98-Agitator

As they walk along the trail, having finished their final scheduled lunch before they’re supposed to arrive in Fallarbor, Amelia walks at the back of the group in thought.

Because in the days since Teddiursa has joined up with them, especially in these past few, the ‘mon is starting to pose a… problem.

Amelia winces, mentally chastising herself for even thinking that. Because Teddiursa isn't causing the problem, it’s not even an actual problem. Not really.

It’s just…she’d expected Teddiursa to be upset at them, or lonely, perhaps even enough to try and attack them or run away.

What she didn't expect was…

Glancing over to just in front of her, the Joy looks at Chansey’s back as she walks forward in perfectly regular thudding footsteps, so regimented it’s like a perfect loop. But then Teddiursa cuts across the group bounding from one side of the path to the other in an abundance of energy, and Amelia can practically see Chansey’s attention tracking the ‘mon even as her walk doesn't hitch or stutter.

…There’s a reason the chansey line is used in all nurseries. It’s practically hard coded into the ‘mon to take care of hatchlings, no matter the species. As long as it’s roughly the size of a happiny and it meets some –very generous– criteria unknowable to anyone but a chansey, a kind of mental switch flips, and the baby becomes their baby.

And it’s quite clear her partner has had that mental switch flip, no matter the explanation Chansey had given of ‘slowly weaning him off of a false pretence’ to explain how… soft she is to him, it’s clear that Teddiursa is now her cub.

Again, in and of itself this is not a problem, even this situation with Teddiursa having a mother just means there might be some separation anxiety from a normal chansey once he has to leave, but even that is on a case by case basis.

No, the problem is the fact that, from everything Amelia can see, Chansey seems to somehow be unaware of these core instincts, and the mental dissonance is causing confusion and stress.

The Joy watches Chansey seem to catch herself paying such close attention to Teddiursa and forcibly turn her attention forward, grimacing at the large ‘mon’s slowly waddling back in thought.

It’s not much of a guess to assume that this strange behavior is a byproduct of Chansey’s… reserved nature and only amplified by her human memories. Not to mention the barely masked combination of vitriol and fear in her voice whenever any kind of mind control or mental influence comes up in conversation.

Amelia didn't bother asking why her partner added books on telepathy and defences against it to the team shopping list the day after the interview with the clan conduct and inquiry board.

But that passionate opposition to even the smallest chance someone might be poking at her mind makes it clear what she’d think about this if she knew how much of her behavior was being guided by her biology.

Swellow cracks an eye from where he’d been dozing on Chansey’s head and looks at her with a concerned expression, which she dismisses with a smile and pretends to look down at her notebook.

Before this Amelia didn't think about Chansey’s… human side all that much. Before she’d noticed Chansey’s behavior with Teddiursa, it was just a fact about her partner that existed in this strange blank space between ‘important conceptually’ yet not tangibly informing anything about her partner going forward.

But now it’s become a problem, one that Amelia’s closest friend and partner is uniquely unequipped to solve, despite all her incredible competence at everything else. Which means it falls on the Joy to help.

And she will, it’s just a question of how long it will take to do so. But even at first glance it’s obvious this is a careful balancing act to resolve.

Because if she doesn't thread the needle just right, the ‘mon could easily hear that she’s being influenced by her instincts and take that in… extreme directions.

Amelia could very well see Chansey deciding that her own body is a threat that needs to be fought and defeated somehow, which seems like an impossible task that would only end in disaster.

But Chansey’s done some impossible things before, and even if she somehow succeeded and became completely detached from her instincts, this version of ‘winning’ seems like it’d be unhealthy for everyone involved.

The Joy purses her lips in thought.

It’d probably be some kind of self-imposed psychic mental construction, but that’s just a bad idea, even aside from the fact that those kinds of things are extremely unstable. Even when being imposed by someone else, which is inherently less complicated from everything she’s read, they’re so unstable that something as simple as dunking a person in water can shock the mind into throwing off almost any psychic imposition.

No, the main problem is more… conceptual. Because Chansey trying to functionally do brain surgery on herself is, again, dangerous. Not to mention even in a best case scenario brains don't like artificial constructions on them, it’s why there are so many advisories for people with psychic partners to not try and use mind control to help with things like quitting smoking or dieting.

Even if it works, the strain of using what are functionally psychic nails to lock down the brain into an unnatural configuration can only grow the longer the block exists, which expresses itself in powerful and unpredictable ways.

Which means–

“Woah!” Sam shouts from the head of the group, drawing Amelia from her thoughts. “Look at that!”

Looking up from her notebook, the Joy sees Sam a little ways ahead of them standing at a wooden railing protecting them from the drop of a steep overlook, the others speeding up to see whatever has him so excited.

Amelia snaps her notebook shut and breaks into a light jog to catch up, curiously eyeing the wooden railing as she does.

Railings like this are a common safety thing for about two hours walk from a town or city, to stop families with young kids from accidentally falling off a cliff when they go on a day hike. These are the first railings she’s noticed, which means that they must be getting close… to…

The thought trails off to silence as Amelia makes it to the railing and looks out over the vista in front of her.

Like a runway, untouched forest opens up before her beneath a perfectly blue sky streaked by bands of wispy jetstream clouds high above. As the sky approaches the horizon the vibrant blue fades to a cloudy white, until the sharp cut of the ocean’s swell shifts the color to a much deeper hue, sparkling in the sunlight.

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But between her and the ocean, almost rising out of the forest, is the town of Fallarbor, a cluster of about two dozen boxy buildings no taller than ten stories making up the urban core. Beyond that carefully manicured rectangles of farmland spill out all around as if the urban development grew out of the natural landscape.

A past the urban core toward the ocean sits a large contest hall, and past that Amelia can see a ferry gliding toward a dock hidden by foliage.

A low whistle cuts through the silence, and Amelia looks over at Tyler as he leans against the railing and looks out at the scene.

“Well aint this a view?” He comments with a laugh, looking over at the rest of them.

“...Yeah.” Kate agrees as Amelia nods, and after a few more seconds of silence, she steps back from the railing. “Well, we’re almost there.”

“Right.” The Joy agrees as she too steps back from the railing and glances back at Chansey, the ‘mon observing the overlook with an impressed expression. “Let’s get going then.”

—--

–_–

—--

From the overlook, it took another two and a half hours for the group to walk down the carefully managed pathway down to Fallarbor, the trail becoming more and more regulated the closer to the town they get. In the time the terrain shifts from a rough hewn trail over steep hills and around obstacles, to a gravelled path with wooden railings at every overlook and metal steps the instant the grade of the slope creates even the slightest possibility of someone falling over.

Personally Tanya had some trouble with those stairs, because while the narrow cut path and convenient handrails would have certainly made it easy for someone with more human proportions to walk down the stairs safely, the ‘mon found herself wedged and the steps too small for her feet besides.

It only took some liberal application of minimise to resolve the issue, but the fact that a feature designed for accessibility made it harder for her to use the trail was amusing enough to be of note.

By the time they reach the bottom of the hill and the route levels off it’s become a paved bicycle path, a thin strip of trees winding between rectangular patches of farmland.

Tanya and the rest of the group are forced to step off the path several times to give right of way to the occasional cyclist as they make their way to the end.

The paving is another ‘convenience’ Tanya finds herself slightly irritated by, funnily enough. While very good for smooth cycling, the heat of the concrete baking under the summer sun is distinctly unpleasant on her feet.

Perhaps that’s why the trail is so… empty.

The ‘mon sighs as she sees a bicycle appear around a bend and steps off the slightly too narrow path to let them pass in the other direction, using the time to shake her feet down and cool them off, assisted with a tiny thread of healing energy.

From the conversations she’d overheard from her group’s trainers, Tanya had expected their walk down the final path toward a moderately large town to be delayed by constant challenges from a stream of people at the end of the route looking for a battle, the challengers either too young for their own journey or having already completed theirs earlier in life.

But for some reason there aren't any, aside from the occasional cyclist they’re walking alone, in spite of their proximity to Fallarbor.

As they round a shallow bend on the road and finally see the trail end in a metal archway, Amelia clears her throat.

“You guys can keep going, I’ve just got to talk to Teddiursa for a second. I’ll catch up.” She says from the back of the group, motioning for at Tanya for some–

She blinks, then looks down to see Teddiursa half dozing in her arms, teeth latched onto her arm where it seems he’d been trying to bite his way out before getting tired.

Looking down at the ‘mon, Tanya quietly grumbles as she wracks her brain to figure out when she’d picked him up. After a few seconds of digging she figures out she’d picked the ‘mon up at the first staircase half an hour ago and must have just never put the ‘mon down.

She just cannot understand how she’d picked up this habit. Yet despite that, it’s proving to be an irritatingly difficult impulse to defeat.

But for things like this, it’s just a matter of willpower and persistence, and if nothing else Tanya has that in spades.

Grunting, Tanya gently jostles the ‘mon in her arms, waking him up.

“W–hey… let me–” He slurs as he wakes, only to be cut off as Tanya firmly deposits him on the ground and points him towards Amelia.

“Amelia wants to talk to you.” She states with absolutely zero false pretense in her voice of expression then promptly takes a few steps away.

The trainer looks at her partner a bit oddly when Tanya doesn't follow behind Teddiursa as he trots over in a series of hopping steps which keep as little contact to the hot concrete as possible.

Instead Tanya looks up at the sky, scanning until she sees the distinctive silhouette of Swellow flying overhead, dropping in a lazy corkscrew dive.

Calmly tracking his path with her eyes, the large ‘mon finds herself… slightly envious of his flight for the moment. For all that her memories of flight have some… complicated feelings attached, beyond the utility she cannot deny that, fundamentally, she did enjoy the freedom of flight.

…There are certain psychic ‘mon who know how to levitate, some do it instinctively, so it’s not impossible for her to learn to fly with her psychic energy. Though it’s clear Tanya’s missing something fundamental that prevents her from learning it without an example.

Perhaps something to look into, after she’s learned the skills already on the docket at least.

The quiet conversation between Amelia and Teddiursa takes until Swellow flares his wings to land atop her head before the sound of a pokeball signals that the ‘mon has agreed to bind and register to the ball. By the time Tanya looks over he’s already outside of the ball, shaking himself off with a confused expression on his face before looking up at Amelia, holding the ball out.

“That felt weird!” He says loudly, transitioning a head shiver to a doglike full body shake. “...How’d I fit inside that thing anyway? It’s way too small.”

Amelia squints at the ‘mon as she tries to figure out what he said, then looks at Tanya with the implied request she translates.

Tanya obliges, and for the next ten minutes she’s stuck translating question after question Teddiursa has about the pokeball, the transfer machine, then the pokecare machine, then about nursing in general, all answered by Amelia with far more enthusiasm than she’d have in the same situation.

But as they catch up with the rest of their group, who are standing around beneath the arch marking the end of the route, Tanya’s eyes narrow as she realizes the group looks… almost distressed?

Not threatened, they’re not afraid, more uncomfortable about the situation they’re in as they talk to someone Tanya can't see. As they get closer, the ‘mon tries to subtly stand higher to look over their heads and sees–

…Why is that man dressed as a pirate?

Tanya blinks as she gets close enough she can easily see over the smaller trainer’s heads.

Looking closer, whatever this fashion is, it’s not quite pirate. The headband combined with horizontal blue striped shirt and leggings give a vague naval theme, but beyond that the clothing decisions this man has made are just… confusing.

Then she sees a clipboard and the sight of that gives her the faintest hope that… whatever this is, is some kind of uniform.

The blue pirate’s eyes widen as he catches sight of her, and with a speed that’s genuinely quite impressive, he sidesteps around the group he was just talking to and runs up to Amelia, a flyer practically pressed into her hand even before he’s started speaking.

“Well hello hello hello! Welcome to Fallarbor! My name is Pan and I’m a part of Aqua!” He says in a single breath before Amelia even has a chance to flinch back. “Now what’s Aqua I hear you ask? We are an environmental and social advocacy group for the protection of our natural world and the happiness of all pokemon within it! Here’s a flyer! I’m actually getting signatures for a petition we plan to show to the Fallarbor town council about the pokemon unfriendly construction on this very route. If you have a few minutes I would love to tell you about it.”