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A/N: This is a small one-shot I wrote a while ago and decided to share it here so I can get feedback! This is actually part of a one-shot collection on Fanfiction.net, but I don't really get much feedback on how to improve my writing there, so...I'm taking it here-that way I can learn how to write better one-shots in the future! Let me know what you think!
***
If there was one thing that all of Ash's pokemon could fully understand and relate to, it would be the pain of getting hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
Strangely enough, even Ash's ground types were included on that list.
It wasn't like Pikachu would be the type to hurt any of his friends, though it could be debatable with how easily he would shock everyone all the time. Again, including the ground types.
It was such a mystery, that Oshawott decided to try and solve it. With the help of the other pokemon, of course.
Bulbasaur had previously came with the news that Ash and Pikachu were actually coming home from Kalos, with some new members of the team, and while Oshawott couldn't wait to see his trainer again, he also couldn't wait to ask the Kalosen pokemon a question: how badly have they gotten shocked before?
But first, he had to try and convince the other pokemon to help him.
His first target for recruitment was Sceptile, which was odd, especially considering the grass-type resistance towards electric attacks. But then again...ground types. Sceptile had been taking a nap when Oshawott approached him, which was well needed after all the sparring he had done with the Sinnoan pokemon, Buizel, earlier that afternoon. Needless to say, he was a little more than irritated when Oshawott had woken him up with a mischievous grin plastered on his tiny face.
"Hey, Sceptile!" Oshawott's grin magically grew larger. "I have a question for you!"
The Forest pokemon glared from his spot on the floor, one eye closed. "Can you ask when I'm not taking a nap?"
"Nope!" Oshawott replied cheerfully. "Now come on, it's really important. And I need your help."
"First you just want to ask a question, and now you need my help?" Sceptile asked incredulously, then snorted. "No thanks."
"Aw, come on." Oshawott stressed. "Please?" He then tried to make the cutest face he ever could in a futile effort to persuade the grass type. Coincidentally, grass types were extremely effective against water types...
Sceptile sighed, before sitting up and grabbing his signature stick and putting it in the corner of his mouth. "Fine." He relented. "But only if you'll leave me alone. What do you want so badly?"
Oshawott snickered, causing Sceptile to glance wearily at the otter, already regretting his decision. The Unovan pokemon took out a notepad and pencil from nowhere, causing Sceptile to do a double take, then opened up to a page, before gesturing for Sceptile to come closer. "I need your help...solving a mystery."
"A mystery?"
Oshawott nodded. "Yeah. You probably already know about it, given how its plagued us pokemon of Ash for a long time..." Oshawott shuddered. "The dreaded mysterious force that surpasses its very own and only weakness, never missing a target, and causing those near it to witness...death."
Sceptile looked appalled. "What the hell are you talking about?" The Forest pokemon was weary of this entire situation. Anything that came out of the otter's mouth was bound to spell trouble. Today was no different, though for some reason, what Oshawott was saying intrigued Sceptile to some level.
"I'm talking about..." Oshawott leaned in close, his face almost appearing sinister as he neared the larger pokemon, who couldn't help but sweat a little. Why was Oshawott being weirder than normal today? "...Pikachu's Thunderbolt!"
Sceptile stared, and couldn't stop staring for a course of over two minutes and thirty two seconds on the dot.
"...you're joking." The grass type deadpanned, a mixture of exasperation and irritation coming out in waves from his tone, leading Oshawott to flinch back nervously. "You woke me up to talk about this?"
"Hear me out!" Oshawott waved his arms around frantically. "I swear, I have a reason for this!"
Sceptile crossed his arms. "Damn better have a reason for this..."
Oshawott laughed nervously. "Well...have you ever gotten shocked by Pikachu before? Outside of battles and training, I mean."
Sceptile nodded slowly, not sure where Oshawott was going with this. "Yes..."
"I just wanted to ask how strong it felt...you know, since you're a grass type...and grass types are immune to electric types..." Oshawott explained lamely.
Sceptile regarded Oshawott with an unimpressed look, causing the latter to flinch again. Wow, was Sceptile scary...
"Grass types are resistant towards electric attacks, not immune." Sceptile corrected, the stick in his mouth bobbing up and down as he spoke. "And frankly, Pikachu's Thunderbolt is very painful." He glared at the water type. "Does that answer your question?"
Oshawott flinched for what felt like the fifth time throughout this entire conversation. He made a mental note to never piss off Sceptile. "Uh...yeah..."
He chuckled awkwardly and shrunk slightly under Sceptile's gaze, before something caught his eye in his peripheral vision, causing him to brighten. "Well, thanks for that, Sceptile...um...I don't want to bother you, so I'll just find someone else to help me with this mystery..." He laughed nervously, before calling out to the flying type that had perched on a tree nearby. "Hey, Staraptor! Can we talk?"
Sceptile watched the Unovan pokemon dash towards Staraptor, who cocked his head in confusion at the water type running at a mad pace towards him. When Oshawott was completely out of sight, now having Staraptor to bother, Sceptile laid back on the ground and relaxed. 'Finally...though, why the hell did he ask such a weird question anyway...?'
Sceptile threw this question back and forth through his head for a moment, not being able to settle on an answer. He shook his head and tried to fall asleep once more. 'Whatever, it's not my concern...that idiot probably got shocked by Pikachu a lot in Unova. No surprise there...he's annoying...'
And so, Sceptile drifted off into dreamland once more, unaware of poor Staraptor currently getting tortured by Oshawott's shenanigans.
***
"So, you've gotten shocked before too!" Oshawott exclaimed, eyes wide. "Did it hurt?"
Staraptor tossed Oshawott a strange look before replying. "Uh, yeah...it did...but then again, it was Piplup's fault..."
"Piplup?"
"Yeah. I would even say he's Pikachu's best friend. If, you know, Ash didn't exist." The flying type joked.
"Uh huh," Oshawott nodded absentmindedly, scribbling frantically in his notebook. "How often did it happen?"
"What, Piplup acting up?" Staraptor questioned.
"No! Pikachu using Thunderbolt on everyone!" Oshawott cried out in frustration, causing Staraptor to be taken aback. Oshawott huffed. At least Staraptor was more willing to answer his questions than Sceptile was, though he was equally as unhelpful.
"Um...well, I guess it didn't really happen a lot...mostly when somebody did something to make Pikachu mad...or when any of us would accidentally fall on him." Staraptor flinched sheepishly at that. "That actually happened a lot more...I think it was because Pikachu was so much smaller compared to the rest of us back in Sinnoh." He paused before muttering under his breath. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he's the smallest member of the team overall..."
"Hm..." Oshawott hummed and took note of that. "Well, I thank you for answering my questions..." He then looked up at Staraptor with sparkles in his eyes. "Hey, do you wanna be my detective sidekick?"
"Detective...sidekick...?"
Oshawott nodded so fast Staraptor almost thought the otter's head would fall off. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! I really need your help in solving this mystery! Plus, you're flying abilities would really come in handy with detective work and all that!" He looked up at the befuddled flying type with sparkle in his eyes, pulling the same face he had pulled with the stubborn Sceptile moments earlier. "Please?"
Staraptor felt a bead of sweat fall down his face at Oshawott's antics before he reluctantly gave in. "I guess...what mystery are we even solving, anyway?"
"Great! Let's go interrogate someone else!" Oshawott cheered, dodging the question and causing Staraptor to sigh. The smaller pokemon jumped on Staraptor's back and pointed his scallop shell to the air. "Let us depart, my noble steed! To adventure, and to mystery!"
Staraptor sighed miserably before flying into the air, Oshawott cheering on his back. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen...degraded to a playmate for a pokemon that belongs in an insane asylum..."
And so, the newfound detective duo flew off to misadventure.
***
"...you want to know what?" The flabbergasted faces of both Bulbasaur and Buizel met Oshawott's excited look and Staraptor's exasperated one.
"I want to know how often you got shocked by Pikachu's Thunderbolt." Oshawott replied, an odd amount of pride in his voice.
Bulbasaur and Buizel stared at each other before the latter turned to Staraptor. "Did he already ask you this?"
Staraptor nodded. "Yeah..." He then turned to Oshawott. "Hey, I already told how often the group got shocked in Sinnoh, so what's the point in asking Buizel this question? He was on the team. He already knows."
Oshawott shrugged. "He might give a different view. Besides, it's a hunch, but Bulbasaur has the most interesting take on Pikachu's shocking capabilities..."
Bulbasaur regarded Oshawott with an unimpressed look. "Uh huh..."
Buizel decided to speak up. "Completely unrelated, but since when did you start using words composed of more than five letters?"
"Huh? What word did I use?"
"You said 'capabilities'." Buizel replied. "It was just weird hearing that from someone like you..." The Sinnoan pokemon paused before responding to Oshawott's question. "And...yeah, we tended to get shocked in Sinnoh on occasion. I actually remember this one time Pikachu and I got in a disagreement over it...that was when we won the Pastoria Gym Badge..."
Staraptor snorted. "Disagreement? You straight up shouted at him as he was apologizing to you."
Buizel narrowed his eyes at Staraptor. "We resolved it though."
"You called him a ra-"
Oshawott thankfully cut Staraptor off before he could continue arguing with Buizel. "Okay, great!" He quickly jotted down notes in his notepad before turning to Bulbasaur, he was watching the entire scene with a calculating look in his eyes. Oshawott gulped upon noticing that look. It usually meant that the Seed pokemon had figured something out and was planning on doing something...something that usually involved getting somebody busted. "Um...Bulbasaur..." He grinned nervously. "Do you have anything to add?"
"Not so fast, Oshawott." Bulbasaur narrowed his eyes. "First tell me why you want to know about Pikachu's Thunderbolt...you're not planning anything, right?"
Oshawott shook his head frantically. "Of course not!"
Bulbasaur's suspicious gaze did not waver. "...you're not planning on selling Pikachu out to Team Rocket, are you?"
Staraptor and Buizel exchanged a look and stared expectantly at Oshawott for an answer, who began sweating frantically. "W-wha...what?" He laughed nervously. "Of course not! What makes you think that?"
Staraptor blinked. "...your reaction doesn't match your words..."
Oshawott shot a betrayed look at the flying type. "Oh, come on! Why would I do something like that?!"
Bulbasaur continued staring at Oshawott with that analytical eye. "Relax, Oshawott. I'm just kidding." Kidding, he says, staring with the most serious face anyone could ever muster on this planet. Bulbasaur closed his eyes for a moment. "But seriously, why are you asking that question so much anyway?"
"...well, I just wanted to figure out why Pikachu used Thunderbolt on everyone all the time..."
Bulbasaur shot the water type a funny look. "You know he's an electric type, right? It's a natural reaction to basically, well, pretty much anything."
"But I've never seen any other electric type shock others so much!" Oshawott immediately protested. "I just thought it was weird..."
"Wait, I'm confused." Buizel spoke up. "If you wanted to know why Pikachu used Thunderbolt so much, couldn't you just ask him when he comes here later on? Or why didn't you ask any of us why we've been shocked in the past? You asking whether or not it hurt seems counterproductive, to me."
There was an awkward silence as Oshawott tried to process the information Buizel had given him. "You mean...I was asking the wrong questions this entire time?"
Buizel slapped his face with his paw. "Yes."
"But, but..." Oshawott began protesting. "...it's just not normal! He does it so much, and...and it even hurts the ground types!"
"He surprisingly has a point there..." Staraptor mumbled.
Bulbasaur sighed. "Honestly, I think you'll just hurt your head trying to understand anything about Pikachu, Oshawott, so it's best you give up. I've seen that Thunderbolt go from struggling to destroy a small rock, to being on par with three lightning bolts from the sky."
At the befuddled and stunned stares Bulbasaur got from all three pokemon, he quickly added. "It's a really long story..."
It was at this moment when a familiar voice called out to the group. "Hey, you guys! I'm back!"
The group turned to see Ash Ketchum waving at them, Pikachu striding alongside him with a big smile.
As the Kantonean duo stopped in front of the group, Bulbasaur greeted them. "Hey, Ash!" He then turned to Pikachu. "Hey, Pikachu. How have you been?"
"Hi Bulbasaur!" Pikachu said cheerily. "I've been great, thanks for asking! How's everyone else doing?"
Oshawott stared at the interaction, blinking repeatedly. Odd.
Buizel cleared his throat. "'Everyone else' does consist of us, right?"
Pikachu looked sheepish. "Right. Sorry, Buizel, I didn't see you guys there...How have you been? Nothing too bad happened, I hope."
While Pikachu began chatting with the two pokemon from Sinnoh, Bulbasaur began steering Ash around the ranch, taking him to see the other pokemon, leaving Oshawott to either join the conversation between Pikachu, Staraptor, and Buizel, or join Ash in his catch-up tour.
He decided to go for the former, which he later on regretted to his final breath...
"Hiya, Pikachu!" Oshawott grinned nervously as he butted into the conversation. "Uh...how was Kalos and stuff?"
The Sinnoan duo slowly turned their heads towards each other, than back towards Oshawott. Was the otter planning something?
Pikachu, however, did not suspect a thing, and cheerfully replied to the water type's question. "Kalos was great! It was fun, too. There were lots of places, people, and pokemon...we have new teammates too!" He brightened at the prospect of introducing the Kalosen pokemon to the others, before slumping with disappointment. "It's too bad two of them are back in Kalos, though..." He gazed off into the distance for a moment as a mixture of emotions flickered onto his face. "It wasn't all fun, though. There were some...incidents...that happened along the road...and...we lost the league and everything that happened after that was..."
The other three pokemon exchanged concerned looks, Oshawott even temporarily forgetting his current mystery to solve out of worry for the electric type. It was rare to see Pikachu act so upset, and at such a fast pace, too...
Pikachu quickly shrugged those words off and brightened. "Well, enough about that. We can tell you stories about Kalos later, when you meet our teammates!"
Buizel nodded, jumping to change the subject. "On another topic, Oshawott wants to ask you a question."
This caused said water type to yelp in alarm, shooting a glare at Buizel, who shrugged. Did he have to go and tell Pikachu that? Then again, it wasn't like he had told him to keep it a secret...but still!
"Really?" Pikachu questioned, looking at the Unovan pokemon curiously. "About what?"
"Uh..." Oshawott hesitated, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Um...I wanted to ask you about...uh...y-your Thunderbolt..."
Pikachu cocked his head slightly to the side. "My Thunderbolt?"
Oshawott nodded, suddenly feeling a wave of nervousness wash over him. "I wanted to ask you..." He took a deep breath and quickly got it over with. "...why you use it all the time...like, to shock other people and pokemon..."
"...huh?" Pikachu said dumbly.
"W-well, I mean...you electrocute ground types! Like Krookodile and Donphan...and I just wanted to know how you manage to do that...and why you shock everyone when someone insults you or...I dunno, makes you mad somehow."
Pikachu stared, as Buizel and Staraptor backed away from Oshawott slowly. They didn't want to be caught up in the collateral damage in case this went badly.
"You wanted to ask me," Pikachu began slowly. "Why I use my Thunderbolt when I get mad or...upset?"
Oshawott held his breath. "Yeah."
There was a tense silence for a moment, the only sounds being heard from Buizel and Staraptor, who were nervously shuffling further and further away from the two, and Oshawott was briefly tempted to join them.
At least until Pikachu began laughing.
Laughing.
The other three pokemon stared at each other dumbly as Pikachu continued gigging to himself.
"Well, if you wanted to know that, why didn't you just say so? I'm not going to bite your head off or anything!" Pikachu joked, causing Staraptor and Buizel to exchange a doubtful look. Pikachu was pretty much known for going between being the sweetest pokemon in the world, to being dangerously sadistic.
"So...why do you do that?" Oshawott blurted out.
Pikachu stopped laughing and answered sheepishly, "Well, honestly, it's just been a habit of mine since I first started using my electricity when I was younger, and since I was born in the wild, it just became instinct for me..." He paused then rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I'm sure I've accidentally shocked the team quite a lot of times too..."
"That's an understatement..." Buizel muttered under his breath, which Pikachu had heard thanks to his sensitive hearing, though he opted to ignore it.
Oshawott, on the other hand, dropped his notebook, slightly stunned. "Wait, that's it? It's...it's just a habit?"
"Well, yeah. What were you expecting?"
Oshawott decided not to say that he expected a huge backstory involving horror, sacrifices, bloodshed, tears, and betrayal. "Uh..." It was then when he noticed his saving grace. "Hey, look! There's Ash with the others! Let's go meet up with them!"
And without waiting for either Pikachu, Staraptor, and Buizel to reply, Oshawott dashed towards the group of pokemon surrounding their trainer, who was talking excitedly about something.
Pikachu blinked. "What was that all about...?"
Buizel shrugged. "Don't ask me."
Staraptor let out a sigh and shared his own laments. "I just hope Oshawott won't drag me into another 'mystery solving' hunt. Next thing you know, he's going to try and solve why Snorlax sleeps all the time..."
The trio exchanged looks before bursting out laughing.
"We should probably join the group." Staraptor suggested, the other two muttering in agreement before they all walked over towards the group.
"Hey, guys!" Pikachu greeted cheerfully, causing a few pokemon to turn towards him. Oshawott had notably gone missing. "What are you all doing?"
"Ash is about to introduce us to our new teammates!" Totodile cheered excitedly, before he paused and cocked his head at Pikachu in confusion.
"...what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" Pikachu asked, slightly taken aback, considering that Oshawott had given him that very same look earlier. He hoped that he wouldn't be asked another obvious question agai-
"Why do you still sound like a girl?" Totodile blurted out, causing a deathly silence to fall over the entire group.
The silence was then filled with screams as the entire group was Thunder-bolted like there was no tomorrow.
At that moment, a certain Unovan otter jumped out of the nearby bushes and pointed his scallop shell towards all the fried-to-a-crisp pokemon. "I told you!" He screamed. "Did I not tell you?!"
"Yeah, you told us alright..." Staraptor said, still in a daze from the attack. He then groaned. "Totodile knows that we're not supposed to mention that..."
The other pokemon muttered in agreement, before shrugging of the Thunderbolt with much difficulty for some, who were weak to electric type attacks.
Oshawott stared and shook his head. "We're way too used to this."
Oshawott did have a point, and that was that all of Ash's pokemon fully understood the feeling of getting hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
They really were way too used to this.
***
If there was one thing that all of Ash's pokemon could fully understand and relate to, it would be the pain of getting hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
Strangely enough, even Ash's ground types were included on that list.
It wasn't like Pikachu would be the type to hurt any of his friends, though it could be debatable with how easily he would shock everyone all the time. Again, including the ground types.
It was such a mystery, that Oshawott decided to try and solve it. With the help of the other pokemon, of course.
Bulbasaur had previously came with the news that Ash and Pikachu were actually coming home from Kalos, with some new members of the team, and while Oshawott couldn't wait to see his trainer again, he also couldn't wait to ask the Kalosen pokemon a question: how badly have they gotten shocked before?
But first, he had to try and convince the other pokemon to help him.
His first target for recruitment was Sceptile, which was odd, especially considering the grass-type resistance towards electric attacks. But then again...ground types. Sceptile had been taking a nap when Oshawott approached him, which was well needed after all the sparring he had done with the Sinnoan pokemon, Buizel, earlier that afternoon. Needless to say, he was a little more than irritated when Oshawott had woken him up with a mischievous grin plastered on his tiny face.
"Hey, Sceptile!" Oshawott's grin magically grew larger. "I have a question for you!"
The Forest pokemon glared from his spot on the floor, one eye closed. "Can you ask when I'm not taking a nap?"
"Nope!" Oshawott replied cheerfully. "Now come on, it's really important. And I need your help."
"First you just want to ask a question, and now you need my help?" Sceptile asked incredulously, then snorted. "No thanks."
"Aw, come on." Oshawott stressed. "Please?" He then tried to make the cutest face he ever could in a futile effort to persuade the grass type. Coincidentally, grass types were extremely effective against water types...
Sceptile sighed, before sitting up and grabbing his signature stick and putting it in the corner of his mouth. "Fine." He relented. "But only if you'll leave me alone. What do you want so badly?"
Oshawott snickered, causing Sceptile to glance wearily at the otter, already regretting his decision. The Unovan pokemon took out a notepad and pencil from nowhere, causing Sceptile to do a double take, then opened up to a page, before gesturing for Sceptile to come closer. "I need your help...solving a mystery."
"A mystery?"
Oshawott nodded. "Yeah. You probably already know about it, given how its plagued us pokemon of Ash for a long time..." Oshawott shuddered. "The dreaded mysterious force that surpasses its very own and only weakness, never missing a target, and causing those near it to witness...death."
Sceptile looked appalled. "What the hell are you talking about?" The Forest pokemon was weary of this entire situation. Anything that came out of the otter's mouth was bound to spell trouble. Today was no different, though for some reason, what Oshawott was saying intrigued Sceptile to some level.
"I'm talking about..." Oshawott leaned in close, his face almost appearing sinister as he neared the larger pokemon, who couldn't help but sweat a little. Why was Oshawott being weirder than normal today? "...Pikachu's Thunderbolt!"
Sceptile stared, and couldn't stop staring for a course of over two minutes and thirty two seconds on the dot.
"...you're joking." The grass type deadpanned, a mixture of exasperation and irritation coming out in waves from his tone, leading Oshawott to flinch back nervously. "You woke me up to talk about this?"
"Hear me out!" Oshawott waved his arms around frantically. "I swear, I have a reason for this!"
Sceptile crossed his arms. "Damn better have a reason for this..."
Oshawott laughed nervously. "Well...have you ever gotten shocked by Pikachu before? Outside of battles and training, I mean."
Sceptile nodded slowly, not sure where Oshawott was going with this. "Yes..."
"I just wanted to ask how strong it felt...you know, since you're a grass type...and grass types are immune to electric types..." Oshawott explained lamely.
Sceptile regarded Oshawott with an unimpressed look, causing the latter to flinch again. Wow, was Sceptile scary...
"Grass types are resistant towards electric attacks, not immune." Sceptile corrected, the stick in his mouth bobbing up and down as he spoke. "And frankly, Pikachu's Thunderbolt is very painful." He glared at the water type. "Does that answer your question?"
Oshawott flinched for what felt like the fifth time throughout this entire conversation. He made a mental note to never piss off Sceptile. "Uh...yeah..."
He chuckled awkwardly and shrunk slightly under Sceptile's gaze, before something caught his eye in his peripheral vision, causing him to brighten. "Well, thanks for that, Sceptile...um...I don't want to bother you, so I'll just find someone else to help me with this mystery..." He laughed nervously, before calling out to the flying type that had perched on a tree nearby. "Hey, Staraptor! Can we talk?"
Sceptile watched the Unovan pokemon dash towards Staraptor, who cocked his head in confusion at the water type running at a mad pace towards him. When Oshawott was completely out of sight, now having Staraptor to bother, Sceptile laid back on the ground and relaxed. 'Finally...though, why the hell did he ask such a weird question anyway...?'
Sceptile threw this question back and forth through his head for a moment, not being able to settle on an answer. He shook his head and tried to fall asleep once more. 'Whatever, it's not my concern...that idiot probably got shocked by Pikachu a lot in Unova. No surprise there...he's annoying...'
And so, Sceptile drifted off into dreamland once more, unaware of poor Staraptor currently getting tortured by Oshawott's shenanigans.
***
"So, you've gotten shocked before too!" Oshawott exclaimed, eyes wide. "Did it hurt?"
Staraptor tossed Oshawott a strange look before replying. "Uh, yeah...it did...but then again, it was Piplup's fault..."
"Piplup?"
"Yeah. I would even say he's Pikachu's best friend. If, you know, Ash didn't exist." The flying type joked.
"Uh huh," Oshawott nodded absentmindedly, scribbling frantically in his notebook. "How often did it happen?"
"What, Piplup acting up?" Staraptor questioned.
"No! Pikachu using Thunderbolt on everyone!" Oshawott cried out in frustration, causing Staraptor to be taken aback. Oshawott huffed. At least Staraptor was more willing to answer his questions than Sceptile was, though he was equally as unhelpful.
"Um...well, I guess it didn't really happen a lot...mostly when somebody did something to make Pikachu mad...or when any of us would accidentally fall on him." Staraptor flinched sheepishly at that. "That actually happened a lot more...I think it was because Pikachu was so much smaller compared to the rest of us back in Sinnoh." He paused before muttering under his breath. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he's the smallest member of the team overall..."
"Hm..." Oshawott hummed and took note of that. "Well, I thank you for answering my questions..." He then looked up at Staraptor with sparkles in his eyes. "Hey, do you wanna be my detective sidekick?"
"Detective...sidekick...?"
Oshawott nodded so fast Staraptor almost thought the otter's head would fall off. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! I really need your help in solving this mystery! Plus, you're flying abilities would really come in handy with detective work and all that!" He looked up at the befuddled flying type with sparkle in his eyes, pulling the same face he had pulled with the stubborn Sceptile moments earlier. "Please?"
Staraptor felt a bead of sweat fall down his face at Oshawott's antics before he reluctantly gave in. "I guess...what mystery are we even solving, anyway?"
"Great! Let's go interrogate someone else!" Oshawott cheered, dodging the question and causing Staraptor to sigh. The smaller pokemon jumped on Staraptor's back and pointed his scallop shell to the air. "Let us depart, my noble steed! To adventure, and to mystery!"
Staraptor sighed miserably before flying into the air, Oshawott cheering on his back. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen...degraded to a playmate for a pokemon that belongs in an insane asylum..."
And so, the newfound detective duo flew off to misadventure.
***
"...you want to know what?" The flabbergasted faces of both Bulbasaur and Buizel met Oshawott's excited look and Staraptor's exasperated one.
"I want to know how often you got shocked by Pikachu's Thunderbolt." Oshawott replied, an odd amount of pride in his voice.
Bulbasaur and Buizel stared at each other before the latter turned to Staraptor. "Did he already ask you this?"
Staraptor nodded. "Yeah..." He then turned to Oshawott. "Hey, I already told how often the group got shocked in Sinnoh, so what's the point in asking Buizel this question? He was on the team. He already knows."
Oshawott shrugged. "He might give a different view. Besides, it's a hunch, but Bulbasaur has the most interesting take on Pikachu's shocking capabilities..."
Bulbasaur regarded Oshawott with an unimpressed look. "Uh huh..."
Buizel decided to speak up. "Completely unrelated, but since when did you start using words composed of more than five letters?"
"Huh? What word did I use?"
"You said 'capabilities'." Buizel replied. "It was just weird hearing that from someone like you..." The Sinnoan pokemon paused before responding to Oshawott's question. "And...yeah, we tended to get shocked in Sinnoh on occasion. I actually remember this one time Pikachu and I got in a disagreement over it...that was when we won the Pastoria Gym Badge..."
Staraptor snorted. "Disagreement? You straight up shouted at him as he was apologizing to you."
Buizel narrowed his eyes at Staraptor. "We resolved it though."
"You called him a ra-"
Oshawott thankfully cut Staraptor off before he could continue arguing with Buizel. "Okay, great!" He quickly jotted down notes in his notepad before turning to Bulbasaur, he was watching the entire scene with a calculating look in his eyes. Oshawott gulped upon noticing that look. It usually meant that the Seed pokemon had figured something out and was planning on doing something...something that usually involved getting somebody busted. "Um...Bulbasaur..." He grinned nervously. "Do you have anything to add?"
"Not so fast, Oshawott." Bulbasaur narrowed his eyes. "First tell me why you want to know about Pikachu's Thunderbolt...you're not planning anything, right?"
Oshawott shook his head frantically. "Of course not!"
Bulbasaur's suspicious gaze did not waver. "...you're not planning on selling Pikachu out to Team Rocket, are you?"
Staraptor and Buizel exchanged a look and stared expectantly at Oshawott for an answer, who began sweating frantically. "W-wha...what?" He laughed nervously. "Of course not! What makes you think that?"
Staraptor blinked. "...your reaction doesn't match your words..."
Oshawott shot a betrayed look at the flying type. "Oh, come on! Why would I do something like that?!"
Bulbasaur continued staring at Oshawott with that analytical eye. "Relax, Oshawott. I'm just kidding." Kidding, he says, staring with the most serious face anyone could ever muster on this planet. Bulbasaur closed his eyes for a moment. "But seriously, why are you asking that question so much anyway?"
"...well, I just wanted to figure out why Pikachu used Thunderbolt on everyone all the time..."
Bulbasaur shot the water type a funny look. "You know he's an electric type, right? It's a natural reaction to basically, well, pretty much anything."
"But I've never seen any other electric type shock others so much!" Oshawott immediately protested. "I just thought it was weird..."
"Wait, I'm confused." Buizel spoke up. "If you wanted to know why Pikachu used Thunderbolt so much, couldn't you just ask him when he comes here later on? Or why didn't you ask any of us why we've been shocked in the past? You asking whether or not it hurt seems counterproductive, to me."
There was an awkward silence as Oshawott tried to process the information Buizel had given him. "You mean...I was asking the wrong questions this entire time?"
Buizel slapped his face with his paw. "Yes."
"But, but..." Oshawott began protesting. "...it's just not normal! He does it so much, and...and it even hurts the ground types!"
"He surprisingly has a point there..." Staraptor mumbled.
Bulbasaur sighed. "Honestly, I think you'll just hurt your head trying to understand anything about Pikachu, Oshawott, so it's best you give up. I've seen that Thunderbolt go from struggling to destroy a small rock, to being on par with three lightning bolts from the sky."
At the befuddled and stunned stares Bulbasaur got from all three pokemon, he quickly added. "It's a really long story..."
It was at this moment when a familiar voice called out to the group. "Hey, you guys! I'm back!"
The group turned to see Ash Ketchum waving at them, Pikachu striding alongside him with a big smile.
As the Kantonean duo stopped in front of the group, Bulbasaur greeted them. "Hey, Ash!" He then turned to Pikachu. "Hey, Pikachu. How have you been?"
"Hi Bulbasaur!" Pikachu said cheerily. "I've been great, thanks for asking! How's everyone else doing?"
Oshawott stared at the interaction, blinking repeatedly. Odd.
Buizel cleared his throat. "'Everyone else' does consist of us, right?"
Pikachu looked sheepish. "Right. Sorry, Buizel, I didn't see you guys there...How have you been? Nothing too bad happened, I hope."
While Pikachu began chatting with the two pokemon from Sinnoh, Bulbasaur began steering Ash around the ranch, taking him to see the other pokemon, leaving Oshawott to either join the conversation between Pikachu, Staraptor, and Buizel, or join Ash in his catch-up tour.
He decided to go for the former, which he later on regretted to his final breath...
"Hiya, Pikachu!" Oshawott grinned nervously as he butted into the conversation. "Uh...how was Kalos and stuff?"
The Sinnoan duo slowly turned their heads towards each other, than back towards Oshawott. Was the otter planning something?
Pikachu, however, did not suspect a thing, and cheerfully replied to the water type's question. "Kalos was great! It was fun, too. There were lots of places, people, and pokemon...we have new teammates too!" He brightened at the prospect of introducing the Kalosen pokemon to the others, before slumping with disappointment. "It's too bad two of them are back in Kalos, though..." He gazed off into the distance for a moment as a mixture of emotions flickered onto his face. "It wasn't all fun, though. There were some...incidents...that happened along the road...and...we lost the league and everything that happened after that was..."
The other three pokemon exchanged concerned looks, Oshawott even temporarily forgetting his current mystery to solve out of worry for the electric type. It was rare to see Pikachu act so upset, and at such a fast pace, too...
Pikachu quickly shrugged those words off and brightened. "Well, enough about that. We can tell you stories about Kalos later, when you meet our teammates!"
Buizel nodded, jumping to change the subject. "On another topic, Oshawott wants to ask you a question."
This caused said water type to yelp in alarm, shooting a glare at Buizel, who shrugged. Did he have to go and tell Pikachu that? Then again, it wasn't like he had told him to keep it a secret...but still!
"Really?" Pikachu questioned, looking at the Unovan pokemon curiously. "About what?"
"Uh..." Oshawott hesitated, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Um...I wanted to ask you about...uh...y-your Thunderbolt..."
Pikachu cocked his head slightly to the side. "My Thunderbolt?"
Oshawott nodded, suddenly feeling a wave of nervousness wash over him. "I wanted to ask you..." He took a deep breath and quickly got it over with. "...why you use it all the time...like, to shock other people and pokemon..."
"...huh?" Pikachu said dumbly.
"W-well, I mean...you electrocute ground types! Like Krookodile and Donphan...and I just wanted to know how you manage to do that...and why you shock everyone when someone insults you or...I dunno, makes you mad somehow."
Pikachu stared, as Buizel and Staraptor backed away from Oshawott slowly. They didn't want to be caught up in the collateral damage in case this went badly.
"You wanted to ask me," Pikachu began slowly. "Why I use my Thunderbolt when I get mad or...upset?"
Oshawott held his breath. "Yeah."
There was a tense silence for a moment, the only sounds being heard from Buizel and Staraptor, who were nervously shuffling further and further away from the two, and Oshawott was briefly tempted to join them.
At least until Pikachu began laughing.
Laughing.
The other three pokemon stared at each other dumbly as Pikachu continued gigging to himself.
"Well, if you wanted to know that, why didn't you just say so? I'm not going to bite your head off or anything!" Pikachu joked, causing Staraptor and Buizel to exchange a doubtful look. Pikachu was pretty much known for going between being the sweetest pokemon in the world, to being dangerously sadistic.
"So...why do you do that?" Oshawott blurted out.
Pikachu stopped laughing and answered sheepishly, "Well, honestly, it's just been a habit of mine since I first started using my electricity when I was younger, and since I was born in the wild, it just became instinct for me..." He paused then rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I'm sure I've accidentally shocked the team quite a lot of times too..."
"That's an understatement..." Buizel muttered under his breath, which Pikachu had heard thanks to his sensitive hearing, though he opted to ignore it.
Oshawott, on the other hand, dropped his notebook, slightly stunned. "Wait, that's it? It's...it's just a habit?"
"Well, yeah. What were you expecting?"
Oshawott decided not to say that he expected a huge backstory involving horror, sacrifices, bloodshed, tears, and betrayal. "Uh..." It was then when he noticed his saving grace. "Hey, look! There's Ash with the others! Let's go meet up with them!"
And without waiting for either Pikachu, Staraptor, and Buizel to reply, Oshawott dashed towards the group of pokemon surrounding their trainer, who was talking excitedly about something.
Pikachu blinked. "What was that all about...?"
Buizel shrugged. "Don't ask me."
Staraptor let out a sigh and shared his own laments. "I just hope Oshawott won't drag me into another 'mystery solving' hunt. Next thing you know, he's going to try and solve why Snorlax sleeps all the time..."
The trio exchanged looks before bursting out laughing.
"We should probably join the group." Staraptor suggested, the other two muttering in agreement before they all walked over towards the group.
"Hey, guys!" Pikachu greeted cheerfully, causing a few pokemon to turn towards him. Oshawott had notably gone missing. "What are you all doing?"
"Ash is about to introduce us to our new teammates!" Totodile cheered excitedly, before he paused and cocked his head at Pikachu in confusion.
"...what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" Pikachu asked, slightly taken aback, considering that Oshawott had given him that very same look earlier. He hoped that he wouldn't be asked another obvious question agai-
"Why do you still sound like a girl?" Totodile blurted out, causing a deathly silence to fall over the entire group.
The silence was then filled with screams as the entire group was Thunder-bolted like there was no tomorrow.
At that moment, a certain Unovan otter jumped out of the nearby bushes and pointed his scallop shell towards all the fried-to-a-crisp pokemon. "I told you!" He screamed. "Did I not tell you?!"
"Yeah, you told us alright..." Staraptor said, still in a daze from the attack. He then groaned. "Totodile knows that we're not supposed to mention that..."
The other pokemon muttered in agreement, before shrugging of the Thunderbolt with much difficulty for some, who were weak to electric type attacks.
Oshawott stared and shook his head. "We're way too used to this."
Oshawott did have a point, and that was that all of Ash's pokemon fully understood the feeling of getting hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
They really were way too used to this.
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