Hours later, Lilliane had come to pluck me out of my research daze.
Figuring out my Dunsparce’s new Move had sent me into a frenzy. So yes, maybe it was another weapon to add to Oran Juice’s arsenal; sure, I guess it was good to know how it worked to build interesting combat strategies around it; but all that was secondary.
What I wanted to know was what he used it for in his day to day life.
Why, my Oddish translated for him, I did it all the time.
Say I got some roots on my way and I can’t go around, maybe I can just gently scoop em’ and push them to the side; wouldn’t be very nice to the Grass-types if I ruined their hard work!
Say I’m drilling underground and suddenly I pop inside of a burrow - that happens all the time - it’s only polite to leave and close the hole you left behind.
Say some family of ‘Mons comes to me with tasty berries asking me to build a nice den for them, who am I to say no?
Or that’s how I assumed his phrasing went.
That last answer, that had me especially curious though - my lonely Dunsparce who didn’t belong to any commune, had he been the resident den-digger?
Petal, it seemed, had something to say on the matter.
Don’t remember much from before. Was too young. I remember the homes that other Pokemon built. Branch-weavers in the trees, rock-shapers in caves, all sorts of Pokemon making all sorts of places for Pokemon to sleep and play in. Often outsiders, not always.
Didn’t matter much to me or my people’s garden - the earth was our home, we just needed to root ourselves to know it.
That was how it worked: not all Pokemon could make nests easily or quickly, while some Pokemon made a living in crafting nice shelters for others. That sort of service was highly valued, but perhaps that sort of service could be a little too valuable for a small community to have to themselves; thus, it made sense to employ outsiders. Once their job had been finished, they could shake appendages and go their separate ways, confident in knowing that they didn’t have to protect a very valuable member of their community. How unfair…
Internet coverage was so sparse here, but still I looked up what info I could find. Way west in Hoenn, local Rangers had cemented ‘secret bases’ as a local practice and an essential aspect of their work: to help Pokemon, one had to learn how to live amongst them. Being able to build a shelter on the fly made that task a lot easier. Then the Pokemon League had rolled in, brought Hoenn into their fold, and made Secret Power into the single official move to make a secret base with. Wasn’t that a little restrictive? From what OJ and Petal had told me, it seemed like there had been lots of different ways to build a nest, so why would–
“Selene, hello–”
“Augh!”
Notes, pen and paper practically flew out my hands as I jumped out of my seat. With a painful thomp, my head knocked against the top rim of the den’s entrance.
I crouched back down and hugged the top of my head in pain. Petal and OJ rushed to my side with worried cries, as another presence made themself known with “Goodness, are you all right?”
My brain caught up with my nerves as I registered the elegant voice as Lilliane’s. One hand fell upon my arm, warm and comforting, as another brushed over the top of my head to remove stray dirt where it had fallen on my hair.
I froze as she finished the motion and I stared at her close self with wide eyes. Heat blossomed on my cheeks at the embarrassment of hurting myself and at something else, a weird little fluttering feeling for the pretty girl who was patting my head–
“I– I’m okay, thank you.” I pushed her hands away. “You uh, you just took me by surprise.”
“Good, good. What are you doing?”
“Oh, um. I’m, ah– I’m just being a nerd.” I looked at her again, a lot more calm and serene than she had been during any of the previous days. “How is Toku doing since the battle?”
“He’s doing… not bad, honestly. He’s practically making a full recovery;” and sure enough, the Ledyba was doing loop-de-loops above our camp. “It’s astonishing how fast Pokemon heal.”
“Tell me about it. I’m half convinced that Petal likes getting themself hurt. Even losing leaves doesn’t seem to stop them.”
“Hm.” She responded noncommittally. “I would rather not let my Ledyba lose limbs, thank you. I’m just getting used to my Pokemon participating in fights once more.” She forced a cough and changed the subject. “So, where are we going next?”
“Oh! Um. A few days on the trail east to make it through the Meadow, and we should be reaching Route 3 by the end of the week. Then it’ll be a long march for ten days or so to complete the loop and reach Iki Town,” and I gulped; “And challenge Kahuna Hala’s Grand Trial.”
We stood in silence for a second, looking out at her Pokemon as the sun was starting to set. Lilliane’s large tent flap was opened, Stella the Cleffa waved at Toku from within, and I could see her maneuvering a flatscreen device with her hands. The Ledyba flew down and stared at the screen in confusion.
“Well, in any case. Would you like to watch some shows with us? I brought my holopad; I have a few movies and series downloaded.” She leaned down and whispered conspiratorially. “I am about to show Toku why he’s named that way.”
----------------------------------------
Time passed.
We made our way through the Meadow at a gentle pace.
Route 2 had been the first experience of a well trodden road accompanied by so many of our peers. Verdant Cavern had given us a taste of what it was like to be out of the frying pan and into the fire. The Melemele Meadow was a haven of calm in comparison.
No-one in sight. Endless plains of rolling hills and yellow flowers. Pokemon that practically welcomed us in.
The journey through the Meadow blended in a medley of trekking days. And so;
We walked, Petal marched.
The Oddish had been more focused than ever before, surrounded in a place so alike to where they had been captured so long ago.
Petal returned to us one morning with an unusual partner: an elderly Skiploom, petals on their head withering with age. Still, they looked at Petal with patience and a hint of mischief, as they offered to teach Petal how to perform some of the other spore moves.
There had been something I wanted to experiment with but didn’t have the time or the space for: if Petal were to poison their foes or put them to sleep, I needed to understand how that worked on a biological level. Hau had no idea how it worked and Lilliane only had a friendly shrug to offer; though she was interested in my findings.
Shows and stories had made me think of “poison” as something akin to a video game mechanic; here is the foe’s health bar, give them the poison status and watch it tick down gradually.
Poison, of course, doesn’t work that way.
Ideally, we would need to do this somewhere close to a Pokemon center, but we had luckily found a grove of chesto and pecha berries and could afford to take a few. Oran Juice offered to be our living subject under promise of tasty treats and so we got to work.
Petal began with a demonstration. With a heave and a puff, a cloud of poisonous spores rained down on the suspecting snake. A few seconds later, part of OJ’s scales where the spores had touched had become slightly paler. The Skiploom gave the performance an appreciative hum.
Time passed as OJ became increasingly green in the face - until he scarfed down on the pecha, movements slightly wobbly, and I asked him if he could tell me what he felt. His answer came in a retching motion and an exaggerated swoon. Noted. Nausea and dizziness, then.
Next up was my Dunsparce’s turn, with my Oddish as the test subject.
Oran Juice took position and wiggled in anticipation as Petal puffed their head out and braced themself. The Dunsparce raked across the grass with his tail and sent out a cloud of grey spores over the Grass-type with Secret Power.
The Skiploom judged the move with only a raised eyebrow.
It took significantly longer for any effect to set in. Perhaps, back during the first Trial, the Noivern’s weakened state might have been a factor in how quickly it had settled. Petal took it in, gleefully opening their mouth to eat some of the grey spores - until their jaw grew slack and they stumbled and fell forward.
Science be damned, my onion is in trouble – I rushed forward to lift them up only to be met with a limp Oddish and a ticked off expression. Their gaze followed me with a lax frown.
I twisted their body slightly, met with no resistance, their limbs falling limp like a puppet with no strings - until a few seconds later strength slowly returned to their limbs and they wiggled back to a sitting position.
This wasn’t quite “sleep”, then; maybe closer to a muscle relaxant? Or maybe a neurotransmitter inhibitor - but in any case, the effect seemed fairly short and slow acting. We would need to experiment further.
This wasn’t the point of the exercise, however, as the Skiploom floated closer to me, and– wait a minute. Did they think I would be the target dummy–
A gust of wind blew through my clothes, grass and pollen elegantly swirled around me and–
Black.
I would awake an hour later on the grass. An unusually worried Hau had kept watch over my unconscious form, and the Pokemon were practicing some other sort of move a little further away. My head felt light and cottony.
Wordlessly, I picked up my notes and wrote down what I had experienced.
In days, Petal had gotten the gist of spore manipulation. All that was needed was putting it into practice.
We walked, Toku made ups and downs.
The Ledyba was quickly becoming everybody’s best friend.
We’d all become accustomed to the buzz of fluttering wings early in the morning. The Bug-type was intent on giving everyone a greeting every day, whether it was a hug, a handshake or a friendly pat; then making sure to ask us how we were feeling in his own buzzing sounds
Despite the usual struggles in communication, we each found ourselves responding to Toku in kind and engaging in a friendly back and forth; I couldn’t help but open up to the chummy ladybug and reciprocate with questions of my own; I could hear Hau playing up to his gregariousness with jovial shouts and hollers and a secret handshake; I could see the Ledyba talking softly with Lilliane in hushed whispers.
I never saw Toku and Loa the Torracat interact.
Needless to say, Toku had become a popular Pokemon among our group.
In travel, the Ledyba had been glued to Lilliane’s hip as her dedicated protector. He’d jump into combat at the slightest rustle, and; o horror, watching Ultramon had made such an impression that he’d incorporated the character into his fighting.
Here was a Charjabug getting a little too heated and here was Toku ready to intervene - but he wouldn’t just rush at the enemy and get it over with, he would land and pose and deliver a speech that we could all recognize from the show from the cadence in his voice. It was taking everything from me not to hide behind a tree at the sheer, utter second-hand embarrassment of the scene while Lilliane and Hau were just falling over laughing at the display.
It hadn’t been all sunshine and rainbows, however.
Late in the evening as night fell over the Meadow, I would often see the Ledyba and Stella side by side, strangely muted and secretive, staring up to the sky. They would stay together from hours at a time, silently flashing light patterns in concert into the dark of night. Not a word to one another, not a peep. Sending out a message in the dark.
To my understanding, they haven’t gotten a message back.
A few nights later, I would wake up one night and head out of my tent to find Hau outside of his holding the Ledyba in his arms facing the last embers of our campfire.
His eyes widened. The cowering bug in his arms trembled softly, face tucked into Hau’s lap. Eyes locked with mine, he raised a finger to his lips to mimic a shush, pointed at the Ledyba and mimicked a tear running down his cheek.
I wasn’t about to question the boy. I left them without a sound.
We walked, Loa lagged behind.
There was something terribly wrong with the Torracat.
We had let Hau handle the matter for the past few days, but it was really starting to worry me– worry us, as Lilliane had just confessed to me a few minutes ago, and then had grabbed my hand to drag me to the unsuspecting boy a little ways away from our other Pokemon to speak in private. While they played under the sun, we stood in the shade of a nearby tree.
“Where is Loa right now?”
Lilliane’s pointed tone wasn’t missed on the boy. Nonetheless, Hau gave a hum and rubbed the back of his head nonchalantly. “Out of the ball and around, I think–”
“When’s the last time you’ve seen her?”
“I– She’s her own feline Lilliane, I can’t be keeping an eye on her all the time--”
“I’ll tell you the last time you saw her,” she continued. “The last time you saw her was this morning when you released her for breakfast; and she slipped out of view right away. I know you haven’t seen her because none of us have been able to see her all day.”
“...Everyone needs their space.” His arms crossed, smile dropping, jovial front fading away for once. “She’s around, and she returns when there’s a fight or when it’s time to sleep. She’s allowed!”
“She isn’t just around, Hau. She’s brooding. She has not spoken to anyone since she evolved.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“...I can see that! And that’s normal! We all go through bad vibes from time to time. I’ve been giving her space and letting her know she has a shoulder to cry on whenever I can!”
“It’s not working!”
“I am doing everything I can! I’m handling it! It’s just a matter of time!”
“Then it’s not enough!”
Their voices had started to move up in pitch and volume, each trying to get their own point across until–
“Listen!”
Lilliane and Hau turned their attention to me.
“I– um,” I suddenly balked, steeled myself, gathered my thoughts and– shoot shoot shoot calm yourself and say it “She’s s-spiraling. Hau, I think she’s been stuck in a loop for a long while, and evolving might have made it worse. We have to help her, and giving her space won’t do.”
I looked down and fidgeted on my feet. “And uh. We’re not trying to undermine you or anything. You’re a good trainer and a good person - but I think your Torracat needs a push right now, not a shoulder to lean on.”
Silence set under the tree shade once more.
Hau’s voice cut through, more muted than anything he had ever said. “...Alright.” Looking up to meet his eyes, I was met with uncharacteristic frustration and disappointment as he looked away, fists balled. Oh, how I really hoped I hadn’t hurt him–
“...Hau, can you tell us if you’ve noticed anything else? You spend more time with her than we do. We just want to help.” Lilliane’s voice had returned to something more warm as she looked at the boy with concern.
Hau thought on it for a minute.
“...She’s not eating properly lately,” he finally said. “I have to… negotiate with her to get her to eat. And she’s not eating much.” He wrung his hands. “I’m trying to find what makes her happy and all, you know? And it feels like nothing does it for her. She’s eager to fight, she’s up for it, but she’s either exhausted and wants to rest in her ball, or she’s like, way angrier afterwards.”
Lilliane and I shared a look. This was worse.
“I– I don’t know her, is the thing. It feels like there’s a wall between me and her.” Hau turned to me and all pretenses fell. “Selene, help me talk to her. Please.” Huh?
“Sure, but– why me specifically?”
Lilliane put a hand on my shoulder. “I catch you having full, complex conversations with your Oddish and Dunsparce constantly, Selene. You’re good at this.” HUH??????
I needed to get a hold on the conversation fast– “Uhh, okay, but– I don’t think she’ll talk to me or my Pokemon either.” I wrung my hands. “I already tried. She’s scary. But…”
Hand on my chin, I tried to connect what dots I could find.
Loa the Torracat does enjoy fighting. She is competitive. In past training sessions, she had shown just as much passion for the sport as Hau did, and as much discipline as any Starter would have, if not more. There were moments where I would catch little flashes of satisfaction; a fang shining at the corner of her mouth when Petal or OJ made progress on their own training; her tail flicking lazily after an exhausting workout. It had been a while since she’d joined us to watch shows - last time had been before the Trial - but I recall she did enjoy them. So if that was what she liked, what had made her mad in the past?
All the way back in Hau’oli City in the little courtyard of my home, I distinctly remembered Loa’s shaking legs defiantly keeping her standing tall despite Petal’s poison coursing through her body.
Following the days of our first Trial attempt, I recalled a cowering Loa cooling off on the beach sand. She’d been stuck on a rut for a while, training over and over to figure out a new Move, fresh off of a recent defeat at the training grounds—
defeat.
“...I think she’s afraid to fail,” Lilliane whispered it out before I could. “She’s always been very focused on training and nothing else. She might be… exceedingly hard on herself, to the point that she’s… hurting herself? And pushing everyone away?”
…
“...I think I know what to do.”
Hau’s hands were balled into fists so tight the knuckles looked white. He wiped his face down and rummaged in his bag loudly until he retrieved a set of crumpled up sketches. For a second I got a glimpse of drawn colorful patterns, something I vaguely recalled seeing in decoration around Iki Town–
“Lilliane, you’re good at knitting and stuff, right? I’m gonna need a favor from you.” Despite how dire the situation may have been for the boy, determination shone in his eyes. Lilliane only responded with a curt nod.
“I’m very familiar with the Melemele Incineroar colony,” he began. “Young adult Torracat have this– this, this uh– this thingie they’re given to wear when they prove themselves. I say she’s proven herself enough.”
He took on a shuddering breath and dispelled the remaining tension from his body.
“If I can’t talk to her in human words, she’ll have to listen to Incineroar customs.”
I couldn’t help but feel like there was still something missing.
----------------------------------------
A few more days of travel, and we were preparing for our last night in the Meadow.
We’d made camp at the flattened top of a hill; the patches of tall grass and flowers had been more and more sparse, signs of Pokemon that weren’t Grass-type were more and more apparent. Way east, flying shapes moved across the sky in flowing patterns, unlike what we had come to expect of the Bug swarms of the Meadow.
Down the hill stood the clear remnants of a battle that we had missed; large gouges and scorch marks burned on the ground by stray attacks. Whoever they were, they must have been long gone as other peaceful Pokemon had reclaimed the fields for their own purposes.
In those fields I heard Petal training up on their use of Powder moves. There had been fascinating differences to discern between how those different chemical agents reacted and worked on the body; we had found Poison Powder had a slow acting mild noxious effect but one that only required skin contact to trigger, while their new Move Stun Spore needed entry in the body through wounds or blood but quickly induced muscle spasms. Sleep Powder was the one that ultimately eluded them, at most causing a headache but nothing close to losing consciousness, like what that Skiploom had done to me..
A part of me felt a little squeamish at starting to know how well those different toxins worked…
While Lilliane and Hau were setting up their tents, Oran Juice had made yet another attempt at a den of our own, drilling a small tunnel leading down in an incline. Already, it was big enough for a teen to comfortably go through, and I knew at this point that the Dunsparce could easily make the space within the den itself roomy enough for a tent or two to go through.
So, good. In a pinch, we had the means to make an emergency shelter and hide. What was a little less good was the quality of the shelter itself; as I ran my hand across the walls, I could feel the dirt still stick to my hand easily. Maybe Pokemon that weren’t as queasy about dirtying up their fur or scales wouldn’t bat an eyelash at this, but I’m sure that Lilliane or I didn’t want to mess our clothes or, Tapus help us, get dirt in any of our electronics.
It could be improved, though, as OJ continued his busy work, I was starting to feel how the walls seemed to smoothen and harden to a point where one could maybe consider sleeping there for the night–
“Yo! We got visitors!”
Oh goodness, I wasn’t nearly ready to meet anyone just yet– but still, I climbed up the carved steps of the tunnel leading down into OJ’s den, Dunsparce behind me still hard at work. I wiped down the dirt from my hands on my dress, and I came out the entrance–
–and came face to face with a curious black-furred Rattata.
One hand on the ground immediately stabilized my momentum before I could fall. I looked at the cute little thing and took notice of the tufted relaxed ears, sniffing nose and thick whiskers; no apparent signs of aggression. I gave it a nod and it responded with a squeak and came a little closer to sniff at my clothes
“Killer, don’t steal Matsu’s stuff!” a gruff voice shouted from up ahead. “I’m lookin’!”
The Rattata squeaked impetuously back and turned around to meet up with its trainer.
We had seen very, very little trainers on our way through the Meadow, and none that I knew personally or wanted to engage particularly with– but those three I knew.
Rui and Tuula Tuari sauntered up the hill to our camp, lanky twins looking like they had been through the wringer. They walked up with exhausted steps, while the Rattata that had come up to say hello to me was now at Rui’s feet, while Tuula was carrying her napping Spinda in her arms. Their hair dyes had started to fade, and so the boy’s electric blue dye and the girl’s bubblegum pink had started to return to a natural dark grey at the roots.
Rui came up to Hau and gave him a high five, and so the twins started to chat up with Hau - but my attention was caught with the third member of the twins’ team.
Lagging behind them, exhausted out of his mind, Sawney Corrigan painfully shuffled to our camp. A wave of relief seemed to overtake the short ginger boy as he took notice of my presence, and I moved to hand him a bottle of water as soon as he approached.
“...Are you okay, Sawney? Things aren’t too bad with the twins?” I couldn’t help the embarrassed and sympathetic smile on my face.
He took greedy gulps of the water bottle and practically collapsed on the ground there and then. “It’s been rough,” he rasped out, looked out to see if the twins were listening, then continued. “But it’s been alright. Tuula and her Spinda are okay. Rui is— so much more of a battle maniac than I expected.”
“Wait, he is?”
“Yeah, no shit. I thought I would have needed to drag them away from video games but nah, it’s like this nutcase is on a warpath.” He pointed to the male twin with his thumb, who appeared to be challenging Hau there and then. The latter seemed to be turning Rui down, thank the Tapus.
Sawney’s voice brought me back to his conversation. “You’re lucky you’re teaming up with Hau - how has it been so far?”
“It’s been, uh–” and there the memories of the past three weeks rushed through me; how strange our first contact with Lilliane had been, our disastrous first attempt at the Trial, opening up about our respective secrets, whatever was even happening with Loa at the moment– “It’s been okay.” I guess we all had struggles to deal with…
“You got it lucky, then– I hear that the Challenge is a massacre this year. We’re like the third or fourth team that passed the first Trial in our class. I don’t know too much about the other classes or classes from other islands but the forums are going crazy about it.”
Rui shouted out that they’d be staying here for the night and Sawney responded with a quick thumbs up.
Our last night at the Meadow. I had almost forgotten.
Looking at the sun about to set, I hurriedly told the others I would be back in a little bit and went out into the field to meet up with Petal.
----------------------------------------
Something interesting about Pokemon battles: the damage they leave on the earth.
Let’s say two Pokemon face one another. They are both reasonably strong. The ground breaks, grass burns, water is boiled and evaporated, wind blows and grinds what’s left to dust–
Their fight has lasted under a few minutes, and yet the damage done on the ground around will take weeks, if not months to heal.
Fights like these happen everywhere, multiple times a day. How has our world not been rendered uninhabitable yet?
Deep gouges marked the earth. Flowers and plants uprooted and strewn about, patches of dirt where the ground had been pushed or burned off - whoever they were, they had beaten at the ground with the power of wind and fire at their disposal.
Petal and I watched as swarms of Grass-types roamed over the nearby ruined field; Cottonee and Petilil by the dozens, led by their evolved counterparts, with the odd Flabébé and Cutiefly fluttering about. As the sun set over the fields, the late evening sunlight traced their silhouettes in an orange glow, shadows tall and deep purple.
When in the past these kind of swarms had been noisy - hundreds of Pokemon together, you could hear their squeaking and yapping from far away - here they barely made any sounds. The older Pokemon seemed to direct the younger in specific positions and their sing-song voices rang out like an orchestra tuning itself.
My Oddish practically vibrated at my side. They looked at me for a second, and as soon as I gave them a nod they scampered forward to join in.
A Lilligant happily welcomed them into their band. Petal fell in lockstep with the Petilil as they stretched and prepared themselves.
This is it! This was the moment that Petal had been waiting and training for all this time - a part of me felt genuine happiness for my little Grass-type, a part of me cried out at being unable to join them.
It’s fine though. It was their moment. I would observe, and I would learn.
The voices of many died down.
Silence reigned over the ruined field.
It began in unison;
A shuffle of all the Pokemon from one foot to the other, one appendage to the next, the movement of so many applying pressure and power to the earth below.
A familiar rhythm. I couldn’t help the tap of my foot as my mind recalled the Almian melodies that we had practiced all this time.
A set of movements, a lunge and a stomp, a whirl and a twirl, reflected on dozens and dozens of Pokemon as the sun set, and from the corner of my eye I see a little Spinda rushing to join them–
Wait, what?
“What are you doing?”
I practically spun on my feet to spot the interloper: Tuula, girl with fading pink hair, looking at me with something like confusion or awe, staring beyond myself at the swarms.
And there was my mind’s automatic response: there was fear, there was shame, there was worry at being the weird girl going out in the evening to look at Grass-types do a silly dance. My mind went to look for escape routes; I could lie and tell Tuula I stumbled upon this by accident, I could run to return Petal to their ball and go back to camp - but could I actually take them away from this? They’d been waiting for the opportunity to join one of these for so long–
And in the time that my anxiety had begun to cloud my brain, the other girl had walked my way and grabbed my wrist.
Her eyes bored into mine with an inscrutable emotion.
Behind us, half a hundred Pokemon dancing to an unseen rhythm as the sun set over the valley. Shadows dancing over the fields.
“This is a grass renewal ritual,” I stammered, tugging loosely on the grasp she had on my wrist. “This is a dance they perform to repair damage done over the day–”
“...Like some kinda witch gathering. This is so sick!” She pointed out at Petal with her other hand, as her Spinda fell in lockstep next to them. “That’s your Oddish, right?”
I gave her a nod.
“...Can we join’ em?”
Could we?
I hadn’t considered it– the idea felt surreal; all the videos I had seen on the matter didn’t show humans alongside them, I had figured it had been something that Pokemon would perform privately, but…
But,
I couldn’t help but catch Petal’s gaze as they occasionally twirled in my direction. They slowed, and nodded to their side.
If they were to invite me in, how could I refuse?
I stepped forward.
We approached the Petilil group and awkwardly joined in.
Petal danced up to my side and they looked happier than I’ve ever seen them before. I joined them into the lunge, then worked myself into the twirl, and by the whirl I found my footing again. Tuula laughed not far from where I was, Love Tax the Spinda at her side; the Lilligant had come up to her to correct their postures and both of them seemed to take it in stride.
My heart beat loudly in my chest and my breath filled in and out of my lungs in sync with so many Pokemon around me. Something like harmony or belonging, like a song sung with our bodies as the instruments–
We followed the rhythm, marked the beats and the measures, slashed the air with our limbs and stepped with strength, felt the unheard music thrum through our bones and felt it once more:
Life.
My foot stomps upon the growing grass and for a second I am a seed in the soil. I press upon the earth and I am a tiny little pod that pushed itself out of the ground, my roots anchor themselves in the earth, my stem and my leaves reach for the skies.
I stomp again and gorge myself of nutrients from the soil and light of the sun, I grow tall and old and withering and scatter my seeds to the winds so the cycle goes again, and again it goes.
My body is sustenance to many. It fuels the insects, it feeds the earth, it sustains all living beings; all shall be a bed for myself to rest on.
I am a seed, then a plant, then ten more, then a hundred more, a million blades of grass, an infinite system that grows and dies and connects everything throughout all of time.
I stretch across the land, over the mountains, into the seas. My name is– I am–
falling.
I fell to my knees, skin scuffing upon the lush grass and flowers below. A worried nasally voice rang out to my right as my Oddish addressed me.
My head felt so, so heavy on my shoulders.
What had just happened?
“This is fucking insane.” A girl’s voice to my left, Tuula’s, her hand shaking my shoulder. “Matsu, did you fucking see that? The ground glowed, and, and–! Look how many flowers there are now! Holy shit–”
I lurched forward and my dinner flowed out my mouth and splashed upon the flowers below.
My brain and my body couldn’t put two and two together. One moment I was– and the other my world had turned upside down.
I looked down and there the remains of my stomach had returned to the earth, and there the last dregs of epiphany rang out into my mind:
The cycle goes again, and again it goes.