A Small Sparring Match

A Clover Guild Story
By Ribombee-anon

Chapter 1: The Dog at the Dojo

It was a quiet day at the Clover Guild dojo. Sneasel and I were the only ones there, practicing against dummies of wood and straw. Sneasel flung Ice Shards from a distance and darted around with Quick Attack, slashing the targets with her claws as she passed by. She struck the targets with precision and speed in an impressive display of skill. In contrast, I wasn’t much of a fighter. I only knew Fairy Wind, which I learned after a whole two months of training, and it was weak. The dummies didn’t react at all when I hit them with my little gusts of sparkly wind. However, I was slowly getting better at using the move, and while the process was exhausting and slow, the dojo made for a good place to practice.

After training for a while, I felt my energy depleting, so I sat down at the base of my dummy and took a breather. I watched Sneasel as she kept practicing against her dummy, and we chatted about combat and technique. Training at the dojo together had been our routine for many weeks. My partner loved working out, and while I wasn’t as enthusiastic as her, I shared her desire to get stronger. We enjoyed coming here and practicing how to fight, and we could learn a lot from each other. It was even better if other guildmates were here, since we could all share advice and experiences. Not only that, it was possible to spar with one another, and Sneasel did so every chance she got.

I wished I could do the same. For me, there was one giant obstacle: my tiny size. I was easily the smallest member of the guild, being a Ribombee (and a short one, at that). None of the other guild members were even close to my weight class, so any sparring matches felt unfair for me. It was true that Pokemon frequently stood against larger foes by using their moves and abilities to their advantage, but at my current level of experience and strength, I was too weak to do that. I longed for a fair fight so I could at least have some chance of winning.

As I mulled over these issues, I was distracted by an odd presence nearby. I breathed deep and focused, trying to sense any nearby Aura signatures. Like my Fairy Wind, this was another skill that I wasn’t good at using, but I was being trained by the talented Aura wielder KFC the Combusken. By this point, I could vaguely pick up the presence of other Pokemon around me. After concentrating for several seconds, I tracked down the sensation of an Aura in the hallway outside the dojo.

“H-hey, Sneasel?” I said. “Someone’s coming. It may be... Ross? It feels like him.”

As I jogged over to Sneasel, the door opened, and in walked the often-baffled and always-sleepy Smeargle Ross. He wore a green bandanna and a fanny pack, and he had thankfully remembered to tuck his paintbrush-like tail into the back of the belt so it didn’t drag behind him. He waved at us and came over, moving with more energy than usual.

“Heya, Ross,” said Sneasel, leaning up against her dummy. “What’s up?”

“Hi guys,” said the Smeargle. “Glad I found you—I’ve been looking for you. I probably should’ve checked the dojo first. You two sure do like working out, huh?”

“We do. Gotta keep training if you wanna get tough. How about you? You been working out lately?”

“Uh... Not really.”

“Dang. You’re gonna get all flabby if you don’t train. Well, more flabby than you already are.”

Ross immediately looked down at himself.

“Y-you’re not flabby,” I said quickly. “Sneasel, be nice, please.”

“Just messing around,” said my partner. “But it’s true that working out is a good thing. And you’re here now, Ross, so you might as well get the blood pumping. Wanna do some sparring? I’m game.”

“Don’t feel p-pressured, though,” I added. I’d reached my partner by now, and stood at her feet as I looked up at our Smeargle guildmate. “I know the last time you sparred with Sneasel was... u-uncomfortable for you.”

“It’s fine,” said Ross. “I was actually planning to spar, but... not with her. Can I train with you, Booker?”

I couldn’t resist gasping in surprise. “M-me? I’m n-not sure that’s a good idea...”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be a fair fight,” said Sneasel.

“Exactly. I—”

“Booker’s gonna wipe the floor with you, Ross.”

I looked up at her as she stifled a laugh. “That’s... not what I meant,” I said.

“I know, I know,” said Sneasel, smirking. “So, Ross, if you wanna spar with Booker, does that mean you’re looking for an easy win? You ain’t gonna get stronger if you don’t challenge yourself.”

Surprisingly, Ross smirked in return. “Actually, I don’t think it’ll be an easy win. I have a way to balance the fight. Guess you can say I have a trick up my sleeve. Or, I would if I had sleeves... Man, I still can’t get over how we don’t wear clothes around here...”

“Wait, you... You can make our sparring match more even?” I asked. “That would be great! I’ve always wanted to have a b-balanced sparring match with someone. But that’s... hard, because I’m so small.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you talking about that problem before. I think this might be the answer.”

“That’s nice. In fact, I was just thinking about that problem before you came in. Th-then again, I think about it a lot. So... I’m interested to see your idea. Can you show me, please?”

Ross reached behind his back and untucked his tail from his belt. “Sure thing. I haven’t tried this out yet, but hopefully it’ll work. I’m not really sure how to do it, though. Maybe I just wave this thing around?”

Ross held up his long paintbrush-like tail and shut his eyes, grimacing in concentration. I watched and waited, while Sneasel tapped her foot impatiently. After a little while, the green paint on the tip of the Smeargle’s tail suddenly shifted colors into a pale gray. He opened his eyes and gasped.

“Oh! There we go!” he said. “Give me a second...”

He swung his tail around, and a streak of pale vapor followed behind it, as if he were painting a line on the air itself. He perked up as he saw it was working, and he whipped his tail around with more vigor, filling the air with mysterious mist. Once he was totally surrounded, his whole body began to glow—and more importantly, shrink.

Sneasel and I watched in stunned amazement. The Smeargle dwindled until he was about my size, no bigger than six inches tall. As the mist cleared and the glow faded away, he lowered his tail and staggered as if overwhelmed by vertigo. He rubbed his head and looked around the room. His eyes went wide and his ears drooped as he took in his altered surroundings.

“W-wow, okay,” he mumbled, his voice now quieter and higher-pitched than usual. “That worked better than expected. This is... kinda scary. Everything looks w-way bigger than I thought it would.”

I was dumbfounded by his new ability at first, but I quickly figured out what he had done. As a Smeargle, he could copy other Pokemon’s moves, and I could guess which move he had acquired.

“Y-you Sketched Minimize?” I asked. “That’s an interesting move! Good work, Ross. Nice to see y-you’re learning new skills.”

I walked over to my guildmate and looked him up and down, marveling at the strange sight of the tiny Smeargle. Ross did the same to me, leaning towards me and taking a closer look.

“Man, this is so strange,” he said as he examined me. “I can see a lot more detail now! Your eyes have some weird texture, and your arms and legs are all... segmented and stuff.”

“That’s because I’m an insect,” I said, raising an arm to observe its joints and armor of black chitin. “Compound eyes, segmented limbs... Th-there’s a lot of weird stuff about this body.”

Ross began to say something else, but he was distracted as the floor shook a few times and a shadow fell over him. He gulped and looked up. Sneasel had taken a couple steps forward, and now she loomed over us like a skyscraper, looking down with a smirk on her face. I’d grown familiar with the sight of giant Pokemon, so it didn’t intimidate me very much anymore, but I noticed Ross tense up and shiver nervously. The Smeargle was normally one of the tallest members of the guild—even bigger than my partner, and large enough to fit me in his palm—but now he had been thrown into an unfamiliar perspective, and it surely came as a shock.

Sneasel seemed to enjoy the change. She crouched and reached down, prodding Ross with a claw. He toppled back onto his rear, rubbing his chest and staring up at her.

“Aww, you’re adorable,” she said mockingly. “It’s nice being taller than you for a change.”

“Sneasel, p-please be careful with him,” I chided.

“Hey, take it easy,” she said. “I never hurt you, right, partner? I can be gentle when I wanna be.”

“That sure didn’t feel gentle,” Ross mumbled as he got up again. “A-anyway, I can’t believe that worked, but I’m glad it did. Booker, you said it was called... Minimize?”

I nodded. “Yes, it seems like it’s Minimize. But that means... y-you Sketched a move without even knowing what it was?”

Sneasel laughed. “Typical Ross.”

“Yeah, laugh it up...” Ross groaned, rolling his eyes. “But it looked interesting, so I wanted to try copying it. See, I was visiting the post office where the Santa bird works—what was her name again?”

“I think you mean Debby,” I said.

“Debby—right, that’s what she called herself. Anyway, while I was there, I saw this big purple hot air balloon floating around. I thought it was just a regular balloon, but it was moving around on its own, and it talked to me, so I guess it was another Pokemon.”

“Sounds like Delilah,” said Sneasel.

Ross nodded. “So, yeah, she got to a doorway, then glowed and sorta compressed down to fit through. I wondered if it was a move, and I remembered that I should be able to copy moves. I’d only ever managed to do it by accident, though. As I was standing there, just holding my tail and thinking about how I wanted to mimic the balloon, I felt all tingly and my tail started glowing gray. And something told me I’d just copied that one move. I’m still not really sure how I did it, though.”

“Good for you,” said Sneasel. “I agree with Booker: nice to see you learning new stuff... even if you’ve got no clue how you’re pulling it off.”

“A-anyway, after copying that move, I started thinking: if it would let me get smaller, maybe I could use it to have a fair sparring match with you, Booker. Like I said, I remembered hearing you talk about wanting to spar a guildmate in a fair fight. Plus, I figured this would be useful for me too, because I need to learn more about battling. So, I came looking for you.”

“That’s thoughtful, Ross,” I said, smiling. “You didn’t have to do that, but... I really appreciate it. Maybe it can even become a regular thing for us. Th-that is, if you’re okay with it. I know how s-scary it can feel to be this size, so... I’d understand if you don’t want to use Minimize too often.”

“Yeah...” Ross said, looking up at the towering Sneasel. For emphasis, she abruptly bared her fangs at him. His frightened response made her laugh.

“This is a pretty wacky idea, but it sounds cool too,” she said. She went over and sat at the edge of the tatami mat in the center of the room. “If you wanna spar, come on over. I’ll watch you guys.”

“A-are you okay with just spectating?” I asked.

“Totally,” she said. “We’ve had way too many times where I fight and you watch. You deserve to take center stage for a change—and I deserve a break. Besides, I can still learn things by watching other people fight. And if you get hurt, I’ll run and get some berries for you guys. So don’t worry about it. Knock yourselves out.”

Ross and I made our way to the tatami mat and stood at opposite ends, with lots of room between us. Sneasel narrowed her pupils into slits, focusing on the little combatants. I noticed her smirking at the sight of the tiny Ribombee and unusually-tiny Smeargle facing each other in the middle of the sparring ring. It was more like a vast battlefield instead of a simple ring, far too large for this purpose, but it would do.

Ross cupped his paws around his mouth and yelled across the mat: “Hey, uh, Booker? Just to make sure... we won’t literally knock each other out, right?”

“Why not?” Sneasel interjected before I could answer. “You don’t get much sleep, do you, Ross? Maybe this’ll be just what you need!”

“That d-doesn’t sound healthy,” I said. “Let’s be careful, a-and stop before things get out of hand. Now that we’re Pokemon, we’re more durable than we were as humans—even if we’re small like this—but w-we should still be careful not to hurt each other too badly.”

“Yeah, I’m not a fan of being hurt,” said Ross. “But this will be good for both of us. I’m ready when you are.”

I shut my eyes and breathed deeply, concentrating on the flame within me—my Aura. The mint-green spark, visible only with the third eye, flared up and spread out. Warmth and strength flowed through my arms. When I opened my eyes, currents of sparkling pink Fairy-type energy were swirling around my hands. I raised my arms before me and crouched, preparing to launch into battle.

Meanwhile, Ross was holding his tail in one hand and slapping its brush-like tip, glaring at it as if it just insulted him.

“How does this thing turn on?” he muttered to himself.

Somehow, he eventually got it to work. The normally green paint on his tail’s tip took on a mesmerizing appearance, smoothly shifting between sparkling hues of blue and purple and green that resembled an aurora. The Smeargle nodded proudly and brandished his tail, ready to fight.

With that, our duel began.

Chapter 2: Wind and Aurora

I began by running towards Ross. I knew I would have to get close in order to win. My only move was Fairy Wind, a gust of air laced with shimmering light. The attack’s Fairy-type energy stung and burned like fire, and the wind was strong enough to stagger lightweight targets. However, it spread out in a cone and grew weaker with distance, requiring me to be at close range to maximize its effectiveness.

Ross may not have known that, but he wasn’t keen on letting me draw near. He used Aurora Beam in quick succession, aiming his tail like a gun and firing off narrow blasts of beautiful shimmering light at me. The Ice-type move was like a freezing laser beam, and it flew out from his tail as fast as lightning. Though his aim was subpar, the attack’s speed made it dangerous. Fortunately for me, Ross’ whole body tensed up as he prepared to shoot, and his tail glowed brighter as well, giving me a cue to dodge.

Even so, I struggled to constantly sidestep, jump, and roll while also moving forward. Ross didn’t relent, and there was no way to take cover from his attacks, putting me on the defensive. A few Aurora Beams managed to hit me, causing frost to form where they hit me. I gasped and grimaced in pain, and I could feel my stress rising and energy fading as the ice drained my body heat. As a bug, I wasn’t able to regulate my body temperature very well, so these icy attacks were a serious threat.

I was desperate to close the distance somehow, while also avoiding any more attacks. Just like I’d done countless times over the last few months, I mournfully wished I wasn’t flightless. If I could just figure out how to use my wings, that would let me maneuver and dodge in all directions, vastly increasing my mobility.

That thought gave me an idea. I couldn’t fly freely, but I was making some progress towards that goal, and I wasn’t as immobile as I was when I first became a Ribombee. Even if I couldn’t fly properly, maybe I could try something similar. Without giving it a second thought, I focused my energy and raised my arms. Redirecting the wind with my hands, I swept the air downward and made it crash against the floor, summoning an updraft that flung myself into the air. Then I spread my gossamer wings and glided towards my opponent.

Ross watched in awe as I leaped high up, but he got over his surprise and began trying to shoot me down. Tilting and fluttering my wings, I leaned left and right to swerve around his beams, though I was still at the mercy of gravity, and couldn’t gain any height. I wasn’t as mobile as I’d hoped, and Ross landed a few more hits on me. Grunting in pain, I struggled to stay aloft. My opponent unleashed one more Aurora Beam, but I dove to avoid it, then swerved back up. At long last, I judged I was in range.

I threw both hands before me and cried out as I called up a blast of wind. The attack would have looked small and harmless from a normal Pokemon’s perspective, but it was big enough to engulf Ross and knock him off his feet. He tumbled across the tatami, leaving splotches of shimmering aurora-like paint in his wake. At the same time, the force of the attack pushed me back and threw me off course, so I spun and collapsed in a heap on the ground. I was unharmed, but a little dazed.

Sneasel’s voice reached me. She sounded frustrated. “All that just for one attack? C’mon, partner, quit messing around. Be more aggressive! Rush in there and don’t give him a chance to fight back! And don’t get thrown around by your own attack! If you put too much power into it, it’s gonna backfire on you. Be careful about that, and plant your feet too!”

“Hard to do that w-when I’m in the air...” I said, feeling somewhat annoyed by my tumble and Sneasel’s jeering.

“Then don’t waste time floating around in the air. Stay on the ground more, and make sure you're stable! You can try using that wind to jump around, though, as long as you don’t overdo it. Now get back in there and blast that dog.”

I stood up again, brushing frost off my setae and chitin. If I were still human, I would have been shivering by now, but that instinct didn’t exist in this new body, so I buzzed my wings to try warming up instead. I noticed Ross was on his feet now as well. His fur was ruffled, but his tail glowed even brighter than before. It seemed like he was gaining energy while I was losing mine.

“This is kind of exciting,” he said. “My heart’s racing.”

“Same here,” I said. The ice hurt, I was growing tired, and I’d only managed to land a single hit so far, but I couldn’t deny the thrill I felt. This was the first time I’d ever battled someone on equal footing. It was... fun.

I couldn’t get carried away, though. I had to stay focused to win this sparring match. Although my attack had blown us apart, we were now closer than we were when we began. It would be easier to close the distance now. Keeping Sneasel’s advice in mind, I rushed forward again.

Ross resumed firing off his attacks. He attacked more rapidly, and didn’t tense up as much before each shot, but I was still able to notice his tells and evade. As I approached him, I changed tactics based on Sneasel’s advice. Now, instead of simply sidestepping and hopping with my own leg power, I kept my energy swirling around my hands and used it to summon angled gusts of wind which flung me around. This let me move more quickly and nimbly while covering more distance, making it easier to keep rushing my opponent. To reduce the risk of being hit, I put a good amount of power into the wind so that I would be thrown quite far. However, I kept my wings tilted back and avoided gliding, since that didn’t work last time. I still got hit by a couple Aurora Beams, and I felt my energy rapidly draining from the biting cold and all the Fairy Winds I was using, but I stayed determined and pushed onward.

I finally got within range again, and prepared to attack. Ross’ eyes went wide, and he stumbled back, as my hands shined brightly. Then he did something unexpected. His paint shifted to pale gray, his body blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he was halfway across the tatami.

I cancelled my attack and spun around to face him. “Q-Quick Attack!” I said. “I forgot you learned that. Th-that was a good dodge.”

Ross shuddered and looked at his tail. “I almost forgot I learned it too,” he admitted. “I dunno how I used it there. I just knew I had to dodge, and I did it without thinking!”

“That’s good,” Sneasel said, chiming in from the sidelines. “You’re listening to your instincts. Booker says you gotta think and plan when you fight. But if you ask me, sometimes, you gotta let your instincts take over. It’ll let you react faster.”

“I’ll admit, th-that’s true sometimes,” I said, but it was hard to talk. I suddenly realized I was breathing heavily, and my heart was pounding even more now. I was a bit lightheaded as well.

I looked down and took a deep breath once again, trying to calm myself and refocus on my Aura. The flame was still there, glowing mint-green within my core, but it was more irregular now. I was exhausting my energy. I couldn’t fight for much longer. I had to finish this quickly.

I started running at Ross for the third time. My opponent tried a new technique now: he kneeled down and lifted his tail to his face, as if shouldering a rifle. I realized he was taking careful aim this time, and he seemed calm and collected. I’d relied on his tells to dodge before, but that might not work this time. Sure enough, his tail abruptly flashed and fired a beam of energy at me with almost no warning. The Aurora Beam slammed into my gut and knocked me onto my back with a yelp. I struggled to push myself up, but found it hard to move or breathe. The wind had been knocked out of me, and a patch of ice had grown on my abdomen. I managed to get up, but quickly stumbled forward and fell to my hands and knees.

I looked up. Ross was still kneeling down, his tail lowered as he waited to see what I would do. I grimaced in pain and frustration. Trying to ignore the biting cold overwhelming my body, I held out a hand and willed the remainder of my energy to flow into it. My arm glowed bright pink, and shimmering wind kicked up around it, swirling in a vortex before flying forward. It only made it halfway to Ross before petering out.

I let my hand drop, and I flopped over onto my side. “I g-give up,” I said, shivering and gasping for air. “I can’t f-fight anymore. Y-you win... Ross...”

Ross let his tail drop from his paws, and he stood upright. “I win?” he asked in muted surprise.

“Looks like it,” said Sneasel. “Booker’s out of energy. Good work, both of you. You put up a good fight. Booker, how’re you feeling? Ain’t hurt too bad, I hope.”

“I’ll... be fine,” I replied. “C-could use h-healing though...”

“Gotcha. Be right back,” Sneasel said.

She jumped up and dashed out the door on her way to the basement storeroom. I sat up and vibrated my wings again, causing a quiet buzzing sound. I was exhausted, but I still had enough energy to work my wings and try to warm up. In the meantime, I briefly reflected on the sparring match I had just completed. I was disappointed to lose, especially against someone as little-trained as Ross, but that didn’t bother me very much. Winning or losing didn’t matter. What mattered was that I finally got the chance to experience a fair fight for once in my life. Regardless of the outcome, that was a chance I would always appreciate.

Chapter 3: After-Action

In less than a minute, my partner had returned from the storeroom, holding a Heal Seed in one hand and an Oran Berry in the other. She sat down at my side and motioned for Ross to come over. She used her claws to cut off a piece of the Heal Seed and slice the Oran Berry in half, then set the pieces before her. I ate the piece of the Heal Seed, and my body faintly glowed as warmth flowed through me and the frost faded away. I was still cold, but no longer freezing, and I felt my energy return. Then I dug into one Oran Berry half to dull my pain and heal my injuries too.

Ross came over, his tail tucked back in his belt, and sat down in front of the second berry half. “This thing’s as big as my head,” he murmured.

“That’s one benefit of being small,” I said, as Ross began nibbling on his share. “Healing items are m-more effective. Even if I only eat part of an Oran Berry or Heal Seed, I still get the f-full healing effects.”

“It’s pretty useful,” Sneasel pointed out. “Helps us save items.”

“I d-do get hungry a lot, though. A small body means a fast metabolism, so I n-need to eat a lot of snacks. But at least I don’t gain weight while doing it.”

“That’s a good thing, too. If you got too heavy, I wouldn’t let you sit on my head anymore.”

“I wouldn’t blame you,” I said.

Once I finished eating as much of the berry as I could stomach, Sneasel pinched the remainder in her claws and tossed it in her mouth. Then she looked at Ross and said, “Hey, I got some advice for you.”

“Oh, really?” the Smeargle mumbled, his mouth full.

“Yep. You gotta work on your aim, first of all. I feel like most of the hits you landed were lucky shots—except for that last one. I could tell you really got in the zone there. Try to do that more: stop moving, focus, aim carefully. As for dodging, you totally facetanked that first hit, but you did a great job with using Quick Attack the second time. Do that more often. Move fast, be unpredictable, but also don’t overdo it and waste energy while you’re evading.”

“Oh. Well, uh... thanks for the tips,” Ross said. “I’m still not used to this whole fighting thing, but I’m glad I’m doing some things right.”

Sneasel looked at me next. “As for you, partner... Remember what I said earlier about planting your feet and staying on the ground? You improved after I told you that, so congrats. But you did use your wind to jump around and dodge a lot. Probably more often than you needed to. It’s fine to dodge like that, but when you do, don’t overdo it. Just move enough to make the attack miss. Anything more is just a waste of energy. Same thing I told Ross, basically.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “A-anything else?”

“Yeah. Sometimes your aim when you were jumping seemed kinda random, like you were just hopping around without thinking. You even backed away from Ross a few times. That’s not good. Keep the pressure on your opponent—especially if you’ve only got a short-range attack. Don’t let them get the upper hand.”

“I did notice you weren’t attacking me from far away,” said Ross. “Can you only use that wind up close?”

“For now, yes,” I said. “If I keep training, i-it’ll get stronger and the range will improve. But for now... it’s only short-range.”

“Gotcha,” said Ross. “I haven’t trained that Aurora Beam at all, but I guess it’s long-range by default. That’s good.”

I nodded, then smiled up at Sneasel. “Thanks for the advice,” I said. “It’s helpful. I’ll admit... after being shot a few times, I was scared of getting hit again, so... I wasn’t really paying attention to where or how I jumped. I should keep an eye on how much energy I’m using and where I’m aiming. Looking back at it... I agree I was using more power than I needed to. I was p-pretty winded by the end of that.”

“Well, at least you got a good workout,” said Sneasel. “So... how’d you enjoy sparring with a tiny guy for a change?”

“I... Honestly, I enjoyed it,” I said. I went over to Ross, who was done eating his piece of Oran Berry by now. “Um... Ross, th-thank you for sparring with me. I really appreciate it. It was nice to fight someone of my, uh... stature. Every time I face a normal-sized Pokemon, I don’t stand a chance, so this was a good change.”

“No problem,” said Ross. “I enjoyed it too. I’d be okay with doing this again sometime.”

He held out his paw, and I took it. We shook hands, and we both paused at the same time. We stared at the bizarre sight of a Smeargle’s furry paw and a Ribombee’s armored black hand clasping each other.

“I c-can’t remember the last time I had a proper handshake,” I murmured. “It... feels nice.”

“A lot changed when you turned into a tiny Pokemon, huh?” Ross asked.

“Definitely...”

“Yeah... I thought I had it rough at first, but after seeing all the different things everyone turned into—like that scary scorpion, that pink robot duck, that grim reaper guy—I guess becoming a two-legged dog with a paint tail isn’t so bad. I’d really hate it if I was something less human-shaped, or something tiny like you. Being small is a cool experience if it’s temporary, but being stuck like this forever...” Ross let go of my hand and asked me, “How do you do it?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“How do you manage? Are you used to being small now? Do you wish you were normal-sized again?”

I hesitated, trying to collect my thoughts. I’d had months to come to terms with my new body, but it still felt very surreal. And not just because of the size, but because of the new anatomy and instincts.

“It was a... serious shock to go from being a human to being a Ribombee,” I said at last. “Everything used to be so normal, b-but now I’m stuck in a giant world... It’s u-unnerving. It’s not as scary as it was at first, but I... I do still wish I was big again.”

“Maybe that’ll happen someday. You could, uh... ‘evolve’ into something bigger. That’s something Pokemon do, right?”

“Not me. R-Ribombee can’t evolve. I’m at my final stage. And... I don’t know if I can ever become human again. So I’m p-probably stuck like this... forever...”

Sneasel chimed in before I could get too sad. “No reason to cry about it,” she said. “Just gotta make the best of your situation, right? You’ve been doing a good job of that so far, with all your training. You’re definitely way stronger than you were back when I met you. Just look at how you fought in that duel just now! You never could’ve done that a few months ago. It just goes to show: doesn’t matter how small and weak you are, you can still get stronger if you just make an effort.”

“Huh. W-well said. I always get surprised when you deliver some sudden wisdom.”

“Ah, shut up,” Sneasel said with a laugh.

I glanced over at Ross. He was holding his tail and gazing at the tip, engrossed as its paint shifted between the default green, the Normal-type gray of Quick Attack and Minimize, and the shimmering hues of Aurora Beam.

“It may be kinda hard to believe,” Sneasel told him, “but you can get stronger too, Ross. Just keep practicing. And come visit the dojo more often, and talk to other people for help. Just don’t give up, and you’ll make it.”

“Th-that’s true,” I said. “If I can improve, so can you. I believe in you, Ross.”

The Smeargle hesitated before replying. “I’m still so lost and confused about a lot of stuff. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a halfway-decent fighter. But... you guys make a good point. Thanks for the kind words. I’ll keep doing my best to figure things out.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Sneasel. “I always love seeing guys making the effort to get stronger. Anyway, it was fun hanging out with you, but I just remembered we got somewhere to be.”

“Oh, right,” I said, remembering what Sneasel meant. “We promised to g-go shopping with Team Oracle today.”

I called up one more gust of Fairy Wind, launching myself all the way up to Sneasel’s face. She ducked and leaned to get under me, allowing me to land softly atop her head. Once I was in place, we both said goodbye to the small Smeargle and left the dojo.

“I’m glad Ross is learning more moves, a-and learning how to fight,” I said as we went down the hall. “I know what it’s like to b-be weak and... useless. I don’t want anyone else to feel that way. So... I hope Ross keeps improving. And I hope he remembers what he learned from this sparring match.”

“I think he will,” said my partner. “He’s gonna master that Sketch of his in no time.”

“It... It may take him a while to master it. But I know he’ll get better at it over time. He is learning a lot, and I think he’ll be—”

We were interrupted by a faint squeaky voice coming at us from behind. We turned around, and saw Ross—still shrunken—running after us with his arms waving.

“Guys! Wait!” he shouted.

“R-Ross?” I asked. “What’s wrong? Why are you still Minimized?”

The tiny Smeargle stood in front of us and looked up. He wrung his hands and muttered, almost too quietly for us to hear: “I, uh... I just realized I... don’t know how to get back to normal size.”

There was silence for a moment. Then Sneasel broke out laughing. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head.

“On second thought,” I murmured, “he still has a lot to learn.”