Lickitung gave birth. That was the strange ailment that had been the cause of her lethargy and sickness. They were not the weak knees of battle, but of motherhood. She had been keeping it a secret from me, hiding her stretch marks, and suffering through the various pangs of pregnancy.
I discovered this last night. Out of her came this odd egg; its shell was murky green and speckled purple. She had delivered the thing while I was away, I didn’t even have the ability to comfort her through the process. It lay in the closet to my hotel room in Saffron City. Lickitung had piled blankets and towels around it to keep the thing warm. I peeled back the thread mask slowly, unsure of what I would find there. The dull glaze of the egg met my own.
Nothing hit me upon first glance. Not a single feeling could penetrate my shocked soul. Then I became enraged. Clearly this had to be the work of another pokémon. Did this mean that Lickitung had been unfaithful? When I had given her everything, did she spit upon my admiration and seek refuge with another?
I accosted Lickitung on the manner. My rage boiling deep within me, and it took every last ounce of my will not to strike her there. But when I gazed on those inky-black orbs they showed no deceit, no guilt. Slowly approaching me, Lickitung placed her paw upon my leg, and hung her head as fat tears began rolling freely down her snout.
Then I understood. Everything became apparent to me. Lickitung would never break my trust as I had expected. But that could only mean one thing: the egg belonged to me. Turning away, I sent my energies back to the accursed sphere. I knew that I was living outside of the constraints of normal society, but did fate have such a violent hatred of my character as to bear fruit to my sins? Yet there it lay, unmoving and innocent, that dark seed of a misbegotten love.
At this point my mind turned to much darker things. I dreamed of horrible monsters pervading the landscape; half man, half pokémon. Their garish mouths releasing horrible cries of anguish as they limped in terrible ways towards me; their souls filled only with the hatred of their existence. I couldn’t bring something so monstrous into the world. It would never fit anywhere, if it lived at all. Even if I could love it as my own flesh and blood, the thing’s continuation would only bring hatred upon it.
Rising up, I determined that the only logical course of action would be to stomp the thing out; to end whatever sick dream I had been placed in and cut short the terrible life growing within that egg. I tore the lamp from the wall; its heavy base would be enough. Lickitung saw what I had planned, and threw herself before me. She wanted the monster to live. Unhooking her pokéball from my belt, I returned her to it. It shook on the bed, rolling about with her convulsions of fear for her offspring.
I approached the devil spawn, my weapon held high like the executor’s axe. My heart raced, I sweat profusely, and the tears in my eyes skewed my vision. Closing my face up tight, I brought the lamp down with all my power. Again and again I bludgeoned the thing, never once looking, while a deep groan emanated from the fiery depths of my soul. I lay waste to the shelled being, not ceasing my reign of blows upon it for some minutes. When finally I let the lamp fall from my hand, I slowly opened my eyes and stared at the carnage before me. A thick pink liquid oozed everywhere, splattering the entirely of the closet. Bits of eggshell lay like broken concrete in a heap in the middle of it all. And there, limp atop the towels sat some gnarled thing. It lacked a form, yet bits of it stretched over the pile. Near-translucent strips of skin flayed out from the central mass, and runny chunks of its insides dripped onto the towels beneath it.
It took the last of my effort to make it to the bathroom as I poured my stomach into the toilet. Swimming in a heavy heat, I saw the world through a long tunnel then blacked out on the tile floor.
I awoke only a few hours ago. Shutting the door to the closet, I noticed Lickitung still thrashing, though weakly, about in her pokéball. How would I reconcile my actions to her? Or to myself…
So here I am, relating the story to you now. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll release Lickitung from her prison. Perhaps… I’m not sure that I can live with myself any more. I’ve even considered ending it all, taking Lickitung with me.
…
We can’t all just run away,
Cool Trainer Andrew♂
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