Work Text:
Gold was sitting in the back of the daycare, watching the Pokemon scamper about within the fenced-off area. Marill playing in the water, Hoothoot napping in the shade, and a little Flaafy sitting in the middle of the field. It was lounging in the sun, no doubt enjoying the warmth, biting absently at the grass beneath it.
Gold turned to the daycare attendant, who had been supervising the Pokemon. “Is it okay if I pet the Flaafy?” He asked, “I don’t know if the trainer would be mad if I did.”
The daycare attendant smiled down at him. “Actually, that one’s wild. We found it around route 42, it looked pretty injured, so the boss brought it back here.” They turned back to looking out at the field of Pokemon. “You can pet it, just be careful. Flaafy can–”
Before he could finish, Gold, the excitable child he was, had jumped up and trotted over to the very tired Flaafy. It was likely so used to the daycare attendants that it didn’t stir even slightly when Gold approached, more so turning to him with a sense of curiosity than anything. Gold reached a hand out to touch it, when–
“Ouch!” Static shocked his hand, and he quickly pulled it away.
The daycare attendant sighed. “That’s why I said to be careful,” he huffed. “Flaafy’s wool can store extremely high voltages of electricity.” And the daycare attendant walked over, bending down so that they were on the same level as Gold. They pointed to the Flaafy’s pink pelt, and it was then that Gold noticed some parts of it seemed a bit… darker, than the others. “Flaafy’s pelt glows lightly where the electricity is stored, so you can’t touch those parts. The parts that aren’t glowing are safe.”
Gold squinted. “That’s so hard to see in the daytime, though!”
“It is,” the daycare attendant chuckled. “Flaafy are more formidable than they look, y’know.”
“I should get a Flaafy,” Gold hummed to himself, reaching out to pet the area the daycare attendant had deemed safe. “It turns into Ampharos, doesn’t it? How long until you think this one does?”
“Oh, quite a bit still,” the daycare attendant sighed. “This one is still a baby, basically. Only about level 16.”
Gold hummed again, and the Flaafy let out a soft flaaa as Gold continued to pet it. It seemed to enjoy the contact, leaning into it a bit. It’s pelt was soft, but it had a hardened quality to it, which probably explained the parts that didn’t feel electrified. “If this one doesn’t have a trainer, can I take it?” Gold had asked, turning up to the daycare attendant.
The daycare attendant smiled at the younger trainer. “Yeah, if I can trust you not to accidentally zap yourself again.”
Gold pouted up at them. “I’m not gonna!”
“Then yeah, you can take this one. Let me clear it with the boss first.”