Cultivating Pokémon Ch: 3 New World Problems (Patreon)

Graveler squinted and raised her hands to block the sun from her eyes as she exited her cave. It was brighter than she remembered.

She rarely left her cave, fearful that something might happen in her absence. All three of her children were finally asleep, and the baby was still passed out from overstraining himself. However, Graveler knew she didn't have long before one of them woke up, and she needed to have gathered their food and returned by then.

So graveler left her home in search of the closest berry tree. Unfortunately, her nest was relatively high in the mountains, so she needed to travel into the nearby valley if she hoped to find any. She knew of a few locations she could check, but each was in another Pokémon’s territory. And now was not a good time to fight; Graveler could feel it in the air.

The air was charged with an unfamiliar energy, and it made Graveler nervous. The last time she felt something like this was back when a human tried catching the king of the mountain. Of course, the human failed, but the battle sent similar shockwaves throughout the mountain range. Only Graveler would’ve felt a battle of that magnitude even deep inside her cave, so that couldn't be it.

In the distance, dark clouds swirled around the great mountain. It was rare to see its peak and was almost always covered in thick clouds, but Graveler had never seen clouds that dark before. They didn't look like thunderclouds, and the more Graveler looked at them, the more she felt they weren’t right. Almost like they were unnatural.

Graveler suddenly felt an even greater need to hurry, so she tore her gaze away from the large mountain in the distance before tucking in her arms and legs and letting herself roll down the mountain. With her weight, she easily barreled over everything in her path. Mountain shrubs and anything else in her way were flattened with ease.

An occasional rock would be strong enough to redirect her slightly. Still, gravity ensured the 250-pound Pokémon would eventually reach the bottom, with few things being able to stop her once she began to roll.

Graveler channeled her energy into her skin, using [Harden]to protect herself as she tumbled down the mountain. Usually, when she moved like this, Graveler would hear cries of outrage from nearby Pokémon, but oddly she didn't hear a thing today.

It only took Graveler a few minutes to reach the bottom of the valley, where bleak stone and the lone shrubs gave way to a variety of plant life. The trees weren't as tall as those that grew outside the mountain range, but they were tall enough to tower over Graveler.

Graveler needed a moment to gain her bearings, but she recognized where she was. Her cave was directly above her. The walk back would take much longer than her trip down, which was all the more reason why she needed to get moving.

But even though Graveler knew she needed to hurry, she no longer rolled but waddled towards the nearest berry tree. Other Pokémon had definitely heard her rolling down the mountain, and if she made any more noise, she'd alert whoever’s territory she was entering to her being there.

This part of the valley used to be controlled by an Ambipom and a handful of Aipom, but Graveler had no idea if it was still their territory or if they’d lost it to somebody else. Rock Pokémon like Graveler preferred to dig out their own homes and wouldn't leave unless necessary; however, for other types of Pokémon, this wasn’t always the case.

For Pokémon who lived above land, it was common to battle with one another over the best territories, and for that reason, they commonly switched hands.

Graveler was ready for a battle, and as long as it wasn’t a grass Pokémon, she was confident she could win.

But Graveler didn’t see anything. In fact, she didn’t see a single Pokémon.

No one was angrily yelling at her to get out of their territory.

There weren’t any Pokémon anywhere.

No, that wasn’t right. If she looked closely, Graveler could spot Pokémon hiding around her; they were just doing their best not to make a sound.

Two Hoothoot were hiding inside a nearby tree, and Graveler spotted multiple bug Pokémon hidden among the branches overhead. They were just silent. Frighteningly silent.

Something had everybody spooked, and it worried Graveler.

Was it the little one’s parents? Maybe they came here and challenged the king for dominance? Graveler wasn’t sure. All she did know was that the longer she was exposed like this, the more danger she was placing herself in.

Graveler’s instincts told her she should turn around and go home, but she knew she couldn't do that. She and her children could survive off the rocks around their cave, but the baby couldn’t. He needed fresh berries, or it wouldn't matter that she saved him from her angry children. He would starve to death in a day or two.

Graveler wouldn’t let that happen, no matter what!

So, Graveler pushed on, treading deeper into the valley against her instincts, until she finally reached the first berry tree.

Only the tree was barren; it had already been picked clean by somebody.

There were a few small unripe fruits, but they would only make one sick rather than heal them. Berries ripened fast, but it would still take a few days before they were ripe enough to eat.

The baby couldn’t wait that long, so Graveler pushed even further into the valley.

Graveler passed many plants, but only a handful of them were berry trees, and all were empty like the first one she found. It wasn’t long before Graveler had searched all the trees she was familiar with, without a single berry to show for her hard work.

The valley was huge, and Graveler was sure she would find more berry trees if she traveled further in. But on the other hand, she wasn’t that familiar with the area going forward. It had been years since she traveled that deep into the valley, with the last time being right before she laid her last egg, and she had no idea what she might encounter.

There was a pond up ahead that had a lot of oran berry trees around it, but graveler also remembered that spot was always home to particularly aggressive Pokémon.

Graveler had a choice to make, did she skirt around the edge of the valley looking for more trees that might be empty, or did she go to the spot that practically guaranteed food but at the cost of a battle?

Graveler weighed her options, but there was really only one choice in the end. She would head for the oran berries. It would take too long to search for other trees, and her children would wake up before she made it back.

With a destination decided, Graveler made for the pond, hoping whoever was living there was willing to share some food with her, but she wasn’t holding her breath on it.

The soil under Graveler’s feet grew damper as she closed in on the pond. Her weight that helped her roll down the mountain was now working against her as her bulky frame sunk into the mud. Nevertheless, she pushed her way through the muck and tall grass until she saw them in the distance.

Just up ahead, Graveler could see the trees she was looking for. They weren't very tall, which was good considering her short stature. Their dark green leaves looked full of life, but it was the bright blue fruit that drew the eye.

One, two, four trees with ripe berries on them! Graveler had hit the jackpot. Those were the berries she was looking for, but of course, she wasn't about to just rush in.

Looking all around her, Graveler scanned her surroundings with a discerning eye without leaving her hiding spot in the grass. There was no way there were that many berries, just sitting there. If there were only a few, that would be one thing, but it could only be a trap with that many berries out in the open. But whos trap? That was the question.

Graveler focused on the pond, but she didn’t see anything moving in the shallow waters. Of course, there wasn't enough water for an aquatic Pokémon to survive, but that didn’t mean an amphibian Pokémon wasn’t hiding there.

Graveler set out worried about encountering a grass Pokémon, but she didn't consider a water type. Both typings were equally effective against her and could do severe damage if she wasn't careful.

Just in case, Graveler prepared herself for the possibility that she might have to flee. Of course, she would need to go back to her cave and wait for the children to wake up before she went out again, but sometimes that was all you could do.

When wild Pokémon battled one another, there weren’t any rules, only the survival of the fittest. So it was up to the victor if they stopped at their opponent fainting or if they chose to finish off their opponent once and for all.

Graveler wanted to do all she could to help the baby in her cave, but she couldn’t do that if she died. Her children were old enough that they would likely survive independently; however, Graveler didn't want them to have the same childhood she had.

Steadying herself, Graveler put on a tough face and started cycling her energy. Whatever was waiting for her would be in for a surprise!

Graveler pushed herself out of her hiding spot and walked forward, ready to greet her host. With fists if necessary.

Nothing immediately jumped out at Graveler as she neared the trees, but that didn’t stop her from keeping her guard up. Graveler paused a few feet from the closest tree, thinking something wasn’t right. Even with everyone hiding away scared, there was no way it would be this easy.

Channeling her energy into hands, Graveler leaned over grabbed the mud around her. The wet dirt solidified in her hands as her energy coursed through it, turning it into [Rock Throw]. Graveler chucked her newly formed stones in between the trees and frowned when a few of them got stuck midair.

Webs.

They were invisible to the eye but giant spiderwebs crisscrossed between the trees. If Graveler had walked forward a few more feet, she would've run right into them. They might not have trapped her, but they would’ve slowed her down considerably.

“Smart,” a clicking voice echoed amongst the trees.

Graveler didn't answer; instead, she tried to pinpoint where the voice came from.

The voice’s owner must have realized this because it didn’t say anything further. A heavy silence fell over Graveler; either she or her opponent had to make a move. She couldn't stand here all day.

It was then that her opponent did just that. Graveler flung herself backward as purple needles stabbed into the ground where she just was. [Poison Sting], graveler noted which attack it was.

With the webs and the attack they just used, Graveler had a good idea what type of Pokémon she was facing. Chances were, Graveler was up against an Ariados. Ariados is a giant spider Pokémon known to have an attitude and is quite cunning. They like to attack other Pokémon with their threads and secretly follow their target back to their nest, using the threads as a guide.

Graveler had the advantage of being a rock type up against Ariados’ bug type, but type advantages weren't everything. First, Graveler would have to find her opponent and then deal with its webs.

Or maybe she could do both at once.

Thinking fast, Graveler gathered her energy into her skin, which then started to form sand around her. The sand blasted in every direction producing a localized [Sandstorm].

The [Sandstorm] tore through Ariados’ webs, and those it didn’t break, the sand clung to, rendering them both useless and visible at the same time.

This was important because Graveler's [Sandstorm]attack revealed not only the webs between the trees but also a thin web that was stuck to the top of her. She didn't know when it was placed on her, but it just went to show how crafty her opponent was.

“Webs!” Ariados hissed in anger, pissed that Graveler destroyed all its hard work.

Graveler could see where Ariados’ webs were once the thickest, which meant Graveler knew which tree the spider was hiding behind because all webs always led back to their weaver.

Ariados realized its position had been compromised, so it crawled out of its hiding place to face Graveler head-on. The large red and black spider with a horn on its forehead glared mercilessly at Graveler as its mandibles flexed in frustration.

Ariados and Graveler watched each other, waiting for the other to make their move. Ariados already had its energy ready for its next attack, while Graveler used [Harden] again in anticipation of such a thing. Graveler fought to knock Ariados out, while the wicked spider had much more sinister thoughts in mind.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Graveler flinched as a massive roar echoed through the valley, giving Ariados the opening it needed, only the roar didn't come from the spider. Instead, he was paralyzed with fear, just like graveler was.

The two turned at the same time towards the tallest peak of the valley. Both panicked when they saw the massive shape soaring through the sky, heading straight for them. The king was coming!

Ariados used [String Shot] to fire a thick line of webbing towards the nearest tree and immediately started to swing away. However, Graveler was nowhere as fast as Ariados and knew she wouldn't escape the king’s sight if she tried rolling away.

So Graveler did the only thing she could think of and dug into the muddy earth, burying herself, hoping the king wouldn’t notice her. It was a long shot, but it was the only option she had.

There was another roar directly above her, signaling the king's arrival, and all Graveler could do was curse her luck. The king seldom left his cave, choosing to remain underground. The only exception was when someone came to challenge him for his title or a stupid human thought they could tame him.

The small battle between Graveler and Ariados shouldn't have been enough to draw his attention. Unless… maybe he was looking for something?

Graveler waited in her hole, not moving in the slightest. The king was a large garchomp who had ruled this mountain range since before Graveler was born. The dragon-ground type Pokémon was the undisputed strongest Pokémon around, and when he left his cave, everybody hid. Garchomp would need only a single attack to kill Graveler if it wanted to.

Thankfully, Graveler heard another roar, but this one sounded farther away. The king had left, either not noticing Graveler, or maybe he just didn’t care enough to waste his time on her. Either way, Graveler wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip past her.

As fast as she could, Graveler dug herself out of the mud. A quick shake nocked most of the wet soil off her, but not all of it. Graveler didn't care; she gave up on stealth and quickly rolled over to a nearby bush. She ripped off the biggest leaf she could find before rolling back over to one of the oran berry trees.

It only took one strong punch to the tree's trunk for Graveler to knock down dozens of the blue berries. Graveler used the large leaf as a makeshift bag and quickly gathered up her spoils before Ariados returned to see her plundering one of its trees.

Once she had what she came for, graveler fled with all her might. She didn’t stop until her stubby legs carried her out of the valley all the way back up to her cave’s entrance, where only then did she pause and look back the way she came.

In the distance, she could see Garchomp circling its peak, and beyond that, in the distance, the dark clouds that had grown closer to engulfing the great mountain. Something was wrong, very wrong.

But there was nothing Graveler could do about it, so she turned around and walked back into her cave, leaving the outside world’s problems behind her. The only thing that mattered to her was her babies.

Graveler knew her trip was worth it when she made it back to her nest, where her three children and the baby were still sleeping. Seeing their innocent faces was all she needed to make her smile.

Quietly, Graveler shuffled around her nest, over to the rock she liked to stash berries under. The cold, damp place kept them from spoiling as fast as they would if she left them out in the open, and as long as they were under the rock, it would limit what Pokémon with sharp noses could smell.

Graveler didn’t go through all that, just to have her hard work stolen out from underneath her.

Once the food was secured, Graveler moved to sit down, but as she did, she saw the baby trembling out of the corner of her eye. He must be having a bad dream, Graveler thought to herself. Reaching over, she gently picked the baby up and cradled him in her arms. He didn’t stop trembling right away, but Graveler could tell that he was slowly calming down.

And with the baby relaxing in her arms, Graveler started to feel her fatigue setting in. She had used multiple attacks in quick succession, and though she could do it again if she needed to, she was still tired.

A quick nap, then.

Graveler closed her eyes, thankful she made it back home ok.

**********

Light trickled down from above, piercing the darkness around Ryan. But the light was fading, fast!

The golden rays grew smaller and smaller every second that passed, as the rocky walls hidden in the darkness grew closer and closer.

He tried to escape his impending doom, but no matter how hard Ryan clawed at the walls, no matter how hard he desperately wanted to escape, the walls would crumble under his desperate attempts to climb out.

Ryan was forced to watch as the light vanished completely before the walls slammed shut around him.

Ryan’s panic reached new heights, as he realized, soon he would be dragged back to that hellhole of a prison in the void. This time permanently.

…

……

But Ryan wasn’t dragged to the void, far from it, actually. He remained suspended in the dirt, no overwhelming weight weighing him down, no suffocation. Ryan was just… suspended there in the loam.

Slowly, Ryan realized this, and when he did, the walls around him stopped feeling suffocating. They didn't change physically, but the moment Ryan stopped looking at them like they were about to crush him, a gentle warmth started to radiate out of the earth.

He felt secure.

At peace.

Back in the real world, or at least the new world Ryan was reborn in, he started to stir from his slumber. His eyes fluttered open, and the dark cave around him once again greeted him. Only this time, he didn't awaken in a panicked daze like the last time.

Ryan was comfortable where he was, wrapped in the arms of the graveler who saved him earlier. All four of her powerful limbs held him gently against her rocky body. You would think a creature made of stone would be rough to the touch, but Ryan was pleasantly surprised that wasn’t the case at all.

Her skin was tough, but it didn't hurt rubbing up against his leathery hide.

Leather skin. That's right; I'm a Pokémon now; Ryan thought to himself as he looked over his body. It didn’t feel as foreign to him as when he hatched, but there was still a significant disparity between his new body and his old one. His head was enormous; he had leather skin and bat wings. But, on the other hand, Ryan still had some hair. No, not hair; it was tuffs of fur. It wrapped around his neck, thighs, and short legs, like a scruffy black scarf.

Slowly tilting his huge head to the side, Ryan looked at Graveler’s face. She was still asleep, but even then, she was carefully cradling him in her arms. Has she been holding me this entire time?

The events up until the point he fainted were sketchy to Ryan; however, one thing he couldn’t forget was how the kind Pokémon intervened when her children were about to attack him.

Ryan was happy not to be pulverized by the angry Pokémon, but the events up until now were leaving him quite confused. Now that he wasn’t panicking and had a chance to think, he slowly started to recognize the inconsistencies with his situation.

Leaving aside the fact that he was reincarnated as a Pokémon, which was a can of worms, Ryan wasn't prepared to open yet; why was he inside a cave? He resembled a zoobat in shape, so maybe whatever species he was is nocturnal, but if that was the case, why did he hatch next to Graveler's nest and not next to whatever laid his egg? Was he abandoned before he hatched? Ryan had no clue.

Then there were Graveler’s children, the geodude.

The three tiny rock monsters slept nearby in a pile of loose gravel. They didn't hesitate to attack him, a far cry from the lovable creatures Ryan remembered from the anime he watched as a kid. Sure, Pokémon were sometimes portrayed as irritable animals when defending their home or offspring, but murderous?

What would have happened to Ryan if Graveler hadn’t stepped in?

Now that he thought about it, didn’t he technically ‘faint’? But he wasn’t hurt?

Ryan’s memories spun as he tried to remember the exact details of his hatching. First, he had awoken, then he…

Ryan remembered his initial [Screech] and how it was empowered by the fire in his chest. It was still there, churning in his core, and it only grew more active as he tried to feel for it.

He had used an attack; Ryan was sure of it.

I used multiple attacks! Ryan quickly started to remember the rest of what happened before he fainted. And after each attack, the fire in his chest dwindled. The fire was back to its pre [Screech]size, leaving Ryan to conclude he must have fainted because he used too much of it.

But was it a fire or something else? In the games, pokemon had 'Pokemon power' and could only use moves so many times before it ran out. Was the fire like that?

Whatever it was, it radiated strength throughout Ryan’s body. Ryan knew he couldn't have been asleep for long, meaning he hatched less than twenty-four hours ago, and yet he could move and defend himself? Not even giraffes who were born innately knowing how to walk could defend themselves against a lion.

This has to be what lets Pokémon use their attacks; Ryan tentatively brought his right talon up to his chest. If he were going to survive in this world, he would need to figure out how this energy worked. And fast.

“This world,” Ryan wisped, testing out his new voice. To Ryan, it sounded like he was speaking English, but just like Graveler and the geodude, he could pick out what he was really saying underneath it. At least he knew what he was now, even if he had no idea what the hell a noibat was.

Ryan was in a new world with new rules. Rules he didn’t know, and it rightfully scared him.

Pokémon could be aggressive; that was painfully obvious. They could also use the attacks Ryan remembered from his childhood. What else did and didn’t match up to the games and anime? Did type match-ups work the same way? What about people; was this a world ruled by Pokémon, or were there ten-year-olds running around chucking metal balls at everything?

Ryan had a thousand questions running through his head and no answers. All he did know was that for the time being, he was safe. If the graveler wanted to hurt him, she could've done it while he was passed out.

Sadly, he didn’t have as much faith in her children, so Ryan could only hope that they’d respect her decision and leave him alone. He would need to try and befriend them, but Ryan wasn’t exactly the most social person back on earth, let alone making human friends; he had no idea how he would appeal to the younger Pokémon.

Ryan was so caught up in his thoughts of integrating himself with the Pokémon around him that he didn’t feel his mounting hunger until his empty stomach decided to remind him. His stomach rumbled in a low growl that sounded more cute than menacing.

Ryan only had time to bring his two talons to his stomach before Graveler’s soft yet rumbly voice made him flinch. “Hungry?”

Ryan hadn’t noticed when Graveler had woken up, so he was a little more than startled at her sudden question.

Before Ryan could respond, two of Graveler’s hands let go of him so that she could hoist herself to her feet. Then, Graveler easily manhandled Ryan into a different carrying position with her two remaining arms, one he recognized as the common way a person might hold a baby. Ryan felt embarrassed when he realized this, but the last thing he would do in this situation was complain.

So, he did the smart thing and chose to stay silent. Instead, Ryan watched wide-eyed as Graveler showed off her surprising dexterity when it came to handling him.

As Graveler shuffled herself and Ryan around, her three children began to stir. The smallest was the first to wake, but with all three sleeping so close to one another, it didn’t take long for the other two to rise. Two of them looked groggy to Ryan, but the third, the biggest and possibly eldest one, made eye contact with him, and not in a friendly way.

The largest geodude didn’t hide its disdain for Ryan; after all, he had intruded into their home and attacked them. Ryan tried to offer the mad Pokémon a polite smile to show he wasn’t a threat, but that only seemed to anger the Pokémon more, making Ryan flinch in Graveler’s arms.

It started to growl at him, which was where Graveler decided to step in. “Stop,” she firmly said with an air of superiority.

The offending Geodude’s eyes moved back and forth between Ryan and Graveler, weighing the validity of her command. Ryan could see the frustration written on its face, and for a second, Ryan thought the geodude might disobey Graveler’s orders.

Thankfully, the geodude decided to back down rather than challenge its mother. It stopped growling and retreated a step, which involved it propelling itself backward with its strong arms.

Watching the funky way the Pokémon moved, Ryan started thanking his lucky stars that he was reborn into a species with feet.

“Mmmm,” Graveler hummed happily with a smile on her face.

While Graveler was happy to see her children listen to her, Ryan could spot a disgruntled child when he saw one. The three geodude were no longer openly leering at him, but their glances were less than hospitable.

But there was one thing that always calmed down unruly children. "Gather. Food,” Graveler called out, and her three children immediately perked up. Despite their mother berating them a moment ago, all three happily hopped over to her at the prospect of food.

Holding Ryan underneath his wings, Graveler placed him down on a nearby rock. He was still in arm’s length of the geodude, but Graveler looked confident that they wouldn’t try anything, so Ryan, in turn, decided to trust his savior's judgment.

However, now that Graveler was no longer supporting him with its arms, Ryan was again subject to his new body's entire weight. Ryan teetered in place on top of the rock as he tried to get used to his new center of balance.

One geodude laughed at him in its low rumbly voice, but Ryan was too busy flailing his wings to catch which one it was.

But other than that initial laugh, the geodude had surprisingly little interest in Ryan; all three were eagerly awaiting… whatever it was that goedude and graveler's ate?

After finally getting ahold of his sense of balance, Ryan watched as Graveler shuffled over to a large stone in the corner of their nest. Using her arms, she easily tilted the 300 pound plus boulder onto its side, revealing a small compartment hidden underneath.

With three of her arms holding the stone, Graveler used her forth to remove a large leaf that contained a pile of blue berries. Not blueberries, but berries that were a surprising shade of blue. They were also huge.

Everything looked bigger to Ryan on account of his new, more diminutive size, but the berries Graveler removed from her secret stash were absolutely massive. They were easily ten times larger than an average blueberry and were the size of a large strawberry.

Ryan didn’t know why, but his mouth started to water at the sight of the blue fruit. Much like how he instinctively used [Absorb] when he thought Graveler was attacking him, some primal instinct in the back of his mind informed Ryan the berries were the perfect thing to quell his growing hunger.

“Berries!” All three of the geodude cheered.

“Wait.” The Graveler called out right as her three children rushed to grab handfuls of fruit. The Pokémon paused mid-reach, unsure why they were told to wait.

“Baby, first,” Graveler reached down and grabbed the three biggest, ripest berries.

Once again, Ryan was the target of three murderous looks. He was happy the Graveler was looking out for him, but at this point, he thought she was doing more harm than good.

“It’s ok, they can eat fir-,” Ryan tried to persuade Graveler to let her children eat first, but she stuck a berry in his open mouth mid-sentence.

Ryan’s new fangs pierced the flesh of the blue fruit, and his tastebuds exploded with a verity of flavors. He had never tasted anything like it before. Somehow the fruit incorporated a dry, spicy flavor along with tangs of both bitter and sour in equal measure. No one flavor overpowered the others giving the berry an otherworldly flavor.

No wonder Pokémon loved them so much in the anime. If Ryan could only eat one thing for the rest of his life, he would choose these berries.

“Thank you,” Ryan finally gave Graveler thanks after scarfing down an entire berry before reaching for a second one.

Graveler smiled like a happy parent seeing Ryan’s appetite. Then she turned around and gave a slight nod to her children, giving them the go-ahead to eat. The three geodude didn't need to be told twice. Each of them dove into the pile of berries with as much fever as Ryan was.

The blue juices of the fruit quenched Ryan’s throat and quickly filled his empty stomach. Ryan wanted to eat a dozen more, but his new stomach couldn’t handle more than a couple of the large berries.

Ryan was the first to finish eating on account of his tiny stomach, and he was a mess. Berry juice had dripped down his face and was mixed in with the black fur around his neck. Ryan had tried using his wings to wipe his mouth, but that only led to them getting dirty too.

Ryan wasn’t sure how he was supposed to clean himself. He doubted the cave had running water, and he definitely wasn’t going to lick himself. He may be a Pokémon now, but that didn't mean Ryan was going to give up on his humanity and act like an animal.

The geodude didn’t care about being messy. They regularly dropped barriers on the floor only to pick them up and throw them in their mouths without concern.

Ryan turned to see what Graveler was doing while her children made a mess, only to freeze at what he saw. Graveler was picking out small quarts like rocks from the rubble around the nest and popping them into her mouth. It sounded like she was biting into a lollipop as her strong teeth pulverized the stone.

And now that Ryan was watching, she wasn't the only one. The geodude were also grabbing small rocks and eating them with their berries. It shouldn’t have surprised Ryan that they eat rocks, but it did. The casualness of it all once again reminded Ryan he wasn’t in human company.

Despite Graveler's mother-like qualities, she wasn’t his parent. No, his true mother thought he was dead. It only took that one thought for Ryan to start to tear up.

The strangeness of everything had been distracting Ryan up until this point, but once he started thinking about his parents and the family, he would never see them again; he could no longer hold back his emotions.

Ryan’s inner fire stirred in his chest, feeding off his turbulent emotions. It was only through gritted teeth that he was able to keep it from bubbling up into his throat and turning his light sobbing into a true [Screech].

“Ok?” Ryan heard a concerned voice in front of him. Looking up, at some point, Graveler had moved in front of him again without him noticing. “Hungry?" She asked, curious if Ryan was crying because he was still hungry. Graveler moved to grab another berry from the pile to the dismay of her children.

“No, I’m fine,” Ryan managed to force out before Graveler gave her children another reason to hate him.

“Talk, weird,” the largest geodude that was the most open with his hatred of Ryan pointed an accusing finger at him. And it was a he, Ryan realized in his distressed state.

“Weird! Weird!” His siblings echoed. The smaller one had a faint female undertone like Graveler, while the middle-sized one sounded almost like his older brother's copy.

“Shhh,” Graveler hushed her children before moving over and scoping up Ryan again. “Ok, now,” she tried soothing him. And though they weren’t the arms of his real mother hugging him, it did help Ryan a bit.

Ryan was reminded of all the times his real mom would do something similar when he was younger and having a bad day. “Always look on the bright side,” she’d say.

Well, he was alive; that was something.

He could sit here and mope, or he could make the most from a bad situation.

Ryan chose to live, not only for himself but for the family he left back on Earth. He would do his best with this new life he was given; that way, whenever he died again, he could hold his head high when he greeted his family in the afterlife.

Using his wings, Ryan did his best to wipe the tears from his eyes before looking up at Graveler. "On second thought, I would love another berry."

**********

5,900 words.

I know it isn’t technically Friday anymore, but I promised you a release, and I'm sticking to it. Plus, I haven't gone to sleep yet, so to me, it is still Friday.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and again I would appreciate whatever feedback you have.

I’m also working on the next chapter of Magic-Smithing and plan to have it to you either Monday or Tuesday.

Thank you for reading, and as always, stay safe.