Chapter 2
The next morning, the four rookies were set to head out.
Gary made the decision to head over to Cerulean City first and then back track to Pewter after getting the Cascade Badge, and hopefully catching a water or grass type that makes their home there. Leaf planned to stay in Viridian for another day, in order to explore Route 22 to find a second teammate. The twins were heading straight for Pewter, which meant going through the bug filled Viridian Forest. Giovanni made no offer for Leaf to stay another night, and she didn't ask, the gym leader was rather intimidating when his children didn't have his attention.
After saying good bye to Giovanni and Silver, the four rookies said their goodbyes to each other. Gary went with Leaf to the Pokémon Center, he planned to hire a teleporter instead of trekking back and forth. The twins made a stop at the Pokémart to stock up on food for themselves and their Pokémon. Ember needed to purchase better food for her Pokémon, both of them were carnivores and needed the food that was higher in protein, while Ash was a little better off with his omnivorous Pokémon. They also need travel food for themselves, Pallet Town wasn't stocked for that sort of stuff.
Hades stood at Ember's side and Pikachu on Ash's shoulder as they made their way through Route 2 and eventually into Viridian Forest.
"Ah bugs," Ember sighed, "the weird weakness of dark-types." She glanced down at Hades and scratched his head. "At least you're also a fire-type."
"Bugs will be no problem with him," Ash agreed. "Have you been here before, Pikachu?"
"Yeah, I'm from here," Pikachu answered. "My family lives deeper in the forest, our sire doesn't trust humans much."
"Do you want to visit?" Ash offered. "We can go with you, or when we're closer you can go say hi."
Pikachu shrugged, but didn't say anymore and Ash didn't push. Pikachu liked him far more now, but he didn't want to push his luck with his starter just yet.
Once they were a little further into the forest, they stopped to let out their other teammates.
"Hey, we didn't get a chance to really meet you both last night," Ash said. "I'm Ash and this is Pikachu."
Drilbur nodded at his trainer. Sandile was looking at their surroundings while Ember introduced herself and Hades.
"The scary one isn't here," Sandile said, a gleaming coming to her eyes. Hades raised his hackles at the look, his teeth bared at his teammate.
"Uh, oh," Drilbur said and used his claws to nudge Ash away from the croc.
"Whatever you're thinking," Hades growled, "you better think again."
Sandile snapped her jaw a few times, gaze focused on Ember, who was watching her Pokémon with an expressionless gaze.
"Ash stay back," Ember said. "Looks like I'll have to earn her respect."
"Oh you think so?" Sandile snapped her jaw again.
Ember knew this would happen to her eventually, given her chosen type. Dark-types were second only to dragons when it came to having their loyalty earned, both preferred a show of strength. The difference, however, dragons preferred physical strength, while Dark-types preferred tactics.
"Hades, keep moving," Ember said. Hades nodded and started running circles around Sandile, heat began to build in his mouth. Sandile tried to follow him, turning in place, but the low light of the forest mixed with Hades speed made him a difficult target to track.
"Ember, pepper her," Ember said quietly. Hades ears twitched at the command as he released the heat in his mouth as tiny burning pellets. He struck Sandile as he moved, hitting everywhere but her face. Sandile cried out and attempted to lunge at where Hades had just been but only snapped empty air.
Another round of Embers started, hitting Sandile's side and traveling towards her tail. Her tail dug into the ground and swiped up in its limited motion, spraying a Sand-attack behind her managing to hit Hades in the face.
He grunted as he leapt back, coughing as sand had gotten into his mouth. Sandile took her chance to charge towards him, her jaw opened as she lunged again and snapped shut around Hades' throat. She had a moment to smirk before her jaws met once more, Hades' body disappearing from her mouth and leaving her stunned and confused.
The real Hades leapt out from a tree's shadow and hit Sandile straight on in the face with a single large Ember attack, knocking out the croc.
He took a seat beside his unconscious teammate while Ember came over to praise him. She held a Revive in one hand and a stick in the other that she used to open Sandile's mouth, not trusting the croc to not snap at her. She cracked the Revive with a small spike of aura and poured the powder into Sandile's mouth, then took a step back. Sandile blinked herself awake and took in the two standing over her.
"When?" Sandile asked.
"When you attacked the first time," Ember answered. "You were too focused on biting you didn't see Hades replace himself with a Beat Up clone and melt into the shadows."
Sandile blinked at Ember, realizing she understood her.
"We can keep battling you if you haven't learned yet, but you were knocked out while Hades wasn't even touched," Ember said.
Sandile sighed and shook her head.
"No, I respect the outcome," she said. "I agree to follow you."
"Great!" Ember grinned, her demeanor changing completely as she turned back to her brother.
"Do we have to do that?" Drilbur asked Ash.
"Do you want to?" Ash asked. Drilbur considered it for a moment before shaking his head.
"I'm good. You seem nice," Drilbur said.
"Goodie, let's move," Ember said, as if she wasn't the reason they were stopped for so long.
They stayed on the path, long since smoothed out from constant travel, and took turns battling the wild bug-types that would attack them. It wasn't until late afternoon when they came across their first Bug Catcher – a new trainer like themselves that chose to catch only the easily raised bug-types. He would be the first of many to come.
"Go! Weedle!" the boy shouted a released the poisonous bug.
"You're up Drilbur," Ash said. Drilbur stepped forward and slid his claws together as if to sharpen them. "Iron Defense into Scratch!"
Drilbur's body glowed silver, the energy taking a moment to build properly. Weedle shot a Poison Sting at its trainer's call which was deflected by the momentary steel-type energy incasing Drilbur. Once the energy was done, Drilbur jumped and brought his claws down in a furious Scratch. The Weedle attempted to a String Shot, but was taken down by one more Scratch.
"No way!" the Bug Catcher shouted as he returned his Weedle. He sniffed as he turned and ran off in to the trees.
Ash's Pokédex dinged with the transfer of funds for winning the battle. He crouched in front of Drilbur to pet his Pokémon in congratulations.
"We'll need to work on Iron Defense later, but that was great," Ash said. "Your claws are super powerful."
Drilbur puffed up his chest with pride.
That first Bug Catcher seemed to break the flood gate as the twins were stopped nearly every ten to fifteen minutes with Bug Catchers challenging them. Each one lost, the twins taking turns to battle switching their own Pokémon with each turn.
Hades made the opponents balk, usually taking down his opponents in one or two hits. Pikachu was a more familiar sight in the forest, but Ash's Pikachu was far from normal, his Thundershocks stronger than the average wild ones that the Bug Catchers were used to. Sandile and Drilbur were unfamiliar Pokémon to everyone they met, so none of them expected the surprising speed of Drilbur or the vicious nature of Sandile.
They found a small clearing by sunset and stopped to set up camp. Ember started on dinner, which was just heating some trainer food over the fire, while Ash prepared the Pokéfood for both teams.
As the trainers settled with their own food, their Pokémon were nearly finished.
"Sandile, do you want a nickname?" Ember asked.
Ash gulped down a large bite of food before nodding.
"Yeah, do you, Drilbur?" He asked.
"Sure, I'll be Dirt," Drilbur said. "No wait, Drill, no no, Dig-Dig, no…"
Ember hid her smile as Drilbur went through more names and looked at Sandile. The croc considered her trainer for a moment before nodding. Ember clicked through her Pokédex to look up more information on Sandile.
"So it looks like you lived in the desert in Unova, before coming here," Ember muttered more to herself. "Relic Castle is a main point of interest there… you don't really seem like a Relic… Castelia and Nimbasa are the cities around the desert…" Ember continued to mutter as she clicked through her dex.
"Oh! What about Tunnel! Or Collapse! That's the worst thing to happen to a tunnel," Drilbur said.
"I think the human is supposed to give you the name," Pikachu pointed out.
"Oh," Drilbur looked to Ash who had been watching him with amusement.
"I don't mind," Ash said. "I'd rather you like the name, so it's up to you in the end."
"Well then… I like Collapse, cause that's what I'll do to anyone who messes with us!" Drilbur said.
"You'll… collapse them?" Pikachu asked.
"Exactly! Completely terrifying!" Drilbur – now Collapse – said.
"Ground-types," Pikachu muttered, shaking his head.
Ash grinned at his Pokémon and turned to Pikachu.
"Do you want one?" Ash asked, a slight pang of apprehension in his stomach.
"Nah," Pikachu shook his head more vehemently. "If I'm going to be powerful, then I want everyone to know what species not to mess with."
"Fair enough," Ash said. A bit of relief washed over him, seeing as Pikachu simply didn't want a name, and not because he still planned to leave.
Ash glanced over at Ember as he found a few pebbles and started to toss them at her. He snickered as both of her Pokémon growled and hissed at him, while she glared at her brother.
"What? I started to smell bacon," Ash grinned. Ember sighed, and turned her attention back to her Pokédex.
"How about Neith?" Ember suggested. "She was apparently the mother of a croc-god in an ancient civilization. Hunting and war were two of her worshipped traits."
Sandile hissed her satisfaction with the name, the gleam returning to her eyes.
"Great," Ember grinned and snapped her 'dex shut. "Now that all of that's settled, it's time to train."
"Right," Ash nodded and stood, his back cracking as he stretched.
"Collapse and Neith will be our main fighters for Brock," Ember started.
"He specializes in rock-types, and normally that also means a secondary ground-typing as well," Ash continued.
The twins nodded at each other before gesturing for their teams to move with them, taking opposite sides of their campsite.
"Collapse, you're able to use Earth Power, but not well, so we're going to work on that, it'll be great to hit Brock with," Ash explained. He pointed at a boulder that already had deep gouges in it, signs of trainers past, and told him to practice gathering and releasing the energy on it.
"Pikachu, you can learn Dig," Ash said. "Normally a TM would be used for it, but it's one of the easier techniques a Pikachu can learn. To begin, you'll just need to focus on strengthening your paws and stamina."
Pikachu nodded, interest piqued at learning the ground-type move, and went to a relatively soft patch of dirt to start digging.
Ember was giving her Pokémon similar instructions.
"Neith, it looks like you can learn Sand Tomb pretty easily and it'll be the first step in learning Sandstorm," Ember said, reading off her Pokédex once more. "Start with Sand Attack and focus on controlling the sand in front of you. We can work on power later, first we need control."
Neith nodded and waddled off to lay under a tree. She kicked up sand with her tail and tried to keep it swirling in front of her as long as she could. Each time her connection would slip, she'd try again with a small hiss.
Hades sat beside Ember and watched his teammate with her until his trainer's attention landed on him. He'd grown the most of all the Pokémon, having fend off the wild bug-types near the end when everyone else had grown tired. He figured out how to make a second Beat Up clone of Neith and learned Smog during one of his battles.
"Let's work on Bite," Ember said. She crouched to his level and held a hand under his jaw. He opened his mouth to let her inspect his teeth, before she nodded. "Focus your dark energy into your mouth, it'll allow you to strengthen your teeth and do massive damage."
"Understood," Hades nodded and set his attention on a sapling.
Ember nodded at her Pokémon before join Ash in the center of camp, both of them stretching. They turned to face their Pokémon, backs nearly touching each other, breathing in sync as they began running through their kata forms.
The fire had grown low by the time they all stopped. Pikachu laid in a shallow pit, chest rising and falling as he regained his breath.
"I am not built for this," Pikachu huffed.
"We'll work on it more tomorrow," Ash said, lifting his starter out of the pit. Pikachu glared at him but didn't protest.
"Your technique was really poor," Collapse pointed out. "You'll never make proper tunnels like that."
"Oh yeah," Ember facepalmed as she settled into her sleeping bag. Hades laid beside her, back pressed against her side. Neith dug herself a small hole beside Ember then cover most of her body with dirt, her eyes and nose the only parts visible.
"Drilbur are natural diggers," Ash sighed. "I focused on Earth Power and forgot."
Pikachu snuggled into Ash's side under the sleeping bag while Collapse made himself comfy beside him.
"Collapse," Ash spoke around a yawn. Collapse grunted to show he was listening. "Would you mind showing them proper digging technique tomorrow?"
"Sure, sounds fun," Collapse muttered.
Neith released a puff of air in response.
"You're suited for sand digging, not so much dirt and stone," Ember answered the unspoken question. "When we get to a beach, you can show them how it's done."
Neith puffed again, sounding more satisfied.
Talking soon faded out as everyone slipped into slumber.
XXX
The next few days followed the same pattern; travel, eat, travel, camp, train, sleep. Each day came with a hoard of Bug Catchers, all wielding the same Pokémon: Caterpie, Weedle, and their cocoon phases. No one seemed able to evolve them to Beedrill or Butterfree, despite the ease Bug Catchers are supposed to have with their chosen type. While the twins' Pokémon became stronger, their opponents remained around the same. Ash had to stop Ember once from purposely antagonizing a Beedrill nest, just to "mix it up a little."
By their third day, they had their Pokémon practice the moves they were learning on trainers, allowing for faster mastery than just their nightly training.
Collapse made great progress on Earth Power, taking less time to gather and release the energy for the attack. He learned and mastered Dig as a move in short time, his species being naturally inclined to learning the move. He was able to teach Pikachu and Neith proper technique as well, allowing Neith to master it shortly after him. Ash had him focus on his clawed attacks after that, working Scratch into Fury Swipes and attempting Metal Claw. He couldn't hold Metal Claw for long and still needed time to build up the energy so they came up with Flurry: Scratch into Fury Swipes into Metal Claw. The rapid movement allowed him time to build the energy which he could usually release after the third Fury Swipes.
Pikachu was able to Dig, not to the same extent as his ground-type teammates, but well enough for the time being. He worked on building his electricity up as well, working to condense it into a sphere for Electro Ball. The Light Ball added a lot of reserves for his electricity, allowing him to store more up in his body than before, but he wasn't used to it yet, so focusing was more difficult. Thunder Wave took way more effort than it should've for him, as his weakest shock could still knock out most bugs, but it did allow him to learn Spark. Quick Attack, however, came easily, and he took great pleasure on being the fastest on the team. Those last two moves brought them a step closer to unlocking Volt Tackle, as they used the attacks together as Static Boom.
Neith had an easier time learning Dig than Sand Tomb, but she managed to get it by their third day and used it in every battle since. Her dark-typing took pleasure in trapping her opponents, which quickly evolved into hers and Ember's favorite tactic, Sand Trap. Essentially digging beneath her opponent and using Sand Tomb to soften the ground to suck them in. Thunder Fang was helped along by Pikachu and Ember figured Neith would take joy in using the attack once they fought some flying-types. She lived up to her species predatory nature, though she respected Ember enough not to take her battles too far, though Ember made sure to return Neith if her Moxie boosts became to much.
Hades continued to have the easiest time in the forest. Bite was easy enough for him to learn, mastered by the second day. He used Smog on every Caterpie and Metapod he fought and eventually worked on turning Bite and Ember into Fire Fang. With the help of Neith, he was able to unlock Nasty Plot, which he used with Howl in a combo Ember named Hunter's Call. A low level Roar was thrown in at the end to intimidate the opponent, but not so much as to scare them off.
It was on their fifth day of traveling when they got a small change in their routine. Ash and Ember had a brief moment of apprehension, the hair on their necks prickled, before they dove to the side, both hitting the ground with thuds. A katana sliced through the air between where they had just stood.
A boy in a clunky samurai outfit stood over them, a prideful smile on his face. Hades and Neith growled at the boy, standing over Ember protectively. Pikachu sparked his cheeks at the boy, but it was Collapse that acted, leaping off the ground to bring his tough claws down on the blade, snapping it in half.
"Nice," Neith hissed, snapping her jaw at boy.
"Wah! Hey my sword!" the boy shouted. "You're going to pay for that!"
"What! You're the one who attacked us!" Ash shouted, pushing himself to his feet.
"I am a master swordsman, you novices were never in danger," the boy huffed.
"Novices?" Ember muttered as she sat up. She placed a hand on each of her Pokémon as she eyed the boy over. "You look like our age."
"Ha, that is where you are wrong, girl," he said, missing Ember roll her lips in agitation. "Now tell me! Are you two from Pallet Town?"
"Yeah?" Ash answered with a glare of his own, moving to help Ember stand.
"Excellent! I have been bested by seven trainers from Pallet Town and I must reclaim my honor!" the boy shouted.
"Arceus, and I thought you and Gary are loud… wait," Ember narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Did you say… seven Pallet trainers?"
"That's right," the boy nodded.
"Was one a girl with long brown hair and a Machop?" Ember asked. When the boy confirmed it, she turned on Ash.
"I told you we were lost two days ago!" Ember shouted. "Leaf got ahead of us!"
"I thought we were on the right path! You were the one who wanted to bother a Beedrill nest!" Ash defended.
"At least that would've been good training! You get lost in Pallet Town!" Ember huffed.
"That only happened four times! Pallet is bigger than people think!" Ash argued.
"Hey!" the boy shouted, and stomped his foot. His armor clang at the impact, drawing the annoyed looks of the twins. Their Pokémon were watching the trainers with amusement.
"I have challenged you both to a battle," the boy said. "Cease your senseless bickering and honor my challenge."
The twins exchanged looks before nodding.
"Fine," Ash said.
"But it'll be," Ember started.
"A double battle," Ash finished.
"Pikachu/Hades," they said together. Their starters stepped forward and stared down the samurai boy.
"No matter, my bug Pokémon will defeat you," he declared and released two Pokémon.
A large, angry Metapod was released from one ball, it's glare may have been scary on a different Pokémon. The second Pokémon caused some pause for the twins, as the dangerous looking Pinsir snapped its pincers threateningly.
"Finally!" Ember shouted, throwing her hands in the air. "Hunter's Calling, burn them."
"Static Boom the Metapod," Ash said.
"Those aren't attacks," the boy huffed, making the twins blink at him. "Pinsir, Vicegrip, Metapod, Har-"
Pikachu's sparking body slammed into Metapod before the boy finished, knocking Metapod off the ground and into a tree. Hades' ominous howl ended as Pikachu shot a Thundershock to finish off Metapod. Flames formed at the corners of his mouth as he dodged away from the Pinsir's attack, Embers peppering the bug as he moved, and then latched onto its arm. Pinsir screeched in pain and tried to throw Hades' off, but its body was unable to twist well as more flames formed. Pikachu sparked his cheeks, calling out a warning a moment before he released.
Hades pushed off from Pinsir, seconds before the Thundershock hit, and released a final Ember for good measure.
The boy stood, dumbfounded at his lost.
"Ah, not as fun as I thought," Ember sighed. Hades snorted and trotted back to Ember's side, and Pikachu took to springy steps before he launched onto Ash's shoulder.
"You… you… you cheated!" Samurai shouted, faced pinched up and red in rage.
"Seriously?" Ash asked. "Did you do this with all of your losses?"
"I didn't need to! Everyone else fought fairly!" Samurai continued to shout, his foot stomping for emphasis. "You didn't even use moves or call out anything for your Pokémon. And no Pikachu is that strong!"
"Excuse me! Has he not heard of Pika!" Pikachu asked, affronted.
"Clearly you must have cheated!" Samurai accused again.
"That's enough," a voice called out from the tree line. A person stepped out, their long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and covered with a large straw hat. They wore an orange tunic with a long sleeve black turtle neck underneath, and blue jeans. A Pikachu with a flower on her ear sat on their shoulder and a Butterfree on their head.
"Yellow!" the twins grinned as the moved to engulf their brother's friend in a hug.
"I witnessed the battle," Yellow said, over the twins. "You didn't lose from cheating, but from your own poor planning and training. Now shoo!" They waved their hand in dismissal, her Butterfree's eyes glowed slightly when Samurai tried to argue, and he left.
"Wow, that was cold," Ember said. She stepped back and grinned, realizing she and Ash had grown taller than Yellow since they last saw them.
"It's that time of year again," Yellow sighed. "I learned it's easier to be blunt with these bug catchers rather than kind." They looked the twins over with a smile and motioned for them to follow.
"You remember Chuchu and Kitty," Yellow said, waving at the Pokémon riding on them.
"Yeah," Ash nodded. "This is Pikachu and Collapse."
"Hades and Neith," Ember motioned to her two. "Yellow is an old friend of our brother Red."
"Don't we know chu?" Chuchu asked, eyeing Pikachu over.
"Oh, yeah," Yellow tapped their chin. "Did you're Pikachu come from here?"
"Yeah, I'm Pichu," Pikachu answered. "I evolved and got paired up with this knucklehead."
"No way! Your sire was all sorts of shocked when chu bolted," Chuchu said. "But look at chu, evolved and buzzing with power."
The twins had to try hard not to react to the Pokémon talking, especially Ember, who desperately wanted to join in on the puns. Ash had to resist groaning, thankfully Pikachu did it for him.
"That explains it," Yellow said. She waved for the twins to follow her and took them off the trails and deeper into the forest. The three humans chatted as they walked, the twins catching Yellow up on their lives. With only a little walking they came upon a cabin settled in a little clearing with a stream bubbling past it. In the clearing were over a dozen Pikachu and Pichu playing around.
"Hey!" Pikachu leapt from Ash's shoulder and ran over to three Pichus.
The four of them sniffed in front of them before the Pichu tackled Pikachu to the ground with happy squeals.
"Those are Pikachu's nest mates," Yellow said. "They're the only chus in the forest born from two Raichu. The mother belonged to a trainer who left her here to recover after a tough battle, she's back with him now."
Ash watched Pikachu interact with his siblings while Ember followed Yellow over to their cottage.
"I'll make you some lunch before you get on to Pewter," Yellow said. They dropped their gear on the floor and Kitty took their hat to hang on the hook by the door.
"Can I help?" Ember asked looking around the cozy little cottage.
"Depends," Yellow gave her a side-eyed look as they made their way to the kitchen, "do you still cook like Red? Or have you figured out your mom's cooking."
Ember was quiet for a few seconds, gaze turned down and lips rolled in a half smile.
"Ash! Come help Yellow with lunch!" She shouted.
"Coming!" Ash shouted back.
"Thought as much," Yellow teased.
Ember stepped outside to watch the Pokémon while Ash helped in the kitchen. Pikachu was introducing Collapse to the others, though most seemed uneasy with the ground-type, they tolerated him more than Ember's Pokémon. Not that she could blame them, both of hers were predators, one of which could resist their electric attacks, so they kept their distance from the dark-types. Pikachu tried to assure the others, but Neith made that difficult as she kept eyeing the Pichu.
Ember took a seat on the swinging bench in front of the cottage and called Neith over to keep a closer eye on her, last thing they needed was a forest full of electric-types to turn on them. Hades joined them as well, to give a little peace to the chus.
"If you're hungry, come and eat!" Yellow shouted as she and Ash came outside. Yellow had a comically big bowl in her arms, filled to the top with Poké food, while Ash carried a plate with sandwiches for the humans.
Lunch was peaceful, as the twins and Yellow traded stories, and Pikachu visited with his family. Several different species of Pokémon came out of the woods to partake in the Poké food, clearly used to Yellow, and left just as quickly. Eventually the only wild species in the clearing were Pikachus and Pichus, far more than there had been when the twins first arrived.
"Oh, there he is," Yellow said, cutting off a story of her relocating a whole Beedrill nest, without injury. The twins followed her gaze to see an oversized Raichu entering the meadow. Even from a distances his battle scars were noticeable, patches of fur replaced with pink and white marks. His left ear had a perfectly circular hole in the center, and his tail was missing a chunk of the lightning bolt.
His eyes scanned over the clearing, freezing once he spotted the new humans, though he relaxed some when he saw Yellow with them. A Pichu ran over to him, excitedly pointing a paw in their direction, before running back over to Pikachu. Raichu's gaze settled on Pikachu as he headed towards him, Pikachu met the gaze with his own, back straight.
When the two stood only a two feet away, the other chus silent as the watched, Raichu's cheeks began to spark before he blasted Pikachu with a blinding Thunderbolt. Ash was on his feet in an instant, spots dancing in his vision, but he found his concern unnecessary. Pikachu stood, indifferent, his entire body coursing with electricity that he released back at the Raichu, flooring the evolved chu.
"Shocking," Ember said, munching into her third sandwich. Nearly everyone in ear shot of her sent her a glare, except the Pichu who giggled at pun.
"Did I forget to mention," Pikachu said, casually scratching behind an ear, "I met the legendary chu. My trainer is the brother of his trainer."
The amount of chatter was almost overwhelming as every chu crowded around Pikachu to ask questions. Raichu stood back up and stared at Pikachu with a mix of pride and something else.
"Does he mean Pika?" Chuchu asked.
"Yup," Ember answered without thinking. Both twins froze when they realized, glancing at Yellow who sipped at some lemonade.
"Already knew," Yellow said. "Don't worry, I won't tell Red."
The twins sighed in relief.
"How'd you know?" Ash asked.
"And why didn't you say anything?" Ember added.
"Please, after all of these years of having the Forest's Blessing, I've learned to notice these things. Aura, right? Met a couple aura users when I went to Sinnoh two years ago," Yellow answered. "I've also learned, people don't like it when you pick up on their secrets."
"Hold up!" Chuchu interrupted. "Has anyone told Pika this? Because I'll need to give him an ego check if so."
"Uh, yeah, Pikachu told him when they met," Ash answered, scratching his cheek. "Pika actually gave Pikachu his light ball."
Chuchu looked thoughtful at that before she dashed into the cottage, returning a moment later with a Pokéball in her mouth and a Pokédex in her arms. Yellow took both, understanding without being told, as she returned Chuchu and used her Pokédex to send her to Professor Oak.
Raichu made his way over to them during that time and stopped in front of Ash. He eyed the boy carefully, before glancing over at Yellow.
"You trust this boy?" Raichu asked.
"I do," Yellow nodded. Raichu's ear twitched in thought and turned back to Ash.
"Then I'll trust you to treat my son well," he said. His cheeks sparked up in warning. "But if I find you ever mistreat him, I will hunt you down and end you."
"Understood," Ash said. "I promise, I'll look after and protect Pikachu no matter what. He's my family now, and I look after my family."
Raichu sized him up once more, nodded and returned to his children. Pikachu looked at his sire approach, Raichu turned to stretch his tail out and Pikachu did the same. The two communicated through their electricity.
"Why don't you two stay the night," Yellow offered. "I'll show you the way to Pewter tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me," Ember said. She took the now empty plates inside to do the dishes, her Pokémon on her heels. Ash stayed outside with Collapse, the two watched the chus until they were eventually roped into playing with the younger siblings.
XXX
YO! Chapter 2! I got stuck halfway through writing this so it ended up sitting on my computer for weeks. Thank you all for your reviews and your patience, I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy during this pandemic.