7: And They Were Roommates (II)

Rei – Snivy

 

I stared at the bright window, eyelids half-open as I groggily woke up from my nap. Haven’t had good sleep in a while… I always liked to sleep late, so when I have to rush to get to school early in the morning, I never get enough sleep. It’s a habit, but it’s not that bad… Everyone else does it, so it’s fine, right?

I smiled softly. I had no idea why, but this quick doze made me more refreshed than ever. I didn’t wanna leave this shabby nest at all. Not because I was too drowsy to get up—it was quite the opposite. Sleeping like this just felt nice, for some reason. Too nice.

It certainly wasn’t the nest—this thing is so uncomfortable. What was it then? The fact that I was all alone? The fact that I had nothing to do today? Or maybe something else entirely?

…wait, am I alone? I slowly turned my head, gazing around the room. The Pikachu was gone. “…oh, right…” I mumbled. “He went to… get something.”

“…god, I feel like I could just lay here all day, without a care in the world… not like I have anything to do anymore. No more school. No more homework. No more chores. No more… hmm…” Come to think of it, I didn’t have that many priorities. I lived a pretty boring life—I’d spend all my free time on video games, anime, and drawing. “…hm.”

It’s pathetic, yes. I know that well. But today I’m just… not in the mood to chastise myself about it. For once, I feel content.

“Why…” I turned my attention back to the window. It looked like the rain had stopped for now. There were still a bunch of dark clouds in the distance, though. I couldn’t see the sun from this angle—I think it was turning noon—but light was seeping through the glass, hitting my… tail leaf.

“…oh. That… that explains a lot.” It’s happening again—that weirdly comforting feeling I get when that leaf touches sunlight. It’s a strange, warm sensation that I’m enjoying… makes me feel relaxed and even a little giddy.

A part of me wondered why this was happening to me. Was I photosynthesizing or something? I suppose it made sense, considering my current form.

…wait wait wait holy shit again?? My eyes widened in realization. Oh god it’s happening again, get up Rei get up please this doesn’t feel right! Trying my best to fight off the sensations, I dragged my tail out of the light and sat up from my nest. The energy I seemed to gain from the sun lingered but didn’t get any stronger, thankfully. 

“…I swear, it’s like some kinda hypnosis…” I shuddered. “I really shouldn’t be feeling this way. It’s weird!” I just woke up as a Snivy yesterday, and I’m already starting to get comfortable with it… Gah, I don’t like it at all! I should be at home, as a normal human being, playing Genshin all day and staying up real late! I’m a proud shut-in—grass and Vitamin D should be my sworn enemy!

Reluctantly, I get up and inch closer to the window. Oh, how the table turns. I’m sitting right in front of the window, my leaf facing the sun. “…this is so embarrassing.”

 

The door creaked open, and Ichi walked in. “Yo I’m—what the heck are you doing.” Horrible timing. Fantastic.

“Ichi! Uh, nothing! I swear it’s nothing!”

The yellow rat stared at me, then at my tail leaf. “Is this some kinda grass-type thing I don’t understand?”

“I-I don’t understand it either!” Flustered, I quickly stood back up, almost tripping again. “…we don’t talk about it. Ok?”

“…riiiight.” Ichi chuckled.

“Don’t laugh! I… I couldn’t help it! I’m still not used to being a Snivy.” I crossed my arms. In retrospect, acting like a tsundere really wasn’t helping my case. “The sun’s just… really tempting to me for some reason.” Oh my god shut the fuck up.

“I’m not makin’ fun of you, don’t worry… Anyway, I bought some snacks!” He held up a paper shopping bag he had in his hand. “I know it’s almost lunch, but I’m not really in the mood for a full meal, haha… especially after splurging fifteen grand.”

“What kind of snacks?”

“Uhh…” Ichi peeked into the bag. “Got some Pecha and Aspear berries… some chocolate bars and bottles of cola, too.”

Under normal circumstances, I’d go for the chocolate in a heartbeat. I just woke up, after all—usually I’d be pretty hungry by now. Not in the mood for whatever a Pecha is though (a peach, maybe?). “…I’m good.” My stomach felt empty, but it wasn’t growling for food at all. “I think the sunlight killed my appetite.”

“Pfft- what, have you been feeding off of the sun or something?”

“…I think? What’s it called again… photosynthesis? Yeah, I… I guess I’ve just been eating sunlight this whole time.” I shuddered again. “Feels weird.”

“But you like it, don’t you~?” Ichi grinned.

“…I plead the fifth.”

“What?”

“No comment, I mean.”

“Well anyway, that kinda sounds cool though—you’re essentially getting free food every day! You’re set for life! All you gotta do is go outdoors!”

“Ugh. Outdoors.” I rolled my eyes.

Ichi pondered for a moment. “…I guess the only downside to feeding off of the sun is that you won’t be able to savor real food as much, though.”

“Yeah, uh, is there a way to turn this off? I wanna eat actual food, of course!”

“I dunno, I’m no Grass-type expert.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Gah, this photosynthesis crap is so cool yet so unnerving.”

Ichi put down the bag between the two nests and fished out a round yellow fruit with green circles dotted around its skin. I guessed it was one of those Aspear berries—it didn’t look like a peach, so it had to be that.

“…hey, do you have to deal with some weird shit living as an electric mouse?” I asked.

He took a big bite out of the berry. “What’s a mouse?”

“You. Dumbass.”

“Nah, you’re the dumbass! I’m a Pikachu!”

I facepalmed. “Yes, but I mean- uh- aren’t there other mice? Like… Dedenne, I think? Or Minccino?”

“Well, we’re all rodent Pokémon, if that’s what you mean. We’re all classified under different species groups. You’re a serpent Pokémon, for example. Even with the limbs.”

“I…” So they know about different types of animals, but not the animals specifically? That’s a little confusing… “…whatever. Back to my question—do Pikachu have any little quirks?”

“Hmm… well, I gotta make sure to discharge myself every once in a while. My cheeks are constantly building up electricity—it’s bad for my health if I don’t let out that energy. it’s pretty common for Electric-types in general to deal with that…” Ichi put his other hand on the red spot on his right cheek and rubbed it a little. I could hear a bit of crackling as a few sparks bounced around his paw.

I took a step back, afraid of getting shocked. “Woah…”

“Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna shock you. Probably,” he snickered. “Releasing electricity is pretty easy for me. Usually I just do a bunch of laps to let it all out. I can run super-fast, y’know! I use the energy to make my steps quick,” the rat bragged. “I can do other neat tricks with it too.”

“…does it feel good?” I asked.

“Well, of course!” He smiled. “How do I put it… releasing electricity makes me feel tingly and energetic! Kinda funny, considering I’m losing energy by doing it.”

“…” If it makes you feel the same way I do when I photosynthesize, why ridicule me for it? I stayed quiet, simply nodding my head.

Ichi quickly finished his Aspear, wiping juice off of his paws. “Welp, I’m super bored right now. All that electricity talk made me in the mood for running. Wanna race?”

“…I don’t think I could beat you.” I shook my head.

“Hey, you were able to run pretty fast yesterday! Almost caught up with me! Snivys and a bunch of other Grass-types are naturally fast, especially with all that sunlight energy.” He smiled. “Come on! It’d be fun!”

“…I’m good. I just wanna go back to sleep,” I fibbed. I just really don’t wanna run. Or go outside. Even if the sun is so tempting.

“Oh, okay! Maybe later then.” He scurried over to the door. “I might stop by the plot too and see how far Machoke is with our house!” 

“It… it’s only been a couple of hours, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, and he said it’d be done in a week! That’s pretty quick for a house… I think! He must already have some parts completed!”

“…whatever you say.” I rolled my eyes.

“See ya in a bit, Rei!” Ichi waved as he dashed out of the room, finally leaving me alone. As soon as he was gone, I slumped back onto my nest and gazed around.

 

Our room resembled just about any cheap motel back home. Almost. Two nests (I still don’t get why we have to sleep on these), a tiny desk with a “lamp” on it next to the window, a little chest next to said desk, and a bathroom next to the door. No TV, microwave, or mini-fridge, of course—guess they haven’t been invented yet here. Hell, I even put “lamp” in quotations because it’s more like one of those oil lanterns you have to light. No electricity at all. At least the toilet’s a toilet, with proper plumbing I’m assuming. They got that part down, thankfully.

…for real though, all this for seven thousand Poké? It really is overpriced.

“What to do, what to do…” My gaze landed back on the desk. It looked like there was something on it. Walking over, it turned out to be a blank notepad, like those free pieces of stationery hotels usually leave out for guests. And a pencil, too! How convenient.

“Drawing time?” I ask myself, picking up the pencil and paper. Holding the utensil in my hand felt weird with two fingers now gone. Not to mention how flimsy these leaf hands are! They’re almost paper-thin! Still hard to bend them all the way back, though. Don’t tell me I’m gonna have to relearn how to write.

I huffed as I gripped onto the pencil and plopped myself onto the chair. Thanks to no longer having opposable thumbs either, I have to resort to holding it like a knife. Let’s try writing first.

“…Rei…ji… Kata…yama…” I muttered out loud as I scribbled my name. It was hard to get my hand stable. The letters were jagged, big, off-centered, and just barely legible. “…fuck.” How am I gonna draw now?? Oh god, I don’t even wanna see how crappy my circles are… I groaned. “Do I seriously have to relearn this ?!”

I’m certainly not the greatest artist in the world. Drawing’s but a hobby of mine. It’s strange for a guy like me, I know. Especially since most of what I draw is anime characters. Specifically Genshin characters. (Hu Tao all the way!) I’ve shown my art to a handful of people, and they seemed to like it. But for all I know, they could be bashing me behind my back.

Is it pointless to do something even if you’re not good at it? Maybe. But is it fun? Definitely. I usually do a lot of things with a lack of purpose. It’s not like I have a proper aim in life. For example, I like drawing, but I don’t have the drive to be a full-fledged paid artist who takes commissions. And I like gaming, but I don’t have the motivation to get good enough to be a professional streamer.

 

“Okay. Please, for the love of god, let me draw my waifu properly.” Flipping to a new page, I started off with the absolute worst circle in the world holy shit. “Oh my fucking god, do I have Parkinson’s or some shit??” I scowled as I hastily redid it about ten times. As I continued the sketch, I tried going slower with my strokes, but that just made my lines even shakier. And going faster made it harder to control where my strokes went. 

I had to strike a balance with it—a balance I already struck before when I first started drawing a couple months back, and now have to find again now that I’ve got leaf hands. “This would be so much better with brush stabilization. And a computer as a whole, I guess.” 

“Ahhhhh why is this so hard now….”

 

After a good half hour of erasing mistake after mistake after mistake, struggling to remember all the details thanks to having no access to reference images, and coping with the fact that my very minuscule artist talent has now left me, I dropped my pencil on the desk quite dramatically, the pencil clattering against its surface. I burned through about half of the eraser tip from a single sketch.

“I… I did it… hah… hahah!!” I celebrated. “My Hu Tao drawing is complete!” If there is no anime in this world, of course the only logical choice is to make some yourself. I stared at my new masterpiece. It was a “quick” sketch of a cute girl donning a cap with a fire talisman on it, carrying a spear, and being accompanied by a tiny ghost.

“…it’s absolute shit,” I immediately noted to myself. “Ugh, the body is off-center and unproportionate… her hat looks so scuffed… the eyes don’t look right… and don’t get me started on the hands!”

If you think I’m being a little too harsh on myself, this is the mindset literally every artist has, so it’s fine.

“Whatever, I guess…” I stared at the ceiling again. “I guess my skill’s gone… not like I had any in the first place.” I really don’t wanna sink so much effort into relearning how to draw.

 

As I laid back against the chair, the door loudly slammed open, making me yelp. “Wha?!”

“HolyshitholyshitholyshitRei!!” The Pikachu dashed through, panicking. 

“Ichi what the fuck??” I exclaimed.

His fur was visibly standing on end. “This is bad, this is so bad!!”

“What?! What is it?? Tell me!”

“We got tricked! Machoke’s gone!”