Author's note: Hi there!
... Okay. For anyone asking why Pikachu doesn't just kiss Buneary... that won't magically solve the problem.
The most he'd get out of her would be "Oh, good golly gosh, Pikachu! That was awfully forward of you! What did you do that for?" Then he'd still have to explain.
He wants to use words. Good words. Words that a kiss just can't convey. A'ight?
... Anyway, with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Twenty-nine: Dreams
Three shadowy figures were towering over him, their eyes glowing a menacing yellow. He gulped, shrinking under their gazes.
"You know why you're here, don't you?" one of them asked.
Afraid of their response if he said yes, he shook his head.
"No?" another asked. "... I think you're lying."
His heart rate increased. He shook his head again, denying it.
"Hmm..." the third said, "I think a punishment is in order..."
His eyes widened. Oh no...
"I agree," the first voice replied, "though what should it be?"
"Hmm..." the second said.
The third got an evil glint in his eye. "I know..." His eyes widened, glowing a brighter yellow. "For his crime, he shall drown! In ketchup!"
His panic skyrocketed. Oh no!
Suddenly, ketchup rained down from the sky, covering the area in seconds. Then a huge tidal wave of ketchup rose up and over him, sweeping him up and carrying him away. He screamed.
"Yeah, that's it!" the first voice called out. "Drown in what you stole!"
But... but he hadn't stolen any, though! He'd found it fair and square!
The tidal wave kept on going, but he couldn't stay afloat for much longer. With a cry for help that went unanswered, he fell beneath the red liquid.
He floated for a while, tasting nothing but ketchup. Wow, death sure tasted great!
Suddenly, he found himself floating through the clouds. He soared around one, through another and did a few loop-de-loops.
Several brown rabbits and foxes flew past him in the opposite direction. He waved to them and they waved back.
Lowering himself slightly, he landed in an open field full of yellow mice. He looked around. Wow, there were so many mice! And they were all singing! It was such a jolly tune that he couldn't help but join in.
They sang and sang the upbeat tune, a few even dancing around, until a gigantic tree grew in the middle of the field. Once it reached full size, it started sprouting ketchup bottles from its branches. One, two, three, there were so many! There was enough for all the mice here!
They all cheered, dancing around the tree in celebration.
Opening his eyes, Pikachu blinked. Then blinked again.
... What the heck kind of dream had that been?
Jeez, his dreams weren't usually that weird. Normally, they were pretty... well, normal. That one, though? What the heck had caused that?
... Oh, wait. Now he remembered. He'd snuck the remainder of the ketchup from Brock's bag and gorged on it before going to bed, hadn't he? Well, that taught him not to do that again...
He blinked again. Wait. Those three shadowy figures in his dream... He glanced around him at the three trainers all asleep in their sleeping bags. He sighed in exasperation. They'd been Ash, Dawn and Brock, hadn't they? They'd sounded like them, but they certainly hadn't acted like them.
... Well, as weird and wacky as the dream had been, at least it hadn't been an eevee dream. He hadn't had one of those in several days and, honestly, he hoped to keep it that way.
Snuggling back into a comfortable position, he closed his eyes again, ready to go back to sleep. Hopefully, he wouldn't have another dream filled with ketchup and weirdness.
It was then that he heard a whimper.
His eyes shot open. He paused, listening.
Then he heard it again.
Turning sideways, he looked at his girlfriend. She was huddled in on herself, an expression of distress on her face.
"(... Buneary?)" he asked quietly.
She didn't respond. Was she still asleep?
She whimpered again.
He edged closer. Pausing, he wondered exactly what he should do here. Maybe it was nothing? But, if that was the case, why did she look so distressed?
"(Buneary?)" he asked again.
"(N... No...)" she mumbled.
... No?
She curled more into herself, her frown lines increasing. "(C... Come... back...)"
Come back? Jeez, was she having a nightmare?
He shuffled a bit closer. "(Hey... hey, Buneary...)"
She whimpered again, still not waking up.
He wasn't sure what to do. Maybe she needed some form of comfort? Would that help? Lifting a paw, he gently reached towards Buneary.
"(N... No...! No...)"
Placing the paw on her head, he stroked it slightly. "(... It's okay... It's okay...)"
She whimpered again. Then her frown lines settled and she looked more peaceful.
He breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed she was okay now.
He kept gently stroking her head. "(It's okay...)"
She snuggled closer to him, still fast asleep.
He could only imagine what she was dreaming about. It didn't sound fun, whatever it was.
His strokes became slower and softer. She huffed out a small sigh of contentment at the touch.
Heh, maybe he was actually being a decent boyfriend for once.
Suddenly, her eyes fluttered open. Half-lidded, she blinked, looking confused. She looked up at him.
He stopped stroking, but kept his paw on her head, as he smiled at her. "(Hey.)"
"(Hey...)" She glanced around, rubbing at one of her eyes. Then she glanced upwards at his arm. She blinked. "(... Huh? What are you doing?)"
He removed his paw. "(You sounded like you were having a nightmare.)"
"(... I did?)"
"(Yeah. You were whimpering in your sleep.)"
She blinked. Then blinked again. After a moment, she lowered her head, looking down at the grass. Her unrolled ear drooped. "(Oh...)"
"(... Are you okay?)"
"(Yeah...)"
"(... Were you having a nightmare?)"
"(Y-Yeah...)"
"(What was it about?)"
She was silent for a long moment after his question.
He gave her a sad look. "(... You said 'no' and 'come back'. Did that have something to do with it?)"
She lowered her head further. "(... Y... Yeah...)"
"(... Do you wanna talk about it?)"
She was silent for another long moment. Just when he thought she wasn't going to answer him again, she spoke.
"(It was... about my... old boyfriend...)"
His eyes widened in surprise. Oh yeah, the ex-boyfriend! She hadn't mentioned him in such a long time...
But he'd been such a sensitive subject last time, so he had to approach this carefully.
"(... Oh. Is that so?)"
"(Yeah...)"
"(Um... so... what... happened in the dream?)"
... No answer. She wasn't even looking at him anymore, just staring at the ground.
Okay, so that wasn't going to work.
"(... Hey. If you wanna... talk about your ex, then...)"
She shook her head vigorously, surprising him with the sudden movement.
"(... No?)" he asked.
"(N-No... thank you...)" She fiddled with her fluff, still not looking at him. "(I... don't wanna talk about it...)" Her eyes started watering.
Alarmed, he tried to shuffle closer. "(Hey, hey! It's okay...)" He patted her on the head. "(It's alright... I won't ask about it anymore... okay?)"
She sniffled slightly. "(... Okay...)"
He started stroking her head again. "(It's okay...)"
She sniffled again. "(... I'm sorry...)"
"(It's okay... We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to...)"
She made a whining noise, but didn't respond. Instead, she closed her eyes and rested against him.
He kept stroking her head, since it seemed to be helping somewhat.
It was a while later when they both fell back to sleep.
Morning had dawned. Everyone stretched themselves awake, rinsed their faces with cold water and got ready to start the day.
As Brock began preparing breakfast, Pikachu snuck a glance at his girlfriend. She seemed a bit on-edge today, fidgeting with her fluff.
When they locked gazes, he threw her a comforting smile. She returned it shyly, which gave him a bit of relief.
He walked over and stopped next to her. "(Hey,)" he said.
"(Hey...)" she replied.
"(You feeling okay?)"
"(Yeah. I'm good.)"
"(No more nightmares?)"
She glanced away awkwardly. "(No.)"
"(That's good.)" There was an awkward pause between them. He struggled to find something to break the tension. "(... So, uh... do you often have nightmares about... um... you know...?)"
Her ear drooped slightly. "(... Sometimes...)"
"(Oh...)" The air was suddenly awkward again. "(... Well, hey... like I said, we don't have to talk about it... so, uh...)" He looked around for something to distract her with. "(How about we... maybe go for a walk, or something, until breakfast's ready?)" He turned back to give her a wide, toothy grin.
Her own smile widened a bit, though she kept fidgeting. "(Y-Yeah, sure... I'd like that.)"
"(Great! Come on, then.)" He took her paw in his own, smiling more genuinely at her.
"(Kay.)"
She began to walk, so he did, too.
Hopefully, they could put this behind them. After all, he really hated to see her upset.
... At least it wasn't him who'd upset her this time...
Sometime later, Pikachu and Buneary heard the call for breakfast. Making their way back to camp, paw-in-paw, they giggled together about what they'd seen on their walk. A tangrowth and a lickilicky in a heated battle, both of which had been impossible to take seriously.
"(Oh man...)" Pikachu said, "(when they got tangled, I couldn't stop laughing!)"
"(I know!)" Buneary replied. "(Me neither! I really didn't wanna laugh, but...)" She giggled harder.
"(Yeah, I know! I felt so bad, but...)" He giggled harder, too. "(Then they tripped over one another and fell in the river and...)" He burst out laughing.
Buneary grinned. "(Yeah and the looks on their faces! I don't think they were really upset, though.)"
"(Nahhhh. They looked more pouty than anything!)"
"(And they seemed to like the attention, so hey!)"
The two of them continued laughing as they walked.
Once he caught his breath, Pikachu smiled warmly at Buneary. It was nice that she'd cheered up after last night's nightmare. He much preferred seeing her bright, beautiful smiling face.
... He couldn't help but wonder about her ex, though. What had he done to make her so adverse to talking about him? If he remembered right, she'd said that he'd been 'really nice', right? So that probably meant he hadn't done anything horrible to her.
Then again, she'd also said that he'd left.
... Why, though? Who would want to leave such a wonderful girl? One that he totally didn't deserve, but couldn't be happier being with?
He had no idea. He'd meant what he'd said, though. He wasn't going to bring it up with her if she didn't want to talk about it.
Hopefully, one day, she would. For now, though, he was content just making her happy. After all, she deserved it.
