Chapter 28: First steps as a quadruped

[Jess' perspective]

Nicks little pep talk made me feel better. I'm still not sure if I'll ever enjoy being a Pokémon. This all still feels so unreal. I'm feeling really small between all those Pokémon, not just because everone has at least double my size but even more so when I think of how small they actually were compared to me when I was a human. Nick used to be about half my size and now he's almost triple my size. Then I don't have hands anymore but paws. I realised, that I can't grab things anymore and it's really bugging me. But what's bugging me the most is that I'm a quarduped now. I can't stand on my legs anymore like I used to, so I had to learn to walk on all fours. It already took me several minutes to figure out how to walk correctly. I already looked through the stuff in my backpack. Besides all the food that Nick and the others collected, I can't really use anything of that stuff anymore. My clothes are all way too big for me now and those paws make it really difficult to get anything else than walking done. On the other hand, I noticed that my hearing is much better now, well no wonder, when my ears are so big. But it's not just my ears, my eyes and nose seemed to be better as well. Another good thing is of course that I can understand Pokémon language now. I was always curious about what Pokémon are actually talinkg about. Nick had told me that Silver, the Sneasel who smacked me before was also a human before, as well as that Houndour that was tied to that tree. I'm not sure if Nick is really satisfied with his life as a Pokémon as he told me. He sure just wanted to cheer me up, I guess.

Hey Jess, mind if I talk to you?

I turned around to see that Travis came over to me.

Sure. I said 'Even though I always wanted to understand what they say, it still feels weird to talk with a Pokémon.' So, what do you want to talk about? I asked while he sat down next to me.

Well, at first I wanted to thank you for training me. It's really been a nice time with you around.

'Phew, Travis also thinks that I'm a good trainer, hearing that from Travis means even more to me than when I heard it from Nick, could be because he's a human and he maybe just said it to make me feel better.'

So you think so, too? That's nice to hear, thanks.

You know it's been a great time for me, and I also had a good friend who I could always talk to and even learn some more things about humans.

You mean Nick?...wait you knew that he was a human all the time?

Not all the time but he told me when we were about to leave Cherrygroove City. He also told me to keep this secret.

So was it that what you were talking about all the time?

Not all the time...sure it was something we often talked about. He was my friend after all and he wanted me to help him.

Help him? with what?

You know, he lost all his memories from his past life except for some little details, so he didn't know what to do, so he decided to give this new life a try and he asked me a lot of things like what it actually means to be a Pokémon.

I see, he told me that he likes his new life so much that he didn't even want to go back to his old life, is that true?

From what I can tell that's true. He really enjoys being a Pokémon and he often went out to train in the middle of the night.

What? I didn't know that...does that mean that my training wasn't good enough for him?

No, he just wanted to become stronger so he could protect you. at least that's what he said to me.

He just wanted to protect me? But why? I mean, I know that a Pokémon can become really protective towards their trainers, but he's actually a human isn't he?

Well, I'm not sure about that. He already behaves more like a Pokémon than a human. And he wanted to be like that. The only human thing on him is his way of thinking.

'So he was serious when he told me that he's no longer reffering to himself as a human...'

What do you mean with 'way of thinking'?

Well, he always wants to know everything. He always wants to know what's going on around him, even though it seems so irellevant. A Pokémon just accepts those things the way they are. We don't want to know why raindrops fall from the sky, we just know that it happens and that's all we need to know.

I see...

He told me that he wanted to think like a Pokémon as well, but he can't just change his way of thinking so easily, and he will most likely never make it if he continues like that. But that's fine, he's just the way he is, and at least he enjoys his new life and tries to fit in.

Thanks Travis, to be honest I wasn't sure if he told me the truth about himself, but now I know he did. I think I understand him better now.

Well, let me tell you, a Pokémon rarely ever has a reason to lie to anyone, and as I said, he's already like a Pokémon in this point. You can trust him.

I'll remember that.

Hey, looks like Nick and Silver are doing another battle for training, wanna go watch them?

I looked over to Nick and Silver who were taking battle stances.

He must really love fighting if he's doing it even without someone forcing him to do so.

You should try it, too.

What? Fighting? Me? I don't know...I never really fought any battles by myself, I only always let my Pokémon fight for me.

It's fun, trust me, you'll see, but first let's watch. Nick always comes up with new tricks and I wanna see them.