I felt the darkness surround me as the Shadow Ball made full impact, sending me tumbling down the hill in an akward spiral. I couldn't belive that I was abandoned by the other Pichu and had to fend off the Murkrow by myself. If we had all stayed together, I'm sure we could have all taken it down and gained some experience. But no. They ran off like the little Pidgey they are. I was going to fight it myself, and evolve into a Pikachu before those fools did!

And there I was, the big hero, flat on my back and loosing consiousness as the dark bird made his way down the hill to finish me off.

"Tu mush talk for a littal Pichu, nu? Did yu villy zink yu could dafeet me? HA!" I could tell the pompus bastard was enjoying himself. As his beak came closer and closer to my face, I was pretty sure he was going to do a peck attack. That was until I smelled the dark matter in his mouth forming another Shadow Ball. He was going to blast it right in my face.

I clenched my teeth in preperation for the oncoming attack. I suddenly felt a wave of electricity moving through the air. I knew the frequency and didn't waste a second to roll out off to the side as a Thunderbolt came roaring down from atop the hill. The blast of hundreds of volts of electricity sent the Murkrow falling to the ground. The smell of burning feathers was both disgusting and humorus. I began to laugh from relief. Atop the hill, Raichu stood there alongside my fellow Pichu, all of which were looking down at me with scolding glares. My laugh quickly turned from releif to nervousness as I got to my feet.

The den was just as busy as usual. There were Pichu scatered everywhere, playing or helping organize, Pikachu were building and cooking and Raichu was escorting me to my room.

"Look," he said with his common emotionless face, " you shouldn't be in a rush to evovle, Pichu. You should just do like the other Pichu and stick with the Pikachu when they go out to battle."

"But that takes to long, Raichu! Once I become a Pikachu, I can fend for myself out in the wild and I can get more respect! So the sooner I evolve, the better."

"Just what do you plan to do, huh?"

"Leave this dump thats for sure"

"You're not going to leave."

"Why the hell not?!" I was furious with his comment. Emotionless or not.

"Because you have a duty to uphold. When I go, you will have to be the next leading Raichu. I don't appose to you evolving, but leaving is a different matter."

"When you were a Pikachu, you told me to be brave and to take life as an adventure..."

"Right. When I was a Pikachu. Forget what I said then. Now is now, and in the future you will have to be a Raichu, whether you like it or not."

At this, he got up and left for the exit. "Is this becuase of what happened to dad, Raichu?" I had been wondering this for the longest time. He stopped at the exit, as if to collect himself, and then walked out of the room. I let out a deep sigh and fell onto my little makeshift futon of grass.

The one thing I hated about our clan was our leadership policy. There could only be one Raichu, and he or she was the leader until they perished, and there was a specific family in which the Raichu was to be from. When Dad was the Raichu, Raichu was, well, a Pikachu. He was smart, funny, and always showed the Pichu how to fight.

Our clan had gone to battle for territory with the Dugtrio, and Dad was killed in a landslide. Pikachu had to take the new role of Raichu, and took the responsibility of the whole clan on his shoulders. He's still had the same smarts and wits, but everything else was gone. No laughs, cries, or anything. If thats what it's like to be a leader, to abandon all hope and probably get killed in the end, I didn't want to take my chances.

I decided to run away. I didn't know what would happen, but I wanted to leave. I rolled over on my futon and went to sleep, making mental plans for my leave the next morning.

Just before dawn, I had crept out of my room and slowly made my way down the corridors leading outside of the den. Along my way, I stopped by the cooking area and snagged a few Oran berries and placed them into a cheap napsack I had made. As I made my first step outside the den, everything was quiet. There were maybe one or two Caterpie roaming about before the Pidgey came out to eat. The morning fog was beggining to lift when I noticed a familiar silhouette in the distance. It was Raichu.

"Were are you going?" he said in his emotionless tone. He was so calm in the dark of morning and the zero visibility that it was almost creepy.

"I'm leaving the den." I was so sure of myself when I had left my room and began to leave. But now, as I stood in the entrance, I felt like turning back to my little futon and sleeping the day away. Did I really want to leave the den or was it another tough facade like the fight with Murkrow?

"You are leaving the den to go were?"

"Anywere but here."

"Go ahead." His word shocked me. I wasn't even sure if this was Raichu anymore. Just last night he had given a depressing speech on my duty I needed to uphold and now he was letting me leave. It was reverse pshchology.

He wanted me to go back inside the den on my own. But I had caught his game and decided to take him up on his offer. "Fine," I said with as much calm as I could muster, "and I won't be coming back. You can take your upholding duty and..." then, at that second, the entire wind was knocked out of me. In a fraction of a second, Raichu had swiftly jolted towards me with a Mega Punch to the stomach. The other fraction of that same second was spent on me flying straight-away backwards into the den and slamming against a wall at the end.

The entire den shook as my body, even though it was small, hit the dirt and rock at full force. Everyone in the den looked out of their rooms in frantic commotion. A nurse Pikachu ran out to my aid to see if I was alright, only to look down the corridor and then run to save herself. There, walking ever so calmly, was Raichu."Go ahead and leave. If you can make it past me." he said. How was I going to do that? I had just gotten hit with a MegaPunch and it was only by a mircle that I was alive. Just like the battle with Murkrow, I was faced with a one hit death, and my savior was now the attacker.

Raichu was getting closer, and I had two options. I could go for the exit, but Raichu was in the way. I knew he wouldn't kill me but by the looks of it he was willing to break my bones if it meant I would stay at the den. My second option was to just give up and stay at the den. I wanted to give up so badly that I was about to just get up and go to my room. I then felt something wet, somewhat sticky, flowing from my back. My first thoughts were blood, but when I looked it was blue. It was Oran Berry Juice!

I quickly reached into my now blue stained napsack, got out a squished Oran Berry and consumed it like it was now tomorrow. I could feel the energy flowing back into my body as I got up to face Raichu, who was now in distance for a good Mega Punch. I had only one shot at a Quick Attack and nothing else. It would make or break my chances of ever leaving the den. Everyone, from Pichu to Pikachu, was looking at the end of the hallway. No sounds, no movements. Silence. I looked up at Raichu for the moment to move.

His elbow began to lift in a split second and I took no time to hesitate. I leaped into the air as the Mega Punch landed against the wall, shattering the rock that lay behind the dirt and sending Weedle-sized rocks down the corridor towards the Pichu and Pikachu. The shrieks of fear and some of pain were heard, but I didn't pay much attention to them as I, in midair, leaned forward, pressed my feet against the wall behind me, and used my Quick Attack.

Just as I had entered, flying through the corridor, I had left at break-neck speed. Once my feet hit the ground, I made no efforts to stop. I began to run as fast as I could. If Raichu got a hold of me, I'd die. And, as soon as I thought I could slow down, Raichu was pacing after me at speeds I never thought were possible. I was near my limit and I had little stamina left. I looked behind me to see that Raichu had stopped, only to fire a massive Thunderbolt in my direction.

I decided that outruning it wasn't possible, so I used a Thundershock around myself to null some of the damage. This worked surprisingly well, until I noticed the Thunderbolt was exceptionally weak. It wasn't meant to harm me, but stop me from moving, which I kept doing until the gound under me was now a gap between two stretches of land. I had been running straight for a cliff, and was plumating down to the river below...