The New Normal - 19-8 - Interlude - Pokemon

The New Normal – 19-8 – Interlude – Pokémon

Ogrepon looked around warily at all of these unfamiliar faces – at the humans looking at her with the same wariness and the slightest edge of hostility.

They saw her as a threat. She saw it in their eyes, and with the way that they were posturing with their Pokémon.

But they looked so different to the humans that she remembered, that she had met before her isolation. Back then, she still remembered that the humans didn’t look like this. They looked less colourful, and they all looked different – unlike the humans she saw in front of her, which all looked the same in blue.

And then there were the Pokémon. Much like the humans, they were beings that she had never seen before. They were unfamiliar, and more importantly, they looked strong.

And despite her strength, she knew that it had been many, many years since she had last fought a battle. Her self-imposed isolation had caused her strength to wane, she knew, and she wasn’t certain if her instincts had returned yet.

But she didn’t allow any of that rising fear to show on her face. She knew was strong in the past – very strong. She saved the humans from those lying Trio, even if they never appreciated her for it, and that Trio was stronger than any of the Pokémon laid out against her.

Yet she didn’t want this to turn into a fight. That wasn’t the reason why she had broken out of her cave.

As she was slumbering, she had suddenly felt a sudden surge of the presence of humans. She had never felt such a large amount of humans nearby in her entire life, and she had been extremely curious as to why the humans had gathered here.

Did their settlement expand to her cave? If so, then would she have to leave in case she got discovered and was hunted down? Or should she stay put and hope that the humans would leave, knowing that they wouldn’t welcome her presence? Or maybe they’d forget who she was and let her stay?

In the end, her curiosity won out, and she decided – for the first time in years – to exit her self-imposed isolation. And immediately after doing so, she found herself surrounded by the very same humans and Pokémon that she was facing off against now.

She wanted to say something. To tell everyone that she was not their enemy – that she came in peace. But her vocal cords, atrophied after having not been used for decades, failed her, and all she managed was a discordant croak.

And immediately, that one action caused the surrounding Pokémon and humans to react with trained vigilance as their Pokémon readied their attacks and prepared their defenses.

She saw it in their eyes. They were ready for battle. To take her down.

And that hurt her more than she realised. To think that even after all these years, the humans still distrusted her. Even though she had once saved them.

She had hoped, deep in her heart, that they would have forgiven her by now. Or that the truth would come out. But it seemed that there was no such luck for her. And that her destiny was to be alone.

But then, just as she was about to ready herself for a battle, she felt a shift in the air as the presence of a few powerful Pokémon approached her from above. Looking up to the skies, she saw two humans landing down next to her, flanked by those very same Pokémon.

Immediately, she could tell that these were not your ordinary humans. And though her memories might be a little hazy given how long it’s been, she knew that she had never seen humans as strong as this. The same applied to their Pokémon, who looked extremely well trained and powerful.

In her current weakened and atrophied state, she wasn’t confident that she would win a fight against them.

And yet, despite fearing the worst, their presence suddenly caused the entire atmosphere to shift. The wariness and hostility in the eyes of the Pokémon were instantly subdued as the two humans stepped forwards, and all of the other humans took a step back as they bowed politely to the new arrivals.

That only caused Ogrepon to grow more curious, as she unconsciously stood up straighter. What did they want with them?

They began to speak something, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying. Fortunately, their Pokémon translated for her.

“What are your intentions here?” The black and blue Pokémon growled out, “If your intention is to cause harm, then I would suggest you turn around. You will not like the consequences.”

“ANALYSIS – NO THREAT DETECTED.” The strange-looking pink and blue Pokémon buzzed out, “EYES SHOW WARINESS, BUT NOT HOSTILITY.”

“Then we should do the same!” The big pink one giggled merrily, “Lucario, let’s not scare the poor thing. This is not something we need Tyrant for.”

She was taken aback by the friendliness(?) coming from the Pokémon. Given their strength, she had expected them to act as she knew all strong Pokémon to act – with threats and fierceness. It was what you needed to do if you wanted to survive in the wilds.

So to see them being so friendly with her was… strange, and slightly uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to this.

And the pink one must have seen this too, as she stepped closer, her expression joyful and friendly, “Please don’t be scared. We don’t mean you any harm as long as you don’t try to hurt us. We just wanted to know where you came from. Your appearance scared a lot of people, and we’re just here to make sure everything’s okay.”

…She wanted to believe them, but this sudden act of friendship went against everything she knew about how strong Pokémon were meant to act. A part of her was wary of their falsehoods. But another part of her wanted to believe them – to believe in her dream that the humans hadn’t all abandoned her.

So she stepped forwards slowly, making sure that there was no sudden movements that could be accidentally taken for hostility, and she forced her decayed vocal chords to work once more.

“…Hi.” She croaked out, her voice scratchy after years upon years of lack of use, “…I just…woke up and… wanted to see… what was going on… I don’t… mean… harm...”

“DECEIT UNLIKELY.” The pink and blue one buzzed out once more, its strange eyes scanning over her like it was trying to study her every expression, “NERVOUS AND WARY. BUT NOT HOSTILE.”

Meanwhile, the blue and black one just crossed its arms and hung back, though its eyes also never left her, but it allowed the cheerful pink one to keep talking, “Oh! That’s great to hear! Though we’re sorry that we disturbed your rest, we were doing this big event! I can help escort you to safety if you want.”

“…No, it’s okay. I’m strong enough to take care of myself.” She replied slowly, “…Can I… Can I ask what you’re doing? What kind of… ‘event’ is happening? Is that why there’s so many people?”

The pink Pokémon nodded, “Yep yep! It’s a big event covering the whole of Kitakami!” She remembered that name, it was where she was right now. How much had changed around here for there to be so many people now? “But how about we take this conversation elsewhere? It’s not your fault, but we’re disturbing the event right now.”

“Oh, okay.” She didn’t realise her appearance would cause such a commotion. Maybe she should have waited a little longer before exiting the cave? Did she make another mistake again?

Despite her growing self-doubts and criticisms, she slowly followed after the pink Pokémon, not sure about what to do but trusting in her gut that they didn’t mean any harm. Meanwhile, many of the other humans and their Pokémon watched them, not with wariness, but with interest and curiosity.

She hoped that would change soon. She longed for the days that the humans would see her as a friend.

A.N. I felt that this was a very important chapter for what’s to come. I know I rarely have full chapters (even Interludes) dedicated to a Pokémon’s POV, but I felt this was necessary to develop Ogrepon. But I felt that showing her personality straight up is going to be important for later. Hope you enjoyed!