Merry Christmas! (or any other alternate holiday that you might celebrate or not) Here I come with a present for you all. I know this is not a good idea to post on Christmas, but I don't care. I'm kind of sorry for the delay, but, while the chapter was nearly done one month ago, something called end of semester came to me and prevented me from finishing it. Don't worry though, because I am back into action. As I am writing this, I have one third of chapter 9 written, and probably much more by the time I actually post this tonight. I am on a roll, though, because I present you another personal biggest chapter ever. I did more than 6000 words this time. I doubt this will be topped in a future chapter, so I would enjoy it for now. Well, enough ranting, here come the review response section. Since I don't have internet right now, I will try to reply according to what I remember about them.
Foxyjosh: One. Hehehe… ok… it's the last time I dare anyone to write a zero word review. I don't quite remember your real review, but thank for taking the time to write another one. I must admit that it took me two weeks before noticing that you sent me a private message. This shows how much I check my e-mails. Anyway… there will be more Sunny for some time, and another fox later on, because, well, another member of the Big Three, a group made of my most developed and favorite characters, which include Rick, happens to be one. Lucky you.
Tyler: Pika! pikachu pi pika chuu! Ok… err… pa pachi! Rodent pokemon language aside, I have nothing to say about your review. Oh… wait... oh yes… it was THAT review… oh yeah... so I have plenty of things to say. First, I know that you are going to complain about any mistake about Rick behavior, but I am far from perfect. Trying to develop a character on which I know almost nothing without slipping into a version of him I used during hundreds of hours of role playing is no easy task. That fact aside, I also have a bad memory and I am prone to missing any detail that would seem obvious to most. So, Rick might do something in one chapter, but if no one remind me later, he might do the opposite later. That's what I appreciated from your proofreading, as it let me notice and correct most of those contradictions. As for the serious pace of the story that seemed to have vanished, I just want to state that, while chapter 6, 7 and 9 are mostly filler without any big plot development, the little that is done is essential. I have another plotline that I will try to develop and that should have been shown since chapter 6, but that have been delayed because of those fillers. It will appear in chapter 9, I promise. However, the most serious plot elements, which are indirectly related to Rick, won't play a big direct role in how most events in that story will happen for our 'hero' (only one will have a direct effect, but I won't show it, for reasons that will be obvious later on), other than setting the ground for a possible sequel, if I feel like doing one. So, while I will try to tie some loose ends, I will purposely leave some open. After all, what would be the purpose of a sequel if every problem is solved? Hehehe…
This ends both the review response section and the ranting section of this chapter, so… good reading!
Chapter 8: Wild Illusions
Destiny is sometime unpredictable. Sometimes things can suddenly change, never to be the same again. One day, you might be human, and the next day, a pokemon. One day, you might be with someone you thought you could trust, and then the next, they betray you. One day, you might be with your trainer, but the day after….. Even a pokeball might seem like a safe place, when you have to choose between that or facing the dangers of a forest.
Deep inside that forest, life was moving around, performing its daily repetitive duty, unaware of the events that would soon ensue. pokemon were running up and down trees, flying high in the sky, scurrying on the ground or digging under it, looking for food, mating, drinking or simply enjoying themselves, as many animals do. If Sparktail had been luckier, he would currently be enjoying similar forms of pleasure; but alas, this was not the case.
Near a small and quiet lake, his body was lying against a tree, face-down as he came out of his slumber. Like every other time he had woken up in an unknown environment, his mind automatically went into panic mode, confusion and fear taking over. As usual, the questions "Where am I?" and "Am I alone?" flew through his mind. Of course, clearing this up was only a matter of using his senses and, already, his body was providing the answers. Just by using his nose, he knew that he was surrounded by trees and water. He was obviously in a forest. A forest filled with predators and others rodents like him. He now understood his environment, which was good. However, the absence of his human trainer was disturbing. He couldn't smell her scent anywhere. She was gone! Or… maybe not! Maybe she was only feet away!
Even if he was surrounded by beasts that wanted nothing more than to make a meal out of his appetizing yellow body, he would have to look for her. She would have done the same for him. Before he even thought about opening his eyes, a plan of action had already been made. First, he would have to make sure that there was food around, so he would have something to eat if he was forced to stay here for a long time. Then, he would have to scout the area, looking for Jen. Finally, as a last resort, if he didn't find her, his quest would take a sudden change of direction. Instead of looking for a human, he would look for other pikachu, so he would be able to join a colony. There, he would gain the food and the protection his human would have provided. When this was done, he would finally be ready to look for a mate. As nice as this last alternative was, he shouldn't think about it. All that mattered, right now, was to find his human.
But first thing's first, he had to find some food. Opening his eyes lazily, he took a look around. His nose had not deceived him; there was a forest behind him and a large puddle of water in front of him. Since food was often found near water, Sparktail pushed himself up onto his four paws and took a stroll by the lakeside, searching for any bush hiding a food-filled treasure. Atop a small hill towering over the water, he found a small berry tree, hidden among a few bushes. As great as this discovery was, it didn't satisfy Sparktail. Being close to water meant being close to predators, which meant being preyed on. After gorging on the tastiest looking berries, the pikachu walked away from the bush and made his way into the forest, not looking behind him. The food had filled him, but he wouldn't be returning there. It was too dangerous.
The first task might have been easy, but the next one would be harder. Finding Jen was going to be easier said than done. Not only could he not find her scent anywhere, but there wasn't any sign around pointing to a human having been there. It was like trying to get the best female with a lot of stronger males around. The road would be long, but the prize was worth it.
Shivering slightly at the thought of all the scary things that could happen if he stayed out of the path he would choose, he began to trek his way through the vegetation. Walking into the light vegetation surrounding the lake had been easy at first, but the scenery was radically changing as he traveled deeper. The grass became higher, the trees with large roots crawling around became more numerous and thorny bushes added to the fun. Those were annoying enough alone, but it was a hell on earth when they were put together. Forced to travel more cautiously, he advanced slowly, crawling under the thorns, jumping over the roots and walking through the grass, always looking ahead. Time passed, his skin was getting scratched and his body was fighting against fatigue, but it didn't matter. He had his goal at heart and nothing was going to stop him. He would find Jen, no matter how hurt or tired he would have to get.
Eventually, to Sparktail's relief, the rough vegetation ended. The trees no longer prevented him from seeing ahead anymore, but sadly, the new scenery didn't include any human buildings. Instead, he was presented with a wide, plain clearing where large pokemon were eating grass. He would have left to look elsewhere, but those strange pokemon were tempting him to stay. It wasn't so much that he was curious, but rather that he was tired after so much walking. Crouching and hiding among long grass, he relaxed and stared at those pokemon, his mind wandering away from his current goal of finding Jen. Losing focus and curiosity taking over, his mind was suddenly filled with questions about those pokemon. He had to know what those pokemon were and why they were eating grass. That strange act of eating confused him. He wasn't eating grass, because it wasn't food, so why were those pokemon eating it? It was so strange… you weren't supposed to eat things that weren't food!
Sparktail wasn't the only pokemon stung by curiosity. While the pikachu was staring at those pokémon, another yellow rodent was following him, attracted by this new pikachu in the woods. Seeing as the slightly smaller pikachu hadn't noticed him, obviously too busy with whatever he was staring at, he decided to make himself known. "Err... hi?" he said faintly, keeping himself in a low, defensive stance. Not that he was scared, but he knew all too well how impulsive other pikachu could be when surprised.
Sparktail was startled by the sudden voice, but more importantly, by how close it was. It seemed almost impossible, but something had snuck up behind him. He was an idiot. Had it been something more dangerous, it would have attacked him and he wouldn't have had any time to react. Feeling guilty about being distracted by the strange pokemon in the field, at the cost of his own safety, the rodent lowered his ears as he turned around to face his stalker. To his surprise, it was another pikachu, looking as defensive as he was. Relieved, Sparktail smiled, his ears perking up. "Oh... Hi! I'm Sparktail. Who are you?"
The other pikachu, seeing his smile, smiled too. This other pikachu was nothing to fear. He raised his tail and smiled too. It was a strange smile, though, almost a smirk. "Sparktail? Oh... that's a nice name. Mine is Psywave. Sounds cool, huh?" he asked, that strange smile still on his face. "Both are better than any human name. Humans are strange. Their ideas are... disturbing."
Disturbing... was the perfect word to describe how Sparktail felt about what Psywave said. First of all, what kind of pikachu name was Psywave? It wasn't close to any proper name he was could think of. Maybe Shockwave... but it still wasn't close enough to be a good name. Also, a name couldn't be cool. It could be a good name or a bad name, but it couldn't have a temperature. He didn't spend long thinking about the name issue though, because it was the last part of his message that was truly disturbing. Human? This word seemed so foreign, but so familiar at the same time. He knew was a human was; his trainer was one after all. Yet... something profound was hidden in the word. Human name? He knew some. To almost all of them, he could associate a human. He knew Jen, his trainer, Oak, a bad human, and Bill, another bad human. There was also that name without a human body: Rick.
He looked down sadly, his face displaying confusion about that mysterious name. Deep inside his heart, he felt the sadness of missing something important, something that came along with that name, something that disappeared at the same time than the human related with it, whoever he or she was. His thoughts may have been hidden from view, but his face wasn't. Psywave hadn't missed his expression, and his smile suddenly turned into a worried expression. "Are you ok, Sparktail? Did I say something you didn't like? Is it my name? Or is it about humans? You like humans, don't you?"
Sparktail's stare remained fixed on his feet, ignoring the other pikachu for the moment. All things considered, he didn't want to make his new friend think he had a low opinion of his name, neither would he want Psywave to question his faith in humanity. In spite of easing the tone of the discussion, the pikachu looked at Psywave again, forcing a smile. "I'm fine, I'm just... confused. Your name is nice...but strange. And the humans... most are bad, but some are nice. The nice ones give petting. But... err..." he ran on, looking back at the field. "Do you wanna look at the field with me? I'm trying to find a human." By ending this way, he hoped that they would focus on something else.
Fortunately, whether it was because he really understood that Sparktail didn't want to talk about it, because he didn't care about the smaller pikachu's confusion, or because he was just curious about what the other pikachu was staring at before he came, Psywave just nodded at Sparktail, trying to figure out just what Sparktail was staring at before. His ears perking up excitedly, he poked his head out of the grass, glacing at the field beyond. Sparktail did the same, putting his confusion aside to stare at the pokemon eating on the other side of the field. He couldn't still understand why those pokemon were eating grass. "Psywave?" he asked the other pikachu, who looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Do you know why those pokemon eat grass? Grass is used to hide and is not food." It was an innocent question, but this pikachu probably knew more about this place than him. After all, he never came here before, while this other pikachu probably lived here.
What Sparktail didn't understand about his question was that it was more than just asking for a fact. In fact, such a question was so innocent and lacking any proper knowledge about pokemon that not laughing at it would have been nearly impossible. Unfortunately for Sparktail, Psywave was not one to ignore such an opportunity. As soon Sparktail finished, Psywave's blank puzzled expression turned into a soft chuckle, then into mocking laughter. Sparktail kept staring at him, finding nothing humorous about his question. "Sparktail..." Psywave spurted out between two laughs. "...different pokemon eat different kind of food. We eat berries, nuts and apples, those pokemon eat grass, the predators eat us and them, and I heard that some pokemon eat rocks. Anything can be food."
Sparktail was shocked. Anything can be food? It truly felt like some kind of revelation. A tidbit of knowledge of this importance would have a treasured place somewhere in his mind, next to his memories of Jen. It filled a hole that was begging to be filled, but, at the same time, it created another. How did he know that? Had he been told by another pikachu who knew? It could also be that this pokemon had a trainer who told him. Jen never did, but maybe Psywave's trainer, if he had one, was different. Either way, someone, somewhere, knew things he didn't know about, and he couldn't help but feel insecure about it. "Oh... err… where did you learn that? Who told you?"
Psywave's laugh died after he heard the question, his face torn with sudden worries. He hadn't expected that question, nor was he ready to answer it. For a moment, he considered lying, but it wouldn't be something nice to do. Beside, Sparktail deserved to know, didn't he? Before saying it, he pushed Sparktail back into the grasses with his muzzle, making sure he was not distracted by the vegetarian pokemon anymore. "Sparktail... I know because you do. You told me long ago, remember?" cryptically said Psywave, his stare fixed on the other pikachu.
As a reply, Sparktail simply looked away shyly. He wasn't only feeling insecure anymore. Not only did Psywave know things he didn't knew about, but also things he was supposed to know, but that he hadn't the slightest idea about for some reason. The many unknowns made it a bit scary. "No... I don't remember saying that. I never met you before. I was with my human having fun. If I knew it before, I would remember. I remember everything." he said, trying to justify himself more than anything. As scary as it was, he wouldn't let this pikachu tell him what to think and remember. His memories were his.
"Those memories are not yours, Sparktail." Psywave said, as if he read his mind. Glaring back at the rodent with a frown, Sparktail started muttering 'How do you...', but he was interrupted. "Yes... I know what you think. My name isn't Psywave just because I felt like calling myself that. Unlike some people, Sparktail, or should I say, Rick, I don't go around like a fool, doing whatever I want just for kicks." It stated, in a voice that was filled with a sudden aura of bitterness. "You don't remember, right? Yeah... of course you don't. The memories are gone, disappeared. Or rather, I simply put them away for a while, in a little treasure chest of joy. See how nice it is? How dumb you are suddenly? Isn't that wonderful? Probably not for you... but it is for me."
Upon hearing these insults, Sparktail decided that glaring wasn't an option anymore. Psywave was being mean, and like anyone who was mean to him recently, he needed to be taught, using strength, about who was the dominant male. He charged up his cheeks, but his adversary had another plan. "Woo, calm down, Sparky! You will be happy to know that I can make them return as easily as I can tell the cubic root of 27." He said, backing away from him. "I should probably ask you for the permission to do that but... oops! I already put them back! Sorry!" he added, with a smirk.
This tone was bordering on insulting and mocking and even Sparktail wouldn't have let that slip away unpunished. However, things didn't go that way. As soon he made a step toward Psywave, he felt like his head was squashed under a one-ton block. He tried to shake it away, but it was no use. In less time than it took for the pain to appear, he was bent on the ground, holding his hands with both paws. As hard as moving was, thinking became impossible. His mind, nearly empty moments before, was being filled with more memories and facts than his small brain could take. They all piled and mixed together, a flow of those random ideas and facts flying back into his conscious mind, with a resulting meaning that would have taken years to decipher. Whatever was truly happening in his head, it was the worst feeling he had ever felt. It was unbearable. "Arghh!!! Stop it! Stop! Argh!!!"
As good of an effort it was, screaming didn't stop it. Like with alcohol, time had done its dirty work before any hope of freedom came to him. It lasted only twenty seconds, but each of them seemed like painful hours of suffering. When it was over, a rodent was down to the ground, but a new person had risen from the ashes. "Argh... it... hurt like hell... you're a public danger, you know that? Hurting people like that... Argh… err... wait!" he interjected while clumsily returning to a two pawed position, glaring at Psywave, whose face was suddenly… very familiar. "Hey! I know who you are! You're that annoying pikachu from my nightmares! I hate you! Always ruining my fun!" he screamed at the evil pikachu. It didn't perturb Psywave, whose calm was almost unsettling. He did react, but all it was that trademark smirk of his flashing across his muzzle again. "I'm not ruining your fun, Sparktail, but giving you a message I can feel those thoughts floating around your mind right now... you're wondering about why you were acting like a dumb pikachu. I'm going to send you back the question: Why do you think you were acting like that?" He asked calmly, glaring intensely back at Sparktail.
The rodent broke the stare, looking down at the ground, teeth bared. This rodent knew the exact way to fuel his anger while making him so confused that he had to stop himself from doing anything, only to think. How dare he read his mind like this? Why was he giving him more reasons to hate him? Did he enjoy being hated? It was so annoying. But... he hadn't been wrong in asking him this question. Why was he acting like that? It was pointless, though. He had absolutely no idea why. The most he could figure out was that it was how he would act, had his human mind not been there. He would be a stupid, instinct driven rodent. He wasn't like this... so why bother telling him that? What was the point of it?
"The point of it, dear Sparktail..." Psywave started, almost grinning. "... I told you already. There's a message in it. I'm not going to give you its meaning so easily, because, between you and me, you know it already. You might deny it as much you want, but the facts remain there. This... reality... this... dream... its not so far away from you. I'm going to show it to you again. Look at it closely, Sparktail, look at it, and tell me what you see. I dare you, if only for a moment, to deny the fact that this dumb rodent, this low-life creature, is not you." As he finished, the world around them flickered, the small lake back into view again. This time, however, Sparktail and Psywave had no physical body to enjoy it in. Instead, they were floating like ghosts over a sleeping pikachu, who was, once again, waking up. A familiar scenario played in front of Sparktail's eyes, as the rodent moved, looking for Jen. During all that time, all the rodent's thoughts were heard... and their words were painfully clear. "So... let's see... here you are, looking for your trainer, missing her somewhat. Of course, you don't care. You don't have any reason to miss her, do you? You are probably too human for that. In fact, why don't I make you just forget about who she is? She's useless to you, anyway." He said, closing his eyes, as if he was doing intense mental work.
"Wait!" Sparktail shouted, closing his eyes to think about it. Yes... he would miss her. Of all the humans he saw, she was the only one who seemed nice. As much he would like to deny it, he couldn't stay alone. He needed someone to understand him. Bill and Oak failed at this, and this girl was his only hope now. "I guess I would... but it doesn't--" he said, trying to justify himself, but Psywave interrupted him, as the "past" Sparktail reached the field. "And now... I see that you are looking curiously at those pokemon, wondering why they are eating grass." For once, Psywave couldn't help but chuckle a bit, followed by Sparktail, who cracked a smile. "Yeah... it was pretty stupid. I mean, I know that some pokemon eats grass, it's--"
"Obvious.", the other pikachu rashly said, cutting him off. "But... if you didn't know about that, and met this kind of situation, what would you do?" he asked with a grin, already knowing the answer. This answer, Sparktail knew it too, and, considering that Psywave was reading all his thoughts, he didn't even bother saying it, waiting for the other mouse to talk, which he did without too much delay. "Yes... you would observe them until you found out why, which is what you were doing before I interrupted you. This is yet another thing that you and this pikachu share. Those seem to be getting common, here. Now, this question is quite tricky. Is that pikachu acting like you, or are you acting like this pikachu?"
Psywave's question was followed with a change in the fabric of the world around them, which vanished again and remained a black void. The poor confused rodent in front of him listened to the question, but nothing, not even the trace of an answer, was coming to his mind. That Pkachu was obviously him... he was acting like he would, had he had limited intelligence and knowledge. But was he this pikachu? They did share some similarities, but inside, he stayed human. Nothing in his mind was pikachu. Sure, there were some instincts, but those didn't really count. It wasn't much different than being angry at people sometimes. But that didn't make one a psychopath. At worst, those instincts were only little obstacles that came with his body and affecting his mind a bit, nothing big. His mind, his human mind, it was still there. He felt it. His memories might have been altered, some gone, but they still talked about him. The human him. No, he wasn't this pikachu. He would never be.
"That's an interesting concept you got here: fate. It has been discussed for so long, and yet, no one knows if it really exists. So… you think you know more than everyone? That you know that you will never become this pikachu? Wow! Your ability to guess the future is impressing! I suppose you also knew that you were going to become a pikachu. Or that the humans would be playing games with you. In fact, you probably are just toying with me right now, Mr. Omniscient!" His sarcastic tone didn't let Sparktail stay calm, as he began to growl at him. Anger was precisely what he needed. "Though, I must admit that I think that you probably won't fall to the pikachu side... but what if it was to happen? What if... that was your future? Did you ever consider the possibility? You didn't, obviously. It will be your fall, Sparktail, it will be your fall. The ship is sinking, and you are going down with it instead of saving yourself. I will be nice and tell it right now: this future, is your future. It is your fate. You are doomed. You are destined to become nothing but a useless rodent! That's pretty nice to know, I'm sure." The pikachu laughed, his voice mocking and taunting. "The king is dead. All hail your new king, the great Sparktail! Hail Sparktail!" As if to add to his play, an invisible crowd tagged along, chanting "Sparktail! Sparktail! Sparktail!"
This was too much for one guy. He wouldn't stand for lies like this! "No! It's not true... it's not... stop it! I'm not Sparktail! I'm not!" the rodent screamed, but the crowd only chanted louder. Panicked, Sparktail lunged at Psywave, ready to strike, but the rodent vanished, leaving him to float alone in an empty void. "Psywave! Come back here, you lying coward! Come back here! If you're a real chu, you'll come back here and fight me like one I'm going to destroy that smirking face of your!" His threat were heard, but not returned. As he shouted random threats, the crowd around him became silent. The next show was about to start, as another "movie" was appearing in front of him. It showed him, around many pikachu, eating a berry like any animal would do. Next to 'him', was a female pikachu, feeding a few Pichu. 'He' wasn't bothered at all by it, and calmly finished his berry, then, after giving the pikachu a lick on her cheek; 'he' left with males, going on some random duty. It then looped back to the beginning, acclaimed with happy cheers from the crowd. This was truly a scene of horror that Sparktail was watching. "No! It's not my future! It's not! No! Stop enjoying it! It's wrong! You're all insane!" He shouted, but it was no use. His screams died into the void, his mind leaving this place. It was time to go
-----
Rick opened his eyes and stared blankly around him. It had happened again... this dream had come back to haunt him... again. Since he had left with Jen, two days ago, he had had this dream three times... Twice this night. Each time, it kept getting darker. The first time, he found it entertaining. He was somewhere new, as a pikachu, trying to find Jen, and playing around while looking for her. The dream had ended when the Psywave interrupted him. It was fun and it wouldn't have been the first time he had had a dream about being some kind of pokemon and acting like one, as those were frequent when he was human. Of course, the situation was much different now, as dreaming about being a pikachu was something to be expected from a pikachu, but it didn't change the fact that he had taken it as a normal dream. The only notable difference was how realistic they seemed now and how confident that pikachu, which was supposed to be him, was.
The second time, though, it had been a bit weirder. It went on pretty much like the first time. He got to meet this nice pikachu named Psywave, he talked with him, and he seemed nice. This had been more interesting, by far, until the other pikachu started saying weird things about him. He didn't like to be questioned like this about his actions and he had been about to show the rodent what it cost to go against him, but he didn't get far. As soon he felt the memories returning and crushing his brain, he was forced to wake up. This was earlier that night. At the time, it had seemed like there was something really scary deeper in the dream. So much that, for a moment, he had thought about staying awake to avoid seeing the rest of that dream, but sleepiness brought him back there, for a third time.
He saw it all this time. He could only shiver when thinking of it. This Psywave, this annoying rodent, he was doing something to his mind. He was controlling his dreams like a puppeteer pulls the strings of his puppet. His every move, his every action, all seemed calculated and planned, in such a way that he was leading him somewhere. Where? Did he want to make him crazy? If not, he was at least making him confused. Despite being the most provoking creature he ever had the chance to meet, it was impossible to classify him as either good or evil. He was despicable, yes, but he had something to say, though its meaning had yet to be found. The scariest thing of all was how close Psywave was to giving him the answer, but how he never wanted to say it. What was there to hide? After all, if it was only about him losing his mind to a pikachu body, he didn't need him to tell him that. He had known about it since he first laid his eyes on that apple at Bill's. As it was, he had no plan to stay like this all his life. He already devised a plan to get out of trouble. There was no way it would fall. All he needed was a bit of luck.
Going out of his questioning state for now, Rick looked around him, smiling. His mind might be something that he doubted to be sane, but his body, on the other paw, was perfectly fine. First of all, he was sleeping on a blanket instead of inside a pokeball. In fact, he had never seen its inside at all; neither any of those hallucinations inside it. He luckily hadn't had enough time for that to happen. As soon his human left Oak's nest, she let him out of the ball, and hadn't put him back in it yet. Even better, he hadn't been forced to do any training! In fact, the first day had been short. Jen walked out of town, with Sunny and him tagging along, and then she fell asleep on the floor in the forest. He had thought about running away and trying to find Bill's lab by himself, but he was curious about how this girl would treat him and act around him, knowing all she did about him. This had turned out to be the best decision he had made all day. The quality of care he was getting had been unprecedented. Yesterday, like today, she let him sleep on a blanket with Sunny, but inside a tent... only for them! While they had all this space, Jen chose to sleep outside the tent, in a portable bed. This alone was enough to make him stay a bit longer. She was giving him the royal treatment. He would have been stupid not to use it for his own enjoyment. It wasn't like he was getting addicted or anything like that.
The second day had been a copy-paste of the first. During the whole day, they stayed in the same spot and not much happened, though some things had been slightly disturbing. One morning, Jen had felt nice and decided to let them do whatever they wanted, though she strongly suggested that they play with her other pokemon to get to know them. Sunny didn't hesitate and played with the two other pokemon, while he sat against a log and watched them. He would have played with them, but since he had been given the opportunity to act normally, he wasn't going to screw it up by acting like a pokemon. Not that the temptation hadn't been eating him inside, but he was able to hold himself together. Trying to force away the inner conflict, he examined the behavior of these two new pokemon.
The first thing he noticed was how friendly they were, at first. When he dug more into them though, he saw that all was not pretty under the surface. One of them, a female meganium, was bossy around everyone, especially Sunny. It was the kind of pokemon that took battling too much to heart and made everyone else feel bad about not being as good as her. This was proven right after lunch, when Jen organized a battle between her two pokemon to show Rick and Sunny how well her two pokemon could fare in a fight. The meganium, Leafty, fought her friend, a blue mouse named Steamer, and easily won. So easily it had seemed like a joke. The blue mouse had tried to run around the larger pokemon to confuse her, but he had been stopped by the vines that came out of Leafty. Those vines grabbed the poor mouse and threw him violently against a tree, ending a fight that had only lasted a few seconds at most. The only ways Rick could interpret what he saw was either that Leafty was someone who didn't care about her friends' safety, or that everything was a ploy to show off strength she didn't really possess.
Either way, it had given some of the desired results. While Sunny was impressed by how strong Leafty was, eager to fight against Leafty, and convinced that she would fare better, Rick had been less excited about it, much less. Even if the blue mouse insisted that he had not been hurt that much and that it was part of battling, Rick had been shocked by how violent a fight could be when seen up close. This was really not the right way to make him like those fights. Neither had growling at Leafty to protect Steamer helped him to be seen as a friendly pokemon, when it happened. To put it simply, Leafty ignored him and Steamer hadn't really liked that someone had tried to protect him, making him look weaker Fortunately, Jen had been far more understanding about his stance and had given him some nice petting to make him feel better, then fed him an apple. These things had nearly made him forget about the battle, but it hadn't cooled his anger.
What did was Jen telling him that he was free to choose if he wanted to battle or not, and that choosing not to wouldn't make her consider him as inferior. She added, however, that he would have to try it at least once before he was allowed to choose. It had seemed fair: tomorrow, he would try battling, he would suck at it and he would be free from it without any consequence. Knowing that he wouldn't enjoy it wouldn't make him botch the ritual either. If anything, he would be able to understand more about the fight and why some pokemon, like Jen's, liked it. That was one side of it that he never experienced… all he had seen in a fight before was pokemon getting hurt. Obviously, for some to like it; there had to be something more than pain that they get out of it. And… who knows? Maybe he would enjoy it too.
He was not without the knowledge, though, that he was different from other pokemon. He was someone unique and he wouldn't fall that easily to the traps that this body was using. It was not without risks for his current role as a normal pokemon, as he quickly noticed. As instructed by the old human, his newest human friend had spent some time watching him and writing things on paper. Apparently, kicking rocks with his foot paw to make them hit other rocks (and Leafty once, by "mistake") was not a normal game. Normal or not, it had been a game he enjoyed while he had been angry about training. Another thing she noticed, later that day, was how easily pokemon seemed to be drawn to him. As soon the argument about battling was over, Steamer came to him and shared some of his food with him, as did Leafty, a bit forcefully. To pokemon, food sharing is one of the most highly respected rituals of friendship, as food is usually rare in the wild. Even if he had mostly forgotten about that little fact, his body had reminded him in the form of a few involuntary sparks of nervousness when food sharing happened.
To Rick, it had been strange, but what had not been since he became a pokemon? He could comfort himself by knowing that he had more fun today than he had been two days ago, if he excluded his nightmares. And it could be more fun tomorrow, if training did bring something positive, like Jen claimed. At this point, it would be up to her to make sure he would be alright, until his plan came to fruition. This was what he concluded as he went back to sleep, lying both on the soft blanket and against Sunny's warm body, a position that was more than acceptable since it was cold outside. Relaxing, his thoughts went to Jen. Poor girl, sleeping alone in the cold… if only she hadn't locked them inside the tent, he would be sleeping next to her instead, keeping her warm. He could only hope that she would still be alright, as he his mind slipped back into the darkness.