Disclaimer: I don’t own Pokemon!

Note: I want feedback! Enjoy!

Pikachu lay awake beside his master under the stars. He thought of all the wonderful adventures they had shared: defeating gym leader after gym leader, spoiling Team Rockets fiendish plots, and meeting new friends along the way. It made staying with Ash Ketchum worth while.

"But I’m getting tired and the turn of the century is coming to fast for my liking," the pokemon thought. Pikachu looked over at his trainer, who was fast asleep, and studied his features by moonlight. Untamable and thick dark hair was kept under an old and beaten red and white baseball cap. Ash’s boyish looks had utterly vanished at age eighteen, leaving a handsome young man to behold. (At least that’s what Misty keeps saying in her sleep)

Pikachu chuckled softly. Those two would indeed make an interesting pair. The small creature sighed sadly, as a Master pokemon he would not see the two human beings’ future, he would have to leave soon.

"Oh Ash, forgive me, at least I was able to help you get the title you worked so hard to get, but the Ancients are calling to me and their summoning shall not be denied!"

" Ash, does Pikachu seem alright to you?" Misty asked.

The eighteen-year-old Pokemon Master observed his tiny electric mouse with soft chocolate brown eyes.

" He looks a little tired, but other than that Pikachu looks fine to me, Ash said. Why? You know something I don’t?"

" No, it’s just that he seems so distracted," Misty murmured.

Ash let Misty’s words sink in. Pikachu’s battling had seen better days, his eating habits used to equal his masters, and as of lately the little pokemon had been silent.

" Maybe we should visit a pokemon center before we head back to Pallet for New Years," Misty suggested.

Ash nodded in agreement as he continued to watch Pikachu stare off into the distance as if the pokemon were waiting for someone or something. Misty watched both of them concern lining her face.

" Change is coming, she thought, I can feel it."

After a two-hour examination Nurse Joy came to talk with Ash. His hopeful eyes were almost too much for her to bare.

"Do you know what’s bothering Pikachu? I thought it might be mild exhaustion but he’s stopped talking to my other pokemon and me, he won’t even talk to the wild pokemon. Then his appetite started to dwindle to nothing and he started to get cold symptoms." Ash was cut off by Misty’s hand now covering his mouth. She gave Nurse Joy an apologetic look and nodded toward her to speak.

" I must say your pikachu’s condition is very unusual and even more rare. His body has built up an immense amount of electricity, symptoms of a cold like you said. Though I don’t understand why your pikachu is isolating himself, under normal circumstances pokemon are very sociable creatures especially when under large amounts of stress. The fact that his eating habits are poor and his communication has abruptly come to a halt concerns me. It might be a cold, it might not," Nurse Joy finished.

Ash ran his fingers through his thick mane of black hair, he was hoping Pikachu’s odd behavior wouldn’t be so severe.

" If it’s not a cold, what is it, and can anything be done?" Ash asked.

Nurse Joy sighed and looked the unusually young Pokemon Master in the eye. "Mr. Ketchum, I am not going to lie to you, if your Pikachu doesn’t have a cold he has a highly disastrous psychological disease that we call ‘Pikachu Plague’."

" So when will we know if it’s something serious?" Ash asked.

" If Pikachu doesn’t improve within a couple days, you’ll know," she said quietly.

Pikachu’s health declined at a steady pace. His eyes became glassy and his body shook in spasms. Nurse Joy was at a loss. She had seen cases like this before and all but two died in torture. One of the Pikachu had survived by evolution by the Thunderstone. The other had disappeared into the night along with the trainer, both were never seen again, dead or alive. The pikachu who had died were fighting something all the way. One theory was that the pokemon were trying to defy natural evolution, another was that their electric sacs in their cheeks had burst and because of that, the electricity destroyed them from the inside out, and the last was that the pokemon had gone insane.

"What am I going to tell Ash? He’ll be heart broken." Nurse Joy stared at the ill pokemon as it twitched and moaned.

"His only hope would be to find Lactea, but she had disappeared 5 years ago with her sick pickachu and no one really knows if it survived or if Lactea herself is alive."

Nurse Joy’s thoughts were interrupted by an inhuman screech. Instruments went crazy. Then all was quiet.

"Chansey! Prepare the ER for a pikachu! Stat!"