[mission] birdwatching

[tate & liza]

"Go and help Fortree, she said," he mumbled. "It's very important, she said." Tate flicked a twig into the air in disgust, watching it do figure-eights with a wave of his finger. "Who the hell thought a bunch of disppearing birds was a regional disaster?" Liza had woken him up and pushed him out of bed with urgent requests and a lot of handwaving -- something about the city facing a dilemma of unprecedented magnitude or something; so, of course he had naturally chosen to volunteer to save the day.

And, of course, that was what his sister had been counting on. I hate you.

He felt her amusement before she shut him off; he could still feel her, faintly, but no matter how many insults or complaints he threw at the barrier between them he was easily ignored. "Asshole." With an unhappy grumble, Tate raised the binoculars back to his eyes and turned up to face the sky. Birdwatching was not how he wanted to waste a perfectly good day.

A flock of taillow and swellow appeared, and the boy smirked. "Here we go." All he had to do was push his mind, outoutoutout -- and then he could feel the wind beneath his wings, see the forest below with a literal bird's-eye view. Along with the fantastic feeling of flight, however, there was also the overwhelming urge to ... Oops. The wet glob fell to the ground, only to splat on some poor bystander's shoulder. Squawking in amusement and flapping his wings, the taillow-slash-Tate followed the rest of the flock.

Time to find out where, exactly, these birds were disappearing off to.

@staff member

[The Crash Man Ω]

Tatelow and his flock were some of the only birds in the sky, as the psychic would soon learn. On a normal day in Fortree the entire sky was clouded with birds, silhouetted among the skyline in all shapes and sizes. Today, however, was pure emptiness. Occasionally a small group of Wingull appeared in the flock's peripheral vision, but they were gone almost as quickly as they appeared. The usual squawks and cries of Fortree's bird population were gone, replaced only by a somewhat unsettling breeze.

Then an explosion of sound and movement. Another flock of Tailow emerged from a faraway cluster of trees, letting out cacophonous cries. They flailed and wailed in a flurry of feathers as they tried to move away from the forests. Two things were noticeably off about this other Tailow flock. The first was that, instead of forming a tight flight pattern, they whirled around in a disorganized heap. The second was that the Swellow alpha of the pack, rather than taking the lead, seemed to be lagging behind the others. A pained grimace was on its face, and one of its wings was held at a somewhat odd angle.

No matter the cause, however, one fact was apparent. These birds were the only others in the Fortree skies.

[tate & liza]

The flock became a maelstrom of wings and indignant squawking as the other flock exploded from underneath the canopy, in a clear bid for escape from whatever was inside the forest. He narrowly avoided a wing to the face before diving down. A few surprised yells from the birds above him only made the bird-boy fly faster; he was getting curious.

He neared the stand of trees that the previous flock had fled from, neatly landing on a branch. Tate was halfway done with preening his ruffled feathers before remembering he was not, in fact, a bird. Disgruntled, the Tate-who-was-not-a-bird leaned forward on the branch in search of ... something suspicious.

Anything suspicious, really.

What was causing the birds to flee?

[The Crash Man Ω]

If Tate was an ornithologist, he'd know that Swellow generally travel in numbers. Namely, there'd at least be two Swellow: a male and a female, each a rung above their unevolved cousins. For this reason, the previous flock being headed by only one Swellow would have, to many Fortree resents, been a dire warning of what Tate was about to witness.

Unlike the near-silent skies, the deep parts of the forest were very loud. Occasionally a pained squawk could be heard, but for the most part there was little more than the scuttling sound of chitin on dirt and the chittering of various bugs. Piles of silk lined the floor, and webbing was spread throughout the branches of trees. One very large web in particular was currently restraining a Swellow, which fought its restraints only to constantly be stopped by strange convulsions.

Occasionally a low, droning cry of "dooooooooos" could be heard echoing through the forest. With each bellow it seemed to be growing closer, and the Swellow's attempts to escape grew more frantic and desperate.

[tate & liza]

It didn't take long for Tate to hear (and follow) the sounds from the forest floor -- it took even less time to see the massive, all-too-familiar web and the swellow currently stuck in it. Well, shit. He heard the ominous sound of the incoming pokemon and instantly sprung into the air -- he was just a taillow.

There was nothing he could do. (Yet.)

The bird-boy cleared the tips of the trees before releasing his hold on the taillow, snapping back to his mind with enough force to knock him backward onto his rear. He grabbed his belt of pokeballs before squeezing his eyes shut, visualizing the clearing and forest and -- suddenly he was being pressed, pulled, squeezed, stretched in every direction.

Everything around him warped into a whorl of colors before realigning itself as sky and trees and shit he was in the air.

Tate dropped out of the sky, falling with flailing limbs -- he slammed into a few tree branches on the way down before roughly landing on the forest floor, groaning. "Never gonna do that again," he moaned. Note to self: falling sucked.

Pushing himself to his feet, the boy deftly released his two pranksters, his galvantula and ariados (oh the irony), before sending a silent S.O.S. to Liza. I'm going to need your help over here, he said urgently. Unless you want to leave me at the mercy of a bunch of spiders?

[The Crash Man Ω]

At the sound of the falling boy's arrival, suddenly the forest's various noises had drawn to a halt. It was as if his appearance had disrupted the forest's natural activity. Between the tree-stained darkness and the sudden silence, it was as if Tate had fallen into the set of a horror movie.

Then a sudden flash of red scuttling through the trees. While slow to react and unwilling to move any more than necessary, when they actually got moving Ariados could be terrifyingly fast. This was especially true when they had prey in their sight, the bigger and more appetizing the better.

Other than the sound of scuttling feet crunching on dead leaves and the panicked squawks of the Swellow, all was quite. Then the low, droning groan of the Ariados sounded once more, but this time it wasn't from near the web.

It was right behind Tate.

[tate & liza]

There were times he wished he could be Liza. Like when people kept calling him 'little girl,' and he wished that he really was one so he wouldn't be so offended when they got it wrong -- or when he had to sit through complaint after complaint, and wished that he was as into reading as his sister.

Or now, when he was staring an ariados (who was clearly not Andromeda) in the face, and he wished he could set fire to the thing and send it scurrying for cover.

Of course, his own ariados had jumped into action the instant the other spiders appeared -- she shot webbing at them, the galvantula following her lead soon after, as Tate scrambled away. (Shitshitshitshitshit --)

Tate held up his hands, speaking with both his mind and his mouth in the hopes they would understand. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said. An edge of panic creeped into his voice. How could he reach the trapped swellow and keep himself safe? Perseus, get the bird when you have the chance, he commanded. The galvantula blinked before shuffling slightly in acknowledgement.

[The Crash Man Ω]

The Ariaos let out a vile hiss as it was hit by the webbing, biting and tugging at its sticky restraints to try and get rid of them. It wasn't used to this role reversal, and the menacing glare it shot Tate indicated it wasn't too happy with the situation.

Then it froze when Tate spoke into its mind. For a while the big bug was silent, stopping its struggle and instead fully aiming its focus at the spider. It then began thinking in retaliation, as if talking back at the voice in its head. Its thoughts wouldn't be the easiest for Tate to parse, if he was even capable of doing so, but there was one clear undertone running through both brain and body language.

He was hungry. And he was NOT happy that this boy and his competing spiders had appeared on the scene. He let out a low, droning hiss, a last warning for Tate to back off.

While this went on, a few Spinarak scuttled from beneath the trees. The source of much earlier chirruping and chirping, they began hungrily crawling across the web toward the Ariados' prey. If Perseus was going to try and cut that bird down, he was going to have to race for it!

[tate & liza]

Well, it was worth a shot.

He glanced nervously at the spinarak before pushing the galvantula with his mind. Go! Perseus scuttled across the web, snipping at the strands behind him in an attempt to slow them down. The swellow squirmed frantically as the galvantula neared, and despite his (supposedly) soothing chatter the bird didn't calm.

Tate's gaze moved from the web to the ariados before him, Andromeda protectively sliding between the two. Tate glanced around. (What should he do?) He didn't want to fight, really -- as energetic as he was, violence wasn't his favorite way to solve things -- but what else was there for him?

Then there was a blast of fire at the wild ariados, followed by another one at the group of spinarak. Always causing trouble, little brother. The laughter rang through his mind as his sister gracefully landed on her feet, the volcarona settling down next to her. She turned to the ariados; from what her brother had observed, the pokemon clearly understood them.

"Leave."

[The Crash Man Ω]

The Swellow continued shaking and trembling, occasionally letting out whimpering squawks of "Swe . . . " as the Galvantula got closer. There was fear in its eyes as it turned to the Galvantula, unsure as to whether it was friend or foe.

Its wings stretched at its webbed restraints, as if it was ready to reach out and smack the giant bug in self defense. This could be a hard one, Tate.

And then enter Liza, the Firelord! The Ariados was directly hit by the blast, letting out an ear-grating shriek of pain as burned webbing fell in charred strips around its feet. It looked incredibly injured, front legs buckling as it defiantly glared at the Volcarona-riding twin. The Spinarak were slightly more fortunate, leaping away from the fire and letting it sail past them. Thankfully the blast petered out before careening into the nearby trees: any closer of a shot and there could've been a real disaster going on here! However, the Spinarak knew they were beaten, scuttling away in fear.

The Ariados, on the other hand, held its ground and hissed menacingly as Liza whispered into his head. He shook it in a panic, as if trying to force her voice out, and then returned fire with its own thoughts.

HuRt Me, StEaL fOoD, sCaRe YoUnG, tElL mE lEaVe? YoU lEaVe!

[tate & liza]

Liza raised an eyebrow at the ariados. There was no pity in her eyes. I will, she agreed. Eventually. She shot a significant glance at Tate, whose eyebrows came together in confusion. Liza scowled.

Oh, right.

Tate gently prodded Andromeda with his mind, and the two arachnid pokemon began to work on cutting the poor swellow loose. Don't worry, he said to the swellow in the most soothing thought-tone he could muster. They're friends. Perseus cheerily clicked his front mandibles together before getting to work on the webbing surrounding the bird pokemon.

Meanwhile, Liza was continuing her 'conversation' with the ariados. Stop attacking all of the bird pokemon. A slightly unreasonable request, she knew, but she was tired of the complaints -- and she wasn't in the merciful mood. Or more people will attack you.

The Crash Man Ω

[The Crash Man Ω]

The Swellow was a frenzied flurry of wings as the Ariados and Galvantula drew closer, only the tight embrace of webbing stopping the bird from battering them with its wings. Then came the voice. Soothing. Friendly. Eventually the Swellow seemed to catch on to Tate's intentions, lulled into a calm by the psychic's voice. While it still trembled with fear, it no longer frantically attacked those trying to free it. Soon it was nearly completely cut loose, wings moving at a mile a minute as it tried to tear itself free of the webbing.

The Ariados, on the other hand, rose to its full height on trembling legs. It took slow, purposeful steps forward, prowling around the Volcarona as the earth orbits the sun. It let out breathy hissing noises, clearly still a bit choked up from the earlier blast of flame. Its eyes were narrowed, clearly suspicious, and no matter how much it moved it never kept its eyes off of Liza.

Then it began thinking once more.

WhAt ShAlL i EaT, hYoOmAn?

Was that a question or a threat? The Ariados certainly wasn't telling.

[tate & liza]

Tate shifted uncomfortably as he watched the ariados circle around them, while Liza continued to stand upright and fearless. She was not going to be cowed into submission by a giant spider, thank you very much. Pavo's wings fluttered in impatience, and the girl gently placed a hand on the volcarona. I don't care. And really, she didn't.

They had figured out what was causing the bird disappearances, and the only thing they were asked to do was to stop them. Liza shrugged. Not humans, obviously, or else I'd have to kill you -- which the girl didn't want to do if she could avoid it -- but I'm sure you'll figure something out.

Perseus and Andromeda finally cut the swellow free, and Tate promptly recalled them back into their pokeballs. Liza, we should go. He slid his hand into his sister's, and the girl twined her fingers with his before turning back to look at the ariados. Got it?

The Crash Man Ω

[The Crash Man Ω]

The Swellow flew free, letting out a hasty chirp of gratitude as it took off into the distance. Maybe as time passed it would finally be able to find its flock once more, but for now it needed to get as far from this spider's den as possible.

The Ariados watched the bird fly off, reaching futilely as its prey slowly became a speck on the horizon. It then once more craned its gaze toward Liza, slumping from both injury and fatigue. It halfheartedly spat at the Volcarona's shadow, the grass withering slightly from the toxicity of its venoms. Hoping its message of disapproval was clear, it slowly stalked away into the sanctity of the nearby trees.

After it had left, a silence fell over the previous noise of the forest. It was as if the Ariados had never even shown up.

(MISSION: COMPLETE!)