ML54: Hey guys!

Pikachu: Oh hey, I was wondering when we'd get a new OshawottxSnivy story from you.

ML54: I know, I had an idea for some fun interactions I could have with some of the characters and thought, hey, why not?! Disclaimer please!

Pignite: ML54 doesn't own Pokemon.

Nerves

Snivy felt her eye twitch in annoyance as she watched Oshawott try (and fail) to flirt with a Skitty over near the woods of Professor Oak's Lab.

She, as of right now, was lying on her front, sunbathing on the roof of said lab, with Swellow perched next to her, Corphish sat on the bird's back. "So, how long do you think it'll be before she smacks him? My berries are on five seconds," She heard the lobster-like Pokemon say, to which Swellow shook his head.

"Nah, that Skitty's pretty nice, I give it a minute, tops," He replied, noting said cat-like Pokemon's growing agitation to which the otter Pokemon below was completely oblivious to.

Snivy sighed and turned away from the scene in front of her, having seen the idiot get knocked out enough times for her liking.

Once she did, however, she heard Swellow and Corphish take in a cringe-induced breath. "Ah, that's gotta sting!"

"No joke, he's gonna feel that one in the morning," Swellow agreed, before flying Corphish down to check on their team-mate. Snivy only snorted at them as they left.

They're wasting their own time, he'll be down for about a minute before rushing right to the next girl, no question about it, She thought to herself, trying to close her eyes to take a nap.

Though a little niggling in the back of her mind told her that, even though he was an idiot, he was still her team-mate and she should, at the very least, look-like she gave a damn.

So she sighed and cracked her eye open to glance down at the three guys over by the forest, only to see that Oshawott was laughing off their concerns. He was saying something she couldn't quite hear, but he looked fine.

She rolled her eyes and curled back in on herself, hoping to be able to get some sleep, now that her conscience was satisfied, but now she couldn't help but ponder as to why the idiot wasn't bawling like a newborn like he'd usually do.

Probably just grew a pair, finally, She thought to herself, lifting herself up onto her hands and feet, to turn and find a better position. Doesn't stop him being annoying, but at least he's not unbearably so.

She flopped over so that she was now on her back, opening her eyes to look at the sky, hoping looking at the clouds would help lull her into dreamland, only to find a black and white squirrel-like Pokemon right in her face.

"Gah!" She cried out, getting up as quickly as she could, the Pokemon before her moving away before she could head-butt it, and took on a defensive position.

The squirrel folder it's arms and frowned. "Well, hello to you too, Greeny."

"Emolga! What the Hell?!" Snivy snapped, with-drawing her vines. "You nearly gave me a heart-attack!"

Emolga rolled her eyes. "I was trying to get your attention for about a minute! I thought you'd gone deaf or something."

"I was trying to take a na-" She was about to explain before something occurred to her. "Wait, what are you even doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be with Iris?"

"Iris is down there," She explained, pointing to where the ebony-skinned Dragon-type enthusiast was talking with Professor Oak and Tracy, Axew nestled into her massive purple hairdo as always. "She came here to wish Ash a happy birthday, but he's not here."

"He left for the Alola Region a while ago," Snivy shrugged, before she finally punched her frienemy in the shoulder. "Well, for what it's worth, it's good to see you."

Emolga grinned, mischievously, before grabbing Snivy's arms and dragged her into an actual hug. "Aw, I missed you too, you socially-awkward sack of chlorophyll!"

"Okay, don't make me hurt you, she-devil," Snivy mumbled before she pulled away and glanced around to make sure no-one saw that. While it is true that she missed Emolga, she had a tough-girl image to hold up, so couldn't be seen being huggy or anything.

Emolga just smiled, sitting next to her, tilting her head to the side. "So what were you thinking about?"

"Huh?" Snivy asked, having just sat a comfortable distance away from her frienemy.

"Well, as I said, I was trying to get your attention for a while before I got it, so you had to be thinking about something," She clarified, looking out towards Professor Oak's ranch.

Snivy waved her hand, dismissively. "Nothing important, just what's for lunch and stuff."

Emolga noticed the Grass-type's eyes trying to discreetly check on something and followed their line of sight, seeing Oshawott waving good-bye to Corphish and Swellow. She grinned and knocked Snivy on the shoulder. "Stuff like Oshawott over there?"

Snivy turned to Emolga, in what seemed to be shock, before she quickly regained her composure and turned her nose in the air. "And why would I waste my time thinking about that nub?"

Emolga shrugged, brushing a few imaginary bits of dust off her cape. "No need to get all defensive about it, it was just a question."

"I'm not being defensive, I was only informing you that I wasn't thinking about him, nor would I ever think about him. In fact, who is he? I don't know, I never even gave it any thought, that's how much I'm not thinking about him!"

"Then you wouldn't mind if I go and ask him out then?"

Snivy was about to continue her rambling, until Emolga's words caught up to her and her eyes widened in shock. "H-huh?"

Emolga shrugged, putting on an air of indifference. "Well, he doesn't have a girlfriend, does he?" When Snivy shook her head, she continued. "Then why not ask him out?"

"...cause he's a dork," Snivy offered, weakly, to which Emolga shrugged.

"Well sure, but he's a pretty endearing dork. He used to do a lot for me and he is kinda cute," Emolga retorted.

Snivy took a deep breath, before glancing back at the otter, who had gotten involved in a game of tag with Totodile, Gliscor and Gible. Okay, why is this bothering me so much?! Just say sure, whatever and get back to sleep, no problem!

But, every time she opened her mouth to express these thoughts, it'd snap shut again, not able to allow the words out.

Emolga had to hide her smirk from the Grass-type, otherwise her hustle might be discovered. It was clear to her that Snivy has, at least, a fondness for Oshawott, otherwise she wouldn't have taken this long to answer.

"Do you not want me to ask him out?" Snivy nodded her head, telling her that was the case. "Well okay, I won't, wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

Snivy let out an involuntary sigh of relief, before Emolga added. "But why not?"

"Huh?" Snivy let out, before cringing internally. Wow, am I sounding like an idiot today or what?!

Emolga just shrugged, looking up to the sky. "Well, I just thought we were friends. So why would you not want me to go out with Oshawott?"

"Well...He's not really your type," Snivy answered, causing Emolga to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Really? And what would my type be, exactly?"

"Um...Well I don't know..." Snivy mumbled out, not really having much of an idea what she was doing/saying anymore. "...Not him?"

"So...you're saying that I shouldn't date him because you want to date him?" Emolga asked, grinning mischievously.

Snivy, still not really thinking about it, just and said: "Yes! That's it! One hundred percent!"

The two sat there for a few seconds, Snivy smiling in satisfaction while Emolga was barely holding in her laughter, before the words finally caught up to her and Snivy jumped and shook her head frantically, trying to fight the red off of her face. "Wait, no! I mean-"

"Snivy loves Oshawott, Snivy loves Osha-" Before she got the second one out, Snivy jumped on top of her and placed both of her hands over the other girls mouth, glaring harshly.

"No I don't!" Snivy hissed, glancing around herself to make sure no-one else heard. "Okay, so he's kinda cute and sort of funny but that's it! That's the extent of it, there's nothing else there so drop it, okay?!"

"Mmmhmm mm mm m mmm mm," Emolga said, sarcastically, pointing to her mouth which was still being covered. When Snivy let go and got off of her, Emolga breathed in deeply, ready to talk about this some more. "So when did you-"

"Uh uh, I said no more talking about it," Snivy answered, turning to the side and sticking her nose up in the air.

Emolga grinned, and looked down, noticing Palpitoad bouncing along the lab-building. "Oh okay, I'll just talk to Palpitoad instead, I'm sure he'll know some-"

Just as quickly as she got up, Snivy grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. "Fine! But if I do, you promise not to tell anyone else!"

"Okay, great!" Emolga squealed in delight, knowing full well she'd never tell anyone about Snivy's crush either way. She wasn't that kind of girl...

...okay, maybe she was, but that's beside the point.

Once Emolga was sitting comfortably, she turned to Snivy. "Okay, so when did you start lo-" She cut herself off when she saw the snake's eyes narrow. "-sorry, 'liking' Oshawott?"

Snivy took a breath and tried to think about it. Was there a specific point that had garnered her interest? If so, how had she not noticed until now?

"...you don't know, do you?" Emolga asked, causing Snivy to shake her head.

"Why does it matter anyway? Who cares how long I've felt this way?! It's not going to matter!" The Grass-type ranted, confusing the squirrel.

"Why not?"

"Cause he obviously doesn't like me!"

"Why would you say that?" Emolga continued, causing Snivy to grit her teeth.

"Because, just in case you forgot, he has flirted with every single female he has seen...except me!" She exploded, turning away. "I think it's clear that he-"

"Is too nervous to approach you the same way?" Snivy blinked, turning back to Emolga, who was watching the game of tag below. "I mean, no offence, but you aren't the easiest Pokemon to approach, never-mind try to flirt with. The guy was probably afraid that you'd break his arm or something."

Snivy rolled her eyes. "When would I ever-"

"That Pansear that tried to make a pass at you was in the Pokemon Centre for three days," Emolga answered, grinning. "Two broken ribs, a twisted ankle and a splinted stick shoved right up-"

"Okay I get it, but he was a jerk who deserved it!" Snivy ranted, turning away again. "That Pansear was flirting with you and Unfezant too, I was just giving that shameless flirt a piece of my mi-" Snivy blinked, seeing some similarities between two Pokemon. "-okay, I see where you're coming from..."

Emolga grinned, light-heartedly, and lightly shoved Snivy's shoulder. "Relax, I can help! I'll be here for a few hours, at least, maybe even a day or two if Ash decides to come home for his big day...wait, how old is he turning, anyway? Iris never mentioned."

"Eleven," The snake clarified, raising her eyebrow. "And why would you help me? And who said I wanted help?"

Emolga shrugged. "Cause I know, if I left you to try and do this by yourself, you'd probably end up embarrassing yourself. Plus, I like meddling, meddling is fun!" She then smiled, sweetly at Snivy, who cringed, knowing that she was probably right.

"...Fine, okay, so what? Do I go down and ask him out or something?"

"See, that's what I was talking about," Emolga pointed out, before shaking her head. "No cause, if you're right and he doesn't like you, you'll look like an idiot and it'll make things awkward."

"Right, so find out if he likes me then, so we're going to spy on him?"

"Sure, if you want to be branded the 'creepy one'," Emolga explained, lightly smacking Snivy over the head. "No, you're going to flirt with him."

"I thought you said I wasn't going to ask him out?!" Snivy asked, exasperated.

"You're not Oshawott flirting, dumb-ass, you're me flirting, without the attract," Emolga explained, fluttering her eyes, playfully, at her. "Flutter your eyes, giggle at his jokes, tease him a little and find little compliments for him."

Snivy blinked, stupidly, looking back and forth between Oshawott, who was currently running away from Gible who was laughing, and Emolga who was maintaining her cute-sy appearance, before slumping down and sighing. "I'm so going to regret this..."

"See you later guys!" Oshawott waved as Totodile, Gible and Gliscor, who were heading to the fields to watch Sceptile and Charizard's battle. He didn't feel like watching, himself, so was going to head over to the pond for a swim instead.

"Hey Oshawott!" He blinked, before turning and finding Snivy coming towards him, though something seemed off about her.

Well...She's as green as ever, still the same height, still a Snivy, smili- That's it! "Hey Sni, what's with the grin?"

Snivy tilted her head slightly, her smile that she had practised for the last hour still on her face. "Well. Uh, just happy to see you. Why?"

"...Because it's showing a whole lot of teeth," Oshawott stated, backing away slightly just in case she wanted to eat him.

From the bushes nearby, Emolga's palm planted straight into the middle of her face. Snivy you're suppose to be flirting with him, not frightening him!

Snivy flinched and closed her lips, shortening the length of her smile slightly. "Better?"

Oshawott sighed in relief. "Much. So what's up, did you need something?"

"Oh...just wanted to talk," She said, tilting her head and fluttering her eyes...

...or at least, trying to flutter her eyes. "Uh...do you have something your in eye? You're blinking an awful lot."

"What?! No, I uh...I mean yeah, kind of," She explained, rubbing the imaginary thing out of it, trying to embarrass herself less. "So um...what're you doing?"

"Well, I was going to go for a swim," Oshawott explained, slowly, getting a little weirded out right now.

"Oh. Do you...um...like swimming?" Snivy asked, biding her time to find a compliment.

"Well yeah...like most Water-types, it's kind of our thing?" He said, sweat-dropping at the weird question.

That was a joke! Quick, laugh at it! Snivy's brain yelled, before she cackled like an idiot causing Oshawott to jump and fall onto his rump and Emolga to fall over in exasperation.

"Um...I'm gonna...go now...um later Sni...g-get better, okay?" Oshawott stuttered, before getting onto his feet and running away.

Snivy, after calming herself down, looked around and noticed Oshawott wasn't there. "Uh...what'd he mean by 'get better'?"

"He thought you'd gone insane in the brain!" Emolga scolded, emerging from her hiding place and lightly shoved her frienemy. "What the Hell was that?!"

"I just did what you told me to do!"

"I said to flirt with him, not give him a heart attack!" Emolga scolded, throwing her arms in the air. "Guess flirting's out, mostly because you make Brock look like Casanova!"

There was a pause of about five seconds, before Snivy tilted her head to the side. "How do you know who that is?"

"Forget it, let's try something else," She said, looking back towards the pond Oshawott had run off to. "Okay, got it! This time just talk to him like you usually would-"

"Uh...Oshawott and I don't hang out all that much," Snivy explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "He's usually playing tag or socialising and I'm usually battling or napping. Not much of an overlap there."

"...Okay, just talk to him how you'd talk to me, okay?"

"So...Insult him? Gotcha!" Snivy smiled, marching to the lake, before Emolga put on a sardonic expression and grabbed Snivy's tail before she left.

"Good Arceus no! Don't you have any friends!"

"...I've got you, Pikachu and Pignite?"

"Right, so talk to him like you'd talk to Pikachu, then," Snivy rolled her eyes.

"You know I don't really talk to Pikachu all that much, either, right?"

"...Pignite?"

"Oshawott's not fat enough to call him tubby," Snivy said, chuckling. Emolga sighed and waved her hand towards the pond.

"Just talk to him like how any normal Pokemon would talk to another, okay?"

"Um...sure? I guess I could," Snivy muttered, walking towards the pond. Emolga lifted her cape to catch some wind to keep an eye on them in the air.

The things I do for love, Were Emolga's last thoughts before she took to the sky.

Oshawott, spotting Snivy coming towards him, immediately dove under the water to try and hide from her, still thinking her a little crazy.

Snivy noticed that a flinched a little, as if him trying to avoid her was akin to him punching her in the gut. Okay, not a great start...

"Oshawott," She called out to him, scanning the water to try and find him. "I'm uh...Sorry for acting a little...strange. I just thought I was being...uh friendly?"

After a little bit, the otter surfaced from the water so that his chin was resting on the surface. "Okay..." Oshawott said slowly, swimming towards the edge she was sitting on. "Any reason? We haven't really talked all that much before."

"Well I...uh...just wanted to get to know you a little," Snivy stated, sitting down and dunking her feet in the water. "See if there's a little more to you than a dim-witted flirt."

Oshawott blinked, then gave her a happy grin. "Nope!"

Snivy tilted her head to the side, not sure if she should be confused or angry at the statement. She settled for angry. "Nope? What do you mean nope?!"

"There's not really a lot to me. What you see is what you get!" He declared, lifting himself out of the water to sit next to her.

"...really?" She asked in disbelief. "There's gotta be, at least, a little more. Like why you're so happy all the time."

"What's the point in not being happy?" He asked, to which she shrugged.

"I don't know just...doesn't anything get to you? You just got rejected by that Skitty an hour ago! That doesn't bug you?"

Oshawott shrugged, grabbing his scalchop and splashing the water with it a little. "If I let every rejection bring me down, I'd be one of the most unbearable Pokemon to be around, you know? I mean they used to get me down, but I got over it."

She rolled her eyes at that a little. "Almost sounds like you should just stop flirting altogether."

"Probably," Oshawott said, grinning. "But you know what they say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again."

"I prefer, do or do not, there is no try," Snivy retorted, smugly, causing him to grin, mischievously.

"So all the times you lost a battle was a 'do not' then?" Snivy's eye twitched and she used a vine to push him into the water, causing him to laugh.

"OK, dorky, you made your point," She said, using that same vine to snag him out of the water and set him down in his previous place.

"Oshawott 1, Sni 0," He grinned, before he tilted his head to the side. "So what about you? Any more to you than battling and being snarky."

"I like sunbathing too, don't forget that part," She pointed out, before shrugging. "And I guess not... Oh don't give me that look!" She snapped causing his sly smile a spread a little.

"What look?"

"That 'there's gotta be a little more' look! I'm a simple girl, what you see is what you get!"

"Now where've I heard that before?" He grinned, laughing as she dumped him in the water again.

"I'm just gonna keep dumping you in the water if you keep annoying me!" She warned him as he surfaced.

He smirked. "Really now, then what would you do if I did-" As he said that, he grabbed one of Snivy's feet and dragged her into the water with him. "-this?!"

Snivy held her breath as she suddenly submerged into the surprisingly cool water of the pond (though it seemed more like a lake by the size of it). She regained her sense of direction and quickly surfaced, facing the grinning Oshawott with a glare. "You're lucky you're cute."

He just continued giving that little smirk before he blinked in confusion. "I'm lucky I'm what?"

Snivy, realising what she said, quickly splashed some water in his face and swam away, sticking her tongue out at him. "Take that, loser!"

Oshawott blinked, before forgetting about it and chasing after her. "You know, taking on a Water-type in the water isn't wise!"

"Good thing I'm challenging a glorified Rattata then!" She called back, smirking and diving under the water to dodge him.

Snivy waved as Oshawott waddled away, having earlier promised Pignite that he'd help him and Tracy collect berries from the berry orchard that Professor Oak had set up, claiming that fresher berries would be better for the Pokemon on the ranch. "Bye Oshawott!"

"Later Sni!" He grinned back, winking. "I'll beat you next time!" He added, Snivy having won their little splash fight earlier.

"Don't bet on it!" She shot back, shaking some of the remaining water from her body and letting her arm fall back down to her side. When she was sure he was out of sight, she she let out an infatuated sigh and sat down. "Okay, he's a lot of fun to hang out with."

"Snivy's in looove, Snivy's in l-" Snivy's vine shot out behind her and snapped Emolga's lips shut, and she turned to give the girl the stink eye.

"Like. I like Oshawott," Snivy stressed, pulling her vine back so that Emolga can rub her mouth free of the pain. "Sorry, just clarifying."

Emolga sighed, but smiled and sat next to her frienemy. "It's alright, you're still riding the high from hanging out with your crush, it happens."

"...How do you handle being this girly?" Snivy asked, pointing to her own chest. "My heart's still fluttering and he's already left, it's weird!"

"It's cause you're happy!" Emolga replied, rolling her eyes. "Considering how grumpy you usually are, it's gotta feel a little different."

"Oh..." Snivy said, looking down at her hands as she started fiddling around with her feet. "I thought that was indigestion."

Emolga blinked at her, before lowering her eyelids and face-palming. "You're an idiot."

"And you're a demon," Snivy replied, smoothing, falling back to look at the clouds.

Emolga sighed, but grinned fondly and laid back next to the snake. "So...when do you think you'll ask him out?"

"...Did I not?"

"That was not a date," Emolga said, moving her hands behind her head to cushion it against the ground. "That was two friends playing in the water, so you got half way there."

"...oh," Snivy let out, suddenly a lot more down. "I don't know. I mean, I like him a lot, but he's nice to be around as a friend too. I just don't want to mess this up by going too fast."

"I don't think Oshawott will mind," Emolga shrugged, turning to face her. "The guy practically throws himself at any pretty face he sees," She continued, pinching Snivy's cheek lightly. "So if one comes to ask him out, I don't see why he'd say no."

Snivy slapped her paw away and turned around. "I don't know, maybe he just doesn't see me like that-"

"Okay, stop putting yourself down like that!" Emolga said, sitting up to lean over the other girl. "We've already established that Oshawott was probably just too scared to flirt with you as shamelessly as he would anyone else-"

"And what if that's not the case?!" Snivy argued back, folding her arms. "What if he just doesn't find me attractive? I don't want to lose a friend in him!"

"You won't!" Emolga stressed, grabbing Snivy by the shoulders to shake some sense into her. "I rejected Oshawott and we're still pretty good friends."

"You haven't talked to him, at all, since you got here," Snivy shot back.

"I wanted to hang out with my bestie, so what?" Emolga replied, causing Snivy to blink, stunned.

"...I'm your best friend? How?"

"I don't know, you just are," Emolga replied, raising an eyebrow. "I talk to you more than I talk to anyone else and you keep me from being too...well me. So yeah, you're my bestest buddy, and as your best friend, I can promise you that, in the extremely unlikely chance that Oshawott rejects you, he won't stop being your friend and, if he does, we can beat him up together, sound good?"

Snivy blinked, stunned by the admission, and grinned weakly. "Aw, thanks, you're my best friend too, even though you drive me insane, you kept our journey interesting at least. And you do push me to do things like this and I guess...that's pretty cool of you and junk."

Emolga stifled a giggle at Snivy's little stumble, causing the snake to fold her arms and pout. "I'm not good at the mushy, friendship stuff, alright, I'll leave that to the Ponyta!" The snake continued, causing Emolga to nod and punch her in the shoulder.

"Duly noted," She mentioned, before moving back and allowing Snivy to have her breathing space back. "So..."

Snivy sighed, looking in the direction that Oshawott left. "Can I, at least, leave it a little bit? I need some time to get the words together."

Emolga smiled, genuinely this time, and grabbed her hand. "Sure you can, I'm hungry anyway. Want to go bug Iris for treats?"

Snivy looked at Emolga's hopeful face and put on a warm smile for her frienemy. Her best frienemy. "Sure, I'd like that."

"-and then we played in the water for about an hour before I came here to help you out," Oshawott explained to Pignite, as the pig was lifting the otter up to grab the sitrus berries slightly out of the former's reach.

"You sure you're talking about Snivy?" Pignite asked, knowing that the Grass-type wasn't known for playing.

Oshawott nodded. "Yeah, it was a little weird, but I had fun and I think she did too."

Pignite rose an eyebrow as he let his buddy down to put the collected berries in a basket that Quilava had dropped off previously. "Well that's great, it's nice to know that she's letting her hair down a little."

Oshawott tilted his head at the pig, resisting the urge to pinch a couple of berries from the basket. "Snivy doesn't have hair."

"It's an expression buddy," Pignite chuckled, grabbing a couple of low hanging pecha berries and threw one to him, taking a bite of the one he kept for himself.

Pignite winked at Oshawott's surprised look. "I won't tell if you don't."

Oshawott grinned and took a bite out of the sweet berry. "Yer the besht Pignite!" He said, some bits of berry flying out of his mouth every two words.

"Thanks man," The first stage Pokemon smiled, quickly finishing his own and grabbing some more to put in the basket. "So you have any idea why she wanted to play with you? No offence, but the two of you've never really talked much before."

Oshawott blinked and finished his own berry. "Couldn't tell ya, she said it was to get to know me better, but she seemed really weird about it the first time around."

"First time?"

"Yeah, before we played in the water, she came up to me with this kinda, Cheshire Meowth like smile, asked me weird things and cracked up laughing at some joke that, when I think about, wasn't funny at all. It was weird, but I just put it down to the heat or something."

Pignite looked up, noticing that it was a fairly cloudy day and not all that hot outside. "I don't know about that..."

Oshawott just shrugged, his happy-go-lucky grin once again plastered to his face. "Ah well, who cares! We had fun and became friends!"

Pignite looked to the left and noticed Iris had taken a seat underneath another pecha berry tree not too far away, the snake in question and Emolga next to her and Axew curled up next to Excadrill, Dragonite deciding to help out with berry collecting with Bayleef and Quilava on the other side of the orchard.

"Say, when did Iris get here?" Pignite asked, pointing her out to the otter, who blinked.

"No idea...Say, think Excadrill will want to battle me?! I still need to settle that score!" Oshawott suddenly said, causing Pignite to raise an eyebrow.

"What about Emolga?"

"...I don't think Emolga would want to battle, Pignite," Oshawott explained, as if his friend had lost his mind. "You do remember who Emolga is, right?"

"No! I mean I thought you'd be excited to see her or something," Pignite exclaimed, getting flustered about the misunderstanding.

Oshawott shrugged. "Well yeah, sure. But she's just a friend, dude, we talked it out about a month before Ash and Iris separated."

"Oh..."

"You sound disappointed?" Oshawott said, questioningly.

"I don't...well I don't know, I liked the idea of you guys getting together," He explained, shrugging. "But, you know, no big deal right?"

"You had a betting pool with Palpitoad and Leavanny, didn't you?" Oshawott asked with a deadpan expression on his face.

"...At least I thought you'd get the girl," Pignite grinned, sheepishly. "Palpitoad's the one that thinks you're going to die alone."

"...Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with him."

Pignite grinned and lightly punched him in the shoulder. "I'm kidding."

They ended the conversation for a few minutes, busying themselves by finishing the berry picking of the trees they picked the pecha berries from originally, before something occurred to the otter. "Wait, what did Leavanny bet on?"

"That you'd end up with Snivy," Pignite mentioned, off-handedly, startling a otter a little.

"Really?!" When Pignite nodded, Oshawott scratched his cheek in confusion. "Why?"

"He thought the two of you clicked well, you were the fun and happy one, while she was the serious and snarky one."

Oshawott blinked and lowered his eyelids. "So...opposites attract, huh?"

"Yup," He shrugged, noticing that Snivy kept looking over their way and averting her gaze each time he caught her. "Though she was the only one you haven't flirted with, any reason?"

"Other than the fact that she'd rip my guts out of ass and shove them back down my throat?" He asked, sarcastically. When Pignite kept giving that inquisitive look, he sighed. "She didn't seem like the kind of girl who'd...well want someone like me. I was the runt of my litter, you know?"

"No I didn't actually," Pignite answered, somewhat surprised. Sure, Oshawott wasn't the best fighter out there, but he was no slouch either.

"Yeah, well snivy tend to like strength more than anything and, well, I kind of suck in that department, so I figured I'd be wasting both of our time," Oshawott explained, causing Pignite to sigh.

"You know that only applies to wild snivy, right? Our Snivy would have a hard time trying to justify her tastes in that way alone," Pignite explained, before shrugging. "Besides, if that were the case, she would've accepted Serperior's offer, wouldn't she?"

Oshawott cringed, sympathetically for his rival. Yes, he remembered the harsh put down that Snivy had given Serperior when he asked if she would go out with him. "Well yeah, okay. But I still don't think she'd be interested in me."

Pignite gave him a few more minutes, in case he wanted to add another argument onto the 'Why Snivy wouldn't like me' pile, before realising that he was finished and he had to ask. "Do you like Snivy, then?"

"Huh?" Oshawott asked, surprised at the sudden question.

"Well, you seem to have given this a lot of thought, so that'd mean that, well, there must've been something there," He explained.

Oshawott sighed, getting the last of the pecha berries from the tree, into the basket. "Well, yeah. She's just really cool and pretty. I mean, I managed to get over it while we were in Unova, but now I've found that she's easy to talk to as well and I think those feelings got dragged back up a little!"

Pignite smiled, noticing that Snivy was staring straight at Oshawott and flushed a bit when Emolga was pushing her and seemed to say something to the snake.

"Well, that's not a bad thing is it?"

"Of course it is! Snivy wants to be friends now and I don't want to screw that up by being me!" Oshawott vented, clenching his fists. "I don't know what it is, but every time I'm with a girl I like, I end up saying something I wasn't suppose to and get smacked upside the head! I don't want to say something stupid and make her hate me!"

"I don't think she'd hate you," He noticed Snivy get and and walk towards the two of them. "Anyway, I gotta deliver these to Quilava, thanks for the help. I'll see you later."

"...yeah, see ya," Oshawott sighed, flopping back against the tree behind him. Not noticing Snivy coming up the path towards him as Pignite left.

"C'mon Snivy, he's right there!" Emolga urged, nudging the snake in the shoulder and pointing out the otter picking berries with Pignite.

Snivy flinched, silently cursing Iris for wanting to rest in the orchard, fiddling around with the apple she was given, suddenly not very hungry. "I don't know, he looks kind of busy..."

"Those two have been talking to each-other for the last ten minutes," Emolga pointed out, then did a quick jump up to the low hanging branch of the pecha tree they were under and snatched a berry, before landing and giving Snivy a smug look. "Besides, it's not exactly hard work."

"What would you know about work?" Snivy answered, pushing her apple towards Emolga, knowing she'd snap it up.

"You'd be surprised," She replied, shrugging, and leaning back against Iris's leg. "But c'mon, you must have thought of something to say to the guy by now."

"Oh yeah, I'm stuck between 'hyaguboo', 't-takkablah' and several other noises I'll only be able to get out. I'm rather fond of 'retetarfuded' myself," Snivy said, sarcastically, flopping down on her front. "You know I'm not good with this stuff!"

"Yeah, and Oshawott is a regular Casanova himself," Emolga replied, just as sarcastically. "Or do I have to remind you of some of his, quote unquote, 'pick-up lines'," She continued. "I'm quite fond of 'Hey babe, get your coat, you've found love tonight'."

Snivy cringed at that one. "Yeah, okay..."

"Firstly, I don't have a coat, two, he mixed up the lines, three, the whole thing didn't make sense, and four, he was covered in mud at the time," Emolga ranted, before pushing her friend towards the otter. "Point is, you two are just as hopeless as each-other. You'll be fine!"

Snivy was on her feet by the time she sighed and made her way down towards the otter, noticing Pignite moving away. "Okay, fine, but if he rejects me I'm going to kill you for convincing me to do this."

"Sure, whatever. Good luck!" Emolga called back, cheerfully taking a bite out of her 'new' apple.

Oshawott sighed again and looked over and noticed Snivy standing there, rubbing one of her arms with the other, looking down at her feet in thought. "Oh, hey Sni."

"Egglargle!" Snivy yelled out, having not noticed that she was now right in front of the otter, her arms flying out to her sides. Oshawott flinched back in shock.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" He replied, his own arms coming in front of him in order to protect himself should Snivy attack him.

Snivy cursed herself, her face flushing with embarrassment. Off to a great start.

"So...uh how are you?" Oshawott asked, concerned since Snivy had gone back to looking at her feet, this time with her hands in front of her, clasped together and her face a soft, rosy red...

...it looked adorable, quite frankly, and he knew that Snivy probably hated that.

Snivy opened her mouth to answer, but let out a little squeak that sounded a bit like a 'fine', before she closed her eyes as tightly as she could and turned her head away.

"Oh cool..." Oshawott replied, keeping his speech short and sweet, hoping to avoid a cringe-y flirt. You can do this, Oshawott, just one conversation without making yourself look like an idiot!

"So uh..." He decided to continue, after Snivy didn't reply for a bit. "Um...How uh...I mean well...Uh want to be the-NO!" Oshawott yelled out, clamping his paws over his mouth before Snivy could hear him.

Snivy did, but was too into her own thoughts to notice his little crisis. C'mon girl, just try something! Anything!

"Can I eat you?!" She ended up saying, out of hand, causing Oshawott's eyes to fly open in fear, imagining the scene of a larger version of the snake like Pokemon in front of him, swallowing him in one bite.

When Snivy realised what she said, her eyes widened and she shook her head and waved her hands in front of her. "No, no, no! Not like that, I meant the other way!"

Oshawott's eyes still held fear, but now his face was flushed a pure red as he now imagined them in a very different situation.

"I mean, I don't- I well..." Snivy kept stopping and starting, tears prickling her eyes as she tried very hard to get something resembling coherent speech out of mouth.

"I'd be into that," Oshawott said, before he groaned and slammed the back of his head into the tree behind him, having once again put his foot in it. "Sorry, I mean uh what uh...well what are you trying t-to say?"

Snivy clenched her fists, giving herself a mental beat down. What the Hell was that, you moron! You were talking to him normally about half an hour ago! Say something!

"Uh...Well I was w-wondering if-" Just as she got to that word, she accidentally bit her tongue cringed, pulling said organ inside and sucking hard, as if to help inflate it.

Oshawott blinked, tilting his head to the side. He was sure these weren't the actions of the snivy he knew, the one he knew was cool, fearless and sure of herself. This one seemed helpless, insecure and, if he were being brutally honest, kinda stupid. It didn't sit right by him at all.

"I'm sorry if my stupid comment earlier made you uncomfortable," Oshawott started, deciding apologizing would be the best course of action, even if he wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for.

"What?! No, I mean, well, it's just-" Snivy stuttered, trying to assure the otter he didn't do anything. "I was just wondering if you...if you..."

"If I?" Oshawott encouraged, putting on his silliest smile to help put her at ease or, at the very least, make her smile a little.

It didn't seem to help all that much. Just say it you coward! Ask him out! Ask him out! Ask him-

"Do you have the time?!" Snivy finally said, causing Oshawott's face to shift to confused.

That's what she was so nervous about? "Uh...I don't know, I don't know how to tell sun time," He explained, pointing to said ball of fire in the sky, hanging just a over the trees around them to the west.

"Oh...never-mind, uh thanks," Snivy squeaked, turning to walk away.

Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Her mind screamed at her every step she took away from the otter, who was waving goodbye to her, somewhat awkwardly.

Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! It continued as she used one of her vines to wave back, her head down, noticing Emolga looking at her sympathetically.

Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward! It kept going as she looked away from Emolga, a tear actually making it out of her eye, out of both frustration and self-loathing.

Coward! Coward! Cow- "NO!" She cried out, clenching her eyes shut, Oshawott tilting his head in concern.

She ignored that as she glared at herself in the reflection of a convenient watering can. In it she saw; a strong battler, a confidant Pokemon and, most importantly, not a coward!

Sure, she was terrible at being social and can often put her foot in it, but hey that's why she tends to let her actions speak for her...

...and Hell, it wouldn't be the most embarrassing thing she's ever done.

So, with a new determination in her eyes, she turned back towards her crush and marched towards him, fists clenched and face set in a concentrated frown.

At first, Oshawott was terrified. After all, this was Snivy, the Pokemon that once almost strangled Charizard to death because he ate the last leppa berry. But, strangely enough, he felt glued to the spot, curious about what she was angry about and slightly happy that she was acting more like herself.

She stood right in front of him, her nose dangerously close to his, staring right into his eyes and gulped once.

"Um...hi?" Oshawott squeaked, unsure what his friend was doing, before he saw her release a breath and grab him by the shoulders.

He yelped as she pulled him towards herself and pressed her lips to his, leaning her head to the side so that her snout didn't poke his eye.

Oshawott blinked, stupidly as Snivy did this, almost as if his brain had shut down and not registered that she was kissing him, before it rebooted and he leaned into it a little and closed his eyes, kissing back.

It was, admittedly, a fairly awkward kiss. Snivy had no idea what she was doing and Oshawott was too scared to do anything was his paws, in case he touched her in a weird place (not knowing much about snivy in general), so she ended up having to balance them in a way that kept them from falling over. Sometimes they leaned into each-other too much and their teeth bumped into the others and caused their lips to hurt a little bit...

...but it didn't really matter much to them.

After a little bit of this, neither noticing Emolga cheering in the background, they disconnected the kiss, slowly opening their eyes to look at each-other.

"...um...yeah, that," Well, can't blame Snivy for trying. But, really, she had just gotten her first kiss and, really, if Oshawott didn't understand her interest after that, then she wouldn't even feel bad about slamming him into that tree and walking away.

"Yeah...that..." Oshawott replied, feeling rather dazed. Though, if he thought about it really hard, it explained the odd behaviour if she was just anxious about coming clean about her feelings. It's what he does all the time...except not as subtle.

"So?" Snivy asked, suddenly feeling kinda timid about his lack of response.

"...So this," He replied, taking a leaf out of her both and tilted his head to kiss her this time, grabbing her hands to hold them between pair so they were connected by lips and hands/paws alone.

Snivy released a lot of tension through her nostrils, causing Oshawott to giggle as the air brushed his ear, and melted into it, not really caring about the 'I told you so' that Emolga was going to give her later. She had more pressing matters to attend to anyway.

"Wow," Oshawott said, amazed, as he and Snivy sat together under the tree of hill around the fence of the Professor's Lab, a bowl of Pokechow sat in front of each of them, treating this as an impromptu date.

Snivy had just finished telling him about the day she had, blushing at his incredulous look. "I'm bad with words, okay!"

"You sure are," Oshawott chuckled, and especially so as Snivy lightly shoved him to the side with a vine, folding her arms.

"Don't make me regret this, dork," Snivy mumbled, grabbing a piece of her food and munching on it as Oshawott got back up, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey now, don't worry about it. I'm just as awful," He grinned, taking a hold of her paw before she could return to her folded arms stance. "Lest we forget the time I tried to pick up three different girls on the same day...at the same time."

Snivy grinned in amusement, gripping his paw back. Yes, that was quite a fun day, watching as the three Pokemon, three lillipups if she remembered correctly, had all barked and chased him up a tree. He hadn't come down for about an hour after they left.

Oshawott then blinked, almost as if something only just occurred to him, and turned to ask. "Hey, why are you interested in me anyway? It's kinda weird to like a creeper like me."

Snivy blinked, before shrugging and booping him on the nose with a vine. "Because you're cute and make me laugh," She answered, before grabbing another bit of food.

Oshawott blinked, bemused, and shrugged, grinning. "Fair enough, I guess."

"Hey, I'm a simple girl with simple tastes," She grinned, clutching his paw a little tighter. "And none come simpler than you."

"You wound me," Oshawott said, using his other paw to hover over his chest, over-dramatically. Snivy shoved him in response, causing him to laugh.

"Such a dork," Snivy muttered as she pulled him back up with the paw she still had in his.

"True, but I'm your dork," He said, nuzzling his face into the side of hers.

She rolled her eyes, but nuzzled back, sighing contently. "Yes. My cute, simple dork."

From the distance, Emolga smiled, content with the knowledge that she helped a friend out, taking another bite out of her apple. "Finally..."

"Yeah, took 'em long enough," Pignite grumbled, grumpily, having finished his bowl of food. Emolga just rolled her eyes at him, punching him in the arm.

"You're just mad you lost your bet," She teased, looking over at Leavanny, who held his leaf like hands together, his eyes sparkling as he watched, in his own opinion, one of the cutest couples he's ever seen.

"...Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for 'em," He said, fiddling with his fingers a little. "Just kinda wished her feelings were a little more...obvious."

"You do know this is Snivy you're talking about right?" Emolga said, sarcastically.

"Yes I know. I just, well, I thought I saw something between you and him," He admitted, rubbing the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Nah, wasn't his type," She grinned, looking back as the new couple forgot about their food completely, having leaned back and fallen asleep against the tree behind. "I'm way too complex for someone like him."

Pignite didn't get, but just nodded and fell onto his back, sighing. Girls...

ML54: This took me a while, umming and ahhing about where to end it. I figured this was a good a place as any.

Emolga: It's cute enough and it ends in a fairly good place.

ML54: I guess. Please R&R guys!