We gather upon the royal blanket. As do most of the crowd. The pokemons disperse themselves upon the many other blankets, but not all. Some come to Princess, who had not moved yet. It appears they are greeting her in a sign of respect. Most of those that do so eye me with distrust and fear. A few sport scars and old injuries. The process seems like it will take a long time, and I can see those upon our blanket are already seated and digging into the many baskets upon it. The zoroark is here, obviously, as well as a little troupe of indeedee led by the indeedee.

The Zoroark aide signal for us to sit down as well. As I join them, I do so carefully. The claws upon my feet catch upon the fabric and I feel like I could easily rip it apart. I gently disentangle the offending appendages and sit down. Mewtwo joins me and we take a look at what is within the baskets of food.

The food within the baskets surprises me. There are berries, obviously, this is a pokemon picnic. But it is the more fruits and vegetables that makes me raise an eyebrow. Some raw, others cooked. Do they grow human vegetables on top of berries?

Mewtwo is already digging into the basket closest to us. We did forget to eat breakfast this morning. He devours a couple berries before stopping. His face turns red and he starts coughing.

Water! Where is the water!

Uh? I look at the half eaten tamato he left next to him. A quick description pops up and I snicker. The berry is extremely spicy. It also lowers a pokemon speed but makes him friendlier... How does that work here I wonder. The spiky red berry continue to sit next to Mewtwo.

As the upright psychic cat pokemon is finally given something he sigh as the burning sensation recedes. The Zoroark has also taken notice of the little situation and is silently cackling behind his fluffy arm. As if to taunt Mewtwo, he takes another sort of spicy berry, a liechi berry and gobbles it down. He then tries to offer one to Mewtwo, but my friend can see the badly hidden mirth on the zoroark face and kindly refuses the gift.

Looking in distrust at the berry basket, he turns to another one for something else to eat. What he finds are human dishes. Sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, some white cream and more vegetables greet him.

Curious and adventurous, he takes a piece of cucumber and tastes it. His face scrunches into a frown at the taste.

Tastes watery. He tells me.

I take a piece and yep, it's a cucumber. The vegetable is not known for its taste, but more for its texture. The slices are thin, but still crunchy. Although after his adventure with the tamato, maybe Mewtwo lost a bit of taste here.

You do know I am aware of the WAYLA system right? You could have told me it was spicy!

"Did you even know you could not handle spiciness?" I tease him back.

He grunts and look away. Eh, though so.

"Anyway, pass me the cream and those carrot sticks." I ask him, hiding my amusement.

The items float toward me and I catch them. The cream becomes labeled as sour cream, and the carrot sticks as... 'carrot sticks'... Well some things don't change. That's good to know.

We continue to eat, sometimes tasting surprising things, other times Mewtwo has to do a lip test to make sure he is not about to taste something spicy again. For me, spice does nothing. I can taste the heat, but I am still able to swallow the aliment without much complaint from my body. One thing that I soon note is the absence of meat. I do not need to eat meat to keep on working, but I am pretty sure at least half of the pokemons here are either omnivorous or full-on carnivores.

I wonder if Princess has put a ban on it for some reason or another. A yip from Princess' aide get our attention. He comes to us with a new basket, and when he drops it on front of us, it answers my question. Princess did not ban meat. This basket is filled to the brim with an assortment of cold, dried, salted and smoked meats. As if to convince us, the zoroark takes a couple of the top most ones and devours them in seconds.

As I look upon the basket, many names pop up, and I feel somewhat relived to see no pokemon names within. Still, meat. I saw birds and other animals along the way, if they so ostentatiously display such quantities, it must mean they are not banned from hunting them. No, let's ask to be sure.

"Hey, are there any rules about gathering meat and animal products?" I take a piece of raw salted beef and eat it. It taste quite good.

The zoroark looks at me in confusion at first. Then, as if a light bulb just lit up above his head, he brightens up. Mewtwo restore the translation trick and I get a full explanation.

Animals are actually raised within the Sanctuary. Not in a traditional way, the pokemons do not have farms where they raise herds. Instead, some of the pokemons protect wild herds that were lured within the forest at one time. When said herds become too large, they proceed to do some population control and use any produces obtained in the process. The skin is used to make bags or is stored for later use, the meat and organs are used as either food or fertilizer and the bones are reduced to dust to be used as fertilizer as well. That last one makes me raise an eyebrow.

"How effective is that bone dust?"

"Pretty good, it doubles the growth speed of our crops, add our local grass type aid, and we can get an harvest once a week." The zoroark proudly proclaims.

I nod, but keep on thinking. I will need to try it too. "Could I obtain some? I would like to experiment with it."

The zoroark looks at me with curiosity. "Do you plan on making your strange flowers grow bigger?"

I snort at that. Almost got it in one. "That would be one of the goals, yes." I do not tell him I want to compare it with the one I can make. I feel like it would end up as a repeat of the village. I will be staying here for the entire time I have before the next raid, but some things I might keep to myself. And until I know for sure, I am keeping the bone meal a secret between me and Mewtwo.

Mewtwo gives me a slight nod, agreeing with my thoughts.

"I will see with our local crop tenders if they can spare a small bag or two." He agrees. I thank him and pick up a piece of dried duck meat. The fat and salty meat is quickly devoured.

The picnic continues, with Princess joining us after a dozen minutes. Those that had gathered to greet her have all come and gone. With a tired sigh, she lowers herself down, sitting like a siren next to us. A couple pieces of meats as well as berries float up from various baskets and she politely eat them.

Mewtwo and I cannot help but stare. Nowhere have I seen that florges are supposed to be vegetarian, but even as I reread the pokedex entry, I can only accept what my eyes are seeing. Florges are omnivorous I guess. After that brief scene, the picnic continues. I soon stop eating, My energy reserves are full, and eating anymore makes me feel like I am about to throw up. Mewtwo is also lost to a food coma, much to the amusement of our fellow picnickers.

He lies down on the blanket with his arm raised above his now filled belly. His hands sometime twitch, as does his long tail. He dumb smile is plastered on his face. Eh...

As the eating dies down, I look around. Most blankets have families or related pokemons together. And there are only pokemons here. I am the only 'human' around.

Few are what one would call rare pokemons. Many species of bird pokemons are present along many insects ones. The rarer ones are humanoid looking pokemons, yet they still number in the dozens among the hundreds gathered. I spot some machops, tyrogues and timburrs play-fighting with each others under the supervision of a one armed mienshao. I shudder a bit at the sight. The white suricate looking pokemon still has a kind smile as he directs the rowdy young ones under his supervision.

Down at the lake shore, multiple fish pokemons have congregated and are being offered food by land walking water types as well as other pokemons. The strangest one is the presence of a walrein among the crowd. It is not hot by any definitions, but it should be too hot for the dual ice-water type. How did it end up here I wonder.

If thou art curious of our charges, thou should wander and mingle with them. they each have a tale to tell. Thou should also lay their worries to rest. They think thou a human, yet thou art only one in form. Are we not right?

Princess voice echoes in my head. She isn't wrong per say. Most only fear me because I look human. The looks are either disgust and fear only when they look at my face, it becomes curiosity when they look at the more mechanical parts of my body. I consider Princess idea. Without Mewtwo's translating, it might be hard, but maybe it is time I make an effort.

But how do I present myself? Can I just go to the nearest blanket and just introduce myself? No, this will serve no purpose. They will close up or I will not be able to respond to them out of fear of misinterpreting what they ask or say. I need to find a way to interact without too much need for vocal communication.

The answer comes in the form of a gathering around a table sized flat boulder. A dozen fighting types are taking turns doing arm wrestling. This could be my door to socialization.

Decided, I make my way toward the group. My feet dig into the sand, and I travel through the many gathered by Princess. As I pass, many give me sidelong glances and sneers, but a few glance at me with curiosity. I spot familiar figures among the gathered. The ambipom that had tried to clean the cottage waves one of his large hand tail at me as he sees me pass. I spot further away the swalot family. She seems to be having an animated discussion with a pair of staraptor. The little gulpin, now joined by a couple more, is playing with a couple of starly. Neither of them notice me and I continue on my way.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Something thunks on my leg and cries out in pain. I freeze and look down. One of the earlier bunearies has just run into my leg and stunned himself. As the small brown and beige bunny recovers from the collision, his eyes meet mine, and it is his turn to freeze. He start to look around in desperation and then simply close his eyes, huddling into a ball. Unsure as to what to do, and under the baleful gaze of all the pokemons around me, I slowly crouch toward the bunny pokemon.

As softly as I can, I ask him. "Are you okay?"

My voice makes the buneary huddle even more and start whimpering. "Hey! Hey! Hey! It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you! Sorry for being made of metal though!" Shit shit shit! This is bad. I am afraid that trying to touch him will get the onlookers to react negatively, yet it feels like they will treat me the same if I just leave. It's a lose-lose situation right now.

Before the situation can deteriorate any more, something white and purple dashes in front of me and pushes me away. I stumble backward and am treated to the one-armed mienshao. The white suricate with pant and belt-like purple pattern stands in front of the terrified buneary. He growls and takes a defensive stance, ready to react to whatever I do next. I slowly get up, his dark red eyes never leaving me.

"Apologies, I did not want to scare him." I say calmly, bowing down.

This seems to take the mienshao aback. He stares at me in absolute distrust, but a new voice arrives. A young kirlia is helping the buneary up, and in her shrill voice, seems to confirm my words. The mienshao relaxes slightly and spit something along the lines of 'be more careful next time' even though the buneary was the one that ran into me. He then return to the group of young fighting type he was supervising. Said group had stopped its activities to watch the scene.

I thank the kirlia. The green hair ballerina looking pokemon gives me a stern look and nods before escorting the still scared buneary away.

I sigh, and look back toward the group of adult fighting types I was aiming for, and come nose to crest with a machoke. The grey humanoid pokemon wearing only a spandex gives me a predatory smile. He speaks, and then gestures. He wants to invite me over to the group. I agree and he violently slaps my back in a false gesture of friendship. I may not understand them, but I can still read their body language. Although he does regret his slap as he does so on the mechanical spine poking from my back, and ends up hurting himself slightly in the process. He tries to hide an annoyed grunt, but I still hear it.

We arrive at the stone, and the crowd of fighting types opens up to let me in. Sitting on the table, munching on a bamboo stick, is a large scarred pangoro. the large panda pokemon smirks as his machoke buddy pushes me forward. The pangoro put a massive arm forward and invites me to do the same. As he put his right forward, I put my own right arm on the rock. We lock hands, and a scrafty acts as a referee. The yellow and brown upright lizard puts his hand on both ours, and then signal to begin.

The pangoro exerts immediate pressure, and for a second, I hold. Then comes the groan of metal bending and I silently curse. An instant later, with a loud crunch, my arm bends and impact the rock. I lose. The pangoro lets out a roaring laugh, and I get up. I bow to him. "Thank you for the match." I then move to the side. That makes the panda pokemon stop laughing. He eye me in amazement before gesturing for me to leave my place for another. I move to the side and look at my arm.

My arm is broken, that is for certain, yet I feel no pain. I had realized that a while ago, but I can see a lot of pokemons are surprised by my lack of reactions. I let the next couple of matches happen, all the while my arm heals. After about three matches, I have fully recovered, to the astonishment of all the assembled fighting types. As I stretch my arm around and clench and open my fist, I nod. "Ready for another round."

Although I do make a bit of preparations. I have some experience points to distribute, and I wish to see if armor resistance would affects my strength in some ways. I pour some points in, bringing it to 10%. I also up the repair efficiency to a solid 20%. This might also help.

I once more sit in front of the pangoro, and the panda smirks again. I can see his uncertainty behind his bravado though. He saw how I shrugged the supposed pain of my arm being broken to pieces, and now I have already recovered. Before he can present his arm, I present mine, my left. He raises a bushy eyebrow at that but shrugs, and agrees by presenting his own left arm. We clasp hand and paw, and the scrafty from before starts us.

The difference is actually insane. I do not have the strength to push back, but the pangoro is having a harder time pushing at all. With my arm locked, the change in bringing my resistance from a small 1.3% to a 10% makes itself known. It's exponential. My growth is absolutely exponential. I can feel the pangoro start to actually exert his strength, slowly, the same sound as before start echoing. My arm is once more losing to the pokemon's brute strength, but that's alright. I can just heal it up. I have enough energy left, and I can just go get food back on the royal blanket.

With a final sound of metal ripping apart, I lose my second match. When my right tore, it only bent in a weird angle, with what looked like bones poking under the skin. Here? The armor plating burst open at the elbow, muscle fiber tears itself apart and metal bones jut out. "Oh wow!" I am in awe at the sight of the inside of my arm. The quantity of electronics and parts stacked in there is insane. That's the arm that has the upgrade chips slots here, and there a lot more systems now visible within.

The pangoro has let go of my arm the moment it broke, and is looking mightily spooked at the sight. He points at me and gruffs something. His shaded eyes then almost burst forth as the cables, metal parts and muscle fiber start to move on their own accord. in less than a minute, the cables return to their sockets, the electronic parts return to their slots, and the muscle fibers knit themselves back together. Finally, the bent plating unbend itself and slide right back in its place, to the wonder of all assembled.

"Round three?" I ask, smiling.

I present my left arm again and pour my remaining points into muscle strength. It brings me from 16% to 17.9%. The upgrade is so small I wonder if it will actually make any differences. Could I had even matched any of them? Even if I had poured all my points into muscle strength, I am not sure. After all, every pokemons around me have gone beyond level on hundred.

The pangoro looks unsure on how to proceed. He just broke both of my arms, and I just take it with a smile. He wanted to scare me, to make me suffer for all of those that suffered at the hand of humans. Yet here I am, shrugging broken arms and healing in mere minutes. He grunts and offers his right arm to my left. I shrug and put back my right arm on the rock.

We clasp hand and paw for the third time, and the scrafty, once more starts us. He is also looking a bit pale. The pangoro immediately goes with almost full strength, and I hold. Even more, I can feel his arm giving. Exponential growth for the win baby. I slowly start to push my opponent arm's away, locking eyes with the panda pokemon. His uncertainty turns into surprise at my sudden greater strength, and something changes in his expression. My pushing stops, midway to the stone, and slowly, the pangoro starts to push back. He had not exerted his full strength yet. I try pushing pack, and I hear my body start to produce a high pitched whine as servos try to offset the pokemon brute strength, but with the sound akin a metal pole meeting a metal fan, my arm once more gives.

My right arm impacts violently on the rock, the sudden loss of strength surprising both me and the pangoro. Cracks run along the rock, and this time, my skin gets ripped open. And what is revealed beneath hammers the last nail a coffin I had tried to ignore for some time now. Yet I still knew the truth deep inside. I had known since the moment my neck went backward during the praetor fight. Still, a part of me, as well as Aster's side of my mind, wanted to believe only the parts visibly mechanical were so. But right now, I can see the truth. I am a machine, not a human.

Like my left, my right arm tears itself apart at the elbow. Unlike my left, my elbow snaps in two. The round part that linked and allowed my arm movements breaks into pieces. Some fly off the table and into the sand, and any fighting type close to those take a step back. Okay that might be bad. The muscle fiber and artificial tendons rip themselves apart and flail around like whips for a second. I lose all sensation of my right arm and hand.

Stunned silence descend on the crowd of fighting and, I am just realizing now, many other types that had come to observe the matches. Well... shit. How is my body going to react to missing parts?

It reacts, surprisingly, as if said parts are not missing. Everyone gathered around, me included, watch in amazement as thin rivulets of silver liquid stretch from my elbow stump and connect to rivulets coming from my forearm. The moment they do, I can feel sensations return all the way to my hand. The small parts that scattered around are fully ignored and the silver liquid simply fills the gaps, hardening into replacements. Nanomachines uh?

The part that are ignored slowly disintegrate into fine dust and quickly disappear. Only one does not. A piece that was picked up by a hitmonlee. The brown pokemon holds what appears to be a piece of a small rotor between his beige claws. Uh? He and a couple of other pokemons are looking in amazement at the little piece of me. Then they realize I am looking at them and, scratching the back of his smooth headless body, the hitmonlee gives it back to me.

'Broken part. A piece of the body of a terraforming android. Model X-A0.7.5. Scrap amalgamated nanometal, leave alone for natural disintegration.'

Wow. I look in amazement at the description the WAYLA system gives me. Wait, terraforming android? What the fuck is that? Is that what I am? Wait, later, let's deal with our current situation.

I look at my arm just as the skin finishes to stitch itself back together. No traces of my injury remains. The pangoro asks something, and I do not need to understand pokespeech to answer it.

"clearly not a human." I say with a smile.

the pangoro is taken aback, and the crowd collectively blinks at my declaration. The pangoro looks at me in absolute disbelief but then start laughing. He points at me and says something with a predatory smile. Before I can react, I am lifted up by a machoke and a hitmonchan. The pangoro gets on the cracked stone and start a speech to all assembled. He ends it by slapping my back violently. I hear and feel my spine bend under the panda's strength and the only reason I do not fall is only thank to my porters holding tight on me. I am surprised they are not straining under my weight. Ah wait, I can feel the hitmonchan readjusting his hold on me.

Soon the crowd cheer and I can see a lot of previously hostile faces have mellowed out. Their distrust have begun to turn into cautious curiosity.

Having fun? I hear Mewtwo from the royal blanket. I wave at him from my elevated position and he shakes his head in amusement. I cannot leave you for a minute without you getting into some strange situation can I.

Yeah you got me there.

I am taken back down and then introduced to other fighting types wishing to try my strength. I oblige all of them and ends up with a couple more broken arms. However, with the situation becoming friendlier, I am treated to food by my fellow competitors and proceed to make a spectacle of every healing, to the cheers of every onlookers.

The afternoon passes in a blur, and soon those gathered start to disperse. In the end, I managed to shift the opinion of the residents of the Sanctuary for the better. I bid goodbye to the group of fighting types and rejoins Mewtwo. We then make our way back to the little cottage under the guidance of the zoroark. He seems genuinely surprised that I managed to bring that group to accept me. The pangoro was actually the leader of their most elite human hunting force, and he had seen more than his share of horrors perpetrated by humans. that I was acknowledged by him of all pokemons would go a long way to make the others accept me.

We finally return to the cottage as the artificial night falls upon the magical forest. The zoroark bids us a good rest, and leaves.

Mewtwo and I both sigh at the return of calm. The picnic was nice, but that was quite a new experience with all the sounds, sights and activities. I feel mentally drained. Yet, I know I have something hard to do.

We need to talk.

"We need to talk."

We both say it at once, and we look at each other. We both realize we have something heavy to share with the other.