Title: Poke-Mania
Author: Kamel
Theme: Cosplay
Genre: General
Version: Anime
Rating: PG

Pairing: n/a

Words: 1,865

Notes: Written for the April fourth theme at smmonthly.

"No! Don't use water gun! That will- No! Charmander!"

Hotaru peeked up from her Gameboy Color with a small smile, Chibi-Usa, with an equally tiny pout upon her face, grumbled under her breath as the barely legible screen of her own Gameboy (a lovely hand-me down from Usagi after she bought herself the new Gameboy Color with her allowance) proclaimed her the loser and 'blacked out.' "Every time! That's no fair!" Chibi-Usa complained, disconnecting the cable link from their two Gameboys. Each and every battle had the same outcome and now it was simply growing irritating.

"Ever good Pokemon trainer knows that picking Charmander at the beginning makes the game harder," Hotaru pointed out knowledgeably, holding up her pointer finger in the air as she nodded along to her own statement. She was a Pokemon master, Professor Oak had told her in her Blue version of the game. "Fire does not do well against rock or water, so the first couple of gym battles are really hard unless you capture a Pikachu in the forest – then the second isn't so bad, but the first one is still hard," she mused, switching the power to her Gameboy off.

Chibi-Usa sighed heavily – she chose Charmander because it was cute (who could resist those huge, adorable eyes?), she did not even think about the statics behind the game as her friend had done. Games were meant to be fun, there was not suppose to be any reasoning or thinking behind them, especially video games, according to her. Then again, Hotaru had beaten the Blue version of the game and was now starting the Red where as Chibi-Usa was just beginning her own Blue version. "But! Ash beat Brock with his Pikachu!" Chibi-Usa countered, clearly remembering the episode where Pikachu took down the massive Onix.

"But that's in the anime, Chibi-Usa," Hotaru replied matter-o-factly, shaking her head at that excuse, waving a hand at her friend. "Anime never makes any sense."

Once again, Hotaru probably did know what she was talking about; she was probably right after all. Chibi-Usa restarted her Gameboy. "Maybe I should start a new adventure with Squirtle," she thought aloud, partly wanting to hear what the other girl would think of the idea. She was open to anything that would make this game easier and Squirtle was just as cute as Charmander, she would not mind playing a new game with Squirtle as her first Pokemon.

Before Hotaru could voice her advice to Chibi-Usa, the doorbell echoed throughout the house, carrying into the living room the girls had been playing for the past couple of hours after finishing their homework. A moment later, it was Usagi's own high pitched voice echoing through the house, announcing Haruka's arrival; the girls' play date was officially over. Hotaru carefully tucked her own Gameboy into its carrying case; Chibi-Usa played her old Gameboy down on the coffee table. She left it on, she would come back to it shortly for her new adventure.

In return to Chibi-Usa's earlier declaration, Hotaru shrugged her shoulders after the summoning from Usagi had died down. "For beginners it's easier to use Bulbasaur. It can get you through the first two gym battles easily and Mount Moon is filled with all sorts of rock types it can take down," she suggested. "And you can catch a fire Pokemon before your fourth gym battle too."

"Bulbasaur's ugly…" the younger girl had uttered.

"Yeah," Hotaru agreed, wrinkling her nose. Out of the first three Pokemon they could pick among, Bulbasaur was definitely not the prettiest. "But it's pretty powerful if you train it right," she added, her voice carrying a sense of hope, standing up from the cushions they laid out from the couch and on the carpeted floor of the living room. Chibi-Usa followed after her towards the hallway where Usagi and Haruka instantly came into view. Usagi had been showing the older woman a flyer she had taken down off the wall from a building in the shopping district on her walk home from school today. This caused curiosity to spark in both the young children.

"Usagi, what's that?" Chibi-Usa spoke up, tilting her head as she made a reach for the flyer; Usagi simply head out of her reach.

"Hey there, little one," Haruka automatically greeted, giving their future Princess a wink as Hotaru immediately grabbed her papa in a tight hug. She took the backpack from her little girl and slung it over her shoulder. Hotaru looked up towards Usagi as well, interested in the flyer, wondering what could possibly be on it – a sale on plushies maybe? Hotaru preferred collecting lamps over plushies personally.

Usagi first showed Chibi-Usa causing her face had instantly lit up with enthusiasm – the same reaction that graced Hotaru's face as she saw the image on the piece of paper as well. It was definitely better than any plushie sale. "Pokemon: The Movie, thought you two would be interested in it, Mewtwo's Revenge. It comes out in a couple of months," Usagi said, handing the flyer over to Haruka to inspect. They were both very aware this movie was going to affect all their lives for a bit, especially since they were close to Chibi-Usa and Hotaru.

"A couple of months? I can't wait that long!" Chibi-Usa whined.

"Me either!" Hotaru joined in, tugging at her Haruka-papa's shirt. "Papa, we should totally cosplay to see it! I want to be Ash!"

"What? No!" Chibi-Usa replied, holding up fists in the air as she perked up. "I want to be Ash!"

"I bet the game!" Hotaru reasoned.

"I've seen every episode of the anime so far!" Chibi-Usa shot back.

Teal colored eyes met blue as both Haruka and Usagi chuckled nervously to each other. Yes, Hotaru and Chibi-Usa were both sailor senshi, but it was moments such as this that clearly reminded them all they were still children, bickering young children at that. Chibi-Usa may be the future Princess of Crystal Tokyo in the thirtieth century and Hotaru may be the senshi of death and destruction, Sailor Saturn, the two were still among the millions in Japan infatuated with the Poke-mania craze that had easily swept across the nation (the world, technically, America was suffering from Pokemon fever as well).

XX

A month had slowly crept by according to Hotaru's standards, she had an officially count down to the movie which she and her Setsuna-mama handmade to keep on the desk in her bedroom. It had also taken a few days of serious, as serious as things get among kids, conversations with Chibi-Usa to decide who would be who for the premiere of the movie's opening night. It had taken some convincing, but they had decided that Hotaru would, indeed, be Ash and Chibi-Usa would make a pretty cute Pikachu. Haruka-papa, who was going to tag along to the movie, promised she would dress up as Brock for the two of them. Michiru-mama mentioned something of being Officer Jenny if she would attend because she would keep things in order or a certain someone was going to be 'punished' (this got a blush out of Haruka-papa, Hotaru was not sure why, that is what police officers did, right?).

Immediately, work began on the creating of the costumes. Michiru and Setsuna scanned and looked through many different shops they came across around the shopping district – Setsuna took a step further and searched online, looking for anything that would make this whole process easier, but still make the costume look authentic. Michiru bought articles of clothing here and there, alerting them slightly to fit Hotaru properly and to stay true to the character she would be portraying in a month's time. Michiru believed they had it a bit better off – Usagi and Chibi-Usa were trying to track down a full, believable Pikachu costume, but she was sure Usagi's mother would be of great aid if they came up empty handed.

After removing the article of clothing she had been slaving away upon with the sewing machine, Michiru held up the blue vest and inspected it carefully, glancing back at the printed photograph Hotaru had given her a couple of weeks ago. She frowned lightly, laying it out on the table, allowing her to better compare what was in front of her to the colored ink on the paper. It was a close replica, but what mattered is what Hotaru thought of it. During this careful inspection, Michiru heard the garage door open and close.

"Michiru-mama!"

"In the studio, hime-chan!" Michiru shouted over her shoulder, towards the door that lead from her art studio into the hallway. Hearing the echoing of her daughter's feet running across the hallway caused her to smile – a smile which grew when the girl ran into the studio and immediately wrapped her arms around her mama's waist after pouncing on top of her. Needless to say, Hotaru was more excited than usual. In return, the sea goddess hugged her tightly in return. "I'm glad to see you too, my little princess," she teased.

"Look, Michiru-mama!" Hotaru took a step back and held up a red and white baseball cap. "Haruka-papa found it for me! It just needs the little green patch on the front and it will be Ash's hat!" she explained, doing her best not to bounce in place.

"Well, look at that," Michiru grinned, taking the baseball cap from her baby-girl before placing it on her head. "And it looks fabulous of you – check out the vest, Hotaru, how does it look?" she asked, gesturing her hand over the table, casting the young child's attention to the knitted vest. Her lavender eyes, if possible, further lit up with excitement as she pulled it into her reach. With the aid of her mama, she slipped it on, giddy.

"It's exactly like the anime!" Hotaru stated, her cheeks beginning to hurt from all the laughing and smiling. "Michiru-mama, this is the best costume ever! I can't wait for the movie!" she added, grabbing the senshi of the sea in a tight hug once again around the waist. Michiru giggle as she wrapped her arms around her small figure once again.

"Thank you, hime-chan," Michiru grinned, placing a kiss on the girl's cheek. "Your Setsuna-mama is working the gloves and I'm going to take in one of your Haruka-papa's white t-shirts for you – think you have a pair of jeans in your wardrobe that can work also," she mused, examining the vest and baseball cap on Hotaru, especially the white bit of the baseball cap, it would not be difficult to sew in a dark green patch in that small area. As much fun as this was to their little girl, Michiru could not wait for all this to be over; this was time consuming and everything had to be perfect.

"We should cosplay more, it's a lot of fun!" Hotaru said with a nod, turning on her heel and running out of the door – baseball cap, vest, and all.

End