Chapter 9: No Way But Forward
We then left Michīna Town the next day, taking the only road they went out of the town. From what it sounded like, the others haven't explored this part of the Sinnoh region. There was supposed to be a city in the north called Snowpoint City.
"Looks like they have a gym there as well," Brock said.
"Alright," Ash said. "You ready for that next badge, Pikachu?"
"Pika!" Pikachu said, nodding.
"I would just make sure to come up with a strategy before battling," Dawn said. She then noticed I hadn't said anything in awhile. "Chris, what's wrong?"
"What?" I said. "Oh, nothing."
"You've been rather quiet," Dawn said, smiling.
"Yeah I have, haven't I?" I said, smiling in return. I then sighed. "I've been thinking about what Arceus said. I mean, I don't really know anyone from my past except my parents, and... Paul." I realized then that Paul had absolutely no idea I was here. And I had no way of telling him either. "Who could Arceus have referred to?"
"Listen," Dawn said, taking my hand. "Maybe you shouldn't really worry about all this. Besides, everyone needs a break after they help save the world."
I chuckled for a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."
After about another hour or two from walking, we then decided to take a break and then have lunch.
"So Ash," Brock said, "From what it sounds like, the gym leader at Snowpoint City will most likely use ice-type Pokemon. Who do you plan on using?"
"Hmm. Well I know ice-types are weak against fire, water, and steel types," Ash said, "So I could use Buizel and Chimchar, but I don't have any steel types." He then looked to Pikachu. "How about it, buddy? You think you can handle it?"
"Pika pi," Pikachu said, crossing his arms and turning his head, confidently.
"Alright then," Ash said, taking out two Pokeballs. "Come on out Chimchar and Buizel!" A flash of light, and both Chimchar and Buizel appeared. "Alright, you two, we got another gym battle coming up, and you're going to be my starting lineup."
Chimchar and Buizel nodded, ready for the upcoming battle. "Hey Ash, I know," Dawn then said. "Me and my Pokemon can help you train."
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Ash said. "How about you first, Buizel?"
"Bui," Buizel said, nodding.
"Alright, Piplup, time to do some training!" Dawn said, throwing out one of her Pokeballs. Out of it came Piplup, who was ready to go.
"Well, this ought to be a good match-up," Brock said.
"Water-type versus water-type," I said. "Seems like a good match-up indeed."
"Alright Buizel, start off with Aqua Jet!" Ash said. Buizel then charged towards Piplup, a jet of water surrounding him.
"Counter it with Peck, Piplup!" Dawn said. Piplup then charged towards Buizel, its beak glowing.
They hit each other in the middle, both canceling out each other's move and pushing them back towards the edge of the field.
"Now use whirlpool!" Dawn said. Piplup then threw it's tiny flippers in the air and summoned a large whirlpool. It then threw the whirlpool towards Buizel.
"Buizel, counter it with Water Pulse!" Ash said. Buizel then formed a ball of energy and then sent it towards the whirlpool. This Water Pulse proved to be stronger than most, ripping right through the whirlpool and hitting Piplup, knocking it out.
"Wow, that Water Pulse was stronger than usual," Ash said, rather surprised.
"Buizel," Buizel said with a confident smile.
Dawn went over to Piplup. "You alright Piplup?"
"Piplup," it said, exhausted but okay.
"Well Buizel, that was a good battle and you earned a good rest," Ash said, calling back Buizel. He then looked to Chimchar. "You ready to go, Chimchar?" Chimchar nodded.
After calling Piplup back, Dawn seemed a little confused on who to call up next. Taking one of her Pokeballs out, she thought to herself, "I hope this works." "Come on out Mamoswine!"
Ash and Brock both gasped in shock at this move. Mamoswine wasn't quite the cooperative one in Dawn's group. Mamoswine then came out and roared at Chimchar.
"Alright Mamoswine, use Take Down!" Dawn said. She then looked at Mamoswine in confusion, "Huh?" Mamoswine had fallen asleep right in front of her. Dawn sighed with a sweatdrop appearing on her head. "We really need to get this taken care of," Dawn said, calling back Mamoswine. "Alright Pachirisu, it's your turn now!" Pachirisu appeared, ready for battle.
"Chimchar use Flame Wheel!" Ash said. Chimchar then used flamethrower to form a wheel around him and started rolling towards Pachirisu.
"Dodge it Pachirisu!" Dawn said, and Pachirisu quickly dove out of the way. "Now use Discharge!" Pachirisu's cheeks started to have electricity come out of them and quickly sent volts of energy at Chimchar.
"Use flamethrower to counter!" Ash said. Chimchar did just that, blowing out fire that connected with Pachirisu's Discharge, causing a small explosion. It seemed that both attacks had canceled each other out once again.
"Wow Ash, looks like Chimchar really has improved," Dawn said.
"Same goes for Pachirisu," Ash replied. "Now Chimchar, use Scratch!"
"Use Sweet Kiss!" Dawn said. All of a sudden, hearts shot out of Pachirisu's mouth and hit Chimchar, stopping him in his tracks, and confusing him. "Now use Super Fang!" Dawn said. Pachirisu jumped into the air and quickly came down, using Super Fang against Chimchar, knocking him down and out.
"Wow, that's some Super Fang," I said.
Brock nodded. "Pachirisu just learned it recently, and now is one of it's main moves."
Ash then picked up Chimchar. "You alright, Chimchar?" Chimchar nodded sadly. "Hey don't worry about it," Ash added, "By the time we battle at Snowpoint Gym, you'll be all ready to go."
"You did good as well, Pachirisu," Dawn said, "As well as using a good Super Fang."
"Well, I think all that battling has made you all hungry, so let's have lunch," Brock said.
"Can't argue with that," Ash said.
After lunch, we then continued walking towards Snowpoint City. I had tried once again to get a signal on my phone, but still got nothing. I guess the modern technology we had just wasn't made for this type of condition.
"So Chris, what is your world like?" Dawn asked me.
"Well," I said. "My world can be known for many things, both good and bad. Pikachu unfortunately has seen it for itself."
"Chu," Pikachu said sadly.
"What do you mean?" Ash said.
I sighed. "The world I live in is much like the world here, full of beauty, nature, and art. But, unlike this world, mine has seen constant warfare, terrorism, murder, destruction, poverty, and fear. I grew up in that world, and all of those problems are just getting worse. People are dying by the millions, and there's nothing we can do about it. It's just not the way it used to be."
"Wow, that definitely sounds rough," Brock said.
"Living in such conditions for almost twenty years, you get used to it," I said. "Besides, where I live compared to other parts, it's just another day in paradise for me you could say."
"That's terrible," Dawn said. "All of our worlds should be in balance, not like this." She then looked towards Pikette. "But what about you?"
"My world only consists of Pokemon. We have yet to see an actual human in our world, despite recent events," Pikette said rather angrily. "If they were to ever reach that world, there would be no place to hide. They would be captured and treated like slaves." She then looked to me. "Chris, they must pay for what they've done."
"And they will," I said. I then looked to Pikachu. As if reading my thoughts, he nodded telling me it was okay. "The truth is, when Pikachu got captured, it wasn't just a friend, it was his own brother."
Ash, Dawn, and Brock all gasped. "His brother?" Ash said, looking at Pikachu.
"Not the way you think," I said. "Ash, Brock, you may not remember, but years back, you had gone to an island that was the home of a cloning machine which took strands of hair from all the Pokemon there and made clones of them. Pikachu was one of them. His clone, sometime ago, was captured by the same people who captured us and did terrible things on him, brainwashing him and drugging him, using his rage as a weapon. Pikachu didn't have a choice, it became kill or be killed."
"Pikachu..." Ash said, "I'm so sorry."
"Pika," Pikachu said, saying it was alright.
"They definitely sound more evil than any organization here," Brock said.
"By all means they should be punished for their deeds," Dawn said.
"I couldn't possibly know where they could be, they could be anywhere around here since they have a way of coming here," I said.
"Well, we'll help you find these people," Ash said.
"Yeah, you won't be able to do it by yourself," Dawn said.
"We are a team, after all," Brock said.
"It's not that simple," I said, stopping in my tracks. "This organization had formally been dissolved over ten years ago by our own government. If the government doesn't know where to find something, how could we?"
"Hey, we've done and seen the impossible before," Ash said. "It's not like it would be nothing new to us."
"I hope you're right about that," I said, as Pikette put a paw to my face.
(A/N: Okay, I decided to add this one song in, except unfortunately it's one of those songs which has nice music but the lyrics don't match up. Oh well, the first 55 seconds are just instrumental anyway, but the name of the song is "Enjoy the Unknown" by And One. If you think it doesn't work, just let me know and I'll get rid of it. Still, I like the song and it sounds rather sad.)
Once it had gotten dark, we decided to make camp and have dinner. I was quiet again, however my thoughts were on a different topic. Afterwards, I made myself a seat to sit on a little far away from the camp, staring at the stars. While the others seemed concerned, it was Dawn that came over, seeing as we were the ones who talked the most.
"Now what's the matter?" she said. "You know all this could be bad for your health."
I smiled. "I think my health is the least of my worries right now. It's nothing really, just stuff going through my mind."
"Oh, so that's how it's going to be?" Dawn said smiling. She then started taking her hand and started going down my back.
I instantly flinched at her touch. "Um, Dawn? What are you doing?" But Dawn said nothing, still going down my back until I really flinched when she got to the middle of my back.
Dawn laughed. "Ha, found it!" she said and started tickling me, since I was very ticklish there.
"No, stop it please!" I said, trying not to laugh, but I had no control. I then ended up on my side. "Dawn, please, that's enough! Oh you're so lucky I don't own any Pokemon!" She kept going until I couldn't take it anymore and finally gave in.
"You could've gone the easy way," Dawn said, beaming her innocent smile.
I sighed. "It's amazing how we get along so well."
"Well, you probably wouldn't expect less out of me," Dawn said, kissing me on the lips, which made me feel better.
"Alright, it's just that, I know there's one other thing I must do before I'm done here. It's just that, I'm not sure if I'm willing to get to that step yet."
"It's Pikachu, isn't it?" Dawn said.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm sure Ash was upset when he was gone."
"Yeah, he was," Dawn said. "They've pretty much been best friends for a long time. It seemed like nothing could ever tear them apart, at least that's what Ash believed. When he was gone, Ash just didn't seem like the same person. Brock and I were worried, and always tried to cheer him up but it never worked."
"I can understand that," I said. "There's friends I have who I haven't seen in a long time, and may never see them again, but I would always remember them. Unlike them, however, Pikachu and I instantly shared a bond between us, a friendship. *I can remember when we had first met..." My thoughts turned back to when I found Pikachu on that stormy night, close to death. "I never thought I would ever meet a Pikachu but I still helped him. I had nursed him back to health, on more than one occasion. I gave him the best I could offer, and he embraced it greatly. We were the best of friends, and we loved each other. And still do."
"Pika pika," I turned and saw Pikachu behind us with a big smile on his face.
I smiled. "You heard all that, huh?"
"Pika," Pikachu said, nodding. He then went up to me and gave me a hug.
I then noticed he had something in his paw. He gave it to me and I saw that it was the same disc I had gotten we were both at college. "But," I said, taking out the disc, "I had gotten rid of this, how did you find it?"
Pikachu only smiled. I stared at the disc, not sure what to say. "But what are you trying to say?"
"Pika pi pika pika pi," Pikachu said.
"You're saying that if I ever needed you, you would come back with me?" I asked.
"But Pikachu, what about Ash?" Dawn said.
Pikachu looked over towards camp and sighed. "Pika pika pi pikachu," he then said.
"Pikachu, you have to realize I won't always be there even if you did come back," I said. "I have an education that I have to fulfill and then in the future get a full-time job."
"Pika pika pi," Pikachu said, telling me that he could always come by during the summer months.
I hesitated. It seemed tempting. I stared at the disc I was holding, remembering the horrible things it had shown. If the world was like that before, nothing would change. "No," I said, breaking the disc in half. "I can't let you live in a world full of pain and suffering."
"Pika pika," Pikachu said, tears starting to form in his eyes.
"Chris..." Dawn whispered.
I sighed. "It wouldn't make a difference if we did stop them once and for all. Sure, there would be time of peace, but someone would just try to do the same thing, or something catastrophic would happen, taking all of us. And I couldn't possibly let anything to you," I said, tears forming in my eyes as well.
Pikachu just stared at me, tears streaming down his face. He then turned around and was about to go back until I said, "Pikachu."
He then looked back to me. I went up to him, getting down on one of my knees, and giving him a hug. We both started crying. For me, it was the first time I cried in a long time.
After a couple of minutes, we broke the hug. "Pikachu," I said, "When the time comes, you have to stay strong." Pikachu nodded.
"Chris," Dawn said. I looked to her. "I'll give you two some time alone," she said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
Once she started going back, I then heard a weak laugh. I looked towards Pikachu, who was trying to laugh, but couldn't quite do so. "You say anything, you can consider our friendship done." I tried to sound serious, but I just couldn't. I even smiled and laughed as well, as we tried to forget of what we had said earlier.
(A/N: Well, that was a heartfelt chapter. Another long one too. Anyway, I realized being on chapter nine, I needed to put something in between now and the grand finale because I wanted the story to be at least the same length or longer than the previous one. I also realized I needed to keep the friendship between Pikachu and Chris fresh in everyone's mind, which explains the emotional part. So I hope you liked that chapter and, like always, there's more on the way!)
FoxMcCloud7921