Zeraora: Chronicles

Chapter 4: Pecha Berry

Everywhere I went, everyone treated me as a defect, screaming and running away in fear, chasing me away.

A pokemon which brought thunderstorms, causing forest fires due to lightning. But then, there was this child. That look on his face when we first met— was different. He didn't run or chase me away. He just approached me with a worried look in his eyes that said a million words. It was the kind of 'are you okay' look, the kind that puts you at ease, or the kind of curious and innocent look which made it feel fuzzy and warm instantly.

It was a strange feeling.

No one had ever asked me whether I was alright.

Maybe if I didn't scare him away, we could have been friends.

But it's all too late now. No rational person would casually approach a furious murder-y Pokemon with no ill will.

The next time he comes round, it'll probably be with a bunch of humans who would catch me right away.

—

The young boy came back after around 30 minutes, he stuck his head into the cave cautiously, looking at it.

"What're you here for?" I growled at him impatiently as he eyed me up and down nervously.

"Ah, s...sorry... you like to be alone... r...right?" He quickly went back out as his messy hair bobbed up and down. A few seconds later, he came back in, pouring out a mountain of berries from his bag, "I... thought you may be hungry..."

I shot him a glare. The berries look juicy... and there's an entire assortment of all you can eat berries for free... but what if it was a trick? And they were poisoned? After all, there's no such thing called 'free lunch' in the world.

Maybe that kid was just putting on that innocent cute face on to fool me.

"Eep!" He squeaked, picking up a pink berry and holding it out to me, "h...here... u...uhm. Wanna... have a bite? It'll... heal your poisoned status."

How did it know that I was poisoned?

I looked at him, staring into his fair mahogany eyes.

He's cute. I caught myself thinking. I quickly stamped that thought out of my mind.

Alright. I'll trust him once. If I feel sick afterwards, I'll teach him a lesson.

I snatched the berry from his palm with a a swipe, biting into it.

Hm. That's sweet. It's nice.

He smiled at me with an interested sparkle in his eyes.

Seriously, is watching a Pokemon eat that fun to watch?

Shooting him a cautious look, I poked the berries in front of me, checking whether they were safe to eat. Surprisingly, every single one of them was ripe enough to eat and had not even a single blemish on them.

This kid... I thought he ran off because I scared him away... but... don't tell me... that whole time... he was finding berries for me to eat? And he even realised that I was poisoned...?

Carefully, I sorted out the pink berries— the sweet ones that I like the best— into a separate pile.

"You... like this? It's a Pecha Berry! It's sweet, isn't it! Do... you like sweets too?" He observed.

Snorting, I looked aside, throwing a few Pecha Berries into my mouth, munching on its soft juicy flesh.

I shot a glance at the boy, who was still looking at me eat as if he had never seen a Pokemon enjoying a snack.