Funny Thing

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It was a bright spring morning and the sun was about to fully rise over the horizon,, bathing the plains below in its warm light and causing for the morning dew on the blades of grass to shimmer while it was gently swaying in the wind, moved by a soft breeze flowing through the area.
In short - the day had begun like almost every other day here in Pricklemist Hill.
Crawling through the grass, a small bug was making his way towards no destination in particular.
And while this Nincada would much rather have been somewhere else, somewhere with more trees to hide in or under, he didn't really have a choice here. The old clan was most likely still pursuing him and the forests were the first places they were going to look in. He would have to wait this out...


Energy: 26-10=16

"Just wandering? I dunno. Look at it. It's a funny day. The grass is beautiful, and not to mention the flowers." he said, plucking the petals from the flower he was smelling earlier. Like I said I'm mostly here for the scenery. Items are secondary. And you saw me out there, I can fend for myself if I need to. It's not like being attacked is too big of an issue." He sat up, leaning his back against a rock. "Besides. Grass is way better than sand. Maybe if sand didn't stick all over, and it was actually easier to run on, sand would be a more acceptable surface... not to mention quicksand."

He began fiddling with the grass, whistling. He gazed around to find...

Vulpes carried out 1 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

"Uh, grass can stick as well if it is wet. As it is right now for example. Additionally I think that, even though one can be capable of defending oneself, the greatest victories are those, that don't have to be earned in battle. Usually a peaceful solution is the best option. As for the scenery, I would say that it does get monotonous quite quickly. I really haven't seen anyone in the area for the scenery thus far."
WHy was this Abra so persistent? Couldn't it just teleport away? No, there was scenery to be looked at. And in Ned a feeling grew. He would give him some scenery. He would pluck out every single blade of grass in the entire area if that would finally make the Abra leave. And if it wouldn't, then he would plant more grass and tear that out as well.

"Well, it can, but that's why grass is rooted into the ground. As long as nobody... does what, mows it down, or cuts it, it wont stick. Grass is great." He pondered the proposition of the bug, "Yeah... But there's no honor in a sneak attack. Its more honorable to lose honestly. That's why I had to fight that pokemon." He again found himself giving himself much time between statements. This pokemon certainly said many thought provoking things. "Well, maybe. But don't you like to just lay in the warm sun... take a nap. It's superb." He yawned, "you know, as far as most Abras go, I don't sleep much. Maybe 9 hours a day. Most Abra sleep twice that. What a waste of time... even so... I could totally go for a nap right about now... doesn't that sound nice?"

"No, I don't. Sleeping is dangerous. While you sleep, you are practically helpless and could always be attacked. That's why I try to sleep as little as possible."
It was true. For the Nincada it was far too dangerous to even attempt to rest out in the open. There always was the danger of a feral Pokémon or a member of the clan to be considered.
That was the reason why he preferred to lie in wait, hiding until finally that elusive evolution would be granted to him. But when would it happen? How long would it take for him? How much time had to pass until Ned finally was free of this reign of terror and fear?
For now it would be sufficient to be free of this Abra...

"Party pooper. You know, if you try to attack a sleeping Abra, we automatically teleport? True story. Otherwise we couldn't sleep so much." There was no real danger in sleeping for an Abra. Thats part of why they do it so much. Leif was just a very lively pokemon. Ain't nobody got time to sleep so much. There's things to do. Sights to see. But this pokemon did give him a new perspective. "I never thought about it. How other pokemon have to deal with life. Sleeping has always been a very safe thing to me, I just don't like it as much as other Abra. But I still love it, don't get me wrong. I just Love being awake more. Usually. Now is just such a great time and place for a nap..." He said, forgetting again that he could be taken as insensitive.

"You are one lucky Pokémon, you know that? You never have to be afraid of anything and can do whatever you want. You don't have to run away or be afraid or anything of the sort. I am curious though. What happens if you sleep-teleport into something really bad? Lava or solid rock for example?"
Now Ned was just envious. This Pokémon had everything he hadn't. And then he decided to be this much of a dou...btably moral Pokémon.
Why couldn't it have been Ned who got all these cool powers? He would certainly be using them for better purposes than this Pokémon did...

"I guess so. I never really thought of it that way. I've always taken it for granted. And... Well, I cant explain it. I can somewhat control my teleports. But they also can be random if I try to force it too far. I've never heard any abra say anything about teleports going wrong like that. I think we have some sort of... psychic sixth sense. Teleports usually land us near other Abra, or evolution of our own kind, or just somewhere safe and alone..."

He shrugged, "the only thing that sucks is that it's darn near impossible for an abra to get a good set of moves. I spent a long time collecting TM's for new moves, and one of them I only know because I inherited it as an egg, and spent ages training with my brother, tododile... Err, I should explain, my parent was a ditto, and our respective other parents, a Charizard and a Feraligator, cheated on the ditto at some point."

"You are so lucky. My moveset is downright terrible. I know Fury Swipes, Leech Life and Silver Wind. That's it. I can barely defend myself in the wilderness. And I haven't had the luck of evolving either."
That was it. Ned was now going to will himself to reincarnate into an Abra. Or almost anything else, really. There wasn't much that could be worse than being a tiny, weak, insignificant Nincada.
Even looking for TMs wouldn't be much help, considering the tiny amount of moves the Bug type could possibly learn from them. What had he done to deserve a life in inferiority like this?

"Well... have you ever hunted for TMs? I've spent days on end doing nothing but TM hunting. And one time I had one, but my partner ran away with it. I had to go back and find the same TM again." he sighed. "That was a pain." He thought about it, "You know, I have no idea what TMs a Nincada can learn... If you don't have many good ones you can learn that could have been really offensive..." He faceplamed, "Yeah, sorry. My bad."

"Almost none. And those I can learn aren't even that useful. Sunny Day. Toxic. Nothing that would really help me fight or avoid fighting. Life tends to be difficult if you are a bug. I have never been looking for TMs in particular, but I haven't really found any and going to places where they might be found poses too much of a threat for my wellbeing to even consider it."
It didn't help that almost all the dungeons that might contain TMs were heavily influenced by fire or wide, open plains and mountains with nowhere to hide from the dangerous Flying types.
Couldn't there be a jungle or something? Oh wait, there was. And it was overrun by the clan looking for his exoskeleton. Just fantastic.

"Wow... that's pretty harsh, actually. I can see why you... might... get... defensive..." it clicked in his mind that this bug was the one who attacked him, but he also realized that it was never meant to be a sneak attack. It was just protecting himself. Being a bug obviously posed a life filled with anxiety and fear. Then that means the Frufrou was... innocent. What an idiot! Leif felt a strong pang of guilt now, both for scaring Ned and attacking an innocent bystander. Just peachy. "I uh... sorry." His eyes showed a mix of realization and guilt, but he struggled for the right words, and might have looked even more insane apologizing for, perhaps, seemingly nothing. "Yeah... sorry..."

"What...uh...what are you suddenly apologizing for?"
But then it suddenly clicked in the Nincada's head.
"Wait...that other Pokémon from before isn't back with its entire clan for revenge and they are not right behind me, are they?"
It was the only logical explanation for the Abra's behaviour he could think of. And of curse the only logical explanation was one involving catastrophic consequences for the Bug type himself. Just typical.
Couldn't the Pokémon he would be encountering be weaker than he was for once? Oh, wait. Those Pokémon didn't exists. Noone else was as weak as he was, and if they were to be any weaker, they would quickly succumb to air pressure.

"Hmm? What are you talking about? I mean startling you, then... I must have looked crazy. I don't know how I didn't see it before. That poor Frufrou. And you must have been scared out of your mind watching me beat it up, thinking it was that that attacked me. The obvious assumption you must be operating under is that I was gonna fight you. I'm not. I thought it was a sneak attack. But I was wrong. You were defending yourself from a perceived threat. Does that sound about right? So that doesn't warrant a fight. Unless you want to. But I don't want to, I just want to enjoy the day." He realized he was beginning to ramble, and quieted himself to give this bug a chance to speak.

How? Just how did this creature jump from babbling an incoherent mass of ideas and statements to immediately discerning the entire story behind this occurrence?
What was going on in that psychic superbrain of his?

"Uh...I was...how did you do that?! I mean - just a minute ago you were...and then you..."

Quite obviously Ned had no idea, how to respond to the Psychic type's deductions. Weren't Bug types supposed to be resistant to Psychic types? So how had the Abra been able to assess the situation this easily? He didn't seem to be angry about it. But maybe that was just another strange mind trick of his to make Ned lower his guard. What was he supposed to do here?

He put his finger to his temple as he thought, "Because, there's no pokemon searching for revenge behind you. You've been acting strange and seemingly defensive this whole time. This would also match up with the inexplicable attacking me. If I had accidentally scared you it would only be logical that you would attack. Not to mention you insisting I get out subtly by claiming this place was worse than the beach. My behavior would seem odd if you were the one who attacked me, so if you thought I was crazy it would make sense you would want me gone. The Frufrou put up no fight. And there was only one attack, not a series, there was no attempt to take me out. So if it wasn't the Frufrou the obvious candidate for the attack is you. And you were just protecting yourself, as you saw it."

He continued, putting his hand back down, "and if you were wondering, I didn't read your mind. I can't do that. I deduced my explanation, as how I just explained." He gave a smile, half suggesting him being smug in his intelligent explanation, and half comporting Ned that he was in fact not hostile.