Whoo! School's closed early, so I'm getting to work here. Anyone who liked the first two chapters
will like this one as well. Also, for those who want to, I'm turning to my faithful readers for some 
help. E-mail me your ideas for future chapters, one per day per reader, please. My email service only 
holds so much! Also remember this is a PG rated story, so think about that when you send me your ideas. 
You will be credited for the help, and hey, if it gets popular, maybe you can forget about me and 
write your own stories!(You wouldn't leave me, though. Right? Right? PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!) Sorry...got 
a little carried away...

Note: This story is set in a realitly where Ash doesn't exist, and you'll see why later.

Discliamer is in Chp.1. Must not waste valuable time! Please review when you're done reading!
			


			Chp. 3- A friend in a sea of rejection.

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	"So, what do Chu think of this one?"

	Come on, with all that food around, you think I'm not gonna open a few boxes to eat? I
let out Bulbasaur and Nidoran and fed them a few pieces, to see what they liked. Needless to say,
I helped myself to some, trying to see what I'd like for myself. While they worked on dinners, I
hit the desserts. Piece of advice for trainers; don't get your Poke'mon the Snickers food. They
taste horrible, are like rocks to chew, and are so large I almost choked on one. Imagine what 
will happen with your Poke'mon if they try it!

	I just opened a box Resses Cups food and was about to chow down when...

	SKKKKKKRRRRRRRREEEEEEE...BAM!

	Food, Hybrid and Poke'mon alike were tossed around as the truck came to a sudden halt.
I got buried under an onslaught of turkey dinner packages, and it took me some time to get out.
Bulbasaur and I were a bit bruised, and Nidoran was clutching at his buck teeth, probably sore, 
but there were no serious injuries.

	I recalled my Poke'mon and opened the back door, hopping down onto the dirt road. The
driver was out of the truck, yelling furiously at what he'd crashed into, not that it could 
yell back.

	"That guy really Raichu glasses..." I muttered, letting him go about his swearing at the 
tree. After getting deep into the trees a bit, I looked around for any sign of where I was.
I could see Mt. Moon in the direction we'd come, so I wasn't in Viridian Forest. Consulting my 
map, I determined we'd driven past Pewter City and now was about 50 miles outside of Cerulan 
City.

	"Raichu..." Looked like I had some walking ahead of me, and walk I did for about a week.
Not only was I unable to travel along any well known route for fear of being seen, but I also
had to travel at night to avoid being seen by trainers who looked deep in the woods for Poke'mon.
That wouldn't have been so bad, except for one thing. Watching them catch all the good Poke'mon
wasn't fun. Any wild Poke'mon fled upon seeing me, not that they could be blamed.
	
	It wasn't all bad, I guess. I did get to spend most of my time working one-on-one with my 
Poke'mon, and in the meantime, I practiced with my own powers. I was constantly trying to use 
electricity, in hopes of improving my voltage and range, and I started to learn how to use my
sensitive ears and nose to my advantage. It's great as a warning for coming people.

	Believe it or not, I also learned how to become human again. The fourth night on the 
road, I started getting homesick, and tried to remember what it was like being with family. When 
I pictured myself as a human my mind, I slowly turned back to human. I was going nuts with 
happiness...for about 5 minutes. After that, my Raichu features came back, and all the energy 
had just been sucked out of my body, leaving me exhausted and depressed. I tried being human 
again, but nothing happened. After I rested several hours, I could hold my human shape for a 
little longer, but again I slipped back to hybrid form, and again I was wiped out. It's not 
perfect, but it's better than nothing. At least I can go shopping and be around humans for short 
periods of time.

	Anyway, after a week of walking, I'd reached the outskirts of Cerulan City. Tired of 
camping out and being unable to eat anything decent in a few days, I shifted to human, bolted for
the nearest inn and quickly got a room. Looking back, it was a pretty dumb thing to do, 
especially with a new employee working the main desk. I'd improved the time in which I can stay 
human to a little under ten minutes, but thanks to the slow employee, my ears were at full length 
and my fur had half regrown by the time I got into the room.

	I pretty much lived in that room for a few days, though I did occasioanly leave to get a 
few things or spend some time training myself and my Poke'mon. I knew I couldn't be a good 
trainer and have good Poke'mon if I didn't battle a real trainer, and many times I pondered
getting into Cerulan Gym and battling Misty for a badge, but I could never summon up the courage
to take the risk. I suppose I could just give up training, but I waited years to do this, and I 
wasn't going to let a little problem like being rejected by a majority of the world's population
keep me from it.

	Finally, after five days of waiting, I managed to get enough courage to at least try to 
find an alternative way into the gym, to avoid having to race around tons of people in a small 
period of time just to get in. I left at night for maximum cover, and I took Bulbasaur and 
Nidoran with me, in case I got in trouble.

	Upon reaching the gym, I checked every window for a way in. They were all locked tight.
There was no way I was going in through the main doors, even on the tiny chance they might be
open. However, there was a ladder up the side of the building that led to the roof. Maybe I could
find a way up there.

	It was a little tricky trying to climb the ladder with my huge feet, but I made it up
without a problem. There was a door up there that probably led to the main area.

	"Finally..." I started to walk over, but never made it that far.

	Creeee...

	The vent covers I walked over looked old and rusty, and, much too late, I realized they
wouldn't hold my weight. The cover fell, and I fell with it.

	"Rai!" I spread my arms and legs against the walls to slow my fall. I still landed hard, 
but at least I survived. I crawled around in the vents for a while, but the clhorine was killing 
me and my super-sensitive nose. If I didn't get out of there soon, I'd probably choke to death.
Finally, I kicked off a nearby vent cover and crawled through.

	I don't know what suprised me more, the vast size of the pool, or the fact that someone
was actually there so late. Someone was up on the high dive board, ready to jump. Whoever was up
there, I couldn't tell, but it looked like they were wearing one of the fancy dresses that looked
like it was from a Goldeen, so I figured(and hoped) it was a girl. Again, it was hard to tell 
with the distance, but the dress looked different than most of it's kind. I was about to bolt for
the nearest exit when the person spotted me midway through their dive. 

	"What the...ah!" Now I was sure it was a girl, judging from the voice. She tried to halt
her dive, but failed and headed right for the water. I was sure she was about to land face first,
but she managed to get herself straightened out and land the nicest dive I've ever seen.

	 I rushed to the side of the water to see if she was O.K. It did cross my mind to run,
but I was raised in a house where I was taught not to ignore someone who might be in serious
trouble. Besides, after that, I figured I at least owed her an explianation to why I was there,
and to try and convince her not to call the cops on my furry hide. She seemed alright as she swam
to the side of the pool. That made me feel a little better. 

	"I'm Rai sorry about that," I apoligzed, giving a hand to help her out. I realized it was
Misty Waterflower, the gym leader. My chances on getting in her good graces were probably shot 
now. "Rai didn't mean to scare Chu."

	"It's alright," she assured me, taking my hand and climbing out. Odd...the gloves didn't
feel like any material I'd felt before. It was more like bare skin, but yet still different... 
"I just never expected to ever see someone else like me."

	"Someone else like Chu? What do...oh..." It took a few seconds to realize what she meant,
but when I did, it hit like a brick wall. It was Misty Waterflower, alright, but not the way you
know her best.

	Here's the best way to explain this; imagine, in your head, Misty in a regular Goldden
dress. Now, imagine the skirt portion so long it drags on the floor, and it occasionaly flicks up
at the edges by no visible action on her part. O.K., then keep the rest of the dress the same,
but remove the little jewel in the chest area. Where her body and arms are bare, imagine instead 
a fin-like material colored like a Goldden's fins, which stops at the neck. It's somewhat
transparent, unlike the skirt, which is opaque.(non-transparent) Now, add the rest of her,
making sure to give her green eyes and adding a three inch horn coming out of her head, and you
pretty much have what I saw.

	Whoa, I thought, trying my best not to gawk at her. She just laughed a little and threw 
back her hair, sending a stream of water back into the pool.

	"Sorry, but I'm intrested in dating at the moment."

	"Rai? Oh, no!" I turned a little red, but it was impossible to tell under the fur. " Rai
just thought I was the only Chu who was like...well, this." I grabbed a little piece of fur from my 
hand and pulled up to show her what I meant.

	"That's O.K." She motioned toward a side door. "We should talk in there."

	"Sure." I followed the Goldeen-girl gym leader to an office of some sort. There was a 
sofa, a desk loaded with all sorts of papers in neat stacks, and a giant refrigerator in one 
corner that could probably hold enough food for a meal that an entire small country couldn't eat
in one sitting.

	"I'm sure we have a lot of questions for each other," Misty said, taking a seat on the
sofa, "but do you mind if I ask what you were doing crawling around in the vents?"

	"Oh, that..." I explained to her my intentions, and what had happened on the roof. 
Unlike anyone else I spoke to, she seemed unbothered by my tendency to say "Raichu" or parts of
it. She nodded at the appropriate times, and at the end, understood I wasn't trying to steal or
damage anything.

	"Don't worry. I had the same problems when I started looking a little fishy..."

	"Breaking and entering your own gym?" I asked, ignoring the bad pun.

	"...no! I mean getting in and out without anyone seeing me. Didn't you find the hallow
wall in the back?" Seeing the puzzled look on my face, she explained. " There's a part of the 
wall back there that just wood instead of stone, like the rest of the gym. You can push on it,
and it'll open just like a door."

	"Oh..." I felt a little stupid, having wasted all that time looking for a window. " Rai
didn't think to look for Raichu."

	"No one ever does." She got up and went over to the refrigerator, digging something out
from it. "So, still new at this, I see?"

	"Yeah...but Raichu you..."

	"You're talking a little like you're a Poke'mon. I did that alot when it first happened to
me. It still happens sometimes, but not a Goldeen anymore." She giggled a little. "See what I 
mean?"

	"Rai. How'd Chu learn to control it?"

	"Practice, really." She held up a bottle of spring water. "You want some? It's all I 
got."

	"Thanks." She tossed it over and pulled one out for herself, then shut the door and
took a seat on the sofa again. 

	"So, how'd it happen to you...um..."

	"Dan." I sighed and shook my head. " The best Rai can tell, it was a rabid Growlithe
bite on Chu hand. A few hours later, this. What about Chu?"

	"Wow...it happened to someone else, too..."

	"What?! Chu mean you got bit too?"

	"No, not bit. Stung. A Beedrill got in here somehow and stung me in the arm. It was fine
later, but then I started changing."

	"A Beedrill? Then why did Chu turn into Rai Goldeen Hybrid?"
	
	She paused for a moment before responding. "That's what I don't get. If we both got hurt 
by Poke'mon, and then we changed, why did we change into a mix of human and a totally different 
Poke'mon?"

	"Raichu don't know. People get hurt Chu Poke'mon everyday, though. Why are these two
the only Rai changing..." a thought occured to me. "Wait...the Beedrill, did Rai look different
from a normal Beedrill?"

	"Different?" She thought back for a moment. "Goldeen...now that you mention it, it was
different. There was some weird pink stuff all over it's stingers...and when it hit me, some of
it got on my skin. I passed out, but when I came to, it was gone, and my sisters were away, so 
they couldn't have cleaned it off."

	O.K., this was too much alike! There was no way this was normal in any sense of the word.
I get attacked by a Growlithe, and turn into a Raichu Hybrid. Misty gets attacked by a Beedrill,
and turns into a Goldden Hybrid. What the...wait a minute...

	"I just thought of something else!"

	"What?" Misty asked.

	"Rai lived in Pallet. There aren't Chu wild Growlithe's anywhere near there. Beedrills
hate Raichu enviorment, so they don't hang out here. So now we Rai two Poke'mon attacks 
that turned people Raichu Hybrids, by two different Poke'mon that don't live in Raichu areas. On
top of that, we didn't even turn into Chu Hybrids of the Poke'mon we were hurt by."

	"You're right." Misty shivered with creepiness. "This is way too weird..."

	We sat in silence for a moment, nethier of us really sure what to make of all this. This
was some serious stuff we were dealing with here. Eventually, I just had to break the silence.

	"So, how long did Chu say Raichu a Hybrid?"

	"About two years. It was almost impossible to hide from my sisters and the public. 
Remember a long time ago, the papers all said I was traveling with some Ash Ketchum kid while he
went to get badges?" She shook her head. "That was a cover. I spent that time practicing my
abilites out in the ocean."

	I recalled reading that story a while ago. It shocked a lot of people that she would just
take off like that, but I guessed she just wanted to get away from all the work for a while. I
didn't know how close I was!

	"And when Chu came back, everyone was none Rai wiser." 

	She nodded. "Yes. A few months later, when I could stay human for a few hours, I came back
to work here. Since then, I've learned to time my apperances so I don't get caught like this."

	"Rai..." I took a sip from my water bottle, then continued. "Did Chu ever have any weird
things happen, like going on twenty-minute binges or turning into a Goldeen completly?"

	"I've never binged, but I did turn into a Goldeen more than a few times. It's weird,
though. When I do turn into a Goldeen, it was never intentional. It was always when I was 
about to be seen by someone or some other kind of emergency, like once, when I needed to surface
for air around a bunch of fishing boats." She shivered for a moment. "One of those guys got me
in his net when that happened. I was just lucky he tossed me back."

	"That could stink." I admitted. "Rai over-eating, though?"

	"No...but you should check that refrigerator." I went over to it and opened the door.
Every shelf, save one, was stocked full with bottled spring water. "I get thirsty a lot if I 
can't swim."

	"Rai see that." It occured to me how calmly we were talking about all this stuff. Odd,
really.

	"Hey, I have an idea. Do you have your Poke'mon with you?"

	"Yeah, why?"

	"Let's battle then. We'll use two Poke'mon each, and if you win, I'll give you the 
Cascade Badge."

	"O.K., but are Chu sure you're ready for Rai?"

	"No offense, Dan, but I've been doing this since I was born. I think I can handle you."

	We went out to the pool, and I helped set up the mats for my Poke'mon to stand on. When
they were all out, Misty swam over to one end of the pool.

	"You better not use any electricity, or you forfiet the match!" She informed me.

	"Rai, you don't trust me?" I asked innocently. I hopped out to a mat and thought about
my battle plan. It was pretty obvious, though, that I should take the type advantage with 
Bulbasaur.

	"Staryu, I choose you!"

	"Star!"

	"Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

	"Bulbasaur!"

	"Staryu, Swift Attack!" Tiny stars shot from Staryu's red gem toward Bulbasaur. 

	"Dodge it!" Bulbasaur leapt from mat to mat, but Staryu just changed its aim and followed
him. Misty and I both had to jump to avoid being hit ourselves!

	"Stun Spore!" Bulbasaur's bulb released a yellowish powder that floated toward Staryu.
I could see Staryu start to tense up as the spores took their paraylizing hold.

	"Dive underwater, Staryu!" It did as ordered, and reappeared a moment later, perfectly 
fine.

	"Raichu!" Powders and Spores weren't going to work if Staryu could just wash it off. I 
needed a new plan of attack.

	"Staryu, Spinning Tackle!"

	"Star!" It floated in the air like a propeller, moving fast toward Bulbasaur, too fast.
Bulbasaur was hit and knocked back, almost slipping into the water. That would've been a problem,
considering Bulbasaur wasn't built to swim.

	"Remember, you have to consider your battle ground as well as your Pokemon's types!" 
Misty advised. 

	"Really...Bulbasaur, knock it down with Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur recovered and sent his vines
forth, hitting Staryu and knocking it down to the mat. "Wrap it up!"

	"Bulba!" Bulbasaur quickly wrapped up the star Poke'mon. Misty seemed like she planned 
this, but that was O.K. I was ready too.

	"Staryu, spin and pull it toward you!" 

	"Bulbasaur, throw it!"

	Just as I planned, Bulbasaur threw Staryu just as it started to spin. The end result was
Staryu lodging itself into the far wall. It went stiff for a moment, then limp. It was out of 
this fight.

	"Staryu, return!" Misty recalled Staryu and pulled out a new ball. "Lucky move..."

	"Luck inde..." Something beeped, not loudly enough for a normal person to hear, but high
enough in pitch to catch my attention.

	"What is it?"

	"I heard something...it sounded like it was Raichu the roof."

	"I didn't hear anything."

	"You're ears aren't Rai good as mine." We waited a few more seconds, but there was 
nothing else. I was just about to think it was nothing important when...

	BOOM!

	The entire roof just exploded above our heads! I leapt back to the side of the pool, 
frantically trying to find a place to take shelter.

	"What's happe...ah!" A giant ball of some clear material plunged through the roof right 
over Misty's head. Just as it was about to slam down on her head, the bottom opened up, encasing
her in the sphere. 

	"Misty!" The sphere closed underneath her, trapping her inside. She beat on it with her
fist and yelled something, but nothing I could hear.

	"Bulba!" I turned in time to see Bulbasaur get buried under a pile of roof pieces. 

	"Bulba...ow!" A chunk of the roof hit me square on the head, knocking me out cold.

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	"Bul...ba...saur..."

	I moved a little and moved some of the derbis burying me. A little longer and I was free.

	"Bulbasaur?" *What happened?* The entire gym roof was just gone, now in pieces in the 
pool and ground. Misty was no where in sight, and Dan...Dan! I rushed to my fallen trainer, 
nudging him with my head. He was breathing, but he wasn't responding. I went to his belt and 
opened Nidoran's ball with my paw. He materialized a few seconds later.

	"Nido, Nidoran Ran Ran?" he asked, looking around at the damage. *What happened here?*

	"Bulbasaur Bulb, Bulba Saur! Saur Bulbasaur Saur Bulb!" *Don't worry about that! Look at
our trainer!*

	"Rai..." Dan moaned and started to move. 

	"Nido, Nidoran?" *Are you O.K.?*

	"Raichu...Rai, Raichu?" he said, sitting up. *I think so...what happened?*

	"Bulba?" *What?* He didn't remember? Must have been the hit to the head... "Bulbasaur, 
Bulba, Bulba. Saur Bulb?" *You were about to win yourself a badge. Don't you remember?*

	"Raichu? Raichu Chu. Chu Rai Rai!" *Win a badge? Don't be silly. Poke'mon can't win 
badges!"

	"Nidoran! Nido Nidoran Ran Nido!" *We know! You were about to win a badge!*

	"Raichu Rai. Rai Rai, Chu Raichu!" *You don't get it. Poke'mon can't win badges, especially 
not wild ones!*

	"Bulbasaur, Bulbasaur..." *What are you talking about...* A dreadful thought just dawned
on me. "Bulba...Bulbasaur Bulba Bulb?" *Wait...you think you're a wild Poke'mon?*

	"Chu, Raichu. Raichu!" * I don't just think it. I know it!*

	"Nido..." *Uh-oh...*

	"Bulba, Saur Bulb..." *Houston, we have a problem...*