Forest Ecosystem

"We've gotta stop finishing our fights with passing out, Chi."

Dust and Chiki were both laying on the bank of the river, having taken the route that led left and thus away from the group of Oddish.

Chiki shakily stood up and tried to form a metal claw, but the steel energy only lasted for half a second before shattering. "No kidding. Once we're stronger, it shouldn't be this bad. But look on the bright side! We took out one of the strongest agents of the Redcap Kingdom's offshoot branch!"

"Wait you're telling me that was just the fourth squad of their offshoot branch? The leader was level 9 though! Shouldn't that be the upper limit for this forest?" Dust yelled in agitation.

Chiki began hobbling to the river to get a drink. "I don't know what this level thing is, but Papa could take on around 100 Oddish about as strong as their leaders at once without too much issue. He's a stronger form of me, called Parasect, and his whole mushroom is made of metal, so pretty much nothing in this forest can hurt him except the upper officials of the Redcap Kingdom and some of his advisors."

A few eye twitches later, Dust turned to the Paras. "Exactly what is this forest's situation? I trusted you with my past life's information, so return the favor, please."

"Well, I don't remember my past life, or even if I had one, but I can tell you the situation of this forest." Chiki beckoned Dust to come to the river to get a drink. "Papa is the king of the Ironshroom Empire, where we Paras come from. We hold most of the Western part of this forest and are allied with the Vaccuvine Republic in the East. They are the weakest in this forest, mostly made up of Bellsprout, but it's generally the best place to live as inhabitants rarely wage war, and they have some sort of pact with a human settlement, meaning there's food and sometimes a human will choose an inhabitant as their partner."

Dust had finally gathered enough strength to get a drink, so he went to the river, drank, then let the bug atop his head as the two slowly began following the river again.

"The next two are the United States of Poke and Redcap Kingdom. Pretty much every other pokemon lives in those two, though there are smaller independent groups, like the Scyther and Krabby. Watch out for those guys. They will kill and eat you with no remorse."

A star twinkled in the heavens at that moment...

"The USP is an interesting place. Pokemon there have generally a middling quality of life, but people don't change their status much. Still, class mobility is better there than in the kingdom and empire. The Redcaps are the worst of them all, led by Oddish and Beedrill, both of which have mutations that have been around way longer than we Ironshrooms have. Our empire was once the smallest before papa's papa was born, but grandpapa used the power from his mutation to take over the entire Western sector, giving us the name Ironshroom Empire."

"Hey, you're getting distracted there, buddy. Forest situation now, we can talk history later." Dust then abruptly changed his mind. "No, we can talk in general later. Right now we need to be careful. Across the stream right there. Do you see that? It's a tree called an Oran Tree."

The benefits of Oran Berries were much greater in this world than the games in some ways but worse in others. When eaten after a tough fight, they could heal the missing energy and even improve total energy capacity, but not cause physical recovery. They were also much larger than in the anime or games, around the size of a cantaloupe.

The duo slowly crept up to the tree, watching for anything nearby that might try to sneak attack them, but for once they seemed to be home free.

Dust leaped high as he could, barely touching the bottom of a berry and knocking it down. "That's yours, I'll grab the next for me." As Dust was about to jump again, he tripped, falling facefirst into the ground. "Ow."

Chiki poked Dust. "Hey. Is that what I think it is?"

An Arbok was swinging playfully from the branch to which Dust was about to jump. "Dontcha know it isssssn't a good idea to sssssteal from a sssssnake?"

Chiki shriveled up. "We're dead, Dust. Papa always told me to run if I see an Arbok and use others as bait, but I can't do that right now. I'm both too weak and too stupid."

"HAHAHAHA, that'sssss funny. What a great prank. Who sssssaid I wanted to eat you? No, I want to tessssst you. Name's Orochimachi, a pleasure. 'Chiki,' Your dear old dad sent me to test your human, but considering he's barely able to move, I thought leading him to an Oran tree instead was a good idea."

"Huh? What do you mean you lead me here?" Dust raised an eyebrow.

"Illusionsssss, kid. We sssssnakesssss are good at em." Dust looked around, and sure enough, the river was nowhere near. "Oh don't worry, you're not too far from the cccccity you're headed to. Verdain, wasssss it? Anyway, there's also not much need to tessssst you after watching your fight with those Oddish and ssssseeing how close you two are. To think you could get the princcccce to trust you enough to tell you about his grandpa... Whatever you sssssaid or did to gain his trussssst, it worked."

Slowly, Dust nodded. "Yeah, we trust each other with our lives. For some reason." Paras punched him. "What? You know we both get attached too easily!"

"Speak for yourself, human! I trust you because you trust me, and not for any other reason. Also, you thought my jokes were funny..." Paras harrumphed.

"Oh, suuuuure," Dust cackled, "you trust me with your life because I thought you had good jokes. Says the one who initiated the bond with me first right after we fought each other."

"Look, you saved my life with your bag, ok? Of course, I would trust you after that!" Dust shook.

'He would have been useless to me dead, that's the only reason I blocked the acid, not because I cared about him at that point in time. I really only did that for me, but eh, I suppose I did save him, regardless of my intentions.'

"Ohhhh, so that's what it's all about. Yeah, that makes sense. We've saved each other... What, 3 times now across both our battles?" Dust grinned.

It had not been three times, but Paras nodded nonetheless. At that moment, the two remembered they were not alone. ""Ah, Orochimachi, sorry!""

The two bowed at the same time, but looking up, there was no Arbok. "Huh? Where'd he go?" Dust cocked his head at Chiki. "Did you see him leave?"

Chiki shook his shrooms. "Nope. I know that Arbok though. Never seen him before, but he's one of my dad's advisors. There are five people on Papa's council, including him. Orochimachi the Arbok, Commando the Dugtrio, Jujagodara the Polit- AHEM, Poliwhirl, and a Farfetch'd named Kardi, the latter two being female, and the other three male. Papa and Kardi are ex-mates, but I'm the son of his current mate, I believe called a Crustle, named Alistairia."

Dust processed for a moment. "So those are the main people at the head of your father's empire? I'm sure there are others, but those are the main ones?"

"Well no, there's one more, but I wasn't sure if I have legal permission to mention it to you." Chiki pinched the ground a bit as he munched into his Oran berry.

"Don't sssssay her name, but you can sssssay what she isssss." A voice appeared in the wind.

'IDENTIFY!' Dust's eye twinkled.

Species: A rbok

Type: Poison

Potential: 6 Poison, 1 ???

Ability: Strong Tail (User can manipulate tail to the most minute degree)

Sex: Female

Level: 39

Bond: G???

Moves: Mostly Incalculable

Mid-Upper Moves: Muddy Water (5⭐), Gunk Shot (4⭐)

'Gotcha, little Arbok.' Turning to his partner, Dust interrupted. "Say, Orochimachi. Are you about as strong as the King?"

"Hmm. I wonder. He hasn't been on the field in around three years, ssssso I am unsure. However, he isssss probably around two levelsss higher than I am. Anyway, goodbye. And follow the rulesssss even outside, little 'Chiki.'"

"Argh, don't call me that!" the bug clicked angrily as he turned back to Dust. "Anyway, the last is a pokemon you've probably never heard of before, called a Steelix. It's an evolution of the pokemon Onix, but nobody knows exactly how they evolved. Their name is Dichocubin, and they are androgynous as they can use their rocks as... either organ."

Dust laughed a bit. "So gay jokes are fine, but you can't say the names of sex organs?"

"Oh shut up! I can too. Weewee and tootie!"

"GWAHAHAHAHA! Comedy gold!"

"Urgh..."