A gave Blink her own cup of berry chunks. I had a lot of information to digest so I couldn’t keep up with feeding her and myself. My hunger was a distraction now that I realized I was hungry, but the nurse just put out a lot of stuff and a small timeline to think it all over. “Where do I even start?” I ask Blink as she reaches the bottom of her cup and starts cleaning her face and paws. Blink stops cleaning to give me a . . . shoulder. . . shrug? . . . Maybe? “Hey Blink. Can you understand me?” I asked her. She stops her cleaning and stands up on all four feet. She nods her head up and down, very deliberately. “Thank you blink. I’m sorry for worrying you all this time.” She sits back down next to me and purrs.
Okay. So, I’m a ten year old in a world that has pokemon but I was attacked on my first night out in the woods. This world uses minerals instead of poke dollars. Umbreon seems to be an eevelution that you get from hurting an eevee. I haven’t heard umbreon say her name or any part of it, just beast sounds and purring. I’m in Unova and Kanto exists. Oran berries are tasty and I’m out. I flip my empty cup upside down. Blink hops off the bed. She seems excited. I notice that I have a big room. I have my own living room here. A couch, a sofa, an end table . . . or . . . no two, and a coffee table.
Blink jumps back on the bed with a battered backpack. I guess this is the one from . . . the . . . ummm. . . attack? . . . battle? . . . massacre? . . .
Blink paws at one of the pockets and makes a plaintive yowl. I look in the pocket but it’s black on the inside. I look over at Blink who is sitting patiently. “Are there more berries in here? Are they safe to eat after all this time?” I asked her. She nods vigorously.
I put my hand in the pocket and an inventory square opens next to the pocket. It only has six squares and only two, have items. “It looks like we have some oran and pecha berries.” Blink’s ears slump a little when I announce this. I press the button or . . . screen? . . . maybe? I feel the oran berry in my hand and pull it out. “Cool.” I hand the berry to Blink and notice a button that says EMPTY. It was a tiny red button in the bottom left of the ummmm . . . screen? Seven oran and ten pecha berries pop out of the side pocket of the backpack. I put one oran and one pecha in my cup and let Blink have the rest. “Just don’t eat them on the bed, Okay? You’re pretty clean but it’s juicy and we are expecting company.”
Each pocket on the backpack seems to have the same digital display with various item capacities. I had a thunder stone, some empty pokeballs, a couple bottles of fresh water, a full canister of full heal, house key, badge case, several educational books and magazines, knife, shirt, pants, underwear, hat, gloves, shades, and a pokedex. “A pokedex! Oh, this is awesome!” I exclaimed as I pressed the button and I feel a thick tablet in my hand. I pull out a regular twelve-inch tablet that’s kinda bulky. “This isn’t what I was expecting.” I look for a button or something to turn it on. “Where’s the on button?” “This pokedex belongs to trainer #HHO 668. Please confirm identification.” says the pokedex. Not sure where that sound was coming from. I didn’t see any speakers. “Why?” I ask sarcastically. “Identity confirmed. Welcome back Trainer Oline. Would you like to enter manual mode or continue in voice mode?” asks the pokedex. “Can you explain manual mode?” I asked hoping that it didn’t backfire on me and only picked up manual mode. I needed to know what I’m doing. “Yes.” It responded. Ummm. That’s it? No prompts? “Begin explanation of manual mode?” I sort of commanded. “Explanation of manual mode will now begin.
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I recline my head back with a sigh. The pokedex was pretty basic. It was just a tablet with internet. It did have a lot of my trainer and team info saved on it. It listed my registered pokemon with all the normal stats like height, weight, color, and gender. I had made notes for all my pokemon, even the pidgey and spearrow that were on my team for a few hours.
Pidgey didn’t like me. He was only nice while I fed him chesto berries. I had to put him back in the ball when i ran out. Spearrow likes to ride on my head and sleep. She didn’t mind when I covered her with my hat. Discovering cherri berries in my hair was a gib surprise. Blink is the fastest eevee ever! She was too big to sell, and everyone said her fur didn’t have any color so that means the breeder didn’t take care of her egg but I’m going to prove all of them wrong. Blink will be fast one day and I will buy her a thunder stone so we can show the world that me and my partner are more than anyone though we could be! Chesto berries are her favorite, but she likes pecha berries a lot too! She really doesn’t like aspear berries, but she eats them when mom gives them to her. Dad bought Blink a wiki berry when she ran off three rattata from the yard! Those might be her new favorites, but I can’t get them very often.
I look down at my empty cup and then my partner. This isn’t just my umbreon, this is my starter. She’s been through so much and now everyone is trying to pretend that she died so they can save face because her being an umbreon tells everyone around her that she’s had a hard life. I know that feeling. I had something similar before I came here. “Hey girl. The nurse said that no one believes that you are my eevee, Blink.” My umbreon moves from my side and sits upright in front of me. She doesn’t say her name but makes kind of low rumbling growling sounds. “It looks like you already know what I’m going to ask.” I say to her as I scratch behind her ear.
She pushes my hand back and stares at me with those endlessly deep eyes. “So, we’re going to decide this now? You do realize that I changed while I was asleep, right?” I ask. I feel a little wrong about this but since my umbreon and I both seem to have the same idea, I feel less guilty. “It says here,” I hold up the tablet/pokedex, “that a pokemon can receive a nickname after it is captured in a registered pokeball. A trainer can pick a nickname that will become their legal name for as long as he/she is an active trainer. The nickname can be changed at the start of a Journey, if I register to a gym, or if I defeat a gym leader in a battle for the gym badge.” The umbreon nods. “I don’t have any registered poke balls for some reason, so we have time to think about this.”
*knock, knock, knock*
What is your favorite berry?
