Chapter 3! I would like to thank BloodStarGeneral for beta reading. Without further ado, let's get started!
I got my backpack and sleeping bag and I looked around. So, this would be my home for the next couple of... Weeks? Months? Who knows. At least I could return at any time. I checked the surroundings for any pikachu traces. But I realised lots of pokémon crossed this road and any trace could be from a different pokémon. I decided to just walk straight into the bushes and hope for the best.
Wild pokémon quickly fled when I made my way through the timbering. I had already seen some rattata, beedrill (thank God they left me alone), nidorino, nidorina, oddish and of course metapod and caterpie... I'm sure there are more pokémon out there... But I was looking for only one of them: pikachu. And of course, when you're looking for one, they're nowhere to be found. Not even a glimp. After walking for about two hours, I stopped and checked my surroundings. I had reached the edge of the forest about thirty minutes ago, sighed, turned around, took another angle and hoped for the best again. I got some water out of my backpack and drank. I wondered if there would be a colony of pikachu nearby, but if there was, I should be able to spot at least one of them... Or not? Wild pokémon are masters in hiding themselves. Only big pokémon that don't care if they're seen (or beedrill) don't really hide, because everyone keeps away from them. I got up and continued my journey. Suddenly, the woods went more and more open and I reached a river. It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. Around it were all kind of stones, most of them polished nice and smooth. I walked to the riverside and wondered how I could have missed this earlier. At least it proved I wasn't walking the exact same route back. I thought that the river might be a good place to spot pikachu, as well as other pokémon.
I walked along the riverside, looking for a place to cross without getting soaked. After ten minutes I saw one in the distance and when I got over there, it was a perfect place to get over. The water wasn't deep, in fact, it was crystal clear and just ten to twenty centimeters deep. The river didn't stream that fast around here and I wondered if this was a good place to spot pokémon. And not even ten seconds after I thought that, I saw my first pikachu coming out of the forest. It was small and it was headed for the river just as I was crossing it, balancing on slippery stones that were above the waterline. He spotted me immediately as I was watching him. He decided I wasn't that much of a threat as long I was crossing the water, so he went to the water and started drinking while I was busy crossing the river as quick as I could. Maybe I could follow him back to his colony! Looking at his tail, it was a male and looking at his size, he wasn't old. Maybe two or three years? I made it to the other side and quickly started walking towards the pikachu. It stopped drinking, watched me coming towards him for a short time, and then turned around and dashed away into the woods. "No, wait!" I shouted, knowing that I could as well shout "Stop catching criminals!" to officer Jenny. I quickly headed for the place the pikachu disappeared into the forest, watched, and sighed. Gone. I smiled. At least I had saw one today, plus, I had a place I could go explore. Hopefully his colony was nearby.
I wandered into the forest again, which wasn't very dense at this place. When I checked the ground, I saw pikachu pawprints on the soft forest bed. Those were clearly fresh and there wasn't just one, but multiple from different sizes. Investigating the ground, I concluded this must be a path they used quite often to get water or to clean themselves in the river. I walked along, checking the ground if I could find a place where they disappeared to the side. After a short walk, I suddenly heard a loud cry coming from nearby. I almost jumped and I looked around quickly to see where it came from. Other than some sounds inside the forest, and the wind, it was silent. I quickly moved in the direction of the sound. When I heard another cry, not as loud as the other one, I could clearly hear it was from a pikachu... I got a bad feeling. I started to run as quickly as I could. It wasn't that fast because of obstacles on the way and the dense forest. "!" I heard just a couple of feet away. I could also hear soft hissing sounds. When I turned around a corner of trees and bushes, I entered a scene that horrified me.
In the middle of a clearing, there was a ekans wrapped around a pikachu. The pikachu cried out again, but it almost couldn't anymore. It was trapped by the ekans, which tried to strangle it. The ekans hissed fiercely at me, wanting me to go away so it could finish its prey off. I looked at the pikachu, which struggled all he could but wasn't able to escape. It was the same male I encountered just ten minutes ago... He looked at me with helpless eyes, not being able to breath, and almost choking. "Pi... Ka..." he said squeaking as almost no air came out of him. The ekans kept hissing dangerously at me and watched me carefully.
I just couldn't stand here, couldn't I...? Or should I let nature... Oh, SCREW nature! I thought. I dashed for the ekans, jumped, grabbed his neck and head with both hands and threw him to the ground using my weight as an advantage. We crashed into the ground with a loud bang. I was sitting on the body of the ekans, my knees on his body and my hands around his neck. The rest of his body was still around the pikachu. I watched the ekans straight into his eyes, and I growled menacingly. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I shouted at the ekans, which only tried to struggle free from me. Although I didn't doubt he would win it from me sooner or later, he still had his body curled around the pikachu, which made him unable to battle me. The part of his body which was free and he used to scare away pokémon that wanted to steal his prey, was currently under my knees and in my hands. I released one of my hands and got to my backpack, got it off, and slammed the ekans in the face. I saw thick stick lying next to me, quickly grabbed it with my left hand, while slamming the ekans again with my backpack. Then grabbed the stick with both hands and pushed it against the throat of the ekans, pushing it as hard as I could. The ekans hissed fiercely, but I just made hissing sounds myself, intimidating the ekans as much as I could. He was barely able to breath with my stick on his throat and the ground under him. He uncurled slowly from the pikachu, but it went too slow for me. Holding the stick with one hand, I grabbed my backpack again and slamming it right into his head once more. This made him hiss loudly, before uncurling from the pikachu, which immediately gasped for air desperately. I released the stick from his throat, turned it and slammed it into the ekans multiple times. It hissed loudly, but not as loud as when I first attacked it. I quickly grabbed my backpack, sleeping bag and the pikachu, kicked the ekans one more time with my shoes and ran away from it. After a quick sprint I stopped running and continued walking along the path back to the river.
I turned left when I saw a clearing in the forest which was just perfect. I quickly put down the pikachu against a tree and watched him. He was still completely out of breath and gasping for air and he had two nasty bite wounds. I put down my backpack and sleeping back, sat down next to him and carefully pulled him on my lap. "That was a close call, fella..." I gently whispered to him while gently scratching behind his ears and laying him down on his "good" side. He winced when I did that, still breathing heavily and releasing soft whines. I checked his wounds. Fortunately, I couldn't find any signs of a poisonous bite. I gently turned the pikachu on his back and grabbed my backpack. I knew it had a first aid kit in it, which I hoped not to use. I found it quickly, opened it and grabbed a disinfectant and some bandages. I looked at the pikachu, which watched me carefully. I gently laid my hand on his head. "Are you alright, except from the bite?" I asked him gently. He nodded slowly releasing another squeak when he tried to get up and move away from me. I grabbed him gently with both hands. "Don't be scared of me. I'm not going to hurt you." I told him. Not that he was convinced or anything, but it still worked. He stopped trying to escape while I turned him on his side again getting the disinfectant ready. "Alright, this could hurt, but don't panic, it will help you healing quickly." I said to him while looking in his eyes. I grabbed his front paw and smiled. "If it hurts, squeeze me as hard as you can." I wiped his wounds with some sterile cotton and disinfected them. The pikachu screamed when I did that, but quickly stopped as the feeling got away fast. He gave me an angry glare. I grabbed the bandages and put them around his wounds. He would be just fine... Looking at the distance between the wounds, I could tell this was a ekans bite. The ekans must have attacked him with bite and then tried to struggle him.
I gently pet him when I suddenly I heard rustle in front of me, on the other side of the small clearing. Putting down the bandages and the pikachu, I said him not to move and went over to the bushes to check them... Hoping it wasn't the ekans that wanted to have a second chance, I slowly made my way over to the bushes. I was surprised it was just a rattata, which quickly fled when I came close. I sighed in relief. I walked back to the pikachu, which watched me anxiously.
Just before I reached the him, I heard a loud cry. I looked over to my left just in time to see a pikachu flying at me with incredible speed and a glowing tail. "WHAT THE...!" I could barely say before I was smacked to the ground and landed painfully. After I had recovered from the initial shock I scrambled to my feet and I looked at both pikachu. But instead of looking to only two pikachu, there were suddenly four pikachu in front of me. Two males stood near the little pikachu I just bandaged half and one, a female, was standing before me, growling dangerously. "Hey, what was that for?" I shouted to her.
"Pika! PIKA PIKACHU! Piiii kaaaaaaaaa!" she replied angrily, her tail high in the air and ready to battle." I slowly walked over to her. "Don't attack me, I was helping that pikachu." I said while I slowly made my way back to my backpack. She growled again and wanted me to stop. I didn't stop and that was a mistake. The two other male pikachu quickly joined the female and all three stood before me, sparking their cheeks and growling dangerously. This made me stop. "Alright, I guess you want to protect him from me... Fine, I'll wait until you guys are gone..." I said as I walked backwards, sat in the grass and waited what they would do.
The female slowly stepped backwards, as well as the males. They still watched every move I did, but they turned around and headed for the pikachu. I heard a conversation I could not understand, but it wasn't a nice one. The female asked something to the little pikachu, which clearly didn't know what to say. Then one of the males said something, while the other gave the pikachu a disapproving glance. The pikachu nodded slowly and cringed as the female shouted something to him. He started to cry softly, but the female wasn't done yet. She continued shouting at him and the males joined her. The pikachu wasn't very happy with them and only cried harder and harder. Then I stood up. "Stop it! Do you think he liked being attacked? Do you think he likes being shouted at by you?" I exclaimed while I walked towards them. I stopped in front of them and looked angry. "Stop shouting at him - or - go - a - way".
The three pikachu looked at me angrily. How did I dare to speak to them like that! They all sparked their cheeks and I understood this was serious. The female charged and attacked me with thunderbolt. I felt the electricity flowing through my body and screamed in pain as I fell to the ground, groaning the pain away. I stood up and backed off very slowly, still feeling pain from the shock I had received. The female looked proud and turned around, checking the pikachu over and pulling away the bandages, revealing the wounds the ekans had caused.
She turned around and looked at me furiously. She went over to me and started yelling at me. I watched her with interest, trying to calm myself (and not unimportant, HER) down. I cut her off. "If I didn't save him, he would have died" I said pointing at the pikachu. She stopped when I said that. She watched me angrily but turned around and asked something to the pikachu. He nodded slowly and got ready to receive another scolding from what I think had to be his mother. It didn't last long though, as the mother sighed and started licking him and checking his wounds again. She sniffed them, looked at me, sniffed again and then found the bottle of disinfectant. She asked something at the males and then to her son. The little pikachu said something to her and she looked interested to the bottle. Then she opened it! I got up. "Do not touch that! It can be dangerous if used the wrong wa..." she turned the bottle upside down and dropped the content on the wounds of her son, which immediately cringed and screamed in pain.
I quickly made my way over to the pikachu, grabbed the female at her scruff and scolded at her. "You idiot!" I said while grabbing the little pikachu and holding him upside down. Putting her down, I saw the medicine running out of his wounds. I quickly grabbed some cotton and got as much of the disinfectant from him while I was watched by the two males. The female looked shocked - she had never expected this kind of response from her child and stood near me... The little pikachu looked painfully at his mom and then looked at me. He said a soft "pika pi pika-chu" to me... It sounded like "thank you" and I smiled.
I grabbed his bandages and put them around his wounds, this time finishing it properly. I grabbed him, watched him and put him down before the three pikachu. "There you go!" I said gently. The three pikachu checked the little one out and they all smiled as he showed them he was alright. Should I ask them now...? I could always try. "Ehm... Do you guys have a colony?" I asked nervously." They looked at me, with questionable faces. Then they looked at each other for a short time and then one of the males nodded. "Could I... Perhaps... Come with you? I want to join a colony of pikachu to see how you guys live." I said. They looked at each other again, but then they smiled. One of the males waved his paw and pointed in a direction - probably the location of their nest - and he mentioned to follow him. I grabbed my backpack and sleeping bag and quickly followed the four pikachu while they ran in front of me, back to their home...
To be continued...