This is just a quick one-shot I decided to whip up. I recently read an article contemplating the fact that Ash's Pikachu might have ulterior reasons for not wanting to evolve. That, and its distrust for humans at the beginning of Ash's journey. Read on.
Pikachu stared up at the human before him. The man was walking slowly forward, holding an item which was all too familiar to Pikachu.
"I never imagined I would find a Pikachu in Vermilion City. Maybe it escaped from the Pokemon Gym. Either way, let's see if I can capture it. Something tells me that one of the four boys receiving Pokemon on Saturday is going to need it."
Pikachu barely had a chance to react. There was a white flash, and a Dragonite now stared it down. It launched a powerful Hyper Beam, and Pikachu fell.
Professor Oak raised the pokeball which he held and threw it. Pikachu saw it coming and tried to move, but it was too weak.
'No! not again! I swore to myself that it would never happen again!' Pikachu cried mentally. But it was too late. With a flash, the world around Pikachu fell away. Only darkness remained...
One year earlier
The same blackness Pikachu would feel a year from the current date surrounded it. Of course, at the time, he was still a Pichu.
The darkness pressed in around him. He found the temperature to be just right. There was no "too hot" or "too cold" in this void. He must have spent hours, or even days in the void, yet he never grew hungry, and had no need for sleep.
Finally, the void separated. The world snapped back together like a magnetic belt. He was free!
But, something was drawing him to the one who had thrown the metal thing at him. He felt an uncanny desire to stay by the human.
He knew that he could not leave this person now. The strange force drew him to him and wouldn't let him leave.
"You're my Pokemon now, okay?" the boy said as he leaned down to Pichu's height. A look of disgust crossed Pichu's face. It was not okay. He was nobody's property, no matter what they said.
But the trainer was kind to him. He fed him often, took him on walks, played with him, and took him to get haircuts. Pichu particularly liked doing this, as it left his coat clean and lustrous.
One day, Kyle, the trainer, gave him a small pouch.
"This is a gift" Kyle said. "But you must never open it until the day I tell you to, okay?"
Pichu nodded. He was obedient, and decided that he would treasure the gift forever.
Over time, the two grew quite close. Kyle showed Pichu the entire Johto region. It was a massive place, and Pichu couldn't believe its size.
Then, it happened.
They were training in New Bark Town. Despite the care and adoration Kyle gave him, he hadn't grown very much level-wise in the time they'd been together. But this battle was one Kyle encouraged him in to.
"Use tackle!" Kyle called. Pichu dashed forward and rammed the Sentret at full strength. It fell to the ground, defeated.
Kyle cheered, and Pichu suddenly felt funny. A tingly feeling shot down his spine and around his body.
Light flashed through the air, and Pichu felt his body expanding. His arms elongated, his ears went from diamond shapes to cone shapes, and he grew taller.
"Finally!" Kyle cried. "A Pikachu! Now I can finally agree to Damien's offer."
The newly-evolved Pikachu looked at his owner in confusion. Who was Damien? Why did an offer he had made involve Pichu evolving into a Pikachu?
"Damien has been wanting a Pikachu forever, since they're so rare in Johto" Kyle continued to himself, seemingly forgetting Pikachu was there. "I can finally give him a Pikachu in exchange for his Croconaw!"
Pikachu was shocked. Kyle had only been raising him so that he could give him away once he evolved? It seemed impossible! Why would his master do such a thing?
"Come here Pikachu" Kyle prompted. "We're going to get you a nice new trainer. Who knows? Maybe you'll evolve into a Raichu while he's raising you, and I'll want you back."
Pikachu backed away in disgust. Were humans really so dim-witted that they only cared about Pokemon evolving? It was twisted and wrong.
The urge that had continued to hit him every once in a while twanged in his mind.
But something was different this time. Whenever he'd considered abandoning his trainer, some invisible force had pulled him back to him. He now believed that he knew the source of that pull.
With a quick movement, Pikachu swiped the pokeball from Kyle's hand.
"Hey! Pikachu, what are you doing?"
Pikachu raised the orb high. It was this foul device that had kept him prisoner to this human all this time. He would end that.
He swung downward with all his might. The red orb shattered against the hard ground.
And the pull was gone.
"Pikachu! Why did you do that?" Kyle yelled in anger. "Now I'll have to weaken you before I can put you in another pokeball." he pointed toward Pikachu, looking back on the Pokemon which had observed the battle, but hadn't taken part in it.
"Houndoom, attack!"
Houndoom sprang forward with a roar. Pikachu was terrified. He had never been able to defeat Houndoom. It was Kyle's strongest Pokemon.
There was only one other choice: Run.
Pikachu fled. He moved faster than he ever had in his entire life. Dashing away from the evil trainer who had tortured him.
"Coward!" Kyle screeched. "Come back here and fight!"
Pikachu had no such intention. He ran along through the trees. Houndoom was relentless behind him. It grew closer with every second.
Suddenly, there was a yelp of fear. Houndoom had tried to cross a narrow branch which Pikachu had used to traverse the distance over a ravine. He looked down to see the doomed Pokemon falling, almost as if it were in slow motion, to the ground far below. Pikachu closed his eyes as the body hit. The howling faded away to silence.
And there was Kyle. He looked at Pikachu with hatred in his eyes.
"You just killed my best Pokemon" Kyle said evenly. "I'm not going to try to catch you any more. I can just raise another Pichu, or go to Kanto.
But you, you're not getting away. I'm going to find you, and I will kill you."
Pikachu realized that his trainer had gone insane with rage. He was furious, slowly edging closer to the cliff.
'He's going to jump' Pikachu realized with horror.
Kyle did just that. He sprang from the ledge in Pikachu's direction. There was murder in his eyes. He was going to catch up and Pikachu's life would end.
Then, the most horrifying thing yet happened.
As Kyle reached the other side of the gap, he stumbled. As he fell back, he managed to snag a vine.
"Pikachu, I'm sorry!" Kyle cried in horror. "I didn't mean what I said, I wont hurt you! Just don't let me fall!"
Pikachu stare in shock. The boy who had been intent on murdering him was now begging for his help. He should do nothing. Better yet, he should break the vine and put the human out of his misery.
But Kyle had been kind to him as well. Maybe he would be merciful. Perhaps he would continue to raise Pikachu as his own.
He started forward to grab Kyle's hand, but it was too late.
The vine snapped, and Pikachu watched in horror as the boy plummeted down to join his Pokemon.
"Nooooo!" Kyle shrieked. His voice faded away, and there was no more.
Pikachu turned away. There was nowhere else to go now. His master was dead, and he was free.
And he knew where he wanted to go.
A crew member aboard the S.S. Aqua first noticed the small parcel on the deck. He looked at it quizzically, and decided it must belong to a passenger.
After scouring the ship, he could not find its owner. Despite his attempts, nobody owned the parcel.
The crew member dared not open the parcel for privacy reasons. He decided he would ask each passenger as they got off the ship. One of them had to be the parcel's owner.
Little did he know that the parcel would never be claimed. It would be stolen by a Fearow seconds after he left the ship. The Fearow would drop the parcel in front of the Vermilion Pokemon Center, where Nurse Joy would open it to find the gift Kyle had given to his Pichu so long ago.
A Thunder Stone. It had been destined for Pikachu's use eventually. Kyle had paid a high price for it.
Nobody knew that the same stone would haunt Pikachu's life for many more years to come.
While the crew member was searching for the stone's owner. Pikachu was huddled up in the hold.
He had dropped the parcel on purpose. The gift from the man who had been using him from the beginning.
He swore that nobody would ever force him to evolve.
But, more importantly, he swore never to trust a human again.
End Flashback
Pikachu floated in the darkness. He had finally been defeated again. He was probably on his way to be delivered to another trainer who would use him just as Kyle had. There was no hope. He would simply make his time with this new person the worst they would ever experience.
Twenty miles away, Ash Ketchum was settling down for the night. He was to receive his new Pokemon in a matter of days.
He would never learn the horrible past behind the being who he would soon call his best friend.
AN: Ash and Pikachu are as close as two beings of different species can be. They've been together through thick and thin, rain and snow. You wouldn't be able to find two closer friends.
This story reveals why Pikachu hated Ash to begin with. It explains why he refuses to enter his pokeball at any time.
It also explains why Pikachu would later deny the Thunder Stone- the very gift that his previous trainer had bestowed- twice. I'm just glad that Team Rocket finally rid him of the accursed thing once and for all.
Or did they?
But I'm getting ahead of myself now. I hope you enjoyed my version of how Pikachu became the way he is. I also hope that Ash and Pikachu's friendship survives for many more years to come.
I don't feel like this ending requires my usual ending. I believe the only thing that will do it respect is my name. Thank you for reading.
-Darkiceflame