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Curious Findings (17) : Maybe it’s got something to do with the weather, or the construction, or all the other general oddities that seem to occur in Destiny City, but for the first time in nearly fifty years, the historic tree in one of Downtown Destiny City’s parks has woken up. While the tree was known for being alive and growing despite a lengthy hibernation, this is the first year that it’s sprouted leaves–but that’s not all! The unique tree has now also started growing strange pods. Because of the trees legacy–and not at all because of the oddity–the area has been taped off, but that really hasn’t been enough to stop anyone curious enough to investigate. The tree itself is several feet wide and stands roughly fifty feet tall; it’s branches spread significantly and seem like they can hold a lot of weight–which is good, because the pods growing on it have a hard brown shell and can grow up to the size of a soccer ball.
Sometimes, the larger ones seem to tremble and shake in place. Maybe it's an animal trying to nibble? Maybe it’s just the wind? Maybe it’s something else. The pods can be pulled from the tree or collected from the ground; the shells are incredibly difficult to crack open, and some of them leak a strange, acidic sap that is strong enough to cause skin agitation–and in some cases there are even reports that it’s burned through wood or fabric.
Sometimes, the healthier looking pods that aren’t leaking anything even seem to shake on their own, which is a mystery in itself. Another mystery is why Almadel seems so keen to trade for them…


It happened while she was on her way to capture new bugs of the day when she came across a historic tree in a Downtown Destiny City park. It was massive and for once, it was not naked! Now it was covered by an intense amount of foliage, but that’s not all! The tree happened to have strange pods. Wait, what?

First of all, Satori, or Sato for short was no stranger to trees. Even to strange and bizarre trees. Or trees that were quite threatening and unfriendly. So today, coming across yet another remarkable tree with strange pods was not as strange as it could be. Maybe.

Regardless, she made a faint sound of disgust, and her face wrinkled at the sight of the curious pods. The pods were of various sizes, but they didn’t look particularly remarkable at a glance. However, they were doing quite strange. Something she couldn't easily forget after today.

The pods nearest to her shook and trembled before her. And apart from the pods still hung on the tree for fear of life or sunlight, some were on the ground. Actually, not some, but more than a few. They were scattered around the tree, its wide branches shielding it from the rays. Some pods were as large as the balls she and her classmates played with at school and P.E. Some were small enough… as small as tennis or golf balls, even?

Despite feeling somewhat repulsed over this strange event, she couldn’t resist taking a step or two closer to inspect them personally. If it comes down to it, she could transform into her senshi form and take a hike far from the tree and then warn her twin about it. Wait, maaaybe she should keep this story to herself. Better avoid a tearful whiny reprimand from her twin Nemu, who would definitely give her an earful over how dangerous and silly that spontaneous endeavor of Sato’s was. It wasn’t new, but it was no less a bit bothersome. Oh, and never mind the safety boundary tape that was meant to keep very curious visitors like her from approaching too close to it.

Still, cowardly and silently stepping away from the scene was not a part of her usual manner of doing things. She crept closer bit by bit until she saw some smaller ones. They quivered as she drew closer. Armed with a slender taut and smooth stick she picked up along the way, she proceeded to poke the smaller pod nearest to her. The one that seemed fully intact and not at all explosive with who knows what. At first, it quivered slowly, and then it vibrated a bit at a quick pace before settling into place.

“How strange!” she softly spoke to herself, brow furrowed as she poked it once more. “I wonder if it’s some kind of weird alien plant or an egg of a sort? Wait... it’s plant-like.. there’s no way it could be eggs…”

Sato briefly pondered to herself for a moment in silence before concluding that pocketing even a small rare historic tree pod shouldn’t cause any harm.

“Eh… what could go wrong?” Sato softly spoke to herself as she pocketed a small intact pod into her bug catch container and retreated back over the boundary tape carefully. Hopefully, no one saw her sneak beyond the tape... it was just a few steps inward, she'd insist.

After all, if such a historic tree remained well-preserved in Downtown Destiny City for eons, it surely wouldn’t spawn pods that could explode, right? Moreover, the marvelous item could be of interest to her mentor Lepus or even guardian cat Rune may have an inkling of what it may be. Regardless, at worse, she could purge it somewhere away from civilization and pretend that it never ever happened.