AN: So I was inspired by the sheer amount of shippings in the Pokemon Fandom to try and write a oneshot for each and every one of them. It doesn't necessarily mean I believe in the ship, by any means. This is mainly just practice writing different situations for different characters and to have a whole bunch of fun with it along the way. Some will be serious. Some will be ridiculous. Will I be able to write them all? I have no idea.

Critics welcome, flamers not.

:-xxx-: !Get Me Off This Ship!:-xxx-:

Ch. 1: Pika Shiping

Pikachu x Ash

"Pikachu! Wait!"

Pikachu couldn't wait, not this time as he darted away from his trainer into the grassy fields of Pallet, leaving the black haired boy standing on the porch in his tux, absolutely stunned. The people laughing and twirling about in their own suits and dresses seemed so faded in comparison and his face was twisted into one of such hurt, Pikachu almost turned back. Instead, he forced his short legs to move faster until he was nothing but a yellow blur against the green and the Ketchum house had nearly disappeared into the hills. He didn't stop running even then. He couldn't risk it. He kept going until his legs gave out in front of a small pond and he collapsed in exhaustion, heaving and panting and trembling as the night air chilled the sweat running through his fur.

He felt like he had battled a thousand Onix.

He felt like he hadn't battled enough.

It was a few moments before he was able to calm his racing heart enough to sit up and take any notice of where he was. The night was very quiet and all the stars stared down at him, and up at him as they were reflected in the water. It was nearly surreal after coming from so much noise. Humans were always loud of course, especially to Pikachu's sensitive long ears and parties nearly hurt. But he had put up with this party. He had sat loyally on Ash's shoulder while he had gone around and greeted everyone, had smiled like a good Pikachu and even refrained from nibbling on anything that came within arms reach of the little Pokemon. He had behaved. He hadn't done anything wrong. So why?

He sucked in a breath, refreshing to the burn of his lungs that cried for more and more oxygen. He smiled bitterly at the pond, eyes catching the sight of the moon. "Do you know what it's like, growing old?" He asked the lifeless rock, perking his ears up as he tried hard to listen for an answer. Nothing came. Of course not. The moon was always the same, no matter what happened. Always white, always bright, and always moving in the same cycles without fail. One in, one out, one in, one out. They marked the passage of time for a lot of Pokemon, especially the nocturnal ones. The moons marked the seasons. Pikachu buried his face in his paws. There weren't enough moons.

Why couldn't things just be back to the way they were before? Ash and him. Traveling with someone, or two someone else, but always Ash and him no matter what. Ash stuck his head into trouble with all of his ability to make a mess of even the simplest things, and Pikachu protected him from trouble with all of his ability to make sparks fly. It had always been like that. Even since the very beginning where some head strong kid Pikachu couldn't stand for more than three seconds because, let's face it, Pikachu back in those days hated all humans. But despite the fact that the kid was probably dumber than the average human, that stupidity saved his life from an angry flock of Spearow. And Pikachu had returned the favor in kind. And it had been that way ever since.

Ash had turned out to be a well meaning kid whose sheer determination was as likely to move mountains as it was to get everyone around him killed. How many nights had they spent training together like mad to defeat the insurmountable odds? Too many for Pikachu to remember all of them clearly. Ash and Pikachu had turned out to be the perfect team, friends to the bitter end, beating every challenge set before them and destroying every obstacle without thought to it. They were unstoppable. And with every victory came a greater challenge that Pikachu would have to defend his trainer loyally from, his best friend from. Battling, constantly, always pushing against the flow to carve their path as the very best. They had been doing it for so long that Pikachu had never imagined anything else. He had never imagined that there would be any end to any path that they took. It would just be endless roads, and that was fine with him, so long as it was him and Ash.

But with any goal, there is always an end. Ash had become crowned Champion. Everyone knew him and Pikachu on sight alone. The miracle kid with an unstoppable volt. Pikachu personally hated the cheesy phrase but what could you do about the media?

Pikachu hadn't been bothered by the victory at all. In fact, he relished it. Finally the fruits of all their hard work brought to the two of them on a silver platter. It had been hard, but worth all the sweat and blood poured into it. And the praise, oh the praise… Ash showered him with it afterwards, and that was all Pikachu ever wanted. To hear that Ash was proud of him, that he had done good after all, and a soft stroking hand on his flank while he rested in those cradling arms he knew well. What more could he ever ask for?

It was why he had accepted the party and the celebration at the Ketchum house afterwards. Seeing all of their friends made him happy, but sitting on Ash's shoulder and hearing them congratulate him was even better. After all, Ash was Pikachu's human as much as Pikachu was Ash's pokemon. It was what happened after the laughter stopped, and after Ash had picked up the light yellow champagne in toast that hurt Pikachu more than any blow he had ever encountered on the field before. In a simple word, no less.

Engagement. A future marriage. Pikachu didn't really get the human terms themselves, but he did understand the emotions behind them. And it crushed him inside. Marriage to humans was a sort of mating ritual Pikachu never understood. There was courting and then the two mates aligned themselves in a suit and a flowing white dress, and they were together for the rest of their entire lives. That's what he understood about it. Ash was selecting a mate. He was settling down. Their adventures were at an end. He was Champion, and he had reached the top. There was an end.

Pikachu's ears dropped suddenly as the scene of the announcement played out in his head and he splashed freezing water into his own face to stop the images. Warm water ran back down his cheeks. Ash didn't need Pikachu to protect him any more. He had a mate now to protect, a mate to defend. Somehow the image didn't match in Pikachu's mind. Ash only ever defended him, when Team Rocket had him in their clutches. Human kits were also sure to come soon after. Ash would defend those too. And Pikachu?

Pikachu didn't often reflect on the could-have-beens of his life, seeing how they were mostly a waste of time, but a memory did snag him. Early on, before their journey had truly started, Ash, Misty, Brock and him had come across a group of Pikachu. He wondered just what life would be like if he had stayed behind and abandoned Ash. Would he have a mate by now too? Maybe kits of his own… He did have his adopted child Togepi, but that didn't really count. Fatherly instincts turned motherly more as time went on. And then Misty disappeared with Togepi. It was a shame, Pikachu really did think of Togepi as more or less his own but when it came to thinking about the future, his own mate, his own kits… He couldn't see it. He frowned into the water, looking back at the Pikachu frowning back at him.

Everyone had the urge in them to breed but… He had no desire to. Well, not for kids anyways. He just couldn't see it. He never had. He had never been able to see anything more than him and Ash, battling always and together. There had always been a new land to explore, something fun for both of them, something exciting and dangerous and Pikachu dove head first into it always, to follow Ash. Now… There was no where to go. Ash was already going down a road Pikachu couldn't follow completely along.

Pikachu, even when shoved into that cramped pokeball at Professor Oaks, had never felt so alone.

But he had to think this through. He couldn't follow Ash. Not this time. So maybe he should head out on his own. Try to find his own life. Try to find his own love.

He had already found his love.

He could picture no one else's shoulder to ride on.

He hit the water with his paw, finding sudden energy and ran into the forest, leaving the pond.

~.:~:.~

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled out into the darkness, getting nothing but an echo in return. He didn't get it. Why had Pikachu just leapt off his shoulder and run out the door like that? He had never seen him like this before. And what worried him most of all was the small damp trail the mouse had left when they had pressed their cheeks together in one fleeting moment of contact.

"Pikachu!" It had been half an hour since the announcement and the guests were starting to get bored and antsy and awkward about the situation they found themselves in. Ash was older now, hadn't he gotten over his stages of constantly keeping track of his pet rodent? If it wanted to run, let it run. Surely it would come back. But Brock, bless his understanding soul, kept them all entertained and Misty busy trying to track him down and grab him by the ear, dragging him away from the scene. Both looked to each other and then outside where Ash was still calling. Perhaps they should get him back inside, and reassure him that Pikachu would be fine and back in no time.

"Pikachu!" His voice was already on the edge of frantic. Maybe something had happened. Maybe Pikachu ran into Team Rocket. Maybe... "Piiiikachu!"

The returning cry sounded like a shot and soon Pikachu came up over the hill, clutching something between his teeth. He paused, looking at the joy erupt on Ash's face before he came charging back down and leapt into his boy's, man's, arms. Pikachu's eyes were very shiny and black, almost wet Ash couldn't help but notice, but his attention was then seized by the flower that Pikachu was holding in his mouth. He smiled.

"Is that… for me?" He asked Pikachu, fingers touching the soft petals of the blooming red rose. "Pika!" Pikachu nodded, allowing him to take the flower he had snatched off of a bush in the woods. Ash's face lit completely and he lowered his voice, a clever thief conspiring with his most trusted partner. "So you do approve buddy? I didn't want to make this decision without talking about it with you, but… I think she's the one." He asked Pikachu. Pikachu looked up and nodded towards the flower. "Pika pi." He answered, honestly and truthfully although Ash would never understand the words. The human grinned in response.

"Thanks buddy." He affectionately ruffled Pikachu's fur, scratching behind the ears lightly before setting Pikachu back down and headed inside the party. Pikachu followed, but only so far that he could watch his rose being handed off to another girl with more flowery words then he had ever thought Ash capable of. Pikachu tried to smile.

Ash always got himself into trouble, and Pikachu always protected him, till the bitter end.