Chapter Two

Roku and Kachi sat in the hospital, Kachi sobbing. Roku had offered to cover the extensive hospital fees. Poor Muchuru was badly hurt.

A nurse walked towards them and Kachi jumped up, wiping her tears away. "Is she going to be all right? Please tell me she's going to be all right!"

The nurse shook her head sadly, "Your Smoochum is in very bad condition. While there's a good chance that she'll pull through, there's a good chance she wont. I'm sorry." The nurse shook her head sadly, and walked back into the emergency room.

"I don't understand it!" said Kachi, speaking to Roku. She still didn't like him at all, but he was at least somewhat familiar, unlike the other people in this strange place, so far away from her home. "She's always so strong! Even though she's a baby, she's never lost a battle. Until you!"

"I'm really very sorry," said Roku. "But you were the one who started the battle, not me - "

"I don't care who started it! You didn't have to fight back!"

Roku laughed. "And what was I supposed to do, let you clobber Takibi?"

Kachi pouted. "No, I suppose not." She didn't speak any more after that.

Ten minutes later, Roku asked, "Why are you so nasty? Surely life hasn't been that bad to you? How old could you be?15? What could possibly happen in a fifteen year old's life that's so dramatic that they're nasty to every one they see for the rest of their life?"

Kachi glared at him. "You wouldn't know!" she said and she ran of to the ladies room.

"I would if you'd tell me!" called Roku after her.

Kachi sobbed in one of the stalls in the bathroom. No one could understand what she was going through...her mother had been kidnapped a little less than a year ago by the newly established Team Rocket. It was kept quiet, of course, not many people new about it. Especially since Professor Oak had exiled herself to Cinnabar Island to do some research, completely alone except for her daughter, her daughter who saw it happen...

...Kachi had been in the lab, doing research with her mother. Someday she too hoped to study Pokemon, as her mother did. Though she was more interested in genetics than fighting, as her mother was. Kachi wanted to try crossing a Mew Two with a Pikachu, or a Gyrados with a Rattata, in hopes of finding the invincible Pokemon, or the smartest, or the strongest...the possibilities were nearly endless.

Kachi had been daydreaming about her future when she heard the crash of a beaker shattering on the floor. She turned to see her mother in the hands of two people, one male, one female, in uniforms with an "R" on the front. They laughed as they bound and gagged Kachi's mother, but they didn't seem to notice the girl in the corner of the lab, behind all the beakers.

"Stop!" cried Kachi, coming out from behind the beakers. She slowly walked to the front of the lab where the Rockets were. Slowly, because every now and then she would stuff some of her mother's valuable research into her bag. Notes, and a few electronic devices. When she got to the front where the three were, the Rockets laughed.

The female one continued binding Professor Oak, while the male one grabbed Kachi by the neck and began lifting her into the air. "What's that? Can't hear you!" he laughed as he dropped her to the floor.

"I'm warning you!" said Kachi.

"I'm not scared of you!" said the man. He kicked the fallen Kachi with one of his booted feet. She let out a cry of dismay. The Rockets laughed. The male rocket threw Professor Oak over his shoulder and turned to the girl.

"Are you sure you don't want to give mommy a kiss good bye?" The girl threw some sort of gas bomb into the room, and Kachi went unconscious, to the sounds of the Rocket's laughter.

The Rockets had ransacked the place while she was asleep, but she had grabbed the most important research and stuffed it in her back pack...those Rockets weren't so smart after all, they had forgotten to check there...

Kachi sobbed. She hadn't been able to find her mother in the year she had been journeying around Kanto. She had gotten all the badges and made her Pokemon as strong as they could be. Well, all except for her Smoochum, Kachi hadn't been able to get her to evolve, no matter how hard she tried. She remembered her mother's words, from when she was little and had wanted her Smoochum to evolve.

"Muchuru will evolve when your heart has matured and you have evolved as well. You and Muchuru have a special tie, Kachi, nothing will ever break that. When you are sad, she is also. When you are happy, so is she. When you are ready, she will be too. Just be patient, and you and Muchuru will be the most powerful Pokemon and trainer ever!"

Kachi had been content after that, but now once more she wished for Muchuru to evolve. She sighed and wiped the tears from her face. She had to be strong, so that Muchuru could be strong and pull through this. She had to stop thinking about mother, it made her too weak, like back at the forest, when Roku mentioned her, and then she lost the battle...

She left the ladies room and took her seat once more next to Roku. "They came out while you were gone. They have to do a very complex procedure on Muchuru, something to do with the eyes. I guess they got burned. Any how, its gonna cost something like 100,000," he said. "If they don't do it soon, she'll be blind for the rest of her life."

"I don't have that much money!" whispered Kachi, her eyes filling with tears. She hadn't been able to get a job while out searching for her mother, and what little money she had had after her mother's kidnapping she had long spent.

"Don't worry, I'll pay," said Roku. Kachi's eyes widened.

"No no no!" she exclaimed. "I'll work, and I'll save up the money!" Roku shook his head.

"They have to do it now, and besides, I already paid them. They're doing the operation right now!"

Kachi began punching him in the arm. "How could you do this without my permission!?"

"Easy! You're stubborn and wouldn't have accepted! You would have let your Pokemon go blind for your pride!" he said. "That's cruel!"

"I would never!" said Kachi, standing up. "Roku, I fear you underestimate exactly how much I care for my Pokemon!"

"Don't waste you're energy by standing. Sit down and have some of the pizza I ordered. You need to eat eight pieces or so, enough for you and Muchuru."

Kachi was startled, and a little alarmed. Had he figured out the bond between her and her Pokemon? The strange, almost unnatural link...

"And I'll have twelve pieces or so, all for Muchuru, of course!" he said with a grin. Kachi laughed with relief. Good, he didn't know. It could be dangerous for even him to know. If the Rockets found out...she shuddered at the thought of what they would go through to get a hold of her.

"How many pizza's did you get?" asked Kachi. Roku shrugged.

"Ah, four or so..."

"Four!?"

"Well, yeah. I wasn't sure how much you would eat..." :)