Not needing to sleep is starting to get to me. I mean, I'd realized it intellectually, but ten days without sleeping is definitely starting to mess with my perception of time. Instead of it being nine times I've woken up, now it's just that I've seen the solar cycle nine times, I've only woken up once. I'm never 'physically' tired anymore—so long as I eat enough—and mental and emotional exhaustion seem to pass on their own if I have the energy. It’s… strange, looking at the last week-and-a-bit of my maybe-life without sleep.

I set down the mirror shard I was maneuvering into place and decide to stop for the… day? Fuck it’s so hard to keep track of time now.

I'd groused about my mirror to Marshal, and while I don't think she got why I liked it, she told me the best way to stick things back together that she knew of. You take a pecha and a rawst berry, mash them up thoroughly, add some water, mix, wait five minutes, and then apply it to whatever you want to stick. The stuff pretty much turns into purple epoxy, and I'm glad phasing out unstuck me.

Looking at what I’ve managed so far I feel pretty good about myself. The mirror is cracked all over and that’s not something I can fix, some pieces of it were powdered by my psychic blast. But I can see myself in it again, and I’ve only got about a quarter of it left to fix now.

Drifting out to the main room, I notice that it’s morning. Jesus, did I really spend that long in there?

Floating over to my ‘couch’ I focus for a moment so that I fall into it. Hmm, maybe if I had some nails I could fix it enough to look like a couch again… Meh, I’ll think about it later.

I've been focusing rather hard and using psychic power for a few hours, I also haven't actually eaten in… a day and a half, I think? So I'm getting that empty, hungry feeling again. But I’m also feeling incredibly lazy, as well as bored. What a conundrum.

Fine, I’ll go talk to people for a bit.

Rising out of my far too comfortable ‘couch’ I don’t even bother using the door, instead floating straight through the wall, I’ve gotten better with practice.

Searching around gets me nowhere, the woods are strangely silent at the moment and it isn’t until I start looking more east that I see why. Humans, dozens of them, stomping their way through the trees. These must be the tourists Sneasel mentioned- Holy shit it was last week, five days ago now.

Anyway, They’re evidently tourists, mostly rich looking, dressed in various bright colors, and wearing… Uh, either they’re all classic photography fans or I’ve been lied to about the technology here. Fuck, some of them are carrying actual paper maps and I can’t see a single cell phone anywhere.

“Üiè! Sinca ün!" Says one of the least affluent-looking people, a teen girl, tapping what has to be her father on the arm and pointing at- Oh shit she's pointing at me! I phase out quickly, not wanting them to follow me as I fly back to my cabin.

Okay, I- uh, I… Why were they so scary? I search my new instincts hoping to find the answer there, it takes a second to sort through what I'm feeling right now. I think… Why do I want to scare them? Wow! Big help there, thanks.

Maybe this is just me getting in my own head about this, I’ve seen exactly one human since I got here and she just looked at me and left. This is probably my maybe unreasonable fear of being caught, isn't it? Yeah, that sounds right, okay, just stay invisible and go watch them for a bit.

Flying back out to where they were I need to stop and re-evaluate my senses, again. They're all so… dim. Compared to the 'Ranger', Onaga, none of them even count as white, they're more gray than anything, and their not-light isn’t even enough to cover their bodies completely.

…That makes me uncomfortable for some reason, yet try as I might I can’t find why. I’m- I’m going to shelve this for now, but it’s definitely on my list of things to learn.

I can't hear what they're saying in the all-consuming silence of this space, but I can still see their movements and taste the strangely large amounts of emotion they're giving off. They've all huddled into a group with one off to the side who I think was wearing a simple uniform, looking and tasting exasperated. A few of the others turn to him, and, while I can’t hear their words, I can tell they’re asking him something. The man seems to shrug, but I get a distinct ‘I just work here’ vibe, both from how he shrugs and from the mix of emotions he’s giving off. As I keep watching them the small bit of fear I had vanishes… Right up until they start walking directly towards my house.

It’s not some kind of coincidence, they had been walking more south than west before and now they’re on a direct path to my home. Fuck. Maybe Marshal has advice about them? May as well ask.

Flying to her lake takes thirty seconds at this speed but when I get there she's underwater. She and Buizel are spinning around each other about twenty feet down, clearly just enjoying their day. Well, time to try something new then, swimming. Also, uh, sorry in advance, Marshal.

I would not be willing to do this if I had to breathe, that lake is scary deep. As I approach the water I notice my own glow for the first time, if only because it's displacing Marshal's ridiculous brightness in all that water. I ignore it for now though, I have an important question I need to ask. While I'm phased out I don't need to push through the water and I reach their depth quickly. Now the uncertain part, I start phasing back in slowly, and… Yep feels like the deep end of a pool but no other problems.

I take a moment to watch them swimming while I eat, and that's definitely some lazy joy I taste. Eventually, I speak, "Hey Marshal?" Oh, that’s a lot of surprise. Marshal immediately has herself between me and Buizel but after realizing it’s me she just rolls her eyes and starts swimming for the surface. Guess she can’t talk underwater.

The moment we breach she starts talking, "You just couldn't help yourself, could ya?" She says, then shakes her head, "Didn't realize ya could do that. So, what’s so important right now?” She asks with a smile.

I organize my thoughts before answering, “So there are some tourists headed for…” I trail off at the look on her face. “Are you okay?” I ask her.

“Peppier than a chesto.” She growls out. “So they’re here already huh? Headed this way?” Oh, I don’t like her tone of voice.

"…Yeah," I say, feeling very uncomfortable with the hatred she’s putting off.

She notices my discomfort and sighs, now knowing what I eat she probably has a good idea of what I’m tasting right now. “Sorry kid, none o’ that is aimed at you. I just…” She trails off looking at me for a moment. “You never had ta deal with them before.” She realizes out loud. And before I can respond she continues, “Don’t think o’ them like normal humans, that’s just a good way ta get hurt. No, these humans don’t care about us or our homes, most don’t even care about other humans, be ready.”

That’s… something. I don’t think I’ve tasted hate from Marshal before and now alongside that advice… “What should I do if they start messing with my cabin?” I ask. That seems to throw her off a bit.

After a moment of looking at me with confusion, she seems to realize something. "Right, sorry. If they won't leave you alone then, well, scare 'em off. If that don't work, hurt 'em, and if one of them keeps tryin' ta mess with ya at that point, kill 'em."

Holy shit, Marshal! I'd forgotten I was talking to a wild animal at some point, but what the fuck? She must see the expression on my face because she gives me one of those motherly smiles of hers, "I know growin' up around them before might o' made you not like that idea, but that's just how it works sometimes. You got to protect yours.” She states. Then looking around, she sighs, “They’ll be comin’ around here sooner or later, thank ya for telling me ahead of time."

"No problem," I say as I watch her dive back below the water.

Holy fuck, Marshal's killed people hasn't she? No, stop being an idiot, obviously she has, she hunts her own food. That truly is just the way it works here sometimes, fuck. I hope I won't need to take it any farther than shoving them out the door.

Mentally preparing myself I phase out and begin flying back to my cabin. When I reach the clearing I see the man, who has to be a guide, leaning against a tree at the edge of my home with four other people. So they're probably not assholes, though one of them isn’t a tourist, so fair play to him. The rest, however, are in my goddamned house!

Looks like I’ll need to apply Marshal’s advice immediately. Floating into my bedroom I ready myself to make noise.

I wish I could take a deep breath to ready the scream, but, well, no breathing. That, of course, also means no need to stop the noise once I start. Oh, and I start, a shrill howling resounding through my home and out into the forest beyond. Fuck why does fear have to taste so good? But it gets me the result I wanted, all of the humans tumbling over each other to evacuate my building. When the last one is finally out I stop, drifting into the main room to see not only them but what they've managed so far.

Fucking how did they destroy my couch even more? And holy shit not two but five snack wrappers of some kind, and tissues, fucking really? Marks carved into the walls… Marshal was right they just don't care, do they? Wait, no…

I float back into the bedroom to check. They broke my motherfucking mirror!?

Nope, I’m fully on board with what Marshal said now, if they come back in I’m getting mean. Moving back to the main room I decide to up the spook factor, shoving my cloud out until the only spots free of it are the ones in sunlight and phasing out everything but my eyes and mouth.

Now I just watch them. The guide has a slight grin on his face, he probably knew something like this was going to happen, the rest look scared though. Good, stay out of my house. To make a point I psychically grab the trash they left in here, crush it into a ball, and launch it out as hard as I can.

Oh. I think I dented a tree with that. …Okay I’m going to dial it back a bit on the rage, as angry as I am I don’t want to accidentally kill someone. At least they’re all- Oh fuck off with your macho bullshit guy number five.

The now-named Guy-Number-Five, a younger tanned man in a sleeveless Hawaiian shirt with a backward-facing ballcap—I- Fucking- Why?—is starting to walk back towards my house. All the people are talking again but I’ve been a bit angry and mostly tuned them out, this guy, however, is talking shit as he walks closer.

“Nah, look it’s scared, can't even come out in the sun!” I see the girl from earlier raise her eyebrows at that, but she doesn’t react otherwise. Not that it would have changed what I do next because this asshole is the one that re-broke my mirror! He’s holding a piece of it!

As the asshole reaches the front door I start the howling again, he flinches but keeps going. Well then, time to crank it up. I feed power into my voice and the cabin starts shaking while the man slaps his hands over his ears but still keeps going with a shit-eating grin. I push harder and see the trees start to shake, that does get him to back off a second later, all traces of bravado gone as he stumbles away, ears bleeding.

Ah, shit, I did end up hurting someone. But he deserved it so it's not like I’ll… Well, yeah, it's not like I’ll lose sleep over it.

The tour guide just shakes his head as he raises a radio for a moment. I have no idea what he says but I hope I won't be in any trouble for this.

Also what I just did with my voice is sticking in my memory the way my psychic thing does so I think I just found a new Move. Whatever, I keep staring the humans down again, none of them make a move to challenge me this time.

Phasing out, I check my cloud-net to see if the guy left me anything. He did, and rather than pulling my cloud in to get it I just move over and eat it. Pride, surprise, and fear. At least with everything that's happened today, I'm not hungry anymore.

Phasing fully back in now I turn and look out the front door. Focusing on the people I start to catch a new conversation between the guide and everyone else

“...Issue these warnings lightly. What happened to Mr. Ruth was still just a warning and not an actual attack. I have been told to warn the rest of you to please not disturb the misdreavus further as its territory is now officially off limits. Anyone found having entered it from this point on will be arrested by the rangers should they survive. Now, we will wait here for the medical transport to arrive for Mr. Ruth so please don't cause further trouble for the pokemon." says the green-haired man, eyes locking onto mine for a moment before sweeping over the crowd again.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Fuck I hope I’m not in trouble for that, but if what Marshal said is true and this is how things normally go, I don’t think I am. And that wasn’t considered an attack? I made the guy's ears bleed, How is that not an attack? Or maybe that wasn’t a damaging Move? And if not then are humans just weak? That's a horrific-

I can hear stomping coming down the path to Marshal’s lake, I hope she’s not angry with me, that was my loudest sound to date. The massive otter crashes through the trees staring down the humans as she does. The guide does his best to get everyone to pull back to the edge of the clearing away from Marshal’s bulk as she continues to glare at them with open hostility before she turns to me.

As she begins to step closer I see her hostility replaced with concern before she bends down to fit her face in the door. “You okay? That was pretty damned loud, what you did.” She asks me. I am so glad she’s just concerned for me, she’s nice but also scary.

“Yeah, I just wanted them all to stay out, so when one of them decided to push it I just… kept increasing the volume. I’m sorry if I-” I get out before she waves a massive hand.

“Naw, you held your ground, just shocked me is all. I didn’t think they’d push someone spooky like you.” She looks behind herself for a moment and I see some of the people taking pictures before she looks back at me. “This’ll only last about the season, so don’t worry too much. Just don’t let them push you around, maybe focus the sound more next time though, okay?” I nod, and she smiles and nods back before giving the crowd one last glare and stomping off.

“Oh Sinnoh,” I hear the guide say as Marshal disappears back down the path. Then he looks at me with fear, “No wonder the rangers put it off limits if she’s visiting.” Oh? Is Marshal well-known around here? I guess that makes sense, all the pokemon around here seem to know her, so the humans knowing about her isn't all that surprising. "A- Ah, Yes Ms. Hale?" Says the guide, pulling my attention back to them.

The teen from earlier lowers her hand and asks, “Can we ask the pokemon to take pictures with us?”

That seems to throw the guide off for a second, as he thinks for a moment. "Yes, though if you mean the misdreavus please remain out of the building, and if it begins warning you, back away immediately." He says. At least she's not being impolite.

“Um, excuse me Ms. Misdreavus, would you mind taking a photo with me?” The girl asks, taking a step closer. I do think about it, but I’m not in the mood after everything else. Also, she called me Ms. Misdreavus, so I simply continue to stare at her until she takes it for the denial it is. “Okay, thanks anyway.” She says, stepping back closer to the group.

I continue to watch them mill about for a few minutes before I hear a somewhat familiar pounding of feet. Seconds later two… dotrio? No, dodrio. Two dodrio wearing saddles and carrying two humans and two pokemon, two of whom I recognize as Onaga and Sneasel, and the other two being a tanned, brown-haired man wearing a red 'Ranger' uniform and a piplup on his shoulder, come to a stop at the edge of the clearing. Damn, those are big birds. The woman, Onaga, hops down and walks to where Guy-Number-Five is sitting and inspects him a moment, Sneasel following behind.

“Sonic attack?” She asks the guide, who shakes his head.

“I don’t think it was an attack, damned loud though.” He looks down at the man for a second before continuing, “The misdreavus started with a warning, probably still was in the warning phase, he just ignored it.”

“Wow, they did that with a warning?” Comments Sneasel. “Nice.”

Onaga shakes her head and gestures to the dodrio, "Can you help get him saddled up? I need to put the signs in." After the guide's nod, she proceeds to grab, well, two signposts, with signs, and a fence post driver from the saddle. Then she walks over to me. "I assume you won't mind the signs since they should keep some people away, but I need to ask anyway. Are you okay with me installing them?" She asks. I don't even need to think about it, I just nod. "Good this is going to take a bit, but I doubt you mind some noise." She says with a smirk that Sneasel mirrors. Oh, uh… just how loud was I?

As Onaga starts looking for the best spots to put the signs, Sneasel walks up to me. "Were they genuinely being that bad?" She asks, looking over the small crowd.

"They re-broke my mirror, further ruined my couch, carved things into the walls, tossed trash around, and that one was talking shit about me," I say defensively.

“Yeah, they deserved it then.” She agrees easily. “Was that really meant to be a warning? We heard it at the base.”

I’m not sure myself, and I say as much, “I don’t know, I kind of just kept pushing it. I was… maybe a little mad at the guy for breaking my mirror after I just fixed it.”

She considers that for a second. “Yeah, okay then. Has Marshal been teaching you secret alpha tricks?” She asks teasingly. Alpha? Well, I guess everyone does seem to defer to her.

“Naw,” I say, doing my best impression of the giant. “She has made some comments though…”

Sneasel snorts at my impression before nodding, “Listen to her. She’s old, you know, like, older than most of the trees, old.” She says.

That… I remember her saying she'd been around a while. But older than the forest? "Really?" I ask.

Sneasel nods again, “Yeah, Ryuko’s got pictures of her when she was young, whole fields of nothing but stumps.” She shivers, “It’s horrifying.”

Oh. That does sound bad, especially considering how alive everything is right now. Why would all that clear-cutting happen here? I've been seriously considering flying to one of the cities I can see since Sneasel told me about the absence of trainers here, maybe I should do that soon, see the people of this world firsthand.

Well, the ones that aren’t over-privileged tourists, I mean.

“You okay?” Sneasel pokes me out of my thoughts. “You looked a bit distant.”

“Yeah, just thinking about the forest and humans," I tell her. Wait a moment… "Ryuko?" I ask.

"Ah," Sneasel says, looking at her partner. "That's her name, Onaga Ryuko, Don't call her Ryuko without her permission," She says, tone dead serious.

Wow, Japanese naming, okay. "I won't, sorry," I say. Sneasel nods.

"There we go!" calls Onaga as she tightens the last bolt on the back of a sign. Damn, that was fast, she doesn't even look winded.

"Gotta go," Sneasel tells me as she starts walking towards the ranger. "See you at some point Smokey, though don't be shocked if I've changed a bit."

Looking around, it’s just the three of us now and Onaga and Sneasel are starting to walk down the path to the lake. Deciding to take a look at the signs I float out and inspect them. Yep, same as the sign near Marshal’s grove. Retro-reflective surface with a bright red warning symbol, text in three languages I can’t read, and a skull. And now with what Marshal told me, the skull makes sense. ‘Danger, do not anger the animal that can kill you with its voice.’

And I really could have killed him, my instincts are telling me that the sound was completely unfocused and I could have put even more power behind it. Fuck that’s a little terrifying.

Moving back inside I look at my ‘couch’. Maybe I should see how well Marshal’s Miracle Glue works on wood? It’s a project at least.

God, I hope those signs stop most people.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼

“Marshal, please put the poor man down," Ryuko says. But why should I? He saw the sign, he heard my warning, he heard the other human’s warning, and he kept walking anyway.

“But look at the funny face he’s making Ryu!” I say to her, but by the look on her own face, she's not budging. Even if Sneasel is laughing so hard she can't breathe.

“The man knowingly ignored a legal warning, and if I wasn’t here you could do what you want with him. But since I am here I have a duty to arrest him and get him back to Vientown.” She explains calmly. Which I understand, human laws for humans. Oh but look at him, he’s turning purple.

"Marsh," Ryuko says pleadingly. "I'd rather not have to file the stupid-man-got-what-he-deserved papers this year, please, for me?" Now that made his face even funnier, look at his eyes!

Has this been going long enough for the rest of them to get the general idea? Hmm… probably. “Fine,” I say, dropping the human. “For you.”

“Oh- Oh, his face.” Chokes out Sneasel. She knows good entertainment when she sees it.

“U- Um, M- Ms. Marshal?” Says a timid voice. I turn to see a tiny young human looking up at me, fear and wonder in equal measure in her eyes. “Wo- Would you please take a ph- photo with me?” I glance back to Ryuko, who shrugs, so I look back at the small human. Well now, she’s being polite and adorable, how could I say no? So I nod. “Oh th- thank you!” She says, handing a human contraption to a similar seeming human—likely her father—before she starts carefully moving towards me.

As the child’s doing that, the human I’d been holding by the throat tries to make a run for it. That goes about as well for him as picking some berries did earlier, since Ryuko has him down on the ground and restrained in an instant.

"And there's fleeing custody." Ryuko sighs. "Katie, we need a detainment runner at Marshal’s Grove.” She says to the talking-box before turning to the ostensible guide of these tourists. “I think I’ll hang around, Rich, just to make sure there’s no more issues for you, yeah?" The green-furred human nods, clearly trying not to smile in relief.

“Oh, uh, wow.” Says the human child, now having reached me. “you’re big.”

“Well thank you kindly!” I say. Aw, her eyes go real wide at that.

There’s a clacking sound and we both look up to see her father messing with the ‘photo’ device. “D- Dad!” She cries, going red, “I wasn’t ready.”

"We can take one when you are, but that was just too cute a moment to pass up." He says, smiling warmly. Ah the joys of embarrassing one's children, you don't let others do it, but sometimes it's just too good to pass up.

Looking at the gathered humans, my thoughts drift.

I need to keep these humans away from Buizel, even if he's nearly grown. And the kid…

I hope Charlie’s okay, kid needed longer to settle in before the humans arrived this year. But you can’t control time. Wheel, but they got loud though, they probably weren’t putting any focus on it to try not to hurt one of them too bad, and they still hurt a human.

Why the humans all don’t do whatever the rangers do is beyond me, they’re all so soft and delicate. I barely had to hold that one to choke him, if he’d been a ranger I would have needed to squeeze a little at least, and most of them would have been able to slip out as well. Though none of them are stupid enough for it to get to that point, thankfully.

Ah, they all want my attention now. …Mmm, No. I think I’ll let the one human finish and then go back to playing with Buizel. Let Ryuko handle them now.

▲▲▲

▼▼▼

I am, apparently, already an attraction.

“Sir, this has nothing to do with your country of origin. We’ve been given clear instructions that no one is allowed to enter the misdreavus’ home. It has already injured one person who did, and we would prefer if that were all." Says the pink-haired, lanky, seven-foot woman guiding this group. “I can assure you that, under Almia law, those signs constitute a legal warning.”

“Nonsense, and in any case, if someone was hurt it was because they failed to earn the pokemon’s respect.” Replies the man who looks like he stepped right out of a cartoon mocking the British elite, curly mustache and all.

This has been going on for the last few minutes, and I'm pretty sure the man is more concerned with 'winning' the argument than actually entering my cabin at this point. The rest of the tourist group is looking less and less comfortable as time goes on.

“Now, I believe I can demonstrate-” The caricature continues, but I’ve decided I’ve had enough.

I try to follow a bit of Marshal’s earlier advice and focus my voice, pitching it low, “Just stop. You’re already annoying enough.” God damn does that get a reaction. My voice came out deep, and while it did slightly shake some of the closer trees I don’t think it traveled much farther. Huh, that stuck too…

Are they Moves? What I just did only changed my voice.

“And that,” Says the pink-haired giant, having recovered the fastest, "Was a very clear warning to not even try to enter.”

“What in Giratina’s name was that sound?” Asks the annoying man, clearly not listening.

The guide rolls her eyes before sighing and taking a few deep breaths. “Again, Sir, that was a warning, a threat. I’m not sure how much clearer the pokemon can be that they don’t want anyone in their home.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a pokemon act like that. Are you certain it doesn’t need aid?” The man asks, a hint of derision in his tone.

“Again, 'Mister' Albain, This. Isn't. Galar." The woman isn't hiding her disdain for the man anymore, "And these are not acclimated pokemon. If you continue to ignore my advice then the best you can hope for is to be arrested. More likely, is that the misdreavus decides to simply kill you for entering their den, especially as the Rangers have informed us that most ghost-types seem to be unstable.” She finishes growling out.

“Now see here young lady,” The man begins to wind up. “Such a lack of respect for-” Yeah, he definitely stopped caring about actually entering my cabin. And I’ve stopped caring about this conversation.

I’m pretty sure floating out there and making him just shut up already is out of the question, so I’m going to wait for him to inevitably enter my cabin to prove his ‘point’. Whatever he thinks it is.

It doesn’t take much longer, the rest of the group now looking on with a mixture of horror and fascination save for the guide, she just looks resigned.

As the wanna-be lord enters my front door, he starts talking, “Now-” Is all he manages before I gently wrap two arms around his neck and place another two on his shoulders.

Putting my face right in his, I start, “Look, you’re the second asshole to test me today, and I’m suddenly realizing why Marshal told me to just kill people who kept annoying me. So I’m going to tell you to leave, and if you don’t I’m going to see how far I can throw you. Okay?” I tell him in the same low, focused voice I used earlier, though quieter. Before pushing him out the door and assuming what I’m fairly certain is my scariest look, all seven arms spread out.

He takes the hint, coughing and straightening himself before contritely walking back to join the group. The guide-woman gives me a smirk as she says something into her radio, and then starts leading the whole group out of my clearing.

This is going to be my whole day, isn’t it?