Chapter 16: Showing Some Skill
While taking deep, cooling breaths in-between bites of a charti berry - it was rather spicy, after all - Pikachu smiled at the two girls sitting in front of him. For a while now, Buneary had been telling the whole 'potato story' to Meloetta. The mythical pokémon was happily lapping the entire thing up while nibbling on payapa berries.
Pikachu himself was enjoying his girlfriend's rendition of that day. At the time, he'd never even thought of it as a big deal. Now, though, he guessed it was another thing to add to his 'game-changing days' list. Especially with the way Buneary had described it to Meloetta. She'd made it sound way more epic and, of course, romantic than it probably had been. So that'd been fun, too.
... And maybe a little bit of him enjoyed hearing her voice, too. Cheesy as it was to admit.
Eventually, she stopped after the part where she'd been beaten by Piplup in their battle. Something she admitted that she may not have entirely tried her hardest in.
When she finished, Meloetta clapped happily. "[Ooh, that was so lovely~!]" she chimed. "[It was like a love story straight out of Ridley's collection~! All it needed was the babies at the end, but... um, well, you know.]"
"[Heehee, um, yeahhh... no,]" Buneary responded. "[We've only known each other for something like a year, now!]"
Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah! Which is why we're so close, now,]" he added. "[We've been building things up for a long time.]"
"[Oh, so when I met Ridley, then. Okay~!]" Meloetta chimed. She deflated slightly. "[Ohh, but that's such a long time to wait for dating someone...]"
"[That's only for truly romantic dates,]" Buneary reassured her. "[You don't have to wait that long for a normal date, where you're both just trying stuff out. So y'know what? I say go wild! Ask a friend out!]"
"[Just not as wild as certain people go...]" Pikachu mumbled, getting a chuckle out of Meloetta and Buneary. Considering he hadn't told his girlfriend about Oshawott yet, though... he wondered if they were both picturing different people. Such as Brock, or something.
... Pikachu disguised a grimace with some chuckling of his own. Jeez, why did he know so many people who were obsessed with flirting with everything they saw!? Part of him knew it was a list that was only going to grow more and more, the more he adventured.
Meloetta smiled. "[I'll think about giving it a go, thank you.]" She gave an audible exhale. "[Oh, I wish I could've seen your potato catch, though, Pikachu. I do enjoy myself some high-flying action, so I would've loved it. Perhaps not to crushing levels, but... you know.]"
"[Yeah, you missed out...]" Buneary said. "[It was like a circus performance!]"
Grinning, Pikachu bashfully looked away, face warm. Man, he would never have to worry about having a low ego again, if this kept up. He was almost high on the stuff! "[Well, um… thanks,]" he mumbled, not sure what else to say.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girls cheerily going back to snacking on the berries in the ever-shrinking pile.
He was about to join them when he noticed something in the distance. Apple trees… the same ones Snivy had shown him earlier, in fact. Dang, now he wished he could've had an apple, instead of stuffing himself full on berries. He quite liked the mix of sweetness and dryness they had, so he could certainly see why Emolga loved them so much.
While looking at the red apples dotted across the leaves above, he noticed that there were many directly above them, too. Man, how had he missed these while hunting for apples?
… Wait. Oooh, he had an idea. The girls wanted a show, did they? Well… he was feeling strangely confident after all the praising, and he sure did love a challenge, so… "[Hey, girls?]" he said.
They both looked at him curiously.
He smirked. "[Get ready for a show!]" Solidifying his tail, he jumped to his feet and leaped towards a tree. With a spin, he slammed his metallic tail against its trunk. A few apples shook for a short while before falling down towards them.
Pikachu leaped towards the tree and kicked off it, soaring upwards. Reaching forwards, he snatched an apple out of the air.
Twisting around, he landed against the side of another tree and kicked off again, sending himself spiraling through the air. Grabbing the next falling apple, he glanced around for the last one.
Spying it above him, he brought energy to his tail. Feeling it go heavy, he spun forwards harshly. The force from the swing flung him upwards, straight towards the apple. Opening his mouth, he grabbed it with his teeth.
Satisfied, he tumbled forwards, doing several somersaults before landing on his feet with a pose.
Grinning, he tossed the two apples he'd held in his paws towards the two awestruck girls in front of him. They both grabbed one each, though they kept their gazes on him. Buneary, especially.
He cockily pulled out the apple in his mouth while taking a bite. "[Sho…]" He swallowed, "[how was-]" A sharp pain in his head made him yelp. He flopped onto his back, dazed. Owww…
He heard the girls gasp and wander over.
"[P-Pikachu, are you alright!?]" Buneary asked, kneeling next to him.
Rubbing his head, he slowly sat upright. "[Ugh… yeah… what the heck happened just then?]" he asked.
Meloetta started giggling out of nowhere. Trying to stifle it with a hand against her mouth, she pointed towards something next to him. "[Um… you missed an apple,]" she said.
Looking, the mouse saw a dented apple lying right next to him. He blinked a few times before smiling sheepishly. "[Um… whoops,]" he mumbled, face warming as much as the sore spot on his head.
Buneary gave a relieved-sounding exhale. Soon after, she held a paw out for him. "[Aww… so close to being the perfect stunt,]" she said.
"[That'll teach me for trying to have an ego for once in my life…]" Pikachu sighed, gripping her paw.
She smiled while pulling him to his feet. "[Oh well… still real impressive! Buuut maybe practice a bit, first.]" She winked at him. "[Maybe you need some contest tips from yours truly~]"
"[Heh… maybe,]" he said before pausing. "[Hm… been a while since I've seen any contest moves, actually. They don't have any contests in Unova, so…]"
Meloetta looked intrigued. "[Contests…? Like… beauty contests?]" she asked.
"[Kind of!]" Buneary replied. "[You know what a gym is, yeah?]"
"[Oh, yes! Oshawott likes to talk about all of his gym battles all the time. Usually to interrupt Piplup when he's talking about his...]" She gasped in realization. "[Oh, actually, I think Piplup spoke of something like that! He said something about showing off in front of a crowd and some judges.]"
"[Heehee, yeah, that's it! Well, contests are sorta like that... but instead of just fighting, you have to show off some style, too!]"
Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah, I've seen some ridiculously overpowered stunts in contests, before. Like… a buizel using his tails to fly… an eevee I knew once, who ran along a Water Gun… a leafeon that used her partner's Psywave and her… Aerial Ace, I think? To create some psychic wings and fly around with 'em. It was pretty freaking crazy!]"
"[Goodness…]" Meloetta murmured. "[That sounds so… um, crazy.]"
"[And Buneary, here…]" he continued, "[she and her teammates are all contest champs! They've done too many cool things to count.]"
Buneary's face went slightly red. "[Heehee, well… we had a good trainer.]" She pointed at him. "[You're one to talk, though! I still remember that story Ambipom told me about you and your electric hoops!]"
Pikachu looked at her curiously. Electric hoops? … Oh, unless…! "[Oh, right, I forgot about that! Yeah, I used Thunderbolt and Quick Attack, ran around in a circle for a while, and made some electrical hoops!]" He smiled proudly. "[Knocked them around with Iron Tail to make them bump into each other after that, like that TV show with the spinning tops. It was fun!]"
Meloetta looked at him in awe. "[Ooh, that's really amazing! You're so talented when apples aren't involved~]"
"[H-Hey…]" he mumbled.
She giggled. "[Just kidding, of course. Um, about the apples.]"
"[Heh, yeah, I know. Um… on that note, better ground myself before I pull another ego-fueled, head-crushing stunt. The whole thing with the electro disks was all Ash's idea. And I think he made it up right there and then, like he usually does.]"
Buneary looked surprised. "[Gosh, really? I don't remember hearing that part…]" She clicked her tongue. "[And to think… just a year and a bit ago, he had the brains of a true contest champ.]"
He shrugged exaggeratedly. "[Tell me about it…]"
"[So mean. Ash is very nice~]" Meloetta retorted.
"[Oh, he's the nicest boy alive, don't get me wrong! He's just a bit… let's say 'challenged'.]"
Meloetta tilted her head, as if not quite following.
Buneary sheepishly cleared her throat before Pikachu could say anything else, however. "[So, um… contests!]" she started quickly. "[There's two stages in total. One where we show off our skills in an appeal round…]" She did a twirl on the spot, producing a twinkling icy fog from her mouth.
"[Oooh~]" Meloetta said.
Buneary took up a fighting pose. "[And then there's the battle round!]" She threw a few punches with her ears. "[That's where we have to fight someone as well as show off! I don't get into many, so I don't know all the details, but... I think the winner's the one who either looks the best while fighting when time's up, or… well, whoever wins the fight, I guess.]"
"[Battling, too?]" Meloetta asked. She clapped her hands together daintily. "[They sound so lovely~! I really want to watch one, now.]" She deflated ever so slightly. "[It's just too bad that they don't have any in Unova… and I especially don't get to watch them back where I'm from. The best I get is Ridley's training battles against the other protectors. They get a little dull to watch after a thousand or so matches with the same pokémon.]"
"[Protectors?]" Pikachu asked.
"[Oh, yes! They look after me and protect me from any scary humans who would want to hurt me.]"
"[Huh, fair enough.]" It made enough sense. Being a mythical pokémon, she was bound to run into trouble fairly often. Bad humans were always wanting to mess around with them for different world conquering reasons. He was a bit jealous, though. Considering all the times he and the gang had been attacked by Team Rocket and other schmucks like them... he kind of wished they had some protectors of their own.
... It was kind of embarrassing when he thought about it, but... all of his friends were basically his protectors, weren't they? Tsk...
"[Y'know, Meloetta,]" Buneary started suddenly, "[if you want a show... I'll be happy to give you one!]"
Pikachu and Meloetta gave her a surprised look.
"[A show?]" the mythical pokémon asked. "[You're going to give me one?]"
"[Yeah, why not?]" Buneary replied. "[It's been weeks since I've done any proper contesting... and watching Pikachu's little stunt really put me in the mood for some!]"
"[Ooh, that sounds lovely! Yes, please~]" Meloetta replied excitedly.
"[Yeah, be my guest,]" Pikachu agreed. "[I really miss watching you in action, so no objections, here!]"
"[Heehee, okie dokie~]" Buneary sang, hopping away from them. Once she'd gone a fair distance away, she stood in place, looking ready to get started. She stayed like that for a short while.
When the 'short while' changed to 'quite a while', Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "[Er... you okay over there?]" he called out to her.
"[Um... I don't even know what to start with!]" she called back sheepishly. "[Dawn usually gets me going!]"
Ah, that made sense. It was a lot harder to come up with strategies on the fly. Especially when fighting. Hence why their trainers and coordinators didn't just let them go wild in battles. Even if that was more fun, sometimes.
Pikachu tried to think of something to help her get started. Thinking hard, he eventually thought of something. He wondered if it was a mean idea, though. Especially for something to do to his girlfriend...
After some thought, he knew he'd never be able to resist... so he shrugged and moved towards a tree. He knew she could handle it. "[Hey, heads up!]" he cried out. He spun around on the spot several times before slamming his Iron Tail into the tree. The heavy impact shook many of the branches above, including the apples attached to them. "[Don't let any of 'em hit the ground without doing something cool with 'em!]" he continued.
Looking confused, she glanced upwards. She yelped and took up a stance when many of the apples above her started falling. Immediately, she charged up some light-blue energy in front of her mouth. With a cry, she fired off a bolt of icy-cold energy upwards, hitting the apples. They froze instantly, while being pushed upwards, out of sight.
When another apple fell close by her, the fluff on her ears shined like rainbows. Lashing out with an ear, she smacked the apple high into the air. However, it simply fell back down, so she punched it up again.
Eventually, the icy apples, which had been falling for a while, were getting too close for comfort. She danced around to keep punching them back up into the air, with some fancy ear work. She kept it up for a while, so Pikachu wondered something. Was she trying to think of something to do with them? It looked like it, but he wasn't sure.
Eventually, after getting them all high into the air, Buneary's feet began to glow. A sign she was about to use Bounce. However, an unexpected gust of wind visibly swirled around both her feet, surprising Pikachu. W-What!? Since when could she do that!?
When her feet were fully surrounded by what looked like two mini tornadoes, she jumped up and did a back-flip. She flung a swirling vortex of wind upwards with a kick before landing on an outstretched ear. The wind gust hit the apples, which began to swirl around it while it floated in the air. Impressively, all of the icy ones swirled around the regular one in the center, almost as if orbiting it.
Springing herself into the air with her ear, she landed on her one remaining wind-enveloped foot. With a whoosh, she was launched high into the air, sailing past the floating apples. Flipping sideways, she landed on top of the center apple, which spun her around at a quick pace. After steadying herself, she pulled a pose while firing out a stream of icy mist from her mouth.
Meloetta gave a delighted round of applause, while Pikachu just stared in awe. Wow... clearly, her training with Dawn had gone pretty well. She'd gotten so amazingly impressive! He could only imagine what she was like when she was actually being serious. Wow...
"[Is that all?]" Buneary called down, sounding cheery. "[I'm just getting into the groove~]"
"[Uh...]" Pikachu started, still in awe. Coming to his senses, he shook his head. "[Um, n-no way!]" He grinned and gave the tree another huge whack with his steel tail. "[Round two!]"
After a short while, several apples began to fall from the branches again. His girlfriend reacted by hopping upwards and slamming down onto the apple she'd been standing on. The two of them fell downwards, out of the apple vortex she'd created.
While she did that, Pikachu moved over and sat next to Meloetta, who was watching in anticipation.
While falling, Buneary fired off an Ice Beam upwards, towards her tornado of apples. As it went right through the middle, the energy from her attack spread to the icy apples, encasing them in more ice. Soon after, the ice shot outwards, away from the small apple vortex. Because of all the spinning, it formed a big icy sprinkler of sorts, creating what could only be described as a big, frozen net.
All of the falling apples were caught by the net just in the nick of time. At the exact same moment, Buneary landed on the ground, squashing the apple she'd stood on underfoot. Looking somewhat disgusted, she took a second to shake the fruity gunk off her feet. This seemed to have inspired her to do something, however, looking at that expression of realization on her face. With a look of determination, she brought her two paws together and concentrated.
Pikachu tilted his head. Huh? Since when did she have a move that required doing that? Unless... was it her fourth move!?
He watched on with bated breath, wondering what she was going to show off. However, she seemed to be struggling for some reason, not unlike the time he couldn't use electricity.
"[Oh dear, I wonder what's up with her?]" Meloetta murmured.
"[I dunno...]" Pikachu replied, slightly worried. "[She's trying to do something, but it's not going so well.]" His worry increased when he looked up at her icy net, which seemed to be falling towards her.
He was about to call out to her, but before he could, she dejectedly dropped whatever she was doing. Instead, she jumped into the air with a regular Bounce and Dizzy Punched the net with an ear.
The half that she'd punched broke off and flew upwards, before collapsing into the other half. With that, the entire thing shattered, sending sparkling ice shards and frozen apple chunks sprinkling everywhere.
Meloetta gave a gasp of delight and clapped again. Pikachu just sighed in relief. Wow, close call... Still, he was very impressed with her recovery! Even if it was a rather normal-looking act. A good normal-looking act, of course, but still.
Upon landing again, Buneary hopped over to the two spectators. "[So, um... how'd I do?]" she asked.
"[Oh, that was lovely~]" Meloetta replied. "[I'm officially sold on contests, now~]"
Buneary beamed. "[Heehee, yay, sweet!]"
"[Ehh… probably shouldn't have smushed that apple so much…]" Pikachu noted, with a smirk. "[This ain't a juice making competition, after all…!]"
Eyes widening in surprise, she indignantly crossed her arms. "[Hmph! Everyone's a critic…]"
He chuckled before shaking his head. "[Nah, but seriously… you're getting really good! I'm really impressed with what I saw.]"
She rolled her eyes before smiling again. "[Thanks! You can thank Dawn for that one. We did something just like it in one of our contests, but with Piplup's bubbles, instead. Took all week to master...]"
"[Is that how you learned how to do that... tornado thing?]"
"[Yup! Well... kind of. I used to be able to do it, way back when... but then I got too rusty. Dawn's training brought it back outta me, though! I just had to remember to spread out the Bounce instead of just concentrating it.]"
"[Huh... well, neat! Guess that just leaves, um... whatever you were trying to do with the, er...]" He brought his paws together and shook them, as if charging an attack. "[... That thing. Didn't quite work out so well, whatever it was.]"
She rubbed the back of her head. "[Y-Yeah... I guess I'm still not ready for... that one.]"
"[What was it?]" Meloetta asked.
Buneary looked like she about to say something, though she stalled. "[Hmm... tell you what. I wanna practice it a little more... and then, when I'm ready, I'll give ya a full on surprise demonstration! How's that sound?]"
"[Ooh, quite exciting!]" Meloetta replied. "[Yes please~]"
"[Yeah, I'm good with that, too,]" Pikachu added. "[It'll be fun guessing what we're in for!]"
"[Happy to keep ya guessing~]" Buneary chimed with a wink. She looked at Meloetta. "[Alright, Meloetta... you ready for another performance?]"
Meloetta looked excited again. "[Another performance? You mean you're giving us another treat for the eyes, today?]"
"[Nope!]" the bunny replied, moving next to the mythical pokémon. "[Good ol' Pikachu is!]"
"[H-Huh? Me?]" Pikachu said in surprise.
"[Yup!]" She grinned cheekily. "[For making apples rain down on me outta nowhere... you get to treat me and Meloetta to a show!]"
He blinked a few times. Eventually, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "[Um... fair enough,]" he replied. He got to his feet and grinned back. "[Guess if I'm dodging Ash's daily training, I'd better get any exercise that I can!]"
"[That's the spirit!]"
"[How lovely! I feel like I'm being spoiled,]" Meloetta said. She gasped excitedly. "[Ooh, you know what would make things more exciting? Perhaps you should make it a competition~]"
"[A competition?]" Pikachu asked.
"[Like… me versus Pikachu?]" Buneary asked.
"[That's it~]" Meloetta replied. "[After Pikachu does his little showcase, I could try and decide who did the best out of you two.]"
"[Sounds good!]" Pikachu replied with a thumbs up. "[I love me a little competition!]"
"[Well, fair enough,]" Buneary said. She smirked. "[If we're doing that, I'm putting some stakes on the table, then!]"
"[Stakes?]" he asked, somewhat worried about what he was going to hear.
"[Yup! Um…]" She started thinking for a short while. "[… Oh, heehee, I've got it! Whoever loses… has to do a super cute, sappy, romantic gesture for the one who won! While Meloetta watches, of course.]"
"[Ooh, I like the sounds of that!]" Meloetta chimed, beaming.
Pikachu felt his cheeks heat up ever so slightly at the thought of that. Oh dear… now he was destined to lose, wasn't he? "[Um… challenge accepted!]" he said, moving over to where Buneary had performed. Once he was in position, he called back to them. "[Alright, ready when you are!]"
"[Okay~]" Buneary called back, standing next to a tree. Ear fluff glowing, she swung her head down and used an ear to punch it with all her might.
Pikachu took up a pose as he wondered what exactly he was going to do. When a bunch of apples began falling his way, he started up an Iron Tail. Taking a page from Buneary's book, he smacked the apples upwards as they came close to the ground, keeping them in the air. He had to do a little running about as he knocked them upwards, though. They were pretty spread out, this time around!
After a while of doing that, he thought of something. Charging some electricity in his cheeks, he sent it down to his metallic tail, which began to glow. Happy with that, he started up Quick Attack and began to run around at an even faster pace. He made sure not to neglect his apple juggling along the way.
Once he was going fast enough, he unleashed Thunderbolt out of his tail. Because he was going so fast, it trailed behind him like a solid streak of light.
Hopping for momentum and to avoid tripping, he twirled around in a full circle before landing again. This linked the light, rewarding him with a hoop of electricity that surrounded him.
Stopping in place, he took the hoop off, spun around and flung it away. It went sailing through the air in a wide arc, slicing all the apples as they fell into it. Eventually, as it came back towards Pikachu, he smacked it with his Iron Tail, knocking it into the last apple. It was sliced cleanly into two upright halves.
The hoop kept on going, zipping towards a tree. It bounced off and headed straight back towards Pikachu. He twisted around and grabbed it before spinning it around in his fingers like a... leek, he guessed. Something his dad might've actually been proud about, though he doubted it.
The girls both gave him a round of applause while looking rather impressed. Buneary, especially. He felt his pride swell up something fierce at that.
He wasn't finished, though. "[Ready for more?]" he called out to them.
"[We can't wait!]" Buneary called back, giving the tree another really hard punch.
Lots of shaking followed in the leaves above before many apples rained downwards.
Nodding to himself, he flung his electrical hoop upwards, making sure it was horizontal. At the same time, he charged some electricity before unleashing a Thunderbolt on the ascending hoop.
When his attack reached the hoop, lightning started wildly shooting out of the sides of it in a swirling pattern. Many apples were hit as a result, getting fried instantly.
Grinning, Pikachu charged more electricity and sent it to his tail. This time, though, he willed it into the shape of a ball. Jumping into the air, he flipped around and tossed an Electro Ball downwards. It bounced against the ground, going back towards him.
Angling himself, he landed on top of it. It kept on going, carrying him high into the air. Standing up, he shuffled around to try and aim himself towards the hoop. With all the practice he'd gotten while surfing, it was surprisingly easy!
Passing straight through the hoop, he jumped away with a back-flip. Grabbing an apple, he fell down towards the hoop and then slam dunked his apple into it, like a basketball net.
"[One hundred points! Woo~!]" he sang. He wasn't sure if that was how basketball scores worked, but whatever.
He held onto his electrical hoop as he came back down to Earth. For extra appeal, he sliced any remaining apples he came across on the way down with the hoop, like it were a weapon.
When he landed on the ground, he tossed his hoop straight upwards while posing. He heard a small electrical explosion ring out from above soon after.
The two girls stared at him in utter adoration. Especially Bunear-
He felt a sharp pain in his head. Agh! Yelping, he flopped to the ground. Oww… what now?
… Oh. A burnt-looking apple had gotten launched out of the electrical explosion, right onto his head.
He groaned. For crying out loud… He'd tried his hardest not to let his ego get too big, and everything…
The girls worriedly came hopping or floating over.
"[Oh no, Pikachu, are you alright!?]" Buneary cried.
"[Minus the brain damage and the dead ego… I guess so,]" Pikachu replied, tenderly rubbing his head.
Sighing in relief, she helped him up. "[You're not lucky at all with apples, are ya?]" she asked.
"[Not unless they're getting me a girlfriend, I guess. Eheh…]"
Buneary giggled lightly with a blush.
After shrugging to herself at the comment, Meloetta sighed sadly. "[Oh dear… and I was just about to say how great your moves had been, too…]" She smiled. "[Still very nice, though. So athletic and cool~! Much different to Buneary's one, which was very pretty, instead.]"
"[And hey,]" Buneary added, "[your performance kinda ended right before you got dunked on… so I say it's alright~]"
He smiled lightly. "[Huh, okay. Well, I'll take it, I guess. Thanks, girls!]"
"[That last performance, though… what was that move? The one with the electro- Wait…]" She gasped in delight. "[Electro Ball! You learned Electro Ball!?]"
He looked at her in surprise. "[Huh… um, yeah, you got it! Learned it pretty early on in Unova, after some incident with an umbrella.]" He pouted slightly. "[… Had to trash Volt Tackle for it, though.]"
"[Aww, really? Volt Tackle!?]" She also pouted. "[Dang… that one looked really hot.]"
He chuckled sheepishly, face warming. "[I-If you say so.]"
"[Volt Tackle…?]" Meloetta asked.
"[Yeah,]" he replied, "[you run forwards really fast, then when the static builds up enough… you ram into the enemy like an electric missile!]"
"[Ooh, it does sound rather great~. I'm rather jealous. I, um... don't know many moves, myself,]" she admitted with a blush. "[Let alone ones as great as that.]"
"[Oh? What do you know?]" Buneary asked.
"[Um... Relic Song, which is something Ridley taught me about... and that's it.]" She sheepishly played with her hair. "[Like I said, it's not very impressive...]"
"[No way!]" Pikachu replied with a comforting smile. "[Must be really powerful if that's all you've got. Never heard of it, either, so I'll bet it's a mythical one, exclusive to you!]"
"[Mmm, I suppose... I've heard that if I use it properly, I can hurt people with it... but... I don't really like hurting people for no good reason, so I've never tried it.]"
He tilted his head. She didn't like hurting people? Well, so much for asking her if she ever wanted to fight in the future, then... "[Oh, okay,]" he replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. "[Well... what do you do with it?]"
"[Well, I sing my 'Song Of Lovely Dancing' as I like to call it,]" she replied.
"[Of course it had to involve singing…!]" he said amusedly.
"[Absolutely! And after the song, I...]"
"[Ooh, ooh!]" Buneary excitedly piped in suddenly. "[Why not show us? I would love to see you in action! Even if just a little bit.]"
Meloetta's eyes brightened. "[Oh, nice idea~! Okay then, I shall~. After all, I need to pay you both back for being so nice to me with the food and story and-]" She gasped lightly. "[Oh, you know what? I still haven't said who won, have I?]"
Pikachu chuckled. "[Yeah, first things first.]"
"[Yeah, who's a winner?]" Buneary asked eagerly.
"[Yes, um...]" Meloetta started, looking deep in thought.
Pikachu and his girlfriend watched on in anticipation. Honestly, it was kind of exciting. Not knowing the winner until the judge's... well, judgment.
He wondered who the singer would go for...
TO BE CONTINUED!
Finished: 13/04 (April)/2018
Word count: 4,935
VGS2's pointless notes: Oooh, I wonder who won!? It's exciting, isn't it!? (Except not, because I already know, since I split the chapter into two, but… yeah.)
Either way, I hope you enjoyed all the action. And I hope I explained it well enough to not give you too much of a headache! After all, I did confuse ravengal about a thousand times before finally getting something that seemed vaguely not stupid. XP (Please lemmie know if I screwed anything up!)
Oh yeah, before I forget... I have a poll going on right now on me profile. It's related to Game-Changer, and it's there to help me decide how much you guys actually even like the thing, if at all. Feel free to fill it out, even if you haven't read the fic lately, or at all! And don't be shy about what you choose! It'll be an interesting experiment for me. :P
Shameless promotion: Today, I shall promote J'LoBuizel again! The writer with the most comedically bizarre lagomorph fics!
He writes a lot of fun, interesting stuff, so I think you'll be into him. Especially if you like western toons. Well… liked western toons. Let's be honest, most of them cartoons are junk nowadays (with exceptions, of course!) Thankfully, his fics take inspiration from the good era of toons, so no worries about that. XP
Either way, he's written a frick ton of fics in the last year alone! And he has a few stories on the more serious side, too. One of which is M-rated for (future at the time of writing) violence reasons! Either way, everything of his has fluffy romance, so I'm sure you'll have something good to look at, no matter what. :P Be sure to review him! Especially since he's been struggling to get some, for a while, for reasons unknown.
Fun mistake/s of the day (Of which there are many this time, Jesus…): #1: The legendary had lapped the entire thing much to Meloetta's excitement.
(Which legendary? And why is Meloetta excited about it? And why is the legendary running laps? And how does this sort of thing always happen while I'm fixing up sentences!? XD)
#2: A few apples above shook for a short while before falling down below them.
(They phased through the ground, apparently. Pikachu's sure to impress everyone with his reality bending powers.)
#3: 'Feeling it go heavy, he, he spun forwards'
(Oh no, now I'm starting to st-st-stutter like G-G-Gracie from MewLover54's Explorers Of Legends fic.)
#4: They both grabbed on each, though they kept their gazes on him.
(Grabbed onto each... what? And all while staring Pikachu in the eye, too. Gotta assert dominance, after all!)
#5: "[she and her team mates are all contest champs!]"
(Teammates is one word! Unless… they're her 'mates' from her team. O,o Guess Pikachu's into open relationships.)
#6: "[Um… on that note, better floor myself before I pull another head-crushing stunt.
(Look at this tough bugger. Such a roughie that he's ready to beat himself up. It don't get more hardcore than that. XP)
#7: "[That's where we have to fight as well as how off!]"
(How now, brown… cow-neary?)
#8: 'Once she'd gone a fair distance away, She moved a fair distance away.'
(And then she kept going, and going, and going, and going, and then... yeah. That's why you never see her during Dawn's visit to Unova. She's miles away, by now. XP)
#9: The fluff on her ears glowed ike rainbows as she smacked it upwards
("I fight for my friends. You'll get no sympathy from me.")
#10: 'However, it simply feel back down again, so she had to keep punching it back up.'
(PikachuAndBunearySecretSexTape .mp4)
#11: 'However, a visible gut began to appear.'
(Uh oh. Guess she ate too many berries, huh? XD I wonder if Pikachu will still want to date her now that she's gone chubby, just like he used to be...)
#12: 'When her feet fully formed into what looked like mini tornadoes,'
(Her feet literally became tornadoes, apparently. Like... are they spinning around rapidly like Tails' tails? Sounds more like a video game glitch.)
#13: 'sailing passed the floating apples.'
(As Sailing passed by Floating Apples, he made sure to wave to her.)
#14: 'Unless... was it her forth move!?'
(Go forth, my noble move!)
#15: 'He watched on with batted breath'
(How does one bat a breath?)
#16: 'but before he could, she dropped hat'
(She was wearing a hat? Well, no wonder it dropped off her. There's no space on her head to put the thing! Unless she put it onto her ear… XP)
#17: '"[Is that how you learned how to do that... tornado thing?]" Ash asked.'
(Me and ravengal were talking about Ash... and then he arrived to speak in pokémon, I guess. XD)
#18: 'He brought his paws together and hook them,'
(He's going fishing and using his paws as bait!? Even Big the cat would be impressed.)
#19: "[Another performances?]"
(Gollum likeses the performances!)
#20: '"[Like… me versus Pikachu?]" Buneary asked?'
(Even the narrator's surprised by Buneary's question.)
#21: "[Whoever wins… has to do a super cute, sappy romantic gesture for the one who won~]"
(… So they have to do something romantic to themselves? What is this, Spiritual Successor? … If you catch my meaning…! *Nose tap* XP)
#22: 'Hopping, he spun around and spun around in midair.'
(And so, Pikachu began to identify as an apache attack helicopter.)
#23: 'Jumping into the air, he flipped around and tossed and Electro Ball downwards.'
(He tossed and Electro Ball'd (with bad English)? Not in front of the girls, Pikachu! What is this, Spiritual Successor!? … Which I've already made a similar joke about in this chapter, for crying out loud… XD)
#24: 'The girls worriedly came hopping and floating over.'
(They both hopped and floated at the same time? Reminds me of those Chinese vampires, like Hsien-Ko (from Darkstalkers/Marvel Vs Capcom/some other Capcom crossover you've played))
#25: 'He chuckled sheepishly ass felt his face heat up.'
(This is why I shouldn't write with no sleep. Aye aye aye… XD Pikachu's into some weird kinks, is all I can say.)
Christ, how many!? O,o Jeez… if I'm not careful, people really are going to think that I'm doing these on purpose. XD I'm not, I promise. I'm just a really awful writer. I mean, my story-ing in generally is okay, I like to imagine… but getting things down on paper is another matter entirely, as you can see…
Oh well. Tataa for noow! c:
Next up: Finding a winner!
