When we talk about Pikachu, are we talking about the whole species, or just the two I'm dealing with?
Yes, there's two of them now-apparently one the one that dresses up like a wrestler is female. You can tell by the differences in their tails, or so Red claims.
...Either way, it's kind of hard to write up an evaluation for someone whose vocabulary consists of exactly one word.
They're both kind of adorable, though. You know, when they're not trying to electrocute you.
Pokemon can be an awful lot like humans at times-they communicate with each other, and they're pretty damn smart too. I caught the female one flicking through the channels on the TV the other day. Glad they did it, too; I was sick of watching whatever that awful reality show was. Can't remember the name, don't want to. We ended up watching a documentary about crystal growth-it says something that we were more willing to watch rocks grow than suffer through The Show That Must Not Be Named.
Madame Pikachu's a bit temperamental, though. She might act cute, but she hates being touched. Getting too close will net most people a nasty shock. Poor Isabelle needed a Parlyz Heal after they accidentally brushed up against one another last week, and the rat wasn't even trying that time.
She doesn't like being helped, either; she's got an adamant desire to do everything on her own. Even when she looks completely ridiculous or falls on her face doing it.
The male one's a lot more friendly than his counterpart-it seems to be partial to Samus in particular, though it'll sit in pretty much anyone's lap if they let it. I think his most recent sleeping buddy was Ike, who was a little, uh...what did Otacon call it...tsundere about it. Pikachu must've gotten kicked (literally) off the couch at least 5 times before the guy gave in and let him stay. The really weird part was that Ike was doing this in his sleep, but that's a topic for his profile, not Pikachu's.
I've also heard that the male Pikachu's actually the Pichu that participated in the Second Crisis, but it evolved sometime between the Second and the Third. I can't confirm this myself-haven't gotten around to asking Samus about it-but Red seemed convinced, and he's the closest thing to a Pokemon expert we've got around here.
The idea of Pikachu once being a Pichu does bring up some interesting questions, though. When I was talking to Red about the subject, he brought up some information that I didn't know about before-specifically, the fact that a Pichu being born is something that normally only happens in captivity, and the fact that a Picku can only evolve if it forms a strong bond with a Trainer. (The latter sounds a bit silly, but I don't make the rules.) Despite this, and despite both having Poke Balls, neither Pikachu seems to have a trainer-or at least not one that I've seen.
This begs the question; what happened to their Trainers? Are they still alive? Did they simply release their Pokemon for some reason?
Losing their trainers would explain a lot of things-the male's unusual friendliness towards others might mean it seeks the affection that its lost Trainer once gave it. Something similar might be said for the female; its aloofness and obsessive self-reliance might indicate an unwillingness to forge strong bonds, for fear of getting close to someone and then having the rug yanked out from under it.
Of course, this is all unsubstantiated theory, but it's food for thought.
Colonel...isn't it strange how two very similar people-or Pokemon-can go through the same experiences, and yet react completely differently?
...Ah, hell. I'm reading too far into this.