Fable (noun): a short tale to teach a moral lesson.
Metaphyta (noun): multicellular plants, as a taxonomic group, which also happens to be in the name of most Pokémon professors.
Lesson One: First Meeting
Pikachu wakes up early in the morning. He watches the first gentle rays of sunlight stream down through the canopy, reflecting off the crystalline surface of dewdrops and illuminating Viridian Forest in a rosey hue. After an initial surge of warmth, there is a brief moment of calm, as the whole forest waits for the warm radiation to chase away the lingering nighttime chill. But the peace is short-lived. For as soon as the first layer of mist clears from the undergrowth, the impatient inhabitants of the forest awaken.
The pidgeottos are the first to stir. They are followed by the pidgey, eager as always to snatch up some worms before the leaves completely dry up. Pikachu greets the younger ones as they fly past his sleeping spot, and some of them playfully sand attack him along the way. He also makes sure to shoot a nice, well-aimed thunderbolt at a lone pidgeot who's flying a bit more sluggishly than her comarades.
"Good morning, Pikachu!" Pidgeot chirps in greeting. "Thanks for the morning call as always!"
The electric rodent simply fires off another thunderbolt in response. One of the pidgeotto has stuffed a freshly picked pecha berry in Pikachu's mouth, so he's having some trouble speaking. Pigeot effortlessly dodges the attack and, with a boost of speed, she overtakes the pidgeottos.
"Enjoy your morning flight!" Pikachu calls moments later once he's bitten through the berry, but his old friend and former traveling companion is already too far away to hear him. Pikachu smiles a little to himself. It's great to see that Pidgeot and her family are doing well. Although the bird Pokémon has difficulty waking up in the mornings and an unnaturally high tolerance to awakenings, her physical form is impeccable.
It's clear that she's kept up with her training over the years, awaiting the day that her trainer will finally return to her. Sometimes, Pikachu wishes he can think the same way.
After finishing his berry breakfast, Pikachu gathers up his few belongings from his sleeping spot. Unlike most of the forest's residents, he doesn't have any fixed living quarters. This state of living is not unintentional, however. Since he came to the forest a week ago, Pikachu has received countless offers to stay in various trees and burrows. But he always turned them down.
The reason for his refusal is not because he doesn't want to have a nice cozy shelter to return home to every evening. It's not even because he doesn't trust the Pokémon who offered him a place to stay. Although some of these Pokémon, like that ugly old raticate he met several days ago, clearly had less-than-pleasant intentions for offering to share a nest with Pikachu, he knows that there's really no way they can harm him. After all, any non-legendary Pokémon that got into a fight with the electric rodent would end up very, very dead.
The reason why Pikachu hasn't found a place to stay is because he doesn't want a place to stay. He can't afford to get attached to a particular place of residence, nor to get used to the comfort of sleeping under warm covers. He needs to be constantly on the move. In fact, he's probably already stayed in this forest for too long. Perhaps he should leave today after Pidgeot comes back...
"Pikachu-senpai! I finally found you!" An exclamation snaps him out of his thoughts. Pikachu turns to see an adorable little marill running towards him. From the way she occasionally puts too much weight on her tail only to stumble and fall, it's clear she's only recently evolved.
"Meringue, wait for me!" A different voice shouts. Soon, a pink ball shoots past the the marill. It blurs past Pikachu and smashes into a tree.
"Pudding! Are you alright?" Meringue hurries over to her fallen friend, who turns out to be a fainted jigglypuff. The marill gently prods at her friend with her springy tail. Seeing no reaction, she starts to panic. "Oh no! Pudding's not moving! Is he dead? He's dead isn't he? Oh no. What do I do?"
Pikachu sighs. From countless years of battle experience, he knows that Pudding the Jigglypuff is not dead. Meringue the Marill is obviously overreacting. Pikachu is debating whether he should stand and ignore the situation or walk away and pretend he never witnessed the accident when Meringue suddenly stops her wailing. Seemingly having finally remembered why she is here, she asks, "Pikachu-senpai, Pudding's not moving. Can you please help him?"
Despite the fact that he has just fully resolved on leaving just moments earlier, Pikachu finds himself padding towards the two fairy types. "Move over," he tells the sobbing marill, as he bends down to inspect Pudding. The balloon Pokémon doesn't appear to have sustained any injuries, but is clearly passed out cold. Given some time, Pudding could definitely wake up on his own. Looking at Meringue's tearful eyes, however, Pikachu cannot bear to leave her in pain for any longer. Sparking his cheeks, he nuzzles Pudding.
"Gah!" Pudding's eyes immediately open. Before he can say anything more, Meringue tackles him in a fierce embrace.
"Oh Pudding, I'm so glad you're alright!" Meringue turns to Pikachu, who dodges out of the way just as Meringue is about to hug him too. "Thank you, Pikachu-senpai, thank you for saving Pudding!"
"You're very welcome, Meringue-chan," Pikachu says, to which Meringue beams brightly. Pikachu doesn't normally use honorifics, so he's surprised when he does. Perhaps it's because the youngster keeps calling him senpai for no reason. But then again, 'Meringue-chan' does sound rather cute. Well, either way, Pikachu knows he shouldn't spend too much time with these youngsters.
"Meringue, what are you and Pudding doing here? Pokémon your age shouldn't be wandering around the forest on your own," Pikachu asks.
Meringue blinks in confusion. "Yeah...daddy did say something about it not being safe. Why are we here?"
"Why Meringue-chan, we're here to find your lovely Pikachu-senpai, obviously. It was your idea," Pudding says. Compared to the marill, who has such a clear innocent voice, the jigglypuff sound rather nasally and obnoxious.
"I was just about to say that!" Meringue huffs indignantly. "Also, don't call me that!"
"Don't call you what? Meringue? Last time I checked that's your name, right? Unless you want to change it...in fact, I'd totally suggest you change it to 'Pie'-"
"Gah! Stop it!" Meringue vigorously slaps Pudding on his right cheek. Her arm immediately bounces back from the elastic recoil, and Pikachu thinks she probably ended up hurting herself more than Pudding. Inflatable Pokémon really are a pain to deal with.
"-You know, you really should be named Pie," Pudding continues as if nothing happened. "Meringue is such a mouthful to say, and it doesn't even sound pretty. A girl like yourself should have a better name than that...not that you'd need it for anything. You don't have any ladylike charm in you anyways-"
"What do you mean I'm not a lady?" Meringue is holding back sobs. It appears as though Pudding's comment seriously hurt her pride. "I'm more of a lady than you are a man. You're a male jigglypuff for-"
"Shut up!" Now it's Pudding's turn to get angry. He's finally lost his calm, it seems.
Up until this point, Pikachu has been idly watching the argument unfold. He has to admit that he's kind of enjoying watching Pudding tease Meringue. From their interaction, it's obvious that the kids are childhood friends who probably grew up together. Being from the same egg group, they could even be related, although Pikachu shudders to think what kinds of horrendous egg moves they could have inherited if that was the case. Considering this possibility, Pikachu decides that it's time to take control of the situation before it escalates any further.
"Meringue-chan, Pudding-kun, please stop arguing." Pikachu says in what he hopes is a placating tone. Back when he travelled with his trainer, he'd never been very good at breaking up arguments.
From Pudding's enraged expression, Pikachu hasn't succeeded.
"It's none of your business to interfere, Pikachu! And you have no right to address me like that!" Pudding's cheeks are puffed now, and Pikachu thinks he would have the most adorable pouty-face were it not for his murderous glare.
"Don't talk to Pikachu-senpai like that! It's disrespectful!" Great, now Meringue is defending Pikachu. This could not end well.
"So now you're defending this Pikachu we've only just met like, what, three minutes ago? And you're letting him call you pet names like 'Meringue-chan'? Is he already more important than me?" Even though it didn't seem possible, Pudding is somehow even angrier than he was before.
"Well, he is a respectable elder here-"
"Just because he's old doesn't mean he's trustworthy. I know you've been infatuated with him since the day he came to this forest, Meringue, and it's not good for you," Pudding retorts. Pikachu is mildly offended, surely, he's not that old, is he? But then again, he's been traveling for nearly ten years, so maybe he is approaching senescence.
"As if you haven't been the same way! I know how highly you think of him. You'd worship the very ground he walks on-"
"STOP IT! Just STOP," Pudding screams with tears in his eyes. So now both of them are crying. Pikach once again finds himself dreading the possibility of two high pitched sing attacks directed his way, but he's out of ideas to defuse the situation. Before he has a chance to comment, however, Pudding shouts again.
"You know what? I'm done with this. You can spend time with your dear Pikachu-senpai. I'm leaving." With that, Pudding stalks away faster than Meringue can stop him.
Pikachu watches helplessly as anger slowly drains away from Meringue's face, leaving her expressive brown eyes with the most despondent expression he's ever seen. The expression is full of resignation that he thinks that a part of his already damaged heart shatters beyond repair.
Unable to resist himself, Pikachu wraps his arms around the marill in a tight embrace. He knows it's not appropriate as he is virtually a stranger to the young female, but he knows that she needs the comfort. Meringue stiffens in his grasp but does not move away, and soon she is sobbing quietly into his chest.
After what seems like an eternity, Meringue breaks the silence, "...Pikachu-senpai," she says in a small voice. "I'm so sorry for bothering you like this..."
"It's okay, Meringue-chan. I forgive you completely. It's not your fault that you're sad. And it's probably not Pudding's fault that he's angry either." Meringue seems ready to protest, so Pikachu presses a finger to his mouth, gesturing for silence.
"I'm sure Pudding has his reasons for getting angry. And we can make up with him later. For now, I think it's important to help our most adorable Meringue-chan become happy again. So tell me, lovely little lady, what can I do that will cheer you up?"
Meringue smiles and blushes ever so slightly at the compliment. Pikachu wonders if he went too far, but decides that Meringue deserves to be praised after that earlier argument. He's starting to doubt his judgment when Meringue looks down and doesn't respond.
"Meringue-chan? I know we've only just met and it's probably uncomfortable for you to be with a stranger, but feel free ask me for anything. I'll even walk you home if you want it."
"Pikachu-senpai..." Meringue responds with barely a whisper. She also doesn't raise her head to meet his gaze. Pikachu wonders just how upset she is. He really regrets not doing something sooner about that argument.
He's so deep in thought that he almost doesn't catch her next question. "Will you really do anything for me?"
"Anything." Pikachu affirms. He knows that he has pretty much just issued a blank cheque. Meringue could ask him to do anything. She could ask him to find her a year's worth of food, to battle an aggressive Pokémon, or even to destroy the entire forest, and Pikachu would gladly comply. So much could go wrong in that single promise.
Meringue finally meets Pikachu's eyes and once again, her emotions are displayed clearly. Pikachu still sees sadness, but he also detects a glimmer of hope. It reminds him so much of the initial expression Meringue wore when she first ran into him that morning.
"Can you tell me a story? The story of how you met your trainer?"
Now that is a surprising request. And such a simple one too. But to Pikachu, it's almost worse than asking him to raze all of Viridian Forest to the ground. Sharing his story would mean revisiting memories better left forgotten, tearing open old wounds still healing from years of damage. It would mean thinking about his trainer. Thinking about him.
Yet, before Pikachu could stop himself, he finds himself smiling at the marill.
"Of course, Meringue-chan. I'll tell you my story."