Chapter 2: A Thundering Pulse in Our Ears

Pikachu watched as Ash's foot hit the machine, and the whirring stones started going crazy. The wires flailed over Ash's head and the decision was immediate. It was his trainer, and he was an electric Pokèmon. What could a little zap do to him?

Pikachu's yellow form darted forward, slipping into the air with grace and taking the hit of the wires, which upon crossing sent a massive bolt through its tiny body. Things hurt, things are twisted, things feel so very wrong. Pikachu's very bones feel like they're molten lava.

"Pikachu!" Ash yells, and reaches for the Pokèmon, but the electrical charge of the wires grounding itself in the little feline and mouse like body are too strong and actually zap his fingertips away. Pikachu's tail flickers longer, his body seems to get larger. Everything is wrong, and the tiny mouse passes out. The device empties its power into it, the stones cracking in their holsters before falling to the ground as nothing more than impotent dust.

Finally, as a roll of thunder echoes above everything, the voice of the oncoming storm; the machine stops, the whirring coming to a standstill. In the moment of quiet following it, Pikachu pulls himself up with a groan. His paws feel, different. Uncomfortably so. He flexes the toe tips and claws slightly, and is relieved to find no pain. At least they hadn't been broken.

As he stood, his tail felt, too long and heavy, his ears felt like they were miles too large, and a jingling on one of them was clearly odd. Not a ringing in the ears, it was only one, and yet it was still awkward.

"Rairai?" he called out to the semi-prone Ash whose eyes were as big as saucers, and went stock still in realization. Fear jolts through it like the electricity before as he turns, staring. The tail, no, that couldn't be his tail. No it was… A Raichu's tail.

Warm hot tears drip down its muzzle even as Ash's face turns horrified in the realization, the knowing that this wasn't just something he was hallucinating from a hit to the head. That this was real. Pikac- no, Raichu, knows it's because of what he has become. He promised, as good as promised his trainer, his Ash, that he wouldn't change into, into this. Change at all. Raichu bolts, its body moving out the door before Ash could call out, wanting to console his partner, and wanting to apologize for what he had caused.

"Pika- I mean, Raichu?" Ash yells, trying to pull himself off the floor, but his knees go weak for a second. That jolt might have taken more out of him than he thought. Gritting his teeth he yelled again, "Wait!" Trying fruitlessly to scrabble to his feet.

Raichu pelted heedlessly into the rain as the first drops start spilling onto the ground. Other Pokèmon hid in trees, as Raichu slammed forward, occasionally even using quick attack to bound off trees in order to be faster, to run away, to hide. It's heart ached, he'd lost Ash. He knew it in that look, he knew that look meant something had changed between them. It was the look of pain Ash made when Squirtle had left for that team of his, when Butterfree had flown off the mate-- and die.

The worst things could happen now, his body stumbled over an exposed tree root and he curled in on himself for a moment, choking back a sob that made the entire mousey frame tremble. Ash would abandon him, send him to be with Professor Oak. Whenever a Pokèmon evolved it went away, it was left behind. He'd been with Ash from the start, but he'd never evolved. Never. He'd be all alone. He wouldn't get to see his Ash every day.

No more battles, no more training, no more adventures. His darkened paws slipped in the mud as it pulled itself upright, tears blurring the way as it half drunkenly stumbled towards a hollow in a tree nearby.

Even the thunder and lightning was his fault, striking the ground nearby. The pain in its heart, he was probably calling it to bear. He hoped Ash wouldn't come out in the storm, wouldn't find him. He'd probably be hit, and Pika-… Rai… He would lose him yet another way.

He and Ash would grow apart, isn't that what always happened? Hell even Team Rocket wouldn't care about him anymore. There wouldn't be a reason, as a Pikachu, he'd been stronger than anything, as a Raichu. Strong Raichu weren't rare, weren't different. Raichu had rarely been a part of any team they'd come across. Even Sparky hadn't evolved. Raichu were worthless, he'd be worthless to Ash.

The worst thing to strike across his mind hurt, physically, what if his personality changed? All the Raichu he'd met in the past were more emotional than him. More hot tempered, more likely to act in haste and do stupid things. The Raichu he'd met were all, very much in the sway of their tempers. Would he be different?

Even now, was he even himself? Or was this all just some new reaction to this body? Could he even consider himself the same Pokèmon at heart, or was he now nothing like the Pikachu Ash had grown up with over the years? No, if it was true, it would be better if Ash didn't find him.

His heart felt like it had shattered, his chest burning with cold pain realizing every outcome had ended in him, alone. Soaked, cold, miserable, and alone, his whole body shook with silent sobs as his whole perspective on the world came spiraling down. The carefully constructed life, the happiness, tumbling like bricks, showing off a cold new reality. Harsh, and painful.

Even the world was mirroring the grey of his heart right now. The muddy hole, the rain coming down in freezing sheets, the lightning striking occasionally, and even the wind kicking up. His trail was being covered even as he lost touch with the world and sunk into his misery.

He was alone.