Character #2: Inka
Since I haven't touched this in a good while, I mean really more than
enough time, am bringing a second character to the fray.
Here I will be more formally introducing
Inka, my ;031; Nidoqueen who guest starred in "
Built for Risk". You might also already seen her as that Nidorina in "
Silly human, romance is for Nidoran~", too. She's a strongly featuring character of mine elsewhere.
POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING - Depending on what questions are asked to the character there might be spoilers for the upcoming story "
Interim".
As per usual, presented in a kind of CYOA / in-universe way.
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For this interview you find yourself somewhere in the middle of a forest on a calm day of insert-your-favourite-month-here, the canopies blocking some of the sunlight or the rain, depending on the season.
How you got this deep into the forest without upsetting any of its inhabitants – Pokémon who mostly keep to themselves and do not intervene in affairs such as meeting humans and going into training, and who have been on their own wars of wild-versus-wild for a time already – might have been a combination of provable good intent and sheer luck.
As for your prize, you have been brought to a small, well protected area of the forest where you will meet one of the strongest Pokémon in this land, and you can perceive the presence and movement of many Pokémon around, watching you as you attend to this special event. There's everything from the common Zigzagoon and Spearow to one or two Ursaring and Ariados.
There's also a veritable amount of Nidoran who have also come here to get a glimpse of the figure they see as leader of their kind.
You are then brought to her presence:
a fierce Nidoqueen wearing some items of equipment just stands there a couple feet up a slope. While royal Nidoran evolutions are not as large or imposing as other highest evolutions like Aggron, this Nidoqueen makes very clear with her calculated movement, the scars in her arms and chest, and her careful watch over her surroundings that several years of experience back her up in case her meet up unveils ill intent. Not even the Ursaring who have surrounded or watched you will come closer to her than a certain distance, so now you stand before her on your own.
That she is holding a Water Gem close by, ready to use, and is wearing a makeshift pauldron of what at this distance seem to be the
scales of one if not more Garchomp... might not really help matters.
She has accepted your presence and lent you an ear - a very big one - at least, so now it's your move.
"
Hmmm... well... miss...", you begin. "
How would you introduce yourself to a stranger?"
The Nidoqueen in question squints at you for a moment then assumes a more relaxed position. "I'm Inka," she then mutters, in a dry but energetic voice.
...
...
A moment passes. She flickers her ears as if trying to confirm that you have heard what she had to say. You wonder if she might not fully understand, perhaps, the extent of your question.
She seems to perceive your hesitation and her ears drop for a moment.
"...To a stranger. Those who come from so far away? I'm still Inka." She moves a bit down the slope and closer to you. "I was once a
roo... a kit like the ones who roam around here, then I became a Starter, long ago." She prompts you to look around, to the lively presence of Pokémon you can hear but not see. "My Trainer and our team were once the head guard of many of his kind. Now I am the head guard of the lives of this forest, of thousand kittens, and the one who rules over their elders and fights the threats away."
As if to clear any pending questions on the matter decisively, she then darts a bit closer to you and stands besides a nearby tree. She speaks in a higher voice this time.
"Your kind calls my entire evolutionary stage 'Nidoqueen', said my Trainer, but here, for the Pokémon living here, you'll do good to call me just
queen. Sovereign."
That seems to confirm the information you might have gotten in the past. So you continue.
"
Where do you live?" do you ask.
You have to meet her brief accusing stare with a firm one. Yes, it
might be obvious that she lives 'here' but that's abstract, and it is not you who came up with the questions - or at least that is the story you will be sticking to. Besides, a bit of specificity might come in handy, even better if there is a tale behind it.
"I live not in this part of the forest," she answers with her dry voice back as she smiles a bit, "if that's what you are wondering. My kind, my evolutionary stage, we are made rough... we prefer the floors and sides of the mountains, so..."
She seems to think for a moment, she looks up to the canopies covering the forest and for a moment seems to track the sun, or the stars, depending on the time of the day. Then she leans back for a moment and points one of her arms to the north.
"There are some caves in that direction. They are dry and safe. There those with my strength are not a danger for the forest we protect." She waits for a moment. "I sleep there, eat there...work here," she concludes with a nod.
You have taken notice that for the time being, she stands alone. You have for good information that royal evolutions are unlikely to be alone in the wild - the Nidoran evolutionary line is not an historical symbol of love and romance for nothing. So you ask next, "
What's your family like? Where are they?"
She turns to you and leaves a degree of understanding the purpose of the question visible in her eyes.
"My blood and that of my
émar... my mate, it runs in the veins of many," she answers. "Hiding among the many-more even as we speak. Years of... work," she stresses the last word with a gesture not much unlike a wink, "for offspring." She hunches over and seems to concentrate for a moment, thinking of the past . "One the first, then five, then three... many litters, many kittens. Twenty and more, already going out to spread," she adds proudly.
You take a look around. She has certainly mentioned him, and in theory they should be together, but you have not seen hints of a Nidoking's presence anywhere, at least not yet: trees are healthily standing in their places, free of marks or tears that are not those of an Ursaring, and the soil around the place does not look to be removed. Inka seems to track your eyes for a moment, then thumps on the ground to call for your attention.
"Do not seek for them," she commands in a gruff voice. "Here you are stranger, and there's deeper into the forest than this. You are allowed to come only this far."
You decide it might be wise to drop the subject until you can make her feel more comfortable about it. So you jump to the next question.
"
What do you want to do with your life? What have you done?" you ask, stressing the note of how old and experienced the Nidoqueen seems to be. "
How does what you're doing now relate to that?"
To the first part of your question the Nidoqueen already has a welcoming answer. Her features seem to light up as she stands more upright once again, and she takes calm breathes for a moment as if savoring the forest.
"Life..." she mutters as her voice falls softer. She seems to struggle in her own mind for a moment as if trying to sort out her answer. "It has come and gone. Badges... grandkittens... that kind of things, do come," she adds as she stares to the ground for a moment. Then she stares back at you. "Life prizes I already got. Trainer made me strong. Ancient ritual made me glorious. I came back... home. Blood and kittens."
Her stare then suddenly becomes an accusing one again, and her voice grows coarser. "But forest is not safe. Kittens are not safe. I want to see it safe, again, from the white wings and the melody of death. Trainer taught me how to fight," she adds, exposing the Water Gem for a moment, "how to rule. I fight. I rule."
You nod as you catch the clear intent and reminder behind her statement. "
What's your most unusual trait?" you ask next, trying to sway the conversation from the trend of Pokémon battle to something more personal and identifying.
She flickers he ears at the word 'trait' and seems to think over it. You wonder if you might have to explain what the word means, not all Pokémon have a grasp of abstract concepts or the nuances behind the words used to describe them. Whatever motion you made to continue speaking, before you can do anything more she thumps on the ground with her foot, once again calling you into order.
"Unusual? Maybe I can describe. Trainer said we would be good when we would be unique." She suddenly steps back, further up the slope, and you can sense some of the Pokémon surrounding the place getting nervous and trying to make their away from the place. "He taught us unique, if that is what you mean," she adds. "Techniques, tutors... but also understanding. How humans work. How Pokémon work. We live and think by ourselves when Trainer is not around, and thanks to that now I rule Sovereign of this land."
Inka then stretches her arms and breathes hard for a moment; the gesture catches you a bit off-guard, but you can see no further aggressive gesture from the Nidoqueen.
However, as she tenses her body, a sense of foreboding reaches at you. You can sense the forest and the ground begin rustling. If you brought a Pokémon with you, he or she would sense a large amount of Ground-type energy being drained from the soil and the rocks around and building up - but even if it makes you nervous that small bits of dirt are starting to move all around you and that the trees are shaking, you can tell from the Nidoqueen's tone that she means no ill intent, but rather something closer to a demonstration.
"You asked what made us
unusual," she reminds you. "I was taught to fight other Pokémon... and to fight humans and nature as well."
The shaking of the ground is softer now but you can sense in the shift of your body's balance that the soil itself behaves as if it was being pulled as a rug into a whirl around the Nidoqueen, and you struggle for a moment to secure your feet.
"Threats come from everywhere, Trainer said, even from those whose intention is to learn and be friendly, like you." She then points to the bag that you apparently happen to be bringing by your side. "Your vehicles, your machines, your cages for us or for your own kind, all I have bested. If you want to risk it and learn how I am unique," she then suggests, making herself clear above the noise of rustling branches and leaves, "I can demonstrate later."
You take note of that as Inka lowers her arms and resumes a calmer posture; the Ground-type dispels and the forest once again falls back into its normal kind of silence.
"
So... uhm, if one were to, say, want to threaten you..." you ask next, hoping that risking continuing this line of conversation is worth its reward, "
what's a sure way to make you angry?"
At this Inka falls silent for a moment. She then slowly moves down the hill making her way around you, until she stands some distance away at about your own eye level.
"Living creatures are good at harm. Never stop being threatening." Her eyes focus on you and her body tenses. "Always came harm to our team or to this forest. But there's the worst of your kind, humans..." She clenches her fists. "Hunting our kind, or hunting your own. Poachers, vigilantes, whatever you call them. Not thinking of fighting fair, not thinking of the harm. Not letting anyone be safe – not kittens, not Trainer..."
She marks her next statement with an almost feral growl. "But rest assured... I had to learn to fight
those off too."
For the next question you decide to change subjects a little. "
What's your biggest accomplishment?"
"You and your kind teach us to seek glory," she answers, gesturing to show you around. "If you want our accomplishments, you can just look at what we become under your guidance."
"Since many moons ago this forest has suffered under the white wings and the melody of death followed by claws and fangs that take you to your end. They had grown unruly, uncontrollable beyond their role in nature... my kind and others faced the bitter end."
She then steps forward, invading more of your personal space as she strafes around you. "When we fought back and their leaders came... the strongest, the ones
they call elder to their own kin? I and others have fought them back. And when your kind and your poachers come to feast on the losers? I fought them back too. They dare cross into these lands no longer. That is what I am under the guidance of a human, see."
You try your next question. "
What decision do you most regret?"
Inka circles around you for a moment then walks away, closer to some trees. As you follow her a short distance she turns around.
"I think, sometimes, that this world has made me old. Many things I would have loved to do when I was younger, but I was bound as a Starter, and our team was in danger. Getting to know my home, finding a mate... all things that started when I was already old. I miss maybe having had something more definitive than
a fling or two when I was young."
"
I see... And what do you think is the most important thing for other people to understand about you?"
Inka steps away and resumes her place at higher ground. "That no matter if you are human or Pokémon, it is your world that made me, us, like this. Strong. Reliable. That the same reasons why you call us evil and dangerous are why you seek our help and be friends with us. And that what we have learned, we do pass down."
"
One question and we can finish for now while I take notes. If you could change just one thing about yourself, what would it be?"
She seems to blush for a moment, and rubs her feet on the ground. Then she stares sternly at you. "Youth. For me and
émar be young and lively with more kittens again."
Given that answer, you decide it is best to give the interview a short break.
"
I have a question for this Pokémon called Oth though." Inka seems to fumble with her thoughts a little. "The life you speak of... seems to be one of war, and at the same time it seems to have made you into what you are. So... how much will (or did) you accept or refuse, when time comes for someone to end this war?"
And with that she goes to rest under a tree.
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EDIT: official character artwork by autobottesla.