Author's Notes: No chapter quote yet again, due to laziness. Well, this is the last of the transitory chapters, kind of casual, getting-back-to-normal type stuff. Enjoy!

~Z~ Darkness Doesn't Cast a Shadow ~Z~

Chapter Five: Dream Off Hold

Morning came, and was welcoming in its tangerine rays of warmth. Glitters of sunlight spilled through the window, twinkling and dancing on my bronze fur, like music transformed into light. I sat up quickly, blinking at the newborn light brightening the air in the room. Dust particles twirled, sparkling in the sunrays, bringing with their visibility a feeling of magic and renewal.

My head no longer felt fuzzy, and as I spread my arms to soak in some of the warmth, I realized that my pain was just about absent.

"How are you feeling, Raichu?" Joy greeted me as she stepped into the room. I felt a twinge of anger when she called me Raichu, but it was fleeting and fragile, like that Pidgey in the storm-ridden wind.

"~Much better!~" I answered cheerfully, figuring that she could figure out what I meant by the airy tone of my voice.

"That's good," She answered with a smile, turning back over to the door of the room and calling, "He's awake!"

The door crept open slowly, and Ash stepped in, a look of relief flooding his face. "Hey Pikachu," He said happily. "You're looking a lot better, buddy!"

I squealed his name and trotted to the edge of the table, squandering the temptation to leap into his arms. Ash stroked my head, beaming, and gave me a quick one-armed hug, as I told him, "~I'm feeling a lot better, too!~"

Nurse Joy stepped in on our little reunion to say, "I was hoping that painkiller would do the trick! Here, take this," She handed Ash a small, pinkish bag with something rattling inside. "Give him one pill every twelve hours, two if he's feeling particularly sick. It's still an experimental drug, meaning that the side effects aren't very well documented, but it's pretty much your only chance to get him back to some normality. It most likely won't expand his life expectancy, but it'll make him a lot more comfortable. With this, your Raichu can still battle, but only lightly. Nothing too grueling."

Ash's face glowed a little when he heard that. "You hear that Pikachu? You can still battle!" He repeated enthusiastically, balling up one of his fists in determination.

"Raii!" I replied, enthusiasm creeping its way into my voice. I made a quick battle pose on the table to show off my willingness.

I then took notice of the fact that Ash now had a sling over one of his arms, and it had been thoroughly bandaged up. My ears loosened guiltily. "~H-how's your arm, Ash…? I'm so sorry…~" I apologized.

"Oh!" Ash looked down at his arm, "Don't worry, it's not that bad. It should be better in about two weeks. I know you didn't mean to shock me." Ash chuckled a little. "With a shock powerful enough to hurt me, imagine what you'll do to the pokémon we battle!"

I grinned. "~Yeah!~"

"You guys can leave any time you wish. Be careful about having him take that medication every twelve hours, though. If you don't, sparks will be spouting everywhere, along with the pain from his battle wounds."

"Don't worry. I'll be careful," Ash promised, sticking the medicine dutifully in his jacket's pocket, then picking me up with his good arm and walking me into the lobby.

As we entered, Misty immediately rushed over to us, and she asked me, "How are you, Pikachu? Feeling better?"

I nodded, training my eyes on to Brock. I swiveled my head to look up at Ash, asking, "~Did he hear what happened?~"

"Yeah."

I went through another 'are you okay?' session with Brock before I was aware of all the pokémon trainers flooding the lobby in clamoring clumps. A few of them glanced over at me, slight traces of accusation in their stares. I just sweatdropped and chuckled. "~Guess I kinda held everything up, huh?~"

Soon the trainer's reproachful gazes faded, and as Nurse Joy slipped behind her desk, the many people formed a single file line to be helped.

"Well, what do you think guys? Should we hit the road again?" Ash queried, and I responded with an enthusiastic, "Rai, rai!" and made my way gingerly towards his shoulder.

Misty and Brock both nodded in agreement, and Brock asked, "Where was it you wanted to go? The Silver Convention is in three weeks, so we have about two weeks of free time before we should start heading towards Silver Cave."

Ash pondered over this for a moment, replying, "Well… I guess we could go back to Pallet. Picking up some pokémon along the way, hopefully!"

Apparently, Misty and Brock thought this plan was just fine, as there were no objections, and soon we were heading out the door, back out into adventure.

And so, the next part of my life began.

::=*=::

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it doub—what?!" James' eyes expanded in surprise as he pointed me out to Jessie and Meowth. The three Rockets collectively gasped, forgetting their motto in shock.

"Rai…" I murmured, feeling my humiliation crawl into my cheeks. "Raiichu…" I slid my body behind Ash's head the best I could, but by now I was too big to be completely concealed. I was small for a Raichu, Ash had told me after checking his pokédex, but not small enough. "Chuuu…" I voiced in embarrassment, and Ash reached up awkwardly and patted me on the head.

"It's okay, Pikachu…" He coaxed, just as Jessie screeched, "What did you do to Pikachu, twerp?! I thought it didn't want to evolve!" James and Meowth agreed angrily, "Yeah!"

It was Ash's turn to feel humiliated. His posture sunk a little, and I'm sure if I had been able to see his face, it would have been as red as Bayleef's eyes. "It was an accident," he said softly.

Jessie unleashed a typical bad-guy laugh, and then bared her teeth in an insanely victorious grin. "This is better than we thought, then! I'm sure Raichu doesn't want to be your pokémon anymore after this stupid mistake!"

I pricked my ears as those words sunk into my mind, my body tensing furiously. Not even waiting for a command from Ash, I launched myself off his head and freed a giant ball of electricity that hissed and buzzed furiously. As the electricity filled the atmosphere, blinking and flashing with enough power to blind a person, there was an explosion, and Team Rocket blasted off again. I landed lightly on the ground and stared ahead for a moment, then whirled around to trot over to Ash.

Despite the victory, his eyes told a story of defeat.

::=*=::

"~Ash, cheer up! You know I don't feel that way,~" I insisted, crawling into his lap. It was lunchtime, and we had stopped in a scenic field in the forest that lined Saffron City.

Ash looked down at me, flashing a soft smile. "I know… It's just…"

"~Just what?~" I pressed gently, placing my two front paws on his chest to elevate myself up to his eye level.

Ash sighed. "I guess I just feel kind of guilty about this whole thing. Every time I look at you, I regret that I ever made you battle that Persian..."

I rubbed my cheek against the crook of his neck, and let my head linger there for a short while. "~But Ash, you didn't make me battle him! You asked me if I wanted to. Don't feel guilty…there's no way you could ever have know this would happen!~" What I didn't tell him was that I could have avoided this. If only I had listened to that Ivysaur…if only…

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" he conceded, his smile kindling up again. I removed myself from his neck, then crouched contentedly on his lap, just absorbing his smile.

There's something funny about Ash's smile. Something I've never seen in the smile of any other human or pokémon, or anyone for that matter. When he smiles, even the smallest of grins, his whole face seems to glow as if there's candle behind it, and his eyes take on this stirring golden sheen. Just a glimpse of his smile seems to mend any doubts I've had, and always makes me remember why I've chosen to be so loyal to him. When Ash is happy, it's as contagious as a wildfire on a summer day, as overwhelming as the sun. I think most of us pokémon can sense that lightness about him, that passionate enthusiasm, and we're fascinated by that. He considers himself at the same level as us, a rare thing in today's society, it seems.

"Whadda you say we go eat now?" Ash said, and I nodded agreement, clumsily about-facing and diving down from his lap and on to the thick, perfumed carpet of grass that coated the entire field.

I shambled along the best I could towards the place where Brock had set up a large towel, cocking an ear to listen to Ash's padded footfalls behind me. The sounds of his footsteps paused for a moment, and I wasn't surprised to hear Ash call, "Go, everybody!"

The sounds of pokéballs opening filled the air, and then the exuberant voices of my teammates.

"Bay-bayy!"

"Toto diiile!"

"Phaaan!"

"Prrr!"

"Cyndaa!"

Then it struck me like a bolt of lightning. I paused and stiffened, feeling like a Stantler in headlights. I wanted to run, to hide, but I could only watch, dazed, as the impact came.

There was a syrupy silence following the release of my friends. I had closed my eyes without realizing it, and scrunched myself up the best I could in a particularly deep patch of clover, paws clasped over my arched ears as if that would make them invisible.

Slowly, my eyes cracked open, and the sight of five pokémon standing, staring in complete shock leaked from my eyes into my mind.

Finally, the silence was shattered with a quiet, timid inquiry of "~…Pikachu?~" from Cyndaquil.

My tight ball of nervousness began to loosen. I allowed my eyes to open fully, and my paws slid away from my ears. "~Y-yeah…~" I managed to stammer, my eyes training on the fire shrew pokémon, who was about two feet from my face, squinting at me intently.

"~What…happened to you…?~" Cyndaquil continued, taking a fluid step closer to me, and sniffing at my face with his snout. "~I smell blood,~" he said, in a cramped sort of way. He sounded like he had something lodged in his throat. I stared back at him for a while. Why did he seem so much smaller than the last time I'd seen him? Because you're bigger now, remember? My mind replied cynically.

Bayleef squealed and took a step closer to me. "~Pikachu! Are you okay? Why are you evolved?~" She asked naïvely, craning her lengthy neck down to look at me.

"~It's a long story,~" I began to explain. "~It was from a battle…. The Persian I was battling had a Thunderstone in his head, and it evolved me after I fainted.~" I wanted to explain about Evolution Radiation Syndrome, but there was something in my chest squeezing back the painful words.

There was a collective murmur between my teammates, and Bayleef took another curious step forward. "~Are you okay?~" She repeated, her intense, polished scarlet eyes sticking into my own eyes.

"~I guess you could say I am…~" I muttered, finally pulling myself up from my 'hiding place,' and standing fully revealed in front of them. I swished a few clingy blades of grass off of the gash on my stomach with a cinnamon paw, then swung my long, sleek tail so it curled loosely at my legs.

Totodile's face took on an instant light as he gazed at me, almost as if a camera flash had reflected in it. I expected him to say something extremely insightful, but what he ended up saying was, "~I love your tail.~" He pointed at it, and continued staring at it in fascination.

I face-faulted. Leave it to Totodile to say something like that. "~Um…thanks for the compliment, Totodile…~" I giggled.

Totodile nodded vaguely, then took off enthusiastically sprinting towards the food, scolding Ash for beating him to it. Bayleef soon loped over to Ash, Totodile, Misty, and Brock, too, and the rest of us found ourselves pursuing her. I wondered how the other pokémon and I would get anything to eat when Ash and Totodile had beaten us to the chase. Physically unable to run with my friends, I took on a slow, wobbly trot, and watched with slight amusement as my pokémon friends swarmed around Ash, all chattering excitedly.

Cyndaquil paused in the race, though, just before he reached the meal, and peered back at me, waiting for me to catch up.

After a short while, I managed to reach his side, and him and I walked side-by-side. He stole worried glances at me, which made me feel excruciatingly self-conscious, and finally inquired under his breath, "~Really Pikachu…stop the 'I'm okay,' act, because I can tell you're not.~"

We both halted simultaneously, as I froze up. My paw hovered in mid-step. "~What do you mean, Cyndaquil? You mean this?~" I pointed at the wound on my stomach, and at my legs, which had caused my slow pace.

Cyndaquil nodded his head no, slowly and deliberately. "~I'm not talking physically here.~"

"~Oh…~"

"~Pikachu, is something else bugging you, too…? I mean, besides the evolution?~"

I sighed, and felt my ears lower. "~Yeah…~" I admitted, reluctantly. "~But…I don't really want to talk about it…~"

Cyndaquil's head dropped until his snout was nearly subjected to some tickling from the grass. "~I thought so…~" he murmured.

I shook my head in a way that suggested triviality. "~It's nothing major…. Let's go eat.~" Guilt gnawed at my insides, but I felt the lie was necessary. I wasn't ready to face the reality of this yet…

I looked up to realize that he had already taken off scampering, making a beeline for the food.

"~Hey!~" I cried jokingly, then dropped to all fours to chase him as fast as my broken body could take me.

::=*=::

The day went on in almost complete normality. The only difference that I could see was that my fellow pokémon were throwing me perplexed glances quite often. I had expected that they would.

When the sun began melting across the horizon, we settled on the edge of the field, clustering around the campfire in contented groups. Ash let his team stay out of their pokéballs until the night was as entrenched and unfathomable as the sea.

They enjoyed the freedom, stretching out in the tangerine warmth of the fire and holding soft-spoken conversations until they fell asleep and were recalled one by one. Bayleef seemed determined to stay awake, presumably to lengthen her presence with Ash, and Noctowl never really did fall asleep, being as nocturnal as he is, but after Bayleef finally drowsed off, Ash recalled him, too.

The sleeping bags were dragged from the depths of backpacks, and our usual sleeping arrangement was resumed: Ash in the middle, with Misty about two feet to his right, and Brock around five feet to his left. I, of course, kept my eternal spot on or in Ash's sleeping bag. On this particular night, I decided that the weather was temperate enough for me to sleep outside of the sleeping bag, so I stretched out near Ash's head, on his pillow. I fell asleep almost instantly.

That night I had a dream. At the time, I thought nothing of it, but as time went on…I wasn't so sure…

It launched first into fuzzy memories of my life as a Pichu, before Ash, before trainers, before anything that had any real purpose. I remembered old friends that I hadn't thought of for so long that they seemed like nothing but silver shadows across my mind, and I remembered our silly games, our adventures, our naïve wonderings about the world…all with a sense of nostalgia that seemed as gentle and overpowering as a current.

But at some point in all those memories, it began to change. Darkness trickled into my mind like an inky stream, and the broad, blooming meadows transformed until they were somewhere murky and dank, with steaming air and the hot, boiling scent of something nauseating. Sickly moonlight spilled over globs of tangled shadow, glinting ominously off leaves like phantom eyes. Two rancorous squalls sounded nearby, very nearby, in fact, and I felt something squirming and thrashing beneath my paws. I looked down in sudden horror as the heaving sensation beneath my paws gave way to stillness, and silence. I looked down, and gaped in amazement at what I saw.

It was a dead, bloody Fearow, killed at the cruelty of my own paws.

::=*=::

Author's Notes: Like I said, transitory, although several things essential to the plot have happened within this chapter (they're relatively subtle, you won't notice their importance until later.) Pikachu's dream was a big hint, but you're still not going to guess what's going to happen next! This was my last of the already written chapters, so from now on, updates might be slightly less on time…but I am going to try my hardest to get them in on time. As always, reviews are appreciated, and act as a wonderful muse!