Chapter 25
Satisfaction


After our break, Treecko and I resume our journey through the Rainbow Rainforest. We walked a ways and got into another fight, and as we continue to walk, it starts to rain, the water hitting the leaves above, sliding off before falling on us.

"Hey Jamie," Treecko says, "do you like the rain? I mean, being water-type and everything..."

"Well, that's a weird story, actually; I wasn't a water-type until just recently."

"Wait, what? How? You don't look like you've evolved or anything."

"It's too hard to get into details, but basically, I got transformed. Before, I didn't like the rain, but now it doesn't bother me anymore. I might actually like it, if not for the Wildfire. What about you; how do you feel about the rain?"

"I used to like it. Back home, I had a fire-type friend, and they couldn't understand how I could even tolerate it." As we walk, I wonder how Snivy feels about the rain... "Hey, is that a pond?" Treecko says, pointing to a far-off spot to the side of the path. We run over, and Treecko was right; we find a fairly large pond, the surface rippling from the rain.

I consider the pond for a moment, then I turn to Treecko. "Hey, can we stop here? I want to swim for a while."

"Wait, you want to swim? But the Wildfire messes with your desires-"

"Yeah, I don't actually feel a desire to swim, but... Well, I used to enjoy swimming, so I'll do it anyway; maybe it'll help."

Treecko pauses, bringing their hand to their chin as they think. I turn back to the pond and jump in, diving underwater. I didn't notice before, but it's amazing just how well I can see underwater now. I can hear pretty well too, though I mainly just hear the rain hitting the water from above.

I take my time, swimming in big loops and lazily spinning and flipping around. The feeling is muffled by the Wildfire, but I can almost feel the same comfort and relaxation that I felt in the water before. I feel... peaceful.

Less peaceful is the sudden splash I hear behind. I turn to see Treecko, floating in the water for a second before swimming to the surface. I follow them to the surface, popping up next to them. "Hey Treecko. What's up?"

"Oh, well, I liked swimming too, before the Wildfire, so I thought I'd join you."

"Sounds good." We spend probably 10 minutes in the pond. Treecko would often take a break and hang out at the shore, leaving their feet in the water. They'd also sometimes just float on their back, and sometimes I'd join them, floating there peacefully.

Eventually, we leave the pond and continue walking. As we walk, I start thinking about Snivy and Treecko. They're pretty similar in some ways; on a surface level, they're both grass-type, but they also both enjoy exploring mystery dungeons, and battling. And waking me up early, unfortunately. But Treecko is more calm and cautious, like me. Snivy's so excitable and fearless. I really-

My thoughts are interrupted by a roar, and I get a sudden sense of deja vu as a Venusaur charges at us from the brush! Treecko and I jump to the side, and I blast it in the face with a water gun! It's a direct hit, but the Venusaur barely flinches. Treecko jumps onto its back, and glowing green tendrils wrap around the Venusaur's head, absorbing its strength, but Venusaur doesn't seem affected. Vines rise from the Venusaur's back, and they whack Treecko off, sending them to the ground.

I run over and help Treecko to their feet. "It's resistant to our attacks!" I say. "What can we do?"

Before Treecko can respond, the Venusaur charges at us again, and we split up to get out of the way. It almost charges right into a tree, but manages to stop itself just in time. Treecko runs over to me. "Jamie, you can use that mud attack of yours to blind it, right?"

I nod. "Yeah, why?"

"I have a plan!"

I turn to look at the Venusaur, and I'm struck by a vine whip before I can dodge. It stings badly, but I'm still standing. Treecko has to dodge as well, and we're separated again. They throw another absorb attack at Venusaur, more a distraction than anything.

I take advantage, turning around and digging my back legs into the ground before kicking a mud-slap at Venusaur's face! Its head is so big I can only hit one of its eyes at a time, so I still need to hit its other one. The Venusaur roars in rage at my attack, slapping Treecko away with a vine whip before charging at me!

I dodge its tackle, but it follows up with a vine whip! I'm barely able to dodge it, and I get in position and kick a mud-slap at its other eye! It hits, but as Venusaur lashes out blindly with its vines, it lands a hard hit on me and knocks me to the ground. I try to stand back up, but I'm too badly hurt, and I fall back to the ground.

The Venusaur charges, and despite its blindness, it manages to charge in my direction. I watch from the ground, as Treecko jumps onto its back. They use absorb and grab Venusaur's head, yanking it to the left and steering it off course! They continue directing the Venusaur's head, and they gradually steer it towards a big tree on the side of the path!

Treecko retracts their tendrils and leaps off. The Venusaur, unable to see the tree in front of it, slams right into it, shaking the tree and even the ground with the force of the impact! It lets out a groan of pain before collapsing to the ground, but it doesn't evaporate into smoke.

Treecko runs over to me, fishing an oran berry out of the bag at their waist. They hand it to me, and as I eat it, the pain mostly vanishes. "You okay?" they ask.

"Yeah, thanks. That was an impressive plan you had there."

"You did well, too; my plan wouldn't have worked without you. Now lets get out of here before that thing wakes up!"

"Right!"

As we run through the forest, the rain gradually stops. Soon, we see a familiar bright light up ahead. We enter into the deepest part of the dungeon, a clearing where the sky above is visible, no longer blocked by the leaves. On the opposite end of the clearing is a giant tree, far bigger than all the others. On its branches hang the familiar colored fruits of the forest, but these ones are different; some fruits have stripes of different colors, and some have polka dots, and others have colors that fade into each other. Each fruit holds a whole rainbow of colors!

I take a moment to just stand there and stare at the sight. Treecko joins me in standing and staring. After a moment of silence, Treecko speaks up.

"I can't believe I didn't notice this before."

"Yeah. It was a good idea to be more observant this time, right?"

Treecko nods. "Right."

I stare for a moment longer, and then I remember something. "Hey, I said I was looking for a wish-granting mystery dungeon, right?"

"Oh yeah, you did."

"Well, I never checked if this dungeon can grant wishes, so..."

"Wait, but, rule number one..."

Yeah, Treecko's right; I shouldn't be thinking about this, much less talking. But, I really should check... I need to make a wish. What do I want to wish for? What do I want... "... I wish... for... I wish for an apple pie the size of my whole body!"

Nothing happens, and there's a few seconds of silence in the clearing before Treecko turns to me with an amused look. "Are you serious?"

"Well yeah. After going all the way through this dungeon, I could really go for a great big apple pie right now."

"Well, I think we have the next best thing right here." Treecko runs over to the tree and climbs up, disappearing into the branches before jumping back down with a pair of fruits. They take a bite out of one fruit, a blue one with dots, and toss me the other, a green one with stripes. I take a bite out of it...

"Hey, this tastes... good," I say.

"Wait, really?!"

"Yeah; it tastes mostly green, but I think the other flavors mix with it and make it better, enough to taste good even with the Wildfire. Is it not good to you?"

Treecko takes another bite. "It's... almost good. It's still hard to taste, but I sorta like it." We take our time finishing our food, then Treecko stands up and looks at the giant tree. "... You know, that tree looks like it reaches above all the others. I wonder what it looks like from up there."

"Do you want to find out?"

"... Yeah. I want that. You wanna join me?"

"Oh, I can't climb trees. Its kinda hard without fingers..."

"I can help you out. Are you sure you don't want to?"

"... Alright, lets do it."

The climb takes a while; Treecko's really good at climbing, but they pretty much have to pull me up each branch. I almost fall once, but a quick reaction on Treecko's part saves me. Eventually we reach the top, and we each sit down on a branch and look at the view. With the rain cleared up, the sun lights up the whole forest, stretching out for what might be a mile. Being so high up and seeing the trees from above is a really new experience, and to top it off, there's a bright, beautiful rainbow arcing across the sky... This world is amazing.

"Wow..." Treecko says. "This dungeon sure is colorful, huh?"

"Yeah... Wait, I just realized something! My favorite color is green, and your favorite color is blue!"

Treecko looks at me, then down at themself, then to me again. They start to giggle. "Oh yeah, you're right! I can't believe we didn't notice that before." Suddenly, Treecko freezes, and their eyes go wide. Then they relax with a disappointed look.

"Huh? What's up?"

"The Wildfire, I... I didn't feel it for a second there. That was the first time I've laughed in weeks."

I suddenly realize that for a moment, I didn't feel it either; that constant itch disappeared completely. It's back now, but... "... Do you wanna get down now?"

"No. I want to stay up here a bit, if that's alright with you."

"Sure."

We spend a few minutes staring at the beautiful sight. Eventually, we head back down, with Treecko having to help me climb down. After that, we exit the mystery dungeon, our exploration complete.

After we're out, we discuss our understanding of the Wildfire. It seems like I was right; focusing on our other desires and feelings really does weaken the Wildfire, since it distracts us from our main desire. And I think there's a major aspect of the Wildfire that I'm starting to understand; satisfaction.

The Wildfire is so dangerous because the desires it latches onto are almost impossible to satisfy; Krokorok's desire for money never stopped, Mightyena had no way of curing Poochyena, and Ralts needed to be strong forever to be safe. Likewise, Treecko and I can't make much progress towards our goals. The Wildfire isn't just desire; it's dissatisfaction.

The Wildfire doesn't let us feel satisfied; it forces us to always be chasing our unreachable goal. But that means if we DO feel satisfied, it weakens the Wildfire. When we set goals in the dungeon, like 'I want to swim', and then achieved those goals, we felt satisfied. So so we decide that's what we'll do from here on out.

We'll continue chasing our goals, but not so obsessively; we'll focus on achieving smaller things that make us happy, and we'll take time to just relax; there's no time limit for us, after all. I part ways with Treecko, and while Treecko heads to a nearby town, I start traveling back to Maceria Town.



After walking all day, it's finally night. I'm moving at a faster pace now, since I'm not stopping everywhere to look for mystery dungeons, but with nothing to do, I started to have trouble keeping the Wildfire at bay. I started to keep my mind busy by thinking about where I'm going, and what'll happen when I get there; specifically, Snivy. What are they thinking about? What are they doing? How will they react when I get back? After everything that's happened, I really... I really miss Snivy.

As the sun sets, I start setting up my tent. After I finish, I decide to stay out for a while and watch the sky. As the light of the day fades, the sky slowly starts filling with stars. There are hardly any at first, but as I continue to watch, more and more begin to shine in the darkness.

It's kinda like last night. When I went out to stargaze last night, I was right; it didn't make me happy. But despite that, as I stared at the stars and my thought drifted to my stargazing with Snivy, the itch of the Wildfire faded just a little. I was finally able to focus enough to come up with a plan.

But tonight is different; I can feel a bit of joy in my mind, peaking out from under the smothering blanket of the Wildfire. I'm recovering. I just have to keep my thoughts away from you-know-what and eventually, I'll be able to feel, and want, and live, just like before...




Thanks for reading! Comments, questions, and criticisms are encouraged and appreciated!