Work Text:
Sausage notes: An odd request by Nerdoodlen, but here you go!
With a heavy heart, Pikachu eyed up the stony stairs in front of him. He took a deep shuddering breath.
He had to do this. This was for the good of everyone.
Yes. The good of everyone...
He took a step forward. Each of his leg muscles felt like they weighed like lead, but he willed them to move.
Before long, he was at the first step. He put his foot onto it.
Okay. So far, so good...
He placed his other foot onto the next step up. Then he moved his previous foot onto the next step.
He took a third step. Then a fourth one. And then a fifth.
Though his walking eased with each slow, deliberate movement up the stairs, the cloud of darkness coating his heart never did. It hung over him, like the scent of death and despair.
His eyes watered and he collapsed to his knees. He tried to get up and move once more... but he couldn't. There he stayed, on... well, he wasn't even sure what step he was on, anymore. What did it matter?
He couldn't do this. It was impossible.
A sob escaped his throat, sending a jolt through his body. The tears streamed down his face steadily as he glanced to the sides.
Everyone was watching from the ground level, all crowded around like it was a stadium. Except... he didn't feel like a star. No, a more apt description would be that he felt like a demon.
Another sob left his lips. He couldn't do it. It was impossible. How could he do this!? He... he couldn't!
It was wrong. Immoral.
The step below him was coated in salty water that only continued to flow from his eyes.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it.
A paw came to rest on his shoulder. "Pikachu... I believe in you," a familiar voice said.
Pikachu's head shakily turned to meet her. Through his blurry vision, he saw her brown face. It was impossible to make out her expression, but her voice had a warmth to it that he recognized all too well.
"It's okay. I'll be behind you all the way," she said.
"... B... Buneary..." Pikachu murmured. He took another breath and wiped his eyes dry. "You're right. I've got this. I can do it."
Her warm smile turned into a beaming one. "That's the spirit! You've got this!"
With a little assistance, he got back up to his feet. With even more assistance, he found the strength to continue up the stairs.
He could hear his heart hammering in his chest, which reverberated all throughout his body. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. And yet... he felt like he could go on, now. He could do this...
He could do this thanks to her.
In less than a minute, Pikachu was at the top of the stairs of the pyramid structure, and he could sense Buneary's presence behind him. His heart lurched in his chest at the sight of the penguin strapped to the altar.
It was a disheveled prinplup. His feathers no longer the once pristine shade of blue they were known for. Instead, they were more akin to what one could expect from a dusty, cobweb-filled attic. The colors of rot and decay.
Pikachu had to stifle another sob as he slowly strolled over to the penguin. He froze in his footsteps as the prinplup turned to him, his eyes glazed over.
"... Is it... time?" he choked out, his voice barely above a whisper.
"... Y... Yes," Pikachu replied, his words practically having to force themselves off his tongue.
The prinplup closed his eyes. "I... see."
Pikachu nearly lost his nerve again. A paw came to rest on each of his shoulders, earning a yelp and a start from him.
"I believe in you..." Buneary repeated, her own voice shaky.
"... Thank you," Pikachu replied. Another shaky breath. "Thank you so much...!"
He took the final steps towards the prinplup. He took one last breath before holding his paw high, powering it with electricity.
A second passed. Two seconds. Ten seconds. Half a minute.
... His paw wouldn't come down. He'd come this far, and his paw wouldn't come down.
He was pathetic. He needed to do this! Why couldn't he do it!?
The sounds of the wind and the soft crackling of surging electricity were the only things to fill the air, and yet paled in comparison to the drums in his ears, caused by his thundering heart.
He felt the harsh rays of the sun lightly toast his paw as it stayed held high. Sweat trickled down it, running along his arm to try and match the pace of the sweat dribbling down his forehead. It tickled, but did little to distract him from the sheer horror that was freezing him in place.
He couldn't do it... He couldn't do it...
"It's... a good day," the prinplup murmured, bringing the mouse out of his thoughts. "It's a good... day to..."
The harsh, sickening sound of something hard colliding with skull rang out, echoing across the pyramid down to the spectators below.
Pikachu stared, choked sounds leaving his throat as he stared in utter shock. Down in front of him was a brown paw covered in ice, which in turn was covered in blood and viscera. It was in place of the prinplup's head, which had since detached from his head to lie on the rocky floor by Pikachu's feet.
The electrical energy surrounding his fist died down. "It's... I-It's..."
"It's over, Pikachu," Buneary's wavering voice finished for him. A sniffle escaped her, followed by her wails. "It's over!"
Pikachu's face scrunched up as he tried to stop the tears from flowing. Though from relief or despair? He did not know...
... He failed. His tears poured down his face as he turned to embrace her. He made no attempt to stop them this time.
"You d-d-didn't-!" he stammered, barely able to form a coherent sentence. "You didn't have to...!"
"I c-couldn't w-watch you s-suffer anymore, honey!" Buneary replied.
Pikachu embraced her even harder. Their tears soaked each other's fur, staining it with emotion.
After a minute, Pikachu slowly pulled away and reached down. He opted not to look at the lifeless features of the penguin that had been alive only minutes before as he held it aloft for the crowd to see.
"B-B-B-Behold!" Pikachu called aloud, managing despite the overflowing sorrow that came from him. "The head... o-of a prinplup!"
The crowd erupted into applause. The loudest Pikachu had ever heard up until that point.
Swallowing down the rest of his feelings, he turned towards Buneary.
Through her own tears, she still managed to smile, despite it all.
Albeit weak, Pikachu managed a smile of his own.
Somehow... they'd made it.
They'd made their sacrifice to Lord Len of Lagoland.
They would live... another day.
Pikachu awoke with a start. "Oh, lord!" he shouted.
At the exact same time, Buneary awoke with a start to his side. "Oh, lord!" she squealed.
They paused. They stared at each other, blinking.
"... Huh?" they both murmured groggily.
Pikachu took that moment to look around. The early sun rays of dawn seemed to be peeking through the canopy of leaves above them, and he was in his sleeping bag, which he'd shared with Buneary after she'd pleaded enough. Not that he'd minded...!
Nearby were the burnt out embers of the campfire Brock had started before they'd slept. The humans and the other pokémon were lying around the campfire, sleeping.
Pikachu's tense shoulders relaxed. Oh, right... the group had been having fun into the night, swapping stories and eating marshmallows, and eventually sleeping. What a dream, though...
"Heehee, um... I guess you had a bad dream, too, huh?" Buneary asked from beside him, yawning as she finished.
"Yeah..." Pikachu admitted, rubbing the back of his head as his face went warm with a blush. "For some reason... I was being forced to walk up some huuuge altar to punch a prinplup to death." He made a punching gesture of emphasis. "Dunno what that was all about! Haha!"
Buneary's entire body visibly went stiff, her rolled up ear extending in shock. Her paws flew up to her mouth as her eyes widened.
"... What?" Pikachu asked.
"Was... I there?" she asked quietly.
Pikachu laughed again. He figured she'd ask that. "Yeah, you were, actually!"
"And... did I... do the punching? When you couldn't?"
... Now it was Pikachu's turn to stiffen in shock. "What? How did you...?"
"I think... we had the same dream...!" Buneary squeaked.
Pikachu's eyes widened even more to match hers. "... Gnarly."
"What does this mean, my honey?" she asked worriedly, using the nickname she liked to use for him. Just like in the dream...
Pikachu chuckled sheepishly, patting her on the shoulder. He noted that the contact made her face redden. "Well... thanks for doing what I couldn't, I guess! Eheh..."
"You're... welcome~?" she replied, half-happily and half-unsurely.
Pikachu winked. "Anyway, don't worry! I'm sure it doesn't mean anything! Just a cosmic dream link... thing!"
One of the sleeping bags nearby shuffled as someone seemed to wake up. At first they thought it was Piplup, but instead, a prinplup rose, stretching and yawning as he did. He looked at himself as his deeper voice seemed to surprise him.
"Wow, cool! I evolved!" he chimed. "Happy day~! I've been wanting this, lately, ever since I watched Bad Hicks Of The Rainforest!"
Pikachu and Buneary stared. The mouse felt an icy chill run down his spine, and he could sense that she could feel the same thing.
'Piplup' turned to see them and waved happily. "Oh! Hey, guys! Look, I'm a prinplup, now! Glad I got rid of that everstone!"
Pikachu gripped Buneary's paw for dear life as he exchanged a shaky gaze with her.
"... Are we running?" she asked.
"We're running!" he shouted.
Still holding her paw, he ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction from the penguin with her in tow. They yowled in fright the whole time.
No! No more penguin punching!
Never again!
THE END!
Finished: 01/06 (June)/2024 (But being published right now for some reason lmao)
Word count: 1,693
Sausage Notes: I mean, what did you expect, exactly? I don't even dislike Prinplup, the poor sausage. XD
On that note, this was originally written for a challenge forwarded by NerdoodLen, an excellent artist who owns the Lagoland Discord server! (Search for it on Disboard!)
The challenge was to write a short story - any sort of story - about a prinplup getting punched. Naturally in reference to PokeMaster64's story, Bandits Of The Forest, featuring everyone's favourite, Prince Darby.
Naturally, nobody except for ravengal and I bothered with the challenge, but hey ho. XD I hope you enjoyed yourself, anyway!
Fun mistakes of the day:
Pikachu awoke with a start. "Oh, lord!" she shouted.
(Whoops, someone cut his peepee off in the middle of the night O,o I like how this entire sentence was bolded too, after I uploaded this thing.)
Well, that's that! Thanks for reading! :D Make sure you drop a small comment, and 'till next time, tata for now! c: