Sanda's laugh resonated inside the place full of leaves and dust. "Battling is so fun, don't you think?" He looked at his mentor with a friendly smile, shaking his body to get rid from all the dirt.

Pikachu chuckled in agreement. "It sure is! It's the reason I've been doing it for basically all of my life, and I'll keep at it."

Despite his recent grin, the Pichu quickly noticed how his ears lowered and he looked away in something akin to shame. "...But until Ribbon returns... I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy something again," he muttered, sounding depressed.

Sanda's own ears lowered in sympathy and his grin became a frown. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to," he apologized, feeling bad.

"It's fine, it's not your fault, Sanda..." the older Pokémon responded, attempting to give him a smile but failing when a small tear droplet escaped from one of his sepia eyes.

"Huh?" The Pikachu's long ears raised a little in surprise as he contemplated the giveaway of his sadness.

Worried, the shiny lifted a hand to reached the broken-hearted parent, but called him the last thing he needed to hear at that point by accident. "Raimei-"

"Don't." Pikachu cut him off. "The lesson's over... I'll be leaving now." He quickly turned around before rushing away with the gusts of wind.

He didn't want to let Pichu see the streaming tears falling down his cheeks.
-

"Pi... Pichu (Where... where am I?)"

"Pichu... I see you're finally awake."

"Pi-Pichu! Pichu?! (W-wait! Mama?! Where is she?!)"

"I'm sorry... Your mother and siblings aren't here," Professor Oak answered in a mutter even though he couldn't understand Pokémon talk. But he noticed the little Pichu's saddened and confused deep brown orbs. Sighing in pity, he went back to minding some scientific tests and examining Pokémon DNA samples.

Pichu was more than puzzled: one second he hatched from his egg inside the big warm Pikachu family that awaited him, surrounded by pretty green bushes inside the woods.

The other, he played with his brothers, bickered with his sisters and got his tail brushed by Mama...

The next, a group of weird people in uniform broke into their haven and he couldn't really remember anything afterwards.

"You must feel horrible... Team Rocket is truly an awful organization." Professor Oak sighed deeply. "We were lucky the rescue mission caught you before it was too late... Otherwise..." He paused, unable to continue talking.

Team Rocket? Those horrible people... Now that the initial shock had worn out, he finally recalled the terrible scene: his parents, siblings, cousins and grandparents being stolen by the strange purple-haired people, getting sucked into giant bags where they couldn't escape, until the former Pikachu village became completely desolate.
-

Pikachu grimaced, just like back in the memory. He didn't want to remember. He wished he could forget it all. But if that shiny kept calling him that...

Reclutantly, his eyes shut close and his mind drifted off once again.
-

Moments later, Professor Oak was examining the young Pichu as well; checking for any injuries or signs of sickness. Meanwhile, Pichu remained unresponsive, greatly concerning the scientist even though he understood why.

This baby Pokémon had been depraved of his family. It'd been whisked away and he couldn't cope with it.

Nevertheless, he really hated looking at the sad, depressed creature; feeling somehow it was all his fault for not being able to save him sooner. He sighed. "I'm sorry..." He apologized for the thirteenth time. "If only I had known..."

Pichu glanced at him with that frown and quickly looked back downwards, not blaming him.

Noticing, Professor Oak decided it was better to let the little one rest and mourn before he could check his damaged health.
-

A month passed, and Pichu somehow didn't seem as sad.

His triangle-shaped ears perked up occasionally and a small smile would even spread on his face for a second. Professor Oak brushed his pastel yellow fur every once in a while and Pichu came to like him.

He reminded him of his mother even if just a little bit...

Two more months passed, and he was back to being the playful little critter he was meant to be.

He liked shocking people and jumping and prancing around while multiple sparks of electricity that resembled fireworks twinkled around him.

It was around this time the professor was finally able to lay a medical tool on the baby Pokémon.

Not wasting a single second, the scientist put on his stethoscope and laid the circular end of it over Pichu's heart, then his left and right cheek.

He was surprised when he immediately got shocked by the last attempts. "P- Pichu!" he exclaimed, now his grey hair had turned into an afro.

The little Pokémon grinned mischievously and laughed.

"Ha. Those are tremendous amounts of electricity you have there..." He commented, interested in this new discovery, "Almost as many voltios as an adult Pikachu..."

Pichu's gaze shifted at the professor's face with wide eyes and mouth half-open in amazement. He... he really was that strong?

"I have a feeling you could become even more powerful if you got trained," Proffesor Oak told him, scratching his chin simultaneously. "Get a good kid who'll take care of you and teach you moves for battle."

Pichu tilted his head to the side; not sure where this conversation was going. "Pichu Pi? (What do you mean?)"

"I know!" Professor Oak suddenly exclaimed with joy. "I'll sign you up for the Pokémon Adoption this year! You'll certainly find someone trustworthy there!"

"Pichu Pi... (I don't like this...)" The baby Pokémon couldn't help but think aloud.

--

"Still indecisive?" a young Bulbasaur asked the Pichu next to him, who sat over the wooden table with crossed arms and angry, puffed up cheeks.

"I'm definitely decisive in that I don't wanna do this," he replied, glaring at nothing. "I wanna stay with Professor Oak."

"But you can't... if you stay with Professor Oak, that means you won't get to enjoy everything that's good about being a Pokémon," Charmander said in response, laying upside down. "You'll stay locked up in a lab everyday!"

"I don't care!" Pichu defied, "As long as I'm with the professor!"

Both Bulbasaur and Charmander sweat-dropped at Pichu's undying loyalty to the man.

"Well... maybe Professor Oak could train him?" Squirtle suggested, sitting behind the three.

"He... he doesn't have time," Pichu admitted, his furious eyes becoming rather saddened ones. "B- but I still wanna stay."

In that very moment the elderly man being mentioned marched inside the laboratory, then gently took Pikachu into his arms and carried him to his office without giving any context.

"Chu?! Pichu?! (Eh?! Professor?!)" Pichu questioned with puzzlement.

On the other side of the office there were two people, a girl and a boy, sitting on the chairs in front of the professor's desk, and there was another Pokémon he had never seen before standing between them. The scene looked quite familiar to him, but not in a good way.

He had just laid eyes on them and he was already suspicious.

"Meowth! That's hi—" The Pokémon, who apparently was about to talk, was interrupted by the girl of weird-shaped hair.

"Shh! You're not supposed to do that, you dunce!" the fuchsia-haired girl shushed him, then she turned to Professor Oak with a brilliant smile. "Professor! I see you brought back the little cutie!"

"Did she just call me cute?!" Pichu gagged, sticking out his tongue. "I'm not cute!"

"Pichu, these are your new trainers!" Professor Oak informed him, much to his dread. "Say hi to Jessilina and Jamie!" he introduced them to him.

"Pi... Pichu? (Err... hi?)" he muttered, only wanting to get out of there. But Professor Oak handled him to Jessilina, outraging the little Pokémon, who twitched all over.

"Ah!" The girl squealed happily. "He's so soft! What a cutie!"

"Grr..." Pichu growled between his teeth, eyes forming into a glare. Before another second passed, Jessilina had been electrocuted.

-
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