Today was a normal training day at the Smash household. Everyone outside on the training field testing their moves for exhibition tomorrow. As the time passed, it was time to head back inside for dinner. Almost everyone was in the dining hall except for one particular fighter, the Electric-type Pokémon, Pikachu. Not everyone knows the reason why he doesn't join everyone for dinner, but only the Pokémon know exactly why. As being part of the Original 12, everyone expects him to join them at dinner, but what they didn't know is that he has a really dark past that caused him to be afraid of humans. To him, nobody could truly understand the pain that he is going through.
As dinner started, Cloud noticed that Pikachu was gone. He still remembers when he first met him. When he entered the Smash house for the first time, being greeted by many of the fighters that admired him, and then seeing Pikachu for the first time. He walked over to the archway near the bedrooms, knelt down, and reached out his hand to him. "Hi little guy." said Cloud. Pikachu slowly walked upto him and sniffed his hand, but once Cloud tried to pet him, he got really scared and hid behind a couch. Cloud thought that he did something wrong, but Mario told him not to worry about it. Ever since then, the former 1st Class SOLDIER was concerned and worried about Pikachu.
He also noticed Pikachu being afraid of Mario, Link, and all the human fighters. He wanted to know why; but he knew if he asked about it tonight, it would become an issue. After dinner had ended he went to his room and slept for the night. The next morning came and it was exhibition day. He walked into the main room and found Link and Marth kneeling down by a couch. He walked over to them and saw them trying to get Pikachu to come to them. "See Link, I told you this was a bad idea." said Marth. "What did you try to do?" Cloud asked them. The two swordsmen looked at Cloud and then stood up. "I tried to give him this berry, but he ran away from me. I don't get it? He used to be so friendly to everyone, but all of a sudden he just became afraid of people. What happened to him?" said Link. "Maybe Mario might know about this. He has all of our files right? So maybe he knows something about him that no one else knows." Cloud asked. Marth and Link nodded their heads in agreement.
Cloud knew that he had to talk to Mario alone. He can't let anybody get in his way now. When it was time to go to the battlefield, he had to find Mario. As he got to the battlefield, he saw Mario all by himself, so he walked over to him knowing that this was his chance to get an answer. "Hey Mario? Can I talk to you in private for a few minutes?" Cloud asked him. "Sure." said Mario. They walked away from the battlefield seeing no one in sight. "Ok Cloud, what is-a going on?" Mario asked him. "It's about Pikachu. Have you noticed that he keeps on avoiding human contact recently? Did something happen here to him that caused him to be afraid of people?" Cloud asked. Mario began to remember Pikachu avoiding any kind of human contact and seeing him running away from them and that he was also very scared of them. He knew that this was very unusual from the little guy, but he didn't really know what to do. Mario closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes and looked up at Cloud.
"It's about his past." said Mario. "His past? What happened?" Cloud asked. "He… he was abused." said Mario sadly. Cloud's eyes widened in shock. "His-a former Trainer had abused him for a very long time. The poor little guy kept on-a taking every beating from that Trainer, kept calling him weak and worthless. Then one day that Trainer finally released him to the wild." said Mario. He noticed the shocked look on Cloud's face and was actually surprised to see that Cloud began to care about Pikachu. "So because of what happened to him, he started to fear people. He only understands pain from them." said Mario. He also told Cloud that Pikachu is still at the house probably wandering around inside knowing that everyone is gone.
They both went back to the battlefield and told Master Hand of the situation. He excused Cloud from exhibition and told him to take his time to get Pikachu to trust him. Cloud left the battlefield and started heading back to the house. As he walked, he remembered the berry that Link had to make Pikachu walk upto him. He looked around and saw a few bushes that had berries on them. He also saw a small basket that was empty. He picked up the basket and picked out alot of berries hoping that giving them to Pikachu and talking to him will earn his trust a little bit. After that, he made it to the house.
He opened the front door very quietly and walked inside. He closed the door and walked around the house wondering where the little Pokémon could be. He walked to his room and saw that his door was open. "Maybe he's in here?" he thought to himself. He walked into his room quietly and saw Pikachu sleeping on his bed. He tried to not make a sound as he put the basket down and took off his boots. He silently closed his door and windows so that Pikachu couldn't escape.
"Now what can I do?" Cloud said to himself as he put his Buster Sword away. He sat down on the floor and looked at the sleeping Pokémon on his bed. As he watched, his sword fell onto the floor, scaring him and it woke Pikachu up. His little brown eyes widened in fear from the sound, looked around the room, and then saw Cloud there. He jumped off the bed and tried to find somewhere to hide, but nothing could hide him this time. Cloud watched him try to hide and saw fear in his eyes. Pikachu lied down on the floor and hid his face with his paws and tail, shaking in fear. "Poor little guy. He is that scared of people." said Cloud sadly in his thoughts. After thinking that, he knew only one thing to do: talk to him.
Cloud closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes and looked at the scared Pikachu. "Pikachu?" said Cloud calmly. Pikachu stopped shaking and uncovered his face. He looked up and saw Cloud looking at him and not moving an inch from where he was. He had never heard a calm voice like that before. He stood back up and looked at Cloud again wondering what he might do now. Cloud tilted his head a little to the right and Pikachu did the same thing as he did. Deep in his thoughts, Cloud thought it was kinda cute seeing Pikachu copying him. "Hi." said Cloud as he waved. "Pika." said Pikachu as he waved. He couldn't believe it; the little guy was interacting with him.
As they stared at each other, Pikachu started walking slowly upto Cloud. "What in Gaia is he doing?" Cloud thought to himself. His eyes looked away to the basket with berries thinking that maybe Pikachu saw them too, but once he looked back at him, he was standing next to his right leg, staring at him confusingly. "It's ok little guy, I won't scare you. I promise." said Cloud. He watched Pikachu walk around him like a curious puppy wondering who this person with him is. "I heard that you had a rough life." said Cloud. Pikachu looked up at him and then nodded his head yes. "I think it was wrong for your former Trainer to do those horrible things to you. When I hear stuff like this happen to people and animals, it makes me sick to my stomach. People who do this kind of crime should be put behind bars for a very long time and never see the light of day ever again." he said.
Pikachu was surprised to hear what Cloud had said. "I may not truly understand the pain you have taken, but I know that no person or animal should ever go through this pain. Creatures like you should have the right to find a human that will take care of you with love and compassion. That's something that former Trainer of yours never truly understood. I guess he only wanted you as a powerful fighter, but he never saw your true potential in battle right?" said Cloud. "Pi." said Pikachu. "Was he your only Trainer too?" Cloud asked. Pikachu nodded his head yes. "I know that you only understand pain and fear from people, but I want you to understand that they're alot of good people in the world too. They're are people that love to take care of Pokémon like you, making sure that they're happy with them and making them part of the family with them too." said Cloud.
Cloud looked at Pikachu and saw that the little guy was amazed of what he had said. "I hope now that you understand what I've said about people. I hope that I helped you with your fear a little bit too." said Cloud. "Pikachu!" said Pikachu happily. He smiled at Cloud and he smiled back at him. A minute later, Pikachu started sniffing the air as a scent had caught his nose's attention. He looked around the room wondering where the smell was coming from and then saw a basket filled with berries. He looked at Cloud and pointed at the basket. "You see the berries?" Cloud asked him. He took out two berries from the basket and looked at them in his paws. From what Cloud had learned about Pikachu, his species like to sometimes shock their berries for a specific taste. "Pika-pi?" said Pikachu.
"Hm?" said Cloud. He looked at Pikachu and saw him hold out a Sitrus berry to him while he held a Oran berry in his other paw. He was completely surprised by this action. "You want me to have this?" he asked. "Pi!" said Pikachu happily. He took the Sitrus berry from his paw and held it in his hand. "Thank you." he said. "Pikachu." said Pikachu happily. Pikachu ate his Oran berry happily. Cloud looked at the Sitrus berry for a couple seconds and then took a bite into it. He first thought that he would think it would taste sour, but the taste was actually sweet. It reminded him of a sweet treat his mother used to make for him when he was a child. Pikachu noticed the smile on Cloud's face as he still ate the Sitrus berry. He looked at the basket again and took out another Oran berry and ate it. Cloud was surprised that Pikachu was eating with him, seeing that his little talk did help him. Now it was the next step: trying to pet him.
Cloud slowly lifted his right hand as Pikachu watched. The little Pokémon walked upto him and sniffed his hand. Cloud closed his eyes and got a little nervous wondering what will happen next. "Pika?" said Pikachu. Cloud opened his eyes and saw Pikachu's paws on his arm. Pikachu tilted his head wondering if Cloud was ok. Cloud slowly turned his hand to Pikachu and scratched his ear. After that moment, he saw Pikachu wag his tail and crawl onto his lap. "Y-you already like me?" Cloud asked. Pikachu smiled and nodded his head yes. Cloud smiled back at him and started petting him again.
Hours had passed and it was dinnertime. Everyone returned to the house ready to eat. They grabbed their meals and sat in the dining room. As everyone ate, Link and Marth saw Cloud walk into the dining room with Pikachu on his shoulder. Their eyes widened in shock to see Pikachu not afraid anymore. As they walked in with their dinners, Link and Marth made them sit with them. Cloud told them how he helped Pikachu conquer his fear as they watched him interact with everyone making them smile to see him back to his old self. As the night almost came to a close, Cloud and Pikachu went back into Cloud's room and layed down on his bed. They both were sound asleep five minutes later. The next morning, Pikachu was back practicing with everyone and it made Master Hand happy to see Pikachu practice again.
One week later, as Cloud was about to go to practice with Link and Marth, something hit Cloud in the face. "Ow!" said Cloud. "You ok?" Marth asked. "I think so." said Cloud. They looked down at saw the item that hit Cloud. "It's a PokéBall." said Link. Cloud picked it up, pressed the button and saw that it was empty inside. "Who would throw this?" said Cloud. They walked out the door and saw Pikachu outside looking at them. "Hey buddy." said Link as he knelt down and petted his head. Pikachu smiled happily and then looked at Cloud seeing the PokéBall in his hand. "Did you give this to me?" Cloud asked Pikachu after he knelt down. "Pi." said Pikachu. Pikachu looked at the PokéBall and touched the button allowing himself to be caught. The Ball shook three times and made a dinging sound to confirm the capture. The three fighters were completely surprised of what just happened. "No way... he just let himself get caught." said Link surprised. A moment later, Cloud threw the PokéBall in mid air and Pikachu came out of the Ball and jumped onto Cloud's shoulder.
"I guess that he wants you to be his Trainer Cloud." said Marth. Cloud looked at Pikachu all surprised. "You really want me as your Trainer?" Cloud asked. "Pikachu!" said Pikachu happily. "Well you are the only one who helped him conquer his fear." said Marth. "And he really trusts you the most." said Link. Cloud and Pikachu looked at each other for a few seconds and then smiled at each other happily. "Come on, let's go train." said Cloud. They left the house and went to train for the rest of the day.
Thank you for reading the story! I've been working on this one for at least 3 months and this is my first one chapter story. Hopefully I will do some more one chapter stories in the future. If you are a Cloud and Pikachu fan like myself, I hope that you enjoyed this little story.
Speaking of Cloud and Pikachu, I've come up with a huge story based on their franchises that will begin in January 2017! I can't reveal more quite much yet, but I'll talk about it more in my profile page next week if you are interested in a Pokémon/Final Fantasy crossover story. Once again, thank you for reading and have an awesome day!