Lucky Clover Ch 3

"O-Okay Sunny, let’s go …"

Sunny stepped in front of Clover and gave a determined nod, watching as his Pachirisu opponent ran towards him. Its cheeks crackled with electricity as the battle began.

"Pachirisu, use Spark!" Arno commanded. Pachirisu nodded and leapt at Sunny.

"Sunny, use Confusion!" Clover yelled. Sunny’s large, pink eyes widened at the running Pachirisu and started to send out waves of psychic energy. Before Sunny’s attack could take effect over his opponent’s mind, Pachirisu’s zap of electricity hit, giving Sunny a painful shock.

"Espurr! Purr!" Sunny groaned in pain, his fur standing on end while the electricity coursed through his body. Clover looked terrified at the sight of Sunny being hurt. She looked over at Arno, who wore a sly grin on his face. Did he already think that he’d won?

"If I’m gonna get a job as a gym trainer, I can’t back down this easy!" Clover exclaimed. "Get up, Sunny! We can do this!"

"Espurr!" Sunny slowly made his way up from the floor, his small, stubby paws pushing him upward. He stood and looked back at Clover. "Purr!"

"Use Leer now!" Clover commanded. "You can look scary if you try!"

Sunny leaned forward and looked into Pachirisu’s eyes. Pachirisu stared back, seeming unphased by Sunny’s ‘attack’.

"Come on, Sunny! You can do it! Leer at it!" Clover yelled, sounding a bit desparate now. "Leer!"

Sunny nodded and ran towards Pachirisu, jumping at it and knocking it to the floor. Sunny stared directly into Pachirisu’s eyes, not letting the squirrel Pokemon move for even a moment. After a minute of pause, Sunny stood up and Pachirisu followed — Pachirisu didn’t look intimidated at all, though it did look rather uncomfortable. Clover figured that would be better than nothing.

"Uh, that’s good, Sunny!" Clover praised. "Now before it moves, use Scratch!"

"This little back-and-forth is about done, girl." Arno said cooly. "Pachirisu, use Spark and actually make it count this time."

Pachirisu ran towards Sunny — its entire body was shining from the electricity surrounding it. Clover’s terrified look remained — what else could Sunny do? Confusion and Scratch were the only damage-inducing moves he knew! While Sunny tried to avoid Pachirisu’s headbutts and pouncing, Clover noticed something strange:

Pachirisu had an item attached to it; wrapped around its tail, specifically. If there was one thing a homeless girl and her Pokemon knew how to do, it was take something — fortunately, Clover had taught Sunny about this long ago.

"Sunny, use Covet!"

Sunny jumped straight up as Pachirisu approached, landing just as it ran underneath. Pachirisu paused in its tracks, confused about what its opponent was attempting. Just as it turned around, a gray blur ran past it and yanked on its tail.

Sunny stood in front of it moments later, holding a magnet in his paw.

"Now throw it and hit Pachirisu in the face, Sunny!" Clover yelled. "Show no mercy! Pretend it’s that hotel owner guy that said I smelled like a Trubbish’s backside!"

This was no longer a battle — Sunny was mercilessly beating Pachirisu over the head with a magnet.

"Ess! Pur!" Sunny yelled with each smack. All Pachirisu could do was yell in pain as the beatings continued.

"That’s good, Sunny!" Clover cheered. "Now pretend its the girl who said I get my clothes from the garbage!"

"Stop! Please!"

Arno ran up and kicked Sunny away from Pachirisu. Clover dashed forward and caught him in her arms.

"Why did you kick my Pokemon? That’s probably against the rules!" Clover yelled. "I would call Jenny on you, but …" Clover’s yell turned to a mumble. "…she’d just laugh at me again …"

Clemont walked between them. He looked at Arno, then at Clover.

"Well, you have a peculiar way of battling, I’ll give you that." Clemont said. "We can probably get away with just teaching Sunny how to use Thunderbolt."

"Does that mean I’ve got the job?" Clover asked excitedly. She and Sunny stared at Clemont with wide, hopeful eyes.

"As long as you promise to not allow Sunny to bludgen Pokemon with items anymore, then yes." Clemont smiled. "Welcome to Lumiose Gym, Clover."

Clover didn’t respond. She looked down at Sunny with a huge smile, and her Pokemon looked up at her with the same. She hugged Sunny close to her chest and spun around in place, the both of them cheering.

"We have a job! We really do!" Clover exclaimed. "We’re gonna make it, Sunny!"

"Espurr!" Sunny cheered. "Espurr! Purr!"

"When do I start?" Clover asked. Clemont looked at Sunny, then back up at her.

"As soon as Sunny evolves into Meowstic." Clemont said. "That shouldn’t take too long, right?"

"As soon as he … evolves?" Clover looked horrified. "But he’s my little Espurr! I don’t want Sunny to evolve if he doesn’t want to!"

Sunny furiously shook his head.

"See? Sunny doesn’t want to, either!" Clover protested. "Please, sir, can’t I just work here without him evolving?"

"Well, since he’s not a full-on Electric-type, it’ll be hard to get away with it." Clemont said. "The Pokemon League does require me to have standards, and it’s hard to ignore them without a slap on the hand."

"But …" Clover’s eyes started to tear up; not even five minutes and the job was taken away from her. "That’s not right … Sunny’s my Espurr …"

"If Sunny ever evolves into Meowstic, you have a place here. Until then, the Pokemon League won’t let me get away with it if he isn’t at least half-electric." Clemont frowned. "I really am sorry, but my hands are tied."

"But that’s dumb!" Bonnie protested, running up to Clemont. "Sunny’s cute and I wanna keep him!"

"Bonnie, you tried this with that boy’s Bunnelby and I told you ‘no’ twice." Clemont said.

"No, no, I have a great idea!" Bonnie said. She ran off towards an automatic sliding door. "Be right back!"

—-

"Bonnie, there’s no way this is going to work." Clemont groaned.

Bonnie, with paint can and brush in hand, stood in front of Sunny. The Espurr looked uncomfortable at the bucket of yellow paint Bonnie held.

"If Sunny can’t be electric, then we’ll make him electric!" Bonnie explained. "Now just hold still and you’ll be the cutest Pichu-not-really-a-Pichu ever!"

"Espurr …" Sunny muttered, stepping away from Bonnie and towards Clover.

"No, not ‘Espurr!’ You’re supposed to say ‘Pichu!’" Bonnie yelled. "Pichu! Pichu!"

One of the gym’s Pikachu poked its head up from behind a pillar.

"No, not you!" Bonnie yelled at it. The Pikachu’s head dove out of sight. Bonnie dipped the brush in the paint and slowly approached Sunny.

"Now, Sunny, it’s okay. I’m pretty sure this is the non-toxic paint so you’ll be fine." Bonnie tried to speak in a reassuring tone. "Just let me make you pretty."

Sunny ran from her and jumped into Clover’s arms. Clover looked at Bonnie, remaining silent.

" … Sunny doesn’t want to." Clover said. "I don’t know if we should do this."

"I do know! Pichu time!" Bonnie yelled, taking the paint can in both hands and flinging it towards Clover and Sunny. The two were instantly coated in pale-yellow paint. "There we go! A Pichu and a Pichu cosplayer to match! Perfect!"

Before Clover could stop her, Bonnie grabbed Sunny from her arms and ran off with him into another room. Clover tried to give chase, but slipped in the puddle of paint and fell on her rear.

"Is she going to kill Sunny?" Clover asked Clemont. Clemont shrugged.

"I hope not. I don’t have the money to pay up if you sue me." He said.

Minutes later, Bonnie returned with a still paint-dripping Sunny in her arms. Sunny had two black pieces of construction paper over his ears, and Bonnie had added two splotches of pink paint on his cheeks. His small tail had a square of black paper over it as well.

"Now we just have to teach him how to say ‘Pichu’ and we’re fine!" Bonnie said. Sunny’s pink eyes were wide, full of fear, and the Pokemon was trembling in terror. "He’s a little excited, but I think it’s because he’s so excited to evolve into Pichu!"

There was absolutely no way this Espurr could pass as a Pichu.

"There is absolutely no way this Espurr could pass as a Pichu." Clemont groaned. "I’ll give you a test-run, Clover. I’ll have some explaining to do, though. If our league standards were as mellow as Sinnoh’s or Hoenn’s, my life would be so much easier …"

"Thank you!" Clover said. She ran over and hugged Clemont, getting his jumpsuit covered in paint. She pulled away and smiled at him, but he only looked uncomfortable from it.

"Sure, sure, just … take your Pichu and go get cleaned up." Clemont said. "Preferably not in here."

"Don’t you have Hex girl clothes like everyone else?" Bonnie asked. "I know you’re not a Lass."

"Well, I do, but …" Clover paused. "I’ll figure it out, I guess. I hope."

"Then we’ll see you bright and early tomorrow!" Bonnie said. She reached up and smacked Clover’s rear when Clover turned around. "Have a good sleep!"

"Eep!" Clover jumped from the sudden touch. "O-Okay, will do!" Clover looked down at herself. "I can’t leave like this, though. I’m a mess."

"That’s okay! I have just the outfit for you!" Bonnie winked at her. "It’s the clothes that big bro says he doesn’t want the gym girls to wear!"

"Bonnie, no! Not that one, that was sent here by accident from Sinnoh!" Clemont shook his head. "Leave those alone!"

"If it’s a mistake then why are they still here?" Bonnie snickered at her brother’s blushing face. "I’ll be right back."

—-

"Why does life hate me, Sunny?" Clover groaned. Sunny blushed at the sight of her.

A Pikachu-ear headband, a yellow strapless top that did nothing to hide her midriff, and booty shorts with Pikachu’s back brown-stripes across the ass. A flimsy tail poked up from the top of the shorts.

"First a Kanto schoolgirl outfit, now I’m Elesa’s little cosplay whore." Clover whined. "Well, at least we have a job. Now if we can get back home without someone thinking that job consists of me ‘loving them long time’, we’ll be set."

"Es purr purr!" Sunny giggled.

The two were leaving Lumiose Gym as fast as possible, but it was hard to avoid being seen by anyone. At best, all anyone could see was a weird-looking Pichu following a taller yellow blur.

"If we can get to the Pokemon Center, we should be fine as long as Joy doesn’t mistake me for a hooker." Clover sighed. "I really hope Bonnie doesn’t think this is going to be my work uniform."

"Espurr?"

"It can’t be. It’s just not … proper." Clover put her hands behind her head, resting on her arms. "Let’s just go to the Pokemon Center and find my dress."

Clover’s run turned into a mad dash when the two turned the corner to find the Pokemon Center — her move ended when she smacked hard into the door. For some reason, it didn’t slide open.

"Ouch." Clover muttered. "Pain hurts."

"Espurr." Sunny nodded in agreement.

Clover stepped back, looking at the door. She jumped in front of it, waved her hand, danced a bit — nothing. Sunny tried as well, staring at the door in an attempt to push it open with his psychic powers.

Tap tap tap.

The two looked over, seeing Nurse Joy standing at the window. She shook her head and pointed towards the right. Clover followed her finger, seeing … the sidewalk corner.

"Nurse Joy, no! It’s me, Clover!" Clover clawed at the window. "It’s me!" She watched as Joy scribbled something down, then held up a piece of paper.

"I’m not surprised." it read.

"These are just clothes I’m borrowing, I’m not a dirty girl or anything, I swear!" Clover begged. "Let us in!"

"You certainly smell dirty." The reverse side of the paper read. "Leave, please."

"Can I at least have my dress back?" Clover asked. She wasn’t sure why Joy wouldn’t speak through the window. "You can hear me, right?"

Joy walked from the window. Moments later, the door barely slid open and Clover’s dirty purple dress was tossed to the ground. Clover picked it up and looked at Joy through the crack in the door.

"But you were so nice this morning!" Clover looked at her, geniunely confused. "What happened?"

"What happened was your Espurr gave all the Pokemon fleas!" Joy glared at her. "I’m usually fine with Sunny, scent and all, but you two can’t come in here until he’s clean. That includes that Pichu with you."

"But you’re the one who has to do that!" Clover argued. "Wait … Pichu?"

"Use a fountain! And yes, I know a Pichu when I see one!" Joy said, slamming the door.

Sunny and Clover looked at each other, laughing at the nurse’s cluelessness.

Maybe this wouldn’t be too hard, after all.