Pikachu Forest

Part 1

"Ah--!"
Satoshi's Tazan-like call echoed through the forest, startling Kasumi and Takeshi, quiet under a tree with plentiful transparent green. They had been satisfied with the fresh air and clean water of the river which danced through the forest, Takeshi expecting good materials to cook, until Satoshi's cry had jolted the air. And Pikachu--He had found bright red berries ripening on branches of the tree under which Kasumi and Takeshi had rested. He had scanned around, his tail wagging, picked one and bit it.
"Cha -" How sweet, he had thought and smiled.
But now the vigorous boy broke the peace, crying and swinging from a tree by the help of a vine. Kasumi and Takeshi looked at each other, and sighed.
Kasumi noticed that first. She cried, "look ahead!"
Startled, Satoshi turned his head. A thick trunk was right before his eyes. With the thud of a shock, his body crashed against the tree. Then, he fell to hit the grass on the land.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu skidded down the tree whose branch he had been on and dashed close to Satoshi.
He looked into Satoshi's face, his own one frowning with worry. Satoshi couldn't care of him, and groaned with a keen ache, grasping a weed. In a minute the pain on his back softened finally, making him look up to face Pikachu. Pikachu turned around, and dashed.
"Pikachu?" Satoshi managed to sit up, noting the direction Pikachu heading for. Pikachu went through a low thicket, then out of his sight.
"Oh, what?" Kasumi asked, now beside Satoshi.
"I don't know." Satoshi hopped up. "He might find something."
Holding to adjust his Pokemon-league cap on his head, he followed the way Pikachu had gone. Although tapering leaves pricked his arms which were revealed from his sleeves when he entered a thicket, he didn't mind. He tiptoed, not to make a noise, as he found his friend; he was still, his ears straight up and concealing himself in a thicket. Beyond him spread a large grassland which was surrounded by thickets.
He managed to hold his cry which had surged up to his throat. Dozens of Pikachus were there; some one bit a berry in a slit of a tree, some one closed his eyes, satisfied with a breeze, and some ones talked with each other, all peacefully on the plain. Two infant Pikachus frisked, then rolled on the grass.
"Oh, wonderful!" Kasumi said, her face brightening with joy.
"They are wild. Wild Pikachus," Takeshi commented.

Pikachu twitched his ears. Now he saw creatures of the same kind, and so many--
"Pika!" Pikachu rushed out of the thicket he had concealed himself in. His whole body shook with joy.
Suddenly, a Pikachu turned around on a stump, shooting a glare at Satoshi's Pikachu. Pikachu jerked to stop. Satoshi was stunned also. The wild Pikachu's eyes were filled with suspicion, catching Satoshi's Pikachu's puzzled ones tight. - He seemed the boss of the herd, Satoshi guessed.
Pikachu looked around, his eyes filled with puzzlement. Then he noted a baby, who was pretty cute, also looking at him wonderingly.
"Pika!" Pikachu told the baby, smiling.
"Pika! Pikachu!" The boss Pikachu said, then immediately the rest of the herd dashed out in the opposite direction to where Pikachu was. They were a mile away in a moment, observing Satoshi's Pikachu. Then the boss followed them.
Rooted there, where he had stalled, Pikachu stared back, his eyes flickering with puzzlement. Then his ears drooped.
"Pikachu…" he said, his tone weak and low.
Pikachu had been rejected, Satoshi thought, feeling his heart grabbed harshly.
The baby Pikachu tilted his head. Then he trotted out toward Pikachu.
"Pika."
"Pikachu."
Other Pikachus called from behind, but now the baby was right before Pikachu, looking up to him. Satoshi held his breath, sensing the silence between them.

The baby closed his eyes, and smelled Pikachu. Pikachu waited mutely. The baby smiled joyfully when he opened his eyes.
"Pika." The baby turned around, wagging to fix his tail at the level of Pikachu's eyes. Pikachu looked at the baby's tail and face which was turned to him by turns, and said;
"Pika."
The voice sounded really pleasingly. He swung his body around, too, and let his tail join the baby's.
"Pika," both said.
The baby was the first friend from the herd, and other wild Pikachus were around him now. They were all smiling, some of them addressing him.
"Pikachu is welcomed, I think," Takeshi commented.
Satoshi felt a big joy surge through his whole body, and dashed out when he was aware of that.
"Let me join you," he cried, waving his both hands.
Pikachu noted him, and said, "Pikapi, pikachu."
In a quick movement, all the wild Pikachus turned around, and dashed away. Startled, Satoshi watched wild Pikachus rush across the plain and into thickets.
Pikachu moaned disappointedly. "Cha --."
"Don't Satoshi."
Satoshi looked back, finding Kasumi right behind him. Takeshi followed her. "They are scared of you, don't you understand?"
Astonished, Satoshi froze.

Half an hour later, Satoshi and his friends were at the riverside, hearing the murmur of the stream. The surface of water brighted in the sunlight, making him squint. He sat on a stump, against which Pikachu leaned. He looked blue, his ears drooping weakly.
"Sorry, Pikachu," he said, his heard tightening painfully.
"Pi -" Pikachu replied, murmuring.
Satoshi didn't yet understand why wild Pikachus had been frightened by his existence. He hadn't done any harm to them. He wouldn't.
"Maybe wild Pikachus hardly see us, I mean humans."
Satoshi looked at Kasumi who was opposite on a collapsed trunk. Beside her, Takeshi commented, "it is very deep in the forest. Few people come."
"Maybe it is the paradise for them," Kasumi said.
Maybe they were right, Satoshi thought, chagrined. If he had not interfered with the happy time of them, his Pikachu would -
"Pi --!"
A breath-bating scream echoed. Pikachu's ears jerked up. Satoshi also stiffened his body, cautious in all the directions. With a splash, something yellow ran down the river at a high speed. The baby who had approached his Pikachu first it was, Satoshi recognized immediately. He scanned around quickly, noting a thick tree with its branch over the river. The baby should have been on it, watching them.
Pikachu dashed out, crying, "Pika!" Startled, Satoshi followed, realizing Kasumi and Takeshi just behind him. The stream was extremely rapid, and buffeted by it, the baby thrashed his arms and legs about. Satoshi was in a haste, reminded that there was a fall at the end of the river.
Pikachu accelerated, ascended up a trunk which was stretched over the river, and dived into the water. He swam, splashing around, close to the baby. As his hands touched to slide around the baby's neck, a big splash splayed both.
"Pikachu," Satoshi cried. Pikachu seemed to have faded away, yet his grip tight around the baby. Satoshi stared at the rapid stream, ready to dive.
"Pika!" A tense voice sounded. On a branch of a tree, very near the fall, appeared the boss of the herd of Pikachus. Others stood under it, climbing up to the branch their boss was on one after another. The boss kicked it to jump. In a moment, another Pikachu followed, grabbing the tail of the boss. Other Pikachus did the way, quickly molding the form of rope. Satoshi's Pikachu and the baby were now just a feet from the basin of the fall.
The boss successfully grabbed Satoshi's Pikachu on the neck. He strengthened his grip, fighting the power of stream.
"Pika," he called, looking back. Other Pikachus' faces stiffened.
"Pika, pika, pika…" Chanting, they began to withdraw. In an instant Pikachu and baby's bodies were out the surface of water.
The baby recovered consciousness soon, while Pikachu had not yet woken. Wild Pikachus laid him on a big leaf at the riverside, looking into his face worryingly. Satoshi felt a pulse to run up to him, and stepped forward. Takeshi's sturdy hand grabbed his shoulder. He shook his head mutely, telling him to leave them by the warmth of his grip.
"Ah -" Satoshi murmured, then turned to Pikachus.
The baby let his cheek pouch, from which they shot an electric beam, touch Pikachu's. An electric light sparked from the spot their cheeks joined. Pikachu frowned, then opened his eyes.
"Pi…" He startled up, blinking his eyes. Other Pikachus brightened their faces, and sighs of relief were released from them.
The baby picked a red berry which had been prepared beside him, and stretched his maple-like hands out. It seemed a present for Pikachu. Pikachu took it with a joyful smile.
"Pika."
Wild Pikachus went close to him, and touched to lift him up on their tails.
"Pika, pika, pika…" they chanted, tossing him up into the air.
Pikachu chuckled with pleasure, and echoed the calls of others.
"They seemed to allow Pikachu to join them," Takeshi told Satoshi.
Satoshi couldn't reply, for deep emotion had surged up to his throat. He just watched Pikachu, who was happy with his friends.