Like No One Ever Was

A feeling of fullness encompassed my artificial body, and I formed my spectral eyes as I exited sleep mode. “Charge at 100% bzzt,” I announced as I floated off the charging dock. There were a couple of docks all over the house for any of the Rotoms that needed a quick charge, but the one I was currently resting in was in Nemona’s room, currently bereft of my owner.

Not her newest companion, however, Dunsparce. The bulbous Normal Type was looking up at me from the ground where he slithered. His large head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed. “Ar?”

I roughly translated that as ‘What are you doing?’. “Bzzt, I need to recharge and take electrical charge, much like you need to eat food.” Or whatever it is you call when you messily shove your face in a bowl of pate.

Dunsparce glared at me harder, clearly sensing the disdain I felt for him. Some of the staff called Nemona’s starter ‘sleepy’, but they didn’t see the training he went through. When she said he could be strong it awakened some killer instinct inside the land snake. That, or the Technical Machines helping bring out newfound power.

“Un, dun dun, arce.” That disdain was clearly returned by him. What was not crystal clear was exactly what he was saying there. I got the gist though.

“Bzzt, I don’t just ‘sit around all day,’ my duties are quite important to the Young Miss.” I said primly. Dun simply snorted before turning tail and slithering off to explore the rest of the house.

Why that little-! I fumed for a moment before going out to find Nemona. She was downstairs having breakfast, talking animatedly with her sister about some of the fantastical story ideas she had.

Leah, one of the maids most often in charge of the Young Miss while her parents were out, glanced over at me as I waited nearby. “Rotom, is something wrong?”

“Why would you think something was the matter, bzzt?” That was a trick I had learned from humans - deflect answering a question by asking one of your own.

I didn’t have long to feel proud of myself however as she had a follow-up. “Well, you’re discharging a bit of electricity.” Immediately I shut that down, embarrassed at that lack of control. Dammit! I hope I haven’t damaged my case. No matter how I felt about Dun, that didn’t justify my lack of control.

“Is the case fine?” I asked, nervously. None of the sensors I was connected to read any damage, but I couldn’t be sure. Not without leaving the phone.

The maid peered over the case. “No, it’s fine. You seem stressed, is it anything to do with the Young Miss?” Leah inquired.

Blinking, I asked, “No, why would it be?”

“Just- she’s been acting different as of late, hasn’t she?” It was true, over the last few months she had been behaving differently. Nemona was demonstrating intelligence and forethought, which seemed astounding. I could hardly deny that. I’d heard plenty of praise directed toward her, and even about her when she wasn’t around (even when the gossipers in question didn’t know I was listening in), so I assumed the praise was genuine, not over-inflated for one reason or another.

Humans in the outside world were complicated, with many different unstated rules for their social conduct. I understood why most other Rotoms didn’t bother trying to interact with their owners so much. Or maybe it’s just that the owners don’t really reach out to them. Nemona is always dragging me into conversations, talking with me about battles we’re watching or what people are saying on forums.

It was incredible to see the change that had overtaken her, so much so that I started looking into the concept of ‘human Evolution’. I know that every book listed humans as a species without an Evolutionary line, but it really feels like they do, but maybe more of a mental component? What I’d searched said that they didn’t, it was just a gradual process in body and mind, through puberty. People are weird. They take so long to Evolve, and they call it something else instead. But young girls and boys look barely any different, but if you pay close attention, once they’re finished ‘puberty’, they actually look fairly different, like Lechonk.

As it became more apparent, I observed a few flashes of worry or confusion among others at her development. Nemona was taking the same classes as her sister now, but generally doing them faster than even her older sibling. Maybe it’s not like an evolution, but more a ‘mutation’? Some Pokemon, like ugh, Dundunsparce can rarely develop that trait. I disliked the comparison to that boor, but I was proud of my owner. This was just more proof that she was special, like I knew she was going to be, even before I met her.

She didn’t seem to feel the same way, and when just with me revealed her thoughts to be far more self-critical. She would say that she was no ‘true’ genius, and other disparaging comments. Conversely, if she made even a tiny mistake on her homework, she’d say things like ‘How did I fu- screw this up?! I should be better than this.’ And then there were her occasional nightmares…

“Bzzt, I feel she’s doing fine,” I lied. Nemona might have her own issues, but I knew she wouldn’t appreciate me airing them out to someone else. In addition to her newfound intellect and wit came a sense of caution. Occasionally she’d cut herself off when talking about some topic, some Pokemon, or location that she felt needed to be kept secret. Nemona trusts me, but there are some things she won’t let even me see. A few notebooks she writes in she keeps more hidden than the others. I could probably snoop around and find them in her room if I tried but… I didn’t want to do that. For multiple reasons.

Before she could press, Nemona came up to us having finished her breakfast. “Hey, whatcha talking about?”

“Rotom was just making sure that their phone case was alright.” Leah said. I glanced over at her quickly and saw she was trying not to worry Nemona. I wasn’t going to reveal her secrets, but she probably didn’t need to worry about Leah worrying about her either.

“Yes, bzzt. I discharged a bit of electricity and wanted to be sure my casing was fine.” Nemona gave me a once over as well before sticking her thumb up.

“Looks good! We can double check the internals if you think you have any issues, but the outside looks fine. Let me know if you ever want a new phone case or anything.”

“Shouldn’t that be your choice, bzzt? If you want a different color phone-”

“I don’t really care,” She interrupted me. “And even if you picked something I didn’t like,” her eyes darted over to glance at a family photo, her parents wearing their usual bright gold outfits. “It’s your body. It should be your choice what you want to look like.” She smiled at me and I smiled back. I knew it, she really is the best.

The phone was my shell, my connection to the world. I was raised on a nice enough farm but was told alongside my siblings how important it was to be good. To do what your owner asked and if you were well-behaved you could be chosen to get a phone. An electronic device, just for you to possess!

We had been trained a bit on lesser phones and old ‘junk’ electronics, which had still felt like the best thing ever since breaking out of our eggs, so the idea of something better? A device that wouldn’t break down as we controlled it, could connect us to the entire world? It drove almost all of us on the farm to be on our best behavior. Which was good, because our handlers always warned us of how naturally mischievous we Rotom could be, and we’d have to be very careful to not let those tendencies upset our owners.

I, of course, was the most proper and well-behaved of all of our ‘batch’. A few others chafed at the rules we were given, but not me. I was going to get a specialized phone, no matter what. But even I hadn’t imagined that I’d be chosen by the President himself. For his youngest daughter no less! The joy of that was only eclipsed by how good it felt to be in a proper Rotom Phone.

It was… like living blind all your life and then suddenly being given eyes. It was surprisingly durable in the casing (even if I was still very careful with it), my natural electricity flowed through it perfectly, and even floating with it felt just as easy when outside a device. It was perfect! It also gave me access to things well beyond itself.

The world was so, so, so much vaster than I had ever realized. The farm we had been raised on? A square kilometer inside an even larger building, inside a city much bigger than that. The outside world was incredible! So many different Pokemon in this world, not just the other Rotoms and Dittos they had on the farm or the occasional Greavard the Rotoms could spot-guard it.

As part of her ‘not-an-evolution’ changes, it seemed like my owner, the Young Miss, had begun feeling the same way. She would eagerly go over videos looking at the wilderness of Paldea, explorations of different Pokemon habitats, and especially battles. She once spent ten hours in a day just going over a battle forum, looking up the pros and cons of different battle items! Nemona (and myself for letting her) did get mildly scolded for going that far down the Buneary hole and forgetting other things like lunch that day.

“Hey, can you call Arven?” Nemona asked me out of the blue. Perhaps not ‘out of the blue’. Lost in thought as I had been, I had missed Leah leaving and Nemona planning out the rest of her day.

“The boy from the party?” I asked. I remembered her getting his phone number - only a regular phone, not a Rotom Phone, I noted with some disdain, though recognizing that most children were not like Nemona.

“Yeah! I wanted to see if he could come over and hang out. Do- do you think that’s fine?” She suddenly asked, appearing nervous.

“I think it’s fine, bzzt.” I replied, a small slip of electricity leaving the end of my voice. While it had been unintentional in the first designs of the phone, it was now built into our devices. Apparently, it helped humans to differentiate our voices/selves from the rest of the audio we could create. It also had a ‘cute’ charm to it, supposedly. “I don’t see why Arven would have a problem with you asking, at least.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s not Arven I’m worried about, it’s his dad. He might have been upset by something I said at the party. Also I don’t know how long it would take for Arven to get here.” She said, frowning lightly as she often did when deep in thought.

Someone disliking Nemona? Feels quite unusual. In addition to her intelligence, she had an uncanny insight to her that let her understand most people she dealt with. Many times she would explain in a show how others would interpret and respond to someone’s actions or words, and was often proven right as the plot unfolded. “It probably doesn’t hurt to ask, bzzt. A flying cab could carry him over fairly quickly in any case.”

She blinked, snapping her fingers as if suddenly realizing: ‘Oh right, I’m rich, I can easily get a flying cab to pick him up quickly.” Flying cabs don’t cost that much. But Nemona can be weirdly miserly considering the family she was born into. Not that I would tell her that, and if I did, she’d probably just say she was being practical. “Right, thanks Rotom! Let’s call Arven.”

I put the call through for the young miss, thinking through my own thoughts while letting her talk to the Professor’s son.

“Sounds good, see you later Arven! Can’t wait to see how Maschiff battles!”

“Wait, wh-” Nemona hung up on him, not noticing the sudden panic in his voice. She was smiling brightly.

“Alright, looks like he’ll be heading over right now. I can get all my studies for today done and might even have some time to look up some more battle videos before me and Dun spar against Arven and Maschiff.”

“Bzzt, you’re planning on having your first battle? How exciting, bzzt.” I said, trying to inject an enthusiasm I couldn’t quite feel into my digital voice.

Nemona shrugged, surprisingly. “I mean, I doubt it’ll be a real battle, just us practicing some Moves in the sand. It’s good experience but… it’s not the same. I’ll have proper matches someday though. Where Dunsparce can shine and show the whole world what he’s made of.” She had a faraway look in her eyes like she could already envision what that future would be like.

“What made you choose Dunsparce, bzzt?” I had to ask. She could have had her pick of any Pokemon in the world. Said her favorite was Haxorus, but then turned it down in favor of, well, a worm. I tried not to look down on Dunsparce, but he was a fairly common ‘mon. Rough around the edges, to say the least.

Nemona looked curiously at me. “I said before, didn’t I? It’s all about his drive.”

“Is ‘drive’ really everything, bzzt? Certain things like type-matchups can’t be overcome. You can’t use electricity on a Ground type, after all.” Nemona is not a normal child. It was something I had thought about privately several times, but I was reminded of it again when she lit up with the biggest smile on her face at my denial.

“There are all sorts of Abilities and techniques that go into a Pokemon Battle - strategy is hugely important. But more than that,- wait, come ‘ere.” She made grabby motions with her hands and I obliged, floating over. Sometimes she liked searching things up on her own rather than just asking me. Apparently, that was just part of what made her quite ‘independent’, according to the adults in the house. Independence is supposedly a good thing, spoken of well for her and the people, but we were always told on the farm that it wasn’t good. Could lead to us acting erratically, and that was bad.

“Brock vs. Ash, bzzt?” I questioned aloud as she continued to type, searching for something to no avail as she groaned. “What are you looking up?”

“I wanted to show you a video, but I guess they didn’t record all the gym matches then. But I can just tell you the tale. It’s about Ash Ketchum, and his first gym battle.”

I turned around to better ‘look’ at the young miss as she told her tale (I could see through the camera on the screen side, but that wasn’t as accurate as the plasma eyes I could project off of the back case). “Ash Ketchum was just a boy at the time, facing off against his first gym leader at eleven years old. Well, technically his second gym leader, but Misty wasn’t acting in capacity as a leader at that time, whatever.” She waved her hands wildly as if to push away the distracting thoughts and I had to hold back a snort at her display.

“So, Ash is facing off against Brock, but all he has are his Pidgeotto and his starter Pikachu. Wait, I think he had Butterfree too? Or maybe it was Metapod at this point, but I don’t think he used it in their fight, either one.”

“Bzzt, either one? Did Ash challenge him again to a higher level battle later on?” I had studied gyms and the like as well, and learned that it was something Gym Leaders would occasionally offer to ‘ace’ trainers. To fight against the teams they reserved for 8 badge holders, or even beyond sometimes.

“Haha, nope. The first match, Ash lost, badly.”

“Really?” It was hard to imagine the World Champion losing so badly. I’d seen some of his matches alongside Nemona, he was incredible.

“Yup. It’s like you said, the type matchup was too much. Brock was the Rock type Gym Leader, and a lot of Rock types in Kanto are Ground type as well. The perfect counter for his team. But he didn’t let that get him down!” She raised a finger up in the sky. “He trained Pikachu, and in their rematch, managed to win, zapping Onix with a powerful Thunderbolt!”

“What? Bzzt, that makes no sense? How could that have hurt such a sturdy Ground type?” I spun around in the air, trying to make sense of this all.

“No idea!” Nemona cheerfully exclaimed. “Well, there was something about a sprinkler system ‘weakening’ the Onix first. But whatever it was, it was their determination, Ash’s and Pikachu’s that pushed them through that day. Every Pokemon has great potential in them, the capability to change the world, reshape it to their whim even. You just have to bring that out.” She let out her last words like they were a whisper and I could practically see the stars in her eyes. I see. This is why people call it ‘childlike’ wonder. Now I’m left wondering…

“Oh shoot! I’ve gotta go study before Arven gets here.” She raced off and I drifted after her.

…If I had been brave enough, and had enough drive to say that I wanted to be her first Pokemon, would she have picked me? In the end, I still said nothing, smiling on as she cheerfully greeted her ‘new friend’. I just hope that she doesn’t evolve past me someday.