Danté’s Pokémon – Part 6
I woke up in the Pokécenter. Electra was curled up next to me. She had a bandage on her head. I slowly sat up. My body responded painfully. There were bandages on my cheeks and an IV in my arm. I looked around the room. No one was in the room besides Electra and me. A moment later Nurse Joy and Prof. Oak entered the room.
“I can’t believe that I have to tell you of all people, Professor Oak, not to train your pokémon until they faint like this.” Nurse Joy said.
“Well, I…” Prof. Oak started.
“You should know better! You’re only the leading mind on all pokémon! And I thought you were retired as a trainer?” Nurse Joy continued to scold Prof. Oak.
“But I…” Prof. Oak started again.
“Just remember to be more careful next time okay?” Nurse Joy said as she left the room.
“Is it any wonder why I’m a bachelor?” Prof. Oak asked.
“There’s just no talking to her when she’s in scold mode.” I said.
Electra woke up and stood up slowly.
“That was some attack you did.” Prof. Oak said. “I haven’t seen anything like that since Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu.”
“I don’t know what came over me. My body just reacted to the battle.” I said.
“What are you going to call that attack? That is much stronger than a thunder attack.” Prof. Oak said.
“What am I going to call it?” I asked.
“Pikapikachupi? [How about ‘Surprise Thunder’?]” Electra asked.
“Yeah. ‘Surprise Thunder’. That sounds good.” I said.
“It sure surprised everyone who saw it.” Prof. Oak said.
“Pikachu. [Even me.]” Electra said.
I suddenly felt weak, so I laid down.
“Any word on the operation?” I asked.
“They started work this morning. They are still uncertain of the outcome.” Prof. Oak said.
“Hmmm… At least they’re making progress.” I said as I closed my eyes.
“Get some rest.” Prof. Oak said as he left the room.
“Pikapipikachu. [It really didn’t hurt you know.]” Electra said.
“What?” I asked.
“Pikachu. [Your attack.]” Electra said.
“Next time I should charge up more electricity.” I said as I fell asleep.
It was three hours before I woke up. Electra was snuggled up next to me. She was sleeping soundly. I gently nudged her and she woke up. Nurse Joy had removed the bandages from us and took the IV out of my arm. I was feeling much better. Prof. Oak came and got us from the pokécenter and took us back to his apartment.
“Well. Out of one hospital and into another, right Danté?” Prof. Oak asked.
Prof. Oak placed a plate of pokémon food in front of Electra and me. I picked up a small piece. People always said that pokémon food tasted nasty to humans but was absolutely delicious to pokémon. I popped the piece of food into my mouth. It was actually pretty good. I couldn’t place the flavor though. Apparently pokémon have a different taste pallet than people. After we ate, Prof. Oak excused himself and left to go to the hospital to check up on my body. Electra didn’t want to go, so I decided to stay with her. Being a Pokémon was tougher than I thought. Just climbing onto the sofa was a real challenge. Electra, being more light and agile than I, was able to simply hop up on the sofa. I could tell that she had something on her mind. She hadn’t talked to me since we had gotten back. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she spoke up.
“Pikapipikachu? [Why did you use that attack anyway?]” She asked.
“I don’t know. My body just reacted on it’s own. I guess it considered you a major threat and defended itself.” I said.
“Pipikachu? [A major threat?]” She asked.
“Well yeah. You are a very strong Pokémon.” I said.
She smiled and hugged me. She did not let go of me. She had a strange look in her eyes. My body reacted accordingly. I hugged her back. She got closer. We both began to give off electricity. Soon, there was an electrical field around us. My body was reacting naturally to her movements. The electrical field was shrinking, but the electricity was condensed and more powerful. Soon the electricity was passing through both our bodies as our bodies moved rhythmically with the passion. I wasn’t feeling the numbing sensation that I had felt with my other electric attacks. Her electricity was mixing with mine, which made it painless. It did, in fact, excite us. I quickly became extremely excited and got lost in the moment. But just as quickly as it had started, it ended. She cried out and collapsed into my arms. I leaned back on the sofa. She had already fallen asleep. Exhausted, I too closed my eyes and fell asleep.
Three weeks and five days later, my body had been completely repaired. The experiment was a complete success. I looked over my body. It was strange looking at my human self through a Pokémon’s eyes. Electra didn’t want me to change back, even more because of the moment we had. We had had more of those moments together. Each time, it was more exciting than the last. She wanted me to stay as a raichu so that we could share more of those moments. But she knew it was the right thing for me to return to my human body. Prof. Utsugi placed a small metal helmet on my head and another on the head of my human body. There was a trading machine between my human body and me. I lied down on the bed. Prof. Utsugi started the machine and I blacked out. I was in a black void, a timeless void where the rules of space and time don’t apply. I was flying around in this inky blackness. Up ahead of me I saw my human body. I headed straight for it. I suddenly felt something release me. I turned and I saw the raichu. I wanted to go back into the raichu, but I fought down the urge. I turned back to my body and went towards it. I was standing close to my body. I was almost afraid to touch it. But I reached out my hand and touched my forehead with my index finger. A bright light flashed, almost blinding me. When the light subsided, I could feel myself in my old body. I opened my eyes and saw that I was back in the hospital. I slowly sat up. Everything seemed a bit smaller. I looked over at the raichu. It was fast asleep. Prof. Utsugi, Prof. Oak, and the doctor were watching me. Electra was watching me as well. I suddenly felt dizzy so I put a hand to my head to steady myself. The dizziness went away. I looked around. Electra was sitting at my side. I smiled down at her.
“How do you feel?” The doctor asked.
“I guess everything’s intact.” I said slowly.
Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief.
”Pikapikachupi! [I’m glad
you’re alright!]” Electra said
as she hugged me.
I hugged her back. Then I did a double take.
“Wait! I just understood what she said!” I said.
“Hmmm. Must be a side affect of the machine.” Prof. Utsugi said.
“Yes. It appears as though he can now understand the Pokémon language.” Prof. Oak said.
“Leftovers from the raichu?” The doctor asked.
“It appears that way.” Prof. Utsugi said.
The raichu in the next bed began to stir.
“Rai, rairairaichu? [Man, how long have I been out?]” The raichu asked.
“Approximately a month.” I said to the raichu.
Everyone looked at me questioningly.
“He asked how long he’s been out.” I said.
The doctor nodded and rolled the raichu out of the room. After a quick examination, the doctor released me from the hospital. Prof. Oak and Prof. Utsugi had already left to head back to Pallet. Electra and I headed down to the gym for a battle, but it was locked up tight as Sabrina was away on vacation.
“Perfect.” I said. “Just when I need to get a badge, the gym leader goes on vacation.”
“Pikapika. [You’re telling me.]” Electra said.
As we headed back to the Pokémon Center, I thought to myself that it was a little strange that I could still understand Electra. Perhaps there’s a little Pokémon in every human being and the only way to awaken that part is to actually become a Pokémon. I discussed this with Electra.
“Pikapikachu. [Don’t be silly.]” Electra said. “Pipipikachupipikapika. [Humans and Pokémon are two different things.”
“Well you act almost human.” I said.
“Pikapipikachu. [That’s just because I learn from you.]” She said.
We dropped the subject as I pulled out my TCG cards. We were playing for quite some time. It was odd to see a Pokémon playing the TCG so everyone in the Pokécenter was watching us. It was a pretty even match this time around. She was using her Psychic-Electric deck and I had my Physical-Fire deck. I was doing a pretty good job, avoiding using my Physicals against her Psychics, and she was avoiding using her Electrics against my Physicals. The game ended up being a draw so we played a quick, one prize sudden-death game. She won, of course by using a kadabra against my only card, a machop. It was a good battle. We were really getting better against each other. I was considering entering her into the TCG League, but there’s a rule against Pokémon playing in tournaments. It was pretty late, but I went ahead and planned our route. We would head out to Lavender, pay a visit to the ghost tower to capture a ghost and then return to Saffron to face Sabrina for a Marsh Badge.