Lightning, Mario, Luigi, Gabe, Jake, Max, Churro, And their new recruit Alex the Lucario follow the Pikachu to the Pikachu Village where they are greeted by the friendly residents. A Shiny Pichu walked towards Lightning carrying a few berries. She gave each of them a berry and ran off.

A male Spiky-eared Pichu waved at them before running after the female Shiny Pichu.

Thunder walked towards them. "Welcome back, Lightning." He smiled. It soon faded when he saw the Mario Brothers. His nose twitched in disgust. "And I see that you brought the Humons as well..." he mumbled.

"Dad, we went over this already. They are not a threat." Lightning replied.

"Whatever... I still don't trust them that well..." he grunted.

He turned to Gabe. He sniffed his scent as well. "Another one???" He questioned. He shook his head in denial.

"Rude..." Gabe grumbled.

"Excuse my dad... He can be a little picky at times." Lightning told them.

Luigi frowned.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by 5 Gastly and 1 Haunter. They grinned. "I think this may be the Pikachu's family. Maybe we could use them against those gullible fools." One of the Gastly said.

"That's a great idea, Turboo." Another one responded with an evil grin.

Their eyes began to glow red. The Pikachu Villagers then groaned in pain.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Lightning questioned.

"Something is taking control of them. I can sense evil auras around." Alex replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Luigi  asked.

Alex was about to answer but was interrupted by an angry growl from behind them.

Thunder glared at them with red eyes.

"Dad???" Lightning called out.

Thunder growled. "Get them!!!" He ordered.

The villagers obeyed and began to pursue them.

"Uh oh.." Lightning mumbled.

"This looks bad..." Luigi replied.

"We need to get outta here!" Mario said.

"Mario's right. We can't take on all of them. I just can't..... They're my family... I can't fight them..." Lightning replied, worriedly.

"Come on, we need to hurry!!" Luigi told them. They followed him only to have a Pikachu block their way.

"You're not going anywhere..." he said. He used Thunderbolt.

They dodged the attack and quickly ran past him. The Pikachu growled and used another Thunderbolt attack, hitting a tree in front of them in the process. The tree was going to fall on Luigi.

"Luigi, Look out!!!" Lightning shouted. She used Quick Attack and pushed him out of the way. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine... Thanks to you Lightning."

Lightning smiled but soon dropped it when she saw three Pikachus using Thunderbolt In front of them. Lightning used her own Thunderbolt to counter the attacks. She gasped when the attack didn't do any damage to them. They only grinned.

Lightning gasped in horror. "They all have Lightning rod..."

The three Pikachu smirked evilly as they approached them. Their cheeks sparking with electricity.

"Don't worry Lightning, we can handle this..." Alex said. He used Aura Sphere on the Pikachus. The Pikachus were easily knocked back. Two out of the three managed to get back up. They used Thunder. Mario and Luigi jumped out of the way to avoid the attack. Alex, Gabe, Jake, Max and Churro managed to move to the side. Lightning jumped off a tree to gain enough height to avoid it as well and used Iron Tail on one of the Pikachu. The other used Volt Tackle on her to knock her into a tree. "I have to keep fighting... I can't show weakness... My friends need me..." she thought to herself. She shook it off and used another Iron Tail. The other Pikachu used Iron Tail as well to counter Lightning's.

Alex used Aura Sphere followed by Ice Punch.

The Shiny Pichu And Spiky-eared Pichu used Thundershock, hurting themselves in the process. The attack hit Alex but he didn't give up. He used Ice Punch on them as well. Easily taking them down.

Thunder approached the Mario Brothers and Lightning. "You traitors!!! You filthy humans are using my own daughter against us! You will pay!!" He used a Thunder Attack.

Lightning took the attack to protect the brothers.

"You're a disgrace to the village, Lightning!! Protecting the humans???" Thunder growled.

"They're my friends!!!" She growled.

"Poppycock!!!" Thunder protested. He used Iron Tail to batting her away. She slammed right into a tree hard and collapsed.

"Lightning!!!" Mario and Luigi shouted.

They turned back to Thunder. They didn't know that the group of Gastly who were watching them, grabbed Lightning and dragged her away.

Suddenly, to their surprise, all the villagers collapsed at the same time. The group of heroes looked around confused, that's when they noticed. "Where's Lightning?" Luigi asked.

"She's gone!!" Mario noticed.

"Where is she??? She can't be gone... She just can't be.." Luigi replied worriedly.

"We have to find her and fast. She could be in trouble!" Gabe added.

"I think I may be able to find her Aura." Alex responded. He closed his eyes. After a few seconds, his ears perked. "I think I know where she is..."

They were interrupted when the villagers woke up. "Wh-What happened???" They questioned.

"You went hostile like you were being hypnotized..." Alex answered.

Thunder looked around dazed. "Is everyone alright?" He asked.

"We think so..." the villagers replied.

"Wait...Where's Lightning? Where's my daughter?!" Thunder asked.

"We don't know but she may be in trouble..." Mario said.

"What?!?! You better find her or if anything happens to my daughter, I'm holding you responsible, you filthy humans!!" He growled, his cheeks sparking with electricity.

"W-we understand..." the brothers replied.

"Good! Now get going and I don't want to see you in my village again until you find her."

"Come on... follow me..." Alex told them.

They ran into the forest.

A male Pikachu stood up. "I'm going too sir... to... watch them..."

"Fine Swift. Just be careful." Thunder replied.

"I will. Don't worry..." He then ran off.

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That's the end of Chapter 24. Hope you enjoyed. More will be coming very soon ^U^