Chapter 3: Watch Out Below!
As the smash portal he'd recently opened up faded away and he was back in Emerald Hill Zone, Pikachu began walking back to the picnic. The portable TV he was still carrying, while not very useful right now, would certainly come in handy later, once his dad was ready to show up. Until then, it could stay out of the way next to the apple tree, or something.
While walking alongside a river near the picnic site, he spotted Buneary standing around. He made a move to wave towards her, though he stopped as he noticed that she was… on the phone? Wait, what?
Sure enough, she had a pink, walkie-talkie-like cell phone held to the side of her face. It was angled in such a way that allowed her excellent hearing to pick up whatever was being said. From this distance, he couldn't make out what she was saying, but… what the heck, why did she have a phone?
Eventually, as he got closer still, she stopped talking. Then, after tapping one of the colored buttons on her phone, she slipped it into the top of her dress, which she aired out several times afterwards.
Hearing his footsteps, she turned towards him and waved. "[Hey, you're back at last!]" she called to him. "[Sure took yer time.]"
"[Yeah. Sorry to keep you waiting. Had to find out when my dad was gonna show up,]" he responded. "[Ran into some trouble on the way.]"
She made a noise of understanding. "[Huh, okay then. Gosh, what sort'a trouble?]"
"[Heh, nothing to worry about, don't worry,]" he replied. He'd probably talk about it later, once the stress of the picnic was gone.
"[Well, if ya say so. Er…]" She pointed towards the TV in Pikachu's paws, a look of confusion on her face. "[Why do ya have a TV?]"
"[Need it for my dad. It'll make sense once he gets here!]"
"[Oh, well, if ya say so,]" she replied with a shrug.
"[Speaking of technology, why do you have a phone? Is it Dawn's, or something?]"
She shook her head. "[Nope. It's mine!]" She gave her dress several hard shakes. Eventually, something fell out of the bottom and landed on the ground. She lightly kicked it towards him.
Tilting his head, he bent down to pick up the pink phone. Looking it over, he saw that it had a small screen and four differently-colored buttons surrounding a tiny star. It also had an antenna topped with a small, golden orb.
"[I use it to talk to Daddy whenever I get the chance,]" she explained. "[Just like now, actually.]"
He blinked. Twice.
She gave him a confused glance. "[… What?]"
"[Er… I dunno. It's just… weren't you a wild pokémon for the longest time?]"
"[Well, yeah. Why?]"
He returned the confused look, as well as her phone. "[Then where the heck did you get such a fancy phone?]"
She shrugged, slipping it back into her dress. "[I dunno, ask Daddy. He's the one who gave it to me.]"
He held his baffled gaze for a few more seconds before shaking his head dismissively. "[Huh, alright. Well, whatever works. Man, where'd you keep it all this time, anyway? Dawn's bag, or something?]"
"[Nope.]" She prodded the portion of her dress that was covering her waist fluff. "[Been keepin' it safe here. This fluff of mine's better than any handbag, y'know!]"
"[Heh, 'kay. Guess that explains what kept hitting my leg that one time...]"
Her face reddened. "[H-Hey…! Not so loud, ya cheek…!]"
He tried to hold back a chuckle. "[You're one to talk about loudness…!]"
She groaned exasperatedly, though with a grin. "[Oh, shut yer yap, you.]"
After a chuckle slipped out, he cleared his throat. "[Well, all the same, your phone's very pretty. Suits ya!]" he praised.
She smiled. "[Thanks! It's got no number buttons, so it's a bit worthless for callin' anyone but Daddy and my momma, but hey.]"
"[Yeah, I was just wondering about that. What a weird design choice…]" He snapped his fingers as he remembered something. "[Ah, of course. I need to update ya on something.]"
She tilted her head. "[Whazzat?]"
"[My dad's gonna be late. He said he's gotta go stop the Galaxy Gang, which is gonna keep him busy for a while. So we should just get started on eating when we're ready.]"
"[Galaxy Gang…? Ya mean Team Galactic, right?]"
"[Ehh, similar, but not quite. They're still evil, though, so he had no choice.]"
"[Oh, well, alright…]" Her unrolled ear drooped. "[Aww, man… I was hopin' we could all meet up at once, too…]" she said, eyes watering ever so slightly.
Jolting, he moved forwards to wrap an arm around her comfortingly. "[Hey, hey, he won't be long, so it's all good, Bunny Bee.]"
She paused for a short while. Soon after, she wiped a paw across her eyes and smiled. "[Yeah… you're right. S-Sorry.]"
He smiled sympathetically. "[S'okay. I won't lie, I haven't been this stressed over a get-together in ages, so you're not alone.]"
She grinned. "[Pfft, that ain't sayin' much. You're always stressed over somethin'.]"
He chuckled awkwardly. "[… Not allllways….]"
She shook her head. "[Nope. Always.]"
He huffed in mock annoyance. "[… Only a little always.]"
She laughed. "[Got that right.]"
He laughed along with her. When they both calmed down, he smiled comfortingly. "[But yeah, like I was saying… Dad's just gotta save the world real quick, then he'll be back before you've even gotten your dessert! Which, knowing you, will be no time at all.]"
Her ear rose again as she nuzzled into his side. "[Tryin' to say that I eat too quickly, are ya~?]" she asked, amused.
"[Nawwww…!]" He paused. "[… Well… unless pie is involved, I guess. That's gone faster than lightning.]"
She giggled before pulling a mock-angry face and lightly bonking him on the head with her ear. "[Grr…! Cheeky!]"
He laughed, pulling her into a proper hug. "[Then again, that's coming from me. Mr. 'Inhales all the ketchup'.]"
She made an amused noise. "[True, true. And the less said about you 'n' cake, the better. 'Specially the coffee-flavored ones.]"
"[Haha, well, y'know… 'long as it's not hot!]"
"[Heh. Yeah…]" she sighed, nuzzling her face into his shoulder.
Content, they stayed in each other's embrace for a little while.
Suddenly, her squashed ear unrolled, as if she'd heard something. Looking up at the sky, she grew excited. "[Ooooh, he's here, he's here~!]" She broke off the hug and pointed towards the sky.
Cocking his head, he followed her gaze upwards. As he looked straight up, he saw a yellow object in the air. It kind of looked like… "[… A star?]" he asked aloud.
She nodded before waving towards it. "[Uh huh! It's Daddy's!]"
He raised an eyebrow. Since when did lopunnys live in the heavens? He didn't have much time to ponder this before the glowing star suddenly grew larger, and larger still.
… Oh, legends, it was coming straight for them! What was this, freaking Termina!?
He lunged forwards, grabbed Buneary and used Quick Attack, zipping a short distance away to safety. Seconds later, there was a big crash as the star collided with the ground, right next to where they'd been.
Rolling onto his twos, he turned to face it. He coughed as dust flew into the air from the impact. "[W-What the heck was that!?]" he exclaimed, shaken up.
Not seeming perturbed at all, Buneary instead moved over to the impact site. "[Oh, I know exactly what that was…]" she said somewhat irritably.
He made a move to stop her. "[Wait, Buneary, it's too dange-]"
She frowned. "[Daddyyy…! I told you to land further away from the picnic area! Ya almost landed onto the food! And onto us!]"
The only response she received was some pained groaning, which almost sounded akin to a deep-voiced growl.
Weird. That didn't sound like a lopunny's voice…
He thought about asking if the pokémon was alright. As the dust settled, however, his eyes widened upon seeing what had landed in the field.
Lying in a heap on the ground was some… odd creature that Pikachu had never seen before. One that was about three times his size, and way, way wider.
As the guy got up, Pikachu decided to give him a careful look-over in an attempt to tell just what the heck he was.
He had two long, brown ears with lightly-colored tips, just like Buneary, albeit less fluffy. However, while she liked to keep one ear rolled up at all times, this guy had both of them constantly extended. They also seemed to be coming out of the side of his head, as opposed to Buneary, whose ears came out of the top.
… Well, they were coming out of the side of the top of his head, anyway. His entire body was a head! Save for his ears and two cream-ish feet, he didn't have a neck, or arms, or… well, anything! He was literally just a walking head! In fact… the more Pikachu looked at him, the more those floppy ears were starting to look like arms. Well, replacements for arms.
His face was very thuggish. He had a lighter-shaded, boxer dog-like muzzle, filled with freckles. He also had angry-looking, shady eyes, which... didn't seem to have any eye whites at all. They were all black, as if he had eye-less eyes. Quite like that pangoro pokémon that Pikachu had once heard about.
He was very confused. What the heck was this guy? Was he a pokémon from another region, maybe? Pikachu had no idea. Either way, this couldn't be Buneary's actual father... right? She must have been mistaken.
Now standing up, the large dog turned towards Buneary and smiled. "Sorry, mah lil' bronto burt. It's a mite harder t' ride these things than you'd think," he said, his voice sounding very gruff. Oh, and apparently speaking in perfect English too, as if the whole situation wasn't weird enough already.
Buneary shook her head before gleefully wrapping her arms around his… er, waist. "[Oh, youuu, Daddy…! Ya really need to be more careful, y'know?]"
Laughing, he patted her on the head with an ear-arm. "Yeah... Ah reckon Ah need me some flyin' lessons."
She chuckled. "[I'll say...!]"
Pikachu blinked. This guy was Buneary's father? Really!?
He stared. What… the…!?
TO BE CONTINUED!
Finished (Kinda): 11/11 (November)/2015
Word count: 1,725
Older title: Far Away Father
VGS2's pointless notes: And so it begins! Pikachu's meeting of Buneary's enigmatic father! I wonder how the get-together is going to go? Only one way to find out!
Character highlight: Buneary (from the Pokémon anime) - A rabbit pokémon who belongs to Dawn, a friend of Ash's. This fluff-covered bunny from Sinnoh is well known for her huge crush on Pikachu, which started after seeing him perform a rad trick involving a potato. She is capable of punching things with her large ears, jumping high into the air to flatten things on the way down, and even freezing things solid with her Ice Beam attack! All of her abilities make her a beast in contests, both for showing off in the appeal rounds, and for fighting in the battle rounds!
Fun mistake of the day #1: 'She lightly kicked him towards it.'
(How violent! That's what he gets for ruffling his clothes, I guess.)
#2: 'Since when did lopunnys live the heavens?'
(It's confirmed! Lopunny own the heavens! Don't tell Bayonetta...)
Alrighty, tata for now, guys! c:
