Ash's Adventure: Girls' Hunter Edition!

by SedaCassie

In a world where PokeGirls are caught alongside Pokemon, and where collecting harems is just sort of the thing to do, young Ash Ketchum begins his journey in...complicated fashion. Now faced with new challenges and triumphs, he adventures forth to finally prove his worth, making many new friends along the way. Many, many lovely friends. Look, it's a PokeGirl harem story.

20. A Mountain of a Honeymoon!

A Mountain of a Honeymoon!

When Roxanne came awake, she was cold, sore, hungry, and very scared.

She had not slept well. True, her toughness meant that sleeping in a stone cave was not as uncomfortable for her as it would be for normal people, but it still was no picnic. Her body still ached from the beating that Mankey had given her, and the cuts on her arms had been throbbing all night long, making it difficult to sleep, so she was exhausted on top of everything else. And she had not eaten since lunch the previous afternoon. That would make anyone famished, but PokeGirls burned through a lot of calories, especially after a fight.

She shifted her weight against the warm body she was leaning against and sighed. Well, it could be worse. Olivia had fallen asleep sitting upright in a corner with Roxanne held in her lap, and that had helped. Olivia's breasts made for a far better pillow than a rock would have.

However, it was the coldness that concerned her the most, and not just because she was wearing what amounted to a bikini deep underground. She was holding May's limp form in her own lap, trying to give the poor kid whatever comfort that she could. And May was a fire-type, which meant that having the girl cuddled up to her ought to have kept her nice and toasty, like an electric blanket. But May's body heat was much less than it ought to have been, barely higher than that of an average human. And yet she was not shivering. That was not a good sign.

Swallowing, Roxanne lifted her hand from where it had been clasped around May's waist and laid it on the young girl's breast. There was a heartbeat there, thank the three, but it was slow and sluggish, as was her labored breathing. May had fainted dead away, entering the fugue state that PokeGirls and Pokemon assumed when they had been hurt too badly. On the one hand, perhaps it was better that way, as the Ekans's poison would be slowed to the point of no longer threatening her life. On the other, Roxanne had no way of getting her the help that she desperately needed.

Roxanne always had a soft spot for children. It was one of the biggest reasons she got on so well being owned by the Harrison family. It was why she had wanted to become a teacher in the first place. And May might be one of the most troublesome and worrying kids she had ever met, but those were always the kids that needed the most help. And right now, this poor child needed her help more than ever.

She just had no idea how to get it for her.

She had thought that Olivia was still asleep, but then her larger friend shifted her weight as well and whispered, "How is she?"

"Not good," Roxanne whispered back. "She's going to need a full dip in a Healing Machine."

"Well, we're not likely to find out of those. Besides, we'd need her human ball."

Even though the unique and problematic set of circumstances behind May being caught had already been fully explained to her, the thought of a child being caught as a PokeGirl really made Roxanne feel uncomfortable. True, it had been voluntary, done by another child, and was to escape an abusive household, but there had to have been a better way!

No matter. This wasn't the time. "Okay, we're going to need a revive to bring her around, an antidote before the poison starts moving again, and some potions," Roxanne said.

Olivia sighed. "That's just as impossible to find. Where are we supposed to get all those?"

Roxanne thought for a moment. Then she said, "If we can find our ways back to the main route through Mt. Moon, we might be able to encounter a traveling trainer. They usually stock up on all of those before their journey. Maybe we can convince one to help us out."

"Huh," Olivia said. "That's actually a really good idea. Nice one, Teach!" Even though it was pitch-black and Roxanne was facing away from her, she could still hear the smile in Olivia's voice.

"Thank you," Roxanne said. Then she frowned, her thighs squirming in discomfort. "Though, I suppose we ought to see to ourselves first."

"I know exactly what you mean."

Out of the dark Olivia's fingers came up to tenderly caress Roxanne's cheek before nudging her face around and upward. Sighing, Roxanne's eyelids dipped down as she let Olivia's lips capture her own.

She needed this, and she needed it badly. It had been way too long since she had been able to relieve the constant ache in her loins, an ache that had been growing stronger and hotter ever since she and Olivia had left the gym the previous evening. The fight had only made it worse, and as uncomfortable as it was, falling asleep against Olivia's naked torso had set Roxanne positively aflame.

Plus, though she absolutely did not want to think of a child in that manner, holding May's soft, feminine body so close also hadn't helped at all. She knew that it was just her body's natural reaction to having close contact with another PokeGirl, regardless of that girl's age, but it was still not something she wanted to think about.

Fortunately, she had Olivia around to take care of that, and she knew that Olivia needed it as much as she did.

Roxanne moved May's limp form around to set her down next to them before twisting around and shoving herself against Olivia's front, aggressively making out with her. Her hands came up to seize Olivia's massive tits and squeezed, sinking her fingers into the pliable flesh. One of Olivia's strong hands came up to slide under Roxanne's top, grabbing onto her own more modest breast, while the other came around under Roxanne's loincloth to take a great big handful of her ass.

The warm ache had spread all over Roxanne's body, filling her from head to toe with lust. Growling needily, she parted from Olivia's mouth and ducked down to wrap her lips around one of Olivia's rigid nipples, sucking and chewing while reaching behind her own back with one hand, groping around until she found the clasp of her top and pulled it away. Then she reached down, intending to take her loincloth off as well.

But as she did, she found her PokeGirl instincts coming in sudden conflict with that of a teacher, and she paused, a sour feeling in her gut stopping her horny drive.

"What is it?" Olivia said.

Sighing, Roxanne levered herself up. "This is weird. There's a kid right there. We shouldn't be doing this." That was one of the strictest rules in the Harrison household. PokeGirls were free to see to their needs as they saw fit, but never when children were around. There were several private and soundproofed rooms for that exact purpose.

Olivia sighed. "She's unconscious."

"I know, but-"

"And she's a PokeGirl too. You think she doesn't know what sex is?"

"Don't remind me," Roxanne growled. "That's incredibly twisted."

Olivia didn't respond, though the hand on Roxanne's ass did move up to hook the fingers around the strap of Roxanne's loincloth.

Despite her misgivings, Roxanne didn't resist as her loincloth was tugged off her waist and down her thighs. A moment later her burning mound was cupped tenderly in Olivia's hand, making her wince.

"You know, we will have to deal with that if we revive her," Olivia said as her strong fingers kneaded Roxanne's fleshy lower lips. "Kid or not, she's still a PokeGirl."

"I…I am not…" Roxanne panted as powerful quakes shook her hips. Then she lurched forward with a cry as one particularly strong shockwave of pleasure rippled through her, throwing herself onto Olivia's breasts. Even so, she was determined to finish her sentence. "I am not having sex with a child!"

"Never said you had to," Olivia said, slipping a finger inside. "Just said it's something we're gonna have to deal with."

"Well, later!" Roxanne hissed as she thrust one hand down into Olivia's loincloth. "We'll worry about it later!"

Olivia didn't respond. She just kept fingering Roxanne and letting Roxanne finger her in turn. Soon Roxanne's loins and abdominal muscles were clenching up as the much-needed orgasm rocked her body. Sighing in relief, Roxanne went at Olivia's pussy even harder until she came as well.

"Okay," Olivia said as the two stood up. "That took off the edge." Roxanne heard her kneel down to pick May up. "Let's go."

Nodding, Roxanne readjusted what little clothing she was wearing. Then Olivia took her hand and they headed off, cautiously making their way through the dark.

…

The storm had arrived, the Cerulean Gym was empty, and little Misty was all alone.

Outside, angry black clouds had filled the skies, rolling and crashing over one another, choking out all sunlight. Outside, the winds were howling, roaring their frustrations as they stripped leaves from the trees and slats from roofs. Outside, lightning was streaking across the sky, briefly lighting up the dark clouds seconds before peels of thunder crashed across the city. Outside, torrents of rain were coming down, pelting the cityscape below like a waterfall as if it could drown it. Had Misty been caught outside, she would no doubt be in fear for her life.

But she was not. She was safely inside her mother's gym, listening as the rain pattered against the roof and thunder rumbled, kept away from the sound and fury of the storm.

Why, then, did she feel so afraid?

The power was out, dousing the gyms halls with darkness. Misty wandered those halls, looking for her parents, looking for her sisters, looking for anybody. But there was no one. Just a little seven-year-old girl, all by herself in the dark silence, listening as the storm raged outside.

Though she thought that she knew the gym fairly well, there seemed to be more halls than she remembered, and they were larger than they ought to be. Every turn she made found her confronted with more diverging paths, every door she tried just led to more hallways. She was getting frustrated, and she was getting scared. Where was everyone? Why was it so hard to find her way?

"Mommy?" she called as she kept walking. "Papa?"

There was no answer save for the boom of thunder.

"Violet?" she tried instead. "Daisy? Come on, where are you guys?"

Her sisters did not answer. No one did. She was alone.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Misty picked up the pace. Surely if she kept going she would find someone. Surely they couldn't have all left her alone.

And then she paused. Wait, she heard something.

Music. She heard music. And…cheering?

Frowning, Misty followed the sound through the halls, taking the paths that made the music grow stronger. It was that classical song that opened her sisters' water show. Where they here?

There was another cheer, and Misty heard a man say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the stars of our show, the Cerulean City Synchronized Swimmers, the Sensational Waterflowers!"

Now she saw the source of the sound. It was a large double-door, the same that led to the pool that served as both the gym's battlefield and where her sisters put on their show. The music and cheering were coming from within. And what was more, she could see light through the cracks in the doorway. People were there!

Her heart soaring with relief, Misty raced to the door. "Mommy! Papa! Are you in there? I've been looking-"

Misty burst through the door into a dark and empty arena.

The pool was there. The bleachers were there. But the light was once again out. And cheering crowds were gone, if they had ever been there to begin with. Overhead, the rain continued to bang against the glass pyramids that made up the arena's roof.

Misty was still alone.

However, not everything was gone. The music still continued to play, and within the pool the water effects that her sisters used in their show, the dancing water spouts and sprays and lights were active. The show was going on; there just wasn't anyone to perform or watch it, except for Misty herself.

Then lightning crashed overhead, and in that flicker of light Misty saw the outline of something lone and sinuous hiding within the haze of the waterworks.

Another flash of lightning, and it was closer.

Misty wanted to run, but her feet had suddenly stopped working, as had the rest of her body, and all she could do was stand and watch as a monstrous sea serpent emerged from the haze, one whose body was longer than the pool was, with two eyes glowing with hate, and a hungry mouth large enough to swallow a bus whole.

That mouth opened to receive her, and her ears were filled with the sound of its roar.

Misty's eyes snapped open. Her heart was pounding hard, and the roar of the nightmare Gyrados still rang in her ears. It was utterly dark, and she felt herself encased in something tight, pressed up against something fleshy. Where was she? Was she being eaten? Where was-

Wait.

Memories came flooding back, reminding her of the events of the previous night. No, no, she wasn't being eaten by a Gyrados. There was no Gyrados; that had just been a bad dream. She was beneath Mt. Moon, and that soft and warm thing she felt was…

Oh. Right. Ash. She was snuggled in the sleeping bag with Ash.

Misty slowly breathed out, forcing her tightened muscles to relax. She was fine. She was okay. She wasn't being eaten by a Gyrados; she was safe in her trainer's arms…

Yeah. Sure. Safe. They were practically buried far beneath the earth with limited supplies, being hunted by Team Rocket, her sisters had still betrayed her, and May was still missing. Nothing about that was safe or fine.

Tears prickled at her eyes, and she pressed herself tighter into him, face burrowing into his neck while her arms encircled his waist, pushing his shirt up to give her contact with his skin. He just felt so warm. Not in the same way May was warm, but still a pleasant kind of warmth that made her feel better just by being close to it.

PokeGirl hormones.

Shut up. Don't care.

Though speaking of hormones, she couldn't help but notice the stiffness poking at her through both of their boxers. That gave her a small smile. It would seem that despite her and May thoroughly wringing him dry the day before, there was already another round in the chamber. Clearly puberty was treating him well.

She started to slip her hand down between her bodies, intending to nudge him into her, but then she hesitated. Was this okay? It ought to be; they were trainer and PokeGirl, after all. But it wasn't as if Ash had really been prepared to be a PokeGirl trainer, whereas Misty had been having sex for nearly two years now. Maybe she shouldn't presume that he would be okay with her doing stuff to him while he was asleep.

But then, it wasn't as if she and May hadn't been rather handsy with him since day one. And May had literally crawled naked into his sleeping bag when he was asleep and started humping him! He seemed okay with that!

But that was May! And May was, well, May! Besides, say what you will about her, but when you set a boundary, May respected it! Misty didn't even know if there was a boundary here! It ought to be okay, and it wasn't as if he hadn't literally ordered her to sit on his lap last night so he could finger her, but it still felt weird to her in a way she couldn't really articulate.

Groaning, Misty leaned her head against Ash's chest. Other PokeGirls never worried about this sort of thing. They saw that their trainer had an erection and they dealt with it! Simple as that! So why was she all twisted up about something that ought to be perfectly normal-

Then Ash let out a snort, followed by a sleepy mumble. A moment later Misty heard him say, "Um, what? What? Where…"

Misty sighed. "The cave, Ash. We're in a cave beneath Mt. Moon."

"Misty? How…Oh."

"Memory just woke up?"

"Yeah. Boy, that was weird, and…Well, good morning! I think."

Misty scowled at the unsureness. "What, waking up with me isn't good?"

"No!" Ash actually sounded offended. "I mean I have no idea what time it is! It's pitch-black. It could be one in the afternoon for all I know."

"Oh," Misty said, feeling chagrined. "Sorry."

Ash let out a small laugh. Then his weight shifted, and Misty felt his warm lips on her own.

Still slightly embarrassed, Misty kissed him back. Her heartbeat quickened, and she molded her body against his, hands wandering under his shirt and up his back, wanting to feel his skin on hers.

The kiss parted, and Ash murmured, "Waking up with you is fantastic. Don't forget that."

Misty's groin clenched. Part of her had always wondered why Pokemon and PokeGirls were so eager to follow their trainers' orders, especially ones that had just met. But having Ash speak to her in that firm, reassuring manner cleared up any question in her mind.

Then Ash paused. "Um…" he said.

"What?"

"It's just…Boy, I'm hard!"

That got a laugh out of Misty as well. "Yes, you certainly are."

"I, uh, would've thought that I wouldn't have any more in me, but…"

Misty leaned in to give him another small kiss, misjudged, and ending up pecking him on the nose, but that was fine. It was still cute. "You're just now hitting puberty, Ash. I have a feeling you've got a lot in you."

"No kidding!" Ash seemed more fascinated by his own bodily responses than anything. "So, um, do you…want to do it, or…"

Misty's face flushed. Being with Ash was just so danged weird. If he was confident, it made her melt. But if he was flustered, that was somehow just as attractive to her, just in a different way. Either way, he had a way of making her feel like the blushing virgin he had been up until the night before. "Yes," she breathed. "Please."

Ash didn't respond, but she could feel his hand moving down her bare waist toward where their hips were pressing together. He fumbled a bit between their groins, maneuvering around the slits of their boxer shorts, and then the engorged tip of his penis was pressing into the puffy lips of her vagina.

Whimpering, Misty draped her arms around Ash's neck as he slid into her, filling her little by little. He still took it slow, but not agonizingly so like he did last night.

"Oh, huge, flopping balls of Palkia, this feels so good!" Ash groaned as he pushed himself all the way in.

"It b-better," Misty snickered. "You know what to do this time?"

"I'm a fast learner."

And to prove it, he started humping his hips, drawing out his wet rod and thrusting it back into her warmth. The ecstasy made Misty's eyes roll back, her eyelids fluttering. Sweet Mother of Arceus, this was so good. Why hadn't she made love to him that first day like she had planned? Things would have been so much better had she just allowed him to comfort her!

There wasn't a lot of room to move around in the sleeping bag, so she started sliding her hips back and forth as well, her hungry cunt gladly feasting on his throbbing meat. Without even thinking about it, she shoved her mouth into his, the two of them panting hot breaths as they needily made out.

And then it happened. Ash's penis was already twitching, but she felt it pulse and surge inside of her. A moment later came that glorious explosion of warmth as his hot seed was shot through her inner canals. Misty's mind collapsed in on itself and she started laughing giddily while crying with happiness at the same time, rendering her a blubbering mess.

"Misty?" Ash said in alarm. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Shaking her head, Misty struggled to speak between the alternating sobs and giggles. "N-No," she stammered. "Just…emotion. Overload."

Ash held her trembling form, letting her get it out of her system. She burrowed her face into his shoulder, eyes closed as she waited helplessly for her breakdown to finish up.

This was a new experience for her. The only strong emotion she really felt comfortable letting out around other people was anger. She was so used to keeping everything bottled up and hidden that letting herself be this vulnerable around anyone other than May was strange and scary.

But she didn't hate it.

In time she began to calm down, her breathing evening out while the shaking stilled, and she was able to relax into Ash's arms. Honestly, she could have stayed there like that, drifting back to sleep as he held her.

"Feel better?" Ash said at last.

Her eyes still closed, Misty nodded.

"Okay," Ash said. "Um, we should probably get ready to go."

Misty's brow furrowed in irritation. She didn't want to go. She was comfortable where she was. "Can't you give me a few more minutes?"

Ash sighed. "Believe me, I really want to, but we have to keep moving. We're still lost, and May's still out there."

"Right," Misty said after a few moments. "Right."

"Besides," Ash said, the discomfort in his voice crystal clear. "I really need to pee."

…

Even though they were no longer being chased by Team Rocket, moving through Mt. Moon's subterranean tunnels was a miserable experience. Yes, rock-typed PokeGirls were hardy even by PokeGirl standards, but they were still cold, hungry, uncomfortable, and scared. And they couldn't see a danged thing

They moved slowly, Olivia and Roxanne holding tight to each other's hands, May's body slung over Olivia's shoulder. As she was the one with a free hand, Roxanne was leading the way, her hand outstretched and feeling around for anything that might be in their way.

Though she would never admit it out loud, Olivia was relieved that Roxanne was the one taking point. Mt. Moon was notorious for the number creepy crawlies that dwelt within its depths, and the thought of potentially laying her hand into something's chitinous carapace or slimy hide gave her the shivers.

However, that lent itself to another problem, which she also would never openly confess, and that was the slight form slung over her shoulder, which she was holding in place with a hand to May's back.

Olivia was most definitely not into kids. Brock, Lucy, and the other Harrison family PokeGirls were more than enough for her, thank you very much! But like it or not, May was still a PokeGirl, and PokeGirls naturally had a reaction to being in contact with other PokeGirls. Olivia was doing her best to ignore how her body was responding to touching May, but the longer this went on, the harder it would be to dismiss. Not helping matters was that only two days prior she had watched this same kid not only strip naked to fight Onyx, but actively masturbate on the battlefield. At the time Olivia had been weirded out, worried, and sort of amused, but now the image of May's pert little ass wouldn't leave her mind, and she was all too aware of just how close that same ass was to her fingers.

Olivia slowly breathed out. She couldn't worry about that now.

Then Roxanne whispered. "Wait. Do you hear that?"

Olivia paused and listened. Sure enough, in the cold, dead silence around them, she could just make out the sound of what she was reasonably certain were human voices.

"Is that Team Rocket?" she whispered back.

"I…I don't think so," Roxanne said. "It's too faint to tell, but it doesn't really sound like them."

"Ash and Misty?"

A pause, and then Roxanne said, "No. They're definitely adult."

Olivia felt a surge of hope. "Traveling trainers, maybe?"

"I find myself unwilling to believe that we were that lucky, but it might be!" Roxanne tugged on her hand. "Come on, let's see if we can find them!"

The two picked their way through the dark, making their way toward the voices. The best Olivia could tell, they were heading through some kind of tunnel, and the voices were echoing through that passage, so they had to be heading the right way.

Then they rounded a corner, and Olivia and Roxanne both recoiled with a twin hiss of pain. Bright light assaulted their dilated pupils, jabbing into their heads like daggers. Olivia reflexively squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face.

After a prolonged session of blinking, her eyes finally grew accustomed enough to the light that she could peer into it without wincing. On either side of the tunnel, someone had strung a line of electric lights, like one would see in a mine. Somewhat appropriate, as Olivia was pretty sure that they were heading through an abandoned mining shaft.

The two of them cautiously proceeded forward. As they did, they heard voices, talking.

"…just gives me the creeps," she heard a woman say. "Can't even sleep without expecting some damn living rocks dropping onto my face."

"Calm down, they won't go anywhere near the lights."

"Oh, really? What about the bats? They don't have eyes, they won't care!"

"Look, once we get the alarms and repel beacons working, we'll be safe and sound. Stop stressing."

Olivia and Roxanne exchanged a look. Well, it was definitely people. Crabby people, but hey, who wouldn't be this far down?

They rounded a corner and finally saw them. Three people were sitting around in a sort of makeshift base camp. There were three bed rolls laid out, a few crates of supplies, and several cave diving supplies. A small generator was hooked up to the lights, and a couple of space heaters were set up.

The people themselves turned out to be a man and two women. They were all dressed in thick and baggy clothes that one might expect someone prepared to be traveling through underground tunnels to wear, though only the man, who was bald-headed with a goatee, was fully covered, as the middle had been cut out of one of women's shirts, a girl with short teal hair, while the other, this one a long-haired brunette, was wearing more of a bare-legged leotard, unzipped in the front to show off a generous amount of cleavage.

A trainer and two PokeGirls. Huh. Olivia supposed that she wasn't even wearing a top she ought not be in any position to criticize, but while PokeGirls enjoyed being showing off their bodies, maybe an exception ought to have been made for this particular situation?

Even so, just seeing them made Olivia breathe out a sigh of relief. It was a traveling trainer! Or moonstone hunters! Or maybe just spelunkers! Well, whatever, help was help!

The two of the approached cautiously, not wanting to spook the trio. When they were close enough, Olivia took a step forward and cleared her throat. "Um, hello?"

The effect was immediate. The three travelers leapt to their feet and whirled toward the exhausted PokeGirls, clearly startled.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Olivia said. "Didn't mean to scare you! But me and my friends are lost, and we really could use some help!"

The man stared at her in bewilderment. "What?" he said.

"See, me and my friend are PokeGirls!" Olivia continued. "I mean, obviously, seeing how I got my tits out and all. But we belong to Brock Harrison, the Pewter City Gym Leader. Maybe you've heard of him? And he sent us here to help find a bunch of kids that had gotten lost in the tunnels." She gave May's unconscious body a small jiggle. "Well, we found one, but seismic activity separated us from the others and we lost our supplies! So, I don't want to impose, but if you have any spare potions or antidotes or anything like that, and any spare food and a way to call for help, then I'm sure our owner will be more than happy to compensate you!"

It was a good speech, she felt, one that told enough of the truth to be convincing but not enough to let slip any pertinent information. Surely, anybody would be willing to assist a Gym Leader-authorized rescue mission of a few poor lost children!

But then Roxanne inhaled sharply through her teeth. "Olivia," she whispered. "Look at their clothes!"

Though it wasn't the standard Grunt uniform she was used to seeing, their outfits were all black, and each one had a red R on the breast.

"Oh," Olivia said.

The man exchanged glances with the two women. Then, as if responding to some unheard cue, their lips all curled into matching sadistic leers.

"Well, well, well," the man said. "Brock Harrison's PokeGirls, did'ja say? Lost and alone beneath Mt. Moon."

The teal-haired woman idly scratched at the mole on her cheek. "Didn't the boss say we had some sort of trouble with that guy?"

"He did, indeed. And here are two of his girls, falling right into our laps."

Olivia took a slow, deep breath, filling her lungs with air. Then, just as slowly, she exhaled, letting the cold air hiss through her teeth.

She glanced down at Roxanne, who was staring at the trio of Team Rockets Grunts with a blank expression. Roxanne glanced back up at her, and they both nodded.

Well.

Okay then.

…

Despite waking up in quite the lovely fashion, breakfast was a great disappointment.

They did not have the chance to stock up for the journey before being rushed out of Pewter City, and as they only had what Ash already had in his pack, they had to really make due with more oatmeal and dried fruit.

Still, it felt good to be on the move again. They continued on much like they had the previous night, Misty leading the way, accompanied by a floating ball of glowing electricity to light their way. Ash was close behind, with Nidoran scurrying along at his feet. However, this time Zubat was fluttering along with them, darting back and forth, guiding them with squeaks every time the path forked off.

Furthermore, Misty had again opted to go naked. Despite how many times he had cum recently, being able to feast on the sight of her luscious butt jiggling with every step, of watching the shifting of the muscles in her well-toned legs and smooth back, as well as the brief glimpses of her puffy pussy lips every time the tunnel slanted upward was making him perk up all over again.

Misty had claimed that she didn't want to risk destroying his clothes the same way she had destroyed her own should they be attacked and she had to light it up again. Which, okay, that was logical, but given that she was really getting into being a PokeGirl, he couldn't help but wonder if it might also be due to PokeGirls' natural exhibitionist tendencies. May was the most enthusiastic PokeGirl he had ever met, and Arceus knew how much she enjoyed being naked.

Which brought up an interesting point. Ever since saving her from Tangela, things had gotten so weird between them that they had each kept some distance between the other. There had been instances of tenderness and intimacy between them, but it had still been complicated.

But now that Misty was again happy being a PokeGirl, and now that they had actually had sex (Ash still had trouble believing that that had actually happened), how much had changed between them? Presumably a lot, but Misty was a complicated creature, and assuming could land Ash in a lot of trouble.

Well, Yellow might have been clueless about a lot of things, but she had been right about them needing to be more open with each other. So that was probably a good place to start.

Fine. He'd better do this. "Um, hey, Misty?"

Misty paused. Then she glanced over her bare shoulder at him, eyes inquisitive.

Ash cleared his throat. "So, since we're kind of…official or something, and since we're supposed to be working on the whole, uh, talking thing, l-like being open with, with things that, uh, we need to be open with instead of just, uh, just assuming stuff, and-"

"Talking thing?" Misty said. "You mean, communication?"

Ash snapped his fingers. "Right! That! Maybe we should, you know, clear up what's okay and what's not okay. So we don't mess up and hurt each other's feelings!"

Now Misty had fully turned to face up, surprise written all over her face. "You mean, clear up what we're each comfortable with? Establish boundaries?"

"Exactly! After me and May had fun yesterday, she made a point to tell me that she was okay with pretty much anything, anywhere, and at any time!"

"Yeah, that sounds like her," Misty sighed. "Though that probably doesn't meant stuff that'll give her secret away."

"Well, sure! But, you know, May is May, and you and her are still different, and I'm not a PokeGirl at all! I mean, obviously. S-So let's just clear it up right now so we don't…Uh, why are you laughing?"

Giggling softly, Misty put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Sorry! Sorry. I'm not making fun, I promise. It's just that you have got to be the only trainer in the world wanting to know what his PokeGirl wasn't comfortable with."

"Well, it's not like I'm supposed to own PokeGirls!" Ash complained. "And you're definitely not supposed to be a PokeGirl at all! Our thing is weird!"

"Good point. But it's also funny because…" Misty snorted. "You know, when I first woke up this morning, I could feel how hard you were."

Oh? That was interesting. Ash could also feel how hard he was getting right then and there. "Oh, really?"

Misty nodded. "Yup! And I was thinking of maybe slipping you inside of me and wake you up that way. But, um, then I realized that having sex with someone when they're asleep was kind of…I didn't know if you would like that or not, and it felt really weird to…" She giggled again. "Well, it's just sort of funny that you're bringing this up when I was wondering the same thing."

"Oh, totally! I mean, I keep really wanting to grab your butt, but you might not be in the mood for that, so that was why I brought it up."

That got another snort out of her. "Uh, yeah. I'm kind of still electrified to keep warm, so unless you want me to roast you again, I'd say that you'd probably should keep your hands to yourself."

"Oh. Right. Good point."

Sighing, Misty walked over to the tunnel wall and leaned against it. "All right, talking this out is a good idea. So let's go!"

Ash nodded. "You go first."

Pursing her lips in thought, Misty slowly said, "Well, to tell the truth, I'm not…as into just getting touched the same way May is. I mean, obviously touching each other is kind of fantastic, but if I'm trying to concentrate on something else or it's just not the appropriate time, then maybe don't."

"Got it," Ash said with a nod.

"But if we're just, you know, hanging out, talking, flirting, that sort of thing, and you want to reach over and grab yourself a handful…" With a sultry smile, Misty turned her hips to one side and slid a finger over the curve of her butt. "I'm not going to say no."

Which is what Ash had been wanting to hear. "Oh, I will!"

"Good! And, uh, obviously if we're already doing sexy stuff like making out, just feel free to, ah, do what you like." Then she paused. "But not butt stuff!"

Ash's face fell in disappointment.

"I mean anal! Sticking things in my butt! You can grab my butt all you like, but I've never tried actually, uh, anything like that, so…"

"Oh, got it!"

Then Misty rubbed her chin, a pensive look on her face. "Though I guess we should probably give it a shot sooner or later. May keeps bringing it up, and I know she's tried it."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Oh, about that. May kind of…grabs you all the time, no matter what you're doing."

"Yeah, but I've known her for years. We worked up to that. You and I haven't. Yet. But we probably will."

Yeah, that made sense. "Okay," Ash said with a nod. "Um, I'm kind of the same way. Like, if I'm busy training my Pokemon or something like that, then it's probably not the best time to tease me or do anything sexy or whatever. But other times it's lots of fun!" Then something occurred to him. "But what about non-sexy touching?"

Misty stared at him in bewilderment.

"You know, normal, uh, couple stuff. Hugging. Holding hands. Cuddling. That sort of thing."

"Oh!" Misty's face then flushed bright pink. "Oh." She let out a nervous cough. "Um, actually…I would like that a lot."

Ash grinned. "Really? Me too. What about kissing though?"

"I also would like that," Misty said. "Though, not really in public, or anyplace that would give us away."

"Okay," Ash said, nodding. That was sort of disappointing, but he understood.

Then Misty brow furrowed. "So, uh, about the whole having sex when you're sleeping…"

Ash let out a low whistle. "Huh. I never, ever thought about that before." Placing his hands on his hips, he stared down at the ground, rocking back and forth on his heels as he thought. "I don't know. I mean, May did the whole naked cuddling thing that first morning, and that was…nice, but…Tell you what: tomorrow morning, if you wake up before me you can give it a shot, and I'll tell you if I like it or if it's too weird."

That got a smile out of Misty. "Sounds good. Sounds good," she said with a happy nod.

Ash nodded as well. Good. That had been a productive talk.

So…what now?

He opened his mouth to say something only to realize that he didn't really have anything to say and closed it again. Across from him, Misty put her hands on her hips and looked down at her bare feet. She wriggled her toes in a line, first one way and then the other.

Ash stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and fingered the capture balls he had stowed away there. This was awkward.

Misty sniffed. Ash coughed. Nidoran pawed the ground and growled.

"Okay, time to get cold, and then hot!" Misty said suddenly.

Ash jolted in surprise. "Huh?"

Misty snapped her fingers, and her skin sparkled for a second before fading. Then she took three long steps, clearing the distance between them, and seized Ash by the waist to lift him bodily off the ground and push him up against the wall. He opened his mouth to gasp, but swiftly found that gasp swallowed up as Misty covered his lips with her own.

…

Though he had spent the night in his pokeball, Nidoran did have a sneaking feeling that something had changed in the relationship dynamic of his two human companions.

Misty suddenly deciding to walk around unclothed had been one indication. While Nidoran had frankly never understood the point of clothing, he did at least know that humans were expected to wear them when out and about, even when no other humans were around. Unless of course they were female, attractive, and in possession of Pokemon-like power. Then the rules seemed to be spotty at best. However, Misty at least had at least made an attempt to keep herself covered. Well, most of the time, anyway.

The second indication had been the change in their attitude toward one another. Those two had been a weird, confusing mess of sexual tension and complicated feelings for as long as it had known them, and yesterday had been no exception. They had been tired, cranky, snappy with each other, while exuding lust so strong that Nidoran had wondered if they were in heat.

But today things had changed. He could sense an easing of the tension between, a lightness in how they interacted. They were definitely happier, and it did not take any sort of brilliant mind to work out why.

Plus, his nose was sharp, and he had long been introduced to the scent of human sexual fluids. The two of them had had sex last night.

On the one hand, it was about time. All of that weirdness between them had been getting really uncomfortable. On the other, Nidoran had been unfortunate enough to learn what spending time with a bunch of hormone-addled human pups was like, and even with Yellow gone this was only going to exacerbate the problem. Things were going to get annoying.

He watched bleakly as the two continued to kiss, with Ash still held up against the wall with his feet dangling over the ground. He was now groping her chest with one hand and grabbing her buttocks with the other. Well, hey, at least they were having fun, but from the look of things this was going to take a while.

Sighing, he turned to walk away. Well, might as well poke around for moonstone veins in the meantime. At least one of them ought to be doing something productive.

As it did, he took note of their new traveling companion Zubat, who was clinging upside-down to the tunnel ceiling with his sightless face turned toward the pair. Zubat might not be able to see what was going on, but he certainly had no trouble hearing the smacking, moaning, slurping, and squishing.

Tilting his head to one side, Zubat inquired, "Squeak. Squeaky-squeak?"

(translation: "So. They are mates?")

Nidoran sighed again. "Nido. Nidoran Nidoni. Dori Nido Dori."

(translation: "Sort of. They've been courting for the last few days. I guess they finally sealed the deal.")

Zubat fluttered his wings. "Squeaky-squeak!"

(translation: "I can smell the sex on them!")

"Nidoran. Nido Nidoran Nidi. Nidoran Nidoran Nini."

(translation: "Me too. At least they finally got it out of their systems. It was getting frustrating.")

Zubat then turned his ears toward Nidoran. "Squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeaky squeak-squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak?"

(translation: "But I don't understand. I thought they were pups. Are they actually just short adults?")

Oh, this was going to be weird. "Nidorini."

(translation: "No, they're pups.")

There was a pause, and then Zubat intoned, "Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak."

(translation: "I did not think that human pups behaved like that.")

To this, Nidoran winced. "Nidoran, Nido…Nidi. Nido dori. Doran Ni."

(translation: "Neither did I, but…I don't know. Humans are weird. Maybe they just mate early.")

Though Zubat did not have eyes, the way his ears dipped still conveyed the sense of a pensive frown. "Squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeaky-squeak, squeak?"

(translation: "The girl has power, though. Does the boy also have power?"

"Ni."

(translation: "No.")

Now Zubat was utterly confused. "Squeaky squeak-squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak."

(translation: "But he is her owner. Just as he is our owner.")

Nidoran shrugged. "Ni. Dori. Nidoran."

(translation: "Yes. Kind of. It's complicated.")

Zubat was silent for a moment, and then it inquired, "Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak?"

(translation: "Do all human females possess that kind of power?")

"Dori. Nidoni. Nidoran Ni Nido."

(translation: "Some. Not all. But all the ones that do are owned by someone.")

"Squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeaky-squeak squeak, squeaky-squeaky squeak, squeak?"

(translation: "I do not understand. If the owned have power and the owners do not, why do those with power simply not take control of those without power?")

"Dorini!" Nidoran challenged. "Nidodori Doran?"

(translation: "We have power. Why don't we just kill Ash?")

The mere possibility sent Zubat into a fit of distress, and he started fluttering around, chittering at high speed.

(translation: "I do not want to kill Ash! Ash is nice! He gives me tasty dust and head pats and speaks kindly to me!")

Another shrug. "Ni, Nidoran."

(translation: "Well, there you go.")

Settling down, Zubat look back at Ash and Misty. Ash's pants had been unzipped and his stiff, little cock had been drawn out, and now Misty was eagerly guiding it to her own crotch.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak," he groused.

(translation: "It still does not make much sense.")

Nidoran sighed. That was one thing they both agreed on. Nidoran was truly fond of his human companion, but there was no denying that they were exceptionally strange.

"Ni, Nidoran Dori, Ni Dorini Nidoran."

(translation: "Well, if you think they're weird, just wait until you meet the third one.")

…

It was not nothing, not oblivion. Complete unconsciousness would have been a vast improvement over the state that May was in.

Instead, it was sort of a sickly state of lowness, hovering in constant nausea, not aware of anything going on around her, and yet not given the relief of passing out entirely. It was similar to a fever dream, a fixed sense of uncomfortable illness.

At times she thought she could hear people talking. At times she thought that she could feel someone holding her, trying to comfort her. It was never enough, though. Never enough to drive away the sickness.

But then something sharp dug into her neck, something needlelike that pierced the skin. It wasn't enough to break the fugue state she was in, not enough to fully rouse her, but she was dimly aware of-

And suddenly she came crashing back to life.

And life was gross!

May gasped as the sudden boost of energy was dampened by the intense nausea twisting her gut. She felt like her veins had been flooded with freezing syrup, and her whole body was shivering with fever.

Gagging, she rolled weakly onto her stomach. That proved to be a poor decision, as the pressure on her belly made the gagging worse.

"Easy, kid!" she vaguely heard someone say. "Take it easy, I know-"

The sickness came rushing up, and May threw up. It had been a long time since she had last eaten, but greenish-purple bile mixed with saliva burned its way out to splatter all over the rocks in front of her face.

"-oh, she's vomiting. Oh, I shouldn't have been sitting so close."

"She's still poisoned, Olivia! Give her the antidote!"

May kept vomiting and vomiting, as if her body was trying to purge the sickness out the only way it knew how. It was swimming through her veins, not her stomach, and it didn't matter how much she threw up, she would still-

Then another needle pierced her neck, followed by the hiss of an injection.

Warmth flooded May's body, chasing off the chill. The nausea quieted, the fever stilled, and all the poison in her veins burned away.

The relief almost made her start crying. Oh, it felt so good to just get all that icky stuff out of her. She once had heard of a problem in one of the cities back home, where PokeGirls were deliberately allowing themselves to be poisoned just so they could savor the rush of being cured by an antidote. At the time, May had scoffed at that story. What idiot would ever put themselves through something like that? But now that she was experiencing it for herself, she had to admit, she understood the appeal a bit better.

But as the poison died, it only left her aware of another problem. Namely, how much pain she was in.

Her calves were burning in agony, her face felt like it had been slashed up, and she had a monster of a headache throbbing away at the back of her head.

"ARGH!" she cried, flopping over onto her stomach and grabbing at her face. What had happened? Why did it hurt so bad?

"The potions, Teach! She needs the potions!"

"I know, I know! I'm on it!"

Strong fingers gently took her by the wrists and started to pull her hands away from her face. May tried to resist, tried to keep from having the only form of comfort she had taken away, but she wasn't nearly strong enough.

Then something sprayed her in the face.

May reflexively lashed out, trying to burn whatever it was that was shooting water at her. She was in enough pain already, and now they were hitting her with her most notorious weakness?

"Relax, May! It's a potion! It'll help heal you!"

Relax? How was she supposed to relax when she felt like she was on fire? And that wasn't supposed to hurt for her! Something was clearly wrong!

Wait. The pain was cooling. The spray was soothing the pain away. Realizing this, May stopped fighting back and did as she was bid and relaxed.

The heading fluid was sprayed all over her body, calming the pain. The same hands that had uncovered her face prodded and moved her around, lifting her shoulders, ass, and legs, giving the spray full access. It was then that she noticed that she was kind of naked. That was actually kind of a relief. Being naked always made her feel better.

The lances of agony on her calves took the longest to heal, but they too were cleared away, and May was left lying flat on her face, slowly breathing in and out in a haze of peace. She might have drifted to sleep had the healing of her sickness and pain also not cleared her head enough for her most recent memories to come crashing back all at once.

May sat straight up with a gasp…only to immediately regret it when the sudden motion sent her still-sensitive stomach heaving again, and she had to turn to one side and start gagging all over again.

"Take it easy, May," she heard that one cranky PokeGirl say. What was her name again? Teach? No, no, it was Rocky…Roxanne! That's right! "You've been through a hard time. It'll be a little while until your equilibrium stabilizes."

Giving a short nod, May kept heaving. Fortunately, she had already evacuated her stomach, so nothing came up. Roxanne laid her hands on May's shoulders and gently massaged her until May's stomach calmed down.

Shaking her head and wiping her mouth, May blinked several times to clear the spots away from her vision. There were soft yellow lights about, so apparently they had to have found somewhere new. Once her eyes had adjusted she took a look around.

What she saw didn't make a whole lot of sense. The last thing she remembered was passing out in great pain in total darkness. Now there were lights, electric lights strung up on the walls. And a lot of supplies strewn around. Where had they found those? Not that May was complaining about suddenly having food, light, and medicine, but apparently she had missed some majorly important developments.

Both Roxanne and Olivia were there, kneeling next to her and looking over her in concern. They both looked like they had been through a lot, the two of them clearly exhausted and covered in dust. Also, Olivia had somehow lost her top, a change that May would have greatly appreciated under normal circumstances, but for once she was too confused and too scared to appreciate having such big tits within grabbing distance, and that bothered her.

"Whew, glad you're okay," Olivia said, handing May a metal thermos. "You had us really worried there. Here, drink slowly."

May unscrewed the lid and sniffed. Water, her mortal enemy and currently greatest need. Taking Olivia's advice, she tilted it partway to her lips and carefully sipped, letting the cool liquid seep down and soothe her parched throat. Oh, it felt so good.

May kept drinking and drinking until the bottle was drained. When Olivia removed the bottle, May hoarsely croaked, "What happened?"

Roxanne sighed. "Team Rocket had more Pokemon than we thought. They managed to isolate you and hit you hard. And then the Ekans poisoned you."

"I am so sorry," Olivia said, remorse all over her face. "We should've done a better job protecting you."

May scowled. Honestly, being protected was the furthest thing from her mind. "Forget it," she growled. "Where are they now? Did you smash their brains out like they deserve?"

"No, we ran and got away," Roxanne said.

"You did what?" May exclaimed, leaping to her feet. "You didn't kill them? You should've killed them!"

To her disgust, the supposed war veteran PokeGirls both looked horrified by the mere suggestion that those who had put her and her friends in mortal danger had forfeited their breathing rights. "May, they may be scum, but we are not killers!" Olivia said.

"Perfect time to start!" May started anxiously pacing back and forth, fingertips digging into her temples. "After what they did to us, to me? Misty and Ash could be dead because of them!"

"Our priority was saving you!"

"You know what would be a great way to do that? Making the danger go bye-bye! Take them out, and poof! Day is saved, and we could go back to finding my friends!" May stopped pacing, arms encircling her own waist. She was hitting her limit. All of that anger, fear, and frustration stirring up inside of her was getting close to boiling over. "But now they're still out there, and Misty and Ash are still out there! Who knows if they're hurt or in danger or even…" Oh no, not this. "…even…still…still…"

The tears leaked free from the dam, and May sank down to her knees, burying her face in her hands. No! Not this! She wasn't going to cry! Big girls didn't cry! May was a big girl, a fighter, not some baby that broke down when things got bad, especially not in front of other PokeGirls who were both everything she had ever wanted to be, but still couldn't be counted on doing the one thing that…

Then two pairs of arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders, hugging her tight. "It's okay," Roxanne murmured. "It's okay. Let it out."

May cringed. She didn't want to let it out. She was too angry! Angry at them, angry at herself, really angry at Team Rocket! Now was not the time to-

Oh, screw it.

The dam fully burst, and May collapsed sobbing into their arms. Her own arms clinging desperately to them, she buried her face into Olivia's bare bosom as she cried and cried.

How long had it been since she really let herself have a good cry? It had been a while. How long had it been since she had let herself cry around another person? Even longer. Not even Misty had ever seen her like this, not even after running away from home, not even after Dad had reiterated how disappointing she was right in front of Misty just because she had broken that punk Brandon's nose for making fun of Misty's looks.

May hated feeling like this. It made her feel vulnerable. It made her feel weak. And weakness was something she could not afford right now.

Still, much like throwing up that sick feeling earlier, it did feel as good as it felt awful. It was cleansing, in a way. And if she was going to cry, then she was going to get as much crying out of her system as she could.

Thankfully the two older PokeGirls didn't say anything. They just held onto her and let her cry, waiting until the shaking slowed, waiting until the sobbing eased, and until the tears stopped flowing. Slowly she began to calm down, and when she did, she had to admit she did feel a little better. Drained, sick, and still very angry and scared, but better.

Finally she let out a slow, shaking breath. "I'm good, now," she whispered. "Let me go."

The two slid away from her, though Roxanne kept one hand on her shoulder. Sniffling, May wiped her eyes with her wrist and swallowed. Despite her shame, she did have to admit that she felt a lot better now. Still angry, frustrated, and scared, but it no longer felt suffocating.

"Where are we?" she mumbled.

"Well, that's the thing," Olivia said. "Turns out, we're not the only ones this far down."

May looked around again at the little base camp. "Yeah, I can see. What, did we find some other…" Her voice trailed off. If they had found other trainers, then those trainers now knew that she was a PokeGirl!

"We found someone, all right," Olivia said grimly. "But, um, I'm going to need you to promise to hear us out and not do anything rash."

Oh no.

May slowly turned her head, letting her eyes sweep over the surrounding tunnel. She took in the lights, the sleeping bags, the boxes of supplies, the mining equipment, all of it standard stuff one might take along for a journey into the bowels of Mt. Moon.

Then she took in the weapons, the guns, the cages, and the shackles.

Trainers didn't use cages. Trainers didn't use guns. And the only shackles that trainers used were the fun kind, and these definitely were not those.

No, no, no.

May continued to turn, finally seeing what had been directly behind her.

There was a man, a bald man with a thin, black beard, knocked out and tightly tied up, his arms bound behind his back and his legs trussed up with what was clearly bondage rope. A ball gag was stuffed in his mouth and his eyes were covered with a blindfold.

And he was wearing the black uniform marked with a large red R of a Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yup, turns out those jokers weren't the only Team Rocket goons creeping around here," Roxanne said bitterly. "We ran across Chuckles here and a couple of his PokeGirls. They weren't much of a challenge, so we knocked them out and put the girls back into their human balls. Now the only question is what to do with…May, what are you doing?"

May rose to her feet, flames bursting to life around her fists.

"May, don't," Roxanne exclaimed, putting herself between May and the soon-to-be-expired scumbag.

May barely even looked at her. There was a thundering drumbeat in her head, and she was again feeling feverish, and this time it had nothing to do with poison or illness.

"May, look at me."

It would be so easy. One fireball, and he would be roasted alive. He probably wouldn't even feel it, given that he was apparently unconscious! That would be more mercy than he deserved, but still…

"May!"

Suddenly Roxanne seized her by the wrists and yanked her arms up. The flames suddenly flared up, scorching Roxanne's fingers, and then winked out.

Roxanne didn't so much as flinch. "May, look at me, please. Look at me!"

May did, locking eyes with the older PokeGirl, her face a blank mask.

"Do not do this," Roxanne said in a firm, commanding tone. "Do not kill him."

How curious. She thought that she could tell May what she could and could not do. It was kind of funny when you thought about it.

"Why not?" May said.

"Because…" Roxanne grimaced. "Because whatever you think of people like him and what they deserve, he is still the only source of information that we got! We found him and his PokeGirls camped out down here, apparently having nothing to do with the team that was chasing us, and I want to know why!"

"What if he knows where your friends are?" Olivia added. "What if he can help us find them?"

May shivered. Darn it, that was actually a good point.

"Fine," she said, taking a step back. "But we are not going easy on him."

"Let us be the judge of that," Roxanne said curtly. "But in the meantime…"

May scowled. "What?"

In answer, Roxanne pointed to a small pile of clothing. May's clothing, to be exact. "We had to undress you to treat your wounds. But now that you're all fixed up, perhaps you ought to put your clothes back on. For our comfort, if nothing else."

…

Peeking his head out from behind the rock they were hiding behind, Ash couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.

Sitting next to him with her back to the rock and her legs drawn up, Misty glanced over to him and rolled her eyes. "Don't you dare," she said.

"I know, I know," Ash responded. "But man, it is so tempting."

"They'll squish us flat."

"We could take them."

"No, we absolutely cannot take them, Ash!" Misty said harshly.

Ash shot a pleading look over to Nidoran and Zubat, who were cowering down with him and Misty. Nidoran returned the look, and then slowly shook his head.

Sighing, Ash ducked back down. Darn it.

On the other side of the rock, a herd of Rhyhorns was marching past, lumbering their way through the bowels of Mt. Moon, each one a veritable walking tank. Any young trainer would drool at the thought of having such a powerhouse on their team, as Ash was doing at that moment.

But it wasn't as if Misty was wrong. She, Nidoran, and Zubat were all at a massive type disadvantage. Rhyhorn's dual rock/ground typing meant that there was little any of them could do to one, much less against an entire herd. They would be squashed flat for showing even the slightest bit of aggression.

Then again, it wasn't as if he didn't have a powerhouse of his own on hand, one perfectly suited for smashing both rock and ground types to bits, one that had already proved itself quite capable of taking on even a Gym Leader-trained Rhyhorn. She should have little trouble against a wild one.

Misty must have noticed how Ash's hand was twitching its way toward Tangela's pokeball, because the look she shot him was both furious and disappointed. "Don't even think about it, Buster," she hissed.

Ash forced his hand to relax. She was right. Now was not the time to be stupid.

If any of the Rhyhorns took notice to the two squishy humans or the two cowering poison Pokemon, they paid them little heed and just continued on their way. Ash listened longingly until their rough lowing faded out of earshot and the ground stopped trembling.

"Ash, really?" Misty said once it was safe.

"I know, I know," Ash groused as he stood up. "It's just…a Rhyhorn!"

"You were going to use Tangela on them!"

"I didn't!"

"You were thinking about it!"

Ash grumpily shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "Just because the thought popped in my mind doesn't mean I was going to do it! I'm not stupid!"

Misty folded her arms over her bare chest. "I saw your hand moving toward that pokeball, Ash. You were going for it."

"I was not! Yeah, I wanted to, but I wouldn't have!"

"Why do I have a hard time believing that?"

Ash looked over to Nidoran and Zubat. "Come on, guys. I'm not that dumb, right? Back me up here!"

Zubat cocked his head inquisitively, and Nidoran gave him a rather skeptical look.

"Really?" Ash said crankily. Everyone was a critic. "Gee, thanks."

Then Misty sighed. "No, you're not stupid, Ash. Just…really impulsive sometimes."

Ash didn't respond. He was already grumpy about letting a bunch of wild Rhyhorns just walk by. He didn't need to be lectured about something he wasn't even going to do.

The four of them moved on, but unfortunately, despite the danger being passed, Misty did not seem to want to leave the subject alone. "Seriously though, Ash, I can't always be there to rein you in before you do something reckless! You have got to cool that hothead of yours before you really get us into trouble! Again!"

"I get it, I get it!" Ash groused. "I get caught up in the moment once and you won't stop harping on me!"

Misty paused, and then turned around to glower at him. "It almost got us killed!" she said, folding her arms over her chest.

"I already said I was sorry!" Ash snapped back. "You don't have to…um…you don't have to…"

Frowning, Misty tilted her head to one side. "What's gotten into you?"

Ash let out a low growl in frustration. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to argue with someone who's naked?" he said, gesturing to her very conspicuous nudity. "I mean, I'm trying to defend myself here, but your vagina is right there, staring at me in the face!"

Misty's head jerked back, her eyes blinking in surprise. Then her face contorted, her lips squeezing together while her cheeks puffed out as she tried to hold back laughter, only for it to escape through her nose in a very unladylike snort.

A moment later she was leaning up against the tunnel wall, bending over in a fit of giggles as Ash rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he said. "It's not that funny."

"I beg to differ!" she said, wiping her eyes. "And Ash. May's my best friend. Of course I know what it's like to argue with someone who's naked!"

"Well, there you go! Not so easy, is it?"

With one last chuckle, Misty straightened up. Placing her hands on her bare hips, she looked Ash up and down.

"So," she said with a rather fetching smile. "Enjoying that little detail about our adventure here, are we?"

Ash tried to keep up his look of annoyance, but as he had already said, it was very difficult to do so when such youthful perfection was displaying itself right before him. "Stop it, you know I am."

"Hmmm." Looking up to the ceiling, Misty playfully tapped her finger against her lower lip. "If it'll make you more agreeable, maybe I should just be naked more often, then. Like, say, anytime when we're not around other people?"

Oh man. Even though he knew she was just messing with her, the thought of perpetually naked Misty was something he very much liked the sound of. He could feel his boxers tighten at the very thought of it.

Still, as pleasant as the idea was, he did know a power play when he heard one. "Well, then I'll just go naked, too! You get hypnotized every time you see my penis. Just try messing with me when you can't stop drooling!"

Misty's brow rose. "Okay. Deal."

"What?" Ash started.

"When we're out in the wilderness, we go naked. You, me, and of course May. We'll be a traveling pack of nudists!"

"Uh…" Ash had no idea how to respond to that. "Seriously?"

"Why not? It's what we all want, isn't it?" Then Misty's tongue slid out to glide over her lower lip. "In fact," she purred as she sauntered over to him. "I think we'd better get started right now."

She reached down to grab the hem of his shirt, and Ash automatically lifted his arms to give her access, but fortunately, mere seconds before disaster struck, the practical part of his mind finally broke through the horny part to remind him exactly why doing so would be a breathtakingly bad idea.

"WAIT!" he cried, hopping back. "Wait, wait, wait!"

Misty stopped. "What?" she said in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't see your static thing go down! You're still electrified! I don't wanna get shocked again!"

At this, Misty's face went white with horror as she realized what she had almost done. "Oops!" she said, clapping hands over her mouth. "Sorry! Forgot!"

Ash slowly breathed out. Wow, that had been a close one. "Whew. Glad I remembered." Then something amusing occurred to him. "And I guess I'm not the only impulsive one around here."

At his feet, Nidoran let out a small, squeaking snort. He shot a sidelong look over to Misty, as if to say, "He's got you there."

"Oh, wow, really?" Misty said. "Really? Real mature, Ash. Real mature."

Ash shrugged. "I'm just saying, you almost killed me that one time, and then you got caught up in the moment and came really close to doing it again."

"Seriously? You're going to pull that card?"

"Well, you have to admit, there's a lot of similarities."

Misty inhaled deeply, her smooth chest swelling up, before she slowly exhaled. "Fine," she acquiesced at last. "Well played. You win this round." Then she stuck a finger of warning at Ash's face. "Don't gloat too much."

"I won't," Ash promised. And he wasn't going to. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to save that memory for his own satisfaction.

Shaking her head, Misty turned and the four of them started moving again.

In time the argument was forgotten, and Ash went back to what he had been doing earlier: studying the surrounding stone for anything interesting.

It was actually more difficult than it looked, because to him, all of it was interesting! Rocks were just cool! Most people only liked the shiny or weirdly shaped ones, but even humble granite had a lot of neat things going for it. He didn't have a whole lot of memories of his dad before he had passed, but the ones he did retain were usually based around sitting with his dad and going through the elder Ketchum's mementos from past digs, not just the fossils or crystals or valuable metals, but even comparing two chunks of limestone taken from two different regions. Ash remembered sitting fascinated as his father had explained how despite forming hundreds of miles apart the two had enough common properties to be given the same classification, and yet were still different enough that a trained eye could tell them apart at a mere glance.

It was sort of the same as Pokemon, when one thought about it. A few were the same regardless of which region they were from, but others had split from their common ancestor far back enough to travel down two completely different evolutionary paths, even if they remained the same species. For example: most Vulpix were fire-typed, but somehow a small pack of them had wound up on prehistoric Alola that ended up become ice-typed instead. And yet the two were still closely related enough to be considered Vulpix. He supposed that humans were the same way, where being from different regions and different parts of the world gave you different characteristics because of your ancestors' environment, but that didn't make anyone any less human. Evolution really was something else.

Then there were the ones that barely changed at all. The Rhyhorns he had just seen had supposedly shared the land with Tyrantrum, but Tyrantrum was now utterly extinct, their descendants having evolved into several different species entirely, whereas Rhyhorn was still Rhyhorn. There had been some discussion on whether or not Shieldon had been an early Rhyhorn ancestor, but as far as the fossil record showed, the two species had also shared the land. There still was a possibility that the Nido line was an offshoot of Rhyhorn, one that had mutated due to prolonged moonstone exposure, but there was little in the way of hard evidence for that theory.

Though speaking of which, he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for moonstone. He had hoped that they would have come across the glowing mineral by now, but despite traveling through tunnels dug out specifically to seek it out, they had yet to come across it in any form. A few times he had paused when the light from Misty's flash orb had reflected off of some kind of crystal, but that just kept on being plain old quartz. Not that quartz wasn't neat in its own right, but it wouldn't make Nidoran evolve.

Actually, that was sort of curious. They were supposedly deep into the abandoned moonstone mine tunnels, right? And those were supposed to be well off the beaten path that trainers took, right? So logically, there ought to be a decent amount of moonstone down here, as the miners had been shut down before they could really strip the place and trainers didn't usually venture down this far. And yet he couldn't find any. Here and there he'd find gouges in the stone, ones that suggested mining, but whatever vein it had been was long exhausted.

Ash paused by one such hollow in the stone, one that was clearly manmade. A long chunk had been cut out, exposing the raw rock beneath. Frowning, he reached in to take some of the grip and rubbed it between his fingers.

The cuts deeper down had been several decades old, clearly left by the original miners. But these looked fresh.

Huh.

"Wait," Misty said, pausing. "Do you feel that?"

Ash cocked his head to one side. "Feel what?"

"Something's…different. For some reason, all the static on my skin just started tingling."

Lifting his head, Ash sniffed the air. Of course he didn't have a Pokemon's sharp senses, but it feel a little warmer than before, and a little more humid. "Huh." He then looked over to their Pokemon guides. "Hey, you guys know anything about this?"

Nidoran looked pensive, but Zubat started fluttering around Ash's head, chittering in excitement.

"Okay, so it's something good? Where is it?"

Zubat landed on Ash's shoulder. He moved his head this way and that, sniffing the air. Then he took off to hover around the top of the tunnel wall.

Ash frowned. "Hey, Misty? Bring that light over here."

She did so. There was a patch of brownish-grey where Zubat was fluttering, one that didn't match the rest of the stony wall. And around it, the wall was glistening with moisture. And from beyond, he could faintly hear the sound of trickling water.

Huh.

Ash extended a hand and poked a finger at the patch. It was packed dirt, not stone.

"Hey, Nidoran. You're a digger, right?" Ash knelt down to pick the little poisonous fighter. "See what you can do with this."

He lifted Nidoran up to the patch, and Nidoran immediately set to work, using his forearms and spines to shovel at the dirt.

Right into Ash's face.

"Hey!" Ash sputtered as he spat out the dirt flecks that had gotten into his mouth. "Careful!"

Nidoran glanced over his shoulder to shoot Ash a disparaging look. The message was clear. "Move you head, genius!"

Sighing, Ash extended his neck to the right to avoid the spray.

It didn't take long. The patch of dirt crumbled, revealing a dark hole. When it did, the smell and sound of water grew stronger, as did the humidity.

"Smell anything?" Ash asked.

Nidoran sniffed the moist air. Then his eyes went wide and he started pawing at the air, chattering in excitement.

"Nidi! Nidi! Nidi!"

"Sounds like he really wants to get in there," Misty remarked.

"Sure does! What is it, buddy? What do you-Hey, wait!"

Too late. Nidoran squirmed out of Ash's hands and hopped up into the hole to scamper to the other side.

"I guess it's safe?" Misty said dubiously.

Ash slowly breathed out. "Give me a light."

Misty sent a flash orb in through the hole. Standing up on tiptoes, Ash peeked inside.

It was another cavern, this one medium-sized and empty. Nidoran was running this way and that, seemingly looking for something.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary," Ash said. "But something's got him excited." The patch wasn't very large, but he just might be able to fit if he cleared it enough and shed some extra bulk. He punched out the rest of the dirt patch and slipped his backpack and jacket from his shoulders. Then he sat down to remove his shoes before unbuckling and pulling off his pants. He then stood up to push all of them up through the hole and turned to Misty. "C'mon, give me a boost."

Misty knelt down and entwined her fingers. Stepping onto it with one foot, Ash let her heave him up and pushed his upper body up into the hole.

Ash braced his hands and wriggled up into the cavern and looked around.

Then his jaw dropped.

The water was trickling down the far wall from a hole in the ceiling, and where it landed was a pool of crystal clear water. Steam rose from the water's surface, and a small stream

It was a hot spring. An actual underground hot spring.

Oh sweet Mother of Arceus, yes!

"Misty, you will not believe our luck!" Ash exclaimed as he turned to help Misty up through the hole. "Guess what we-"

But Misty was already part of the way in, wriggling her upper body up through the hole. And she looked darned good doing it too, even with her now being covered in dirt. Actually, it made her look even better to Ash. There was just something about a girl willing to get dirty that just did it for him.

However, it seemed that she was having some difficulty. "Darn it," she hissed as she tried to twist around.

Ash snapped out of her trance. "What's wrong?"

"My stupid butt's stuck!"

Ash blinked in surprise.

Then he doubled over laughing, his legs nearly giving out. He had to grab his stomach with one arm while bracing himself against a rock with the other.

"Yeah, yeah, yak it up," Misty groused. "Curse of having the best butt in Cerulean City." She briefly shimmered, banishing the static field, before sticking her arms out toward him. "Well? Be a gentleman and help me out already!"

Still snickering, Ash reached down to grab her by the hands. Bracing his feet against a stalagmite, he pulled as hard as he could.

It was a tight squish, but with his help Misty managed to wriggle her generous hips and butt cheeks out from where they had been trapped. Grunting, she pulled her legs out of the hole and stood up.

"Well, that was embarrassing," she grumbled as she rubbed her sore rump. Catching the way Ash was smirking at her, she scowled and pressed a finger against his breastbone. "You will speak of this to no one, understand?"

"Not even May?"

"Not even her! She would never let me live it down."

Ash mimed zipping a zipper over his lips. "Your secret's safe with me." As was the memory. Oh, this was something he was going to treasure.

Speaking of treasure, Misty's very precious treasure was now quite close to his hands. Whistling nonchalantly, Ash reached out with one hand toward those soft and luscious globes.

Misty smacked his hand away. "Hands off the goods, Mister. Pretty sure I lost a layer of skin coming in through that tiny hole. Now, what was so great that I needed to…"

Her voice trailed off when she caught sight of the steaming hot spring.

"Oh."

"Isn't it great?" Ash gushed. "An actual natural hot spring! And it's all ours!"

Misty's brow rose in appreciation. "Um, yeah. It sure is." Chewing on her lower lip, she glanced over to Ash.

"What?"

"Well, I was just thinking," Misty said, draping an arm around Ash's shoulders. "The last time we were in a body of water together, things didn't end too well."

Ash winced. Oh boy, that was an understatement.

"But they were getting good up until that stupid shock." She started to idly wrap his hair around one finger. "So I'm thinking that, well, since I've got that nasty business under control, you and I have some unfinished aquatic business, wouldn't you agree?"

To this, Ash nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah! Totally!"

Grinning, Misty stepped back a few steps. "Then get naked already! Last one in is the first to give head!"

Ash grabbed his shirt to pull it off, but Misty, already being naked, bolted right past him, enthusiastically running toward the steaming pool to dive in.

But as she did, everything Ash had learned about caves suddenly thrust itself through the euphoria of getting a hot bath with a naked girl, and he screamed, "Hold on, STOP!"

Thank goodness for PokeGirls' instinctive obedience, because Misty skidded to a sudden stop right before reaching the pool's edge. "What? What?" she said, looking back at him in bewilderment.

"It's an underground pool!"

"So?"

Ash gestured toward the water. "So we don't know what the water's like! It could be acidic! Or filled with flesh-eating bacteria! Or hot enough to scald! Or just filled with Pokemon waste! Do you want to dive into a Zubat toilet? Because I sure don't!" He then glanced over to his own Zubat. "Uh, no offense."

Zubat squeaked that it was perfectly understandable. He thought.

"Oh." Misty cast a dubious look at the pool and slowly moved away from the water. "Yikes. That can happen?"

Ash frowned. "You…I thought you were…"

"I don't go spelunking, Ash," Misty sighed. "I stick to streams, lakes, and the ocean. This is the first time I've actually been underground longer than an hour."

"Oh. Uh, yeah, that makes sense." Then Ash unzipped his bag. "Fortunately, I read a guide on traveling through Mt. Moon, and got a bunch of stuff we'd need for the journey. Including this!"

He pulled out an electric wand, with a metal pole about half a foot long and a bulky readout on the handle.

Misty looked perplexed. "Am I supposed to know what that thing is? Because it just looks like a really uncomfortable dildo."

Ash couldn't help but snort. "It's a SilphSensor! Stick it into an underground pool, and it'll tell you if the water's safe or not!"

Nidoran hopped up and down. "Nidi!"

"Thanks!" Ash was becoming increasingly proud of himself for his foresight.

Even Misty looked impressed. "Wow, first the headphones, and now this," she said, putting her hands on her hips and letting out a low whistle. "Cave exploring really is in the blood."

His cheeks warming up, Ash cleared his throat. "Um, yeah. Well, you know what they say! Flail to flan, flan to…I mean fail to plan, plan to fail, right?"

Misty giggled. "Exactly. Good flan!"

"Right, right," Ash muttered as he approached the water. Kneeling cautiously on the edge, he turned it on and stuck the metal rod in the pool. Then he waited, watching the readings.

Misty, Nidoran, and Zubat all crowded around him, waiting for his diagnosis. The wand then beeped.

"Well?" Misty said.

Ash frowned. There wasn't much in the way of bacteria or viruses or fungi or fecal matter, but there were trace amounts of some kind of toxin, probably because of dissolved minerals absorbed by the way somewhere along the way. It probably wasn't dangerous, but with his skin still sensitive he didn't want to take the risk.

Fortunately, there was a remedy.

"Okay, there's some kind of impurity in there," he noted. "Doesn't look dangerous, but still. Give me a second."

From his pack he took out a poison antidote. Screwing off the injector, he poured it into the pool.

Antidotes were specially designed to diffuse in liquid and spread quickly so as to cleanse a Pokemon or a PokeGirl's bloodstream as fast as possible, but it worked just as effectively in a body of water as well. Plus, the churning from the small waterfall should help.

He waited anxiously, watching the pale yellow fluid spread through the water and vanish. When enough time had passed, he tested the water again.

"Well?" Misty said.

Ash nodded once and turned the wand off. Then he stood up.

"Everyone in the pool!" he said, peeling his shirt off. "The water is fine!"

…

The captive Team Rocket Grunt was just starting to come to. His head lolled listlessly from one side to the other as he groaned in pain.

Roxanne nudged his side with her toe. "Hey," she said. "Wake up."

Another groan. And then, "Who…? What…?"

Kneeling down in front of him, Roxanne stared into his blindfolded face. The effect of her glower was lost on him, as he could not see, but it helped her focus.

"Awake now? Can you understand me?"

The groggy man paused. Then he shook his head to clear the cobwebs and mumbled, "What…What did you do to me?"

"Knocked you out and tied you up," Olivia pitched in. "Obviously."

The man sighed. "What about…Sheila? And Traci?"

"Knocked them out too and put them in their human balls," Roxanne answered. The human balls in question had been found on the man's belt. "They're no threat."

The man must have woken up a bit more, because he now had the wherewithal to turn his head to one side and spit contemptuously. "No threat. Heh. Maybe not, but do you really think we're the only ones down here?"

"Oh, we know you aren't," Roxanne said. "The question is, are any of the others going to save you?" She was quite pleased with how this interrogation was going. Right off the bat the idiot criminal had already divulged a valuable piece of information. Given that these goons had been quite surprised to see her and Olivia and hadn't recognized them, and given that their camp looked like it had been set up for a while, she had figured that whatever it was that he was up to, it was unrelated to the Team Rocket team that had attacked the kids on the bridge. So that meant that Team Rocket was up to something within Mt. Moon and probably had been so for some time. And that meant that it was something that Brock would want to know about.

And already this dunce had confirmed it for her.

There was a trick she had learned while dealing with unruly middle-schoolers, and that was getting them to cooperate was like herding Meowths: it was something they naturally resisted when presented with it directly, but they could be coaxed into it when done through indirect means. They may not like answering questions, but they sure liked to brag. The trick was to play to their ego and keep feeding incorrect assumptions. Make them want to correct you.

"You better believe it. You are so screwed," the Grunt giggled. "There are dozens of us down here. This? This is just our newest outpost. Go up further and the tunnels'll be swarming with Grunts!"

Roxanne shot a worried look over to Olivia, who winced. That was not what she wanted to hear. True, he could be lying, but it was hard to bluff immediately after waking from a hard knock to the head.

Still, it was good that they now knew about it. Time to find out more.

"We plan to," Roxanne told him. "And it won't be long before the police come swarming down here as well. Your little Pokemon poaching operation will be shut down."

The Grunt snorted back laughter. "Poaching? You honestly think we came all the way down here for some damned Zubats? Nah, this is much bigger, so much bigger! You have no idea."

Chills swept down Roxanne's back. A massive Team Rocket operation in Mt. Moon? How long had this been going on? "It can't be that impressive," she said with a derisive snort. The contemptuous tone was getting harder to maintain, but she had to keep him talking.

"You won't think so once we're done stripping this rock of every moonstone to be found!"

Well, that at least made sense. It was still very, very bad, but it made sense that Team Rocket would want to control the supply of an entire line of evolution stones. "Really?" she said. "That's it? You want to evolve a few Clefairies?"

"You stupid bitch," he snarled. "This ain't about evolution. You think those rocks are just good for that? There's magic in those stones, real magic!"

Then Olivia nudged her shoulder. Roxanne frowned and glanced over to her, eyes questioning. "Uh-huh," she kept saying to the Grunt. "Now Team Rocket is a bunch of superstitious fools. Real scary."

Olivia was clearly distressed, and was motioning frantically to a point behind Roxanne. Roxanne looked. And her heart fell.

May had been standing back during the interrogation. That had taken a lot of convincing, as she had been fully prepared roast layers of skin off of the Team Rocket Grunt until she got what she wanted. Eventually Roxanne was able to get her to agree to let the person with some experience at prying information from reluctant lips to handle things.

But clearly that agreement had its limits. May was standing tense and stiff, trembling fists held to her sides, head bowed. She was glowing, a violent scarlet aura surrounding her, head starting to radiate off of her in waves. She was a powder keg ready to explode, and if someone didn't intervene soon, then fire was going to start flying.

Calm here, Roxanne mouthed to Olivia.

Olivia stared at her in dismay. How? she mouthed back.

Meanwhile, the Team Rocket Grunt had no idea how close he was to being charbroiled, and just kept on talking. "Shoulda figured I'd get that stupid talk from a stupid rock bitch. You dumbasses know nothing about the power in this mountain!" Now May was striding forward, the cold stone sizzling with every step. Both Roxanne and Olivia moved to put themselves in front of her, hoping to quell the homicide that was about to take place. "Hey, tell yah what. How about you give me a good suck, and maybe I'll consider telling you more! Show me how good ol' Brocky likes it! It's all you stupid whores are good for-"

"SHUT UP ABOUT THE ROCKS!" May screamed as she leapt forward, her blazing fist swinging.

"May, stop!" Olivia cried, thrusting her forearm out to block the girl.

Ignoring the command, May nimbly ducked the arm and twisted around Olivia's attempt to block her with her leg and lunged for the Grunt.

"What the hell is this?" the Grunt exclaimed. "What is-"

Then May's burning fist slammed into the rock wall right next to his head. He froze.

"WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS?!" May screamed into his face, sizzling droplets of spittle spraying all over his face. She seized him by the collar and yanked him up. "WHAT DID YOU SCUMBAGS DO WITH MISTY AND ASH?!"

"Who?" the Grunt gasped.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" May started shaking him hard.

"I don't know! I don't know who you're talking about!"

"May, stop!" Roxanne moved to grab her. "He doesn't-"

A flaming foot slammed into her stomach. It wasn't enough to do a professionally trained rock-typed PokeGirl much damage, but she hadn't been expecting it and it did cause her to stumble back.

"Liar!" May roared. Keeping one hand on the terrified Grunt's collar, she ignited a fireball around the other, and moved it closer to his blindfolded face. "Tell me where they are, or I swear I'll melt your face off right here, right now!"

"I swear I don't know!" he cried. "Look, if there's hostages, they woulda been taken to the home base! It's a couple of miles up through the tunnels, that's all I can tell you, I swear!"

May's face contorted in pure rage. She drew her flaming fist back, reading to drive it through the criminals brain.

"That's enough!" Olivia's hand enveloped May's fist, snuffing out the fire, and she seize the young PokeGirl by the waist and bodily hauled her off. "Teach, put him down!"

"Put me down?" the Grunt said in alarm. "Hey, whad'd'ya mean by that? What-"

Roxanne flicked him in the forehead. He slumped limp and lay still.

"Let me at him!" May seethed as she squirmed and kicked. "Let me at him!"

…

"BANZAI!"

Ash leapt into the air, seized his knees, and cannonballed into the pool, splashing the nearby rocks. Nidoran, who had been nosing around near the shore, glowered and him in annoyance and shook out its ears.

On the other side of the pool, Misty was lying flat on her back, floating in the luxuriously warm water, lazily kicking her legs to propel herself around the pool. Just being in water again was doing wonders for her mood. When had been the last time she had gotten the chance to go swimming? It had been that time with Ash, on the outskirts of the Viridian Forest.

Misty sighed. Yeah, that had started off swimmingly enough, but it had also ended in disaster. Hopefully this would-

Nope. Nope. Nope. She was not thinking about that. May had been right. No sense in tempting a jinx.

"Oh! Oh! Hot, hot, hot," Ash panted as he surfaced. "That is so hot!"

"Well, you were just hiking through some really cold caves," Misty called. "Should've let yourself get used to the heat first before just jumping in."

Ash hastily retreated to the edge of the pool, pulling himself up onto the edge and sitting down with his legs still dangling in the water. "You jumped right in! How come you didn't get all boiled?"

"Because static field, dingus! I might've been taking this naked, but I've been nice and toasty while you freezing your cute little butt off."

Ash smirked. "You think my butt is cute, huh?"

"Hey, I'm allowed to check out those cheeks! You've been ogling my butt ever since last night." Then Misty turned her body upright so she could return Ash's cheeky little smile. "And your butt is adorable, actually."

Ash's smiled wavered, and his face got some red that had nothing to do with the steam. "I, uh, I've actually been looking at your butt a lot longer than that," he admitted, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "And…the rest of you."

Misty raised an eyebrow. Huh.

She paddled toward Ash, gliding through the steaming water. As she approached, Ash's eyes widened as he realized what was coming, and his smooth, little cock stiffened between his legs, standing up and elongating.

Planting her palms on the edge of the pool, Misty smoothly hoisted herself up, water and steam coming off of her body, and turned around to sit next to him.

"So, I'm guessing you haven't had a lot of girls tell you how cute you are, huh?" Misty said.

Ash sighed. "Not really," he said.

Years of degrading taunts from her sisters and butthurt trainers filled Misty's mind. "Kind of the opposite?"

"Yeah," Ash said, his face falling. "Especially from Gary. After we kind of got mad at each other and he started dating Yellow he was kind of…mean."

Misty slowly nodded. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

"Well, I mean, I know I'm not exactly the best looking-"

"Stop it," Misty said harshly.

"Huh?"

"Stop it. Stop putting yourself down like that. They're wrong. Gary was wrong. You are the only guy I have ever been attracted to, and believe me, there are plenty I've been disgusted by." All those insults playing in Misty's memory were joined by the faces of trainers, from kids like her to full adults, all acting nasty toward her. Granted, being better than those losers was a low bar to clear, but for as much of a stubborn dunce he could be at times, he deserved all the credit in the world by actually being desirable instead of merely tolerable.

Ash shivered. "But I keep screwing up! I almost got us killed like several times, and I-"

Oof. Ouch. While it had been accurate, Misty was regretting snapping at him earlier. The boy's insecurities were packed in deep.

"Ash, enough," Misty said. She leaned in closing, resting her body against his. "You've been at this for little over a week. You're a junior trainer. You're supposed to make mistakes. Everybody does! And you know something else? You are still way better at this than most other kids. Most junior trainers don't have to deal with Team Rocket, but you've already beaten them once and got away a second time. Most juniors trainers don't get attacked by something like Tangela, but you not only tracked her down and captured it while naked and toasted, you got it to start trusting you!"

Ash's brow furrowed, but he didn't argue back.

"Sure, you got a long way to go, but you also have a lot of talent, and you're getting better every day." Misty moved in to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "And you are way better than that creep Gary."

Finally she seemed to be getting through to him. His face lit up, and he turned his head toward her with a small, yet growing smile. "Really?"

"Really, really," Misty said, and she did mean it. "I've only met the guy like three times, but I've battled plenty of blowhard trainers to recognize his type. And believe me when I say the biggest reason that he's such a jerk to you is because he's scared of you. You're better than him, and he knows it." The side of her mouth perked up in a wry smile. "And I bet the only reason he's got those cheerleaders with him is because Mommy and Daddy knew that that's the only way to get any girl to spend any time with him."

That got a laugh out of her conflicted trainer. "Um, yeah. That's for sure!" he said. "I mean, Yellow did break up with him the fastest!"

Misty had no trouble believing that. Placing a hand on his bare thigh, she leaned into Ash to murmur into his ear. "You see? Any girl would be lucky to have you. And if Yellow wasn't gay and kind of clueless, she would never have let you go."

The blush on Ash's face was now bright pink. "Well, I mean, I don't know about that. We were only in the first grade, so does that even count? And besides, it's not like-"

"Ash," Misty said with a long-suffering sigh.

"Huh?"

Then Misty's hand traveled over Ash's inner thigh, stroking his water-warmed skin, before closing around the girth of his penis.

"Stop overthinking things," she said, sliding back down into the water and guiding him down with her by the cock. "And come swim with me."

With a slow nod, Ash acquiesced, going back into the water with her.

…

Sighing, Nidoran paused his search to glance over to the pool. Behind him, his two young human companions were going at it. Again.

Nidoran was happy for them; he really was. All of that dancing around their mutual attraction and hang-ups had been…aggravating, to say the least. And he was glad that they were happy. But in its own way, now having them be at it all the time was proving to be just as annoying, in its own way.

In the meantime, his own search had been a bust. There had been a reason why he had been so eager to get into the cavern, one that had nothing to do with the hot springs.

And that was that he had smelled his own kind.

Nidos had been here. And not just other Nidorans: actual fully evolved adults. Wild adult Nidos had visited this cavern.

And that could only mean one thing. Moonstones.

Nidos did not mature into their full adult stages without a blast of lunar energy. That was why fully mature Nidos were so rare outside of humans' possession. So that meant that there had to be moonstone about, right?

Wrong. There was no trace of any moonstone anywhere. Furthermore, there didn't seem to be any way in and out of the cavern other than the hole they had dug themselves and the cracks that the water was coming in and flowing out through, none of them large enough to accomondate even the smallest of Nidorans, much less a fully grown King or Queen.

So where did that Nido smell come from? Nidoran didn't get it, but his lack of luck was growing frustrating. This was going to be his only chance to find the one thing it needed to mature into a full adult, but so far he was coming up with nothing!

Shaking its head, he walked away from the pool, intending to find a nice little corner to take a nap. They were probably going to be at it for a while, and Nidoran didn't want to have to pay attention.

As it did, he took note of Zubat, who was perched on top of a rock, grooming himself with tiny claws. At least he had been, but now he was sitting still, his massive ears turned in the direction of the two horny children.

Nidoran paused. Then he looked up at its new companion and grumbled, "Nidoran. Nidornido."

(translation: "You're getting a little too into that.")

Zubat didn't turn away. Instead, he squeaked back several times.

(translation: "Um, actually, this is starting to sound kind of hot.")

Nidoran stared. "Nidonidoran."

(translation: "Please don't tell me that you're some kind of humanphile.")

Zubat snickered. "Squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak."

(translation: "Sex is sex! And I don't have to worry about what they look like!")

Nidoran stared at his new companion in dismay. Then he shook its head and walked off.

He missed Chuey. Sure, they had gotten off on the wrong foot, but the surly Pikachu had ended up being the only one of Nidoran's traveling companions to not turn out to be a total and utter degenerate weirdo!

…

Say what you will about just about everything Team Rocket did, but at least the food was good.

May, Roxanne, and Olivia all sat in a circle, silently munching on the rations they had "liberated" from the captive Rocket Grunt, who was now tied up so tightly that he resembled a mummy. What he was going to do once he came around after they had left was going to be up to him. Roxanne wasn't willing to simply kill him, but that mercy only went so far.

In the meantime, there was a pot simmering with cooked noodles, vegetables, chunks of beefs, and dumplings. It was pretty good fare for an underground expedition. Actually, the meat and vegetables did confirm what the Grunt had said about there being a Rocket base camp nearby, and if they had such easily perishable food, then it was probably pretty elaborate. That might not be a good thing.

Worry about that later. For now, food.

At least the Grunt had been a halfway decent cook. Hot broth full of savory noodles were gulped down, while her teeth gnashed at chunks of meat and vegetables before swallowing them down too. Roxanne had to force herself to slow it down, to let herself enjoy it and take the time to chew instead of inhaling it all at once.

As she did, she kept a wary eye on the kid. May's rage had fortunately burned itself out, and now she was methodically eating, spooning food into her mouth and chewing with almost robotic efficiency. But while Roxanne was glad that she wasn't aggressively attempting homicide anymore, she was still very worried.

The kid was not in a good place. On top of the plethora of reasons she already had to be worried about her, this sudden comedown from piping hot rage to cold silence was not a good sign. Roxanne had seen it before, and new that May was not only fully capable of enacting lethal force on anyone who stood between her and her loved ones, she was looking for a reason to cut loose.

Team Rocket were scumbags, ruthless criminals who hurt people for their own selfish gain. But for as much as she despised them, Roxanne couldn't justify callously allowing one of them to be executed, especially by someone like May, if more for her sake than for theirs. She was carrying enough on her shoulders already. The last things she needed was to add the death of another human being.

May finished her meal, scraping the edges of the bowl with her spoon to get the last bits, and then drained the rest of her water in one go. Setting the thermos down, she stood up, her spoon still in hand. "So. Where too next?"

Olivia and Roxanne exchanged a look. Then Olivia cleared her throat and said, "Are you-"

"I'm fine," May insisted, though the trembling of her fingers cast doubts. "I'm good. I'm ready to get going."

Roxanne hesitated, and then offered, "May, maybe we'd better-"

"We'd better go," May growled. As she spoke, the dull metal of the spoon in her hand started smoking, and then heated from grayish-silver to pink, to red, and then to white before melting away completely, dripping down through her clenched fingers to splatter into a hissing puddle on the cold ground. May didn't so much as notice. "I'll play nice. I'll do what you say. But we find my friends, and we make sure that they're okay. If they're hurt, then we cure them. If they're in danger, then we save them. If Team Rocket is holding them, then we rescue them. But until Misty and Ash are back with me, we keep moving." May's body started to glow with an angry scarlet aura, the air around it growing hazy with heat. Steam rose up from her fireproof shoes, the chill of the stone clashing with the heat radiating off of her. "Nothing else matters. Nothing."

Olivia winced. She looked like she was going to say something, but Roxanne laid a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. Much like directing the Rocket Grunt's flow of information, dealing with a child like May was challenging, but doable. May was single-mindedly focused on her goal, and any attempt to deviate her from it would be met with hostility. Fortunately, Roxanne and Olivia were also committed to the same goal, so there was no problem in helping her achieve it. The issue was keeping her from doing something she could not take back along the way.

The trick was to use her focus on finding her friends as a way to prevent her from doing those things. Roxanne had already stopped May from killing the Grunt not through appealing to any sort of respect for human life, but through pointing out that the Grunt probably had information that could help them. She was just going to have to keep nudging her down that same path until they finally found the two wayward children. From there, she would return to her original mission, which was to get all three back to Pewter City, where they could be protected from Team Rocket, and finally have the resources to help May (and probably the other two) with her many, many troubles.

She glanced over to Olivia, who had more actual experience exploring caves from her travels back home in Alola. Catching the look, Olivia nodded and stood up.

"Right," she said. "First thing to do would search this punk's stuff and see if we can't find some kind of map. If they've really been down here as long as he says, then they at least have got to have these tunnels mapped out. That's help us narrow our search down and hopefully stay away from any Rocket business. After that, I say we load up on as many supplies here as we can. Also, keep an eye out for a phone, radio, walkie-talkie, anything that might get a call out."

Roxanne cleared her throat. "Might not be a good idea. Those'll be patched in to the Rocket network. Any call we make will go straight to them."

"But if there's a radio, can't we listen in on what the other Rockets are saying?" May pointed out. "Maybe they found Misty and Ash and we can find out where they are that way!"

Despite herself, Roxanne was impressed. The had a great many problems, but she wasn't dumb.

"Good idea," she said. "All right, let's get moving. I want to be out of here before Chuckles over here wakes up."

The three of them moved quickly, ruffling through the boxes and crates. As they did, Roxanne cast a look over to May, who was anxiously going through what turned out to be a crate full of gas grenades.

She really wished that there was more she could do for the kid. Nobody that young should ever have to go through what May was experiencing. Well, okay, nobody at all should have to go through it, but it was so much worse when it happened to children. Roxanne might only have worked as substitute teacher, but there had been more than one occasion in which a student had confided something horrible about their home life to her after finding out that she was owned by Brock, hoping that the local Gym Leader could do something for them. And he had. But there was little she could do for May right now other than find her friends and get her above ground as soon as possible.

You know that's not true. There is something.

Roxanne winced at the thought. True, there was one thing that they could do for May, one thing that would help greatly in relieving her mind and do her mental state a world of good, one thing that she probably desperately needed right now and not getting it was only making things worse.

Unfortunately, giving it to her meant crossing a line that Roxanne was not sure she was ready to cross. But she had a feeling that she was going to have to.

To distract herself from that possibility, Roxanne turned her thoughts to the other two missing children, Misty Waterflower and Ash Ketchum. As weird as they were to her, Roxanne was truly worried about them. Even if they had somehow survived the fall without getting hurt too badly (depressingly unlikely), the mountain was full of dangers, ones that would be more than happy to gobble up a couple of wayward human children and spit out the bones.

In her expansive experience in dealing with children, Roxanne had come to learn that they were simultaneously some of the most clever, inventive, and ingenious people one would ever meet, while also being utterly thick, brash, and breathtakingly stupid. That was a very dangerous combination. She could only pray that wherever they were, that they weren't hurt too badly, that they weren't too scared, and that their situation wasn't that much worse than her own.

…

With a deep, satisfied sigh, Ash leaned back against the edge of the pool and sank down until only her head remained above surface. The steaming, mineral-rich water made his sensitive skin tingle pleasantly, and he could feel his tightly wound muscles and sore joints loosen up and relax.

Beneath the water, his arm was draped over Misty's waist. His PokeGirl was seated next to him, leaning into his shoulder, her head resting against Ash's cheek. Their aquatic lovemaking do-over had blasted both of their minds into a haze of bliss, and now they were basking in the afterglow, enjoying each other's tender touch and letting their troubles wait for another time.

Though his eyes were closed, Ash could hear Zubat cheeping contently to himself as he perched near the waterfall, grooming himself with his wings. Curled up on a steam-warmed rock was Nidoran, enjoying an early-afternoon nap, letting out long, squeaking snores.

This. This was what Ash had wanted. Him, his Pokemon, and his lover, taking a break from exploring the depths of Mt. Moon, luxuriating in a natural hot spring and enjoying each other's company. When he had failed to get a starter Pokemon from Professor Oak, he had thought that his dream was over, but look at him now. One badge in the bag, three Pokemon on his hip, and Misty at his side. Who could ask for anything more?

Well, fewer Team Rocket attacks, more supplies, and one less missing and endangered friend, for starters.

Ash's face twitched. The problem with trying to forget one's troubles was that those troubles didn't actually go away.

"What's wrong?" Misty murmured sleepily. "You just got all tense."

Ash sighed. "Nothing. Just trying…trying not to…"

"Not to think about everything?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

They sat in contemplative silence, listening to the soft symphony of the waterfall's babble, of Zubat's chirping, and of Nidoran's snoring, all of it mixing together into a soothing white noise.

"She's okay, right?" Misty said at last.

"Of course she is!" Ash said without hesitation, but also without conviction. "She's got two grown-up PokeGirls to help her! If we can make it this far on our own, then she'll have no trouble at all!"

Misty sighed. "It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself more than me."

"I…" Ash sighed. "Well. I'm worried about her too."

"Yeah."

Misty laid her head back, staring up at the stalactites that hung from the cavern ceiling. "You know, it's funny. Until we met you and I guess Yellow, I was literally May's only friend." She chuckled. "Heck, I was the only person she really liked. I mean, it's not like she hated people on sight or anything, she's always been friendly, but she had no one else close to her. I always sort of figured that she needed me, that I was all she had. But now that she's not here…"

"You sort of realize how much you need her too," Ash said softly.

"Yeah." Misty swallowed hard. "I mean, I had things going for me. I had my gym, and my Pokemon, and…stuff. And I thought I had my sisters. Sort of. But she also thought that she had her brother, so…"

Ash frowned. "She has a brother?" Then he thought back to their past conversations. "No, wait, she's mentioned him a couple times, but…" Come to think of it, May hadn't said much about him, other to confirm that there was a second Maple child. "Huh."

"Yeah. Max. He's…" Misty's brow furrowed. "Well, he's actually kind of a brat, but I guess he could be worse. I'm kind of judging him on a curve, though. But it was so weird. Their dad showed him about as much love as he did May, which is basically none, but Max would never hear a bad word about him. He just worshipped the ground Norman walked on, and wanted to be just like him! I visited a lot to get away from my sisters, and things got pretty bad between them near the end. I'd hear them arguing them all the time, and it…it got ugly."

Now Ash was outright fascinated. Both Misty and May were such complicated individuals, ones that he frankly did not understand when he first met them, but every nugget of information he got about their histories did help explain why they were the way they were, even if those nuggets were slowly doled out. "How ugly?"

"The screaming and name-calling kind of ugly," Misty said with a shiver. "Actually, come to think of it, that was probably what pushed her over the edge and made her ask me to catch her. She was just so happy to be out of that house, to finally be a PokeGirl, and to be with me." There was a catch to Misty's voice, one that Ash recognized immediately. It was the same that caught his own whenever he tried to talk about losing his father. "You know, if we ever got caught then yeah, we'd be in a lot of trouble, but the thing I was worried about the most is her getting sent back there."

As interested as he was in his girls' history, everything he learned about their families only disgusted Ash more. "What is it with your families?" he said. "Why are they so awful?"

Misty shrugged. "There's bad people out there, Ash. And a lot of them have families." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Anyway, you're kind of in the same boat, seeing how badly your friends treated you."

While he appreciated the acknowledgement, that wasn't entirely true. "Well, it was really only Gary," Ash corrected. "Yellow…wasn't ever intentionally mean, and she did say she was sorry and made it up to me, so there's that. Red and Leaf were always good to me, they just got caught up with each other when they became boyfriend and girlfriend. It did still kind of hurt." He sighed. Maybe Misty had a point. "Actually, this whole last year was pretty lonely."

There was a pause, and then Misty's hand found his own beneath the water. "Maybe it's best that we all found each other," she said, giving his fingers a squeeze.

Ash squeezed back. "Yeah."

Misty nodded. Then she blinked, sniffed, and turned away, though not before Ash saw the glistening around her eyes, moisture that had nothing to do with the hot spring.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Oh gosh, it's just…" Misty sighed. "Okay, you are never, ever going to tell her this. I mean it. She must never know what I'm about to tell you!"

Ash's face twisted up in confusion. "…sure?"

"But before I found out what my sisters did, I was going to give her to you."

Immediately upon hearing that, Ash shot up to his feet. "WHAT?!" he cried, water sluicing off of his body. "Why?"

"Because she would be miserable stuck at that gym with me! You know what she's like! She's not one to stay cooped up in one place. What's she supposed to do while I'm battling trainers? How was I supposed to keep her hidden from my sisters?" Wrapping her arms around her own shoulders, Misty slumped forward. "Sooner or later she would've been caught, and it would've been a nightmare for her up until then! Going with you was the best thing for her. At least that's what I thought."

Ash stared down at her. Then he slowly lowered himself back down into the water beside her. "But she would've wanted to be with you no matter what."

"I know, I know!" Misty groaned. "But how could I keep her there like that? That's why I was hoping you two would sleep together yesterday. Maybe if you became lovers before we got there, it would be easier."

Ash frowned. He didn't particularly care for being used like that. However, this really wasn't the time to get into that. "She wouldn't have done it," he pointed out. "Even if you trapped her back in her human ball and stuck it into my backpack, the second she got out she would've marched right back to Cerulean City to yell at you."

Misty sighed. "You're right. M-Maybe it is better that my sisters sold me out. It gave me the push I need." Sniffing again, she wiped her eyes with her wet wrist, which didn't really improve things. "But now I just wish that she was here."

"Maybe you should tell her when we find her," Ash suggested. "How much she means to you, I mean."

"Oh, I will!" Misty exclaimed with an emphatic bob of her head. "There will be lots of hugging and crying and kissing and 'I love you's and apologies, the whole nine yards." Then that wry, promising smile reappeared, the one that Ash was getting to know very well. Turning toward him, Misty slid one arm around his waist while draping the other over his collar before murmuring into his ear, "Then you and I are going to screw her brains out, just like she always wanted!"

Ash couldn't help but jerk a little. "Wait, what? You mean-"

"What, threesome?" Giggling, Misty let her fingers wander up and down his waist. "Yes." Her lips briefly brushed against his cheek. "In fact there'll be lots of threesomes in our future. You do get that, right?"

Ash slowly breathed out. "Wow," he said, looping his own arm around her shoulders. "I mean, I guess it's obvious, but still. Wow." The thought of both girls' hands moving over him sent shivers tingling up and down his spine, as did the thought of having his hands on them. The three of them lying naked together beneath the open sky, slowly touching, kissing, stroking, and groping one another, letting things build until one girl took his erect penis into her mouth and the other brought his tongue to the wetness between her legs. And from there, there were all sorts of things they could do! Things that were fun and exciting and affectionate and…

Oh. Oh, wait. Problem. "Though, um, you do get that I'm not a PokeGirl, right?"

Misty's hand paused its wandering, and she drew back to shoot him the most ironic look he had ever seen in his life. "Oh, gee Ash, really?" she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "You could've had me fooled!"

Ash sighed. "I mean, I can't just keep going like you guys can! I've got a limit!"

"Oh, that's fine," Misty said with a small snort. "Just join in whenever you feel up to it. We can keep ourselves busy just fine." Then her lips perked back up. "Heck, it might help get you into the mood. I hear guys like a bit of girl-on-girl."

The memory of May running her hands all over Misty their first night together leapt to the forefront of Ash's memory, in live and living color. "We do," he readily agreed. "Oh boy, we do." Then he let out a small chuckle. "Actually, that first night, when I, uh, touched myself for the first time, I was thinking about you guys, um, together."

Misty's bright emerald eyes twinkled in amusement. "I bet you were," she said, pressing herself against him, taking care to let the stiff points of her nipples dig into his side. "We are pretty hot."

Ash nodded. "And then I thought about the three of us. Together."

Misty laughed again. "Well, you're going to get your wish, Mr. Ketchum."

Then Ash inhaled sharply as Misty shifted her body around, swinging one leg over both of his to sit down right in his lap, facing him. The roundness of her plump butt settled down onto his thighs, the stiff rod of his penis squeezed in between her own thighs.

The two gazed hungrily upon each other. Misty's eyes were hazy with naked lust, and Ash had no doubt that his were as well. Biting down on her lower lip, Misty leaned in to whisper, "In fact, you'd better hang onto that fantasy. Come up with some good ideas for stuff we can do together." She came in closer, mouth pursing for a kiss.

Ash's fingers seized onto her butt, fingertips digging into the soft globes. "Oh, you'd better believe it, Sparky!"

As soon as the words were out his mouth Ash realized just how stupid he sounded. Sure enough, Misty jerked back, the sultriness on her face replaced by utter disbelief. "Sparky?" she repeated. "I'm sorry, did you just call me Sparky?!"

Dang it, why did he always make it weird?! "Sorry!" Ash groaned, slapping his hands over his own face in chagrin "I was trying to come up with a cute nickname and that's just where my mind went!"

"Uh-huh," Misty drawled. Then she shook her head and let out a small laugh before pressing a finger into his nose. "Call me Sparky one more time, and I'm resetting all the healing that you skin did back to zero."

Well, at least she seemed more amused than offended. "Well, what am I supposed to go with that doesn't sound really corny?" Ash complained. "'Dear'? 'Sweetheart'? Um, 'My Little Sea Star'?"

Misty snorted. "Pet names are supposed to sound corny, Ash! That's the whole…" Then she paused, her brow creasing into a thoughtful frown. "Actually, I don't hate those."

Ash blinked in surprise. "What? Which ones?"

Misty's cheeks were already pink from the heat and lust, but now there was a shy hint of embarrassment in the pink as well. "All of them," she admitted, her eyes shyly glancing away.

"Seriously?" Ash exclaimed. "You want me to call you 'Dear'? But that's so-" Then he caught the hard look in Misty's eyes. "Yes, Dear! Anything you say!"

Misty snorted. "Maybe we can work on the pillow talk thing later." Eyes twinkling, she again drew closer, lips parting for him as she murmured, "For now, let's just put that flapping tongue of yours into my mouth and slide Little Ash down here into my pussy."

Ash sighed. "Yes, Dear," he murmured as their lips met.

It still sounded awkward to Ash's ears, but with Misty laying her warm, soft body against his, it was hard to care. As requested, Ash let his tongue slide into Misty's mouth, covering itself with her taste. Her hips began to slide back and forth, the swollen lips of her pussy grinding against his rod.

"Inside," Ash groaned into her mouth. Misty nodded once, and reached down to grasp his girth. Still maintaining the kiss, she lifted her hips and maneuvered the engorged head of his cock up against her entranced, an ironic mirror of what had happened right before she had accidentally electrocuted him.

But that had been then. This time, she simply lowered herself down onto him, letting his hardness slide right into that tight sheath.

Ash twitched once as he entered her. Part of him was still in utter disbelief that this was really happening, while the rest of him was content to just lay back and enjoy the ride.

Especially when Misty began to bounce up and down, making him thrust in and out of her.

As that now familiar pressure began to build, Ash found himself wondering how it would feel to be inside of May the same way. Probably a lot more warm. Well, he was going to find out pretty soon. Actually, he probably would get the chance to try both of them at the same time. There was one thing he remembered from Gary's videos, where one girl was lying flat on her back and the other had laid herself right on top of her, and the guy kept pulling out of one pussy to jam his dick into the other, something letting it slide in-between their sexes. That looked like a lot of fun. He wondered if Misty and May would be willing to try something like that. They almost certainly would.

Mind-melting pleasure of what he was actually doing mingled with eager anticipation of what was to come, and Ash came, pumping his newly found seed into her. Misty thrust her head back, sucking in air through her clenched teeth as she tightened around him.

Then she slumped forward, her trembling body draping itself over his like a cute and freckled blanket while her arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders. Ash returned the hug, crossing his arms around her back and holding her against him.

This was pure blissful contentment. Just the two of them holding one another, skin on skin, their hearts beating into one another, Misty's slow and sleepy breathing warming his shoulder while her disarrayed hair tickled his nose, his spent penis still comfortably inside of her. Ash was finally seeing the beauty of the bond between a PokeGirl and her trainer, or what it ought to be. He had always just assumed that it was purely sexual, but this was far more than that. It was intimacy unlike any he had ever felt before, a connection that he had never thought he could share with another human being.

Then with a happy sigh, Misty slipped off of him, again taking her seat next to Ash and leaning into his shoulder.

"That was nice," she murmured.

Ash breathed out. "Yeah."

"Way better than last time."

"Well, that was pretty nice too. You know, up until the electrocution and Tangela attack."

"Hmmm." Misty clasped her fingers around his beneath the water. "Well, we deserved a do-over."

Ash nodded. Then he yawned. Everything was just so pleasant, so warm, so comfortable. He honestly would not mind staying her forever, just him and his loved ones, making their home beneath the mountain. It wasn't going to happen, of course, but there was no harm in basking in the moment.

His were getting heavier with every breath, and he let them close. At his side, Misty's breath was slowing and evening out. A nap sounded really nice. Yeah, just let himself drift off, catch up on some much needed rest…

Suddenly Nidoran jerked upright and awake with a loud snort, his ears sticking straight up. Zubat fluttered into the air with a screech of alarm.

Ash's eyes snapped open. That was not a good sign.

His heart beating rapidly, Ash slowly rose up and turned around, with Misty doing the same. Something was approaching. He could hear something big approaching, a low rumble like that of an incoming tank. But where? The entrance was too small to allow anything bigger than the kids to pass through.

Then the far wall began to crack, chunks of earth falling off in clumps. It was then that Ash realized that the wall was not of rock at all, but was also made of tightly packed dirt, and now something was now pushing its way through that dirt.

The wall came apart, revealing a wide and round stone tunnel on the other side. The light from Misty's orb was too far to really illuminate the interior of the tunnel, but Ash could make out two hulking, bipedal forms, both of them massively muscled, and both of them covered with sharp spines, their eyes glowing yellow in the dark.

Nidoran's ears suddenly went straight up in alarm.

The two beasts plodded into the cavern, soft thuds echoing with every step. As they emerged into the light, Ash's heart just about stopped.

They were somewhat reptilian, almost looking like dinosaurs, with their crested heads and armored bodies. The larger and spikier of the two was of a venomous lavender, while the other was a softer teal, though both looked powerful enough to tear all of Ash's friends limb from limb.

A Nidoking and a Nidoqueen. An actual wild Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Oh, by Palkia's crusty, saggy, and salty balls. Finding a fully evolved Pokemon that wasn't a bird or a bug was extremely rare, much less one that required assistance from an evolution stone! And here was two of them! No wonder Nidoran had been so excited. He had probably smelled his own kind.

"Ash," Misty whimpered.

Her fear brought Ash's mind crashing back to reality. There was no weapon in their arsenal that could stand up to this pair. Not even Tangela would stand a chance. These were not Pokemon to be caught, but instead escaped from.

The question was how?

The Nidoking was in the lead. He growled in annoyance as the orb's light fell upon his rugged face, his eyes narrowing from the unexpected brightness. Shaking his massive head, he looked around, trying to figure out where that irritating light was coming from.

Then his gaze fell upon the two naked children standing in the pool, with the two terrified Pokemon gathered around them.

It was then that Ash's mind finally put the remaining pieces together. The reason why the pool was seemingly unclaimed was because this pair had, in fact, claimed it, and the local Pokemon either didn't know how to find it or just knew better than to disturb it. All of that dirt packing the way in hadn't been natural. These two had closed up the openings themselves to keep others out of their private little getaway.

And judging by the fact that it was a Nidoking and a Nidoqueen, they probably used the pool for the same purpose that he and Misty had.

So. That was why there had been trace amounts of toxin in the water.

Gross.

The Nidoqueen strode into the cavern to take her place next to her mate, and the two looked down at the trespassers in evident anger and indignation. "Nidoking!" growled the male.

"Ash? Any bright ideas?" Misty whispered out of the corner of her mouth, not taking her eyes off of the two monarchs.

"Um…um…" Ash's mind raced, trying to come up with a way to save their hides, hides that were moments away from being torn right off.

Then his eyes fell upon Nidoran, who was as scared stiff as the humans were, but also so happened to be a juvenile member of the same species as the pool's rightful owners.

"Nidoran!" Ash hissed.

Nidoran glanced at him.

"Tell them that we're very, very sorry, that we didn't know the pool was theirs, and if they give us a moment then we'll leave and never come back!"

The look that Nidoran gave him clearly conveyed his doubts regarding the potential success of his plan.

"Just do it!"

Trembling, Nidoran turned back to the two elder members of his kind. He slowly approached, his head bowed in submission.

"Nidoqueen?" rumbled the female, clearly demanding an explanation.

Though it was still shaking with fear, Nidoran lifted his head just enough to chatter up at his elders.

"Nidoran! Nidordoridoriran! Ni! Nidono Ni!"

"We'd better get out of the pool," Misty mumbled to Ash.

Ash nodded, and the two slowly and carefully pulled themselves back onto dry land. Zubat hastily fluttered over to Ash's shoulder.

"Nido," growled the male. "Nidoking?"

Ash took Misty by the hand, and the two of them inched their way over to where Ash's belongings were piled together.

Whatever it was that the Nidoking had asked, it definitely was distressing. Nidoran hastily shook his head and said, "Nidoran! Ni, Ni, Ni-"

"NIDOKING!" bellowed the male, followed by his mate joining in. "NIDOQUEEN!"

Then the two charged.

Yelping in fear, Nidoran bolted out of the way, but he was not the intended target. Ash and Misty were.

The two just barely managed to throw themselves out of the way as the two behemoths hurled themselves at where they were. Zubat took off screeching, following Nidoran. The two humans hastily scrambled to their feet and ran as fast as they could for the small hole they had climbed in through.

"NIDO!" the two monarchs roared in unison.

Not good, not good, not good, Ash's mind repeated as he and Misty ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Don't want to die, don't want to die, don't want to-

And then a horrible realization crashed into his brain.

"Wait!" he cried, whirling around. His stuff was still back there.

"Ash, let's go!" Misty grabbed him by the hand to pull him along.

"But Tangela's still there! I can't-"

It was too late. Misty was already hauling him down through the hole. This time she managed to wriggle her way down without much help, pulling him in after her. He tried to resist, but only succeeded in scraping more skin off of his butt.

Misty bodily pulled him back into the tunnel that they had entered from and threw up another flash orb while the one back in the cavern extinguished. Nidoran and Zubat were both already there, both chittering at him in worry.

As soon as he could, Ash wriggled out of Misty's grip and tried to climb back in.

"Ash, stop!" Misty cried in panic, seizing him by the arm.

"Get off of me!" Ash tried to get free, but her fingers were too strong. "Tangela's still in there! I can't just leave her!"

"They'll kill you!"

"Let them! She's my Pokemon, I can't-"

Then something came flying out of the hole to hit him in the face.

He stumbled back and grabbed at whatever the thing way. Pulling it off, he saw that it was his shirt.

Huh?

Then his pants came sailing into the tunnel to land at his feet. Followed by his shoes.

Now that they had chased off the trespassers, the Nidoking and Nidoqueen were taking out the trash, grabbing at all of the human's belonging and angrily dumping them into the small hole. Ash's backpack came next, followed by his boxers.

Sighing with relief, he and Misty hastily grabbed everything up as they were thrown in and pushed them a safer distance into the tunnel. As they did, Ash kept a frantic eye for one piece of equipment in particular, praying that they would just toss it away long with the others and not be tempted to do any damage out of spite.

Fate must have taken pity on him, because soon his belt came sailing in from above. Ash frantically caught it and brought it up to his eyes for inspection. To his utter relief, Tangela's pokeball was still attached to its housing, completely undamaged.

Finally the last bit of his belongings were tossed in (his hat and jacket). Ash grabbed them up.

"Thank you!" he called in through the hole. "Sorry again!"

"NIDO!" came the responding bellow. It did not sound forgiving. Ash winced.

"That was way too close," Misty panted. "Oh sweet salty seas, I was not expecting to run into that."

"Nido," Nidoran agreed.

"Well, it could have gone worse," Ash said, turning toward the others with his clothing in hand. "At least they let us go and didn't wreck our supplies. So I guess-"

Then he heard something splashing on the rocks behind him, and some warm and wet sprayed on the back of his legs.

"AUGH!" Ash jerked away. The Nidoking was peeing through the hole, literally sending a flow of hot urine down out of spite. Gross, gross, gross, gross-

But then a sequence of events took places, ones so unlikely to happen exactly how they did, and the fact that they occurred only further hammered home Ash's growing belief that the universe had it in for him and Misty, that for everything that went right for them, something would occur to knock them back on their butts.

But to really illustrate just how indicative of their bad luck the following events were, there are a few quick facts that need to be explained first.

Ash's jacket had four outside pockets, two on either side down by his hips, and two breast pockets. The lower pockets were for his capture balls, pokeballs in the right, human balls (until he figured out what to do with them) in the left. And he kept those pockets zipped up when he wasn't using them, just in case.

In his right hand breast pocket he kept Misty's scarred human ball. While he never had any intention of recalling her back into it, one never knew what might happen, so it was best to play it safe and keep it close. Furthermore, should she ever need to be released, he would need the ball itself in order to do it.

In the other breast pocket, the one on the left, he kept his other filled human ball, containing the other PokeGirl he had caught and probably should have gotten rid of by now.

Both pockets were normally kept buttoned up, but in the chaos of everything that had happened, the button on the left had come undone, and he simply had not thought to refasten it. Still, that wasn't much of a problem. It wasn't like the tiny human ball could escape from its fabric prison, right?

In leaping away from the torrent of Nidoking urine, Ash ended up reflexively hurling his right arm to one side, the arm holding onto his jacket, swinging it around. Even then, nothing ought to have happened, as the human ball was too snugly tucked in, right?

Wrong.

The human ball flew out of the pocket, sailing out to hit the wall. Ash was so distracted by the grossness of being peed on that he didn't notice, not until Misty cried out, "Ash!"

Ash turned, and just as it had when he had reflexively summoned Tangela at the worst possible moment the night before, his heart fell as he saw that capture ball flying through the air, just out of reach.

"Grab it!" he shouted.

Though he had no way of knowing the danger they were in, Zubat swooped in, trying to catch it in his mouth, but he missed, accidentally striking it with his wing.

The human ball hit the wall, and that must have engaged the button, as it suddenly expanded to palm size.

The ball landed on the floor, bounced, and took off down the slope of the tunnel, rolling and bouncing its way down.

"Get it, get it!"

The four of them raced after the human ball, those who knew what it was hoping to reach it before the situation got worse, while those who didn't could tell that something bad would happen if they didn't reach it in time.

They didn't, and it did.

The human ball's face struck a boulder right on the button, and the seam around the circumference started to glow. It fell down to rest against the boulder, finally stopping its descent.

But it was too late.

The top of the human ball popped open, and blazing life energy swarmed out.