Shocking, Isn't It?

"Does anybody else have a voice in their head that repeats, 'Slap the idiot! Slap the idiot!' No? Just me? Hmm...odd." - Unknown

Pikachu

"I want you to attack me."

Wobbles hasn't stopped staring at me since yesterday's battle, and I've been waiting for her to grab me and stare at my eyes again. Instead, completely out of the blue, she wants me to attack her? I mean, I'll take that over getting my face squeezed again, but…

"Wobbles, what are you up to?" Absol asks tiredly.

Wobbles puts her hands on her hips and ignores him. "I want to see something. So, Pikachu," she stretches her arms and puffs out her chest, "give me everything you got. My body is ready."

Eevee's tail wags. "Oh! Are you guys gonna battle?"

"But, Wobbles," Sprout says, "you don't even like to battle."

"It's not a battle," Wobbles corrects. "I just want Pikachu to attack me."

I feel like I should be used to her strangeness by now. "Wobbles, I-I'm not going to hurt you for no reason."

Wobbles doesn't move, doesn't drop her eager grin. "There is a reason, and that reason is research. So, show me your moves, Pikachu! Let's start with Quick Attack."

She's serious. She actually wants me to attack her. Unsure of what to do, how to react, I look to the others for guidance. But, everyone just shrugs helplessly. Even they don't know what to do with her.

Wobbles pats her chest and holds out her arms again. Well, if that's really what she wants.

I back up until my tail touches a tree, then I launch myself at her. She doesn't try to dodge or counter. Before I can process that I'm actually going to hit her, my Quick Attack lands dead on. Wobbles is knocked back but is somehow still on her feet. She springs back up.

"Didn't feel a thing," she says, though her eye is twitching. "Now, try Iron Tail."

What? I just gape at her, still baffled. "What are you trying to do, exactly?"

Wobbles ignores everyone's protests. "Just hit me, Pikachu, and make it a good one." As per request, I use Iron Tail. Once again, she is hit dead on and immediately springs back up, though this time she groans softly and rubs the spot on her side where I nailed her. "It's still not working. Try Thunderbolt."

"Wobbles," Sprout says worriedly, "haven't you been electrocuted enough?"

Eevee tilts his head and asks calmly, "Why do you want Pikachu to kill you?"

"I'm not gonna kill her," I assure him. "Wobbles, will you please tell me what it is you're trying to accomplish?"

"'Cause, right now," Eevee adds, "it looks like you're just trying to get killed."

Wobbles stretches out once more. "I'm testing a theory. Now, zap me, Pikachu!"

"I, uh, o-okay." So, I use Thunderbolt, though I make it weaker than I would normally. Yet, she still ends up swaying, moaning, and maybe paralyzed at the end of it. "Can we stop now?" I ask desperately. She looks a little closer to fainting than I like.

But, she maintains her prone position. "Not yet. Do you have any other attacks?"

Oh, Arceus. "E-Electroweb, but-"

"Hit me."

She's still swaying, still living up to her nickname. "Wobbles, I don't think-"

"Do it, man. I can take it."

Once again, I turn to the others for assistance. Once again, none of them know how to react any better than I do. So, once again, I reluctantly do as I'm told, wrapping Wobbles in a web that electrocutes her on impact.

She stands there, burnt to a crisp, salutes, and proclaims, "Nope. Your eyes did not glow like I thought they would." Then, she plops face-first on to the grass, still locked in a saluting position.

"Glow?" Absol repeats. "What is she talking about?"

I sigh, moving past confusion and now completely miffed that she would have me hurt her over this. "Wobbles thought my eyes were glowing when I was battling Zapdos."

Sprout blinks. "But, you were two electric-types battling in a thunderstorm. The lighting was crazy."

I shrug. "That's what I told her." I guess she just didn't listen. I look back at her unconscious form, feeling a little guilty. "I tried to go easy on her."

Eevee crawls up to Wobbles and sniffs her. "Is she dead? I think she's dead."

It's quiet, but I can hear her mumble, "I'm not dead," into the grass.

As Eevee and I help Wobbles to her feet, and I simultaneously apologize for hurting her and scold her for her recklessness, Absol's head suddenly shoots up. We follow his gaze to find a human standing a safe distance away. How long has she been there?

Having been caught, the human approaches us cautiously. Closer inspection tells me that she is around Ash's age. She has curly dark brown hair in high pigtails and amber-colored eyes behind glasses. She is wearing a black t-shirt with a white lightning bolt on the front, blue denim shorts, and black sneakers. In a group of other humans, she probably wouldn't stand out much, except for one thing: the pokemon on her shoulder.

Said pokemon has white fur and a tail that's bigger than her whole body. Seeing a Pachirisu in the Kanto Region would be odd on its own, but Pachirisu normally have a light blue stripe that starts on their forehead and ends on the tip of their tail, their ears the same color. This Pachirisu? Her stripe and ears are pink. That can only mean that she is a shiny pokemon: a pokemon that's an abnormal color for its species and has an extra sheen to its pelt, which is incredibly rare. I've been traveling for years, and I've only seen a handful of them.

"Um, hi there," the human says.

"Hiya!" Pachirisu greets. "Sorry for the intrusion. We saw electric-type attacks and came to see the battle." She nods at Wobbles, who is staring at her open-mouthed. Uh-oh. "But, it looks like we missed all the fun."

Wobbles points at her and screams, "Shiny! Shiny pokemon!"

"Wobbles, you're not supposed to scream," Eevee admonishes like a parent scolding a naughty hatchling. "Also, what's a shiny pokemon?"

"It's a pokemon that's a different color than normal," I explain. "They're really, really rare."

Eevee gasps and stares at Pachirisu in a new way. "So, you're super special!"

Pachirisu gives her ear an embarrassed swipe.

Wobbles clears her throat. "Pachirisu: the elesquirrel pokemon. An electric-type. Like Pikachu, it stores electricity in its cheeks. Despite this, electricity is actually released from its tail. It stores electrified clumps of fur with its food to keep the food from being stolen."

During that exchange, the human - I assume she's Pachirisu's trainer - had dropped to her knees and started staring at me the same way Wobbles stares at things that interest her. Great. Wobbles in human form.

But, instead of grabbing me outright, this human says, "Pardon me. It's just… You're just so beautiful!"

Beautiful? Now, it's my turn to swipe at my ear.

"My name's Ella. And, this is my partner, Patches," the human goes on, with her Pachirisu nodding at the nickname. "This is gonna sound weird, Pikachu, but may I take a closer look at you?"

"I don't know about this," Absol says, an edge to his tone.

Patches hops off her trainer's shoulder and smiles in understanding. "Don't worry. Ella just really loves electric-type pokemon. She'll feel you around, but she'll stop whenever you want."

I'm more than a little uncomfortable, but this human hasn't touched me once. She's grinning with barely contained enthusiasm, but she is waiting for my permission. I have to give her credit for that.

So, I walk a little closer to her, despite Absol protests. Ella gasps with glee and runs her hands over my fur. "Your coat is so soft. Is that muscle I'm feeling? You must battle a lot." I raise my chin proudly.

"You should have seen him battle yesterday," Eevee chirps. "He battled Zapdos!" Patches sputters at that. "It's true! Pikachu lost, but it was so cool!"

Ella had paused to stare in that blend of amusement and curiosity that most humans get when pokemon speak to each other. Now, she rubs my ears between her fingers. "Not too long, not too short." She traces my tail with her fingers. "Such sharp edges."

"Hey, how come she can touch you, and I can't?" Wobbles snaps.

"Maybe because she asked first," Sprout deadpans.

"And, she isn't squeezing me," I add, irritation creeping over my good mood.

"That's fair," Wobbles says sheepishly.

Ella bites her lip nervously. "May I pick you up? Just for a moment?"

"Pikachu," Absol says in warning.

But, I ignore him and nod at Ella. She breathes out softly, wraps her hands around me, and lifts me up very gently, as if I'm an egg that's ready to hatch. "Your weight feels good, too." She sets me down, brings her fists to her chest, shimmies a little, and actually squeals. "You're the perfect specimen of Pikachu!"

We all jump at the outburst. "P-perfect?" I say, taking a step back. "Me?"

"Perfectly proportioned, exactly the right shade of yellow, flawless from the tips of your ears to the end of your tail! Truly the perfect Pikachu!"

"What's going on?" Eevee asks. No one has an answer.

As Ella whips out her phone and starts taking pictures of me and babbling about how great I am, I'm frozen in both confusion and nervousness. Not only is Ella really starting to weird me out, but I'm half-expecting Wobbles to pounce on me and confirm whether or not I truly am "the perfect Pikachu." Luckily - for me, at least - she is too enamored with Patches to bother.

Wobbles marches up to the shiny Pachirisu and politely asks, "May I touch you in places?"

At least she's trying.

Patches blinks a few times. "I think I know what you mean, so okay." Wobbles starts feeling her fur and mumbling excitedly, and Patches gives me a tired smile. "Sorry about Ella. As I said, she really loves electric-types." She nods at Ella's bright pink backpack. "She actually carries a scrapbook full of pictures of them. Uh, do you guys know what a scrapbook is?" Sprout and I nod, but Absol and Eevee shake their heads. Wobbles is lost in her own world, running her hands over Patches's stripe. "Basically, it's a book that humans put their favorite pictures in. It's lots of fun decorating- Gah!"

Ella lowers her phone at her partner's cry. "What's wrong, Patches?"

"Sorry," Wobbles says, both hands hanging in the air. "Got carried away. Now, you mentioned a scrapbook full of electric-types." So, she was listening. "Can I see it?"

"I wanna see, too!" Eevee chirps.

Sprout and I are also curious. Absol is silent, but the way he's staring at the backpack betrays his own curiosity.

Patches points to the bag and says to her trainer. "Ella, can we show them our scrapbook?"

Ella looks where she's pointing. "Need something?" She takes off her backpack and-

Out of nowhere a mechanical hand shoots out of the bushes. It grabs Patches and pulls her back as she desperately wiggles in its grasp. We all cry out in shock, with Sprout shouting her signature "Oh my goodness!" over and over.

"Patches!" Ella shoots to her feet. "Who did that? That is not your pokemon!"

Then, we hear laughter. Four all-too familiar characters slowly reveal themselves as they say their motto.

"Prepare for trouble; we're fully aware," Jessie starts.

"And, make it double; we don't really care," James continues.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie."

"And, James."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now, or prepare for a shiny fight!"

"Meowth!" the talking pokemon chimes in. "That's right!"

Wobbuffet, who is holding the machine, finishes with, "Thaaat's right."

"Team Rocket?" Ella says quizzically. "I don't know what that means, but you better give Patches back right now!"

"Give back a shiny pokemon?" Jessie sneers. "Not likely!"

James rests his hand over his chest and raises the other demurely. "We at Team Rocket love rare pokemon like your Pachirisu."

"That's them, isn't it, Pikachu?" Absol whispers dangerously.

I scrape my nails into the grass, itching to zap them into charcoal. "Yeah, those are the guys who kidnapped me!"

Absol steps in front of me. "Stay out of sight."

The rest of the PokeSquad crowd around me, much to my annoyance. Kidnapping me is bad enough, but Team Rocket just abandoned me in the ocean! Who knows what could have happened if Eevee hadn't found me! And, what about Ash? He has my pokeball, so he surely knows that I'm alive, but he has no idea that I'm with the PokeSquad. He probably thinks I'm at Team Rocket's headquarters. Or, with that virus going around, he might think that I'm sick and in pain. I don't know what's worse! Ash is surely driving himself mad, wondering where I am and if I'm even in one piece. And, knowing him, he must be berating himself, blaming himself for my disappearance.

But, it's entirely Team Rocket's fault.

Patches tries an electric-type attack, but the mechanical hand nullifies it. I can sympathize.

Meowth wags a finger up at her. "Don't waste your watts. We know how to deal with electric-type pokemon."

"Whoa!" Ella gasps. "The Meowth talks!"

"The Meowth talks like a human!" Wobbles shouts. She bolts to Meowth fast enough that she almost knocks him over. The rest of Team Rocket stare, dumbfounded, as Wobbles bombards Meowth with questions. "How are you doing that? Were you born that way, or did you learn it? What is the square root of forty-nine?"

Meowth turns desperate eyes on the other Team Rocket pokemon. "Do something, Wobbuffet! She's one of your kind!"

Wobbuffet smartly takes a few steps away. "It's not like we have a secret handshake."

At that point, Sprout pulls Wobbles back with Vine Whip. "What are you doing?" she asks incredulously. "They're bad guys!"

"But, the Meowth talks!" Wobbles argues. "Yet another thing someone forgot to mention," she mutters with a glare at me. I ignore her.

While everyone's distracted, Ella sneaks up to Patches. She manages to grab the hand before Jessie takes notice. "Fine!" Jessie grabs Ella's wrist and pulls the girl close, smiling threateningly. "You wanna act like a twerp, then you get treated like a twerp."

Ella pulls away and grabs fistfulls of Jessie's long hair, yanking with all her might. "Let Patches go!"

Jessie screams back in a mix of pain and fury. She grabs Ella's pigtails and pulls just as hard. "Let go of my hair!"

"Not until you let go of my friend!"

James shouts over their high-pitched shrieks, "Jessie, we got what we came for!"

Absol takes the opportunity to creep up to the machine, though everyone else is still holding me back. I know they're trying to protect me, but I want to get in there and give Team Rocket a piece of my mind!

"Let's go before someone loses their head!" Meowth suggests.

"No one messes with my hair!" Jessie argues.

Absol's claw glows purple. Wobbuffet is gawking at the hair-based tug-of-war, oblivious until Absol nails his arm with Night Slash. Wobbuffett cries out at the super effective move and drops the machine.

This draws everyone's attention. Ella and Jessie let go of each other, and I break free from my friends. Before anyone can stop me, I run up to Patches and use Iron Tail on the machine, smashing it to bits. Patches thanks me and shakes out her fur. She runs to Ella and jumps into her arms while Team Rocket gapes at me.

"Are you trying to get recaptured?" Absol snaps at me. I ignore him in favor of staring down my former captors.

Jessie blinks and leans closer. "Do my eyes deceive me?"

"Is that Pikachu?" James says hopefully.

Meowth is grinning in relief. "He's alive!"

Wobbuffet raises his hands in triumph. "We're not murderers!"

"Pikachu?" Ella says, she and Patches flicking their gazes between me and Team Rocket. "Alive?"

My cheeks buzz, my blood runs hot and fast through me as I snarl at Team Rocket. "Yeah, I'm alive. No thanks to you jerks! Dumping me in the ocean? That's low even for you!"

"Meowth, what's he saying?" James asks.

Meowth ignores him and flails his paws. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! We didn't dump you anywhere!" He's speaking like a normal Meowth. That tells me just how much I've riled him up. Good. "We looked for you everywhere. I swear we did!"

"What's with the 'meow meow meow?'" Jessie demands, her fists bunched in front of her. "Tell us what Pikachu's saying!"

I take a step forward, letting sparks flow from my cheeks. "Clearly, you didn't look that hard."

Meowth flinches, and Wobbuffet raises his hand and claims, "I was in my pokeball. I have a real excuse."

"Meowth," James whimpers, "his eyes are glowing." Wait, what? My eyes are what? "Please, translate before we find out what glowing eyes mean."

"R-right." Still staring at me in horror, Meowth clears his throat and switches back to human language. "Suffice to say, Pikachu isn't too happy with us."

Jessie stomps her foot. "I could have told you that!"

Suddenly, Ella steps in front of me. "I don't know what's going on," Patches jumps out of her trainer's arms, her cheeks and tail sparking, "but Pikachu's not the only one who's unhappy!"

Then, Team Rocket shrinks into each other, finding themselves surrounded by several angry pokemon and one equally ticked off human.

"We're the PokeSquad," Eevee announces from beside me, "and we don't tolerate bullies!"

"That's telling them, Eevee," Wobbles quips.

"PokeSquad?" Meowth repeats. "That's what you call yourselves?"

Despite everything, Jessie snorts. "What kind of stupid name is that?"

James grimaces. "Is this really the best time to insult them?"

"Pikachu," Wobbuffet says placatingly, "you have every right to be mad, mostly at them," Meowth glares at him, "but we really had no intention of leaving you behind. The situation was crazy. You know that."

"We were so busy freaking out," Meowth continues, "we didn't realize you were gone until it was too late!"

"Translate, Meowth!" Jessie snaps. "We're about to get blasted off here!"

Electricity zips over my fur. I've had enough of these creeps. "Sounds good to me."

With that I unleash Thunderbolt. Everyone else follows my lead; Shadow Ball from Absol, Swift from Eevee, Razor Leaf from Sprout, and Ella has Patches use Discharge. Wobbles is hanging back, as her species doesn't have any moves that cause direct damage.

The combined attacks explode on impact, sending Team Rocket into the sky with the usual cry of, "We're blasting off agaaaiiin!" followed by Wobbuffet's "That's riiiight!"

I shake out my pelt, feeling more satisfied than I usually do when I zap them. "Is everyone alright?" I ask, forcing my fur to lie flat. My friends confirm that they're unharmed.

Ella scoops up Patches and showers her in kisses. Patches giggles endlessly and reiterates over and over that she's okay. They're just like me and Ash, I realize with a pang. An electric-type that rides on its trainer's shoulder. Something about them attracts Team Rocket. And, now they're being openly affectionate with one another (though Ash only kisses me when we cuddle in private and not nearly as aggressively as Ella is kissing Patches).

Oh, Ashton…

"I'll ask you again," Absol snarls at me. "Are you trying to get recaptured?"

"I can't stand Team Rocket," is all I can say without crying.

Absol catches on to my mood. "Right. I understand," he says kindly. "Just try to be more careful."

Eevee lightly headbutts me, and Sprout runs her leaf over my head and says, "We'll get you home, Pikachu."

"Glowing eyes!" Wobbles shouts, oblivious as ever. "Those guys saw it! I knew it! I knew-" Then, she sees my expression and sobers. "Um, sorry."

I swipe my hands over my eyes and give my pelt another shake. "I'm okay," I lie. "I really am." None of them believe me.

"It's okay, Pikachu," Ella says, still cradling Patches. I hadn't noticed her approach. She kneels down and rubs my head. "The bad guys are gone. We're all safe now."

Patches stares thoughtfully up at the sky. "That Team Rocket. They didn't seem that smart to me, but," she turns her black eyes on me, "I get the feeling you know differently."

Everyone's eyes are on me now, even Ella's despite her not having a clue what we're saying. "They're clever when they want to be, though they seem to run mostly on dumb luck." I throw in a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. No one laughs. "You might want to be careful, Patches. Like they said, they like rare pokemon."

"Doesn't get much rarer than a shiny," Wobbles adds solemnly. Patches nervously runs her paws through her fur.

"Pikachu," Ella says, "those guys obviously know you. Are they after you?" I sigh heavily and roll my eyes. She gets the message and holds Patches tighter against her chest, glowering at the ground. "Poachers," she mutters. I guess she's kind of right. "Of course they're after you. A Pikachu of your pedigree?" I have know idea what a pedigree is. "They'd probably cash in big." Her eyes turn tender as she gazes at the pokemon in her arms. "They probably wanna do the same to you." Patches lifts her head and licks her trainer's chin. Ella's breath catches, but her eyes narrow. "Well, I won't let them."

Ella's steely determination perfectly mirrors the way Ash looks when someone, especially someone he cares about, is in trouble. And, the way she cradles her pokemon in her arms, gazing at Patches like nothing else matters in the world…

How long has it been since I rested in Ash's arms? Since he looked at me in that very same way? And, how much longer until I get that feeling again? There's no sign of him anywhere, not even the faintest scent. How far are we from Vermilion City? What if he's not even there anymore? I swallow a wail. My friends sense my distress and huddle closer, with Eevee licking my cheek. They're trying to comfort me, but their efforts are wasted.

"What's the story with Team Rocket?" Patches asks, jumping out of her trainer's arms. "Why do they want you? I'm certain it has nothing to do with your 'pedigree.'" She adds an eye roll to the last word.

I sigh and shrug. "I honestly don't know. I think at this point they're just annoyed that they can't hold on to me when they do manage to get me."

"Either way," Absol says, "they know you're alive. They were caught off-guard this time, but they'll most likely come after you again. We need to be careful. You too, Patches." We all nod in agreement.

During our exchange, Ella had been rummaging through her backpack. "Hey, Pikachu." She pulls out- A chill rakes over my body as she proudly displays a pokeball. "What if you were my pokemon? I mean, I'm not a super strong trainer or anything, but I'd really like to keep you safe. You're like Patches; you're a rare beauty that needs to be treasured! A gorgeous display of pokemon that comes around once in a lifetime! An assortment of genes that created the perfect-" Patches gives her a small shock. Ella clears her throat, a little embarrassed now. "Sorry. The point is, I wanna protect you, Pikachu." She lowers the pokeball to my eye level, and I instinctively take a step back. "Will you come with us?"

"It's not a bad idea," Patches says. "I know Ella's kind of weird, but she really is sweet. We can all look after each other." She flicks at her ear. "And, honestly, I'm the only pokemon she's got. It would be nice to have someone I can have a real conversation with."

Ella's a little hyperactive, but she does seem to care a lot. And, Patches seems kind and sensible. If things were different, I would consider their offer. But, I have a trainer, and seeing these two together only reminds me of how much I miss him.

Wobbles sums it up perfectly. "That's not an option," she says.

Patches gives her a funny look, but Ella frowns then smiles, trying to cover her disappointment as she tosses the pokeball back in her bag. "Alright. I get it. You wanna stay in the wild with your friends." I have no way of telling her the truth, so I just smile. "I could catch the rest of you, too! Hey, just because electric-types are my favorite doesn't mean I can't catch other pokemon." My friends shake their heads. Except Absol, who growls softly. Patches glares at him, and Ella shrinks back and holds up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, message received!"

Wobbles claps her hands. "Okay, you know what? Let's all just calm down." She inches toward the still-open backpack. "Just relax." She reaches in and pulls out a large, thick book with a sparkly cover. There's something written on it, but "pokemon" is the only word I recognize. "Sprout, what does this say?"

"It says, 'Our Pokemon Journey,'" Sprout responds.

"'Our' meaning mine and Ella's," Patches says. "That's our scrapbook."

"Oh, do you wanna see our scrapbook?" Ella asks. Wobbles nods eagerly. "Yeah, let's all wind down after that mess." Ella takes the book and sets it on the grass as we all gather around her, though I notice Absol is standing the farthest from her. "I've gotta start a new one of these. This thing's getting full."

She opens it up and starts talking excitedly as she points at the pictures and reads us the notes that go along with them. I'm actually quite impressed with her work. Not only is there a wide variety of well-photographed pokemon - mostly but not all electric-types - but she's clearly taken a lot of time to do research on them, if what she and Sprout are reading is correct. Her passion for the subject is clear, and if she could tone down her boundless enthusiasm, I muse, she would make a good pokemon professor.

Once again, I see a lot of Ash in her, and my interest in her scrapbook wanes because of it. Ash has never been a crafter - the last time he tried, we spent almost an hour trying to get all the glitter out of my fur - but he does keep memories in his own way. He has boxes filled with the various little trinkets his pokemon have given him over the years. An oddly-shaped rock here, a lost earring there, anything shiny or neat-looking, really. He seemed confused by our gifts in the beginning, but he was always happy to receive them, and he's kept every single one. I didn't find out until later that most humans think our gifts are sweet but pointless at best, outright stupid at worst. I've even seen some trainers toss the gift aside when their pokemon wasn't looking. But, Ash isn't some trainers; he isn't most humans. All those boxes are stacked up in his closet, each one labeled with the gift-giver's name. Mine is the biggest one, the most full, if only because I'm the only one who's constantly out of their pokeball, the one who's been by Ash's side through his entire journey.

I fight another wail as Ella continues to babble, though it all sounds muffled to me now. I have to find Ash. I need to know that he's okay. He needs to know that I'm okay. There's no way for me to tell him. I've never wanted so badly to hold him, to lick his face, to hear his carefree laughter. How much longer until I can have that again?