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Raichu's Story
As I faced my opponent, I felt confident. I knew I had an elemental advantage, as well as being a higher level.
Maybe I should back up... hi. I'm Raichi, and I'm a Raichu. At the moment I'm speaking about, I was facing off against Lance's [yes, Lance of the Elite Four] Dragonite. My trainer is a young Human female who goes by the name of Electra. She looks a lot like me in some respects... she has big brown eyes, and yellow hair. I believe the humans call it 'blonde'. Some think that brown eyes looks funny with yellow hair, but I disagree. After all, it's my style too!
Back to the situation. The Dragonite looked at me with its cold blue eyes, Leering. I Leered back, then turned it into a Glare. It worked! The Dragonite was temporarily disabled. I tested it with a Thundershock, my weakest attack. The Dragonite stiffened, and broke free of the paralysis. I had hurt it, but now it could move, and wouldn't get caught by my Glare again.
A call from Electra sounded. "Raichi, kick sand into its eyes so it can't see!" Good idea! I balanced on my tail and kicked the ground powerfully, sending a spray of sand into the Dragonite's face. It roared, pained.
"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam! Try to find the Raichu!" Dragonite obeyed Lance, and started firing Hyper Beams all over the place. One hit home in the stands, another narrowly missed one of the supporting columns. I took a firm stance in front of Electra. "Kairyuu!" I called, in my native language. The Dragonite paused, perhaps surprised to hear its given name. "Kairyuu, stop! You're injuring innocent people with your blind destructiveness! I'm asking you to cease!"
The Dragonite cast about with its head, finally orienting on me. Oops... it had used my voice to zero in on my whereabouts! It opened its mouth slightly, revealing a white glow that was increasing in intensity very quickly. The Hyper Beam! Probably a very powerful one too, by the looks of it.
Now, here was my dilemma. I really did not want to get hit with that hyper beam. At the same time, I couldn't dodge. I wasn't paralyzed or anything, but if I moved, the Dragonite would hit Electra with the Hyper beam. The pain alone would destroy all but the strongest humans, and the impact of being smashed into the wall would kill those strong ones. I stood my ground and charged up quickly, sparks flying from my electric sacs.
The Hyper Beam fired itself at me, and at the same time, I tensed my body and released a powerful current of electricity... my Thunder attack. The two met, and forged right through each other. The Thunder went through the Hyper Beam as if it wasn't there, and the Hyper Beam did the same to the Thunder. I heard a roar of pain from the Dragonite; that would be the Thunder hitting home. Now it was the Hyper Beam's turn. As it struck me, I felt a wave of intense pain sear through my body. I stiffened automatically, from head to tail. It was excruciating, as if every fibre of my body was on fire.
The impact knocked me backwards, and I felt the razor edge of my tail pass through something weak that offered no resistance. I heard shrieks from every direction, exclamations of pain, surprise and grief. As my head slammed against the column, I felt it give slightly. Not my head, the column. My head just spun. "Now that's Motrin pain," I muttered, before sinking into the welcoming black pool of blissful oblivion.
I was just a baby Pichu, happily playing in the grass outside of my home. I play-fought with Pidgeys and Otachi, and I had many friends to have fun with. My head snapped up, and my sensitive [though oversized] ears twitched. Faint yells from the direction of my home. I said a quick good-bye to Popo, my Pidgey friend, and ran as fast as my stubby legs would carry me. As I rounded the top of the hill nearest our home, I found a terrible sight. Humans had found us! They threw strange-coloured rocks at my parents and siblings, and everyone was sucked inside them! I began to run, but a stinging rock caught me on the tip of my tail, and I was transformed. Suddenly, I was formless energy floating inside some sort of container. I had no clue how to manage myself in this form, so I didn't struggle effectively. I realized it was useless to try to get out of this trap, so I let myself sleep.
When I woke up again, it was to the sound of voices outside the small prison. "Ooh yes, Professor! I really want something electric, and Magnemite and Voltorb are too boring. Please, professor? Pleeeaase?"
Another voice cut the first off. "Yes, of course you may, Electra. Be warned, though, this Pichu was caught wild and may not want to obey you."
At this, the girl... Electra... paused. "Ummm, what gender is it? I think I might be able to deal with a female, but a male would be too much to handle."
"You're in luck, 'Lectra. The Pichu is female. I wish you well on your journeys."
"Thanks, Professor! I'll be sure to check in often!" I heard footsteps, than, "Pichu, come out!" I was transformed back into my natural form. I shook myself to get used to my body again, and took stock of where I was. I seemed to be in an enclosure of some sort, with human coverings lying on the floor, and a box in one corner. The box intrigued me, as it felt slightly of electricity. I sniffed around it, curious. There were buttons on the front; being naturally curious, I pressed one. The box blared to life, displaying moving pictures and blasting sound. Spooked, I retreated behind Electra and peeked between her legs. "Pichu! What did you do that for? You'll wake my parents!" And indeed, an older human garbed in fuzzy - what was the word - clothing.
"Electra, what are you doing with the TV on?"
"I'm really sorry Mom, it's nothing, just go back to bed now. Goodnight." Electra herded her mother back to her bed, and turned to me. "It's okay, Pichu. You didn't know what it was, and you were curious, right?" I nodded affirmatively. She strode over to the TV and pressed another button. It stopped making noise and pictures, but it still smelled of electricity. I explored the back, and found a cord leading to a dent in the wall that smelled even more strongly of electricity. I touched my tail to the hole tentatively. A pleasant current tingled into my tail and was stored in my electric sacs, but this wouldn't last. "Pichu! What are you doing? Don't touch the socket, you'll be electrocuted!" I opened the circuit I was part of, and faced Electra. "Wait, what am I saying? You can't get electrocuted, can you? Never mind." She faced away, and began cramming things into a sack of some sort. Once the sack was full, she turned to face me, and jumped. "I didn't realize you were there! Okay then Pichu, let's go!" I followed her outside the room, then outside of the larger dwelling. Electra seemed to ponder me for a moment. "You need a name. I think I'll call you... Raichi. That sounds nice." I liked the name; it had a ring of authority and greatness. We started walking away from her house, towards the city beyond.
I tried to lift my head, but found myself too weak. I slowly brought my tail around to where I could see it, and was shocked to see crimson on the sharp edge. I had cut someone! My mind fuzzed again, and I was out cold.
Much later, I was fighting someone else's Pidgeotto. I knew it was a wise decision that Electra had made, because I'd learned much about the things I was good and not so good against. Flying things were easy to take down. "Raichi, Thundershock!" I let loose a bit of electricity, and quickly fried the Pidgeotto.
"That was too easy," I commented. I didn't speak the humans' language, but Electra understood any electric type. She had a gift. The other trainer handed her some Yen, and stalked away, angry. Electra patted me on the head, and gave me a packet of ketchup. Ketchup, I'd discovered, was a wonderful food. It was practically ambrosia. I devoured the ketchup avidly, and licked my face clean. Electra laughed, then stopped short suddenly. "What's wrong?" I asked. She stood, just staring at me. Now I felt something happening to me. My ears slimmed and lengthened, I got taller and I felt the patterns of my fur change. I had evolved!
"Raichi, I'm so happy! Oh, you're so cute as a Pikachu! I mean, you were cuter as a Pichu, but you're the cutest Pikachu this side of Indigo Plateau!" We trod along towards the next city, both pleased with our progress and my evolution.
I was in some sort of hospital bed, in a Pokémon Center. Chansey scurried around like squirrels on speed, applying bandages and salves to those pokémon who had been hurt in the accident at the stadium. "Electra..." Where was she? I faded out of consciousness again.
"Pika...chuuuuuu!" I exclaimed as I brought down the Seaking. Electra clapped in delight, and took me straight to the pokémon center. After I was safely healed and fed, Electra and I browsed the shops.
"Ooh, look! The Rockett Breeding Center and Evolution Clinic! That looks neat, let's go on in!" I hesitated. The people inside made me nervous, and I didn't want to go in there. Electra noticed my reluctance to follow her. "Okay, we can go somewhere else. Hey, how about that Stone Shoppe? It looks interesting too!" This time, I followed her in. While Electra engaged in small talk with the proprietor, I sniffed around the boxes holding the evolutionary stones. I chose a mahogany box with a stone inside that had a lightning blt on it. It was calling to me. "Hi Raichi, what do you have there? Oh, it's a Thunderstone! Do you want to evolve?"
"Yes!" was my emphatic reply. She dug in her pocket, and pulled out a handful of Yen. The owner of the store counted it, and shook her head. It wasn't enough. I knew that Electra had enough money to buy the entire store, but she didn't want to spend more than necessary on things. Suddenly, I was struck with an idea. I whispered in Electra's ear.
"Do you really think so?" she inquired hopefully. She turned to the shop owner who was still standing beside her, and asked, "Have you ever actually seen a pokémon evolve?" The owner shook her head sadly.
"Many people buy from me, but I never get to see the results of these wonderful stones. Why, did you have something in mind?" Electra relayed my idea. The shop owner was thrilled with the idea. Electra carefully took the stone out of the wooden case and handed it to me. I accepted it, and began to concentrate. At the wondering gasp of the shopkeeper, I opened my eyes. I was bathed in a white glow drom head to tail, and I sparkled a bit. My ears changed shape, becoming more acute, and my legs lengthened and became more muscular. I felt the shifting of my fur as I grew a foot or so in height. Last of all, my tail lengthened and became cord-like, with a sharp blade on the tip.
"Oh, that was wonderful! Thank you ever so much for letting me watch the evolution! It means so much to me!" Electra waved good-bye to the ecstatic woman, and we moved on.
"I can't believe you're really a Raichu, Raichi! It's amazing!" And it really was. I could feel a whole new power surging in me physically, as well as eletrically. We were all happy.
I awoke with startling suddenness. Where was everyone? Where was Electra? I seemed to be in the darkened treatment room of a pokémon center. I walked into the reception desk, letting my eyes become used to the sudden, harsh light, and asked Nurse Joy where Electra was. She snapped awake. "Hmm? Oh, you're that Raichu from the battle with Lance. You shouldn't be up yet! Why are you out here?" I repeated my request. "Oops, just wait a second." She slipped something into her ear, and asked me to repeat the question once more, which I did. "Who's Electra? Oh yes, she's your trainer! She's in the hospital right now, she was hurt pretty badly. The hospital is down the street to your left, just the third building down. You can't miss it. Bye!" she added, as I hurried out the door. What would I do if 'Lectra was hurt?
I asked the nurse at the front desk where Electra was. I had to make like a Mr. Mime to get my question across, because this nurse had no translator. I finally got the room number and floor. As I walked in the door of Electra's room, I was greeted with silence, except for the regular beeping of the machines attatched to her. I kept my electrical field low, so as to not disturb the functioning of the machines. I hopped up on the stool beside her bed, and looked down at her. There were bandages around her head, and a cast on her right arm. That wasn't what got my attention, though. There were blood-soaked bandages wrapped many times around her torso. I looked at the charts beside me on the table. I'd never really got the hang of reading, but I managed to piece it together from what Electra had taught me. Apparently, she had been caught under the support that I'd cracked with the force of the hit I'd taken from the Hyper Beam. The report also said there was a severe ... lac - laceration on her stomach. That hit me with the force of a Snorlax sitting on me. I had caused that! There was a brief flash in my mind of when the razor edge of my stiffened tail had encountered something soft that cut with almost no resistance. It had been Electra! I was responsible for most of her condition! Sick at heart for having caused my lifelong friend such pain, I hung my head and cried.
When I woke up again, it was Electra prodding me. "Wake up, sleepyhead! It's 3 in the afternoon!" I jumped. Electra was semi-sitting in her bed, supported by pillows. Much of the machinery had been removed while I'd been sleeping. I smiled at Electra, and let out a tiny spark towards her, knowing she was immune to it. She laughed, then held her torn stomach, pained. I was the cause for this, and I knew it.
"I'm sorry, Electra. I never meant to hurt you, but..." I could not go on. Tears were blocking my throat, blurring my vision. A tear slid down my cheek, leaving a streak of static, and landed on Electra's hand.
"Don't feel bad, Raichi. It's not your fault. You couldn't help it, nobody could," she pointed out. Then, softly, "And you saved my life. Don't be sad about that! You purposely took that hit for me. Don't think I'm not grateful, 'cause I am." Comforted, I closed my eyes. I felt so drained, from the sobbing and emotional stress. I drifted off into a blissful, healing sleep.