A tale of Humans and Hybrids

Chapter 9

A day passes, then another and soon it was two weeks. Two weeks of Techno, an ex hunter who has killed countless hybrids and monsters, living with said hybrids in a sanctuary he was not allowed to leave.

The hybrids slowly grew used to seeing Techno walk around with Phil and stopped hiding or glaring whenever he was near them. Well, most of them did. The Phantom, Wilbur, and the Enderman, Ranboo, still didn't like him much and even went as far as purposefully drag Phil away from the human whenever they could. Even his winged friend had no idea why they were doing it to this extreme.

Techno also figured out that Phil could indeed speak Enderspeak, but it was difficult for him to talk without chirping or trilling. He blames it on spending so much time with his crows, as usual, but tried to teach Techno anyways. It's a useful skill to have, as Enderspeak is something every hybrid understands but only a few can talk back in it.

That's something that fascinated Techno the most. Almost every hybrid spoke in a different language, yet the all can understand each other just fine. He had no idea how they were doing it, but it only made him try harder to learn at least one of those languages. That way he could talk for himself and doesn't have to depend on Phil or Scott to translate for him.

Alright, they still have to translate what the others are saying, but at least he can talk back then!

Phil assured him that Enderspeak was the easiest to learn for a human, as most of the other languages were just sounds like chirps, groans or even buzzing. Yeah... no idea how they can all understand each other. It is possible to learn all the other languages too, but he won't be able to talk back in those. Useful still, but harder to learn. So for now, only Enderspeak until he was confident enough to try another one.

Techno had also learned what type of languages exists and how they spread across all three dimensions. The End and the Nether were the easiest. The End only has Enderspeak, which sounds a bit different depending on what species you talk with, but the basic grammar and vocabulary is the same. The Nether is similar to that. They have Netherspeak, as Phil put it, as a universal language that everyone can speak and then different sub-languages depending on the species. Like Blazes have a different language than Piglins.

The Overworld was where it got complicated, as there is no direct universal language. It all just fell apart into the many different ones after humans decided on hunting them all down. But it led to the other two, Enderspeak and Netherspeak, to become somewhat universal here too, so it was easier for hybrids to communicate and protect each other.

The human had been so fascinated by all these different languages and how they were divided that he had stayed up all night with Phil, going through books and some of Phil's personal journals to learn more and get a glimpse of how complicated it will be to learn them.

Turns out, not at all. In two weeks, which is basically no time at all, he managed to learn an entire language. A new record, probably, but he was so fucking proud of it.

He was much faster in learning how to write than speak, but it was a start. At the end of the first week, including three almost all-nighters, Techno could write in Enderspeak almost error-free.

Now at the end of the second week, he was still struggling a little with pronouncing some words, but he was able to hold entire conversations with his winged friend in said language. Phil was happy to get some practice in as well, since it helped with reducing his chirps and trills to where they don't happen too often when he didn't want them to.

His voice was not like Techno had expected. His chirps are usually a bit higher in pitch, so he was suprised when he started to just talk regularly in a much deeper voice. It was still a bit higher than Techno's though.

But now, after training for two weeks, he wants to do a real stress-test. He knows Phil goes easy on him with conversations and how he phrases things, so he's excited to see if he will be able to understand what the other hybrids are saying. And for the sake of Tommy's vocabulary, he had learned a bunch of swears too, just in case.

The two left the house in the late morning, Phil carrying Techno down to the ground before folding his wings behind him.

"Where to first? Anyone you want to test it out on?"

Techno needed a second to fully put together Phil's question, but then shook his head. "Not really. We can just use the first one we find." The Elytrian nodded and pulled Techno along, some crows following them. Techno had grown fond of the birds as they provided him company through his studying and made sure to entertain him by annoying poor Phil.

"Look there's Ranboo!" The Enderman was sitting in the tall grass and had a book in his hands. "I don't think we should disturb him. He seems busy." "Nah, it'll be fine. Come on."  The human groaned as Phil pulled him along.

"Morning mate!" Ranboo looked up at Phil and smiled. "Hello Phil...", he stared at Techno, eyes narrowing a bit, "... and disgusting human." This is his chance! Let's see how he'll react when he finds out Techno can understand his insults now! "Good morning to you too, moody teenager."

The book Ranboo was holding made contact with the floor as he stared up at the human who just talked back in almost perfect Enderspeak. "Wait... what?" "Phil taught me the last two weeks. How am I doing so far?" Mismatched eyes scanned over his face, searching for something he couldn't find. "Honestly, better than I thought a human could get. But your pronunciation is terrible." It took a few seconds for him again, but he thinks he understood the statement right.

"I know. I'm still learning. But good to know I can somewhat talk without Phil having to help me." The Enderman nodded and picked up his book. "Guess no more talking behind your back." "I don't need to understand you to know you've been insulting me the whole time. I don't mind it, you have every right to do it." "Right..."

The tall hybrid stood back up and looked down at Techno. "You have to do more than speak my #^×£÷; $€ to make me like you." Techno tried to figure out what the word he didnt understand meant, which wasn't as easy. It wasn't language, but a completely different word. Before he could ask though, Ranboo had already teleported away.

"That went better than I thought." "Yup. Who should we try ne-" A loud shriek made them both jump. "What is that?!" "Someone is calling a meeting! Something must have happened!"

Before Techno could ask anything else, Phil had already grabbed him and carried him up to the pub.

What's going on?