"Hey."

I groaned.

"Hey."

My head throbbed, but I kept my eyes shut.

"Hey-oh for the love of-!"

I felt felt something sharp hit my cheek and my head snapped to the side. My eyes cracked open to see a rattata right in front of my face...upside down.

The rattata huffed. "Good, I thought you'd never wake up."

I immediately went on the defensive and lunged forward. The rattata smirked as I realized I couldn't move my arms, legs, or tail. "What the-" I craned my neck to look upward and growled. I was tied up with a vine and was being strung from the ceiling of a cave like a sleeping zubat. I turned my head toward the rattata and tried to calm down my growing panic at being restrained yet again. "Did you just slap me? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Now, now, deary," the rattata chided as she strutted up to another tied up figure on the floor, who I recognized to be the boy. He appeared to be unconscious. Of course...I had no idea how we had managed to survive, but at least I knew the answer of where we were. The rattata turned her head to the side as she smirked. "Is that any way to treat an ol' 'friend'?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, sarcastically. "I didn't realize we were friends now."

She laughed and put a paw on the boy, gazing up at him in amazement. She changed the subject, saying, "so, where'd you find the human boy?"

"Like I'd tell you."

She frowned and began to walk back toward me. She studied my face for a moment before raising her tail and smacking me across the face. Hard. The vine rocked me back and forth from the ceiling and I felt nauseous. Tight, it was so tight... I scowled and tried to fire off a Thundershock, only to shock myself, instead.

"Careful," she hummed, staring at her claws as I tried to breathe through the pain. "You might get hurt. Remember what Ol' Bellsprout said? Vines are conductive~!"

"I don't care what that old man said." I snapped. "Let me go, you stupid bi-"

She pressed a paw to my mouth. "Oh, no. You're not in a position to make demands here. You don't answer my questions and I'll throw you an' that human over the cliff. Best case scenario, you somehow survive that. Worst case scenario, we'll skip the cliff entirely and I'll just take you to Fearow. And we both know how that'll go over."

I resisted the urge to shudder and instead opted to glare at her.

She shrugged innocently and removed her paw from my mouth. "Good. Okay, first question. Who the hell is that human and what the hell is he doing in our territory?"

I rolled my eyes. "I got captured by some stupid human, got stuck with them at some laboratory for about two whole weeks before I was given to that idiot," I jerked my shoulder toward the boy. "I got sick of his stupidity so I just ran off from him, especially when he told me he could talk to pokemon. He chased me down, I fell off a cliff, he somehow managed to fall down with me, then I blacked out and I guess I washed up in Mountain-side...?"

The rattata blinked, then held her head. "Wait, laboratory? You got stuck in a laboratory?!" She paused, before checking me over. "Ya got any scars you can show me? Or bruises, maybe? Ooh, did they cut off one of your limbs? I was too distracted tying you up to check if you had all your limbs but-"

"Oh, shut up," I said.

"-wait, did you just say that human can talk to pokemon...?"

"Finally caught up with your pathetic excuse for a brain, huh?"

"Now it's your turn to shut up-nevermind! Keep talking, and tell me why that boy can talk to pokemon...and how the heck do you know? What, did he just come out of the blue and say it?"

"Why do you care so much?" I drawled. "I don't even know how the hell he can and I was the one who got him to admit it. He was terrible at pretending he couldn't understand me...unbelievably, him being able to understand pokemon actually makes him less intelligent than other humans."

"What?" The rattata raised an eyebrow. "How does that make any sense?"

"Don't ask me. He kept going on and on about wanting to be my friend and how he liked me...it was kind of stupid."

She barked out a laugh. "See what you mean. What's there to like about you?"

"Certainly more than you, compared to whatever your mother sees." I shot back, earning a dark glare.

"Don't drag my mother into this, you stupid rodent."

"I could say the same, you pathetic excuse for a rat."

She bared her teeth at me before she smacked me across the face again. I hissed at her, saying, "oh, I'm sorry. Did I make you angry?"

"Don't test me," she warned, her tail whipping back and forth. I hoped it got cut off someday.

I growled at her and began thrashing against my restraints. "Yeah? What're you going to do about it? Hit me again?"

She narrowed her eyes, about to retort, before a groan was heard near the cave wall. The boy wearily opened his eyes and looked around. "Where am I?" He did a double take when his eyes landed on both me and the rattata. "What the-" He looked down at himself and saw that he was tied up. He instantly began struggling. "What the heck's going on?!"

"I kidnapped you." The rattata grinned.

"You...what?" The boy looked lost. So lost, that I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

The rattata waved him off. "Doesn't matter. So, word on the tree is that you can speak to pokemon. Is it true?"

The boy looked at me then sighed. "Yeah...I can't really speak or read the Syllabus language, but...I can understand it, at least."

"Feels kinda useless," the rattata said. "Pokemon don't exactly have much of value to say. Then again, neither do humans. Hey, maybe we have more in common than we realized! So, how well can you understand us? Completely, partially, vaguely, or what?"

The boy paused. "Well...sometimes it's hard to understand certain pokemon over others, and I can't really understand pokemon if they speak too fast-"

"Did ya hear that, mouse? He was talking about you."

"Shut up."

"-but it helps that the Syllabus spoken by Kantonean pokemon is really similar to Kantonese."

"Kantonese?"

"Yeah. It's...the language spoken by humans throughout Kanto. It's not the ONLY language, but it's the most common one, and the one I grew up on."

"Are you speaking it right now?" The rattata asked, and I gave her a look.

"Are you stupid? Of course he's speaking it right now."

She didn't reply, but instead opted to smack me across the face with her stupid tail again. The boy saw this and quickly rose to my defense. Who knows why...

"Hey! That's not nice!"

The rattata raised an eyebrow. "What are you, two?"

"I'm ten," the boy stiffened, "and what you just did wasn't nice. So, cut it out!"

"Listen, human, kid, boy, whatever your name is-"

"Ash."

"Whatever. I don't know what kind of pokemon you spent your life talking to, but this place isn't all flowers and rainbows, okay? You're in Mountain-side, where someone like you wouldn't survive a single day. Had this mouse not have been with you when I found you washed up in the river-on my territory, I might add-I would've killed you and given you to my mom so she could eat you from the inside out." The boy paled significantly. "Hell, if I just decide I don't want to keep you around, I could go ahead and do that right now. I might even get some kind of reward if I turn you and the mouse in to Mountain-side's self-proclaimed leader. So, shut up, only speak when spoken to, and don't talk back. Understand?"

The boy nodded timidly.

"Good. Now, I need to go get some food to eat." She shot glares at the two of us. "Don't you dare try and escape. You won't like the consequences." Then she dashed out of the cave, leaving the two of us alone.

Fantastic. I decided to ignore the boy's existence and focus on trying to get out of the vines. It was a struggle and I made no progress from when I started. I felt tears of frustration form in my eyes. That stupid, stupid, stupid rattata...

"Hey, are you okay?"

I looked at the boy. I couldn't see his face clearly on account of it being upside down and my blurry vision obscuring it, but...

"What do you care?" I muttered.

The boy sighed. He shifted for a moment, grunted, and my ears twitched when I heard sounds of...scraping?

I blinked the tears out of my eyes with confusion. The boy was pressing his back against the wall, standing on his two tied up legs-to the best of his ability, I guessed, and rubbing his back up and down against the wall. I stared incredulously. "What in the hell are you doing...?"

"Getting out off this thing." The boy grunted. He winced. "Oh, ouch...I think I might have accidentally scraped my wrist..."

I stared, not sure how I was supposed to react. This boy was...strange, to say the least. I had no clue what to make of him, and trying to think about it just brought on a headache. Normally, if I encountered a problem that I couldn't solve, I would just shock it to oblivion until it went away. It was simple and effective. It also let others know to never mess with me again, killing two birds with one stone.

My cheeks sparks as I continued observing the boy. Maybe if I tried that here...

"Yes!" The boy's sudden cry startled me and he instantly yelped. "Oops, I meant..." he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Yay..."

The boy stood up and the vines that tied up his arms to his sides fell apart. He freed his arms with a little bit more struggle, but eventually managed. He moved on to his legs and untied them as well.

"...how did you...?"

"Huh? How did I break out of the vines? Well, it's simple, really. I used my intelligence to scratch the vines against the wall and wear it away until it broke." He paused before muttering under his breath, "it's pretty much the only thing that I remember from my history class."

History class...?

Humans had really strange customs. Why in the whole wide world would this boy learn what seemed to be a survival tactic in a...class...about history...? What history did they learn anyway? The history of humanity?

I tried not to giggle at that. It sounded so ridiculous. And stupid. Who would willingly sit through a class on the history of humanity? It was bound to be filled with repetition and supreme amounts of stupidity.

"But, nevermind that!" The boy rushed as he broke the last of his restraints and stood up. "We need to find a way out of here." He walked over to me, then hesitated, before grabbing at my vines.

"Hey!" I growled, thrashing in his grip. He yelped, and jumped backwards. "What the hell are you doing?"

"...untying you?"

"Yeah, well I didn't ask to be untied!"

"Wait what-you don't want me to help you escape?"

"Well..." I felt words fail me. I glared and sent of warning sparks. "I don't care. Get away from me!"

The boy stepped back and put his hands up. "Okay. Okay, fine. I'm not touching you. Happy now?"

My cheeks continued sparking.

The boy sighed. "You seriously want to stay hung up from the ceiling like that? You don't want to escape or at least stay upright? You have to be feeling bad from being held upside down like that."

I remained quiet, not wanting to admit that the boy was right. The vines were suffocating and I knew that the stupid rattata had done that on purpose. She knew how much I hated being restrained.

The boy sighed. "Look, I know how you may feel about me, but...how about we call a truce to...get out of here?"

A truce, huh?

"What makes you think that this truce would help us get out of here? I know my way around this forest just fine. The only one who'd benefit from this 'truce' would be you. And believe me when I say I don't really feel like helping you out."

The boy sighed then looked toward me pleadingly. "I know, but..."

"But...?"

"...I want to prove myself to you. Prove that maybe not all humans are bad..." he looked me in the eye unflinchingly. "...And maybe we can be friends."

...this damn kid was starting to get on my nerves. Why was he so damn desperate to make friends? Friends with me, no less? Did he not have anything better to do?

Then again...I thought, neither do you...

I frowned. Sure, that was true, but...this kid was a human. I didn't...I had no obligation to go with him...and...he still had a Poke Ball that he could use to basically control me. Even if I ran, I was stuck. But...the rattata did have a good grasp of my hiding spots around now, so if she wanted to, she could easily find me...not to mention that it would make me lose my chance to destroy that dammed Poke Ball in the first place.

I met the boy's eyes for a moment, holding onto his gaze for longer then I had wanted to, so I looked away.

"...fine." I muttered under my breath.

The boy's head lifted. "Wait, what?"

"I said fine! You can have your stupid one-sided truce! Now, let me down, already!" I scowled.

The boy seemed in shock for a moment before his face lit up. "You mean it, really? You'll give me a chance?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, don't make me regret this...whatever your name is."

"It's Ash."

"Yeah, I said whatever."

The boy huffed in annoyance and started to untie me. He held me with one hand and I felt the vines begin to loosen their hold on me. I began to breathe easier when he finally untied the last of it and I could jump down from the air.

I shook myself off when I landed on the floor. "Oh, finally!" I said gleefully. "When I see that stupid rattata, I'm going to shock her into oblivion for tying me up!"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Are you cluster...cloister...claustro...phobic, or something like that?"

"No." I said. I didn't know what claustrophobia was, but whatever it was, I definitely didn't have it.

"...okay." That was that, I supposed...

The boy straightened up and looked around the cave. He frowned. "Looks like the only way out is the same way that rattata went...hey, have you been through this cave before?"

"Nope," I said as we began slowly walking out of the cave. "That dumb rattata's always changing places, so I never really know where the hell she and her mom live. They live separate from the rest of the rattata tribe in Mountain-side, some kind of deal or territory negotiation...either way, it's stupid." I huffed. "I usually stay out of drama like that in Mountain-side. It's the best way to survive out here."

"Huh..." the boy said thoughtfully. "Do you move around too? Or do you have a place to stay?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I mostly just wander around, seek shelter in the occasional tree. Sometimes I'd crash at Ol' Bellsprout's cave, but..." I smirked as the boy sent me a questioning look. "He's crazy."

The boy made an 'oh' shape with his mouth. He turned his head forward and I felt a little relieved that he stopped talking to me. I had only spoken to him for less than a minute, but I already felt mentally drained.

My peace only lasted a couple of seconds, sadly, as the boy began speaking to me. I audibly groaned as he asked, "do you have a name?"

The boy didn't seem to take offense and instead elaborated on his sudden question. "I mean, I heard that wild pokemon in particular often give out names to their kids...something called a Sacred Name, right? It's kind of like a privilege for some pokemon-"

"I know how Sacred Names work, dumbass," I snarked. "As for my own Sacred Name...you don't need to know."

"So, then, what am I supposed to call you? Just Pikachu?"

"Sure, whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay...um-"

"You're not going to ask me another question again, are you?" I growled, sending off sparks to let him know how I felt about that idea.

"I'm just trying to get to know you!" The boy defended. "You're kind of hard to talk to..."

I rolled my eyes again. "You don't think I know that? You should give up while you're ahead."

"I never give up!" The boy declare triumphantly.

I rolled my eyes in reply. "Whatever. Look, we're almost near the cave entrance, so keep it down." I pointed outside as we hid behind some rocks and slowly started shuffling forward. It was nearly dark outside, the sky shrouded in dark grey clouds. I heard rumbling in the distance and rain was pouring.

"Ah, man," the boy muttered. "It's raining." He checked behind his back. "It's a good thing that rattata tied me up with my backpack...did she not know how to take it off?"

I shushed him and pointed near a large tree some distance away from the entrance of the cave. The rattata was gathering berries into a sack formed from large leaves. She was muttering something to herself, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Let's go while she's distracted," I said. I scurried in the direction that the rattata had her back to without waiting to see if the boy had followed. I rolled my eyes when I had neared one of the trees around the cave and saw the boy still in the same place near the entrance. He was watching the rattata with a look of awe painted on his face, for presumably stupid reasons.

What a moron. He was going to get himself caught. I huffed, deciding that I should get out of here while I could. If he seriously wanted to stay behind, then that was his choice. As soon as I was about to turn around, however, the rattata shouted, "hey!" I cringed. Fantastic.

The boy yelped and scrambled backward, pressing his back against the outside cave wall. However, her focus wasn't on him. It was on me. She bared her teeth. "Leaving so soon?"

I didn't partake in her attempt at banter and fired off a Thundershock. I had wide range, so I'm pretty sure I accidentally hit the boy too, judging by his shout. The rattata unfortunately escaped her death by a margin and charged toward me with her fangs glowing.

Oh, shi-

I jumped backward as she tried to chomp down on my tail, just barely missing it. I glared at her. "You need some new tricks."

"I don't want you of all pokemon telling that to me, you one-trick rodent. Seriously, do you even have any brain cells left in that head of yours?"

I bared my fangs at her and tackled her to the ground in a fit of rage. We rolled around in the dirt, each of us trying to gain dominance over the other.

"H-hey!" I heard the boy say. The rattata managed to pin me to the ground and tried to bite me. I struggled to keep her off me as she kept me pinned. I noticed the boy making his way toward us, grabbing on to the rattata and pulling her off. She immediately took offense to that, biting down hard on his hand.

"OW!" The boy screamed and flailed wildly, trying to shake the rattata off of his hand. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

I got to my feet and stared in complete bafflement. What the hell was he doing...?

"Oh, screw this!" The rattata let go of the boy's hand. The boy fell backwards out of reflex and he turned his attention towards me. As did the rattata.

"Pikachu, get out of here!"

Oh, for the love of-

"This is ridiculous!" I shrieked and charged up a Thundershock. "It's a single freaking rattata!"

The rattata's eyes flashed as she charged toward me.

"PikaCHUUU!"

The rattata skidded to a stop with wide eyes. "That's-!"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as I released my Thunder throughout the entire area. The light engulfed me and for a second my vision blacked out. It took me a few blinks to adjust and realize that my surroundings were now burnt and sparking with residues of my attack. The air also faintly smelled like something. Kind of like something...burnt?

I heard a shout and sighed. Glaring, I turned my attention toward the boy, who was staring at the unconscious and charred rattata on the ground with widened eyes. "D-d-did you just...?"

I rolled my eyes and touched the rattata. She twitched slightly, but I could tell she wasn't getting back up again. "She's still alive, you dumbass. This is what you get for standing around gawking at pokemon like an idiot."

"I-I was just..."

"Yeah, whatever. If she wasn't attacking me, you would've been dead, so..." I smirked. "I guess this means you owe me."

"...owe you?"

"Yes," I said. "You. Owe. Me."

The boy stared at my triumphant look for a couple seconds. "Uh...sure?"

My smile faded. "What do you mean, 'sure'?" I demanded. Then I growled. "You know what, don't answer that. Let's scram."

The boy hesitated before following me through the trees. He held his gaze onto the area I had nearly decimated for a while longer. Then he piped up a question. "Hey, aren't you worried that someone might see all of that?"

"See what?"

"All of...this."

I didn't answer and continued walking. When the boy realized I was going to leave him behind, he rushed after me. I huffed in annoyance.

"So, uh..."

"Shut up," I said. "I really don't feel like listening to you talk."

The boy looked appalled. "I just wanted to thank you!"

That caught me off guard for a moment. "Thank me...?"

"Yeah! For, you know, coming back to save me. You could've just ran away first chance you got, like when the rattata was, er, biting my hand..."

I stiffened. "I got distracted. Don't think I was trying to be noble or whatever..."

The boy wiped the water dripping down his face and looked up toward the sky. A loud rumble was heard. "Hey, I can still thank you if I want to. What's wrong with that?"

I felt anger and frustration rise inside me at those words. I could think of plenty wrong with that. The fact that it was pointless, stupid, made no sense, was unnecessary...I frowned and avoided looking at the boy's eyes.

It was stupid. He was stupid. This was all plain stupid...

"Thank you, Pikachu." The boy went ahead and said it. "For saving us both back there."

...both of us?

"...whatever," I muttered. For some inexplicable reason, I felt tears gather in my eyes. I blinked them out of my eyes as best as I could and stared straight ahead, not meeting the boy's gaze. We walked in silence afterward, not uttering a single word.

I led the boy through the forest. We took a few turns here and there, hit the occasional dead end, and I began to feel my frustration built. "PikaCHUUU!"

The boy yelped and jumped backwards. My Thundershock dissipated into the ground in front of him. He looked shaken. "Well, that was...uh...random. Are you okay?"

"No!" I snapped. "I have no idea where the hell I'm going!"

"I thought you knew this place-"

"I do! But not this area specifically...ugh, that stupid purple rat probably knew I wouldn't be able to find my way out of here..."

"Huh..." the boy mused. He crossed his arms and seemed to be in deep thought. "Well, what if-"

A loud rumble in the distance made both of us jump, followed by the distinct sound of a lightning bolt striking the earth. I noticed a flash in the distance and turned toward it. I began counting, but before I could make it very far, the lightning struck again, this time much closer to our location.

The boy looked alarmed. "How the heck did the storm catch up to us so fast?!"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?!"

"Ohhh, man. We need to find shelter, fast-"

"Is that so?"

I felt the blood drain out of my face as lightning flashed again. I slowly turned around to see the owner of that chilling voice. A spearow.

No, I corrected myself. Not just any spearow...

The spearow adjusted his position on the tree branch he was perched on and leered down at us. Or, more specifically, me. I don't think he nor I cared about the boy at the moment.

The spearow's beady eyes burned holes into my soul. I tried to stop myself from shaking. If he was here, then...then...I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "Well, it's been a while, hasn't it, you vermin?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Damn it, why couldn't I say anything?!

"Hey!" The boy's voice made me flinch and I stared at him with wide eyed horror. Was he nuts? Why the hell was he calling out to a spearow? Let alone one of the most dangerous spearow- "Don't call him that!"

The spearow raised an eyebrow. "A human..." he muttered under his breath, as if he had just noticed him. I took his lack of shock in stride. The fearow sent his sons out regularly to human populations to...collect certain materials that he happened to want or...need. This spearow was his eldest son, so it was no surprise that he would be used to seeing a human...just not in this forest, that is. The spearow raised his voice. "Call him what, human child? This is no business of yours."

"You called him a bad word," the boy said stubbornly. I cringed. Wow, he had to be the biggest idiot in the world to talk back to a member of Fearow's flock like that... "Don't do that."

The spearow looked mildly offended and I felt my stomach churn. Nobody ever got "mildly offended" in this forest. It was either they didn't care or...

"You're going to regret that, human child," the spearow said. He was calm and I felt pure terror wash over me in waves. The spearow raised his wings grandiosely. I heard a magnitude of fluttering surrounding us. I glanced around and my heart stopped. An entire flock of spearow were staring down on us with ravishing hunger in their beady eyes.

I felt an icy fear latch on to my heart.

"Get them."

Lightning flashed and a second later, the spearow charged.

"Run!" The boy screamed. His voice snapped me out of my trance and I stumbled after him. I heard the spearow's cries from behind us, drawing nearer and nearer...

"Get away from me!" I shrieked, sending off erratic sparks in warning as a few spearow started pecking at me. Their sharp beaks snapped at my fur, almost as if they were trying to groom it. It would be kind of them, if they weren't trying to maim me to death. That, and, the spearow are absolutely horrendous when it comes to grooming anyway.

The spearows pecked at me harder and I found myself tripping. I fell into the dirt as more spearow began to peck at me. I felt their sharp beaks puncture my skin and I cried out in pain.

"Hey!" The boy ran over to me, holding his hands over his head. He swiped at the spearow and threw them off of me. "Back off!"

It was when he picked me up off the ground and began running, with me cradled in his arms that I realized something. Something about this boy. It wasn't anything I didn't know from our first meeting, but...this realization was accompanied with a strange feeling I had never felt before. The same feeling I got when the boy thanked me and I had incomprehensibly felt like crying. I couldn't put my finger on what the feeling was, but one thought rang clear despite it.

This boy, Ash, was a complete and utter moron.

"You're going to be okay, Pikachu. You're going to be okay..." he chanted over and over again, seeming to reassure himself as much as it was meant to reassure me. I stared at him in a daze. What...what was wrong with him...? "Y-you'll be okay, I promise..."

One of the spearow shrieked. I recognized him as the spearow who was Fearow's eldest. "Running from your punishment, I see! You're the same as ever, you pathetic vermin!"

I winced and curled up tighter in...A-the boy's arms. I hadn't paid much mind to it, but...

"Leave him alone!" The boy bellowed. I'm not entirely sure how, but he began to sprint even faster. "Come on, come on, come on..."

I wasn't sure what he was trying to do anymore. He should just give up right now, while he still can. All we were doing by running was just delaying the inevitable. Hell, the spearow flock might not actually kill him. I have a greater chance of dying, unfortunately, but I'm not sure why he's so hell bent on sticking around.

"Just give up already!" The spearow cried. "You're only delaying the inevitable."

Damn spearow stole my line-!

"No!" The boy screamed. Then he tripped and stumbled forward. I fell out of his arms as we both slammed onto the ground, mud splattering everywhere. Why did it feel like it was so far away...? Oh. I barely made out the edge of a trench above us. So, the boy must have not seen the pit before he fell right into it. Great.

The spearow began circling the sky above us, cackling with glee. Good for them, I guess. They finally managed to corner their victims. Knowing the eldest spearow son, he'll surely put on a show to kill us in the most deliberately agonizing way possible. Either that or he'll drag me to his father for him to kill me instead.

I wonder if there are any members of the pidgey tribe watching...surely, they'd have much to gossip about after this.

I curled in on myself and stared at the dirt, counting down the seconds toward my inevitable end. I went through my regrets. I never got to see that dumb squirtle get boiled and chopped up for food, so I guess that was something. Nor did I ever get to destroy that stupid Poke Ball like I wanted to. I didn't get to find out whether or not that professor actually kept rodent pokemon frozen in his refrigerator.

...I also regretted not doing anything of value with my life to the point where most of my actual regrets seem to have been accumulated over the course of two weeks.

Ah, well. I guess this is it, then-

"Pikachu." I sighed and sent the boy a weak look. Why couldn't he just give up already-?

The boy held out a Poke Ball with a lightning bolt on it-that Poke Ball-and rolled over toward me. He reached out to me. "Pikachu, please," he said. "I know you don't like Poke Balls, but if you go inside, you'll be safe. They won't be able to hurt you, so, please...go inside! It's the only way!"

I stared at the Poke Ball. Then at the boy. Then back at the Poke Ball again. He sent one last desperate glance toward me before shakily getting up to his feet and standing in front of me, his arms outstretched.

I stared at his white sneakers and slowly looked up. Lightning flashed and the boy began to shout toward the spearow. He was crazy. This boy was absolutely crazy.

"Hey, you dumb birds! Listen up!"

He was crazy.

"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town, and I'm destined to be the world's number one Pokemon Master!"

He was a complete and utter idiot.

"I won't be defeated by the likes of you! You want me? Fine."

He...

"COME AND GET ME!"

...his legs were shaking. Lightning flashed. The spearows circled around and granted the boy's wish. They charged.

Time slowed down. Lightning struck a nearby tree. The boy's entire body was shaking, but he stayed standing. The fearow's eldest son led the charge-

Then I decided.

I got to my feet and rushed forward, jumping off of the boy's shoulders toward the spearow. Our eyes locked for a brief second and I felt my heart stop. He was terrified. I was terrified. We were both terrified-

Lightning struck a third time and it wasn't until I smelled something burning that I realized it was me.

Energy flowed. My cheeks sparks.

Then time sped up again.

"PikaCHUUU!"

This boy-Ash-wanted me to give him a chance, huh?

Fine, I thought bitterly. You'll get your chance, Ash.

Just don't make me regret this.

I'm busy this week, so I don't think there'll be an update next Sunday, unfortunately. I'll edit this note later when I can promise an exact date, though.

This chapter wasn't meant to be so damn long, but I couldn't find a place to end it. Either way, you might notice more similarities with the anime from now on, until I start kicking off my own plot and the differences become more prominent. Until then, I hope you enjoy the parallels between this story and the anime.

Thank you for reading and please review! Many thanks to all those who have reviewed already! I really appreciate it a lot! :D