Author's note: Hi there!

Well, since this site's drastically low on LS, I thought about making a one-shot collection dedicated solely to Pikachu and Buneary. :P Is this a good idea, do you think?

Ketchup Capers

It had been a long hard day for Ash, Dawn, Brock and Pikachu; there had been non-stop excitement since the moment they'd woken up. First, Dawn had screamed about her hair being a mess and the fact that she couldn't find her gel... then they'd been attacked by Team Rocket, again trying to steal Pikachu... then they'd had to break up a huge fight between a Dragonite, a Rhyperior and a Hariyama over territory... then Ash had been challenged by at least ten different trainers... then Team Rocket had come back and tried to steal the Pokemon of one of the challengers... then they'd been chased by a very angry Hippowdon when Ash had played with its Hippopotas cub. They were all exhausted and completely starving by the time they reached the Pokemon Centre.

"Nurse Joy!" Brock cried out, grabbing the nurse's hands across the counter. "Oh, such pleasure it grants me to see your beautiful-" His stomach growled very loudly. He hung his head and let go of her hands, apparently giving up. "Never mind."

"Oh, dear..." Nurse Joy replied, "you sound like you haven't eaten all day."

"Actually, we haven't," Dawn replied, embarrassed. "A lot of things have been keeping us busy."

"Oh, dear... Well then, how about I get Chansey to feed your Pokemon while I make you something to eat?"

"That sounds great, Nurse Joy!" Ash replied happily.

"Chansey! We have some Pokemon that need feeding!"

"(Coming!)" Chansey replied as she plodded into the room.

As soon as Nurse Joy pulled out three Pokeball holders and placed them on the counter, all three humans began taking out their Pokeballs and placing them in the slots. Pikachu was just about to jump off Ash's shoulder and join them when his nose picked up the most delicious of aromas.

"(What the-?)" he asked, sniffing harder. This was a very familiar smell... one that he hadn't smelled in a long time. "(Is that-?)"

"What's wrong, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

Pikachu glanced around the Pokemon Centre until his eyes landed on a bottle off ketchup that a teenaged boy was squirting onto his fries. His eyes widened in delight at the beautiful and heavenly plastic bottle.

"(Ketchup!)" he cried out, jumping off Ash's shoulder and running towards it.

"Pikachu!"

Pikachu stopped by the boy's feet, completely and utterly transfixed by the bottle. Sweet, beautiful ketchup; he'd not eaten that stuff in so long.

Ash's shadow suddenly loomed over him. "Oh, I get it. You want some ketchup, right, buddy?"

Pikachu nodded. "(Yes!)"

"Alright then... you can stay out here and share my meal... then you can have all the ketchup you want."

Happy beyond belief, Pikachu ran over and hugged Ash's ankle. "(Thank you, Ash!)"

Suddenly, the sound of a Pokeball opening filled the air. "(Hello!)" Buneary called out.

Pikachu glanced over to her, still clinging to Ash's ankle. "(Huh? Buneary?)"

"What's wrong, Buneary?" Dawn asked.

"(If Pikachu's staying out here, then I am too!)" Buneary replied, hopping off the table and towards Pikachu. Once she reached him, she tackled him and snuggled into his fur.

At the contact, Pikachu's breath caught in his throat and his heart rate doubled. Why was she always so forward? It always made him feel so awkward... and, yet, he couldn't help but feel flattered at the same time. She really liked him, but he never had any idea how to deal with it, since it had never happened before.

Dawn clapped her hands together. "Oh, I see! You wanna stay with Pikachu, right?"

"(Yep!)"

Brock chuckled. "Well, why not?" he asked. "It can't do any harm."

Some time later, after Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu and Buneary had all filled their bellies full of delicious food, Pikachu had taken to snacking on ketchup... straight from the bottle, just like old times. Fortunately, Nurse Joy had let him keep the bottle, so he didn't have to worry about giving any future customers his germs.

Buneary was sitting nearby, watching him lick away at the delicious condiment with adoration in her eyes. Although this was slightly unnerving, he didn't mind so much; he did enjoy her company, after all. It was only that she could be a bit too much of a fangirl sometimes.

He thought back to the time when Ash and Brock had been travelling with Misty... and he'd been licking ketchup from the opening of a glass bottle. Ah, that glass bottle; his only regret was not eating all the ketchup inside it before it had been broken by that Scyther.

Buneary fidgeted. "(Um, Pikachu?)" she asked.

He looked at her, still licking ketchup. "(Yeah?)" he replied.

She pulled her fluffy fur up to her face and peered over the top of it. "(What does that stuff taste like, anyway?)"

He stopped licking, completely stupefied. "(You've never tasted ketchup before?)"

She shook her head. "(No.)"

He blinked stupidly at her. "(Wow... You don't know what you're missing!)"

She fidgeted with her fur and, for a moment, he stared at her. It never ceased to fascinate him that her fur looked like a fluffy cloud... or maybe cotton candy. "(It's that good?)"

He snapped out of his trance and grinned. "(Heck yeah!)" He aimed the bottle at his face and gently squeezed. "(Its-)" Ketchup suddenly splattered all over his face. He sat staring in shock at the bottle.

Next to him, Buneary fell over, laughing, her face bright red. "(Oh, Pikachu! You look so funny!)"

He narrowed his eyes at her, not at all amused, then shook the ketchup off his face. He watched as Buneary continued to roll around the floor, laughing.

Suddenly, an evil idea formed in his mind, but he wasn't sure whether or not to go through with it. He was a nice Pokemon, right? He didn't do evil things... but Buneary's tirade of laughter was crying out for him to take revenge. Eh, he supposed that he could afford to be evil, just once.

He smirked. "(Hey, Buneary?)"

She calmed down and sat up, still red-faced. "(Yeah?)"

He aimed the bottle at her and squeezed on it, hard. Ketchup came squirting out of it very much like a Water Gun attack and hit her square in the face.

The sight was too much to bear; he burst out laughing and fell on the floor, dropping the bottle and rolling around. "(I think... you've got... something on your face, Buneary!)"

"What on Earth is going on?" Dawn asked.

"I dunno," Ash replied. "... Pikachu, why is there ketchup everywhere?"

Pikachu laughed harder, unable to control his mirth. Was this what it was like to be evil? Did Team Rocket get these kinds of kicks from trying to steal him constantly? He was starting to understand.

"(This means war!)" Buneary cried out.

Pikachu stopped laughing, lifting his head to look at her. She was now holding the ketchup bottle and aiming it at him, a huge smirk on her face.

His eyes widened in horror. "(Y-You wouldn't dare!)" he said.

Buneary paused for dramatic effect, then squeezed the bottle. "(Ketchup Gun!)"

Once again, his favourite condiment smacked him in the face, completely coating his yellow fur. He shook his head to get it off.

"Buneary!" Dawn cried out in shock.

"They really shouldn't play around with the ketchup," Brock said.

Pikachu, however, was determined to get revenge. That familiar adrenaline rush that he'd always get in the heat of battle was now overtaking his body. He smirked; this was no longer a game, this was a battle... and a volcano would freeze over before he'd give up in this battle. The only problem would be that Nurse Joy wouldn't appreciate a ketchup fight in the Pokemon Centre.

He leapt at Buneary, tackling her to the ground and rolling across the floor with her. Once they stopped rolling, he pinned her down.

"(So, you wanna play, do ya?)"

Her face flushed bright red. "(P-Pikachu!)" Unable to get to her fluffy fur, her ears fell over her face. She made insane giggling noises underneath them.

Taking his chance, Pikachu leapt off Buneary and grabbed the bottle of ketchup. Aiming it at her stomach, he squeezed, completely drenching her fluffy fur in the sticky liquid. She squealed the moment it made contact, then glanced at him upside-down.

He stuck his tongue out at her. "(Catch me if you can!)"

She jumped to her feet. "(Hey!)"

He took that as his cue to move. Capping the bottle, he placed it on the floor and slid it towards the entrance. He then got on all fours and chased it before jumping on top of it and riding it like a surfboard.

"(Yeeha! Cowabunga!)"

"(Hey, wait!)"

He glanced behind him to see that Buneary was hopping after him. Perfect, that was exactly what he wanted. Smirking, he turned back around in time to watch the front doors slide open as a young trainer walked in. The girl yelped as Pikachu slid past her.

Once the ketchup bottle slid to a stop, he jumped off it, picked it back up and uncapped it. Soon after, Buneary came hopping outside. Stopping opposite him, she looked at him questioningly.

Pikachu decided, for reasons unknown even to him, to make a show of it. "(Buneary! I challenge you...)" He posed dramatically. "(To a ketchup fight!)" He held that pose for a moment, then waved the bottle at her. "(Try to take this bottle from me... if you dare...)"

Buneary stared at him for a moment, then beamed, bouncing on her tip-toes. "(Okay! I accept your challenge!)"

Pikachu laughed happily. "(Then come and get me!)

A short while later, Pikachu and Buneary were both completely covered in ketchup... with Ash, Dawn and Brock watching incredulously whilst leaning against the wall of the Pokemon Centre... but, honestly, Pikachu didn't care. He was having more fun than he could have possibly imagined with Buneary.

The two of them had continuously wrestled each other to gain possession of the ketchup bottle, in order to use it against each other, and they hadn't yet stopped to take a break. Who knew that she was this much fun? He could hardly believe that underneath the bashful yet forward fangirl was a Pokemon who truly enjoyed a good time. He should really ask her to play with him again sometime.

Buneary squeezed the bottle and fired yet another stream of ketchup at him, but, this time, he was ready; he opened his mouth and inhaled it. It was absolute heaven on his tongue. As he swallowed it, he couldn't help but swoon over the taste.

She fired again, this time hitting him in the face and laughing about her victory. He shook it out of his eyes and pretended to glare at her.

"(Feel my wrath!)" she called out, squeezing the bottle again.

He watched in amazement as the plastic bottle made a noise of protest and dribbled. Buneary looked at it in confusion and tried again, only to get the same result.

It took a moment for it to sink in, then Pikachu started laughing. "(Looks like we used it all up!)" he said.

"(Huh...)" She squeezed it a few more times, only to get a few more dribbles. "(You're right...)" She shrugged and dropped the bottle on the floor.

Dawn sighed from her position against the wall. "Are you two done now?" she asked.

"(Yep!)" Buneary replied, smiling.

"Looks like you had fun," Ash said cheerfully.

"(We sure did!)" Pikachu replied.

"Yeah, but they're a real mess now," Brock said with an exasperated smile. "They could really do with a clean-up."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, "they're so sticky."

Pikachu grinned. "(I couldn't agree more!)" he said, lifting his arm and licking away at his fur.

Buneary giggled. "(I second that!)" she added, mimicking him. Pikachu watched in amusement as she licked her arm. Suddenly, her face lit up. "(Hey! This stuff is tasty!)" She licked her arm faster.

Pikachu couldn't help but chuckle before getting to work on cleaning his other arm. "(Told you)."

Ash laughed. "Come on, you two..." he said, "you really should have a bath."

Pikachu licked faster, giggling. "(Never!)"

He looked over at Buneary to see her wiping the remains of ketchup from her face with her paws, then she suddenly stopped and stared at him. He vaguely wondered why she could possibly be staring at him when she began hopping towards him. He stopped his licking to watch her as she came to a stop in front of him.

She giggled girlishly. "(Um, Pikachu?)" she asked.

"(Yeah?)"

She leaned her face so close to his that their noses were almost touching. He felt his heartbeat quicken slightly. "(Let me get that.)" She licked his nose.

A moment passed where Pikachu felt like his heart had malfunctioned. She'd licked him? That kind of action was usually reserved for... mates. He suddenly felt his face burn bright red.

He assumed that his blush had affected Buneary, because she blushed straight afterwards and hid behind her fur, giggling like a woman possessed.

"Aww, did you see that?" Dawn asked excitedly. "That was so cute!"

Pikachu's heart was still tying itself into knots in his chest; that was the most intimate that Buneary had ever been with him. He'd thought that she'd been forward before? Jeez. Flirting with him didn't even compare to licking him... although, for some reason that he didn't quite understand, he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

The End