Welcome to chapter 3 of the fan fiction! This is where you'll find out the true nature of Pikachu's Wish! I'll admit that Pikachu will become… well, he won't be entirely… Just read!

Pikachu's Wish

(By Si Fron)

Chapter 3: Separation, Strangeness, and Smeargles.

Narrator: The perilous battle is over, but now Pikachu is separated from Ash! How will Ash cope?

Ash: (In his sleep) Snort Who's the talking mankey? Snort!

Ash, Dawn, Brock, and the other pokemon finally awaken after the catastrophic night. They happen to awaken just 2 or 3 hours before daybreak. Ash sleepily blinks open his eyes and sits up.

Ash: Ugh! What happened? Hey Pikachu-

Ash immediately notices Pikachu isn't there! He panics, gets out of the tent, and starts searching all over the campsite. As he turns over anything larger than a caterpie as he yells out his buddy's name, Brock and Dawn groggily get up and stretch, not 100 aware what was going on. Eventually, Ash starts to panic as he realizes that his best buddy was nowhere to be found. Then, he remembered 1 crucial detail from just before he passed out: Team Rocket! He found a set of footprints leading away from the campsite. With renewed determination, he got up and ran off into the forest as Dawn, Brock, and their Pokemon chase after him.

Unfortunately, the tracks come up dead. Worse yet, they finds the site where Pikachu went toe to toe with the smarter Team Rocket! Upon entry, Ketchum sees fallen trees, deep holes in the mud, and a gigantic, enormous even, crater. Ash becomes really worried at this point as he looks around for signs that Pikachu is okay. Unfortunately, there are no foot prints indicating that Pikachu got away due to the rain last night. As the rest of the gang reach the scene, Ash was frantically searching all over the place for a 'your best buddy is okay' sign.

Brock and the other pokemon went out to help Ash immediately, but Dawn didn't realize what was going on. In fact, she was a bit ditsy due to the potion. So she sat down on the main fallen tree. She smiled and looked around. Eventually, her eyes fell upon a tree with a peculiar marking on it.

Dawn: Why does that tree have a thunderbolt on it?

Ash: Which tree?!

Dawn: (points to tree) That one!

Ash dashes over to the tree. He finds the lightning bolt. He then looks around and notices another bolt mark. Ash breaths a deep sigh of relief. From the looks of the crater, he knew that Pikachu was able to beat the trio of morons and get away. He knew that after a battle like the place suggests, Pikachu would be either too tired or have forgotten how to get back to camp. He called back his pokemon back along with Dawn and Brock and followed the bolt marks through the forest.

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Meanwhile, our electric hero groggily gets up himself. Pikachu groaned with exhaustion as he blinked his eyes open. Not daring to move his head much, he looked around the room.

It was a simple room. Judging from the headrest, he was on a very old and worn out bed. There was a window and a door that looked as old as heck. The walls were painted white while the ceiling was yellow. He noticed that there was a girl sitting on a stool next to where he was laying. In her hands, she held a bowl that held a paste that looked curiously like the stuff in a full restore vial. And behind her was… A dresser! The dresser itself wasn't evil or scary at all. In fact, it was a dark pink. However when Pikachu looked in the mirror, he almost screamed. He then shakily bent his head down to get a better look at himself. It did nothing but confirm his suspicions, however.

Although he still had Pikachu traits, Pikachu looked more like a human than anything else. The once oversized (By Pikachu standards), moth-eaten garments now fit snugly on him with his tail sticking out of the moth holes. His feet were that of a regular Pikachu's, but his hands were like a person's. He had a face similar to a person's as well with pale skin and curly, dark blond hair, but his eye's had pure black iris's, his Pikachu ears replaced human ears, and, of course, he had Pikachu electric sacs on his cheeks. Said cheeks sparked with fear and he screamed as he torched the walls with a thunderbolt more powerful than he normally could do in utter terror. If he was a Pikachu still, that is. The girl woke up and noticed what Pikachu was doing.

???: EEEK! Stop, please stop!

Pikachu snapped to his senses and his attack ceased. He looked at the girl and examined her. She had wavy, brown hair with a blue bow on the right side and a white on the left. She had a good complexion and deep, blue eyes on her face. She wore a white robe with yellow outline and a yellow bow near the neck area that held a pearly white stone in the center. If she was a little older, Brock would be head over heels for her. Pikachu then realized something: he just did a thunderbolt. This in turn clicked in with a myth that his family had told him before the… anyway, it said that in times long gone, in a far away land, there lived an ancient power as old as Arceus himself. The power was so great, it could evolve pokemon into people looking creatures. It had disappeared soon afterwards though, and nobody has an inkling of where it went. Back then, the creatures had no name. So, his dear little brother decided to come up with a strange name for the strange-sounding creatures: Pokemorphs.

Pikachu: I'm a pokemorph?

???: (Shaking) App-parently so.

Pikachu did a double take on this.

Pikachu: You can…understand me?

???: Uhhh… yes?

Pikachu has always been good at taking in something shocking, but most of the time, that was a little literal. Pikachu conked out.

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Eventually, the rest of the gang made it to the city. Unfortunately, when that happened, the trail immediately went cold. There were some muddy footprints, but the trail stopped a few steps in.

Ash: Groan What are we going to do now? We have no clues to follow now!

Brock: Calm down! I'm sure that Pikachu just woke up and went to find us!

Dawn: But we're not at the campsite. How will he know we're here looking for him?

Brock: Well, Pikachu's pretty smart. He would probably head for the Pokemon Center and wait there if he can't find us.

Ash: So? What are we standing around here for? Let's go!

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Pikachu awoke about an hour later. Much to his dismay, he realized that he hadn't dreamt everything that had happened earlier. After a little struggling to get up, our confused hero realized that the girl wasn't there. Since she wasn't there, he decided to do a few experiments. He began with some simple speaking of both human and pokemon languages. He was greatly surprised when he managed to pull off the exercise, even though his pokemonese wasn't quite as natural. He flexed and stretched his legs and arms. He estimated that he could still run faster on all fours than on 2 legs, even though a muscle or 2 was missing. He also tried out another thunder attack. It was also a success, but the bed that Pikachu was on wished it wasn't.

Pikachu: Looks like I'm going to have to pay for that.

???#2: It doesn't matter; she was going to get a new one anyway.

Pikachu spun around to see who it was. It was an old man, older than Pikachu could guess. He had a bald head, heavy white eyebrows, and an oversized moustache that had the same color. (Think Eggman's moustache as white as snow.) He wore a large, simple, and white robe slightly open with a light lavender shirt and blue jeans underneath it. He also wore a large string necklace around his neck and, hanging from it, a strange yellow object.

???#2: It seems I have yet to introduce myself. I'm the priest at the local sanctuary for the pokemon deity, Arceus. My name is Richard D. Burk. But just call me Burk.

Pikachu looked at Burk and carefully said…

Dory: Are you my conscience?

Oops! Wrong reel!

Pikachu: Why aren't you…?

Burk: Surprised? When you've seen the things pokemon wish for, not much can easily surprise you.

Pikachu: So it's true? The legend about the Arceus piece?

Burk: Of course it's true, it's around my neck.

Pikachu was taken aback for a minute, but soon recovered.

Pikachu: Funny, I thought it would at least glow if anything else.

Burk: Ha ha ha, I said the same thing when I first saw it with my own pokemon. Only when it is wished upon will it…

No need to point out the obvious, but the Arceus piece glowed the moment he mentioned it.

Burk: Uh oh, not again. If you'll excuse me I need to go.

Burk swiftly left the room. Pikachu was confused. He had heard that it had to be touched before it could grant a wish. Plus, he also wanted to know why he turned into a pokemorph instead of a human. After a few moments, Pikachu silently slipped out of the room and rushed after the man who held his answers.

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At the same time, Ash was worrying his head off. He had waited for about an hour now and he hasn't seen Pikachu. He would have gone into the city to look for him, but Dawn pointed out that: A.) They had no clue how to navigate the city, seeing as the map in Brock's guidebook was somehow "a little" outdated. Not to mention B.) If Pikachu were to walk in the center a few moments after they left, he would go outside looking for them! Dawn and Brock had volunteered to go find Pikachu, despite Ash's pleas. So, here was Ash, panicking over Pikachu's mysterious disappearance. Ash walked up to the front desk and asked the resident Nurse Joy if his buddy had come in yet. This Nurse Joy, however, was getting really irritated, since this was his… 24th time that he asked her that.

Nurse Joy: For the last time, NO, I haven't seen your Pikachu! Look, if you need something to do, try helping out that kid! Next!

The kid she pointed out was sulking in a corner in the room. He wasn't too much older than Ash. In fact…

Ash: Hey Richie! What are you doing here?

Richie: Ash? Wow! It's been forever!

After all this time, Richie hadn't changed much. He had grown, of course, but his clothing remained the same.

Richie: I had to stop here in Sinnoh for a special project for my Dad's best friend. I haven't competed in any gym battles though, seeing as how I… Errrmm…

Ash: What happened?

Richie: (Sigh) I… lost my Pokedex.

Ash: WHAT!!!!!

Richie: It's a long story. Unfortunately, I can't get a replacement until I get enough money, and even then it'll take 6 weeks for it to be delivered. So, I am helping my dad and his best friend out for some cash.

Ash: Oh. Hey, why were you sulking earlier?

Richie: ….

Ash: Hey Richie, what's the matter?

Richie bowed his head in shame. A tear fell down his eye as he said to Ash:

Richie: My Smeargle had gotten himself lost in the woods last night and I haven't been able to find him yet.

Richie was so sad and embarrassed. First he lost his Pokedex, now his new found friend, Smeargle; he feels so horrible, it hurts. Tears streamed down his face as he sobbed. He felt like a useless failure as a trainer and as a friend. He started sobbing harder and harder until Ash put his hand on Richie's shoulder.

Ash: Calm down, it'll be okay. If it helps, Pikachu got lost too.

Richie looked up at Ash with his tears being slowed down to a crawl.

Ash: Maybe Pikachu's with Smeargle right now. Yeah, maybe they both got lost in the woods and managed to find each other. I wouldn't be too surprised if Pikachu agreed to help find you for Smeargle! Let's go look for them right now!

Richie: But Ash, if they're both lost, then how will we find them?

Ash: Well, Brock and Dawn are searching the city right now, so all we have to do is search where they aren't and we'll be back together in no time! Let's go!

Ash became enthusiastic. So, he hopped up, grabbed Richie, and dragged him out the door. As Richie was dragged along, he thought, 'I hope you're right Ash, I really hope you're right.'

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So, Pikachu's a pokemorph, Richie has made an appearance, and I can't fit the rest of this segment into the chapter. So, what will happen? You know the drill: READ AND REVIEW!

P.S.: I apologize if I threw you for a curveball there. Also, starting next chapter, I'll respond to your reviews! So please, if you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions for the story, please tell me them and I'll see what I can do. Oh and as for a question about the Arceus churches: Yes there are others, but they don't refer to him as a god, even though they do agree that he's pretty close. One more thing, I might not be able to udate for a while due to a 3 to 5 page paper I have to write. Curse you, Egyptian pharoahs!

Later!

(Turns into a Shaymin and scurries after Ash.)