Shock of Purple
By AvidAkiraReader
I don't own anything.
It is frikkin' raining in California. And I live in the damn valley. In a dry town. And it's friggin' summer.
Can a Pokémon truly communicate with a human? Is it simply just how the Arceus created us; with no ability to speak? Well, technically we can speak, but we just make a sound. Our names. How many times have I cried out, whether in joy or in tears my name I can't recall.
Our thoughts are our words, and our hands are unable to even type on a typewriter. In a way, we are exactly like animals. Just tamed ones, ones that obey orders, animals that exceed their limits fighting for their trainers.
Only special, which I say so scathingly, special Pokémon are given the ability to exchange conversation with humans. And even then, they rarely use that talent to talk.
I envy them, and I loathe the fact I can't talk to a trainer. So when I, a Pokémon with no trainer and one who couldn't communicate with humans, was visited by a Lucario bearing a brown cotton satchel, I just sat in the sweet smelling grass. It was fairly sunny up in the sky, and the air had a strong breeze, ruffling my short , yellow fur a little.
-Yes?—I ask in a dry voice. My ears twitched when the Lucario's red eyes looked straight into mine. They seemed…resigned in some ways. His black dreadlocks fluttered in the wind behind them as he silently took out a scroll. Without really opening his mouth, he said:
"Would you please enter the Super Smash Brothers Struggle Tournament?"
I considered the proposal. On one hand, my relatives had joined the tournament before, and they had came out with happy grins. Of course, Pichu never really cared what happened to him, and it seemed like my older brother met a girl Pikachu there… He had shown me a picture of her kicking a blue penguin's head, and had told me as his little brother that they were officially dating.
-Sure. Anything I have to have?—I inquired. My tail waved around anxiously behind me, but I had been itching for some excitement lately. The Lucario shook his head, and held out a paw. Gingerly taking it while avoiding the spike, I was then pulled onto his back, and soon, he was running distances that would've have usually taken months. With a dry throat, I saw the ocean; a vast amount of water that took my breath away. Clutching Lucario's head, I stared in a horrifying glance, that it wasn't an ocean.
It was just…nothing. A void. There were no waves, no pounding surf…Nothing. Just a flat blue wall with a glowing light ten feet above it, and a cliff leading to it, stopping short of it only eleven feet away.
"It is a portal to another world." Lucario said abruptly, gaining more speed. I swallowed thickly while my stubby little arms and legs wrapped itself around Lucario's neck tighter. We were heading towards the point of the cliff. With a large leap, Lucario jumped from the point to that portal, the wind whistling sharply in our ears.
I shut my eyes, and recoiled when I felt a cold breeze on my back. Feeling a nudge on my back, I cracked an eye open to see Lucario stoically stare straight ahead at a fishing town. –W-where are we?—I rasped out, feeling my voice crack at the end. We were standing on a wooden dock, a few boats here and there tied to wooden posts.
The town had a few lights glowing from a few windows, but it was deathly quiet, with the ocean behind us crashing against a cliff and the dock.
"We are at our temporary new home." Lucario finally replied, his red eyes going blank. I looked around with a new distaste, and a bit of wariness. My life was spent in a forest, with the sounds of bugs and quiet coos from birds filling the air. There was almost never a storm or a gray day in the forest.
Here…The sky was a dark gray, with clouds bringing in a slight drizzle. My yellow fur was quickly soaked, and I began to shiver. Looking up at my stoic companion, I couldn't help but smile a little at his hidden disgust. –Are we going to go?—I said with a hint of curiosity in my tone, and his head snapped to look at me. Looking at me, I grew uncomfortable with his eyes boring into mine. But, finally, he started walking with me, still, on his shoulders.
"You do not seem overly disgusted with your new surroundings, friend." He observed coolly, and I inclined my own head. Going on, he said in a dull tone, "We are only a few minutes away from Smashville, and there is a hotel where all of us Smashers are staying."
I tilted my head to the side. –One room for each of us? Or are we sharing?—A question I desperately wanted answered. –Are the rooms large or small? How big are the bathrooms? Will there be a balcony? Is there going to be free food?—Lucario let out a hoarse chuckle at my sudden wish to talk, and I jumped.
I flushed slowly, and my red cheeks grew brighter. He answered, "Quite honestly, I have no idea." I groaned, and rested my forehead against the back of his head.
In a monotone, I retorted, -Quite honestly, that sucks.-
We reached the hotel, and with a shock, I saw that it was tall. And gigantic. I scurried down Lucario's shoulders, and reached the ground, soaked to the bone and shivering. Jerking my head to the door where it was glowing brightly, Lucario and I walked towards it, and were met by a blast of warm wind. The floor was checkered black and white, with a front desk smack in the middle between two elevators.
Behind the front desk, a large wooden door was opened just a crack to reveal two white limbs conferring with a human being. On the desk, a pad of paper held hastily scrawled names and a scanner next to it, which I presumed was for Pokémon. Scurrying over to it, and stood up and placed my paw on the scanner.
Pikachu
Gender: Male
Room: Left Elevator, Room 48, Fourth Floor
Lucario also placed a paw on the scanner.
Lucario
Gender: Male
Room: Left Elevator, Room 49, Fourth Floor
We both grinned at each other, me with a wide one and him a small one, and both trooped over to the left elevator, and simultaneously got on when we froze at a sound of a voice. Looking behind my yellow shoulder, I saw a blonde haired man in green clothing yell expletives at a right hand, and a tall slim woman behind him with a cold fury in her blue-gray eyes.
Quite honestly, it was the lady who caught my eyes. Her skin seemed translucent, and her brown hair was parted to let two strands of chocolate brown hair be tied into a tight braid while the rest flowed down her back. A gold circlet was placed delicately in her hair, and she was dressed in a curious type of clothing. A black hooded cloak rested upon her shoulders, under it a royal dress the color of lavender. Her blue-gray eyes betrayed a keen intelligence and hid a feeling of affection for the young man before her.
The most strangest thing wasn't the pointed ears both of them sported, it was more of her swiveling her head to face me with a look of questioning in her eyes. I nudged Lucario for us to go while they were distracted, save for the woman. As he pushed the button for the fourth floor, I caught her eyes again, and grinned in a friendly way, not noticing her look of surprise.
Man was she pretty…
"YOU ARE THE MOST ANNOYING THING I'VE EVER ENCOUNTERED SINCE I'VE GONE BACK TO HYRULE, DID YOU KNOW THAT?" Link roared, spouting a few more curses at the unflinching limb before me. I rubbed my gloved hands in a way to comfort myself that Pikachu did not just grin at me. Looking into his mind, I forced myself to realize that it really was a different Pikachu.
Because, the Pikachu that had endured both the time in Melee and Brawl didn't show any signs of it. But it had plenty of horrifying memories that the Pikachu's mind blatantly showed. A lightning bolt crackled in the background, and I flinched at the sound. If anything, the only other reason this Pikachu wasn't the other was because it sported a notched right ear unlike Pikachu's past flawlessness.
Anyways, the explanation for my love's anger was because Master Hand had separated us into two different rooms, and had forbidded us to flaunt our love for each other during this tournament. I can understand why for each. There are still children here, even though they had grown up a bit, but some still retained innocence that can never be lost.
Link
Gender: Male
Room: Room 46, Left Elevator, Fourth Floor
Zelda
Gender: Female
Room: Room 47, Left Elevator, Fourth Floor
They still had little women in the tournament, but my counterpart had finally been separated from me, and had been given another room, next to Ike Greil. True, now I didn't have any more physical strength, but in return, Sheik didn't have any magic with her.
After Master Hand gave Link a final warning, he transported us to our rooms, where we would be able to visit each other in the morning. However, I grinned to myself, he didn't forbid being around anyone else.
I'm a Pikachu, will go by Pikachu, and have always understood that whenever humans tried to talk to us in our language, they ended up insulting us. After I parted ways with Lucario, and looked around at my new room, I quickly grew bored. My room was a pale blue, with a lot of space in it. A small television was shoved to the wall on top of a wooden cabinet which I presumed would hold souvenirs I could get.
A few potted plants were labeled 'Oran' and 'Sitrus'. My bed was a simple white and brown low mat, with a few neatly stacked blankets acting as pillows. My bathroom was simple. A white rectangular bath was squished right in front of a sink, so I could simultaneously brush my teeth and soak at the same time, and a chair holding fluffy white towels were hanging besides it.
A closet held head accessories, one green headband already being my favorite. I tugged it out, and wrapped it twice on my right ear, just missing the place where the notch was. Venturing out, I looked left and right before deciding to meet my new neighbor. Of course, who knew whether she or he could talk to me or not.
Taking a few steps back, I tackled the door to fly straight into the 'stomach' of the lady I had grinned at downstairs. Hearing a muffled grunt, I suddenly flushed a bright red as I realized where exactly I had landed. Coughing to hide my embarrassment, I tumbled off her, and looked away, still red.
-S-Sorry…- I muttered, scuffing the carpet with a paw, forgetting that she couldn't understand Pokémon. Her hair was a mess, the braid untied and in tangles, and her eyes were confused yet sharp. She had exchanged her cloak and dress for more simple attire. But…My eyes narrowed in suspicion. The lady was dressed in a simple pair of pants and a cotton shirt, plus some rain boots and a rain coat that was on the floor.
Why?
"I'm taking a walk out in the rain." She said abruptly, and I recoiled with my tail stark straight. How did she-? "I read your thoughts, Pikachu." The woman said with an amusement coloring her tone. I stood quietly before crossing my arms and jutting my chin at her. She knows my name, so could she tell me hers?
"It's Zelda." She said with an elegant eyebrow raised, and my look of defiance crumbled into a keen look of curiosity. How would you be able to do that? "Telepathy, mind-reading, whatever you'd like to call it." Zelda said nonchalantly, propping herself up while looking at me. I picked up her rain coat and held it up for her to grab as an apology.
Taking it, she thanked me, and stood up, stretching her arms. I sharply told her with my mind to stay in. With her height, she would most likely be shocked. Laughing, Zelda told me that I might as well go with her then. Looking at her with a glance of disbelief, I saw that she actually wanted me to go with her. Silence reigned for only a short time before I allowed myself to nod, and a grin spilled out.
Smiling back at me, she walked out the door, me scurrying behind her with a foolish grin on my mouth.
We went outside, Pikachu and I, in the backyard where there was a sheltered porch and a gentle sloping hill of grass leading to a small meadow. The drops of rain slid down the slick purple coat, and I laughed in glee while my face glistened. Pikachu warily stayed out of the rain, but close to me as I whirled around, occasional magic sparks twirling around me in shades of purple.
Pikachu eyed me and my magic before offering with a thought, 'Is there a possibility that magic can mix with natural elements?' I considered his thought carefully. Magic could mix with many things, sometimes it could change color or even the element. For example, Din's Fire was a combination of fire and magic, and on a rare occasion, when my magic mixed with water, it created a liquid clone. Yet what was Pikachu asking?
"I believe that magic can meld itself to any natural element. Why ask?" I said with an honest look of interest in my eyes. Pikachu took on a look of contemplation, and shrugged with his thoughts taking a different turn. Abruptly he stopped and looked at me steadily saying with his thoughts, 'Don't worry. It's just a thought.'
"A thought?" I asked dubiously, and he firmly nodded, and changed the subject.
'…How do you see magic?' He asked, and I stood in the rain, wondering why in Nayru's world would he want to know. After a minute or so, I gave him an answer.
"I see magic as threads, lifeless colors until you pull them together with something else to create magic."
After soaking in the bath, I took one of those fluffy white towels and toweled myself off roughly. The green headband I had worn was around a bar that had held my towel. Jumping out into my bed, I curled around myself in an effort to gain heat that I had lost while being outside with Zelda. Such a storm could very well chill me to death.
Snuggling deeper in my bed I shut my eyes tight, and thought of that idea I had tonight. Could it…? No, I decided, it might be better if I show it off later.
I never knew how late 'later' can get.
Large Time-skip; and I mean large. You'll understand what I mean.
I dragged myself to bring my friend over to Hyrule. He had almost gone delirious after his brothers died, and had wanted to see the lady we had both seen at the last Smash Tournament the Hands' hosted before they got chained to Subspace by Tabuu. I had gotten severely injured during that time of war; my leg muscle was torn, and my friend's ear was notched and cut several times.
Everyone else bore marks of the war, Subspace and The Void War. Link had been scarred deeply on his arm, Peach had a slight cut on her cheek, and Zelda sported a burn on her calf, which Pikachu had gone berserk over. I never understood why, until now. My stamina had taken a beating over the years so while I had been able to travel enormous distances before, it had been deteriorating into two-thirds.
Pikachu clung onto my neck tightly, as he had done years before when we first arrived at the fishing town of Smashville. He was lighter than before, I realized, but his grin had never died, and even now, he was encouraging me to go farther. His green headband was still tied around his right ear, but he had added a purple one after the Void War.
As we finally reached the portal to Hyrule, I exerted myself to give another leap off a steep hill into the bright light. After seeing the great castle of Hyrule, I stumbled over to a guard and told him, "We're friends of Queen Zelda. Tell her that Pikachu wants her."
I hurried to the bedroom where Pikachu and Lucario were staying in. I hadn't changed, and I won't until my friends die. My hair still remained its chocolate color, but I had trimmed it until it was shoulder length. My face was unmarred, yet my skin still retained its angry red burn from the Void War. Link had also remained young with me, and we were able to see twenty-five years pass without war under our watchful eyes, one gray-blue and one a vibrant blue.
Bursting the door open, I entered to see Pikachu propped against the wall with Lucario breathing deeply besides him. Both of their eyes were closed, and they were communicating in their own special language. They looked up to see me, one with dull ruby red eyes and another friendly dark brown eyes.
Going close to them, I carefully hugged Lucario and Pikachu together, smiling gleefully. "So, why the visit?" I asked them, and Pikachu grew quiet. I saw him exchange a few words with Lucario before the blue canine walked out, unhappily though. Shutting my eyes close, I read his thoughts, and we engaged in a conversation.
'Remember that day when I asked you whether magic could mix with other elements?' Pikachu's thoughts had a tired tone to them, and his eyes were shut tight in concentration. I opened mine to find a glass bottle in his hands. Holding it out to me, I took it cautiously, and feeling a light coat of rubber encasing it, looked at it curiously. The cap was off.
"Why do you ask?" I asked him, and he opened his eyes and grinned that roguish smile that astonished me before I really met him.
'My last load of electricity…That's what keeping me alive.' Pikachu said thoughtfully. I puzzled over this, trying to connect the pieces he had given me. "Last load…" I murmured under my breath and I blinked.
'Last request…When I say go, release your magic into the bottle, and I'll place mine in there.' Pikachu grinned, and I knelt by him, shocked. He tapped my forehead and smiled again. I nodded numbly.
'Then three…' I gathered the faint threads of magic, the lifeless colors dangling in my reach. 'Two…' He breathed in deeply, as I pulled them to me. 'One…' Pikachu handed me a cap as I was concentrating, and I held it between my pointer and middle finger. 'Go!' I slipped the threads of magic into the bottle, where they coiled into a complex tangle of a cylinder.
Pikachu gave a grunt, and poured his last load of electricity into the bottle too, where they mixed in with the magic, and gave the color of…purple. I gasped silently at the beautiful colors the electricity made until Pikachu told me, "Shut it before it melts away!" Closing the bottle immediately, the magic began twisting itself into different forms, colors, and shapes, forever changing into one thing and another.
"It's beautiful…" I said softly, when Pikachu gave it a disdainful look with misty eyes. He grumbled silently, 'I think I could've d-done bet-better…' He slowly untied his headbands, both green and purple, and painstakingly tied them to the bottle's neck. Grinning again, weaker this time, he cocked his head sideways.
I hugged him gently.
Can life truly get better than this? I ask myself as the life fades away before me. I was being hugged by a woman I secretly loved, and the best thing was, she would be able to move on with Link.
Life was rich, and beautiful, I told myself. I didn't harbor any feelings against Arceus, my life was done…Except for one thing. Lucario was a comrade, a friend, and one who never left him after they met.
'Tell Lucario that h-he was a g-good friend, Z-Zelda…' I called out hoarsely before everything turned dark and black.
And then it was bright, and that brightness tore my eyes open. My brothers stood in front of me, and a red, thick line separated me from them. Pichu grinned and waved at me, but the curious thing was that he was changed. Not as in evolution change however. We had all stayed the same kind of Pokémon after the tournaments, perhaps because we had never wanted to.
Yet they were human, seeming exactly their age when I had left. Pichu was in a child's body, with brown hair and blonde streaks through it. Pikachu was a twenty year old, with a roguish smile crossing his face. Looking at myself, I'm shocked to see I'm a human teenager, and when I feel my ears, there are still notches that I got from the Void War.
"Where is this place?" I ask them in a soft voice; the red line glowing ominously.
Pichu answered in a subdued voice, so unlike his past personality, "You are in-between the Living, and the Dead."
Pikachu elaborated after I gave them a startled look. "It's where the dead choose to be reincarnated into a animal, person, or thing, or if they would rather go to Heaven. We, Pichu and I, are the ones who pass the ones who can't decide which one to go to in the next hour."
"The next…Hour?" I asked, bewilderedly. Insanity. Then, it struck me, "Why won't they choose to go into Heaven? Isn't that more preferable?"
Pikachu looked at me with pity. "To you, we've been gone for ten years. In here, we've been gatekeepers for a hundred. They don't choose Heaven immediately because they want to see their family, friends, lovers…" He said quietly, and then I understood with such clarity why people couldn't decide.
There was that slim chance that I could meet Zelda again…And Lucario…
But I wanted out of reality, and it's terrible hardships.
"Brother…" Pichu said in a heartbreaking voice. "Choose quickly…Please…" He choked in a sad voice, and Pikachu completed it for him.
"Choose before you go to Oblivion, where the souls of the dead ponder why they never chose one or the other."
I looked at the side where they were. Bright white palaces and houses were situated inside the white gates that Pichu and Pikachu guarded. A light breeze stirred up the leaves on a White Pine, making it smell fresh and clean over there.
On my side, corruption messed with ecosystem. There was the smell of smoke, of hunger, and all of nature's worst enemy. But there were the flowers that smelled beautiful, there were people I loved, and it looked like the greenest place on earth.
In the narrow line of Oblivion, there were the desperate cries of people; where they beseeched me not to go to that dreadful red line. It smelled of blood, of tears, and the inevitable hot breeze that stirred up dust.
I looked at Heaven, the white palace.
I looked at Earth, the green gem.
And I looked at Oblivion, the realm of eternal agony.
So I made my choice.
So…What do you think of this? My first tragedy…oh joy. Longest damn oneshot ever...
