It has been quite a few months now since I came into this world. If I had to guess, I would have said more than four months. In these four months, I was able to get some sense of the surrounding topography.
The mother Zerarora would often take us on little trips on the edge of the forest to teach us about fruits and berries, which ones are sweet and healthy, and which ones are poisonous.
We would often find a variety of wild Pokémon going about their daily life. We also encountered a few aggressive ones, but with one shout from the mother, even the aggressive Pokémon would not want to mess with us.
Over the months, the mother Zeraora
"Zera zera ra ra ora"
always taught us to avoid disturbing other Pokémon in the area. To always be quiet and only stay in foreign territory for the minimum time possible. She taught us to remain clear of the areas belonging to the highly territorial Pokémon. She taught us how to identify the land of the wild Pokémon by observing the trees, using our sense of smell, and focusing on the little details of the forest.
I was actually learning to be a Pokémon, and you know what, it wasn't that bad.
One afternoon, as our little made-up family was exploring deeper into the woods, the little Zeraora ran ahead of me, his curiosity winning over his caution.
Just then, a series of chattering, angry noises echoed from the bushes ahead. Two vibrant, magenta-colored Pokémon with spiky tails burst from the undergrowth. A couple of angry and chubby Skwovet, their cheeks puffed up with a not-so-happy look. They were trying to gather fruits and berries, and the child Zeraora had stumbled right into their tree trunk-turned-fridge.
The little Zeraora stopped, his playful expression immediately replaced by a confused look.
It was clear he had never met a hostile wild Pokémon alone before. Filled with curiosity and confusion, the little Pokémon just stood there looking at the skwovet.
The Skwovet, on the other hand, were not confused. This was their home, and a wild Pokémon had appeared and was refusing to move, and only stared back at them in confusion. With a determined cry, they started using their nimble hands and feet to dig into the ground. That's when I realized they were using their move Dig.
"Skwo-vet!".
They suddenly came out from behind the little Zeraora.
As I was stunned and momentarily admiring their speed, they let out another determined cry of
"Skwo Skwaovet!!!"
and launched a barrage of small rocks at the little Zeraora.
It was their Rock Throw move.
The first one hit the child right on the head, a solid thud followed by a tearful
"Zera... ora,"
I shouted,
"Come on, dodge the rocks!!"
I clenched both my hands into small fists, trying to punch the rocks away, but to no avail; they were clearly targeting the little Zeraora. The mother Zeraora, who had been scouting nearby, appeared in a flash of yellow, blue, and black.
She let out a low, menacing growl, her blue eyes glowing with more aggressive intensity than I had ever seen.
"Oraa!" she roared, a clear warning.
The Skwovet, seeing her, immediately froze, their aggressive posture changing. They were clearly scared of the mother. But the little Zeraora, still startled from the hit, was in a mixed emotion of pain and anger. It cried out in defiance, its small body trembling with a surge of energy.
The child's fur began to crackle with blue sparks, a chaotic and uncontrolled surge of power. It wasn't the powerful roar of a thunderbolt, but a wild, messy burst of static electricity.
"Zera-zera-zera!"
The child cried aloud as if in revenge, as a wave of sparks shot out and scorched a few leaves on the ground.
The Skwovet, startled but still aggressive, launched another rock throw, and this time the mother Zeraora broke the rocks with a quick and elegant sweep of her paw, the rock disintegrating into dust.
It was so quick I could barely see her. All I managed to witness was the flash of yellow and blue leaping out from behind me and demolishing the rocks into dust.
She let out another, more commanding cry of
"Oraa!" to her child.
A sound that I was beginning to understand as both a command and a warning.
The young Zeraora, with its mother before it, understood that he was supposed to move, not battle. With one last, little
"Zera,"
He bolted off, its tiny body becoming a blur as it disappeared from my sight.
The mother Zeraora let out one final, chilling scream at the Skwovet, her eyes burning with a fierce, golden light before she, also, bolted away in a flash of yellow and black, after her child.
I stood there with my adrenaline racing, my heart pumping twice as fast as it should, after what I realized was my official Pokémon battle.
It was nothing like the anime or the movies, or the games. There was no victory written in huge texts and no congratulations tab with rewards for winning, no addition of experience points, no nothing, zip, nada!.
There was only a pure, frightening demonstration of power and nature. I overcame with a feeling which was a mixture of fright and enthusiasm.
I understood that this new world was no fantasy; it was a living, threatening reality where even a casual encounter could turn deadly in seconds, yet i was surpisngly calm, actually make it stuidly calm, because this sudden high of adrenaline and pure, unimaginable future for the first time in ever in both of lives, actually make me exited for the future.
I could tell the future was going to be a blast. This was what I wanted, this was what I would thrive in; all those days I was dreaming about Pokémon, all those childhood dreams, about owning all the legendaries, I could finally make them come true. I could live the life my inner child always dreamed of.. I started laughing like a madman,
"Hahahaha !!!"
"Hahhhhaaaaaa haaaaha !!"
I was once again alone, with a sense of vulnerability that I had never known before and a stronger understanding that this world I had been brought to was no place to have fun. It was a reality in which Pokémon were not simply creatures of a game, but untamed, wild beasts with their own territorial natures and violent dispositions. But despite everything, I took a vow that I will enjoy this world.
"No matter what happens. I will enjoy"
"Hahahah !!!"
I didn't know what lay ahead of me, but I was excited for the first time in both my lives. I was excited for what the future held for me, because in this world, it is not going to be a corporate nine-hour working job with a dictated routine, but random moments of both joy and sorrow.