ok so, again, i've been watching a lot of the pokemon anime. one of the eps i saw last night was Pikachu's Goodbye. short version: Ash + friends meet a bunch of wild Pikachu in a forest. After saving one of the baby Pikachu from dying in a waterfall, Ash's Pikachu has a fun time with the other Pikachu. Ash forcefully demands that his Pikachu stay with the wild Pikachu, even as his Pikachu doesn't really want to, and then is surprised when his comes back like "no are you kidding you dumb fuck". Our protagonist everyone!
Anyway there's a part in the episode where, after saving the baby Pikachu, all the Pikachu stand in a clearing and sing a FUCKING CREEPY song while all staring at the moon. Misty comments "Aw, those Pikachu look like they're having fun!" I made a comment about this to the friend I was watching with, and now want to immortalize what I said in story form. It's an AU of... sorts.
---
The sun had set, and while the sky - and by extension - the forest was still light, it was definitely darkening quickly and proceeding to night. Across the tree tops scampered two Pikachu, jumping from branch to branch like it was second nature to them. They crossed many trees in a short period of time, before climbing down at a specific tree - it looked the same as all the others; how they knew which one to descend was a mystery to the unobservant watcher - and, when they reached the ground, quickly ran to a large hollowed-out cavern in the ground that sat immediately next to the tree they had climbed down.
"Elder, sir," said one of the Pikachu, calling into the burrow. "Smalltail here. Ripped-Ear and I have completed our sky check. The predictions from this morning were right. The moon is indeed rising in the fifth position tonight."
"So it is," rumbled a deep voice from within the burrow. "Then, as is customary, we will sing the Song of Togetherness tonight, and the ritual will be tomorrow."
Both Smalltail and Ripped-Ear looked uneasy. "About that, sir. I don't know if it would be the best idea to hold the ritual tomorrow. Something of importance has happened in the clan today."
Movement stirred within the cavern, and both Smalltail and Ripped-Ear began to look terrified. All of a sudden, an electric charge bolted up out of the cave and stunned both of the Pikachu.
"What do you mean by this?" asked the Elder, disapproval in his voice.
When the two Pikachu had recovered enough to speak, Ripped-Ear spoke. "An outsider came into our midst today. A Trained Pikachu."
The Elder let out a grumble. "Yes, I so heard from Jagged Stripes. His presence changes nothing."
"W-well..." Ripped-Ear and Smalltail exchanged a glance. "He saved one of our young. He saved the daughter of Dark-fur."
"The daughter of Dark-fur," murmured the Elder. "She is the only one of the Unnamed not to have achieved Defense, correct?"
"... Yes, sir," said Smalltail, dipping his head in resignation and sadness. "Her electric powers are still too weak to accomplish a satisfactory Defense. Not to mention, she fell from the River Tree today. The entire village had to help save her."
"Fell from the River Tree!" The Elder's voice was full of disgust. "Feh - no wonder she hasn't achieved Defense, if she can't even keep control of herself when she is alone. Pikachu are supposed to be able to run on any tree and not fall. Why are you protesting to me about this?"
"I wouldn't otherwise, sir," said Smalltail, fiddling his front paws. "It's just about the fact that... that the outsider Pikachu saved her from the falls. Isn't there... doesn't there exist a protocol about the worth of having a life saved?"
The Elder was silent. Smalltail braced himself; the Elder's silence usually meant another shock was sure to follow. However, this time, the Elder did not. Instead, Smalltail heard some small noises - thoughtful noises - coming from the burrow, and from the Elder.
"You're right, Smalltail," responded the Elder, and Smalltail let out a sigh of relief. "There does. But do you remember what the Law of the Fifth Position of Gehosib says in the case of the next in line, after the saved life?"
Smalltail's heart stopped. "You don't mean -?"
"That's right," said the Elder, matter-of-factly, with no emotion in his voice. "Foreign Pikachu."
---
Ash-chu was having a perfectly happy time with the Pikachu of the forest. It was extremely refreshing to be with other Pokémon for a long time for once - and not even just Pokémon: other Pikachu. He loved Ash and Ash's Pokémon, and he loved the other humans that Ash traveled with and their Pokémon, but that kind of companionship just couldn't compare to what he got from these Pikachu. And so Ash-chu was going to do everything he could to stay with these Pikachu - at least until Ash decided to leave the forest. Because as much as he was pleased to have found other Pikachu, he's not enough of an idiot to abandon his best friend for a group of nudist strangers. But he could still hang out with them.
Currently, they were standing around in a clearing, surrounding a stump. Another Pikachu that Ash-chu barely recognized, a female with a torn ear, looked at him, and said, "Foreign Pikachu, as the savior of our youngest, you get the honor of standing on the stump tonight as we sing one of our customary songs."
There was a tension in the air after this that Ash-chu couldn't quite place, but he did as the other one instructed and climbed up on the stump. The baby Pikachu he had saved couldn't help following, so she climbed up after him and climbed up to the top of his head, where she sat and looked down at everyone else.
Ash-chu looked at the female for confirmation. The female looked surprised but merely shrugged. "That's fine," she told him. She turned to the rest of the Pikachu and announced, "The moon is at fifth position!"
There was collective gasping from the crowd. Ash-chu had no idea what this was about, and, clearly, neither did the baby Pikachu on his head, who muttered, "Huh?"
"I- I dunno," said Ash-chu, confused. "Um... I guess we'll see in a second?"
When the tittering of the Pikachu crowd had died down, the female continued, "I have spoken to the Elder and the ritual will be held tomorrow. But, as per the Seven Laws of Gehosib -"
"The fifth position of the moon is celebrated by the Song of Togetherness," commented another Pikachu from the crowd.
The female Pikachu with the torn ear nodded. "Correct," she said. "Let us all turn and face the moon!"
And so they did - and they began to sing a song. Ash-chu had never heard Pokémon sing like this before! The words were easy enough to understand, and soon Ash-chu found that he was singing along with them. It was fun! He was having fun singing like this with other Pikachu.
Though he did have to admit the lyrics sounded a bit... odd.
Great Gehosib
who shows herself to us as the moon
tonight is the fifth position.
Tonight is our last night together.
For tomorrow we will not all be together.
O Great Gehosib
grant us peace
and grant us continued use of our electricity
in exchange for the ritual of the fifth position
celebrating the fifth war you fought
and your sacrifice.
O Great Gehosib
we worship thee.
(It made more sense in Pikachu-language. It was also harder to tell what the actual lyrics were in Pikachu-language, because inflection, tempo, intonation, and attached prefixes and suffixes are all harder to hear in Pikachu music. Ash-chu isn't quite so dumb as to have missed the implications of this song while still hearing the lyrics perfectly.)
The Great Gehosib? wondered Ash-chu. "Who's Gehosib?" he wondered aloud. A Pikachu standing near the stump turned and whispered an answer.
"She is the moon!" said the other Pikachu. "Once, at the beginning of time, Gehosib was a Pikachu like you and me. At that time, the sun was out all day, and Pikachu couldn't live very well. We need a good sleep to recharge our electricity, and the sun made that impossible! Well, Gehosib wasn't going to stand for that. She jumped into the sky and rose up to the sun and fought it five times. Each time she jumped from a different angle - representing the five positions that the moon now rises in. At the end of the fifth time, she realized she wasn't going to be able to beat the sun on her own. So, she sacrificed herself to force the sun to go down every day, and she became the moon in order to make sure the sun was going to go down. It is thanks to her that Pikachu have the electric powers that they do!"
I don't think that's true, thought Ash-chu. I spent long enough in Professor Oak's lab to know that electricity and the moon are ... not related... But he didn't say anything.
"This is the Song of Togetherness, representing the last time Gehosib was a Pikachu like us before she jumped into the sky for the fifth and final time. Tomorrow we will have a Ritual of the Fifth Position. You are a foreign Pikachu, right? Will you come to the ritual tomorrow?"
"... Sure," thought Ash-chu. He could probably find some way to make sure Ash didn't leave the forest without him.
In the meantime, he finished singing the Song of Togetherness with the Pikachu clan. Though he couldn't help feeling a little unsettled by the song.
---
The following morning, Ash-chu's decision was made easier by the fact that Ash had let him go. Well... Ash-chu wasn't going to stand for that. He wasn't going to abandon Ash for a group of nudist strangers, so he fully planned to return to Ash after the ritual had finished. He just wanted to see this ritual first, though.
So when he returned to the Pikachu clan, he found them all standing in the clearing in the forest where they had sung the song last night. When he approached, two Pikachu - the female with the torn ear and another - nodded to each other, and then the second one announced: "Followers of Gehosib! Head to the riverbank by the falls."
The falls... where I saved the baby Pikachu yesterday? Ash-chu wondered. The idea of going back there wasn't the most appealing, but it didn't sound as if Ash-chu had a choice - if he wanted to see the ritual, at any rate. So, he went with them to the riverbank.
"Come forward," said the Pikachu that had announced earlier - a Pikachu with a tiny tail. Ash-chu looked around. Were they addressing him? "Yes, you, foreign Pikachu!" he snapped. Ash-chu did as he was told and stepped up to the riverbank beside him and the female with the torn ear. The tiny-tailed Pikachu turned to the others.
"Followers of Gehosib!" he announced. "Today is the day after the fifth position. Today, Gehosib fought her fifth war against the sun - her final war against the sun, that ended in her sacrificing her Pikachu body to ensure prosperity for all Pikachu, everywhere, in the form of the moon. We are here to perform the Ritual of the Fifth Position.
"We are here to present a sacrifice to Gehosib, to show that we have not forgotten the sacrifice she made for us! We are here to present a sacrifice to Gehosib, to ensure that she stays in the sky for us and keeps our electricity working!
"We are here to sacrifice the Foreign Pikachu!"
What?! But before Ash-chu could say or do anything, he was surrounded by five Pikachu who were holding him down. He let out a shock in defense, but the Pikachu holding him down were not at all affected. There was nothing he could do.
"Normally, the sacrifice is of a young Pikachu whose electric powers have not developed yet," said the tiny-tailed Pikachu. "It would have been Dark-fur's daughter if not for the fact that she was saved from these very falls yesterday. A Pikachu's life being saved is a sign from Gehosib that that Pikachu is never to be sacrificed.
"But in its stead, the savior must be sacrificed. And that is you, foreign Pikachu!"
Again before he could say anything, the five Pikachu holding Ash-chu down picked him up and threw him in the river.
It was dark and cold and wet and painful. He must have been going over the falls, because he was falling downward before being painfully stopped on a rock that probably injured him so badly he'd die even if he could get out. But he couldn't get out. The river was too fast and was pushing him under too much. Too... much... he couldn't... breathe...... anymore..................
On shore, Smalltail bowed his head. "Such is the decree of Gehosib," he commented, as the foreign Pikachu swept out of sight.
Anyway there's a part in the episode where, after saving the baby Pikachu, all the Pikachu stand in a clearing and sing a FUCKING CREEPY song while all staring at the moon. Misty comments "Aw, those Pikachu look like they're having fun!" I made a comment about this to the friend I was watching with, and now want to immortalize what I said in story form. It's an AU of... sorts.
---
The sun had set, and while the sky - and by extension - the forest was still light, it was definitely darkening quickly and proceeding to night. Across the tree tops scampered two Pikachu, jumping from branch to branch like it was second nature to them. They crossed many trees in a short period of time, before climbing down at a specific tree - it looked the same as all the others; how they knew which one to descend was a mystery to the unobservant watcher - and, when they reached the ground, quickly ran to a large hollowed-out cavern in the ground that sat immediately next to the tree they had climbed down.
"Elder, sir," said one of the Pikachu, calling into the burrow. "Smalltail here. Ripped-Ear and I have completed our sky check. The predictions from this morning were right. The moon is indeed rising in the fifth position tonight."
"So it is," rumbled a deep voice from within the burrow. "Then, as is customary, we will sing the Song of Togetherness tonight, and the ritual will be tomorrow."
Both Smalltail and Ripped-Ear looked uneasy. "About that, sir. I don't know if it would be the best idea to hold the ritual tomorrow. Something of importance has happened in the clan today."
Movement stirred within the cavern, and both Smalltail and Ripped-Ear began to look terrified. All of a sudden, an electric charge bolted up out of the cave and stunned both of the Pikachu.
"What do you mean by this?" asked the Elder, disapproval in his voice.
When the two Pikachu had recovered enough to speak, Ripped-Ear spoke. "An outsider came into our midst today. A Trained Pikachu."
The Elder let out a grumble. "Yes, I so heard from Jagged Stripes. His presence changes nothing."
"W-well..." Ripped-Ear and Smalltail exchanged a glance. "He saved one of our young. He saved the daughter of Dark-fur."
"The daughter of Dark-fur," murmured the Elder. "She is the only one of the Unnamed not to have achieved Defense, correct?"
"... Yes, sir," said Smalltail, dipping his head in resignation and sadness. "Her electric powers are still too weak to accomplish a satisfactory Defense. Not to mention, she fell from the River Tree today. The entire village had to help save her."
"Fell from the River Tree!" The Elder's voice was full of disgust. "Feh - no wonder she hasn't achieved Defense, if she can't even keep control of herself when she is alone. Pikachu are supposed to be able to run on any tree and not fall. Why are you protesting to me about this?"
"I wouldn't otherwise, sir," said Smalltail, fiddling his front paws. "It's just about the fact that... that the outsider Pikachu saved her from the falls. Isn't there... doesn't there exist a protocol about the worth of having a life saved?"
The Elder was silent. Smalltail braced himself; the Elder's silence usually meant another shock was sure to follow. However, this time, the Elder did not. Instead, Smalltail heard some small noises - thoughtful noises - coming from the burrow, and from the Elder.
"You're right, Smalltail," responded the Elder, and Smalltail let out a sigh of relief. "There does. But do you remember what the Law of the Fifth Position of Gehosib says in the case of the next in line, after the saved life?"
Smalltail's heart stopped. "You don't mean -?"
"That's right," said the Elder, matter-of-factly, with no emotion in his voice. "Foreign Pikachu."
---
Ash-chu was having a perfectly happy time with the Pikachu of the forest. It was extremely refreshing to be with other Pokémon for a long time for once - and not even just Pokémon: other Pikachu. He loved Ash and Ash's Pokémon, and he loved the other humans that Ash traveled with and their Pokémon, but that kind of companionship just couldn't compare to what he got from these Pikachu. And so Ash-chu was going to do everything he could to stay with these Pikachu - at least until Ash decided to leave the forest. Because as much as he was pleased to have found other Pikachu, he's not enough of an idiot to abandon his best friend for a group of nudist strangers. But he could still hang out with them.
Currently, they were standing around in a clearing, surrounding a stump. Another Pikachu that Ash-chu barely recognized, a female with a torn ear, looked at him, and said, "Foreign Pikachu, as the savior of our youngest, you get the honor of standing on the stump tonight as we sing one of our customary songs."
There was a tension in the air after this that Ash-chu couldn't quite place, but he did as the other one instructed and climbed up on the stump. The baby Pikachu he had saved couldn't help following, so she climbed up after him and climbed up to the top of his head, where she sat and looked down at everyone else.
Ash-chu looked at the female for confirmation. The female looked surprised but merely shrugged. "That's fine," she told him. She turned to the rest of the Pikachu and announced, "The moon is at fifth position!"
There was collective gasping from the crowd. Ash-chu had no idea what this was about, and, clearly, neither did the baby Pikachu on his head, who muttered, "Huh?"
"I- I dunno," said Ash-chu, confused. "Um... I guess we'll see in a second?"
When the tittering of the Pikachu crowd had died down, the female continued, "I have spoken to the Elder and the ritual will be held tomorrow. But, as per the Seven Laws of Gehosib -"
"The fifth position of the moon is celebrated by the Song of Togetherness," commented another Pikachu from the crowd.
The female Pikachu with the torn ear nodded. "Correct," she said. "Let us all turn and face the moon!"
And so they did - and they began to sing a song. Ash-chu had never heard Pokémon sing like this before! The words were easy enough to understand, and soon Ash-chu found that he was singing along with them. It was fun! He was having fun singing like this with other Pikachu.
Though he did have to admit the lyrics sounded a bit... odd.
Great Gehosib
who shows herself to us as the moon
tonight is the fifth position.
Tonight is our last night together.
For tomorrow we will not all be together.
O Great Gehosib
grant us peace
and grant us continued use of our electricity
in exchange for the ritual of the fifth position
celebrating the fifth war you fought
and your sacrifice.
O Great Gehosib
we worship thee.
(It made more sense in Pikachu-language. It was also harder to tell what the actual lyrics were in Pikachu-language, because inflection, tempo, intonation, and attached prefixes and suffixes are all harder to hear in Pikachu music. Ash-chu isn't quite so dumb as to have missed the implications of this song while still hearing the lyrics perfectly.)
The Great Gehosib? wondered Ash-chu. "Who's Gehosib?" he wondered aloud. A Pikachu standing near the stump turned and whispered an answer.
"She is the moon!" said the other Pikachu. "Once, at the beginning of time, Gehosib was a Pikachu like you and me. At that time, the sun was out all day, and Pikachu couldn't live very well. We need a good sleep to recharge our electricity, and the sun made that impossible! Well, Gehosib wasn't going to stand for that. She jumped into the sky and rose up to the sun and fought it five times. Each time she jumped from a different angle - representing the five positions that the moon now rises in. At the end of the fifth time, she realized she wasn't going to be able to beat the sun on her own. So, she sacrificed herself to force the sun to go down every day, and she became the moon in order to make sure the sun was going to go down. It is thanks to her that Pikachu have the electric powers that they do!"
I don't think that's true, thought Ash-chu. I spent long enough in Professor Oak's lab to know that electricity and the moon are ... not related... But he didn't say anything.
"This is the Song of Togetherness, representing the last time Gehosib was a Pikachu like us before she jumped into the sky for the fifth and final time. Tomorrow we will have a Ritual of the Fifth Position. You are a foreign Pikachu, right? Will you come to the ritual tomorrow?"
"... Sure," thought Ash-chu. He could probably find some way to make sure Ash didn't leave the forest without him.
In the meantime, he finished singing the Song of Togetherness with the Pikachu clan. Though he couldn't help feeling a little unsettled by the song.
---
The following morning, Ash-chu's decision was made easier by the fact that Ash had let him go. Well... Ash-chu wasn't going to stand for that. He wasn't going to abandon Ash for a group of nudist strangers, so he fully planned to return to Ash after the ritual had finished. He just wanted to see this ritual first, though.
So when he returned to the Pikachu clan, he found them all standing in the clearing in the forest where they had sung the song last night. When he approached, two Pikachu - the female with the torn ear and another - nodded to each other, and then the second one announced: "Followers of Gehosib! Head to the riverbank by the falls."
The falls... where I saved the baby Pikachu yesterday? Ash-chu wondered. The idea of going back there wasn't the most appealing, but it didn't sound as if Ash-chu had a choice - if he wanted to see the ritual, at any rate. So, he went with them to the riverbank.
"Come forward," said the Pikachu that had announced earlier - a Pikachu with a tiny tail. Ash-chu looked around. Were they addressing him? "Yes, you, foreign Pikachu!" he snapped. Ash-chu did as he was told and stepped up to the riverbank beside him and the female with the torn ear. The tiny-tailed Pikachu turned to the others.
"Followers of Gehosib!" he announced. "Today is the day after the fifth position. Today, Gehosib fought her fifth war against the sun - her final war against the sun, that ended in her sacrificing her Pikachu body to ensure prosperity for all Pikachu, everywhere, in the form of the moon. We are here to perform the Ritual of the Fifth Position.
"We are here to present a sacrifice to Gehosib, to show that we have not forgotten the sacrifice she made for us! We are here to present a sacrifice to Gehosib, to ensure that she stays in the sky for us and keeps our electricity working!
"We are here to sacrifice the Foreign Pikachu!"
What?! But before Ash-chu could say or do anything, he was surrounded by five Pikachu who were holding him down. He let out a shock in defense, but the Pikachu holding him down were not at all affected. There was nothing he could do.
"Normally, the sacrifice is of a young Pikachu whose electric powers have not developed yet," said the tiny-tailed Pikachu. "It would have been Dark-fur's daughter if not for the fact that she was saved from these very falls yesterday. A Pikachu's life being saved is a sign from Gehosib that that Pikachu is never to be sacrificed.
"But in its stead, the savior must be sacrificed. And that is you, foreign Pikachu!"
Again before he could say anything, the five Pikachu holding Ash-chu down picked him up and threw him in the river.
It was dark and cold and wet and painful. He must have been going over the falls, because he was falling downward before being painfully stopped on a rock that probably injured him so badly he'd die even if he could get out. But he couldn't get out. The river was too fast and was pushing him under too much. Too... much... he couldn't... breathe...... anymore..................
On shore, Smalltail bowed his head. "Such is the decree of Gehosib," he commented, as the foreign Pikachu swept out of sight.