Silver and Gold

After Celebi unfroze time, I decided to rest on an ostentatious hot pink beach towel that Lyra brought while Lyra herself decided to continue swimming. After nearly drowning, I decided it was best to stay out of the water. Lyra, on the other hand, was unintentionally splashing a glowering Tentacool with her undisciplined, even wild, style of swimming. The girl is undoubtedly one of the most wayward people that I have ever met. However she is completely unpretentious which makes her idiosyncrasies funny and in some ways cute.

Wait did I just call Lyra cute? I must be losing my mind. The word I was looking for was annoying. This whole "being turned into a Pichu thing" has left me discombobulated.

To be honest, a part of me was angry, a part of me was frustrated and a part of me was confused. I understood the angry and frustrated parts; they were easy. Obviously, I was angry because I had been changed into a diminutive yellow mouse against my will by a snarky pixie and I was frustrated because there was no palpable way to change back. The third part, my overarching feelings of confusion about the situation, the last piece of the puzzle so to speak, was the feeling that I couldn't explain away.

I want to believe that Celebi is a jerk, or at the very least incredibly officious, and I guess it is quite possible that she is all of those things. However, a part of me wondered why Celebi decided to focus so much of her energy on me. I imagine there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who travel through Ilex Forest daily, and I am quite uncertain about why Celebi decided to reveal herself to me. Even more uncanny was the fact that she acted like knew me before we met. Moreover, she seemed to have an intense, almost singular, focus on my relationship with Lyra. It was almost like she had been debriefed about the situation beforehand and had been unleashed to torment me about that single issue.

Maybe I am being paranoid.

However, for some reason, the idea just won't leave me alone. But the problem is I cannot imagine anyone who would want, or for that matter would have the capacity, to do such a thing. For one thing, I could instantly rule out Lyra. She was much too silly and naïve to pull off such a ridiculous stunt. The only other person that would have the motivation to play this type of prank on me would be Gold.

And then all of a sudden I remembered a conversation I had with the puckish boy a few months ago.

"Why are things like this," Gold remarked sullenly.

"Like what," I responded. "I trounced you in a Pokémon battle like I do every time. Are you asking why I am such a great trainer or why you are such a weak one?"

"So you got lucky. You know it wouldn't hurt to develop some personality."

"If by personality you mean being loud and obnoxious like you then I'll think I'll pass."

"Look, you are too uptight," Gold responded while dismissively waving his in my general direction. "In my humble opinion you need a girlfriend and I have just the girl."

"Girlfriends are for the weak. The last thing I need some an anchor dragging me down and impeding my dream of becoming a Pokémon master."

"This girl happens to be a better trainer than you and as a matter of fact she has beaten you several times," Gold smirked. "If anything you will be holding her back."

"I don't lose Gold. As a matter of fact, the only person I can remember losing to is that pesky girl with the stupid hat and that is because she gets incredibly lucky when we battle. Wait… you aren't talking about me hooking up with that marshmallow head are you?"

"Yeah," Gold responded. "And I've told you a thousand times that her name is Lyra, not marshmallow head. She has the biggest crush on you and I'm sure that you would like her if you gave her a chance. Plus it's not like you are beating other girls off with a stick. Girls find it unattractive when a guy has a permanent scowl etched on his face you know."

"First off, smiling is for the weak. Secondly, Lyra is the most annoying and clumsy girl on the planet. Last time we battled she tripped over a Geodude and fell right on top of me."

"Oh yeah," Gold said in an almost pensive tone that was unusual for him. She told me about that."

"When were you talking to marshmallow head? I mean Lyra."

"I told you a thousand times Mr. Never Listens- we lived next to each other for TEN years. We are like best friends."

"I guess you may have mentioned something about that. Still, excuse me for not memorizing every detail about marshmallow head's life."

Gold grinned in a way that made him appeared to be up to something sinister. "You two are the quirkiest people that I know. You would be the perfect couple."

"How dare you put me in the same category as her? We are nothing alike."

"But that's where you wrong," Gold responded with an impish grin. You both are stubborn, especially when it comes to your value systems, and as a result I could imagine you guys fighting all the time as a couple. She would say Jigglypuff is cuter than Pikachu and you guys would argue about it because you both have to be right about those types of things."

"Oh yeah; because having silly arguments is the foundation for a great relationship."

"Maybe not," Gold countered, "but it's not how most couples operate. You see most couples fight over down-to-earth things like where they are going to eat, why a seemingly superfluous clothing purchase was made, or perhaps why the Goldenrod gym leader left her clothes at my house."

"Wait, why were Whitney clothes at your house? What did Crystal say about this?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Gold sulked. "It was just an innocent pool party. These days all of my disposable income is dedicated toward getting Crystal back. I can't even afford a can of lemonade these days. I have to buy fresh water and it's closer to repulsive than fresh."

"Fresh water isn't that bad," I responded, to which Gold gave an inimical, even disgusted, look. Personally, I liked the stuff better than soda pop and lemonade.

"Crystal doesn't like to argue, Gold continued. "When we do have a disagreement it usually turns into a big deal. However, you and Lyra would argue about everything. I can already tell by your dogmatic personalities. It that's type of candor that prevents big blowups before they happen."

"You are outrageous. I mean completely outrageous. Where do you get these theories?"

"I read it in a dating magazine. Besides, Lyra is pretty cute. I wouldn't mind inspecting those melons, if you know what I mean."

"I hope you know you are incorrigible. Besides, if you like Lyra so much why don't you ask her out Mr. Melon Inspector?"

Gold look slightly offended. "There is nothing wrong with being a connoisseur of the female body. Lyra's cute and all but I told you that I have my eyes on Crystal."

"Whatever, I am not going out with marshmallow head because you read something in woman's magazine at the grocery store checkout aisle. That girl is the second most annoying person on the planet; behind you of course. If I had her as my girlfriend and you as my friend then I would probably be banging my head against the wall every day."

"You'll be banging something," Gold chuckled in a somewhat tawdry voice. And it won't be the wall."

"Is sex all you ever think about?"

"No. Well, maybe. Gold responded in a tentative voice. "Anyway, I know you like Lyra so there's no use denying it. You should let your natural feelings come out instead of repressing them."

"I don't like her dude!"

"You haven't spent enough time with her," Gold said. "Once that changes, you might be surprised".

"Well I'm sorry to inform you that won't be changing."

"We'll see," he chuckled. And with that ominous reply he walked away.

That flashback left me with one, possibly two, takeaways. The first, of course, is that Gold is an indubitable pervert and unfortunately he might be rubbing off on me. Secondly, and perhaps more urgent, is the fact that Gold might be responsible, in one way or another, for turning me into a tiny yellow mouse. It was a tenuous lead at best but at least it gave me a general sense of direction.

By this time, Tentacool was spraying a retreating Lyra in the back with water gun. The girl was swimming toward land at a frantic pace and making a sound that I believed was a fusion between an imperative for Tentacool to stop and girly squeals. When Lyra got out the water, she made a beeline for me.

"Tentacool is being mean to me. Go over there and defend my honor. Make Tentacool apologize, she giggled."

I wanted to mention that she was the one who launched a preemptive, albeit unintentional, strike against a wild Pokémon so it wasn't unreasonable to expect some form of retaliation. I also wanted to tell her that, even if I did manage to get an apology, she wouldn't be able to understand it. More importantly I wanted to mention that there was no way I was going to negotiate with an irritated and poisonous jellyfish.

Unfortunately, there was no way to articulate this.

So I decided to ignore Lyra but ignoring Lyra was kind of like ignoring a debt collector. She would just keep bothering me until she got a response that she was satisfied with. However, Lyra became impetuous, grabbed me, and carried to water's edge where the irritated Tentacool was swimming.

"Call him over here," Lyra instructed. "I don't want you going in the water after what happened earlier.

"Hey Tentacool," I yelled. "We need to have a talk."

Almost without hesitation, the Pokémon swam over to the water's edge. I couldn't tell if was glowering or smiling but my intuition led me to believe that it was most likely the former. Not to mention, that he was a lot bigger than I thought he was; although that could have something to do with the fact a part of me still thought I was Silver and my depth perception was out of alignment.

"We need to talk about what happened earlier," I said in the most friendly, yet firm, tone I could muster.

"What is it mate?" Tentacool said.

"I know this is going to sound weird but can you pretend to apologize to that girl. I know she can't understand it but you can say something random if you feel so inclined. It's not like she can understand it anyway."

"What's all this then mate? She was splashing me you know."

"Yeah I know she was being silly. But can you just apologize?"

"Oh I get it," Tentacool said. "You are trying to impress her by forcing me to make an apology. I mean she is pretty cute. But you know that you are a Pichu and she is a human girl. I'm sorry to tell you that type of behavior is frowned upon around these parts."

"I am a human," I vigorously protested. "For your information I was changed into a Pichu by a Celebi who thinks that I like Lyra. Furthermore, she carried me over here; I am not doing this out of a sense of chivalry or anything like that.

"Who's Lyra?"

"She is the girl who was splashing you."

"So let me get this straight", Tentacool said in a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. "Celebi, a legendary Pokémon, the defender of the forest, changed you in a tiny mouse Pokémon to help you with you love life."

"Yeah that's right."

"How long did it take you to think of that story?"

"I know it sounds crazy but it's true."

"Why don't you find yourself a nice Pichu girlfriend or maybe a Clefa?"

"I am human that was turned into a Pokémon by an officious Celebi. How many times do I have to tell you that before it registers?"

Then Tentacool stopped responding to me and started trying to make a rap song around the words perverted Pichu.

"About sex don't let him teach you. His name is perverted Pichu."

I was livid, to say the least, so I decided to unleash my thundershock attack on the bothersome Jellyfish. He groaned in pain, scowled at Lyra and me, and muttered a few swear words before swimming back to the ocean.

"You were great Pichu." Lyra insisted. "Tentacool even decided to apologize before he swam back to the ocean."

I didn't want to tell her what he really said and I don't think it was possible anyway. So, I just nodded my head and Lyra, who is the empress of random, abruptly picked me up and started loudly singing pop songs, as we walked back to the hotel.

On the way back I thought about many things, chiefly Gold and his possible connection to Celebi. Perhaps he owned Celebi and unleashed the meddling Pixie on me in order to torment me. On the other hand, it was difficult for anyone to get their hands on a legendary Pokémon, especially someone as flighty and undisciplined as Gold. I was so enthralled with this problem that I didn't even mind when Lyra climbed in the big bed after me. Before, I had been hesitant to sleep in the same bed as her but, as you know, I was a Pichu and it didn't really bother me anymore. Besides it's not like she was touching me or anything.

I woke up early in the morning, perhaps around 6:00, and I felt something drastic had changed. Indeed, I was no longer a Pichu and I had changed back to my human body. I was ecstatic until I remembered the sleeping Lyra next to me.

This would be hard to explain.

So Silver is in somewhat of an awkward position. Will he able to escape undetected or will Lyra notice him? Silver better be extra quiet because this author says there is an Officer Jenny patrolling the halls and she isn't shy about making arrests. Also we will officially meet Gold next chapter.

Stay tuned until next time. Reviews are always appreciated.

By the way, this story has one, maybe two, chapters left. I have some ideas for a new story but it's always good to hear different ideas. If anyone has any suggestions, especially but not exclusively with shippings that I have listed on my profile, then please PM me. Also if anyone has suggestions for me to improve my stories then I would love to hear it. I always want to find ways to improve my writing.