A/N: Sorry for such a long delay! Life got crazy. Only one chapter left. :) Thanks for sticking with this story!

Pikachu saw a blue blur bound about an outcropping of rock in the cav. Wartortle had come back just as the funeral reception was winding down. She approached him as he was panting.

She reached out to place a paw on his shoulder; he shrugged to avoid it. "No, I'm not ready to talk it out, Pikachu…it's just…outside…Lavender Town…there's—"

Charizard bounded towards them, shaking the floor with each step. "—Wartortle! Don't run out like that. Dude?" He raised his eyebrows. "You okay? That was fast. Thought it'd take you a few hours to get it together."

"There's—"

"—Everything okay, Wartortle?" Brock crouched down to the Pokemon's eye level.

Wartortle threw up his hands. "—I would be if you'd let me get a word in edgewise!"

Brock backed off. "What's going on?"

The turtle sighed and addressed Pikachu. "Lavender Town's burning. The humans are rioting." He shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "The whole city's in a blackout."

Pikachu glanced up at the construction lights that dotted the cave. "But we have power."

"If you're talking about our power source, we have a generator." Brock pointed to an alcove in the rear. Wires spread out from in a web.

"I guess I have to calm them down, huh…" Pikachu sighed as she eyed some leftover snacks from the reception. "I'll get Ash and Meowth. Brock, can you join us too? And—Wartortle, are you up for this?"

"Yeah, better than thinking about Venusaur right now."

Pikachu didn't know what to say. She wanted to cry. She wanted yell at him, and she wanted to hug him. She wanted to run away. Pawing her face, she hesitated. "I'm sorry."

/

It had only taken a few shocks to wake Ash up. Meowth was still somewhat drunk: he teetered on his unnatural gait, visibly concentrating so he could walk on two legs.

"You can still go back to Rock Tunnel if you want…"

Meowth slapped his face lightly. "Nah, I'm okay, Pikachu. It's clearin' up. I had coffee." He yawned. "Besides, you needs a translator, and last I checked, dere isn't anybody else..."

His voice trailed off as he saw the fires engulfing Lavender Town. The windows on the PokeMart were shattered, and the entrance to the PokeCenter was boarded up and coated in graffiti. The streets smelled acrid, like burning rubber—it stung the eyes. A man yelled, and another whooped in response.

"Woah." Ash craned his neck upwards to view the top of Pokemon Tower, which had been set aflame. Smoke poured out of the building. "The graves…"

Brock crossed his arms against his chest. "Animals. All of them."

"Us," Ash corrected. "Man…what gives?" He knelt down in front of the memorial, drumming his fingers into the ground.

"Well, we have to stop it," Brock offered.

Ash stood back up. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Um, first things first. Wartortle, can you send a bubble beam into the Tower?"

"I can hydro pump it." Wartortle moved his legs into a fighting stance.

"Too powerful. You'll knock it down."

"Understood." He spewed a barrage of happy-looking bubbles. They squeaked against each other in a high-pitch stream.

Pikachu could have sworn that the low-level attack sounded like a Marowak's cry when it hit the fire.

The flames flickered and weakened at being doused. After only a few more seconds, the ruins of Pokemon Tower were left, blackened and smoldering. The edifice creaked with new instability.

"So, where do we find this mob, Wartortle?"

A rumble answered Ash.

"Looks like dey founds us." Meowth stood before the angry crowd, his jaw dropping.

Pikachu walked past him, and she extended an arm to shield him. "What…is going on?"

There was a confused pause, and, rolling his eyes, Meowth stood on his toes so his mouth rose so it could be seen above her paw, "We wanna know what's going on?"

A woman cried out, "We can't live like this! You call the police, oh, there's no police! You call city hall, oh, there's no government anymore! What do we do!"

Ash shrugged. "Our generator's working great. Do you guys—don't you have a generator?"

An older man pushed people aside as he made his way towards Ash. He rolled his eyes as he muttered, "Do we have a generator?"

"Well, do you?"

"Of course we have a generator! And how do you think we recharge its fuel cell? The grid! The grid is freakin' down!" He sighed. "So no power. For days. We're back in the stone ages here. But you—oh no, your generator's working great!"

Brock countered, "Well, we don't recharge the fuel cell on the grid."

"And you recharge it how?"

Brock squinted and pinched the bridge of his nose. "…We have an electric…type…charge it."

"Oh! Well look at you, with your fancy electric-types! This here's a ghost-town! Do you see electric types milling about, no."

Ash offered, "I'm sure you could find an—"

"—Even if we did find one, they wouldn't want to help us! Considering it turns out we've been turning their little buddies into energy this whole time."

Pikachu and Meowth stood with their mouths ajar.

Ash finally raised his voice. "You didn't know! We didn't know! You think this is Pokemon against humans?"

"Of course it is! What else could it be, 'master trainer'? If Pokemon had been grinding up humans, we'd wipe 'em out! It's only a matter of time before they, before they—"

"What do you need help with." Pikachu's voice was flat but firm. She walked towards the man—she was knee-height compared to him.

The man stumbled backwards, falling back towards the crowd and flinching. He curled on the ground. "Don't hurt us," he begged. "We'll—we'll fight back." A few torches waved in agreement.

Meowth cleared his throat. "She's, uh, she's asking you whaddya need help wif." The man didn't budge, so Meowth approached him, poking his arm that was raised to guard his head in self-defense. "What can we do ta help?"

"You're…she's…she's not gonna kill us, like she killed Giovanni?"

"I didn't kill Giovanni!"

Meowth sat on the ground next to the shaken man. "No, she's not killin' anybody. And she didn't kill Giovanni. Kinda wish she did, but—"

"The hospital."

"What?" Wartortle crossed his arms. "Did you set that on fire, too?"

The man shook his head. "It needs power."

"If I recharge the battery, do you promise to stop…rioting?" Pikachu gestured at her tail.

"She'll recharge da battery if you all stop riotin'."

The man shrugged as he spoke to Meowth. "I mean, I can't promise." Someone in the distance threw a Molotov cocktail towards the PokeMart. "See? But I'm sure it would…help."

Pikachu groaned and ran her paws over her ears. "This isn't going to be a regular thing, you know."

"Dis is a one-time deal, got it? We can't be runnin' around rechargin' everyt'ing all da time."

"Don't worry; I get it." He turned around and addressed the mob. "Calm down! They're going to help!"

"Yeah right," another woman booed.

"Go home, Martha!" He raised his fist.

"When you get a job, Tim!"

The man—Tim—rolled his eyes. "This way."

Broken glass littered the ground as they approached the building. The hospital was an old brick building, and a few spots of light reflected from candlesticks dotted what remained of the windows.

"Didn't even know Lavender Town had a hospital."

"Did you think humans go to Pokemon Centers too?"

"Kinda. It's not on the map, anyway."

Brock whispered to himself in disbelief. "Sometimes I wonder if you're actually a Pokemon."

They entered the building, Tim and Brock leading the way. The hospital was mostly empty, save for a few medical personnel running from place to place in darkened halls.

"The elevators aren't working, so—" Time opened a door, revealing a pitch-black staircase. "ICU's on the 9th floor."

"Use flash." Wartortle pushed Meowth forward.

Meowth shook his head and scowled. "In all dose years…have you ever known me to use a move o'da dan scratch?"

"Always thought you knew an HM at least. Are you even a Pokemon." Wartortle stated, rather than asked, the last sentence, in a low voice.

Paws raised in the air, Meowth took in a deep breath and spat. "Well I guess it's questionable after da whole Missing No.—"

Wartortle stepped back. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean, I just—"

"I'm going to stop you both right there." Brock dug around in one of his vest's pockets. "A flashlight." He shook it. "Mechanically powered. Problem solved."

The group started climbing the stairs, Meowth trailing behind. The door to the ninth floor creaked open, and Pikachu felt a twinge of dread—or static—rise in her fur. There were human lives here, normal ones, but then there were also traces of heartbeats. Weak ones.

A slight movement caught her eye. A nurse, staring off into space, was methodically squeezing a pump. That pump was connected to a plastic tube, which trailed into a human's mouth. Breathing.

"Where's this floor's generator?"

Tim pointed to a supply closet.

"I'll recharge it. No problem."

Ash opened the door for her—the knob was too high up—and Pikachu spotted the device, which was the same as the one they had back at Rock Tunnel. It took a spark, nothing more than a breath to Pikachu, and it was charged for two weeks. In less than a second, with less than a thought.

"Hey. I'm done."

"We noticed." Ash took in the now-lit room. Machines were beeping and pumping and whirring, and the nurse was smiling.

"Thanks." Tim looked at the patient lying in the small ICU's sole bed. "I guess you can go know. This means a lot…"

"We'll—we'll come up with something," Ash offered. "I promise."

"Um. Bye." Wartortle reached up and pressed the button for the elevator. "Yeah. Machines are nice. Can't argue with that."

The elevator arrived, and Ash, Brock, Pikachu, and Meowth packed in behind Wartortle. They rode down in silence, with Brock inspecting the posted directory. The elevator chimed—such a foreign noise now—and they headed back.

"Ash." Pikachu sped up to match his pace.

"Yeah."

"You made a promise."

"Yeah."

"What can we do for them? As much as I'd like to, it's not realistic for me to keep—"

"When I promised that, I meant we'd find another way."

"Hmm."

They walked further in the cold, all tired.

"Never realized humans needed electricity so much." She turned back around to look at the hospital as it shrank in the distance. "To live. Sometimes."

"Humans rely on a lotta t'ings, Pikachu."

"You—you just said my name in Pokemon!"

"Did n—" He cut himself off and gasped as he felt remnants of the other language in his mouth. "I did? I really did. Huh. Sorry. I'm real tired."

"Why are you apologizing?"

/

Pikachu woke up to an argument echoing through the cave. She had been the first to fall asleep when they returned to Rock Tunnel, and now, looking around, it appeared she was the last to rise.

"We could all use the money!"

"How do you think the economy is doing after—I don't know—a global blackout!?"

"If we do this, then that wouldn't be a problem!"

"Cut it out, you guys!" Misty's voice rang through.

"I'm just saying, I want money. It'd be awesome," Charizard huffed.

Wartortle groaned. "There's no getting through to you."

"Charizard has a point." Jame's voice echoed now.

Pikachu shuffled into the main area, rubbing her eyes.

"We woke Pikachu up."

"Don't worry about it, Wartortle. What's going on?"

Jessie answered. "Ash said he made a promise. So now we're talking about the science of economics. Go figure."

"Economics is not a science!" James blurted out.

"It's a social science," Jessie shot back.

"That's what I'm saying!" James shrugged.

Brock offered Pikachu a brief explanation. "We're just trying to figure out how humans can have electricity and Pokemon can be free to do whatever they want."

"Capitalism!"

Misty raised her hands. "Charizard, you learned that word like five minutes ago. And I think it's what started infinity energy in the first place."

"Correction: state capitalism started infinity energy."

"How do you even know this, James!"

"Spent a lot of time locked in the mansion's library as a kid."

"Of course." Jessie sighed.

"What I'm trying to say is, Charizard has a point."

Ash gave Charizard a thumbs-up.

Meowth spoke up. "Go on, James."

James continued. "Money might not be the answer—trust me, it usually never is—but Pokemon have the power to solve this problem, but Pokemon can't do this at the loss of their health—or freedom. So Wartortle's also right, in that using existing currency is impossible at this point, and that creating a new currency would eventually leave us back where we started." He paused. "So Pokemon need something in exchange for solving the energy crisis, but money probably isn't it."

"Thanks for thinking about this, James." Ash gave a sheepish grin. "I didn't really think about how big this would be."

Pikachu scratched her head. "So I guess we should be asking what Pokemon want."

"Some respect would be nice." Meowth laughed.

A brief moment passed before Pikachu spoke again. "What about…a voice?" She looked to Ash for approval.

"You're saying we should all learn to speak human like that weirdo?" Charizard shook his head.

"No, no. Like, if we were heard. If we could decide things for ourselves."

WHADDYA WANNA DO, BUILD A CITY?- Meowth