Author's note: Heya!
In case you guys missed the memo, there's a brand new chapter 7!
It covers the full six-on-six battle between Ash and Paul, written in a way that speeds up the action and is hopefully fun and interesting!
So, if anybody wanted it, there it is! It even has hints of PikaBun scattered throughout!
Took me, like, ten hours to write, so I hope you like it!
It, of course, bumped all the chapters up by one, so it'll be hard to review if you already reviewed the previous chapter 7. No need to worry, though! As long as I know you liked it, I'll be happy!
Anyway, speaking of new chapters, I hope you enjoy this one, too!
Chapter Fourteen: Summoning Courage
Slowly putting the pellet he was holding back into the bowl, Pikachu opened his mouth to speak. "(Hey, uh...)" he started, "(... Buneary?)"
The rabbit looked in his direction, a bright smile on her face. "(Yeah, Pikachu?)" she replied.
"(Um...)" He saw Piplup and Pachirisu looking at him in intrigue. His face warmed slightly. "(W-Well...)"
Buneary tilted her head, still beaming. "(What is it?)"
"(Uh, I was wondering...)" He glanced away awkwardly. "(If...)"
He paused at the sight of the other pokémon on the team watching him. His face warmed even more, and he felt the creeping desire to just drop the subject before it got too embarrassing to handle. Maybe he should just do this another day...
He took a sharp breath, steeling himself. No. He should just man up and do it now. No time would be better to do his big confession than later tonight.
He cringed, turning back to Buneary. No pain, no gain, after all.
"(If... you wanna...)" His face felt like a blazing inferno now. "(... g-go to the festival... with me...)" He tried to continue, but he cringed hard as he noticed Piplup and Pachirisu's eyes light up. He clenched his eyes shut, forcing himself to continue. When he spoke again, his voice came out in a quiet squeak. "(... I'd be okay with that...!)"
There was silence among the pokémon. Nearby, Pikachu could still hear the humans, chatting away without a care in the world. He could also hear the footsteps of other humans as they wandered around the pokémon centre. The pokémon on the team, however, didn't sound like they were breathing.
The agonising silence felt like it was lasting a lifetime. In reality, it was only a few seconds.
"(Really?!)" Buneary squealed. "(You would?!)"
His face felt like it was melting off. He kept his eyes closed as he nodded. "(Y-Yeah...)"
"(Yes! Going to the festival with a hot guy~!)"
He slowly, painfully, cracked his eyes open to see her on her feet and dancing around. He did feel relief at the sight, as well as a warmth in his chest, but he was immediately distracted when cheering erupted around him. He glanced around, perplexed.
"(Good job, Pikachu!)" Monferno said, grinning.
"(Yeah, I'm proud of you,)" Grotle agreed with a smile.
"(Finally decided to grow a pair, huh?)" Buizel said, folding his arms with a sideways smirk.
"(His wording is crass, but he's right,)" Staraptor agreed.
"(Way to go!)" Gliscor cried happily.
"(Uh...)" Pikachu replied, glancing down in his embarrassment, "(th-thanks, guys-)" There was a sudden slap against his shoulder, jolting him.
"(Today, Pikachu, you became a man!)" Piplup said, now standing beside him.
Pachirisu giggled. "(Took long enough, huh?)" he added.
"(... Was he a girl before?)" Happiny asked innocently.
Everyone cracked up laughing, only deepening Pikachu's shame.
"(Either way, congrats, Pikachu!)" Sudowoodo said, saluting.
"(Yeah,)" Mamoswine added, nodding, "(what they said.)"
Croagunk said nothing, glancing away in disinterest.
Pikachu laughed awkwardly at all the attention. "(Uh, thanks, guys...)" he replied.
"What's all the commotion?" Dawn suddenly asked, attracting Pikachu's attention.
The three humans were all giving the group curious looks.
"The pokemon are getting real excited over something," Ash agreed.
"(Pikachu's taking me to the festival!)" Buneary replied excitedly, pointing at Pikachu, then pointing at the festival poster.
... Could Pikachu's face get any warmer? He wasn't sure, at this point.
"Ah, I see," Brock replied, a knowing smile stretching across his face. "You want to go to the festival with Pikachu, isn't that right?"
Buneary beamed brightly and nodded. "(Yep~!)"
Dawn's face lit up. She clapped her hands by her cheek. "Oh, how cute!" she cried. "It's kinda like a date!"
"(Yeah, it is, huh~?)"
Pikachu lowered his gaze back to the floor, wanting it to swallow him whole. "(... Just kill me now,)" he mumbled.
"(Not until after your date, Romeo,)" Piplup replied, giving him a few pats on the back. Afterwards, he walked back over to his bowl and sat down.
... Well, at least his friends were supportive, but good lord...
Ash chuckled. "Well, whatever works," he said. His eyes widened. "Oh, hey! Maybe my whole team should enjoy the festival! They worked super hard, and..." He smiled awkwardly. "... even cheered me up when I was down, even though they were injured..." He smiled as he looked out at the pokémon. "So maybe I should make it up to 'em, and let 'em enjoy the festival!"
Dawn gasped. "That's a great idea, Ash!" she replied.
Brock nodded. "I agree," he replied. "It'll be a great chance for them all to unwind after all that's happened."
"Yeah!" Ash cheered. He paused. "Wait... it's a pikachu festival, right? Are pokémon other than pikachu allowed?"
Brock chuckled. "I don't see why not. I doubt they're going to kick you out for bringing something that's not a pikachu."
"Yeah," Dawn agreed with a sagely nod, "that'd be real jerkish of them."
Ash smiled. "Well, alright then!" he replied. "Everyone can enjoy the festival!" He looked at Brock and Dawn. "Hey, why don't you two do the same? I mean, Buneary's already going with Pikachu, right?"
Dawn's face lit up. "Yeah, you're right!" She beamed. "Okay, let's do that!" She paused. "Wait... will your pokémon be okay? They're still injured, after all."
Ash's face fell as he looked over his team. "... Oh yeah..."
"I wouldn't worry, Ash," Brock reassured. "As long as they don't strain themselves too much, I think they'll be fine."
Ash beamed at him. "You think so?!"
Brock nodded. "Yeah. They need to keep the bandages on for a couple more days, then they'll be good as new."
Ash punched the air happily. "Awesome!" He looked at the pokémon. "Hear that, guys? You're clear to go the festival!" They cheered in response. "You can do whatever you want there. Just be sure to take care of yourselves, okay?"
"(Okay!)" they replied.
Once the pokémon finished their pellets, they started clearing the bowls away. Pikachu had just stacked his own bowl on top of some others when he was approached by his five teammates.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "(Oh, hi, guys,)" he said.
"(Gotta say,)" Buizel said with a smirk, "(I didn't think you had it in ya.)"
Pikachu smiled awkwardly. "(O-Oh yeah?)"
"(Yeah!)" Gliscor replied, beaming. "(I can't believe you asked her out!)"
Pikachu's face warmed. "(W-Well...)" He was about to argue, but the bat had a point. He had basically asked her out, hadn't he?
Grotle smiled. "(Like I said, I'm proud of you,)" he said. "(It must have taken some real courage to do that.)"
Pikachu briefly glanced down at the floor in embarrassment. "(Y-Yeah, I guess...)"
Staraptor ruffled his feathers. "(I was honestly starting to wonder if you even did like her back...)" he said, a light smirk on his beak.
Monferno chuckled. "(Yeah, it has been a long time since she confessed, huh?)" he said. "(It was even before I joined!)"
"(Heh, and not long after I joined,)" Buizel added, folding his arms. "(Though she was flirting with him long before that.)" He smirked. "(Guy sure took his time, huh?)"
"(I-I was...)" Pikachu tried to argue, his face warming even more, "(... still deciding...)"
"(Stalling, more like,)" Staraptor replied. He smiled. "(Still, I'm glad you finally came up with an answer.)"
"(Me too!)" Gliscor added happily.
Grotle nodded with a smile, "(And me,)" he added.
"(We all are!)" Monferno added, grinning. After a moment, the grin turned sheepish. "(Though it's a shame you'll be... you know, going on your date in bandages.)"
Blinking, Pikachu looked down at himself. Oh yeah, the bandages. He gave a small sigh.
Confessing while looking like he'd just left the hospital wasn't ideal, but it couldn't be helped. He either did this in bandages, or he just didn't do it tonight. A bit of a lose-lose, but hey. If the legendaries themselves had, indeed, set this up for him, then he had no business turning it down.
... Besides, if he didn't do this tonight, he might lose his nerve again. Worst case scenario, he might bury his head in the sand and not do it at all. He didn't want to be doing that again.
"(Yeah...)" he replied.
"(Well, I think you'll do fine, either way,)" Grotle said.
"(Yeah!)" Gliscor agreed. "(You've got this, man!)"
"(Definitely,)" Buizel agreed.
Staraptor and Monferno also nodded their agreement.
Pikachu gave them all a sheepish, yet grateful, smile. "(Heh,)" he replied. "(Thanks, guys.)"
They all smiled back at him.
"(Hey, hey, hey!)" Pachirisu suddenly said, skidding to a halt next to Pikachu. He hopped up and down. "(Guess what? Guess what?)"
"(Uh... what?)" Pikachu asked.
Pachirisu looked like he was about to giggle, but he suppressed it, straightening his back and trying to look calm. A grin was still stretched across his face, however, making him look smug, instead.
"(Well, Buneary was looking at the poster again. You know, the one for the festival.)"
"(Uh huh...?)" Why was Pikachu getting a creeping feeling of dread from this?
"(So I said to her, I said... 'You sure look excited for the festival!')" He paused for dramatic effect. "(... And do you know what she said?)"
Pikachu could feel a growing need to hide under a rock. He cringed. "(Wh... What did she say?)"
Pachirisu grinned. Placing his paws to his cheeks, he put on the most sparkly-eyed expression he could, mouth wide in glee. "('Of course I am! ! I adore Pikachu, so why wouldn't I be excited?!')" He put his paws to his mouth and giggled hard. "(That's what she said!)"
As he heard his teammates laughing behind him, and felt a few pats on the back, Pikachu's face exploded in heat. Yep, there it was. The undeniable feeling of wanting to crawl under the nearest rock.
... At the same time, though, it felt... nice that Buneary was so excited.
He smiled to himself as his gaze trailed the floor. Yeah, he was actually kinda looking forward to it now.
Sitting on Ash's shoulder, Pikachu looked around at the many yellow stalls lining the lake. All of them had red circles, black triangles, brown stripes and lightning bolts painted on them in various places, really capturing the feel of a pikachu, he supposed.
High above them, the sun hung low in the sky, though there didn't seem to be many people at the festival yet, aside from the stall owners.
"Are we here too early...?" Ash asked, sounding displeased.
Brock chuckled. "That's to be expected," he replied. "We've been here longer than everyone else. Plus, the festival's not due to really kick off until a bit later. For now, how about we check out some of the stalls?"
"Sounds good to me!" Dawn replied. "I wonder what entertainment they'll have later."
"Something to do with that, I'll bet." Brock pointed at a large stage that had been set up in the back, which was also yellow and covered in various shapes.
"Ooh, nice!" Dawn smiled, but it fell a little as she looked around. "... Is it me, or is this place a bit... tacky?"
Brock chuckled again. "A little, but the heart is there. It's to honour pikachu, after all."
Dawn sighed. "I guess so... I wish it wasn't so yellow, though..."
"(Yeah, it should probably be blue, instead,)" Piplup said from atop her head.
Ash laughed. "I think it looks kinda cool!" he said.
Dawn put her hands on her hips. "Aren't you the one who complained about it looking like a custard factory, mister?"
"Hey, I wasn't complaining. I like custard! Plus, all the shapes make it look real colourful!"
"Maybe a bit too colourful..."
"Nah, I like it. Anyway, are we letting out the pokémon, so they can check out the place?"
Dawn sighed again, but this time with a smile. "Yeah, okay." She grabbed her pokéballs and threw them into the air. "Come on out, everyone!"
Ash and Brock did the same, the resulting pops and flashes of white light forming eleven pokémon on the grass.
"(Wooooow!)" Buneary said, upon seeing the stalls. "(Everything looks like pikachu!)"
"(Feh,)" Buizel said. "(Dawn was right, this is pretty tacky.)"
"(I dunno, I kinda like it!)" Pachirisu replied. He looked around briefly, then up to where Pikachu was. Upon seeing him, he gave a cheeky grin. "(Come on, Romeo, get down here and give your girlfriend a tour!)"
Buneary's rolled ear shot up as she gasped in delight. "(He's my boyfriend?!)" she asked.
Pikachu's face burned. "(H-Hey! She's not my girlfriend y-!)" He halted in his tracks before he could dig his own grave.
Nope, nope. He'd have enough to deal with later, when she actually was his girlfriend. He didn't need the teasing to start early...
Pachirisu giggled. "(Alright, alright!)" he replied. "(Get down here anyway, though! You've got a date, mister!)"
"(... Fine.)" Pouting, he jumped off Ash's shoulder and landed next to Buneary.
"Alright, guys," Ash said, "have fun at the festival!"
"Yep!" Dawn added. "You're free to do whatever you want! Explore, take a nap, whatever you like!"
"(... I know what I'm doing, then,)" Mamoswine said to himself.
"And, remember," Brock added, "if you need any of us, just come find us. Like, if you want us to buy you a snack, or a souvenir, or something."
"(Okay!)" most of the pokémon replied.
Suddenly, a paw grabbed Pikachu's. He turned to see Buneary beaming at him.
"(Come on, let's go!)" she said, beginning to drag him along. "(Off we go on that date!)" She stopped in place, looking at him curiously. "(Wait, was it a date?)"
His face was on fire again. "(... Sort of,)" he replied awkwardly. "(I guess.)"
She beamed again, turning around to march off with him in tow. "(Okay, off we go on our sort-of-I-guess date!)"
Pikachu fought to ignore the chuckles behind him. He heaved a sigh. Well, as embarrassing as this was, maybe it would be fun, too.