Unova region, in some Pokémon Center…

It was always the same, time and time again. No matter who was her trainer, no one could seem to fulfill her expectations. She wouldn't be satisfied under the care of anyone: she had figured out the type of partner she wished for. Even more so after having been under three different trainers, none of which she could quite take a liking to.

Her current owner was a rich girl, to whom she had been given after having returned to the residence of that human female everyone called "Professor Juniper". Having lasted two whole months with her seemed like a record, considering her experiences with the other two before. Yet living inside that large manor, even with that huge and ample garden, and all that first-class food they always offered her, it wasn't enough. She felt that there was something else, something better, for her out there.

That day, upon being released from her Pokéball, she looked around until she set her gaze on her (then) owner. A fifteen-year old female, with ash blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She hadn't bothered to memorize her name, in her mind she always had been "that girl".

"Snivy… I think we both need to talk. Seriously." She kneeled to look at her up close as much as possible.

"Vy." 'And by that, you mean that you will talk while I listen.' Fortunately, her owner wasn't fluent in Pokémon language. She'd be really mad at that remark.

"It's clear that the two of us just can't get along. I know you don't like me, and to be honest, I'm not very fond of you either." The girl, surprisingly, sounded quite polite about it. "However, my parents would think ill of me if I just dumped you somewhere. I can't let them take my trainer license."

'Why of course, your promising career depends on that. That's what you say, every single time,' Snivy thought.

"So I figured it would be better if you knew this. I've decided to take my chances and make a Wonder Trade with you. I don't know what I'll get in exchange, but I guess it can't be… harder to deal with than you, right?"

Wonder Trade. Snivy had heard humans around her talking a lot about it, and she knew enough to understand the implications. As far as she knew, they'd use those strange machines to make random trades with people living many miles away. The catch: they had no idea what they'd get in exchange. For some, it seemed like a perfect chance to get rare Pokémon from foreign regions; for others, a waste of time if they got rid of a valuable Pokémon only to receive a worthless one for it.

However, for Snivy, this could be the chance she was looking for. She hadn't met the trainer she wanted for herself in her native Unova. Would she have better luck at the other side of the world?

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this." The girl sighed. "I guess I just wanted to… properly say goodbye. I'm… I'm sorry we couldn't be friends, but whatever."

Snivy didn't say a thing. It wasn't like she had anything to say, of course. The fact they had tolerated each other for so long was saying a lot, at least she got some credit for wanting to bid farewell instead of unceremoniously trading her. She had been the "less worse" of the three trainers she had had until now: not much of a stretch, but at least she wasn't leaving on ill terms, unlike the other two. Snivy took one last glance at her surroundings before her owner returned her to the Pokéball again.

With that, the girl walked towards the PC connecting with the Global Trading Terminal, and placed Snivy's Pokéball. She awaited while the explorer searched for a potential trading partner. The connection linked her to someone in the Kanto region. All she had to do was clicking on the "Confirm" button, and done, the teleporter instantly activated.

And there Snivy went. Wherever she ended, hopefully it'd be enough for her.

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Destination, Kanto region…

The Samurai, as he called himself, sat on the edge of his seat, as the Pokéball he sent through the teleporter vanished. It was a huge risk, but if he had luck… he had been looking up the Bug-types native to Unova, and there were some of them who looked quite cool and powerful. What could he get? A Galvantula? Volcarona? He wouldn't mind a Scolipede. Finally, the new Pokéball appeared in the teleporter.

"Alright, let's see. Come out now!" He threw the ball to release its occupant.

The blue light burst from the Pokéball materialized in a small form, causing the initially enthusiastic and hopeful expression of the samurai to turn somber and dim when he saw what he had received. A Unovan Pokémon, alright, but not quite what he would have liked. In fact… he didn't even know what to make of it.

"So… what are you exactly?" He kneeled to examine his new Pokémon. Its small, green and elongated body and head looked kinda like a snake, even though it also had short arms and legs. Something was for sure: it didn't look at all like a Bug-type.

"Snivy," she replied to his question, although her first thoughts were "What kind of human is this? And such ridiculous clothing…"

"Snivy… you're not a Bug-type, are you?"

Snivy's eyes widened at this. What an ignorant, how dared he make such comparison?! However, she restrained herself from attacking him, sometimes first impressions could fool. She'd have to take her time to judge.

"Well, I guess I can use you for something," he said, as he returned her to the Pokéball.

Once inside the ball again, Snivy had the feeling she had gone from a bad experience to a worse one, as far as trainers went. She didn't like the appearance of her new owner, neither his initial attitude with her. Maybe this trip outside of Unova hadn't quite turned out as she expected.

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Later that day…

The Samurai went to a clearing in a nearby forest for training. He let out his Pinsir and Beedrill and then took the Pokéball he had just received. Judging by the color, and the leaf-shaped tail she had, he guessed she was a Grass-type. Not very impressive-looking, too small and adorable for his taste, definitely not his style.

Snivy stared at her new trainer and the two Pokémon accompanying him: a yellow bee with black stripes and red eyes, and a brown stag beetle with a pair of spiky horns on top of its head. Usually, the Pokémon status was a clear reflection of their trainers, but these two didn't seem particularly strong or imposing. The same first impression as with the Samurai himself upon seeing him. She was… disappointed, to say the least.

"Let's see what you can do," he said. "Alright… Snivy, that's your name, right? Show me what you got."

She tilted her head in confusion. "Vy?" 'What's this human here exactly up to?'

"Pinsir, you go first!" The answer came immediately when the Samurai immediately commanded his beetle to attack her. "Vice Grip!"

Her eyes briefly widening, Snivy barely managed to react in time before Pinsir's grip got a hold of her (an advantage of having a small body). She jumped over its head and somersaulted to land safely on the other side.

"Snivy!" 'You want to see what I can do? I will show you!'

Feeling a little indignation upon being attacked, Snivy winked, unleashing a barrage of hearts that rained upon Pinsir.

"Pinsir, what are you waiting for? Get her!" the Samurai shouted. Pinsir didn't budge, he just stood there, his eyes heart-shaped, staring like an idiot. "Pinsir, move!"

Not wasting her chance. Snivy extended her vines and got a hold of Pinsir's horns. Despite her small size, she could use her full body strength to pull objects and Pokémon larger and heavier than her, and with a hard pull she started spinning Pinsir in the air for a bit, before letting him go crash into a tree, slumping headfirst on the ground, still with hearts in his eyes.

"What the hell?! Okay, you asked for it! Beedrill, give her a lesson! Poison Jab!"

Taking over for his fallen comrade, the bee buzzed and charged with both his hand stingers glowing in purple energy. Snivy had already seen that attack before, and she knew that the best way to deal with it was staying out of the way of those things. With her vines, she got a hold of Beedrill's arms, watching not to touch the stingers, and retracted them to sling herself into giving a headbutt right to the bee's chest. Beedrill flinched, but quickly regained his balance and charged once more.

"Beedrill, use Twineedle!"

At the Samurai's command, the bee started delivering a barrage of quick stings one after another, trying to get at Snivy. Once again, her small size proved to be an asset in avoiding to get hit. Snivy stepped back slowly, but she was trying to drive him into making a mistake to give him a lesson. When he tried to give a double cross hit with both stingers, Snivy ducked under him, and once again extended her vines, this time getting a hold of the legs. First, she pulled to slam him against the ground, then spun him around to throw him, landing on top of the fallen Pinsir. The two were knocked out.

"No… freaking way…" The Samurai fell to his knees. She had just beaten two of his strongest Pokémon without breaking a sweat, and only using one move (two, counting that single use of Attract).

"Sni…" 'That was pathetic. If this is the best he has, I was better off before…'

And she didn't even have to use her best moves to defeat those two. Were all trainers like that in this new region? If that was the case, she'd feel even more disappointed than she already was.

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As the days went by…

Snivy couldn't believe it, but she was starting to miss her old trainer. That was a relative term, since it wasn't like she was actually fond of that girl, but if she had to choose between her and this… bug-loving brat, there was no contest. The rich girl at least had some character to herself, but the Samurai… he was an uptight rookie with a tendency for a lot of bravado and picking fights with opponents way out of his league, just to end in one of two ways: curbstomped, or fleeing for his life. One thing was for sure, she felt it was humiliating to be under his care.

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This became more evident just the following day, since the Samurai was quite selective on the Pokémon he wanted to catch. If they weren't Bug-types, they were worthless, or so he claimed. Snivy couldn't believe he'd say that with her within earshot, did he think she wasn't smart enough to understand? But that was the lesser of the issues; there was also the fact that she had little to no chance to test her own skills against other Pokémon, save for those who belonged to the Samurai himself, even for a little workout.

The second day, he tried to challenge a pair of blond twins, brother and sister. The boy accepted the challenge with a Grass-type Pokémon (identified as Ivysaur, she heard later), which had little to no trouble in trouncing Pinsir, despite not having any moves for type advantage. Unsatisfied with this, the Samurai tried to challenge the girl with Beedrill. Her response was to sic an orange lizard (called Charmander) and one Flamethrower later, Beedrill was totally roasted. The Samurai didn't want to use her out of pride, it seemed. Better that way, thought Snivy.

By the third day, Snivy had already stopped paying any attention to that idiot Samurai, since she was spending her time trying to see how she could get out of the Pokéball by herself; not many Pokémon were able to figure out that, with the right shakings, it could be activated from the inside. With her first two trainers she got it by pure luck (pretty handy for getting away from them) and she had spent months practicing once she found herself unsatisfied with her owner.

And it was day four. Four days with this brat felt like an eternity to her, and now she was trying to escape. Early in the morning, she overheard the Samurai saying something about a Battle Club. Maybe that would be the best place to get rid of him, and with a bit of luck maybe finding another trainer, one who was worthy of her. For better or for worse, at the time he was (again) about to make a fool of himself, fighting inside said club.

"Sandslash, use Slash!"

"Sand… SLASH!" With one single critical cut, the Samurai's purple, hairy bug fell to the ground, its red eyes becoming dull.

"Venonat is unable to battle, Sandslash is the winner!" The referee declared.

"Dammit! This dishonor shan't go unpunished!"

The Samurai was ready to take his next Pokéball, but in that very moment, another activated on its own, releasing…

"Snivy." 'Finally, I made it.' It was then that she noticed there was a trainer and Pokémon before her. And she was standing in a battle arena not unlike those of the battle clubs she had visited before back in Unova. 'Oh, did I come out at a bad time?'

"Hey, what're you doing here?! I didn't call for you!" the Samurai shouted, ready to recall her.

"Hey, kid, if you recall her now, I win by default!" the Sandslash's owner yelled back.

"Sni, snivy, vy." 'I could use some exercise. I see no harm in having a little fun before I leave him.'

"Aw, what the heck, alright. Snivy, use Vine Whip!" the Samurai called, pointing forward dramatically. Snivy didn't even move. "What are you waiting for?! Vine Whip!"

Snivy turned around, looking at the Samurai with disdain: she felt so embarrassed just to be close to him. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of directing her, she'd win this battle by herself, without his help.

"What's up, it doesn't even obey you? Who cares, Sandslash, Poison Sting!"

"Slash!"

The quilled rodent jumped in the air and started spinning out as it extended its quills forward, firing out a rain of poison barbs at Snivy. She jumped backwards and winked to unleash a barrage of Attract, but unfortunately, Sandslash didn't budge. So it was female; fine, a little challenge was welcome.

"You stupid snake, I'm telling you to use Vine Whip, what're you waiting for?!" The Samurai yelled.

Snivy looked over her shoulder, now she had even less reason to obey him. Alright, since she wasn't planning on being around him any longer, it wouldn't hurt to show him some of her other tricks, so he could see what he was losing now.

"Use Slash!" The opponent called out.

The Ground-type Pokémon charged forward to try and slice her with her claws extended, but she knew exactly how to fight it back. The leaf on the tip of her tail started glowing a vibrant green, and it intercepted Sandslash's claw, forcing her to step back due to the pain of a super effective attack.

"Wait, was that a Leaf Blade?!" The Samurai gasped. "Why didn't you tell me you knew that?!"

'You never asked, you fool,' Snivy thought to herself.

And now, for another trick she had. Keeping her distance to maximize damage, she jumped in the air, and created a bunch of leaves around herself, which were then fired in a spiraling barrage against her opponent, hitting the Ground-type with another high-powered, super effective attack.

"That was… Leaf Storm…" Sandslash's trainer was shocked.

By some kind of miracle Sandslash managed to endure that hit, which was good, since she and her trainer both knew the effect: should she repeat it again, its power would decrease. Meanwhile, the Samurai was starting to regret having dismissed her like he did.

"Sandslash, use Fury Cutter, time and time again!"

Raising her claws and coating them in a crimson energy, Sandslash delivered a barrage of consecutive cuts against Snivy. Evading with a touch of grace and elegance, Snivy jumped on top of her as she turned around and extended her Vine Whips to get a hold of her legs, pulling her hard and tripping her nose first into the floor. She then readied another Leaf Storm to finish her off.

"Sni…" 'Let's see how you like this.'

"Sandslash, get away and use Aerial Ace!"

Sandslash was more than happy to oblige, although Snivy just missed the attack by one hair. The Ground-type quickly charged forward, leaving behind a series of white streaks before vanishing and reappearing on Snivy's blind side, managing to get in the first solid hit. She was almost ready to charge again with Fury Cutter, to which Snivy countered with Leaf Blade. Once again she took her distance, this time she'd go for the decisive blow.

"SNIVY!" she yelled as she unleashed her Leaf Storm once again.

Repeating that attack time and time again would decrease the power, right? Apparently not: when Snivy fired off the barrage of leaves, these went much faster and on a bigger amount than before, and before she had noticed, Sandslash was blasted into the air, dragged in a spiraling trail, and after an explosion of leaves, fell down knocked out.

"Sandslash!" her trainer yelled, going to pick her up.

"I don't believe this," the Samurai muttered. She had won that battle herself, without taking orders from him, after that Sandslash easily wiped the floor with his Venonat.

"Snivy." 'That was nice. Now… it's time for me to leave.'

She was more than ready to go, but she barely had walked a few meters away when the Samurai noticed her movements. A little slow on the mind to notice his surroundings, it seemed.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" He ran off after her. "We're not done here yet!"

'I am. I am done with you, here and now. And if you don't let me go quietly. I'll have to teach you a lesson.'

"What the heck was that? Why didn't you tell me you had those attacks?" the Samurai demanded. "Doesn't matter, seems you weren't as useless as I first thought, you might come in handy to catch me some good Bug-types.'

Really? He still had the nerve to say that, despite his attitude in the past four days? No, of course not, there was no way she'd stay with this idiot, not even a second longer. So, when she saw him grab her Pokéball to return her, she knew exactly what she had to do.

*SNAP!*

"Ouch!" The Samurai yelled in pain when one of Snivy's whips smacked him in his hand holding the Pokéball, and the other quickly grabbed it. "What the heck was that?!"

"Vy." 'Something I should have done from the start.'

And with this, she threw the Pokéball in the air, then leaping with a somersault, and slicing it in half with a single, accurate Leaf Blade cut. That was it, she was officially free from anything tying her to that idiot Samurai. Now she could go her own way.

"Hey! Get back here! You can't just leave me like that!" The Samurai shouted. "What's wrong with you, aren't you supposed to obey me?!"

"Hey, kid, if you and your Pokémon abandon the arena you'll be disqualified!" The referee tried to warn him, since in the previous battle they had set for two Pokémon, and the other guy's Sandslash was just the first. Leaving now would lose him the battle by default.

He didn't seem to care, though, all he was focused on was getting Snivy back. How stubborn. She would have preferred to leave without any more violence, but now he was standing in front of her, pointing threateningly with his sword. There was no choice.

'Alright, since you want it that way.' Snivy relaxed. She'd let the Samurai do his (foolish) move first.

"Now that's better." He was grabbing a spare Pokéball. How foolish of him to think she'd let herself be recaptured that easily. "Now then, let's… ARGH!"

Next thing he knew, Snivy had attacked him with Leaf Blade. She was careful not to cut him too much, but maybe that little souvenir in his arm would help him get the message. She had nothing else to do, so she ran off as fast as her small legs would let her, and as soon as she got the chance, she snuck into an open air vent she found, where the Samurai was too big to follow.

"Aw, dang it! Fine, scram away, for all I care, who needs you anyway!" She heard him yell.

Having finally gotten away from that useless excuse of a trainer, Snivy pondered on her current situation. It wasn't very nice to hide in that dark and cramped space, but as long as the Samurai was still around, it was better to stay away to avoid potential retaliation. Not that the brat was of any threat to her, of course. Now, she would be able to take a peek around the place, in search for a trainer worthy of her.

She explored that little labyrinth calmly, until she found another vent and took a peek. Fortunately there was an excellent view of the battle arenas, as well as the trainers and their Pokémon. In fact, after a while she even sat for a bit to watch how a dark-skinned, purple-haired young female kicked the Samurai's ass, it was priceless when she saw Beedrill's attacks failing to do a scratch on the girl's Excadrill. But she didn't find what she was looking for, so she moved on.

Next, she found another interesting one: another female, with short red-orange hair, using a brown star-shaped Pokémon, and a large blue marine snake. Close, perhaps, but not close enough. Next one.

If she ever heard humans saying "third time's the charm", they were seemingly right. This was the third battle arena she watched, and upon gazing at the two opponents, she paid no heed to the one letting out the blue bat and the red, six-tailed fox. Instead, the one that got her attention was the one who brought out a bird and a blue turtle. It wasn't so much that they both took out their opponents with a single attack each (though that definitely helped), but also that the boy had… something. He had jet-black hair underneath a red and white cap, and a couple of strange, lightning-shaped marks on his cheeks. Yet from where she was, Snivy could spot something different. Something she hadn't seen in most of the trainers she had encountered, either as opponents or being under their care.

There was a shine in the boy's eyes. A sparkle, irradiating… strength, courage, determination, yet at the same time, friendship, loyalty and compassion. She could confirm it wasn't just a feeling when, after winning, he congratulated both of his partners on their victory. They seemed… quite happy with him.

'Could it be?' Snivy wondered. She decided to watch this trainer for a little longer.

The boy won his battles with relative ease. His Pokémon always managed to avoid serious injury, and he had a very… unusual way of using some of their attacks. Unusual didn't mean bad, of course. If anything, it gave him a certain flair, a unique style, something she hadn't seen in any of her previous trainers. And she had to admit, she found it… interesting.

After watching the trainer's long winning streak, which concluded with a victory from the bird and a purple butterfly, his opponent and the referee left. Great, if she could be all alone with him, much better. Unfortunately, the vent where she was peeking through was too stuck. No choice, she had to find another way.

Fortunately, there was another right above the arena. She'd just have to work a little to remove it.

"Sni!" she called out, hoping that the echo inside the vent would be enough to get his attention. With luck, he'd stay so she could challenge him.

It took her a while, but she was finally able to push the vent off and let herself fall in front of him. At the time, the trainer was accompanied by four of his Pokémon, the bird, the butterfly, a yellow electric rodent who always seemed to be next to him or on his shoulder when not battling, and a little purple slug-like creature with green spots, who seemed to be just a spectator all the while.

"Snivy!" 'It's time to test you now.'

"Whoa, is that…"

"Yes, it is a Snivy. Snivy is a Grass-type starter Pokémon given out to trainers in the Unova region. It is known for its attitude, and its immense pride. A trainer it feels it is not worthy of it will get attacked by a Snivy, who will go and strike out on its own. Though how it got all the way to Kanto is anyone's guess."

Snivy had no idea of where did that voice come from or whom it belonged to. The only thing that mattered now was that she was in front of the trainer, and it was time to test if he had what she was looking for. Strangely enough, he and his Pokémon suddenly stared at her. They seemed surprised, as if they already knew her from somewhere. Was it just her imagination?

"Sni!" 'I've been watching you for a while! Don't disappoint me now!'

He wouldn't understand her language, so she used her small arms to make a gesture she had seen on many humans before, and learned that it meant to provoke the opponent into attacking. That should get the message across. The moment of truth had come: it was time to see by herself if this boy was the trainer she wanted to have. He'd have to prove himself the only way she knew: with a battle.

FIN.