A/N: Here is chapter 18. I know it's been a long time, but I had to think about how I wanted the story to go after the plot twist in Fragmented Bond that screwed up the rest of my story. I was also very lazy, but that's only me. Anyway… this is not the last chapter like I said it would be, but the next one could be it, but I'm not sure. I guess we will see.

Chapter 18: Rising Order

"Wh-what?" Rick was frozen in stupor, his gaze moving between the Pikachu, the hardened face of Strongclaw and the limp body of the old Elder on the floor. He couldn't become the Elder just because he taught him a lesson in the midst of temper fit, could he? This didn't make a lick of a sense! But… then again… he was in a Pikachu colony, where these rodents lived like prehistoric men, if not worse. It was only in primitive groups that you saw such things as sacrifices, people's life being built on the orders of a higher deity, and leadership to be a matter of power. Maybe it did make sense that by taking down their Elder, he would become the new one. Their leader had fallen from their graces and another one had risen from the ashes. As much it was the reason for this sudden assumed rise to power, it was also at the heart of his worries. If he could become the Elder so easily, only by beating up the current one, what stopped someone like Strongclaw, who was much stronger and seen as the future elder anyway, from beating him to a pulp to get the title as soon as he turned his back? These Pikachu might seem nice at the moment, but it was those same Pikachu who had growled at him earlier for speaking his mind, the same who killed Pichu to protect themselves; they simply couldn't be trusted. On the other paw, by taking power, he would be able to teach them how to be better, so maybe they would like him for that, but this laid too much in the realm of possibilities for his liking. At the time, it was probably in his best interest to play it safe. "Thanks, everyone, for your support, but… I don't think I can be your Elder… and I don't think that the Elder should be chosen because he is the strongest chu around. Strongclaw… come here."

His first words killed the mood in room, sadness becoming apparent on the face of every rodent in the room (except for Strongclaw, whose ears perked up in surprise), the ones that followed made everyone very confused, since there was no such thing as an Elder not chosen for his strength and his last words urged everyone to turn their attention to Strongclaw. The large warrior held a growl, hating the idea of receiving an order from someone he didn't consider stronger than he was, even if he couldn't deny the power he possessed. There was something in the way Sparktail spoke, something powerful he couldn't really explain, but whose existence he acknowledged. He had to be obedient though, because Sparktail could very well be giving him the title, though it was unlikely, for it had never happened before. Anyway, he would never disobey an order. There would be another time to take back the power he deserved as the alpha male of the colony. Calmly, the large Pikachu moved in front of Sparktail, giving him only a hateful glare for a split second before bowing down. "Yes, Elder? What can I do for you?"

Rick sighed sadly. The glare Strongclaw had given him confirmed his theory about being beaten up by the warrior as soon he had the opportunity. Although it had been established by now that he had no negotiation skills, he had a good offer in mind that would please everyone. To ensure his safety, Strongclaw had to be the one to take that choice, not him or anyone else in this room. There couldn't be anything better to please the ego of the warrior. kind of awkward "Strongclaw… get up and call me Sparktail, I don't want you to act like I'm was some kind of powerful chu, because we all know that you are the big powerful warrior around here, you told me so yourself. I want to be your friend and a fellow warrior, not the big bad Elder who stole your promised place."

The warrior growled again, offended by how Sparktail was breaking every rule there was to break in the Elder position. Granted, he was being very nice, but the Elder wasn't supposed to be nice, he was supposed to be a powerful warrior, looked up to by everyone for his superior strength and ability. The Pikachu rose to his feet and stared at Sparktail, with no expression on his muzzle, other than a trace of withheld anger. "Yes, Sparktail, I won't do it again." he told the Pikachu, the cold tone of his voice being a threat in itself. Rick flinched slightly, but didn't back down. His message would get through completely before Strongclaw attempted anything to beat him up. "Good, Strongclaw. Now listen to me. If being the Elder means that I have to be the strongest warrior, then you can be the Elder, because I won't want to be it. However... I have another idea that you might like. How about, instead of having one Elder, couldn't there be two? You want to be the Elder, because you want to be recognized as the strongest Pikachu around, don't you? Well... you are the strongest Pikachu around now. If you want, I could make a title for it. You could be the Alpha Warrior. Everyone would look up at as being the strongest. While you would be doing that, I could doing things like improving the quality of the food chu get, improving the protection around the colony, improving how food is stored, improving our chances to survive predator attacks, as the Alpha… err… well, I will find a word for that later. You saw that I have a lot of knowledge, but I have a lot more to teach. With you as the Alpha Warrior to protect the colony like an Elder and me to make it better with my ideas, there will be more Pikachu and Pichu and everyone will be happier and safer. How does that sound? You can still be the Elder if you don't like it…"

Rick was looking at Strongclaw with a sincere and genuine smile, but inwardly, he was smirking. While what he promised was no lie, it had been thought up to touch one sensible cord in the head of every Pikachu: their survival. If Pikachu joined together in that colony, it wasn't because they wanted it, but because they couldn't survive alone. Rick had understood that by now. Their group identity was something frail, that one punch on the muzzle of their Elder could shatter. Had they valued their identity, they would have gang up against him to avenge their fallen leader. They just didn't care about it unless it threatened their survival. A stronger male was rising to power, more adapt to protect them and this was what truly mattered. There was only one thing that mattered more than that and Rick was offering it to them on a silver platter: more protection and safety. Strongclaw might have been a strong and proud warrior, but he was no different of the rest of his brothers. He was torn between becoming the Elder and the promise of a better life, but with less power in his paws. The only thing he would get in both cases was the satisfaction to know that he was the strongest warrior. The first choice would give him a title and the second would give him a better chance to survive. The warrior wasn't stupid and he would take the most rewarding option, which was to let Sparktail do his thing. Besides, if Sparktail had not said the truth and didn't bring the good he promised, he could always fight him in a duel later and take back the stolen title. Furthermore, it would give him a good reason to banish Sparktail and everything would be back to normal. Either way, in less than one moon cycle, his life would be better. Strongclaw couldn't say no to that. "I like your idea, Elder… err… Sparktail." The Pikachu said with a forced smile. Rick nodded and looked at every Pikachu watching and muttered "There will be a lot to change around here."

--

It was early in the morning and most Pikachu were still sleeping, but Pichu were boiling with energy and Shocky was no exception. Like everyone else, he wanted to play, especially now that he had a lot of new friends to play with. Since his daddy became the Elder, no Pichu thought he was weak anymore. He was now the son of Sparktail, the Pikachu who brought so many good things to the colony. There was just one little problem with his plan: his father was still sleeping and he didn't allow him to play outside alone since that predator attacked the colony, eight suns ago. Ironically, it was this attack that made his daddy the respected leader he was today, respected by even Strongclaw. Shocky remembered that day very well. His father was teaching him about numbers over 10, when suddenly he held his head in pain, shouting about having felt something bad. The Pichu had hugged his father to make him feel better and it had seemed to work, but Sparktail wouldn't stop talking about a threat, about something he had felt before. Since the young Pichu had no idea what his father was talking about, his daddy got mad and decided that it was time to "test my theory", whatever that meant. He gathered every warrior over the hill the colony had been build into, placed a few Pichu near the unguarded entrance and told everyone to wait. Strongclaw had said that day that Sparktail was crazy for doing that, but that it would have been a good reason to challenge his authority. What happened next… would stay burnt in the mind of everyone.

Attracted by the easy meal, an Arbok had slid toward the entrance, obviously targeting the unprotected Pichu, but Sparktail had been faster. Half a second before the great snake appeared, his daddy ordered everyone to rise and to shoot their strongest bolt on the left. By the time they had risen and charged their cheeks, the snake burst out of the bush and was hit by ten bolts released by the surprised and panicked warriors. The frightened Pikachu survived this humiliation in front of their 'fearless' leader, but the snake… did not. One charged bolt from one warrior could daze a snake and forces it to retreat, but ten bolts literally fried that one. The news of this successful counter-attack shocked the colony. No one had seen the snake coming, no one had smelt it, but their leader had known before everyone where and when the snake Pokémon would strike. That day, Sparktail stopped being only the young new Elder; he became a hero, sent by the Great Elder, not only with knowledge about things to do, but knowledge of the future. Of course, should anyone really have taken the time to properly question Sparktail, they would have known that it had not been magic. He had simply felt the same warning in his head, the same feeling he got when Kagai had tried to kill him, the same that prevented his capture when the humans attacked. He felt the hunger of the predator about to strike the colony… and once he had gathered everyone, the mind of the snake Pokémon was leaving an imprint so deep in his brain that he could have tracked it down… but it had been easier to lay a trap using Pichu as bait. That snake had bitten the dust and would never threaten the colony, ever again. That day, even Strongclaw had bowed down at Sparktail's feet.

But that was eight suns ago and today, Shocky wanted to play and he was tired of waiting for his daddy to wake up. If Sparktail wouldn't wake up by himself, he would help him. It wouldn't be the first time a Pikachu lost some sleep because of an impatient Pichu. Shocky giggled and rubbed his cheek against Sparktail's left one, easing the passage of a few good kilovolts of electricity into the Pikachu. It was a weak charge with no chance of hurting him, but it did excite his central nervous system and made him jump on the spot, as if he had been woken up to the deafening sound of a gong. "Ahhh!! What the…? We are under attack! We must strike before they do. We must…"

His glance fell on Shocky, who was still giggling playfully, and he stopped shouting, feeling more annoyed than anything else at the moment. "Shocky! How many times did I tell you not do to that? It's impolite!"

His shouting didn't seem to affect the Pichu much. After hearing that rant, he only blinked and giggled again, as if it were only a game. And indeed, to Shocky, it was all a game, one that he intended on winning. "Oh… I did it three times, but err… I wanted to try it a fourth time, to… err… to show you that I remember how to count up to four!" It was a lie, of course, but by adding that innocent smile, those pitiful eyes and that bright face thirsty for knowledge, he had made himself hard to punish. In fact, instead of a punishment, the sly Pichu received a praise and a few accompanying pats on his head given by a smiling and proud Pikachu. "That's very good, son. Now, I suppose that you can tell me that again without lying, huh? You remember what I taught you about that, don't you?"

The Pikachu snickered as the Pichu became avoidant and looked away from his father. "Uh… no… I'm sorry, daddy. I won't do it again…" he said in shame, receiving another pat on the head. "Good. That's what I wanted to hear. But if you try that a fifth time, I won't have any choice but to punish you for real. I guess that you want to play a game outside the colony, hmm? How about I teach you a new trick, instead?" he said knowingly.

Giggling again, the Pichu perked up his ears curiously and pointed at Sparktail's head. "Are you going to teach me how you do the funny thing where you guess the future and a big bad Pokémon attacks? I want to do that! All my friends think it's special" he said eagerly, only to have his idea shot down almost immediately. "Shocky… I told you that you can't do that. I'm not even sure how I do it myself. I learned how to use it better, but it's not always a fun thing. Sometime I hear things that would scare even Strongclaw. You don't want to be like that."

Evidently, the Pichu wouldn't drop it without a few complaints, but before they turned into whining and crying, Rick dug into the pile of food and picked up two berries, one for each Pokémon. The sight of the berry efficiently shut the Pichu up. Shocky stuffed the fruit into his face happily, gulping it down in huge bites. He wasn't even taking time to taste the fruit, too busy eating it for that. It wasn't so much that he was famished, but like any child, there was simply no such thing as too much of a good thing. If he was given more berries than he could stuff in, he would eat them anyway, until he felt sick from overeating. Rick knew about that and he was using this to control Shocky and prevent him from acting stupid, until he learned everything to make him a good Pikachu, according to Rick's view of what a good Pokémon should be. Shocky wasn't the only one to be controlled like this, every chu, without exception, were given what they wanted while Rick silently taught them better. Two weeks had passed since he became the Elder and things were already becoming better.

Firstly, using a few food samples from the reserve, he taught them to tell the difference between spoiled food and food that should be eaten now before it became spoiled, which would prevent a lot of food poisoning, especially on young Pichu. Secondly, he taught every Pichu how to count up to ten. He tried with the adults too, but very few had been receptive to the concept of numbers. Although he considered the latter a failure, it was funny to see Strongclaw try to count to three and fail, though. It never failed to amuse Rick. Thirdly, he taught the guards and the warriors a few strategies to defend the colony. He had many other ideas in mind, like building a few devices out of wood to help modernize the colony. He would need more than two weeks for that, but the Pikachu would help him, since they now believed him to be some kind of holy chu sent by the Great Elder to protect them. He would also destroy that false view, in due time.

In a way, this colony was a little baby he was raising, and of which he was the proud father. Its former father would be jealous, had he still been alive to see it. The old Raichu didn't last long after the battle. Many believed that the old chu died because he wasn't the elder anymore and that it was his time to go to the side to the Great Elder chu in the Holy Nest, but Rick knew that it was only because the battle had greatly weakened him and exercised his heart more than recommended for an old rodent like him. The punch had nearly knocked him out, but it was a heart attack that had finished him off, that day. The old chu never woke up again to see his defeat. Since it was partially his fault, Rick made a little pile of rocks near the light well, over the elder room, for everyone (or at least Strongclaw) to remember that there had been a Raichu in the colony before and that he had been important, too.

Right now though, Shocky was more important than thinking about the past. Once his son was done with the berry, the Pikachu led him outside, using just enough electricity to see where he was going without worsening the effects of the voices in his head. Despite the safety the dark tunnels the colony offered, there was truly nothing as good as the light of the sun and the vibrant green of the grass (true, it looked more like grayish to him, but he had a fairly good imagination.) It was no wonder Shocky loved to play outside more than anything else, it was just what their bodies wanted. It filled them with energy and made them feel good. If there was a way for the chu of the colony to live outside at any time without worrying about the beasts lurking around, Rick would force everyone to play at least once a day, even though he wouldn't actually have to force anyone, since it was no secret that everyone wanted that. After all, without predators, there was nothing outside to disli-

As Rick was walking through the grass with Shocky, he received a seed on the head, forcing him to look up at the smiling face of a white and blue rodent Pokémon. Alright, there was one thing to dislike in these woods: those nasty Pachirisu, the food stealers of the trees. Those annoying squirrels had a long lasting rivalry with the chu tribe, according to Strongclaw. The Pachirisu didn't actually have anything against the Pikachu, but the fact that they thought that any kind of food was theirs to take was a bad thing when food was scare and that the Pachi clan had to share their territory with the chu tribe.

"Hi, Sparky!! Hi, Shocky!!" shouted the Pachirisu with her trademark high-pitched voice. Female Pachirisu generally had annoying voices, but this one had the ability to make Rick cringe each time she spoke. "Hi, Magic... I thought I told you to run around your tree until you fainted."

He usually replied to her with a lack of enthusiasm and annoyance in his voice, but it had never worked. Either this creature was immune to sarcasm or she was just too dumb to understand what it meant. It was probably the latter, but then again, Magic did have that strange name. When he met her for the first time, five days ago, she had introduced herself as being Swiftbolt, codenamed VX-008. She was apparently "born in a place nearby where many other Pokémon are born and play strange games with the humans in white", in her own words. Rick had barely translated that as "I'm a reject lab rat/squirrel/thing and I was thrown away because I was making the scientists' ears bleed out of annoyance, like those magical fairies in those children movies" It had not exactly been a polite or nice thing to say, but Magic apparently liked the word magical and kept repeating it, so much that Rick decided to call her Magic to shut her up. Ironically, it had actually worked… until the next day, at least. "Oh… I did it, Sparky! But being fainted was not that funny, so I did other stuff, then I slept, and then I ate, and then, oh! I saw you and I came to say hello, and you said, hi, Magic, I thought."

"Yeah yeah… I think I get it… I mean, I think I understand what you mean. Umm... so, did you see anything interesting around here today?" He asked the Pachirisu, faking any kind of interest in what she was saying. Actually, he did care about what she could see. From their height in the trees, Pachirisu could see things around the colony much farther than a Pikachu's nose could reach. There was always something for one Pachirisu to see and ten Pikachu to miss. This was one of the reasons he forced this friendship with Magic. Another of his long term plans was to create some kind of long term association between the Pachirisu clan and the Pikachu tribe. This would create the first real interspecies colony and end the rivalry. It was still a far cry, with the Pikachu hating the Pachirisu so much, but they had some qualities they could use. You just had to look deeply… very, very deeply into them.

"Hum… I saw some Pikachu, and some Pachirisu and some Pichu… oh, and I saw food and ate some too. And… I think that's all… oh wait! I also saw a black doogie, in a cave nearby! She was very nice!" she said innocently, making Rick raise an ear. "A doogie? You probably mean a doggie. Wait… That's not a good thing at all. Dogs are dangerous for us. We are their food." He tried to explain her, even though it probably entered one in one ear and came out the other. In fact, it just did.

"Oh no! She was very nice! I didn't go close to her, but she was smiling at me. I like new friends, so that's why I wanted to see you, because everyone likes new friends. But I found that seed on the way and it looked funny and… err… I forgot to tell you. Hehe... oh well, you still know now. I hoped you liked the seed though! I threw it at you!"

"…" If stupidity could kill, Magic would have been dead many times at this point. She was the perfect example of why Pachirisu were disliked. If some said that Pikachu were dumb, then Pachirisu were mentally challenged. At least, a Pikachu was able to tell that throwing a seed on someone else wasn't funny! Magic was lucky that Rick had needed her to locate that predator and attack her before she would even think about threatening his colony or else he would have taught Magic about insulting the intelligence of everything living in the forest. "Shocky… go back to the colony and tell everyone to prepare for defense. Tell the strongest warriors to join me. We may have an enemy to take care of. And… ask a female to heat up some berry juice like I taught them… I will need something to relax when I will be back."

The Pichu nodded and ran back to the colony quickly. His father sounded distressed and annoyed, which meant that it would be dangerous for him to argue. Had his father been in a better state of mind, he would have asked again why he wasn't allowed to drink heated berry juice, even if the answer would have been: "It's not good for you." Of the few things Rick had tried over the last two weeks, heating berry juice was the only thing that served no other purpose than his own enjoyment. By injecting high voltage of electricity in the juice of some fruits, ethanol was produced and the juice suddenly became more than a harmless beverage. This, of course, was more than enough of a reason alone to forbid Shocky (or any Pichu, for that matter) from drinking it.

A few minutes later, the eight most powerful warriors of the colony were reunited in two rows in front of their leader and their guest. They were all eying the Pachirisu suspiciously, worried that the white rodent might play a dirty on them, but they tried to stay focused on Sparktail despite that, knowing that if he had allowed the pest to be there, there had to be a reason. Their leader did strange things, but they had never brought anything but good to the colony; they would be stupid to doubt any decision of their elder. They were also eager to know the reason they had been gathered, but Sparktail fortunately took care of that need soon enough. Standing proudly in front of his troops, the Pikachu pointed at the Pachirisu and the crude drawing of a dog he made in the dirt while waiting. "This squirrel has spotted a large predator dog in the nearby cave. As you know, predators are bad for us and any living around here is a threat to us. So, instead of waiting for it to study our ground and attack us when we will be weak, we will go to that cave while she's unprepared and destroy her. Any question?"

The Pikachu all looked at each other, looking confused. They exchanged a few words, mainly about the Pachirisu and the danger that this duty could imply. They all seemed urged to ask the same questions, something Rick had noticed and decided to get rid of before it wasted too much of their time. "Anyone has a question that is not "why is the squirrel following us" or "why we go on something so dangerous"?" he asked then, sounding annoyed. This time, the rodents shut down and stared straight at him again rather reluctantly, knowing that it was no use to argue with their elder. Ironically, if they really had wanted to oppose themselves to Rick, nothing would have been so easy, since they are eight against one, many of them being stronger physically than Sparktail. Any of them could brag about potentially overthrowing the elder, but no one would actually take the risk of angering the Great Elder Chu by defeating His protégé. They could be stupid at times, but not that much. Satisfied, Rick symbolically passed his paw through the middle of the drawing to cut it in two parts. "Time for that beast to die."