Ash winces, taking a step back at the harsh tone and holding his hands up like he didn't mean any harm. Pikachu, on the other hand, takes that tone as a threat and hops down to stand protectively between Ash and Dustin, his beady little brown eyes narrowed and watching the other human very closely.
"Pikaaaa...." He growls in warning, his cheeks sparking ominously. Try to hurt and Ash and see what happens, seems to the message he's trying to send.
"Pikachu! Don't!" Ash intervenes quickly and thankfully, Pikachu stops and just looks up at Ash for direction. "Man, what's gotten into you lately?" He shakes his head.
"Pikachupi. (Lysandre)" Pikachu says bluntly. Ash seems to ignore it though as he just looks sheepish.
"S-sorry about that.. his electricity gets harder to control the more electrical build up he has. A few times, I've had to use rubber gloves just to hold onto him." He explains. "I shoulda warned ya just how powerful his thunderbolt could be."
Dustin doesn't move to action immediately at the warning - partly because his muscles are still pretty tense so he physically can't, but mostly because the threat is coming from Pikachu, who is the one that just put his ass on the floor in the first place. Instead he locks up, a flicker of fear passing through his eyes as the little alien stares him down. If that had been an accident, what would an actual, directed attack do to him? Dustin's still trying to process what kinds of parameters would result in his electrical bits getting fried without outright killing him, but he'd like to avoid figuring out first-hand if they can be adjusted to fatal levels.
Ash's intervention is, therefore, timely. Dustin releases a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and shakes his head, flinching at the soreness in his neck. "No shit," he grumbles, but his poor temper doesn't stop him from relenting a moment later, his gaze dipping to the ground at his side. "I...should have implemented more safety barriers. Gotten complacent working with alien electronics, apparently. Serves me right."
He pauses for just a moment in silent annoyance at himself.
"...What happened?" Dustin asks, glancing up to quirk an eyebrow at Pikachu. "With Lysandre, I mean."
Ash bends down and scoops Pikachu up, holding him tightly. If it's a little uncomfortable, Pikachu doesn't show it and just glances up at Ash, waiting to see if he'll actually answer or brush it off like he usually does. He knows his trainer hates to show weakness, especially because he's convinced others will think less of him if he does.
"Lysandre..." Ash starts but trails off. "I don't really know how to explain what he did without going into detail about a lotta stuff back home." He admits, a little sheepish but now there's a weight in his words that wasn't there before.
"But I guess, the easiest way to put is- he wanted to.. achieve world peace by recreating the world. Except, he actually just wanted to destroy it. In the Kalos region there's this Legendary Pokemon called Zygarde that's supposed to watch over and keep order in the region. Lysandre and Team Flare built a machine that let him take control of it and used it to destroy Lumiose City-it's mostly rebuilt now but a lot of people.." A lot of people didn't make it that day. Pikachu squirms so that he can climb up to Ash's shoulder and rubs his cheek reassuringly.
"He found out that I have this special ability that allows me to use my energy to give one of my Pokemon a power boost and he tried to use that too. Greninja and I were able to fight off the mind control waves but I think Pikachu's still upset that it happened."
"Pikapi.." Pikachu says sadly. He knows that Ash is also still upset about it, he just won't admit it.
"Anyways, sorry about what happened. We'll try to keep better control of it next time."
Dustin listens with narrowed interest, although he does end up using most of Ash's explanation to give himself time to physically recover. A few kneads of his hands so he can release the fried multimeter, a quick once-over to make sure he didn't skid or crack his head on the floor or something, then with a groan, Dustin hefts himself back to his feet.
There's...honestly a lot about that story that doesn't make a lot of sense to him. The names, mostly, though Dustin can infer a lot by context. A 'Pokemon' is the same sort of alien Pikachu is, that much he knows already. A 'Legendary' would be some kind of special subspecies, then - like an elder dragon in mythology. Greninja is probably another one. The fact that all of this mess involved some kind of special alien-boosting power and mind control technology would have absolutely been a sticking point for Dustin months ago, but it's a testament to how fucking bizarre things can get on this planet that, now, he just accepts what this ten-year-old is telling him at face value. Ash has superhuman abilities related to his connection with a specific species of alien? Sure, why not. Probably explains why he seems barely affected by Pikachu's electricity.
What takes him more off-guard, actually, is the apology. "What--no, don't," Dustin says, blinking rapidly. "I should have done more preliminary tests to determine Pikachu's output parameters before diving immediately into a demonstration. That's my fault for not doing basic fucking research."
He waves his hand in a dismissive circle near his face - a sort of agitated gesture, but from the way Dustin's face reddens, he's still mostly annoyed at himself.
"Besides," he continues in a huff, "The final product should be able to handle him at overload, with some room to spare. I'll use this to make sure it does."
"Yeah but.. I knew how strong his Thunderbolt attack is-I coulda given you a heads up. See, we're just kinda used to Team Rocket coming up with these whacky robots that can absorb electricity. Well, to a point. We over powered pretty much all of those, too." Ash admits, looking thoughtful.
"Pikachu? (Are you okay?)" Pikachu asks, watching Dustin carefully. He really over did it, he should have known not to go full power immediately. Now it looks like this Thunderbolt could have done some real damage.
"I guess I should go ahead and mention it Pikachu can produce at least a hundred thousand volts at a time."
Dustin just waves Ash's explanation off at this point. No use trying to assign blame anywhere (especially not when it's so much easier for Dustin to just blame himself and get on with his life), corroborating data points involving robots or otherwise. It's when Ash gives him a number that Dustin actually perks up - and looks properly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna die," he says first at Pikachu's fussing, before narrowing his attention in on Ash. "--Is that an estimate, or have you actually measured his output before?"
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2023-04-21 01:02 am (UTC)"Pikaaaa...." He growls in warning, his cheeks sparking ominously. Try to hurt and Ash and see what happens, seems to the message he's trying to send.
"Pikachu! Don't!" Ash intervenes quickly and thankfully, Pikachu stops and just looks up at Ash for direction. "Man, what's gotten into you lately?" He shakes his head.
"Pikachupi. (Lysandre)" Pikachu says bluntly. Ash seems to ignore it though as he just looks sheepish.
"S-sorry about that.. his electricity gets harder to control the more electrical build up he has. A few times, I've had to use rubber gloves just to hold onto him." He explains. "I shoulda warned ya just how powerful his thunderbolt could be."
no subject
Date: 2023-04-23 09:11 pm (UTC)Ash's intervention is, therefore, timely. Dustin releases a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and shakes his head, flinching at the soreness in his neck. "No shit," he grumbles, but his poor temper doesn't stop him from relenting a moment later, his gaze dipping to the ground at his side. "I...should have implemented more safety barriers. Gotten complacent working with alien electronics, apparently. Serves me right."
He pauses for just a moment in silent annoyance at himself.
"...What happened?" Dustin asks, glancing up to quirk an eyebrow at Pikachu. "With Lysandre, I mean."
no subject
Date: 2023-04-23 10:08 pm (UTC)"Lysandre..." Ash starts but trails off. "I don't really know how to explain what he did without going into detail about a lotta stuff back home." He admits, a little sheepish but now there's a weight in his words that wasn't there before.
"But I guess, the easiest way to put is- he wanted to.. achieve world peace by recreating the world. Except, he actually just wanted to destroy it. In the Kalos region there's this Legendary Pokemon called Zygarde that's supposed to watch over and keep order in the region. Lysandre and Team Flare built a machine that let him take control of it and used it to destroy Lumiose City-it's mostly rebuilt now but a lot of people.." A lot of people didn't make it that day. Pikachu squirms so that he can climb up to Ash's shoulder and rubs his cheek reassuringly.
"He found out that I have this special ability that allows me to use my energy to give one of my Pokemon a power boost and he tried to use that too. Greninja and I were able to fight off the mind control waves but I think Pikachu's still upset that it happened."
"Pikapi.." Pikachu says sadly. He knows that Ash is also still upset about it, he just won't admit it.
"Anyways, sorry about what happened. We'll try to keep better control of it next time."
no subject
Date: 2023-04-24 06:20 pm (UTC)There's...honestly a lot about that story that doesn't make a lot of sense to him. The names, mostly, though Dustin can infer a lot by context. A 'Pokemon' is the same sort of alien Pikachu is, that much he knows already. A 'Legendary' would be some kind of special subspecies, then - like an elder dragon in mythology. Greninja is probably another one. The fact that all of this mess involved some kind of special alien-boosting power and mind control technology would have absolutely been a sticking point for Dustin months ago, but it's a testament to how fucking bizarre things can get on this planet that, now, he just accepts what this ten-year-old is telling him at face value. Ash has superhuman abilities related to his connection with a specific species of alien? Sure, why not. Probably explains why he seems barely affected by Pikachu's electricity.
What takes him more off-guard, actually, is the apology. "What--no, don't," Dustin says, blinking rapidly. "I should have done more preliminary tests to determine Pikachu's output parameters before diving immediately into a demonstration. That's my fault for not doing basic fucking research."
He waves his hand in a dismissive circle near his face - a sort of agitated gesture, but from the way Dustin's face reddens, he's still mostly annoyed at himself.
"Besides," he continues in a huff, "The final product should be able to handle him at overload, with some room to spare. I'll use this to make sure it does."
no subject
Date: 2023-05-09 08:31 am (UTC)"Pikachu? (Are you okay?)" Pikachu asks, watching Dustin carefully. He really over did it, he should have known not to go full power immediately. Now it looks like this Thunderbolt could have done some real damage.
"I guess I should go ahead and mention it Pikachu can produce at least a hundred thousand volts at a time."
no subject
Date: 2023-05-15 07:04 pm (UTC)"Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna die," he says first at Pikachu's fussing, before narrowing his attention in on Ash. "--Is that an estimate, or have you actually measured his output before?"