Morning light shined through the window of a small window and widely stretched over to a figure laying asleep on the floor. All around them are scattered plush, figurines, cards, and others. In front of them is a laptop that was running an episode of Pokémon.
A soft groan came as Cade starts to stir. Groggily, he pushed himself up to his knees and rubbed his eyes. He blinked a few times and looked around his room to see a lot of things on the floor around him and his laptop playing a Pokémon episode. He remembered the laptop being given to him by his uncle as a present last Christmas. It has a red and white motif that resembles the color scheme of a Poké-ball. As for the episode it's showing, it came from the thumb drive that contains all the episodes and movies of every series in the Pokémon show.
He also remembered setting all this up last night. He loss track of how long he had been watching episode after episode. Now that he think about it, WHY was he watching them? What caused him to do so?
He decided to question this later for now and looked at the episode playing for a moment before reaching over and pausing the play. It was one of the specials that mainly focuses on Pikachu and his Pokémon friends. Cade stared at the image of that certain Pikachu who was smiling wide, sensing an odd connection between him and the Electric-Type in the screen.
Cade stayed silent for a while, staring at the frozen image. Then, he reached out a hand and presses it against the screen.
For some reason, he felt light, better than he was days ago. As if an unknown weight had been lifted off him.
For unknown reasons, he smiled.
"Thank you," he spoke softly, "Until we meet again,"
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"Until we meet again," Pikachu softly repeated the boy's words, watching with a saddened smile.
Last night had been fun for him, having to talk with the boy about random things. At some point, the mouse asked about the drive which he found out was an early birthday gift to him. It contains every episodes, seasons, movies, and specials of the Pokémon series. Even the Pokémon Chronicles and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon episodes.
He had then asked Cade if they could watch some. The boy was hesitant before giving in after some encouragement, a simple pleading, and the most irresistible puppy eyes that Pikachu could muster.
They lay belly down in front of the laptop as they watched and time passed by. the volume was lowered down so it won't be heard through the walls
At some point, both of them started taking out Pokémon stuff from the box. And by them, he meant Cade.
By the time the screen was playing the credits of the second movie they had watched, they were asleep. Side by side, peaceful of each other's presence.
That soon shattered the moment Pikachu woke up early before Cade.
The moment the Electric-Type opened his eyes, he knew something was wrong. That feeling became true the moment he tried to press a key in the laptop to stop the episode it was playing.
His finger phased through.
Then there was another feeling he felt the moment he looked over Cade's sleeping form. Call it a gut feeling, but he had this voice in his head saying five words that punched him in the gut.
'Cade won't remember it all,'
No matter how much he tries to shake those words away, it remains and his heart says it's true.
He sat and cried for sometime, thinking all his efforts to help the boy was all for nothing. He had failed him, he had failed Cade...
Like how he would fail Ash the moment he wakes up.
That trail of thought causes him to freeze up. In all his time being here, he had forgotten about his trainer. It soon gave him worries, thinking of what his trainer has been doing. He looked up to Cade's sleeping form and the frown changed to small smile.
Ash and Cade, one who's heart aims to go up and beyond to reach his dream and one who's soul connects to a world of creatures that exists in fiction yet possibly another reality. Two unique individuals that had gain a special place in his friendship list.
Then he saw Cade woke up.
The boy looked confused as to the discarded items all around the floor and the laptop in front of him.
Pikachu watched as the boy paused the image, then places a hand on the screen. Pikachu saw the shine in those blue eyes, full of life again and a spark of gratitude as Cade grew a smile on his face.
"Thank you," Pikachu heard as the mouse's eyes glistened with tears. Cade may not remember it, but the boy's heart would, "Until we meet again,"
Pikachu mirrored those exact same words, sad yet happy for Cade. The boy was considerably a friend to him, he felt a great bond with him ever since they met face to face-even if it was for a while. He's not saying this to abandon Ash, but he's not going to let Cade live alone either. Sure, the caretakers are there, and he would make friends in the future but...
Is it selfish to ask to have Cade as his trainer? Grant the boy the dream of meeting different kinds of Pokémon-maybe meet Pikachu himself- and travel the world even for just one journey?
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So much had changed the passed years ( And hours?).
And so did Cade.
Sitting at the desk, typing on his laptop, Cade had now grown big. Pikachu watched the 14 year old bang his head on the desk with an exasperated groan with a chuckle.
After that night, Cade had slowly started returning to his old self. His caretakers were confused and surprised of this but were happy nonetheless.
The years went by and Caden became a big brother to the younger orphans as well as an additional pair of hands in the orphanage. Yes, he never left, but it was fine for the boy. He goes to school as normal as he had been, doing well in grades and all. Made some friends along the way.
Even so, there were still some mental scars opening but nothing too traumatizing. However, there were some.... episodes here and there. What's more worrying for Pikachu is Caden's...impulsive actions. The boy, while looking peaceful and happy all the time, had a mild temper after everything. Cade may have fooled those around him, Pikachu could see all the sadness and rage behind those eyes, all pouring and building up throughout the years. And when those emotions do leak...
Pikachu shuddered at an incident involving a rude teen boy harassing one of the orphans, and it ended up with a 911 call...for the rude teen.
'Okay, let's not go back to that,' Pikachu shook the memory off.
Pikachu saw him look up at the clock before the boy decided to call it for the night. He watches as Cade soon went in bed with all lights but the Minior lamp's on. He could see something flickered in the boy's eyes before he succumbed to dreamland.
Another shift.
This time, the mouse found himself looking at Ash waking up in his own room. Said boy looked around confused, which is...odd. He look as if they don't recognized the room, yet looks familiar to them like he had seen it somewhere.
Then Ash saw his reflection and screamed.
The boy panicked, but that is the least of Pikachu's worries and stared in total shock at the mirror.
With a few shaky steps, he walked to an angle where he would see his trainer's reflection. Only it didn't.
It showed Cade on the other side instead.