Before we begin, I want to thank ravengal for the review. It was very helpful in creating a clear path for the future of this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Piplup POV:

The time had finally arrived. The air carried the sweet anxiety of being reunited with Ash, Pikachu and their current traveling companions. They would arrive at any moment now.

I could tell Dawn was excited now that the time had come for her to reunite with Ash. Her face looked ready to burst into an enormous smile at a moment's notice. As her partner, it made me happy to see her so happy again.

Everyone could see, and of course hear, how elated Buneary was to be with Pikachu again. I could also see she was a bit nervous. I understood why though, knowing about their secret relationship. 'Well at least now I understand why he doesn't shoo her off. It is kind of sweet that they found love with each other, although that has made her super-emotional lately. Hopefully that will be over soon.'

I was also excited and curious how Ash was doing. It would be good to catch up with Pikachu too. Hopefully he had some really cool stories about his latest adventures, he was quite the storyteller after all. Of course, it all depended on how much time he had without a certain flirtatious rabbit by his side. 'Well, at least she'll be happy again' I thought. Being with her "other half" and all, according to her.

I heard distant voices, followed by the front door opening. Dawn giggled to herself as I took my usual spot on top of her head. She then hid in an adjacent room, waiting for Ash to appear. Moments later, Ash entered with Pikachu perched on his shoulder as usual. Dawn then quietly snuck up behind him and tapped his shoulder. When he turned, she leaned behind his other shoulder and hid out of sight. I had the perfect vantage point from the top of Dawn's head and chuckled to myself. 'They're clueless as usual. They haven't changed a bit there.'

Finally, Ash turned all the way around, both he and Pikachu looking annoyed. "Who's that?" he demanded. This time Dawn didn't move, and I smiled at the two.

"Piplup! (Hi guys!)" I said in greeting.

Ash and Pikachu's expressions turned from being annoyed to excitement. "It's Dawn!" Ash exclaimed. Dawn was waving her hand.

"Pika! Pikachu! (No way! I didn't know you guys were coming!)" Pikachu seemed just as excited as Ash was.

"Hi! It's been a long time Ash" Dawn said.

"Piiiplup! (Way too long really!)"

"Sure has" Ash replied. Even perched atop Dawn's head, I could hear her heart pounding in excitement.

"Pika pika! (I agree, way too long Piplup!) I couldn't help but mentally snicker at this. 'I know exactly why you say that Pikachu.' I noticed Buneary wasn't out for some reason. 'I guess she is more nervous than I thought.'

Pikachu jumped down off Ash's shoulder as I did the same from atop Dawn's head. "So, what has happened with you since we split up?" I asked as we walked over to each other.

"Well, we beat all eight gym leaders here" he began, "So we are going to compete in the Unova league tournament when it starts."

I nodded at this. 'No surprise there' I thought. Ash may be dense when it came to personal matters, but he sure was a good trainer. I doubted he ever had a weak team.

"We have new traveling companions too, I'll let Ash introduce them himself." That was fair enough.

"We also met a new trainer named Trip" Pikachu continued, his voice souring. "He is the most arrogant jerk I've ever met."

I was surprised to hear him say this. Pikachu didn't usually use that strong of language, especially when talking about someone else. "Worse than Paul?" I asked. "I mean at first, when he was a jerk." The yellow mouse's eyes hardened, his cheeks starting to spark.

"There is no contest between them at all. Trip is an extremely egotistical piece of…work. He says all Pokémon must evolve to get stronger. In his words "That's basic." He makes me so angry I want to shock the living daylights out of him!"

I was both shocked and outraged to hear this, now completely understanding Pikachu's feelings about Trip. "That's completely untrue! I mean look at me, I'm not evolved, and am easily the strongest fighter on my team!" I made a heroic pose at saying this. "And look at you. You're the strongest Pokémon I've ever known, and you're not fully evolved either!" Pikachu blushed slightly upon hearing this, but I wasn't done yet. "Evolving does make us strong, but it doesn't mean we have to evolve to be strong!"

Pikachu smiled at me. "Now I remember why I missed you" he said, obviously enjoying my kind words. "I think you and Snivy will get along well. She is really strong and also doesn't want to evolve."

I grinned, then grimaced when I thought about having to battle her. I knew I would be toast against a strong grass type, regardless of my recently learned Ice Beam. If Pikachu said she was really strong, she was really strong. I made a mental note to stay on her good side.

"So who else is now on your team? Anyone strong?"

"You're just looking for who you can pulverize huh?" Pikachu smirked. He knew me too well. "Well, right now we have Snivy, Pignite, Scraggy, Oshawott, Krokorok, and yours truly. There are a few others also we caught, but they aren't with us right now. Six Pokémon limit and all."

'Quite the diverse team, that's for sure' I thought. Snivy was a grass type and sounded quite tough, so I probably couldn't beat her. Pignite was a fire type, so I had an advantage there. Scraggy was, well, I honestly had no idea. I'd have to find out about them first. Oshawott was another water type starter, so they were going down for sure. I was not going to lose to another water starter, I would prove my place atop that category. Krokorok was an evolved form of, well, something. I knew it was a ground type, but I wasn't sure if it had a second type. Another question for Pikachu, who I knew I had zero chance of beating. No reason to ponder over him.

Speaking of Pikachu, the yellow mouse was on his way back to Ash. I realized everyone had now sat down, so I went over and joined Dawn.

We were introduced to a girl named Iris and her partner Axew. It was funny how he hid in her absurdly long hair. 'That must take forever to brush. And to think I thought Dawn took ridiculously long to fix her hair every day!' We were also introduced to Cilan, a guy who always seemed to be talking about food regardless of the topic. It was annoying, because it made me hungry whenever he said something!

After a lot more chatting and catching up, Ash finally asked the question I had been waiting for. "Want to meet my new Pokémon?" Pikachu may have already told me who they were, but I was really looking forward to meeting them myself. I jumped up on my place on Dawn's head.

"Piplup! (Let's go!)"

/

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