Pokemon Alternate Universe Adventures

While I was watching Crobat's evolution full of interest, I could feel that Mothra/Butterfree felt a bit awkward at the dramatic development. Golbat, now Crobat, went all out emotionally due to Zubat's capture by Mothra, evolving as a result, while all Mothra wanted to do was punish/scare Zubat a little for his devious shit bomb attempt. She had no plans to hurt Zubat in any way since truly attacking a (low) bronze-stage Zubat for such a little thing was beneath her.

I knew Mothra well enough to understand why she acted the way she did, so I understood why she felt awkward at the current situation, but honestly, I did not think that there was any reason for her to feel bad. She had essentially done the Golbat a favor by helping her evolve to Crobat in advance or maybe even in the first place since we could not know for sure if she would have been pushed (emotionally) to the point of evolution otherwise.

Either way, I did not think that Mothra had done anything wrong since Zubat literally tried to shit on us and I told her as much telepathically before addressing the Crobat that had finished her evolution and even broken through right after, going from (high) bronze to (low) silver. I saw that she was preparing to act, so I first froze her in place using telekinesis before I blanketed her with my aura causing her to hesitate just as she was about to attempt to break free of my hold.

When I saw her hesitation, I told Crobat that she was going crazy for naught since Butterfree/Mothra had not been planning to hurt Zubat in the first place. I frankly told Crobat that all Mothra wanted to do was shake Zubat up a bit as punishment for trying to indirectly shit on her by trying to shit on my head. Mothra nodded at that and to underscore that she did not plan to hurt Zubat, she shook it a bit through the air, causing it to get a bit groggy, before releasing Zubat of her psychic hold.

I had to chuckle at Mothra's act of not letting go of the little punishment she intended to hand out even in this situation. Pointing at the unsteadily flying Zubat I said "See" to Crobat, who had fully calmed down at this point. I then told her I would have said sorry but that I wouldn't since Zubat had earned that punishment for its attempted guano bomb. I even added that they should be thanking us for helping her evolve, but that she didn't have to since it was just a coincidence.

I felt a spark of incredulity when I mentioned that they should be thankful, but I just smiled and let Crobat go. I had already checked her status sheet while I had her in my grip, and she only had yellow potential so I was not really interested in capturing her even if she had managed to evolve into a Crobat. As for Zubat, I pushed him towards Crobat and checked him out as well, and he was not good enough either, so after I warned them, Zubat specifically, to stop trying to shit on others since that would end up bad for them at some point, we continued on our way.

I heard stones flying through the air moments later, followed by angry screeches, causing me to take a glance back. When I saw that Geodude, the victim, along with some other fellow Geodude were Throwing Rocks at Zubat and Crobat, I chose to ignore them since this was deserved revenge. We continued to check the platform we were on, and I was a bit surprised to see some Paras since there were none outside the entrance or on the route we took to the Meteor Falls, meaning that they did not get in from there.

The Paras had to have moved in from either the entrance on the route/road leading to Rustboro, specifically the woods/grassy terrain there, or they could have also entered from other entrances, which considering how extensive the cave system was supposed to be did not seem unlikely at all. Either way, the fact that I could find Paras here meant that they had permanently and successfully settled into the Meteor Falls cave system.

That they had not spread towards the Fallarbor route at all despite the fact that I was able to spot some on this platform/area had me heavily assume that the rangers were preventing them from leaving through this entrance/exit. Curious to see if I was right, I directly went up to the Ranger I saw at the entrance/exit and asked her if my assumption was true.

The lady seemed impressed with my deduction and freely admitted that that was one of the reasons a ranger had been positioned there. She even mentioned that the squad stationed her did regular surveys to determine the population and strength of the Paras and Parasect to determine whether steps had to be taken to reduce their numbers to prevent them from negatively affecting the rest of the ecology.

That went to show how seriously Paras and Parsect were taken by the ranger as well as the alliance, and I could not blame them. My bias against the line/species did not stem simply from the fact that I disliked them or anything like that, but by the risk they could pose. Paras were not the main problem, but rather the Parasect they evolved to were, but unfortunately a large number of Paras meant a potentially high number of Parasect, so one had to start keeping an eye on them while they were still Paras.

Anyway, possible Zombie Crab Apocalypse scenario aside, I thanked Fu for indulging my curiosity and returned to the area where I saw the Paras. Then as I saw the two Paras lounge beside the rock I suddenly had thought that had my focus on the Paras a lot more seriously. The question that suddenly spouted in my head was what would happen if I released a Paras to Utopia. Would Utopia see the Mushrooms on Paras as parasites that had to be purged, or would it recognize them as symbiotic entities that were part of Paras and thus leave them alone?

If it was the latter, it would be a bit disappointing, but if it was the former, then Utopia would be solving the Paras issue I had been considering tackling without me having to do anything. Another question that arose right after that was what Utopia would do with Parasect since those were essentially zombies controlled by the mushroom. Even if the mushroom got removed, the crustacean should have already been dead, so all that would do was kill the large mushroom as well.

Granted, the idea that the crustacean was dead was something the science community agreed on based on tests that involved the removal of the shroom and the ensuing loss of vital signals of the body, but maybe the Paras/Parasect's mind had simply gone into dormancy or a super deep coma or something like that. It was also possible that the damage caused by the removal of the large shroom was too large resulting in the death of the body soon after the shroom had been removed.

Considering that the shroom was controlling the body, its roots had to have infiltrated/grown the Parasect's brain at the very least, and possibly the rest of its body as well. So, removal of the shroom had to consider the possible collateral damage first if one wanted a chance to keep the body alive after removal. Whether there remained a mind, possibly the original one, could be tested after this step had been accomplished.

If we assumed that the original mind still existed in a dormant state, then it might have been unable to wake up before the body died following the removal of the large mushroom. Paras did not have that problem since their minds were still intact. However, even if the visible mushrooms on their backs got removed, they eventually grew back, which indicated that they likely had to be removed entirely, roots included, to see if Paras could be freed from the parasite.

The problem with that was the same one as with Parasect, namely that the roots had likely grown deep into its body, so the removal was likely complicated and damaging. The only silver lining was that the brain was likely not affected, which was probably the hardest piece solved from the get-go. Not that dealing with the rest was easy, it was just much easier than having to deal with the brain.

Actually, another question that had to be considered in case one succeeded was whether the successful removal of the mushroom from a Paras would result in the loss of its grass typing, turning it into a pure bug type. Also, would the change be inheritable, or would its children be born with a pair of small mushrooms on their backs? My guess was that if it managed to evolve into a mushroom-free Parasect before producing those eggs with a fellow unslaved Parasect that could be avoided, but that would require two successful saves/operations.

Anyway, all that would not be an issue if Utopia could directly deal with the issue. Not wanting to keep circling possibilities, I decided to just capture a Paras and see how it went. As soon as I made that decision, I took out a PokeBall and lobbed it at one of the Paras after I had Mothra Hypnotise it to sleep. The other Paras scuttled away as soon as they saw their fellow get hit by and dragged into a PokeBall.

Once the capture was complete, I directly moved the ball to Utopia and released the Paras so that Utopia could do its thing. I intently watched Utopia's log, but unfortunately, the process went according to the standard procedure, showing that Utopia acknowledged Paras' current state as its regular form. Considering that it was Paras' standard in the Pokemon world that was not all too shocking, but I had harbored a bit of hope that it might give me an easy solution to something I saw as a problem.

Sadly that did not happen; The process concluded without any deviations, indicating that I would have to find a solution myself if I wanted to permanently separate the Mushroom from Paras. Actually, now that I thought about it, there was also the possibility that a/some Paras might not want to get rid of the mushrooms and their grass typing. I doubted that they would like to become zombies once they evolved, but their wanting to keep their typing/look was a possibility.

Honestly, looking at the issue from another angle, one/I could also look into whether it was possible to kill the mushroom, or rather the mind/intellect it harbored. Since the mushroom was able to take over Parasect the mushroom had to have a mind/soul of its own, no matter how rudimentary it was.

Not that I was saying that it had to be rudimentary at that point since it likely fully bloomed during the evolution; But if one could effectively and thoroughly purge the mushrooms on a Paras of any mind/soul, turning the mushroom into simple mushrooms/shells without any intellect, then they should theoretically not be able to usurp the Paras' mind and/or body during the evolution, resulting in a Parasect that not only kept its mind/self but also got to keep the mushroom(s) and its grass/bug typing.

Frankly, killing the mind of the mushroom seemed both easier and harder than permanently removing them from a Paras without killing or crippling it. Either way, both choices felt worthy of research as well as testing to me, and I had the urge to start a Paras project, or rather two Paras projects. However, I already had so many projects going on top of my journey so starting another project or two felt a bit much.

I began an internal debate if I should just do it or if I should wait until I was done with some of my current projects. Reason eventually won out over my curiosity and impulses, so I chose to leave the Paras project for later. As for the Paras that I caught just now, I decided to just let it stay in Utopia since its potential turned out to be not bad.

I had caught it without checking it first since it was a sudden/impulsive decision, but Paras actually ended up with light green potential after Utopia's optimization, so letting it stay until I was ready to start the Paras Project was okay. All I had to do was ensure that it would not evolve before then, but considering that it was just at the (mid) iron stage right now, that should not be a problem for a few years.

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