Greetings, dear readers. And welcome back to 'All I Want For Christmas is a Pokémon'. ...Just to get to the story, first of all, *insert one of my apologies for my lateness here*. Second, I hope you all enjoy the recap as a refresher for what happened last chapter.
Now, with my note done, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, my dolls. =)
(Heads-up here: There will be Pokétalk in this chapter. Curious about that? Read on and find out what I mean.)
"Hmm? What's that, Pikachu?" AJ asked, her attention now on the Pokémon she was holding.
"Ka. Ka Pik Pika," Pikachu pointed down to the group on the ground.
It took her a bit to piece it all together, but AJ managed to get what he was asking. A light laugh escaping her, AJ knelt down before placing Pikachu on the ground. "Now, Pikachu, be sure to play nice and be careful. Bulby, Buneary, Quilly, and Marill are all very nice, and they'll do their best to help you feel welcome. Also, don't be too rough. I know this is something that may seem scary to you, but it's like I said, Bulby and the others are all very nice. Just relax and have fun. And don't worry. I'll be right here watching."
"Chu?" Pikachu asked.
"Yes Pikachu. I promise," AJ responded with a nod. "Now, remember what I said and go have fun."
"Chu Pi," Pikachu nodded before turning and making his way over to the curious group of other Pokémon. 'Remember what the human named AJ said. They're friends. It's fine. It's okay,' the Electric mouse thought as a personal mantra.
Standing up and watching as Pikachu made his way to the Bulby and the others with Splat following after him, AJ stood and kept an eye on the group. 'Now, here comes the real test. Seeing how Pikachu does around other Pokémon. Fingers crossed that this goes well.'
Walking with Alex and Jeff over to the others, AJ made sure to keep her eye on Pikachu and the other Pokémon.
Seeing how one of her friends was watching the Pokémon as they talked among themselves, Kaitlyn couldn't help the snicker that escaped her. "Relax, AJ. You've got nothing to worry about. Bulby and the others are going to help Pikachu feel right at home with them."
"Kaitlyn's right, love," Layla said. "After all, remember who's Pokémon was responsible for helping the others with getting comfortable in the group?"
"All Splat did was work on a painting on his own and Marill decided to help him clean his tail when he was done and when he was going to use a different color. I guess her, Quilly, Buneary, and Bulby being curious about what he was doing helped them get used to being around each other when they all first met," Jeff added with a grin.
"That is true, bro," Zack added with a laugh. "Those were some nice paintings they made when they all first met."
"They were," Naomi smiled. "The only hard thing was getting the paint out of their fur after they were done."
"It was. But it was worth it in the end when we saw how close they had gotten. ...Granted it wasn't much, but at least it was something we could count as baby steps," Kaitlyn said.
"Oh yeah, I remember all of that," Alex said. "If only we had some paint and a canvas here for Pikachu to give painting a try. Maybe he'd like it."
"He probably would, Lexi. You never know," Kaitlyn said.
As she listened to the talking going on with her odd contribution to the chat here and there, AJ let what everyone was saying sink in. 'So, it sounds like I should maybe try to find something Pikachu might like as a way of helping him get used to being around everyone. The only question is ...What could that be?'
As the humans were having their time together, the Pokémon were having their own time.
"Marill Mari Mar (Hi. I'm Marill)," Marill said as she introduced herself to Pikachu.
"Quil Cyndaquil (I'm Cyndaquil)," Quilly said for his introduction as he waved a paw.
"Smea Smear Smeargle (I'm Smeargle)," Splat said with a wave.
"Neary Bun Buneary (Hi, I'm Buneary)," Buneary smiled with a wave.
"Sa Bulbasaur! (Hi, I'm Bulbasaur!)" Bulby smiled with a wave of one of her vines.
"Ch-Ch-Chu. Ka Pikachu (H-H-Hi. I'm Pikachu)," Pikachu nervously responded with a wave of a paw.
Sharing a look with Marill, Splat placed a hand on Pikachu's shoulder. With the new arrival's attention now on him, Splat asked "Smea? (Everything okay?)"
Looking up at the taller Pokémon, Pikachu said "Chu. Ka Pik Pikachu. (Kinda. I'm just feeling nervous)"
"Smea? Smear Smeargle. Smeargle Smea Smea (Nervous? It's okay. You're with friends here)," Splat said, first pointing at himself and then to the others.
"Pi? (Friends?)" Pikachu asked. This surprised the Electric mouse as he never had the chance to really make friends before. So, hearing this was something he wasn't expecting.
"Sa! Sa Bulba Bulbsaur! (Yeah! We're all friends here!)" Bulby smiled as she mirrored Splat's actions, first pointing at herself and then to the other Pokémon.
Hearing similar remarks coming from the other Pokémon was even more of a surprise. 'They don't want to battle me. They ...they want to be friends with me,' the Electric mouse thought as he watched the others chat among themselves. He almost moved to say something to the Pokémon named Splat when he saw him and the Pokémon named Marill run over to the humans. Turning to the Pokémon named Bulby, Pikachu asked "Pik Pi? (What's wrong?)"
"Saur. Sa Bul Bulba (Nothing. They wanted to go ask the humans about something.)," Bulby answered.
"Pika (Oh)," Pikachu said as he looked over to where the two Pokémon had went, feeling curious about what they had to ask about.
Talk among AJ and the others had been going on about like how it usually did up until a check of the time showed that they should leave the arena.
"After all, it's not like we're needed for anything else tonight, so I say we take off for the night," Alex suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea to me, Lexi. I should probably be trying to give Pikachu a bath soon. Just something to try to help get some of the glass that got stuck in his paws out," AJ said after checking the time on her phone. "Besides. I've got quite a road ahead of me with Pikachu. We've got a lot of training to do in not much time for our big test next Monday."
"Don't worry, love," Layla piped up. "I'm sure your training with Pikachu will go swimmingly."
"Layla's right, bro," Zack said. "And don't forget. You've got a group of training partners here to help you and Pikachu get ready."
"Aww, thanks so much, you guys," AJ smiled. She was just about to say something about setting up training days when she saw Splat standing in front of her. "Hey there, Splat. What's up?"
"Smeargle. Smeargle Smear Smea Smeargle Smea," Splat said as he first pointed in the direction of where Pikachu was with the others and then lifted up his tail, pointing at the tip.
It took the brunette a couple of minutes to piece all of that together, so when she finally did, she asked "You're saying you want to paint something?"
"Smea," Splat said with a nod.
"That sounds nice, but I think that's something you should be asking Jeff."
"Smeargle Smear," Splat shook his head before he repeated his prior actions and words, making sure to first point at his tail and then at Pikachu.
Having overheard that talk, Jeff couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. "I think Splat is trying to say that he wants to work on a painting with Pikachu."
"Really? Aww, that sounds like it'd be fun, Splat, but it'll have to be another day. I've got to give Pikachu a bath. But don't worry. I'll make sure to set aside some time for you both to work on a painting together," AJ said as she rested a hand on the artistic Pokémon's head.
"Smea Smeargle Smea," Splat said with a smile before he walked over to his Trainer.
"And it's with that that I believe we can all leave," Layla said as she picked up Marill. "I just got a text from Stephanie saying that we can all take off, so it looks like a night of rest awaits us all."
Hearing the talking going on around her and following suit with the others as they got their Pokémon, went to their locker rooms and got their belongings and left the arena, AJ found herself shaking her head after letting the night's events soak in. 'I still can't believe it. I still can't believe that I finally have a Pokémon to call my partner. I just know things will go well between me and Pikachu. But, first thing's first. Gotta give Pikachu a bath and then look ahead to our future training sessions. Here's to hoping this all goes well.'
So, it looks like Pikachu took to meeting the other Pokémon pretty well. There even appear to be plans to work on a painting in the future (aww, how nice). And it looks like AJ and Pikachu have some training partners to get ready for their big battle. Good stuff all around! So, after all of this goodness, it looks like AJ has a new test ahead of her, and that test is...*insert slightly dramatic music sting here*...giving Pikachu a bath. How will that go? We shall find out...next time. Until then, don't forget to RR please. =)
(I hope my Pokétalk wasn't too confusing or out of left field for you all. I was largely thinking back on the anime shorts where it was just the Pokémon, so I felt something like that would work to help show Pikachu getting to know Splat and the other Pokémon.)
(Stay safe and healthy out there, lovelies. *sends love and positive vibes out to you all*)
