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If there was one thing Ochi Tsukimitsu could never turn his head away from, it was an injured Pokemon. He had spent the prime of his life at the top of the competitive doubles battling scene, so treating injuries was second nature to him. That instinct within him never went away, even after he had long retired from that career in favour of pursuing knowledge. So when he stumbled across a tiny, frail, barely conscious Tangela, he couldn't walk away.
"Do I have anything on me...?"
The absurdly tall man fumbled about, patting down and checking every single pocket of his clothes and the messenger bag at his side until he found a Potion with not much left in it. He slowly approached the creature, using what was left to try and alleviate the pain Tangela was experiencing. When the last of the medicine had been sprayed, Ochi stuffed the empty bottle back into his bag before he held his hand out to the Pokemon.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
It took a bit before the Tangela sprung back up, fit as a fiddle. The moving mass of vines looked up at the towering man and jumped up and down in appreciation. The cuteness made Ochi smile a little as he patted the creature's head.
"Take care of yourself," he cautioned before getting back up to continue on his way.
Ochi couldn't take many steps without Tangela running to catch up. Confused, Ochi crouched back down to meet the Pokemon again.
"Did you want to come with me?" he asked the creature.
Tangela jumped up and down multiple times while humming a tune. Ochi understood the Pokemon's desire as he tried to pick Tangela up, only to realize the creature was just a bit too much weight for him to hold at his age. He tried looking through his bag again to find something, but there really wasn't much outside of his conference notes and research books.
"I don't think I have a spare PokeBall on me, so let's go to the store and get one," he narrated. "I should also pick up some supplies and maybe get you checked out at the nearest Pokemon Center. Does that sound okay?"
Tangela nodded as they started charging off in the direction of civilization. Ochi followed behind, watching over his new friend fondly. The Pokemon really liked their new home and new Trainer very much. There were always other humans and Pokemon around and people always walked in and out as they pleased. Their Trainer even had a grandchild who was always available to play with them. Tangela was always brimming with curiosity—but especially towards the human technology that was always around them.
"Hm, what is it, Tangela?"
Ochi was busy working away at his computer, trying to analyze the data he had been agonizing over for the last few months while looking for patterns. Tangela had hopped up on the empty chair beside Ochi's computer desk and started glaring at the screen. They didn't seem to respond to Ochi's question as they kept looking at the computer, trying to understand what that thing did.
"...You're a very interesting Pokemon," their Trainer couldn't help but comment. "I wonder if it's just you that's special?"
Tangela would develop a very strong understanding of what objects were named, but they couldn't commit much else to memory beyond that. Regardless, they were fascinated by everything that made a beep or boop and loved watching humans manipulate those objects to make them do something.
Mouri Jusaburou was quite surprised to find a new creature in the house when he got back from his solo trip to Vermillion City. He didn't notice the Tangela at first because the creature was sleeping, but his beloved Ditto started waving around when it came across the new face. Ochi got up from his computer desk and went over to greet his partner at the door, but seemed to be taken aback by the fact that there was a child-sized version of Mouri standing beside the original.
"You're back," the professor greeted.
"Heh? Tsuki-san, who's this?" Mouri asked him while eyeing the sleeping mess of vines.
"Tangela," was the straightforward answer. "He was injured when I found him while over at Cinnabar for that conference. I gave him a Potion and he's stuck by me since."
"Oh? Cute," his partner laughed. "Hear that, Ditto? You got a new friend!"
"...Ditto?" was Ochi's confused reply.
"Hm? You couldn't tell, Tsuki-san?" Mouri gasped slightly. "Look at the face! I mean, I know it looks like me right now, but it's Ditto!"
Ochi squinted his eyes slightly as he looked at the mini version of Mouri, whose arms quickly turned into noodle-like appendages. This made the professor jump back in surprise as Mouri couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey, Ditto, do ya think you can copy Tangela?" Mouri requested.
The human-like creature jiggled about until it had transformed into the same mass of vines with red feet. The only difference was its face was still the signature soulless smile. Mouri chuckled again as he patted the top of the creature's head while Ditto slowly morphed back down into its signature pink-purple formless self.
"You silly little blob," he teased. "I didn't think you'd take on the burden of caring for another Pokemon at this age, Tsuki-san. You sure you can handle it?"
"It's fine," Ochi nodded. "I've missed this type of responsibility."
"Heh? Enough to come outta retirement?" Mouri wondered. "Kinda miss those days of being at the top."
"No—the days of competitive battling are long over," he denied. "There's more important matters to attend to now."
"Yeah, no kidding," Mouri sighed. "The weather is getting more crazy these days... We gotta figure that out, huh?"
"Are you concerned?"
"I mean, yeah—who ain't?" he tried to laugh it off. "It's like the end of the world is coming."
"It does seem like that might be the case," Ochi fretted as he crossed his arms. "The Cinnabar conference raised some concerns and I'm starting to see the effects in my data."
"Really? I noticed a lotta stuff while I was out, too," he couldn't help but worry. "What kinda world are we leaving the next generation?"
"I don't know..." Ochi couldn't help but look down at his sleeping Tangela while his mind started to worry about everything that was developing.
"Oh—almost forgot something." Mouri pulled Ochi's head down to his height and gave the other man a big kiss on the lips. "Missed ya, Tsuki-san."
The usually expressionless professor couldn't help but get flustered. "I've missed you too, Jusaburou."
Amidst the growing concerns about the fate of the world, Mouri had volunteered for an expedition team to survey the area surrounding Pewter City after tremors were noticed on a seismograph several weeks earlier. Ochi was in opposition to Mouri being a part of this team but he had no idea why he was so against his partner going. There was no logical reason for Ochi to be against this and his objections stemmed from this gut-wrenching feeling that something was amiss.
"You can't go on this trip, Jusaburou," he pleaded.
"Tsuki-san, what's the matter with ya?" Mouri couldn't help but ask. "You're always so rational and have a reason for things, but I haven't heard anything that's made sense from ya about this."
"Call me crazy—I don't care," he spat, "but I can feel that something terrible will happen over there. Don't do it."
"Terrible things are already happening," Mouri pointed out. "If the info over in Pewter is gonna help everyone, then I can't just sit here and do nothing."
Ochi knew he was being ridiculous but it was this sixth sense that he couldn't explain that was driving his anxieties. Mouri knew this all too well, pulling his partner into his arms and holding him tightly.
"Tsuki-san, I know you're worried about me, but I swear I'll be fine," he tried to reassure.
"You don't know that," he choked. "You can't know that."
"I know," he acknowledged, "but I can't sit here and do nothing either. I ain't like you—I gotta go see for myself."
"Jusaburou—"
Mouri didn't let Ochi continue to voice his objections as he locked their lips together. The kiss was tender, yet conveyed all of the unvoiced sadness that dwelled within Ochi. He didn't want to let go of Mouri no matter what.
"Tell ya what, Tsuki-san," he propositioned, "I'll leave Ditto with you to keep ya company, m'kay? Ditto knows me the best."
"You're not taking it with you?" Ochi questioned.
"Nah—Ditto's the best, but I'm gonna need firepower that Ditto just doesn't have—even when transformed," Mouri shook his head. "Better to leave the little blob with you, Tsuki-san."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," he nodded. "Make sure Tsuki-san doesn't get sad, m'kay, Ditto?"
The formless blob shapeshifted into its mini Mouri form in front of their eyes, causing both of them to smile just a little.
"I'll be back soon, m'kay?" Mouri promised. "I love you, Tsuki-san."
"I love you, too, Jusaburou," Ochi reciprocated. "Please come back quickly."
The expedition was going to be a few days long. During the time his partner was gone, Ochi couldn't help but notice both Ditto and Tangela acting strangely. Ditto especially seemed less energetic the longer its Trainer was away. Mouri didn't return home that night he was scheduled to. Ochi only found out what happened when a colleague of his that had been involved with the project informed him of the volcanic eruption that happened in the same area they were surveying. No one survived.
The day came for Ochi to deposit his Pokemon into the PC system as part of the conservation project. He had just gotten his grandchild to go to sleep. He surmised this as the most ethical way to pry his beloved Tangela away from the child, but the professor found it so hard to let go of his most recent partner Pokemon. He had grown fond of the Pokemon, but more importantly, Tangela was the only living creature that understood his grief the most and the only one whom Ochi could even confide in about it. Without Tangela, he didn't have anyone else.
"It's for the better that you remain here," he choked. "I just know you'll be helpful when the time comes..."
It was even harder for him to hand over the PokeBall that contained Mouri's Ditto. It was all Ochi had left of his former partner—barring the eyesore of a tarnished silver band that he had on his left ring finger. He barely had the time to mourn the loss of the love of his life before learning about the end of the world and the plan to evacuate everyone into space. Giving up Ditto meant that Ochi had to come to terms with Mouri's death, but there was no way he could ever do that.
"He would've given you up for this project," was his final decision as he let go. "I'm sorry."
While Ditto resigned itself to being stored in a PC system forever, Tangela didn't want that. The sentient mass of vines ran away from the project managers, desperate to find their way back home to their beloved Trainer. Unfortunately, the creature had no idea where they were and no sense of direction or a means of finding out how to even get home. Ochi tried to venture out in search of his partner Pokemon, but even he didn't know how to locate Tangela. Time on the planet was dwindling and Ochi couldn't reunite with his Pokemon before he had to leave.
"Please be safe, Tangela," Ochi prayed.
The humans had abandoned the environmental catastrophe they had brought upon the planet they inhabited, letting the forces of nature destroy the whole Kanto region in the process. Tangela managed to dodge the worst of it, but the same couldn't be said for the hundreds and thousands of wild Pokemon that were caught in the collateral. The lone Pokemon never stopped searching for their Trainer, desperately trying to find clues as to where he had gone to. One day, the curious creature found what remained of the home they once lived in, but all they found among the rubble were a pair of glasses.
"Oho! These are my Trainer's!" the Pokemon celebrated as they took the object for themself. "I'm sure he'll want these when I find him!"
They didn't have much of a grasp on the concept of time, but they knew it had been a long while since they had seen another life form. As the days kept coming, they eventually grew bigger and bigger until they sprouted arms and became a mammoth of a Tangrowth. They roamed all around the region, noting that everything looked bleak, withered, and completely devoid of the joy they once remembered. They found refuge in a small cave and spent their time finding and collecting relics of humanity that they stumbled across.
"Hohoho! I've found quite the haul today!"
Tangrowth was quite pleased with the amount of relics they had gathered, admiring the various shiny objects. They were so engrossed by their findings that they didn't hear footsteps approaching them from behind. There was a simple poke to their back that startled them.
"Wh-what was that? Who's there?!"
The big mass of vines turned around and looked all over until they saw a human standing before them.
"Gadzooks! What in the world is a human doing here?! I didn't think there were any left!"
Tangrowth squinted their eyes while they looked into the soulless eyes of the human standing before them.
"Hm? There's something curious about you... Are you really a human?"
Scrutinizing further, the old Pokemon started to recall something in their memories.
"Those simple eyes... That slack mouth... Hrm?! Wait a moment... Are you a Ditto?!"
The human-shaped being nodded.
"My, what an impressive transformation!" they praised.
Something about Ditto's curly red "hair" was making the gears in Tangrowth's head turn, but they couldn't press that thought any further when a strange ping echoed out of nowhere.
"Hm? What's that sound? Where's it coming from?" Tangrowth wondered as they looked around their stack of stuff.
Ditto reached into the wheelbarrow and pulled out the object that seemed to be making the noise—a Pokedex.
"Oho! That's a Pokedex I found ages ago!"
Ditto signalled that it wanted the object.
"Is that so?" Tangrowth couldn't help but be amused. "I had thought that Pokedex was beyond repair, but it started working as soon as you appeared... You're welcome to keep it! I haven't the foggiest idea how to use the thing."
While the conversation continued, Tangrowth couldn't help but feel that this particular Ditto was familiar in some way, though they couldn't quite place their vine on that thought.
Tangrowth observed Ditto as the human-shaped blob ran all about the fractured region and mending it together with its transformation abilities. Along the way, Pokemon started appearing out of nowhere again, populating the once-empty environment again. It seemed like the blob was working endlessly to restore the world to a state that Tangrowth could vaguely recall before the humans disappeared. There was one rare occasion where Ditto decided to take a break from its hard work and rested in a small picnic area. Tangrowth made their way over to join their friend.
"You remind me of someone, Ditto," he mused. "May I tell you a story from my past?"
Ditto nodded.
"There was always someone else beside my Trainer," Tangrowth mentioned. "If I remember correctly, humans tended to form romantic partnerships with each other. For what reason? I do not know, but my Trainer formed one with another man."
Ditto's mouth shrunk to a tiny hole in slight surprise.
"That other man... I wasn't sure who he was, but my Trainer would spend a lot of time with him," he continued. "They often did this thing where their lips would touch! I don't know what that was about, but it seems that humans did this with their romantic partners."
Ditto looked like it was laughing a little at that thought.
"That other man made my Trainer smile in a way that I never saw any other human smile before," Tangrowth said rather confidently. "I'm not sure what it was, but it seemed like a bond that took a long time to make."
There was a sudden chill that swept by. Ditto noticed that its wise mentor's expression darkened slightly.
"But, that other man never returned home one day," Tangrowth realized. "My Trainer seemed so saddened by this."
Ditto felt something inside it ache a little upon learning this.
"That other man looked just like your human form right now, Ditto," the professor concluded. "I wonder if you're the same Ditto, but you don't really remember anything from before, do you?"
Ditto shook its head in disappointment while shrugging its shoulders.
"It can't be helped," Tangrowth admitted defeat. "I cannot remember the name my Trainer used to call that man... I can barely remember what my Trainer's name was."
Both Pokemon looked out towards the horizon as the sun started to set in the distance. There was this silence that enveloped them both as they let the stars begin to twinkle in the darkening sky. The moon was only half-illuminated that night.
"I wonder if we'll ever meet our Trainers again?" Tangrowth asked.
Ditto nodded in a way that filled Tangrowth with hope that they will.