Vines & Briars
Chapter 2: What is in a Name?
After about an hour of being man-handled and carried along, his head forced to keep facing the sky, the former human was finally brought into a cave, and then thrown into a chamber. He bounced and tumbled across the ground.
He got about five seconds to look around and perceive that it was a prison cell (plain, solid rock walls, a single solid-looking door in) before his captors left and shut the door behind them.
Ugh, what was that all about?
He got up, shaking himself down. His entire body was fairly sore from both the rough treatment from the wood-men and the hard landing in the chamber. There was only a simple window in the door that let in a sparse amount of light from outside. He judged from the way it flickered that it was torch-light.
Alright, they called that forest I came out of "Shiftry Woods"… but where is this place?
Looking around was pointless as even if there was anything to see, the light wouldn't have been enough to examine anything in detail.
They never told me who their "boss" is either. They want me to pay respects to someone I don't even know?
All the circumstances of his situation were confusing for the human-turned-pokemon. He didn't have even a remote idea of where he exactly was. He didn't know who he himself was. He didn't know what he was. And he did not know why he was here exactly, nor how he had ended up in that forest.
As uncomfortable as it was, he had little choice but to just lie down on the cool rock floor, rest… and wait.
I'm getting so many questions, and no answers.
-0-
Some time later (he had no way to track the time) the cell door finally opened again and two of the wood-men from before came marching in and seized him.
"Oi, there's no need to grab me!" the former human protested. They ignored this though and shoved him along, out the door and forced him to march along with them down a hall. When he staggered as a result of the forced pace, they almost picked him up like they had previously but he quickly got himself to his feet and just got back to walking, though they decided after that to grip him by the back of the neck.
Geez, I can walk just fine if they wouldn't force me to go at their pace. It took me plenty of time just to learn how to walk normally. This is even faster though and I don't even know where we're going.
They eventually came into a long, hall-like chamber that was very well lit with torch-stands. It looked like a rock-hewn hallway from a palace, only less decorated and slightly less impressive. There were vines growing over some of the walls.
Most noticeable though, was the seat in the back, like a throne where the king would sit were the cave a palace.
There was indeed, someone seated there, though it was yet another creature that he could not identify.
Like the individuals escorting him along, this fellow seemed to be made of wood. Unlike his fellows though, he was considerably bigger, being almost twice the boy's own size. He lacked hands, instead having a fan-like trio of leaves like the human's new tail on each short arm. His feet were odd as they were flat with a single tablet-like protrusion under each one. To the boy, it looked like just standing would be more of a balancing act than what he had been dealing with in his own snake-like body.
Well, I guess I can be grateful I'm not him.
His eyes finally moved to the seated individual's face. His head was completely covered in an extremely long mane of white hair that went down his back and he was even sitting on it. He had a pair of tall, pointed ears and a nose that was even longer and pointier than that of the other wood-men. Both stuck out of the mane of hair.
Finally… he made actual eye-contact with him… and the former human became a little uneasy. Those large yellow eyes did not display any pleasure at seeing him.
The other two marched him up to the one seated and each made an odd gesture that one could only assume was some show of obeisance to him.
"Shiftry, m'lord, we found this trespasser leaving your lands. What shall we do with this scum?"
Shiftry (as that was apparently his name), grunted once with a nod… and then proceeded to say something in a language that the boy could not understand at all.
What is he saying exactly? It sounds like gibberish to me.
"Hey! Lord Shiftry wants to know your name. Answer him!" the wood-man told the boy, much more harshly than absolutely needed.
"I don't know." He answered, more to the wood-man than Shiftry.
Shiftry barked something else in that odd language.
"Don't try lying to Lord Shiftry. Tell him your name!" the wood-man insisted. For the human, this just irritated him, despite his position.
"I told you: I don't know! I can't remember! So there's no point demanding I tell you, you pointy-nosed idiot!"
Later, the former human would admit that he had overreacted. Calling Shiftry an idiot had been completely uncalled for. However, it got quite a rise out of Shiftry.
"Why you! Who you calling an idi-" Shiftry started to yell at him, in perfectly understandable English then cut himself off with an alarmed "Oop!"
Shiftry quickly switched back into yelling in that odd language from before, using the same outrage as before. However, the way he was saying it hurriedly tipped the boy off.
The wood-man started to translate but he cut his captor off.
"You can speak directly to me just fine, can't you?"
Shiftry clearly scoffed at this accusation and spoke again in the unintelligible language but as the wood-man behind him started to translate, the human could tell that the translator was panicked a bit and just throwing it together. He only had a rough idea of what to say. The former human was no longer impressed, nor intimidated by any of this.
No wonder it sounded like gibberish to me. It is gibberish. Complete nonsense. This is all an act!
"I'm not a moron, idiot. Now stop trying to intimidate me and tell me: where am I?"
Shiftry's face (what little could be seen) turned a mild red as his temper started to get the better of him. The next moment, the former human was knocked through the air by a blast of wind.
Ow… I forgot… it may be an act, but I'm not exactly in a position to be calling him an idiot freely, now am I?
Shiftry got to his feet and walked to up to him, his odd feet making a distinctive clack of wood on stone with each step.
"Alright, so you saw through the whole little show, runt. But doesn't mean you can just ignore my question. What. Is. Your. Name? I wanna make sure everyone where you're from knows better than to try and take over my domain." Shifty said in coarse tones.
Why can't he get into his head that I don't know? I've already told him twice now.
"I don't know. I don't remember anything. I can't remember who I am, or where I'm from." He answered a third time, keeping himself calm this time around, "Heck, I don't even know what I am." He added, looking up at Shiftry.
Shiftry blinked, looking genuinely surprised and then burst out laughing.
"You don't know what you are? Oh ho ho ho ho! That's a good one! A pokemon that doesn't even know what it is!" then he stopped laughing and scowled at him, "Enough of trying play me for a fool. What is your name?!"
"I haven't lied. Perhaps you could tell me what I am though." He responded bluntly, "It might help clear up one or two things for me. Actually, it might even help me remember my name."
Shiftry rolled his great yellow eyes in mild exasperation.
"Maybe I should send you out to sea in a tornado…" he muttered as he stepped around the former human, who was getting to his feet again. He finally turned though.
"But alright, I'll play your little game then. What are you, you ask?" Shiftry said, though his attempts to be intimidating as he said this were rather obvious. As a result, he only came off to the human as ridiculous for trying.
Shiftry looked him over and blinked… and looked some more, clearly looking more closely this time. It didn't take the former human long to deduce the truth:
"…You don't know what I am either, do you?" he said to Shiftry drily. Shiftry's puzzled and aggravated expression was all the answer he needed.
He is an idiot. I knew it.
"I know what you are, you conceited snake! I just can't remember out of all the pokemon I've had executed! Give me a second here." Shiftry said, making useless excuses.
"Just like every bully I've ever met…" the human muttered "An idiot."
Then he realized what he had said.
Wait a minute… bully?
A memory had sparked. It was faint but the memory was most assuredly there. Memory from being human.
Someone standing before him, trying to intimidate him, much like this pokemon before him now.
"And who do you think you are? Big Man in the halls?"
He could remember confronting bullies… and… something else…
"You'd better just buzz off Rick-"
That's it!
The rest of the memory was interrupted as he remembered the one piece of information he had been trying recall all this time.
My name's Rick!
His elation at rediscovering his own name was cut-off though by Shiftry.
"Rrrrrrr… didn't I already tell you? You don't. Call me. An idiot!" Shiftry bellowed and then whirled violently, his leaf-fans stretched out to either side.
They kicked up an immense gale that lifted Rick off the ground.
Rick screamed as he was rendered helpless in mid-air. He barely could see Shiftry's underlings hiding from the gale as it proceeded to spin him in circles.
"Idiot. Idiot. Idiot! Is that all you can call me, you smug little twerp!?" Shiftry raged as he used his fans to move the tornado holding Rick outside the cave.
"Well, let's see who's the real idiot here when you drown out at sea!" the grass-type roared and, with one violent swing of his fans, he propelled the tornado out over water.
Everything was a blur to Rick from within the whirlwind, from the sand, to the rock cave, to the water beyond, but soon practically the only thing he could really see was blue, from the water and the sky.
I can't remember if I ever learned to swim. Can I even swim in a body like this!?
Rick had serious doubts he could swim, even if he had ever known how as a human. Not only was his present body poorly suited to the task… but the tornado was spinning him around so much the vertigo would've rendered anyone unable to swim for several minutes out of sheer disorientation.
Me and my big mouth. I just remembered my name, and now I'm going to drown. Great… just great.
The tornado carried him a considerable distance over the water before it finally started to die out and its hold on Rick was lost. He was pitched out of the twister like a hammer from an Olympic contest.
The only thing he could do was shut his eyes as he fell into the water with a small splash. He made an honest effort to swim, but the currents of the water buffeted him and he was tossed around in the water, as helpless as he had been in the whirlwind. After that, he could remember nothing more.