Chapter 9

I felt like I was floating in a void; darkness was all around me. I looked around, then down at myself. I was floating naked in a void... wonderful. I then heard a strange noise, like something roaring with a high-pitched roar. I then heard a screech that followed it, but one that was low-pitched. I looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the noises. I heard them again, and this time a blue streak appeared in my vision with the roar and a red streak followed with the screech.

Suddenly, I saw a stone tree on one side of me and a stone egg with spikes on it on the other side of me. I sat myself up and looked at them both for a moment before I heard the tree roar and the egg screech. Unsure of what I was seeing, I tried to reach out for the tree. As I did, I saw an image of a four-legged blue animal staring back at me. I pulled away from the tree, only to bump into the egg. I then saw an image of a massive red bird appear in my vision, also staring back at me.

Then, from the shadows, a green worm approached me. It gave a deep, guttural roar at me and I tried to move away from it. The worm glanced to the egg first and devoured it. Then it moved to the tree, wrapping around it and squeezing it until it shattered. It turned back to me and roared again. It rushed at me!

I screamed as I shot up into a sitting position, now finding lying in a Pokemon Center. I found I was dressed again, having the same outfit as before but with my lost shirt now on my body. When I awoke, Shauna screamed and hugged me. "Oh thank Arceus! I thought you were dead!"

"What... what happened?" I felt dizzy and lied back down.

"You were attacked by a Honedge. It grabbed onto you and tried to drain you, but your Pokemon escaped their balls and came to your rescue."

"What happened to it?"

Shauna pulled out a pokeball and held it out to me. "I caught it. I used one of your pokeballs, though, so it has your signature on it."

"I still can't believe that was a Pokemon..." I took the ball and looked at it, then turned to Shauna. "Is it really safe to keep it?"

Shauna shrugged. "It hasn't come out of its ball, so it seems safe."

I sighed. Well, I guess I'd find out once I was out of here. Unfortunately, I was still too dizzy to even move. "Ugh... I have one hell of a headache..."

"The Honedge tried to drain your life... so that's probably why."

"Ugh...what about that Snorlax? How long have I been out?"

"Only about an hour, and it's still there. Andre said he'd go to Parfum Palace and see what he could do, but the owner refused."

I sighed and slowly sat myself up. I felt really weak and I almost fell when I tried to stand.

"Wait, Serena, you should be laying down," Shauna spoke as she tried to push me back down.

"No, no, I need to give that piece of shit a piece of my mind. She can't just leave the Snorlax there like that." I stumbled a bit as I tried to walk, but I could feel my body becoming less numb now.

Shauna sighed and grabbed me. "Fine, I'll help you out."

We made our way out of the Pokemon Center and north to Parfum Palace. By the time we got there, I was walking fine again and my headache had lowered drastically. Parfum Palace was a huge building, spanning at least a quarter of a mile in length. It was at least three floors tall, if not more, and had a gold-plated gate that blocked entry. A man stood at the gate, dressed in a tuxedo.

"Welcome to Parfum Palace," the man spoke with a bow. "The entry fee inside will be 1,000 pokedollars per person."

"One thousand?!" I shouted.

"You're kidding! It costs money to go inside?!" Shauna shouted.

"Well, you see, the owner of the palace follows the school of thought that you can never have too much money."

"Yeesh! That's how the rich get even richer!" Shauna shouted.

"No, it's fine, Shauna." I pulled out my wallet from my purse and handed him 2,000 pokedollars.

"Thank you. All of the proceeds go to the upkeep of the Palace... probably..." The man turned around and opened the gate. "There you go."

The two of us walked forward until we reached the doors of Parfum Palace. We pushed the doors open and were greeted by a golden statue of a Milotic. All around the foyer were fancy golden statues and even the floor had gold engravings in it. The walls were covered in a fancy wallpaper, and the whole thing just stunk of money.

"Where is it?!" a female voice shouted, catching our attention quickly. "Oh, where could it be?!" I heard something hit a wall and tumble to the ground. "Where did it go?!"

I stepped forward and out of the foyer to see a woman dressed in a rather regal gown. It had gold-colored embroidery and she even wore a little crown atop her head. "Umm...ma'am? Is something wrong?"

The girl turned to me and I could now get a good look at her. Her hair was long and brown in color and she wore clearly expensive make-up on her face. She also wore way too much make-up on her face. Her eyes were green. "My Furfrou! It's missing!" she shouted so loudly it almost made me topple over.

"I-I see... umm... if I may ask, are you the owner of this house?"

"Yes, why? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Then I need to have a word with you about the Poke Flute."

The woman waved me off. "Please, that is of no importance right now. I need to find my Furfrou."

I growled. "There's a Snorlax blocking Route 7! You have to do something about it!"

"I don't care about the problems of commoners. Please, I must find my Furfrou, so stop wasting my time."

Shauna grabbed my arm. "Serena-san, maybe we should help her find her Pokemon? I mean...if my Pokemon was missing... I'd be really upset, too. Maybe she'll listen after?"

I sighed. "Fine..." I turned and walked away.

Remember how I said Parfum Palace was huge? Well, it was so big that it took us half of the day to search the palace. It was starting to get out now, and Shauna and I had found ourselves out in the courtyard of the palace. The courtyard was just as huge as the palace itself and filled with all sorts of shrubbery and various plants, many of them being very exotic.

Shauna and I were both tuckered out and were about to call it quits when we heard a barking noise. Shauna darted off towards it and I quickly followed behind. Sure enough, at the source of the bark, was a Furfrou. It was standing in the center of a small patch of shrubs and plants. I approached it, and it immediately darted off into the shrubbery. "Well, fuck..."

"It's over there!" Shauna pointed off towards its new location a few feet away. "Serena-san, why don't we try sneaking up on it? Well corner it and then catch it that way!"

I nodded and we put our plan into action. The two of us went on either side of it and slowly crept up on it. Finally, when we were close enough, we jumped and tackled it to the ground. After a moment of struggling, we finally got it calmed down and I picked it up and carried it back to the palace. "This better have been worth all of this," I grumbled.

When we finally reached the owner once more, her eyes lit up brightly. She screamed and wrapped her arms around it, almost squeezing the life out of the poor thing. "My lovely Furfrou! Oh, thank you!"

"Your...welcome..." I was a little unsure what to think now that she had it back. I was beginning to think it may have disappeared on purpose with how she was squeezing it.

"I must do something to thank you for this."

"Well, you could-" I couldn't finish.

"I know! I'll have the servants set off some fireworks for you!"

"That's really not-"

"Up to the balcony with you two, go! You'll see them best from there."

"I-"

I got shoved by the owner until I stopped trying to talk and just made my way up the stairs to the second floor with Shauna. We then made our way out to the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. "This is so exciting!" Shauna spoke with a grin on her face.

"Exciting?"

"I've never seen fireworks before!"

"You've never... Well, you're in for a treat, then. I'll warn you, they'll be loud."

Shauna was practically jumping up and down in excitement. "I'll be fine! I just can't wait to see them!"

I giggled and turned to look out to the courtyard.

"Hey, Serena-san?"

"Yes?"

Shauna was silent for a moment. "I know we haven't seen them yet... but I just know that no matter what they'll be great, because I'm watching them with you."

I blushed at that. "R-really?"

Shauna nodded, then got close to me. We both moved over to the railing and leaned out a bit. A moment later, the first firework lit up and flew into the sky, exploding high above us. Shauna's eyes went wide and while she was focused on them, I just couldn't keep my eyes off of her. The way the fireworks shined off of her eyes when they exploded was stunning and I felt myself just staring deep into her eyes.

Shauna must have noticed after a few moments, because she looked at me as well. Our eyes met in that moment, both alight from the fireworks above us. We grew close and pressed our lips together in a deep and passionate kiss. Then the next thing I knew... we were lying on the ground, both of us completely topless. She was burying her face in my breasts, kissing them wildly and it was making me moan so much.

This was it, the moment I truly realized how much she loved me, and how much I cared about her. It was in that beautiful, firework-lit moment that she and I both found ourselves naked and soon after, we found ourselves engaged in an intimate moment of passionate sex.

I felt Shauna cum deeply as we finished soon after the fireworks did. We both stared into each other's eyes, each completely engulfed in the other. We didn't want to stop, but we knew we had to. "Thank you, Serena-san," Shauna spoke as she kissed me once more, then slowly stood to her feet.

"Your welcome." I smiled and stood up myself. There was silence between us for a moment as we dressed ourselves.

"Serena-san...I..." Shauna started, then paused for a long moment. "I love you."

I stepped up to her and wrapped my arms around her. "Shauna... I want so badly to say the same to you... but..." I sighed. "I just don't know... I don't think I've ever truly had romantic feelings for anyone I've ever been with." I pushed Shauna's hair aside as we had ended up accidentally undoing each other's hair-ties during sex. "I want to say 'I love you'. I really do. I just... I've only ever truly had really intimate mental and sexual connections with everyone I've been with."

"Then call that love. You don't have to only have sex with me. I know how you are. You've let Calem have sex with you, you would have done the same with Tierno if I had let you. You've had sex with me." Shauna wrapped her arms around me. "I'll let you be with anyone you want. Just promise me that you'll care about me and call me your girlfriend."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that." I kissed Shauna. She giggled in response. "So, does this mean I'll get to have more sex with you?"

Shauna blushed heavily. "M-maybe."

I giggled and slid my hands right up her shirt and groped her breasts which made her squeak. I giggled again as I began to kiss her neck.

That was when the owner of the palace walked up to us. "Did you enjoy the fireworks?" she asked.

Shauna and I both blushed as we realized we had missed the majority of them. "Yes." It wasn't a lie. I did enjoy the fireworks I saw, but the moment during the fireworks was what I enjoyed more.

"Good." The owner nodded with a smile. She turned, then sighed. "I... I have to be honest with you... I saw the whole thing..."

Shauna and I both blushed heavily at that. "Y-you mean the fireworks?"

"No. I mean you two having sex." The girl turned to look at me. "I came up here to watch them with you and I saw you two kissing... It looked so passionate, so beautiful... and then it evolved into sex and it just..." The girl sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I've never seen someone be so passionate with someone else. I've never seen two people be so in love like you two were..." She gave a deep sigh. "You came for the Poke Flute, right?" She snapped her fingers and a butler walked up to us with the flute on a pillow. "I've been here in this palace, keeping myself locked away from the rest of the world for so long... I forgot what it was to be human and to truly interact with other humans. Please, take the Poke Flute back to Andre, and after he uses it on the Snorlax, tell him he can keep it."

"Are you sure about this?" I asked as I grabbed the Poke Flute.

The owner nodded. "Yes. I need to stop thinking about my riches and start thinking about the people, you've shown me that." She smiled. "Thank you. I should give you another firework display just for that, but I think you're both likely tired after everything you've been through today, and you still have a Snorlax to deal with."

I nodded and gave a bow. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Please, call me Olivia."

"Thank you, Olivia." With that, Shauna and I left Parfum Palace. We returned the Poke Flute back to Andre who used the flute to awaken the Snorlax. Awakened from its slumber, the Snorlax marched its way off towards the mountains once again. And that was the end of that. Shauna and I were now officially a couple, the Snorlax was gone, and Route 7 was open for us to continue down along the next day. Our night was spent in the Camphier Hotel, where I'll admit that Shauna and I found ourselves unable to keep ourselves from sharing another intimate and passionate moment together.

The sun began to rise at the start of the next day of our adventure, and I knew things were only going to get more interesting from here, I just didn't know how interesting.