Author's note: Howdy hey!

So, for today's drabble, I've decided to pay tribute to the first PikaBun fic to ever be published on fanfiction dot net: 'You'll Always Be A Winner To Me' by Xtreme Gamer! I reread it recently and it still holds up fairly well today!

(... Even though his latest fic replaced Dawn's buneary with his OC's buneary, which I consider a betrayal... but we'll ignore that.)

Of course, my plot's very different from his, so I'm not ripping him off at all!

Oh! And I guess I should also pay tribute to 'Game-Changer' by VGS2, since he, too, covered a similar topic!

Well, hope you enjoy the drabble!

Best mistake of the day:

"(My ears are feet)"

(Buneary can walk on her ears?! I guess she's related to Bugs Bunny. XD Maybe she can fly with them, too.)

Down and Out

It was sunset, and the group were at the Jubilife City pokémon centre. All of the pokémon had been healed after the day's contest, and were now getting their dinner.

Pikachu watched as his teammates, Aipom, Starly and Turtwig, scrambled to get a bowl of pellets each. Not long after, Piplup, Bonsly and Croagunk joined them. Pikachu was just about to grab his own bowl when he caught sight of Buneary.

He paused as he looked at her.

Her ears were down. Had they been down since the contest earlier?

He watched her slowly make her way to a bowl and sit down, away from her teammate and trainer. Pikachu frowned in concern. Sure, she may have been a bit of a crazy fangirl, but he didn't want to see her sad. Besides, despite flirting with him, freezing the humans, twirling him in circles, and all around annoying him the day they'd met, she'd also saved him from being run over.

She'd even managed to conjure up enough icy energy to save him a second time, on the day when Team Rocket had made fake pokétches. So he owed it to her to try cheering her up. Even if it might encourage more flirting.

Sighing in light exasperation, he grabbed a bowl and pushed it towards her.

"(Hey,)" he said as he sat down.

She looked up in surprise, her ears lifting slightly. "(P-Pikachu?)" she asked.

He smiled. "(Yeah, hey. You feeling okay?)"

Her ears drooped again. "(... Not really.)"

He felt his own ears droop a little in sympathy. "(Oh yeah? What's the matter?)"

She looked away, instead gazing down at her pellets. "(Well, you saw how the contest went... and it was Dawn's first contest, too.)" Her ears drooped lower. "(She was really counting on me.)"

"(Hey, it's okay. You did your best. That's all you can do, right?)"

"(I know, but... Dawn was really counting on me. She showed me her good luck charm... you know, the ribbon she got from her mom? And said she wanted to... show the crowd how special me and Piplup were... but all I did was ruin it for her...)"

"(Hey, no, you battled really hard! It's a shame you lost, but you can try again next contest, right?)"

"(Well, yeah, but...)" She put her paws in her lap contemplatively, yet still didn't look up at him. "(Thinking about it... my performance wasn't very pretty, was it?)"

Pikachu blinked. "(Huh?)"

"(Like... Glameow's moves were all really cool. Catching my Ice Beam with Shadow Claw... bouncing higher than me with her tail... pummelling me with my own ice...)" She paused. "(Whereas mine... well, you heard what Mr. Contesta said.)"

Pikachu strained his brain to remember. "(What, that you'd... tried to 'overpower things a bit too much'?)"

"(Yeah. I can probably guess what he meant by that. That we spent so much time fighting that we kind of... didn't make anything pretty, or cool.)"

"(But... but I thought your battle was great!)"

"(Thanks, but... the only thing pretty, really, was my pink flora seal... and that wasn't really my doing...)"

"(Well, sure, it wasn't as glamorous as Glameow's performance...)" He saw her head lower, so he quickly continued. "(But it was still pretty great!)" She looked up at him with sad, yet curious eyes. He smiled at her. "(When you froze the floor and made her slip everywhere?)" His smile turned confident as he clenched his fists. "(And then took advantage by smashing your Bounces into her back? That was so cool!)"

She stared, looking up at him in awe.

His smile widened. "(Then, when she tried to swing an Iron Tail at you? You caught it between your freaking ears! And held on for all you were worth! You can't tell me that wasn't cool!)"

She continued to stare for a few moments, before her look of awe faded away. "(Yeah, but... I didn't follow up with anything...)" She looked down again. "(And that cost me the match...)"

His eyes widened. Uh oh, he was losing her!

"(Well, yeah, but! But that's Dawn's fault, to be honest! Not yours!)" He chuckled lightly. "(I think she was kinda caught in the moment and forgot to tell you to, you know, attack her.)"

"(... I coulda done it myself...)"

"(Well-)"

"(My ears and feet were out, but I could've Ice Beamed her! Maybe it would've helped me win...)"

"(Well... maybe, but you'll...)" He corrected himself. "(Well, you and Dawn will remember it for next time, right?)"

"(I guess...)" She paused. "(... Actually, it's just like three days ago.)"

He blinked at her. "(Huh?)"

"(Yeah. With the fake pokétches?)" She slumped. "(I got you out of the glass ball, but... I just let you fall.)"

He cast his mind back, remembering the fall from Team Rocket's balloon. Starly had managed to catch Piplup, but was neither big enough or strong enough to catch him, too. So he'd fallen, all the way from the balloon to the ground.

Ash had run over to catch him, but he'd barely missed. Pikachu flinched as the sensation of hitting the ground came back to him.

"(Exactly...)" Buneary continued. "(I could've caught you with Bounce! But I just... stood there and watched you fall.)" She put her paws over her face miserably. "(Because Dawn didn't tell me to do it...)"

"(H-Hey, it's okay! Dawn probably thought Ash had it, to be fair. He usually does.)" He smiled sheepishly. "(He just... missed that time.)" The smile turned softer. "(And you probably thought he had it, too, right?)"

"(Well, yeah, but...)"

"(Yeah, see? It's okay! Like I said, he usually has it, but... I guess he was too slow on the draw that time.)"

She lowered her paws from her face, though she still looked miserable.

"(And hey, don't worry!)" he continued. "(I've fallen from much higher heights before, so I was fine!)"

"(... If you say so.)"

"(Yeah, I do!)"

She turned to him, holding her gaze for a few moments. "(... You know when you caught that potato?)"

He smiled sheepishly, remembering how that had been the reason for her constant flirting. "(Yeah?)"

"(I was so impressed.)" She looked back down at her bowl. "(I could never do anything that cool.)"

He blinked. Her words sure were surprising him a lot today. "(Huh? Really?)"

"(Yeah. You jumped up really high, grabbed it, then flipped three times! And you stuck a perfect landing.)" She slumped again. "(I'm a contest pokémon, but I can't do things like that...)"

"(Hey, you only just started! No one becomes a pro in the first few days!)" He gave a light chuckle. "(You're way too hard on yourself, you know that?)"

She looked up at him again, her eyes curious. "(Hmm?)"

"(Yeah! I'll bet you didn't do anything contesty in the wild, did you?)"

"(Well, no, but-)"

"(Exactly! And I'm not exactly new to battling. I've been at it for years! Heck, I've even been in a contest before!)"

Her ears lifted a little in surprise. "(Really?)"

"(Yeah!)" He paused, smiling sheepishly again. "(Well, it wasn't an official contest, but still.)" His smile returned to normal. "(I'd watched May... uh, one of Ash's friends... in enough contests to sorta know what I was doing. You, though... you've only just started!)" He clenched his fists, his smile becoming confident. "(Who knows what you'll be capable of!)"

She blinked at him, her look of awe returning.

"(So yeah,)" he continued. "(Don't be down on yourself. You and Dawn will achieve great things!)" He smiled warmly. "(Heck, I've lost plenty of battles before. Some of which were gym battles. If we could, we just came back and tried them again. And... I know you can't redo a contest, but!)" He clenched his fists, his smile turning determined again. "(What you can do is come back stronger for the next one! After all, there'll be plenty of chances to improve! Yeah?)"

She was still staring at him, her cheeks slowly turning red. He felt a stab of awkwardness as he looked at the pure awe on her face.

"(Um... so yeah!)" he continued. "(Do your best, work hard and... um...)" She was still staring. He felt his own face go warm. "(Uh, yeah...)" He gave an awkward grin and flashed her a thumbs up. "(You'll get 'em next time, champ?)"

She continued to stare, as a smile slowly spread across her reddened face. After a few moments, she giggled to herself, grabbed the fluff around her waist and pulled it up to her nose.

"(Oh, wow, you're so nice!)" she cried. "(I thought you were just handsome and cool, but you're super nice, too!)" Smiling to herself, she rocked back and forth where she was sitting. "(Thanks for cheering me up.)"

"(Uh... no problem.)"

Oh man, she was flirting with him again. That was a clear sign that her mood had improved.

Well, maybe that was fine. It was much better than her being miserable. Besides, though the attention was rather embarrassing, it was also kind of... nice that someone liked him that way.

... It would really take some getting used to, though. Normally, Ash was the one having girls crush on him, not him.

"(If you ever need cheering up or cheering on...)" she continued, leaning against him.

He stiffened in surprise. Nope, that definitely wouldn't be easy to get used to. Not after so many years of girls showing no interest in him.

"(I'll be sure to return the favour,)" she finished.

"(Th-Thanks.)"

He quickly glanced away, only then noticing, much to his horror and discomfort, that everyone was looking his way. Most of which had smiles on their faces. He felt his face grow even hotter as he looked down at his bowl.

His completely full bowl.

... Oh yeah. Neither he or Buneary had so much as touched their pellets yet. Whoops.

The End