Blooming from the Mud

The moment Vivian stepped into Banette Bog she began to rethink her decision. She’d heard plenty about the horrible smell from Sundae and, while it certainly wasn’t pleasant, that wasn’t what bothered her the most. With a shiver she forced herself to walk through the squelching mud and thick water trying to ignore the general atmosphere around her.

“Ooogh... we should’ve come here earlier... or skipped it all together....” Vivian felt grateful that she borrowed a mask from Melt, but it felt like the help it provided was pretty minimal.

“Goth...” Hollyhock sat on Vivian’s shoulder staring at the ground below. Being as small as he was Vivian decided to carry him around instead of risking him getting lost in the bog... though he clearly didn’t seem excited to be here either.

Other than the spooky atmosphere, which was enough for Vivian to want to leave, going at this time of year also meant it was chillingly cold instead of warm and humid. She had to be careful to avoid deep water and mud as much as she could, otherwise she worried about her legs becoming numb from too much exposure. The more she walked and thought about it, why did she even come here in the first place?

“Dew!”

Hollyhock’s cry snapped Vivian out of her thoughts and she followed the direction his stubby arm was pointing. In the dark of the bog she caught the sight of something faintly glowing in the distance... a group of beautiful bioluminescent flowers growing along the trunk of a dying tree. Of course; as usually she’d come here wanting to inspect the flora in this place. Such an unforgiving environment would surely hold some brilliant plants and flowers somewhere, and she was happy to be proven correctly. The mud stopped her from quickly running towards the flowers, but that was likely for the best given the type of area they were in.

Ignoring the squelching and her heart thumping whenever she sunk just a bit too far into the bog she finally made it to a solid piece of ground at the root of the dying tree. The flowers and mushrooms that grew around all seemed to faintly glow with different colors, though a faint blue seemed to be the most common. Vivian couldn’t even begin to speculate on what the flowers were; she’d never seen anything like them in any of the regions she’d visited before.

“Well maybe the bog isn’t so bad then...” Vivian hummed. This time, surprisingly, she had brought her basket with her. As curious as she was about the plants here she worried they wouldn’t be able to grow anywhere except an environment like this... so bringing them out seemed counterproductive. She did, however, bring a small pouch with her to collect tiny samples instead.

“Come to think of it...” Vivian mused to herself, “I bet Lupine would’ve loved a place like this. He just seems like the type who would... maybe we should bring him next time!”

The cries of Pokemon in the distance and the sound of bubbles popping on the surface of the mire were all that greeted her. When Hollyhock didn’t respond Vivian turned her attention from the flowers to the surrounding area. She stood up suddenly when she couldn’t find him on the solid ground and it thankfully only took her a few moments to spot him. Unfortunately, though, he was sinking into one of the nearby bogs and fast.

“What are you Doing!” Vivian jumped into the muddy water and wadded over to him. In his small hands she could see he was trying to pull something out, another glowing plant of some kind, but had gotten ensnared in the unstable mud below. 

“Goth...” Hollyhock’s cry was both fearful and disappointed sounding, though Vivian didn’t care to dwell on it much. Sticking her hands into the freezing water she blindly dug through the mud until she could feel something solid. Believing it to be Hollyhock she got a firm grasp and attempted to pull him from the mud. There was a decent amount of resistance, the mud refusing to let go so easily, but with perseverance she could feel it loosening. With a final heave and a strange, blinding flash of light she felt the mud give way and Hollyhock was freed. She put a little too much power into it, though, and ended up flinging him backwards while Vivian herself fell back into the thick freezing water.

The cold stunned her, but as soon as she felt herself starting to sink too Vivian freed herself from the mud and stood up shivering. They needed to leave immediately before either one of them froze in this godforsaken place.

“Hollyhock we’re leaving!” She turned around as quickly as she could to find him, thankfully, on the solid ground beneath the base of the dying tree she was previously inspecting. Or at least she assumed it was Hollyhock. He was bathed in a bright white light and, as she watched confused, it seemed to grow bigger. As soon as the light faded Vivian breathed a sigh of relief and in the place of her anxiety a new kind of excitement took hold. She got herself out of the water and clapped her hands together.

“Hollyhock look at you! You’re so pretty! And bigger!”

“Rose...?” Hollyhock pushed himself off the ground and looked around dazed. His new increase in height, having gone from the size of a Budew to the size of a Gothorita, seemed to have messed up his sense of balance ever so slightly. Of course he was still the perfect size to pick up in one’s arms, and Vivian did just that.

She lifted the newly evolved Roselia/Gothorita as high as she could manage, grinning. “I knew it’d only be a matter of time but look at how cute you are! And look at those beautiful roses of yours~!”

Hollyhock was still very clearly confused, but he pushed the feeling away and decided to just celebrate with Vivian instead. Both of them had been awaiting the day of his evolution for a long time; a small gift for the both of them despite the less than pleasant journey. Of which Vivian was quickly reminded when a violent shiver swept through her, almost dropping Hollyhock in the process.

“Um... hm... maybe we should celebrate more at camp instead.” She sat Hollyhock on the ground. “I don’t really want to freeze here.”

With both of them in agreement they quickly, but carefully, left the bog behind. They realized all too quickly that the stench and gross feeling would follow them the entire way to camp though and decided to quickly wash themselves off in a river before heading back... though the smell wouldn’t go away for a few days at least.