Author's note: Heya, guys!
Well, we're back with more waters that are shallow! If you can stand in a puddle full of said waters and not get your feet wet... then you're in the right place! Haha, references.
Anyway! I started a new PokéPark fic, if anybody's interested! It's called 'Smile for Me' and it has nothing at all to do with my other PokéPark fics! All the same, I'm excited to write it if people are excited to read it!
And hey, if I don't advertise it, you fine folks probably won't know it exists.
Well, with that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Eight: Polar Parallels
Pikachu was glad to be heading back to Undella Town.
The trip was supposed to have been easy. Follow Cameron to Humilau City, watch his gym battle, leave. They could have easily gotten it all done in a single day.
But ohhh no.
Ash and Cameron had gotten lost, meaning that they - plus Pikachu, Riolu and Meloetta - had been forced to spend the night in a cave, with no idea where Iris and Cilan had been.
... If only Pikachu had been paying attention, he could have directed Ash the right way. Instead, while sitting on his shoulder, he'd blindly let his trainer lead the way.
The gym battle had been fun, though! He'd never expected Cameron to do so well. Though, apparently, smacking himself with his own headband was the guy's 'secret weapon' of sorts.
How very odd.
Either way, he'd won his wave badge, they'd all congratulated him, and then he and Ash had parted ways. No doubt they'd see him again in the Unova League.
... Well, if he managed to show up on the right day, anyway.
"Can't I walk alongside you guys?" Ash griped, looking backwards at Iris and Clian.
"No!" Iris replied, annoyed. "I'm not letting you out of my sight again, or else you'll get lost!"
"Come on, that was one time!"
"You're such a kid, I wouldn't be surprised if you did it again! Even without Cameron!"
"(Yeah, you're hopeless!)" Axew said happily.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked, turning away with a pout.
"Though you and Cameron were a perfect match of ingredients..." Cilan said, "I'll admit that the end result was a bit of a... risky meal?"
"You got that right," Iris agreed haughtily. She paused a moment. "It's like... it's really tasty... but it's bad for your health, or... something."
Silence followed her comment.
Curious, Pikachu shifted position to sneak a glance behind him. Interestingly, he could see Cilan staring at Iris in complete awe.
She looked up at him uncomfortably. "... What? Did I say something wrong?"
The connoisseur snapped to attention. "O-Oh! No, of course not!" He beamed. "Your metaphors are cooked to perfection!"
Iris blushed slightly, mumbling under her breath.
With a small huff of amusement, Pikachu turned away again. He noticed that Ash was still pouting to himself.
After a moment, Meloetta floated alongside them.
"(Oh, that gym battle was so much fun!)" she said.
Pikachu smiled at her. "(Yeah, it was!)" he replied.
"(It was just as exciting as the tournament!)" She wiggled around in joy. "(Are battles always this much fun to watch?)"
"(Heck yeah! They're even more fun to be a part of!)" He paused. "(Though you sound like you don't watch many battles.)"
"(Not really. Where I come from, it's very peaceful. There's no 'tournaments' or 'gym battles'.)"
Pikachu suddenly remembered a theory of Cilan's about Meloetta's home being in the ocean.
"(... Where do you come from, anyway?)"
Meloetta giggled. "(Like I said... it's a seeeecret~!)"
Ah, darn it. She'd caught him out...
Buneary squinted her eyes, scrutinising every little detail of her reflection.
"(Hmmm...)" she said. Scratching her chin, she leaned in closer. "(Hmmmmmm...)" She held the pose for a moment. Turning away, she inspected the back of the dress. "(Hmm...)" Turning again, she inspected the front. "(Hmm...)" Then the left side. Then the right side. Eventually, she turned to her friends with a pout. "(I don't think black's my colour.)"
Piplup put his flippers to his hips contemplatively. "(Yeah, I guess not,)" he replied. "(You suit much brighter colours.)"
"(Yeah!)" Pachirisu agreed, nodding his head vigorously. "(They match your colourful, vibrant personality!)"
Buneary giggled. "(Daww, thanks~!)" she replied.
The squirrel hopped up and down. "(Try the next one on, try the next one on!)"
"(Okay, okay~)"
As Buneary hopped away from the mirror to grab another dress, she looked over in Dawn's direction. The coordinator was currently browsing the hair products section with a delightful glee in her eyes. When she turned around, they locked gazes. Dawn smiled and waved. Buneary happily returned the gesture.
It was a shame about the other three pokémon not being here, but she understood. Mamoswine had been too large to enter any of the stores. Quilava and Togekiss had tried their best to keep up with the shopping spree, but had found it to be too exhausting. Instead, they'd gone back to their pokéballs for a rest. She appreciated their effort, though! After all, they'd done it all for her sake!
After putting on a yellow sundress and matching yellow hat, she posed in front of the mirror.
"(Hmm...)" she said. She turned this way and that, inspecting the dress. "(Not bad...)"
"(Pretty!)" Pachirisu said. "(Next one, next one!)"
"(Slow down there, jeez...)" Piplup said. "(It looks nice, Buneary.)"
"(Thanks!)" Buneary replied, tugging on the hat slightly.
"(Your fur suits a lot of colours, I've noticed.)"
"(Yeah, yeah!)" Pachirisu agreed. "(Brown goes with anything!)"
"(And brown with cream? A match made in heaven.)"
Buneary turned to them, beaming. "(Like chocolate and cream!)" she replied.
They paused, staring at her.
"(... You know, 'cause chocolate's brown and cream's... well, cream!)"
Piplup sighed with a smile, while Pachirisu giggled.
"(Sounds tasty!)" the squirrel said.
Buneary giggled back. "(Don't eat me, though! I'm not tasty!)"
"(Okay, I won't! Now, try on the other dresses! Come on, come on!)"
"(Okay, okay~! Cool your jets, mister!)"
"(My jets are plenty cool!)"
Piplup sighed again. "(About as cool as an oven...)" he said.
As Ash stepped through the trees, Pikachu smiled. He was honestly glad to be back at Cynthia's villa.
Granted, they wouldn't stay here forever. Inevitably, they'd have to leave once they found out the location of the Unova League, but, for now, it was a nice little respite from travelling.
Plus, it was much better than being lost in a forest late at night.
When Cynthia spotted them, she came rushing over, her eyes wide. "There you are," she said. "Where have you three been?"
Ash put a hand behind his head and chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, Cynthia," he replied. "We got lost in the forest."
"You mean you got lost in the forest," Iris corrected irritably.
Ash ignored her. "But we got to watch Cameron battle Marlon of the Humilau Gym! It was awesome!"
"Yes, it was a pretty spicy gym battle!" Cilan added. "An excellent blend of strategy and teamwork!"
Cynthia let out a breath. "I see," she replied. "Jervis and I were worried." She gave them a concerned gaze. "After seeing off your friend, you left for Humilau City and never came back. We wondered where you'd gone."
Ash chuckled again. "Whoops..." he replied.
"Whoops, indeed..." Iris grumbled.
... Seeing off their friend.
Pikachu glanced out across the villa's grounds. It would be so much emptier now, without Dawn and her team. Sure, their group was rather large, but it was down seven people now.
... He wondered what they were doing right now. Probably training for the Wallace Cup.
His thoughts drifted to a brown and cream figure. He shook his head vigorously.
No. He couldn't think about that anymore. She was gone. She'd left. She was approaching new horizons and he probably wouldn't see her again for a long time. That was how it usually went, travelling around with Ash.
... Now, it should be even easier for her to get over him.
He'd wanted her to do it while she'd been in Hoenn, but that clearly hadn't worked. Instead, he'd been forced to take a more direct approach. To deal with the issue himself.
... Well, maybe now she'd be convinced. Once she'd spent some time away, had the chance to reflect on his words and not have to see his face, she'd get over him. Then, one day, they could go back to being friends.
Yeah... friends...
Buneary did a twirl in front of her friends. "(Well?)" she asked. "(What do you guys think?)"
They both looked at her in awe.
"(It looks great!)" Pachirisu cried. "(So pretty!)"
Piplup nodded enthusiastically. "(It's very you,)" he agreed.
"(Hee, thanks~!)" Buneary replied.
Suddenly, Dawn walked over, a basket full of hair products on her arm. "So!" she said happily. "How is it going over here?"
Buneary waved her arms, to try and get her attention. "(Look, Dawn, look!)"
"Hmm?" Dawn looked over. Her eyes sparkled at what she saw. "Oh my gosh, that's so adorable!" She beamed. "That looks great on you, Buneary!"
"(Hee, doesn't it?)"
Buneary twirled on the spot. The skirt of her dress flowed majestically around her waist fluff.
"So elegant!" Dawn paused a moment. "You know, it looks kinda like my contest dress!"
Buneary blinked. She turned back to the mirror to get a good look at it.
Huh. Actually, it did! Dawn's was light pink and covered in dark pink ribbons, whereas Buneary's was pure white and covered in pale blue ribbons. She'd also tied a pale blue ribbon to each of her ears to match.
She turned back to Dawn and beamed. "(... Hey, you know what? You're right!)"
Dawn giggled. "Would you like that dress, Buneary?"
The rabbit's eyes widened in delight. "(Really? I can have it?)"
"I'll even buy you those orange ribbons from earlier, if you want! They'll look great with your vest!"
Buneary's smile widened. "(Oh, yes please!)"
"Okay then~!" Dawn put her free wrist on her hip, looking satisfied. "Then I'll call this a successful shopping trip!"
"(Yeah!)" the three pokémon responded in synch.
Buneary couldn't stop smiling as she took off the dress.
Lounging on the beach, Pikachu leaned back against the rock wall, his hands behind his head, and watched all of his friends having fun together. Some were swimming in the ocean, some were building sandcastles, and others were napping in the summer sun.
Since the pokémon had done so well in the tournament, they'd been allowed a break. Time to unwind and relax. After all, they'd spent almost an entire two weeks doing nothing but training. Their only breaks hadn't exactly been a vacation.
As he continued to watch his friends enjoy themselves, it again struck him how much the number of pokémon had diminished. True, it had only been by six, but it felt like a much bigger number, somehow.
Somehow, it felt much lonelier without them here...
He shook his head. No, he was being silly. Dawn had dreams to follow, so it was only natural that she'd left, the same way that Misty, Tracey, May, Max and even Brock had done. It was ridiculous to expect her to stay longer than she needed to.
... Still, though. It was a shame they'd had to leave so soon. Especially since they'd never actually had a vacation with the Unova gang. The whole time they'd been here, the group had been training for the tournament.
When they hadn't been running away from angry onix, finding a missing cubchoo, or calming down an aggressive dragonite, anyway...
It would have been nice to experience a day off - an actual day off - with them before they'd left.
Sighing lightly to himself, he went back to watching the world around him.
Skimming past Axew and Scraggy, who were rolling a ball around the sand, his eyes landed on Emolga. The squirrel was pulling really meek poses, while giving Pignite and Pansage the puppy dog eyes.
When the two of them refused to cooperate, she got annoyed and hit them with Attract. Swaying to and fro with goofy grins on their faces, they agreed to do anything she asked.
Pikachu frowned at the shameless display.
Looking elsewhere, he spotted Oshawott running over to Meloetta, a big grin on his face and a bouquet of flowers in his paws. Meloetta laughed awkwardly, taking the flowers as Oshawott continued to fawn over her.
Pikachu huffed to himself. Now that Piplup had left, he supposed the otter had free reign.
... Which probably also gave him a great excuse to start shamelessly flirting with the other girls again. No rival meant no danger of losing out, after all.
It wasn't as if he had any other rivals for any other girls either, so yeah. Free reign, indeed...
Huffing again, Pikachu looked away. His gaze instead landed on Snivy, who was curled up on the sand next to him. Interestingly, she had one eye open and was looking towards the group.
He took a guess at what she was looking at. "(... Annoying, aren't they?)" he asked.
She closed her eye. "(Hmph,)" she replied. "(... They have no shame.)"
He couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "(Yeah, I know, right?)"
"(Mmm.)" She paused a moment, then put on a high-pitched voice of mockery. "('Oh, please, get me apples, 'cause I'm too lazy to do it myself!')" She lowered the pitch slightly. "('Oh, milady, please let me bend over backwards for you!')"
"(Pfft!)" Pikachu had to fight down a grin. "(Yeah, sounds about right.)"
"(Mmm... so how long until he gets bored of Meloetta?)"
"(Eh, I give it a week.)"
"(I give it a day.)"
He snorted in amusement. "(Pretty harsh.)"
Eyes still closed, a tiny smirk appeared on her mouth. "(Not harsh enough, if you ask me.)"
He thought about it for a minute. "(... Yeah, I guess so.)"
Her smirk fell away. "(At least it's quiet, now that Piplup's gone.)"
His mirth fizzled away at the mention of Dawn's team. "(Yeah...)"
"(I can't tell you how many times they interrupted my nap.)"
He turned away, going back to watching the others. "(Well, sleep well, then.)"
"(Yeah. I will.)"
Outside of the pokémon centre, Buneary grandly held out her arms, showing off her dress. "(Ta-daaaa~!)" she said. She gave a twirl. "(What do you guys think?)"
Togekiss pressed the tips of her wings together in delight. "(Oh, that looks lovely on you, dear!)" she replied.
Quilava grinned. "(Yeah, it looks pretty neat!)" he agreed.
Mamoswine nodded in approval. "(Nice,)" he replied.
"(Doesn't it, though?)" Buneary replied happily. She fiddled with the ribbons on her ears. "(I especially like the ribbons.)"
"(Yeah, they suit ya,)" Quilava said.
"(And they compliment the outfit wonderfully,)" Togekiss added.
"(Thanks!)" Buneary replied.
Piplup smacked a flipper to his chest. "(Actually, I just realised something...)" he said. "(It kinda looks like her Hearthome Collection dress, don't you think?)"
Pachirisu hopped up and down excitedly. "(Ooh, you're right, you're right!)" he replied.
"(Guess so,)" Mamoswine replied, looking thoughtful.
Quilava tilted his head quizzically. "(Was... that the one from the photo shoot?)" he asked.
"(Yeah, that's the one!)" Buneary replied.
"(Oh yes!)" Togekiss said, beaming. "(The colours are very similar, aren't they? Except this dress is far more elegant.)"
"(Hee, thanks~!)" Buneary replied. After a moment, she gasped and put her paws to her face. "(It's like my Hearthome dress evolved, or something! Ooh, do you think it has a third form? Or does it stop at two?)"
Quilava laughed. "(You're so weird, Buneary!)" he said.
She paused. "(... Am I a good weird or a bad weird?)"
He blinked at her. "(Huh? Well, a good weird, definitely!)"
Everyone else nodded, voicing their agreements.
Buneary beamed. "(Oh! Well, that's good! 'Cause I'd hate to be a bad weird!)"
"(Well, you're not a bad weird!)" Pachirisu said. "(You're good! And great! And I'll beat up anyone who says otherwise!)"
"(Yeah!)" Piplup agreed, puffing out his chest.
Togekiss' smile turned sheepish. "(Now, that's a bit extreme, you two...)" she said.
"(I'll do it!)" Pachirisu said threateningly, frowning with a pout. "(I'll do it! Just watch me!)"
Buneary giggled. "(Aww, you guys are sweet~)" she said. "(Sweeter than Dawn's pink poffins!)"
Pachirisu gasped. "(Poffins?!)" He looked around himself rapidly. "(Where?! Where?!)"
Everybody laughed.
"(Remember,)" Piplup said, "(I get first dibs if there's poffins.)"
"(No way! Only if you can beat me in a footrace, which I know you can't!)"
Dawn suddenly walked out of the pokémon centre. She lifted a hand in greeting. "Sorry I took so long!" she said. "I met someone in there who's also entering the W-" Pachirisu zipped over, clinging to her leg. She jumped in shock. "Wah!"
"(Are there poffins, Dawn?!)" he asked. "(Tell me there's poffins!)"
"(Hey!)" Piplup called out. "(I said I'd get first dibs!)"
"(In your dreams!)"
"(Yeah, that'll become reality!)"
Togekiss stepped forward, a slightly stern look on her face. "(Now, Pachirisu, Piplup...)" she said.
Dawn chuckled awkwardly. "Uh..." she said, "is everyone alright out here?"
Quilava started laughing again.
"(... Yeah, we're cool,)" Mamoswine replied.
Buneary giggled to herself.
"... So, uh, yeah, anyway..." Dawn continued with a sheepish smile, shaking a pouting Pachirisu off her leg. She beamed, putting her hands on her hips. "Other coordinators are getting pumped up for the Wallace Cup, so, first thing tomorrow, we're gonna train!" She paused, then laughed awkwardly. "For real, this time." After a moment, she wore a stern face and waggled her finger at them. "Of course, we're not gonna be training non-stop, like Ash, 'cause that's just silly..." She smiled. "Buuuut that doesn't mean we'll slack off, either! So!" She pumped a fist in the air. "Who's ready to win a ribbon?!"
"(We are!)" everyone cheered.
"I can't hear you! Who's ready to win a ribbon?!"
"(We are!)"
Afterwards, everyone fell into a fit of laughter at the absurd situation.