Wow, this chapter took a while. On the upside I finally have a full outline written out, so hopefully there won't be quite so many rewrites and scrapping in the future, which will make it faster. That's the theory, anyways.
So sorry to everyone for the long wait, but there's the first bits of romance in this chappie, as demanded. This one's mostly about character development, but it's important to the overall flow, so action!fans, bear with me. Please let me know if you sense anyone getting OC…I'm quite paranoid about that.
Hope it satisfies.
"words": pokemon speak
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A Different Kind of Soulmate
Chapter 7: Lessons
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"Chu…"
The whining of the small yellow mouse was accompanied by a rhythmic poking at the large mass of blankets upon which it was perched. The mass was not moving.
"Chuuuu…."
The blankets twitched a bit, and a strange garbled sound was emitted.
"Piichuuuu…"
A hand emerged from the mass and swatted vaguely at the mouse. It missed entirely.
"Piiichuuuu…"
A louder garbled sound was emitted, and the blanket mass shifted significantly. The mouse seemed encouraged.
"Piiiikachuuuu…"
The hand took another swipe, missed, and the mass gave a loud groan. The top blanket was pulled back and a pair of squinty black eyes was revealed. The mouse chirped happily at its success.
"Pikachu," Ash groaned irritably. "What time is…" He trailed off as he glanced out of the window and was confronted by complete darkness. He dropped his face into his hands and rubbed at his eyes, as if to assure himself that he was indeed as tired as he thought he was. "We're going to become nocturnal," came the slightly muffled comment.
"Pika," Pikachu agreed cheerfully. Ash glared at her, and she hopped wisely off the bed.
"Why aren't you tired?" Ash questioned as he blinked hard, slowly becoming fully awake.
"Pika pikachu," Pikachu answered brightly. This only earned her another glare.
"Yeah right, more robust my…" Ash blinked in realization. "We can't really do anything in the middle of the night," he pointed out. "I might as well go back to sleep…"
"Pikapiiii!" the pokemon protested. Ash sighed.
"That doesn't mean you have to go back to sleep, you know," he suggested. "Although you should make sure you have enough energy for tomorrow."
"Pi pikachupi…" she complained.
"Go outside then, if it's so boring in here. But I need more sleep if we want to get anything done tomorrow."
"Pika! Pipika chu, pik kach."
"A plan? Now?" Ash squinted at his best friend in disbelief.
"Pikachu pi pika kachu ka," she explained. Ash reluctantly agreed that they would waste time tomorrow if they went ahead without a plan.
"You have one then, I'm assuming?" Pikachu shook her head and Ash gave her a flat look. "Fine then, we'll think. We'll stay awake, and we'll think." Ash punctuated this by flopping back onto the bed, out of sight of Pikachu. The pokemon's silence seemed to mean agreement, and silence in the room went uninterrupted for quite a while.
Ash gazed out the window, fighting sleep but allowing free reign to any random thoughts or memories that floated through his mind. He wasn't too great at planning things ahead, and he knew it, but he would at least make an effort. It was likely Pikachu would come up with something better, anyways.
Suddenly an almost-forgotten memory popped into his head, and Ash latched onto it immediately. As he remembered more and more of the strange memory a plan started to build up around it. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He cleared his throat, and immediately gained Pikachu's attention.
"I remember Gary telling me about an experiment he did a while ago," Ash began, and Pikachu tilted her head in confusion. "He wanted to know the effects of a new plant or something on the forest, but he couldn't experiment with the forest itself because it might be a bad effect, and he didn't want the whole forest to suffer. So he took a small sample of plants and soil and stuff and made a mini-forest inside the lab. Then he added the new plant to that. The mini-forest was much easier to observe than the entire forest, and because of his findings he was eventually able to add the plant to the real forest without any bad effects.
"I think this is pretty much the same. This whole problem is too big to tackle as a whole, so we need to create our own mini-forest. Then we can figure out the best way to do it on a larger scale, so that any mistakes we make won't be that horrible. And once we're satisfied with the mini-forest, then we can do the same with the real one."
"Pika…" Pikachu breathed, beginning to understand.
"We need to start out small. If we choose a small, out-of-the-way town we can control it, and if we mess up we can keep it quiet. And if it's a success, then we'll simply spread to more and more little towns and then to larger towns and cities. Eventually we'll sweep through the whole world – and as long as we know what we're doing and keep it under control, we'll be okay. And we'll be able to save as many people – and pokemon – as possible.
"We'll lead the revolt."
"Pika?" Pikachu blinked at him in surprise, and Ash nodded.
"We know that the pokemon will come out on top. So for us to be able to control and survive this thing, we need to be on their side from the start. If we're the ones who start it, we get to set the terms. There must be partners like us out there; people and pokemon who would never turn against each other, no matter what. Those will be the ones that are most at risk, and those are the ones we need to protect at all costs." As he spoke Ash felt his idea become more complex and visible, and the final product now presented itself as a glittering, crystallized idea. He was getting caught up and swept along by his own idea, but at the moment he was too engaged to care. "The perfect society…one where humans and pokemon are friends, or at least equals, and never master and slave…that is our goal." Ash's eyes were shining from the vocalization of his new dream, and Pikachu felt her spirits rising as well. They could do this, eliminate all the abuse and enforce equality. She and Pikapi would pull through, and they would drag the rest of the world with them.
"Pi pikachu!" she cheered, jumping up and flashing a peace sign at her friend. Ash grinned back widely.
"So it's a good plan?"
"Pikachu!"
"Alright, so then all we need is a target…"
(o. o)-/
Ash looked morosely around the small field he had chosen for his practice area and considered his options. He was reluctant to use his new form any more than was absolutely necessary, but he had finally agreed that this was one of those times. To avoid any odd suspicions, he had to have some control over his electricity, and to have that he needed to practice. A lot.
Ash sighed, letting his breath out in a puff that ruffled the fur of his face. …Fur… He twitched slightly at the extreme unnaturalness of it all. He wanted nothing more than to switch back to his normal, natural, human form and forget all this had ever happened. But that, of course, was not an option, as the Mistress had oh-so clearly explained. Not to mention the fact that Pikachu would probably murder him if he did.
He just had to face facts. He didn't have a choice here. No matter how unpleasant and eerie this was, he would just have to bear it. He would have to get used to it sooner or later, and it was better not to have an audience. Right.
Successfully fortified, Ash marched over to a menacingly tall stalk of something unidentifiable but planty, and gave it his best glare. He focused all his will power on frying the plant, envisioning the electricity jumping from his cheeks to the plant and burning it to a crisp. He clenched his jaw and tensed, claws digging firmly into the earth, but nothing happened. His tail twitched and his ears flattened, eyes narrowing in an even fiercer glare. He clenched his jaw so hard his teeth hurt.
Nothing.
Ash sat back and huffed. He gave an annoyed swat at the plant and watched thoughtfully as it swayed back and forth, back and forth, as if it was mocking him. Irrationally annoyed by this, he jumped up and tried again, hoping his anger this time would help. No such luck. Frustrated, he pounced on the plant and stopped its mocking swaying. Victorious he sat and pondered some more on what he was doing wrong.
A rustle from the bushes on his right interrupted his musings, and he sat up curiously to regard the intruder. A boy, almost a teenager, was carefully entering the clearing. His brown eyes widened when he spotted Ash, and he froze with one foot in the air. The two stared at each other silently for a few moments, neither moving. Finally the boy lowered his foot slowly and entered the clearing completely, never losing eye contact with the small pikachu.
Equally slowly he raised his hand to the belt at his waist and gripped one of the red and white balls that rested there. Ash remained still throughout this process, the situation still not fully registering with him. He was another trainer, after all; he wasn't in any danger. He tilted his head slightly in curiosity and emitted a soft "chu" in a completely unconscious gesture.
Immediately his eyes widened as the real problem hit him like a ton of spiked bricks. Currently, he looked like a pokemon; he was a pokemon, as far as that trainer was concerned. And a rare one too, at that. There was every reason to believe that the human would try to catch him and absolutely no reason why it wouldn't work.
It suddenly became imperative that Ash stop the trainer from using that ball.
Acting on pure instinct, Ash connected with a primal, elemental part of himself and used a strange muscle in his cheeks, neither of which he had known he possessed. To his extreme surprise and relief a small stream of electricity jumped out of his body and straight at the opposing trainer's hand. With a soft cry of pain the human dropped the ball and it dropped to the ground with a soft thump. Oddly the human grinned.
"It's young," he muttered, to himself it seemed. "That's perfect." Still grinning, the boy reached for another ball, showing none of the hesitance of before. In panic Ash desperately searched for that elemental core he had reached earlier, but to no avail. Eyes widening as the boy seemed to lift his arm in slow motion, Ash knew he was running out of time. And finally – yes! – there it was!
Ash made the same cheek twitch as before, but his heart almost stopped in panic when all that came out was a weak spurt of sparks. Frantically making the connection again, Ash was overcome with a sense of emptiness and exhaustion. He suddenly knew that he was out, he was done – his power was spent. In one little spark.
And then suddenly the pokeball was flying at him and he did the only thing he could do. He turned and ran.
But unfamiliar with his new body as he was, he didn't get very far. No sooner than he had evaded the first ball with his sudden leap then he tripped over his own legs and fell in an ungainly flop. The second ball smacked into his back as he was struggling to rise, and it hurt. Ignoring the pain he stumbled upright and again attempted to run, although he could already see and feel the red light surrounding him. It felt like he was suffocating, the red surrounding him like a noxious cloud of gas, and Ash felt himself growing faint. And it was hot too; it burned, like acid or fire, slowly scorching away his fur and licking at his skin, burrowing into his insides and lodging there like burning worms. Ash made some small cry and the pain made him even more frenzied in his efforts to escape, even as he knew it was useless.
He heard faint laughter, and then the red completely engulfed him and he knew no more.
(o. o)
Pikachu eyed the small village of Elmira drearily from behind her tree. The day was drawing to a close, and activity in the village was subsiding as everyone retreated into their homes. It had been a productive day for Pikachu, and she hoped Ash had fared well also. They would step up their efforts tomorrow, but for now the small pokemon simply watched the sleepy little village go about its evening routine.
It was nearing sunset now and the sun's rays were beginning to lose their intensity, making the small clump of houses appear drowsier with each passing second. Some people still milled about making conversation and being generally sociable, but the majority of people had deserted the dirt roads that served as streets. Toys remained scattered across the ground, left there from the day's play, and would remain there until the next morning. No one seemed to be concerned about theft in such a small community, and everything from plastic balls to bikes was haphazardly strewn upon the grass.
'Downtown' remained slightly more active. The lights were out in the one-room schoolhouse, but people continued to flow through the doors of the few shops. From her location Pikachu could still make out a few figures gathered by the town's water fountain, wiling away the time until they had to go to sleep.
Pikachu yawned and settled more comfortably onto the grass. She had spent the day wandering the small town, observing and listening to the resident pokemon and trainers. As expected there weren't many, and none of them seemed to be in distress. Unfortunately that made her job a lot harder, since she would have a lot of convincing to do. And the convincing wasn't exactly easy for her either. She hadn't hated humans for quite a while, and she was finding it difficult to channel her angry younger self. It's all Ash's fault, she accused good-naturedly. If only he'd been a horrible trainer…
Thoughts of Ash naturally led to curiosity about his day. He had planned to spend it attempting to get the handle of his new form and the abilities he possessed, but Pikachu knew he couldn't have been very successful. It had taken her years and years of intensive training to get to where she was, and she knew Ash would be lucky if he could even manage to send off a weak thundershock at this point. Even that was unlikely, given the boy's reluctance to even acknowledge his other form. He had probably spent the entire day jumping at his shadow.
Pikachu blinked, startling herself with her bitterness. She just couldn't seem to get over that, and she was starting to bug herself with her obsession. She was just glad that she hadn't said that out loud where Ash could hear.
The electric mouse got to her feet, deciding she had spent quite enough time reflecting. Any more and it would be hard to act normal around Ash when she saw him again that night. She gave herself a little shake to rid herself of any lingering thoughts, and took comfort in the familiar sound of her fur rustling. With a final glance at the sleepy village she turned and hopped deeper into the forest.
After a few minutes she reached her and Ash's temporary campsite, currently consisting simply of Ash's bag hung on a tall tree. Pikachu agilely scaled the tree and plucked the bag off the branch, strap between her teeth. She tumbled back down the tree with her prize, somehow managing to keep her balance and land on all fours. After rummaging around in the disorganized pack she was able to locate her food, which she hauled out with a happy 'chu'. Not bothering with such human niceties as a bowl, Pikachu plopped the bag down in front of her and began to eat, waiting for her trainer to return.
She waited. And waited. Half the bag of pokemon food disappeared.
And Ash never came.
Pikachu fell asleep waiting, curled up between her trainer's backpack and a bag of pokefood, a worried expression on her sleeping face.
(o. o)-/
"Alright little guy, time for breakfast!"
Ash regained consciousness in degrees as the redness spat him back out, thankfully with no pain this time, and the world rematerialized around him. The words came to him through a fog, and he couldn't make sense of them. Dazzled by the sudden brightness, he stumbled a bit before he gained his footing and was finally able to interpret what his maladjusted eyes were telling him.
The first thing that registered was that everything was abnormally large. This puzzled him until he looked down and caught sight of a yellow paw. Then it all came back.
Stunned now for an entirely different reason, Ash-the-pikachu tilted his head up and was meant with the grinning face of the brown-eyed boy – his trainer. Ash cringed involuntarily from the idea, and a frown appeared on the boy's face.
"Hey, it's okay," the kid whispered in what Ash assumed was supposed to be a reassuring tone. "I'm not going to hurt you." This was followed by an outstretched hand. Ash withdrew into a hunch but didn't back away, curiosity winning out. After a slight hesitation the hand – which, Ash noted, was easily the size of his whole head – moved closer and touched his fur. This proved to be a mistake.
The boy jerked back with a yelp even as Ash leapt away from him, barely avoiding a collision with what appeared to be a food bowl. Back now pressed against the wall, Ash watched in confusion as the boy shook his hand in pain. Ash hadn't done anything to hurt him, or so he thought.
He took advantage of the confusion to observe the room. It appeared to be a bedroom, with a single bed, a dresser, and a closet. And a door. An open door.
Ash spared a single glance for the still-complaining boy, and sprinted. He had almost made it when he was noticed.
"No!" the boy cried belatedly. "Pikachu, return!"
The familiar line caused Ash to pause, and that was all that was needed. He could only observe that the light was painless this time before consciousness abandoned him and he was left only with a vague feeling of hunger.
(o. o)
The trees flashed past her as she ran frantically, jumping, swerving and tumbling to avoid the mass of pokeballs that followed her like a demented beedril swarm. The clunking sounds of their progress haunted her steps, and as soon as she successfully evaded one ten more would appear from the other side of the path. Her thundershocks worked best to disperse the swarm and gave her a few moments' peace, but her energy was draining rapidly.
It was a race. She was running to find Ash, and she knew that all would be well as soon as she found him. She would be safe, he would protect her like he always did. She just had to avoid them for a little while longer, just a little farther…
Finally she burst out of the trees and was running along flat grass without breaking stride. Without the trees she had less protection, and she adopted a zigzag motion to give her a bit more time. Firing off one last thundershock, she searched for Ash. Where was he? He was supposed to be here, ready to save her.
The swarm gathered again and she tumbled as she felt something whiz past her ear. But the ball hadn't even come close to hitting her. She watched in confusion as the whole swarm abandoned her and zoomed toward a small shape standing in the grass.
Pikachu dashed after them, suddenly gripped with a crushing sense of foreboding. As she got closer she recognized the figure as another pikachu. At the same time it seemed to notice her and the swarm, and it turned to face them. Pikachu gasped and stumbled. The pikachu had black cheeks: it was Ash.
As if in slow motion Ash turned to run from the oncoming balls but Pikachu knew he didn't have a chance. He moved too slowly, and the swarm was on him in an instant. Pikachu ran faster, faster than she thought possible, but she was too late. She heard a purely human voice call her name, and then the swarm closed in around him and he was gone.
Pikachu woke with a gasp, her heart racing. She felt shaky, and she had to spend a few moments staring at the ground and just breathing, trying to calm herself down. Like a mantra she repeated to herself that Ash was fine, Ash was human, he was safe, the swarm was not coming back…
Finally her breathing slowed and her limbs regained some semblance of solidarity. It did not help that she was currently in a forest, but the dream had faded a bit and she could think clearly. The dream had been very disturbing, worse than a normal nightmare. This particular one had been recurring ever since the Mistress had returned their memories of that time in Mewtwo's castle, and Pikachu suspected they were the worse for being missing in the first place.
In none of the previous versions of the dream had Ash ever been in any danger. They were only after her, and Ash was always human. Sometimes Pikachu wouldn't make it out of the forest at all and the swarm would win, other times they would get her just before she reached Ash, but if she did manage to get to him before they got her, she was safe. That was it, the end. Once she was in Ash's arms she was untouchable. Pikachu realized that this was unlike the reality of the event, but her dream didn't appear to like reality much.
This time it started out the same, but Ash in his pikachu form had been a completely unexpected twist. The swarm hadn't been after her this time; they had been after Ash, and she had led them right to him. Ash, who as a pikachu was powerless to defend himself.
Ash, who hadn't returned last night.
Pikachu's eyes flew wide open again and she whirled around, desperately trying to prove herself wrong. His bag remained undisturbed along with the rolled sleeping bag, although the pokefood had toppled over at some point during the night. Even a thorough check of the air revealed no recent scent.
"Pikapi!" she called hopelessly. Of course, there was no answer. Abandoning any further search, she turned and dashed for the clearing.
Okay, so he's not back yet; that doesn't mean he got swallowed up by Mewtwo's evil intelligent pokeballs, she tried to reason with herself as she ran. It could mean anything. He could have gotten lost, or exhausted himself, or just got distracted…Ash always gets distracted. And he never did have a good sense of direction. But no matter how much she tried to convince herself to calm down, she couldn't get his scream out of her head - the sound of him screaming her name and disappearing inside the balls…getting swallowed by her own worst nightmare.
No, she decided firmly. Ash did not get captured. He's smarter than that. She paused. I doubt it would even work. He's still human, isn't he? The uncertainty she detected in her own thoughts unnerved her, and she turned her complete attention to finding the clearing.
Finally she burst through the trees and skidded to a stop in the middle of the grassy clearing where Ash had said he would be training. She sat up straight on her haunches and went completely still as she listened for any sound. When all she detected was normal forest sounds she cautiously fell back to all fours and hopped further into the grass. Towards the right side of the clearing and beside an odd stamped down section she detected Ash's scent, old but present. To her dismay it seemed to stop randomly a little farther into the grass, with no indication of where he might have gone. The oldest scent trail led back into the forest, the direction he had obviously come from.
Feeling physically sick now, Pikachu hopped along the closest border of forest, searching for anything else that could have interfered. To her horror she detected traces of a young human boy just below Ash's entrance, an unfamiliar human. His trail led slightly into the grass, and then abruptly backtracked the way it had come.
Her dream had been right after all, it seemed. The tables had been turned, and Ash needed her. Pikachu would not let him down, not like her dream self did. She would save him, for all the times he had saved her. She would pry her best friend's cage from the boy's cold, dead hands if need be. Pikachu stopped herself from looking too closely at that last statement for fear that it might actually be the truth and took a deep breath, plunging back into the forest.
She had slept until late in the day, her vigil having kept her awake until pure exhaustion took over. So when she finally started her search it was already past noon. The tracking took hours. The boy took a roundabout way back to the village, and Pikachu had to follow every deviation he made for fear she would lose the scent. Even with her obsessive accuracy she almost lost the trail twice in the woods. The scent was a day old, and the kid was weird. Once he crossed a small stream and did something in the water that resulted in him reappearing quite a bit farther upstream than where he started. Another time the scent just completely disappeared, at random it seemed. It took Pikachu a good half hour to figure out that the little freak had actually climbed a tree and mimicked a monkey for another two trees. She had to bite her tail to stop herself from letting loose a fierce thunderbolt from frustration.
When she finally reached the village the sun was down and her patience was gone. She muttered to herself as she walked, nonsensical noises that somehow made her feel better. One thing was for sure, if the kid tried to stop her from getting Ash back, he was toast. Burnt toast. Blackened, charred, incinerated toast.
The trail led into the town square and disappeared, the stones of the square not allowing for day-old scents. This time Pikachu could not prevent a few sparks shooting from her cheeks in what was quickly building up to rage. Anger mounting with every step, Pikachu trotted around the nearby houses, searching for some trace of the boy.
Trotting by the back door of one of the houses, Pikachu stopped in her tracks, picking up a scent that she hadn't been looking for. Ash. Ash had been here. Caution cowering in the face of her anger and desperation, she threw herself at the door, not caring about the racket as long as the door opened.
Unfortunately the screen door proved unexpectedly strong, and claws are not made to turn round handles. After a few minutes of useless head butting and scrabbling, Pikachu got the idea and cast around for another way inside. There was space underneath the rickety wooden porch, but the house itself rested firmly upon the ground, its solid brick foundation barring any access. A single window sat to the side of the screen door, easily large enough to admit a pikachu. It was tightly shut and the glass seemed firm, but perhaps with a little help…
Sitting up on her hind legs, Pikachu shot a small stream of electricity up to the window. She wasn't entirely sure what would happen, but she was confident that she wouldn't be beaten by a window. Sure enough, the glass shattered upon contact with the pure electricity, causing a burst of small, shimmering fragments. It was very pretty.
It was also very loud.
Pikachu winced at the sound, but leapt through the shattered window without wasting any time, using the unstable porch rail as a vault. She sailed through the window easily, landing softly on the carpeted floor and avoiding the vengeful shards of glass. She then paused as her eyes adjusted and scoped the small room.
She was in a living room, by the looks of it, with a comfy, lived-in feel. The puffy brown couch was sagging in places; the wooden coffee table had serviceable dents; and the thin carpet had some suspicious stains. Still, everything seemed in working order and there were no strange smells.
Pikachu padded forward cautiously, not quite sure what she was looking for. A pokeball, of course – but where would the ball be? Ash kept his in his backpack, but he was a traveler; certainly a boy living at home would have a better place to keep them. If he had put them away like a clean, obedient kid, it would be diff –
Pikachu's train of thought was cut short as she noticed a boy's jacket thrown carelessly on the couch. There was a suspicious lump in the rumpled fabric, and Pikachu felt her tail rise with hope. She leapt up beside the jacket and pawed the thin blue material aside, revealing exactly what she had hoped for: a pokeball.
She knew she should just take the ball and leave, right now, but her need to see Ash was overwhelming. She gave the white-and-red ball a poke and leapt backward. As the red light emerged she held her breath, going completely still. An ear, a tail, another ear, a paw… Before the light had even started to fade from the other pokemon, Pikachu pounced.
Ash's memory came back faster this time, and he had almost figured out what he was and what was happening to him when he got hit. The unexpected attack bowled him over, and he found himself on his back and staring up into a very familiar pair of black eyes.
"Pikapi!!"
"Pikachu!"
Cooing ecstatically Pikachu buried her face in Ash's fur, breathing deeply. Ash felt wetness where her face was a realized with a shock that she was crying.
"Pika…" he murmured vaguely, attempting to pat her back but belatedly realizing that his legs were too short. Pikachu noticed what he was trying to do, and lifted her head up, using his shoulders to stand on. She gave him a smile, meant to reassure him, but Ash noted that her eyes were shiny. He felt a pang of sadness for what she must have gone through; no doubt she had waited all night for him, and he had never come back…
Something flashed through Pikachu's eyes, there and gone before Ash could identify it. He felt Pikachu draw back a bit, then stop, as if she was indecisive. Then suddenly, without warning she darted forward, and Ash leant back a bit from the sudden determination in her eyes. She hesitated again at that but seemed to regain her confidence and closed the distance, delivering a quick lick to Ash's cheek. She made a last, brief eye contact and Ash detected uncertainty there. Then with a quick push to Ash's shoulders she jumped back and hopped down off the couch.
Ash blinked, finding himself beyond confused. What in the world was that? Pikachu licked him all the time. …Well, not all the time, but she had certainly done it before, and more than once. But this…this had definitely been weird. Ash sat up slowly and gave Pikachu a puzzled look. Sadly she missed it; her concentration was completely on Ash's pokeball. She tensed, and Ash knew her well enough to understand her intentions.
"Chu!" she cried as a large bolt of electricity arced from her to the pokeball. Ash felt an odd sensation as the bolt passed him, and he watched in amazement as a thin bolt leapt from him to join the larger one. Then the combined bolts connected with their target and with the presence of mind he had left, Ash jumped.
A boom sounded behind him, and a rush of air ruffled the fur on his back. He turned to see pieces of the ball scattered over the couch and a sooty stain marking the place it had previously sat. Ash briefly felt sorry of the owners, but then he remembered the pain when he was captured and it vanished.
It was around this time that he noticed that Pikachu was looking at him oddly. He cocked his head questioningly and she hopped toward him, her previous uncertainty apparently forgotten.
"You're charged," she informed him, and he frowned. "The electricity in your body has built up too much," she explained more clearly. "You have to release it or you could hurt yourself."
"But…I barely had any electricity at all this morning…er, yesterday," Ash protested haltingly. "Though now that I think of it, the boy hurt himself…today just by touching me." Pikachu nodded.
"You probably have the right amount for an adult pikachu," she guessed. "Maybe you just had to…wake it up? You do seem too charged for a single day, though…" Ash shrugged.
"So then how do I…uncharge? Attack something?" He began casting around for a likely target.
"Usually yes, but…" Pikachu paused. She had heard a noise, a shuffling sound. With all the noise they were making, she had expected someone to be up by now, actually. They should really leave, but she wanted to get Ash out of his dangerous state.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu shook her head at Ash's query. It must have been someone turning over in bed. "But…?"
"Two pikachu can help each other decharge," she continued, then hesitated again. She was getting the feeling that there was something she was forgetting here, but she couldn't place it. Whatever it was, it didn't have the feeling of danger to it, so after a moment of puzzlement she shook it off.
"Okay. What do I do?" Even after the pain and embarrassment the boy had caused him in his capture, Ash wasn't feeling angry enough to intentionally destroy his house. And what with his lack of control over his power, that was a real possibility.
"Just follow my lead," Pikachu directed. "If you need to, you can also fire your electricity straight down to ground yourself," she added as she sidled up beside Ash, "but that will suck everything out of you. Normally you want to avoid that."
The end of her speech found her beside Ash, shoulder pressed against his. She leaned toward him, and the embarrassment and uncertainty of the lick suddenly came back to her. She felt her cheeks grow redder, and to avoid his noticing she quickly completed the movement and pressed her cheek firmly against his.
"Now act like you were attacking something," she coached. It had been a long time since she had done anything like this, not even with the wild pikachu clan, but she felt sure she could still remember how. It was mostly instinctual anyways. Back in her clan it was usually done between close family members and mates and oh no.
Pikachu opened her mouth, to say what she wasn't yet sure, but it was too late. Ash had located his inner well of power, and he opened it. Immediately the excess energy leapt through their contact to Pikachu, and she gasped. She definitely hadn't expected this much excess. Ash's power fizzed through her body and it was a good feeling, unlike her own power. Ash's was warm, comforting, but at the same time almost unbearable, like being under a spout of hot water that wasn't quite hot enough to burn. Pikachu shivered, but kept her cheek pressed to Ash's. The power jumped back, and it was Ash's turn to gasp.
She darted a quick glance at him, and saw that his eyes were wide open. Pikachu winced. She had no idea what he was feeling right now, but it was probably extremely strong. If she had realized exactly how much power Ash had she definitely would have found him something to attack, preferably outside.
The basic idea behind the decharging, as far as Pikachu could remember, was to allow the electricity to jump back and forth between the two pokemon until it exhausted itself. Each jump used up energy, so eventually the excess energy would fizzle away into nothing. Pikachu had only done it a number of times when she was young, and it had always been with close family members. She remembered now that it was a very intimate experience, since feeling another's power was about as close as two pikachu could get to each other. And with two unrelated pikachu, especially of the opposite gender it was liable to have other…side effects. As a result of their powers mixing, they might wind up being hyper-sensitive to each other for a short time…and it was most common in unbonded males. Like Ash.
Pikachu squeezed her eyes shut when she felt the electricity jump back to her. As it fizzled through her body again, she could only hope that she hadn't completely destroyed Ash's already unstable balance with his new form.
A few jumps later Pikachu broke away from Ash, shooting the tiny bit of remaining electricity into the carpet. The spark sizzled a bit, but eventually settled and vanished without a trace. Pikachu dared a glance at Ash, who was breathing heavily. She gulped.
"That was…" Ash began, but had to breathe. Pikachu cringed. "Awesome." Pikachu blinked, and sat up.
"Really?" she blurted before she could stop herself. She gave herself a mental slap. He doesn't need to know how insecure you are about this! Don't give him a reason to question it!
"Really," Ash reassured her, not seeming to pick up anything from her comment. "I've never felt anything like that before. It was…well, it was awesome." He turned wide eyes back to Pikachu. "Can we do it again?" Pikachu blinked at him.
"Er—" She was saved by having to answer by a loud gasp from the doorway. As one both pikachu turned to the intruder, and Ash immediately recognized his 'trainer'. His hackles went up in an automatic response that he didn't even notice, and his tail rose. If he had been more in control of his electricity, Pikachu was sure his cheeks would have begun to spark. Pikachu, on the other hand, allowed a bit more than sparks to fall. The carpet acquired a few more black spots.
The boy put his hands in the air and took a step back. Pikachu smiled approvingly. He might not be the smartest cookie, but at least he knew enough to stay away from an angry pokemon. Pikachu took a step closer to Ash to make her point clear, and the boy's eyes widened even more.
"I – I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I didn't mean to…I didn't realize…I'm sorry!"
Pikachu frowned. The boy was actually apologizing? Then she caught herself. Had she gone back to thinking all humans were evil without Ash around? She realized with some shock that she had. A human had hurt Ash, Ash the pikachu, and so for the past day or so all humans had been in her black books. It frightened her to think of what she would do if anyone really hurt Ash…
It was at this point that the boy, noticing Pikachu's unhappy expression, drew attention to himself again.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, backing up even more. Apparently he thought he was the source of her frown. Pikachu blinked out of her reverie. She glanced at the kid, then flicked an ear at Ash and paused by the window. Getting the idea, Ash followed her and jumped awkwardly through the window first. He hopped down the steps, avoiding the glass, and after a moment Pikachu followed. They paused again at the base of the porch, staring at each other. Ash broke the strange silence, clearing his throat.
"Back to camp?" he asked softly. Pikachu nodded before turning and hopping off in the direction of the woods. Ash followed haltingly. He was realizing that a pikachu's night vision was much worse than a human's, a fact that he rediscovered many times before they returned to the camp. He was sure he would be covered with bruises in the morning.
(o. o)-/
Ash was warm when he woke. Very warm. Hot, even. Which was odd, considering he distinctly remembered going to sleep outside the night before, and it wasn't summer quite yet.
Ash blinked his eyes open and immediately gave a huge yawn. A quiet involuntary squeak was emitted as he yawned, and his eyes widened as he realized he was still in his pikachu form. Fur was very warm, warm and very comfy…and he was still a little sleepy, actually… His eyes were drifting shut again when a familiar voice interrupted him.
"Ash?" Ash's eyes flew open again immediately, only to find that Pikachu's face was much closer than he had expected. He jerked back in surprise, and managed to catch his hind leg in the folds of the sleeping bag they had been resting on. His jump turned into an odd tumbling movement and he ended sprawled on the forest floor in a heap. He sat up slowly, cheeks burning. Perhaps he had more than his fur to thank for being so warm.
"Are you…okay?" Pikachu managed, obviously struggling not to laugh. Ash glared, cheeks burning even more fiercely.
"You surprised me," he muttered, moving his gaze to the grass at his feet. An ant meandering through the huge stalks suddenly became extremely interesting.
"Sorry," Pikachu apologized, humour still evident in her voice. Ash only nodded in response, trying to wait out his annoying blush. Pikachu smiled at the scene, but remembered her original question. "Ash?" she tried again. This time Ash looked up, surprised by the seriousness in her voice. His previous embarrassment was forgotten.
"What is it?"
"We need to move on, today," she stated. "We can't stay here." Ash sighed.
"I know. We need more help too. You can't do everything, and it looks like I won't be any help for a while. This whole being a pokemon thing is a lot harder than I thought." Pikachu frowned, as if just realizing something.
"You…Ash, he didn't make you fight, did he?" Ash looked up and was startled to see anger in his friend's eyes. He quickly shook his head.
"No, no, nothing like that. He just tried to feed me and I shocked him, that's all," he reassured her, grinning. To his relief she grinned back. But then a shadow came over his face as he remembered a bit further back. "I think I get why you hate pokeballs so much though," he commented, attempting to make it light-hearted. Pikachu frowned and moved forward, concern overriding her newfound skittishness around him.
"It only hurts the first time," she explained as she got closer. Ash nodded.
"But after that you still have the feeling of…suffocating, or…dying." Ash shivered. "What really happens to us in those things?" Pikachu nuzzled the side of his neck comfortingly and Ash leant into the contact without noticing.
"It's alright," she murmured. "We come out again none the worse for it. Most pokemon do, anyways. They get used to it, I suppose." She paused, and then continued in a very soft voice, "I won't let them get you again, Ash. Next time I'll be there to protect you." Ash laughed, the role reversal was just too amazing. Pikachu's offer to protect him made him realize suddenly how weak he was being about the entire thing. He needed to get used to this, and quick. More important things were at stake.
"No," he corrected her, leaning away from her comforting touch, "next time I'll transform before the ball hits me and make them faint!"
Pikachu smiled at her friend's joke, but was more interested in the change that had seemed to come over Ash. In front of her now stood the Ash she knew; confident, determined, and willing to do anything for what he believed in. Pikachu felt relief and joy well up in her, and she knew her eyes were probably doing something strange. She had been worried there for a while, but he was okay, or he would be soon. They were okay, and everything else would naturally fall into place, just like it always did.
"Anyways," Ash continued, apparently not noticing Pikachu's emotional moment. "I was thinking we should go back home. Gather the old crowd, you know?" Pikachu's eyes brightened at the mention of home and her other friends. It seemed they had been gone forever.
Pikachu gave him another nuzzle, and Ash laughed. Home it was.
The pain that Ash experienced will be explained a little bit better in the next chapter, as will some other things – it's not quite as bad as it seems. And I'll try to get the next one out quicker… Yay for reviews!
