From: "Rob" <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Subject: [PW!] Stopping To Smell The Roselia Date: Saturday, January 03, 2004 8:11 AM Having been recently released from Verdanturf Town's Mental Asylum, Elsa feels pretty good about herself as she trots onto Route 117, the path that leads from the place she's been trapped in for eight years to Mauville City. The sun's bright rays lead her to squint her big green eyes that aren't used to sunlight and a gentle breeze tosses her long dark brown hair about her face. A serene smile remains on the thin girl's face as she strolls down the grassy route wearing the outfit she recently selected for herself - a green tank top, black capri pants, a brown fanny pack, and black pumps - a welcome change from the drab green gowns she's been wearing for the past eight years. Elsa passes a pair of beautiful flower gardens that are fenced off from the public, then she sees Zigzagoon tails darting through the tall, unkempt grasses of the route she's never walked on before. Happy Marill are singing beautifully as they swim around in ponds up ahead, and Elsa can't wait to get closer so that she can better hear their siren songs. As far back as she can remember, Elsa has been fascinated by Pokemon. She's more fond of them than she is of people. Having been deprived of her passion for so many years, the bright, beautiful colors of the Volbeat and Illumise she sees fluttering about the route stand out in her mind as they go about their daily business. She watches as one particular Illumise shoves two fists full of pollen into a bright pink flower and Elsa can't help but giggle when the Illumise proudly poses next to the flower she's pollinated with a huge open smile on her face. As Elsa walks closer to the ponds where the Marill sing their songs, a pair of roses, one red and one blue, that are peeking over the tall grasses divert her attention away from the Water Pokemon. Seeing how beautiful they are as they sway in the breeze, and imagining how pleasant their aroma must be, Elsa literally decides to stop and smell the roses. She's careful not to trip over any Pokemon as she walks through the grasses, fully aware that it's dangerous to provoke most Pokemon when you don't have one of your own to defend yourself with. Once she stands next to them, Elsa crouches down and lets her nose hover over the two roses positioned side by side. She takes a whiff of the red one first, and marvels at its tantalizing scent, then sniffs the blue one and her nostrils flare in an attempt to let in more of the alluring smell. Deciding that she would love to keep these flowers as a reminder of the day she left Verdanturf Town, she reaches down with both of her hands and tugs them at the same time. When she pulls on the flowers, she lifts a one foot tall Roselia up by her arms, which just so happen to be the two roses Elsa just smelled. The pain that courses through Roselia's arms due to Elsa's pulling her up by her frail stem arms wakes her up from her nap. Finding herself dangling in mid-air, her limbs about to be torn off, the Roselia immediately shoots a Poison Sting attack! Fortunately for Elsa, the spikes shoot out of the top of the Roselia's spiky green head, which just so happens to be pointing away from Elsa's body. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Elsa insists, releasing her grip on the Roselia's arms, letting the small Grass Pokemon fall. "I didn't know those were your arms!" Elsa explains, backing away from where the Roselia fell, scared that she's going to attack again and actually make contact. Once she's walked backwards out of the patch of tall grass, Elsa thinks she's out of the clear until the Roselia she dropped parts some strands of grass using her flower hands and steps out into the clearing, her eyes closed in anger instead of cheer. "Roselia." The green Grass Pokemon with a Poison streak uses her Growth move, enlarging herself to twice her size to make herself look more menacing to the human she believes just tried to harvest her arms. Though she's only two feet tall after the expansion, Elsa knows that she can't judge a Pokemon by its size, so opens her hands and holds them away from the Roselia as she tries to justify her behavior to the Pokemon once again, "If I had known those were your arms, I wouldn't have tried to take them! I just thought they were flowers, honest!" Noticing that the human is no longer trying to hurt her, and that she hasn't sent out a Pokemon to attack her, the Roselia asks, "Se?" "It's true! Since the grasses were so tall, I didn't see your body, only your beautiful roses. I'm sorry if I hurt you in any way and I'm sorry that I woke you up from your nap!" When Elsa sees the slits of Roselia's closed eyes curve downwards in relaxation, she herself is able to relax, "I didn't even know Roselia slept holding their arms up." No longer feeling threatened, the Roselia points her red flower up at the sun, "Roselia rose roselia rose roselia sel!" "The sun?" Elsa glances up at the blue sky above for a second, then back down at the Roselia pointing upwards. "You raise your flowers high so you can take in energy from the sun while you sleep?" "Se." The Roselia puts her blue flower in front of her face and points at Elsa using her red flower, her way of indicating that Elsa's interpretation is correct, "Rose seli." "That's very smart!" Elsa smiles at the first Pokemon she's spoken since she was locked up in Verdanturf Town's Asylum, "You don't waste time like that. If there's one person who hates wasting time, that's me. I've lost so much time in my life, I plan on dedicating my every waking moment to training Pokemon! If I could figure out some way to improve myself while I sleep, like you do, I'll do that too!" "Rose sel Seli?" Roselia asks in disbelief. She has seen humans who call themselves Pokemon Trainers in action before and has considered them savage brutes. She has seen them spend hours hunting down and knocking out Pokemon in the fields to make their own enslaved Pokemon stronger. She has seen them tear families apart by putting Pokemon to sleep and kidnapping them in spherical prisons. She has even seen some of them pull Water Pokemon out of their natural habitats using poles only to beat the Pokemon senseless and leave them on the ground to dehydrate. Yet, this human claims she wants to train Pokemon and she hasn't tried to enslave her. She claims that her sole attack was unintentional. The Roselia is confused as she looks up at the human, trying to make some sense of her while the human looks down her, trying to do the same. Elsa smiles when she sees how intently the Roselia is staring at her through squinted eyes, "Would you like to get a closer look at me? I wouldn't mind. Don't be scared to come close, I won't hurt you." "Lia..." The Roselia straightens out the green leaf with a yellow streak that hangs down over her body with her two rose hands since the leaf got a little rumpled when she fell. Taking her time, she takes a few steps forward using her dainty legs to walk closer to the girl who claims she won't hurt her. She looks for the traditional belt where the savages keep their slaves hostage, but finds none on Elsa's person. She doesn't even see a single prison. What surprises her most is that Elsa isn't wearing a black trenchcoat, an article of human clothing she has come to associate with the most violent of the savage brutes. Meanwhile, Elsa notices that the Roselia is shrinking down to her normal height of one foot. By the time the Grass Pokemon is done with her thorough inspection, the Roselia's head is level with the golden anklet Elsa's wearing on her right leg. "Am I to your liking, Roselia?" The Roselia looks up at the human looming before her. She's not as tall as the most violent of the savages that have been plaguing the area recently, but she's tall to the short Pokemon. After considering Elsa's question for a moment, the Roselia nods her head, "Se." She reasons that if all Pokemon Trainers were as considerate as this one, then there would be no need for the rather violent capture methods or brainwashing techniques most of them use. Humans and Pokemon could co-exist peacefully if they expressed the kind of courtesy and consideration that this human has expressed in apologizing to her as opposed to immediately trying to attack her when she used Poison Sting in self-defense. While the Roselia ponders this, Elsa interrupts her train of thought, "I hope I don't sound too forward when I say this, but I can tell you're a very nice Pokemon since you accepted my apology and didn't try to hurt me out of anger. I know for a fact that not all Pokemon are like you, Roselia. I know that some would attack me even if I apologized to them out of rage. Sooo... I was wondering... Would you like to come with me? I'm all alone in the world, and I could use a friend like you. A friend who could protect me from people and Pokemon who aren't as nice as you." "Sel?" Roselia hadn't heard any human utter the word "friend" in recent years. She had thought stories of humans who treated Pokemon as friends were simply myths created to comfort the families of those who were abruptly kidnapped, to comfort them in their time of mourning. "Ro SEL?" Roselia asks, now truly amazed by the human she's interacting with. "Is it asking too much? If you're comfortable here, then you should stay here." Elsa says, not wanting to impose since she knows how unpleasant it feels when people, like her parents, impose their will on others, "But I would love it if you traveled with me. I can tell you're very smart and I know a thing or two about the world too. You can teach me what you know and I can teach you what I know! We can protect each other and keep each other company. But the decision's entirely up to you." "Rose... rose selia sel sel..." Dewdrops trickle from the Roselia's shut eyes as she hugs Elsa's leg with her flowers, finding what Elsa has just told her beautiful, "Rosel! Rosel!" She nods her head with a smile on her face, while hugging the leg where Elsa displays her anklet, "Rosel! Rosel! Rosel!" While she's happy to have finally find a human who she thinks she can trust, she suddenly pulls herself away from Elsa's leg and uses her roses to absorb the dewdrops under her closed eyes. Elsa's heart races at the thought of finally having a real Pokemon as a friend, "Does that mean you'll come with me, Roselia?" Though she got caught up in the passion of the moment, the Roselia now remembers herself and the skepticism she's developed over the years stops her from celebrating. Doubts enter her mind as to human's true intentions. "Rosel... rosel rose rosel rose." She looks down at her red and blue roses as she tries to decide what she should do. On the one rose, the human did almost rip off her arms and she's seen humans commit atrocities even worse than that. But on the other rose, if she doesn't go with this human, one of the more savage humans could come along and force her into slavery at any point. After weighing the options for a moment, the Roselia looks up at Elsa and nods before saying, "Rosel." "Thank you! Oh, thank you!" Elsa crouches down and runs the back of her index finger down one of the small Roselia's cheeks, careful not to touch her spiky head so she won't get poisoned, "You've made me so happy, I would be Kizzy right now if I hadn't gotten better! Will you come with me to hear the Marill in those ponds sing, Roselia?" "Rosel." The Roselia nods once again. She's careful not to be too happy that Elsa likes Marill songs just like she does. Having put her emotions aside, her plan is to follow Elsa, observing her behavior to see if she's being honest about how she feels or if she's too good to be true. The Roselia has decided that she won't allow herself to grow emotionally attached to the human until Elsa has proven over a long period of time that she's not a brutal savage like so many other humans. Elsa, unaware of the Roselia's plan, is very happy that a Pokemon has actually agreed to join her and that she now has a friend to share her experiences with. As Elsa approaches the two large ponds where Marill are swimming and singing in harmony, the Roselia she just met walks alongside her, observing her. Elsa lets out a satisfied sigh, thankful that she won't have to travel to Littleroot Town by herself. -Elsa