Author's notes: Hello, everybody! A hearty 'good day' to you all!
I hope you enjoy today's chapter! We're actually making progress in the story now! Huzzah!
Allons-y!
Chapter Five: Empty Effort
After yet another rotation, Ash was doing his morning training, this time with Leavanny and Unfezant. Meanwhile, Dawn was training with Mamoswine and Togekiss, Iris with Excadrill, and Cilan with Pansage.
Pikachu smiled at his friends' efforts. There were still nine days left until the tournament, but everyone was working so hard.
He glanced at the small yellow bag that Dawn was wearing. The one that he knew contained his friend. His friend who wouldn't be competing.
He felt a slight sadness tugging at him.
Shaking it off, he focused back on the training.
Sometime later, Leavanny, Unfezant, Mamoswine, Togekiss, Excadrill and Pansage were relaxing on the sand, exhausted from their workout.
Once everyone else was let out of their pokéballs, they gathered together to discuss games to play.
Pikachu caught a glimpse of Buneary as she joined the crowd. She seemed to be doing better than yesterday, from what he could tell. That was good. Hopefully, she'd rest up enough to be able to use her moves again.
The ache crept back into his chest. Violently shaking it off, he joined the group.
After much fun and games, it was lunchtime. Choosing a bowl to eat from, Pikachu sat down by it. Wondering about Buneary, he looked up, quickly scanning the crowd of hungry pokémon. He paused when he noticed her sitting by the bowl furthest away from him.
Huh. Had she not seen him, or something? He gave a small wave in her direction.
It seemed to catch her attention, but only for a split second, as she looked away again. He lowered his paw, slightly put off.
... Then again, no one said she had to sit near him, right? She was perfectly entitled to sit wherever she wanted. Currently, she was sitting near Cynthia's three pokémon, Garchomp, Gastrodon and Glaceon. Again, she was entitled to do this. Maybe she was trying to befriend them, or something. After all, she'd spent so much time around him lately that she hadn't really gotten to know Cynthia's pokémon very well. Maybe she was making up for it now.
He gave a small smile. Well, if that was the case, he'd leave her to it.
After lunch, it was time for the afternoon training. Ash with Pikachu and Boldore, Dawn with Piplup and Pachirisu, Iris with Emolga, and Cilan with Crustle.
Pikachu focused hard as he practiced running around the sand with Quick Attack. Thankfully, the other pokémon had given him a wide berth.
Whenever he approached the crowd at high speed, he'd wait until the very last moment, then turn on a dime and run the other way. It was great practice for precision turning.
As he passed Buneary, he briefly glanced in her direction. She was so engrossed in a conversation with Glaceon that she didn't seem to notice him.
Slightly put off, he focused back on his training.
Once training was over, Pikachu relaxed on the sand, along with Boldore, Piplup, Pachirisu, Emolga and Crustle. He was exhausted.
Glancing at the remaining group of pokémon, he watched as they gathered together, discussing games to play. Buneary, he noticed, was chatting to Pansage and Leavanny.
Wow. Now she was getting to know the Unova pokémon. He smiled faintly. Well, that was good! Now she could spend time with pokémon who weren't him and, then, that would help her get over him faster!
Then he'd be nothing but another friend to her.
She wouldn't spend all her time around him.
Yes. This was good.
Eventually, it was time for the evening training session. Ash with Palpitoad and Oshawott, Dawn with Quilava, Iris with Axew, and Cilan with Stunfisk.
Pikachu approached Buneary in the crowd. "(Hey,)" he said.
She gave him a look of surprise. "(Oh, hey,)" he replied.
He blinked. "(What's wrong?)"
"(Oh, nothing, nothing! I'm cool as a... I mean...)" She paused a long moment. "(... Well, I'm just gonna go talk to...)" She paused again, but only for a second. "(Pansage. See you later.)" She quickly hopped away.
He watched her disappear amongst the crowd. "(Oh... um... okay...)"
There was something heavy in his stomach as he turned to watch the training. He vowed to ignore it.
Once the training was over, everyone gathered together, while Palpitoad, Oshawott, Quilava, Axew and Stunfisk relaxed.
Pikachu casually walked in Buneary's direction. Before he could get close, however, she hopped away, nestling herself between Unfezant and Boldore. He stopped in his tracks, his ears dipping slightly. Had she not seen him? He could've sworn she'd been looking straight at him.
... Unless she was avoiding him.
He squashed that thought down, before it could get too intrusive. No. She wasn't avoiding him. She was just enjoying spending time with her other friends, because she was getting over him. That was all it was.
A weight in his chest, he walked towards where Leavanny and Togekiss were having a conversation.
When dinner time rolled around, Pikachu chose a bowl. A brief glance in the distance told him that, yet again, Buneary was nowhere near him. She'd chosen to sit with Axew, Stunfisk and Palpitoad, instead.
"(Meloetta doesn't wanna sit with you,)" Piplup said from nearby, "(she wants to sit with me.)"
"(No, she doesn't!)" Oshawott snapped. "(She wants to sit with me!)"
Pikachu's eyes narrowed.
"(You'd rather sit with me, right, Meloetta?)" Piplup asked.
"(Well...)" Meloetta replied.
"(No, you'd rather sit with me, right?)" Oshawott asked.
"(Um...)"
Pikachu closed his eyes, mentally counting to ten.
Suddenly, someone sighed from beside him. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was Pansage.
"(Those two, I swear...)" he said. "(They're like... combining mints and cola.)"
A tiny smirk worked its way onto Pikachu's mouth. While Pansage's language wasn't quite as flowery as Cilan's, he was still pretty on the mark.
"(Heh, yeah,)" he replied.
"(One ingredient was bad enough on its own... but, combined with another...)"
"(Yeah. Then it's a disaster.)"
"(Acting like children, the both of them.)" Pansage briefly glanced around. "(Say, is Buneary not sitting with you?)"
A spark of fear shot up Pikachu's spine. "(W-Well... we don't have to sit together all the time, right?)"
Pansage shrugged. "(I guess not.)"
Pikachu released a breath of air in relief.
"(She did seem awfully fond of you, though.)"
The spark of fear came back. "(Yeah, well... we're good friends.)"
"(Apparently. Like two peas in a pod... or the perfect icing on a cake!)"
Pikachu rolled his eyes at that.
The following day, Ash made another rotation, swapping out four of his pokémon for Pignite, Krokorok, Snivy and Scraggy.
Training continued on as normal.
As the day progressed, it became more and more apparent that Buneary didn't want to hang out with Pikachu.
Every time he'd approach her, she'd hop away. Every time he'd speak to her, she'd make some excuse to leave.
They were friends, right? Good friends. Heck, she'd nuzzled him when they'd met up again.
Then again...
That was back when she'd had a crush on him, right? Back when she'd been thinking of confessing, probably. Now that he'd turned her down...
Did that mean she wasn't interested in talking to him at all now?
His stomach churned at the thought, making him feel ill.
At dinner time, Pikachu watched as Buneary completely bypassed him and walked over to sit with Snivy and Emolga.
He kept his gaze on her for a while, wondering.
As the three girls chatted amongst themselves - one smiling, one sniggering and one giving side glances - he felt a small ache in his heart as his eyebrows furrowed.
Yeah. Just as he'd thought.
Turning away, he picked up a pellet and slowly began to nibble on it.
That night, as Ash slept soundly, Pikachu lay awake on the boy's stomach.
Normally, he'd be excited about the next day's training. Heck, he was pretty sure that Ash said he and Oshawott would be doing the morning session.
So why wasn't he excited?
He glanced at the corner of the room where Dawn's small yellow bag lay. He stared at it for a long moment.
Turning away, he closed his eyes, vowing to ignore it.
It didn't matter. None of it did.
The next day, something surprising happened. Dawn revealed that she was bored of training. She suggested taking a vacation, instead.
Until that moment, Pikachu hadn't known how much he'd wanted a break. It left him excited. Excited to relax. Excited to unwind.
Ash tried to argue that they had lots of training left to do. Normally, Pikachu would be on board with him, but not today.
His little issue with Buneary was really starting to wear on him.
Eventually, Dawn managed to convince Ash to take the day off and they all hopped on a boat to explore a nearby island.
... Honestly, Pikachu kind of wished they'd continued their training now.
While being chased around by an angry horde of onix all day had certainly been distracting, it'd been far from fun. All so Ash could see a 'special onix', who'd only turned out to be green. Honestly, the crystal onix in the Orange Islands had been far more impressive.
On the plus side, they'd discovered that Meloetta had a second forme, quite like Shaymin had, back in Sinnoh. Not that it would make Piplup and Oshawott any less likely to fight over her. Heck, they'd be more likely to do it, now that they knew their prize could switch from psychic-type to fighting-type at will...
Also, Oshawott had managed to learn Hydro Pump, just like he'd said he would. Next, he'd probably learn Ice Beam, just to one-up Piplup some more...
After the 'special onix' debacle, the humans decided to be more lax with their training. After all, the pokémon had been working really hard already and there were only six more days until the tournament.
Pikachu could hardly wait.
The days passed by in a blur. One after the other. Ash rotated his pokémon a few times, though less than before.
They found a missing cubchoo. Iris caught a battle-hardened dragonite. Buneary continued to avoid Pikachu.
She seemed to have befriended everyone else on the team - which was good! - but she hadn't shared a conversation with him in days.
"(And then the idiot calls for another poison-type move on me,)" Gastrodon explained, "(despite the pokémon knowing a grass-type move. Which is super effective against both of my types.)"
"(Heh,)" Pikachu replied. "(That sounds like something Ash would do, honestly.)"
Gastrodon gave him a strange look. "(... Your trainer's just as stupid?)"
"(Not stupid. Just... adventurous.)" She continued to stare at him. "(... He prefers fighting against types his pokémon are weak to. It's a challenge.)"
Gastrodon shook her head. "(Unbelievable...)"
Suddenly, there were ground-shaking footsteps. "(You! Woman!)" Dragonite yelled.
Pikachu turned his head to see that the dragon was glaring directly at Garchomp.
She coolly looked up at him from where she was eating. "(Me?)" she asked.
"(Yeah! You!)" He pointed at her aggressively. "(Battle me!)"
There was a tense silence in the area, as everyone watched.
Garchomp's cool gaze didn't falter. "(I'm eating right now.)"
"(I don't care if you're eating!)" He kicked her food bowl to one side, sending the pellets all over the sand. "(Battle me!)"
She continued to stare at him. Then she stood up.
"(Alright, fine.)"
... Oh no.
"Dragonite!" Iris called out. "What are you-?"
Dragonite's fist suddenly crackled with electricity as he launched a Thunder Punch at Garchomp. It struck her square in the chest.
She didn't even flinch.
Pikachu was impressed. Sure, electric-type attacks weren't good against ground-types or dragon-types, but the impact would normally have done something.
... And Pikachu knew that Dragonite knew he should've used a better move, but the guy really seemed to hate doing that. For some prideful reason or another.
Raising her claw, which was glowing white, Garchomp struck Dragonite hard across the face with Brick Break. He went soaring backwards.
Many pokémon had to scramble out of the way, before he crashed to the ground on his back.
"Dragonite!" Iris called out worriedly.
Dragonite climbed to his feet. "(Not bad,)" he growled. Opening his mouth, he blasted out a Flamethrower.
Garchomp crossed her fins as the attack struck, obscuring her from view. Once the fire faded, however, she lowered her fins, completely unharmed.
Dragonite growled in frustration. Readying another Thunder Punch, he lifted off the ground and launched himself at her.
Also lifting off, the appendages on Garchomp's head began to glow white. Soaring straight at Dragonite, she was enveloped in the blue light of Dragon Rush.
The two attacks collided in mid-air, causing a huge explosion. From where he was sitting, Pikachu was blown backwards slightly.
When the dust cleared, Dragonite was on his back, heavily bruised. Garchomp was standing over him menacingly.
She began to glow orange.
Pikachu's eyes widened in horror. Oh no.
As the orange light covered Garchomp's body, an orange ball of light appeared by her mouth.
Draco Meteor.
She aimed her head towards the sky.
"Alright, Garchomp, that's enough!" Cynthia called out rather calmly.
Garchomp immediately halted her attack.
Pikachu heaved a sigh of relief, along with everyone else in the area. If Garchomp had used Draco Meteor, then everybody would have probably gotten hurt. Especially since it was far more powerful than that of Ash's gible.
From the floor, Dragonite growled in frustration. He tried to push himself up, but he winced and fell back down. He growled again, cursing up at Garchomp. She cast him one final glance, before she turned and walked away.
His only response was to curse her louder.
Finally, tomorrow was the day. The day of the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup. Pikachu had been looking forward to it for the past two weeks.
Heck, it probably wasn't even all that big of a deal, really. It wasn't like the Unova League, which would be later and much grander. Still, though, it was a tournament all the same and he loved the thrill of challenges.
"So, Ash," Cynthia said, holding her teacup on the balcony, "do you know which pokémon you'll be using tomorrow?"
"Yeah!" Ash replied excitedly. "I'm gonna round 'em up tomorrow and then we're gonna win the tournament!"
"(Go, team!)" Pikachu called out from his lap.
"Not before you beat us, you don't!" Iris replied with a smirk.
"(Heck yeah!)" Axew agreed from her lap.
"And don't forget about us!" Dawn said, also wearing a smirk.
From her lap, Piplup put his flippers on his hips. "(You got that right!)" he agreed.
"It will be a most delectable competition!" Cilan said. He winked. "Talk of it is already whetting my appetite!"
Meloetta suddenly flew over, smiling. "(Good luck in the tournament, everyone~!)" she said.
Piplup immediately jumped on the table. "(Oh, thank you!)" He smacked a flipper to his chest. "(I'll show you just how impressive I can be!)"
"(I look forward to it!)"
Axew turned to look at Pikachu across the table. "(Good luck, Pikachu!)" he said. "(It'll be fun!)"
Pikachu smiled back. "(Yeah!)" he replied. "(Good luck to your team, too!)"
"(Thanks!)"
As everyone settled down and the humans got back to sipping their tea, Pikachu looked up at the clear evening sky. Stars were just starting to twinkle through the lovely orange hues.
Maybe, once the excitement over the tournament ended, he and Buneary could hang out again, just like old times. Once she'd stopped getting to know the others, anyway. Maybe, by then - since it would have almost been a full two weeks - she'd finally be over him.
Her moves would start working again - if they weren't already, since she hadn't used them in a while - and they'd laugh and talk, just like they used to.
Yeah. Now he really couldn't wait until tomorrow.