Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I do however own Alex, and this characterization of a member of the Darkrai, Purugly, Kricketune, Ponyta, and Murkrow species. Also, The Lady.
Chapter Twelve:
On the Care and Feeding
-o-O~OOO~O-o-
Alex woke the next morning shrouded in fluffy darkness with heart aching, but healing. Her heart wasn't the only thing hurting, however.
The darkness cloaking her shifted as her stomach let out an annoyed growl, prompting Alex to brush the fur out of her eyes and take in her surroundings. She was back in her tent, but she wasn't alone. Darkrai was just stirring to wakefulness beside her—making the enclosed space feel more than a little cramped—causing its longer fur to begin picking up in the legendary's mysterious wind and tickle her something fierce.
Alex blushed as she realized that not only had she (literally) slept with her Pokémon, someone had shifted during the night and now they were (literally) tangled together.
"Umm," the trainer started, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness in the (suddenly very small) tent.
Darkrai apparently had no qualms about the weirdness of the situation, choosing instead to gaze at her in questioning concern while reaching out to delicately touch her cheek with a talon. "Krai?"
Are you okay? Alex blushed further at the gesture before the events of last night came crashing to the forefront of her mind. "Oh gods," the trainer covered her face with her hands as she leaned back on her elbows, "last night—! I completely…" Her entire face burned in shame as she recalled her break down. "I'm sorry—"
Alex's mortified rant was cut short by a talon closing over her wrists and gently pulling them to the side. Darkrai glared (though the effectiveness was somewhat limited by the impressive bed head it sported) at her. "Darkrai, rai rai krai Darkrai," it berated for a moment before its gaze softened and it finished weakly, "Krai, Darkrai."
The trainer glanced away in embarrassment as she translated, Don't you ever hide that from me again/I was really worried. "I'm sorry." The Pokémon released her wrists and winced as Alex awkwardly sat up, accidentally tugging the fur tangled around her lower back. "Sorry!" Alex flinched in sympathy.
Darkrai snorted, adjusting itself and pulling the fur on one shoulder taut with one talon, and slicing it off with the other. Alex's eyes widened as the detached fluff faded out of existence and regrew on the legendary's shoulder, pluming out like a flag waving in the wind. The dark type did this twice more, freeing its trainer from her furry bindings before leaning back with a nod.
Alex just blinked. "I wish I could do that."
Darkrai huffed in amusement and reached forward with a talon to poke her on the belly. The dark type gave her a pointed look and gestured to the tent flap.
"Yeah yeah, I'll eat something after I've fed everyone."
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Sighing, Alex set down the bowls of food for her team. After she and Darkrai had had their 'talk' in the tent, the legendary had discreetly exited via shadows and left her to attend to the other Pokémon while it busied itself with something involving the (still smoldering) fire pit. Alex was curious, but simply didn't have the energy to even think much about it as she concentrated on keeping her hands steady enough to mix her team's food for them.
The trainer got an answer when she turned around and found a spoon shoved into her mouth by a very determined looking Darkrai. Alex swallowed in surprise as the Pokémon tipped the utensil up and dumped the (perfectly heated) soup onto her tongue. The legendary pulled the spoon out of her mouth and glanced away for a moment to refill it from the can it held in its other hand, breaking the spell of shock that had paralyzed Alex.
Darkrai tried to push the spoon back in her mouth, but this time Alex was prepared. Leaning away from the encroaching utensil, the trainer managed to sputter a protest. "I can feed myself!"
Though the Pokémon looked doubtful, it handed over the can of soup and the spoon without a fuss, letting her set the items on the table to draw a chair out of an item ball to sit. Glaring at the legendary, Alex defiantly picked up the spoon and filled it in the can. When she brought it up to her lips however, the spoon was empty. Confused, the trainer tried again—only to be dismayed when she found that her hand shook so badly that all the soup splashed out of the spoon before she could even raise it all the way out of the can.
Aware of Darkrai watching her, Alex tried two more times to feed herself before giving up. "Okay," the trainer sighed, conceding, "you might have a point."
The legendary took her admittance of defeat with grace and merely gave her a look of concern as it gently collected the spoon from her hand and hovered next to her, bringing them to eye level. Darkrai filled the spoon again and held it up to her lips, waiting for her consent.
With a sigh, Alex opened her mouth to let the nightmare king spoon feed her the can of soup. Though the situation made the trainer feel more like a pouting child than a fully independent adult capable of leading a team of magical creatures through the wilderness while surviving for weeks at a time away from civilization, she was more disturbed by her own weakness than embarrassed by the coddling she was receiving from Darkrai.
When was the last time she had eaten? Alex realized with a pang that the last meal she'd had had been right after Darkrai had carried her to Jubilife, before she'd gotten the news of Mightyena's death.
The sudden reminder of the death of her closest friend (older brother, more like) sent a wave of guilt sweeping through her being.
"Krai?" Darkrai broke Alex from her thoughts as it paused its movements mid-ladle and gave her another look of concern.
"I'm fine," the trainer tried to reassure it. She amended the statement though when the legendary's gaze turned flat. "I will be fine."
That at least seemed to satisfy the dark type, as it went back to diligently ladling soup into her mouth.
It didn't take too much longer for the spoon to scrape the bottom of the can and come up empty. Darkrai examined the finished tin and nodded in satisfaction, setting the object aside as Alex stood up.
"Thank you," the trainer said to the legendary, blushing but sincere. Darkrai nodded again, hovering up to keep level as Alex glanced to the rest of her team. They were each engaged in their own grooming rituals and seemed to have ignored the embarrassing scene that had just ended between her and Darkrai.
Alex smiled to herself and made her way around the table to grab the empty bowls and take them to the nearby stream and wash them. Well, she tried to. Halfway there, Darkrai grabbed her from behind and gently lifted her off her feet before settling on the ground with her butt resting on the front part of its skirt, holding her in place with one arm across her stomach, and proceeded to groom her with the other.
The trainer blushed anew, giving a halfhearted struggle while protesting, "Hey, come on—I'm not that weak—I can comb my own hair—I need to do the dishes—!" Alex's objections were cut off when Darkrai lifted the arm restraining her to place a talon against her lips, pinning her chest with its elbow.
"Krai," the legendary told her flatly.
Alex huffed and crossed her arms as best she could in the awkward position she was in, and Darkrai moved the talon on her lips to rest on her shoulder. The trainer remained silent, glancing over to her team again.
At one week old, Murkrow was preening herself for the first time on her own, looking very proud of the fact as she stretched her wings out and slid her beak down each feather one-by-one to realign the tiny hooks on each little fiber so they could catch the wind when she flapped.
The other three Pokémon had finished with their grooming and were milling about, not seeming to pay any mind to the display Darkrai was putting on with their trainer.
Alex's sigh of relief was cut short as the legendary called out, gaining the three's attention. "Darkrai, krai rai?"
Kricketune stepped forward, nodding. "Krikrikrikricket tuuune?" she asked in her xylophone voice.
"Krai dark, Rai rai Dark."
Kricketune nodded again and turned, making her way over to Alex's pack to dig through it. Darkrai addressed the two remaining Pokémon and sent them each off with a command as well. Purugly waddled over to the tent and began taking it down while Ponyta helped, grabbing the edges of the structure in his mouth and pulling them up, careful not to whack himself in the face with the springy poles as they came free.
Alex blinked in bewilderment as Darkrai continued to groom her, ignoring its own slightly disheveled state in favor of sorting out hers. "I am fine, you know," she tried to tell the legendary, "You can see to yourself if you want."
Darkrai squeezed her shoulder in acknowledgement before switching arms to finish combing through her hair. The activity in the clearing continued as Kricketune approached the collapsed tent with an item ball in her mouth and awkwardly returned the structure, turning to the fire pit (Ponyta had scattered the ashes after the coals had cooled) and doing the same to it.
"Krai rai?" Darkrai called out, gaining Murkrow's attention.
"Mur, Krow?" The little bird swooped over to them, having finished with her own grooming.
"Darkrai, krai krai rai dark."
Murkrow nodded, hopping up onto Alex's lap while Darkrai concluded its cuddling/combing session with its trainer and sank into the shadows behind her, leaving the human to sit with the bird while it rose up out of the ground near the table (which was in the process of being packed away by the industrious trio) and gathered up the empty bowls of food.
After the legendary had flown off towards the stream, Alex scooped Murkrow into her arms and tried to stand.
"KROW KROW KROWKROWKROW!" Murkrow screeched at the human, causing her to yelp and fall back onto her butt in surprise. With Alex's ass firmly on the ground again, Murkrow fell silent.
Alex sighed. "I'm not allowed to get up, am I?"
Murkrow shook her head, settling back down to keep an eye on her human charge.
The trainer smiled to herself, thoughts bittersweet. The whole affair with her team reminded her of how Mightyena used to get whenever she'd forget to take care of herself. She used to thank the gods that her old friend didn't have thumbs and wasn't actually large enough to boss her around (much). Glancing over to where Darkrai had left the clearing, Alex supposed that turnabout was, in fact, fair play.
It wasn't too long before Darkrai reentered the clearing with the cleaned bowls in hand. With a nod to Kricketune (who returned the bowls to their item cube), the legendary turned and floated back over to Alex and Murkrow.
"Krow! Murk row row Murkrow," the little bird reported.
Darkrai nodded to her. "Darkrai, Krai rai." Murkrow flew off to perch on a nearby branch as the larger dark type gave Alex an annoyed huff.
"I'm sorry," Alex felt compelled to apologize. She glanced over to her team as they gathered in a line in the cleaned up campsite, and felt tears start to form in her eyes. "You guys…" The trainer looked down to hide her face as Darkrai hovered over to her pack, picking it up off the ground.
Alex gazed upward again as Ponyta whickered and stepped forward, asking the legendary something. The two talked for a moment before Darkrai settled on the ground and helped the fire colt don the pack, threading one of his front legs through the straps and slinging it over his back. Ponyta tested his range of movement and whinnied in approval, turning to Alex for instruction.
The trainer dried her eyes quickly and stood, glancing to Darkrai before looking to her team. "Thank you guys…" she began, "I…" and got no further. Standing there at a loss for words, Alex glanced around at her team, who were waiting patiently for her to voice something they knew she had no words for. The trainer gave a huff of a laugh, and knew they knew what she meant. "Let's move out."
Alex turned to the path ahead but stopped before she took her first step and looked over at Darkrai, who was hovering up to her silently. "You're going to carry me again, aren't you?"
The nightmare king nodded, holding out its talon for her to take.
Alex simply smiled and accepted the legendary's gesture, taking its hand to let it pull her into a brief hug before scooping her into a bridal carry.
"Krai, Darkrai?" the legendary asked, familiar voice making its chest rumble against Alex's frame as she settled in.
"Purugly," the fat cat answered with a nod, leading the way for their party.
As they set off, Alex took a moment to reflect on how lucky she was to have friends that could (literally) help carry her through rough times. It humbled her, to say the least. Though Alex knew deep in her heart that nothing she did could ever repay the kindness her team had shown here that morning, she also knew she'd be damned if she didn't try.
-o-O~OOO~O-o-
Archer moved along the line, grumbling under his breath. It hadn't been a particularly good day for him—starting off with breaking a shoelace, of all things—and now he was one of the very last people in the lunch line at the cafeteria. Having only the leftovers to pick through did nothing to improve Archer's mood, and the final straw came when the guy in front of him snatched up the last bagel.
Taking a moment to calm his rage, Archer tapped on the bagel thief's shoulder. "Excuse me, may I have that please?"
The guy grinned at him. "Nope, sorry. I've been looking forward to this baby all day." He took a bite of the bagel, shrugging apologetically.
The guy was on the floor before he knew what hit him—which turned out to be Archer's fist. The guy blinked a few times, wincing in pain as the aftereffects of getting slugged to the ground caught up with him. "Dude, what the hell?!"
Archer stood over him, fuming. "I have been having the worst fucking day of my whole goddamned life, and you little shit can't even show a tiny bit of appreciation for all the work I have to do around here!"
The guy on the ground sprang up and shouted back, "What makes you think my day was any better?! I had to catalog every single Poké Ball in the most recent shipment! Every. Single. One! By Hand! But do you see me punching out a random guy 'cause my day's been shit? No!"
"I wish I spent the day cataloging Poké Balls 'by hand'!" Archer mocked, "What I've been doing all day ought to be considered illegal!"
Before Archer could tell the guy what miserable thing he'd been tasked with completing that morning, a petite blond woman with a long black feather braded into her hair with rainbow beads stepped between them. "Let's calm down here, there's no reason to fight."
Archer didn't calm down. "Who the hell are you supposed to be, bitch?" he snarled at the woman.
Archer completely missed the look of horror from the guy he'd hit as a man in a white dress shirt and black gloves commanded his attention from the side, stepping forward with a look of disgust on his face. "Mind your tongue, grunt! You are speaking to—"
"Albert," the woman warned, "I can handle this." She turned back to Archer. "Archer," the man in question was stunned to hear his name from the stranger, "I know you spent the day in the bowels of the airship, and we all thank you for your hard, dirty work. Mathew," she turned to the other guy, who was looking alternatively guilty and awestruck at being addressed, "I'm sorry you had to do all that cataloging by hand, but the scanner won't be repaired for another three days. I can assign you some help if the job gets to be too much for you."
Mathew shook his head vehemently, stopping when he nearly lost balance from the possible concussion he'd just received from Archer's fist. "N-no, my Lady! I'm fine, there's no need to take others away from their work for my sake."
The woman smiled warmly, then glanced to the empty tray of bagels. "Oh my, I didn't expect the bagels to be so popular. I'll have another shipment ordered this weekend." With a nod to the two males, the woman exited the room, seeming to float more than walk on the metal floor. The man in the white dress shirt followed her out after a parting glare at the men, trailing the woman like a faithful dog at the side of his master.
Archer turned to Mathew, ire abated by the serene presence of the woman. "Who the hell was that?"
Mathew frowned at him. "That, was The Lady Care."
Archer snorted. "That's a stupid name."
Mathew's eyes narrowed as he glanced around the room. "You should probably reconsider that opinion."
Confused, Archer looked around the room and found that every single person there—even the few Pokémon that were out of their balls—was glaring at him.
"The Lady's real name is Caritas, but everyone calls her Care because she makes it a point to know every single person working for her."
Archer's eyes widened in realization. "You mean she's—!"
Mathew nodded. "The leader of Team Hearsay. And that guy with the black gloves is her right-hand man, Sir Albert. He's generally a nice guy, but don't, do not, insult The Lady in front of him. Or at all, really—every single individual here has been personally helped by The Lady at some point during their employment, and each of us would fight to the death to defend her honor."
Archer backed up a step, intimidated. "That's insane!"
Mathew's gaze flattened. "The ungrateful idiots tend to get weeded out in their first few days."
Looking around the room at the murderous stares he was receiving, Archer's survival instincts suddenly kicked in. He turned to Mathew and said as sincerely as he could, "Hey, I'm sorry for hitting you earlier and calling the—The Lady a… bad name. It was completely unreasonable of me to take out my frustration on innocent bystanders like that." Archer glanced around the cafeteria, seeing some of the dark looks fading. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? …Or The Lady?"
Mathew's mouth twitched into a smile. "Well done. You might survive your first week yet."
-o-O~OOO~O-o-
End chapter.
Hmm, not much to say this time. You can thank my beta for the last scene, as before I put it in, the chapter had gone past diabetes and into full-on heart attack in terms of sweetness. So, something nice and sinister to balance it out.
Questions? Comments? …Concerns? Well, not even Darkrai can read your mind (literally!), so if there's something you want to say, make sure to post a review to let me know. I welcome constructive criticism. I will never yell at you for stating your opinion-but please include a reason if you're going to flame.
Next chapter; we get to see someone we haven't seen in a while whilst something actually happens.