The target is attacked with small flames. This may also leave the target with a burn.
11
The yellow had faded to navy and Carlos had started returning all the poke'mon to their balls. I always kept my eyes closed during this to avoid the headache that came from all the flashes. It was probably because I had done so that I even noticed the smells about me had changed, namely Chevy's.
He didn't stink. It was still there, an undertone that marked his identity, but he suddenly smelled…kind of like a cologne musk, mixed with the smell of dew at dusk and wet dirt.
Curious, I turned my head to take a closer whiff.
"Yo, Chevy, your smell changed. What's up with that?"
He flinched, jerking his head away from my shoulder.
"It's—it's nothing," he said.
I frowned as he increased the space between us, refusing to meet my eye.
"Did I offend you?" I asked.
That stopped him, and he gave a single shake of his head, as though flicking off a bad thought.
"No, I…it's nothing. I just remembered you don't like touching."
I shrugged, an all too human gesture that I regretted the moment I did it, though Chevy seemed to give no thought to it. "You were trying to communicate with me. I don't mind. Especially since you seem to need it. You were really shook up. You can come back if you want, whatever helps." I hesitated. "Um…if a lick or two will help you feel better, I could try that."
To my surprise, he chuckled.
"You're so strange," he said, but he eased back to his spot at my side, though he didn't return his muzzle to my shoulder. Instead, he rested it upon his paws with a deep sigh.
I nudged him. "What are the great Chevy's thoughts?"
"Hn." His eyes reflected the white flashes as Carlos returned the trio of Roselia across the way.
I hesitated once more, gathering my nerve, before carefully licking the top of his head. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. He didn't taste much of anything and I didn't get any hair on my tongue, which was what I had worried about.
Chevy gave a strange little wuffle of air and closed his eyes.
Just to be sure, I gave him another quick lick before putting my head to my paws as well. What I really wanted to do was roll over on my back and get comfortable, but I already had too many strikes against my normalcy.
Carlos shifted the bag of poke'balls on his shoulders. They clattered like marbles within. It made me think of the time my brother and I had collected marbles from the quarter machine at Alford's market. He hadn't had zits then, which was weird to think about, even though he had only been ten.
…Arceus, I missed him.
"Mayleen."
I blinked from my reverie. "Yeah, Chevy?"
"I swear on my life I will protect you from that…man-made mating." He sighed. "That being said, I'm not stupid. I know that doesn't amount to much when my trainer can return me to ball. So…so I'll help you train."
I blinked, touched, but a bit chagrin. "Thanks, but what can you do? Run with me? Let me bite you?" I kind of smirked inwardly at that.
"How else?" His eyes followed Carlos as he passed us to reach the other side of the padlock, towards the fire poke'mon enclosure. "I'm going to get Blaze back for you."
My head jerked up. "Really? You're serious?"
"Yes, but I'll be damned if he turns you into a game again," he said, his last words nearly lost to a growl.
"What if that's what I need?"
"How the heck could that…" he stopped, taking a breath. The act of trying to control himself was odd to me. But when he pressed forward, the growl was gone. "I'll make him explain himself."
"So…that he doesn't raise Carlos's suspicions?"
"Carlos won't be any of our concern. We'll be training at night."
I balked. "Wait, that means you're—will Carlos be okay with you stealing from him like that?"
He gave me a look from above his paw. "What's with the change? You were the one asking me to help you get Blaze back. How else would we get him? It's not like either of us can speak human."
I shifted my paws in place. "I…I dunno. I guess getting him mad at me for the first time's made me hesitate, and...well, almost losing you as a friend's kind of taken the wind out of me too. I don't want you to get in trouble or hurt for me, you know?"
His ears swiveled towards me like soldiers at attention and his tail thumped.
"You…you like me?" he asked.
I cocked my head. "Why would I not?"
But he didn't answer, his ears turning away, his tail swishing slowly, thoughtfully.
At last, all the poke'mon had been returned and it was our turn.
Carlos stood before us, his lower lip jutted out in thought as he tossed and caught my poke'ball in his hand.
"I'd hate to pull you two apart…" he said, though it sounded mostly to himself. "How about sleeping with us tonight, girl?"
I perked at that. While the poke'ball wasn't uncomfortable, the idea of sleeping in a house like a sane human being once more sounded amazing.
Carlos smiled at my response. "Alright. Promise not to damage anything and we'll call it good, yeah?"
He held out a hand to me. Without thinking, I put my paw in it, letting him shake it.
He laughed. "You really are a smart girl, aren't you? Come on, lovebirds."
Chevy seemed to stiffen at that, and I could tell when he glanced back at me that he was worried. But I just nudged him again, laughing. To Carlos, we probably were. What he thought wouldn't change what was.
I had been getting use to the autumn chill biting the air in the evenings, but my shivers came back when the first touch of fire from the fireplace ghosted over me. Sighing with relief, I let myself flop onto the rug, stretching myself out on my belly. I'd probably switch to my back once Carlos was asleep, but this was pretty comfortable as it was. Even Chevy lying down next to me didn't scare away the feeling of home and shelter.
Collin flashed through my mind's eye, and I let myself imagine that he was near, watching a documentary or picking at his chin.
Next thing I knew, I was being nudged awake by Chevy.
"I've got him," he whispered.
I gave a jaw cracking yawn. The fire had died down to embers that still radiated heat.
"Who?" I mumbled.
"Blaze."
For a moment, I was tempted to tell him it could wait till tomorrow night, being beyond exhausted and comfy. But…he had compromised his morals for this.
"You know you don't have to do this," I said, softly. "I know you think it will make you a bad poke'mon…"
His tongue flashed out, barely touching the tip of my nose.
"No such thing," he said. "This is the right thing to do."
The guilt within me eased.
It wasn't till I had slipped out the back door after Chevy that I realized the night had changed from what I had remembered. The moon and stars glowed as bright as daylight, yet with a softer silver compared to the burning yellow of the sun. Greens, blues, and purples gentle held the curves and lines of trees and fences. And, as I arched back to take in the complete shawls of stars my lungs filled with cool, rich scents. Together, they reminded me of an ice cream shop.
I don't know how long I stood frozen on the back stoop, nose frozen up towards the sky, before Chevy finally circled around and nudged me and put down the poke'ball from his mouth to speak.
"What's wrong?"
"It's beautiful…" I breathed.
His head cocked to the side and his tail gave a few good thumps.
"I prefer the night myself," he said. "But, that isn't unusual for my kind."
Taking in one last deep drag of ice cream air, I pushed my head back down and stepped down off the stoop.
"Okay, where are we doing this?"
He picked up Blaze's poke'ball and headed off towards the fire enclosure. We wiggled under the gate and made our way to the center, where the pit of coals had grown still, speckled with but a few strangling dots of orange.
"At least you won't be risking heat stroke again," I said, sniffing the edges. The heat hear had a slightly different scent than that of a fire poke'mon. Something chemical, like the rancid sting of gasoline or bleach.
Chevy dropped the poke'ball, then, gingerly, held it between his paws and pushed the button in with a paw. The ensuing flash drowned out the night, blinding me.
I was still blinking away spots when I heard Blaze grunt.
"Why do I get the feeling this ain't a romantic trist? Pretty setting aside."
Blaze smelled only slightly better than Chevy's usual scent, which helped me refrain from clearing my nose with several snuffs like I did when I first meet Chevy every day.
As my vision cleared, my stomach twisted at Blaze's bone and devil outline. His eyes seemed to glow with fire in the starlight.
"Can we pick up where we left off?" I asked, ignoring my nerves.
"What? You change your mind about being my bitch, little baby?" The smile in his voice made me shiver.
"No. Teaching me how to use my fire. I've been running since we last talked."
Blaze did the cocked head, the canine question. "You're different. Where's all the baby shivering and trembling? Not that I miss it, this is much…tastier."
"Are you ever not in mating season?" said Chevy with disgust.
Blaze's fire eyes flickered to the Mightyena besides me for the first time.
"Oh," he said. "You."
"Yeah, me. I've been here the whole time."
"Could have fooled me."
I stepped in front of a growling Chevy. "Over here, Blaze. I'm the one who has business with you. So are you up to teaching me or not?"
The Houndoom turned his head, aiming one of his red eyes on me, much as he had before chasing me into the ground. His gaze was steady, not unlike the jerking of a human's as their eyes focused on one part of your face to another.
"Hmm…I dunno…I'm not too fond of being put in my ball for days on end. Maybe if you were actually interested in…you know…" he flashed the barest amount of white fang. "Can't say I've been able to get my mind off of what those silky smooth tails would feel like between my thighs."
"That's it!" Chevy stomped on the poke'ball. "Back in the ball."
Blaze gave a single, bark-like laugh. "You ain't my trainer! Should have thought of that before you let me out, are you sure you're that good at this daycare job?"
"Who said I hadn't thought of that?" Chevy growled, his mane rising, lips curling. "I'm sure I can knock you out with a bite or two—"
"Oh ho ho! That's funny."
"—because mounting females all day doesn't exactly take skill."
Every single one of Blaze's teeth flashed out and his head went down, leveled with Chevy's. A wave of heat rippled out from him.
Just as I had with Chevy, I saw Blaze jump in my head before his knees had even bent, and my body moved on its own, leaping out between them and putting my face straight into the Houndoom's.
"Your business is with me!" I shouted, feeling the same tail heat up and the edges of my mind tingle. My fur glowed blue, bringing out the cruel lines of Blaze's face.
He actually took a step back at that, sheathing his teeth, though the heat still rolled out of him.
"Fine," he snapped. "But you owe me, baby, you got that? And next time don't bring the virgin."
"I'll—"
"CHEVY!" I barked. I was so not in the mood for a dog fight, nor was I ever.
Thankfully, Chevy fell quiet, and the strange blue light I emitted died down.
After a moment to collect himself, grumbling irritably and making sure to knead the ground with his paws before sitting, Blaze settled his hot gaze on me.
"A fire's strength, as I said before, depends on the amount of air it has. The form a fire takes depends on the control of that breath. Fire also responds to emotions, though only children use emotions to control their fire, if you can call it control. Emotions aren't exactly obedient. One needs to be able to summon fire on their own before they can hope to build up on that. So, now that you're not scared shitless, show me that Will-o-Wisp."
It took me a few seconds, which seemed even longer beneath the hell hound's expected gaze, but eventually I opened my jaw near the ground and let the liquidy blue fire roll along the dirt, where it traveled a few feet before fizzling out.
"Everything's blue with you," Blaze muttered. "Good. At least you're not a baby in that regards. Now, fill your belly as full with air as you can and close your throat. Then try to release it all at once, like a pop, or like something's punched you in the stomach."
The tutoring went on for another hour. Blaze turned out to be a remarkable teacher with patience that belied his frightening appearance and fiery temperament. My first Embers were little more than tongues of flame that flared out a few inches before vanishing, their lives as long as my breath. But after a hard tap on my stomach from his foreleg I managed to cough up a spittly ball of blue and yellow fire that didn't turn to liquid like my Will-o-Wisp, but shot through the air like an apricot sized bullet. It hit one of the opposing boulders with a splash of light.
"Excellent!" said Blaze. "Probably'd only hurt a Wurmple, but definitely more of a punch than that baby Will-o-Wisp."
I was ridiculously proud.