A/N:
PsychicEevee: Hello! I've cheered up a little since last chapter, even though it'll be sad every time I read it, and considering I read this every day I write to think of what just happened and what I can do next, I'm not going to be as happy from now on... This chapter includes a bit of a plot twist, and shows a bit of Tay's hidden past. Here are the responses to reviews:
Shinymudkip25: Yes. Very sad. I recently reread it, and it gave me feels for my own designs. And to be honest, the saddest song I mentioned was based on Pokemon too. It was in the credits of the first movie. It's called 'If Only Tears Could Bring You Back' and it's by Midnight Sons. Before anyone asks, I didn't have Tay sing that one because she was trying to keep her love for Ash (as more than a friend or even relative) a secret. She would've given it away had she sung that song. And as you can see, you're about to find out what's about to happen.
Raion, the disclaimer please, and NO FUNNY BUSINESS!
Raion: Sure thing! PsychicEevee0103 does not own Pokemon, only Tay, Cloudy, and Flame.
PsychicEevee: Good! Thanks Raion. Flames go to Kyogre to be put out, and flamers get sent on a one way trip to the Distortion World. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!
(Tay's POV)
It was a month since the funeral. I could feel myself getting sicker, but I had to keep doing my daily meditation and exercise. I kept getting nightmares, and I now slept on a mat, to prevent myself from falling off the bed and getting hurt, and I'd told my Pokemon not to sleep around me, since I didn't want them to get hurt, either.
One day, I told Delia I was going for a run. It was nothing unusual, since I went out for runs every day, but something... happened along the way.
I was about a mile away from Pallet Town, about to head back, when I tripped on the path and fell, my ribbon becoming undone. I tried to reach with my left hand to retie it, but I couldn't move my hand. This made me panic, since I knew without the ribbon being held down, a simple breeze could blow it away, and it was vital to me. I managed to stretch out my neck and grab it with my teeth. As soon as I did that, I passed out.
(Delia's POV)
An hour passed, then two, and I started to worry. Usually, Tay was back after an hour or so. After the hour mark, Cloudy and Flame had run off. I got Mimey and Pikachu and went to Professor Oak's laboratory. Once he let me in, explaining to me that Tracey was running an errand for him at Mt. Moon, I told him what happened.
"That's not good at all," he murmured once I explained it to him. "We should send out some of the Pokemon to act as search parties."
"That's a good idea. Cloudy and Flame have already gone out to look." I explained, even though I was getting frantic with worry as we went outside and asked Bulbasaur to gather all the Pokemon.
We explained it again as they came up, and split everyone into groups of two or three, sending the flying Pokemon to search from the air as we dispersed.
(Pikachu's POV)
I was paired up with Sceptile. Delia had picked us to be together because I could track Tay's scent, and Sceptile could help to carry her back if need be. I hope it doesn't come to that. I was scared for what could have happened to her, but that was nothing in comparison to Cloudy and Flame. They ran off as soon as they realized Tay was missing.
"Where should we look?" Sceptile asked me.
"Well, I don't think she would have gone off the path," I started. "Or at least, not too far. So we should start be looking through the paths, then spread the search from there."
"Good plan." Sceptile nodded, then started off on the main path out of Pallet Town. I followed quickly, sniffing for Tay's scent. I caught it almost as soon as we approached the path, and I quickly told Sceptile this. He let me lead as I tracked it, walking slowly with my nose to the ground.
About an hour later, Tay's scent became far more pronounced. I looked up, and there she was, in a small pile right on the path with her arms and neck stretched out. Tay's ribbon was in her mouth, which I found odd but didn't question. Sceptile and I ran up to her. She was moaning and whimpering softly. She must be having one of her nightmares again, I thought. Recently Tay had started to have nightmares, though she hadn't told anyone about what happened in them yet. I eased the ribbon out of Tay's mouth, but my tail brushed her forehead as I did so. I gasped and let go of the ribbon.
"She's burning up!" I shouted, my eyes wide.
"We need to get her back right away!" Sceptile picked Tay up in his arms.
"You take Tay and go on ahead. I'll catch up." I shouted.
"You go to the lab; I'm going to the house to put her in bed." Sceptile started to jump through the trees back to Pallet Town, Tay in his arms. I raced after him, and when we got to the town, I broke off his path and hared to the laboratory.
Delia and Professor Oak looked at me as soon as I got over to them. They were still in the yard.
"Pikachu? Why are you back so soon, and in such a rush?" the professor asked me.
Between my pants, I responded, "We found... Tay... Sceptile's... with her... at the house!" I motioned with my tail for them to follow me, and ran in the direction of the house. I heard a couple sets of footsteps behind me, but I didn't slow down. I stopped right in front of the house. The door was open. I raced straight in and upstairs to Tay's room.
Sceptile was leaning over the bed. I ran over to the table next to her bed, where Sceptile had placed Tay's glasses. Careful not to knock them over, I jumped onto the table. Tay was lying down, Sceptile holding her down as he gently restrained her. (She was trying to flail around, seeming to fight something in her nightmare.) Her face was contorted in pain as she gasped for breath.
Delia came into the room, followed by Professor Oak. They both gasped when they got close enough to see Tay's condition.
"We need ice. There should be some in the freezer. Professor, could you get it and put it in a bag?" Delia put a hand on Tay's forehead for a second before taking it off. Oak rushed to get it. "Pikachu, can you go to the lab and when the other Pokemon come back, tell them about what happened. Tell them not to come, though. It'll be too crowded otherwise." As I turned to go, I heard Delia continuing to Sceptile, "Can you find Cloudy and Flame? I doubt they'll come back until they've found Tay, so you'll need to get them."
(Tay's POV)
I was engulfed in a sea of memories, and none of them were pleasant. They were all my bad memories from before I met Ash. I tried to get to my better, happier ones, but I simply lacked the strength. Why didn't I rest before? I tried not to focus on any particular memory, but I couldn't help it. Before my eyes flashed an old memory, from about a week after I had been forced to leave my parents.
(Cue Flashback)
I ran through the scratchy bushes, tripping over tree roots as I ran to get away from the Beedrill. I had accidentally angered by them by walking on one of their stingers. I didn't mean it! I winced as more low-hanging branches scratched my face.
"Get back here!" they buzzed. Suddenly, another swarm of them popped up in front of me. I screamed in fear, no words, just a scream.
"We have you now!" they droned. "You shall pay for harming a member of the swarm."
They closed in, their stingers poised to strike. Knowing I was trapped, I curled up tight in a ball and braced myself for pain.
The Beedrill started to jab me again and again with their stingers. I cried and whimpered in pain as they struck me again and again, venom sometimes leaking in with the stings. It hurts so much... I didn't mean it! I started to sob as I cried.
Suddenly, the stings stopped. I looked up to see that each of the Beedrill was surrounded in a light blue glow. Frightened, I looked around as the Beedrill was forced away by that glow, the same one that had occurred on the humans' Pokemon, the last time I had seen my Mommy and Daddy.
(End Flashback)
I whimpered, shutting my eyes before opening them again to another memory.
(Cue Flashback)
My paws dragged as I searched for a good place to rest for the night. It had been a year since I had been forced away from my parents, and I hadn't stopped traveling since. Eventually I found a huge grey cave, considerably darker than my fur, which was so light it was almost glowing. I shook it out before practically collapsing on the spot and falling asleep.
(Time Skip)
I woke to a roar. Opening my eyes, I saw a huge brown Pokemon with thick arms, a heavy-looking body, and long claws. My eyes widened, and I leaped up and started to run.
"Get back here, runt!" it-he-shouted as I raced away. A few moments later, I felt a huge and powerful force sweep me off my paws and onto the ground, giving me a faceful of dirt.
"You're gonna pay for intruding on my home!" he roared, using his claws to throw me up and slash me multiple times, giving me multiple cuts before slamming me onto the ground again, making the cuts burn as soil mixed with blood.
I attempted to stand, but my legs buckled as soon as I my body got off the ground.
"Please," I panted. "I didn't know... it was your cave..."
"LIES!" I was slammed again by that force that had prevented my escape, a large sphere of light blue energy. As I landed, feeling dirt spray on my face and cuts, a tear slipped down my cheek.
The beating continued just like that, with me taking every blow, being unable to stay conscious to know when, exactly, the Pokemon got bored and decided I had been beaten into a fine enough pulp.
(End flashback)
"No... no..." I whimpered, squeezing my eyes together and curling into a ball. "Don't... please..." I had tried so hard to keep those memories blocked, but like a cracked dam, they were flooding my mind. Another flashback rolled in.
(Cue Flashback)
I was in a huge underground room, with so many big, mean Pokemon in cages around me. Behind a clear wall were several humans, I couldn't see their faces in the darkness, but I knew they were there. One of the humans pushed a button, and all the cages opened. All the huge, scarred Pokemon prowled out, knotty muscles rippling under their unkempt pelts. In total, there were five Arcanine, three Mightyena, and four Houndoom. They instantly recognized me as prey, something to beat up on. I shut my eyes and braced myself.
The first hit I felt was blistering heat as I was burned in almost every part of my body. The Arcanine and Houndoom were using Flamethrower. Once that stopped I was bitten in multiple spots such as my ears, tail, and body. Several of these spots burned or shocked me. I screamed in pure pain. I struggled to my paws and fired off my new move, something I had heard being called Shadow Ball, which was a sphere of purple and black shadow energy being formed by my mouth and then being fired off to the enemy. However, I missed entirely. After about three Shadow Balls, which all missed, I was tackled by two of the Mightyena. I hit the wall and slid down it, only to be met with a Fire Fang halfway down. I slumped down.
"Why...?" I croaked. Why does everyone hate me?
(End Flashback)
I squeezed my eyes as tightly as I could, and curled up into a tiny ball, noting I was in my human form.
"No... stop... please..." I mumbled, but it was in vain as the worst and most recent memory yet popped into my head.
(Cue Flashback)
"Stop, Team Rocket!" Ash yelled up at the three figures in the Meowth balloon. "Give back Liligant!"
"Finders keepers, losers weepers!" they shouted in reply.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash told his loyal companion, who jumped up and shot an electrical beam at Team Rocket. However, Meowth pressed a button, and a panel that looked like a solar panel popped up and absorbed the Thunderbolt.
"This Power Absorption Panel takes any attack you throw at us and returns it however many times more powerful WE want it to be!" Jessie shouted, turning a switch. "Let's try... four!"
"Jessie, don't you think that's just a little bit overkill?" James asked. I almost smiled. I know a little about James' past. If it hadn't been so messed up, he just might've been a better person, I pondered.
"NO!" Jessie yelled, and James cowered and nodded timidly. The panel sent a beam four times as large as the Thunderbolt, straight at Pikachu.
"PIKA!" Pikachu screamed in fear.
Everyone was frozen, everyone except for one brave soul, who jumped in the way of the electricity at the last second, and got electrocuted instead.
"ASH!" I screamed.
Ash was barely able to speak. "Pikachu... go with... Tay..." He slowly pulled out something and threw it to me. Startled though I was, I caught it. Looking at it, I realized it was a Pokeball I had never seen before, one with a lightning bolt mark on it. Dread coursed through me as I realized which Pokemon it belonged to: Pikachu. The electrocution ceased and Ash slumped down, not moving or even breathing, smoke coming from his hair and clothes.
I raced over to him faster than a Rapidash. "ASH! NO! ASH!" I screamed, falling onto his... body... looking for a pulse.
There wasn't one.
It was then that my shock turned to sheer rage. I stood up and faced the Meowth balloon. "Team Rocket," I said VERY SLOWLY, enunciating each and every syllable. "You see this?" I lifted my right wrist, which had a very brightly glowing purple ribbon on it. They nodded fearfully, clinging onto each other. "It is the only thing preventing me from using all of my powers on you, to send you to where you sent Ash. If it is not touching me directly, my powers would all be focused on destroying you. You don't want that, do you?" They shook their heads in unison. "Good. Now then, put Liligant down and get out of my sight, or I'll send it to the wind." The balloon lowered and dropped Liligant once it was a safe distance away from the ground, then the balloon zoomed away. Until they were out of sight, I glared daggers at them, one hand on my ribbon.
As soon as they were out of sight, my fury abated, and the shock returned. I collapsed onto Ash's body, sobbing. "Ash... Ash... Ash..." My tears flowed freely.
(End Flashback)
"NO!" I screeched, but that memory, the worst of all of them, kept playing, over and over. "STOP! PLEASE!" Eventually I was granted my wish, and floated into sweet unconsciousness.
(Cloudy's POV)
Sceptile had brought me and Flame home a couple hours ago saying Tay had been found, but was sick. That last word had brought Flame and me home faster than you could say "what". Sure enough, Tay had a huge fever, and seemed in a serious nightmare. This has only happened once before... when she first became a human! Even then, her fever wasn't this serious, though... I thought.
Flame and I were fussing around, trying to see if our baby was okay, when we were sent away by Professor Oak.
"I'm sorry, I know you must be worried. However, could you get Aisu from the lab?" he asked gently.
"Let's go." I told Flame, gesturing to the door of Tay's room. We ran out, down the stairs, and out of the house.
We raced as fast as we could to the building, where Tracey was there, confused. He turned to us when he saw us and asked, "Cloudy, Flame, where's Professor Oak, Tay, and everyone else?"
"Tay... fever... her house... we need Aisu...!" Flame shouted, panting from the exhausting run there.
"Something abut Tay?" Something bad?" Tracey guessed. I nodded before running past him to the yard.
"Bulbasaur! We need Aisu!" I shouted as soon as he got within sight. To his credit, Bulbasaur didn't question me, only sent a puff of light blue pollen into the air. A few minutes later, the ice type ran up to us.
"What do you need, Bulbasaur?" she questioned before seeing Flame and me looking so frantic.
"We need you at Ms. Ketchum's house ASAP!" Flame shouted before turning to head back to the house and Tay. I motioned with my tail for Aisu to follow before heading off as well, jumping over the fence in my hurry. The sound of pawsteps behind me informed me that Aisu was indeed following my lead.
After another couple minutes' run, we made it to the house and jumped in an open window, followed by Aisu. We ran up the stairs to Tay's room.
"Good job you two," Professor Oak gave a tense smile at Flame and me. "Aisu, we need your help. Tay's very sick and we need ice for ice packs right away."
Pikachu ran out of the room. Confused, I waited a few moments until Pikachu returned, holding a roll of plastic wrap in his paws.
"Good thinking Pikachu. We can put ice in between two layers of plastic wrap, and it'll help cool Tay down." the Professor praised. The humans in the room pulled out about a yard of plastic wrap and had Aisu use her Ice Beam on about half of it, forming a solid sheet of ice. They folded the other half of the plastic wrap over the ice, crimped the edges shut, and slipped it under Tay's head. It might've been my imagination, but she seemed to breathe a little easier, literally.
A/N:
PsychicEevee: Well, there we go. Here's the QotD:
What Pokemon do you think you are? Not really related to the story, but I want to hear other people's opinions.
