"The most important attribute of a Receiver is mental resilience, and the only way to become proficient at this is by rebounding from adversary."

-Resilience, Baseline Set.

The transmitter was finally done. It had taken them several months to finish. The first order of business was to send a basic transmission through it. It was such a simple task, yet the Rec Center couldn't be more divided on the issue.

Luis had wanted the Receivers to get more help from whatever worlds they were sent to. Unfortunately, the Threat would definitely be looking for them, if it wasn't already, since all past transmissions through worlds were all conducted with reverse-engineered Threat transmission protocols, albeit encrypted.

Any in-world transmissions were all done with native technology, of course, so the Threat couldn't reach them. At least, it meant the Pokemon world wouldn't get attacked for a long while.

The final part of the equation was the gateway. Reverse-engineered from Threat gateway, like all the other inter-dimensional tech the Receivers used, it was meant to allow them to reach other worlds. It would have to be repaired when they finally planned to go back.

And that was happening right now.

Cecily was one for small tasks and passing tools around. Hell, anyone could operate a screwdriver or hammer, which was amazing when Charlene and Henry were working on the important parts of the Gateway.

Charlene got out of bed in the dead of night. This would be her chance before anyone knew what she had done to that Pichu a few days ago. She had registered it at the local Pokemon center, leaving before saying a word.

With shaking hands, she crept down to the armory door, entering the code. Watching over Lawrence's shoulder without being noticed paid off. Inside, she carefully took a flashlight and pistol from a rack, before opening the Pokeball.

Unfortunately, the Pokeball released the Pichu in the state it had been when it went in: tensed up in fear. Investing in rubber boots, gloves and hard plastic armor all over turned out to be a good idea, since the Thundershock that was unleashed in her general direction would have been lethal if it connected, protective gear or not.

She brought up the flashlight to see – right before errant sparks flashed in front of her face. Gasping, she rolled over and brought her gun up to its face. "Stop!" she yelled. Pokemon did understand English, but a terrified one… she had no doubt it would likely be her death.

If the situation wasn't so dire, she'd had laughed. Living on another world, being able to experience its wonders for real, was one of her dreams. Now she would die here, all because of an idiotic mistake.

The air still crackled with electricity, and she carefully pulled back the slide, risking a slam-fire that would cause the situation to get even more out of hand.

Flicking off the light, Charlene scrambled behind an ammo box and considered her options. She flicked on the flashlight and hurriedly checked the pistol chamber. Brass stared back at her. Good.

A quick check of the surroundings with the flashlight had another Thundershock sent her way. This time, it connected it her chest knocking her over, but nothing actually happened besides the burning. She looked down to see a hole melted in her plastic chestplate.

The skin around the area was raw and peeling. Enduring pain would be the only option for now. A glint in the corner of her eye caught her attention, an artifact from the combination of the darkness and afterimage from her flashlight.

She felt the Pichu leap onto her, its tiny claws digging into exposed, bleeding flesh and lean into her face, no doubt about to shock her to oblivion-

Instead, a tiny mouth gently kissed her on the cheek. She felt warm, tingly, almost as if she was back at her home in Reality B as a little girl.

No angry electric rodent, no gun, and no flickering flashlight. Her mother might come in soon to check on her. What was she doing here? Her mind felt like it was wrapped in a thick cotton quilt. Dimly, she remembered the harsh light, the darkness… but that was just a dream, wasn't it?

She began to tear off her slippers and gloves. They began tingling immediately, as did her entire face. Fur. Yes, there was the family cat on her bed as usual. It was her dad's. He always lounged on the couch with it.

The cat was demanding attention again, rubbing against her face, no doubt. She would have to hand him over to her mother. Getting up, she began to walk–

–and crashed painfully to the ground. Wincing, she stood up or attempted to, ignoring the squeaks of protest. She only felt numb, flailing limbs and intense tingling. The lights above her head exploded in sparks of arcing electricity. She had to call her father, maybe he could get someone to fix it–

Before she could even call out, a massive amount of pain shot through her entire body, forcing her to grit her teeth because of the pain. She began to moan and shiver profusely. That was a fever, wasn't it?

It was the dead of winter, after all. Probably flu.

Pain crashed through her entire body like a tidal wave for what felt like hours. She had to stay awake! Yes, her vision was blurring and going dark at the edges. An attempt to shout resulted in nothing but a jaw held in a vice. Her mother and father would find her, whatever was happening. They'd get the ambulance and send for the hospital–

A sort of serene tiredness overtook her. She'd just tell her mother and father about it the next day. Before long, her world went dark.

Pichu watched the rapidly cooling body of the human next to him. This one was far easier to hurt than the ones he normally saw. Even with all his stored electricity, it took only a short time for them to stand back up.

It – she? Judging by the body shape, it was female – had smoke coming from singed hair. His tiny nose wrinkled at the smell of flesh. It certainly didn't smell right, mixed with noxious chemicals that made him feel light-headed. Was flesh supposed to smell like that?

The strange objects in her hand had created light and smoke from nothing. He knew humans couldn't store electricity in their bodies, so they came up with other ways; great buildings containing metal towers arcing electricity and locked boxes twice a Raichu's height.

The rectangular item, once pointed at him lay next to the body, a wisp of smoke coming from it and smelling of ash. Stranger still was the metal tube she once held, producing light from one end.

Tentatively moving over, he struggled to pick it up. It was half his size, but heavy. Frightened sparks to fell from his cheeks as it activated. Leaning against the far wall, he crept forward again, trying to remember how she had used it.

Sleep overcame him as he collapsed from exhaustion, his energy spent.

Henry opened the armory door with a laptop in hand, taking stock. He dropped it upon noticing the mess inside.

An odd pair of rubber gloves and gumboots greeted him. For all he knew, they only had the five pairs, all still in the kitchen. The Rec Center in no way ever carried gumboots, and besides, he had triple-checked the armory lock before lights-out last night.

Sobbing could be heard from deeper inside. Who would even enter without permission? A terrible idea struck him. Had someone injured themselves in here? Lawrence would need to know immediately – he began to debate if he should bring Nigel before investigating. Morbid curiosity won out.

What he saw made him puke.

Charlene lay on the floor, unconscious. No, he realized, after seeing the gun, flashlight and bullet casings on the floor. Dead, likely. Shock overcame him as he turned her over. A great hole was burnt into what looked like a set of sports gear, raw flesh peeling off in large patches.

Her hands looked like raw meat. Falling over, he dragged himself out of the armory, glassy-eyed, into the mess hall. No one else had arrived yet. That was good, because for today, everyone would need time off. He eventually stumbled to Nigel's room, pounding on the door with all his might, before passing out.

Charlene's death happens here. She canonically is susceptible to poor decisions.

Even armed with a gun, her armor and rubber boots/gloves couldn't save her.

Also, the description of what the move Sweet Kiss does to its target is open to interpretation. I made it so it does a mind-screw that can severely alter perception of events. Pichu also leanrs it and Nuzzle at relatively low levels so it was a good fit.

Henry did hear Pichu, but thought nothing of it. Shock made him focus on Charlene.