Eternals

His desires as a meowth and as a Pokemon in general had since faded to nothing. If he felt them, they were easily overpowered by his human like instincts. If it wasn't already clear where his heart lay, then he was no ordinary Pokemon. If he had to choose, he would choose humans over Pokemon because he didn't feel like one anymore. He didn't hate his own kind, well not literally. He just didn't feel like one of them no matter how many times he was told he was. He would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and, careful to not wake Jessie and James, would sneak away to test his instincts. He would see what he felt like more. In his heart though, he always knew who he was. It was just hard to pursue.

His relationship with his partners, his best friends, and now his family, his brother and sister, at first was strained. They barely knew each other but that didn't stop them from showing him kindness every once and a while. Even if such kindness was most times hidden behind a good hit to the back of his head, he always knew they cared. Most other humans would treat him like the low lives of Pokemon and expect little of him, treat him badly. Not Jessie and James. If anything, they saw him as their equal, even going far enough to refuse to treat him like what he was even when it was necessary.

He had since lost count of the amount of times he got lost or hurt in the process of their journeys. How many times did he tell them to leave him, telling them he was useless? How many times did his heart break from a nightmare or two every night of them beating him to death? It hurt, more than he cared to admit. But they never turned their backs on him. They always stayed by his side. Always.

Even when he was betrayed by Giovanni and they stayed as Immortals, he knew they cared. That battle with Persian had been enough for him. He had known it was a fight to the death and no matter how much he struggled to not look in their direction, he always failed. He had seen fear, not for themselves but for him. And when Pikachu had gone far enough to protect him when he was surely dead, he could see their shock, their confusion on how the Pokemon they had been chasing for so many years could possibly protect the one he hated. It was also in that moment that he had truly fallen for Pikachu.

Their next encounters were in battle where he had learned to fight better. But he never fought them. In his battle crazed states, he would always stop in front of them and stare, emotionless eyes with a glint of genuine care. He saw it in them too but before he could react, his body was already pulling him away.

At some point, they had lost all trust in Giovanni and left to become Eternals. He had hidden his joy at first, as he was afraid. By that point, he had slipped into his unture self and his fear for everything was apparent. He was afraid that they would use his joy against him and plus, with his growing affections for Pikachu, he knew that any wrong move would surely shatter his relationship with them. But eventually they reconnected. And no matter how much he told himself it was wrong, he felt the safest with them, like he could do anything with them always by his side.

But even with them by his side, he couldn't help but have felt guilty. They only saw their partner, their friend. They didn't see the monster he was becoming. His unture self seemed to be taking him more and more over, making him slip to a low he had kept private for so long, fearing the consequences of his reckless actions.

But maybe they weren't reckless. He had done it in with the mindset that he was doing the right thing, but the guilty sense only grew the more and more he went through with it. Not even Pikachu, who had been becoming his closest friend, could detect his growing slip into someone he truly wasn't.

He remembered never questioning himself when it started, but questioning himself so much afterwards. He remembered hacking into the computer and altering his voice. He remembered sending messages seemingly over the Immortal borderline from Giovanni, his voice belonging to Giovanni. He revealed himself to them, showing them just how much he had changed and was still changing. He wanted them to understand. He wanted them to choose. Each word he spoke was like a stab to his own heart. He hated it, every last moment of it.

He expected them to turn their backs on him and return to the Immortals, leaving him alone and broken once more. But at least they chose that path. Then that guilt would be gone.

But they stayed, despite knowing what he had become. They stayed and chose to stay. It was a realization that made him believe that he was truly happy and safe with them. And he didn't want anything else.

As they went through so many other adventures, becoming closer and closer to each other, he had been changing more and more. He had become darker and more sensitive, slipping into more and more things that would normally be unheard of. And despite all of it, they stayed by his side. When he would fall, they would throw him back up. And as time went on, he had finally asked the ground-breaking question.

Did they love him?

He loved them, they were the only family he ever accepted. They were, in his eyes, his brother and sister by spirit, not by blood. He loved them more than he could ever express and their acceptance of him was the only thing that mattered.

So many nightmares that had haunted him up until this point of getting hurt and rejected, he wanted nothing more than for those nightmares to go away. And despite all of it, they still comforted him. Because they loved him.