Author's notes: Hey, guys!

This is it! The final instalment of this saga! Whoo!

Now I can work on other fics that people probably won't like as much. XD Whoo...

Anyway, hope you like it and peace out!

Chapter Seven: New Life

"How about the Arcane Area?" Oshawott asked.

"What, to see more trees and flowers?" Snivy replied, smirking. "No, I wanna go to the Tech Area."

He raised an eyebrow. "The Tech Area? What, you wanna go back to the Unawarehouse?"

"Oh, heck no. The Train Depot."

He gave her an odd look. "You wanna look at trains for our first date?"

She put her hands on her hips, looking smug. "What? The sunset looks really nice from there."

He stared at her for a few moments, then shook his head. "I still say we should go to the Arcane Area. It even has a lake and flowers and-"

"Nyeh nyeh nyeh. Tech Area."

"Arcane Area."

"Tech Area."

"Arcane Area."

She lightly shoved him. "Tech Area."

Smirking slightly, he lightly shoved her back. "Arcane Area."

"Well, they're getting along well..." Pikachu said with an exasperated smile.

"They sure are!" Piplup agreed.

"Though I think they'll be at this for a while..." Tepig replied.

"Seems like it..." Pikachu said.

After a moment, he turned to look off into the distance. The distance where she was probably waiting.

"... You wanna go back?" Piplup asked.

"To the other PokéPark? Yeah, I think it's about time."

"Aww, you're leaving?" Tepig asked.

"Wait, you are?" Oshawott asked.

Pikachu turned to look at his friends' three surprised faces. He nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "I think it's time to go."

"You'll come visit us again, right?" Snivy asked.

Pikachu smiled. "Of course we will! Right, Piplup?"

"Yeah, of course!" Piplup replied. "And hey, maybe, next time, we'll be able to bring Buneary along!"

"Hey, yeah!" Tepig replied. "It'd be cool, finally seeing your mate!"

Pikachu chuckled. "Yeah, we'll see about that," he replied.

"Come on!" Piplup said. "Let's head to the balloon!"

As Pikachu and Piplup settled into the basket of their pikachu balloon, their three friends smiled up at them.

"Well..." Oshawott said, "thanks for everything, Pikachu." He held Snivy's hand for emphasis.

"Heh," Pikachu replied, smiling back, "no problem."

"Yeah," Snivy said, smirking, "seems your advice worked, in a roundabout way."

Oshawott bumped into her lightly with his shoulder. Her smirk increased.

"Well," Tepig said, "see you when we see you, Pikachu! Piplup!"

"Yeah!" Piplup replied. "Bye, you guys!"

"I'm sure we'll be back!" Pikachu added.

"You'd better come back," Oshawott replied, smiling.

"We will!"

Nodding in agreement, Piplup began to tinker with the balloon's machinery. After a short while, it started to rise into the air.

Pikachu waved down to his friends as they began to get smaller and smaller.

"Bye, guys!"

"Bye!" Oshawott called out, waving.

"See you around!" Snivy called out, also waving.

"Say hi to Buneary for us!" Tepig called out, jumping up and down.

"I will!" Pikachu replied.

"Bye!" Piplup called out.

Eventually, they were out of sight. Pikachu let out a breath of air. It had been a long adventure, but it was finally over.

Walking over to the other side of the balloon, he put his paws on the basket and excitedly looked out on the horizon. He had someone he couldn't wait to see again.

Finally, they were here.

As the basket touched down in the Meeting Place, Pikachu couldn't contain his excitement. Especially once all the pokémon started greeting him. It'd been two months too long.

"Welcome back!" Charmander said as they jumped out of the basket. "You two have fun?"

"We sure did!" Piplup replied.

Chikorita hopped up and down in excitement. "Ooh, I can't wait for you to tell us all about it!" she said.

"Yeah," Pikachu replied, "we've got quite the story to tell!" Looking around, he spotted something. The whole world stopped around him.

She was running towards him.

"Lightning Striiiike!" she called out happily.

A beaming smile spread all the way across his face. "Buneary!" He rushed forward, embracing her in a hug. "Oh, it's been so long! I missed you! How have you been? And why are you in the Mee-?" He paused. "... Wait. 'Lightning Strike'?" He pulled away from her, eyeing her suspiciously. "... You're not her at all, are you?"

Her beaming face melted into a sassy expression. "Heh. You got me."

He playfully rolled his eyes. "Tsk... Buneary..." Trust her sister to masquerade as her, now of all times.

She sniggered. "Seriously, though... if you want my sis, she's waiting for you in the Meadow Zone."

He sighed, giving her an exasperated smile. "Thanks..." He looked back at his friends. "Well, I'll see you guys in a bit, okay?"

Charmander smirked at him. "Yeah, sure," he replied.

Chikorita beamed happily, her red eyes sparkling. "Have fun~!" she added.

Pikachu chuckled sheepishly. "I will," he replied.

Getting on all fours, he ran in the direction of the Meadow Zone.

It felt like so long ago when he'd last run down this path. He could have taken Drifblim, but it was oddly nostalgic doing it this way. Plus it was suspenseful. His heart was racing just at the thought of seeing a certain someone again.

Along the way, he was greeted by many pokémon, all of which seemed to have missed him. It would be fun to play with them all again. Maybe he'd race a few in Bulbasaur's Daring Dash.

For now, though...

As he entered a very familiar area, he saw exactly what he'd been looking for. She was chatting to one of the pachirisu brothers.

Her ear twitched as he approached.

Turning towards the noise, her eyes locked onto his.

Her face broke into a wide, beaming smile.

"Pikachu!" she cried.

He couldn't help beaming, too. "Buneary!" he cried back, still running towards her.

At the last second, he jumped back onto his hind legs and embraced her in a hug.

They held the hug for a long moment.

"Aww, how cute!" Pachirisu said gleefully. "I'll leave you two alone!" There was a pattering of feet as he ran off elsewhere.

Normally, Pikachu would blush in embarrassment from a comment like that, but he was far too immersed in the moment to really care.

"Ohhh, I missed you!" Buneary said. "It's been so long!"

"Yeah, it has!" he replied.

They parted, both with beaming smiles on their faces.

"You won't believe the adventures I've been on!" Buneary said excitedly.

"Oh, me too! I can't wait to tell you about them!"

"I can't wait to hear about them!"

"And I can't wait to hear about yours! You rode Latias up to the Sky Pavilion?!"

Buneary gasped loudly. "How did you know about that?!"

"Mew! He visited me in a dream and told me!"

"No way!"

"Yeah way!"

"He visited me, too!"

Pikachu gasped. "Really?!"

"Yeah! He said you'd taken down a super-powered darkrai!"

"Yeah, I did!"

"Wow!"

"Wow..."

There was a pause as both of them processed this.

She gave him a gentle smile. "We should go on a date later and talk about it. What do you think?"

He beamed. "Sure thing! Where did you wanna go?"

She put a paw to her chin in thought. "Hmm..." She smiled. "Maybe the Flower Zone again!"

His eyes widened. "Did you get over your fear of heights?"

She grinned wider. "Pretty much!"

He grinned back. "Alright, then, it's settled. Then I can tell you all about the other PokéPark!" He paused. "Then, maybe... you'd wanna visit it someday?"

She giggled. "Sure thing."

"Great!" He paused again as he remembered something. "Oh! Right. I said I'd go back and tell Charmander and Chikorita, too..." He gave her a guilty look.

She giggled again. "Well, how about you tell us all at once, then? Then we can go on our date!"

He chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah, sure." He lightly gripped her paw in his own. A lovely warmth filled him at the touch. He gestured in the direction of the Meeting Place. "Shall we?"

"We shall!"

The two of them slowly made their way through the Meadow Zone, paw-in-paw. Along the way, Pikachu looked up at the blue sky, smiling to himself.

He should visit Mew later, too, just to give the legendary the answer to his question. The question about going back home.

He lightly chuckled to himself. Averting his gaze back to his mate, who was walking alongside him with the biggest smile on her face, his gaze softened.

Yeah, Mew didn't need to worry about that.

... Because he was home.

The End