"Incredible."
"How is this possible..."
"You've asked that over a hundred times now."
"I know, but I'm still confused."
I was holding a ruler inside my left hand. Bill was standing before me while he stared at it.
"Your response time was 0,05 seconds. ZERO POINT ZERO FIVE. THAT'S INHUMANE." he exclaimed. I just chuckled. I had just tried a simple response test. The one with a ruler everyone does in school. One holds the ruler while the other has to catch it as soon it is dropped. Depending on the position you grab it you could determine your response speed.
"It doesn't surprise me." Oak chuckled. "Ever since he could see that number from that distance I already took into account that he's a pikachu."
Three days had passed. I had been training my pikachu skill in the past days and things went very smooth. The confusion I had felt when the pikachu had escaped from my mind (if you'd like to call it like that) was gone after a good night of sleep. I could allow the pikachu inside of me whenever I liked. I could understand Cammy, Scarlet, Jack and Rosie perfectly. They could understand me too. It was really good to be able to talk to them again. The only problem was that I had to change into a pikachu to be able to talk to them. Although I had control, I had to be either pikachu or human. If I was pikachu, I still had control over myself with my human mind, although sometimes my pikachu self slipped through and I changed into pikachu temporarily. My pikachu side was much stronger when I allowed it inside of me. On the other side, when I was human, sometimes my pikachu side would break in when I was doing something. Like when something with a very strong attraction to it came by or when something happened what scared it. Sometimes it would try to take over and either do something or flee.
I had paid the colony a visit to tell that I wasn't exactly sick but that I would explain him the situation when I came back. Lukas has happy I was back for a moment. Espeon was also in the colony when I was visiting. The telepathic pokémon was surprised that I could talk to pikachu again. After I explained her what had happened to me and what exactly was the case, she just chuckled.
"Told you when we first met, remember? Be careful with what you wish, it might come true." she chuckled.
"True, but to be honest, now I can control it a bit, I'm really happy it happened. I mean, I'm able to understand you guys, I'm able to smell like you... I now can translate pikachu to human in real time." I chuckled.
"That's true." she said. "So, how does it work? Can you... Well... Change into a pikachu just like that?"
"Yep. It's purely some mind thing. That pokéball did something to me what isn't supposed to happen, but because I was with the pikachu colony for so long, it mistook me for a real one. The end of the story is that I can change into a pikachu at any time I like. It doesn't work out that well sometimes because it takes over control but the last three days I have learned how to control it a bit. I think it'll take some months for me to completely get control of it..." I said.
"So, then you're a pikachu?" she asked.
"A pikachu in a human body, basically." I had replied while I stroked Zack and Julie, which were in my lap. The other pichu were playing and Lukas was gone out of the colony, fixing some stuff with a couple of beedrill after we had a small word. Better he than me, I hated beedrill. I was stuck by a small one when I was little and I was afraid of them ever since. It was Bobby who chased it away back then.
For a couple of days after the small visit, I did tests with Oak and Bill and to get used to my pika-side. It was a really strange happening, but it was very cool. I had better eyesight when I was pikachu. I could see much more and much more detail. My night-vision also improved. When a human couldn't see anything, I could. Bill was surprised, because the human eye wasn't supposed to be able to see anything in certain situations, but even then I could see. Bill was sure it was the same as pikachu-vision, although he still couldn't believe it.
The same went for smell. I could identify all kinds of smells which I never could as a human. I could smell the difference between male and female pikachu, for example. Every pikachu I knew had his own smell which I could use to identify them. To make it even better, it was much easier to identify pikachu by smell than by 'normal' human vision. I even caught myself that I was using smell to identify humans as well instead of vision. It was just so much easier. Now I understood why Rosie told me she wouldn't name her children. The best of all was that I didn't need to learn anything because I already knew how to do things because my pikachu mind knew. I didn't have to learn anything because it was present within my pikachu mind. It was like multi-taking on the computer. The pikachu part did the pikachu things and the human part made sure everything went smooth and took on the human things.
And if that wasn't enough, my hearing had also improved. I could now hear the same things as a pikachu could when I allowed it inside my mind or when I was one. Not only high ultrasone sounds that humans could not hear, but also things that were very far away. I had noticed the thunderstorm that was coming our way long before it even started.
"There's a thunderstorm coming..." I had noticed to Bill when I had asked him for silence and had listened for a second. A sort of grumble in the far, far distance. Even though I wasn't sure, I just knew it must be a thunderstorm.
"It's great weather, what are you talking about." Bill had laughed. His face was priceless when we were watching the rain fall and hear the thunder going around the laboratory about three hours later. Being a pikachu had its advantages...
The point was, I could change at any time I wanted. As a pikachu I could understand pikachu and humans, the problem was that I couldn't talk in human language if I allowed the pikachu inside of me. So I had to change back and forth whenever I was with pikachu and human. That was pretty confusing but I got used to it quickly.
Another fun thing about the pikachu mind was that I could allow it inside of me just partly. When I did that (and that wasn't easy, at least, not yet) I could get into that mindgap I was in earlier. By doing this I could make both of my minds communicate normally like they were having a conversation. I could ask both of them what they would think of a certain situation. It was really funny to see the answers of the pikachu. The pikachu wasn't that smart, but more like simple. Like a young child. It would always come up with simple solutions that, most of the cases, made the problem I was giving it only worse. The pikachu mind also couldn't understand effects of certain actions. Like getting human food would make the humans mad because I wouldn't pay for it. The pikachu didn't understand that, it didn't understand that you should pay for it, it just ate. Even explaining it wouldn't help. That sort of things made it very funny to work with. Luckily for me my human side could always interfere with the pikachu mind when something was about to go seriously wrong.
On the other side I had a perfect view of the manner pikachu think. I understood Cammy and Scarlet much better now and I understood the way they came up with things. Also, names that the pikachu made up for certain things was hilarious for me. The sun was called 'big ball of light' and the outlets were called 'infinite power sources'. It made me laugh every time.
But there was also a big disadvantage. The pikachu mind was constantly trying to find my energy sources. It was trying to get the energy that normally flows through a pikachu, but as you may understand wasn't present inside me. That bugged the pikachu. It wanted to release energy every now and then, which wouldn't work as well. This made the pikachu really annoyed sometimes, so badly it even affected my mood. But I usually could calm it down. Over the days, the pikachu seemed to give up on it because there never was a response of an energy source or energy channel at my cheeks or inside my body. Of course there wasn't, I was a human.
After I went back to the colony things were completely different. Not for the pikachu, but for me. The pikachu were so used to me that they didn't even notice my different behaviour. I now could track other pikachu, I could exactly see how a pikachu would respond in a certain situation. My mind got better and better at letting the pikachu 'loose' inside me. Like controlling a robot. I could give the pikachu complete control and revoke it at any time. Strong emotions were quite difficult, but the rest was easy. When I was with the pikachu on a normal day, I usually was in pikachu-mode to learn as much stuff as I could. I tried to adapt myself to them as much as I could.
So a day came that I was in the forest with the 'old' pichu. The young pichu were napping and I took the more experienced pichu out of the colony together with the young pikachu. They still loved to be with me and to play and cuddle with me and with the older pichu. Most of these pichu were close to evolving. Some of them liked to train with me, probably because I had the knowledge how to train faster and stronger. I had been a trainer, after all. It was really fun to see them developing so quick. The pichu learned how to control their electricity, which was, even though they were experienced, still a problem every now and then. The young pikachu trained very hard, and in special the ones that wanted to become guarding pikachu. Since they had seen the battle with the ekans and arbok months ago a lot of the pichu from when I joined the colony wanted to become guards. Mostly males though and no females. But that wasn't a big problem. They trained like their lives depended on it. The young pikachu even became so good that they could join the 'adult' pikachu on their daily routines. Checking for unwanted pokémon within range of the colony, like beedril, ratata nests, or anything like that. As long I was with them to guide them the real guards wouldn't mind, but even then they would cause some trouble every now and then.
But today was a sunny day and we were just done training. The pichu, pikachu and me were chilling in the sun. I was sitting against a tree with a couple of the pokemon on my lap, when I suddenly picked up a sound. Since my hearing was way better than an average human, I could hear the faintest sign of danger. Immediately my ears started scanning for more sounds. As soon I heard more, I opened my eyes and looked in the direction of the sound. A human was coming this way, a female human. No doubt about that. My nose told me so. That I didn't smell her earlier... I blame the flowers around here. The pikachu also noticed that there was something coming and they looked at me. The pichu also looked at me. One nod and glance made them hide themselves as quick as possible. That's why I love this generation, they know exactly what I mean when I tell them to do something. I looked at the direction of the sound once more before I hid myself next to two pichu in a bush. They smiled at me. Even though I was much and much bigger than the pichu, I wasn't visible at all from nearby. Let alone from far away. The pikachu inside me automatically chose the right spots to hide. Luckily for me it was now used to my size so I always had a good spot to hide. I leaned over the pichu and placed my arms around them so my body was protecting them. Then I got low to prevent being seen.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. It got louder and louder. We were here for almost three minutes (imagine how quick I noticed the human coming) before we saw something. The pichu looked at me. A woman was coming our direction. I couldn't see her just yet, she was still in the shade. It would be a matter of time before she would reach our clearing. She walked into the sunlight and I could see her face. It was... my mother! She was walking furiously towards us and walked right past us. I had never smelled my mothers scent. Now I knew her scent, I could always identify her. To protect the pikachu and pichu, I remained quiet. Mom walked right past me, about a meter or so away from me without seeing me and headed straight for the colony. The pikachu and the pichu looked at me.
"Boy, I'm in trouble..." I whispered. "She looked mad." Some pikachu giggled and they gathered back at me.
"Everyone here?" I asked. "Alright let's go back then. I wonder what she wants."
I heard a scream from nearby. Immediately my ears perked up, as well as the ears from the pikachu and pichu around me.
"They found her... Or rather... She found them..." I chuckled before we headed back to the colony. I could hear my mother screaming every now and then, which made me run a bit faster with the pichu and pikachu in my wake.
"What are you doing...? I just want to pet them...!" I heard. Oh please, please don't be that stupid. Don't try to pet the pichu in a wild pikachu colony that doesn't know you. Please don't. Please... Don't...
I sighed when I entered the colony. My mom was surrounded by pikachu which were sparking their cheeks at her and growling.
"What are you doing?!" she said to the pikachu.
"They're trying to get rid of an intruder." I said while I walked towards her.
"Maurice!" she said when she turned around and saw my coming towards her with some pikachu and a pichu on my shoulder. The pikachu stopped and looked at my mother. What was another human doing here?
"What are you doing there?" I asked. "And I hope you don't want to touch the pichu. Could be the last thing you do." I chuckled.
"The last thing... What are you talking about? I just want to pet them!" she said.
"I know, but they don't." I said as I nodded towards the pikachu, who were still sparking, but less intense than before."
"She's OK, you can let her go. She isn't dangerous." I spoke towards the pikachu in pika-language. They looked at me and then broke the circle and allowed my mom to walk towards me.
"What... What did you tell them?" she asked a bit perplexed.
"I told them that you aren't dangerous." I chuckled when Lukas came running up to me.
"What's happening? I heard that there was some stranger. And why is your mom here?" he asked when he stood next to me.
"His mom?" a pikachu said.
"Is that your mother?" another said.
"Holy crap..."
"She's dumb..."
"HEY, do not insult my mother." I chuckled in pikachu language.
"Like she didn't know that we would attack her if she would go to the pichu..." a male said before he walked away, grinning. I rolled my eyes.
"What are you talking about...?" my mother said.
"About you. How could you walk in here just like that? You should know that you're kind of invading their territory. You could know that you would get attacked if you would come here and especially when you get close to the pichu." I said while I nodded at the pichu on my shoulder.
"Well I thought you were here so I walked into this place." she said.
"You walked right past me in that big clearing, I was hidden." I chuckled.
"What?! You saw me and you didn't say anything?!" she said indignantly.
"Of course. I couldn't know who was coming and with pichu with me I don't want to take any risk." I said as I scratched the pichu on my shoulder. "I can't risk some idiot passing by by accident catching one of these." I said.
"Well... That... Whatever, you need to come home!" she said, suddenly her tone a lot more serious and angry. "Oak told me what happened and I don't want you to be here any second longer. You could turn into a pikachu and I don't want this to escalate any further! I want you to become a human adult boy and I don't want you to stay in this retard forest! You need to learn a job! You need to earn your own money! I want you to come home and think about that! This has taken long enough now and..."
My mom kept going on about all kinds of stuff. But I couldn't concentrate on it anymore. My pikachu side (which I had switched to as soon I was done talking, I could understand humans as a pikachu) wasn't interested anymore. So I was gonna do other stuff. I sat down and grabbed one of the young pikachu. This one had some trouble with it's right leg and I checked it multiple times a day to make sure it wouldn't get worse.
"Hey, are you listening?!" my mom said while I sat down.
"Not really..." I said as I checked the pikachu. The pikachu was used to me checking him since I already did it quite a lot of times so it sat perfectly still and purred softly when I finished my inspection and scratched him on his belly. My mom was standing next to me and checking what I was doing.
"Looks good." I said in pikachu. "Just a short time and you'll be able to fully use it again!"
"Cool! Can I try agility then?" he said.
"Yep, I wonder if you'll master it as quick as your friends." I said as I looked towards some other pikachu.
"Cool!" he said as he hugged my belly and then left.
"That's cute..." my mom said softly as she watched me. "But never ignore me like that again." she said firmly.
"Did you hear me? I want you to come with me right now." she said.
"But... Mom, I'm feeling perfectly fine!" I said.
"Probably. But I'm worried sick and I want you to get home. I'm not very happy that you got turned into a pikachu partly, let alone that I want you to become one completely." she said.
"But the pikachu side is so useful! I can talk to them, I can smell and hear like them, I can even see much better if I'm pretending I am one." I said.
"Pretending you are a pikachu...?" she asked.
"Yes, I can allow a pikachu inside of me and then I possess the abilities of a pikachu." I said.
"That sounds like bullshit." she said.
"Really...?" I said. "What should I do to proof it?" I chuckled.
"Nothing, because it's not true. I won't believe it." she said.
"So you do believe Oak but not me." I said.
"I don't believe Oak either but I think you're LOSING YOUR MIND!" she shouted. "I don't want you to become more... Feral! I don't want you to become a pikachu. I want you to come home with me."
"Mom, don't worry. I'm still Maurice, except that I'm a bit wild. But as soon I life at home that'll change again, I promise." I said.
"Yeah sure, and I'll probably have to re-educate you." she said as she looked angry.
"No, you won't have to. I'm used to living here. It's safe! I'll..." I said when I suddenly saw a Fearow diving into the colony. It came straight for me and my mother couldn't see it. I heard some screams before I pulled my mom out of the way.
"DIVE!" I shouted as we both dove for cover. The Fearow flew right over our heads. I watched him flying over to the pichu playground. I immediately understood that one of these unfortunate pokémon was meant to be lunch. Then something strange happened. I don't know if it was myself giving orders, or if it was my pikachu side telling me to do it, but I launched from the ground using both my arms and legs at the same time. I quickly ran towards the playground. The Fearow slowed down to attempt to grab one of the pichu. Different electric attacks came from different directions, but the Fearow ignored them even though he was hit. He must be an high level or just used to this kind of stuff. He landed, quickly picked a pichu with his beak and took off again, dodging a pikachu doing Iron Tail and a electro ball. He tried to fly higher quickly, but before he could get high enough I had grabbed one of his paws. He still tried to take off and to my surprise he managed to take off with both me and the pichu. I quickly tried to climb up, but the Fearow was heavily trying to get rid of me.
"THUNDERSHOCK!" I shouted to the ground, hoping that one of the pikachu would actually shock me while I was slowing the escape of the predator. One or two seconds later I was hit by a strong thundershock from Lukas, who apparently came running behind me and now obeyed my order to attack the bird. The Fearow shouted his name loudly before he got hit by another thundershock, and another, and another. He was now paralyzed and about five meters above the ground he stopped flying. I looked down and realised that I was falling down. Just before I hit the ground I did something with my arms and legs and I landed safely on both before I returned to my human state. Before I realised what happened my pikachu side took over control again. It wanted me to get to the pichu. I immediately looked around and I saw the little rodent close to the Fearow. I grabbed it and held it close to me while some pikachu also joined me.
The pichu seemed alright, the Fearow had broken it's fall so it didn't land to hard on the ground. Then I regained control of myself, but my pikachu side wasn't done yet. It sent out a massive impulse to my brain, trying to gain control again and yet again it succeeded. My human mind like shrugged and let the pikachu do what it wanted to do. I licked the head of the pichu. The pichu was close to crying, and I had to do something about that. I quickly grabbed the little rodent and placed it against my chest and started to lick its head. This was another thing that was new: I did things pikachu do with much more ease. Licking other pikachu as affection was something I liked to receive from Cammy, for example. But now my pikachu half was in control, I did it myself too. My human mind freaked out the first times but licking wasn't dirty at all. I even liked it after a couple of days.
The pichu softly whimpered but quickly nested itself against me. I licked it a couple of times before I cuddled it close to my face. It cooed happily when I finally got back to human state and continued the cuddling for a while before I gave the pichu to one of the pikachu. She quickly grabbed the scruff of the baby-pokémon and headed inside the colony.
"Told you it was safe." I said to my mom while she stood next to me shaking her head as I fell backwards on my back. But there wasn't a long time to rest, there was a Fearow in the colony and that had to be removed as soon as possible. I stood up and looked at the Fearow. It was the one that was with the colony for quite a while now. It was lurking for pichu or even pikachu for quite long already. And even though Lukas and me tried to chase him away multiple times by thundershocking his nest (we knew where he lived) he wouldn't go away. But now the Fearow was here, we could safely remove the nest. The Fearow started to move again.
"What are you gonna do with him?" my mom asked.
"We would like to kill him... But we probably can't." I said. "Lukas, quickly!" I said as the Fearow was waking up.
"Take a step back..." I said when Lukas sparked his cheeks. He kept sparking and sparking before you could see the static electricity building up. His fur was standing straight and he was looking like one big ball of fur now. Then he touched the Fearow. The Fearow immediately dropped to the floor and remained motionless.
"Did you just kill him...?" my mom asked kind of shocked.
"No, we just paralyzed him again, so he can't move." I said when I grabbed the Fearow and started dragging him out of the colony, followed by some pikachu. After we dragged the Fearow to a clearing away from the colony we left it there. It would wake up pretty soon and it would manage itself. We now had to remove it's nest quickly.
"Alright, come on Lukas..." I said. Lukas nodded and we both ran back to the colony.
"We'll be right back!" I said to my mother. "We need to remove that nest."
"I'm going with you!" she said. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"You won't be able to keep up with me." I said. "We need to get to the Fearow's nest as soon as possible now."
"Then go, I'll keep up." she said.
"You won't, but alright." I said as I rolled my eyes. Lukas and I quickly moved towards the edge of the colony and we got inside the forest. As soon the vegetation got rougher we lost my mom. A short trip later we found the tree where the Fearow nested. It was quite a high tree, but that didn't scare me or Lukas at all. Lukas climbed the tree first and he made it to the top pretty quick. A minute or what later I also had reached the top and we started to destroy the nest. There were no eggs or anything so there was no harm in destroying it. We threw the next into random directions. Usually I would ask Lukas to light it on fire with a good and strong thundershock, but with the danger of causing a forest fire we just destroyed it by hand. After two minutes or so I heard my mom under me.
"How can you move so fast here... Unbelievable..." she mentioned while she gasped for air. She had noticed the falling parts of nest. She then looked up to see me standing high up in the sky, on a thick branch.
"MAURICE, GET DOWN HERE! YOU'LL FALL DOWN!" she shouted.
"Great, overprotective mother time." I said to Lukas. Lukas looked at me and rolled his eyes. He knew I could climb pretty well, I wouldn't fall down just like that.
"I'm fine mom, give me one second..." I shouted back as the last part of the next dropped down entirely.
"Job's done!" I said. Lukas smiled and jumped towards a branch next to my head.
"I hope she goes home quickly... She isn't suitable for living here..." he smiled.
"Heh heh, I hope the same. I like to see her again, but the only thing she does it worry about me." I said as we climbed back down, well climbing, it was more a sort of jumping and grabbing random branches and trees so you wouldn't fall.
"Don't do so dangerous...! Don't fall!" I heard from beneath. Lukas and I looked at each other and we both pulled a face before we bursted out in laughing. I hung from the last branch and jumped the last meter. I landed safely on the ground and I felt Lukas' paws and feet as he jumped on my head.
"Pika!" he said happily. My mom wasn't amused.
"Never do such dangerous things again!" she said as she grabbed her chest on the place where her heart was.
"No mom, I won't..." I said, knowing that it was clear that this was a lie.
"I think I'm heading home now... I've seen enough. When are you coming home?" she asked. "I wanted to see how you were doing and apparently you're doing good. But I want you to come home." she said.
"I'll come home before the next winter. That's a promise." I said. My mom thought a second about that, and then sighed.
"That's ok. I wish you would come earlier, but the summer is ideal to be here I guess." she said. I looked at Lukas.
"I'm hungry..." I said. "Let's get the pichu and get something to eat."
Lukas nodded happily and the three of us made our way back to the colony. I immediately walked over to the playground. The younger pichu were awake now and playing.
"Who's hungry?" I asked the pichu. About half of the pichu raised their paw and shouted "meeeee!" before they came closer to me and Lukas.
"What do they say?" my mom asked.
"Rough translation: We're hungry." I chuckled.
"They're kind of cute..." mom said as she sat on her knees and pet one of the pichu that was confident enough to get close to her. I sat next to her and also pet one of the pichu. This triggered the rest of them to come close to us.
"Why did Jack and Rosie want to get away from you? Oak said they didn't want to stay anymore." I asked.
"Oh, they just wanted to be outside for awhile, I guess." she replied. "It took awhile to figure out what they wanted, but they wanted to get away, so Oak picked them up and now they're fine."
"I think they wanted the pichu to experience the outside. Not the garden, but the real outside." I said. "Probably instinct related."
"Alright, I'm also getting food. See you later honey." she said as she hugged me and kissed me.
"Mooom, don't kiss me in front of everyone...!" I said as I saw the pichu giggle.
"They're too small to understand that." she said. "Take care and don't forget to put on clean underwe..."
"Alright alright, I will!" I said as I broke the hug and turned her around and pushing her toward the trees.
"Alright, bye bye sweety...!" she said as she waved from the trees. We watched her go when I looked down. The pichu looked at me and Lukas' face was about to explode, or so it looked. From laughter.
"I think I just lost some leadership points..." I said as I turned around. "Let's get something to eat!" The pichu followed me and some pikachu followed me too. Lukas followed too but I could see he had quite a lot of fun. I facepalmed. I probably had to hear this all week now.
The rest of the spring went very well. The new pichu were quick learners and the older pichu helped me very well with learning them everything they needed to know. It was also very dry for the time of year. There wasn't much rain which meant that I always slept without getting wet at night, but at the same time the grass in the colony was dieing. It had turned more brown than green... That wasn't very good... I guess.
It was a nice and sunny day when me and Lukas were eating in the center of the colony when my phone rang. I didn't notice it at first, because it probably was the first time that Oak called me instead of the other way around. I got the phone out of my pocket and watched the screen.
"'Incomming call from Samuel Oak." I said, repeating what the device was telling me. Lukas looked interested.
"Why is the thing making noise?" Lukas asked.
"Because Oak is calling me." I said. "Let's see what he wants from me." I said as I slid the green phone to the side to answer the call. I immediately put on the speaker so Lukas could hear what Oak was telling me.
"Hi Oak!" I said.
"Maurice? Please don't talk, I don't have much time." he said. His voice wasn't his normal voice, instead, it was unclear and out of breath. Oak was pretty nervous, you could clearly hear that.
"What is it?" I said, wondering what was happening.
"It's Cammy! Listen, I think you should come!" he said almost like in panic.
"But what's the matter?" I asked. I heard some noise on the background of the caller.
"Oak, what's the matter?" I asked again.
"SSSSHHHH." he said. I shut my mouth, but I didn't know why.
"Look, I can't talk too much but..." he said before he was interrupted.
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" I heard someone shouting at the background. At the same time, I heard some pika-shouting I couldn't understand because I was currently in human-mode.
"Hey! Let me... Uhg!" I heard.
"Oak?! OAK!" I shouted. "Beep beep beep beep beep beep."
"Shit, he hung up..." I said.
"Pika-pi?" Lukas said.
"Yes?" I replied while quickly changing to pikachu.
"What was that? It was scary!" Lukas said.
"I don't know-" I said while I got up "-but he said that there was something with Cammy. Come on, we go there right now!" Lukas nodded. We gave Volt temporally leadership over the colony (something the pikachu didn't like but obeyed) and then quickly ran towards the laboratory of Oak.
All kinds of thoughts went through me. I could hear multiple people through the phone and the fact that it looked like someone was hurting Oak didn't really sound very good. We quickly ran through the woods and we came on the road to the laboratory.
"Lukas, wait!" I said as we were close to the laboratory, just before it would come into view.
"Let's stay hidden, I don't want to be seen before I know what is happening here." I said. Lukas nodded and we went closer to the laboratory through the vegetation, trying to find what had caused this phone call, but everything remained silent as usual. It was never busy at Oak's laboratory, people were usually inside. We sat still and looked around.
"Do you smell that?" Lukas said as he smelled the ground.
"Yes, I do now." I said. There was a strange smell on the path, one that I didn't know. It didn't smell like a human, but at the same time it did.
"What is that?" I asked Lukas.
"I don't know..." he said.
"Let's be careful." I said. We got out of our hiding spot and headed for the door. I pushed against the door and it opened. That was strange, since Oak always closed it. Someone had to open it from the inside or have a keycard or key. I felt nervous. I could sense something, but I didn't know what. I was as alert as possible. I braced myself into my pikachu self so I could respond as quick as possible. Faster than an average human, at least. We entered the laboratory. We walked across the corridor. There was an opening at the right, the opening to Oak's lab. The glass door where Lukas had slammed into on his first visit was also opened. We walked towards it and looked inside the laboratory. My heart stopped. On the table stood Cammy. But around Cammy was a small metal cage. Cammy was sitting in the cage and didn't look too happy.
"Cammy!" I said while I and Lukas entered the room.
"Maurice!" Cammy said as she had tears in her eyes. She tried to break free but failed. I immediately knew that there was something wrong here, Oak would never ever lock a pokémon away in such a cage unless he had to move them by car. But this wasn't a cage for pokémon travel. It was made of metal with strong bars, preventing any form of escape. I tried to free Cammy, but it didn't work.
"Piiii...kaaa..." I heard. It sounded like a wounded pikachu.
"Lukas, Iron Tail that cage." I said. "Cammy, brace yourself..." I walked to the side of the table to see where that sound was coming from. I gasped - On the ground behind the table was Scarlet. She whined softly and I could see some blood next to her. I sat next to her immediately and almost jumped when Lukas attacked Cammy's cage, which didn't work.
"Damn..." I said as I turned my attention towards Scarlet. She was wounded, but she wasn't badly hurt, fortunately. It looked much worse than it was.
"Who did this to you?!" I asked Scarlet. Scarlet opened her eyes and closed them again in pain. She must be having more pain than I thought. I gently scooped her from the ground and held her against me when I heard footsteps. They were coming this way. Not soon after at least three people entered the room.
"Ah, about time you showed up." one female person said.
"HEY, WE GOT HIM!" a other male shouted. Another male stepped forward.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" I said while they came closer and stood along the table. Lukas had walked back over to me and was standing with his tail high up and sparking cheeks. If I was a pikachu, I would be doing exactly the same. I looked at the three humans with an angry face. I suddenly noticed a small 'R' on their clothing. I also noticed that their clothes had that strange smell from outside.
"We are coming for this rare pokémon." she said while looking to Cammy. "I think you already know who we are. We've read some interesting things about you, Maurice." she said as she got my file from the table. The file that was stolen earlier.
"One of our people noticed that you are in a pikachu colony and that you are able to talk pikachu language. Is that true?" she asked.
"Where is Oak?" I asked while more grunts entered the room. "And why is Scarlet wounded?"
"Oak is taking a small nap, but that's the least of your problems." she said. "You are coming with us."
"I'm not." I said. "I'm staying right here with Cammy, Lukas and Scarlet!"
"I was afraid that you would say that. Scarlet tried to resist and you see how it ended. You can turn yourself in now and no one will be harmed." she said.
I looked at Lukas. Lukas looked back at me and nodded.
"I don't think so!" I said while Lukas sparked his cheeks dangerously. Scarlet also sparked weakly but then closed her eyes again. I looked down and placed her in a more comfortable position.
"Your choice." she said as both males pulled out a pokéball and released their pokémon. A zubat and a koffing appeared. Lukas took a small step back and growled.
"Come on Lukas, you can do this! Remember our training!" I said.
"Pika!" Lukas said.
"Alright then, start with thundershock!" I said. Lukas immediately released a thunderstock towards both pokémon at once. They both took the hit and didn't appear very damaged.
"Is that all..." one of the Team Rocket males said. "Zubat, supersonic!" Zubat released his attack as an high pitched sound entered my ears. Lukas put his paws over his ears and placed his head against the ground to make the sound go away. And I did the same, because the attack actually affected me. Scarlet also screamed softly. I changed to human quickly before the feeling got very bad. As a human I could hear a faint high pitched screeching sound, but I couldn't hear it entirely. However, Lukas had trouble. He was confused by the sound.
"Koffing, tackle!" I heard.
"Lukas, evade and counter with Iron Tail!" I said. But Lukas didn't respond. He was a bit wobbly. The koffing came closer rapidly.
"LUKAS, IRON TAIL!" I shouted. This time he listened. He missed the koffing completely but at least he dodged it.
"Good job! Now do agility!" I said. Lukas used his speed to attack the koffing. He hit the koffing in the back and the koffing fell to the ground but got back up.
"Not bad..." the female said. "But don't think we're done. Guys, give him the finishing blow." Both males nodded.
"Koffing, smoke screen!" one said. A thick smoke filled the room and I couldn't even see Lukas anymore.
"Zubat, confuse ray!" I heard.
"Lukas, keep moving!" I shouted. I didn't know what was happening.
"Zubat, wing attack!" I heard.
"Lukas, dodge it!" I said, knowing that it wasn't easy to dodge when you couldn't see. I hoped Lukas would use his other senses to know where the Zubat was.
"Do it again!" I heard.
"Koffing, tackle!" I heard. I heard a pikachu screaming. Lukas was hit by at least one attack.
"One more wing attack should do it." I heard from the other side. The smoke started to clear as I heard the last attack hit Lukas. When the smoke cleared, Lukas was on the ground. He was beaten and he was moving faintly. I quickly moved closer and picked him up and placed him next to Scarlet.
"Jerks..." I said.
"As I said, you're coming with us." the female said. They came closer to me. I stepped back. I looked at Cammy. Cammy looked scared and she had her paws around the bars of her cage. She wanted to get to me, but she couldn't. I took a couple of steps back from the grunts, but I stood against the wall.
"Take him." the female said as she turned around. More grunts came and grabbed me. They removed Scarlet and Lukas.
"What should we do with them?" the male grunt asked.
"Oh, we don't need them." the female said. "Just get rid of them."
"If you kill them..." I said.
"I wasn't talking about killing." the female said as she nodded her head. The males threw Scarlet and Lukas aside. Scarlet landed on the supercomputer, rolled across the keyboard before she fell off and disappeared in the gap between the desk and the computer. I could hear a faint scream as she hit the ground. Lukas landed on the ground hard and growled. He growled again and rolled on his belly softly. The grunts grabbed me and dragged me out of the room. Of course I wasn't really cooperating, and after a while they gave up. They also took Cammy with them.
"MAURICE!" she shouted.
"CAMMY!" I shouted back as she disappeared out of sight. I still wasn't willing to cooperate and the Rocket Grunts were fed up with it. They sat me on the ground and forced me to sit down. Then they held some kind of cloth against my face. As soon I smelled it my head felt dizzy and within seconds, I fainted.
"Finally we can take him." one of the grunts said.
"Don't hurt him. We need him." the female grunt, the leader, said.
"We won't, boss." one of the grunt said before they dragged the boy towards a car that was waiting outside. Lukas saw his best friend getting kidnapped and there was nothing he could do. His body was hurt all over. Scarlet didn't notice anything, she had fainted and was under the desk and supercomputer, fainted.
"Pika-Pi..." Cammy softly whispered while she saw 'her daddy' being carried into a car. Then, someone took her cage and lifted her into another car. The doors closed and the cars drove off to an hidden destination...