Jack's Jumpchain Journal: Pocket Monster Dimension

Entry 12: Reckless Bravery

12:45 PM

We were lucky. I wasn't sure if we would have been able to take on Team Rocket if they were going all out, and used all of their Pokémon at the same time. I mean, Pikachu definitely could have, but he wasn't at full strength at the time, and the rest of our Pokémon were at the highest, maybe level seven.

Once we all reached the lab and explained the situation to Rowan, he agreed to take care of Pikachu and tend to his injuries until Ash arrived. That being said, Ash also hadn't appeared yet, which didn't help reduce my stress.

In the anime, Dawn found Pikachu and took her to a Pokémon Centre north of Sandgem Town at the same time Ash met Rowan, so they ended up meeting halfway.

That was clearly not the case here.

I was sitting down clutching Elaine in an embrace in an attempt to calm down, and Elaine being able to sense the emotions of others, was of course concerned. She was rubbing my face which tickled a bit, due to her hands being so small.

"What are we going to do, Jack?" Lucas suddenly asked.

I looked up to see him sitting next to me, similarly consulting his Turtwig for comfort. "What do you mean?"

"Well... how do you even know that this Ash person is going to be here? There's no sign of him."

"The same reason I thought we should have taken Piplup here when Dawn found him. A Pokémon professor is the first person you ask about local Pokémon and anything odd relating to that. Since, you know, their work is about researching Pokémon."

"I guess that makes sense." Lucas stroked his hand along Turtwig's shell. "But how do you know that this Pikachu belongs to this Ash person?"

Because that's what happened in the anime. "It was an educated guess. I saw the cuts and bruises that he had, and I thought that he must be a really strong Pokémon to take that kind of a beating. Ash Ketchum is the only Trainer with a really strong Pikachu that I could think of."

Luckily, when I wasn't too stressed, I was able to think of plausible reasons as to why I have the knowledge I really shouldn't fairly quickly. The Savant perk on the sheet the elven man gave me an enhanced mind, though a faster brain is something I'd have to get used to in order to properly use.

The Pikachu in question had their nose pressed against a window, waiting impatiently for his Trainer. After a while, he would jump off of the windowsill and then move to a different window. His energetic demeanor no doubt regained from the Professor's aides tending to his wounds earlier.

"Are you okay, Lucas?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I think so."

"You think so?"

"Well, that was the first time I ever met a criminal. I didn't know what was going to happen."

"Hey, I might be a bundle of anxiety sometimes, but I promised your mother that I would do my best to take care of the two of you, and I'm going to do my best to keep my word."

"Thank you, Jack."

"Thank you as well."

"Um, why are you thanking me?"

"Cause you helped me de-stress a bit."

"Oh, well... Glad I could help."

Then without warning, we heard a yell from one of the windows.