Cacnea and Maractus

He had been born in the desert, but had been captured by a Trainer early on. This gave the Cacnea insight into a myriad forms of weather. At his birthplace, it was always hot by day and cold at night. It could be blindingly sunny or occasionally cloudy, but rains were seldom and usually light. But in joining a Trainer's journey, he had seen it rain, thunder, fog, hail, snow, and even an odd mixture of all of that. He had seen cold days and hot nights. Still, this heavy downpour was interesting.

She found it to be absolutely fascinating and mind-blowing that it could rain so much at once.

Of course, she was from the desert too, a Maractus that his Trainer had caught only a couple of weeks back. It still made him angry. After all that talk of branching out and trying new Pokemon in the team, his human had to go out and catch another cactus. It was bad enough whenever a new Pokemon was caught. Cacnea was always working hard, training to swing his spiked arms faster and harder so that he could be a better fighter. But when the human caught a new Pokemon, he was always obsessing over the new one, paying attention exclusively to it and using it in battle more than the rest.

After a while, though, the human would get bored and release or trade the new capture, only to get all excited about the next. Somehow, Cacnea managed to stay on the team. He was proud of that, considering it proof that he was valuable. But he was always jealous of the newcomers, especially other Grass types. They stole the affection of his Trainer. It was worse this time because it was another cactus Pokemon. Was he looking to replace Cacnea with Maractus?

She had the human's attention, as usual. She was out in the heavy rain, dancing in a growing puddle. At this, the human laughed and took pictures. It had been a long while since he had taken pictures of him, Cacnea thought in irritation. Not since his yellow flower had last bloomed. It was a compact bud now, waiting for the right time.

But she always had flowers blooming, large flat purple ones that came off the two branches sticking out the top of her head. If one wilting, she shook it off and had another regrown in a matter of days. It seemed so pretentious, a cactus growing flowers so quickly. He spent an entire year making sure his flower was just right for blooming, while she just made another flat and floppy blossom like that. Yet, he was jealous that she could make them so fast.

And she was quite the dancer, making her own music by using the rain and the hollow rattling of her upper branches. Maractus twirled, sending water droplets flying off her dark green thorns. Leaning down to touch near her feet with her hand, she posed for a moment, then shook herself tightly to rattle louder. The rain caused her green skin to shine in a flattering manner. She was beautiful…

Cacnea frowned. He was jealous of her. She might be taking his spot on the team. Why should he be admiring her? That wouldn't help. In the next week or two, she might be gone like many of the Trainer's Pokemon before her. Or he might be gone. What was the use of having two cacti Pokemon on the team?

But seeing her dance, enjoying herself in the rain… she probably had no idea that he disliked her. Or liked her. Cacnea wasn't quite sure. While he was in the warm rain too in order to soak up water to store, he wasn't a dancer like her. He was a fighter, aiming to make himself stronger, invaluable to his human.

But she was having such fun it made him wonder what he would do if he were the next one released instead of her.

…

Emerald entry: Cacnea live in deserts with virtually no rainfall. It battles by swinging its thick, spiked arms. Once a year, a yellow flower blooms.

Maractus White entry: Arid regions are their habitat. They move rhythmically, making a sound similar to maracas.

Shorter than usual, but not all stories have to be long.