Breaking the Silence

Blake walked around the Union with her hands buried in her pockets. The world felt so muffled without her cat ears to help her pick up on sounds. She really wasn't sure how humans dealt with this all the time. She was so used to picking up on ultrasonic noises like the ringtones she used on her phone. But she no longer had that... She'd been pushed out of Chiole over the course of the coup and forced to seek refuge with the Time Witch for a while. It was so frustrating... She served as a knight for her king and queen, the venerable Rose family. They treated their Faunus well there unlike so many others. Though Queen Summer was a fair queen, that nasty bitch Cinder Fall had attempted to steal the throne, resulting in a years-long war and the queen going into hiding. She growled a bit and sighed. What was she supposed to do here? It wasn't like she had any formal education or anything along those lines. She couldn't do anything here. And to be expected to watch after that human girl... She wasn't a fucking babysitter. She didn't understand how to treat someone that had been through what Weiss had. She'd been with the Time Witch for about two weeks until the woman had sent her here. Her thoughts got interrupted and she growled when someone accidentally knocked into her. "Watch where you're going!" she snapped, then froze. Wait. That was… "Oh, sorry! I guess I was a little distracted. I'm trying to head out for a Mission!" The blonde was far too familiar to her. She was one of the princesses of the royal family. But... She didn't act or speak like the princess she was familiar with. The king had brought Princess Xiao Long after his first failed marriage. "Oh. Uh. It was my bad, I think." She couldn't shake the startle that had given her. Yang grinned then hurried off. The Time Witch had warned her that something like this may happen, but she hadn't expected it to. One of her princesses... A lowly officer of sorts? What could she possibly be doing here that would necessitate her working? Yes, running a kingdom was work, but not work like this. She just... Her mind spun a bit. She shook her head and continued on, heading outside. She knew not to venture too far since she didn't know these forests, but she needed a breath of fresh air. She found her way to an area where a green-haired woman stood with a massive bird, running the bird through some sort of paces in the sky. There was some clear area between the building and the forest, but not a whole lot. Blake stood, observing, until the green-haired woman seemed to sense her and turned around. "Who're you?" We generally don't let civilians into the Union past the first floor." "I'm Blake. I'm Summer's guest." That was the easiest way to put it. "Ah, one of the pair from the other world?" Huh, word spread fast apparently. She couldn't really begin to register that. "Well, most of the Rangers around here are willing to help out if you need something, long as they aren't on a Mission. I'm in between, so whatcha need?" "What type of animal is that?" She looked at the massive bird that stood beside Wendy which was about as tall as she was. "Ah, so you don't have Pokmeon in your world? How about a bit of a crash course in some basics then It'll take a while, but I got time. I'm Wendy, by the way." Blake nodded and settled on the ground with Wendy doing the same. She started to talk about Pokemon and how they were one of the predominant forms of life on the planet along with humans. Most species were on par with humans in terms of intelligence, though not all were. Some well exceeded the average intellect of a human. There were numerous different types, though that didn't matter so much for Rangers as it did trainers. She outlined the different philosophies Rangers and trainers had and the massive cultural divide between them. There was a lot more to the lecture and Blake nodded, taking it all in as much as she possibly could. There was definitely a lot to learn. "So how would one go about becoming a Ranger or anything to do with it?" She needed something to do here. Just sitting around on her ass, twiddling her thumbs wasn't gonna do her any good. She was already bored. She was used to fighting for her freedom. She just... She really wanted to go back home already. But the good queen had gone into hiding, rendering a massive morale blow for those fighting against the coup... She wouldn't give up hope for her queen, but it was hard to completely stay enthused about the war. "Well, generally you have to go through two years at the Ranger Academy down near Chicole Village. There are a few exceptions made... But with your lack of knowledge, you'd pretty much be required to go through the Academy unless you can somehow memorise laws, procedurals, and such on your own. Apprenticeships aren't really a thing for Rangers. Do you have any pre-qualifications for being a Ranger, Mechanic, or Operator?" "I don't even know what goes into each." That was just the bare truth of the matter. "Well, Rangers are basically park rangers that do things like stop poaching and law enforcement. We act to both help and preserve nature as well as protect the people of the various regions that we work in. There are two different types of Rangers, but both are Union-affiliated. There are the Rangers that stay in Almia, Fiore, Oblivia, and Aryce who act as such. Then there are Trainer-region Rangers. Both go through the Academy, but the programs are different. Trainer-region Rangers are a Trainer class that work in the wilds to keep law and order and settle disputes between roaming Trainers should any of that pop up. Mechanics are people that work with repairing and maintaining Stylers and such. Operators are people who stay at the nearest Ranger Base and help out Rangers from the Base by analysing situations and offering them assistance should they need it. Do you have qualifications that could meet any of that?" Blake frowned and shook her head. "I was a royal guard to Her Majesty Queen Summer Rose, though I often looked at her adopted daughter, Her HIghness Yang Xiao Long. I'm not a tech buff or anything like that. My loyalty is to Her Majesty and Her Highness." But the queen had gone into hiding, rendering her unable to complete her duties. She had fought against the coup that General Ironwood had staged in an attempt to overthrow the Rose family. He supported a nasty man that wanted nothing more than the kingdom to fall into ruin and be abused for his own gain. Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Summer Rose and Yang Xiao Long, huh? Well... We have one crazy woman named Summer Rose who somehow covers all three jobs and it mostly just depends on her mood. She's a Rank Ten Ranger despite how she doesn't spend as much time in the field as others. She's exceptional, but due to her...questionable methods that veer away from Union-approved methodologies, she's not been able to attain the rank of Top Ranger. Her adopted daughter, Yang, is also a Ranger, and her biological daughter, Ruby Rose, is the brightest damn Mechanic we have." Blake's heart froze at all of this. The royal family was here? Yes, the Time Witch had warned her of the potential of alternates existing, but she hadn't expected to actually run into that... She wondered if Weiss would have anyone like that. But it made sense... The girl she saw... That was Yang, just...not the one she was used to. Gods, it would be so awkward to interact with Yang if they crossed paths again... She wouldn't know how to act. Same with Summer Rose. She was Her Majesty yet...not. It was hard to think of the shrewd queen in a role that dealt with commoners on a daily basis such as this. The Queen was exceptional and could master any topic she wanted to... She'd even built the first AI in the world's history just to prove she could. "I...I see..." It was going to be so hard to get over this. "What's a Top Ranger? "Basically the best of the best. They're hand-picked for excellence by the Union Chairperson. Currently, that's Summer Young whom you've already met. Before, it was the Union's founder, Chairperson Erma, but she's sadly passed at his point. Summer took over when Erma died. There have been more Top Rangers added since the rank was created, but Summer's still pretty stingy which is...understandable. Top Rangers only report to the Union Chairperson if they're in Almia. But in Fiore, they report to whatever Base Leader they're under. They basically operate without the same usual rules of a Ranger. I would know; I was one of the OGs." Wendy chuckled. "Still am. But I'm more about showing the ropes to newbies more than full-on Missions anymore." She tilted her head. "Honestly, if you wanted, I could help you with studying up. Are you more of a people person or not?" "Hm. Good question. I'm not used to interacting with a lot of people outside of a small circle... But I can be quite an effective communicator due to often helping teach the new guards how to act and observe etiquette and help the train. I'm often the last obstacle they face to see if they're worthy of becoming a personal guard to the royal family." She was only in her twenties, but that was just the way it was. She was one of the best, hands down. Nothing could really get past that. There was a reason she was elevated to look after the Queen herself… "Well, you could maybe be an Operator then. Since you look after your queen, I assume you know how to stay cool under pressure?" "Fairly well, yes. If I balked when danger approached, then I wouldn't have been put into the queen's personal guard." It still hurt to think that she might never see the queen again, at least wouldn't for quite a long time. There was nothing really Blake could do about it right now. She'd been forced on the run, a target for assassination by General Ironwood's coup attempt. Time would still pass in Vale which was beyond frustrating. She hated not knowing the destiny of the queen and her children. The general was a madman, a traitor among traitors. SHe couldn't believe the man that had seemed so loyal and understanding would attempt to usurp power. If only they had seen the warning signs. "Rangers need to stay cool under pressure as well as Operators. Mechanics less so. Are you technically inclined at all?" Blake shook her head. Technology was not her strong suit. She let people deal with that as they did. She knew how to care for her sword some of the time, but she really didn't understand all the inner workings of the plasma beam and everything. She just took it to the people who knew how to repair it when things happened. "All right then... Sounds like an Operator or even Ranger position might suit you well. If you feel up to it, we could probably start doing some tours around the area or something, let you get familiar with the lay of the land. Are you good in forests and such?" "I've learned a lot about survival and such, yes." Survival was part of training. Everyone that became part of the royal guard was pretty much required to go through two weeks of wilderness survival where they were forced to live off the land. She had entered the service young, so she got all the training and such that came with that position. Her mother was a member of the royal guard and her father was a diplomat. She could've chosen either path, but she was close to her princesses... They'd played together as children and she wanted to make sure Yang and Ruby were protected. Sadly... They had been forced into hiding and she wasn't sure where any of them were now. Her mother had retreated with the queen and now she had no idea where they were. "Well, that does make things somewhat easier. You can probably navigate by the stars and follow the sun and such, right?" Blake nodded though she frowned. "I don't know the stars and their seasonal patterns here. They won't be of much use to me if I get lost in the forest." That...was definitely a good point. She would have to add astronomy to her growing list of books to read while here. Along with the herblore and foragable plants of this planet. This was going to be a headache and a half. She just... Guh. She had no choice but to come to the Time Witch with how she'd been ruthlessly hunted down, but she still hated all of this. She had never not known conflict of some sort or at least had high tensions because of guarding the queen all the time. So to go from that to complete and absolute peace... Ugh. this was gonna be a pain in the ass. "Good point. Well, you'll have plenty of time to study them. Or, at least, I assume you do. How long are you going to be here?" Blake shrugged. "No idea honestly. Things were...tense in my world when I came over. Judging by Weiss' shape, things weren't much better in her world either." She was practically a walking skeleton. She has clearly been starved for quite some time. Even with her wearing body-covering clothes, her gaunt face and sunken eyes spoke to the horrors she'd been through. She'd heard General Ironwood also used torture... War and coups were nasty things. Why did they seem to be a universal? Would they happen here? She wasn't sure how much time had elapsed between the last wars here... Most worlds had only a matter of time until war broke out at some point. "Well, you'll have plenty of time to learn then. Rangers have to be on-call 24/7 pretty much, though Operators and Mechanics have shifts at least. Unless there's some major emergency and more need to be called in. So we'll have plenty of time to teach you. Depending on how things go, Summer may even let you bypass the Ranger Academy and just straight-up become an Operator if you decide to go that route. We can always use more people." "But not a Ranger." Wendy shook her head. "Like I said, that sorta thing for a Ranger is rare. One of our former finest bypassed but she had...very extenuating circumstances. Erma approved the bypass of usual channels. Summer can probably do the same thing here for an Operator but considering how she is, I doubt she'd let you bypass being a Ranger." Blake nodded. Well, she understood needing proper training and going through proper channels. That only made sense. She wasn't exactly looking for handouts in general. She just needed time to pass until she could return home. Hopefully Ironwood's coup would have calmed down or the queen's loyalists would have beaten the man back by time she returned… "Well, we might as well get started on a tour of the area," Blake said, standing up. "What is that bird next to you?" "Oh, this is my Partner Staraptor. I've been with her for years at this point." Wendy smiled and patted the bird's wing. "Just how intelligent are these creatures...?" "By and large, the same intelligence level as humans. There are some species that are, frankly, quite stupid, but most are at the same level if not exceeding that of humans." Blake felt like her ears should go down. She was no human. But... She touched her head. They weren't there anymore... She couldn't hear like she used to. It was so demeaning to be put down to the same level as humans... Yes, the queen and her children were humans but...they were special. Most humans were honestly kind of terrible. She hated it. She wanted her ears and far hearing back. "Something up?" "It's nothing." She sighed. "How can something be more intelligent than a human?" "Psychic types. That's how. Alakazam is one of the most intelligent Pokemon on the planet supposedly. I've never met one, but that's what scientists say. Though, on the opposite end of the spectrum is the Slowpoke line minus Slowking. Like their name suggests, they are beyond slow. How Murph deals with his, I will never understand." Wendy shook her head. Blake squinted. "Wait... Why is its name a pun?" Slowpoke for a mentally slow Pokemon. That felt...kind of offensive to her. "Most Pokemon are named after the sounds they make. It sounds like they say their own names, but it's the opposite; they're named after what they say most the time." She patted the Staraptor's wing again. "Right buddy?" "Star!" Well... That certainly was a thing. A Thing she wasn't used to. It made no sense that something would have a pun of a name... Star raptor... based on its claws, it was a predatory bird. A raptor. Yeesh. Apparently most of these things' names were puns of some sort. What a headache. She hated it. She really hated it. But what was she supposed to do about it? It was how these things were named. "Anyway, that tour...?" "Yeah!" Wendy patted her Staraptor's wing again and the bird took off for a few minutes, then came back with another Staraptor. "Try not to pull their feathers. The ones in Ranger regions are pretty tolerant of people riding on them, but pulling on feathers hurts for them. Just wrap your arms around their neck and it should be enough to balance you. Though, like any skill, it takes a while to master." Blake nodded a bit and watched Wendy get on her Staraptor, mimicking the movement. The massive bird unfurled its wings and, within a few strokes, they had hovered off the ground. This felt unsteady. So unsteady. Blake gritted her teeth but hung on as they soared high into the sky, brilliant blue with puffy white clouds.