Pikapi.

Master Ash.

Far too often I coo that name in opulent joy, the name of my master, and take for granted having him and keeping him safe… Far too often, I'm forced to see how lucky I am to have such a loving and determined trainer by seeing the horrors of the world… Far too often I have to confront the fact that he could be gone for good this time…

/PIKAPI! Pikachu? Pi ka… Pikapi? Pikapi…pi ka CHUUU! Pi ka CHUUU! CHUUUU! CHUUUU!/ (MASTER ASH! Daijoubu(Are you alright)? Wake up… Master Ash? Master Ash… wake up (discharge)! Wake up (discharge)!" "Oh, please, no…" The day on Mewtwo's Island was the first real reality check I so cruelly endured… My master wasn't supposed to get involved like this! My master was supposed to stand back at a safe distance and tell me what to do to protect him! He wasn't supposed to run out there blindly and get himself turned to stone! I knew then that I'd do anything for him, and maybe that was half the battle to bring him back… that was the first time I'd ever truly cried, the first time so many of us there had, and it hurt far too much to call it a memory I'd like to have. Unforgettable and crushing… Thank the stars it was enough, though, because I'd have been lost without him…

Like I almost was in the Orange Islands, when I had my master rough it with me to retrieve that damn treasure… There are no words to describe that kinda blow. This is someone you're going to spend the duration of your life protecting, someone who's actually been kind enough to tolerate you and your damn hatred of pokeballs, someone you're supposed to put above all else! You don't just let him get caught up in the thick of it like this and not feel guilty! If he'd been hurt, I might've even held my own against them in my rage…

As Charizard and I had to do against Entei. Now, I have to admit, I was sympathetic to him, his master, and their cause, but if you mess with my master and his family, I will hunt you down and shock you myself. If you want to live in a dream world, fine, but you don't drag innocent people who have nothing to do with you into it. Going up against those Crystal Pokemon was like Mewtwo Island all over again, so I was more than happy to see that fight end, even if it wasn't all for the best. If she's as dream-oriented as she claimed, she'll meet Entei again there, I'm sure.

Just as I'm sure Lucario and Aaron met up again. After all, they are stuck in the same suspended state together, so I'm sure they'll have forever to catch up. Actually, from what I heard of Lucario, he reminded me a lot of Master Ash and myself, I just hope our story doesn't end so tragically. Then again, spending eternity alone with Ash could be more appealing than it seems… Though the price it came at is much too high. As it was it took every volt in my body not to shock him away from Mew when he started glowing like that. I was glad Lucario shoved him aside, or I might've gotten selfish and stopped him. Then again, I'd already grieved losing him once that day; I doubt I'd have let it come to that.

/PIKAPI!/ "Pikachu! I'm coming- GAH!" Actually, you want to talk restraint concerning my master, it took every fiber in my being to not leap down from Mew's peak and shock that Regieice for shooting at my master at such a precious moment. The Tree of Beginning also received a melee of mental death threats as I fought, in vain, to save my master from being absorbed and destroyed by the 'white blood cells'… when your master gives you the 'take care of yourselves, don't worry about me, I love you' spiel, you're going to be pretty much destroyed from the inside out, and I was. That's why I think Mew took pity on us and saved them.

Speaking of the little rascal, he's still just as playful, comes around every once and again for a good play, and-oh! He got a partner. She accidently caught him in Ixel Forest while he was lounging about as a Pichu, and after transforming to save her during an ambush, they just hit it off. Kaita would be another good trainer, but she lacks the drive for battle and battle perfection that Master Ash does. She's merely along for the ride and to help protect Mew from baddies, which is exactly what he needs, as oblivious as he can be at times…

And how oblivious I can be at times… like when I didn't notice Ash being taken until it was too late to help… /Pika?/(Huh?) "Whoa! Ah!" /PIKA!/(MASTER!) "PIKACHU!" /Pikapi…/ Alright, Giratina was right to get pissed at Dailga and Palkia. I was equally enraged by their carelessness, not to mention pointless fighting, but why did he have to bring Ash into it? WHY? What was one human going to do against three Lengendaries, four once you count in Shaymin? It's not like we could just play Oracion again. I wish we could; that song was incredible… Alice was incredible, too; I wonder how many months along she is…

Oh, right. Alice and Tonio got married the day Alice turned 20; they're having twins. They maintain the Space-Time Towers, organize city and tower tours, and coordinate the pokemon contests and tournaments. I'm quite pleased at our expected return for a contest Spring Break, and then a quick trip back home for a few days before returning to Goldenrod for university… I wonder how Master Ash's mom has been doing, actually… Oak, too. He might not've been in my best graces for sending us off on all of these crazy adventures, and for capturing me, but he gave me to Ash, so I can't hate him, and he's another firm believer that pokemon shouldn't waste away in balls. Pallet Town was growing at a slow and steady rate, as it was now in the tradition of turning out the world's best trainers, my master being the most recent heir of this legacy. That was what has earned his world-wide fame (apart from beating the Battle Frontier and NOT accepting a post there) and the invitations to various colleges in every region. Goldenrod had been selected for the location (it was a quick train back to Saffron or a quick flight anywhere else we need to go), and we'd adapted well to college life.

Ash, of course, can't wait until he begins his individual study next term, meaning we get to go trekking through Hoenn, Sinnoh, and any other distant land he could feasibly cram into his thesis. Yes, thesis. I'm pleased to say that my Master Ash is planning to get a Master's Degree, in pokemon physcology, so that he can better help Pokemon he comes across and better bond with those lucky enough to be part of his traveling six (travelling seven, since I don't use a pokeball). This was also said to be coming in handy the next time he faced Legendaries who were about to destroy a town or the world. I'm just praying we don't have to come across many of them in this little sabbatical. How more are there we haven't met? Ho-oh, and Ash says he saw him years and years ago when we just started out. Well, maybe our abundance of Legendary encounters of the dangerous kind will prove useful in that they won't cause any new disasters we have to help neutralize. Good, because as fun as it is to rejoice over saving the world again, I would do anything, anything, to keep my master from ever coming into harm's way like that again.

I'd felt that since the beginning of our friendship. The REAL beginning. Not in the lab. Not with me shocking him every chance I got and having to be dragged along behind him. No, our bond truly began on that road when he presented me my pokeball and then stood to face that flock for me, quivering in cold and fear but still steadfast in his resolve to protect me and repay me for helping protect him. Lying there broken, watching him like that, I felt a power I'd never comprehended rush through me. It was sickened and dismayed that he was having to do this. It was overjoyed at the care and concern he was showing me, but it was infuriated at whatever foes had caused me to fail him and put in him that position. I knew then what I wanted: I wanted him to smile, to laugh, to be okay. I never, EVER wanted him to shake in fear like that again. Years later, May sang me one of her songs. And I was stunned how well it fit. The rest of the song escapes me but that verse…

I'll be anything the world has seen.

I'll do everything beyond my power.

I'll protect you with my heart and soul;

I'll never see you shake in fear again, oh, no...

It seems to fit perfectly. I like myself just the way I am, but if it wasn't enough to help my master, I'd evolve for him. Hell, I'd change species if I had to, if only to save him. I've given him 150% in battle before, because he was in danger and I had to get him out of it. I would die before I watched him do so again... if only given the choice, I'll lay it all down for him, just to never see him again as I did on that road, or on that battlefield, or on that island, or inside the Tree of Beginning, or on that tower, spiraling down, down, and away from me… vanishing into that dark void as that bubble pushed me away from him… no, never again could I willingly endure that…

Many of my fellow pokemon wonder why I still train so hard, despite the severe lack of a challenge in this town. The answer is simple: I have to be ready for when the next badass puts my Master Ash in danger, because I'm the one he's gonna turn towards to get him out of it. Many pokemon and trainers wonder why on Earth I'd learn and actually use Volt Tackle; I have to be prepared to give it everything I can, and Thunder Wave and Iron Tail only go so far. Many pokemon I face in battle complain – or in fact, detest - the fact that I at most give 80% during a standard battle; I cannot afford to be useless to my partner should an incident arise at any point in time, so I must keep a reserve up for such occasions.

So that I can still cry out Pikapi as I do so cheerfully this morning. So that I can see him smile at me as he opens his eyes, full of life and hope for the day ahead. So that I can make sure I keep him for as long as I can.

My Master Ash.

My Pikapi.

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AN: Alright, I know it's horrible. I just made the cutest yellow pokemon on earth an emo with a master-slave complex. I made him a lot like how I imagine Yami from YGO, somewhere between Battle City and the Oricalcos arcs. He agrees that they both need each other, that they are partners, but still holds that his light, the bearer of his prison, is his master, his better, his superior. And he wants to defend that. I think it's about the same thing with Pikachu and Ash.

-Ara