"A wild Hydreigon comes here and you won't even allow us to see it?! I would pay you a fortune just for the chance to catch it!"
I slowly open my eyes. 'Maybe I simply met the two most cowardly persons when I got here?'
Another voice, calmer, but with a hint of fear. "You're almost begging for pain if you want to catch the red scaled Hydreigon. I heard it has no soul."
I twitch while the first voice laughs. "No soul?! You know it is said to be extremely powerful, of course it has a soul!"
The next voice might be the Audino from yesterday, they sound kinda similar to me. "One look in his eyes and you know something is wrong. Clouded, pitch-black, but at the same time filled with fire, red as fresh blood. And please don't scream, you might wake him up."
'Too late...' I shake my head. 'Who cares what they think about me?'
"Really?! The door is locked, and if he comes out... "
I tackle into the door and someone screams in pain while a human and an Audino step away from me. "The door was locked? Sorry, didn't notice that." I carefully put pressure on the door and the screams increase in volume. "Thanks for waking me up, scum. I will get my food somewhere else, good bye."
I rushed out of the Pokecenter and blink as sunlight blinds me for a moment. No humans running toward me, only a few away. I take a deep breath and glance at the ocean. 'The ship of that weird human. And I still have no idea how to apologize...'
I gulp and slowly move to the dock. 'I will let her pick what she wants... Maybe some exotic, tasty meat? Milotics are said to taste great...'
I stop in front of the ramp to the ship and hesitate to walk in. 'If she has already forgotten me it would be very unpleasant to burst in like this. I will just wait.'
I sit down and yawn, a bit more sleep wouldn't have been too bad.
"Waiting for something?"
I look to the Salamance glaring at me from the water-vessel. "You just let anyone in?"
The winged dragon growls. "You can be quite memorable. Especially... Whatever, come in already!"
I follow him in and see he has several bruises. "Had a pleasant sparring?"
The Salamance growls. "Could have been better. Do you really think you deserve her? That you're able to keep her satisfied?"
I blink in confusion. "I will try to keep her sated and trying to survive should keep her fit. I hope she will enjoy her freedom."
The blue scaled dragon glances over his shoulder. §Freedom? You give a scale, but won't mind if she leaves you?"
My confusion grows. "I guess I wouldn't enjoy it, but I won't force her to come with me. I wanted to give her something nice and freedom certainly is, right?" I gulp. "She does not believe I bought her, right? It was only supposed to be a gift..."
Nervousness accompanies my confusion, but my guide does not respond.
"Go in, I don't think anyone needs my presence for that rite."
The Salamance walks away before I get the chance to say thanks and I take take a deep breath and move inside.
"Hot scales!"
A Hydreigon rushes against me and sighs. I grin while Sori's scent and presence seem to almost overwhelm me for a moment. "You did not forget me. It's wonderful to see you again."
The dragoness does not respond and simply remains pressed against me for several moments, only enjoying my presence as it seems, but I don't mind.
Suddenly she draws back and grins. "You look like a bloody mess. Doesn't take you too long to achieve that, huh? Maybe we should take a bath after being done with this."
She blushes and shudders while I slowly nod. "Gladly. So, do I need to do anything?"
The human who has been silently watching us clears his throat. "Not exactly. I found two ways to release her. The newer one simply says I would have to break the Pokeball. Any other idiot with enough capsules, will and a strong enough team could catch her again though.
The second one is rarely, if ever, performed today as most Pokemon seem unable to perform the needed tasks, I thought it might interest you anyway though. It claims the connection between trainer and team is formed, but not maintained through the capsule. To really destroy the bound we would need to physical strengthen it, renewing the connecting to the ball before the Pokemon would need to consume it. That is said to make it impossible to catch her against her will, but like I said nobody used it for a while.
After some... financial convictions I found a few volunteers to test the rite, but... not one managed to perform it. One Eevee almost died as the capsule returned to full size in its throat, a Venipede disabled the ball and fled,..."
He coughs and blushes. "And the record of the rite between one trainer and his female Gardevoir is getting sold for several thousand dollar on dark places... Why did they have to send me a free copy?"
The man shakes his head. "Anyway, I'm sure we won't have to go that far. I guess I won't make it out alive otherwise."
I don't think I understood the last part, it was a bit too lengthy for my liking, but Sori should be able to handle it, right? I tilt my head. "Someone pays to see a human and a Gardevoir hug each other? Weird."
The dragoness grins. "Guess they shared more than a hug, huh? At least that explains the noises coming out of your room, master. Maybe we should check the record for a vague idea how the rite works?"
The blush of the human deepens and he waves with his hands. "No! That won't be necessary!" He slowly nods. "And they forgot to use her ball... at least how it was supposed to be used." His nodding speeds up. "Yeah, it would be an extremely bad example. So..."
He offers Sori a white capsule, her own I guess. Without hesitation she swallows it and grins. "Now to the physical part, huh?"
The man simply takes a step forward and hugs her. "It was a pleasant experience to have you around, Sori. I hope you get happy out there."
The female Hydreigon nods while a drop of water runs down her cheek. "I won't forget you, master."
They stay together for two moments or three before she starts snickering. "You get any profit out of the selling of that record? Not like you're not already rich enough."
He steps back and laughs. "Thinking about it... It kinda way my idea, right? A bit more money would not hurt. Feel free to use any part of the ship you want to while you're around. Farewell."
Sori nods and leaves the room, half chuckling, half crying. "I knew he was weird the day we met. Zekrom help me, humans can be so strange."
I quietly follow her, she will talk to me when she's ready, I guess.
"The baths! We definitely will need more than one to get all the dirt off you." Sori grins. "Well, the Audino are going to hate me after we are done. Come in, hot scales."
I nod and move in, almost ramming into a sign. "They should be careful where they put these."
The dark dragoness leans against my back and growls. "Do I really need to kill one of them before they stop putting it here? I will enjoy ignoring you, sign."
I look over my shoulder and blink in confusion. "You can read these?"
"Of course, it's simple Un..." The Hydreigon sighs. "Or it might not be so normal for a wild Pokemon. It says if you have a certain amount of dirt on your body you should take a dive into the ocean and clean most of it off there first. But salt is a lot more painful to wounds than the water here. And it's colder outside, even though you probably wouldn't mind too much for that."
She presses harder against my back and pushes me into the sign, easily breaking it. "This most likely will be our last hot bath for a while, please don't spoil it, hot scales."
I slowly nod and try to relax and suppress the shadow energy which sends pain through me to keep me on guard. I trust her, Sori won't harm me, right? The Hydreigon lays down some kind of charm she wore around her neck and guides me to one of the water holes. I curiously glance at the object while the water starts rising. "What's that? Looks like one of my scales."
The dark dragoness blushes and leans against my back. "It is. Your scent is still on it and... helped me to some pleasant dreams." Her blush deepens. "Very pleasant dreams."
I lightly rub my head against hers. "Really? What did you dream about? Some way I could help them come true?"
The Hydreigon pants and slowly draws back a bit. "They couldn't without you. But let's get that dirt of you first, hot scales."
She pushes me deeper into the water and won't let me up until the liquid turns muddy reddish. "Like I said, it will take several holes to get you clean. Come, the Audino will clean up later."
I followed Sori through several rounds until only a very thin layer remains on my scales. The dragoness snickers. "Guess I will have to rub the rest off."
I quickly dodge her and grin. "And it seems like I have to help you too now. You shouldn't have leaned onto my muddy scales, beautiful."
Sori blushes and glances at her brown front side. "It's not too bad. But if you insist..."
I think I act more out of reflex and instinct as I move to her back and press against it, lowering her body under the water while I nibble at her neck. "You would do the same for me." I pause for a moment and snicker, but quickly continue to... massage her? I think Sori called it like that. "You already did, right? Just relax."
The Hydreigon slowly nods and seems to calm down a bit, she strangely continues to pant though. 'The water isn't that warm, right?'
I take my time cleaning her back, but it still doesn't take long, she's not really dirty here. The dragoness suddenly tenses up as I try to turn her on her back. "You already helped a lot, no need to do any more."
I silence her by pressing my snout against hers, I saw a human do that to another one once, and it seemed to work.
Like I hoped Sori's resistance stops and I carefully rub and lick the dirt of her torso. It's a bit weird she tenses up again and starts to moan as I pass over her stomach, but the Hydreigon seems to enjoy it, so I continue.
Reaching what mother called last protection scale I get a bit nervous though. Mother only growled at me to only clean my own and only it while I'm alone, so I guess it has to be very personal. On the other hand, Sori seems to be completely enjoying the cleaning-massage so far and I don't want to disappoint her by stopping before she's absolutely happy.
The dark dragoness has closed her eyes while I cleaned her, but opens them as I slowly lick over her scale and some sweat liquid leaks out. "What are you d... ?"
I accidentally lick of her juice which results in a moan interrupting her question. "I'm sorry. Should I stop?"
Sori pants and shudders. "Would you like to continue, hot tongue?"
I hesitate for a moment before I very slowly nod. "It's kinds sweet, and nice, but I feel like I shuldn't enjoy it..."
I draw back, but Sori's tail carefully lays behind my head and pulls me in while she smiles. "You like me, right?"
I quickly nod. "A lot."
Her smile widens. "A lot? Then this isn't wrong at all. Please continue."
I hear some sort of need in her voice and quickly obey her, I don't want to make this any worse for her.
Despite trying a few different way and slowly speeding up I don't manage to get her to relax. Instead Sori grows even more tense as clean the scale which strangely seems to twitch. Still, her tail keeps me in place. 'It's a bit weird, but... I like the taste and I think she does get some sort of pleasure out of this, too.'
Finally I seem to have loosened her up as the dark dragoness shudders and her tension fades away. More of the liquid leaks out and for a short moment the scale pulls away and reveals... a wound of some sort I guess. I swiftly clean it, I shouldn't get sloppy just because Sori isn't reacting to the massage anymore.
As soon as the Hydreigon's gaze returns to normal she quickly hides the wound behind her scale while her tail releases me. "That was a bit... unexpected. Pleasant, but unexpected."
I grin and try to savor the new taste. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about the wound. And if you need help cleaning it I will gladly offer my assistance."
The Hydreigon blinks in confusion for a moment before her blush deepens again. "Wound? What wound... wait, you actually..." She shakes her head. "You licked my..." She shudders. "I guess it's not that bad. I did tell you to continue... But keep it a secret for a while, okay?"
I nod, guess it must be shameful for her to have such a deep scar under her scale. "I won't tell." I tilt my head. "But this might have taken longer than expected. I think we have to skip cleaning the last bits of me for a while."
I carefully help Sori out of the water. "Come, freedom is waiting for you."
For a short moment the dark dragoness seems disappointed about something, but she quickly shakes it off and nods with a wide grin. "I won't be able to repay my debt if you don't stop acting like that. I truly owe you a lot."
I shake my head while the Hydreigon takes the lead to guide me outside. "You don't owe me anything. It was a gift, I really don't expect you to give me anything in exchange. You're free to go as soon as my company bothers you."
Sori glances over her shoulder and looks truly hurt, sometimes I honestly think I have no talent at all for talking. "I'm free to go? You wouldn't care if I guide you out and leave after doing so?"
'Why do my words never achieve what they should?' I move closer and lay my head on her shoulder while slowly extending my heat aura. "You're free, I never intended to bind you to my side." I sigh. "But that does not mean I wouldn't like you or wouldn't miss you if you leave. I just wanted to say you can choose on your own where you want to go. Forgive me if I sounded like I would want you to leave."
Sori groans. "Forgive you?" She stops and rubs her head against mine. "I can't even get mad at you after that.. massage."
We move on in silence for a while until the Hydreigon clears her throat. "So, tell me, is there already someone waiting for you in your cave? Some other dragoness you might mindlessly upset by bringing me along?"
She tries to sound relaxed, but I think I hear a tiny bit of worry underneath her usual teasing, so I take a moment to consider every word of the question. 'I'm pretty sure a simple no won't be sufficient.'
I take a deep breath while Sori slows down a bit. "No, there is no specific cave I call my home that contains anything, especially nothing I would care about as much as I do about you." 'The only other dragon I know that would fit the description would be Shale I guess, and I don't think I can find her again...' "To be honest, my hunting grounds did lack anything distinct interesting." I grin. "That will change with you around, huh?"
Suddenly my mood drops and I sigh. "The last week or two were more interesting, but also considerable more unpleasant than the first two. I met a few old friends, but convinced them to leave."
I can't suppress a small whine, I shouldn't have brought them up. "You have to sacrifice some things to be free..."
Sori stops again and turns around, slowly pressing her head against mine. "They will come back if they really care for you."
I shake my head and struggle not to allow the shadow energy to roam through my mind and drown my sorrow in pain. Pain is so much easier to endure. "Not all. Some can't return..."
The dark dragoness sighs and keeps her head against mine. "Some see too much in too little time. Come, we should at least leave this huge chunk of steel today. Let's just get to the Pokecenter, you can show me your hunting grounds tomorrow."
I slowly nod, faded shadows running through my mind, but too weak to keep me up, so I lean against Sori while she guides me out. 'I'm weak. Why did I allow her to accompany me? I can't protect anyone...'
I barely notice how the Hydreigon drags me into the Pokecenter and lays me onto the bed. I roll off and lie on the floor. "If you want to use it, do so. I think it's more comfortable down here."
The dark dragoness nods and puts herself next to me. 'Why can't I simply suppress or forget?'
Sori' calming presence helps me nod off.
End of chapter 39. Another mixed bag I guess. Did I already state I'm not responsible for the action of any character in the story, right? If I didn't, I saw it that way since chapter.. 4? Somewhere around there I guess. I will make sure to put it into the new prologue/first chapter. And as I most likely won't change the after-chapter-stuff for a long time, if the first chapter you read was purely out of a Hydreigon's point of view, that's the hopefully newer and better version.
Back to this chapter, I really hate myself for putting such a long monologue into it, but I couldn't really help it, I did not want Drakke to fall asleep...
Drakke's breakdown was somewhat predictable if you consider stress, pain, loneliness and the other unpleasant stuff he's been through. Luckily we have Sori to sweeten the fall, huh? I hope I did not take in too many cliches, they got kinda hard to evade after a while.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.