Who will "Talyor" be caught by?


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Was I real?

If this seems like an odd question for a mushroom to ask, allow me to explain: I'm...
Introduction part one
Location
The sketchiest alleys of the internet
Was I real?

If this seems like an odd question for a mushroom to ask, allow me to explain: I'm a human. Or, I was a human. Assuming that I'm not fictional, which - as I was saying - might be the case. Do you know how often I had to deal with fungus in my likely-fabricated past life? Because I do. Mold on my bedroom wall, mold on my toothbrush, mushrooms blanketing the yard, food poisoning from eating a moldy chicken nugget, frequent discussion about the pros and cons of eating mushrooms, mold in the potted plants, fried mushrooms as that one buffet I always went to as a kid, the list just goes on like that for a while. Now, if I were watching a series in which a character had that common of an occurance with fungus, and then unrelatedly became fungus, I'd go online and call bullshit on the writers for the forced foreshadowing. If that were it I'd maybe chalk it up to coincidence, but I'm also currently residing on the back of a Paras, which are definitely not real. I suppose I could just be crazy, but I feel sane. Do crazy people feel sane? Am I a crazy person who believes they became a mushroom in the Pokémon world or a mushroom that believes it was once a person residing in a world in which Pokémon were fictional? Schizophrenic Mushroom would be a good name for a band. Oh hey, Taylor - that's what I've nicknamed my Paras - is talking to a different one, and as of recently I can inexplicably understand their conversations.

"-spongy surface."

"And to you, brother." Mine replied, using its mouth and vocal cords and other body parts I no longer had. Which reminds me, another argument for me not really existing is my experience with the mystery dungeon games. See, I played part of Red Rescue Team, but got tired of it before learning how the kid ended up as a Pokémon. That's totally a comedic flashback for the writers to use at a later point. Taylor is approaching a tough-looking Nidorina now. I'd better get ready to release spores at it if things go poorly.

"Excuse me, Miss" the adorable little bug begins, "Have you heard the good word about our lord and-"

"Fuck off, I wasn't interested the last eighty times your little cult tried recruiting me, I'm not interested now, I'm never going to be interested, capiche?" Nobody around here seems to like the Paras population - or their mushroom-themed religion - much. No, I didn't gloss over the fact that I'm worshipped as a divine entity now. Taylor and friends only meditate in supplication of chosen fragments of The Almighty One, of which I am not.

"I understand your reluctance, but your soul-" ...and that's a double kick. Here, have a stun spore and a sleep powder. Now, your probably wondering where 'here' is, and as far as NO, DON'T EAT HER! SHE'S STILL ALIVE! EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW.
AN: The train so far: Older-than-Time, FancyMolasses, Lockedaisical, Valor XIV, Eotyrannus, me, @TheLurker 's Golurk SI, ???.
Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to build a house. But, being a little eccentric, he wanted to build the house using only 99 bricks. So he went to the hardware store and said, "Hello, I'd like to buy 99 bricks."

The owner of the store told him, "I'm sorry, we only sell bricks in quantities of 100."
"Can't you cut me a deal or something?" the man asked.
"Nope, sorry," replied the owner. So the guy bought 100 bricks.
He took the bricks back to his lot, and he built a house using 99 bricks. Now, if you do the math, 100 minus 99 is 1, so he had one brick left. And he took that brick, and he just chucked it, way up in the air!
 
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Introduction pt. 2
There were only two other Paras currently meditating around The Lifegiver as we entered the cavern. Taylor forwent the standard greeting among the sect, instead offering the Slowpoke carcass to the much larger Pokémon and bowed his head before her, signaling that we were going to be here for a while. Here. Here... Why did that sound so familiar? Curse my lack of a nervous system, it makes it really hard to remember things. Or stay on one topic. Or do anything besides releasing spores and sensing the world around me.

I can still do that, you know. I have some sort of short-range omnidirectional sensory ability. Not sight, I don't think there's a word for it in human languages, assuming my knowledge of those isn't completely imaginary. I can sense substances that touch me in what I guess is my new version of taste. I imagine I could smell things if there were enough particles of it in the air, though I've yet to know for sure. I've been able to hear for the last thirty-six hours or so. Still not really sure how that works. I can tell whether I'm drying out or plump with moisture.

One of the Paras has begun scuttling out of the room. It's a bit bigger than Taylor, but then most of them are at this point. I think he's still young. I think I am, too. Until maybe four days ago, I dont think I was even sentient, which might explain why I'm so scatterbrained still. Another point in the 'schizophrenic mushroom' column is that I don't think I remembered/imagined I had previously been a human until I reached self-awareness during the battle that earned Taylor his nickname. Those Parasect were maybe a third the size of this one, and a lot more lively.

This is a very boring life he leads, just praying, preying, and trying to spread the good word about 'shrooms. Hah, wordplay. I wonder if that joke would translate to Pokémon language, if I could speak. I miss talking, it was a lot better than rehearsing how I'd describe this life to others if I ever got the chance. And also assuming I'm sane, which I seem to be doing more often lately. Is that a good sign? I don't actually know.

Oh wow, one of the eggs is hatching! Is anybody going to notice? No, you're all just going to continue to reflect on the wonders of fungi? Its so cute! Somebody needs to hold it and cuddle it and keep it safe. Anybody? Hello? I d- Where are its mushrooms? Do they grow in later? I know very little about the life cycle of a paras beyond Hatch -> Grow -> Evolve into lobotomized slave oh. Oh no. Shit. Hey, there's a Parasect, what took you so no don't put spores on its back that's goin...

I need to somehow tell the Parasect that Parasect are controlled by and oh my God they're doing it intentionally because they're the mushrooms and not the bugs. How did I not see this before? The entire religion is dedicated to spreading our kind and exploiting gullible little Pokémon! I... wait actually I did see this before. Multiple times, even. How do I save Taylor and avoid forgetting this again? It's so hard to remember things without a brain.
For example, I barely remember how he earned his nickname. It was our first night out of the cave without Parasect supervision, and he decided to prove himself to the others and get an offering for The Lifegiver so amazing that she'd acknowledge one of her children for the first time in generations. Unaware that not everybody considered it an honor to give their life in service of The Lifegiver, Taylor waddled over and and tried to convince it to comply. The Dragonair was understandably against the idea and decided to fight back, attempting to crush him with a body slam. Knowing better than to get venom or hazardous spores on The Lifegiver's food, he was limited to scratching it. Trying to dodge a Dragonair's body was actually the moment I went from passively observing to thinking, I believe my first thoughts were something along the line of "ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck!"

Speaking of fucking, are one of the Paras banging The Lifegiver? I mean, her eggs have to come from somewhere, right? Oh, that's what it was! I was speculating on where I was. I'm pretty sure I'm in the gen one Safari Zone based off the local Pokémon. Glad I remembered that, it would've bugged me forever otherwise. Heh, puns.

Oh, looks like Taylor finished meditating, and now we're off again.
I edited the first post. if you already read it, you might want to go back and do so again. (I also added in a joke to help cheer you up after reading this)
 
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Party
Stun Spore
Poison Powder
Sleep Powder
Scatter Spores
Scratch
Call For Family
Cross Poison
Rototiller
Mushroom Tackle
Stun Spore
Poison Powder
Sleep Powder
Scatter Spores
bootleg Powder
Scratch
Call For Family
Cross Poison
Rototiller
Mushroom Tackle
tbd
tbd
tbd
 
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Intorduction pt. 3
Nothing has happened in a while, now.

I don't sense anything, not with hearing, taste, blindsense, even proprioception - they've all abandoned me. I'm just... here. I'm imagining 'here' as a void, but can't decide whether I'd like it to be a black void or a white void. I temporarily amused myself by trying to come up with the silliest coloring of void, before deciding that a flannel void was the winner of that little contest, and now I'm just back to being bored. I guess I'll do another recap:

So, I remember being a human - though I've yet to verify that was real - but then I was a mushroom. I'd been a mushroom for a while before realizing it, its like my brain was recording but not thinking, though not quite since I don't actually have a brain with which to do those things. Whatever my equivalent is, I think I've gotten better at using it since I'm less scatterbrained and can actually follow a single train of thought without constantly getting distracted. I assume its because I've gotten more used to this form, but it could be related to age or something. Undercutting that and getting back to the recap, normally in fiction this type of thing happens when the person dies, but I don't recall that. Maybe it was really fast, or so traumatic I blocked it out? Or, you know, the schizophrenic mushroom hypothesis. I live on the back of a Paras that is unknowingly in a death cult, unable to communicate with the little guy I've named Taylor as a super clever and not at all lame reference to Worm. He's mostly done a bunch of boring cult stuff - though to be fair I've just released spores when appropriate, not exactly the sort of thing Hollywood'd make a summer blockbuster about - but then he got a new task as a missionary.

See, a bunch of people started going to the Safari Zone we live in suddenly (maybe there's a sale?) and Taylor was given the task of being caught by a trainer to spread the word and spores of The Almighty One across the land. This was fine by me, as there was a slightly higher chance to communicate with a psychic and explain what might have happened to me. Taylor started by just leaping out of the undergrowth and demanding to be caught, which naturally led to rocks. So many rocks. Like they were trying to stone his little buggy body to death. He changed tactics after that, instead attacking wild Pokémon to show how useful he would be to trainers, which worked out, with a pokéball flying from outside my "seeing" range and capturing us. I was disappointed I didn't have the chance to show off the fact that I'd figured out how to use Powder, but whatever.

Huh. That recap killed less time than the other dozen I've done in here, did I forget something? I guess I wouldn't know, seeing as I've forgotten it, but that only makes it more troubling. I guess I could talk about Powder for a while? Okay, so I basically just release all my spores at once and if there's any flames a fuel-air explosion occurs when the two meet. Of course, not having wings to blow the cloud means the fuel-air explosion is centered on my very flammable body, but if there's a conventient gust of wind or something it's usable. It does-

"GO PARAS!" Oh thank fuck, we're out of the void. Hello air, I missed you on my... skin? Flesh? Whatever I have. Oh look there's three other Parases here, all forming a semicircle around a pair of legs at the edge of my sensory range. "GO PARAS" the voice yells again, definitely female, as a ball hits the ground nearby and brings our gang up to five. I've seen this meme, and its definitely not appropriate if that girl is as young as her voice sounds. As she walks closer and confirms that she is a preteen, I realize that some background noise I hadn't bothered to mention was actually a conversation happening outside my range. "Hello," Legs crouches down near us "I was hoping to chat with you guys for a bit, but Orion is busy so its gonna be a bit one-sided for now. Uh, so, I'm on a Pokémon journey and thought a Parasect would be a good fit for my team, do any of you want to join me? It's okay if you don't, I can release you back into the safari or trade you to somebody who just wants a companion instead if you dislike battling but don't want to go back or whatever. Now, I'll only be taking one of you, so while we wait for the translator think about what you want, and if what you want is to get stronger and be a part of the next Pokémon League Champion's team why I should pick you over the others." She said 'a bit' twice in close succession, which bothered me more than it should have. She aught to vary her phrases more.

"I wanna go home" one Paras whines immediately, apparently not understanding the part about the translator. He sounds really scared.

"I smell something tasty, do you have any food? Give your food to The Lifegiver to apologize for kidnapping Her children!" a second one orders. I recognise her, though I never bothered to name the non-Taylor ones.

"What's a Parasect?" a third whispers to Taylor. Before he says anything, Legs starts speaking again.

"Guys, guys, I can't understand you. My sister's Starmie, Orion, will be over here to translate soon but you'll have to wait until then to tell me anything."

I tune in to the background noise/other conversation that I now assume is the sister and hear a Tauros bellow "I would never take orders from a female" followed by some misogynistic name-calling I don't feel like repeating. He's cut off near the end by the sound of a pokéball.

"Oh for seven" An older girls voice proclaims. "What about you?"

"Okay look, I'm not a Tauros, my name is Brett and I'm a human. I don't know how this happened, but you need to help me." What.

"Ugh, one of these. Look, reincarnation happens, don't be such a baby about it. You can join me and I'll use some of the money we make battling to buy you tastier food than you'd get living here, or I can stick you back in the Safari zone if you don't want to. If you really hate being a Tauros, I can sell you to a pokechow plant with that last guy and maybe you'll get reincarnated as something better next time." WHAT.
AN: Does anybody know how to delete a poll?[/hr]
 
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Response 1
So in the Pokemon world misogynistic Pokemon get sent to the glue factory? Even if they're confirmed to be reincarnated human beings?
Well, she's considered an asshole by other people in the setting, you shouldn't take it for granted that this is the normal response.

That being said, knowing that everybody just gets reincarnated has made this society laxer than ours in how they treat death. Its my explanation for why parents are okay with sending children out into the dangerous wilderness unsupervised, and why people are willing to eat Pokémon and don't stop Pokémon from eating each other.

Also why they're more advanced, with teleporters and supermedicine - less laws on testing safely.
That's fucked up. That's super fucked up.

I'm not interested in reading any farther after that.
That's fair. I tried to establish that this story is going to oscillate between wacky and horrifying with the opening two posts, because I figured some people wouldn't want to keep reading once the latter showed up, but it seems like I didn't communicate it well enough. Sorry about that.
 
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