A Lost Snivy

“WELL, IF YOU WANT SOME GOOD FOOD, YOU SHOULD TRY MY COOKING! I HAVE BEEN TOLD IT’S PRETTY… SAUCE-ATIONAL! NYEH HEH HEH!! …THAT’S A PUN, BECAUSE I MAKE SPAGHETTI A LOT. …BUT REALLY, YOU SHOULD TRY IT! I’VE NEVER HAD AN ORAN BERRY BEFORE, BUT I COULD PROBABLY WORK IT INTO A DISH IF YOU WANT ME TO!”

Kaza opened the door and honestly expected it to be one of his mothers to get him for breakfast. Seeing Leaf again after such an abrupt parting was…stunning. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. He just sort of stared at him in a dumbfounded silence before raising a hand and waving slightly. “Ahhh…h-hi.”

But, well - it’s been a while and he dropped by to say hi, at least.

“OH, I SEE! I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT. IT MUST BE DIFFICULT TO TRY TO EXPLAIN ALL OF THE WONDERS OF THE SURFACE TO ME, WHEN I CAN’T EVEN REALLY PICTURE ANY OF IT! …BUT, WOWIE! YOU EXPLORE FOR A LIVING? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A DREAM JOB!! …IS THAT HOW YOU WOUND UP DOWN HERE?”

“I’m pretty lucky I can still grow things down here, even if Oran Berries aren’t the most filling of foods.”

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Those crude things are nothing compared to my portals,” she said angrily. “And, no, none of these glyphs are like the runes used in those. A few may come from the same base magic, but these glyphs are very much different, and contain a much stronger magic than a rune,” she explained. “And how are you even able to comprehend any of these? They contain a magic far too old for anyone in this age to see.”

Well, that, and he didn’t want to do anything stupid to set her off. Well, more than before.

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“However, if you were to use that portal, you would be the end of your Universe. We don’t want a time paradox here nor there,” she said. The Lucario was still quite mad, but she continued. “And, by the way, Palkia doesn’t know shit. None of the Legendaries in your world know anything about how time and space actually work. There are little details that no one ever notices. Ever wonder how something of yours has torn, but you kept it away from anything that could? It’s exactly that. People just shrug it off, when, in reality, it’s a warning that time and space are being damaged.” She decided to pause for a moment, to hear what the kid had to say.

“I think I recognized some of your runes as the ones they drew on the ground before they start up a Magnagate.”

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Of FUCKING course you’ve got wormholes! The Pokemon in your universe are messing up the balance about as much as fucking HUMANS!” she yelled. Loudly. Oh, the nerdcario was mad now. She couldn’t believe that Pokemon were just disregarding the natural balance and creating WORMHOLES of all things! It was like they had no idea how much they’ve doomed their universe! “So that’s why I’ve been unable to get there! Kid, you better have everything from your home there, because your universe has probably imploded by now!”

“Maybe you’re mixing it up with something different?”

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“But it’s good to know that you actually care about safety. Too many guilds don’t actually teach advanced safety courses.”

“Still had to pay the Lapras for the ferry back, though.”

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Oh, now I see why you’ve been getting away with it..” she said. “Mystery Dungeons and such… But Terraforming? That’s… That’s not really a good thing to do. What about the desert Pokemon that used to live there?” she asked. “What happened to them?” It was quite clear that the nerd didn’t like the imbalances with Nature where the Snivy was from. Pokemon growing houses without a single sacrifice or exchange? That was going against the balance of nature and energies.

“It’s still kind of dangerous to wander even 8 years later, but at least everything’s marked now.” He admitted. “Because of that, and the fact that most of the Magnagate Guild are adventurers, there’s a lot of training focus on preparation, safety, and escape.”

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Yeah, Nature hates cheaters very much. If you want to do things, then you need to do it with balance,” she explained. “Besides, even if you were to escape… Nature is a multidimensional thing. It’s literally everywhere. There is no escape from it.”

“Then again, with the amount of Mystery Dungeons in the area - I don’t think nature really cared that much about the Mist Continent in particular, let alone the former desert we lived at.” Leaf admitted with a shrug.

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Nature is a True Neutral force of Balance,” explained the nerdy female. “One must understand that to give, one must take. What you’ve been doing has been messing up the balance quite a bit.”

“Don’t worry about it - I know it’s better not to do something every once in a while. Plus, I don’t have the necessary items so that I can leave safely if it’s too dangerous. There’s that too.”

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Well, actually… It’s more of the magical nature of the nearby forest would cause problems and probably get you in a lot of trouble,” she explained sternly. “You may be just a kid, but that doesn’t change anything about what would happen.”

“Equal about things.” He finished, slightly blushing.

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Um, no. I wouldn’t like to see. Besides, the weather forecast said it would snow, and I haven’t checked if it has started to yet,” explained the nerd. That wasn’t the biggest reason, though. The nearby Vale Woods already didn’t like the Snivy, and she could feel that.

“Well, alright. To be honest, weather isn’t much of an issue when it comes to the initial growing. It’s just that it won’t grow any more berries if it’s too cold.”

“THE SURFACE?!” How was this possible? How could a monster get to the surface without anyone hearing about it? “BUT–HOW? THAT’S AMAZING! I’M PAPYRUS! IT’S MY JOB AS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD TO KNOW ALL ABOUT THE SURFACE!” Sort of. “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT IT!!”

“You know, for my job being to actually explore the world, I really can’t describe it very well.” He admitted sheepishly. “It’s one of those things that you have to see with your own eyes to really understand.”

“ARE YOU VISITING SNOWDIN? WHERE ARE YOU FROM? WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Papyrus didn’t pause long enough between questions to let the newcomer answer, but after the third one, he finally calmed down enough to let the stranger speak.

Leaf extended a shoulder-vine for the skeleton to shake as greetings - the Snivy was too small for a proper claw-shake anyway.

The nerdy Lucario tilted her head some at the Snivy.“You’re here to see Kaza?” she asked. “Well, glad to see you’re one of his actual friends, unlike the others. Oh, and a cellphone is… Well, you know how some Pokemon can use telepathy? Think that, but focused into a device that’s powered by electricity.”

“Kid, you’ve been doing something no normal Grass-Type can do,” said the nerdy quickly. “You’re not just accelerating your body’s growth, but you’re literally changing the DNA and very ATOMS of plants to make them grow. That’s a power only a Goddess (with a capital G) like Lee-zha should be able to handle.”

The Snivy was intelligent - but he spent his days wandering and training, not schooling.