Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Course of Everything

Chapter Three: Friends

It had been two days since Harper had agreed to stay with Anais, and, not for the first time, she realized there was something strange about Winnie.

Winnie had been almost too friendly, spending every moment they could talking with Harper and trying to learn about her, but this was not what made them strange(although, this bombardment of friendliness was not something Harper was familiar with). Half of the time, Winnie would become confused over things even the smallest of children would know. From confusing the names of wildly different species of Pokemon to referring to Harper as a 'bird-type', even after being corrected, there was something off about the Whismicott. Even now, as Harper sat with them against a tree, they were pouring over a medical book, not to learn healing, but the names of the Pokemon pictured within.

"Harper, can you do me a favor," Winnie said, and handed the book over to Harper, "Will you quiz me on what those Pokemon look like?"

"What?" Harper looked down at the page, which pictured dozens of common jungle-dwelling Pokemon, "I don't understand what you're asking me."

"I can remember like, individual names," Winnie replied, "but I can't quite remember what they look like. Tell me a name, and see if I can describe the species, okay?"

"Erm...okay?" Harper said. She looked at the Whismicott, who seemed unaware that their request was strange. Now wasn't the time to bring it up, she decided.

"Aipom," Harper looked at the normal-type pictured, their two tails gripping a tree branch as they grinned off the page.

"That's...the monkey thing?" Winnie covered their mouth, brow furrowed in concentration, "It has purple fur, and two tails with hands on them?"

"Sure," Harper nodded, although she was puzzled by Winnie's use of the word 'monkey'. "What about, uh, Victreebell?"

"Oh, that's a toughie," Winnie said, craning their neck to look at the open book. Harper quickly hid it from their view.

"It's the bigger Oddish, right? The one with the big flower?"

Harper frowned. Winnie had described Vileplume, not the Pokemon they were supposed to. How could they confuse such different species?

"No, that's Vileplume. This is Victreebell." Harper turned to book over and pointed at the grass-type. "Do you really not know that?"

"Hey, I'm trying here," Winnie took the book back, still staring at the page, "There's a lot of Pokemon, it's hard to keep things straight."

"Well...you at least know what you evolved from, right?" Harper asked, tilting her head.

"Evolved from?" Winnie gave her a blank look, and then her gaze lit up in understanding, "Oh, you mean–yeah, it was Cottonee, right?"

"Yeah, it's Cottonee," Harper said slowly. How could someone be unsure what they evolved from? She stared at Winnie, who continued looking at the book as if studying an unfamiliar language. Was it an unfamiliar language to them?

"Why don't you know this stuff?" Harper asked when her curiosity grew too much, "I've never seen anyone who didn't know other Pokemon species."

Winnie looked up, and frowned. They were quiet for a moment, as if they weren't sure how to answer. Their hooved-foot tapped the ground, and they fiddled with the large green scarf around their neck. They nodded to themself, and then looked at Harper.

"Can't tell you yet!" They grinned, and laughed in a sheepish way, "It's a big secret, too big to tell just anyone."

"Secret?" Harper replied, surprised at her own disappointment. It was only fair that Winnie have secrets: after all, they were practically strangers. And, Harper noted with a twinge of discomfort, it wasn't like she didn't have any secrets.