Pokemon One-Shots and Headcanons

Breakthrough

He swore he was going to explode. Or freeze to death trying to figure out the mess he'd made, whichever came first.

Why, in the name of Arceus, could he and Greninja not harness their bond properly?

He knew the change only took place when their mental and emotional states were in sync and that during the transformation, he and Greninja seemed to become one being. But so far, they'd never been able to maintain the full transformation or even a partial one for very long until he collapsed from exhaustion. He knew that if he could just figure out what he was doing wrong, they could make it work-but what was he doing wrong?

Then Wulfric's words reentered his mind. The Snowbelle gym leader had told him that he lacked complete trust in Greninja. Was he right? Could he be right? He'd always felt that he had the strongest bond possible between himself and all his Pokemon, but maybe Wulfric had been able to sense something lacking between him and Greninja. Wait...was that it?

Was their lack of success in completing the transformation due to a deeply buried detachment between him and Greninja? Did Greninja regret choosing him as his trainer? If not yet, how long would their transformations have to fail before he decided that he was a failure as well, just like all the rest of his trainers?

He didn't want that. He had to fix what he'd been doing wrong-but how to do that when he had no idea what that was in the first place?

Switch to Greninja's thoughts.

The forest was freezing cold-well, that was to be expected, they were in Snowbelle City, after all. A blizzard had started to kick up, it was nearly impossible to see three feet in front of him, and he was torn between feeling angry and worried.

Where in the name of Arceus was his trainer?!

He'd been searching for quite some time now-ever since he'd finally regained his strength from his battle against Wulfric. In reality, he knew that he shouldn't be out in a blizzard like this and especially not alone without Talonflame or Noivern to find help if he needed it, but the consequences could wait until later. He needed to find Ash now. And possibly strangle him for making him worry as well.

Still, one question nagged at his mind. Why had Ash left him? His parting words still echoed in his mind: "If I'd just been able to pull it together, I should have been able to draw out your true power." Was that why Ash had left? Had he decided to go off on some sort of side journey of his own so he could figure out how to work their bond?

Their bond...

It had been a source of great frustration for him as well. No matter what they did, it seemed they could never keep up the transformation. But he had no idea what they were missing and neither, it seemed, did Ash. It was like that feeling when a word is right on the tip of one's tongue, but no matter how hard you try to say it, the word just won't come out. Frustrating for sure, and rather exhausting as well, both physically and mentally.

Well, if Ash thought he was going to run off on a journey to figure out how to work their bond without him, he had another think coming.

As he continued to search for Ash, Wulfric's last words-that no one else knew he had heard as well-entered his mind. He'd said that Ash lacked full trust in him. What was that supposed to mean? Ever since he'd been a little Froakie, he'd always been able to sense Ash's complete confidence in his battling skills. He didn't need the transformation to tell him that. So what, if anything, was Ash lacking trust in him for?

Unless, of course...

He knew Ash was well aware of his past history with his trainers and how he had left them. Did Ash think he was going to leave him as well? He wished that he could speak in a language his trainer could understand so he could tell him how wrong he was. There was no chance, no way he was ever going to leave. Even if they never managed to figure out their bond, he would never leave.

If he couldn't tell him though, maybe he could show him. But first he had to find him.

No one's POV.

They'd finally done it. They'd finally managed to unleash their full power-and had managed to stay upright this time.

Right from the start, both had sensed that something was different about this attempt. That lack of trust between them that Wulfric had seemingly spotted had been filled. And after they had rescued Spewpa, both of them could feel that the connection between the two of them had grown even stronger.

They didn't exactly know how it had happened in that split second. One moment Greninja was rescuing Ash from falling off a cliff, the next they had mastered a full transformation while rescuing the Spewpa that had been blown out of Ash's arms by the wind. Neither of them had any idea what had changed in that moment or why it had worked so suddenly. But what did it matter? It had worked. And, they knew, it would continue to work from now on.

They understood each other now, after all. Wasn't that enough?