~~~ Chapter 19- Cherry Conditioner ~~~

The lakeside child

In weather mild

Upon a chair

At water stared

His father's hair

No thoughts in there

Forgot the heir

Kid doesn’t care

His mother's sleep

He couldn't end

So to the deeps

He stole a peep

The lakeside three

Drowned on land

Broke the creed

So we ran

- Children’s Playground Rhyme

~~~

Hours after failing our little attempt to explore the city at night, I roused myself from torpor. The sun wasn’t yet showing through the glass in the ceiling. Lanky, Leaf and the swadlies were still soundly sleeping. I hopped off the tree, silently landing and approaching the kid sleeping in his sleeping bag, resting upon the dirt and clay floor.

My silk had replenished after dinner, as it tended to do after eating. I prepared a strand for a craft that would take a couple days. The pressure built. Holding it in, I coaxed the mix and modulated it for the thickest and strongest silk-rope I could make. Since it would refill after breakfast, I wasn’t concerned about using it before the day started. The tradeoff would be a little extra hunger along the way. One of the benefits of having consistent meals and not needing to forage. I let out a piece of rope, mixed to be low-stick, about the thickness of my upper arm.

I tied it to the tree’s largest branch, looping it around and not letting it hang. The strand was about the length of Lanky’s leg. If he didn’t have a bed, it would take a few days, but I could at least give him a homemade hammock.

Short cries cawed from outside, waking Leaf. Lanky and the swadlies seemingly slept through it all. Leaf walked over to where I was, observing the long strand of rope I’d wrapped around the limb of the tree. It was, to be fair, much thicker than normal silk, and my body was responding to the desire and use I had in mind.

I was beginning to get hungry again, as if my body had said, "Time to replace that mass."

The room had two pairs of doors: the ones we had tried and failed to exit through before which led outdoors; and the other ones, which led to a hall, presumably to the front door or things like bathrooms and other human amenities. I pressed on the door, the one that led to the hallway, the one Lanky and Alder had both gone down earlier. It clicked open. Leaf joined my side, and together we explored the hall. I could taste Leaf’s desire to play. With the lights off, and the room lit only by streetlights from small glazed windows, we walked. The tile had small indents on it, clearly textured for grip. Whoever built this hall had been thinking of pokemon used to trees. Like me! I could smell the taste of nutrients and fertilizer, a small hint of chlorine, alcohol disinfectant, phosphates from detergents and soaps.

There was a countertop on the side opposite the arena we’d just exited. Nestled in was a concessions stand, and a metal gate blocked our way in. My mouth watered at the smell of rich soil and berries. I climbed up and tried to shimmy the locks a bit, drooling at the thought of some good soil. What? I’m a grass-type, I’ve got literal plants living in my body. I can taste it in the air when soil rich in the nutrients I need is in front of me. The mechanism wouldn’t budge. There had to be another way in.

We were in a wide and tall one-way hall that followed the concrete wall of the battle-room we slept in. Leaf used his body-weight to push on me, pressing me into the wall. I felt a rhythmic vibration in the next room, echoing with reverberation. I pushed him back, he stumbled and I thwacked Leaf on the forehead. The rhythmic vibrations of music grew clearer. Lockers, bathrooms and showers. A couple doors had no handles, just spots for keys. Probably utility closets.

The air smelled like berries, dried berries, sweat, and Alder. Mostly Alder, as if he had been the only person who used the locker room. Leaf took an interest in the smell of soaps and shampoo in the shower. I eyed the locker mechanisms up close, splashes of water sounding on the other side of the door, moving along with the rhythm of the beat. I smelled the sweat of old gym clothing and my prize: a pack of dried berries. I couldn’t see it, but I smelled it. It was behind this locker door. Raising the pointier end of my left blade, staring up close at the twisty lock and the little joint. I poked my arm in. A drip of saliva fell to the bench. A little bit of pressure, pulling in my barbs, and my little tarsus compressed into the small cavity.

These latches were designed against using credit cards to brute force them open. Not pokemon.

Leaf knocked the bottle of liquid conditioner to the ground. It was the source of the smell of berries. Another drip of drool of mine fell to the ground at the smell. It probably wasn’t the best idea to eat the stuff, but I’d never heard of dogs getting poisoned by shower conditioner. What about bugs? Well, Leaf volunteered to be the lab-bug.

He scooped his blade in it, then pulled it to his mouth, sliding the goop off, tasting it. Couldn’t blame him if he was as hungry as me.

I jimmied my blade in, using a bit of dexterity to twist it under the latch. I stepped on another drop of drool. Leaf hadn’t gagged. The bottle dripped its contents to the ground, forming a small puddle. Leaf grew impatient, stomping on it with his full force, a lot more spraying out. A small line of red goop hit me in the legs, dripping down where I stood.

The music stopped.

I jimmied my little pick a bit, trying my luck.

"Oi!" a human shouted.

I jumped, Leaf startled on the smooth bathroom tile, slipped and fell over, landing in the small puddle of cherry-conditioner. I slipped off the bench, my arm and hardened blade hooked into the latch.

"Eee!" I cried in surprise as my vision turned to television noise in the outline of shifting leaves.

The fluorescent lights of the locker room turned on, my vision swam in leaves and noise.

"Aey," I heard Lanky say, from the other side. I got to my feet again, tasting mine and Leaf’s and embarrassments already emanating. I pulled my feet closer together and pushed on the bench, pushing up. A click. The locker door swung open. I fell onto the floor, nursing my pinched forelimb, covering my abdomen and good tarsus in the sweet cherry-flavored conditioner. Rolling on the floor, drooling, I opened my mouth and took a small lick of the cherry goop.

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The other human started gagg—I mean laughing. He was laughing at us. An old man with gray skin and dark black hair with the touch of a gray beard was laughing at us.

I tried to stand up, and slipped again. I tried to use my arm to steady myself—"Eee!" I cried, the pinch stinging once more. Lanky talked to the janitor as he reached out his hand, grabbing my good forearm and helping me stand up. He closed the locker I’d opened, guiding me into the shower. My partner in crime had returned to eating the conditioner. Lanky took the bottle away, setting it atop the heads at the center of the shower.

Leaf ignored him, his face covered in dripping red goop as he knelt, using his leaves to scoop up as much off the ground as he could. My saliva screamed for more. I scooped another of the cherry-flavor, but decided at the last second to wait a bit more. I wanted real berries!

Lanky left, telling us to stay there. The janitor had come in, dropping towels on the door to the exit of the shower. I tried to rinse off, but I wasn’t great at scrubbing. The small, fuzz-like barbs that got the conditioner on them didn’t have the tension they should. I didn’t eat the stuff, no matter how much I salivated. Well, okay that was a lie. I had a little bit. We didn’t have gag reflexes, but his abdomen’s convulsing was making a good case for his stomach rejecting it. He opened his mouth and the red stuff was spewing back out, washing away in the water.

Lanky came back with his pokedex, only wearing a pair of shorts and sandals. He looked at me, sitting in the water, next to Leaf. We looked like we’d just had a bit too much to drink from bar-hopping through a night on the town. He started with high-pitched, soft hiccups, then erupted into boisterous, echoing laughter.

With Lanky’s help, we got all the conditioner that covered us off. It took a bit and some water, and Leaf seemed to recover all right? At least, the convulses didn’t shake his whole body. He just laid down in the water, only slightly moving. My leaves and barbs felt way too soft and greasy. After a couple more ejections from Leaf, with Lanky checking his pokedex and looking at the bottle of conditioner several times, he seemed satisfied that Leaf and I weren’t about to die.

Janitor-man had come in and wiped down the mess outside the shower, placing down a yellow sign which undoubtedly said "wet floor." He started laughing. Lanky started snickering too, then both were bursting with laughter at us.

Ha. Ha. I cried inside.

Everything seemed fine. We were slipping as we left the showers. Lanky called out from the exit of the lockers, then stepped in himself. I decided a wet leavanny just wasn’t made for locker floors, and sat, pulling my queasy companion down, also next to the door. Leaf sat and stared at the ceiling.

I scooted on my ass to the bench, pulling off a towel, drying myself off as I sat down, careful to nurse the sore tarsus on my forearm. Old Man Janitor-man stepped in, talking to Lanky, grabbing a couple towels. I continued to dry myself as he lifted up the dazed Leaf, his abdomen still quivering.

Lanky turned off the shower and hopped out himself, grabbing a towel tossed to him by the old man as they talked, chuckling.

Dried off, I tried to stand up. And slipped. Even on the wet floor, the shower and locker room tile wasn’t made for us bugs. Janitor-man set the towels on the ground to the front exit of the lockers.

Lanky told us to stay, left and returned with eight bowls of berries, said to stay again, then took them to the other room. Well, he was really telling me to stay. Didn’t look like Leaf was about to move from his spot any time soon. It was nice to have another Leavanny. One who could take the hit. But my saliva still wasn’t satisfied, evidenced by its dripping on the floor even more.

Fully dressed for the day, Lanky looked at his pokedex again, the bottle of conditioner again. Lanky then…tested his pocket for a second, pulling out keys, his wallet, and…Pokedex. Putting them back, he picked up Leaf, holding him like you’d hold a baby, folding the dazed leavanny’s arms in. Opening the door to the bathroom, he motioned for me to come, the old man holding me by the tarsus on my right arm, helping me cross the bathroom tile as I slipped and slid.

We three exited the gym through its heavy front doors, leaving janitor-man behind. Out into the rising morning in the waking city, the two of us walked. I only slipped on the pavement once! That conditioner stripped my ability to grip.

Wingull circled in the sky in the distance, buildings much too tall towered overhead, people on bikes and blades were rolling. People in suits holding coffee took glances, made faces, then looked away. We started heading west. My vision wobbled a bit, and my abdomen grumbled, but nothing happened.

A jogger lady with a herdier on a leash stopped and smiled as it chose to yip at us. A man in a suit walking a liepard, also on a leash, secretly gave Lanky the finger. We walked south along the street for a few blocks. Lanky paused, pulled out his dex, changing the arms he held the sick Leaf, small spurts of cherry-berry conditioner occasionally leaking out from the bug’s mouth. Something with the conditioner must have happened that made putting the bug into a pokeball risky endeavors.

A couple people waved. One shouted. The number of people on the streets began to increase, Lanky picked up his pace. It took a bit, and the sun had crossed the horizon, but we had finally made it to the pokecenter. It was… it was maybe two stories tall? And about the same width as any other building? The only thing that made it stand out was the giant pokeball hung up front.

Being in the city, I… I expected it to be bigger. Going through the glass doors, I was assaulted by the smell of sadness. One person sat on a bench in the front, a young girl with brown hair, dressed in a black sundress. Sat on a bench. I smelled berries coming from her. Her feet barely touched the floor. The slight sense of saline said she was crying. Lanky went up to the counter, where a nurse took Leaf from his arms into a back room.

The walls were shifting nice and red. I liked red. I sat next to the girl with the berries, trying to hold in my drool. Lanky looked at me, sitting at the edge of the bench, next to my new source of berries. Lanky motioned for me to join him on the other bench. My abdomen was growling now. A grumpy rumbling.

The girl looked me in the eyes, the smell of sadness ceasing for a moment. She talked to lanky who responded, unease in the air. She kept her eyes on mine. Her hair swam in the nice shape of reddening leaves.

She pulled out and tossed into my mouth, a berry. I ate it. Finally! Able to swallow my saliva, I downed that berry. She put her hand on my head. This close I could more easily tell: she was smiling.

That was nice.

Unfortunately for her, that was the last of the patience my abdomen had.

It heaved straight, launching me off the bench and onto the ground of the pokecenter. The girl squealed a short scream in surprise.

I fell to the ground, kneeling, guts convulsing, insides momentarily making a very strong case that they needed a trip outside.

"S- Be f-! T- bottle isn’t toxic!" Lanky said. I clicked, then convulsed again. The fluorescent lights in the room turned red.

"Isn’t toxic? Look at h-!" She shouted, gasping for air, holding her heart to her chest, pulling her legs back.

"Not blood!" He said, a smooth wave of anger-guilt washing off. "Promise!"

The nurse who took Leaf started talking, I could taste his amusement as he chuckled. "‘S psy-ic aph- bugs. Start salivating at th- vry taste of it in t- ir, eat it n get h- to t- ky after ejecting t- cont-ts of th- st-ch." More red drool leaked out of my face. Their red fur looked good on the nurse.

I clicked, trying to stand up. I looked at Lanky. I recognized that hair now. I knew that face. Burgh, I wanted to say, staggering forward to him. "Eeeulny" came out, as I. The nurse stepped forward, drawing close.

"Cmeer," he’d said, motioning me, leaves in the ground and leaves in the air. I could taste the red of the fur. A little red leavanny. In a little red world in a big red city in a big red pokenter. With a nurse all covered in bristling red leaves and fur.

My vision rolled in red leaves, dark flashes of red veins throbbing, my antennae twitching at the taste of red. "Rdy t-," I could hear. "Didn’t knu—" Lanky-Burch complained, the nurse picking me up, dripping red over his smock.

The hallway wasn’t white fluorescent this time, at least. I could feel the red, the leaves shifting in and out. Eggs. Lots and lots of eggs, birds I beat the birds back with the shades of leaves and bread of eggs.

The nurse and eyes flashing highlights of grays and red. Looking down at me, setting me on the table. "T- is w- we don’t ant- pokemon," they smiled, their red-furred smocks shifting in red leaves. Another nurse came over, smiling and laughing. Was that a red seel?

I saw my red Leafy friend, already walking out. A maroon light shone in my eyes.

The feel of red left first. The shifting, red and fuzzy touch too. The endless taste of cherries began to fade. Another convulsion, all that came out was spittle. The man-nurse pulled up a small hose, holding me over a sink, spraying my mouth, washing it out. Smiling, red smiling silence.

"Z- yi t-," softly and slowly on the counter, they sat me up, speaking their standard nonsense, I’d stopped hearing red. My tarsus wasn’t sore. I wasn’t hearing red any more. I was already salivating when he dropped a real cherry into my mouth. Watching me and with a hand held softly on my abdomen, he spoke soothing words. When I didn’t fall to the floor convulsing, he let off my abdomen and wiped the table of drips of red and ichor off the floor and table.

Happy I’d returned to normal, I chowed down.

That was scary, I thought. Finishing my berries and the topping of soil, they gave me another serving, then allowed me to walk through the cursed, fluorescent hallway. The guy took me out to the lobby. The girl had gone.

On the bench, Lanky sat, a small backpack on his lap. Leaf sat still next to the kid. The taste of the city vibrations and ocean air returned. Lanky looked at me. A red flash, and Leaf was in his pokeball. In Lanky’s hand was a backpack. He motioned for me to come over as a nurse-lady giggled. He slipped it on me and cinched it tight.

That’s nice, Lanky, but— He had a leash in hand.

I groaned. Lanky held out my pokeball, as if to say, "Would you rather?" Had the police told him to get a leash?

Pokemon don’t get to run free in the city.