Chapter 6: Dare

It was a good thing that the gala was scheduled on a relatively warm night because only two days later, it was quite the cold day in Sinnoh. The fall season had only just begun but already the chilliness had set in. The flying Pokémon in the region had nestled in their tree homes, the forest critters snuggled in their burrows and Ash's group were cozying up in a quaint cabin in the forest.

Ash, as usual, was looking forward to gaining ground on their journey towards his first gym battle as they were only another day's trek from Oreburgh City. The hard-headed ten year-old Pokémon trainer insisted on continuing their travels even in the cold weather but after some convincing from Brock and some high-pitched complaining from Dawn, he acquiesced and the three settled in a log cabin until the weather eased up.

Inside the cabin the three trainers sat in the kitchen, Brock beginning to make preparations for warm food. Ash meanwhile was going on and on about how excited he was to get his first gym badge and how exactly he'd go about it while Dawn was looking at Poké Chic, trying to gain inspiration for future outfits.

In the living room sat all of their Pokémon, awaiting in eagerness for their food to be prepared but also simply enjoying the warmness of the cabin. Some of the Pokémon, not very used to the cold weather, were wrapped up in blankets.

On the couch sat Pikachu with Aipom who decided to jump on top of the piece of furniture to peer out the window into the cold day. The others sat around the couch on the floor, engaged in their own conversations.

"(Man it's a cold one today!)" Aipom declared. "(I swear, yesterday gave no indication that it would be this gloomy.)"

"(Yeah, Brock said the weather channel predicted it would be like this all day.)" Turtwig replied while wrapped up in a blanket.

"(Well that's just great...)" Staravia said while preening his feathers. "(Not much we can do 'cept wait it out.)"

"(Yeah, but knowing Ash, he'll still want to do training out there.)" Pikachu responded half-exasperatedly. "(Through rain or snow that guy.)"

Suddenly, Pikachu felt something - or rather someone - push themselves against his side. He looked over and saw the familiar brown face of a certain affectionate bunny.

"(Don't worry, even if he wants you to train, you're so tough it wouldn't even phase you!)" She winked before closing her eyes and snuggled closer to him.

"(Oh um, hi Buneary...)" Pikachu said a little embarrassedly. "(Cold or something?)"

Buneary paused for a moment. "(Uh yeah, I was feeling a little chilly.)"

"(Oh, well I could go get you a blanket.)" He said with a half-smile.

"(No, no this will do.)" Buneary said, smiling, completely content.

"Strange." Pikachu thought. "She's covered in fluff, if anything she should be the least chilly out of all of us."

Unbeknownst to him, Turtwig rolled his eyes as he gave a somewhat annoyed stare. Likewise, Aipom had heard their conversation and gave a little smile of her own.

Pikachu let his mind wander for a bit, Buneary had always been a strange one since the day they met, but ever since that double-battle and even more since the gala, she'd really opened up, often showing her affection whenever she could, even in front of the others. Once again, he figured that it was simply in her nature to be affectionate just as it was in Aipom's nature to be mischievous or Piplup's nature to be confident and prideful.

A shiver that was colder than the outside weather suddenly went down Pikachu's spine upon thinking of Aipom. It had only been two days since that karaoke bet and knowing her, it was very likely that she was constantly thinking of new ways to top that. Pikachu sighed; he could only wonder in despair what his mischievous friend had in her devious mind for him. Oh well, at least this moment of them all together warm in a cabin was soothing, he could worry about that another time.

"(Hey, wait a sec...)" Turtwig said gazing around the room. "(Somebody's missing. Where's Piplup?)"

"(He said something about going for a swim in the nearby lake.)" Staravia said.

"(Really?! But it's sooooo cold! The water must be freezing!)" Sudowoodo exclaimed, inexplicably using his branches to grip on to his blanket a little tighter.

"(Yeah, but he's a penguin and a Water-type, I'm sure he'll be just fine.)" Aipom said, still gazing out the window.

"(Yeah! He said and I quote...)" Pikachu exclaimed before placing his paws on his face and contorting it until his head was more rounded and his nose was elongated to look like a beak while making his arms appear more flipper-like. Placing his flipper-arms on his sides, he tilted his head upwards, closed his eyes and spoke in a near-perfect impression of the penguin. "(A little cold weather never stopped me before! You'll see, I'm so tough that freezing water will feel like nothing!)"

All of the others began to laugh uproariously. He maintained his pose although he could feel Buneary hugging him a little harder than before.

Laughing, Staravia wiped a tear from his eye. "(Yeah, sounds about right.)"

"(Still, I'd hate to be out there, Water-type or not I can only imagine that it wouldn't be very pleasant.)" Sudowoodo said.

Still gazing into the outside world, Aipom didn't move from her spot. In fact she didn't move at all, save for the sudden eye-twitch she felt.

"(I mean, can you imagine being out there training or something? Stuff's for the birds, no offense.)" Sudowoodo said, turning towards Staravia.

"(None taken, though I think that's just because you're a Rock-type.)" Staravia replied.

Twitch twitch

"(Yeah...)" Pikachu said as he started to contort his face back to normal. "(It's gotta be like negative ten out there or someth-)" He suddenly paused as he was turning his head only to be greeted with the unbreaking, smiling face of Aipom mere inches away from his own.

"(Umm...hello there...)" Pikachu said, a bead of sweat going down the side of his head.

"(Hi.)" She said somewhat unnervingly, still smiling. "(Guess what?)"

"(Err, what?)"

"(I know what your dare's gonna be~!)" She said almost in a sing-song like manner.

"(Wow you work fast.)" Turtwig said. "(It's only been like, what, 48 hours tops since your last dare and you already know what horrible thing to make the guy do?)"

"(Oh yeah, this is a good one.)" She said, still not taking her gaze off Pikachu.

"(Give the man a break would ya? That last dare nearly killed him!)" Staravia said, his voice somewhat raised though there was a hint of laughter behind it.

Pikachu shuddered, remembering how nerve-racking it was to be up there on that stage. Immediately, he pushed that thought away.

Aipom continued to unblinkingly look at him. "(Oh don't worry, you did soooo well on your last dare that I'm gonna be nice about this one!)"

Pikachu exhaled in frustration. "(Alright, what is it?)"

"(I dare you...)" She started, taking a pause to relish the tension. "(To jump straight into that freezing lake!)" She exclaimed, motioning towards the outside world.

Pikachu blinked a few times. That didn't sound too pleasant but it wasn't the worst he's had to do for a dare. If he was being honest, the last dare was so much more embarrassing.

"(Isn't that a bit dangerous? I mean it's pretty cold out there, he could go into shock or something.)" Turtwig concernedly asked.

"(Oh come on! A little cold water isn't gonna do anything! He's taken Hyper Beams and Flamethrowers to the face before!)" Aipom yelled back.

"(Oh...ummm...okay.)" Pikachu said, hoping that this was all that there was to it.

Aipom raised her paw in front of her and Pikachu's face. "(Uh huh huh!)" She interjected. "(You didn't let me finish!)"

Pikachu felt his blood go cold. Oh good lord what else?

"(You have to jump in the lake while weeeaaaaring this!)" She exclaimed as she quickly zipped into the bedroom Dawn was using. After some sounds of rustling through Dawn's backpack ceased, Aipom returned carrying what looked to be an outfit completely wrapped in a garment bag.

Pikachu swallowed hard. "(What is it?)" He asked, knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer.

Aipom beamed as she unzipped the garment bag revealing on a coat hook a laced, borderline sexy maid outfit designed to fit a smaller Pokémon.

Pikachu's face heated up instantly upon eye-contact with the dress. "(Um, b-but th-that's, I mean...)"

"(Oh dear.)" Buneary quietly said to herself as she fiddled with her fluff, a faint pink blush spreading across her face.

"(Yikes, good luck my friend!)" Sudowoodo said, trying to hold back laughter.

"(B-But isn't that going to ruin the dress? Wouldn't Dawn be upset?)" Pikachu blubberingly asked, trying his best to squirm his away out of this.

"(That's why I chose it! Dawn was never gonna use it!)" Aipom exclaimed as she took the dress off the hook and tilted it to where everyone could better see something on the shoulder. "(Look, see how the lacing doesn't match up? There was a mistake when stitching it!)"

Pikachu along with everyone else leaned forward to see what she meant. Try as he might, he couldn't understand what she was talking about, it looked like any other lacing on any other dress he'd ever seen before.

"(Oh I see!)" Buneary exclaimed.

Pikachu merely looked at her and then back at the dress. He frowned and squinted, leaning even harder into it, trying in vain to see what the flipping hell they were talking about. After a few more moments he gave up, inwardly shrugging. He didn't wear clothes in general but if you're like Buneary and participated in contests, it would be a given that you would notice things that others wouldn't regarding fashion and dresswear. He sighed.

"(J-Just why would Dawn's mom send her something like that?)" He nervously asked, still eyeing the dress.

Aipom continued to smile as she shrugged her shoulders. "(Beats me...to give an edge in a future contest or something?)"

"(But the only one who would wear something like that would be...)" Pikachu managed to say before his eyes drifted to Buneary who by now was practically shaking, still fiddling with her fluff. "(Oh...)"

Buneary suddenly pulled her fluff up to her face and turned around. "(Sh-She said that it m-might be look cute or beautiful on me...)" She managed to say, albeit a bit muffled.

"(Oh fantastic...)" Pikachu muttered, turning back to Aipom.

"(Hey if you don't like this dress, there's a few more colorful ones Dawn wasn't gonna to use!)" Aipom said turning to go back into the bedroom.

"(No, no!)" Pikachu exclaimed waiving his paws in front of him. "(I'll take this one!)"

"(Oh! I just realized one last thing...)" Aipom said staring, back at Pikachu.

"Good heavens above, what now?!" Pikachu internally screamed.

Putting the dress on the couch for the moment, Aipom jumped next to where Pikachu was standing and pulled him to the far opposite side of the piece of furniture. "(When you jump into the lake, you have to say...)" She declared before whispering into Pikachu's ear so softly that even Buneary couldn't hear her.

Speaking of which, the little brown bunny might have been mistaken, but she could swear that the mouse's red electric cheek sacks were doubling in size because his face was becoming redder and redder with each passing moment! On top of that, a look of horror was plastered on his face.

"(And you said you were going easy...)" Pikachu grumbled, his eyes closed and his head hung low, facing the floor.

"(I am altering the deal, pray that I do not alter it any further.)" Aipom said in a fake deep voice earning an eye roll from Pikachu.

"(So should we get on with it then?)" Turtwig asked.

"(Yeah the sooner the better!)" Aipom yelled, grabbing the dress and zipping it up in the bag.

Pikachu could only grumble, hoping the heat from his face will disappear with the cold air that he was about to go out into.

After convincing Ash and the others that they were stepping out to go play tag, Pikachu and the gang set out for the lake.

Along the way, Buneary walked next to Pikachu who was lost in dreadful thought. He didn't consider himself easily embarrassed, but ever since she and Aipom stepped into his life, he certainly felt his face get warmer at lot more frequently, humiliating dares and teasing often being the causes.

Seeing what looked to be a dark cloud over his head, Buneary hopped closer to Pikachu. She opened her mouth to say something at first but then stopped herself. She merely continued to give him a side-glance, a thoughtful look on her face.

As they continued to walk, Pikachu maintained his frown and kept staring at the ground. Well...he really shouldn't be too surprised. He figured that Aipom was constantly thinking of what he should do for his second dare and that it would have to be a doozy. It wasn't singing a lovey-dovey song in front of friends and strangers-level bad but it wasn't too far off. Ugghh, he could already hear the teasing before, during and after he did it. Why couldn't he have just kept his big mouth shut and not suggest double or nothing? Why did he-

"(Hey...)" Buneary softly said. Pikachu looked at her, jolting from his dreadful thoughts. "(You got this!)" She proudly proclaimed with a fist pumped in front of her. "(Like she said, a little cold water isn't going to hurt you!)"

"(Yeah, but that maid outfit might...)" He half-jokingly replied with a slight smile although it was clear that he was pretty bothered by it.

"(Oh don't worry about that! I'd bet you'd look fabulous~!)" She warmly said.

"(Er...thanks I guess.)" He said with smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"(Besides, you're a lot braver than anyone else here that's for sure)" Buneary continued. "(I can't really see Turtwig or Sudowoodo going through with something like this. I'll bet even Piplup would be too embarrassed to do it! His pride would be too hurt.)" She laughed.

"(Really?)" Pikachu asked genuinely curious.

"(Yeah! Remember when Aipom dared him to Bubble Beam that colony of bidoofs? He kept saying that he had a stomachache...for a week.)" Buneary said smiling.

Pikachu laughed. "(Oh yeah, to be fair, those bidoofs had quite the chompers on them!)"

"(If it was you, I'm confident that you would do it no matter how many of them there were! That's one of the things that makes you different from everybody else! Training and battling is one thing, but doing things that are scary and uncertain, you're the only one here who I know can do it no matter what!)" Buneary said as she outstretched her arms.

Feeling a bead of sweat on the side of his head, Pikachu nervously smiled. "(Thanks.)"

"(So don't sweat it, you've faced worse before, this is nothing! If there's anyone who I know can not only do this, but do it great, it's you!)" Buneary exclaimed, fist pumping in the air.

Pikachu blinked and looked at her. Then he put a paw up to his chin.

Yeah...yeah maybe she was on to something. He certainly couldn't see the others going through with this, and like she said, even that prideful penguin friend of theirs would be too egocentric and self-conscious to pull off something as embarrassing as this.

Yeah! He's got this! So what if he's going to put on a maid outfit and jump into cold water? He's worn other silly, if not worse outfits in the past! It's like Aipom herself said, he's fought super tough opponents before. He's been frozen, poisoned and beaten to a pulp in the past so why should this be any harder? Yeah, Buneary was right! Compared to all of that, this was nothing!

Raising his own fist in the air, Pikachu gave a determined look. "(Yeah you're right, I've taken on worse before! I've got this!)" He exclaimed, topping it off with a confident smile.

"(See, there's a smile~)" Buneary giggled.

Heh, it was funny, in-between times when she was being affectionate, she sure knew how to give someone a compliment and praise. He even heard her mentioning something about cheering them on for their first gym battle. Pikachu couldn't help but smile both on the outside and on the inside.

What's more is that under typical circumstances, he knew that he would be dreading a potential upcoming dare by Aipom from beginning to end and yet now in hindsight, he hadn't given it much thought at all since that double-battle. In fact, he practically forgot about it until the gala. Interesting...it was almost like there was a reason.

As he looked over at Buneary's bright smile...he was reminded why.

Nearing their destination, the group came upon a familiar face.

"(Hey guys!)" Piplup yelled as he approached them, dripping wet.

"(Oh hey, you're just in time to see the show!)" Aipom exclaimed while holding the bag containing the dress using her hand-like tail.

"(Oh yeah? What show?)" Piplup inquired as he began to walk with them towards the lake that he just came from.

As Aipom described the bet and what embarrassing fate awaited poor Pikachu, the aforementioned yellow mouse couldn't help but look back at Buneary. He didn't know why, but he felt a spark of warmth spreading throughout his chest.

Soon, the group finally came upon their destination: a large cliff overlooking a fairly-sized lake. The cliff itself must have been at least one hundred feet high. Normally it would be a beautiful sight to behold but the cold, gloomy day only made it seem somewhat ominous with the lake itself appearing a still pale blue with light fog covering both it and the surrounding area.

"(And you're sure it's deep enough to dive in?)" Pikachu asked, not taking his eyes off the lake.

"(Oh yeah! The lake isn't particularly big but it's at least fifty feet deep!)" Piplup excitedly said before putting his flippers on his sides and confidently tilting his head upwards. "(I would know, I reached the bottom no problem!)"

Reminded of Pikachu's earlier imitation, the others in the group tried to hold back their laughter but failed.

"(Huh? What's so funny?)" Piplup asked turning towards the giggling group.

"(Nothing! Good to hear that I won't splatter upon impact!)" Pikachu jokingly said, trying to steer his friend away from the subject.

"(Alright buddy, it's almost showtime!)" Aipom said, waving the coat bag in front of Pikachu's face.

Grimacing a little, Pikachu took the bag from her. "(Err...excuse me for a sec.)" He said as he headed towards some bushes. "(A little privacy to change.)"

Aipom rolled her eyes, that mouse can be so easily-embarrassed she swears! None of them regularly wore clothes so what privacy was needed? He just needed to put on the flippin' dress!

After some rumbling in the bushes, the electric mouse stepped out wearing the outfit.

Looking at the ground and without even making eye contact, he could feel everybody's stares upon him. The silence was deafening.

"Oh crap." He thought as he felt his face get progressively warmer. He immediately thought back to Buneary's words of encouragement. "You got this. You got this. You got this." He repeated in his head. Yeah...he's got this...

...

But holy hell was it torture!

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Aipom, that cheeky angel of mercy yet also devil in plain sight finally piped up.

"(Hell yeah Pikachu.)" She calmly said with a smile.

"(Huh?)" Pikachu looked up, blinking and ears twitching.

"(Really rocking that outfit bro!)" Staravia exclaimed, waving a wing towards him.

"(Gee thanks.)" Pikachu grumbled as he walked closer towards the cliff.

"(Yeah for real man!)" Piplup exclaimed as he ran up towards his friend. "(I'll bet that you look better than most contest Pokémon would ever dream of looking!)" He paused before crossing his arms. "(Granted I would look more manly instead of adorable but still...)"

Pikachu merely sighed. "(That's good to hear...)" He muttered but as he rolled his eyes to the side he caught sight of Croagunk. "(D'aaaah!)" Pikachu yelled, totally forgetting that the frog Pokémon was with them on their little excursion...Croagunk was so quiet after all. He merely gave Pikachu the same look he gave everyone and everything.

"(Nice.)" He said in a monotone voice.

Before Pikachu could say anything in response he caught a glimpse of Turtwig out of the corner of his eye. He was eyeing the mouse up and down, particularly his tail.

"(Um, can I help you?)" Pikachu nervously asked.

"(Oh sorry, it's just that the outfit suits you sooooo well that I was just making sure that you didn't have a heart on the end of your tail. You know...in case I need to correct my pronouns for you.)" The tortoise said.

Pikachu blinked before feeling a familiar heat rushing to his face. "(Heeeyyyyy...)" He complained, a little annoyed at himself that he didn't get the joke sooner.

Some distance away, Aipom observed Pikachu responding to his small crowd of teasing friends. Snickering a little, she knew she not to spend too much time laughing at Pikachu's expense. Now that all eyes were focused on him, it was her chance to get a look at the real reaction she was hoping for. She turned her head towards Buneary.

Aipom had been looking forward to this moment more than anything. After all, the entire point of the dare was to see Buneary's reaction instead of Pikachu's. Sure, Pikachu would no doubt be embarrassed about the dare, she already knew that after getting to know the guy for a while, but Buneary was a different story altogether. After making her secret agreement with Piplup, Aipom was dying to get some good laughs since she had to cut back on the teasing. Instead of making Buneary feel embarrassed, Aipom wanted more of a challenge and was going for a more...interesting result.

She took a moment to really get a look at Buneary's reaction. What she saw was better than she had ever hoped.

Unlike everyone else who showed a clear reaction, Buneary appeared completely frozen, arms to the side, mouth slightly agape and eyes so wide she may as well have hearts in their place. All the while, she never so much as blinked or took her eyes off of Pikachu.

Aipom couldn't help herself. For once, she laughed at her bunny friend instead of the prudish mouse. Oooh boy this was so worth it! She could only imagine what was going through her mind right now.

Unbeknownst to Aipom, Buneary's mind was mostly blank except for two thoughts that were competing like a game of tug-of-war.

"He looks so manly in that outfit! How does he do it?! No, no wait, he looks like a gorgeous, sexy mouse! No hold on, from this angle he definitely looks more manly. No wait, back to definitely being sexy!"

Aipom continued to stare at her. Oh, how she wished she was a Psychic-type right now! She would give anything to read just one thought!

Soon enough, the poor bunny's two thoughts went back and forth so much that they began to meld into one.

"Sexy! Manly! Sexy! Manly! Sexy manly!"

Buneary was so entranced that she didn't even notice Aipom waving her hand-like tail in front of her face.

"(Yooohooo! Earth to Buneary!)" She chimed. Oh boy, maybe her plan worked a little too well.

She paused and slightly nudged her friend with her tail. Buneary merely rocked back and forth like a stone statue.

Laughing again, Aipom took a moment to catch her breath. "(Hey Buneary, do you need a napkin or something? I mean with all that drool, you might need an entire towel!)" She quipped.

No reaction. None, zip, nada.

Piplup, having noticed their interaction out of the corner of his eye, couldn't help himself either and quickly ran up to Buneary's other side. "(Yeah! Or better yet, a tissue for that wicked nosebleed you've got going on!)" He chirped.

Blink

Buneary, without taking her gaze off Pikachu, dreamily reached her paw over her face and touched her pink button nose.

"My nose?" She thought.

Blink blink

She extended her arm to look at her paw, still without fully taking her eyes off Pikachu.

"...Is bleeding?"

Blink blink blink

Upon that last blink, reality came crashing back like a meteor directly striking her in the face.

Her eyes went as wide as they could go and she finally broke out of her hypnotic gaze.

"(Huh?! Wha-What just happened?!)" Buneary exclaimed looking back and forth between her two smiling friends who were trying their best to hold back their laughter.

"(Welcome back to planet Earth!)" Aipom happily said with an obvious giggle.

"(Yeah, any longer and we would have to put you in that freezing water just to cool down!)" Piplup remarked with a smile.

Blushing redder than a shepherd's sunset and her face feeling like it was on fire to match, Buneary could only stutter any excuses that came to her mind. "(No, no! You've got it wrong! I-I was j-just...umm...)" She managed to say as she racked her brain trying to come up with something, anything. Unfortunately, witnessing Pikachu in his little outfit made her brain short-circuit or something because she was coming up with zilch. "(Looking at how beautiful the lake was!)" She blurted out.

"(Oh suuuureee~! You confident about that? You're sure it wasn't the guy in a maid's outfit about to jump into the lake?)" Piplup laughed.

"(No! I-I...)" Buneary stuttered. Finally composing herself, she let out a rather large exhale, no longer finding any point in trying to lie. "(You got me, I have no excuses.)" She mumbled, closing her eyes and hanging her head in shame.

"(Good to see you're honest with yourself~!)" Aipom said smiling.

"(Well can you blame me?)" Buneary practically shouted as she turned to Aipom and then back to Pikachu. "(He just looks sooooo...umm...)" Buneary started but the more she began to look at him again, the more she went back into her daze.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand she was gone again.

"(Whoops! Looks like we lost her again!)" Aipom declared with both her and Piplup facing their friend.

Suddenly something clicked in Piplup's mind. "(Say, this whole bet wouldn't be just about Pikachu's reaction would it?)" He asked with a smirk.

Aipom smiled back and shrugged. "(Guilty as charged!)"

Piplup put a flipper to his face. "(Oh you sly devil! You ma'am are an artist!)"

"(I certainly take pride in my work!)" Aipom happily declared.

A few minutes passed and having been satisfied with Buneary's reaction, Aipom turned towards the man of the hour.

"(Hey if it's all the same to you, let's get this show on the road shall we?!)" She yelled with both her paws cupped around her mouth. Pikachu and the others stopped whatever it was that they were talking about and looked at her. "(I heard it's only going to get colder as the day goes on so let's do this!)"

"(Yeah! Do it before it gets too cold!)" Piplup yelled in support. He briefly paused before continuing. "(Or before Buneary faints, whichever first!)"

Pikachu's eyes widened in horror. "Buneary?! Oh noooooo!" He thought.

He had been so preoccupied with the bet, the stupid dress and the constant teasing that he forgot all about her reaction. Briefly grimacing, he turned in her direction. He saw her frozen in place, eyes unblinkingly gazing at him, mouth agape and all.

He couldn't make heads or tails from her reaction so he did the only thing he could think of: he closed his eyes, put on an embarrassed smile and waved to her.

Without moving another muscle and not for a moment taking her eyes off him, Buneary slowly raised her arm and waved back, not making a single sound.

"Ooooh boy, yeah let's get this over with." Pikachu thought as he turned towards his friends and, with whatever confidence he had remaining, pumped his fist in the air.

"(Alright! Let's do this!)" He yelled as his surrounding friends stepped back to give him space. Suddenly he felt Aipom's presence next to him.

"(Just remember that last thing you need to do~)" She half-whispered into his ear before practically skipping to rejoin their group of friends.

"Oh...right." He thought, a grimace appearing on his face.

Sighing, Pikachu got down on all fours and with a moment's hesitation, began to run towards the edge of the cliff. Halfway through, he used Quick Attack to increase his speed. As he ran, he repeated in his head Buneary's words of encouragement.

"I got this! I got this! I got this!"

Finally, he got to the very edge of the cliff and with a large inhale, pushed himself off.

All eyes were focused on their friend, whose yellow body gave some color to the dreary light grey sky. Regardless, none were more focused on Pikachu than Buneary. She could only look on in awe at the electric mouse as he soared into the open air. Gee, it was exactly how it was when she first laid eyes upon him when he caught that potato! Minus the potato...and the fact that he's in a maid outfit...and he was jumping into a lake...and it was a dare. Okay fine maybe it was just the jumping part that was similar but regardless, it reminded her of the first time she saw him.

As gravity began to do its thing, Pikachu angled his body to assume more of a diving position.

And as he felt his body entering a downward motion, he unlocked his chest and opened his mouth.

The others watched as Pikachu fell below the cliff's horizon and out of sight. They all waited with bated breath to hear a splash but instead got something a little bit different.

"(BUNEARY!)" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"(Huh?)" Buneary wondered aloud as she uncurled both of her ears. She certainly wasn't expecting something like this.

Everyone leaned forward to hear what the falling mouse had to say. The crisp weather and geography only made his voice echo throughout the area. Aipom in particular held both of her paws up to her face with a smile so large that it couldn't stretch anymore.

"(WIIIIIIILL YOUUUUUU MAAARRRYYYY MEEEEEEE?)"

SPLASH

The sound of their friend hitting the water permeated throughout the area only to be accompanied by equally loud laughter from everyone witnessing the spectacle.

Well almost everyone. Try as she might, Buneary couldn't hear much else except for what the now underwater mouse said. Oh great, just when she got rid of her last blush.

"(Ohhhhh...)" Buneary moaned as she closed her eyes and put her beet-red face into her fluff. "(Oh poor Pikachuuuu!)" She couldn't help but mutter. The thought only made her want to bury her face further into her fluff, partially out of empathy for the poor mouse who had to endure all of this but also because she didn't expect such attention on her so suddenly.

"(Soooooooooo, when's the ceremony~?)" Sudowoodo teased, still laughing.

"(Quite the declaration of love I must say! Who knew he was such as romantic?)" Aipom giggled, now on the ground laughing while holding her stomach.

Instinctively, Buneary curled up one of her ears. She kept her eyes shut while her face was covered. Unfortunately in her emotional state, she didn't hear her blue penguin friend come up on her other side and half-whisper into her uncurled ear.

"(Yeah Buneary, I mean, I didn't hear you say noooooo~)" Piplup said, a flipper next to his beak, pretending as if he was telling her a secret.

Buneary's eyes shot open and she proceeded to close them even tighter before burying her face deeper into her fluff.

"(Mmmhhhmm.)" She groaned as she curled up her other ear. Still...he wasn't wrong.

The feeling of the ice-cold water enveloping Pikachu's body was indescribable. All at once, it was a rush surrounding him.

Pikachu grit his teeth; he knew that the worst part were the first few moments when the initial shock occurred but then his body will adjust to the new temperature.

He soon felt his body stop sinking and almost immediately, he began to swim to the surface. When he breached the surface of the water, he greedily inhaled as much air as he could.

Adrenaline still coursing throughout his body, he didn't allow himself to feel cold just yet. He looked up at the cliff from where he had just jumped from. If his body wasn't practically screaming from his fall and for him to get to somewhere warm, he swore that he could hear laughter coming from the top of the cliff.

Pikachu purposely let himself sink a little bit into the water until only the top part of his face was above it. "Oh great, I'll definitely have to deal with that later." He thought as he felt his body, mainly his face, warm up. It was funny, he was actually kind of glad to be in the cold water because it helped to cool off the burning sensation in his cheeks. For a moment he wondered if the temperature of the lake would heat up just from his face alone.

Pushing that thought away, he looked back up at the cliff and felt a strange sense of pride knowing that he managed to jump from somewhere so high up and that he went through with his dare...again. After briefly considering it, he decided that the last dare he had to do for Aipom was still worse, but this one wasn't something to sneeze at either.

With that in mind, Pikachu looked around for the nearest shore and proceeded to swim towards dry land.

Once he stepped onto the shore, he began to feel just how cold it truly was. He immediately shook off the water but it did only so much to help. Afterwards, he held his arms together and tried not to let his teeth chatter. The ridiculous maid outfit that he had to wear wasn't doing him any favors now that it was soaked, making him even colder and chaffed, not to mention it felt like an anchor weighing him down.

Pikachu looked at his surroundings and realized to his horror that he was so preoccupied about falling down, he never thought about getting back up. Ooooooooh boy he was in for a long, very, very cold trek back to the cabin...

As if on cue, Pikachu's ears pricked up and he looked above. His eyes caught the image of Staravia flying over him and landing a few feet from where he was standing.

"(Need a lift?)" He amusedly asked.

"(Yes please, thank you!)" Pikachu practically yelled, still holding himself to keep warm and walked over to his flying friend.

"(Not too shabby of a dive. I'd give it an eight out of ten.)" Staravia said as Pikachu climbed onto him.

"(Eight out of ten? What happened to the other two points?)" Pikachu grumbled, somewhat annoyed.

"(The dive wasn't bad or anything, just a little shaky and from the sound of things, you could've made a much smaller splash.)" Staravia said as he began to prepare his wings for takeoff.

"(Humph, everyone's a critic.)" Pikachu muttered as he held on to Staravia's feathers as they took off.

As they flew higher and higher, Pikachu felt the cold wind rushing against his fur and skin. The rushing air felt like several very small, precise needles hitting him all at once. He only tightened his grip, though he didn't want to pinch his friend.

Pikachu closed his eyes from the chilly sensation until he felt that they were no longer flying any higher and instead were steadied. He opened his eyes and looked down. He saw that they were flying above the cliff and he could see the figures of his friends, some of whom were pointing at them and shouting.

"Alright, steady yourself for any teasing when you land." Pikachu thought as they began to descend.

"(Woah, there's Mr. Olympic medalist!)" Turtwig said, running towards the now-grounded duo. Piplup was right behind him.

"(I'll say! That was a pretty impressive dive!)" Piplup exclaimed before briefly pausing and tapped his chest with a flipper. "(For a non-Water-type anyway.)"

"(Heh thanks, much appreciated.)" Pikachu said somewhat sarcastically. His eyes darted over to the side as he noticed Aipom approaching him.

"(Seriously though man, you've got guts!)" Aipom said with a fist extended. Smiling, Pikachu bumped it with his own.

Suddenly, he felt someone else's focus on him. He looked over and saw the bashful gaze of Buneary upon him. Unlike her usual self, she was avoiding eye contact and fiddled with her fluff.

"Oh right..." Pikachu thought as he remembered what he had to shout on the way down the cliff. He couldn't help but flatten his ears.

"(Hey there...)" He awkwardly squeaked.

"(Hey there yourself.)" She said, smiling shyly.

Oh boy, that bunny had only become increasingly more confident in her interactions with him the past week but now it's like the first day they met.

"(How was the water?)" She asked, eyes still off him.

"(Pretty cold but hey, I've been frozen before so...)" Pikachu said before pausing. "(Nothing I can't handle!)" He proudly proclaimed.

Hearing her own words of encouragement being echoed, Buneary smiled before easing up and letting go of her fluff.

"(That's great to hear...)" She beamed before suddenly moving over to snuggle into his side, eyes closed and smiling contently.

Pikachu could only smile and laugh nervously as the others snickered. He wouldn't lie though; her affections were never unwelcomed. This time was exceptionally nice, not only because she provided a source of warmth but that she also helped him get through this.

"(Umm...Buneary?)" He asked.

"(Hmm?)" She hummed, not moving a muscle.

"(I'm still pretty soaked.)" He said, closing his eyes and smiling.

"(That's okay, I don't mind being a little wet from you.)" She replied.

Pikachu's felt all the blood go to his face, turning it from its normal yellow color to a crimson red. He could only stand perfectly still as his mind raced with embarrassing thoughts, too many for him to willingly admit.

Despite their agreement, both Aipom and Piplup opened their mouths, eager to respond to Buneary's comment but both of them suddenly felt a light slap on the back of their heads courtesy of Staravia.

Unfortunately for Pikachu, who had been able to endure much of his experience, he could no longer hold it off anymore. He felt the coldness starting to creep throughout his body.

"(Well...)" He said, holding his arms together to keep himself warm once again. "(I'm gonna need a hot shower.)"

"(Oh right, let's get those wet clothes off you!)" Buneary said, taking a step backwards.

Piplup began to open his mouth again, hoping to pop off a comment but instead was once again greeted with a slap on the back of the head from his flight-gifted friend.

"(That's okay!)" Pikachu insisted as he tried to pry the soaking, freezing outfit off himself. Unfortunately for everyone's favorite electric mouse, the wet clothes only clung to him like fly paper. "(Eheh, just a sec.)" He awkwardly said as he desperately tried to take the outfit off. "(Darn thing's stubborn!)" He shouted, clearly getting frustrated.

Rolling her eyes, Buneary took a step towards him and grabbed a part of the outfit. "(Here, let me help you.)"

All of their friends could only watch in amusement as the two struggled to get the outfit off. Usually they would make some sort of snide remark but they were all reminded of Staravia's wing slap compounded by his intense gaze.

Still, Aipom couldn't help herself. "(A dream come true for her I'm sure.)" She muttered before getting another light slap. "(Owwwww, worth it!)" She yelled smiling, rubbing the back of her head.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Buneary managed to pry the outfit off him. The freedom he felt from that cursed dresswear was like a breath of fresh air as he felt lighter and warmer without it. It also helped that he could finally walk around without feeling like the world was intensely eying him all the time.

"(Now...)" Buneary started to say as she handed Aipom the soaked, ruined dress. "(Let's get you in the shower.)"

Risking it, Piplup went for a quip. "(Yeah and don't worry! We'll keep a lock on the door!)" He remarked as quickly as he could say before turning to Staravia with both arms in front of his face. "(Just lemme have that! Just lemme have that!)" He screamed with his eyes closed not wanting to see that Staravia's wing was already cranked back, ready to be used.

Staravia paused and then put his wing back down, closing his eyes. "(Fine, you get a pass...for now.)"

"(Much appreciated.)" Piplup nervously said, feeling a bead of sweat on the side of his head.

With that, the group of friends started heading back to the cabin.

Along the way, Buneary walked alongside Pikachu, frequently asking him questions about his dare.

"(And you're sure you weren't scared? Just a little bit?)" She quizzically asked .

"(Weelllll...)" Pikachu started, looking away.

"(Ooohhh so you were scared~!)" She giggled with a wink.

"(At first I was but then I just kept remembering what you said, about me facing way worse and that I'm tougher than a little cold water.)" He replied, smiling.

Buneary blinked a few times. "(Oh yeah! That's right and you totally are!)"

"(Thanks again.)" Pikachu said softly.

"(Oh I didn't do anything; you would've been fine without me!)" She laughed.

"(No for real though, I probably would've lost my nerve or something. But you helped me through it. You... umm...can really give me a lot of strength...)" Pikachu said a little bashfully.

Buneary felt her heart beating faster in response to his words but tried to remain calm.

"(Anytime.)" She chirped before suddenly locking arms with him as they walked. "(Anytime for you I mean of course.)". She said before pausing briefly then lightly giggled and whispered into Pikachu's ear. "(And you know, I wouldn't have said no to your proposal~)"

Pikachu's eyes widened and he suddenly felt his own heart racing, faster than a jackhammer, faster than a freight train.

Faster than it ever had before. He suddenly felt the sensation that he was floating.

"What the...?!" Pikachu's mind screamed as he began to tremble and he realized with all of the subtlety of a hammer to the face that he couldn't look her in the eyes.

"(Oh, feeling cold again?)" Buneary asked in a genuinely concerned tone as she looked at him.

"(Yeah...it just came over me.)" Pikachu said, his eyes darting elsewhere, all of the courage he once had melting away. His mind continued to race through so many thoughts.

"What in the world is going on? I just jumped off a cliff into a freezing lake...in a maid's outfit! I did all of that no problem so why is this making me feel...?"

He could only try to calm his heart as they made their way back to the cabin. He may have a hot shower waiting for him to soothe his body, but he had quite a lot on his mind to think about.

Author's Notes:

For those who have read my other fic, yes, it's basically "Pikachu's Dare" making a reappearance! Granted, this chapter has some things changed to make it fit better into the story but still. So you can consider it as "Pikachu's Dare" or as something new. Allow me to explain, "Pikachu's Dare" at first started as its own fic but after five minutes of brainstorming, I started getting ideas for other stories. Soon I figured that the fic could be it's own thing but could also fit into an overall larger story which is how it ended up here. Don't worry, I'm not running out of ideas or anything and I promise that it actually serves an important part of the story in its own weird way. Anyway, hope that clears things up!

If I can't get the next chapter out before the holidays then Merry Christmas! (Or Happy Holidays!) Until then, see ya next time!