Author's note: Heyo!
More episode-based shenanigans coming your way! This particular idea was inspired by something Mezamun made. Except he made it more about Ash, whereas I'm obviously going to make it more about Buneary.
By the way! I changed a scene in the last one-shot, Space Cadets! One right at the end, which involves a rocket, Team Rocket and an explosion. Check it out, if you haven't already!
Well, enjoy the one-shot!
To Be, or Not To Be
Just out of view of the humans, Buneary pressed her ear against the wall. From the other side, she could hear the consistent bleeping. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. It formed a rhythm that was only vaguely comforting.
She unrolled her other ear, listening intently. After the things she'd overheard earlier from her pokéball, if anything happened here - good or bad - she wanted to be able to hear it.
... Wait. The bleeping sounded different. Like it had lowered in pitch and was... slowing down?
Nurse Joy gasped in horror. "Chansey, quick!" she cried. "The defibrillator!"
"(R-Right!)" Chansey replied.
Buneary's blood ran cold. Oh no...
"Set for two hundred volts!"
"(Okay...)" There was a clicking sound as a dial was turned.
"And we're clear!" There was an electrical sound as Nurse Joy tried to jump start Pikachu's heart. "Raise power to three hundred volts!" There was another clicking sound as the dial was turned. "Good, and we're clear!" There was another electrical sound, followed by a pause. "... Again!"
Tears welled up in Buneary's eyes as she heard another electrical sound. Was Pikachu going to...? No, no, she couldn't think that way! He was going to be fine! She was sure he was going to be fine!
She made a move to get in view of the window - to be there for him, to comfort him, to do pretty much anything for him - but her confidence wavered and she couldn't move. Even though she couldn't see him, she could picture his delicate, fragile form on that operating table, desperately clinging to life, and it scared her. It scared her so much, imagining the strong, dependable mouse brought down so low.
Were they... really going to lose him?
"... Again!" Nurse Joy cried. There was another electrical sound, followed by a pause. "... Again!" There was another electrical sound.
"(Pi...)" Buneary started, but found she couldn't continue.
"Come on, Pikachuuuu!" Ash cried out desperately.
After a tense moment, the bleeping suddenly rose in pitch, getting faster and faster. It had finally gotten back to its original rhythm.
Buneary heaved a sigh of relief. Oh, wow... that had been way too close.
... Now she just had to sneak back to her pokéball before Dawn caught her.
Pikachu slowly opened his eyes. Once his blurry vision cleared, he saw Ash's smiling face leaning over him.
"Pikachu..." Ash said tenderly.
He sat up. "(Ash...)" he replied, still a bit disoriented. He glanced around and saw that he was in a hospital bed. Dawn, Brock and Piplup were also by his bedside, all smiling at him.
... Had he really lost to Sho's raichu that badly?
"You had me going there," Ash continued, "but you sure are tough."
Apparently not, since one battle with a raichu had hospitalised him...
"You're gonna be fine," Dawn said gently.
Yeah, barely...
"And we're all so glad," Brock added.
"(Yeah!)" Piplup agreed. "(You're a trooper, man!)"
A trooper...
He didn't want to be a trooper. He wanted to be a winner! Especially against that smug jerk of a raichu! He, Sho and even Paul had mocked him. Called him weak and pathetic. It boiled his blood!
He frowned. "(No!)" he said. "(Lemmie at that raichu! I'll beat him for sure this time!)"
He leapt out of bed, straight towards the open window, but he immediately felt Ash's hands around him.
"And where are you going?" Ash asked. He pulled him back into bed. "You gotta rest in bed!"
Pikachu didn't relax his frown. "(I don't wanna rest! I wanna fight him again!)"
Ash looked surprised. "Hold on... you really wanna get that raichu back?"
Pikachu nodded. "(Yeah!)"
Brock gave him a concerned frown. "But Pikachu, you're hurt," he said.
Pikachu turned away, staring down at his blanket. "(I know, but...)"
"Pikachu," Dawn said sympathetically, "I know how frustrated you must be... but you can't beat Raichu in the condition you're in."
... He hated to admit that she was right. Everywhere on his body hurt from that point-blank Hyper Beam.
Plus, while he'd been in the emergency room, he'd vaguely heard panicked voices around him. They'd been hard to make out - and he may even have passed out at some point - but he'd still heard them.
Since he was currently in a hospital bed, that only meant that it had been pretty serious...
Suddenly, he heard rustling. He glanced up to see Ash rummaging through his pocket. After a moment, the boy brought out a small brown bag.
"What's that?" Dawn asked curiously.
Ash tipped the contents onto the palm of his hand. "It's a thunder stone," he replied.
Pikachu stared at it in disbelief. What was Ash doing with that? Unless...
"You see..." Ash continued, "something like this happened once... and, back then, the Nurse Joy from Vermillion City gave it to me."
... So it was the same stone. The same stone he'd turned down all that time ago...
"I've been holding onto it all this time, in case Pikachu ever wanted to evolve into Raichu," Ash finished.
"(Evolve...?)" Pikachu asked slowly.
Suddenly, he was overcome by a wave of pain. He cried out, lying back in his bed.
"Pikachu! You've gotta stay strong!"
He was trying, but it hurt so much...
"That battle with Raichu was really tough..." Brock said sympathetically.
"I think we should leave Pikachu alone to rest..." Dawn said.
"Mmm-hmm," Ash replied.
Pikachu barely registered their footsteps leaving the room.
Much later, Buneary still couldn't stop thinking about the conversation she'd overheard. Having snuck out of her pokéball to eavesdrop and check how Pikachu was doing - yet still unable to bring herself to offer him comfort directly - she'd listened intently through the door as the group had talked. Apparently, Ash had been keeping a thunder stone in his pocket.
This was the first time she'd ever heard of this. How long had he been carrying it? And what had he meant by it 'happened once'? Had something like this happened before? How much of it was similar?
And was Ash really thinking about evolving Pikachu?
The poor mouse hadn't really said much in response to that comment, since he'd been in too much pain, but she'd heard the hesitation in his voice. The contemplation. Did he want to evolve? Thinking about it, that was something she'd never discussed with him.
Before she'd had much time to think on it, though, the group had been leaving the room, so she'd, once again, had to sneak back to her pokéball.
Thinking about it now, though, evolution wasn't something pokémon usually thought about, until it happened. Unless they were the type whose dream it was to reach their final stage, like Staravia, who couldn't wait to be a staraptor.
The thought of Pikachu evolving was strange. Yet it made sense, she supposed. He'd certainly be a lot more powerful.
Still, though... she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it.
"I wonder if Pikachu's awake yet..." she heard Ash say from outside her pokéball.
"Maybe we should go and see him?" Dawn asked.
"(Yeah...)" Piplup agreed sombrely.
"Give him a little more time to rest," Brock replied. He was met with quiet noises of displeasure. "... Hey. There's a pretty good movie on tonight. How about we watch that? Then, afterwards, we can go check on Pikachu before bed. Sound good?"
Ash heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I guess so..." he replied.
"Alright, let's go," Dawn replied.
Their footsteps padded out of the room. With a click of a door shutting, the room went silent.
... So they were going to watch a movie for a couple of hours, were they? Hmm... well, this would be the perfect time for Buneary to sneak in a visit to Pikachu. She owed him one, after all. Plus, this way, they'd be alone, so she'd get to talk to him properly, one-on-one. She'd never get that chance with everyone else around.
She just hoped he was well enough to talk right now...
Popping out of her pokéball and materialising on the floor, she made her way around the pokémon centre to try and find his room.
Okay, well, the first room Buneary had tried had been empty, and the second one had contained a sleeping pokémon that certainly hadn't been Pikachu. Third time's the charm!
Leaping up to the door handle, she grabbed onto it and twisted her whole body around. The door handle swung with her and the door cracked open. Dropping down to the floor, she hooked her paw around the door and opened it.
Ah! There he was! And he was sitting up in bed, looking much better than she'd feared!
He blinked at her in surprise. "(Oh,)" he said, "(hey, Buneary.)"
"(Hey!)" she replied, smiling at him. She hopped over to a nearby stool. Landing on it, she faced him and sat down. "(How are you doing?)"
His ears dipped slightly. "(I'm... a little better.)"
"(Well, that's good...)" She paused awkwardly a moment, not sure what else to say. Glancing up, her eye caught sight of something on the table by the open window. She squinted at it. "(... What's that?)"
He glanced over to where she was squinting. "(... That's a thunder stone.)"
Her eyes widened. "(Oh!)" So that was the thunder stone she'd heard Ash mention earlier!
"(It... makes certain types of pokémon evolve.)"
She looked back at him sympathetically. "(Like you?)"
His eyes widened in surprise. "(Uh, yeah. Like me.)"
"(I... heard the conversation earlier. The one about evolving?)"
He heaved a sigh. "(Oh. You did, huh?)"
"(Yeah.)" She paused a long moment. "(... So do you wanna do it? Evolve, I mean?)"
He looked down at his blanket. "(I don't know... I'd... certainly be a lot stronger...)"
"(True...)"
"(And... Paul seems to think I'd be on equal footing with Raichu if I did...)"
Buneary frowned. She'd almost forgotten about that! "(Yeah, well, that jerk called you pathetic! So don't listen to a word he says! You're not pathetic at all!)"
He gazed at her curiously. "(I'm not?)"
"(No way! You're really strong! He, Sho and Raichu were talking out of their backsides!)"
He chuckled quietly in response. "(Thanks, Buneary.)" His smile dropped again. "(Though I can't be that strong if I lost this badly...)"
"(Yeah, well...)"
"(... I think I nearly died today.)"
Her breath caught in her throat at that. "(... Yeah. I know.)"
"(Heh. I had it much rougher than the first time this happened.)"
That piqued her interest. "(... That thing Ash mentioned earlier? About how he got the thunder stone?)"
"(Yeah. Back in Kanto, when Ash was trying to get his thunder badge, I fought Lieutenant Surge's raichu. He... hospitalised me, too.)"
Buneary's eyes widened in shock. "(Really?!)"
"(Yeah. Called me weak, pathetic... a baby... and hospitalised me.)" He looked over himself. "(Wasn't as bad as this time, though... but I was covered in bandages.)"
"(Jeez...)"
"(... Heh. If Sho's raichu fought Surge's raichu, he'd win without breaking a sweat.)" He paused. "(Well, unless Surge's raichu got much stronger since, anyway.)" He frowned sadly. "(... I got so much stronger over the years... yet I'm still getting beaten up by raichu...)"
Buneary made a sad noise of agreement, not sure of what else to say.
Pikachu shook his head lightly. "(Anyway... Nurse Joy gave Ash a thunder stone. Said that, if I evolved, I'd probably be strong enough to beat Surge's raichu.)" He glanced over at the thunder stone on the table. "(Back then, I turned it down.)"
"(You did? Well, I guess obviously you did, but... why?)"
Looking back down at his blanket, Pikachu heaved a sigh. "(Because... I...)" His face warmed slightly. "(... I wanted to fight in the name of all pikachu.)"
Buneary's eyes widened. Of all the answers for him to give, that one hadn't even crossed her mind. "(... Really?)"
"(Yeah.)" He glanced away in embarrassment. "(It was a... pretty grand and... pretentious statement, looking back on it... but, at the time, I was really serious about it.)"
"(Oh...)"
He frowned again. "(Though... who was I fighting for, really? I said 'all pikachu', but... back then, I didn't even know any other pikachu... and, even now, I only really know Sparky and my clone.)"
His comments took a few moments to register. She blinked. "(... Your clone?)"
"(Yeah.)" He relaxed his frown. "(It's a long story and... honestly, I don't remember some of the details... but I have a clone. He's... or he was... a bit emotionally unstable.)"
"(I... see.)" She had no idea what to say to that. The concept was too shocking and strange.
He glanced away. "(Anyway... my point is that... who am I fighting for, besides myself? Nobody, really.)" He paused for thought. "(Sparky didn't seem to have a problem with evolving and... I don't even know if my clone can evolve. Clone DNA s a bit... weird. A nidoqueen's clone had nidoqueen babies, so...)"
She blinked again. "(Nidoqueen... babies?)"
"(Yeah, it's as strange as it sounds.)"
"(Wow...)"
"(Yeah. So...)" He glanced towards the thunder stone again. "(I'm not sure if I should evolve, or not.)"
Buneary shook her head to get back on track. "(Y-Yeah... right. Well... do you wanna evolve?)"
She'd already asked him this question, but it was a question that needed asking again.
He looked down at his blanket. "(... I dunno.)"
"(Well... it's up to you, in the end. No one else should make that decision for you.)" She frowned. "(Especially not Paul. Or Sho. Or his raichu!)"
"(I guess so...)"
"(Whether you evolve or not is up to you. Either way, you'll still be you, right?)"
"(Yeah?)"
"(Yeah! I don't mind what you do, and I doubt Ash will, either! Pikachu, Raichu... it's all the same, right?)"
He gave a small smile, still staring at his blanket. "(Heh. Thanks, Buneary.)"
"(... If you do, I guess you could spite Sho, since he wanted a pikachu.)"
"(Pfft! I guess so.)"
"(And, if you don't... it could still spite him, being beaten by the pikachu he wanted!)"
Pikachu fell silent as his smile dropped in contemplation. Then he looked up at her with a serious gaze. "(Hey. Buneary.)"
She was a little taken aback by the intense look in his eyes. "(Uh, yeah?)"
"(... Tell me straight. Do you think I can beat Raichu as I am? As a pikachu?)"
She blinked at him. He was asking what she thought? Well, she supposed that made sense. Sho and Raichu had called him pathetic, Paul had told Ash to evolve him and, now, Ash was actually considering it. For the second time, apparently. It didn't look like anyone believed he could win as a pikachu.
So she had to give him her honest opinion.
She took a calming breath through her nose. Exhaling, she proceeded to answer his question.
"(Of course I do!)" She smiled. "(I've seen you take down tons of tough opponents! Heck, Ambipom even told me you beat a regice once! You can do anything, if you put your mind to it! You're really inspiring that way!)"
As he gazed at her in wonder, she felt her face grow hot. She hadn't spoken a single lie, though.
She continued. "(And, even when you do lose, you train really hard and come back to win the second time! You're... you're like the comeback king!)"
"(The comeback... king?)"
"(Yeah! If you train, and go back to fight Raichu again, you could easily kick his butt! That's just the kinda guy you are!)"
"(Buneary...)"
The odd sparkle in his eyes was making her a bit weak in the knees, but she persevered. "(S-So yeah! If you don't wanna evolve, then I say don't!)" She paused. "(Though, if you do wanna evolve, then that's okay, too! Like I said, it's your choice!)"
He continued to stare at her for a long moment, absolute awe on his face. Eventually, it melted into a determined smile.
"(Yeah. Yeah, you're right! I don't need to be a raichu! I'm gonna stay as a pikachu!)"
She beamed at him. "(Alright, then!)" She giggled. "(Are you still gonna do it 'in the name of all pikachu'?)"
His face reddened slightly. "(Well, no... Now, it'll be more like... I'm doing it for me. Like... a personal challenge. To see how far I can go, how many battles I can win, as a pikachu!)"
"(Sounds like a cool goal to have!)"
"(Yeah!)" He clenched a fist in determination. "(I'm gonna train hard and I'm gonna beat that guy as a pikachu! That'll show him, Paul and Sho just what I'm made of!)"
She threw her arms in the air. "(Heck yeah!)"
He laughed in response.
Once she calmed down, she looked over at the thunder stone. "(So what do you wanna do with that?)"
He looked where she was looking. "(Guess I don't need it anymore... and I don't know anyone else who needs one, so...)" He shrugged. "(Get rid of it, I guess?)" He paused. "(Though I can't really touch it myself, since... it'll probably evolve me.)"
She continued to stare at the shiny green stone. "(... Hmm... is that so?)"
Standing up, she jumped down from her stool and hopped across the room. With one final bound, she landed on the table and picked up the thunder stone.
"(What are you doing?)"
She turned to beam at him. "(Getting rid of it! Is that okay?)"
"(Uh, sure.)"
"(Okay, then!)" Turning back around, she wound back her arm. Flinging it forwards, she threw the thunder stone straight out the open window. "(There! All gone!)"
"(Pfft!)" She heard a burst of laughter behind her. Turning back around, she saw the happiest-looking Pikachu she'd seen all night. "(Wow. Bit extreme, wasn't it?)"
She grinned at him. "(Not at all!)"
Looking at his adorable smiling face, she wanted to nuzzle him really badly right now. That could wait until another day, though.
He gave her a warm smile. "(Well, thanks. At least I won't have to look at it anymore.)"
"(Exactly!)"
"(Now, I think... I should get out and train for a bit.)"
Her eyes widened. "(Train? But aren't you hurt?)"
He checked himself over. "(... I don't hurt nearly as much as I did before. Might be good to walk, even.)" He stood up, jumping over to land on the table next to her. "(See? So I'm good enough to train!)" He clenched a fist in determination. "(I wanna get a rematch with that raichu tomorrow!)"
She hesitated on her answer. "(What if you...?)" No. She couldn't imply that he'd get hurt again. She needed to believe that he could win this time! She shook her head, giving him a smile. "(Just be careful, okay? Don't wear yourself out again!)"
He nodded. "(I won't. I'll look after myself and be extra careful.)"
She smiled brighter. "(Alright! I'm counting on you!)" She held out a fist. He bumped his own fist against it. "(Want me to come with?)"
"(Hmm... nah, it's alright. I wanna focus, so it's best I do it on my own for a bit.)" He paused. "(Besides, you don't want Dawn and Brock catching us out here alone together, right?)"
Heat rose to Buneary's face. She pulled up her fluff and hid behind it. "(I guess not... It'd be a bit embarrassing...)"
"(Right. So sneak back to your pokéball and I'll handle the rest. See you tomorrow for the big rematch!)"
"(Yeah! Good luck!)" She winked. "(Not that you need it, am I right?)"
His face reddened as he laughed awkwardly. "(You're right about that!)"
Giggling, Buneary waved goodbye and snuck out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
Once alone, Pikachu let out a long breath. Okay. Now that he'd had his convictions strengthened, it was time to get outside and train!
Jumping out of the window, he landed on the grass. He glanced around, checking where the thunder stone had landed after Buneary had thrown it. The last thing he wanted after deciding to stay as a pikachu would be to step on it by accident.
... Strangely, though, he couldn't see it anywhere. That was weird. Had somebody taken it?
Well, whatever, he supposed. It meant one less thing for him to worry about.
Raising his head, he smiled as he caught sight of a bush of sitrus berries in the distance. Just what he needed to help kick-start his night-time training! He eagerly ran towards it.
The following day, from behind a bush, Buneary had both of her ears unrolled to hear everything she could. Dawn had tried leaving her bag in the pokémon centre, but there was no way Buneary was missing out on the rematch today.
Currently, Ash was having Pikachu do some 'special training', as he called it. This apparently meant using a Frisbee to enhance the flexibility of Pikachu's tail. Ash seemed to think this would give him more agility and, therefore, an edge over Sho's raichu.
Well it certainly looked really cool - she couldn't deny that - but she could only pray that it would work well in battle.
She believed that Pikachu could win - she really did - but, if he lost to Sho's raichu a second time, it would crush his spirits. He'd feel just as weak and pathetic as everyone had said he was.
She quietly cheered him on, desperate for that not to happen.
Suddenly, from nearby, a blast of lighting shot into the sky, startling her. She whirled towards it. Wait, was that... Sho's raichu?! Looking back towards the group, she saw them running in the lightning's direction.
... Looks like it was go time.
Buneary was in awe. Wow! So far, the battle had been epic! Pikachu had done all sorts of spinning tricks, then managed to avoid being badly injured by one of Raichu's signature point-blank Hyper Beams! Then he'd charged at Raichu with an awesome Volt Tackle-Iron Tail combo!
Now the two mice were charging towards each other, both using Volt Tackle. When their foreheads collided, there was an almighty explosion.
Surprisingly, though, they were both still standing! Wow, had that morning's training really helped this much?! Pikachu was an unstoppable force right now! Though Raichu wasn't going to go down easily, either!
She watched as Raichu ran forwards, using Iron Tail. With a spin, Pikachu met him head-on with his own Iron Tail. Locking their tails together, he swung Raichu around in wide circles. Once he let go, the larger mouse crashed into a tree, but he still wasn't going down!
This raichu truly was a beast among pokémon!
Speaking of Raichu, he ran forwards, trying to pin Pikachu down with his tail for another point-blank Hyper Beam, but he missed. Spring-boarding off the Hyper Beam's energy, Pikachu leapt high into the air. Curling into himself, he charged an Iron Tail, then spun downwards at incredible speeds, striking Raichu down and knocking him out. Right in front of Sho and his pichu, who'd been watching.
Buneary's eyes widened. Then her face lit up in a beaming smile. He'd done it! He'd actually done it! He'd beaten Sho's raichu!
She was beside herself with giddiness! He'd proven the worth she'd always known he had! And he looked so happy right now, as he and Pichu climbed up onto their trainers' shoulders.
She watched them exchange words for a while, positively bursting from the incredible battle she'd just witnessed. The second Sho recalled Raichu and wandered out of sight, she couldn't take it anymore.
She bounded across the battlefield, landing near Ash's feet. "(Way to go, Pikachu~!)" she cried, unable to stop smiling. "(You did it~!)"
Pikachu looked down at her in surprise. "(Buneary?)" he asked. He jumped off Ash's shoulder to land next to her.
"Bah?!" Dawn cried, confused. "Buneary, what are you doing here?!"
"(Yeah, what are you doing here?)"
"(Watching you battle, of course!)" Buneary replied. Getting closer, she nuzzled against him affectionately. "(You did great~! Greater than great~! I'm so proud of you~!)"
"Looks like Buneary enjoyed the battle," Brock said teasingly.
"Guess so!" Ash replied.
She felt Pikachu's face grow hotter against her. "(Aheh, yeah...)" Pikachu said. "(Thanks, Buneary. I wouldn't have done it without your help.)"
She giggled. "(No problem~!)"
"(... Um, so, anyway! Aheh...)" He gently moved away. She noticed that his face was a very bright shade of red, and he was having trouble looking at her. "(You'll never guess where that thunder stone went!)"
She giggled again. "(Where did it go?)"
"(Team Rocket grabbed it! And, as long as they don't use it on me, I don't care what they do with it!)"
"(Fair enough~! Man, though, that battle! It was amazing! Your training really paid off, huh?)"
He gave her a surprised look. "(You were watching that, too?)"
"(Of course! Gotta look out for the man of the hour, after all!)"
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "(Well... thanks, Buneary. For everything.)"
She beamed. "(Anytime, Pikachu. Anytime.)"
The End