Story Notes:
Sorry for the long absence; I've had a lot of things to do, a massive amount of writer's block recently (The latest Karistaa Usko chapter's presently in Limbo), and a complete overhaul of my mythos, so I decided to do one more in the general Pokemon universe. As the July contest inspired me a bit to write this chapter, it's a contest entry (or, at the very least, Nowhere and Everywhere is since I'm not certain how long this inspiration will hold).As usual: Pikachu, Pokémon, Mother et al. are the property of Nintendo. The characters are mine, as is the plot.
...This is Crazy!
...This is Crazy!!
*)Meanwhile...(*
Lori broke up a pair of fighting Pikachu as the action wound down. It was past 17:00, so the storm was dying down for the day, in spite of Nyithindo Farai's attempts to sow discontent with his soothsaying, predicting that one day the humans with apricorns would return. It seemed to her like he had dialed down his rhetoric, due largely to she and Eoin having been accepted almost-unconditionally by the herd, herself moreso than Eoin.
"Rough day on Chu duty?" asked Tish. She and Lori had grown to become fast friends, mainly because Lori understood much of her concerns and wishes, and Tish was sympathetic due to the emotional pain she was going through with distance from her husband.
"Yeah," said Lori, levelling a stare at Farai. She wasn't sure of the thought processes of that Pikachu, except that they were clearly abnormal. "What's with Farai anyway?"
"No idea," said Tish. "Lots of Chu have tried to play armchair-Abra and gotten nowhere."
Lori looked at Tish. "Are you saying he's crazy?"
"Hello? Even a brain-dead Magikarp can see Farai's a few eggs short of an Exeggcute!"
"Really? He seems no different from some conspiracy theorists I've seen."
"'Conspiracy theorist'?" asked Tish, "That's a new one."
"It means someone who believes that everything in the world happens because of a shadow group. Toilet backed up? (She assumes a evil-looking face here) The aliens did it. Wife pregnant? Communist scum. Traffic sucks? Freemasons are causing it." Although Tish didn't know what traffic nor a toilet was, given the "wife pregnant" one she quickly deduced that all these were semi-common occurrences and laughed. "You've even got whole groups dedicated to historical events, such as those clowns looking for a grassy knoll, the people who think the President is capable of pulling a Xanatos gambit, or even the idiots who think all i-- wait, can't finish that sentence or they'll kidnap me and starve me to death while reading."
"Who will?" said Tish, laughing.
"If I say, they'll sue Jéské Couriano," noted Lori.
Tish was now confused, but she dropped the line of questioning. "Eoin's been doing Chu duty almost daily lately," she said, changing the subject.
"It's mating season. Why would Eoin sleep in the same room with a rutting and horny Kabaka, given he's pronounced his love for the human?" asked Lori. "I think it's an excuse to..."
Lori turned at the sound of a noise, and, past two Chu jawing over a sleeping spot, she saw Eoin inside Mudiwa's hut, still in his suit but nonetheless talking with him. Lori suspected this was because Mudiwa also spoke English. A few days prior, she saw him with Ime.
"I wonder," she said to herself, before turning back to Tish. "Yeah, it's an excuse to avoid Nicolau."
"I still say Eoin+Kabaka is a viable cou--" Tish shut up as Lori glared at her. "Sorry."
"Eoin isn't marrying a Chu if I can help it," said Lori.
Tish looked at the sky. "Listen, Lori... I'm curious, would you... teach me Common?"
Lori looked a bit stunned. "Wha? Why?"
"I'd imagine that translator gives you a headache. Besides, I'd like to talk with you whenever you're out of your suit, too," she said.
"Tish, you're already on the 'least likely to be mated' list. Me teaching you Common will just make you even less desirable."
"I don't care," she said. "Please, teach me."
Lori looked at Tish with a look that asked if she was dead serious, then sighed. "Fine, fine... Not tonight, though. I don't have enough light."
Tish smiled. "Thanks, Lori."
"Common's a tricky language to learn," she commented. "Especially since it seems every word has more than one meaning."
Before Tish could respond to this, Farai, a few feet away, shouted out something in Chu which Lori'd never heard him spout off before: "Damned apostate! May Adebowale eviscerate you for forsaking your mother's tongue! May..." His screeching was cut off by Nthanda, who paralyzed him by grounding through him.
Lori was speechless. "D..Does he normally do that?!" she asked, a bit nervous.
"Whenever anyone starts speaking common, he becomes this angry religious-type," said Tish. "I think he gets potions from Mirembe to quiet them down, but I think he dumps them into the nearby river."
"Hmm... Dissociative Identity Disorder?" she mused to herself as Nthanda dragged him away - likely to Mirembe's hut.
"What's that?" asked Tish.
"It's a mental disease where someone has multiple personalities, one of which is the 'core' one. Generally, none of the personalities are even aware the others exist, and all have their own memories."
"That might explain why Farai goes from raging atheist to zealot in no time flat whenever anyone but him speaks Common," said Tish. "I know he learned Common shortly after he entered the storm, but I'm not sure when he went absolutely crazy."
"So he wasn't born in the storm?" asked Lori.
"No, but then again a good half of the omulosi and most of the Pikachu aren't. I don't know about the Kabaka."
"How do they join?" asked Lori.
"It's not too difficult if a Chu. So long as you haven't done anything prior that would endanger the storm if you joined, you're in."
"Such as...?" asked Lori.
"Associated with humans and not been released from their servitude, willful murder, stealing from humans and sentient Pokémon..."
"'Sentient'?" asked Lori.
"Pokémon that are as smart as a human, if not more, and capable of speaking in some form."
Lori quickly understood. "Oh, sapient Pokémon. Like Lucario, Gardevoir, and Alakazam?"
"The very same," was the response.
Lori looked back up. Eoin was curled up on the ground, starting to try and sleep. It disconcerted her a little that he was sleeping inside his suit, but he had been doing so since at least day 2, if not day 1. Mudiwa was also turning in.
"I think it's best we turned in for the night," said Lori, stretching. "I have field reports to deal with."
"Okay, then first thing tomorrow?" asked Tish.
"Give me a couple days to finish the reports, then I'll start with you."
"Okay, see ya!"
Tish wandered to an open group, while Lori returned to Chausiku's home to rest and ready her reports.