The Catastrophic Clash

By Harly and Kelin

Part 1:

The Blackened Sky and Hedgehog Pie

Pikachu wanders through the bushes, picking a juicy leppa berry here and there. As she passes a heavily laden bush, she notices her basket is almost full.

"I think I have enough for a yummy leppa berry pie!" Pikachu exclaims. "I must get home and prepare it before all my friends arrive."

Pikachu scurries back toward home, the basket swinging in one paw. As she enters an open area, the air begins to smell of sulfur and she skids to a halt. Looking around her, her eyes dart upward and see that the sky is rapidly becoming a blended mass of pitch black and smoky grey. Making a high-pitched squeaking sound, Pikachu drops her basket, not caring that the berries have tumbled everywhere.

She begins to run in the other direction, when a loud thud is heard. Hiding behind a bush, she spies a large red and black hedgehog lying sprawled on top of her now squished berries. She stares at him in awe, and makes a very, tiny squeak. Not knowing he's a hedgehog, she quivers as she watches him.

"Ow," said the hedgehog, as he stirs and checks himself over. "Why the fuck do I smell like fruit, and where the fuck am I? I see nothing but squished weird ass looking berries, a basket, and a dark ass sky."

Pikachu stares in scared fascination through the leaves of the bush. Her eyes dart back and forth, scanning for any detail she might have missed. Where the hedgehog once lay is now a foot deep depression, the earth smeared orange from the now deceased berries. She stays utterly still as the weird looking creature walks sedately to another bush, grabs a large leaf and begins to clean, or try to clean, himself off.

Shadow's POV

Shadow picked himself painfully up from where he landed and looked himself over. He looked pretty awful, his spines in disarray and one of his skates missing. At this point in time, he didn't give a fuck about where his skate had disappeared to. He groaned and muttered to himself.

"Ow," he said, checking himself over again. "Why the fuck do I smell like fruit, and where the fuck am I? I see nothing but squished weird ass looking berries, a basket, and a dark ass sky."

He looked around with puzzlement, then spied a large bush. Walking over to it, he grabbed a leaf and began patting at the stains on his fur. Trying to re-align his spines, he caught a hint of brown out of the corner of his eye. His ruby eyes focused intensely as he dropped the leaf and began to stalk cautiously forward. His face held a brooding, slightly angry for him expression as he peered into brown, innocent eyes which held a tinge of sparkle. Stopping halfway towards those eyes, he yanked off his skate and put it in his spines with a frustrated grunt.

"If I don't find the other stupid skate, Tails better make me a new pair," he muttered to himself.

Now silent on bare feet, Shadow continued forward. As he reached the bush, he bent down and peered through the leaves. What was that creature again? He was sure he'd seen it before. A lightbulb flickered in his brain as he remembered. Two years ago, a Pikachu had landed on Mobius, though they had no idea where from. Sonic and Shadow, along with the rest of the gang had ended up rescuing it from Eggman and befriending it. He was sure the little electro mouse was still hanging around somewhere.

"God I miss Mobius," he thought. "I miss Sonic too. I hope his world didn't turn as upside down as mine did."

Shadow slipped a hand through the leaves and curled it around Pikachu. He was just about to pull her free and stand up when what felt like a million volts of electricity scrambled his nerves and sent him tumbling ass over teakettle. Shadow rolled away and landed on the other side of the clearing again, stunned and with spines sticking straight up.

"Static shock," was all he could think, and that hazy at best.

Pikachu's POV

With a loud "Pika!" Pikachu lands back in the bush. She squirms to her paws, frowning in confusion at the thing she landed on. She pokes at it cautiously.

"Wasn't that the thing that creature was wearing?" she asks herself, watching the creature in question flailing around and landing face down. "No wait, this must be his missing one! Maybe… Maybe I can give it back and he'll go away? It's too late for pie in any case."

Pikachu gingerly picks up the skate and walks with halting steps toward the creature. He is stirring again, but not upright yet. Stopping a small distance away from him, she drops the skate and backs away timidly.

"Pika… I hope he won't stomp on me now," she says as she points at the skate.

Shadow's POV

"Ughblarginvlargingla," Shadow mumbled as he tried to stand. "Stu…pid Stat….ic shock."

Shadow fell over again, face upturned to the dark, foreboding sky. Finally, he managed to get his bare feet under him and wobble into an upright position. A sigh of relief escaped him as he noticed his skate was still in his spines, which were now…

"What the fuck!" Shadow called to the murky sky. "This is the worst, day, ever! If there is a god out there, please send me an angel to watch over me… Oh wait… Scratch that bit, um…"

Shadow looked sheepishly down at his toes. It was then that he noticed his lost skate, and who was pointing to it. Before he lost himself completely and did an undignified jig, he sat down and put on his skates.

"Pika!" said the little Pikachu happily, though she must also be frightened of his display as she stayed where she was. Reaching out a hand, palm up to Pikachu, he offers her a smile. When she squeaks at him, he flips his hand over and pets her head.

"I'm sorry that I scared you," Shadow said softly. "I'm normally very friendly around cute Pokémon such as yourself. In fact I've seen a Pikachu before. It lives on Mobius, which is my planet. Please forgive me. I'm not having a very good day. My name is Shadow, by the way. I'm a hedgehog."

Pikachu's POV

Pikachu looks up at Shadow, whose eyes have gentled considerably. A bright smile lights up the hedgehog's face, which quells her fear. She thinks to herself that a smile changes his whole demeanor completely. He doesn't look at all scary this way. As she feels his pets to her small body, she relaxes, his apology also helps and she lets out a happy "Pika Pika."

She leaps into his arms and snuggles close. Shadow laughs and pulls out a red handkerchief from his non-existent pockets. He wraps it around her neck as he hugs her back and she cuddles under his chin. After a long moment of hugging, Shadow picks her up and sets her on his shoulder.

"We should probably get out of here," he says as he stands and dusts himself off. "It's getting colder by the minute and I can feel you shivering. Don't worry, I'll keep you warm."

"Pika-Pikachu," she says as they start to walk out of the crash site.

As they leave the clearing, her eyes close and she wonders what made the sky so dark. In her heart she hopes desperately that they can beat it together. She doesn't know what she will do if something else arrives and starts to hurt Pokémon. Sleep overtakes her as Shadow picks up speed.