Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Book One: Ginji's Rescue Team

by LilCoffeeOak15

In a world inhabited only by Pokémon, a boy named Ginji wakes up one day to discover he has been transformed into a Torchic. With only the memory of his name, he teams up with a playful but good-natured Pikachu, forming rescue team Heroes. With the help of his new friend, Ginji will make new friends and allies, as well as foes, and discover things he never imagined he'd know before

4. Chapter 4

Ginji felt the same soothing feeling he had felt the night before when he fluttered open his eyes. That same luminous misty light that had greeted him in his dream was greeting him once again. Ginji groaned.

"Great. I'm having that weird dream again, aren't I?"

Something about this light irritated Ginji. It probably had something to do with the fact that he felt as if the light was teasing him. It was warm and calming, but it was as if it was welcoming Ginji back in the most pleasant way possible only to have a secret nasty ulterior motive underneath all that pleasantness. At least that was how Ginji saw it given his first dream.

Then he felt it. That strange presence again. At this point it was much more than the simple creepy feeling of someone watching you from afar. There was actually someone there, Ginji knew it. Did other Pokémon have dreams like this? And if they did, could they feel another's presence without any of the primary senses as well?

Ginji was sure the presence he felt was another Pokémon. It definitely wasn't a human presence. "Wait, how do I even know that? Why can I even think like I'm awake? What kind of dream is this?"

Well, as long as he didn't disappear from the dream again, he supposed these dreams were kind of...neat. In a way. Sure the one from the night before freaked him out a bit, but that was most likely due to it being the first time he had it. Plus, seeing your own body fade wasn't something most people took normally.

There was something else Ginji was beginning to make out. Sort of like an echo. Maybe it was whoever was there? He was sure it was a Pokémon, but was this Pokémon the same presence as the one he felt in his first dream? If this Pokémon was speaking, were they speaking to him? He couldn't make out what the voice was saying, but he figured now would be a good time to try and talk to this voice.

"Hello? I can hear you a little bit. Whoever you are, are you talking to me?"

He continued to hear the echo, but still couldn't make out any words.

"I can't hear you. Could you maybe be a bit clearer? Maybe speak a little louder. Coming closer might help a lot. Showing yourself might be even better." Ginji told the voice, throwing the last two suggestions at the end of his sentence.

He did get somewhat of a response. Although Ginji wasn't entirely sure the green and yellow ground rumbling beneath him was the kind of response he had hoped for. Frankly, he was entirely sure it wasn't.

"Whhaaaaaaaaaa! It's an earthquake!" Ginji cried out in fear.

The whole entire void was shaking. Of course Ginji being able to feel things the same way he could if he was awake, was being shaken around helplessly. He was knocked right off his feet, and couldn't even get back up without face planting into the void again.

"Ok, I'd take disappearing into thin air over this any day! Stupid dream! It feels way too real!" Ginji screeched while his voice rattled.

With just his luck, the ground started rumbling even more, and by this point Ginji couldn't even sit up without being tossed back down on his back or side. He couldn't even see properly now. Everything was just a dizzying blur of yellow, green, and luminous white.

"It's gotten even worse! C'mon Ginji, wake up! Why do these dreams feel so real? Better question; why do they hate me so much?!"

Ginji squeezed his eyes shut tight as he was knocked around by the earthquake. He needed to wake up. He was praying to wake up.

"Just, wake up!"

---

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Somebody help me! Pikachu! Quick, we got to get out of here now!" Ginji scrambled around in circles, sending pieces of his nest shooting all over the place. Again. "Ne ver mind getting out of here, I just need to get out of this freaky Pokémon world right now! I want to be a human again!" The last thing Ginji was doing right now in his panicked state was watching where he was running. Naturally, he stampeded right over to Pikachu's nest where the electric mouse Pokémon miraculously still lay in slumber. Not for much longer.

"Earthquake! Get me out of heeereeeeee!" Ginji trampled right over Pikachu, causing the mouse to wake right up in a flash.

"Whoa! What's happening?!" Pikachu asked in a quick breath after he sat up.

"Earthquaaaaaaakeeeeee!" Pikachu was knocked onto his belly back into his nest by a certain orange and red ball of fluff. Ginji proceeded to peck at Pikachu's neck and the back of his head while he kicked up bits and pieces of the nest with his foot.

"Ow! Ginji, what -ow- has gotten-ow- into- ow-you? Ow." Pikachu demanded in between 'ows' and pecks.

"We are gonna dieeeeeee! There was an earthquake and-!" Ginji began before the two of them heard yet another rumble beneath them. The ground of the base shook as the two of them watched. Pikachu out of curiosity and Ginji in horror.

"Oh my God! It wasn't a dream after all!" Ginji exclaimed in fright. "There's an actual earthquake!"

"Ginji, calm down!" Pikachu told him.

The rumbling stopped for a few seconds. Ginji and Pikachu just looked at the middle of the floor.

"Did it stop?" Ginji asked meekly.

Before Pikachu could reply, a Pokémon with three head shaped like cylinders popped out of the ground.

"Hello? Is this the base of rescue team Heroes?" The Pokémon asked while looking around. "Our name is Dugtrio. We're looking for a Pikachu and a Torchic named Gin-" the Dugtrio had turned to where Ginji and Pikachu were, and paused once they had caught sight of Ginji on top of Pikachu's back, while the electric rodent lay on his belly.

"Oh, my. Perhaps we have arrived at a bad time." Dugtrio suggested more out of embarrassment than shock.

Pikachu quickly rolled onto his back and stood up, letting Ginji slip off his back and jump back up next to him.

"Nope." The two of them answered together. Pikachu's face flushed red while Ginji looked more disgusted than anything.

"Oh, we're sorry for assuming such things. So you guys are just-"

"Why don't you step outside and we'll explain everything." Pikachu suggested.

"Pikachu, they kind of just busted into our base uninvited." Ginji whispered.

"Yeah, but they're probably a client, Ginji." Pikachu reminded him.

Ginji sighed. "You'd let someone off scott free if they burned the base down. As long as they were a client."

---

"And so that's why you ended up seeing Ginji on my back and pieces of nest everywhere." Pikachu finished after a short but insightful explanation.

"It's also why you should never ever just barge into someone's place unexpectedly. Even if you're the president. You never know what the people -er Pokémon that live there could be doing." Ginji put in.

"Ah, yes. Terribly sorry about that. It's a habit we have. We have a dire situation at the moment. But we do want to tell you something, young Torchic. There are certain things that are suitable for your age, and certain things that are not. What one might assume was going on upon entering your base fell into the not category." Dugtrio told Ginji with a little chuckle at the end.

"Thanks for the tip. Trust me, dude. You don't have to worry about that. Especially when the only other Pokémon in this place is this guy." Ginji couldn't resist taking a little jab at Pikachu considering the jabs the mouse took at him. "Not to mention the fact that he's the wrong gender and a Pokémon to begin with."

"Thanks, Ginj. Love you too. But I think it's time to change the subject now. I want to know a couple things. First, what was that all about this morning Ginji?" Pikachu asked the chick.

"Oh, nothing much. Just the little fact that there was an earthquake!" Ginji snarked.

"Well, you're gonna have to get used to them, pal. They've been happening all the time lately. All part of the natural disasters occurring lately." Pikachu told him.

"How can you say 'all part of the natural disasters' in such a calm tone?" Ginji cried. He mocked Pikachu on the natural disasters part with a horrendous impression of his voice.

Pikachu didn't seem to mind Ginji's mocking. In fact, Ginji was sure he was trying to hold back laughter. "They happen all the time. We're all just used to them now. Besides, we know we have nothing to worry about knowing first class rescue teams are on the case."

"Well I'm not used to these things happening." Ginji said.

"Yeah. I figured." Pikachu teased.

"Don't you worry, Ginji. We take it you're not from around here. Neither are we. Our son and us are just here visiting for a couple weeks. The first time we experienced an earthquake here, it was very frightening. We're just glad the Pokémon around here are very informative."

"For your information, I wasn't scared. I was just... freaked out. Yeah. That's it. There's a difference." Ginji huffed.

"Not really." Pikachu laughed.

Ginji shot him a glare. "I did not ask for your opinion, Pikachu."

"Yeah, Ginji's still learning a lot." Pikachu said, ignoring Ginji. "You just need to relax every once and a while, Ginj. It's like I said yesterday. Life's too short to worry about everything."

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Fortune Cookie." Ginji smirked.

"C'mon. I just don't want 'Ginji wakeup call' to become a routine."

"Ginji wakeup call? Seriously?"

"Got to call those times when you wake me up with one of your episodes and then I find pieces of straw and hay everywhere something, don't I?"

"You're hilarious." Ginji muttered.

"I sure am. So anyway, let's get to the second thing I want to know. What your dire situation is." Pikachu turned to Dugtrio.

"Thank goodness. We were afraid you were going to bicker all day. Anyhow, our son Diglett and we are from the sand continent. We're on vacation here and-"

"How about you skip to the part important part. The part we don't know about. The part we care about." Ginji yawned.

That warranted a light punch in the side from Pikachu.

"Never mind Ginji. He's usually like this. Go on."

"Right. As we were saying, last night, during the earthquake, our son Diglett was attacked by a Skarmory."

"Gosh, that's awful. Is he ok?" Pikachu asked.

"We wouldn't know. He was whisked away to the peak of a tall mountain."

"Do you think you could be a bit more specific? There's a lot of tall mountains on this continent." Pikachu pointed out.

"Well, the mountain looked like it was made from Steel."

"Mt. Steel?" Pikachu asked.

"We guess so." Dugtrio shrugged. Ginji noticed all three heads always spoke in unison, always had the same expressions, and the same reaction s to everything. Their voices were all the same as well. These heads were even more alike than the Keckleon brothers. Now that was impressive. Did they all think alike as well? We're they separate beings or one being together? Ginji never thought he would have so many questions about Pokémon before.

"I take it you need our help." Pikachu concluded.

"Correct. You are rescue team Heroes, aren't you?"

"That's right." Pikachu stated proudly. "How'd you find out about us?"

"There are these two cute little boys in the square. Caterpie and Pichu. They told us about you when we desperately searched for help."

"Of course." Pikachu smiled. "Pichu's my little brother, and Caterpie is a friend of ours. Rescuing him was actually our first rescue mission. Technically, it wasn't an official rescue mission since we hadn't registered our team yet, but... you know what I mean."

"We see." Dugtrio nodded. Ginji was sure the only thing on their mind at the moment was getting their son back safe and sound. Though for a parent whose child was just abducted, they seemed awfully calm. Butterfree was practically bawling when Caterpie had fell into that crater in Tiny Woods.

"Well what do you know?" Pikachu nudged Ginji playfully. "We're already getting recognized after just a few days. I'd say we're off to a great start."

"Yeah. So far all our clients have heard about us from two little kids. Great start." Ginji sarcastically agreed.

"Oh, quit being such a stick in the mud." Pikachu groaned. "At least we're getting somewhere."

Ginji couldn't remember the last time he heard anyone say that. He wasn't aware that cliché sayings were still popular among Pokémon.

Pikachu turned back to Dugtrio.

"Don't you worry. We'll have Diglett down from Mt. Steel in no time." Pikachu exclaimed.

"Thank you. Best be on your way then." With that, Dugtrio burrowed back underground and out of sight.

Ginji stuck his head down the hole Dugtrio left behind. "Hey, you know you left two big holes on our property. Might be nice to help fix them later on." He called. No answer. "Do you leave big holes everywhere you go?"

"Ginji, why don't we worry about this later? We've got a job to do right now." Pikachu reminded him. "We better start making our way to Mt. Steel. Follow me."

Pikachu got into his running stance. Seeing Pikachu's tail in a straight position pointing towards him told Ginji what would be a smart thing to do. Just to be on the safe side.

Pikachu would have taken off had he not been stopped by a certain Torchic who had stepped on his tail and caused him to face plant on the ground.

"Right. Reasonable pace." Pikachu groaned in a muffled voice. "But you don't need to do this every time, you know." Pikachu told him, lifting his head from the dirt.

"No. You're right. I don't need to. I just want to." Ginji said innocently.

"And you say I'm the one who's against you." Pikachu moaned, shaking himself off after getting back on all fours.

Surprisingly he did take off at a slow enough pace that Ginji could keep up this time. Keeping that slow pace up the whole way there, now that was an entirely different matter.

---

"So this is Mt. Steel? Dugtrio wasn't exaggurating. This place really does look like it's made of steel." Ginji exclaimed, gazing at the tall mountain looming above them with eyes wide open.

"Of course they weren't. Diglett must be at the top by now. I hope Skarmory hasn't hurt him." Pikachu said

"Less talk, more rescue if we want to get this kid down in one piece, huh?" Ginji suggested.

"Right. We should probably be heading up there now. Let's go." Pikachu took a couple steps forward before a cylinder mole Pokémon opened up a hole right from under his foot. "Whoa!" Pikachu yelped as he was knocked on his rear.

Ginji had a similar reaction, jumping off the ground and flailing his little wings in the air. "Yikes!"

He landed once he had stopped fluttering his wings. "Will you stop doing that?!" Ginji panted.

"Terribly sorry. We just wanted to wish you good luck. The peak shouldn't be too high up."

"Not too high up? This thing's a steel monster!" Ginji cried.

"It may appear big from where you're looking at it, but we've had the time to do a bit of exploring during our visit here. We've been on this mountain. It's nowhere near treacherous." Dugtrio reassured them.

"Right. Thanks Dugtrio." Pikachu said, getting up.

"Our pleasure. We'll be on our way then." The three heads popped right back under the earth. "We're counting on you." Dugtrio shouted from down the tunnel they made.

"Ok then. Let's go Ginji." Pikachu shrugged. He started making his way up from the cave like entrance.

"Geez, do you think they always pop out of the ground out of nowhere and say random things about themselves like that?" Ginji asked walking beside Pikachu.

"Beats me. Wouldn't surprise me if they did though." Pikachu answered.

---

The mountain wasn't pure steel contrary to its appearance. It was just ninety percent steel. The other percentage was five percent rock while the remaining percent was ground. There was a path leading up the mountain for Pokémon to walk up. There were tunnel caves every few feet they climbed for some shade when it got too hot. Not that it was especially hot that day, though they still provided shelter from the sun.

The Pokémon the duo had encountered so far had consisted of Zigzagoon, Spearow, and Baltoy. The Spearow were no problem thanks to Pikachu's thundershock attack. Ginji's growl contributed to taking out the Spearow that were quick to dodge the streaks of electricity. Ginji was still pretty convinced Pikachu had learned Thunderwave during the Voltorb incident in the cave of the same name. Some Pokémon being paralyzed by Pikachu's streaks happened a bit too often to just dismiss as Pikachu's static ability.

"Awesome! I swear that was thunderwave, Pikachu." Ginji congratulated him as a couple of Spearow fell to the ground with fried feathers and an electric field surrounding their bodies.

"I don't know. You really think so?" Pikachu asked sheepishly.

Ginji rolled his eyes. "Oh, brother. Here we go again."

"I know so. That was clearly thunderwave. I don't know what it is with you and not praising yourself. If I learned a new attack and was perfecting it, I would be kissing my own butt." Ginji remarked.

"Oh, that I believe." Pikachu smirked.

Ginji noticed one if the Spearow start to move its wing behind Pikachu. "Um, Pikachu. Now would be a good time to finish off that Spearow."

Pikachu looked behind him. Seeing the two Spearow start to break free of their paralysis caused Pikachu to have a naturally fast reaction, shooting himself at the two of them with Tackle. The Spearow were sent hurtling in opposite directions.

"Good eye." Pikachu praised Ginji.

"Thanks. I'll take this one and you take the other one." Ginji called to him.

Ginji jumped in front of his Spearow, who was struggling to get up.

"Maybe I can try a fire attack." Ginji thought to himself. He puffed in his chest and diaphragm, stood on the tip of his toes, and puffed out his cheeks. After a few second of what he assumed was storing all the energy he had, he opened his mouth in the hopes that a ball of fire would come out. Nothing but a puff of smoke and a small cough to follow it. The Spearow didn't even do anything to try and fight back. It just braced itself by shielding its wing in front of its face. Once it heard Ginji's coughing it peeked open its eye a bit, and knew it was dealing with one beginner opponent. The Spearow scoffed and used the little energy it had left to fly into Ginji, knocking the fluffier bird off his feet. The Spearow landed on top of him and used a peck attack right at his face.

"Oh, C'mon. Not the Tiny Woods thing all over again. I already have a cool X scar on my forehead. I don't need any extra small ones to impress the girls."

"Ginji, just use your growl then give it a quick scratch and let's go." Pikachu instructed him.

Ginji let out a snarl, and blue zigzagged patterns started running down the Spearow's body. Once the patterns had stopped, Ginji swiped his leg under the bird's belly to deliver a scratch attack to its pelvis. That got the Spearow off him in no time. It flew up with a screech after Ginji had given the attack.

"This way." Pikachu called to him. The mouse darted down a narrow tunnel path in front of them. Ginji got up and followed him.

The two of them stopped to catch a breather in the middle of the path.

"Great job, Ginj." Pikachu put a paw on his shoulder.

"What's with that nickname anyway?" Ginji asked him

"I just wanted to give you a special little nickname I guess." Pikachu answered. "You like it?"

"It's alright I guess. It's just, why can't it be something cooler?"

"Cooler? What kind of name did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. Phoenix Fire, Flames of Fury, Pyronater-"

"Pyronater. Really?" Pikachu asked dumbfounded.

"Ok, that one was a bit lame. As long as it's not Gingersnap I'll take it."

"Fiery Fluff ball?" Pikachu suggested helpfully.

"You know what, let's just stick to Ginj."

---

The Baltoy were a bit more of a challenge. Their harden move did not help being able to take them down. Every time Pikachu hit one with a tackle, and Ginji with a scratch, it seemed to be taking less and less damage. One Baltoy in particular brushed Ginji and Pikachu's attacks off with a rapid spin. It spun itself around, creating a gust of wind beneath it, which only increased the more it spun. Ginji and Pikachu were getting ready to sprint away, but before they could get as far as the next tunnel, the small tornado was hurled towards them, grabbing Pikachu by the tail and sending him ramming into the mountain side.

"Pikachu!" Ginji stopped running to check on his friend, only to have the gust of wind pick him up next and send him slamming into the same spot and falling on Pikachu.

"I'll be feeling that the rest of the day." Ginji moaned in pain.

The Baltoy made its way towards the two friends who sled on the ground. Ginji rolled off Pikachu and stood back up despite the throbbing pain in his side. The last thing he wanted to do was give up so easily.

The Baltoy moved closer towards them and Ginji tried to look as tough as possible. He had no idea what to do at this point. He didn't know any fire moves, and he couldn't keep relying on growl and scratch forever. Ginji backed up farther and farther until he couldn't anymore as he had backed up against the mountain side.

"Great." Ginji thought. Then it hit him. "The mountain side."

"Psst. Pikachu." He whispered to his teammate.

"What is it?" Pikachu whispered back. He was still lying on the floor, bracing himself for what the Baltoy would do next.

"I have an idea. You with me?"

"You bet." Pikachu regained that glimmer of hope in his eyes that Ginji had become so used to seeing.

"Great. Use tail whip. Now." Ginji directed him.

"Alright then. I suppose you know what you're doing." Pikachu raised his tail in the air and waved it around in a small circle.

While the pattern of blue zigzags were running down the Baltoy's body, Ginji took the opportunity to explain the final part of his plan to Pikachu.

"When I say now, we jump out of the way. That Baltoy will uses another move on us once that tail whip effect is finished."

"Ok Ginj." Pikachu nodded. "I trust you on this."

Just as Ginji had predicted, the Baltoy began preparing another attack once the blue pattern effect was complete.

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"Now!" Pikachu and Ginji jumped out of the way right as the attack was launched. The duo ran far behind the Baltoy and lay against the ground, holding on tightly to the nearest rock as the blast hit the mountain side, sending the Baltoy flying backwards. Ginji lost his gripping of the rock as it was hard to clutch on tightly to something with tiny wings and skinny stick like feet.

"Whoooaaahhh!" He cried out as he was blown away. Before he could be slammed into another part of the mountain or even worse be sent flying off the edge of it, he felt a small paw grab around his skinny ankle.

"Gotcha."

Ginji looked down to see Pikachu clutching onto his foot tightly. Once the rapid gust of wind died down, Pikachu lowered Ginji back to the ground.

"Thanks for that. I probably owe you." Ginji sighed with relief.

"Don't mention it. What are teammates for?" Pikachu asked him. "Plus, you saved me from that attack back there. I'd say we're even."

Ginji came to that realization and nodded.

The two of them looked in front of them to see the Baltoy already picking itself up off the ground. It floated in the air once again, ready for more.

"Man, this thing just doesn't give up, does it?" Ginji asked in frustration.

"Guess not. Any other ideas?" Pikachu asked him.

"Umm. Give me a minute. I'm working on another smart over the top one. Might take a while."

The Baltoy was already whipping up another rapid spin before either one of them could do anything else.

"Not sure we have a while, pal." Pikachu informed him.

Not more than two seconds after Pikachu had spoken the obvious was the rapid spin launched in their direction.

"Jump out of the way!" Ginji shouted as the string gust of wind was hurling right towards them. Pikachu and Ginji both leaped the opposite direction of one another just before the wind could hit either one. The gust of wind whirled right on ahead, leading it to vanish in the air.

"Quick! Behind it!" Ginji called to his teammate. He and Pikachu both raced to each other until they were standing side by side between the mountain wall and the Baltoy.

"That sure was clever. Jump. Behind it." Pikachu panted. He looked at Ginji who surprisingly didn't have anything to say in response. He wasn't even panting. There wasn't a small sign of a sweat from the small bird. His eyes were closed, his body tense, as if he was deeply invested in his thoughts. More than the average Pokémon Ginji's age usually was.

"Um. Ginji?" Pikachu poked at his friend to try and get him to open his eyes. Pikachu looked back at the Baltoy, who had turned back at them.

"Ginji?" Pikachu began to shake him, his voice sounding frantic. "I think now might be a good time to attack it."

No answer. Funny. Usually Ginji would never shut up or at the very least think before he said something. Why was the chick acting like this now? Especially when they were battling a Baltoy of all times.

"Ginji, whatever you're doing, snap out if it! The Baltoy is ready to attack again!" Pikachu screeched at him.

"Shut up! I'm thinking!" Ginji finally snapped at him.

Pikachu crouched on all fours and took a few steps backwards, shocked at Ginji's tone. "Ok. Sorry." He bent both of his ears down in a meek manor. He didn't try and get Ginji's attention again after that one. He let the chick stand there and do his thinking. He only hoped he could be very quick about it, as the mouse was looking back at the Baltoy and watching as it crept closer to Ginji and him. It looked like the Baltoy was preparing a surprise attack on the Chick. Looking back at Ginji, Pikachu noticed something odd about how his friend looked. Sure it was odd for Ginji to actually stop and think about something before acting on it, but the way the Torchic looked right now, Pikachu could tell this wasn't Ginji actually thinking normally at all. The little flecks of yellow sparks that were seeping through the fire chicken's feathers only added to that mindset.

Seeing The Baltoy mere inches from Ginji, ready to hit him with another attack while the chick just stood there in his stance caused Pikachu to react out of pure shock.

"I can't take this any longer." Pikachu jittered to himself. He shot a wave of electricity from his cheeks, striking the Baltoy with it. The Baltoy froze upon the electricity surging through its body. There was now an electric field around it, which had the Baltoy locked on the spot.

"You were right, Ginji. That was thunderwave." Pikachu exclaimed in amazement

"Pikachu! What the heck did you do that for?!" Ginji asked him not nearly as amazed as Pikachu was. If he was in fact even amazed in the slightest.

"Sorry. I didn't know what else to do. You were just standing there with your eyes closed, not doing anything." Pikachu explained to him.

"I was getting ready to use a fire attack!" Ginji complained.

"Fire attack? Ginji, you don't know any fire type moves yet! What were you thinking there?" Pikachu cried.

"Please don't remind me. I thought now would be a good time to try using a move." Ginji retorted.

Pikachu sighed. "Look, Ginji. I know you really want to learn a move that matches with your type, but that right there really wasn't the best time to try learning. In a real battle you should always go with what you know. Learning is what we have training and weaker Pokémon for."

"Well, that's bullspit! If I have to be a Pokémon, I at least want to do something cool! So far I've been making my way through these 'dungeons' with nothing but lame attacks." Ginji huffed.

Pikachu just flicked an ear with a shocked expression on his face. He watched as Ginji mumbled to himself and puffed his chest out in a way that looked like he was preparing an attack.

"Ember!" The chick Pokémon called out. He opened his mouth to release it. Nothing but a smoke puff. Ginji just grumbled and tried the same thing again. "Ember!" Nothing.

"Why don't you try peck?" Pikachu suggested.

Ginji shot him an irritated glance. "Ok, then. I guess I can settle with that." Ginji grunted. "Peck!"

Ginji rammed his beak into the paralyzed Baltoy. Nothing. Instead, Pikachu's electric field sent a jolt of electricity rushing through Ginji's body.

Pikachu tucked his face into his paws in disappointment, knowing that had been the least helpful he had been to anyone. "Sorry Ginji." Pikachu groaned, his voice being muffled due to his face being buried in his arms.

Once the zapping had stopped, Ginji fell to the ground, his feathers all blackened and fried. Pikachu slumped over to him.

"Maybe it's for the best you don't know any fire moves yet. After all, the trick is to get the other Pokémon crispy with a move, not yourself." Pikachu tried to lighten the situation, though he did have to admit that was probably the stupidest time he could have picked to make that joke.

"Thanks, Pikachu. Now are we going to finish this thing off or are you just going to stand there and enjoy watching me be tormented, while helping with the torment yourself." Ginji sulked.

"Right. Sorry. But only a little bit." Pikachu snickered. "You're going to need to get up though." Pikachu told him.

Ginji rose to his feet in the most pathetic way possible. As if he was intentionally making himself look like he was in more pain than he actually was (which he probably was doing).

"Why don't we use a small combo attack and put this all behind us?" Pkachu suggested.

Ginji shrugged. "Sure. Except for the part where I came up with that plan to damage it with its own attack."

"And the part when I saved you from flying off the mountain?" Pikachu asked him with a cheeky grin.

"Ok. Fine. That too."

Pikachu readied a thundershock with a few small sparks coming from his cheeks, while Ginji lifted his foot to ready a scratch attack. Pikachu was about to release his attack when something crossed his mind.

"Wait. Ginji."

"What?" Ginji asked lowering his foot.

"You seemed really focused back there. Like there was something really important you were thinking about. And that couldn't have just been you trying to use a fire attack."

"What's your point?" Ginji asked in bewilderment.

"There were tiny flecks of yellow all over your body. In your feathers." Pikachu continued.

'Really? Weird I guess. I didn't feel anything."

Pikachu thought back to the yellow dots in Ginji's feathers. They looked to be part of a move like growl, leer, or tail whip. But Ginji's attitude there told Pikachu it was a different attack than any of those. He was then reminded of Ginji's adrenaline in Thunderwave Cave with the Nidoran. Focus Energy. Of course. Ginji must have been starting to learn that since their second mission, and would have perfected it right now had Pikachu not interrupted with Thunderwave. Though there was still something that seemed a little... off about Ginji's energy when it came to the move. Like it was changing his behaviour. Ginji was rash sure, but the way he attacked the Nidoran and the way he snapped at him out of nowhere sort frightened Pikachu. He was considering telling Ginji about it for a split second, but quickly shot the consideration down. Things must be scary enough for a Torchic boy with amnesia already if Ginji getting upset with him yesterday was anything to go by.

"I think you learned focus energy. That's it." Pikachu told him. That would do for now.

"Um... Yeah. Maybe I did." Ginji said. His tone was a lot less boastful than Pikachu expected. Guess focus energy wasn't as exciting for Ginji to learn as something like ember or even better flamethrower would be.

"So...nice job." Pikachu congratulated him

"Um... Thanks." Ginji said unenthusiastically. "It would still be nice if I could learn a fire type move though."

Pikachu mused to himself for a moment. "Tell ya what. Let's take care of this Baltoy now, and after that we can practice learning ember."

"You really think practicing is going to do any good for me?" Ginji gave Pikachu a look that screamed 'booooriiinggggg' all over.

"Hey, if you just learned focus energy then there's no doubt ember's the next move for you to learn." Pikachu told him.

"Alright." Ginji shrugged.

The Baltoy began to break free of its paralyzed state below them, prompting Pikachu to shout;

"Ginji! Now!"

Ginji quickly lifted his foot and swiped it across the Baltoy's body while Pikachu shot it with a classic tackle.

The Baltoy went rolling across the mountain floor, being stopped by the side of the mountain it had rolled up against. It finally rolled to the side with swirls in its eyes

"Hope it's ok." Pikachu observed it worriedly. "It will definitely wake up feeling dizzy."

"It tried to attack us, Pikachu. You're really worried about your foes?" Ginji asked in confusion. Pikachu may have been a nice and caring guy but to be concerned about the wellbeing of someone who wanted to hurt you?

"Of course. It's a Pokémon just like us, Ginji." Pikachu told him. His voice was half serious and half shocked. As if Pikachu was surprised Ginji would ask something like that. It kind of made Ginji slump a bit. That probably wasn't the best question he could have asked Pikachu.

"And don't forget, we were attacking it too. The mountain is its home." Pikachu went on to remind Ginji. "This poor Baltoy was probably affected by the disasters. Just like the Sunkern, the Pidgey, and the other Pokémon we've battled in these dungeons so far. It was just acting on a whim to protect itself and its home. These disasters can do that to dungeon Pokémon." Pikachu finished off sadly.

Ginji didn't know what to say. He had never actually thought about it that way. Or about what the other Pokémon the two had been and would be knocking out in these mystery dungeons might be going through thanks to these disasters. Admittedly he had never been a pro at putting himself in someone else's shoes. Much less someone who was attacking you. "Yeah, and like Pikachu said, you were attacking them back." Ginji's conscious heckled him.

"Aren't Pokémon made to fight?" Ginji asked Pikachu, the question just popping into his mind. Not the best one he could have had at the moment but, logically weren't they?

"Well, yes. We do battle. To become stronger, and too defend ourselves. And maybe have a friendly little competition between our friends once in a blue moon." Pikachu answered, not too upset about Ginji's possible inappropriate question. "But, there are times when you have to recognize when you're at an advantage, and stop it before anyone gets seriously injured."

Ginji smirked. "It's weird how being fried, electrocuted, paralyzed, and whatever else you guys experience on a daily basis doesn't count as serious injuries around here. Wherever I come from, those things could actually kill-" Ginji stopped there as he realized finishing this sentence would only prompt Pikachu to ask more questions about things he couldn't remember. Which would then lead to more talk about his amnesia. And frankly, Ginji was getting tired of talking about and having to lie about the subject.

"Hmm?" Pikachu asked, curious about Ginji's mid-sentence stop.

"Never mind."

"Ok." Pikachu said.

Ginji decided to go back to the topic beforehand. "I wouldn't say we were at an advantage with that Baltoy though, would you?"

"No. I guess not. That was a bit tough." Pikachu agreed. "I guess knowing when you're at a huge advantage isn't all that easy for everyone."

"Yeah."

"Or it could be that I'm just being a bit too cautious about battling." Pikachu guessed. "Speaking of which, I may have gotten a little bit worked up about the whole Nidoran incident the other day. Heck, even me zapping the Batloy before you could attack it may have been me getting too worked up. You were just really excited because of your focus energy. Or starting to learn focus energy. That's all. It's easy for me to forget that you're just a kid."

"Hey, watch who you're calling just a kid, alright?" Ginji warned him, not too thrilled about being seen as a child.

"Well, you really are, Ginj." Pikachu teased.

"Whatever." Ginji puffed. "Can we go farther up the mountain now? The sooner I learn ember, the better."

"Oh. Right. We should be making our way farther up now. Diglett can't wait forever." Pikachu said.

The two of them continued up the path. Pikachu gave one last look at the fainted Baltoy. "Still, it's too bad we don't have an Oran berry or anything."

"C'mon, Pikachu. It's gonna be fine." Ginji sighed.

Pikachu silently agreed with Ginji, and continued along next to the Torchic. The two of them were quiet for a moment before Ginji broke the silence.

"I think that battle could have gone a lot worse."

---

"You're sure Skarmory snatching Diglett up had to do with the natural disasters?" Ginji asked after a thirteenth attempt to use ember on the nearest rock.

"I'm sure. Normal Pokémon don't just fly off of their homes to kidnap a random small visitor for no reason. "

"Food, maybe? I mean, don't Pokémon need some form of protein?" Ginji joked.

Pikachu gave him a look that told him most Pokémon wouldn't find that joke funny nor amusing.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, the number of Pokémon in need of rescues has shot up after these disasters started happening. I don't think this is a coincidence." Pikachu explained. "Skarmory's been effected by the disasters."

"So?"

"So if that's the case, we need to hurry up. Diglett could be in more trouble than we thought."

"Calm down, I'm sure Skarmory's not gonna - hey look it's an Aron!"

"Huh?" Pikachu ran up next to Ginji and looked around the corner of the mountain side. Sure enough, there was a small steel reptile Pokémon making its way down.

"Now's my chance." Ginji stated. He puffed out his chest in the exact same way he had been doing for the past few minutes now. Pikachu slowly backed out of the way of the Aron in order to let Ginji fuel with it.

"Steel is weak against fire. This should be a piece of cake." Ginji thought to himself. "C'mon, please do ember. Please do ember." He pleaded with himself.

He puffed out his cheeks, the Aron nearing him more and more. When the steel reptile had come in a close enough range Ginji opened his mouth to let his attempted attack out.

Nothing but a growl. The patterns of the attack raced down the Aron's body, but no damage had been done to it. The Aron now had a stupefied look on its face.

"Oh, C'mon!" Ginji spat. Not too long before he was tackled to the ground by the Aron.

"Ah! Pikachu, do something!" Ginji cried as the Aron began pummeling him with another tackle attack.

"Oh, great." Pikachu groaned. "Hang on!" Pikachu darted towards him and the Aron on all fours getting ready to hit it with a tackle. The Aron must have had a mind that thinked as fast as Pikachu ran, because it got off Ginji, letting the chick Pokémon be sent flying by the yellow mouse's attack.

"Woooooahhhhhhh!" Ginji screeched before smacking into the mountain wall. He fell to the floor not so gently shortly after.

"Yikes. Sorry Ginji." Pikachu ran over to his friend. "Are you ok?"

"Well, Pikachu, I just landed head first into a steel mountain wall and fell hard on my face just now. Do yeah, I am without a doubt ok." Ginji mumbled into the ground sarcastically before lifting his head to shout; "OF COURSE I'M NOT OK!"

Pikachu jumped when Ginji shouted at him. "Ok ok. I'm sorry."

"Next time, when I say do something, do me a favor and don't do anything." Ginji complained while picking himself up off the ground in the most pathetic way he'd ever done yet.

"Oh, ok. Next time I'll just let you be beaten up by whatever the ' Pokémon that landed on top of Ginji of the day' is."

"You have a name for the Pokémon that cause my suffering now?"

"Well, it does seem that whenever we go into a dungeon you get knocked down by someone, go flying, or backed up against the-" Pikachu's sentence was cut short by the Aron hitting him with such force that he went tumbling into Ginji, who went tumbling into the wall nice again. "Wall. Kind of like we are now." Pikachu squeaked.

"Thank you Pikachu. Not just for the whole reasoning behind the name, but because without that last bit of info I would have never known we were in fact being squished against a wall right now." Ginji choked out from between the wall and Pikachu's back.

"Note to self; when in a battle, never get distracted by pointless chatter. Especially with Ginji." Pikachu informed himself.

The Aron was pushing its head against Pikachu's belly, and Pikachu was being pressed up against Ginji.

"What do we do now?" Ginji gasped.

"Hang on. I'm thinking of something." Pikachu answered.

"Well you better figure it out real soon. Before we both suffocate." Ginji coughed.

Pikachu tried to take Ginji's 'advice' and think faster. Though it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do when you were in such an uncomfortable position. Normal attacks wouldn't be effective on a steel type, and the way he and Ginji were up against the wall to right now meant that basic attacks were out of the question. Pikachu tried prying the Aron off, but the thing was too strong. He resorted to kicking at it fiercely with his foot. That only made the Aron more agitated. It pressed the two into the wall even harder.

"Ow!" Ginji yelped.

He could use thunderwave or thundershock right now despite the the attack not being effective against a steel type, but that would only mean Ginji would get zapped along with the Aron. And Pikachu was sure the chick had had enough misfortune befall him already in the past couple hours. Plus, there was no way for the chick to wiggle free given the strength if this Aron. It wasn't like the wall was mossy or wet. "Where are water type Pokémon when you need them?" It didn't seem like there was a way out of this one. Pikachu then thought about Ginji's focus energy. Unless...

"Ginji. I need you to use growl, then focus energy." Pikachu instructed.

"You sure?"

"Trust me."

"Ok." Ginji let out a growl, making the pattern run down Aron's body again. He then closed his eyes and focused on his energy. Pikachu could feel Ginji's fuzzy body tense up behind him.

"Great." Pikachu told him. Pikachu lifted his tail to the side to use tail whip. Patterns were on Aron for a third time.

"Alright. I'm going to use thundershock." Pikachu whispered to Ginji.

Ginji shot his eyes open. "What? And electrocute me again?"

"Shh! Don't stop getting pumped. Focus. It won't hurt you. You'll be using focus energy, so you won't be affected as much."

"As much? How do you know that?"

"I don't. I just... I just know you can take this Ginji."

"That's it?!"

"Ginji, please! Just trust me. I promise you I know what I'm doing."

"Cross your heart?" Ginji opened one eye to look into Pikachu's.

"Hope to die." Pikachu finished the oath sincerely, looking right back into Ginji's eye.

"Ok then." Ginji closed his eye.

"Thundershock!" Pikachu called out. He released a stream of thunder from his body, zapping the Aron and Ginji. The area on the mountain lit up with the light from Pikachu's electric streams. Sparks from the attack bounced against the floor and the walk, creating a cool sparkling effect.

The Aron fell to the ground after the attack had ceased. It seemed to do a decent amount of damage. Of course it wouldn't have been as effective had it not been for growl and tail whip. The Aron did manage to get on its feet again, only it had a few scrapes and black spots on its body.

Pikachu panted heavily before looking behind him to check on his friend. "Ginji!" He called.

Ginji was wobbling on his feet. He had a few black spots from Pikachu's attack, but his focus energy was very much still in effect. The small sparks were zipping all over his fur, and he stood in a stance that looked like he was ready for more.

"Scratch, let's go!" He cried out before hurtling towards the Aron.

"Ginji, wait!" Pikachu tried to call out to him, but it proved to be useless. Once a Pokémon was pumped up (especially a Pokémon like Ginji), there was no stopping them.

Ginji clawed his foot against the Aron's face. It didn't have a whole lot of affect. The Aron just shook it off and hit Ginji with another tackle. Ginji bounced backwards, before jumping to his feet again. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Ginji taunted.

He charged into the Aron with his beak outstretched in the hopes that maybe he could even perform a peck. He only ended up smashing into Aron's hard shell and falling right over.

Pikachu ran over to his friend, and placed his paws on the Torchic's side in order to get him to pipe down. "Ginji, buddy, calm down." Pikachu begged him. "You're gonna wear yourself out."

Ginji kicked and failed in Pikachu's grip until focus energy had lost its effect. Pikachu gave him a few seconds to catch his breath.

""Alright. Deep breaths." Pikachu coaxed him.

"Uh, that. Was. Awesome." Ginji stated weakly before collapsing.

Pikachu shook his head before letting out a long groan. He lifted his head slowly and groggy to see the Aron stampeding in his direction. Pikachu grabbed Ginji and dodged the tackle, letting the Aron bolt headfirst into the wall.

"Good battle." Pikachu called to the Aron, dragging Ginji up the path.

"Aww, I want to... battle... some more..." Ginji yawned in a slur.

"Another time, bud. Another time." Pikachu comforted him.

"Hey, Pikachu?"

"Yeah, pal."

"Did we win that fight?"

"I wouldn't really say that, but we came close."

"Oh." Ginji sounded both dead tired and disappointed. "Well, did I do a peck attack?"

"Eh, almost pal. Almost."

"Aw, man."

---

Pikachu had found a small cave in the side of the mountain after dragging Ginji behind him for the past half hour. The Zigzagoon were extremely timid so he didn't need to worry about them at all. Though he did come to regret forgetting the toolbox at the base. Ginji had fallen asleep partway through the trek to this cave, and a berry or seed would have been quite useful right about now. Pikachu had placed him in the most comfortable position he could. He had rested Ginji against the cave wall, with his head dipped down. It wasn't a hard task per say, but boy did Ginji snore and fidget a lot in his sleep. Pikachu only hope he didn't wake up screaming like the past two nights, over sleep so that they were here past nightfall, and he prayed to Arceus Ginji didn't sleep walk. Looking at Ginji's peaceful state reminded Pikachu more and more about his own exhaustion. He figured a short nap wouldn't hurt. The cave was dark and cool, so they were sheltered from both the sun and other Pokémon. Not to mention, they would both be rested up and ready to save Diglett and hold out a fight against Skarmory if the possibility came that they needed to fight. Pikachu crawled over to the wall opposite from Ginji, lay down on his belly, curled up, and rested his head into his arms. He slowly closed his eyes, and let himself fall to sleep.

Pikachu slowly opened his eyes, and looked around the cave. It looked slightly darker than it did when he found the crevice. He rubbed the sleepy dust that was still in his eyes away, and let out a yawn. He did feel somewhat refreshed, though like most who just woke up, he wouldn't mind putting his head back down and sleeping a bit more. He looked over at Ginji. The chick Pokémon was still sleeping, but had begun to stir. He was in a much different position than the one Pikachu had set him in. That confirmed that the chick did toss and kick around in his sleep a lot. Pikachu took a peek out the opening of the crevice to check what time it was. He hoped he hadn't been asleep for long. Much to his dismay, the sun had set quite a bit. The sky was already a shade of red, while the horizon was a shade of yellow.

"How long were we asleep?!" Pikachu asked himself in a panic.

He rushed over to Ginji's sleeping spot. He began to shake the fire chick frantically.

"Ginji! Wake up! We got to get a move on!"

Ginji's eyes started to flutter open. The chick mumbled something incoherently as Pikachu was shaking him. He was clearly not fully awake.

"Ginji! C'mon, it's time to get up!"

"Five more minutes." Ginji yawned after he had opened one eye to catch sight of Pikachu in front of his face. He closed it back up and turned his head to the side.

"Nope, no more minutes. You can sleep all you want once the rescue mission is complete. Right now we need to hurry. Diglett needs us now."

Ginji simply fell to the ground and began to snore again.

Pikachu smacked his forehead with his paw. "Ginji, I'm not going to drag you all the way up the mountain."

Ginji just rolled over to face the cave wall.

"Or maybe I don't have much of a choice." The mouse grabbed the chick's sides and pulled him into a sitting position. He tugged on the Torchic, pulling him along. Pikachu got the two of them out of the cave. He let go of Ginji and let him flop to the ground again. Pikachu took one good long look at the path that carried on up the mountain. Looking up the side of it, they weren't too far away from the peak now. He looked back down at his sleepy companion. Hauling Ginji the rest of the way up wasn't going to get them anywhere. And he didn't particularly feel like hoisting Ginji over his shoulder so he could carry him up either. Also, it probably wasn't the smartest move to show up to the peak where Skarmory awaited with a sleeping team member.

Pikachu went at a final attempt to shake Ginji awake.

"Ginji! C'mon, please wake up." He shook the fire bird vividly. All he received was a scratch across the cheek from Ginji's foot.

"Ow." Pikachu rubbed his sore cheek and looked back at his dozing friend. He let out a heavy sigh. Ginji would never let him hear the end of this one.

"Ok, Ginj. I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me with no choice. Thundershock!" Pikachu released a huge jolt of thunder from his body and aimed it straight at the Torchic. That got Ginji up and screeching right in mid-air as he was zapped from head to toe with Pikachu's attack.

Pikachu winced away and waited for the electric shocks and Ginji's screams of agony to stop. "Sorry Ginj." He muttered.

Ginji met with the ground again after the attack had stopped, only to tumble on his side to the floor again. His feathers were sticking out and all frizzed, and the tips of them were blackened. His mouth hung open to let out a cry of pain.

"Heh heh." Pikachu walked over to him in shame. "Time for team Barbecue to move along?"

Ginji leaped back up and shook himself off in a rage. He marched over to Pikachu and shoved his face in the electric rodent's so that the two of them had their eyes locked on the other's.

"And just what the heck was that for?!" Ginji demanded.

"Sorry, but I needed some way wake you. I tried shaking you multiple times but you wouldn't wake up. You know, your sleeping habits are weird. You're the one waking me up so early in the morning with an episode, yet I have a hard time getting you up." Pikachu exclaimed.

Ginji just growled in anger. "Why did you need to wake me up so badly?"

"Look at the sky."

Ginji did what Pikachu told him to. The sky had turned from its usual bright blue to a colour similar to that of his feathers. The sun was no longer high in the sky but sinking out of sight. It was almost dusk. The two had overslept.

"We slept a little longer than I had wanted us to. We need to hurry now." Pikachu was about to dash off before Ginji asked him;

"Hey, wait a minute! What about me learning ember?"

"There's no time for that right now, Ginji. We can't keep Diglett and Dugtrio waiting forever. We'll practice another time, ok?"

"And I can't keep waiting to learn an actual fire type move. I'm a fire type, yet all I know are a bunch of lame attacks!"

"Ginji, we don't have time for this. We have to go now!" The patience that Pikachu had so much of before was visibly starting to wear off now.

"I'm not going to save some Diglett just because his three headed father, or fathers, or whatever you Pokémon call those things couldn't keep an eye on him without knowing how to use a fire attack! Three heads, six eyes, and they manage to lose their son! Some parent! If you want to go on ahead you can. But I want to learn an actual useful move. If I'm stuck in a Torchic's body with no memory, at least let my 'oh so pleasant' experience be something worth remembering. And I don't see how running around through 'dungeons' which aren't even dungeons and getting myself tackled, pummeled, bruised and banged up, and electrocuted just to rescue some strangers is anything like that. And I don't see how it's going to help me remember anything about myself either."

Pikachu's ears flicked up in shock and after a few moments, dropped in sadness, as did his head. He looked down at the ground and his paws sadly. His ears only perked up when Ginji said something else.

"Besides, you should have no problem getting there by yourself. What with your impossible speed that only gets faster and faster each time you say you'll slow down. So why don't you just use it to go save Diglett right now and leave me here. After all, it is what you're good at." Ginji added as salt in the wound.

Pikachu lowered his head and ears even further down and by this point his ear tips were touching the ground. He turned around sadly, ready to continue the trek up the mountain. He let out a sad sigh.

"I'm sorry that I zapped you. I was just really worried we might not make it in time. And I'm sorry I've been wasting your time these past few days." Pikachu apologized. He turned his head back to Ginji. "I won't be too far up ahead. We're almost at the peak so if you want to join me later on you know where I'll be. If not then wait here. I'll be back with Diglett and when we get off the mountain and are back at the base, you can decide if you still want to be on my rescue team. If you don't that's fine. It's your choice. We can help you remember who you are some other way. Or we can find someone who can."

Ginji didn't answer. He sat on the edge of the mountain, staring off into the distance. He kicked his legs a bit out of boredom and not knowing what else to say to Pikachu after that whole ordeal.

"Ginji, please come with me. I can't do this without you. We're a team." Pikachu pleaded.

Ginji just closed his eyes and turned his head away.

Pikachu turned back to head up the mountain, though not before giving Ginji one final sad look. He ran off in an actual slow pace, until Ginji could no longer hear his feet patterning on up the mountain.

Ginji kicked a small stone off the edge of the mountain. He puffed out his chest and got ready to try an ember attack once again. He stood up on the mountain edge, puffed his cheeks out, and opened his mouth out to the air. A puff of smoke escaped his beak and drifted off into the sky.

"This is stupid!" He shouted out to no one. Not knowing what else to do, he crashed back down on the edge of the mountain, and kicked his feet out so they were dangling off the edge again.

"Who am I? Why and how did I even become a Pokémon in the first place?"

He stared at the setting sun, and looked down at the land below him. He didn't know why, but he felt so relaxed. He wasn't scared of falling off the edge or anything, He was for lack of better words enjoying the view. Like he was hypnotized by it. Ginji didn't know if he had ever just stopped to look at something and forgot about everything else and all his problems before. He supposed if he did, he wouldn't remember. What exactly was so great about looking at something simple like a landscape or a night sky full of stars? He wondered that the morning he came outside the base to find Pikachu asleep outside. The mouse had told him he had been stargazing the night before. Ginji didn't think he had ever understood what was so interesting or cool about staring at those kind of things. Even when he was really little. From how much he could remember at least. For some reason though when he was actually enjoying the view, he didn't think about what made it so nice. It just was. Maybe sunsets just did that to him.

"The Pokémon around here live in a pretty cool place. And the Pokémon on the mountain get to look at this all the time."

He then thought of how stupid he had been just a minute ago. What was the point in arguing with Pikachu when he could be doing so many other things while he was a Pokémon?

"I may not have asked to be a Pokémon or know why I turned into one, or even how long it's going to be before I find out who I am and how to become a human again. But one thing's for sure. I'm not going to find out by sitting around here and being moody."

"What am I doing?" Ginji asked himself. He worked up the nerve to stand up, and look at the path ahead of him.

"I don't want to let Pikachu have all the fun."

Ginji looked back out at the sunset. "Sure am gonna miss the view though."

Giving one last glance at the horizon, Ginji took off in a run, moving as fast as those skinny legs he had cursed so much could carry him.

---

Ginji noticed the walls and ground of the mountain become less steel and more rock as he went on up the mountain. The Pokémon he kept seeing were different too. Mostly Geodude, Meditite, and Tyrogue. He had even had to sneak past a sleeping Pinsir. Ginji was just glad he hadn't woken it up. He was trying to avoid most battles for the time being. His main focus was meeting Pikachu at the peak so they could rescue Diglett. He also wanted to save his energy for a possible battle with the Skarmory.

He was sure he had gotten quite far (or what was considered far by 'not too far from the peak' standards) when he had encountered both a Meditite and a Tyrogue. The two were blocking the entrance to the small cave like area leading upwards.

"Beat it!" Ginji challenged them. He tried to sound as fearless as possible. He wasn't entirely sure he could handle two Pokémon at once on his own. As much as he would never admit that to anyone.

"Where's your team member when you need him?"

Ginji stopped to think after that thought. He answered that question with the logical thought.

"Ahead of you probably saving Diglett right now."

The two Pokémon of course didn't take any orders from Ginji. The stood in their spot, glaring at him.

"Then I guess you guys want to do this the hard way." Ginji threatened. The number one rule for him was to make sure his confidence overrode his uneasiness.

Ginji let out a growl to lower the duo's defense. The Meditite used meditate to balance out Ginji's growl. In return of its attack being lowered, the Meditite had patterns go up its body rather than down showcasing its defense and special attack rising. Ginji prepared a focus energy. The Tyrogue charged at him with a basic attack. Ginji stood still and let it charge. His feathers flared up, his small body became tense, and he could feel little sparks jump all over him. He was no more than six inches away from being striked by the Tyrogue before he skidded out of way. The Tyrogue ran right past him, tripping over its feet and onto the floor.

"Focus Ginji. Focus. It's like Pikachu said. Don't wear yourself out." Ginji kept in reminding himself. It was hard for him to think with his mind when his feet told him to just go for it. It wasn't like Ginji thought things over much at all. Much less when he was pumped up. "No. You have to focus. It's called focus energy for a reason. Focus your energy. Don't just rush into things." He told himself in vain.

The Tyrogue got back up and rushed to him.

"Ok. Now it's time to rush into things." Ginji ran towards it as well. Before the two collided Ginji lifted his foot to deliver a scratch across its face. They attack worked, and the Tyrogue fell to the ground after a second of temporary blindness. Ginji stumbled as well do to having one foot in the air. He somersaulted across the floor until he was able to stop himself by pressing his foot against the ground.

"Well, that could have gone a bit better."

Ginji shook himself off as he rose to his feet. He looked behind him. The Tyrogue lay on the floor with swirls in its eyes. It must have been tuckered out from an early battle. The Meditite sprang to action and was drifting to where Ginji stood. The chick Pokémon had no trouble dodging the Meditite's basic attack. This Meditite wasn't very fast and like a lot of the Pokémon he had seen in the dungeons, didn't have super powerful attacks. Ginji knocked it away with a simple scratch. The entrance to another enclosed part of the mountain was open and Ginji headed on without looking back at the two Pokémon he had just fought.

"I didn't need to take them down after all. With focus energy, I didn't even need to worry about them much. I guess you just have to know how to control an attack." Ginji told himself in amazement. He remembered what Pikachu had told him earlier. 'Sometimes you have to know when you're at an advantage.'

Ginji could definitely see he was at a bit of an advantage there. Battling those two would have been pointless. And needlessly defeating them in battle wouldn't have been necessary.

"I mean, what's the point in fighting if there's no fun or challenge involved?" Ginji smugly thought to himself.

He carried on to the peak, which he was sure was just up ahead. He could see a cave opening which looked even darker inside from around the corner. After getting out of the enclosed cave like space and looking off the side of the mountain. It was quite a way down. He and Pikachu had climbed up high that was for sure. Though it was hard to tell just how huge the mountain stood as the sky was turning purple now and the sun was almost completely down. He looked up, and saw the tip of the mountain just ten feet above him. He was almost there. But maybe a just a few minutes to stop and look at the view wouldn't hurt. He did see a couple of stars start to become visible. Pikachu had told him he would stargaze every so often. Ginji lay down on his back and stared directly into the stratosphere. It was kind of relaxing.

Before Ginji could get too distracted his mind snapped back to the task at hand. "Ugh, never mind. I need to get to Pikachu now. I don't have time for this." He stood up and marched off into the cave entrance.

---

Pikachu entered what could be described as an actual dungeon made from steel. It was very dark-darker than any cave part of the mountain he and Ginji had been through. The only source of light was from the steel like rock that the place was made from. Even then, it was a very mild source of light. The middle part of the cave in particular was especially dark. Pitch black even. Pikachu could vaguely make out a tall and narrow bit of steel from across the cave. He used the electricity in his cheeks to help light up the cave a bit. It was then he saw the bit of steel was actually a ledge built into the cave's back wall. The ledge itself was on the opposite side of the wide steel ledge Pikachu was standing on right now.

"This has to be the peak. It's an odd and creepy peak for a mountain, but this has to be it. That means Diglett must be here!"

"Hello? Who's there?" A small and high voice squeaked from above the ledge. "I see a small light. Kind of sparky, so I know someone's there."

Pikachu was flooded with a wave of excitement. "Are you Diglett?" He asked the voice.

"Yes. That's me. Who are you?" Diglett asked in a frightened voice.

"I'm Pikachu." Pikachu shot some more electricity out of his cheeks in an attempt to make himself visible to the young Pokémon. "Can you see me?"

"Yeah. A little bit. But I know what a Pikachu looks like."

"Yeah. I guess you would." Pikachu toned the sparks coming from his cheeks down. "Don't you worry, kiddo. I'm here to rescue you."

"You are? That's good!"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm scared." Diglett chattered.

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm on the top of the narrow steel ledge."

"Don't worry little guy. It's gonna be ok. I'm gonna get you down and-"

Careful!" Diglett screeched at Pikachu. "Don't walk any further!"

Pikachu jumped at Diglett's shrill voice screaming at him. "Yikes! What is it?!"

"There's a pit right in front of you." Diglett warned him.

Pikachu grabbed the nearest stone and through at the pitch black space in front of him. There was no sound of the stone hitting the ground. Pikachu peered over the black space. He got the electricity in his cheeks flowing again. Sure enough, there was a huge gaping pit between the ledge Diglett was presumably in top of and the ledge he was peering over.

"Geez!" Pikachu scampered as far back from the pit as he possibly could. He tripped over another stone and fell onto his rear. "I can't even see the bottom!" He called up to Diglett.

"I don't even know if there is a bottom. I-"

Diglett was cut off by a shrill screech echoing from the top of the cave. Pikachu and Diglett both looked up to catch side of a tall figure whooshing down from wherever it was it was originally perched. Pikachu shot huge streams of electricity from both his cheeks to illuminate the cave entirely. The flash of thunder revealed a Skarmory flying right down to the ledge Pikachu was on. It landed right in front of him with a thud. Pikachu bounced off the ground for a split second before landing back on his rear. The Skarmory stretched its steel gray wings out and let out another screech. It walked towards Pikachu, towering over the mouse. It bent its head down until it was staring directly into Pikachu's eyes. Pikachu winced his head away from it until his cheek was against the floor.

"And just what do you think you are doing here, mousey?!" The Skarmory demanded. It had a feminine voice, so this one was obviously female.

"I..." Pikachu started with a shaky voice. He then slid out from beneath Skarmory and stood up in front of her. "I've come to rescue Diglett, Skarmory." He stated boldly. "You better release him now!"

Skarmory let out another ear piercing screech. Pikachu pulled his ears down the sides of his cheeks in pain.

"HOW DARE YOU?! IT'S THEIR FAULT!" She hollered.

"Who's fault?" Pikachu cried out still grasping his ears.

"I haven't slept in days thanks to all these earthquakes! They frighten me so! Every night we have them!"

"Yes, but what has Diglett got to do with the earthquakes?"

"It's because of this brat's ilk running wild underground!"

"That's not true!" Pikachu objected.

"What? You mean to tell me these earthquakes aren't true?!" Skarmory shoved her face right in Pikachu's. The electric mouse backed away from being startled. "Please, mousey. Don't make me laugh."

"I mean, it is true that we have had many earthquakes lately. But it would take a lot more than a group of Diglett and Dugtrio burrowing underground to cause them. They're part of the natural disasters. We don't know what's causing them but we have top rescue teams out investi-"

Pikachu was silenced by one of her terrible screeches.

"OH, HUSH UP!"

"Jeez louise, calm down, will ya?" Pikachu squeaked.

"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO BE CALM YOU SPARKY LITTLE RAT!"

"That's a new one." Pikachu said meekly. "What are you, my older brother? But even he knows when to chill and doesn't scream at the top of his lungs like a little kid."

"I SHALL FIGHT YOU IF YOU KEEP THIS UP!" Skarmory screamed at him.

"If that's what it will take to rescue Diglett, then go ahead!" Pikachu challenged her with all the courage he had. Deep inside, he was a bit intimidated by Skarmory's voice, agitated behaviour, and the fact that she was quite taller than he was. But he was determined to get Diglett back to Dugtrio safely, and was not about to go down without a fight.

"Pikachu, don't!" Diglett cried out in fear.

"Don't worry, Diglett. I'm the leader of a rescue team. Team Heroes. It's my job to rescue other Pokémon, and if that means I have to battle Pokémon effected by the disasters, then that's what I have to do." Pikachu told Diglett with determination.

"You're part of a rescue team? Then where are the other members?" Diglett asked out of curiosity.

"Oh... They're um... you see it's kind of a long story, I'll-" Pikachu fumbled before being cut off by Skarmory again.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS NONSENSE! PECK!" Skarmory called out with her beak outstretched as she flew towards Pikachu. The electric mouse Pokémon let out a thundershock with all the energy he had. Skarmory flew around the streams of electricity as if they were nothing but a bunch of twigs.

"Nice try, mousey! But you're going to have to do a lot better than that!" She taunted. The steel bird Pokémon striked the much smaller Pokémon hard in the side with a peck attack. Pikachu went flying back, bouncing off the hard steel ground.

"Pikachu!" Diglett cried out in worry.

"Oh, be quiet, you!" Skarmory snapped at the small cylinder Pokémon.

She flew over to where Pikachu lay, and landed right in front of the mouse. She stepped over him until Pikachu found himself underneath her. He was about to raise his tail to use tail whip before Skarmory stepped on it, pinning it to the ground.

Pikachu yelped in pain.

"Ha ha! I'm not afraid of a teeny tiny tail wag!" Skarmory scoffed. She gave Pikachu another peck to the face.

Pikachu flinched at the pain. He tried to get up and run out from under Skarmory, but was knocked to the ground. He forgot that Skarmory still had his tail in the grasp of her foot. He tried running in the hopes that his tail would get free, but that only prompted Skarmory to grasp his tail tighter.

"Ah ah ah. No escape, mousey. You brought this fight on yourself." She snickered.

Pikachu used his thundershock, zapping Skarmory until she let go of his tail. She cried in pain as electric volts were sent shooting through her body. Pikachu bolted away from her to attack from a distance. He would go for paralysis next. Of course, it was hard to battle in the dark, so all he could rely on right now was his electric attacks. Especially since one of Skarmory's types was flying.

Skarmory stumbled back, but shook the electric attack off.

"Oh, you'll pay for that one, mousey!" Skarmory flew up in the air, back up to the dark cave ceiling.

Pikachu stopped at a cave wall to catch his breath. He looked around for Skarmory who was nowhere to be seen.

"Diglett, did you see where Skarmory went?" He asked the burrow Pokémon in a huff.

"Yeah, she flew up." Diglett answered shaking.

"Where? I don't see her." Pikachu released some sparks from his cheeks to help him see. The downside was he was too far from the ceiling to illuminate it.

"Look out!" Diglett cried out.

Before Pikachu could heed Diglett's warning, the image of Skarmory spiraling down to him was presented. He didn't even have time to run. He felt two large bird like feet hit his back with such great force. Sure that hurt, but not nearly as much as what followed. Skarmory dug her three claws into Pikachu's back hard. Pikachu let out a loud squeak of pain. That didn't make Skarmory let go. Instead, she took off with Pikachu still clutched onto by her talons. She lifted him off the ground with very little effort. She carried him high above the dark pit and the ledge Diglett was trapped on. Pikachu stared down into the dark abyss and at the horrified look he could make out on Diglett's face. Now Pikachu was faced with three things. The fear of Skarmory dropping him into the void below with who knows what was at the bottom if there even was one or far down it was, the mortified look on young Diglett's face and the thought of how terrified he must be right now, and the pain of Skarmory's sharp talons digging into his fur and skin. Thankfully he didn't think he was bleeding. Though the pain in his back was the least of his three worries right now. One wrong move and he would be dropped onto the pit below.

"Skarmory! Please! Don't hurt this Pikachu! Put him down! Let him go!" Diglett begged in fear.

"Or else you'll what, little mole? Cry, scream, and whine some more?" Skarmory picked on him.

"No! Just please don't hurt him. He didn't do anything to you!"

"And zapping me is doing nothing to me?"

Diglett just shook in terror.

"Besides, I won't hurt him. But whatever's in the dark and scary pit might." Skarmory shoved her talons out further to scare Pikachu. The mouse closed his eyes, bracing himself for whatever Skarmory would do to him next. He was still dangling above the pit.

"Unless you stop wailing that is. I'm sick of hearing your bratty annoying voice."

"I promise." Diglett swore with a meek tone.

"Good."

Skarmory lowered her head so she would speak into Pikachu's ear.

"And if you use thundershock on me right now you know what will happen." Skarmory turned her head to the dark pit she was hovering above with Pikachu in her grasp.

Pikachu realized he was completely trapped. He couldn't attack her or else she would drop him to his doom. And he had a feeling she wasn't bluffing. All he could do was close his eyes and pray for his survival. Pikachu felt pretty sorry for himself now.

"Some hero I turned out to be."

"Growl!" An all too familiar young voice shouted after a few moments of silence and fear.

Pikachu looked to his right to see a small ball of fire flying towards him and Skarmory.

"Woah!" Pikachu cried, closing his eyes again and pulling his ears over his face. His heart raced after he heard Skarmory's shriek of pain above him. He was being shaken around thanks to Skarmory flapping about in the air, squawking out in pain. Man, did she really have a good grip on things. No wonder she was able to get Diglett all the way up here.

"Hey, Pikachu? Is that your other team member?" Diglett asked.

Pikachu looked back to his right once Skarmory had stopped flapping around like a maniac. He let some more sparks out if his cheeks to get a better look at who he knew was standing on the wide ledge. The small figure of Ginji walked closer towards the edge, with an astounded look of excitement on his face.

"I can't believe it. I actually used ember! I meant to use growl but it came out as ember!" the young chick cheered in amazement. "Alright!" He exclaimed while leaping in the air.

"It sure is, kiddo. It sure is." Pikachu confirmed with a smile.

"Oh, look. Another pathetic little Pokémon has come to the rescue. We can't have that happening, now can we?" Skarmory mocked. She took one talon off of Pikachu's back, so that she was only holding onto him by the scruff of his neck with the other one.

"Aaaaahhhhj!" Pikachu wailed.

"Pikachu!" Ginji shouted out of worry for his friend who was now dangling helplessly above the dark pit in front of him by just the scruff of his neck.

"Now let's make sure we all understand each other." Skarmory started with much hostility in her voice. "If anyone attacks me, it's bye bye electric mousey. Kapish?"

Ginji hadn't been prepared for something like this. A battle sure, but nothing like seeing his team mate's life being threatened. This Skarmory must have been affected by the disasters real bad.

"Great. Just when I learned ember too. Now what are we gonna do?" Ginji looked at Pikachu. The electric rodent's eyes met his. Both of them were desperate and were looking into each other's eyes (or at least the faint glints they could make out of the other's eyes) to see if the other one had any brilliant ideas. If Ginji or Pikachu were to attack Skarmory right now, it would mean the end for Pikachu. And even if she did happen to be bluffing, who's to say she wouldn't accidentally drop him while suffering the effects of their attacks? And there is no way Ginji could tease her to go after him without dropping Pikachu first. They really were in a tight spot now. Ginji thought as hard as he could. There had to be a way to trick Skarmory to come closer to the ledge with Pikachu still in her hold.

Was Skarmory bluffing? She wouldn't actually drop him, would she? He remembered Pikachu telling him that she was most likely effected by the natural disasters. Surely being effected by the disasters wouldn't push someone to do something so cruel? Ginji scanned around the dark cave and racked his brain hard. He needed to find something-anything that would help get Pikachu free. Planning a strategy at a time like this was difficult enough, but having to do so in the dark was a nightmare. Looking at the pitch black part in the middle of the cave and seeing the figure of Skarmory flapping above the darks space with a smaller figure held in her talons, an idea was coming to Ganja. How far away were Skarmory and Pikachu from the ledge anyway? How wide was the pit? Maybe he could try attacking Skarmory so that she would flail around again and end up closer to the ledge? That way, if she did drop Pikachu, he might be close enough to land on the ledge. Maybe trying to challenge her own strategy would distract her and then he could perform that step?

"Hey, Skarmory!" Ginji called.

"What is it, chicky?" Skarmory sneered.

"How do you expect to attack us if you're just going to keep on flying there with Pikachu like that?" Ginji questioned.

"What?"

Pikachu squirmed uncomfortably in Skarmory's talon. As painful as it was having three claws dig into his back, it beat being held by the scruff of his neck knowing all it would take for him to fall now was Skarmory letting go of him with just her one talon. He didn't think what Ginji had just challenged her with was the best thing he could have said to challenge her. Skarmory could very well drop him right now and then go after Ginji. She didn't need to bring him back to the ledge to attack. Though the way he saw Ginji's small figure move slowly on the ledge told Pikachu that his teammate had something up his sleeve. He hoped Ginji knew what he was doing

"I mean, you can't keep flapping around in that spot for the rest of the night." Ginji continued.

"No, but if I didn't have mousey here then that would mean less extra weight, now wouldn't it?" Skarmory asked threateningly. She reached he talon out lower to the abyss. Pikachu shut his eyes tight, flinching.

Ginji looked at the figure of his friend with much concern. "Nice one. Brilliant distraction, Ginji." What else could he say to her? He had never felt so useless before.

"I am willing to make a bargain though." Skarmory compromised.

"A bargain?" Ginji asked.

"Yes. Your little sparky friend's life for for Diglett's continued imprisonment."

That was it. Ginji was hit with one of these big decisions. Having to choose between the wellbeing of two people. Or in this case, Pokémon. Naturally, he wanted to choose Pikachu, though knowing the yellow mouse, he would never forgive himself if they weren't able to rescue a client.

"Ginji, don't! There's no way she'll keep her word for either of us!" Pikachu warned him.

"Hush up!" Skarmory demanded, clawing Pikachu across the ear with her free talon.

"Ow!" Pikachu whimpered.

"You better hurry up, boy! These two can't wait forever." He gestured to the higher ledge where Ginji assumed Diglett was on.

Ginji became more panicked. "Ok think. Think. There has to be something you can do. Something you can distract her with. Besides small talk." Ginji thought of his focus energy and the little sparks that jumped through his feathers while the move was in motion.

"This one might be worth a shot."

Ginji used his focus energy move, tensing his body up and letting himself get pumped.

"What on earth are you doing?" Skarmory asked him wretchedly, watching little sparks start to appear over where she could see Ginji's figure standing.

Ginji didn't bother answering. He needed to focus.

"Control. That's the key." He kept telling himself.

He waited for the energy inside him to build up completely. He could feel his feathers start to frizz up and his feet start to itch below him. That was indication that he was ready for his next plan of action.

"Hope Skarmory likes surprises." He smirked to himself.

Part of him wanted to tell Pikachu what he was planning so the mouse could cooperate accordingly, but the part of him with common sense (Pikachu may have joked about that being a miracle) knew he couldn't do that with Skarmory in plain earshot. His only option now was praying that Pikachu would do what he asked when he ordered the attack without question.

He peeked one eye open to look down at his body. The sparks of yellow were now consuming all of his feathers

"Ok. Here goes."

Ginji darted out of the spot he was standing in to and ran to a wall.

"What in the world was that?" Skarmory spewed. "You certainly aren't going to frighten me by running around nonsensical."

"No, but I might drive you insane by doing it."

Ginji proceeded to rush back and forth from one stone wall to the other, his source of light being provided by the yellow sparks crackling through his feather via focus energy. He kept a close eye on Skarmory and Pikachu during this procedure, studying the way Skarmory hovered in the air. He needed to time this just right.

Skarmory slowly flew forward with Pikachu locked tightly in her grasp. She desperately tried to focus on Ginji; forcing her eyes to zip to wherever the chick covered in yellow sparks of light was speeding to at the same pace as him proved to be near impossible. The small fire bird was fast, and his focus energy wasn't necessarily increasing his speed, but it certainly was contributing to boosting his agility. The bright yellow sparks of light weren't helping matters either. Which was odd, because one would think they would have made it easier to focus on the target. But they ended up doing the exact opposite due to how bright they were. The glowing sparks hopping all over and around the body of the target while said target was bolting around a small space each second were enough to a Pokémon a nauseating headache. Every time Skarmory blinked she opened her eyes to find Ginji's location to be somewhere else on the ledge, only for him to end up somewhere else within the next two seconds. She decided to fly in closer to her foe, careful not to loosen her grip on the yellow mouse she held in her claws.

''What on earth are you doing? Stop that! You aren't going to get anywhere with that nonsense!'' Skarmory's frustration was getting worse by the second. Her eyes started to roll around in her skull faster in a feeble attempt to keep her attention on this cocky Torchic boy. Pikachu was faring better than her, but even he was getting dizzy from watching his friend (or at least what he could see of him thanks to the focus energy effects) run around on the ledge. Even Diglett looked like he was about to collapse from dizziness, swirls now forming in his eyes. Skarmory's eyeballs continued to roll back and forth, side to side until her red pupils finally fell into the back of her eye sockets, leaving only the yellow part of here eyeballs visible before swirls formed in them as well as Diglett's.

''Stop it! I command you! Stop this at once! My poor eyes and head! Or else I'll drop the mousey!'' She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, shaking her head in order to refresh her eyesight.

"Now, Pikachu! Use thundershock, and then climb up her back!" Ginji hollered as if right on cue after she threatened to drop Pikachu if he didn't stop driving her nuts.

"What?! Ginji, are you se-"

"Just do it!" Ginji silenced him.

"I hope he knows what he's doing." Pikachu prayed to himself in fear.

The electric rodent Pokémon released a stream of thunder, sending it surging through Skarmory's body. Skarmory screeched in pain. Everyone knew electric attacks were a flying type's worst nightmare. That was mostly the reason she restrained and threatened Pikachu in the first place. She let go of Pikachu upon impact, but the mouse grabbed onto her clawed foot with his tiny hands. He climbed up her leg and then her side, getting a good grip on her outstretched wing. He used it to boost himself up onto her back, clutching onto it.

"Now what?" He asked Ginji, raising his voice to be heard over Skarmory's cry of agony.

"Up her neck and jump off of her head!" Ginji yelled.

"But I don't know if I'm close enough to-"

"Just do it! Quickly! Before she becomes mobile again!"

Pikachu zoomed up the steel bird Pokémon's thick neck until he was perched on the top of her head. He peered from over it to look at the pit below him and the edge of the cliff leading to pit. He tried to determine how close Skarmory was from it. He was a solid jumper, his species being gifted with mouse-like acrobatics, but he was still unsure. One wrong move and he would be cast into the dark pit with a bottom no one could see from up where he was. If it even had a bottom at all.

"Sometime today would be great!" Ginji heckled him.

Pikachu still hesitated. "How do you-"

"Just trust me!"

Pikachu then felt the electricity from his Thundershock cease, mobilizing Skarmory again. She flapped her wings ferociously. Pikachu clung onto her head for dear life.

"Why, you little rat!" Skarmory screamed. Pikachu took a deep breath and launched himself off of her. He unwillingly flipped through the air as he felt himself fall forward. He opened his eyes to see the ledge with Ginji now standing right on the edge only mere inches in front of him. He reached out for it as far as his stubby arm would let hm. He continued to fall farther down until he felt his fingertips brush the stone ledge. He was unable to get a grip on it. He wailed as his fingers slipped right off of it. He braced himself for whatever was to come next.

He then felt a small clawed foot clamp around his wrist.

"Gotcha! It's a good thing both you and our attacks are a bright yellow color. We needed some light in this pitch black room to pull this off."

Pikachu looked up to see the orange-red fluffy face of Ginji illuminated by the focus energy effect in his feathers. Just as familiar as the young voice he'd heard from him.

Pikachu smiled widely at him.

The two friends were brought back to the battle at hand by Skarmory's loud screech as she flew down towards where Pikachu was dangling off the edge of the stone cliff from Ginji's foot. Her steel beak was pointed straight in their direction. She looked as ticked and vicious as ever. Ginji hastily hoisted Pikachu up right before flinging him over his head, causing the mouse to go flying backwards towards the entrance of the dark room. Skarmory crashed head first into ledge where Pikachu was just dangling from with a loud scream. With such force, she had knocked a chunk of stone out of the ledge.

Pikachu bounced off the rock hard floor a couple times before rolling along the floor, being stopped by the stone wall surrounding the entrance.

"Thanks, pal." Pikachu grunted, clutching his scrapped sides.

''Heh, anytime.'' Ginji gaffed, noticing Pikachu's discomfort.

Neither one of them had a chance to plan their next method of attack because Skarmory swooped right towards Ginji with her beak aimed right at him, prepared with a peck attack. She knocked the little chick Pokémon straight off his feet, sending him flying through the air in the same manner he had sent his partner before him. It wasn't the wall that broke his flight though. It was Pikachu. Pikachu let out an oomph when Ginji smacked into him.

"Oh, of course there's a downside to focus energy. The sparks make it easy to let your enemies know where you are in the dark once you stop running around like a maniac." Ginji complained.

"And that focus energy isn't going to last forever." Pikachu reminded him. "Any other plans?"

"Uh…nope. I didn't really think of what to do after my focus energy ran out."

"Doesn't surprise me. Do you ever think about anything?"

"Nope. I just wing it as I go along."

The two couldn't talk about the subject for long because Skarmory flew towards them, hitting the two with a quick attack. The duo bounced across the floor and off the walls opposite to one another.

"Think you can maybe wing it again?" Pikachu hurriedly asked him.

"Not while I'm being thrashed around, no!" Ginji shouted after being flung in the air and pecked repeatedly on his rear by Skarmory.

Diglett trembled in fear at whatever was happening down on the ledge. He couldn't see what was going on now that Ginji's focus energy was losing its effect, but from what he was hearing it didn't sound like his rescuers were in a very good spot at the moment. What made him even more frightened was the fact that there wasn't anything he could do to help. He could only call out a few words of support.

"Hang in there! I know you guys can do it!"

"Thanks. I hope you're right." Pikachu called out to him in response.

After Skarmory had decided she had thrashed Ginji on the behind enough, she flung him to the wall Pikachu was backed against. He landed on his belly with a thud.

"Ginji. It's Pikachu. You ok?" Pikachu gently shook him.

"Totally. After being pecked on the butt twelve times straight and chucked at a stone hard floor face first I am totally ok. Thanks for the help." Ginji groaned sarcastically.

"Sorry. I didn't want to agitate her even more. Besides, I could have zapped you as well if I tried attacking her with an electric move. And I think we can both agree you've had enough of that today." Pikachu tried to defend himself innocently.

"Oh, and a simple tackle wouldn't work for you because it doesn't involve barbequed chicken?"

"I don't have the patience to listen to this nonsense! You're both going to pay!" Skarmory hollered before charging at the two much smaller Pokémon.

Ginji and Pikachu rolled out of the way just before Skarmory smashed into the stone wall behind them. They darted behind her, before she could pick herself up off the floor from the impact. Pikachu took the opportunity to ram her with a quick attack. With the force from the attack, Skarmory stumbled forward, but managed to stay on her feet so that she could turn around and flick Pikachu away from her with her wing. Pikachu tumbled backwards against the floor so that he ended up lying flat on it next to Ginji.

"This bird just won't stay down! I think it's time for ember!" Ginji readied his newly learned fire attack, but felt a harsh tug at his leg.

"This isn't getting us anywhere. There's no way we're going to defeat her by just firing attacks left and right at her. We're gonna wear ourselves out no doubt." Pikachu explained.

"So what are we supposed to do then?"

"We need to think of a way to tire her out before we tire ourselves out." Pikachu told him. The two were speaking loud enough for each other to be heard over Skarmory's cry of rage.

"But how?"

"Dunno. I was hoping something would come to me on the spot."

"Great."

"I DON'T LIKE EITHER ONE OF YOU TWO ONE BIT! AND YOU'RE BOTH GONNA REGRET EVER COMING HERE!" Skarmory yelled before flying towards them again. Once again, she collided with the stone wall.

Pikachu and Ginji stood on either side of the space she had flown across. Their eyes had more or less adjusted in the dark lair to the point where they could make out each other's figures from afar. They exchanged looks from Skarmory to each other. It was funny, looking at Skamory's form and hearing her scream in fury before smashing into a stone surface after the duo were out of her way was actually fazing her.

That's when a huge wave of realization washed over Ginji. "Of course!"

"Pikachu, I have an idea." He called to his partner while Skarmory was picking herself up.

He could make out the form of Pikachu (that was not too hard to make out from where he stood thanks to the mouse's bright yellow fur) heading towards him speedily.

"Great. Lay it on me."

Ginji whispered into Pikachu's long ear in order to avoid Skarmory overhearing them. Pikachu nodded here and there during Ginji's explanation. It was a pretty simple plan, and it was what they had been doing thus far.

"Not bad. I have a good feeling it'll work."

"Why the heck didn't I think of this before?" Ginji wondered aloud to his teammate.

"Because you don't think about anything."

Ginji just gave Pikachu a look that told him he didn't expect any more or less of a response than that.

"Hey, Skarmory! Over here!" Ginji taunted. Skarmory turned to the direction she heard Ginji's voice coming from. Ginji ran out of the way moments before Skarmory flew to where he had been previously standing, letting Skarmory skid her beak along the floor before flying smack dab into another stone wall.

Pikachu started up a spark of electricity in his cheeks. He figured having another bright source of light while playing 'run around, tease, and avoid Skarmory while making her crash into stone walls' akin to Ginji's focus energy sparks would irritate her eyes.

"Hey, Skarmory over here. Follow the light from my red dots." Pikachu chanted, before running on all fours away from where she had banged into the wall behind Ginji. Skarmory got up and flew after him. He kept the electricity from his cheek pouches going, providing him with a light to see beneath his feet. He was ever so thankful because he saw the end of the ledge and the dark pit just next to him. He rebounded there, making Skarmory do the same while she was over the pit. Pikachu head for the stone wall up in front of him, before turning away from it mere inches away from hitting it, causing Skarmory to not be so lucky and get another bash on the forehead.

"Hey, birdie! Come and get me!" Ginji teased.

Smash!

"Na na na na na."

Bang!

"That the best you can do? C'mon. A Pidgey could do more damage than you."

Crash!

"Hey, Pikachu. I just thought of something. What if we accidentally fall off the ledge ad into the pit?"

"Didn't thing about that before? Kind of odd you're the one to think of it now."

"Yeah, weird. Don't know why I just thought of this now. So what happens then?"

"You know what? It's probably best if we go back to not thinking about it after all."

"Works for me."

Wham!

"You can't hit me! You can't hit me!"

Blam!

The cycle repeated for a solid few minutes and by then Skarmory had managed to take out even more chunks of stone from her collisions. She was now closer to the pit again, standing in the same area she had flown in when Pikachu had arrived on his own. She had multiple bruises on her body now.

"You ready to call this match a tie and release Diglett now?" Pikachu asked her.

"Never!" She shouted defiantly.

"You're right, Ginji. She won't be defeated so easily."

Ginji thought for a second. Having learned ember, having an electric type for a partner, and Skarmory being a steel-flying duel type, he figured now would be the perfect time to experiment a bit.

"I think it's time we tried our first fire electric combo attack." Ginji suggested to Pikachu.

"You mean attack her together?"

"Yes, Pikachu. That's what a combo attack is." Ginji sighed. He only did so briefly before going back into his confident posture. "Fire and electric epic-ness."

"I'm all for that, Ginj. There's just one thing I need to tell you before we do this."

"What?"

"Next time think of a slightly better name for it than fire electric epic-ness."

"Whatever."

Pikachu got on his fours and prepared to release a stream of electricity from his body, while Ginji puffed out his chest and flared his feathers, ready to launch an ember.

"I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU TWO! PREPARE FOR DEFEAT!" Skarmory flew at them with her claws and beak aimed at her targets, getting ready for a peck and scratch double attack.

"Thundershock!" Pikachu called out, shooting a wave of electricity directly at her.

"Ember!" Ginji called out shortly after, opening his mouth and letting multiple balls of fire escape and shoot at the steel bird.

Skarmory was hit with a huge jolt of electricity as well as a sharp burning sensation thanks to Ginji's ember. She fell to the floor in pain, overtaken by the intensity of being electrocuted and burnt at the same time.

Diglett shut one eye, and left the other one half open. The fire and lightning brightened up the cave a large amount. Or at least where Pikachu and Ginji were attacking Skarmory so Diglett could see what was going on easier. It was more Skarmory's ear-piercing screech that was scaring Diglett than the combo attack and even the situation itself. This attack must be doing a great deal ff damage, and Diglett could only imagine how much that would have to hurt a steel flying duel type like Skarmory.

Pikachu and Ginjj continued the attack until the two were out of energy. And it took a lot out of them to nail the combo, and the fact that they had just been running about to tire Skarmory out didn't help. As soon as their attacks had stopped, Skarmory started panting heavily. Pikachu and Ginji did so as well, having been drained out from that attack.

Skarmory struggled to get up, only to have her feet collapse underneath her. She tried lifting her head up, but it fell back down to the floor immediately. She groaned before swirls formed in her eyes. Team Heroes had won this battle.

"Sweet!" Ginji cheered.

Pikachu had a different reaction as he was scurrying over to the fainted Skarmory. He gently shook her.

"Hey. Are you ok?"

There was genuine concern in his voice. This shocked Ginji. He had seen Pikachu show concern over foes earlier, but this was the same Pokémon who had threatened to drop him very possibly to his death.

Pikachu continued to shake Skarmory. His eyes started to grow weary as she still hadn't responded. To be fair, that combo attack looked like it had done a great deal of damage on her.

There was finally a heavy breath from her. She rose to her feet, stretching her wings out and letting out another screech.

"Yikes!" Pikachu jumped up and ran back to Ginji, startled by her sudden movement.

"You want even more of a beat down?" Ginji challenged.

"Beatdown? What on earth are you talking about?" Skarmory asked in confusion. There was something much different about her voice. She had spoken calmly in contrast to her screechy loud tone she had used while battling the two.

"What do you mean, what am I talking about? You just battled us and we won! That means you have to release Diglett now!" Ginji continued.

"Diglett? Battle? I don't remember any of that." She looked around the dark cave. "Come to think of it, where am I? Why is it so dark in here?"

"Were at the top of Mt. Steel. In a dark cave in the mountain. You snatched me away and brought me here. I can't see very well but the two Pokémon down there with you beat you in battle, so will you let me go now?" Diglett squeaked from the high ledge he was isolated on. He sounded like he was still quite scared of being near her, but confused as to why she was acting like nothing had happened all of a sudden.

"I did? And I just battled? Strange, I can't seem to remember any of that happening."

"Don't play dumb with us! We-"Ginji started, but Pikachu swept his tail over his smaller friend's beak.

"Hold on, Ginji. I don't think she's playing dumb. It looks like she really can't remember what happened." He turned to the large figure of Skarmory in front of him. "You really don't remember kidnapping Diglett and battling us?" He asked her to clear things up.

"I'm afraid not. Just what happened? I remember being perched on a mountain peak, minding my own business. Then I heard another one of those irritating rumbles from the quakes that have been happening. Next thing I know, I'm here in this pitch black cave. Can someone please explain to me what is going on?"

"Basically, you took Diglett and brought him here as your prisoner, and when I got here you held Pikachu up over that dark pit behind you and threatened to-"Pikachu clamped a hand over Ginji's beak this time rather than his tail which the chick had easily spat away.

"She doesn't need to know all the details." Pikachu told him in a hushed voice. "Don't worry about a thing. Nothing serious happened."

"Alright. I suppose that's a relief. Well then, anyone know where I can find an exit?"

"Sure. There's a dark opening right ahead of you. Go through there, and you'll find a short tunnel. Just follow it and you'll be back outside. There's only one path in it, so you won't need to worry about getting lost or stuck. It'll probably be dark out by now though." Pikachu informed her.

"Thank you. I'm off. The rest of you are free to go as well." With that, she stalked past Pikachu and Ginji, heading through the cave entrance. Once the two could no longer see her figure anymore, they heard her mutter to herself;

"My, how embarrassing."

There was a short pause before Ginji spoke up

"She threatened your life and your just gonna let her walk away like it was no big deal?!" Ginji asked in annoyance.

"Maybe she did threaten my life, but she didn't end up carrying out the threat, did she? Besides, it wasn't like she knew what she was doing."

"Yeah, but she would have if it weren't for me! Couldn't you have at least made her apologize for terrorizing us?"

"Look, I'm not the type to hold grudges. We came to rescue Diglett anyway, and that's just what we managed to do."

"I think you're too soft." Ginj puffed.

"What's the point of dwelling on everything anyway? The important thing is we completed the mission successfully. Even if there were some challenges here and there." Pikachu optimized.

"Guys! Do you think we could leave soon? I kind of don't want to be here anymore." Diglett called down to them, overhearing their banter.

"Oh, right. Sorry Diglett." Pikachu rubbed the back of his head. "Guess we were too caught up in that talk."

Ginji and he edged toward the high ledge until they were standing right over the abyss that separated it from the lower one with much more space.

"How about you come down from there now?"

"But how am I going to get down there?" Diglett asked, shaking as he peered over the edge of the cliff he was on.

"That's actually a good question." Pikachu laughed nervously while looking at the dark space between the two ledges after having the realization that he had just asked a very dumb and impossible thing out of Diglett.

Ginji just rolled his eyes. "Well that's just great. Now what do we do?" He spat.

"BZBZBZBZ!" An electronic voice buzzed. Or rather, two of them. As luck would have it, the two Magnemite that Ginji and Pikachu had saved in Thunderwave Cave came hovering up from the pit. Their U magnets were sparking with electricity so they could be seen clearer (or so they themselves could see where they were going).

"WE RECEIVED WORD OF THIS FROM DUGTRIO. HE WAS GROWING WORRIED. I HOPE WE,RE NOT TOO LATE. BZZZ." The one Magnemite said.

Pikachu and Ginji looked at each other.

"Nope. You're actually timed really conveniently." Pikachu told them.

"Couldn't have cut in any closer." Ginji agreed.

"GREAT. WE CAN GET DIGLETT DOWN FROM THERE. BZZZ." The other Magnemite exclaimed.

"Thanks!" Pikachu cheered.

The two magnet Pokémon floated up to the cliff Diglett was on. They stopped in midair once they were face to face with him.

"HOLD ON TO US TIGHTLY NOW. BZZZ." The first Magnemite said.

Diglett flinched after getting a good look at the sparks coming from the U magnets.

"DON'T WORRY. WE WON'T USE OUR ELECTRICITY WHEN WE'RE BRINGING YOU DOWN. AND WE WON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ZAPPING YOU ."

"Ok." Diglett replied. He squirmed a bit as the Magnemite latched their now regular U magnets onto his brown cylinder shaped body.

Frankly, Ginji didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed that the Magnemite had turned off their electricity as they carried Diglett down to the ledge he and Pikachu were standing on so that he couldn't make out what the bottom half of Diglett looked like.

---

"Thank you so so much for saving me, team Heroes. I've never been up that high before. I thought my heart was going to explode. And my feet still feel like they're walking on air." Diglett thanked the team, now safe and sound back at their base with the two Magnemite. Everyone grew puzzled when Diglett had used the word feet.

"Feet? Does he even have them?" Ginji whispered to Pikachu.

"Who knows? I didn't get a good look when the Magnemite brought him down." Pikachu shrugged.

They didn't dwell on the question for too long though. Maybe it was for the best. Ginji figured there were a lot of things about Pokémon that would just never be answered.

"Well, you're safe now, kiddo. That's all that matters." Pikachu said, appearing to take the Magnemite's minds off of it as well.

"Right. Thank you very much." Diglett thanked them for a second time. He then searched around the base with his eyes. "But, where's my papa?"

"I don't know. Honestly, I thought he'd be waiting here." Pikachu begin to search around as well.

"We're underneath you." Three identical voices bellowed together.

Pikachu and Ginji both jumped up in surprise at the voices.

"Papa!" Diglett squeaked in delight.

It took a second for the mouse and chick Pokémon to become steady again, but Ginji spoke up once they had.

"That's great and all. I mean, I love having mini-heart attacks but do you think you could show yourselves?" Ginji gawked at the three singular cylinder Pokémon.

"Oh, of course. How rude of us."

There was a bit of shuffling heard underneath everyone's feet (or at least Pikachu and Ginji's as they were the only two who happened to have visible feet) before Dugtrio popped out from underneath the ground.

"There you are!" Diglett cried.

"Diglett! You had us very worried. You're not hurt are you?" Dugtrio went up to hug their son before checking him over for any possible injuries.

"Nope!" Diglett answered. "It was scary but I'm alright. Thanks to team Heroes.'

Dugtrio turned to the two members. "Thank you so much. We're so glad we could trust you two to recue our son. I see why you're called team Heroes. You truly are heroes."

Pikachu blushed at this comment. He put his hands behind his back and scuffed his foot along the dirt. "Thanks, but you really should be thanking the Magnemite. If it weren't for them, I don't think we could of gotten Diglett back here."

"Oh, how rude of us." Dugtrio seemed to love calling themselves rude. They turned to the two Magnemite floating above them. "Thank you."

"PLEASE. IT WAS THE ONLY THING TO DO. BZZ. OUR EVOLVED FORM IS A JOINED TRIO, SO WE FEEL A CERTAIN KINSHIP TO THOSE WE BEFRIEND. AFTER ALL, POKÉMON MUST HELP EACH OTHER. BZZZ." The first Magnemite explained.

"Is that so? Sincerely, thank you all." Dugtrio addressed all of them.

"I'm telling you, it was nothing. Just what rescue teams do." Pikachu flustered.

"Well, then. We must be going. We need to prepare to head back home tonight. We leave tomorrow." Dugtrio said.

"So I guess we won't be seeing you or Diglett for a while then, huh?" Pikachu asked sadly.

"I guess not." Diglett's voice was sad as well. "It was nice meeting you guys though."

"Oh! Before we forget, here are a couple items as a token of our appreciation." Dugtrio burrowed back underground, and shuffled around for a few moments before reappearing with a pink scarf with polka dots on it around the neck of the first cylinder, and a pink berry in the mouth of another one. They flung the scarf off and gently placed the berry on the ground.

"That's a pecha berry, but what's this thing?" Ginji asked, examining the scarf with his foot.

"You don't know? That's a pecha scarf. It'll protect you against poison type attacks if you wear it. I thought everybody knew that." Diglett explained.

Ginji wasn't in the mood to say something in his defense. He knew he probably shouldn't have opened his mouth to ask what it was in the first place.

"Great. Thank you so much." Pikachu picked up the two items and went to get the toolbox. He opened it up and placed them inside before running back to the cylinder Pokémon.

"We'll have some time to be in the square tomorrow. We might see you there." Diglett told Pikachu.

"That's good. If we don't see you again before you leave, both of you have a safe trip home." Pikachu wished them.

"Thanks. I really hope we see you guys again someday."

"I'm sure you will." Pikachu smiled at the young mole Pokémon.

"We best be off now. We don't know how we can thank you all enough." Dugtrio said. No one else had any time to respond because they were back underground in a heartbeat with Diglett following after them. The two Magnemite and team Heroes listened to them burrow away until they were far enough away to no longer be heard.

The Magnemite looked at Pikachu and Ginji.

"WE'LL BE ON OUR WAY TOO." The first Magnemite told them.

"Ok then. Again, thank you so much for the help today, Magnemite. We couldn't have done it without you guys." Pikachu said.

"BZZZ. WE DID SAY IT WAS THE ONLY THING WE COULD DO. BZZZ."

The two magnets drifted off in the direction of the square. Soon it was only the two members of team Heroes standing in front of the base.

"What a day that was." Pikachu broke the silence.

"Yep. Couldn't have gone any better. Well, maybe there were a couple things that could have gone better." Ginji thought.

"That little fight we had?" Pikachu guessed.

"Yeah."

"Ginji, I'm really sorry for-"

"Forget it. It's cool."

There was another bit of silence before Pikachu decided to bring up something else.

"I've actually been wondering about the way Skarmory acted after we beat her. She couldn't remember anything about kidnapping Diglett and battling us at all."

"What's your point?"

"You can't remember anything about your life before waking up in Tiny Woods. Except Skarmory's memory loss was different. She knew who she was, she just didn't remember what happened between sitting on a mountain peak and getting up in that cave. Like she was in a trance or something while she was being aggressive. And she might not be the only Pokémon to have that happen to them. Remember how I said all these Pokémon were being effected by the natural disasters? Well I think there's actually more to it than that. All this news about Pokémon suddenly going berserk for no reason-that's got to be what happened to Skarmory. And her behaving feral might answer the question as to why other Pokémon are behaving that way as well. While they're behaving that way, they probably don't know what they're doing. Like something else is controlling them."

"Ok. That's a great analysis, but what's that got to do with my memory loss you mentioned at the beginning of your sentence?"

"Ginji, don't you get what I'm trying to say? The Pokémon living in these dungeons turning savage without reason is obviously tied to the natural disasters happening."

"Sorry. I'm new to this."

"And it seems they can't remember being savage whenever they become themselves again. If others even have." Pikachu went on, ignoring Ginji's comment.

"And?"

"Call me crazy but I'm thinking your memory loss is somehow related to all this. I don't think it was just a coincidence that I found you in Tiny Woods without any memory aside from your name."

"You're crazy."

"C'mon, you at least get where I'm coming from don't you?"

"I guess I do, but laying all this on me right now? I think you're over analyzing this too much. Me, on the other hand? I'm just gonna go ahead and say Skarmory was bumped on the head. Or simply effected by the disasters one way or another. Like you said."

"Maybe. Guess these disasters have been making me think too much."

"I just find it weird that smashing face first into stone walls over and over and then being burnt and electrocuted at the same time turned her back to her old self. How can Pokémon even stand something like that?"

"I've been wondering that for a long time. It sure is nice being a Pokémon. As for the smashing into stone walls, I don't think that's anything for a steel type Pokémon. After all, they have real sturdy bodies."

"Lucky them. It's still weird though. Usually smashing your head into walls like that would cause concussions, possibly brain damage, and probably even more memory loss. Yet it turned her sane again. Must be a good method for Pokémon when they've gone nuts."

"So we should smash you into rocks and walls then?" Pikachu snickered.

Pikachu was met with an irritated glare.

"C'mon, Ginj. You know I was just kidding."

"Yeah, I know." Ginji still held the look.

"You know Ginji. You were great today. The way you came up with that plan to defeat Skarmory, and saved me from falling down to who knows where. When you said you just wing your plans, did you really mean that?"

"Yep. I just trust my gut feeling."

"You don't strategize at all?"

"Nope. You said if yourself. I don't think. What's the point in it anyway? Thinking is boring. I just roll with what the voice in my head tells me. And usually it tells me to just go for it."

"Even if what it's telling you to do is dangerous?"

"Even if. Like when Skarmory had you hanging above that pit. I knew what I was telling you to do could be dangerous, and I didn't know for sure that either one of us was going to make it through alive. But I listened to that voice and went for it."

"Well, that's not always a bad thing. I mean, look where trusting your gut rather than thinking rationally and logically got us today. I will admit I'm guilty of that most of the time as well."

"Yeah. Kind of figured. I don't think either one of us thought about the outcomes of that tire Skarmory out plan. We could have easily flipped of the edge of the cliff we were on. We only stopped to think about it once and decided it was better not to."

"Yep. 'Just go for it' alright."

The two of them laughed a bit until Pikachu asked Ginji something he needed confirmed.

"So, I take it this means you're still gonna be in this rescue team with me?"

Ginji looked as if he was thinking the decision over. Or at least pretending to.

"You know, being part of a rescue team was never exactly my lifelong dream. In fact, just a week ago before I woke up in Tiny Woods I had no idea what a rescue team even was. I know I said that being on one isn't going to help me remember anything about myself faster, but it's not like quitting the team is gonna help my remember anything about myself faster either. So sure, why not?" He answered.

A big smile spread across Pikachu's face and his ears rose straight up. "Alright!"

"And you're still going to help me get my memory back?" Ginji asked, just to be sure Pikachu would keep his word on that.

"Of course. I said that I would when we first formed the team. I crossed my heart. And once I make a promise like that, I never break it. You formed this team with me, so I owe you. Plus, we're a team, aren't we?"

Ginji stopped to look Pikachu in the eyes for a brief moment. The mouse had said the same thing on Mt. Steel and received no response from Ginji. Half of the reason was due to their short falling out while the other half was due to Ginji not knowing how to respond at the time. Now on the other hand, whether he liked it or not, he did have to admit the obvious truth. They were stuck with one another for however long it took for Ginji to discover who he was.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess we are."