Chapter Text
It has been two weeks since the death of her old warden. Lady Sneasler was not sad. She does not mourn, she does not need to. It has been years since her Warden has done anything for her, but that is simply what happens to Highland Wardens. Maybe it is the isolation, maybe it is all the old ruins, but the Wardens atop the Coronet Highlands never stay sane.
The only reason this day is notable to Sneasler is because the Pearl Clan finally found her old Warden's body. Now they wanted to give her a new Warden.
Sneasler was not interested.
It was bad enough that Lord Electrode recently got a new Warden. Some loud-mouth purple-haired brat who at least had enough sense to stay in the Moonview Arena and leave Sneasler alone. The Pearl Clan did not have the same sense.
The Pearl Clan pesters her with balms and new Warden candidates.
They pester her near constantly for weeks,
months,
years.
Eventually the old leader dies and his daughter replaces him. The new leader pesters Sneasler less. Sneasler likes this.
Due to the pestering, Sneasler does not have as many kits as she would have liked over the years. Her first nest, since her old Warden's passing, holds seven eggs. Only three survive. The second nest holds four. Only one makes it. Her newest nest holds five. So far, all of them have made it.
This rarely happens, with all the mouths to feed, and the weather turning harsh much sooner than usual, Sneasler is struggling to feed all her kits and herself. She will not give in to the Pearl Clan though.
She does not need a new Warden, nor does she want one.
The moon is bright tonight. Sneasler prefers to hunt at night, there are less people that way. As she leaves her cave, she wonders where to hunt. The neighbouring Alpha Luxray has caught her picking off their Shinx and Luxio. Sneasler would rather not get electrocuted. The Stanlers in the Wayward Woods were always easy pickings. The Wayward Woods were on the other side of the Highlands though. She'd make the trip if she had too. Afterall, it is not like her kits could survive off of Bronzor and Nosepass.
Sneasler climbs up a nearby cliff, hoping to be able to spot a closer hunting spot. Her wish is answered by a small white crack forming in the sky, a space-time distortion.
The pokemon that appear and disappear in these distortions are quite tough… but Eevees also tend to appear. If Sneasler sticks to the edges of the distortions and lures the Eevees to her, she should be able to catch a nice meal for her kits. If she's lucky, she might catch enough for herself too.
By the time Sneasler makes it to the distortion, it has already started. The purple dome is misty and mysterious. Sneasler does not pretend to know how it works, but this isn’t the first time she’s used one for a meal.
Sneaking around a large rock near the edge of the distortion, Sneasler manages to catch only one Eevee before the white rift in the sky closes in on itself.
Purple mist, that was once the dome surrounding Sneasler, quickly moves into the rift, as if it were getting sucked in. Sneasler half expects to feel a strong upward wind as the distortion closes, but the air is still. She simply watches the spectacle. Moving atop the large rock Sneasler was hiding behind as the last bit of mist leaves.
The white rift is still open, but is slowly closing.
The air around Sneasler is calm, still.
After the chaos that these distortions can cause, it is a nice change of pace.
Sneasler is about to turn away and get back to her kits when something black appears against the white in the sky. Almost as soon as Sneasler notices it, the black thing falls out of the sky and lands on the rocky ground with an unceremonious splat. That is when the distortion finally closes.
Carefully approaching whatever fell from the sky, Sneasler realises that it was a human who fell from the rift. He has grey hair and strange triangular tufts of hair at the side of his face. He is wearing a long black coat that matches a nearby hat. It must have fallen off of his head. Sneasler leans closer and sniffs at the human. He is still alive, breathing, but with that nasty gash on the top of his head from where he fell, he wouldn't be alive for long.
Sneasler hated how the sight of the human suffering made her insides twist. She wasn't disgusted. No, she was concerned. Sneasler had promised herself she was done with Wardens. That meant she was done with humans as well.
She has heard tales from other pokemon and nobles of humans falling from the rift. None of them lasted long. Most of them never made contact with other humans before they died of thirst, ate something they shouldn't have, or stumbled into an Alpha's territory. Apparently one managed to make it to the Ginkgo's Guild. They died in their sleep the night they were found.
A fate that was sure to happen to his human too. There was nothing Sneasler could do to stop it… So why was she still here, just staring at the body.
He was still breathing.
Sneasler had many duties as a Noble. Despite no longer having a Warden, she still completed… most of her duties. She still prevented or helped rock slides so that they were no longer dangerous to people or pokemon. Her most important duty was the one she had been neglecting the most. To help humans make it through the Highlands. Usually it was a Pearl Clan member using her basket to make it across the steep cliffs, but sometimes she would find a lost soul and lead them to safety. Maybe that is why she picks up the unconscious human and brings him to her den, leaving his hat behind. He won’t need it when he’s dead.
As Sneasler approaches the cave her den is in, she notices one of her kits is peeking out of the cave looking out. When her kit spots Sneasler, he runs back into the cave to alert his siblings that mom has returned.
Entering her den, Sneasler sets down the human against one of the cave walls and gives her kits the Eevee she caught. The kits eat. Sneasler sits down and watches, her own stomach growls at the sight of food, but it’s barely enough meat for her kits and they polish it off. After finishing their meal, most of her kits head towards the soft bed of grass. One, on the other hand, heads towards the strange human instead.
The kit looks at the human’s slumped over head, copying it by tilting her own head. Sneasler has made her way over to the two as her kit reaches her claws up and touches the bloody gash on the top of his head.
A hissing sound can be heard as the venom from her kit’s claws mixes with the blood from the wound. Sneasler quickly grabs her kit and moves her away from the human. Her kits squirms as Sneasler inspects the human. The venom has caused parts of the wound to turn a dark purplish red colour. Those areas seemed to have stopped bleeding. The human's breath has also slowed since Sneasler first picked him up, but whether that is due to the blood loss or venom is unknown. He has lost a lot of blood…
Sneasler knew her poison was much stronger than any Sneasel’s venom, especially one as young as her kits. Her poison could easily kill the human, even without contact to an open wound. Her kits' venom on the other hand could harm the human’s nerves, but wasn’t likely to kill the human. It did seem to stop the bleeding, and blood loss would also end the human’s life.
He was going to die anyway Sneasler decided, as she lifted her kit towards the man’s wound. Slowly guiding her kit’s claws, Sneasler seals up the wound until there is no more bleeding. All that was left was a dark purplish red spot on top of his head.
After that she brings her kit to bed with her, and falls asleep, fully expecting the human to be dead by morning.
- - -
Ingo feels a slight nudge to his side. He groans as the nudging continues, bringing him farther away from the sleep he desperately wanted to keep. The cold stone floor he was laying on certainly did not help.
Wait, cold stone floor? Ingo was not sure where he was supposed to be, but that did not seem right.
Slowly opening his eyes, Ingo sees a silver and purple Sneasel kit in front of him. The Sneasel scurried away as Ingo slowly sat up. Looking around, it seemed there were five silver and purple Sneasel kits all looking at him. Ingo was not sure what colour Sneasels were supposed to be, but that did not seem right.
He was in a cave, there was a nest of grass in the cave with him far too large to just be for the Sneasels. It did mean one thing. Ingo was in their home. Not wanting to intrude, but not sure what else to do, Ingo's hand instinctively goes up to grab something just in front of his forehand and tip it down. Unfortunately, there is nothing on top of his head. His head is bare and cold.
Ingo was not sure what was supposed to be on top of his head, but that did not seem right.