Author's notes: It has been a while hasn't it? Like what? 10 months? Not that long, right? Yeah... I'm really sorry about that, I have really nothing to say about it either since the only reason I was not writing was that I did not want to and I don't really like doing stuff that I find like a hobby or a fun thing if I don't feel like it because it defeats the whole purpose of the activity. Anyways, I'm really sorry. I'm actually trying to get back into this and write on a more consistent basis but we'll see how that goes, I don't make any promises. I hope you guys are staying safe, Pokemon belongs to the pokemon company, and have a pleasant read! By the way, most of this chapter was written before I took the super long non-writing time so you might find it changing at one point.
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Frightening away all the cold darkness of the night, the orange lights of the morning dawn illuminated the lands of the pokemon world once again. Many of the early birds were already on the move, making their way to work, finding food, or just enjoying the moments of peace.
The sun slowly rose even further, making it over the arid hills of a familiar desertic area and through the windows of a peculiar little house. Bright, warm rays of orange energy disturbed the sleep of a yellow rodent curdled up on his spikey yet comfortable hay bed, slowly gaining consciousness after a good night's sleep.
Hardening his face, the warm feeling of the invading rays hitting against his fur was finally kicking in. The chants of starlys and the sounds of running water made it to his ears as he could smell the morning breeze and taste the dryness of his mouth.
His eyes opened slowly to blurred out sight and a sore and heavy feeling. Using his right arm to push himself off the bed and into a sitting position, he rubbed his left eye as they adjusted to the new light of the day. His vision slowly cleared up, shaping the brown color of the wooden walls and furniture. Eyes widening, he scanned the area slowly. His eyelid muscles relaxed as he saw Snivy and remembered past events.
"To say I would forget about my new house so quickly, hehe, " He whispered, getting up completely and stretching himself slightly. Being idle for a whole day sure got me up early, but it also did the trick! Pika jumped twice, feeling how his entire body was getting filled with energy. Failing to contain all his excitement, Pika ran outside, a wide grin forming on his muzzle. "PIKA IS BACK FOR A BRAND NEW DAY!" Making it clear for the whole world, he stood down on his fours. Energy overflowing his body, he leaped towards the left, running as fast as he could, the morning wind stroking his fur and refreshing his body as he rapidly looped around the house.
"*Yawn* What's all that noise?" Lightly stretching his arm muscles, Snivy showed himself strolling out of the house. Dead-stopping on his tracks, he blinked as Pika passed one... two... three times. "What exactly are you doing, Pika?" Snivy raised an eyebrow and kept watching as the yellow mouse ran around non-stop. Snivy tapped his foot lightly and crossed his arms as the mouse didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Sighing and shaking his head slightly, the green snake walked forward, turned towards the right, and raised a paw.
"Hey, what's- SNIVY!" Pika dug his digits onto the orange dirt, stopping his momentum but causing his body to roll forward violently. He twirled for a few meters before coming to a stop right in front of Snivy. Face kissing the ground and expression showing dizziness. Snivy sighed once again.
"Pika, you should really think about relaxing from time to time... " Using his vine whip, Snivy pulled the pikachu up and helped him stand.
"O-one minior... t-two miniors... " Pika stumbled around, pointing towards absolutely nothing. It took some time for the rodent to regain his composure, shaking his head as he steadied his balance. Taking a glance upwards, he met up with the considerably familiar irritated, yet amused, expression of a specific green friend. "Morning, Snivy! Guess what?! My body feels brand new!" Widely grinning, the pikachu jumped up a few times, showing just how energized and ready he was. Forming a smile, Snivy stood there watching as he went up and down.
"That's great, Pika, but surely you don't want to over-exhaust yourself once again. I mean, what would Emolga say?" His smile quickly changed into a cunning grin, witnessing how the yellow mouse suddenly stopped his actions.
Tilting his head towards the side, he spoke up, "Emolga?" Puzzled by the question. Snivy's grin fell.
"Yes? Emolga. The Pokemon you saved and wanted to become friends with so badly. Don't tell me you don't remember her!" The green snake's eyes grew wide, letting both of his arms drop to his sides. Pika's ears perked up, quickly straightening his face, showing agitation, and shaking his paws in front of him defensively.
"No, no! It's not that! I would never forget a friend!" Pika said, making Snivy sigh in relief.
"...Ok, then?" The green snake raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms once again. Calming his nerves, Pika dropped his paws and smiled slightly.
"It's just that I don't get why you mentioned her. What would she say?" Pika said, making his friend facepalm. Giving a facial expression saying, "Are you serious? " Snivy removed his paw and sighed.
"She was the most worried about you, remember? She didn't want to leave you a single second alone, " tapping his foot in frustration, Snivy couldn't believe just how dense this pikachu was.
"I mean, we're friends, and friends care for each other, even you were worried, right? So what makes her different?" Pika tilted his head once again.
Wow, Pika. Just wow. Snivy facepalmed and shook his head slightly.
"What?"
"No, nothing, don't worry about it, Pika, " Swaying his paw, Snivy dismissed what had been conversed and turned towards the little bridge in between territories. "Let's get going. We said we would meet up with Emolga and Dunsparce for breakfast at Swanna's today, " Snivy started walking, his smile back to his expression as Pika followed beside him.
"Yeah! I still don't get why Dunsparce insisted on it, and Emolga supported him." Pika places a paw on his chin, analyzing the situation in his mind, "What could be happening?" Snivy shrugged slightly.
"Beats me. I only want to eat some breakfast, " Snivy grinned, tapping Pika's back slightly as they kept moving.
XXX
"It's alright, Emolga... We can stay here and wait for them, " Dunsparce watched as his best friend stood there, completely paralyzed in front of the Town's entrance. Giving a sympathetic smile, he moved towards the shadow of a nearby tree and relaxed. Emolga seemed defeated as she sat down next to him.
"I-I can't believe h-how much of a coward I am..." Pressing her paws against her face, she brought herself to a huddling position. Dunsparce kept his sympathetic smile.
"Hey, ya ain't no coward. You're just not very good around other mons, and that's totally fine, " Dunsparce said in a comforting voice.
"B-but because of t-that, y-you're h-here instead o-of doing what y-you wanted... " Emolga threw her arms around, showing just how frustrated she was. Putting her arms back around her knees, she placed her chin down on them. "B-besides, w-what k-kind of mon c-can't socialize and m-make f-friends, " Emolga buried her face onto her fur and stayed there silent. Dunsparce opened his mouth but was quickly interrupted.
"You don't need to be the most confident mon to be happy... You solely need to be yourself!" A familiar voice spoke, taking both Emolga's and Dunsparce's attention. The flying squirrel raised her head and looked in the direction of the voice. The smiling owner of said voice directly offering a paw to her.
Feeling the heat of rushing blood on her face, she accepted the yellow and soft paw of a familiar mouse who was grinning widely towards her. Helping her up, she kept grasp of the said paw and stared in awe.
His ears twitched vividly; his tail wagged happily, "And it's never having a lot of friends, but the having true friends, and here you have three that like you and accept you for who you are!" Pika finished his statement, achieving just what he had been planning to achieve, cheering up his friends. Smiling in contentment, Emolga let go of the pikachu's paw. Dunsparce throwing a grateful smile towards the cheerful lad.
"Good morning, you two. Hope the night was pleasant, " Forming his own smile, Snivy walked up to the three friends and waved his paw.
"Ya bet we had our good night's sleep with this master chef's meal in our bellies!" Rapidly flopping his wings, the small dunsparced raised to the head level of all the others. The flying squirrel nodded in agreement to the statement.
"Aw shoot, you're making me blush, " The yellow mouse scratched the back of his head sheepishly, grinning happily, a slight shade of pink visible on his cheeks. Emolga's 'friendly' feeling was coming back to her, lowering her head and twiddling her fingers.
"Y-yesterday w-was amazing... " Emolga said in a low, shy tone, raising her head again. "W-we should d-do i-it a-again s-sometime, " Emolga had a tiny smile formed on her expression. It was small, but it showed all the happiness within her. Grinning widely, Pika patted her head gently.
"Of course! You guys are always welcome to hang out whenever you want!" That was enough for the little black squirrel to feel joyful. Her tail wagged instinctively but discreetly, only being noticed by the two smirking friends on the sidelines of the event. Pika removed his paw, and Emolga nodded happily in agreement. Turning towards the others, the sound of nervous whistling made it to Pika's and Emolga's ears as they watched how Snivy and Dunsparce strangely glanced around.
"Are you guys, alright?" Tilting his head, Pika watched as the two friends turned and grinned in their direction. They started approaching the two rodents with amused expressions, making Emolga raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"Let's get going to Swanna's guys!" Snivy said with apparent amusement on his tone as he walked past the two rodents, right beside Dunsparce.
"Yeah! You lads are probably really hungry, right?" Dunsparce added, his tone just as amused as Snivy's as they both took the lead.
"Emm... ok?" Pika straightened his head, still feeling rather puzzled by their behavior. Deciding on shaking off those feelings, he took his attention towards Emolga once again. "Want me to hold your paw?" Giving a warm, calm smile, he raised his paw slightly, offering it to the shy squirrel.
"...T-thank you..." A soft and low voice replied, accepting the pikachu's paw and getting hold of it. Emolga's warm and fuzzy inside feelings wouldn't stop, causing her to look away to hide her still rushing redness. The sound of pokemon snickering caught their attention. The snickering stopped as they only saw Snivy and Dunsparce looking straight ahead. Pika tried to reach out to Snivy.
"Let's get going, shall we?" Walking forward, Snivy dodged Pika's paw, Dunsparce following close to his side. Shooting a sly smile towards Dunsparce, the land snake returned it with a smirk, and they both proceeded into Post town, leaving two dumbstruck rodents looking directly towards them.
After a few blinkings, an awkward silence filled the rodent's situation. Glancing at each other, they blinked another few times before they shrugged off their feelings in unison. A wide grin formed on the Pikachu's expression as they both walked under and through the entrance arch. What would be awaiting them today?
XXX
"Promising place we stumbled across, wouldn't you say, bro?"
"Indeed, sis, I can already feel all the poke we can make from these easy targets all around!" A round of snickering and giggles filled the air of one of the many tables of a well-known inn. At this corner table, a pair of suspicious figures covered on black cloaks conversed. Unnoticed and ignored around the already quite crowded room.
"Yeah, but none of them seem to be wealthy. What a disappointment..." one of the suspicious figures sighed as it drank from its drink. The brother of this figure seemed to shake his head to the statement.
"Modesty is a virtue, my dear sister, and so is patience. Who knows? Some wealthier simpletons might appear soon enough, " the figure with a more masculine voice said lowly enough for them to be the only ones to hear.
"Uh-huh... totally bro... a wealthier dimwit will just randomly appear in front of our eyes like a blessing from the legendary themselves!" With sarcasm on her tone, the figure with a more feminine voice moved her arms around in a dramatic matter. "We need to cut our losses and get to it. I've been waiting too long for some action, " the figure settled her sight on the many 'targets' with vicious eyes. The masculine figure just sighed in exasperation.
As he was about to reply to his vicious sister, the figure was interrupted by the start of a sudden ruckus near the entrance of the once quiet room. The mons... or well... 'targets', had all crowded the main entrance of the inn with gasps and cheers, taking the trouble duo's full attention towards them.
Since there weren't many tall or big mons around the place, it didn't pose much of a problem to spot exactly what was causing all the commotion.
Putting one of her 'hands' to the chin, the feminine figure examined the new addition to the room, forming a wide and sly grin. "Now now, I think I'm gonna need to eat my words cuz that cutie over there seems to be quite popular over here... Maybe she's like a landlord or something, " she kept staring directly at the new lad with desire until she was forcibly turned around towards her brother, "Hey! What's the big idea?! I was eyeing our next target just now you party-pooper!"
"Sis, that right there is a very well-known explorer named Layla, the virizion, and she's a force to be reckoned with, we need to avoid her, " the masculine figure whispered to his sister, seeming quite nervous about the whole situation. He then separated and tried to sit down as normally and unsuspicious as possible.
Seeing her normally calm and collected brother behaving like that meant bad news. She calmed and slightly leaned forwards to be able to talk quietly. "Is she really that strong?" He hadn't said that Virizion was strong but his behavior was enough to be able to make her conclusions.
"It is said that she has explored almost the whole region as a solo team, " the brother said quietly as he gave the virizion a glance with the corner of his eyes. This new information was quite shocking to hear and the sister came closer to avoid any type of exposure at all.
"That's just crazy! Isn't there supposed to be some extremely dangerous places in this region like that glacier place?" If those rumors were true then she really had to watch out for that Layla. Redirecting his attention towards their conversation, the brother closed his eyes and took another long sip of his drink before replying.
"That's precisely why she's not someone you want to mess with, " The brother concluded, and both of the siblings stayed completely silent afterward, keeping one open eye for any sudden movement on the virizion's part.
XXX
Meanwhile, our four friends had been watching the whole ruckus form from the outside of the inn and they all seemed to have different feelings on the matter. While Pika and Snivy seemed quite confused but also curious about the whole thing and Emolga seemed as calm as she could be, Dusnparce was not acting like himself, he was quite distracted and nervous. This, of course, didn't come unnoticed by Pika and Snivy.
"Well... She seems to be quite popular... " Snivy said as he turned around to look at his friends. Emolga nodded in agreement but Pika still seemed quite preoccupied with Dusnparce who was still looking towards the scene paralyzed.
"Hey, Dunsparce, is everything ok?" Pika asked with a bit of concern towards the distracted land snake, snapping him out of his weird nervous trance and back into reality. He turned towards the yellow mouse and the others.
"O-oh, Y-yeah, I'm alright... " Dunsparce said still sounding quite off as he redirected his sight towards the inside of the inn once again. "Hoho..." was the last thing they heard from him before he went back into his trance. This, of course, came to be a confusing behavior for both Pika and Snivy to witness.
"Ok...? I wouldn't mind some explanation... " Snivy said as he looks at both Pika and Emolga with a lot of skepticism, Pika seemed to have the same look on his face as he shrugged in response to his friend, clearly not having a clue on what was happening. Emolga sighed in exasperation which took both of their attention towards her.
"The p-popular pokemon that j-just went inside t-the inn is c-called L-Layla, the virizion, she's an explorer and D-Dunsparce is q-quite a b-big fan of hers, " Emolga said quite calmly as she pointed with her free paw towards the green Horse like pokemon in the middle of the whole ruckus. Pika took a good look at the new pokemon and examined her for a few seconds before coming back to the conversation now understanding what was going on.
"So she's like a famous explorer who also happens to be one of Dunsparce's inspirations?" Pika asked with a big excited smile on his face. Emolga nodded in agreement to his statement. "Wow! That's awesome! Dunsparce you get to talk to her now, you need to be feeling super duper excited!" Pika said as jumped up and down, displaying all the excitement for the paralyzed Dunsparce. Snivy, on the other hand, didn't seem convinced.
"I think there's more to this than just a mere inspirational figure, " Snivy commented which caused Pika to stop his jumping and pay full attention to his friend.
"What do you mean?" Pika asked, tilting his head. Emolga seemed to be as confused by Snivy's statement as Pika was, even though she was the one that knew the most about the whole situation.
"I'm just saying that I think that there's more to this whole situation than just Dunsparce getting to know one of his inspirations, isn't there?" Snivy clarified, the last question being directed towards the mon in question who was still looking at the virizion in a trance. Though, when the green snake's words registered inside his head, Dunsparce was quickly taken out of his world and into reality once again focusing his whole attention towards his friends this time.
"U-um, well... " He had clearly heard Snivy and knew exactly what he meant by that statement but it did not make the situation any less nerve-wracking or embarrassing for him. Pika and Emolga watched the flustered dunsparce in complete confusion, what was happening? What was this extra information they didn't have?
"T-the thing is... I r-really want virizion to be my friend... " Dunsparce said, stuttering quite a bit, almost as much as the little squirrel who, by the way, was wide eye surprised by this statement, that's why he wanted to get that gem! Were her thoughts as she just stood there. Though, the yellow mouse beside her seemed way more excited and jumpy than before for some reason.
"So that's why you went in the cave to get the gems! You should have said so!" Pika expressed with way more enthusiasm than before but no jumping this time. "Now you just need to get in there and ask her!" Pika finished as he kept a wide grin over his expression.
"What?!" Glancing directly at the overenergized pikachu, Dunsparce flinched backward, "I-I can't just go up to her like that and ask HER to be my friend!" Dunsparce said loudly and slightly annoyed at the yellow mouse. Snivy raised an eyebrow but that quickly changed to his signature cunning smile.
"Why not? Isn't that what you want? I mean, it's not like you're gonna ask her more... riiiiiight?" Snivy said as casually as possible to not raise any suspicion from the dense rodents around him, knowing exactly that Dunsparce was gonna get what he meant.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Pika asked snivy with the same innocence he had always, but Pika was genuinely confused about the situation and Emolga was not in any better position.
Wide eyes of realization struck the poor ground snake as his cheeks burned with even more passion than before, Snivy... DON'T YOU DARE... He glared with intensity and red cheeks towards the green snake. What he didn't know was that this just confirmed snivy's suspicions even more and made his cunning smile grow wider.
"Oh! Nothing Pika, don't worry about it, " Snivy dismissed casually to the confused rodent as he formed a wide grin towards Dunsparce, "Right Dunsparce?" Snivy asked, Pika and Emolga redirected their attention towards the glaring ground snake, as this one completely change his expression before they could even notice.
"Y-Yeah, I don't think it's a-anything either, hehe, " Dunsparce said as calmly as he could while keeping an eye on the smirking green snake at the other side. Oh, it will be fun when it happens to you Snivy... Pika and Emolga seemed to still be quite confused about the whole situation but Pika sparked in realization.
"You must be feeling really nervous! That's it!" Pika pointed directly towards the sky in an amusing manner as he said that.
"What? N-no I jus- "
"Don't you fret my dear friend! Pika's got your back! I will be of full support to you and talk to her first for you!" Pika immediately went beside the ground snake and used one of his paws to bring Dunsparce to a one-armed hug as he started slowly dragging him inside the inn. As the yellow and blue pokemon realized just what was happening he started to struggle as much as he could to get out of Pika's grip, but he was way stronger than he looked and failed to free himself from the mouse's grasp.
"W-Wait! Pika! Y-You really don't need to" Dunsparce desperately tried his best to find a way out of this but everything proved useless as the pikachu was determined to do this now and was not backing up in any way. As they got closer to the entrance of the inn, and the others caught up to them, the ground snake pokemon glanced to see a fully smirking Snivy right beside him, amusing himself from his misfortune. Oh, will I get you for this Snivy! Dunsparce glared towards the green snake as this just increased the level of amusement for Snivy. Emolga on the other hand was not convinced by the whole situation but didn't say anything and just thought about it.
Dunsparce isn't one to be nervous about new friends... He has a lot of them... and what did Snivy mean by more... The shy squirrel kept trying to make sense of the whole situation in her head as they kept going forward towards the inn. Dunsparce had already just given up to his misfortune.