Chapter 32: Fragments

Pikachu and Buneary continued holding paws in silence as they locked gazes with Ash, too nervous to do anything else. The young trainer merely continued to stare at them with a frown, his arms still folded over his chest.

At long last, he broke the silence.

"Go into the living room." He muttered, his barely concealed anger seeping through.

"(But Ash...)" Pikachu managed to squeak out before Ash's gaze intensified.

"NOW!" He suddenly shouted, causing the two jump in place.

Startled, the couple did as they were told and soon, all three were in the next room. Before either of them could say something back, Ash was already shaking his head.

"You two have got some nerve you know that?" He exasperatedly said. "We leave for a couple of hours and this is what you do?! You really screwed up this time! The few times I leave you on your own and you stay out all night without telling anybody?!"

Just as he started raising his voice, Dawn and Brock entered the room. In their shock, Pikachu and Buneary looked over and saw them along with several of their friends who were huddled out in the hallway, trying to peer in.

"Hey." Dawn said under her breath.

"Good, at least they're safe." Brock muttered as he turned around to close the door. He caught a glimpse of their Pokémon still in the hallway and motioned for them to go into the other hotel room. With that, he gently shut the door, turned around and folded his arms over his chest.

Ash looked back at them, his anger not subsiding. "Yeah, they're safe. That's a relief right?" He sarcastically muttered.

"C'mon Ash, what's important is that they're okay and that they're back with us." Dawn replied.

"Yeah, let's just be glad that everything turned out alright." Brock followed.

"No way, I'm not letting them off that easy!" Ash growled back before turning his attention to them again. "I have no idea where you two have been, but wherever it was, it was far enough that you had to take a trolley to get back." He sternly said, giving them both a hard look.

"(H-How did-?)" Buneary muttered before he spoke up again.

"I saw you two come in from the window!" Ash yelled, pointing at the bedroom before standing straight up and putting his hands on his hips. "Do you know what happened because of your little 'escapade'?"

Pikachu silently gulped as he gently squeezed his paw in Buneary's who returned the favor.

"Ash..." Brock muttered but immediately backed off upon seeing the boy's anger reaching a boiling point, his focus not leaving the couple for a moment.

"Thanks to you two, not only were we worried sick and running all over town looking for you, but we missed the gym leader...again! We could've scheduled something for later today but we had to cancel it to look for you. She couldn't stay any longer and now we're gonna have to delay everything for who knows how long!" Ash shouted, causing both of their stomachs to drop in unison.

"(A-Ash I...)" Pikachu managed to say before trailing off, unable to meet his friend's gaze.

Buneary nervously looked over at her boyfriend only to see his crestfallen expression. If it were any quieter in that room, everyone present would practically hear her heart break for him.

"I mean...what's the matter with you?! Are you just irresponsible or something? You think it's funny? Answer me!" Ash shouted, taking a step forward.

"Ash for God's sake!" Dawn yelled.

Ignoring her, Ash didn't let up. "Don't you want to get somewhere in this journey?! Don't you want to show how strong we've gotten? Don't you want to prove something to Paul and put him in his place after everything he's said and done? To Chimchar? To Azumarill?!" He screamed, his voice only getting louder and louder with each question. Pikachu merely looked down at the floor, too ashamed to do anything else.

"Ash that's enough!" Brock sternly said. "Now I know it's not an ideal situation but-"

"But what?!" Ash snapped, cutting Brock off and turning back to the couple. "After what happened with that Aerodactyl, I would think that you'd be more considerate and not intentionally put us through something like that again and go missing! Now thanks to you, Paul is only getting further along..."

"(But we didn't do it on purpose!)" Pikachu protested as he looked up and somehow digging deep down to muster the courage to say something back.

"(Yeah! We just wanted to go out for a bit!)" Buneary remarked, thinking that somehow the humans would know what they're saying.

Ash scoffed and shook his head again. "I don't know what's gotten into you. Both of you. You two've never acted like this before. You certainly have never done anything to make us worry about your safety again. It's like you don't even care about this anymore...is that it?"

"(Ash no...I-I just...)" Pikachu mumbled, his ears drooping as once again as his voice failed him. Ash silently stared at them for what felt like a long time before shaking his head again.

"You wanna know something? When we were waiting in that line, the entire time there was this kid who did nothing but talk about Paul. Paul! All he did was talk about how great Paul was and how he was gonna treat his Pokémon the same way!" Ash roared, his anger finally reaching its boiling point as he turned away, clearly too angry to even glare at them. Both Pikachu and Buneary winced, unable to take the full brunt of the boy's fury. A moment passed as he slowly turned back before hesitatingly pointing a finger at them. "You know what...I-I can't even look at you right now." Ash quietly fumed before heading towards the door.

"(But...Ash!)" Pikachu shouted as Buneary watched in complete shock. As his trainer faced the door, a moment passed before he looked back at them.

"You seriously let me down Pikachu...both of you did...I guess I can't trust you after all." He quietly said before turning to open the door and stormed down the hallway.

"Ash!" Dawn yelled as she and Brock followed after him. "Ash you said you weren't gonna...!" She shouted, her voice fading away as she and Brock followed the boy down the hall, the door closing behind them moments later.

Then...they were alone. Standing in the living room in complete silence, neither of them quite knew what to say.

Blinking, Buneary stole a glance at Pikachu. She could see the mouse blankly staring at the doorway, clear devastation in his eyes.

Feeling a chill go up her spine, she racked her brain to say something in that moment. "(W-Well...that didn't go as bad as I thought.)" She said, intentional lightheartedness behind her voice.

He didn't respond right away. Instead, he gently let go of her paw and heaved a sigh as he slowly walked back into the bedroom. His voice was so low that it was practically a whisper. "(Oh yeah? How do you figure that?)"

Buneary rubbed the back of her head and followed after him. "(I mean...well...he could've kept screaming instead of storming out.)"

"(Real funny Bun.)" Pikachu replied, rather unamused.

"(Oh c'mon, he'll be fine. He just needs to let off a little steam.)" She said with a shrug.

"(It's not just that. He's...right.)" He muttered, shaking his head.

"(Right? Right about what?)" She asked, blinking at him.

"(Right about me. About us. I mean...what were we thinking?)" He said as he turned back to her.

"(Pika, we didn't intend to stay out that late. It was an accident.)"

"(No, no that's not all! How many times have we snuck away or done something we shouldn't have? Every time we've done it, we barely avoided getting caught. And now...)"

"(Pikachu. It. Was. An accident.)"

"(Yeah well, stuff like this didn't happen before! I certainly didn't start sneaking away...and Ash certainly never yelled at me like that!)"

"(Oh...do you mean before you met me or before you started dating me?)" Buneary asked, slightly taken aback.

"(N-No, I meant...)" Pikachu said before trailing off, unable to bear her gaze.

"(No really...what did you mean?)" She asked with a frown, placing her paws on her sides. "(Because guess what, those times we snuck away on those other dates...those weren't my ideas.)"

"(Yeah well, this time it was! And what about the gala? Or Team Rocket?)" Pikachu snapped back.

"(Oh okay yeah, sure just let it all out, say what you mean: I'm a bad influence on you is that right?)" Buneary sternly remarked.

"(That's not what I meant Bun...)" Pikachu muttered. "(I...I just...)" He stammered followed by a frustrated grunt.

"(Because who was the one that made bets with Aipom when he shouldn't have? Who's the one who suggested that we go to other places on our last few dates?)"

"(Hey I was fine with just shopping but you wanted to go somewhere else! And thanks to you, I don't think my tail is ever gonna be the same again!)"

"(Oh okay, blame me!)" She yelled before turning around and walking to the other side of the bedroom. A moment of silence passed before she quickly turned back to him. "(You wanna know what you're problem is? You keep thinking that you're this perfect little angel who does no wrong. The great, strong Pikachu, leader of the group! Well you know what, you like getting into mischief with or without me! For a guy who knows himself so well you sure have a hell of hard time admitting it!)"

"(That's...)" Pikachu scoffed as he turned away from her.

"(That's what?)"

"(Th-That is total B.S. I was doing perfectly fine before I asked you out.)" Pikachu growled as he locked gazes with her.

"(Oh yeah? Well what about when you got sick at Oreburgh?)" She yelled, causing the mouse to merely blink at her. "(Or when you needed your butt saved twice! Were you doing perfectly well then?!)"

"(Watch it Bun.)" Pikachu muttered and looked away.

A moment passed before she spoke up again. "(You know what you are Pikachu? You are a big, stubborn mouse who thinks that the whole world rests on his shoulders. You think that because you're Ash's starter that you have to do things the hard way...on your own.)"

Pikachu's ears twitched and he quickly looked back at her. "(Woah, woah, woah, hold on a sec. You're calling me stubborn?)"

"(Yeah, I'm calling you stubborn.)" She said, paws on her hips again.

"(Well if that ain't the big, stubborn lagomorph calling the kettle black!)" He yelled.

She held her mouth agape for a moment. "(You better not be calling me stubborn!)"

"(Well that's what I'm doing, you stubborn bunny! And you know what, if I didn't keep getting distracted, maybe we would be further along in this journey. Maybe we wouldn't have had to deal with Paul so much.)"

"(Oh so that's it then huh? It's my fault that you're still struggling with beating Paul? LISTEN TO YOURSELF STUPID!)" She roared, stunning him into silence. Not breaking eye contact with him, she pointed at the door. "(Did I ever encourage you to keep taking days off to goof around and go on little misadventures with random people? Did I not cheer and support you every step of the way even when things were getting tough?!)"

"(Great, that's just great. You've got an answer for everything, right? Well if you're so responsible, then why is Ash yelling at me and saying he can't trust me anymore? EXPLAIN THAT GENIUS!)" Pikachu screamed back.

"(UGGHH!)" Buneary yelled in frustration, her paws covering her closed eyes. "(You know what, sometimes you just make me...sometimes...!)" She shouted, clearly too frustrated to finish saying it.

"(Yeah well...that makes two of us.)" Pikachu remarked before pausing. "(...And now here we are. Ash is mad at me and we're behind in our journey...because of your idea.)"

Immediately, she looked up at him, fury darting across her face. "(My idea? My idea?! Did I force you to go?! You wanted to go out just as much as me!)" She screamed before closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "(You know what Pikachu...?)"

"(What? Just say it already, don't pretend like I have a choice!)" He yelled, taking a step forward.

Eyes quickly opening in pure rage, Buneary looked him straight in his face. "(My life was SO much easier without you!)" She screamed, leaning forward herself.

A silent moment passed as they stared each other down. Pikachu leaned back and his infuriated expression suddenly began to soften a little and was replaced with a faraway pain.

Easing up a little herself, Buneary also gently leaned back as her own angry look neutralized.

"(I...I didn't mean that.)" She managed to say in a voice barely above a whisper.

Gulping hard, Pikachu continued to stare at her before breaking eye contact and he took in a quick deep breath. Though it was silent, Buneary could tell that his breathing was becoming shaky.

"(Yeah...okay.)" He managed to quietly say.

She could see his frown twist, clearly holding back more emotion than he was giving her. She wanted to say something but oddly couldn't find the words nor could she summon the breath.

He looked down at the floor before slowly staring at his bracelet.

"(Pikachu...I...)" Buneary managed to utter as the mouse continued to look elsewhere.

"(You know what Bun...maybe you're right.)" Pikachu finally said in a calm yet low voice as he slowly looked back at her. "(Maybe I'm no good for you. Maybe we just bring out the worst in each other.)" He continued before slowly backing away. "(So you know what? I'll make this easy for you.)"

He slowly turned away from her and started heading towards the door. At that moment, the room was briefly illuminated with a pink glow caused by another special party bus down in the streets below.

"(Pikachu...)" She said, looking at the floor. Unable to help it, she held her arm for support. It was the only thing that was stopping her from tearing up.

With great hesitation, she looked up and saw that he was still facing the door. Though it was quite subtle, she could see him struggling to hold back from crying out loud.

"(If...if that's how you feel...then you can have all the easy time you want Buneary!)" He shouted as he proceeded out the door. As soon as he did, the room was once again bathed in darkness, enveloping Buneary in its shadows and hiding the visible sadness on her face.

As he walked out of the bedroom, clear streams of tears were starting to go down his cheeks.

He made his way across the living room, jumped up to grab ahold of the handle to open the door and rounded the corner of the doorway and into the hall.

Then he was gone.