Squirrely Sparks: Chapter 1
Canvas for Charity

He could see it all now: throngs of female ‘mons gathered in front of the home of the most handsome bachelor in all of Tabira, all thanks to the images of his face plastered across town. The moment he emerged from the treetop house, the girls would assail his ears with a chorus of swoons as he leapt down to the ground in a suave manner before finally declaring his love for all of them and being carried around as they stroked his fur and planted kisses on his cheeks.

The mere thought of it all made the Pachirisu laugh to himself as he rested on his side, his light blue, sleeveless vest hung from a nearby coat rack as he daydreamed the results of his latest scheme in scoring with the ladies of Tabira.

“Could you stop snickering for a moment Patch,” said a voice nearby, interrupting the Pachirisu’s fantasies, “I can’t capture your complexion right if you keep moving around.”

From behind the nearby paint board emerged the head of a female Bayleef named Frankie, the head painter of the Tabira’s Artisans Guild and the unwitting accomplice in Patch’s scheme. With all the guilds in Tabira opening up for new recruits, she requested the help of those interested in the Artisans Guild to become subjects for her paintings. This provided an opportunity for Patch to not only to concoct not only his scheme to wow women by way of becoming a model, but create a long term opportunity to build up some long term credibility that would also go towards getting girls, perhaps even some of the guild leaders such as Addy.

“Sorry Frankie babe, I was thinking of a funny joke I heard,” the Pachirisu coolly replied, “I’d tell you what it was, but I’m afraid I’d ruin your concentration.”

“That’s fine with me,” the Bayleef nodded, “Just hold still for a little longer, I’m almost done.”

For the next few minutes, Patch remained motionless in his posture, watching as the Bayleef’s paint-tipped vines brushed against the board, occasionally cleaning off the paint with the cup of water she held in her other vine in order to get a new paint color, until at last she announced her completion of her work, which prompted Patch to quickly leap off the sofa and rush towards the Bayleef’s left side to see the results.

True to his expectations, Frankie had painted a masterpiece out of a self-proclaimed living masterpiece, his charming visage perfectly captured in acrylic paint. The Pachirisu’s smile grew as wide as his cheeks would allow, certain that this work of pure art was the ticket to finally scoring with the ladies. He quickly darted over to retrieve his vest and put it back on before running back to snatch the painting from Frankie’s possession.

“I must thank you for the wonderful job you’ve done, Frankie babe,” the Pachirisu said as he backpedaled to the door out, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to show this around town! The ladies will love it! Oh, and tell that cutie Addy I said hello.”

With a wink of his eye, the Pachirisu bolted out the door with joyful laughter and painting in hand, leaving the Bayleef artist to merely stare blankly and comment at how weird her encounter was…



She never doubted what he was doing with his time off; it was always the matter of where in Tabira he was at and what trouble he was getting into that always made her life so hectic. With her shift working as a waitress at the famous Wonder Room finally over, the Emolga hurried through the town in hopes she’d be able to find her friend Patch before he found a female Pokémon to flirt with.

As she rounded the corner past the general store, she heard the sound of a young voice begging for someone to give something back, only for another, older voice to rudely deny their request. The Emolga turned her head towards a small Minccino with a pink scarf tied to her neck like a bow being harassed by a Meowth, a small walking stick held high above his head away from the struggling Minccino.

“Give it back, I can’t walk without that!” the Minccino cried.

“Not a chance you crippled chinchilla,” the Meowth taunted, “Someone like me looks way better with a walking stick than an ugly little kid like you!”

If there was one thing that infuriated her more than anything in the world, it was bullies, especially those who pick on young, physically disabled individuals. Rather than let this continue, the Emolga marched towards the Meowth and tapped on his right shoulder, the Meowth’s face turning from mean to suave the instant he turned around and saw the Emolga standing behind him.

“Heya toots, glad you came to my aid,” the Meowth said with a false smile, “Can you believe the nerve of some of these poor ‘mons trying to steal from others; Maybe you can help me teach this brat a lesson and we’ll go get ourselves a little drink at the Wonder Room when we’re done.”

A bully, a bad liar, and a flirt all in one; These traits combined showed more reasons for the Emolga to teach this Meowth a lesson, and with a hard slap to the face, she knocked the Meowth to the ground with such force that the cane in his hand flew out of his grasp and landed far from his reach.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself for picking on the physically disabled,” the Emolga scolded, “I don’t take kindly to that kind of behavior!”

“Speak for yourself, witch!” the Meowth growled, claws appearing from his paws as he readied himself to attack, “If you females don’t want to get hit, don’t hit others to begin with!”

The Meowth charged towards the Emolga with breakneck speed, but the moment he swung his claws down, the Emolga sidestepped to her right, causing the Meowth to lose his balance and allow the Emolga to push him a couple of feet away. By the time the Meowth recovered his balance and turned around, he found himself staring down a bolt of electricity as it rushed towards and eventually made contact with him, frying the feline until he collapsed from the attack, his limbs twitching as he groaned from all the pain surging through his body.

Satisfied that the lesson had been taught, the Emolga turned her attention towards where the cane landed, witnessing the Minccino struggle to get back up on her feet as she crawled over towards her cane. The Emolga calmly walked over and took the cane in her possession before walking back towards the Minccino and helping her back on her feet.

“Are you all right?” the Emolga said as she handed over the cane, “I’m sorry you had to go through something like that…”

“It’s fine now,” the Minccino replied as she balanced herself, “I’m just glad that you were able to help me get it back. What’s your name? My name is Minnie, but some of my friends in Mosswood call me ‘Mini Mint’.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the Emolga smiled, “My name is Ethlyn, but I know somebody that likes to just call me ‘Eth’.”

At that moment, a thought occurred to the Emolga as Minnie began hobbling away, remembering that the local guilds had opened up for potential recruits and had set up tasks for those interested in guild work, among them a request for those wishing to join the ranks of the Keepers to demonstrate an act of charity to a citizen of Tabira.

Realizing this was the perfect opportunity, she offered her assistance to the young Minccino to escort her to wherever she wished to go, and with a wide smile she accepted her generous offer, beginning a long, pleasant walk through Tabira that was largely spent on how Minnie and her mother had recently moved from Mosswood in hopes of starting a healthier new life for her.

As they passed by the SpeedStar Postal office, a loud crash followed by several unrepeatable words stopped the duo, their attention brought towards the entrance of the building as a female Smeargle stormed out of the post office, grumbling as she passed by the two rodents just before a certain Pachirisu emerged from the post office with a painting stuck to his neck like a makeshift collar.

“Everyone’s a critic,” the Pachirisu said as he wobbled outside, “Some ‘mons just don’t appreciate true beauty…”

“I see you’ve gotten yourself into another mess, Patch,” Ethlyn sighed as she put a palm to her forehead, “Some days I just don’t know what to do with you…”

“Well, you should be a bit happier, Eth, today I was a model for one of Frankie’s paintings!” The Pachirisu said as he tried to remove the painting from around his neck.

“And then you had to go and ruin a good picture by using it as a means to pick up females,” Ethlyn said as she rolled her eyes, “Honestly Patch, when are you ever not thinking up these crazy ideas.”

“By the way, who’s the kid over there?” Patch asked, tilting his head in confusion at the sight of the physically handicapped Minccino.

“My name is Minnie,” she replied, “it’s nice to meet you Patch, even if you do like to chase girls around.”

“Well, at least you’re fine,” Patch said as Ethlyn tried to contain her laughter, “You’re a little young for my tastes.”

It was at that moment that an idea popped into Ethlyn’s mind. If Patch could get a painting, perhaps Minnie could get one of her own to show her mother? What better way to show even more charity and turn one of Patch’s schemes into something useful! Sure enough, upon asking the two what they thought about the plan, Minnie’s eyes became wide with glee, while Patch merely nodded in agreement.

Satisfied that everyone was in agreement, Ethlyn took the little Minccino and placed her on her shoulders as Patch lead the way back to the Artisan Guild headquarters in hopes of getting Minnie her own picture.



“There, that should do it!” Frankie said upon applying the last paint stroke of her new masterpiece, “What do you think everyone? Is this good enough?”

The Bayleef turned the paint board around with her free vine to allow Minnie and her escorts to see the final product of her work, gazing in awe at the picture of the Minccino posing with her walking stick in a way that resembled the posture of an average painting of a rich ‘mon.

“It’s perfect!” Minnie squealed in joy, “I can’t wait to show mom this!”

“Eh, the style looks too much like mine,” Patch said in an envious manner, “but it’s still good none the less, and it’s a nice little treat for the kid.”

”You know, come to think of it, didn’t the Keeper have a task that involved being charitable?” Frankie asked.

“Oh ho, so I wasn’t the only one using paintings for ulterior motives,” Patch grinned at Ethlyn.

“At least mine was of good will and not merely following my hormones!” Ethlyn shot back in a flustered manner.

“I’m just teasing you Eth,” Patch nonchalantly replied, “I never doubt your generosity.”

“At any rate, we should take Minnie back home and show this to her mother,” Ethlyn said, “Then we’ll go report to the Keepers about this.”

With a final goodbye to Frankie, the squirrel duo escorted their Minccino guest out of the Bayleef artisan’s studio and back to her, proud that they had managed to do some good guild work for the first time.