Chapter Text
Most days were fairly straightforward for Lady Sneasler. She would get up, eat a few berries from her stores, and then wander around the Highlands, simply enjoying the views. The sun shone on her fur, warming her up against the colder temperatures, and the flying type Pokemon were chirping. She walked past one of her kids, a younger Sneasel who was climbing a tree to get some berries.
“Sneasler!” She lifted one clawed hand in greeting, barely slowing down.
“Sneas!” Her kid yelled back, hanging upside down in the tree to wave in return.
It was a fairly nice day! And then the sky broke.
Dark red melted into the sky, dripping like watercolor across the landscape. The clouds roiled and shook, breaking like shattered stained glass- space itself pushing and distorting and crinkling existence itself up like it was nothing more than tissue paper to be torn and balled up. Thunder cracked across the sky as lightning sparked through the tear in existence like sewing thread attempting to pull it back together.
It was over as soon as it began; but not before Lady Sneasler and her kid watched a dark shape fall from ths sky. It hit the side of the mountain and kept falling, landing harshly on the ground, presumably limp. The sky was, once again, a sunny sort of blue.
Sneasel picked a berry from the tree by impaling it on her claws and started to eat it. Lady Sneasler, on the other hand, swiped a branch off the tree, effortlessly cutting through the wood. (Thankfully, it was an Oran berry tree.)
Then she jogged quickly in the direction of the prone figure, not wanting to damage the berries. The sky may have broken and boiled over like a lost pot, but she didn't have to let that ruin her day. Or this thing’s day.
She spotted it on the ground up ahead. It wasn't moving. She jogged faster.
When she was close enough, Sneasler reached out and poked it in the side, then gently turned it over to see its face. It was a human! So his weird pelt was his clothes; she didn't recognize them from any of the local civilizations. They didn't tend to wear stripes.
He was, also, breathing. That was important to note. Nothing was bleeding heavily, either- which she was a bit surprised about, given the way he’d hit the side of the mountain. But he’d just scraped the side of his arm, maybe gotten a few bruises elsewhere, far as she could tell.
She moved the Oran berries branch closer to him, poking him in the mouth with one of the berries. He made some sort of weird sound, something like a groan. Well, he was alive!
Sneasler placed the branch down so the berry was still next to his face and then poked his stomach, looking back to his face to check his expression. No stiffness, no extraordinary pain, it was probably fine, probably no internal bleeding there. She poked his chest with the curved part of her claws, checking for broken ribs and, again, any visible pain. Surprisingly, there also didn't seem to be any there.
“Sneas?” Her kid from earlier had wandered over, now eating another berry. She looked up at her mom, and pointed at the human with one claw. “Sneasel. Sel?”
Sneasler tapped her own face with one claw, folding her arms over. Then she reached over and picked up her kid and carefully sat her next to the guy and tapped Sneasel’s nose.
“Sneasler. Sne-sneasle, ler eas sneasler.” She pointed at Sneasel, then at the ground next to the guy, and then at the guy himself. Sneasel nodded and saluted. Sneasler nodded in return.
She still had to finish her patrol after all, and maybe she’d have a better idea of what to do with this guy when she got back. She trusted the little Sneasel; her daughter was very resourceful and listened well. And also knew Lady Sneasler’s route and was willing to come get her if things went wrong.
So, off she went.
Next time she passed by the area, the sun was overhead. The strange man still had the oran berry branch on his face, and her daughter was still standing there dutifully. She even saluted Lady Sneasler when she was passing by, in a manner that was definitely humorous and maybe a bit mocking of the humans. Eh; what they didn't understand couldn't hurt them.
On her next loop of the mountains, the image was a bit different. It was afternoon now, perhaps two hours after the sun was sharply overhead. The guy was still laying there, and Sneasel was laying on her back, waving the oran berry branch around like she was using it to draw on the sky. Lady Sneasler hid a laugh behind her claws and continued on.
The next loop saw the branch back on the unconscious human, and her daughter gone. Lady Sneasler slowed her pace as she approached, looking around the area- it was later in the day, so for some of her other young, she wouldn't have been surprised if they had run off. But her darling daughter whom she’d entrusted this task to, well, she wouldn't leave without reason. In most cases.
“SNEAS!”
The sound echoed through the mountain just a bit, in the direction of the nearby lake. Pond? Water-filled location. Reaching down, she effortlessly picked up the unconscious man and the oran berry branch (he grumbled a bit and swatted her back gently with one hand, sleep still overtaking him).
The water was pristine and beautiful; it reflected the colors of a setting sun overhead beautifully. What was perhaps less beautiful was the way her daughter was yelling at a Clefairy holding an oran berry, presumably one taken from the very branch she was now holding.
“Sneas, sneasel! Snea-snease sneasel!” Sneasel shrieked, waving her claws around. Clefairy, unrepentantly, took another bite of the berry, about as expressive as a customer service worker who’d already put in their two weeks’ notice and was on the verge of walking out anyways.
“Sneasler.”
One word brought the attention of both Pokemon to her; she was, after all, a Noble. Sneasel recovered faster and just gestured to the Clefairy. Clefairy looked vaguely panicked for a moment, before gesturing to their leg, which was certainly healing but still had the faint scorch marks from a Golem’s explosion move.
Lady Sneasler sat down, placing the stranger on the flower-filled grass, and held the branch up. She pointed, first, to Clefairy’s single berry. “Sneasler.”
And then, she started counting the berries left on the branch. “Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea.” Her daughter seemed to realize her point, and started rocking forward and back on her paws, eyes averted. “Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea. Snea.” Fourteen entire berries on this branch alone were still left. Lady Sneasler looked at Sneasel, who nodded.
Content that her daughter understood her point, Sneasler gestured to Clefairy that they were free to go if they wished, and put the oran berry branch down next to the sleeping guy again. Then, she held her arms out in the human expression for wanting a hug; her daughter had been around them enough to pick up the mannerisms, and moved forward to curl up in Lady Sneasler’s lap.
Well, it was a good thing her patrols were over for the day. She really didn't want to move from this spot.
The sun kept moving overhead. This was, actually, something to take careful note of. Lady Sneasler had always taken the sun’s path as a given, but it was reassuring to see both it and the moon in turn, with no odd crackling sky or shrapnel shaped bits overhead.
Right now, the sun’s path was nowhere visible; the moon had dominion of the sky, little of it there may be at the moment.
And the stranger was awake.
She could tell because, oddly, his eyes reflected the light of the moon just as much as the water did. Unthinkingly, she lifted one hand, intending to tilt his hat back with one of his claws- but he flinched, eyes glancing down to where her daughter was currently sleeping next to her.
Ah.
He stood up quickly, stumbling into a crouch, grabbing the oran berry branch with one hand. When he spotted what was on it, he dropped it like a hot iron.
Maybe the situation could still be salvaged? Lady Sneasler opened her mouth, unsure how to express that he hadn't stumbled into her nest, she had carried him here to help- but then, one of the perhaps worst sounds she could have heard sounded behind him.
It was the roar of an alpha.
Standing there amongst the moonlight, the red eyes glimmering, was an Alpha Clefable. Various Clefairy and Cleffa gathered around them, some of the Cleffa cowering behind it, clearly afraid of the stranger.
Lady Sneasler instantly stood up, startling her daughter into awakeness. One would think that, with their fairy typing and a Sneasel’s poison typing, the fight would be easily won. However. Whomever thought that would be forgetful indeed, as Sneasels also have fighting as a secondary type, and Clefable’s line is also very adept at using psychic type moves- something Lady Sneasler and her ilk were all very, very weak to.
Lady Sneasler let out an answering rattling hiss, her fur standing on end as she got into fighting position, venom gathering along the edges of her claws, starting to drip. Her daughter did the same.
(Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted the man in the black and red coat sneaking away. She didn't blame him, and was in fact relieved. She could try to help him further after she finished this battle, or at least gave him enough time to get away.)
So Lady Sneasler turned her eyes back to her opponent, and lifted her claws.