Last time on Brock Troubles...

Pikachu: "Oh bugger, how does I win the contest!?"

Kanto Pikachu: "Stop being a scrub, yo."

Pikachu: "Okie dokie! *Runs towards lightning bolt before getting cliffhanger'd"

-Also-

Lucas: "I'm back, bitches!"

Mewtwo: "Get on my level, nerd."

Lucas: "D:"

*Pollyanna .mp3*

Chapter 10: Raging Rivulets

As Pikachu reached the tall, thunderous tower, he studied it for footholds to make his climb easier. Deciding on one of the jagged edges, he yelled, "[Quick…!]" and zipped up towards it, reaching halfway. As the first part of his move ended, he changed his trajectory, and yelled, "[…Attack!]" this time zipping onto the icy ledge. Once on the jagged edge, he did the same again to climb even higher, this time aiming towards the heart-shaped top of the lightning bolt.

As he landed onto the ice on all fours, he couldn't help but notice that standing on it sent a tingly feeling up his feet and paws, thanks to the sculpture's static electricity. It was a little unpleasant, but, being electric-type, it wasn't too bad. Poor Buneary, though. It must've stung like heck for her when she'd stood on the thing. That being said, she hadn't seemed too upset about being up here earlier, save for her super poofy fur, so maybe he was just worrying over nothing…

That tingly feeling wasn't the only problem inside the mini storm cloud, though; it was hard for the mouse to see anything other than murky darkness, save for the occasional jolt of electricity, which flew in front of his face, startling him. The darkness didn't matter, though. He already knew where he needed to go.

Jumping high into the air, Pikachu yelled, "[Quick Attack!]" and then zipped upwards twice, bringing him out of the storm cloud. Once he was high enough, he yelled, "[Thunder… BOOOOOOLT!]" and unleashed a massive surge of electricity towards the ceiling.

After a while of doing this, he stopped letting his Thunderbolt fly as he started to fall back down to the dark cloud below. As he fell down lower, his vision once again becoming obscured by the dark cloud, he grabbed the sculpture again, and held onto the top. There was nothing he could do now, except wait and hope.

Seconds went by, though each second was like another eternity to the mouse. After a small while, his heart started to race in concern. Why wasn't it working? Had he missed? Pikachu's ears began to droop. Oh man, he couldn't believe it. He'd screwed it up, hadn't he? And he was so sure of his plan working, too…

Before he could give up, however, he suddenly felt something wet drip onto his nose. As he looked up, a light trickle of water started to pour down from above, causing a big smirk to appear on his face, even though he was getting absolutely soaked through. Yes! His plan of creating rain for the storm cloud had worked! You could always bet on sprinklers being there to save the day!

As the makeshift rain poured down, he could hear the crowd making impressed noises, which was motivating. Despite that, though, he wasn't finished yet! Cloaking himself in electricity (which gave him a very shiny appearance, thanks to the water), the mouse leapt out of the storm cloud while spinning rapidly. As he came down, the light from his electricity, combined with all the water, caused a big, colorful trail to follow behind him.

After reaching the ground and landing onto his four paws, Pikachu stood up and spread his raised arms outwards while posing on one leg, causing a rainbow to briefly shine above him.

…That was probably the girliest thing that he'd ever done. Words couldn't express how glad he was that only Ash and Leavanny had seen that. Well, the only ones who knew that he was in disguise, anyway.

As the electricity that covered his body subsided, the audience burst into applause, making the mouse smile. As they praised him, he noticed that, thanks to the glow of the sculpture, the water from the sprinklers was twinkling! Needless to say, Pikachu had really outdone himself. He'd had no idea that it would look so amazing!

Amongst the cheering, Hoste spoke through her mic. "Wow, folks! She really used the environment to her advantage, didn't she? And without her trainer's orders, too! Smart mouse!" She paused. "…And there's nothing in the rules about it, so… you get a discount on this one, Pikachu!"

"Yeah! Way to go, Pikachu!" Ash praised loudly in his girly voice, which Pikachu triumphantly balled a fist at.

Looking at Buneary, as he walked back to his side of the arena, he saw her giving him a super impressed look, which made the mouse blush. It reminded him of all the times that she would praise him after a good battle, back when they'd been traveling together. It was a nice feeling that nobody else's praise ever gave him...

Dawn apparently didn't share the same feelings as Buneary, however. She was currently frowning, as if Pikachu's turnabout routine had thrown her for a loop. After some pondering, however, something seemed to come to her mind. "Buneary, jump on top of that structure and use Ice Beam to turn the water to snow!" she yelled, pointing. After a few seconds, though, her pointed finger faltered as she eyed up the storm cloud. "Actually… no, don't. It's way too dangerous up th-" Before she could finish, Buneary had already started hopping towards the sculpture. "H-hey, no, wait!"

Buneary hesitated for a second, but she didn't stop. With a surprising amount of determination, she quickly Bounced up the sculpture and made her way to the top, where she soon slipped out of view, due to the dark cloud.

As soon as he couldn't see her anymore, Pikachu began to worry, and, judging by Dawn's lip biting, it looked like he wasn't alone there. If Buneary didn't watch herself, she could end up in quite a bit of trouble…

That being said, she was very elegant and careful with what she did, so she probably knew what she was doing, Pikachu reassured himself.

As the cloud started to glow light blue, due to Bun's Ice Beam, Pikachu wondered about what Ash's counter plan could be. Maybe he'd ask Pikachu to zap the falling snowflakes to make them twinkly? Or maybe Ash had something more fancy in mind, like a hurricane of sparkling, electrical snow. Oh, or maybe he could even-

"[Eeeek!]"

Pikachu immediately snapped to attention as he heard a girly shriek. Oh no, what'd happened!? Looking up at the sculpture, his heart froze in place as he saw Buneary falling!

Immediately, Pikachu yelled, "[Quick Attack!]" and sped towards the sculpture on all fours, where Buneary was falling. As he got there, he stood, looked up and held his arms upwards, ready to catch her. Seconds later, Buneary came down into his arms and- Arrgh!

…Oh, right, she had Bounce, didn't she? Ouch… Pikachu dazedly flopped onto his back with his vision full of stars, and Buneary's big feet.

As she realized what had happened, Buneary freaked out and immediately stepped off of his face. "[O-oh no! Oh man, oh man, sorry, Femchu!]" She helped him into a sitting position. "[I'm so, so sorry!]"

"[Tha's alrigh', Bahnary…]" Pikachu replied, slurring like a drunken spinda girl. After a little while, he shook the dizziness away, though it didn't stop his head from throbbing... something that he kept to himself after seeing Bun's worried look. "[See? I'm fine! Besides, how about you? What happened? You okay?]"

Buneary looked relieved. "[Y-yeah, I guess so. I just… some electricity caught me off-guard, so I slipped,]" she replied, rubbing her ear tenderly.

"[Oh… well, I hope you're alright.]"

"[Yeah…]"

…He tried to ignore it, but, as he looked her over, he couldn't help but notice that her brown fur had gone all shiny, thanks to the water from the sprinklers pouring down on the two of them. It made her look so pretty…

Buneary started talking again. "[A-anyway, yeah, it's okay. I'm…]" She paused before gasping, her eyes locked onto him. "[Oh no! I made your face go all red…]"

Hearing that, Pikachu quickly turned away and covered his warm cheeks. "[Oh, er, don't worry about that! It's just… the adrenaline, y'know. Ehehe…]" he said, waving a hand dismissively, and hoping that the hall's darkness would hide just how red he was getting...

Alas, Buneary shook her head. "[No way that's just adrenaline, Femchu. Look, you're getting even redder by the second!]" Oh man… he was glad that she didn't know the real reason for the redness. Curse her and her pretty face…

Pikachu tried to reassure her that he was fine, but, before he could say anything, she'd already started moving towards Dawn, who was currently watching her in concern.

"[J-just stay here!]" she said, panicked. "[I'll go and get someone to help ya!]"

However, she barely got a chance to move before Hoste's voice blared out. "Huh, I don't think she's in there, folks. Um… think you could try and find her with the spotlight, Love?"

At her command, the spotlight moved from the top of the sculpture and wandered randomly. After a second or two, it found Buneary, who had started towards Dawn, though her pace slowed as she noticed the spotlight around her.

"Oh, there she is, folks! Looks like she wasn't in the cloud after all!" Hoste said. "And it looks like she's alright, too, thank goodness! Unfortunately, though, it looks like she wasn't able to pull off her risky little maneuver, which means that our winner is Pikachu!"

Pikachu's mouth opened wide in surprise as the audience applauded and the spotlight focused on him. He'd… won!? Still seated, he glanced over and saw Dawn looking down at her feet with her hands on her hips, as if disappointed with herself. Peering backwards, he saw Ash and Leavanny cheering for him excitedly, while Leavanny kept very close to Ash.

Pikachu didn't believe it. Did he seriously just manage to beat the best contest experts he knew, possibly ending the entire contest in his team's favor!? Wow, amazing! He'd actually pulled it off! Pikachu's team were the winn-

Buneary gasped. "[O-oh no, I lost…?]" She stopped hopping towards her trainer and stood there, before looking back and forth between the sculpture and Dawn in horrified disbelief. For one split second, as she looked at Ash, Pikachu caught a glimpse of her face and saw an expression of pure distressed shock. "[No, I… I… Oh…]" She stopped looking around and stared down at the ground. Then, after a moment, she started to very slowly walk back towards Dawn.

Pikachu's excitement faded away almost instantly. "[Er… are you alright?]" he called out.

She didn't answer, or even seem to notice him speak. She just kept walking, as if in a daze.

Before Pikachu could try and get her attention again, he noticed that she was walking towards a big puddle at the edge of the sprinkler's rain. Despite looking at it, she didn't seem to be paying it any attention, and, although it didn't seem electrified because of the sculpture, Pikachu still worried. "[H-hey, watch out for that-]"

"[Eek!]" It was too late. She reached the puddle and slipped, falling backwards onto her rear, and getting splashed by it in the process. After that, she just sat there, facing away from Pikachu.

Seeing that, he stood up. "[Oh man, Buneary, are you okay?]"

She didn't respond.

"[Buneary…?]" he asked again, slowly approaching her.

Suddenly, a loud sob pierced the air, and her paws flew to her eyes.

The second he heard that, Pikachu's breath caught in his throat. Without pause, he ran over and, with the spotlight in hot pursuit, stood in front of her and put both paws on her shoulders. "[Oh no, Buneary, p-please don't cry! What's the matter?]"

"[Oh, Femchu… I messed up! I-I've m-messed up so h-h-hard!]" Buneary said through her sobs.

Pikachu shook his head. "[No way, Bun, it's fine! You tried your bes- …O-oh.]" His heart froze in place as she looked up at him. On her face was the most pitiful look that he'd ever seen from her.

"[N-no I didn't… I-I could have d-done that properly, but…"] She buried her face into her paws again. "[Oh man, I'm s-such a big screw-up...!]"

The sight broke his heart. It was no secret that Buneary could be a little bit of a crybaby sometimes, especially if he gave her a scolding for whatever reason, but her tears would always dry up quickly afterwards, becoming all but forgotten minutes later. This crying, though… this was not one of those times. Right now, she seemed absolutely miserable. The contest couldn't have meant this much to her, could it?

Not knowing what to say, Pikachu simply hugged her. His fur became soaked by her soggy fluff as a result, but he didn't care. "[No way, Buneary. You're no screw-up, so don't say that…]"

After he moved close enough for the spotlight to include her, the audience started to murmur worriedly, finally getting a proper glimpse of the sad rabbit in his arms.

"Aww, poor Buneary. It looks like she didn't take the loss well at all," Hoste said, drawing some sympathy from the crowd. "How about we have a short break to give 'em a moment to sort things out? I hear that we have some warm, snuggly clothes in stock that a certain, cold otter would love to warm up with~!" Hearing that, the crowd immediately cleared out and headed towards the gift shop again. Normally, Pikachu would roll his eyes at that, but it gave Buneary some space to be comforted without hundreds of eyes staring at her, so he honestly couldn't be happier about it.

Glancing over Buneary's shoulder, as the hall's lights came back on and the sprinklers were turned off, Pikachu saw Dawn looking very worried all of a sudden. Hoste's announcement must have caught her attention.

After a small while, the sobbing stopped. Hearing that, Pikachu broke off the hug and helped Buneary to her feet. "[C'mon, Bun. Let's go and get you cleaned up, yeah?]"

She wiped her eyes and slowly nodded. "[Y-yeah…]"

Slinging an arm around her, Pikachu started towards Ash's side of the hall, leading Buneary away from the arena.

As Pikachu and Buneary arrived, Ash and Leavanny immediately approached them, looking very concerned.

Leavanny was the first to speak. "[Oh no, Miss Buneary, are you okay? Whatever happened?]"

"Hey, Pikachu, what's going on?" Ash asked, thankfully remembering to use his feminine voice. "Why'd you bring Buneary over here?"

"[She's feeling bad about what happened earlier,]" Pikachu explained, breaking off from Buneary and pointing towards the lightning sculpture.

Ash followed Pikachu's finger and saw it. "Huh, is she sad about losing, or something?" Pikachu nodded in response, making Ash frown. "Oh, well… is there some way I can help out?"

Pikachu shook his head before pointing to himself. "Pikachu, Pikapi."

"Oh, you've got this, huh? Well… okay then."

Buneary sniffled. "[Yeah, I… I should have listened to Dawn, but I didn't, and then I got distracted, so then… yeah.]" She looked down at her feet. "[It's no wonder that I didn't get anything last week. I'm the worst…]"

"[Aww, p-please don't say that!]" Leavanny interjected, kneeling down. "[I thought you were doing quite well out there. It was only a small mistake that any pokémon could have made, even me. Especially with all that scary lightning up there…]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah, Bun. Heck, if it wasn't for me doing… what I did, you'd have easily won. Not many other mons could've ever gotten as far as you have.]"

Buneary sighed before smiling feebly. "[I… guess so. Thanks…]"

After a second or two, Pikachu walked up to Leavanny and said, "[Say, d'you still have that handkerchief you made earlier?]"

Leavanny tilted his head before realization kicked in. "[Oh, um, absolutely! Here you go.]" He brought out his soft, leafy handkerchief and offered it to Pikachu, who took it and thanked him.

Afterwards, Pikachu moved over to Buneary and smiled comfortingly. "[Hey, Bun? Want me to help you dry off? You're looking a bit soggy there.]"

"[Oh, er, s-sure thing,]" she replied, not expecting the request. Afterwards, she faced away from Pikachu and sat down, allowing him to get started with wiping her fur dry.

"Ah, I get it. You want to clean her up, do you?" Ash asked, watching them. "Well, lemmie help!" He reached down and pulled off Buneary's soggy vest before turning around and holding it out. "Okay, Snivy! Use your vines to wring out the- …Snivy?" He looked around for a few seconds before his shoulders drooped. "Oh, right… Well, I guess I'll just do it myself then." Pikachu shook his head in exasperation.

As he got started on the back of Buneary's coiled ear, Pikachu suddenly started feeling a bit awkward. "[Er, eheh, hope you're not finding this creepy, or anything.]"

Buneary tilted her head. "[Huh? No, not at all. Why would I?]"

"[Well, to be fair, it's not every day that some stranger asks to wipe your fur dry…]"

"[I guess… Oh well, you're super nice, so I trust ya. Besides, Dawn combs my fluff too, so it's not all that different.]"

Pikachu smiled, both at the compliment and at her positivity slowly returning. "[Well, okay then. If you're cool with it, then that's… well, cool.]" He chuckled awkwardly before getting back to work, making her giggle lightly in response.

After a little while, Leavanny had weaved another handkerchief out of some leaves, and began to join in with drying her.

As Pikachu got to work on drying the back of Buneary's extended ear, he could hear her making contented noises. Hearing that, he smirked. "[You enjoying yourself there, Bun?]"

"[Teehee, yeah! It's kinda like getting some kind of spa treatment~]" she replied.

"[Heh, I'll bet. Well, the Pikavanny spa's the best in the region for a reason!]"

Leavanny smiled and nodded. "[Absolutely! We'll sooth all of your troubles away!]"

Buneary giggled. "[I certainly can't argue~]"

Pikachu and Leavanny joined in the giggling before going back to drying her fur.

As Pikachu started on the back of her head, however, his heart did a loop-de-loop as he noticed how bright and vibrant her lovely, chocolate brown fur was. He'd never paid so much attention to it before, but it was so lush, and silky smooth, and… Oh no, he was doing it again, wasn't he? The whole 'acting like Brock' thing.

He tried to stop… but he just couldn't stop staring at her beautiful fur! Jeez, why did everything about this bunny have to be so flipping adorable!?

…He tried to back-pedal on those thoughts again, but, this time, he just let them come to him. He couldn't deny something that was true; everything about her was adorable! She was cute, friendly, playful, strong, and she had such a bubbly, energetic spirit about her, too. All in all, she was beyond awesome, and he loved every second he spent with her.

Pikachu felt a huge wave of warmth wash over his heart as he thought this over. Darn Leavanny and Snivy. They were right, weren't they? About his... his… romantic feelings for Bun.

…Urgh, why did this have to be so hard to admit!? Man… is this why Ash had never tried dating? Had he also gone through juggling around with his own conflicted feelings, as if they were made of fragile glass, which could shatter at any second?

…Nah, probably not. Ash knew as much about romance as Oshawott knew about subtlety, so the thought of him being conflicted over a crush was just hilarious.

As weird and confusing as this new feeling was for Pikachu, though, it made him feel… happy. Like everything was right with the world.

Now he really hoped that his feelings were mutual.

"[H-hello, um, Pikachu?]" Leavanny said, snapping Pikachu out of his daydream. "[Are you okay? You've been drying Miss Buneary's head for a… a little while.]"

Pikachu looked down and realized that Leaf was right; in the mouse's daydreaming, he'd just been absentmindedly rubbing the same spot on the back of her head for an uncomfortably long time. Blushing, he quickly removed the handkerchief. "[Oh, er, s-sorry, Bun! My mind drifted for a sec, there.]" He scratched the back of his head. "[At least I didn't miss a spot. Eheh…]"

Buneary giggled. "[That's alright. It was nice and cozy-soft anyway, so I kinda liked it~]"

Pikachu smiled, especially after seeing that her depression had all but gone, with slightly reddened eyes being the only sign that she had ever been sad to begin with. "[Well, cool!]"

"Ah, there you are, Buneary! Oh, thank goodness!" a feminine voice said all of a sudden, catching everyone's attention. As they looked up, they all saw Dawn approaching them from the side of the hall, looking relieved to have found Buneary.

"Oh, h-hey Dawn!" Ash greeted, almost using his real voice out of habit.

"Bun!" Buneary said excitedly before waving towards her. Pikachu and Leavanny also waved while saying their own greetings.

Dawn gave everyone a short hello in return. Afterwards, she kneeled down next to Buneary, looking very concerned. "Are you okay, Buneary? You haven't hurt yourself, have you?"

"Bunbun," Buneary replied, shaking her head.

Dawn looked surprised. "Oh, you're okay? After the host mentioned that you were upset about losing, I saw you crying, but…" Dawn gave her a quick inspection. "…you're looking much better, now! And drier, too!"

Buneary smiled and nodded before gesturing towards Pikachu and Leavanny. "Buneary bun bun~"

Dawn looked at them. "Oh, have you been making her feel better?"

"Pika!" Pikachu replied, giving a thumbs up.

"Leavanny~" Leavanny said, smiling while still kneeled down.

Dawn beamed at them, moving over to stroke their heads. "That's great! Thanks to you both of you, she seems a lot happier now!"

Pikachu and Leavanny gave her a small cheer in response.

She looked at Buneary. "And I'll bet that this is where you were earlier, too, after that problem with the bowl of ice."

"Yeah, I think so," Ash chimed in, catching her attention. "I never got to see them properly, though. I was… busy."

"Huh, okay then!" She turned to face Buneary again. "I was wondering where you and Piplup had wandered off to. I'd have never guessed that you were just going away to make friends~ "

Buneary's smile became bigger. "Buneary~"

Returning the smile, Dawn bent over to scoop her up, allowing her to happily sat in Dawn's arms, cradle-style.

Once the bunny was comfortable, Dawn looked at her. "So what happened, Buneary? It was very dangerous up there, you know…"

Buneary looked down at her feet. "Buneary, Bun…."

Dawn held her closer. "Hey, it's okay, Buneary! Knowing that you're safe is more important than any contest," she said, making Buneary smile again. Afterwards, she winked. "Besides, I'll bet you were just trying to impress Pikachu by being risky like this one, right~?"

Buneary blushed and rubbed her arm. "…Buneary."

Pikachu was a bit confused by that. How did they know that he would be watching? That is, the 'real' him? This contest wasn't being televised, was it? Oh man… if that was the case, he really hoped that nobody had caught the shenanigans that had gone down earlier, such as the beak-licking, or the nose-biting. If that didn't start a rumor mill, then Pikachu didn't know what would…

"Here's her jacket," Ash said, handing her a very wrinkled-looking vest. "Sorry about all the creases."

Dawn took it. "Thanks! And no need to worry~. I can just straighten it out later."

Ash grinned after hearing Dawn's recognizable line. "Heh, well alright then!"

Dawn looked apologetic. "Hey, I'm sorry about all the trouble, Ashley. I would've gotten here sooner if only I'd gone through the arena instead of around it. It's a longer trip than I thought…"

"Hey, it's alright, Dawn! Don't worry about it," Ash replied. "Buneary's been a very good… er, buneary."

Dawn brightened up. "Okay then, that's good. Yeah, she's a little angel, isn't she?"

Ash nodded. "Absolutely!"

Buneary blushed. "Buneary…~"

Dawn nodded cheerfully. Afterwards, she looked thoughtful. " …Say, y'know…" She tilted her head. "…you kind of remind me of someone, Ashley."

"O-oh, is that so?" Ash asked, noticeably starting to sweat.

"Yeah. Heck, you even have a similar name!" She giggled. "Hehe, I guess he must be the boyish version of you then, huh?"

Pikachu and Leavanny started to sweat as well. Uh oh.

"Oh, er, haha! What a funny coincidence, 'eh, Dawn?" Ash asked, nervously pulling on the neck of his dress.

Dawn raised an eyebrow in concern. "Hey, are you alright, Ashley?"

Ash stiffened. "Yeah, just peachy! I'm just… surprised at the… comparison, and stuff!"

Dawn started to eye him up, almost seeming suspicious of something. Even Buneary was starting to give Ash an odd look now. Oh man, this wasn't looking good! Oh, trust Ash to lose his cool now!

Suddenly, Pikachu thought of something. Wasting no time, the mouse moved forward and hugged Dawn's leg, catching her attention.

"Chaaa~" he said in as bubbly a voice as he could manage.

"Oh, Pikachu? What's the matter?" Dawn asked, looking down at him.

Face brightening, Ash pointed towards him. "Oh, look at that! Pikachu wants to say goodbye to Buneary! Haha, how cute!" he said excitedly. Maybe a little too excitedly.

"Oh, is that right, Pikachu?"

"Pika pikachu!" he said, nodding happily.

"Well, sure! Are you okay with that, Buneary?"

"Buneary~" Bun replied, nodding.

"Okay then, well, here you go~" Dawn said, bending down to let Buneary hop out of her arms.

As Buneary landed, she moved over to Pikachu, who had let go of Dawn's leg to face the bunny. "[Well, I guess this is it, huh?]" she asked.

"[Yeah… for now, anyway,]" Pikachu replied. "[I get the feeling that this isn't the last we'll see of each other.]"

Buneary nodded. "[I hope so! You're a super good friend~]" After saying that, she continued to thank both pokémon for looking after her, receiving appropriate responses from them both as a result.

"Well, time to get going," Dawn said, looking back to her side of the hall. "I still need to get ready, and my other pokémon are probably wondering where I am."

"Okay then. Well, see ya, Dawn!" Ash replied, trying not to sound too relieved.

She waved and said her own goodbyes, which Buneary copied.

Before the two could leave, though, Pikachu had an idea. He moved forwards and gave Buneary a friendly hug. "[See you around, Buneary.]"

She acted surprised at first, but she soon wrapped her arms around him, too. "[See ya, Femmy~]"

Seeing the affection, Dawn cooed over them both, as did Leavanny. Ash didn't, however. Instead, he just smirked.

After a little while, the mouse and bunny both broke away from the hug. As they did that, though, Pikachu had one more thing to say. "[Hey, and remember to try and smile more, okay, Bun? Not for me, but for yourself. You deserve to be happier than you have been, recently...]"

She paused, looking thoughtful. Afterwards, she smiled softly. "[Yeah, I'll… I'll try. Thanks, Femmy.]" And with that, she hopped over to Dawn, who also turned and left after saying her own goodbyes.

As Dawn walked back across the arena, Pikachu saw something on Dawn's shoulder, hidden behind her ponytailed hair. Looking closer, Pikachu saw… Piplup? How on the planet had Pikachu not spotted that penguin already?

Then again, had Piplup even said anything while he was over here? Probably not. He was currently looking up at the ceiling, as if his mind was more distant than the sun. It didn't look like he'd even registered being over here at all. Tsk, if people thought that Oshawott was an obsessed pokémon, then they clearly hadn't met this guy yet…

Once Dawn moved out of earshot, Pikachu, Leavanny and Ash breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"Whew! Oh man, that was a close one…" Ash said in his normal voice, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Nice save there, buddy!"

"Pika, Pikapi!" Pikachu responded happily.

"Well… now that that's out of the way, I'm gonna go and get myself a drink. Do you want one?"

"Pikachu, Pikapi!" Pikachu replied, liking the sound of that.

"Leavanny~" Leavanny replied politely, also interested.

"Alright then, you two, stay here. I'll go and get us some!" Ash said before making his way over to the contest hall's gift shop.

Once the two pokémon were alone, Leavanny started to speak. "[That was a very nice thing of you to do, Pikachu! You're such an admirable friend~]"

Pikachu gave a soft chuckle. "[Heh, yeah…]"

Leavanny gave him a concerned look. "[Oh, what's wrong, Pikachu? Don't you agree?]"

The mouse sighed. "[Well… I dunno. I just get the feeling that she's still not feeling one hundred percent.]

Leavanny tilted his head. "[How so?]"

"[She's been like this all day. Constantly being sad and getting distracted by something I don't know about. She's not usually like that at all.]"

"[Oh dear, that is quite worrying… Whatever do you think might be causing this?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[Not a clue. I mean, crying after the crowd started acting like jerks towards her was understandable, but she's never cried after losing a contest routine before. Heck, she even lost a major contest once, and Dawn was way sadder than she ever was…]"

Leavanny nodded sympathetically before sitting down, legs crossed. "[Hmm… yeah, it sounds like something else is upsetting her, on top of everything that's happened in this contest.]"

"[I think you're right. Heck if I know what that 'something else' is, though…]" Pikachu sighed again, and stared at the lightning sculpture, which still hadn't been cleared away. "[I think you were right about something, though.]"

"[Oh, what's that, Pikachu?]"

Pikachu took a deep breath as he felt a blush coming on. "[I… I think you were right about me li…-]" He trailed off into mumbling.

"[I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part.]"

"[I, er, I said I think you were right about me liking Bune…-]" He trailed off into mumbling again. The mouse was starting to understand why Snivy was so stubborn about Oshawott all the time.

"[Umm… w-what was that again, sorry?]"

"[Ugh… I… I…]" Pikachu clenched his eyes shut. "[I really like Buneary!]"

Leavanny flinched. "[Eek! I'm sorry! D-don't be ma- …Wait.]" He stopped cowering and looked at Pikachu with wide eyes. "[Do you mean to say that you… romantically like her?]"

Cheeks burning, Pikachu avoided his gaze and twiddled his fingers. "[Y-yeah… I do.]"

Leavanny's face broke out into a massive smile. "[D'awww, how wonderful~~!]"

A small smirk worked its way onto Pikachu's face. Somehow he knew that Leaf's 'romanticist mode' was going to kick in…

"[So, does this mean that you're going to tell her~?]"

Pikachu shook his head. "[No. Not yet, anyway…]"

Leavanny looked disappointed. "[Aww, why not?]"

"[Well, it's like I said before: I don't really wanna start acting like Oshawott. I mean, it's pretty possible that she might like me, and the only reason that I haven't found out yet is because she's shy, but… I dunno. I just don't think it's a good idea to ask if we can date until I learn more. It's real hard for me to explain…]"

"[…I see. You're afraid that she might turn you down and that it might affect your friendship too, right?]"

"[That's…. pretty much it, yeah! How'd you guess?]"

A light blush went across Leavanny's face. "[Oh, well… I might have had a… similar line of thinking once or twice, too. Maybe…]"

"[Huh, really? Does that mean that you've had a crush on somebody before, too?]"

Leavanny chuckled nervously. "[Eheheh, oh, um, perhaps…]" He dismissively shook his head. "[Er, b-but that's not important. We need to find you your happiness!]"

Pikachu gave him an odd look. Afterwards, he shrugged, deciding to drop the subject. "[Well, I guess… but how?]"

"[Well… you could always act as 'Femchu' and ask her if she likes the 'real' you. It would make it seem like a curious question between friends, and not like a confession~]"

"[Huh… that's surprisingly devious of ya, Leaf.]"

Leavanny giggled. "[Tee hee! Well, I do have my moments, sometimes~]"

Pikachu chuckled along with him. Afterwards, he stroked his chin in thought. Leavanny's plan certainly made sense. If Buneary said 'yes', then Pikachu could act on it later when he wasn't in disguise! And if she said 'no', then he could just forget all about it with no need for any drama.

…A small stab of pain went through his heart at the thought of her saying no. He really hoped that he didn't have to go through that...

"[Well… maybe,]" Pikachu eventually replied. "[It might be a good way to get her to stop dancing around the question, too.]"

"[Umm, what do you mean, sorry?]"

"[It's not the first time that I've asked her if she has a crush on me. Well, sort of. Sometimes, after she's been acting flirty towards me, I'd say stuff like, 'Gosh, it's almost like you've got a crush on me, or something'. Just jokingly, y'know?"

"[Oh, how does she respond to that?]"

"[She usually just giggles and covers her face with her fluff, before saying stuff like…]" Pikachu pulled his stretchy waist-fur up to his face, let one of his ears droop half-way and, in a girly voice, said, "['Ooh, now wouldn't thatbe interesting~?' or 'Teehee, oh youuu, Pikachuuu~!']" Finished with the imitation, he let go of his fur, which snapped back into place. "[She never gives me a straight answer, so I always assume that she's just being goofy. Even if there really is more to it than that…]"

"[Hmm, goodness… To be fair, that does sound rather suspicious.]"

"[Yeah… I dunno, I guess I've just never thought about it hard enough…]"

After a few seconds, Leavanny took on an impressed look. "[I do have to say, though… that was a very good imitation! You even remembered to fold your ear, too! So impressive~]"

Pikachu bashfully scratched his neck, not expecting the compliment. "[Oh, heh, thanks! I work hard on my impressions~. It's almost like my parents were dittos or someth-]" The mouse shook his head. Now wasn't the time to start boasting! …Yet. "[Er, but anyways, yeah; if I talk to her as Femchu, she might decide to open up more and stop being so indirect, so I think that's what I'll do.]"

Leavanny smiled. "[That sounds like a good plan~. Confessing to your loved one is much harder than doing it to a stranger. For most, anyway.]"

Pikachu smiled back at him, though he frowned as he remembered a promise that he'd made to a certain otter earlier on. "[Oh yeah. We still have to convince Oshawott to let us go and talk with Dawn's team, though. We'll never hear the end of it from him, otherwise.]"

Leavanny's smile faltered. "[Oh dear… but what if he says no?]"

Pikachu crossed his arms. "[Pft, then I'll just go over there, anyway. Buneary's way more important to me than Oshawott's paranoid masculinity crisis. Even if it does mean that he'll never stop complaining for the next century and a half…]"

Leavanny gave an unsure look, though he nodded anyway. "[Hmm, okay then. Ohh, I hope he doesn't get too mad with you if that happens…]"

"[It'll be alright, Leaf, trust me. I mean, after having to travel with Piplup for so long back in the day, I think I've just gotten used to being constantly nagged at. So hey, what harm can a little more nagging do?]" Pikachu replied, making the caterpillar giggle.

After a few seconds, something else occurred to the mouse. "[Hmm, before I do anything romantic, though, I really need to find out what's been eating away at Bun's mind recently.]" He stared at the ground and sighed. "[Finding happiness for myself is pointless if she's not happy…]"

Leavanny sighed sympathetically.

Still looking at the ground, Pikachu chuckled lightly. "[It's funny, really. Back when she was still new to the team, she used to annoy the crud outta me. Heck, she even creeped me out at times… But now, I just can't get enough of her. I mean, sure she's gotten better since we met, but still… it's strange, isn't it?]"

Leavanny murmured in agreement. "[I suppose that she must have left quite an impression on you.]"

"[Yeah…]"

They stayed there in silence for a little while, each of them not sure what else to add.

"[…Do you think that she'll like me back, Leavanny?]" Pikachu asked finally, looking up at the caterpillar.

Leavanny smiled comfortingly and placed a hand on the mouse's back. "[I'm almost certain that she will, Pikachu. She seemed very, very nice, so I don't know why she wouldn't.]"

Pikachu nodded slowly, looking back at the ground. "[Yeah… I guess you're right…]"

Leavanny frowned in concern. "[You know... it's not quite like you to sound so unsure of yourself, Pikachu. You're usually ever so confident.]"

Pikachu sighed. "[I dunno. I'm no good at this whole lovey-dovey relationship thing. It's more complicated than dealing with legendaries, and, believe me, dealing with them is flipping hard. I just don't wanna mess things up for us...]"

Removing his hand, Leavanny looked confused. "[Huh. I always figured that you were very good at figuring out relationships, myself. You were very quick to work out Snivy's interest in Oshawott, and Oshawott's interest in... most girls.]"

"[Eh, that's easy, though. Stubborn people are always giving hints that they have a crush on someone, in their own weird way. And Oshawott… well, he may as well just have a massive, flashing sign above his head that says, 'Warning: Currently crushing! Run while you still can!']"

Leavanny giggled. "[Yes, I suppose so. Well, that is unless he really does like Snivy back, which I… honestly hope he does, although it's hard to tell, really; he's not quite so obvious about that.]"

"[Hmm, yeah, I have no clue either. He's so on and off about it that it's just…]" Pikachu groaned in annoyance. "[Ughh, who even knows anymore!? Man, why does romance have to be so flipping complicated? It's no wonder why Ash and Misty are so stubborn about their feelings for each other all the time. This stuff's impossible…]"

"[Yes... relationships can be very-]" Leavanny paused, suddenly looking curious. "[…Wait, feelings? You mean that Ash's old friend is his special somebody?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[They wish. They're worse than Oshawott and Snivy when it comes to that.]" He rubbed his chin. "[Heck, thinking about it, hanging around Misty and Ash for so long might be why I'm so good at noticing stubborn crushes. Didn't get any more stubborn-y than them two…]" He mulled this over for a second. Afterwards, he shrugged again. "[But anyways, yeah, they totally like each other, even if they're both more likely to quit pokémon training forever than admit it.]"

Leavanny cupped his leafy hands together. "[D'aww, I wasn't aware that they were so close! How cute~. I do hope that they open up to each other, one day. Preferably without the 'quitting training' part.]"

Pikachu chuckled. If anything could cheer him up, it was Leavanny the romanticist. "[Hehe, well, only time will tell, Leaf.]"

A few minutes passed in comfortable silence, save for a small conversation about why Leavanny's leafy handkerchief was soft instead of sharp, despite being made from Razor Leaf (It turned out that the sharpness of the leaves faded once they settled, which was interesting). Ash still hadn't returned from getting the drinks, so Pikachu assumed that the line to the gift shop must have been pretty huge. With so many people wanting to bestow gifts upon their newly-found 'goddess', Oshawott, it certainly wouldn't have been a surprise.

Looking across the hall, Pikachu noticed that Dawn had gone back to reading through her book, while her pokémon talked amongst themselves. Well, all of them except for Piplup; he just had his head in his flippers, as if lost in his thoughts. Pikachu wondered if he even knew that he was in a contest hall anymore.

Buneary seemed to be a lot more perked up than earlier, though the mouse still couldn't help but worry about her. Just what could be eating away at his girl's mind…?

…'His girl'? Yup, it was official. Pikachu had gone full-on Brock. Oh dear… if Oshawott could read minds, Pikachu had the feeling that all of the glares in the world wouldn't be able to stop that otter from laughing his shell off. Or scalchop, or whatever.

After a little while, Leavanny spoke, breaking the mouse out of his thoughts, which he was thankful for. "[Well… in any case, very well done with your routine, Pikachu. Your ingenuity was very impressive~]"

"[Hehe, thanks! 'Twas no problem, really!]" Pikachu replied, brushing his paw against his chest in pride. He wasn't happy about how his sprinkler trick had led to Buneary becoming upset, but… he had to take at least a little pride in his work.

Leavanny giggled. "[Tee hee! Oh, I'm sure it wasn't~. I do hope that you keep up the good work in the next routine!]"

Pikachu started to smile, but stopped at that last bit. Tilting his head, he asked, "[What do you mean? I'm done with the contest now, aren't I? I beat the best! …Unfairly, granted, but still!]"

Now it was Leavanny's turn to tilt his head. "[Hm? But… what about Dawn's final challenger?]"

"[Err, final challenger? But who could possibly… Oh.]" Ohhhh. He'd forgotten about her.

In all of the contest's shenanigans, he'd forgotten about…

…

Mamoswine.

…Wait, no, that wasn't right. Mamoswine was a boy, and not a very feminine one at that. So how could that possibly- No, wait! Pikachu remembered now! He'd forgotten about… Quilava.

That was a problem. She was nowhere near as graceful as Buneary, true, but she made up for it with a huge amount of energy and confidence backing her up. She wouldn't be an easy fight at all.

Even so, Pikachu wouldn't give up! He'd give it his all to win this! For Ash, for his friends, and most of all, for Buneary!

…Well, okay, fighting for her probably wouldn't work, considering that she was on Quil's team. Still, he got the feeling that, if she'd known who he really was, she would have rooted for him anyway, so why not?

He'd dedicate this entire fight to her! The first person to ever steal his heart…

TO BE CONTINUED!

Finished: 05/04 (April)/2015

Word count: 7,086

VGS2's pointless notes: *Holds chapter* It's been 3000 years…
Seriously though, for some reason, this ended up being the hardest chapter for me to write. In fact, it was gonna be a part of the previous chapter, but if I'd done that, you wouldn't have had a chapter for several months, which is terribly unfair, isn't it? Plus, it would have been ten thousand words long, so eh.

Also, I, for one, welcome our Lucas overlord. We've missed ya, man! :3

Now all we need is for all of the other guys and girls to make a comeback, and then Smash 4 will be complete. I mean, I'll understand if they don't all reappear, but c'mon, I'm sure Wolf could at least squeeze in, right? Then again, they'd probably give him that weird British-y accent that he had in Starfox 64/Lylat Wars that I don't like as much as his current one, so eh. "What's the bloody matter, scared~? We are going to have quite some fun with this thing!" How silly.

Major props to ravengal for this chapter. She helped me out with a lot of stuff this time, especially most of Dawn's dialogue, because I'm a big scrub when it comes to her, for some reason. So go and raid her ficcing profile, or something. Especially seeing as I subconsciously ripped off her Pikachu's manner of yelling "Thunder… BOOOOOLT!" Whoops!

Shameless promotion: If you're a big fan of angst and drama and Hetalia/Fire Emblem, then go and check out ravengal's profile. I hear that her more recent stories are somewhat bereft of reviews for some weird reason, so if you feel like being a good Samaritan, you could go over and give her one or two. Just a suggestion!

Also, thanks a bundle, everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited and/or followed this fic. You da best! :P

Welp, that's me done. Tata for now! c:

Next up: A furiously firey finale!