Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of their characters.
Been a VERY long time since I wrote a romance fic, so I figured I'll try to get some practice in. I'm not too confident in this as I'm more specialized in angst and tragedy and whatnot, but I'm hoping to give it a chance.
Anywho, the summary: Gizmo the Ninjask isn't fond of the ways of courtship, but soon finds a Ledian he can finally connect to! Too bad he's notorious as a trouble-maker within the village and is bound to face adversity from the Ledian's over-protective parents. Will their bond endure or fall apart under the pressure?
The sound of buzzes, drones, and chirps erupted from the peaceful town of Mossy Village as soon as the sun cleared from the horizon. It was that time of year again, the time that many fully-evolved Bug Pokemon looked forward to. For it was spring, the time of courtship and to find that partner to spend the rest of one's life with. Pokemon already coupled took the opportunity to strengthen their pair bond, while all around them were the newly-evolved insects vying for each other's attention. If you were single, you were almost guaranteed to be courted by hundreds of potential consorts, so your choices would never be limited…
It was all stupid and annoying; at least that's how Gizmo saw it. Resting in the shade of the canopy, lounging on a thick branch, the Ninjask lazily watched the activity around him. He paid particular attention to his own kind, watching as his fellows invited their prospective partners into a courtship chase, testing each other's speed, agility, and physical fitness. It was certainly fun, but he had no intention to join in anytime soon.
Laying his head on his forearms, he gave a buzzing stretch of his wings before closing his eyes. He was willing to fall asleep right then and there, even with all the excited noise around him, and he would have if he had not heard the high-pitched drone prominent in his species. He tensed automatically, knowing what to expect as it's happened ten times, just in this short morning! How he hoped he would just be disregarded entirely, if not just this once…
But alas, a female Ninjask playfully poked at him before flying off, inviting him to give chase. Gizmo made no reaction, just shifting his eyes to follow her movements. Confused, but not put off, the female returned and gave a more insistent nudge, beaming as she backed away a bit. But again, her prompting bared no result from the male.
Blinking, she tried a more formal method of Ninjask courtship. Landing a few feet beside Gizmo, she gave a polite bow of greeting. This got a soft nod of acknowledgement from Gizmo, but he still seemed uninterested in taking further part. Not gonna let this hinder her efforts, she stepped a bit closer and vibrated her wings in such a way as to produce an almost musical hum. Bobbing up and down, swaying from side to side, she perfectly executed the ritualized dance. But it wasn't working as Gizmo turned his head away, but the female knew persistence was the key. Flying back into air, she hovered into Gizmo's view and carried out a more enthusiastic aerial dance, twirling and swooping in intricate patterns.
Finally, Gizmo stood up and the female's heart rose. But it plummeted as the other Ninjask turned his back on her, finally giving a verbal response seeing as the cold shoulder method wasn't working. "No, thanks. I ain't interested."
"Oh," the female uttered softly. "Was it something I did?"
Gizmo kept his thoughts to himself and merely gave a bored sounding response. "Nah. Just not feeling it this year."
"I see," the female replied before smiling hopefully. "Perhaps we can try again next year?"
"Maybe…" the other cicada answered, having no real intention, but saying it to appease her and make her go away.
"Alrighty then," the female chirped. "I'll be seeing you around?"
"Yup."
Finally, the sound of departing wing-beats graced his ears and he began to relax, soothing his irritation as he again closed his eyes to sleep. But he was not to be left in peace as a shadow fell over him and a soft growl came from his throat. Peeking up at the source, he was expecting another female Ninjask, surprised to instead see a Shedinja hovering before him. He recognized the discarded bug shell and his irritation sky-rocketed.
"Whaddya want, Void?" he hissed, his brother not at all taken back by the Ninjask's hostilities as it was very much normal between the two of them. As such, the husk's echoing voice was calm as he gave his curious, and rather concerned, answer.
"I've been speaking with Loren when we noticed that you've been sitting here all day," He would've tilted his head if he had the mobility to do so. "For someone as… restless as you, it's worrying. What're you up to?"
"Does everything I do have to have some nefarious point to it?" Gizmo hissed, glaring at his shed without moving an inch from his position. "Maybe I'm just being lazy today. Or maybe I'm just trying not to draw attention to myself. Or maybe it's both."
"Yes, I have also noticed that you've been blatantly rejecting every female without even giving them a chance," Void went on. "This is the third year in a row that you've refused a mate."
"And what I do is none of your business," Gizmo grumbled, his wings beginning to flare open in his annoyance. "Especially when it comes to courtship, WHICH is stupid, by the way."
"Stupid?" Void questioned. "Is that your view of it?"
Gizmo sighed with a groan, knowing that his sibling wasn't going to leave him alone unless he humored him. Averting his sharp gaze to the branch underneath him, he vented out his irritated answer. "Yeah! Look at all these lovesick losers! Mindlessly chasing after every available bug they come across. Y'know, not one girl actually bothered to say 'hi' before trying to win me over, and then they wonder why I have a problem with them!"
He huffed with a shake of his head before continuing on with his rant. "If it was for One Night Stands, then fine! I don't have a problem with that. But if I'm gonna have to spend the rest of my life with them, I wanna know what I'm getting myself into and I can't find that out through dancing or playing Tag. It's friggin' retarded."
Casting a sideways glance at his shed, he scoffed before crossing his arms. "Not that you'd understand. A freak of nature like you can't breed."
"Perhaps not," Void stated with a slight hint of his own irritation, not exactly fond of the insult. "But the existence of my kind still hinges on yours. And if you refuse to breed because you're being excessively picky, then I have no future either."
"Whatever," Gizmo grunted dismissively, waving his claw as if trying to shoo away a lesser insect. "Just beat it."
"Very well," the Shedinja muttered, beginning to turn away before adding more. "But I still insist you give it all a chance. You might find that it isn't as 'stupid' as you think."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought I told you to get lost." Gizmo once more dismissed, laying his head back down to resume his attempts for sleep as the ghostly insect flew off. But it wasn't two minutes later before another Ninjask approached him and with a snappy snarl, he took off into the surrounding forest, leaving the other ninja thoroughly confused as she just wanted to ask about the weather.
Night came sooner than the cicada expected, especially given how many irritating Pokemon interrupted his sleep even when he found a new hiding place. But now that the Ninjask courtship was through for the day, he can carry on with his daily life, even if it was under the cover of darkness. He already had a plan to piss off his fellow villagers as payback for daring to pollute his presence with their so-called 'romantic' nonsense! That precious Ariados statue standing at the center of the Village was always a good target...
Giving a yawn as he stretched each one of his limbs, he was about to take off when a red light flashed at the very edge of his vision. Pausing, Gizmo saw the light again and his curiosity ordered him to investigate. Pushing through the vegetation surrounding him, he spotted a very small Ledian clinging to the trunk below him, the spots on its, -her!-, back making the red flashes.
Tilting his head, he watched the mesmerizing light for a moment before speaking out. "Hey."
The Ledian visibly startled before looking towards his direction, her blue eyes flashing in the moonlight as she sought him out. Upon seeing him, she seemed pretty timid as she averted her gaze and responded with a mutter. "Oh… Uh, hi… Um, is this your tree?"
"Sorta." Gizmo replied without missing a beat and the Ledian froze, nervous that the Ninjask might choose a violent method of defending his territory. Not wanting to risk such harm, she made no hesitation in speaking out.
"I'm sorry. I guess I-"
"Why're you glowing?" Gizmo interrupted curiously, unable to help himself and not at all bothered by her intrusion upon his tree. He has, of course, seen plenty of Ledian before as they're fairly common in the village, but he couldn't really figure out why they glowed some nights, but not on others. Then again, he never really went out of his way to find out, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to get it off his mind.
The Ledian certainly seemed taken aback by both his lack of anger and his out-of-the-blue question, and she tilted her head. "Glowing? Whaddya mean?" she asked in confusion, Gizmo merely pointing a claw towards her back. She hesitantly casted a glance over her shoulder at her flashing spots and her antennae perked. "Oh! Uh… I honestly don't know, really," she stated and she saw the Ninjask gave her a perplexed look. "We don't have any control over it. It just happens while we're absorbing starlight."
"Hm," Gizmo grunted before giving a smile, knowing an opportunity when he saw one. "Well, I'm Gizmo, by the way."
"Vivian," the Ledian introduced back before looking over her new company. "I think I've heard about you. You're the trouble-maker, right?"
"Trouble-maker?" Gizmo said, his eyes showing that a grin was spreading on his face as he feigned innocence. "Me? Nah!"
Vivian nodded softly, her voice soft. "Aren't you the one who painted the statue of our founding father blue?"
At this, Gizmo's grin grew even more as he was quite proud of that accomplishment despite the consequences afterward, and he waved his claw at her as if brushing the question off. "I served my time, didn't I?"
"Yeah," Vivian nodded again, unable to keep back a smile of her own at his playfulness. "But didn't you do it again, like right after they let you go. Except this time, if I remember correctly, you also painted some words on it telling our village elders to go fu…" She trailed off, not really one to swear. "Yeah…"
At this one, Gizmo chuckled as his eyes practically gleamed with mischief. "Nobody saw me do that one. So technically, I didn't do it."
Vivian chuckled back. "I guess not. You're only in trouble if you get caught, right?"
"Exactly," the Ninjask chirped, laying his head on his forearms lazily as he looked the other insect over. "Y'know, I don't think I've seen you around before. Do you live in Mossy Village or do you just visit all the time?"
"Well, I live here, but my parents had a pretty short leash on me, and didn't really let me leave the nest when I was a Ledyba."
"Why?" Gizmo asked in disbelief, unable to fathom the reason for such a thing. Vivian sighed sadly, her antennae drooping considerably.
"'Cause I'm a runt, that's why."
"So?" Gizmo asked pointedly with a shrug, and Vivian looked amazed that he'd say that. She was just so much smaller than the average Ledian, even smaller than this Ninjask perched above her, a pathetic fact when one considered that she was supposed to be twice his size. It seemed to her that she would be the perfect target for taunting, especially if Gizmo was as much of a horrible bug as her parents said he was.
"Y… you're not gonna mock me?"
At this, Gizmo gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. "Why would I want to do that? I've noticed since I saw you that you were small, but I don't see how that warrants me to mock you. Now if you had an arm growing out of your face, then I'll have to question some things!"
Vivian gave another giggle, feeling a bit better with Gizmo's sense of humor. He just seemed so laid back at the moment, although she knew better than believe that this was the norm for him. He was a Ninjask, and as such, cocky hyperactivity was the default setting. He probably just woke up or something… Deciding to carry on, she lowered her gaze as she fiddled with a pair of hands. "Well, since I'm so much smaller than I'm supposed to be, my parents are… over-protective. You have no idea how long it took to convince them to even let me be out here right now."
This got a disbelieving, if not contemptuous, huff from the Ninjask, knowing that if the situation was reversed, he wouldn't take that kind of shit. But despite his attitude, he was still all ears as Vivian continued, the Ledian wishing to share with someone who was actually paying attention for once.
"It didn't help that I was a sickly Ledyba, so yeah… I mean, I understand why they're so worried, but I know that if they just give me the chance, I can make something of myself, y'know?" she muttered with a sigh before looking back to Gizmo, a soft smile reappearing on her face. "But anyway, even if all that wasn't the case and I was hatched normal, you probably still wouldn't recognize me. I just evolved not too long ago."
"Ah. Well, congratulations," Gizmo gave his verbal pat on the back and Vivian looked away bashfully.
"Thanks," Vivian uttered. "It's the first time I'm legitimately on my own, even if it's just for the time being. And… well… so far, it's only making me feel worse than usual."
"How come? If it were me, I would be flying all over the place, having all kinds of fun and causing all sorts of property damage! In fact, that's exactly what I did when I first evolved!" Gizmo told her, succeeding in getting another chiming laugh from her. It felt good, getting this girl to laugh, and he was finally starting to feel a connection with this ladybug that he lacked for his own kind. Interspecies relationships were not unusual and, in some cases, it was actually encouraged. Plus, unlike his own kind, this Ledian didn't waste his time with superficial methods of bonding and that had to count for something.
After a moment of thinking to herself, Vivian took a deep breath to answer him. "Because I never truely had time to properly enjoy the new experience. The instant I evolved, I was expected to take part in this whole courtship thing."
"Oh…" Gizmo grunted with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah," Vivian agreed with his attitude towards the subject. "My parents want me to go for it, and I'm trying to make them happy, but it's hard to get attention when you're even smaller than your pre-evolution…"
"Well," Gizmo drawled with an almost flirtatious purr, his eyes meeting hers and earning a blush with such a response. "You caught my attention."
The blush grew stronger on her face, as did her smile…
... God, I suck at this romance thing... But here's to hoping someone out there actually enjoys this! What's a NinjaskXLedian shipping called anyway? StarlightNinjashipping? If there is none, then cool! I just invented a shipping! 8D
Anyway, please review and tell me how I'm doing and how I can improve in this genre!