Author's note: Hi, everybody!

Yes... there's five chapters now, okay? Gah. This was only meant to be a one-shot, but look how long it's dragged on. Why I didn't fully plan this fic from the start, I don't know, but I'm currently kicking myself a bit for it. XD

Also, any similarities to Syaoran and Sakura of Cardcaptor Sakura are totally intentional this time. XP

Chapter Four: Revelations

Buneary stared at him, her eyes wide. She said nothing for a few moments. Pikachu shrunk under her gaze, waiting anxiously for her to say something. The long stretch of silence was agonising.

"You... You're... asking me to be your mate?"

His blush deepened and he avoided her eyes. "Well... yeah... if you want..."

"... Why me?"

He looked up at her. "Huh?"

Her blush deepened, too. "Wh-Why me? It just seems strange... that Lightning Strike... the Lightning Strike... would ask me out..."

"Well... 'cause you're cute and sweet and really nice and playful and..." His voice lowered in his embarrassment. "And you were the first Pokemon to make me feel welcome here."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah. I-I felt like an outsider in a strange new world... but you made me feel like I belonged here." He smiled. "Not to mention, your face always lights up when you see me and you look really adorable when you-" He stopped himself and covered his face with his paws. "Gah! Sorry. Got a bit carried away."

After another few moments of silence, he peeked between his fingers to see what she was doing.

She smiled warmly at him. "Wow... that's incredibly sweet, Lightn- Pikachu. I'm flattered."

He felt a warm glow inside from her words, then realisation hit him and his heart dropped into his stomach. "... The answer's 'no', isn't it?"

She blinked at him. "'No'? I never said the answer was 'no'. I'm just surprised, is all!" She paused. "Wait a minute..."

He removed his paws from his face. "What?"

"All those flowers you kept bringing me... I was the only one, wasn't I?"

He quickly looked away and fidgeted his fingers. "Yeah..."

"And... you've been trying to ask me something all day, haven't you?" She paused. "Was this it?"

He felt himself shrink in embarrassment again. "Mmm-hmm..."

"I... Wow... I can't believe I never noticed..."

He looked up at her and was quite startled to see that she was staring at him, her face lit up in a blush and her eyes sparkling. He stared back at her, so many warm feelings welling up at once.

"So... So..."

"Hey!" Mew called out.

They both jumped out of their skin and whirled to face the pink cat. "Huh?" Pikachu asked, his heart pounding.

Mew blinked. "Oh... was I interrupting something? I just wanted to ask if you were done yet. Piplup's ready to head back."

Pikachu felt a slight throbbing sensation in his temple. "Mew, could you... please give us a minute? We're in the middle of something here."

"Oh... sorry! I'll be over there." Mew quickly flew away again.

Pikachu heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Buneary giggled. The sound alleviated his headache slightly and he couldn't help but smile at her.

"So, um... you were saying?" she asked with a huge smile.

"Oh... right..." He lowered his paw and cleared his throat. "So, would you... go out with me?"

She beamed. "Sure! I don't see why not."

His eyes positively shone. "Really? You will?"

"Mmm-hmm! How could I say 'no' to that face?" She tapped him on the nose with her paw. "Besides, I do think you're a really nice guy. You're super cute and super sweet... and you're always willing to play with me!"

He chuckled sheepishly. "Well..."

"So, are you going to take me on a date?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Well..." She grabbed the fluffy fur around her waist and started twisting it in her paws with a sheepish grin. "I've never actually been asked out before, but I know you're supposed to go on dates... Ooh, this is embarrassing!" She pulled her fur over her face.

He stared at her for a moment in wonder. How had she managed to make herself even cuter?

He quickly shook himself out of it and tried to think. "Well... hmm... where could we go?"

She lowered her fur and peeked over the top of it. "Any ideas? You know the PokePark much better than I do..."

"Hmm..."

"I think you'd really like it. A Shaymin lives there and she looks after the flowers... and you get a really beautiful view of the sun and clouds from up there."

He widened his eyes. The Flower Zone! It was the perfect place to take Buneary on a date!

"Pikachu?"

He lightly pounded his fist into his palm. "I know a good place. Let's head back down to the Meeting Place and we'll go from there."

"Okay."

Together, they made their way down the slope and back towards where Piplup and Mew were with the Pikachu balloon.

"Finally!" Piplup cried. "What took you so long?"

Pikachu cast a shy glance at Buneary. "Well..." he replied.

"... Wait... you did it, didn't you? The thing! You did the thing!"

"... He knew?" Buneary asked.

Pikachu rubbed the back of his head and chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah... all my friends knew."

She giggled and gave his arm a light tap. "You little sneak!"

"You're dating now, aren't you?" Piplup asked with a huge smile.

"Yep!" Pikachu replied. "We are."

"Yay!" Piplup bounced around. "Way to go, Pikachu!"

Mew did a mid-air somersault. "That's great!" he said. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, you guys," Pikachu replied.

Piplup stopped bouncing. "Now, let's head back to the Meeting Place and tell the others the good news!" he said.

Buneary shrunk back a bit. "We have to go in the balloon again?" she asked.

Pikachu turned to her. "Hmm?" he asked. "Of course. We can't get off the Sky Pavilion otherwise."

"Oh... okay."

"Come visit me again, okay, Pikachu?" Mew asked. "It gets a bit lonely up here sometimes, so I'd like a friend to play with!"

Pikachu smiled at him. "Sure thing, Mew," he replied. "I'll be sure to come back."

"Will you be gone long?"

"Um..." He gave a guilty smile. "Probably, actually."

"Aww... Oh well. I guess I can invite another Pokemon over, while I wait." He paused for thought. "Ooh, maybe I can invite Celebi over! She lives just off the Meadow Zone, right? Maybe she'll wanna come and play!" He paused again. "What does she like to play?"

"She loves chase... and she's a really fast runner... I mean, flier, too! I had to do a Double Dash to catch her!"

Mew giggled. "Sounds like the perfect opponent for me, then!"

"Congratulations, Pikachu!" Chikorita cried.

"Yeah, nicely done!" Charmander said.

"Thanks, you guys," Pikachu replied with a bashful smile.

"So, can we head out now?" Piplup asked eagerly. "I wanna go explore!"

"Huh?" Buneary asked.

"Not right now, Piplup," Pikachu replied. "I'm, uh... taking Buneary on a date."

Chikorita's eyes lit up. "Ooh, a date!" she cried. "How romantic~!"

Charmander chuckled. "You Casanova," he said.

"Oh," Piplup said, "well, have fun!"

"Aheh, yeah..." He grabbed Buneary's paw and started pulling her along. "Come on, Buneary."

He circled around his giant treehouse home and headed towards the Drifblim Stop. He was just about to say something to Drifblim, but another Buneary caught his eye.

"Well, well..." she said, walking over with a smirk on her face, "so you're together now, huh?"

"Sis!" Buneary cried happily. She paused, looked at their joined paws and giggled. "Yeah, we are."

"That's great, sis. I'm happy for you. You too, Lightning Strike."

"Thanks!" Buneary paused. "Hey, wait a minute! You knew about it, too?"

She shrugged. "Well, yeah. Lightning Strike was never very subtle. Like, at all." Pikachu grinned sheepishly.

"So, did everyone know, but me?"

"... You really didn't notice? Wow, sis, you're more dense than I thought!"

Buneary swiped her free paw at her sister. "Shaddap."

"Anyway..." Pikachu said, turning to Drifblim, "Drifblim, can we get a ride to the Flower Zone?"

Buneary's head whipped around, a big smile on her face. "You're taking me to the Flower Zone?"

"Why, certainly!" Drifblim replied. "Although... I can't carry two of you at once, I'm afraid."

Pikachu's face fell. "Oh..." he said.

Drifblim observed him for a moment. "However, if you really wish to travel together, I'll bring in one of my sisters to help."

His face lit up again. "You'd do that?"

"Of course! Just wait here and I'll be right back!" She lifted into the air and flew away.

Pikachu turned to Buneary. "That's awfully nice of Drifblim, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah! You're so lucky, being best friends with all the Drifblim. You can go wherever you want for free!"

"... Wait a minute..." the other Buneary said, "if you can go anywhere for free, why didn't you just take the flowers you picked for my sister on the Drifblim ride? Better yet, why couldn't you have taken some from the Flower Zone and flown them to the Meadow Zone? Then you wouldn't have had to carry them there..."

Pikachu smiled bashfully, another thing he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. "Well, I did think about that..." he replied, "but I really didn't wanna risk ruining the flowers on the ride. Plus, there were some really nice flowers growing in the Meeting Place... which doesn't happen very often... so I thought it would be easier... and I could have ridden the Drifblim from here to the Meadow Zone, but that would've made me feel really lazy."

Buneary giggled. "Yeah," she said, "it's not a very long walk from here to the Meadow Zone, sis."

"Not if you can run fast," the other Buneary replied, "which Lightning Strike seems to have trouble doing when he's carrying something."

Pikachu turned away and blushed.

"I'm back!" Drifblim called out. They all looked up to see her and one of her sisters slowly drifting to the ground. "Now, did you say it was the Flower Zone you wanted?"

Pikachu smiled. "Yes, please," he replied.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later, then," the other Buneary said, walking off. "See ya, sis. See ya, Lightning Strike!"

Pikachu turned and waved. "Bye, Buneary!"

Buneary also turned and waved. "Bye, sis!" she said.

"Alright, then," the Meeting Place Drifblim said. Pikachu and Buneary turned their attention back to the two Drifblim, who both linked their two front legs together to form one ring each. "Pikachu, you hop onto my legs and, Buneary, you hop onto my sister's legs." They turned around, facing the direction of the Flower Zone.

"Okay!" Buneary replied. She let go of Pikachu's paw and hopped over, then stopped, staring at the Drifblim's legs in confusion.

Pikachu walked over to the other Drifblim. "Have you never done this before, Buneary?" he asked.

"Nope. What do I do?"

"Just do this." He grabbed Drifblim's legs and hauled himself onto her legs on his stomach. "See?"

"Ooh... that looks kinda dangerous... More dangerous than the balloon..."

"It's perfectly safe!" the Drifblim that wasn't holding Pikachu said. "We Drifblim can guarantee that we'll never let you fall!"

"Well... okay..." She tentatively grabbed the Drifblim's legs and pulled herself up onto her stomach. "I'm ready."

"Alright!" the Drifblim that was holding Pikachu said. "Ready, sister?"

"Ready!" the Drifblim that was holding Buneary replied.

"Then off we go!"

Pikachu's Drifblim took off into the air and, instantly, Pikachu felt the familiar refreshing sensation as he left the ground. No more was he a grounded Pokemon. For a few minutes, he was free to live life among the birds, soaring high without a care in the world. It also reignited his adventurous spirit and he could hardly wait to head out with Piplup and Buneary and discover a whole other PokePark and all it had to offer. All the new places he'd see, all the new friends he'd make and all the new skill games he'd play.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a screech from Buneary as her Drifblim finally took off.

"Huh?" he cried.

He whipped around to see what had happened and felt himself slip slightly from Drifblim's grasp. He yelped, but Drifblim managed to manoeuvre her legs and stop him from falling.

"Careful, Pikachu!"

He ignored her as he observed Buneary, who seemed to be clinging rather tightly to her Drifblim's legs. He began to get worried. She hadn't nearly fallen off, had she?

"You okay, Buneary?"

"Y-Yeah! Fine!" She clung tighter.

He wasn't so sure that was true, but he decided not to press the issue. Instead, he set his sights on his destination: the Flower Zone.