Birds chirped happily, the soft sounds of insects humming along in the background, and the familiar smell of wet grass and foliage met his nose.
The tiny creature scampered along the forest floor, stopping every few minutes to check for danger and to smell the fresh air. He could smell other creatures, his own kind, and others. There were no threats that he could detect, so he hurried along. His yellow fur bristled in the brisk air, his tail twitched and his ears perked up at every sound.

A young pikachu out alone in the forest is never safe, so instinctively he was heading back to his family. He had wandered away from his pack a few hours ago, and although he had felt the thrill of exploring, he regretted leaving the security of his homelands. He came to an overturned log blocking his path, the huge, thick block of wood completely obscuring the way.
He looked up at it, and then to the side. He could easily walk the few feet around the tree and continue on his way, but he was urged to go forwards by his own sense of adventure, and scrambled up it, his sharp claws digging into the bark. It was tough, but he made it to the top and sat for a moment, triumphant. His ears pricked up.

A flock of taillow screeched wildly and fled from their trees, off into the sky. Spinning around to see what it was, the pikachu lost his footing and slid off of the log, just managing to hang on with his forearms, his stomach flat against the side. The bird pokémon sounded their calls again, some circling around to watch the predator as it approached. The young pikachu's eyes widened as it saw the creature, nearly three times his size and twice as powerful.

It gave a low growl as it scented its first meal, the grey dog like pokemon slowed to a stop ten or so feet away, and looked the pikachu straight in the eye. Another growl escaped its throat and it lunged forwards, breaking into a run. Exclaiming suddenly, the pikachu let go of the log with his claws and turned tail, bolting away as fast as he could. The mightyena cleared the log with its powerful legs and continued after the rodent, hungry and merciless. Dashing through shrubs and bushes in an attempt to shake the predatory pokemon off of his tail, the pikachu was torn at by branches and thorns and became a patchwork of cuts. Other prey pokemon were nowhere in sight, they had heard and smelt it coming long before the pikachu had- it seemed he had much to learn, if he would survive this encounter.

The pokemon was now giving up hope of escaping, and began to slow down from exhaustion, the outcome would be inevitable. Something flashed past the pikachu in his peripheral vision, for a split second and no longer. Turning to see what it was, he noticed the Mightyena gaining on him sharply, and gave in. He stopped, collapsed, and waited for his fate.
A high pitched tittering caught the pikachu's attention, and his ears perked up. Another flash passed his eyes, and the noise grew louder. The Mightyena was now a mere few feet away, it wouldn't be long now. He closed his eyes and braced himself- The Mightyena yelped loudly.

Inhaling sharply, he opened his eyes again, realising that his demise had been stalled. The mightyena was cowering a few metres away, hunched over as it stared up into the air. Following its gaze, he caught a glimpse of it again, darting around, a flash of blue for no more than a split second- then it stopped, and launched an attack.
The orb flew at the Mightyena once more, singing its fur and startling it. Knowing when it was beaten, the Mightyena retreated hastily, its tail between its legs. The mysterious saviour purred in a high pitched voice as it levatated above the pikachu, eyeing it up curiously. The pikachu was equally curious, and cocked its head to one side in surprise. The creature flew lower and inspected the pikachu's wounds, not quite sure what to make of them.

It smiled, and launched another orb directly at the pikachu. He winced, knowing what had happened to the mightyena was likely to happen to him, but yet again, the pain didn't arrive. Instead, a strange warmth surrounded him as he was encased in the orb as it grew in size. His wounds seemed to melt away as the light from the orb filled him, and looking at his paws, they too melted away. In a panic, he twisted around, trying to see, trying to escape. His fur melted away now, breaking away from his skin and disappearing in the blue light- and as the orb grew larger, so too did the pikachu. Writhing in fear he tried his best to break free, gnawing at his furless arm in frustration- until his sharp rodent teeth also disappeared, being replaced by dull teeth and four incisors. The strange saviour watched on curiously as the pikachu was deformed, not understanding the creature's fear and need to run.

After what seemed an eternity to the pikachu, the orb disintegrated, leaving him face down on the floor. Regaining his wits, the pikachu got on all fours and started off at a run, but fell short of his step with his front paws and again, wound up on the floor. The pikachu was now hyperventilating, the fear in his eyes perfectly clear to all but this strange creature floating above him. It made a soft chirping sound, cocked its head and giggled- before darting away again into the sky.

Trying to calm down, the pikachu groomed itself rapidly with its front paws, then stopped and examined them briefly. He flexed the strange digits the were attached to them, similar to his ordinary fingers, yet different- the claws were flat and dull, and his fingers seemed to bend in another joint. Scurrying around to check his back paws, he was releved to find his fur covered tail spinning around with him. His feet, however, were completely different. Again, strange claws grew from them, but now as he sat hunched over, the part of his feet that had once been a joint sat completely flat on the ground.

He was completely deformed, nothing was in the right place or in the right shape or bent in the right direction. He was completely bald except for the blonde patch on the top of his skull, his long ears, and his tail, and ultimately, completely naked. He sniffed the air, trying to get his bearing again, but something was amiss. His senses were almost numb compared to what they had been, he could barely scent the grass beneath him, let alone his family or a threat. He was blind without his nose, there was no way he would be able to figure out where he was going or what was going on without it. Getting to his feet again, he teetered along on all fours as best he could, and attempted to blindly find his way home.

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Author's Notes:
Hi there, thanks for taking the time to read this. It was just something I threw together at 4AM and decided to upload mainly because I had nothing better to do. I'm definitely going to continue this though, so don't worry if you want to know what happens next. :)

The Poor Poet