[OOC - *figures she's resisted posting for long enough*]
BIC-
As the spherical emblem of a sun started to descend lazily towards the horizon, Shiden felt his legs turning to lead at the joints. He was ready - and willing - to run forever, until a solution that would end all of these miseries came to him, but the small body he'd been thrown into wasn't so malleable. As the Pikachu's breaths started to come in short, stabbing gasps, he could tell that his pace had decreased to a mere trot, even with tears blurring his sight beyond much perception.
As twilight dawned on the reverent forest Shiden struggled to keep going, reduced to a pathetic limp-like walk through the tight-knit jungle he had immersed himself in. The electric rodent's senses seemed shot, unable to hear any more than a faint buzzing hum low in his black-tipped velvety ears. In reality, the fiercely vegetated forest was alive with bug-type's combined sounds, creaking through the orange-splattered sky; the collage of colors was hidden from view by a heavy canopy of leaves. The aches and stinging of his innumerable injuries had caught up to the limping Shiden, urging him to lay down, to take a rest. If he did, everything would seem better; Kazan might even...
What? Kazan was probably ridding himself of the troublesome memories Shiden had generated in the first place.
"What's a Pii-ka-chu doing way out here? Only buggy-types like places like this, ya' know!"
Shiden wheeled his head around - or rather, tried to. What he did instead was turn his eyes weakly in the direction of the voice, and was greeted by a cheery-faced Venonat. The round, shaggy-furred insect was perched lazily on an overturned tree, propped diagonally by the various other shrubs and tree trunks around it. The Venonat had found a small branch protruding from the dead wood, and used it as a seat. Shiden looked, but could only make out the speaker's blurred purple shape.
"I dunno." Shiden responded, not stopping, but slowed to a near-crawl now.
The Venonat bounded down from the bough, landing clumsily on the leave-carpeted forest floor behind the listless Pikachu. "Well, that'sa funny. Pika's usually like small-like forests, ya know. With less trees. And'a more apples to munch." it persisted, falling into stride alongside the near-blinded Pikachu.
A silent pause, only broken by the pitter-patter of the Venonat's oversized feet on the crumbling dead leaves. Then,
"My name'sa Archie, like Archie, only you say it 'Arkie'. What's yours, weird-little-Pikachu?" the newly dubbed Archie inquired with a twitch of its - her - antenna.
"...I don't remember." Shiden said sincerely, casting away the name kind-hearted Kazan had graced him with. "I guess I don' have one..."
"Tha'sa way too silly! You hafta have'a name! Can't call ya 'Pikachu', ;cause there're lotsa Pikachu, ya' know! I'll call you..." Archie scooped a leaf from the collection of dying brown specimens and let it drift back down as they walked. "Kikai! 'Cause you're'a reaaaally weird n' strange."
Shiden sighed, and kept going; after a minute or two, the Venonat smiled broadly and stopped, leaving the thoughtless Pokémon to pad forwards on his own.
"See ya' later weird-little Kikai!" She sang, turning around and clambering up the nearest tree; she had other things to do, after all.
[...]
Shiden wasn't even partially aware of falling down, even less so passing out. But here he was, collapsed on his side in whatever passed for a clearing in this untamed part of the forest, the moon and sun both visible, but the sun quickly succumbing to the silvery-orb's dominance. The Pikachu fought for a sitting postion, but halfway there his claws slipped without purchase in the carpet of leaves. A stick or twig dug insistently into his side, just one more ache that resounded throughout his body, but now all of them were almost on fire.
And he was starving.
A ranging variety of plump berries dangled tauntingly from the midst of bushes all around him, and yet Shiden wasn't ready to take the heads-or-tails risk of one of them being poisonous. He was, after all, in a wild and uninhabited section of a forest. Only the most basic of bug-types even roamed here, nibbling quietly on whatever shrubs or grasses they could find. Even if he was daring enough, the electrical-type doubted his ability to drag himself over to one of them - the slightest shifting sent screams of pain coursing up and down the Pikachu's joints. In exchange for his mindless run, it seemed that stopping had caused all of the pain accumulated during his rush to bombard him now. While he was immobile.
"Come on! I had at least hoped that that stupid, evolving Machoke would be guarding your pathetic excuse for a body! But no! You hafta go n' become the perfect target for kidnapping, dontcha, Pikachu?" a disappointed and begrudging voice cracked through the air, making the fur on Shiden's neck prickle.
Several seconds later, a white-clawed Pokémon padded silently out from the foliage surrounding Shiden, cherry-red eyes flashing in accusation. The Pikachu swallowed nervously.
"Not even that Charmander Soriin was talking about? Nobody!? No wonder Soriin let me come alone! This's the worst job assignment ever..." the figure muttered in a mutinous voice, arms crossed sulkily across her furry chest. "And after beggin' him to let me go - that I was all fully-recovered...deceptive li'l psychic."
The mysterious Sneasel scowled down at the prone Shiden, a foreboding light in her eyes. He had several moments to notice a violent scar etched above one eye before she moved. She stepped closer to the electric-type, and seized a firm hold on his throat. With no effort, the jet-black Pokémon hoisted the Pikachu into the air, amused by the lack of struggle he put forth - the Pokémon could barely raise his arms to pry at her tightening claws.
"Tch...and you're the reason poor Reid has been staring off into nothing, blind as a Zubat? Soriin even said he might be reliving his past - thanks ta' you?" The Sneasel slackened her grip, and Shiden landed with a soft whoomph on the ground.
[OOC - 'cause Jiin is like an armored cockroach. A violent cockroach bent on destruction and violence.]
