Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – Revelations

Changed {" Hi "} to just regular " ", felt too bulky and unnecessary.

---

 

”W-where?” A strong ray of sunshine shone on my face as my eyes weakly protested the light exposure. ‘A dream?’  I mused. Shutting my eyes I recalled everything I remembered up until now. Waking up in a cave, fighting a Geodude, being able to use moves and understand Pokemon, almost dying, killing the Geodude.

 

“O–, -o-r –n–l-y a—e -!”

 

Seriously, that dream was too realistic, maybe I should listen to my boss and take up therapy after all. Oh right, there was also that Peti—. I felt my body slowly being dragged away, cutting off my current thoughts.

 

Opening my eyes once again, I was met with the same horrifying ceiling I came to know of as well as the head of the plant bulb Pokemon popping up in my vision as she looked down at me. 

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“H-Hi?”

 

*cough*

 

My throat felt extremely dry from having just woken up. The Petilil seeing this took it upon herself to spray water into my mouth.

 

*cough*  *cough*

 

“...”

 

‘...’

 

“…Thanks…” 

 

Feigning ignorance to whatever and why-ever the living hell that just happened I turned to anything else. Like my super cool ability to use moves! I've already come to terms that this world was clearly not the one depicted in the show or maybe it was and something happened in the future. 

 

There was a good 6 years left unknown where the top executives could’ve gone, ‘I’ve got the perfect idea for gen 12, People learning pokemon moves!’ or something to that effect. Though that’d probably ruin the whole ‘go into the wild and make PETA angry’ formula they had going on. 

 

Not that I'm complaining about the changes. Being able to use moves is nice enough already but to understand Pokemon? It’s every Introvert and socially anxious person’s wet dream!! All I need to do now is find a Pokemon that won’t immediately try to kill me. 

 

“Haa–”

 

Recalling back to the fight made me suddenly more tired, both physically and mentally. The more I think about the battle the more I wanna crawl into a ditch and die. The near-death experience was an eye-opener, to say the least, and helped me figure things out but wow, I considered myself to be more logical a person.

 

I didn’t have to kill the Geodude immediately. I doubt he’d be at full power the moment he woke up. We could’ve coerced him into at least helping us or something before straight up killing the rock. Too late now I suppose, at least I got stronger from that… I think. 

 

Oddly I didn’t feel too stressed over murdering a Pokemon, him being a literal rock and almost killing me contributed greatly to my sanity. ‘Aaaaaaa, just remembering what I thought at that moment, Kill me.’ 

 

“Haaah–”

 

There’s also the fact that a Geodude just used Ember against a Petilil shooting out a Water Gun… they were weaker comparatively but STILL. Imagine Garchomp or something having… no wait, it already has a wide variety of moves anyway or maybe a Machamp having dark and rock… no it also has decent type coverage… Eh? Isn’t this okay? 

 

The only issue is the 4-move cap limit being gone. With Pokemon able to expand their memory enough to remember more than 4 moves, It opened the field for whatever BS you could pull off in a fight… Actually couldn't someone just learn the main attacking moves of each type and use ‘Imprison’? 

 

Interesting thought for later. 

 

“Haaaaah–” 

 

“Are you okay?” A very subdued-sounding Petilil asked worriedly. 

 

“Hhhyaaaa—?”

 

It took a few moments for my mind to comprehend that the Petilil was eagerly staring at me for however long my thought train went on. It took even longer to realize she was genuinely asking about my health, which was weird. I was under no illusion that despite our temporary alliance she’d probably still want her Trainer back.

 

She did the cutest head tilt I’ve ever seen as she waited for a response. I’d definitely hug her if she wasn’t a potential enemy, that and if my arms had been in working condition. 

 

“Um, Y-yeah I’m feeling okay.” Awkward talk aside, I only now remembered my previous state and began to feel out my arms and left leg. A slight bit of pain from trying to move a limb told me everything I needed to know. 

 

Sensing what I was doing she lifted my head, roots taking over her position as I just realized I was resting on her. She walked? Waddled? over to my side, now standing in the light as a faint green outline emitted around her body and held my arm.   

 

“I’ve only just managed to stop you from dying after YOU used up too much aura… YOU-you know how long you’ve been asleep for?!… you scared me…”

 

‘Uhh, what?’  Very confused with the change in attitude, I could only think of one thing.

 

‘Still Aura?… huh?’  That prompted a few questions I had, though this situation took precedence. 

 

“You-you’re aware I’m not ‘Ayla’ right?” The prospect of her being hostile to me only crossed my mind after asking her.

 

She nodded mutely, pausing for a moment as a somber mood took over the longer she considered what she would say. “You see...I woke up around the time you began fighting the Geodude. Originally, I thought a ghost Pokemon possessed her body, though after you took a few hits most of them would probably leave the body. After that, I didn’t know what to think. When he rose his fist I jumped straight in to save you …I-I didn't want to see ‘Ayla’ die…” 

 

“...”

 

For a moment, I thought she ended her sentence prematurely. Nonetheless stayed silent.

 

She paused, taking a deep breath… and then another and then another before she continued. “As for why I knew immediately that whoever you were wasn’t Ayla. The connection we had between us was… broken and also…” She stopped again, the next part in a whisper as it quickly dawned on me the direction this could be headed. 

 

“S-s…sh-he…died…several weeks ago…” 

 

The Petilil stopped her [Synthesis] and just looked down at the ground. An awkward silence permeated the air.

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

"..."

 

“Ah, uhh.” 

 

“Uhh, errm–  D-do you want a hug? Maybe…?" 

 

The Petilil didn't respond but slowly made her up onto my body and laid her head on my chest. In any other situation I'd probably be freaking out over how friggin' cute that looked but held myself back. 

 

I attempted to raise my arms before, 'Oh, right.' My broken arms or her broken heart, I sucked in my breath and raised my arms over her body, and proceeded to rest my hands on her. One hand was on her head as I began to stroke her head with my finger. 

 

If there were any tears, I pretended not to hear them as I absentmindedly continued to comfort the little plant. 

 

---

 

A few minutes passed as we sat in this position, my head suddenly losing its pillow as it hit the ground. ‘The Grass Knot disappeared…’ Surely, enough the sobs had stopped and what replaced it was some light snoring. 

 

“Haaaa—”

 

Hearing her cry so much was seriously bad for my soul, I felt like some sort of scumbag the longer I listened. I couldn’t think of anything to help in the first place, which didn’t help my conscience…  

 

A Pokemon and her dead trainer…whose body I took over… 

 

“...”

 

In the first place, she seemed completely okay with the fact that I wasn’t Ayla. I’m not a therapist or anything but this sounds an awful lot like she's rejecting reality… by projecting a living Ayla onto me… which isn’t hard considering that I’m moving around in her body… alive. 

 

But she also cried on my chest till she fell asleep so maybe she’s also coming to terms with it? Someone like me with no people skills should not be doing this...  

 

‘How troublesome…’ 

 

I only wanted to fix the body situation and hopefully become friends… If only I could magically have a speech ready about a deep and emotional topic that’d help ease the trauma or fix a problem.

 

*gurgle*

 

A loud noise penetrated the silent atmosphere as my stomach gurgled, reminding me that I haven’t consumed anything for a decent amount of time. ‘How many days has it been since that battle?’

 

Thankfully, Petilil didn’t wake up from that incessant noise and I tried throwing my mind off my growing hunger. Looking up at the almost vertical hole that stretched up to fatal heights, only one morbid train of thought crossed my mind. 

 

'How else could they end up down here?'

 

---

 

“Hn-nn?” A soft nudge shook my body in an attempt to wake me up… Groggily, I slowly opened my eyes, my arms instinctively going up to rub them before the pain jolted me awake. 

 

‘It’s a good way to wake up quickly… if anything else.’ Looking around, It appears I've been moved back to the ditch I originally woke up in. To my right was Petilil, who was shaking my non-broken leg. 

 

You are reading story Crescere at novel35.com

“Good Morning!” Petilil greeted, awfully cheery despite yesterday’s discussion.

 

“Uh-G-good morning?…” 

 

“Umm, Thanks for yesterday– it really helped me out…” 

 

“O-oh, n-no problem. I-it was my fault for mentioning it in the first place.”

 

“Hmmm… but we’d have to talk about it at some point anyway, considering our situation you’d get curious... So thank you for comforting me at least.”

 

I took in her words and pondered. Maybe she wasn’t as depressed as I thought. More emotional that ‘Ayla’ was alive and moving… that and also because I opened some bad memories… 

 

“I've been thinking about this ever since yesterday but… weren’t you a lot more outgoing? confident? During your fight against Geodude, you seemed like a completely different person.”

 

It took me a bit of time to respond, my shallow pride taking a hit. “T-that was all because of the adrenaline I had… sorry…”

 

“Ohh, I see. It’s just that you’re really similar to Ayla.” My body flinched at that comparison. “You see… she was always bad at talking to other people but she always wanted to be friends with everyone. You’re kinda the same right?”

 

“...”

 

“N-no?”

 

The conversation ceased after my weak rebuttal, Petilil looked like she had more to say but promptly threw that thought away as I looked at anything but her. ‘She’s right though…’

 

After that near-death experience, I’ve been thinking more and more about myself as a person. For one, I’m probably not as much of an introvert as I thought, and it was probably more just a byproduct of my childhood, fun. Though I probably wouldn't want to be friends with everyone.  

 

‘I still have to confront her about Ayla… though… she seemed to easily be able to separate Ayla from me. Maybe I am overthinking things.'

 

 

Maybe I shouldn’t do anything and just give her space. Maybe I should. While I did think of a plan for this whole projection thing, it was more freeform than anything concrete…

 

I was brought out of my thoughts by a burst of stomach pain and a rather large gurgling sound. Thankfully, the darkness let me hide the red tint now sporting my face. 

 

“Aaa…” 

 

Petilil, who was very happy to move on from that topic, brightened up even more as she grabbed something on the ground behind her.

 

“Don’t worry about it! It’s been a few days since the fight so I’ve spent my time trying to find some food for you to eat!”

 

While her happiness was seriously weirding me out and I should probably enact my plan soon, food was something that might take priority at the moment. Or rather, ‘What edible food exists in caves?’ 

 

Realistically, the only thing I could think up was probably Mushrooms, though only an idiot would try to munch on anything wild. The only other living organisms in this cave would probably be Pok…

 

‘That is not a sentence I want to complete.’ 

 

“Here we go,” She turned around, presenting two identical mushrooms that looked exactly like the 'Tiny Mushroom' item, sitting about the size of my palm. “I washed these so there’s no dirt on them.” 

 

“Uhh–I think there are some more pressing matters to seriously consider here!!”

 

“You’re right. You aren’t stuttering anymore!” 

 

‘Holy shit I’m going to die.’ 

 

“No-really how do you know those aren’t going to kill me?!”

 

“I saw the same-looking mushroom being used for something by my mom’s partner.”

 

“A-and where exactly did you get the mushrooms?”

 

“Oh, one of the paths leading away from the clearing.” Oh, and here I thought– “There was a Pokemon buried in the dirt, I don’t know if you know them but it’s a species called Paras.” 

 

“...” 

 

---

 

“W–e -p !- -ak- u- !!”

 

“Urgh, my head… w-what happened?”

 

"You passed out while we were talking about the mushrooms. Are you feeling okay?"

 

“Aaaa-N-never felt better…”

 

*Gurgle* 

 

Curse you, traitor. The Petilil only grew closer, somehow magically holding the pair of mushrooms without opposable thumbs.

 

“See? You really should eat these right now, you’re starving and you need food.”

 

“No-well-but a Pokemon?” 

 

“Yeah? Where do you think meat comes from?” 

 

“...”

 

What in the living fuck is this turning into it. Oh, Kami, Arceus. Bless this land, this world of Pokemon, with generic farm animals please. I’m losing it, this is it, I’m gonna die in a random cave because of starvation. 

 

“Uhh-uhhhhh, yeah, right, yeah, umm A-Actually, I think we should talk about each other first, l-like an introduction to get to know each other.” If there was ever a time to enact my plan, it was right now, right fucking now.

 

“Oh, right we don’t know much about each other do we?” I nodded enthusiastically as she took a moment to consider my idea. 

 

‘Y’know the more I listen to this plant the more I think I was seriously overthinking things, good thing I’m not a therapist.’

 

“Wait! You’re just trying to distract me. Seriously you need to eat this… or you’re going to die again…” She visibly deflated at the end of the sentence. 

 

‘I’m being guilt-tripped into eating a Pokemon, no way.’ 

 

It took mere seconds for me to crack at the sight of her downtrodden face.

 

“O-o-okay, I’ll… I’ll do it.” She visibly sprung up as I conceded my fate to whatever deities existed out there. 

   

I think I’ve unravelled the mystery that is ‘Petilil.’ She’s lulling me into a false sense of security as she enacts her revenge on the being that possessed her friend’s body by feeding me poisonous mushrooms.

 

“Don’t worry about it, I have Aromatherapy if things go wrong.” 

 

“O-oh, t-that’s reassuring… I guess.” 

 

She created roots through [Grass Knot] and held one of the mushrooms in front of my face.

 

“...”

 

Taking a massive deep breath, I proceeded to open my mouth. The roots pushed the mushroom into my mouth as I bit the whole thing beside the stem in one go. The taste… could be better, but the texture…just no. For a mushroom the size of my palm, it pretty much sated my hunger, somehow…

 

“See? It wasn’t so bad was it?” Petilil gauged through my reaction. 

 

“I-I guess not… C-can I have some water, please?” 

 

She nodded, her mouth? face? became bloated. 

 

“No, Wait! C-can’t you pour the water onto a leaf or something?”

 

“Ah…” She turned her head away from me and seemed embarrassed. “I’m… not exactly good enough to use two moves at once like that…” 

 

I silently opened my mouth as I tried not to think of this exchange as spit.  

 

“...”

 

“So, you said something about an introduction?”

 

Was Friendship with Petilil worth it?