Breloom and Poliwrath

It's Christmas, so let's all try to get along and not fight.

That's what they'd been told, and so there they were, not fighting. Not yet, anyhow. Over by the window, Breloom was grooming his green mushroom cap to get off some dust. It was gray and cloudy outside, but he didn't mind either way. On the other side of the room, Poliwrath was tearing apart some leftover present wrapping. She had been on edge for much of this visit. While she could endure the cold well enough, the dry indoors air did not agree with her blue amphibian skin. Even when she stayed near the humidifier, it was still too dry for her liking.

"Whatcha gonna do when you run out of paper to play with?" Breloom asked, shaking his head to see if any more loose skin or dust was there.

"I'll find something else," she answered. "Like maybe trying to take that cap off your head again."

He chuckled. "Not likely. You didn't even get close last time."

She clenched her white-gloved fist, then pointed at him. "I do have the strength to do it, if you would hold still in a fight."

"We're not supposed to fight," Breloom said. His grooming seemed to be done, so he had to find something else to do too. "That's what Mike's grandma said. And while we're here, we gotta do what she says."

Sighing, Poliwrath picked up the scraps of colorful paper she had and dropped them into a trash bag. "I know, I know. I'm just saying that you're always jumping about like some over-caffeinated Mankey in a fight. Someone could get nauseous in watching you."

He smirked. "I don't know if I'm like a Mankey. I don't rage quite that much. Anyhow, that's how I've always fought." He hopped from one foot to the other and back for a bit. "Keep on your toes and punch like the breeze."

"With no power?" she said, teasingly. She punched out a fist. "I fight with power, always."

Still hopping about, Breloom made a feint with his right fist, then punched with his left. "I fight with technique, always. Quick and to the weak spots. Some power, yeah, but I don't have big tree trunks for arms like you do."

Poliwrath got up; they were still twelve feet from each other, but she punched in his direction again. "You're the plant around here, bending to the will of the breeze. I am sturdy; nothing bends nor breaks me."

He winked. "I bend so that few can fully hit me. You cannot win if you cannot hit your foe, but you can win if they cannot hit you. It works even better if they are distracted and cannot do anything."

"You mean using dirty tricks like putting your foe to sleep, or paralyzing them. Hmph. I do not need such tactics to win."

There came an annoyed shout from the other room that there was to be no fighting in the house.

Poliwrath rolled her eyes. "We weren't fighting then. Just discussing matters." But although they could understand the humans, the humans couldn't understand them.

"And practicing taunts?" Smirking, Breloom hopped over and nudged her. "Well she just said no fighting in the house. Want to go out on a walk?"

"A walk would be nice," she agreed, so went into the other room. She had a human-like hand and could operate the doorknob; he only had paws with stubby fingers.

Outside was cold, with wet snow on the ground. Poliwrath's feet scrunched right through it, hitting the near-frozen mud underneath. But the wetness made up for any coldness and she was already more comfortable out here. Breloom hopped over the snow, barely leaving impressions there. Usually, Grass Pokemon didn't like winter's chill.

"You all right here in the snow?" she asked.

"I'm tough enough to withstand this chill," he replied, although he still kept from staying on one spot too long. "And I was the one to suggest this. Why, you worried about me?"

She snorted. "No, but I don't want to get yelled at by Mikey when you get frostbite." Well maybe she was concerned, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

"Well I'll stand up for you if he does. Come on, there's a nice spot just over this hill; I remember it from last time." He bounded on ahead. She remembered it just fine, but let him take the lead anyhow.

Over the hill, there was a dip that couldn't be seen well from most of the house. That made it a good sparring ground when Mikey's grandparents didn't like Pokemon battles taking place. and they did often complain about that kind of thing, saying Pokemon battles were too noisy and rough. And why did Pokemon and kids these days always have to be so violent, the grandma would say. Both of the fighting Pokemon were certain that it must have been much the same in the past and the grandparents were just refusing to acknowledge it. Besides, they had more fun fighting than not.

The rim of the dip was lined with pine trees covered in snow, while the snow was at least a foot deep in there, maybe more. The sky was all gray, not going to snow now, but maybe later. And it was far enough from the house that the machine noises from the human devices was muffled, almost absent. A few wild Pokemon were calling out, but they were in the distance, keeping closer to their food sources.

"Kind of a romantic place, don't you think?" Breloom said teasingly.

"I didn't come out here to flirt," she said, then made a snatch for his head. "I came to snatch that silly cap off your head."

He had made a backwards tumble to get out of the way, but was soon back on his feet. "Hey, that's a part of my body and I'm very proud of it." He punched out one of his small fists. "I challenge you to a boxing match for that!"

"Boxing?" she said, sounding indignant (although it was really fun). "You're just a feather weight and I'm a heavy weight. I'll smash you to bits and then take that cap too."

"Bring it!" He hopped over, dodging her downward chop, then punching her side. "You couldn't hit me unless you were lucky."

Poliwrath then tried to sweep her arm to the side to catch him. He just hopped onto her arm, then jumped away. "But I can endure longer than you can. You'll wear yourself out within the hour bouncing around like that, while I can cross the whole ocean and not get tired one bit. Once you get tired, then I've as good as won."

"Hah, maybe you can, but that's swimming, not sparring! I'll land so many hits on you that you'll fall right over like the big lump you are." He laughed playfully and got in to punch her on her swirled stomach.

She went to feint like he did, but he dodged both the feint and the punch, then showed her his own double-feint punch. He was right in that he was really hard to hit physically when he was boxing like this. Then again, she would turn out right too if he made a mistake. But that was part of this sparring practice, to make sure both of them would make less mistakes in the battles that counted.

Breloom then managed to land an extra hard hit on her, to her face no less (after jumping onto her head, and while back-flipping off, he had punched her with his tail). It jarred her so much that she fell over into one of the snowdrifts on the side of the dip. While she'd seen (and felt) some of his tail punches before, this one proved that he was getting stronger too.

After a moment, he hopped over to beside her, looking concerned. "You okay? I don't want to get yelled at either if you fall unconscious. That'll be hard to explain."

"It's not too bad," she said, but stayed in the snow. So cold, but the dampness felt good. "And is that all? I wouldn't want either of us to get in trouble, because then Mikey might separate us. Then I couldn't see your beautiful sparring motion."

"Huh?" His tan faced turned a bit pink. "Well, uh, that's nice to hear, but we…"

Poliwrath grinned, snatched his foot, then threw him across the dip. "Got you!"

She heard a muffled shout. As she got up, he was pulling himself out of a snow pile that he had gotten half buried in. He shook the snow out of his mushroom cap. "Aw man, now I'm gonna have ice crystals up there! Thanks a lot… not. And you were the one complaining about dirty tactics."

Laughing, she replied, "Well you have shown me that it works."

"But this is boxing! And that was a bit much…" he scowled, looking off to the side.

One seeing the look on his face, and hearing the sharp tone in his voice, Poliwrath felt pretty bad. Maybe that had been too far. Although, she hadn't really thought about things in those terms. They were just friends. "Um… I'm sorry. I thought you might see that as a joke."

His mood calmed down at that. "It would be a nice joke, I suppose." Then Breloom shook himself and started hopping again. "Geez, and I shouldn't be letting myself stop and get chilly this time of year. Hey, want to build a snowman? It might be tough with this kind of snow, but that would be fun. And it would show how you and I can withstand anything, even winter games."

She laughed again, relieved. "Sure! We'll make a really big snowman and impress Mikey with it."

The two Pokemon then got to work gathering up snow and deciding on how to put it together.

…

Poliwrath Emerald entry: Its highly developed muscles never grow fatigued, however much it exercises. This Pokemon can swim back and forth across the Pacific Ocean without effort.

Ruby entry: Breloom closes in on its foe with light and sprightly footwork, then throws punches with its stretchy arms. This Pokemon's fighting techniques put boxers to shame.