One day Pikachu was running through a cave, following a bright white light that he had seen earlier that day while exploring with Piplup. He was about to keep going but a familiar Pokémon further ahead of him made the little electric mouse stop in his tracks. A wide, happy grin formed on his face upon seeing who it was. It was his best friend, Piplup. Pikachu smiled even wider and raced over to join his friend. Upon spotting the Electric-type Pokémon approaching him, Piplup walked over to him and started to talk with Pikachu, who had a wide grin plastered on his normally gloomy and depressed-looking face. Piplup smiled brighter too the longer he talked. He wanted his best friend to be this happy with other Pokémon too. But getting that out of Pikachu was not gonna be easy. "Hey Pikachu! What do you say we go and check out that new PokéPark?" It took a few moments but eventually Pikachu nodded his head with a small yet nervous look forming on his face. Upon exiting the cave and entering the park, they heard a bunch of loud noises. Pikachu thought that it was Snivy who'd made the noise and so together, the two friends walked over and talked to her. She told them that she would be their pal if Pikachu played a game of chase with her. "Wait, what? You want me to play a game of chase with you?" The little electric mouse blinked rapidly as he stared at the Grass-type Pokémon standing right in front of him. Snivy nodded her head while crossing her arms over her chest. "Yup. You heard me right little mouse." She responded with a smug smile on her face. "So are you gonna play with me or not?" She asked Pikachu, who gave her a small smile and a nod of his head. "I'll play a game of chase with you." He told her meekly with a small smile forming on his face. After playing a couple rounds of chase with Snivy, she gave Pikachu a bright smile before happily agreeing to the offer Pikachu had given to her a few moments earlier.
Next on their list of places to explore was Sing Song Beach. Upon arriving at the beach, they met another friendly face, a Water-type Pokémon named Oshawott. The small otter-like Pokémon wanted Pikachu to have a battle with him, and if Pikachu won, he would become pals with both him and Snivy. Pikachu's face paled and he stared down at his bright yellow paws. "B-but what if I hurt you?" He looked up at Oshawott with a worried look forming on his face. Oshawott just gave him a wide grin and waved a dismissive paw at the little electric mouse. "Aw don't worry about it Pikachu, I'll be fine little electric mouse." Pikachu gave him a hesitant smile and nodded his head toward the Water-type Pokémon. With that knowledge running through his head, Pikachu quickly agreed to the request and battled with the Water-type Pokémon. The battle went on for quite a while until with a large blast of his signature Thunderbolt, Pikachu was declared the winner.
The next place the three pals went to was the Crag Area where they met the fire pig Pokémon Tepig. Snivy, Pikachu, and Oshawott all heard a loud, booming noise from the canon and ran over to check it out. It was Tepig, he had somehow gotten himself stuck in the canon. The three Pokémon pals had to fire the canon in order to get aTepig out. When they fired the canon it made a very very loud booming sound when Tepig flew out of it. Tepig didn't like that because he landed somewhere far. Then in a burst of fury, the small pig-like Pokémon challenged Snivy to a battle. Despite having a huge type disadvantage, Snivy still ended up winning the battle and so with things resolved between them, Tepig quickly agreed to became one of their pals.
After that little fun and heart-racing event, Snivy made her way back to Cove Town and wanted to be friends with Riachu. But upon asking, all he said in response to her request was "I'm sorry young one: but I can only train a Pikachu." So with a slightly annoyed look on her face, the little grass snake called for Pikachu to come over. The little electric mouse did as he was told and bounded over to his friend and Riachu. Once introductions had been passed around, Riachu informed Pikachu that he wanted to have a battle with him. Pikachu hesitated, not sure if he really wanted to battle someone who was stronger than he was, but Snivy gave him a small boost of confidence by shouting "You can do it Pika! Don't let him scare you!" Pikachu blushed and gave her a small smile in thanks before he said yes and the battle began without a problem. After Pikachu battled Riachu and won: Riachu trained Pikachu and helped him practice his Thunderbolt attack to make it a bit stronger. It didn't take long after that for the two Electric-type Pokémon to become fast-friends.
After waving a quick farewell to his evolved counterpart, Pikachu and the others began making their way back to Wish Palace. Once inside the strange-looking area, Darkrai was very angry at them for stopping his plans. And so he attacked them all. He used his Dark-type attacks on both Pikachu and his pals. As the purple light grew in both size and brightness, the Dark-type Pokémon fixed a stern gaze upon the small mouse Pokémon. "I have taken your pals memories of you. You will forever be in a world of one… and one alone!!!" And with those cruel words echoing over and over in his mind, Pikachu felt tears sting his eyes as he raced away, wanting so badly for this all to be a bad dream. But deep down, Pikachu knew in his heart that what was happening to him was in fact real.
Pikachu was very sad and ran all the way back to Cove Town. But upon reaching the town, the small yellow mouse saw that the once bright and happy town was devoid of any color and there were no Pokémon in sight. Cove Town was now baked in dark grey, almost black skies and was very very gloomy-looking. Pikachu once again looked for any signs of life, but much to his dismay, there was nobody around. The hole place was completely abandoned.
Only Pikachu was left standing in the middle of the town square, looking up at the dark sky as tears blurred his vision yet again. "I'm such a failure! All I ever do is screw things up." He whispered lowly to himself, his voice barely above even that due to not being used in so long.
When Pikachu got to the fountain, he sat by the water's edge, sadly looking down into his reflection. He looked horrible. His ears drooped low to his head, his eyes still shimmered with unshed tears, and he didn't even have the energy to lift his now very heavy-feeling thunderbolt-shaped tail.
As he continued to sit there, watching the water ripple below him, Pikachu felt a rush of emotions flash in his mind. He felt sad, angry, lonely, and depressed all at once. The small little Electric-type felt a serge of anger building inside his chest. He was angry at the Dark-type Pokémon for taking his pals memories. Sparks flew from Pikachu's cheeks, electrocuting the water in the process. His chest heaved as he released all of his pent-up emotions into the sky. His eyes still stung and he choked back another sob that threatened to burst free from his lungs. He was just about to release another Thunderbolt attack into the sky when an all-to-familiar voice called out to him.
It was Piplup. Upon seeing his oldest and dearest friend standing right in front of him, Pikachu felt happy for the first time in what felt like days. His eyes glinted with unshed tears as he raced toward his best friend. Pikachu sobbed into his friend's shoulder, his tears wetting Piplup's feathers. "I-I'm s-so sorry!" Pikachu gasped out, speaking for the first time in years since his parents passing. "I-I left you there in Wish Palace all by yourself and now look what it's caused!" Pikachu pulled away and waved his paws in the air. "I've destroyed everything Piplup. I-I couldn't help them - I-I failed to save my friends just like I failed to save my parents." Saying the words aloud made more tears spring to his eyes. "Why do you even care about me? I-I d-don't deserve to be your friend! All I do is create bad luck for everyone around me!"
Piplup didn't say a word the whole entire time that Pikachu was talking. He was shocked enough to see and hear Pikachu start speaking for the first time in what felt like years. But now? To hear how much his best friend despised himself? He couldn't hear any more of it. If this kept up much longer, they would both be a sobbing mess.
With a heavy sigh, Piplup met Pikachu's tearful gaze with his own soft one. "Pikachu…" Piplup began to speak, making his friend look at him. "It's not your fault, none of this, and I mean none of this is your fault. Do you hear me?"
"But-" Pikachu tried to protest but Piplup waved a flipper at him to stop. "Look, Sparky…" Piplup spoke up, using Pikachu's real name. At hearing his birth name being used, the Electric-type Pokémon froze in place, his eyes growing wide in shock. "You're not a terrible friend, you just have a whole crap ton of trauma bottled up inside of you that needs to be released and that's why you can't think straight right now. I want to help you Pikachu, I really really do, but I can't do that if you won't let me. Please Sparky, please let me help you." Piplup's eyes were pleading as he stared at the broken form of his best friend, whom had just started opening up, well, at least a little bit. He didn't say words, but his kind heart and caring nature was what helped him to make at least a few new friends. The friend who he had known since they had hatched was now seemingly right back where they had started, back to square one once again.
Pikachu's whole boddy shook with silent sobs, his ears were pinned back against his skull and he bowed his head, not wanting his friend to see his tears. "O-okay." He spoke in almost a whisper. "I'll t-try." He took a shuttering breath and looked back up at his best friend.
It took a few more moments before Pikachu regained enough of a grip to tell Piplup everything that had happened in the last few weeks. He tried his hardest to keep it together as he came to the end of his story, but it was hard and he took a deep breath in an attempt to stop the on-coming panic attack.
But it failed miserably and Pikachu choked and gasped for air, feeling his mussels tighten and his throat closing. He felt hot, salty tears wet his fur and felt himself falling.
Piplup was completely frozen. He hadn't seen Pikachu have one of these attacks in months. But given all of the trauma and pain he had been put through in the span of a few hours, Piplup really couldn't blame his friend for having a mental breakdown. But he wasn't prepared for that to be followed up by an emotional outburst and then a panic attack.
It just wasn't fare! Pikachu didn't deserve this! Hasn't he already been through enough? Well apparently not! And now, Pikachu's first new friends in years that he had made (aside from himself of course) were forced to forget him and he was thrown into a world of despair and pain all over again.
Piplup was angry. No, that wasn't right, he was full-on pissed. All he had wanted was to help his best friend open up to other Pokémon aside from just himself. Of course he didn't mind, but it broke Piplup's heart watching his friend scream and cry out for his parents. His mind was plagued by nightmares every night since his parents were killed right in front of Pikachu.
And now, as he stood here in the middle of the abandoned Cove Town, Piplup's only job at this very moment was to comfort Pikachu and help him prepare to face Darkrai again back at Wish Palace. But for now, Piplup just rubbed his friend's back, whispering comforting words into his ear as the Electric-type Pokémon let everything out that he had been bottling up for the past few weeks.