Formerly known as Matchmaker Pikachu! although now with a better title. Anyway, Oshawott is just so cute it's unbelievable so he had to have a story of his own! I haven't even evolved mine, I like him just the way he is. Hope you enjoy it!

Operation Matchmaker: Part 1

Pikachu was the first one to notice that something was wrong. In fact, he had noticed that something was wrong a few days ago and he was surprised, although only slightly so, that nobody else (apart from a couple of exceptions) had noticed this as well. It was pretty unusual behaviour after all and he was slightly disappointed that Ash hadn't noticed this but at the moment, he was busy training with Tepig and Unfezant and the rest of his Pokémon had been left to their own devices, so to speak. Iris was currently training with Excadrill and Cilan was (to use his connoisseur parlance) was busy creating a fruity, fabulous masterpiece that combined sweetness and richness that dazzled the senses and so created exquisite dinner time.

Pikachu glanced over at the rest of his fellow Pokémon. They seemed happy enough and were just playing about with each other… apart from one certain individual. Pikachu had his suspicions but now he had the perfect opportunity to verify those suspicions. He got up and avoiding the attention-seeking eye of Emolga (who, let us face it, was incredibly irritating for the most part), he wandered over nonchalantly to the river which his fellow Pokémon was sitting by.

"Hey," said Pikachu as he made himself comfortable on the grass. Oshawott, the source of Pikachu's concerns, barely seemed to notice his presence and continued to stare into the watery depths, sighing to himself. Pikachu's ears twitched; Oshawott was clearly not his usual self.

Here was the basic problem: Oshawott was in love.

Now stop me if you have heard this one before; that Oshawott was in love. This was not something unusual for Oshawott to do as Ash had unfortunately found out to his chagrin. That business with the Purrloin, thought Pikachu, was quite frankly embarrassing and Emolga seemed to have held some sort of magic infatuation over Oshawott. Actually, that was the other curious thing. Oshawott no longer responded to her flirtatious act, not to get her apples, not to act as her chaperone, nothing. Emolga was disappointed over losing her plaything and was now in a huff which suited Oshawott fine. Oshawott was now older and wiser (by two weeks anyway); she would have to find some other sap of a victim.

"So…" said Pikachu, unsure of how he was actually going to get this in the open. "You don't seem to have been yourself lately. You've been ignoring Emolga which is quite an achievement actually seeing how determined she is to get you again and you haven't been coming out of your Pokéball as much. You haven't even been eating properly and if that doesn't worry me, I don't know what does." It was true; Oshawott was normally as much as a connoisseur about food as Cilan and now he never seemed able to finish a meal although Tepig was often happy enough to finish them for him.

Oshawott shifted about nervously on the spot. Pikachu sighed. It was hard work taking on the elder brother role in the family at times. Nevertheless, he wanted to get to the bottom of this even though they had had their fair share of differences to be sure.

"Oshawott, you can tell me what's wrong you know. I won't tell any of the others if you don't want me to." Pikachu patiently waited for a response, figuring that Oshawott would tell him in his own time while at the same time, wished that Oshawott would just talk; this new silent Oshawott was rather unnerving.

As he waited for Oshawott to speak, either to tell him what was the matter or to just go away, Pikachu was reminded of their old friend Brock who usually fell for every girl he laid his eyes upon, including every Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny. In the Sinnoh region, Croagunk kept him in check with a Poison Jab to the backside if he felt that his trainer was going too far. Good times, good times…

"Are you sure you won't tell anyone?" said Oshawott, almost mumbling to himself, snapping Pikachu out of his reverie. He played about with his beloved scalchop; a sure sign of nervousness.

"I won't tell a soul," Pikachu promised.

Oshawott turned to face Pikachu and Pikachu realised after a moment that Oshawott was trembling with fear. Was it really that difficult for Oshawott to confess what Pikachu suspected, even though he had shamelessly flirted with others before? Apparently so. Things had changed.

"I-" Oshawott began, pressing his scalchop against him for comfort. He looked about just in case anybody happened to be listening in. Oshawott seemed to be growing more nervous if that was possible. He tried again. "It's just that-" Oshawott blushed, petered out and could not continue. Even just thinking about the whole situation made his heart flutter.

"So what you are trying to say," said Pikachu calmly. "-Is that you're in love?"

"Shhhhh!" hissed Oshawott, covering Pikachu's mouth before he gave anything else away. "Somebody might hear!"

Pikachu moved Oshawott's paw away. "Am I right though?"

Oshawott, still looking fearful, slowly nodded.

"So… who is it then?"

Oshawott mumbled something under his breath.

"I didn't catch that."

Oshawott turned so pink that anybody could have mistaken him for a shiny Oshawott; even his scalchop looked pink. "Snivy," he whispered.

Pikachu raised an eyebrow at that. He was in love with Snivy? Considering it though, it was not so shocking news. He remembered the stolen glances that Oshawott kept giving Snivy over the past week or so and around her, he seemed unnaturally quiet and cautious. Well, well, well, this was interesting news. He wondered what the rest would make of it.

"I bet I look like a complete idiot in front of her," Oshawott whimpered. "I'm clumsy, I'm reckless, I act like a clown, I end up doing stupid things. There's no way she would be interested in me; I'd make her look like a fool too."

"I don't know," said Pikachu carefully. "Have you asked her?"

Oshawott looked at him as if he was the stupid one. "Of course I haven't!"

"Well then, how do you know that Snivy won't be interested in you?"

Oshawott had no answer to that but he felt that the notion was rather a pleasing one. Pikachu patted him on the back.

"She might well be feeling the same way as you," said Pikachu. "She just acts more confident than you do."

"You think so?" said Oshawott, slightly more cheered up than he was a moment ago.

"Yeah."

"It's lunch tiiiiiiime!" trilled Cilan as he added the finishing touches to the marvellous masterpiece that he was making.

"Alright!" shouted Ash enthusiastically. "Come on, guys! I don't know about you but I'm starving!"

Everybody's Pokémon dashed to the table, eagerly awaiting their meal. Pikachu set off too but then noticed that Oshawott wasn't following him. So much for the confidence booster for a normally confident Pokémon.

"Come on, Oshawott. You're not going to get anywhere by starving yourself," said Pikachu, cajoling him. "They're all waiting for us including Snivy."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," said Oshawott quietly. "I want to declare my love for Snivy but I just can't do it!"

Pikachu tried not to sound exasperated. Love was a very confusing issue. "We'll deal with that later. But for now, let's just get something to eat. You don't have to sit near Snivy or look at her if you don't want to."

"Pikachu, is something wrong?" called Ash as he walked over to the pair.

"~Pikapikapi~," said Pikachu, pointing to Oshawott. The Water Pokémon noticed everybody looking at him including Snivy. He froze on the spot, unsure of what to do.

"What's the matter with Oshawott?" asked Iris as she fed her Axew apples as usual.

"I don't know," said Ash, picking up his Pokémon. Oshawott seemed very unhappy. "Are you feeling sick?" He checked Oshawott all over in the hope that it would reveal some answers.

He's feeling sick alright, thought Pikachu to himself. Lovesick.

"Is it just me, or does Oshawott look thinner to you?" Cilan wondered as he too went to look at Oshawott. "Come to think of it, I don't think he's been eating properly of late. Maybe he does have an illness."

Pikachu had wished many times before that he could somehow project his thoughts to the trainers or talk like Team Rocket's Meowth or if it came to that, somehow get Meowth to tell them what the matter was exactly since Meowth could be nice when he wanted to be. This was one of those moments.

"You're right!" said Ash. "I should have noticed it myself. I've been too busy thinking about training and everything. Maybe we should take him to the Pokémon Centre…"

"~Oshawott!~Oshawott!~"

Oshawott leapt from Ash's arms to wildly protest against this. He was saying that everything was perfectly fine, he was just feeling a little under the weather and no, he wasn't particularly hungry despite the fact that it was Cilan's cooking and that he wanted to be on his own for a while. Oshawott wandered away from the group and before could go after him, Pikachu had to block his path and try to say that it really would be for the best to leave him alone for a while and he would take him some food later. Ash had to relent but he wasn't happy with the situation. He would try to talk to Oshawott himself later although he wouldn't have much success. Oshawott could be stubborn when he wanted to be, much like Pikachu and his trainer.

"How about we contact Professor Juniper when we get to the next town?" suggested Cilan as they finished their meal. "Oshawott was originally her Pokémon after all; maybe she knows something about this behavioural change."

"That's a great idea, Cilan!" cried Ash. "Let's go already!"

"Er, Ash," said Iris in that tone of voice which irritated Pikachu. "We're going to have tidy this lot up first. And then you're going to have find Oshawott afterwards. You're always rushing off. You're such a kid!"

"~Axew~," said the dragon Pokémon in agreement.

"Fine…" Ash sighed.

As he helped Iris clear everything, Pikachu walked off in the direction that Oshawott had and carried with him some of the Pokémon food. Unbeknownst to him, Emolga was sneakily following behind; she wanted to know why Oshawott was no longer responding when she teased him, she didn't even think that Attract was working anymore. That to her, was a slight on her cuteness which was of course, not allowed at all.

"Thanks…" said Oshawott as he accepted the food and began eating it although with little enthusiasm. Emolga hid herself amongst the tree leaves. She was waiting for the juicy gossip.

"If you're that worried about it, I'll watch her to see whether she likes you or not. I'm pretty sure she'll give away some clues."

"Mm." Oshawott swallowed with difficulty. His thoughts seemed to block out everything else including that of food. Pikachu winced. It was painful to watch.

"What will I do if she doesn't like me?" he asked. Pikachu considered the matter seriously. Emolga was already getting impatient: just who on earth was he referring to?

"Then… you could still remain good friends if she doesn't like you in that way. But don't beat yourself up over it; give it some time."

Oshawott looked at the remainder of his food and passed it over to Pikachu, not having felt hungry in the first place.

"I'll try but I'm not promising anything," said Oshawott. "And... I don't want to harm our friendship either. That's... also why I've been so cautious. It would be hard for us if everything went wrong and we still had to travel together. And... she's nice to me. That wasn't always the case back at the lab with the other Pokémon. I'm not going to talk a lot about that but in any case, I was there for a long time. But Snivy... she cares about all of us, probably even Emolga." Emolga snorted at that.

"Yeah," said Pikachu. It was funny how it was always the Grass-Types that looked out for the others and often played the mediator role whenever any disputes arose between the Pokémon and quite often, the trainers.

"Oh, Snivy," Oshawott sighed to himself. "How can I tell you that I love you?"

Emolga nearly fell out of her tree with shock which would have made her presence known. She was thunderstruck. Oshawott was in love with Snivy? I mean, come on, Snivy? This was an outrage, a scandal. How dare he fall in love with her? She had to get his love back, she had to. He made her life brighter in many aspects even if she didn't actually love him. And if Snivy felt the same way as Oshawott, well, that would be one over her rival. Emolga almost cackled and flew out of the tree back to where the others were.

"We better get back," said Pikachu. "They're going to be wondering where we are." Pikachu looked at the food before polishing it off. It would have been a shame to waste it.

Oshawott slowly loped off in the direction of the camp and Pikachu followed him, especially concerned about Oshawott's condition. The other Pokémon asked Oshawott how he was feeling but he shrugged them off, partially regretting coming back in the first place, before the rest had gone to sleep or whatever. They tried to ask Pikachu what the matter was but Pikachu refused to divulge anything: it was Oshawott's choice that he told him in the first place and it was Oshawott's choice to tell anybody else that he was in love.

Tomorrow, Pikachu decided that he would observe Snivy and see what she thought about Oshawott, if she thought anything about him at all. For Oshawott's sake, Pikachu fervently hoped that she did think the same about Oshawott or else he would never hear the end of the heartbreak.