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She had shed a lot of tears before, but not for something like this.
The Pikachu sat in the shelter of her burrow. As rain fell in torrents, the temperature was felt so cold that water might freeze. She clutched her tiny Pichu, stroking its head. Just hours ago it was full of life and joy. Now it was a vacuum, devoid of what it once was.
How could this happen? Pikachu asked herself.
She took careful not to bend the Pichu's broken neck. A tear escaped her eye. She sniffed the Pichu's forehead and licked it, then cradled it. Pichu looked like he was sleeping off another hard day of play and adventure. Pikachu managed a soft smile, she picked up one of Pichu's arms and pulled it over his chest. It resisted, the muscles stiffening with rigor mortis. She pressed two fingers over his wrist for the forty-fifth time to check for a pulse, and for the forty-fifth time there was still nothing.
She closed her eyes and replayed the entire event in her head, exactly how she saw it happen.
. . .
It started off like any other morning. She was awaken by her little Pichu. He hopped and bounced on her back, eager to start the day. Pikachu's eyes fluttered open, yawned, and turned toward her son, cracking a smile, "How are you today, Pichu?"
"Great, Mama," he said. "Can we go out near the river?"
Pikachu nodded. "Sure, we might find some fish to eat if we're lucky."
The river flowed at its lowest, around this time of year. A variety of fish Pokémon such as Goldeen and Horsea would get caught in isolated puddles. No need for a fishing rod, anyone with hands or a flexible tail could drop in and scoop them all up. Pikachu's parents and grandparents lived off of the river for generations, she was taught how to catch the fish and clean them. Roosting them over a fire was recommended, as raw fish won't sit well in one's stomach.
Pichu climbed up on Pikachu's back, digging his tiny paws into her fur as she climbed out of the darkness of the burrow. It was sunny, a clear morning. Pikachu could tell it wouldn't last. If there is no cloud in the sky, then it is a sign of an incoming storm. No way to tell the intensity, however.
Nonetheless, Pikachu wanted to make the best of the morning. She headed through the woods down the very Pokémon trails her parents and grandparents used. Pichu pressed her face against her back, she could feel his breath puffing through the hairs of her fur. She asked, "You're hanging on there, Pichu?"
"Mmm hmm," said Pichu.
Pikachu smiled. Her little one had a choice of going out into the wilderness on his own, like so many other Pichus who recently hatched from their eggs. But her Pichu chose to stay with her, giver her the opportunity to raise him. She readjusted him on her back and continued down the dirt trail, occasionally sniffing the ground for anything interesting. There were occasional smells of other Pokémon, usually bug-types. Sometimes she smelled her own kind, maybe after she gets done with Pichu she could find another mate for another child. Maybe she could reunite with the Pichu's father, having a sibling for him to love wouldn't hurt.
"Find anything?" Pichu asked.
"No, not yet."
There wasn't anything worth her attention, just the usual smells that vary from each season. It was rare for a new smell to come along, they were so deep in Viridian Forest that outsiders had yet to penetrate their area. She hadn't seen a human being for about a month. Sooner or later, one would show up, and when one shows up, things start getting crazy. It always had, no matter how good or bad.
Pikachu closed her eyes and listened, she could hear the soft trickle of running water. The river was up ahead, and it was just right. She picked up the pace, being careful not to drop her child. The precious Pichu hanged on with no danger of falling off, but she remained cautious. There were things more dangerous in Viridian Forest than a simple fall.
"Are we close to the river, Mama?" Pichu asked.
"We're close, you wanna get down and stretch your legs?"
"Yes."
Pikachu stopped and let her Pichu down, he got on all-fours and hobbled along-side his mama. "Why do we fish the river, Mama?" he asked.
"Cause it's a food source," said Pikachu, "There's a lot of good stuff in fish, stuff we can't get from berries alone."
"Those fish, should we try to help them?"
Pikachu let out a sigh, "There isn't much we could do, the river is just too shallow for them to swim. The chance of them making it to a lake or the sea is so slim that they are doomed."
Pikachu's face dropped. "Why?"
Pikachu reached out and rubbed Pichu's head. "I don't know, Pichu. I asked that same question to my Mama and she asked that same question to her Mama before, we don't understand why good Pokémon like them perish such a horrible end."
Pichu went silent for a moment, processing all that information inside his little brain. He asked, "Do we all eventually die?"
"Yes, Pichu. We all do."
The Mice Pokémon approached their local river. Sure enough the river was low. Where there was heavy torrents now sit small isolated puddles. Pikachu stood on its edge and sniffed the edge of the riverbank, it wonderfully smelled like earth and wood pulp. The river was ripe, ready to exploit.
Pikachu jumped into the riverbank and her Pichu followed suit. She sniffed around in the gravel. There were certain stones that spark when struck against regular stone. They call them flint, right? Her eyes managed to isolate the black rocks from the gray and tan ones. She plucked them out of the earth and looked for a suitable stone.
"What are you doing, Mama?" Pichu asked.
"Gathering up some flint for a fire."
"Couldn't we just use Thundershock to spark flames?"
Pikachu shook her head, "We could, but that would take up a lot of energy. We need to save the calories for when we need it, Pichu."
"Oh . . . okay, then."
She struck the black rocks against a piece of regular stone, it spat out tiny sparks that may be suitable for fire-starting, "Okay, Pichu. Now we got something we could use for a campfire." She turned to him and asked, "Can you go look for some kindling while I prepare a fire ring?"
Pichu smiled, "Sure, Mama."
The Tiny Mouse Pokémon climbed out of the riverbed and ran off into the forest. As he searched for suitable wood to burn, Pikachu gathered up all the thick stones she could find. She carried them one at a time to a plot of bare earth, then form a ring about a meter wide. She carefully spaced the rocks. Small enough so the fire won't accidentally spread but large enough to let air through. Fire is a living thing, and like all living things it needs air to breathe. Her own mama had explained thoroughly that if done properly, fire can be warming rather than burning.
I wonder what a fire-type's advice is, she thought as she got the final stone in place.
Pichu arrived seconds later with a back-load of twigs and dried leaves, he dumped them into the fire ring, smiling. "Is that more than enough?"
"It sure is," said Pikachu, "We'll start a small fire, then let it burn down. By the time we come back, we got a hot campsite to work on."
Pikachu spread out the dead leaves all over the floor of the campfire, then stood the twigs into a teepee-shaped cone. She then pressed the flint against the dead leaves and struck a pebble against it. The flint shot sparks into the dead leaves. One of the sparks managed to hit the leaves just right and created an ember, Pikachu got down and gently blew against it. Pichu watched with curiosity as his mother created more and more smoke, until finally small flames erupted.
"There we go," says Pikachu. She sat down and took a deep breath, "Now we let it burn till it's a pile of hot ash."
"Why?"
"The ash would make the firewood burn hotter and more efficiently, makes it easier to cook our food."
Pichu sat next to Pikachu and watched the fire burn into a small inferno. The twigs and leaves disintegrate from the intense heat, turning from organic matter into gray particles of carbon. Pikachu grabbed the stick and stirred up the ash, it popped and crackled as heat sizzled from the red-hot embers. Pikachu stared at the embers. Once flush green plants now burned, releasing energy they had stored from life. She couldn't help but wonder what their beginning was like, and their end.
"Okay, Pichu. The campfire is set, let's go find some food."
The Mice Pokémon walked side by side down the riverbank. They kept a sharp eye for anything moving in the puddles. Anything splashing around could be a potential meal. Pikachu kept her ears perked, the last thing she needed was a predator to swoop in out of nowhere and attack her and her young one. She had heard of cases where Mice Pokémon get ambushed by large birds and snatched up by giant carnivorous Pokémon with sharp teeth. Their bodies were plucked clean of flesh and their bloody skeleton cast out into the ditch, where the bacteria finished off what remained. Pikachu gulped, though she lived in a safe area she couldn't be too sure that she was a hundred percent safe.
But there was the human factor to consider.
"Mama, look!"
Pichu pointed into the riverbed, squinting to see what it was.
A Goldeen was flapping away in a small puddle. It was helpless, trapped. Pikachu saw no obvious way to free the poor fish. She and Pichu jumped down into the riverbank and crotched, "Watch this, Pichu," Pikachu told her son. "Pay close attention."
Pichu nodded, but said nothing.
Pikachu crept up to the Goldfish Pokémon's blind spot. It was exhausted from useless flapping, it apparently was using its fins to drag itself from puddle to puddle. The drag marks in the gravel were fresh, it must had been holding on since last night when the river fell. Pikachu watched its mouth and gills open and close, like it was trying to breathe the air. Its' suffocating, she thought.
The Goldeen's stray eyes centered on her as she came near, it's breathing slowed. Instead of panicking or fighting back, it just sat there. Both Pokémon stared at each other for a moment, as if both were wondering what the other would do.
"I'm sorry this happened to you," said Pikachu. "I looked up and down this river, the stream's so low that I can't find a bigger puddle for you."
The Goldeen said nothing, it just simply closed its eyes. Pikachu looked up and saw her Pichu watching her. The Tiny Mouse Pokémon sat patiently, waiting for her to act.
Put it out of its misery.
Pikachu held up her tail, it flashed white and turned silver. She swung it around and struck the Goldeen hard in the gills. The fish flied in the air and flopped on the gravel. She gave it another hard whack, it arched in the air again and splashed into a shallow puddle. Pikachu rushed up to the fish and checked for movement. Just involuntary nerve twitches, it was dead.
The Mouse Pokémon hauled the Goldeen onto her back and carried it back to Pichu, he stared at the dead fish for a moment and asked, "Was it fast?"
"Fast as I could make it."
Both Mice Pokémon climbed out of the riverbank and walked back to their campfire. While Pichu gathered up some more kindling and firewood, Pikachu cleaned the Goldeen. She used her teeth to tear a gash in its belly, then reached in and carefully extracted the gastrointestinal tract. Pikachu pulled out the lungs and heart, basically cleaning out the abdominal and chest cavity. When she was sure the fish was cleaned out, she jammed a stick through it.
Pichu came back with the kindling and dumped them by the fire. Pikachu sorted through the sticks and pulled out two long ones with Y-shaped ends. She stuck them between the campfire, then hoisted the Goldeen over it. "Okay, let's get the fire restarted."
They piled in some twigs and a couple of logs, Pikachu stirred up the hot ashes and watched it caught flames. Pichu added more wood to the camp fire, the flames grew brighter as its tongues grew taller. Pikachu smelled the Goldeen cook, it made her mouth water.
"My belly's getting all grumbly, Mama," said Pichu, he sat down and rubbed his belly. "How long will it take to cook?"
"A while, baby," said Pikachu. "You'll need to wait till then."
Most Pichus would pout like the little kids they are, but her Pichu was a good little mouse. He simply nodded, then snuggled beside her. She picked him up and sat him on her lap, then groomed his fur. Pichu cooed as Pikachu pulled his ears back. Sure enough they were hiding dirt and sand and some dandruff around the ridges. She reached in with her fingers and plucked out the foreign debris. The Mouse Pokémon sweep through the inside of his ears and pulled out some excess earwax. Pichu loved it, he giggled as he adore his mother's affection.
"Can you tell me a story, Mama?" he asked.
"You really wanna hear one? I should clean out your ears less often."
Pichu giggled, "Come on, Mama, tell me a story!"
Pikachu smiled, "What kind of story do you wanna hear?"
"Tell me about that time when you got stuck in a tree hole."
"Oh for Acreus's sake, I told you that story a gazillion times. You know it more than I do."
"But I can't tell it the way you told it!"
Pikachu pulled up Pichu's arm and looked at his armpit, she found more debris hiding under there, "Okay then, Pichu. I'll tell you the story."
She reached out and turned the Goldseen around so the fire would cook it evenly, then went off on the tail. "Several years back I was playing around with my two sisters and brother. We were Pichus at the time, much like you, and just as energetic. We played from dawn till dusk, then sleep off the day under the stars. During our childhood, we were getting into all sorts of trouble. Usually from sneaking into gardens and stirring up other Pokémon's homes, but there was one hits home the most.
"I was bored one day, so I went out and sniffed around somewhere near home. I was looking for something to do, and my parents were too tired to play with us. I found a tree not far from this river, it had a big hole in it. Do you know that sometimes, when a tree branch breaks off, the tree scabs around the wound and sometimes form a hole?"
"No," said Pichu.
"I was quite a curious thing," Pikachu continued, "I climbed up the tree and stuck my head into the hole. It was empty, full of stagnant water from the constant rainstorms. I was about to pull my head out when I realized it got stuck, at the time I thought my head got filled with air and I was wedged in place. Oh boy, how fun that really was."
Pichu giggled.
"Luckily my siblings were nearby, they found my rear end sticking out of the tree and thought at first that the tree was trying to eat me. So they used moves such as Quick Attack and Iron Tail to try to cut down the tree, only to succeed in wearing themselves out. Meanwhile, I was sitting there cursing at them for their uselessness. All they had to do was jump up and grab me by the legs. That way they would had me freed in seconds. Instead they spent an hour attacking that tree till it finally toppled over.
"The tree fell in such a way that I sunk deeper into the hole. It became harder for them to pull me out, and boy was I mad. When they finally got them out, I sucker-punched my brother in the gut for his tree chopping idea. I slept with my head sticking out of the burrow that night."
"What happened to the tree?" Pichu asked.
"The trunk rotted, yet some new sprouts grew out of the stump. I wasn't sure if the tree was either dead or alive, I couldn't understand how new branches would grow out of a tree stump."
Pikachu checked the Goldeen, "Okay, it looks cooked enough."
She pulled the Goldeen off of the makeshift rack and sat it down on the grass, she splits off a piece and handed it to her child, "Here you go, Pichu."
"Thank you, Mama," Pichu chirped.
Pichu took the piece and bit into it, "Wow, this taste good!"
Pikachu rip off another piece and bit into it, the Goldeen tasted exactly how she remembered.
The Mice Pokémon talked about other things, like the weather and the current events of Viridian Forest. They occasionally added wood to the fire, believing it would keep the predators away. Heck, a Pikachu and her baby Pichu would be tasty to a flying bird brain. Pikachu hadn't seen many of those recently. She occasionally heard about trainers capturing the Pidgeys and their evolution variants. In that case Pikachu could breathe easier, one bird removed from Viridian Forest was one less threat to be worried about.
The Goldeen was slowly stripped to a bare skeleton. Pikachu tossed the scraps into the fire and watched them char black. Pichu snuggled up by her side, rubbing his head against her thigh. She rubbed his ears and smiled, "You wanna go home now?"
Pichu licked his lips, "I'm thirsty."
Pikachu picked him up and carried him into the river bed, she climbed down and sat him at a nearby puddle. "Here you go, Pichu. Drink up."
Pichu looked up at his mother and smiled, "I love you, Mama."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
The Tiny Mouse Pokémon got on his knees and drink from the crystal clear puddle, Pikachu sat against the edge and rest. She yawned, all that labor of finding food and building a fire took a lot of energy. At least her Pichu's belly was full today, and for that she deserved a rest.
. . .
She dosed off and lost track of time. Pikachu wasn't sure if it had been a few minutes or an hour. She was awoken by a soft droning sound coming down the river bed. The Mouse Pokémon stirred, rubbed her eyes and looked around. There was her Pichu, still playing around in the playing around in the puddle where she left him. The droning sound got louder, Pikachu perked her ears and listened.
It sounded like a buzzing mechanical sound, Pikachu had heard it once or twice before but that was from far away. This sound was growing louder by the second, it was heading her way. She sat up and looked down the riverbed, squinting her eyes for a better view.
A human being came tearing around the corner on some sort of . . . machine, with two thick wheels. Its motor buzzed and whirred with noise and stress, the big tires kicking up dirt and gravel from the riverbed. The rider's helmet was black, with a white human skull and crossbones painted on the sides. His leather jacket was worn in from age, and his blue jeans were caked with dried dirt. The rider's brown boots looked relatively new, assuming he had just got them. Pikachu had seen these kinds of humans before, but wasn't sure of their nature. She hadn't actually encounter these free-spirited people before, until now.
The rider didn't noticed them. The closer he got, the faster he went. The engine roared and churned, piercing Pikachu's ears. She blinked and turned to Pichu, he was just getting up to notice.
The Tiny Mouse Pokémon froze, his eyes bulging out of his skull.
Oh no, Pikachu thought. He's coming right at him!
"Pichu," she screamed at the top of her voice, "Get out of the way!"
The rider finally noticed the Pichu, he panicked and started to swerve. Pichu finally snapped out of it and leaped out of the way.
Only to jump right into the path of the front tire.
Pikachu screamed until she had no voice to scream.
The tires smashed Pichu's small body into the river bed. Water and gravel sprayed everywhere, Pikachu covered her face as they pelt her fur. She looked up again and saw the rider skid across the riverbed, he had regained control and resumed course. He didn't turn around, nor looked back. He just kept going like nothing even happened.
Pikachu turned back to her son, he was laying in the puddle motionless. His tiny tail sticking out like a twig in the mud.
She rushed over to Pichu and pulled him out of the puddle, his head flopped back in an awkward position. Pikachu grabbed it and held it steady. Her fingers trailed across his neck, feeling a steady pulse. "No, please no."
Pikachu sat Pichu on his back and checked to see if he was breathing, he wasn't. "Don't do this to me, Pichu," she panicked. "Please, don't do this to me!"
She tried giving him mouth to mouth, then tried chest compressions. Her tiny Pichu remained limp. Pikachu checked his pulse again, this time there weren't any.
"No," she cried, the Mouse Pokémon picked up her child and buried her face into his chest. "No, you're too young! You're too young!"
His head bent sharply back as she hugged him, there was no way he was that flexible.
Pikachu's eye's bulge open, his neck was broken.
A tear escaped her eye, then another tear. She collapsed onto her side, clutching her lifeless Pichu and cried herself to oblivion.
. . .
Now his tiny body was stiff and cold. Lifeless, ready to decay. Pikachu held on to him until the rain died down. She peaked out of the burrow and saw the sun was coming back. It shined a rainbow over the treeline. It was beautiful, every color was present. Pikachu sighed, if only her baby Pichu would see it the moment would be memorizing.
"I'm sorry," she muttered softly into his ear. "I'm sorry, I tried all I could but…"
She stopped mid-sentence, then glance at her child for a final time. Her Pichu wasn't showing fear or pain, just the usual sleeping expression he always shown every night. She laid him down in the middle of the burrow and stroke his head, then whimpered, "Goodbye, baby. I won't forget you."
Pikachu climbed out of the burrow and covered up the entrance. There was no need to continue living here, she only dug it out to raise a Pichu. Now that Pichu is dead, she had no use for it besides making it his grave. The Mouse Pokémon looked back out into the forest and sighed. Her heart was sore, but she wasn't going to give up on life. She knew she had to try again, the world was harsh and bitter but she had to try. Next time she must find a safer place, somewhere where motorbikes or ATVs wouldn't go. If worse comes to shove, she could try finding a human household to live in. She would be given free food, a nice warm bath, and a soft bed to sleep in. But it would cost her and her next Pichu their freedom.
There were a lot of options to consider, but she had a lot of time to think through them. Mating season wasn't that far away. In the meantime she could dig out another burrow and get settled while another mate comes around the corner. Hopefully she would get a mate who would bother to stay with her to help raise the young ones, now that would be a nice bonus to have.
Pikachu wiped away her tears and head towards the rainbow, she didn't look back.