I awoke feeling groggy and out of focus. Who had brought me here to this dark, cold cell? I raised my head and looked around. Yep, it was indeed a cell. Complete with bars and stone walls. I plopped my head back onto the stone floor. How was I planning to get out of this mess? I tried possible solutions in my mind, but all of them ended with me getting caught. Or killed.
A voice shattered my thoughts. "Hey Pikachu, the Boss wants to see you." The Boss? Who was this Boss person? The man opened the cage door, and led me out. I didn't think I wanted to try to get away... this guy was burly and looked like he could beat a Machoke in a wrestling match. I followed quietly, looking at the scenery.
There were a lot of other cells in this place, but most of them weren't occupied. I found a pokémon in one of them, though. It was a Vulpix. She looked really abused, with whip marks on her back and only two of her original six tails. Her once-glossy coat was caked with dirt and blood. She gazed at me with liquid eyes and whispered, "Please, can you
help me? I want to go home. I miss my mommy." This Vulpix was just a baby! How cruel these people were!
"I'll try to get you out, I promise." The Vulpix smiled at me. I wondered how I would ever keep my promise to her. I just couldn't let those wet cinnamon eyes be betrayed!
I got a rough tug from the man in front of me. "Keep it moving, Pikachu. The Boss isn't a patient man." I kept walking, but I smiled back at the Vulpix as I was going. I just had to get her out!
Soon enough, we came to a huge set of doors. The man opened one of them to let us in. The room inside was immense! I craned my neck, trying to see all of it at once. There were fabulous paintings of pokémon on the ceiling, but they were all fighting each other. What a waste of artistry.
There was a man standing on a high platform about 10 body lengths off the ground. He was kind of stout, and pretty short for an adult human. He had hard features, and a cruel smile. He looked like he would... well, he looked like he would torture a baby. Just like that Vulpix. I felt my electric sacs begin to swell with anger. This man had no right to treat a baby like this!
He spoke, for the first time. "This is it? You're the little runt who's been causing me so much trouble? You hardly seem worth it." His voice was filled with menace. Yeah, he was definitely the one who tortured that baby Vulpix. Or, at least he supervised. He didn't seem like the type who would get his hands dirty in the actual doing. He addressed his henchman. "Are you sure that this is the one?"
"I'm sure, Boss. This is definitely the talking one. It was insulting people left and right when I let it out into the training hall before it came here." Well, what did you expect me to have done? I wasn't just about to sit there and watch those buffoons abuse their own pokémon!
"Yes, that sounds like the one." He stroked a Persian sitting on his lap. "Leave us alone now, I need to have words with this Pikachu." Ever-obedient, the minion left the room. The man stood up, depositing his Persian on the floor of the balcony. "Greetings, Pikachu. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Giovanni, and I used to be the leader of the Viridian City gym. I tired of it quickly, and became the head of Team Rocket. And you, my tiny yellow friend, have been interfering with Team Rocket. Therefore, you have been interfering with me. That is not a smart thing to do. Mewtwo!"
A door opened in the wall, and a suit of armour stood there. On second glance, there was a pokémon inside the suit. It was a bit taller than an average man-height, and solidly built. At the snap of Giovanni's fingers, the pokémon's eyes began to glow. A blue aura surrounded me, and slammed me into a wall. As my head reeled, the force picked me up again. I tried to struggle free, but there was no getting out of this. It flung me against another wall, then the floor, and finally the ceiling. As it prepared to send me hurtling to the floor again and the balcony with Giovanni's sneering face came near, I grabbed the bars. Suddenly, the force trying to drag me to the ground stopped, and I felt momentary relief. Not for long, though. A wave of pain seared through my head, causing the automatic
reaction of me clutching at my throbbing temples. This was a mistake on my part. As soon as I let go of the bars, gravity set in, and I tumbled through the air to a bone-jarring impact on the cement floor. I swear I saw Starmie circling my head, dancing around.
Giovanni's voice wafted down to my hazy mind from the balcony. "Have you had enough yet, little Pikachu? Are you all tired out?" He laughed mockingly. I was lifted up again, towards the balcony. The aura set me down gently before Giovanni. "Will you suffer yourself to be part of Team Rocket?" he inquired. "I assure you that you'll be well-taken care of."
"I wouldn't join your worthless Team Rocket if it was the last place left standing on the planet!" I retorted. As soon as the words left my mouth, another wave of pain ripped through me.
"Are you sure, Pikachu?" His face was twisted into a sneer. His Persian looked at me sadly. If this was because it was sorry for me or because it was unhappy that it wasn't allowed to eat me, I'll never know.
"Do Spearows know Peck? Can Diglett Dig? Take a wild guess." The pain hit me again, and I collapsed onto all fours. In a normal Pikachu reaction, I let loose with a Thunderbolt. Giovanni jerked and spasmed, and Persian just kinda sat there and fried. One last psychic barrage struck me, and I let go of reality in favour of peaceful oblivion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I returned to consciousness, I was back in the dreary cell. No, wait, it was a different dreary cell. This one had a window facing the outside world. Complete with metal bars, of course. To my left lay a wounded Poliwag, still slumbering quietly. Half of its tail had been cut off, so it could probably barely swim, let alone walk. What criminals these people were! It would have been bad enough had the pokémon been adults, but these were all small children, from what I'd seen.
Another Team Rocket member opened the door to the cell. "The Boss wants a word with you again, Pikachu. I understand you made things very difficult the last time you two talked." I followed the woman down a different corridor, and I was led into a large office. Giovanni was sitting at a big desk, Persian at his side.
"So, we meet again, Pikachu. Leave." The last was addressed to the woman, who saluted and scurried out the door. "You have now caused me pain as well as trouble, little rodent. You will soon rue the day you were born! Your initiation will begin shortly. I'm sure it will be fun... at least, it will be fun to watch. I will see you again, yellow rat." A pokéball of some sort came hurling at me from out of the shadows, and I barely noticed in time to smack it with my tail. It bounced off and hit Giovanni's Persian, who got sucked into it. "Imbecile!" Giovanni roared. "Get out of my sight, IMMEDIATELY! And take the electric rat with you!" The TR member who had thrown the ball picked me up with rubber gloves, and rushed me into another chamber. He dropped me on the ground, and hurried off again.
I was in a cell with a bunch of devices that looked like they could be really, really painful, if properly used. A man with a whip meandered in from a door on the opposite side of the room, and smiled cruelly. "Time for training, Pika-brat." He cracked the whip. "I'm gonna go easy on you, this time. All I need you to do is swear allegiance to Team Rocket." I stood firm, arms crossed and mouth tightly closed. "Say it!" I turned my back on him. "Say it, you yellow freak!" The whip lashed across my back, leaving a streak of pain. I gasped, but no other sound escaped my mouth. "Say it now!" The whip stung me again, but I held steady. "Not going to open your mouth, eh? Too bad! I'm going to make you speak!" The whip struck me again and again, until there was just a numbness through my back, and I could no longer feel the bite of the whip. The man spat disgustedly. "Take the rat away."
A Rocket came out of nowhere again, and threw my abused body into a different chamber. I slowly climbed to my feet, and regarded the new room. It was fairly small, with stone walls. These people really liked stone, I guess. A door opened in the wall behind me. I whirled around, half-expecting the psychic pokémon - Mewtwo, Giovanni called it - to be standing there. Instead, there was a woman I recognized. She had long, red hair and wore a white Team Rocket uniform with a red R on the front. She looked just about as startled to see me as I was to see her! "Pika? Is it actually you?"
"Jessie! Who were you expecting, the Easter Chansey? Perhaps the Christmas Jynx." Jessie knelt down to my level to talk to me.
"Pika, I'm sorry I have to put you through this. I wish the Boss chose someone else for the job, but I have to." Jessie had been very kind to me when she caught me, as had James. Meowth was a little annoying, but his charm was a good electrical conductor. "I have to put you through all sorts of training, Pika. First, though, the Boss wants you to evolve. He figures that you'll be much stronger, and a better prospect for the Team, if you're a Raichu."
"Uh-uh! No way am I going to evolve! I like being a Pikachu, and I'm not gonna change!" But as I was speaking, Jessie brought out a small stone with a lightning bolt insignia on it, and touched it to my forehead. I felt a growing sensation inside me, and I was giving off a white glow. I was evolving! But I didn't want to evolve yet! I concentrated with all my power on stopping the growing. I tried, instead, to concentrate on a shrinking feeling, to keep myself from evolving. "Pika... Rai... PIKA! Chu."
Jessie took the stone away, and I relaxed. I felt different, though. I looked down at myself. I had shrunk too much! I was a Pichu now, with oversized ears and a small tail. "Gack! I took that one too far!" Jessie looked at me interestedly.
"I never realized it was possible to do that! That's really neat. And you're so kawaii too!" She moved to pat my head with the hand that held the Thunderstone. It brushed my ear, and I glowed my way into being a Pikachu again. "Oh well," she sighed. "I'm just gonna have to tell the Boss it didn't work." She left the room, and I followed at her heels. She walked down the maze of hallways, and finally took a turn that I recognized. She was going down the corridor that held Vulpix! She paused at the cage containing the baby fox pokémon. "Hi there, Pixel. Before I get fired, I'm gonna take you out and play with you." She unlocked the door with a key made from Cubone's bone, and picked Vulpix up in her arms. "Oh, I'm so sorry they had to do this to you! I wish I never took you from your home, I hope you'll forgive me someday." A small tear found its way from her eye to her nose, and finally plunked off her chin onto the floor.
An idea was beginning to form in my head. "Did you say you were going to get fired, Jessie?" She nodded sadly.
"I'll have one too many failures on my record now that I've failed to make you evolve. I'm just going to be kicked out." She hugged Vul - er... Pixel to her chest, and sighed. "This job wasn't really going anywhere anyway," she muttered.
"Listen, I don't want to take advantage of you, but could you do me a favour?" I asked, daring to hope for salvation. Jessie nodded, slowly. "Well, since you were figuring on leaving soon anyway, do you think you might be able to..." She looked up, not quite getting what I was going to ask. "Do you think you could take Pixel and me with you?"
Jessie laughed. "I'm going to be in a lot of trouble anyway, so sure. You guys can come with me." She produced two pokéballs. "Inside, everyone. It'll be a lot easier to smuggle you out like this." I hopped in one, and I let myself sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ah, I see you're awake. It was foolish of you to try to escape." Giovanni's arrogant voice awoke me. What? I was back in the Team Rocket base! Why wasn't I back in freedom? What had happened to Jessie? As if reading my thoughts, Giovanni answered. "Jessie, a former Team Rocket member, was caught trying to escape the base. She managed to get away, but the pokéball containing you fell off of her belt. We're lucky that you were the only pokémon she was trying to make off with; she could have posed some problems for us if she had escaped with any rare specimens." I felt like breathing a sigh of relief. Pixel and Jessie were both all right! I, on the other hand, was still stuck here. Oh well, be thankful for the little things. "Your training will commence tomorrow. Right now, you're effectively under house arrest." He chuckled dustily. "Meaning, you aren't allowed to leave your cell. Not like you were allowed in the first place..." He snapped his fingers, and a blue-haired man picked me up with rubber gloves and took me back to yet another different cell.
"I wonder why Jessie left..." James pondered as he walked. "She seemed pretty happy to me."
"Well, she didn't seem that way when I talked to her. She said that she would have been fired anyway, and she was kind of depressed." James stopped walking and looked at me.
"Pika? I never realized it was you! Well, thanks for telling me about Jessie. I'm going to miss her." James stopped in front of a metal cell. "This is your stop, Pika. I hope the Boss isn't too hard on you." He set me down inside the cold metal cell, closed the door and slowly walked away.
I was working on a plan to get myself out of this place. I didn't want to hang around too long, the depression seemed to be contagious! Well, unless those people wore rubber suits, they weren't getting me out of this cell. If they touched the bars, I would zap them! Served them right, for all that they've done.
The next morning, a man approached my cage in a rubber suit. Darn! Team Rocket wasn't as stupid as they let on. He opened the cage, picked me up bodily and dropped me in Giovanni's office again. I was spending more time in here than I was in my assorted cells! "So, Pikachu. Have you decided to join Team Rocket yet?"
"Fat chance." Giovanni affected an air of tiredness and exasparation.
"Why can't you just see this from my point of view?" He spread his hands as if welcoming me.
"Because my head doesn't go that far up my butt." Giovanni turned several shades of red while Persian snickered. Apparently it wasn't completely thrilled with its master.
"Take it away! Throw that worthless electric rat in its cage!" The rubber-suited guy hauled me back to my cage and dropped me on my behind. I heard him chuckle something about a good comeback was he walked back down the hall.
In the week or so after that, Giovanni didn't call me into his office again. I underwent some truly devious tortures, things only Team Rocket could think up. And every night, my battered and bruised body would be flung into the cold metal cell. And I'm not kidding when I say cold. The walls, ceiling and floor actually radiated cold. Too bad I wasn't an Abra, then I'd be able to float in the air. Or teleport away.
After another 'Get Pika To Join TR, Or At Least Beat The Living Crud Out Of That Rodent' session, I found another pokémon waiting in my cell. It was a Charmander, asleep. It seemed to be sleeping, or maybe just drugged. As the cage door slammed shut behind me, it opened its eyes. They were a startling emerald green, different than the usual blue-purple Charmander eyes.
"Hi. Are you the new cell-mate they said I'd be getting? The Rocket people told me I would be getting a new roomie. My name is Scorcher, but some people prefer to call me 'The Freak'. I would like Scorcher better." The Charmander extended a paw. I took it in my own.
"Hi. My name is Pika, and... well, Giovanni calls me 'that electric rat' or something to that effect, but only when he's angry." Seeing the confused face of Scorcher, I continued. "Giovanni is the big boss of Team Rocket, and he wants me to join. I won't, though."
Scorcher nodded. "Yeah, I've seen what they do to pokémon. So, what do you sat to getting out of here?" I was startled. Scorcher knew a way out? "I can get us out of here right now, if you want."
I was beginning to come down from the wild rush of joy that had enveloped me. I could finally be free! "Actually, we should probably wait until they finish giving us the stuff they call food. Someone should be coming really soon, now. Get to the opposite side of the cage, they'll separate us if they think we're friendly towards each other."
Obediently, Scorcher plopped down in the other corner. As the food-bringer walked in, I shot some sparks at Scorcher, making sure none actually hit home. Likewise, she shot a small Ember near me. The Rocket smiled, and closed the door behind us. Scorcher sniffed disdainfully at the plate. "They call this food? Eeewwww. This isn't fit for a Rattata!"
I had to agree. "So, you said something about getting out? Let's do it now, they shouldn't bug us again until tomorrow morning."
"Well, okay. First, I need to locate the thinnest part of the wall." She tapped around until she found a place where the pitch was slightly higher. "That sounds promising. Now for the real work." She took a deep breath, and a jet of blue-white flame shot out of her mouth. Soon, a puddle formed on the metal. Not much after that, she was digging through the soft metal like it was made of Ditto. It probably was about that consistency, because of the heating. I had to duck now and than to avoid a flying scrap of semi-molten material coming at my head, but we made short work of the wall.
Blessed air! The evening breeze across my fur sent a wave of delight to my brain. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. "Hey! There are two pokémon escaping! Get them!" Pokéballs, Greatballs and Ultraballs filled the air. Scorcher was captured inside an Ultraball, which I picked up and threw over the barbed-wire fence. It popped open on the other side, and she ran for the close cover of the surrounding forest. I clambered up the fence and smacked away a few balls with my tail. I had made it almost all the way up when I felt a sharp stinging on my back. It didn't even begin to compare with the whips, but it made me more desperate than ever to get out. As I crested the wall, I turned into energy and was sucked inside the ball. I struggled violently, found the catch and managed to get out. I looked around quickly to get my bearings, jumping back to avoid the pokéballs landing at my feet. Hey! I was on the other side! The momentum of the thrown pokéball must have been enough to carry me over. I scurried towards the forest, then paused for a moment.
"Eat this, Giovanni!" I shouted, and let loose a Thunder that would have made a Zapdos proud. It fried the entire perimeter defense system, and quite a few Rockets on the way. Among the dumbfounded Rockets who were simply standing there looking shocked, I saw James giving me a covert good-bye wave and smile. I smiled back, and headed off to find Scorcher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I wish we had something to eat," muttered Scorcher for approximately the 263rd time. "I'm so hungry..."
"If you were willing to eat the fruit we find on the trees and bushes, you wouldn't be so hungry! Come on, why don't you try it?"
"My brother choked on an apple, and none of the Charmander in the litter have ever touched them after that."
"Oh. I'm really sorry, I didn't know." We continued walking in silence. There was a stream along the side of the path, happily meandering through the forest. It was Scorcher's thought that we would find civilization sooner or later, if we just kept following the stream. It had been three days, and we still hadn't found anything. It looked like 'later' would be the prospect we faced.
After another hour or so, we saw lights in the woods up ahead. "Hey, maybe there are people there! They can help!" I started to run ahead.
A building with the letters 'PP' displayed prominently on its front loomed suddenly in front of me. "Wow..." The building was huge! The front doors could have easily accommodated a Snorlax or a Gyarados, and that was only the doors!
Scorcher caught up to me. "Whoah... that place is huge!" she breathed. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in!" She marched up to the front doors and shoved. "Could you give me a hand here? These things are really heavy!" I snapped out of my trance and came over to help open the doors. Straining, we managed to open them enough for us to slip in.
Suddenly, we were surrounded by humans. I tensed for a Thundershock, but I realized that these humans didn't want to hurt us, they were trying to help. One was huddling Scorcher to a room filled with steam and fire pokémon. I thought I saw Pixel, but it might have been my imagination. I was being dragged to a room with Electabuzz, Voltorb and other electric pokémon when the human taking me stopped. "Oh my! You've got scars all over your back! You're a fighter, are you?" She winked at me. "We're going to have to heal you first." She escorted me to a table off to one side, where I was promptly swarmed by Chansey. They patched me up, and I soon felt as good as new. "Wow, where did you get so beaten up?" the girl inquired.
"It might have been the 3-day walk in the woods, but it was more likely Team Rocket. I stopped noticing after a while, because my back was almost constantly numb."
"Oh, you got away from Team Rocket? Wow! Almost nobody does that. And I guess the Charmander is your friend from there?" She did a double-take. "Hey, you speak English! I thought you could only speak your own name! You must be a unique Pikachu!"
"It's an easily enough learned skill. I picked it up as I went. The Charmander's name is Scorcher, and she's pretty nice. She has the greatest eyes... they're green."
"Oh, that must look so pretty! Well, you get to stay with the other electric pokémon. The room is specially proofed so that all the electric fields don't disturb anything else."
"Um, do you mind if I just kind of hang around? I'd like to get to know everyone, not just electric-types." I accepted the packet of red stuff that she handed me.
"Sure! Here, have some ketchup. Pikachu are supposed to really like it." I tore it open, and emptied the contents into my mouth. Wow! My tastebuds were overloading, and I think I was sparking a bit. This stuff was good! What, good? This was the best stuff I'd ever tasted! Better than even a fresh apple!
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Thank you!" I beamed. The girl smiled at me, seeming to think I was funny.
"Hey, you've given me an idea. Do you want to be the mascot for PokéPals? We need one."
"Sure! But what's PokéPals?"
"Oh, PokéPals is an organization that helps injured, lost or otherwise needy pokémon. This is one of the centers we have. Do you think we treat the pokémon well?"
"Absolutely! It sounds good, I accept the position of mascot. By the way, my name is Pika. I know it's not much, but it's my name."
"How cute! Seeing how you're unique, and you're now the official mascot, I think we'll change the name." The girl got up on a podium and yelled into a loudspeaker. "Listen up! We have here the first official mascot for our organization, Pika the Pikachu!" The people and pokémon clapped and cheered. "Also, we have decided to change our name. Because Pika is a unique Pikachu in that Pika speaks English, because Pika is our new mascot and because we needed a name change anyway, this organization will now be known as PikaPals!" A huge cheer escaped the audience, and there was much clapping and stomping. The girl rushed to the videophone, presumably to inform all of the other outposts of the name change and acquisition of a mascot.
There was a great party held, with refreshments, games and lots of fun stuff. Everyone seemed to want to come up and shake hands with me, or pat me on the back somehow. Scorcher congratulated me, and even coaxed the other fire pokémon into flaming the night sky after the party. It was beautiful! She had managed to get small groups to flame in different colours, like yellow, blue-white and orange. I have always been grateful to PokéPals [or PikaPals, I guess] for helping me out, and I have never felt hunger or need again. Well, maybe for more ketchup...
A voice shattered my thoughts. "Hey Pikachu, the Boss wants to see you." The Boss? Who was this Boss person? The man opened the cage door, and led me out. I didn't think I wanted to try to get away... this guy was burly and looked like he could beat a Machoke in a wrestling match. I followed quietly, looking at the scenery.
There were a lot of other cells in this place, but most of them weren't occupied. I found a pokémon in one of them, though. It was a Vulpix. She looked really abused, with whip marks on her back and only two of her original six tails. Her once-glossy coat was caked with dirt and blood. She gazed at me with liquid eyes and whispered, "Please, can you
help me? I want to go home. I miss my mommy." This Vulpix was just a baby! How cruel these people were!
"I'll try to get you out, I promise." The Vulpix smiled at me. I wondered how I would ever keep my promise to her. I just couldn't let those wet cinnamon eyes be betrayed!
I got a rough tug from the man in front of me. "Keep it moving, Pikachu. The Boss isn't a patient man." I kept walking, but I smiled back at the Vulpix as I was going. I just had to get her out!
Soon enough, we came to a huge set of doors. The man opened one of them to let us in. The room inside was immense! I craned my neck, trying to see all of it at once. There were fabulous paintings of pokémon on the ceiling, but they were all fighting each other. What a waste of artistry.
There was a man standing on a high platform about 10 body lengths off the ground. He was kind of stout, and pretty short for an adult human. He had hard features, and a cruel smile. He looked like he would... well, he looked like he would torture a baby. Just like that Vulpix. I felt my electric sacs begin to swell with anger. This man had no right to treat a baby like this!
He spoke, for the first time. "This is it? You're the little runt who's been causing me so much trouble? You hardly seem worth it." His voice was filled with menace. Yeah, he was definitely the one who tortured that baby Vulpix. Or, at least he supervised. He didn't seem like the type who would get his hands dirty in the actual doing. He addressed his henchman. "Are you sure that this is the one?"
"I'm sure, Boss. This is definitely the talking one. It was insulting people left and right when I let it out into the training hall before it came here." Well, what did you expect me to have done? I wasn't just about to sit there and watch those buffoons abuse their own pokémon!
"Yes, that sounds like the one." He stroked a Persian sitting on his lap. "Leave us alone now, I need to have words with this Pikachu." Ever-obedient, the minion left the room. The man stood up, depositing his Persian on the floor of the balcony. "Greetings, Pikachu. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Giovanni, and I used to be the leader of the Viridian City gym. I tired of it quickly, and became the head of Team Rocket. And you, my tiny yellow friend, have been interfering with Team Rocket. Therefore, you have been interfering with me. That is not a smart thing to do. Mewtwo!"
A door opened in the wall, and a suit of armour stood there. On second glance, there was a pokémon inside the suit. It was a bit taller than an average man-height, and solidly built. At the snap of Giovanni's fingers, the pokémon's eyes began to glow. A blue aura surrounded me, and slammed me into a wall. As my head reeled, the force picked me up again. I tried to struggle free, but there was no getting out of this. It flung me against another wall, then the floor, and finally the ceiling. As it prepared to send me hurtling to the floor again and the balcony with Giovanni's sneering face came near, I grabbed the bars. Suddenly, the force trying to drag me to the ground stopped, and I felt momentary relief. Not for long, though. A wave of pain seared through my head, causing the automatic
reaction of me clutching at my throbbing temples. This was a mistake on my part. As soon as I let go of the bars, gravity set in, and I tumbled through the air to a bone-jarring impact on the cement floor. I swear I saw Starmie circling my head, dancing around.
Giovanni's voice wafted down to my hazy mind from the balcony. "Have you had enough yet, little Pikachu? Are you all tired out?" He laughed mockingly. I was lifted up again, towards the balcony. The aura set me down gently before Giovanni. "Will you suffer yourself to be part of Team Rocket?" he inquired. "I assure you that you'll be well-taken care of."
"I wouldn't join your worthless Team Rocket if it was the last place left standing on the planet!" I retorted. As soon as the words left my mouth, another wave of pain ripped through me.
"Are you sure, Pikachu?" His face was twisted into a sneer. His Persian looked at me sadly. If this was because it was sorry for me or because it was unhappy that it wasn't allowed to eat me, I'll never know.
"Do Spearows know Peck? Can Diglett Dig? Take a wild guess." The pain hit me again, and I collapsed onto all fours. In a normal Pikachu reaction, I let loose with a Thunderbolt. Giovanni jerked and spasmed, and Persian just kinda sat there and fried. One last psychic barrage struck me, and I let go of reality in favour of peaceful oblivion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I returned to consciousness, I was back in the dreary cell. No, wait, it was a different dreary cell. This one had a window facing the outside world. Complete with metal bars, of course. To my left lay a wounded Poliwag, still slumbering quietly. Half of its tail had been cut off, so it could probably barely swim, let alone walk. What criminals these people were! It would have been bad enough had the pokémon been adults, but these were all small children, from what I'd seen.
Another Team Rocket member opened the door to the cell. "The Boss wants a word with you again, Pikachu. I understand you made things very difficult the last time you two talked." I followed the woman down a different corridor, and I was led into a large office. Giovanni was sitting at a big desk, Persian at his side.
"So, we meet again, Pikachu. Leave." The last was addressed to the woman, who saluted and scurried out the door. "You have now caused me pain as well as trouble, little rodent. You will soon rue the day you were born! Your initiation will begin shortly. I'm sure it will be fun... at least, it will be fun to watch. I will see you again, yellow rat." A pokéball of some sort came hurling at me from out of the shadows, and I barely noticed in time to smack it with my tail. It bounced off and hit Giovanni's Persian, who got sucked into it. "Imbecile!" Giovanni roared. "Get out of my sight, IMMEDIATELY! And take the electric rat with you!" The TR member who had thrown the ball picked me up with rubber gloves, and rushed me into another chamber. He dropped me on the ground, and hurried off again.
I was in a cell with a bunch of devices that looked like they could be really, really painful, if properly used. A man with a whip meandered in from a door on the opposite side of the room, and smiled cruelly. "Time for training, Pika-brat." He cracked the whip. "I'm gonna go easy on you, this time. All I need you to do is swear allegiance to Team Rocket." I stood firm, arms crossed and mouth tightly closed. "Say it!" I turned my back on him. "Say it, you yellow freak!" The whip lashed across my back, leaving a streak of pain. I gasped, but no other sound escaped my mouth. "Say it now!" The whip stung me again, but I held steady. "Not going to open your mouth, eh? Too bad! I'm going to make you speak!" The whip struck me again and again, until there was just a numbness through my back, and I could no longer feel the bite of the whip. The man spat disgustedly. "Take the rat away."
A Rocket came out of nowhere again, and threw my abused body into a different chamber. I slowly climbed to my feet, and regarded the new room. It was fairly small, with stone walls. These people really liked stone, I guess. A door opened in the wall behind me. I whirled around, half-expecting the psychic pokémon - Mewtwo, Giovanni called it - to be standing there. Instead, there was a woman I recognized. She had long, red hair and wore a white Team Rocket uniform with a red R on the front. She looked just about as startled to see me as I was to see her! "Pika? Is it actually you?"
"Jessie! Who were you expecting, the Easter Chansey? Perhaps the Christmas Jynx." Jessie knelt down to my level to talk to me.
"Pika, I'm sorry I have to put you through this. I wish the Boss chose someone else for the job, but I have to." Jessie had been very kind to me when she caught me, as had James. Meowth was a little annoying, but his charm was a good electrical conductor. "I have to put you through all sorts of training, Pika. First, though, the Boss wants you to evolve. He figures that you'll be much stronger, and a better prospect for the Team, if you're a Raichu."
"Uh-uh! No way am I going to evolve! I like being a Pikachu, and I'm not gonna change!" But as I was speaking, Jessie brought out a small stone with a lightning bolt insignia on it, and touched it to my forehead. I felt a growing sensation inside me, and I was giving off a white glow. I was evolving! But I didn't want to evolve yet! I concentrated with all my power on stopping the growing. I tried, instead, to concentrate on a shrinking feeling, to keep myself from evolving. "Pika... Rai... PIKA! Chu."
Jessie took the stone away, and I relaxed. I felt different, though. I looked down at myself. I had shrunk too much! I was a Pichu now, with oversized ears and a small tail. "Gack! I took that one too far!" Jessie looked at me interestedly.
"I never realized it was possible to do that! That's really neat. And you're so kawaii too!" She moved to pat my head with the hand that held the Thunderstone. It brushed my ear, and I glowed my way into being a Pikachu again. "Oh well," she sighed. "I'm just gonna have to tell the Boss it didn't work." She left the room, and I followed at her heels. She walked down the maze of hallways, and finally took a turn that I recognized. She was going down the corridor that held Vulpix! She paused at the cage containing the baby fox pokémon. "Hi there, Pixel. Before I get fired, I'm gonna take you out and play with you." She unlocked the door with a key made from Cubone's bone, and picked Vulpix up in her arms. "Oh, I'm so sorry they had to do this to you! I wish I never took you from your home, I hope you'll forgive me someday." A small tear found its way from her eye to her nose, and finally plunked off her chin onto the floor.
An idea was beginning to form in my head. "Did you say you were going to get fired, Jessie?" She nodded sadly.
"I'll have one too many failures on my record now that I've failed to make you evolve. I'm just going to be kicked out." She hugged Vul - er... Pixel to her chest, and sighed. "This job wasn't really going anywhere anyway," she muttered.
"Listen, I don't want to take advantage of you, but could you do me a favour?" I asked, daring to hope for salvation. Jessie nodded, slowly. "Well, since you were figuring on leaving soon anyway, do you think you might be able to..." She looked up, not quite getting what I was going to ask. "Do you think you could take Pixel and me with you?"
Jessie laughed. "I'm going to be in a lot of trouble anyway, so sure. You guys can come with me." She produced two pokéballs. "Inside, everyone. It'll be a lot easier to smuggle you out like this." I hopped in one, and I let myself sleep.
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"Ah, I see you're awake. It was foolish of you to try to escape." Giovanni's arrogant voice awoke me. What? I was back in the Team Rocket base! Why wasn't I back in freedom? What had happened to Jessie? As if reading my thoughts, Giovanni answered. "Jessie, a former Team Rocket member, was caught trying to escape the base. She managed to get away, but the pokéball containing you fell off of her belt. We're lucky that you were the only pokémon she was trying to make off with; she could have posed some problems for us if she had escaped with any rare specimens." I felt like breathing a sigh of relief. Pixel and Jessie were both all right! I, on the other hand, was still stuck here. Oh well, be thankful for the little things. "Your training will commence tomorrow. Right now, you're effectively under house arrest." He chuckled dustily. "Meaning, you aren't allowed to leave your cell. Not like you were allowed in the first place..." He snapped his fingers, and a blue-haired man picked me up with rubber gloves and took me back to yet another different cell.
"I wonder why Jessie left..." James pondered as he walked. "She seemed pretty happy to me."
"Well, she didn't seem that way when I talked to her. She said that she would have been fired anyway, and she was kind of depressed." James stopped walking and looked at me.
"Pika? I never realized it was you! Well, thanks for telling me about Jessie. I'm going to miss her." James stopped in front of a metal cell. "This is your stop, Pika. I hope the Boss isn't too hard on you." He set me down inside the cold metal cell, closed the door and slowly walked away.
I was working on a plan to get myself out of this place. I didn't want to hang around too long, the depression seemed to be contagious! Well, unless those people wore rubber suits, they weren't getting me out of this cell. If they touched the bars, I would zap them! Served them right, for all that they've done.
The next morning, a man approached my cage in a rubber suit. Darn! Team Rocket wasn't as stupid as they let on. He opened the cage, picked me up bodily and dropped me in Giovanni's office again. I was spending more time in here than I was in my assorted cells! "So, Pikachu. Have you decided to join Team Rocket yet?"
"Fat chance." Giovanni affected an air of tiredness and exasparation.
"Why can't you just see this from my point of view?" He spread his hands as if welcoming me.
"Because my head doesn't go that far up my butt." Giovanni turned several shades of red while Persian snickered. Apparently it wasn't completely thrilled with its master.
"Take it away! Throw that worthless electric rat in its cage!" The rubber-suited guy hauled me back to my cage and dropped me on my behind. I heard him chuckle something about a good comeback was he walked back down the hall.
In the week or so after that, Giovanni didn't call me into his office again. I underwent some truly devious tortures, things only Team Rocket could think up. And every night, my battered and bruised body would be flung into the cold metal cell. And I'm not kidding when I say cold. The walls, ceiling and floor actually radiated cold. Too bad I wasn't an Abra, then I'd be able to float in the air. Or teleport away.
After another 'Get Pika To Join TR, Or At Least Beat The Living Crud Out Of That Rodent' session, I found another pokémon waiting in my cell. It was a Charmander, asleep. It seemed to be sleeping, or maybe just drugged. As the cage door slammed shut behind me, it opened its eyes. They were a startling emerald green, different than the usual blue-purple Charmander eyes.
"Hi. Are you the new cell-mate they said I'd be getting? The Rocket people told me I would be getting a new roomie. My name is Scorcher, but some people prefer to call me 'The Freak'. I would like Scorcher better." The Charmander extended a paw. I took it in my own.
"Hi. My name is Pika, and... well, Giovanni calls me 'that electric rat' or something to that effect, but only when he's angry." Seeing the confused face of Scorcher, I continued. "Giovanni is the big boss of Team Rocket, and he wants me to join. I won't, though."
Scorcher nodded. "Yeah, I've seen what they do to pokémon. So, what do you sat to getting out of here?" I was startled. Scorcher knew a way out? "I can get us out of here right now, if you want."
I was beginning to come down from the wild rush of joy that had enveloped me. I could finally be free! "Actually, we should probably wait until they finish giving us the stuff they call food. Someone should be coming really soon, now. Get to the opposite side of the cage, they'll separate us if they think we're friendly towards each other."
Obediently, Scorcher plopped down in the other corner. As the food-bringer walked in, I shot some sparks at Scorcher, making sure none actually hit home. Likewise, she shot a small Ember near me. The Rocket smiled, and closed the door behind us. Scorcher sniffed disdainfully at the plate. "They call this food? Eeewwww. This isn't fit for a Rattata!"
I had to agree. "So, you said something about getting out? Let's do it now, they shouldn't bug us again until tomorrow morning."
"Well, okay. First, I need to locate the thinnest part of the wall." She tapped around until she found a place where the pitch was slightly higher. "That sounds promising. Now for the real work." She took a deep breath, and a jet of blue-white flame shot out of her mouth. Soon, a puddle formed on the metal. Not much after that, she was digging through the soft metal like it was made of Ditto. It probably was about that consistency, because of the heating. I had to duck now and than to avoid a flying scrap of semi-molten material coming at my head, but we made short work of the wall.
Blessed air! The evening breeze across my fur sent a wave of delight to my brain. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. "Hey! There are two pokémon escaping! Get them!" Pokéballs, Greatballs and Ultraballs filled the air. Scorcher was captured inside an Ultraball, which I picked up and threw over the barbed-wire fence. It popped open on the other side, and she ran for the close cover of the surrounding forest. I clambered up the fence and smacked away a few balls with my tail. I had made it almost all the way up when I felt a sharp stinging on my back. It didn't even begin to compare with the whips, but it made me more desperate than ever to get out. As I crested the wall, I turned into energy and was sucked inside the ball. I struggled violently, found the catch and managed to get out. I looked around quickly to get my bearings, jumping back to avoid the pokéballs landing at my feet. Hey! I was on the other side! The momentum of the thrown pokéball must have been enough to carry me over. I scurried towards the forest, then paused for a moment.
"Eat this, Giovanni!" I shouted, and let loose a Thunder that would have made a Zapdos proud. It fried the entire perimeter defense system, and quite a few Rockets on the way. Among the dumbfounded Rockets who were simply standing there looking shocked, I saw James giving me a covert good-bye wave and smile. I smiled back, and headed off to find Scorcher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I wish we had something to eat," muttered Scorcher for approximately the 263rd time. "I'm so hungry..."
"If you were willing to eat the fruit we find on the trees and bushes, you wouldn't be so hungry! Come on, why don't you try it?"
"My brother choked on an apple, and none of the Charmander in the litter have ever touched them after that."
"Oh. I'm really sorry, I didn't know." We continued walking in silence. There was a stream along the side of the path, happily meandering through the forest. It was Scorcher's thought that we would find civilization sooner or later, if we just kept following the stream. It had been three days, and we still hadn't found anything. It looked like 'later' would be the prospect we faced.
After another hour or so, we saw lights in the woods up ahead. "Hey, maybe there are people there! They can help!" I started to run ahead.
A building with the letters 'PP' displayed prominently on its front loomed suddenly in front of me. "Wow..." The building was huge! The front doors could have easily accommodated a Snorlax or a Gyarados, and that was only the doors!
Scorcher caught up to me. "Whoah... that place is huge!" she breathed. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in!" She marched up to the front doors and shoved. "Could you give me a hand here? These things are really heavy!" I snapped out of my trance and came over to help open the doors. Straining, we managed to open them enough for us to slip in.
Suddenly, we were surrounded by humans. I tensed for a Thundershock, but I realized that these humans didn't want to hurt us, they were trying to help. One was huddling Scorcher to a room filled with steam and fire pokémon. I thought I saw Pixel, but it might have been my imagination. I was being dragged to a room with Electabuzz, Voltorb and other electric pokémon when the human taking me stopped. "Oh my! You've got scars all over your back! You're a fighter, are you?" She winked at me. "We're going to have to heal you first." She escorted me to a table off to one side, where I was promptly swarmed by Chansey. They patched me up, and I soon felt as good as new. "Wow, where did you get so beaten up?" the girl inquired.
"It might have been the 3-day walk in the woods, but it was more likely Team Rocket. I stopped noticing after a while, because my back was almost constantly numb."
"Oh, you got away from Team Rocket? Wow! Almost nobody does that. And I guess the Charmander is your friend from there?" She did a double-take. "Hey, you speak English! I thought you could only speak your own name! You must be a unique Pikachu!"
"It's an easily enough learned skill. I picked it up as I went. The Charmander's name is Scorcher, and she's pretty nice. She has the greatest eyes... they're green."
"Oh, that must look so pretty! Well, you get to stay with the other electric pokémon. The room is specially proofed so that all the electric fields don't disturb anything else."
"Um, do you mind if I just kind of hang around? I'd like to get to know everyone, not just electric-types." I accepted the packet of red stuff that she handed me.
"Sure! Here, have some ketchup. Pikachu are supposed to really like it." I tore it open, and emptied the contents into my mouth. Wow! My tastebuds were overloading, and I think I was sparking a bit. This stuff was good! What, good? This was the best stuff I'd ever tasted! Better than even a fresh apple!
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Thank you!" I beamed. The girl smiled at me, seeming to think I was funny.
"Hey, you've given me an idea. Do you want to be the mascot for PokéPals? We need one."
"Sure! But what's PokéPals?"
"Oh, PokéPals is an organization that helps injured, lost or otherwise needy pokémon. This is one of the centers we have. Do you think we treat the pokémon well?"
"Absolutely! It sounds good, I accept the position of mascot. By the way, my name is Pika. I know it's not much, but it's my name."
"How cute! Seeing how you're unique, and you're now the official mascot, I think we'll change the name." The girl got up on a podium and yelled into a loudspeaker. "Listen up! We have here the first official mascot for our organization, Pika the Pikachu!" The people and pokémon clapped and cheered. "Also, we have decided to change our name. Because Pika is a unique Pikachu in that Pika speaks English, because Pika is our new mascot and because we needed a name change anyway, this organization will now be known as PikaPals!" A huge cheer escaped the audience, and there was much clapping and stomping. The girl rushed to the videophone, presumably to inform all of the other outposts of the name change and acquisition of a mascot.
There was a great party held, with refreshments, games and lots of fun stuff. Everyone seemed to want to come up and shake hands with me, or pat me on the back somehow. Scorcher congratulated me, and even coaxed the other fire pokémon into flaming the night sky after the party. It was beautiful! She had managed to get small groups to flame in different colours, like yellow, blue-white and orange. I have always been grateful to PokéPals [or PikaPals, I guess] for helping me out, and I have never felt hunger or need again. Well, maybe for more ketchup...