Author's note: Hello again! Here's a new one-shot to add to the collection, with many more to come!

This particular one-shot was inspired heavily by ChristianDragon's story, Desperate Love. Since I was taking things in a different direction, it was really difficult to write... but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Also, haha. This one-shot is considerably longer than Ketchup Capers. That was unintentional, but never mind. I don't think I'll bother with perfection here, since they're just a bunch of one-shots. Lol.

Over The Edge

It was a beautifully sunny afternoon when Ash, Dawn, Brock and Pikachu decided to stop for a rest by a shimmering lake. Currently, Ash and Dawn were relaxing in the shade of a large tree, while Brock patiently stirred away at the stew that he was cooking. Their pokémon, in the meantime, were all out of their pokéballs, and were either running around, splashing in the water, or sunbathing.

Buneary was one member of a small group of pokémon that were playing tag. She'd have probably sunbathed instead, if it hadn't been for the fact that her beloved Pikachu had wanted to play tag. She giggled to herself as she chased him, completely ignoring the other pokémon in the group. Oh, that Pikachu. She'd go anywhere that he did, no question. If it meant that she could be near him, she'd gladly do whatever it took.

The yellow mouse suddenly ducked into a few bushes. Hot on his heels and giggling happily, she followed him. Upon reaching the other side, however, she stopped in her tracks at the curious sight of Pikachu standing beside a sunbathing female togetic.

Huh. Wasn't that species supposed to be super rare?

"(Why, hello there,)" the togetic said with a smirk as she sat up. "(My, it's not often I get such an attractive male invading my privacy.)"

Buneary bristled. Had that bird thing just call her Pikachu attractive? She wasn't about to stand for it if another female decided to flirt with him. Even if they were a super rare pokémon. She'd seen him first, after all... and had been after his heart for quite a while now. She was sure that she'd been making progress, and no one was going to interfere with that.

To her increasing annoyance, Pikachu blushed and scratched the back of his head. "(Oh, really?)" he asked. "(Uh, thanks!)"

The togetic lifted off the ground and hovered in front of Pikachu. "(Such lean muscle... You clearly work out a lot...)" She leaned her face close to his and his blush darkened. "(And I can sense that you're really strong... I like that in a man.)"

Buneary was fuming now. How dare she talk like that to her Pikachu! Well, technically, he wasn't hers, but he was her crush! Her beloved! She began storming over to put a stop to this.

"(Oh... yeah?)" Pikachu smiled, laughing nervously.

Was he actually starting to like that stupid flying-type? She was clearly a flirt who didn't really love Pikachu, like she did... Not to mention, she wasn't about to hand him over to a pokémon who'd only just met him!

"(Mm-hmm... You'd make a fine boyfriend, I'm sure...)"

Finally, after reaching Pikachu, Buneary clasped onto his arm and snarled at the togetic. "(Stay away from him!)" she yelled.

The togetic looked oddly amused at her fury. "(Oh, is that so? Tsk. It seems I have a rival for your affection, my dear Pikachu.)"

"(Don't call him that! You have no right to call him that!)"

The togetic chuckled. "(Oh yeah? What's it to you? Are you his girlfriend?)"

Buneary tried glaring even sharper daggers, and ignored her taunting question. "(You don't love him. He's nothing to you but a plaything! You've probably been through more 'boyfriends' than I could count!)"

"(Buneary...)" Pikachu said nervously.

The togetic scoffed. "(Well, I guess you're not wrong. I get bored easily.)" She smirked at Pikachu. "(This guy's handsome and strong, though, so he'd keep me amused for a while. Heck, he'd probably even provide good kids, if I chose to have any with him~)"

Buneary's fury boiled over. Not only was she disrespecting Pikachu by referring to him as a thing to keep her amused, but kids? Kids? Over her dead body!

"(That's it!)" she screamed, finally snapping.

She felt a familiar icy chill as Ice Beam shot up from her body, formed in front of her mouth and blasted towards the togetic. It struck her square in the chest. She screamed in agony, then fell to the floor.

"(Buneary!)" Pikachu called out in horror, trying to wrench his arm free and check on the togetic.

Buneary, now feeling extremely possessive of what was rightfully hers – since she loved that 'something' more than life itself, and had worked so hard to obtain it – tightened her grip on his arm.

"(No! Stay away from her.)"

"(But, Buneary!)"

"(Ugh...)" the togetic groaned as she climbed to her feet. "(Ow...)" She scowled at Buneary. Unfazed, Buneary scowled right back. "(Fine. You want him so bad, keep him. I'm sure I'll find a much better guy to play with.)" Lifting into the air, she flew away, disappearing over the horizon.

Buneary scoffed. "(And good riddance!)" she snapped. She turned to smile at Pikachu, satisfied that the witch had finally left. "(Come on, Pikachu! It's time to head back.)"

"(Uh, yeah...)" Pikachu replied, his ears drooping slightly. "(How about we give up on playing tag? I'm... not in the mood anymore.)"

"(Hmm?)" The realisation suddenly dawned on her. "(Oh yeah, tag!)" After all that had happened, she'd completely forgotten about that. She beamed at him. "(Okay, sure!)"

It was a short while later and everyone was eating their lunch, stew for the humans and pellets for the pokémon. Buneary's bowl was, as usual, right next to Pikachu's as the two of them ate their pellets. Now, normally, this wouldn't bother the electric mouse. After all, he did like Buneary. He considered her a good friend and found her affection for him quite flattering, if embarrassing. It was the fact that her arm was still wrapped around his arm, the grip tightening every few moments, then loosening again, that was bothering him.

"(Uh, Buneary?)" he asked. "(You know, you can let go now...)"

Buneary's grip tightened. "(Don't be silly,)" she replied happily. "(I need to keep you safe from any more flirty females... like that togetic.)"

He sighed. He just wasn't going to get her to let go, was he? Hinting certainly wasn't working. Ordering would probably be more effective, but he wasn't the ordering type. Besides, he knew very well how sensitive Buneary was. She'd probably burst into tears if he ordered her to let go of his arm.

After everyone had finished eating, and Brock had washed out all of the bowls, Ash and Dawn stood up and stretched.

"Okay, guys!" Ash said with a grin. "What do you say we get back on the road?"

"(Yeah!)" the entire posse of pokémon chorused.

At this point, Buneary was still clinging to Pikachu's arm, so he was quite relieved to know that she'd be back inside her pokéball soon. He was rather looking forward to a bit of freedom.

"Alright." Ash pulled out two pokéballs. "Return!"

Dawn copied his actions. "Return!" she said.

Brock also copied his actions. "Return!" he said.

The corresponding pokémon all flew back inside their pokéballs. They did this several times, until - aside from Pikachu - only Piplup and Buneary were left.

Dawn held up their pokéballs. "Return!"

Piplup returned to his pokéball without any resistance, but Buneary hopped out of the way of her beam of red light, dragging Pikachu through the air with her. He yelped at the surprise manoeuvre.

"(No!)" Buneary shouted once landing back on the ground.

Dawn looked baffled. "Buneary? What's wrong?" She frowned in determination. "Return!"

Again, Buneary hopped out of the way, dragging Pikachu with her. He really wished that she'd let go of him before jumping around. It was making him feel a bit disorientated.

"(I'm not going back inside my pokéball!)" She clung tightly to his arm. "(I'm staying with Pikachu!)"

Pikachu sighed, exasperated. "(Buneary...)" he said.

Dawn stopped frowning and lowered the pokéball. "You... don't wanna go in your pokéball?" she asked.

"(Right!)" Buneary replied, nodding.

"It looks like Buneary wants to stay out here with Pikachu," Brock pointed out.

Ash sighed. "Buneary's acting really weird, don't you think?" he asked.

"Yeah..." Dawn replied, putting the pokéball away. "This is weird, even for her." She paused. "But, if this is what she wants..."

Pikachu groaned. So much for getting his freedom today...

Over the next couple of days, Pikachu grew more and more tired of Buneary constantly clinging to him. It seemed that, wherever he went, she went. Ash tried to battle a random trainer with him, but, since the opponent was a female growlithe, Buneary refused point-blank to let go of his arm. In the end, Ash had to use a different pokémon, which irritated Pikachu, as he'd been quite keen to battle.

He wasn't even able to sleep alone, since Buneary would be there, snuggling up to him. Slightly irritated at the lack of personal space, but deciding to be respectful, he ignored his feelings and went to sleep, believing that, surely, she'd give up sooner or later.

She didn't, so the cycle continued. Buneary would refuse to go back inside her pokéball, then either cling to his arm, cuddle him or stand so close that her fluff pressed up against his waist. With every passing day, he grew more and more irritated.

Team Rocket even tried to steal him again, but, since Buneary was clinging to him at the time, they accidentally stole her too. This also irritated him, as he couldn't even be stolen without her around him. They ended up stuck in a glass cage together, Buneary still clinging to him, as they waited to be rescued by Ash, Dawn and Brock.

The more this happened, the darker his mood got. When was she going to give him some breathing room? As much as he liked her, he really couldn't take this much longer.

On their way into a new town, they encountered a lost female eevee, who was really upset and desperate to be reunited with her trainer. His first instinct was to help her, but Buneary's first instinct was to tighten her grip on his arm and snarl, which rather frightened the poor fox. They then spent the rest of the day trying to find that trainer, Buneary never once letting go of his arm as the eevee walked alongside them.

Finally, they managed to reunite the two and make their way to the pokémon centre. While Brock flirted with that town's Nurse Joy and Croagunk gave him a Poison Jab up the backside, Pikachu was darkly thinking to himself that, maybe now, while they were being healed, he'd get some time to himself, as they'd have to lie in separate healing machines.

"(Hello!)" a chansey said cheerfully to the three pokémon that were currently out of their pokéballs. She indicated to the back room with her paw. "(If you three would come this way, please?)"

Croagunk passed Pikachu and Buneary on the way over to the chansey, and Pikachu was about to join him when Buneary yanked him back. He frowned at her.

"(I don't trust her, Pikachu,)" she said quietly. "(Maybe we should go with Nurse Joy instead. At least she's not a pokémon...)"

Pikachu was starting to get aggravated. Chansey? Chansey? Alright, fine, he was in the same egg group as chansey – just as he'd been with the togetic, growlithe and eevee – but chansey? Honestly... Chansey was his carer! His nurse! If he hadn't been interested in all the chansey that had come before, why should he start being interested now? Buneary seriously needed to sort out this jealousy of hers. Not to mention let go of his freaking arm!

"(Don't be ridiculous, Buneary,)" he said, dragging her over to Chansey. "(Let's just go get healed already.)"

Thankfully, he managed to get his well-deserved peace in the healing room, but, as soon as they were let out again, she was back to clinging to his arm. By now, he just felt like screaming.

After seeing the sights of the city and spending the night in the pokémon centre, the gang were off again the next morning. Somewhere along their travels, Team Rocket again tried to steal Pikachu and again accidentally stole Buneary as well.

After a heroic rescue and sending Team Rocket skyward, the group then encountered a trainer performing magic tricks with her female skitty. The moment the skitty approached Pikachu to say 'hello', Buneary snarled at her and pulled him away.

Much later, the humans stopped in the middle of an open field, let out their pokémon and sat down, while Brock got to work on cooking their food. Pikachu was now rather keen to get a game of tag started, as it would give him some much needed time away from Buneary. After all, she trusted her friends and teammates, didn't she? Surely, she'd have no reason to be possessive right now.

"(Let's play a game!)" Happiny called out as she skipped over.

Buneary pulled Pikachu back and growled. "(Back off,)" she snarled.

Happiny stopped her skipping and stared at Buneary for a few moments. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes and she sniffled. Pikachu couldn't believe it as Buneary scowled harder and Happiny ran off, crying.

Fury boiled within him. Oh, so Chansey wasn't bad enough? Now she had to pick on Happiny? Freaking Happiny, who was just a baby?!

Buneary huffed in satisfaction. "(Better.)"

He couldn't take anymore. He'd officially snapped.

"(Alright, that's it!)" he yelled. "(Get off me!)" He wrenched his arm free so roughly that she tumbled backwards. Landing on her back on the grass, she gazed up at him fearfully. He glared lasers at her. "(I'm sick to death of you being so clingy and possessive, Buneary! First the togetic, then the growlithe, then the eevee, then Chansey, now freaking Happiny?! Just leave me alone!)" He turned around and stormed off. "(Don't come near me again!)"

Buneary was in shock as she watched Pikachu storm off towards the other end of the field. Had he... really... yelled at her? Did he really not... want her near him again?

Tears obscured her vision. He'd yelled at her! Her beloved Pikachu had yelled at her! She felt like scum. The lowest scum on Earth. Why couldn't he see what she'd been doing for him? She'd tried so hard to keep any females like that togetic away from him... and he'd yelled at her.

The tears leaked down her face. Maybe she'd gone overboard. There had been a few times when she'd suspected that... but she'd never dreamed that he'd feel this way about it. It was all her fault. She'd angered him and he'd yelled at her. It was all her fault...

Covering her eyes and sobbing, she quickly hopped over to where her preferred choice of comfort was relaxing on the grass.

"(Dawn!)" she cried out, leaping into her trainer's lap and sobbing into the girl's black shirt.

"Buneary!" Dawn shrieked in shock, immediately wrapping her hands around her. "What's wrong?"

Buneary didn't answer, not that Dawn would have been able to understand her, anyway. Instead, she just wanted to continue sobbing until her tears ran dry.

Ever since Pikachu's outburst at Buneary, the other pokémon had been avoiding him, either out of fear or annoyance, but he'd been too busy fuming to care. Now, a while later, he'd managed to cool down... and was starting to feel rather guilty about what he'd said. Sure, he'd been annoyed, but that was no excuse for his drastic break in character.

He smiled gratefully at Ash as the boy handed him a bowl, then he placed it on the floor, sat in front of it and watched as Brock filled it up with pellets before moving away. He then waited for Buneary to come over and sit next to him, as she always did. He was sure that she would, because she wasn't one to give up easily, and that would be his perfect opportunity to apologise about earlier.

Once he sensed a presence, he looked up hopefully, only to see Buizel sit down next to him. Placing his bowl next to Pikachu's, Buizel waited for Brock to fill it with pellets and walk away again before glaring at Pikachu from the corner of his eyes.

Pikachu blinked at him. "(Buizel?)" he asked. "(What's wrong?)"

Buizel didn't look impressed. "(Pfft,)" he replied. "(What do you think's wrong?)"

"(Um...)"

Buizel folded his arms and turned his head to glare at him. "(I heard your little outburst earlier... and I'd say you went a little overboard.)"

Pikachu's ears drooped and he shifted guiltily. "(Oh... Well, yeah, I kinda did...)" He paused and straightened his ears, feeling defiant. "(But she did push me pretty hard. I just snapped at her, that's all! I'm gonna apologise for that, anyway.)"

Buizel raised an eyebrow. "(Oh? And when do you plan on doing that?)"

"(When she sits near me, of course!)"

Buizel glanced over the mouse's head. "(That isn't gonna happen anytime soon.)"

"(Huh?)"

Pikachu turned around to see what Buizel was looking at, then felt his heart plummet into cold nothingness. There was Buneary, sitting twenty feet away from the rest of the group, and slowly eating her pellets with a blank expression on her face. Everything about that expression looked wrong on the rabbit, who was always smiling and giggling. The forever-present light in her eyes had vanished.

"(Hmph. See the state she's in now?)" Pikachu slowly turned back to look at Buizel, who was no longer looking at him. "(Now, Buneary and I may not be the best of friends, but we were teammates once. I do care about her.)" He huffed, sagging his shoulders. "(And, look... I'm sorry she was being pushy. I'm sorry none of us noticed. Heck, Piplup thought you two must be dating now, or something, since she was all over you constantly. But Pachirisu said you looked kind of unhappy, and-)" He shook his head, huffing again.

Pikachu winced, but chose not to say anything in response.

"(Still, though,)" Buizel continued. "(If she was annoying you, you should have said something to her. Get her to stop before it got out of control.)" He glanced off in Buneary's direction. "(Like it did.)"

Pikachu's ears drooped as far as they would go as the guilt consumed him. How could he have been so stupid? Why couldn't he have just put a stop to the possessiveness earlier? And more gently?

Sure, she'd been way over the top, but maybe she'd have listened to him if he'd said something, since she liked him so much?

Urgh, he really needed to fix this...

A while later, when everyone had finished their lunch, there was a tense awkwardness in the air as everyone, human and pokémon alike, regarded Buneary, who was still sitting away from the rest of the group. Pachirisu tried asking her to play with him, but she declined and watched him walk away.

She knew that she was the centre of attention right now, but she simply didn't care. After sobbing herself dry on Dawn's shirt, she'd lapsed into a world of comfortable numbness. She felt no anger, no sadness... just consuming depression.

He hated her now. The one pokémon in the world that she loved more than anything hated her... and it was all her fault. She'd never fix this. He'd go on with his life, meeting another female, falling in love with her and having kids with her... and she'd be alone, left to wallow in her misery. She'd been really unreasonable, she knew that now, and her lapse in character had driven him away.

"(Hey, Buneary?)" a familiar mouse's voice asked timidly.

She looked up at him. "(What?)" she asked emotionlessly. She was surprised that he was there, but not enough to reduce the depression.

Pikachu fidgeted, then glanced behind him. Following his gaze, she caught sight of Buizel, who had his arms folded and was watching the electric mouse from his seating position twenty feet away. She was too far gone in her misery to even try to figure out what this meant.

"(Um... well...)" Pikachu said. He looked back at her and she locked gazes with him. He cringed. She knew it had to do with the emptiness of her eyes, but she couldn't make herself care. "(I...)" He fidgeted with his fingers. "(About earlier... I just wanted to-)"

"(I'm sorry.)" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. If she was never to come near him again, the least she could do was apologise.

He blinked at her. "(Huh?)"

"(I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did. It was way out of line.)" She looked down at the grass and emotionlessly plucked out a few blades one at a time. "(I should know better than to restrict your freedom like that. I'm sorry.)"

There was a long pause. Curious, she glanced up at Pikachu, who seemed to be a bit stuck for words. Throwing the blades of grass to one side, she carefully studied his face.

After a moment, he snapped out of it. "(Uh, thanks...)" He fidgeted again. "(I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I should have been nicer and... talked to you about it sooner.)"

Her throat constricted. "(It's not like I didn't deserve it.)" She glanced away, so she wouldn't have to look at him anymore. She didn't want her emotionless state to break now. "(Thanks anyway, though.)" She paused. "(... Shouldn't you leave now? You don't want me near you, remember?)"

Pikachu heaved a deep sigh. "(Buneary...)" She didn't look at him. "(Buneary?)" She turned to look at him. He gave a gentle smile. "(I didn't mean that. I was angry and my head was all messed up and...)" He sighed again. "(I do like you, you know... and I like having you near me.)" He smiled brighter. "(It's nice, you know?)"

Buneary felt a warm glow inside her. He... liked her? It suddenly felt like the ice in her heart was quickly melting away. She tried to curse herself for that, but it was difficult.

Pikachu held out his paw. Tentatively, Buneary grabbed it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "(I wouldn't really want you to leave me alone.)" He chuckled. "(Life's more interesting with you hanging around me!)"

Buneary blushed, partly from the lovely words, partly from the fact that he hadn't let go of her paw. "(So... you don't hate me?)"

Pikachu blinked at her, then laughed. "(Heck no! Far from it! You're one of a kind, Buneary! Really cute, really sweet... and a great friend to me!)"

Buneary paused a few seconds, absorbing all this information. Then her brain malfunctioned and she flung herself at him. "(Pikachu!)" She snuggled happily into his fur. "(Oh, you're so sweet! Thank you!)" She snuggled for a few moments more, before freezing in horror and jumping away from him, letting go of his paw in the process. "(Oh, I'm sorry!)" She covered her mouth with her paws, her eyes wide. "(You don't want me doing that anymore, do you?)"

Pikachu blushed, something that she'd find quite intriguing if she wasn't so horrified. He then scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "(Oh, don't worry. As long as I get plenty of personal space, I don't mind the hugging every so often.)" He smiled sheepishly. "(Just... try not to get jealous of random girls again, okay?)"

She jumped for joy, ecstatic from his answer, and tackled him again. "(Yay! I won't! I promise!)"

Chuckling, he gently pushed her away, smiling. She made no attempt to resist the gesture. She had a lot to make up for, after all.

"(Hey,)" he said, "(how about we go play tag or something with the others?)"

"(Okay!)" she replied.

He nodded. "(Alright, let's go, then.)"

Buneary gleefully followed Pikachu over to where the other pokémon were, happy beyond belief that her life was back to normal. From a quick glance around her, it looked like all of the humans and pokémon were relieved at the sight of her bright smile, too. None of them looked anxious anymore, and Buizel was giving Pikachu a thumbs up.

She beamed. Yep, life was good!

The End