Sheet Shrouded Heart - A Pokémon Fanfiction

Chapter 3 - Left In Pieces

She's ran away from her former home and was taken in to a forest of Pikachu. Now that she'd found her new home, Mimi had all the time in the world to start anew. Nothing to worry about as long as she kept her cool.

Now was the time to enjoy every bit of what she had, not to feel scared of the possible mishaps to come of it.

So try to enjoy she did.

Once again like the last mornings, Mimi found herself shuffling through the clearing and made her way towards one of the passing Pikachu. Looked around to be a bit taller than Sitrus, and judging from his tail ending in a bolt, he was male as well. Mimi found her next target for her daily routine.

"Hi!"

Her greeting caught the Pikachu by surprise, almost making him jump as he turned around to face the head of her disguise. "Uh… hiya… oh. Y-You're that Pikachu, aren't you? The… uh… armless one?"

"That's me!" Mimi proclaimed, almost proudly. "I'm Mimi! Do you have a name too, or are you one of the others who like their species name more than the name they were given at birth?"

"I'm… going to have to say the latter." The Pikachu hesitated. "I… don't really know how to talk to girls… So do we… shake paws? Wait, no, sorry… um… spark tails?"

"Neither will do, it's alright if you're nervous!" Mimi's cheerful tone remained as a chuckle escaped her mouth. "So tell me about yourself!"

The Pikachu's nervous frown remained as he scratched the back of his head. "I… don't really have much to talk about… Unlike you, I'm… not that interesting."

"So you've heard about me?" Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"Overheard from the others, yes… For the past week, they've been catching glances of you running up to random Pikachu every morning and introducing yourself out of nowhere before running away… and now here you are…" The Pikachu nervously glanced around. "I'm not… the next victim of some haunted conspiracy, am I?"

"Don't be silly!" Mimi let her disguise head cock to the side to imply friendliness. "I'm not some pesky Ghost type or anything!"

The Pikachu looked as if he wanted to back away. "Y-You sure? You don't even have arms! Shouldn't you be sleeping in Sunny's emergency room or something?"

Mimi almost shuddered at the mention of the Raichu, but she fortunately managed to hide the urge. "I'm fine sleeping on my own! I'm even proud of the little hut I made and everything!"

The Pikachu leaned to the side, presumably to look over Mimi's shoulder, before he raised an eyebrow. "Oh… I was wondering who that small hut of leaves belonged to…" He slowly turned back to face the Mimi still intently staring at him. "So… er… Mimi… I'll just… go Berry hunting for breakfast now… alone, preferably…"

"No way!" Mimi exclaimed with amazement. "I was just thinking the same thing! Except that alone part! Well, bye, new friend!"

"Er… bye…"

Satisfied with herself, Mimi circled in place and started shuffling away. She took a deep breath, and when she exhaled, her expression completely dropped.

'Arceus, glad I finally got that over with…'

She made her way through the crowds of passing Pikachu and ended up by a waiting Sitrus.

"So how'd it go?" He chuckled. "He looked scared."

"This socialization thing is harder than I imagined it to be…" Mimi said with a sigh, letting the whine in her voice show. "At least now I can strike 'exaggerated cheerfulness' from the personality list… and put it in the 'do not ever use' list where 'flirtatious' is…"

Sitrus smiled at her. "Flirtatious. I vividly remember watching that daily routine. Was that… two days? Three days ago? Well, judging from how amused that Raichu looked, I don't think it was that embarrassing of a performance." He raised an eyebrow. "Though… I also do remember not seeing you heading back to your hut that night… Did you go sleep somewhere else overnight or something?"

The intricate details resurfaced. 'Thank goodness it was really dark that night… wait, wait, wait, what am I thinking?!'

The memory got Mimi flustered and almost warranted another shudder. Now was not the time to bring that up. "Er, nowhere important! Anyways! Sitrus! Berry hunting?"

The Pikachu nodded. "Ready as always."

Mimi followed after Sitrus as he led her through the usual path they've been taking for breakfast Berry hunting. This was another part of the daily routine she became used to. Start off by experimenting with her socialization plan, then proceed by going Berry hunting with her very first Pikachu friend, Sitrus. The establishment of this routine was a bit awkward for the two of them to get used to, but with enough small talk, Mimi felt herself getting used to him.

"So that Pikachu from before…" Sitrus spoke up as he led her through a familiarly traversed series of bushes. "… did he mention Sunny this time?"

"Just like all the others…" Mimi replied with a tone of disappointment. "You don't think I'll actually have to go back to see her again, right?"

"Well… you probably have to at some point, you know? I know I haven't even seen you bleed once, but… still! You could just fall over and suddenly stop moving! Okay, I guess finally building your house and making sure it has the 'right touches' is important, but so is your life!" Sitrus pulled to a stop on the grassy pathway they've been walking on, facing Mimi with a stern look.

Mimi caught herself in a continuous loop of speaking up and not speak up. Sitrus just named her very excuse not to visit Sunny while he looked for errands but still put her on the spot. "I've been fine up to this point, alright? I'm sure there's no need for a checkup."

Sitrus' concerned look stirred for a bit he finally gave up with a sigh and continued moving forward. "If you say so, then. I guess we shouldn't really be arguing at a time like this. I'm sorry."

A feeling of guilt swelled up within Mimi as she continued following Sitrus. His suggestion to bring her to Sunny was for her own good (in his eyes at least), yet she still replied with a hint of malice despite his good intentions. She wasn't that type of Pokémon at heart.

'Well, being part Ghost, I'm not sure I actually have a heart, but I'm not going to cut myself open to find out… Wait, can I even cut myself open?' She shook her head.

One thing's for certain, she wasn't heartless in attitude. At this point, Sitrus was the only Pokémon she could safely say she had the most trust for, or even her closest friend, even if he was still unaware of her true identity. He was the only Pikachu that actually stuck around after a dose of Mimi's experimental first impressions, after all.

She drew out an appendage and let it tap his shoulder while he was picking some Berries. "Hey… Sitrus?"

In response, the Pikachu turned around with a handful of Oran Berries, his usual smile plastered on his face. "Oh, you want first dibs? Here, I was planning on giving you the bigger ones, anyway."

Mimi shook her disguise head. "Actually, no, that's not what I want to talk about…"

"Oh!" Sitrus' grin grew wider. "So are you saying I can take the bigger Berries?"

The urge to deadpan right then and there came to Mimi. "Well… okay, go ahead, take the Berries, but just hear me out."

Sitrus already got to plopping the Berries into his mouth. "Go on…" He said between chews. "I'm listening."

"Alright…" Mimi stopped to take a deep breath. She mustn't speak about her next statements carelessly. The secret of her identity is at risk if she mentions her reasons for not wanting to encounter Sunny. She must tread carefully with her words. "Sitrus, I'm scared of Sunny."

'Okay, maybe not in that way, but-'

Sitrus' expression froze as if his mouth would've dropped open if it weren't for the Berries inside it. He slowly raised an eyebrow. "You're… scared? Of… Sunny?"

Mimi slowly let her head nod. 'Oh, if only you knew…'

Sitrus gulped down his mouthful of Berries as eyes slightly widened with astonishment. "Guess… Sunny will have to hear about this… She has been talking to me about you-"

"Wait, she what?!" Mimi squealed, her eyes widening as well. How could she have not realized this before?!

'Oh, of course! Sitrus spends every day heading to Sunny to check for errands so of course she would have talked to him about me!' She mentally kicked herself for not factoring this in sooner.

Mimi took a deep breath to calm herself down. As she exhaled, she found Sitrus staring right at her disguise head with a confused expression.

"Look… Sitrus…" Mimi recollected her words. "How long has Sunny been doing this? And… what has she been talking about, if you don't mind?"

Sitrus' nervous stare still remained, reflecting in his tone as well. "She's… been talking about you every time I visit her… but don't worry! She's only been asking curious little questions and all that stuff! And I still didn't tell her on how the Leppa Berries are your favorite!"

Mimi raised an eyebrow. Surely there must've been more to this story. "Are… you sure?"

Sitrus crossed his arms, a frown forming on his face. "You know… I just noticed how pushy you're being about this. Why are you scared of Sunny, again?"

The Mimikyu found herself at a loss for words. She couldn't believe that her digging for answers would be halted when the drill itself decided to retaliate. Sitrus was her friend, sure, but she was the one asking the important questions here. She could just give up her line of questioning and let Sitrus off the hook, but…

'No!' she thought. Mimi needed to be the bigger Pokémon here. Right now was the time to exert authority for her own sake. For her own sake.

Mimi took a deep breath. 'Authority… for my own sake. Authority… for my own sake!' The very words echoed in her head. Bad memories were on the verge of tormenting her again, but at the same time, a wave of newfound resolve found itself coming to Mimi. She would speak up for herself, despite whatever fears she had in the coming response.

"Sitrus, I asked first." She let the sternness in her voice show. An appendage drew out from her disguise, curled into a fist-like shape, and forcefully slammed itself down on the grass. "Answer."

For a second, Mimi's sudden tone drew out a deep raspiness in her voice, which was presumably the winning factor in earning Sitrus' now-terrified expression, even going as far as making him tremble.

"O-Okay, okay, I'll talk!" He slowly took a step back, waving his paws defensively. "She wasn't asking any super personal questions or anything, I swear! She just sounded like she was genuinely curious about you as an individual!"

Mimi's tone calmed down as she mustered a neutral tone. "That's… it? Nothing like… warnings?"

"Warnings?" Sitrus' expression loosened as he raised an eyebrow. "I know you might look a bit weird to the others, considering you don't have any arms or a moving mouth, but I don't think you're that hideous. I'm sure Sunny thinks so too. Besides, what's on the inside is what really defines what's hideous and what's not."

Another moment of surprise in less than an hour. Even in the week that she took to know Sitrus, she still wasn't used to him breaking character to say something insightful.

'What's on the inside…' Mimi shuddered at the thought. Both metaphorically and literally, there was nothing but darkness on her part, and she hated it.

She spoke up in an attempt to keep the topic going. "Let me guess. Was it your mother who told you that?"

Sitrus straightened his posture and expression, putting his hands to his sides in a proud pose. "Nope! It was my dad! I don't blame you, though. The two of them really did share similar thoughts. They were also good at giving advice that cheers others up, too."

Again with the mention of Sitrus' parents. Almost every insightful remark Sitrus made in the time Mimi knew him was just him quoting his mother or father. The Mimikyu didn't mind. She actually found herself becoming genuinely interested in meeting them.

'Okay, I guess now would be a good time to let the Sunny topic go…' A wave of relief washed over Mimi.

"Where are your parents, anyway?" she asked.

"Heheh… I was wondering when you'd question that," A sheepish smile formed on Sitrus' face. "I have no idea where they went."

Mimi blinked, taking a second to process what Sitrus just said. "Wait, did they… head out somewhere or something?"

'This better not be what I think it is…'

"That's right. It was just the two of them, too."

Sitrus' response struck Mimi like a Shadow Claw to her disguise's chest. 'O-Okay, I guess that explains the living alone part… but… it can't be, right?'

Even with her brief moment of shock, Mimi still decided to press onward for clarification.

"Did they… ever come back?"

"They never did…" Sitrus let out a weak chuckle. "... but I'm still waiting for them. I still have their straw beds for when they finally come back from… wherever they headed out to."

'No… no, no, no, no, no!' The very response struck Mimi even harder. Glimpses of the very memories she tried to keep away washed all over her tainted conscience. Now she was the one quivering with fear as she desperately tried to shake her thoughts away.

"Mimi!" The Mimikyu opened her clenched eyes to see Sitrus giving her shaking figure a concerned stare. "Mimi, what's wrong?"

Slowly, she took a deep breath and attempted to exhale the fear-induced chills enveloping her. Her quivering calmed for the most part, but a slight shiver still remained. 'One… more… question…'

The puzzle pieces already formed themselves enough to the point where the final result was clear enough, yet the full picture was missing one part. It was a longshot, but Mimi hoped that her last question wasn't the correct fragment that completed the terrifying image.

Mimi cleared her throat, composing her calmest tone. "Sitrus, how… long ago… did your parents head out?"

Sitrus put a paw to his chin as his gaze trailed off. "I remember it being a few days before we migrated… so it was around a little more than a week ago… A few days before you stumbled into me, actually."

There it was. Mimi's luck just so happened to be unlucky enough to complete this puzzle. A puzzle bearing a picture Mimi never wanted to recall here of all places.

Right next to him of all Pokémon.

The memory came back in full force. The images. The voices. The orders. The screams. The blood. The guilt. Within her disguise, Mimi clutched her face with her claws, trying her best to hold back a scream. The hollow sounds of her memories echoed all around the cramped area within her disguise, each echo growing in volume to the point where-

"Mimi?! Mimi!"

A familiar voice past the depths of Mimi's mind called out to her, possessing a volume barely louder than the other voices. Mimi snapped out of her panic-induced trance to catch her hastened breathing and Sitrus' worried stare.

"Mimi? What was that all about?" The Pikachu asked. "Is everything okay?"

Judging from how Sitrus didn't immediately lean on an excuse for the cause of her panic, Mimi assumed he didn't have the foggiest idea what Mimi's line of questioning actually meant. Rightfully so, Mimi supposed. Such a truth would crush him, after all. But would telling him the truth be the right thing to do?

Mimi slowly let her breathing slow down and let what noise it took up give way to the sounds of the area's rustling. "Sitrus… I…"

'Wait… rustling?'

The sound cue was enough to signal Mimi of the imminent danger. She quickly took notice the stirring Berry bush behind Sitrus and yanked the Pikachu away from it with an appendage. They both stumbled in the process, but just in time to avoid a pair of green jaws that lunged from the bush.

"Urgh!" A familiar voice came from the jaws, the rest of its leafy figure coming into view. "Why you…!"

The two hastily got up to come face to face with the levitating predator. Mimi shuffled forward.

"Sitrus, stay back." What fear she had before now dissolved into battle-ready confidence. "I'll handle this."

"Heh!" Carnivine sneered as he loomed over them. "Don't think this will end just like last time! I won't let myself get caught off gua-"

All of a sudden, Sitrus jumped up and struck his paws on opposite sides of Carnivine's face, the swift clapping motion cutting the predator's statement off.

Carnivine stood stunned for a second, confused by the purpose of the weak Fake Out blow. "Wha-"

Mimi decided to take advantage of Carnivine's flinching and rammed headfirst into him. As she did so, she whipped out her claws and kicked up a Play Rough dust cloud. She got to work on letting loose with everything she had, her claws grazing across the plant-like surface of Carnivine's skin and her wooden tail being used as a bludgeon.

With a decisive lunge, Mimi swung forward with her tail with all her might, only for her attack to stop midway. The Mimikyu widened her eyes in horror when her Play Rough cloud cleared to reveal Carnivine grabbing onto her tail with a glowing leafy arm. Before Mimi could mentally curse for having her tail be super glued to the back of her disguise, she was thrown across the small clearing and ended up colliding with a tree's trunk. She yelped in pain, and as she did so, it seemed to signal the voice of another.

"Hey! Leave her alone!"

Once she fell to the ground, Mimi quickly recollected her bearings to see Carnivine focusing his attention on another target. Back and forth Sitrus dashed, dodging incoming Power Whip arm lunges by side stepping at every last second. Then, Carnivine overshot one lunge and ended up allowing Sitrus a free hit from behind. Just seeing Sitrus dash out of the way and start charging electricity in his cheeks got Mimi excited. The thought of actually seeing a Pikachu in action was on the top of her bucket list.

A quick crackle of electricity formed in Sitrus' cheeks, and he immediately unleashed it at Carnivine. As ineffective as Electric attacks were against Grass types, what Mimi noticed felt underwhelming and left her raising a baffled eyebrow. There was no bolt or beam or any of the sort; what confused Mimi was that the electricity was still unleashed as a crackle.

'Wait… no Thunderbolt? Don't tell me… he knows Thundershock?!'

The weak jolt merely bounced off Carnivine, appearing to do even less than Sitrus' previous Fake Out, only serving to agitate Carnivine further. As Carnivine turned around, Mimi quickly took action and rushed in, drawing out her appendages.

Her clawed tendrils started glowing a shadowy purple as she drew closer. "Over here! I'm the one you're looking for!"

She brought her Shadow Claws down on Carnivine's back, eliciting a sharp cry as her claws drew what looked like blood. Immediately afterwards, Mimi noticed a jolt of electricity course through Carnivine, leaving the predator to grunt in pain once more. Mimi rushed over to Sitrus' side to see a triumphant smile on his face.

"There we go," He said, looking at Carnivine's paralyzed figure. "That's what I meant to use."

Still bearing his smile, Sitrus turned to Mimi. Before the Mimikyu could question anything, he pressed his tail against hers and motioned towards Carnivine's vulnerable stance.

He gave her a nod. "Ready when you are."

Mimi was already confused by Sitrus' gesture ('was it that 'tail sparking' thing?'), but what questions she could've formed were immediately answered when she felt newfound power coursing through her.

She nodded back. "Cover your ears."

Sitrus did as instructed. With the Pikachu in tow, Mimi lunged forward, taking a deep breath as she did so. As she came face to face with Carnivine, her exhale came out in the form of a high pitched scream. The Helping Hand-powered Astonish delivered enough force to send Carnivine flying, this time putting the predator on the receiving end of a head-on collision with a tree.

Once Mimi landed from her little lunge, she found herself staggering a bit from the energy she just used up. She glanced behind herself to see that Sitrus wasn't doing so well either.

The Pikachu groggily stumbled about before falling onto his rear. "Wooooow… I've never seen a Pikachu do thaaaat befooooore eitheeer…"

Normally she would've found such behaviour from Sitrus amusing, but right now was the last time for antics. Mimi sighed, mainly at herself. Either she underestimated her Astonish's volume or overestimated Sitrus' sound tolerance, but whatever the case, her attack left her Pikachu companion vulnerable.

To make matters worse, a certain predator broke out of his vulnerable state and started heading their way, leaving Mimi with little time to react.

He scoffed. "You should've picked those Cheri Berries first! Now I'm going to make sure you bleed painfully before being eaten alive!"

Instinct immediately took Mimi as Carnivine swung an arm forward. She dashed out of the way of the incoming blow, but raised an eyebrow when she realized that she just dodged a flurry of green powder particles instead of a Power Whip strike. However, panic immediately rose within her when she realized what Carnivine spread was a large Sleep Powder cloud. As if Sitrus wasn't vulnerable enough.

Mimi quickly changed the direction of her pursuit, but was left to watch in horror when a furred yellow figure was sent flying. The sound of hard impact indicating collision against a tree was what really made Mimi snap. Instead of focusing on where Sitrus landed, she directed her gaze towards the dissolving Sleep Powder cloud and its source. In response, Carnivine merely gazed her way and gestured provokingly with an arm.

The Mimikyu drew her claws and shuffled through the grass at an increased pace, ready for the next blow. As she did so, she noticed the peculiar smirk from Carnivine's slightly opened jaws. She already knew what was coming.

Right as Carnivine was within the reach of Mimi's claws, the Mimikyu quickly sidestepped away instead of attacking. This proved to be a good call when she noticed Carnivine immediately lunge forward with glowing fangs, missing her right at the last second. Mimi quickly focused on the now-vulnerable Carnivine's stance, glowing fangs and all.

'Alright, I can use this!'

After a brief second of quick concentration, Mimi quickly brought her disguise's head down on Carnivine, the result latching Carnivine's head to the disguise's now-fanged mouth. With a Carnivine screaming in pain now left to Mimi's nonexistent mercy, Mimi let her disguise's head Crunch down harder before tossing the predator aside from the MImicked move.

The sound of Carnivine grunting in pain from reeling across the ground reached Mimi's ears. She could notice from his twitching and bleeding figure that he had no strength left to get up.

Mimi's screech of a voice returned. "I have had it up to here with you! You shall go back to wherever you came from and leave us alone! If you have anything to say about that, then so do my claws!"

Carnivine's limp figure merely scoffed. "Go to he-"

The very tone was enough to warrant an instinctive draw of Mimi's clawed appendage. As quick as she took it out, Mimi focused all her energy on this Shadow Claw swipe and slashed forward. What followed weren't the sounds of grazing. What followed were the sounds of claws digging deep, flesh wounds bleeding out, and something being ripped open.

Then there was slience.

Silence from Carnivine's mangled figure and from Mimi's state. The Mimikyu was left to stare at her blood-tipped claws with widened eyes. The dripping red liquid of what was once alive, just the sight and smell of it made Mimi want to faint right then and there.

'I… I… I didn't mean it! I… come on, this has to be a nightmare, right?!' Back and forth Mimi paced as her breathing hastened with panic. There was no waking up. Just reality. 'Come on, this can't be happening! It can't!'

There was no denying it. The dripping blood on her claws and what used to be Carnivine's head was no illusion. To be in the scene of murder was the last thing she wanted to experience again. And as the catalyst of death, no less! Mimi's panic only rose. Even if this forest where she felt safe, where she felt safe with proper shelter and a friend in the form of Sitrus-

'Sitrus!' The very thought of the Pikachu reminded her of the real concerns at hand. Mimi quickly looked around and located Sitrus' collapsed figure lying nearby. Suspicions came to her as she approached his still body. Is he unconscious? Could the impact of slamming against the conveniently inconviently placed tree have snapped something? Whatever the damage, Mimi found herself sighing in relief when she noticed the rise and fall of Sitrus' breathing chest. Even if his unconscious look indicated nothing but pain from a bad stomach bruise, at least he was still alive.

Mimi looked around at the Berry bushes nearby. She could head out and scavenge for useful Berries, but she couldn't exactly leave Sitrus here. Unfortunately, there were no more Oran or Sitrus Berries nearby, which meant a method of healing would have to come from somewhere else.

Mimi sighed. The most reliable situation immediately came to her head, but it was not something she wanted to do. For her sake, no. But for Sitrus' sake…

The Mimikyu hastily looked around the area for a familiar looking bush. Once she did so, she turned back to face Sitrus' figure and gently picked him up with her two appendages. While the Pikachu felt a bit too heavy for something Mimi's back could support, coupled with the fact that her bloodied claws might stain Sitrus' fur, it was the best she could do.

She hastily sped away from the murder scene, clutching Sitrus cautiously and leaving the mangled pieces of a certain Grass type behind. The corpse may have been left behind to rot, but the very image continued to remain fresh in Mimi's mind.