~~~ Chapter 38 - Looker ~~~

When I awoke, I was on the ground, lying prone. My vision was still gone, not yet returned from my sleep. I was outside, on manicured grass, or at least, freshly cut. Light entered my vision again, vague shadowy blobs forming, coalescing into my slightly clear-yet still blurry sight. We were on the side of a large building, its steep height casting a long shadow over us. A brick fence more than thrice as tall as me jutted out of the side, topped with a curve of cement surrounding it, chirps of some barking dogs on the other side. The wall and building gave off a similar scent as the gym's courtyard, and surprisingly, it was similar to the road of the bridge we'd crossed. I was glad.

Vision fully returned, I stood up, looking at Lanky. The smell of humans and general town-life was welcome.

A sweet smell drifted through my antennae, and I immediately rolled over, sitting up. Lanky was holding a bag, the source of my next meal, ready for the snacks. A few feet in front of him was a man in dark, almost-purple pants with a tan, corduroy jacket that had big, dark buttons down the front. His shoes were black leather, a gross synthetic smell rolling off of them, threatening to ruin the citrusy and cherry smell.

The man nodded to Lanky, who nodded in return before sitting down in front of me on the grass. It wasn't night, the sun was still up, but the clouds had all dissipated/moved on, the sky a vibrant blue-ish purple.

I stood up, the guy flinching, looking at lanky, who said what I could only assume was some reassuring words, as I stepped a few feet out of the shadow of the building, and into the afternoon sun. The man chuckled, and shifted, turning to face me. Lanky was watching me. I could read his expressions pretty well by this point, at least while I was in range of his own scent. The building I was now facing was incredibly ornate, even for a gym. The man opened his briefcase, pulling out a tablet, pointing it at me for a moment.

My mouth watered, and I looked at Lanky, who just stared at me, saying the word I knew for "wait/stay". The man pulled out a sheet of papers.

Do they know? I asked myself. I didn't think anyone knew. I just wanted to be happy, I just wanted to live my life. No, I told myself. They didn't know. How could they? I looked down, I was fidgeting. I turned back to Lanky.

What kind of berries are those? I thought to myself, my arms relaxing as I imagined what they'd taste like just from their smell. They had a similar scent as the cherry-conditioner. The man motioned to his left, talking, almost mumbling. Lanky sat down, next to me. A tall, dark-skinned woman with turquoise hair stepped out of the building. We were at a gym. Yeah. I knew what this place was. A second later, the gym leader held the door open for a significantly shorter woman walking beside a large dinosaur-like pokemon.

The girl had brown hair and dressed plainly wearing a faded red hat and loose long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans. The dinosaur-like pokemon was light-green with massive red flower-petals all around its neck. The gym leader let the door close shut, the shorter girl and pokemon glancing over at us as a third person, this one dressed in a silver tracksuit and sunglasses jogged out, giving us a wave.

I didn't recognize the guy, the shorter girl or Meganium, but I sure as hell knew the other lady from my past life. Lenora. I didn't know which gym I'd fought her in, but it didn't take a whole lot to guess what was going to happen soon, even with this detective in front of us.

I looked back at Lanky. It was hard to imagine him as the future Burgh. The guy with sunglasses waved at the detective in front of me, speaking and jogging over. The detective looked over, speaking some words. He had a pair of bottles of water in hand, giving one to the detective, tossing the other to Lanky, before jogging off, back inside the museum-gym. I knew what the questions were going to be about, but what I didn't know was how they were going to ask them. The first thing the man did was lay down in front of me a picture of— a picture of several humans and pokemon. A bunch of pictures of ghosts, misdreavus, mismagius, all in the ruins that Lebi sent me in.

An absol, what looked like a future version of an absol? Does absol have an evolution? A picture of Oust, a penguin, and a girl with blue hair and a pink-and-white beanie. Lanky put his hands on my arms, gently pushing them down and apart.

"Do we really?" I asked. He responded, of course, but it was in an "I'm talking to my cute bug pokemon" tone, not his "I'm talking to another human" voice.

He pulled out a berry, pointing at the assortment of pictures. Lanky seemed confident. Had Lebi given me away, as one last act of spite? Were they waiting to spring this on me until now? I reached out for the berry, but he pulled it back. At least give me some payment before we start this! I squirmed. I could run up a tree? Up to the top of the building? I could climb our gym's walls. I could. I could—Lanky put his left hand on my head, his voice and presence reassuring.

The detective took a sip of his drink. I took a brea—no. I shut my mouth with a loud clack, interrupting the manual inhalation of air. I held still for a moment, letting my abdominal pockets do their work instead. They didn't know anything. I'm fine. Lanky's face shifted, before speaking to the detective, who gave him a thumbs-up. He gave me the berry. The berry was small, but the outer layer of it immediately melted off, the sugars mixing, dripping down into my thorax, energizing every part of my body it touched. The inner layer had a hint of cherry, not the same as the conditioner, clearly, as it had no fats or metals or greases in it, but was not far off it too melted, leaving a final, hard piece.

The center was not as sweet, but filled with a thick, dense nitrogen core. It was approximately the size of a skittle, though hard as a rock. I opened my mouth, mashing the rock along my flat, inner ridges. Taste of goodness lingering, I returned to the reality in front of me, swishing my tongue back and forth, collecting stubborn syrups even as the core defied the chops. Detective had changed strategy. In front of me were two pictures, instead of a hundred. One picture was blank. The other was a picture of a swadloon, in particular, it was the swadloon from the other night. How'd they get that? I shook my head and tapped the swadloon. Dogs yelped in the distance, behind the gym walls. Swadloon was replaced with a picture of a black dragon. Zekrom. I tapped the white one.

A picture of a charizard. I tapped white. Blue hair, white beanie, pink skirt. I tapped the girl. An overhead picture of the black and pink latias showed up, hovering over the gym courtyard. Lanky's hand, still on my head, stiffened, my antennae tapping his phalanges.

I tapped the latias. The pace quickened. A picture of pig-like pokemon, a musharna lying, strapped into a bed, a pair of tubes coming out of them. I tapped white. The sweet taste of the candy in my mouth faded. A groudon. Nope. Empty. A picture of some ruins at the top of a mountain. Nope. Blank paper. The detective set out a picture of an absol, two stones around its neck. I never saw them in person? But they were related. I'd dreamt about them. I'd dreamt about being killed by their team, after getting the girl killed at Lebi's behest.

They made me angry. The sweets were still in the air, but no. A picture of a celebi. A picture of squidfriend. A picture of a slew of faces I didn't know.

The next picture was a volcarona.

Tentacruel games.

I let go, rolling struggling, "Ne Ne Ne Ne", clack, clack, clack. This whole thing was stupid! No. I don't care any more! Lanky and the detective both jumped away. I tossed and turned and struggled in the grass, carving into the dirt. I stood up, Lanky and the detective keeping their distance. I stood up. Lenora and the girl who'd left moments ago had returned, and were watching me. Lanky had my pokeball in his hand. I ran off into the street, to the east. I didn't look back. I ran and ran and ran, past people and pokemon walking along the street, a short thicket of trees, I ran through grass again, crawling over afternoon picnickers, shoving baskets and kids out of the way, running out of the sun into safety of the dark, deep into the thickets.

I walked.

And jogged.

And walked again.

I was in the midst of bushes. No birds, no bees. No spiders. A little pair of venipede antennae poked out from some roots, their angry scent all through the area.

I looked down at them. They didn't seem to be too aggressive at this point. I could nest here. I followed along a wide dirt path, finding a large, circular area in the middle of tall flora, the area sitting in the sun. This is as good a place to start a nest-garden as any other, I tell myself. I hear shouts of "Leah!" in the distance. Not going back now, not right now. No siree. The shouts draw closer, and I feel a rhythmic rumbling, the angry scent of a venipede in the air draws closer.

My blades are frictioning together at the approach. Instinct doesn't like it, but no, I clamped down, refusing the panic-breathing.

I am staying here! This will be our nest! Nevermind the fact that there's no other nest mates. Yet.

The place needed flowers and berry bushes. The rustling grew closer, I took a breath. That was the first thing I'd do. Yes. Get a bunch of berries, and they'll grow wherever I nest. The courtyard and gym floor had already been sprouting greenery, even after only a few days of me living there. My blades were rubbing again. Shouts drew near, a shadow towering above me. I took a breath, turning to face my new guest. A large, dark, segmented belly towered, angry markings, with an angry scent, drops of purple dripping from its mouth, yellow eyes with a helmeted head, and two massive, stationary antenna jutted out, the whole body writhing, its red armor and pink circles telling the only story I needed to know.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

No. No no nonono.

The foreposition of the massive bug's body came crashing down, body slamming me flat into the earth. Not over not overnot overnotovernot— The body of the pissed scolipede lifted up off me— not deadnotdeadnotdead. I didn't want to anger the bug even more, but I ran into the west, screaming, "NNNNNNNNEEEEEEEeeeeeeyyyyyy", while the angry scolipede chittered and slammed trees, rocks, and everything else out of the way in their pursuit, drops of poison falling from them. I ran, sliding under roots, jumping over bushes, and trails, the only thing stopping me from suffering another flattening being the damn thing toppling trees it slammed into.

What I didn't expect, and maybe possibly should have, is that if there's venipede around, and a scolipede nest, there is another. Which I found out when another pair of red and pink antennae poked out in front of me, looking at their partner. "LLLEEEeeee!" I screamed again, reaching out my arm, using the momentum to swing me south, as the new scolipede also screamed at me, beginning their own charge, before being bowled over by their partner who had been unable to shift their momentum. They both screeched, turning their way to me as I hooked back west again, heading back into town.

"Ssaaaaaveee meee!" I screamed, only the usual nonsense of my inhuman vocals coming out, my abdomen pumping hard as I ran through the forest, two angry scolipede chasing after me.

There was no place to hide—this place was their nest, and I could not trust any hiding spot. I was breathing through my mouth as I ran, alternating between screams, my pursuers refusing to let up their chase. Meganium was running toward me, Lanky and the other girl I hadn't recognized at the gym jumped off at the sight of the two stampeding scolipede, a screen of light erecting in front of the meganium, followed by a glow between us both, as Lanky shouted, standing up.

He shouted again, the leaf-dinosaur charging past me as I ran, chancing a glance behind me, a loud crack and the lightscreen immediately shattered as the meganium tanked the blow, the other scolipede diverting to chase after me.

It's more than twice my size, and more than ten times my mass! I thought. Lanky shouted again, "Cut!", and well, I don't know what I was thinking, but I grabbed onto a tree, spinning to face the charging monster, bolstered by his confidence. Clamping my jaw shut, I pulled, my body clamping tight, the world, including the speeding scolipede slowing down to a much more manageable pace.

I met the scolipede head on, sliding under its belly with my blades, the titan unable to slam into me, its body moving forward too fast by the time it had tried to body slam me again. The red, pink and black blurred into afterimages, before finally coalescing into one, a single image jittering as it sped up, not quite done with me yet.

I glowed ever-so-slightly, focusing on my opponent as they changed their strategies now that I was facing them directly, little drops of ichor falling from their large underside, like they'd just gotten a papercut. My abdomen vibrated. It had almost worked against Virizion, and it probably wasn't the best time to practice, but I pulled the anxiety in, mutually circling my opponent, the light of the sun coming down, shifting into a beautiful, thick violet. My opponent, holding half their body high, towering over me, their angry yellow eyes staring me down.

I thought of the swadloon from the night before, their blankets of leaves unkempt, no caretaker to help them, their trainers not helping. I held onto that instinct, the other girl shouting at her meganium, its own leaves turning white in the beautiful, burning ultraviolet afternoon sun.

My opponent took advantage of my standing still, spraying me with a mass of purple goop. The energy of my leaves had diverted to my thorax, my abdomen heating up, struggling to keep the heat down as the world vibrated. The purple goop slid off of me, as if I was wearing a hazmat suit.

Vision cleared, scolipede running at me, I dug my legs into the ground, leaned forward, putting all the force in my muscles down, I opened my mouth, releasing the pent-up energy, my vision going blank, my body going cold and numb. The beam screamed into the air, followed by a second scream not my own. My limbs fell to the side, and yet I stood, mouth agape.

My last conscious thought was: "Congratulations! I've learned Solar Beam!"

~~~

When I awoke, it was in a pokecenter. Again. A speaker beeped, my arms and legs restrained in my sleeping position. Air flowed through my mouth, and I tried to close it, but couldn't, jaw held open with a spacer tasting like plastic, dripping a sour liquid into my throat. "Eeeerrrgh" I moaned, wiggling. I turned my head at the source of the beeps. A screen hung off the countertop, the silhouette of a leavanny on the screen, all green except for my abdomen, which flashed orange.

Damnit, Leah. I'd been to a pokecenter probably every other day since we left the professor's house. I was done with this shit!

"You didn't meet the scolipede on your way into the city, now did you, child?"

Ugh. Just what I needed. A new voice in my head. The door to the room opened. A girl entered the room. She had blue hair. I turned my head to follow her as she moved about.

"Fret not, worry not, dreamer."

My vision turned a milky pink, and I was thrust once more into a world of dreams. Once again, I was in the center of a forest. I felt pleasant. I wasn't hungry. I wasn't anxious, I wasn't angry. The sun kissed my leaves and lulled me into the world of dreams. A windy breeze brushed against my antennae.

I could see forever, and the forest was massive, and it went on for eternity. I was in the center of all the trails that spiraled out from the center. A figure of green coalesced, their leaves, antennae and eyes appearing, before the rest of their body. My antennae could not smell them, but by their height, by their leaves, the patch on their arm, it was Leaf. Next to me, staring into my eyes. He held out an arm gently next to me, opening his mouth to speak.

"Walk with me, my love?" he asked.

I reached out, tapping the end of the back of my right forearm arm with his, the little feelers we usually used to grab leaves or climb trees locking our arms together.

"That sounds nice," I voice my consent.

The sun was pleasant, the forest chirping to life. After images of other leavanny walking together or walking alone floated behind us, through the forest. One was always my height on each path, each time the trail forked. The afterimage's partner was Leaf, the partner was Bonk, or other leavanny I had yet to meet. Occasionally I was alone. Other times when I wasn't alone, I wasn't holding their arms. I returned to the center, Leaf's arm next to mine.

We walked through the path, the distance between forks growing larger and larger. The field opened up, a poisoned leavanny staggered back into their nest, sewaddle surrounding it. The leavanny disappeared, the path before us split, and we walked to the left. We were in train-town again, a leavanny on the roof, their team of swadloon and sewaddle making their nest. Lanky was there, a bag of soil in hand, contraptions of leaves reaching out from a faucet, feeding water into lines of pots. No battles or pokeballs to be found.

The path twisted again; a leavanny was in the Anville pokecenter. Instead of getting annoyed with the nurse, she'd responded, and worked with her, eventually teaming up with the nurse. Running a pokecenter, a greenhouse off to the side, specializing exclusively in grass and bug pokemon. The path diverged again, the leavanny helping the blue-haired nurse care for and assure stressed pokemon and trainers. Lanky nowhere to be found.

Leaf and I took another turn, still further from the center, the sun somehow warming us both. Another path, and Lanky was climbing a mountain, three leavanny above him, climbing, his hands covered in gooey silk, helping him maintain balance alongside the rocky cliff. Again, the scene shifted as we walked down the path in silence.

A celebi had been more clear the first time. A leavanny died in the mountain that day, a mountain erupted in flame, magma flowing out of the region. Two sleeping titans rose from their slumber at the challenge of the newcomer. None would win, but there would be losers.

Leaf and I paused at the next fork. He held his right leaf to his mouth, as if thinking. "You should see these next few yourself. I'll meet you up ahead."

I nodded, leaving my nest mate behind. I didn't really think about which path to take in this dream up to this point, and wasn't about to start now. Lanky and the mirage of me were in the gym, the massive building, along with an atrium, had a library and a museum in it. Lanky held out a chalkboard, talking to me. Lenora peeked around the corner, watching Lanky with interest. On my left, I watched myself rubbing my leaf-arms together, lanky's face turning to worry each time, before deciding to pack it up. On my right, I was fighting the meganium. Each time, I was shoved out of the ring with ease.

Fight after fight, no matter how hard I'd push, the meganium wouldn't move unless it chose. I was growing stronger. I was getting faster, but it didn't matter. Each time we left, the guy with the sunglasses gave Lanky a pat on the back, and a "better luck next time".

On my left, Lanky was given a badge. On my right. Lanky was given a badge, even with our total loss. On both, he was there. On both, he was with me, cheering me on.

I continued my journey, the scenes rewinding as I continued to progress out from the center.

This time, on my left, I'd fallen to the floor, frustrated, struggling in annoyance, causing lanky to pull out his pokeball to stop the struggle from tearing up the museum. On my right, I'd fallen into a groove, giving up as my moves and attacks did precisely nothing, only executing the exact words Lanky called out, like an unthinking robot. Lanky and I left the city and gym in defeat. On either side, I'd given up. On both, I was the one who gave up on me. Later, Lanky would return to that gym, with other pokemon, and he would claim the badge, but it would be a different partner with him instead.

I continued walking forward. In one, I'd run away from town, this time, with more success. I'd live in the wild, have a nest, and adopt pokemon. In another, we returned to the city, Lanky with his two badges, the gym would open to the trainers again, and people from all around would come to see our greenhouse, others, come to train and fight. A young teen with green hair stayed in the gym with Lanky, now Burgh, their eyes aglow at our craft as we'd turned that gym into a nest of our own, alongside humans and inside the city.

The kid knelt down to the mirage of me, smiling, holding out his hands.

Leaf shimmered into existence as the vision faded. "Welcome back, love." Leaf said, holding out his arm. I reached out, joining mine to his, and we continued traversing our dreams of endless futures, some with Lanky, some with Burgh, some with the Nurse, others with N, the kid with green hair.

My vision began to lose the vibrant color, the canopy of the trees fading into fluorescent whites, the forest trail and scenes we'd passed slowly dissolving, the sounds of the world the first to fully disappear, the leaves and trees fading as Lanky's face staring down at me as my antennae explored the air, tapping for what scents they could taste. He held me up, and I was in the lobby of the pokecenter, in the teen's arms once again, the last vestiges of the dream-world fading. I voice my first, and final question to the Leaf from the dissipating dream.

"Human in a bug's body. Do you ever wonder…?"

"Yes, little dreamer."