Chapter 7: Thunder and Lightning

After that incident in the asteroid belt, Fox and Link found their way onto the planet. The minute it touched ground, Link leapt out and landed on the ground.

"LAND! SWEET LAND!" He said with joy.

The minute he said that, Fox blinked a few times. Not even Slippy did this and he wasn't too fond of flying.

"Sheesh. What's his problem?" He asked himself.

Fox simply got out of his ship like it was a simple drive in a car. He inspected the damage to the wing and got a good look at the damage. The upper part of the wing was fried and it was losing power and fast. There probably wasn't enough power to get them through or to get both of them home.

Suddenly, Fox's staff turned bright yellow and revealed the location of the next shrine. The two got a good look at the map and Fox realized what was next.

"Looks like we're going to find the Thunder Shrine." Link thought out loud.

Fox smiled and said, "I'm sure this will be shocking."

(Rim shot)

Link had that look on his face that said, "Ha ha, very funny." He then said, "Bad joke, Fox."

Fox recollected himself and the two set off on their journey.

This place was a strange one indeed. There were creatures of every shape and color that chattered and chirped. There was a strange thing that looked like an eagle perched in a tree, but it had long, flowing feathers on its head and there was a huge, round creature that was fast asleep.

"Fox, what are these things?" Link asked.

Fox thought for a second and then shrugged. He had never seen anything like these before and some looked exotic.

"Your guess is about as good as mine." He answered.

Just then, a familiar voice spoke in both of their minds. It was deep as a well, but sounded very wise, too.

"I see you made it to our world." It said.

Fox whirled around and saw no one just when Link did the same.

"What was that?" Link asked.

Fox inspected the area, but still saw a whole lot of nothing.

"Let's go. That's nothing."

Just when they turned back, there was a great, catlike thing in front of them.

"I'm nothing, am I?" The voice asked again.

Fox smacked himself in the forehead and said, "Oh. Hey, Mewtwo."

Mewtwo smiled, still keeping that piercing glare in his eye and said, "I'm glad you two haven't forgotten me."

Fox and Link nervously chuckled and said, "Uhh, yeah…heheh…"

Mewtwo's telepathy then activated again. If you were seeing it, you would probably see the slightest case of amusement on it.

"Tell me. How's Shadow? Has he learned anything from what I've taught him?" He asked.

Link rubbed the back of his head and said, "Actually, we haven't met him yet."

Mewtwo's eyelids dropped slightly and he thought, "Oh."

Just then, there was rustling in the grass and a familiar, yellow face peeked out of the grass. Link looked at it just before it burst out, happier than a robin.

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!" It shouted.

Something like a yellow pinball collided with Link's midsection. The collision bowled Link right off his feet and he strained to speak.

"Hello…Pikachu. It's good…to see you…too."

Link slowly got up, Pikachu still on his tunic. Mewtwo was confused.

"Wait. How come this one speaks human?" The psychic Poke'mon asked.

Fox snapped his fingers and said, "Of course! We gave him that translator and he can still understand us and vice versa."

Link struggled and finally got the electric rodent off him. Pikachu still had a lot of energy to burn and Link knew just what to say.

"Uhh, sorry, Pikachu. We can't exactly play now. We're on a mission."

Pikachu was overjoyed and said, "Ooh! Ooh! Can I join in?"

Fox frowned and said, "Sorry, no."

Pikachu's long ears drooped and his face fell.

Fox took something out of his pocket and added, "But if we need your help, we'll use this to call you."

He tossed it and the little Poke'mon caught it by jumping.

"Mewtwo, you're comin' with us." Link said.

Mewtwo grinned and said, "I might be able to help you on your little quest. I know this world well."

With that, they took off toward the Thunder Shrine.

The shrine was located in a place called Viridian City toward a large cave. Turned out the inner part of the cave WAS the Thunder temple. It was a large room full of glass tubes, each one having electricity flow through it. Unlike the Ice Shrine, this place had many doors and no staff or sword sign in the floor. Something then came to Fox's mind.

"Oh no! I forgot to give power to Arwing II!"

For a minute, Link was thankful. But then he realized that no power meant that Allos would escape and Ganon would be unleashed.

"I know! I'll call Pikachu. He can give our ship a good jolt." Fox said, quickly remembering.

Fox then took a similar communicator to Pikachu's and pressed a button. If the device still existed, the electric rodent would hear them clear as a bell.

Back at the Arwing II, Pikachu was waiting patiently for Fox and Link to give a decent message. Just then, he saw two dinosaur-like creatures that looked like raptors. His eyes widened as one of them spoke in a scratchy, low voice.

"That's their spaceship, alright." One said as he inspected the ship.

Pikachu hurried behind a tree out of the monsters' sight. Judging from the fact that they were searching for them, he guessed they weren't friendly. Luckily for him, they sounded somewhat dull-witted.

"Whew! I don't want those guys to catch me…"

He spoke too soon, because his communicator activated. At first, it was a loud static noise, but then someone spoke as if an invisible person was talking.

"Pikachu…Pikachu…Do you read me? I need you to give our ship some juice." Fox's voice asked through the communicator.

Pikachu leapt into the air as one raptor looked up and said, "What was that?"

Pikachu then fumbled with the communicator for a while and sat on it. It only muffled the noise, but it was enough to stop the now-suspicious raptors.

One simply said, "Get back to work. That's nothin'."

Back at the Thunder Shrine, Fox was a little worried. He hoped that the signal got through and that Pikachu was okay. The three of them had checked every door. Some were rigged with traps, some were dead ends, there was even one with a monster inside.

"This place could take weeks to find what we're looking for!" Link shouted into the nothingness.

Mewtwo simply levitated him and said in a stern tone, "If you complain again, I'll rocket you to Cerulean City and back here again. There's more to this place that meets the eye."

Link nodded and Mewtwo lowered him gently to the ground. Mewtwo then seemed to be looking at the floor a few yards away from them. Mewtwo saw Link give him a clueless look and he beckoned to the floor.

Link looked at it too and asked, "That's nothing, Mewtwo. Just a dusty floor."

Mewtwo simply floated over to it and brought his tail across it, revealing a secret door. The "door" was more of a trapdoor and had a kind of lightning bolt across it.

Mewtwo cocked an eyebrow and asked, "You were saying?"

"Alright. I'll just give Pikachu another call and we'll see if he got my message…" Fox said as he activated his communicator.
Fox decided to try again and whipped out his communicator. This time, he hoped Pikachu would listen for once.

Miles away, Pikachu had raced over to the Arwing II's underside and found the power source without drawing attention from the raptors. His cheeks began to spark and he had it up to full power in no time.

"Whew! That last time was close." Pikachu thought to himself.

However, the communicator then activated and Fox's voice came out through it. This time, there was no place to hide.

"Pikachu…Pikachu…Did you hear me last time?" It said.

Pikachu quickly whipped it out and said, in a very fast voice, "Uh, sorry, Fox. I'd love to chat but there are a few technical errors in your ship I'm working on. So haveaniceday, bye."

Pikachu quickly deactivated it after saying "bye". Unfortunately, the raptors heard it loud and clear. They looked under the ship and took notice of him with the communicator.

"Uh oh…" Pikachu said quietly.

"HEY! You!" One raptor said, pointing its clawed finger at the electric mouse.

Pikachu quickly did the repairs on the Arwing II just when the raptor's three-fingered hands wrapped themselves around his middle.

"Ah, stupid little rodent." He said as he lifted Pikachu into the air.

Pikachu's legs dangled in the air as he struggled to get free. Then, he got an evil twinkle in his eye and he opened his mouth. Without warning, he sunk his teeth into the raptor's finger.

"YEEEOWCH!!!" He shouted as he dropped him.

Pikachu hit the floor and used Iron Tail on the other one's leg, tripping it. Then, his cheeks sparked and he aimed the electricity at the dinosaurs. They screamed as electricity surged through their bodies, and when Pikachu was through with them, smoke billowed from their bodies.

Pikachu smiled in triumph and then said, "What would this world do without ya', Pikachu?"

He puffed out his chest and held his head high, ready to waltz off and find his two buddies he met in Hyrule. He was about halfway there when he felt energy pulsating and turned to see yellow light coming right at him.

Fox, Link, and Mewtwo went through the trapdoor to find themselves in a large room. Link knew the three triangles and knew what to do. He played Zelda's lullaby and the triangles glowed bright yellow instead of blue. Fox took his staff and planted it in the slot. At the same time, Link planted his sword in the other. After that, they were teleported to the same realm where Krystal was, but the yellow circle glowed this time. Link's eyes widened as a familiar, red-cheeked mouse appeared.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Link said, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"No joke. By the way, good job, guys." Pikachu said in an almost wise tone. "I've learned my destiny as the Thunder Sage. I knew I could count on you to save your world. So I've got something for you, Link."

"FINALLY!" Link said eagerly.

Pikachu then raised his little hands into the air and yellow light touched Link.

"This spell will allow you to shoot lightning from your sword. Now you can power your ship without my help."

Link pointed his sword forward and a long blast of electricity shot from the tip.

Link smiled and said, "That's a pretty nifty trick."

Pikachu blushed and said, "Well, I've done all I can do. See ya 'round!"

They then vanished in white light. Pikachu's last sentence was "By the way, if you run into Kirby, tell him we should get together sometime."

Back at the Arwing II, Mewtwo was waiting for them with his arms crossed.

"I take it you've found the sage?" He asked.

Fox nodded and then an idea popped into his head. "Hey, Mewtwo, wanna come with us?"

Mewtwo shook his head and said, "No. My place is here. But you can visit me and Pikachu if you get the chance."

Fox nodded and commented, "I understand."

Fox and Link then got into their ship and had liftoff.

"Oh no…Not THIS again!" Link said before they attached to the Dimension ring and zoomed off.