Author's note: Heyo!
I'd like to give a shout-out to this Pikachu's new biggest hater: scarcrow151! Give him a round of applause!
... Seriously, though, two haters?! XD Dang, did I make the world's most unlikable Pikachu or something? Surely not!
Well, however you feel about him, he's here and he's POVing, dawg. Maybe he'll improve, maybe he won't. Just don't lynch him before the story's over. XD
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Six: Solemn Surprise
Finally, it was the day of the tournament. Pikachu couldn't contain his excitement, as they drove to Lacunosa Town.
Ash's big plan was to win the first four rounds with Leavanny, Boldore, Krokorok and Pignite, then use Pikachu against Unova champion Alder. He felt adrenaline pump through his veins in his sheer excitement. Getting to battle a champion, one on one. That wasn't something you did every day!
He couldn't wait.
Dawn, of course, would be using everyone on her team who wasn't Buneary. Cilan would be using the only three pokémon he had, and there just weren't enough rounds for Ash to use Oshawott. Not that the otter had seemed to mind this, really.
Iris, however, had decided that she wouldn't be using Axew, Emolga and Excadrill at all. Oddly, she'd opted only to use Dragonite.
Pikachu had no idea why she'd do that. After spending so long training her other three pokémon, she'd chosen to use her newly-caught one, instead. The one who was... a bit unruly, to put it nicely. Granted, he was rather powerful, but still. Was it really the best course of action?
When they arrived, a slew of familiar faces started popping up everywhere. Why were all the rivals here, too?! Ash's rival, Trip. Iris' rival, Georgia. Even Cilan's rival, Burgundy. It'd been a while since seen them all in one place. Though he supposed it made sense, since it was a tournament, and all.
What was it? A rival arrival day, or something?
Pikachu paused at his accidental pun. Huh. That had sounded like something Buneary would say. Being as odd as she was.
He quickly shook his head. Gosh, now he was even starting to sound like her...
The tournament progressed, opening with an exhibition match between Cynthia and Caitlin, psychic-type specialist of the Unova Elite Four.
It was a spectacular match between Cynthia's garchomp and Caitlin's gothitelle. Pikachu couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever get to fight either of them for real one day. They were certainly very strong, so they'd no doubt be very hard to beat.
After ten minutes, the exhibition match ended in a draw. Then the floor was handed over to the sixteen combatants and their one-on-one matches.
It was time.
The tournament raged on, with Ash, Dawn, Iris and Cilan rising through the ranks. Clearly, all their training was paying off.
The one to beat, though, was Trip's serperior. He seemed to have a winning strategy to wipe the floor with his opponents, using Leer and Solar Beam. Apparently, Serperior was so well trained that his Leer could lower both defence and special defence! That was insane!
Pikachu remembered one of his own moves from a while back: Agility. If he trained hard enough, could he raise both his speed and his evasion? Maybe he'd have to try that, one day! He could dodge around his opponents and get the first hit!
That was certainly something to aspire to.
Dragonite was being stubborn. Very stubborn.
Sure, he was strong. Ridiculously strong - Pikachu could admit that - but he seemed to have serious trouble following orders. He seemed to want to tank every hit, especially if it was ice-type, despite Iris constantly yelling at him to dodge.
The aspiring dragon master would have her work cut out for her here, for sure...
A while later, after a lot of excitement and battling, the tournament they'd trained the last two weeks for finally ended.
Pikachu was pouting.
It wasn't because they'd done badly, though. No, Ash's team had done really well! Leavanny, Boldore and Krokorok had gotten them through to the finals, with Krokorok even evolving into a krookodile to defeat Iris' dragonite. Because Pignite had lost to Trip's serperior, though, Pikachu had never gotten his chance to battle Alder.
Instead, Serperior had battled him and lost spectacularly. So much so that Trip had been force-fed a large slice of humble pie. Which was nice and all, but Pikachu still wished he'd been able to battle Alder's bouffalant...
On the plus side, he supposed, their team had done better than everyone else's. Cilan had managed to use all three of his pokémon, once each, whereas Dawn had only gotten to use Piplup and Mamoswine, out of the five she'd planned on.
So it wasn't all bad, he supposed.
After leaving the tournament area, congratulating Trip and running into a very scatterbrained boy named Cameron - and his exasperated riolu - the group climbed into Cynthia's limousine and headed back to Undella Town.
On the journey back, Ash made a request to stop by the pokémon centre and swap out his pokémon.
Once he was done rotating out Leavanny and Boldore for Snivy and Scraggy, they continued on towards Cynthia's villa.
The sun was getting low in the sky when they finally returned.
It had been a fun tournament, for sure, but Pikachu was ready to relax. Maybe he should talk to Buneary tomorrow. By now, she'd probably had enough cool-down time and they could chat and hang out, just like they used to. Heck, if she'd missed any tournament details while being in her pokéball, he'd be happy to fill her in!
... Wait. What had Dawn just said?
Time they... got on their way?
"So are you two heading back to Sinnoh?" Iris asked.
Holding Piplup in her arms, Dawn smiled. "No, Johto," she replied. She turned to look up at the sky. "There's a contest being held there soon."
Wait. Since Dawn was currently getting ribbons in Hoenn, there was only one reason she'd be going to a contest in Johto...
"The Wallace Cup!" Ash said excitedly.
Pikachu forced a smile. "(Didn't know it was that time of year already!)" he said.
"Right!" Dawn replied, walking forwards a bit, then stopping. "It's in the Johto region this year."
So she was leaving. For Johto. Really soon, by the sounds of things...
He zoned out as Dawn started explaining the Wallace Cup to Cilan and Iris. Well. This was it, he supposed. Ash and Dawn were going to part ways again. He'd wanted to spend some time with Buneary after the tournament, but that no longer looked possible.
Despite the aching in his heart, he tried to hold his smile for the coordinator. Even wishing her good luck. She was, after all, following her dream.
Thinking about it, Buneary had even mentioned that they needed a fifth ribbon for the Hoenn Grand Festival, which they could easily get from a Wallace Cup. No matter which region the Wallace Cup was held in. That was the beauty of that particular ribbon.
Still, though, it hurt to know that Dawn had waited until the last minute to tell them that she was leaving. Couldn't she have told them sooner?
"Hold on!" Ash said. "Before you go, let's have a battle."
... Oh right. The battle that Dawn had promised Ash two weeks ago.
"Pleeease?" Ash continued.
"(Uh, yeah!)" Pikachu added hastily.
He couldn't deny that the thought of finally getting to battle her was exciting. Especially since he hadn't been able to battle in the tournament that he'd been looking forward to for so long.
Hoping to be chosen for the battle, he put on his best game face. Strangely, though, it felt oddly forced.
He tried to ignore this.
Thankfully, Ash had indeed chosen Pikachu to battle. It had been an intense match between him and Quilava.
Unfortunately, because the two of them had shown slight signs of fatigue, Cynthia had called it a draw. He supposed it was because it was late and she was concerned about their health, but still.
Dang it...
Later that night, everyone was eating dinner and saying their goodbyes to Dawn's team. Strangely, Piplup and Oshawott were avoiding each other, while Meloetta was eating over by the humans. Not that Pikachu was complaining, though. It was very quiet without all the squabbling.
A quick glance around told him where Buneary was. She was sitting with a group of her new friends, chatting animatedly.
He watched her for a few moments.
Yeah. He should probably say goodbye, at least. He took one step forward, his food bowl in his paws. Oddly, the walk felt very stilted. Very awkward. He took another step. A hollow feeling entered his chest.
Stubbornly shaking it off, he walked faster.
Stopping by Buneary, he smiled down at her. "(Hey,)" he said.
She looked up at him in surprise. "(Oh...)" she replied, "(hey...)"
"(Mind if I sit here?)"
"(No... go ahead.)"
"(Thanks.)" He sat down. "(... So, uh... you guys are leaving tomorrow.)"
"(Yup.)"
"(We'll, uh... see each other again, though! Just like this time!)"
"(Yeah! Yeah.)" Looking down, Buneary fidgeted with a pellet in her paws.
Next to her, Snivy raised an eyebrow. "(... Are you alright, Buneary?)" she asked.
"(Hmm? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.)"
"(... Huh,)" Emolga said. She stuffed a pellet in her mouth. "(Yuh, you're actin' weird now.)"
Pikachu blinked. Weird?
"(A-Anyway!)" Buneary said. "(Like I said... we won the Sinnoh Wallace Cup...)" She grinned. "(So here's hoping we win the Johto one, too!)"
"(Yeah!)" Glaceon said happily. "(Good luck to you all!)" She gave a determined smirk. "(Knock 'em dead!)"
Buneary chuckled. "(Not literally, I hope!)"
Glaceon laughed, still smirking. "(What if I do mean literally?)"
Buneary chuckled again. "(Oh dear!)"
Something suddenly felt lighter in Pikachu's chest. He couldn't explain it, though. Maybe it was the fact that Buneary looked so cheerful now? But she'd looked cheerful before. Then again, she was actually talking to him now. Maybe that was it?
He shook his head, not wanting to think about it too hard.
Instead, he glanced at the only member of their little group who hadn't said anything yet.
Oshawott was fiddling with a pellet in his paws, looking somewhat put-off. After a few moments, he turned his head and looked into the distance. Looking back down, he continued fidgeting with the pellet.
Not long afterwards, he did it again.
Curious, Pikachu followed his line of vision. It led him straight to where Piplup, Pachirisu, Axew, Scraggy and Pansage were sitting.
"(Are... you okay, Oshawott?)" he asked.
Oshawott jumped, turning back around with lightning speed and wide eyes. "(Huh?!)" he said.
"(You've been staring in Piplup's direction.)" Not angrily, either, which was the strangest thing.
Oshawott made a few indignant huffing noises. "(I'm... not gonna miss him, if that's what you're thinking!)" He glanced back at Piplup.
"(Uh huh...)"
Snivy heaved a sigh. "(He's been doing this for ages now,)" she said.
Oshawott turned back around, frowning. "(I have not!)" he replied.
"(Yeah, you have,)" Emolga said. She sniggered. "(You in love with him, or something?)"
"(What?! No!)" Oshawott hit his paw against his chest. "(I am a ladies' man!)"
Snivy rolled her eyes. "(You wish you were...)" she replied.
Emolga sniggered harder. Oshawott gave another indignant huff.
"(... Well, uh, anyway...)" Pikachu said, turning to Buneary, "(good luck in the Wallace Cup!)"
She gave him a gentle smile that, for some reason, caused a sting in his chest. "(Thanks,)" she replied.
"(N-No problem...)"
Ignore it. All he had to do was ignore it.
Today was the day.
Everyone was down by the pier, waiting by the seaplane. It would be ready to take off soon, on its way to Blackthorn City in Johto.
This reminded Pikachu of last time. Back at the end of their Sinnoh journey, Ash and Brock had gotten on a boat and left Dawn behind. Left her to attend Buneary's photo shoot with Paris and Hermione.
Now, though, it was the other way around.
As pleasantries were exchanged between the humans, Pikachu couldn't help but wonder when the next time they'd see Dawn would be. Another several months? Well, he supposed it was inevitable at this point, but he wished it didn't have to be.
Sometimes, friends just... parted ways.
He tried to hold his smile throughout the entire conversation. Tried to stay positive. They'd see each other again! Ash was sure of it, Dawn was sure of it, so why shouldn't he be sure of it, too?
He barely paid attention as Piplup got teary-eared over leaving Meloetta. It didn't matter, anyway. Neither him nor Oshawott probably had any chance with her, anyway.
Speaking of Oshawott, the otter suddenly popped out of his pokéball, demanding to speak to Piplup. The penguin jumped down from Dawn's arms in response.
The two glared at one another heatedly.
Oshawott cracked first, getting teary-eyed. Then Piplup did, too. They hugged one another, getting emotional and saying they'd miss each other.
Huh. It was just like that day in Sinnoh, when Piplup had gone on a temper tantrum, before breaking down and hugging Pikachu.
Breaking apart, they gave each other a determined frown.
"(We'll see each other again, alright?)" Piplup said.
Oshawott nodded. "(Yeah!)" he replied. "(For sure!)"
Huh. Even these two were saying it now.
Maybe they would, then. No, he was sure they would! There was no way they wouldn't, right? It had happened before, so it would happen again!
Then he could see more of Buneary - plus his other friends, of course - and Oshawott could see more of Piplup.
Hopefully, they wouldn't be fighting over a girl next time, too.
More than that, though, he hoped that Buneary would be okay the next time he saw her. Not to mention, maybe, this time - after some time away in Johto and Hoenn - she'd finally be over him. Finally over her crush that she'd stubbornly kept for so long. Kept since the day he'd met her.
Maybe... she'd even start liking someone else.
His mouth twisted slightly, but he kept his smile.
That was it. Dawn was gone.
As her plane flew further away into the sky - to the sound of a goodbye song from Meloetta - Pikachu couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.
Thankfully, he'd been able to say goodbye to all of his Sinnoh friends the night before, but something still ached inside of him. Perhaps it was the fact that he wasn't getting to say it a second time, here on the pier, but he supposed that was understandable. Much like with Ash and the boat back in Sinnoh, Dawn had left it rather late to get on the plane.
Still... a part of him wished things could have been different.
Before he could dwell on his thoughts any longer, a cry from that boy known as Cameron distracted him.
After the group had finally convinced Cameron that, no, the Unova League wasn't being held in Johto and, yes, he needed an eighth gym badge to actually get into the league, Ash asked if he could follow him to Humilau City to watch his gym battle.
Pikachu thought this whole thing was rather sudden. A trek to another city, right after Dawn had left?
... On the other hand, maybe it would be good for him to go on a trek elsewhere. Nothing cleared the head better than a walk, after all. Especially a long one, from town to town.
Yeah. Yeah! It would most definitely be good for him!
... Maybe it would even help get rid of this stupid empty feeling in his chest...