How to Train Your Pokémon

A/N: Here's Chapter 11! Roll it!

Bold italics- Pokémon speech

Chapter 11

The Choice to Help

That night, Gary had the recruits over at the observatory for some dinner. As they all ate some hot dogs and burgers, the Ketchum siblings were lost in thought. More specifically, Mari. Everyone else was listening to some of Gary's stories of past raids.

"With one Hyper Beam, that Rhyperior blasted that house to splinters." He said dramatically. "I saw the look on its face. It was complete delight in doing destruction."

The Newton girls exclaimed with awe, while Aiden was just listening intently. He kept sneaking quick glances over at Mari, who was in a daze while moving her finger in a circle around her empty plate, burger crumbs slightly falling off the edges. He still wondered how was it possible that she had actually created that much electricity and tried to zap him.

One time when he snuck a glance at her, she had stopped playing with her plate and focused a gaze at the fireplace, watching the orange and yellow flames flicker and dance in the hearth. He found his eyes taking in on how the firelight was making her olive skin glow, how the flames and embers seemed to come alive in her chocolate brown eyes, how her hair seemed to put the night sky to shame because of the sheer blackness that it possessed.

Aiden had to literally pinch himself hard on his arm from keeping his gaze on her before he got caught by someone. He can't get distracted now, especially not by a girl. And absolutely not the girl who he had known for his entire childhood, and who was entranced by her when he first saw her, and who had grown into such a beauty, and who had never ceased to amaze him with her skills, brains, feisty attitude, and now the strange ability of electrokinesis. Okay, now his messed up mind is betraying everything that he had been training for.

"Don't worry, Gary." Keira assured their mentor with an overconfident smile. "I'll capture every Pokémon I fight with ease."

"Not unless you get blasted into pieces in the first three seconds of the battle." Luke teased, shattering her confidence.

Evan and Jenna laughed at her insulted expression, while Mari and Aiden both tried to hide a smile at Luke's quip. Gary then stood up from his chair.

"Here's a little bit of advice: when you fight a Pokémon, you find its weakness in movement. If it can't run or fly, it can't get away." He said. "An immobile Pokémon is a trapped Pokémon."

That last statement he had said caused Mari to perk up.

Gary then stifled a yawn. "Okay, recruits. It's off to bed for all of us. Tomorrow, we will get to the tough ones, slowly but surely, making our way to Lucario." Half of the recruits began getting excited. "But who will win the honor of capturing it?"

As Keira began boasting that it will be her that will capture the Lucario, and while Jenna brought her sister down, Evan noticed that Mari had already slipped away. He nudged his brother, and Luke saw her empty place. The twins quietly left the observatory unnoticed, though Aiden did saw them leave. But, he didn't think much of it. Why should he care about what they're doing now?

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The twins soon found Mari back home in the kitchen, slicing some more Oran and Sitrus Berries, along with a couple of Pecha Berries. "Mari, what are you doing?" Luke asked, though he and Evan already knew the answer.

"I'm going to help that Pikachu." She proclaimed determinedly.

"Uh, do I have to be the voice of reason here this time?" Evan questioned. "This has trouble and disaster written all over it."

"Look, for some reason, all three of us have been hearing things, right?" She asked, turning to her brothers, who had nodded. "Well, when I touched that Pikachu, I could understand her. She was speaking to me. And not only do I want to help her, but this is a whole new level. Think about what we could learn from them. Or better yet, one of them could have information about what happened to Dad."

The twins thought deeply about this. Their sister made a point. All of them were experiencing similar things in the Arena. If what she is saying is true, then they could find out what happened to their father, why, and how is it that they have these strange abilities. Mari seemed to have dug herself in too deep, with the electric sparks earlier and now saying she can understand Pokémon. Who's to say that something similar could happen to them, and that they might know the reason why.

Luke sighed. "We're not going to talk you out of this if we tried, right?" He asked rhetorically.

Mari shook her head with a playful smile. "Nope."

Evan returned her cheeky grin. "Then, let's get on with it. If you can't beat them, join them."

The eldest Ketchum then handed the knife carefully over to Luke. "Keep cutting those Berries." She instructed, gesturing to the extra Berries on the cutting board. She then turned to Evan. "And, can you find my first-aid kit? It should be somewhere in my room."

"Sure thing." Evan replied, and he then headed up the stairs.

Luke began chopping up some more Berries. "So, are we going to meet the Pikachu tomorrow?" He asked. His sister's answer was a simple smile.

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Early the next morning, the Ketchum siblings entered the cave. Mari was carrying a large bowl of Berries in her hands.

"Hey, Elysia!" Mari called out.

"Elysia?" Evan asked.

"Since she told me that she doesn't have a name, I said that I would give her one." Mari explained. "And I think Elysia fits her."

"It is pretty." Luke commented. "And electrifying."

The Pikachu saw Mari and tried to scamper over to her, but her injured leg made it a little bit difficult.

"You're back!" She called. But then she stopped in her tracks when she saw the twins.

Mari handed the bowl of Berries to Luke and crouched down to her. "It's okay." She assured her. "They're my brothers. They're not going to hurt you. I promise."

"Okay, then. If they're fine with you, they're fine with me." She then remembered something. "Hey, what were you calling me earlier?"

"It's your new name: Elysia." Mari explained. "Do you like it?" She asked.

"I like it." The newly christened Elysia chirped happily. To the twins, they only understood Mari's side of the conversation. Elysia's part though, it was still like water in their ears.

Mari gestured the twins to come closer. When they did, Mari took the bowl of Berries from Luke. "Elysia, these are my younger brothers: Luke and Evan." She introduced. Elysia took a few steps closer to the twins, looking at them curiously. They looked at their sister, who nodded in assurance. Slowly, the twins outstretched their hands and began stroking Elysia's head. They laughed in amazement at what they were really doing.

Elysia sniffed them. "You two smell pretty similar." She observed. "Are you twins?"

"Aah!" The twins screamed, removing their hands and slightly backing away.

"You just talked!" Luke exclaimed.

"Yeah, I did." Elysia said. "Why do humans have a problem with Pokémon talking?" She asked rhetorically.

"Yes, they are twins." Mari answered her previous question.

"This is so weird." Evan piped up, holding his hand to his head. "So it seems that if we touch Pokémon, we can understand them."

"Basically." Mari summed it up.

Elysia then began sniffing the scent coming from the bowl in Mari's hand. "What do you have there?" She asked.

Mari set down the bowl. "Here. We have an assortment of Berries for you."

Elysia sniffed them again, her mouth almost salivating. "They smell delicious!" She exclaimed and began to gobble up the Berries.

"Hey, save some for us!" Evan chided playfully. "We didn't have breakfast yet!"

Elysia stopped stuffing her cheeks and tossed the youngest Ketchum an Oran Berry. "Come and get some, then. I don't bite. Often."

Luke took a Sitrus Berry and began to bite into it. As Mari was about to bite into another Oran Berry, Elysia squealed.

"A Shuca Berry!" She exclaimed. "My favorite!"

"Pokémon have favorite types of Berries?" Luke asked, swallowing his bite of Sitrus Berry.

Elysia nodded. "Yep, just like humans have favorites. We have certain tastes, so we're really not that different from you guys. But, we all don't like one thing, besides being trapped against our will."

She held up a sliced Figy Berry as she began to give them an example. "This Berry and a few others like this are very spicy. Not a lot of us can handle its intensity except for Fire types." With that, she tossed the Figy Berry away and began to nibble on the Shuca Berry.

Mari dug into the bowl and got out the remainder of the chopped Figy Berries. "Well, what makes Shuca Berries your favorite?" She asked.

Evan got out his Pokédex and looked up Shuca Berries. "This says that Shuca Berries lower the power of a super-effective Ground type move."

"Aren't Electric types at a disadvantage against Ground types?" Luke asked.

"They are." Mari confirmed. "So that's maybe why Elysia likes them so much."

"Probably every Electric type likes Shuca Berries." Evan hypothesized.

After their breakfast, Mari got her first-aid kit and wrapped Elysia's injured leg with bandages. Then the Pikachu went to a ledge in the cave for a little morning nap. As the Ketchum siblings left the cave, Mari took out the sliced Figy Berries that were now sealed inside a plastic bag. What Elysia had said rang in her head as a thought came to her mind.

"What are you thinking, Mari?" Luke asked, seeing the pondering look on his sister's face.

"I just might have a crazy idea." She answered, looking ahead as Pallet Town came into view.

A/N: Okay. Now all three Ketchum can understand the Pikachu, now named Elysia. Cool name, right? And yes, if I wasn't clear in the very beginning of the story, Elysia is a female. Female Pikachu had heart-shaped tails, while male have lightning bolts.

Well, I hope I'll see y'all in Chapter 12. Please leave a comment about what you think.

Got to fly! ;)