Kinda a gift piece for my friend KalicoFox, who inspired the idea.

Qui-ill!

Megan jumped slightly, looking over to the other side of the clearing where her Cyndaquil sat, trying to pretend that he hadn't been sniffing at the flower bushes nearby.

The illusion was slightly ruined by the soft smouldering of the bush behind him, but at least he was trying.

"Cyndaquil…" She sighed, standing from where she was setting up for a rest and going over to him. She grabbed one of the bottles of water that she'd filled at the past steam as she went, having gotten used to this happening over the past week of travelling to have started carrying around water bottles to put out the inevitable small fires.

Pouring it over the slightly burning bush, she waited to make sure that the fire wasn't going to take before shaking her head and running a hand across his back, careful to avoid the warm patch where his fire sat.

"You need to be more careful." Megan told him again. "Those allergies of yours are going to get you into trouble if you keep it up.

"Quill-ill…" He trilled quietly, ducking his head in embarrassment and arcing into her touch.

"I know, I know. It's not your fault. But you do need to be more careful not to set off your allergies. I know the flowers are pretty, and that you like them a lot," she'd learned that fairly early in the week, during the breaks that they'd taken while walking to get to know each other, "But you need to try not to keep sniffing at them. It's really not good for you."

"Cyn, cyn-da." He grumbled, but nodded.

"Atta boy." She smiled, scratching at his head. Pulling away, she tapped his nose once, gently, "Boop," making Cyndaquil pull away and pout a little at her. "C'mon, let's take a break for a bit, chill out before we keep going."

Her Pokemon followed her over to the rest point, proving that his annoyance was just a joke, and flopped happily onto the blanket that she'd laid out for him, picked up on that first day when she'd found out about his allergies.

"...And this little one is Cyndaquil." Professor Elm finished, pointing to the little green-blue Pokemon in the garden.

"Oh, he's adorable!" Megan beamed, eyes lighting up. "I want him!"

Elm chuckled, sounding a little nervous. "If you're sure, but just as a warning, that one could be a little… troublesome…"

"But Professor, he's so cute!" She argued, starting out of the door and over to the Pokemon. "How could he be trouble?"

The Cyndaquil, currently sniffing at some flowers on a bush, didn't react at all when Megan approached, ignoring her totally even as she knelt down near him.

"Heya there." She said quietly. "It's nice to meet-"

He sneezed.

Abruptly, the flames on his back flared up, creating a small plume of fire that caught on some nearby leaves of another bush. Elm muttered something lowly, running away and coming back a few moments later with a bucket of water that he poured over it.

"That's why." Elm said, somewhat sourly. "It seems that Cyndaquil has some sort of allergies, and any time they get set off… well." He gestured at the bush.

Megan laughed. "I think I want to take him."

Elm startled. "Are you sure?" He checked. "It might be difficult…"

"He's cute, and it's not his fault he has allergies." She defended. "I want him."

Elm hesitated for a moment longer, then nodded. "Alright, if you're sure. I'll get everything set up for you."

"Awesome!" She beamed, looking down at Cyndaquil- who was still looking sheepish, and also confused. "Hear that little buddy? You're coming with me! We're gonna be the best ever, yeah?"

Now, a week later, Megan hadn't changed her mind in the slightest. Her Cyndaquil was adorable, they were going to be the best, and it absolutely wasn't his fault that he had allergies. It was just a cute little quirk of his.

Sure, it got a little worrying when he sneezed and nearly set things on fire, but he was getting better at making sure his flames were away from anything flammable when he felt that he was about to sneeze, so that was fine. It was rare that anything actually caught fire, more often things just ended up smouldering a little- or gaining a scorch mark or two, as her tent would attest. The blanket helped to keep him from accidentally knocking something that might start his allergies going when he sat down, so for the most part it was just a challenge of not sniffing too many flowers to make sure he wasn't sneezing too much.

It made travelling a little bit more amusing than she'd originally expected, and a fair bit more startling on occasion, but that was ok.

Bonus Scene!

Bé-bé!

Megan looked around, surprised, automatically glancing at the nearest patch of flowers.

"That sounded like…" She frowned, letting herself trail off and heading towards the flowers. Behind her, the steady thump of her partner Pokemon followed, seeming just as curious as to what was in the bushes.

Pushing them aside gently, she spotted a tiny, white fairy-like Pokemon, sitting on top of a yellow flower and rubbing at its face with a miniscule arm.

"Hey there." She greeted quietly, kneeling down. The Pokemon- a Flabébé, Megan thought, vaguely recognising it from the research she'd done into the Kalos region before she came here- startled, recoiling and grabbing onto the stigma of the flower tightly.

Then it sneezed again, wincing and looking upset.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Megan apologised- though it wasn't a surprise, given how small it was. "I just wanted to see if you were ok. It sounds like you're a bit unwell."

"Bé- Fla bé bé!" It- no, she, wasn't it? Flabébé were a female-only Pokemon species. She sounded annoyed at that, Megan thought.

"If you're not feeling well, maybe you could let me help you?" She offered. "I have some medicines and stuff that I could give you if you want."

Flabébé scoffed, then sneezed again. Megan blinked.

"Oh, wait a moment!" Her eyes widened. "I think I know what's wrong! You've got allergies, haven't you? That's why you keep sneezing, because of the flower!"

"Bé?" She asked, tilting her head. Megan ignored it for a moment, digging into her bag for the collection of Contest accessories that she'd collected in Sinnoh two years ago, when she'd decided to do the Contest circuit there for a bit of a change. Finding one of the small flower accessories, a yellow one to match the current flower Flabébé had, she offered it to her with a small smile.

"It's a fake flower." She explained, as the Fairy type leaned over to examine it. "I got them from Sinnoh a while ago. Typhlosion loves them, because they look like real flowers, but don't set off his allergies, so he doesn't end up sneezing and setting things on fire."

"Phlo." Typhlosion huffed behind her, pretending offence.

"Hush, you. We both remember very well what you used to be like, so don't go pretending that I wasn't putting out a lot of fires when we first started out." Megan teased, turning slightly to poke him in the side. "Anyway," she looked back to Flabébé, who was nudging the fake flower curiously, "You can have this if you want. It should stop you having trouble with your allergies."

Carefully, she reached over and floated across, letting the flower she was holding onto drift to the ground as she settled on the fake flower and made it start floating. Megan sighed softly, not having been entirely sure that it would work, while Flabébé danced in a circle on her new perch.

"There you go." Megan smiled. "Hopefully that'll help you with your allergies so you won't keep sneezing anymore."

"Flaaa!" She grinned in return, floating over and settling next to her shoulder. "Fla, Flabé-bé!"

She tilted her head and blinked. "You want to come with me?" Flabébé nodded once, firmly, and Megan hummed. "Sure, why not? It's always nice to have a bigger team."

Typhlosion leaned over her shoulder to look at Flabébé and huffed a little. "Ty, sion?"

"Bé!"