Hello everyone. Guess who's back after a very long time. First of all I'd like to apologize for the time this took. On the other side though, I finished my school with a good grade, so not writing certainly paid off. *chuckle*

To make up, I wrote you guys a huge-ass chapter. It's 18,000 words, about 3 times the size of an average chapter. I hope you guys like it. It was fun writing it. I'm wondering what you guys think about this, so please review. Without further ado, let's continue! Enjoy!

Oh, one more thing before I start. Merry Christmas and a Happy Newyear, if I don't post a new chapter before that.

"Hey… Maurice…"

"Maurice…!"

"HEY MAURICE! WAKE UP!" Nikki said playfully as she pushed me on my back instead of my belly. I rolled over, sat up, shook my head and looked at her.

"Wutishapnin…" I blabbered while shaking my head again, this time waking up for real.

"Well, I'm hungry. Let's go find some food!" she said as she stood next to me and rubbed her cheek against mine. She walked out of our den and through a system of tunnels we both moved up to the surface. Pikachu and pichu were playing. We were at the pikachu colony I knew so well.

"Hey Maurice…!" some pikachu said, smiling at me. I smiled back. Nikki walked out of the colony and towards an apple tree just out of the colony.

"Could you get one for me?" she said in a cute way as she turned around.

"WOW, what happened to your belly?!" I said as I looked over it. It was huge, much bigger than I was used to.

"Uhm, are you okay?" she said as she looked at me with her head moving skew left and right as she watched me.

"Yes but… What happened at you…?" I asked again.

"Did you forget?" she said.

"Forget what…?" I said as I looked at her with a asking face.

"Maurice, please, don't do this. It's not funny." she said with a serious tone and face.

"I'm just asking what happened to you! Why are you so huge?" I said.

"Well, we mated and I'm getting pichu, remember?" she smiled as she moved closer and nibbled my ear.

"We… Wait, WHAT?!" I said. "But… But I'm a human, I wouldn't mate you…!"

"Did you forget or something?" Nikki said.

"Forget what?" I asked. Nikki sighed.

"You seem to forget a lot lately." she said, holding her paw behind her head. "We went to that Oak guy and you told him you were Maurice. He understood you after you tried for days and he showed you to your parents. They didn't believe him. He then called out Bill and some other people, but they were unable to transform you back to human being form, even after they tried it for a long time.

"What…" I said slowly, not believing what she said.

"Even though you didn't want to be a pikachu, you finally accepted that you'll never be a human again, and we both joined this pikachu colony. The pikachu seemed to know you already, Lukas was really happy to see you back. To make Oak able to track you and know you from the other pikachu, he gave you a collar. Look at it!" she said. I looked down at my neck. There was a red collar around my neck. I could see some numbers. Now that I knew it was there, I felt it. I was so used to it that I didn't feel it earlier.

"But…" I stammered.

"And then you finally gave in to your pikachu side and we mated and now we're getting pichu!" she said. "And the other pichu love you! You're a perfect babysitter and you're always cheerful!" she said. "The pikachu also love you and you're a perfect colony leader, together with Lukas!"

"But… No… I…" I said, not understanding anything. How in the world with my human mind still present and my human thoughts still here, could I have mated with her? How?! And why do I not have memories of that?

"Look, this happened before…" she said. "You've been back to your human state already for a while, but then you changed back to the Maurice I like and the Maurice that loves me…!" she said with a lusty purr. "Don't worry, you'll change back to a pikachu soon… It didn't last long the last time."

"No… No…" I said as I took a step back.

"Maurice, please…!" Nikki said, walking after me when I started walking - no - running back to the colony. I entered the colony. I stopped at the entrance of the looked around. Pichu playing, pikachu looked at me.

"Hey, Maurice!" one greeted before he dove into the nest. I looked around. Nikki came walking towards me.

"Maurice, please… We're gonna have pichu, don't act like this…!" she said, her voice pleading me to stop.

"No, I don't want to… To..." I stammered.

Nikki stared at me with a blank expression. A couple of pikachu around me stared at me as well.

"I don't want to take care of pichu, I don't want a mate, I want to go back home and…"

"And what?" Nikki said. "Try to turn into a human again? How could you possibly do that? Maurice, please, I'm your partner, I love you!" she said.

"You're not my mate…" I said, still in complete shock to the fact I was about to turn father of pichu. "I… I don't want to take care of pichu…" I said as I turned around and wanted to walk away. However, I was stopped by two pikachu that were watching our conversation. One bigger guard pikachu joined us.

"Yes, you're gonna take care of those pichu. She is your mate and you two mated. Everybody knows and everybody can smell that." he said. "You need to stay loyal to your mate." he said. All the pikachu from around me suddenly walked towards me, telling me to stay loyal to my mate.

"What… Get away…" I said, looking left and right as I was cornered by at least ten pikachu. I saw Lukas exiting the nest. "I don't need to stay loyal to my mate, I can mate whoever I want and leave if I want to, that's what pikachu do!" I said, panicked, when Lukas came walking over. He looked at me and at the scene.

"Maurice, things have changed around here. We stay loyal to our mates, you need to take care of the pichu." he said as he shook his head. The scene changed and I was suddenly inside the nest and in my den, watching Nikki giving birth as the scene changed again and I saw Nikki lying in the den with two pichu next to her, looking at me with a proud face.

"Aren't they beautiful - beautiful - beautiful?" it echoed through my head. More voices echoed through my head.

"Things have changed… We stay loyal to our mates…."

"Maurice, I love you!"

"You're gonna take care of those pichu, you need to stay loyal to your mate."

"You finally gave in to your pikachu side and we mated…!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I shouted as I sat straight up and looked around. A den with me and Nikki, Nikki overcome with sleep and watching me with a sleepy and questionable face, her eyes half open. Rays of sun shining from the opening of the den.

"Whu… What?" she asked sheepishly.

It had all been a dream. My breath was quick. I jumped up and walked back, back from Nikki, against the dirt wall, looking at her. She was normal sized, clearly NOT pregnant and looking at me with sleep in her eyes. Nikki shook herself as I watched her like she was the scariest thing in the world.

This damn brain of me. Why does it have to work like this, why do I have to dream that I wasn't able to recover to my human state and that I mated with a pikachu? Although, it was quite logical since I couldn't get back to human state.

"Fuck this shit." I thought, looking at the dirt on the ground before shaking my entire body and looking at Nikki.

"What's the matter?" she said after she woke up.

"Nothing… Just… Just a nightmare." I said as she walked over to me and rubbed our cheeks together. She sparked affectionately and laughed at me when I jumped up.

"Nightmare?" she said. "Whatever. Shall we continue towards your professor guy?" she chuckled. "We're awake anyway. You said he had food and I'm hungry."

"Yes, let's do that… Let's do that…" I repeated as I was still breathing faster than normal as Nikki turned around and jumped out of the den and towards the sunlight. I jumped after her and we continued our way towards Pallet Town.

"Jeez, you were looking like I was pregnant…" she chuckled as I ran past her and she ran after me quickly.

. . .

Me and Nikki walked further along route 1 towards Pallet Town. The sun was slowly climbing higher in the air and warming up the ground we walked on. Yesterday, after a long walk over the route towards Pallet, we had settled down in a den that Nikki found. Honestly, we were going slower than I wanted to. Nikki was continuously trying to find spots where we could settle and start a family.

"Oh look Maurice, this would make a nice nest!" she said over and over, showing me dens, burrows and trees with hollow underground. The only thing I did was smile and tell her I wanted to go to Oak first before we could settle. A lie for my own good, so to say. And for her own, because we may be able to change her back to human form. I hoped for the best when I tugged her out of den number one hundred and one.

"Nikki, come on!" I said again while the sun went down. Getting to Oak wouldn't happen today. We both were getting tired, and we had to find a place to sleep. Within a couple of seconds Nikki found us another nest. Safe from predators and maybe trainers, we could sleep there for the night. After we got in and after we got down we down, we both fell asleep pretty quickly. Of course, after Nikki tried to get me to mate her again and after she asked me again if we could settle here. After a short and firm "no" Nikki stopped and gave up... At least for now.

But now, we were on our way again and it was early in the morning. It wouldn't take long before we would reach Pallet, we could already see the windmill Oak had right next to his laboratory in the distance.

"Look Nikki! That's where we're going!" I said, pointing at the windmill.

"What…?" she said, looking in the distance.

"The windmill!" I said.

"Windmill?" she said. "What's that?"

"The turning thing that keeps spinning rounds." I said, quickly translating it into pikachu-friendly language. Thanks to my ability to switch between pikachu and human that was no problem.

"We're heading to another human house? I thought we were going to some pikachu colony." she said, nuzzling me with her nose.

"No, I'm a human, you know that." I said, smiling and nuzzling her back playfully.

"Silly, you're a pikachu. But whatever!" she said as rolled her eyes up and ran after me, because I took off towards the laboratory. I was almost there! I could almost smell Oak from here…

. . .

He walked back and forth between the opening of the door and his computer screen. Worried about the boy he'd sent off towards a colony of pikachu. Two weeks. Two whole weeks he was gone. The iron table in the middle was empty, except some papers and a pen, containing some notes he made earlier. He stopped a while and looked at the notes. After almost two minutes of staring he actually read the notes. The notes were about something different than Maurice. He walked up to the table and looked at the papers. He ordered them on the table before walking over to something in the corner of the room. Inside was a pikachu. He stood next to the incubator and looked over the female that was inside.

After being beat up by Team Rocket trying to defend herself from the evil organisation, she was out. She didn't wake up, even after giving her medical treatment and giving her additional electricity. Oak feared for her life. The situation got worse every day, and about a week ago they even had to put her on artificial respiration. Not only that, since last week her heart was failing her as well. The defibrillator had saved her life a couple of times already, but Oak wasn't sure if this was gonna last long. He opened the incubator and felt her body. It was still warm, but he wasn't sure this was because she was generating heat or because of the temperature inside the device that was meant to keep her alive. He slowly moved his hand across her head, right between her ears. The place she loved so much.

"Come on… You need to wake up… We don't know what is wrong with you… Even Nurse Joy doesn't know…" he said softly.

He sighed, closed the device and walked back towards the table. Maurice' parents would be here in the late afternoon to talk about stuff with him and Officer Jenny. Because of the information Oak had about Maurice and the knowledge the parents had about their son, this could sometimes lead to interesting results. At the same time she would come to give them a update on how things were going with the investigation on Maurice' whereabouts. The professor sighed again.

"Where IS he?" he commented on himself. "He can't be GONE just like that…"

. . .

We ran over towards the windmill. We were getting closer to Oak now! He would surely understand me! If he wouldn't, then I could ask Jack and Rosie to translate it for me. They know how to deal with humans better than I do, that's for sure. I would make Oak understand me. If he didn't want to understand, I would get the entire pikachu colony here, if I had to.

"Are we almost there?" Nikki said from behind me. I stopped when we reached the town limits from Pallet. We were around 500 meters from our destination.

"Almost." I said, panting a bit from running for almost five minutes flat. Nikki panted as well and we both walked further on our feet only. There were no people in sight, they were probably inside their houses and still sleeping. It was summer, after all, so it was light early. I had no clue how late it was and if Oak would even be at his laboratory. I hoped that he would be here, but if he wasn't it probably wouldn't take long. We walked towards the path leading to the front door. After a minute or so we both stood for the door.

"And now?" Nikki said. "I don't see a bell like last time."

"No, Oak has an intercom… How do Jack and Rosie enter this…" I said as I wondered how Jack and Rosie usually entered the building.

"Let's try this." I said as I start scribbling the door just like I did with the door home. I knew that this made noise inside because Jack, Rosie and Cammy usually did this when they couldn't manage to open a door that they wanted to get through. Usually our door leading towards our garden. Scribbling made some weird-kind-of sound that you don't hear for minute and then suddenly notice. I hoped that someone was here… I looked through the glass of the door but saw nobody. The lights in Oak's room were on though, that room was immediately to the right after you entered. I stopped scribbling and bonked my paws against the glass.

"Open up…!" I said, getting nervous that there would be nobody here when suddenly the door opened and Oak appeared. He looked around and then spotted us. He walked over to the door and opened it for us.

"Sam!" I said, using his short name before I shot inside.

"Whoa, hello there, little guy." he said when I hugged his legs.

"What are you doing?" Nikki asked as she looked at me with a face like I was crazy.

"Being happy." I said when I darted inside Oak's room and jumped the table.

Oak shook his head a bit and followed. There were regularly pikachu coming at his lab, mainly Jack and Rosie with their pichu and of course Cammy and Scarlet, but also some others. Since I joined the pikachu colony a couple had shown up here, Oak had told me once. Even though I told them to stay at their colony.

"Alright, and who might you be?" Oak asked when Nikki also jumped the table and we both watched him.

"Oak it's me!" I said way to happy. I should know that he couldn't understand me. Nikki also looked at me with the same conclusion.

"Maurice, he cannot understand you, just like all the others. Why do you still try? It's useless." she said as she hugged me. "You're a pikachu, and not a human." she continued as she nuzzled my cheek with her nose.

"He will." I said as I gently pushed her away. "He must, otherwise… Well, he must and he will." I said.

"Whatever." Nikki said as she broke the hug and looked at Oak.

"Are you two pikachu from the colony?" Oak asked. "If you're looking for Maurice, he's not here." he said kind of sad. "There have been others already and he's still gone. I don't know where he is." he said. "Lukas should be coming soon… He usually comes in the morning…" he added softly.

"Colony?" Nikki asked while looking at me.

"Yes, colony." I said. "We're not from the colony." I said as I shook my head. "Well, actually I am but she isn't." I said as I pointed at Nikki and me.

"And you're mates?" Oak said. Nikki nodded violently and I shook my head violently as well. We both looked at each other. Nikki looked kind of disappointed and amused at the same time. I just looked annoyed and amused as well. Oak laughed.

"Mates to be." he chuckled when Nikki's belly grumbled. Oak looked at her.

"Did you came for food?" he asked. Nikki nodded immediately at hearing the word food. I shook my head when my belly grumbled as well.

"You're a terrible liar." Oak chuckled as he walked over to the closet and opened it, revealing bags of pokéchew.

"I should stop giving these pikachu food, they'll keep coming back to me." he said as he made a mental note to stop feeding most wild pikachu. He filled the feeders that were usually meant for Jack and Rosie and placed them on the table.

"Here, because I'm in a good mood…" he said as he didn't look too happy. I could also feel that he didn't feel very well. I decided to take this slowly and not like all the other times. Even though my name was mentioned, I didn't respond to it like I would normally. But now, there were more important things, eating for example. We both didn't eat for almost a day now and we both jumped the feeders and started eating. Oak looked at us for a while before he walked away and walked over to something glassy and looked inside it. He stared into it. I could see him moving around because I was standing on the right direction around my feeder. I wondered what he was looking at, that thing wasn't here as far I could remember. After a minute or so my curiosity won it from my hunger. I stood on my hind legs and watched him. Oak looked inside the glassy thing and then looked at me.

"You had enough?" he asked kindly when he saw me watching him. I left my food for what it was and jumped down the table and walked over to him. I couldn't see what was in the thing from under, so I climbed his lab coat and stood on his shoulder. I looked inside the glassy thing. My heart stopped.

It was an incubator. And not only that - a pikachu was inside there, connected to all kind of wires and even to a heart monitor.

"Scarlet!" I shouted softly. I never expected her to be in there. In amazement I almost fell from Oak's shoulder. Oak stopped me from falling down by putting a hand in front of me. I bumped into his hand and quickly regained balance.

"Hey there, don't fall." he chuckled.

"Scarlet…" I mumbled as I watched the female inside with big eyes. Oak looked at me.

"Do you know her?" Oak asked, seeing my response. I nodded and looked back at Scarlet.

"She's been attacked by Team Rocket on the day that Maurice was kidnapped." Oak said. "She hasn't been awake ever since. I fear she isn't gonna make it…" he said sad. Wait, WHAT? Not gonna make it?!

"She's going to die?!" I said on some kind of dramatic and scared tone.

"I fear so." Oak said, understanding me for a second. We remained silent for a while. Then I jumped on top of the incubator. I looked through it and scribbled it, indicating I wanted to get in.

"Hey, don't stand on that…" Oak said, but then saw me scribbling.

"Oh, you wanna get in?" he asked. I nodded.

"Alright then." he said as he grabbed me from the incubator and held me while he opened it. The whole thing turned upwards like a door on it's side and I could enter. I jumped from Oak's arm and landed on the soft underground. It was warm and wet inside there. That was to keep Scarlet's temperature on the right level. I looked at Scarlet for a minute or so before I touched her with my paw. She was colder than normal, but not ice cold. She wasn't dead.

"You two are friends?" Oak asked from behind me, while I checked Scarlet out. It was really scary to see her in this condition. My pikachu mind kicked in.

"Check her cheeks!" it told me when suddenly and before I could do anything something started beeping. It went from slow beeping to very fast beeping and a long and loud sound within two seconds or so.

"Oh no, not again!" Oak said as he grabbed something. It appeared to be a defibrillator. He pushed me aside and connected the device to Scarlet.

"Don't touch her!" he said and made a gesture that I should back off. He pushed some buttons and then the device beeped, gave a loud beep and the Scarlet moved upwards very quick before she went back in her old position. The long sound now had stopped and was beeping regularly again.

"Thank God…" Oak said when he removed the device and put it back safely. I went back to Scarlet's side. She felt warmer than before… Not much but just a little. I could also notice she was breathing better now…

"Check her cheeks!" my pikachu side said again. I allowed my pikachu side to control me and immediately it went over to Scarlet and we connected our cheeks. An scary feeling came over me.

"What's the problem?" my human side now asked the pikachu side.

"She needs energy! She's doesn't have much, she needs a boost!" it said before I sparked my cheeks and shared some of my energy with Scarlet.

"What are you doing?" Oak said as he saw what I was doing. "Oh, you're sharing energy? I doubt that will help." he continued.

"Why wouldn't it help…" my pikachu side thought.

"You see, we already tried to boost her but that didn't work." he said as he grabbed and showed some kind of headphone thingy. It was a device that you could place on pichu, pikachu and raichu and that was used to charge the pokémon.

"But that did nothing to her." he said.

"You need to charge her!" my pikachu side said pointing at the device. It walked over to Oak and snatched it from Oak's hands. Then it turned to Scarlet. The combined knowledge from my human side and my pikachu side was now visible. I kind of told the pikachu what the device was and where you used it for. I didn't need words for it - just thinking about it was enough for the pikachu to understand.

"Um… How do you use this." it thought as it watched the thing. Two hands appeared over me and gently grabbed the device from my hands.

"You want me to charge her?" Oak asked. I nodded. It wasn't strange for pikachu to know the device - some of them were charged before themselves in pokécenters or other places. Therefore they knew what the device did.

"Shall I do it?" Oak chuckled when my pikachu side tried to grab the device again. I watched Oak as he attached the device to Scarlet and then took a step back. He sat behind his computer and looked on the monitor.

"Her energy levels are normal, according to this thing." he said.

"No they are not." my pikachu side said, shaking its head to Oak. "She needs more. If she doesn't get more, she'll die." it said.

"They're not?" Oak said, responding to the shaking head. "Well, you want me to charge her?"

My pikachu mind made me nod.

"Alright then, here we go." Oak said. He pressed a button and I could feel that there was electricity flowing in the device. After a second or twenty, Oak stopped the charging (charging goes pretty quick and overcharge is dangerous) and removed the device. I quickly moved towards Scarlet and felt her cheeks. Her body was as warm as it was before and her cheeks were the same as well. After a charge the cheeks usually were warmer. Nothing had changed. I looked at Scarlet and at Oak.

"Nothing happened!" my pikachu side thought. "She needs more energy and she needs it fast!"

"But why? She just got charged!" I thought back.

"Charged or not, nothing happened. I don't feel anything charged, do you?" it said to me.

"I don't." I thought. My pikachu senses indeed didn't catch a change in her electricity levels. That was one thing that was for sure. I turned to Oak and shook my head.

"Didn't help eh?" Oak said sad. "I don't know what's the problem."

But I did. At least, my human side did have a suspicion. I grabbed the charging device and placed it on myself. That failed and I almost managed to get stuck in it.

"You should just ask if you want to get charged." he chuckled. He liked the company of the pikachu. This male was a chatty little guy.

Oak chuckled and placed it on my head the right way when Nikki jumped up the incubator and looked at me.

"You look ridiculous!" she giggled. I didn't look at her and looked at Oak.

"Charge me!" I said to Oak.

"One second…" he said. "Alright, there it comes!"

I felt strange. It was the first time I got… Charged. I felt the metal of the device on my cheeks and I felt a certain flow between them… At least… I felt one flow. I rubbed my cheeks with my paws. That made my cheek tickle… On one side. I felt the device one more time. This thing didn't charge at all. No sir. It was draining my energy. The negative pool of the device was still working but the positive one wasn't giving any energy. I shook my head and the thing came off.

"Hey watch out, don't break it!" Oak said when I threw the thing off.

"It doesn't work!" I said.

"Feeling better?" he chuckled. "No wonder, that usually happens to charged pikachu." I shook my head.

"No! I'm not feeling better!" I said.

"Not? Did I overcharge you? If you feel sick, you should do a strong thundershock outside. That will make you feel better." he said. I grabbed the device from the incubator floor and looked at it. It was broken, that was for sure. How did I make this clear to Oak?

"Easy." my pikachu thoughts answered. It grabbed the thing and threw it on the ground.

"HEY! Don't break that!" Oak said as he wanted to pick the thing up. I growled fiercely. He looked at me and gave me a mad glare.

"Don't tell me what to…" he said when I growled again and jumped from the incubator to the charger on the ground. He took a step back. My human side took over from the pikachu now. I grabbed the thing and destroyed the wires with one simple but effective jerk and threw the remains of the thing in the waste bin.

"PIKA." I said firmly at Oak. Now I had to act quickly. Scarlet didn't have energy and if a pikachu lost too much energy, it wouldn't have enough energy to make new energy because its body was using too much. That way, a severely injured pikachu could end up in a vicious circle that would lead to death. This is also why friendly pikachu always share energy with wounded counterparts. I felt quite weak. I had to get energy from somewhere.

"It was broken?" Oak said.

"Where do I get energy?" my pikachu side asked my human side.

"Try the power outlets." it answered. The power outlets, great idea. I quickly dove under table with the computer and the incubator and dove under some stuff. It was quite dark behind all Oak's equipment but you could see.

"Hey, what are you doing? Was that thing broken?" he said. I found an double outlet. Both filled with plugs. I had to remove one to get to the energy, so my pikachu side removed both. Pika-logic. I heard the computer above me stopping to work.

"Hey!" Oak said. Shortly after his face appeared under table.

"Don't remove the power from my computer!" he said. "You're getting annoying!"

It didn't care me at all. I stood before the outlet when a certain fear overcame me. I knew that sticking my fingers into the plug could be deadly. Would I be alright, even though I was a pikachu?

"For Scarlet…" I mumbled when I stuck my tiny finger into the hole. Nothing happened. I stuck it a bit further and wiggled it in there. I squeaked when suddenly energy started to flow from the outlet to me. My pikachu side took over.

"Of course you'll be fine, it's just an outlet." it said, while I noticed that my body was pulling energy from the outlet. Within seconds, I felt that I was charging. It only took a couple of seconds before the 'good feeling' started to fade and I started to get headache and I started to feel hot. I pulled my paw from the outlet. Oak looked at me.

"Bad pikachu. You know you may not pull power from the outlets." he said. I didn't care. My cheeks sparked a couple of times. If felt as if I had fever. I walked from under the table slowly and on two feet. The world around me felt dizzy and a bit strange. I was overcharged. I needed to discharge. I shook my head and jumped the incubator.

"Yeah, now you got overcharge." Oak said as a matter of fact.

"Wow, what did YOU do?" Nikki asked.

"I charged myself." I said as I walked over to Scarlet and placed my cheek against hers. My pikachu side controlled the energy and within seconds I had given Scarlet loads and loads of energy. The fever-feeling disappeared as quick as it came and I felt normal again. After a while, I even started to feel weak. I stopped discharging. I looked at Scarlet. I felt her with my paw. Her cheek felt warm, but the rest of her body felt… Cold. But warmer than earlier. She needed more.

"Who is that?" Nikki asked.

"Don't have time to explain." I said while I jumped back down and headed over to the outlet again.

"Wait, are you gonna… No, you won't!" Oak said as he pulled me back. I looked at him.

"We don't pull power from the outlets, that's dangerous for you." he said.

"Give her some of your energy, she needs it or she'll die." I said while I wiggled free and headed over to the outlet. I stuck my paw inside the outlet again. Again I felt the energy flow towards me. I stopped charging earlier than the last time though, and I quickly headed to Scarlet to share my energy.

"One more…" I thought when I felt her body. It had almost the normal temperature. I quickly headed to the outlet and stuck my paw inside. I literally pulled the energy out of there.

"Come on…" I thought when I was charging. I pulled more energy from the outlet when suddenly you heard a sound of machinery shutting down. The lights went out at the same time the outlet stopped providing energy to me.

"What the…." I thought. The power went down because I was taking too much.

"Told you not to pull energy from there." Oak said as he walked over to the room with the fuse box. "Although for sharing it with Scarlet I'll make an exception."

He clicked a button and the lights went back on, the machinery started working and everything went back to normal. I wasn't fully charged yet so I quickly stuck my paw in again and drained the remaining energy from it. After one more overload with energy I quickly headed to Scarlet. I gave her another huge-energy-boost. I took a step back and sat on my hind legs. Sharing all your energy was energy-consuming… Literally. I was panting with my tongue out. Nikki felt Scarlet.

"She should be fine…" Nikki said to me as she nuzzled my side. "Her energy feels normal now…"

"It's all you can do right now, pikachu." Oak said as he placed a hand on my head. He slowly wiggled it between my ears. That felt great.

I looked at him, then at Nikki and then at Scarlet. Then Scarlet stirred. She moved a bit and slowly opened her eyes. Oak stood behind us and looked at Scarlet as well.

"This can't be…" he said. "Can't believe that that thing was broken…"

Scarlet opened her eyes slowly. I stood next to her and looked at her. She looked around and then at Oak. She used her paws to rub her eyes and then looked around again. Then she looked at me. She looked straight into my eyes and pulled a wandering face.

"Maurice…?" she said weak. I looked back at her. Wait.

Wait.

Wait a minute.

Did she just say 'Maurice'?

"Yes… Yes it's me!" I said to her. Scarlet laid her head back down on the pillow.

"I feel so bad…" she said. I couldn't stop looking at her.

"How do you know it's me?" I asked her softly. She opened her eyes again and looked at me.

"I'd recognize those eyes anywhere." Scarlet chuckled. "But…" she said. "Why are you a pikachu…?"

I was so happy that Scarlet recognized me! I wanted to jump around this room and shout that I was happy. I decided not to. Instead I jumped her and hugged her from the side.

"You almost died because of Team Rocket and they changed me into a pikachu and you were unconscious all the time and we charged you and now you're back and you're the very first one to recognize me because nobody does my parents even kicked my from my own house and they don't believe its me!" I said in one breath while hugging Scarlet from the side.

"Whoa there tiger, calm down. I don't understand anything you just said." she chuckled as she faintly pushed my belly, indicating that I should get off her neck.

"Sorry." I said, blushing a bit.

"Who is this, Maurice?" Nikki said.

"What? Oh, this is Scarlet. She's a friend of mine." I said.

"And who is that?" Scarlet chuckled.

"That's Nikki, also a friend." I said to Scarlet.

"Mate." Nikki said.

"She's your mate?!" Scarlet said.

"Yes, you got problems with that?" Nikki said, now sounding rather angry.

"Well, Maurice was my mate earlier." she said. Nikki looked at me and then back at Scarlet. I didn't like the way this was going at all.

"No he's not!" she said before she turned to me.

"Is she your mate?!" she asked, rather angry with me as well.

"No, she's not." I said.

"WHAT?!" Scarlet said. "But you are!"

"No he's not! He just said it!" Nikki said. Scarlet got up (which took her quite some effort) and stood up against Nikki.

"Get away from him, I love him!" she said.

"You go away from him, he's MY mate!" she said, pushing Scarlet back softly. Scarlet growled at Nikki and pushed her backwards as well. Nikki took a couple of steps back, but stepped into plain air when she reached the end of the incubator. She squeaked as she fell backwards and disappeared out of sight.

"Take that." Scarlet said with a trace of happiness as she walked over to me slowly. However, thanks to the excellent balance of the pikachu species, Nikki landed on her feet normally and within one second, she jumped back in the incubator.

"Screw you!" she shouted as she pushed Scarlet away from me. Scarlet lost balance and fell down. She groaned as Nikki jumped towards her, stopped right next to her and slapped her on her face. Scarlet however, slapped back. Nikki yelped and took a step back, her paw on her face. Then she growled. Her tail glowed bright, she turned and bashed Scarlet with Iron Tail.

Scarlet growled as well and did a small electric shock. She then pushed Nikki away and jumped up and pinned Nikki to the ground. Within a couple of seconds, the two females started fighting. And there was nothing I could do about it. I was even pretty… Amused. And shocked at the same time. Scarlet just said she loved me. That could be a problem. Nikki loved me as well, so it appeared. I now had two females fighting for me…

"I already loved him before you even did your first discharge!" Scarlet shouted while she and Nikki were rolling across the floor of the incubator, occasionally bumping into one of the sides, slapping each other with their paws and also pushing each other away. They both tried to evade the open side, not willing to fall down. I stood on the side of the incubator, watching them fight when suddenly a shadow dropped over me. I looked back. It was Oak who just came back in the laboratory. He looked at me. I dropped my ears, because he didn't look to happy. He quickly reached into the females. He placed his hand between them and separated Nikki and Scarlet. He quickly grabbed Nikki at her scruff and lifted her out of the incubator. Nikki yelped and wanted to get back to Scarlet to kick her ass. Scarlet pulled a face and stuck her tongue out towards Nikki before Oak reached in and grabbed her as well. She squeaked as well when he held them up in the air. Nikki had stopped resisting and was hanging in the air with dropped paws, feet, and tail and with a death glare. She wasn't very happy. Scarlet didn't even resist, she knew she couldn't get out of this. These freaking humans with their tricks. Nikki looked at Scarlet.

"You little rat." she whispered. Scarlet looked like she was about to explode. She frantically moved her paws and feet, trying to reach Nikki.

"Hey, calm down you!" Oak said to Scarlet. Nikki laughed. Oak shook her with one firm move. Nikki yelped.

"And you - Don't scold Scarlet!" he said firmly. "Don't think I'm crazy." he added firmly.

"Alright, who started this?" he then asked. It remained silent for a moment before Nikki and Scarlet both pointed at each other.

"She did!" they both said in sync.

"No, you started!" Scarlet said.

"You're not his mate!" Nikki replied.

"Shut up, I am his mate!" Scarlet replied.

"I AM HIS MATE!"

"NO, I AM!"

"YOU'RE NOT, I AM!"

"SHUT UP, RAT!"

"YOU SHUT UP, FATTY!"

"ENOUGH!" Oak said as he shook both pikachu one more time firmly. They both yelped and pulled a painful face.

"What is the reason of this, anyway?!" he asked. Both pikachu looked at each other for a second before they pointed at me.

"He is!" they both said, again perfectly in sync. Oak looked at their paws and then at me. I looked at all three and took a step backwards.

"I didn't do anything!" I said quickly, shaking my head when somebody tapped the door. Oak looked at the door.

"Scarlet, no more fighting, you're still weak, you just woke up after two weeks." he said as he looked at her.

"And you -" he said as he looked at Nikki with a very warning face "- no more fighting."

Both pikachu nodded. He walked towards the door and placed them on the table in the middle of the laboratory. I jumped down from the incubator and walked over to them and jumped the table as well. Scarlet was the first to come to me, she hugged me from one side and gave Nikki a foul look.

"Maurice, you're my mate, aren't you?" she said as she purred at me and rubbed her cheek with mine.

"But… I thought you were my mate…" Nikki said as she sat in front of me, looking sad. I looked at Scarlet and at Nikki. They both looked at me with expectant glances - as if they wanted me to tell them who was my mate.

"Well?" Scarlet said as she broke the hug and sat next to Nikki as well. "Who is your mate?"

"Is it me?" Nikki said, expectingful. I sat there looking at both pikachu which were expecting me to choose right here on the spot. My pikachu side almost exploded inside me, if it was my pikachu side we would have a threesome right here and right now.

"Girls, please…" I said. "I'm nobody's mate."

Both glances on the females changed from expectingful to sad.

"I'm a human, remember." I said. "I'm not gonna mate with a pikachu and I'm not gonna be anyone's mate."

"But… You said you were my mate!" Nikki said.

"Yes, I said I could be your mate. Maybe later, Nikki." I said. "In fact, it was just some excuse to get you here. I said it and I'll repeat it again, Nikki, you're a human. Team Rocket changed you into a pikachu."

Nikki sighed long and deep.

"Not this again… I'm a pikachu!" she said as she looked upwards and spread her paws in frustration before she turned around and walked away from me a couple of steps. Exactly like a human female would do when frustrated.

"Wait, hang on." Scarlet said. "She's also a human?"

"Yes." I said to her.

"Can you explain me, because this is confusing." she said, rubbing her head with her paw. I explained Scarlet everything from what happened after we lost the battle and after I was kidnapped. I scared her with the car crash part, but after I explained what happened at my parents she came towards me and put a paw around me, because it was hard for me to tell that part and I was getting quite emotional.

"Come on, we'll tell them you're Maurice." she said. "We'll manage. It may take a while, because most of the people here don't understand pikachu as well as you do. Oak is not that bad."

"I hope so…" I said. Nikki was also looking at me.

"So… You two are… Friends?" she said, pulling a questionable face.

"Yes, I've met him when he just learned to speak pikachu." she said. "And I loved him ever since. He took me outside for the first time in a really long time, I really liked that." she said as she nuzzled my cheek.

"But… He is a pikachu… He doesn't need to learn to speak pikachu…" Nikki asked, shaking her head a bit.

"When I met him, he was a human." Scarlet said.

"But… A human cannot… That's not possible!" she said.

"Listen, I know. I'm actually very surprised that Maurice is a pikachu, of all people." she said. "But I rode his shoulder when he went back to the pikachu colony he joined. I even recognize his smell by just a bit, so I'm absolutely sure it's him." she said.

"So he was a human…?" Nikki asked, her ears dropping.

"Yes, he was." Scarlet confirmed. Nikki sat down. Her ears drooped, and she sat down.

"I guess that means he'll never be my mate." she said. "No… No, no. That's not possible!" she then said quite mad, shaking her head. "People cannot turn into pikachu just like that! Don't lie to me!" she shouted before she jumped from the table and hid herself in the incubator. I wanted to go after her, but Scarlet grabbed my paw.

"Don't." she said. "She needs some time alone, I think. And no, that's not because I want you to be my mate and not her." she quickly added when Oak came back in.

"Here she is!" Oak said. Scarlet and I looked at him with questionable faces. While we were wondering if he was talking to us, suddenly a pikachu jumped the table. Lukas. He looked at Scarlet and me and then ran for Scarlet and hugged her tightly.

"I was so worried!" he said before he broke the hug.

"Oak said you were going to die… HEY!" he said as he was hugged tightly by me. Oak chuckled.

"I'm so happy to see you!" I said. Lukas accepted the hug but looked a bit surprised when I stood a step back. He gave me a look and checked me.

"Who- Who are you?" he said unsure. I looked at Scarlet. Scarlet looked back at me with an amused smile. We were thinking exactly the same.

"You have to guess who I am!" I said.

"Guess who… But…" he said. "I don't even know you!"

"Do you guys know each other?" Oak asked me and Lukas in particular. Lukas looked at him and shook his head. I looked at Oak and nodded fiercely.

"So you know him but you don't…?" Oak said.

"I know you?" Lukas said, sounding a bit scared. "Did you recently join the colony? Sorry if I forgot you, I'm wasn't really in the mood to meet new pikachu. Scarlet was hurt, Maurice is gone and the pikachu aren't nice to me ever since he's gone." he said with hanging ears.

"The bastards!" I thought. "They promised not to abuse me through Lukas…"

"You know him better than you might think." Scarlet said sarcastically looking up in the sky. Her tail was wagging happily.

"Know him?" Lukas said again. I could see and sense he was seriously doubting himself. He looked at me and came closer. He smelled me and pulled back.

"You don't smell familiar." he then said. He did the same as Scarlet, he looked straight into my eyes and tried to recognize me. I really had to get to know what they were trying by doing that. I now noticed that all the pikachu were doing it. Plus, how could it be that Lukas couldn't recognize me and Scarlet could? Because she was in love with me? Maybe.

"I don't know you." he then said. Scarlet giggled.

"It's Maurice, silly!" she said as she came close and hugged my back, purring happily. Lukas looked at her as if she was completely insane.

"Are you alright, Scarlet? You sure you're not having trouble with your energy?" he then said.

"No, Lukas, she is right. It's me!" I said, chuckling as said it. Lukas then took a step back and looked at me.

"No way." he said. "But… What… What happened to you? Why are you a pikachu? Where is the real Maurice?"

"Team Rocket changed me into a pikachu, unfortunately." I said, looking down and hanging my ears. "First it was cool, but now I'm rejected by my family and kind of homeless. I feel miserable about it."

"They rejected you? Why?" he asked, kind of sceptic.

"Because they don't know it's me. They can't understand me…" I said.

"Yeah right." Lukas said.

"You don't believe me?!" I said.

"I wonder what you guys are chatting about…" Oak said.

"No I don't." Lukas said. "Nice try Scarlet, but trick failed." he chuckled. "Nice try though."

"What?" Scarlet said. "You don't believe us?!"

"No. I don't believe Maurice changed into a pikachu." he said sarcastically. I looked at Scarlet.

"Tell him it's you!" Scarlet said.

"Uhm… It's me!" I said at Lukas. Lukas laughed at me.

"Yeah right." he giggled when he nuzzled Scarlet.

"Nice try Scarlet, it's good that you're back…" he said. "I was so worried about you."

"Lukas, why are you so worried about Scarlet, you barely know her." I said.

"Well, Maurice introduced me to her once and she's a nice pikachu." he said. "After Maurice was kidnapped Oak nursed me and Scarlet for two days and she didn't wake up at any time. I was just worried about her. But I have Lola."

"How are Jack and Julie?" I asked him.

"They're doing pretty well… Jack is strong and Julie is very shy, but she'll be okay..." he said. Then he stopped taking all of a sudden looked at me. "How do you know I have pichu named Jack and Julie?"

"Lukas, I know everything about you by now." I said. "Like when I saved you from the ekans, when your mom attacked me, when your mom died from an attack from these ekans, and when you killed that poacher for shooting Josh. Oh, and remember when we got Cammy from the woods? And when we used Espeon to teach me to speak pikachu? And when that persian almost got you but barely missed you? Or when we took a swim and you scared the shit out of me by pretending you died? Or when you became the leader of the colony? Or when I introduced you to my family back in Viridian? When we went to that shop with the automatic stairs? Or when I tried to explain you and Espeon what time is?" I said, all in one go. I took a moment to breathe.

"I hope that's enough proof I really am Maurice." I said to him, looking at Scarlet with a happy smile. Scarlet chuckled and rubbed her cheeks against mine. Lukas looked at me with disbelief. He stood on his back legs and looked at me again.

"No… No way…" he said.

"Yes way." Scarlet said. "It really is him."

Lukas then leaped forward and hugged me.

"I miss you!" he said. "You need to come back to the colony!" It surprised me a bit that he suddenly hugged me.

"Whoa there Lukas, calm down!" said as I was almost squeezed. Lukas let go and looked at me again. Oak chuckled.

"So you finally remember him?" Oak chuckled.

"That's Maurice!" Lukas said to him.

"Is he from your colony?" Oak asked. "Was he lost or something?" Lukas nodded. Then he turned around and looked around. He then jumped from the table and jumped over to the computer. There was an old photo from me laying there. The one with Lukas on my shoulder that we made when we brought Cammy over here. Lukas pointed at photo.

"It's Maurice!" he said.

"I'm sorry, Lukas. I still don't have a clue where he is." Oak said on a sad tone. "I wish I could tell you, but unfortunately I don't have any information from Officer Jenny. Lukas ears hung down.

"Wait, I shouldn't be sad, we found you!" he said. He then pointed at the photo and then at me.

"That is Maurice!" he said while frantically pointing to the photo and then at me.

"Is that a friend of Maurice? Does he wonder when he comes back as well?" Oak said. Lukas face-pawed. I joined him and stood near the photo.

"Stand next to me, try to stand the same as the photo." I said to Lukas. "Maybe he'll get it." Lukas stood next to me and we did a ridiculous pose right next to the picture. It looked quite like the photo. Oak looked at us and smiled widely.

"You guys make my day, you're so funny…" he chuckled. Lukas pointed to the photo and then at us.

"This is Maurice, Oak!" he said, looking at the professor with hope in his eyes. Oak looked at us and thought. He certainly understood we tried to tell him something.

"Oh I know!" he said. "Maurice would make a photo of you two! I can do that!" he said. Then he quickly turned around to get the camera.

"You have to be kidding me." Lukas said.

"Welcome to my world." I said. "This happens all the time. They just don't listen to you. Now I understand what it is to be a pokémon."

"Welcome to MY world." Lukas chuckled. Oak came back with the camera.

"Well, let's make that picture anyway. If I ever change back into a human, that will be a nice memory." I chuckled. We both posed again with the picture next to us. Oak took the photo. Then we both joined Scarlet on the table again.

"So, you want to tell him you're Maurice, right?" Lukas said.

"Yup, I only didn't figure out how I should do it. Pointing at pictures didn't work with Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, my parents and apparently not with Oak." I said. "I need to find a way to tell him that I am Maurice. I think he'll allow me to stay here for a while, at least to stay with Scarlet. I hope Nikki wants to stay here as well."

"What about her?" Lukas said. "Is she your mate?" he chuckled.

"Yes, I am! And he is NOT a human!" I heard from the incubator. Scarlet rolled her eyes upwards.

"She wants to be." I said, blushing. "But she has been human as well. I need to keep her here until we find a way we can tell people she has been human as well."

"I'm not staying here!" Nikki said from the incubator. She stood on the edge looking at us. The part about mates had probably triggered her. "I want to find a nice nest for you and me. We've seen plenty on the way here."

"Yes, you are staying here." I said to her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Well, because we have a place to sleep and food here." I said. "And I want to tell Oak that I'm the Maurice he is looking for." I said as I moved over to her and nuzzled her face.

"I like you, just don't want to get a mate just yet." I said, rubbing her cheek. She purred softly. "Not before I'm sure I'll not be able to change back into human…" I said while looking down when Lukas jumped up and joined us.

"You won't be able to change back?" he said.

"I don't know." I said nervously. "That's something Oak has to find out for me. To be honest, I hope I can change back at any time I wish… Maybe even change between form at will, but I don't think that will happen."

"Would be cool if you could join our colony as pikachu…" Lukas smiled.

"Yeah… I certainly wanna see the colony as a pikachu… That will be so different compared to being human…" I said. Scarlet also jumped the incubator.

"This place is nice and warm." she said.

"Yeah, it's made for ill pikachu like you." I said.

"I'm not ill." she chuckled as she nuzzled my cheek.

"Not anymore." I chuckled, blushing a bit, but purring at the same time.

"So, do you guys know some manner to make him clear that I'm Maurice?" I said.

"Not really." Lukas said. "What did you try?"

"Well…" I said while thinking back. "I tried to use a computer, but I cannot make words anymore. And I tried to tell them, I tried to read my X-ray, tried to tell them by pointing at pictures…"

"In other words, all kinds of complicated things." Scarlet said. "I don't understand any of them except the picture one." she said. "Did you try to draw anything?" she asked. "I found a draw thing a while ago… but he took it away after I started making lines on everything. I don't understand it anyway. Maybe you do."

"He gave you a pencil?" I asked.

"A what?" Scarlet asked.

"A pencil. A thing that you use to draw stuff." I said.

"Oh… I didn't know it was a pencil. I usually call it drawthing." she chuckled. "No, I grabbed one from him."

"Do you know where he keeps them?" I asked.

"Sure, in that closet." she said, nodding her head at a certain closet. I jumped from the incubator, followed by all three pikachu. Oak was sitting behind his computer and looked at us when we stood at the closet and tried to open it. Scarlet was the first one to try to open it, but it was locked.

"Dang. It's locked." Scarlet said. She looked at Oak.

"Hey, professor!" she said. Oak looked at her. Scarlet pointed at the closet.

"Can we draw?" she said.

"Do you need something?" he said from behind his reading glasses. He just looked like a very strict teacher.

"Yes, I want a pencil!" she said. "Wait, maybe I should show him…"

Scarlet jumped on the table and pretended to be holding a pencil. She drew a virtual line across the table.

"What…?" he said, looking at her.

"Oh come on!" Scarlet said. "Wait, idea."

Scarlet jumped from the table and walked over to Oak. She jumped his lap and then the computer table and pointed at something. I didn't know what, but it had effect.

"Oh, you want to draw!" he chuckled. "Well, I guess that's OK, as long you stay on the table. No drawing on other things." he said while giving her a firm glance.

Scarlet nodded and jumped down and walked back to us.

"What did you show him?" I asked.

"The lines I drew on his computer when he didn't pay attention." she said. "He didn't like it but I don't really think he minded it."

"You drew lines everywhere?" I asked.

"What do you think? Sure I did. It was fun!" she chuckled.

"You're supposed to draw on a piece of paper, silly." I chuckled.

"See! You know how to use that pendill!" she said.

"Pencil." I said.

"Whatever. Drawthingy." she responded.

"So, we are gonna… Draw?" Nikki asked.

"Looks fun to me." Lukas said when Oak placed paper and some pencils on the table. I was the first one to grab one.

"I already wondered where those papers were for." Scarlet said.

"You've done this before?" Nikki asked me.

"Well, on his computer. Not on the papers." Scarlet said as she grabbed a pencil as well.

"I was talking to Maurice." Nikki chuckled.

"Of course. Every human can draw." I said, holding the pencil downwards on the paper. Wow. That was difficult. As a pikachu I had much smaller hands than I was used to as a human. That was kind of… Strange. I couldn't draw straight lines that good as I could as human and all my lines were wiggly.

"Dang it…" I mumbled, watched by all three other pikachu. I was trying to write some letters, but just as earlier, I didn't know any letters. They were just random marks for me. I couldn't produce them, somehow. If I just had something toddlers use to learn the ABC, then I would be fine. And, my pencil was a waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too big size for a pikachu. Fine for humans, but not for me.

"Who of you knows Iron Tail?" I asked.

"I do." Lukas said.

"Cut this thing in half, about here." I said, laying the pencil on the table and pointing at the place I wanted him to cut it.

"You sure?" Lukas said. "Oak won't get mad at you?"

"About a pencil? Don't worry." I responded.

"Alright then." Lukas said. His tail started glowing and he jumped up, somersaulted and he bashed the pencil. Exactly at the point I told him it was cut in half. Maybe not perfectly straight, but it worked.

"Perfect!" I said.

"What are you guys doing? Training on my pencils?" Oak chuckled, looking up from his computer and looking at the still glowing tail from Lukas. Lukas put his paw behind his head and laughed nervously.

"They're too big, Samuel. You should understand that." I said, showing him the pencil before trying to draw something human style (holding the pencil in my paws like a human would, as far as possible). Too bad Oak didn't notice it. I didn't notice it either, because it was so natural for me. Meanwhile Nikki and Scarlet both had started doing some drawing on a piece of paper. It looked like nothing.

"What's that supposed to be?" I asked after a while.

"How do you mean?" Scarlet asked.

"You're not drawing anything?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet asked questionable.

"Well… Are you drawing anything?" I asked.

"I'm drawing lines…!" she said.

"Yep, me too." Nikki said. Lukas was doing the same but not really understanding it.

"This is boring." he said as he threw the pencil aside.

"No it's not. And it might be my only chance to tell them that it's me." I said.

"Then what are you drawing?" Scarlet chuckled. Looks like a whole bunch of lines to me.

"Well, nothing yet." I said. "But I'm gonna draw a human and a pikachu and something that explains that the human changed into it." I continued. "That should do the trick… I hope."

"Well, show us." Nikki said. "I wonder how you're gonna do that."

"Well…" I said as I threw aside the used paper and got myself a new one.

"Maybe... Hmmm…" I said as I thought how I would draw myself in human form. I placed the pencil on the paper and drew a stick figure. Easy. The whole paper was filled with my figure. I got another sheet of paper and laid it next to the other sheet I drew the stick figure on.

"What's that supposed to be?" Scarlet asked, looking at my figure. Lukas checked it out as well and Nikki was watching me drawing a pikachu.

"That's a human." I said to Scarlet.

"A human? That?" Scarlet said before she bursted out in laughing.

"Yes, that's an easy way to draw a human for… Humans." I said. "We use it in comics and such."

"Comic?"

"A short story drawn on paper." I chuckled. "Oak will understand that I drew a human there."

"Will he also understand that it's you?" she asked.

"I don't think so. I need to write my name under it, but I can't write anymore." I said, hanging my ears.

"We'll manage." Nikki said as she nuzzled me. "Even though you're not a human." I sighed contently and smiled at her.

"You're still not believing me, aren't you?" I said.

"No…" she said as she lovingly nibbled my ear. I smiled and purred. Being next to her was actually pretty nice. Being with other pikachu in general felt good. It gave me a feeling of safety and… I couldn't explain it. The atmosphere with fellow pikachu was just different than with humans (if you ignore the fact Scarlet and Nikki were fighting for me).

"Well damnit…" I said as I threw aside the third piece of paper with a failed pikachu.

"How do I draw a correct pikachu…" I thought when I got an idea.

"Nikki, can you lay down for a second?" I said. "On your back with your arms spread out."

"Like this?" she said as she flopped on her back and spread her arms.

"Yes, exactly!" I said.

"Are we gonna mate?" she said.

"Nikki, please!" I said pulling a face. I ignored it for now.

"What are you doing?" Scarlet asked, certainly interested in what I was doing.

"I'm gonna draw you." I said as I pointed at Nikki and placed a pencil at her side. Then I moved past her body with it. Now I would get a perfect pikachu shape. Nikki started giggling.

"Hold still, or it won't work!" I chuckled.

"But it tickles so badly!" she laughed. Scarlet looked at Nikki and Lukas looked amused as I walked around Nikki drawing her shape on the paper. Lukas held Nikki's ears down so they wouldn't move.

"Maurice, quit it! It tickles so badly in my fur!" Nikki said holding her laughter.

"All done!" I said as I finished. Nikki stood up and took a step back. She looked at her own body circumference and chuckled.

"It doesn't look like me at all." she said, pointing at the stripes that should be her.

"I think it looks perfectly like a pikachu…" Scarlet said. "But it looks so empty."

"That's why we're gonna add eyes." I said as I looked at Nikki. Then I placed my pencil on the paper and drew her eyes. Then I added some marks on her ears. Then I added her tail on the right. A thunderbolt shape came from 'behind' her and ended in the heart-shaped dent that females have. I also added her mouth and nose.

"Oh wow, a pikachu. That actually looks pretty neat!" I heard. Oak stood behind us and was watching us.

"Who made it?" he asked, since all of us were holding pencils now, now things got interesting.

"I did." I said as I raised my paw.

"And what's this? Is that me?" he chuckled, pointing at the drawing of a human.

"Wow, you were right. He understood it was a human, even though it doesn't look like it at all." Scarlet said. I looked at Oak and shook my head. I pointed at myself.

"Yeah, you made it. It looks nice." Oak said.

"That was not the question you asked!" I said.

"Yeah, I like it." Oak said. I rolled my eyes. This freaking language problem was getting me on my nerves. I looked at Oak and shook my head.

"No?" he said. "You didn't make it?"

This was my chance. I had his interest. I quickly grabbed my pencil and drew an arrow from the human to the pikachu. I finished the arrow with the two last lines and then laid down in Nikki's shape.

"I hope he gets this." I said. "Wait, Lukas, can you get that picture of me from the counter? Place it on the human figure."

"Sure thing." Lukas said as he jumped down, got the picture of me and him, and jumped back on the table. He quickly placed it over the human figure.

"Uhm… What?" Oak said pulling a questionable face.

"Scarlet, point at my face and then point at me!" I said while I kept still. Scarlet jumped forward and waved her arms to draw Oaks attention. Then she pointed at Maurice on the picture.

"Maurice?" Oak said. Scarlet nodded. She then jumped over to me and tapped my face.

"It's him!" she said.

"Maurice is a pikachu?" Oak said. Scarlet nodded fiercely. I nodded fiercely. Lukas nodded fiercely. Nikki remained silent.

"Oh, I know!" he then said. "You're worried about him, right? You wanna know when he will return to the pikachu colony." he said. We all looked at him for a second. Then we shook our heads.

"No, no, no! This IS Maurice!" Scarlet said as she pointed at me again.

"Scarlet, I know you miss him, but I also don't know where he is." Oak said. "And you're probably also worried about him." he then said as he looked at me.

"No I'm not!" I said as I stood up and shook my head. I raised my arm to stop him talking.

"Look!" I said as I grabbed the pencil, got a new piece of paper and started drawing. I drew another stick figure. I pointed my pencil at it and looked at Oak.

"Uhm… Is that me?" he said. I shook my head and went to the edge of the paper. I drew another stick figure and then made some cape around him and gave him some hair that looked like him. Then I pointed at the figure and at him.

"Ah, that is me!" he said. "That's my coat!"

I nodded and gave him a thumbsup. Then I moved back to the first figure and pointed at it. Oak understood it was someone else.

"Officer Jenny?" he said. I shook my head.

"Nurse Joy?" he said. I shook my head.

"I don't know. What do you mean?" he asked. I grabbed the picture from me and Lukas and placed it next to the figure. I pointed at Maurice and then at the stick figure.

"Ah, that's Maurice!" he said. I gave another thumbsup. I handed him a pencil and imitated someone writing his name.

"You want me to draw… Something?" he said. I shook my head. I grabbed another pencil and stood on the paper. How did I make clear he had to write my own name? Idea. I placed the pencil on the paper and drew some wobbly lines, then I made it look like a book.

"A book?" he asked. I shook my head. I pointed at the lines that had to resemble the lines of text in a book. I moved towards the other page of the book I just drew and started 'writing' it.

"Write in a book…" Oak mumbled. I quickly nodded, jumped back to my stick figure and started to act like I was writing and then pointed at my figure.

"Write a figure? Want me to draw a figure as well?" he said. I shook my head. I pointed at my photo next to the figure.

"Maurice." he said. I nodded and then grabbed his hand. I moved it just under my stick figure and moved his hand as if he was writing something.

"I don't get it. Another figure?" he said. I can make that. I quickly shook my head and looked around. I needed letters. Something that made clear he had to write. I saw some notes next to his computer and quickly got over there to grab them. I moved back to the table and jumped the table with a piece of paper full of his own notes.

"Those are my notes. We're not gonna draw on that." he chuckled as he wanted to grab them. He got hand on them and wanted to put them away, but I started shouting and pointing at the notes. He stopped looked at me with a strange face. Then he held up the notes. I nodded and held out my arms as if I wanted to grab them.

"Alright… If you don't destroy them." he said as he handed me the piece of paper. I quickly placed the notes on the table and then pointed at my photo.

"Maurice." he said immediately. I nodded and then pointed at the letters on his notes and then to just under the stick figure.

"Oh, his name!" Oak said. I nodded quickly as he moved closer. He wrote my name (at least, I hope he did, because I was still unable to read) under my stick figure.

"Jeez, all of this for just a name." he chuckled. I looked at him with a face that said 'don't tell me'. Then I gave him the notes and grabbed a pencil. He placed the notes somewhere safe and walked back towards us.

"Good going, Maurice." Scarlet said as she watched everything I did. "I think you'll be able to tell him this way."

"I hope so." I said.

"We usually don't need so much effort to tell you something. You usually feel what we mean, somehow, even when you couldn't speak pikachu." Lukas chuckled.

"Humans think way too complicated. And I can know, I am one. Or was..." I said when Oak stood before me again. I drew an arrow from myself to whitespace. Then I stopped for moment. I thought about what I should do now.

"You're done?" Oak asked. I quickly shook my head.

"A pikachu." I thought. I placed the pencil on the paper and drew a very bad shape of a pikachu. Then I added a tail and ears.

"A pikachu." Oak said as soon I added a tail. I nodded fiercely. I quickly stopped drawing and went over to the arrow. I pointed at the arrow.

"The arrow…" Oak said. I pointed at the Maurice figure.

"Maurice…" Oak said. "...went to the pikachu? Maurice went to the pikachu?" he said. I shook my head and grabbed my pencil. I drew a checkmark at my own figure and at the pikachu. Oak looked amazed at what I was doing.

"Are you trying to tell me you were a trainer pikachu?" he asked. "Because you appear to be quite smart for a pikachu."

I shook my head and pointed at the arrow.

"Maurice pikachu… And something in between." he said. "Uhm… Went to?"

I shook my head.

"Joined?" he said. I shook my head.

"Into the pikachu colony?" he said. I shook my head again.

"You have to be more explicit." Oak said. "I can't figure this out."

I placed the picture of myself on the figure. I stood on the drawn pikachu myself.

"Scarlet, can you do the pointing again?" I said.

"Sure!" Scarlet said. She pointed at Maurice on the picture.

"Maurice…" Oak said. Scarlet nodded. Then she pointed at the arrow.

"I don't know what that is…" Oak said. "Not what you mean by it."

Scarlet moved on and pointed at me. I gestured an 'it's me!' gesture, or something like it. Oak looked at me and at Scarlet and sighed.

"Sorry, not a clue." he said. "Something with Maurice and the pikachu colony, I suppose. Is he at the colony?" he then asked. Scarlet and me shook our heads.

"This is really frustrating." Scarlet said.

"Tell me." I said. "But we just keep trying."

I grabbed a pencil and started to scratch all over the arrow until it was gone under some lines. Then I started drawing some kind of magic 'poof' thing. I drew an explosion star used in comics and drew two arrows, one from my figure to the explosion and one from the explosion towards the pikachu. Then I looked at Oak. Oak suggested some things, but none of them came close to 'changed into' or 'transformed'.

"Oh come ON!" I shouted.

"Calm down Maurice… You'll manage…" Scarlet said as she put a paw on my head.

"And besides, you still got us." Lukas chuckled as he stood in front of me.

"And me." Nikki said as she seductively licked my face and my cheek.

"Haha, yeah, I still got you guys, but what about my own family…?" I said.

"Well, you'll get a whole new family, a whole colony of pikachu." Scarlet said. "Assuming that you'll join Lukas' colony when everything fails."

"But it won't." I said as I grabbed the pencil again. Oak looked at me with a worried face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. I nodded and pointed at the arrow and the 'poof'.

"THAT is what's wrong." I said. "We're so close…"

I decided to do one more attempt. I removed the pikachu drawing and drew a human stick figure. This time, after the figure was done, I looked at Oak.

"Maurice again?" he asked. I nodded. Then I grabbed the pencil and added a pikachu tail to the human and added ears and cheeks to the stick figure. I looked at Oak again.

"Yes, I understand it has something to do with pikachu and Maurice, but I don't know what!" he said, almost exclaimed. I sighed.

"I don't know how to make it clear!" I said. I sighed and hung my ears down. Oak placed his hand on top of me and wiggled between my ears. Oh Arceus, that feels so good! I squeaked happy and looked at Oak.

"Don't feel bad." he said before he looked on the clock.

"Arceus, is it that time already?!" he said. "I'll have to leave you guys, I'll be back in about two hours. Lukas, if you want to know what Jenny will say about Maurice, make sure you stick around. She'll come by at four this afternoon, and Maurice' parents will be here as well."

"My parents?" I said as I looked at Oak.

"Yes, there will be a couple of people here." he chuckled. "Anyway, I'll tell someone you guys are in here, don't make a mess." he said, looking to Scarlet.

"You've been in trouble before?" I asked with a smile.

"Well…" Scarlet stammered.

"That means yes." I chuckled.

"Well I tried to make a nest from his papers!" she said.

"Oh dear, I don't think he liked that." I said.

"Nope, he didn't." Lukas said. "He gave her a terrible scolding."

"Yes he did, I really felt bad after that." she said.

"I'm tired." Nikki said as she yawned. This triggered Lukas to yawn as well.

"Me too. Let's take a nap. I've been busy all day." he said. They both jumped from the table and walked over to the incubator.

"Oh, this is really soft!" Lukas said as he felt the soft underground, after jumping up. "I always wondered what if felt like."

"It feels nice." Scarlet said as she jumped from the table and onto the incubator as well. I followed soon.

"So everyone is napping?" I chuckled.

"I guess so." Scarlet said as she laid down on the place she had been lying on for weeks. Lukas laid next to her and Nikki next to him. I laid in front of Lukas and Nikki and now everyone was kind of cuddling everyone. It felt really good. Nikki was nuzzling my cheeks, Lukas was purring softly and Scarlet felt asleep fairly soon. I like this part from pikachu - social and they don't care if you're mates or not if you sleep together. It's just a survival mechanism that they use. I yawned and closed my eyes. I fell asleep quickly after.

. . .

The nap didn't take very long. About an hour later we were awake again. After begging some of Oak's assistants for food, we decided to go outside for a while, just to look around a bit. When we walked outside, Lukas came up with the best idea of the day.

"We should visit Jack, Rosie and Cammy… I'm sure Cammy would love to see you like this." he chuckled as he looked over me.

"Oh, that's a nice idea Lukas! We should visit Cammy!" I said.

"Why not." Scarlet said as she laughed at Lukas' comment.

"Who are Jack, Rosie and Cammy?" Nikki asked.

"Jack and Rosie are two pikachu and mates, and Cammy is my pikachu." I said. "She's been abandoned from the colony and I adopted her."

"Adopted?" Nikki said, pulling a questionable face.

"Never mind." I said. "She's my pikachu."

"So you're the father?" Nikki asked.

"What? No, not the father. Jack and Rosie are the parents." I said to make not more complicated than they were.

It didn't take long before we reached the small forest where the nest was located. I could smell Cammy from far outside. I knew she was inside there, I was dying to see her again, especially after she was kidnapped. I looked around for the entrance to the burrow and found it quickly. I ran inside the pikachu nest. I realised this was the first time I entered a real pikachu nest! It was so cool. The corridor went down and then made a sharp turn and split up in two rooms. Straight ahead I could see Cammy. It was because of my pikachu sight, if I was a human I was sure I couldn't see a thing! I walked inside.

"Who are you?" I heard. It was Cammy who asked me that.

"Cammy!" I shouted before I hugged her. Cammy was surprised at first. Then she tried to get me away from her.

"HEY! What are you doing?!" she said before pushing me off. She didn't really sound happy. More like scared and on the edge of crying.

"Well, what does it look li…" I said happy.

"HEY! WHO ARE YOU!" I heard behind me. Jack was standing in the room. Straight up, cheeks sparking.

"Why are you in our nest?" he said rather angry.

"Jack!" I said. "I'm glad you're here!"

"What are you DOING here?" he said again. "GET OUT AND GET AWAY FROM CAMMY!" he shouted before dashing at me with a quick attack. I reacted quickly and jumped aside (as far as possible). Jack ran past me on purpose, slid to a stop and stood before Cammy.

"GET OUT!" he said.

"But…" I started.

"GET OUT I SAID!" he said again. His cheeks sparked and before I knew it I was hit by a thunderbolt. It hurt, even though the damage wasn't that big.

"Cammy, are you OK?" he asked. Cammy nodded. Jack looked at me and started walking towards me very intimidating and with a very unpleasant face.

"Get out now!" he said. I didn't budge.

"But it's me!" I said. Then I realised that I didn't tell them yet. Shit. I was so used to them that I totally forgot about that.

"Who is you." he said. He was close to me now.

"Jack, calm down! I'm Maurice!" I said. Jack stopped walking for a split second, looked at me, but then resumed.

"Bullshit." he said. His face was now against mine. He pushed me out of the nest. I braced myself, but he was stronger.

"Maurice is a human." Jack said slowly. "You're telling me that you are him? Don't try to fool me." he said. "NOW GET OUT OF MY NEST BEFORE I KILL YOU!"

Stubborn as I was, I didn't listen. Jack continued pushing me backwards.

"How is Cammy?" I asked.

"That is none - And I repeat - NONE of your business." he said.

"I'm worried about her!" I said.

"I don't care."

"But…"

"GET OUT!" Jack shouted before he, completely out of nowhere, used Iron Tail. He hit me full and launched me from the nest. Suddenly I was outside and I flew in the air. My pikachu body responded, I made a backwards somersault and landed on all fours perfectly.

"He's doing exactly the same as me, months ago." Lukas said with rolling eyes.

"I see that." Scarlet said. Nikki stood behind them, looking a bit scared.

"...And stay awa… Oh hi Lukas, Scarlet." Jack started and said surprised. He then turned to me and growled.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I told you." I said, growling back. "I'm Maurice."

"No shit." Jack said. "No way you're Maurice." He looked at Scarlet and Lukas.

"Do you know this guy?" he said, expecting a negative answer.

"We do, yes." Scarlet said. Lukas nodded.

"Is it Maurice?" he asked.

"Yes, it is Maurice." Lukas said. Jack looked at me and then he looked back at Lukas. Then at Scarlet.

"You're kidding me." he said.

"Actually not." Scarlet said. "He's Maurice - for real!"

"I… I don't believe that." he said as he looked at me. "Maurice is a human…" He then looked at Lukas and Scarlet. They looked kind of sad he didn't believe then. Then he looked at me quickly.

"You… I'll give you one chance." he then said, expecting me to fail whatever was coming.

"Tell me anything that Maurice knows but everyone else doesn't." he said, looking at me with a smile. He really expected me to fail this. I looked at Lukas and Scarlet. They looked at me, expecting some juicy detail about Jack.

"That's easy." I said as I waved my paw to him to come closer. Jack hesitated but then came closer.

"Or do you want me to share this to them as well? You better come closer." I said as Jack hesitated. He looked at Lukas and Scarlet as I whispered something in his ear.

"Remember when I was cuddling you two on my chest one day?" I said, meaning Rosie. "You two were having such a nice time that you started mating on top of me." I whispered as gently as I could. "Much to my displeasure." I added quickly. Jacks eyes grew wider and he jumped back from me.

"WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!" he said, scared a bit and angry.

"Nobody." I chuckled.

"But…" he said. I moved closer and whispered something else in his ears.

"You are afraid of Caterpies. And Rosie still misses your old trainer, Willy, everyday." I whispered. Those were some secrets I was quite sure of only I knew (besides Jack). Jack never told anyone he was scared of Caterpies and Rosie only mentioned once she missed her old trainer everyday when I could understand her.

"But…" he said again as he looked at me from top to bottom and back.

"Told you." Scarlet said from the side.

"I…" he said when he touched my ears. "I can't believe this…"

"Me neither, when I saw it." I said.

"So it is you?!" he said.

"Yes, it really is me." I said.

"Unbelievable…" he said again.

"How is Cammy? She didn't look that good." I said.

"Cammy isn't that well since she got back. She got afraid of humans and she doesn't want to leave the nest at all." Jack said with his ears down. "She is afraid of anything and she wants to be with you."

"Oh, the poor thing…" I said, also with my ears hanging.

"She doesn't even want to go outside with me, and she loved that." Lukas said. Scarlet looked at Lukas with an interesting face.

"Didn't know you got another mate." she said.

"I haven't!" he said.

"So, who's that Cammy you're talking about?" Nikki asked.

"Cammy is a pikachu that Maurice adopted." Lukas said. "She was still a pichu when he took her away from the colony though."

"He took her away from the colony?" Nikki asked.

"Yes, she was rejected by the mother." Lukas said. "She is a white pikachu, not yellow. So don't get scared, she's actually pretty nice."

"Oh…" Nikki said. "White?" she added with a strange face.

"Just wait and see." Lukas chuckled.

"Well let's go and see her." I said. "I hope she isn't scared of me after my entry just now."

Me and Jack entered the nest and made our way over to the den that housed Cammy. I had never been in here before (if you don't count the little thing with Jack a minute or so ago). We entered the room and Cammy looked at us. She saw me and took a step back.

"It's him again, what is he doing here...!" she said, sounding scared and walking against the side of the den trying to get away from me.

"Cammy, don't worry!" I said as I came closer. However, this only made Cammy more scared.

"Get… Get away from me… Get away!" she said, starting to shake. Jack stood next to her.

"Cammy, calm down." he said. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"But… You chased him off, didn't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I did." Jack said. "But I was wrong. This pikachu here is Maurice." he said, looking at Cammy. She looked at him for a moment before she realised what he had said. Her eyes grew larger and she looked at him and at me.

"Whu- Whu- what?!" Cammy said before she grew even more scared of me.

"It is Maurice." Jack said again. "He came here to see you…"

"But…" Cammy started.

"Hello Cammy." I said as I came closer to her. She did not walk backwards now, but you could see she was still scared. I decided it would be better that I showed her it was me. I sat down and started to cuddle with her.

"So how's my little girl doing?" I said, exactly as I spoke to her as a human. "Even though you're now as big as me." I added as I gently ruffled through her fur and behind her ears exactly as I did as human. Cammy was quite… Surprised. But her heart melted right in front of me, especially after I nuzzled her exactly as I did as a human.

"It really is you…" she said as she looked at me before she jumped at me and hugged me and cried.

"I was worried about you!" she said while crying. "I was afraid they would kill you! I was afraid I would never see you again…!"

"Yes… It really is me." I said as I hugged her tightly and somehow, I also started to cry a bit. "I was also afraid they would hurt you. Thank Arceus they didn't."

We cuddled for a moment and when I broke the hug, Cammy looked all cheered up. She came closer and sniffed me, took my scent.

"You smell funny." she said.

"You think so?" I asked. "Whatever."

"I'm worried about you, Cammy… Jack said you're not really doing well."

"What… Well I was very sad that you weren't here and I still feel bad about Team Rocket…" she said as she looked down with an expression that said she still had some trouble dealing with it.

"Everything is okay now." I said as I grabbed her paw.

"Well, yes, everything except that you are a pikachu now." Scarlet said.

"That's true… But we'll fix that somehow… I hope. First I need to convince Oak that I am actually Maurice and that I changed into a pikachu. Not a really big success until now…"

"You didn't manage to tell them yet?" Jack said as he laid his paw on my back.

"No, they don't listen to me. And when I think it's clear, they won't understand me." I said as I sighed.

"Yep. Very annoying." he said. "That's what we experience every day."

"My parents are coming later today… Mind if you come?" I asked.

"Of course not, I also wanna know if they found… Well… You…" he said realising they were trying to find me.

"By the way, where's Rosie?" I asked.

"She's out with the pichu. Cammy didn't want to go so I sticked with her." he said as he nuzzled her face.

"But I want to go outside now!" Cammy said.

"Really?!" Jack said. "Just an hour ago you didn't want to go!"

"Maurice is back! I don't need to worry!" she chuckled. Jack remained speechless for a moment.

"I don't know what you did, but it worked." he said to me, shaking his head. We headed outside.

"Let's play!" Cammy said as she jumped towards me and stood in front of me in a playful stance.

"I'm alright, as long we're on time for my parents we can play!" I chuckled. Lukas came up from behind and pushed me over. With his tail he started to tickle me. It made me laugh.

"I still owe you this…" he laughed as Scarlet also started to tickle me, this time from the side. Cammy then started to tickle my head. Nikki stood next to the whole thing, laughing at the pikachu tickling me.

"Who's the little pikachu now, eh?!" Lukas laughed. Suddenly all pikachu stopped tickling me and Lukas shocked me with a short but clearly feelable shock.

"MAURICE IS IT!" he shouted before he ran away as quick as he could. Nikki, Scarlet and Cammy also launched away, flying past Jack while doing so.

"Hey!" I said before I ran after them, trying to overtake one of the three pikachu. Jack remained behind at the entrance of the nest.

"Youngsters…" he muttered.

. . .

The afternoon went by so fast, much faster than I wanted. It was Lukas who said we should go to Oak because my parents would come. I'd totally forgotten about it while playing with my fellow pikachu. We'd played tag for a long time. The others laughed at me that I was so slow, but during the game you could notice improvement. With my human thinking capability, I could also do stuff the pikachu would never expect from me. Besides tag we played some hide'n seek, but we also battled some friendly battles. Lukas beat me multiple times, but after a lightening-quick dodge and Iron Tail I did out of nowhere, I managed to beat him on our last battle. The action was so fast that Nikki, Scarlet and Cammy all stood with their paws before their mouth, wondering what just happened.

Rosie joined us after a couple of battles and later in the afternoon. After she looked at me for a while she asked me one question to also proof it was me. When I answered it correctly she hugged me tighter than Cammy had done earlier and told me she missed me as well and that she thought it was never possible that I had turned into a pikachu.

It must have been around five or so (my pikachu mind didn't work with time, it just looked at the 'big-ball-of-light' aka the sun to determine if it was tired or not) when we headed towards the laboratory. The whole gang came along. Me, Lukas, Cammy, Scarlet, Nikki, Jack and Rosie and their two pichu, which also seemed to love me as pikachu. The door to the laboratory was open and the door towards Oak's room as well. We headed inside and we could see Oak sitting inside.

"Oh hey…!" he said when everyone got inside.

"Oh my, you took everyone with you, Lukas?" he said. Lukas looked strange and then pointed at me.

"Oh, you made new friends?" Oak said. I looked at him and shook my head.

"I already know these people." I said as I pointed at the pikachu. "I mean pikachu…" I said, blushing a bit.

"I see." Oak said. "Well, they're good pikachu, so enjoy them while you're here. I guess you're gonna head back to the colony with Lukas?"

I shook my head. No I wasn't. I'd be staying here.

"So I have been looking over these while you were gone." he said as he held up the drawings I made earlier. "But I still can't make something out of it. Even my assistants can't seem to figure out what it means."

I sighed.

"Come on, you are a professor, why can't you figure something easy out?" I said. "Jack, how do you manage to tell him something weird if you need to?" I asked Jack.

"I don't know… We never told him that we were a human, I wouldn't know how to do it." he said.

"I wouldn't know neither… I know a lot, I mean a lot, but I wouldn't know how to tell him you are Maurice…" Rosie said.

"I wouldn't mind if we wouldn't tell him…" Nikki said as she licked my cheek. "It's not true anyway…"

"Haha, you wish." I chuckled as I nuzzled her back. She purred softly.

"Anyway…" Oak said. "They should be here any minute now. I hope officer Jenny will be here quickly as well."

"Who will be here?" Rosie asked.

"My parents. And officer Jenny." I said. "They are still trying to find me, remember…."

"Oh yeah…" Rosie said. "But I like that you're a pikachu." she chuckled as she purred at me. "Although I miss cuddling with you."

"Awww, that's sweet of you." I said as I blushed a bit.

"Well I do too!" Cammy said. "I like sleeping next to you, you always cuddle with me at night."

"Well, thanks, Cammy…" I said, blushing harder. Then the door opened and my parents came walking in. It kind of meant a lot to me that they were here.

"Mom!" I said.

"Oh my, did you get invaded by pikachu?" she said to Oak.

"I fear so, Lukas took everyone here." he chuckled.

"Hello Cammy…" she said as she stroked the white pikachu.

"That feels so good…" Cammy squeaked happily.

"I want too!" Nikki said as she begged my mother for cuddles.

"Oh, and who is this?" my mom said.

"I don't know, I don't know these two." my dad said as he sat next to my mom and wiggled his fingers across Nikki's head. "I know all of these. Good to see that Scarlet recovered, Samuel."

"Yes, that's actually thanks to this pikachu here…" Oak said, pointing at me.

"Hi little guy, how are you?" my dad said as he wiggled his fingers over my head as well. That felt absolutely great.

"Dad, it's me...!" I said. I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me. The picture of me and Lukas was still on the table, and I quickly fetched it and handed it to him. He looked at it and I could see he didn't knew this picture. He watched it for a moment and kept silent. Then he looked at me.

"So… You also worried about him, aren't you?" he said. I looked at him and shook my head. I wasn't worried, I was right here.

"You're not? But you're a member of that pikachu colony, aren't you?" he said. I nodded my head.

"Maurice wasn't your friend I guess." he said as he sighed. I shook my head and grabbed his hand again, which was leaning on the table.

"Look!" I said. I grabbed the picture of Lukas and me and held it in front of me.

"Lukas, come!" I said. Lukas came.

"Oh, the picture!" he said. He stood next to me. Then I pointed at Lukas on the picture and then at the real Lukas.

"Yeah, that's Lukas." he said. "And that's my son." he said pointing at the picture. I quickly shook his head and pointed at the picture myself. I pointed at myself on the picture. Then I pointed at myself, the pikachu self that was standing next to the picture. My father pulled a face. He mumbled something I could not understand and then he turned around.

"No, WAIT!" I said, but my father didn't listen. He walked back to his coffee when officer Jenny walked in.

"Good afternoon to all." she said. "Oh my, all the pikachu…"

"They're also worried about Maurice." Oak smiled. "Especially Lukas and Cammy. Would you like some coffee?"

"No thank you, I don't have much time so I'll get right to the point." Jenny said. My parents nodded.

"I have both good and bad news." Jenny said. My parents indicated she should start with the bad news. They prepared for the worst.

"The bad news is that we finished the investigation on the hideout of Team Rocket. We did not find Maurice there." she said. "I'm sorry for that."

"Not a trace of him?" my mother asked.

"Mom, I'm right here!" I said as I shook my paws in the air. Jenny looked at me with an annoyed face. The rest ignored me.

"We did find traces of him. His phone, for example. His clothing, proof he has been there." she said.

"We also discovered, according to documents and computer data, that Maurice is very important for them. That is the good news - it is not likely that he has been killed, only moved somewhere else." she said. "The reason that they need him is unknown to us - most Team Rocket members keep their mouth shut tight." she said.

"Has any of you an idea why they need him?" she said, looking at professor Oak.

"I have already told you the only reason I could find." Oak said. "And that one is very unlikely."

"I thought so." she said. Jenny then gave my parents some updates on what they found and what they expected to happen next. After about 15 minutes she was done. Meanwhile I had been trying to catch their attention, only to drive Jenny insane and to drive my parents nuts. It drove me to panic - if I couldn't get their attention now, when could I?

After everything was said and everyone was done asking questions, my parents were about to leave. This panicked me even more. Standing in front of the door opening and stopping them from going outside, even threatening to electrocute them.

"Lukas, please stop them!" I cried when they wanted to leave anyway. Scarlet and Lukas both stood in front of them now, trying to stop them from going outside.

"What's the matter with these pikachu?!" my mother asked.

"I don't know - they want you to stay, apparently." Jenny said when I pulled my father's legs towards the table where my drawings were.

"Come on dad!" I said. He looked at me.

"Alright, what do you want from me." he said as he stepped after me. I quickly ran to the table and waved at him to come over. My mother, Jenny, and Oak came as well. I grabbed the drawings I made and placed them in front of them.

"What's this…?" my dad asked.

"A drawing. Maurice… Towards… a pikachu?" my mother said.

"This is a pikachu from Lukas' colony, and apparently a friend of Maurice." Oak said. "He made a drawing of Maurice and of himself. He is wondering when Maurice will return to the colony."

"NO I'M NOT!" I said. Translated in pikachu it was a firm "PIKA!". Everyone looked at me. I pointed at Oak and shook my head.

"You're not wondering when he will return to the colony?" Oak asked. I shook my head again. Then I pointed at the drawing.

"These are quite nice, considering a pikachu made them." Jenny said. "And it is uncommon for a pikachu to be able to draw. Where did you get this pikachu?"

"They stood in front of my door this morning." Oak said. "Not very uncommon, colony pikachu sometimes visit me ever since Maurice joined them. They are curious what happens around here. I think Lukas told them something about this place."

"Uhm, hello, attention please!" I said. Everyone looked at me again. I pointed at myself, the stick figure with my name.

"Maurice." my father said. I gave him a thumbs up. Then I pointed to the arrow and then at the stick figure with the pikachu tail.

"Pikachu…" my father said while pointing at the other stick figure. I gave him another thumbsup.

"But this…" he said. "Went to the pikachu?"

I shook my head.

"Moved to the pikachu?" he said.

I shook my head again. He did the same as Oak. And he didn't get 'changed into' or 'transformed' or other words that could explain what I was now. After ten minutes my parents were done with it. Even though I wanted them to stay badly, they were heading out. I tried to stop them with all my powers, but they had another appointment, or so it appeared.

"Please - don't go!" I said as I cried and stood on my father's shoulder and hugging him to make him either stay or take me with him.

"Sorry little guy, we don't want a pokémon at home. Ask Oak, he'll help you." he said.

"I'll be going as well." Jenny said as she shook Oak's hand and held the door open for my parents to leave.

"Bye Samuel, we'll keep in touch." my father said.

"See you later." Oak said as he shook his hand. "I'm sorry for everything."

"You didn't want this, we don't blame you." my father said as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Still, it makes me feel guilty." he sighed. "You should go now."

"See you later, Lukas, Cammy, Scarlet, Jack, Rosie - everyone." my father said when suddenly a man stormed inside the laboratory.

"Finally I'm here!" he said as he looked at Jenny. "Is giving me a lift too much for you?" he then said while giving a foul look at officer Jenny.

"Oh my, here we go again." Jenny said.

"We are out, bye!" my father said, but the man pulled him back in.

"HOLD IT!" he said as he pulled my mother back as well.

"If I'm right, you're the parents of Maurice, right?" he said.

"That… is correct." my father said.

"Samuel, sorry I come in so rudely." he said. "They told me that you were in charge over Maurice with some kind of pikachu project so you were the first I needed to find."

"That… is no problem…" Oak said as he looked at him. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

The man looked at him and now I could see his face, I recognized him. It was the researcher that had picked me up from the cage! The one that was there against his will, according to the pikachu inside there.

"Who am I? For heavens sake, Samuel, it's me! Albert!" he said. Oak looked at him for a couple of seconds with a stunned face.

"But… You… You died in a terrible accident!" he said, stunned.

"That is what they wanted you to believe." he said annoyed. "I don't have time to explain, every second is crucial."

"Listen - " he said to my parents. "I have important information about your son."

"You know something about his whereabouts?" my mother asked quickly.

"No - but I have information for you!" he said. "Listen to me. Your son was caught by Team Rocket. They used him as a test object for new technology and they…"

"Not this again." Jenny interrupted him. He looked at her with an annoyed face.

"Look, what this guy tells is the biggest bullcrap I have ever heard. I would advise not to listen to it." Jenny said with annoyed

"Officer Jenny, I acknowledge your authority, but this is my laboratory and Albert is one of the most respected poképrofessors in Kanto. What he tells you is not 'bullcrap'." Oak said with a serious face.

"I am aware of that, but this kicked my mind and…" she ranted before I launched a massive thunderbolt to her. She should shut up now or things could go wrong. Jenny shouted loudly before she fell on the ground and moaned painfully. My mother and father jumped back from the attack.

"Ooohhhh…" she said. I gave her a death glare and growled loudly.

"You are arrested for…" she said, but one firm glance and sparking from my cheeks was enough to shut her up. She stood up as I jumped back on the table. The scientist looked at me and then continued. Jenny did not interrupt him this time.

"As I said, they used new technology. Maurice was a test object for pokémon transformation. By altering his DNA, he has been changed into a pikachu! What I want to say is - you are looking for a human called 'Maurice'. That human does not exist anymore! You're looking for a human - You have to look for a pikachu!" he said, breathing deep after he said so, looking at everyone in the room.

It went silent in the room after he said that. After about fifteen seconds everyone in the room slowly turned their faces at me and stared at me, excluding Albert. I stood there staring back, tears forming in my eyes. I let out a long, deep, happy and emotional sigh. They finally knew. I was saved.

And that's it! Please review! :)