Chapter One

Funny how the best week of my life was also the worst. It didn't transition from one to the other drastically, but instead the two went hand in hand. And honestly, I'd say the terrible parts of the week went into making it all the better when Friday rolled around, ushered in with the sound of the radio playing louder than it had any reason to. I knew that Thin Lizzy wasn't quite enough to wake me up unless it was as loud as a concert. I guess therein lied my first, and primary, complaint. A heavy sleeper like me, let alone one so used to being up all night and sleeping through to the afternoon had to adapt to waking up so damn early. The sun wasn't even out yet, and the blinking numbers on the clock/radio told me that I was waking up at the time that only a week before, I had gone to sleep at. If not for the "best week" thing, I wouldn't have bothered getting up.

It had been my first week working at the daycare center in Solaceon. The old couple than ran the place--and it was always an old couple--expanded their operation and decided to instead hire someone to help out with things. Being good with Pokemon and them being family friends, I landed the job without any competition. My first week had been rather gruelling, but worth it. I did pretty much everything physical, including feeding time. They seemed to warm up to me rather fast, especially given I was a total stranger and, admittedly, had never been around so many damn Pokemon. Considering how many of them were raised for fighting, for the most part they seemed rather tame around me, not that I was complaining.

I grumbled as I turned the volume to its lowest and flicked the switch to turn the alarm off. I stumbled out of bed and made my way down the hall to the bathroom. The rest of the house remained totally silent, nobody else even remotely insane enough to want to be up this early. When the light went on, I looked like death warmed over, grunting at myself before stepping out of my boxers and into the shower. The hot water helped get my attention and shake some of the urges to sleep, at least enough for me to get through the day like a functioning human being. My muscles ached a little, remnants from the days before, and the heat did wonders for them. The soap, pearly white when I lathered up the facecloth, mingled with brown and black by the time it circled the drain, taking with it all the dirt and sweat. I would have showered before going to sleep the night before, like the previous three, but by that point I had lost all will to do anything beyond sleep.

My hair felt about fifty percent lighter, too, as I washed all the sweat and dirt out of it. I guess that was one thing about my hippie mane I couldn't avoid; no matter how much conditioner I slapped onto my head, it was going never going to be shiny and soft by the end of the day.

With all of that done, I cut the water, stepped out, and started towelling off. The asshole in the mirror was replaced with someone a little friendlier now; his green eyes were less glazed over and squinted, his long brown hair was infinitely better-looking, albeit wet, and he looked like he had a little more life in him than the other guy. He seemed better suited for work, so I decided to take him along.

By the time I was on my way to the door, the sun was still a fair length of time from arrival. My mom's Delcatty blocked the doorway, her way of saying she needed more food. Naturally, upon going to the kitchen, I saw her bowl was a paltry three quarters full, and I would have been a terrible person not to give royalty a full bowl to eat from. Sometimes, I wondered why mom put up with her snooty attitude.

With her fed, I was finally out the door. Sunlight was a luxury my walk to work didn't get by simple virtue of them waking up at dawn. Still, it wasn't all that terrible, especially since the walk was so short; ten minutes, tops. Before I knew it, I was there.

I unlocked the side door that led me straight to the yard, not wanting to wake the old couple who lived out of the house they handled operations from. When I got there, I was totally unsurprised to find Bayleef there.

Bayleef was born in the daycare, one of the egg Pokemon a trainer didn't want. Problem was, nobody wanted to adopt the Chikorita, so she became one of the Pokemon the owners just sort of let run around. The owners were nice, but they didn't interact much with the Pokemon, so she never really had any human contact. Until I came, that was. She quickly grew attached to me, and whenever I went on break, she'd generally sit next to me. She was probably the first friend I made at the place, faster than the other abandoned Pokemon.

I squatted next to her as I closed and locked the gate door behind me. "You didn't stay up all night, did you?" I scratched the back of her neck softly.

"Bay," she cooed, rubbing her head against my arm. I remained there for a moment before patting her on the head.

"I've got to get ready for work, girl. I'll come see you when I get some time, okay?"

"Bay," she grumbled as I made my way down the small cobblestone path that led to the food storage. It was a rather large building for its purpose, resting on the opposite end of the de facto ranch from the house. As such, it had all the various things workers would need if they were working in that part. It wasn't a whole lot, considering the only field workers were me and Heather, a girl who handled the night shift, and someone who worked the weekends. Predictably, Heather was sitting in the break room waiting for me so she could go home. I saw her off with a quick greeting and farewell. It'd be a long day.

I was working the front desk for a short time that afternoon. Elaine and Robert were having lunch, as were the Pokemon, so I was on desk duty until they came back. It wasn't that exciting, all things considered, and it was only a few minutes before I was off to have lunch of my own that a trainer walked in.

"Hi, I'm here to leave my Lopunny," he said quickly and with ragged breath, probably fresh from a long bike ride.

"Trainer ID?" I asked.

We went through all the steps, he let her out to say goodbye, put her back in, handed me the Pokeball, and went on his merry way. I put it in my pocket until I could go back outside, at which point I'd release the Lopunny and eat lunch.

It was only about fifteen minutes later that Elaine came back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Adam. Bob and I got side-tracked eating lunch."

"It's alright," I said, pushing aside the newspaper I had killed time with.

"Here," she said, handing me a plastic bag. "There's some leftover lasagna in there to make up for the wait."

"Thanks," I said, making my way past her and on my way to the break room.

The expansion was rather recent, and we hadn't quite filled out all the space yet. It was a gradual thing, but for the time being the Pokemon had even more space to themselves than usual, and all the long-termers--Pokemon who were in for several weeks--were eager to take advantage of it. An Umbreon and Espeon, sisters who were left together, almost knocked me over as they ran past me, laughing the whole time. With a wider area, the flying-types seemed to just be lapping the place, revelling in the expanded airspace.

All this energy and happiness... it made me feel good to be here, to have gotten the job. It was more than enough to make the labour worth it, to make me not regret getting up before any sane person would, to not regret the aching and the caked-on dirt. It was just as much a matter of giving them affection and attention as it was keeping them fed with some Pokemon.

At long last, I reached the break room, got my lunch out of the fridge, and sat down. As I opened up the lasagna, I heard a clattering sound as something fell out of my pocket. I leaned over the side of the chair and saw a pokeball. I had forgotten to let Lopunny out. I reached down and let the Pokemon out. "Sorry for leaving you in there so long, I got side-tracked. Go outside and play."

"Lopun," she said, shaking her head. Before I knew what was going on, she had hopped onto the table, bent over in front of me, and motioned to her rear. "Punny!" she demanded, and it took me a few seconds to understand what she was doing.

She leaned down a little more and I got a face full of the Pokemon's vagina, soaking wet as she continued to point to it and repeat her name. I averted my gaze. What the hell was she doing? And why did she expect me to--

What exactly did her trainer do that she now wanted from me?

I grabbed the chair and put my other hand on the table, sliding myself and my food a few feet down, getting Lopunny out of my direct line of sight, before trying to pretend she wasn't there by staring directly at my food and just eating. It did little to stop her, though. She crawled along the table, getting directly in front of me, moving as sensually as she could. Her hips swayed seductively in front of me, lust underlining her sexual grace as her tongue ran along her lips. She approached me, her vagina practically dripping onto the table. She looked like a human--a brown-furred human who just happened to be coming onto me, and I had to say, she looked pretty damn sexy with--

No! No, bad thoughts! Bad, terrible, wrong thoughts!

I decided lunch could wait, getting up from my chair and getting ready to just leave. That was a mistake, as I forgot that Pokemon, even when you have almost two feet of height more than they do, tend to be a whole hell of a lot strong. She tackled me, sending me to the ground with her on top of her, her soft white fur brushing against me in the process. She pinned me down, which told me her trainer had conditioned her for this kind of strength, and that maybe he was refusing just like I was. I could do nothing as she brought her face less than an inch from mine, licking her lips. "Lopun," she said in such a sultry, seductive voice I was almost convinced she hadn't said it.

She turned around, still lying on my gut, her hands digging into my shorts and boxers. I was totally powerless to stop her, her fur now to tickling my crotch area, as she pulled my penis out. "No!" I was shouting. "Stop it, Lopunny. This is wro-ah!"