A/N: wanna guess when i wrote this? if you guessed three in the morning, you're right...! (ugh.)

i've talked about it before, but i do really like the pokémon we ended up with in BW ^^ they're a mix of colourful personalities, and i wouldn't have enjoyed BW as much as if they'd been absent. i still wish pokémon like unfezant and palpitoad got more development, but hey ho, y'know? anyway, i've always wanted to explore them a little more, so i decided to write this! (in other words, i just wanted an excuse to write shellpwnageshipping.)

this fic will be around five to six chapters long, with each chapter being 'narrated' by a different 'mon. i wanted to challenge myself since i always seem to write omnipresent.

takes place some time after BW025. i'll be posting these in mostly chronological order…

regardless, enjoy~

(also, if you catch any spelling errors/typos please point them out to me! i like to write my fics in present tense before converting everything to past tense, so some words may be missed during proofreading...)

Innocent Intentions? — It's hard being the most astute pokémon in the group, but Emolga tries. Now, if only her rival could put in the same amount of effort…

Emolga watched as Oshawott used a Razor Shell attack to neatly slice the stem connecting the apple and the tree branch. He landed on his feet nimbly, catching the apple with his free hand. Emolga clapped lightly. His performance was already better than the other time he tried to get her apples…

"An apple for the apple of my eye," Oshawott announced smoothly, holding up said fruit.

"Why, thank you!" she cooed, accepting his offer. She batted her eyelashes. "Though you shouldn't have to work so hard for little old me…"

Oshawott winked. "You deserve only the best," he said. "And the best of the best is me~"

Emolga inwardly cringed. Gosh, for such a tiny pokémon, he sure had a large ego. Regardless, an apple is an apple. Besides… Emolga sneaked a glance around. Her eyes locked with a certain grass snake, and she grinned sneakily as she carefully angled the apple in her hands so that the other could see it just barely. Said grass snake narrowed her eyes and scowled before tossing her head to watch Axew and Scraggy's game of tag.

Emolga's grin widened. It always amused her how so little could set her off. Oh, if only Snivy herself knew the reason as well as Emolga did… She took a bite out of her apple, relishing its juiciness and almost crumbly texture. Oh, how delectable! Cilan's food was great, but nothing could compare to the sweetness of an apple~

"Hi, Emolga, Oshawott!" a voice called. Emolga looked up, mildly annoyed at being pulled out of her reverie.

Oshawott brightened. "Tepig!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here—"

"Yes, yes. That's, um, nice. Hey, Emolga! Can we talk, please?" Pointedly, Tepig looked at Oshawott. "In private."

Oshawott pouted, his cheerfulness gone. "Aww, no fair! I got to her first!"

Emolga twitched, though neither notice.

"I promise I'm not trying to, um," Tepig grimaced, "steal her love away from you. I just needed to ask her about…" He looked around. His eyes settled on the apple curiously, which Emolga pulled closer to her. "…apples. Yes. Because she's an expert and I was hoping to find some with her help."

"You could have just asked Sni—"

"She's busy sunbathing," Tepig said, without missing a beat. Without waiting for another reply, he began to shove Emolga deeper into the trees with his snout. "Come on, then."

"H-Hey!" Emolga protested, dropping her apple. "Let me walk on my own!"

The shoving stopped. "Sorry," Tepig said meekly, trotting next to her.

They walked right past the apple tree.

"I know this isn't about apples," Emolga said once Tepig had deemed them far enough from prying eyes. Or ears. She put her hands on her hips. "This better be important. I was really enjoying that apple."

"I mean, this kind of has something to do with that?" Tepig said, looking nervous all of a sudden. He took a deep breath, steeling himself before looking Emolga in the eye. "I noticed that you've been manipulating Oshawott into getting you apples."

Emolga raised an eyebrow. "I'm not? He's the one flirting with me."

"Regardless, you're still letting him do it even though you clearly don't like him that much. So, why do you do it? It's... Okay, this may sound kind of stupid." He exhaled sharply, letting out a small puff of fire. "Snivy doesn't like what you're doing. She's really upset. I don't think I've ever seen her that upset before," he said quietly. "I just don't see any reason for you to continue if the only benefit to this is getting free apples. I'll get the apples for you if it means you'll stop playing with Oshawott's feelings and being enemies with Snivy." His ears drooped. "I just want everyone to get along."

Emolga stared at the fire pig for a few seconds before she began laughing her head off.

Tepig's face fell. "What's so funny?"

"Snivy's— Snivy's upset?" she guffawed, clutching her stomach. "Oh boy, I must've really done it, huh…!"

As soon as she had started, she immediately stopped.

"You think I'm just doing it because I want apples?" she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "No, it's far more than that."

Tepig blinked. "Then...?"

"My dear Tepig, have you ever stopped to think about why Snivy was so upset with me?"

"No..."

Emolga shook her head, chuckling. Oh, to be as dense as a rock... Ironic, considering what Tepig's typing was. "It's because she's being an idiot."

"Huh?"

"It's so obvious! Don't you notice the longing stares? The jealousy in Snivy's eyes and when she grits her teeth? It's beautiful. I can't wait for it to hit her like a Rock Slide."

Tepig broke into a cold sweat. "Um, Emolga? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Emolga stared unblinkingly, before shaking her head. Yep, as dense as a rock. She lowered her voice. "I'm saying that our dear Snivy has a crush on Oshawott."

Tepig jumped back. "She does?" He did a double take. "Wait, you mean you want to get them together?"

"Getting them together is a little bit much for little old me," she said, examining her claws. "I just want our resident ice queen to stop being so stubborn with her own feelings."

Tepig's ears skyrocketed. "So you don't flirt with Oshawott because you're taking advantage of him?"

"I never said there weren't any benefits," Emolga snickered. "I do think Oshawott's kind of cute; he's just too simple-minded for my tastes. Besides," she grinned cheekily, "chances to aggravate Snivy only come once in a blue moon, so of course I'm gonna use it to its fullest potential!"

Tepig rolled his eyes. "I should have known you didn't actually have good intentions…"

"Who said I wasn't doing this for their benefit, either? In case you missed the memo: the otter gets my attention, I get my apples, and the snake gets to agonise over how hopelessly in love she is with him! It's

foolproof~"

He sighed. "That's not a good intention…"

Emolga huffed. "I mean it in the nicest of ways. Trust me, it's better if she realises sooner than later," she said. "Love can be painful, but it's even more painful when you don't know what that stabbing in your chest is. You just keep asking yourself, 'What is this feeling?' and you keep thinking 'I can't possibly be in love,' but before you know it, the apple of your eye has been taken, and you realise that it was love. And it's too late." Her voice was wavering, but she found that she couldn't stop it. "So, yeah."

Silence fell between them, and it stretched painfully. It rang in her ears and sent her heart into palpitations. Did she say too much? Was she being too emotional? Tepig was going to laugh at her, isn't he? Gosh, why did she even…?

She opened her mouth to say "forget it," but he beat her to it.

"I'm sorry."

It was said quietly, in that characteristically Tepig politeness. In hindsight, she should have seen it coming — when has Tepig been anything but understanding?

"For what?" she asked, though, deep down, she already knew the answer.

"For, um, whatever happened to make you say that. It must've been really hard for you. And for thinking you were shallow." He smiled at her shyly. "You're nicer than I thought. In your own way."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Emolga grumbled, feigning irritation despite the faint fluttering of her heart.

"And I guess I'll let this slide as long as you don't take it too far. But if you do…" He spread his front legs slightly into a battle stance, crouching lower, and blew a stream of red-hot fire out of his nose threateningly.

She waved a hand. "Yeah, whatever." When he relaxed, she leaned in, her grin oddly sinister. "Of course, if you still want to get me apples, I wouldn't mind…"

Tepig gulped, and backed away slightly. "I only offered so you'd stop leading Oshawott on, and it seems like you don't plan on stopping anytime soon, so…"

Emolga pouts. "Spoilsport. I was hoping you'd say yes." Her hands grazed the bottom of his snout. Her hooded eyes flickered with playfulness. "…And not just because I want more apples."

She immediately dropped the act and straightened. "Well, let's go back, shall we?" she said, smiling nonchalantly.

Tepig didn't say anything for a few seconds, only stare at Emolga with eyes as wide as poké balls and a blush as bright red as the apples she loved. Emolga held a hand daintily to her mouth to hide the snicker bubbling in her throat. His expression! Would Oshawott react the same way if she tried that on him? Oh, wouldn't she like to know. Snivy would be so pissed!

"Tepig?" she said in a low voice, partly because she doesn't want to startle him, and mostly because she was taking in the little details of his expression. Wouldn't that be a good one to remember for reference? It wasn't because she thinks Tepig is mildly cute. Nope. Not at all.

Snapping out of his daze, Tepig blinked rapidly before looking up at Emolga and smiling wanly. "O-Oh, yes! S-Sorry, I got distracted for a second," he apologised, already walking back the way they came. "Shall we?"

"Sure!"

Alright, maybe Tepig wasn't so bad to be with.

("Hey, Emolga?"

"Hm?"

"What were you smiling about just now?"

"Oh, nothing~"

Tepig narrowed his eyes at her curiously. Suddenly, his cheeks reddened, and he whipped his head away.

So much for not falling for Emolga's tricks, he thought bitterly.)

Number of words: 1612

Finished on: 19 January, 2020

EDIT (19/1/2020): fixed a bunch of stuff

A/N: i'm god awful at writing dialogue, i apologize. that's probably why everyone sounds kinda weird ughhhh

also y'all might be thinking: "emolga/tepig hints? dude, are you okay?" the short answer is no ;( the long answer is uni application deadlines have fried my brain to the point of no return. expect more weird pairings, like… pansage/excadrill.

(okay, no. the real answer is the original ending for this was literally so boring i had to spice it up somehow. and as i wrote that last bit i began to like the pairing. damn. my pokemon pairings aren't even in rare pair territory anymore; they straight up do not exist. *coughs* pancham/chespin *cOUGHS*)

so, yeah. that's all from me. feedback is always appreciated ^^ until next time~