Chapter Text
[I do not give permission for this work to be posted and/or hosted on another site. If you’re seeing not on Ao3, it has been stolen.]
Satoshi and his Pikachu are never to be separated, ever, under any circumstance.
During their last lesson of the week, before they are dismissed to the freedom of the weekend ahead, Professor Kukui announced the Partner Swap Project where each student would swap their Pokemon Partners with another student for the weekend.
Satoshi’s Pikachu had momentarily stopped playing with his trainer’s hat upon hearing the assignment as Satoshi himself froze stiff.
It was only three days, they could last that long, right?
So that’s how they ended up in their current situation, preparing dinner, Professor Kukui was sorting out the food for himself and Satoshi while the teen got out the Poke-food for their Pokemon.
Ever since the bell had rung and Lillie had left with Pikachu and Satoshi now had Snowy, the Kanto native...hadn’t really been present, mentally that was, he was still physically there as he walked home (alone for once, Kukui had said that he had something to finish up at the school) but his mind was elsewhere.
Pikachu was fine, he was probably enjoying himself...right? It would be good for Lillie, maybe she would be able to touch more Pokemon than just Snowy. But what if Team Rocket showed up? He wouldn’t be there to protect his partner.
Pikachu would be fine, he was strong enough to get rid of them on his own.
But what if the trio had something with them that was impervious to Pikachu’s electricity? Pikachu could be taken and sold while he was here, none the wiser.
That last thought stopped him completely. It was a very likely possibility, they had tried something like that in the past and it was only because he had been there that Pikachu had still been with him.
His brain got stuck on that particular train of thought like a broken track and while that had been happening, he must have been standing there like an idiot as the next thing he knew, Professor Kukui was asking if he was okay.
It was only then that Satoshi realized that he had prepared one too many. This would be the first of many times over the course of that weekend.
“I’m fine, Professor,” he told the older man. Even to his own ears that didn’t sound convincing.
But Kukui took it with an “If you say so,” as he cleaned the chopping board he had just used. Satoshi was pouring the extra Poke food back into the box and once that was done, he put the extra bowl away.
“Why won’t you call me Kukui?” he asked, after a moment.
Satoshi replied with his usual “It isn’t respectful,” before he took his bowl from the bench to the table. Professor Kukui soon joined him.
He ate all of his food but didn’t taste a single bite.
While they were eating, the storm that had been building all day - in the form of rain-black clouds and the temperature had been dropping all day - finally broke through the clouds and started dumping water on Alola.
Due to the moisture in the air, it was colder than it would usually be in Alola at any time of the year.
Colder than he had felt in years, not since Unova (or maybe even before that?).
Satoshi had been up in the loft, originally trying to work on his homework that had been piling up over the week because he had put it aside, still not used to attending school again. The keyword of that sentence was trying.
He wasn’t really succeeding.
Not only was his mind elsewhere, but it was also a subject where the language difference became an annoying barrier once again, and on top of all that, it was chemistry.
So yeah, Satoshi wasn’t really getting this sheet done quickly (so far, over an hour later, he had only filled in two of the twenty-three questions).
He kept going back to that train of thought, about Pikachu and the possibility of him being caught by Team Rocket. As time went on (and he couldn’t train to distract himself with training as it was raining), his brain came up with more bits to make that particular train of thought worse and more panic-inducing.
The rain was still coming down in buckets, over an hour since it had started and didn’t show any sign of stopping soon. Every few minutes or so, a bolt of lightning would crack (too close) and the accompanying thunder would rattle the house.
Somehow, by some miracle, Satoshi managed to (barely) get through the rest of his homework for the night and before he realized it, it was getting quite late. He should be heading to bed soon.
Sleep...the one thing that he had been putting off for as long as he possibly could (which was quite a while as tomorrow was a Saturday which meant no school) but would have to give into eventually.
“Satoshi?” Professor Kukui asked as the teen was midway through climbing down the ladder. He turned to see the professor standing down in the living room dressed in pyjama pants and a shirt. “What are you doing up?" he asked, concern was clear on his face.
“Haven’t slept yet,” Satoshi told him, truthfully.
That clearly wasn’t the best thing he could have said.
Professor Kukui’s face was betraying an emotion that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. “Alright, you should start thinking about heading to bed soon,” he told him before he disappeared down the hallway, most likely back to his room.
Satoshi did indeed get ready for bed but actually getting to sleep was a completely different venture in itself, one that he wasn't quite ready for.
It was nearing midnight and Satoshi was still awake. Snowy was curled on the far side of the room on the edge of the rug, she had been asleep for a good few hours by now.
Despite his best intentions, he was falling asleep and there was nothing he could do to prevent it as it loomed in front of him.
The last thing he saw before falling asleep was the blanket that he was using in place of a doona and no yellow blob of fur that he had gotten so used to seeing as he fell asleep every night.
Satoshi woke with a start, not even an hour after he had fallen asleep to the lingering feeling of cradling Pikachu’s body that had been just turned to stone (he had been too late, powerless to stop it) in his arms.
The storm still raged on outside, despite not being as powerful as it had been an hour earlier. The lightning had receded mostly.
On instinct, he reached out trying to find Pikachu’s familiar aura which was both warm and staticky at the same time and sometimes tasted of ketchup and smoke - just the electric type’s familiar presence - instead, he found a young, ice-cold aura that tasted like coconut and sea salt. Which was wrong, so wrong.
This wasn’t good, not at all, the last time that Pikachu had been far away enough that he hadn’t been able to feel the electric type’s aura hadn’t gone well. AT ALL.
It did absolutely nothing to calm the panic that had been building ever since school let out for the weekend and continued to build throughout the evening, it did the exact opposite: it increased the aforementioned panic to the point where his chest was tight (too tight) and tears swam in his vision.
Where was Pikachu? He needed to be here, he needed the electric type to be here.
Snowy sleepily yapped at him in annoyance, he had woken her up. His panicking must (definitely) have seeped into his aura, poisoning it with a sharp but tangy lemon-like taste Pikachu had told him once.
…Pikachu…
Somewhere along the way, Satoshi forgot to breathe.
Kukui had been peacefully sleeping for once before he had been abruptly and rather forcefully awaken by what he could only describe as a feeling, a very intense and sharp feeling.
It took hold of him similar to the way panic would but it wasn’t him who was panicking. That meant that it had to be someone else, a Pokemon perhaps? So who was it?
Kukui got up and padded on slipper-clad feet out of his room and made his way out to the combined living room and kitchen area. As he went, the feeling increased in intensity. Using that sort of hot-and-cold game system, Kukui found himself standing at the base of the ladder up to the loft where the feeling was at a pinnacle.
Standing here, Alola’s professor could hear the gasping and shuddery inhales of someone - a human someone - who was a hairs breadth shy of hyperventilating. That had to be Satoshi as there were no other humans in the house.
He made his way quickly (but not fast enough that he would fall off) up the ladder and into the loft itself.
Now that he was up in the space, the feeling was much more intense, almost to the point where it almost made Kukui throw up but he shoved away and down the feeling, now wasn’t the time.
“Satoshi?” he called quietly so as not to spook the teen who was curled up in a ball on the sofa, the blanket in a heap half on the other end of the sofa and half on the floor.
Somehow, amongst the panic and tormenting stream of thoughts, Satoshi just heard Professor Kukui call his name.
What was the man doing awake, let alone up in the loft?
“I need you to breathe,” Professor Kukui requested. It was at that moment that he realized that he hadn’t been breathing properly for the last who knows how long.
Satoshi tried to, Arceus he tried, but there was a weight on his chest that stopped him from doing what he needed to. So he sat here in this same predicament, not breathing and most certainly panicking.
Professor Kukui could probably feel his panic by now, it had definitely leeched enough into his aura that a normal human like the professor could feel it (even if it was just the odd feeling).
Satoshi felt more than saw Professor Kukui take a seat on the other side of the sofa. He could feel the man’s concern for him, due to the man’s proximity to him, it was breaking through his panic enough that he was able to focus somewhat on it.
That different, decidedly not-his-own emotion helped some, it gave him something other to focus on rather than the crushing panic and fear that swirled around inside him.
Somehow, using that Satoshi was able to get his breath somewhat under control, well kind of. Despite that, panic and nerves still thrummed under his skin.
When he uncurled enough to raise his head to look at Professor Kukui. When he did, he met the man’s eyes.
“Hi,” Alola’s Professor greeted when he caught his eyes.
“Hey,” he answered. Somehow, in some way that he didn’t know, he had managed to get it under control enough that he wasn’t consumed by it as he had been only minutes earlier.
The next thing that Professor Kukui said was not what Satoshi had been expecting him to ask. “Do you want hot cocoa?”
The unexpectedness of the question had caught him off-guard. He had been so sure that the professor would ask him if he was okay (which he clearly wasn’t) or what had gotten him into this state (he probably guessed that one).
“...Okay…” Satoshi agreed.
Upon hearing the boy’s agreement, Professor Kukui stood from his spot on the sofa and made for the ladder, assuming that Satoshi would soon follow (he did). Satoshi took a seat at the bench while Professor Kukui set about putting together hot cocoa for him.
(Kukui made cocoa differently from the way Satoshi was used to, first off he made it in the microwave, not on the stovetop and added both vanilla and cinnamon to it)
Satoshi was relieved that Professor Kukui didn’t comment on his shirt (a clearly old worn Pikachu-patterned one that he only wore on particularly bad days), he didn’t have the energy to go into that right now.
Within five minutes, Professor Kukui placed a warm mug in front of Satoshi.
The teen took it into his hands but didn’t yet take a sip. For the next few minutes, neither of them said anything, they just sat in silence, in the kitchen at 1 AM.
But that silence wouldn’t last forever. It didn’t.
“Satoshi, I know that there is a lot you haven’t told me and that’s okay but I need you to tell me, was assigning the Partner Swap project not a good idea?” Professor Kukui asked.
It took Satoshi a few minutes to put together a proper answer. In the end, he decided against a verbal answer and just shook his head.
The professor was most likely frowning. “Was separating you two not a good idea?” he asked another question. “And if you don’t mind me asking, why shouldn’t I have separated you two?” he added as if he had just thought of it.
This time, Satoshi met the man’s eyes once again and he didn’t find any sign of any hidden intention (Kukui wasn’t asking because he wanted to know about how powerful he and his Pikachu were together, he was asking because he wanted to know about him and his Pikachu and their bond).
It was so different from what the adults in the past had asked about anything to do with him and Pikachu.
It took a few restarts but he eventually told him what he wanted to say. “Before, when Pikachu and I have been separated, some pretty bad things have happened,”
Kukui really really wanted to ask what kind of ‘bad things’ Satoshi was referring to. That doesn’t help his shock at all upon hearing the next part of the boy’s sentence. “Those were some of the times I’ve died, I think?”
Some of the times he’s died? Just how many times has he died? And how is he here then?
“I’ve died six times now, Arceus keeps bringing me back,” Satoshi told him with a shrug.
Huh, he must’ve said that out loud. But what exactly did he just hear? Satoshi had died six times?
“You…weren’t supposed to know…that,” Satoshi said. The boy had gone back to staring at his now half-empty mug. Kukui didn’t know what else he could say so the two of them just sat there, once again in silence.
Eventually, Satoshi finished his cocoa and they both headed off to bed.
The next morning, it was foggy, which was rarer for Alola than the heavy rainstorm that had happened the night before.
When Kukui got up, just minutes before his alarm set for 7 AM, Satoshi had already left the house but Rockruff was nowhere to be seen so that meant that the boy had probably taken the puppy for an early-morning run.
Satoshi hadn’t gone to sleep after having that cocoa, he didn’t want to without Pikachu with him, he had just lied on the sofa until the sun came up.
Once it did, he got up, found Rockruff and woke the puppy to go for a morning run. As they ran, the rock type seemed to be enjoying himself but then he kept running, kept going faster and stopped paying attention to Rockruff.
He needed something to do that would keep his mind off of Pikachu’s absence.
It was too early for training, he didn’t want to wake Professor Kukui up so early on a Saturday. He kept running, pushing forward faster and faster for a time, longer than he should.
They looped up and back down the beach and nearly two hours later they returned to Professor Kukui’s house.
By the time they stepped up onto the front porch, Rockruff was panting for breath and looked utterly exhausted. It made Satoshi regret taking the puppy with him on that run.
Kukui was awake and up by the time they returned at half-past seven. The man was in the kitchen, in the middle of putting together his own breakfast. The box of Poke food sat on the table.
Satoshi put together his own breakfast (dry cereal) and pretended he hadn’t caught Kukui’s concern when the professor saw what he was having for breakfast as he poured the Poke food into bowls.
He poured one too many, again.
Despite eating dry cereal (that particular type was disgusting without milk), he didn’t notice it.
The next few hours passed quickly, the time was taken up by homework, training and a call with Brock (the older boy had noticed Pikachu’s absence immediately).
That call was good, he hadn’t had a chance to speak to Brock in weeks and it was nice to speak Kantonese again, he had been speaking Alolan consistently for weeks. They had chatted for a bit before Brock addressed the elephant in the room.
“Where’s Pikachu?” Brock asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two separated before,” he added.
“We have a Partner Swap assignment, we had to swap partners for the weekend,” Satoshi told him. “I got Snowy,” He switched the camera to the front-facing one to show Brock who he was talking about.
“Snowy’s an Alolan form Vulpix, right?” he asked.
“Yep,” Satoshi confirmed.
“Satoshi, you know that you could have asked for an exemption from the assignment, right?” Brock told him.
“I know…” Satoshi trailed off. “I don’t have a believable reason for an exemption,” he added.
“You’ve experienced things that most people can only imagine. Kukui shouldn’t need a reason,” Brock told him. “Have you slept at all this weekend?” he asked, moving the topic along slightly.
Satoshi shook his head. “Got an hour last night before I woke up, didn’t go back to sleep,” he told him.
“Alright. Call me if you can’t sleep tonight, regardless of time differences,” Brock said. Their call was drawing to a close.
“Okay,” Satoshi agreed. After that, they said their goodbyes and ended the call.
He ate lunch and dinner, once again not tasting a single bite. This evening, in an attempt to not get too caught up in his head, Satoshi went for a walk.
He stopped eventually to take a seat on a random outcropping of rock, facing the ocean. It was getting dark, not only because the sun was going down but because dark storm clouds were rolling in again.
Lillie would call if something bad had happened to Pikachu, right?
He hoped she would.
Just as the sun touched the horizon, the clouds split and start dumping their water on him and Mele Mele Island.
It had rained a lot this weekend, more than it had in the whole time that Satoshi had been in Alola.
Satoshi didn’t really notice the water as it came down. He was aware of it sure but he wasn’t bothered by it.
Water dripped from his hair into his eyes and ran down the length of his nose. He must have sat there for much too long as he felt someone quickly approaching him, their worry and fret clear.
“There you are!” It was Professor Kukui who came looking for him. “You’re soaked,” So was he “didn’t you notice the rain?” Professor Kukui asked.
“Oh...” was all Satoshi could offer. It was rather lame.
“Come on, we should head back before it gets much later or you get sick, you’ve been out here for three hours,” Professor Kukui told him as they started walking back down the beach.
Three hours…it was now 9:30?
When they got back to the house, Kukui sent Satoshi to shower while he returned to his basement lab/study to finish reading over the paper he had received from the lab earlier that evening.
It wasn’t too unusual for Satoshi to spend as much time outside as he possibly could but the boy hadn’t been doing too good since the students had switched Pokemon Partners and that made him a little more worried than he usually would be.
But it had been hours and it started raining (again) and the boy still wasn’t back yet. After grabbing an umbrella, he went searching for Satoshi.
The boy was sitting on a rock that stuck out of the sand at just the right angle to be able to make a suitable but not comfy chair, staring out towards the water.
Satoshi didn’t seem to notice the water that dripped down his nose and from his hair, or at least he wasn’t outwardly bothered by it.
Kukui was getting to the end of the paper when his computer beeped with an incoming email. Clicking into his email service, he found that it was a reply from Professor Oak about an email that he had sent a few days ago that he had titled “Inquiry Regarding Ash Ketchum”.
He had almost forgotten that he had sent that email.
The first line of Oak’s reply was a protected information notice “The following information in this email is heavily protected and is not to be shared with anyone except yourself and is never to be included in any research journals”.
Kukui had requested access to Satoshi’s full trainer file, which required that he be granted permission by one of two people: Professor Oak orSatoshi himself. There hadn’t been a good time to ask Satoshi for access so he had emailed Kanto’s professor.
There was a lot of information in Satoshi’s file. Every major tragedy or crisis in any region in the last six years, the teen had been there.
“I’ve died six times now, Arceus keeps bringing me back,” Satoshi had told him.
Looking back, he now knew why at that moment Satoshi’s eyes didn’t match his age, they were the eyes of someone who had lived through great tragedy and had suffered so much trauma from it.
Despite the sheer amount of information that there was in his file, none of it explained why Pikachu and Satoshi were never to be separated. Which meant that Kukui still had unanswered questions.
That night passed akin to the last but this time Satoshi didn’t even try to sleep, he sat up playing games on his phone, purposefully ignoring the photos app.
At some point during the night, he called Brock. It was about 9 PM in Kanto when he did, Brock would probably be busy but the older teen picked up on the first ring. They talked for about an hour until Brock apologetically had to end the call early.
Satoshi did fall asleep about half an hour later, just as it was reaching three AM but he was woken once again not even an hour later with the same panic constricting his chest and clogging up his throat.
This time, he managed to stay quiet and in control enough that he wouldn’t wake Kukui with his panic. Satoshi got up and left the loft to get himself a glass of water from the kitchen. Once he had drained that water, he returned to the loft.
The next few hours passed quickly, he alternated between games on his phone, studying and just existing on the sofa.
When the sun came up, Satoshi was lying on the sofa. When Kukui got up and went out to the kitchen to get started on his own breakfast (and most certainly coffee too), he was still lying on the sofa. When Alola’s professor finished his breakfast and was about to leave for some errand, he was still lying on the sofa.
“Satoshi, I’m going to the market for groceries!” Kukui yelled up to the loft. He got no answer, he most likely didn’t know if Satoshi was even awake or not.
Soon after that, he heard the front door shut. Sunday passed rather uneventfully, he got up at sometime around noon (which was quite late for him).
After Satoshi was up, he took Snowy and his Pokemon out for some training. Yesterday the Alolan Vulpix had sat on the front veranda and watched while they trained, today she would be joining them as he didn’t have much experience with ice types.
Only twenty more hours to go. He could do this...right?
Needless to say, he ended up cutting training short while helping Snowy learn Blizzard. The Vulpix was able to produce an exceptionally strong Blizzard that would have lowered the temperature of an entire stadium had they been in one but she wasn't yet able to do it on command yet. Not only that but she had the ability to make the temperature drop fast.
“T-that’s enough for today, everyone!” Satoshi called. It caught all the Pokemon he was working with by surprise, his Alolan team were getting used to his long training sessions it seemed.
He could always use the cover-up (more of an excuse really) that Professor Kukui would soon be calling them to dinner if needed. Snowy was definitely the happiest out of all the Pokemon about training having ended.
He returned back to the house, all the Pokemon (except Snowy, she was bounding ahead) trailing behind him.
“Done already?” Professor Kukui asked when he caught sight of their return. “You were only out there for half an hour, usually you’re out for at least two,” he added.
“Yeah…we’ve done enough for today,” Satoshi told him.
(Kukui had been watching them through the window, he knew the real reason why the boy had called off training early that afternoon)
It was once again dinner time and this time around, Satoshi was helping prepare not only the food for their Pokemon but for them too.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea to give Satoshi the use of a knife in his current state as Kukui had to stop him multiple times before he nearly cut or sliced himself with said knife.
This time, he did taste some of the meal (maybe that was because Professor Kukui had put in too much ginger but it also could have been because it was getting closer to when Pikachu would be back).
He had started counting down the minutes and hours not long ago, it was still much too long.
When Satoshi returned to the loft from the bathroom, ready for bed, he caught sight of the still unfinished chemistry homework sheet on the desk. It was due the first period on Monday, there was no way he’d have it completed in time.
Sunday night passed much like Saturday and Friday night had, with minimal sleeping done and a lot of everything that wasn’t thinking about Pikachu nor going anywhere near his chemistry homework.
This time Satoshi fell asleep just over an hour before he was supposed to get up to get to school on time.
The sun was rising but there were still more clouds in the sky than there should be for a day to be considered “sunny”. By some miracle, Satoshi was up and down in the kitchen on time, not early or late.
There was only an hour left of this assignment! Only sixty minutes until Pikachu was back.
So far everything had been going as okay as it could, he had been able to taste his breakfast (cereal with milk) and panic hadn’t been constricting his chest too tightly that morning.
They had left for the school earlier than usual and it took all of his control not to run all the way there (logically he knew that Lillie wouldn’t be there even if he had). Professor Kukui had gone up to the classroom while Satoshi waited in the schoolyard for Lillie to arrive and to talk to the other students.
It seemed to take centuries but eventually the black car pulled into the schoolyard and a ball of yellow fluff was barreling out, heading straight for Satoshi. The teen caught Pikachu easily and very happily, and almost immediately pulled the electric type in for a hug. Pikachu returned the hug by licking Satoshi’s cheek.
While the other students and their Pokemon partners were happy to be reunited with each other, no pair was as happy (nor relieved) as Satoshi and Pikachu.
If Satoshi didn’t let the electric type out of his sight for the next day, that was nobody else’s business, most of the other students didn’t even notice but one observant teacher did.
Later that evening Satoshi was lying on the sofa in the loft, in his pyjamas, and Pikachu was curled up in a ball on his stomach. Pikachu was fast asleep, he had fallen asleep a handful of minutes ago and Satoshi himself was very close to sleep (not sleeping very much over the last few nights was a contributor).
The last thing Satoshi saw before he fell asleep was the ball of yellow fur that was his partner, his best friend. He didn’t get woken by anything that whole night.
Down in Kukui’s basement lab/study, Alola’s professor was watching a video that was one of the attachments of Professor Oak’s email, on his computer screen Satoshi dived off of Lumiose Tower after Pikachu.