My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Lesser of Two Weaviles

“So, how long do you think it’s gonna be before we run into Trixie again?” Rainbow Dash asked as she, Twilight and Spike trudged down the road towards their next destination.

“Probably not until Trixie gets strong enough that she thinks she can take on Twilight,” Spike replied. “So, I’m guessing not anytime soon. I mean, you saw the look on her face when she realized Twilight had her third badge already, right?”

“Ha, yeah, and at the rate she’s going, Twilight and me’ll probably have five or six badges by the time we see her again. Speaking of, Twi, where are we headed for your fourth badge again?”

“Frosthead City,” Twilight replied, somewhat distractedly.

“Hey, come in Twilight, are you there?” Rainbow Dash said, causing Twilight to startle.

“What? I’m here – I mean…what were we talking about again?” Twilight asked sheepishly.

“You’ve been zoning out an awful lot recently. Is there something up that you wanna talk about?”

“I guess I’m just a little nervous about my next gym battle.”

“What for? You totally beat that Nero guy, and aren’t Ice-types supposed to be really weak to Fire or something? If that’s the case, then your Charmeleon is going to roast that gym!” Rainbow Dash said, though Twilight didn’t seem terribly convinced.

“Rainbow, I just barely won my last two gym battles, and each one gets harder than the last. I’m not sure how much further strategy and luck are going to carry me.”

“Well, there’s part of your problem right there.” Rainbow Dash said. “Half of winning at something is confidence. If you wanna win, then you’ve gotta believe that you’re gonna win. If you go in thinking that you’re gonna get your butt kicked, then your Pokémon are gonna pick up on that and they won’t have any confidence either. It’s like a…a whirlpool of bad feelings or something.”

“A vicious cycle,” Twilight offered.

“Gesundheit,” Rainbow Dash said. “Anyway, the important thing is you’ve gotta really believe in yourself and your Pokémon. After that, it’s just a matter of being fast and tough enough to take out the other guy before they have a chance to do the same to you. At least, that’s how I do it, you’ve got that whole outthinking thing going on, so it should be even easier foryou to kick some rump.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said with a weak smile. “Anyway, we should probably keep moving. It looks like its going to start getting dark pretty soon, and I think it might start snowing tonight, too.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right about that,” Rainbow Dash said. “You think there’s anyplace nearby where we could spend the night? I don’t really want to get stuck sleeping outside in the snow if I can help it. Waking up buried in snow is the third worst way I’ve woken up.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what were the first two?” Spike asked.

“Number two was when Applejack bribed Flitter and Cloudchaser to move the cloud I was napping on over her pigsty. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if Applejack hadn’t bucked an apple straight through it once I was in place so I’d fall through. I gotta hand it to her, that mare really knows how to set up an awesome prank when she wants to.”

“What about number one?” Spike asked, causing Rainbow Dash to shudder.

“Let’s just say, if you’re a Wonderbolt, you really don’t want to get caught napping while on duty,” Rainbow Dash said. “But, maybe we should focus on trying to find a place to settle in for the night. Like that place over there!” Twilight was half-convinced Rainbow Dash was just pointing in a random direction in an effort to change the subject. Despite this, Twilight couldn’t help but look, and to her surprise she really could see a building off in the distance.

“I think that’s a Pokémon Center!” Spike exclaimed.

“What would a Pokémon Center be doing way out her in the middle of nowhere?” Twilight asked as the group made a beeline for the shelter.

“From what I’ve read in my Pokédex, there are a few Pokémon Centers out in the wild to help trainers who get in trouble too far away from any towns,” Spike said. “Though, this place doesn’t seem all that dangerous, so I’m not really sure why this one is here.”

“Who cares why its here/ The important part is it’s here and we don’t need to sleep outside. Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash said as she charged full speed ahead, Twilight and Spike hurrying to keep up.

*********

“Alright, you’re all set for your rooms,” the center’s Nurse Joy said as she handed Twilight a set of keycards. “Now, just to warn you, we are advising that no one leave the center after sundown tonight.”

“Huh? Why is that?”

“Unfortunately, many of the local Sneasel have become abnormally active recently, and they’ve also been much more aggressive as well. These sorts of things do tend to work themselves out after a few days or so, but until then its best if trainers avoid going out at night.”

“I see. Well, thank you for letting me know,” Twilight said as she made her way back to where Spike and Rainbow Dash were waiting. “Did you two hear that?”

“Yeah, we heard,” Rainbow Dash said. “You think it might be the same sort of thing that was going on when we stopped by that greenhouse?”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. The Sneasel there were all trying to steal food from one place, but this sounds like something that happens regularly, and if the Sneasel were raiding someplace nearby for food on a regular basis they’d probably know what was going on.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Rainbow Dash said before perking up as a thought suddenly struck her. “Hey, what if we asked your Sneasel? It might know what’s going on.”

“It might, but I’m not entirely sure it would be willing to tell us,” Twilight said. “I’ve only just barely gotten Sneasel to the point that it will listen to me, and even that was like pulling teeth. I’m pretty sure it will listen to me during a battle, and I don’t think it will try and fight me for no reason. But, if whatever’s going on is some kind of secret Sneasel tradition or something, then I doubt it will be willing to be all that helpful. Plus, even if Sneasel did want to try and help, we don’t really have any way of understanding what it’s saying.”

“There is kinda a difference between being able to understand what a Pokémon’s feeling and what it’s actually saying, huh?” Rainbow Dash replied. “So, you and Sneasel are still having problems?”

“It’s been listening to me ever since I earned the Outlaw Badge, but I can’t really say that we’re friends yet,” Twilight replied. “I really wish I could find some way of getting through to it. Preferably one that doesn’t involve me breaking my other arm.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight, you’ll think of something eventually. Maybe you just need to find something the two of you can do together besides battling,” Spike suggested.

“Maybe,” Twilight said before letting out a yawn. “For now, though, I think we should just get some sleep. This isn’t really a problem that I need to solve tonight, and we’re going to want to get up early tomorrow to get a head start on heading to the next town.”

*********

Sometime later, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were asleep in one of the small rooms provided by the Pokémon Center. As the pair slumbered, however, the tranquility of their room was broken by a shuffling sound as Twilight’s backpack began to shake back and forth. After several moments, the bag turned over and a violently wriggling Poké Ball rolled out. Once free of the confines of the bag, the Poké Ball split open, releasing Twilight’s Sneasel into the room.

Sneasel froze upon escaping from its ball, cautiously watching Twilight and Rainbow Dash slumber until it was satisfied the sound of its escape hadn’t woken them. Even as Sneasel allowed itself to relax a bit, though, an obstacle that it hadn’t expected made itself known with a solid thump. Alarmed, Sneasel turned to see Rainbow Dash’s Skarmory glowering down at it with a look of stern disapproval. Unbowed, Sneasel glared right back at Skarmory and tried to walk around it, however Skarmory snapped its wings out to block Sneasel’s path. Sneasel proceeded to make several attempts to get by Skarmory, trying to fake it out, trying to duck under its wings, even trying to slide on the ground between its legs. Each time, however, Skarmory was able to move itself just enough to block Sneasel’s path. Finally, an exasperated Sneasel let out an annoyed snort before leaping backwards towards the room’s window. Before Skarmory could scramble forwards and stop it, Sneasel opened the window, paused just long enough to give Skarmory a mocking salute, and then disappeared out into the night.

The sheer audaciousness of Sneasel’s exit left Skarmory briefly stunned, however it quickly recovered. After a few moments considering its options, Skarmory drew in a deep breath and unleased a raucous screech that sent Twilight and Rainbow Dash tumbling out of their bunks in a half-awake panic.

“Get back, I’ve got salsa – wha?” Twilight mumbled semi-coherently as she pulled herself off the floor. “What happened? And, why is the window open?”

“I don’t know. I was having that dream where I fight off this army of changelings, only this time my Pokémon were all there kicking butt with me. But then somecreature decided it would be funny to wake us up,” Rainbow Dash said as she stared down at Skarmory. Skarmory let out a shriek of protest in response as it jabbed its beak towards Twilight’s backpack and the empty Poké Ball on the floor next to it before motioning towards the open window.

“Why’s my bag on the floor? And that…that’s Sneasel’s ball!” Twilight exclaimed as she swiftly put the pieces of what had happened together.

“How can you tell it’s Sneasel’s?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure, but that’s not what’s important right now. Sneasel must have broken out of its Poké Ball and ran off. What I don’t understand is, why would it do that? I admit we weren’t as close as I’d have liked, but just running off like this feels a little extreme.”

“Maybe its not about that,” Rainbow Dash suggested. “I mean, Nurse Joy did say that the Sneasel around here have all been acting screwy, right? Maybe whatever it is that has them doing that also made your Sneasel run off to join them.”

“You might be right. In any event, I think we should track down Sneasel and get to the bottom of this. Or, at least, I should, anyway. I’d understand if you—”

“You seriously think I’m gonna let you go out there by yourself? One, I’d never leave a friend hanging in a situation like this. Two, going out on a dangerous mission to find out what all these Sneasel are up to sounds like it could be seriously awesome. So, do you think we should go wake Spike up and take him with us?”

“No,” Twilight said after considering it for a moment. “I think we can let him sleep, the two of us should be able to handle this. I just hope that it won’t be too hard to track Sneasel down.”

*********

“So, what was that you were saying about being worried tracking Sneasel would be hard?” Rainbow Dash smirked as she and Twilight stood at the edge of a pine forest near the Pokémon Center. Sneasel’s footprints in the fresh snow had led them directly to the tree line, where a path of destruction had been carved through the woods. A mixture of footprints in the snow and claw marks gouged into the tree trunks left little doubt who was responsible for the mess.

“I admit, it looks like finding Sneasel shouldn’t be an issue. But…how many Sneasel do you think it took to do all of this?”

“I dunno, a lot, probably. But, when you think about it, it’s not really all that surprising that there are a bunch of them doing whatever it is that they’re doing. I mean, your Sneasel was with a whole gang of them when it was causing trouble for that hothouse, right? Maybe hanging out in gangs is just something Sneasel do?”

“That’s a good point, but I just have a feeling that whatever’s going on here is bigger than just a bunch of delinquent Pokémon casuing a ruckus for the hay of it,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, yeah. Look, whatever’s going on, between the two of us we’ve got this. Let’s just get in there and find out what the hay is going on already.” Twilight nodded her head as the two friends began to make their way into the forest itself. Thanks to the wanton destruction left by the renegade Sneasel, it was remarkably easy for the pair to find their way, even relying on the light of the moon to see. Moreover, Twilight and Rainbow Dash didn’t have far to travel into the forest before other signs that they were nearing their goal became apparent. “Do you hear that?” Rainbow Dash whispered. “I think it’s the Sneasel, and it sounds like they’re fighting.”

“I think it’s coming from over this way. Careful, we should try and stay out of sight until we know what’s going on.” Rainbow Dash silently nodded as the pair crept closer towards the source of the din, until they finally came to the edge of a forest clearing. There, dozens upon dozens of Sneasel were engaged in a series of vicious fights while others stood around watching. Sitting on a tree stump overlooking the entire display was what looked to be an especially large Sneasel, only its single red feather had been replaced by a veritable crown of crimson plumage.

“What’s with that big one? You think it’s an evolution or something?” Rainbow Dash whispered as they watched the Sneasel fight each other. “And what the hay is all this, anyway? It doesn’t look like this is just some brawl, it’s too, I don’t know, organized or something.”

“I’m pretty sure the one watching everything is called a Weavile. It’s Sneasel’s evolved form,” Twilight said. “I remember looking it up after I caught Sneasel. And I think you’re right about this being more than just some big fight. Look how all the Sneasel are fighting one-on-one, and how the ones who aren’t fighting are just watching and waiting for their turn. If anything, this looks like some kind of…competition.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, that is what it looks like. But, if that’s what this is, then why was it such a big deal that your Sneasel had to bust out of its ball and sneak off to join it? I’m all for competing, but that seems like a lot even to me.”

Before Twilight could respond, she felt the tree that she had been leaning against lurch forward. Had Applejack been present, she could have warned Twilight that that particular tree was dead and partially rotten, and was liable to tip over at any moment. As it was, however, Twilight had little warning before the tree toppled forward and crashed into the clearing. Thankfully, the Sneasel were all agile enough to easily dash out of the way, and thus nocreature was harmed by the tree’s fall. Unfortunately, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were left suddenly without any concealment and with every Sneasel present now staring daggers at the two intruders.

“Umm…hi?” Twilight said sheepishly as she tried to think of a way to extricate herself and Rainbow Dash from their situation. Sadly, the Sneasel didn’t appear to be particularly interested in having any sort of discussion, as the mob of weasel-like Pokémon began slowly advancing on Twilight while their Weavile leader looked on with a bemused expression. Just then, one of the Sneasel broke away from the crowd and interposed itself between Twilight and the other Sneasel.

“Hey, Twilight, isn’t that your Sneasel?” Rainbow Dash asked, prompting the Sneasel to glance back at the pair with a look of irritation. Meanwhile, the other Sneasel seemed unsure of what to make of this new development, with several backing away immediately. Others, however, seemed to interpret Sneasel’s actions as some kind of challenge, with a number shifting about and waving their claws aggressively. Despite this show of bluster, though, none of the other Sneasel seemed particularly eager to actually attack. “I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash whispered. “It looks like they’re all ready to throw down, but none of them are stepping up. What do you think’s going on?” Twilight didn’t appear to be listening, as she was more focused on the way her Sneasel was behaving. Although it seemed to do so begrudgingly, it nevertheless was staring down any Sneasel that tried advancing, occasionally punctuating its defense with a series of hisses and gestures back towards her.

“Sneasel isn’t acting like it’s protecting its friends…its more like its doing this because it has to,” Twilight muttered to herself. “Wait, I think I finally get it!”

“Get what?” Rainbow Dash asked as she warily watched the mob of Sneasel continue to mill about.

“Sneasel obey whoever the strongest is, that’s probably what this whole brawl is about. The Sneasel are all establishing dominance within their group. It’s probably also why my Sneasel only started listening to me after it found out I won the Outlaw Badge. That must have proved to it that I’m strong enough that it needed to listen to me.”

“Uh huh. That’s all nice and everything, but does any of that actually help us right now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It might, actually. If I can prove somehow that I’m the strongest here, then the Sneasel would probably back down.”

“Oh, I get it. So, all one of us has to do is go beat up that guy.” Twilight looked up to see that Rainbow Dash was pointing towards the Weavile, who up until now had simply been watching everything unfold. Upon hearing Rainbow Dash, however, the Weavile hopped down from off its stump and began making its way towards the pair, roughly shoving aside any Sneasel that didn’t get out of its way fast enough. The Weavile’s advance continued until it stood directly in front of Twilight’s Sneasel, staring down at it with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. For a brief moment, it looked as though Sneasel would be able to hold its ground, however it quickly found itself unable to meet Weavile’s gaze. Thoroughly cowed, Sneasel started to slink away, only for Twilight to step forward, putting herself between her Sneasel and the Weavile and staring the Weavile directly in the eye.

Before either side could take things any further, however, a loud crashing sound erupted from the forest on the far side of the clearing. Moments later, a large Pokémon resembling some bizarre mixture of yeti and crab smashed its way out of the tree line and began rampaging its way towards the group.

“What the hay is that thing?” Rainbow Dash yelled as the Pokémon barreled towards the assembled Sneasel.

“I have no idea, I didn’t bring my Pokédex with me,” Twilight replied.

*********

Crabominable, the Wooly Crab Pokémon. Well adapted to snowy regions thanks to its thick fur coat, this highly aggressive Pokémon is known for relentlessly attacking any challengers for its territory by pummeling them with its blunt pincers.

“Yeesh, I’d sure hate to run into one of those things,” Spike said as he continued to flip through his Pokédex. “But I gotta wonder what sort of creature would be crazy enough to try and take on something like that.”

*********

While Twilight and Rainbow Dash tried to process what was going on, the Weavile leapt into action. With a single bound, the Weavile somersaulted over the Sneasel to face the berserking Crabominable before charging forward…only to be casually smashed aside and sent flying into a tree.

“Huh, that didn’t last long. What do you think we should – Twilight?” Rainbow Dash turned to see Twilight walking straight towards the rampaging Crabominable, one of her Poké Balls already in hand.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan. Charmeleon! Go!” Twilight tossed out her Poké Ball and Charmeleon took to the field directly in front of the Crabominable. “Alright, Charmeleon, use Smokescreen!” Shrugging, Charmeleon belched out a massive cloud of thick, black smoke, just as its opponent turned towards it and slammed down one of its paw-like arms. The strike collided with the ground with enough force to shake the entire clearing, but Charmeleon leapt clear of the smoke completely unharmed. “Good. Now, use your Fire Fang attack!” Charmeleon wasted no time, deftly landing on the Crabominable’s arm and dashing up it so that it could deliver a vicious bit to the side of Crabominable’s head. Furthermore, as Charmeleon’s jaws clamped down, flames erupted from the sides of its mouth, sending Crabominable into a blind panic. “Excellent. And to finish things…Charmeleon, get ready!” As Twilight spoke, her Z-ring began to glow with power while Charmeleon broke off from its attack and moved to where it could mimic Twilight’s movements. “Devastating Drake!” Striking the final pose, Charmeleon unleashed a massive blast of lavender energy from its mouth, which swiftly took the shape of a winged dragon as it shot towards the Crabominable. The glowing mass of draconic energy detonated upon impact, bodily tossing the Crabominable into the woods at the edge of the clearing. While the Crabominable somehow managed to pull itself back upright after this, it had clearly lost all interest in continuing the fight and quickly scuttled off back into the night.

“Whoa, nice work there, Twi,” Rainbow Dash said. “So, now what?”

“Now we see if my hypothesis was correct,” Twilight said, her attention already focused on the Weavile.

“Hypotha-what now?” Twilight didn’t have time to attempt expanding Rainbow Dash’s vocabulary, however, as the Weavile was already swiftly making its way over, coming to a stop directly in front of Twilight. For several moments, the Weavile stared directly into Twilight’s eyes, until finally it lowered its head with a smile. “So…are you the boss of the Sneasel now or something?”

“I don’t know about that, but it looks like beating that whatever-it-was was enough to establish me at the top of the local hierarchy. With any luck, this should – hey!” Twilight yelped in surprise as the Weavile suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed something metallic into her palm. With that done, the Weavile let out a high-pitched cry, which was echoed by the assembled Sneasel. Then, as the echoes of their screams reverberated throughout the forest, the Weavile and Sneasel (save for Twilight’s) all wordlessly vanished into the night.

“Okay, so that happened,” Rainbow Dash said, breaking the sudden, awkward silence. “So, what the hay did that Weavile give you?”

“I’m not really sure,” Twilight said as she opened her hand to reveal what appeared to be a metal crescent, almost resembling the curved claw of a predator. The moment it was revealed, Twilight’s Sneasel’s eyes went wide as it stared at the object with undisguised avarice. “Is this something you want?” Twilight asked as she knelt down. “Well, you did try to protect us from those other Sneasel, so I guess you’ve earned it. Just promise me you won’t run off in the middle of the night again, alright?” Sneasel nodded its head vigorously as it reached out for the metal claw, snatching it out from Twilight’s hand and reverently cradling it in its paws.

“I don’t get it, what’s so special about that thing, anyway? It just looks like some weird piece of metal to me,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Who knows? But, if it’s going to make Sneasel happy, then I don’t have any – look!” To Twilight’s amazement, Sneasel had begun to glow bright white as its form shifted and grew. Moments later, Twilight’s Sneasel finished evolving into a Weavile, and it gleefully twisted around to admire its new form as Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked on. “That’s why all those Sneasel were taking this whole thing so seriously, that claw must have been the prize for winning, and it has something to do with Sneasel’s evolution.”

“Well, at least now we know why Sneasel ran off in the middle of the night,” Rainbow Dash said before letting out a yawn. “Speaking of which, I think we should probably head back to the Pokémon Center now that we’ve got everything figured out. I’m seriously gonna need some more shut eye before we head out tomorrow.”

Comments

[GamePlayer64]

A Razor Claw! The competition was for any Sneasel to win it to evolve