"Gar, Bite!"
The totodile leapt into the air and lunged down on the weakened bulbasaur, sinking his fangs into her vulnerable bulb. The bulbasaur cried out, a keening, desperate noise, and as soon as the totodile let go her legs gave way. The totodile bounced back to his trainer's side, watching silently as the bulbasaur collapsed on the ground.
"Bella!"
The bulbasaur's owner, a gangly junior trainer with slick brown hair hanging over his eyes, rushed over, concern written all over his face. He crouched down and cradled the bulbasaur in his arms.
His counterpart, another junior trainer, had already summoned her totodile back, and now approached, holding out her hand in gesture of sportsmanship.
"Sorry, Terry. For what it's worth, I think you've improved."
Terry summoned Bella back into her pokéball, then stood up and rifled through his pockets.
"Here."
He took out all of his money — nothing more but some odd change after a less-than-successful journey to Cherrygrove City — and began meticulously splitting it in two.
The other trainer sighed, placing her hands in the kangaroo pocket of her red vest.
"Look, you can keep it. It's no biggie."
Terry shook his head. "Can't do that, Lily. Code of pokémon trainers." He held out his fist containing precisely half of his money.
Sighing, Lily took out her hand and accepted the coins.
"Fine."
She stuffed the money into her overladen purse, then turned back to Terry.
"Hey! How about we go get some ice cream after we've healed our pokémon? My treat."
Before Terry could protest, she grinned. "Code of friendship."
Fifteen minutes later, the two trainers were making their way towards Route 29, happily licking their soft-serve ice creams. Gar and Bella, fully healed, followed in tow.
"Have you heard of Professor Elm?" Lily asked in between licks.
Terry shrugged.
"He's this famous pokémon researcher who lives in New Bark Town. My mom knows him, and she said that if you ask, he'll show you around in his lab. Sometimes he even has some really rare pokémon to show you. Wanna come with me?"
Terry gave a pause and looked at his ice cream thoughtfully. "I should probably train a little more first."
"Still thinking about that?" Lily sighed. "Look, don't take it too seriously. You win some, you lose some."
"Yeah."
Terry took a huge bite out of his ice cream in an effort to get it eaten faster, and grimaced as it froze his brain. "I seem to lose a lot more than win, though."
Lily stopped walking, and turned to give Terry a serious look. "Alright. Wanna hear my opinion?"
"Sure."
"It's your strategy. Like in our match before, you sent out your geodude against my tyrogue, and tagged in Bella way too late. Or maybe you could just branch out your attacks some. "Does Bella—"
She leaned down and stroked Bella's head. Bella leaned into the touch and closed her eyes.
"—know Sleep Powder yet?"
Terry nodded.
"Yeah. See, if you had gotten Gar to fall asleep, you would have won for sure."
Terry sighed and rubbed his temples. "Why didn't I think of that then?"
"It happens. Anyway, more training never goes amiss either."
Terry nodded and looked at the road ahead. "How about Bella and me stay here for a while and join you in New Bark Town later?"
"Works for me. Come, Gar! Say bye!"
Lily began running down the path, her free arm far away from her side. Gar raised his head, then head-butted Bella's before waddling after his master.
"Well, Bella," Terry said after Lily disappeared behind a group of trees, then finished off his ice cream with some determined bites. "Looks like we are going to have to lift ourselves by our bootstraps."
He knelt down and lifted Bella on his lap to give her a cuddle. Bella roared appreciatively and licked Terry's ear.
Terry sighed. Maybe he should have become a breeder instead of a trainer after all. He disliked the endless fights and being ambushed by wild pokémon every other step. To compound the issue, when he compared himself to Lily, who had started her journey with him, it became more and more apparent he just wasn't cutting it as a trainer. She already had her first badge, whereas he rarely could scrape a win against anyone but bug catchers.
Every loss made him more and more certain he had chosen the wrong path. But how could he turn away from it now, after his parents had made such a fuss about him following in his older siblings' footsteps and gone through the effort to get him a special starter?
He stroked Bella absent-mindedly, his dark thoughts darker by the minute. He loved the little pokémon, but how did he show it? By subjecting her to constant battles and faintings?
Maybe he should just go home. Maybe he would find a path that suited him, that had nothing to do with his older siblings and their endless accomplishments. Maybe he would learn to live with his parents' endless disappointment in him: the sighs and shaking heads, the disparaging words that were rarely said out loud but were always readable in their eyes.
Maybe.
He gave Bella another hug, hoping it would double as an apology.
"Okay, Bella. Let's see how your Sleep Powder works against the pokémon here."
He idly made his way towards New Bark Town, but despite knowing he was meant to battle, he avoided the tall grass by the route as much as possible. His doubts ate at him. Why had he ever thought he'd be any good as a trainer when he had never been good at anything? Why had he said he wanted to go? Why had he swallowed his own, claiming it would be easy and fun, and that seeing new pokémon in real life would compensate for having to fight them?
He heard something rustling in the grass next to him, and paused, wishing to catch a glimpse of whatever made the sound.
He soon saw something moving amidst the grass, scurrying low with surprising agility. A rattata, Terry first assumed, until he caught sight of something black between the blades of grass that vanished as quickly as he had spotted it.
His curiosity fully aroused, he gestured at Bella to stay put, then slowly followed the creature to the edge of the footpath. Then, in the moment of inspiration, he rummaged through is backpack for his last remaining oran berry, placed it on the ground and took several steps backwards.
After what felt like an eternity, he saw something approaching the edge of the grass, and soon a small black nose poked its way through the grass. The rest of the nose's owner soon followed, and the moment Terry got a good look at it, he could scarcely contain his excitement.
The pokémon was completely unknown to him; nor could he could not recall a single description that matched the creature before him in in any way. It was tiny; it would easily fit in Terry's palm. It stood on small, stubby legs, had large green eyes, and long, floppy ears. The fur Terry had first taken to be black was actually a very dark shade of green, matching well with the hue of its eyes. It was vaguely eevee-like as far as the shape of its head went, but Terry instantly dismissed his initial theory of it being an unknown baby form of umbreon. What it rather was, he could not say, but his heart beat loudly in his chest.
The pokémon lumbered over and sniffed the oran berry. Terry stood still as a statue, not daring to move for fear of frightening the creature away. However, he neglected to command Bella to remain quiet; she made her way to the new pokémon, and gently nudged at it with her head.
Terry held his breath, feeling dizzy. The pokémon blinked rapidly several times in a row, its hair standing up. However, it must have understood Bella was not a threat, for after several more moments it visibly relaxed and greeted Bella by licking her face.
Then, the creature clapped its big eyes on Terry. It instantly froze, one paw in the air. Terry cursed himself for not taking more distance, and, panicking, wondered if he could pull out a pokéball and get a lucky catch before the new pokémon scurried back into the grass and vanished.
He had already reached for his spare pokéballs when the pokémon slowly waddled over to him and sniffed curiously at his open shoelaces. It yapped, in a tiny, shrill voice, and lay down by Terry's foot. With tremulous hands, Terry scooped it up. The pokémon didn't seem to mind, as it simply curled up on his palm, its long tail around its body, and fell asleep.
Terry's heart pounded. Was this real? Perhaps he had hit his head without noticing, and merely dreamed now. Surely such luck couldn't exist, not for him anyway. He couldn't possibly have discovered a whole new pokémon – a friendly pokémon, no less! – so close to civilisation. Still, there was no denying the existing of the soft, warm creature he was holding. As for whether it was truly new pokémon or simply an unknown to him, there was a quick way to find out.
He rushed to New Bark Town as fast as his feet would carry him, the mystery pokémon in his hands. Bella followed, but lagged behind. As soon as he arrived, he all but ran into Lily and Gar.
"Did you come to join us?" Lily said with a smile. "Professor Elm has some really cute baby pokémon in the lab at the moment. Come and see."
She paused and stared. "Are you okay? Your cheeks are really red."
Terry paused to catch his breath. He had placed his other hand over the tiny creature, and Lily was looking at his enclosed hands with curiosity.
"What do you have there? Hi, Bella," she added, as Bella had finally made her way to the town. As soon as she had reached Terry and paused at his side in sullen silence, Gar rushed over to headbutt her. The two pokémon began playing around, happily ignoring their trainers.
The pokémon thus occupied, Terry looked around to make sure no-one was looking at them. He wanted Lily to be the very first person to see the creature.
"Come closer."
When Lily leaned in, he raised his hand. Lily' eyes widened, and she let out an audible gasp.
"What is that?"
She extended her finger to stroke its soft fur, then decided otherwise, retracting her hand.
"Where did you find it? You should show it to Professor Elm!"
"You don't recognise it either, then?"
"No!"
Lily was all smiles, her cheeks reddening with enthusiasm. "Can I hold it?" Terry carefully relinquished the pokémon to Lily, and she raised it to her eye level.
Her eyes shone. "It's amazing! We've gotta show it to Professor Elm right now! Come!"
She took Terry by the wrist, and all but dragged him into the nearby lab.
"Yes, indeed," said Professor Elm. The creature was now awake and stood docilely on Professor Elm's work table, unperturbed by all the scans and tests done to it, and the posse of scientists hovering around it. "I believe you two have indeed found a brand new species of pokémon."
"It was Terry who found it!" Lily said with much vigour, her enthusiasm not in the least subdued by the several hours they had had to wait for results, taking Terry's hand and raising it towards the ceiling. Terry blushed.
Professor Elm affixed a kindly smile on Terry.
"This is quite the discovery, Terry. It simply emerged from the grass on Route 29?"
"I had to coax it out to the open with an oran berry, but basically, yeah."
"Hmm..."
Professor Elm walked over to his PC, and soon returned with an oran berry. He cut out bite-sized slivers of it with a fruit knife.
"Based on what we can tell about its metabolism at the moment, it seems to be more or less omnivorous."
"Oh, can we feed it? Please!" Lily called out.
Professor Elm smiled. "If you want to."
Lily immediately extended out her hand, and Terry was only a few seconds behind her. Professor Elm handed them both two pieces.
"Want to go first?" Terry asked, gesturing at the pokémon with his head. "As a thanks for the ice cream."
He longed to feed the creature, and to play with it, and to interact with it in every way possible, but the radiant smile on Lily's face was so infectious he wanted nothing to jeopardise it.
"Really? Thanks!"
Lily leaned in and placed her hand in front of the pokémon. The creature sniffed at the blue pieces for a moment, then opened its jaw – exhibiting a maw that seemed disproportionately large for such a small Pokémon, as well as an impressive set of teeth – and all but inhaled the berry slices. It munched them up at a rapid pace, then swallowed loudly and yapped, its tail wagging back and forth.
"Good pokémon," said Lily, petting the creature's back. Then she made way for Terry.
Terry feared the pokémon would already be full, but it repeated the process with him with no sign of agitation or fullness. It tickled when the food vanished from his hand and into the creature's mouth. He petted the creature's head with one finger, and listened to the soft purring it made in response.
"Now, there is the matter of what to do next."
Professor Elm looked at Terry over his glasses. "You said it hasn't been formally captured yet?"
"That's right."
"Naturally, it needs to be placed in a pokéball for some experiments. As you were the one to find it, Terry, by right it belongs to you. However, I will have to ask for the sake of the scientific community and society at large that you give us the right to examine it further even if it formally belongs to you."
Terry nodded. "Of course."
He wished to find out more about the new pokémon, and the thought of being officially the owner of such a special creature filled his heart with pride, even if it would have to remain in a lab for quite some time.
Professor Elm smiled kindly. "Thank you, Terry."
He gave Terry an Ultra Ball, and his heart racing, Terry threw it at the pokémon. It fought back minimally, and soon enough the light on the pokéball flashed, marking the capture complete. He placed the pokéball on the table and looked at his feet, unable to fully contain the smile spreading on his face.
Professor Elm nodded. "Very good."
He looked at the clock on the wall of the lab. "It's getting late. You may lodge in my home if you wish to stay."
"Thank you."
"The front door is unlocked, and the spare mats and bedsheets are in the cupboard by the stairs. Here is my phone number in case of an emergency."
He handed Terry his card, and turned to Lily. "Will you be staying as well?"
"Of course! How often does a chance like this come along?" She grinned. "My journey can wait a little. I was ahead the curve anyway."
Professor Elm chuckled. "The two of you are obviously welcome to come and witness our experiments on Specimen D."
He smiled at the frowns that dawned on Terry and Lily's faces. "I'm afraid that's not a very attractive name for such an interesting creature, but until we can name it officially…"
"Specimen D, huh?" said Lily, pulling a face.
"Didi..." Terry mumbled to himself, so quietly he doubted anyone would hear him.
However, Lily caught his utterance. "Didi! That works."
Professor Elm chuckled. "In that case, if you will excuse me, I must inform my colleagues about the existence of Didi." He turned towards his computer.
"Wait!" yelped Lily, causing Professor Elm to turn. "Can you tell us something more about Didi first?"
Professor Elm blinked for a moment, then his kindly smile returned.
"Of course. It's always gratifying to see children who are curious about the salient characteristics of pokémon."
As Terry was still puzzling out the meaning of the unknown word, Professor Elm continued.
"Didi is 3,74 inches long, excluding its tail, and 7,45 inches with it. It weights a mere three ounces. We are yet to discern its typing, but it has a very unusual genetic make-up, which leads us to believe it has the same place of origin as clefairies."
Lily's eyes widened. "It comes from the moon?"
"It is a possibility we cannot exclude, yes. And we are sure to discover more about it during the following days."
With that, Professor Elm returned to his work. Terry and Lily took him up on his offer, but were too excited to sleep or to do anything but to talk about anything but Didi until the early hours of morning.
Well into the next morning, Terry woke to a powerful impact to his skull.
"What the—"
He looked up, seeing stars, and was met with the goofy grin of a totodile. When he noticed Terry was awake, Gar roared and ran to Lily's side, arms flailing in the air.
"Morning, sleepyhead! Did Gar head-butt you? Don't worry, it just means he likes you."
Terry groaned and reached out to stroke Gar's head. "He must positively adore me."
Lily laughed. "Come on, then! Let's go see Didi! I could barely sleep thinking we'd find out more about it today."
Terry laughed too, although it soon turned into a yawn. "Let me put some trousers on first."
Lily stuck out her tongue. "You should have woken up earlier if you wanted to put them on! We're going now!"
And with that, she and Gar exited the room.
Terry pulled on his clothes as quickly as he could, then summoned Bella into her pokéball to move as quickly as possible without leaving her behind. He hurried after Lily, ignoring the light drizzle that morning, and ran into the lab.
Lily was already there, scratching Didi behind the ear, and smiled at Terry when he emerged into the room.
"Here. Take it."
Gingerly, she picked Didi up from the table and handed it over to Terry like on a silver platter. Terry accepted it graciously, and stroked its back with one finger like he had done on the previous day. Didi closed its eyes and curled back into sleep.
"Do you think it weighs more today than yesterday?" Lily asked.
"Huh." Terry carefully lifted Didi up and down in an attempt to gauge its weight. "Maybe a little. I'm not sure."
"It does indeed." Professor Elm said from the computer, typing at a dizzying speed all the while. "We weighed it again two hours ago, and it now weights four and a half ounces. This lends credence to the possibility that it is but a baby form of another pokémon equally unknown to science, and also attests to its very peculiar metabolism."
He turned to beam at Terry. "The emails are absolutely pouring in. The entire academic world is at its toes trying to unravel the mystery of your Didi. My colleague, Professor Oak, said he would like to come see it personally, and he is not the only one. Now, then…"
He pressed Send on the computer, and stood up, his legs slightly shaky. Terry briefly wondered how long he had stayed in front of the monitor, and if he had caught any sleep. Based on the countless empty coffee cups on the desk, he guessed sleep hadn't been a part of his schedule.
"We've verified that Didi is sexless, and that it's not a mutation of any known species. It's possible there is a population somewhere, most likely in this area, that is unknown to us. I've dispatched some of my aides on to Route 29 and other nearby locations to see if we can find more of Didi's kind."
Terry could see in his mind's eye a whole tribe of pokémon like Didi sleeping in a huge, fluffy pile. The thought made him smile, and he looked down at the creature sleeping quietly in his hands.
"Now, once Didi wakes up, there is a favour I must ask of you."
"What is it, Professor?"
A slight frown appeared on Professor Elm's face.
"The only way to truly discern a pokémon's moveset before it has been fully registered into our database is by seeing it battle. Therefore, I must ask, since you are Didi's trainer, if you will spar against someone with it."
Terry's heart sank. Would he really have to battle with Didi? He knew pokémon were always more durable than they looked, and that a reasonable match would never lead to permanent harm, but he liked the idea of Didi getting hurt even less than he usually liked the idea of any pokémon getting hurt.
Professor Elm must have noticed his troubled look, for he asked, "Is something the matter?"
Before Terry could reply, Lily stepped forward.
"I'll spar with you!"
She gave Terry's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "It's gonna be okay, I swear. You know Gar is as gentle as a flower when you get down to it. Didi will be fine."
"I know." Terry's stomach churned regardless.
"Besides, we're doing this in the name of science. This way, we will find out even more about Didi. Isn't that exciting?"
Lily flashed him a grin, full of sincere excitement.
"Your special pokémon has spread like wildfire, and soon both of you will be known all around the world! Think about how cool that is! And when the reporters show up here to interview you, you can tell them you participated in the research! How cool is that?"
"Lily has a point," Professor Elm added, nodding. "For instance, if you would like to pursue a career in science or other academic fields, this could work as an effective springboard to it."
A thought crossed Terry's mind.
"Do you think that would be as respectable as being a successful pokémon trainer?"
Professor Elm frowned at his question.
"If respectability is your main interest in pokémonology, I would advise you to reconsider your career choice. But, yes, considering you would begin your career with a breakthrough discovery at the tender age of ten – well, I cannot possibly see anyone impugning your choice to pursue research over league badges."
Lily, who appeared to have caught Terry's drift better than Professor Elm, beamed at him.
"Yeah, no-one will complain. It's way cooler than what Mark and Mindy have done."
Terry, who could barely contain himself, smiled weakly. He had hoped to keep his face completely impassive, but the elation he now felt could not be fully contained. Imagine: he would never have to face another defeat at the hands of a gym leader! He would never have to count out his pennies and consider buying two separate money pouches to be instantly able to give away half of his cash. And never again would his parents look at him and sigh, or shake their heads, or ask him why he didn't want to go out to catch bugs and battle like Mark and Mindy did.
Yes, he would be a scientist, and discover new pokémon, and then he could buy a farm and raise pokémon, never having to battle them except in experiments like this. Moreover, the exciting hours in the lab the previous night, seeing the intense and joyous looks on the faces of Professor Elm and his aides at every new discovery had rekindled in him some enthusiasm for science. His path in life, for once, seemed both clear and attractive.
Now, there was only the matter of going through with this battle.
"Okay," he said, gently nudging Didi until it opened its eyes, and then placing it on the floor. "Let's do this."
He looked at Professor Elm. "Do you need to set up some sort of monitoring equipment before we begin?"
Professor Elm gave him a surprised, and perhaps a tad impressed, look.
"Only one."
He went around the corner, and returned with two, small red rectangular objects.
"Odds are it will not make much of a difference, but these PokéDexes should be able to record some data from the battle." He gave one each to Lily and Terry.
"Okay then," Lily said, stretching her hands. "I'll use Gar, okay?"
"Okay," said Terry, butterfrees in his stomach.
"Gar!"
At once, Gar leapt in front of Lily, a big dumb grin on his face. It was deeply contrasted by the calm, calculating look on Lily's face. Terry had noticed before that the normally bubbly Lily was mostly silent during pokémon battles, her usual energy only showing when she issued commands, but never had it been as apparent as now.
"Let's start with a basic attack. Gar, Tackle!"
Gar at once ran forward, and with a powerful slam, body-checked Didi and sent them both flying into Terry's feet. Terry lost his balance at the impact, but managed to stay on his feet by grabbing the table next to him.
"Perhaps you two ought to move into a more open area," Professor Elm said somewhere in the distance. Gar stood back up and had already retreated to his starting position, shaking his head like to rid it of water-drops.
Terry sought for Didi with his gaze, half-terrified of the sight he expected to see. Surely a creature so many times larger than it had done a number of it, if it hadn't made it faint outright.
Finally, he spotted Didi, standing where he had first placed it, and even as relief flooded over him, his jaw nearly dropped.
Didi looked entirely unharmed. Not a hair out of place. It looked up at Terry with disinterest and yawned, giving him a very good look at its pearly whites.
"Did it dodge?" Lily said uncertainly. Terry shrugged his shoulders, although he was certain he had felt Didi's soft tail tickle his leg through his jeans when Gar had glided into him.
Then, he hesitated. It was his turn to attack, but he had no idea what kinds of moves Didi knew.
"Didi, Tackle," he said uncertainly, betting on what he knew to be the most widely-known attack among pokémon.
Whether it knew how to tackle or not, Didi chose to ignore him. It lay down again and waved its tail around. Lily looked at Didi silently for a minute or two, then shrugged.
"Want me to attack again?"
Terry sighed.
"Sure." Maybe they'd learn something new.
"Gar, Water Gun!"
Gar's cheeks filled with water, and he shot a thin stream of water squarely at Didi with surprising intensity. Terry anticipated the moment of impact with equal parts trepidation and curiosity.
But there was no impact. The water came in contact with Didi, but as soon as it did, it vanished into thin air. Didi looked no worse for wear, and in fact appeared to not have noticed the attack at all. It looked at Terry over its shoulder and yapped.
Terry looked up at Lily to see if she had noticed the same thing. She had indeed, based the flummoxed look on her face.
"Am I seeing things," she said slowly, "or did Didi just kinda...absorb the Water Gun?"
Terry shrugged. He hadn't noticed that, but Lily had probably had a better vantage point to the place of impact. Either way, he felt very strange about the situation.
Professor Elm walked over to them, bright red circles on his cheeks.
"Can you terminate the duel?"
The battle had been all but over already, but Lily summoned Gar back into his pokéball and crouched down closer to Didi's level. Professor Elm lifted Didi from the ground, shaking all over.
"We found no properties like this during our initial experiments," he said with great animation, holding Didi against his chest. "It's possible that it is an ability that triggers only in battle. I can say nothing that is etched in stone yet, but it's possible this will prove to be a monumental discovery. Perhaps it is merely a water equivalent of Flash Fire, but even that would be remarkable. Please excuse me."
He walked to the back of the lab and his stunned aides, leaving Terry and Lily looking at each other and shrugging.
The scientists worked ceaselessly for the rest of the day, and while no-one attempted to drive Terry and Lily out, no-one bothered to explain to them what was going on, or what each of the scanners and indicators did.
Still, Terry didn't find himself bored. The scientist's excitement, though partially incomprehensible to him, was infectious, and together with Lily he was glad to spend the day looking at the scientists hard at work and occasionally making thrilled proclamations.
Finally, long after the sun set, they headed back to Professor Elm's house to sleep.
"Terry?"
"Mmm?" Terry responded, unable to open his eyes just yet. It couldn't be morning; he was still exhausted.
"Hey, Terry, can you hear me?"
"Yeah."
Terry sighed as his eyes fluttered open. It was still dark; the only visibility came from the light outside Professor Elm's house that filtered in through the thin curtain. Lily stood by his mattress, an unusually pensive look on her face.
"I was just thinking," she began, speaking quietly. Bella, who had been sleeping by Terry's head, woke up and let out a tiny yawn before going back to sleep, her feet tucked underneath her body. "Did you mean when you said you wanted to be a scientist?"
"Yeah," Terry rubbed his eyes and looked at Lily. "Yeah, I think so."
Lily nodded. "I think that would be really cool. Because I was thinking, that maybe..."
She trailed off, then blinked. "Have you thought about what kind of a scientist you would like to be?"
"A pokémon one, obviously," Terry said with a grin, and was responded to with a stuck-out tongue. "But yeah..."
He lay back down, his arms beneath his head.
"I don't really know. Maybe I would like to try and discover more new pokémon like Didi."
Lily very nearly clapped her hands together, but remembered Bella just in time and paused mid-gesture.
"I hoped you would say something like that. Because I was thinking that if you're going off to faraway places in search of pokémon, you'll need someone to come with you. And once I've become the pokémon champion, I could be that person."
Lily's eyes sparkled. "Think about it. We could travel together, and I can handle the battling and you can handle the research. We'd get more done, and it'd be safer, too. And way more fun!"
Her cheeks were bright red. "We might even become famous! Think how cool it would be! Champion Lily and her best friend, the esteemed Professor Maple, setting off for another expedition into the deep jungles!"
Terry was silent for a few moments, and then smiled sleepily.
"Let's do that."
"I knew you would get it!" Lily's enthusiastic whispers could be barely considered whispers now. "It's going to be incredible!"
"Yeah..."
The edges of Terry's field of vision became blurry. He yawned and attempted to stall his sleepiness, but slumber was inevitably creeping upon him. Already he wasn't entirely certain whether Lily was really there talking about her plans, or if he was merely seeing a pleasant dream.
"Just imagine, the kinds of things we will see..."
Lily may have continued after that, but Terry no longer had any awareness of what followed.
Despite the night-time chat, Terry felt fully refreshed by the time he woke up the next morning. Lily, too, looked no worse for wear. When they returned to the lab, however, it was obvious the lack of sleep was taking its toll on Professor Elm: his hair was sticking out, and the bags underneath his eyes were visible beneath the frames of his glasses. Still, he smiled at Terry and Lily when he saw them.
"Didi!"
Lily crouched down and clapped her knees, beckoning it over. Didi came bouncing from behind one of the tables, giving one of its characteristic yaps. Immediately, Terry noticed something very strange about Didi: it had grown tremendously since they had last seen it, and was now roughly the size of Bella.
Didi rushed towards Lily's extended arms, but before it could quite make it, Gar rushed forward and head-butted it. Didi fell over and when it stood up again it was facing Terry's direction instead, shaking its head.
"I'm sorry, Didi. It just means Gar likes you."
Didi walked over and sniffed Terry's extended fingers. Terry took the opportunity to sink his fingers into Didi's soft fur, now being able to pet it with his entire hand.
He looked up at Professor Elm. "How much food did you give it?"
"Two oran berries. quite a while ago, in fact. If you'd like, you can feed it now."
Lily didn't need to be asked twice, and she went over to fetch two. She crouched down next to Terry and handed him one.
"You no longer need to eat sliced berries only, huh?" she said with a smile as Didi bit into the berry she offered it.
Terry looked up from Didi when he heard some commotion from the background.
"Are you sure you didn't place the pokéballs somewhere else?" Professor Elm demanded from a sweating assistant. "I distinctly remember placing them on this table, and when I last checked they were still there."
"I know, Professor, I saw them there not half an hour ago. But I haven't touched them at all."
Professor Elm sighed and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Good heavens. We must ask everyone, then. Three pokéballs don't simply vanish into thin air like that."
Terry looked on as the professor and the aide went to confront the other scientist, then turned to pet Didi.
As he stroked its back, a ludicrous thought came to his mind, and even though he attempted to instantly dismiss it, it wouldn't leave him alone. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered. Didi had grown so much since the day before...
He took Didi and lifted it to sit on his lap, holding it from underneath its front legs. When he felt he could do so without toppling it over, he removed the grip with one hand and began stroking Didi's belly, carefully feeling for anything unusually solid and round.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked.
Terry blinked. Nothing about Didi's stomach felt the least bit unusual. Its underbelly was soft and fluffy, the fur on it faint green rather than the nigh-black green of the rest of its fur.
"Nothing," he said, placing Didi back on the floor and patting its head. "I just had this strange idea. Doesn't matter. It was wrong."
Lily frowned at him. Then, a light dawned in her eyes.
"Do you mean..."
However, whether she was on the same train of thought as Terry, they would never find out, as just then Professor Elm walked over to them, brow still knitted, and offered them a perfunctory smile.
"Children, could you run an errand for me? I need some items for the laboratory. If I give you the shopping list and the money, can you go buy them from Cherrygrove City?"
"Of course!" Lily jumped up at once. "I'm going stir-crazy sitting inside the whole day anyway."
Terry nodded and stood up as well. He didn't like the idea of being separated from Didi for too long, but he too had to admit he could use some variety and fresh air. Besides, it would give him an opportunity to allow Bella to stretch her legs afterwards: the poor creature had spent an awful lot of time within her pokéball for the past few days.
"Thank you."
Professor Elm handed them a small purse, with the list inside it, and even opened the door for them. "Have a good time."
"We will!" Lily said, waving.
They didn't look back, but instead rushed towards Route 29, glad to have the space to run.
"Wasn't much that he needed," Lily said as they exited the Pokémart, jamming the paper bag the clerk had handed to them into her backpack. "What do you say we go and get some ice cream again, future pokémon professor?"
Terry smiled. "After you, future champion."
Just then, his phone began to vibrate, and he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Terry!"
It was Professor Elm. "Did you take Didi with you when you went?"
"Uh..." Terry shook off his backpack and began rummaging through it. Lily looked on in confusion.
"No. I have its pokéball with me, but it's empty."
There was a long silence at the other end. When Professor Elm finally spoke again, there was a strange tremor to his voice.
"Ah. In that case, we may have a bit of an incident in our hands."
Terry's heart sank. "What do you mean?"
He could already roughly guess what Professor Elm was about to say, but it didn't make the thought of hearing it any easier.
"It appears Didi may have exited the lab while the door outside was open."
It was what Terry had feared. "Oh no."
"We will look for it in the area around New Bark Town. If you and Lily could look for it at Route 29, we are that much more likely to rediscover it. Lost and escaped pokémon often try to return to their roots, and while we have no evidence that Route 29 is really Didi's place of origin, it's worth a try."
Terry nodded, and only then realised Professor Elm wouldn't see it. His thoughts were already far away, focused on his special pokémon with black-green fur.
"Okay. We'll call you if we find it."
"Thank you."
Professor Elm ended the call. Terry placed his phone back in his pocket slowly, crestfallen.
"What is it?" Lily asked, burning with curiosity further fuelled by Terry's hangdog expression.
"Didi's gone missing."
Lily's mouth fell open.
"It ran away from the lab, apparently. We're supposed to go look for it on Route 29."
They both began walking towards Route 29 as if they only had one mind between them, in perfect silence. After a while, Lily spoke.
"It shouldn't be too bad," she began. "Or at least, there's definitely hope. You know what Didi is like. It'll probably come to us the moment it hears us calling. And if it doesn't hear us, well, Gar's good at looking for other pokémon."
Terry nodded, appreciating Lily's words. Gar could indeed serve as a third searcher, as he was both strong and agile. Quite unlike Bella, who would be better tucked inside her pokéball for safety.
They began their search as soon as they reached the city gate, Lily going left and Terry right, each urgently calling for Didi's name, and Gar scurrying from one trainer to another, crying out as well. They convened every five minutes, only to shake their heads and continue on.
At one of the meeting points, about halfway back to New Bark Town, they both noticed something amiss.
"Look!" Lily gasped, pointing forward into the tall grass.
In the grass was a visible groove, a barren path cutting right through the field, leading away from civilisation.
"What is that?" Terry asked, frowning. "I'm sure that wasn't there before."
Lily shook her head.
"I know. Didi!" she called off into the distance.
Instead of being greeted by silence as before, this time she was responded to with a loud yap from a distance.
"Didi!"
Terry's heart began thumping loudly in his chest. It had to be Didi, no doubt about that. Still, something seemed slightly odd.
"Did Didi's voice sound strange to you just now?"
Lily looked troubled. "I know what you mean. It sounded louder than normal."
Just then, Gar roared happily and dashed forward down the mysterious path.
"Gar!" Lily yelled, but when Gar didn't stop, she shrugged.
"He probably recognised Didi's voice and went to head-butt it. Gar!" she yelled so loudly Terry thought his eardrums would pop. "Bring Didi here!"
Gar roared in response. Then, there was silence.
"Are you sure he's fine?" Terry asked.
"Probably. I mean, I can't know for certain. Gar is smart, though, so if something's up, he'll come back to fetch us.
They waited for a minute, then another. There was no sign of either Gar or Didi. Lily called Gar's name until her voice was hoarse, to no avail.
"Didi!" she finally cried out in despair. After some silence, there was a yap.
This time Terry was certain he wasn't hearing things. Didi's voice sounded much deeper, to the point where its yap barely sounded like one.
"What's going on?" he said, suddenly shivering.
"I don't know," said Lily, frowning, "but this isn't like Gar at all. Do you think—?"
Her question died on her lips. Terry looked as her eyes widened and her mouth fell slack, and the way her gaze, fixed into the distance, kept rising upwards, until finally he too turned his head despite his growing apprehension.
His jaw dropped. His apprehension hadn't been the only thing to grow.
In front of them stood Didi, at least a hundred yards away, but still perfectly visible. Somehow, it had grown to the size of a snorlax, and kept going from there. Its tail was as big as a tree, its eyes like moons, its furry back like an enormous field of tall, black grass.
Terry could scarcely believe what he was seeing, but the sight only grew more stupendous as, right before their very eyes, Didi kept growing, more massive by the minute.
Finally, the growth stopped, and Didi looked around itself as it always had and yawned, its impressive teeth now like white, sharp mountains. Terry nearly grasped Lily's hand in fear.
Lily looked no less amazed than he felt himself to be.
"Didi," she muttered, shaking her head. "Didi..."
Terry swallowed as something came to his mind. He looked for Didi's pokéball and took it in his hand. Pokéballs could contain tremendous beasts, and while Terry wasn't sure of the exact mechanics behind it, surely it wouldn't make a difference if Didi was now a hundred feet tall instead of one.
Still, even though the pokéball would home and travel some of the way on its own, it wouldn't be enough if he threw it from where he was. He dashed forward down the mown-down path, Lily following closely behind him.
"It's dangerous!" Terry yelled behind him.
"I have to know if Gar is okay!" was the reply. Terry couldn't argue with that.
Finally, they were close enough, so close Didi could probably reach them with only a few steps of its now- enormous feet. Either way, it hadn't noticed their new location yet. It was blinking slowly and yawning, and as that usually meant it was about to curl down and sleep, Terry actually considered delaying his plan and waiting for Didi to slumber before throwing the pokéball.
Then he remembered: sometimes instead of sleeping, the excessive blinking and yawning was instead followed about a moment or two of increased activity and trying to catch its tail, and what kind of further damage that might cause to the environment and the pokémon there-within, he couldn't even fathom. No reason to delay when he could possibly prevent all that.
Placing all the strength he had behind the throw, he lobbed the pokéball at Didi's nearest leg. It flew in a beautiful arc, and landed close enough to Didi to activate. It bounced back up and hit Didi's leg. Terry anticipated the ball opening, and sucking Didi in, ending the cataclysm.
Next to him, Lily gasped.
Terry blinked rapidly, not comprehending what he had just seen. Upon touching Didi's leg, the pokéball vanished.
"Did you see that?" Lily whispered to him urgently. There was sweat on her forehead. "It absorbed the pokéball like it absorbed the Water Gun."
So Terry hadn't imagined it. However, he didn't have time to ruminate on the revelation, as the sound of the pokéball activating and Lily's words had been enough to attract Didi's attention. It waved its tail and yapped happily, a deafening sound from their distance.
It took a step towards them, causing a terrifying thud, and Terry looked on in stupefied amazement as the grass that ended up beneath Didi's feet disappeared, leaving nothing but dust in its wake.
He felt Lily tugging his arm.
"We have to run."
He heard and understood the words, but he couldn't move his feet; they had turned into jelly.
He couldn't move at all. All he could do was look on, his mouth slack, as Didi took another step forward, only one further step separating it from Lily and him.
"Terry! Run!"
Terry stared into Didi's beautiful green eyes, now as big as beach balls, and quivered. Didi waved its tail.
"For Arceus' sake, Terry!"
He felt Lily let go of his arm, and for a split second he expected her to run away and leave him in the dust. As soon the thought had crossed his mind, however, he saw Lily right in front of him, steaming with ire, and giving him a powerful shove.
Terry stumbled backwards, and discovered he could move again.
"What are you waiting for? Ru—"
Terry never heard the rest. He looked on in horror as Didi stepped right next to Lily, and the soft fur of its stubby legs, now as long and thick as Lily's arms, touched her back. He saw Lily's expression change to that of naked horror, and then there was no longer an expression to look at. Lily was simply gone.
He felt as if his heart had stopped. His mind, his thoughts, everything came to a halt. It couldn't have happened. Grass and pokéballs, sure, but not a living, breathing, real person like Lily. She couldn't be gone. No. She just couldn't.
No.
Some primordial instinct took control of his body even as his mind was still stunned to a standstill. He ran.
He ran all the way to Route 46 ignoring both the shortness of his breath and any obstacles in his way, stumbling forward as best as he could. Finally, he clambered on top of a ledge, and as he was completely out of breath, he paused. He looked over his shoulder, deliriously fearing the sight that would await him would be Didi's huge paw mere feet away from him, despite knowing that he had heard none of the terrific impacts its feet had made earlier.
Indeed, Didi hadn't followed him. It had wondered elsewhere, to a small forest by the road. Terry looked on in amazement and horror as the venerable trees, countless times larger than Didi had been a mere hour ago, were sucked from the ground and absorbed into Didi, roots and all. Having done short work of the forest, Didi paused to scratch its ear. Again, it began to grow, reaching ever greater heights. Cold sweat ran down Terry's spine as he finally understood.
It absorbs everything that's smaller than it. And everything it absorbs makes it grow...
He wanted to weep, for the trees, for Gar, and especially for Lily, but no tears came out. What was happening was so difficult for him to comprehend his mind refused to go through it all, let alone send his body the appropriate commands. He could only keep staring and feel the hollow gulf inside him that would, given the opportunity, be filled with grief.
Then, Didi began slowly lurching towards New Bark Town.
Terry's blood ran cold. If what he thought was happening really was the truth, Didi's size was now monstrous enough for it to absorb every house in New Bark Town, let alone the people living in it. And then what? It would grow even larger, and perhaps wander off to another city, and destroy everything there too. And then what? Terry wasn't sure even the ocean would stop Didi.
And it would all be Terry's fault.
He had been the one to found Didi. He had been the one to bring it to the lab. He had fed it, and perhaps that had been what had caused the chain reaction. Had Didi absorbed things before encountering him? Surely some blades of grass had been smaller than it. No, that had to have been his fault, too.
He had to do something.
In his desperation, he could only think of Lily. Her demise still hadn't fully registered in his mind except as utter shock, but still he couldn't get her out of his mind. He thought of their last few days together, of Lily's happy smile, and everything she had said to him.
One of the memories gave him pause.
He reached for his pokéballs and summoned Bella. Bella turned around and looked at him in askance. Then, she saw the enormous Didi and froze.
"Bella..." Terry pleaded quietly and crouched down to stroke Bella's flanks. "I know this is really scary, but if we don't try this, something really bad will happen. You're the only one who can do this, and you can save a lot of people. Okay?"
Bella growled, and when Terry held his hand in front of her, she licked it. Still, she quivered when Terry summoned her back into her pokéball. He began to run towards Didi.
Fortunately, Didi had taken a break from its rampage, and had paused to sit down and lick its fur. Already, it was clearly visible in New Bark Town, and as Terry approached he heard screams of terror from its residents. Somehow, he found yet another gear in himself, and kept hurrying.
Finally, he was at range. Just in time, too: Didi had ceased with cleaning itself, and looked ready to keep going. Terry summoned Bella as quietly as he could.
"Bella," he whispered. "Sleep Powder."
Bella hopped forward and shook the bulb on her back. Soporific pollen permeated the air, and was carried upwards by a warm wind current. Terry crossed his fingers and wished by Jirachi it would have the intended effect.
Didi turned.
It saw Bella.
It wagged its tail and stepped forward to greet her like it had before.
Bella roared, but it was too late: Didi reached down to lick her, and with one flick of its giant tongue, Bella was gone.
"Bella!" Terry cried out.
He couldn't help it. The loss of his beloved starter, on top of all his losses, finally pushed him past his initial shock and into grief. He began to weep, and made no effort to move out of the way when Didi noticed him and yapped.
What did it matter? He had no more strength to run away, and his last saving throw had failed.
Just then, Didi began to teeter from side to side. Terry looked on in amazement as the Sleeping Powder began to take effect, as Didi's enormous eyelids opened and closed, wondering briefly just how potent Bella's (the poor creature, the poor creature) Sleeping Powder was and feeling dull hope in the idea that now, New Bark Town and the rest of the world might possibly be saved, even if at a terrible price.
Didi yawned one last time and swayed more violently than ever. The soporific seemed to have relaxed all its muscles at once, as its legs gave way just as its eyelids shut for the final time.
Time seemed to slow down as the behemoth collapsed forward, almost as if it were falling through water. And it was only then that Terry realised that at the distance he was at, with Didi already looming right above him, blocking all sunlight, he could only look on as it collapsed, with no time to get out of the way.
A/N: Special thanks to thechinskyguy and TJ Robinson for beta reading this.