11 Desperate

BZzZTt!

Electricity crackled from the pendant and coursed through his entire body.

He suddenly couldn't breathe, and his chest felt like it was being pounded on by a Machamp.

All the energy left his body, and his head felt like it was splitting apart.

Even though he prepared himself for this, he didn't think that it would be this bad.

The first thing he did when he saw the electricity was to get Pikachu off him. He quickly picked him up and tossed him to the side.

Powerful jolts of electricity paralyzed his muscles and he spasmed. He couldn't sit up for much longer as he fell with his back on the bed.

But as he fell, he saw at the corner of his eye, a pair of glowing purple eyes staring at him from the shadows.

He was wondering what that was, but pain was the only thing he could think of right now.

"Pi? Pika-pi?" Pikachu was alarmed. It was enjoying the last moments of its life and just watched the human acting crazy, when it was suddenly thrown aside.

When it turned to look at the human, it was suddenly filled with terror.

As an electric-type Pokémon, it could feel the enormous power of electricity flowing through the human, and it came from that small thing on his neck.

If it accidentally absorbed any more electricity, it would surely burst in a firework of lightning and blood.

"Pika..." I know I'm dying, but I want to die peacefully and intact, 'kay?

If the power within that thing goes haywire, not even their dust would remain.

It looks like the human will die before me. If not, we die together.

It wanted to crawl away, but it couldn't move.

Raiden was having the time of his life. No, more like halving the time of his life.

He could feel something being crazily sucked out from him by the pendant.

Judging from past experiences and knowledge, Raiden knew that what was being drawn out was his life force!

Life force was one of the things they learned much about in school, as this was used to capture Pokémon.

To summarize days of lecture, they shouldn't try to capture extremely strong Pokémon and exhaust their life force or else they may just end up being dried-up corpses!

Most Trainers had to wait a few days in between trying to catch a Pokémon, no matter if they succeeded or failed.

But as for Raiden, his life force was being greatly drained twice within a few hours.

If he survived this, he could proudly claim that his life force was akin to a cockro- ahem, to a Wimpod.

While his life force was being sucked out, electricity burned through his veins. He now knew that every vein in his body was being replaced!

Raiden could also feel something growing from within his chest. It was so painful, like someone was gouging out his heart with a spoon from inside out.

But what could he do? He couldn't even complain, as he brought all this to himself.

He could only do nothing but to bite the bullet and endure, as long as it takes.

Only a few minutes passed, but to Raiden it felt like a year.

Every second seemed to stretch out dozens of times and he could clearly feel the changes in his body. But he could also clearly feel the tremendous pain it brought with it, enough to make anyone go crazy.

And even after all this, it still wasn't over.

He underestimated how much life force was needed to rebuild his body. The body needs to be able to withstand electricity before he could control it.

He wanted to stop and give up, but it was already too late.

Raiden couldn't hold on for much longer and he was already at his limits. Regret washed over him from being too rash.

His life force was running dry, his chest and head hurt like hell, and his body was being electrocuted.

He knew that if he did nothing, he would surely die.

Raiden began to think. Never in his two lives had he tried to desperately think of a solution.

As he struggled to keep his eyes open, he saw something that could either save his life or end it just the same.

It was the Potion. It laid on the bed after it finished its job.

He used less than half of it on Pikachu and there was still a lot remaining.

He arranged the facts within his head.

Potions were used to disinfect wounds and boost a Pokémon's recovery rate.

But…

Could humans use it? Is it for consumption? Does it replenish life force?

There were too many uncertain variables. But in the face of death, Raiden could at least say he tried.

He felt numb in all parts of his body. He had already lost most control of his limbs and muscles.

Electricity was crawling like snakes on his arm that restrained him.

But despite all that, Raiden extended his hand that kept trembling and twitching.

He slowly moved his hand towards the Potion and… found out that he couldn't reach it!

It was only a few more centimeters away, but he could move his body anymore.

He tried to grasp at the sheets, but they were tightly fixed on the bed.

The hope that filled his mind suddenly turned into despair, as he watched his life slipping away from his fingers.

And then suddenly, a tail swept the Potion into his hands.

Pikachu had crawled over towards the Potion.

It was trembling in pain from moving, but it still tried its best to help.

"Pika-pika-pi." Heh, I'm going to heaven, but I don't want you to follow me. You're too weird.

"Thanks, bro." Raiden unconsciously smiled.

With a last burst of strength, he put the Potion into his mouth and crunched the cap with his teeth.

Bitter liquid flowed through his mouth as he swallowed.

Then, he felt his stomach burning!

'Ah… This really isn't for humans nor should it be drunk.' Raiden finally found out.

'At least I tried my best.'

Raiden then closed his eyes and finally let go.

"…"

"… …" Raiden could still hear the pitter-patter of the heavy rain and the rumbling of thunder.

'Eh? I'm still alive?' He could feel his stomach burning and his life force was still being sucked, so why was he was still alive?

Then he felt strong energy come from his stomach.

Ah. He finally understood.

The Potion boosted his metabolism to an unprecedented degree. After all, he drank half a bottle of it.

Metabolism in the simplest term was the process of breaking down food to turn into energy.

It was a good thing that he stuffed himself full of Tepig meat.

Now, he just prayed that he didn't drink too much Potion, else it just might melt his stomach.

A few more minutes later, the pain and the numbness that was plaguing him for minutes that felt like forever, was slowly subsiding.

The pendant that was glowing vibrantly in his Thunder Vision had now dimmed significantly.

As soon as he could move, Raiden dove towards his storage box of food.

He could still feel the burning sensation in his stomach and quickly stuffed himself full again, lest he became a donut without a stomach.

When he felt the effects of the Potion fade away, he could finally relax.

"I SURVIVED!!" Raiden shouted at the top of his lungs, drowning out even the roar of thunder.

"Let's see this damn thing that I almost gave my life for."

Staring at the faint illusory lines of electricity crawling through the walls and the ground, he stretched out his hand and imagined them gathering at his fingertips.

Sparks condensed and formed into a ball of electricity in the middle of his palm. As Raiden kept charging, it was slowly growing bigger by the second.

A big smile crept up his face. Raiden was in awe of himself.

Was it worth all the suffering? It was.

After it grew to a sufficient size, Raiden threw it towards the wall.

Bzzzt!

It left a burn mark on the piece of wood. It was weak but Raiden was still extremely excited.

I have superpowers, boy!

"HAHAHA! I can use electric attacks! How was that, Pikachu?" When Raiden turned to look at Pikachu, he panicked.

Pikachu was breathing heavily and was growing even hotter.

He didn't have any more time to waste.

Raiden sat beside Pikachu and tried to take away some of its electricity.

He tried to imagine putting a straw into a glass of water and sucked it out.

He succeeded! He watched on as electricity trickled out of Pikachu and onto his hands.

But… it was too slow!

Pikachu had an enormous amount of electricity stuck in its body.

The amount of electricity Raiden could take at a time was too little.

He felt that this power would grow stronger if he had more time to practice, but time was not on his side.

It was like trying to siphon a bucket of water with a plastic straw. No matter how hard he drew, it was still trivial.

Raiden couldn't save Pikachu like this. He had to think of another way.

Then he suddenly had a thought.

He could control electricity, so he tried to think of himself as the electricity.

When something was blocking your way… What should you do?

Turn around? Too soft.

Of course, I would break it down! It was overbearing, but that was what electricity is supposed to be.

Wild and overbearing.

Raiden had now found the answer.

Reaching out to carry Pikachu in his arms, he didn't take any electricity out, but tried to control it directly from within him.

He controlled it to spin, faster and faster.

He was trying to create a drill out of electricity to pierce through the clot.

"PII!! PIIKKAA!! PIIII!!!" Pikachu was woken up by the excruciating pain. It screamed as if it was the last thing it should do. It started squirming, but Raiden held him tightly.

Raiden didn't stop. This may be the last and only chance Pikachu had to live.

"Endure it, Pikachu!" Raiden could only spin it faster. The earlier it was done, the lesser the pain Pikachu would have to endure.

Pii! KaA! Pii.."

Pikachu was now crying tears of blood. Its shouts were getting hoarse as it tried to struggle desperately out of Raiden's hold.

It was looking at Raiden with eyes filled with pain, as if begging to just let him die.

Raiden couldn't take it and just closed his eyes. He concentrated with all his mind as he controlled the electricity to continuously drill through the clot.

But it was tough. How could a clot that had withstood an enormous amount of electricity, break just like that?

'Faster, spin even faster.' Raiden gave it his all.

"Piii… pii..ka.. pi..."

Pikachu was slowly losing his strength, but it still twitched and trembled in pain.

Raiden felt his heart ache. He never thought that trying to save Pikachu would make it wish it was dead.

When Raiden thought Pikachu couldn't take it anymore, he felt the clot slowly crumble.

He then gathered all the fast spinning electricity for a final push.

"GO!!" Raiden exerted with all his might.

Crack!

Something popped within Pikachu, and the overflowing electricity trapped in its body burst out of its cheeks, all at once!

Raiden, who was holding onto Pikachu, was struck directly by the overwhelming electricity.

In that second, he subconsciously acted.

BOOM!

The entire cabin exploded.