Ash opened his eyes ten minutes later to the sight of Pikachu standing over him.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'll be fine."
"Need me to shock you? Restart your heart?"
"No, that's fine."
Pikachu's cheeks sparked.
"I'm gonna do it anyway."
Ash scrambled quickly to his feet. He looked around. Charizard had left him recovering on the ground and was conversing with Squirtle and Bulbasaur. He watched the discussion heat up between Squirtle and Charizard. Once it reached its climax, Charizard promptly picked up the little turtle by the back of his shell and threw him like a rock into the bushes, nonchalantly continuing the conversation with Bulbasaur.
"Hey guys." Ash said, walking toward them.
"Hey Ash. Hey man, sorry about the hug-thing. We were having a moment and I guess I just underestimated my own str-" Charizard was interrupted by Squirtle crashing violently though the underbrush. He charged Charizard, who dropped into a ready stance with his right foot bracing his left in response. Squirtle stopped before slamming into him and dropped into his own stance. They stared each other down, Squirtle making little hops in place while Charizard simply stood still, waiting for the other to make a move first. Eventually, Squirtle charged. He tried to tackle Charizard in the stomach, but Charizard stepped to the side and let the attack pass. Squirtle rolled over the ground without slowing down, coming to a stop on his feet facing the other way. He sprinted off with Charizard in hot pursuit.
"Does this happen a lot?" Ash asked.
"You have NO IDEA..." Bulbasaur said exasperatedly. Ash sensed Pikachu moving near his leg. He looked down and saw his Pokemon staring at the fight in the middle of the field. Without reading his mind, Ash anticipated what would happen. He quickly stooped down and grabbed Pikachu by the tail just as he had started to run off and join them. Pikachu tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground, struggling and kicking in futility before eventually going limp in disappointment that suddenly transitioned into a sudden lack of interest. He stood and brushed himself off.
"Sorry." he said. They stood in comfortable silence, watching Squirtle and Charizard wrestle. Ash took note that Squirtle was actually doing considerably well considering the size difference. He mostly used his thick shell to block the sharp jabs from Charizard's claws and used his size and speed to his advantage. This eventually amounted to nothing when Charizard, timing it just right, managed to connect a kick and punted Squirtle like a football twenty feet across the ground. Pikachu, without missing a beat, raised both his arms in the air. "It's good!" he shouted.
"Hey! Squirtle! Charizard! Cut that out and come over here!" Ash shouted. Charizard lumbered over, meeting Squirtle halfway as he was getting up off the ground. He defiantly shot a jet of water inches from Charizard's face. Charizard stopped and pointed menacingly in Squirtle's face, glaring seriously. Squirtle stared right back, a smug grin on his face.
"Sorry about that." Charizard said. "Got caught up in teaching a lesson."
"In what?" Squirtle responded. "How you almost got your ass handed to you by a first-evolution turtle?"
"If Ash hadn't called it off, I would have stomped you into the dirt and played kickball with you head."
"Okay! We get it!" Pikachu shouted. "'Ohh! Look at me! I'm the big, third tier fire dragon!' We don't care how well you could crush our heads in between your elbows! We don't care about how you evolved into the big-ass mofo we see now! We! Don't! Care!" He paused. "And Blastoise is cooler, anyway."
"Hey!" Charizard shouted, pointing at Pikachu. Despite how angry he looked, Ash could tell how much Charizard was moved by what Pikachu had said. "You take that back, you yellow little spaz!"
"Actually," Squirtle said, "I'm gonna have to go with Charizard on this one. Blastoise sucks. I'd be four times as big as I am now and have almost half the movement capabilities thanks to that giant shell."
"But...but..." Pikachu stammered, shocked. "But you'd have GUNS ON YOUR BACK! GUNS!"
"I don't care about that. The day I need to use a gun is the day I give up on myself." Squirtle said. He took out his sunglasses and flipped them onto his face. "So basically, never."
"Actually, that's something I've been wondering. Why haven't you guys wanted to evolve? Charizard, you already told me, but what about the rest of you?" Ash asked.
"Well, my reason is because being a Squirtle offers more advantages than most Pokemon think. I'm smaller, meaning I've got more movement options than I would if I were a Wartortle or a Blastoise. Also, I tend to get underestimated, which adds an element of surprise when my fist decides it would like to meet their jaw." Squirtle explained.
"Well," Bulbasaur said, "to me, being close to the Earth Mother should be a constant goal of all living beings. I stay a lower evolution because this is the way I was born. It preserves physical purity and helps me be more in tune with her. Plus, I don't really care that much about fighting."
Ash looked at Pikachu, who was surprisingly silent. He looked up, meeting Ash's gaze.
"I know what you're thinking, but I'm not gonna mess around about a man's religion. I'm not that much of a jerk."
"Okay. What about you? You rejected that Thunderstone a while back. Why?"
"That was different. That wasn't necessarily that I don't want to evolve. I just don't want to evolve when someone tells me or forces me to."
"So are you opposed to evolving in general?"
"Not...really, but it's not really something I see as a priority. I don't have any problems as a Pikachu, right now anyway. Plus, I don't want to fix what's not broken." He said, without a hint of sarcasm.
"I guess that makes sense..." Ash said. "I have another question. Does it ever feel...I don't know...strange when you have to call yourself or some other Pokemon a different name when they evolve? Like, was it weird going from being called Charmander to Charmeleon?"
"It was...a little off-putting, but nothing that devastating." Charizard said.
"Ash, Pokemon don't interact in the same way as humans." Pikachu explained. "We mostly interact by reading what we think the others' intentions are. Pokemon in general pay a lot more attention to body language and voice tone."
"We've also got a lot more levels of understanding in those areas than humans do." Bulbasaur added.
"So that's why you can say the same words over and over but understand that they mean different things!" Ash shouted excitedly.
"Basically. That's why we're never bothered by the name thing. We don't know or recognize each other through names or titles. We're so in depth about reading body language and tone that we can immediately pick up personalities at a glance." Pikachu continued. "Like, when I look at Squirtle, I don't see him as 'Squirtle.' There are thousands of Squirtles that all look basically the same. I see his hundreds of layers of body language that show me that this particular Squirtle is the one who I've spent my entire life with. Kind of like a mental stamp."
"That explains so much!" Ash said.
"Yeah." Pikachu said. "Now I realize how confusing that must have been for you guys."
"That reminds me." Ash turned to Squirtle. "Speaking of intentions, this is what I've been asking everyone today." Ash turned red a little. "Squirtle...what...do you think of me?"
"What do I think of you?" Squirtle repeated. He sighed. "That's kind of a long story."
"That's fine. Do you...want to talk in private or something?"
"Nah." Squirtle said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's nothing major. Nothing these guys don't already know. I'm not afraid to show my feelings."
"Dwwwaaaaawww!" Pikachu said. He walked over to Squirtle and started to pinch his cheeks. "You wanna talk about your FEELINGS! Do you love us!? I love you too!" He then gave Squirtle a hug. Knowing it was futile to keep resisting, he just waited for Pikachu to finish.
"I'm not afraid to show my feelings, but it does get annoying when I do it around this guy." He pointed to Pikachu, who was still hugging him. Squirtle wriggled his foot onto Pikachu's chest and kicked him off. Pikachu was sent rolling across the ground while Squirtle brushed himself off.
"Okay. As you know, I'm the leader of the Squirtle Squad. That kind of thing takes a lot more leadership skills than most would think. There's a lot of psychology involved. You've got to get into the head of your teammates. You have to sleep together, eat together, fight together and get caught together. I'm very fond of my Squadmates. They're my brothers. I've grown up with them as much as I've grown up with these guys here." He gestured to the other Pokemon. "So, leadership is always a quality that I look at.
"I live in the city, so I see a LOT of Pokemon Trainers. Most of them are carbon-copies of each other. 'I'm gonna be the Pokemon MASTER! I'm gonna do it!' They all think their these tough-as-nails, undeniable Gods in human clothing when they're really wet-behind-the-ears ametures that likely won't ever be as good as they think they will be.
"The thing I like about you, Ash, is that you're different. When we met, I thought you were a wet-behind-the-ears ameture that didn't know what kind of world he was getting into. Y'know what I learned? That you were a wet-behind-the-ears ameture, but you're the only Trainer I saw pass though that had any potential. To be honest, you impressed me, and anyone who knows me knows I'm not an easy Pokemon to impress. I saw how much potential you had. I wanted to go with you. Not because I wanted to help you. You didn't need me. You could have just as easily have helped yourself. I wanted to see how far you would go. I wanted to see if you could live up to any of the greatness I saw the possibility for."
"W-WOW." Ash said, shocked by the complement. From what he knew of the Pokemon (and he knew a great deal), he knew that a complement like that only comes once in a lifetime. "Thanks! So...did I live up to your expectations?"
Squirtle paused, then sighed. "No." He said. He paused again, then beamed. "But you're getting well on your way. Here." Squirtle walked over to Ash. "You know me just as well as all the other guys now, so you know how big a deal this is." Squirtle took off his sunglasses and handed them to Ash. "You may not have reached your full potential yet, but you're gonna need these when you do." Squirtle then held out his hand. "There. I think, today, you've gotten to know me pretty well." Ash beamed and took Squirtle's hand and shook it.
Squirtle suddenly took hold of Ash's finger and twisted his arm up to his shoulder. He jumped over and around Ash and onto the back of his knee. He dropped to his knees as Squirtle let go of his arm, vaulted to the back of his head, and sent Ash's face crashing into ground. The other Pokemon could only stare in shock.
"Sorry, man." Squirtle said as he jumped off Ash's back. "That's initiation for ya."
Ash stood up with his nose bleeding profusely. He started to laugh. He laughed harder than he did all day long. He fell onto his back, clutching his sides and laughing hysterically.
"Welcome to the Squirtle Squad." Squirtle said, grinning.