The journey starts at home

Clement threw his head back and sniffed the air. The pleasant, familiar smell of the Ilex forest drifted into his nose. Today and here he would catch his first pokemon, a paras. In his bag he had some jars that would be used to contain the Tochukaso mushrooms on the Paras' back, which could be easily and painlessly removed. They would grow back in time, and Clement would be able to experiment on them. Looking around Clement clutched the ultra ball in his hand and looked around for his precious Paras.

Clement could clearly remember the first time he had seen a Paras. To his ten year old eyes it was the most beautiful thing he had seen, and had remained much the same. He was ecstatic to find out more about the pokemon and indeed all pokemon like it.

As Clement walked through Ilex Forest many different bug type Pokemon could be seen, even the occasional Hoothoot could be seen through the thick branches of the trees. It didn't take long before Clement stumbled upon what he was looking for. The Paras was currently nibbling at a tree root.

Upon seeing the majestic insect, Clement immediately felt his heart start beating fast. This was it, finally he would have his very own Paras. He threw his head back and laughed ecstatically. He wasn't sure if he should just throw the Ultra Ball at it, but it probably wouldn't be the best of decisions. Clement did not know how to deal with people, but talking to a pokemon was slightly easier. He slowly walked towards the pokemon hands outstretched to show that he was not carrying a weapon. Slowly he bent down onto one knee and said softly to the pokemon; "Hey there lil' guy. How would you like to help me learn lots about you and other pokemon?"

When Clement laughed the Paras startled and turned, scuttling backwards. This little Paras was rather small for it's species, but she was still young, she could grow. She was rather timid when Clement stepped closer, but there was a curiosity inside of her. If nurtured right this particular Paras could become quite the Pokemon companion... And test subject.

When Clement asked his question the Paras raised a claw, swiping at the air in a greeting. This particular Paras seemed normal enough, just a little small. If Clement wanted her he would have to help her grow stronger.

As he got closer Clement noticed that this Paras was smaller than average. Interesting. Would this effect the growth of the tochukaso? Would they require less nutrients to grow, or more? Perhaps because the pokemon was smaller the tochukaso parasite would gain control of the pokemon faster. This would certainly be a perfect specimen for Clement to do his research on. However he had no wish to capture it by force- nor could he. A specimen should be under good terms with their researcher. It was at the core of Clement's beliefs as a pokemon researcher never to hurt the pokemon he was researching. And so he held the ultra ball out to the Paras, talking slowly and calmly. "If you wish to come with me, that's your choice. We won't do a lot of battling, but we will have lots of fun. And together we can find out more about the world, starting right here in Ilex forest."

The Paras stared at Clement as she pondered his offer. Of course she was still young and didn't understand what he was saying fully, but she understood enough. This person wanted her to help him understand things, and that interested her. She continued to think about it, she had always been rather fragile and so little amounts of battling was good.

It didn't take her long to make up her mind. She gently tapped the button on the Ultra Ball and was quickly absorbed inside. If he really wanted to, perhaps Clement could persuade her to show him her home.

Clement watched as the young pokemon wilfully captured herself. Perfect. Clement stood up and smiled. A bright, big smile that had not been seen coming from Clement for a while. He laughed ecstatically again. He was beyond thrilled and excited. Exuberant, perhaps, was a good word for it. he picked the ultra ball off the ground and pushed the button, letting the undersized Paras out. He slowly picked her up in the palm of his hand, being very careful not to hurt her. Slowly he sniffed. She had the ability effect spore, he could tell. Checking his pokedex confirmed it. This was perfect for Clement's research, and would surely come in handy. The small pokemon was surprised by the comparatively loud sound of Clement's sniffing and buried its face in his hand. "Oh, I'm sorry Paras. I was just checking what kind of spores you had." he said in an apologetic tone. An idea struck Clement, and he said softly so as to not startle his companion "Do you think you could show me where the other Paras live?" Paras nodded in agreement and jumped off Clemen't hand, speeding off in a direction as Clement followed at a quickened pace.

It didn't take long for Clement to stumble upon the Paras' family. It was a nice little community, around 23 Paras and 7 or so Parasect all living around the roots of a large tree. The Pokemon were scuttling about, some of the Paras were planting their tochukaso, there was even a Parasect couple with an egg. Towards the back of the group, huddled under a tree root was an elderly Parasect, there was nothing distinguishing about him but it was obvious the others in the group saw him as the leader. Everyone made sure he was comfortable, that he had everything he needed and made sure he never felt left out. There were no visible differences between this Parasect and the others but there was still something.

"Fascinating, simply fascinating!" Clement took his diary out of his back pocket and started to draw up diagrams and notes on this. From this he could tell that Paras clearly lived in some kind of community, with elderly parasect being treated well. Perhaps this was the "clans" elder? Or perhaps all elderly parasect were treated like this? There was also the potential that the mind controlling parasite that infected all Paras originated from this Parasect for this area? So many ideas were flowing through Clement's head that he truly didn't know what to do. Slowly he knelt in front of the elderly Parasect, taking care not to hurt one of the others. Clement's own Paras jumped onto his shoulder. "Paras, Par Paras." It said slightly shyly. Clement couldn't tell what it was saying, but he hoped it was good. "Hell Sir. I am Clement Parker, I was lead here by this young Paras. I want to learn more about your species."

The elderly Parasect greeted his kin and her trainer with a small nod and a wave of a claw. The rest of the Paras and Parasect did the same, it seemed they all shared a common greeting. The elderly Parasect accepted the two. "Para!" He would allow Clement to observe his family. The rest of the group continued to go about their business and all of them acted normally.

"Truly amazing!" Exclaimed Clement loudly. He sniffed the air lightly and immediately could tell the mass of spores. He noted the greeting in his diary and sat around, watching the Paras go about their business. He was curious if attempts to communicate properly with the elder Parasect would go well, but he doubted that he could find a way. An idea did strike him though, and he took a small pot of ink out of his bag. He put it in front of the elder parasect and said to him "Could you please tell me what Paras' and Parasect's main predator is?"

The Parasect was more than happy to answer Clement's question, but as to how he would use the ink, that was a mystery. Instead the Parasect turned and started scraping at the ground with his claw. He drew a rather crude image of a bird in the dirt, the type of bird wasn't obvious but there were only a few species of bird Pokemon that lived within the forest so it was still somewhat obvious.

Clement quickly copied the crude drawing into his diary. He was hoping that the Parasect would draw using the ink on its claw but this worked just as well. Quickly Clement thought about which bird pokemon lived in the forest- Hoothoot and pidgey were most common, although very occasionally their evolutions appeared too. This was less common though, as often their evolutions were caught or migrated to places with larger prey. Of the two, Pidgey was the more predatory however it was still docile. Clement sat back down, wondering. Perhaps he could wait until the predatory bird appeared? However doing that would present him with an interesting but difficult moral decision. Does he protect this tribe who had welcomed him with open arms, or does he let nature take its course? This was one question that truly perplexed Clement. However in the back of his mind he knew that he must protect the Paras, even though it goes against the natural order.

Clement was rewarded with exactly what he wanted, although things turned out much differently than he could have anticipated. A couple of Pidgey's had been watching the group of Paras and Parasect for a while, they had been looking for the right moment to strike. At first they thought the appearance of the trainer was a bad thing, but it seemed he only had a Paras.

With a loud squawk the two Pidgey flew out of the tree. Immediately the Paras and Parasect scatter, the elder Parasect scuttles forwards and releases a Shock Wave at the two Pidgey's who quickly retreated back into the trees. It seems the elder Parasect was respected for a reason.

As soon as the Pidgey's appeared Clement scribbled it into his diary, taking note that they were pidgey and not pidgeotto or pidgeot. There arrival was heralded by a loud squawk and Clement jumped to his feet ready to defend the Paras and Parasect. He quickly however learnt that this most definitely would not be needed. This group of Paras clearly already had a protector. "Fascinating!" exclaimed Clement once again. He scribbled all further information in his diary, and quickly drew a map to the den or nest. He would definitely want to find this place again. For now though it was growing slightly late, and he would quite like to go home and write everything in a more professional matter, transferring his quick scribbles into thought out thesis statements. Once again he knelt before the elder parasect, and spoke softly "Thank you for allowing me in here. I'd like your permission to come here regularly, to observe and learn."

The Parasect did a strange bob to show the he was more than happy for the trainer and the young Paras to visit, especially since this had been the young Paras' home. The Parasect did the strange little wave as a goodbye and the rest of the group joined in to bid farewell to the trainer.

Clement smiled at the family of Paras and Parasect, and walked out of the small grove giving them a small wave over his shoulder as he did so. His Paras crawled up his back and nestled into the small space between Clement's collar and shirt. It was small enough so that it fit there perfectly, and Clement reached up to stroke it's back for a second. He was happy with today's results with his research and started to head back to home.

As Clement walked home the two Pidgey's from earlier had decided to follow him. Since the strange electric shooting Parasect protects the family of Paras and Parasect within this part of the forest, then a trainer with a weak looking Paras will have to do. Paras wasn't the tastiest thing they could find in the forest but it was definitely a sport to catch them.

With a loud squawk which they should have learned only alerted their enemy to their presence instead of intimidating the enemy like it was supposed to, the two birds flew out of the tree they had landed in and dived at Clement and his Paras.

Once again Clement heard the squawk as he walked, signifying that the Pidgey were near. Immediately, he returned Paras to it's ultra ball and and put his arms up, running towards his home. It was imperative that Paras did not get hurt, especially at its low level. It had very few moves and was especially small, and so Clement didn't trust it's chances against two Pidgey. Quickly he ran in the direction of the town, keeping an eye out for the Pidgey.

The two Pidgey followed Clement all the way through the forest. They didn't actually follow him out of the forest but they waited and kept an eye out to see if he would come back. After a few minutes the Pidgey became bored and flew back into the forest to find something tastier to eat.

Clement was glad that the pidgey flew away, as he wasn't confident with Paras' battle abilities against the pokemon. Considering that they were Paras' natural predators, added to the fact that the Paras seemed to be a bit of a runt, meant that it probably wouldn't do well against the two pokemon. Clement reached his home in Azalea town and unlocked the door, heading straight upstairs into his bedroom. his parents weren't home at the moment- no doubt off having some kind of social get together with friends. Clement opened his desk drawers and released his Paras onto the desk, letting it crawl around as he pulled some equipment out of his desk; some tweezers, a small scalpel and some jars. Slowly, he removed the mushrooms from the back of his Paras. It was completely safe and normal to remove them and the mushrooms were often used in medicines. Clement found that they simply came right off, much like picking a flower out of the ground. He put the mushrooms (two) into separate jars, where he left one in a regular clean jar. The other however was filled with some dirt, water, and a tree root. This experiment would help to find out if the mushrooms ever grew in places other than the backs of Paras'. He quickly fixed a small nest for his own Paras, consisting of newspaper, fabric and small bits of berries and curled up in his own bed, quickly drifting off to sleep eager to see the next day.

The next morning was just as warm and beautiful, although there were the few small clouds which floated by, one or two threatened rain, but none ever came. Downstairs Clement's parents were making breakfast and the removed mushrooms were sitting in their jars.