Hey there!
A Witch and Her Bulwark will be a series of stories exploring the relationship of my Chespin, Theodore, and my girlfriend's Braixen, Bellatrix. Some entries will be short fluff pieces, others will be more serious tales that span multiple chapters. These are meant to be important snippets of their relationship, but they will not be written in chronological order; some days I'll feel like writing a chapter from Theodore's adulthood as a Chesnaught, and then I may write a chapter the very next week that jumps back to his youth as a Chespin.
This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, Pokemon-related or otherwise, so I'd love some criticism, constructive or not! I hope you enjoy reading the first entry in this series, and don't be afraid to leave a review if you'd like to help me improve!
It hadn't been all that long since Theodore's trainer released him from his pokeball to roam around the park, sending him off with a pat on the head and a quick scratch behind the quills. These meetings between the two trainers seemed to be getting all the more frequent, and the small Chespin wasn't entirely sure why his Papa saw fit to have so many of these get-togethers with that woman he was always seeing, but he didn't truly mind. After all, if the two trainers didn't have their hangouts then he wouldn't ever get to see the vulpine vixen that he so cherished. He would never get to watch her from afar, or try to make friends with the gorgeous pokemon that was so near and dear to his heart.
"Bella…" Theodore swooned as he pictured his goddess in all of her perfection and glory. Images of the haughty Braixen danced around in his mind, not the least of which was a spectacle Bellatrix never knew Theodore had been privy to. He hadn't meant to stumble across the female trainer fawning over her vulpine 'daughter' during a similar trip to the park, but he swore he'd never forget the furious shade of crimson coloring Bellatrix's cheeks as her trainer wicked a mascara brush across her lashes.
'This is the day,' he decided with a wide, buck-toothed grin. 'This is the day I'll get her to notice me!' With a nod of his spiny head he skipped off into the denser parts of the park with a spring in his step.
By the time Theodore found his way back out of the brush the sun was setting and he knew their trainers would be coming to collect them soon enough. He was a bit dirtier than he would have liked given what he had in mind for the encounter, but he knew there wasn't any time to wash off if he wanted a chance to talk with her. His small dusty form dashed back to the populated section of the park as quickly as his tiny feet would carry him, one arm clasped to his back as he bolted.
"There you are!" Theodore called out, making a pair of certain pair of fluff-stuffed ears twitch, caught off-guard by the sudden breach of silence. "I've been looking for you, Bella," Theodore said between gasps.
"Bellatrix," the vulpine pokemon corrected. "Bella is what my friends call me," she said as she spared him a sidelong glance from atop the bench she was seated on, her charcoal paws kicking back and forth as she waited out her trainer's little get-together. Mentally she noted that the grass-type's pelt seemed even more earthy than normal, the chartreuse shell on his back evidently having jumped on that bandwagon as well. She eyed him like a dirty child as her entire form slinked away from him, lest he infect her with his filthiness. "What do you want, Theo?"
"I… I just, um…" He struggled to find the words now that the time had come to actually say them. He had planned out the encounter and rehearsed everything he wanted to say to the lovely Braixen, but Bellatrix's implication that she didn't even see Theodore as a friend knocked the prose right out of the little chestnut's head. "I was in the forest and I found these," he said as he took his hand out from behind his back. "I had to fight a Scatterbug for 'em, but they reminded me of you, so I thought you might like them. Here," he said as he extended his hand, a buck-tooth grin finding its way to the surface despite the hurt he felt from Bellatrix's all too familiar scorn.
Cocking a brow at the small Chespin, Bellatrix decided to humor him and looked down to see what he had brought her. Clenched a little too tightly in his small, childish hand were three flowers that wouldn't have looked out of place beneath a Flabebe, colored red, yellow, and white respectively. She took them from him and searched them for meaning, not entirely sure what Theodore had meant by them reminding him of her, and she was about to tell him just that before the realization struck her that the flowers did resemble her own coloring. All at once that blush Theodore so fondly remembered crept across her cheeks.
"S-Stupid," she mumbled. It was evidently her turn to have trouble finding her words. "My inner-ear is more of a vermillion, not flat out scarlet, and you didn't even find a black one," she pointed out as her gaze flicked to her paws. "Still… Thank you, Theodore," she said as she looked down at the modest gift, the glow peppering her cheeks lingering as she began to smile.
Bellatrix knew the Chespin had a crush on her for a while now, his painfully obvious attempts at winning her friendship making it far too clear to overlook, but she never found herself returning his feelings. He was small, innocent, childlike, and he still had a lot of growing up to do. He couldn't possibly protect her if she was in danger, as evidenced by how roughed up Theodore had gotten by fighting some common bug-type that she would've taken care of in a second with her pyromancy, and yet, she was constantly surprised by how kind he was to her. She always went out of her way to shut down any fantasies the Chespin had of winning her heart, but he kept trying to make her smile anyways, and today he had even put himself in a dangerous by fighting an insect despite his breed's weaknesses. He had done that just to make her happy.
Reaching a hand down to her side, Bellatrix gave the empty seat beside her a welcoming pat, her own visage still speckled with a crimson hue.
"R-Really?" the chestnut gasped in disbelief. "It's alright if I sit with you?!" Bouncing in place at the very thought, Theodore beamed at the fox-like pokemon of his dreams.
"I-I won't offer again. Take it or leave it," she asserted, her eyes screwing shut in an attempt to disregard Theodore's over-the-top enthusiasm.
Bounding off of the grass and landing squarely on the bench beside Bellatrix, Theodore joined the Braixen in peaceful, reserved silence as they watched the sunset together. No words needed to be exchanged; the small grass-type was simply grateful to be by Bellatrix's side, and Bellatrix in turn did not have anything to say, instead taking the time to ponder how she felt about the surprisingly sweet, brave chestnut beside her. They stayed like this until the last rays of light peaked out over the dawn and their respective trainers came to collect the pokemon that they affectionately referred to as their 'children'. Theodore longed to be by Bellatrix's side once more as he departed the park by his trainer's side, while the Braixen in turn was left to contemplate the meaning behind the smile on her face and the rapid beating in her chest.