Author's note: Hey there, guys and gals!

While working on 'Neo ITOD', as I call it, I came up with this story on the side. Just so you know, it has no relation whatsoever to A Gracious Gift, so you can hopefully enjoy these two stories separately! Pikachu and Buneary are even completely different, too!

Also, VGS2 has graciously allowed me to use alliteration in my chapter titles, just like in his fic, Girl Troubles! Which will eventually be getting a reboot, so look forward to that in the future, peeps.

All that aside, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

P.S. This chapter has had so many rewrites, it's honestly kind of ridiculous... XD

Chapter One: Rapturous Reunion

"Ready?" Dawn asked. "Come on out and say hi to everyone!"

Immediately, Buneary felt herself being pulled out of her pokéball. Ooh! New people to meet! How exciting! Maybe those mystery people that Dawn had alluded to were finally here!

Well, maybe she'd have known about them sooner, but she'd been kind of napping, so whoops...

For the past couple of days, they'd been hanging around Sinnoh champion Cynthia's villa with her and her butler, Jervis. Mostly because Dawn wanted to watch the lady compete in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup in two weeks. It seemed they'd have friends joining them now, though, which was quite nice!

... Perhaps it was all the contests, but she wanted to make a bit of a show out of her grand entrance, so she closed her eyes as she was pulled out of the pokéball. Once she materialised on the ground next to her five teammates, she smiled and lifted her arms in greeting.

"(Hello~!)" she said, along with everyone else's greetings.

Opening her eyes and lowering her arms, she looked around at all the surrounding pokémon. Wow! There were so many species she didn't recognise! So these were Unova pokémon, huh? She could see a crocodile, a pig, a mole, a crab, an otter, a snake and... The world suddenly stopped. Was that Pikachu?!

She felt her heart hammer against her ribcage as her teammates went off to mingle. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Oh gosh! There he was. Her golden angel of handsomeness!

Wow! It had been so long! She wanted to go over and give him a great big cuddle, but she was nervous. Super duper nervous. Did he even remember her? It hadn't been all that long ago since they'd seen each other, right? Just a few weeks? Or was it months? It certainly hadn't been years.

She was about to burst from her excitement. Gripping her fluff in her paws, she squealed in delight. Still far too nervous, though, she quickly hopped behind Mamoswine's leg to hide.

Peering around it, she put one paw to her mouth. Wow. He hadn't changed at all! Well, she didn't know why she'd expected him to change, but all the same! He was still the same super attractive mouse he'd always been!

Ooh, what would she even say to him? She'd gone over so many different scenarios in her head in their time apart, but they all seemed to be escaping her now! Gosh darn it!

She wondered how much had changed in her absence. What had he been doing while she'd been having her photo shoot in Sinnoh? Or winning contest ribbons in Hoenn? Had he been thinking about her as much as she'd been thinking about him?

Oh gosh! What if, now that they were in Unova, he'd finally realised how she felt about him?! It certainly would have taken long enough! She'd tried not to be too subtle about it, but, around him, it was sometimes hard to think straight. Okay, it was always hard to think straight around that handsome face, but she tried her best.

... Plus, Pikachu was a teensy-tiny bit slow on the uptake. How long did you have to nuzzle a guy before he noticed you liked him, anyway?

Then again, he wasn't even acknowledging her presence right now, so maybe he'd forgotten about her...?

Suddenly, Pikachu's ears pricked and he turned in her direction. Her heart stopped as their eyes met.

"(Hey!)" he said, smiling and waving. "(Buneary!)"

Her smile stretched all the way across her face. Well, scratch that thought! He clearly remembered! That was certainly deserving of a nuzzle!

Grabbing her fluff, she made her way over to him. She heard someone rambling something - something about someone being pretty and someone else being lucky? - but it wasn't Pikachu, so she didn't pay it much mind. Instead, she leaned against the mouse.

"(Heyyyy~)" she replied. The rambling stopped. Though, again, she didn't pay it much mind.

Pikachu chuckled awkwardly. "(Hi...)"

His fur was so soft, and he was so warm. She kept her eyes closed, revelling in the feeling. It was like swimming in a sea of warmth and happiness.

She heard some nearby chatter about shells or something, and an annoyed huff from a bit further away. Not long after, the same voice made by an intrigued noise, followed by hurried footsteps that were getting closer, and a cry of 'Go long!' Someone else starting screeching and rambling, and there were more hurried footsteps moving away.

... Well, whatever it was, it probably wasn't important!

"Aww~!" the female human who wasn't Dawn said. "So this little one likes Pikachu~!"

She most certainly did!

"Isn't that sweet?" the male human who wasn't Ash replied.

Sweeter than a pecha berry! Or maybe even a mago berry!

Pikachu gave another awkward chuckle. "(Yeah...)" he said.

Her thoughts trailed off as the humans continued to talk. Something, something, Junior Cup. Eh, wasn't important.

She envisioned Pikachu nuzzling her back. Returning her affection. Maybe, if she nuzzled him hard enough, her feelings would transfer through their skin like osmosis! Or something.

... Wait, what did Dawn just say? They weren't just going to watch Cynthia battle in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, but actually enter it themselves?

Opening her eyes, she saw Piplup approaching. She moved away from Pikachu slightly - only slightly, though! - and smiled at her teammate.

"(Really?!)" she asked. "(Since when?!)"

A light huff of air escaped Pikachu's lungs. "(Yeah, since when?)" he asked pleasantly.

Piplup put his flippers to his hips, looking smug. "(Since earlier!)" he replied. "(Before Ash even got here! Clearly, you weren't paying attention, Buneary!)"

"(Oh, wow!)" Buneary replied. "(I had no idea!)"

"(Yep!)"

"(Well, cool!)" Pikachu said.

Wow, they really were going to enter? That was pretty cool! It wasn't Dawn's thing to do this normally, but hey. It might be fun to try something new. Plus, it would be a great way to show off her new move to Pikachu! Ooh, she was getting so excited now!

"(You again!)" Mamoswine suddenly cried out, startling her.

Glancing upwards, she could sense a strange presence near Ash's head. As could Pikachu and Piplup, judging by their equally surprised reactions.

"(She's back!)" Pikachu said.

"(She?)" Buneary asked.

"(Who's 'she'?)" Piplup asked.

After some friendly coaxing from Ash, a floating pokémon materialised near Dawn's face, scaring the coordinator half to death. When she calmed down and leaned forwards in intrigue, however, the strange pokémon flew behind Ash's shoulder in fear.

As Dawn introduced herself and the pokémon relaxed enough to wave at her, Buneary couldn't help but smile. Huh. Meloetta was her name? She was awfully pretty.

"(Oh wow...)" Piplup muttered. "(She's... so prettyyyy!)

Startled by the outburst, Buneary jumped closer to Pikachu, putting a hand on his back for comfort. The mouse jolted slightly, but didn't otherwise move.

"(So very pretty...)" Piplup muttered to himself.

She blinked at the love-struck expression on the penguin's face. Huh. A new crush was apparently on the horizon! Hopefully, it'd go better than the one he'd had on Marill.

She could also hear some angry growling nearby, so maybe he'd stepped on someone else's toes? Figuratively, anyway.

She glanced at Pikachu for his reaction. He was staring very intently at Meloetta, though, and completely ignoring Piplup, so maybe he hadn't noticed.

After some more coaxing from the humans, Meloetta left Ash's shoulder and flew close to the ground. The pokémon all gathered around her.

"(Hello there!)" she said.

"(Hi, Meloetta!)" they all replied.

Huh. Now that Buneary looked at her, what could she classify her as? A human-like thing? A floating human-like thing? A floating human-like thing covered in musical notes?

Wait, was her hair a music sheet? And were those dots along it?

Wow, it reminded her of the musical they'd been to watch in Nimbasa City recently! There had been so many pretty songs and costumes, and it'd been so much fun to watch.

... Hmm. Now that she thought about it, she wondered if someone could play a song with the notes in Meloetta's hair. Ooh, what if it was a serenade? One that Pikachu could sing to her when confessing his feelings?! That would be the best day ever.

Speaking of Pikachu, all of his attention seemed to be focused on Meloetta right now.

"(So, Meloetta,)" he said, waving his arms to indicate everyone around him, "(these are all my friends from Sinnoh and Unova!)"

"(Nice to meet you all,)" she said with a smile.

"(Nice to meet you, too!)" various pokémon replied.

"(See?)" Pikachu said. "(They're not scary at all!)"

"(Yes, I see now!)" Meloetta replied. "(So sorry, everyone!)"

"(That's okay!)" various pokémon replied.

"(And, everyone, this is Meloetta,)" Pikachu continued. "(She's a legendary.)"

"(A legendary?!)" they all asked in awe.

Meloetta giggled. "(Oh, you flatter me!)" she said.

"(Well, it's true, isn't it?)" Pikachu asked.

"(I prefer 'mythical pokémon', to be honest.)"

"(So cool!)" Pachirisu said in awe.

Huh. Pikachu sure was trying hard to make Meloetta feel better! He always was fond of keeping the peace. Hopefully, he hadn't forgotten she was here, though. She'd have to remind him soon, just in case!

"(I agree!)" Piplup said, attracting Meloetta's attention. "('Mythical pokémon' makes you sound majestic and mysterious! Not that you aren't legendary, of course!)"

Deciding to leave Piplup to his flirting, Buneary turned back to Pikachu.

"(Hee!)" Pachirisu said. "(She seems nice!)"

"(Yeah, she is,)" Pikachu replied. "(She's very shy, though.)"

Buneary was about to interject, but Pachirisu accidentally cut her off.

"(No kidding!)" he said in a dramatic tone. "(Where did you even meet her, huh?)"

"(We first met her at Pokéstar Studios... uh, a place where they make movies... but she didn't stick around for long. Then we met her again when Cynthia almost ran her over.)"

Pachirisu gasped. "(No way!)"

"(Yeah.)"

Aha! Was that an opening?

Buneary opened her mouth again, ready to interject with a comment of her own, when a sudden commotion from nearby distracted her.

Glancing over at the source of the noise, she could see something going on with Piplup and the white otter, like they were having a fight or something. Everyone's attention was focused on them.

She pouted. Of course they had to ruin the moment...

Sometime after Piplup and the white otter had sorted out whatever their issue was, Buneary was really hoping to spend more time with Pikachu. After all, they had so much to talk about! Friends, adventures, feelings...

Unfortunately, he jumped on Ash's shoulder, preventing any such thing. Then, since Dawn and the green-haired guy had decided to battle, most of the pokémon got recalled into their pokéballs.

Well, she could always talk to him later!

Eventually, all the pokémon - including the three that Cynthia had - were called out again to eat dinner. One that the green-haired guy had prepared. Buneary had never eaten his food before, so she was interested to see if it would match up to Brock's usual standard!

Taking the bowl next to Pikachu's, she smiled brightly in his direction. He smiled back.

Turning back to her food, she picked up a pellet and took her first bite. Once the taste hit her tongue, she immediately swooned. Wow, it was delicious! It was like every flavour mixed into one! A perfect blend of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and dry! She blinked as she realised how much she sounded like the green-haired guy. What was his name again? Siren?

"(Aww, I really wanted to battle Dawn...)" Pikachu griped as he nibbled on a pellet.

"(Oh, well, 'no need to worry', as she'd say!)" Buneary replied. "(I'm sure you'll get to battle her soon!)" She punched the air in front of her with both fists. "(Then you can show her the ol' one-two!)"

"(Yeah...)" After a moment, Pikachu pulled a face at the pellet in his paws.

Buneary blinked. "(Hmm? What's wrong? Do you not like the pellets?)"

Pikachu heaved a sigh. "(They're alright... apart from the dry aftertaste.)" He stuck out his tongue in disgust.

"(Oh yeah, you don't like that, huh?)"

"(Nope.)"

She bit into another pellet, chewing it carefully to experience its full palate of flavours. Earthy. Tangy. Sugary. Hot. Chalky. As it rolled around her tongue, she swooned again in pure bliss. Making a noise of contentment, she swallowed it.

"(Oh, but it's soooo goooood~)"

Pikachu gave her a light smirk of amusement. "(Heh. Must be nice, liking all flavours.)"

She beamed back at him. "(It sure is~!)" She giggled. "(So! How's Unova been, anyway?)"

"(Pretty good, thanks! Lots of gym battles and crazy rivals. Heh. How was the photo shoot?)"

"(It was great! I got splashed all over the Poké Chic magazine! The 'hot, up-and-coming star' they called me!)" She smiled brightly. "(Pity I'm not a fire-type, or I'd be really hot! What would they call me then? The super hot, up-and-coming star?)"

Pikachu huffed in amusement. "(Maybe.)" He paused a moment. "(So where'd Dawn go after that?)"

"(To Hoenn! She has four ribbons at the moment! We're waiting on lucky number five~!)"

"(Well, I'm sure you'll get it.)"

"(Hee~!)" She winked at him. "(With you cheering me on, how can I fail?)"

Pikachu's smile turned awkward. "(Is that so...?)"

She giggled, lifting another delicious pellet to her mouth. "(Yep! You're my lucky charm!)"

"(Heh, thanks...)"

She nibbled on the pellet with much gusto. "(Nuh pruhblem!)"

The following day, everyone was eating breakfast. As Buneary ate next to Pikachu, she could hear the humans discussing the day ahead nearby. She glanced over in mild intrigue.

"So," Dawn said, "who are you guys gonna use in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup?"

... Seriously, that tournament name was way too long, Buneary thought, as she nibbled on a pellet. If she'd been in charge, she'd have called the tournament something short, sweet and snappy! Like 'the PWT', maybe. Or 'the WT'. Or maybe just 'the T'. No, maybe that was too short...

"No idea..." Ash replied.

"How many rounds will there be?"

"Four, Miss Dawn," Jervis replied, "and the winner may have the honour of battling the Unova champion."

"Awesome!" Ash replied. He clenched his fists, grinning. "I'm so psyched!"

"And how many pokémon can we use?" Dawn asked.

"Only one per round," Jervis replied, "but anywhere up to five, in total."

"Hmm..." Siren said, "so, theoretically, we could use one pokémon for the entire tournament?"

"You could," Cynthia replied. "I've certainly done it before with Garchomp."

"Really?" Ash asked excitedly. "Wow, then I'm gonna use five different pokémon!" He paused in thought. "Though which ones to use..."

Ilus - was that her name? - glanced at Siren with an exasperated smile. "Pity we've only got three pokémon each, huh?" she said.

"Yes," Siren replied with a smile of his own, "but the best recipes don't always require the most ingredients." He gave a wink to round off his statement.

Ilus blinked in surprise. After a moment, she sighed with a smile. "I guess that's true."

"Hmm..." Cynthia said. "If you two only have three pokémon, then how about Ash and Dawn train theirs in pairs?"

"In pairs?" Dawn asked.

"A marvellous idea, madam!" Jervis said. "That way, there would be an equal amount of training between the four of you."

"Sounds good to me!" Ilus replied.

"Train in pairs, huh?" Ash said, deep in thought.

Buneary turned back to Pikachu, who'd been listening with keen interest. She smiled at him and continued eating.

After breakfast was over, the humans began to train with their pokémon. Dawn was training with Pachirisu and Quilava, Ash was training with the orange pig and brown crocodile, Siren was training with the green monkey, and Ilus was training with the grey mole.

Since all of their other pokémon had been left out of their pokéballs to watch, Buneary sidled over to Pikachu.

"(Everyone's looking good out there, huh?)" she asked.

"(Yeah, they sure are!)" Pikachu replied with a nod. He frowned determinedly. "(I can't wait to train, myself!)"

"(Yeah!)" she cheered. She nuzzled against him. "(Be sure to knock 'em dead~! Though not literally, of course!)"

He chuckled awkwardly. "(Thanks... I will.)"

As the conversation petered out, she couldn't help but pout to herself. Dang. There was so much she wanted to say, but she wasn't sure where to start!

She really wanted him to confess first - because of how incredibly romantic that would be! - but he wasn't taking the bait at all. Why? After months of being apart, one would think he'd jump at the chance!

... Unless she'd been too subtle? She'd spent many months trying to make her feelings known, but even she couldn't deny that her confidence came in small bursts. One second, she'd be winking and flirting, then, the next, she'd be hiding behind her fluff. Her boldness was through the roof right now, but only because they'd been apart for so long! If she left it any longer, she'd go back to being super shy.

... Then again, perhaps he was the one waiting for her to confess first! Of course! Why hadn't she seen it sooner? He'd always blush and get super embarrassed, but that was only because he couldn't handle the bubbling feelings in his belly! Or perhaps his heart. Or both!

Okay. She knew what she had to do. Something that had to be done today, or else her nerves would fly away on her again. Firstly, though, she needed a good place. A romantic place! One that would set the tone for what she was about to do.

She glanced around briefly. When her gaze landed on the stairs, her eyes widened. Of course! It was perfect!

She turned back to the mouse. "(... Hey, Pikachu?)"

He looked at her. "(Mmm?)"

"(Could I talk to you about something?)"

"(Huh?)" He smiled. "(Yeah, sure. What about?)"

Her eyes lit up excitedly. "(Can we go down to the beach first?)"

He blinked, looking confused. "(Huh?)"

"(Come on! Please?)"

"(Uh, yeah, sure.)"

She glanced around briefly, but no one seemed to be paying attention. They were all much too focused on the training.

Great! This meant they'd be all alone for sure!

She grabbed his paw and lightly dragged him towards the stairs. "(Let's go!)"

"(Okay...)"

Once Buneary had led Pikachu down the stairs and onto the sand, she looked around her at the beautiful view. The weather was warm, the sky was blue, and the ocean even more blue. A slight hint of salt hung on the breeze. It was lovely.

Letting go of Pikachu's paw, she turned to face him.

"(So, uh...)" the mouse said with a small smile, "(what did you wanna talk to me about?)"

Buneary giggled. "(Well...)" she replied. She grabbed her fluff and pulled it up to her nose.

"(Hmm? What is it?)"

"(Weeeell...)" She rocked from side to side, her face warming up in embarrassment.

"(... Buneary?)"

"(I...)" Her throat constricted. "(I...)" Gosh, this was harder than she'd thought! But she had to do it! Her love life was depending on it! "(... I really like you, Pikachu!)" There was a pause. "(As in romantically!)" There was another pause. "(As in, I-wanna-go-on-dates-with-you-and-stuff romantically! Argh, this is so embarrassing~!)" She hid her face.

A long silence passed.

Eventually, Pikachu heaved a sigh. She lowered her fluff in curiosity, only to see that his ears had dipped and he was looking down, eye muscles creased.

"(P... Pikachu?)" she asked worriedly.

He inhaled, exhaled, then looked up to meet her gaze. "(I'm... I'm sorry, Buneary.)"

Something inside her grew slightly cold. "(... Huh?)"

"(I... can't. No, I... I won't. I...)" He took a deep breath. "(I'm sorry.)"

"(... Wait. You mean...?)"

He nodded, slowly and solemnly. "(... I...)" He looked away. "(I can't do this. Just, please... can we just stay friends?)"

She felt her heart breaking more with every passing second. Her throat began to constrict. "(... Why?)"

He tightly closed his eyes. "(Just... please.)" He paused a long moment, then opened his eyes to look back at the stairs. "(I'm going back to where the others are. I'll... see you later, okay?)"

"(... Yeah, sure... okay...)"

She watched as he turned away and began to walk towards the stairs. Every step he took, the swelling in her throat increased. Eventually, it reached her eyes and her vision started to blur.

Lip trembling, she suddenly wished Dawn had never come to Unova for this stupid tournament...