Author's note: Hiya!

Jeez... I was trying to keep this chapter a reasonable length (for one of my fics, anyway), but I had to restrain myself a lot, because I don't want this arc continuing on for longer than it needs to. XD I think I've said all that needs to be said here.

Hope you enjoy the chapter and please review! Lurkers make for sad ficcers. Whereas reviewers make for happy ficcers!

Chapter Seventeen: Hindered Heart

Molly watched in awe as the growlithe juggled three rawst berries in the air, using just his nose. They swirled in a perfect circle, each one bouncing off his nose at the precise moment to keep the flow going.

Standing on his hind legs and balancing, he kept it up, never once missing a beat.

Woooow! She'd thought only her first crush, the teddiursa, had been able to do cool stunts! But this growlithe could do them, too!

Such precision! Such accuracy! How long had he been practicing this?! It was certainly not something she could ever hope to do! Not in a million years!

Her heart was pounding in her chest!

... Wait. Was this the same feeling as before?! The one she'd had for the teddiursa?!

Did that mean she... had a new crush?!

Oh, wow, how exciting! Her face broke out into a beaming smile.

It was then that the growlithe noticed her. Jumping in shock, he dropped the rawst berries to the floor.

"(Um... hi?)" he said cautiously.

... This was her chance! She absolutely was not going to screw this up a second time!

She emerged from the tall grass she was partially hidden in. "(Hi!)" she replied happily. "(I saw your juggling act! It was really cool! Super cool! Like... cooler than an ice cube cool!)"

"(Um, thanks.)"

She slowly approached. He still looked cautious, but he didn't move.

Okay. She had to play this cool. Even cooler than an ice cube! After all, she'd never even gotten to introduce herself to the teddiursa, so maybe that was a good start here!

"(I'm Molly!)" She grabbed at her fluff, readying it in case she got too excited again. "(What's your name?)"

"(Uh, Jake.)"

She giggled. "(Hi, Jake!)"

"(Yeah, hi.)"

"(So, yeah, your juggling act! Best one I've seen! The way you bounced them up and down like that, and never had them touch the floor? Class A performance~!)"

"(Um, thanks.)"

"(No problem~! You deserve all the praise!)"

Uh oh. The excitement was building inside her again.

... Nope. She couldn't contain it. She pulled her fluff over her face and squealed.

"(It was so cooool!)"

"(Um...)" There was a pause. "(Look, uh... Molly, was it? I'm flattered, but... this is a bit much, isn't it? I was only doing a bit of juggling.)"

"(A bit of juggling, he says!)" She danced on the spot. "(Only the coolest juggling ever!)"

"(Um... thanks?)"

"(No problem~!)"

"(Well, uh... I'll just be... going now, if that's alright...)"

She gasped, lowering her fluff. "(Wait! Can we hang out again?!)"

"(I... guess? Though you're a bit, um...)"

"(Hmm?)"

"(... Overwhelming?)" He backed away slightly. "(We'll see, though...)"

Buneary had actually managed to hang out with the growlithe for a couple of days, until he'd told her that just she'd been too overwhelming to be around. At all. Probably because of all the praise.

That had left her in another slump for a while.

Then, sometime after she'd gotten over it...

The sableye leapt from tree branch to tree branch, landing on each one perfectly as he ran. He cackled as his assailant, an annoyed luxio who looked like he'd be far more agile, bumbled and stumbled as he tried to chase him.

Many a time, the luxio would mistime his jump completely, slipping and tripping on the branches, all the while getting laughed at by the sableye.

Wow. The sableye was so cool...

Molly watched in intrigue as the sableye turned around. Then in confusion as he covered his eyes. Then in shock and horror as he jumped, backwards, off the branch. Oh no! What was he doing, the fool?! He was going to fall and hurt himself!

To her surprise, the sableye landed perfectly on the next branch, still with his eyes covered. Uncovering them, he laughed again.

Molly's eyes and mouth opened wide. Wow. Wow! That... that was so cool! That guy was so cool! How had he managed to perfectly land on that branch, blinded and backwards?! He was... amazing. There was no other word for it.

The luxio, sprawled across one of the other branches, scowled at him. "(Oh, come on!)" he snapped. "(Now you're just rubbing it in my face!)"

The sableye kept laughing. "(S'not my fault you suck at jumping!)" he replied.

The luxio slumped across the branch. "(You jerk...)"

Still laughing, the sableye jumped down from the branch. Molly squeaked as he landed right next to her.

He looked mildly surprised when he saw her. "(Oh! Hey there! Sorry for scarin' ya.)" He grinned at her.

She pulled her fluff up to her face. "(... No problem,)" she replied.

"(Careful, yeah? You never know what's gonna fall down from these trees!)"

"(Y-Yeah...)" She fidgeted for a minute.

"(Hmm? Somethin' wrong?)"

"(N-No, no! Everything's good! It's great! Especially your jumping!)"

"(My jumping?)"

"(Yeah! When you hopped from tree to tree without breaking a sweat? Then covered your eyes and jumped backwards and... and still managed to land it? It was great! Awesome! Great and awesome!)"

He laughed. "(Oh, you saw all that?)" He looked up at the tree where his friend was climbing down. "(You hear that, Kyle? I got me a fan!)"

"(Great, more of a reason for you to show off...)" Kyle grumbled.

Turning back to Molly, the sableye grinned again. "(I'm Simon, by the way! What's your name?)"

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! He was making the first move! Her heart was beating out of her chest right now!

"(Molly! My... My name is Molly.)"

"(Molly, huh? Nice name!)"

Oh my gosh, she was making such progress! Maybe it was the real deal this time!

She was so excited, she could burst!

For a few days, Buneary had met up with Simon. She'd continually praised him on his acrobatic prowess, until, one day...

"(The sky's so blue today!)" Molly said excitedly. "(Like the ocean! Except it's in the sky!)" She smiled over at Simon. "(Hey, what do you think it'd be like to have an ocean in the sky?)"

Simon cracked up laughing, then threw her a disbelieving smile. "(What?)"

She blinked. "(What?)"

"(Jeez Louise, you're... so weird!)"

She faltered. "(... Weird?)"

"(Yeah! You're all fangirly one minute and asking stupid questions the next! An ocean in the sky... What the heck, man?)" He cracked up laughing again.

"(... Well...)"

"(Also, do you like me, or somethin'? You've been hangin' around me an awful lot.)"

She squeaked. "(Um... well...)"

He laughed. "(Aw, man, you do, don't ya?)" He kept on laughing. Once he calmed down, he continued. "(Look, girl, you're nice and all... but you're waaaay too 'out there' for my tastes. Might wanna get someone more on your wavelength. Alright?)"

... Was... this another rejection?

She felt her heart crack in two.

Later that day, in a slump, she used Pound on a tree to knock down some of its delicious berries. Not that she felt like eating, really.

As she swung back her arm, she felt a distinct lack of power in it. When it hit the bark, she recoiled in pain.

Owwww... What? Why hadn't Pound worked?

She tried again, only to fail again. What the heck?

... Did her other moves work, at least?

Confused, she curled into a ball on the grass, attempting to send energy to her fur to harden it.

... Nope, Defence Curl wasn't working.

Unravelling, she tried to send energy to her eyes, to sharpen her vision with beams of light.

... Nope, Foresight wasn't working, either.

Panicking, she hopped up and down, flailing her arms.

... Was Splash working? She honestly couldn't tell the difference...

What the heck?! Why were none of them working?!

She stopped on the grass, slumping her shoulders. Then she slowly trudged home, berryless and miserable.

"(No moves?)" Hannah asked in shock.

"(What could have caused that?)" Nathan asked, confused.

"(I dunno...)" Molly replied sadly.

"(Well...)" Hannah said, putting on a smile, "(I'm sure they'll come back to you soon!)"

"(Yeah, maybe...)"

"(... Did anything strange happen today?)" Nathan asked.

"(... No...)"

Nathan and Hannah waited a few moments.

Molly continued. "(Well... I got rejected again.)"

Hannah gasped. "(Again?! But this is, like, the third time, isn't it?)"

"(Yeah...)"

"(Who keeps rejecting our baby girl?)"

"(Pfft,)" Nathan said. "(She deserves better, if that's the case.)"

"(You're darn right she does, Nathan! Our baby deserves to be happy!)"

Molly smiled slightly at the comment. "(Thanks, Mom,)" she replied. "(Thanks, Dad.)"

Buneary sighed to herself. Three crushes in, and her moves had gone poof. Sure, they'd come back a couple of days later, but that had only been a taste of things to come...

The volbeat swirled in mid-air, twirling around the three orbs of Hidden Power like they weren't even there. He did it with such grace and dexterity that it was like watching a mid-air ballet!

Molly stood breathless as she watched him fly in close, then strike down his opponent - a territorial beedrill - with a single blow. Twirling down to the ground, the volbeat posed.

Wow! Yep, there was her heartbeat going crazy again! Going crazy for an awesome guy who could do awesome things!

... Huh. It was starting to occur to her that maybe she had a type. Cool boys. Awesome boys! Cool, awesome boys who could do cool, awesome stunts!

She could almost feel herself drooling already!

... Yep, that had to be her type.

Well, this time, she'd nail it for sure! As her mother had once said: There are plenty more corphish in the sea! As well as other pokémon, of course, but now she was digressing!

It was time to approach that volbeat!

"(H-Hi there!)" she said.

The volbeat shrieked and jumped away. "(Uhhhh... hi?)" he replied.

"(I really loved your stunts! You looked so cool, up there in the sky! Like a... like a... a ballerina rocket ship! If that makes sense! Graceful and powerful, all at once!)"

She approached him again, but he backed away in fear.

"(Oh, uh... th-thank you...)"

"(I'm Molly! And you?)"

"(M... Matthew...)"

"(Hi, Matthew! Do you wanna hang out and talk and...)" She fiddled with her fluff bashfully. "(And you can tell me all about your amazing stunts?)"

"(Uhhhh... I dunno, I, uh...)" He looked around. "(I've gotta, um... be somewhere, so I'll... see you around?)" He backed away.

"(Okay! See you tomorrow?)"

"(Uh, yeah, sure, whatever, bye!)" He quickly flew away.

Wow, progress!

Hmm... though he had seemed awfully skittish around her. Maybe she'd need to put in some extra effort, so as not to scare him away.

Maybe it would serve her well to try a different tactic? One that preferably wouldn't get her called crazy or weird. Like what, though?

Hmm...

She'd done it! Finally, after much practice, she'd perfected her surprise!

She'd met up with Matthew a few times since the day she'd caught him battling off a beedrill, and he'd seemed as skittish around her as ever.

But, now, she had a secret weapon!

Due to living a luxuriously lazy life - thanks to her laid-back parents - she wasn't good at many things. But this! She'd been practicing this one all week!

She'd fallen over almost every time, gotten herself many bruises, and had to eat many oran berries - not that she was complaining about that last one - but she'd finally done it!

"(Mattheeeew~!)" she called out as she approached him.

He jumped in fright as he saw her. "(... O-Oh, hi...)" he replied.

"(Check it out!)" She lifted one foot and twirled on the spot. Switching feet, she twirled the other way. "(Look! I can do a graceful thing, too, now!)"

"(Um... great?)"

Beaming, she put her paws to her face. "(I know it's not as good as what you can do, but it's a start!)"

"(... Did... did you learn that to impress me?)"

Her face flushed. "(Oh, well...)" She grabbed at her fluff and fidgeted with it. "(M-Maybe? A little?)"

He jumped backwards in fright. "(Oh, legends, no! You're a stalker now, too?! G-Get away from me!)"

She blinked. "(Huh? B-But-)" She took a step forward.

"(Not another step! You... you stay away from me! Crazy woman!)"

... Crazy woman?

He flew away. "(Don't follow me!)"

Tears stung at her eyes as she watched him leave.

Buneary sighed. She really should have called it quits there. She should have thrown in the towel, exited the ring and never looked back.

But she'd been weak.

And her weakness? Well...

Well, the flattery tactic may not have worked with Matthew, but it was sure to work with this cacnea!

He looked like the type who valued strength, instead of grace, though, so she'd have to change things up a little.

First, though, she'd get his name!

"(Peter! Peter!)" Molly called out, approaching. "(Check it out! I learned how to punch with my ears!)"

Coiling up one of her ears, she let it spring back out again. She beamed. She was so pleased with herself! Now Pound could be even more effective when she needed it in battle! Because, as it turned out, her ears were stronger than her paws!

Who would have figured?!

Peter gave her a look of disdain. "(Urgh, really?)" he asked. "(You're trying to impress me now? What do you want, a date?)"

Ack! Dang it, she was being so subtle! Why was everybody picking up on it?! She covered her face with her fluff in embarrassment.

"(Well, no, thanks. You're weird and annoying, so just leave me alone.)"

... Weird...? Annoying...?

Molly hung around near the campsite of the riolu who was doing stunts. Clearly, he was a trained pokémon. Still though... those were some really impressive stunts he was pulling!

She was afraid to approach, so she stayed hidden in the bushes.

The riolu threw a bone into the air, then jumped up after it. Grabbing it in one paw, he did a forwards somersault. While he was somersaulting, though, he started glowing.

Every appendage grew taller, more muscular. By the time he landed on the ground, he was a lucario. She was astounded. Evolving as part of your stunt? So cool...

"Way to go, Rio- I mean Lucario!" his trainer said excitedly.

That day, she'd tried to use all the knowledge she'd gathered from trying to impress both the volbeat and the cacnea, in order to impress the lucario.

And the end result?

"(... Pitiful,)" the lucario said.

Molly blinked. "(H-Huh?)" she asked.

"(You think that will impress me?)" He turned away. "(Leave me be.)"

"(B-But-!)"

"(You have no passion. No love for battle. You seek only to impress.)" He turned to glare at her sideways. "(Leave.)"

She faltered under the gaze. "(I...)"

He turned away. "(You are an annoyance. Leave.)"

... Annoyance...

Buneary had lost her moves again that day. All four of them. It had taken several days to get them back.

From there, she'd come up with a new tactic. In order to be more passionate, she'd have to actually train and learn better moves.

'But which moves to learn, though?' she'd asked herself...

"(Elliot! Elliot!)" Molly called out happily. "(I learned Dizzy Punch, too! Now we can use it together!)"

The spinda tilted his head at her. "(That's strange,)" he replied. "(I don't recall asking you to learn that.)"

"(W-Well, no, I learned it because...)"

"(Were you doing that to impress me?)"

She fidgeted with her fluff. "(K-Kind of...)"

"(Tsk. Now that's a tad desperate, don't you think?)"

"(D... Desperate?)"

"(Mmm. Flattering, but desperate.)"

"(Owen! Hey, Owen!)" Molly called out happily. "(I learned Bounce! Are you impressed?)"

The grumpig raised an eyebrow at her. "(What the heck? You only learned that 'cause I know it, didn't you?)"

"(W-Well...)"

"(Pfft. Weirdo.)"

"(Hey! Craig!)" Molly called out happily. "(Look, look! I learned Ice Beam!)" She showed it off. "(It's just like yours!)"

The sneasel huffed. "(Oh, you're copying my moves now?)" he replied. "(Jeez... Look, stop being a freaky, weird, annoying stalker who's clearly desperate for a boyfriend, and do something meaningful with your life! I've got better things to do than deal with you!)"

... Freaky... Weird... Annoying... Stalker... Desperate...

Once Craig left the area, she burst into tears.

Buneary heaved a sigh. After that, she'd lost her moves a third time... and, this time, it had taken over a week for them to come back. She hadn't been a very happy bunny...

In fact, she'd been so sad that she'd stayed away from boys for a while, just to avoid the heartbreak...

A fat load of good that had done her, though...

But at least she'd had her parents to comfort her. Without them, she didn't know where she would have been.

She sighed again.

Deciding to take her mind off her woes, she wandered over to where Roserade and Piplup were discussing contesting stories.

Heck, she could even pipe in with a few of her own. Anything to distract herself right now...