Miltank hated the way she looked.

No, correction, it wasn't that she didn't like how she looked - even she couldn't deny she looked absolutely gorgeous when it came to certain kinds of beauty standards - what she didn't like was that because she looked so blatantly female, everyone had a hard time seeing past all that to who she really was; just one look at her and all the whole of herself that made her self-conscious in herself, and one would immediately know, that was one female Pokèmon.

First of all, she had these obnoxious milk things that basically announced to the world that she was not male, and further down, maybe less obvious, but undoubtedly still there... Yep, she was definitely a girl.

Not that she disliked being female, but couldn't there be a less obvious way that didn't involve such embarrassing biological differences to determine the gender of a creature?

No, she didn't hate the way she looked, she just wished she didn't look like that. She was embarrassed by it, and everywhere she went, she had to feel so self-conscious in herself when anyone saw her.

Especially when they were males.

And what was worse, today was trading day, where the old farmer would showcase all her Miltank to people from all around, to potentially trade them with the Pokèmon Trainers coming through the area. Miltank had no idea how many Pokèmon and their trainers would be seeing her in all her Miltanky indignity before the day was out, and Miltank moaned to herself miserably at the thought.

“Okay, it's time to head out," said the old farmer to the herd.

Let's get this over with, Miltank thought to herself with a sigh.

As the farmer led the herd out to the field, she couldn't help but look at all the other miltanks, all her sisters and her cousins, all bubbling with excitement at potentially meeting their new trainers; didn't any of them feel any bit of self-consciousness in themselves? How could she be the only one?

Heading out in the field, Miltank found a place to stand with high enough grass to hopefully cover most of her, and then the people started coming in, many of them with Pokèmon, all looking at the miltanks that spotted the field.

Here we go.

But as the morning began to progress, Miltank began to relax a little, everyone seemed to be taking attention of all the other miltanks near the front of the far,, no one seemed to take notice of her, standing half covered in grass.

Then, as she continued to watch the proceedings, there was a rustling in the grass ahead of her. Miltank snapped her attention toward the sound and the grass parted…

And out stepped a male Bulbasaur who must have stepped away from his trainer to explore.

When Bulbasaur saw Miltank, he went still, his eyes went wide, and his eyes immediately shifted away. Then he looked at her again awkwardly, awkwardly trying to focus his attention at her upper body, trying unsuccessfully to prevent his gaze from inadvertently flicking downward to her…

This Bulbasaur had obviously never seen a miltank before, and out of all the ones standing out in the front of the field, it had to be her luck she was his first.

Miltank shifted uncomfortably. She tried to subtly cover herself with her arms, resting them against herself, remaining as casual as she could, but there was too much to cover. The Bulbasaur looked behind him, as if wondering if maybe he should return to his trainer now, but, then as if feelinging it would be rude to leave so soon, turned and looked at her again.

“Saur?" He asked timidly. Hello? “Bulbasaur," I'm Bulbasaur.

At first glance it seemed as if he saw her no differently than any other creature when they spotted a miltank, but by the way he was blushing, trying to refocus his gaze, she could tell there was a modesty to him, like he was trying to see past the obvious and trying to see her.

And for that simple fact, for the first time in her life, she felt herself blushing back, like she suddenly almost liked the idea of him seeing her like that…

What am I thinking, she thought to herself in horror, throwing her arms back over herself again, this time not so subtly.

“Saur," Bulbasaur said again, Well, it was nice meeting you… He began to back away awkwardly.

“Who's your new friend Bulbasaur?"

Bulbasaur jumped, then turned to look at his trainer who was coming up with the old farmer at his side.

The trainer went up to Miltank and started looking at her, lifting her arm, searching behind her ears, poking and prodding with all the curiosity of a boy discovering a new type of frog for the first time or something. Miltank again crossed her arms across her stomach self-consciously, overwhelmed by all the attention.

Suddenly the trainer went behind her, lifted her tail and peaked under; Miltank instantly pulled away, snatching her tail away from him, very red. Bulbasaur went red as well, looking at her apologetically for his trainer's lack of sensitivity when it came to his skills in Pokèmon handling.

The trainer turned to the old farmer with a grin, “She's perfect!" He said, obviously oblivious to the humiliation he had caused the poor Miltank.

“Then she's yours," the old farmer said jovially at the boy's enthusiasm. “But before I hand her over, let me ask, what are you hoping to do with her?"

“I was hoping to breed her with my Bulbasaur," the boy said matter of factly.

Bulbasaur and Miltank both went red, unable to even look at eachother now.

Miltank couldn't help blushing at the image of her “breeding" with Bulbasaur that was coming into her head. Was she expected to breed with this Bulbasaur now!?!? She already felt awkward enough in her own body as it was with Bulbasaur just seeing her as she normally was, she couldn't imagine getting that personal with him. The thought… She just went so red. She didn't even want to be in her own body like this right now, much less share it with this Bulbasaur who she…

Almost had a crush on.

And that was what was most horrifying, that the thought almost sounded good to her, that maybe if she had known him better… the idea of possibly feeling good opening herself up to Bulbasaur like that made her even more overwhelmingly self-conscious in the thought of all of it. She just wanted to hide herself from the world so much right about now, she could almost die!

But fortunately, the old farmer stopped him right there, “That's not possible, Miltank is from the Field Egg Group, she can't breed with a Pokèmon from the Monster Group."

But the boy was unfazed, “Ah," he said reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a stone, and held it out. The old farmer looked at it curiously. “It's a Ditto based stone or something," the boy said, “very rare, but it's supposed to let any Pokèmon breed with any other Pokèmon, regardless of Egg Group."

He handed it to the old farmer, and she inspected it closely, “I didn't know any of these were still in existence," she said before handing it back to him, “It looks legit, but you can't just throw any two Pokèmon together and expect them to feel comfortable breeding with eachother right away."

The boy looked at the old farmer, obviously confused, “Why not?"

Miltank looked at him aghast; did he not know how breeding worked?

Of course he didn't.

Fortunately, the old farmer looked at him softly, “How about we give the two Pokèmon some time together to see how they get along, and then you can decide?"

The boy looked from Bulbasaur to Miltank, then back at the old farmer. “Okay," he said.

“Come this way then," the old farmer said, leading him away toward the barn. Bulbasaur began to follow, but Miltank hesitated.

The boy turned back and looked at her. “Aren't you coming?" he asked.

The old farmer looked at the boy, “This Miltank is a bit shy," she said honestly, “But in time I'm sure she'll open up given time."

Not shy, Miltank thought to herself, if I looked like any other Pokèmon…

But she didn't. How did she know she wouldn't feel any less self-conscious in herself if she was another Pokèmon?

Because other Pokèmon don't look so… obvious.

But unfortunately, Miltank, feeling she didn't have much say in the matter, could do nothing but follow as the old farmer led the three of them to the barn.

The door closed behind the farmer and the boy, leaving no one in the stall except for Miltank and Bulbasaur, just the two of them alone together for some “alone time".

With nowhere left to go, Miltank and Bulbasaur stood there just looking at eachother for a very long moment; Miltank was so overwhelmed with self-consciousness for herself, she almost wanted to cry, but she had to keep it together for fear of embarrassing herself even more. Bulbasaur seemed nice, but she wasn't ready for a relationship with him, or any male for that matter who could see how obviously she was a girl.

Bulbasaur looked at her, standing there, eyes trying not to well, and he couldn't help but feel pity for her. He knew he had to break the ice for her, so he decided to sit down on the soft straw and ask her, “Saur? Bulbasaur?" So, do you have any interesting hobbies? He knew how his attention had been drawn when he'd first seen her, and he felt bad about it; he couldn't change what the first thing he noticed about her was, but he could let the first thing he learned about her be something that mattered to her.

Miltank seemed to relax a little at the question, and she looked at Bulbasaur gratefully, I like to watch the insects, she said in the Pokèmon way, “on the farm there are plenty of them, you know, each living their lives in their own way. I like to watch how they move, the way they walk across the branches, the leaves, the grass, the way their movements flow, as they travel in their lines, or buzz around separately, it's almost like a rhythm, a song," as she spoke, her body began to relax more and more, her eyes began to glow, Bulbasaur felt his heart lighten at the peace that seemed to radiate from her at these words.

“Sounds nice," Bulbasaur replied.

“And what's neat," Miltank said, “Is how each insect moves differently from the others, an ant doesn't move like a butterfly, and a butterfly doesn't move like a bee, it's nice to see the variety in things…" But at these words, she stopped, realizing that she too was of a different “variety" than Bulbasaur, and not just because they were different Pokèmon of different Egg Groups. Once again growing self-conscious, she crossed her arms over herself, best covering herself the best she could.

Bulbasaur glanced down then up at her again, “You're really self-conscious about that, aren't you?"

Miltank nodded, blushing at him putting words to what she had already been feeling all along.

Bulbasaur looked around and spied a curtain hanging on the wall. Reaching with his vines, he grabbed it and yanked it down, then he held it out before her.

“Wrap this around yourself," he said kindly, “humans do it all the time, why should a Pokèmon feel shame for doing the same."

Miltank looked at Bulbasaur, and then the curtain, and grabbed it gratefully. She wrapped it around herself like an apron around her waist, and once covered, almost as if by magic, felt her self-consciousness in herself beginning to ease a little (though maybe she was still a little self-conscious to the fact as to why she needed to cover herself more in order to feel less self-conscious in herself than Bulbasaur would've had to, but that was beside the point) not only did she feel more modest, it also fit her style too. She turned and looked at the back; okay, maybe a bit open, but she was a Pokèmon afterall, she didn't need to overdo it.

She looked at Bulbasaur gratefully, and he smiled back. Ironic; by helping her to have to reveal herself less, she suddenly felt a seed of comfort between her and Bulbasaur, making her feel just a little closer to wanting to get to know him better. Maybe someday she might even feel comfortable enough around Bulbasaur to let herself be without this curtain between them, where she wouldn't mind not hiding her self-consciousness from him entirely.

Okay, that was an embarrassing thought, Miltank thought blushing.

“So, you're not from this area?" Miltank asked, “Tell me a bit about where you come from?"

Bulbasaur's eyes lit up, and he began to tell her.

A little bit later, the old farmer and the boy returned to retrieve the two Pokèmon. As they opened the door, it seemed the two were actually getting along well, but what a disappointment it was to find, not only had the two failed to breed, but now the Miltank was dressed up even more modestly than before with some makeshift apron, and modesty was the exact opposite of breeding the boy had just found out after a quick and horrifying search on his Pokèdex.

“It takes time," the old farmer said, laying a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. Then she looked at Miltank, “How do you feel?"

Miltank looked at Bulbasaur a moment, then turned to the old farmer, and finally nodded. She would go with the boy, not for the sake of the obnoxious boy himself, but because of Bulbasaur. Through the short time she'd known him, she'd felt a sudden connection with him she hadn't felt elsewhere, even among her own flock, and she hoped for a chance to get to know him better; she wasn't ready to “breed" with him, but she did want to become his friend.

So as they walked from the gates of the farm and into the Sunset, Miltank waved goodbye to her old farmer one final time, then she turned and looked at Bulbasaur traveling beside her, and the two exchanged a smile. No, she wasn't ready to breed, but Bulbasaur had helped her feel comfortable being around him modestly, so maybe that would help her to feel comfortable around him when they someday might want to be… less modest around eachother.

And at that thought, Miltank suddenly turned very red, Bulbasaur seemed to know what she was thinking and turned red as well.

But… This level of self-consciousness felt kind of good, Miltank realized; perhaps they would get there someday, it was just one step at a time.