Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Seasons of Heaven

Episode 33: Aseria Evolves

Lute awoke with a lazy yawn and a stretch, followed by a dozy look around the room. Sophitia's pudgy form lay sprawled out beside him, having stolen most of the blanket while drooling away. Nothing unusual.

He sighed and made his way out of the house, tripping up on a loose stone from one of the walls. With their new habitat, he kept telling himself he'd figure out a way to sort that. He had to go to the back of the house where a little pond was, where he could dip his face in the water to wake himself up. It was chilly and sent a shiver all the way through him.

He looked out over the town. Just another morning in the new Everend. The town had regressed since its change to natural technology over V-Wave technology, and even after all this time, he still wasn't really used to it. Food was getting scarce and the only way to wash was through the river water, which had been partially redirected into a lake in the middle of town. Every household in the area had to share it, but thankfully Pokémon were being polite and cooperative with it.

Speaking of those households, all of those had shrunk considerably, too. The brick structures and such remained, but they were more spacious thanks to the lack of appliances that were once standard. No fridges or ovens, no light bulbs, no electronic doors, and more. He had a fear that robberies would increase since the change, but thankfully, not one had been reported – in Everend, at least.

Of course, school was off. The entire school and system needed to be rebuilt from scratch, since so much of that building was built with V-Waves in mind. As such, he hadn't seen his school friends for a while, too.

"Lute?" Sophitia's voice echoed from within the house. She sounded like she was whining about something, so he made his way back in.

"Morning. Everything okay?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. She was squirming a bit, sprawled out on her back.

"Closer, please," she murmured, half awake. He was wary but obeyed, only to be snatched up by her feelers and brought into a surprise cuddle. She pinned him down with her body, giving him a half-lidded look. "Finally got you, mister hard worker."

"What's gotten into you?" he said, and rolled his eyes. He didn't even try to fidget his way out.

"Oh nothing, besides the fact that I've been totally ignored for all this time. So much for spending time together," she said. She curled around him so that her face was close to his. "And I know I know, we needed to rebuild Everend properly and stuff, but we've made crazy good progress on that, right?"

"Go on," he said sceptically.

"We should take a break today. Go somewhere special, have some fun. You promised me we would," she said with a little giggle.

"I did?" he said.

"Pretty sure ya did. But just in case, I ain't movin' until you say yes, so pick your next words wisely," she giggled again.

"Really Sophitia? You've been acting so weird lately. You're doing this again. What's actually wrong?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Urgh. I always have to spell stuff like this out for you," she groaned as she got up. She went over to the window and sighed, swaying her head with her thoughts. "I'm bored, okay? Like, really, really bored."

"Bored?" He cocked his head.

"Yeah, bored. I mean I get it, Aseria's a happier place now. There's no fighting, the Pokémon are all working together, everyone's constantly got stuff to do. But I'm a fighter, y'know? All that stuff I did before when we were travelling, I literally live for it," she explained. "I thought you did too, so I thought we were getting closer. Close enough to maybe... I dunno, do something special."