Author's Note: And here's the update! :D Thank you for the reviews! I guess the magic element was done decently? It's not a heavy theme in this fic, but still. Also, I want to apologise in advance for this chapter .. is it not well done. I suck so bad at those 'set up' scenes. I tried to do it like in the anime, but yeah .. make of it what you will.

Disclaimer: Though I love Pokémon with a passion, I do not own it.

Anima Feminam

xxx

For Ash, Dawn and Brock, that morning in Sinnoh was identical to any other. It started that way, at least.

Just like the morning before, their campsite was enveloped in a pleasantly warm sunlight, the air crisp and fresh; a perfect image to wake up to.

Being the first one to be both awake and dressed, while the younger two had yet to arise, Brock was ready to take on the day. As always, he got breakfast started; if growing up in charge of nine siblings had taught him anything, it was that allowing the sweet aroma of pancakes to waft throughout the house was a sure fire way to wake them all up, bright and chipper. Venturing into the room of a sleeping kid below the age of fifteen was guaranteed to end badly.

Dawn was usually the one to wake next, but it rare for her to venture out of the privacy of her tent before Ash could sit upright. It wasn't her fault, per sae, rather her explosive bed hair that refused to lay flat. She sighed in frustration as she examined the navy resemblance of a Starly's nest upon her head through a compat mirror. With each morning, she always swore it was worse than the one before.

Even so, she'd long since gotten over the constant moping of the daily disaster. Dawn took pride in her long and lovely navy hair, just like the rest of her appearance, from the colour of her nail varnish to her choice of outfit. Long hair was especially cumbersome to manage while out on the road, but the daily annoyance, no matter how persistent, was still a small price to pay in comparison to looking and feeling good.

While the seemingly futile battle between hairbrush and frizzy blue hair commensed, outside the tent was where the final of the trio resided, face buried in his pillow and mind utterly lost within a dream identical to the ones he would have five years ago. His pokémon companion of that time was dozing on his upper back, curled up and snoring softly, a content smile upon his face.

Brock idly gazed over at the sleeping pair as the breakfast cooked. The two were much more alike that they realised, a claim swiftly backed up as Ash stirred in the very moment Pikachu's nose twitched.

"Good morning ~ " Dawn mostly sang as she finally emerged from her tent, followed shortly by Piplup, who gave his own variation of his trainer's greeting.

"Morning, Dawn," the eldest returned, throwing her a quick glance before refocusing his attention on the make-shift stove before him.

Barely supressing a loud yawn, the blunette extended her arms above her head, feeling the satisfaction of getting out of her tent; cosy as it was, she couldn't deny it was lacking the room to stand up in.

Beside her, Piplup was mimicking her actions, his flippers above his head and his beak wide with a drawn out "Luuuuup!" as he did so.

Once satisfied, Dawn allowed her hands to drop to her sides, and almost immediately her gaze fell upon the still sleeping Ash just a few feet away. "Is he still asleep?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Brock confirmed, still not looking up. "We did travel pretty far yesterday, but I think you should wake him up. Breakfast is nearly ready."

At that, Dawn's eyes lit up. "Sure, I'm right on it," she said, venturing over to where the trainer lay in his sleeping bag. "Hey Ash," she called, nudging his arm with the tip of her boot, "wake up, breakfast is ready."

The response she got wasn't satisfactory, as Ash simply groaned, then shifted a little. It was obvious he wasn't near consciousness.

"Try waking Pikachu first," Brock suggested. "Maybe he can help."

Dawn looked down at the sleeping pokémon, whose ear continued to twitch as he dream. "It could work," she mused, then a smile worked its way into her lips as she selected a poké ball, releasing a small, beige normal type.

"Bun, bun!" The rabbit pokémon exclaimed once she materialised on the ground beside her trainer, who knelt down to be near her level.

"Hey, Buneary," Dawn spoke, catching the rabbit's attention, "could you help me with something?" As Buneary nodded, she continued, "It's nearly time to eat, but those two," she pointed a finger towards the sleeping duo, "won't get up. Do you think you could take care of Pikachu for me?"

Buneary's shiny dark eyes widened a little, then she nodded eagerly. "Bun!" She confirmed, in tempo with her nod.

As Dawn straightened up and stepped back to observe the scene, Buneary hopped over to Pikachu, a pink blush showing through her fur. "Bun," she cooed, gently nudging Pikachu with her paw, which the electric mouse batted away with his own.

That is, had he not unconsciously held on to Buneary's paw as he did so, unknowingly giving a false impression to the naive young rabbit.

"Bun .. buneary?" She barely breathed, staring down at their loosely interwined paws with an unconcealed expression of disbelief. Though it quickly transformed into one of pure joy as she combined it with the relaxed smile on Pikachu's face.

The gleeful cry of her name was all the warning Pikachu got before he was jolted awake by the bouncing ball of brown fur launching herself at him, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Pika!" He yelped, almost sending out an instinctive shock of electricity at the sudden source of attack, but as the only thing he could hear was along the lines of 'Bun! Buneary!' coupled with the weight of the bunny on top of him, it was enough to prevent the Thunderbolt before it got further than sparking cheeks.

And as things became ever more fortunate, the brief scuffle finally woke the raven haired trainer.

"Hmph, wh - what?" Ash groaned, lifting his face from the pillow and blinking groggily. He winced as the sunlight met his eyes, then buried his face back in the pillow.

"Oh no, Ash!" Dawn immediately exclaimed. "If you sleep late today then we'll never make it to Hearthome City in time!"

" .. huh?" Was the response, as Ash turned his head to the side to look at her, one sienna eye peaking out from under a fringe of dark hair. "D .. Dawn?" He managed through a yawn, muffled the pillow.

Kneeling down once again, the blunette nudged his shoulder to keep him alert. "Yes, it's me," she said impatiently. "Now will you wake up?"

Though his eyes were open, it didn't seem like Ash was fully awake. " .. mmm .. ?" He murmured, his body becoming lax again as consciousness left him.

"Ash!" Dawn almost shouted, her patience wearing thin. "Would you just wake up already? Come on, Hearthome City's not that far away; if we leave in a couple of hours, then we'll get there by this evening."

Having stayed on the sidelines until that moment, Brock finally intervined. "That's not the way to do it," he informed the Co-ordinator, then directed his next statement to the half conscious trainer, "Hey Ash, your next gym battle is coming up!"

That did it. Once the words had sunk in, Ash was sat up so fast Dawn actually jumped in surprise, and his previously tired eyes now alert.

"The next gym?" He repeated, then smiled. "When are we leaving?"

Beside him, Dawn rolled her eyes, then repeated what she had said just a few moments ago, "After breakfast, then we'll be there by this evening. Don't you remember talking about this yesterday?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I remember," Ash said, climbing out of his sleeping bag to stand up straight. "Hearthome Gym, here I come - !"

"Ash," the eldest of the three interrupted, before the trainer could get carried away again and begin dashing off in what he assumed to be the right direction, "first thing is first; breakfast."

Catching himself in mid-action, Ash rubbed the back of his head almost sheepishly. "Oh right, gotta keep out strength up, huh, Pikachu?"

A brief look of confusion crossed Ash's features as he recieved no reply from his pokémon companion, before he quickly scanned the area, his gaze soon falling upon a peculiar sight near his feet.

Pikachu, looking extremely nervous and unsure, was pinned to the ground under the weight of an overly enthusiastic Buneary, whose tiny arms were around his neck and holding him a hug as she nuzzled her face against his cheek.

"Pika .. "

xxx

As the pancakes diminshed, the morning slowly passed. Afterwards, while Brock was busying himself with clearing up, and Ash was off collecting water by the nearby river, Dawn was left to entertain herself. Having prised the little bunny away from her self-proclaimed true love, Buneary was now thoroughly enjoying being pampered by her trainer, which included being brushed with a special comb Dawn had bought, which would ensure that her fur would remain light and fluffy. An especially important requirement considering the upcoming Contest which would await them both in Hearthome City.

"Bun .. neary .. " The bunny cooed, her eyes closed and a smile on her face as she enjoyed the sensations the brush was creating.

Hearing the sound, Dawn gave a smile of her own. "Does that feel nice, Buneary?" She inquired, her pokémon giving a nod in confirmation. "You'll dazzle everyone at the next Contest, I just know it!"

"Bun, bun!" Came the enthusiastic reply, earning a giggle from her trainer.

"You said it," Dawn responded. "Now hold still, I'm almost do - "

"Krow!"

At the sound, Dawn paused in mid-action, the brush barely an inch from the tip of Buneary's ear. "Huh?" Was all she could manage, before;

"Krow! Murkrow!"

Instantly, Dawn redirected her gaze from her pampered pokémon to the skies, where a distinct shape of black feathers stood out against the back drop of blue sky, hovering just a few feet above the camp.

"'Neary?" The bunny questioned, also staring up at the bird pokémon in the sky, which was now beginning to circle above her and Dawn, continuing to caw.

Narrowing her eyes a little, Dawn scanned through her mind, searching for a name to put to the pokémon she knew she'd seen somewhere before. And not very long ago, at that ..

"Is that a Murkrow?" It seemed Ash had come to the conclusion sooner than she had, though the verification sparked something else in her mind.

"Do you think it might be Paul's?" She mused, recalling how the purple haired trainer had used a Murkrow against Cynthia's Garchomp. "It looks like it knows us, so maybe he's - "

"You found one!" Again, Dawn was cut off, and as she instinctively turned to face the direction of the new voice, she could honestly admit she hadn't expected what she saw. "Oh Murkrow, we've finally found one!"

A teenage girl, around the same age as Brock, was running towards Dawn at a surprising speed, but her lilac eyes weren't focused on the blunette, but rather who was in her lap.

"A Buneary!" The pink haired girl exclaimed the micro second she was standing before Dawn, and without a moment's hesitation, she'd scooped up the bewildered bunny and was holding her at arms length. "I can't believe it, we've finally found one!"

As if Buneary wasn't the only one in shock, Dawn was more or less frozen where she sat, only able to stare up at the girl, who seemed oblivious to her surroundings. Pretty much everything in general but the Buneary in her arms.

"Uh .. " Dawn managed once she'd found her voice, " .. wh - who are you?" It was a perfectly reasonable question, but it didn't seem to register with the girl, who continued her joyous ramblings as though nothing else existed.

Dawn was honestly unsure if she should be worried right about now, and the boys fared no better, only able to observe the scene through their own shock.

"Um, Brock?" The raven asked, unable to redirect his gaze. "Should we do something .. ?"

In another situation, Brock would have found the expressions on both Ash and Dawn's faces hilarious. But considering he was likely wearing the same mask of surprise at the time, and that it was justified for all three, he really wasn't sure how to react.

"Wow, it's so hard to find a Buneary, much less such a pretty one!" The newcomer went on, but had she been paying any ammount of attention to the pokémon in her arms, she would have seen the annoyed expression rapidly growing on the bunny's face rapidly shift into a much more positive one. Even more so as she went on, "Goodness, your fur is so soft, you must take such good care of yourself. Oh, I'm so jealous! Why can't I get Murkrow's feather's like that - ?"

"Excuse me!"

The shout from the less-than-impressed blunette, now on her feet with her hands on her hips, was enough to halt the pink haired girl's ramblings, as well as any movement she could make.

Dawn, now glaring at the stranger with undisguised annoyance, just managed to refrain herself from letting out a frustrated huff. "Could you please tell me who you are?"

Lilac eyes blinked in confusion for a full few moments, before realisation lit them up. "Oh! I do apologise, I didn't mean to get so carried away," she said with a good natured laugh. "My name is Lily, and I'm a pokémon magician."

Now it was Dawn's turn to be confused. "A .. pokémon magician?" She repeated skeptically, unsure if Lily was to be believed.

The magician in question nodded eagerly, oblivious to the blunette's confusion. "Yes, and I'm looking for the final ingredient to complete my latest spell. And I've been searching for weeks, but only now I've found a Buneary!"

In response to the revelation, Dawn blinked. " .. huh?"

Before Lily could continue her explanation, she was interrupted by the inquiry of, "So you're a pokémon magician?"

Both girls turned to face the source, finding that Ash and Brock had come to stand near them at some point during their somewhat conversation.

"Yes, that's right," Lily confirmed with a smile, "and like I just said, Murkrow and I have been searching for a Buneary for weeks. I never knew they would be so hard to find!" She said this with a laugh. "But now I've found one, I can finally complete my spell!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Dawn intervined. "If you're really a magician, then why do you need Buneary?" There was a subtle hint of worry in her tone, but Lily waved her hand, as though brushing said worry aside.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. I'd never do anything to hurt a pokémon, and all I need from your Buneary is a - "

As her gaze flickered over to Ash, her sentence came to an abrupt halt. Her lips pressed together into a slight frown after a moment of silence, and her eyes narrowed in thought.

"You look awfully familiar," she eventually said, almost leaning in Ash's direction. "Have we met before?"

Sienna eyes stared back into lilac, laced with bewilderment. He certainly couldn't recall ever meeting this girl before in his life, but to be fair, he had met a lot of people, and it was pretty easy to lose track. Though it turned out it didn't matter, if Lily's sudden gasp was anything to go by.

"Yes, I remember you!" She exclaimed, practically alight with joy. "We met a few years back; your Pikachu helped me with a spell to read a pokémon's mind!" Her lilac eyes immediately shifted from Ash to search for the yellow mouse in question, locating him sitting a short distance away beside Piplup. "Oh, look at you!" She practically squealed, swerving past all three trainers, dropping Buneary into Dawn's arms to rush over and scoop up the electric type. "You're still as cute as I remember."

Brock, who had been on the sidelines during the bizarre occurance, continued to observe the magician's interaction with the electric mouse, who seemed to show some kind of knowledge of their apparent past encounter with the pink haired girl. Finally, as images of Team Rocket, a Parasect, and a spell gone wrong, it clicked in his mind.

"Hey, weren't you the one who changed Ash into a Pikachu?" He asked, earning him confused looks from everyone but one present. As Lily's gaze fell on him, he elaborated, "It was back in Johto; you needed a Pikachu's electricity, and when you cast the spell on Ash, it ended up turning him into a Pikachu."

"What?" Dawn spoke up, her stare shifting from Brock to Ash. "You were a Pikachu?"

"That's right!" Lily answered for him. "It wasn't supposed to go quite like that, but the last page was so smudged I couldn't read it."

As they reminisced about times gone by, the memory soon emerged to the forefront of Ash's mind. "Yeah, I remember that," he said, thoughts of those few hours he'd spent in a form nearly identical to his best friend swimming about in his mind. He recalled panicking at first with the change, before Lily had assured everyone that it was only a temporary change, at which he'd decided it was awesome.

"Wait a minute," Dawn spoke up again, looking more than a little confused with the developments. She turned to face Ash fully, pointing the brush at him, "Are you telling me that Lily once changed you into a Pikachu?" When Ash nodded, she frowned. "Were you ever going to tell me this?"

"It never came up in conversation!" Ash defended, knowing that he would have told her, had he remembered before that moment.

Thankfully, Lily cut in, "I never did try that spell again. I'm trying to find out what was on the last page, but I haven't got round to it." She suddenly looked hopeful. "Would you be willing to help me out with it again? I'd really appreciate it!"

At the request, Ash took a step back, his hands out in front of him defensively. "Uh, I'd rather pass," he said, sweat dropping. As fun as it had been the last time, he wasn't sure he wanted to risk the transformation again.

Lily pouted a little at the denial. "That's a shame," she said, then shrugged. "But no matter; there's a new spell I need to try out, and I need Buneary's help for it." She then turned back to the bunny in question, who was still nestled in her trainer's arms. "Could you please give me a hair from your tail?"

Though Buneary seemed fairly willing to help out, Dawn cut in, "Wait a minute, what kind of spell are you talking about?"

"It's nothing dangerous, if that's what you're worried about," Lily said. "In fact, it's the complete opposite. It's a love spell."

Had her gaze been just a little lower, she would have noticed the bunny's ears prick up at the revelation.

xxx

Author's Note: Yes! The annoying, awkward chapter is done! Now onto the good stuff; namely Gary's debut xD His part in all of this shall be SO fun to write.

But until then, could you please offer some of your time to grant me a review? I'd be most honoured should you choose to do so :)