Posting this a week after the anime in Unova ends! Oh, well. Good enough.

Okay, so this is fic one of three, along with some possible side stories. This will be told from Snivy and Tepig's POV. Like stated in the summary, this takes place between episodes 56 and 57, and, while different pairing's are hinted, they aren't the most important thing in the fanfic. Either way, on with the fic!

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.

Snivy's POV

A bright light brought Snivy into the grassy field, along with the rest of the Pokemon belonging to Ash Ketchum. The Grass Snake waited for her trainer to speak. Instead, she heard a confused voice of one of the trainer's travelling partners "Hey, Ash, what's with the wait?" A young girl asked, observing the group with her brown eyes. A small Dragon Type Pokemon called Axew poked his head out of his hiding place in his trainer's large purple hair and watched curiously.

"Well, Iris, I just thought it might be a good idea to let everyone join us today, and I was hoping for some battle practice between Snivy and Tepig sometime soon." Snivy perked up at her trainer's words before sharing a quick glance with her soon-to-be opponent. The Fire Pig Pokemon grinned broadly, excitement shining in his eyes. She smirked confidently before she returned her attention to the trainers. By now, Cilan, a Pokemon Connoisseur with green hair, had joined them, and the Pokemon belonging to the other two humans were being sent out. They let out a chorus of greeting before told what was going on.

The group was soon back on their long journey towards Driftveil City. Before long, Snivy noticed a certain Fire Type bound towards her. "(Hey,)" he greeted, slowing to a walk beside her. She nodded in response. "(I… erm, can't wait for our battle - aren't you excited?)" He asked, watching her curiously.

She grinned at Tepig's attempts to start a conversation. The Fire Pig was normally quite a friendly Pokemon, and always ready to learn something about someone - in this case, Snivy. "(I suppose it depends on how long you last before I defeat you,)" she remarked casually.

A short burst of embers escaped the Fire Type's nostrils. He smirked confidently, "(Who's defeating who?)"

She was about to respond when a new voice interrupted her, "(Snivy's going to win, obviously.)" Oshawott stopped beside them and thudded his scalchop with a fist before giving the Fire Pig a cheeky look, "(You don't stand a chance!)"

"(Oh, yeah? Says who?)" Tepig retorted, his tone turning harsh at the Sea Otter's interference.

"(Says me!)" the Water Type said matter of factly. The two rivals then glared at each other.

"(Just because you say so doesn't mean anything!)"

"(You'll see when you're face-first into the ground!)"

"(Actually,)" Snivy groaned when yet another voice joined them, "(I think Tepig will burn that snake into a crisp.)" The Sky Squirrel gave her a smug smirk before she turned to the two male Pokemon, "(Don't you agree, Oshy?)"

"(O-of course!)" The Water Type stuttered, his face turning red. "(Whatever you say!)"

"(You can't just switch sides like that!)" Tepig growled, stomping the ground in frustration at his rival's lack of loyalty.

"(But he's on your side now. Isn't that what matters?)" Emolga made her way to the Fire Pig, smiling innocently. She brushed a side of his face with her tail.

"(W-well,)" a harsh blush graced the Pokemon's cheeks as he ducked away from her and looked away uncomfortably.

"(Emolga, knock it off!)" Snivy snapped, hoping to draw some attention away from the poor Fire Type… and get her rival to back off. "(He doesn't need any of your flirting.)"

"(Whoever said I was flirting?)" The dual type turned to face her, frowning as if she had been offended, though her eyes sparkled naughtily. "(You just can't stand the thought of losing again after that battle with an Emolga like myself!)"

"(Elesa's Emolga was nothing like you!)" The Grass Snake hissed, relieved that Tepig's spotlight was being removed, yet irritated at where the argument was going. "(She was hard-working, strong, and knew Flying Type moves! You're too lazy to even get your own food!)"

"(I'm not lazy! I'm just loved!)" Emolga smiled sweetly, though her cheeks sparked slightly. Snivy prepared to leap out of her shocking range. "(How would you know she's not the lazy one?)" The Electric-Flying Type's tone grew irritated. "(All you did was battle; it's not like you knew her or anything!)"

Snivy tried to ignore the irony in her rival's words - she did know Elesa's Emolga once upon a time… The fact that the Sky Squirrel hadn't appeared to recognize her was actually very surprising, considering... It doesn't matter anymore. That's all in the past. This is the present. With everyone here. Not them, she told herself, pushing the thoughts away from her head. She tried focusing on the Emolga in front of her… though it only brought the thoughts back that, for some reason, troubled her. "(It showed in her battling style,)" she said, now staring at the sky behind the dual type, "(and since when are Pokemon with Gym Leaders lazy?)"

"(I'm sure a few exist!)"

"(Perhaps, but I can assure you… 'that few' doesn't include any of Elesa's Pokemon.)"

A sudden shock of electricity coursed through her. She hissed, thrashing her tail behind her as she fought past the pain and regained control of her limbs. She backflipped to break the attack's current. After she landed, she gave the culprit a glare. The Sky Squirrel appeared somewhat surprised, but she quickly covered it and returned the glare. Before either one of them could do anything else, someone interrupted them, "(Girls, calm down!)" They both turned to see Pansage, Cilan's lead Pokemon. He sighed in relief before gesturing towards the rest of their friends several paces away. "(You four better catch up; we're about to leave you behind!)" The Grass Monkey called before returning to the others.

"(To be continued,)" Emolga said venomously before she darted towards her trainer, Oshawott not far behind her.

When the Grass Type had caught up as well, Tepig came up beside her. "(Thanks,)" he uttered, staring at the ground rather embarrassedly.

"(No problem,)" Snivy responded nonchalantly. "(It's not like we don't argue all the time already.)"

He paused, eyes flickering uncertainly before he spoke, "(Yeah… 'bout that… are you okay?)"

She nodded, "(I can take an attack. A Discharge from Em-)"

"(That's not what I meant,)" Tepig said curtly. At a shocked glance from the Grass Snake, he took a deep breath and tried again. "(I-I mean… I thought you would've dodged the attack; it was pretty easy to see it coming. Even Oshawott could've evaded it. N-not that I'm trying to insult you - you're an amazing battler. You just seemed a little distracted.)"

"(I get it,)" she stifled a sigh. Observant, Tepig, though I really shouldn't have been distracted in the first place. There wasn't any reason to be. "(Don't stress yourself out; there's nothing to worry about. She just got lucky.)" She put on a grin, "(Thanks for your concern, though.)"

He searched her over before nodding in acceptance. "(Alright, sorry I brought it up,)" he said, then changed the subject. "(I suppose we'll have to see how the battle turns out afterward, huh?)"

She nodded, "(It's after lunch, right?)"

"(Yeah,)" Tepig responded, glancing upward, "(probably. You know Ash can't think on an empty stomach.)"

"(He doesn't let it go,)" she agreed, following his gaze. The sun proved that soon, their trainer's stomach would begin to growl.

… And growl it did. "Guys, when are we gonna eat?" Laughter erupted from the Fire Pig beside Snivy, and she couldn't help a small chuckle herself at the boy's timing. Ash turned towards them, "Hey, what's so funny?" The laughing only grew from both Pokemon. "Hey, c'mon! Tell me!"

Snivy stood a few yards from her opponent. Everyone had eaten and now it was finally time for the two to battle. Tepig released a small determined flame before bringing himself into battle position. Flicking her tail, she tensed as well. She was careful to keep her most of her eagerness hidden, though a small grin of excitement had made it to her lips.

"Alright," her trainer finally announced, his brown eyes glittering with anticipation, "Snivy, Leaf Storm! Tepig, Flamethrower!" She immediately obeyed and sent a storm of raging leaves at her opponent. They were met by a scorching flame and many fell to the ground, burnt and useless. They did prevent the fire from reaching its target, however. Snivy met Tepig's gaze and smirked.

"(Not bad.)"

The Fire Pig's eyes shined at her comment before he confidently replied, "(You're good, too, but I won't let you beat me!)"

"Tepig's a Fire Type," Snivy heard Iris say, "giving it an advantage over a Grass Type like Snivy."

"Tepig may have a Type Advantage, but Snivy has more experience in battle," Cilan pointed out. "I'd say these two are equal."

The Grass Type tuned the connoisseur out as he launched into an evaluation. It was sort of a game of theirs - Iris noting things like Type differences and Cilan "evaluating" the battle - stating the obvious."Tepig, Flame Charge!" Ash called. The Fire Type began building heat and power before dashing towards her, surrounded in his element. Snivy leaped into the air to dodge, but he jumped after her, ramming her squarely in the stomach. The heated impact knocked the breath out of her as she thudded to the ground, She got up quickly, ignoring the burning pain in her stomach and, at her trainer's command, threw two vines at her opponent. Tepig sidestepped the first, but the second whipped him. While he was still stumbling from the attack, Snivy darted toward him, her tail building up power. She jumped up and used the momentum to deal greater damage as her tail crashed into the Fire Type. He was face-planted into the ground by her attack, Leaf Blade. She jumped back as her opponent stood up and shook the debris from himself. He used Flame Charge again, coming at her with greater speed than before. Snivy prepared to evade the attack again, but a sharp pain exploded from her chest. She gasped and awkwardly grasped herself in an attempt to dull it, but it erupted again, slowly ripping further through her body. Her ears rang as the pain intensified, tearing through her, repeatedly. Spasm after spasm…

"(... Snivy... alright?)" She managed to hear a voice, despite the ringing. She half-opened her once-closed eyes to spot a worried Tepig in front of her, and some other shapes coming closer. "(Snivy! … Speak to me!)"

"(I-)" she cut herself off when her throat protested painfully. The last thing she heard was a loud tearing sound.

The same one as before.

Tepig's POV

Tepig dashed forward, revelling in the heat of his flames as he anticipated the Grass Snake's next move. She had tensed, obviously preparing to dodge again. C'mon, Snivy! Try something new! He thought as he continued to onward. A few yards before contact, her eyes widened briefly before she wrapped her short arms around her, an expression of pain evident on her face. Alarmed, the Fire Pig dug his hooves into the ground, the flames around him almost immediately ceasing. A yelp of surprise escaped him when he toppled over, having stopped too suddenly at such a speed. He somersaulted forward several times before he crashed upside down into something hard. Ugh… my back… He hissed, rolling off of his head and onto his side. Tepig winced as he fought the aching in his spine to stand up, stumbling slightly. He managed to steady himself. He opened his eyes and, upon seeing Snivy a short distance distance away, perked up and instantly darted forward, the pain evaporating.

"(Snivy!)" He gasped once he had reached her. She hadn't appeared to have heard him, too busy trying to dull whatever pain she was in. He couldn't see any origin for the agony, but it was definitely there.

"Snivy, Tepig, what's going on?" He heard Ash's voice somewhere behind him. He ignored him and continued trying to get the Grass Snake's attention.

"(Snivy!)" His voice betrayed his panic. "(Snivy, are you alright?)" Of course not! He mentally slapped himself for the idiotic question. He did succeed in getting her previously-closed eyes to open slightly, however, so he continued, "(Snivy, come on! Speak to me!)"

"(I-)" the Grass Snake gasped again, holding herself tighter as she began to stumble.

"(Snivy!)" Tepig repeated. He let out a snort of alarm when she began to glow a light shade of green. He dimly acknowledged a few gasps behind him. As the light began to fade, Snivy began to tilt forward, and he instantly darted underneath her, catching the Pokemon on his back. He stiffened. His spine hurt again, but that wasn't the reason he had stilled. A strong, metallic scent had hit his nose, and he soon noticed a thick liquid crawling down his side… He swallowed a lump in his throat nervously.

He jumped when the weight on him lifted. He turned to see Ash kneeled down, staring at the Grass Type in his arms for a brief moment before he stood up and faced Cilan. "Cilan, quick, hold onto Snivy for a sec!" A rare, responsible, serious tone took over the ten-year-old's voice as he quickly, but gently, handed her to the connoisseur. He then took off his jacket and lay it over the unconscious Grass Snake. "Where's the nearest Center?" He asked, taking back his Pokemon.

"Driftveil City's, but you know as well as I do that that will take too long to travel," Cilan responded, worry evident in his voice.

"What about the Day Care?" Iris quickly suggested. The group had recently come across a Pokemon Day Care while travelling and ended up assist the man who ran it.

"That should work," Ash nodded, grabbing two Pokeballs. Each trainer began to return their Pokemon. When the red light came to Tepig, he avoided it, giving his trainer a determined stare.

I'm staying out here, Ash, the Fire Pig thought. He felt a strong need to keep an eye on Snivy. He had to make sure she was okay. I'm not just going to battle her and flee into a Pokeball when she gets hurt!

Ash just nodded and turned back to the others, "Let's go."

The began to run, and Tepig darted after them. He spotted Pikachu jump beside him. Pikachu was Ash's lead Pokemon, and, since he disliked Pokeballs, he was always remained with the trainers. The Electric Type, now running alongside him, looked at him. His eyes flickered hesitantly, "(Uh, Tepig… Don't think I'm trying to blame you for anything, but do you know what happened?)"

"(I don't know anymore than you do…)" Tepig glanced at the clump of of clothing in his trainer's arms before turning back the the Mouse Pokemon. "(Sorry.)" Pikachu's eyes grew distant as he tried to solve the mystery.

What did happen? He wondered, It came out of nowhere. We were just battling and… There was blood. I don't know where from exactly, but… there was a lot of it - I can still feel it on my back… He stopped himself from shuddering, instead pushing his legs faster. It must be serious. She was glowing, too, but it didn't look like she was trying to evolve… It doesn't make any sense… What happened?

A loud engine jerked the Fire Type from his thoughts. He turned to see four motorcycles zooming towards them. "Hey!" Cilan shouted, waving his hands into the air. "We need help!" The bikes came to a halt beside them. Riding them were two Officer Jenny relatives and two men.

"What do you need?" One Officer Jenny asked, getting off of her ride.

"We have to get to the Day Care," Ash showed her the Grass Snake. The cop narrowed her eyes and pointed to one of the men; he had brown hair and eyes.

"Take it to Mr. Hennings. He'll treat it briefly. I'm afraid we cannot go to the Daycare; it was evacuated yesterday, and we can't go to Driftveil City. We'll have to get you to Nimbasa City."

"What's going on?" Cilan asked as the raven-haired boy ran to "Mr. Hennings".

"Something's happening in Driftveil City right now. We believe it's an organization of some sort. Some of my relatives are working with the Gym Leader to keep things under control. We're evacuating anyplace we can," Tepig heard Officer Jenny say before running to join his trainer. Ash was watching the man work on his Pokemon. He didn't react when the Fire Pig came near him. Just… blankly watched.

The Fire Type whimpered and nuzzled his trainer's leg in hopes of comforting the troubled boy. He let out a snort of surprise when a pair of hands lifted him away from the jeans and into a hug. "Don't worry, Tepig," his trainer whispered, his voice soft… and scared. The Pokemon's heart sank as he looked up at the boy, whose eyes were still on Snivy. He glanced at Tepig. "It'll be okay," he said, somewhat stronger. The Pokemon stared into his brown eyes briefly before his trainer's gaze returned to the Grass Snake, "You'll see." Though the words were directed toward him, Tepig felt that the boy was trying to reassure himself as well. He snorted softly in response and brought himself deeper into his trainer's warm, comforting, yet sad embrace. Some part of him dimly wondered why Pikachu wasn't perched on Ash's shoulder as he leaned against the black shirt.

I hope you're right, Ash. I really do.

"Explain what happened. Now," Mr. Henning shouted over the roar of the wind, anger very evident in his voice. Tepig looked up at his trainer, who held Snivy in his arms. They had been riding in a sidecar attached to Mr. Henning's motorcycle for a time now. Cilan and Pikachu rode with one Officer Jenny while Iris and Axew rode with the other man. The second female officer had gone to search for other travellers.

"It was an accident while we were training," Ash yelled back, his voice firm and strong once again.

"What kind of training does that?!" The brown-haired man retorted.

"Mr. Henning, relax!" Officer Jenny called with authority. "They aren't at fault. Cilan is a Gym Leader, and he claims it was… odd, though they are not responsible."

"Yes, ma'am," he didn't say anything else.

"However…" the woman began to address Ash, her responsible tone betrayed wary curiosity, "it would be nice to know exactly what happened."

"We don't really know ourselves," he responded, looking up from his Pokemon. "My Tepig about to use Flame Charge, but it stopped in front of Snivy and started to panic. That's when we figured out something was wrong."

"That's it?"

"Well," Iris started hesitantly, "Snivy was… glowing."

Officer Jenny gave her a confused glance before looking back at the path ahead of her, "Does your Tepig know anything?"

The named Pokemon shook his head. "No," Ash answered for him.

"Odd… it sounds like it could be the work of a Psychic Type Pokemon, but why it would wound a trainer's Pokemon like that wouldn't make any sense…." she began to mutter things under her breath.

Tepig brought his gaze back towards the Grass Snake. He remained staring at the new white cloth that replaced the jacket, watching it rise and fall as she breathed. Tepig had gotten a glance at the injury while Mr. Henning was tending to her. She wore a large scar from beside her left eye, and it continued all the way down to somewhere near her right leg. That proved she definitely wasn't in the safe zone, but as for how much danger she was in, he wasn't sure. His mind wandered back to the incident. The pain she was in. The light… what was that? Tepig wondered. That bright, green light… Did that create the scar? Officer Jenny said it could've been a Psychic Type, but why would it attack Snivy? Unless she had met someone and rubbed them in the wrong direction - I wouldn't be surprised- but, even then, doing this is a bit extreme. It just doesn't make sense.

"Alright," Officer Jenny's voice interrupted his thoughts, "we're here." Spotting the familiar rooftop of the Pokemon Center, Tepig leaped out of the sidecar before Ash followed him. The group ran inside, Fire Pig and trainer in the lead.

"Nurse Joy!" Ash all but shouted. The named human appeared from a door leading who-knows-were as the boy continued, "It's an emergency - my Snivy!" They halted in front of the nurse, Ash holding out his injured Pokemon. Nurse Joy's normally cheerful and friendly face turned dead serious as she accepted the Grass Snake, calling out for Audino. Tepig watched as she disappeared into yet another set of doors to her left. The Emergency room.

Please be okay, Snivy.

Okay, yes, a slight cliffhanger - please don't kill me!

Anyway, I want to thank tailsthecutefox for both betaing what she can and giving me the needed push to start publishing this. Thank you so much! Please go check out her stories; she's amazing!

I expect the next chapter to be posted this upcoming Monday. Keep in mind the first three chapters will come out faster due to the fact that they're already written, and all I have to do is edit them.

I'm also posting this on DeviantArt as GrassKitsune, though there isn't really a difference between the two.