Bullies, Schemes, and Pokemon Pheromones: A Sonia x OC story

Chapter 22

Electchu whimpered as it slowly woke up. It yawned, stretched its back, and shook its body before it opened its eyes. Electchu tilted its head as it saw a leaf blower lying two feet away. It looked around and was shocked to find it was inside a storage room with only a small window close to the ceiling that dimly lit it.

Electchu heard snoring and turned to see Timothy lying behind it, asleep. It ran around Timothy to shake him, facing him, but Timothy didn't wake up. Electchu shouted its name and licked Timothy's face, but he was still asleep. Finally, Electchu turned around with its back facing Timothy and slapped his face repeatedly with its tail. Timothy jerked back and held his hands up defensively as he came to.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay! Okay, I'm awake." Timothy said.

Electchu stopped slapping, allowing Timothy to sit up and rub his eyes. Timothy looked around, confused that he and Electchu were in a dark storage room. After several seconds, Timothy's eyes widened, and he looked to find his backpack and Rotom Phone gone. Timothy and Electchu then turned to a door at the end of the room with bars attached to the glass window.

"Oh, no," Timothy said.

Timothy sprung to his feet and raced through the door with Electchu following. He grabbed the handle, but the door was locked from the other side. Timothy then tried to ram the door open with his shoulder until his shoulder was bruised, then looked through the door's window to find the hallway was empty and the lights were out.

"Hello?! Can anybody hear me?! Hello?!" Timothy shouted, banging on the door.

"Pikachu!" Electchu shouted.

"Hello?! Someone, please answer me!" Timothy begged. "We need help over here! Let us out, please!"

But no one could hear Timothy and Electchu, and they knew it. Tears ran down Timothy's face as he continued to bang on the door. Finally, he screamed and kicked the door before backing up to the side of a metal shelf of gardening gear and sliding down to a sitting position.

For a moment, Timothy stayed still before he hugged his legs and buried his face. Electchu's ears hung low as it watched its partner cry. The mouse Pokemon wished it was faster and stronger than Bronzong's Hypnosis or could use Iron Tail to break the door open. Electchu moved closer to Timothy and licked his arm to get his attention. Timothy lifted his head and turned to Electchu while still hiding his legs.

"This is all my fault, Electchu," Timothy said. "I've been arrogant, weak-minded, inconsiderate, careless, and made a mess of everything. I didn't even save the Pokemon, and even though we're not moving, I still can't keep my promise to stay by Sonia's side no matter what happens. For all that we know, they're destroying the paddock right now. I failed Sonia. I've failed everyone."

"Pikachu," Electchu said sadly.

Timothy sighed and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"All I wanted was to make things better for our friends. To make a difference. And every time I try, I just keep making things worse," Timothy said. "I wish there was something I can do that would solve everything. A sign that something good came out of my efforts. At the very least, I want to know that our friends forgive us and we can make up."

Electchu whimpered and hung its head, feeling the same way. It laid down on its front next to Timothy to sulk next to him in despair. Timothy closed his eyes and rested his head against the shelf with new tears running down his face. He cried, accepting that he was better off staying trapped in a storage room where he couldn't make things worse for everyone he loved.

"Timothy!"

Timothy and Electchu lifted their heads in confusion. The voice was so faint they weren't sure they heard it. They turned their heads to the door and saw nothing through the window. After a few seconds, they thought they were hearing things until they heard two voices coming from the other side of the window.