Buneary and Onix

At the stage, the Contest Hall was all glamour and style. The floors were kept at a high gloss finish, the vases were kept full of fresh colorful flowers, and the decorations were always high quality. The pictures on the wall kept changing to keep up with rising Pokemon stars and each stage changed appearance according to what type of contest was going on. Every day, hopes and dreams were tested, sometimes rewarded, by the crowds and judges.

Backstage, there was still opulence, but it was less dramatic. The floors were tiled, the walls were plain, and the rooms were small. The furnishings were nice and soft, but the only thing that mattered for her was that the trim on the couch was long, and good for hiding. Down there under the shadows, the Buneary trembled and curled her body up tight. Both of her ears were drawn in, to make her as small as possible. Now if she could just be missed for a little while…

"Lulu? Oh, there you are."

Nope, it was too good to last. She crawled closer to the wall. There, she ought to be out of reach.

The peach-colored trim was lifted up as the face of her Trainer and Coordinator peered in sideways. One of her eyes had silvery eye shadow, while the other hadn't been done yet. "Lulu, you've got to get ready too. Come on out; they keep this place pretty nice, but there might be dust bunearies under there."

Lulu shook her head, curling back up. There might be dust under here, but she didn't care. She did not want to go back on stage again. Not not not. And nothing was going to convince her otherwise.

The human crouched down. "It's your first big show, dear, and we've been practicing for so long. You could be the star this time and it's for a special holiday event. I know you've been eager for it; you can't let one bad experience keep you from contests forever."

Yes, it was one bad experience that frightened her. However, she knew that that Pokemon was going to be a part of this show. And that Pokemon was going to try to hurt her again. That's why she couldn't go out.

After looking elsewhere briefly, the human girl looked back to the Buneary. "Besides, Balboa's going to be with you this time. I know that if she gets aggressive again, then he'll stand up for you. It's going to be all right."

Lulu let one of her ears uncurl a bit. Oh right, there was her brother. If he was going to be with her, then things might be okay. They normally weren't entered in the same contests, as they appealed to two different Contest types. But would his presence be enough to keep her from attacking? It wasn't supposed to be a battle show, but she said that wasn't enough to stop her…

"You'll be fine, sis," her brother Balboa said, although she couldn't see him from under the couch. "I'll be right there on stage the whole time."

"O-okay," Lulu said, creeping out from under the couch.

"That's a good girl," her Trainer cooed, quickly bringing out a brush to make sure that there wasn't any dust in her brown and tan fur. "Maybe I'll train you in battles a bit more before the next show. It'll build up your courage."

Her brother slithered up to them. Half-brother, really, which made the relationship even stranger as their shared parent was a Ditto belonging to the girl's family. He was an Onix and many years older than her. That was evident in the naturally smooth rocky skin he had, which often gleaned dark gray and black under the stage lights. Around a year ago, the girl's parents had sent her on her journey with Balboa to start with, as well as Lulu herself when she was just an egg. They hadn't even known what she was, as their mother was notorious for escaping the house and not telling anyone where she had been. But the Onix had sworn that he would protect his younger sibling, no matter what the egg hatched out to be.

Balboa nudged her gently with his nose, avoiding hitting her with his horn. "Most Pokemon are good folks. And the bad ones won't always get away with being mean."

"But she's a really mean one," Lulu said, although she tried not to tremble again. "And really bad. I don't want to be mean."

"It's not mean to stand up for yourself," he pointed out.

Their girl looked up at the clock and got worried. "We can't stall much longer or we'll get a lateness penalty. Let's get you into your costumes and I need to finish my makeup."

Balboa held his head up and gave a happy rumble. "All right! I get to wear my awesome costume for a show!"

Lulu uncurled her other ear and twitched it. "But brother, you're playing the grass."

Undeterred, he grinned. "It's still an awesome costume. And it'll be fun to play against type."

Right on the hour, the special Easter show began. Balboa slithered out early, before the curtain even rose, to get into place. Lulu had to admit, his costume was really great. Build on a series of harnesses that went over his body, it had silk-made grasses of various heights and greens on top of a brown cover that helped the illusion that he was a natural part of the 'landscape'. Although, it was kind of funny that his whole role in the special contest was to simply lie still and stay awake.

Her costume was cute, as usual. She had a sunny yellow checked bonnet with a wide baby pink ribbon and white lace, a white lacy apron with a floral decoration on its front pocket, a painted pink egg in the pocket, and white slippers. While she didn't see the mean Pokemon, there were only two other Coordinators on this side of the stage.

"And welcome everyone to our special Easter Improv Contest!" the announcer called from the judges box. "Today, nine special Pokemon and six quality Coordinators will come together to tell a spontaneous story for the occasion. The Coordinators are to give their Pokemon instructions according to the storyteller's prompts, while the storyteller will adjust the story based on how well the Pokemon act. And here is our special mystery storyteller and the Coordinators."

Lulu clutched her paws together and waited nervously through the introductions of the storyteller and the Coordinators. Then, the story began as the white masked storyteller checked his notes for the Pokemon introductions. "For years upon years, the occasion of Easter has been marked by a special magical Chansey who decorates eggs and hides them to be found by children, offering rewards for those who return the eggs to her. And here is our lovely Easter Chansey!"

"Yaaaay!" came a spirited call from the other side of the stage as a pink Chansey came hopping out. She was dressed to look like a mess, strangely enough, with various colored dyes putting a rainbow of speckles all over her fur. Behind one ear, she wore a large paintbrush. And the egg she carried in her pouch was painted with colored pawprints. The audience laughed.

"And a very enthusiastic girl she is," the storyteller remarked. "But this year, she has decided to hide her eggs in more places than ever before. She can't make it to all those places alone, though, so she has called for assistants in her fellow Pokemon. And here they come, one by one, starting with a darling Bellsprout."

The Bellsprout near her, dressed in ribbons and flowers, came out onto the stage. Lulu watched and listened as the Pokemon cast was called out, one by one as he had said. So far, they all looked to be all right. She even recognized a few from regular shows. And then she got called to come out, as a 'cuddly Buneary'.

Feeling her insides twisted up in nervousness, Lulu came out. Use the Contest walk, she thought, and she smiled for the audience. But it didn't work too well this time. She didn't feel as confident as usual. About the best thing that happened was that she didn't trip and break the egg in her pocket.

And the storyteller picked up on that. "She's all eager to help, even bringing a decorated egg of her own, but she's very nervous about not getting picked. And finally, there came a second Buneary, a pretty and fluffy one."

Oh no, that was her. Lulu stepped closer to her brother as she came in. Fluffs was indeed pretty, with thick fluffy fur that was the envy of many Cute competitors. And she was dressed very prettily today, in a candy pink bonnet with a red ribbon, pink slippers, and a basket under one arm holding onto real clovers and cute little flowers. She walked with confidence, and smiled at the audience. Although when Fluffs saw Lulu, her smile briefly turned wicked.

The Chansey was clapping, oblivious to any tension among the others. The storyteller went along with it. "Ah yes, seven sweet young Pokemon have answered the Easter Chansey's call for help. Now they must prove their enthusiasm and artistry to become the Easter Chansey's assistants."

For several minutes, they went through various actions. The storyteller would suggest something, like singing a song. The Chansey's Coordinator would give her instructions to sing something, then the others would have their Pokemon copy what she had done (save for Balboa, who had to stay still and be grass). While Lulu did her best to do a good job, Fluffs was all attitude, acting snobbish. She took the cues, but didn't always follow exactly.

And then there came a game, which the Chansey decided would be Patty-cake for some reason. Lulu ended up paired up with Fluffs. Knowing that the humans wouldn't understand them, the other Buneary smirked at her. "Oh, it's the coward again. I thought I told you to get out of Contests." She shifted the clover in her basket, revealing a small knife hidden in there. Then she whispered, "I can make sure that your career is absolutely ruined if you decide to keep going."

Curling both her ears up at the sight of the knife, Lulu hopped back. "Um, um, the play…"

"I don't care," she whispered again.

"Hey," Balboa said, breaking his character to lift his head up and glare at her.

Although he looked a bit goofy wearing that serious expression with the ruffles of grass, it startled Fluffs enough that she dropped her basket. "Eek! Where'd you come from?"

"And an Onix unexpectedly digs up through the ground, interrupting the games," the storyteller said, accompanied by laughter from the audience. "What is he up to, I wonder? Trying to stop the Easter egg hiding?"

Balboa was still glaring at Fluffs. "Don't mess with my little sister," he said sternly.

"Hey, hey, what's up?" the paint-speckled Chansey called out, hopping over. She spotted the glitter of metal among the spilled clover. "Oh, what's this?" She picked up the knife to where everyone, the audience, the judges, the Coordinators, and the storyteller, could tell it. Seeing that it had come out of Fluffs' basket, she fumed. "Now what are you doing threatening another Pokemon during an improv play? That's horrible manners."

"It seems a strange twist has come up," the storyteller said, working his mind quickly to explain the situation. "The fluffy Buneary wants to be the best Buneary and is willing to threaten others to back down, so she's tried to scare the cuddly Buneary into giving up. But the legendary guardian of the Earth has noticed and sent a champion to keep anyone from being hurt. And I don't think the Easter Chansey is too happy with someone bringing a weapon to her gathering."

The Chansey picked up the basket, put the knife in it, then handed it to Fluffs' Coordinator. "Now you leave the play," she ordered. "Miss Lulu can play with Vicky instead. That gives us even numbers."

"Sure," the Bellsprout said, waddling over to center stage on her thin roots.

"Now I'll go back to being grass," Balboa said, then put his head back down and closed his eyes. However, he remained alert in case of further trouble.

At the end of the show, both Lulu and Balboa earned special occasion ribbons for their efforts, while Fluffs was banned from ever entering Contests again.

…

Buneary HG/SS entry: You can tell how it feels by the way it rolls its ears. When it's scared, both ears are rolled up.

Onix Leaf Green entry: As it grows, the stone portions of its body harden to become similar to black-colored diamonds.

Posted for Easter 2011. The 'actor playing grass' comes from Paper Mario: TTYD, if you're curious.