CHAPTER 10: Harmful love

Days later, Ash won his seventh gym badge, now it remained to go to the next city with a gym and win his last badge. They decided to rest in the trip and let their Pokémon play a little before parting again. Snivy went to rest in some part, near the forest. She was there for a couple minutes, until she felt something weird. It seemed that she lacked something. She noticed that her partner Oshawott hadn't appeared to talk to her. Maybe that occasion he didn't want to talk to her and decided to rest alone, near the others; however, she heard that her trainer shouting the Sea Otter Pokémon's name to try to locate him, but he didn't see him in the surroundings. Where was Oshawott? Where would he have gotten?

The grass snake felt worried in the inside and went to her trainer to tell him that she would search for Oshawott in the forest. She had the feeling that he entered there for something specific. Ash accepted her idea and she went to the forest to try to find him. Snivy was there searching for her partner for several minutes, but she didn't find him anywhere. It seemed that he got lost after entering to the woods. Why would he enter to the forest?

Suddenly, Snivy heard a noise at the distance, it was as if someone was attacking another one, and its screams of pain were heard. She went quickly towards there to investigate. After arriving, she noticed what happened. A Galvantula was attacking Oshawott, and he got seriously injured on the grass. The grass-type got surprised. Her partner couldn't move and the EleSpider Pokémon still wanted to attack him. She had to act quickly to protect him.

Before Galcantula caught its prey, Snivy used Vine Whip and took Oshawott out of there and put him safe. The bug-electric type Pokémon didn't like at all that snatched its prey away and it went to attack the grass snake. It used Signal Beam, but Snivy dodged by jumping, she used later Leaf Storm and it hit the target. She made it back off a lot. The tarantula attacked with Electro Ball, Snivy used Leaf Blade to counter the shot. It worked. She used the same move and went to give a direct hit to the opponent Pokémon, and it hit the target. It was such that Galvantula had to leave in retreat and leave Snivy and Oshawott alone, and it left from there.

The grass snake, once the battle was over, went to where the Sea Otter Pokémon were. After coming closer, she noticed that her partner didn't wake up, it seemed that he got unconscious by the damage that he received from Galvantula. He was seen with many wounds. The strangest thing that Snivy saw was that Oshawott had an apple and a flower in his paws. What did he plan to do with those objects? She thought that he had the intent of entering the forest to find an apple and a flower for someone in specific. There was no time, Oshawott was seriously injured, so Snivy had to carry him with her vines and went as quick as possible to where the others were.

After arriving, Ash saw Snivy with Oshawott with serious wounds. He got worried so much. He tried to call him by his name, but he didn't wake up. His partners also were worried. They had to take him to the Pokémon Centre as soon as possible. Cilan checked his map and saw that there was one near them, so Ash, Iris and Cilan went quickly to the Pokémon Centre to heal Oshawott.

When arriving, Nurse Joy attended Oshawott and went to heal the Pokémon. As the Sea Otter Pokémon was in urgency, the others waited until they received news about the water-type's condition. Everyone was worried. After a half of an hour, Nurse Joy gave the news that Ash's Pokémon was resting and getting better. The trainers felt relieved when they heard that. Now they knew that Oshawott was better than when Snivy found him wounded in the forest. Everyone went to see him in the urgency room, the Pokémon was resting on a stretcher, trying to get better while he was lied down. Ash asked him if he was alright, the water-type said yes in a rather weak way. His trainer didn't know what had happened when he went to the forest to get an apple and a flower, but at least the young man with hat was relieved that his Pokémon was getting better after the incident.

They couldn't be too much time in the urgency room, so they had to exit and wait in the waiting room until Oshawott got better completely, but they couldn't leave him alone, someone had to accompany him in the meanwhile. Snivy, who was out of her Poké Ball all this time, said to Ash that she would accompany him as he got better, and her trainer accepted her idea. The grass snake stayed accompanying her partner while the others hoped for a speedy recovery, and she would take advantage to talk something with him.

Snivy got up on the stretcher and came closer to Oshawott. She was worried for him, but also upset for what happened in the forest. Once the water-type saw his partner coming closer to him, he greeted her, trying to talk normally.

"Hello, Snivy…"

"Hi, Oshawott."

"What are you… doing here?"

"I came to accompany you while you get better, the others are in the waiting room."

"Okay…"

There was a moment of silence until the grass snake said to him:

"Oshawott, there is something that we must talk right now."

"What is… it about?"

"It's about when you entered in the forest without warning and you were attacked by a Galvantula."

"Uh… okay…" getting nervous.

"I went to look for you and I found you very injured by the attacks from that Galvantula. I protected you and I got rid of the Pokémon that was attacking you. Later, I carried you to where the others were to take you to the Pokémon Centre."

"So that was what happened… thank you, Snivy…"

"Not thank me yet. When I found you unconscious and after scaring that Galvantula, I noticed that you had in you paws an apple and a flower."

"Aaahh… Aaaaaahhh…"

"Now I wonder, what did you pick up an apple and a flower for? Were they for someone in specific?"

"Uuuhh… I… this… Umm… Th-th-they were for Emolga."

"For Emolga, you say?" she asked slightly surprised, "Why did you want to giving her an apple and a flower?"

"I… well… I wanted to declare my love… to her…"

"You are joking, right?"

"No… It was for real… I was in love of Emolga for… a long time… but I didn't have the courage… to declare her in a… proper way… I wanted to show my… love for her… bringing her an apple and a flower…"

"Uh-huh, what else did happen?"

"Without knowing… I entered into a territory of some… Galvantula and one attacked me and… it damaged me until not continuing standing…"

"Then I arrived to where you were to protect you from that Galvantula. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have survived. Oshawott, now I talk to you seriously: why did you do such a thing just to declare your love to Emolga?"

"I already told you… I was in love of Emogla for a long time… About giving her gift wasn't anything… new for me… She came closer to me… and always asked to me to… bring her apples… and I went to get some for her to gain affection for me… I… sometimes I had to look for apples in… dangerous parts of the forest… just to bring the perfect… apples for Emolga… Everything for her, I said…"

"Oshawott, I have told you since you got interested on Emolga since a long time ago, that she was using you just for her own benefit. All this time your love for her has blinded you and has made you dangerous things, risking your own life and damaging yourself, just to make her happy. The romance that you have with her is toxic and has never existed. She was never interested for you, she was just manipulating you all this time just to get her apples. Did you not really see, or you want me to repeat it again until you understand for once and for all."

Oshawott got thoughtful by all Snivy told him about his romance with Emolga. Since a long time that he was in love of her, and wanted to make her happy until one day they were boyfriend and girlfriend. But part of the engagement, for him, was that the two had to love each other a lot and take care of each other. Now he wondered: was it romance that Emolga asked him all these times to Oshawott for him to venture in dangerous places of the forest, just to bring her apples so she ate them, without even thanking him by the hard work and risking his life just to make her happy? He thought that, if the otter had survived the attack of that Galvantula, still seriously injured, he would have reached where the sky squirrel was to declare his love with the gifts that he brought for her. But he also thought that she was only interested on eating the apple that Oshawott brought, without caring the flower nor the wounds that he had received. Was that really love for Oshawott?

After thinking it a lot, he thought that Snivy was all this time saying the truth. No partner would do such risky favors to another one, and it would always do everything possible to take care its other partners. It seemed that his love had blinded him completely from the truth and Emolga took advantage of him all this time, just to giving her apples and not giving him a thank you by all the effort that he made. The romance that Oshawott had with Emolga was damaging him slowly, until he finally got very hurt and taken to the emergency room at the Pokémon Centre, just to make her happy. The Sea Otter Pokémon wanted to be honest with Snivy and he asked forgiveness:

"Oh… I'm sorry, Snivy… I didn't realize that you… were saying the truth… all this time… I… I thought that you wanted to eliminate my romance with Emolga… but now I realized that… what you did so that I wouldn't get hurt… from any way possible… Now I know that… you care for me… more than I imagined…" about to cry, "Oh, Snivy…! Forgive this poor idiot that I am…! I swear that it won't happen again…! That I'll be more careful the next time that I'm in love of someone…! Please, forgive me…!"

And Oshawott cried heavily after asking forgiveness to his teammate. Snivy, after that the water-type was heard whining as he regretted for what he had been doing, she gave him a hug of consolation to make him stop cry. She said to him:

"There, there, Oshawott, don't cry anymore. I forget you, and I hope that this doesn't happen again, okay?"

"Sniff… Thank you… Sniff… Thank you so much, Snivy…"

The two were hugged for a while until Oshawott's sorrow passed. Everyone waited until he was recovered at all. Once they received the news of that the Sea Otter Pokémon had recovered, everyone was happy. And afterwards, they continued with their trip to the next city for the last gym battle for Ash, and win his eight badge to enter the Unova League.

After the incident, Snivy talked with Emolga about what happened to Oshawott. She told her that she shouldn't ask to him more favors because he left his romance with her. The sky squirrel was agreed with that in part, from one side she was happy that he gave her apples when she asked to him, but from the other side she was tired that the water-type gave her shows of affection that made her very uncomfortable. So Emolga stopped to ask more favor to Oshawott that made him risk his life like what happened in that incident. Oshawott, after seeing the truth thanks to Snivy, he decided to look for other girlfriend, one that would really love him and wouldn't do any damage to him. The grass snake hoped to see her partner happy while they traveled through the Unova region.