Hey guys! Here's another update and it's a fairly long read. Enjoy!

Chapter eighteen: Reunion at Verdigris

I hear the sound of wood crackling and popping nearby. Hot air hits my soft yellow fur as smoke enters my nostrils. I rub my nose in response. Then I hear a voice call to me, I slowly open my eyes soon after.

"Hey, it's about time you woke up!" A faded voice says.

Disoriented, I ask, "Orion…is that you?"

I turn to my right: I see a human boy standing above me. My heart almost stops as I gasp in terror. I try to move but a blanket covers me, but after a brief struggle I stand up, throwing the blanket out of my way in the process. I back away as I release small bursts of electricity all over my body, threatening him to stay away.

"Please, don't be scared! I found you near the entrance to the town. You were hurt." He explains. The tone of his voice is reasonably calm and assuring, but I nevertheless remain aggressive, not trusting him for obvious reasons. I growl loudly when he points his finger toward me, "Your shoulder…It was bleeding, so I took care of it for you."

In response, I place my paw on my right shoulder to investigate: a large white pad has been placed on my shoulder which extends across my chest and across my back. It connects them together from under the arm opposite from my affected shoulder.

I look back toward the human, and then he nods, "See? It looked pretty bad when I first saw you. No need to worry, you're okay now."

Still skeptical about this boy's intentions, I continue to show hostility since I've done so much in these past few days that I can't afford to get captured again. I can only trust myself and Orion in this time of uncertainty. I know Orion would do the same, regardless of how much a person helps us. Everyone and everything in this forest can be considered a threat.

The boy sighs, "You can leave now if you'd like. I only wanted to make sure that you were okay. You were asleep for a long time after all, I didn't think you would ever wake up."

That's when I remember what happened: I was ambushed and struck by a syringe from the Spiderbot…and I tried to make my way into a town. That's when I passed out. So, how long have I been asleep?

I look back again toward the human: he sets some blocks of wood on a pit of fire. He then pokes it with a long stick to get the fire going. Finally, he looks back at me and raises an eyebrow, "Aren't you leaving?"

I hesitate for a moment because I didn't take the time before to check for any exits so I could run away. After looking around for several seconds, it becomes clear to me that we're inside a building. The ground is littered with debris while plants and grass grow from the floor. It's obvious that this place has been unoccupied for a long time.

I soon find an exit but once I step outside I am struck by pellets of cold rain. I quickly reenter the building as a result.

Now soaked with rainwater, I try to shake the rain droplets off my fur. Unlike previous attempts in the past, I am actually able to shake some of the water off…to an extent. Despite this, I am still wet and it's starting to make me shiver.

I hear a chuckle from across the room. I turn around to see the human male looking at me. He's trying to hide a smile, yet I get angry at him in response, "I'm sorry I laughed…it's just that you remind me of someone I know." He says.

I narrow my eyes in distrust. Ignoring my actions, he takes out what I assume to be a piece of cloth from a bag which he has with him and then he gestures me to come closer; however, I refuse to do so.

"Okay…I'll leave it here if you want to use it to dry yourself. I have a ton of them anyway. You can also come sit by the fire if you want." He puts the piece of cleaning cloth down on the ground near the blanket from where I was sleeping. His temptation is unbearable because of the cold air battering against my wet fur, so I cautiously huddle near the fire for warmth after I grab the cloth to dry myself. I stare at him, making sure that he doesn't try anything to sabotage my escape from Team Rocket. I clean my face and my arms after days of being covered in dirt. The rest of my fur is still dirty, so I begin the process of cleaning it. Soon, the cloth becomes filthy as I continue to use it.

Several moments of utter silence pass by rather slowly. The human eventually begins to fondle with his hands as he tries to come up with something to say to me, "So, you belong to a trainer. You have any idea where he or she is at right now?"

Trainer? I tilt my head in confusion. He takes out a red square-shaped object and shows it to me, "My Pokédex told me that you belong to a trainer."

I rub my chin as I think about what he is saying to me. That's when the realization hits me and my ears rise all the way up in unison.

That's right, Cy…he captured me a few days ago, which means…he's…my trainer. I guess it's a good thing that he is because that means other trainers can't capture me. I'm pretty much safe from becoming someone else's pet for the rest of my life.

"Well, you'll find your trainer. Don't worry."

"Pfft…" I retort silently.

I look away from the teenager and I soon resume my hostile attitude. He places his Pokédex back into his pocket, and then he grabs the stick to poke at the fire again.

"Anyway…my name is Rigel, nice to meet you."

My eyes widen. Everything around me seems to stop moving. I take a deep breath in as my mind tries to understand the current revelation bestowed upon me. I try to convince myself that I am hallucinating, but the way that he said it made me want to make sure he was telling the truth.

"R…Rigel?" I ask him.

He raises an eyebrow for a moment because of the fact that I am suddenly interested with what he has to say, and regardless of our language barrier he responds to my question, "I know, Rigel sounds like a weird name for a human to have."

Can this be? Is this kid really…Orion's trainer? I think there's only one way to find out.

"Is something bothering you?" He asks me.

I begin gesturing as if I'm playing a game of Charades with him. I pretend I am holding a pencil and a piece of paper, he tilts his head in confusion, "Well that's strange…you were an anti-social fanatic earlier and now suddenly-"

"Concentrate!" I interrupt him. He backs away in response, "Calm down, I didn't mean to make you angry!" He retorts.

I inhale deeply as I resume with my attempts to communicate to him using body language, "Do you have a pen or a pencil with something to write on?" I ask him as I make the gestures.

He scratches his head but then nods as if he finally understands what I've been trying to tell him, "Oh I see…sure, I'll play Charades with you."

I roll my eyes. I try to find another way to ask him. Then, as if on cue, I see a bright light shine from the floor which is followed by the sound of the floor vibrating. The human gasps after he looks at the light. He speaks silently but I can hear him, "Oh man this is bad…it's low on battery. Hopefully it'll last a little bit longer." He picks up the bright object from the floor. After studying the rectangular-shaped device, I conclude that he is holding a phone in his hands.

Without hesitation I immediately walk towards him and try to take the phone from him, but he quickly moves away, "Hey! What's the big idea?" He says.

I stop and instead make new gestures to him. I make a phone call gesture which gets him to roll his head to the side again, "You're calling someone." He says, thinking that we're playing the game.

I shake my head.

"You're trying to call somebody."

I shake my head again but with more aggravation present.

He slaps his arms on his lap with frustration, "I don't think you know what 'calling on your phone' means in Charades."

I slap my paw in my face. He then attempts to put away his phone, but I decide to try to take it from him again. He still manages to fight back.

"Back off! Why do you want to take my phone…oh…you want to try to call somebody on my phone? So does that mean we weren't playing Charades?" he asks.

Immediately, I nod my head to confirm this.

"Weird…you're the first Pokémon I've seen to ask anyone for this." He snaps his fingers shortly after, "Oh I see: you want to try to call your trainer, is that it?"

I nod, despite the fact that I actually wanted to make sure he is really Rigel.

"Well…um, here you go I guess? This is pretty weird. I don't see how you're going to do it…still…I'll be in for quite a shocker if you manage to dial ten-digit numbers like a pro." He motions me to come closer which I do. I stand next to him as he slowly hands his phone to me. Then, he stops halfway, "Please…be careful with the phone." I nod again as he gives it to me.

To my surprise, the touchscreen interface somehow registers my stubby fingers as if they are human, so I begin to inspect the phone's applications for any writing software. After moments of searching I find a notebook app to write on and I start writing a message for him. The teen notices that I have exited the number pad, thus he tries to take the phone away as my Index finger lands on one last digital keyboard key which completes my message. He grabs the phone and reads the note.

"What are you-" He never finishes his sentence.

He looks to me, quite shaken by the surprise, "How…how did you do this?"

On his phone, the message read: Do you have a Pokémon named Orion?

Rigel is both puzzled and amazed. From the look on his face, I can tell that he didn't know which is more surprising: the fact that a Pokémon could write or the fact that I know who Orion is. Both were enough to get him to grab me without warning. Naturally, I try to escape from his grasp.

"Of course I do! Orion is my Pikachu! Is that the Orion you're talking about!?" He asks. I jump up and down with excitement after he says this. This is Rigel! This is Orion's trainer! I can help him find Orion and he can help us get out of the forest! This is a great turn of events because I've finally found someone I can trust other than Orion.

He then hands over the phone to me again, "Write it if you can please!" He grabs his head after as he tries to control his breathing, "This is incredible! This is really cool! This is news, big news!" He shouts.

I make another message. When I'm done, he snatches the phone away to look:

Yes, that's the Orion I know. He's a small Pikachu who can pick up foes a few times his size.

"That's my Pikachu! I can't believe you know Orion! That's great! Do you know where he is right now!?"

Once again I write a message, but he anxiously takes the phone from me, not allowing me to finish the note. He reads the unfinished sentence:

Orion and I were captured by Team Rocket, but we escaped. Later on, we-

"I know he was captured, but do you know where he is right now!?" He asks. I gesture him to hand over the phone once more, he does. He waits impatiently for my next response. Soon after I'm done, he takes it and frowns soon after:

We were separated after our escape. I haven't seen him since.

"Separated…" Rigel, in frustration, throws the phone down on the floor with all of his strength. The mixture of soil softens the impact, "You're kidding me! You're joking! I can't believe this is happening!" He hides his face with his arms, "I'm so sick of this forest! I just want to find Orion and get out…and go as far away from here as we can!"

He wipes small traces of tears off his face inconspicuously, or at least tries to hide it from me, "Sorry…I'm just…tired of walking endlessly for days, tired of searching bushes, tired of many things. This is all Team Rocket's fault!"

After several moments of silence, he turns back toward me, "How long has it been since you've seen him?"

I gesture three fingers to him.

"Three hours?"

I shake my head.

"Three days!?"

I nod this time.

He lays his back against the cold ground. He sighs deeply afterwards, "This is a nightmare…" Silence follows soon after which persists for more than a minute. I take this time to think about Orion and where he could be right now.

Shortly after, I hear Rigel call to me, "This may not be the best time for me to ask…but I want to know where and how you've learned to write like a human." He asks me.

I signal him to hand over the phone. For the last time, I create a message for him to read. Once I'm finished, I hand it over to him. He reads it:

This may be crazy to you, but I'm not really a Pikachu. Team Rocket kidnapped me and used me for their sick experiments. I was transformed into a Pokémon as a result.

He scratches his chin, "This may be crazy too, but I think I believe you. It makes sense I guess." I look up toward him with a confused expression.

He puts away his phone and then sits down next to me, "Yea, there's this guy who lives north of Cerulean City and he does some wacky experiments all the time. I've seen his inventions: they're definitely the meaning of crazy. He's been known to change himself into different types of Pokémon. His name is Bill, maybe he can help you."

My ears rise all the way up after he says that, "Really?" I ask.

Could this Bill really help me change back into my human self? If so, then that means Dr. Bartoli isn't the only person who can do it. It looks like there's still hope for me to change back.

"I'll tell you what: since you've told me about Orion, I'll take you to Bill after I find my Pikachu. It's the best thing I can do. I've only just met you, but you've helped me so far. Now I know that Orion could be as far away from Team Rocket Grunts as he can be, and since Pikachu's have a great sense of smell, I can only hope that he'll find me sooner or later." I smile happily.

"Will you help me find Orion?" Rigel asks me.

I nod without any sense of hesitation.

"Great!" He moves to a nearby sleeping bag and tucks himself in, "We will start looking for him when the storm ends." He closes his eyes but opens them again, "Oh! By the way…what's your name?" He takes out his phone again and waves it around for me to take it, which I do.

Lucas

"Cool" He puts away his phone for the last time, "And by the way, thank you so much Lucas." He closes his eyes for a second time.

I smile softly. I decide to remain awake, since I had just woken up recently, and think about what could happen from now on since I am now acquainted with Rigel. Things will hopefully get better for me. No…not just for me but also for Orion and Rigel too. This isn't just about me anymore, It's about three people…brought together by fate…trying to escape and fix their problems.

I lie down on the blanket and stare up at the fire, which I'm going to feed wood later on, and that's when I smell something familiar. My nose tingles at just how accurate the scent is: I smell somebody that I've known for a while and it soon becomes clear to me that this person is nearby…

Soon however, the scent goes away.

An hour passes by. Sunlight finally begins to shine through the broken windows of the building as well as the fireplace, which is now just a heap of ash.

I make my way to Rigel to wake him up and at first he thinks that I'm Orion, but he quickly dismisses the idea, frowning in the process.

"Oh, it's you. Has the rain stopped?" He looks at a window and confirms this, "We should get moving." He rubs his eyes and yawn afterwards. I make my way to the entrance and wait for him. He takes little time to roll up his sleeping bag, fold my blanket, and gather anything important to him. Once he's done assembling everything and putting them inside his book bag, he walks outside and inspects the environment. He turns back toward me, and I can see that his face momentarily shifted to that of a worried expression, "Alright Lucas, ready to go?" I simply follow him in response.

The moment we step out of the building, my body shivers from the quiet atmosphere. We are in the middle of a street dominated by many multi-story brick buildings. Nevertheless, there are no cars, no pedestrians, and no Pokémon to be seen anywhere. It's just me and Rigel and I soon realize that this is a genuine ghost town that we're in. Inspired to explore the landscape, we walk down the main street of this town which is overflowing with vegetation and young trees. It's like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie.

I also take in the fact of where I have been this whole time, in these past few days, when I read a sign nearby which gets my attention right away:

Welcome to Historical Street: Midori, Verdigris.

Verdigris…so I have been in the vast nefarious ecosystem known as the Viridian Forest…for the past two weeks. This gives me both a great sense of hope and also a great sense of dread. We're near Viridian City, a safe haven, but we're also near a hotspot for Beedrills, which is the reason why this town was abandoned in the first place. To make a long story short: this town was used as a defense outpost during the war and a Beedrill infestation overwhelmed everyone to the point of retreat.

We walk for what seems to be a long time before we arrive at the formerly famous Verdigris Spaceneedle, a bluish-green copper coated building, similar to the Statue of Liberty in Unova. Its entrance is locked tightly and there is no other way in to survey the surrounding area from the top of the tower.

"Drat! Oh well…let's go to the police station instead. I can see it has a pretty good view of the town and the forest from here." He walks for a few feet down the road before looking back to me. He blinks twice in confusion before speaking to me, "Lucas? What's wrong?"

In the midst of quiet wind and rustling young trees, my deep breathing can be heard quite easily. I have been sniffing the air for about a minute now. It wasn't something I wanted to do, I blame my instincts for taking over again, but there was just something about this scent that had me going crazy. The same scent from earlier is back and it's too familiar to just push aside because it's something I haven't smelled since my escape from the prison. The scent belonged to a dear friend.

"Orion…he's here." I instinctively make my way to the source of the scent, I run/walk down the opposite street as I yell the loudest I can, "Orion! Where are you!?"

Rigel shouts at me and begins to chase after me, "Lucas, wait…where are you going!?"

The scent grows stronger the more I follow this path, "Orion!"

Then, I hear a voice echo from the buildings all around me. It's a voice that immediately sends an intense surge of emotion through me. My breathing only intensifies as I get closer to Orion. I know he's very close to me and it's only a matter of time until…

I knock into a yellow object at great speed, causing me to fall on my back in notable pain. I lift my head slowly to see a small Pikachu, in the same exact position that I'm in, sitting just a few feet away from me. We both stare at each other, not knowing what to do next. Before long, however, we both stand up in unison and slowly make our way towards each other.

"Orion…? Is that you?" I stare down at the Pikachu, who is still just a few feet away, "Lucas…" he responds.

The fact that he calls my name as well as the fact that he sounds like Orion proves my suspicions. He then unsuspectingly jumps toward me, closes his eyes and smiles with joy as he slams into my chest resulting in me falling down on the ground again. He begins to jump up and down on my belly over and over, causing me to gasp for air every time, "It's good to see you! I was starting to worry that we might not see each other again!"

"Orion…please…"

"I've been looking for you for days, and a lot has happened since then. I have a lot to tell you."

"Okay but get off me please…"

"Oh! Sorry Lucas!" He gets off me as I resume breathing normally. I stand up to clean dirt of me and I soon smirk at him.

"Come here you!" I grab the Pikachu in a headlock and I start rubbing my small knuckles on his head repeatedly, "It's nice to see you again Orion." I let go of him afterwards.

"How you been Lucas?" He asks, "This has been the most intense three days of my life." I respond.

"I know! There's so many Beedrills in this forest it's ridi-"

Orion stops midsentence as he grabs my arms, "Wait…is he here with you…Rigel…because his scent is nearby!"

"Lucas! Come on…don't leave me by myself! Where are you!?" We hear Rigel call nearby. He finds both of us at the end of the street. A few seconds pass in silence. Rigel stares at the small Pikachu and recognizes him. The human kneels down as tears fall from his face. His hands tremble as he smiles with extreme delight.

"Orion…Orion! It's you, oh my gosh!" Orion runs toward Rigel and jumps on the boy. Both begin what I can only describe as the longest reunion hug in history. It's an embrace that challenges both of them to see who can hug tighter than the other. Their grips on each other doesn't weaken, it merely gets stronger. They cry from both joy and misery, being forcefully separated and reuniting together again are the reasons why. It's clear to me that Orion's reunion with Rigel is much stronger than with me and I can understand why: Rigel is part of his family. I smile.

Finally, they let each other go as Orion settles on Rigel's shoulder. The teenager walks to me and kneels down again to be at the same eye level as me.

"Lucas…thank you…I can't thank you enough for this…I will get you to Bill, I promise. In fact, let's start making our way to-"

After he turns around to direct our next destination, he sees something rising from the nearby hill/mountain, "Smoke? Is there a forest fire?"

Orion and I, with confused expressions, look up toward the small mountain as well. I can see a square-shaped building which has smoke rising from its walls.

"Oh man! I forgot! Cy is in trouble! Follow me!" Orion gets off Rigel's shoulder.

"Wait what?" I roll my head sideways, confused.

"Cy and I were ambushed by a weird group of Team Rocket members! He needed help, so I came to the town to look for help because I saw light coming from a campfire earlier."

"Cy…Team Rocket…Orion you're not making sense right now…Cy is-"

"I'll explain later, come on!" He interrupts me. He quickly leads the way down the road which heads to the police station, but I stand still, flabbergasted at what Orion had said.

"Orion where are you going!? Come back here!" Rigel yells as he passes by me, chasing his Pikachu down the street.

I sigh softly as I follow them.