Summary—All right, I like this chapter as a whole. A certain character experiences a little thing called Jealousy and must deal with the fact that things change.
Chapter 13:
The Other Woman
"I caught it! I caught it!" Shamin yelled excitably, clutching the Pokéball and hugging Ash tightly. "I caught—what's it called again?"
Ash gasped, trying to breathe, but laughing at the same time as he held her away at arm's length. "A Bellsprout, Shamin." He beamed at her. "You caught your first Pokémon. What do you plan to do next?" he asked in a mock TV reporter sort of way.
She smiled slyly. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"
"Ah . . . no." He bent down and started to congratulate Trigger on his first successful battle. There was hope for the pup, although he had to look at Shamin more often. Still, considering how young he was, it was very good.
Twisting her mouth into a pout, Shamin turned away from him, holding the Pokéball in her hands and ogling it. "Totally cool. My, well, it's not my first Pokémon, ya know." She sounded like some of the novelty was wearing off already.
"First capture," Ash pointed out as he pulled up to walk alongside her, allowing Trigger to walk on at their side. He knew better than to run off after getting lost for a few days. "My first capture was a—"
"Where's Pikachu?" Shamin asked suddenly in order to bypass his nostalgic car crash.
Ash whirled his head around. "She was here just a minute ago," he muttered, slightly surprised that she was gone. "Pikachu! Hey, buddy!"
Pikachu bounded out of the bushes and stood off to the side. "Pika?"
"There she is!" Shamin said, gripping his arm to turn him around.
He smiled at the mouse as they walked over. "Look! Trigger won! And Shamin caught her first Pokémon! Isn't that great?"
"See?" she said proudly as they knelt down, brandishing the Pokéball in front of Pikachu. Trigger looked especially pleased, although he really didn't know why. He just knew he was a very good dog today.
"Guess she's not as hopeless as I thought, huh?" Ash teased, giving Pikachu a wink.
Shamin frowned and banged him on the back of his head. "Hey, hey, hey!"
Pikachu looked at the two disgusted as the pushed each other playfully. A frown overtook her usually cheerful features, and barely noticeable bolts escaped her cheeks. "Ka!" she spat.
"Pardon?" Ash asked, turning his attention back onto her while Shamin let go of his hair.
With her eyes narrowed, Pikachu turned smartly and ran back into the bush.
"Hey! Pikachu!" Ash yelled, jumping up. "Come back!"
"What's wrong?" Shamin asked, worried. Pikachu never just took off like that. "Is she all right?"
With a worried expression on his face, biting his bottom lip, Ash tilted his head unsure. "I don't know. Something's bothering her, and I have to find out." With that, he ran into to forest calling, "Pikachu!"
"Hey, wait for me!" Shamin yelled, pocketing her Pokéball, returning Trigger (as they hadn't covered Trailing in his training, and he'd be more of a nuisance), and following. "Pikachu! Where are you?"
****
Pikachu purposely ran away from the voices calling her name, doubling back and slipping past them easily. It made her sick, sick deep down inside.
What was she sick of, might one ask?
Them.
She was sick of being around them, of being with them, of listening to them, of talking with them, sleeping next to them, training with them, traveling with them . . . The list just goes on and on.
Don't get Pikachu wrong one where this is going. Pikachu wasn't sick of Pikapi or Chupi, oh, no no no! Never that. She wasn't sick of Pyro or Chuka either, if that's what you're starting to think. They may have gotten on her nerves a bit, but they were okay, for the most part. No. What she hated was Them.
Pikapi and Chupi.
Ohh, she hated, how she could think of them as just one word—Them. It made the electricity in her body build right up to her ears and down to her tail. It shouldn't go like that, no no no! It shouldn't. It should be Pikapi and Pikachu as Them, with Chupi, Chuka, and Pyro as the add-ins. Not with her and Chupi's roles reversed.
"Chu!" she spat, running up a hill to sit at the peak.
It was so confusing. She liked Chupi, she did, but now it was like the girl was stepping over some line, some line she couldn't cross in Pikachu's mind. Pikapi was hers.
"Oh, great! I'm starting to think like Pyro!" Pikachu moaned. You can't just own someone, Pikachu believed. True, some Trainers might disagree, saying that Trainers owned their Pokémon, but Pikapi wasn't like that. They were friends, friends to the end.
Pikachu sat on her hunches and looked over at the forest, still hearing the calls for her. Part of her wanted to obey the order, but the stubborn streak—something she had picked up from Pikapi—in her wouldn't allow it. No, she'd sit right here until they figured out that she was upset.
She nodded with affirmation, but part of her—the part with common sense still working—brought up the point that they wouldn't know what she was upset about. Well, they should! she thought savagely. If they were any kind of Trainer and friend, they'd know. Pikapi'd know. Yeah, he would, for certain.
Yeah right. Maybe if a house landed on him, part of her thought savagely. He didn't even notice I was missing.
Pikachu shook her head, ears banging her cheeks, and ran on trying to understand her problem.
If only she could just tell Pikapi . . .
No! He wouldn't understand, she thought with bitter sadness.
She stopped at the base of a tree and climbed up to a branch. What vendetta did she have against Chupi being with Pikapi?
That she shouldn't be with Him. Pikapi was hers! Hers, hers, hers! Not . . . Chupi's.
"But why not?" Pikachu moaned, holding her head in her paws.
This wasn't right. She wasn't a territorial Pokémon by nature, like Pyro. Hell, she wasn't even Male, like Pyro again. Damn, he got all the excuses for being a jackass to Pikapi, and she got none to be one to Chupi! It wasn't fair!
When had this change of thought and heart come about? At first, Pikachu had been unconcerned that Pikapi and Chupi were "an item", as Chuka put it, for the past few weeks, even thought it was cute. Hell, they weren't even that, Pikachu added. Aside from the time at the fair, they acted no different—no kissing, no not fighting or whatever (which would have been nice, for now they fought more then ever), no being overly nice to the other. It was like both had reached a mutual agreement they yeah, they did like each other, but they weren't going to go further because they didn't know what to do next. The furthest they went was to hold hands, and even that they did rarely. True, they slept a little closer together, Pikachu put in, but it wasn't like they were in the same sleeping bag. Wasn't that part of being "together"?
She whimpered with confusion. Human mating habits were too weird for a simple Pokémon like herself to understand completely. Did they have seasons? Why was it okay to do one thing here but not there? You could touch someone here but not here without getting slapped, but then again you could and not get slapped by the same girl. It didn't make sense!
Pikapi was at the age when he started to sexually mature, Pikachu could tell. There was a different scent to him. Well . . . not different, exactly, but like there was an addition to his old scent, one that told of the happenings in his body. (Did that tell females he was, at least sexually, mature? Could they smell it like she could?) He'd act funny too, staring at women and girls like Brock had, although thankfully not nearly as bad. He was still shy around girls, probably more apt to run away or fight with one than woo and swoon one.
Pikachu wasn't sure where Chupi was in maturity because she hadn't known the girl long enough, but there was the slight smell to her as well for a few days. She wondered if Pikapi smelt it.
The mouse sighed. Pikapi was happy, and Pikachu should be happy that he was happy, but she wasn't. She wasn't. She was confused and upset and jealous.
Jealous . . .
It wasn't like Pikapi spent more time with Chupi. The time he spent with the girl was the same as before, and he didn't give Chupi any terrible amounts of attention. And he didn't ignore Pikachu either. She did not feel neglected, not in the least. Pikapi was always there for her, for everyone.
But then there was . . .
Pikachu sat up straighter.
It was his eyes.
Pikapi now gave Chupi the Look, the self-same look he had always given her and only her before. And now Pikachu shared that look with another. That unsaid source of devotion, of loyalty, of compassion, of blasted all Love.
Little bolts of lighting escape her cheeks as she thought of it. That was her Look. She loved that Look.
Pikapi had such nice brown eyes. They were an unlimited source of power. They were special. They showed that he really was the most compassionate Trainer in the whole world.
Eyes really were the window to a person's—or Pokémon's—soul.
Pikachu settled down slowly. Was this how Chitorika felt when she was jealous of Ash and her? Had she wanted the Look from Pikapi that only Pikachu had been allowed to?
It wasn't fair. Pikachu wanted the Look back to herself. She really wanted it back.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall.
She'd have those eyes back to herself, she vowed defiantly.
****
Pikachu dashed into the campground and stood next to Ash's pack.
"Tail," Pyro sneered by way of greeting, and Miriam looked up from her cooking. It was a tad sad that she was the best cook they had. True, she was no Brock, but at least Miriam had an attention span longer than ten seconds and liked food normal people actually ate when they weren't drunk.
"Hey, Rodent," she smiled, brushing back her hair. "They're lookin' for ya." Pikachu merely looked at her with innocent eyes. "Didn't notice? They been lookin' for over an hour."
"Pika ka pikachu—"
"Enough," Miriam sighed. "I'll let them look and yell themselves hoarse. Watch the food while I get some more wood, all right?"
Both Pikachu and Pyro nodded, and Miriam strolled away.
"You didn't hear them?" Pyro sneered. "Come off it, Rodent."
"Believe what you want," Pikachu muttered getting closer to the fire.
Pyro looked at her with narrowed red eyes. "You're a terrible liar, like Blondie."
"I don't practice lying like y—" She stopped, aware that he had her. Pyro looked smug.
"You don't. And you don't use your head. So what were you doing?"
"Nothing. Just thinking."
"Same thing with you," the fox said, walking over to sit next to her. He studied the mouse, unconsciously summing up the best way to attack her for his dinner. Of course, Pyro wouldn't. For one, Pikachu was a lot stronger than she looked. Then there was the idea that why eat Rodent when there was stew, which tasted almost as good. Thirdly, Miriam would disapprove highly, and Blondie would be rather upset (like that mattered to Pyro). And in the last place, he wasn't interested in a chase . . . at the moment.
The fact that they were friends never crossed Pyro's mind.
"Yes?" Pikachu asked.
"What?" Pyro asked innocently, not taking his eyes off the fire.
"What do you want?"
Pyro chuckled grimly. "I don't want anything."
"Sure you don't." Pyro made no comment to counter, and they both sat in silence. "Pyro?"
"Yes, Rodent?"
"Speaking hypothetically—"
"But mostly pathetically." That was typical Miriam humor.
"Ha ha, no. Pretend we're all drowning except Chuka. She could only reach one of us. Who would she save?"
Pyro tilted his head and looked at her. "Why do you ask?"
"It's a simple question," she answered, avoiding the question. "Who would she save?"
His tails flicked. "Shamin," he said with certainty.
She blinked in surprise. "Why do you say that? Why not say you?"
"Because I would not need rescuing," he stated in his self-assured, cocky voice. "Blondie would rescue you, and only Shamin would be left."
"No! Pretend we're all unconscious or hurt and can't save ourselves! Who would he—she save then?"
Pryo looked at her. "Well, I suggest we don't go swimming any time soon to find out, yes?"
Pikachu nodded in agreement without thinking. "You don't believe she would save you?"
"I am not foolish, Rodent," Pyro said softly, looking back into the heart of the fire. "In either choice any of us make, we will deal with the consequences as they come. Miriam would not be satisfied with any choice she made, but she would save one of us, that is sure, even at the cost of her own life. All of us would."
She nodded again in agreement.
"But," Pyro continued. "If this hypothetically situation ever came up, then I would hope Miriam would save Shamin." Pikachu perked her ears up.
"Why?"
"Because, Rodent, I refuse to be the reason Miriam would lose a dear friend. Better to lose me, a mere pet that she will most likely outlive anyway, than a person who is like family, whom she sees as family. A pet is not something to choose over a friend."
"But you are her Friend! Not just a . . . Pet . . ." She didn't actually finish the sentence, the words sinking in her head. Were they all just pets?
He chuckled humorlessly. "Rodent, we are Pokémon. If and when"—he said "when" like he knew the time would eventually come, and Pikachu shuddered—"the choice comes, they will save their own before they save us. They will protect their own. We are friends now, but never lose sight that we are just Pokémon to them." He flexed out his claws, razor sharp and deadly. "I would, if roles reversed and I was the savior, save Miriam, maybe even if she ordered me not to. Yet I do have reservations about her actions." He looked at her. "What did bring about these rather depressing thoughts, Rodent?"
Pikachu shrugged, looking at the flames. "Nothing in particular."
He chuckled again, almost sadly. "You do better to tell the truth. You have a very dishonest face during a lie."
"I don't lie."
"Ah, very true. A lie is only the trust in a different light, albeit sometimes no light." His nostrils quivered. "You're worried. I can smell it on you. But about what, I pretend to wonder?"
Pikachu smiled slightly, turning to look at him. "Only pretend?"
Pyro ignored the statement. "Do not treat me as stupid or blind. Your faith has wavered."
"Pardon?"
His fangs glistened. "Normally you would have said something against what I have said, that Blondie wouldn't do that. You haven't. You are beginning to doubt what you were once so sure of."
"That proves nothing."
Pikachu hated Pyro's next chuckle. It was so conceited, arrogant, mocking, and assuming all at once. The Devil would laugh like that, and her ears lowered. "Does it now?" he mused, snapping his tails against her back and making her sit up straighter as he stood up and turned. "A piece of advice, Rodent, now that your foundation has cracked and the river of Doubt seeps through at an ever-quickening pace. Move your village to higher ground, or you'll lose everything when that dam breaks."
"Quite the poet," she snapped.
"I am one of many talents," he agreed with false-modesty. "But, it is true. Now that you doubt Blondie's loyalty to you, I hope you do nothing so foolish that you actually do lose it."
She turned her head quickly, eyes flashing at his tone. How could he actually think she was going to do something? (That didn't come out right.) She opened her mouth to scold him for such an innuendo, but no words came out when she ended up meeting his blood-red eyes. He used no Glare attack on her, and in the back of Pikachu's mind wondered how strong that attack would be if he could freeze someone when he didn't use the attack. It would turn them to stone or putty.
"You speculate, most likely falsely. Maybe you are over-reacting over something terribly silly, which you probably are. But, if it is true, I suggest you accept it. You cannot change it, and running away from him will not help this cause."
Pikachu watched as he turned around and walked into the forest's darkness.
"And Rodent?" he added before the darkness stole him away.
She found her voice. "Yes?"
"Before your village floods, make sure it was not for a falsehood. That will be terrible price to pay when a population of three-four-whatever years is given up for dead. Quite the headline, I would image."
****
Pikachu sat in silence after Pyro had taken off. Oh, what does he know anyway? she thought angrily.
Actually quite a lot.
She sighed, shaking her head. So now, thanks to that talk, she doubted Pikapi. She hadn't doubted him before, but now—thank you, Pyro—she did. Pikachu whimpered. She felt sick.
Would Pikapi rescue her . . . or Chupi?
So deep in thought, Pikachu barely noticed Miriam's arrival. "Still hangin', Rodent?" she smiled. "I see Pyro probably got hungry."
Pikachu smiled at her, watching at the woman placed logs in the fire and stirred the thick broth.
"I suppose maybe I should call them for supper," Miriam laughed as she scooped herself a bowl, and then one for Pikachu. "But I'd hate to interrupt their search and quality time."
"Ka," Pikachu said lowly, blowing on her stew to cool it off.
Miriam paused in mid gulp and looked at Pikachu. True she hardly understood Pikachu-nese, but she knew a few terms and it was largely based on tone and content. (Face it, if you can only say your name, there can only be so many combinations to use. Miriam mir mir am!) "Something wrong, Rodent?"
Pikachu raised her head and looked at her with innocent eyes. "Chu."
"Really?" she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. Pikachu kept up her charade, and Miriam didn't continue the questions now, dining on her meal. Yet her green eyes studied Pikachu closely.
The mouse found she didn't have much of an appetite and only ate a few mouthfuls of the delicious meal. Then she laid down and looked intently at the fire, transfixed by the dance it displayed.
She jumped terribly when Miriam's soft and gentle hand touched her head, traveled down her spine, and up her tail. "Ya okay, Rodent?" Miriam asked gently.
Pikachu nodded her head and looked back into the fire.
Miriam pressed her lips together and carefully picked up the mouse. Pikachu went up like a doll, limp and bored. "Only time people stare at fire for so long and so intensely is if they have somethin' on their mind, or nothin' at all. Which is it for ya?"
The former, Pikachu thought vaguely, closing her eyes under Miriam's hand.
"Feelin' all right?" Pikachu shrugged at the question and snuggled closer against Miriam. At least someone cared . . .
Miriam sighed and sat up against a tree. "Somethin's wrong, I know it." Pikachu made no comment. "Blondie and Shamin are probably worried 'bout ya."
No reaction from Pikachu.
"They're kinda cute together, don'tcha think? A little shy, I suppose, but better than havin' 'em jump each other's bones." Miriam grinned. "Just image havin' to dump cold water on em every night. But they're sweet couple. Don't act like it though. Think they were brother 'n' sister the way they carry on." Miriam kept her voice at a very soft gently-floating-down-a-river tone, one that slowly unnerved a person, changing them into putty to be molded and manipulated.
"Course, they have that Look, ya know."
At that Pikachu nodded ever so slightly, but Miriam felt it.
"Young love, ya know. I like the sheep eyes Shamin casts at him. Been doin' it forever, course, since he managed to tail her. Got one of them worship thingies, and Blondie does have the face to fall for. But it's nice that it's actually being noticed."
Miriam ran her hand over Pikachu's ear. "Of course, just because Blondie and Shammy are together, that doesn't mean he doesn't like ya any less."
Pikachu sat up like a board, shock on her face. Then she tried to look innocent.
"Oh, don't play coy with me. Ya're jealous, plain as day. Can't see why though." Miriam poked her in the stomach, then scratched her head. "Blondie's about as fair as they come. He ain't gonna forget 'bout ya."
She made a face at Miriam's ditty. "Chu pika pikachu Pikapi ka—"
"Don't talk. Don't understand ya anyway, so don't talk," Miriam ordered. "Listen. Whatever's been botherin' ya, get off the high horse and deal with it. Distancin' yarself from Blondie ain't gonna help the cause. And don't get any ideas 'bout messin' with him. Ya'll regret it."
"Chu?" Pikachu asked quizzically as Miriam set her down.
"Understand, Rodent, he's happy now. Course, he always is, but that's not the point. The point is that if somethin' happens between them two, he ain't gonna be very happy. And if he finds out ya had somethin' to do with it, he ain't gonna be to pleased with ya. I've seen it happen. Been part of it." She rolled her eyes at the memory.
Miriam stood up and looked at Pikachu, who tilted her ears in confusion.
"Ya're gonna have to share him eventually, everythin' about him. He won't stay young forever, and he'll meet someone he'll like a lot, that'll make him happy. But now here comes the doozy of a problem."
Pikachu leaned forward to hear it, for Miriam spoke like she was divulging a secret.
"When the time comes, and it will because he cares a lot for ya, when he asks if ya like her, and ya don't, but he does—a lot—do you sacrifice your happiness for his? Because he would drop the girl for ya. That he would, and don't ya ever kid yarself about that. So how do ya choose?" Miriam turned and walked back to the fire.
She paused, blinking her eyes slowly. "Chuka, pikachu pika kaka?" Pikachu asked, coming up to Miriam.
"Silly Rodent," Miriam smiled, not understanding the parallel question proposed to her.
****
They were just plain nosy and presumptuous. What did they understand? Pikachu asked the darkness from behind her eyelids.
A lot. Both of them knew a lot. And they were wise enough to see her problems. But they couldn't solve them. Only she could.
Pikachu had mused on the idea of allowing Chupi to meet some sort of accident, or on how much electricity the Human body could survive. But Pikachu was not a cold-blooded murderer, in these circumstances. Not in any circumstances she could imagine.
She curled into a tight ball in the nook on the branch. It was a bit into night. Chuka had fallen asleep, but Pyro was still out hunting. Even he wasn't a murderer, though he killed other Pokémon. He did it for food, although he had no need now and rarely did so.
Funny that a Pokémon who kills other Pokémon is not a murderer, like when a Human kills a Pokémon, but a Pokémon who kills a Human or a Human who kills another Human is, she mused.
Pikachu heard a small sound and opened her eyes to look down. The fire was still alive, and she squinted into the forest. Pikapi and Chupi would be returning soon.
It was them, both dirty and exhausted. Shamin was already asleep, being carried on Ash's back piggyback style. She was terribly light, Pikachu admitted, undernourished and probably way under what should be her body weight. Many thought she was anorexic, and the pale, thin face she had did little to help convince people that she shouldn't be in a hospital. Too many years—even with the Tunnel "meals"—on the streets took their toll on her appearance. Even Miriam was thinner than what she should be, although she did look healthier than the younger, but not by much.
Pikachu saw that Ash looked ready to drop, but he carefully set Shamin down and covered her up with her bag. Then he carefully looked around the campsite, going over to his own bag. His shoulders quaked when he didn't see what he longed to see.
"Pikachu," he whispered hoarsely, running his hands through his hair and clutching the strands. Pikachu watched, fascinated, as he opened his bag and searched for something. She leaned forward to see what it was as he withdrew his hand.
A flashlight.
Grimly Ash clicked it on, and she saw his face: damp cheeks and tired, worried eyes. Carefully he stood up and headed back towards the forest.
"Are you going to let him go?" a voice whispered in her ear.
Pikachu jumped and turned around to see Pyro next to her. She couldn't find words.
Pyro strutted on the branch, circling her. "I've been following them. All he did was worry about you. She tried to calm him down, but he was in hysterics as it continued. Even when he was hungry he didn't come back. What does that say to you?" His tails surrounded her as he circled, for it was a thin branch and he had to walk extra close to her to get around. "I'll tell you. He cares about you. He was going to let her go back to camp and continue looking, but she said that was dangerous. And it is. He only came back because it is dark and Shamin was too tired to continue, as you can see. He needed a flashlight."
His tails seemingly tightened around her like oppressive air, making her unable to breathe.
"It's dark out there, Pikachu," Pyro said quietly in a dark voice. Later, Pikachu would remember that he called her by name, making this confrontation more like a debate with her own conscience. "He's tired, crying, and hungry. There are many dips in the fields, and this is wild Pokémon territory. He doesn't have his Pokémon—they're in his bag, remember? He's helpless. Worst of all, he's desperate and scared. They can smell that."
"Stop it!" Pikachu cried, covering her ears and trembling.
Pyro came closer, baring her fangs at her. Pikachu suddenly became aware of how easy it would be to kill her now, and the terror increased. "Are you scared? You should be. He wouldn't be back in the morning if he continues that way. The signs are all there."
"What—what signs?"
"Have you ever met a
"A what?"
"A very dangerous Pokémon. Travel in packs. Dangerous when hungry. Attack the weak. There's a pack over that way, with a litter. Even more dangerous. They're in the caves about four miles away." Pyro walked down the branch. "Most likely he won't get that far, probably fall from exhaustion, but they are great distance travelers, hunt at night too. I'm not fool enough to go against them, not when I'm this big."
Pikachu looked at Pyro with wide eyes. Even though Pyro was nowhere near the size he should be, he did not let that dictate his actions. If he was afraid . . . "Pikapi."
"I'll see you in the morning, Pikachu. But remember, he went looking for you. Sleep well with that." He leaped down and strolled next to Miriam, lying next to her and closing his eyes.
Pikachu was down the tree and after Ash in a second.
Once Pyro couldn't hear her any longer, he opened his eyes and chuckled. "Sucker."
He stretched and yawned, a satisfied smirk on his face. There. Now I have done my good deed for the . . . um, let's see, decade, maybe. Yes, decade will do.
****
Ash staggered, forcing his eyes to remain open. She had to be around here somewhere. She might be hurt . . . or worse. He gulped. It was all his fault. He did something to upset her and now she was gone. Ash blinked back the returning tears. "Pikachu!" he called as loud as he could, but his voice was hoarse and it was barely louder than a whisper. "Pikachu! Where are you?"
Pikachu easily caught up with Ash, as he was too tired to keep up a good pace. "Pikapi!" she yelled, leaping. He turned slower than she was used to, but Pikachu managed to gather herself into his arms. "Pikapi!" she cried, tears flowing.
"Oh, Pikachu!" he gasped, hugging her tightly, crying as well as he fell to his knees. "I was so worried about you! Whatever I did, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But you came back!"
"Pika kachu Chupi pikachu pika!" she sobbed in a rush.
"It's okay," Ash murmured holding her tighter, not totally understanding the onslaught of rapid sobs and hiccups. "It's okay, buddy. Everything's all right."
Pikachu looked up at him with wet eyes, and he looked at her with those special eyes, forgiving and kind. "Pi?"
"Of course."
She leaped up and hugged his neck, nuzzling against his face. "Pikapi . . ."
Ash smiled, shakily getting to his feet. "Let's get to camp and get some sleep."
"Pika," she agreed quietly, not letting go.
"I was really worried about you," he murmured sleepily, walking slower. "You took off like that and everything."
She nodded, not listening to the words but the sound of his tired voice. Look at the pain she had caused him . . .
It took longer for him to get to the camp, but he finally made it, collapsing onto his sleeping bag. "Pikachu, I'm sorry," he said softly, pushing himself up onto his elbows. His eyes were fluttering closed already.
Pikachu shook her head. "Chu. Pi chu Pikachu."
He smiled, shaking his head and gave her a scratch behind the ear. "The Trainer is always responsible if his Pokémon runs away or disappears. I hope I can make it up to you." He sighed, lowered himself down, and closed his eyes, almost instantly falling asleep.
Pikachu looked at him in shock. It wasn't his fault! "Chu, Pikapi," she moaned.
"Hmm. Yes. My fault."
"Pikapi! Chu pika pikachu!"
He yawned, curling into a ball. "My fault . . ."
Pikachu almost started crying again. He thought he was a bad Trainer. She was a bad Pokémon, putting her needs and happiness in front of his. "Pikapi." Her voice trembled. "Pikachu pika pika chu ka."
"Good night, Pikachu," he sighed from within his sleep, smiling slightly.
I forgive you. Why did she say that? It was her fault. He should have to forgive her.
Because he needed closure, Pikachu thought as she covered him up and petted his hair, bringing it away from his eyes. Even if he was wrong, he needed to know that it was over with.
He blamed himself.
It was her fault.
She laid next to him, crying silently. She'd never forgive herself for this. She'd make it up to him, somehow. He was a good Trainer, a good master, a good friend. And she'd share him with whomever he wanted to be shared with, because he deserved it. And she owed it to him.
Pikachu licked his cheek. "I'm sorry."
"He knows that."
She jumped again at Pyro's interruption. He was lying next to Miriam and had watched the entire scene without interruption.
"Do you think he doesn't understand you? He knows it was more you than him, but he will take that blame because it is his responsibility. You are his charge."
Pikachu looked away from him, from all his answers of the world. "It's not right."
His tails made an interesting pattern. Some of the more civilized individuals might consider them offensive, but the fact was Pyro only did then to stretch muscles or to fight boredom. He didn't know that he was making offensive gestures—not that he'd admit that—until Miriam informed him. In any case, Pyro had that rare, special knack and ability to control each one of his nine tails separately, varying between making intricate patterns and rude gestures. "You know he'll blame himself if either Miriam or Shamin, or even me, died, because they came with him. It doesn't matter if they did it themselves. They came along with him. He will take responsibility for them. Like he does with you."
"But—"
Pyro sighed, looking at her with his red eyes. "Listen. Some Trainers probably blame everything on their Pokémon and not themselves. Those are the ones that need the most help. If someone is willing to take the blame for someone else, they are a strong person, and the smartest. It never is always the other guy's fault, but neither is it always yours. But by saying it is yours, you are making a vow never to let it happen again. He won't let you leave again."
Pikachu was silent. "It won't happen again."
"Your Trainer has played a guilt trip on you," Pyro smiled. "He is a crafty devil. For an idiot," he added smoothly.
"He is not an idiot!" Pikachu snapped, jumping up at his barb and ready to hurt him for such words. "He's not!"
"Oh, no, he isn't," Pyro agreed softly, looking at her with his red eyes that all but froze her to the spot. "But you are. Don't make this mistake again, Pikachu. Don't. I won't help next time."
"Thank you, Pyro," she said quietly. Pyro pretended not to hear, but Pikachu didn't repeat herself. Instead she looked at Ash. His eyelids were moving as he dreamed, hiding his pretty eyes.
Pikachu had to wonder if Pyro was correct as she laid back down. Did Pikapi really believe it was his fault, or was he covering for her?
Had it been before these months, before these talks, she would have said because he really believed it was his fault. But now . . . was he just protecting her?
She bit her lip. Her Trainer, the one she was supposed to know inside and out, was starting to become a mystery to her. Why? Was it her fault, or his?
If he was his, was he doing it purposely? Did he want to be a mystery to her, to make her wonder?
No, Pikapi wasn't like that, Pikachu thought firmly. No, it was, if not her, something else, something stronger than both of them together.
The whole point of training was to know your Trainer, and for him to know you. It couldn't be the training or battling. It must be just her, Pikachu decided. She had been selfish, and it clouded her judgement. That was all.
Even with the belief, Pikachu shook and huddled tightly to Ash as if to protect him, looking defiantly into the darkness. And if she was wrong about it being her fault, well, there'd be no more of that by whatever it was that was causing it.
POKÉDEX
A pack Pokémon, Lupenni have gotten a very back rap over the past centuries. They are friendly and shy, not bloodthirsty killers, and do not stand much of a chance against hunters looking to seek their soft pelt, which can blend into any woodland background. They are common only in areas of low Human population and are strong family units.