The bright sun shone in the clear blue sky, shining down on a Pikachu and Oshawott.
"Yay!" Jacob shouted, running through a meadow. He was followed by a younger Oliver, who wore a shy smile as he followed behind him. "I win!"
"No fair!" Oliver jokingly pouted, catching up to his best friend. "You ran on all fours!"
"Maybe." Jacob rolled his eyes with a bright smile. "But I guess you're right." The Pikachu leaned back, landing on his back. He moved his arms slightly, feeling the blades of grass below his arms.
"So my Mommy was talking to your Mommy this morning..." Oliver began out of nowhere, laying down next to him. "Did she kick you out this morning because you asked about your Daddy again?"
"It's not my fault that Mommy's so greedy about telling me who Daddy was!" The Pikachu suddenly began flailing his limbs.
"Maybe it's hard for her to talk about."
"You sound like a grown-up."
"Maybe she just forgot or something." The Oshawott tried to convince him. "You should say sorry."
"No!" He shouted, crossing his arms with a pout. "Mommy should say sorry first!"
"But your Mommy is probably really sad about your Daddy." Oliver argued, "It must make her sad to think about."
"...I guess you're right." Jacob sighed dramatically. "Thank you Ollie."
"You're welcome."
The two laid there in silence for a while, looking up at the blue sky. The two wore indifferent expressions as the only thing that could be heard was their soft breathing.
"Ollie?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we stay friends forever?" The Pikachu looked over to him with a smile.
"Where'd that come from?" Oliver asked confusedly, looking back to Jacob.
"I just wanted to ask, since I'm gonna do something big when I grow up."
"Something big?"
"I'm gonna go on a journey around Sinnoh." The Pikachu declared with a bright smile. "Maybe even the whole world!"
"You're dreaming really big, Jacob."
"So... Do you wanna come with me?" Jacob asked, looking back up to the sky. "It'll be really fun!"
"Eh... Why not?" The Oshawott shrugged with a bright smile, "I'll come with you. We'll be friends forever, anyway."
"Yeah!" Jacob exclaimed, holding out a paw and bumping it against Oliver's.
?, Sinnoh
A familiar Pikachu coughed loudly, breathing slowly and shakily. His arms were bound to a high point on a wall, leaving him dangling from it. The Pikachu had various bruises around his body, the most apparent one being a bruise on his forehead, leaving a throbbing lump.
Out of pity, his right arm had been healed. He was able to move it without feeling any pain aside from the pain emanating from the multiple bruises on his body.
The shackles were tightly bound around his wrists, made out of a strong metal. The Pikachu remained a soft glare as he looked forwards and out of his cell. He hadn't heard much since he was imprisoned, but he knew that it was solitary confinement.
As you've already probably guessed, this was a severely beaten Jacob. He had been in and out of consciousness for the past two days, a severe contrast from the lighthearted treatment his best friend had been getting.
His ears perked up when he heard movement.
"Have you finally calmed down from your little 'tantrum'?" An Emboar asked cockily, walking into the room.
Jacob, a little agitated at the Emboar's question, stuck his tongue out at him.
The Emboar's eye twitched briefly at the non-verbal taunt. He walked over to the Pikachu, who wore a faint glare. Once he had been a few feet in front of him, Jacob's once slightly open eyes widened before his body began to surge electricity.
"Now!" The Pikachu's feet pushed off of the wall, leaving a few cracks in it. He managed to plant his feet on the wall above his head as he snapped apart the shackles that were once around his wrists.
Jacob looked over at the Emboar before jumping off of the wall and right at him. He reeled back his right arm before charging an intense amount of power in it.
"Strike!" He tried to punch the Emboar, but the attack was sidestepped. The Emboar quickly punched his gut, sending him up to the ceiling.
The Pikachu groaned in pain as he hit the floor, his body not allowing himself to move.
"That power of yours is still... Unrefined." He kneeled down to Jacob's height. "It reminds me of a certain Snivy."
The Pikachu's ears perked up at the mention of a Snivy. He couldn't help but think about the one that caught them in that alley and got them into this mess. Jacob wondered where Oliver was, and if he was okay.
"You seem to have a strange resolve, kid." The Emboar continued, "There probably is something you're striving for. Kind of like me."
"Don't compare me to you." Jacob gave the Emboar a deadpan expression.
"I'm not saying that we're the same. I'm saying that we aren't different." The Emboar told him. "Just like my gang is striving for our goal."
"And what's that?" The Pikachu asked.
"Taking over all of Casteel City."
"You monster!" Jacob shouted, trying to sit up. "I should've known better than to listen to you!"
"The real monsters are what you have to worry about." He looked away briefly. "I'll take over Casteel to protect it. We might be petty thieves now, as a cover-up, but soon we'll be the leaders of this place."
"Real monsters...?" The Pikachu thought for a moment. "Aside from your slightly flawed logic, the world is pretty peaceful nowadays. What are you talking about?"
"Since you're losing your memory soon, I don't see a problem of telling you." The Emboar shrugged.
"Right..." Jacob rolled his eyes.
The Pikachu was informed early on that the Emboar's gang were planning on erasing his and Oliver's memory as soon as one of their members returned. As if he would let that happen to either of them.
"Nobody really knows why, but some Ghost-types have been coming together." The Emboar told him.
"Well they are going extinct, maybe they just want to be with their own type." Jacob put a paw on his own stomach.
"Probably wrong." The Emboar looked away.
In the past few decades, Ghost-types have been seeming to fade from existence. Both Jacob and Oliver were aware of this fact from a young age, but were never told why. The Pikachu and Oshawott often theorized the reason as to why, but only came up with childish answers.
"What's even going on with the Ghost-types?" The Pikachu inquired, "Why have they been going extinct anyway?"
The Emboar's expression darkened. An awkward silence began to fill the room as the two looked at the other. He let out a faint sigh before standing up.
"When I erase your and your friend's memories..." He finally spoke, "...It'd be best for you to go back home and don't get involved."
The Emboar huffed, walking through the halls of solitary confinement. "At least that Pikachu didn't fight me this time..." He took a look at his left paw. "Those 'strikes' of his really tear me apart."
He crossed paths with a Sceptile, who quickly stopped in front of him. "She should be here shortly to perform the erasure, Binks."
"Finally..." The Emboar's serious demeanor faded, "I can't stand watching after that brat of a mouse."
"It seems that you have taken a slight liking to him." The Sceptile continued, "I've never seen you tell someone to not get involved with affairs of Casteel City. Most of the time you just kill them."
"What can I say, Alan?" Binks shrugged, letting out a huff. "He reminds of when I was a kid. Full of raw power, just waiting to be controlled."
"You do bring up a fair point." Alan thought for a moment, "You both are thoughtless, stubborn, and rash."
"Just what are 'ya 'tryna say?" Steam blew through Binks' nose as he glared at the Sceptile.
Meanwhile...
Sophie quietly walked through the halls of the regular holding cells, looking around for a familiar Oshawott. She was planning to give him another visit, hoping to see him a few more times before he has his memory erased.
She couldn't stop a strange feeling in her stomach, however. She was thinking and re-thinking over the words Quincy said to her.
"I'm sorry, Sophie." He looked away. "There's nothing I can do. I can't just go against Binks' orders like that."
She quietly scoffed, shaking her head. Surely there could be something she could do. There was no way she would let that happen to him. Prisoner or not, he was still kind enough to talk about her eye and try to provide solutions. The least she could do was help him out.
But first, she needed to know where that Pikachu was.
She walked through the halls and into the main room, where she immediately spotted Binks. Aside from him and Alan, no one was around. The Snivy thought for a moment before quickly ducking under a nearby wooden table.
"You've really been wailing on that Pikachu lately." Alan told Binks, sitting down on the couch. "It's like you two fight all of the time, aside from today."
"At least he was actually tolerable today." Binks replied, slumping in his seat. "I had to move him to the lower decks just to keep him at bay."
"The lower decks?" Sophie raised an eyebrow. "That's all I need to hear." The Snivy suddenly jumped from under the table and rolled over to a wall. She then stood up and turned off the already dim light.
The room went pitch black, making Binks and Alan flinch. The Snivy managed to manuver her way past Alan, but accidentally bumped into Binks while she walked.
"What the?" Binks asked, going to reach down to whatever hit him.
Sophie could feel the Emboar's paw approaching, and immediately backed away. Her right eye glowed for a quick moment, allowing her to have a decent impression of the dark room. She navigated around until she felt her hand touch a doorknob.
"Jackpot."
As Binks turned the light back on, the Snivy entered the room and closed the door quickly. She let out a sigh of relief before shaking her head. She couldn't let her guard down just yet, she had no idea what that Pikachu was even like.
He could be a monster for all she knows.
"Oh, hello." Jacob greeted with an indifferent expression on his face. "Are you the one who's supposed to erase my memory?" His wrists were shackled against the wall once again, leaving him dangling from a high point on the wall once again.
"You know about it?" Sophie asked, walking up to him.
"Yeah, that Emboar told me yesterday. Or was that a few hours ago...?" He looked down in thought. "There's really no telling how long I've been here for."
"Do you know Oliver?" The Snivy quickly interrupted him.
"Yeah I know him, he's my best friend." The Pikachu told her, "How do you know him, though?"
"Well... I'm his warden." Sophie looked away briefly. "I'm the one who watches over him everyday and keeps him alive pretty much."
"Is he doing okay?" Jacob quickly questioned her, concerned for his friend.
"He's fine, trust me." She calmed him down quickly. "But what about you?"
"Huh?"
The Snivy's eyes widened, realizing what she just asked. She put a hand over her mouth as she briskly walked out of the cell, leaving Jacob there confused.
"What about you?" She thought to herself, her eye twitching faintly. When had she become so open to talking about someone else's feelings? When had she been so open to talking at all?
Oliver. It had to be him. Ever since he had got there, she'd been changing in terms of demeanor and tact. It was almost like the Oshawott was rubbing off on her. She was hanging around him more often than she was supposed to, that had to be it.
It was a strange feeling, knowing that Oliver knew one of her deepest secrets. She hated to admit it, but she was growing a small amount of trust for him, despite the two's current positions.
"Um... Snivy?" A voice asked, snapping Sophie out of her thoughts.
The voice belonged to Jacob, who was still extremely confused from her sudden leave of his cell. The Pikachu tilted his head confusedly, wondering what happened to her.
Sophie coughed, walking back into the cell slowly.
"What happened?" Jacob asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
"It's none of your business." She shook her head, sitting down in front of him.
The two remained in silence for a while, averting their gazes from each other. The Pikachu began to softly bite his tongue with his canine teeth, the only parts of his body that didn't hurt when they were moved.
"So... When do we get to leave?" The Pikachu cut through the silence, looking at the Snivy with a slightly hopeful expression.
"After you get your memory erased." Sophie replied, her expression unchanging. "When else would we let you out?"
Jacob sighed dramatically, looking down. "...It was worth a shot."
"Oliver is really the smart one out of you two, huh?"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I think he's smarter than you."
"Wow." The Pikachu remained still with wide eyes, "You don't hold back on what you wanna say..."
"I'll just take that as a compliment."
"Anyways, where is this place?" Jacob asked her. "Oliver and I need to get back to Casteel City."
"We're close to there." She answered, looking directly at him. "But that really won't matter later on, with the whole 'mind erasure' and the 'master class' things that I have to deal with."
"Master Class?"
"You seriously don't know what that is, either?" Sophie sighed, "Where do you even come from anyway?"
"From Kanet Village." The Pikachu answered blankly.
"Wow, no wonder." The Snivy gave him a deadpan expression. "Kanet Village is pretty detached from all of the other cities and towns..."
"So what is the Master Class?"
"Okay." Sophie let out a long sigh, dreading the long explanation she would have to give. "The Master Class is the top of the World Cup. Before the Master class, you have to fight your way up in organized events across cities to advance your rank."
"What are the ranks, and do they have any conditions?"
"The ranks are the Basic Class, where battles can happen anywhere as long as you have a battle bracelet on you." She began. "Then the Normal Class, where battles are limited to battles inside of cities in what are called the 'Normal Class Battle-Zones'. Although they're made for normal class battles, Basic Class Pokémon can participate there too."
Jacob nodded, taking brief pauses in his mind to digest the details.
"Next is the Hyper Class, where battles often take place in what is called the Hyper Class Fest'." The Snivy continued to speak. The Hyper Class Fest, or HCF, takes place in multiple towns, one happening each month. You can battle around the city, and the event is sometimes broadcasted on tv."
"After that is the Ultra Class, where battles are fought in official matches, based on a point system." Sophie told him. "Last is the Master class, which is different from the others. A lot of the matches fought there are purely for glory."
"That sounds pretty cool." The Pikachu smiled, "Once I get out of here, I should try doing that while Ollie and I travel."
"Travel?"
"Oh, Oliver and I are travelling around Sinnoh." Jacob explained, "This is actually the first town we've been to so far."
"I guess you two weren't so lucky."
"Yeah..." The Pikachu's ears lowered. "...I have to apologize to Oliver by the end of this."
"Apologize?"
"I asked him to come along with me on this journey..." He looked down. "We've been met with nothing but disaster."
"What are you talking about?"
"As soon as we left Kanet, we met a Pichu who was looking for his friend." Jacob began to explain. "When we found the Pichu's friend, we had to fight against a Charizard and a Charmander."
The Snivy nodded, listening intently to the Pikachu's explanations.
"I took on the Charmander alone while leaving Oliver and the Pichu to get the Pichu's friend out." Jacob sighed, "I ended up spraining my right arm in that fight." He looked down at his right paw.
Sophie's eyes widened at the statement. She was always wondering why his whold arm and paw was bandaged while he was in that alley. But why was his paw bandaged the most out of the rest of his arm?
"After I won the fight, I looked up to see Oliver being taken to the ground by that Charizard." The Pikachu continued, "Then this... Power awoke inside of me. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs before I charged forward. I didn't know how I was gonna get up there, until I was."
"I clenched my right paw, and punched that Charizard right in the face." Jacob sighed, "But... A full-powered strike like that shattered my arm and paw."
The Snivy looked away for a moment, taken aback.
"When I woke up, my arm was healed a bit by a berry that the Pichu and Oliver found." The Mouse Pokémon told her. "I could see that Oliver was a bit shaken up, though."
Sophie remained silent as Jacob let out a long and shaky sigh. The Snivy finally spoke up when she felt it was necessary."
"You and him have been through a lot, huh?" Sophie asked, looking away. "I guess that this is just another drop in the bucket for you."
"I guess it is..."
"But are you really going to just call it a day and let us erase your mind?" She questioned, her eyebrows furrowing. "Oliver's counting on you being okay."
"Huh?" Jacob's ears raised.
"Oliver told me that you would never let that happen." The Snivy told him. "Are you telling me that he's wrong?"
"I never said anything about-"
"Are you going to just give up on your adventure like that?"
"But-"
"Give up on Oliver?"
"No way!" The Pikachu's ears shot up as he glared at Sophie. "This is our journey! And sure we almost died and got kidnaped by you guys, but I'll never lose my memory like this! If I'm gonna lose it, then it will be for my friends or my mom!"
As Jacob ranted, electricity began to surround him.
"You think that I'm just gonna give up? No way!" His eyes began to glow orange. "This is my life, and you're not gonna take it away from me!"
The Pikachu's paws suddenly sent a shockwave outwards, and against the wall he was leaning on. This broke the shackles that were just recently put on his wrists. Jacob flew forwards from the recoil and crashed into the adjacent wall.
Sophie gasped at the sudden display of strength, her right eye glowing red for a quick moment.
Jacob groaned, standing up shakily. He was confused at the shockwaves he sent from his paws, feeling a slight pain in them. He looked at his paws before looking over to Sophie.
"I told you that I wouldn't give up..." The Pikachu gave a toothy grin.
"I can see that." The Snivy's shocked expression changed back to a deadpan one. "Just don't get yourself killed."
"You can count on it." He clenched his right paw. "Tell Oliver that I said hi, and that...
...We're not throwing in the towel just yet."