending the mangled branches of a large fern, hoping that somehow gravity would severely decrease his range. She blazed a path through places she has disturbed many times before with her usual antics, startling a taillow she annoyed back the day before.
"Hey you scoundrel! Don't take another twig, ya hear?!?!" the little bird squawked as he flapped his wings territorially. "I will not be chewed out by my mate because of your idiocy!"
Nani was too busy paying attention to the position of the iron ball. She was facing downward, hanging off a think branch, waiting for Saito to start advancing upwards. The tree quaked a bit, possibly after the iron ball gave it a new crater. The taillow had stopped yelling to try to keep his nest of eggs from falling out of the tree. A disturbing quiet followed, one that frightened the taillow more than her. He frantically sought a place to fly the nest, but a whistling sound broke that silence.
"Watch out, Mr. Taillow!"
Saito flung the ball up at her with impressive speed but still somehow missed her by a good couple feet. Upon seeing the large iron projectile shoot past him, the taillow quickly stuffed the eggs and nest into one of the many holes found in the trunk. On its falling arc, it struck the small bird, taking out the entire branch in the process. She watched the scene but couldn't let the bird fall to its death. She let go of the trunk of the tree and fell towards it. Just as Saito was retracting his heavy weapon, she fell past him and scooped up the bird in her paws.
"PUTA!! DONDE QUE VA?" He roared and hurled the ball straight down at her, faster than he had ever thrown it. "Quickly die before the ground is sullied with your blood."
She heard the whistle of air shooting past the ball, getting louder as it came closer and closer, luckily, her slight rotation in the free fall helped to repulse the attack somewhat, the ball once more grazing her in the same spot as before. She grabbed a hold of the bird, and then waited for an opportunity to save the bird and herself from an earthy grave.
"My Ball!" Saito shouted, realizing that it was falling farther out of his range the longer he waited. He extended his tongue to grab it before it was too late. Nani closed her eyes for a split second, just barely noticing the tongue shoot past her. Her opportunity arose.
*concentrate...you don't want to be recycled into plant food. You still need to be with her after all this is over... Just block out EVERYTHING that goes on in your head, forget the berries, forget the internal theme music, forget Saito and your anger.... ignore anything other than your ultimate goal: SURVIVAL.*
"NOW!"
Her Tailpaws reached out and wrapped around the prehensile muscle, sliding down the sticky length, their falling speed decreasing quickly.
"Geh oth mah tongue..." he whined, unable to enunciate any words. Nani slowed down enough to set the bird gently in the branches, safe from any harm.
Consequent slowing down resulted in her no longer being fast enough to pull away from the tongue. Her tailpaws were stuck, but luckily, Saito couldn't reel her in.
"Geh oth mah tongue, huta!!!" he yelled. She looked up and saw him climbing down the tree, reeling in his tongue that way, drawing closer.
Esperanto
Mimi and Susana worked out a way to communicate with each other. With a moss covered stick, dipped in some enigma juice, they sketched out various images they both could recognize in addition to basic actions.
"I, eye, tree, you, food, trunk, under inside." Mimi looked up at the Victreebel, noting that she understood the inquiry.
"Nod, bug enter me, bug arrow berry, eye cross out me. Lizard, hard ball bruise me, Bug enter me here, happy," she responded, dapping the stick in more juice than passing it to Mimi who seemed a bit befuddled.
"But can we still have access to it?"
"No entiende tu language."
"Oh," said Mimi, blushing sheepishly. She had forgotten to write her request.
"You no move, bug enter you, protect berries, access for us, bank berries. Deal?"
Susana nodded. "I no move. You eat berries. Lucky Egg to both you and other girl monkey."
Apparently the deal was that as long as she didn't move from this spot, she has to guard the berries and allow them access to the cache whenever they need it. Mimi was quite pleased as well and took off, headed back to the tree to meet up with her friend. "I guess she isn't good with telling animal gender but whatever."
Showdown
The Kecleon drew closer, reeling in his tongue while Nani dangled helplessly. His progression was rather hurried by the fact that his tongue was quickly drying out. The little tears in his eyes were noticeable even when he started turning invisible. She watched the slight imprint of his invisible claws as they kept him anchored to the tree. That way she could keep watch over his progression and ready herself for a counter attack.
However, she watched one of the branches bend upward then shot forward, reintroducing her to the sensation of falling. For a moment she saw the red zigzag pattern in knew what was coming, but was unable to stop it. There was no more than 100 feet to fall through. The branches rushed past her, but she wasn't afraid of being slammed into the ground .She had fallen from higher and still had been fine. However, Saito wouldn't have it that way. He phased in right in front of her, his tongue almost fully withdrawn.
"Aerial Ace!" She attempted to strike him with her regular paws but her reach was too short. To make things worse, he saw it coming and unleashed his sucker punch maneuver, pressing her against the iron ball as it crashed into the ground, the impact rattling her bones. She groaned in pain even as she got back on her feet, holding her back, trying to stay upright. Her legs gave out on her and she fell forward, a few tears of pain still caught in her clenched eyes.
"Whath's the mather? Can'th sand up, pewta? Don'th rorry, that spoth will thee perfact flor you." He lifted the iron ball up, ready to slam it into her skull at close range, his hardened eyes meeting hers. His mouth was twisted into an unnaturally cruel smile. His tongue was still bulged in his mouth from the rough handling it got when she used it as a life support earlier. He spiked the ball down at her, only to see it roll off to the side.
Nani opened her eyes and turned over to her back. Her eyes were still blurry form the tears, but she could make out the image of a simian arched over her, teeth grit, hands digging into the earth. "M...M...Mimi?"
"I'm back..." she said with a twinge of pain in her voice. She was hunched over Nani in a protective stance, her back sloped downward trying to alleviate the pain of taking the iron ball to the back. Nani rolled out from under her and helped Mimi up, a few more hidden tears blurring her vision. But Mimi refused to get up, still hunching over the same spot.
"Let's get this asshole, Mimi..."
"Trust me, don't worry about it... he is beat."
Saito extended his tongue to retrieve his precious ball on instinct, but he couldn't locate it. He glared furiously at the fire monkey that had impeded his revenge and his plot all in one fell swoop. Now that Nani was certain that Mimi was alright, his plan unraveled. He had seen it roll off, but what way did it go? His remaining battle skills were useless without his iron ball.
"I'll geh you all nest time!" he yelled, phasing back into the background. However, Mimi was watching his uncloakable striped pattern. As soon as the kecleon went out of view, Mimi stood up. She had the iron ball the entire time. She had tucked it down so it would be out of the view of Saito. But what rolled off to the side?
----
Saito finally found the "iron ball" that he was looking for.
"Damable pewtas! " He yelled, going in to pick the ball up. But then he noticed something quite odd about it: It was jagged and much larger than he remembered. He shook it, trying to figure out its contents. No clue. But then it spoke.
"Forry!"
"...What the..."
Further off, the two fems heard the explosion.
Awakening
Dusk casts an orange tint on the inhabitants of the Amazon. Packs of wild pokemon call their members in to sleep while the nocturnal creatures rouse themselves from diurnal rest. In one of the many bromeliads, Nani and Mimi wash themselves of the uncomfortable dirt and sweat from their harrowing adventure. The ambipom cleans quite efficiently, using her two wide tailpaws in addition to her small fore paws to clean her body. Meanwhile, she chews on some healing herbs to help with any possible internal injuries.
"...and I got Susana to stay at our cache to guard it as well as eat it all. I'm done already, Nani, Hurry up so that we can find our place again and sleep."
Mimi steps out of the huge flower and turns on her inner fire, evaporating the water before it cools her body too much. Her feet dangle off the side of the tree branch, wantonly swinging without purpose, except as something to idle herself with. She observes Mimi's bathing habits and starts to question herself.
In this evening light, she can see the slightly feminine hips and finesse that came with the overall fairly masculine aura. There were times where it seemed like "he" was crying during the fight and even some of the exclamations were off. Maybe it's just a vulnerability she didn't see before in "him."
"Nani? What happened during the battle?" Mimi asks.
"I am still unsure, but all I know is that I spent most of the time running from his iron ball. I am a bit frailer than you despite my seemingly macho tough exterior. It's a funny reversal of roles," she said, a little feminine chuckle escaping her.
"Nani... I know that you might think this is a dumb question and probably I am just second guessing myself, but with that Kecleon repeatedly calling you a puta, the victreebel called you a female, as has other creatures. When we caressed, it felt so good but it didn't feel like that right caress yet you are pretty strong and very bravado and you even captured my heart. You told me about your attempt to go for the clan seat which is something only males do...I am not crude enough to check for myself so I have to...I guess what I am asking is... what gender are you?"
Nani stopped bathing and stepped out of the bromeliad quietly. She started to wipe the hair of her head dry with her bare tail paws. "I captured your heart..." Her own heart skipped a beat, but it made the next part of her statement even harder. "I am sure you have now come to the right conclusion." She didn't look at Mimi, but already felt sick to her stomach for what just happened. She had no way of knowing how bad Mimi would take the news... Nani knew what kind of female she was; any other monkey could be her partner, male or female. Just as long as there was someone to share her experiences with, the gender didn't matter. But now... now everything was up on the air.
Mimi clenched her fist and turned away, suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of disgust and shame: Disgust for liking a female and shame for not being aware of things around her.
The remainder of the dusk hours was spent in uneasy bouts of silence. They still stayed near one another, but as Nani would turn to say something, a cool presence would hiss at her, threatening to unleash the bowels of hell if she spoke. The harsh final rays of light before the sun disappeared over the horizon hit them square of their backs. The new sweat droplets ran over wounds, inflicting new unnoticed pains. Each endured the pain in silence. They made their way back to the tree they first met each other. They stood outside, but neither would enter. The background of kricketune and nocturnal vileplume were all that can be heard for miles around.
Finally Mimi spoke. "I think it's alright that you are a female. It can work. I think." She sounded quite unsure of having taken an obviously ill-thought-out direction. They walked quietly for a few more feet before Nani stopped. Mimi was unsure of why she did, but noticed the ambipom's fairly feminine shoulders heave a few times before she crawled into their living space, a small but comfy hole in a tree.
Mimi followed suit, going in to curl up with her friend. In her mind, there was no way she could stay...
Nani fled from the chameleon pokemon, narrowly dodging his repeated iron ball volleys that came her way. Impact craters of crushed bark and hardwood lined the path of Saito's pursuit. She quickly changed directions, eventually ascending the mangled branches of a large fern, hoping that somehow gravity would severely decrease his range. She blazed a path through places she has disturbed many times before with her usual antics, startling a taillow she annoyed back the day before.
"Hey you scoundrel! Don't take another twig, ya hear?!?!" the little bird squawked as he flapped his wings territorially. "I will not be chewed out by my mate because of your idiocy!"
Nani was too busy paying attention to the position of the iron ball. She was facing downward, hanging off a think branch, waiting for Saito to start advancing upwards. The tree quaked a bit, possibly after the iron ball gave it a new crater. The taillow had stopped yelling to try to keep his nest of eggs from falling out of the tree. A disturbing quiet followed, one that frightened the taillow more than her. He frantically sought a place to fly the nest, but a whistling sound broke that silence.
"Watch out, Mr. Taillow!"
Saito flung the ball up at her with impressive speed but still somehow missed her by a good couple feet. Upon seeing the large iron projectile shoot past him, the taillow quickly stuffed the eggs and nest into one of the many holes found in the trunk. On its falling arc, it struck the small bird, taking out the entire branch in the process. She watched the scene but couldn't let the bird fall to its death. She let go of the trunk of the tree and fell towards it. Just as Saito was retracting his heavy weapon, she fell past him and scooped up the bird in her paws.
"PUTA!! DONDE QUE VA?" He roared and hurled the ball straight down at her, faster than he had ever thrown it. "Quickly die before the ground is sullied with your blood."
She heard the whistle of air shooting past the ball, getting louder as it came closer and closer, luckily, her slight rotation in the free fall helped to repulse the attack somewhat, the ball once more grazing her in the same spot as before. She grabbed a hold of the bird, and then waited for an opportunity to save the bird and herself from an earthy grave.
"My Ball!" Saito shouted, realizing that it was falling farther out of his range the longer he waited. He extended his tongue to grab it before it was too late. Nani closed her eyes for a split second, just barely noticing the tongue shoot past her. Her opportunity arose.
*concentrate...you don't want to be recycled into plant food. You still need to be with her after all this is over... Just block out EVERYTHING that goes on in your head, forget the berries, forget the internal theme music, forget Saito and your anger.... ignore anything other than your ultimate goal: SURVIVAL.*
"NOW!"
Her Tailpaws reached out and wrapped around the prehensile muscle, sliding down the sticky length, their falling speed decreasing quickly.
"Geh oth mah tongue..." he whined, unable to enunciate any words. Nani slowed down enough to set the bird gently in the branches, safe from any harm.
Consequent slowing down resulted in her no longer being fast enough to pull away from the tongue. Her tailpaws were stuck, but luckily, Saito couldn't reel her in.
"Geh oth mah tongue, huta!!!" he yelled. She looked up and saw him climbing down the tree, reeling in his tongue that way, drawing closer.
Esperanto
Mimi and Susana worked out a way to communicate with each other. With a moss covered stick, dipped in some enigma juice, they sketched out various images they both could recognize in addition to basic actions.
"I, eye, tree, you, food, trunk, under inside." Mimi looked up at the Victreebel, noting that she understood the inquiry.
"Nod, bug enter me, bug arrow berry, eye cross out me. Lizard, hard ball bruise me, Bug enter me here, happy," she responded, dapping the stick in more juice than passing it to Mimi who seemed a bit befuddled.
"But can we still have access to it?"
"No entiende tu language."
"Oh," said Mimi, blushing sheepishly. She had forgotten to write her request.
"You no move, bug enter you, protect berries, access for us, bank berries. Deal?"
Susana nodded. "I no move. You eat berries. Lucky Egg to both you and other girl monkey."
Apparently the deal was that as long as she didn't move from this spot, she has to guard the berries and allow them access to the cache whenever they need it. Mimi was quite pleased as well and took off, headed back to the tree to meet up with her friend. "I guess she isn't good with telling animal gender but whatever."
Showdown
The Kecleon drew closer, reeling in his tongue while Nani dangled helplessly. His progression was rather hurried by the fact that his tongue was quickly drying out. The little tears in his eyes were noticeable even when he started turning invisible. She watched the slight imprint of his invisible claws as they kept him anchored to the tree. That way she could keep watch over his progression and ready herself for a counter attack.
However, she watched one of the branches bend upward then shot forward, reintroducing her to the sensation of falling. For a moment she saw the red zigzag pattern in knew what was coming, but was unable to stop it. There was no more than 100 feet to fall through. The branches rushed past her, but she wasn't afraid of being slammed into the ground .She had fallen from higher and still had been fine. However, Saito wouldn't have it that way. He phased in right in front of her, his tongue almost fully withdrawn.
"Aerial Ace!" She attempted to strike him with her regular paws but her reach was too short. To make things worse, he saw it coming and unleashed his sucker punch maneuver, pressing her against the iron ball as it crashed into the ground, the impact rattling her bones. She groaned in pain even as she got back on her feet, holding her back, trying to stay upright. Her legs gave out on her and she fell forward, a few tears of pain still caught in her clenched eyes.
"Whath's the mather? Can'th sand up, pewta? Don'th rorry, that spoth will thee perfact flor you." He lifted the iron ball up, ready to slam it into her skull at close range, his hardened eyes meeting hers. His mouth was twisted into an unnaturally cruel smile. His tongue was still bulged in his mouth from the rough handling it got when she used it as a life support earlier. He spiked the ball down at her, only to see it roll off to the side.
Nani opened her eyes and turned over to her back. Her eyes were still blurry form the tears, but she could make out the image of a simian arched over her, teeth grit, hands digging into the earth. "M...M...Mimi?"
"I'm back..." she said with a twinge of pain in her voice. She was hunched over Nani in a protective stance, her back sloped downward trying to alleviate the pain of taking the iron ball to the back. Nani rolled out from under her and helped Mimi up, a few more hidden tears blurring her vision. But Mimi refused to get up, still hunching over the same spot.
"Let's get this asshole, Mimi..."
"Trust me, don't worry about it... he is beat."
Saito extended his tongue to retrieve his precious ball on instinct, but he couldn't locate it. He glared furiously at the fire monkey that had impeded his revenge and his plot all in one fell swoop. Now that Nani was certain that Mimi was alright, his plan unraveled. He had seen it roll off, but what way did it go? His remaining battle skills were useless without his iron ball.
"I'll geh you all nest time!" he yelled, phasing back into the background. However, Mimi was watching his uncloakable striped pattern. As soon as the kecleon went out of view, Mimi stood up. She had the iron ball the entire time. She had tucked it down so it would be out of the view of Saito. But what rolled off to the side?
----
Saito finally found the "iron ball" that he was looking for.
"Damable pewtas! " He yelled, going in to pick the ball up. But then he noticed something quite odd about it: It was jagged and much larger than he remembered. He shook it, trying to figure out its contents. No clue. But then it spoke.
"Forry!"
"...What the..."
Further off, the two fems heard the explosion.
Awakening
Dusk casts an orange tint on the inhabitants of the Amazon. Packs of wild pokemon call their members in to sleep while the nocturnal creatures rouse themselves from diurnal rest. In one of the many bromeliads, Nani and Mimi wash themselves of the uncomfortable dirt and sweat from their harrowing adventure. The ambipom cleans quite efficiently, using her two wide tailpaws in addition to her small fore paws to clean her body. Meanwhile, she chews on some healing herbs to help with any possible internal injuries.
"...and I got Susana to stay at our cache to guard it as well as eat it all. I'm done already, Nani, Hurry up so that we can find our place again and sleep."
Mimi steps out of the huge flower and turns on her inner fire, evaporating the water before it cools her body too much. Her feet dangle off the side of the tree branch, wantonly swinging without purpose, except as something to idle herself with. She observes Mimi's bathing habits and starts to question herself.
In this evening light, she can see the slightly feminine hips and finesse that came with the overall fairly masculine aura. There were times where it seemed like "he" was crying during the fight and even some of the exclamations were off. Maybe it's just a vulnerability she didn't see before in "him."
"Nani? What happened during the battle?" Mimi asks.
"I am still unsure, but all I know is that I spent most of the time running from his iron ball. I am a bit frailer than you despite my seemingly macho tough exterior. It's a funny reversal of roles," she said, a little feminine chuckle escaping her.
"Nani... I know that you might think this is a dumb question and probably I am just second guessing myself, but with that Kecleon repeatedly calling you a puta, the victreebel called you a female, as has other creatures. When we caressed, it felt so good but it didn't feel like that right caress yet you are pretty strong and very bravado and you even captured my heart. You told me about your attempt to go for the clan seat which is something only males do...I am not crude enough to check for myself so I have to...I guess what I am asking is... what gender are you?"
Nani stopped bathing and stepped out of the bromeliad quietly. She started to wipe the hair of her head dry with her bare tail paws. "I captured your heart..." Her own heart skipped a beat, but it made the next part of her statement even harder. "I am sure you have now come to the right conclusion." She didn't look at Mimi, but already felt sick to her stomach for what just happened. She had no way of knowing how bad Mimi would take the news... Nani knew what kind of female she was; any other monkey could be her partner, male or female. Just as long as there was someone to share her experiences with, the gender didn't matter. But now... now everything was up on the air.
Mimi clenched her fist and turned away, suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of disgust and shame: Disgust for liking a female and shame for not being aware of things around her.
The remainder of the dusk hours was spent in uneasy bouts of silence. They still stayed near one another, but as Nani would turn to say something, a cool presence would hiss at her, threatening to unleash the bowels of hell if she spoke. The harsh final rays of light before the sun disappeared over the horizon hit them square of their backs. The new sweat droplets ran over wounds, inflicting new unnoticed pains. Each endured the pain in silence. They made their way back to the tree they first met each other. They stood outside, but neither would enter. The background of kricketune and nocturnal vileplume were all that can be heard for miles around.
Finally Mimi spoke. "I think it's alright that you are a female. It can work. I think." She sounded quite unsure of having taken an obviously ill-thought-out direction. They walked quietly for a few more feet before Nani stopped. Mimi was unsure of why she did, but noticed the ambipom's fairly feminine shoulders heave a few times before she crawled into their living space, a small but comfy hole in a tree.
Mimi followed suit, going in to curl up with her friend. In her mind, there was no way she could stay...