I'll keep it short: Merry Christmas! :)

After a long and hot summer, autumn came. The autumn was rather boring compared to the summer. The activity of the pikachu colony decreased drastically. I didn't know, but while the summer was going, the pikachu had started gathering food for the winter. According to Lukas there was already quite a lot of food down in the nest. It made me wonder where I had to get my food while it was winter, but winter proved I didn't have to worry. It was the wettest winter ever, even after a wet autumn. The temperature didn't go below zero at all times and there was no snow either. According to Oak the weather forecast wasn't that good either: the temperatures would stay around five degrees celsius (I wouldn't be freezing to death, hooray!) with rain every now and then. I was happy with the temperatures, but the rain... At least it's better than a snowstorm.

Christmas and New Year passed without too much problems. With Christmas I was at home for a couple of days and I don't know how, but all my manners seemed gone. I just couldn't wait for my turn or eat with cutlery properly. Like all my manners were covered in some kind of feral counterpart of myself.

The bad weather also had its benefits. I had created some sort of roof above my bag which kept all my stuff and not unimportant, myself, dry. Lukas and Espeon usually were right next to me when it rained again. I used the time I had to practise pikachu language, helped by Lukas who could learn me the exact pitch for certain expressions. Espeon then could translate that in some 'kind of help' in some psychic manner only she could understand. That helped me alot. On days it rained all day long we had lots of fun trying to translate the most difficult words I could make up. The time flew by and sometimes some pichu (or just evolved pikachu) would come out to join me in my bag while it was raining. Scratching them behind their ears and cuddling them close I made my way through the day. I had nothing better to do anyway, except to find food when it became dry. Learning stuff to pichu while it was raining wasn't the best idea since... Well they just got sick if they were in the rain for too long.

After the New Year had started, things got really busy in the colony. Mating season. The whole atmosphere turned more aggressive and I noticed that some pikachu didn't seem to bother the whole mating season, but others got more aggressive than they normally were. I found out it depended on age of the pikachu. The ones that were younger than four years of age mostly didn't care, but the ones around the age of four... They were just horny. I cannot describe it in another way. Unfortunately for me, Lukas also got the best of his hormones and he was more aggressive than usual, getting mad about the smallest thing that went wrong.

It was a relief to visit Cammy again. The last time I had visited her was about two weeks ago and I wondered how she was doing, especially since I got a text message from Oak saying that he had a surprise for me when I came, which probably was something about Cammy. First I thought Cammy would have evolved, but I soon found out that couldn't be true. Pichu couldn't evolve that quickly, could they? Wondering what exactly might have happened, I stepped into the laboratory before I would head to Jack and Rosie's nest.

"Ah, Maurice! I already wondered when you would show up." Oak said as I entered. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm tired of the rain and all those horny pikachu..." I said. "The females keep trying to get me to mate with them, how odd it may sound. Luckily none of them knows attract, at least not that I know." I said. Oak laughed at that last comment and gave me some tea.

"I was just curious what happened to Cammy and why you texted me." I said.

"What? Oh, it's not really about Cammy." he chuckled. "As a matter of fact, Cammy is with your parents right now together with Jack and Rosie."

"My parents?" I said while I looked at Oak. "What's she doing there?"

"Well, Rosie managed to get pregnant and she's currently preparing to give birth in a week or six." he said.

"WHAT?" I said. "That's not fair. If I'm with her she doesn't get pregnant and now I'm with a pikachu colony and she gets... Never mind." I smiled.

"She already thought you would say something like that." he chuckled. "She also wished you could help her raising them, now you got the skills and the knowledge. But I told her you would think about that for now..."

"So Cammy isn't here, that's great." I said smiling. "When will Rosie give birth?"

"In six weeks or something like that." Oak said. "Mating season's early for her this year I guess."

"For all pikachu. It's not that cold so I think they're a bit confused with the seasons." I said.

"But you said that females wanted YOU to mate them? Are they getting nuts?" he asked with his face a mixture of surprise, worry and amusement.

"Yes, they do. Apparently they think someone big will get good offspring." I said while I rolled my eyes. "Even if I tell them I don't know any attack they don't care and even the fact that I'm not the same egg-group won't convince them."

"Hah ha hah ha haha!" Oak laughed. "I don't think they really care about that." he said while he smirked. After that we had a little chat about myself and how I felt. It was really strange to admit that I really felt... More feral. Slowly yet surely, I felt that I got into my role as pikachu. My human side was still there, but it was... Like... Fading. Some sort of pikachu-self slowly took part of me. Maybe because of the fact that it was almost 9 months ago I joined them, or the fact that I just loved the pichu so much... I didn't really know. Oak mentioned that I really looked more feral now and that I really should watch that I didn't overdo this out-of-hand experiment, as he called it.

"Out-of-hand? Why?" I asked, smiling.

"Well I thought that you would be in that colony for just a couple of months, not for three-quarter of a year." he admitted. "Maybe we should quit this soon before you really turn onto a pikachu." he smiled.

"Espeon said I should be careful with what I wish, because it might come true." I laughed.

"Espeon?" he asked.

"That espeon that helps me with understanding them." I said.

"Oh yeah that one." he said. "I recall now, I never saw him."

"Her." I said.

"He, she, it's a espeon." he said.

"I wanted to tell you something, but I forgot what I wanted to tell you..." I said while I thought about what I wanted to tell him. It was like all the knowledge I had gained in my first twelve years was slowly fading away. I didn't need it in the pikachu colony, so why remember it? That's probably what my brain was thinking. However, the 'lost' knowledge was replaced with fresh new stuff from surviving in the wild, predators, manners to track pichu down and to keep them together, and, and... So much more. I also noticed I was never bored anymore. In the start I sometimes got bored when I got nothing to do, but now I always had something I could do. It was strange to see that I could just keep going and do stuff. I also seemed to take naps more often overday, just when I felt like it. Suddenly I remembered what I wanted to tell him. My pika-language skills had developed like crazy the last month. Suddenly it was like I got the hang of it and I had managed to understand Lukas and other pikachu as long they talked slowly. But since the start of january I became able to understand them when they talked faster. This was a huge step forward in my integration into the colony. Espeon no longer needed to translate for me. Sometimes I still had trouble, but it was really... Strange that I was able to understand pikachu. It took my nine months, so it was about time I understood at least something. It appeared to go faster if I imagined myself I was a pikachu... Then everything went so much smoother. It was like 'I'm a pikachu... I'm a pikachu...' and then I was able to.

"I know what I wanted to tell you!" I said suddenly while we were in the middle of a conversation. Oak looked at me for a couple of seconds.

"Uhm... go ahead!" he said.

"I can talk Pika-language now!" I said. He looked at me.

"Pika-language? You mean you can communicate with them?"

"Yes, I can!" I said. "I don't know how I forgot that... Never mind."

"How well is it?" he asked. He put his cup down and looked at me with big eyes.

"Fully understand and speak. Although I still have some trouble speaking it every now and then." I said.

"Fully understand and... But... But when did you learn it?!" he exclaimed. "You never told me!"

"Of course I didn't. It was a surprise - plus, I didn't want you to push me learning it quicker... That wouldn't have worked."

"I understand... But I don't believe you. You can't just walk in and tell me that you can understand and speak to them in their language, I just don't believe it..."

"Well, try me." I said with a competitive look. "You got a 'chu for me?"

"Uhm... Well, I think I have..." he said while he turned his back to me and opened a door that led to the pokéball storage room. "Let's see..."

"This one should contain a pikachu!" he said while he throwed the pokéball at me. I pressed the button and released the creature inside... It was indeed a pikachu. I noticed it was a female, even though I could not see its tail.

"Hello there!" I said at the pikachu. It looked around and then looked at Oak. Then it jumped on his shoulder and started begging for cuddles and probably food. Oak gently scratched the pikachu under her chin and then whispered something in her ear. She watched me for a second before Oak was done.

"Alright! Can you tell me what the name of this pikachu is? Oh, and she doesn't understand english at the moment... Very odd." he smiled to me. Good luck! He placed the pikachu on the table and took a step back to watch our 'conversation'. It was clear he was sure I wouldn't be able to speak with her.

"Can't think of something harder?" I thought. I looked at the pikachu and imagined I was one.

"So, can you tell me your name?" I asked the pikachu gently. "And by the way, what did he tell you? Maybe I'll convince him if I tell him that." I smirked.

Her eyes grew a bit larger. She had never talked to a human in her own language! Oak saw the reaction of the pikachu as soon I finished speaking and looked at us with big eyes.

"How... How... How can you talk our language?!" the pikachu said.

"I'm currently living with a group of wild pikachu to learn more about them. They taught me." I explained. "It took me quite a long time to master it, though."

She was still surprised.

"Well I can see that... You sound weird... But I can understand you!" she said while wagging her tail happily.

"That... Has been different." I said slowly while coughing. "It took me about 6 months to master the pitch changes... Those are hard."

"I never had troubles..." she smiled. "But maybe that is because its natural for me..." she smirked.

"I think thats normal indeed." I smiled. "Anyway, can you tell me your name? I want to convince him." I said while pointing at Oak.

"Sure! My name is Scarlet. But he calls me Flower. He gave that name to me." she said nodding to Oak.

"Her name is Flower!" I said to Oak.

"Ehm... What?" he said.

"Her (I pointed at Flower) name (I did like I showed him my name) is Flower (I pointed at a flower)."

"I don't understand pikachu language. Can you talk english please?!" he said with a confused look. I laughed. I closed my eyes and imagined myself human. I was a human. Human... human...

"You call her Flower, but her name is Scarlet." I said.

"That... Is the right answer... She's called Scarlet?" he said. His face expression was priceless. "You're making that up..."

He moved closer to 'Flower' and whispered something in her ear. "Tell me what I told her!" he asked me. Easy... I changed back to pikachu.

"What did he tell you?" I asked Flower.

"Ehm..." she said slowly. "I..." she paused. I looked at her.

"Well...?"

"Well... Ehm..." she continued clearly not wanting to tell me. Oak looked nervously at me. I suddenly understood what he did.

"I won't hurt you if you tell me, even when its bad. I like pikachu." I smiled while I scratched behind her ears. "Now, tell me!"

"Well, ok then... He said you stink, suck balls hard, and that you're the worst assistant he ever had."

"WHAT?!" Me and Flower looked at Oak at exactly the same time. Flower a bit worried but also amused and me with angry expression. Oak quickly ran to the other side of the table, looking at me with a smile that said that he didn't mean anything he said, but that he said it to really test me.

"That jerk... Thanks for telling me. I'll convince him now for sure. If you need anything, just ask me." I smiled at her.

"Cool! Can I have food? I'm hungry." she said. Sigh. Some things never change.

"Ehm... Which pokéchew you like the most?" I asked her. "I love the yellow one! With those thunder marks on it." she said with a happy voice. "You know, you're the first human ever that asks me what I like." she chuckled.

"Don't get used to it..." I smiled... "I'll be leaving for the forest again this afternoon, but I'll tell him." I said as I stroked her. I changed my mind back to human.

"SOOOOOOO, I AM YOUR WORST ASSISTANT EVER, I SUCK BALLS HARD AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT: I STINK!?" I said with a voice that dripped from the sarcasm. Flower burst in laughing when I said that.

"Yeah well I wanted to be... Well, sure... Ehm... Sorry... I didn't mean it... I want to... Ehm... I thought..." Oak stammered.

"You thought I couldn't do it. Well, forget it." I laughed.

Flower had giggles after Oaks response. She almost choked from it and I had to tap her back, otherwise this could have ended badly. "But I want to do one more test with you." he said.

"Alright, bring it on."

"We'll have to wait until Flower is done... Otherwise I cannot test it..." he said while he grinned and looked at her. He gently stroked her belly while she was lying on her back, still laughing. Not as bad as before, but still.

"What did you do to her?! She never laughed like this."

"I used attract." I joked... "It was super effective." He grinned...

"You cannot use attract for this... But nice try. Allright Flower, please stand behind me. I will show you a certain amount of fingers. You tell Maurice how many I'm showing you, ok?"

"Can she count?" I asked. Flower gave me an angry look.

"Yes, she can." Oak responded. "Why?"

"Lukas can't count. And most pikachu can't. The pichu can, I taught them." I said.

"Hmmm, Flower can count since I know her." he said. "Never mind. Ready Flower?"

"Pika!"

"She's ready!" I grinned.

"I understood that myself, thank you. Alright, how many?"

I closed my eyes and changed to pikachu.

"Three!" I heard Flower saying. I changed back to human.

"Three!"

"Correct."

He raised seven fingers. I changed to pika and listened to Flower. "Seven!" But Oak quickly lowered one of his fingers. Just as I wanted to give my answer when Flower said:

"Wait! He lowered one! Six!"

"You had seven, now you got six."

"Holy... Correct."

He raised 1 finger.

"One." He raised 5 fingers.

"Five." He didn't raise any.

"Zero." He flipped Flower off.

"He flips me off!" she shouted.

"Don't flip her off!" I shouted at him. "Bastard."

"How do you know what gesture means?" I asked Flower when she came from behind Oak's back.

"Oh come on. Do you think I'm stupid?" she said while she giggled at me.

"No, but compared to the pikachu in the forest you are a genious." I said in pika-language. Oak just looked at both of us having a little chat like it was nothing.

"This is really... I've never seen something like this..." he said.

"What?" I asked him.

"Pika-language." he simply said. Damnit...

"What?" I asked again in human language.

"That you just talk with a pikachu like that. You know that's really extraordinary, don't you?" he said.

"Uhm... No." I said. I didn't really care either at this moment. Flower came closer and started to inspect me when suddenly officer Jenny came in.

"Hello professor Oak!" she said. Oak looked at her.

"Hello officer Jenny, how can I help you today!" he said. Then both of them started a conversation. I did the same to Scarlet alias Flower, which appeared to be a trainer pokémon. She was left behind as part of the collection of one of the trainers.

"So you're practically in that pokéball at all time?" I asked her. Her ears hang a bit while she nodded.

"Yes, I've been in the pokéball for a long time now. I'm happy I can get out sometime." she said.

"Aww, don't be sad..." I said. I nuzzled her nose with mine and smiled. She smiled back and purred softly.

"You really smell like pikachu!" she said, smiling.

"It won't surprise me if I do. I'm with pichu and pikachu all day!" I said. "I watch over the pichu, so I think I smell more like them than like pikachu..."

"They smell kinda the same." she said. Meanwhile I got some pokéchew from the storage. "Not completely, but just a bit."

"Well I can speak pikachu, but I cannot smell like one, unfortunately..." I said.

"But how do you keep them apart? Most trainers can't even keep two pikachu apart, even if they know them well." she asked while I could see she was interested in the pokéchew.

"I use what we humans do best: recognise them from their faces!" I said. There are small differences between every face, like a pluck of hair, or a stripe. I can identify them that way... And by their behavior. Every pichu behaves different and after a couple of weeks you can keep them apart by their looks and their behavior.

"That's kinda smart..." she said, her mouth half open. She drooled a bit while I was holding a piece of pokéchew in front of her, but I wasn't giving her yet. I moved the chew to the right and left and laughed at her eyes which were following the food accurately. I tapped my legs and she jumped from the table to my legs and I held the pokéchew in front of her mouth and fed it to her. She giggled and purred.

"You're funny." she giggled as I put another piece of pokéchew in her mouth by flying it in there like a airplane.

"I just love guys like you..." I said as I gently stroked her between her ears. She purred again and licked my fingers to get the last bit of pokéchew of it. I smiled and got some more food for her and held it in front of her in my hand. She happily grabbed some with her paws so half of it dropped on the floor. It didn't seem to bother her as she continued eating like nothing happened. Her ears were lowered halfway and past the back of her head and her tail was wagging happily, indicating she felt perfectly fine and that she was ok with my presence. Somehow I could feel she felt good with me.

"How it comes you trust me already?" I asked. "You barely know me..."

"Oh, I was trainer pokémon, remember? And you and Oak are friends, so I guess I can trust you too. And you have food!" she said happily while holding some pokéchew in front of me with a happy smile before she nibbled at the top and purred again.

"You're a smart pikachu." I chuckled. This comment got me a affectional small electrical shock on my hand, when she rubbed her cheek against it. I gently tickled her cheek when she was done. She giggled.

"You and Flower seem to get along pretty well!" Oak said. Me and Flower looked up and saw him and officer Jenny watching us. I put the resting pokéchew in the bag and I stood up, holding Flower in my arms. She quickly jumped and stood on my shoulder.

"So you were right..." Jenny said.

"He just told me, so I'm still quite astonished myself." he said.

"What?" I said.

"I don't think they understand that." Flower said.

"Hmmm?" I asked.

"You're still talking pikachu." she said while she giggled again.

"So what? I can understand them!" I said.

"That's true!" she said.

"Can you understand them? Or can you only understand attacks?" I asked.

"I can understand them quite well..." she said. "But sometimes I wonder what humans mean..." So even trainer pokémon had trouble with understanding human language. But Lukas didn't seem to have trouble.

"Do you know if every pokémon understands human?" I asked.

"Some understand better than others." Flower said. "Some can understand humans like they're humans themselves... But some don't understand it at all. It really depends on... On..."

"It just depends on the pokémon." I finished her.

"Yes!" she said happily. Jenny looked at me.

"Can I speak to you... In human language?" she asked me with a vague smile. Not a question you asked someone very often.

"Of course." I said in normal language.

"I've got some disturbing news, I'm afraid." she said. "Those poachers you caught a couple of months ago are free again, they were released just a couple of hours ago. Their time was done."

"That isn't really good news..." I said. Somehow it didn't really bother me as much as it did first. I stroked Flower a bit. She smiled at me.

"We don't know what they're planning to do, but please consider that they might want to take revenge on you. I'm here to warn you that you should watch your back out there. They don't like it when they're messed with."

"Well I got a entire pikachu colony. And they never manage to come close to our colony without getting noticed." I said as I continued stroking Flower. Flower enjoyed the attention she received and continued her purring.

"I hope you know what you're doing, because I don't want to tell your parents that you got shot by some poachers." she said as she looked at me. I also looked at her and I could see that she was dead serious.

"I will watch your situation and when things get too dangerous, I will demand you to quit this." she said.

"I'm ok with that. As long you can ensure me that those guys won't shoot any pikachu from my colony, because I will get a gun and wait for them there." I said. When I realised what I had said it made my scared of myself. How could I have...? Jenny looked at me with a strange expression. I closed my eyes and tried to regain some control of my 'feral' being. When I tried this it was like something inside me changed... Like I got back some humanity.

"What are you doing...?" Oak asked me. I didn't respond. I sighed.

"Sorry..." I said. "It's... Like I'm really changing into a pikachu... If I pretend I'm one I can talk to them much better... If I pretend I'm human I'm much more... Humane... Or something. Really strange."

"Are you alright?" Oak said. "Really, I don't want you to go insane. You should quit this if you feel bad."

"I don't feel bad. I'm just changing a bit because I'm living in the forest and not like an average human." I smiled. "I feel fine." And that was true. I felt great.

"Alright then." he said. "But if you got problems, I want you to come to me immediately. I want your word on this."

"You got my word." I said.

"Pikachu-pi?" Flower asked while she rubbed my face. I smiled.

"Heheh, I like you to." I said. "Oak, she loved the thunder pokéchew. Leave her outside more often, she hates being in the pokéball for long periods. Better keep her outside or something." I said looking out of the window.

"I'll try, but I cannot keep track of every pokémon I receive..." he said.

"Then give them some kind of registration, like a collar or something." I smiled.

"I could do that, but you'll have to help me getting them on all pokémon around here." he said. "And that's a lot of pikachu, and I won't even count all the other species."

"No problem." I said.

"Well, I hope you guys know what you are doing. I wish both of you a good day!" Jenny said before she left. Flower just looked at her and then looked at Oak and at me, wondering what we were gonna do next.

"Alright them, I think I'll head back to my colony!" I said. Flower's ears dropped when I said that.

"Awww, sweetie, do you like me so much already?" I said. Flower just sighed and rubbed her cheek against me one more time before jumping on the table and looking at me with a sad face.

"Maybe you can stay outside your ball now." I said, getting my face on eye-level with her and gently petting her with both my hands. She giggled again and hugged my face once more while she purred. Then she released me. Oak looked at us.

"I don't understand how you can mean so much to her that quickly." he said.

"Probably just because I fed her some food and because I can handle them very well. Especially now I got even more skills with pichu and pikachu. And my smell is right, because I smell like pikachu and pichu and I'm your friend. So that's probably a great reason to like me.

"I guess so." Oak said. "Maybe you can visit her too." he chuckled.

"Hey, I cannot visit everyone... Cammy, Jack and Rosie probably need me for at least a week when she gives birth..." I said. Scarlet looked quite unhappy. "Sorry Scarlet, but I can't just... Accept every pikachu... That would be insane."

"Pika-pikachu..." she said. I stroked her head.

"No worries, I'm sure we'll see eachother again..." I smiled.

"Alright, I have to go. See you later!" I said before leaving the laboratory and heading to the woods. I hadn't even left the building when I heard a loud "Pika!" before Scarlet came running around the corner and came running towards me with Oak behind her.

"Wanna come with me?" I asked.

"Pika-pikachu!" she said.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here..." Oak smiled to her.

"Oh, she can walk with my until the edge of the forest...!" I said. Scarlet looked to Oak with a hopeful puppy-look. Oak looked at her for just a couple of seconds before he fell for it.

"Alright alright, but make sure you come back to me. Maurice, I keep you responsible for her." he said before turning back to the lab.

"Thanks." Scarlet said.

"So, do you want me to call you Flower or Scarlet?" I asked her, smiling.

"Oh, I don't care... Just do whatever you prefer." she said.

"Ok Scarlet, you coming with me?" I chuckled.

"You bet!" she smiled before running in front of me and happily jumping around, scaring the shit out of some butterflies by trying to catch them. She just enjoyed her first trip outside since a long time. It was fun watching her checking on stuff she hadn't seen for so long. I sat down on a stone past the road and decided to watch her for a while and let her do her stuff before sending her back to Oak. She really seemed to enjoy this. She walked under the butterflies and kept them in her eyesight. She was fully concentrated. Then she took a leap upwards. She easily jumped my height and probably way past that before landing on her feet again. I looked at her and was surprised. She had managed to catch one of the butterflies! She had it in her mouth and came running for me.

"You little killer...!" I smiled when she jumped my lap and showed me what she caught. She carefully placed it on my leg before running off and climbing some trees and chasing behind some other pokémon.

"Butterflies in january... Things are really messed up..." I thought. Scarlet didn't care though. The butterfly looked kind of scared but it wasn't really hurt. Scarlet was just showing off, not hurting it. I wondered why... The butterfly spread it wings and took off after a minute or so.

After another ten minutes I stood up and continued to walk towards the forest. Scarlet followed me quickly. She jumped my shoulder and gently rubbed her cheeks against mine and purred.

"I like you..." she said.

"That seems pretty clear to me!" I smiled to her while we got deeper into the forest.

"Do you want to mate with me?" she asked.

"Excuse me?!" I said. She giggled and licked my cheek.

"What? I just like you!" she chuckled.

"So that's why you like me, so I would mate with you." I laughed.

"Well, no... I like you anyway." she said blushing. "But you seem pretty strong, so I thought maybe..."

"Well, I know it's mating season, but I won't mate with you, sorry..." I said. "All the females seem to want me. I don't have any idea why, because even if I mated with them (which I won't I quickly added) I could not have a pichu."

"No wonder, you're the strongest pikachu around!" she said. "I don't know if you cannot have pichu with me, I think it would work out just fine..."

"You think so?" I said. "Because I don't. By the way, I'm not a pikachu." I smiled.

"Why not?" she smiled while rubbing my cheek again. I petted her between her ears.

"Alright, enough talking about mating, because it makes me feel rather uncomfortable." I smiled.

"Why? Everyone does it..." she chuckled.

"Because you have to go back to Oak now and I have to go to my colony." I smiled. "The pichu need me." She sighed deeply.

"I wished I could come with you... I don't want to stay in my pokéball... I want to be outside, be with someone I can play with..." she said at a rather unhappy voice.

"I'll text Oak to get you out more often. Maybe he already has a place for you, because his backyard is quite big. I told him to get you out more often, remember?" I said. Scarlet jumped from my shoulder as I turned around and sat down so I was at eye-level.

"I'm sure I'll see you again, no doubt about that." I said. "I still can't understand that you got so close to me within just a couple of hours..."

"Me neither..." she said as she hugged me. I placed my hand on her back. "Maybe it's just that I was so alone for quite a time... In my pokéball and so..."

"Maybe it is. You should search a mate or something." I said as I broke the hug. Scarlet sighed once more before she turned back.

"I hoped I could stay with you... Bye!" she said when she took off.

"See ya!" I replied before I also turned and entered the forest. Knowing that Scarlet was a trainer pokémon I hoped she would go back to Oak.

It was back to the usual business with the pichu. They were happy I was back, because the other baby-sitters were kind of grumpy. It was on the third day after I went to Oak one of the pichu was lost. It didn't take long before me and another young pikachu had found it, thanks to the excellent nose of the pikachu. On our way back the pichu playfully ran away with us behind it.

It ran across the woods with us on its tail. The pikachu almost got it, he was so close he could almost grab the little rodent at its scruff. Suddenly the pichu and the pikachu stopped and I stopped just behind them. The pichu had entered a clearing and the pikachu stood behind it and had grabbed him. They were looking at Lukas and his mate which were sitting with their cheeks connected and happily purring. The pichu squeaked something happy to Lukas and Lukas looked up. He looked at the pichu, the pikachu and at me rather disturbed.

"Uhm... Hi." I said. "We're not... Disturbing anything... Aren't we?" I asked.

"No you're not..." Lukas said with a voice with annoyed undertone.

"Alright guys, off you go. Back to the nest with you." I said as I pushed them away with my shoe. The pikachu looked at me for a moment and then understood the message. He went back to the nest with the pichu in his mouth with me quickly following him.

Back at the colony (which wasn't that far away) we placed the pichu back with the rest.

"What was that about?" the pikachu asked. It was a young pikachu which had evolved about two or three months ago. He was a great help now Lukas was colony leader.

"I also would be annoyed when I get disturbed while... Uhm... Never mind it." I said. "Just forget that."

Later that evening, when I was in my sleeping bag, Lukas joined me. He slept in the nest more than with me since he had a mate. He slipped in and rubbed his cheek against mine affectionately.

"Hello 'Luk..." I said. He nuzzled next to me and purred softly.

"Look..." he said. "I don't care that you know I have a mate... But please... Just... Leave me alone when... When..."

"When you're having a good time with her." I said. Lukas just licked my cheek and purred.

"I smell a female on you." he suddenly said.

"You mean Scarlet... She's a pikachu of Oak." I said.

"Oh... I would love to see her... She smells nice..." he answered.

"I hope mating season is finished soon." I said to him before we cuddled close together. "I guess I'm not suitable for your way of making love."

"Pika..." Lukas answered before we both fell asleep.

And that was chapter 20 already! I'm considering to re-rate this story as M, but I'm not sure. Any opinions about that? There will be some voilence coming up in the next chapters (something unexpected is going to happen, spoiler!) and I don't think you guys will see it coming when I do something I'd like to do for a long time...

I'll quit making fun of you because you'll just have to wait until it's written and finished! Have a Merry Christmas!