Better – Elijah's VG

[blu3shift]

ToC eventually. I'm just trying to post my first post-reset story :P

[blu3shift]

On the Way Back

On the walk back to the park’s entrance, Elijah opted to take in his surroundings for a moment. Bright light filtered down from the sky above in various rays and spots. Towering trunks stretched from the ground around him, culminating in an endless sea of dark green above his head. A pleasant smell wafted through the air; he couldn’t really describe it beyond “natural,” but he didn’t necessarily care to narrow it down. Various cries of wild Pokémon echoed in the forest’s depths, broken up by his shoes rhythmically thudding against the dirt path of the trail.

The park was really relaxing now that Elijah was paying attention to it. He wondered why he was missing out on it before.

A weight shifted on his shoulder. A Zorua—one that was, um, his now (the concept of owning a Pokémon still rang alarm bells in his head, but he opted not to dwell too much on the fact)—clung to it with seemingly little effort, only repositioning herself to get a little more comfortable. A Castform—its head currently mimicking the sun—cheerily floated alongside him, matching his pace. And in his hand, a Rotom Phone, guiding him out of the forest.

The Rotom spoke up first. “So, now that we’re out of that mess, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Ion, I’ve, um… been meaning to tell you something that I haven’t really told anyone before. It’s about me,” Elijah responded. He wanted to come clean; not entirely to the point of incriminating, but just enough to help those around him understand.

“What’s up?”

“I’ve been really apprehensive about being a trainer because I was... raised by people who didn’t have the best attitudes towards Pokémon.” Elijah wasn’t lying, but he swerved around the truth. “They didn’t really like training. Said that it was very inhumane, keeping Pokémon cooped up inside tiny balls and forcing them to fight against their wills. So I just kind of learned to keep my distance from them and never interfere with nature.

“I did go out to watch Pokémon sometimes, I mean, who doesn’t? Sometimes I’d go into Pinwheel Forest just to watch. I had to be careful though, I really didn’t want to be torn apart by a Scolipede—”

“Dude, for real?” Ion interjected with a very inappropriate smirk. “You’re afraid of Bug types, aren’t you?”

“No. Let me finish.” The Rotom’s expression on the screen quickly snapped to a guilty one.

“So, one day I just kind of decided to give training a go. Because I was curious, I guess. But I’m just... not really good at it. It’s really hard for me to see a Pokémon get hurt like that, and I don’t know how this whole ‘moves’ thing works, and most of the time I don’t even know what species I’m looking at, and, um… I’m just terrible at this kind of thing and I don’t know what I’m doing,” Elijah finished.

Ion lit up. “Well—hold on, I gotta remember the speech that they told me to do—I’m a Rotom Phone! Well, a Rotom inside a phone who would rather be on the battlefield, but okay I’m getting distracted here. Not only am I a Pokédex, but I can also manage your, uh, calendar… email… a lot of other boring stuff… Whatever. The point is that I can be your guide if you ever get lost!”

“That still doesn’t really change the fact that I’m afraid of hurting anything. Or taking anything against their will.”

“Hm. Um, I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of that one. I think. Whatever. You’ve caught three Pokémon so far so I think you don’t have to worry about that last part. And none of that was against their wills at all. They wanted to be caught.”

Elijah shook his head. “Yeah, but… it still feels wrong. Like a pit in the bottom of my stomach.”

Ion didn’t know how to respond. Elijah wasn’t really sure how to follow up with that one either, so they both continued down the path in silence for a while.

Ion was the first to speak again. “Hey… I was lying about being a trainer in a past life. I’m just a Rotom that wanted to sound cooler than he actually was. Sorry about that.”

Elijah nodded. “I could tell.”

More silence. Ion broke it again.

“So… what now? Maybe we can start training for real?”

Elijah thought for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Well, I admit that you were right and I really do need to get out of my comfort zone, so… I guess? As long as you’re not dragging me around. Or forcing me to beat someone up that doesn’t want to fight.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I would never do that. Anymore. I’ll totally teach you the ins and outs of battling too, I’ve done a ton of reading up on that one. And I guess you’ve got problems to solve yourself so maybe something can happen there? I, um…”

I think I need help with this one, Elijah thought.

“...Well, whatever,” Ion continued, dismissing the subject with a silent admission that this was something far too deep for him. “I still think that you’re afraid of bugs, though.”

Elijah rolled his eyes, but looked determined. “Seriously, I’m not. Next chance I get, I’m going to prove it.”

Ion laughed. “Consider it a deal.”