Chapter 42, everyone—and as you can see, I am not dead! *bricked*
So here's how working on this ended up: tried working on the next chapter, ended up writing out Sabrina's battle. Tried working on the next chapter, wrote up a chunk of a later section. Tried working on the next chapter, wrote up the battle for the Earth Badge. Tried working on the next chapter—spent about half the year writing BH6 fanfiction. Four-hundred pages later, and we are FINALLY back to this one. T-T/
So since I've been away for a while and there's about 37 reviews for this chapter, so I can't actually respond to all of them like I'd like to—just know that I have read and appreciated them all. :D
Also—check out AverageHiveMind's DeviantArt gallery: Shadows and Ash now has fanart! :D
Also worth mentioning is the account of invasive species—I helped with a kickstarter highlighting the Burmese Python as an invasive species back in '13 (did the script, storyboard, and some art for the video), and it's been something I've looked into ever since. Invasive species, for those who might not be aware, are species that are artificially introduced to an ecosystem, whether intentionally or through their own escapades, that then cause an imbalance in the ecosystem. Common invasive species in the United States include feral cats, feral hogs, Burmese pythons, rats and mongoose in Hawaii, and Asian Carp. Horses, technically, are also an introduced species, but they haven't had the same effect on the ecosystem as the other animals listed have.
Also, PORYGONhost is based on EBSCOhost—your best friend while in college...and Professor Cyprus is in reference to a Pokémon fan-game design document I'm writing up (Sun and Moon disappointed me :( ).
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
Don't Starve © Klei Entertainment (oblique reference to one of my other fanfics)
Yu-Gi-Oh! © Kazuki Takahashi (another oblique reference)
Lilo and Stitch © Disney ("HOLD IT! HOLD EVERYTHING!")
The Lone Ranger © Disney ("Can't tell if horse is stupid, or pretending to be stupid. Very tricky.")
And now, for something completely different:
In other news, research professor Higgsbury has released his treatise The impact of released Pokémon upon the environment: An observational study conducted in Hoenn. Higgsbury credits Pokémon trainers Klendaniel, Mitsuru, and Moutou for their assistance, and has announced that he's not leaving the comforts of the library until he's forced to.
And here Pikachu had thought things were going so well.
The family reunion had been as suitably poignant as he had been hoping for, even with Vee there running around and cheering and going wait, what? It had been so good to breathe in those familiar scents, to bury his face in familiar fur, to feel the tension he didn't even know he was carrying just melt away….
So of course it had to all go sideways with Ash just bumbling in and reminding him that no, he couldn't just run off with his family. Which, to be fair, was very tempting—the modicum of existing loyalty to Ash was what stopped him, instead converting it to "No, wait a minute! It's not what you think!" as he ran after the troupe, stopping short before he hit the bushes and wincing when Vee didn't exercise that control. Ouch.
So to say that he was more than a little sore at Ash and company at the moment was a bit of an understatement.
"Five minutes," he spat, cheeks sparking. "You couldn't have waited five more minutes."
"Hey, chill," Bulbasaur said, coming up next to him as Ash apologized and rescued Vee. "Don't give me that look—Ash was worried about you."
Pikachu scrunched up his muzzle, not wanting to give voice to the venom building up behind it.
Bulbasaur poked him. "Ash is allowed to be worried when you run off—he cares about you. Trust me when I say that a trainer caring is a good thing."
"It hurts," Vee whined.
"It's okay," Ash said, petting Vee. "We'll get you fixed up and then maybe later we can practice Swift on that bush."
"I like that idea," Vee said, growling at the bush. "You hear that, you stupid bush? You're going DOWN!"
Pikachu rolled his eyes, avoiding eye contact with everyone as Ash explained what he had seen—ah, there was the moment of realization. "Oh man—Pikachu, I'm sorry…."
"Well that doesn't help me now, now does it?" Pikachu asked, cheeks still sparking.
"If Ash had run into the bushes with no warning, would you have just let him go or would you have followed him?" Bulbasaur asked. Pikachu opted to ignore him.
But he was having a hard time ignoring Ash's suggestion—for all that about having to hurry and beat Gary Oak, Ash was willing to put everything on hold for Pikachu.
"So whadda you say, pal?" Ash asked, offering a hand. "We'll wait as long as we have to. Forgive me?"
Pikachu considered it. It would be entertaining to string Ash along for a while—bribery might come into play. But at the same time….
"Hello?"
Everyone in the clearing looked up, looked over—a Pichu coming back through the bushes.
"Hey—no wait!" Pikachu yelped, waving his paws before running around the others. "See? They're not going to do anything. Are we, Ash?" he asked, glaring at Ash; Ash half-raised a hand, looking like he was going to comment, got poked in the back by Brock and put his hand back down without a word.
"See?" Pikachu asked, gingerly moving closer to the Pichu. "Nothing to worry about—it's all right."
"I can personally attest to these humans," Bulbasaur said, prompting Pikachu to glance at him; the Pichu did too, didn't look convinced. "Bulbasaur used to be widely hunted for their bulbs. Trust me when I say I wouldn't be in the company of just any old human."
Pikachu blinked at that, turned back to the Pichu. "It's fine—no one here's going to hurt you." he gingerly spread his paws—had a moment when he recalled that hugs were more a human thing—
The Pichu came a few steps closer, sniffing—
And then tackling him, clinging tightly to his chest and rubbing its face against his ruff, exclaiming "It IS you! Mum and Da said it was, but I wasn't sure—you smell funny but you still smell like you—"
And she still smelled like her. "Little sis!"
"Aw," Misty noised from behind.
And then the bushes had exploded and the Shiftry hit the party.
"We will fry you and eat your charred corpse if you even think about fighting back!" one of the Raichu barked at Bulbasaur, who was in the best position to counterattack.
"You even THINK about attacking me and mine, and you'll wish you never HEARD of the Seed Pokémon," Bulbasaur spat, pawing the ground and ready to charge.
"Don't think we don't have a contingency plan for Grass types," one of the bigger and more heavily scarred Raichu said sternly, tail lashing.
"You wouldn't!" Vee said, trying to scramble out of Ash's arms—Brock had a hold of the back of Ash and Misty's shirts, looking like he was ready to grab them and fling them to safety if need be. "It's like—a million to one, that's not fair odds! And you CAN'T attack humans—that's the rule!"
One of the Raichu smirked at Vee's naivety. "Rules were meant to be broken."
Pikachu's little sister finally squirmed free, ran over to the one Raichu that did indeed look familiar, shifting uncomfortably on his paws as he tried to hold the line. "Da, Da," she noised, tugging on his fur. "Da, it is big brother, you were right. Da, Da are you going to fry the humans?"
"That's nice dear," the Raichu said, trying to maneuver her behind him while still retaining a battle-ready pose. "Now go be with him, he'll keep you safe."
Aha, no—Pikachu was having to go do a stupid. Thank you, Ash, for doing this to him.
It certainly wasn't the way he envisioned the family reunion going—much rather go back about five minutes to where the Raichu he was now facing down was happy to see him instead of consternated.
"No frying," Pikachu said sternly, with more steel than he felt. No, calm, they could smell fear…."These are with me."
Pikachu's father grimaced, looked like he was avoiding planting his face in his paws by sheer force of will.
"What do you mean, these are with you?" the alpha Raichu demanded, cheeks sparking.
"I mean, don't fry them or I'll slam an Iron Tail into your face," Pikachu said, throwing out more bravado than he felt. This was going to go sideways, this was going to suck, this was going to so very much suck—
"You were captured," one Raichu snarled, a scar twisting one side of its face further. Pikachu's ears flattened back against his will and his legs trembled with the instinct to flatten himself against the ground—no. No, he couldn't yield, if he did everyone was dead—
His father stared, looking distraught, torn between his offspring and his troupe—
And then one of the larger Raichu suddenly went sliding away, yanked back by its tail, suddenly airborne—smacked into a tree, peeling off and landing on its head, collapsing with a groan.
Why was quickly answered by a huge black blot coming out of the shadows, fur billowing menacingly.
"The next one who moves will never see the light of day again," Darkrai snarled—which was quickly cut off by him dodging several Thunderbolts. The Pikachu and Pichu started running away—the Raichu started running after Darkrai.
"Get it get it KILL IT!" several Raichu hollered. "DON'T LET IT GET AWAY TO EAT THE TROUPE!"
"No wait!" Pikachu yelled, trying to think of something that would get everyone to stop running—ah.
"HOLD IT!" he yelled, bolting across the clearing. "HOLD EVERYTHING! I GOT THIS!"
Everyone else skidded to a halt in surprise, some tumbling head over heels—
Pikachu slammed on the brakes, skidded to a halt in Darkrai's path to face the dark blot. "I need you to do me a favor I'll owe you one okay thanks," he said in a rush.
"What?" Darkrai had time to get out—right before Pikachu slammed into his chest.
"Yeah, that didn't do anything," Darkrai informed him as he scrabbled for purchase.
Pikachu could tell—slamming into him had been like slamming into a tree. He managed to hook his claws on Darkrai's sawtooth ridge, pushed and pulled up to scramble onto his shoulder.
"I know," he said, shaking his head to try to dispel some of the throbbing pain. "But pretend like it did, okay? This is important."
"And what do I get out of it?"
"My undying affection?"
"Try harder."
Pikachu sighed. "No snide comments for a week?"
"How about one thing I ask, at any time, no questions asked."
Okay, that sounded like it had strings attached. "Um…."
"I'm leaving," Darkrai noised, faintly sing-song.
"Okay okay fine! Be zapped you horrible thing!"
The Charge was pure show, but Pikachu pumped some extra energy into it to make it look impressive. Darkrai was obliging enough to go down for the count.
"Pikachu!" Ash yelped, locked out of the conversation and probably operating under the impression that Pikachu had actually knocked Darkrai out. On the positive side, it meant that everyone else was convinced as well—his troupe started peeking back out of the bushes, while the Raichu all stared at him, gobsmacked.
"Have no fear!" Pikachu bellowed from Darkrai's back, paws on his hips and planting one foot firmly on Darkrai's head. "For I have defeated this mighty beast!"
"Too thick," Darkrai opined.
Pikachu stomped lightly on his head. "Quiet, slave."
Darkrai glared, although he was doing his best to disguise it with a smile; the end result looked like he was about to messily devour something. "I hope you have sweet dreams tonight," he hissed in a sickly-sweet voice.
Urk.
On the positive side, his troupe was muttering to each other as they came back out, thoroughly impressed—this would probably work.
And then one of the senior Raichu stood up on his hind legs. "Tie the beast up!"
Oop.
Judging from Darkrai's glare, Pikachu was definitely having nightmares tonight.
To be honest, Pikachu was surprised that Darkrai had let them tie him up.
It definitely made for an odd sight, Darkrai laying there under several vines, glaring at anyone who came close or laughed at him. Currently, Darkrai was glaring king-sized Honedge at Bulbasaur, who took one look at him and laughed so hard he buried his head in a nearby bush, causing the whole thing to quake.
"I don't get it," Vee said. "Why is Mr. Darkrai—mbbh." This last noise being caused by Bulbasaur wrapping a vine around his muzzle. Pikachu made a mental note to be nicer to Bulbasaur from now on.
Darkrai, meanwhile, had his eyes scrunched tightly shut and looked like he was nursing a major migraine—probably from the Pichu that kept coming over and daring each other to poke him. Also probably because Ash had just sat down next to him.
"So are we going to get an explanation soon, or are you just not as impressive as you say you are?" Ash asked, looking like he was trying very hard not to bury his face in a bush.
"After I get that rat, you're next," Darkrai growled.
Pikachu stuck his tongue out at him, sucked it back in quickly when his father came over, giving him a look.
"I don't believe for one minute that he's really down for the count," his dad said. "If he were, you would have been much more excited about the Raichu talking about the Thunder Stones."
Raichu, for the obvious reason, were the only ones in the troupe who could present Thunder Stones to the Pikachu that were ready. And Pikachu wasn't ready, plain and simple; he scratched under his chin, thinking about how to explain that.
"I…still have some moves to work out," he said finally. "And I don't think it's occurred to Ash to pull one out, so…."
His dad looked at Ash with a mixture of contempt and pure envy, along with a few other emotions that Pikachu couldn't immediately identify. Why was obvious to Pikachu: his father had been a trained 'mon, once upon a time, one of those reputable trained 'mons who had the bad luck to be handed to a brat of a trainer who evolved him right away and then kicked him to the curb when he didn't do what the brat wanted. He had never had to fend for himself, never had to fight for his life, and was entirely unused to his body with no option to learn new moves on his own anymore; if the troupe hadn't come across him, he would have been dead, some Spearow's lunch, most likely. He had sworn utter fealty to the troupe and had sworn that his offspring would never suffer such an indignity as he had.
One of his offspring had suffered such an indignity.
But at the same time, he knew what it was like to be taken care of by a trainer, how different it was.
He glanced at Pikachu finally. "You say it," he said. "You say the word and we snatch your ball off that kid, bury it far in the woods where no one can ever find it, and then run."
Burying was superior to just smashing it, as his father knew, because a captured 'mon couldn't be captured until it was released. It was very tempting.
It was also the sort of thing that would put Ash and company in danger.
And furthermore, Ash didn't have Pikachu's Pokéball—Darkrai did.
His eyes slid to the pitch-black Pokémon, still tied up and glaring at the Pichu inching closer to poke him; he waited until the one was almost touching him before barking out a roaring "HRAH!" The Pichu scattered, skittering away behind cover before peeking back out, slowly sneaking back to him when nothing happened.
His dad was watching too. "He didn't capture that one, did he?"
Pikachu turned to look at him to see his muzzle screwed up, face somewhere in the region of disbelief. "Darkrai is…complicated, I guess. He follows us around for the fits and giggles, I think."
His dad didn't look convinced. "That's a legend-tier Pokémon—those don't just follow humans around 'for the fits and giggles.'"
"I don't know—I heard Mew does."
"I also hear Mew is pink and cuddly. That is neither pink nor cuddly."
"Agreed. But you try telling him to buzz off."
"And while you're at it, tell me how deaf I am," Darkrai sounded, causing the Pichu to scurry away again.
"Be quiet—you're my prisoner, remember?"
Darkrai rolled his eyes so hard that Pikachu wouldn't have been surprised if it caused him pain.
"And Ash is a surprisingly good human—come on, I'll introduce you," Pikachu said, padding over to Ash. His dad hesitated, followed.
"Humans are good at brainwashing, son," his dad hissed, eyeing Ash carefully.
"I know, I heard—but Ash really is fine," Pikachu insisted, glancing at the Raichu who were still watching the humans carefully; Brock had set up a camp and was working on cooking, but he at least seemed painfully aware of the eyes on them.
Ash, true to form, was either acting oblivious or—more likely—completely oblivious to the Pokémon that wouldn't hesitate to kill him at the drop of a paw.
"Are we cool now?" Ash asked, before looking at Pikachu's father. "Who's this?"
Outright telling Ash, of course, was impossible, so Pikachu fell on the longstanding standby of Pokémon: charades. Point at his dad, then himself, tap his head and raise his paw up to indicate grown-up. Do it again when it didn't sink in.
"Do you want me to translate?" Darkrai sighed finally.
"No, you be quiet," Pikachu told him, sparing him a glance before looking back at Ash and repeating the process.
"You're related," Ash guessed. When Pikachu nodded, Ash pointed at his father. "Is he your dad?" When Pikachu nodded, Ash's pointing hand turned open-handed as he directed his attention to the larger Raichu. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."
Pikachu's dad stared at Ash's hand, at Ash proper, before finally sliding his gaze over to Pikachu. "Is he for real?"
Pikachu sighed, nodding. "You get used to Ash's lack of sense."
"And his deplorable sense of self-preservation," Darkrai added.
"What's wrong with my sense of self-preservation?" Ash asked, looking at him.
"The fact that you have none?"
"I have some."
"Uh-huh, right, and my hair is naturally white."
"It isn't?"
"Well, yes, on top, but if you start turning my black hairs gray I'm just going to throw you off a cliff and end it. By the way, you've been holding your hand next to a Raichu that could simply grab a finger and give you an electric shock that could kill a man three times your weight."
Ash glanced back at Pikachu's father, looking suitably concerned. "Yeah, but—you're Pikachu's dad, so it's cool, right? We're fine."
Pikachu's father looked at Ash's hand again, as though seriously considering what Darkrai had said. He finally looked at Pikachu. "Has this boy been treating you right?"
Under normal circumstances, Pikachu would have been tempted to hem and haw; but with his dad only a few inches from Ash and Darkrai's suggestion still ringing in his ears, he knew he'd better not. "Ash is a good trainer."
His dad searched his gaze, trying to see a lie in there; finally nodded, looked back at Ash, and put his paw on top of Ash's hand, pushing it down once before letting it back up and taking his paw back.
Ash was grinning. "Cool."
Pikachu's dad snorted. "I can't tell if he's actually that naïve, or just stupid."
"Very tricky," Darkrai said.
"What is?" Ash asked.
"Can't tell if trainer is stupid, or pretending to be stupid."
"I resent that."
"But can you deny it?"
"It's not enough that I resent it?"
"Thank you, that answered my question. Back off, fuzzy," Darkrai growled—the Pichu went scurrying away again.
"And yet you say this one doesn't belong to this trainer," Pikachu's dad said to him, indicating Darkrai and Ash.
"That's what he says, but it's starting to sound like a strangely specific denial," Pikachu said.
"Just keep talking," Darkrai sighed, glaring at him.
"Are we okay now?" Brock asked, sounding like his voice was straining from keeping it calm and even. He and Misty had been nervously eyeing the Raichu this whole time, more acutely aware of the danger they were in than Ash was.
"Yeah, we're cool," Ash said with breezy confidence. "Pikachu just introduced me to his dad—this is his dad," he added, pointing at the Raichu in question.
Pikachu tried very, very hard not to sigh and shake his head—his dad might be thinking about being okay with Ash, but he wasn't the one that needed convincing.
And he wasn't entirely certain the lead Raichu were motivated to let the trainers go, the way they were clustered over across the way, discussing something as they kept glancing over to the little camp. That didn't feel like it was a good sign.
"Anyway, dinner's ready," Brock said, putting several bowls out before holding up a plate of Oran cakes and looking at Darkrai. "So are you done, or am I going to have to serve you over there?"
Darkrai glanced at Brock, glanced at Pikachu—
And sank down into his own shadow, head tipping back slightly as he went, until all that was left was a tangle of vines.
One of the Pichu looked at Pikachu, gaping as he pointed at where Darkrai had been. "I-it melted."
Pikachu sighed, turned to where Darkrai was quickly plucking several Oran cakes off of Brock's plate. "Seriously?"
"I'm on a lunch break," Darkrai countered.
Pikachu blew out an irritated breath, turned to the rest of the troupe. "The important thing is, I can put him back in his place if need be."
Pikachu's father didn't seem entirely convinced, and Pikachu was almost certain that he suspected. But he didn't comment, only shrugged.
"Quick twilight scour, come on then," he barked at the rest of the troupe.
"But there's food right here," Vee pointed out.
Pikachu's father bit his lower lip, scratching behind an ear; his mother watched him, seeming torn.
"We'd…better not," his father said finally. "Bad foraging habits and all that. Come on son," he added, nudging Pikachu. "You can show your little sister how it's done."
Now it was Pikachu's turn to hesitate—like Vee said, there was food right there….
But he still nodded, glancing back once as he followed his family into the brush.
"I bet you'll find the most out of anyone!" his little sister said, bounding over to walk next to him, nearly under his paws she was so close. "Having to be out on your own like you were! Was it scary?"
Considering his capture had basically been him breaking one of the cardinal rules of Pikachu-dom, he doubted it. "It was very scary," he decided to say instead, glossing over her first two statements. She still shivered appreciatively and snuggled in closer as they walked.
Now here was hoping he didn't embarrass himself.
Ash watched as the Pokémon left, looked at Brock and Darkrai as soon as they were gone. "So that went well."
The you can't possibly be this stupid expression was to be expected on Darkrai, maybe on Misty, less so on Brock and Bulbasaur. "Yeah," Misty said finally. "In what century is this going well?"
"We're not dead?" Ash guessed.
"Yet," Darkrai said, munching on an Oran cake and eyeing the Pikachu and Raichu still on the other side of the clearing, now keeping the Pichu from coming over. "Don't think that's not still on the roster for these guys."
"I don't know why it would be," Ash countered. "It's not like we're here to capture anybody—we're just going to camp a few days while Pikachu reunites with his folks!"
"Ah-ah-ah—I don't recommend use of the C-word."
"I said we weren't—"
"I'm getting the impression some of those Pokémon are ones that got released after being trained," Brock said, looking pensive as he sat crosslegged next to the fire. "The Pikachu line are actually notoriously hard to train—a lot of people pick them up or buy them for the cuteness factor, and a lot of those get evolved direct into Raichu with no training whatsoever. I imagine more than a few of them are a little sore at that treatment."
"A little sore," Misty echoed. "And water's only a little wet."
Ash blinked at that—blinked again, trying to process that. Pikachu were hard to train? Maybe that was why Professor Oak had been so leery about sending Ash out with one. Better yet, people released them?
"Why?" Ash asked, scooting closer to Brock, Darkrai drifting around a little to glare at the Pokémon across the way. "Why would someone release a Pokémon after going through all that trouble to capture and train it?"
"A number of reasons," Brock said, ticking them off on his fingers. "The Pokémon doesn't have a temperament suited to a domestic life, the Pokémon is too aggressive to be trained, the trainer is no longer able to care for the Pokémon—for any reason—the trainer died—"
Darkrai might have twitched a little in the corner of Ash's eye—he glanced at the Pokémon across the way, looked back at Brock, noting that Bulbasaur was giving Darkrai a narrow-eyed stare. Maybe he didn't want Darkrai agitating anyone.
"—And the people who inherited the Pokémon didn't want to take care of it. Now, usually you're supposed to give the Pokémon to the Rangers, who'll make sure they're rehabilitated and released into the wild properly, or that they go to a new family if they're too domesticated," Brock continued, now earning Bulbasaur's attention. "Unfortunately, that's not always the case—one the one hand of the worst-case scenario, the Pokémon outright dies. On the other hand of the worst-case scenario, the Pokémon does not, and most of the time it's released in an ecosystem it's not native to."
"Why is it a bad thing if the Pokémon survives?" Misty asked.
"Are you familiar with the concept of invasive species?" Brock asked her. When she shook her head: "Basically, ecosystems have a very specific set of flora and fauna, all of which are interrelated—take, for example, Viridian Forest: there's Caterpie and Wurmple there, and they're eaten by Pidgey and Spearow. The Pidgey and the Spearow keep the Caterpie and Wurmple from overrunning the forest and denuding all the plant life, and reduce the number of Beedrill there. Rattata eat Pidgey and Spearow eggs, but also eat other things too, while Pidgeot and Fearow eat just about anything, but are rare due to so few birds getting that strong. Now, introduce a new Pokémon into that mix—say, Heracross. Now, that Pokémon is common in Johto because there are Pokémon that are skilled in fighting it and eating it. Here, while it may have a rival in Pinsir, Pinsir don't live in the area—now Caterpie and Weedle are fighting for resources, and the Pidgey are too because the Heracross may decide to eat the Caterpie and Weedle. Or, for a more intense casual effect: Seviper being released into Viridian Forest. They'd eat the Rattata, Pidgey, and Spearow, and since they have no natural predator like Zangoose here, there's nothing to stop one—they'd completely shatter the ecosystem with no problem at all. Are you with me so far?"
"My head hurts," Ash reported.
"You're making him think, it's taxing that one brain cell," Darkrai informed Brock.
Brock looked at Misty.
"Releasing Pokémon where they shouldn't be is bad?" she guessed.
Brock sighed. "Okay—thinking positive, when we get back to civilization I'm finding a library and downloading some articles from PORYGONhost so I can explain this better. There's one really good one from Dr. Higgsbury in Kalos about the effect invasive species have had in Hoenn and then another one by Professor Cyprus—"
Misty waved a little. "Maybe you should tell those Raichu over there—and when you put them to sleep, we can escape."
Brock sighed and poked the fire.
"You could at least be a little offended at that," Darkrai observed.
"I could, but I couldn't deny it," Brock said, one hand propping up his head. "It's one of my strategies to get my siblings to sleep."
Ash looked back at the Raichu and Pikachu, rubbing at his head a little to get rid of the dull ache coming from trying to keep up with Brock's explanation—basically, what he got was that releasing Pokémon was a bad thing.
Hold up.
"But Raichu occur in the wild, right?" Ash asked, pointing. "I mean, they obviously do, they're right over there."
"Ah bless, he can state the obvious," Darkrai said, clasping his claws—and then shooting a glare at Bulbasaur's bark.
"Yes, but generally not this many to a troupe," Brock said. "I'm going to guess most of these were evolved and then released when the trainer couldn't control them—or the trainer didn't realize that Raichu don't naturally learn moves once they've evolved."
Ash recalled Lt. Surge telling him that if he ever evolved Pikachu it would have to be after he did pretty much all the training he could at the Pikachu stage. "But that's a really dumb reason to release a Pokémon."
"Saur," Bulbasaur sighed, nestling his head on his paws.
Brock shrugged. "So a lot of ten-year-olds are really stupid and have no clear idea about responsibly taking care of another living thing—it's why places like Unova and Kalos are talking about raising the starting trainer age to fifteen. New trainers want a strong and-or cool Pokémon fast, but then don't realize the problems inherent with taking care of such a Pokémon. They're in it for the glitz and glamor, not the journey itself."
"But the journey is the best part!" Ash protested, sitting up on his knees with his fists clenched. "Travelling across the land and searching far and wide, understanding the power that's inside and forging powerful bonds of love and trust and belief!"
"You really believe that old propaganda bunk?" Misty asked.
"It's all I've got."
Darkrai and Misty both made dismissive noises at that.
"Actually, it's not bunk," Brock said, gesturing a little. "Pokémon do sense a trainer's love, trust, and belief and will behave accordingly—a lot of Pokémon won't even evolve unless they sense that and reciprocate it. Golbat, for example, evolve into Crobat when they sense that their trainer loves them and they feel the same way. Pokémon are able to pull off some incredible things just on the belief their trainer gives them—kind of one reason ten-year-olds are still selected to go on journeys in most regions: they're still open to all sorts of ideas and willing to try them."
"And wild Pokémon see young trainers and go 'oh poor hatchling was kicked out of the nest I'm going to adopt them,'" Darkrai added.
"Right. What?"
"It's the standard Pokémon opinion. And also, now you know a living example."
"Ah, right, Tommy," Ash said, nodding.
"Right," Brock said, nodding and shrugging. "But now that we have that out of the way—we need to discuss the Donphan in the room."
Ash glanced around before he realized Brock meant that metaphorically. "What?"
"Pikachu. If this is his family—and you did say Professor Oak said he was wild caught—then there's a very real chance he'll want to stay here. So what are you going to do if he does?"
Ash blinked, caught flat-footed by that declaration—he…hadn't even thought about that. He had figured that Pikachu would be willing to continue on after some time with his family—but if he wanted to stay….
Ash looked at Darkrai. "Did he say anything like that?"
"I don't know," Darkrai said, scratching his sawtooth ridge and looking unconcerned. "I was too busy being vanquished." At Bulbasaur's bark: "It's a tough job and required my total attention, lay off."
That really didn't answer Ash's question, and filled him with some entirely new concerns. If Pikachu didn't want to go…if he wanted to stay and Ash made him go…then what kind of trainer did it make Ash?
But he couldn't imagine going on without his starter—his friend.
"I…we don't have to talk about that right away," Ash managed. "We're sticking around a few days—is dinner ready? You said dinner was ready."
He kept his head down after his moment of silence, not wanting to see their expressions—pretty sure one of them would be pity. He was pretty sure Pikachu would come with them later on, after a few days of R&R with his family.
And if he didn't? a nasty little voice in the back of his head asked. If Pikachu didn't want to come with him….
It would be a painful decision, but Ash would make it.
For his friend.