Alright, back at you
@Dermonster. Frankly, this could probably be a little longer, and certainly could have used more than one edit pass, but you started it.
(...why can't I write anything
else as quickly I got this done?)
Backslash (Beta) - 3 (Hyphen/
A Backwards Grin)
Short-term
And here I'd thought my situation couldn't possibly get any more confusing than it already was.
As I pull a few rocks out of the side of my base and start reassembling them into the rough shape of a table with Astra's psychic assistance, I can't help but reflect on just how odd things have gotten as of late. As if being sucked into the Pokemon world and turned into a Mawile wasn't strange enough, I've now encountered not only a
second dimensionally-displaced person — who in fact isn't even technically a "person" in the most typical sense of the word — but one whose own situation and circumstances are seemingly entirely unrelated to mine. Honestly, what are the odds of that? Is this forest just some sort of multi-dimensional dumping ground?
"Here we go." the Kirlia says, dragging me from my thoughts as she extracts a pair of small jars from her backpack. "Hope you like Orans!"
I brighten, quickly sitting down at the makeshift table. "I most certainly do!"
...at least, I think I do? My sample size is admittedly kind of small at the moment, but I definitely liked the pair I managed to scrounge up the other day.
Astra sets one jar down in front of me and the other down in front of herself, popping the lids off with a quick use of psychic power. Inside each containers is a small pile of brightly-colored berries, mostly Orans with a couple Pechas mixed in.
"Thank you!" I say, immensely grateful for the food.
Grabbing up an Oran from the jar, I bring it to my mouth... then pause, wondering how much of this is acceptable to take.
"Erm, how many of these do you usually eat in one sitting?" I ask tentatively. "I don't want to drain your supplies too fast by accident or anything."
"Oh... um, well, usually I'd actually cook these into a stew or something, but I don't have the water or meat I'd need for it, and I wasn't the one carrying our cooking equipment." Astra replies with a hint of sadness. "You said there's not a lot of food around here too, so try not to eat
too much? Just, be somewhat sparing."
I nod. Makes sense; I hardly want to completely deplete the entirety of my new trainer's food rations... and wow, isn't
that a weird sentence to think. Especially considering just who that trainer is. For all my contemplation of the idea earlier this week, being captured by not just another Pokemon, but one who is actively pretending to be human, was
not exactly a scenario I ever thought to envision.
I shrug to myself. Still, she's got food, she seems nice, and we're in similar situations, so... yeah, I think I can deal with this.
With that, I bite into the berry, relishing deeply in the first actual
flavor I've tasted in the past three days. Maybe it's just that I haven't eaten anything else but other Pokemon since then, or that Oran Berries are just naturally really good, but I almost end up literally moaning in pleasure. T-that's not supposed to be a real thing, is it? How embarrassing...
"So, what do we do after this?" Astra asks, biting into a berry of her own.
I don't answer immediately, my mouth still full of food. Not needing to use her mouth to speak, the same clearly doesn't apply to Astra — I'm still surprised by just how natural her telepathy sounds, to the point that I'd almost mistake it for normal speech if I didn't know better. In fact, I
did mistake it for normal speech at first.
"Well, like I said earlier, first we need to get out of this forest." I say once I've swallowed. "You'll likely be kind of crucial for that, because I've tried several times on my own and failed utterly."
Seriously, my approach clearly isn't working. I don't know if it's because I get myself turned around in spite of my X-markings, or because I just can't walk far enough before night falls, but maybe the addition of a second person will help.
"Assuming we manage that though, we should probably try to find a town afterwards." I continue. "That'll help determine which region this is, and thus which Pokemon we should be looking for in order to get back to where we want to be."
Astra blinks. "I thought you said we should be looking for Dialga and Palkia?"
"They're probably one of the best options, yeah, but they aren't the only ones." I explain, continuing to eat. "In theory, there's also Hoopa, a genie-like Pokemon who likes to prank people and can send things through dimensions, Celebi, a pixie-like Pokemon that can send things through both time and timelines, Mew, Jirachi, the Unown..."
I pause. "Actually, could you help me test something real quick?"
Though looking somewhat mystified by all the names I just listed off, Astra nods. Nodding back, I bend down and scrawl "
Can you read this?" in the dirt with one of my claws, then look back up at Astra expectantly.
The Kirlia glances at the words for a moment, then turns her gaze back on me.
"I can..." she says, sounding strangely uncertain, "...but I shouldn't be able to."
I tilt my head at her. "Huh?"
"I never
learned how to read." Astra elaborates. "I just... suddenly realized I could, the same day that I set out on my journey. I don't know what caused it, or if something deliberately messed with my head, or why; I just... can, now."
I stare at her, rather unsure what to think about that. I only really posed this question because I remembered that the Unown are all based on English letters, which made me wonder if the English language itself somehow still exists here. It was kind of silly to ask someone not actually
from here, come to think of it, but apparently in doing so, I've stumbled into a different mystery entirely — one which I can't even
begin to guess at the answers to.
"That's- okay, that's weird for an entirely different reason than what I was thinking." I reply. "Let's... maybe just set that topic aside for now."
Astra nods rapidly, seeming quite keen on doing exactly that. I get the feeling she's been blissfully ignoring the potential implications of whatever happened there for a while now, and I'm perfectly content to let her continue doing so until or if this latest weirdness actually becomes relevant.
"Anyways, the point is, there's a whole bunch of Pokemon that can theoretically transport people and Pokemon through dimensions." I say, resuming the earlier topic. "Most of which are unfortunately so absurdly rare that they're considered myths by most people. I didn't even mention Arceus, who's literally Pokemon God."
Astra blinks at me. "Um, 'God'? What exactly do you mean by that?"
"I mean that Arceus quite literally created this world." I reply. "Or at least, is said to have done so."
Astra's already large eyes widen even further.
"Created the world...?" she whispers, awestruck.
"Yeah, if not the universe." I continue. "Mind, I don't know if the actual version would live up to that sort of theoretical omnipotence, but Arceus definitely does exist, and as you might imagine, is above even Dialga and Palkia in the 'hierarchy' of ridiculously powerful Pokemon. Frankly, I think our chances of locating any of them are kind of slim-to-none, but if we really want to solve all our problems at once-"
"Wait, wait, stop." Astra says, holding her head. "Please, just- you can't just drop something like that on me without warning..."
...er, right. Probably should have considered that to someone who originated in this world — or at least a version of this world — I basically just revealed the answer to existence. I'm so used to the concept of Arceus just being a
thing anymore that it didn't occur to me how that would sound to someone who's apparently completely unfamiliar with the idea.
"Um, well, don't take my word for it." I say, backpedaling slightly. "I may know a lot about Pokemon, but for all I know, Arceus being the so-called creator of everything could be blantant lies. It's not like my information is necessarily foolproof, so maybe just... put it out of mind."
"I- yeah, that might be for the best." Astra says, still looking rather mind blown.
"I-in any event," I say, trying to move on before I say something else I shouldn't, "like I said, we'll need to get out of this forest first. Which... actually, hang on. Kirlia can teleport, can't they?"
My question serves as a sufficient distraction, as Astra suddenly puffs up with pride.
"They can!" she proclaims. "My grandpa is the best at it in my village."
I nod. "Right, and you're a Kirlia too. Which means you can just teleport us out of here, doesn't it?"
Astra deflates.
"I haven't really figured it out myself just yet." she says, pressing her hands together.
"Huh?" I say, squinting. "But I saw you do it earlier, didn't I?"
"Yeah, out of panic." Astra replies, sounding slightly sullen. "That's not hard on its own as long as you've got enough power, it's
control that's the difficult part. I didn't have enough to do it when I was a Ralts, and I only just evolved earlier today, so I haven't even had the
time to try it on purpose yet. In fact, I was actually planning on practicing it just before I... well, ended up here."
Oh.
"Why not try it now then?" I ask. "I know there's not a lot of room here, but you could still try teleporting from one end of the clearing to the other, or something like that."
"Maybe later." Astra waves me off. "I mean, I'd
like to practice it, but even if I figured it out immediately, I wouldn't be able to just teleport us out of here. Grandpa says you need to know both where you are and where you're going for it to work, and I don't really know either of those things right now. Not to mention, long-distance teleportation is apparently
really difficult. "
She seems rather crestfallen at that... or maybe I'm just imagining it? Her expressions seem slightly more exaggerated than a human's — I think it's the eyes.
"Alright..." I say, thinking. "Well, maybe you can just climb up a tree or something? See if there's anything around, or in the distance?"
"Already did that." Astra replies. "All I saw was more trees, and some huge rock walls in the distance."
"...rock walls?" I repeat.
Haven't seen any of
those before, myself... though, as low to the ground as my perspective now is, the trees cover pretty much everything other than the sky, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.
"Yeah, but to be honest, I didn't really get a great look." Astra continues. "I mean, I can climb trees, but it's not always easy to
stay on them for all that long. I'm also heavier than I was yesterday, so I didn't really want to risk trying the very highest branches, and I came down pretty quickly."
I shrug. "Still way better than I can do. I'm kind of inherently handicapped at climbing due to the giant metal weight hanging off the back of my head."
...though, come to think of it, so is she, given the shape of her legs. Now I feel kind of stupid for suggesting it, even though Astra can apparently can do it anyways.
Astra giggles at my comment. "Well, I can try to climb up another tree, if you think it'll help."
"Maybe, but... how about instead, we send Treecko up to take a look?" I suggest. "I imagine he'll have an easier time reaching and staying on the highest branches."
Astra blinks. "Huh, why didn't I think of that? Yeah, that'd be much easier."
"Perfect." I say, inspecting what's left of the interior of my jar as I do. "I think I'm done, by the way."
I close the container back up and hand it back to Astra, who seems to be finished as well.
"Alright, let's do that now then." Astra says, stowing the jars away before pulling out a Poke Ball from beneath her long, almost wizard-like robe. "Come on out Treecko!"
In a flash of light, the lizard-like Pokemon appears in front of us once more.
"So, Treecko... we're kind of lost right now." Astra says. "Could you climb up and see if you can spot a way out of this forest?"
Treecko nods and immediately clambers up the nearest tree, leaping from branch to branch with ease. Lucky little lizard doesn't know how good he has it, being that mobile.
"Oh, right — I didn't think about it before, but what other Pokemon do you have, Astra?" I ask.
I admit I'm slightly curious about the team I'm now a part of, if in-name only.
"Besides Treecko, I have a Marill and a Slakoth." Astra replies, patting her side where I presume she keeps her Poke Balls, not that I can see them under the robe. "I wish I could have brought them out to eat with us, but I don't think I have enough emergency food for all three of them... especially Slakoth."
Frankly, I'm surprised that she had enough for
me. I'm not exactly full, but I am fairly satiated, which is way more than I'd have expected from half a small jar of food. Berries are so nicely filling for their size...
Treecko starts jumping down from the top of the tree. He lands on all fours when he reaches the ground, before quickly standing back up and turning to me.
"Canyon trees in the, way through isn't one more."
As he speaks, he extends an arm in a direction roughly to the right of what I've marked as Beedrill territory.
"What did he say?" Astra asks.
"Not a freaking clue." I flatly reply. "There was something about a
canyon in there for some reason... but he's pointing that way, so I guess that's the way he thinks we should go."
Astra shrugs. "That way it is then. Shall we get going?"
"Yeah, let's."
As Astra stands up, I take a brief moment to look over at my partially-dismantled base, then cast my gaze over the rest of the clearing.
If this works, this'll probably be the last time I ever see this place... I have to admit, I've grown slightly attached to it, if only for the relative safety it's come to represent.
I shake my head. Still, I'll gladly say goodbye to it if it means not being stuck in this forest anymore. I've long since grown tired of the same unchanging scenery, questionably clean water, and scarcity of food that isn't just other kinds of Pokemon.
It's time to move on.
"Mawile? Are you ready?" Astra asks, having already recalled Treecko and walked around to wait for me at the edge of the clearing.
Standing and turning my back on the place I've been living for the past week, I nod.
"I'm ready." I reply, walking over to join the pair. "Let's go."
Astra nods, and the two of us walk off into the unknown.
