There's new content at the end of chapter 1, the middle-ish part of chapter 5 (the 'squirrel' one) and the later part of this chapter! You might want to check 'em out!
Other than that, I've just stitched chapters together to cut down on chapter length (even though I'll probably regret it by losing out on new reviews D:).
Either way, enjoy! c:
Chapter 10: Tears, a Chase and a Friend
Jumping onto the counter along with Ambipom, Pikachu quickly glanced around. "[W-What's going on? I heard Piplup crying!]" he called out to his friends, who were muttering amongst themselves further down the counter.
"[Yeah,]" Staravia called back, sounding stunned. "[Something upset him, so he pushed Dawn away and bolted out of the café.]"
Running closer to the group, Pikachu's eyes widened. "[What!? Why?]"
"[I-I dunno!]" Turtwig called back, looking worried. "[We were talking about Buneary's weird… thing, and then Piplup started crying outta nowhere!]"
"[Er…]" Buizel started, fidgeting uncomfortably, "[I was watching, I guess. I mean, how couldn't I, after Buneary's stupid thing?]"
"[Then spit it out, what happened?]" Ambipom asked, next to Pikachu.
"[Well, nothing! He just fumbled and dropped his stupid tray, just like he's been doing all day. I dunno what made this special enough for him to burst into tears, though!]"
"[Didn't you say Dawn said something to him, though?]" Staravia asked.
"[That didn't do it. He was already acting weird before that, and she didn't look angry with him, or whatever.]"
"[Ohhhhhh, I knew something like this would happen!]" Pachirisu whined, looking stressed. "[He's been getting more and more upset with each mistake! He was frigging bound to snap!]"
Chimchar said nothing in response, though the guilty look on her face spoke volumes. Especially since she'd been the most vocal out of everyone when it had come to Piplup's mistakes.
"[Holy crap…]" Ambipom muttered, looking at the exit in concern. "[Poor doofus. Knew I should've said something, back when he wasn't even looking me in the eye anymore. Y'know, when he was giving me cups and stuff to wash.]"
Exhaling heavily, Pikachu looked off to the side. He saw the maids - both pokémon and human - trying to keep things in order with varying degrees of awkwardness. Mostly by reassuring the customers that everything was okay. Strangely, the white-furred one seemed absent, but whatever, that wasn't important.
Ash was helping Dawn to her feet and asking what was up. Pikachu felt sorry for her when he saw that somber look on her face. This can't have been helping her self-esteem. Especially since she'd already been feeling pretty down all week, no thanks to losing those contests in such early rounds. On top of Zoey's annoying attitude towards it. That jerk head.
With another breath, Pikachu frowned determinedly. "[Alright, everyone, don't panic. I'll go and help him out. You just… stay here, until Ash and the gang tell you to do stuff.]"
Most of the group began to murmur amongst themselves for a short while.
"[Well, you are, like… his best friend,]" Turtwig replied, "[so if anyone can fix things, it's you.]"
Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah, I'll-]"
"[Hell no, screw that up the butt!]" Pachirisu exclaimed irritably. "[Piplup's probably God-only knows where, bawling his eyes out, and you want me to sit here, twiddling my tail? Hell with that noise!]" Hopping out of the maid outfit, Pachirisu jumped off the counter. The squirrel soon became lost in a sea of customers afterwards, who had gathered around to see what was going on.
Astonished, everyone stared blankly at the squirrel's abandoned maid outfit.
"[… Well then,]" Staravia muttered.
With a sigh, Chimchar nodded. "[Well, she has a point. I think I'm gonna go and see if Piplup's okay, too. It's the least I can do after everything I said…]" she said, turning and running towards the back entrance of the café, where the barn was. Probably hoping that he'd gone away to hide there, or to go and check the fields behind it, or something.
"[The more the merrier, I guess,]" Pikachu muttered before frowning determinedly again. "[Okay, I'm going, too. Wish me luck!]"
The others gave him some words of encouragement. Saying his goodbyes to them, he finally removed his maid costume and moved over to the side of the counter, scanning the floor for a place to land. He faltered when he realized just how busy the place was. He wasn't as small or nimble as Pachirisu, so he was going to get trampled badly if he tried that.
"[Hey, what's the hold up?]" Ambipom asked, getting closer.
"[I don't want to get stood on, that's what,]" Pikachu replied with a sigh.
Ambipom huffed amusedly. "[Oh, you wuss.]"
He groaned in exasperation. "[What? They'll step on me.]"
"[That wouldn't stop me from going through them!]"
He pouted. "[Yeah, well… you're huge, so of course it wouldn't!]"
She giggled. "[Alright then, pipsqueak.]"
He huffed, pout deepening.
She grinned at him for a short while before seemingly catching herself and looking away; most likely trying to get herself back on topic. After a contemplative second or two, she nodded and tore off her maid outfit. "[Alright, guess I'm coming to the rescue, then!]"
Pikachu tilted his head. "[Huh? How so-? Ack!]"
While he'd been speaking, she'd reached downwards and used her paws to grab him. Holding him close, she jumped high into the air and grabbed onto one of the support beams with a tail hand, using it to stay in the air.
Realizing that his face was buried in her chest, he felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. Especially when he remembered what she'd said earlier. Oh, good lord… as if the 'hugging Ash's mom' incident in Johto hadn't been bad enough already…
Thankfully, the monkey hadn't noticed his embarrassment. Instead, she was swinging from support beam to support beam, moving closer to the door. Despite the situation, Pikachu couldn't stop himself from smiling slightly. He always found her acrobatics fun to watch, and now was no different. The wonders of being a monkey, he supposed. Maybe after today, he could ask her to give him a ride through the trees, or something. As long as she promised not to tease him for fifty hours straight about Buneary, again, anyway.
Speaking of which, where had that rabbit gone? He hadn't seen her with his group of friends earlier. Maybe she'd gone off elsewhere in the café to do more of her weird nuzzling? Well, whatever worked, though he was going to have to ask her about that later. It was pretty strange behavior, even for her.
With a flip, the monkey soon landed near the entrance. Pikachu prepared himself to hop out of her arms, but she didn't let up on holding onto him. Instead, she ran out of the entrance, him in hand.
"[… Um?]" he started, wondering what was going on.
Apparently ignoring him, she grinned determinedly. "[C'mon, buddy, let's find us a piplup!]"
He blinked before letting out a breath. "[Y-Yeah. Of course.]" Whatever worked, he guessed.
Apparently satisfied with that answer, she began to climb the side of the building. She used whatever footholds and handholds she could get her many limbs onto. As she climbed, Pikachu angled his head to glance at the grounds below, hoping to catch a glimpse of Piplup. However, he saw nothing of note, save for some odd looks from the customers. Something that embarrassed him slightly, though he tried not to let that stop him.
He did a double take when he saw Pachirisu in the crowd. From the brief glimpse he got... he saw the squirrel standing on top of someone's head, staring up at the apparent circus act going on. Why the squirrel seemed so intent on watching them - and so soon after adamantly vowing to find and help Piplup at that - was beyond Pikachu, but whatever.
He was jolted out of his thoughts when Ambipom leaped into the air and landed onto the roof. Instead of simply letting him go, however, she picked him up with a tail-hand and placed him onto her head. "[Well, what're you waiting for? Let's find him!]" she said.
"[Er, yeah!]" he replied, balancing himself. With that, he got to work on scanning the fields. He saw many rows of flower beds and other pretty sights you'd expect to see in a garden, but nothing helpful. Still, he continued to watch out for anything useful at all. Anything that would let him help his friend...
Buneary hopped along the café's flowery pathway in hot pursuit of Piplup. The penguin had made a good amount of distance away from the café, but she could still see him. Even with all of the customers dotted about. Plus... it was hard not to follow him, with all of those sobs...
Also in her line of vision was that water-type maid from before, who was calling out to Piplup with no success. She was still glowing because of whatever move she'd used earlier, which seemed to be helping her move faster... though not fast enough for Buneary not to catch up after several especially long hops. Even with her own maid dress slowing her down a bit.
"[H-Hey! Mary!]" she called out when close enough.
After quickly glancing back at her, the maid groaned. "[I'm not-!]" She groaned again. "[Ah, nevermind. Er... madam.]"
Buneary grimaced. "[S-Sorry... um, fellow maid.]"
Sighing through her nose, the maid simply readjusted the frills on her head. "[It's... fine, madam. Let's just focus on getting your friend back.]"
Buneary nodded. "[R-Right!]" She hopped faster, overtaking the maid. She still wasn't going fast enough to catch up with Piplup easily, though. Since when was he so fast?
Her hard work paid off eventually, though. She was just a few hops away from getting to him!
After one more hop, she crouched down, took aim and pounced. She barely missed him and crashed to the ground, instead. Owww…! What the-!?
She pushed herself to her feet and took a look. To her horror, the penguin had managed to fall down a rather deep trench, resulting in a big splash.
Hopping over to the edge, she quickly glanced down in fear. She was relieved when she saw that the trench wasn't too deep. About four times her size, maybe. However, Piplup had apparently fallen into a wide river at the bottom of it. Thankfully, he didn't seem roughed up in the slightest. Not even a little bit, as one might have expected from falling. Huh… had he come down here on purpose, or something?
Buneary was alarmed when she noticed that a current was dragging Piplup along at a fast pace. It could be worse, though. He was floating down it on his back just fine, so there was nothing to worry about, there.
When she saw Piplup covering his face in distress, her heart began to ache again. What a depressing sight…
The water maid quickly caught up with Buneary and stopped next to her. "[W-Where is she?]" she asked worriedly, looking about frantically. "[She's okay, isn't she?]"
"[Um... sh-she fell into the river,]" Buneary responded, deciding to just play along with the 'she' thing. Who cared, really. "[Look, she's all the way over there, already!]" she said, pointing down the river.
The maid stared over at Piplup in concern. "[... Oh, frick.]" She blinked. She smiled pleasantly as sweat began to pour down her face. "[Um, th-that is to say, oh... dear. Yes. Oh dear, dear, dear.]"
"[Um... yeah. Er... you're water-type, right?]"
"[I... I gue- Suppose so, yes.]"
Exhaling lightly, Buneary tried to give her a reassuring smile. "[Y'know, you... don't have to be all maid-like around me if you don't want. I'm not gonna report you, or anything.]"
The maid stalled. "[... You mean that?]"
"[Yeah, we've got way... wayyy bigger problems than trying to be prim and polite right now.]"
The maid sighed in relief. "[Oh... thank frick for that.]" She flicked the apron on her maid dress. "[I hate that stupid, stuffy bullcrap, so that's a relief, lemmie tell ya. It's stupid.]"
Buneary blinked. "[... Uh... yeah.]" She shook her head and frowned determinedly. "[Anyway, yeah. Please, could you go save Piplup? The current shouldn't be a problem for you and your swimming skills!]"
The maid paused before sheepishly tapping her paws together. "[Er... I, er... can't swim very good.]"
Buneary stared at her. "[... Really?]"
The maid bashfully rubbed the back of her head. "[Yeah. Maid duties come before learning how to swim...]"
"[... Crrrrap.]" She sighed and began hopping forwards again, this time along the edge of the trench. She heard the maid following somewhat closely behind, though the footsteps she was making were a little odd. Quickly glancing backwards, the bunny saw her hopping along in an acrobatic manner, thanks to that move of hers. Was she copying Buneary's signature hopping? Well, it was doing wonders for the maid, if nothing else. By diving through the sky constantly, she'd started moving faster than Buneary, even.
In fact... with Bounce, the bunny could probably make her hops go just as fast! On that thought, she willed some wind to gather around her feet. As expected, she was able to spring much further with each hop, now! Even without using a full on Bounce.
Finding it much easier to keep up with Piplup, Buneary kept moving along the hill next to the trench. She had no idea what she could do to help him... but she had to think of something. And until she could, she wouldn't stop moving!
Eventually getting ahead of Piplup, she and the maid followed him for a while, continually calling out his name. It didn't work, though. The penguin was ignoring them. Aghhh…!
After a while, something occurred to the rabbit. Wait… Ice Beam! Of course!
Buneary produced some ice-cold energy in front of her mouth. Aiming in front of where the penguin was going, she fired it off. The beam struck the water, freezing it instantly and forming a wall.
Piplup bumped against it and stayed in place. He didn't seem to notice, though. He was too busy sobbing.
Though relieved, Buneary felt her heart break even more at the sight. This wasn't like Piplup. Not at all.
Sighing sadly, she wondered how to fish him out. When the maid wandered closer, she decided to ask her. "[Hey, Merr... Um...]"
The maid sighed. "[Look, just call me by my species name, or something. 'Kay, girly?]"
... And what the heck was that!? "[Um, alright... I-shower,]" Buneary responded sheepishly. "[Er, anyway, any idea how to get my friend out?]"
The maid stared. "[… That's…]" She huffed and waved dismissively. "[Eh, yeah, yeah, whatever. Not important right now.]"
Buneary grimaced. Whoops…
The maid looked at Piplup thoughtfully, as if trying to work something out. She looked to be growing increasingly frustrated, though.
"[Nothing?]" Buneary asked.
The maid kicked at the ground in irritation. "[Agh, no, damn it! I was bred to look hot and serve milk, not think!]"
Buneary groaned. "[Drat…]"
The maid looked at the penguin sadly. "[We don't have any time to waste, though. She's… really upset, ain't she?]
"[Yeah…]" Buneary mumbled. Huffing, she took off her maid outfit. She balled it up and flung it to the side. "[Alright, if it's what it takes... I'm getting in there!]"
The maid looked at her in surprise. "[What? Er... no offense, girly, but you look less seaworthy than I am.]"
"[Won't stop me!]" Buneary cried, leaping towards the water feet first. A short fall later, she plunged deep into it.
Though thrown off by the undercurrent, she soon resurfaced. Shaking the water from her face, she swam over to Piplup. An annoying task, because of the current, but the wall she'd created made things far easier.
When close enough, she gently gripped Piplup, who was still sobbing. "[Hey, Piplup… hey… let's get to shore, alright?]"
Piplup only replied with a quick shake of the head.
"[… Huh? But… why not?]" she asked.
"[… E-Everyone will… just h-hate me even more,]" he replied.
"[Huh? W-What? No, we won't!]" she replied, confused by his weird behavior. "[C'mon, Piplup, please?]"
Piplup didn't respond for a while. Eventually, though, he gripped onto her.
Nodding, she paddled over to the riverbank next to the big hill.
When she was close enough, the maid - who was down on the riverbank now - grabbed hold of Piplup. "[H-Hey, hey…. easy, there, babe,]" she said, hoisting him up onto dry land while smiling gently. "[Hey, you okay?]"
Crying harder, Piplup wrapped his arms around her. "[W-Why…?]" he started, going off into a mumble.
"[W… Why what?]"
"[Why am I so… useless?]" he responded, breaking off into more sobs.
Buneary's ear pricked. Useless? Had she… heard that right?
With a very pitying look, the maid gently pat him on the back. "[H-Hey, hey… none of that, now, c'mon…]" she said.
"[But it's t-true…!]" Piplup replied. "[I-I-I'm just a nuisance n-nobody likes…!]"
"[Piplup, no… What?]" Buneary called to him. "[That's not true!]"
"[Yes, it is…]" he sobbed. "[I… I try so hard, and it's never enough…! And all I ever do is screw it all up a-and make everyone hate me more…!]" He buried his face into the maid's apron. "[M-M-Mom was right. I am a l-loser…!]" He started sobbing inconsolably.
Buneary felt her heart rip in two. "[Awww, Piplup, don't say that…!]" she said, climbing onto the riverbank. She got closer and wrapped her arms around Piplup, pulling him into a joint hug. "[You're not a loser, so don't ever say that…]"
"[B-… But..!]" the penguin started, turning his head to the side to see her.
Buneary put a paw against his beak to shush him. "[Hey. The only losers I know of come from a team obsessed with rockets. And last I checked, you're on no team like that! You're on a team of winners!]"
She saw his eyes widen, despite the tears.
"[Yeah, yeah, I'll agree with her, babe!]" the maid added. "[Didn't notice it 'till someone said it out loud… but you're a hhhhell of a hard worker, ain't ya? Didn't take a single break!]"
"[I… am?]" he asked.
"[Yeah, Pachirisu said that!]" Buneary replied. "[And he's right! Even if you had a few accidents here and there, it doesn't matter. You were really trying, and that's where it counts! I'm proud of ya!]"
Piplup stared at her. His beak's lip trembled. "[B-B-Buneary…!]" he whimpered. He cried harder.
Buneary just kept on hugging him, along with the maid.
Pikachu and Ambipom had been searching from the café roof for well over a minute now, and things weren't looking up. There were many humans and pokémon dotted about, most of which seemed to be in line for the café... but no Piplup. Not even in the flowers or bushes, where Pikachu had expected him to have hidden away.
After a short while passed, he sighed. "[Absolutely nothing.]"
"[Yup, you and me both,]" she replied. Brightening slightly, she pointed towards a huge milk silo attached to the building nearby. "[Hey, how about from up there? It's certainly tall enough.]"
"[Good idea. Let's go!]"
Nodding, she quickly got to work on climbing the tall structure. Being good at balancing, the mouse had no trouble staying on top of her big head, even as her massive hair strands tickled his face. As she climbed, he got to work on searching some more, this time in the direction of the woods.
Out of nowhere, though, Pachirisu suddenly appeared in front of him on top of Ambipom's head. Pikachu's heart nearly flew out of his chest at the sight. "[Ack! What the-!? Pachirisu, what-?]"
"[Hey! Hey! Are you guys climbing up the tower?]" the squirrel asked excitedly.
While Ambipom murmured something out confusedly, Pikachu gave Pachirisu an odd look. "[... Er... yeah?]" he said.
Pachirisu giggled excitedly. "[Ooh~! I'm gonna race you to the top, then!]"
"[The heck, kid?]" Ambipom retorted, sounding somewhat irritated. "[Weren't you helping us, or somet-?]"
"[You'll never ever beat me! Are you ready?]" Pachirisu interrupted, completely ignoring her. "[Three-two-one-aaaand-go!]" The squirrel set off, half-running, half-climbing up the silo at a surprisingly rapid pace. Even for Pachirisu.
Pikachu and Ambipom paused for a while. The mouse couldn't see the monkey's face, but he assumed she was just as flabbergasted as he was.
"[... Wow, that was weird, even for him,]" Ambipom eventually said.
"[Yeah...]" Pikachu replied before shrugging. "[Whatever, let's keep at it. Even if we did just lose a race, apparently.]"
"[Heh, righty-ho!]"
With that, she continued to climb again. For the entire duration, Pikachu kept scanning the area. He frowned as his search still came up short. Just where was that penguin? Thanks to the way he was, he usually had quite a big presence, so this was odd indeed. Pikachu's only guess was that Piplup must've gone away to hide, or something. Again, very strange behavior indeed...
Soon enough, Ambipom was at the top of the milk silo. Already on top, though, was Pachirisu, who was dancing about triumphantly.
"[Yes! I knew I'd win, I knew I would!]" the squirrel sang before doing a backflip and a pose. "[Zippy is still number oooone!]"
... Now Pikachu was truly confused. The heck? It was like the squirrel had completely changed personality. It must've been Pachirisu, though. The voice... the appearance... the high levels of energy... It was unmistakable, if not for the weird narcissism out of nowhere.
"[Er...]" Ambipom started, "[the stress of what happened to Piplup getting to you or something, kid?]"
The squirrel's head cocked to the side.
"[And... what's a 'zippy?']" Pikachu added with his own head tilted. "[And what makes it number one?]"
Pachirisu gave them an odd look. "[What's a Zippy? I'm Zippy! And I'm always number one!]" the squirrel responded, finishing with another pose.
"[... Huh,]" Pikachu responded, not really any less confused but still going along with it. "[So... your name's actually Zippy, is it?]"
Pachirisu... or 'Zippy' nodded exaggeratedly. "[Yup!]" The squirrel's face lit up upon eyeing up Pikachu, who was still on top of Ambipom's head. "[Oh! Another tower to climb!]" Zippy leaped towards one of Ambipom's tail-hands, bounced off it, and landed next to Pikachu. The mouse yelped in response, and again once the squirrel jumped on top of his head.
Zippy giggled. "[Wooooo! And now Zippy's on top of the wooooorld!]"
"[... Okay, forget stress. Did you hit your head, or something?]" Ambipom said, sounding vaguely concerned.
"[Eh? No, I'm fine. You're weird,]" Zippy responded.
"[I'm weird?]" she retorted incredulously. "[Look in a mirror, kid!]"
The squirrel hopped up and down, giving Pikachu a mild headache. "[Ooh, great idea! I wanna see my great, one-of-a-kind reflection! Heehee!]" Zippy gasped lightly and began to peer over the edge of Pikachu's head, viewing the crowd below. "[Oh, oh! I wonder if my trainer can see me? I hope so! I wanna be more interesting than the penguin that had water pouring out the eyes!]"
The mouse groaned exasperatedly. He stalled as he realized what Zippy had mentioned, though. "[... Say, Zippy?]"
"[Zippy! That was easy! Anything else I should say?]"
Pikachu snorted. "[Now that's not what I-]"
Ambipom gasped lightly. "[Oh, totally! The penguin! Tell us where he ran off to!]" she said.
Zippy paused briefly. "[Huh?]"
"[Say that, and you'll... win the game of... being number one at penguin finding.]"
"[Really?]" Zippy responded excitedly.
Pikachu hummed in realization. "[Yeah! It's like... that book, 'Where's Walrein?' Have you ever played that?]"
"[Oooh, yes, yes! I'm great at that!]" Zippy responded excitedly, hanging over the edge of Pikachu's head to stare him directly in the face. "[I always look for the growlithe's tail, and then the alakazam wizard's spoon stuff, and then Walrein, and I do it all in a buncha seconds! It's really, really easy for me!]"
"[That's... really great, Zippy,]" Pikachu responded, forcing a big smile. "[Well, we've been trying to play that game with our penguin friend, but... we're not very good at it.]"
"[Yeah,]" Ambipom added, "[so go track Piplup down for us and then come back, won't'cha? When you tell us where you found him, we'll call ya legendary!]"
Zippy gasped in awe. "[Legendary!? I'm on it! I'll do it in seconds flat, because Zippy is...]" The squirrel leaped off Pikachu's head and then off the silo, "[number oooooone!]"
Pikachu and Ambipom could only watch in confusion as the squirrel disappeared down the side of the building.
"[... Please tell me that wasn't our Pachirisu,]" Ambipom said with an exasperated huff.
"[Yeah... that was weird, even for ours,]" Pikachu replied.
"[No kiddin'! Last I checked, ours was this sasslord smartass. That was somethin' else entirely.]"
"[Heh, yeah...]" He scratched his head, "[but then again, Pachi did say all that real surly stuff when I told everyone to stay put. That was weird, too.]"
"[So what, you think he has some... multiple-personality-disorder thing, or something?]"
"[Could do! I mean, how could anybody have even half as much energy as our Pachirisu?]"
She giggled lightly. "[Yeah... I've seen other pachirisu before, and none of 'em could run up and down a tree like the little spaz on our team!]"
Pikachu felt some sweat dribble down his head. "[H-Hey... don't call Pachirisu that.]"
She huffed amusedly. "[Why not? You know it's true.]"
"[W-Well... yeah, but-]"
"[Why not? Well, I can think of one good reason...]" a slightly high-pitched voice said from behind.
Gasping, Pikachu and Ambipom spun around on the spot. Completely unbalanced, the mouse stumbled off the monkey with a yelp and crashed onto the silo. Before he could slide off it, she grabbed the base of his tail and lifted him back up. He grit his teeth at the horrible stinging sensation, but he forced a smile and thanked her anyway.
Smiling back, she turned her attention to the surprise guest, along with Pikachu. As he'd thought, it was Pachirisu. Or Zippy. Or whatever the little squirrel wanted to be called now. If it even was the same electric-type.
The squirrel looked oddly unimpressed. "[I don't usually care whenever people talk garbage behind my back... but c'mon, you guys! Piplup's probably crying his heart out right now!]" Scowling, Pachirisu began to angrily hop up and down. "[So what're you doing up here, other than talking about how weird I am!? What's so important, huh!?]"
Pikachu felt his face heat up out of embarrassment. Wow, being told off by Pachirisu... that was a new low for him.
"[Hey, speak for yourself, ya little punk!]" Ambipom retorted in annoyance. "[What was that all about earlier? If that even was you.]"
'Zippy' looked ready to argue, but stopped with a blink. "[... Wait, what? I've been running across the fields like a lunatic looking for Piplup. What're you-?]" The squirrel paused before seemingly catching on. "[Oh, oh, right. The grumpiness? Well, now's serious time! I'm not pulling goofy antics when Piplup's-]"
"[No, not that, ya dingleberry! I mean up here, with us!]"
"[Yeah,]" Pikachu added. "[You were talking about being 'number one', and... well, you sure were full of energy. And I don't know anybody else that energetic, ol' 'I like to run up and down trees!']"
'Zippy' looked the most confused Pikachu had ever seen the squirrel. More so than the day 'Zippy' had first overheard Ambipom - an aipom, at that point - teasing Pikachu over Buneary, even. "[... What the f-]"
"[I'm back, and I did it! I found the penguin in no time flat!]" another Zippy chimed from next to them suddenly, making Pikachu yelp loudly. "[So that makes me legendary! Another sign of Zippy being number one!]"
Pikachu, Ambipom, and Pachirisu, who was apparently not Zippy, all stared at the newcomer.
"[… Ah,]" Pachirisu… that is, their Pachirisu, mumbled.
Very soon after, Ambipom huffed amusedly. "[... I knew it! No wonder you were slightly more likeable than usual, Pachirisu! Haha!]"
The squirrel looked somewhat offended. "[H-Hey, what?]" Pachirisu pouted. "[You're one to talk, you jerk! Made fun of any overly sensitive mice, lately?]"
"[Hey, who's overly sensitive? Leave my boy Pikachu outta this!]"
... Pikachu didn't know whether to feel touched by the comment... or embarrassed by Ambipom knowing exactly who the squirrel meant.
Breathing out a light sigh, he looked the real Zippy over properly while his two friends continued to argue. Hmm... come to think of it... this squirrel was a little smaller than their squirrel. Also, the triangle on this kid's head was definitely larger. Only a bit larger, of course, but still enough to be noticeable. That made things a little less awkward, at least. Considering that male pachirisus often had much larger triangles than the girls did, this little guy must be a boy.
Currently, Zippy was looking at Pachirisu as if the squirrel's head was made of candy. "[Wow...]" he muttered. He slapped his small paws to his cheeks in amazement. "[It's another Zippy squirrel!]"
Pachirisu and Ambipom stopped arguing to stare at the younger squirrel. Noticeably, Pachirisu looked far more confused than the monkey did.
"[... Zippy squirrel?]" the taller squirrel said.
"[Oooh, I've never seen another Zippy squirrel before!]" Zippy continued, hopping about excitedly. "[Not since Mama Zippy and Dada Zippy!]"
Pachirisu looked exasperated. "[... Er... Ack-!]"
Zippy had leaped forwards and begun to frantically manhandle the bigger squirrel. "[Hee! Another~! Zippy~! Another~! Zippy~!]"
Pachirisu began to frantically wiggle around to little avail. "[Wh-What the heck, kid!? C-C-Calm down! Waah!]"
Pikachu couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the sight. Ambipom was much the same way, unsurprisingly.
Coughing, Ambipom shook her head. "[Right, er… Yeah, Zippy?]"
Zippy's ears pricked, though he seemed to be too focused on crawling about Pachirisu's tail to address her.
"[You said you saw Piplup, right?]" she continued. "[Where'd he get off to?]"
Pikachu's eyes widened. Right, how could he forget!? "[Yeah, Zippy, you've gotta take us to him!]"
"[Huh?]" Pachirisu asked curiously.
The smaller squirrel blinked. "[Huh? But I wanna play with Other Zippy! I'm booored of playing 'Where's penguin'! I won, and that's all that matters!]"
Pikachu sighed. "[No, c'mon, Zippy, that's-]"
"[What?]" Pachirisu exclaimed suddenly. "[You know where Piplup is? For real?]"
"[Yup!]" Zippy responded, hanging off the edge of Pachirisu's tail. "[I won the game of 'Find the penguin'! Which makes Zippy legendaryyyy!]" He smiled proudly. "[Also, number one.]"
"[Ah, well, cool beans. Um...]" Pachirisu seemed to ponder something briefly. "[... Hey. Y'know what would really, really make you number one, though, Zippy?]"
The little squirrel gasped and gazed at the bigger squirrel. "[More number one!?]" Zippy cried. He began to rock back and forth on Pachirisu's tail. "[Tell me, Other Zippy, tell meee!]"
Pachirisu smirked up at Zippy. "[... Only if you race me to that piplup! Winner takes home the trophy!]"
"[Then I'm on it!]" Zippy responded, hopping off the bigger squirrel's tail. "[Three-two-one-go!]" He rushed down the side of the silo at a rapid pace on his two feet.
After a surprised yelp at the sudden speed, Pachirisu inhaled. "[Okay… I'm gonna follow him and drop some hearts. Make sure to keep up, alright?]" the squirrel explained, facing away from Pikachu and Ambipom.
"[Er… we'll try,]" Pikachu responded.
Nodding, Pachirisu jumped off the silo and, with a flip, landed and zipped after Zippy at a similar speed on his own two feet.
… Pikachu snorted in amusement. Zipped after Zippy. How fitting.
… He shook his head and frowned determinedly. No, no time for puns. Piplup needed him. "[C'mon, Ambipom! Time to go!]" he said.
She nodded back. "[Sure is!]" She grabbed a hold of him with her paws and, again, held him against her belly, facing outwards. With that, she leaped off the silo onto the building, and then leaped towards the trees of the forest. The place where the squirrels had run off towards.
Sure enough, as she swung through the trees the way only a monkey could, he spotted many pink Sweet Kiss hearts floating idly below them. All in a squiggly row that weaved in between trees.
"[There's Pachi's trail, Ambipom!]" Pikachu called out, pointing down at it.
"[Hey, what do you think I am, blind? I see it!]" she sassed back.
Pikachu huffed. Blind, indeed…
Without another word, she followed it from above. However, it wasn't proving as easy as the mouse had hoped. The hearts stretched a good long distance. Plus, the amount of times they'd had to swerve wildly to keep up with them had been bewildering, to say the least.
Eventually, after about half a minute of this, Ambipom groaned irritably. "[This is going nowhere! I wonder if they're even going the right freaking way…]" she complained, still swinging through the trees.
Pikachu gave her a curious look. "[What do you mean?]"
"[That Zippy kid… he's so random, I wouldn't be surprised if he's just given up on finding Piplup.]"
He frowned. "[Damn it, good point… He might just be racing Pachirisu for the sake of it, now.]"
She huffed. "[Well, fan-freaking-tastic.]" She paused briefly before huffing again. "[… Guess I'll just keep going until something better happens.]"
"[The only thing to do, I guess…]"
Agreeing, she kept up the pace, weaving around tree after tree as she swooped through the air.
She kept it up for what felt like another minute before Pikachu found himself biting on his lip nervously. Jeez, Piplup had really gone out of his way to hide himself a long distance from the others, hadn't he? Had he really been that distressed? The penguin usually let everybody know when something had annoyed or upset him. Usually with lots of melodrama. So to go into hiding so far away… how sad was he, exactly?
Pikachu's eyes widened. This reminded him of something. Honestly, it reminded him of… that one time so many years ago. A time when he'd been feeling alone, unwanted and betrayed, running aimlessly with tears in his eyes.
... Pikachu clenched his eyes shut. Was… Piplup going through something similar?
He slowly clenched his fists. No. He wouldn't wish that on any friend of his. Hell no!
He opened his eyes, a wave of determination filling his veins. "[No… Ambipom, we can't keep going around in circles. We've gotta try harder!]"
"[Eh? What'chu mean?]" the monkey responded. "[I'm goin' fast as I can, and I can't help it if they're not doing their job properly!]"
"[I mean… we've gotta look for Piplup ourselves. Screw chasing those two like headless idiots! We'll never get anywhere!]"
"[W-Wow, when'd you get so assertive?]" she replied, sounding somewhat impressed. "[… You're right, though. Let's get outta here.]" She strayed from the path, swinging in a completely different direction.
He nodded in approval. "[Thanks, Ambipom.]"
She nodded back. "[No probs, but where're we going if we're not following those guys? Got anywhere in mind?]"
"[Lemmie think…]" Pikachu mumbled, scrunching his eyebrows in thought.
He tried to think of places nearby, and how likely Piplup was to gravitate towards them. There was the entrance to the café with loads of flower beds… though it would've been easy to find the penguin there from the top of the building. There were the open fields… though Pachirisu had pretty much deconfirmed that. What with running about the fields, supposedly. Obviously, the forest was looking out of the question… So legends, where else even was there? Unless Piplup had snuck into the miltanks' barn, in which case Chimchar had probably bumped into him. That was probably a stretch, though. Why would the penguin have just run back into the place he'd run away from? Even if he was just running around blindly, it wouldn't make sense for him to just loop around.
Pikachu exhaled through his nose. Ughh, this was frigging impossible. He was starting to feel more hopeless than on that day he'd almost frigging drowned in the lake. At least he'd had a vague chance of accomplishing something back then.
Taking another breath, he tried to think of somewhere else to search. Suddenly, though, a thought struck him. Lakes… Piplup really enjoyed swimming, and lakes were surprisingly common in Sinnoh, so… maybe something like that? It was a good start, if nothing else.
"[Actually, yeah…]" he said, catching Ambipom's attention, "[know any good lakes around here?]"
"[Huh? A lake?]" she replied.
"[Yeah, or something else water-types would like.]"
"[Hm… now there's a thought.]" She slowed down slightly, as if thinking. "[… No clue.]"
He exhaled slowly. "[Dang…]"
She perked up suddenly. "[Oh! But hold that thought… I just got the best idea!]" she said, picking up speed.
He tilted his head. "[Oh yeah?]"
She suddenly used a branch to swing upwards. With a flip, she came back down and then grabbed another branch with both her tail-hands. The momentum caused her to spin around it wildly.
"[Ah! W-What're you doing!?]" Pikachu yelped, suddenly getting brief flashbacks of that octillery robot.
Instead of slowing, she spun faster and faster. "[Make sure you get a good look~!]" she chimed.
"[What the-]" he barely got out before the monkey let go of him, sending him flying through the air, screaming.
Rising high enough, however, he realized that he had a bird's-eye view of the place! Flipping around, he scanned the whole area below. He saw the maid café... a different café, which he couldn't help but frown at for some reason... the fields where Brock, Autumn and Ilta were having their 'bonding lessons' or whatever…
... Aha! He saw it! A long river that stretched across most of the fields! And even better, he could barely make out something blue, black and white inside the river! It had to be Piplup in his maid outfit! Though... huh? What was with that light-blue lightshow going on over there? Was someone attacking him!?
Feeling gravity start to take hold of him again, Pikachu frowned. No way he was going to let someone hurt his friend. Especially when he was in this kind of state.
Briefly taking on a nose dive for speed, Pikachu fell back to the forest below. Just as he was about to go through the leaves, however, Ambipom leaped through in the nick of time and grabbed him in her arms.
Falling, she grabbed a branch with a tail-hand. She grinned down at him, though she faltered when she saw his face. "[Whoa, jeez, what's that look for?]" she asked.
He pointed towards where Piplup was. "[I think I saw him! And he looked like he was getting attacked!]"
She gasped. "[Oh, God, really? Well, hell, let's get over there, then!]" She swung through the trees at a rapid pace. Eventually reaching the last tree, she leaped through the air. With a flip, she landed on the ground and started sprinting towards the penguin.
His anxiousness making him impatient, Pikachu prepared a move. "[Hey, Ambipom! I need to get there ASAP, so lemmie slide out.]"
"[Oh, er, sure,]" she replied, starting to loosen her grip on him. "[I know he's getting attacked 'n' all, but it ain't like you to sound so serious! You alright?]"
"[… Yeah, it's fine, don't worry. See you in a bit!]" he replied. The second she slackened her grip enough, he pounced forwards. Not even bothering to call out his move's name, he dashed forwards with Quick Attack, leaving the monkey behind.
While rushing along, he briefly squeezed his eyes shut. Even if he'd had the time, there's no way he could ever tell anyone about how he'd felt that day. The day when… he'd been abandoned.
Pikachu let out a long, drawn breath. No… whatever happened, he couldn't let any friend of his go through that. He didn't fully know the circumstances behind Piplup's breakdown, but… if he felt anything even vaguely like how Pikachu had felt…
He ran faster.
Buneary gave a sigh of relief. It had taken a while of hugging the poor guy… but Piplup's tears had finally calmed down. Thank goodness…
The maid, while still hugging Piplup, was pulling countless tissues out of her apron to gently dab away the penguin's tears. "[Feeling better, babe?]" she asked.
"[… A little, thanks...]" Piplup mumbled, sniffling.
"[Heh, sweet!]" She held the tissue to Piplup's beak. "[Blow, please!]"
He blinked. Nodding lightly, he blew his nose on the tissue. It left a bit of a mess, making his eyes widen. "[O-Oh no, sorry!]"
Buneary chuckled lightly. "[Eww…!]" she said jokingly.
The maid laughed. "[This one's got a healthy sinus, eh?]" With one paw, she balled up the tissue and gripped it tightly. She strained for a while before opening her paw up again, revealing... a playing card!?
Piplup saw it and jumped in surprise. "[W-What the-!? How'd you do that?]" he asked.
The maid chuckled some more. "[With one of my many sexy talents! Trump Card~]"
"[Trump... Card?]"
The maid stopped hugging him to show him the card. "[Yeah! Watch this, baby!]"
"[O... kay?]"
Buneary stopped hugging the penguin, though she kept an arm wrapped around him. "[Yeah, show us something cool, Marth!]" she chimed. She blinked. "[W-Wait, no...]"
The maid gave her an exasperated look as some sweat went down the side of her head. "[... You got it, girly.]" She grinned and brought her paws together. After a second's pause, she spread them, revealing eight cards. They were faced away from her, so she couldn't see them. "[Here, pick one, Piplup!]"
"[Oh, um, o-okay,]" Piplup replied. He carefully looked the cards up and down. They all either had the letter A on them, or pictures of two-headed royal-looking people. Princesses, maybe? Agh, Buneary didn't know much about cards.
After a short while, the penguin poked at one with a picture of a princess surrounded by… shovels, or something. "[Th-This one?]" he said.
"[Sure thing!]" Not looking at it, the maid brought them all together and shuffled them about continuously. Shortly after, she brought a card out of the pile and tossed it high into the air. She did this a bunch more times until all of them were in the air.
She outstretched her other paw and grabbed the one she'd thrown first as it came down. In a swift motion, she threw it to her other paw and then threw it back up again. At the same time, she grabbed the next one that had fallen and done the same with it.
She did this for a while before Buneary caught on. Huh, cool! Card juggling! Not bad at all, though with the maid's skills, it wasn't too surprising she could do that.
Piplup was watching in awe, so she could tell he was enjoying himself.
The maid kept up the rhythm before dropping a card instead of throwing it upwards. Buneary thought she'd messed up until the maid caught it between the toes on her flat foot. Flicking it swiftly, she tossed the card to the side, somehow making it curve upwards towards her other paw. She caught it and threw it to the paw that had dropped it before. She tossed it into the air along with the other cards.
She hadn't stopped there, either. She'd begun dropping all the cards in this fashion before throwing them with her foot. Her paws were working in crazy overtime to keep up with catching or throwing cards from above and below, one after the other.
Wow… so pretty! The way she was doing it almost formed an 8 shape! Jeez, this maid was amazing~! Buneary had never seen such skill before! Well, maybe save for a certain-… Alright, no, even he probably couldn't do this.
"[Woow…]" Piplup said, looking like he was in more awe than before.
"[Heh… save the applause for the end, baby!]" the maid responded. The cards she'd been throwing with her feet suddenly went off in a different direction. They'd started flying around the maid, as if orbiting her. They kept that up until they landed into her paw, which she used to throw them upwards like normal.
Watching the maid work, Buneary couldn't even describe the pattern that was going on. All she could say was that it was a good job she'd seen Pikachu's potato incident before watching this. Good freaking lord…
Piplup was having the time of his life. In fact, he was actually smiling again. The sight made Buneary's heart go warm.
The maid suddenly grabbed each card in-between her three toes as they fell to her foot, one after the other. Once she'd grabbed the last one, she twirled in place and kicked forwards. Using her tail from under her uniform to hold herself up, she held her foot out towards Piplup, revealing a card on the top of it. "[Yours, I presume~?]"
Piplup's look of utter awe was replaced with one of confusion as he looked at the card. "[… Umm… I don't think so,]" he said, scratching his head.
The maid blinked. "… What."
Buneary looked at it herself. "[Yeah… it wasn't a diamond with an A,]" she said.
The maid huffed in amusement, but she looked really awkward. "[Um… whoops! Well, er…]" She flicked it off her foot. With a kick, another one came out of her toes and landed in place of the wrong one. "[Second time's the charm~!]"
"[… Um… that one's wrong, too,]" Piplup said sheepishly.
"[… Third time's the charm!]" the maid responded, some sweat going down her head. She flicked the card - a princess surrounded by clovers - off her foot and replaced it with another one.
Piplup started to look awkward. "[… I don't think that's it, either,]" he mumbled sheepishly.
The maid stared at him. Scowling, she got to her feet and stamped the cards into the ground. "[Damn it! Man, I suck at this trick!]"
Buneary and Piplup yelped at the outburst.
"[Well… I thought it was cool, anyway,]" Piplup replied, smiling softly.
"[Y-Yeah,]" Buneary agreed, still not quite over the outburst. Maids, man… if they weren't being attractive, they were being freaking scary.
The maid sighed deeply before shrugging. "[Thanks, Piplup. Alright, which one was it, then?]"
"[I… think the one you wanted was that shovel with the princess,]" Buneary responded.
"[Heh, um… the queen of spades, yeah,]" Piplup corrected.
"[… In my defense, they both dig dirt.]"
Piplup chuckled lightly. "[Queens and shovels?]"
Buneary blinked before laughing. "[You know what I mean…!]" she said, ruffling his head feathers. He chuckled in response.
The maid laughed, too. "[Alright, gotcha.]" She kneeled down, sorting through the cards to get a better look at them. After looking through them all, her face fell. "[… Wait, what the hell, where is it,]" she said, flatly.
Buneary looked at all the cards on the floor. Sure enough, there were only seven there. "[H-Huh? Um… did you lose one?]" she asked.
The maid stamped on the cards. Repeatedly. "[Oh, son of a butthole, I can't believe this! Where the hell is-]" She stopped, blinking. "[… Oh-]"
"[Piplup!]" a voice nearby called out.
Buneary's rolled up ear sprung up. Was that Pikachu's voice?
Looking around, she saw the tip of his tail zip across the path on the hill near the trench.
What was he doing here? … Not that she was complaining, or anything.
"[Huh? P-Pikachu?]" Piplup called back.
Pikachu gasped and came thundering over. He peered over the edge of the river. "[Piplup!]" He jumped over the edge and landed next to them. He glanced Piplup over, looking really worried. "[Piplup, what happened? I heard you got upset, so I… Um…]" His worry seemed to fade into mild confusion. "[… Oh. You're alright, now?]"
"[Y-Yeah…]" Piplup replied. He smiled lightly. "[Buneary and Marina, here, helped me.]"
"[Mostly, er… Marina, though,]" Buneary replied. "[She's a lifesaver!]"
Marina. Yeah, Marina. Marina chuckled. "[Hey, you're the one who got her out of that dumb river. She'd still be floating if it weren't for you!]" she retorted.
Pikachu's features softened into a smile. "[Oh, well… great! Great going, you two! Thanks!]" he praised, looking between them.
"[Ahaha, no biggie!]" Buneary replied happily.
"[Happy to help!]" Marina added.
Pikachu faced Piplup again. "[Man, I was so worried, you have no-]"
"[Wait… Wait…]" the maid interrupted, her eyes widening while staring at his back.
"[Huh? What's up?]" he asked, turning to face her again.
She wandered closer, inspecting him.
"[… Er, w-what?]" he asked again.
She sighed heavily and put a hand on his shoulder. "[… Please. Buddy. I need to see your butt.]"
"[… W-What!?]" Pikachu screeched.
"[… Huh?]" Piplup mumbled, looking very confused.
Buneary felt her face go hot. Oh dear. She was getting reminded of a dream she'd had a few days ago. The one where Pikachu's butt had transformed into a tomato with a green stem for a tail, and she'd wanted to eat it. Dumb thing had turned out to be a cherry, but still.
"[Just for a second, c'mon,]" the maid replied. "[It's imperative! Life or death, even!]"
Pikachu began to sweat uncontrollably. He may have even been shuddering slightly, too. "[I, er, what? I… er… B-But…]"
"[Oops, too late!]" Marina chimed, reaching for his tail. Pikachu yelped and jumped away, though not before the maid suddenly had something in her paw. Something small and thin.
Piplup gasped. "[Is… that…!?]" he started.
Snickering, she turned it around. It was a card with a queen surrounded by spades… only the queen's face was replaced with Piplup's. "[Guess I found it~]" she chimed.
Piplup cheered before clapping excitedly.
Buneary stared. Wow… how had she hidden it in there!?
… Buneary tried not to let her imagination wander too much at that. Well… for now, at least.
Pikachu stared at it, clearly bewildered. "[… Huh!?]" he said.
Marina snickered again, wiping off the card. "[Gotta watch what ya eat, my gal!]" she joked.
He went really red. "[H-Hey, I didn't… I… H-Huh?]"
Marina grinned cheekily. "[Kidding, buddy! I'm just good with card tricks~]" She pulled a duckface. "[… And I totally knew it was the queen of spades all along. Obviously. And not only because you guys told me.]"
Piplup giggled lightly. "[Well… I'm impressed, anyway.]" His shoulders sagged. "[… I could never do anything like that…]"
Marina gave a sad frown. "[Hey…]"
Pikachu gave Piplup a surprised look. "[Huh? What do you mean 'could never'?]"
The penguin looked away and rubbed his arm. "[Well, you know… I'm not… very good at anything I do,]" he said.
Pikachu stared at him in what looked like disbelief.
Knowing what he was probably thinking, Buneary sighed. "[Piplup's… had a bit of a bad day,]" she said sadly.
"[Oh,]" Pikachu replied. Ears dipping, he went over to the penguin and gave him a rub on the back. "[Aww, what happened, buddy?]"
"[I… um…]" Piplup started.
"[Is… Is it because you kept making mistakes?]"
"[… Yeah.]" Piplup's gaze went to the floor. "[I tried to do good, but I'm… just not good enough.]"
"[B-But… that's not true! You can do lots of things!]"
"[Everyone else would disagree in a heartbeat…]" Piplup replied, rubbing one of his eyes.
"[No, they-!]"
"[Yeah? Well, screw them!]" Marina cut in, her frown determined. "[No one's a pro overnight! So who cares if you screw up? You're in training!]"
Piplup looked at her in surprise. "[Huh? B-But… everyone else is doing so much better, though!]"
She put her paws on her hips. "[Well, some people are just naturals. But y'know what? Those sorts of people get rusty all the time!]" She balled a paw. "[Rookies like you and me, though? We only ever keep growing!]"
He tilted his head. "[Huh? You? A rookie?]"
"[Yeah! I might be all acrobatics and great customer service now… but a year ago? I could barely hold an empty tray steady without injuring myself!]"
Pikachu huffed amusedly. "[Huh… I would've never guessed it, but it makes sense. I could barely zap anything a few years ago… and now, like a power plant, I could power houses!]"
"[Yeah, same! Kinda,]" Buneary added. "[I only learned what contests are all about a few months ago. Now I can go toe to toe with the best of 'em!]"
Pikachu giggled cutely. "[After just a couple of contests? Jeez, I think we have a new ego tripper on the team…!]"
"[Heyyy…!]" she muttered, rubbing the back of her head.
Piplup huffed amusedly. He paused, as if taking their words in, though.
"[Oooh, contests, eh?]" Marina asked. "[I've heard about those! You have to show off, right?]"
"[More or less!]" Buneary replied. "[Me and Piplup specialize in 'em!]"
Pikachu's eyes widened briefly. He smiled widely. "[Yeah, and Piplup's one of the best at what he does! And I've seen some good ones!]"
"[Hey, hey, yeah!]" Buneary added. "[And he's only been in the business a few weeks before me!]"
"[Hah, that so?]" Marina replied. "[Not bad at all!]"
All of the praise seemed to make Piplup's mood brighten significantly. He was giving them all a look of awe, like they'd given him a trophy, or something.
"[Y'know, where I'm from…]" Marina started, "[we have something real close to contests, actually!]"
"[Oh yeah?]" Buneary asked.
"[Yup! No battling or anything, though. You just dress up and showcase your skills with a dance, or something.]" She cupped her paws together dreamily. "[I've always dreamed of being in one! Just for the chance to strut my stuff for everyone all around to see!]"
"[… What's stopping you?]" Piplup asked.
Marina sighed. "[Well… maid duties, pretty much. I work so much that I don't have time for much else. I'm an awful battler… I can't swim… so yeah, following my dream's a bit outta my league for now.]"
"[Really? Aww… that sucks.]"
"[S'alright, though. With my maid skills, I'm certainly good enough to follow my dream, now, at least!]" She laughed heartily. "[Shoulda seen me the first day I tried copying what I saw on TV, though! I threw this…]" She took out a small, fancy tray from her maid apron and showed it off, "[like a boomerang while doing a ballerina twirl. But I kinda tripped over my feet and landed flat on my face… right as it was coming straight back towards my back end.]" She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "[… Pretty sure that's how I lost my hymen. Ehehe…]"
Pikachu spluttered. "[W-W-What!?]"
Buneary's face went red. Especially as she imagined it. Oh dear…
Piplup laughed. Like, an actual laugh. "[Um… oh,]" he said in disbelief.
Smiling brightly, Buneary chuckled. "[Hey, at least you never screwed up badly enough to get something lodged up ya, huh, Pip?]" she joked.
"[Well, there's certainly that, I guess,]" Piplup replied.
"[Um… n-no kidding…]" Pikachu muttered, face reddening.
Marina chuckled awkwardly while putting her small tray away. "[A-Anyway, point being… from the sounds of things, I'll bet you became a pro in no time flat, didn't ya?]"
"[Um… I dunno about pro…]" Piplup mumbled rather humbly.
"[Huh? No way! I'd say you are!]" Pikachu responded.
Piplup's eyes widened. "[Really?]"
"[Yeah, you win more than I do!]" Buneary agreed.
"[Oh… thanks,]" he replied with a small smile.
Beaming brighter, Marina continued. "[Well, being a maid's pretty similar, y'know! It's how I learned all my skills! While training, I just pretended I was performing for a crowd of hundreds!]" She put her paws to her hips and grinned smugly. "[All came to me pretty naturally after that, if I do say so, myself~]"
Piplup looked kind of inspired. "[So… I just have to treat it like contest practice?]" he asked.
"[Yup! Do that, and you'll be more of a pretty show-off than this fancy panties, here~]" she replied, pointing at Pikachu.
Pikachu pulled a face, his cheeks once again going red. "[What? Ughh, I'm not wearing any panties,]" he grumbled.
Buneary had to try her hardest not to laugh. She failed miserably, along with Piplup, apparently.
Marina, however, stared at him, face going very red. "[… Um… neat,]" she replied.
Pikachu blinked. His cheeks lit up about a hundred times more. "[W-Wait, I-I mean…! I…!]" He blinked. "[… W-Wait, we don't even wear those! What's with your reactions?]"
"[Buddy… we've gotta work on your wording,]" Piplup said. "[Saying stuff like that puts weird stuff in people's minds.]"
Pikachu breathed out a sigh. "[Y-Yeah… ugh…]"
"[Oh, you didn't mean it that way?]" Marina asked, seeming bemused. "[And here I was thinking you meant that you were going commando, or something. Like, everything hanging out, or whatever.]"
He covered his face in embarrassment. "[No…!]" he mumbled.
"[I mean, I wouldn't blame ya. When it's really hot out, I make sure General Winter's not looking, then I-]"
"[Oh, legends, p-please don't finish that sentence…!]" he mumbled amongst the chuckles of the others.
"[Ah, er, sure. Man, you're almost as bashful as my girl, Flower, is.]"
Taking a deep breath to calm her laughter, Buneary sighed out a small huff. Man, Marina wasn't wrong. That cute, cute mouse was a little too easy to embarrass, sometimes. Maybe a little bit too grouchy, too. Still, Buneary could easily look past it. What was a little bit of melodrama, anyway?
Looking at Piplup and seeing him smiling, she smiled, too. In any case, it was good to see that he was getting back to normal. Still seemed a little more modest than usual, though, but hey.
Shrugging, Marina pat Piplup on the back. "[Anyway. Hey, girly. How's about you shadow me for the rest of the shift?]" she asked with a smile..
"[Huh? Shadow…?]" Piplup asked.
"[Yeah! Follow me around, do as I do, and you'll be better than all your friends combined! Trust me, babe!]"
"[I… I dunno. I wouldn't wanna get in your way…]"
"[Hey, you won't. Just remember what I told ya, okay?]" She winked at him. "[If it helps ya, call it contest practice!]"
"[Contest practice…]" He stared down at the ground for a little while.
"[Hey, I'll even sweeten the deal with these!]" She reached into her maid apron's pocket and pulled out a packet of something.
"[Huh? What're those?]" Buneary asked.
Pikachu looked at it with a smile. "[Oh, hey, that's sushi!]" he replied. "[It's a Japanese snack that usually has raw fish and rice and other stuff in it.]"
"[Oh, that's sushi? Huh… doesn't look like it has much raw fish in it.]"
He giggled. "[It's not allll raw fish, silly. Just most of it.]"
"[Oh. Ahaha, well, shows what I know~]"
Piplup looked at it in intrigue. "[Raw fish? Er… is it safe to eat?]"
Marina laughed. "[This coming from a penguin?]" She handed the packet over to him. "[Here, try it. I think you'll love it!]"
Piplup stared at it. "[Hmm…]"
"[It's my favorite food, don'tcha know?]"
His eyes widened. "[H-Huh? Then why're you giving this to me? You deserve it more!]"
"[Hell no, babe. You've been through a lot, so it's all yours~. 'Sides, how could I turn down a fellow cute maid?]"
"[C-Cute…]" he huffed, his cheeks going red. "[Um, th-thanks.]" He opened the packet and pulled out a piece of sushi. He sniffed it before nodding. "[Well… bottoms up, then.]" He nibbled it.
Everyone watched him in suspense. He kept chewing until his eyes went very wide, his mouth slowing to a stop.
Buneary frowned worriedly. Uh oh. Didn't he like it?
He suddenly chewed at a rapid pace and swallowed. Sighing loudly with a look of content, he shoved the whole piece into his beak. "[Oh, schweet fw'ipping Palkhia on a stick, thish ish goood~!]" he mumbled loudly.
Buneary smiled brightly at that. "[Oh, fabulous~]" she chimed.
"[Yeah, that's excellent, Piplup!]" Pikachu agreed, applauding lightly.
"[Knew you'd like it, girly!]" Marina said, smirking.
Piplup swallowed and beamed. "[You bet I do! Oh, man, where has this been all my life!?]" he exclaimed, looking at his packet of sushi like it was a gold bar.
The others chuckled heartily. Well, nothing like some good food to cheer a guy up! Either way, Buneary was happy to see it. As much of a pain as the penguin could be sometimes, he was still her friend, so she never wanted to see him get as upset as he'd done today ever again.
It was kind of sweet, really. She'd always thought that he was just a mindlessly egotistical bird. He wasn't though. He was secretly such a sensitive soul underneath it all. She'd been wrong about him.
Maybe she needed to try harder to be his friend from now on.
"[There you are, Pikachu!]" a voice from above said all of a sudden. Looking up to follow it, Buneary saw Ambipom on the edge of the hill above, looking down. "[Been runnin' up and down the bank for ages looking for ya! The heck're you hiding for?]"
"[Oh, Ambipom!]" Pikachu called back to her. "[Sorry. Buneary and Marina were down here with Piplup!]"
"[Really? Rad, how's he doing?]"
"[I'm, er… fine, thanks,]" Piplup responded sheepishly, walking into Ambipom's line of view from behind Marina.
Seeing him, her eyes lit up. Smiling widely in relief, she jumped down and used her tail arms to pick him up. She brought him closer to her, making him yelp. "[Jeez, ya worried all of us sick, man! What happened?]" she asked.
"[I… screwed up and got… sad. I guess.]"
She looked shocked. "[Y-You did? Um… oh. Well, er…]" She paused to scratch the side of her head with a paw. "[You, er… you didn't screw up that much, really, did'ja? For a first day on the job, you were real somethin'!]"
He huffed. "[… Flattery will get ya nowhere, but… thanks.]"
She chuckled and booped him on the beak with her paw. "[Hey, who said anything 'bout flattery?]" She brought him even closer and hugged him with her paws. "[You're real neat, so quit being a dum-dum. 'Kay?]"
"[… 'Kay,]" he replied, his face buried in her chest.
Buneary smiled brightly at the sight. Sharing a glance with Pikachu and Marina, she felt her smile widen all the more at seeing theirs. They'd done so good!
TO BE CONTINUED!
Finished:
Older stuff - 22/11 (November)/2017
Newer stuff - 08/11 (November)/2018
Word count: 10,276 (XL chapter!)
Older title: 17: Spilled Milk
Times the word 'milk' was used: 3 (They're slipping…!)
VGS2's pointless notes: Hooray! We're one step closer to ending the maid arc! And all it took was a depressed Piplup. Fair trade off. XP
Oh, and even better, I've finally gotten all of the chapters up and running! Now the game can continue! :D
I've mostly gone back and fixed up all of the chapters to be a bit higher quality… though aside from that, there's not too many changes to worry about. The only things you might wanna make note of are the new sections in this chapter regarding Piplup… and the middle part of chapter 5, which has some important shiz regarding Pachirisu. Go check 'em out!
Aside from that, the fic has a new chapter naming convention. Please lemmie know if you like it!
… Oh. Though, at the time of deciding on this chapter naming convention, PokeMaster64's fic, Tribe of Fusions, apparently named a chapter in a similar way. (Homes, Heroes, and Havoc). Gosh darn it, now everyone's gonna think I copied him. XD Well, guess I'd better give his fic a shout out down the line to compensate. Once I've gone through all of the older ones that got lost in the chapter purge, anyway.
…
… Oh yeah, and I'm a bit late to the game, but… I'm sure some of you may be keeping up with the Sun & Moon anime. I'm also sure many of you have 'heard some news' of something, so to speak. Something relating to a certain pikachu, or another. I really didn't wanna comment on it, because I personally hate everything Sun & Moon with a burning passion of the Alolan sun… (which is apparently a different sun to the normal one, but whatever.) However, I've noticed some people freaking out about it, so y'know what? Sure, I'll say something about it!
All I can say is… so what? Alolan Ash and Pikachu are basically two different characters at this point. For me, the anime pretty much ended at Unova… though for some of you, maybe it's even later, at Kalos. For some of ya, it probably even ended at frigging Sinnoh. Either way, we can all agree that S&M (lel) is its own universe at this point. So I say whatever! It's pretty much Teen Titans Go, or that godawful Thundercats Roar thing that's coming out. Pretends to be related to the original, but it's so different in tone and canon that it's just... weird and annoying.
In fact, ravengal watched the episode… and Pikachu tried showing off in front of all the ladies, thinking that he was now a hunky lady killer, which is out of character for pretty much all the Pikachus in all the other regions, maybe save for the Kanto one. What does that tell ya? I guess he wanted a harem of girls, all along, or something. XD Is he Oshawott or Brock now? That's not all… afterwards, you know who expressed an interest, and he ran away in fright… but then she gave him and some other schmoe a nose tap, and then he blushes, and then… what!? What is his personality, anime!? It keeps changing every goddamn second!
Ah well, y'know what? I shall share with you a trick I've learned to dealing with this sort of stuff when writing me fics. That is, when the characters do stupid stuff that's demotivating, or baffling. You know that dumb (in my opinion) reboot movie they made, where Ash and Pikachu get a raging hard on for each other? Well, that completely changed things and ignored anything that would have made sense if they'd gone with Kanto Ash and Kanto Pikachu. Kanto Ash was a snarky jerk with a heart of gold, and Pikachu was a naughty, quirky joke character. Reboot Ash and Pikachu were… well, like the Kalos ones. Generic heroes. XD
Anyways, I'm sure you see what I'm getting at here. What you should do for maximum enjoyment… is just treat the fics you read and the fics you write as completely different universes to canon. Almost like they're reboots, themselves!
Use canon as the foundation, but from there, just do whatever you feel works for the story you're writing, within reason of course. And I don't mean just for lagomorphshipping… I mean for just about anything. If you make a character a certain way, and an episode or event or whatever doesn't work with what you've done… just pretend it never happened in your fic's universe, or try to handwave it away, or whatever suits ya. Trust me, you'll be happier while writing, and maybe it'll encourage you to get more imaginative with stuff.
Incidentally, in the episode, Pikachu didn't get any new, lasting shippings, so don't sweat it. Hell, he doesn't even care that he didn't get any. He was so apathetic about it that it didn't even show his reaction. XP
(By the way, if you actually do like Alola, sorry for the rant. I can get heated in me opinions, sometimes… XP Honestly, I think you'd probably enjoy something like the Yo-Kai Watch anime more, but that's just me.)
Shameless promotion: MewLover54's back at it again with another lagomorph story! This time, however, it takes place in the Mystery Dungeon world with some OCs! The fic's called Pokemon Mystery Dungeon- Explorers of Legends and it features Gracie, a modest, timid human who's now a buneary, and Tyson, who's a laddish, tsundere born and bred pikachu. The two form an exploration team and then get into all sorts of intense adventures! Also, romance.
Fic's cute and pretty cool right now! Plus, you can't go wrong with all the action that goes on within. I'd recommend it! :D Please go and review it with something other than the annoying "Update faster, you bundle of sticks!" sorts of comments he's been getting a lot in the past. Despite updating, like, once a week on average back in the day.
Fun mistake of the day #1: 'Spilt Milk'
('Spilt' is apparently the more British version of 'Spilled'. I don't want none of that bloody language in here, today!)
#2: 'Buneary to hopped along'
(Reminds me of the infamous fic, Sonic To A Car.)
#3: "[It's... fine madam.]"
(How complimentary. Calling her a fine madam. Let this be a lesson in commas, guys.)
#4: Buneary stared at her. "[... Really?]" "The maid bashfully rubbed the back of her head. "[Nope.]"
(Guess Marina lied about not being able to swim, or something. How impish!)
#5: 'She sighed and begun to hop forwards again,'
(Sounds like some weird kind of accent. "O'ight, mate! She soighed and begun t' 'op forwards again, she did!")
#6: 'And until she could do, she wouldn't stop!'
(How does one do? Unless existing counts as a do, in which case, Buneary just got intensely philosophical. "I think, therefore I do.")
#7: 'When she was close enough, the maid grabbed hold of piplup.'
(More of them!? As if the show didn't spam enough of piplups. XD Thank the lord Marina's here to grab them.)
#8: 'most of which seeming to be line for the café...'
(I imagine a bunch of stick figure-esque lines just hanging out around the café.)
#9: 'Zippy responded excitedly, hanging over the edge of Pikachu's face to stare him directly in the face.'
(Faceception.)
#10: "[Well, I can think of one god reason...]"
(Pachirisu now views him/herself as a god. That can't be good! I wonder if they're secretly the pachirisu from that one world championship from a while back…)
#11: 'Considering that male pachirisu often have much larger'
(... And then the laptop I was writing on crashed. Nice timing. XD)
#12: 'he glanced up at her curiously. "[Um... you okay]"'
(Look at suave-ass Pikachu, here. Not asking a question, but Complimenting his monkey friend. Clearly, he's a lady's man at heart. XP)
#13: 'Pikachu's eyes snapped.'
(And then he became one of them blind mice apparently.)
#14: 'Getting His anxiousness making him impatient, Pikachu prepared a move.'
(Some use the name 'His' when referring to God (Which explains Him from Powder Poof Gurls , I guess), so it seems Pikachu prepared a move as God grew anxious, and then impatient. Which is usually when he gets smite happy, so good idea, Pikachu! Run before something Arceus-y happens!)
#15: 'She flicked the card - a clover surrounded by queens - off her foot'
(The frick kind of card is that? The club of queens? XD Sounds like a rad weapon, in any case.)
#16: 'a princess surrounded by princesses'
(Another name for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, amirite?)
#17: 'Pikachu yelped and jumped away, though not before the maid suddenly had something in her paw. Something long and thin.'
(Whoops, she pulled something out that she hadn't intended to, apparently. XD Really gotta watch that wording.)
#18: '… Buneary tried not to let her imagination wander to that. At east'
(At west is fine, however.)
#19: 'Smiling brightly, Buneary chuckled. "[Hey, at least you never screwed badly enough to get something lodged up ya, huh, Pip?]" she joked.'
(Oh, sweet Jesus...)
#20: 'she felt her smile widen all the more at seeing there's.'
('at seeing there is'!? Noooo! I committed the ultimate sin! Posting a chapter with the wrong 'their' and a weird apostrophe! D: *Commits Sudoku to restore honour*)
Welp, that's me done. Tata for nowww! c:
Next up: The milk is cleaned!