The storm had sporadically continued throughout the rest of the week. It wasn't really much of a storm, anymore, but there was certainly a lot of rain. Either way, it didn't stop any of the preparations for April 1st, when the four trainers from Pallet would receive their starters.

One of which happened to be me.

I honestly had stopped caring about my situation some time ago. There was just no point. Especially when everyone I saw gave me a headache. I wasn't exaggerating, much to my surprise. Every time I saw someone, I immediately felt like that someone was splitting my head open and poking around in my brain. Much like how I felt inside of that thing...only it was ten times worse because I felt it all the time.

Maybe being ended up saddled with a trainer would help me feel less miserable and more angry again. I hated feeling helpless and I hated feeling exhausted. I was far too tired to fight anyone and my frustration was building fast.

It wasn't just me, I guess, since during breakfast, the charmander had suddenly burst into tears and started ranting about how anxious and nervous they were. The bulbasaur and squirtle were both pretty distraught too, but I didn't know why, nor did I care to know. The girl, the clefairy, and the professor had all fussed over the three Starters and soothed them while I watched from a distance.

How pathetic were they? They were seriously this upset over having a meeting with some random kid? At least they hadn't been trapped inside a tentacle monster to be tortured for-

I shuddered and tried to focus on eating my food. I gave up after the first bite and instead pushed the food around in my bowl. It was dry and tasteless. Did humans seriously expect pokemon to eat this?

Try as I might, my thoughts couldn't help revert back to the events that occurred the night of the storm.

The professor and the girl managed to break down the door mere moments after I had passed out. The details I heard from the Starters in the aftermath were really vague, but from what I gathered, they had hidden behind a fallen shelf throughout the entire time I was suffering inside of it. Once it released me, the hole in the air had magically re-appeared and the creature went through it, vanishing along with the hole itself. That was the moment the professor and the girl barged in and saw the chaos.

I refused to talk to anyone after the incident, my thoughts running like a ponyta being chased by a rampaging fearow-which I'd actually seen before, by the way. I mostly kept to myself in the days that followed.

Today was the big day. At least, the day before the big day, so preparations were in full swing. The professor drilled us on how to behave once we met the trainers and reviewed the importance of being a starter and how every pokemon in the trainer's party would be counting on you, blah, blah, blah...I swore, the old man loved hearing the sound of his own voice more than the bulbasaur did.

Speaking of the bulbasaur, it finally expressed its feelings toward me right after breakfast. I supposed my judgmental stares in regards to the charmander's breakdown had gotten to it. So, it finally let out all its anger by screaming what it thought of me and whatnot.

I had simply tuned it out, especially when the squirtle started to join in. I wanted to knock that turtle on its shell and shock it till it died. Those two didn't help my endless headache and in fact made it feel even worse, so I gave up trying to fend them off and instead walked away. Of course, not before I let them know that the next time they went near me would be their last.

They must've taken my threat seriously, because they started pretending I didn't even exist afterward. Good for them, I suppose, but they seriously had to wait til last minute to leave me alone?

The rest of the day went without incident and thankfully everyone decided to avoid me. At least until after dinner.

"Come on Pikachu, it's only for a little while-" The professor pleaded, Poke Ball in hand, but I paid no heed. There was no way in hell I was being put back inside that...that thing.

"Like hell!" I hissed. "You step any closer to me with that damn ball and I'll fry your brain cells!"

"Gramps, couldn't we just leave the Starters outside of their Poke Balls?" The girl asked.

The professor sighed and straightened up. "I'm afraid I can't do that. I'm breaking enough rules as it is with this pikachu."

The girl narrowed her eyes, just like how I narrowed mine. What the hell was that supposed to mean? And why was there a rule forcing pokemon into Poke Balls? I shook my head and scowled. Typical humans and their typical power trip, as always.

"Well, what's one more?" The girl's voice sounded odd to me. She was speaking very carefully, almost on guard. She cast a dark look toward the professor. "Unless we're going to use force."

My ears twitched and I immediately got on the defensive. "Like hell!" I snarled. The girl and the professor entered a staring contest, seemingly having a conversation with their minds. Then, without even me even realizing it, the girl whipped around and threw a Poke Ball. I jumped back in reflex then gaped when the clefairy popped out of it.

It raised its hands in the air, about to use Psychic, but I wasn't going to get trapped this time. "Oh no, you don't!" I charged up a Thundershock and zapped the startled clefairy before it could do anything.

"Oh dear..." The professor muttered from behind me. My ears twitched, but my attention was focused on the girl. She was the one picking a fight with me, after all.

The clefairy got to its feet and vanished in thin air. I looked around frantically before I felt something smash into my side. Hard.

I was thrown against the wall and bounced back, my headache getting about a million times worse. "Dammit..." I hissed as I struggled to get to my feet.

The girl and her clefairy cornered me. "Clefairy, you know what to do."

The clefairy raised his hands and started rocking them back and forth in the air, forming purple and green balls of energy around it. I stared in confusion before it directed its attack toward me and I gasped as those balls of energy began to circle me.

What-

Seconds later, the energy balls dispersed, and I was hit by the residues of its energy. Suddenly, I felt a wave of sleepiness hit me. As disorientated as I felt, though, I hissed at the clefairy as I began to sway on my feet. "I hate you."

"I know."

Then I collapsed on the floor and felt a Poke Ball hitting me before I blacked out. Again.

When I found out who invented the Poke Ball, I was going to have a serious talk with them.

Of course, by "talk", I meant I was going to shock them until I drove them off a cliff, because by all rights they deserved it. Humans truly were despicable creatures. Worse than that fearow back in the forest.

I almost laughed at my treacherous thought of referring to that fearow as "that fearow" in the first place. If I had said that aloud back in the forest, I would've definitely gotten maimed to death. Again.

I shuddered as my mind unwillingly went back to that time. The fearow ruled the entire forest with his mere presence. Everyone hated him, because he made their lives hell. I hated him too, especially since I had an encounter with him on one fateful day.

I learned three things about that fearow from that day. One-out of three of the fearow's sons, only the two oldest sons were birthed from the same mother. Two-the youngest son had run away from him. Rightfully so, in my opinion, especially as I happened to be there when he did. I was one of the few unwilling witnesses to an incredibly personal fight between father and son, much to my continuous misfortune. This led to the third thing I learned about the fearow. He had an endless stash of cotton.

I was one of the lucky ones and everyone knew it. It wasn't long before the pidgey line had found out about the runaway son, even though I had no clue as to how. The fearow had gone on a complete rampage after that, killing anyone who even dared to utter a word about the incident afterward. When things had completely quieted down in the forest, he turned his attention to internal affairs.

To those who were present when his son had ran away.

I wasn't sure why the fearow cared so damn much. His son cut ties with him, so what? It happened all the time. Family members go missing, get killed, get captured by other pokemon, get exiled by their own family for doing something dumb...but for some reason, this fearow had to throw a tantrum over his youngest son leaving.

I was the last pokemon the fearow had turned his anger on, but I had gotten extremely lucky. He found the one who leaked the information to the pidgey line moments before he had gotten to me. So, I was let off fairly easy after staying in the fearow's territory for a week.

Unintentionally, I let out a shudder as the memories of that week flashed by in my brain. It was fine, everything was fine, nothing particularly bad had happened to me, but still...I was sure that experience drove me to the verge of insanity.

"You shall help us...you may not realize it now, but you are essential to our survival, young child...help us..."

I squeezed my eyes tight. The things said by the beast shook me more than I would've liked to admit. What the hell was it even talking about anyway? The things it was saying...I shuddered. I didn't want to think about the implications.

Did I just get myself wrapped into something else? Worse than when I got wrapped into the fearow's drama? If that was the case, then...I wasn't sure how to react. I might've been better off with that creature killing me. I was preparing myself for it, even, but it didn't go for the kill.

I couldn't decide which was stranger, the words of that beast or the situation itself. It came out of a hole that appeared out of nowhere in the air...and its first instinct was to...

"The pain will stop once you hear my message...so listen carefully..."

Message. That's what the creature wanted, right? It wanted to send me a message...but why me? Why did it seem like it was speaking to me specifically?

I didn't know. Thinking about it made my head hurt, so I tried to distract myself. This was hard. Especially since there was absolutely nothing to do in this stupid Poke Ball. Seriously, how did nobody ever complain about this? This is supposed to be relaxing?

Since I couldn't think of anything to distract me, I tried to get some sleep. There was no rest for me in this place, but at the very least I could try. I did so and soon enough I fell into a restless sleep.

When I awoke, I was still in the stupid ball. I blinked the grogginess out of my eyes, curing this stupid contraption with every word I could possibly come up with. I don't think it would understand my meaning, since it was made by humans, but it made me feel better.

My head was still pounding, so this Poke Ball did absolutely nothing to help alleviate that.

Of course, my growing hatred toward the Poke Ball made me feel all the more relieved when I was finally let out of a it. I let out a sigh of relief and blinked to allow my eyes to adjust to the bright light. There was a boy standing in front of me, but not the one I had gotten used to seeing on a daily basis.

Hey, wait a minute, he looks like-

"It's so cute!"

I was wrapped in a tight hug a mere second later. My eyes blinked as my brain tried to process what the hell was going on. My mind was numb. My headache had stopped for some reason, which was bizarre, but it just added to my furthering confusion. Then I decided my next course of action when I connected a small piece of the puzzle: human, boy, holding, me.

"PI-KA-CHUUU!"

I jumped out of the boy's arms with a tightened brow and shot the professor a glare, who was coughing awkwardly into his hand.

That's right. Today must've been April 1st. I glanced at the smoking and groaning ten year old boy on the ground, the same one I tried to talk to at the party, and let out a sigh. That's what happens when you decide to cut your plans of escape for no real reason other than your stupid fears.

Then again...I looked back at the boy, who was now arguing with the professor over why the latter hadn't told him beforehand to watch out or that the other Starters were gone. I blinked. The other Starters were gone? Good riddance. I hoped they had safe travels and got eaten once they arrived to town.

I heard some humans liked pokemon chopped up before boiled. Maybe the opposite held true for whatever town they ended up at. I hope the squirtle got boiled first.

"Well, in any case, I'm sure you know what to do now, yes?" I turned my attention to the conversation between the professor and the boy. The former handed the boy a Poke Ball with a small lightning bolt mark on it. I blinked. I hadn't noticed that before. Was that mine?

...oh hell no. Did that mean that I had been searching for the wrong Poke Ball this whole time? I cursed myself for my stupidity and pouted as the humans continued their conversation over me.

"Of course I do!" The boy replied triumphantly. "This little guy may not like me now, but soon enough we'll become best friends!" So, I was stuck with an idealist. That was new. "Right Pikachu?"

I snorted and tossed my head at him. "Good luck with that."

The boy awkwardly laughed. He held out the Poke Ball with the lightning ball to me and I twitched. Don't tell me he was already going to put me back into that stupid thing...

"Well, we should probably get started on our journey...so, get in the ball, Pikachu!"

He was oddly cheerful for someone so demanding. I let him know of this by shocking him. He stood there in a daze before stumbling backward. The professor quickly caught him and helped him to his feet.

"I should let you know," the professor grimaced. "This pikachu...doesn't like Poke Balls very much."

"...it doesn't? Huh. That's unexpected."

"I did tell you there was a problem with this one..." I glared at the professor. How dare he! If anything, the one with the problem was with him, the stupid lazy psychopath!

"That's fine!" The boy said quickly, and I raised an eyebrow. "Hey, who oversleeps on important days like this one? There must be a problem with me too, then!"

That was...unexpected. Did he seriously think he could sympathize with me? I eyed him, drilling holes into the back of his head. He seemed to pick up on it, judging by the way he chuckled nervously in my direction. Even more unexpected. What was the boy's name again...?

"Well, then, I suppose you'd better get going. And perhaps you'd better first get a change of clothes..."

"Ah!" The boy looked down at himself in embarrassment. I was confused. What was wrong with his attire? Humans are so weird... "Yeah, you're right...well, best get going...bye professor!"

The boy ran out the room. I blinked and looked at the professor. This was going by way too fast. Was I expected to follow him? Judging by the look on the professor's face, I did. I let out a resigned sigh and ran after that boy. It was just one headache after another this week...

There was a crowd when I caught up with the boy outside the laboratory. I twitched. Great. More humans.

I watched in amusement as a woman began piling stuff onto the boy's hands, including what looked to be a change of clothes, which he apparently needed. "Don't forget that you need to look for the North Star if you get lost, follow moth on trees in rocks if you get lost, don't get lost at all and stay on the path-oh, and make sure all of the pokemon you catch are kept safely in their Poke Balls, as well as keeping berries on hand if you get hurt by any of them-" her eyes fell on me and I involuntarily flinched. This woman freaked me out. "Oh! Is this your Starter pokemon? It doesn't look like a squirtle. Or a bulbasaur. Or a charmander."

"Yeah, there was none left...so I got this one instead."

Their eyes fell on me and I scowled.

"Why isn't it in it's Poke Ball?"

"It doesn't like them."

"Really?" The woman raised any eyebrow. "Huh. That's kind of...weird."

It was getting a little grating to be talked about as if I weren't right there, so I let the humans know how I felt about their words. "PikaCHUUU!"

I smirked as the entire crowd of humans fell to the ground, sparking from head to toe.

"Urgh...hey, kid, maybe you really should take those rubber gloves your mom gave you..." a man raised a hand in suggestion from the crowd and I frowned. Rubber? What did that do again...?

"Why?" The boy asked, picking up his stuff, which had fallen onto the ground.

"Rubber doesn't conduct electricity, that's why..."

Ah.

"Oh, well..." the boy shuffled through his backpack and took out some pink gloves. I eyed him warily as he slipped them on. He stood up. "Okay, Pikachu, let's go!"

I refused to move even an inch. Who did he think he was, ordering me around like that? Your trainer, I thought to myself, then instantly began sparking out of reflex. How stupid was I to think that?

"...okay..." the boy crossed his arms, seemingly thinking for a moment. Then his eyes gleamed as if an idea had struck him and he began searching through his backpack again. He took out a piece of rope and I instantly got on the defensive. I hissed at him as he drew nearer. "Come on, I won't hurt you..."

"Like hell, you son of a-"

One rough fight in the dirt, two fried giants on the floor, an entire crowd of people running away, the boy changing his clothes in the bathroom, and three more people getting shocked later...and I was tied with a rope while being dragged through the dirt by that boy.

I glared at the ground as we drew further and further away from the lab. I eventually couldn't make out the professor and the woman, who had waved the two of us off anymore and let out a sigh, staring up at the boy. Great. It was just me and him now.

I made my body go limp to make it harder for the boy to drag me through the dirt. Unfortunately, it didn't do much. What was this kid made out of, metal?

The boy suddenly stopped in his tracks and sighed. "Are you going to be like this the whole time?"

"Yes," I said with a huff.

The boy slackened his grip on the rope for a brief second. "You don't like me, do you?"

"Got that right." I smirked at him.

He reached out toward me and I instinctively flinched, my cheeks sparking in warning. To say I was surprised when he barely grazed his fingers against me was an understatement. The boy instead untied my binds and let it fall to the ground. I blinked and looked up at him.

"There. Is that batter?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "...no."

He sighed than slipped off his rubber gloves. I was confused. Those were his defenses against me, so why...? "You still don't like me, huh?" It wasn't a question.

"Pi."

I tossed my head toward him. I had no business in hearing what he was saying. At this point, I didn't even know what was happening. What did I even want to do here? I didn't know, since my motivations had faltered some time at the laboratory. Now that I had left...there was this bizarre boy that I was stuck with instead. I couldn't decide which was worse: the boy or the laboratory.

Well, I guess it didn't matter. I didn't like either or them.

"Well..." the boy began, and my ears perked. "I like you a lot."

I froze.

I whipped my head around and stared at him incredulously. He was joking. He was joking, right? This was a joke, one that he found to be extremely funny...

I burst into laughter. The boy knit his eyebrows together and I laughed even harder. "Y-you...you're joking right? How naive are you? You can't just 'like' someone you just met! That's ridiculous!"

His frown deepened and I put two and two together. "Oh, that's right." I mocked. "You can't understand me, can you? This is great! I could say anything in the world and you wouldn't be able to understand me! Like, for instance...you're stupid!"

I might have imagined it, but I saw a brief emotion flicker across the boy's face. It looked like...anger? Frustration, perhaps? Either way, I enjoyed it. This was on him for saying something so unabashedly stupid.

"I can't understand what you're saying! And would you quit laughing at me already! I don't like it!"

"Why? Afraid that what I'm saying is going to hurt your little human feelings?"

"No, I'm not-" His eyes widened and he quickly rushed his next words. "Can you please stop laughing at me? I don't want to do anything to hurt you, I just want to be your friend!"

I stopped laughing. "You're...joking, right?"

"...do you think I'm joking or something?" The boy spoke each word very slowly, as if he thought I were stupid. "Well...I'm not."

I narrowed my eyes with suspicion. Then something hit me. "Wait a second...how did you guess what I was saying?"

"Huh?"

"...y-you guessed what I was saying." I began waving my arms around, feeling confusion overtake my anger. "How did you know what I asked you?"

The boy stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about." Then his eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

My jaw dropped. "You can...you can understand me?!"

He opened his mouth but no words came out. Eventually he sighed. "Yeah...yeah, I can understand you..."

"...you're joking." I said weakly.

"Why would that be a joke? And that's like the third time you've asked me that question already..."

"Because I don't believe you?"

"Well, that's your problem, then! It's not my fault you're denying the facts!"

"Okay, fine." I admitted, then turned my attention back to what he had said earlier. "You're seriously trying to tell me it's a 'fact' that you like me?"

I went over that sentence in my head and cringed. I sounded like that one attention seeking tangela from the forest. I hated her, mostly because of how she always wanted everything to be about her. If somebody died, she would break down because everyone's attention was on mourning the lost family member. I personally didn't care for such matters, but I did know which one deserved more priority. She should've known too.

"Would you rather I...not like you?" The boy sounded confused for some reason.

"I just find it weird, given that I don't exactly like you very much." He winced. "If you think that I'm going to start liking you just because you like me, then you've got another thing coming."

"That's not what I..." He sighed. "Okay, fine. I don't like you. Are you satisfied now?"

"Yes."

The boy groaned. "You're weird for a pokemon...look, I...I just want you to give me a chance."

I raised an eyebrow. "Chance?"

"For my journey, I mean. New trainers are required to have a Starter pokemon, otherwise they can't battle gyms..."

"So? Get another Starter, then." I scoffed, not understanding what the issue was.

"I can't do that!"

"And why is that?"

"Well..." He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know, but-"

"And that," I paused for dramatic affect, "is exactly why I hate humans. You never think about anyone but yourselves."

The boy looked as if he were about to protest before his shoulders sagged. "...fine. You don't have to give me a chance, but I'll win you over someday, I swear!"

I snorted. "What makes you think I'm coming with you?"

Uncertainty flashed across the boy's face. "Uh..." I didn't give him a chance to reply as I turned heel and ran toward the forest. "Hey!"

I was done with this. Every single day felt dragged out for me ever since I first got caught by the stupid girl and her stupid clefairy. I fell into a relapse from trying to escape before my instincts flared up again from this weird boy.

Yeah, I am so done.

Time passed, and my legs began to grow tired. I glanced behind me to see the boy still running after me, gaining more ground with each passing second. Good lord, he was persistent! I narrowed my eyes. What was he planning on doing when he caught up to me, anyway?

I continued running before I hit a dead end: a cliff. I stared at the raging waters down below and let out a hiss. Damn it...

I turned around to see the boy drawing closer. With no other choice, I defaulted to my usual plan. "Pika...CHUUU!"

The boy screamed and scrambled out of the way. "H-hey! Cut that out!"

I ignored his cries. I increased my voltage as my Thundershock as my range grew wider. The boy's eyes widened. "Hey, be careful! The cliff is going to-"

The ground rumbled beneath me and I looked down to see large cracks form underneath me. My eyes widened but before I could move to react, the cliff gave way.

I felt suspended in the air for a moment before time caught up with me. Then I began to fall.

I plummeted toward the bottom of the cliff, where I now noticed a bunch of shark rocks and rapids lay below. Oh, joy. I was about to turn into that strange drink from the forest that the old bellsprout called a "smoothie".

...actually, that didn't sound half bad. It was better than dying while suffocating or dying in front of the likes of...everyone-

I felt arms embrace me and I froze. I craned my neck to see the boy clutching me tightly with his eyes squeezed shut.

What the-?

And just moments before I could contemplate what had happened, we hit the water and I instantly blacked out.

Hm...I think I might have rushed this a tad...well, either way, I'd appreciate feedback and please let me know what I did right as well(or AM doing right)! Also, thanks to those who have already reviewed! ...even if it doesn't seem like you like my story very much...

Thanks for reading! :)