Chapter Three

It's strange speaking to Pikachu and having him respond. I mean, since he's a close friend of mine – despite being a Pokemon – I want to speak with him but it's strange. Over time, Pikachu managed to learn some words from just being around us but he could only make a combination of noises, now we understand one another.

"Hey, buddy" I smile at him and he tilts his head to the side, watching me. "You want to get some food?" I ask and I scratch him behind the ear.

"Food?" he squeaks back and I laugh. I guess we don't need to eat anymore. The purpose of eating food is to sustain life and neither one of us is alive any longer. It just seems a normal thing to do, to journey and get tired and feel hungry but I don't feel tired anymore and it doesn't feel difficult. It feels natural as if we've been on this same journey forever.

"Yeah, what am I thinking," I laugh before patting my shoulder. "You want a ride?"

Pikachu scurries up my arm and settles down on my shoulder, giving a soft noise of happiness. I walk forwards before seeing a food stand. Amazing. There really are food stands up here but I don't have any money. That's unfair. Are some people buried with their money so they can go to places like these?

I run forward and see food appear in front of me. There are all kinds of dishes here, some of my favorites and a large bottle of ketchup only a fraction smaller than Pikachu. Pikachu jumps down and starts hugging the ketchup excitedly.

"You want some help there, buddy?" I ask and Pikachu shakes his head.

"No, I've got it," he tells me before taking the cap off with his paws and licking it happily. He's always loved ketchup. I pick up a fork and start eating. It still tastes satisfying even though it's not going to provide any health benefit. It's just a little sad that I'm not eating with those I love around me but at least I've got Pikachu.

…..

…..

I look to see Mom there pacing and the doctor comes up to her, I tilt my head watching. This isn't a Joy. Usually it's Nurse Joy that comes to give Pokemon their medicine and so shouldn't she be doing the same for Satoshi as well. He just needs some potions or berries or something. I know that he's a larger creature but he's smaller than an Onyx and a Dragonite and those can both be healed easily.

Even Snorlax can be healed easily and Satoshi is much much smaller than a Snorlax. It doesn't make much sense to me. "He's asking for Pikachu," the doctor says and Mom turns to me before approaching me. I wonder if she's going to take me to Satoshi.

"Come on, let's go see how he's doing," Mom tells me and she picks me up in her arms, giving me a hug. I manage to yank out a full heal with my paws and she follows the doctor to the room where Satoshi is. As the doctor leads Mom into the room, I scramble down and see Satoshi is hooked up to different machines. I don't really know what type Satoshi is but I don't think that he's an electric type and those machines usually help electric types.

"How are you feeling, ho—honey," Mom says and I see tears in her eyes. It's sad to see Satoshi taken down with a direct hit but the full heal should do him some good.

"I'm feeling okay," he says before turning to me, his eyes focusing on me with a sadness but also a need. He needs me to be there with him.

"Pikapi!" I yell as I gently jump up onto the bed and he pulls me to his lap. I snuggle up to his warm chest and he puts his hand on my head with a goofy smile before ruffling my fur. "Pikapi!" I sigh as I let his heart remind me that he's still here. I still have my friend with me.

"Darling, are you sure that you're feeling all right?" Mom asks him and he shakes his head. Of course. He just got revived after a battle. I don't like being revived after a battle either, I feel all woozy and disoriented. Still, Satoshi will be happy when he's allowed to take his medicine.

I jump down again and rush to where I left it before picking it up in my mouth and taking it to him. He slowly takes it from me and stares at it before his smile turns sad. This is what he needed, right? Don't full heals solve everything?

…..

…..

Of course, Pikachu doesn't understand. He's a Pokemon and Pokemon are different from people. Still, he is aware enough of what is going on to try to hand me an item that makes him feel good. From what the doctors have already explained, this isn't something that can be easily solved. I take the full heal from him. "Sorry, buddy" I tell him, my throat starting to feel dry and my lungs beginning to burn. "Not this time. It's not effective on this type of hurt."

Pikachu tilts his head as he looks at me. I'm not sure how much of that he understood but he's obviously smarter than a lot of people want to give him credit for. "Thank you though. I'm sure we'll play together, real soon, okay?"

I try to smile to him and pretend that the situation is okay. Pokemon are very receptive to the emotions displayed by their trainers. If I act sad or scared then that's going to affect Pikachu. Pikachu relies on me and I don't want to let him down. I don't know if he believes me of is comforted by it but I'm comforted by the idea of him finding peace this way.

"I wouldn't advise much playing for the next week," the doctor says and I know that they have my health in mind but I wish they wouldn't say such things when I'm with Pikachu. Maybe he's just a Pokemon but I feel that he understands everything and I don't want to worry him or make him worried about us not training together.

"Right," Mom says and she finally looks energetic. I rub Pikachu behind his ears and put the full heal on the counter next to me. "Well we'll fight this and we'll beat this, I meant there are more tests that you can do, right?" she asks the doctors and I hate to worry her.

In all honesty, I think that medicine is really the only way of getting back on my feet and I'm praying to any god Pokemon out there that when the test returns it doesn't say I have something like leukemia or another cancer. I'm supposed to be a young trainer wanting to be a Pokemon master. I need to develop my skills. I don't even know how this could have happened.

"Is there a ball or something around here?" I ask and the doctor looks at me sadly but confused. I'm honestly surprised about the confusion, I just want to entertain my Pikachu. Since Pikachu fears going into his Pokeball we've always been together. That has been important for our friendship.

"I'll go find one, sweetie," Mom says and leaves the room. The doctor readjusts my IV bag and I try to soothe Pikachu. The pain still hurts even with the drugs that are making their way through my veins. I want to do my best for him though.

As I sit there, I see my two earliest companions rushing to the door, "He-Hey," I choke as I see the nervousness that both of them have. Pikachu turns to them and his ear twitches.

"So, are you feeling okay?" Takeshi asks and I see that in the glimmer of his eyes, he's concerned about me. Kasumi is quiet. Surely she knows how I feel about her, how I've always felt about her. I try to laugh to hide the pain that I have and also to divert their attention away from the fear I'm feeling.

"What do they think it is?" Kasumi asks and I pause before pulling Pikachu tight. "Is it bad?"

…

…

"They think it's Lugia," Satoshi says as he holds me to his warm chest. I blink. I don't remember seeing a Lugia but could I have missed it. I could have been distracted by an apple or something. I look at him confused and then I hear Kasumi start to cry and Takeshi looks horrified by the idea of a Lugia. Seriously, we've seen some weird Pokemon on our travels.

"Are you sure?" Kasumi asks, "Satoshi, I never…I never really…"

"Don't feel responsible for this," Satoshi tells her and Takeshi is struggling as well. He walks over to the wall and places a hand on it. I watch the two of them. Were they fans of Lugia? Why don't I remember meeting Lugia recently? "It's just…it just happens."

"I…I really…" Kasumi struggles. "I have…we need to spend some time together whilst we can," she tells Satoshi energetically and then scratches me under my chin. It feels good. I see Satoshi look at her and wonder what she meant by whilst they can. Play time can go on forever as long as you don't say goodbye.

"We can beat this," Takeshi finally says as he turns around. "It's not impossible to beat. In fact in breeding, there are a lot of different ointments that you can make if you use Pokemon. I'll try to go to some labs, see if there's been any tests proved. I mean, we have access to Pokemon who are good for health reasons."

Kasumi nods. "How about it, Pikachu? We'll help Satoshi beat this!"

I smile as I try to nuzzle Satoshi again, "Pikapi! Pikapi!" I try to get his attention and he nods solemnly. I don't know what a Lugia has to do with this but sometimes pain goes away in time and that's what I think will happen here. He laughs as he holds me close to him with one hand under my butt and the other cradling my head as if I were a baby.

"Thanks guys," he whispers and I see the pain on everyone's face. I don't understand what Lugia did to cause this but I want to do anything in my power to keep Satoshi smiling.

End of Chapter Three

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to Nami for reviewing Chapter Two

The jokes were actually for old fanfics that I wrote when I was a kid (like eight or nine) but I decided to focus on more serious subject matter in this chapter. Please let me know if you want more humor and fluff or you prefer the dark moments.