Well, this was going to be hard. Then again, what else did he expect? What else could he expect, knowing that darn squirrel?
Taking in some fresh air for a couple of seconds, Piplup readied himself for the next few hours mentally. He could handle physical damage, since he had been fried by Pachirisu's Discharge plenty of times in the past. Surely, his body would be used to it by now.
It took a minute for Pachirisu to stop trying to strike Happiny with his tail. Once he had been calmed, Piplup tapped him lightly on his nose.
"(So that wasn't a good start. You're not supposed to act aggressive towards Happiny. Remember, they're still very young and will take lots of damage from the simplest of actions.)" He explained to the squirrel standing in front of him, who stared at him blankly.
"(Are you even listening?)" Piplup asked him. Pachirisu's expression remained unchanged, though he did blink a few times.
Piplup noticed that the squirrel had his eyes focused on something that was probably somewhere behind him, so he turned around, looking for what was distracting Pachirisu. What he found was... apples. Great.
A deadpanned expression spread on the penguins face, which disappeared once he turned to face the squirrel. He coughed loudly to get the squirrel's attention.
"(Remember what we're doing here...)" Piplup reminded him, tapping his foot impatiently. The electric rodent looked at him, then at Happiny, back to Piplup, then to Happiny again.
No word was spoken for a minute, which concerned Piplup slightly. He glanced over at Happiny for a moment to see how she was doing. Thankfully, she was oblivious to everything that just happened so he didn't have to worry about her being scared or anything.
However, when he looked back towards Pachirisu, he had disappeared! Although it wasn't too hard to guess where exactly he was.
Piplup kept his cool and immediately looked over at the apples that were in the tree. To no surprise whatsoever, he saw Pachirisu climbing the branches.
Getting frustrated with the rodents actions, but not wanting to explode out of anger, Piplup did the most reasonable course of action... Which was to fire one small Bubble at the squirrel as punishment.
Unfortunately for the penguin, Pachirisu saw this as an invitation. He dodged the bubble that Piplup had shot and fired back with a powerful Discharge, which turned the penguin to crisp.
Feeling satisfied with himself, the squirrel grabbed the apples and retreated into the woods. Piplup, however, did not give chase as he flopped to the floor due to the amount of damage he received. Guess he still couldn't handle a Discharge.
His face was deep in the dirt, and he felt too weak to lift himself up. After what had felt like minutes, the penguin finally found the strength to get up. He was taken by surprise once he saw two Pokemon standing in front of him, which were Pikachu and Buizel.
"(You're finally awake!)" Buizel exclaimed. Wait... finally awake? That's odd...
Much to the surprise of the penguin, the sky which was previously obstructed by the leaves on the branches above had suddenly gotten a lot darker. It only then occurred to him that he fainted and didn't wake up for hours.
"(Dang...)" Pikachu muttered. "(Must've been one wild Discharge if it knocked you out for that long.)"
"(Yeah.)" Buizel added. "(No kidding.)"
Piplup suddenly huffed loudly and started marching back towards the camp, which is probably where Pachirisu was. If the squirrel was wandering around the forest right now, Piplup would have little chance of catching him since he knew how hyperactive Pachirisu could be.
He was halted in his tracks by Buizel. "(What are you so worked up about?)" He questioned him. Piplup's eye twitched for a moment.
"(I'm trying to find the hyperactive squirrel and give them a lesson about behaving around children!)"
"(Oh?)" Buizel's eyes widened. "(That's gotta be a nightmare.)" A smirk appeared on his face.
"(Wonder how long it'll take ya, knowing the guy. Heck, it could take so long that you could write a book about it!)"
Piplup chuckled lightly. "(Yeah, this'll be ten percent of my biography.)" Buizel then started laughing uncontrollably.
"(Ahaha! That's a good one.)" He cleared his throat before continuing to speak. "(But seriously, good luck with that.)" He then bolted back towards the camp. Piplup was about to follow before he was stopped by Pikachu, who had been quiet for a while.
"(Hold on, Piplup...)" He started. "(Maybe you should try a different approach?)"
Bewildered by the suggestion, Piplup questioned what exactly he meant. The electric mouse started scratching his head, trying to think of a good way to explain it to the penguin.
"(Well, you know how you punish him for getting distracted by stuff? How about using the distraction to your advantage? Use it as a way of teaching him more?)"
New ideas emerged in Piplup's mind after hearing this. He noticed a few apples in a tree near them and pointed at them for Pikachu to see.
"(So if he's distracted by food, I could teach him about setting a good example by sharing it with Happiny?)" Piplup asked.
The mouse looked at him with a big smile on his face. "(Yes! That's it!)" He answered enthusiastically.
With his newfound knowledge and ideas, Piplup took one deep breath and started marching confidentially to the camp once more, this time brimming with excitement.
Once he arrived at the camp, all he saw was... everyone sleeping. Pikachu arrived shortly after he did.
"(Maybe it's best to wait 'til tomorrow?)" He suggested. The penguin sighed sadly and nodded his head in agreement before heading off to lay on one of the logs next to Turtwig and Buizel. Pikachu went to a separate log which Aipom and Buneary were at.
Piplup rested his head against the log and quietly observed his surroundings. He noticed that two Pokemon were missing, which were Staravia and Pachirisu. Maybe they were sleeping in their Pokeballs?
Ah well, it didn't matter much. Piplup would still find that squirrel in the morning and give them the lesson he has been waiting to give for a while.
It was now some time in the night, and Piplup was awake. He wasn't sure if he fell asleep and then woke up, or if he just simply hasn't fallen asleep yet.
He opened his eyes to see that the light between the trees had vanished and now the forest was cloaked in darkness. It made the penguin feel cozy in some way.
He started looking around to see where the other Pokemon were. Buizel and Turtwig were both sleeping on the log he was resting against. Pikachu, Aipom and Buneary were all next to each other with no space between any of them. Aipom's tail was wrapped around them all too, as if it were a blanket. It was a very cute sight, to say the least.
Eventually, Piplup noticed Staravia, who was resting on one of the branches of a tree that was nearby. So that's where Staravia was...
...but where was Pachirisu?! Was he lost in the forest somewhere? Was he in his Pokeball? Maybe he's in the camp? Surely he couldn't be. Piplup had searched everything within his sight and there was no sign of the squirrel anywhere.
Feeling frustrated, Piplup jumped onto his feet quietly and started waddling around, investigating everything to try and find that damn squirrel.
While he was searching, a question crossed his mind. Why did he care so much about Pachirisu? He thought about it for a moment, before deciding that it was due to his determination to make the squirrel a better Pokemon. It probably wasn't true, but he didn't want to think about it any further.
Suddenly, something occurred to him. Squirrel Pokemon typically rest in the hollows of trees, right? So that's where Pachirisu might be! It would explain why he couldn't find him anywhere...
Now the problem was that he had to search all the trees again now. This would be an exhausting night, to say the least...
The Pokemon opened their eyes and yawned loudly, feeling happy with the sleep they got. Buizel and Turtwig got up and started stretching, while Pikachu, Buneary and Aipom were all still sleeping.
He didn't feel like disturbing the three, so Buizel decided to occupy himself with other things to do. He had noticed that Piplup wasn't in the camp with any of the other Pokemon.
Piplup was usually pretty fast to jump at the chance to fall asleep most of time, so it's not like he decided to stay up overnight or anything. Probably. Well, maybe he just didn't want to sleep next to the Pokemon...
Movement in the trees nearby caught Buizel's attention. He saw Staravia, who was on a branch, stretch his wings out, and Pachirisu emerged from a hollow on the same tree and jumped onto the branch that Staravia was resting on.
Both the Pokemon suddenly looked at something below them. On the grass underneath the tree was Piplup, who was fast asleep with a small puddle of water near him and drool nearly falling out of his mouth.
The Pokemon suddenly lifted himself off the ground and his eyes opened very slightly.
"(Is he... in... this t- this tree?)" Piplup's voice was way less enthusiastic than usual. He started walking towards a tree with his hands reaching out towards it. He walked right into it and honked his head on it, which made him fall backwards and he fell asleep again.
"(Oh no.)" Staravia gasped, concerned for the penguin. "(Did he get any sleep last night?)"
Pachirisu jumped down and started inspecting the penguin by poking his head a couple of times, which didn't work. Staravia flew down from the tree and Buizel had rushed towards them.
Buizel started scratching his head, thinking of how Piplup was in this state. The penguin loved to sleep a lot, so it's unusual that he would ever get in this situation. Yet, here he is now...
Buizel looked over at Staravia. "(Can you go take him to Dawn's tent?)" Staravia didn't hesitate to do so. He lifted Piplup onto his back and flew back towards the camp.
"(Wonder what happened there?)" Pachirisu asked out loud. Buizel wasn't sure if he was asking him, or if the squirrel was just talking to himself. "(Anyways! Hey Buizel, do you want to play?)"
Buizel was very happy to accept this offer, since it would get him some exercise and probably wake him up.
"(Sure.)" He responded, already eager to get started.
It had taken a few seconds for Dawn to realise what happened to Piplup, since she was in the middle of fixing her hair when Staravia opened the tent.
She had shouted at him for a few seconds before realising the problem. Afterwards, she decided to have Piplup sleep inside the tent for a couple of hours to catch up on some sleep.
After exiting the tent to leave Dawn fix whatever she was panicking about, Staravia was about to head back towards Buizel and Pachirisu before being distracted by one of the other tents opening.
Happiny appeared from the tent, skipping around happily yet slowly. She passed Staravia and waved to him. "(Good morning Staravia!)"
The greeting had brightened Staravia's mood slightly. Feeling great, he flew back towards the other two Pokemon, passing Happiny along the way.
When he got back to the area, they were gone. Where could they be? Surely they couldn't have gone far.
Staravia's thoughts were interrupted by a bolt of electricity hitting him, which brought him to the ground, fainted.
The two Pokemon from before emerged from the forest and rushed towards the bird. Buizel started inspecting Staravia, and Pachirisu started sweating nervously.
"(Uh, I'm sorry!)" Pachirisu trued apologising to the bird, who couldn't respond at the moment. He noticed Buizel look at him angrily for a moment, which sent Pachirisu into a panic.
"(No! I'm really sorry! I just can't control my Discharge!)" Pachirisu defended himself while flailing his arms around hysterically.
"(Relax. We'll sort your electricity problem out later.)" He reassured the concerned squirrel, who had let out a big sigh of relief. "(Can you help me carry star bird here back to the tents?)"
"(Sure thing!)" Pachirisu replied with enthusiasm. It took a bit of strength, but they managed to lift the bird off the ground in no time and proceeded to head towards the tents.
They passed by Turtwig, who was just sitting there observing everything that happened. He watched them slowly progress towards the tents. Although he wasn't too concerned, he kept a close eye on Pachirisu.
Turtwig was willing to trust any Pokemon that joined their journey, but Pachirisu was a different story. He was definitely a strange Pokemon, to say the least.
His attitude and behaviour could shift unexpectedly. He could be somewhat of a sensible Pokemon one minute, then become super reckless and hyperactive in the blink of an eye.
He wanted to trust the squirrel, but there was still some obstacles that the squirrel had to pass before he would be able to be trusted.
Maybe somebody could help Pachirisu pass these obstacles...
To be continued...
Woah! How long is this chapter?! Well, I hope you are liking the new chapter length. I'm sure Shettipoo does, haha!
Anyways, I don't really have much to say here other than... Reversal of Roles will be updated next! Hopefully you're excited for that.
Speaking of my other fics, Reignited Rivalry is on hiatus for now. I don't enjoy writing chapters for it all that much. Just a quick update on the status for that story.
That's all for now. Stay tuned!