Chapter Text
Skyfish couldn't talk.
Of course, she knew all the sounds friends made and was perfectly capable of understanding others. But no matter what she tried she couldn't produce the same sounds.
When she was first born, she simply traveled around on her own, sometimes getting spotted by Friends or even a human. But once it became clear she didn't have a voice, she slowly got tired of playing charades with everyone she met and became more and more reclusive.
Nothing caught her attention anymore. The most fun thing she did was fly as fast as she could (very, very fast, she had thought proudly to herself) until she was exhausted.
Most days Skyfish floated aimlessly above everyone, looking at the changing scenery and groups of Friends as she traveled throughout the Park, only dropping down from time to time to grab a Japari Bun, or perhaps some fruit off a tree. (Buns were tasty, of course, but all the special flavours came from the humans and as such, required interacting with others.)
One day, Skyfish had spotted some unusual structures she had never seen before. Certainly something built by humans, but she didn't know the name. She dropped down to the ground, looking up at the tall cave-like things. If she turned around, she could see the simple (buildings, she later learnt) turn into smaller but more decorated ones.
Lots of the pathways were blocked off by orange cones and yellow tape, with signs she couldn't read. But Skyfish was undeterred and simply floated above them.
Then she heard a shout.
"Hey, we're doing repairs over here! You need to stay away for a while," a human in a bright vest had shouted, "until we can make sure everything is safe again."
Around the buildings were all sorts of strange devices she hadn't seen before. (Construction equipment, they called it when she had asked someone far later.)
Turning in a different direction, Skyfish looked for something else interesting.
A fair distance away, enough to make her hungry from the flying, she spotted a new building, one with a large field behind it with red tracks. Skyfish was once again intrigued, and landed in it.
Her tail barely brushed the tip of the grass, but it felt different from the wild grass she was used to. She crouched down and brushed her hands against it, feeling the rough texture. It certainly didn't smell like the grass outside of the human area.
While she was distracted, a group of humans had walked up behind her. She saw their shadows fall over her, and she jumped out of place, about to fly off again, before she heard their reassuring voices.
After a brief but one sided conversation, Skyfish had followed them inside. They explained that this was a place where new Friends came, particularly interesting (their exact words) ones, as well as where they tested fitness. All the while her mouth remained firmly shut.
They (now just two of them, the other humans had left to go do something she hadn't paid attention to) sat down in a small room. And then the questioning started.
"We've heard about you from some rangers in the safari area. Nobody expected you to turn up here, though!" He had laughed at his own words, rubbing his neck a little while a clipboard was in his other hand. "You don't have to stay for long, but we like to know about the Friends that are born in Japari Park. Do you know what your name is?"
What a strangely worded question. "Skyfish," she told him, hoping that for once someone had understood.
But all she got in return was a blank look. He cleared his throat and looked away awkwardly, but then wrote something down.
"Right..." he continued, "Do you mind if we do some tests on you? Every Friend is unique, so it's in our interests to gather information."
She had shaken her head and ran out of the building and away from all the humans before anyone could say otherwise.
Now, Skyfish was once again alone in her own world.
Until she was snapped out of it by a rumble in the distance. While she was idling, stuck in thoughts of who knows what, the skies had become the darkest shade of grey she had ever seen them in.
Without warning, a few small drops of water had turns into sheets of rain pouring, with a spectacular light show courtesy of the sudden lightning.
The tree Skyfish was in hadn't provided much cover. She felt the rain hit her face, as it soaked her clothes and hair.
After a while of searching, with the rain only growing stronger, she had spotted a cave. Skyfish had actually cried out in delight, breaking her silence for the first time since she left the humans. She rushed into the cave, finally eager to get some cover -
- and flew face first into something that, while not exactly soft, wasn't a rock. Whatever - whoever - she collided with let out a grunt of pain.
"Good grief..." it, she, said, pushing Skyfish off of her easily. "Don't you know not to invade other people's caves?"
Skyfish let out a meaningless whistle at that. The other girl huffed and shuffled away. The cave's natural lack of light and the darkness from the storm made it impossible to make out any features on her.
"...If you're going to be stuck here, at least tell me your name."
Nobody had understood her name before, but she tried anyway. "My name is Skyfish. I'm sorry for hitting you so hard."
"Skyfish? I've never heard of a Friend like that... Not like I'd care..." She mumbled something else under her breath, but Skyfish was caught up in the surprise of someone actually responding to her.
"You can understand me? Nobody else has before!" Skyfish climbed closer to the other girl, not paying attention to her movements. "That's amazing! I've been on my own this whole time!"
Now that Skyfish was closer, she could make out short blue hair and blue eyes. "Huh? You sound weird, but sure." The blue-haired girl - it was nice to know something about her sudden companion - shook her head. "Alone? I get that... Not that I care, it's natural for me to be elusive."
Skyfish squeaked a questioning noise. "You don't care about a lot. And you never told me your name."
"I don't talk to anyone. There's nothing and nobody to care about," she huffed, "and my name is Tsuchinoko. It's nice to meet you... or whatever."
Skyfish smiled, even if she wasn't sure that Tsuchinoko could see it. The rain had lightened up - just a bit - but it was still hard to make her figure out with her brown clothes. But something stood out. "Hey, we have something in common..."
"Huh?"
Skyfish tugged on the pink ribbon she could see on Tsuchinoko, then held out her own blue ribbon on her dress. "We both have ribbons! Isn't that nice?"
She could barely make out Tsuchinoko raising her eyebrow, before pushing Skyfish's hand away from her and staring distantly into the rain. Skyfish too turned back to the cave entrance, her smile now gone.
The rain slowly let up as they both stared outside in awkward silence. It had retreated into nothing but a light drizzle when Tsuchinoko broke the silence.
"There's... something else we have in common..." Her voice was quiet, as if saying nice things was foreign to her. But Skyfish chirped an encouragement. "I don't think a skyfish is a real animal, but neither are tsuchinokos... or that's what some people think." Tsuchinoko laughed, for a second, but coughed to cover up the noise.
As the clouds cleared, Skyfish smiled.
Because she had finally found a friend, no matter how much Tsuchinoko wanted to dispute it.