It was starting to become a regular thing, I realized, me getting knocked out by something and waking up sometimes later feeling sore all over, sporting a piercing headache that reverberated through my entire being.

Just because I realized this, didn't mean I had to like it.

I heard hushed whispers that steadily grew more clear as I drifted closer to consciousness. Still feeling sore, I kept my eyes closed as I lay against the oddly soft ground.

"-have to understand!" That voice sounded vaguely familiar. I felt a feeling of annoyance rise up within me, however, so I quickly surmised that it was the caterpie I had moments prior to falling to my doom. Or, supposed doom. "I didn't mean to trespass! I was being chased by her and ran in here!"

"You decided to run into Mt. Moon of all places to safety?" Another voice, one I didn't recognize, spoke. They sounded impatient and rather irritated. "Couldn't you have, I dunno, just dug a hole in the ground or something?"

"How am I supposed to do that?!"

"Er...if I may speak on the matter..." A third voice, sounding rather apologetic and oddly eloquent, cleared her throat. "I do believe that even if this caterpie here had decided to take that as a means of escape, I would have come up with some way to prevent that from happening. Nothing escapes my eye."

"You mean except the net." The second voice pointed out dubiously. "You definitely didn't see the net."

"...yes, well, I was quite...distracted at that moment."

"But you understand now, right?" The caterpie pleaded. "We didn't mean to waltz in your territory! It's just a big misunderstanding! Like they always say, 'do not make assumptions unless you know the full story. If in doubt, ask the person directly'! And that's exactly what you did and now you know the full story!"

My headache having receded somewhat during the course of the conversation, I groaned and slowly pulled myself up, opening my eyes to see the caterpie, an annoyed looking jigglypuff, and a pidgeotto tied in vines. All three pokemon were staring at me as I stared at them.

"Yes?" I asked impatiently.

"You're awake!" The caterpie cheered and lunged at me, hugging me with his tiny caterpie arms. I immediately recoiled and pushed him back with a scowl, which unfortunately didn't seem to deter him. "I was worried! I mean, actually, I wasn't, because as they always say, 'a watched pot never boils', so of course if I kept worrying and watching and hoping you would wake up you never would! So, I just kinda left you on your own and talked with this nice jigglypuff and that scary pidgeotto girl and-"

"Will you just shut up?" I hissed, causing the caterpie to yelp.

The jigglypuff raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Damn, somebody's grumpy."

"Er..." The pidgeotto awkwardly chuckled and looked off to the side. "I assume that would be my fault..."

I glared. "What the hell is going on?"

The jigglypuff groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Well, for starters," she began, and pointed toward the caterpie and pidgeotto. "You and that caterpie interrupted my singing session by literally falling on my head, mind you, and then this birdbrain followed right after, trying to eat all three of us."

"...as I said before, I truly apologize for this mess." The pidgeotto said, embarrassed. "I feel rather guilty."

"You should." The jigglypuff said disapprovingly. "What the hell kind of conditions have you been living in to resort to eating another pokemon? Plus, why were you attacking me? I'm a goddamn jigglypuff, not a tiny bug for you to sink your teeth into."

Something about that statement pricked at me and I frowned, unable to put my finger on it. It wasn't the comment about her being a jigglypuff, though, that was for sure. She was an idiot to think pokemon wouldn't try to eat her. Pokemon are never that generous.

"...you looked like a big berry." The pidgeotto confessed, blushing. At the jigglypuff's exasperated look and the caterpie's shudders, she quickly tried to make amends. "I-I do sincerely apologize! I never meant to cause harm, I just get rather...unruly, when I am in a state of voraciousness hunger."

The caterpie eyed the pidgeotto and cautiously crept forward. "R-really?"

The pidgeotto lowered her head to meet the caterpie's gaze, causing the bug to flinch back slightly, though he remained undeterred. She looked straight into his eyes and nodded gently. She gave a soft smile and bowed her head.

I felt an air of silence overcome the cave as the caterpie approached the pidgeotto until their foreheads were touching. Suddenly, my headache retreated back to the farthest depths of my mind, along with any other thoughts I knew I would have on a normal, day-to-day basis.

"Okay," the caterpie mumbled. "I forgive you."

"Thank you," the pidgeotto said softly.

This...this was not normal.

The caterpie pulled away and turned to the jigglypuff with a cheery chirp. "Alright. You can untie her now. She won't eat us!"

The jigglypuff snorted. "Nice try, my guy. Just cause you two made amends doesn't mean I'll trust her just like that. You know she could be fooling you, right?"

"Well, like they always say, 'you'll never know unless you try'." The caterpie chirped. "Right, Pikachu?"

It took me a second to register that the bug was speaking to me. "What?" I muttered, completely lost. It took me another second to register that the bug was acting as if I had given him permission to address me by name.

"See?" He continued, completely ignoring my lack of response. "It'll be totally fine! Plus, she seems to be pretty genuine, even if she did try to kill and eat me!"

The pidgeotto looked just as baffled as I felt. "Er...while I am touched you accepted my apology for my rather...uncouth actions...sweetheart, I believe the jigglypuff has a point. I do not mind staying tied up if it makes you more comfortable, as long as you agree to eventually let me go free."

"Fine," the jigglypuff sighed. "As long as you don't try and cause trouble, that's fine with me. Anyway, I believe you said you and the pikachu were lost?" The pink pokemon addressed her question toward the caterpie, who nodded fervently.

"Yup! I ran into him just as I was trying to get away from the pidgeotto, so we fell in the same hole that led us here."

"Okay, good to know, I can get rid of you all at the same time" she said, with another sigh. "I can't believe my singing session got interrupted for this crap..."

I snorted. "Singing session? Are you serious?"

The jigglypuff's eyes fell into a dull glare. "...just shut up and follow me. You're lucky you came across me instead of the clefairy clan that lives here. They would have killed you on the spot."

"Clefairy clan?" The pidgeotto voiced, the sound of mild alarm seeping through her voice.

"Guess you've heard of them, then. No surprise. They've helped make Mt. Moon quite a scary place. Even humans limit the roads that go through Viridian and this mountain range."

"...I thought that was because of the Mountain-side of Viridian Forest." I said, narrowing my eyes.

The pidgeotto stiffened at that and I noticed the caterpie fell silent. Good riddance. Guess I knew what set of words to use if I ever need that thing to shut up. Which was pretty much always. Unfortunately.

The clefairy narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly. "Well, yes...Mountain-side is...definitely a place pokemon and humans alike should avoid, if possible, but it's not the only factor that contributes to Mt. Moon's reputation. Mountain-side's own is kind of...separate, in a way. Most humans probably don't even know about the existence of Mountain-side."

It felt strange, holding this newfound knowledge with me. I felt conflicted for reasons I couldn't comprehend. That forest was a hellhole and I wanted nothing to do with it, yet anytime I heard the way other pokemon would talk about it...I felt an inexplicable surge of rage.

"The Mountain-side of Viridian Forest is populated by incredibly feral pokemon. Feral pokemon are incredibly detached from society, more so than any other wild pokemon."

I almost scoffed. What did that stupid bulbasaur know? 'Detached from society' my foot. She could only say such stupid things cause she was probably raised all nice and cozy in a stupid laboratory. The rumors about laboratories were mostly false, but one part did hold truth to it: it was hell to anyone who was a wild pokemon. If you were a pokemon born in a lab...lucky for you, you'd adapt quickly.

Pokemon were just as bad as humans, all of them. A species driven solely out of selfishness, greed, and pride. There was no room for kindness, no room for silly concepts like 'family' or 'love', and there was certainly no room for a pokemon to have any dreams of their own. Surely, all that would lead to a pokemon's own self-destruction.

"Do you have any dreams for the future?"

No. No, I don't. There was no room for that here. No room for...

"Pikachu?" The caterpie's voice violently snapped me out of my thoughts and I instinctively retaliated by shooting out warning sparks. "Are you alright?"

I blinked the sudden tears away, taken aback by the seemingly concerned expressions on...not just the caterpie's face, but the pidgeotto and the jigglypuff's as well.

"I'm fine," I snapped, not liking all the attention on me. "Would you all stop gawking at me like that?"

"But-" The caterpie began to protest, but faltered when my cheeks sparked. If he spoke even another word, I would fry him to death on the spot.

The jigglypuff eyes me warily before changing the subject. I felt grateful for a brief second before I pushed that feeling down. She probably just had other priorities. "Well, in any case. All three of you follow me. I'll lead you out of Mt. Moon." She tugged on the pidgeotto's vine and began walking forward.

The caterpie quickly skirted after her as I just stared, not sure what to do.

That was yet another thing that seemed to be happening a lot lately, I noticed. Always feeling uncertain, fearful of the unknown, constantly feeling on the precipice of insanity with all these wildly conflicting emotions raging inside me...

Sometimes I just wished I had some sort of ability to just...get rid of my emotions entirely. It would be so easy. So painless. There would be no suffering involved...

"Hey, Pikachu?" I glared at the caterpie, who stood a little ways ahead of me. I noticed the jigglypuff and pidgeotto getting further away, seeming to have not noticed that the two of us had stayed behind. "Are...are you okay?"

"You're seriously asking this question again?" I growled.

"Well...yeah. I know I just met you, but you seem a little...off."

I felt my fur bristle at that. Simultaneously, I felt nauseous. "You don't know me." I whispered.

"I know, I know," the caterpie said hurriedly. "But there's also a saying. A human one. 'Any fool can know. The point is to understand.'"

I gritted my teeth, fighting back every urge I had to scream and rage against the world until I had no energy left inside of me. "Why would you...want to understand me?"

The caterpie tilted his head to the side. "Why not?"

"Because it's stupid!" I spat.

The caterpie looked doubtful. I wanted to punch him. "I don't think so. Besides, the best part about understanding someone is that you can figure out how to help them have fun! And as they say, 'having fun is the best part about life'!"

I stared. I wasn't sure how to answer that.

This caterpie...irritatingly reminded me of Ash. Granted, there was no point in thinking that since I'm pretty sure he's dead now.

'Right...that annoying ass kid is dead now.'

It wasn't like I cared. So, I found myself asking for the millionth time, why did I feel a numbness wash over me when I admitted to myself that he was probably dead?

I shrugged it off as a side effect of my headache. Still, the thought pricked at me and I just remained quiet as I wordlessly followed the caterpie after the jigglypuff and the pidgeotto right after. I kept to myself, ignoring the questions I got from the jigglypuff, who seemed to regret taking me along.

I was fine with that. I was used to being alone. There was no difference now...and there never would be.

"Shit," came out of the jigglypuff's mouth as we entered what looked to be a large cave. She gestured for us to hide behind a large rock as she peeked over it. "I must've taken a wrong turn somewhere..."

"What? What's wrong?" The pidgeotto asked in alarm.

"The Clefairy Clan," the fairy whispered in reply. "I see a few of them lounging around toward one of the tunnels that leads to an entrance..." Her brow furrowed. "Huh. Weird. There's a bunch of humans with them, too."

My ears pricked at that. "Humans?" Ignoring her protests, I leaped onto the rock next to her, enough to be able to see, but also enough to make sure I wasn't seen by the clefairy themselves. Sure enough, sitting all the way across the cave were the group of clefairy that the jigglypuff had mentioned. There were about five of them.

Behind them, tied to a rock, were two humans. The orange haired girl...and Ash.

So, he's alive...

I wasn't sure how to feel about that. I glanced at the jigglypuff, who seemed to be scanning the cave for another way out.

"What do we do?" The caterpie whispered. I was almost surprised he had enough sensibility to stay quiet.

"Hold on, I'm trying to think...I think I can sneak you guys out if we go around them. But...we'll be near those humans."

"They're tied up," I pointed out. "What are they gonna do to us?"

The jigglypuff glanced at me. Her gaze lingered for a few seconds and I felt myself grow irritated.

"What?" I hissed.

"Nothing." She replied, looking away. "Alright, follow me. And stay quiet."

As we carefully crept behind the rocks, edging closer and closer to the group of clefairy, I could overhear some small bits of their conversation. From what I could tell, it seemed as if they were...talking with...Ash and the orange haired girl.

"-told you, we're not working with those guys!" Ash's voice. He sounded frustrated and desperate.

"Oh, shut it, sniveling human." Another voice sneered. One of the clefairy, I'd guessed. "You made a big mistake wandering into our territory like that. Now you and your girlfriend are going to pay."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Ash protested, causing the orange haired girl to snap her head toward him in horror.

"Sorry, this thing thinks I'm your girlfriend?!"

"Shut up!" Another clefairy snapped. "We'll figure out what we're going to do with you after the ritual. Until then...just stay quiet and maybe we'll consider letting you off free."

Ash didn't reply to that.

I eyed the opening we were heading toward. I had my doubts we would be able to sneak past the clefairy. Or...was there something else bothering me?

At this point, I didn't even know. I had been knocked out several times in the past few weeks, thrown around like a rag doll, treated like a monster, and...given hugs, baths, and smiles. All from Ash, now that I think about it.

I thought back to the bath he gave me at the Viridian Poke Center. He was gentle, but firm, while he was scrubbing my fur. It'd been ages since I received such care in that manner. Months. Years, even.

...actually, was it never? Try as I might, I couldn't think of anyone who had shown me the same care...and meant it. I added that last part with a scowl. I shooed all my thoughts away with that. No, Ash would show his true colors eventually. I just knew it. Humans, Pokemon...they were both one in the same in the end.

"-and frankly, I don't even understand how YOU can understand what we're saying hu-HEY!"

I flinched as the clefairy's voice raised an octave. His newfound burst of anger was directed toward us, the group of pokemon who had now failed to sneak past those stupid fairy types. I was immediately reminded of that girl's clefairy from the laboratory. Oh, hell no-

"Uh oh," the jigglypuff managed to squeak out.

"M-maybe if we don't move, they-they'll reconsider going after us?" The caterpie whimpered.

"I...I sincerely doubt that," The pidgeotto whispered, looking over her shoulder nervously.

The same clefairy that had shouted before put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Strange. That...was a human gesture, was it not? Did some pokemon use such things as well?

That's news to me...

"GET THEM!"

"Ah!" The jigglypuff yelped and pushed as all forward. "Run like hell!"

She didn't need to tell me twice.

The four of us made a mad dash toward the exit, dodging and weaving through projectiles launched at us by the clefairy. I noticed the pidgeotto having difficulty keeping up with her wings tied together. Ah, well. That was on her for being an idiot and insisting that she should stay tied up.

I also noticed that Ash noticed me.

"Pikachu!" His eyes lit up and I instantly cringed. He was going to try and stop me from escaping, wasn't he? Ash's eyes darted to the angry clefairy and back to me. His gaze hardened. "Run! Run as fast as you can and save yourself!"

...what?

Contrary to my "trainer's" wishes, I immediately skidded to a stop. I whipped my head toward him and analyzed his facial expression, trying to determine if he was serious or not.

"What is he doing?" The orange haired girl muttered. "Didn't you tell your pikachu to keep running?"

Ash bit his lip. "Pikachu...they're gaining on you! Run!"

I glanced behind me to see that, yes, they were in fact gaining on me. Back to sprinting the hell out of here, I guess.

Without a second thought-at least, I hoped I wasn't having second thoughts-I moved my legs toward the exit, following the jigglypuff, the caterpie, and the pidgeotto.

Behind me, between the angered cries of the clefairy, the frustrated yelps of the orange haired girl, and the echoes of the haphazardly thrown attacks reverberating throughout the cave, I heard Ash let out a strange sigh.

Not an annoyed sigh. I was familiar with those. Nor was it a sigh of disappointment.

This was a sigh I hadn't...heard before. I couldn't quite pinpoint the emotion behind it.

I kept running, even as the cries of the clefairy behind us grew distant. Still, the strange sigh Ash made...it pricked at me.

...woo! This fic is alive! Chapters from this point on will be much shorter, my apologies, but until I get back into my writing funk, I'm going to try doing whatever I can to do exactly that. Hence, shorter chapters, random updates, etcetera. Hope you enjoyed this chapter for what it was, though!