Pupitar and Grotle

Rain softly pattered on her dirt shell. Light was scattered by the clouds, but still, the Grotle came out by the lakeside. It was a gentle enough shower that most Pokemon went about their business as usual. For her, that meant sunbathing, or rainbathing, by the lake and reflecting on her past.

The day passed as expected. The humans were less, and those that came wore rain gear and carried umbrellas. Other Pokemon went about daily routines she knew by heart. After years and years of sitting here, watching, thinking, it was always the same. Sometimes people made an attempt to capture her, but she didn't let them. Eventually, they gave up and sought a more cooperative team member.

Every day, practically the same.

There was a fizzle right before a dark streak zoomed across the lake's surface and crashed into a pickup truck. A clamoring wail filled the air as the truck's alarms went haywire. Before long, the dark fizzle returned, this time landing close to her. It fumbled and rolled until the Pokemon came upright with considerable skill. It was a blue cocoon creature, with a mask of hefty spikes warning predators away. Grotle had seen something like that once, long ago.

The Pupitar hopped around and looked at the scene. "Phew. Guess I should watch where I'm going."

"Are you all right?" she asked.

It hopped around and faced her. "Well of course! A little crash like that ain't gonna hurt me."

She looked over at the parking lot, where the truck had been knocked several feet to the side. Its door had a punctured dent in it. "Little?"

"I've been in worse."

"What're you thinking? To be flying around that recklessly, it's irresponsible."

"Not flying. Rocketing."

"Still..."

"And I'm having some issues with controlling my trajectory," he grumbled, looking at the ground.

"Then why?"

"To see the world, of course! And to find a great Trainer. It might be a little hard, though, considering that I've already evolved. But I'm sure that if one comes up, they'll realize how great I can be!"

She nodded slowly. "I see. At least you have enthusiasm."

The spiky cocoon Pokemon looked to her again. "So, what do you do?"

"Why are you interested?"

"Why not?"

"I suppose that's as good a reason as any. I've been sitting here, thinking... trying to find myself."

He leaned over a bit, apparently puzzled. "Trying to find yourself?"

"Isn't that what you're doing, in a different way? Looking within to find out truths about yourself?"

"Huh. Well..." He considered it. "I know that I'm gassy! That's a truth."

Despite herself, she chuckled. "That's not quite what I meant. I mean, why you are at the stage of life that you are."

"I just evolved a few weeks ago. Although, it will be a stinker when I evolve again. I'm pretty sure that as a Tyranitar, I won't be able to rocket around so much. But I'll be good and strong! Isn't that the same way with you?"

"No. I evolved fifty years ago."

Pupitar's eyes widened. "Seriously? You don't look that old."

She lowered her head. "Thanks, I guess. Nothing's changed for me since then, though. I spend my days wondering why. I consider all sorts of things about the world: how the sun changes its path across the sky over the year, how the surface of this lake changes in the same ways, how the plants bud, grow, bloom, fruit, then die, only to come back and do it all over again. There seems to be nothing new."

He hopped up with a short fizzle. "Then you should travel, like me! Then you'll see all sorts of new things."

"Are they truly new? Or are they variations of the same old things I see here?"

"You never know. So then, why here?"

"Why here?" She gazed across the lake, a tired old melancholy stirring. "My Trainer drowned in this lake, all that time ago."

"Really? Sorry to hear that. That's gotta be tough. But, why're you still here after fifty years?"

"I don't know. Surely I should have moved on now, with someone else, or just on my own. But while time carries on, I feel like I've been in a standstill. Like my life has been frozen to this spot, at this stage in my life."

He watched her for a bit before saying, "Weird. Why are you frozen?"

"I don't know. I keep thinking about it and I can't figure it out. I should be able to just move on, and yet..." Grotle shook her head.

"Hmm." He hopped around for a bit.

"You don't have to stay. You can move on like everyone else."

"I could, but I might regret not being able to do anything."

"You did break up the daily monotony, if that's any consolation." She turned her head back to the parking lot, where the truck's owner was cussing to someone over his cell phone. "Not much happens here."

He hopped up onto her shell. She didn't mind; she often let small Pokemon take the berries that grew there. Before long, he prodded at something. "Hey, what's this?"

She craned her neck around. "What's what? I can't see there."

"Something's stuck in your shell. It doesn't look like anything else up here." He jumped up and chipped away the dirt. "Oh, sorry. Does that hurt?"

"No, it's pretty thick."

"I see." He hopped a few more times, eventually knocking out an oval-shaped rock. It was dark-gray with flecks of pink in it. Pupitar hopped to the ground beside it and looked it over. "There's something odd about it."

Grotle's memory flickered, recalling the painful last day she had spent with her Trainer. "That's... he gave it to me while we were traveling near this lake. He said there was something odd about it, that it could be valuable. But we had picked up quite a few things from the forest and he didn't have room in his bag, so he gave it to me to hang on to." She touched the rock with her nose. "It was really there, after all this time?"

"It looked like your shell had grown up around it. It probably has been there for fifty years."

"That's very strange. I wonder... I've heard that some rocks emit strange energy that affects us. If I didn't know it was there, could this rock have kept me pinned here?"

"That's some pretty strong rock. But it's gone now! You can move on."

"Maybe. Thank you."

Pupitar hopped around, considering the area. "Then, are there strong Trainers around here?"

"Sometimes. There were ruins we were exploring back then. The humans couldn't enter without strong Pokemon."

"Excellent! If I go there, I might be able to find one for me finally. Where are these ruins?"

"Off to the south." Grotle looked over the lake. It had really been too long that she had been here, just thinking. "I could show you the way; I think I remember it."

"Awesome. Let's go!"

…

Ruby/Sapphire entry: Pupitar creates a gas inside its body that it compresses and forcefully ejects to propel itself like a jet. The body is very durable - it avoids damage even if it hits solid steel.

Grotle Diamond entry: It lives along water in forests. In the daytime, it leaves the forest to sunbathe its treed shell.

Pupitar has one of the funniest Pokedex entries here, once you picture it in your mind.