FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Preview image used for this chapter made by - http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=8947279

This is the journey of a man named Chris, who had dreams shared by many, yet lived experiences known by so few... There are many people in the world of Pokemon, who come in just as many varieties as these strange creatures. And you are about to discover, perhaps, one you may just consider the rarest of all...

Chapter 21 - Traumatic Memories

Optional track to LWR - Listen While Reading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEHkgcCv3QI

Looking at Snivy now walking around before him, Chris couldn't help but blink in surprise at how amazing she looked back in the peak of health, crossing his arms with a smile. "Incredible... I really can't wait to see you back in this condition... You sure were beautiful..." he said to himself, jolting and looking around nervously. "I can't see you guys... But you can probably hear me..." he said, looking up towards the sky. "Don't let what I said bother you Snivy, even in the state you're in now, I still think you're a beautiful Pokemon, and a seriously tough one at that!" he grinned, tossing a thumbs up towards the sky. Outside of his mind in reality, Snivy lay blushing with a slight smile, Kirlia nodding with a smile of her own in agreement. But back within the illusion of memory, Chris walked towards her past self, suddenly freezing as she turned towards him, jolting and smiling ear to ear. "Sn... Snivy...?" he said quietly, wondering if her past self actually saw him. She suddenly ran excitedly in his direction, making Chris laugh happily. "Its good to see you too! I had no idea memories could actually notice me!" he smiled, quickly lowering onto a knee and holding out his hands. "Come here you!" he told her, trying to grab her until she went right through him, causing him to sweat slightly.

"Uhh... Yeaahhh... Should have... Expected that, huh?" he said embarrassed, standing and rubbing the back of his head as in reality both Kirlia and Snivy groaned, shaking their heads. Turning around, he saw her running up towards another person, a man that was seemingly around his age, likely a little younger. He squat down and rubbed her on the head, smiling. Chris couldn't make out his face however, as it seemed as though it had been blurred out subconsciously by Snivy. "...Can't tell who it is, not that I would know him anyways... I guess you tried to wipe out your memories, huh...?" he asked, looking up towards the sky. Facing back towards the two, the person started walking off with Snivy, so he followed, walking next to them as the person started speaking. "So... I found someone else willing to battle us! And to top it off, the trainer has a Serperior! You get to see your final evolution face to face! Isn't that exciting!" he asked, getting a rapid nod and enthusiastic noises from Snivy in response. "This is a great chance for you to not only show how well you can battle, but to learn from your future self too! I can't wait for you to become a Serperior, so you work hard to make it happen, alright?" he said, poking Snivy on the nose playfully, getting a wide smile and a blush in response.

"Ooohhh... Pretty cool getting to meet your future self basically..." Chris said, raising an eyebrow."But then again... For it to happen to humans, that might creep us out more than excite us..." he laughed with a nervous tone, not really too keen on the thought himself. As they walked, a trainer suddenly came into view, waving at them and shouting to hurry up. "Coming, coming! She was off in her own world again!" the trainer laughed, causing Snivy to cross her arms and scowl embarrassed. Reaching the trainer, the two spoke for a few minutes before getting ready for a battle, the two standing across from one another. "I'll just battle with Snivy, she's the toughest of the bunch and the first Pokemon who joined me! If you don't mind, save Serperior for last! After all, that's the best part!" he laughed, getting a nod from the trainer in response. "This will be a three to one battle then! Good luck besting my team, its gonna take a lot to earn seeing my Serperior!" the trainer grinned, tossing out his Pokeball, revealing a Charmeleon. "Huh... So its Snivy against a natural weakness... Tough start..." Chris muttered, sitting down nearby to watch. "And an evolved weakness... Good luck..." he thought to himself, crossing his arms and sitting straight like that of a judge. However, although he expected Snivy to go through a difficult challenge, it wasn't long before she bested the trainers Charmeleon, making Chris blink in surprise and clap. "Ooohhh... Now THAT is impressive! Well done!" he said aloud, causing Snivy to flush brightly in reality and laugh with a quiet and shy tone. Kirlia, keeping her eyes closed to focused, scowled slightly, thinking how she was just as cool back when they endured their gym battle together.

Back in the illusion of memory, Chris watched the trainer reveal his second Pokemon, a rather lovely looking Liepard. "Oh wow... He takes seriously good care of his Pokemon... Would you look at the coat on that thing? Like a pillow I bet..." he muttered, suddenly blushing with a goofy smile as a fantasy of sleeping on a curled up Liepard ran through his mind, causing both Kirlia and Snivy to scowl in irritation in reality, slightly jealous over his cute and cuddly thought of sleeping with a random Pokemon. Kirlia sent just a tiny jolt of energy into Chris's mind, causing him to wince from his place deep within the illusion, rubbing his head with a grumble as he looked towards the sky. "Geeze... Sorry..." he scowled, watching the battle. Once again Snivy came out proudly on top, holding her nose high. The person who used to travel with her started laughing, pointing his thumb down towards the trainer across from him. "Alright! A winner like always! As it should be!" he said, Chris noticing a grin on his blurred face. "Mrrmm... He doesn't seem too bad... A bit too cocky for my taste... Victory is fine, but pride rubs me the wrong way..." he muttered to himself, Kirlia nodding in approval in reality while Snivy shrugged, herself actually enjoying being a little cocky from time to time...

Within the illusion of memory however, the trainer smirked, holding out his third and final Pokeball for the battle. "Alright then... Lets see how far that smug attitude takes you... Lets test how strongly their pride compares to yours, Serperior!" he shouted, tossing the Pokeball into the air, releasing the Pokemon from within. Watching Serperiors aura appear before them, Snivy looked up at it with a shrug, ready to fight until the Serperior itself appeared in a sudden flash, letting out a loud shout and stretching in its place, enjoying its freedom. Snivy looked at its body in awe, and as she stood ready to fight, the tall Serperior suddenly noticed her, its eyes growing wide as she glared down at Snivy, an expression as if it was insulted to see its own past self before it wanting to battle. Seeing Snivy as a sign of its own past weakness, and a mockery of its struggles to grow, the Serperior hissed enraged, bearing its fangs as its eyes glowed brightly. Snivy suddenly froze, her eyes growing wide enough to fall from her head as she looked into Serperiors eyes, wanting to look away yet unable, its intimidation luring her into a trap of sudden fear and respect combined. "Hey hey! Snap out of it! We've got a battle to win!" her past partner laughed, commanding Snivy to attack. But she slowly took a step back instead, Serperior threatening her with strikes towards her, a clear willingness, not to battle, but to sink its teeth as deep into Snivy as it could. Sensing this, Snivy looked at her former partner, shaking her head as her confidence slowly began to fade for reasons she herself couldn't understand. Her former partner refused to let her back down, encouraging her to press onwards, considering all the battles they had been through already. Shutting her eyes and slowly nodding with a gulp, she faces Serperior again, looking into its eyes as she attempted to show what rebellion against its intimidation she could.

This sent Serperior into an even greater rage, letting out a loud screech and hissing even louder, sounds not from a fellow Pokemon in battle, but an enemy ready to draw blood as Serperiors eyes sharpened more than normal, striking her fangs towards Snivy, making her jump away in fright. "W... Woah there! What's gotten into you?!" Serperiors trainer shouted, waving to get its attention. "Its just a battle! They've done nothing to you! Be nice!" its trainer scolded, causing Serperior to face him with a shocked expression. Its own trainer... Wanted it to be nice to its weaker self?! The self it fought and trained endlessly to evolve from, to better itself from?! Now facing its trainer, Serperior exposed its fangs once more and lashed itself towards him, driven by its sense of being insulted not only by its rival but its own trainer. He quickly dashed off, hiding behind trees as he waved towards Snivy and her former partner. "You two get out of here! Serperiors lost it! I dunno why, but something in its snapped!" its trainer told them. But Snivy's former partner shook his head with a grin. "No way! This makes the challenge even better! Lets take this crazy beast down!!" he told Snivy, his insult ringing in Serperiors mind, causing it to suddenly dash towards him. "W... Woah!! Snivy attack!!" he commanded. Although she tried, Serperior twirled and lashed Snivy with its tail, sending her flying off into a tree trunk, smashing against the wood and falling to the ground. Serperior thrashed its tail against Snivy's former partner and pinned him to a tree next, hissing in his face as its eyes glared into his. "Sn... Snivy!!!" he shouted, holding up his arms as the Serperior exposed its fangs yet again, ready to bite into his face.

However... The enraged Serperior noticed Snivy from the corner of its eye, weakly trying to stand up and reach out towards him, and after a moment of silence, keeping the tip of its fangs against his head, it slowly pulled its head back, grabbing him with its tail and throwing him at Snivy, turning towards its own trainer and hissing, seemingly demanding to leave. With a terrified nod, its trainer tossed his Pokeball towards Serperior, who caught it with its tail and faced Snivy, letting out another hiss as it tapped the Pokeball on its own head, returning inside as it fell to the ground. Its trainer quickly ran up to the Pokeball and put it away, helping up Snivy and her former partner as well. "S... Sorry... Never seen it like that... It was out for blood I tell ya..." the trainer said, pale as a ghost after seeing what his own Pokemon was capable of. "I'll be darn sure to choose who it fights more carefully... Dunno why but its mainly your Snivy that did it... Anything broken? Anything I can do to make up for the trouble?" the trainer asked, patting down the two. But in response, Snivy's former partner only grinned, suddenly laughing in excitement as he picked up Snivy/ "Did you see THAT?! The power and intimidation?! All that's gonna be yous Snivy!! We've gotta make you evolve as soon as we can!!" he shouted, with Snivy suddenly shaking her head rapidly with wide eyes, full of terror. "...Say what? Oh come on! You know you wanna evolve!" he laughed in response, giving Snivy a noogie as the trainer rubbed the back of his head. "So... You to gonna be alright then...? No hard feelings...?" the trainer asked. "No way!! In fact I owe you one!! That crazy Serperior of yours was incredible!! I can't believe a Pokemon can be so awesome!! Being able to terrify another Pokemon... And person just by looking at them!! That rage... Can't wait to have one of my own!! Lets go Snivy!!" he said, shaking the trainers hand and running off.

"...Whoo boy, I'm not so sure if that guy is all that good after all. That's a bit... Psychotic in my book." Chris said, standing in surprise. "Can't believe how crazy that Serperior went... One look at Snivy and it went from calm to blood thristy... Why would you want a Pokemon to become something just because it can terrify people...?" he said to himself. In reality, Snivy had been shivering the whole time its memory of Serperior played itself out for Chris, having to relive the moment yet again in order to show it to him. Looking towards the sky, he asked Kirlia if Snivy was alright and well enough to continue. After a moment, he felt a soft ping in the back of his mind, seemingly telling him yes. "Alright then... Whats next Snivy?" he asked, still looking up. Suddenly, the memory began to change, everything spiraling and seemingly melting all around until a bright flash surrounded him, suddenly standing on a stage with countless screens around him, each showing a different memory of Snivy alongside its former partner. "...I get it, rather than just one by one, I can just watch her life all at once... Smart idea you two..." he said, walking along as he watched various screens. The majority of them showed Snivy going through battles, with a few showing a moment or two when Snivy would bond with her former partner. "...For the most part its like you two had a pretty good relationship... So why is it I found you in the forest like you were?" he asked, watching as Snivy seemingly grew past her fears from meeting Serperior, loving battles and victory more and more with each scene he watched.

Suddenly, all of the screens started moving around, combining into a single large screen, flashing brightly as one by one they merged, until he stood before a screen large enough to fill an entire wall. Showing nothing but static, it suddenly flashed on, showing Snivy and her former partner standing together as she started glowing. "Alright!! Its finally happening!!" he told Snivy, jumping around excitedly. Looking at her, Chris saw a look of terror on her face as she looked over herself. "One step closer to having my own Serperior!! You're gonna be so cool!!" he told her, grinning ear to ear as his eyes widened, watching her as she began to evolve. Looking up at him, Snivy suddenly rapidly shook her head and let out a scream, the light around her suddenly disappearing in a flash as she stood in her current form. Tears in her eyes, she fell to her hands and knees, making sounds as if to say "I can't do it!!" over and over. Standing frozen, he blinked confused. "Wh... What did you do?!! Why did you cancel it out?!!" he shouted, taking a step back in shock. "Its what we worked for!! You know how much we fought for it!!" he told her, crossing his arms with an irritated expression. Looking up at him with tears continuing to well up, she made sounds as her voice cracked, as if trying to tell him "I'm sorry..." several times, shaking her head once again. "Its that stupid paranoia of yours coming back, isn't it?! I thought all our training helped you get over that!!" he responded, tapping his foot in agitation. He continued lecturing Snivy, clearly expressing his disappointment in her continuously for not allowing herself to evolve as he wanted.

"...This is getting annoying." Chris murmured, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, leaning his cheek against his hand. "Sorry to be rude you guys but... Next scene?" he asked, looking up at the darkness above. The screen suddenly went blank, and began splitting apart as new scenes surrounded him, showing how things progressed between Snivy and her former partner from then on. Looking around, he saw her going into her evolution phase repeatedly during battles, each time cancelling it out, causing her former partner to grow more and more impatient and enraged as time went on. The more they battled and traveled together, the more her body tried to evoke its evolution, causing her to struggle constantly to reject it, seemingly taking its toll on her mind. The more he watched, the more exhausted he saw her become, seeing the color in her face fading as her tail seemingly wilted over time. Eventually things progressed to a point where her former partner would leave her behind him, struggling to catch up with her small legs as he moved at a constantly brisk pace. Once a man who would lovingly carry her around and willingly spend time bonding with her, he slowly grew colder and colder, constantly distancing himself from her over time. "If you evolve all of this could change!!" he heard one screen say. "Stop acting so clingy!! You get enough attention!!" another said. "Spoiling you was my biggest mistake!! Learn your lesson!!" another shouted. "I can see and hear where this is going... The guy's fine and dandy when things go his way, then when something he doesn't like happens he acts like a rotten child... She would have probably evolved if he bothered to help her get over her problems instead of thinking fighting would solve all their problems..." Chris scowled.

Eventually, he suddenly saw her former partner pushing her away whenever they rested, eating and bonding with his Pokemon that had evolved instead. "You'll join the group when you act like the rest of us and have some common sense! Until then go sit over there somewhere!" he scowled at her, not even bothering to hand her any food either, be it purposely or merely without thought of it. Snivy pointed at her mouth as he turned his back to her, talking to his other Pokemon instead. When one of them offered to hand Snivy some food, he suddenly swat at its hand, telling it she would eat when she stopped being selfish. His Pokemon looked at him nervously, then at Snivy in guilt, but did as they were told and turned their backs to her as well. "Man, do I love hanging around with my awesome Pokemon! Evolution is amazing!" he said, laughing while the others sweat around him, uncomfortable in the moment. Snivy slowly backed away, looking at the ground as she walked off and rested under a tree, curled up as she sighed. Chris sighed and shook his head, seeing yet another person mistreat Pokemon for self centered reasons. "You know... Between you, Snivy, and that Buneary... Kind of starting to wonder if going out just to see people like this is really worth it..." he said, looking up at the darkness. In reality, Snivy was laying silently, letting out a depressed sigh as she slightly sniffled, with Kirlia rubbing her head.

Watching things continue to progress, he saw the stages of Snivy's declining health as the degrees of her mistreatment escalated, at one point having food she found from the forest being snatched from her by her former partner, handing it to his other Pokemon and telling her to focus on evolving before wasting energy scrounging for scraps from the woods, seemingly forgetting he himself had been neglecting to feed her more and more. Obeying him until the end, Snivy nodded sadly as she followed, the distance between the two growing day by day, her body growing weaker and weaker, both physically and mentally. "Man... Just watching this is painful..." Chris muttered, standing up and walking along the gallery of scenes before him. Finally reaching the end, all of the screens merged back into one, suddenly pulling him against it and absorbing him within, setting him down in the memory itself. Looking around, he found Snivy stumbling in one direction, reaching out as he saw her former partner in the other, his back turned towards her. "I've had enough of your problems... You were a great Pokemon before you let your stupid paranoia ruin you. You had potential... Now you just hold yourself back... At first I tried to give you a chance and look past it... Then started to punish you, hoping that would work... But no matter what I do or say, you refuse to evolve!! I can't stand having a Pokemon that holds itself back out of some subconscious issue... I'm not going to waste my time trying to fix something like that when I can get another Snivy who will gladly evolve for me!!" he yelled, crossing his arms in detest. "Just like any other Pokemon you Snivy are a dime a dozen... When one fails you can always just find another... One more obedient, more willing to grow... I don't care how much you like to fight with me if you refuse to actually become something worth keeping my attention!" he sneered, looking back at her as Snivy wept on the ground.

"Look at you... Skin and bones... Barely able to lift yourself up... All because you had to be so pathetic. It wouldn't have happened if you did what I wanted from the start... You deserve to rot... For all the time you wasted I could have spent with a Snivy actually worthwhile... I gave you affection for nothing..." he told her, looking away towards the town ahead. "All the other Pokemon pushed themselves... They evolved without a problem! I respect them! But you... Who could respect a Pokemon who's afraid of itself...? You make me sick..." he told her, suddenly walking ahead and leaving her behind. "Maybe you'll get lucky... I hear some people actually live by the saying ones trash is anothers treasure! Perhaps there's a person around here who wants leftover garbage like you..." he said, putting up his hand to wave. "I'll pity you enough to say goodbye... Maybe someday you'll see me again with a Serperior who proved it could impress me in all the ways you failed... Pathetic coward..." he mocked, walking down the hill in front of them towards the town. Walking up to Snivy, Chris looked around and towards the town, noticing its the exact spot they had stopped in reality. "I get it... This is why she became so depressed... I was heading right for the spot he left her in the first place..." he muttered, looking down at Snivy who was weeping and crying out, still trying to reach out to the man who left her for dead, crawling forward so she could see him just a little more as he abandoned her, disappearing along the path into the woods below them. Chris faced the mans direction with a solemn expression. He slowly bent down onto a knee, reaching his hand out to touch Snivy, only for it to faze right through her. "...Right..." he thought to himself, sitting down next to her instead, hovering his hand over her head and motioning it as if he could actually pet her nonetheless.

Slowly the memory began to fade away, things disappearing around him as in reality Snivy sobbed uncontrollably, barely able to keep her mind in a stable enough state to show him anything else. Looking up at the sky as it swirled in a chaotic state, he suddenly smiled and stood, keeping his focus on the sky. "That's enough Kirlia... Get me out of here..." he said, in reality Kirlia nodding quietly in response. He started floating in the air, looking down as Snivy and the ground fade away. Shutting his eyes in the illusion, he slowly opened them in reality, seeing Kirlia flopping onto the ground, laying on her back worn out from using her ability for such an extended period. "Ha ha... You did great..." he told her, rubbing her head as she waved her hand in response, making a sound as if to say "aw shucks" as he faced Snivy, looking away from him as she curled up. Reaching out to touch her, she suddenly shouted, as if telling him not to in response, her body shivering as she wept. Slowly pulling his hand away, he looked towards the town ahead, sitting down with them and crossing his arms, thinking of what to do next...