Pokemon: The Unknown Continuum: Scenes From A Memory
Chapter 1: A Fateful Friendship
"Wow, I can't believe it! They're actually planning to give all pokemon free health care, even for trainers?! The taxes will be incredible! it will be like receiving a massive pay dock!" I continued to rant and rave about a recent scheme to give all pokemon free health care to people at a party. Yes, it was alcohol induced, but I stood strongly by those words. "The bullshit is mounting! Why should I pay money to fund people's expensive and morally questionable habits!?"
"I agree, it's completely ridiculous. Don't say that to Omar though, he's become a real enthusiastic trainer ever since he got his hand on a pokeball. He can now evolve his dratini without worrying about it being too big. If he's not playing guitar, he's training his dratini nowadays, and that's only if he's not working – the man barely sleeps!" Douglas said to me as I sighed and leaned back in the chair. The scheme was only announced earlier today, and would come in play next month after much pressure from trainers across the country. I was far from the only one who disagreed with the new government scheme, as there have been a few protests already, though none of them that big. Ever since the advent of pokeballs, pokemon training has gone through the roof. Almost one in five said they were trainers, or were certainly thinking about becoming one, and the amount were increasing astronomically. I took another swig of Strongbow in frustration, almost spilling some onto my chest.
"Well, I think tonight's gig we played was pretty damn good. I'm truly happy about it, I had a great time!" I said, smiling with my mouth open and took another swig trying to change the subject to something more positive.
"Ah, you say that about every gig." He said jokingly back to me. It wasn't a big house party having only ten people here at the most, but it suited me just fine . Regardless, it was past midnight and I had no interest in crashing here.
"I could be the only one here, but I just have no interest in looking after, befriending, training, or have anything to do with pokemon. I mean, I know this is going to make me seem like a foul Giratinist, but, I just can't see why people treat them as socially equal to humans. Obviously, I don't see them as particularly 'lesser beings' but I just can't enjoy a conversation like the one me and you are having, Douglas." I burped loudly, and the smell of cider and my fish supper wafted out of my mouth. Disgusting, but ultimately, it was due to happen.
Giratinists were on the whole shady scumbags in my eyes, but to be honest, pretty much everyone does. I cannot bring myself to see how they could worship something so evil, and yet, I seem to share one of their keystone beliefs by sheer coincidence. The belief was that pokemon and humans should be separate from each other, and shouldn't integrate much at all. I believed it was up to the humans, and ultimately, the pokemon as well, but I never spent time with those super-powered animals anyway. Matter of fact, I was scared of them, almost terrified, and for good reason. Many of them can bring severe pain and harm onto people and other pokemon fairly easily. What if I were to annoy a charmander by accident? It could just breathe fire on me, and I would no doubt be sent to hospital to have my burns treated, and that's not even mentioning their evolved forms!
It just seemed that with the invention of pokeballs, they've been integrating far more with humans. Obviously, a big pokemon like a tyranitar could not fit in your house until pokeballs came around, but now, you could carry any of the buggers around as much as you want. I personally have doubts whether Giratina actually exists or not, but I knew Arceus did, even if the claims by his followers were beyond ridiculous. Indeed, they describe him as all powerful, but he does fuck all nowadays.
However, the one deity I knew was real for sure is very active, and keeps this world flowing – Dialga, my lord. I've been described as close minded by the 'softer' religious people and atheists, but The Righteous Tome of Dialga is proof to me that he is very much real, and keeps time flowing constantly. Without him, we'd be living in a world frozen in time at best or a non-existent one at worst. That is why I worship him, attending church every Monday at midnight to celebrate the new week, and hear teachings of High Priest Kirk Munro, my father. People often just say 'oh, it's only because your father's a religious zealot that you are blinded by your stupid, retarded faith.' Ignorant, immoral fools they were, or at least that's what I thought of non-Dialgans when I was in a bad mood.
While The Righteous Tome of Dialga does acknowledge Arceus's existence, it spells out clearly that he does nothing but observe us like we were stars in his reality show, and yet he still accumulated over half the world's population, where they're all commanded to lick his feet in unison. The bastards often picket our church services, holding signs and telling us to 'follow the true noble and holy path' or some other generic crap, always hanging just outside the church grounds to avoid conflicts with the law. Irritating as it is, I always smugly respond 'Arceus only painted a picture - Dialga turned it into an everlasting movie, in which we all star in', which is always followed by a self-righteous grin as I walk into the church building.
The Church of Dialga never had a country where it was particularly strong in aside from Ukraine, always being overshadowed by the Church of Arceus, or on occasions, the Palkian temples, which were almost non existent in the UK thankfully. In spite of the Righteous Tome saying bad things about Palkia and his followers, I actually got on with them more than Arceists. As for the Giratinans, they were minute in number all across the world - it was almost like a cult, and thank goodness for that. Maybe I was a bit of a zealot, but I was damn proud for standing up for Dialga and his righteous moral wisdom, and I always found enjoyment in arrogantly bitching about other faiths with my father.
"I'm going to head home in a bit." I said to him - he was an atheist, but still a reasonably moral man, and I knew fine well that following Dialga, or any other deity was not a requirement to be moral, even if it helped immensely. Better no religion than a false one I always said.
Dialga does like being worshipped for his hard work, but he does not actually specifically ask for it in the Righteous Tome, and encourages us to abide to a tried and tested, ridged moral code, which is often seen as heavily dogmatic by even other religious people. Such basic examples include never ever lying, never killing any human or pokemon, respecting that people's time cannot be recovered and having the utmost respect for the laws in the nation unless they are truly heinous. Gotta have good laws for good, healthy order in society.
Those were mostly common sense and thankfully most people follow those guidelines anyway regardless of faith, but to truly be righteous, you had to really go further. Proportionate vengeance is indeed a virtue, as it really does help prevent assholes doing asshole things. Why, every good system of law and order does this in some way or another, though to varying degrees of success, but even little incidents should be dealt with, providing the golden rule is never broken - the retribution must be more lenient than the crime, else the moral high ground would be ripped away.
"Hey, Floyd, don't let those crusaders smash your head in with a wooden sign!" Douglas said and laughed, sharing my general dislike for the Arceists. "I want to stay longer, I'll see you next band practice, eh?"
"Will do, see you!" I said and walked towards the front door. I turned to briefly look in the mirror in the flat entrance hall. Damn, what a sexy beast! Well, if you find slightly untidy dark brown hair that almost reaches the shoulders with a well trimmed but defined beard that encircled my mouth on a twenty year old to be good looking, then I guess the statement would be true. I stroked my beard thoughtfully and walked out of the door.
There was a chilling breeze in the air, but it was hardly freezing cold. I zipped up my fleece and walked onto the night-time street. It wasn't busy for a Monday night, and I liked it this way better. It would be a mighty journey to my own flat at the other side of Edinburgh, but my dad only lived a twenty minute walk away - I'm sure he wouldn't mind me staying the night there.
I briskly walked through quieter streets as I honestly couldn't be bothered walking the long way round, hence, a short cut through the forest was in order. As I walked alone, I did ponder about people's relationship with pokemon. In The Righteous Tome, it was encouraged slightly, but it was hardly a big focal point of Dialga's ways.
My dad recently covered up this fault, though not really on purpose. He phoned me two weeks earlier, telling them that some dusknoir he came across was being 'a real friend' to him and 'keeps him company throughout the less interesting parts of the days.' Last night at the advent of the new week, he gave a very brief lecture on his friendship with this dusknoir, and how friendships with pokemon were a positive thing, but I just couldn't work over the general fear I had of them. I usually kept my distance from Omar's dratini, even if it was evidently trying to be friendly.
I've been having a bit of inner turmoil of whether I should forcibly work over my fear of pokemon, to help myself become a better Dialgan, or should I be true to myself and just accept it and deal with it? I came across the forest, and my dad's house was just on the other side - just a small bit of wilderness really. It'd only take five minutes to get through as it was a sparse wee woodland anyway.
"Ugh, I can't wait to climb into bed..." I said and opened a bag of crisps I took from the collected snack pile from the party. I bit into one as I started slowly walking between the trees, and it seemed like I mistook a packed of cheese and onion for salt and vinegar. Hardly a flavour I liked, but they were edible I guess. I grumbled as I ate the unsatisfactory crisps, as a gust of cold air blew from behind me, blowing my hair conveniently right into my mouth. Frustrated, I just threw the bag on the ground and walked on, not enjoying the taste of cheese, onion and hair. I spat on the ground and carried on trekking through the patch of woods. There were no more gusts of wind which was nice, but what wasn't as nice is the fact I almost tripped over a thick tree root. I didn't blame myself too much though, as it was very hard to see in the darkness.
I burped, once again smelling the fish supper and cider. It was kind of eerie in the woods due to there being barely any light, though it wasn't enough to make me bump into the trees. I reached for another can of Strongbow in my bag, though there was one left After thinking about it for a short while, I decided to just go ahead and drink it. I took a swig - it was a bit warmer than I would have liked, but it was still good. Then, a twig snapped behind me ominously something made the back of my neck tingle in anxiety. That was never a good sign considering the wind had totally died down by this point.
I inhaled through my teeth and looked behind me. My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, so I could see a few meters ahead of me, but I still could see nothing. Maybe it was just a twig that fell from a very weak tree. I walked on forward, ignoring it, but then I heard another twig snap. I was always a relatively paranoid person, at least compared to the easy-going Omar, but I have been properly paranoid on previous occasions...
I looked round slowly - another odd noise. This time, I was damn sure it wasn't just the wind – something wasthere, I was sure of it. I stared into the darkness for a bit, and backed up slowly. I couldn't quite see it, but I was absolutely sure I was being followed. I inhaled deeply, and continued to stare intently, and after a brief moment, I could see a shape moving. My eyes fixated on them on their own accord as I studied it's highly vague form. It looked about a third my height, but that was all I could make out. It came a bit closer, and I could hear a snarl - it wasn't friendly for sure.
"Ah...oh, shit..." I said to myself, and started sweating in fear as had no idea what it wanted, or even what it was. I ground my teeth together to try and maintain my nerve. I was just about to utterly leg it, and whether this creature wanted to kill me or just want me off it's territory, I had no idea. I couldn't take it anymore - I spun around on the spot to face the other way and charged away from it. I had no time to be tipsy as right now, my health, or perhaps even my life could be at terrible risk. I looked behind me for a brief second. It was unmistakable - it was a houndor. Marked with a traditionally evil colour scheme of black, red and grey and a savage demeanour, it looked like it wanted nothing more than to rip me to bloody shreds, and that's it didn't try to incinerate me first. I could just see two more behind it, one of them looking a lot bigger than the others, or at least I thought it was. I turned my head and fled with incredible haste, ignoring my body's cry in agony of being pushed past its normal sprinting limits.
I could hear them gaining ground on me from behind making me whimper in fear between my gasps for air. Adrenaline was being forced madly all around my body to reach every single end and part to push me beyond my usual limitations. I briefly looked round again, and saw that the one at the front had already leaped at me, claws and teeth at the ready. I stumbled backwards as it slammed on me, and that was when my 'flight' instincts suddenly turned into 'fight' instincts.
I screamed and hooked it on the side of the face before it could deliver a lethal bite to my neck. I punched it again with all my might once again and kicked it off, sending the houndour reeling across the ground, making me very grateful it didn't try to burn me to death. I immediately scrambled to my feet, only to see that the other two were in striking range. I dived behind a tree to avoid one of their vicious attacks and continued to run, but I knew it was hopeless now and could only hope that they'd change their mind about rending my flesh to pieces.
I screamed in fear of my life. I knew my chances of survival were slim to none, and yet, my life did not flash before my eyes. To be honest, I doubted it happened to many people, but what I did think of is all the regrets, and all the things I wanted to do. Why didn't I get into music at an earlier age? I could have been great, instead of just decent. I guess my fear of pokemon was sensible after all, but that wasn't going to save me low, as I heard frantic steps from behind me.
And then...that's when 'it' happened. Something jumped right at me from above and I instinctively ducked. I had no idea what it was, but it seemed like it wasn't necessary, as it went high over me. The distraction was enough to make me stumble, and, while I didn't completely lose my balance, I did cause me to crash painfully into a tree. I looked around to see what this thing could be. It looked almost like a miniature ninja, being just over half my height, and it was fighting the houndoom that must have been leading the two houndor. Was it saving me from certain death?! I stood up, a bit disoriented, seeing this thing fight off all three of them with relative ease. It seemed to attack with blades from his arms, or at least it was what it looked like.
Watching in awe, I could see it wasn't human. It could have been a pokemon, and it probably was. It seemed to slice the air with it's 'blades' and it looked like it shot shurikens right at them. The three savage canines looked like they were about to retreat from this unknown warrior, when it dealt a decisive attack. It seemed to gather energy between it's two hands, which glowed bright green that almost dazzled me within the dark of the forest, and threw it at the houndoom, sending it several meters in the air with a small explosion. They immediately fled after that, when this warrior turned to face me and walked up to me.
"Eh...don't hurt me!" I said, not keeping a stiff upper lip at all, and my jaw was trembling like jelly in an earthquake. As it got right up to me, I could see that it was a grovyle, and it seemed to smile.
"Of course not, human, now up you get." It said to me. Yes, I knew pokemon speaking fluent English were extremely uncommon, but perhaps due to the alcohol or the fact I almost died, I didn't think much of it at all.
"Oh...of course. You saved my life, I'd be dead if it weren't for you!" I said gratefully. OK, it still felt strange communicating with a pokemon, but not as strange as I imagined it to be. "Thank you so much. Seriously...oh, what would Dialga say about repaying someone who just saved my life?"
"Think nothing of it, now lets get you home. I don't see why you were in this forest anyway." The Grovyle said, and made sure I wasn't injured.
"I'm fine. I was pounced on, but I wasn't bitten, torched, or even scratched. I think that tree harmed me more than them." I said, chuckling slightly as I walked towards my dad's house with the Grovyle.
"What's your name anyway?" He asked me. "Sorry if I'm being too upfront, but you're just about the only human I've had a chance to meet who didn't go 'Oh my god, a talking pokemon?!' and started asking endless questions about it."
"It's Floyd. I mean, it's unusual, but you seem to have human like intellect, so I'll treat you like one." I said, still not thinking too deeply about it and more focused on how I almost died a few minutes ago. From all the running and sweating, the alcohol concentration built up within my body, quite possibly making me more friendly and accepting. I'd certainly never act like this if I was sober.
"You seem a bit drunk, Floyd." He said to me, sounding like he was in disapproval. "I never understood why you humans drunk so much, in spite of me extensively looking into the fascinating human culture."
"I only had four! Wait, is that how you speak fluent English? Interesting...You have a name as well?"
"Just call me Grovyle. We pokemon aren't given names at birth by our parents, and it'd be too strange to receive a name now." Grovyle said, looking a bit sad at the thought. "I guess that was part of the reason I started looking more at the human culture and how much of it is such a vast improvement over my old life. Sleeping in buildings, and in cosy beds, with hundreds of ways to entertain yourselves, oh so wonderful! I could have been a part of the culture, but If I was brought in as a trainer or pet, I'd be treated as 'lesser' no doubt. The pokemon I grew up with...I just can't enjoy a conversation with them on the same level ever since I've been enlightened about the human ways."
"I can't imagine how horrible it'd be to sleep outside in the wilderness all the time." I said to Grovyle. I did believe what he said, but it was all very strange to me. My sober side kept on saying 'What the fuck is going on here?!' while my currently dominant drunk side was keeping me mutual and casual about the whole thing. We arrived at my dad's house before long.
"My dad's away on holiday for the week. Fortunately, I have a key." I said, and unlocked the door. "Make sure you're fully clean before coming in, I doubt my dad would be too happy with me coming in with a complete stranger when he was away." I said, and Grovyle nodded and wiped his feet outside on the grass, and wiped them on the slabs before walking in.
"So tired..." I said sleepily and lied down on the couch, and stretched my legs. I couldn't be bothered walking all the way upstairs into the spare room. Matter of fact, I felt so lazy that I didn't have it in me to take my toothbrush out of my bag, which I always carried on with me in case situations like this happened.. I saw Grovyle sit down on the other couch in the living room.
"Hey, Floyd, if it's not too much trouble...do you mind if I stay here tonight?" He said, and I responded almost immediately.
"Sure, if you really want to." I said without thinking much. I was too sleepy, tipsy and kind to say no really, though I personally would not like the idea of him staying in my own house. To be honest, it felt like I was screwing my dad over here, but what he wouldn't know wouldn't hurt him I guess.
"Thank you. You have no idea how horrible it is sleeping outside in the cold without even a tent or sleeping bag." He said to me, I was beginning to doze off into a sleep, but I did hear him say one more thing. "Also, thanks for treating me like a person, not an animal, or as a freak of nature. I'm truly grateful." I thoughtfully smiled as I closed my eyes and heard his voice.
"Does that make up for the life debt I owe you?" I asked, as a sort of strange joke.
"Yes it did Floyd." He said and chuckled. "I guess this is goodnight then." I couldn't tell what he was doing, since by now, I was in a deep sleep. Since I felt utterly wasted and knackered, it only took me just a minute to drift into a pleasant sleep. I thought nothing off what I was doing for some reason. I guess a decent amount of alcohol will make anyone do anything.
I woke up unusually early for my standards. It was only ten in the morning, which is about four hours earlier than usual for me. I was a bit of a night owl since I was preparing to work night shifts as a cleaner in the local Tesco. The pay was a good bit higher during night times, so I chose to deal with the night shifts in favour for extra money. I remembered earlier during my sleep about the most deranged dream about almost being killed by some houndours and a houndoom and having my life saved by a talking grovyle, but strange dreams after a few drinks was always par for the course for me. I chuckled at the memory of the dream, but then I smelled something. Eggs. Did my dad return prematurely from his holiday? I walked into the kitchen, following the smell and then realised that the 'dream' I had really happened.
"Morning Floyd, thought I'd make us some breakfast. Don't worry, I know fine how to make fried eggs." Grovyle said to me cheerily. I stared at him for a second, and he gave me an odd look. "What, you don't like eggs?"
"...I...thought all that was a dream though...I mean, when I woke up, I thought...well...I guess I should thank you for saving my life, and the eggs for that matter." I was rather on edge at this moment. I mean, he was friendly, but it was all just so very, very strange. He brought the fried eggs on a plate for each of us and we both sat down at the table. I saw Grovyle politely eat his fried egg with a fork, looking very pleased with himself.
"Ah, so much better than eating berries and all that jazz in the wild, eh?" He said to me. He looked so comfortable here, but he couldn't stay. I might as well tell him blunt now instead of beating about the bush. Dialga always said that blunt honesty was usually the best way, and I always had trust in my lord's judgement.
"You do realise you can't stay here, right? I mean, this isn't my home to begin with."
"Of course..." He said, his smile fading ever so slightly. "I just wanted to experience the creature comforts of staying the night of an expertly built human house, just for one night." He continued eating his eggs, much like I was doing. They were just very slightly undercooked, but still very good for Grovyle's first real attempt at cooking something and concluded that he must have done a lot of peeping of other humans to find out how to do it. My phone suddenly rang sharply in my pocket to which I promptly answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Floyd, Omar here! I know this is terribly short notice, but do you think you can come to the usual place for a practice at twelve o'clock? Douglas and Scott can make it and getting Hamish to come can be a pain, so don't pass it up man!" I paused for a second. Practices were usually planned a few days in advance, but I had nothing on for the earlier parts of the afternoon.
"Yeah, I can make it. I crashed at my dads, so I'll need to get my bass from the other side of the city, but I'll be there in time, see you then Omar." I decided not to tell him about the bloodthirsty hunters or Grovyle as I didn't feel all that comfortable about sharing such information for some reason. Being such a huge and strange, it was still throwing me through a bit of a loop. I would really have to leave now to make it there in time, and I was devoted to my band 'The Kyogre Is Dead.' Playing bass with them was always great fun, and I would be willing to shunt aside great events to jam and perform with them if they wanted to.
"Well, Grovyle, I need to go and play in my band now...you're going to have to leave now, sorry. Seems like Omar is going to play guitar for the next few hours, then no doubt go back to training his dratini." I said to Grovyle, and exhaled. There was no point in beating around the bush about it. Admittedly, I felt bad - he did save my life after all, but it wasn't even my house.
"Oh, I see...Well, see you soon then." He said and I opened the door for him, and followed him out. "Maybe, we'll see each other again, huh. Have fun with Omar and the others." He ran off back into the forest. On the way back to my flat, my mind buzzed with what just happened. He may have saved my life, but it doesn't change the fact that I know nothing about him. I mean, could I really trust him? Befriending pokemon was treading into unknown waters for me - what if we got into a heated argument? I saw how dangerous he could be; if he was to turn violent, it would not end well for me at all. I shuddered thinking about it on the bus home.
As I returned home, I immediately picked up my bass, and gave it a quick noodle around on. All five strings on it were working just fine, and I smiled at it as I put it carefully in my bag; it was my most prized possession. When I arrived at the practice, I honestly didn't think much of Grovyle, since I had to focus far more on playing the hard as nail riffs the band threw at me. Omar and Douglas simply outclassed me as musicians, or at least it's how I felt given the way Omar writes the songs.
Only after I got home after the practice did Grovyle cross my mind again, though this time, it was in a more positive light. Befriending him could make me a better Dialgan, which was always a good thing in my eyes, and the eyes of Lord Dialga himself. Besides, I could actually have a proper conversation with him, which avoided the 'pokemon can't speak English and I can't speak to them' problem. Even then, there was no guarantee I'd ever see him again, but I suspected he could find me if he really wanted to speak to me again.
A few days had past since the day, and as per usual Saturday afternoon, Omar phoned me. He was always nice to me and far more laid back with things in general, often telling me to calm down and relax when I get stuffy over things be them trivial or serious. Perhaps the cool weather of Scotland chilled him out given he only moved here last year from the blisteringly hot city of Dubai.
"Hey Floyd, I'm just about to book another practice. Would Wednesday two to five suit you?" He asked me after ten minutes of pleasantries and idle banter.
"Absolutely. I don't start work 'til 11 now, since I'm starting my night shift at Tesco tonight. I guess I'll be getting dinner then going to work this time."
"OK, and by the way Floyd, when I was training my dratini..." I hid a sigh here - he always talked about training his damn pokemon, and I just didn't have it in me to say I really wasn't interested to know, but that's what friends are for. In return, I probably bored him with my philosophy lectures, so I guess it balanced it out. As for speaking about my faith, we agreed to just not bring it up to avoid arguments since he was an atheist, but at least he wasn't being actively mislead by any false religion. In spite of different religious and moral beliefs, I considered him my best friend.
"I came across this Grovyle, and damn, it was an godly fighter! No chance of hitting it, took down my poor dratini in a single attack! No way could it have been a wild one to fight with such deadly efficiency, so I'm guessing it ran away or got released by some professional trainer or something like that. By far the most powerful wild pokemon I had ever came across, I was shitting myself, haha!" I raised my eyebrows – was it the grovyle I 'befriended' a few days ago? He was a very dangerous fighter, and Omar also described this grovyle as being utterly deadly. It didn't seem like a coincidence, since I knew that the grovyle I met definitely functioned outside of instinct.
"Interesting, Omar, you having fun with the training then, you seem like quite the enthusiast." I said, not really being sure what to say as I had already forgotten any distinctive physical features from the grovyle I met to ask him if it was him or not.
"That I am Floyd! You should get into it too man, it's a fun experience, really!" He said to me, the enthusiasm in his voice not waning one bit.
"Nah, I really don't think It'd be for me at all to be honest. Not comfortable around pokemon and I don't really think it's right per se. I won't protest against it mind, I'm not that anal about the whole training thing." I responded.
"Whatever you say, see you at practice, bye dude!" He said and hung up. It was very interesting that he may have also encountered Grovyle, but I didn't have time to think about that right now as I got phoned in by other friends nagging me to gave a few of games of League of Legends before I head off to bed.
"Right, I'm here, I'm here. Still can't believe you're always dragging me to play this ancient game, it's over twenty years old! ...Yeah, Taric support as per usual." I said down the headset, half zoned in, half zoned out. I enjoyed the game to be sure, but the amount of times my friends wanted me to play was really starting to suck the joy out of the game for me, but two clean victories in a row put me in the mood to play one more.
Game three started when I heard a distracting knock on my window, which I initially thought nothing of given I was too focused on keeping my friends alive in the game. A second knock was enough to lure my attention away from the screen this time – someone had to be there. I was confused how someone could knock from five floors off the ground, and guessed some stalker climbed a tree or was throwing stones at my window, and I wasn't happy with either.
"Hey guys, some creep's knocking my window for some reason, I'll be right back." I said to them and put down my headset before they could protest and looked outside. Indeed, it was none other than Grovyle, giving me a very friendly smile on his muzzle.
"Hey...you couldn't let me in, could you?" He said to me very casually, especially for his position. I guess he still had a lot to learn about human behaviour.
"Sure..." I said, feeling a little uncomfortable. Seeing him at the window was surprising, but what was more surprising was the fact he was able to track me down. I guess my thoughts about him finding me again weren't as silly as I thought after all. I opened the window, and asked the obvious question before actually letting him in.
"Err...were you stalking me?! Like, how the hell did you find out where I live?"
"I believe I had an encounter with this 'Omar' who you spoke of, and his dratini. Obviously, his dratini stood no chance, don't mean to brag, and I asked the dratini afterwards if it knew where 'a tall man called Floyd with slightly long hair and a beard' lived, and she told me roughly where you lived with a few gestures. She can't speak English, but it seems like she at lest understands it. Apparently, Omar took her to visit you day and that you were outright scared of her." He said and chuckled slightly. I was a bit disgruntled by how he tracked me down like this, but he still seemed like a good person, so I wasn't going to complain.
"Er, major stuff here, extreme apologies and stuff." I said flatly into my headset before muting the sound to speak to Grovyle. He seemed rather pale compared to most grovyles, possibly because they're rarely found in the UK, and more rarely still this far north. "So what brings you here anyway?"
"Just for a chat. Haven't been able to have an intelligent conversation with anyone else since after we last saw each other. It's always 'Oh my god, a talking pokemon! AAHH!'" Grovyle said with an amusing impersonation of highly surprised people when he shows his English speaking talents.
"Well, uh...how are you doing?" I smiled awkwardly, as I really wanted to pester him of how he could speak a human language and I didn't really know what to say aside from that. "Do you drink coffee? Would you like to try one?" I had no idea if it was healthy for him, but I'm sure he'd just spit it out if it was poisonous or anything. He seemed to have good judgement with these things.
"Yes please, I'd love to try some actually." He said as I quickly made some for us while also thinking of a way to rephrase the 'how can you speak English' question.
"So, Grovyle, when did you get interested in the human culture?" I asked him, thinking he'd be happier explaining that.
"Oh, back when I was nine years old as a treeko. I just wasn't satisfied with the animistic ways of life, and I became fascinated in the cars that humans drive from the roads that were right next to the trees in which my family lived in. I envied them, and wanted to know more about them and pretty much dedicated the next ten years of my life to learn English in hopes to communicate with them, always listening while behind cover to pick up bits and pieces of the language. You can probably guess their initial reactions to when I tried to speak to them initially." He sighed sadly at that moment.
"I feared that I would not be treated as a human by them. I'm not human, but I really wish to be treated like one...is that a silly thing to want? You're really the first to do so to me, so I thank you deeply for that."
"Think nothing of it. After all, you did save my life - if it weren't for you, there wouldn't be a me! Anyway, how's the coffee?"
"As good as I imagined coffee would be." He said back to me. We must have talked throughout half the night, laughing and exchanging past experiences throughout our lives with each other, not once glancing at the clock in my room, and he was really growing on me as a person I could get along with. Dare I say, I was looking forward to seeing a pokemon again, but perhaps it was only because he seemed more like a person to me.
"Hey, Floyd, I have kind of wanted to ask you something..." He said, looking a bit shy.
"Go ahead..." I said, eyeing him curiously. Grovyle inhaled deeply, as if he was gathering the courage to speak.
"...Can I stay with you?" He asked. I was rather taken aback by this, but thinking for a short while about his situation, I came to my conclusion.
"Uh...ok, you did save my life, it's the least I could do really..." And then I was interrupted.
"No, I mean, would you let me stay, even If I didn't save your life?" He asked me. I really didn't know how to respond to this, but I smiled and said simply.
"You can stay, but I'll be wanting something in return. There'll be ground rules and golden rules to follow, and more rules on top of that if you're staying in my place." I said, and smiled deviously in a joking and friendly way. Little did I know, this pokemon right here would very quickly become just as good a friend as Omar was, and we'd do some extraordinary things together, and really help us discover more about ourselves. More so, I would consider it the start of many great and terrible things to happen to me. Of course, I was oblivious to all this as of now, but I would find out eventually, and when I would, it would turn my world, his world and everyone else's world inside out.