Author's note: Heyo!

This time, I tried my hand at writing for my newest passion: the Adventures (or Special) manga! And for a shipping that didn't get as much attention as I'd like, both in the manga itself and in the fandom. The one very creatively called PikaChuchuShipping! Haha.

(And there'll even be some SpecialShipping, 'cause why not? I like that one, too!)

Hope you enjoy it!

That being said, spoilers for a hefty chunk of the manga!

Chapter One: A Meeting of Mice

Pika was sitting in the rocky fields on the outskirts of Pallet Town. The pikachu and his teammates were currently watching their trainer, Red, practice for his gym leader exam tomorrow.

If everything went well - and Pika was sure it would! - then this fourteen-year-old boy would become the new gym leader of Viridian City!

And he'd definitely make a better one than that damn Giovanni had...

Sitting on a rock a safe distance away, Blue's big sister, Daisy, was also watching as Red commanded Poli to use Double Slap. The poliwath charged towards the rocks, slapping and shattering them one after another in quick succession. When Red called for a Dynamic Punch, Poli jumped back to give himself some distance. Then, with a tightly-clenched fist, he punched the ground as hard as possible. A line of small explosions erupted from underground, shattering a large cluster of rocks, and almost blowing Red's cap off his black hair.

The debris from the attack went flying straight up into the air, and straight back down again, so nobody watching got a sudden shower of rocks. Pika appreciated that, and he was sure everyone else did, too.

Once he was done, Poli stood back with his hands on his hips. "(How was that?)" he asked proudly, an ever-present frown on his face.

Pika always wondered whether or not the poliwrath was smiling, since he couldn't see a mouth on him. But he probably was, right? He shrugged to himself.

"Great work, Poli!" Red said excitedly, giving a thumbs up. "That was perfect!"

"(We're looking good for tomorrow,)" Vee said from nearby. Pika turned to see the espeon sitting next to him, his two-pronged tail flicking back and forth.

"(Oh, definitely!)" Pika replied in all confidence. "(That's gym's as good as ours!)"

"(Maybe so.)" Vee looked away to inspect his fur. Frowning slightly at it, he lifted a paw, licked it, and started brushing down his fur with it.

Pika watched him do this for several seconds, and got progressively more exasperated as it didn't stop. "(It looks fine, you know...)"

Vee paused a moment. "(Hmm? What, my fur? No, it doesn't, it's all messy.)" He licked his paw a second time, and went back to brushing his purple fur.

Pika heaved a sigh. "(Can't believe you're still doing this...)" He smirked. "(Thought maybe you'd stop after finally getting a stable form.)"

Vee shot him a light glare. "(Hmph.)" He immediately went back to brushing.

Seriously, this guy had been like this ever since he'd met him as an eevee that could change type at will. Fussy about his fur, fussy about his food, fussy about where he slept if it was outside his pokéball...

Urgh... he was a cool guy and all, but goddamn, he could be a pain, sometimes...

Turning back to Red, Pika watched him recall Poli to his pokéball. Then the boy looked in Pika's direction with a grin. "Okay, Vee, you're up!" he called out.

"(Hmm?)" Vee asked. There was a pause. "(... Oh! Sorry. Coming!)"

As the espeon ran past Pika, the pikachu couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. Oy... So focused on grooming himself that he hadn't been paying attention!

After training Vee for a while, Red switched to Gyara. Once the gyarados had also gotten his fill of training, he happily thrashed his tail against the ground, causing the earth to shake underneath Pika's feet.

"(Did I do good?!)" Gyara asked excitedly. "(Did I?! Did I?!)"

Jeez... always so eager to please, that one...

After that, it was Saur's turn. Pika watched as the venusaur destroyed rock after rock with his Razor Leaf and Vine Whip, with not a single movement wasted.

The pikachu gave an impressed huff. Saur's power and accuracy was certainly nothing to sneeze at! Of course, neither was his own, but still. He had to give his teammates their due credit, too.

Once Saur was done, the field they were in was a bit of a mess. The venusaur inspected his handiwork and looked unsure.

"(Did I go a bit overboard...?)" he muttered.

Pika huffed again, this time in amusement. Man, Saur had been so focused during the training, and now he was second-guessing himself? That was just like him.

Now done with that part of the training, Red recalled Saur, holding up his hand to catch the returning pokéball.

It flew right past his hand and landed on the grass.

Pika's eyes widened in shock. What... was that?! Had... Red not recovered yet?

The pikachu's mind took him back to a year ago. Back to when his team had been easily knocked unconscious by Lorelei, Agatha and Bruno of the Elite Four. Back to when Lorelei had put ice shackles on Red, which had slowly spread to cover his whole body in ice.

Pika - battered, bleeding and trapped in some ice shackles of his own - had wanted to stay. To help Red. But the boy had told him to run.

He'd hated it. He'd hated it with every fibre of his being, but he'd known he'd had no other choice. So he'd run away.

Sometimes, that day still haunted his nightmares. Red had told him many times not to blame himself, but it could be difficult some nights.

He'd left his trainer on Mt. Moon to go somewhere warm, melt the ice shackles on his paws and feet, and then make the long trek to Professor Oak in Pallet Town. All while being hounded by Bruno's hitmonlee.

Even worse, the mental and physical trauma had affected Pika's memory, so it had taken weeks to find his way back. Then, even with the help of Yellow, it had taken even more weeks to find Red again.

The ice shackles hadn't had a lasting effect on Pika, but that was only because the move was never meant to be used on humans in the first place.

Red had asked Blue some time ago to help him find a cure for the affliction, but... was there one?

Pika could never help but think that, maybe, if he'd been faster back then - if he'd remembered the way better - then Red's hands and feet wouldn't still be numb a year later...

Damn that bitch, Lorelei...

As Daisy stood up and approached Red, asking him about his well-being, Pika could only wince and look away.

When he did, though, he caught a glance of something yellow happily running in his direction on all fours.

His ears perked up. Oh? Was that a pikachu? Wow, he hadn't seen another pikachu in a long time.

The gentle, pleasant scent wafting on the breeze told him it was a girl.

When the pikachu stopped next to him and stood up on two feet, he got a good look at her. The pink flower on her ear, the long lashes on her eyes, and the bright smile on her face.

His own face lit up, and even felt a bit warm as his heart started to pound excitedly. Holy hell, she was pretty!

"(Oh, hello!)" he said.

"(Hi!)" she replied. "(You must be Pika!)"

He was pleasantly surprised. "(Oh, you've heard of me?)"

"(Yes!)" She giggled. "(It's nice to meet you. I'm Chuchu~)"

"(Oh, the pleasure's all mine!)"

Chuchu, huh? Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl!

Walking over to them, Red knelt down, giving them both a stroke on the head. Chuchu happily leaned into the touch.

When Red commented on Pika blushing, however, the pikachu couldn't help but give his trainer the side-eye. Well, of course he was! It wasn't often such a cute girl talked to him!

Besides, he could hardly talk, considering how he'd acted when he'd first met Green. Before he'd known she was a con artist, anyway.

As Pika turned his gaze back to Chuchu, he couldn't help but notice that she was looking away with a slight smile and a blush of her own.

He grinned to himself. Aww, yeah, he was getting in there!

Though... as he looked at her again, he couldn't help but be reminded of something...

The pink flower on her left ear, her shy little smile... hell, even her scent... something about it all felt so... comforting. Nostalgic.

It reminded him so much of... her.

Flower...

He shook his head, dispelling the thought. No, that was all in the past. He shouldn't be thinking of that now.

Urgh, it was just like the Indigo League, where he'd seen a similar pikachu and wondered briefly if it had been her...

No. No more thinking about that.

He was thankfully distracted from his thoughts by the arrival of Yellow. His ears perked up again. Wow, he hadn't seen her in a while!

It seemed she was asking Red about his injury, but Pika tried not to think about that either.

Chuchu giggled. "(You and Red are just how Yellow described you both!)"

Pika turned back to her in surprise. "(Huh? You know Yellow?)"

She beamed at him. "(Yes! She's my trainer!)"

"(... Huh.)" A smile of disbelief worked its way onto his face. "(Well, I'll be.)"

How lucky was he that a good friend of his and Red's had caught such a cutie!

Well, hopefully, he'd see more of Yellow in the future, so he could see more of Chuchu, too! They didn't live all that far away, after all!

... Actually, once Red became the Viridian City gym leader, there'd be even more of an excuse to see Yellow! And, by extension, Chuchu! Nice!

He paused in his thoughts when he noticed a bandage on her side. He looked at it in concern. "(Oh, hey, are you injured?)"

She looked surprised for a moment. "(Oh, yes.)" She glanced at the bandage. "(Just a stubborn cut that won't heal.)"

He frowned in confusion. That was odd. "(But can't Yellow...?)"

He halted mid-sentence. Sure, Yellow could heal a pokémon's injuries with her special powers, but maybe it was a similar situation to him, back when Red had gone missing a year ago...

He decided not to pry. Huffing, he shook his head with a smile. "(Never mind.)"

She tilted her head at him, and looked like she was about to question it, but she was interrupted by Red saying that he wanted to train Pika and Snor as well.

The pikachu gave Chuchu a quick goodbye salute. "(Well, see ya!)"

She waved back with a smile. "(Bye!)"

Satisfied, Pika followed after Red, ready to smash some rocks. Hopefully, he'd see the pretty pikachu again at the exam tomorrow!

"(You sure liked her, huh?)" Snor asked as they passed him.

Pika looked up to see the snorlax grinning at him. He grinned back. "(Maybe,)" he replied coyly.

Snor chuckled, following him and Red. "(Hope I meet a cute girl, too, someday.)" He placed a claw on his chin, a goofy smile growing on his face. "(That'd be nice...)"

Pika snorted in amusement. "(Well, good luck, man.)"

He wasn't sure how the snorlax could even find a girl, with him constantly eating and sleeping, but hell, he'd root for him anyway.

Now back in Viridian City - after leaving Red and his team to their training - Chuchu was walking alongside Yellow as the girl headed towards her house.

The whole trek there, the twelve-year-old had been walking slowly, seemingly deep in thought. The pikachu was a little concerned about her.

When they reached Yellow's house, her uncle Wilton was sitting outside. He'd visited earlier, asking Yellow to come to some place called 'Johto' with him, and had been the whole reason they'd gone to see Red.

The moment the man saw his niece, he smiled and waved. "Hey, Yellow!" he called out. Standing up, he brushed himself off. By the time he was done, Yellow and Chuchu had gotten a fair bit closer to him, so he no longer had to shout. "So, how did it go? Are we ready to head off soon?"

"Hmm?" Yellow replied distractedly as she stopped in front of him. "Oh, uh, can it wait until tomorrow, Uncle? I wanna watch Red's gym leader exam."

Wilton's face lit up. "Oh yeah? When's that?"

"Tomorrow, in the Viridian gym."

"Oh, well, sure thing! Heck, maybe I'll come and watch, too!" His eyes widened briefly. "Oh, but first, I gotta tell your mom I'll be staying the night."

"Sure, go ahead." Yellow began walking past him, and Chuchu followed her. "As for me, I'm gonna just... go to my room for a bit."

"Oh, okay! See you later, Yellow!"

"Yeah, see ya."

Now sitting on the floor of Yellow's room - surrounded by her five teammates, who'd all been let out of their pokéballs - Chuchu was looking up at her trainer. The girl was sitting at her desk, worriedly drawing something in her sketchbook, while her blonde ponytail flowed behind her.

"... I hope Red'll be okay tomorrow," Yellow said, glancing at Ratty, who was sitting on the desk.

The raticate gave her a sympathetic, yet determined gaze. "(Hey, hey, I'm sure he'll be fine, right?)" he replied. "(He's a tough guy!)"

Yellow sighed gently. She looked like she didn't need her mind-reading powers to know what Ratty had just said.

"I mean, he says his injury isn't much, but... he always puts on a brave face, so I'm worried."

"(Yeah, but-)"

"(Ratty's right!)" Kitty said, fluttering over the desk. The butterfree spun around in mid-air. "(You've just gotta believe in Red! Belieeeeve!)"

Yellow glanced up at him. "You think so, too, Kitty?"

Kitty spun around a second time, nodding. "(I sure do!)"

Yellow smiled at him. "Yeah, maybe you're right." She looked down at her sketchbook, her smile growing more tender. "I may not be able to help him much... since I still can't get my healing to work on humans... but... it's Red, so I'm sure he'll be fine!" Perking up, she continued sketching.

Chuchu couldn't help but smile, herself. She was glad the mood had lightened up! Sure, she may not know much about this Red boy, but it was clear to her how much Yellow looked up to him, so he couldn't be too bad of a guy.

... Actually, it was shame, but she didn't know much about anything, really. Not even her own teammates. Even that handsome pikachu she'd met earlier - who belonged to someone else entirely - knew them better than she did.

Despite the warm welcome that Chuchu had received upon joining this team, the pikachu felt like she'd always be the outsider. The newcomer. The one with the least battle and travel experience.

Her teammates had been through so much. She'd heard all the stories of them travelling to look for Red after he'd gone missing, of them fighting for their lives against two members of the Elite Four, and of them battling a giant bird spirit to save the humans from genocide.

Sadly, due to joining the team much later, Chuchu had missed out on all of these experiences. Ones which had apparently shaped them, made them stronger, and helped them become more mature and responsible.

All she'd done was live in a forest all her life.

Suddenly, Yellow's eyes widened. "Oh, shoot! I forgot to ask Red if he wanted to come to Johto with me!" After a moment, she sighed. "I got too distracted after seeing his injuries..." She paused in thought. "... Actually, thinking about it, once Red's a gym leader, he'll be way too busy to go anywhere, won't he?" She slumped a little. "Hm... pity, I wanted to investigate that giant bird with him..." After a moment, she smiled warmly to herself. "But... he's actually gonna be the gym leader! Just like he promised..." She beamed. "I can't wait!"

Chuchu smiled. She'd heard about this! The story of how Red had rescued Yellow from some aggressive pokémon in Viridian Forest, and had driven off the bad gym leader that had planted them there. Since no one in the city had been good at battling, Red had promised to one day be the new gym leader. Someone people could trust, and look up to.

It was such a lovely story.

Suddenly, Yellow gasped in horror and dropped her pencil. "Oh no! The exam! I forgot to wish him good luck!" She flailed around flusteredly. "I-I mean, I'll be there to cheer him on tomorrow, but still!" Shuffling her chair along the desk, she sat in front of the video phone. "It doesn't hurt to give him some extra encouragement, right? So... I'm gonna call him! Right now!"

Chuchu giggled to herself. Oh, that silly trainer of hers. If she wasn't relaxed enough to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, then she'd be worrying over such little things! She was so adorable.

"Oh, oops!" Yellow said, blushing as she pushed back her chair, got up and left the room. "Better put my hat on first!"

Chuchu blinked. Oh, speaking of hats...

She wasn't quite sure why Yellow would need one to talk on the phone, but whatever worked, she supposed!

For the third time, the phone let out a series of long bleeps. This apparently meant that the line was busy, though Chuchu hadn't really gotten used to how human technology worked yet.

"Ohhh, who's taking up the line?" Yellow asked anxiously, fidgeting with the straw hat on her head. It was decorated with two fake feathers, and was strategically placed to cover up her ponytail.

It was a shame, really, since the pikachu thought her trainer's ponytail framed her face quite nicely, and made her look especially cute.

Yellow made a distressed noise. "I'll be able to contact him before he goes to bed, right?" she asked.

"(Urghhh, this is driving me crazy!)" one of Dody's heads snapped angrily. "(Just pick up!)" The dodrio was sitting in the corner of the room, and all three of his heads were varying levels of irritated. "(Yeah, pick up, please,)" another head said with a strained smile. "(Mrrrn, pick up, damn it...)" the third whined.

"(Why are you so annoyed?)" Omny asked worriedly, while holding up a hand mirror with one of his tentacles. With another tentacle, the omastar was scrubbing his shell with a cloth and trying to make it shine. "(There's no need, right?)"

"(Of course there's a need...)" Gravvy replied, putting his face far too close to Omny's. The golem stared unblinkingly into the omastar's eyes, making the water-type back away nervously. "(There's always a need...)"

"(Um...)" Omny quickly scuttled behind Chuchu. "(Right, sorry...)"

The pikachu blinked at the exchange. Gosh, her teammates could be so strange sometimes...

Another reason why she didn't always feel like she fitted in well with them.

"Okay, one more time!" Yellow said determinedly, as she tapped in Red's number again.

This time, it actually rang.

"Man, I'm popular today," Red's voice said as his smiling face appeared on-screen. "Hey, Yellow!"

Yellow beamed. "Hey, Red!" she replied. She hesitated a moment. "Uh, were you on the phone to someone? I couldn't get through..."

"Yeah, I was just chatting to Bill! He was wishing me luck and stuff for tomorrow!" He held up some small rectangluar objects. "And Misty and Brock dropped by to give me their exam videos and notes! Gonna look through those in a bit!"

"Wow, you're really taking this seriously!"

"Of course! I've wanted to be a gym leader for years!" He flexed the muscles on his arm, while giving a determined grin that somehow looked silly. "Gotta be ready!"

Yellow giggled. "Oh, well, I won't keep you, then!" She balled her fists encouragingly. "Just wanted to say good luck on the exam! Though I know you can do it!"

Red laughed. "Thanks, man! I appreciate it!"

Chuchu blinked up at the screen. Man...?

Red suddenly looked down in surprise, his eyes locking with Chuchu's. "Oh hey, is that your pikachu?"

"Hmm?" Yellow turned around in her seat, looking down at Chuchu. She beamed. "Oh! Yeah! Her name's Chuchu! Did I forget to say?"

Red laughed. "Yeah, you kinda did."

Yellow giggled. "Oops." She waved the pikachu over. "Wanna come say hi, Chuchu?"

Chuchu hesitated a moment. Strangers did tend to make her nervous, but she'd heard so many nice things about Red that he was probably fine.

Smiling, she moved away from Omny and hopped up onto the desk. She gave Red a wave. "(Hello!)" she said.

The teenager gave her a wave of his own. "Hey there!" he replied. He rustled around, then lifted up a pokéball. "Check it out, Pika!"

Visible through the glass of the pokéball, Pika's eyes lit up upon seeing Chuchu.

Red grinned cheekily. "It's your girlfriend!"

Chuchu felt warmth creep into her cheeks, though she couldn't say the feeling was unpleasant.

His smile dropping, Pika rolled his eyes at his trainer.

"Girlfriend?" Yellow asked in confusion.

Red chuckled. "Just kidding! Here!" He opened the pokéball, and Pika popped out onto his desk.

"(Hardy har, chucklenuts...)" the pikachu muttered. When his gaze shifted back to Chuchu, however, his eyes lit up again. "(Hey there!)"

She couldn't help but giggle, in a mixture of amusement, embarrassment and flattery at his change in demeanour.

"(Hello~)" she replied. Remembering what Yellow had said to Red, a thought suddenly occurred to her. "(Oh! Good luck tomorrow, Pika! I'm sure you'll do well in the exam!)"

His chest seemed to swell in pride. "(Oh, of course! Thanks!)"

She giggled again. Gosh, sassy and proud? That, plus the pleasant, comforting scent she'd picked up from him earlier, reminded her so much of Trouble...

... Actually, she probably shouldn't be thinking about him anymore, should she? After all, she'd decided that the past was the past now.

She took a calming breath. Yes. It was time to focus on the present and the future.

It would be hard, certainly... but she would try.