Chapter 20: Facing Your Fears

Finally, Claire was out of the hospital! She was so excited to go back home, especially knowing what she would do with John there. She could not contain her excitement of knowing what a human looks like originally. Even though she could probably search on that app that supposedly knows everything, Claire could hold her excitement to experience the actual thing in the flesh.

The Vulpix was walking along the sidewalk, being careful of her surroundings. If there were Pokémon turning humans into something like that Charmander, she has to be careful. Because she doubts that is the work of only one Ceruledge. While walking, she carefully looked around, trying to spot anyone trying to act suspicious. However, she was not paying attention in front of her, so she bumped into a Pokémon, making her flinch. “Ack!” She quickly shook her head. “Sorry wasn’t paying atten-” She finally realized what Pokémon in front of her… a Galvantula. “Huh!?”

The electric tarantula looked at Claire and she flinched along with the fox. “You’re…”

“You’re…”

Suddenly, the Galvantula did something unexpected and bowed, lowering the front half of her arachnid body. “I’m sorry.”

“. . . what…?”

The tarantula looked up to Claire. “I’m truly sorry for attacking your team and capturing your schoolmates. I am honestly glad that you managed to knock me out.” Claire was looking around with confusion before looking back at the Galvantula as she continued. “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have thought about that all of this seemed off!”

“Wait, what do you-”

The arachnid raised her body again as she interrupted Claire. “Think about it! There’s no way a hatchling that was born days ago could learn to speak so well, and those abilities he demonstrated during our battle are things that even a nymph wouldn’t even think about doing. I was completely blinded by rage and motherly instincts that I could not see something wrong within my son!”

“Well… that’s because-”

“So please, if you don’t forgive me, at least accept my apologies Vulpix.”

With an unamused face, Claire asked. “Can I speak now?”

The Galvantula tilted her head confused. “Yes you can, you always could.”

Claire sighed and began. “Look, I forgive you for what you did, it’s not like you’ve killed anyone because of this. It’s expected since I uh… kinda experienced motherly instincts first hand…” A memory of Reya sending one of her bullies flying away with Psychic crossed her mind. “And about your son… he’s uh… special…”

One of the arachnid’s mandibles twitched as her six eyes blinked. “What do you mean by special…?”

Claire looked around, there was no one watching, however, she did not feel safe when telling John’s secret in public after what she had learned. “Um… would you mind if I took you to my home? It’s just not safe talking about my friend in the streets.”

The Galvantula was about to ask why, but she hesitated when she noticed the nervousness in Claire’s eyes. Something you must know about when living in the wilderness is that you should always read your prey before moving in for the kill. Makes the hunt way easier. John’s mother sighed. “Alright then… I personally think that entering a house makes the Pokémon soft and weak, but what the heck do I have to lose… lead me there Vulpix.”

“My name is Claire…”

“Alright Claire… or whatever…”

Claire leads the Galvantula back to her house. It was awkward, she was literally taking the Pokémon who tried to kill her right towards her house, it made her a bit scared of what was going to happen. The Vulpix tried to make it less awkward by striking up a conversation as they walked. “Hey so… what’s your name?”

“In the wilds, you don’t give your name to any Pokémon except to the ones related by blood. So you’re not getting my name from me.”

“Um… alright then…” Claire needed to think of a topic fast, this conversation can’t just end on a sour note! “So… what do you do in the wild besides erm… hunting for food?”

“I keep a close watch on my eggs… or used to before that strange hatchling came around.”

“Well um… what do you do besides watching your eggs and hunting?”

The tarantula sighed and looked away. “Ever since I had the eggs, I swore to protect them at all costs until my children hatched… I would just get out of my nest only to hunt and get food for my stash, and that was it.”

“Which makes me ask…” Claire looked back at her as she kept walking. “Why are you in the town then?”

The electric arachnid looked back at her. “So… after the beating I took from you and your friends in the Mystery Dungeon, I immediately came back to my nest after I realized that I left my eggs alone for too long. I noticed they were still there untouched, it made me realize that I have been wasting a bit of my time…” She looked at the streets as she made a frown when a car flew by. “I had an idea to come here to apologize to you and maybe talk it out with my child…” She looks back at Claire. “He’s still living with you, right?”

“Yep.” Claire responded with a nod.

The Galvantula sighed in relief. “At least I still have a chance to make up to him…”

The two reached the house and Claire knocked on the front door. “Mom!”

As Claire called her mother, the Galvantula looked around the place. She noticed that this was the only place she felt that she was safe in literal years. Was living in civilization really that peaceful? However, her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened, revealing a Ninetales who beamed upon seeing her daughter. “Welcome back Clai-“ She then looked at the tarantula behind her daughter and her excitement faded to confusion. “… re…?”

“Um… mom, this is John’s mother, and… she needs to say a few things to him.”

---

The small greenish spider hid itself in Izo’s wavy tails, shaking from absolute fear. What was she doing here? Why did she come here? He would absolutely not go back, not to a shithole full of bugs!

“Claire, what’s going on here? Who is this?” Izo asked, super confused about the whole situation.

“So uh… dad, meet Galvantula… John’s mom.” Claire said with hesitance.

“What!?”

John shouted from the ice type’s tail. “Nope, that thing is not my mom and it shall never BE my mother!!!”

The Galvantula sighed and looked down in dejection. “It truly hurts hearing you saying that to me…” The arachnid took careful steps towards the ice Ninetales. “John…” The Joltik flinched at hearing that name. “I know who you are, Vulpix told me about you. At first, I didn’t believe her, but… when memories from that fight in the Mystery Dungeon came back to me, hearing you say those words… it hurt more than the fire of the Vulpix.”

Izo eyed her for a moment before sighing. “Do you want me to take him out of my tail?”

John’s mind was racing after he heard those words. ‘NononononononoNO!!! Please Izo, please don’t do this, I beg you!”

The Galvantula shook her head. “No, I don’t want to scare him even more…” Her six eyes looked at the tails. “I know you fear me, John, I know you even fear your own body. I honestly… find it pathetic… however, I do respect your wishes. Because, even if you deny it, I still am your mother, and I still love you…”

John could not process it anymore, that monster was speaking to him so nicely, with a really comfortable tone of voice, unlike their last encounter. Why was there a part of him that wanted to get close to it and hug it tightly? Shower it with love as he embraced its fuzzy hairs. He cannot do it, that is not his mother it’s NOT-

… what if it was his mother though…?

John, with a lot of bravery mixed with hesitance, peeked his head out of the icy fur of the Ninetales and looked at the Galvantula. With his human eyes, he saw a red and black arachnid-like creature the size of a large dog, with eight bloodshot eyes, mandibles filled with sharp teeth, and spikes coming out of the abdomen. Through his Joltik eyes, he saw a motherly Galvantula who looked sad and dejected that her own son was neglecting her. The human-turned-Joltik didn’t know what sight to focus on, which made his four eyes tear up a little from all the uncertainty. “M-mom…?”

That word made the Galvantula look up and make a surprised face. “Yes…?”

“You…” His main vision keeps switching between the monster and his mother. “Are you really… my mom…? Am I… your son…?”

“Yes! No matter how you see it… you came out of my egg, that makes you my son!” She said with a smile forming between her mandibles.

John fully came out of Izo’s fur, debating with himself if he should be doing this. But, that Joltik part of his mind was slowly winning. Who was he kidding? He long desired to have the love of a mother. His human parents never gave a crap about him, they weren’t there when he first went to school, he was forgotten at school sometimes, and when he graduated, only his friends were there to watch him. John had nothing on his birthdays, he didn’t care about presents or cake, he just wanted someone to celebrate with him, but no one was there until he reached adulthood and his friends threw a surprise birthday for him. That was the first time he ever felt loved in his life. He just can’t reject the only chance he has because of some stupid fear he has!

The monster he had in his vision vanished from his sight and instead was replaced with his tarantula mother, stretching her forelimbs. “Mom!” John said with tears in his eyes as he jumped towards the Galvantula and was embraced by the tarantula’s hug.

“My child…!”

“Mom…” Both electric arachnids started crying as they awkwardly hugged each other. Claire smiled at the reunion and went to her father’s side, resting her head on Izo’s fur. Both look at each other with a smile.

John wiped his tears with his nubs. “You d-don’t know how long I yearned for this…”

“Me too… my dear child, me too…” They separated from the hug, and they both looked at each other, each with smiles behind their fuzz. “Would you… would you forgive me for the way I acted in the Mystery Dungeon, my dear…?”

John looked away as he remembered that scene. The first time he met his new mother in the flesh. He thought of her as a savage wild monster back then, but when he looks at her now, he sees… well a giant bug, but more human than a soulless animal. He sighed as he looked back at the Galvantula. “I do, mom.”

“Thank you, my son.”

Meanwhile, Izo spoke to Claire. “Also, where is your mother?”

Claire looked up at Izo. “Well, she went to the market to buy some stuff for lunch. Mostly because of her…” She pointed her paw at the Galvantula.

“Oh, I see.”

After a small while, Reya arrived with the ingredients. Meanwhile, John and his mother were having a talk with one another in the backyard. “So… could you tell me about your human life? How was it before you were rehatched?”

“Um…” John looked away, with a frown on his face. “Well… I guess I can say, you’re my… mom. Sorry, it still feels weird saying that…”

“It’s okay. It must be hard getting used to a new world in so little time.”

“Yes, it is…” John gave a sigh and looked down. “Being honest, my old life sucked… my parents basically neglected me, like I was some sort of a waste of space. School wasn’t any better, I was bullied a lot, for no good reason, and even the teachers or staff did nothing…” The Galvantula opened her mouth before closing it, not speaking anything. “I was sent to another place by my parents, under the watch of a man that worked in the police… he didn’t treat me any better…”He raised his head and smiled a little. “At least everything changed once I reached adulthood, I found a really nice guy, and my life basically changed for the better.” He frowned again. “I owe him a lot, I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for him…”

Suddenly, John felt a limb on him as the arachnid pulled him into another hug. “I’m so sorry you went through all of that, my child…”

John wanted to hug back, but the lack of long limbs was a bit of a small issue. “Thanks.” He nuzzled his head further into her. “Honestly… you’re the first type of parental love that I’ve received in either of two lives until now…”

“I understand…” The tarantula looked around until her eyes locked on the big Snorlax dummy sitting beside the fence. “Hey, can you tell me the moves you know? You haven’t been slacking off just because you’ve been sleeping with civilized Pokémon, right?”

“N-nope! I actually know two moves. Grappling Silk and Electroweb.”

The Galvantula tilted her head. “I don’t think I’m familiar with this Grappling Silk. Was it that thing you used to zip away in our fight?” John nodded. “Very interesting use of your silk, I never saw any of our species doing that!” She patted John on his head with her sharp nubs, being careful trying not to scratch him. The Joltik blushed, he had never received so many compliments in such a short time span of less than one week.

“Thanks, my human knowledge helped me think of that.” He rubbed the top of his head sheepishly.

“Now…” The Galvantula walked towards Snormmy and stopped in front of it. “A Joltik needs to fully master Electroweb before ever stepping out into the wilds. At least, that’s what my mother taught me when I still lived in her nest.” She then turned to John. “Show me your Electroweb, use it on this fake Snorlax.”

“Um… alright then!” John slowly walked up to the Snorlax, he needed to find a way to move faster that doesn’t involve him chucking out strands of silk left and right. The Joltik stopped in front of the dummy beside his mother. He looked at her and she nodded. He looked back at the dummy taking a deep breath. He puffed up his cheeks, filling them with silk, and injected some electricity in his silk before releasing a cluster of string shots, with small sparks of electricity running through the web-patterned silk. It landed on the Snorlax dummy’s belly, shocking a part of that area but not much else. John looked back at his mother. “Well… that’s all I can do for now.”

The Galvantula hummed at the sight of John’s web. “Well… at least you got the pattern right. However…” She turned her head to the Joltik. “That is not an Electroweb.”

John tilted his head. “Huh?”

“You see, an Electroweb is a web fully made out of electricity, not a normal web with an electrical current. An Electroweb is like this!” The electric and bug type grinned behind her fuzz and jumped. She puffed her cheeks and let out a glowing electric web from her mouth, latching on the dummy and shocking its entire body.

“Oh wow…” ‘It looks disgusting seeing another one using it themselves… at least it looked less disgusting than shooting out just silk from the mouth.’ John thought before looking back at his mother. “So that was the true Electroweb?”

“Indeed my child! That is how an Electroweb is supposed to look like!” The Galvantula beamed as the Electroweb disappeared. “Unlike normal webs in battle, an Electroweb is supposed to make your opponents slower while also paralyzing them. A good option for when hunting! On a side note, you can even make a nest of those webs, although those require a little more energy to make it permanent.”

“Ah… I think I’ll never do that but… that’s good to know. So… I got the bug web figured out, how do I do the electric web?”

“Simple. You already managed to suck a good chunk of electricity before, right?” John nodded. “So, Electroweb is the opposite of that action, instead of draining electricity, you spit it right back out. As a Galvantula, it’s a bit different since we can generate our own electricity when we evolve but it should be simple to grasp for you.”

“Alright, I’ll try it out.” John turned back to the dummy and just stared at it, remembering how he sucked the outlets of the Ninetales’ house. He closed his eyes and imagined how it would feel to put the electricity back in the open. As he thought of that, something deep within his body started sparking up with electrical energy, much stronger than the sparks he felt before, more like actual small controlled bolts of lighting dancing within and around his core. He suddenly felt the bolts inside his mouth, feeling a tingly feeling from them, waiting to be released.

John opened his eyes and released the electricity and it seemed to make the formation of a string shot at first before making a disfigured octagon pattern as it latched on the Snorlax dummy, shocking a larger area of the dummy. John panted as he began to feel a little tired from that. “Was… was that it?”

“Yep! That was the true Electroweb! Even though it looks a bit disfigured… with practice you can make it look better!” The Galvantula beamed as she patted her son’s fuzz.

“Yeah…” The Joltik looked back at the Galvantula. “Thanks, mom.”

“Anytime my dear child.”

They smiled at each other before John came up with an idea as his Electroweb disappeared. “I came up with something!”

The electric tarantula stopped petting the Joltik and tilted her head. “And that is?”

“It’s about Electroweb!” He looked back to the dummy. “If I don’t get the Electroweb right, I came up with something to also use in its stead. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I hope it does.”

“Well then, what is it?”

“Just watch!” John excited by the idea, skittled to the front of Snormmy, getting close and personal. He remembered that the electricity that came out of his mouth looked like the strands of silk he’d normally shoot out. If it’s malleable and made out of energy… could he…? ‘Oh lords of Pokémon bullshit, please let me get away with this one more time…’ He thought before summoning his electricity to his mouth with the same process as before. However, instead of releasing his electricity towards the Snorlax dummy, he shot it into the air above him, still holding some of it in his mouth.

The Galvantula tilted her head in confusion about what her son was doing. “Huh?”

As John thought, the electricity he shot was in the form of a strand of silk, approximately two meters in length. With that in mind, he brought the electric current down on the dummy’s head, hitting it as hard as he could. It left a small electric burn on the head. However, John didn’t stop there, he continued whipping the dummy with the same force as he swung the electric chain with his head. After a certain while, he stopped hitting it and began to pant as the electric whip disappeared in the air. “It works… it really works!” John began laughing weakly as he dropped to the ground, feeling tired.

The electric tarantula couldn’t help but just stare in amazement as her son did. Before she spoke something, another voice asked for her.

“What was that!?” They both looked at the door to the backyard and saw Claire looking at them with her eyes glistening with wonder and amazement, she ran to John and leaned her face close to him, making him flinch and lean back a little. “That was so cool! The way you held your electricity and hit Snormmy, what was that called!?”

“Well…” He saw his mother push Claire away from him a little. “It’s something I came up with after playing a certain video game…” ‘Sonic Boom has such cool weapons… too bad the game is trash…’ He thought before getting up. “I think I’ll call this move… Electro Whip.”

“Like a Vine Whip then?” The Galvantula asked.

“I don’t know what a Vine Whip looks like, but if it’s like the weapon I’m thinking of… then yes, like a Vine Whip I suppose.”

“Your human mind is a wonder but still… it’s kinda unsettling when I think about it.” The Joltik’s mother commented. “What if your mind reverted back to a baby? Like, I… don’t mind the way you are now but… it bothers me a little bit knowing what my baby was replaced by…”

John, with a frown, looked away. “I’m sorry for not being who you wanted. I swear it wasn’t my choice to be what I needed up as…”

“It’s alright my dear. The important thing for me is that I at least have a child, even if a bit more mature and less Pokémon in mind.”

“Yep! No matter what you were before, we still love you!” Claire said with a smile.

John smiled as well. “Thanks, guys.”

“Anytime!” Claire suddenly remembered why she was in the backyard. “Oh right, lunch is ready!”

The Galvantula groaned. “Do I really have to? I live in the wild! I can’t just succumb to the food of civilized Pokémon.”

“Oh come on, just this once, you’ll love it!” Claire insisted.

John nodded. “Yeah, the food’s so good, you must at least taste it!”

The Galvantula looked disappointed at the Joltik. “Not you too…” She sighed. “Fine… I’ll at least eat a little…”

John and Claire smiled as the two arachnids and fox went back to the house.