"I challenge you to a battle!"
Everyone was surprised by Buneary's sudden outburst, for she wasn't the type of Pokémon to start a fight. No one, however, was more surprised than Pikachu. He always thought Buneary was a caring and sweet Pokémon. Now all of a sudden, she is challenging Laura to a fight. What has gotten in to her? Pikachu thought.
Laura stared for a minute, then chuckled. "Looks like someone has become delusional from all of that crying. You actually think that you stand a chance at battling me?"
Buneary growled lowly. "I actually know how a Pikachu battles considering I am friends with one. Plus you don't look like you can even stand a chance against me. So I'm going to show you just how strong I am."
Laura laughed darkly, giving the other Pokémon the shivers. "Remember when I said something about not jumping to conclusions? You don't know how powerful I really am." She looked straight at Buneary. "I'm only going to warn you that, if you battle me, you will be nothing but miserable."
"Oh, really. You haven't even done anything ever sense you got here. How many Pokémon battles have you actually been in?"
"Why don't I come over there and show you." Laura raised her fist and walked towards Buneary. Pikachu got in right between them before anything could happen.
"Whoa, time out!" Pikachu turned towards Buneary. "Buneary, why are you challenging Laura to a fight all of a sudden? It isn't like you to do something like that."
Buneary gently pushed Pikachu out of the way. "Sorry Pikachu, but this is about showing Laura that I'm not someone she can just push around."
"But what if our trainers notice this?" He asked to try and make her rethink this.
"They could think it's some sort of practice battle." Mamoswine said.
Pikachu shot him a glare. "You aren't helping." Mamoswine only shrugged.
Buneary looked deep into Pikachu's eyes. "You aren't going to talk me out of this." Pikachu groaned. "Please, just let me do this. I want to prove I'm not weak and emotional. I want to show that I'm able to handle myself." And to give Laura a taste of my built up rage. She thought to herself.
Pikachu was struggling on making his decision. He didn't want his crushes fighting each other to exhaustion, but he didn't want to upset Buneary. That's when he saw Buneary giving him the 'puppy dog eyes' look. He couldn't help but find it cute and, at the same time, affecting his decision. He sighed and said, "Find, you two can battle each other."
Buneary gave him a quick hug. "Thanks." Pikachu rubbed his arm sheepishly. Buneary turned towards Laura. "Ready to battle?"
Laura smirked. "I'm warning you, Buneary. You are going to deeply regret this when it's all over."
As they stared at each other with determination, Pikachu stared with concern. I think I'm the one who's going to regret this when it's all over.
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The Pokémon walked over to a large open field with some trees in the background. Everyone really wanted to see the battle and were totally excited. Pikachu, however, was the only one who didn't like the idea of this. He still doesn't know why Buneary would do this. He thought there was another reason.
Piplup walked up to Pikachu. "Hey Pikachu, just so you aren't the only one who thinks this, I'm not really on board with them fighting either."
He smiled a small smile. "Thanks." Pikachu looked back at Buneary and Laura, who were facing each from a reasonable distance. "Do you have any idea why Buneary would want to challenge Laura like this?"
Piplup shrugged. "Beats me. I went to check on her after you did and she said she was fine. Maybe Buneary is trying to find a way to let out a little steam."
Pikachu still looked unsure. "Maybe, but even I know Buneary would never have come up with an idea like this. She's too sweet and innocent to think that way."
"Are you saying that someone may have went to talk to Buneary after I did or before you?"
Pikachu shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever the reason may be, I hope this doesn't turn out bad."
Piplup crossed his flippers in thought. "What do you think Laura meant when she said 'you are going to deeply regret this when it's all over'?"
"I'm afraid we're going to find out."
Buneary and Laura stood a reasonable distance from each other as they were preparing to battle. They both looked determined, but Laura looked confident as if she knew she was going to win. The look made Buneary sigh in annoyance. How can she be so cocky if the battle hasn't even started?
Chansey walked in between them and began the battle. "This battle between Laura and Buneary will now get under way. Both competitors will battle until one is unable to continue. Are both sides ready?" Laura and Buneary nodded. "Alright, let the battle commence."
Laura crossed her arms. "Hey Buneary, sense I'm feeling generous today, you may have the first strike."
Buneary narrowed her eyes. She's up to something. "You're going to regret that decision. Dizzy Punch!" Buneary charged forward. The fluff on her ears glowed a rainbow like color and thrust them forward like punches.
Laura stood her ground, waiting for the attack. Just as Buneary was in punching range, Laura stuck her arms out and caught the Dizzy Punch right in her paws. While Buneary was surprised, Laura lifted her up by the ears and gave her a forceful push in the air. Buneary was flailing her arms as she became airborne. Everyone gasped at how Laura was able to do that.
Buneary was falling at a fast rate. She positioned herself to land on her feet. When she landed, she used the momentum to spring herself back up for a Bounce attack. She came diving at Laura in a drill like spin.
Laura crossed her arms into an X and endured the attack. Buneary was still spinning when she made contact. Seeing as how nothing was happening, she launched off and charged an attack in mid-air. "Ice Beam!" A light blue orb appeared in front of her and launched three crooked beams at Laura, damaging her and encasing her in ice. When Buneary landed, she smirked. "So much for big, bad Laura. And here I thought I was going to have fun."
Unfortunately for Buneary, the ice around Laura started to shake and form cracks. Just before she could blink, the ice shattered and Laura ran towards Buneary at a speed that made her almost look like a shadow. Laura disappeared at the last second, making Buneary look around to see where she was.
Buneary felt a tap on her shoulder and she almost froze up. She turned herself around to reveal Laura. "Well, that was fun. Now it's my turn." With an evil smirk, Laura pulled her fist back and gave Buneary a swift, painful uppercut in the chin and sent her flying into the air. Laura did an unbelievably high jump in the air to catch up to Buneary. When they were high in the air, Laura brought her paws together and slammed Buneary back to the ground. The impact not only severely harmed Buneary, but created a large crater and several large cracks in the ground.
Everyone was petrified by that sheer amount of power Laura possessed, especially Pikachu and Piplup. "Pikachu, does Laura know Strength or are Pikachu capable of having that much power?"
Pikachu shook his head in disbelief. "That's just…impossible. Even Strength couldn't do that and Pikachu aren't known for their physical power. And Laura didn't even use an attack. That was just a regular uppercut and slam."
Despite the impact, Buneary was able to survive. As she was trying to get up, Laura landed in front of her and pushed her down with her foot. She leaned down and whispered, "This is the part where you cry for mercy." Laura gave a swift kick and sent Buneary towards a tree while dragging through the ground. She yelled in pain as she hit the tree. "Prepare to lose, Buneary." Laura launched herself in the air and did a dive straight at Buneary.
Recovering from the pain, Buneary noticed this maneuver and jumped out of the way just in time. After Laura hit the tree, it came tumbling down to the ground. Buneary sighed with great relief. "Oh man, that was too close." Buneary then gave a curious glance. "I never knew a Pikachu could be so strong."
Laura appeared out of the rubble and gave an annoyed glare. "So you manage to survive my attacks. Well, that won't last long." With a swift movement, Laura came running in at full speed ready to pulverize Buneary.
Buneary was scared for a second until she remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot." Just as Laura was about to punch Buneary, she disappeared on the spot and Laura only punched the air.
Piplup was surprised. "Whoa, what happened to Buneary?"
Pikachu was thinking and a light clicked on. "Run Away." Piplup gave a confused glance. "Buneary's ability is Run Away. It allows the user to escape from battle or certain danger. Buneary must have remembered."
Laura was looking high and low for the Rabbit Pokémon. "Where are you Buneary? Are you going to hide like the scared baby you are?" She was answered with a Dizzy Punch that came out of nowhere that nailed her in the face. Laura was pushed back and saw that it was Buneary. "Decided to fight back, huh? Well I guess you aren't has scared as I originally implied." Laura charged forward and fired a punch right on top of Buneary, who disappeared at the last second. Laura's fist was stuck in the ground.
Buneary reappeared not too far away. "Time for an Ice Beam." The attack froze Laura's stuck paw making it harder to get out. "Bounce!" She launched herself in the air and came down, spinning like last time. Laura couldn't dodge or endure the hit, so she braced herself. The attack hit Laura with tremendous force, but the shockwave broke the ice around her paw. Just as Buneary stopped, Laura launched a punch at her and sent her into the ground, painfully.
Pikachu looked frazzled. "Man, Buneary is getting wiped out there."
Piplup had a thoughtful expression. "Something doesn't make sense. Why is Laura using common, normal attacks instead of using something like a Thunderbolt?" This even stumped Pikachu, who was now starting to question Laura.
Buneary jumped up from the ground and started up a Dizzy Punch. Laura threw a punch at it and the two were locked into a stalemate. They glared at each other with determination. They were pushed back a good distance away from each other. Laura punched the ground and removed a large chunk of it. She threw it at Buneary with incredible power. Buneary jumped towards it and used Bounce to send it back at Laura. She easily countered this with a mighty blow from her tail, obliterating the projectile.
"You might as well give up, Buneary. I know all of your tricks and you only know three moves. I, on the other paw, have a plethora of strategies and skills. Why are you so determined to beat me?"
"So that I can show you that you can't push me around…and to stop you from taking my best friend away from. The most amazing friend in the world, a friend who always helps me when I have a problem, a friend who is willing to give me a shoulder to cry on, and a friend who never gets mad at me for doing something silly or stupid. That friend…is Pikachu!"
Everyone was momentarily stunned by what Buneary said. Pikachu was the one who took it in the most. She thinks I'm that great of a friend? He was blushing a whole new shade of red just thinking about it. Though, most of the red was from embarrassment.
Laura looked touched. "Aww, that was really sweet. That was…beautiful." After she wiped away an imaginary tear, she grinned evilly. "But that still isn't going to make me stop hurting you." With unbelievable speed, she charged forward and tried to punch Buneary to end the battle. But Buneary caught the punch with her ears, stopping Laura in place. "What the- but I'm stronger than you."
Buneary grinned. "True, but even a strong opponent can be stopped with enough skill. Skill I actually have." Buneary gave a fling with her ears and sent Laura flying into the side of a tree. "Time for Dizzy Punch." Buneary ran forward, the rainbow punch ready to hit. But something was happening.
The rainbow color in her fluff went away and was replaced with a spiral of green energy with yellow stripes around it. When Buneary landed the attack on Laura, she felt like she was getting energy back. Laura flinched back from the attack and was sparking from her left cheek, which was where she was hit.
Everyone gaped in awe at Buneary's attack. "Cool, what was that?" Piplup wondered in amazement.
Pikachu happily answered, "That was Drain Punch!"
Buneary was just as amazed. "I can't believe it. I learn a new attack." She was jumping up and down. "This. Is .So .Awesome!"
Laura growled. "Yeah, yeah, real nice. But you still are going to get it." Laura ran forward, her fist charging with white electricity.
Buneary saw this and ran forward as well. "Let's give my new move another go. Drain Punch!" Green energy spiraled around her ear with yellow stripes.
The two attacks collided and neither was giving an inch. Electricity was flying from the separate attacks. The two adversaries glared at each other, not wanting to give up the fight. They kept trying to push each other back to gain the upper hand, but that was obviously not going to happen anytime soon. They were both running out of power in their attacks, not to mention stamina.
Their attacks finally lost power and the two foes collapsed on to the ground in exhaustion. Buneary was breathing heavily while Laura looked like she didn't break a sweat, yet she looked tired and exhausted.
Buneary started to speak. "I haven't…battled…that hard…in my entire…life!" She tried to get up to finish the battle and Laura was having the same thoughts.
That's when Pikachu stepped up and held out his paws at both of them. "Alright you two, that is enough. You two are out of breath and exhausted. I'm officially ending this battle." He heard a few complaints from behind him. Pikachu sighed and shook his head.
He started to march over to Laura. "Oh, hey Pikachu. Did you enjoy my awesome techniques?"
"What the heck was with all of that bizarre strength you had?" He demanded, completely ignoring her. "Don't you realize that Buneary could have seriously hurt or worse?"
Laura shrugged innocently. "Hey, she's fine. It's not like I sent her flying out of the stratosphere." Pikachu gave a small glare. "You're mad, right?"
"Ticked off, but I'm not mad. I'm just glad that Buneary is not hurt too badly." He then noticed that Laura's cheek was sparking, the same one Buneary hit. "Hey, are you okay?"
Laura was confused, but realized the problem and covered her cheek. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. That Drain Punch must have affected my electric sac. I'll be fine."
"Well, okay." He then walked over to Buneary, sitting on the ground looking nervous. "Now Buneary, before I get to the topic at hand, I think it's really cool that you finally learned a new move after so long." This made her smile. "Now back on track. I'm not angry or anything, but what possess you to have a fight with Laura? That is something you never do."
Buneary looked down uncomfortably and let a few tears fall. "I'm sorry, Pikachu. I really thought it was a bad idea at first. But the more I thought about it, the more that it seemed like a good idea. I just wanted to spend some time with you. But you seemed more interested in hanging out with Laura than with me. I thought this was the only way I could gain your attention. I didn't want to lose my best friend. I'm so sorry if you hate me for acting selfish." She covered her face with her paws to hide the shame.
Pikachu thought she lost her mind. Why on earth would she think I would hate her over something so little? He tilted her head up and sat down. "Buneary, it's going to take something larger than some battle to make me hate you. Why would I hate you? You're sweet, charming, funny, caring, and so on."
Buneary wiped some stray tears. "You're just saying that."
Pikachu pulled Buneary into a hug, surprising her. "I mean every word of that. I would never lie to you in a billion and one years. For all I know, what I said was cold, hard facts."
Buneary giggled a bit and wiped her tears. "Sorry for acting the way I was."
"No need to apologize." Pikachu pulled away, but still kept a grip on Buneary's shoulders. "Listen, I'll cut you a deal. If you can behave yourself and try not getting mad at Laura for any reason, we will go to the lake tomorrow night. Sounds like a deal?" Buneary was nodding her head with rapid excitement. Pikachu laughed. "I'll take that as a yes." Another thought crossed his mind. "Buneary, what exactly made you think that a battle was the only way to solve this?"
Buneary rubbed the back of her head. "It wasn't really me who came up with the idea. It was Piplup's idea."
"WHAT?!" Pikachu got up and glared at Piplup. "Why in the world would you tell Buneary that this was the only way to solve things?"
Piplup was frightened and confused. "What are you talking about? I never said she should go pick a fight with Laura?"
Buneary got up and calmly said, "But you came back into the tent and told me to battle Laura to get her to stop picking on me."
"No, I left the tent to get my breakfast so I could eat. Then awhile later, you start challenging Laura."
"Wait a minute," Pikachu said in thought, "Buneary said she talked to Piplup, but Piplup went to get his breakfast."
"I was with him the entire time." Pachirisu chirped in.
Laura pitched an idea. "What if it was the mysterious Pokémon we saw?"
"I doubt that." Pikachu said. "True, a Piplup can learn Brick Break and Aerial Ace, but they definitely can't learn Slash."
"Besides, that guy was twice my height when we last saw him." Piplup added.
Buneary puts a paw on Pikachu's shoulder. "Pikachu, for all we know, he could have been a Ditto that used Transform."
"I don't know. I have a hunch that Ryder is definitely not a Ditto. What ever he is or why he's here, he seems interested in us for some reason."
"Ryder?" Piplup, Buneary, and Laura asked in confusion.
Pikachu sighed. "Maybe I should tell you about something I dreamt last night. Come on, let's settle down and I will explain." They walked away from the partly destroyed field along with the other Pokémon. Pikachu still had one recurring thought in his head, a thought that has been ringing in his head for the entire day. Why did Ryder say I have to be careful with those I trust?
