There is one thing about pain, it has a way of making minutes seem like hours and hours seem like days. Kurt's right shoulder stung unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Kurt hadn't of gotten far from the Rockets before he had to remove his shirt from his backpack to use it as a dressing. Even then, blood still covered much of his shirt.

Kurt was nearing the town limits. The forest was thinning and dirt paths were turning to concrete and asphalt.

Yannai was helping keep Kurt going. Kurt knew that she needed him and he wasn't about to lie down and give up if it meant leaving her to fend for herself.

Kurt had gone over the encounter with the Rocket's dozens of times. Denial racked Kurt's kind over what he'd done. In video games, such an act never had any real consequences. Kurt knew that nothing could change what he'd done. He felt as though the act had marked his very soul. Nothing could erase that mark.

Rocket retaliation was on Kurt's mind. The Rocket's could target any place or person Kurt was around.

Kurt hadn't seen his reflection. He had an opportunity to stop at a river an hour previous but he'd elected not to take it. He didn't want to look at his reflection and to see a stranger looking back.

Having become a Pikachu-Man had the effect of both saving Yannai and Kurt but also making his life infinitely more complicated.

Kurt knew that it'd be almost easier he he'd changed all of the way. However, he also knew that the Rockets may have defeated him and that both he and Yannai could be on their way to some ghastly fate, never to see their family or friends again.

"We're almost there," Kurt said. "I can hear some of the sounds of the town."

Kurt's hearing appeared to be better. He wasn't sure how this was going to affect his other senses, though he doubted it would enhance all of them. Such a thing was too good to be true in Kurt's mind.

The sound of someone coming had Kurt wanting to run to them for help. Kurt questioned the wisdom of such an act. The blood soaked tee shirt Kurt carried made him further question the wisdom of hiding. He needed to see a doctor. Eventually, he was going to have to let someone see him.

Oh shit what if I have a disease and I'm contagious?

Yannai's ears perked. "Someone's coming, maybe they can help us!"

Kurt cringed from a sudden burst of pain from his shoulder.

Damn it, I have no choice.

"What if it's a member of Team Rocket wanting revenge?" Kurt asked.

"Can't you fight him off?"

"Yannai, I don't want to…"

The world began to spin. The blood loss and pain was getting to Kurt. Someone caught Kurt just before he hit the ground.

"Whoa, you okay man?"

It was a boy's voice, no older then 12 by the sound of it. Kurt looked at the boy.

"Whoa, no you're not okay. Who are you? That's a neat costume! Where did you get it? What happened to you?" the boy asked.

"It's not a costume!" Yannai said.

"He won't understand you," Kurt said, his voice weakening.

"Wait a minute, you understand her?" the boy asked.

Kurt nodded.

"But how – holy crap, that's not a costume! Oh my God, how – what are you? How did this…"

"Team Rocket attacked…"

Kurt felt his consciousness slipping. He tried to stay awake, but such an act was growing more difficult with each passing second.

"Don't worry mister, I'll get you help," the boy said.

"Wait, I – you might catch something from me.

"I'm not gonna leave you here!"

Kurt nodded. He was too weak to put up a fight even if he wanted. "My name's Kurt. What's yours?"

"I'm David. I know, maybe a super potion would help you," David said.

"Help Yannai first," Kurt said.

"It's just a cut," Yannai said.

"Please, help her. I don't know if that'll even work on me," Kurt said.

"It's worth a try," David said.

"Still, please help her first," Kurt said.

Kurt watched as David withdrew a super potion from his backpack. As David went to spray it on Yannai, she pushed it in Kurt's direction. David ended up spraying Kurt with it after Yannai grabbed his shirt to expose the wound.

Some energy returned to Kurt's body and the pain lessened. The potion was working on him, even if not as well as it might work on a full Pikachu,

"Yannai, Why did you…"

"You helped me, I wanted to help you," Yannai said.

"Do you feel better mister?" David asked.

Kurt sat up, blinking a few times while he regained his balance. He still needed to see a doctor but at least he was out of imminent danger.

"Yes, I do. Thanks."

"How did you become a Pikachu person? It's kinda cool but how it is possible?" David asked.

Kurt touched his right arm with his left, then reached around, and touched his tail as though to confirm the reality of his form.

"I don't know, it just sort of happened," Kurt said. "But, if a disease did this then it might do the same to you! You shouldn't stay close to me."

"It's probably too late now. Anyway, it must be so cool being part Pokemon," David said. "You could be the ultimate trainer. I wonder if I could be part Charizard?"

"I don't think you can pick and choose," Kurt said.

"Bummer; so, you said team Rocket attacked you? Maybe it was government people posing as Team Rocket and this is all an experiment to see if you could beat them up."

"I wouldn't know," Kurt said.

"But you did beat 'em up!" Yannai said.

"Sorry," David said. "My older brother is always sayin' stuff like that. He's not crazy is he?"

Kurt shook his head. "I think he's just been watching too many conspiracy videos."

Mention of an older brother brought back to mind Kurt's original mission.

"So Team Rocket attacked you and you kick their butts! Did you shock 'em?"

"I can use electric attacks…"

Kurt preferred to limit thinking about his abilities after what had happened.

"Did you shock 'em? Could you show me a shock attack? Can you be part of my team? I need an electric type, everyone loves Pikachu," David asked.

Kurt grunted as he stood up with Yannai climbing onto his left shoulder. David's suggestion was interesting but Kurt wasn't keen on fighting.

"Thanks for the potion but I need to get going."

"I – I guess so," David said. "I was going to go through those woods."

What if the Rockets are still there or something changes David.

"Maybe you shouldn't," Kurt said. "What changed me might still be there."

David cocked his head. "Wouldn't that be a cool thing?"

"David, I don't know how far this is going to go. What if I wake up tomorrow and discover I've changed all the way into a Pikachu? I don't want to the same thing to happen to you."

"But if you go somewhere – what if people try to hurt you?" David asked.

Kurt frowned. "People already hurt me."

"You said you understand your Pichu," David said. "I have a Charmeleon, Vaporeon and Sandschrew. Maybe you can understand them too. Can I come with you?"

"Didn't anyone tell you not to go with strangers?" Kurt asked. "Seriously David, you saved my life, I can never repay you for that but you don't even know me. Why would you want to come with me?"

"I wana make sure you're okay," David said. "How many trainers can say they met a real live Pikachu-Man?"

Kurt chuckled. "Not many I'd gather. What do you think Yannai?"

"I wanted to meet a trainer," Yannai said. "Can we see the world?"

Kurt sighed; it seemed they'd outvoted him. He could only hope that there were no more Rocket encounters. The last thing Kurt wanted was a repeat incident. Kurt wondered if a trainer could teach him to use his abilities and how to raise Yannai. For a brief moment, Kurt felt like a character in an RPG that fate thrust into a situation where he was recruiting party members.

"Let's see a doctor first then my brother. Then we'll work out what we see next once I figure out how to deal with this Rocket Pikachu-Man issue."

"Cool," David said. "Don't worry, you won't regret this. I'm very mature for my age."

The duo walked toward the town as the sun began to set; signaling the end of what had become a red-letter day.

Stares greeted Kurt as he walked through the town with David. His shoulder stung and he was hungry. Kurt wasn't sure what he could eat.

"Everyone is staring at us," Kurt said.

"Duh, you're a Pikachu-Dude, what did you expect?" David.

Kurt smirked. "Well, if anyone asks, it's a costume."

"So, does your costume itch," David asked.

"A little," Kurt said.

"How ya gonna shower and stuff with all that fur?"

"I don't know. Let's just focus on getting to the pokemon centre for now."

A town that once inviting seemed far more intimidating to Kurt. Anyone could question Kurt's form. He preferred to keep himself; the attention this would draw was not appealing. As they turned down a street lined with shops, Kurt saw more people staring at him. I don't need this. Come on people, it's just a costume.

"So, what are you gonna do?" David asked.

"I don't know," Kurt said. "I'd rather not join a circus freak show. What about you; tell me about yourself."

I'd say anything to get my mind off what's happened and is happening works for me.

"I started training about six months ago. My Charmeleon Skippy was my starter. I have three badges. Did you ever become a trainer?"

Kurt shook his head. "I never had the time or that's what I told myself. After spending three days walking through the rain, having a Charizard to fly me places would have been nice. Oh, I told myself that I didn't like the idea of battling. But, in reality, I was afraid that everyone would kick my ass. Even if that happened though, as long as I had fun and got to win sometimes…"

"Hey cool, a monologue," David said.

"What's that?" Yannai asked.

"She asked what a monologue is," Kurt said.

"It's when someone reveals a bunch of stuff about himself through stuff he says," David said.

"As I was saying, even though I may not have done well, nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"Say, want to see if you can understand Skippy? That would be so cool if you could! You could become the ultimate trainer!"

Kurt saw several people look in his direction.

"This isn't the best time or place for that," Kurt said.

David looked confused. "But you just said…"

"Later we can try that," Kurt whispered. "Right now we have other issues to take care of."

Kurt saw a sign pointing out the pokemon center right and down a street up ahead. The chance to get out of the streets appealed to Kurt. However, nervousness that the doctors might give him a bad diagnosis was also at the forefront of his mind. Might as well get it over with; I'll need to give my parents a call to see how Jay is doing. I hope he's okay. I don't even want to think about what about happen if…

Shaking his head, Kurt halted that train of thought.

They managed to walk the rest of the way to the Pokemon Centre without anyone questioning them though Kurt noticed plenty of people staring at him with more then one kid asking if they could meet the Pikachu-Man.

Kurt felt safer the moment he walked inside the building. David took the lead and ran over to a nurse to ask for help while Kurt sat down with Yannai taking a chair beside Kurt. There were several other people there with Pokemon. Kurt didn't need long to realize that he was able to understand the Pokemon, though his ability to translate was more limited then it was with Yannai. In effect, Kurt could only understand the simpler words the Dratini across the room was saying.

The sound of someone approaching pulled Kurt from his listening. He looked up to see one of the famed Nurse Joy standing beside David.

"Hello Kurt, David told me about you," Joy said. "Why don't we take a look at that wound?"

"Did he tell you everything?" Kurt asked.

Joy nodded. A tingle went down Kurt's spine.

"Please, look at Yannai first," Kurt said.

"Don't worry, we will. But we need to take care of that wound. I don't want it to get infected," Joy said. "We also need to figure out why this happened to you. If it was an illness, we have to make sure no one else contracted it. Don't worry, we can keep a secret."

Kurt looked around the room. He stood up and Joy led him behind the counter to the back of the facility.

"Wait, I need to call my family to see how my brother's doing," Kurt said. "I also need to talk to the police about something that happened in the woods."

"We'll do all of that but first…"

Yannai ran up out of what seemed like nowhere and climbed up to Kurt's left shoulder. Both Kurt and Joy jumped.

"I want to stay with you!" Yannai said.

"She wants to stay with me. Is that all right?"

"You really understand what she's saying?" Joy asked.

"Yes," Kurt said. "When this happened to me, I was able to understand her."

Kurt looked back and forth.

"Why did this happen to me? What's going to happen to me? Am I stuck like this? What if I get worse and change all of the way? How can I live my life like this? How can I prove to you and my family who I really am? Yeah I have my wallet but…"

"Don't worry honey, we'll find out an answer to all of those questions," Joy said. "You'll be all right; I'll make sure of that."

Joy led Kurt to a bed and closed the curtain after having Kurt put his backpack down. Kurt wondered why they had a bed big enough for him then remembered that not all pokemon are small.

"I'll need you to remove your shoes, socks and pants. Don't worry; we need to do a full examination and to get you into something clean."

Kurt felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He doubted they had any medical gowns his size. After Joy left (keeping the privacy curtain across) and Yannai jumped onto a desk by the bed, Kurt removed his shoes. He saw for the first time that his feet had torn the end of his socks when he'd changed. He now only had three toes on each foot, complete with dark claws at the tip of each toe. Kurt honestly felt better with the shocks and shoes off.

Next came the part that had Kurt blushing enough that if he were still human, one might think he was turning into a Pikachu from the redness in his cheeks.

Kurt removed his jeans and underwear and looked at his body. A tingle went through him when he realized that he might be able to get away with not wearing anything, as he appeared similar to a Pikachu down there. For Kurt, this was a hit below the belt. He was not a vein person but such an alteration was still enough to alarm him.

It's still there; it's just looks different.

Joy returned moments after Kurt lay down. Kurt acted on instinct and covered his groin.

"It's all right, don't be embarrassed, I'm a nurse, it's nothing I haven't seen," Joy said.

"I guess if I go all of the way to Pikachu, I'll have to get used to not wearing clothes," Kurt said.

Joy took Kurt's left forearm. "I'm not going to let that happen. We will take care of that wound and get to the bottom of this."

The tone of her voice while stern was reassuring. Kurt knew that he was safe.

"First thing is first, let's take care of that wound," Joy said. "Then we'll run some tests. Don't worry Kurt; you're going to be fine."

Kurt awoke after he wasn't sure how long. When he opened his eyes, he found that the pain in his shoulder was gone. He was expecting to wake up in his brother's house. The return to reality was enough of a shock to make the machine monitoring his heart beep for several seconds. Kurt noticed a sheet over his body up to his chest and an IV in his left arm.

Joy entered the area soon after. The machine stopped beeping when Kurt calmed down.

"Good morning," Joy said.

"How long was I out?" Kurt asked.

"About 14 hours honey," Joy said. "It's just before ten in the morning."

"Is Yannai all right?"

Joy smiled. "She's just fine. We checked her over. She's only about six weeks old."

"Just a baby," Kurt said. "I've never been a father."

"I suppose you're sort like a father to her now. We healed your wound and removed the bullet," Nurse said. "From the checkup, it looks like you're fine. Though, we've never seen a Pikachu-Person before. I don't think you're going to change further. We're not sure why this happened to you. We detected no viruses so there's no need to quarantine you or the woods. We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Is my brother all right?" Kurt asked.

Joy nodded. "He's fine. He's doing some recovery of his own after having his appendix removed but he still wants to see you."

"Did you tell him about…"

"They know. I'm not sure they believed me at first but once they see you in person, I don't think they'll be able to deny it," Joy said.

"I'll just have to prove I really am who I say I am," Kurt said. "Thank you, I'm feeling a lot better. Is David still here?"

"Yes, he's quite persistent about staying with you," Joy said.

"I owe him my life," Kurt said.

"He thinks you're cool as he said it," Joy said.

"I'll still need to talk to the police."

"First things first, do you work?"

"Yes but I took the week off to see my brother," Kurt said. "I'm not sure this is the kind of thing I can get a doctor's note for."

"We'll think of something. Now, you're going to have to eat something," Joy said.

"How do I even know what's safe to eat? I don't want to be picky or anything."

"What do you feel like?"

"I wouldn't mind some bacon, eggs and coffee," Kurt said. He looked down at his body. "Though, I'm not sure a Pikachu can eat meat."

"Since you seem to be as much human as Pikachu, you should be all right," Joy said.

"Thanks, can I see Yannai and David?"

"Of course you can."

Joy left the area.

Come to think of it, I still haven't looked at my reflection in a mirror. I hope I don't look that bad. Listen to me; I've changed species and I'm worried about how I look. Maybe I shouldn't stay here for too long, if the Rockets come after me, they might hurt innocent people.

Memories of the previous day's encounter entered the forefront of Kurt's mind. He tried not to think about it but he knew that no amount of denial would erase what had happened.

Yannai and David entered Kurt's area soon after. Kurt was relieved at having something to distract him. Yannai was on Kurt's chest in moments. Her innocent face made Kurt feel better. The look of fascination in David's face helped as well.

"How ya feeling," David asked.

"Pretty good actually; the staff here does good work," Kurt said.

He noticed Joy blush and then smile.

"I'm not sure if it's safe if I stay here. If the Rockets come after me, you guys might get hurt. I don't want to risk them hurting anyone else."

"You're not just going to surrender to them are you?" David asked. "I can help you fight them!"

"Don't go away! What if they try to hurt me again?" Yannai asked.

"We can help protect you," Joy said. "Kurt, like it or not, right now, you're a rare, possibly unique Pokemon. We can't risk them capturing you. Not to mention what you'd go through."

"Why is it that this sort of thing never seems to happen to those who want it?" Kurt said.

"A wise man once said that a true leader doesn't seek power, he has it thrust upon him," Joy said.

A chuckle escaped Kurt mouth. "Good advice but wasn't that from a TV show?"

"I think so," Joy said. "I liked it too."

Kurt sighed. Yesterday at this time, he was a human. Changing species, even to a species with a humanoid body shape was still significant enough that Kurt couldn't ignore it. It would be easier if this hadn't happened but he knew that the Rockets may have captured or killed Yannai and/or that some other person would have had to endure such a fate in Kurt's place.

"You guys need to know something. It's why I need to talk to the police."

Kurt told Joy and David the truth about what had happened. He had to hold back tears and more then once felt sick as he told the tale.

"I'm sorry that happened Kurt but it was an accident by the sounds of it," Joy said. "You didn't know how to control your abilities and that Rocket threatened and harmed you."

"The Rockets are bad guys," David said. "It's their fault that happened!"

"If you're worried about charges…"

"No, that's not it," Kurt said. "It's just that, they could have arrested that guy. Yeah, he'd go to jail but at least he could have tried to become a better person. Now, we'll never know."

"You didn't force him to pull a gun or shoot you," Joy said. "You tried to run! I know you're worried about retaliation but the police can protect you and teach you to hone your abilities."

"I can help you too," David said. "Don't say it's too dangerous or I'm too young. I'm willing to risk it to be friends with a real live Pikachu-Guy."

Kurt chuckled. "I'm the older one. Aren't I supposed to be the one teaching you?"

"I don't think people are supposed to change into Pikachu people," David said.

Kurt grinned. "You have me there."

David scratched his chin. "How about you teach me and I teach you?"

"Cool, you guys can both train me!" Yannai said.

Kurt knew this was likely a foolish choice. David however was determined. It didn't seem to matter in David's mind that Kurt was human up until a day previous. Extending his hand, Kurt shook David's.