Author's note: Howdy hey! It's drabble time!

This drabble comes from one of the many episodes that featured a tiny PikaBun hint that just begged to be expanded upon. Expect more of those in future!

Speaking of which, I wanted to start making updates faster, but long one-shots take a while to make. So I decided to write a string of drabbles for a while! Suggestions welcome!

Of course, for a drabble, it would need to be an idea that's small and non-detailed, so there purposely isn't much I can do with it. Like a... mistletoe one-shot, I guess. XP Heck, I'll even allow suggestions like that, since I'm feeling generous.

I have bigger one-shots in development, but (like I said) they take a lot of effort to complete. XP Especially the more character-driven ones.

Either way, hope you enjoy the drabble!

Best mistake of the day: "Hey, good thanks for catching the [slight spoiler]!"

(Good thanks! Not bad thanks. Bad thanks is for Team Rocket only.)

Taking Shape

Lined up along the width of the corridor, Sudowoodo, Staravia, Turtwig, Aipom, Piplup, Buneary and Pachirisu stood to attention. Opposite them, Ash, Dawn and Brock tilted their heads, humming in deep thought.

"Just one pokémon, huh?" Ash asked.

Buneary smiled hopefully. Earlier, she'd heard all she'd needed to hear, when their trainers had been talking about a dress-up contest. One where the chosen pokémon had to dress up as another pokémon. First prize was apparently a mystery pokémon egg.

It sounded fun, actually! She hoped Dawn picked her! Though she had no idea what kind of pokémon she could dress up as. Another rabbit, maybe? A plusle? A minun? Maybe a spinda, if that counted? Though how would she imitate the swirly eyes?

She watched as Ash tried to decide who to pick for his own entry. Who knew what thoughts were running through the boy's head, but he was starting to look a bit stressed.

She paused, staring down at Ash's feet. Wait, why was Pikachu over there and not in the line-up? Did Ash have no intention of using him?

Well... that was a shame. In her humble opinion, the mouse was too attractive not to be the star of a dress-up contest. She beamed and waved at him, to try and make him feel better about not being picked. He smiled and waved back, causing a happy warmth to surge through her.

Gosh. She hadn't known him for very long at all, but he made her heart flutter with every smile. Especially when he was doing something amazingly cool at the same time, like catching a potato, or taking out an onix, both while spinning in the most jaw-droppingly awesome way. It made her melt every time.

That being said, though, she supposed she didn't know much about him as a person. If he turned out to have an amazing personality, too, then...

... Well, then, he'd just be the perfect man.

Hmm. Maybe that was too much to hope for, but one could dream!

Suddenly, Ash fell to his hands and knees with a thump, surprising her.

"Man!" he yelled in frustration. "It's too hard to dress 'em up to look like other pokémon!"

Wow, it seemed he was really stressed. He had no idea what to do at all, did he? Did none of them really look remotely like anything else?

Or was Ash just really bad at this?

"(Hey,)" Pikachu said from next to him, "(Ash.)"

Every head turned to look at him. Buneary was intrigued. What was the cute, hunky mouse about to say?

He put his paws behind his back, puffing out his chest in a rather smug way. She widened her eyes. She'd never seen him make that expression before.

"(Aren't we forgetting someone?)" he continued.

Ash pushed himself up into a kneeling position. "Are you saying you wanna give it a shot?" he asked.

Pikachu smacked a paw to his chest. "(Of course. I'm a pro at this.)"

Ash sat back, folding both his arms and legs. "It's not enough just to change your colour a little bit, so you look like a raichu or a pichu, remember?"

"(Ha.)" Pikachu waggled his finger at Ash, looking more smug than ever. "(Watch and learn, kid.)"

Buneary's eyes widened even more. Holy moly. That mouse's attractiveness points had just doubled. She had no idea he could look so manly!

Putting his hand to his head, Pikachu flattened his ears, opened his mouth wide and scrunched his eyes shut. "(Woooobbuffet!)"

Buneary blinked in surprise, momentarily losing her train of thought. Whoa. Actually, that was a pretty good impression. She'd had no idea he could do that!

Pulling on his mouth, he widened it, as his ears curled around into circles. "(Loudred!)"

... Whoa. He could stretch?!

She watched as he held his breath, inflated like a balloon and crossed his ears to make them look smaller. Was that a jigglypuff?! How the heck was he doing that?!

Releasing the breath, he pulled his face into an oval shape. Now he looked like a seviper!

She was stunned. She'd thought he'd just be imitating other pokémon's postures and cries, but he could imitate their body shapes, too?!

He stood on all fours, stretching out his mouth, pulling in his tail and pressing his ears together. Now he looked like a mudkip!

Pulling his legs closer together, he curled his ears around his head. Now he was a lotad!

Wow. Was there nothing this mouse couldn't do?! She watched in fascination, wondering what shape he'd turn into next.

He stood up on one foot, tucked his tail almost all the way in, lifted up the lower half of his body and let one ear droop.

"(Buneary~!)" he said.

... Wait. Had... he just... imitated her?!

She was utterly speechless. Her heart was doing somersaults in her chest. In shock. In awe. In adoration. In flattery.

He'd nailed the look perfectly. She could hardly believe it. Not only could he mould his body shape to look like hers, but he knew enough about her body shape to be able to copy it!

It meant he'd paid attention to her!

... Yep. His attractiveness points had just tripled.

"Wow!" Ash said, impressed. "I think you could end up winning the whole thing!"

She watched Pikachu drop the lower half of his body. He tucked in his arms, inflated his body slightly, squinted his eyes and curled his ears around each other. Now he looked like a budew!

Standing up, Ash dramatically punched the sky. "Pikachu... you're it!"

Returning his shape to normal, Pikachu put his paws behind his back, his smug smile back in place. "(Naturally,)" he replied.

Good lord, he was so cool.

"Okay, Piplup," Dawn said, pumping a fist, "you're it, too!"

"(Yay~!)" Piplup cheered happily. "(I'm it!)"

Welp, it seemed Buneary hadn't been picked, after all. Not that she really minded. After Pikachu's performance, he deserved to win the whole thing!

"Let's see..." Brock said from nearby. "... I choose Croagunk!"

Okay, they'd made their choices. Now it was time for the dress-up contest! Buneary couldn't help but be excited.

Sometime later, a lot had happened. Apparently, the two contestants known as Cathreen Jesseburn and Jameson had actually been Jessie and James of Team Rocket, and they'd tried to run off with the mystery egg.

Now standing outside the building, the pink egg held safely between her paws, Buneary watched as Pikachu blasted Team Rocket's hot air balloon with a Thunderbolt. Their screams rang out across the field as the balloon exploded, sending them soaring off into the sky.

Buneary turned back to the group, only to be surprised at the sight of Pikachu running towards her on all fours.

He stopped in front of her, stood up and beamed. "(Hey, thanks for catching the egg!)" he said. "(You made some impressive height there!)"

She beamed back, her face warming in joy. "(No problem!)" she replied. She jolted as she thought of something. "(Oh yeah! And good luck in the contest! You'll kill it, for sure!)"

He laughed, puffing out his chest proudly. "(Well...)"

"(Aww, I can't believe you lost!)" Buneary said, pouting.

Glancing over at Brock, she watched as he gently placed the incubator on the dinner table, admiring the pink egg sitting inside it.

From next to her, Pikachu chuckled. "(Yeah...)" he replied. "(I thought for sure I had it, but... well, Croagunk's the only one who stayed in-character during that whole Team Rocket debacle.)"

"(Still!)" She looked back at him. "(You can stretch! Change shape! Even if that... language-copying meowth and that... move-copying mime. jr. weren't from Team Rocket... you'd have still beaten them, easily!)"

He blinked at her. "(Oh?)" He huffed, proudly puffing his chest out. "(Well, I guess so. My ability is pretty amazing, after all.)"

Oh gosh, she felt herself swooning again. All of her annoyance immediately drained away, replaced by a beaming smile and a starry gaze.

Piplup, who'd been walking past, stopped next to them. "(I'm pretty sure the audience liked Meowth better,)" he said. "(Even the announcer praised him. He might have won if he hadn't been stupid and stolen the egg.)

Buneary frowned at him. "(No way!)" she retorted. "(Pikachu's was way better!)"

"(You're just biased.)"

"(Not even!)" She paused. "(Also, what the heck was that, with the Bubble Beam thing? You ruined your whole performance!)"

Piplup slumped dejectedly. "(... I got a bit carried away...)" With a heavy sigh, he trudged off.

Buneary shrugged at his foolishness. "(Oy...)" Turning her attention back to Pikachu, she beamed again. "(Anyway! Just how do you do that stretching thing, anyway? It's soooo cool!)"

He blinked. "(Huh? Oh, well...)" He smiled sheepishly, his face slightly red. "(I've always been able to do it, really. Not sure why... Heh. Maybe I'm related to a ditto, or something.)"

"(Yeah, maybe!)"

He rubbed the back of his head. "(I guess I get a little full of myself over it. I'm... fairly proud of it, I guess.)"

"(And you should be proud of it! I wish I could stretch like you!)"

"(Heh.)" He rubbed a finger under his nose in a cocky manner. "(Well...)"

"(Keep being you and keep being great!)" She danced around happily, gazing at him in utter adoration. "(And I'll be cheering for you all the way, you... you...!)" A thousand adjectives came to mind, though most of them were rather embarrassing, so she settled on a simple one. "(Amazing mouse, you!)"

He looked surprised, his face reddening further. "(Oh... well... thanks!)" He went back to sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "(It's kinda nice having a personal cheerleader.)"

"(Then expect me to cheer for you more!)"

"(Heh. Sounds cool.)" He paused. "(Embarrassing... but cool.)"

"Lunch is ready, everyone!" Brock suddenly called out.

"(Ooh, food!)" Buneary said excitedly. "(Come on, champ! Let's get you fed!)"

Pikachu chuckled bashfully, though he still looked somewhat smug. "(Sure thing.)"

The End