Good thing I'm covered with vines or you'd see me wearing a big frown.
Empathy
by Leto
"You must have empathy with your Pokemon. Always take care to treat your Pokemon as a friend, never as an object."
Yeah, good, Erika - oh sorry, *master*. So your Gloom is the only one that deserves that consideration?
It coulda just as easily been me who saved your life, but of course, I didn't get the chance to, did I. The second you saw me, you sent out Gloom to attack me and drain my energy and smash me up when I was paralysed and couldn't defend myself, then captured me and kept me out of the sunlight in this horrible little Pokeball, where I can't escape, leaving my family behind me and with no idea what happened to me...
Empathy... guess I still have some things to learn about the English language, but Exeggutor told me how that word translates in Tangela tongue, and I think Eri - master - doesn't understand the meaning of it herself.
I just want to shake her, when she sends me out to get torched by some enemy Pokemon for the dozenth time that day, and while I'm in pain and not wanting to fight, but knowing I have to until I faint... all the while she's crapping on to her opponent about how they will never get anywhere without empathy for their Pokemon.
And she even says that to good trainers. Trainers whose Pokemon beat me absolutely effortlessly. Wonder what that says about me and Erika?
Does she not notice I am one of her Pokemon? Yeah, Gloom helped her out once, but what about the rest of us, who always tried our best, fighting hard to try to get her approval? We tried to prove ourselves to her but she never liked us as much.
I still do try, but it's because of my natural fighting spirit, as a Pokemon, but the plant part of me just wants to relax in the sun and feel the fresh air. I would never try for Eri- master's - sake.
I still can't think of her as master. More like a captor. Erikaptor. Sounds like another breed of Pokemon.
I reckon she's right though. Empathy *can* win battles. That's why I lose a lot, and Gloom always wins. And because of that, she uses Gloom the most, so it becomes even stronger, and we are left further behind.
She should not even bother to call herself a grass trainer. She's just a Gloom trainer.
Hey you know, that Pokemon has a pretty appropriate name. I've been stuck in this horrible dark place for years. No space to move, or get into the sun, or... you know... grow. Grass Pokemon *are* part plant, and we're meant to grow like that, but there's no room to move in here. So I guess you could call it gloomy. That Pokemon forced the rest of us into the gloom.
I reckon grass types shouldn't be caught or trained. We gotta grow.
Anyway, I guess always thinking about this isn't good for me, but what else can I do? Grass Pokemon can't sleep, so we're forced to lie in the darkness and do nothing but think. And since I didn't get to have much life - heck, I was just growing up and learning how to survive, to think, to be a good Pokemon - before Erikaptor plantnapped me, I can just think about the stuff I learnt after she caught me.
If Erikaptor had any sense of empathy with her Pokemon - and she'd realise we have just as much potential and pride as Pokemon as her Gloom - she'd let us all go, or at least stay outside.
Guess I wouldn't mind having a trainer if they empathised with me.
They're not plants themselves, but can't they possibly try to understand how we must feel outside of the sun? The sun is how we get to eat, it's how we grow, it's how we become stronger.
No wonder her Gloom is stronger. It's out and free.
Do I sound jealous?
Won't delude myself; I sure am.
After I come out my ball, a lot of my opponents - usually facing me with a Pokemon that scares the pollen outta me - make fun of me, their not-so-fearsome opponent, and Erikaptor rarely seems to care. She just gets their respect by having me beaten, and then turning the tables with Gloom, to show that any Pokemon can be strong.
I could be too...
And humans wonder why trained Tangela never bear fruit or flowers. They wonder why we never evolve.
I know I could, I'm sure I could, I feel a power sleeping... but it's begging for the sunlight.
If I don't get out soon, the power will die. I don't want it to die!
This darkness is too much... let me be strong! Have real empathy, master!
Let me out!
***
An experienced Pokemon trainer was giving a lecture to a small group of girls who were trying to perfect the art themselves. Each desired to raise grass types, and they were learning all the most important secrets from an undisputed master.
Her lecture was suddenly interrupted by a faint buzzing sound.
Erika looked down in surprise at the trainer's belt she was wearing. She pulled off one of her Pokeballs, which was trembling violently, and looked at it in surprise.
"See," she said to the students, "my Tangela was agreeing with me. It's an undeniably important factor in Pokemon raising, you must have empathy with your Pokemon."
She tossed the Pokeball into her bag.
Suddenly, the Pokeballs on the belts of all the aspiring trainers also began to shake, as if something inside was trying to escape, or communicate something. Following Erika's lead, the girls took their Pokeballs and dumped them into their bags.
The Pokeballs sat in the darkness. They stopped shaking and lay perfectly still.