Lilith Jerked forward, almost launching herself off the tree. Nightmares were not uncommon for her. She breathed in and out rhythmically, slowly her pulse returned to normal. The usual grogginess was gone and Lilith was ready from the day to come.

Lilith stashed her stuff atop the tree and jumped down.

Her mission was to get a lay of the land. Lilith had to think long term if she was going to survive. She figured any somewhat powerful Pokemon could end her life. She had to plan accordingly when there was no indication of any people in the area.

Her main thought was to catch a Pokemon. That led down the dark rabbit hole of unknowns. How did a Video Game translate to real life? Could she “catch” a Pokemon without a Pokeball? If so, how? And if not, then she was screwed if anything stronger than a bear attacked her. There was no chance she would find a Pokeball in the wilderness.

Being rescued was top priority, even if it wounded the little pride she had left.

Lilith ventured back to the river. She stood and looked at the Berry Tree Pansage had pointed out the other day. Her best shot was to have him bring her to more important landmarks or people.

It had been more than awkward as the cute little monkey ran off. It was jarring how much Pansage had acted like a small child. Lilith had mainly played the Games, only watching a handful of the Anime before casting it aside for how ridiculous it was.

With what little she remembered, Pokemon were supposed to be much smarter than that.

Lilith decided that studying Pokemon behavior would be an important tool to call upon later. Casting the thought aside, she inspected the river.

Swimming seemed like a monumentally bad idea. Who knew what Pokemon might be living in there. Her first idea came due to Pansage. He had crossed the river somehow, and monkeys generically swung on vines. That thought was cast aside after much deliberation. The river was wide, and Lilith doubted she could build up enough momentum to cross safely.

If not for her regressed body, Lilith would have made the attempt in a heartbeat. She wasn’t an idiot though. Survival was the goal right now, fun could come later.

Her next choice was either upstream or downstream. Lilith could simultaneously not get lost, and also see if the river had thinned enough for an attempt at crossing.

Left was the choice, chosen at random. Lilith stuck to the trees growing on the riverbank. They provide enough cover from Pokemon in the air or Pokemon jumping out of the water.

Small Basculin did jump up out of the water occasionally. The first was eye opening, but it happened so often she soon got used to them. An idle thought wondered if it was alright to eat them. Diets and the origin of where food came from were conveniently left out of the lore. The thought of eating a sentient being just didn’t feel right. She decided an attempt wouldn’t be made unless she was truly desperate.

Tympole swam along the river bank as a small flock of Rufflet flew over. Lilith hid behind a tree as the flock performed a drive-by. The group dove towards the river and scooped up multiple small Tympole before flying off. Lilith hid behind a tree in cold sweat.

‘Could a larger Pokemon do that to me?’ she thought.

Clashes of wild Pokemon were heard off in the distance. These slowed the speed at which Lilith could travel immensely. She even had to take a long detour for an Ecans hanging out of a tree. The Pokemon world was definitely much more dangerous than she thought.

About an hour into her journey, the river started to thin. Next to the river, a large mountain came into view. The tall trees surrounding her had been blocking it from view. The closer she got, the more grand the mountain became.

Leaves started to part to her left. Lilith quickly crouched down. Leaves made way for more leaves as the pokemon was revealed. The walking plant had roots for legs and leaves for hands. It even had a bulb as a head. The Bellsprout walked in an arc, following the body of the river. It was too far for Bellsprout to see Lilith, but close enough for her to track the group..

Lilith had not seen many pokemon in action, but this one's behavior seemed odd. It walked a small path, almost like it had done it before many times.

‘Is it marking its territory?’ She thought.

Lilith decided to follow the small plants. The little Pokemon seemed like the least threatening of all that she had encountered thus far. Their moves were slow and lethargic. What one might expect from a plant. That made following it even easier. After a short distance, they turned inland.

Soon, even more Bellsprout appeared. The oddity of the situation only increased.

‘Are they some kind of scouts? If so, there must be a Weepinbell or Victreebell commanding them. Running from them would be the only option.’ she thought.

The more Lilith followed the group of Bellsprout, the more the ground sloped upwards. The trees became less condensed the further she traveled.

‘Should I turn back? I don’t want to find out how they react to people.’ She thought.

Less trees meant less cover, and more chances to get caught.

Just as Lilith was about to turn back, a Weepinbell dropped from a nearby tree. It was so well concealed that she didn’t see it before it decided to show itself to the Bellsprout group.

Lilith pressed her small body up against the tree. She peeked out once the Weepinbell started to talk to them.

The Weepinebll proceed to pull out something and hand one to each of the group.

‘A strawberry shaped berry, but it's peach colored.’ she thought.

Lilith tried to remember the name and properties of the Berry. These actions confirmed two things. It appeared that this area was some sort of territory protected by the Victreebel Pokemon evolutionary line.

‘Persim Berry I think… Cures Confusion … How do status conditions even work?’ she wondered.

This also insinuated that there was a Persim Tree in the area. This provided the perfect opportunity to follow them back to it. With the river blocking the Oran Tree, this Persim Tree would be much closer.

The Bellsprout munched on their food and soon started to wander out again. Lilith decided to try and track the Weepinbell back to its tree. This act proved to be too difficult and soon she was alone.

***

Lilith checked the position of the Sun. It was about midday, and she determined the direction of her supplies. The rest of the afternoon consisted of wandering around the area and hiding from wandering Bellsprout.

Although Lilith could not find the Persim Tree, she found three other Types of trees. Aspera, Leppa, and Pecha, which cure Sleep, Power Points (PP), and Poison respectively. Each Berry type was guarded by a Weepinbell.

The close proximity of the trees was vexing; each type of berry had multiple Trees. Compared to the Oran Tree, these looked deliberately planted together in close proximity. This thought was only strengthened by how close the distance between each mini orchard was.

Lilith had traveled a fair ways, and had not come across any Berry Trees, but these were all clumped together.

‘There must be a Victreebel with some intelligence. They definitely have some societal structure.’ she thought.

Lilith's view on intelligent Pokemon was skewed by the Legendaries she had encountered, along with the instinctual-ness of all others. Almost all Pokemon she had met acted more like animals from Earth.

The Weepinbell was well hidden. The only chance she got to see them come out of the top branches was when flocks of Rufflet descended upon one tree to try and take their bounty.

Razor sharp leaves sprayed at the flock whenever they came too close. Most were scared off, but some berries were still nabbed in the end.

With this information, Lilith started to make a plan of her own.

‘I definitely have a chance to nab some berries of my own.’ she thought.