Purrloin and Liepard

Shadeclaw the Purrloin escaped from his Pokeball and ended up in a dark cramped travel bag. Great, just great. At least the zipper was partly undone. He hooked a claw into the zipper pull and pushed it open. Then he poked his head out of the bag, peering around.

From the close green canvas, he was also in a tent. Nearby, there was a lumpy sleeping bag. On end had a boy's head poking out, his black hair sprawled over the pillow. One strand of it fluttered in response to his breath, but he was still otherwise. Maybe fast asleep, maybe close to waking up. But there was an opportunity to do something. Now it was just a matter of figuring out what.

Before long, he spotted it: a place of rectangular black rimmed glasses folded up and placed on the ground, within arm's reach of the sleeping boy. His Trainer was always wearing those, so Shadeclaw had never gotten a chance to investigate them. But now he had the perfect opportunity to steal them. Pleased with the idea, he hopped out of the bag and crept closer, the falls of his paws silent.

"Mmmphff," the teen mumbled.

Shadeclaw froze, maddeningly close to the glasses. He looked over at his Trainer and saw him starting to move. Without opening his eyes, the teen rubbed his nose then put his hand on the pillow. After a moment, he was relaxed once again, not ready to wake up. Shadeclaw picked up the glasses with his teeth, then bounded out of the tent.

For a moment, he observed his prize with pride, having taken this important thing that his Trainer kept all the time. Shadeclaw sniffed it, smelling the boy's scent on it: usual human male, with hints of shampoo and lens cleaner. That wouldn't do. He rubbed his head against it, putting his scent to mark his human. There. Now what did he do with it?

He tugged at the side pieces by gently hooking them with his claws, briefly cursing his having paws instead of hands to easily work human things. Once he had them open, he spent a couple of minutes trying to get the bendy part behind his own ears. Shadeclaw managed, but then the glasses wanted to sit on his forehead, not his nose. But a gentle shake got them to slide down to the proper place.

Immediately, his eyes complained about the lenses messing with them. Everything was horribly blurred, to the point where he couldn't identify things beyond a mass of color, light, and shade. It even made him feel dizzy. How in the world did his Trainer see anything while wearing these?

The sound of the sleeping bag rustling and a hand patting the ground came from inside the tent. "Huh, where's my glasses?" the boy mumbled, half-asleep still.

Uh-oh. At least he couldn't think of any reason to keep these. Shadeclaw shook the glasses off, much to the relief of his eyes, then picked them up with his teeth again and headed into the tent. He held his tail high and put on an expression of absolute cuteness and innocence. Setting them down just out of the boy's reach, he sat down and mewed. Wasn't he a good Pokemon, bringing back the stolen glasses which he totally didn't steal in the first place? He had even suffered for a little bit to get them back.

The boy sat up and squinted at him, his hair a total mess. He didn't even seem affected by the cute. But he did manage to see his glasses and reach over to get them. "How'd they get over there? And how'd you get out?"

Shadeclaw looked up at him with a cat grin, looking for all the world like he had no clue either.

"Cheren!" a girl's voice called from outside. "Are you getting up?"

"Yeah, give me a few," he said, sliding out of his sleeping bag. Then he added more quietly, "As long as you didn't cause trouble, or stay up all night. We have training to do today."

That was how things went a lot. Cheren wasn't weak to cuteness, although every now and then he fell for one of Shadeclaw's acts. He was a strict Trainer, constantly planning and thinking about how to become more successful. Despite that, he wouldn't let them overwork themselves, and he treated them decently. If dealing with the tough audience meant that he could get stronger sooner, then Shadeclaw was willing to do so.

But then one day, in a Pokecenter, Cheren said something terrible. "You've passed muster so far, but things will only get tougher as we get further," he said to Shadeclaw. "You're quick and your typing is useful, but there are stronger Dark types out there. And you can't take many hits; it's not much good if you can't last long enough to make use of your attacks. I may have to replace you soon."

At first, Shadeclaw was mad to hear that, twisting his ears back and then turning away with an air of snootiness. How dare he say that he wasn't a worthy Pokemon? He'd followed Cheren's orders in battle without hesitation and he had won many of them. Or helped to win them when he got switched out. But he didn't cause trouble (at least no serious trouble or anything he'd admit to). He'd get better in time.

He began to get worried about it when they had gone out to train and Cheren worked with the others more than Shadeclaw. Was he giving up on him? But he'd been on the team since the day Cheren started! He couldn't just ditch a loyal Pokemon like that. Could he? Would he?

Shadeclaw didn't like to appear troubled, so he worked on proving himself over the next week. When he was out but not being battled with, the Purrloin sought out his own fights. Since Cheren wanted him tougher, he forced himself to keep going even when he was hurting. It came to several close calls and he had to steal some Sitrus berries from the bag to avoid fainting. It was a lot of work, leaving him ruffed up and sandy due to where they were training. When Cheren finally called on him, Shadeclaw felt his inner power ignite. He fought and defeated a Sandile, working to do so as quickly as possible to prove his worth.

And for that effort, he was granted the gift of evolution. His legs grew longer, his body grew sleeker, and his natural talents increased greatly. With his fur coat now speckled with yellow spots, Shadeclaw was now a Liepard. Surely Cheren couldn't resist cuteness combined with beauty and power. He curled his long tail and looked up at him with his best 'I really adore you and I'm not possibly trying to charm you out of something (but I am)' look.

"Good, that's more information that Professor Juniper could use," Cheren said, looking over him but not softening his critiquing eye. "Your performance had better improve out of this."

Shadeclaw thought about being mad, but he felt more disappointed and eager to prove that he deserved to stay. Cheren kept walking through Desert Resort, so the Liepard followed, going into every battle with enthusiasm and always waiting for an approving word. This continued until he took one too many hits and fainted.

Later, he woke up in a Pokecenter, but not in the lobby. That was odd. Instead, Shadeclaw found himself in a recovery room, lying in a padded box with a soft blue blanket below him. His body felt achy and he still felt tired, but this wasn't a time to let that get to him. He got up and looked around for his Trainer. Past the curtains, he found other Pokemon resting, including one that had a bandaged up leg. Thank goodness he wasn't that hurt.

He heard footsteps, so Shadeclaw slipped behind the folds of a loose curtain, listening and smelling. It was two humans, an adult woman and... Cheren. "Oh dear, well he was here," the woman, a nurse, said.

He carefully moved along the curtains so as not to move them, coming out behind the two humans. Walking up to Cheren's side, he rubbed his head against his Trainer's leg. "Merrr?"

Kneeling down by him, Cheren put his hand on the Liepard's head. "You shouldn't be wandering around if you've been brought back here."

"He definitely should have some more rest here," the nurse said. "After examining him, it seems that he wouldn't recover from being unconscious because he was exhausted from battling too hard over several days."

"I haven't battled with him that much lately," Cheren said, worried. "I take turns with all my team members so they get regular breaks."

"It's possible he did that on his own. He's not too bad, but I still have to give you a warning to pay better attention to that kind of thing. See if you can convince him to sleep in here for tonight and you can take him back in the morning." The nurse petted Shadeclaw. "He's a beautiful cat, though. A lot of people love them for their coats, so you should be able to find another owner for him if he's not the one for you." She then left the room.

Cheren looked into Shadeclaw's eyes. "How did you go fighting behind my back? And why? You used to be the least serious Pokemon I had."

Shadeclaw bumped his forehead into Cheren's. Sure, this human wasn't perfect (he could at least praise them a little more). But if he had to leave the team, he didn't want to leave behind the impression that he was weak. He wanted his Trainer to be proud of him, as proof that he was a worthy Pokemon.

"I have to work hard to prove myself as a great Trainer. And I should do what I must to build a great team, without sentimentality."

"Mew," Shadeclaw replied, plaintive and cute. He pawed at Cheren's glasses.

After a short smile, Cheren looked torn. "I mean, that's what anyone would do. But did you have to push yourself like that? I don't want to make you upset. Hmm, however much you can understand about this. Probably not, but then..." He sighed, then hugged Shadeclaw. "Stay in the bed for tonight, okay? You had me really worried when she said that you weren't reviving like you should."

Then he did care! Shadeclaw licked his nose. Now he just had to figure out how to fully convince Cheren not to let him go.

…

Purrloin Black entry: They steal from people for fun, but their victims can't help but forgive them. Their deceptively cute act is perfect.

Liepard Black entry: These Pokemon vanish and appear unexpectedly. Many Trainers are drawn to their beautiful form and fur.

This is sort of a side-story to ClicheStorm. But more important, POS has now covered 500 Pokemon in total! YES! How many Pokemon fanfics that you know of can honestly claim to have used that many? Now I just need to work on the other 148 or so.