Author's note: Hey, guys! Time for another chapter!

This one will actually be in two parts! So, look forward to the next part!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Arc II: The Campfire

Chapter Eight: Stories

Around a week passed since Pikachu's blunder. During that time, Dawn hatched a new cyndaquil who couldn't seem to get along with Piplup, and two other humans from Johto decided to travel with the group for a bit. Lyra and Khoury, who'd been in Sinnoh to attend the Johto Festival. They'd be travelling with them at least until the group got to Lilypad Town, where Dawn's next contest was, and then who knew what they'd do after that. Maybe go back to Johto, so that Lyra could earn more gym badges?

Meanwhile, Pikachu was busy trying very hard to make up for his mistake by spending quality time with Buneary. They went on a fourth date, shared pleasant conversations, and played many games together. He even picked her the occasional flower.

Everything seemed to be going well. He was managing to keep his girlfriend happy and that made him happy, too. He didn't think he'd be able to handle upsetting her again. Especially over something stupid.

Smiling to himself, he nuzzled up against her, the warm glow of the campfire washing over them both. After passing through the last town, Brock had discovered a sale on marshmallows, so he'd bought quite a few bags. Currently, the large group was seated around four campfires - being far too large to fit around just one - and roasting the marshmallows on sticks.

Pikachu's group consisted of himself, Buneary, Piplup, Buizel and Pachirisu. The second group consisted of Ash, Dawn, Brock, Lyra and Khoury, with Cyndaquil sitting on Dawn's lap, and Happiny sitting on Brock's lap. The third group consisted of Gliscor, Sudowoodo, Lyra's chikorita, Lyra's marill, Lyra's girafarig and Khoury's totodile. The fourth group consisted of Grotle, Monferno, Staraptor, Mamoswine and Croagunk.

A few of the pokémon seemed to be fighting over marshmallows. Despite that, though, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"(And then the bubbles flew around in a spiralling arc and looked amazing,)" Piplup said smugly. "(But that's no surprise, coming from me, right?)"

"(Piplup,)" Buizel said, putting a fresh marshmallow on his stick. "(I hate to burst your bubble...)" Next to him, Pachirisu giggled. He smirked slightly. "(But you've already told us this story.)"

"(Well, it's a story that deserves telling again!)"

Pikachu smiled exasperatedly. Then, after a moment, something pressed against the stick he was holding over the fire. Noticing that it was Buneary's stick, he glanced questioningly at his girlfriend.

Smirking playfully at him, she gave his stick another gentle nudge. He blinked at her.

Suddenly getting it, he smirked back, returning the nudge. She giggled, nudging harder. He retaliated, causing the two sticks to push against each other in a battle of wills.

"(Aww, that's so cute~)" Pachirisu said.

Pikachu blinked again. "(Huh?)" he asked, turning to the squirrel.

Pachirisu grinned at him. "(You and Buneary. So adorable~)"

He smiled in embarrassment. "(Aheh, well, you know...)"

"(Hmph!)" Piplup said proudly, sticking his beak in the air. "(And it's all thanks to me that they're together!)"

"(Heh, yeah...)"

"(Tsk,)" Buizel said, still smirking, "(I still can't believe you went to Piplup, of all pokémon, for advice...)"

"(Because my advice is awesome, that's why,)" Piplup replied.

"(Sure it is...)"

Piplup scowled. "(Hey, it worked, didn't it?!)"

Buizel shrugged. "(Well, I guess I can't argue with you there.)" He paused. "(Still, Pikachu, I dunno why you only asked him.)"

"(Yeah, seems kinda silly!)" Pachirisu added, grinning.

"(Heyyy!)" Piplup cried, writhing in annoyance. "(It is not silly!)"

In his struggle, his marshmallow slipped off and fell into the fire. He stared at it in horror.

"(Well, that was only 'cause Piplup's the only one I know who had a crush...)" Pikachu replied, slightly embarrassed.

Buizel snorted, suddenly looking smug. "(Well, you clearly know nothing about me, then.)"

Pikachu blinked. "(... Huh?)"

"(I had a crush once, before I was caught by Dawn.)"

Pikachu's eyes widened in surprise. "(Really?)"

"(Yup.)"

"(... What happened?)" Buneary asked curiously.

Buizel shrugged. "(Eh. It didn't work out.)"

Her tone saddened. "(Aww, really?)"

"(Yeah.)"

"(What happened, what happened?!)" Pachirisu asked excitedly.

"(Well, it's not all that interesting, really.)"

"(Aww, come on, tell us!)"

"(Yeah, I'd be interested in hearing it,)" Pikachu added, pulling back his marshmallow to blow on it. He paused a moment. "(Oh, unless you'd rather not tell us, of course...)"

"(Heh,)" Buizel replied. "(Nah, it's fine.)" He paused. "(She was a female buizel. I thought I had a pretty good chance with her, but someone else wanted her, too...)"

Pikachu nibbled on his melting marshmallow, intrigued. "(Oh yeah?)"

"(Yeah. He challenged me to a battle over her...)"

As Buizel lay face-first on the ground, every muscle in his body screamed in pain. He cringed, scowling up at the smug face of the male buizel above him. The ever-present scar across his better's eye continued to lord his experience and superiority over him.

As he tried to push himself to his feet, a foot was firmly planted on the back of his head, shoving him back into the dirt.

"(Give up,)" the other buizel said snidely. "(You've got no chance.)"

He growled, unable to do anything but stare at the grass beneath him.

The foot ground into his head, rubbing his nose against the soil. "(You're about a hundred years too early to beat me.)"

Suddenly, the pressure on his head was removed. Glancing up with a wince, he caught sight of his crush, who was only looking mildly concerned about his condition.

"(Come on, babe,)" the other buizel continued. "(Let's blow this joint.)"

"(... Alright then...)" she replied.

Gently leading her away, the scar-faced buizel walked off and never returned.

"(Ever since then, I became obsessed with getting stronger, so it would never happen again,)" Buizel explained.

"(Aww, that's so sad!)" Pachirisu cried in dismay.

"(That explains that rough training regimen you used to do,)" Pikachu said.

"(That I completely owned at!)" Piplup declared.

"(It also explains why you were battling every trainer you met...)" Buneary added, digging through one of the bags for another marshmallow.

"(Yep,)" Buizel replied. "(I got caught on a fishing line one day, then beat the trainer in a pokémon battle. It felt so good that I started getting myself caught on purpose, just to train more.)" He paused, then shrugged. "(The more fishing lines came by, the more trainers I beat up. So I started getting cockier.)"

"(Then you started stealing the fishing rods as trophies,)" Pikachu added.

"(Yep.)" Buizel paused a moment, then laughed. "(And the funny thing is, I completely got over that crush. Battling became my new passion.)"

"(Well, that's good!)" Pachirisu said happily. "(We wouldn't want you staying sad about that!)" He paused. "(So, what about the rest of your backstory? Was that tragic, too?)"

Buizel chuckled. "(Well, I'd hardly call it tragic... but nah. The rest is kinda boring, in comparison. I grew up, I moved out, my family was pretty cool. That's it, really.)"

"(Then how about I tell you about my backstory?)" Piplup said, swiping away Buizel's marshmallow stick.

Buizel scowled at him. "(Hey!)"

Ignoring him, Piplup continued. "(Mine is much more interesting.)"

Pikachu smiled. "(Sure, Piplup,)" he said, getting himself another marshmallow. "(Go ahead.)"

"(Mm,)" Buneary agreed, sounding like she was chewing her own marshmallow.

Piplup proudly smacked a flipper to his chest. "(I grew up in a breeding centre, surrounded by other piplup... but, of course, I was the most awesome one there!)"

"(Sure you were...)" Buizel grumbled.

"(What were they like?)" Pachirisu asked excitedly, before nibbling on his marshmallow.

"(Hmph!)" Piplup huffed. "(They were all jerks.)"

Pikachu blinked. "(Jerks?)"

"(Yeah!)"

Sucking in a deep breath, Piplup sent power to his beak, then blew out a stream of bubbles. They were smaller and slower than they should have been.

A piplup with a tuft of dark blue feathers on his head scoffed. "(You call that a Bubble Beam?)" he asked smugly.

"(Yeah, that was really lame!)" a piplup with a tuft of white feathers on either side of her face agreed.

"(It's not lame!)" Piplup cried, pouting heavily.

"(Yeah, you're right,)" a piplup with shiny, light blue feathers replied. "(You're lamer!)" She shoved him to the ground.

"(Heyyy!)"

Buizel smirked. "(So, basically, you were the runt of the litter?)" he asked.

"(No, I wasn't!)" Piplup cried in annoyance. "(They just couldn't appreciate my greatness, is all!)"

"(But you were weaker than them.)"

"(I was still developing! Genius takes time, you know.)"

"(Sure it does.)"

"(Anyway, that's not all...)"

"Alright, guys," the breeder called out, "dinner time!"

Immediately, all the piplup in the yard ran happily over to her, trampling over Piplup in the process. He yelped as each set of flippers made contact with his body.

After a few moments of lying motionless on the ground, he jumped to his feet. Fuming, he tried to push his way to the front.

"(Kaylee! Kaylee!)" he cried out to the breeder dressed in green. "(I'm hungry! Gimme food, Kaylee!)"

As each and every piplup clambered over one another to get to Kaylee's bucket of pellets, Piplup found himself being pushed further and further back.

He began to get upset. The constant bullying, plus his lack of strength and inability to stand up for himself had led him to breaking point.

Unable to stand any more, he started flailing, loudly screaming at everyone around him.

Every head turned in his direction.

"Oh, are you getting left behind, little guy?" Kaylee asked with a sympathetic smile. She calmly walked over to him, fishing pellets out of her bucket and holding them out for him. "Here you go."

He stared at them, tears dotting the corners of his eyes. After a few moments, he huffed and took them from her.

Buizel smirked. "(Certainly explains why you're such an attention hog,)" he said.

"(Hey, I'm only getting the attention I deserve!)" Piplup replied haughtily.

"(It also explains why you're such a drama queen!)" Pachirisu added happily.

Piplup flailed angrily. "(I am not a drama queen!)"

"(Sure you're not,)" Buizel replied, subtly swiping back his marshmallow stick.

"(Heyyy!)"

Pikachu exchanged an exasperated smile with Buneary.

Pachirisu beamed. "(Ooh, can I take a turn now?)" he asked. "(I wanna tell my backstory, too!)"

"(Sure, go ahead,)" Pikachu replied, turning to him.

"(Alright, cool! Well, growing up, I had a loooot of energy! Like, seriously, loads. I couldn't sit still for even a minute!)"

Pikachu's exasperated smile returned. "(Yeah, I'll believe that...)"

"(It's okay now, though, 'cause I have training and battles and contests to keep my energy low! But, back then, I didn't have any of that!)"

"(So, what did you do instead?)" Buneary asked.

"(Well...)"

"(Surprise!)" Pachirisu cried, falling from a tree onto the head of an unsuspecting victim.

The houndour yelped in shock. "(What?!)" he cried.

"(Zap attack!)" Using Discharge, he electrocuted the dog, who cried out in pain.

The houndour snarled. "(Why, you little-!)"

Pachirisu jumped off and stuck out his tongue. Then he giggled and ran away.

"(Get back here!)"

Buizel snorted slightly. "(You used to troll the local wildlife?)" he asked.

"(Yep!)" Pachirisu replied with a smile.

"(Now, that wasn't very nice...)" Pikachu said disapprovingly.

"(Hey!)" Piplup cried, flailing in annoyance. "(And you trolled us, too, when we met youuuu!)"

Pachirisu giggled. "(Yep!)" he replied.

"(What did your parents think of that?)" Buneary asked curiously.

Pachirisu blinked, the smile falling from his face. He looked down at the ground in contemplation.

"(Uh... Pachirisu?)" Buizel asked in concern.

After a moment, Pachirisu looked up again, his smile gentler than before. "(My parents... well...)" he replied, "(they could never really handle me, to be honest... I always had so much more energy than them... and, after some of the pokémon I annoyed started attacking our tree...)" He trailed off.

Everyone's eyes widened.

"(Attacking your tree?!)" Piplup cried.

"(Yeah... My mom and dad didn't like that. The minute I was old enough to leave the nest, they kicked me out.)"

"(Oh, you poor thing...)" Buneary said softly.

"(... Well, I can't really blame them, I guess. Even Dawn couldn't handle me, at first. Remember when she released me?)"

Pikachu's ears dipped slightly. "(Yeah...)" he replied, "(that can't have been fun for you...)"

"(Nope. I'd only just gotten attached to her...)" Pachirisu smiled brighter. "(So, I'm glad she changed her mind and caught me again.)"

Everyone else smiled in return.

The squirrel sat up straighter. "(So, whose turn is it now?)"

"(Well, the lovebirds still haven't had a turn,)" Piplup replied, turning to dig though a bag of marshmallows. "(Not that their stories will be better than mine, of course!)"

"(Sure, sure...)" Buizel said with a smirk.

"(How about Buneary, then?)" Pachirisu asked excitedly.

There was a pause. Confused, Pikachu turned to look at his girlfriend. She was glancing back and forth between all of their faces with a wide-eyed expression.

"(... Buneary?)" he asked in concern.

"(Oh, uh...)" she replied, using her free paw to pull her fluff over her mouth. "(Well...)"

"(Hmm?)" Buizel asked.

"(My... backstory wasn't very interesting, really...)"

"(Oh, come on!)" Pachirisu said cheerfully. "(It must've had something interesting!)"

There was another pause as she fiddled with her fluff. "(... Well... I was very shy as a kid...)"

"(Ooh, really?)"

"(Yeah... I... always had trouble talking to other pokémon...)"

"(Come on, dear,)" Buneary's mother said gently. "(There's a new friend here to see you~)"

Buneary slowly peeked her head out of the burrow. The moment she met the gaze of a smiling shinx, she squeaked and ducked out of view.

The lopunny sighed. "(Come on, dear...)"

"(Wow, she's really shy, ain't she?)" the shinx asked.

"(Yes... Come on out, dear. There's no need to be afraid.)"

Remaining hidden, Buneary chose not to respond.

"(I ain't gonna bite!)" the shinx said cheerfully.

Again, Buneary didn't respond.

Again, her mother sighed.

"(Wow!)" Pachirisu said in shock. "(You really wouldn't talk to anybody?)"

"(Yeah...)" Buneary replied awkwardly.

"(Why was that?)" Buizel asked.

"(I dunno, I... just found everything outside the burrow scary.)"

"(Well, you're really different now,)" Pikachu said with a smile, "(so, how did you get over it?)"

"(... I just... grew out of it.)"

"(Just like that?)" Piplup asked curiously.

She glanced away. "(Yep...)"

"(Huh...)" Pikachu replied, a little confused, but dropping it. "(Okay, then...)" He turned back to the fire.

"(... Well, that was enlightening!)" Pachirisu said, grinning. "(I'm learning so much today!)"

"(Yeah,)" Buizel agreed. "(No kidding.)" He turned to look across the fire. "(So, Pikachu, what about you? You got anything interesting to say?)"

Pikachu jolted slightly at being addressed. "(Oh, uh...)" he replied. After a moment, he smiled sheepishly. "(Well, to be honest, I don't remember much before Lexi.)"

"(... Lexi?)" Buneary asked.

"(Was she your old girlfriend, or something?)" Pachirisu asked.

"(N-No, no, that's not it,)" Pikachu replied with a flustered smile. "(She was my old trainer.)"

Every pair of eyes widened.

"(You had a trainer before Ash?!)" Piplup cried in shock.

"(Yeah. She... wasn't a very good trainer.)"

"(... What happened?)" Buneary asked quietly.

Pikachu laughed awkwardly. "(Well, it's a really long story... I'm not sure you'd wanna hear all of it...)"

"(Of course we would!)" Pachirisu replied excitedly. "(Tell us, tell us, tell us!)"

Buizel smirked. "(Yeah, come on, tell us,)" he added.

"(Don't hold out on us, maaaan!)" Piplup cried, flailing again.

"(... Please?)" Buneary asked.

Pikachu looked between all four eager faces. After a moment, he exhaled slowly and smiled.

"(Alright, then,)" he replied, hoping he'd be able to tell this without too much stuttering. "(Where do I start...?)"