Pokemon One-Shots and Headcanons

When the Trainers Are Away

This is Greninja x Braixen.
I love to imagine Greninja as the one who always likes to make jokes at his friends' expense. This is mostly because of the scene in XY89 when he spit water in Hawlucha's face after low-key insulting him.

Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie had all gone out shopping to help Serena look for dresses for her next Pokemon showcase. That meant all their Pokemon were taking an opportunity to enjoy the sun a little while their trainers were away. They were currently lying in the grass next to the tents, with Greninja and Luxray keeping a lookout for any signs of Team Rocket. Just because they were alone didn't mean the evil trio-or rather, quartet if you counted Wobbuffet, but almost no one did-was any less interested in kidnapping Pikachu. Greninja, with his heightened ninja senses, and Luxray with his x-ray vision, were the perfect guards.
"Hey, Greninja," Braixen said shyly, walking up to the bipedal frog Pokemon. She frowned when he didn't answer and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Oh, hello Braixen," Greninja said, only just noticing her. "Sorry, just a little lost in thought I guess."
Braixen smiled. "You must be bored," she remarked.
"I am," Greninja admitted.
"You're always bored when you're not training with Ash," Luxray put in. Greninja scowled at him.
"Well, we haven't seen any sign of Team Rocket. I think you could afford to take a break," Braixen offered, trying to soothe the building tensions.
Greninja looked relieved. "Really? Thanks, Braixen," he said happily. He jumped over to join the rest of the Pokemon, who were discussing their trainers' various plans. The frog-ninja Pokemon drifted over to Hawlucha, Noivern, and Pikachu, who were talking about Ash's upcoming gym battle in Snowbelle City.
"Think it'll be a double battle again? It might happen," Pikachu said.
"If it is, who do you think Ash will-oh, hey Greninja," Hawlucha said, glancing over at his battle partner.
"Hello," Greninja replied. "What's up?"
"We were just discussing who Ash would use if the next gym battle is a double battle," Noivern replied. "Personally I'd like to fight in a gym battle."
"I'm sure you would," Greninja said. "He could come up with a lot of different combinations I'm sure, but for me I always seem to get our group's resident peacock."
"What? How dare you-peacock?" Hawlucha asked in confusion.
"It's a creature that I've heard exists somewhere in another universe far from our own," Greninja explained. "They're known for their bright, flashy colors-well, the males are as far as I know. I don't know about the females."
"Oh...that doesn't sound so bad," Hawlucha said.
"They're also known to be really full of themselves and like to strut around and show off," Greninja finished. "Kind of like someone else I know."
"HEY!" Hawlucha shouted.
"He's got you there," Pikachu laughed. Hawlucha glared at him.
"Why do I put up with all of you..." he grumbled.

Meanwhile, not far from Greninja, Hawlucha, Pikachu, and Noivern, the female Pokemon were talking about, well, girl stuff. More specifically, they were talking about the male Pokemon and...well, you get the idea.
"Pikachu's adorable, don't you think?" Sylveon asked in a dreamy voice.
"I don't know, I think there's something to be said for Greninja, wouldn't you agree Braixen?" Dedenne asked teasingly, nudging the fox Pokemon.
"Yeah," Braixen said without thinking. "Definitely."
Dedenne and Sylveon smirked triumphantly. Braixen blushed as she realized what she had just said.
"I-I mean," she stammered, "it's not like I-I mean, I don't-"
"Someone's in love," Dedenne sang. Braixen scowled at her friend.
"I am not!" she hissed. "And don't be so loud! Someone might hear you!"
"Someone might hear you what?"
The girls froze as they realized that Greninja had picked up on their conversation. "Damn your ninja senses," Braixen muttered.
"What was that?" Greninja asked, frowning.
"Nothing!" Braixen exclaimed quickly. "Er-nothing! We were just talking about...something."
The others rolled their eyes. That doesn't sound suspicious at all, Sylveon thought.
"Really? What is it?" the frog-ninja Pokemon asked curiously.
"Braixen has something to tell you," Dedenne said, smirking.
"What?" Greninja asked.
"Shut up!" Braixen shouted. Greninja looked extremely offended. "Oh, no, I didn't mean you Greninja, I just-um, never mind...."
"Oh..." Greninja trailed off, looking confused now. "All right, then."
Braixen breathed a sigh of relief as he turned away and went back to talking to his friends. Sylveon and Dedenne were rolling around laughing hysterically. She growled a bit, tempted to hit them with a Flamethrower.
"It's not that funny," she grumbled.
"Yes, it is," Dedenne laughed. "You should see the look on your face, Braixen."
"Why don't you just ask him out?" Sylveon asked.
"Because he's as dense as Ash," Braixen muttered unhappily. She'd been trying to drop hints for at least a month now, and he still had yet to respond to any of them. "Or he just doesn't like me. I don't know, what do you think it is? Is he really as dense as he seems, or is this his way of telling me to go away?"
"Greninja's not like that," Dedenne disagreed. "If he wants someone to leave him alone, he'll just come out and say so. So I'm guessing that he really hasn't realized that you like him."
"Oh," Braixen looked a little happier before her face fell again. "But...how can I make him notice?"
"Unless you go up to him and shove it all in his face, I really don't know," Dedenne replied.
"But I can't do it like that!" Braixen protested. "That would be so embarrassing...and what if he said no? I'd never be able to look him in the face ever again!"
"You can't know that he'd reject you," Sylveon reasoned.
"Even if he didn't, I still couldn't do it," Braixen replied. "Think how embarrassing it would be for him too. How would you feel if someone just came up to you and asked you out in front of all your friends?"
"I guess I see what you mean," Sylveon sighed. Then she smiled. "You really care about him, don't you?"
"Of course, I have known him since we were at Professor Oak's lab together," Braixen replied.
"Really?" Sylveon asked curiously. "That long?"
"Yeah...he was the Froakie that kept returning to the research lab," Braixen said, smiling as she got lost in her memories. Sylveon and Dedenne looked confused.
"What Froakie that kept returning to the lab?" Dedenne asked.
"Oh sorry, I forgot you wouldn't know," Braixen said apologetically. "Greninja, when he was still a Froakie, kept returning to Professor Sycamore's lab because he didn't get along with his trainers."
"Until he met Ash," Dedenne noted.
"Until he met Ash," Braixen agreed. "I have to admit I was a little disappointed because I enjoyed having him around."
"Were you two close?" Sylveon asked.
"Eh, not really," Braixen replied. "I was always too shy to talk to him."
"So what made you like him so much if you never talked to each other?" Sylveon asked, looking a little puzzled.
"I don't really know," Braixen admitted. "I always just thought he was interesting because he kept coming back. In an indirect way I guess he kind of made me realize that even when I had a trainer of my own, I still had some control over my life...and that being someone's Pokemon is about more than battling and stuff like that, you know?"
"What was Greninja like when he was at the lab?" Dedenne asked.
"He liked to train a lot," Braixen answered immediately. "But he would play with some of the other Pokemon occasionally. Of course, playing usually meant battling, but he was always gentle."
"I bet you were happy when you found out you and Serena would be traveling with Ash, weren't you?" Dedenne remarked.
"Of course," Braixen said, blushing.
"And now you're here daydreaming because you're too shy to tell him that you love him," Dedenne finished.
Braixen went pale-or as pale as a fox could go, anyway. "L-love?" she stammered. "Hold on, I never said anything about love."
"Maybe not, but we all know it's true so there's no sense in denying it," Dedenne said, a proud, maternal smile on her face.
Braixen sighed. Really, there was no point in arguing because her friends were as stubborn as they came. Besides, she admitted to herself, they weren't actually wrong. She did love Greninja. But there was no way she was going to admit that out loud, and especially not to him. She wanted to keep at least some of her dignity. Anyway, there was no way that he felt the same way...right?

Little did she know, Greninja did feel the same way. The conversation with his friends had somehow turned to the topic of their female friends, much to Hawlucha's dismay. He thought romance was a waste of time. Greninja didn't particularly care either way. It was kind of funny listening to everything, especially when Pikachu started telling them about a female Buneary he'd known from the Sinnoh region that had been the first catch of Ash's friend, Dawn.
"She was so annoying sometimes," Pikachu groaned.
"She sounds like it too," Noivern commented. "Did you ever manage to get rid of her?"
"Well, our trainers traveled everywhere together, so I couldn't exactly get rid of her," Pikachu said, rolling his eyes. "But eventually, our journey came to an end and we went back to Pallet Town."
"You know, I've heard that insulting someone repeatedly makes them lose any feelings they have for you really quickly," Talonflame, who had joined their group a few minutes ago, said.
"Corphish is red, Golduck is blue. I thought Jynx was ugly. Then I saw you," Greninja replied promptly. The other Pokemon burst out laughing.
"Nice one, Greninja," Talonflame chuckled.
"You should have used that one, Pikachu," Hawlucha commented.
"I didn't want to be mean," Pikachu sighed.
"Sometimes being mean is the only way to get the point across though," Greninja pointed out.
"You would know, wouldn't you? You've insulted everyone here," Noivern replied. "Everyone, that is, except..."
"Except who?" Greninja asked.
"Well, Ash, and....Braixen," Noivern said slowly.
Talonflame's eyes lit up. "Hey, that's true. Braixen's the only one you're always nice to."
"So?" Greninja muttered. He suddenly wished he were somewhere else. Anywhere but here, where he would be free from the scrutinizing eyes of his friends. "It's just because she's the only one here who isn't an idiot."
"I wouldn't call Sylveon an idiot," Pikachu reasoned.
"Of course you wouldn't," Noivern mumbled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Pikachu asked sharply.
"Nothing!"
Greninja sighed and looked away towards Braixen. She was certainly wonderful and smart and talented, but being nice to her because of that didn't mean anything...did it? Of course not; and it wasn't like he was horrible to the other Pokemon. He just enjoyed making fun of them more. Especially Hawlucha. It was just so easy to rile him up.
"Easy to rile who up, Greninja?" Hawlucha asked. Greninja paled as he realized he'd been talking out loud.
"Uh...no one! Er-never mind," he said quickly.
"All right..." Hawlucha trailed off, still looking suspicious.
"So Greninja, what you were saying is that you're nice to Braixen because she's not stupid?" Noivern asked.
"Um...yeah. That's what it was," Greninja muttered, looking down.
"Liar," Noivern smirked.
"What?"
Everyone smirked at the shocked look on the ninja Pokemon's face. "You should know by now, you can't fool us that easily," Hawlucha said, shaking his head.
"What are you talking about?" Greninja asked nervously.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Talonflame replied. "We all know you're madly in love with B-"
Before he could finish, however, Greninja hurled a badly aimed Water Shuriken at his head....
...which flew over its intended target and hit Ash, who was coming up the hill, straight in the stomach and knocked him over.
Greninja looked over at his fallen trainer and back at his friends, who were shaking with laughter.
"Crap," he whispered.