A/N: Before I start, I would to thank both bbarlitt123 and Eevee5501892 for the good reviews! I promise you that I'll update this story with new chapters as often as possible. And sorry for seeming put off for the lack of reviews until now, I guess I'm just a little impatient sometimes. :P Ah well, enough of my whining, Chapter 7 is here at last! It's shorter compared to the last one, but it still fills it's part. Enjoy! :)


Plusle and Minun's little scuffle continued for at least five more minutes... With no sign of stopping. Piplup's cries for them to knock it off were met with no response, aside from more fighting. Her attempts to separate them also backfired, as she got hit in the stomach by a stray rock that Plusle had attempted to throw at Minun.

Doubled over, she weakly said, "Shinx... These are YOUR cousins, can you please deal with them?"

Shinx grumbled a bit. "Fine, I will." He said, but silently added, "I've wanted to do this for a long time..."

Pikachu looked on as Shinx slowly approached the brawling cousins, almost getting hit by another stray rock in the process. Somehow Pikachu knew what was going to happen next, and as such wasn't surprised when it did.

Shinx suddenly electrified his body with a great flash and tackled both Plusle and Minun with full force. They were both sent reeling for a few feet and landed on the pavement with a dull thud.

"Are you gonna play nice now?" Shinx asked, standing over the dizzy forms of his cousins.

Although clearly upset, they both managed a collective "Yes."

Shinx then made the awful mistake of turning his back on them and returning to the group. A mistake it was, as Plusle and Minun both pulled themselves off the ground, looked at each, and said, "Truce." They then both proceeded to charge up a large ball of electricity and shot it directly at Shinx with pinpoint accuracy, and that in turn sent Shinx flying head over heels for several feet and hit the ground. Hard.

Pikachu rushed to Shinx's side. "Holy...! Are you okay?"

Shinx managed to look up at Pikachu, and said, "I just got ambushed by a pair of vengeful cousins with a ball of lightning. Do you think I'm okay?"

"Okay, okay, I just though I'd ask..." Pikachu said sheepishly.

Plusle and Minun had clearly made up, as they were hopping about, clearly happy about getting back at their cousin. "We totally whupped him!" Plusle shouted joyously. "Yeah!" Minun answered, just as excited, "We whupped him GOOD!"

Shinx slowly raised himself off the ground and glared at his cousins. "Do you see why I hate my cousins NOW?" He said to Pikachu.

"Oh yes... They really are sneaky little things aren't they?" Pikachu responded.

Shinx sighed heavily. "You know it. I swear, every single freaking day of the year..." He started saying, but then trailed off into a mumble, still glaring at the cheering Plusle and Minun.

"Alright guys!" Piplup called out, and everyone turned their attention on her. "Seriously! We're supposed to be doing something? Like, oh, I don't know... Going around town maybe?"

She glared at both Plusle and Minun. "And you two should stop arguing about rocks or shells or whatever, it's just childish!" Plusle and Minun both looked upset, and quickly apologized.

"And Shinx," Piplup said, now turning her attention to Shinx, "I don't think it was necessary to use Spark on Plusle and Minun."

Shinx shrugged. "Seemed necessary to me."

"Ugh, now look..." Piplup began, but couldn't find the right words to say, and let the issue be.

"Can we just go to town now? And stop letting ourselves get distracted?" She said. Torchic and Chikorita both nodded in agreement. Pikachu also did.

"Hmm, fine. Let's just go." Shinx said flatly.

"Okay Pip, whatever you say..." Plusle and Minun both said.

Piplup narrowed her eyes. "Don't call me that. Please."

And with that, the entire group managed to get itself in gear, and continued on their trek to the downtown area.

It actually wasn't a very long walk to the downtown area, considering that the road was mostly straight, and that Plusle and Minun challenged each other to a race, and so the others had to run to catch up.

They finally did make it to the downtown though, and they then got into the tricky decision of where to go first. Plusle and Minun made that decision for themselves.

"Ooh! Look! It's the candy shop!" Plusle shouted joyously, pointing at the store just a small ways down the street. He and Minun began bounding toward it while everyone else groaned, except for Torchic, who seemed pretty on-board with the idea, and he went rushing to the store as well.

"Well, I guess their day is already planned out." Piplup remarked.

"Yeah, thank Arceus they're gone. I can finally start enjoying myself." Shinx said, sounding very relieved.

"But won't all that sugar make them both a bigger problem than before?" said Pikachu, slightly concerned.

Shinx frowned. "Yeah, good point. But by the time their sugar rush comes and goes we should be FAR away by then."

"I suppose you're right..." Pikachu said, "But where else are we gonna go?"

"Well, what about the park?" Piplup suggested, "It's really nice out, so why not go there?"

"Sounds nice," Chikorita said, "I love the park."

"Alright, I don't have anything better to do I guess..." said Shinx.

Pikachu simply nodded and said, "I like that idea, a walk in the park would be a nice start I guess."

And so, leaving Plusle, Minun, and Torchic to their candy dreams, the group walked off main street onto a small back road, and after roughly 3 minutes of walking, they finally came to the park's front gate, which was open slightly.

"Well, here we are!" Piplup proclaimed.

"Wow, that's one heck of a... Gate." Pikachu said, cracking a small grin.

"That's just the entrance, Sparky." Shinx said, rolling his eyes. "The actual park is just inside."

"Come on! Let's go in already!" Chikorita said out loud, which surprised the others since she never spoke out like that.

"Eh heh, sorry." She said sheepishly.

"Never mind that Chikorita," Piplup said, "Come on then."

Piplup led the group right up the rather large gate, and she pushed the door open.

When the gate swung open to reveal what was behind it, Pikachu almost fell down. The park was more wonderful than anything he could have imagined. Words could do it no justice, but it was to Pikachu a heaven on earth. The grass was bright green, there was a huge pallet of colourful flowers that seemed to go on forever, and there was a tranquil little lake that was as clear as crystal. Pikachu was unable to compare to anything else what he saw there. Everyone else didn't seem to be amazed as Pikachu, but that was merely because they were used to it.

"It's great, isn't it?" Piplup asked Pikachu when she noticed his reaction.

Pikachu didn't respond in any way, he simply stood there with his mouth wide, and his ears twitching slightly.

"Heheh, I'm guessing that's a yes?" Piplup said, giggling.

"Uh, Sparky?" Shinx asked, looking slightly concerned, "Are you feeling alright?"

Again, Pikachu produced no response, aside from a low mumble.

"I think he's broken." Shinx remarked.

Piplup laughed. "Maybe it was a bad idea to bring him here! His poor little mind probably can't handle this much beauty!"

"Well he IS from the City after all. Beauty is practically an extinct species over there." Shinx said, cracking his usual smug grin.

"Well come on Pikachu!" Piplup said, "Let's go!"

Pikachu still wouldn't budge, so Piplup has to quite literally push him through the gates.

Just as Shinx went to follow them until Chikorita stopped him. "W-Wait!" She called out.

Shinx froze and then slowly turned back towards her. "Yeah? What is it?" He said, a look of impatience on his face all-too-obvious.

"Uhhh... Shinx... Well... Would you..." She started saying, then trailed off.

"What do you wanna say? C'mon, spit it out already!" Shinx said, starting to grow more and more impatient.

"I-I... Can we... Umm..." Chikorita started to say, but her voice became shaky and weak, apparently afraid to say anything.

Shinx stood there, waiting, but was clearly starting to get annoyed.

"Oh... Never mind..." Chikorita said, sounding despondent.

Shinx sighed, then turned away to follow Piplup, who was still pushing Pikachu.

Chikorita just stood where she was, looking disgusted with herself. Oh, I blew it... She thought, Why didn't I just ask? I'm horrible at this...

Letting out a heavy sigh she slowly started after the rest of the group, still hazing herself over missing her chance.


A/N: Hmm... It seems Chikorita has something to say to Shinx but is far too nervous to say. What does this mean? We'll all find out soon enough. And remember Plusle and Minun's candy shop raid? THAT will produce an interesting story, I assure you. XD And is Pikachu really broken? All these unanswered will be answered... Eventually. Until then, please remember to Read, Enjoy, and Review, and I'll get Chapter numero 8 up soon!

Fare thee well!

-gl1m0