As promised, second chapter. Also, Steven cometh soon. Just setting up everything...
It's one of the kinds of Pokémon with electric cheek pouches. It shoots charges from its tail.
10
I ran. First day. Second day. I tried to pace myself as Chevy had advised, knowing the last thing I needed was to freak Carlos out. Yet the thought of being mounted by something, of burning alive in water, of Collin calling my name as he tromped through the woods, would always push me back up. At least I found that if I let the heat dribble out of my mouth in the blue Will-o-Wisp flames after each lap it kept my body bearably cool. I leaned over the pond to do so, letting the fire fizzle harmlessly into the water.
Eventually, I threw up.
Thankfully, Chevy wasn't around to scold me that time. And after I'd emptied my stomach, I found my body oddly resistant to exhaustion, as though it had grown lighter. But it taught me the upmost limits of my body, so I was able to avoid a repeat.
On the third night of watching me amble in to dinner with my tails dragging behind me, Carlos gave me his deepest frown yet.
"Girl, you're filthy again," he said as he set down a bowl of what looked to be some sort of meat-only, chilled stew. He brushed a hand over my head and down my coat, then around my muzzle. Sadly, he did not scratch under my chin, but his eyes flew wide when he pulled away to find blood. A blink later he had pried open my mouth and a rag swabbed against my nostrils, revealing more blood.
"You ran until…" he jumped up. "Chevy, watch her."
The other poke'mon who shared the pasture with me stopped eating to stare as Carlos ran back into the house. They watched Chevy slowly stand from his watch spot near the house to walk towards me, every line of his face and mane grim.
"You've done it now," he said.
He sat in front of me, shoulders thrown back. I could almost smell his displeasure if my nose didn't ache so much. But after overheating so much from running I had gotten all too used to the pain of my mouth and nose. Sweating was a brilliant evolutionary idea. Why any animal had fur anymore was beyond me.
I said nothing as I hunched down to lap up my food. While being more palatable than the dry kibble, I couldn't say it hit the spot. But I couldn't imagine Carlos being able to afford steak every day, and I wasn't about to turn away important protein for building muscle.
"Mayleen…"
I swallowed. "What?" My voice rasped.
"…how can you do this to yourself?"
"It's just training. And I don't have endless amounts of time."
"I'm not going to let anyone mount you that you don't want. What are you so afraid of?"
I sighed. "Oh, come on, you do know what artificial insemination is, don't you?"
At his blank look, I groaned. Of course not. It's not like Chevy had any lessons in science.
Since I had worked up a serious appetite, I decided to eat more before I attempted to explain it to him.
From inside the house, I could hear Carlos's voice, though I couldn't make out the words.
When I'd taken the edge off the hunger, I licked the sauce off my lips.
"Artificial means man-made or done by man rather than by nature," I sat up to stretch some of my aching muscles. "Insemination is…uh…impregnating."
Chevy's ears went ramrod straight and his smooth mane prickled.
"Uh, um, Mayleen, uh, a human can't, uh, mate with a poke'mon."
I recoiled. "No! No no no, there's no mating involved whatsoever."
His ears relaxed, though his head cocked, the Mightyena equivalent of a cocked eyebrow. "Then how can there be, uh, impregnating?"
Ugh, gosh, this was so awkward. "Do you know what semen is?"
"…no."
Arceus. "It's the stuff from a male that goes into a female."
"…there's stuff?"
"Yes! Arceus, this is weird."
"Why is it weird?"
Because I'm human and we actually get embarrassed talking about sex, you freak!
I took in a deep breath, fully aware of the electric rodent gang watching from a few bowls over, chewing slowly so as to hear me. One of the Pikachu nudged the Altaria snacking against it, gesturing towards me with its black-tipped ears.
Yay, now I have an audience. Never thought I'd be teaching sex education to a bunch of poke'mon.
"Okay," another deep breath. "Okay, during the act of mating, a male releases stuff into the female. This stuff meets with a teeny, tiny egg inside the female. It's the joining of the male stuff and the egg that makes a baby." When they just kept on staring, the rodents and Altaria not even bothering to hide their interest now, I added, "It's teeny tiny at first, but then it grows and when it's big enough…you have your egg."
Chevy's tail wagged once. Then a few more times, more furiously. "Oh, that makes sense." Then his tail froze. "Wait, so a man-made…do they put male stuff in the female without a male?"
I beamed—or, I let the corners of my mouth quirk up and my tails wag. "There you go, you got it."
But any happiness gained from his learning one of the great mysteries of life had given way to mane spiking alarm as the connections went off in his head.
"But—but how do they get the male stuff—and how do they into the female—"
"The particulars aren't important. The point is I've heard it done before and Carlos—"
"Carlos has said those words," finished Chevy for me, his ears flat and his teeth beginning to show. "The arti-shall semen. And he's said it before, I never thought—and they could make you sleep. They could do it to while you sleep…" the pitch in Chevy's tone had risen.
I shifted on my paws, wondering if I had done the wrong thing in explaining this to him. Chevy was taking this a whole lot worse than I thought he would.
"And it's been done before?" he asked, almost whispered.
I hesitated. "Uh…yeah?"
"You're sure?"
"Okay, I'm freaked out about it being done to me, but why are you freaked out? I thought you guys have no problem birthing eggs and handing them off?"
Chevy's sharp growl snapped at the words the moment they touched air.
"Are you mad? Children are a blessing no matter how or when they come, and we only entrust them to our trainers because we wish them to be strong! To grow up!"
I recoiled beneath his anger, nearly vanishing into my tails.
Altaria and the electric gang weren't the only ones watching now.
"And to so-so blatantly mess with the process to bring them about, so they have no father, just an unwilling mother…"
Personally, I thought the line he was drawing between being put in a breeding compound and being artificially inseminated was almost nonexistent, but no way in hell was I going to say that with his fur all spiked up and eyes glowing like a full moon. Also, it wasn't like they didn't have a father, just an unknowing one. For all I knew, Carlos had gotten some from Chevy without his knowing what was going on and the guy had kids off in the world he didn't know of.
…which was an awful thought I'd never, ever voice to Chevy.
With a snarl he started to pace, tail straight out behind him, lips curled.
Wanting to hide, I tried to finish my food as covertly as possible.
For the first time, a Pichirisu, who had scooted near, spoke to me.
"Whad'ya say?" it chirruped.
"You wouldn't get it," I muttered around a mouthful of meat.
"Scram!" Chevy barked.
It squeaked and vanished into the grass behind us. The Pikachu next to it took that as invitation to the fruits and nuts it'd left behind.
I didn't blame it. That particular bark of his had made even me shiver.
Right then, Carlos stepped out, stuffing his phone into his pocket.
"Okay, what next," he looked around and grabbed for a bag of feed nearby.
Chevy's head swiveled to Carlos and froze.
A really, really bad feeling came over me.
"Uh, Chevy, whatever you're thinking, just put it on hold for a minute."
Chevy took a paw forward, his eyes glued to his trainer, ears down flat as his tail. In that moment, I didn't see Chevy, but the wild Mightyena who had chased me in the forest.
Altaria fluttered silently away and the rest of the Pi-gang vanished. Ponyta stamped and gave a nervous wuffle. The other poke'mon watched on, riveted.
"Chevy. Chevy, are you listening to me?"
But he drew closer to Carlos's unsuspecting back, his steps silent, head low. A low, quiet growl started up in his throat like the rumble of disturbed earth.
Chevy blurred—my body moved, upending my bowl—one of my tails flared hot.
My teeth closed in around Chevy's nape at the same time Carlos cried out.
"What the—"
Chevy turned on me, all tooth and claw. I twisted, my slippery fur giving me the modicum of leeway I needed to keep his teeth from breaking flesh, clenching my jaw so hard my ears popped. I flung my tails round and instinctively reached for the blazing tail, spreading the heat through my body till it flooded out my teeth and into the writhing black fur beneath me.
A blue light took hold of Chevy, momentarily blinding me. He yelped and dropped to the ground.
The moment he did I jumped back, horrified. Instantly, the blue light vanished.
"Chevy!" Carlos dropped the feed and scrambled to his Mightyena's side.
"I'm fine," Mightyena growled, already getting to his feet, though his eyes were on me. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but at least the aggression from his form seemed to be easing.
Carlos turned on me.
I pulled back, ears flat, tails fighting to get between my legs. The one that had been hot had grown cold.
"I—I just, I just…" I gulped. "Chevy, I just wanted to stop you. I didn't mean…"
"You didn't hurt me," he said, voice flat. "That was a psychic attack."
Carlos, however, had no such neutral inflection. The sharp tang of human anger filled my nose, ruining the calm the man forced into his words.
"Ninetales, return."
A flash of red and I found myself hunched against the curved, mirror-chrome walls of my poke'ball.
I whimpered and dropped a paw over my face.
Dang it. I liked Chevy. I liked him a lot. It was going to royally suck not having him for a friend anymore.
Though I knew I wouldn't be unaffected, it hurt a lot more than I thought it should. After all, I had planned on leaving this place as soon as I could with no thought of bringing anyone with me. All my inmates, if that was the word, belonged to other trainers. Though I technically did too, I still felt, deep down, that I belonged to no one. No human did.
Just as I curled down to get ready for a long, long night, there came another flash and I found myself curled in the dirt of the grass I'd just left, Chevy a bare foot from my nose.
I glanced up at Carlos's pressed lips and furrowed eyebrows before turning to Chevy, who once more held an indecipherable look. I whimpered, pressing myself down flat. When the Mightyena stepped towards me, I clenched my eyes close in preparation for the attack.
Instead, the unmistakable rough heat of a tongue caressed my brow.
"It's alright," Chevy's tone was soft, softer than I had ever heard it, and unmistakably gentle. "Thank you, Mayleen. For stopping me."
He licked me again, this time atop one of my flattened ears, which cautiously relaxed with its twin. Relief flooded me, bringing a heavy warmth to my chest and a tightening to my throat. If I'd been human, I may have cried.
"I'm sorry for saying anything, if I knew it would make you—I just know you'd regret it if you attacked Carlos, and I didn't think—"
He cut me off with another lick, this time across my muzzle. It was far from pleasant, especially with Chevy's Mightyena scent being puffed all over me. But my heart somehow related the touches to kisses, culling the disgust before it could reach my thoughts.
Carlos sighed and pressed the ball of his hand between his eyebrows. "I can't even begin to understand what just happened. Look, if you guys have drama to figure out, can you not do it over dinner? Scared the crap out of me." He hesitated, looking down at where I still lay low in the dirt before the left pasture padlock. His gaze softened. "I'm sorry, girl, I totally flipped on you." He dropped to his haunches and ran his fingers between my ears. "I should have thought first. Docile little you attacking Chevy out of the blue? Your best friend? You didn't mean any harm, I bet."
Unintended, a whine squeaked up from my breast.
Chevy dropped down to my level, nuzzling my shoulder.
"Forgive me," he murmured.
I pressed the side of my face against his mane and sighed.
"Stop it. I'm the one who pounced you."
"You hardly did anything. Psychic moves don't affect my type, and your bite…ahem…you bite like a puppy."
I gave a weak smile at that in the form of a few tentative swishes of my tails.
Carlos, satisfied with the new peace, pushed off his knees with a groan.
"Alright, now that's over and done with and my heart's restarted, back to dinner." He tramped back across the courtyard to where he had dropped the bag of food.
Chevy kept his muzzle to my shoulder for a long time, breathing deep and making no sign of moving anytime soon. Sensing he needed it, I stayed still, pushing down the urge to shoo him off and run off to the far end of the pasture. Above us the blue sky had bled over with pink and yellow from the sunset hidden behind the line of trees which marked the forest. The chatter of the other poke'mon as they enjoyed their remaining free time before bed and poke'balls blended in with the sigh of the branches to make a calming white noise.