EVERYONE: Silly Human, Romance is for Nidoran~!

[VeniaSilente]

Some years ago, at the edge of the human city…​

It had been a calm day so far, in the outskirts of the large city that rested beside the forest. Up by the edge of the flower shops district, some small stores were running their daily routine. Small buildings with automatic semitransparent doors that the inhabitants of the city handled without much issue to carry out their business.

The Nidorino, like many others in the wild, did not really have that much of a good relationship with the automatic doors. They were just... a thing, quite hard to handle, just like vanishing walls or mysterious artifacts of lore, not to mention the fact that hlessil – the strays and outcasts – weren't allowed inside these weird human burrows.

Not that this young specimen cared today. Barely over one year old, he was strolling around the store, listening, sniffing with interest, his clean, unbitten ears flickering every time one of the ithé – the weird non-Pokémon race that populated the cities and who called themselves "humans" – was about to emerge from weird structure, prompting the pinkish Pokémon to turn tail and run, horn down and muzzle open, to hide in the nearest safe place, usually a thicket or a hrududu – one of those small metal creatures the humans used to travel around the city.

All the better if he had to run. The Nidorino was happy to let himself run wildly every few minutes, trying the power of his new muscles and the toughness of his new paws, and each time he proudly stood before the store exposing his pale, unscarred flank, so silly of him to think that that was valuable but hey, that's the young for you.

Just like the other three or four Nidos roaming around the street, he was part of a small outcast troop that lived by the very edge of the forest. That didn't make them bottom percentage, no… it was a honour, if a tribulation as well, to live near the humans, the elders of the nearby forest colony said. But boy it was hard and annoying sometimes, the Nidorino thought as he went hide in a thicket. Every once in a while some annoying human kit would try and randomly throw Pokéballs at them, not even bothering (or perhaps not even knowing) with the ancient ritual. Other times the troop delved too deep inside the city, ate the wrong human's grass, and then they were chased back to the forest by angry Pokémon the colony called fuléarof, dogs of the dawn, but the Nidorino had heard the humans in blue clothes call Arcanine.

Silly dogs.

---

Outside​

There was the laughter of human kittens and the voice of their marli, the mother, fading away; the Nidorino peeked outside of the thicket, and saw them go away. Looking down the street one of the other Nidos of the troop was trying to attack some silly Pidgeys - that would keep him busy for a while. Even further beyond the Sun was diving away, to the eternal sea – the night was to come. The Nidorino turned his ears to the other side to check for any call from their troop leader. None come yet… that's great! He could have some more time to play, he thought.

Time to cautiously approach the human building again. Step after step, ears raised, the Nidorino moved slowly to face the mysterious disappearing wall that allowed the humans to come in and out…

And once he was very close, he decided to rub his muzzle against the lower part of the wall, just to confirm the reason why he had been so eager to spend the last half hour trying to figure out the intricacies of this wall the humans had placed.

Yes, he did confirm it as soon as his nostrils picked the scent. He raised his sight to try and distinguish anything inside the structure's hide, but for the most part he couldn't understand anything of what he was seeing, which was mostly blurry ghosts wandering around past the barrier. All he knew was that there was a Nidorina, somewhere inside. His eyes scanned a couple of times but got nothing, and this prompted the Nidorino to push his horn against the mysterious wall... softly at first, but harder when he felt the wall vibrating and pushing back in response to his strength.

Test your strength, get past the wall, that was the "message" that he could get. He had enjoyed himself so much since his evolution, just a couple of moons ago. He had found himself stronger, faster, smarter, if unfortunately larger enough that he had to dig himself a new burrow. So… strong and fast enough to take down this mysterious barrier, perhaps?

Face the wall, horn down, ears flattened. Focus his energy for a moment and... push!

Nothing. The wall wouldn't budge.

But of course! He was missing something!

So naïve of him to forget that he had to charge! Pointy end of horn goes inside the opponent, his instructor told the once little Nidoran. After a warning growl and a moment to shake his head, the specimen turned around and walked a short distance away, five or six steps from the wall, then turned around to face it again.

A rawr was issued, because the Nidorino was not going to back down, which he showcased by pointing end of horn at the blue-ish wall. Getting no response from the wall, the Nidorino buffed and followed with the customary and always useful Leer, his body stiffened to look as threatening as possible, his irises acquiring a blue-ish tint for a brief moment. A thump on the ground, legs well spread, and after a moment to take a breath, his charge. He was so going to win this one.

The eager Nidorino had barely had the time to aim his horn in his stint at attacking when his ears picked what seemed like a very sharp, brief cry coming from above. A slight tremor under his feet and the Nidorino was surprised to see the wall quickly move away somehow and… disappear?

Where did it go, the Nidorino asked to himself as he hastily braked, followed with a surprised "where am I now?" in a somewhat meeping mental tone.

---

Inside​

The Nidorino looked around, he was now in a different place that seemed to be the inside of the human structure, the floor and the walls were different here and there were weird trees lined up across the floor, with even weirder coloured leaves and objects hanging from them. The sounds and smells were all uniform, but off from what he knew, and were carried by a strange cool wind emerging from somewhere within the walls around him, forcing most scents off the wall he had come through.

He instinctively followed his ears and turned his head up to notice some sort of creature with a black eye making most of its body hanging from the ceiling, watching him. But as the creature did nothing but stare, the Nidorino returned his focus on the affair that had brought him here.

Sniff left… Sniff right… where was the Nidorina?

The Nidorino hesitantly took a step forwards and looked around. He could hear some humans around but couldn't see them, they were spread somewhere amidst the weird trees, some Pokémon were also there if the scents he was picking were all right. He would have to start looking around and evade any humans that would-

Oh? The tremor again! The Nidorino quickly turned back to see the blue-ish wall slide in from nowhere, and within just a couple of seconds his view of the trees and the hrududu outside, as well as the soft wind, were nearly completely blocked by the mysterious wall. Nearly skipping a heartbeat the Nidorino poked the wall with a paw, then his horn… just like before, all he felt was a slight vibration and a strong resistance. He could see some Nidorino-like shadows moving outside, probably the rest of his troop, and his ears flared up.

<…Trapped? Rrrrr?>

He nervously turned around, examining his surroundings. There were some more noises that he didn't pay much attention to as he was busy scanning for any other possible exit, but he was fairly sure he had circled the building many times and never found another kind of disappearing wall for humans to cross in and out.

He swallowed. Next he tried to pick any wind or any vibration to no avail and then started turning forth and back, pawing the door a couple of times and trying to check for humans alternatively.

It was right after one of those turns that he suddenly noticed, something had made the recesses of his mind freeze; he found himself standing still, ears pointed back, and realized there was something out there (or, well, in there) to look for. Carefully he turned around and quickly glanced at the weird trees, and it was right by one of them that he saw her eyes, inquisitively examining him, the form of the Nidorina sat at a corner.

The Nidorino shaked for a moment and swallowed again, looked back. The female was somewhat larger than himself, and seemed to be fairly more aged as well. She was inside, she was a trained Pokémon after all and not a hlessi the male thought, picking some clues from her rough flank and her clean, slightly sharpened claws and her… possessive demeanour? As he did, he felt himself being examined as well, but beyond some blinks the Nidorina gave no indication whatsoever if she liked what she saw.

Come on, boy, he reminded himself, just like you practised. You got yourself this far.

<…H-hello?> he growled faintly while stepping forwards.

Not much of a response, the Nidorina simply shifted her ears a couple of times, probably checking for the same sounds he was, and then simply leaned on the weird tree, her chest moving slightly with her breathing. The male was not to give up though, he was young and confident in his top-percentageness.

<I'm Baluarkos and I'm very healthy!> he growled, louder this time. He moved in a couple of steps and presented his flank, turned around a couple of times to show he was (just a bit!) confident with his surroundings. <I beat that blue… wall… thing!>

That seemed to definitively trigger a reaction in the Nidorina. Baluarkos saw her move her head a bit, look at the door behind him for a moment and them at him again. For whatever reason, the female then leaned onwards and let her forepaws rest on the ground, her face drawing something similar to a smile, her fangs showing off, a telltale sign that she wanted to see more of... him?

He smiled back as well, felt his body tense. Circled around a couple of times, then looked back at the blue-ish wall and back at the female, who blinked. He had to show he was strong, he reminded himself that the female had probably missed him scaring the foul wall into letting him in.

So perhaps another display…

He assumed a threatening posture again as he turned at the door and aimed his horn at it. Just as before, no response, so he took a couple of steps back, buffing as malely as he could. His feet suddenly caught a minute difference in the texture of the ground that surprised him, he stopped and looked down, after a moment he heard the female giggling. Ears down and blushing he looked back at her and saw her sitting on her hindlegs this time, her pupils dilated, she replied coyly tilting her head and then pointing him to the wall.

<I'm great, I can do this~>, he said to himself tilting his head like the female did.

So after a moment he shaked himself and thumped at the ground, ready to challenge. Even though he could not see it he could feel the Nidorina staring at him with interest. He let out his Leer and roared at the door, with the already expected lack of response, he puffed his chest, he'd have to do this the hard way. Again. Females dig males who go the hard way, his troop leader said. So be it, ears down, legs well spread, focus on the door... a couple of thumps...

...and charge!

---

Outside​

The blue-ish wall was quick to met his strong charge with the tremor and the high-pitched sound, and in a moment Baluarkos saw the wall slide away into nothingness just in time for him to proudly cross to the outside. He stopped right on his track and found himself right where he was before entering, could see the thicket and the hrududu from before, with one of his troop buddies intently looking down the street from behind it. He could once again sense the faint sea breeze – though it was a bit colder this time.

He let out a very specific growl, which called the attention of his buddy, and then turned back to look at the Nidorina.

<…See? I'm strong! I have a good flow by a creek! A burrow of my own> he added, pointing with his paw to the forests to the east.

The Nidorina giggled for a moment and leaned on the ground again, looking at him with prowling eyes and her claws dug on the ground, as if she was having a certain fun watching him. Baluarkos, not used to the feeling, blushed and shaked his body for a moment. The two Nidoran looked at each other for a moment, she moving her ears in apparently random directions while he was leaning left and right, not letting her out of his sight.

<You're funny…> she said suddenly, in a low enough tone that Baluarkos barely picked it. But that was all he needed. Her call was coy and gruff, her voice sounded even older than Baluarkos had presumed, didn't know what to do about that but with what followed he wouldn't care.

She waited for a moment and then made an inviting motion with her head, the Nidorino blinked and smugly growled at nowhere. He stood quiet for a moment, breathing calmly as if playing hard to get, then the female repeated the gesture.

<I'm Inka>, she growled then slid her claws by the ground besides her.

Baluarkos felt like top-percentage. He assumed a calm posture, then walked towards her.

Then he felt a tremor just like what he felt when the found the blue wall again and… no, no…

<…Nooo!>

Eyes wide open and claws ready, the Nidorino rushed at the open space trying to reach the female, but before getting any far he found his field of vision obstructed by the blue and felt a strong thud, having bumped on the closing door. He bounded back somewhat ungracefully and then roared at the blue-ish wall. It was there again, as if nothing had happened, blocking his way.

He was once again trapped outside, away from her.

The Nidorino scratched the door a couple of times to no effect, then stepped back and looked it up.

<…Rrrrr... No! I'm hers! I'll have you for this!> he yelled at the door.

---

Inside​

Still resting on the corner of Aisle 3, Inka continued to giggle as he watched the young male through the semitransparent door panel. She ran her claws on the empty ground besides her and amused herself watching the obviously recently evolved Nidorino bump on the door a couple of times, lean on it with both forelegs, poke it with his horn and apparently call it various names – even the strongest name, Ela, reserved for the most lethal enemies of Nidoran, predators such as Skarmory.

Inka found it fun to play games with the various Pokémon from the forest who came down to the city to try their luck – in particular if they were Nidoran, male, and proactive. Some of them were actually smart, but all of them fell easily in the trap of the automatic door and reacted in convoluted and funny ways.

The Nidorino outside stepped back a couple of steps and charged at the door. Inka sat and blinked as she saw the male crash against the door, his horn leaving a notorious dent on the panel. Her ears had stiffened at the crash, the sound screaming into her instincts that the male had just somehow found some sort of vulnerability in the door.

<…That's going to call some attention> she told herself, then retreating a couple of steps to hide.

She had to admit, this one was at least a bit smarter, or a bit more eager, or perhaps just a bit luckier than the others. He had gotten inside the store by his own means. Teasing him had been very fun, in particular the face the poor boy put in the microsecond he realized that the door was going to close again.

Then she heard angry footsteps coming from the aisle behind her and she moved away in time to see one of the human clerks, carrying a box. The human turned at the door and as soon as he saw the dent on the panel let out a scream followed with the usual human rant about the stray Pokémon. Inka saw the human quickly trade the box for an iron shovel and head to the door, which opened right after the Nidorino had tried to Double Kick it in his rage.

Inka felt something coming from the outside, peeked from behind her corner to see the stunned male quickly scan the store, not noticing Inka, then look up at the human who was about to shoo him. And she sensed the scent of an Arcanine in the distance.

<…Hray, yen u!> she hissed, instructing him to run. Just run.

He picked her voice, his ear turned to her direction for a brief moment, but before he could do anything else he was smacked in the head by the iron shovel and was forced to turn tail and run away, beyond the thicket, to reach his troop as the clerk followed for a couple of meters, swinging his shovel as threateningly as a common store clerk could.

And while Inka could not see, she could listen, and she sighed as she realized the Nidorino's troop was quickly rushing away as a police cart with a couple of officers and likely a couple of Arcanines pulled by next street.

Inka frowned at the human past the door. She decided to return to her Trainer before he figured out anything had happened, to spare themselves any trouble. If she was any lucky, with him busy buying various human-food groceries, he wouldn't have even noticed she was gone to have fun~

---

Outside​

A couple of minutes later, the five males that comprised the troop were running across a deserted street uphill, trying to reach a creek that led to the edge of the forest. One or two streets behind two female Arcanine were chasing, firing a couple of Flamethrowers, Roaring at them and quickly catching up.

<Oh, she wants me…> Baluarkos yelled, in between excited gasps for air. <I know she wants me.>

For the young boy the mad rush towards the forest fell like a smug stroll that day.

---

And that's it. I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[System Error]

Well it's V-Day technically, especially in the event organizer's time zone, so why not the FRESH NEW FIC that is that based?

- First things first, love that you give Pokemon their own names for things. It makes sense they'd have their own language and their own words. I do the same thing myself, although the thing I mainly used to focus with it on didn't get through production.
- Automatic doors, the bane of us all.
- Yeah, sure, glare at it, horny Nido. That'll learn it.
- Well he's desperate for some Nida-booty. She can't even have his egg if you go strictly canon! I wouldn't myself until I came up with a crazy idea
- Memes transcend languages and indeed even species though. He is in the top percentile of Nidos.
- Yeah, fight that door!
- I like how this Nida is basically a super toned down femme fatale. Although she's not bad enough to not tell her teasing victims when to run.
- Well these cops are serious, and man that feel when there's doom squads who go all in with damn fire, apparently not caring at all that they might ignite something. Dare I say FTP?
- Thinking with the wrong horn there, boy.

This was a funny little fic. I do enjoy me some misadventures. And I have a soft spot for the Nidos given my first legit Lv100 was the traded Nidorina since I didn't know to use the Moon Stone. Of course they don't necessarily have to be adorable, heh heh heh. Anyway, liked this one quite a bit, although now I'm mildly curious as to what the other incarnations of the characters are. Definitely has a proto-feeling to them with the basicness, although some of that seems a one shot thing. That said, still a lot of worldbuilding in it for a one-shot, so that's based too.

 

[Cresselia92]

Howdy! It’s Cress here!

Well, as it is still Valentine’s Day and the title of this story caught my eye, I decided to check it out. And boy, I’m really glad I did!

So! Time for some reactions and general comments!

The Reactions Compilation

It had been a calm day so far, in the outskirts of the large city that rested beside the forest. Up by the edge of the flower shops district, some small stores were running their daily routine. Small buildings with automatic semitransparent doors that the inhabitants of the city handled without much issue to carry out their business.

The Nidorino, like many others in the wild, did not really have that much of a good relationship with the automatic doors. They were just... a thing, quite hard to handle, just like vanishing walls or mysterious artifacts of lore, not to mention the fact that hlessil – the strays and outcasts – weren't allowed inside these weird human burrows.

Ooh, a xeno perspective in the Trainer world (or similar setting). That’s so nice!

It’s always cool to see the POV of wild creatures and how they see and judge the world, like the human stuff we take for granted.

Also, they have their own terms for things? Well, it makes plenty of sense, and that’s another interesting detail that adds to the immersion.

Other than that… Hey, a Nidorino! Based species!

Every once in a while some annoying human kit would try and randomly throw Pokéballs at them, not even bothering (or perhaps not even knowing) with the ancient ritual. Other times the troop delved too deep inside the city, ate the wrong human's grass, and then they were chased back to the forest by angry Pokémon the colony called fuléarof, dogs of the dawn, but the Nidorino had heard the humans in blue clothes call Arcanine.

Silly dogs.

That makes me wonder if Nidorino are some kind of vermin in this setting, then. I’m kinda getting some rabbit vibes, with them messing up with the vegetation and making honing their horns and whatnot.

Yes, he did confirm it as soon as his nostrils picked the scent. He raised his sight to try and distinguish anything inside the structure's hide, but for the most part he couldn't understand anything of what he was seeing, which was mostly blurry ghosts wandering around past the barrier. All he knew was that there was a Nidorina, somewhere inside.

That’s the call of the pheromones for you, baby!

Test your strength, get past the wall, that was the "message" that he could get. He had enjoyed himself so much since his evolution, just a couple of moons ago. He had found himself stronger, faster, smarter, if unfortunately larger enough that he had to dig himself a new burrow. So… strong and fast enough to take down this mysterious barrier, perhaps?

It must be so thrilling for some species to get to evolve and it seems to be the case here. Literally over the Moon, if you get my gist. ;3

Face the wall, horn down, ears flattened. Focus his energy for a moment and... push!

Nothing. The wall wouldn't budge.

But of course! He was missing something!

So naïve of him to forget that he had to charge! Pointy end of horn goes inside the opponent, his instructor told the once little Nidoran. After a warning growl and a moment to shake his head, the specimen turned around and walked a short distance away, five or six steps from the wall, then turned around to face it again.

At least he’s learning fast! But will he succeed this time?

The eager Nidorino had barely had the time to aim his horn in his stint at attacking when his ears picked what seemed like a very sharp, brief cry coming from above. A slight tremor under his feet and the Nidorino was surprised to see the wall quickly move away somehow and… disappear?

Well, things took quite the unexpected turn, didn’t they?

The Nidorino looked around, he was now in a different place that seemed to be the inside of the human structure, the floor and the walls were different here and there were weird trees lined up across the floor, with even weirder coloured leaves and objects hanging from them. The sounds and smells were all uniform, but off from what he knew, and were carried by a strange cool wind emerging from somewhere within the walls around him, forcing most scents off the wall he had come through.

He instinctively followed his ears and turned his head up to notice some sort of creature with a black eye making most of its body hanging from the ceiling, watching him. But as the creature did nothing but stare, the Nidorino returned his focus on the affair that had brought him here.

This part was really cool! I love how the Nidorino tried to associate whatever mysterious things were surrounding him by comparing them with things he’s more familiar about.

It was right after one of those turns that he suddenly noticed, something had made the recesses of his mind freeze; he found himself standing still, ears pointed back, and realized there was something out there (or, well, in there) to look for. Carefully he turned around and quickly glanced at the weird trees, and it was right by one of them that he saw her eyes, inquisitively examining him, the form of the Nidorina sat at a corner.

And here she is, the other Nidoran of the story!

The Nidorino shaked for a moment and swallowed again, looked back. The female was somewhat larger than himself, and seemed to be fairly more aged as well. She was inside, she was a trained Pokémon after all and not a hlessi the male thought, picking some clues from her rough flank and her clean, slightly sharpened claws and her… possessive demeanour? As he did, he felt himself being examined as well, but beyond some blinks the Nidorina gave no indication whatsoever if she liked what she saw.

This gave me some strong Go West, Young Meowth vibes, what with the meeting between a wild male and a human-raised and properly groomed female. I just hope it won’t end like with GWYM and the female will ditch the Nidorino for a Nidoking.

<I'm Baluarkos and I'm very healthy!> he growled, louder this time. He moved in a couple of steps and presented his flank, turned around a couple of times to show he was (just a bit!) confident with his surroundings. <I beat that blue… wall… thing!>

All hail Baluarkos, the healthy slayer of blue wall things!

That seemed to definitively trigger a reaction in the Nidorina. Baluarkos saw her move her head a bit, look at the door behind him for a moment and them at him again.

Little typo: then.

For whatever reason, the female then leaned onwards and let her forepaws rest on the ground, her face drawing something similar to a smile, her fangs showing off, a telltale sign that she wanted to see more of... him?

He smiled back as well, felt his body tense. Circled around a couple of times, then looked back at the blue-ish wall and back at the female, who blinked. He had to show he was strong, he reminded himself that the female had probably missed him scaring the foul wall into letting him in.

Yep, yep! That’s precisely what happened here. You totally scared the blue wall thing away and made it leave to give you way.

In a sense, if we look through that perspective, do humans “scare” automatic doors into making them open to get through?

<I'm great, I can do this~>, he said to himself tilting his head like the female did.

If I did it once, I can do that again!

So after a moment he shaked himself and thumped at the ground, ready to challenge. Even though he could not see it he could feel the Nidorina staring at him with interest. He let out his Leer and roared at the door, with the already expected lack of response, he puffed his chest, he'd have to do this the hard way. Again. Females dig males who go the hard way, his troop leader said. So be it, ears down, legs well spread, focus on the door... a couple of thumps...

...and charge!

The blue-ish wall was quick to met his strong charge with the tremor and the high-pitched sound, and in a moment Baluarkos saw the wall slide away into nothingness just in time for him to proudly cross to the outside.

Little typo: meet.

He stopped right on his track and found himself right where he was before entering, could see the thicket and the hrududu from before, with one of his troop buddies intently looking down the street from behind it. He could once again sense the faint sea breeze – though it was a bit colder this time.

He let out a very specific growl, which called the attention of his buddy, and then turned back to look at the Nidorina.

<…See? I'm strong! I have a good flow by a creek! A burrow of my own> he added, pointing with his paw to the forests to the east.

And now I’m getting some Spirit vibes.

But yeah, you showed that door who’s the boss around here!

<You're funny…> she said suddenly, in a low enough tone that Baluarkos barely picked it. But that was all he needed. Her call was coy and gruff, her voice sounded even older than Baluarkos had presumed, didn't know what to do about that but with what followed he wouldn't care.

Now I wonder how much older she is. She’s probably at least a bit more experienced than the Nidorino, but still being at around the same age range.

<I'm Inka>, she growled then slid her claws by the ground besides her.

Second name reveal!

Baluarkos felt like top-percentage. He assumed a calm posture, then walked towards her.

Youngster Joy liked this message.

Then he felt a tremor just like what he felt when the found the blue wall again and… no, no…

<…Nooo!>

Eyes wide open and claws ready, the Nidorino rushed at the open space trying to reach the female, but before getting any far he found his field of vision obstructed by the blue and felt a strong thud, having bumped on the closing door. He bounded back somewhat ungracefully and then roared at the blue-ish wall. It was there again, as if nothing had happened, blocking his way.

He was once again trapped outside, away from her.

The Nidorino scratched the door a couple of times to no effect, then stepped back and looked it up.

<…Rrrrr... No! I'm hers! I'll have you for this!> he yelled at the door.

Wow. He’s really crushing hard on her, is he not?

Still resting on the corner of Aisle 3, Inka continued to giggle as he watched the young male through the semitransparent door panel. She ran her claws on the empty ground besides her and amused herself watching the obviously recently evolved Nidorino bump on the door a couple of times, lean on it with both forelegs, poke it with his horn and apparently call it various names – even the strongest name, Ela, reserved for the most lethal enemies of Nidoran, predators such as Skarmory.

Inka found it fun to play games with the various Pokémon from the forest who came down to the city to try their luck – in particular if they were Nidoran, male, and proactive. Some of them were actually smart, but all of them fell easily in the trap of the automatic door and reacted in convoluted and funny ways.

Gosh. Kinda like a siren, I wager? Attracting males with her scent and then toying with them like that? Quite the deceiving and tricker gal.

Are you really sure you really want her, Baluarkos?

The Nidorino outside stepped back a couple of steps and charged at the door. Inka sat and blinked as she saw the male crash against the door, his horn leaving a notorious dent on the panel. Her ears had stiffened at the crash, the sound screaming into her instincts that the male had just somehow found some sort of vulnerability in the door.

<…That's going to call some attention> she told herself, then retreating a couple of steps to hide.

The wild Nidorino used Rock Smash!

The door’s Defense lowered!

The trained Nidorina fled…

Inka felt something coming from the outside, peeked from behind her corner to see the stunned male quickly scan the store, not noticing Inka, then look up at the human who was about to shoo him. And she sensed the scent of an Arcanine in the distance.

<…Hray, yen u!> she hissed, instructing him to run. Just run.

Well, this is reassuring. Perhaps there is some good in her, if this is an act of sympathy.

A couple of minutes later, the five males that comprised the troop were running across a deserted street uphill, trying to reach a creek that led to the edge of the forest. One or two streets behind two female Arcanine were chasing, firing a couple of Flamethrowers, Roaring at them and quickly catching up.

<Oh, she wants me…> Baluarkos yelled, in between excited gasps for air. <I know she wants me.>

For the young boy the mad rush towards the forest fell like a smug stroll that day.

Yep! He’s crushing on her so hard!

And that's it. I hope you enjoyed it!

Oh, I sure did!

—-

The Final Thoughts

Wow, this was quite the start! So, we’ve got a Lady and the Tramp tale featuring a Nidorino and a Nidorina, which I bet will lead to some interesting contrasts between the life of a wild ‘mon and the life of a ‘mon who lives among humans.

I greatly enjoyed the worldbuilding you pulled off here, ranging from the more xeno behavior and culture of the Nidoran line, especially the names used by wild Pokémon to identify human items and other species. Really good stuff! (And I wonder what you used as your base for the various terms now.)

Also, the prose was really nice and smooth to read through, with colorful descriptions of the environments through the lenses of a rabbit/dino hybrid. It was a good balance, because it sounded like a non-human perspective but without being alienating. That’s no easy task, so major kudos for finding such a great balance.

And last but not least, the two Nidos! Baluarkos was a really amusing character, what with him feeling proud of himself and doing his best to conquer the girl by showing off his skills. His scenes were endearing for sure.

Meanwhile, Inka pulls off the distant and mysterious source of the Nidorino’s attention, and who seems to have pulled off and perhaps even broken some hearts for her own entertainment. But only time will tell if she’ll reciprocate his feelings, and how they’re going to close the gap
between wilderness and civilization.

And I’d say this is all for now. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed this fanfic, and I can’t wait to read more of this!

Thanks for sharing such a lovely story! See you around! ^^

 

[Daren]

Hlessil and hrududu? A fan of Watership Down, I imagine?

That was a very fun and cute little one-shot, with Baluarkos displaying a youthful combination of uncertain confidence--I especially like (and have long held myself) the idea that recent evolution would likely cause that due to the sudden increase in strength. The story is paced well, not drawing out the plot longer than needed.
Plus I've always like the Nidos, so bonus!

Poor Nidorino getting hit with a shovel, though.

 

[lisianthus]

This title seemed really cute (silly rabbit, trix are for kids!!), so I decided to give it a read!!

Oh my god I'm headcanoning nidorino having no object permanence so they're just... absolutely stunned when the doors just appear? and disappear LOL..

This nidorino is tenacious, I'll give him that LOL... I hope that getting hit on the head with the shovel didn't hurt! (he has a hard head I'm sure it's fine even though it certainly wasn't nice)



I'm interested in the words you made for things! It's nice worldbuilding!! Did they have any specific origin? It was interesting to see the world from a Pokémon's, particularly a smaller Pokémon's view! Things like a lamp being 'a creature hanging from the ceiling' and that kind of thing were easy to understand, but made very good sense coming from a Pokémon!

All in all, this was a nice little Valentine's oneshot. Yay!!

 

[DRX.maliant]

Don't matter if it ain't Valentine's Day anymore, this was a cute read. The Nidorino being completely clueless about the sliding doors is so relatable.

The police chase and getting hit with a shovel, classic "curiosity killed the cat"... or should it be "curiosity killed the Nidorino", but that also doesn't apply because the Nidorino survived...

That Nidorina really enjoyed using others' confusion of the doors for her own amusement, and the way it was depicted was also really nice. Also the worldbuilding, as well. Really fun and enjoyable read.

 

[VeniaSilente]

Thanks everyone for having enjoyed Valentines General! Life has been a bit busy so I couldn't get to sit down and read the comments in peace until now.

Well it's V-Day technically, especially in the event organizer's time zone, so why not the FRESH NEW FIC that is that based?

Howdy! It’s Cress here!

Well, as it is still Valentine’s Day and the title of this story caught my eye, I decided to check it out. And boy, I’m really glad I did!

That's one of the advantages of "cheating" by cross-publishing material in calendar-relevant times of the year ^_^ But yeah I try and make sure my Nido stories are Valentines-adjacent for Maximum Enjoyment. That and because that just happens to flow so natural...

- First things first, love that you give Pokemon their own names for things. It makes sense they'd have their own language and their own words. I do the same thing myself, although the thing I mainly used to focus with it on didn't get through production.

Also, they have their own terms for things? Well, it makes plenty of sense, and that’s another interesting detail that adds to the immersion.

Really good stuff! (And I wonder what you used as your base for the various terms now.)

Hlessil and hrududu? A fan of Watership Down, I imagine?

I'm interested in the words you made for things! It's nice worldbuilding!! Did they have any specific origin? It was interesting to see the world from a Pokémon's, particularly a smaller Pokémon's view!

Hahaha, I guessed this element of the story would draw some attention. I plead guilty to using Watership Down as an inspiration for much of my Nido worldbuilding yes, or even at points copying it wholesale (such as the words used here, yeah, they are the lapine words for "outcast" and "vehicle"). For those who don't know the story, it's a cute story about rabbits! Living in their own world, having their own religion and folklore and doing lively daily rabbit stuff. Mind the dark tho.

Technically now, this one-shot is an adaptation of a oneshot set in the specific world of We Are All Pokémon Trainers, an RP I'm part of. The Watership Down influences are even stronger there as the colony involved is the Goldenrod colony (ya know, the bunch of Nidos that take the place of Zubats when you try to get around Rt. 34 and 35 ). It draws from even more elements there, for example those Nidos have Ho-Oh, who is perched nearby in Ecruteak, as their "Frith" or Sun God. But while many RP-specific elements were toned down or removed for adaptation to a wider "worldbuilding reach" I decided that the general Watership Down influence was gonna stay. Don't worry, no one is going to die yet.

- Well he's desperate for some Nida-booty. She can't even have his egg if you go strictly canon! I wouldn't myself until I came up with a crazy idea

Luckily we dispense with this limitation. That said, much as Suocéverse Nidorina (and Nidoqueen, for that matter) are all romantic love, they do are very strict when it comes to snu-snu and they'll only take their males when they want to and how they want to, so Baluarkos has to do lots of work still.

• Memes transcend languages and indeed even species though. He is in the top percentile of Nidos.
• I like how this Nida is basically a super toned down femme fatale. Although she's not bad enough to not tell her teasing victims when to run.

The meme made it in For Great Justice. Though, he's more than a biiiiiiit overconfident, his heart is still in the right place. The first one who has to believe in you is yourself, yes?

As for Inka, she's lots of teasing but she still doesn't really wish harm on anyone. Much of it is the fun and the surprise of being able to interact with wild Nidos even though she's in the city, but there is still the true desire for having her own poison fluffballs. Plus, she's still attached to a Trainer's team, so there's a limit to how much she can push for things. For now.

- Well these cops are serious, and man that feel when there's doom squads who go all in with damn fire, apparently not caring at all that they might ignite something. Dare I say FTP?

Police: "Oi, fires are serious business! So only we are authorized to start them."
Firefighter: "...Hey!"

- Thinking with the wrong horn there, boy.

omg lol, laughed at this more than I should have.

This was a funny little fic. I do enjoy me some misadventures. And I have a soft spot for the Nidos given my first legit Lv100 was the traded Nidorina since I didn't know to use the Moon Stone. Of course they don't necessarily have to be adorable, heh heh heh. Anyway, liked this one quite a bit, although now I'm mildly curious as to what the other incarnations of the characters are. Definitely has a proto-feeling to them with the basicness, although some of that seems a one shot thing. That said, still a lot of worldbuilding in it for a one-shot, so that's based too.

Thanks! And thanks for taking the time. The original characters were, well, kinda exactly like this except amped up more, and yeah they had both more notorious long-term concerns. For Inka, primarily the fact that she is not getting any younger and she is unsure of how she feels about finishing her Trainer assignment era and having to go back to the wild and learn to live there.

We're gonna see more of that eventually, don't worry.

The Reactions Compilation

It’s always cool to see the POV of wild creatures and how they see and judge the world, like the human stuff we take for granted.

Also, they have their own terms for things? Well, it makes plenty of sense, and that’s another interesting detail that adds to the immersion.

Other than that… Hey, a Nidorino! Based species!

Thanks! Well, In the original (since I did mention before this is basically an adaptation) I had planned an extra scene to expand on more things, but down the line I decided to trim it down to the component that IMO mattered the most worldbuilding-wise: that wild Pokémon can and do try to interact with human settlements. So there's a lot of things that fly under our radar but for them they're tremendously relevant. You'll notice, for example, that the Nidos maintain a distance from children: after all, it's children who toss Balls at Pokémon.

That makes me wonder if Nidorino are some kind of vermin in this setting, then. I’m kinda getting some rabbit vibes, with them messing up with the vegetation and making honing their horns and whatnot.

They (and these in particular) are mostly just having their fun and showing off, think of them a bit more like the toned down and more quadruped version of a (stereotypical good) biker gang. o3o

That’s the call of the pheromones for you, baby!

They've gotta make more Nido NPCs for me somehow o3o

It must be so thrilling for some species to get to evolve and it seems to be the case here. Literally over the Moon, if you get my gist. ;3

Almost read that with Cave Johnson's voice in my head lol. And yeah now that they're both evolved and if (once) they get along very well, they're gonna have to put the Moon Stones in consideration.

This part was really cool! I love how the Nidorino tried to associate whatever mysterious things were surrounding him by comparing them with things he’s more familiar about.

As we all do. He's still looking at the world from the perspective of a Pokémon that spends most of his day going across forest thickets and a grassy clearing here and there. The notorious variety of items in a human world must be quite impressive for them. Fortunately, he's a quadruped and they're mostly out of his direct reach

This gave me some strong Go West, Young Meowth vibes, what with the meeting between a wild male and a human-raised and properly groomed female. I just hope it won’t end like with GWYM and the female will ditch the Nidorino for a Nidoking.

Don't worry they'll eventually get along very well

Little typo: then.

Hhhrhhrhrhrhrmrmrmrmehrhhr! WHYYYYYYY!!!!! (thanks for noticing tho)

In a sense, if we look through that perspective, do humans “scare” automatic doors into making them open to get through?

Maybe we do! We have a tendency to program things so they are reactive to us rather than proactive for us, for the time being. And then, what happens once an AI is connected to those doors? Dun dun duuuuun.

Blue Door Rotom when

Little typo: meet.

hisses Another one.

Now I wonder how much older she is. She’s probably at least a bit more experienced than the Nidorino, but still being at around the same age range.

For this incarnation and by the timeframe of this story, he is basically about one year and half old, at most; she conversely is about 8~9 years old of a natural Nidorina lifespan of about 12-15. So... yeah. There's a strong interest for her to find herself a good Nido to love.

Second name reveal!

Important also because in the wild there's not much need for sharing names unless it's to someone you're going to spend lots of time with. Like, ya know, a mate. o3o

Youngster Joy liked this message.

He shall always be remembered. How can you forget him when he calls you at 4 AM to give you an earful about the best Rattatas.

Gosh. Kinda like a siren, I wager? Attracting males with her scent and then toying with them like that? Quite the deceiving and tricker gal.

Are you really sure you really want her, Baluarkos?

A bit siren a bit cougar, if you are familiar with the term. But I can say she is being honest about what she wants, so if she so far likes what she sees...

Well, this is reassuring. Perhaps there is some good in her, if this is an act of sympathy.

A vested interest for poisonous furballs of her own, yeah.

The Final Thoughts

Wow, this was quite the start! So, we’ve got a Lady and the Tramp tale featuring a Nidorino and a Nidorina, which I bet will lead to some interesting contrasts between the life of a wild ‘mon and the life of a ‘mon who lives among humans.

[...]

Thanks! Also thanks for taking the time to review. I really like trying to write Pokémon stories following this more interpretative vibe, and will keep posting more of these kinds of things here in the future.

Who knows, some of those might involve more about these lil Nidos in love.

Hlessil and hrududu? A fan of Watership Down, I imagine?

That was a very fun and cute little one-shot, with Baluarkos displaying a youthful combination of uncertain confidence--I especially like (and have long held myself) the idea that recent evolution would likely cause that due to the sudden increase in strength. The story is paced well, not drawing out the plot longer than needed.
Plus I've always like the Nidos, so bonus!

Poor Nidorino getting hit with a shovel, though.

Don't worry that takes only 20 or so HP, after a berry he's gonna be dazed but fine.

Also I only now, after like 5 years, realize I should have considered whether the shovel hit him flatly on the head or if it impacted against the horn. Oh well, maybe for the 20th Anniversary Rewrite.

I like your take on this confidence boost, I think it's a very natural thing that would happen to recently evolved mons yes and I really like your wording for it because it gets to what it is, IMO, the core of this event: it's not only just that you are just evolved, but also that as a result the world has somehow gotten larger, stronger, yet at the same time more of it is now under your reach.

This title seemed really cute (silly rabbit, trix are for kids!!), so I decided to give it a read!!

I had those cereals one! Alas, they've long sine become a rarity in this country.

This nidorino is tenacious, I'll give him that LOL... I hope that getting hit on the head with the shovel didn't hurt! (he has a hard head I'm sure it's fine even though it certainly wasn't nice)

[...]

All in all, this was a nice little Valentine's oneshot. Yay!!

He's gonna need one aspirin and one ibuprofen, or whatever their Pokémon equivalents are, but he's going to mostly be fine after that. And hey, memento of his little romantic adventure!

A good thing to hear you liked it, I'll try and have some more stories about them.

Don't matter if it ain't Valentine's Day anymore, this was a cute read. The Nidorino being completely clueless about the sliding doors is so relatable.

Fun thing: I was clueless about downwards escalators for like two weeks trying to figure out how to even can into. But yeah there's lots of getting to know new things and new people in this story.

The police chase and getting hit with a shovel, classic "curiosity killed the cat"... or should it be "curiosity killed the Nidorino", but that also doesn't apply because the Nidorino survived...

The rascals gonna make themselves some street cred, but hey it's important the police are up and ready to assist people. Luckily, her it didn't end up with something bad happening.

----


All in all, good to hear that people like the story, and the characters. There is more about them in the works yes and it'll take a bit of time (as well as perhaps some more calendar-adequate times of the year) but tl;dr: don't worry they're both fine and they should eventually get along. o3o.

Thanks for reviewing!