Author's note: Heya!
Hmm... can't think of much to say. So maybe the message from now on should be this:
If you read a fic, please review it!
AND...
If someone has reviewed your fic, please reply to them!
It's common courtesy. XP Plus, it will help you make more friends, and gain more clout! I try my best to review other people's fics, AND respond when they review mine. Say thank you, and reply to any questions they have.
It's easy! And fun! And people will be more likely to review in future, because they know you're listening to them!
There's no feeling more empty than reviewing a fic, only to get no reply... :(
Remember, review and reply to keep the community camaraderie strong!
...
Well, hope you enjoy the chapter!
Best mistakes of the day:
"(Yeah, well, whatever you saw, keep it yourself, alright?)"
Ooh, a secret in a box! And it's Staraptor's now, I guess. "My precioooous..."
"(Though the dessert thing's a goof idea, too!)"
Only goofs have certain things for dessert.
Chapter Ten: Healing Up
Pikachu watched as Staraptor flew down the corridor towards him. "(Any luck?)" he asked as the bird got close.
Staraptor landed, shaking his head. "(No sign of Ash that way,)" he replied. He paused, pulling a confused face. "(Dawn and her team are doing something weird, though.)"
Pikachu blinked. "(Huh?)"
"(Heh,)" Buizel said. "(Wondered where they'd gone.)"
Hearing a slight whoosh, Pikachu looked in the other direction. Gliscor was gliding towards them from the other end of the corridor. He wasn't as good at gliding indoors, but he was somehow managing.
The bat grinned excitedly. "(Guys! Guys!)" he cried out. "(I found-!)" He wobbled in mid-air. "(Whoa!)" Yelping, he swerved, toppling straight into Grotle and knocking the tortoise to the floor.
"(Oof...)" Grotle muttered.
"(Ow... S-Sorry...)"
"(S'okay...)"
Pikachu walked over, concerned. "(You okay, Gliscor?)" he asked.
"(Yeah...)" Gliscor replied, "(I'll live...)" He immediately brightened up. "(Guys, I found him! I found Ash!)"
Pikachu also brightened up. "(You did?)"
"(Yeah! He's lying outside on the grass!)" He paused, his smile dropping. "(He looked really miserable, though...)"
Pikachu's smile also dropped. "(Ah...)"
"(Well, good job,)" Grotle replied, getting to his feet. He smiled. "(Now we just need to wait for Brock to get back, right?)"
"(Yeah,)" Staraptor added, nodding. "(Then, when Monferno's better, we go over and cheer Ash up, like Pikachu said.)"
Putting on another smile, Pikachu also nodded. "(Yeah,)" he replied. He pumped a fist. "(We got this, guys!)"
A while later, Brock returned. Waiting in the corridor with everyone else - but too small to look through the window - Pikachu waited, watching his teammates. Eventually, Buizel signalled that the cheri berries were being fed to Monferno.
... Pikachu really didn't want to hurt himself further, but, at the same time, he really wanted to watch Monferno's recovery. Gritting his teeth, he leapt up and grabbed the window sill, holding onto it with his arms.
Ow... Okay, it wasn't quite as bad as he'd thought it would be, but it still hurt a bit.
He watched as Nurse Joy - holding a spoon full of what seemed to be mashed-up cheri berries in one hand, and lifting up Monferno's head with the other - said something. On either side of her stood Brock and Chansey.
Monferno mumbled something in response, before Nurse Joy gently pushed his head up a bit more and put the spoon in his mouth. He chewed, then swallowed.
Pikachu and his teammates watched with bated breath, as Nurse Joy laid him back down on his pillow. Was he going to be okay?
After a long moment, he slowly opened his eyes. Another long moment passed by, then his eyes snapped open in surprise. He blinked a few times, looking stupefied. Then he suddenly sat bolt upright.
Pikachu beamed. "(He's okay!)" he said, watching as Monferno danced in his seat, looking tons better than before.
Monferno turned to the window, giving them all a wave. They all cheered, some even waving back. Pikachu would have, too, but his arms were still holding onto the windowsill.
Alright. Step one was done. Now onto step two.
Once Monferno was back on his feet, and the plan had been explained to him, he agreed to help out. Now it was time for step three.
The group headed off down the corridor and out the door, running around the building to find Ash. On the way, they passed by the area they'd battled yesterday, with its large dirt patch and mess of hills. As they did, Pikachu couldn't help but notice how many people were at Lake Acuity today. There had been barely any yesterday, but now they were milling around, and setting up stalls.
... Wait. Ah, right, the pikachu festival. He'd almost forgotten about it, after everything that had happened. Well, he was sure that would be a fun little distraction for Ash later that night.
Soon enough, they found the boy in question. He was lying flat on his back, his arms behind his head, and staring solemnly at the clouds above him.
Okay. It was go time.
Pikachu was surprised. It had taken a lot less effort than he'd thought it would to cheer Ash up. Then again, perhaps he should have expected it. After all, knowing Ash, he was likely just happy that his pokémon were happy.
The pokémon listened intently as their trainer talked about how strong Paul was, and how it wouldn't be easy to beat him, so they'd have to work harder than ever if they wanted to come out on top.
Heh. It was almost as if Ash was starting to respect Paul. It was kind of strange, honestly. Well, Pikachu could respect that the guy was insanely good at strategies, but Monferno was still a testament to how he treated his pokémon. So Pikachu didn't think he'd come to like him anytime soon.
Still, it was great to see that Ash was back to normal! Talking about training, working hard, and continuing on towards his dream! All six of them ran forwards, happily tackling their trainer to the ground.
They all laughed in joy, glad that he wasn't sad anymore.
On the way back, everyone got a laugh out of Ash's stomach grumbling. Even Pikachu laughed. Though, when he thought about it, it was kind of sad, in a way. Ash had been so down in the dumps that he'd forgotten to eat? Man, that was a sign of just how bad things had been. He was glad he was okay now, though.
Eventually, they reached the front door of the pokémon centre. It automatically slid open, and they could see Dawn, Brock and Nurse Joy inside the foyer.
"Guys, I'm back!" Ash said.
"(Yeah, he's okay now!)" Pikachu added from atop his shoulder.
"Ah!" Dawn said in surprise. Her eyes were wide. "Ash, Brock just told us he saw it!"
Brock nodded, a serious look on his face. "Mmm," he confirmed.
"Saw it?" Ash asked.
"(Huh?)" Pikachu asked, blinking.
"Saw what?"
"Uxie!" Dawn replied. "Or at least, what he thinks might be Uxie!"
Pikachu's eyes widened. Brock had seen Uxie?! The pokémon of the lake?!
"Really?!" Ash asked in shock.
"Yeah," Brock replied. "I'm not entirely sure what it was... but I know I saw something on Lake Acuity."
So it was there, just like May and Zoey had said! Then maybe it had seen their battle, after all!
Ash briefly turned back towards the door. "There were a load of other people outside. Did they see anything?"
"Hmm... I don't think so? I looked around, and didn't see anyone else notice. They were too busy setting up stalls."
"Huh." Ash looked back at him. "Just you, then?"
"I think so."
"Nurse Joy says she has a library, where we can look it up!" Dawn said, her eyes still wide. "Maybe we should go and do that!"
"Yeah!" Ash replied. "Sounds-" His stomach grumbled again. He chuckled sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I didn't eat anything today..."
Brock sighed with a smile. "I offered you breakfast, but you were really out of it..." he said.
"... You did?"
"Yeah. It's okay, though. I'll whip up a snack for a late lunch!"
"Awesome!"
Sitting around inside the pokémon centre, everyone - including the pokémon - dug into their sandwiches. They had been cut neatly into triangle shapes, and seemed to have cheese, lettuce and tomatoes on them. Pikachu took a bite of his. Mmm, delicious. The cheese was nice enough on its own, but the lettuce gave it a nice crunch, and the tomatoes kept it from being too dry. A perfect sandwich.
He glanced around as the rest of his teammates enjoyed their own sandwiches, and couldn't help but notice all the people milling around. Heh. It must've been because of the festival. He could only imagine how quiet it would have been without it.
Then again, Nurse Joy had said that hardly any tourists ever came to Lake Acuity, and that it was empty most of the year, so he supposed that's exactly what it would have been like. Empty.
... Kind of a depressing thought.
But it was what the festival was for, after all. To bring tourists to the lake. Hence why the room they were eating in was covered in yellow posters, with pictures of pikachu on them.
In fact, Buneary - who was sitting next to him - was staring at one, completely ignoring the sandwiches on her plate.
"(Woooow!)" she said, looking positively starry-eyed. "(So this is the poster for the pikachu festival! I really wanna go see it tonight!)"
Pachirisu giggled. "(I'll bet you do~)" he replied.
Piplup grinned in Pikachu's direction. "(Maybe Pikachu could take you,)" he said.
Pikachu's face warmed. Uh oh.
Buneary turned her beaming face in his direction. "(Really?!)" she asked. "(You would?! Like a date?!)"
Pikachu's heart raced, both in panic and maybe something else. "(Uh, uh...!)" he cried, floundering horribly. He could see everyone smirking at him now. His face burned even hotter. "(Uh... we'll... see...)" His gaze trailed down to his sandwich.
"(Ooh, okay! I hope the answer's yes~!)"
He heard everyone laughing at him.
Yep, there it was again: that familiar feeling of wanting to crawl into a hole...
"(I heard about the poster, but I didn't get to see it 'til now!)" Buneary continued. "(I didn't even see any in the other room, while we were-)"
A flipper landed on her mouth. "(Ahp-ahp-ahp!)" Piplup said, shushing her. "(That's a secret for now.)"
She looked at him in confusion, his flipper still on her mouth. "(Hruh?)"
"(Don't go ruining the surprise!)" Pachirisu said, giggling.
"(Ohr... ohrkay...)" Buneary replied. Piplup removed his flipper.
Staraptor huffed. "(I knew you guys were up to something...)" he said.
"(Yeah, well,)" Piplup replied, "(whatever you saw, keep it to yourself, alright? It's a surprise for later.)"
"(Fine, fine...)"
Buneary blinked, looking down at her plate. "(... Oh yeah, I forgot to eat my food,)" she said. Smiling, she picked up a sandwich and bit into it. After chewing a few times, she pulled a face. Swallowing, she stuck out her tongue. "(Bleh... Oh, wow, that ruined the cheese...)" She lifted up the bread of her sandwich and pouted at the food inside. "(Is this the lettuce and tomato? This stuff's kinda nasty...)"
"(Yeah, a little,)" Mamoswine agreed, inhaling more sandwiches from his much larger pile, "(buh frood's frood.)"
Pikachu blinked in surprise, his face finally cooling down. "(Really?)" he asked. "(I like it, though...)"
Buneary beamed up at him, her face positively radiating sunshine. "(Oh! Well, hey, how about you have it, then? Since you like it so much~!)" She moved the sandwich closer to him. "(You can even have the other one, too~!)"
"(... Sharing food now, huh?)" Piplup asked teasingly.
"(That's probably a sign of love in some cultures!)" Pachirisu added, giggling.
Buneary's eyes sparkled as she glanced at them. "(Ooh, you think?!)" she asked excitedly.
Pikachu's face burned again. "(Uh...)" he said. He cringed as he reached over to her sandwich. "(I don't think...)" He halted, too embarrassed to finish the correction. "(Y-You know what? Never mind...)" He pulled Buneary's lettuce and tomatoes off her sandwich. "(Sure, I'll take these. Th-Thanks, Buneary...)"
"(No problem~!)"
He hastily tried to add them to his own sandwich, but his sheer mortification made them slip from his grasp onto the plate. He tried several more times, each time more awkward than the last, and eventually got them onto the sandwich.
Everyone laughed at him, while his face felt like molten lava.
"(I'll... get the other ones in a bit...)" he mumbled.
"(Okay~!)" Buneary replied. "(Ooh, say...)" She looked around at everyone. "(Do you think Brock'll let me put some candy flakes on this?)" She indicated her sandwich.
"(... Candy on a sandwich?)" Buizel asked with a raised eyebrow.
"(Yeah!)"
"(I... don't think that'd taste very good,)" Grotle replied.
Buneary blinked. "(... You don't?)"
He smiled sheepishly. "(No...)"
"(Maybe for a dessert!)" Gliscor suggested.
Buneary beamed. "(That's a great idea!)" she replied.
Staraptor rolled his eyes. "(It's supposed to go on a dessert,)" he said. "(That's what Brock said.)"
"(Well...)" Monferno said slowly, "(I wouldn't mind having it on its own...)"
Sudowoodo saluted. "(Sounds good to me!)" he said.
"(Yeah!)" Happiny agreed, waving her tiny arms.
"(Sure,)" Mamoswine said, nodding.
"(... Whatever,)" Croagunk added.
"(Well, okay!)" Buneary replied happily. "(Then I'm gonna go ask Brock for them!)" She paused a moment. "(... Oh wait, he was running low, wasn't he?)"
Pikachu chuckled. "(Nah,)" he replied, "(I heard him say he made some more yesterday.)"
Her eyes lit up. "(He did?! In that case, I'm definitely asking him!)" She paused briefly in thought. "(Yeah, I totally wanna try them on my sandwich!)"
"(Huh?)" Monferno asked. "(I thought you weren't gonna.)"
"(Naw, I really wanna see how they taste! Though the dessert thing's a good idea, too!)"
Staraptor shrugged. "(Well, they're your taste buds, I suppose...)" he replied.
"(Yay! Okay, gonna go get 'em!)" Hopping to her feet, Buneary moved over to where Brock was.
"So," Dawn said, "what type of pokémon do you think Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie are?"
"Who can say?" Brock replied. "You talked to Professor Rowan about it, right?"
"Yeah, but he said they're so seldom seen that no one's entirely sure!"
"Wow..." Ash replied, "and you really think they're legendary pokémon?"
Dawn nodded. "That's what Professor Rowan said."
Brock frowned in thought. "And I still wonder if they're connected to the Sinnoh space-time legend..." he said.
"Just imagine~"
"Yeah!" Ash added. "Though how would they be connected to Dialga and Palkia, do you think?"
"It's a mystery, alright..." Brock replied.
"(Hey!)" Buneary called out by his feet.
"Hmm?" He looked down at her, then smiled. "Oh, hey, Buneary. Something the matter?"
Buneary made a shaker motion with her paw, grinning like an idiot. Pikachu couldn't help but be charmed.
... Not that he'd admit that to anyone. Especially Piplup and Pachirisu.
Brock blinked. "Huh? Are you... saying you want the candy flakes?"
Buneary nodded enthusiastically. "(Yes, please~!)" she replied.
He gave her an exasperated smile. "For sandwiches?"
She nodded again. "(Yep!)"
"Well, okay..." Unzipping his backpack, he rummaged inside. When he found the shaker, he pulled it out and handed it to Buneary. "Here you go."
"(Yay! Thanks!)"
Taking it back to her sandwiches, she sat down with it. Then Pikachu watched, in horrified intrigue, as she opened up the bread and sprinkled it all over the cheese.
"(Hey, can I have some?!)" Gliscor asked excitedly.
"(Sure!)" Buneary replied, smiling at him.
Grotle smiled sheepishly. "(For a side dish, I hope...)" he said. "(I don't want you ruining your sandwich, Gliscor...)"
Gliscor paused, then looked down at his sandwich. Winking, he stuck out his tongue. "(Guess so!)" he replied.
"(Here you go!)" Buneary said, handing it over.
He carefully grabbed it with his pincers. "(Thanks!)"
Now came the moment of truth. Pikachu watched Buneary in anticipation as she closed her sandwich, picked it up and raised it to her mouth.
She took a big bite, chewing happily.
After a moment, she paused. She blinked. "(... Huh,)" she said.
"(... Is it good?)" Pikachu asked.
She paused again. Then she pulled a face. "(... Tastes weird.)"
Pikachu couldn't help the puff of amusement that escaped his lips. "(Guess it doesn't go well with cheese, huh?)"
She laughed. "(Guess not!)" Opening her sandwich again, she scraped off the candy flakes, letting them fall onto the plate. "(That's my dessert, then~!)"
He couldn't help but laugh. She was... rather cute.
