Chapter 1: Crossdressing Capers

Pikachu gave an odd look as his trainer, Ash, slumped his shoulders upon reading the writing on the door in front of them.

"Well, this isn't good," Ash said, groaning.

Puzzled, the yellow mouse read the same message on the contest hall's door. Afterwards, he became a lot less confused. "...Pika."

The message said that, for the day, only female coordinators and four of their pokémon (all female too, of course) were allowed to sign up, which went against all of the duo's plans for the day.

It also said that next week would be guys only, which would be way better for the duo... except for the fact that tomorrow, Pikachu and Ash would be going back onto their journey of becoming pokémon masters. So no, it wasn't good at all.

Darn it! This was the one day that he and Ash had felt like coordinating too, just for a little change of pace, but it looked like a lost cause now.

"Pika pikachu..." the mouse muttered, his ears drooping. He'd heard that this contest was a special one, but now that he knew why, his hype had become deader than a ghost-type...

After little while, Ash stopped looking disappointed and seemed more thoughtful, as if he was cooking up an idea. A phrase that the mouse had probably stolen from Cilan...

"No, don't worry, buddy," Ash said suddenly, snapping his fingers. "I have a plan!"

"...Pi?" Before the mouse could even take a guess, Ash was already diving into some of the thick bushes that adorned the path leading up to the Contest Hall. Not expecting it, Pikachu fell off of his trainer's shoulder and landed face down onto the grassy ground inside the foliage. It didn't hurt, but it was very... unmajestic, to say the least.

Confused and annoyed, Pikachu looked up at his trainer to complain, though he stopped short once Ash pulled a frilly dress out of his bag. Now everything made sense...

Ash looked his way and saw the mouse roll his eyes. "Hey, I'm not too happy about it either, but... hey. It's not like anyone will know about it, right? It'll be our secret."

Pikachu sighed. He wasn't entirely convinced of either the plan or his trainer's mental well being. "Pika, Pikapi..."

"C'mon, Pikachu. It's not like I'm asking you to dress up as a maid or anything like that. ...Again. Now, don't look for a second."

Pikachu turned around and poked his head out of the bush to give his trainer some privacy to cross-dress. Something that he found himself doing disturbingly often lately.

To keep himself occupied, the mouse watched various different people enter the contest hall that the pair planned on entering themselves.

Pikachu sure was glad that he and Ash were entering this place, and not the cooking competition that Cilan was probably at right now. Iris didn't mind going along with the chef, but Pikachu and Ash would have been seriously bored out of their skulls. Especially since they weren't allowed to taste any of the food...

Unlike May or Dawn, Ash didn't really care about contest ribbons all that much, so entering this contest was purely for fun. Knowing Ash, though, he would give it his all regardless, which Pikachu thought was admirable. The mouse would make sure he did his best too, girly trainer or none!

Pikachu continued to watch people and their pokémon go into the building. A few boys were also entering the hall, but he got the feeling that they were just spectators. Either that or they were going to feel mighty disappointed...

After a while, he noticed that two frillish (along with their trainer) went inside at the same time, one blue and one pink. At first he didn't think too much about it, but then he realized that his own species also had a gender difference, didn't it? Quite a big one, at that.

He withdrew into the bush and took a look at the tip of his tail. Still as straight as the day he was born. Oh dear...

The only real way to fix this would be with surgery, and Pikachu didn't exactly want to go that far. Curse his odd species quirks! He didn't even remember seeing any pikachu girls back in Kanto, so he hadn't been aware of any gender differences like that until he had seen an advertisement in Sinnoh. He'd even thought that the pikachu models had injured their tails until Buizel corrected him.

Unless Pikachu and Ash could think of something, things were looking pretty bad for the mouse. It was possible that he would have to drop out of the competition and let his friends take over, which was disappointing...

After a while, Ash spoke up. "Okay, I'm finished!"

Pikachu turned around to see Ash posing a little too proudly in his orange dress and blond wig, complete with a pretty pink bow on top.

"How do I look?" Ash asked, holding a cutesy stance that would've made the rest of the team laugh.

"Piika!" The mouse smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He was quite an attractive girl, everything considered!

...Pikachu tried to not let that thought linger for too long.

"Thanks, buddy! Well, we'd better let the team know what's going on." Ash looked down at the pokéballs attached to the belt around his dress. "...This should be fun."

Before Ash could let Pikachu's comrades out, the mouse tried to grab his attention.

"Oh, what's wrong, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu, pika!" the mouse said, pulling his jagged tail out and showing it to Ash, while waggling the tip for emphasis.

"...Um, is your tail hurt, or something?"

Pikachu sighed and tried to think of a better way to explain. Eventually, he reached into the pockets of Ash's discarded pants to bring out a picture of a smiling, orange-haired girl that the boy had known from a long time ago.

"H-hey! Don't go waving that around!" Ash yelled, blushing. "That's... private."

"Pika pikachu, Pikapi!" The mouse pointed at the tip of his tail with the photo to help his trainer get a clue.

It took several seconds, but Ash eventually caught on. "Oh, right. Girl pikachu are different to the boys, aren't they? Dang, I forgot. Hmm..." Ash muttered before stroking his chin.

Some pokémon on the team had a habit of making fun of Ash for being... simple, so to speak. However, Pikachu knew better. His trainer could be pretty cunning when he wanted to be! Like the time he had told Pikachu to attack a rhydon's horn, for instance. That was the only reason Pikachu had won the battle, despite all odds, which was yet another reason as to why he trusted his trainer with his life.

Ash rummaged around in his backpack, looking for supplies. After a while, his face lit up as he pulled out some yellow paper, some tape, and some scissors. Pikachu didn't exactly know why he had those in his bag, but hey, he seemed to have an idea for them.

"Just a second, buddy..." Ash said as he began to cut the paper and tape certain pieces together at a frantic pace. His main topic at school must have been arts and crafts, clearly! ...If he had ever even gone to school, that is.

"Hah, finished!" Ash said as he taped his art-piece onto Pikachu. Afterwards, the trainer took a step back to admire his work. "Well, do you like it?"

Pikachu was expecting his trainer to have taped a heart shape to his tail, or something. However, the mouse certainly didn't expect two large, smooth lumps on his chest. He was starting to see why everyone made fun of his trainer all the time.

"...Is something wrong with it?" Pikachu's apparently perverted trainer asked, probably noticing the evil eye that his pokémon was giving him.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu tore off his... costume, and tried his best to hold the paper to the end of his tail, forming a little, yellow heart shape.

"...Ohhh, that's it, huh?" Ash asked, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Whoops, I guess the internet was wrong this time. Heh..." Pikachu didn't really want to ask.

After another half a minute of paper cutting, Ash gently stuck his second attempt onto the mouse's tail. Taking a look at it, Pikachu was way more impressed this time around! Ash had captured the feminine-look almost perfectly, and had even managed to make the color match his fur too.

Pikachu gave it a thumbs up! "Pikachu pika, Pikapi!"

Ash clenched his fist victoriously. "Alright! Well then, that just leaves the other guys..." Ash examined his pokéballs. "Hmm, let's see... do you think any of them have any gender differences? I only have yellow paper, so I might need to be picky."

Pikachu shrugged. Save for the more obvious differences, he had no idea if anybody on the team had any differences in gender. Snivy was a girl, though, so Pikachu was sure that bringing her along wouldn't be a problem. With that in mind, the mouse pointed towards her ball.

"Hm? Oh, Snivy?" His face brightened. "Yeah... she's a girl, ain't she? Good thinking, buddy!" He unhooked her ball from his belt and opened it. "Come on out, Snivy!"

The second the white energy around her dissipated, Snivy looked around in confusion, probably wondering why they were inside a large bush.

As soon as she looked at Ash, though, she paused with a very unreadable expression on her face. "[...Oh, bloody hell. Do I even want to ask?]" she asked in her 'kind of posh but not really' accent.

"[It's... kind of a long story,]" Pikachu replied, speaking the same language as her. Kind of.

Snivy eyed up his tail. "[And since when were you a woman? Is there something you're both not telling us?]"

He blushed and looked off to the side, noticing Ash curiously watching them both in the process. "[Hey, i-it's not like that at all! We just wanted to get into a female-only contest, so we had to improvise!]"

She snickered. "[A female contest? Hehe, bloody hell... the implications are so endless that I don't even know which one to begin with.]"

The mouse was starting to wish that he had gone to the cooking contest instead. "[I meant- I mean, the contest is for...]" Flustered, Pikachu gave up. He got the feeling that no amount of explaining would help his case. "[...ugh, whatever! Does anyone on the team have gender differences?]"

She stopped sniggering to think. "[Hmm... I don't believe so. I mean, aside from Unfezant, of course, though wasn't she rotated out for Scraggy recently?]"

"[Unfortunately, yeah...]"

"[Ah, right. Well, either way, you might want to avoid bringing Scraggy and Krookodile into this. They don't have any differences, but they'd still never pass off as girls, if that's what your plan is.]"

"[Yeah, true enough. Okay then, thanks, Snive!]"

"[That's quite alright,]" she said before smirking. "[Heh, after all, I just love to help out a fellow girl in need.]"

Groaning, the mouse walked past her and pointed to the pokéballs of Leavanny and Oshawott, the least boisterous boys on the team. Ash not included.

"Oh, you think I should use those guys, huh?" his trainer asked before unhooking them and looking them over. "Well, I don't see why not. Come on out, Oshawott and Leavanny!" he yelled, opening their pokéballs.

After they came out of their pokéballs, they turned around and were met with the same thing Snivy saw a few moments earlier. The two best of friends in drag.

"[...]"

"[...]"

"[...So, um-]" Pikachu didn't get any more words out before Leavanny giggled heavily and Oshawott burst out laughing while slapping his belly repeatedly.

Both Pikachu and his trainer sighed. This day couldn't get any worse, could it?

"...And that's why, until the contest is over, you'll both be girls for the day!" Ash said with an awkward smile and a hesitant thumbs up, which Pikachu copied.

Leavanny looked surprisingly accepting of the situation, which was a nice contrast to the mortified otter lying in a fetal position next to him. Hoo boy...

"[Nooo! My street cred! Now no girls will ever want to go out with me!]" Oshawott cried in a way that even Piplup would be proud of.

"[Heh, so business as usual, then?]" Snivy remarked, sniggering to herself.

Oshawott shot her a harsh glare which stopped the snickering, though her smirk remained.

Leavanny moved over and kneeled next to the otter, before comfortingly patting his head. "[Come on, Oshawott... Meloetta seemed to like you! And I'm sure she would be happy to court you either way, regardless.]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah, exactly. She seemed pretty open-minded to me! Besides, it's not like she has to know, or anything.]"

Oshawott huffed. "[Like it matters... I haven't heard from her in ages, not even after the card I sent her last week, so she clearly preferred... him.]" He let the bitterness hang in the air before looking downwards. "[...Not that I blame her. She probably took one look into the future and saw me as a girl!]" he wailed loudly.

Pikachu briefly wondered about bringing up the fact that Meloetta now lived in a secret, undisclosed place, which would be very hard to reach by mail... but in the end, he decided not to.

Leavanny looked confused. "[I... don't think Meloetta could see into the future, Oshawott.]"

"[But do you know so!? She's psychic, so she probably sees everything!]" Oshawott yelled melodramatically.

Snivy groaned. "[Oh, bugger me silly, Oshawott. She could barely register two pokémon fancying her at once, let alone the future, you plonker.]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah. Anybody who can't see a crush as obvious as that probably wouldn't make a great fortune-teller, that's for sure,]" he said, chuckling. It really was true; Meloetta wasn't exactly the brightest lanturn antenna when it came to romance. She was almost as bad as their trainer in that regard...

Oshawott sat up. "[I-I guess...]"

"[So yeah, she won't have a clue,]" Pikachu continued. "[Heck, nobody will know but us, and we won't tell a soul!]" He turned towards a certain grass snake and raised an eyebrow. "[...right, Snivy?]"

"[Yes, yes, of course I bloody won't. Who do you think I am, exactly?]" Snivy replied, giving him a dirty look. "[I would never spread gossip. Unlike that pillock, Emolga...]"

He shrugged. "[Yeah, fair enough. Sorry...]"

She huffed and crossed her arms. "[Hmph. But anyway, yes,]" she looked at Oshawott. "[your secret is safe with all of us, Oshawott. Me especially.]"

Oshawott paused, seemingly thinking it over. Before too long, he stood up and gave a weak smile. "[...Okay then. I'll... I'll do it. Thanks, guys.]"

Seeing everyone finally looking content, Ash piped in. "So, is everyone okay with the plan, then?"

The team gave a small cheer back in response. "Okay, cool! Then let's go! Oop, but first..." He reached for his two remaining pokéballs: the ones containing Scraggy and Krookodile. Oh hail no!

Almost straight away, Pikachu and Oshawott lunged forward and grabbed Ash's arm at the same time. The mouse knew that this would never end well, and he assumed that Oshawott knew that too. If Scraggy and Krookodile got out, the poor mouse would never be allowed to hear the end of it. Especially if they started telling everyone else back at camp!

Ash gently pulled away in surprise. "What's the matter? You don't think I should let them watch?"

Both pokémon shook their heads frantically.

"Pika! Pika pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed.

"Oshawott! Oshaaa!" Oshawott exclaimed in a louder voice.

"Hmm..." the trainer murmured, mulling things over. After a little while, he nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right. They can be pretty rough, huh?"

Oh thank the halls above! Both pokémon sighed in relief and gave a happy call in response.

Ash stood up. "Well, in that case, let's go!" He parted open their secret shrub and stepped outside, also making sure to hold it open for Pikachu and his pals to scramble out of.

Everyone stepped outside into the warm sunshine, which Pikachu greatly appreciated. It wasn't all that dark inside the bush, but it still felt nice to be in the open air with the sun on his fur again.

"Oh, wait a second, guys!" Everyone turned around to see Ash plucking some flowers out of the ground, which he then attached to their heads for that extra girly touch.

Pikachu didn't really mind his new look. The small blue flower really showed off his cute side! Leavanny seemed quite pleased with his large red one, too. It was more than the mouse could say for his other companions, though...

Snivy looked more mildly irritated with her purple flower than anything, probably not appreciating the feminine gesture too much, and Oshawott looked physically ill to be wearing such a pretty pink thing, despite the reassurance from earlier. Heck, Pikachu was half afraid that he would hurl!

"There, perfect! Now, follow me, guys! Um, girls!" Ash said as he marched on ahead.

The mouse and his friends followed him towards the contest hall, some with more reluctance than others.

After their trainer had finished registering himself under his 'Ashley' alias, everyone was led into a waiting room, which was packed with trainers and pokémon.

The atmosphere made Pikachu shudder with anticipation. This was going to be awesome! He was no contest expert, admittedly, but with all the tips and tricks given to him by his old friends (especially one long-eared friend of his in particular), he was sure he would make his trainer proud!

According to the receptionist who brought them into the room, Pikachu's team didn't have long to wait until they were up. Their turn started after the next battle, which was already looking pretty heated judging by the television screen on the wall.

The set up for the competition was pretty informal from what the mouse could tell, but it still sounded fun enough. Each team would get randomly picked to square off against other randomly selected teams, and the team with the most wins by the end of the day would get the first place prize. Seemed basic enough.

The rules for the contest battles themselves were interesting, though. Both coordinators would send out one member of their four-pokémon team. After the pokémon chosen to move first (via a coin flip) showed off with a few fancy moves, the turn would shift to the opponent, who would have to one-up their opponent with their own stylish moves that used elements from the opponent's previous routine.

For example, if Pikachu used electricity on the fire left behind by the opponent's flamethrower to make a sparkly flame pillar, his opponent would have to... make it larger with more fire, maybe? Nah, that wouldn't work. The rules said that the move would have to be at least somewhat impressive, or they wouldn't pass. Turning a fire into a bigger fire with more fire was not very... well, fiery.

Anyway, both pokémon would keep taking turns until one of them was unable to come up with a way to outdo their opponent, meaning that they had lost the round. After that, it was time for the losing coordinator to call out another pokémon, who would face-off against the pokémon who won the last round. This carried on until all four pokémon on a team were eliminated, earning a win for the victors.

The rules sounded complicated as Pikachu ran by them in his head, but after watching the TV screen, he worked it out easily enough. Not that it mattered, really. All he would have to do at the end of the day, as always, was follow Ash's orders. Now that was easy!

Speaking of the contest, the current match on the screen was pretty fun to watch! Each coordinator was down to their last pokémon, an audino and a golurk. The audino had just finished using her Attract move to blow many hearts into the air, which the golurk had taken advantage of by absorbing them into her jet engine... butt thing to make her normally red flames pretty and pink as she flew around the hall. It was impressive to watch!

...Did golurk even have genders? Pikachu seemed to remember reading somewhere that they didn't... Well, whatever. Pikachu wasn't exactly a girl himself, so he wasn't one to judge.

As Pikachu's mind continued to wander, something bumped into him and knocked him over, making him smack his head against the floor. Ouch...

Whoever walked into him gasped, and scrambled over to help him back onto his feet. "[S-sorry! I didn't... I wasn't paying attention,]" the pokémon mumbled, her voice sounding feminine.

Pikachu was still dazed, but with the girl's help, he managed to get back onto his feet. "[Err, it's alright. I'm fine. I think...]" he replied.

Glancing at the girl who'd bumped into him, he saw that his accidental assailant was a brown-furred pokémon, who was currently staring down at the ground and away from him.

Unfortunately, though, his vision was too blurry from the fall to make out any details other than that. It also didn't help that she was mumbling far too much for him to pick out her species name.

"[Well, okay. That's good. Umm... bye then,]" she muttered before hopping away into a crowd of pokémon and out of his sight.

Well, that was weird. Pikachu didn't even get a proper chance to talk to the girl! She must have been real shy.

It was a shame, really. The girl's voice reminded him of a very good friend that had left with Dawn's team a month or so ago. This girl seemed a lot more shy and soft-spoken than his extroverted rabbit pal ever was, though!

Speaking of her... he honestly missed Buneary. She could be a little clingy at times, sure, but her heart had always been in the right place. Plus, she always knew how to perk him up! Even after that one time when Paul's team had wiped the floor with the mouse and his other friends. Heck, once Pikachu and Buneary had met up again later that evening, he'd forgotten all about that broken toe of his!

Oh well... he would have to send her a letter or something, soon. Knowing her, she would certainly enjoy it! For some reason, she'd always seemed to adore him like he was some kind of hero, even on the day they'd met! So even just a little praise could make her go ungodly giddy.

Pikachu smiled nostalgically and decided to plan what he would write to her. He was content doing this until he noticed that the golurk's turn was out of time, signifying her loss.

Seconds later, a loudspeaker overhead buzzed loudly. "Why, hello there, contestants! Could the two lovely ladies whose numbers are... 14 and 64 please enter the challenging lobby? Thanks!" a very smooth-sounding, male voice said, almost seeming flirtatious.

Suddenly, a girl's sigh could also be heard on the loudspeaker. "Hey, you! Don't you remember the promise you made to Mother about philandering during work hours?"

"What? N-no, complimenting girls doesn't count as philandering!" the guy flusteredly replied. "I'm merely being nice, is all."

"Sure thing, Mr. 'Care for a spot of tea, milady?'..."

He huffed. Afterwards, he made a pondering noise. "...I can still flirt with you, though, right?"

The girl made an amused sound. "Maybe... though you might wanna cut the microphone before everyone hears ya doing that."

After a pause, he sounded shocked. "Oh, gods, this thing's still on!? Oh no, how embarras-" he exclaimed before ending the call.

Pikachu raised an eyebrow at the uncomfortably awkward tirade. Afterwards, he just shrugged before excitedly balling a fist. Yes! It was time to show everyone their moves!

Done with that, he located Ash and jumped onto his trainer's shoulder. Soon after, Oshawott jumped onto Ash's other shoulder, and the rest of the team followed closely behind as they all entered the lobby.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Finished: 31/07 (July)/2014

Word count: 3,972

VGS2's pointless notes: And so it begins! The contest conundrum of wonders! I hope your bodies are ready! :D

Shameless self-promotion: If you don't review, favourite and/or follow this story, brown, furry creatures will accidentally start bumping into you! (Disclaimer: Not really)

Also, many thanks to ravengal for helping me make this chapter less horribad. You're da bes!

Alrighty, now I'm done! Tata for now! c:

Next up: The crazy contest begins!