Author's note: Heyo!
In today's chapter, we insert some headcanons!
... Well, I guess the whole fic is a headcanon, really, but hey. XD Here, we have some pieces of lore that I thought I'd slot in, because it's the perfect fic of mine to use them in.
Hope you like the chapter!
Chapter Eighteen: Comrade Compassion
Pikachu smiled pleasantly as he patted the wet sand into place. It'd been a pretty good day today! Currently, he, Axew and Scraggy were building a sandcastle on the beach. Nearby, Cilan was relaxing and Ash was busy training. Iris, however, was elsewhere.
"(Wow, our castle's coming along great!)" Axew said happily.
"(Yeah, it is!)" Pikachu replied.
This was nice. He hadn't worn many natural smiles lately, but playing with these kids was helping with that.
"(I'm gonna build a moat!)" Scraggy said, scooping away sand from around the sandcastle.
"(Great idea!)" Axew replied. "(I'm gonna build some sticky-uppy thingies!)"
Pikachu huffed in amusement. "('Sticky-uppy thingies?')" he asked.
"(Yeah! Those things they have on the top of castles!)"
"(Oh, yeah, the pointy thingies!)" Scraggy replied.
Pikachu gave another huff of amusement. "(Well, they're not really pointy...)" he said, "(and I think they're called battlements.)"
"(Yeah, yeah, those!)" Axew replied.
"(When we're done with the sandcastle,)" Scraggy said, still digging the moat, "(I'm gonna knock it down!)"
Pikachu gave him an exasperated smile. "(Now, Scraggy, don't do that...)" he chided.
"(Yeah, knock it down!)" Axew agreed.
Pikachu sighed in exasperation, though he was still smiling.
"(What'd you hit me for?!)" Excadrill suddenly yelled in anger.
"(Me?!)" Crustle yelled back. "(You're the one who hit me!)"
Pikachu spun his head around to see the crab and mole pushing their foreheads together aggressively.
Excadrill growled. "(You wanna go, pal?!)"
"(Heck yeah, I do!)"
"(Well, bring it on, then!)"
Stopping what he was doing, Pikachu stood up, dropped to all four paws and ran over. "(Hey, hey, hey!)" he called out. "(Guys!)" Skidding to a stop, he stood up again and tried to gently push them apart. "(Cut it out, okay?)"
They both whirled on him. "(He started it!)" they growled at the same time.
Standing his ground, Pikachu tried to put on the calmest face he could. "(Look, it doesn't matter who started it. Just please stop fighting, okay?)"
Ignoring him, they went back to glaring at each other.
Pikachu heaved a sigh. He hated when pokémon didn't listen to him. He had to try and be nice, though. Sometimes, he'd lose his temper and Thunderbolt the ones fighting, but he was going to try and avoid that today, if he could.
Besides, Thunderbolt wouldn't work terribly well on Excadrill...
"(Guys, hey,)" he continued, "(we can settle this peacefully, right?)"
Their growls softened, but didn't cease.
"(Just both say you're sorry and make up, okay?)"
They quietened, but continued to glare at each other.
Pikachu was growing exasperated now. "(Come on, guys... please?)"
There was a long pause, the crab and mole still glaring at one another.
After a long moment, they both huffed and turned away.
"(Fine...)" Crustle mumbled, "(I'm sorry...)"
"(Yeah...)" Excadrill mumbled back, "(me too...)"
Pikachu smiled. Great! It had been solved peacefully this time!
"(See now, was that so hard?)" he asked.
They both huffed again, walking off elsewhere, in different directions.
... Well, they hadn't quite made up yet, it seemed, but at least they weren't about to tear each other's throats out anymore.
Letting out another sigh, Pikachu wandered back over to where Axew and Scraggy were still working on their sandcastle.
"(Sorry about that, guys,)" he said, sitting down. He scooped up some wet sand and patted it against the sandcastle. "(Was breaking up a fight.)"
"(You do that a lot, huh?)" Axew asked with a smile.
"(Yeah. Well, someone's gotta.)"
"(Better you than me!)"
"(Yeah,)" Scraggy said, eyeing Pikachu up, "(but didn't he bite Oshawott's head off a couple days ago?)"
Pikachu winced. "(Well...)" he said.
"(Ha, yeah!)" Axew replied. "(He was a grouchy pants that day! But he's been real nice today!)"
... He hadn't been that much of a grouch...
Suddenly, Iris came down the steps, holding a magazine. Walking over and sitting herself next to Cilan, she opened it and peered inside. Pikachu watched as her face lit up more with each turn of the page.
Cilan peered over. "Hmm?" he asked. "What's that you're reading, Iris?"
"A copy of Poké Chic that Cynthia let me borrow!" Iris replied. "Ohh, the pokémon in here are all so cute~! I wanna hug them and pinch all their cheeks!"
Heh. Poké Chic, huh? Buneary had modelled for that magazine once.
Cilan chuckled. "Is that so?"
"Yeah!" She held it out for him to see. "Take a look!"
He leaned over as she turned the page. He smiled. "Ah! I can see why you'd find it so sweet and tasty!"
She giggled. "Yeah!"
He leaned in closer and her face went slightly red, but she casually turned the page.
Pikachu looked away again, focusing on the sandcastle. It was looking pretty good so far! Once it had its moat and battlements, it was sure to look even better!
Maybe he could gather some seashells and decorate it a bit. Maybe put some tiny flags on it, too? Though, if Scraggy planned to destroy it, then he supposed there wasn't much point...
There was a sudden screech of terror from Cilan that made all three pokémon jump in the air in fright. Axew fell to the ground, covering his head in fear, and Scraggy pulled his loose skin up defensively.
Pikachu glanced over at Cilan, who was rapidly backing away from Iris.
"Oh..." Iris said, glancing back and forth between him and the magazine. Her expression turned sympathetic. "You're still not over the purrloin thing, huh?"
... Ah. There must have been a purrloin model on one of the pages...
"Uhhh..." Cilan replied, smiling awkwardly, "I think that's a bad taste that's never going away, I'm afraid..."
She glanced back at the magazine. "Even if it's just a picture?"
"It's a photograph of an actual purrloin, so... yes. I'd say that counts."
Iris sighed, closed the magazine and put it to one side. "Look, I'm really sorry that stuff happened to you... but you can't blame all purrloin for that..."
Cilan glanced away. "Well, yes, I know, but..." He sighed, rubbing the side of his neck. "It isn't like I want to view them that way..."
"Then why do you?"
"Well, it's like the fear you used to have of ice-types. You said once that ice-types invaded Dragon Village, and knocked out all the dragon-types, right?"
Iris hugged herself and shuddered. "Yeah, and so easily, too... Plus, they made it really cold all day... and I hate the cold..."
"Exactly! Three purrloin tormented me when I was a five-year-old, lost in the woods, and I've never been able to forget it!" He copied her and hugged himself. "A dish so bad that you can never scrub the taste away..."
She gave him another sympathetic look. "Yeah, but you said it yourself, remember? They'd lost a fight to a group of herdier, or something, and were taking it out on you?"
"That's what I'd been told from the people nearby. That I was just a stress relief. Still..." He shuddered. "Those malicious grins on their faces... One had me by the legs... one by the feet... and the other..."
"Yeah, you said it... trailed its claw across you, right?"
He shuddered again. "First across the stomach... then across the neck... laughing the whole time..." He paused a moment, looking almost in pain. "The people said those three purrloin often did that... catching people and tormenting them... but they never caused any actual harm..." He paused again. "But still..."
"Yeah, the trauma's lasting, right?"
Cilan slumped in defeat. "Yeah..."
Iris gave him a comforting smile. "Hey, maybe you'll get over it one day... Just take it one step at a time, okay?" She smiled brighter. "After all, I got over my fear of ice-types, so I'm sure you can do the same!"
He gazed at her in awe. After a few moments, he smiled back determinedly. "Well, I can certainly give it a try!" He winked and posed. "After all, every dish takes time to perfect, am I right?"
She giggled, nodding. "Right!"
"Hey, why aren't you two watching my training?" Ash called over in slight annoyance.
Iris frowned in his direction. "Excuse me! We're having a conversation! Don't interrupt like a needy little kid!"
"Hey, what do ya mean by that?"
Huffing, Iris turned back to Cilan and shrugged. "He is such a little kid..."
Cilan laughed awkwardly. "Your favourite flavour of insult for Ash, it seems..." he replied.
"It's not my fault it's true."
Pikachu turned away from the conversation. He could see now that Axew and Scraggy had long since gotten over their fright, and were busy building the moat and battlements again.
... Oh. Pikachu had been so interested in what Cilan and Iris had been saying that he'd forgotten to help.
Scooping up some wet sand, he patted it into place.
"(Man,)" Scraggy said, "(I don't get this 'trauma' thing at all.)"
"(Well, ice-types are pretty scary!)" Axew replied. "(I wasn't born when they attacked, but I heard lotsa stories!)" He inspected a battlement he'd just made, nodded, then moved onto the next one. "(It's so cool how Dragonite just tanks ice moves!)"
Scraggy shrugged. "(Yeah, I guess so. Especially since he's flying-type, too, right?)"
Axew gasped. "(Oh yeah!)" He beamed. "(Wow, now it's even more impressive!)"
Hmm... Pikachu couldn't say he understood what trauma was like either, really. Life-changing things had certainly happened in the past, but nothing frightening.
What had happened to him were more like... cautionary tales. Yeah, that summed them up pretty well.
"(Nice moat, by the way!)" Axew continued.
Scraggy beamed at him. "(Thanks! And you guys are doing good on the castle!)"
"(Thanks!)"
Pikachu smiled back. "(Yeah, thanks!)" he replied.
"(Just a bit more, then we can knock it down!)" Scraggy said with way too much enthusiasm.
Pikachu's smile turned exasperated. "(Scraggy...)"
"(Yeah, knock it down!)" Axew agreed.
Pikachu sighed, choosing not to argue.
Glancing elsewhere for a brief change in scenery, his eyes landed on Oshawott, who was chatting animatedly to Snivy and Emolga.
... Hmm. Oshawott had flirted with a purrloin before, hadn't he? A male one, at that. One that Cilan had also jumped away from in fright.
... Pikachu had never told Oshawott this, but he'd known the whole time that the purrloin had been male. Sure, the guy had been acting very feminine, but one whiff of his scent would tell anyone that he was male.
His own sense of smell was rather good, so he'd known almost immediately. Oshawott and Meowth, though, hadn't.
Meowth could maybe be excused, since he'd always had a terrible sense of smell. It was on par with a human's, which meant that telling pokémon genders apart was harder for him.
Oshawott, however, simply hadn't been paying attention that day.
The otter had been so enamoured with the purrloin's sparkly puppy dog eyes that he hadn't seen through the ruse at all. Even though it should have been obvious.
Pikachu hadn't told him, curious as to how things would play out.
... He'd also been a little bit hopeful. Hopeful that, once Oshawott had found out the truth, he'd still like the purrloin. He'd still want to give him a chance.
At the end of the day, the purrloin - being presented with two bouquets of roses, one from Oshawott and one from Meowth - had even looked vaguely interested by the idea.
... But no. Of course, the second he'd revealed he was a boy, they'd both abandoned ship immediately. He'd never seen anything so shallow.
Well... maybe he had, but still.
Perhaps it had been wrong of him to hide what he'd known at the time, but it would have all amounted to nothing, either way, so no big loss, really.
Oshawott had gotten over it pretty quickly, so it hadn't mattered.
Pikachu's expression soured.
Suddenly realising that he was glaring again, he quickly shook his head and turned away. No. Today was a good day. He wasn't about to ruin it.
He continued building the sandcastle.
"(Voolah!)" Axew said happily. "(It is complete!)"
Pikachu chuckled at him. "(You mean 'voila'?)" he asked.
"(That too. Anyway, Scraggy, wanna do the honours?)"
"(Do I ever!)" Scraggy replied.
"(... Shouldn't we take a picture of it first?)" Pikachu asked.
Axew blinked at him. "(Does anyone have a camera?)"
Pikachu blinked back.
Huh. Actually, come of think of it, none of them did, did they? Dang. If only Trip was around. That kid was always carrying a camera, to 'document his journey'.
"(Uh, I guess not.)"
"(Then let's bust it down!)" Scraggy said.
Axew beamed. "(Yeah, let's!)" he replied. He moved backwards, out of the way.
Sighing lightly, Pikachu did the same.
Scraggy frowned determinedly. "(Alright, here we go!)"
He reared back his head. Swinging it forward, he smashed into the sandcastle with Headbutt. It immediately collapsed, caving in on itself.
"(Yeaaaah!)" Axew cheered.
Pikachu gave an exasperated smile. "(Yeah, way to go...)" he said.
Scraggy huffed proudly. "(Darn straight,)" he replied.
"... Say, Cilan?" Iris suddenly asked.
Pikachu glanced over in curiosity. He saw Iris fidgeting awkwardly.
"Yes?" Cilan asked.
"Um..." She pressed her fingers together. "I was wondering if... you'd give me a few pointers on cooking?"
Cilan tilted his head. "Hmm? But didn't you say you could cook just fine?"
Iris turned an interesting shade of red. "Y-Yeah, well... I maaaay have been... exaggerating a bit..." She huffed in annoyance. "I don't want the little kid finding out, though, or I'll never hear the end of it!"
Cilan laughed. "Well, I suppose I can provide a few recipe tips! It'll make your dishes taste more delectable than ever! Literally!"
Iris giggled. "Yeah!" She gave him a sassy smirk. "I'm sure it'll be delectable working with you, Cilan."
He beamed at her.
Huffing proudly, she continued. "Sweeter than an apple! Spicier than a curry! Better than..." She paused. "Um..."
Cilan laughed. "You don't need to strain yourself, Iris." He winked at her. "Though imitation is the best form of flattery!"
She gave him an embarrassed smile.
... Huh. Iris sure was trying hard to impress Cilan today. What was the deal with that?
Did she...?
Pikachu shook his head, looking away again. No. That was ridiculous. They were just good friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
... And, even if that was the case, it probably wouldn't last. If one were to ask him, they were better off as friends.
Later that day, Pikachu was relaxing on the beach when he was suddenly approached by Oshawott. The otter looked a little uncomfortable.
"(Hey, dude!)" he said with a forced smile.
"(Hey...)" Pikachu replied.
"(Me, Snivy and Emolga are gonna have a berry picnic in the woods. Wanna come?)"
Pikachu blinked. "(Huh? Why are you inviting me?)"
Oshawott smiled brighter. "(Oh, you know! Good sportsmanship and all that!)" He paused. "(Wait, that's the wrong word.)"
Ah. Staying on good terms, was it?
Pikachu shrugged, offering the otter a smile. "(Yeah, sure. Why not?)"
"(Great! I'll tell Snivy and Emolga!)" He turned on his heel and left. "(Just meet us there whenever, okay? We'll get the berries ready!)"
"(Okay, sure.)" Pikachu blinked. "(Wait, whereabouts in the woods?)"
Oshawott stopped and turned to face him. "(Remember that clearing Ash was training in?)"
"(Oh. Yeah?)"
"(Roundabout there's good!)"
"(Okay, sure.)"
Nodding, Oshawott turned back around and carried on walking.
Heh. A berry picnic, eh? It sounded fun enough.
As long as they didn't eat too much, that is. He wanted room for dinner, after all...