Chapter 12: Overthinking and Underthinking

"Bulbasaurrrrrr-!"

…black and purple. Seeing as how it's covered in stardust and growling at me, I don't think it's fond of my fashion either. My green scarf is a bad look I guess…

Passing along with a smile, I tried to say hi to a few but most were too busy preening or cleaning themselves. The exception was a chespin, who was eating a berry it had pulled out from its mouth while we were busy talking. 

'A smuggler at heart.'

I patted it on the head before moving along- none of them were particularly… me. 

'But what even is my personality? Not violent or vain in much regard… scratch the latter. I got kind of full of myself after we won a major battle, and people died because I rushed to celebrate… Maybe I'm more of a leader? Drayden seemed to think so based on what he taught me.'

Moving to the water types, Three of them were shiny but I couldn't recognize them. 

"Osha…"

Except for Oshawott, of course. The little guys had practically infested the ports back home- the consequences of the government's negligence of their own pokemon maintenance department. I checked my inner coat pocket, looking for where I had…

"Here. It's to say sorry about that earlier. You guys like this stuff, right?"

I held out a small packet of shoal salt I had on hand to cook with in emergencies- I had gathered pounds of it when I was four when I heard it was valuable, only to realize days later Dad had meant it was valuable in cooking. He was the one who got me started cooking, and I had never run out of it- which was why I kept it in these small packets to give away to the refugees. 

"Osh! Oshawaaaaaaa!"

The shiny Oshawott was dancing around, sharpening its shell with the incredibly fine sea salt. Sadly, I didn't think the little guy was quite… me. It just felt wrong. 

Walking to the fire types, I was shocked at the orderly standing. Most were flaring up small flames to show off while remaining rigidly standing, while others were wagging their perfectly done tails and feathers. The torchic was…

"Is that torchic doing a mating dance?"

Dancing with its butt raised, trying to get the attention of the air in front of it with perfect focus. It didn't even look at me, and seemed to be practicing. Amanda glanced up from her game to see what I was talking about. 

"…Hah, yeah. An 'avian specialist' came by a few weeks ago, and after he started dancing at the torchic enclosure they all started doing it. It did increase the amount of them though… Which was why we hired him."

'Huh. Definitely not me- I eat poultry, not flirt with it.'

Walking along, two caught my eye. A black and blue fox and-

"A cat!?"

Rushing forward, the black and red cat jumped back a bit before proudly roaring back at my 'intimidation'.

"Mew!"

'So. Absolutely. Cute.' 

"Hey… could I borrow your phone for a second Amanda?"

"Huh-?"

Snatching it from her, I flicked open a search.

'...Black and red cat- a litten, huh?'

"Hey!"

Ignoring the ignorant 'fashionista', I looked up the evolution line. 

…

"If… if only, my little schnookums."

Handing the phone back to Amanda, who was more confused than annoyed. I walked to the poor litten and stroked its head. 

"Never evolve, okay? You're perfect just the way you are!"

"Meow?"

"Er, Mykah, you do realize Pokémon get stronger when they evolve…?"

"Yes. And this little guy suffers in every other department. Do you know how much food an incineroar needs daily?"

She looked down at her phone, but seconds later she guffawed. 

"Th-thirty six pounds!?"

Bulky Pokémon tend to need a large diet to sustain their bulky body, feline and dragon Pokémon especially. And more notorious were fighting and most fire type pokemon, followed by… Well, Cheren really drilled this stuff into me when he was explaining the basics of being a trainer. It helped me with managing the Sprouts, and with giving advice to them on which pokemon to bond with. 

"And since they're strict carnivores, it all needs to be meat. That's tens of thousands of Pokedollars for just one Pokemon- and that's per month… A tragedy with a creature this adorable."

Amanda trembled before typing something into her phone. After a moment she shook her head, and muttered to herself.

"That damn… I knew we had a problem with kids returning pokemon because they couldn't take care of them… but how did this never get brought up?!"

She stormed out, probably to vent her frustration at her brother. I turned back to the table, noticing a few of the pokemon who were looking at me shyly look away. Mostly the grass types, which I found interesting. After only interacting with others' pokemon and fighting off wild ones, I didn't think of there being natural behaviors based off of typing. 

'I guess they weren't actually ignoring me.'

"…Huh. I don't know. You're all amazing, but it's not like I can read your minds to find which one of you is like me."

The black fox next to me nodded. I looked at it- blue eyes, black, shiny fur, and very thin. Abnormally so, to the point it concerned me. The fox tilted its head, probably wondering what I was doing. 

"..Sorry, just thinking."

"MEW!"

"What's- Hey!"

The litten had walked behind me before launching into my back, knocking me into the table and creating a domino chain. 

The world seemed to slow down as my body moved and my brain lagged behind- a strange feeling, as if I was swimming through honey as the world continued on around me. It wasn't like normal, where I had control. I had gotten too tired to even do that- it was only adrenaline which kept me in this state, and it would maybe last a few moments at best.

Bang… BANG 

My body hit the table, sending it into the next one over at maybe a quarter of the speed it should have moved. I didn't have time to think much.

'The fox.'

It entered my arms in free fall, my body moving quickly while I tumbled forward to protect it at least. 

BANG 

'The others- safe.'

The bulbasaur on the far end had launched its vines to the few sleeping pokemon, but the rest were landing as I kept falling. 

BANG

Twisting my body around as the last table hit the ground, I felt my spine hit the edge of the metal table as I finally made impact. The world spun back to normal speed. 

""""""*********""""""

CRASH!

The sounds of the pokemon on the tables were loud, but the tables being knocked over was worse. Somebody would come in any second… But my head ached too much to think. 

"Ugh…" 

A grunt of pain fell out as I tried to get up. My back took a big hit, and I'd need to rest sooner rather than later so it didn't get worse.

"Stupid…"

A jolt of unreasonable anger flashed through me. The stupid kitten had caused this.

"Hah… fuuu… haaaa…"

'No, it did cause this but it's just a kid. Mistakes are fine. Gotta be calm, think clearly. What do I do…?'

The fox in my arms squirmed before wriggling out and jumping on my shoulder. It licked my ear, as if trying to thank me. The familiar weight on my shoulder reminded me of Victor, my first pokemon… I stopped myself from getting lost in thought. I was getting tired. 

"…No problem, little guy."

It chirped twice. 

"…little… girl?"

It licked my ear again. Seems like this little one was a rare kind for its species- I recognized fennekin and their general facts, as one of the trainers we rescued had one. Seven to one ratio of male fennekin to female made them an endangered species, and typically matriarchal. More facts on the fox flashed through my mind, my mind too tired to stop my mindless recollections. 

Rising to my feet with a hand on my back to stabilize the ache, I turned around. 

"Thanks for helping everybody, Bulbasaur. Are all of you alright?"

A cacophony of cries came out. It was confusing how Pokémon could say their name or make a certain noise, but times like this made me glad for the latter. 

"Then could you guys help get the tables back up before anyone gets here? I'd rather us not get in trouble…"

The litten skirted behind my leg, as if avoiding the gaze of the others. 

"Bulba! Saur?"

The bulbasaur walked over with its vines brandished. It picked up the kitten before it scurried away, putting it in the corner. Meanwhile the other pokemon lifted their own tables, with the fire types needing some help from me because of a lack of… arms. I only had one working arm myself, but my legs would do the literal heavy lifting. 

'...It's a weird thing to think about, but I guess some pokemon grow arms after evolving. It's so strange… Though I guess it's already in their bone structure.'

"Hah… how… are these… tables… so heavy…"

"Kin!"

The fox on my shoulder let out a cry, jumping to my right shoulder before licking my ear again. 

"Is something wrong?"

I turned to my right to see the professor and Amanda standing at the door. 

"Sorry! I fell over and, well…"

"Haha! It's alright, Mykah. You cleaned up the mess, and I don't think any of the pokemon really blame you-"

"Charrr!"

A loud growl came from the charmander, and the two looked over to the corner where it was pointing. The litten averted its eyes, trying to become as small as it could. The professor walked over, crouching down to the cat to speak. 

"Well, it looks like everything here has been cleaned up. Mistakes are fine, but how you act afterward determines how people will think of you. Do you want to help me with cleaning up the habitats later to make up for this?"

"Meow…" 

Words I had reminded myself of a minute ago sprung out of another middle aged man. He took the litten after it nodded, recalling it into a pokeball and sending it through the tube in the back of the lab. Presumably, it was going back to the habitat for littens.