In the dark, in a cave somewhere in Kanto, was a parasect and her eggs. After guarding over them for many days and weeks, they were ready to hatch. A few of the eggs were already starting to shake and one of them was beginning to crack. The parasect mother waited patiently as each paras broke out of their shell and crawled out into the open. They immediately identified their mother and made their way over to her.
The parasect looked down at her children with her blank white eyes, saying not a word to them. Each of her paras children were barebacked with not even the tiniest mushroom growing out of their backs. The mother made sure that each of her children were present and close by her side. Then the ritual began. The parasect shook her body, releasing tons of spores from the large mushroom on her back. The spores settled on the bodies of her children, taking root in what would be their very own host. With the ritual complete, the parasect scuttled away, leaving her children to fend for themselves. She would never see them again.
As the days went by, the paras children had gone off on their own. Their lives have been fairly safe in the safety of the damp cave. The spores scattered on their backs had burrowed themselves in the paras' sensitive skin, already beginning to grow. Eventually two small tochukaso mushrooms sprouted from their backs; they thrived in their hosts' bodies and the damp, dark habitat the paras lived in did not hurt either.
At first the mushrooms didn't bug the paras much; there was just a little irritation when the tochukaso first began to grow. As the mushrooms grew larger and larger, the paras noticed other strange things happening to their bodies. The amount of food they usually ate did not seem to be enough. They still felt drained. The paras had to eat more to feel full. Then the cravings for other types of food kicked in. The paras craved for the juice in tree roots and they risked leaving the cave to get it. The tochukaso mushrooms were starting to take control.
Even with this parasitic mushroom growing on them, the paras were still able to find some use for the mushroom. The spores the mushrooms produced allowed them to use moves like Stun Spore and Poison Powder to fend off foes.
One of the parasect's children scuttled along the cave floor. The two tochukaso mushrooms on the paras' back were starting to grow rather large. He did not like the mushrooms at all. He still recalled the days when his mind was perfectly clear. He was completely in control of his body then, without the constant egging of the mushrooms to do something to benefit them. He hated the taste of tree roots but without them, there was no other way to settle the constant voices in his head. They were the only thing that seemed to satisfy the mushrooms too, otherwise the paras constantly felt drained of energy.
Out of frustration, the paras snipped off the mushrooms on his back with his claws. Surely snipping them off could get rid of them? "There," he said, glaring at the mushrooms in distaste. "That should take care of it."
But then a voice suddenly rang out in his mind. Do you really think simply snipping off my mushrooms will get rid of me? I am ingrained into your very self. With each day I grow further throughout your body and gain even more influence over your mind. I may only control your desires as of now, but someday your body will be mine as well.
"I'll find someway to get rid of you before that happens," the paras retorted.
The voice in his head sounded amused. You really think you can? And to think of how many other paras have tried before you to get rid of their tochukaso. Never have I seen or heard of a paras who has. All of them fall prey to the tochukaso eventually no matter how hard they fight it.
The paras refused to believe it. Every time the mushrooms grew back, he snipped them off in defiance. He fought against the craving to eat tree roots, even if he felt weakened by doing so. He eventually had to give in due to fatigue, but he was planning to make his tochukaso's takeover as difficult as possible.
After so long of fighting it off, the realization began to sink in the young paras. Each time he snipped off the mushrooms, they grew back faster than before. The cravings for tree roots grew more and more intense to the point that he couldn't fight it off any longer. Even snipping off the mushrooms became difficult for him; it was like the mushroom paralyzed his claws.
Every day there was the dread of what would become. The day that you evolve will be the day that I take complete control and your paras mind will be no more. Your new parasect body will be mine, the tochukaso told him.
One day when the paras was crawling through the cave in search of food, a sudden voice shot through the cave. "Mt. Moon sure is big-Oh, look! A paras!" The paras quickly turned to the sound of the voice. It was a young human boy, no older than ten. The boy unclipped a pokeball from his belt and tossed it. In a flash of light, a charmander appeared in front of the boy. "Char, we're catching a paras today! Use Growl!"
The charmander known as Char nodded before growling fiercely at the paras.
The paras froze. He had never encountered a human before or any other pokemon other than the usual ones residing in his cave.
Don't just stand there and let us get captured!
His tochukaso snapped him back into reality. The paras charged at Char and scratched him across the chest.
"Scratch him back, Char!"
Char recovered from the paras' attack and scratched him back. The paras winced in pain.
Use my spores to your advantage! I don't need you loosing on me!
As much as the paras didn't want to listen to his tochukaso, its spore attacks would come in handy. The paras shook his back, releasing the spores on the newly grown mushrooms on his back.
"Look out for that Stun Spore!"
Char jumped back away from the paras but it was too late. The charmander had breathed in some of the paralyzing spores. Char's body immediately stiffened. "Ugh, that was pretty sneaky of you!"
"Wouldn't have happened if you guys didn't show up!" the paras replied, scratching Char once again.
"Char!" the boy cried. "Use Ember!"
Char grinned through his pain. "This is going to hurt," he said before releasing a volley of embers at the paras.
He was hit dead on. The embers burned with an intense pain as they pelted the paras' body. The tochukaso's screeches in his head didn't help either. The pain was simply too much for the paras to handle and before he knew it, he blacked out.
When the paras awoke, he found himself out in the unpleasant rays of the sun. "Where am I?"
You were caught by that boy, the tochukaso answered for him.
"Hey there, Perry!" a familiar voice said.
The paras turned around to face the boy and his charmander. "Perry...?"
"That's your nickname," Char said with a grin. "Nice to have you on the team, Perry. Adam is planning on taking the gym leader challenge, so I guess that means we're taking it on too!"
Perry looked up at Adam's grinning face. This was not what he wanted. He wanted to live his life in Mt. Moon undisturbed by humans and pokemon. That dream of his was ruined by the tochukaso who demanded he go out to feed it more nutrients out of the tree roots. If only he could have fought off the desire a little longer. Maybe by that time, Adam would have passed by without ever encountering him.
"Hey, don't look so sad," Char said. "It'll be fun, I'm sure! It definitely will be a challenge, but we'll fight beside each other all the way. And maybe someday we can even go fight the Elite Four, but right now let's just focus on the gym badges."
"Yeah..."
"Come on, guys," Adam smiled. "We still have to walk a bit to reach Cerulean City. We already have the Boulder Badge, so the next one is the Cascade Badge." The young trainer trudged off, expecting his two pokemon to follow behind. Char followed loyally behind and Perry hesitantly caught up to Char.
Look what you got us involved in! Now we're stuck with a human boy and his charmander! What am I supposed to do once I finally have that body of yours? Stick around with the human and fulfill that little dream of his?
Perry ignored the tochukaso as Char began to speak again. "Some day I'm going to be a charizard, y'know. I'll be able to fly and everything. I won't let anyone mess around with me." Char looked at Perry. "What about you? Evolving into a parasect should be fun. You'll be a lot stronger too."
The tochukaso laughed. Indeed, it will be quite fun.
"I don't ever want to evolve into a parasect!" Perry snapped.
The paras' sudden flash of anger surprised Char. "Whoa, whoa...calm down. Didn't mean to hit a nerve. Why don't you want to evolve?"
"...No reason. I'm perfectly fine with the way my body is now."
"Hm, right," Char replied. He was not convinced. "You can tell me why later." The charmander smiled at Perry in attempt to cheer up the atmosphere.
Perry just silently followed behind.