Chapter Text
Cilan and I left the town and continued on our journey towards Nacrene city. Our next stop along the way was Luxuria town, we were expecting to get there before nightfall, as it’s not supposed to be too far away from the town with Darmanitan and the Darumakas, but we ran into a little hitch in the road.
That hitch, was the three Dwebbles who bullied Cilan’s Dwebble in the anime. They had been resting by the road in their rock homes, but as soon as we walked past them, all three of them moved to attack us. Which is why me and Cilan are now battling side by side in a 2 vs 3 battle.
“Pansage use bullet seed!” “Oshawott, water gun!” Our target smaller Dwebbles each used protect to avoid taking damage from our attacks. As they did so, the biggest one of the group charged forwards whilst using X-Scissor. “Dodge it!” We each called out simultaneously. Oshawott and Pansage stopped their attacks and jumped out of the way of Dwebble’s X-Scissor.
“This is hardly a fair fight.” Cilan commented while gritting his teeth, as Pansage narrowly dodged another X-Scissor from one of the smaller Dwebbles. “You’re right, so let’s even the odds. Snivy come on out!”
Emerging from her pokeball, Snivy took her position between Pansage and Oshawott. “Snivy use Leaf storm, Oshawott use water gun!” “Pansage, solar beam!” Snivy didn’t hesitate to send out her attack alongside Oshawott and Pansage, joining the battle without a second thought, which made me smile brightly.
Our attacks made contact with all three of the bug Pokemon and the troublesome Dwebbles were all sent flying. Now with them out of sight, it was pretty safe to call the battle over. “Thanks for the help Snivy.” I said, while smiling warmly at her. “Sni vy.” She replied quietly and nodded.
“Why don’t we take a quick break?” Cilan suggested after checking over Pansage to make sure that he was okay. “Sounds good.” Moving off of the path, we found a fairly open area near a cliff side to take a break. I brought Tepig out to join the rest of us while we put a pause on our travelling.
Snivy has settled in quite well now and seems much more at ease with everyone. The short battle with those Dwebbles just proved it, after all. Patience was clearly the key to earning her trust. That being said… we haven’t had an official battle together since our gym battle against Cress, and that certainly could have gone a lot better.
When we get to Luxuria town we are definitely heading to the battle club, but some training before then couldn’t hurt. She’s not been too interested in joining our games of tag, so maybe Snivy would prefer some actual battle experience?
Cilan is chopping up a few berries and mixing them into some Pokémon food at the moment, prepping for our team’s dinner tonight I suspect. Although Tepig certainly doesn’t seem to agree with that assessment, given that he’s circling around Cilan’s feet and giving him what I can only describe as puppy dog eyes.
I don’t know if this fixation on food is going to end up being permanent with Tepig or not, but right now it’s fairly safe to say that; wherever the food is, Tepig will be right there with it.
Pansage and Snivy have been getting along really well, whether that’s due to them both being grass types or Pansage’s welcoming personality I’m not sure. But I’m glad that Snivy has made a friend in the group. I’m not sure how Snivy feels about Oshawott yet, but she seems to like Tepig at least.
Speaking of Tepig, “Tepig. Don’t even think about it.” I called out in a fairly stern tone to the little fire type. Tepig turned around to face me, looking rather sheepish at having been caught. Cilan was packing the food away into containers and Tepig had been attempting to climb up onto the table to pinch some.
Letting out a chuckle, my green haired friend crouched down to my fire type and offered him an oran berry. “You can’t have the Pokemon food, but there’s no harm in having a small berry snack.” “Te pig!” He cheered as he grabbed the berry from Cilan and practically inhaled it.
I let out a soft sigh at the sight. Eating fast is almost certainly going to be a permanent instinct for my fire type, I just hope that he doesn’t choke or hurt himself when he does. Walking over, I stroked Tepig on the back once he finished his berry. “You don’t have to eat so fast you know? No one’s going to take food away from you.” I reminded him gently. “Tepig?”
I gave him a pat on the ears as I smiled at him. Cilan packed up the rest of the food and began putting everything else back into his bag, clearly ready to get moving again.
“Hey, Cilan?” Cilan turned to look at me after I addressed him. “Would you and Pansage be up for a battle?” I allowed a challenging grin to sweep across my face as I finished asking my important question.
My travel companion gave me his full attention. “Of course. Battling against you and Oshawott was a treat. Is this perhaps another way you’re going to train for the Nacrene Gym?” Nodding my head while smiling, I replied, “I need to get more battle experience before I challenge my second gym. So when we get to Luxuria town the first thing I’d like to do is head towards the Battle Club and challenge some new trainers. But, before I do that, I need to work on battling side by side with Snivy.” Snivy turned her attention away from Pansage and was now listening to our conversation intently.
“Hmm. I must say, your battle against Cress was rather one sided.” “Yeah. And that’s my fault, I went into that battle with too much confidence in Snivy’s raw strength. That battle was our first time working together, and it showed. We need to get more experience as partners before we challenge the Nacrene Gym.” Cilan nodded in understanding.
Since Cilan is both a gym leader and a Pokémon connoisseur, he should be able to point out any mistakes I make during the battle too. “Would you mind keeping an eye out during our battle for anything we may need to improve on?” “I’d be happy to.”
After sorting out our belongings, Tepig and Oshawott chose to sit by our bags, Cilan and I were on opposite sides of the field with our respective grass types by our sides. “Okay Snivy, let’s do this!”
“You and Snivy may have the first move Holly.” Cilan announced like the gentleman he is. “Pan pan sage.”
“Alright Snivy, use leaf storm!” Snivy glanced at me from the corner of her eyes before she began twirling in place and sent forth a barrage of leaves towards our grass monkey opponent.
“Dodge it with Dig!” Pansage ducked beneath our attack into the ground and disappeared from our line of sight.
“Get ready to jump away at a moment notice Snivy.” I called out to her in warning, well aware that Pansage would attempt to strike her from below. Snivy remained stock still, clearly attempting to sense where Pansage was going to emerge from.
“Pansage!” “Sni!” Pansage punched up through the ground, and just like that, Snivy was sent flying into the air. “Snivy! Are you okay?” Snivy struggled back to her feet where she landed and nodded her head. “Okay, then use tackle!”
“Bullet seed!” As Snivy charged forwards, Pansage shot out a large amount of grass seeds towards her, Snivy managed to dodge and weave through them and strike the monkey with her attack. “Great! Now use leaf storm!”
Spinning in place, Snivy sent out a barrage of leaves once more. “Dodge it Pansage!” Cilan shouted out from his spot on the field. Pansage ducked underneath our attack and rolled out of the way, but ended up being closer to Snivy than before. ‘Oh no.’
“Time for Bite!” The grass monkey didn’t hesitate to open his mouth and latch onto Snivy’s head. He moved too fast for me to process everything in time and give Snivy a command. ‘Dammit! Since battles aren’t turn based, commands need to be quick off the bat! I’m failing her right now!’
“Shake him off Snivy!” Snivy jumped around while rapidly shaking her head, but Pansage remained fixated in place. “Grrr, fine then! Use vine whip and force him off of you!” “Sni vy!” Snivy screamed out determinedly as her vines emerged from her neck area and smacked Pansage off of her.
“Pansage! Are you okay?” Cilan quickly asked as his partner skidded to his side. “Pan sage.” The grass type nodded in acknowledgement. “Good. Now use dig!” “Don’t let Pansage get underground! Use leaf storm!”
As Pansage started digging, Snivy’s leaf storm bombarded him from above and in a moment that truly showcased Snivy’s intelligence, Snivy directed her attack to follow Pansage down his hole, forcing Pansage back above ground through another opening. Whilst he was still in the air, I shouted out to my grass snake, “Jump up using the trees and strike him with tackle!”
“Steady yourself and use bulletseed!” Cilan gave his own command as Snivy jumped up in the air to meet Pansage head on.
My grass type went straight through Pansage’s bullet seed in order to strike him. When each of them landed on the ground, it was clear that they’d both taken a lot of damage. All of that damage and fast movements was clearly catching up to Snivy as her small body began to pant.
‘She’s getting tired, I can’t let this battle drag on any longer!’ “Great job, now use vine whip!” Vines shot out from her body and flew towards Pansage. “Block it.” Cilan ordered, surprising me. ‘Did he not recognise how much damage his own partner has already taken?!’ Pansage held his paws in front of his face and took the vine whip head on, but managed to remain on his feet.
Snivy had begun to move in closer, clearly wanting to attack head on again, but something in Cilan’s gaze stopped me from giving her a command. He was smiling. Pansage brought his arms down, and he was wearing a matching grin, that was when I saw it. The leaves on his head were glowing! They’d been charging up a solar beam!
“Snivy get out of there!” Snivy looked back at me in shock and didn’t move.
“It’s too late for that! Pansage it’s time for solar beam!” My grass snake looked to have caught on to the danger and attempted to put some distance between her and our opponent. But the light emanated from Pansage’s paws extremely fast and gained on her in less than a second.
‘She’s too close!’ “Snivy!” I shouted worriedly as the mass amount of light struck her and sent her into a nearby tree.
When the light faded, Snivy was laying on her stomach with swirls in her eyes. “Snivy!” I ran towards her immediately, desperate to check on her. “Excellent job Pansage.” Cilan praised his partner as I reached my own.
“Snivy are you okay?” My voice was subdued as I picked her up into my arms. Her eyes soon returned to normal and she seemed to wince a little before speaking. “Sni vy.” “You did great Snivy. Take a long rest okay?” I kept up my smile until I had returned her to her pokeball, that was when I allowed it to fall away.
What was I doing wrong? I thought the results of our battle with Cress was due to us not really knowing each other that well and me not having Snivy’s trust. But… yesterday we took quite a big step forwards in our relationship. She’s definitely more comfortable with me now than she was, so… it’s obviously something else.
‘Is it me? Am I the problem? Snivy didn’t have any issues with Ash back in the anime. And she never hesitated to follow his commands during battle either. Whilst she didn’t hesitate nearly as much in this battle compared to the one we had against Cress, it still didn’t feel like we were truly in sync…’
“Holly?” Cilan’s voice was calm yet cautious as he called out to me. Realising that I was still kneeling next to the tree, despite Snivy being back inside her pokeball I quickly stood back up and wiped any of my worries away from my face. “Yeah, thanks Cilan. You and Pansage were in total sync.” I said, trying to push genuine cheer into my voice. I don’t think I did a very good job, but Cilan had the courtesy to not call me out on it.
He paused for a moment before he replied to me, “We were. But, I can’t say the same for you and Snivy.” A frown overtook my face before I could stop it. ‘Arguing with him would be pointless, what he said is very true. After all, I noticed it as well.’ Instead of responding I simply nodded my head in agreement with his statement.
“You said that your battle with Cress was the first time you and Snivy worked together as a team?” “Yes it was.” “Then, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you obtain Snivy?” His question took me aback at first, but after thinking for a moment I realised that I hadn’t actually told him how I met her. I’d told him about Tepig and Oshawott, but not Snivy.
Sitting down on the grass, both Tepig and Oshawott rushed over and jumped into my lap, making their individual attempts to get comfortable in spite of the other trying to do the same. Cilan took a seat opposite me, his Pansage now inside of his own pokeball. “I met Snivy just outside of Striaton City. We had ventured off of the main path in order to train for the Striaton gym and stumbled across her. It took us quite a few tries in order to catch her since she was so intelligent and powerful.” Tepig and Oshawott finally settled in my lap and stopped pushing each other around in order to get comfortable.
“So Snivy was wild?” “Yes, she was.” I clarified. “I’m fairly certain that she abandoned her previous trainer due to her rather advanced move set.” Cilan hummed thoughtfully. Since he wasn’t saying anything, I continued speaking. “Snivy was very wary of us when we first got back to the Pokemon centre, but she seems to be doing better than she was.”
“I’d certainly say that she’s comfortable around you all, yes. But in terms of battling…” Cilan appeared to trail off. “What about it?” I prompted him, hoping that he’d have the answers. “Since Snivy had a trainer before you, and then spent some time out in the wild, I imagine that she’s already cultivated a battling style that works for her. Perhaps attempting to change that style to better suit yours isn’t working very well.”
My eyes widened as what he was saying registered in my head. “Snivy is trying to adapt to my battling style? I didn’t think I even had one.” Cilan raised an eyebrow at me. “As far as I can tell, your style appears to be focused on cycling between your Pokémon’s special attacks and physical attacks in order to get up close to your opponent, then use the strongest move in your Pokémon’s arsenal to finish the battle. Whether that be a special move or a physical one.”
“I didn’t think that was a strategy. That’s just what makes the most sense to me. The closer you are, the more damage you can do.” “Whilst it is vague and not as detailed as other strategies I’ve come across, it is a strategy you’re using.” He continued.
“So… you think that my strategy and Snivy’s… isn’t compatible?” My voice was quiet and reserved as I spoke. ‘If our strategies aren’t compatible, then… does that mean that we aren’t compatible?’
“Perhaps, but I don’t think that’s the case.” Cilan replied in a firm tone of voice. “I can see that Snivy is trying to adapt to your natural strategy and I do think that during that battle she was doing quite a good job. I think the issue is more to do with you.”
I tensed immediately at his observation. ‘Damn it. I’m screwing things up. Maybe Ash would have been a better trainer for her…’
“Tep ig?” “Osha?” Oshawott and Tepig were looking up at me in concern. I placed each of my hands on top of their heads whilst Cilan quickly continued speaking, having seen my reaction. “I didn’t mean to imply that you’re a bad trainer. What I meant was, that I think you need to adapt your strategy for her as well. So that the two of you meet in the middle.”
My eyes met his once more and he truly did seem to believe his own words. “Her strategy?” He nodded his head. “I’d say so. Given that she has more experience in battling than you do, I’d say it’s reasonable for the two of you to meet in the middle when working together.”
‘It makes sense. I’ve barely been in this world for 2 weeks. Snivy definitely has more experience than me when it comes to battling. But in terms of a strategy, how am I supposed to know what hers is?’
Seeing the obvious confusion on my face, Cilan continued. “When you attempted to catch her, how did she fight you off those first few times? You said that it took you a couple of tries.”
“She’d use her attract on Tepig to stop us from attacking, then either attack us or use leaf storm to get away.” Cilan sent me a small smirk, looking quite proud of himself. “Wait… that was her strategy?!” “If she used it repeatedly. I’d say so.”
‘She did. That was what she did in the anime as well. She’d prevent her opponents attacking her with attract, then she’d fight back when they were vulnerable, and if she couldn’t win quickly, she’d use her leaf storm as a smokescreen to flee the fight without any issues.’
‘I’ve hardly been using attract at all! Attract is such an integral part of her strategy and I’ve either been ignoring it or using it way too late in the battle! …It’s probably because I hardly used status moves during the Pokemon games and naturally leaned towards the attacking moves in the turn based system. But I can’t do that here. In this world, there is no turn based play. Status moves aren’t a hinderance, they can be overpowered if we use them right!’
“I have a feeling we’ll be staying here for a while longer so I’m going to start on dinner.” My travel companion announced and stood up, heading back over to our bags. “Sure.” I briefly acknowledged what he had said before immediately turning to Tepig and Oshawott. “Will you two help me out please?”
“Tepig.” “Oshawott.” They nodded their heads and I grinned down at them, finally having a solid idea on how to work together with Snivy.
Tepig, Oshawott and I moved away from the area Cilan and I had had our battle, so that we could be ‘alone’, so to speak. I wanted to work with Snivy away from prying eyes. Well, Cilan’s…
That was mainly due to what I had to do to make this right. Oshawott and Tepig were charging at each other with their tackle attacks in the background, whereas I was now face to face with my little grass snake, who was gazing up at me with obvious confusion.
“Snivy.” I addressed her as I crouched down to better reach her eyes. “I owe you an apology.” Snivy’s eyes widened as she took in my words, clearly not expecting this. “Our battle with Pansage and Cilan helped me realise that I’ve been pushing my own battling style onto you without taking into consideration that you have actually developed a battling style of your own. I’ve been neglecting you when I was supposed to be supporting you as your partner. And I’m very sorry for that. Our losses, all fall on me, not you…” Not being able to handle her intense gaze any longer, I allowed my eyes to fall to her feet. “I’m sorry Snivy. I promise that if you give me another chance, I will work with you and incorporate your style into my own. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
A small green hand touched my lower arm, making me look back up and meet Snivy’s gaze once more. For the first time since catching Snivy, the grass snake was actually full on grinning at me. “Snivy Sni.” She spoke while nodding her head in a confident manner, obviously acknowledging my apology and agreeing to giving me the opportunity to make this right.
“Thank you Snivy!” A grin took over my own face. “Okay, then let’s get some practice in merging our styles.” Snivy nodded her head as we both looked over to our two very fired up team members.
~Timeskip~
“Snivy use vine whip!” Her vines shot out towards Tepig immediately. “Osha Osha!” Oshawott shouted from the sidelines as Tepig narrowly dodged our attack. “Now use Attract!” I called out swiftly, seeing that Tepig was still slightly off balance from the fast dodge.
Spinning in place, Snivy blinked and sent out a barrage of pink hearts towards the fire type. Tepig attempted to jump out of the way, but the hearts were travelling too fast for him to be able to, they made contact and Tepig was overcome by the attract. Pink hearts entirely taking over his eyes as he shuffled side to side and admired Snivy.
“Now Snivy, use tackle!” “Sni.” Snivy charged towards Tepig with a smile on her face. Making direct contact, she threw Tepig to the ground. My fire type rolled away from her for a bit, then the attract wore off as he immediately got back to his feet and snorted out some fire from his snout.
“Excellent!” I called out, praising both of them. Oshawott walked back over to Tepig’s side and patted him on the head as his tail wagged happily. I turned to Snivy who was smiling at me, “That was great! I think we were in total sync that time! What did you think?” I questioned her, wanting to get her thoughts. The grass type nodded her head firmly in my direction while the small smile remained on her face. I grinned back at her, before I could say anything else, a shout from Cilan drew our attention.
“Dinner’s ready!” The green haired connoisseur was standing on the sidelines watching us all with a proud look on his face. Of course hearing the promise of food, Tepig darted off towards our camp, running right past Cilan in his effort to reach the food first. Oshawott shook her head fondly before running off after the fire type. “Thanks Cilan.” I made sure to respond to him as Cilan turned around and followed my Pokemon.
Just as I was about to begin walking, I felt a pressure on my leg, looking down, Snivy was tentatively touching me looking slightly nervous. I opened my mouth to ask what she wanted, but a look of determination crossed over her face, and the next thing I knew, Snivy had climbed up my body and was situating herself across my shoulders.
A giggle forced its way past my lips before I could attempt to stop it. Snivy glanced at me warily so I just sent her a bright smile and patted her head with my right hand, making her fully relax against me. Then together, we made our way back to camp to enjoy our dinner.
It was late now, we’d been practising together for quite a while, Oshawott and Tepig took turns being our opponents as Snivy and I figured out a battling style that worked for us. For now, I think we’ve reached one that will be successful in real battles, but we won’t know for sure until we actually take part in one.
Which is why, come the next morning, Snivy and I were stood opposite Cilan and Pansage on the very same field we had battled on the previous day, except, this time, me and my grass type were a lot more confident in each other’s abilities.
“You may have the first move, Holly.” Cilan offered just like yesterday. “Got it. Ready Snivy?” I grinned. Snivy’s eyes met mine and she smirked ever so slightly, signifying her willingness to begin. “Alright, then use tackle!”
Snivy darted forwards without a second of hesitation, showcasing her full speed to Cilan and Pansage for the first time. “Dodge it Pansage!” Cilan called out, but Pansage had no time to react and got thrown backwards in an instant. “Attract!” I shouted as soon as Pansage was on the ground.
Spinning in place, Snivy sent out her barrage of pink hearts towards the grass monkey. Since Pansage was still struggling to his feet, he wasn’t fully balanced, which meant that he didn’t have the footing in place to leap away from our status move. “Pansage use dig!” The monkey’s paw hit the ground and he began digging under the field but it was too late. The hearts circled and collided into him, and when his head popped back out of the small hole he had managed to dig, his eyes were taken over by giant pink hearts.
A wide smile took over my face, “Use vine whip!” Vines shot out from Snivy’s neck and proceeded to smack Pansage around multiple times. “Pansage snap out of it!” Cilan shouted, his voice sounding more desperate than before. “Don’t let up, use tackle!” Snivy quickly collided head first into Pansage, shoving the monkey back on the ground.
Pansage wobbled back to his feet, still looking lovestruck, so I called out “Leaf storm!” ‘We need to do as much damage a possible while Pansage is incapacitated. And the moment attract wears off we need to create an opening to reapply it.’
Snivy’s leaves flew into Pansage, hitting him multiple times, but when the leaf storm faded, Pansage was much more steady. The reason for that quickly became obvious. “Alright Pansage, use dig!” Pansage dug smacked his paws against the ground with focus in his eyes, quickly digging out of sight and disappearing through the hole he created.
‘Attract wore off!’ “Snivy use your speed! Don’t stand in one spot!” Snivy took off running and began darting around our make shift battle field. ‘Dig is a slow move, so there is no way Pansage will be able to catch us when we are utilising our full speed!’
As expected, Pansage punched up through the ground behind Snivy, having missed her body by 50cm or so. “Now turn around and use tackle!” Snivy pivoted on her feet and leaped straight towards Pansage, but instead of going in head first like tackle required, her body was angled to smack Pansage with her tail.
My initial confusion quickly shifted into absolute joy as Snivy’s tail began to glow bright green. ‘She’s using leaf blade! Snivy learnt leaf blade! Alright!’
Leaf blade struck Pansage right in the face and instantly threw him into a nearby tree. “Pan…” Falling to the ground, swirls appeared in Pansage’s eyes, signifying that he had fainted. Snivy was standing tall on the field, her tail swaying side to side at a very gentle pace.
“Yes! You did it Snivy! We won!” I shouted as I ran towards her. Snivy turned towards me just as I scooped her up into my arms and hugged her. It was only when I actually had her in my arms that the realisation came to my mind. I’ve never actually hugged her before, I wasn’t certain that she’d be comfortable with it so I’ve always refrained in the past. And now I was holding her without ever asking if this was okay or not! Don’t tell me I’ve screwed this up already!
Before I could continue second guessing myself, I felt Snivy completely relax into me and press herself against my chest, much like Tepig did when he was content being held.
A breath of relief escaped me as a smile crossed my face and I hugged her just a little tighter. “You were incredible.” I whispered to her, pride evident in my voice.
Cilan walked over to us with his Pansage now on his shoulder and he was clapping his hands together. “That was an excellent battle. The pair of you truly worked together as a team.” He complimented us.
“Thanks Cilan.” Snivy turned around in my grip and nodded towards the connoisseur as I thanked him. Oshawott and Tepig ran towards us from the sidelines whilst cheering. “Tepig Tepig Tepig!” “Osha Osha Oshawott!”
“And learning a new move as well. What a marvellous new flavour! I look forward to watching the two of you grow even closer.”
“We will. Won’t we Snivy.” I spoke with confidence as I gazed down at my grass type. Snivy sent a small smile up at me and nodded her head. “Snivy.”