Hey everyone, another chapter! Bit more pichu focussed this time, I hope you like it. I changed the rating of the story to M, just to be completely sure it won't be banned or something. I don't know about the punishment on this site when you rate it wrong, so I did it just for safety.
Happy reading, and please leave your reviews as usual. I really appreciate and does someone know where I can see the hitcount on my story? I can't seem to find it anywhere!
I've had a couple of questions regarding the fact if Maurice will change into a pikachu. I'll spoil some things. Yes he will eventually. Maybe not in this story. Maybe in the sequel. I actually wanted to write the sequel (life of a pikachu) first but then realised the character set-up was not realistic if you didn't know what happened. Anyway: Maybe in this one. Maybe it will happen in a way you don't expect it to happen. Maybe. Yes, maybe. I have a vague storyline I just follow, the rest is just made up at the moment I write these things. Sometimes in college or while travelling to school I suddenly get something in my head that turns out to be a perfect part
Alright, enough talking. Let's get started!
After the attack and the dead of the pidgeot things went on as they usually did. One week later I had really found my place inside the colony. Since I had tons of stuff to learn about being a pikachu inside a colony, I decided to join the pichu. I now was an official babysitter and I loved every minute of it. It mainly consisted of playing with the pichu and preventing them from getting into trouble. And man, they got into trouble a lot, even though you would expect them to have learned something from the past year. All the pichu that were currently in the colony were from last year. The new pichu, from which the first ones were about to be born, were even worse, according to Vera, one of the real pikachu babysitters.
Last week was still a "getting-used-to" week, for both pikachu, pichu and me. The pichu were still a bit scared of me because of my size. Even though they had no problems at all with cuddling up to me for a nap, if I walked towards them in full length or stood up next to them, you could see them panic. But things were getting better. I noticed that the females had less problems with me than the males did. They saw me more as a threat resulting in a cuddling fest on day two with only females. The boys didn't even want to come close. Yet again, at nap time they loved to. Their child minds just couldn't get things together, was my conclusion. This also explained why they got into trouble so much times. Although they were learned to watch for danger, although they were learned to watch every step, they simply didn't because they were childs, just as us humans. Childs don't see danger. Look at a average four year old crossing a road. He doesn't watch left or right, he just crosses. That was the exact same thing the pichu were having. And although I did my best learning them to listen to their parents and teachers, they just couldn't. But it didn't matter, since they had the pikachu and me to protect them. Lukas and co regularly joined the playing. They might be pikachu, but inside they were still young and playful. Yet, they were more mature and they were aware of dangers more often than the pichu. It was just great playing with all of them. It was fun but for the pichu very good way to control their electricity by playing shock tag.
About every day the weather was nice, the pichu would move outside the colony to get used to their territory and to learn stuff. Some days were basic knowledge, like where to find food, what you should eat and what you shouldn't. Very simple. But other lessons involved much harder things, like tracking other pikachu or climbing, or the "check-the-water-before-you-take-a-swim" lesson that was a close call for both me and Linzi. And although you might think every pikachu can climb, they have to learn it. And that was the funniest thing I had ever done with a pokémon. Learning them to climb a tree. One of the pikachu had just shown them a easy way to climb the tree we were standing for. And the little creatures were just staring at the pikachu like he was nuts. How were they ever going to climb this? Since I was working with those guys for a week, I just knew that question was bothering them.
"Alright, who's gonna go first?" I asked to the group. They all watched back at me. Some of them declared me crazy, even though I could not understand them. Espeon had been gone to check on the snakes once more and above all to just mind her own business. The pichu had all introduced themselves happily once they understood I could actually talk to them, and had all liked me, somewhere on day four. Yes, Espeon had been gone for a long time. I thought she'd sticked to the colony more often, but she appeared to be here less than I thought. Back to the pichu, and back to the main question of today: How were they going to climb this tree? I chuckled as they were standing there. It looked so funny. And then Shocky was the first to attempt a try. He jumped the first branch, which was very low. His mission was to get up to the tree as far as the pikachu was, which was a small three meters. I stood near the tree watching Shocky, which was looking around curiously for the next thing to do. He targeted his next branch, concentrated, got ready to jump and jumped for the next branch, but failed and fell down. He landed safely on his four legs and looked rather sad.
"Come on, you can do it." I said on a happy and encouraging tone. I gently stroked him and tapped the branch another time.
"Come on!" I said to the pichu while he jumped the first branch again.
"Pichu-pi..." he said with droopy ears.
"You can do it for sure." I said confidently. I was determined to make all those pichu pass this test, even if it would take the entire day. I had nothing better to do anyway, so why not. I tapped the second branch.
"Alright, make sure you jump high enough and make sure your claws are extended so you can grab the branch." I said like I was a professional pikachu climber. Shocky concentrated, I could see the determination in his eyes. He jumped for the second branch and, to everyone's (except mine) surprise he made it on the second try. All other pichu were impressed, as they all had tried already before I had joined, but they had never managed to get up there. Or, as the elder had stated it, it was a bad year for climbers. The current pichu just couldn't climb, he had said. Time to proof he was wrong. Shocky was standing on the second branch of the six he had to jump up. Shocky and Shooky were twins. Shocky was a more offensive pichu: He would always want to do things first, even if it got him into trouble. Shooky was a more defensive pichu: He would wait until his brother had found things out and do things right the first time. The rest of the pichu were as Shooky. They were all more defensive than offensive, and Shocky was their kind of "leader" if I can call it like that.
"Alright, now check for the next branch. You can take this one, or this one, or even this one. I said while tapping some branches. Shocky was around the height of my shoulders now, and he was curiously looking around. While he was looking, a second pichu wanted to try climbing / jumping up the tree. After a while, all pichu were trying to get to the top. Shocky had quickly reached the next two branches, but he had failed to jump the fifth one. He had tumbled down the tree, hitting multiple branches on his way down and taking Dillan with him. After multiple pichu had fallen, I was wondering if this really was the best way to learn how to climb. Sure, for pikachu this would look like the best way of doing it, but as a human, I knew you had to start small and slowly increase the toughness. And with three pichu in my lap that had fallen from a (for them) great height and had hurt themselves, I started looking for a better way to learn climbing. There were tons of other trees around here that would do great and that weren't that high... After another pichu hurt herself in her fall down, I decided to do things different. I called all pichu towards me and asked them to follow me. As soon we left the pikachu came out of the tree and shouted something at me. He didn't sound very happy, more like demanding. I turned around and looked at him.
"No, I won't come back. I'm gonna learn them to climb my way. This isn't going to work." I simply said nodding at the tree and turning around. He followed me, stood before me, and spread his arms.
"PIKA! Pika pikachu! Chu-PIKA!" he said, shouting some parts.
"Yes, I know you need to learn them how to climb, but you aren't exactly helping them." I said, looking at two pichu I was holding in my arms. The others had joined the group already.
"They're hurt, they were crying, and you just sat there in the tree. There are better ways to learn climbing than that." I said while taking a intimidating step forward. The pikachu looked at me, took a step backward and sparked his cheeks.
"Pika! Pikachu!" he said angrily.
"Go ahead." I said. After I came back from the pidgeot attack, I had found new shoes in a search for dry clothes in my backpack. Oak hadn't told me of those, but they had rubber soles and thus did not conduct electricity. I had tried with Lukas and told him to give me a good shock. It felt rather funny. A tingling sensation went through me when he shocked me... But it didn't hurt, not at all. Since then my old sneakers were abandoned and used as a toy for the pichu. However, I hadn't told anyone of those sneakers just to be safe. So the pikachu warned me again and then shocked me. I felt nothing, and it actually felt great to feel nothing. The pichu both flinched when the pikachu was about to launch the attack, but they looked surprised at me and at the pikachu when nothing seemed to happen and I was engulfed in lightening.
"You're done...?" I simply said when the shock was over. The pikachu looked foolish at me (like this: 0_0).
"But how..." I could hear him say in pikachu language.
"Because I'm a human." I said laughing while patting his head and walking right past him with the pichu behind me, including the two babysitters that had noticed we were on the move. He shook his head one more time, tapped it with his paw and then decided to follow me. At a lower tree with some opposing branches on different heights, I stopped. It was simply perfect to learn branch-jumping and climbing tree stumps.
"Alright everyone, listen up. I want you to learn how to properly jump here." I said while pointing at the branches. "You can start low, and as soon you feel like going higher you can go there." I said pointing at a higher tree branch. "You go first, Shocky. Show them how you should jump, you were doing great back there." I said while putting him down on the stump just twenty centimetres above ground.
"Pichu... PI!" Shocky said while leaping from one branch to another. With no depth to look at or to be scared of, he jumped much better. Soon, all pichu were practising on the lowest branch. The pikachu that had tried to stop me came and watched how I was doing my job. Well, job, I was just watching the pichu jumping back and forth on two tree branches, but it was a fun sight to see. Most of the pichu jumped and used their claws to pull themselves the last part up the branch. Others were already trying to jump further or closer to make them land perfectly. Shocky was the first to move on to the higher branches. Exactly the same as the lower ones, but higher in the tree. He hesitated for a while while standing there.
"Watch this." I said to the pikachu. I walked over to Shocky, lied down under the branches on my back with my head facing to him.
"Alright, if you fall, I'll catch you. Try to jump!" I said to Shocky.
He hesitated again, but after he looked at me he didn't want to disappoint me so he concentrated and jumped, but missed the branch completely and fell down. I caught him in mid-air.
"Good try... Try again!" I said while placing him back on the branch. "You can do it, you did it perfectly down there." I said while pointing at the lower branch. He nodded unsurely. I rubbed my cheek against his and said he could do it.
"Alright, attempt number two. And ACTION!" I said like imitating a director. Not that they understood, but Shocky knew he could jump now. He jumped again, grabbed the branch with his claws, tried to climb up but slid down because he couldn't get a firm grip. Another catch later I placed him back on the branch and told him to jump again. This time, I stood opposite of him so I could catch him when he was almost there. But his third jump was perfect, and he happily smiled at the pikachu that was standing at my feet.
"See? Three jumps and he knows how to do it. Go on, practise. If you think you're ready, you can climb that tree." I said while pointing at a tree nearby. "If you get a apple from it, you passed for today!" I smiled. The pichu jumped happily (on the branch) and started practising again. I felt just as if I was on a primary school and I was the teacher. But it worked. And it worked better than the pikachu method, in my opinion.
Soon, more and more pichu were taking the higher version of the branch jump training. More and more of them were jumping perfectly and they were all making great progress. When Lukas came by, he said even he couldn't jump that quickly by shaking his head when I asked him if he could. He did climb the tree to get a apple though, and started to eat it in front of the pichu. Even though it was kinda rude, it was a perfect timing.
I gathered all pichu, which now all jumped on the high branches and ordered them to attempt to climb the tree. After the first pichu made it to the top just fine (of course this was Shocky), the others followed. And all of them made it after just one morning of training. They didn't make it in one go, but they at least made it.
"See?" I said to the babysitters and the pikachu that was supposed to train them. "Humans CAN train pokémon." I got myself a apple and lied down next to the pichu, watching them eating their just gathered food.
"Well done guys..." I said while stroking some of them. After we finished lunch it was nap time for the pichu. I yawned. It surprised me how quickly I got used to taking a nap. In the sun I could easily fall asleep together with the small yellow creatures. Because I was the biggest, I was often used as sleep place with multiple pichu against me. Even my second night, after I was introduced. When I went into my sleeping bag, Lukas simply joined me, cuddled up against me inside my bag and said that this was normal for him. Pikachu share their body heat by cuddling up against each other at night. And Lukas wasn't the only one: More pikachu that liked me had just invaded my sleeping bag. The first nights it was kinda weird, but after a while I got used to it. Lukas was mostly nuzzling against my face and he wouldn't stop before I wrapped him in my arms. If he just liked to cuddle or wanted to be kept warm I didn't know, but it felt nice anyway. Not only he, but also a pregnant female joined us together with some others. Mainly the females, surprisingly. The males didn't really like to cuddle up against me (except Lukas... But he was a exception.). Probably they didn't like me as much the females did...
After a short nap it was playtime and I left the pichu group to explore some colony territory with Lukas. I did this every day to make sure I could navigate through the forest without my phone and to make sure I got used to my surroundings. We both loved to explore the forest bit by bit. Although Lukas knew the forest quite well, even he had places he had never been to or that he didn't know. His friends came with us often, making the explore time ending up in some sort of game in most of the cases, like playing tag, sneak up onto me, or disappear without a trace and scare the hell out of Maurice.
Besides exploring I also was trying to understand pikachu language. This was harder than I thought it would be. When Espeon was with me, I had asked Lukas to explain his language to me, but he simply couldn't. He was too young to understand what I meant. Happily Volt solved the problem: he could explain it to me. And his explanation was kinda complicated.
Pikachu language consisted of three syllables: Pi, Ka, and Chu. You mostly started your sentence with "Pi". Depending on what you were saying, you could say "Ka" or "Chu" as second. BUT you could also use "Pi". However, it wasn't really the text you spoke, it was the height of your tone. Minimal tone differences could give a syllable a complete new meaning. The point was you could use only "pi" and say the complete alphabet in pikachu language by changing your tone. Not that the pikachu knew the alphabet. Basically, you used the other syllables to make the sentence more smoothing than only saying "Pi". It's also easier to speak "Pika" than "Pi-Pi" because you have to stop for a tiny moment to get ready for the second "Pi" while you don't have that in the "Pika" part.
Volt had translated a sentence in pika language for me. After a lot of trying to recreate that sentence, I had finally done it. I had said "Hello, my name is Maurice." in pika language. But the pitch changes were hard. Very hard, and I was wondering how long it would take me to master them so I could speak proper pikachu. The way of "Pi", "Ka", and "Chu" wasn't really important. This would come automatically. Those pitches were hard. And I had to train it a lot before I could speak it. Because it weren't only letters to learn, but also different syllable. Like in english, you can say different letters on different places in a different way. And all those combinations had different tones. And those tone heights were so minimal that you really had to pick the right one, otherwise you could be scolding to someone without even knowing it. Yes, I really had enough to do and to learn inside the colony.
So, one day, while I was playing with some pichu, Lukas had came up running to me. Because I had worked in the pokémon center, I could do basic medical stuff to help the colony. The pikachu knew that. They knew it after I saved Lukas and had helped another pikachu with some nasty wounds. They should go and see me when they were sick or injured. Lukas pulled my jeans and looked panicked.
"What is it Luk?" I said. I mostly used the nick Luk for Lukas. He didn't seem to mind that at all.
"Pika-Pikachu-pi!" he said panting. He had been sprinting for me all the time. "Pika pikachu!" he said while pulling me.
I couldn't understand pikachu language yet, but it was more than clear I had to come.
"Alright, I'm coming. Don't panic." I said while removing some of the pichu from me. The babysitters would take over.
"Pikaaaaaaaa!" Lukas said impatiently. He pulled my jeans again. I stood up and followed him. He started to run and I also had to run to keep up to him.
"What is wrong with you? Did something bad happen?" I shouted while running behind the pikachu. He led me to my sleeping bag. When I got close, I could see multiple pikachu standing around it.
"Alright, what's happening..." my sentence was interrupted by a female pikachu lying inside my bag. She was huffing heavily, looked at me in pain and closed her eyes. "...here..." I finished my sentence. I looked over the pikachu.
"What's the matter, sweetie..." I said while laying my hand on her forehead. No fever. I already had a suspicion after I found my bag wet at her bottom. She was giving birth, on this dangerous place, outside. But after sleeping with me all these nights this must have been a safe place for her. I ordered all pikachu to leave her in peace, except two guards. I asked Lukas to get her mate, but he shook his head. Her mate was gone into the forest this morning and would return at dusk, I remembered. Some pikachu were visiting another colony today...
Getting myself back to the female I checked her to see how far she actually was with the delivery. Quite far. So far, she couldn't be moved anymore. Moving her inside the colony would be best, but that was no option anymore, since it was too dangerous, both for her and the newborn pichu.
I decided I would help her here. Not that she needed any help, but she needed some support, someone that helped her bear the pain. That made things a lot easier when you were giving birth, I had noticed back at the pokécenter. Trainers came their often with pokémon that were pregnant without even knowing they were. The closest call ever was a pikachu (coincidence?) almost giving birth on the pokécenter counter. Although 'experts' always advised to leave pokémon alone when they're giving birth, I knew from experience this wasn't the best thing to do. If you had a good bond with a pokémon, or if a pokémon trusted you, you should always stay with them, especially when they had a hard time. Pregnancy was one of those hard times. Specially for the female, or course. Just your presence was enough to make them be a lot more confident of themselves. Regularly I had pokémon that just wanted to have me around when they were giving birth. They didn't want to be left alone, which was completely understandable. Just someone which gave them the feeling that everything would be fine, that they would get things right. Normally, this was provided by a mate or trainer / owner. I gently lay down next to her and gently stroked her. This was the worst part of the delivery, but she had to deal with that.
"Is this your first time...?" I asked to the young female. She nodded just as another woe made her cringe in pain... The first time was always harder. Pikachu that had given birth before always had a easier time giving birth to a second or even third nest, although this didn't go up for all females. She looked at me with guilty eyes. She knew she was in my territory, even I could smell that (and that meant something). Although I wasn't happy about a pikachu giving birth here, I wasn't a person to get mad about it. It was already happening and nothing could stop it now. I would ring Oak for a new sleeping bag soon, so the female could stay in 'mine'. Problem solved. She couldn't stay outside anyway, but I was sure it wouldn't be nice to sleep inside it after she was done.
I snuggled my face against hers as I had done so much times at night with her. Sometimes she would try to move Lukas out of the way to make some room for herself. The third night I had complied to her by moving a heavily sleeping Lukas out of the way so she could come. She had loved it, just as Lukas did. I had been extremely careful, making sure I wouldn't damage any baby inside. Although I hadn't expected it, her mate seemed fine with what I did. Yes, it was just sharing body heat, but still. For human feeling, I was doing much more than only sharing body heat. I was awakened from these thoughts by another cringe of pain... The birth was really starting now...
After a small twenty minutes, four pichu were laying beside her. As soon the first one was born she immediately wanted to lick him clean, resulting in forgetting the ones coming after because she was too busy with the first one. It commonly happened with first time mothers... Besides that, for a first time mom, she was doing great. She lied near her children, licking the one closest to her holding him between her forepaws. She was exhausted yet very alert. She stared at me every now and then with a confident smile saying "look what I got!". I could only smile back and lay down near the pichu, making sure they didn't get cold. I knew that they had to be moved to their real nest as soon as possible. They couldn't stay here overnight, unless they would be sleeping against me. But that wouldn't do any good, because I wasn't the daddy of those pichu and I would give them my scent, making them see me as dad.
The pichu were all in good condition and they were incredibly small. About one sixth the size of their mother, maybe smaller... If I would pick them up they would all easily fit inside my hand... One of them was white instead of pale-yellow. This could be normal: when a pikachu had a big nest it could be the fur wasn't fully grown yet. The pichu would get the normal yellow color within a couple of days.
Overall the delivery was a big success, and the reunion with her mate was heartwarming to see. After they had sniffed each other he simply laid down next to her and the children, and immediately started licking them to make sure they would see him as the father and not someone else. Just before dark I insisted them to move to the pikachu nest. After a successful move I wouldn't see the little rodents for a week or three, where they would mainly eat, sleep and grow. They would gain twice their length and about twice their weight and come out as normal pichu, still growing rapidly. Already looking forward to see them coming outside to play, I laid myself down into my new sleeping bag, which I had exchanged with Oak outside the colony. He had wondered why in heaven a pikachu had given birth inside it, and so did I. But the main thing was it happened and everything was alright. He wished me good night (it was almost dark) and I headed back to the colony. I laid down into my new bag and as if he knew Lukas joined me. He stepped inside my bag but then hesitated.
"Pika... Pikachu?" he asked me.
"Yes, the smell is gone. I know... But we couldn't really sleep inside that old bag, couldn't we?" I smiled. Lukas yawned and snuggled against my face with his cheeks. He gave me a little lick on my cheek and sighed deep, getting ready to sleep. I laid my hand around him and gently rubbed against him. He released some affectionate sparks from his cheeks which tickled against my own cheek. I smiled and rubbed a bit more. Lukas gently purred. Yes, we had a really special bond. And it was growing stronger every day, that was for sure...
Oh, and for the people out there saying "Pokémon lay eggs!": I don't really think they do. Ever seen a mouse lay eggs? I didn't. It's just something Nintendo came up with to make this suitable for children. So please stop saying that. Make your own story where a pikachu gets a egg and a pichu. I highly encourage you to do so. :)