THE PASSION OF PURPLE

I find myself in my room at home. I see my posters of all my favorite Kanto gym leaders. I won't say I have the cleanest of rooms. My blankets are a tangle on my bed, and there are a few shirts, and skirts strewn across the floor, but I like to think that I keep myself more organized than most.

I'm sitting at my desk, streaming a live battle between Erika, the gym leader of Celadon City, and a none-descript challenger. The challenger is struggling, she only has a Bulbasaur in her inventory and it's no match for the might of Erika's team, but somehow she is pulling through. Bulbasaur is dodging left and right, there's fire in his eyes. He will not give up until he wins or he faints, and he hasn't fainted yet.

"Go Bulbasaur!" I yell, "Use your Vine Whip!"
"Saur!" Bulbasaur cries as he dodges Vileplume's spores, and then his vines lash out like vipers, and strike it across the flower.

"Viii!" The Vileplume cries out as it falls to its knees. Bulbasaur keeps hitting it until the gym leader Misty is forced to return it to its ball. Misty grimaces as she goes to her belt. She throws out her Starmie, and I feel a rush. I have seen what this Starmie can do, it's Swift and will be hard to dodge. I chew on my lip as I think of what to do, but Bulbasaur carries on.

"Lo?" My mother calls. I look over, and see her by the door. I hear the echoing of people laughing somewhere beyond in the hall. I remember now, Mom is having a party for our family, and everyone is here. "People are asking where you where."
I close the top of my laptop, and smile. "I'll be there in a minute."

Mom smiles. "You know that they all care about you, Lo."

I shrug, and say, "I know."

"Love you Lo.

Love you lo.

love you lo…"

I turn around. The walls of the cave are covered in pink stuff.

"Hello?" My voice echoes into the beyond. I cannot see where the cave ends, it may go on forever.

"Ditto!"

I turn around, and there I see my Ditto boy. He's smiling his thin lipped smile, and wiggles about happily, and he's taller than me. Has he always been so tall? He's big enough to block the cave from wall to wall, and floor to ceiling. I look up at him, and he looks down, my knight, my pinkly beast.

"I love you." I whisper, and he jiggles back. He moves closer in the cramped cave. I swallow nervously. He knows exactly what I crave.

"Ditto," says Ditto, his cute voice echoing through the cave. Echoing my passion. He advances slowly, a wet noise made with every slink, before he stands nearly on top of me.

My bubble blob.

Ditto envelopes me like a blanket. I melt into him just as surely as he melts over me. I hold my breath as he sinks over my face, and I can no longer breathe. I can see nothing but pink, nothing but him. Everything is pink.

It's hard to tell, because all of me feels so very warm, but I feel a swell between my legs, a current. A bubble escapes from between my lips, and rises through my pink puss ball. It carries the message I want to tell him.

"I love you."

"Ditto." His high voice reverberates in my ears.

He enters me, and he rubs me. My moans become more bubbles in his body. The warmth is seeping into my skin as he makes currents that juggle my large boobs. Have they always been so big!? They look like DD's at least.

Shut up! A girl can dream!

I'm drowning. When I open my mouth for air, Ditto fills my throat.

He's filling me. He's becoming me.

We are one. We are the same. He's completing me!

Three more bubbles, the last of my breath. They say,

"I love you!

Love You!

Love You!"

And Ditto says it back to me, "Ditto!"

"I love you…"

I wake to the sound of waves. My eyes still closed, my vision is red from the light beyond my eyelids. I give a soft sigh. What a strange dream it had been.

"Zzaur... Bu-bu-zzaur…"

I open my eyes. Above us, the canopy of the tree rustles in the presence of a breeze with green leaves glowing with sunlight. It is a nice sight to wake up to. I sigh, and sit up.

"Diii… Diii…" Ditto is still soundly asleep beside me. No sign that he'd tried to try something on me in the vulnerability of my sleep.

Which is a good thing, I tell myself.

"Zzaur… Bu-bu-zzaur…" Bulbasaur snores away. He has a slight smile on his face, which finds its way on my face as well. It's nice to see him happy, even if it's only in sleep.

"DIIIIiiiii…." Beside me, my Ditto stretches as he slowly comes awake.

"Sweet dreams?" I ask him, smiling.

"Ditto!" Ditto agrees.

As Bulbasaur sleeps, I roll up my pad, and get breakfast started. The lake, which was last night more a black mirror, is now crystal blue, and I use it to boil some water. As we wait for our breakfast to cook, I play with Ditto a little for fun. I hide behind the tree trunk for him to find me. It takes him longer than it should have.

"Zzaur… Bu-zzaur?" Bulbasaur wakes up just in time. Still groggy, he starts sniffing the air as breakfast is just about ready.

"Morning," I say cheerily.

Bulbasaur raises his head, groggily. He looks around with slitted eyes. Suddenly, like he realizes where he is, he jumps up and bares his bud at me.

"Saurrrrrr." He starts growling.

"Nice to see you too."

By now I've learned that it's easier not to humor him. I set some food out for him on a plate that I put spaced away from where Ditto and I eat our own. Sure enough, after a few minutes ignoring him, Bulbasaur falls silent and I can hear him munching. Oak said that he was reluctant to give me Bulbasaur because he wasn't sure if I could handle someone with an attitude like his, but really, the more that I work with him the more I find Bulbasaur's attitude just annoying.

But at the same time, I have an idea for how I might use that attitude to my advantage.

The lakeshore is the perfect setting. It is a whole lot of open area where we can work without the fear of being inhibited. By now it's clear, until Bulbasaur warms up to me, I can't train him by simple means, he won't listen. Right now, I figure if I focus on teaching him that he can use his Vine Whip in battle, when he goes off fighting he'll be able to practice with it on his own.

I don't bother packing up everything just yet. I'm not planning for us to go very far right now. Plus, I need to keep my pack light so that it's easier to maneuver. Before I leave, I grab every piece of long sleeves that I have in my nest of clothes. It's pretty much just a sweater, a rain jacket, and two other shirts, but I figure that it's enough. I feel like a marshmallow, though.

Ditto and Bulbasaur both have been watching me curiously as I struggle to squeeze each layer over the next over my body. I guess I can't really blame them, it must really look like a weird display. When I get the raincoat stretched over everything, I figure that I'm ready. I pick up my pack, but don't sling it over my shoulder just yet, and head towards the lake.

"Come one, Bulbasaur." I call over my shoulder, when I see that he's hesitant to follow me.

"Ditto!" My pink passion starts to follow at once (Even though he wasn't called), but it takes Bulbasaur a little while to trudge after. I figure it's sheer curiosity, if nothing else, that leads him on.

We stand on the river bank. It's covered in smooth stones, polished by the lake over the years, and then later spit out when the lake was one a high season. Ditto wiggles right beside me faithfully, but of course Bulbasaur is a little distance off. That's fine though, since it's what I'd expected.

"Ditto," I say, worrying about him, "Can you wait for us by the campfire?"

"Ditto!" Ditto says, and he wiggles off.

I wait for him to get far enough that he will be safe from any backlash. When he's far enough that I figure he's safely out of range, I face Bulbasaur, and prepare myself.

"Try and hit me." I heft the pack in front of me.

"Saur?" Bulbasaur seems confused at first, but I guess he doesn't need much of a reason to punish me, because within a few seconds, he charges at me. Like I'd expected, he's relying on Tackle which is what he would have learned as a starter pokemon in Professor Oaks's lab. He's good at that move, but it won't work here.

I take several steps back, easily getting out of Bulbasaur's range as he runs forward.

"Saur?" After missing his first attack, Bulbasaur stumbles to a halt, stunned. He must not have been expecting me to run away. He runs at me again, preparing for a Tackle, but his movements are so easy to predict, and my strides are worth at least three of his, so I easily avoid him.

"Saur!" Bulbasaur looks visibly irritated.

"If only there was a way you could reach me," I taunt.

Bulbasaur charges again, his face is twisted in determination. He hasn't caught on yet, though, he's still hard set on trying to Tackle me. I side step his little turtle form, and skip away to regain the distance between us before I turn around to reset my backpack shield.

"If only you had a whip to close this long distance!"

Bulbasaur gives a final charge, but I can easily sidestep it. His frustration is at its boiling point. He whips around, and vines whip out and they lash towards me. I raise the pack in front of me to block him. I can feel the impact of the two whips striking the pack. It's so strong that I can feel their force even through the layers of protection I've set up.

Bulbasaur really is amazing.

I cheer. "Ha, ha! There you go!" Bulbasaur hesitates, his vines suspended. His eyes are wide. He's realizing his potential. The potential that I saw in him, and I am so happy for him. Bulbasuar lashes out again, and again I block it. He dashes to the side, trying to find an opening and whips out again. He's really getting into it.

We train for a good hour, but while his tenacity is unstoppable, Bulbasaur has yet to perfect the techniques. I don't have the best reaction times, but it's still enough to block him. That is, until the end. Admitably, I'm getting tired swinging my pack around to keep it between me and Bulbasaur by that point.

Bulbasaur swings leftward, well my left, his right. He's been favoring striking first with his right, I guess out of habit. As such, I raise my aching arms to block appropriately. Suddenly, Bulbasaur plants his feet, leans right (his left) and his vines lash around the other way. I have only the time to gasp in surprise as he easily maneuvered around my shield and strikes me along the elbow. The several layers of long sleeves protect me, but it's still enough to jar my arm and nearly make me drop the pack.

"Good job!" I start to lower the pack to massage my arm, but realize Bulbasaur is not done just yet. I raise the pack up again just in time. "Wow! Hey, time out!"

Bulbasaur does not believe in time outs! He's drunk with battle. I cower behind the pack. "Bulbasaur, you did it, so cut it out!" He gets a solid slap on my thigh, on my shoulder. I take a step back, but my eyes are tightly shut, and I slip and fall on my butt on the smooth lake shore stones.

It hurts.

"Oooh… ow. Ow. Ow."

"Saur!?" The assaulting lashes stop almost immediately.

"I told you to stop." I grit my teeth, feeling sore, and rubbing my rear. I feel a nudge at my leg, and look up. Bulbasaur looks at me with eyes of worry.

It was not until later that I realized that this was the first time he had ever touched me not looking to hurt, or ward away. As for his eyes, oh you should have seen the vastness of Venasaur's eyes. Like a red sea, a deep fine wine, they were the only part of him he could never hide his emotions in. In his eyes are the windows of his leafy soul.

I melt in them, the anger I felt instantly falls away. Hesitantly at first, but when he doesn't pull back, more gently, I pat the top of his head.

"It's okay, you were just excited. Just, you need to be careful, Bulbasaur."

"Saur." Bulbasaur agrees. Then he realizes what he's letting me do, and quickly pulls away. His expression hardens into something more familiar, and he marches off to where Ditto waits for us at our campsite.

I sigh, and call after him, "Want to try using that in a real battle?"

"Saur!" Bulbasaur barks without turning around.

It's a good thing to know that my pain has paid off.

Bulbasaur has learned Vine Whip.

"Ditto!" When we reach the campsite, my yummy jam yam is there to cheer us on. Of course, his favorite mag is unfolded in front of him, but he pretends that he's been watching us. I find myself glancing at what he's been looking at, and it looks like an instruction on how to go down on a girl with your mouth. I find myself blushing as I quickly look away. Just what kind of magazine was this that Ditto'd found?

I give him a soft squeeze, then pack up the rest of my things, and pull off the unnecessary layers. I figure that Bulbasaur will be willing to fight regardless of what I say, so I plan for us to go about another bout of runnings around today to hone Bulbasaur's skills with the Vine Whip. Even if he won't listen to me, as long as he's learning, I'm okay with it. We'll figure out the details later. When the pack is on my shoulders, I show Bulbasaur his pokeball, and he growls.

"Walking it is," I agree, but this time I smile as I walk ahead, confident that, eventually, Bulbasaur will follow. We marched behind the tree line, back behind where most ever ventured on Route One, so it was a nice forest scenery before we reached the actual Route. But I froze before I stepped into the clearing.

"I CHALLENGE YOU!"

I duck behind the nearest tree once I hear the over-excited shouting. My heart pounds. I must have just walked into the middle of a pokemon battle. I glance past the thick oak tree I've Shelldered behind to see what is going on.

I see a pair of boys out beyond the trees, in the tall grass. They are as polar opposite as two people can be: one is bouncing up and down in excitement as one keeps a cool composure. One has bright ginger hair while the other has a cool brown like mine, but they are both trainers. This much is clear enough to me by the balls on their belts. It piques my interest.

A rivalry?

Two boys joined by fate!?

A fight among men!

Oh

My

God.

It was the kind of thing I'd only encountered before in mangas, story books, and video games. In pretend, but I love the idea of it. Of the passion shared between them. It was enough to make anyone excited, and I...

Juror one, please stop looking at me like that. If you can't handle this, then leave. I doubt you can handle some of what will eventually come if you can't even stand a little boy love.

Ahem, where was I? Oh, yes. The boy love.

Obviously I knew it was not the case even then, and now knowing who one of them would become, I hate that I had thought it at the time. Still, I did think it since I was young. I dreamed it.

Anyways, moving on.

It was the boy with ginger hair who had shouted the challenge. I'm surprised that I recognize him; he's Red, of Pallet Town. I know him from school. He has on a hat like mine, only red and white, but I know from the voice that it's him. His shoe looks like it's untied, and a confident grin is on his face.

Across from him is another boy I recognize. It's Blue, Professor Oak's grandson. He has spiky brown hair, and a calm, collected stare. He's the cool guy of the two of them. When Red challenges him, he hardly even blinks.

"Go back home, Red. We both know how this is going to end." Even his voice sounds really cool.

Red laughs as he draws his hand towards his belt. "Then you agree to a battle?"

"Ditto!" I shut Ditto up so he won't interrupt their rivalry. Truly this is the start of something big, and I can't wait to see it.

Red throws a ball. "Go, Charmander!" It cracks on impact, and there's a bright light.

"Char! Char!" When the light dulls, a cute little orange lizard has appeared.

"You really think you can win!?" Blue sounds like he's almost laughing. He casually tosses his ball, and it cracks open to reveal the last of Oak's three starter pokemon.

"Squirtle!"

"Bulba?" Bulbasaur peeks out of the tree line with me. I guess he recognizes his fellow starters.

Charmander is fastest, and the battle is on its way. The orange lizard makes a swipe at the Squirtle's snout, but Squirtle dodges and whips his tail around to strike Charmander where he's open. The strike knocks Charmander slightly off balance, and he stumbles.

"Pound, Squirtle." Even in the heat of battle, Blue sounds calm and collected. Squirtle swings in, and strikes Charmander with his little fist. Charmander is knocked to the ground, but is only dazed.

"You can do it, Charmander!" Red pumps his fist. "Keep at it, and you'll hit him!"

Carmander climbs to his claws. When Squirtle charges forward, Charmander Growls, which makes the turtle hesitate long enough for the candle wick to roll out of the way from Squirtle's next strike. Doing so, however, he doesn't manage to regain his footing. It's clear in an instant which of the two is better trained. Squirtle chaces on, he and Blue making sure that Charmander is never not on the defensive.

Suddenly, I hear a rustling in the grass beside me. I gasp, "Bulbasaur, wait!" I abandon my hiding place in a panic as Bulbasaur charges towards the boys' battle. Red and Blue turn to look, but before anyone can react, Bulbasaur smashes into Squirtle, knocking the turtle over onto his shell with a Tackle. I grab at my belt for his pokeball, nearly dropping it in my haste.

"Bulbasaur, return!" Bulbasaur disappears into the pokeball just as he's readying to whip around for another assault of the struggling Squirtle. But the damage has already been done. The momentum of the battle absolutely ruined. I feel the boys' eyes boring holes into the top of my head, but I can't bring myself to look up and meet their eyes. I stare at Bulbasaur's ball instead, blurily. What in the world was he thinking?

"S-sorry," I manage to stammer. "I... He… He acted on his own." The boys didn't say anything. I swallow the lump forming in my throat. "I'll leave."

I turn around to go, but then, "Yellow?" I freeze. "It's Yellow, right?" Red asks. I glance over my shoulder, and finally see his freckled face, and see he's smiling wildly.

"It's me, Red. We went to school together in Pallet Town, remember?"

"Yeah… I know who you are." I murmur. The question is how on earth he knew who I was. Red is the class clown, always has been, and always knew how to get attention. And Blue is the grandson of the famous professor, naturally everyone would know him. But me, I'm the quiet one who always sits in corners. Not even bullied, because hardly anyone realized I'm there. I shouldn't be 'Yellow' to them, I should be 'Oh, you. Who are you again?'

"What are you doing out here!?" Red laughs.

"The same as us." I flinch as Blue speaks up. He walks over to his Squirtle, picks him up, and rights him so he's no longer rolling around on his back, struggling. "You're trying to become a trainer too, right."

I nod, nervously. "Um, I'm really sorry, Blue. Is Squirtle hurt at all?"

"Squirtle!" Squirtle squirts enthusiastically. Blue shakes his head. He digs his hands into his pockets.

"You just took him by surprise." I let out a sigh of relief.

"Yo, Yellow," Red's voice sounds suddenly quiet. "Don't freak out, but I think there's a crazy rare looking pokemon right behind you."

"What?" Feeling a thrill of shock, I glance behind me. "Oh, no. That's Ditto."

Both of them look surprised.

"A what?" Red demands.

"I've never heard of something like that before," Blue laments at the same time.

"Ditto!" Says Ditto, and the boys keep staring.

"Hey, what's that he's holding?" Red then asks.

"Holding?" Then I feel a sudden drop in my stomach. "Oh, um. Nothing!" I snatch the dirty mag from Ditto's hands before Red and Blue have a chance to get a better look at it, and hold it behind my back, out of sight. "It's just… A training manual I found. He wanted to read it."

"Oh…" They stare. Very quickly, I feel what little comfort I'd had in the situation draining.

"I'll leave you alone now." I try for a second time to leave.

"Why?" Blue says, "You wanted to watch us battle, didn't you."

I feel my face go bright red. He saw us watching?

Red laughs, "Ha ha! Yeah, we still haven't finished our battle! You should! Watch us Yellow! You can see me pummel this smart mouth."

Now I can't leave. I'd feel even more awkward for doing so, and to be honest, I really do want to see how their rivalry will blossom.

"Okay." Ditto is struggling to reach the magazine I still have held behind me. "Later," I whisper to him as I put it away in my backpack. I pick Ditto up and sit down against a tree where I will have a clear view of their battle. Charmander, and Squirtle get ready.

But I think by now, even you, my silly jury, can guess what the outcome was. I love to indulge in a good battle, but even I know how a battle between the inexperienced can get boring fast. It is hard to come up with many well crafted strategies when all your pokemon knows is Tackle, and Growl, and after a while there are only so many ways to describe the same motions.

As I said, it was clear which one of them was the more experienced. Still, the battle dragged on for quite a while. Red pushed Charmander, encouragingly, to never give up, but it was no use. It was hard to watch, really. Knowing this then, I'll skip to near the end, but suffice to say they both put up a good fight.

"Get up, Charmander! You can do it!" Red urges, but Charmander cannot. The little lizard tries, though, so very hard that his little arms shake when he tries to push himself to his feet. I won't lie to say I was rooting for them while I watched, their excited energy was infectious, but Blue and Squirtle were just too good.

Blue sighs. "Red, give it up. You lost."

Red is gritting his teeth, but he sees what Blue and I can see. "Charmander, return." He raises his pokeball, and Charmander is sent into it. "Great work, buddy." He mutters to it before pocketing the ball. There is a long silence after that. Blue watches from where he stands, and I watch from the tree. Red's face is shaded by his cap as he stares at the ground. I find myself feeling sorry for him. He looked so excited to battle his rival before, but now…

Suddenly, Red looks up, and I am surprised to see that he has a wide grin. He points at Blue showily. "You got lucky this time, but next time me and Charmander won't lose!" Blue shrugs. So cool. "See you around, Yellow!" I jump as Red waves at me. He spins around, and runs off, to heal Charmander up back in Pallet Town. He's just as energetic as ever. Then his foot snags on his untied shoelace, and he tumbles into the grass. I stifle a laugh, and when his head whips around, I look away quickly and pretend I hadn't seen.

"What'd you think?" When I look up, my heart nearly skips a beat as I see Blue approaching me and my tree. I stand up quickly, and let Ditto down.

"You're… really good." I try.

Blue snorts. "Not really, not yet. Red's just so bad."

"I… didn't know the two of you where friends."

"We're not." Blue rolls his eyes. "But that doesn't stop him from following me anyways." Blue has a far away look in his eye as he speaks to me. I wonder what he's thinking. I can hear my own heart beat now.

"Um-"

"-Would you like to battle?"

I blink, taken aback. "What?"

Blue shrugs. "It looked like your Bulbasaur was wanting a battle, and Squirtle can use the training."

"B-but, didn't you just have a battle. Won't he be tired?"

"Squirtle, squirt!" At Blue's feet, Squirtle straightens and flexes his arms.

"Squirtle's tough." Blue translates. "Red didn't make for much of a fight. Plus," He took a ball from his pocket and showed it to me. "I just recently caught a Pidgey too. She's underleveled, but I'm sure she can take your Ditto on."

"ditto…" Ditto shrinks behind my leg.

"Um, Ditto doesn't like fighting," I explain. Blue keeps looking at me, and I feel anxious. I look away, and hope that I'm not blushing. A battle does sound like fun, though, and I did want to have Bulbasuar try out his Vine Whip in real combat. I figure Squirtle will put up more of a fight than a Rattata, or a Pidgey.

"Okay," I agree. Blue cracks a smile.

I take hold of Bulbasaur's ball, but hesitate, staring at it in my hands. I can't even control this guy, and Blue's synergy with Squirtle is amazing. In his battle with Red, it took mere moments between Blue's command, and Squirtle's action, and I'm supposed to fight against that? It's embarrassing, a trainer's supposed to order their pokemon, not the other way around.

Still, I really do think that Squirtle will make a good training partner for Bulbasaur. I just hope he doesn't embarrass me too terribly.

"Try your best," I murmur to the ball as I toss it, and it rolls open.

"Saur! Saur!" Bulbasaur curses at me right out of the ball. He bares his teeth in a snarl. He's angry that I returned him.

"I had to," I protest. "You were ruining everything."

"Is everything alright, Yellow?" The blood rushes to my face immediately when Blue calls, but Bulbasaur whips around. He freezes when he sees Squirtle standing there waiting. Then, he's forgotten about me entirely. He rocks on his haunches, excitedly, crouches down, and then charges.

It's so sudden that it takes Blue and Squirtle by surprise, but they recover quickly. "Dodge it, Squirtle." Squirtle barely manages it, just in time, and side steps to the right as Bulbasaur comes charging past. My heart sinks as I realize he's resorting back to his usual Tackles all over again. Bulbasaur is too fast in passing to give Squirtle time to strike him at an opening, and so the first pass goes by with both of them completely unscathed.

Bulbasaur spins around, eyes bright with fire. Squirtle takes the time to collect himself and make ready. He's already read Bulbasaur, like I am sure Blue has as well, and prepares for the next charge.

Sure enough, Bulbasaur charges. Classic Bulbasaur. Never giving thought to a plan Bulbasaur!

"Squirtle, dodge it and use Pound!" Blue says, still cool and calm.

"Squirtle!" Squirtle dodges to the right again, easily. He raises a bunched claw, and hits Bulbasaur along the side of the head in a way that sends him sprawling and off balance. It's just like Squirtle and Charmander all over again, Bulbasuar trying to recover as Squirtle is perfectly in control. He raises his blue fist on high. Bulbasaur shakes the dizziness from his head, but he easily recovers, I guess it's easier when you have four legs instead of two, and wheels around for another charge.

When Bulbasuar tries to Tackle again, Blue doesn't even need to give a command. Squirtle just knows what to do, and dodges easily to the right, and as Bulbasuar passes Squirtle strikes him promptly on the bulb.

"Saur!" Bulbasaur skids to the side with the force of the hit. His eyes are closed in pain, and I clench my teeth in worry. If he just knew that Squirtle favored his right side, just like Bulbasaur. But Bulbasaur won't listen to me, and if I yell it out, then Blue and Squirtle will know that I know. But it hurts me to see him like this, even if Bulbasaur's eyes are bright like he's having fun.

Bulbasaur charges again, no different from before. Again, Squirtle raises his blue turtle claw at the ready to strike when he dodges and Bulbasaur charges past him. I grind my teeth to grit, and hold my eyes tightly shut. I don't want to see him toiling fruitlessly. This is his dream just as much as mine. I know that.

I want to believe that.

I can't help but shout, "Bulbasaur! Remember what we practiced!" Bulbasuar hesitates, and drags to a halt.

Still with his one paw raised high, Squirtle stands ready, and the two of them face off in stillness. Bulbasaur glares, as if there is some inner turmoil inside himself.

"Hold, Squirtle." Blue whispers. He must think that Bulbasaur is waiting for an opening, and is willing to wait him out. It's a good and solid strategy. It was probably the strategy I would have used given the information I had about a green bulb turtle who knew little more than Tackle, and Growl, but Bulbasaur knows more than that now.

Bulbasaur shakes visibly. He shuts his eyes, shuts his eyes to his arrogance, shuts his eyes to his pride. Two thin vines whip out from the base of his bulb, and lash out towards Squirtle. Caught off guard, Squirtle stumbles backwards in a panic, and the vines strike him.

"Squirt!" Squirtle cries out as the vines catch him off balance, and he stumbles.

It's the first time that he and Blue were caught on the defensive today, still Bulbasaur doesn't let up. He lashes out with his vines again, striking Squirtle again, and Squirtle cowares.

"Don't let up Squirtle!" Blue shouts, the first time his commands sounds audibly rushed. "Run in! Try and catch him in close range!"

Squirtle stands, and charges, but Bulbasaur will not let up. He sets another vine flailing to strike Squirtle across the leg, and trip him, and Squirtle stumbles. He manages to stand again, using his shell as a guard while he struggles to his feet, but once he tries gaining the distance between himself and Bulbasaur again, Bulbasaur easily steppes several paces away and keeps on with the onslaught.

My heart races. Yes! This was exactly what I had in mind when I'd practiced with him. He's executing it perfectly. "Keep it up, Bulbasaur!" I cheer.

But Bulbasaur isn't even listening to me now. Of course, his mind is all on the battle.

"Squirtle, return." Suddenly, Blue's voice cuts through the excitement. Squirtle's body turns into a bright light which returns to the ball in Blue's outstretched hand. Blue shows a smirk. "I concede. You win, Yellow. I won't even bother with Pidgey, there's no point. You got me."

I feel a swell of pride, even if I hadn't really done anything. My first trainer battle, and I've won it!

Blue glances at Bulbasaur. "Still, I wasn't expecting that Vine Whip. How did you get him to learn that move so quickly?"

"Oh… I, um, taught him how to." Blue doesn't seem to get it. He looks at me strangly, and I avert my eyes. "Like, um, instead of waiting for him to realize it himself while battling and leveling up, I thought that I could get him there faster by training him specifically to use it. It's something I saw some of the pros talking about on The Move Tutor on tv. I used my pack, and told him to try and hit me, but since I'm faster than him he couldn't reach me with just Tackle.

"Bulbasaur is actually really smart too, he realized how to use it faster than I'd expected. And so, anyways… I… um…" I'm rambling. I had let myself get too excited. I feel my face turn hot, and tug the rim of my hat down to cover the redness of my cheeks. "Sorry…" I feel a tightness of embarrassment in my throat.

"Interesting. I hadn't even considered that." Blue mutters. Peeking from behind my cap, I realize that he isn't even looking at me. His cool eyes are glazed in thought, staring at his feet, and he has a fist pressed to his lips while he concentrates. My hands lower from my cap, and I find myself mesmerized by his intensity. I don't think he even realizes I'm here anymore.

"Would that work with Squirtle? No… he's too fast for me, and could resort back to Pound. Where should we even start focusing? Those vines," I jump a bit, and try not to look like I've been staring as Blue suddenly addresses me again, "How did you know he could do something like that?"

"Um, well he hit me with it when we first met."

Blue blinks. "He hit you!?"

I shrug, shifting my feet. "We've had a rough introduction."

Blue seems to understand I don't really want to get into it. He shoulders his own pack. "Thanks for the battle. You've given me a lot to think about." He turns around, and throws a wave over his shoulder. I nod before I realize he can't see that, but I don't know what to say, and he's gone before I can think of something.

In the brush in front of me, Bulbasaur is staring at me. I look back at him and smile.

"See, it's useful after all, am I right?"

"Saur!" Violently, Bulbasaur turns around, and marches off, nose upturned.

"Hey! Wait!" I call. Ditto beside me, I pick him up and jog after my bulbous burden. "Do you want to try and practice that some more?"

"Saur!" Bulbasaur shouts, still marching forward. We spend a long time bickering, till Bulbasaur catches sight of a wild Pidgey, and charges off after it.

After that, we spent another long day training and chasing. Though, I was happy to see at the time that rather than using Tackle to torment the regional wildlife, it was Vine Whip that beat them instead. So it was that, at the end of my third, and final day, in Route One, I was decidedly, and justifiably, winded. Satisfied, but I had trouble catching my breath after running so much after my Bulbasaur.

My feet are heavy, and my backpack weighs ten tons as I happen to find a thick Oran berry patch tangled with vines. Bulbasaur stumbles some distance behind me. For once, I don't think it's because he's being stubborn even. He's just too tired to keep up.

I let my pack fall heavily onto the grass next to a tree, and sit down heavily. I'm not even going to bother with cooking tonight, I'm too tired. Besides, Oran berries are a good meal for anyone. I just lie there, and try to catch me breath.

"Ditto!" Once again, Ditto is the only one of us still bubbling with energy as he pokes at me, trying to get my attention.

"What?" I manage to ask as I see Bulbasaur also come to rest under the canopy with us, but still far enough away that he can disassociate himself from our presence. Ditto's poking at the backpack, and I groan, "Of course." I drag the pack over so that I can unzip it and give Ditto back his mag.

That night, we ate Oran berries, of course, and before I knew it Bulbasaur was soundly snoring away. I suppose that he was tired from all the work of that day training, and the darkness of the night was all that it'd taken to give him an excuse to sleep. Ditto too spent most of those remaining hours reading. He was nearing the end of that dirty mag, if my memory is correct, and when he yawned, he soon turned in to sleep as well. But I couldn't quite find resting peace. Looking at Ditto, I couldn't help but feeling that something in that night was missing.

I lay on my sleeping pad, wide awake, with Ditto sleeping soundly beside me, and Bulbasaur snoring some paces off. I can't help but thinking about things that I feel that I shouldn't. Ditto really has moved on, and I am happy that he finally understands that it's wrong, but then why do I still have these thoughts? I think about that night two nights ago when he forced himself on me. His passion, his wanting.

I look at my little blob now sleeping soundly in a puddle beside me, and have trouble connecting him to the ravaging mirror image that he had been before. I sigh, knowing that I ought to sleep too. My body feels so tired from all of the running around, but my mind races and races.

I feel excited despite myself.

I hold my breath to try and stop my heavy breathing. I don't want to wake them, they're sleeping so innocently. I let it out slow, trying to calm myself, and I sit there in solid stillness as I look up at the stars in the sky, trying not to think about it. There is no moon out tonight, so everything on only dimly outlined by starlight.

I realise that I can't stand it any longer, I need a release. Slowly, very slowly, I creep my hand down, slipping it under my skirt and panties. My fingertip brushes against my lips, and they're already moist, and I suppress a shiver. I touch myself, making small circles on my clit. It's so quiet out tonight, my heart races to realize that the slightest sound may ruin that. I shut my eyes tight, biting my lip so I won't moan.

I'm dripping. I slide two fingers inside, and feel my softness. The sound of something wet comes to my ear, and I hesitate. But, my heart's pounding, and I don't want to stop. I move them around, and my pussy squishes.

"Ditto?"

This time I do freeze, a shiver of shock running down my spine. I wait like that, eyes still shut, and pretend like I'm asleep as I listen for him. I hear him rustling about, and my heart pounds.

Does he know? I crack my eye open slightly to peak, and see someone looming over me.

I yip, scrambling backwards in surprise. It's Blue! Blue is there, crouched on all fours, looking at me. Then I realise, it's Ditto of course. He starts crawling towards me. My heart races. He hasn't learned anything after all.

I make a grab for my bag, snatching up one of my empty pokeballs and brandish it at him like a shield. "Ditto, I'm warning you." I stammer, but Ditto keeps coming. I scoot back further, suddenly I feel something poke at my back as I brush up against the tangles of the Oran berry bushes.

"Ditto, I'm sorry! But we can't keep doing this! It's not right."

How naive I was back then. How stubborn.

Ditto prowles closer, Blue's calm and cool eyes boring into mine.

"Stop." I say clearly. Ditto doesn't.

I throw the pokeball.

Boing!

It bounces off his shoulder harmlessly, but it doesn't react to hitting him, and just rolls away into the grass. Why!? How!? Was it a dud? Is there even such a thing as a dud pokeball?

"...Stop," I whisper feebly. He's almost on me now. I swallow nervously.

I want it, but it's weird. It's so wrong, which is why I'd tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now, or so I think. Ditto is on top of me. I close my eyes, and wait for his touch.

But it never comes.

"Ditto…"

I open my eyes. Ditto hovers over me, we are just inches apart. His breathing is heavy, and warm, and wonderful. Blue's eyes are a pair of blue oceans drowning me. Me, I'm so excited I can almost release right now. Every second feels like a year. My heart beat is in my ear. Still, Ditto makes no further move. Why? Why? He's so wonderfully near.

Does he not want me?

I quickly glance down. His doted dick is hard and quivering. No, he definitely wants me, and we saw how my plan with the pokeballs went, and how he couldn't be caught. He even has me pinned against the bushes. I'm his sweet, ripe berry for the picking. Is there anything? No, nothing at all that can stop him from gobbling me up. Nothing can stop him…

So what's stopping him?

A possibility dawns on me, and it makes me blush. He can't possibly expect me to… I shake my head. Is he really going to make me say it? It's too embarrassing. He never asked it of me before. He took what he wanted, but now he cares what I wanted? My fabulous little flab, my gentle, jiggly gentlemen. I lean forward, and I kiss him. His lips part willingly to accept mine. We break for just a moment so that my tongue is free to speak. I swallow the last of my nervousness. I nod, smiling as I look into his seas .

"Take me," I whisper.

Ditto leans forward slowly, and he does.

He kisses me sweetly. His breath tastes of Oran berries. His hand, Blue's hand, buries into my hair, and holds me closer as his other hand fondles my breast. I let him have me, feeling my tongue over his as we have a slow dance in our mouths. Yes, it's everything that I wanted and more. Who cares about what others will think, they aren't here in this wonderful moment.

Suddenly, Ditto breaks free of my lips. I open my eyes as I see him drawing away from me. No! Don't stop, I think, why!? But slowly, he draws down my body. I feel his hands on either side of my hips, under my skirt, and I feel an actual shiver of pleasure. Ditto pulls my panties off of me, and then buries his head underneath my skirt.

I bite my lip again as I feel a yelp coming on. I feel his tongue running itself over my lady lips. My face cracks into a simple smile of love. The dirty mag again, he wanted to try out what he'd learned.

Well it must have taught him well, because he's absolutely amazing. His tongue motions become even more eccentric, and erratic.

He must really like the taste of me, and it feels so very good!

Before, he'd been in my everywhere. He was bound to have gotten lucky and rubbed something right, but now he knew all the perfect places, licking them like a Lickitung. I close my eyes tight and focus on feeling him. I dig my hands in his bristly hair and hold his head close to me between my legs. Nothing sounds worse to me right now than for him to stop, so I force him there so he can't stop, and he doesn't stop, he keeps licking me. He starts making circles, becoming even more passionate, like he can tell that I want him. Then his tongue comes inside of me, burying it's wet velvet.

I'm almost there, and he tastes my berry sweetness. I feel ready to cum, but I don't want to! Not yet! I love this, I want to stay in this moment. But I can't hold it any longer, I release. I let my love for him out of me.

I feel like I'm melting into the grasses, but Ditto doesn't stop, he keeps lapping me up. Ditto wait! Ditto stop! I'm so sensitive!

"Saur?" I freeze, my heart pounds loudly, but I try and keep quiet. Ditto continues, uncaring, and I try and pull his head off me. Bulbasaur has woken up. I see his silhouette in the darkness, he's looking around.

He sees us.