FSE

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Another chapter of my old Poke'mon story, edited and updated. I really hope everyone is enjoying taking a look at some of my earlier works while I work on new projects, and as always all constructive criticism is welcome. Enjoy!

A few days out of Cerulean, I was well on my way towards Vermilion City. Again, I had to stay away from any direct routes to avoid unwanted human contact, but I'm getting used to it. Besides, I think being part Poke'mon has put me a little more in touch with nature. It's becoming a little more enjoyable to be out in the woods, and I've found things well of the beaten path that most people wouldn't, like the steady stream I'd set up camp near one night. The gently babbling stream was relaxing and soothing, and it wasn't too long after I set up camp and eaten my dinner before falling asleep.

A few minutes before midnight, I was woken by the sound of something knocking over my metal mess kit I'd left outside. My hope that it was just a wild Poke'mon wandering through my camp was dashed when whoever, or whatever it was started coming closer. I still didn't move, but did start getting little bolts running between my fingers as I prepared my improvised version of an Electric Punch. My little charge wouldn't do much damage, especially compared to the 100,000 volts that a fully leveled Raichu can use. Still, hopefully one or two shot would be enough to subdue or scare off the intruder.

The zipper of the tent started to open as I slowly slid out of my bag, ready to come out swinging. As a stray breeze blew in the scent of the intruder before they could enter, I noticed a new, yet somehow familiar scent. The zipper went up a little more as I pondered this, the intruder completing their breaking and entering into my tent.

"Raichu?"

"Raichu?" I'm not sure who was more surprised; the Raichu Hybrid in the tent or the Raichu Poke'mon who'd just broken it. She looked like a standard Raichu, minus the pink bow tied around her tail. Since that's not really a guy thing, it was a safe bet she was a female Raichu.

"Sorry, but you're not Raichu type." I said, kneeling down to her. Judging by the bow, she wasn't wild. She was understandably cautious, not really sure what to make of me, though she didn't seem as surprised like most are when she walked over to me as I took a seat.

"Are Chu lost?" I asked. Maybe she was released by a trainer that didn't want a Raichu. I'd kinda feel bad about doing that, but some people have no objections to it.

"Rai not Rai" she said, shaking her head.

"Raichu not lost? How come Chu all the Rai out here?"

She started off on a long story, maybe 2% of which I actually understood. I caught the words, "Town", "Police", "Sara", and "Help", along with a few "The's" and "And's". When she saw I wasn't getting much of this, she pointed to her bow.

"What Chu it?" She turned and put her tail so the bow was almost in my face. Now that it was closer, I could see a folded piece of paper tied in with the bow. I pulled it out and showed it to her. "Raichu what you're Raichu show me?"

"Rai." I unfolded the paper and read it over. It was a letter of sorts, the handwriting barely readable. It was almost as bad as mine; I remember Mom joking once I should be a doctor with the way I write. I scanned the letter over carefully as the Raichu watched me.

To whoever receives this letter,

Please, I beg you to help us! Our town has been taken over by a corrupt police force! My father, the mayor, has been missing for a month, and the police have taken over in his absence, leaving all around them with nothing. They arrest anyone who apposes them and take whatever they feel like taking. I've been locked in my father's home, but I can see the damage they do. They have put half the town in jail, and the other half are forced to do what the bidding of these heartless monsters, unable to leave town. I've sent Railina, my most capable Poke'mon for this task, to try and find someone who can help. Please, do not ignore our plight!

Sara Maximillion.

"Whoa..." I turned to Railina. "Is this true?"

"Raichu." She nodded.

Shoot, if she wasn't lying, this was serious! There wasn't a heck of a lot I could do on my own, but I couldn't just ignore this, either. I barely had time to ponder this before I heard the footsteps of at least four people outside. They were still pretty far away, but they stomped through the woods loudly and were approaching fast.

"We gotta find that dumb Raichu!"

"Yeah, if we don't, the chief will have our hides on a silver platter!"

"Don't worry, it's just a dumb Poke'mon. How far could it have gotten?"

Railina looked like she was about ready to bolt. These guys were after her! I quickly stuffed the note back into her bow and got out of the tent.

"Railina, Cerulean City Raichu few miles that way," I pointed back in the general direction I'd come. "Go there. Raichu be able to Chu Raichu than me. I'll Rai and buy Chu some time."

"Rai you." She thanked me as I ran off. Distracting them was a noble plan, but how would I pull it off? Hmm... Well, they're looking for a Raichu; maybe I'll just give them another one to chase. After spying some brush and low hanging branches nearby, I put together a quick idea. I filled Bulbasaur in on it as I let him out of his Poke'ball and dove into the brush, hoping this crazy plan would work.

"I still don't see it..." One of the men mumbled as they came across my seemingly abandoned campsite. "Looks like someone's campsite, but I don't see anyone around."

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves; here goes nothing...

"Rai?" I called out. For once that was intentional and not just Poke'mon speech slipping in with my normal words. The group suddenly got very quiet, searching for the owner of the voice. I called out again, leading them toward my hiding place in the brush. I'd hidden myself totally except for my tail, which I intentionally left out in view, and the tops of my ears, keeping my head low enough so that was all they saw.

The sound of opening Poke'balls filled the air. There were a few low, "Growlithe", voices. They sniffed at the ground a little before growling steadily, ready to pounce. There were a few more footsteps, before a large hand suddenly grabbed my tail.

"Growl?..." The Growlithe's seemed to pick up the strange mix of human and Raichu scent a second too late to avoid springing the trap.

"RAICHU!" I yelled, hitting the ground flat on my stomach. Bulbasaur released the branch he was holding with his vines, knocking back the men behind me. As soon as I felt the hand leave my tail, I scrambled to my feet and ran in the direction they'd come from. The Growlithe's gave chase, forcing me to recall Bulbasaur as I ran. He didn't have the speed to outrun them, and we'd already had one bad incident with a Growlithe that started this whole mess. I didn't care for a repeat.

If I'd been human, maybe the Growlithe's would've have caught me, but for all the bad stuff that comes with being a Hybrid, like not being able to make long public appearances and scaring off any wild Poke'mon the moment they catch wind of you, there are some benefits, perhaps depending on what kind of Hybrid you are. For myself, one of those was a speed high school sprinters would kill to have. The Growlithe's only had their noses to help them once they lost sight of me, and the Raichu-human scent seemed to confuse them like nothing else.

"Chu...Chu..." I gasped, slowing down to a walk once I was sure my pursuers had been lost. Despite great speed, I didn't have the energy to keep it up for long. I was going to have to rest before I could run, become human, or anything that required more than a small amount of energy. Luckily I found a nice, quiet cave to rest in. After checking to make sure there wasn't anything already in there, I sat down and leaned against the wall. I had intended just to close my eyes for a minute to recover from the sudden sprint after having my sleep interrupted, but I guess I was more tired than I thought. Before I knew it, I was out like a light.

---

I opened my eyes, finding myself back in my tube. I sighed, tired of this routine. Every day, they inject me, I pass out, I wake up and get, "trained", for a few hours, eat some rotten food, pass out again from the drugs in it, then repeat the process again later. I'd never touch it, but that's all I get to eat, so I have no real choice.

I'm told there are others like me, but with this stupid glass, I can't see a thing. The men and women in white, the one's who feed and inject me, don't tell me this. A few voices in my head tell me that there are others like me out there, and that they too, are like me. I really don't know if I can believe voices in my head, but they keep me company sometimes, and I can speak with my mind to them if they're talking to me, which is probably the only reason I'm still sane.

They tell great stories, the voices. There's this one I really like to hear, about the world outside of my tube and the training room. They say that beyond this thing were in, a "building", where our tubes are, is a great world, where people are free to do almost whatever they want. I don't know what exactly, "free" is, but it sounds nice. The voices say that they're almost ready to free us all. I tell them that they can't, that we don't have the abilities to free ourselves. They just say that they do, even if I don't.

<But if you said we we're all alike, then how can you free us if I can't free myself?> I asked. They just say that it's too complicated for me to understand.

I can see the people in white at my tube again. It looks like they're about to inject me again. I sighed again, really not wanting to do this. A metal rod shot out of the side into my arm. It hurts a lot, but I can't avoid it. Now they're going to inject me again...huh? I can't see well out the tube, but the few people I can see look really worried all of the sudden. They're scared, but why?

Suddenly, the white clothed people flew backwards, out of sight, even though nothing touched them. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the glass of my tube cracked greatly, letting some of the fluid out.

<Come. You can be free now.>

I knew this voice. He called himself Mike. He was one of the voices that used to speak with me.

<Just keep hitting the crack. It'll break.>

I hesitated for a few seconds. Could this really be happening? I could be free, just by hitting the cracks? This seemed too easy...but what did I have to lose? I kicked and punched at the crack, and it slowly got bigger. Finally, with one hard kick, my foot broke through the glass. It hurt, but I didn't care. I kept kicking and punching, making the hole bigger and causing more fluid to leak out. When most of the fluid was out, I pulled off the big mask that covered my mouth. When the hole was big enough, I squeezed through, cutting myself on the glass as I did.

I jumped down to the ground, blinded by the bright lighting. The instant I hit the ground, I saw...

---

My eyes fluttered open slowly, just in time to see a figure in a dark trench coat dash out of the cave. It took a few seconds to come to full awareness, but I soon realized something was wrong.

"Hey, come...Ow!" I started to chase after it, but I was in such pain I could barely walk. I sat abruptly and looked myself over to see why.

"No..." If I weren't in such pain, I'd have been running out of that cave for my life. All the cuts I'd gotten from hitting the glass and forcing myself through the hole were now all over my body, fresh and bleeding like they were just formed. Moving up my arm, I felt the hole that had been made by the rod. How could this happen? Dreams don't hurt anyone...unless...

"Dream Eater?" That was the only way this could happen. Normally Dream Eater just gives a sleeping Poke'mon nightmares that they're under attack, and causes the damage they suffer in the dream to become real. It's a standard tournament rule that Poke'mon who use Dream Eater must make sure any nightmares they give their opponent are no more painful than any other attack a Poke'mon could normally use, but a really evil Poke'mon or its trainer could inflict some serious damage if they could steer the sleeping Poke'mon's dream the right way.

"Ow, ow, ow..." Everything hurt really badly. The pain that Mewtwo had inflicted on me when we were trapped in that dungeon was the only time I'd experienced more pain than I was now. I sniffed as I fought back tears of pain, but my sorrow was replaced by confusion quickly.

"No scent?" There's no way for anyone to cover up their scent totally, but whoever had attacked me had left no scent at all. Even if a ghost Poke'mon had done this to me, I should have been at least able to catch the scent of his trainer. There was no scent at all; no Poke'mon, no trainer, just me and my slowly bleeding wounds.

I shivered and stood up, having to lean against the cave wall just to stay upright. I limped out painfully, seeing I was obviously going to need medical attention. Unfortunately, I had been so intent on merely escaping my pursuers before that I was totally lost now. Things didn't look too good for me, until I heard a far off sound. It was hard to say exactly what it was, but it was loud and mechanical. I had been avoiding civilization a lot since becoming a Hybrid, but it was either go toward the sounds of people and possible help or lay in a cave and almost certainly bleed to death. Wasn't exactly a tough call

Using a large stick to give me some support, I followed the noise as quickly and painlessly as I could. After what felt like an eternity of wandering, a cabin by a nice looking lake came into view. It was probably a summer house, and judging from the small motorboat on the nearby dock was probably occupied. Hoping whoever was inside would take pity on a wounded, half Poke'mon creature, I slowly hobbled to the door and knocked.

I waited for a minute, but got no response. I tried knocking again, as loudly as I could as I called out for help. When no one answered, I got bold and turned the knob and found the door was unlocked. A part of me felt like this was a trap from a horror movie, but I reassured myself that the odds of some psycho killer waiting for his next helpless teenage victim inside were pretty low. I kept reassuring myself of that as I slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

It was a nice looking place. Well kept, for sure, but it looked like no one lived here in a while. There was a fresh scent, though. Someone was definitely here, and they weren't coming out to greet me or question what I was doing in their home. It was too creepy, and I was about to leave when I happened to glance at a nearby doorway. There was a dark red substance seeping out onto the living room carpet from that doorway

"That better Raichu juice..." I muttered. Now I kinda felt obligated to at least check it out, in case I wasn't the only one who was hurt. Still, my earlier psycho killer idea immediately leapt to mind again as I slowly hobbled over to the door and gently pushed open the door. On the other side was a kitchen, with more of the red stuff covering the tile floor. I followed the trail with my eyes, down the floor, up a red splattered counter top to the source...

"It is Chu juice," I said with a sigh of relief, seeing the spilled bottle. At least there wasn't a dead person here, but that meant somebody else had to be nearby. Why weren't they coming out?

I looked around quickly, not seeing anyone crouching behind anything. Their was the scent of someone who'd been here recently, but the smell of the fruit juice overpowered my nose. It was probably all the sug...

"VUL!"

"Wha...YEOW!" Out of nowhere, a Vulpix had lodged its teeth into my ankle. The bleeding had just stopped there too..."Raichu me go!"

I kicked my foot a little, causing the little fox Poke'mon to lose its grip. It slid on its back across the tile and crashed head first into the nearby wall.

"Oh no!" I didn't mean to do that! I limped over to check the poor, probably tame Poke'mon out. Gingerly, I checked it over for wounds. It was dazed, but there seemed like there was no injuries of any sort as it shook the stars out of its eyes. It growled at me after I put it back on its feet, but didn't attack. Even as I hobbled around the house, looking for its owner or anything to help with my injuries, it didn't attack. It was very persistent in following me around and growling the moment I even moved in its general direction.

It certainly was an odd Poke'mon, following, but not attacking. There was no sign of an owner or anybody else in sight except my strange follower. In fact, the only place it didn't follow me in was the bathroom.

"Aren't Chu coming?" I asked jokingly.

"Vul..." it growled in response. I shrugged and closed the door. I showered, the hot water feeling nice against my wounds. Even though I had to put the same clothes back on again when I finished, at least I felt a little cleaner. After cleaning up, I bandaged up my cuts(badly) with a roll of bandages from a medicine cabinet.

Finished, I opened the door and stepped over the growling Vulpix, limping back to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, I saw...

"Nothing?!" The entire fridge had been wiped clean! All that as left was a half-empty jar of mustard and a package of blue cheese. Turning to the Vulpix, I said, "Did Chu do this?"

"Vulpix..." It hung its head, almost like it was in shame. Weird, I was just kidding...

"Huh?" I heard sirens...heading here! Vulpix suddenly ran and curled up behind my foot, suddenly more worried about the sirens than me.

Now it wants to be my best friend?, I thought. I sighed, scooped up the odd little Poke'mon, and walked as fast as possible to the closest hiding spot, a closet.

I just closed the closet door when the main door was kicked in viciously by the police. They were yelling for everyone to search for, "the girl." The Vulpix cowered at this mention. Did it think they were looking for it?

That thought had just crossed my mind when the door was violently opened, and suddenly I was staring down the face of a pack of angry Growlithes.

"FREEZE!"