Chapter 1 of A Raichu's Tale
"Insomnia Can Change Everything"
It was a dark and stormy night… okay so maybe it wasn't a stormy night. But it was raining. Okay, okay… it wasn't even night. It was late afternoon, but it was raining. I was under a low canopy of leaves with my herd of 'Chu. Everyone was asleep, except me, of course. I sighed. I wanted to go to sleep, but I just couldn't get comfortable. I looked at my mom. She was a Raichu, like me, and was asleep. My dad was a Raichu too, and was asleep. My brother, Slick, was also asleep. Well, he really isn't my brother… he's actually an Ekans. My mom found his egg (when I wasn't hatched yet) and kept it. My dad tried to persuade her out of it, but couldn't. Mom simply said it was her "motherly instinct", and Dad would give up. He hatched before I did, and when everyone saw that he was an Ekans, Dad said that he had to calm everyone down. He IS herd leader, ya know. Mom (she's gotta be insane…) protected Slick, and took care of him. So, he's kinda my half-brother, I guess.
Yawn… finally. I'm getting sleepy. I put my head down, and waited for sleep to take over my body. I feel my eyelids getting heavy, and…
"Sob… sniff…", I hear. Eh? What's that? Oh well. I'm probably just imagining things… I close my eyelids slowly… then a drop of water from a leaf above me drops on my nose. Okay, this stinks. It's like someone is trying to prevent me from sleeping or something. Just then, I hear s'more sniffles.
So it isn't my dreams, I think. Figuring fate is not going to let me sleep; I stand on my four legs. If I stood on my hind legs, I'd crash through the canopy of leaves. Following the crying noises, I look out from under the leaves.
A girl! What the heck is a girl doing in Professor Oak's backyard? From the looks of it, I think she's around 8 or 9. The poor thing was sitting out in the rain, hugging her legs and crying. Her hair was wet and tangled, and her pants and shirt were torn, probably from sticks or something. I noticed then she was bleeding.
I looked around to see if there were any other humans around. If I were a Pikachu, I would probably dive back into the canopy and try to hide under a rock or in the plant, but I was a Raichu, and that made a difference. I slowly started to crawl out from under the canopy into the rain, but pulled back.
In the canopy, I crawled to Slick.
"Rachu. Rachu, rai ra churai." I said, shaking him. I said "Slick. Slick, hey wake up!"
("" = Pokemon Lang.)
Snorting, he replied, ""Why did you wake me up for?""
""There's a girl outside.""
""A girl? So what, you're a girl. Now let me go back to sleep"", he said, coiling up again.
""No, no… this is a HUMAN girl. Really, I saw her!''
""You were probably sleeping. Go back to sleep, and leave me in peace…""
""I couldn't get to sleep. Now LOOK!"" I said, grabbing the Ekans' head and dragging it to the corner of the canopy so he could see.
""Wow, you were right- There IS a girl!""
""See?""
""Yeah, yeah, but what do you want to do about it?
Just then, the girl lifted her head the sky, as if talking to a bigger human and said sighed. She whispered quietly to herself, "Why'd I have to chase that Ratatta? Now I'll never find my way home… " Her eyes were a light brown, and seemed to shimmer with her tears- and the rain. She had small dimples under her eyes that kinda looked like lightning bolts… Then, she put her head between her knees and cried some more.
""Well, at least now we know she's lost."" Slick commented.
""I say we help her."" I said.
""What? We don't know our way around this place… we always follow Mom and Dad and the rest of the herd!""
""Oh yeah…"" I sighed in defeat. He was right.
""But we should try anyway! Onward!"" he said, slithering into the rain. Then it hit me,
""NO! Slick, DON'T!"" I called, but it was too late.
Slick slithered silently toward the girl, and poked her with his nose. She looked up, and looked into Slick's eyes.
"Yeee!" she yelped, surprised, and fell on her back. She tried to get away, I could tell, but she couldn't. She was frozen in fear. Slick coiled himself around her left leg. The girl kept still, staring at the purple snake coiled around her. I knew Slick meant well, but still…
""Slick, you're scaring her half to death!"" I said, crawling out into the cold rain. My fur became damp and twisted when I got to them. I noticed the girl looking at me with confusion and fear in her eyes. Her mouth was left open.
""I didn't mean to… I'm trying to keep her warm."" He called back to me.
""Dummy, you're a snake! You're cold-blooded."" I retorted.
""Don't call me a dummy, and I'm a Pokemon, for your information. I don't work like those other snakes do. I can close my eyes, see?" he said, blinking at me.
I sighed and looked at the girl. She looked back at me, and we were like that, looking at each other, for a minute, give or take. A rustling in the bushes broke the moment.
"Venu…saur... Sauuuurr…" a voiced called from the brush. The bushes rustled. A shadowy creature poked it head out of the brush and stared at us three. Its eyes glowed a deep, fiery red, and I could see its fangs dripping with saliva. It pulled the rest of its big toad-like body out into the rain, and I could see how big it was compared to me. Its sharp claws gripped the soft earth between its toes, and the huge flower on its back made it look twice as big as it was before.
"VEEEEEEENU-----SAAAAAUUURRR!!!" it roared, charging at us.
""I think it's hungry!"" Said Slick, as he unwrapped himself from the girl's leg and started to flee.
Just then I remembered my lessons that I was given by my parents and other herd members. As the child of the alfa chus of the herd, I was supposed to know how to fight and know strategy. Slick was given a bit or training (while I received a lot. Bah.), but since he was an Ekans, he couldn't be taught very well. Well, anyway…
"And what do you do if you find you in a situation such as an angry Charizard trying to eat you?" asked my father.
"Uhhh… use Agility to confuse him, then land a Thunderwave?" I said, knowing that it wasn't the right answer. My parents always asked me this question before going deeper into the forest without the herd.
"No! You run your tail off."
"Why?" I asked bluntly.
"Because… because I'm worried about you. I don't want my daughter to become Pokéfood…"
Now that advice wasn't too bad… "RAII!!" I yelped, and turned to follow in suit of Slick. I took a few steps and saw that the girl was still lying down, helpless as the Venusaur, which was a bad runner, rushed at her, its gaping mouth open and glittering fangs shined.
I ran back and pulled on the girl's shirt.
""Run! Run!"" I cried to her. She looked at me, and back at the Ivysaur, who was getting dangerously close, and she got up and we RAN.
And I mean we RAN! Just about through anything, following the path that Slick took in the bushes. She crashed through the low branches of the trees, with me running either in front of or with her. Soon, we caught up with Slick, and the rain stopped. The tripped on a stone, though, and fell to the ground. She grabbed her knee, and winced in pain. It was skinned.
The Venusaur was there, though. It knew now that his prey was down, and it chose that time to walk slowly forward, drooling with delight. Its vines came out and quickly tied up the girl. She cried out, but we seemed to be the only ones to hear.
I glanced toward Slick, and he was mad. I looked back at the scene of the Ivysaur holding the girl in the air, and growled. The Venusaur heard, and forgot about his dinner for a moment, and looked at us.
""Graai… you're not gonna eat her…"" I said to him.
""Like hell I won't. I haven't eaten in months, and my flower doesn't have enough nutrients for me anymore. Get out of here before I decide to make desert of you two!"" He retorted, and he shot his Razor Leaves at us. Slick dived down in time, but I soon I felt a light pain on my left eye. Soon, that light pain became horribly unbearable.
"RAIII!!!" I cried out, holding my eye with my paw. I saw with my other eye that blood was trickling down my arm. I also saw that the Venusaur was grinning vilely. But he failed to notice that Slick had striked, and bit on the vines holding up the girl. The vines were easily broken, and the fell to the ground, wriggling and squirming with green fluid. The girl fell to the ground, shocked, yet unharmed.
""Damn you, you fucking snake!"" roared the Ivysaur, and prepared to maul him. Just then, I let loose a Thundershock.
"RAICHU!" I cried, letting loose my electrical power.
"BZZZZZZARRRRRRTTT!!" crackled the lightning. It was super effective against the beast, since it was wet with rainwater, and so was all the ground.
""You should have stayed in your own business…"" he warned, and started to charge toward me with a Body Slam. I knew I couldn't beat his power or speed, but then a dart shot out and pierced the Ivysaur in his shoulder. The Ivysaur yelped, looked for the new attacker, but soon he swayed left and right, and then fell asleep before my very eyes.
My eye throbbed with pain that I tried to ignore when I did my Thundershock, but now it felt like it and the skin around it was going to burst. I fell to my knees and cried out. I felt Slick come over to me and try to comfort me.
""Raizy? Raizy-chan, are you okay?"" he said.
"NO!! NO!! It hurts… it hurts…""
I looked up and saw that Professor Oak was there. I knew it was he because he fed the herd and Slick everyday. He unwrapped the vines from the girl, who was totally pale, and then looked at Slick and I.
"A ha…" he muttered under his breath, and the girl hugged him.
"Great Grandpa!" the girl cried, and she started to sob in his chest.
"Relax Sammy, I'm here. I'm here and you're safe." He said, hugging the girl and patting her back. Now the pain was going away, but it was stinging badly.
When the girl was done, he held her hand and they walked toward us. He crouched down, but Slick wasn't scared of him, though. We both knew he loved and cared for all his Pokemon.
"Raizy… let me see that." He said, reaching for the paw covering my eye. I gave him a warning spark, saying that I wanted him to stay away.
He let go of the girl's hand, and said, "I won't hurt you, I just want to take a look." He patted me on my head, and he tugged gently at my arm. I pulled my paw off, and let him look. My eye was closed, of course.
"Hmm." He said, and took out a small first-aid kit. He cleaned off the blood staining my fur, and said, "That'll leave a big scar, Raizy, but otherwise you'll be okay. You can leave your eye closed if you want." And so I did.
He lifted up the girl- I mean, Sammy, or whatever the girl's real name was, and said, "Follow me Raizy- and Slick. I'll take you back to my lab."
And so Slick and I followed the old- yet very strong man (hmm…) back to his laboratory. It was a 7-minute walk there, and when we finally got there, a tall, skinny man was there. He looked like he was waiting for us- or them at least.
The man was about 5' 10", and his hair was jet black, and spikey. It shone in the evening sun, and next to that hair, on his shoulder, rested a Pikachu. His eyes shone with the same color brown as Sammy's and his face was a pale flesh color. Under his eyes were small dimples that looked almost like lightning bolts. He was wearing casual clothing.
"Samantha! My little girl…" he said, and reached out for her. She was asleep. Professor Oak handed her to him, and he seemed almost like he couldn't take the weight, but he could. The Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder and looked up, smiling.
"Where did you find her?" he asked the old Pokemon researcher, with a voice relatively high for a guy his age, which I could not tell was.
"She was deep in the Pokemon Preserve. But come inside, and I'll tell you inside."
The old man opened the door, and walked in. The other man followed in suit, with his Pikachu accompanying him.
Professor Oak turned to us and beckoned, "Come inside." So we did.
Inside, it was air-conditioned. All around us were a bunch of gizmos and strange gadgets of this and that, and I could see in another room there was book after book, almost un-ending. Slick slithered over to one of the machines, and pressed the ON button.
The machine made a bunch of loud, clunky sounds and emitted a large bubble that floated and popped on Slick's head. He didn't look too happy about the soapy water that misted him. Professor Oak turned off the machine and told us not to touch anything. We then followed the two men into Professor Oak's living room. It was a large, brightly lit room with a ceiling tall enough for an Onix to stand upright in it. In it were two women, one fairly old with a few wrinkles and some pale brown and gray hairs tied in a ponytail, and another who had dark brown hair in a braid. The woman with a braid quickly stood up and rushed to Samantha and her dad, as I put together, and took her daughter from the man's hands, waking Samantha up. She talked to the girl, telling her how worried she was.
"Mommy, I'm fine, really…" she said groggily.
"Your clothes are torn, and look at all those stains! Your knee is scraped!" her mother said, pointing out the wound.
"It's nothing Mom, it doesn't even hurt." Samantha said, hugging her mother across her neck. The mother put her down on the soft carpet, and the adults all sat on the furniture. Professor Oak sat in a leather recliner, the old woman on a matching recliner, and the two parents on a love seat. Then they started their conversation about Samantha and things, going off into other stories.
Samantha took no part in the conversation, and went to the Pikachu, who was on the floor with all of us.
"Hiya, Pikachu!" she said, patting the Pikachu's head.
"Chau…" he said, showing his gratitude.
The two played together like old friends. Pikachu hugged and played with her, and waved his tail under her nose, tickling her, and making her giggle. Slick and I just watched them and listened to little parts of the conversation.
"But what are those Pokemon doing here?" asked the woman, named May. She pointed at Slick and I.
"Well, you know that Venusaur I was talking about?" answered Professor Oak.
She nodded.
"Well… they are the Pokemon that saved her."
"Saved her?" asked Alex, the father.
So Professor Oak explained the story to them. Meanwhile, Samantha looked at us. She put a hand out to pet me, and she rubbed me behind my ears. Then she looked at Slick.
"A snake…" she said. "Awww…you're a cute snake." Slick then slithered around Samantha and gave her a hug- snake style. Samantha then reached out and wrapped around me giving me a big hug.
"Aww, isn't that sweet?" said the old woman, who was Alex's mom. Professor Oak got out of his chair, and said to Samantha, "Sammy, this is Raizy, the Raichu, and this is Slick, the Ekans. Raizy, Slick, this is Samantha."
"Alex, honey…" I heard May say to her husband quietly. "Samantha's special day is coming soon…"
"Please, call me Ash instead." He answered.
"Okay, then Ashy-boy…" Ash winced. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Ash nodded. Slick and I stayed at the lab that night. Actually, it wasn't just that, night, but many nights. Nights and days ran into weeks, and ran into months, and I got a bit used to human life. Eventually, on June 26th…
"Hello there, fellas!" said Professor said, entering with our normal Pokéfood. "Today is a special day."
I looked puzzled at him. Now, my eye had a large scar over it, but I could see fine out of it. It was back to normal. Professor Oak watched up eat our meal, and took us to the room with many gadgets, and set us on his metal workbench. He went into his closet, and came back with an elegantly wrapped box and a large tin cookie box.
He opened the box, and in it were many different shapes and sizes and lengths of ribbon. Sparkling silver, cerulean blue, and many, many others. He opened the wrapped box and pulled out two Pokéballs. One was decorated with a lightning bolt, and the other with a purple leaf cared into the red top.
"Okay you guys, get in," he said, holding the Pokéballs to us. The professor pushed the button on the Pokéball with a purple leaf on it, and Slick was sucked in with a blinding flash of bright white light.
"Now it's your turn." He said, turning to me. He pushed the button, and I saw myself glow in a bright white light just like Slick was, and before I really knew it, I was in the Pokéball. Inside, I was shrunk to the size just perfect for it. The spherical structure was padded on the bottom, and smooth on the top. I could hear everything that was going on around me, and feel it. Although the room was strangely built, and it looked like when the outside moved, the inside didn't. For example, Professor Oak started spinning around my Pokéball. I knew it was happening, but I wasn't spinning around the room. I think I was put inside the box.
I waited in the room for somebody to let me out. It was about a 15-minute wait. Then, as the ball opened, a tingling sensation filled my insides, and before I knew it, I was outside. The button on my Pokéball was pushed first, since Slick wasn't out yet. When I looked around, I was outside on a patio with Alex, May, Alex's Mom, Professor Oak, and 2 boys. One had spikey brown hair tied in a small ponytail in the back and deep blue eyes. He wore some blue shorts and a white t-shirt with some sort of black and white symbol on it. His brown hiking shoes were pretty worn out, but although they looked old, they were well taken care of so they would last. The other had shoulder length black hair that had some streaks of red in it, and his eyes were red. He wore white pants and a red long sleeved shirt with a vest and a Pokéball symbol on the back, and his shoes were black and dirty. He was pretty color coordinated… Heheh.
"Hey cool, a Raichu!" said the boy with red streaked hair. "What's in the other one?"
"POT—CHAK!!"
Now, Slick was beside me, and we were looking into the faces of all the people around us. Behind us, Samantha was kneeling down with the unwrapped box.
"Great grandpa…?" said Samantha.
"They're yours." Professor Oak said simply.
"Insomnia Can Change Everything"
It was a dark and stormy night… okay so maybe it wasn't a stormy night. But it was raining. Okay, okay… it wasn't even night. It was late afternoon, but it was raining. I was under a low canopy of leaves with my herd of 'Chu. Everyone was asleep, except me, of course. I sighed. I wanted to go to sleep, but I just couldn't get comfortable. I looked at my mom. She was a Raichu, like me, and was asleep. My dad was a Raichu too, and was asleep. My brother, Slick, was also asleep. Well, he really isn't my brother… he's actually an Ekans. My mom found his egg (when I wasn't hatched yet) and kept it. My dad tried to persuade her out of it, but couldn't. Mom simply said it was her "motherly instinct", and Dad would give up. He hatched before I did, and when everyone saw that he was an Ekans, Dad said that he had to calm everyone down. He IS herd leader, ya know. Mom (she's gotta be insane…) protected Slick, and took care of him. So, he's kinda my half-brother, I guess.
Yawn… finally. I'm getting sleepy. I put my head down, and waited for sleep to take over my body. I feel my eyelids getting heavy, and…
"Sob… sniff…", I hear. Eh? What's that? Oh well. I'm probably just imagining things… I close my eyelids slowly… then a drop of water from a leaf above me drops on my nose. Okay, this stinks. It's like someone is trying to prevent me from sleeping or something. Just then, I hear s'more sniffles.
So it isn't my dreams, I think. Figuring fate is not going to let me sleep; I stand on my four legs. If I stood on my hind legs, I'd crash through the canopy of leaves. Following the crying noises, I look out from under the leaves.
A girl! What the heck is a girl doing in Professor Oak's backyard? From the looks of it, I think she's around 8 or 9. The poor thing was sitting out in the rain, hugging her legs and crying. Her hair was wet and tangled, and her pants and shirt were torn, probably from sticks or something. I noticed then she was bleeding.
I looked around to see if there were any other humans around. If I were a Pikachu, I would probably dive back into the canopy and try to hide under a rock or in the plant, but I was a Raichu, and that made a difference. I slowly started to crawl out from under the canopy into the rain, but pulled back.
In the canopy, I crawled to Slick.
"Rachu. Rachu, rai ra churai." I said, shaking him. I said "Slick. Slick, hey wake up!"
("" = Pokemon Lang.)
Snorting, he replied, ""Why did you wake me up for?""
""There's a girl outside.""
""A girl? So what, you're a girl. Now let me go back to sleep"", he said, coiling up again.
""No, no… this is a HUMAN girl. Really, I saw her!''
""You were probably sleeping. Go back to sleep, and leave me in peace…""
""I couldn't get to sleep. Now LOOK!"" I said, grabbing the Ekans' head and dragging it to the corner of the canopy so he could see.
""Wow, you were right- There IS a girl!""
""See?""
""Yeah, yeah, but what do you want to do about it?
Just then, the girl lifted her head the sky, as if talking to a bigger human and said sighed. She whispered quietly to herself, "Why'd I have to chase that Ratatta? Now I'll never find my way home… " Her eyes were a light brown, and seemed to shimmer with her tears- and the rain. She had small dimples under her eyes that kinda looked like lightning bolts… Then, she put her head between her knees and cried some more.
""Well, at least now we know she's lost."" Slick commented.
""I say we help her."" I said.
""What? We don't know our way around this place… we always follow Mom and Dad and the rest of the herd!""
""Oh yeah…"" I sighed in defeat. He was right.
""But we should try anyway! Onward!"" he said, slithering into the rain. Then it hit me,
""NO! Slick, DON'T!"" I called, but it was too late.
Slick slithered silently toward the girl, and poked her with his nose. She looked up, and looked into Slick's eyes.
"Yeee!" she yelped, surprised, and fell on her back. She tried to get away, I could tell, but she couldn't. She was frozen in fear. Slick coiled himself around her left leg. The girl kept still, staring at the purple snake coiled around her. I knew Slick meant well, but still…
""Slick, you're scaring her half to death!"" I said, crawling out into the cold rain. My fur became damp and twisted when I got to them. I noticed the girl looking at me with confusion and fear in her eyes. Her mouth was left open.
""I didn't mean to… I'm trying to keep her warm."" He called back to me.
""Dummy, you're a snake! You're cold-blooded."" I retorted.
""Don't call me a dummy, and I'm a Pokemon, for your information. I don't work like those other snakes do. I can close my eyes, see?" he said, blinking at me.
I sighed and looked at the girl. She looked back at me, and we were like that, looking at each other, for a minute, give or take. A rustling in the bushes broke the moment.
"Venu…saur... Sauuuurr…" a voiced called from the brush. The bushes rustled. A shadowy creature poked it head out of the brush and stared at us three. Its eyes glowed a deep, fiery red, and I could see its fangs dripping with saliva. It pulled the rest of its big toad-like body out into the rain, and I could see how big it was compared to me. Its sharp claws gripped the soft earth between its toes, and the huge flower on its back made it look twice as big as it was before.
"VEEEEEEENU-----SAAAAAUUURRR!!!" it roared, charging at us.
""I think it's hungry!"" Said Slick, as he unwrapped himself from the girl's leg and started to flee.
Just then I remembered my lessons that I was given by my parents and other herd members. As the child of the alfa chus of the herd, I was supposed to know how to fight and know strategy. Slick was given a bit or training (while I received a lot. Bah.), but since he was an Ekans, he couldn't be taught very well. Well, anyway…
"And what do you do if you find you in a situation such as an angry Charizard trying to eat you?" asked my father.
"Uhhh… use Agility to confuse him, then land a Thunderwave?" I said, knowing that it wasn't the right answer. My parents always asked me this question before going deeper into the forest without the herd.
"No! You run your tail off."
"Why?" I asked bluntly.
"Because… because I'm worried about you. I don't want my daughter to become Pokéfood…"
Now that advice wasn't too bad… "RAII!!" I yelped, and turned to follow in suit of Slick. I took a few steps and saw that the girl was still lying down, helpless as the Venusaur, which was a bad runner, rushed at her, its gaping mouth open and glittering fangs shined.
I ran back and pulled on the girl's shirt.
""Run! Run!"" I cried to her. She looked at me, and back at the Ivysaur, who was getting dangerously close, and she got up and we RAN.
And I mean we RAN! Just about through anything, following the path that Slick took in the bushes. She crashed through the low branches of the trees, with me running either in front of or with her. Soon, we caught up with Slick, and the rain stopped. The tripped on a stone, though, and fell to the ground. She grabbed her knee, and winced in pain. It was skinned.
The Venusaur was there, though. It knew now that his prey was down, and it chose that time to walk slowly forward, drooling with delight. Its vines came out and quickly tied up the girl. She cried out, but we seemed to be the only ones to hear.
I glanced toward Slick, and he was mad. I looked back at the scene of the Ivysaur holding the girl in the air, and growled. The Venusaur heard, and forgot about his dinner for a moment, and looked at us.
""Graai… you're not gonna eat her…"" I said to him.
""Like hell I won't. I haven't eaten in months, and my flower doesn't have enough nutrients for me anymore. Get out of here before I decide to make desert of you two!"" He retorted, and he shot his Razor Leaves at us. Slick dived down in time, but I soon I felt a light pain on my left eye. Soon, that light pain became horribly unbearable.
"RAIII!!!" I cried out, holding my eye with my paw. I saw with my other eye that blood was trickling down my arm. I also saw that the Venusaur was grinning vilely. But he failed to notice that Slick had striked, and bit on the vines holding up the girl. The vines were easily broken, and the fell to the ground, wriggling and squirming with green fluid. The girl fell to the ground, shocked, yet unharmed.
""Damn you, you fucking snake!"" roared the Ivysaur, and prepared to maul him. Just then, I let loose a Thundershock.
"RAICHU!" I cried, letting loose my electrical power.
"BZZZZZZARRRRRRTTT!!" crackled the lightning. It was super effective against the beast, since it was wet with rainwater, and so was all the ground.
""You should have stayed in your own business…"" he warned, and started to charge toward me with a Body Slam. I knew I couldn't beat his power or speed, but then a dart shot out and pierced the Ivysaur in his shoulder. The Ivysaur yelped, looked for the new attacker, but soon he swayed left and right, and then fell asleep before my very eyes.
My eye throbbed with pain that I tried to ignore when I did my Thundershock, but now it felt like it and the skin around it was going to burst. I fell to my knees and cried out. I felt Slick come over to me and try to comfort me.
""Raizy? Raizy-chan, are you okay?"" he said.
"NO!! NO!! It hurts… it hurts…""
I looked up and saw that Professor Oak was there. I knew it was he because he fed the herd and Slick everyday. He unwrapped the vines from the girl, who was totally pale, and then looked at Slick and I.
"A ha…" he muttered under his breath, and the girl hugged him.
"Great Grandpa!" the girl cried, and she started to sob in his chest.
"Relax Sammy, I'm here. I'm here and you're safe." He said, hugging the girl and patting her back. Now the pain was going away, but it was stinging badly.
When the girl was done, he held her hand and they walked toward us. He crouched down, but Slick wasn't scared of him, though. We both knew he loved and cared for all his Pokemon.
"Raizy… let me see that." He said, reaching for the paw covering my eye. I gave him a warning spark, saying that I wanted him to stay away.
He let go of the girl's hand, and said, "I won't hurt you, I just want to take a look." He patted me on my head, and he tugged gently at my arm. I pulled my paw off, and let him look. My eye was closed, of course.
"Hmm." He said, and took out a small first-aid kit. He cleaned off the blood staining my fur, and said, "That'll leave a big scar, Raizy, but otherwise you'll be okay. You can leave your eye closed if you want." And so I did.
He lifted up the girl- I mean, Sammy, or whatever the girl's real name was, and said, "Follow me Raizy- and Slick. I'll take you back to my lab."
And so Slick and I followed the old- yet very strong man (hmm…) back to his laboratory. It was a 7-minute walk there, and when we finally got there, a tall, skinny man was there. He looked like he was waiting for us- or them at least.
The man was about 5' 10", and his hair was jet black, and spikey. It shone in the evening sun, and next to that hair, on his shoulder, rested a Pikachu. His eyes shone with the same color brown as Sammy's and his face was a pale flesh color. Under his eyes were small dimples that looked almost like lightning bolts. He was wearing casual clothing.
"Samantha! My little girl…" he said, and reached out for her. She was asleep. Professor Oak handed her to him, and he seemed almost like he couldn't take the weight, but he could. The Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder and looked up, smiling.
"Where did you find her?" he asked the old Pokemon researcher, with a voice relatively high for a guy his age, which I could not tell was.
"She was deep in the Pokemon Preserve. But come inside, and I'll tell you inside."
The old man opened the door, and walked in. The other man followed in suit, with his Pikachu accompanying him.
Professor Oak turned to us and beckoned, "Come inside." So we did.
Inside, it was air-conditioned. All around us were a bunch of gizmos and strange gadgets of this and that, and I could see in another room there was book after book, almost un-ending. Slick slithered over to one of the machines, and pressed the ON button.
The machine made a bunch of loud, clunky sounds and emitted a large bubble that floated and popped on Slick's head. He didn't look too happy about the soapy water that misted him. Professor Oak turned off the machine and told us not to touch anything. We then followed the two men into Professor Oak's living room. It was a large, brightly lit room with a ceiling tall enough for an Onix to stand upright in it. In it were two women, one fairly old with a few wrinkles and some pale brown and gray hairs tied in a ponytail, and another who had dark brown hair in a braid. The woman with a braid quickly stood up and rushed to Samantha and her dad, as I put together, and took her daughter from the man's hands, waking Samantha up. She talked to the girl, telling her how worried she was.
"Mommy, I'm fine, really…" she said groggily.
"Your clothes are torn, and look at all those stains! Your knee is scraped!" her mother said, pointing out the wound.
"It's nothing Mom, it doesn't even hurt." Samantha said, hugging her mother across her neck. The mother put her down on the soft carpet, and the adults all sat on the furniture. Professor Oak sat in a leather recliner, the old woman on a matching recliner, and the two parents on a love seat. Then they started their conversation about Samantha and things, going off into other stories.
Samantha took no part in the conversation, and went to the Pikachu, who was on the floor with all of us.
"Hiya, Pikachu!" she said, patting the Pikachu's head.
"Chau…" he said, showing his gratitude.
The two played together like old friends. Pikachu hugged and played with her, and waved his tail under her nose, tickling her, and making her giggle. Slick and I just watched them and listened to little parts of the conversation.
"But what are those Pokemon doing here?" asked the woman, named May. She pointed at Slick and I.
"Well, you know that Venusaur I was talking about?" answered Professor Oak.
She nodded.
"Well… they are the Pokemon that saved her."
"Saved her?" asked Alex, the father.
So Professor Oak explained the story to them. Meanwhile, Samantha looked at us. She put a hand out to pet me, and she rubbed me behind my ears. Then she looked at Slick.
"A snake…" she said. "Awww…you're a cute snake." Slick then slithered around Samantha and gave her a hug- snake style. Samantha then reached out and wrapped around me giving me a big hug.
"Aww, isn't that sweet?" said the old woman, who was Alex's mom. Professor Oak got out of his chair, and said to Samantha, "Sammy, this is Raizy, the Raichu, and this is Slick, the Ekans. Raizy, Slick, this is Samantha."
"Alex, honey…" I heard May say to her husband quietly. "Samantha's special day is coming soon…"
"Please, call me Ash instead." He answered.
"Okay, then Ashy-boy…" Ash winced. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Ash nodded. Slick and I stayed at the lab that night. Actually, it wasn't just that, night, but many nights. Nights and days ran into weeks, and ran into months, and I got a bit used to human life. Eventually, on June 26th…
"Hello there, fellas!" said Professor said, entering with our normal Pokéfood. "Today is a special day."
I looked puzzled at him. Now, my eye had a large scar over it, but I could see fine out of it. It was back to normal. Professor Oak watched up eat our meal, and took us to the room with many gadgets, and set us on his metal workbench. He went into his closet, and came back with an elegantly wrapped box and a large tin cookie box.
He opened the box, and in it were many different shapes and sizes and lengths of ribbon. Sparkling silver, cerulean blue, and many, many others. He opened the wrapped box and pulled out two Pokéballs. One was decorated with a lightning bolt, and the other with a purple leaf cared into the red top.
"Okay you guys, get in," he said, holding the Pokéballs to us. The professor pushed the button on the Pokéball with a purple leaf on it, and Slick was sucked in with a blinding flash of bright white light.
"Now it's your turn." He said, turning to me. He pushed the button, and I saw myself glow in a bright white light just like Slick was, and before I really knew it, I was in the Pokéball. Inside, I was shrunk to the size just perfect for it. The spherical structure was padded on the bottom, and smooth on the top. I could hear everything that was going on around me, and feel it. Although the room was strangely built, and it looked like when the outside moved, the inside didn't. For example, Professor Oak started spinning around my Pokéball. I knew it was happening, but I wasn't spinning around the room. I think I was put inside the box.
I waited in the room for somebody to let me out. It was about a 15-minute wait. Then, as the ball opened, a tingling sensation filled my insides, and before I knew it, I was outside. The button on my Pokéball was pushed first, since Slick wasn't out yet. When I looked around, I was outside on a patio with Alex, May, Alex's Mom, Professor Oak, and 2 boys. One had spikey brown hair tied in a small ponytail in the back and deep blue eyes. He wore some blue shorts and a white t-shirt with some sort of black and white symbol on it. His brown hiking shoes were pretty worn out, but although they looked old, they were well taken care of so they would last. The other had shoulder length black hair that had some streaks of red in it, and his eyes were red. He wore white pants and a red long sleeved shirt with a vest and a Pokéball symbol on the back, and his shoes were black and dirty. He was pretty color coordinated… Heheh.
"Hey cool, a Raichu!" said the boy with red streaked hair. "What's in the other one?"
"POT—CHAK!!"
Now, Slick was beside me, and we were looking into the faces of all the people around us. Behind us, Samantha was kneeling down with the unwrapped box.
"Great grandpa…?" said Samantha.
"They're yours." Professor Oak said simply.