Hello everyone! Another part of my story! I'm not unhappy with it, although I want it to be a bit more action packed and a bit more quick-moving. But I seem to fail at that very much since I always get stuck at a certain part, making it longer and more detailed. Please forgive me! :)
Second, I'm looking for someone that wants to make a front cover for this story. I suck at drawing. The best pikachu I ever made was one at Draw Something, and it really didn't look like one. You could tell it by the tail and cheeks, but that was about it. :P So, if you're good at drawing, like this story, and want to make a front cover, please surprise me! I don't really have a idea for one, I only want Maurice and Lukas on it with Lukas on Maurice' shoulder. That's all. The winner can give a turn to the story he or she prefers. More action, a war, you name it. I'll come up with something.
Alright, this chapter is rather sad and it's focussed a bit on Cammy. The next chapter she'll be gone from the story for a while, so enjoy her while you still can. She's a really nice pichu, really!
I would like to thank Pichufan and Bloodstargeneral (or Bloodstargeneral and Pichufan) for the beta-reading. Please also read Bloodstars latest story!
Early in the morning I woke up. The sun had just appeared and it was still cold outside. While I loved to sleep long in the morning, I started to wake up at sunrise since I had joined the pikachu. Not that I minded though... It was part of the lifestyle and I didn't dislike it. I moved my head and felt two warm creatures. One of them was Lukas, who was near me as usual, and the other one was a white pichu with purple or pink cheeks. They weren't pink and they weren't purple, but something in between. They were both still asleep and I watched them. Lukas had his tail wrapped around the little pichu, just as he had done last evening. It made him look like he was her actual father. It looked incredible cute...
Cammy moved a bit and rubbed her head and ears against my neck in an attempt to change position. She had been sleeping peacefully all night, lying very close to me. To be precise, she was lying under my chin and against my neck, while I was lying on my side. The pichu had instinctively chosen this spot for the warmth and safety it offered her. Together with my hands, Lukas' tail and my bag, it was simply ideal spot to sleep. I felt movement. A pikachu lying inside my bag (Lukas and Cammy weren't the only ones sleeping near me) moved. I raised the upside of my bag so I could look inside. The pikachu got on his feet and shook his head. It looked funny when his ears flapped to the left and right when he did so.
"'morning!" I said smiling to him.
"ChuuuuuuuUUUUUUU..." he said while stretching himself to his full length. He shook his head again and then looked at me. He appeared to be much more awake than I thought. How they did it I didn't know, but pikachu could just be awake from the one to the other second. He slowly crawled out of my sleeping bag and then looked at Cammy.
"Pika pikachu...?" he asked, wondering what she was doing here. He was already sleeping yesterday evening, so he hadn't heard or didn't know anything about what happened. I sighed deeply. Should I tell him? How would he react? He would hear it eventually, so I decided to just tell him.
"She got abandoned yesterday eve..." I said to him. "They chased her off the colony, but I got her back..."
"Pika..." the pikachu said slowly, but then he glared angrily at Cammy. So abandoned pichu were indeed not welcome inside the colony. The pikachu took a step closer to Cammy and smelled her. Then it happened lightning fast. He raised his paw, claws extended and ready to strike, but in a defending reflex, I immediately attacked him and pushed him against the ground, away from Cammy. I got up and used my weight to hold him down. He didn't expect this at all, and I used that little time to grab his scruff and raise him into the air while I got up. I looked furiously at him.
"I hope you didn't want to kill her right in front of me." I said furiously. He just looked angry at me and at Cammy. What got into these pikachu as soon the mother had abandoned her child? Cammy and Lukas had both woke up as I had picked up the pikachu.
"If you ever get close to her again to attack her, I'll get you. And I promise you, I know some tricks to make you suffer worse than you can imagine!" I said while pinching his scruff. I knew he didn't feel this, but the humiliation of being picked up like this was already a big crack in the pride of the male. Fortunately for him, there were no other pikachu around except Lukas. Cammy looked up at me and looked at the pikachu. The pikachu just glared angrily back at her and pulled a "whatever" face. I sighed, put him down next to my bag and immediately grabbed Cammy and held her against my chest while looking down at the little creature. She stood on my hand palms and had her two forepaws against my chest. She looked at me with her two beautiful eyes. It was hard not to immediately fall in love with this pichu, your heart would just melt as soon you saw her. I could only smile while I lifted her and held her against my cheeks, which she hugged happily, closing her eyes and trying to get as close to me as she could, rubbing her cheeks against mine. All the fear she had shown for me before, all the uneasiness with me around was completely gone. Yes, if I would adopt her, which looked very likely after the response of the pikachu, she would be a perfect pet pokémon. Yet, she had much to learn, and she still had to grow a lot. She was only ten centimeters tall, which was still small. She would grow the next weeks until she reached her average of twenty-five centimeters, although the pokédex said 0.3m. I had told Oak he should contact the pokédex manufacturer to change that, because I had never seen a pichu that big. The tallest I had ever seen was twenty-seven centimeters... The pokédex probably rounded it up.
I placed her on my left shoulder. She stood on them, but almost fell off when I started moving. Lukas got on my other shoulder and smiled at Cammy.
"Pika pikachu!" he said to her.
"Pichu pi...?" Cammy said.
"Pika pikachu!" Lukas said. "Pi-pi-ka".
"Pi-hi-hi-hiiiiii... CHU!" Cammy said while flying back and forth on my shoulder, barely able to stand on it. I stopped her, preventing a painful fall. The colony was waking up and I decided I would do some last training with the pichu today, at least, as soon they came out of the nest. Before that, I was getting some food for me and Lukas, and for... Cammy... Problem. Pichu couldn't just life on fruit only. She needed milk, and preferably mother milk. But that wouldn't happen, at least, not here. So I had to find something different...
I decided that, for this last day, she had to life with only water and fruit. I would get some berries for her, and I would made sure she drank enough to at least make her not feel hungry... I would give her some milk tomorrow morning when I would drop in at Oak's laboratory. Lukas was now standing on my left shoulder near Cammy and showed her how to stand properly on my shoulder. He was already used to it and everything had to be learned. I couldn't help her, I didn't know how to stand on someone's shoulder... Until I felt a pain in my left shoulder. Cammy's nails had pierced through my sweater and had reached my shoulder. Cammy however was a lot more stable when she'd done that. I smiled towards her and she looked quite happy now she stood firmly on my shoulder.
I left the colony with both 'chus, heading towards the place with berries and apple trees Lukas had showed me earlier. I just wanted Cammy to eat in peace, and not with a couple of angry pikachu around her that wanted to kill her. I felt really bad about it and I also felt sorry for Cammy. It must certainly hurt for the pichu to be rejected that way. But the good news was: She still had me. And if I (or rather: she) had some luck, she would have two lovely parents tomorrow which could take care of her while I was still at the colony.
"Pika pikachu?" Lukas said.
"We're going to get some food..." I said to him. "I can't feed Cammy milk so she has to get something different for today..." Lukas turned his head oblique and looked at me.
"Pika...?" he asked.
"Haha..." I laughed. "We humans can take care of anything." I smiled at him. "I will adopt Cammy from now on."
"Chu...?" (adopt?)
"Adopting someone is taking care of him or her instead of the original mother or father. Cammy's parents don't want her, so I now take care of her." I said to him, forgetting Cammy was standing right next to me. She sighed deeply and looked very sad at the ground.
"Awww, don't be sad..." I said while I gently wrapped my hand around her, plucked her off my shoulder and held her in front of me.
"You'll be alright, I promise." I smiled at the pichu.
"Pi-chuuuuuuuu..." she whined. "Pichu-pichu-piiiii... mom and my brothers? They were all so nice to me and I want to get back to them! Please bring me back...!" she said with droopy ears and a very sad voice.
"I can't bring you back, sweetie. They will try to kill you... How much I would like and love to bring you back, I just can't..." I said.
"But why are they so mean to me...?" she said.
"Because..." I said while suddenly realising I could understand her. I stopped, looked around, looking between the bushes and the trees and on the branches. Lukas looked confused at me.
"Why did you stop?" he asked.
"Espeon is here..." I said, looking behind me and around me...
"Ooohhh, very nice..." I heard inside my head. "You got me quicker than I expected."
"I don't have you yet, I don't have a clue where you are..." I thought while looking around.
"I wanted to sneak up to you..." she said inside my head... "Let's see if you can discover me before I get you."
"Challenge accepted..." I chuckled inside my head.
"Maurice...?" I heard Cammy saying. "What are you doing...?"
"Looking for Espeon... She's here somewhere sneaking up to us. If we catch her before she catches us we can have her breakfast." I said.
"I want milk!" Cammy said happily, her face beaming and happily looking at me as if she expected me to get her milk just like that. I sighed.
"Sorry, no milk today Cammy... Tomorrow you'll get it after we get to the laboratory."
"Laboratory? What's that?" she said.
"You'll see it tomorrow Cammy, it's too hard to explain right now." I smiled, looking around.
"And what if I find you first...?" Espeon asked my telepathically.
"Dunno, you can get an extra apple." I said with a foul grin.
"Jeez, you can grin very bad, just look at you." she said. Immediately I focussed on my front. If she could see me, I could see her. I took a step forward and looked at the bushes. The vegetation was dense...
I suddenly felt danger. I just sensed it. I didn't know where it came from, but I felt something bad was about to happen and immediately took a jump to my left and looked behind me. Espeon has barely missed me with a playful jump.
"I win!" I said while laughing at her.
"Damn, I almost had ya." she said chuckling.
Both Cammy and Lukas, which couldn't hear our little telepathic conversation, were shocked by my sudden jump to the left and Espeon standing right next to us. Cammy had squealed and was now hugging my face and shaking, and Lukas had almost released a thundershock. I could feel the electric field near his cheeks.
"ESPEON, DON'T EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN." he said while jumping down my shoulder and shaking his body to relieve the pressure.
"How'd you know I was there?" Espeon asked.
"Dunno... I just felt I was in danger and jumped aside... I don't really know where it came from..." I said while thinking about it and comforting Cammy a bit. It had indeed appeared out of nothing... How the heck was I able to sense Espeon jumping me?
"Did you do that telepathically?" I asked Espeon.
"Nope, I was actually surprised you were able to dodge my jump..." she said while we took off to the field with apples and berries.
"Who... I-i-i-s th-that...?" Cammy said shaking. The little pichu had been scared by the appearance of the Espeon and clung to my face when I had placed her back on my shoulder.
"Cammy, this is Espeon. She is also part of the colony and she helps with protecting if from the snakes and the raichu." I said. "Although the raichu have gone somewhere else..."
"Yup, that's me!" Espeon said. We arrived at the big field. The sun was in the air and there was a nice blowing wind going across the fields and through our hairs as I kneeled down near Espeon with Cammy in front of me. She wanted to be lifted again while Espeon was sniffing her and giving her a gently lick. This made Cammy completely forget all the worries and look happy at the espeon, knowing that it wouldn't hurt her.
"I like your color, Cammy..." she said happily while I lifted Cammy and walked to a tree.
"I don't like it!" Cammy said. "Mom also doesn't like it and she doesn't want to see me ever again..." she said. "And since she was mean to me, every pikachu in the colony was... Except Lukas and Maurice..."
"What? They abandoned you? Awww... Poor thing..." Espeon said, looking at me. She knew what that meant, Cammy was banned from the colony forever.
"Yes..." I said while arriving at the trees, putting Cammy down. Lukas jumped down and sat near Cammy, rubbing his cheek against hers.
"I'm sorry I was mean at you... But mom always told me to do so to abandoned pikachu... I never thought what would happen to abandoned pichu..." he said. The fact that he had seen Cammy in the forest, crying for help and warmth must have changed that a bit.
"I knew you would get eaten or something..." he said. "But I never thought it would be this bad..." he said with droopy ears.
"Lukas, you're not exactly comforting her." I said while giving him a warning glance. I climbed the tree with ease. Since I lived in the wild, I had picked this up fairly quick. I could climb trees much better than before. I got everyone some fruit, and then sat against the tree enjoying the first sunlight of the day and protectively pulled Cammy on my lap. She purred when I gently moved my fingers across her head and behind her ears, while I was feeding her small pieces of apple. Yes, Cammy was still a baby... Just three weeks old and already on her own... Alone she had no chance of survival. If she was lucky, maybe. But the amount of luck needed for this was so high that it wasn't possible. Yes, taking her to the humans would be the best solution. Lukas also purred as he devoured his apple. Espeon had laid down and was also enjoying the sunlight. It was cool outside, but not cold. In the sun it was nice and warm. I got up and moved to a berry bush, got some berries and fed them to Cammy. She looked at me, grabbed a piece of berry, sniffed it, ate it and pulled a face. She didn't like the sour taste of the berry... But that would come. All pokémon eventually loved them. I could understand: the milk from mom tasted much better and the apples were sweet...
After we had a safe breakfast I picked Cammy up and along with Lukas and Espeon we went back to the colony.
"But why is mommy so mean to me...?" Cammy suddenly asked. I sighed inside my head... How am I gonna explain this to her...?
"They are mean to you because you are a different color..." I said to her. She looked at me, thought about my answer for a moment and then continued.
"But why...? I love mom and dad... And...also my brothers..." she said slowly while looking at the ground. "And everyone seemed to dislike me since she put me outside our nest... And I don't know why..."
"Would you like to have the real explanation...?" I asked her, knowing that the answer would be yes.
"Yes!" she almost squealed.
"Alright." I said. "Listen up. Your mother still loves you. She doesn't show it to you for two reasons. One of them is your color - you are not a normal pichu, Cammy. You probably are a albino pichu." I said and stopped for a moment.
"Al... bino...?" Cammy said slowly.
"What's albino?" Lukas asked.
"Yeah, I would like to know that." Espeon said.
"A pokémon, or rather, mammal, that is albino has missing skin pigment. In other words: Your skin doesn't have any colors. It's completely white or grey. Some pieces of your skin will have other colors, but those will be mainly red or something similar to red, like pink." I said.
"But... how...?" Lukas asked. "Why is she white and her brothers are normal...? Shouldn't her brothers be white like her?"
"No. Albinism is a very, very rare genetic... Well, let's call it error that occurs at random in your DNA. You can't help it, and neither can your parents, it's genetic. Your skin... How do you call that... Oh yeah, chromosome, your skin chromosome is kind of broken. It doesn't have the right color information, making you develop as a pichu with the wrong skin color inside your mother." I said.
"Wait, wait, wait." Espeon said. "DNA? Genetic? Chromson? What is that?"
Lukas wasn't even complaining. He was just staring towards nothing in particular and continued that.
"So... I'm... Broken...?" Cammy said slowly while looking at her paws.
"Well, yes and no." I said. I stopped, sat down against a tree, realising I just had make a mistake. She wasn't broken... She was... Cammy. I held her in front of me, and forced her to watch me.
"Listen Cammy, you are not broken in any way. You are missing something. That's all. You are missing your color. But that doesn't make you weak. It doesn't make you ugly. The only thing it makes you is different. And that's what makes us all special. We're all different. Every pikachu is different, every pichu is different, and even every human is different and there are over six billion of them." I said while I smiled.
"I don't want you to feel different, although it may be hard. You are a normal pichu in everything, except you are white. That's all." I said while cuddling her close to me. "And although they don't want you, I do. I will take care for you if your mother doesn't want to." Cammy had looked a bit sad, but she cheered up when I said that and cuddled her.
"You can call me daddy." I smiled. "And I won't love you anything less because you're a different color." I said, smiling widely at the little pichu. She hugged my face and purred happily.
"Alright...?" I said while pulling a questionable face. Cammy could only hug my face, but I took that as a 'yes'. She was just a small pichu, you couldn't expect complex emotions from such a little creature yet. She was happy she had someone that cared for her, someone that would help her stand against those mean pikachu. Someone that would provide her warmth and food. That was about everything she currently thought. I gently rubbed her against my face and purred.
Wait, what, I purred? Did I just purr?
"Ehm, yes, you did..." Espeon said. Oh yeah, Espeon was reading my mind.
"Creepy... Very, very creepy..." I said while looking at Cammy and Lukas.
"What's creepy?" Lukas asked.
"Well, I sensed that we were in danger when Espeon jumped us, I just purred..." I said. "I guess I'm really getting used to this life..." Lukas looked strange at me.
"Well, of course you are... You joined us for that, didn't you?"
"Well yes, but my purpose wasn't changing into one." I laughed.
"Maybe you will! Then we can play!" Lukas said happily. Cammy quickly joined him.
"Yes! I want to play with you, daddy!" she said. This made me look at her for a moment. She just called me 'daddy'... This felt very strange, yet so very special... Lukas had jumped from my shoulder and was provoking Cammy to chase after him.
"Let's do it!" I said. Both pokémon had completely forgotten about the story of albinism and only wanted to play now. I decided to just go with it. It didn't matter, they wouldn't understand it anyway.
"Oh, I will. As long you explain me clearly." Espeon spoke through my mind.
"I'll explain you when I found a suitable place to let those two play..." I said inside my head. She smiled at me and we walked towards the colony, taking a turn right before reaching it and we were at a middle sized clearing that was perfectly suitable to play. Lukas and Cammy had all forgotten about me and were chasing each other through the high grass. They were playing shock tag and ran around me, stopped, looked at each other through my legs, jumped right and left to evade each other and then sprinted away at amazing speeds. After about half an hour, when Cammy was getting tired and walked up to me. She climbed my lap to take a nap, but Lukas wouldn't stop. He came up to us, pushed his cheeks against Cammy's, charged her, and then everything would start over for another fifteen minutes. I could only laugh at them, joining them halfway Cammy's second charge and running across the field and hiding inside the grass, scaring the hell out of her once when she had lost track of me. She got me back about ten minutes later, hiding somewhere and shocking me from the back when I walked right past her. It was a really impressive shock for a three week old pichu.
After another thirty minutes, Lukas was also getting tired and both chu's climbed my lap to take a nap. I also dozed off but I knew I had to stay awake to keep an eye on the surroundings. Predators could be anywhere. Me and Espeon had a long talk about DNA and genetics, but from what I understood she hadn't really understood a word. She had been listening very interested though, while I was looking up some stuff on my phone to make sure I told her the right way.
On the other side, she had told me some interesting things about the ekans and arbok. She had been spying them and had discovered they weren't really happy about me. The ekans I had attacked was still fresh in their minds and Espeon had discovered that they were scared of me because of my size and my knowledge of the snakes.
"But how can they know I know about them?" I asked Espeon.
"I don't really know, but from what I've heard one of their leaders was a trainer pokémon once." Espeon said. That would explain some things, because trainer pokémon are generally smarter than their federal counterparts. They understand more human things and are mostly the strongest of a group because they are trained. It would also explain why they didn't attack anymore since Volt had iron tale'ed the ekans the other day. Except one or two more 'checks' of the colony by a ekans and an arbok, nothing special had happened.
"We shouldn't underestimate them... They could be attacking any time." I said while thinking about possible battle strategies, something completely unknown to Espeon.
"What the hell is going through you?" she asked me. "Do you wanna feed a pikachu to them?" she asked me. I laughed.
"Haha, no I won't, don't worry. I was thinking about possible strategies, you know, when they attack. We could use a pikachu as bait to lure them into the colony and then surround them by others so they're enclosed... But the problem is, you need one helpless pikachu or pichu to lure them in, and that's dangerous for the pikachu. So I think that's not a good plan..."
"You humans are so crazy... Why not just attack them?" she said.
"Because it's better to predict what they're gonna do so you can attack them there. If you make their strategy useless they will get confused and probably scatter, which makes them easy to take out one by one."
"Sounds good..." she said.
"I doubt if they even have a strategy, but if a trainer pokémon is their leader, they probably have. If you can discover their battle strategy before they attack, we already won before the battle even starts." I said, while grabbing Lukas and Cammy and standing up.
"Where are you going?" Espeon asked.
"Back to the colony." I said. "The pichu are probably wondering where I am and I wanted to finish the tree-climbing training today... They really got better at it and today I'll give them a sort of test. Let's see how good they really became."
"Interesting, I want to see that..." she said. "Their first lesson was really bad, far before you arrived. They didn't become better either... I'm wondering how good you got them in this short time."
"You'll be surprised!" I smirked while walking back to the path and turning right to the colony. As soon I entered it I was immediately stopped by Tommy, the elder. He looked quite mad at me and I already knew what the subject was.
"Why did you get Cammy back at the colony? She was expelled!" he said.
"Expelled for what." I said.
"Because she..." he said and stopped. He thought for a moment. "Because she is expelled." he then said.
"Just because she is a different color?" I said to him. "She is a perfectly healthy pichu. She has no issues whatsoever, and you JUST ABANDON HER BECAUSE SHE IS A DIFFERENT COLOR?" I said angrily, my tone getting louder and angrier at every word (and waking Cammy and Lukas up).
Tommy flinched and looked scared at me. I sighed.
"I'm a human, I won't let something like that happen." I said calm, yet with a angry undertone.
"She has to go." the elder spoke with a firm look at Cammy, who looked back at him very sad. His look told everything. He wasn't going to change his mind.
"Because of...?" I said.
"Because... Because she has to." he said, failing at making up a reason and simply following his instinct.
"Why are you so mean to me?" Cammy said to him, jumping from my arms and standing before him, her eyes starting to get wet. I'd never expected her to do this, this could be suicide! Tommy could kill her just before my very own eyes. Not that I would let that happen, but still...
"I don't understand! Everyone was nice to me and suddenly everyone hates me!" she sobbed. "I want to go back to my nest! I want mommy to come back!" The elder looked furiously at her. I stood just behind her and gave him a warning glance. Touching Cammy equaled touching me, and he understood that. Espeon had taken a few steps back.
"Go away Cammy, you don't belong here." he said.
"I do belong here!" Cammy said while moving closer to him." My mother and father live here! My brothers live here! I want to go back to them!"
"Cammy, you don't belong here." he said again, this time growling. "GO AWAY!"
"NO!" Cammy shouted to the elder. The elder didn't take this, and charged. He shocked Cammy with a very strong thundershock before I could prevent him to. Cammy shouted in pain when she was hit by much stronger thundershock than her body could handle. Lukas, which didn't want to interfere with the elders business, now jumped off my shoulder.
"STOP IT!" he shouted at the same time I had shouted "HEY!" and had grabbed Cammy away from him after he was done. Steam rose from her body and the area around her cheeks was burned. Lukas looked furiously at the elder, and the elder simply looked back, giving Lukas a warning glance. "The same could happen to you..." was what it said. Although he didn't open his mouth, I could perfectly understand him and I looked at him with a very angry face. Lukas also got the message and although he knew Tommy had crossed a line, he didn't say anything. The elder was the leader of the colony, and you had to listen to him. Lukas' face said enough to Tommy, and he turned around and left. The bastard...
"Cammy will stay in the colony for one day and one night, and then I'll take her away." I said after him while looking at the poor pichu. She tried to get up in my arms, but couldn't. She growled painfully at Tommy. He turned around, looked at me, nodded once and then turned around again to get back to the colony. Lukas and I watched him until he was gone. Lukas turned around and jumped my shoulder in one go, and looked worried at Cammy. Cammy closed her eyes in pain when I touched her burned cheeks, checking what kind of burns it were.
"We need to get some water." I said. "This shock was way too much for her, we need to cool her down." I started moving towards the lake. Both Lukas and Espeon followed me.
It took us just five minutes to get there and I sat down at the waterside and put some water on Cammy. She sighed in relief and I knew everything was gonna be alright. She looked at me with a smile. I smiled back and gently cuddled the little pichu against my face. After I sat her down in my lap, Lukas also climbed it and snuggled against Cammy, licking her cheeks. Cammy chuckled when he did it and slowly rubbed against him. He purred at her and both of them snuggled against each other and fell asleep while I watched them. They were so cute together... Too bad they weren't the same age and species...
After a relaxing thirty minutes I woke both pokémon up (Espeon had kept me company again while I had to explain the DNA thing one more time) to get something to eat and return to the colony. It was around two o'clock now, later than I had expected. I guess the playing had taken more time than I thought. After we got something to eat we headed back to the colony. The pichu immediately ran for me and gathered around me, wanting me to play with them. I smiled happily, maybe this could place our thoughts on something different than Cammy's problems. I placed Cammy in front of the group, which immediately accepted her and started playing with her like nothing ever happened. I was relieved, that meant she at least could play until the end of the day.
The tree-test went very well, every pichu I had trained managed to get an apple. The younger pichu (including Cammy's brothers and some others) had been watching from either my lap, shoulder or head and had all looked very interested. But they were too small to start climbing. As soon they were old enough I would learn them. I got them some apples from the tree and shared it among them, which they happily accepted and were now eating together with the others, or, as Espeon said it: "Tree-licious!". She was impressed by how far I managed to get the pichu.
The sun was lowering after another hour of playtime for the pichu and slowly everyone was heading back inside the colony. Some parents came outside to check if their kids were coming, including the mother of Cammy... She came to get her kids and came walking past me.
"Hi-hi" I said to her while she passed me. She stopped for a moment, released a happy "pikachu!" and got her kids together. Cammy came from the other side and saw her own mother gathering her brothers from just in front of my legs. After mom had them all together she headed back to the nest, walking past us.
"Mommy!" Cammy said happily to her mother as she ran past. The mother looked at her for just a blink and then completely ignored her. Cammy stood there, looking at her own mother demonstrating a perfect 'if-I-don't-see-the-problem-it-isn't-there' and then drooped her ears, releasing a very sad 'pichu...' meaning nothing in particular while having her arms raised at her mother, wanting to be hugged...
I sat down behind the little pichu and watched the mother and the brothers moving towards the nest. I lowered my hands and held them around the pichu, providing her a safe and warm feeling. She looked quickly at me and then back at her family. I could feel a tear flowing down her cheek. We both looked at the mom and co. getting inside the nest, not looking back whatsoever. Cammy looked up at me, and then looked back at the nest, where she couldn't see anything anymore. Gone. Away. Probably forever. She would never see them again... I raised her, placed her against my chest while she sadly sobbed.
"Sssshhhhhh..." I said while patting her back and gently rubbing my own cheeks against hers, while holding her with my both hands. She looked at me with watery eyes and then hugged my face tightly, still sobbing softly. Being rejected like this must hurt very badly...
"Don't worry, sweetheart... I've got the perfect place for you... I said gently while keeping her against my face. "I'm sure you'll like it. Nobody will turn you down like that there..."
I walked towards my sleeping bag, still whispering gentle words towards the pichu, comforting her. She hugged me tightly once more. It made me really feel like her daddy. It felt so special... This pichu really needed me and I didn't regret it any second I had taken her from the forest. She looked at me with a sad face. I could only smile gently at her. And something really weird happened: I licked her face. I just did it. I licked her face just once, to show her I still loved her, to show her somebody on this planet still cared about her. She sobbed once more and held her arms as wide as she could, wanting me to cuddle her once more. I meant a lot more to her than I thought I would. I moved her closer and she immediately hugged my face again. I pulled her back, placed her on my chest, both hands wrapped around the little creature. We arrived at my sleeping back.
I wanted to get inside, but I discovered that Lukas was already inside it. I placed Cammy next to him and she immediately snuggled close to him. He smiled, got up, placed Cammy in between his paws and laid down again, his head on her small body.
"Jeez Lukas, are you also adopting her or something?" I smiled at the pikachu.
"I wish she could stay... She's cute and I love to play with her..." he said while he groomed her like he had never done different. I laid next to the two rodents and watched Cammy. Laying between Lukas' paws and his head looked adorable.
"You look cute like that, Lukas." Espeon said while appearing out of nowhere and also laying down, next to my bag.
"That's what I thought." I said to her. "But you probably knew that."
"Of course." she chuckled.
I snuggled against both of them and sighed. Lukas got up and moved deeper inside the bag for safety. I got Cammy and placed her inside my clothes to ensure no pikachu would harm her tonight. You could never know...
"You already decided if you want to come with me?" I asked Lukas.
"Not really..." he said. "But I'd love to see the human places once..."
"Then you'll come. I'll ensure that you're safe from humans, don't worry." I smiled at him and laying down, closing my eyes. I wanted to get Cammy out of this hell. She couldn't be happy here. It just couldn't. Tomorrow morning I would depart and bring her to Oak, and probably to someone else. But I was wondering if they would want to have her... Well, only time could tell...