Chapter Text
After leaving Chocovine Town earlier that day, Ash, Dawn and Brock had settled in an open field to have dinner. While waiting for food, Ash had decided to train with Staravia and Gliscor - to prepare for his seventh gym battle - while Chimchar, Buizel and Grotle watched.
Sitting on the grass, Dawn was staring in awe at the inside of her ribbon case - which held her four ribbons - while Pipup, Pachirisu and Ambipom were playing tag, and Mamoswine was lying far away from everyone, fast asleep. Brock was busy setting up his cooking pot, while Sudowoodo was relaxing with Happiny, and Croagunk was staring at nothing.
As for Pikachu, he was chatting to Buneary about her contest appeal yesterday.
"(I still can't believe I pulled it off!)" she said excitedly.
"(Yeah, it was amazing!)" he agreed, smiling. "(You really blew it out of the park!)"
He could still see it in his mind's eye: the giant, swirling structure of ice, with a perfectly flat top for her to use as a slide. Then, once she'd slid all the way down to the bottom of it, she'd used her ears to spring herself back up to the top and pose. It had been beautiful.
She giggled, throwing him a cutesy wink. "(Thanks~)"
He went weak in the knees for a moment. Feeling heat rush to his face, he could only chuckle awkwardly.
Man... it had never escaped his notice how gorgeous Buneary was. How she had curves in all the right places, how her big, bright eyes perfectly framed her delicate face... She was the prettiest buneary he'd ever seen. Hell, one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen. One of the reasons it was so hard for him to keep his cool around her...
The fact that she was constantly flirting with him only made it harder. Not that he disliked it, of course. Definitely not.
... Thinking about this, though, he couldn't help but be reminded of a few days ago, when that phione had taken an interest in her. Not that he blamed the guy at all, but still...
Something clenched in his chest. That phione had been extremely pushy, wanting to 'take her home with him', as he'd put it. He'd even tried to start a fight with Pikachu over her, but she'd insisted on fighting him herself, saying she'd 'give him a date if she lost'.
Throughout the whole battle, Pikachu had been freaking out. 'What'll happen if she loses?', he'd constantly thought. After all, he'd doubted the phione would've been happy with just a date...
He'd given a loud sigh of relief when she'd won.
In fact... it had strengthened his resolve somewhat. He'd always been tempted to date Buneary, but he'd always been a bit too bashful. Maybe even intimidated by her beauty. But maybe it was time to try and change that? Aside from being gorgeous, she was also friendly, playful and fun. He couldn't deny she was quite the catch all around, and he'd be a fool not to go for it.
Ohhh, but just the thought made him nervous...
"E-Excuse me!" an unfamiliar voice suddenly called out.
Surprised, Pikachu turned to look, seeing a young human girl jog past Ash and Brock to approach Dawn. She didn't look all that much older than the coordinator. When he looked closer, however, his eyes widened. Holy moly, that was... quite the outfit she was wearing. Even Ash and Brock were looking at her in shock, and he didn't blame them.
A frilly shirt covered in roses, and a longish skirt covered in daises. Sitting on her long brown hair was a headband covered in sunflowers, on her feet were sandals covered in hibiscuses, and on her back was a bag covered in pansies. The only normal part of her seemed to be her green eyes behind a pair of glasses. Though Pikachu wouldn't be surprised if her glasses had flowers on them, too.
The girl stopped in front of Dawn. "H-Hello there!"
"Hello!" Dawn replied cheerfully. She clapped her ribbon case shut and beamed. "Nice to meet you! I love your outfit!"
The girl looked surprised. "Oh, th-thank you!"
"No worries! So, can we help you?"
The girl awkwardly pushed her glasses up her nose. "Yes, um..."
Turning away from the conversation, Pikachu chuckled. "(Man, her outfit's something else,)" he said, looking at Buneary, "(righ-?)" He blinked as he noticed her staring at the girl with very wide eyes. "(... Huh?)" She made no response, so he wasn't sure if she'd even heard him.
Jeez, he knew the girl's outfit was gaudy as all hell, but did that really warrant this reaction?
Buneary stared in horror, her eyes stretched wide. Oh good god, it was Flora... Why the hell was she here?!
"Yes, um..." Flora said to Dawn awkwardly, "are you Dawn?"
Dawn's face lit up. "Why, yes, I am!" she replied. "You know me?"
Flora smiled. "Y-Yes! I was in the next town over, and I saw your last contest on TV! M-My pokémon must have really liked it, 'cause he wanted to meet you! So I rushed down the path, hoping to bump into you! And... well, here I am!"
... Her pokémon?
... Oh, hell no!
Pikachu watched as Buneary's expression went from horrified to extremely horrified. It was almost as if she'd seen that ghost girl from summer camp again, who was now trying to drag her into the spirit world.
It was quite a concerning reaction from the rabbit.
"(Uh... Buneary?)" he asked cautiously. She didn't respond, her attention fully fixated in the direction of the humans.
"Oh, well, in that case...!" Dawn started. Pikachu looked over to see her standing up, still holding her ribbon case in one hand. "Feel free to let your pokémon out to say hi!"
"Oh, okay!" the new girl replied. "Um..." She fidgeted slightly. "All of them, or just my starter?"
"Oh, well, if there's more, feel free to let them out, too!"
"Yeah, it'd be cool to see 'em!" Ash added eagerly. Brock nodded in agreement with a smile. The girl glanced at the two boys unsurely, so Ash continued. "Oh, I'm Ash, by the way!"
"And I'm Brock," Brock added, indicating himself.
The girl gave a relaxed smile. "Oh, I-I'm Flora!" she replied. "And, well, if you guys wanna see my pokémon, then... sure!" Reaching into her pansy-covered bag, she pulled out five pokéballs. "Come on out, everyone!"
She threw the pokéballs into the air, where they burst open. Streams of white light spilled out onto the grassy ground, forming into five shapes.
When the light faded, Pikachu got a good look at the pokémon, and his jaw dropped.
Standing there were four of the most gorgeous women he'd ever seen! Holy moly...
A sneasel, a sandshrew, a marill, and a fellow pikachu. All had perfect curves, glossy fur or skin, and mesmerising eyes. Pikachu couldn't help but stare in admiration. Jeez, they were about on the level of gorgeous that Buneary was!
That wasn't all, though. Among them was one male pokémon. An extremely handsome prinplup, who had glossy feathers, and muscles in all the right places. Pikachu felt a stab of jealousy go through him, though he tried not to let it bother him.
Jeez, though... all together, these five pokémon looked like they'd just walked out of a movie set!
Most of the others seemed to agree, judging by how hard they were all staring, with red tints to their faces. Piplup and Ambipom had stopped their game of tag, Staravia and Gliscor were hovering in mid-air, and Grotle, Chimchar and Buizel were crowding around Ash's feet. The only ones who didn't seem bothered were the three youngsters - Pachirisu, Sudowoodo and Happiny - and the two aloof ones, Croagunk and Mamoswine.
Flora indicated the prinplup. "This is my starter, Aster." She indicated the sneasel. "This is Hydrangea..." She indicated the sandshrew. "This is Dahlia..." She indicated the marill. "This is Bluebell..." She indicated the pikachu. "And this is Marigold!"
Pikachu gave an amused sigh. Of course...
Brock also seemed to understand, by the exasperated smile on his face, but Ash didn't. Maybe he didn't know many flower names.
Dawn, however, either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Wow, hello there!" she said to the pokémon, pulling out her pokédex to scan a couple of them. "Nice to meet all of you!"
While the four girls all responded in kind, the prinplup seemed oddly distracted. He was glancing around, almost as if looking for something. When his gaze settled in Pikachu's direction, the penguin's face immediately lit up, and he made a beeline towards him. Pikachu's ears perked in intrigue. What was he doing?
"Huh?" Flora asked in surprise as she watched him walk away. "Aster? I thought you wanted-" She indicated Dawn, but the prinplup didn't seem to have heard her. "Oh, o-okay..."
Aster continued walking in Pikachu's direction, his gaze fixated on something. What it was, however, the mouse wasn't sure.
When the penguin got close enough, he stopped in place, immediately reaching out and grabbing Buneary's paws with his flippers. His gaze softened immensely.
"(Chrysanthemum, my dearest,)" he said in a voice as smooth as silk. "(It has been far too long.)"
Doing a double-take, Pikachu stared. What...?
Buneary heaved a sigh. "(... Hi, Aster,)" she grumbled.
Pikachu turned to stare at her. "(You... know this guy?)" he asked.
"(Yeah...)"
"(Such a tragedy that we had to be separated the way we were,)" Aster continued. "(But it seems the winds of fate have brought us together again... my dear.)"
Goddamn, that voice was like melted butter in Pikachu's ears. It made it hard to concentrate on his thoughts, as it was the kind of voice that could make a woman quake at the knees.
It was kind of making him jealous...
"(Yeah, uh...)" Buneary started, snapping Pikachu out of his trance.
Wait, wait! What had the prinplup said, again?
"(Wait, Chrysanthemum?)" the mouse asked in confusion. Wasn't that a flower name?
"(Yeah, I...)" Buneary replied, pulling her paws out of Aster's flippers, "(don't go by that name anymore.)"
"(But Chryssie, my darling...)" Aster said, gently lifting up her chin with the tip of his flipper, "(it is a beautiful name, befitting of such a beautiful flower.)"
Her eyes widened, and she held his gaze, looking like she'd been knocked speechless. There was even a tint of red on her cheeks.
Watching this, Pikachu felt a spike of worry. Oh no! This was the second time in only a few days that she'd been hit on! But, this time, she actually looked interested!
"(Uh...!)" he said, panicking, but not knowing what to say.
Buneary blinked a couple of times, eventually shaking her head and gently pushing Aster's flipper away. "(Yeah, uh... no. I just go by 'Buneary' now.)"
Pikachu let out a relieved breath of air.
Aster shook his head. "(Tsk,)" he replied. "(A terrible waste. A beauty such as yourself only deserves the very best of names.)" He smiled. "(And, if you don't mind me saying, I think 'Chrysanthemum' suits you better than any other.)"
"(Y-Yeah, well-)"
"(Hey, hon,)" a sneasel's voice said. Pikachu looked up in surprise to see the four attractive girls approaching, with Hydrangea in the lead. "(Everything alright?)"
"(Quite alright, Hydie, my dear,)" Aster replied.
Dahlia put a claw to her mouth in confusion. "(What happened?)" the sandshrew asked. "(You, uh... just kind of ran off.)"
Bluebell beamed. "(Yeah!)" the marill agreed. "(Didn't you wanna meet that human girl?)"
Aster shook his head. "(On the contrary, my dears, Lia and Bell...)" he replied, indicating Buneary with a flipper, "(it was this charming woman that I wished to give greetings to.)"
As the group stopped, Marigold gave Buneary a sultry smirk. "(Ooh, hello there~)" the pikachu said. "(You're a pretty one.)"
Aster chuckled. "(Indeed she is, Goldie, dearest.)"
Suddenly, Hydrangea's eyes widened. "(Wait, I know you!)" the sneasel said, pointing at Buneary. "(Chryssie, right?)"
Buneary heaved a sigh. "(Hey, Hydie...)" she replied. "(Though I go by 'Buneary' now.)"
Hydrangea blinked. "(Huh?)" She raised an eyebrow. "(You do?)"
Dahlia fidgeted. "(That's, uh... a bit plain, isn't it?)" the sandshrew asked.
Bluebell giggled. "(Yeah, it's pretty boring!)" the marill agreed.
Marigold chuckled. "(Not the most flattering of names, no~)" the pikachu added.
Sighing, Buneary turned her attention to Aster. "(So, Aster...)" she said, "(I see you got that harem you wanted.)"
Pikachu's eyes bugged. Harem?!
"(Tsk,)" Aster said, his soft smile not faltering. "('Harem' is such a crude term for such lovely ladies.)" He put a flipper to his chest. "(Besides, my boundless love for them simply cannot be summed up in a single word. They are my beloveds. My everything.)" He gazed lovingly at her. "(As are you, my dearest Chrysanthemum.)"
Behind him, all four girls swooned.
Damn. Now Pikachu was even more jealous. Four super attractive girlfriends?! Though it looked like he was on the lookout for a fifth...
He worriedly glanced at Buneary. The rabbit's face was red, though she was looking away from the prinplup awkwardly.
"(Right...)" she replied.
"(So please...)" Aster continued, delicately touching her face with the tips of his flippers, and lifting her head so that she'd look at him, "(come back to me.)"
Buneary hesitated as she gazed back at him. Pikachu felt his breath catch in his throat from fear. Oh no, was she actually considering it?!
He didn't know how they knew each other, or what their relationship was, but he had to stop this! It was just like the phione all over again, but worse!
"(Uh...!)" he said in panic, causing the four girls to look at him curiously. "(She's... got a trainer already!)" He pointed in Dawn's direction. "(You know, Dawn? The blue-haired girl? Yep, that's her trainer!)"
For the first time, Aster turned his smile in Pikachu's direction. "(Yes, I am aware.)" He turned his gaze back to Buneary. "(But we simply cannot be together if you are on that girl's team, Chryssie, darling... so perhaps you should rejoin Flora's.)"
Pikachu's eyes widened. Re-join? As in...?
"(I, uh...!)" Buneary spluttered, before pushing Aster's flippers away. "(N-No, I'm fine where I am! I'm doing contests, and, uh, stuff!)" She paused a moment. "(A-And I've told you, my name's not 'Chryssie' anymore!)"
Aster gave a light chuckle. "(I see. Then perhaps what you need, first of all, is to acquaint yourself with the others.)" He indicated the other four girls with his flipper. "(All lovely ladies that I'm sure you'll get along with.)"
"(But I-)"
He turned around, heading towards the humans while waving back to Buneary. "(Come. We have much to catch up on, dearest Chrysanthemum.)"
The four girls followed him, chatting and giggling as they went.
Buneary sighed. "(Yeah, I'll... catch up...)" She grumbled to herself. "(And stop calling me that...)"