Ello Guys! Thank you so much for all your reviews, i really appreciate them and they keep me motivated!(: Keep on reviewin! Heres a good little heartwarming oneshot!(;
What had started off as a peaceful morning walking through the woods turned out to be the usual disaster. Thanks to the antics of a certain block-headed trio.
Ash's tennishoes pounded against the pavement, his breath leaving him in quick pants as he ran with all his might. His determined gaze was glued on the Meowth head balloon gliding above them, an all to familiar wriggling yellow pokemon locked in its captors grasp.
"Team Rocket! Give me back Pikachu!"
Pikachu watched far below as his best buddy Ash and friends raced towards the rapidly rising balloon. He snarled and wriggled in the electric-proof rope he was bound in, Jessie, James, and Meowth's shrill cackling booming in his ears around him.
"No way twerp!" Jessie exclaimed, pointing a finger excitedly down at them, "Looks like we're taking the prize this time!"
"I'll say!" James responded joyfully, tightening his hold on Pikachu, "We've got precious Pika cargo!.."
"Now away we go!~" Meowth sing-songed.
Ash skidded to a halt, his face twisted in anger as he let out a growl. Brock, May, and Max caught up to him, panting. Wrenching a pokeball from his belt, he launched it into the air, "Swellow! Go get Pikachu back!"
"Swelloooww!" Swellow confirmed, taking a sharp turn in the air and speeding towards the balloon.
"AGGHH!" Jessie screamed as the bird rocketed towards them, "No fair! Get away you mangy bird!"
"Pika-Pi!" Pikachu cried.
Swellow dived, aiming to swoop into the basket and snatch Pikachu from the thief's arms. However, as he straightened up to fly in, he had misjudged his angle of attack, and his sharp beak grazed against the balloon. Pikachu watched as long split burst down the side of the balloon, air escaping.
As James dropped Pikachu out of alarm, Pikachu made a last minute move to leap from the basket before the balloon shot away. He suddenly felt a huge weight slam into his back, twisting around to face the angry face of Meowth.
"Oh no you don't, Pika pal!" He growled, "If we're blastin' off, yer comin' wit us!"
Pikachu's eyes widened in horror and he flailed around under Meowth's grasp, snarling and trying to escape.
To late.
Pikachu felt his stomach drop as they all shot backwards through the air, propelled by the force of air escaping the balloon. He held on with all his might as it lurched this way and that through the air, twisting and turning. Panic surged through him as he realized Meowth was pinning him down without any support, and before he could react, him and Meowth were flung from the basket and falling through mid air.
"AHHHHHGGGHH!" Meowth howled, flailing this way and that before clinging to Pikachu.
"Piikkaaaaa!" Pikachu wailed as they tumbled through the air. He clenched his tiny brown eyes shut as he braced himself for impact.
They hit the forest canopy painfully, leaves and twigs scratching painfully all over his body. Pikachu winced as he smashed into a branch on the way down, the two landing with a loud thud on a rocky, sloped terrain.
The unstable rocks below them rumbled lowly from their hard impact, and it all suddenly happened in a flash. One moment they were lying their moaning in pain from the impact, and next thing they knew, The rocks around them gave away, creating a dangerous rockslide.
Things were just going from bad to worse.
Rocks sailed past Pikachu as he tumbled down the slope with them, dimly aware of Meowth tumbling next to him. Their rolling came to a stop at the large rock pile below, but that didn't stop the rocks. Pikachu inhaled sharply and cried out loudly pain as huge rocks slammed into him, pinning him and Meowth up against the larger rocks.
Spots danced in front of Pikachu's vision, and the dusty world before him began to blur before slipping into darkness.
...
"Wake up ya yellow rat!" a voice snapped.
Pikachu's brown eyes cracked open to blinding sunlight, his cheeks sparking in discomfort. His head spun, trying to recall what had all just happened. The sun now hung high up in the sky, signaling that he had been out for hours. He drew in a ragged breath, struggling to fill his lungs with air as rocks all around him crushed into him.
"Pika?" Pikachu questioned, turning to see an equally worn out and stressed Meowth pinned under the rocks as well.
"Of course I'm stuck too!" he howled, wiggling around fruitlessly, "I can barely breathe!"
Pikachu clenched his eyes shut, thoughts swimming through his head. How had he gotten here in the first place? Pikachu's head snapped up as it all came back to him. He had been missing for hours!
Filling his lungs with as much air as he could, he screeched at the top of his lungs, "PIIIKKAAA-PIIII!"
"It's no use, I already tried that for hours!" Meowth yelled at him in response, "Your twerp ain't comin' and Team Rocket ain't gonna hear us! We're stuck!"
Pikachu's head snapped to the side, angry electricity sparking from his cheeks, "Pikachu-pika! Chu Pi-Pi!" he snarled.
"What do you mean this is all my fault!?" Meowth retorted, "The twerps dumb Swellow is what caused us to blast off!"
"Piikaaa-CHUUUU!" Pikachu hollered, zapping a spazaming Meowth with a thunderbolt.
Meowth howled in pain, inclining his head away from Pikachu, "Alright Alright fine, it was my fault! Don't zap me anymore!"
Pikachu huffed shortly, cheeks still crackling like a ticking time bomb.
He then started flailing and wiggling this way and that, desperately trying to free himself. It was so no avail, as Pikachu suddenly stopped, wheezing and taking in rattling breaths.
"Easy there Pikachu! Dese rocks are squeezing the air out of me and you, and wigglin' around'll make it worse!" Meowth replied, taking in a shaky breath of his own.
Pikachu huffed again, giving Meowth an ignorant stare through the corner of his eyes.
"Look, I don't wanna be stuck with you as much as you don't wanna be stuck wit me. But i tink of we put our heads togetha, we can find a way out of here. Whaddaya say, truce?" Meowth reasoned.
Pikachu stared at Meowth for a moment, reading his expression. There had been many times Pikachu had trusted Meowth, only to have that broken instantly. But, if he ever wanted to get out of here, he'd have to make ends meet.
"Pika." Pikachu agreed finally.
...
Hours and Hours had gone by, and the sun was now sinking low against the horizon. Pikachu couldn't count how many times they had tried some way to get free from the rocks, but nothing had been successful so far. They were currently trying to use Pikachu's Thunderbolts to try and zap some rocks away.
"Chuuu! Chu-CHUUUU!" Pikachu kept hollering releasing countless well-guided thunderbolts. Electricity snaked through the rocks, knocking into rocks and fizzling out. It wasn't working real well.
"Come on! Use more power!" Meowth urged rudely.
Pikachu flattened his ears angrily, not paying attention as he released a strong jolt of electricity on a large rock ahead of them. It swayed, before tumbling down the hill towards them.
"AHHHHHH!" "PPIIKKAAA!"
SMACK!
Pikachu wheezed sharply as the added weight of the rock crushed into him and Meowth, taking in sharp breaths. Tears gathered in his eyes a struggled to keep air in his lungs.
"Nice...Goingg..." Meowth wheezed.
Pikachu couldn't retort, trying to quell his breathing to the right level.
Meowth jerked left and right, trying to free his front paws, but to no avail. The rocks had them secured to his sides, not even able to move an inch. He wheezed once more as the rocks put more pressure on his lungs, tears gathering in his own eyes as well. But these were not tears of pain, they were tears of sadness.
"Pikachu...I don't think were gonna make it out of this.." he whined.
"Pi...Pika..." Pikachu replied breathlessly, his head shaking in denial.
His gaze shifted to the sky, staring at the purple and gold of twilight and the stars twinkling faintly. "And to think...I'll never be able ta see Jessie and James again, or steal all da pokemon to my heart's desire, or get to be the bosses favorite pet rather than dat stinkin' Persian!" Meowth howled pitifully.
Pikachu flattened his ears, wondering if he should feel appalled or sorry for him.
Meowth sniffled, turning to Pikachu, "Y'know, dere's something I've always wanted ta tell you, Pikachu."
"Pika?" Pikachu questioned.
Meowth hesitated, "Sometimes I get jealous when I see how close you and the twerp are. I wish Jessie and James cared about me like dat sometimes, but i guess that's just the way tings are." He gazed back up at the sky, drawing in a rattling breath, "I bet the twerp is missing you a lot right now.."
Pikachu's ears flattened again, sadness making his stomach drop. He realized what Meowth had meant now, about the hopelessness of the situation. Nobody could hear them, it was getting dark, they were both extremely dehydrated and slowly being crushed to death. For all they could know, Pika-Pi and Team Rocket could be looking for them in the wrong direction, and time was running out. Pikachu felt tears prickle in his eyes, dripping silently down his cheeks.
"Pika-Pi..."
"Sorry for gettin us thrown out of the basket." Meowth mumbled. Pikachu turned his head sluggishly to the side, wondering if Meowth really meant that apology. If he did, Pikachu sure was surprised.
"Y'know Pikachu, If we were on da same team, I tink you and I would've been great pals!...Dont'cha think?" Meowth turned to Pikachu.
"Pika..." Pikachu replied softly, the weight from the rock on his chest growing more unbearable. He...couldn't...breathe!
The sun had now sunk below the horizon, bathing the sky in a dark inky blue.
Meowth couldn't stop the thoughts flooding into his mind, thinking about how they were about to die, and how the others would react. Would they miss them?
As many times as he tried to expel it from his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about the twerp. How would he react to finding Pikachu like this? He could picture wracking sobs and anguished cries, mourning for his lost best friend. As much as he hated the twerp and all his little friends, Meowth felt sick to his stomach at the thought. It was unbearable.
Meowth shook his head furiously, whipping around to face Pikachu, "We gotta find a way out, Pikachu! No matter what!"
"Pi...P-Pikaa..~" Pikachu uttered, slowly slumping forward. Meowth's eyes widened in alarm, watching as Pikachu struggled to stay conscious.
"No no no no no, don't you give up yet!" Meowth yelled. He wiggled around, trying to release some of the weight from the heavy rock off of Pikachu, but nothing happened.
His alarm grew as he watched Pikachu's brown eyes flicker, rolling back and slumping forward completely.
"Wake up! Wake up Wake up Wake up!" he snarled, "Think about the twerp!"
Pikachu didn't move.
Meowth gulped, it was now or never. He could feel the weight of the rock starting to crush down on him uncomfortably. It was a matter of minutes before he would start losing his mind too. Switching to his last resort, he filled his lungs with as much air as he could and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"HEEELLLPPPP!"
"SOMEBODY! ANYBODY OUT THERE HELP!"
Meowths ears strained to listen desperately. Hoping...Hoping...
"Did you hear that?! It sounded like Meowth!" he heard a girl cry. It was the twerps friend, the girl!
Relief washed over him like a warm tidal wave, "OVER HERE!" he howled, letting out a gasp afterwards. The rock felt heavier than ever. He cast a glance at Pikachu, who was starting to look blue.
A few minutes passed, Meowths vision blurring slightly. When Meowth's hope had started to dwindle, he heard thundering footsteps coming from the forest tree-line, sounding like an angry Tauros charging.
Ash burst through the bushes, his black hair disheveled and his eyes frantic. His eyes scanned the clearing spotting the barely conscious Meowth and his now blue-faced best friend.
"PIKACHU!" He howled, sprinting forwards and sliding down the rocky slope towards them. The other twerps had come through as well, and Meowth recognized Jessie and James had followed, charging towards him.
Meowth turned his head sluggishly, watching as Ash frantically grabbed rocks and hurled them off of Pikachu. He Picked up Pikachu in his arms, watching and waiting. Everyone around them seemed to be holding their breath, while Pikachu needed to inhale one.
Meowth felt a rush of air enter his lungs as Jessie and James wrenched the rocks off of him, Jessie and James pulling them all into in to a tight group hug.
"OH Meowth I'm so sorry we lost you! Can you ever forgive us!?" Jessie exclaimed dramatically.
"W-What? You mean you guys missed me?!"
"Of course we did!" James exclaimed indignantly, "It's no Team Rocket without Meowth! We're a family!"
Meowth felt a rush of joy flood through him.
At that moment, they all turned to watch the others, who were still waiting for Pikachu to come to. Ash was holding Pikachu in trembling arms, tears starting to gather in his eyes. Come on...Come on...
Pikachu sucked in a rattling breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly as it tried to pump the much missed oxygen into his lungs. Ash let out a choked sob, tears of relief pouring from his eyes. He hugged Pikachu close, unable to quell his crying.
Pikachu's eyes flickered open, staring drowsily up at the tearful face of his trainer, "Pika-Pi..."
"Pikachu, I-I'm so glad your alright.." he cried. Pikachu turned his head to the side, burying his nose into his trainer's chest. Safe at last.
Meowth turned to Jessie and James, "Lets go."
"B-But Pikachu.." Jessie tried.
"We'll catch him next time!" Meowth whispered, "Let's just leave em' alone for now."
Jessie and James nodded, and without another word the infamous trio slipped back into the woods. Meowth turned his head briefly, looking at the twerp still crouched over his Pikachu.
It seemed like Meowth was sticking to his word this time.
He smirked, This'll be my debt to you Pikachu, for all the times you saved my neck even when I stabbed ya in the back.