Trying again

Simon was right, Mark was already tired after he explained four or five of these ‘types’. At least things made a bit of sense, kind of a rock-paper-scissors situation… So he remembered that game, cool.

It was a bit unnerving how they could just make things like fire appear out of nowhere, but at this point, he was ready to accept anything.

“Okay, so I’m Ground-type, you’re Water-type, and Rose is Fire?”

“Yep! You caught on fast! Some Pokémon have two types, but not us three.”

The conversation was helpful. Not only because Mark learnt quite a bit about how the world operated, but also because it made him not pay too much attention to his surroundings. Poison Garden was a forest, but it was as unnatural as a forest could get: long hallways with wide rooms in-between, with trees perfectly aligned to work as walls.

At the start, Mark was trying to remember his path, until he remembered what Simon said the day before, these places change layouts. ‘So we don’t even know where we’re going. Great.’

It wasn’t long until an enemy appeared. Rose quickly pointed it out and gave the center stage to Mark, who just stood there not knowing what to do.

“C’mon, it’s just an Ekans. Poison-type, so it won’t do much damage to you. Try to use a move!”

“What the hell is a move?!”

There was a hint of hesitation on Rose after he said that.

“You may not remember, but your body will. Moves are a part of us, so you definitely have something.”

The Ekans was just there, looking at Mark curiously.

‘Okay. Just, get in there, and attack it. That’s all you have to do.”

Without thinking twice, Mark ran up to it and hit it with his bone.

…It didn’t do much.

“What was that?”

“I-I did what you told me to! I just got in and tried to do damage!”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t a move. What were you expecting?”

“I-I don’t kno-” The Ekans cut him short by biting him on the arm while he was preoccupied. “GOD! DAMN IT! You said it wouldn’t hurt!”

“Of course the Pokémon we find doesn’t even use a Poison-type move…” Simon facepalmed. “Okay, try again, we’re here if things go bad.”

And so he did, again and again. The Ekans bit Mark multiple times. It also used some kind of needle on its tail to stab him, which didn’t hurt much, but what did hurt was the attack that it did next. Mark couldn’t really tell what it did, but it hurt a lot, and it made him get launched back.

“Really? Double-Edge? You’re telling me a random feral has Double-Edge? Simon, deal with the Ekans, I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

“You got it.”

Rose ran up to Mark while Simon started spitting water to the snake.

“You alright?”

“No…” Mark was full of pain, the bite marks were bleeding, and he had a big bruise on his stomach.

Rose sighed, it was obvious to Mark that she was disappointed, just didn’t want to show it out of respect. Simon got in sight, looking concerned.

“Dealt with it, how is Mark going?”

“Bad… really bad…”

“Get an Escape Orb, Rose. We’ll try again later, right now he needs to rest.”

It didn’t take long until that same light as last time came up, and suddenly they were back at the entrance of Poison Garden.

“Take this.” Simon handed him another one of those blue berries.

“I’m not hungry…”

“It’s not for that. It’s an Oran Berry, they heal you. Now, c’mon, take a bite.”

Mark begrudgingly obliged. It did make him feel better, physically, at least. But all he could think of was how much of a failure he was being.

The walk back wasn’t that interesting. The mood was down, and not many conversations were had except for the occasional quiet talk between Rose and Simon.

Mark could hear them, he was next to them. But he didn’t care enough to actually listen.

“Hey, you look down. Do you need another Oran?” Mark’s train of thought got interrupted by Rose.

“No. I’m fine.”

“Why am I not believing you?”

He didn’t want to talk. He wanted to sulk in and ignore all of the problems and responsibilities he was having. But also, from the little time he had known these two, he knew they weren’t going to stop until they got an answer.

“You want to know what’s wrong? Me. I’m what’s wrong. I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t have lost my memories. I don’t know what my old life was like but it was certainly not this. And now here I am, stuck in a place I don’t even know, failing to do the one thing that apparently everyone else can do. The one thing that is apparently essential and that keeps everyone alive. That’s what’s wrong.”

Mark teared up a bit after venting. He hadn’t wanted to yell, but that’s how it came out. Trying to compose himself, he turned around and kept walking forward.

The quiet conversations ended there.

---

When they arrived, Mark just went to lay on what he called the couch.

“Ok, we should have a talk.” Mark didn’t want to. He already said what he needed to. But Simon wasn’t having it. “I’m going to speak anyway, so if you don’t respond, I just won’t let you talk.”

“Fine… what do you want?”

“First of all, I’m sorry. We had the bad luck to encounter the one Pokémon that had probably the highest level out of any we have found in that dungeon before. We should’ve been more cautious.”

“And yet you made quick work of it. I am the problem here, it’s not hard to figure out.”

Simon pretty much ignored his retort.

“Second, I don’t know how your past life was, but I can tell you that those feelings of defeat don’t appear after just a single failed mission. That came from before, I assure you.”

Mark didn’t have anything to counter with this time. Maybe he had these problems as a human too.

“And lastly, I wanted to say that you don’t need to fight to be useful in missions. Granted, it’d help mostly to protect yourself, but if you stay with us, you’ll probably be alright.”

“How else would I be able to not be a nuisance?”

“With items. Having a quick supply is as helpful as everything else. And admittedly, it’s something we lacked. Rose can be a pretty great fighter, but with both of us in the middle of a battle, we usually can only use items once we’re alone.”

Mark thought about it. “So like, staying in the back and just giving items when you need them?”

“That’s right! You’ll need to learn all the different items and what they do, but no combat needed.”

“Would that really help or are you just trying to make me feel better?”

“Both!”

Mark smirked. Okay, Simon could be funny sometimes, but he had a point. Might as well do that instead of standing on the way.

“Okay, fine, I’ll give it another try. But don’t expect much.”

Mark sat up, and Simon got next to him.

“And one more thing.”

“What?”

“I know you’re trying, okay? Don’t think you’re useless, last thing we want is for you to give up.”

“Why do you even care? We just met.”

“Because I know what it’s like to be alone. Do you think I always had Rose? It wasn’t until I was more or less a teen that I was adopted.”

“Oh…”

He never really thought about that. He just assumed that Simon was adopted as a young child, but no, that wasn’t the case.

Simon put an arm around his shoulders. “And besides, I want to think that we’re friends, so I’m gonna be there if you need me. Same goes with Rose.”

For the first time in these two days, Mark smiled. A genuine, content smile.

“Speaking of Rose, where is she?”

“She went to the guild, dealing with the paperwork of you getting into our team.”

“After all of that, she still wants me in?”

“Of course! You’re not getting rid of Team Timeless that easily!”

Mark snorted. “Timeless? Is that your team name?”

“Yep! And it’s gonna be yours too, so you better learn not to laugh every time you hear it.”

Both of them chuckled, it was nice to feel like things were going fine for once.

‘Let’s just hope this lasts.’