Off in the depths of the woods, lay the creeping crawling Bug type Pokemon of the Boxes. In their forest, the troupe of them often trained for battle, hoping to receive praise from their trainer for their efforts. Yet, one of them wasn't feeling it. Wandering alone in the forest was Scizor, thinking over some deep thoughts.
What if my trainer doesn't choose to use me again? Scizor thought to herself. What if, instead, he chooses Heracross, or Scolipede, or Arceus forbid, Pinsir? Scizor shuddered at the thought. No, I'm still the superior Bug. You can't get much better than me in here, and I've been around probably the longest, or if not that, pretty darn close to it. I'm not going to be beaten by those upstart Bugs… but yet…
Scizor was interrupted in her thoughts by the sudden appearance of a massive rocky giant in her path, one she was surprised to see.
"Regirock!? What are you doing in the forest?" Regirock turned its dark brown craggy body to face her. Scizor gulped mentally. Regirock, despite being somewhat friendly with everyone, still freaked her out. It towered over many of the Pokemon in the Boxes, Scizor included, and its eyes… well, if you could call them that, freaked her out. There was nothing you could glean from them. They just stared at you, right into your very soul. Freaky. Still, Regirock had proven itself worthy of its trainer's praise, quickly climbing up the ranks to be one of his strongest overall Pokemon. Also got a bit of a superiority complex from it. In short, Regirock was… intimidating. Its presence in this forest was cause for alarm for Scizor.
"THERE IS NO NEED TO BE ON GUARD. I AM HERE ON PEACEFUL TERMS." It had clearly detected Scizor's apprehension. "IF I WERE HERE IN AN ACT OF AGGRESSION, I WOULD HAVE CRUSHED YOU ALL ALREADY, YOURSELF INCLUDED, SCIZOR." Regirock's deep voice echoed throughout the forest. Even when being here on friendly terms, that guy was insufferably full of itself.
"Er, right. Then what are you here for?" Regirock merely turned behind itself.
"I AM HERE FOR THIS." Scizor peered over Regirock's broad body and found what it was staring at. Sitting in a small pool of water, seemingly lost in thought, was Gastrodon.
"...You're here for Gastrodon?" Scizor remembered Gastrodon from Sinnoh. She was always lost in thought, only really half paying attention at any given point. For instance, their trainer always messed up Poffin batches, and Gastrodon just cheerily ate the charred remnants of them when no one else would, seemingly immune to their horrible taste. It's taken attacks that would otherwise rend her teammates apart without even realizing it. Gastrodon wasn't so much an idiot more than she was… odd, but still, she often proved to be a valuable teammate. Scizor understood that side of her, but she simply couldn't see the reason Regirock was so entranced with Gastrodon. It was typically a no nonsense kind of Pokemon. Gastrodon's nature meant it seemed unlikely this was simply them having a friendly chat.
Regirock responded. "AFFIRMATIVE. I HAVE COME SEEKING ADVICE ABOUT HOW TO OPERATE ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS." Ah. Scizor understood now, that explained things. Regirock had come seeking life advice. Who knew the stuck up giant needed help with that kind of thing?
Gastrodon, seemingly having been having a hearty daydream in the pond, finally seemed to register that both Scizor and Regirock were there. Her face immediately lit up into a smile. "Scizor! Regirock! Good to see you two! How have you been?" Scizor made a move to respond, but she was cut off before anything could be said by Regirock.
"CUT THE CONVERSATION. I HAVE COME WITH AN URGENT INQUIRY." Gastrodon cocked her head to the side in confusion
"In-cur-ee? What's that? Sounds tasty!"
"OBSERVATION: THAT IS 'CURRY', GASTRODON. I HAVE COME SEEKING ADVICE ON DAY TO DAY OPERATION." Regirock turned to Scizor. "AS HAS SCIZOR." Scizor stepped back briefly to argue, but before she could, Gastrodon responded, with a happy little smile.
"Yippee! More friends! I love friends!" Gastrodon splashed in the water in pure glee, but as always with Regirock, it cut straight to the point.
"GASTRODON, URGENT REQUEST: PLEASE STOP SPLASHING AND AID US." Gastrodon stopped splashing, taking on a more neutral expression.
"Alrighty then…. " She sounded disappointed. "Well… sit here with me for a bit then, in this little puddle." Regirock moved towards the water, strong arming Scizor into coming with. Regirock seemingly did not want to deal with Gastrodon alone. Seems he was at least familiar with her reputation. When both of them had sat down in the puddle of water, Regirock to Gastrodon's left and Scizor to her right, Gastrodon began.
"Alrighty everybody! Follow me and sit still for a little bit!" And as she commanded, the three sat down in the puddle of water. There was an eerie silence that followed, with only the distant sounds of squabbling Flying Pokemon and forest inhabitants reaching their ears. Scizor could not quite understand what the purpose of this was. Perhaps Gastrodon was simply lost in thought again and only half thinking about this. Regirock had seemingly caught on to the same idea as well.
"GASTRODON, IT IS IMPERATIVE WE UNDERSTAND THIS. WHY ARE WE SITTING STILL? WE NEED ADVICE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY." Gastrodon ignored the question, humming a little tune. Regirock was getting agitated. "GASTRODON, ANSWER ME NOW OR ELSE I SHALL UNLEASH MY FULL FURY UPON YO-" Regirock was interrupted mid sentence by a powerful geyser having suddenly formed beneath it, sending it flying into the sky. Gastrodon giggled a little as Regirock began falling back down, landing with a powerful splash into the pool of water. Scizor and Gastrodon were both hit by the splash, causing Scizor to recoil from the wave as Gastrodon simply kept humming along. Scizor recognized the geyser as an attack. Wasn't it Earth…. Something or other? Gastrodon stopped humming before Scizor'sr thoughts could form, however, as Regirock made a move to get up.
"Do you see the water in front of you, Regirock?" Regirock stopped getting up, keeping its head slightly above the water as it stared it down.
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"And what do you see in the water, Regirock?"
"I SEE MY REFLECTION."
"Correct, but what else is in the water?"
Regirock paused for a moment before responding. "I DO NOT FOLLOW."
Gastrodon hummed a little bit more of the tune she was singing before turning back to Regirock. "What you see in the water is the light. It reflects off the water, and looks super pretty!" Regirock stared at the water, as did Scizor. Scizor noted how Gastrodon was correct. She hadn't noticed it before, but the light reflecting off the water truly did look excellent, making the water seem sparkling in the dense underbrush of the forest.
"THIS IS A SMALL FACTOR. HOW DOES THIS CORRELATE TO US?"
"It's not meant to."
"QUERY: EXPLAIN."
"You're too focused on yourself right now Regirock. Relax, look around you. Don't the plants look lovely at this time of day?" Regirock turned to stare, as did Scizor. Scizor was beginning to grasp a faint idea of what Gastrodon was saying.
"THE PLANTS ARE…. ADMIRABLE." Gastrodon smiled.
"Why do you think I'm so happy all of the time? When we live in a place as pretty as this, what more is there to worry about? I have fun in my pond, I look at the plants, and I have happy friends! Friends! Happy!" Gastrodon began splashing in her pool again. Scizor thought for a moment, and eventually came to a conclusion on what Gastrodon had told them.
"Regirock, I think I get what Gastrodon is trying to say. We've been thinking too much about one thing."
"ONE…. THING? EXPLAIN."
"Well, I dunno if it's the same for you or not, but…" Scizor paused for a moment. "I've been focused intensely on battle, how strong I am, how I'll look to our trainer, all of that kind of, as of late. I presume you've had the same thoughts, or at least ones similar to my own." Regirock did not reply, simply glancing absentmindedly in another direction. "I'll take the silence as a yes, then." Regirock continued staring at the same spot as before, as Gastrodon was happily squirting some water. "What Gastrodon is saying is we haven't taken the time to enjoy ourselves. Have fun. We've been so focused on our image, that we haven't begun properly taking in the world around us yet. We haven't been truly living because of our lust for strength, Regirock."
"I BELIEVE…" Regirock suddenly began, talking once more. "I BELIEVE… THAT YOU ARE CORRECT. I HAVE NO NEED FOR THINGS SUCH AS PLANTS, OR WATER, BUT AT THE SAME TIME…. IT IS… APPEALING. PERHAPS… PERHAPS I HAVE BEEN SEEING THINGS WRONG. MAYBE IF I RELAX MORE… MAYBE THEN I CAN FIND WHAT I AM TRULY MISSING IN BATTLE."
Scizor turned to Gastrodon. "This was what you wanted us to learn, right?" Gastrodon stopped absentmindedly looking about and stared at Scizor with a look of confusion.
"I was meant to be teaching something? I thought we were playing!" Scizor sighed. She should've expected as much from Gastrodon. Regirock was simply giving a thousand yard stare Gastrodon's way. Scizor couldn't tell if that was a death glare or simply Regirock thinking things, but either way, Gastrodon continued to remain as much of an enigma to both of them as when they started.
"Well, as you're both here… want to play with me for a little bit? It's been so long since we did that Scizor! We did that back in the old days when you still had big slashy arms!" Scizor sighed and turned to Regirock, who had done the same. Both looked back towards Gastrodon as Scizor gave her answer.
"Well, I mean, we might as well have a bit of fun."