Chương 90: 90-Spoof

Danger. Walking along far enough behind the group so as to be out of earshot, Tanya's attention snaps from her constant efforts to beat the move protect into her thick skull and toward the group of trainers for no apparent reason. Only then does she realize they stopped a state that should be completely normal, the group stops for all manner of things, half an hour ago they stopped to use the bathroom, and yet…

A faint rumble echoes off the trees around her as Tanya picks up her pace, some deep sense of urgency having her to abandon normal walking and enter a series of thudding hops that has her eating up ground compared to her normal locomotion. As she gets closer the fact they're frightened of something in front of them is clear, but the fact that they're also constantly watching for threats around them means she must assume they're surrounded, current priority is to secure noncombatants and retreat to a…

At the apex of her last bounce before thudding to a stop behind the humans, Tanya sees the 'mon blocking the trail ahead with a threatening snarl and aggressive claw scrapes against the dirt. Or rather what would be threatening, had the teddiursa been larger than a sack of flour. It doesn't seem the 'mon even notices her arrival, eyes still locked on the trainers.

"I'll bite you! C'mon! Go away!" He growls, scraping his claw against the dirt again.

"You're supposed to run!" For a moment the absurdity of being frightened of such a small 'mon has her forget the warnings given in the forestry books and trail advisories, one of the bare handful that the forestry service repeated on no uncertain terms. Because a teddiursa is never far from its mother, and while the books stress that most of the time the 'mon is reasonable and merely calls her child back, if she believes for any reason that the cub is under threat she will attack with the ferocity to match.

Following the explanation it was instructed to leave the 'mon alone, to not battle, and never, under any circumstances, attempt to catch one. Tanya scans across the rocky forest around them, looking for the ursaring she knows must be nearby, and as she does she leans down to Amelia.

"We should move back up the trail a bit." She says quietly. As arrogant as it might sound, Tanya's not all that worried about being unable to fend off what is functionally a superpowered bear attack. But no matter the relative strength of an opponent, even a goose who's decided that it's their life or their gosling's can make themselves a problem. And desperation means unpredictability, meaning Tanya cannot assure no one else gets hurt should a fight break out.

Amelia nods, slowly backing away as she tugs on the others beside her to do the same, grabbing Kate's hand as she reaches for a pokeball on her hip.

"Shh. Why would you release another'mon?" She hisses.

"If we see the ursaring then maybe." Kate hesitates, then nods and takes a step back.

"I've got some repel, I know it's not going to stop a determined 'mon but…" She pauses, glancing around as she takes another slow step back.

"... maybe if we spray ourselves just a little? So it's clearly not an attack but it'll still drive off–" Their retreat has teddiursa give off another growl, taking a half step forward with another scrape to the dirt.

"Yea! That's right! Run! I'll bite you! And m-Mom is really close by! If you even try to fight me she'll show up and– and–" The 'mon's aggressive bursts of speech devolve into a raw high pitched rumble and snap of teeth as he remains standing in the path, staring at their group as it slowly backs further and further away. But just as they cross some arbitrary distance that has the 'mon begin to calm down, Tanya plays his words over in her head.

Then she looks at the 'mon, really looks at him, then releases an exasperated sigh for falling for such a threadbare act. Now that she's looking for it, it's insultingly easy to see through the bravado of the 'mon's transparent bluff. The momentary unfamiliarity reading his novel body language is no excuse, she'd taken the threat at face value and been more preoccupied with looking for the invisible threat in the woods to notice.

But now, looking at how Teddiursa stands with all the aggression, threat displays, and constant movement, it's clear that he is alone, and immediately the realization starts ringing alarm bells. Because from her understanding of his line's nature that threat should always be genuine. Their line is part of a minority that raises their young all the way out of their first evolution before they part ways, where most others either have a brief rearing period just after hatching or spend their entire lives in a group.

The only reason this teddiursa would be without his mother is if something happened that rendered her unable to be nearby. Tanya stops backing away, causing Amelia and her friends to bump into her bulk and her partner to glance up with a confused expression.

"Chansey? What's…" Tanya leans down again.

"The teddiursa is alone." She mutters, seeing her partner's eyes widen at the statement.

"You sure?" She asks, equally quietly. Tanya doesn't answer, because she's not sure. She has a series of observations about the body language of a 'mon she's never seen before belonging to a line she's never seen before. Some suspicious phrasing of some threats and a pattern of behavior she personally believes to be unusual. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

But looking at the widening gap between her and the 'mon as Teddiursa takes a step back as well, some hunch coming from deep inside insists that something's wrong, that somehow, some way, this 'mon is in pain. Tanya steps around her partner and the other humans.

"I'll be right back, wait here." Amelia says something in a shouted whisper but Tanya ignores it as she slowly walks back toward the 'mon. Immediately he's back on alert, more threat displays, never retreating even a step but never moving forward either, growing louder and more aggressive with every step she takes.

As she approaches Tanya laments the fact that she's terrible with children, especially comforting frightened children like this one, but if she's going to find the source of the problem she needs to move past his fear. Trying her hardest without cheating, the best she can do to comfort another are offers of assistance and logical reassurances in her natural placidity.

She knows others find off putting, even frightening, previous attempts have shown the absolute best she can do is anger or confuse the person she's trying to comfort, far more likely the 'mon will run away.

But if there's one thing Tanya knows how to do it's copy the behavior of others to achieve her goals, all she needs is a reference point to copy from Unfortunately, as each step brings the deadline closer Tanya realizes she's drawing a blank on personalities she's confident she can copy that would actually be helpful here.

Getting close enough that Teddiursa looks like he's about to either attack her or bolt, close enough Tanya can see the branch of a bush –laden with berries– stuck on some underbrush at the edge of the trail, the large 'mon comes to a stop. … ….. What would Caretaker do? Memories flash through her mind's eye as Tanya slowly blinks, taking a deep breath as she tries her hardest to extract even a fraction of Caretaker's mannerisms and affect from them.

And when she opens her eyes again, Tanya contorts her face into a crude parody of her smile.

"What's wrong dear?" She asks softly, crouching down and compressing her bulk so they're closer to eye level. Internally she cringes at the awful act, it's rare something triggers such a visceral reaction but every word and movement feels like an insult to the memory Tanya has in her head. Teddiursa blinks, growl falling silent as he's caught off guard before regaining his composure.

"Nothing's wrong! Now run away or I'll bite you!" Tanya pushes air through her throat in an approximation of a giggle.

"Oh I'm sure you will! With those sharp teeth of yours? You scared off all my friends!" She gestures behind her with a smile, shuffling a little closer and lowering her voice as if sharing a secret.

"Just so you know, they're pretty good at battling, so you'be got to be very strong to do that." Again Teddiursa looks knocked off balance, puffing up with pride as he nods.

"Yea! I'm super strong! I'm gonna evolve this winter so watch out!" He punctuates his point with a mock swipe of his claws and Tanya pretends to be suitably impressed, which is not as difficult as she thought it would be because he swiped the air so quickly his paw was just a whistling blur.

"Oh my goodness! That was so fast!" She cheers, forcing the tortured approximation of her smile to widen.

"Your mother must be so proud of you!" Teddiursa flinches in on himself when she says 'mother' and for a moment Tanya worries she pushed her social leverage too far, but a moment later the 'mon recovers and nods.

"Yea! She's the best! When I evolve and she gets better she promised me she'd find all my favorite foods and–""Oh no!" Tanya cuts the 'mon off, Caretaker's smile morphing into a worried frown that barely captures even a percentage of the emotive depth in the original.

"She's hurt?" Realizing he'd revealed the 'secret' Teddiursa's expression immediately morphs to fear and the 'mon crouches as if about to sprint away and into the woods–"HeyHeyHey! It's ok! I'm just worried." Tanya hurries out, carefully mashing her words together such that they're the optimal blend of rushed and comprehensible.

"I don't know what I would do if my mom was hurt." She can't make her eyes mist up on demand so she does the next best thing, carefully using the smallest amount of psychic energy possible, Tanya removes the multitool from where it's hanging on the outside of her pack behind her and, unfolding the knife, stabs it into herself hidden beneath her backpack and uses the pain for force her eyes to water.

Immediately after she does that she realizes exactly how stupid of an idea it was, but she's flying by the seat of her pants here, and she can heal herself later. Her apparent sympathetic sorrow has Teddiursa pause, no longer about to bolt but doesn't settle down either. He stares at her for a moment before nodding.

"Well… yea that would be super bad. But don't worry, Mom's not hurt, she's… she's watching us right now. So you'd better… you'd better not try anything!" He tries, his attempts at rekindling his bravado fall flat with every tiny waver in his voice. Tanya's mouth twists back into the mockery of Caretaker's smile, as if she believes him.

"Oh good! I was so worried for a second there!" She cheers, shuffling closer yet again until she's close enough she can lightly touch an arm against Teddiursa's head.

"I just hate the thought of someone being hurt. It's why me and my partner are here actually! We're looking for anyone who's hurt so we can make them better again!" Teddiursa freezes for five entire seconds, eyes rapidly darting all over her face then off to somewhere in the forest to her left, then back to her face again. He looks down to the ground, refusing to meet her eyes.

"What if… what if there was… someone who's hurt. Could you–""Of course we'd heal them!" Tanya reassures with so much sugar in her voice it tastes like lead on her tongue.

"That's what me and my partner are here for." Teddiursa hesitates, then looks up at her with slightly watery eyes.

"A-and if they're hurt r-really bad? Cou–""Darling." Tanya croons, placing an arm on the side of his head as her face contorts into a mockery of the expression so clear in her mind, where Caretaker is smiling yet anguished yet loving, a bulwark of unwavering support and certainty.

"We can fix anything." The lie slips off her tongue easily and it seems they're the exact words Teddiursa needs to hear, as the 'mon quickly nods and nearly bolts away with an order to follow before Tanya has to ask him to stay where he is so she can get her partner. Rising back up to her full height Tanya pulls the knife from her back and heals it up before it has time to bleed without the knife and telekinetic force holding her blood inside.

The moment she's facing away from the 'mon her abomination of a mimicry disappears, and in a few steps she's in front of Amelia again.

"Teddiursa's mother is injured, likely heavily, he's skittish and I can assume the mother will be moreso. I'd prefer an extra pair of hands and eyes and there's the distinct possibility the 'mon might need help from the forestry service." She says in her normal neutral clip. Amelia, in her professionalism, only looks surprised momentarily before laying a hand on their emergency beacon and nodding.

"Got it." She says, removing her pack and unzipping it to grab her emergency kit before questions from the other trainers remind both of them that they exist. As Amelia takes the time to explain the situation and grab her supplies Tanya turns back to look at Teddiursa, still standing there staring at her as if unwilling to believe she exists. Contorting her face into her smile again, Tanya offers that small comfort, even as fake as it is.