Sudowoodo

There were Pokemon in the world that loved battle. They would test their skills against each other in dangerous games. Often, they would give control of their lives over to humans in order to fight and become stronger. Sudowoodo was not one of those Pokemon. Most of the time, they stayed hidden deep in the woods, but one was creeping out from the edge in pursuit of a promising smell.

It was rich and earthy, the smell of nutritious dirt. Like the rest of her kind, she ate dirt and only dirt. She could even distinguish between the dirts of various parts of the forest; if it was clay-heavy, it belonged near the caves, and if it was fairly salty with calcium, it probably came from near the river. But this was a new kind of dirt, not like anything that belonged in the forest. She really wanted to know what it tasted like.

She looked around from the edge of the tree line. This area had been cleared by humans. Their buildings had been growing out of the ground since last year. The scent she had followed was behind a large chain-link fence. In that fenced-off area, there was a large amount of trees, bushes, and flowers in neat even rows. To the side, there was a large building with a glass roof and a parking lot.

The dirt was spread all around the nursery and greenhouse. There didn't seem to be a way for her to get past the chain link fence or the building walls. However, some of the dirt was in the parking lot, unprotected. She could reach that.

She checked one last time for predators. She was a rock creature, yes, but her body was like chalk, soft and easily hurt. And easily eaten for the predators and battle-happy Pokemon, so Sudowoodo always took caution. Since nothing seemed interested in her, she snuck through the grass and to the parking lot.

Sitting by a van, there were twelve small Apricorn trees. Apricorns were commonly mistaken for bushes, but the short plants were indeed trees. They had little puffballs of leaves and bore orange fruits with hard pits. These seeds had an odd blessing from Palkia, the master of space: they linked up to little bubbles of extra space, which made them good for storing things and as primitive Pokeballs. More importantly, they looked exactly like a Sudowoodo, for it was the Apricorn tree that her ancestors had sought to mimic for safety and peace.

They were clustered, two to four in big pots of the rich-smelling dirt. Sudowoodo got into one of the pots and sampled the dirt. It was delicious, spoiling the Apricorns into growing stronger fruits. But she probably couldn't get a hold of this dirt often; the humans would make this dangerous. Sad, really; it would be good for the young Bonslies.

"We'd best hurry out," a man's voice said. "Pack up the rest of the trees and we'll go."

"Right sir."

She froze. They were too close for her to try running away. So she sat absolutely still. If there was one thing her kind was good at, it was being motionless. She also dropped a special skin over her eyes. It was tan colored, so it matched the rest of her body, but transparent enough to allow her to see what was going on. It did turn everything brown, though.

Two young men came to the back of the truck and began putting the Apricorn trees into the van. Not noticing the subtle signs, they picked up the pot she was in and packed it as well. Then they shut the door and locked it. A minute later, the van trembled and started driving.

Sudowoodo opened her eyes fully to get a better look around. There were the twelve Apricorn trees, eight evergreen bushes, various flowering plants, bags of mulch, bags of dirt, shovels, hoses, and various other tools. It didn't make much sense to her. What did make sense was that there would be no easy escape. The van was completely enclosed. The only light came from the front, where the early morning sun came through. But she could smell the humans up there.

She continued to hold still. That had worked all her life; it had worked for all the Sudowoodos that had come before her. Eventually, there would be a moment to get away. It just required patience.

Some time later, the van stopped. The humans began unloading the plants and tools in front of a red brick building. A sign out front stated that this was a psychologist's office. Although it was a carefully designed building, the landscaping was only half done. She disguised her eyes again.

"The designers called for twelve Apricorns," the oldest human said.

"Yeah, and we brought twelve."

"There's thirteen there."

The younger one checked over the pots. "Um, I was pretty sure I only grabbed twelve."

The older one picked up the pot she was in. It caught her off-balance, which she easily regained by mimicking how the real trees wavered. "Set one aside to bring back. And learn to count next time."

The landscapers then set about to planting. They had a special shovel that grabbed onto a pack of dirt and lifted that instead of touching the plants directly. Sudowoodo had to grip the dirt tightly with her feet in order to stay still through this. They set her down in a ditch with five Apricorn trees, then poured dirt and mulch around them.

As they worked on other plants, Sudowoodo kept alert to an opportunity to make a run for it. She heard the rustle of trees and smelled forest around behind the building. She could go there and check the dirt to figure out where she had gotten. But there was always one human working by her and she couldn't run that fast.

The leader of the group came over, carrying frightening looking tools. They had heavy but sharp blades built for cutting tough branches; those could take off her limbs. She tried not to tremble too hard.

He handed one of the shears to the other human. "Okay kid, now trim up those Apricorns for me. Make them look nice and neat."

The leader then stepped over to Sudowoodo and the Apricorn trees. He examined them, eventually coming closer to her and touching one of her false leaf balls. As he was still holding onto the larger pair of shears, she dreaded that her arm would be cut off. Every second he lingered was a torturous period potential discovery or pain.

"Like this one," the leader finally said, stepping back. "Even and balanced in appearance with no scraggly leaf spheres."

"So trim the rest up to look like that one?"

"Similar. But leave any growing fruits if you can."

Relieved, she continued to hold still while the human worked on the Apricorns. Sometimes he looked at her as if he might trim her up anyhow, but he never did. He also didn't recognize her as a Pokemon; humans had a hard time distinguishing an Apricorn tree from a hiding Sudowoodo.

The other young human came around with a hose. "You up for a shower?" he asked jokingly.

"You'd better not, or else," the other one retorted, playfully threatening with the shears.

"It'll be a tougher shower later on." He then turned the sprayer to water the transplanted plants.

She could never hold still during a rainstorm, and apparently she couldn't hold still when sprayed by a hose. Squealing in shock, she rushed out of the rushing water, towards the corner of the building and safety in the forest behind. The two young men jumped in surprise. "What is that?"

The older human managed to catch her and lift her up. "Hold on there. How'd a Sudowoodo get into the Apricorns?"

"Uh, I'm sure there were just twelve when I brought them out," the one with the hose restated.

"Well get that last one and plant it before you get much further." Then he brought her to the back of the van and kindly toweled her dry. "So, little one, what do you think of becoming a mascot for the greenhouse?"

And that was the beginning of her new life.

…

Sudowoodo Fire Red entry: It disguises itself as a tree to avoid attack. It hates water, so it will disappear if it starts raining.

At least in real gardening, there's never a worry that one of your plants might get up and run off on you.