Written in celebration for—somehow—reaching second place in Pokémon Watty Awards 2017, short story category.

As the title suggests, it is not advised to read this part before reading the story.

***

-4-

It was there, out of at least 8191 other possibilities.

It was there, within barren hills and deep forests, out of everyone's reach.

When it found a mansion in a forest, all it sought for was a bit of mischief.

When it found a little human being inside, all it felt was excitement.

The human being screamed, and it instinctively released clouds of toxic gas.

As the human being suffocated, guilt creeped in.

It created an oath, binding the destiny of both of them into one.

If she perished, it would also perish.

To its horror, the oath worked otherwise.

For her sake,  it confined itself.

She found it, and never returned anymore.

A wound of fear, a wound of hatred.

Time passed, nothing was significant...

... until one day, it felt another wound.

 A wound of losing something, a wound of loneliness.

It went out, finding her mourning in a dark room.

She left, and the old wounds reemerged.

The wound of fear, the wound of hatred.

It stayed there for days, but the wounds was still there.

It came to her, and stayed by her side wherever she was except in that room.

The wounds still hurt, but it slowly recovered.

It was relieved, feeling sure that its life could continue peacefully with her.

The young crow always brought an ominous feeling, but it was sure that it could protect her against any misfortunes...

... until that human being came again.

A vicious fight.

A critical hit.

A grave regret.

Outside of the mansion, the crow flew away after fulfilling its first forewarning, the one which started from right after its birth.

***

-5-

Hello there. It is so very nice to see you.

Well, I'm not Professor Rowan. I don't know whether you are a boy or a girl.

I don't really want to know either.

What I want to know is, do you realize it?

There could be an untold story behind everything.

There could be a deeper meaning behind everything.

They were slaughtered because you need those special attacks instantly.

It was a wild Pokémon because you didn't see her.

So, I will ask you again.

Do you know what you have done?

Did you visit the Old Chateau only to get anything beneficial for you?

Did you take those items simply because it was there?

Did you fight those poor little beings only for the sake of effort values?

Did you catch it simply because it is rare?

You have no idea.

Behind everything, there could be something more than meets the eye.

***

All right, I'll stop there. I'm just trying to tell you that some mechanisms in Pokémon games can be unsettling if you think deeper about it.

So, how many of those things above that you realize before reading this part?

Yet, I'm not done with it.

Let's start with a fun fact.

The Murkrow was replacing a pair of Hoothoots in the early draft. I wanted to put Hoothoot in because Rowlet in Sun/Moon reminded me to it, and they're cute, and also can be found in Eterna Forest.

I ended up changing it to Murkrow so that it can have a deeper meaning and fits more with the version this story is based on.

A clue for yet another headcannon: TM90 and dolls.

There are some more things that I could reveal. Initially, I hope that there will be readers who are interested about these, and I can talk about it in comments.

*sobs*

I think it is still better to let you find it yourself since not all of you might be interested. Perhaps the game is too old for these days.

*feeling old*

*waiting for D/P remakes*

I know that this work is still very far from perfect and I will still occasionally review for revisions. I would also like to thank everyone who showed their support to this work. It means a lot for me.

Oh, I have one more Pokémon story idea in my draft. Perhaps I will publish it for PWA 2018.

I think that's all for now.

Well, see you around!