Practice Makes Perfect

A Oneshot

Based on Pokemon Sun and Moon

(no actual game spoilers)

"Hey Moon, have you practiced your verbs today?" Her mom's smile was kind but her eyes were piercing. There was only one correct answer.

"Yep!" Moon lied. "Just like everyday."

"Awesome," her mom nodded. "You want to be prepared when we get to the islands. You don't want to get lost when no one speaks Kantoan."

Moon didn't bring up the fact that according to Dad that it would never be a problem since they were never moving to Alola. The most he'd commit to was some future vacation some year. He said that knowing "Alola" for hello and "Alola" for goodbye would be enough to survive a week. Being a busy child in a world of pokemon, Moon took that as permission to forgo her education entirely.

Luckily, Mom hadn't noticed yet. Other than her neglected studies, Moon was a fairly trustworthy child. Learning Alolan just seemed like a pointless chore.

Moon's mom had always wanted to go to Alola. Always.

Moon remembered when she was little when her mom would practice Alolan. Her words turned from slow and stilted to flowing and beautiful. Moon's dad would roll his eyes as her mom repeated the same set of flashcards for hours. The music her mom would play was always Alolan. She'd order books and movies from Alola. Moon could never say that her mom wasn't determined to fulfill her dream. It was more than a little inspiring.

Of course, that didn't mean that Moon had the same drive…

To be fair, Moon did pick up a few words. Just by listening to her mom practice or recognizing repeated phrases in the movies, Moon could understand basic ideas. She could read the language, her mom had taught her it along with the Kantoan script when she was really little. She could sound it out. That didn't meant she always understood what the sounds actually meant.

…

Moon wanted to become a Nurse Joy, or a pokemon groomer, or a mattress tester. All of these dreams took a lot of work. For one, her hair wasn't pink. Her dad said that wasn't actually an issue but Moon doubted it. Why else would every Pokemon Center be run by a Joy with pink hair? Dad just said he'd tell her when she was older. But she could work on her skills. Meowth was groomed almost twice everyday, something that the cat pokemon was more than happy with. Moon learned just where Meowth liked pet, as well as the best ways to remove dirt or mud from its usually pristine fur.

"Moon, you've worked on your future tenses, right?" Mom asked as Moon was ready to run out the door. She had gotten permission to groom her friend's family vulpix and had her preliminary grooming kit stashed in her bag. Moon was practically jumping up and down at this amazing opportunity. She would have said anything to just get out the door.

"You bet I have." Moon gave her a thumbs up.

"Glad to hear it." Mom answered. She drew Moon into a hug and lightly kissed her forehead. "Now you have fun out there."

Moon obviously ran out like a zubat out of pewter city. She had a vulpix to groom.

The vulpix was absolutely adorable. He was also a bit of a brat. Her friend's family also had a small oddish that would run around in the garden. Moon, who made a habit of greeting every pokemon she came across, of course pet the cute little bulb. The oddish had cheered and Vulpix let off a spurt of fire in jealously. Luckily, it had been only a grazing hit but the poor grass pokemon had been burned.

"What should we do?!" Moon's friend wailed. "I don't have a burn heal."

Moon gave Vulpix a stern side glance. The fox pokemon had finally realized that a crying, hurt Oddish was going to be the center of attention. He lowered his head, not quite in shame. He was disappointed but Moon hoped that he felt at least a little bad for hurting his fellow pokemon.

"I could run her to the Pokemon Center." Moon didn't think that it was that far. Surely she could make it before Oddish fainted.

"But what if jostling Oddish hurts her even more?" Her friend's piecing screech made Vulpix cover his fluffy ears. Moon stared at her friend with her usual calm smile, hoping that perhaps her friend would get the hint to take it down a notch.

"Do you have any Rawst Berries?" Moon started slowly stroking Oddish's unburned leaf in comfort. The pokemon seemed to relax slightly. The little thing finally stopped crying. This was definitely not a battling pokemon. Perhaps with the right trainer the oddish could gain some courage, but they'd had to be patient with her.

Her friend waffled around, making unsure grunts and groans before running into the house. Moon sat with the pokemon. The muffled sound of rifling through cabinets updated her on her friend's actions.

"You know, Vulpix? You really didn't need to do that." She commented. She kept her tone light and as free of judgement as she could. "You hurt your family."

Vulpix barked an argument but then froze and took another look at Oddish. Oddish was not looking very good. Her leaves were wilted. Her breath was shallow. She was silent. If Oddish didn't get her burn healed soon then she'd faint so that her body could attempt to heal it. Vulpix padded closer to Oddish and bumped his nose to where her's would be.

"Odd?" Oddish squeaked. She looked surprised.

Vulpix took a look at the burned leaf. Moon let him but was prepared to step in if Vulpix tried to touch it. The young fox pokemon had never been in a battle as far as Moon knew. Perhaps he honestly didn't know what fire did.

Moon's friend ran back outside. "Here! I found some!" Moon found herself suddenly covered in berries.

Vulpix backed away and sat on his haunches. There was sincerity in his eyes now. Oddish stared at the berries with something akin to horror.

Moon pinched a berry between her thumb and forefinger. She offered it to the oddish. Oddish clamped her mouth shut with stubbornness that Moon would have never expected. Moon tried again but once again Oddish refused. Moon looked at the berry closely but she didn't see anything wrong with it. The same light blue, green leaf topped berry she knew as a Rawst Berry. She put it down and picked up another, wondering if Oddish could tell something she couldn't given it was kind of a plant and well, a berry came from a plant.

Oddish refused that Rawst Berry as well.

Moon's friend was panicking again. Moon wasn't listening.

Moon ate a berry herself, showing the Oddish that it wasn't poison. Oddish still wouldn't accept the next one. Vulpix got up and began to lecture Oddish from the sounds of the stern yips.

"Does Oddish not eat?" Moon looked at her friend for help.

"Maybe Oddish doesn't like that taste." Her friend said oh so helpfully.

Moon took a deep breath and considered her options. Too bad she didn't have Oddish's pokeball. Then they wouldn't have such a time limit. It wasn't healthy to leave free pokemon in a fainted state for almost any length of time. Plus, in a pokeball, the burn would be frozen until they could get Oddish proper help. Moon could try running to the Pokemon Center but after all this stalling, especially when she had the cure right here, that couldn't be the right action. She could do this herself.

She couldn't force it down Oddish's throat. She might hurt her in the process. What could she do? Her hands were sticky with Rawst juice and she unconsciously moved to wipe them on her shorts. Then she stopped. What if she applied the Rawst Berry directly to the burn?

She smushed a berry and smeared it all over Oddish. Oddish didn't look too happy but she couldn't stop her. Moon lightly massaged the juice into the burn and waited. If this worked then the scorch mark would stop growing.

"Oddish?" The little grass pokemon tried to look at her leaves. "Oddish!"

"Did it work?" Moon whispered. The burn seemed not to be getting worse. "Silly thing. If you would have just eaten it then I'd know for sure. Let's get you to the Pokemon Center."

She delicately lifted the pokemon in her arms and gestured to her friend. Vulpix trailed behind them.

…

Moon eventually added things to take care of status effects to her growing grooming kit. She could never be too careful after all.

…

"Moon, did you practice the conjugation song?" Mom handed her Meowth. Meowth purred and Moon scratched behind the Pokemon's ears.

"Mom, it's my birthday." Moon shrugged, "but sure."

"Oh, Moon." Her mom stared at her wistfully and sighed. "My little baby girl is growing up. When are you leaving?"

"Leaving?" Moon face stayed static in her normal smile. Where the heck would she be going?

"To begin your pokemon journey," Mom raised an eyebrow. "You didn't forget that you're ten now, right? You can become a trainer."

"I don't have a pokemon." Moon countered.

"Maybe your father or I…" Her mom went silent as she considered. Moon was suddenly aware that the Meowth in her arms would not approve of being used to battle a wild pokemon so that her parents could catch her one. Meowth technically was battle trained, Mom had gotten the pokemon as her starter and she had intended to take on the gym challenge when she was younger. However, Meowth liked the life of being a spoiled pet much better.

"I don't really want to be a trainer, Mom." Moon argued. She wasn't going to be like all those kids in her class who had jumped at the first chance to get a pokemon and now hung around the nearby routes trying to beat trainers with their two metapods for money. So many kids had their parents catch them a random wild pokemon only to find that it was really hard for the pokemon to win battles against other wild pokemon in the area. The smarter kids would train their pokemon on any weaker pokemon they could find to strengthen their pokemon up enough to leave the area with conscious pokemon. "I want to be a Nurse Joy. Or a pokemon groomer. A mattress tester."

"Oh." Mom said, "I didn't know you still wanted to do that."

"I mean, I'd like a pokemon." Moon considered, "I wouldn't mind being a trainer, I guess. It's just not my dream."

"If that's how you feel…" Her mom seemed lost for words. Meowth meowed and Moon put the pokemon down.

"I think I'm gonna go out." Moon smiled.

"Are you you going to see your friend."

"Yeah." If by friend she meant her neighbor's house. Kanto hospitality was fantastic in Moon's opinion. Unlike what Mom had said about Alola where apparently they tended to lock doors and not invite people in, Kantoans welcomed strangers and friends alike. It was so weird for Moon to consider somewhere that didn't necessarily let other people in their houses. Did the Alolans just not look after their younger trainers?

It was time to train to follow her dreams. One day she'd be a professional mattress tester. One day! For now she'd just an amateur one.

…

"Hey, Moon, we're finally moving to Alola!" Mom cheered. Moon had just returned from grooming Vulpix, Oddish, and a neighbor's onix. It was a little intimidating wiping the mud off of such a large pokemon but she'd been very sweet. Moon had felt a little bad for only bringing a few snacks but the giant had seemed content with what must have been mere nibbles for a creature of her majestic stature.

"What?" Moon froze on her normal blank smile. Surely she'd heard wrong.

"It's a good thing we've worked on our Alolan all of these years!" Mom squealed with so much happiness that it was like she was glowing.

"Yeeeeah." Moon's expression hadn't changed. "But what about Dad?"

"He's not coming with us." Mom's sunshine looked slightly spoiled but she soon snapped out of it. "Here, Moon, I bought you a present to celebrate." Moon took the object with numb fingers. "Isn't it the most lovely hat!"

"Yeah." Moon stared at the pink thing in her hands.

"I bet you're so excited! Just think, a new region!"

"Yeah."

…

"'Oe pono he māluhiluhi, hanu me he kukui? 'Oe piha a ola no ho'omaha! Pēlā, Moon, mākaukau Alolan pokemon?" Mom asked. She kept speaking and Moon merely smiled and nodded.

She could make out a little. Just a little. Dang it, she really should have practiced her Alolan.

She had a feeling there was going to be a lot of blank stares and smiling in her future.

A/N: Soooo this came vaguely from my play through of Pokemon Moon and also a post on tumblr I saw about the protagonist of Sun and Moon having that awkward blank smile even when terrible things are happening because they don't understand the language. They have no idea what's actually going on. They are just smiling and nodding their way through their adventure. Now... I don't actually think this is true, not when your character actually does have more dialogue choices than the usual Yes/No. However, it is hilarious to think about, and I could see it about half true. Like here where they've absorbed a little... a tad... and she's supposed to know more, but she's a determined kid and sticking to her story. The rest comes from my head cannon. After all, why would a kid over ten in Kanto not be a trainer yet? Why is Sun and/or Moon the only protagonists to be able to groom their pokemon, not just the little pets that Serena and Calem could do? Why do they know how to heal status effects? Maybe Sun/Moon didn't intend to be a trainer in the first place.

Also, why the mattress tester jokes? Did anyone notice how many beds that you can lay on in SuMo? And almost all of them have unique flavor text? In a game where I can't even check the trashcans for items (yes I'm still bitter, I've been doing it since Pokemon Silver dang it!), getting into a random bed not only has a pretty animation but it usually tells you more about the owner of the room. Or a meowth gives you an awakening. It's a little strange, so of course I'm not letting it go.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! I had a lot of fun playing Moon, and despite the strange mattress testing, it's already one of my favorite regions. The story impressed me. The characters impressed me. The pokemon refresh makes it so much more immersive, and pokemon pelago lifts my guilt for leaving so many pokemon in boxes. It's a good game :D