Origin Story: Part 1 - Haunted by the Truth

CH05: The Runaway

You don't know how long you've been running, or far you've gotten, but eventually you had to stop and turn around, panting and sighing deeply at the town you had left behind far off in the distance.

You were surprised that no one managed to follow you, even though the police station was still in a big commotion, and you wonder if those Rocket guys got out. Probably not, but you were hoping they would create a good diversion, and apparently that plan was successful. Sure, you feel a bit bad, but not enough to go back and try to help them.

And you were more surprised that no one seemed to be chasing after you to... well, kill you. No thugs or assassins, no creepy guys with glowing green eyes. Just you, in the woods, with a couple of familiar pokemon by your side.

Being amongst nature, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the wild, gave you some unease that you haven't felt in a long time. You know that humans tend to not walk this far into the middle of nowhere, and even if they do you'd overhear the frantic conversation of 'trespassers' from flocks of birds and other wild pokemon, that wish to remain wild and free. What most people don't realize is just how many wild pokemon there are, compared to the 'wild' pokemon that let themselves wander onto routes and get caught by trainers.

But you can understand why. Some want adventure, while others want to grow stronger. And a small few happen to get themselves caught by accident, and are forced into pokemon battles, or whatever else the human decides to have their pokemon do.

That's why you find it sad that humans cannot naturally talk to pokemon. If they could, maybe everyone would be a lot happier?... Or hear all the bullshit pokemon actually say to one another.

But, honestly, you were just glad that you were far away from civilization, and for the first time in a while your mind felt a lot calmer and clearer. The woods, the middle of nowhere, did that to you. You weren't distracted by the bright unnatural lights of the city, or having to overhear tons of human conversations, on top of pokemon ones. Here, you only have to keep your mind on one sort of conversation, and you had a lot more time to dwell on your own thoughts.

Thoughts that... you don't want to think about, but you're certainly going to, still.

And unlike in the jail cell, out here you aren't afraid of suddenly being pulled out of your cell, forced into a room or into a van, and executed, without any way of defending yourself.

Your mind, you know, is rather morbid these days, but... after you watch your parents die right in front of you, and not because they got old or some freak accident, you just get a strange fascination with death and the dying. There are a lot of ways to die, you had begun to realize, and it's just unfortunate that your family seems to have the bad luck of dying in the worst ways possible. But... maybe these thoughts of your own mortality is just a way to cope with everything that has happened. Everyone eventually dies... but sometimes they die sooner then what it says on their expiration date. Like a bottle of spoiling moomoo milk. You could drink it the day it expires, or you finish it before that date. And you aren't shy to the idea of pokemon deaths either. Some occur naturally, sure, but most are because of accidents in battles, human influenced or otherwise. A pokemon out in the wild doesn't survive as long as one does among humans, but then again if a pokemon can last for a very long time then they are considered 'wise elders' to the rest of the pokemon.

You find it fascinating just how strange, yet similar, pokemon are to humans. If only others could see what you see and hear what you hear... but honestly, you personally think it's inevitable for pokemon to interact with humans, but if that's a good experience or not depends on the interactions.

Like Team Rocket. Everyone says they are bad guys and need to be sent to prison, each and every one of them, but you know a few guys who would think otherwise, seeing them as a stronger group compared to their shabby, small, tiny and weak gang of street thugs, and some of your parents' friends have mixed feelings about the team. Sure, they do bad things, but when people are desperate they do desperate things. And when you are the leader of such a group... does that mean you are the bad guy and manipulator, or just another victim to circumstances?