Matchmaking

Very Strange Behaviors

Greninja could recall with perfect clarity the first time he had ever noticed Braixen. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. He had always been aware of her existence, but now was the first time she had ever occupied his thoughts for more than a second or two at a time. It wasn't like he could help himself, though. She was kind and sweet and beautiful. Unfortunately, she seemed to prefer Chestnaught instead.
"Hey Greninja, what's up?" asked a familiar voice-that of his trainer, Ash Ketchum.
"Nothing much, Ash. What's up with you?" Greninja replied, not taking his eyes off of where Braixen and Chestnaught were eating lunch together. Ash followed his gaze, his left eye twitching slightly as he saw where the frog-ninja Pokemon was looking.
"The usual," he answered. "Training for the Kalos league, that sort of thing."
Greninja nodded. Ash-and by extent, Greninja himself-had been training nonstop along with the rest of Ash's Pokemon for the Kalos league, which would take place in less than a month. He was particularly excited for the tournament. They had finally perfected their Ash-Greninja form and Greninja felt that they had a real chance to win, even against Alain.
Maybe I can get Braixen to notice me that way? the froglike Pokemon mused to himself. It was certainly an idea.
"Well, I'm going to go train Pikachu and Hawlucha a little. Come if you need anything," Ash said, standing up and walking off to where his starter and the proud forest champion were waiting.
Greninja was a little surprised that Ash hadn't asked him to come along but shrugged it off. At least now he had more time to watch Braixen. He cringed a little as that thought entered his mind; it made him sound like a stalker. Why did she have such an effect on him?
Deciding that it probably wouldn't be good for his health if he kept staring at Braixen all day, Greninja got up and went to find Ash so he could join in his training session. When he turned around, however, he was surprised to see that Serena was nowhere in sight, despite the fact that Sylveon and Pancham were playing together not far from where Greninja himself stood. His confusion only grew when he realized that Clemont and Bonnie were also missing.
"Hey Dedenne, where are Bonnie and the others?" Greninja asked the small electric-type. Dedenne looked up from the Pokepuff he had been eating.
"Uh...no idea," he answered, but Greninja could tell he was lying. Before he could say anything else, however, Dedenne swallowed the last of his Pokepuff and ran off.
Well, that was weird, Greninja thought, staring after Dedenne in confusion. Then he shrugged. Oh well. I guess I'll just go find Ash, then.
He was about to go look for his trainer when he was stopped by Chestnaught's voice calling out to him. Gritting his teeth, Greninja turned around and forced his expression into a more pleasant one.
"What is it, Chestnaught?" he called back, reminding himself that it wasn't Chestnaught's fault that Braixen liked him better. "Is there something you needed?"
"I'm supposed to train with Clemont later. Do you know where he went?" the grass-type asked.
"Sorry, no," Greninja replied, shaking his head. "But if I had to guess, I'd say he's probably with Ash. He's off training with Pikachu and Hawlucha somewhere."
"Okay, thanks. I guess I'd better go find him, then," Chestnaught said, running off in search of the Lumiose gym leader. Greninja was surprised when he didn't even say goodbye to Braixen and even more shocked when she actually didn't look all that bothered by it.
"I'm going to find Serena. I want to practice some new dance moves," Sylveon said abruptly. "Are you coming, Pancham?"
"Yeah, I'm coming. Let's go," the small sunglasses-wearing panda Pokemon agreed. Together, the two friends skipped off to look for their trainer as well.
"Come on Noivern, let's go for a quick fly," Talonflame suggested. "It would be nice to stretch our wings out for a bit."
"All right, lead the way. See you later, Greninja," the bat-dragon Pokemon said as he took off into the air after Talonflame.
"I'm going to play with Bonnie. She's probably bored right now," Dedenne said, running off in the same direction Chestnaught had gone in moments before.
One by one, all of Serena and Clemont's Pokemon disappeared in search of their trainers. With a start, Greninja realized that he was alone with Braixen now and wondered if they had left on purpose.
"Well, this is kind of awkward," Braixen commented, and Greninja faltered slightly. Did he really make her that uncomfortable?
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," Braixen said, seeing his expression. "I only meant it's kind of awkward having all our friends run out on us."
"Oh," Greninja said, slightly happier now. "Yeah, this is kind of awkward, isn't it?"
Braixen laughed. "For sure. But hey, we're alone now so we might as well make the most of each other's company, right?"
Greninja nodded and smiled to himself. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he would take it at face value and enjoy his opportunity to spend time with Braixen for as long as possible.

I hope this book starts off well. I honestly wasn't planning to publish it yet, but I had a good idea for the first chapter and figured I should start writing while my muse was still active. I'll be publishing another chapter of Pokemon World Disaster later.