Author Notes: Here's chapter 17. If anybody didn't read Fracture Bond, it's your last chance to go read it, because next chapter, you will be spoiled… probably… I don't know actually. If anybody actually goes to my blog and feel like commenting, I would probably need input on something. With the ending of FB, I'm kind of confused about what to do. Anyway… responses are on my blog and all that. Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 17: Hostile Takeover
For all those times Rick had come to this place, never had the dream world looked the same twice. This time was no different. Whereas he would have expected his surroundings to be the brown and warm comfort of his nest, what was shown to him was unlike anything he had seen in those dreams. Yet, this gray cement floor, those metallic walls, those devices of all sizes and kinds and that huge pod towering over him, all of this was strangely familiar. For some reason, he was back in this place again, where it had all begun and where it would end one day, should he be lucky enough to find this place again. Unlike the short minutes he remembered spending in this room, there was no sound of machinery, no ticking of computer devices. This place was only a shadow of itself, a dead monument to the foolishness of man. Rick was standing in the middle of this room, his black rodent eyes staring absently at some fissure in the cold floor. "How long has it been since I last came to this place? How long will it be before I return? Will I ever… see my human body again? Why am I even fighting? This room is… so far away from the colony, so…"
As he was lost in his ramblings, something began to shine in the corner of the room, a ghost taking shape there. The outlines of this ghost became more defined, taking a human shape, one that was definitely female. Jen. "Rick… why are you talking like this? Didn't I tell you to smile? There are many things to see in this world… many wonderful things. Are you going to look down at everything because it looks too hard? Do you remember what I told you, remember my past. Remember the story of that little girl who left home to explore the world alone, with Pokémon as her only friends? Remember the hardships? Remember the guys who tried to flirt with me only because I had a pretty face, only to end up having their ass kicked? I never backed down when my principles were hurt, I always fought adversity. If I could do it… you can too." said the girl, displaying a bright smile. The mouse stared at her, a light blush appearing on his cheeks, making them even redder. "Yes, Jen, I remember. I have only known you for a week, but you've been the only one to ever care for me… I… I think I admired you and I… I just let them take you away. When it really counted, I wasn't there for you. Did I even deserve that friendship and that trust? Not at all…"
Sighing, he looked away from the ghostly figure, feeling worse about himself. He wanted to tell her how much he was sorry about what had happened that night in the clearing, but the words wouldn't come out. Even if they did, this wasn't really Jen. The real girl was lost, kept somewhere or maybe she was dead. No… he hadn't really deserved her friendship. "And had you deserved mine, little tasty treat?" asked another voice, a bitter one he could hardly forget. This voice materialized itself next to Jen as the ghost of Kagai, along with Sunny, Leafty and Steamer. "I don't think you did. If anything, you should have been lunch. And you know why I didn't eat you? Not only because Jen asked me not to do it and because I had plenty of food without having to hunt, but because I thought that we could be friends. I thought so… but I was wrong. All those moons, you kept annoying and insulting me, you took away my food as a joke and you did everything to make me feel unwelcome. Is that how a friend should act? You are lucky still to be alive today, rat. Do me a favor and stop being so stupid. Show the real rat who's the boss around here for us, ok?" the Umbreon asked, followed by a few cheers from the other Pokémon. Before Rick could say anything, the five ghosts faded away, replaced by the solid body of a Pichu, one looking like it had received a beating. His ears were missing their tip, his limbs were bleeding and his body was scarred everywhere. Despite the horrifying appearance, the identity of this Pichu was no mystery to Rick. Apparently, Psywave hadn't played the last card in his deck. The Pichu turned around to face Rick, a malicious aura emanating from his injured body.
"You think that we won, Rick? You think that this is over? You are fooling us. I was offering us the painless way out of this. Why do we keep fighting? We have no reason to. We are stuck in the body of a mouse. We… you don't get it, do you? Don't you remember our dream, our desire to be a Pokémon? Don't you remember those evenings as a child, when we were watching those Pokémon battles on the box with moving pictures and asking ourselves how it would feel to be one of them? Now that we finally have the opportunity to find out, we don't want it anymore? Is that what you make of our dream, of our childhood? You are killing it!"
As the Pichu was speaking, Rick was struck by how innocent Psywave's words were. The youth was speaking as if the world didn't have constraints, as if there were no consequences to their actions. As if… as if entering the pod of an unknown machine was a good thing to do, as if sneaking into an unsupervised laboratory in the middle of the night was the best idea ever. Suddenly, Rick didn't feel much like hurting Psywave. If he had to be mad at him for trying to make a childhood dream true, he could be mad at himself for ignoring the most basic of safety measures, only because he was acting on impulse, like… like a child would. He was no better than Psywave, for the Pichu seemed to be nothing more than a younger form of himself, the representation of his inner desires, bound to nothing more than the innocence and selfishness of a child. Judging by his injured body, his childhood dreams had received one hard reality check, but Psywave was still struggling to keep them alive. He couldn't allow that to happen. "Psywave… look… I'm… sorry… you were both right and wrong. We are fools, true… but our childhood is a thing of the past and we have to accept it. There is no such thing as intelligent Pokémon. They have the potential to show great things, as every creature on this planet does, but… trying to find something that doesn't exist, only because we want some fantasy, some imaginary world to be real, that was extremely childish. And look where it led us? We are stuck as chu, Psywave. This is where foolishness led us. But… is that a reason to give up? If there is something you should know well, it is that children always try to see the positive in most things. We may have lost many concepts, many words and many ideas, but if you had taken a look around us, you would have seen that these Pikachu are worse. They are living in the dark, like cavemen. If we can't go back to civilization, we can make ours here. We can show these Pokémon what it is to be human. I agree that it'll be very hard, but at this point, I'd prefer to cling to some humanity rather than lowering myself to being something I am not. These Pikachu could taste such joys as moral and technology and who knows… maybe there is a way to make our childhood dream come true after all, at least in this lost colony in the middle of nowhere, don't you think?"
The Pikachu gave the youth a smile and walked close to him, offering a paw in truce. The Pichu stared at it in confusion, raising an ear. He was still weighing the pros and cons of Rick's offer with as much logic he could muster for the task, which was very little. He didn't really understand why Rick wanted to act serious, but he was happy that the Pikachu wasn't mad at him anymore. As Rick spoke, his Pichu body had healed and his fur had recovered its healthy yellow tint. Psywave may have been selfish and tried to shroud Rick behind the mind of a Pikachu, all of this to blindly make a childhood dream come true, but he was able to admit his faults when given the proof. The Pichu didn't know what he was in this mind, what he represented in here, but he knew that his duty was to make Rick happy, no matter what. If Rick didn't want to be a Pokémon, then he wouldn't be, at least in mind. Psywave had tried to enforce a dream based on a fake view of the world and he was being punished for that. His punishment was the realization that being a Pokémon wasn't what Rick truly wanted and that it hurt him to be one. His presence here wasn't needed anymore. It was his time to go. "Yeah… we sure have grown from this experience, haven't we? If we do come back here one day, we will do things differently and much better. If we don't… well… at least that Umbreon will have got what she deserved. Hehe… sorry, Rick, sorry for having been so mean. It was nice knowing you. I'm sure daddy and mommy would have been proud of you. Farewell… oh… and if you see Jen again, tell her for me that we think she's very nice and kind of pretty. Hehehe…"
Psywave winked at Rick and giggled as his body became translucent, becoming a ghost vanishing into the void of imagination it came from, leaving Rick alone with his thoughts. Recalling those last words in his mind, the Pikachu chuckled. Despite trying to be nice, Psywave couldn't leave without saying one last embarrassing thing. Some things would never change, it seemed. Grass would always be green, the sun would always be yellow and Psywave would always be an . Maybe it was better that way. "Yup… as if you'll ever be gone, Psywave. A crazy imaginary friend like you doesn't leave so easily. It would be too good to be true." The mouse said with another chuckle, his eyes moving between the machine and the spot Jen's ghost had been, sighing once more. "I hope I see this machine or Jen again. I miss both of you…" he muttered sadly as the room faded away too, his mind leaving once again the world of dreams. This time, he wasn't angry or mad upon leaving, nor was he distressed. For once, he left it with his heart at peace and his mind mostly together, both heading side by side toward a new goal. This colony would know what Rick "Sparktail" Tortoas was made of.
--
While Rick was sleeping peacefully, Strongclaw had spent a few hours looking for his lost friend, but without any success. The Pikachu was nowhere to be found and his son would be the one to pay for his disappearance. It would be a sad day for the colony, one of great loss, but at least, Sparktail would help to fill the hole left by the departure of his friend and soon, of his son, unless he miraculously proved that he was able to live like a grown up. Sadly, Shocky wasn't the strongest Pichu around, nor was he the wittiest one. There was no chance that he would survive the test. Under a different time, under different circumstances, maybe things would have turned out better for the Pichu, but for now, he had to find the poor child and tell him that his father was gone and with him, his life in the colony. Upon his return to the colony empty pawed, every Pikachu knew what was going to happen, but none attempted to stop Strongclaw from accomplishing his duty. Most of them just didn't care about the fate of one Pichu and those who did knew better than to go against the rules of their colony. There was no place in the colony for a chu who didn't agree to the rules, after all. Of course, all that was needed to save this Pichu was for someone to adopt him into their family, but no one would do that either. Pikachu didn't normally care about Pichu they didn't give birth to. Despite being in a colony, they were all really only an association of closed families who never interacted with each other, other than to contribute to the colony's stack of food and to the defense in case of an attack. The only case of interaction was when Pichu of different families played together and they were heavily watched by their mother.
This was why, when Strongclaw finally found the Pichu, he was left speechless. Instead of finding him sleeping alone in a corner and shivering in fear, he found him sleeping peacefully, cuddled against Sparktail. The Pikachu was also sleeping and had covered the Pichu with his tail protectively. Strongclaw didn't know what to make of this. Never had a Pikachu shown compassion toward another like this, not in this way. It seemed that Sparktail was more special than he had thought at first. Not only did he have an aura of power, but he cared about others more than anyone else did. Right now, the powerful warrior couldn't help but feel intimidated by the smaller Pikachu. He felt small compared to this stranger who came out of nowhere and this was not good. Could Sparktail… could Sparktail try to challenge his position one day? He hoped not, but he could never be too cautious. Like the guard before, he would play the card of intimidation to make sure that his authority would be respected. Rising on two paws and taking a loud and commending voice, the mouse tried to look as large and imposing as he could. "Sparktail! Shocky! Wake up! That's an order!"
In response, the Pichu whimpered and hugged Sparktail with his little paws, not wanting to leave the comfort of his newfound protector. The same could have been said of Rick, but he knew where his responsibilities laid. Sitting up grumpily, as he did every time he was woken up abruptly, he looked up at Strongclaw and he gave him a stern glare, his paws rubbing against the child comfortingly. "Yes? Coming to harm this innocent child, Strongclaw? Well, I have bad news for you: you are not going to touch him. I'm taking him under my care. Do you have anything to say about that?" he barked at the larger rodent, showing no fear despite opposing himself to one of the leaders of this group. Rick knew how risky it was to act like this, but he did not care when the life of a child was on the line. The child seemed to agree with Rick, cuddling against him even more. It was this reaction from the child that prevented an outburst of anger from Strongclaw, whose heart had been softened by the antics of the young Pichu. Had the young one not been there, he would have pounced Sparktail and shown him who was in charge here, but the young pichu was proving Sparktail right. If the newcomer didn't take care of that child, nobody would and the Pichu would have to leave. Nobody wanted that when there was an alternative to help strengthen their numbers. Swallowing his pride, Strongclaw nodded at Sparktail reluctantly. "His father died and Shocky would have had to leave, so you can take care of him if you want. Just… don't talk to me that way again, Sparktail. You have been warned. You can take this nest too, it was free. Come to the Elder room with Shocky, we will have to talk about this with the Elder, as well as give you your duty. You will have access granted by the guard."
Without further adieu, the frustrated warrior left the nest, leaving Rick with his new son. The former human nuzzled the sleeping mouse tenderly to wake him up. It was strange to think that he had just adopted this Pichu. Usually, your son wasn't a Pokémon, but this wasn't really a normal situation. "Hey… wake up, little guy… you're safe, nobody is going to throw you outside the colony or any other stupid thing like that." he said as the young mouse opened his eyes to look up at Sparktail anxiously. He was happy that everything was going to be fine, but something was still bothering him greatly. "Where… where is my daddy?" he asked pleadingly, his little ears drooping in sadness. Rick glanced down at the Pichu, shaking his head at such a sad sign. He had forgotten that he would have to tell him what had happened to his father and that he would never be back. This was something extremely difficult to say and Rick had never been praised for his communication skills and he knew it perfectly. This poor child would get a cold shower very soon. "Well… your daddy, he… err… well… how to put that in a way you will understand. Umm… he was taken away and he will never come back to the nest. Sorry... but… err… I'm here to be your new daddy, if that's any consolation… err… yeah… sorry again…"
So much for subtlety, one would say. Fortunately for Rick, the Pichu knew that this was probably going to happen and wasn't too shaken up by the news. He did whimper and sob at hearing the confirmation of the bad news, but his innocent mind began to push all that behind him to focus on the happy things. He would miss his father, but this new male didn't seem too bad either. When he was scared, he had helped him to feel better and he had offered him warmth. As long he wasn't thrown out of the colony and someone was there to make him feel safe, he would be happy. After barely avoiding exile, he had no reason not to be. He nuzzled Sparktail with his head and smiled. "It's ok. I will be fine if you are there to protect me, new daddy. Will you show me how to use my electricity, new daddy?" asked innocently, sounding like he had forgotten about his old father already. This lack of emotional attachment silenced Rick for a few seconds, until he reminded himself that this Pichu wasn't any different from any of the other chu here when it came to moral, sadly. "Uh… yes, I will teach you about that, I guess… umm… you are Shocky, right? I'm, Sparktail."
The Pichu blinked a few times and then smiled widely at Sparktail, happy that his name was known. The lack of any obvious "yes" head sign from Shocky was greatly annoying Rick though, and if he was going to make things better around here, he would start with the basics. "Err… you know, I know a good way to say yes or no without talking and I'm going to teach it to you. To say yes, you move your head like this." he told Shocky, doing an exaggerated nod with his head. "…and to say no, you move your head like this." he added, completing his explanation by shaking his head vigorously. "You should try it. It makes talking with others so much easier. Can you show me how do say yes with your head? I think I forgot…"
The Pichu giggled at this, thinking that Sparktail was very funny for forgetting about something he had just shown, then nodded vigorously. Rick smiled and clapped his paws together, faking recognition. "Oh! I remember now! Oh… and how do you say no? I think I forgot that too… I have a bad memory." He said with a sly smile, enjoying this little father-son bonding. During the following minutes, he made sure that Shocky understood the concepts of nodding and shaking his head and then he taught him a few more human ways of communicating easily. He could easily have gone on like this for a few hours, so much was the fun he was having, and so great was his feeling of pride in this little pichu, but he knew that there would be a lot of time for that later. For now, duty was waiting. "Good, Shocky. You have learned a lot today. I think I'm going to give you one berry as a reward, as soon I find some. But we really have to go to the Elder room now. So, you are going to be a nice Pichu and lead the way for me, because I goet lost in here, and I'll give you a second berry for that." he said, stressing on the words one and second, since he had just taught Shocky to count to three, using his foot claws. The pichu nodded and ran out of the room happily, prompting a shout from the Pikachu , who barely had time to follow the source of light before it vanished down the tunnels. "Hey, wait for me, Shocky! You are supposed to show me the way, not leave me behind! You playful little chu!"
At this frantic speed, the trip was very short. In no time, they had traveled the distance between their new nest and the entrance to the Elder room, guarded by the same guard as before. This time, the guard stepped aside to let the two rodents pass, not that it mattered since Shocky had long since ran past the guard and into the room, zipping through with agility that no Pikachu would be able to keep up with. Normally, in that case, the Pichu would get his due punishment from the Elder himself for trespassing into his room, something every Pichu had done and been punished for at least once. On this special occasion, since they had been invited, he wouldn't be punished, but the guards wouldn't have been able to tell anyway, because it was kind of hard to identify a Pichu running at full speed down a dark tunnel. The only thing they did was to give Sparktail a glare as he entered the room, like if he were responsible for this unwanted intrusion. Rick shrugged it off, of course, since he couldn't care less about the way these Pikachu looked at him. They would have had to get used to him acting strange, because it was only the beginning. Speaking of strange, Rick had to admit that the Elder room was unique. The first thing he noticed was that this room was the only one in the colony with some kind of light source. The room, shaped like half a sphere, was at least four feet high at its highest point. At the very center of the roof was a light well, illuminating the room with a faint light. Most importantly, it was shining directly on the center of the room like a beacon from heaven.
On this spot, was placed an imposing rock, on which was sitting the aged Raichu. The beast was almost twice his size, but Rick was not to be impressed by the raichu because his size was the only thing he had going for him. His orange fur had lost its shine, his teeth were either missing or in a bad state, his skin was covered with wrinkles and he was looking at him without much conviction and tiredly. This explained why Strongclaw was almost acting as if he were the Elder already… this old Raichu obviously wouldn't be alive for much longer. From the look of it, Rick concluded that it was a miracle that this living fossil wasn't dead already. However, having a zombie for a leader wasn't a reason to be impolite, especially with Strongclaw standing at the Elder's side proudly. The Pikachu lowered his body and bowed respectfully in front of 'his' leader, though from the corner of his eye, he was looking around for Shocky. When he found the Pichu heading toward what seemed to be a pile of berries and seeds, Rick immediately straightened his body and glared at the Pichu disapprovingly. "Shocky! Come here right now! Those berries aren't yours! If you don't sit near me right now, you will only have one berry, instead of two."
Hearing this threat, the Pichu stopped moving and wondered about what it entailed. His little brain was trying to remember how much one and two berries were. Using the mental image of Sparktail's foot paw to remember, he quickly realized that one berry was less than two. Shaking his head guiltily, he moved back near Sparktail and sat by his side and then smiled innocently at the Elder, a crude attempt at making the old chu forget about his failed attempt at stealing his food. The old chu and his son did stare momentarily at Shocky and Rick, but not for the reason the Pichu was worried about. They had not failed to notice how strange the Pichu had acted and how weird the words Rick had used were. Neither chu spoke for some time, until the elder broke the silence with a low-pitched and weak sounding voice. "Tell me young one, what is this one and two he spoke of?"
As innocently as a Pichu could be when asked a question about something that sounded obvious, Shocky giggled and pointed at Sparktail cheerfully. "New daddy Sparkytail taught me about that. He called those words 'numbers'. They are used to tell how many things we have. Like… err… I have one head, and two eyes and three claws thingy. There is one stone, and one Elder, and two Pikachu and three grown-ups in this room and there is… there is… err…" he said, pointing at the pile of berries in confusion. "I dunno how it's called when it's not one, two or three, but I'm sure Sparkytail will teach me. He is the best new daddy ever!" he said happily, giggling and nuzzling Sparktail again. The Pikachu gladly returned this gesture, though his focus was more on the two leading figures in front of him, who were now giving him a curious look, similar to someone hearing a bad joke and not knowing whether to laugh at the joke or the one who made it. Becoming anxious because of this silence, Rick was about to shout that it was his right to teach Shocky whatever he wanted, but he was interrupted by the Elder before one word could be spoken. "You seem to know a lot of things, young Sparktail, but know that no amount of knowledge will equal the experience of living many seasons and seeing everything a chu can see in his life. You may be able to tell how many things there is, but I have fought more times than your words can tell. I have heard the words of the guard earlier, praising your ideas. If you think that you can walk around here and corrupt every chu with your ideas, know one thing: you… will have to fight for my position. FIGHT! Have I have been understood, young one?"
Rick had many qualities, but diplomacy was not one of those he possessed. The former human had been holding his laugh while the old Raichu was speaking, but as soon the Elder was done with his speech, Rick couldn't hold it anymore. He burst out in laugher and rolled on his back. "Hahahaha!! You have seen everything? I'm sure you have never even left this colony! Oh, I'm the great and powerful Elder, but I'm scared of the new Pikachu who can count. You are ridiculous. Ridiculous. You are so old that I could beat you with one eye closed and one paw behind my back! Hahaha!! You are a joke."
Strongclaw took a step back and so did Shocky, the Elder now growling at Sparktail threateningly. The Pikachu heard this and went back on his feet and stopped laughing, instead giving the Elder a cold glare. This was the last straw. "Sure, growl at me, Elder. You want to scare me? Come on, big fat old chu, be realistic. I'm not scared of you. You may be big, but you are also old. Anyone fighting you in a duel could beat you. You don't need strength to know that, only knowledge. People around here seem to lack a lot of that. You don't even know how to count. Well, I will teach you a counting lesson. One…"
Without warming, Rick dashed at the Elder and punched him with force in the middle of the stomach, throwing the Elder off balance, the poor weak rodent falling off the rock on his back in the dirt. "…is the number of hit needed to initiate a battle. Two is the number of combatants in a duel. And three… is the number of weak spots on a male raichu's body. I just showed you one of them. Let me show you the others." He shouted defiantly, taking a few steps back to give the Elder some space to position himself. He wasn't about to cheat his way to victory; he had more honor than that. On his side of the room, the Raichu had indeed expected Sparktail to do like any other Pikachu and take the opportunity to finish him off while he was on ground, but no killing blow came to him. Confused, he lifted himself back on four paws and slowly advanced on Sparktail, who was in a battle posture, on two paws. "You should have finished me when I was on the floor, young Sparktail. You made a deadly mistake. Now, I will show you why I am the Elder and why you will never be!" he shouted angrily, suddenly charging at Rick.
The Pkachu didn't move or even try to place himself on four paws. The Elder was big, but he was slow like one aged as him should be. "Another weak spot on a Raichu's body is his face. Which can easily be taken care of with…" he smirked as the Raichu began to charge at him. "Three…" he raised his paw "…two…" he closed his fist and focused his strength in his arm "…one…" he threw his arm forward as if it had been released from a spring "… and… BAM!" His fist violently made contact with the raichu's nose. The beast was stopped on the spot and waddled confusingly back onto two paws. One paw was holding his face and the other gripping his torso. He did look shaken, but not only from the blow. His exhausted breathing suddenly became irregular and faint and his front paws fell back on the floor. He struggled on his paws for a few seconds before collapsing, falling unconscious. Then… the whole colony became silent. A few females, who had heard the sounds of the battle, as well as the guards, Strongclaw and Shocky, were watching as their Elder was defeated at the paws of the new Pikachu. Then, something unexpected happened. There had been no rage and no angry shouts. On the contrary, every Pikachu lowered itself to the ground and Strongclaw shouted, soon followed by others. "The Elder has been defeated! Hail to the new Elder, hail to Sparktail!"