Romances of the Pokemon World

by The Imperator 2 you

The world of Pokemon is vast, and in this vast world, stories of individuals can be found and told, some are of great challenges and even greater problems. But some can be small and subtle, and others are romantic. In a world where Pokemon and Humans live together, unions can be found, but are they forbidden, or is there another word for it? Rated M, for Lemons

27. Kommo-o (F)

-Author's Words : This is by far the longest lemon I've done, I hope you enjoy it and stay tuned for more lemons in the future~

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True power does not come in the form of what strength we show to the world around us, it comes in the form of what our hearts empower us to do for those we cherish most in this world, and how far we are willing to go to protect them~

= Strength of the Heart =

= Kommo-o (Azula) / Human Eri =

*Narrator*

[The Alolan Region is by far the most popular region when it comes to tourism, and thanks to the newly created Pokemon League by Professor Kukui, it has attracted all of the powerful trainers as well as the past and present champions of the other regions. With the attraction of so many strong, prominent, and popular trainers, this has drawn the attention of many individuals who seek to either visit or even move to the Alolan Region!]

[However, with the new tourism problem comes an issue that until recently was never an issue, preserving Alola's natural landscape, and the habitats of its many diverse pokemon species! This new endeavor has even given Aether Foundation President Lusamine a difficult time, as many foreign companies are trying to purchase land in the region for their own purposes.]

[To this end, one of the most recent booming industries, the Photography industry that took the most amazing of views to attract tourists now turned its lens' to help preserve the natural beauty of the many islands.]

[On Poni Island, one photographer spends his days taking pictures of the landscape to try and help protect nature, risking his life among some of the most dangerous Pokemon on the wildest of the four Alolan Islands. It's a dangerous job, but as a wise man once said, someone must do it!]

(Eri's PoV)

'Of all the stupid ideas I've ever had this is by far the 'stupidest' one!' He thought nervously as he hid in his camouflaged bush. 'Take a picture of the Poni Wilds that includes Primapes 'and' the Tauros? What was I thinking?'

Eri was hiding in a bush on the Poni Wilds, several miles from the Trainer Hut Village where most of the trainers who lived resided.

Because of the trainers and others who didn't reside in Seafolk Village, many of the native wild Pokemon didn't approach the tiny village. However, this meant that they had been pushed further inland and now the more dangerous and stronger Pokemon were now more condensed then before. This made his job more dangerous because he had a hard time keeping himself hidden among them for long periods of time, before he was inevitably spotted and was attacked, especially by the more territorial pokemon.

Which is why he was currently hiding in that bush wearing camouflage to try and take a picture of the Primapes as they were fighting among each other for dominance over a group of berry trees.

"Priiiiimaaaaape!" One of them was screaming while stomping around.

"Priiiiii!" The others yelled back as they also stomped around.

They had been like this for several minutes trying to decide who would eat first, and he just wished they would eat before the Tauros herd showed up. If the herd showed up on their way to drink from the nearby river then the Primapes would think they were trying to steal their food, and this would cause them to become enraged and attack. Which would cause the Tauros herd to become enraged, and consequentially attack the Primapes in retaliation.

And he unfortunately was in the middle of their usual route, because this string of bushes was the largest and 'only' string of bushes dense enough to conceal him and his camera.

He checked the sun's current position and then checked the time.

'Okay, the Tauros herd should be coming soon, I just hope these guys finish deciding who goes first before they do. Otherwise I'm in trouble…'

He was far from a trainer, he was a photographer that just loved photographing Pokemon. He used to live in Johto, but after hearing about how they were looking for photographers for the new Alola Photo Club, he found himself a new job.

Now, three years later, here he was being paid by the Island Kahuna Hapu, to take photos of Pokemon, in their natural environment, so she can get people to help her cause of keeping the corporations of foreign regions out.

"Free food at Hapu's place and at her favorite restaurant in Seafolk Village is nice, but this is not worth it in my eyes…" He muttered as he watched the Primapes finally starting to settle down. "Finally, now pleeeeeease start eating?"

Just as he saw the Primapes about to start eating, he heard the telltale cries of the Tauros herd he was waiting on. Moments later they appeared on the scene, just coming around the ridge.

Fortunately, it seemed that the Primapes were more interested in eating and didn't pay attention to the herd, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He took his chance and angled his camera to take his pictures just as the Tauros were passing by, with the sun beginning to set in the background, while the Primapes ate their food.

[CLICK]

He snapped a picture, but the angle of the herd wasn't right, so he readjusted his sights and timed it right.

[CLICK]

Another picture but this time the angle of the camera had been off, and was set on an angle, resulting him to fix the camera's angle and set it back up.

[CLICK]

This time the picture looked better, but the Tauros herd were now closer and thus didn't match the picture he wanted to get, so he took careful steps to inch backward to get the Tauros herd in proper frame.

[CLICK]

The picture was much better this time, the sun was properly aligned, and the Tauros were all aligned. Now all he needed to do was time it right, and perhaps one more inch backward to get the hills in the background more prominent in the photo.

[SNAP]

His heart stopped as he heard the snap and glanced down with his eyes at the stick his elbow had snapped in two.

-Snort-

He looked back up and saw the Tauros herd looking at him, and the Alpha of the group was glaring and pawing at the ground with one hoof.

"Oh crap…" He whispered to himself, carefully positioning his legs into the 'emergency position' as he called it.

-Sudden RotoDex Appearance-

-Bzzzt You should know that Tauros are quick to anger, and once they see a threat or foe, it will charge head long to rampage and obliterate whatever is it's foe Bzzt!-

-Bzzzt It takes approximately eleven to thirteen seconds for a Tauros to become enraged enough to attack. As of this moment eight of those seconds have passed Bzzt!-

-RotoDex Leaves-

He had just enough time to get into a crouching position before the Alpha Tauros roared.

"Rooaaaaaaawr!"

And charged toward him with its sharp horns protruding toward him with all the other Tauros in the herd doing the same.

This isn't the first time he's had to run from angry Pokemon, just last month he ran from a Mother Skarmory that chased him away from its nesting site because he wanted to take a picture of young Skarmory while they were fed by their mother. So, he was quick to get up and sprint away from the herd, but unlike last month when the Skarmory just chased him off without really hurting him, this Tauros herd wasn't interested in just chasing him away.

"What did I do to deserve thiiiiiiis?" He yelled as the Tauros gained on him, chasing him through the grassy field as he fled in the direction of the village.

"Hroooawr!" The Tauros all roared as they gained ground.

He jumped over a couple bushes and ran through a pair of palm trees, but all this did was cause the Tauros to simply charge the trees and smash them down. The tree's tops barely avoided hitting him as he pushed his legs as hard as they could, feeling the strain getting to them as they had been sore from being so still all day.

His leg muscles were burning, and his feet weren't too thrilled at the sudden activity, but still it was either dealing with some minor pain or get run over and killed by the Tauros!

Then, just he felt the lead Tauros' angry snorting breath at the back of his head, he saw a shadow jump from the shade of some boulder and slam into the Tauros, knocking it flat off course.

This caused him to trip and he fell to the ground, resulting in his face landing in the dirt.

Getting up he spat out some grass and looked around to see his savior, a Kommo-o, one that he had become very familiar with in recent years.

She stood over five feet tall, typical size for a Kommo-o, strong muscular body with gleaming golden yellow scale body. Her outer 'armor' scales that adorned her head, neck, back, arms and even tail were all pink and gleamed brilliantly in the fading light of the day. She was standing over the lead Tauros with one of her talon-like feet on top of it, as if she were a champion standing over their defeated foe, and clawed fists clenched in preparation for battle.

"Komo…" She growled daringly, glaring at the entire herd.

"Hrorr…"

"Hroawr?"

The herd glanced between each other in confusion for several moments.

It was a standoff, the Tauros herd wasn't sure what to do, but apparently their Kommo-o opponent wasn't going to give them time to decide, as she kicked the leader toward them and rustled her scale armor in a display of power, before stomping and assuming the 'stance'.

He had no other words to describe a 'Z-Pose' as it was called, the pose that all Pokemon go into when performing a Z-Move as it's called. If he recalled Kommo-o's was Clangorous Soulblaze, a very powerful and devastating attack that no Pokemon wanted to be on the receiving end of.

The Tauros herd didn't seem to want to be on the receiving end either, as they growled and turned around to leave, with their leader getting up and running after them.

His Kommo-o rescuer relaxed her stance and scoffed at the herd that left, before turning to look at him on the ground.

"Thanks, Azula…" He said gratefully.

"Kommo Ko ko Kommo…" Azula said with a growl, planting her clawed fists on the ground to help her stance.

"Yes, I know that was stupid, but I had to do my job alright?" He grunted. "I'm the only one brave enough to get this close to the wild Poni Island Pokemon to take pictures of in their natural habitat alright?"

"Kommo-o Kooo?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Alright maybe I'm the only one stupid enough to do it, but I have to do it alright?" He replied, guessing her question.

Now you may be wondering how Eri knows a Kommo-o if he's not a trainer, and why said Kommo-o would just be in an area far from its native ground. The answer is that he's known Azula for over two years now going three. He met her when she was just a Hakamo-o that had been doing training on the Vast Poni Plains, where he'd had his Skarmory encounter.

After being chased by the Skarmory he had tripped and fallen into a ditch that resulted in an injured leg. In order to rest and let his leg heal he had decided to camp for several days in a tunnel at the northernmost edge of the plains. What he found inside the cave had been a shock, a Hakamo-o, a very badly bruised and beaten Hakamo-o doing the same thing, trying to recover from injuries.

She had been training and fighting opponent's constantly all day and night as her species does when they are 'of age'. But she had taken on one too many tough opponents, and was injured badly, almost life threatening, and in an attempt to recover had dragged herself to the cave as well.

She was so weak that when he found her she couldn't even raise her head to look at him.

So, for the next seven days he used what supplies he had, what few berries he could find and whatever the area around the cave offered him to heal her. It had been an ordeal, but the photographer refused to let the Pokemon die without at least trying to help it.

Since then the two had run into each other again and again, mostly when he ran into trouble with the wild Pokemon while doing his job, but each time she swooped in and saved him.

Even if sometimes she couldn't save his work.

(Azula's PoV)

"Just how many times am I going to have to save you?" She growled, wonder why this human continued to risk his life again and again, for something trivial like a 'photo'.

"Azula I'm just doing my job…"He sighed in frustration. "I'm paid to do this; its decent money and I actually like what I do."

"Even if you are at risk of getting killed?" She asked this idiot.

"It's not like I 'seek' danger…" He countered.

"No, danger always seems to find you." She countered back with a grunt.

Eri sighed as he tried to ignore her statement, even if he couldn't properly translate her words.

Eri was an idiot in her mind and eyes, he refused to take his life for more worth, and seemed to throw himself into harm's way like an ignorant Jangmo-o.

Still, she admired how he continued to pursue such endeavors, no matter how dangerous he pursued his goal and refused to let fear push him away.

Eri looked at his wrist-clock and then at the sky. "It's getting too late to stay out here, and I need to head back to Seafolk Village to eat and rest, not to mention I need to develop and process my pictures for Hapu." He said.

"I'll escort you, so you don't get hurt." She said with a nod.

"If you wanna tag along I'd appreciate it." He said with a nod of gratitude.

With his approval she walked beside him as they made their way to Seafolk Village, the only 'major' human settlement on the island since the new human settlement cropped up.

While she walked with Eri she took the chance to glance at him. He wasn't too bad of a human if he was anything to judge them by. He stood only about five feet nine, making him barely shorter than she was standing at five feet eleven. He had very tanned skin from constantly sitting out in the sun, and it showed when he rolled up his sleeves. He had deep blue eyes, which reminded her of the great blue sea. His hair was dark brown, but she was seeing that it had started turning 'grey' of all colors, which surprised her because, based on what she knew of humans, their hair normally only turned that color when they were becoming 'old'.

If she remembered he was only thirty-six, and the one time she asked about his hair he said it was changing because of 'stress'.

'Well if he keeps on chasing after Tauros herds and trying to outrun Gumshoos while they're trying to eat, he's going to find himself with a head full of only grey hair!' She thought to herself, wishing he would take care of himself better instead of seeking danger.

An hour of walking in silence passed before they neared the Seafolk Village, and with it the safety bounds where wild Pokemon stayed away.

Before the 'new village' of trainers was created most wild Pokemon could approach the floating village to a degree, only chased off by the Kahuna or Trial Leader. Now however, the trainers and their strong Pokemon, with skills honed by battle from across the world all congregated together in one spot had driven them away from the area. You could still see many wild Pokemon around, most notably the more 'tamed' or at least 'docile' species were in the area, or Pokemon that just didn't have any issues with humans.

Most notable of these species were the wild Furfrou and the Raticates and Gumshoos, even a few of the avian Pokemon like the Pelippers were most prominent in the area.

"Alright, thanks for the escort Azula." Eri said as they reached the border of Seafolk Village.

"You are welcome." She replied with a smile. "Stay out of trouble from now on."

"Yea I'll see you around sometime!" He said with a laugh, before giving her a hug to save goodbye.

She repeated the gesture and patted his back, and as all the other times, hoped it would be for the last time.

Not because she didn't want to see him anymore, far from it, she enjoyed the long 'quiet' moments she had with him. It was the brief moments of fighting where she had to see all who faced her as a potential enemy that she disliked. After spending the last twenty years of her life, since she was a Jangmo-o, fighting and training to become stronger, she wished she could spend a few years of her life in quiet and blissful peace.

Yet as she watched Eri turn and head toward Seafolk Village to rest, recover, eat and do whatever it is he does with that 'camera' that he prides himself on using walk away, she knew that the same thing would happen again soon enough.

He'd leave the village, head out into the wild, beyond the safety of the trainers and the Kahuna's residence, into the dangerous wilderness that was Poni Island for some stupid 'picture' he had to get.

"And I…" She whispered as she turned and headed into the nearby grasslands for the night, "Will follow his stupid self to keep him safe."

Why couldn't he just keep himself safe, why couldn't Eri just stay where it was safe for him? He was not a fighter, he was not a Trainer, and he was absolutely no match for a Pokemon, even a docile one, found on Poni Island. But every time he left for the wilds, he found danger, and when danger instantly found him, his life became threatened, and she had to jump to his rescue.

As she found a spot on the grassland where several boulders would cover her from view for the night, she laid down and closed her eyes to think of her past. She remembered the time he had found her in a cave, dying and weak from a battle with an angry Mudsdale she had picked a fight with. The Mudsdale had kicked her away, and stomped her into the ground, almost crushing her body completely flat as a Hakamo-o.

He had been injured himself, and even though she had been barely conscious, she had watched as he tended to her for a week. In that week he had fed her, tended her, and protected her in her most dire time.

When she had finally recovered she made it her goal to figure out who he was.

=Flashback=

"There you go, feeling all better?" Her savior asked her as he felt her back.

"Yes, I am." She had said shamefully.

It was shameful, shameful that she had to be nurtured back to health by a human. She should have been dead for her stupidity, but now here she was, fit for battle again thanks to the aid of a human. How could she face her fellows now? She was supposed to be training to become a strong and powerful Kommo-o when she was strong enough to evolve into one.

But what does she do instead, goes and pick a fight with a protective Mudsdale, and nearly get crushed for her mistake.

"Hey now, what's the matter?" He asked her, causing her to glance up at him. "Look, there's no shame in making a mistake, we all make them. Lord Arceus knows I've made my fair share!"

He had a point, as she looked at his sprained ankle, wrapped in bandages.

"Well now that you're better its high time I head back to Seafolk Village!" He declared more to himself. "Can't believe I lost my camera to that Scarmory, of all the parts of me it could have hit why only my camera gets hit? Now I've got to get a new one and then come back out here, and that Skarmory's going to be keeping an eye out for me now…"

At that she looked up at him with a confused face. "Why would you do that?"

"Hmm?" He said. "I don't know what you're saying but I think you're asking, 'why would I want to do that if that's how I ended up here?' right?"

She nodded in response.

"Well because I have to, I can't earn my living if I don't get that picture!" He said with a chuckle.

=Flashback ends=

Remembering those words have given her a reason to resume her training even harder than before, though more careful about the fights she takes now. Knowing that her rescuer would be going back into harm's way again had driven her to become stronger, so that she could protect him and be free of that strange 'feeling' she had when he had saved her life.

She owed him her life, and she had to repay him somehow, so why not repay him by saving his life the next time he needed her?

'Although now I'm saving his life every month it seems…' She thought to herself as she laid her head down. 'If only he would just stay safe… then I wouldn't feel like I need to watch for him every day…'

With that thought she chose to sleep and let her thoughts wander in dreamland, imagining a world where 'her' Eri was safe and sound, and he wasn't chasing after Pokemon that will tear him apart for trespassing.

(Eri's PoV)

"Ahhh, now that hits the spot…" He said as he put down his bowl of noodles.

"Told ya nothing hits the spot better than a freshly made bowla Z-noodles." Hapu said as she finished eating her Zoomungous Z-Noodle.

"Yea, I've been eating nothing but berry crackers and Remoraid sandwiches for weeks now." He admitted. "But at least I got that picture of the Tauros with the sun setting and hills in the background while the Primapes were eating for you. Now all that's left is to develop it."

"Ah yea, bout that lad, can I ask ya for yet another favor before you do that for me?" Hapu said in her farmer's dialect.

"Why do I have a feeling you're going to ask me to do something I'm not ganna like?" He asked nervously.

"I need ya to try and get a little snapshot of the mudsdale herds on the plains for me!" She said with a hearty smile and clapping her hands together. "One of them big companies is trying to set up what they call an 'oil drilling' field on the plains. An I need a nice little snap of them Mudsdales in the wild to help keep em out!"

"The Mudsdale herds? Couldn't you do that Hapu? You're more welcomed then I am among those herds than I am."

"Maybe, but I can't leave my duties as Kahuna." She said with a more serious expression. "Ever since that trainer village was created, small as it is, the Tauros herds and Raticates have been rowdier then before. And I have to do what I can to keep em in line!"

"Great… and I just came back with my legs still attached…" He groaned.

"Well why don't you ask your friend to help keep you safe while you're out there?"

"My friend?" He asked in confusion.

"Your Kommo-o friend that I saw walking you to town~." She said with a grin. "Not to mention saving your behind when that Tauros herd almost skewered you alive!"

"Hey, I was in perfect control of the situation!" He said trying to save face.

"Yea, and I'm sure the twenty Tauros about to run you down like truck driven by a ten-year old while you ran like a Meowth being cuddled too much, was you being in 'perfect control' of the situation?" She asked with a smirk. "Before your friend jumped in an saved your butt."

He sighed as he knew there was no getting out of that one. "I suppose I could try and ask her, but Azula is a wild Kommo-o, she has no reason to follow me around."

"Well if she's a wild Kommo-o then, how come she got a name?" Hapu asked curiously. "An why is she followin you round?"

Thinking about that he thought all about Azula. "It's a bit of a long story…" He muttered.

"Well ah got time, so might as well spill the beans boy." She said with a smirk.

"Alright… it all started over two years ago, when you first hired me to photograph Poni Island's wildlife. I had injured myself after losing my camera to a scarmory, and I found this Hakamo-o badly injured and almost dying. I couldn't bring myself to just leave her, so I stayed there for a week to take care of her." He explained.

"After that, we split ways but she seemed to always be able to find me just when I needed help, more often when I was being run down by some Pokemon or so that I got too close to. After a while I just… said thank you and… iuno, I called her Azula, and she kinda took the name."

"An she just keeps on following and keeping your back safe huh?" Hapu asked with a warm smile. "Must say, that's a mighty fine friend you got there, not everyone has a Kommo-o watching out for em from the sidelines that isn't a trainer."

"Yea, I just wish she wouldn't tail me all the time." He said. "She acts like she hates having to rescue me. If she doesn't like having to save me then why does she keep doing it?"

"Maybe she just doin it cause she wants to." Hapu said tiredly as she stretched her arms. "Who knows what a girl thinks in her head."

"I don't know, you tell me Hapu~!" He chuckled.

"As they say in Kalos son, Touché." She said.

[Narrator]

[The next day Eri left Seafolk Village, supplied and ready to do what Hapu asked of him, and not long after he left Azula followed to keep an eye on him as well as keep him safe.]

[It took him only a week before he reached the Vast Poni Plains, when he did he began watching the Mudsdale herd and all the other native Pokemon in the area, so he could take the best pictures and stay hidden or safely away from them. All the while Azula kept her eye on him to make sure he was safe, and being so near her species' living grounds, she knew that her fellow Hakamo-o, Kommo-o, and Jangmo-o would keep the area relatively safe.]

[That was until…]

(Eri's PoV)

"Alright… you guys should be approaching the watering hole any second now…" He muttered as he hid under a camouflage blanket.

He had been spending the last four days watching the Mudsdale herd he found here on the Plains to learn their daily routine. While they tended to wander from place to place for food or whatever reason, he noted that this herd always visited this same watering stream every single day at roughly the same time. This particular area wasn't a very popular area for Pokemon Trainers or even people in general, between the strong wild Pokemon and the lack of safe areas to rest, there were hardly any people in the area.

So, after three days of noticing this trend he parked himself here the day before to make sure, and sure enough they stopped here again. Now he was timing it so that while some of the herd were going to drink the lookouts would be watching for danger, just as the angle he was at would let him capture them in frame 'just' as the sun would reach its peak before beginning to set.

Today happened to be a good day too, there were only a few clouds in the sky, so the added bonus of the clouds that 'were' in the sky would just make the scene even more serene then he could have wished for. All he needed to do was simply wait.

After several minutes he felt the ground beneath him ever so slightly shake as he watched the herd turning the corner from around the mountainous ridge nearby.

"There you are…" He said with a smirk as he readied his camera.

-Sudden RotoDex Appearance-

-Bzzzt Mudsdale weigh over 2000 lbs! So every time it takes a step its sheer weight can leave a mini crater the shape of its hoof almost two centimeters deep bzzt!-

-Bzzt because of this, any dirt road meant for cars have to have special markers signaling that there can be no travel by any Mudsdale ride!-

-RotoDex Leaves-

Today was a good day for him, there weren't any other Pokemon nearby at this time, say for the occasional Braviary or Mandibuzz, and those species didn't really fight with the Mudsdale herds of the plains. This meant that he could sit beneath his blanket, concealed from view, take as many pictures as he could and not be threatened for being too close.

Mudsdales too weren't a real 'hostile' species, seeing as nearly on all the Alolan Islands people rode Mudsdales. In fact, the Mudsdales were quite friendly to humans, even the wild Mudsdales of the plains were far more tolerant of people than any other species. Heck only the Furfrou native to Poni Island were friendlier to humans by comparison.

"And I wonder why?" He chuckled to himself as he was 'ambushed' by a group of Furfrou on his way out as they tried to get free food from him.

Moments passed while the herd got closer to the stream, and he readied his camera.

"Maybe today I can finally go home without needing an 'escort'." He muttered.

Then, just as the herd reached the stream he began to ready for his shot, when he felt the ground shaking even more than it should have.

"What the…?" He said, looking at the herd thinking that they were the cause, but no the herd wasn't moving much.

That's when the sentries of the herd turned in his direction.

"Hmmroooooooor!" One of them signaled.

"Hmroooar!"

"Hmrooooaar!"

Thinking fast he turned around and stared in shock.

As a thundering herd of Tauros stampeded toward him.

"You have got to be kidding me…" He groaned as he rushed to try and get out of the way.

"Hrooooooooooor!"

"Hroaaaaaaaawr!"

All the Tauros were screaming indiscriminately as they ran in his direction, the herd as a whole stretching for at least half a mile while running in a massive wave of muscle and power. In total there had to be at least over two hundred, but he couldn't tell precisely because he was too busy running for his life now!

The Mudsdale were now running as well from the stampede, and completely unconcerned with his plight as he tried to get away from the herd. Unable to run to the edge of the herd in order to get out of the way, all he could do was run ahead of them as they charged in the direction the Mudsdale herd had come from.

"Why does this have to happen to meeee?" He screamed as he ran, his camera hanging and flying behind him by his waist.

Then just as he jumped over a narrow ditch he caught a glimpse of something pink running toward him. He had just enough time to register that it was Azula, before the Kommo-o ran alongside him, used her tail to sweep him off his feet and into her clawed embrace, and began carrying him faster than he could manage.

Then she took a sharp turn and jumped up to a nearby ridge and turned to watch as the Tauros herd stampeded below them with him.

He sighed in relief as his heartbeat started to slow down and return to normal.

"Thanks again Azula…" He whispered to her.

"Kom…" She replied softly before putting him down.

As he got back to a standing position he returned to looking at the stampede as it ran off in the distance.

"That is so weird… Tauros aren't supposed to be here." He remarked. "They aren't normally found in this far up on the north side of the plains, they tend to stick to the southern end. What could have made them do that? In fact, it looked like they were running from something."

"Kommo." Azula said in response, but by the tone of her voice it was evident that she 'wasn't concerned'.

"Hmm." He said. "Well, judging by the direction, whatever it is they were running 'from' was to the East."

"Kommo-o?" Azula asked him.

"Well the only way we'll find out what it was they were running from, if anything, is to check out the area they had run from and see what's going on over there." He said. "For all we know maybe there's a wild Pokemon that just moved into the area and is driving off all the other wild Pokemon. Though what could be so dangerous as to scare away a huge herd of Tauros like that?"

"Kommo-o Ko!" Azula stated, standing in front of him with a stern look on her face.

"What is it?"

"Kom Kommo-o Kom!" She said angrily, pointing at the spot where she had rescued him, before pointing at the tail end of dust storm the Tauros herd were making in their wake.

"Look Azula I'm grateful that you saved me, really I am, but if something's going on in the Plains I need to check it out!" He said. "Kahuna Hapu needs to be told if something's wrong and she won't believe me if all I've got to tell her is that a herd of Tauros almost ran me over! I need evidence, something she can see, and for that I need to take pictures!"

"Kommo-o Kooo!" She yelled, pointing at him before pointing at his ankle. "Kommo-o ko, ko kommo-!"

"I get it, I'm only human, I'm nothing compared to a Pokemon, I can't run or fly, but I HAVE to do this!" He said determinably. "I'm going East to check that area out, if there's nothing there then what was the harm in going to look? But if there's something wrong then I need to check it out and get the evidence for Kahuna Hapu."

"Thank you for protecting me Azula and saving my life…" He said before turning away from her. "But I need to do this."

And with that he began to walk in the direction of where the Tauros herd had been running from.

(Azula's PoV three hours later)

-Smash-

Azula was frustrated and angry and was taking her anger and frustration out on the only thing that would not have any feelings.

She was smashing boulders.

-Smash-

She growled to herself as she stared at another boulder that was four times her size, clenched her fist, and punched it only one time to smash it into rubble.

-Smash-

"That 'idiot'…" She growled furiously as she began crushing the rubble pieces into tiny pebbles. "Of all the stupid… idiotic… moronic 'things'…"

She smashed, crushed, and broke every single boulder and bit of rock that she could find to try and drive out her frustration and anger at Eri.

"Why can't that idiot just STAY SAFE?!" She roared before punching the wall and causing a huge indent in it.

She paused to catch her breath and allowed herself a moment to calm and clear her mind, as she's trained herself to do. But by the Guardians she was having a hard time keeping her mind clear and calm after she left Eri.

She had been so tempted to just grab him and drag him back to the safety of the human village where she'd left him and escorted him every time she's had to rescue him. But hearing him so determined, so sure of himself and what he 'had to do', just stopped her. Instead she stewed while watching him leave, and then returned to the Canyon where she and the rest of her kind lived.

And proceeded to start smashing every boulder she could find.

She glanced around the canyon trail she was in and didn't care that her fellow Hakamo-o and Kommo-o or Jangmo-o were nowhere to be found, all she cared about was venting her frustration. After all they were weaklings compared to her, even after evolving she continued to train, continued to fight and continued to grow in strength. She felt no fear, no worry as she stood there catching her breath from crushing the boulders.

That was until she felt a set of piercing eyes bearing into her back.

She took a deep calming breath and closed her eyes, steadying herself and preparing herself for battle.

"What do you want 'Totem One'?" She asked respectfully.

She raised her head and opened her eyes to see a Kommo-o watching her from the upper levels of the canyon and jumped down to stand in front of her with a resounding THUMP, as he landed before her.

He stood up to his full ten feet in height and looked down upon her with a gentle look, but he too still readied himself for battle. Though unlike her he always looked ready for battle, no matter what he was doing he always seemed ready for battle. It was said that the Totem of Poni Island was an ancient Totem, the oldest yet strongest of 'all' Kommo-o, more powerful than almost any other Totem, tasked with not only challenging the strongest of trainers but also guarding the sacred staircase to the Altar of the Moon.

There were stories that even when the Totem slept, he could easily fight an opponent without fully waking up.

"Why the senseless destruction?" He asked with a glare.

She looked at the piles of rubble around her and even the indent in the canyon wall she'd made. "I'm just training Totem…"

In response the Totem reached over to the wall, clawed out a chunk of the canyon and held it out to her. "Crushing 'rocks' is no more training then breathing is…" He said, while crushing the chunk in his claw with only the tiniest effort. "Why. The. Senseless. Destruction?"

She growled as she refused to meet his eyes. "I'm just… venting."

The Totem in response walked around her in a full circle, continuing to bear into her with his piercing eyes, not once letting up and continuing to bore into her. "A strong warrior does not 'vent' for the most mundane of reasons." He said.

At that she growled. "What do you know of my reasons for venting?" She said.

He refused to respond as he returned to standing in front of her, only looking down at her through one eye.

"Why do you not answer 'my' question?" She asked in anger. "I answer yours as do we all, but when I ask of you, you ignore me!"

He continued to stare at her, refusing to answer her as he sized her up.

"Why do you seek to become 'stronger'?" He asked calmly.

"Why, because if I'm the strongest than nobody else will challenge me!" She roared furiously.

His expression remained calm, still glaring at her, sizing her up as always.

"Why is it so important for you to become the strongest?"

"BECAUSE I MUST!" She screamed at him. "Maybe you don't want to continue training, but I must become stronger!"

His only response to that was to turn and look at her with 'both' eyes now, and his gaze now bore into her with full force. Under his gaze alone she felt his power, how could one simply overpower another with only their gaze? It was something she wanted to learn how to do, but to do that she had to become stronger.

"Then I leave you to your… 'training'." He said, before reaching over and grabbing another chunk of Canyon wall and dropping it before her. "Go ahead and crush it… I'm sure breaking it will make you 'stronger'. No doubt, it is a fearsome foe, worthy of your power."

With that he turned and began to leave.

"Graaaaaaaaaaawr!" She screamed before charging forward to strike him with her Outrage.

The 'millisecond' she went to attack, he turned his whole body around to face her, and emitted his 'Totem Aura'. His whole being grew in strength, speed and power, and to her it looked like he had grown in size as well.

It was stupid, but it was too late to change course, as she charged head long and attacked the Totem with all her might. He easily grabbed her claws and held her down, before tossing her aside with only the power in his arms.

"Kroaaaaaaaaaaaaawr!" He roared into the night, and his voice could be heard for miles.

Moments later a Scizor and a Noivern leapt and flew into the canyon from above and stood beside him.

She however didn't care, she was furious and committed to the fight, and her blind rage and pent up anger combined with her Outrage just made her roar back and charge right into battle.

She charged the Totem but was intercepted by the Scizor, who's Bullet Punch took her attack head on and held her at bay, while from the side the Noivern unleashed a powerful screech into her ears.

The noise caused her to scrunch in pain as she flung her claws and tail around, trying to hit 'anything' in her confused state.

In response she hit herself with her own tail and was then kicked into the ground by a powerful attack by the Totem. She was flung into the canyon wall and knocked aside by yet another powerful blow from the Totem's tail this time. She managed to recover some strength and got onto her feet but was hit in the side by 'another' Bullet Punch from the Scizor, and while caught off guard felt the echoing screech of the Noivern's attack bear into her ears.

Confused and off balance she feebly tried to raise her defenses for a punch from the Totem, but she couldn't even stop his Drain Punch before he followed it up with a Poison Jab straight into her chest.

What little strength she had begun to fade as she was then grabbed by her shoulder, flung 'into' the air, and then hurled by the Totem to slam into the wall's face with a resounding THUNK.

All with one claw and in one motion.

She tumbled to the ground and wearily looked up at the Totem as he stood over her.

"Do you yield?" He asked, still emitting his Totem Aura and flanked by his two allies.

She growled as she tried to get up, determined to fight on, and her reward was him grabbing her by her arm and flinging her back where he had first grabbed her. Then before she had even stopped rolling she was set upon again by the Totem and his speed and power, as he punched her in the stomach and then again in her face.

She could only watch as he leapt back, began clanging his scales, and assumed the Z-Pose.

She knew what was coming, and unlike many of her fellow Kommo-o, she could not block out the noise of their own power. She only had one hope and that was to run, but she couldn't even stand and as she tried she saw that it was too late.

He smacked his clawed fists together, before jumping into the air and jingling his scales once more.

"Kroawroawroawroawroarw!" He screamed as a powerful wave of sonic energy flowed from him and slammed into her whole body.

Her whole body screamed in agony as the sound pierced her scales and ears. She could only writhe in agony as it bore into her. Yet as soon as it hit her, the attack passed, and she opened her weary eyes and saw the Totem, standing before her again, still emitting his totem energy and even radiating 'more' power than before.

"Do… you… yield?" He asked again.

A part of her begged her to stop, to yield, but she didn't want to, she had to beat him, she HAD to win. The only way to become stronger was to win! She growled and tried to stand up…

And was promptly punched 'again' by the Totem's Drain Punch, which bore into her back and pulled what little energy she had from her and into him. She was then jabbed by his Poison Jab, and felt his poison pierce her scales and deliver its deadly toxin into her systems. Before she was kicked into the air and punched midair by his own Dragon Claw.

She slammed into the wall again and felt as the Scizor now bore into her with repeated metal claw attacks. Seconds later it jumped away and the Noivern screeched 'again' at her, weakening her already fragile defenses and confusing her even more.

And again, felt the stinging 'punch' of the Totem as he used his final Drain Punch to deal a critical blow to her, causing a tiny avalanche to land on her broken, beaten and poisoned body.

How she was conscious she did not know, but she looked up with weary eyes and saw the Totem standing over her, with a look of determination on him.

"Do… you… 'yield'?" He asked yet again.

She could only 'whimper' her response, as her body was so weak that even moving a muscle was taxing her whole body. "I… yield…" She whimpered pathetically.

With that the Totem nodded, relaxed his muscles, and his Totem Aura dissipated, along with all his excess power. The Scizor and Noivern, seeing the battle over, nodded to the Totem and both leapt and flew away into the night.

The Totem however remained to watch over her as her breathing was labored, and her body fought the poison coursing through her veins.

She tried to fight the poison, but she was just too weak, and she knew that there was no way she could fight it out of her. The Totem could do it, he knew how to rid his body of poison, but she couldn't.

Then she heard a small plunk and raised her head to see a small pile of berries planted in front of her.

"Eat…" The Totem said.

She nodded, unable to fight back and wearily used her clawed hand to eat the berries.

Immediately she began to feel some strength return, and felt the poison growing weaker in her body.

"Now… explain why you want to become the strongest." He asked her sternly, kneeling down before her. "The 'real' reason."

She nodded and sighed in humiliation. "It's a human… he's an idiot, and he keeps getting himself in dangerous situations." She explained. "He keeps on pursuing dangerous endeavors… and he keeps pushing himself when he should be keeping himself safe! No matter how dangerous it looks… it's like he has to do it!"

The Totem looked thoughtfully before he closed his eyes in deep thought. "If he seeks to hurt himself, why do you continue to worry about him?"

"Because he… saved my life…" She whispered. "He saved my life… I would not be here if not for him… I owe him my life!"

"A debt is paid when the payment given is equal to the debt offered." The Totem declared wisely. "If saved his life once as he saved your life once, why have you continued to watch over him?"

"Because… I… don't know!" She growled. "I want to keep him safe, I just want him safe! Yet I can't if Pokemon threaten him! If I were the strongest then none would challenge me, and he would be safe!"

"You perceive me to be the strongest, yet you challenge me…" The Totem replied. "Just because you are the strongest does not mean you will not be challenged, far from it, the stronger you are the more you are challenged. What strength we exude outward does not demonstrate our true strength young 'Azula'."

She looked up in surprise that the Totem knew the name that 'Eri' had given her, and her surprise only deepened when she saw the look of warmth in his eyes and smile.

"One's true strength is only revealed when we have a reason to protect something with all of our power…" He said. "You do not need to be confused as to why you watch over him, you seek to protect that which you care about. What you are truly confused about, is 'how' you can protect him from danger."

She thought about the Totem's words and nodded in understanding. It made sense, it just 'made' sense. She cared about Eri, she cared about him and that 'care' she had for him was why she wanted to protect him, to keep him safe. And the totem was also telling the truth, she didn't know 'how' to keep him safe if he continued to go into danger.

"How can I protect him Totem One?" She asked hopefully.

At those words the Totem rose to his full height and walked around to her side. Then he stepped over her, laid his arms on either side of her, and laid his whole body down atop her. To finish the scene, he covered her head and used his own head as a shield.

"Like this…" He muttered softly, gently squeezing her to tighten his grip. "By protecting him… with your 'scales'."

"My scales?" She asked in confusion.

"Our scales are nigh indestructible… as you've noticed. Despite the damage I've done to you, your strong scales still gleam as strong and as beautiful as ever. In ancient times humankind used our loose scales that fell from our bodies as armor. Only in these 'modern times' have humans found better uses for our scales, even now, to have armor made of our scales is considered an honor and great feat among humans. As such… the surest way to protect him, is to use your scales, and protect him."

There was silence as the Totem gently pushed her head down and closed his eyes.

"Rest now, young 'Kommo-o'." He whispered softly. "You have a human to protect tomorrow, and you will need to find him. But before you do… you must rest and recover your strength. I shall protect you through the night… as I protect all of you, even if you are no longer a Jangmo-o."

At those words she felt her weariness return in full, and nodded, trusting the Totem's words that he would keep her safe until morning.

"Thank you… Totem One…" She whispered tiredly, before she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

(Eri's PoV)

It took Eri three days to find out what the Tauros were stampeding from, and when he did he stared in awe as he hid between two large rock outcroppings atop a ridge.

It was no wonder why the Tauros herd had been fleeing this area, as he gazed upon the 'fleet' of transports and vehicles scattered in this small area.

All the vehicles were either transport trucks or heavy duty pickup trucks designed for rough off-road terrain. In the transport trucks that looked more like cages on wheels were numerous species of Pokemon native to the Poni Plains. Inside he could make out Mudsdales and Tauros, Gumshoos and even Raticates, Pelippers and Braviarys, all manners of Pokemon locked up in cages. Yet only a 'few' of the trucks had captive Pokemon in them, the rest were all empty especially the heavy cages that made up the trucks.

There was only one explanation for something like this to be on Poni Island, Poachers. An operation this large and on such scale was something that just couldn't be ignored.

"There's got to be over a dozen at least…" He muttered, trying to see how many poachers could be there. "If there's one driver per truck, then maybe fifty? But how did they get all of this onto the Island without the Kahuna knowing?"

He took the moment to take several snapshots of the field of vehicles, using his lens to get as close on the Pokemon as he could, but unable to get any better because of his distance.

"If I'm going to get any better pictures I'm going to need to get down there…" He muttered, before climbing down the ridge to get down to the encampment. "First angry Tauros herds, then Tauros stampedes, now potentially armed and dangerous Poachers. Hapu… you don't pay me enough for this…"

It took him half an hour to climb down safely, then he had to approach the Poacher camp without them spotting him, which he only managed by hiding in the shade of the canyon ridge and rock formations. As he reached the camp he got up to a few of the cages, mostly the empty ones as he didn't want the Pokemon caged to notice he was there and alert any poachers.

As he got a good look at the cages he could tell that they varied in quality of metal, with the more weaker ones being made of simple steel, but the more sophisticated and higher quality cage-vans were designed with much stronger metals that he couldn't make out at first glance. He also noticed that they were fairly large, evidently made to contain large Pokemon of over five or six feet in height.

"These are heavy duty cages…" He muttered, touching the smooth and cold metal.

He took a few pictures of the cages before slipping around some of the trucks and vans, that was when he saw a few of the occupied cages.

In three of the cages he had come across there were two individual Mudsdales and a Mudbray locked inside them. All of them had large green gashes across their body, the Mudbray bore the stains of 'sludge' all over it's hide and all three were chained to the floor of their cages with strong wires that, each time they moved dug into their hides and cause them to bleed with each attempt.

"Mraww…" The Mudbray moaned to the two Mudsdales, trying to wiggle free but the wire began to dig into its hide.

Both Mudsdales looked on sadly as they couldn't move, but one of the Mudsdales tried to move, to get out and break free of its wired bindings. Yet all it managed to do was scrunch its face in pain as the wires began digging into 'its' hide now, causing blood to seep as it fought the pain.

The sight of the Pokemon made him upset beyond reason. It was obvious that it was a baby Mudsdale and its two parents separated, and the Mother was trying valiantly to break free and help her offspring, while the father could only sit and 'cry' at its powerlessness to help his young. But he couldn't break them out, if he did they'd alert the poachers and that wouldn't help them at all. Yet he felt powerless as well, as he raised his camera and began to take pictures of the Mudsdales in their cages, making sure to get closeups of their injuries.

Pictures taken he turned to leave before he heard the Mudbray pine in pain again, and the Mudsdale Mother groan as she tried to break free. Hearing their cries of pain made him turn and walk to their cages, which in turn made them quiet down as they took notice of him.

He reached into his side bag and pulled out a few berries and offered them to the Mudbray.

"Listen guys, hang in there just a little longer… I promise someone will come save you." He whispered as the Mudbray ate the berries gratefully. "Kahuna Hapu will rescue you, I just need to get what I can, so she can save you all. So just hang tough for now alright?"

The three of them nodded and watched him leave, the mother and father with looks of gratitude on their faces.

As he left he ducked in between the trucks and vans, trying to avoid being seen by all the Pokemon 'and' their Poacher captors. As he turned he caught the glimpse of two Poachers walking toward him barely in time to hide underneath a van.

"Boss is having a meeting with everyone, says we got a big score to hit tomorrow!" A woman said as they passed by him.

"I hope the money's worth it, we're spending a fortune on this little expedition!" The guy walking beside her grunted. "Stuff aint cheap, just one of these trucks cost us over a million, and them rough riding Mudsdales aint even worth a tenth of that!"

He crawled out from under the truck and started tailing the two poachers, being careful to stay out of sight by using the trucks and all the boxes and cages to stay hidden. Eventually they led him to the center of the encampment where dozens of people were all sitting around a campfire on makeshift chairs and couches. He took a quick gamble and pulled his camera out to take one quick snapshot of all their faces.

"Alright everyone listen up!" A guy with a rancher's hat and vest shouted. "Tomorrow we got a big target to hit, and this one's the motherload of this island!"

"I hope so, I'm fifty g's in the deep red cause of this job you got us on!" Someone yelled.

"Aah shut up Joe!" He yelled back. "Tomorrow we're ganna target the Hakamo-o and Kommo-o to the West of here. Now pay attention cause these guys aint like the wimps we managed to wrangle the last few days!"

He pulled out a huge diagram and showed them all images of a Kommo-o and Hakamo-o as well as Jangmo-o, with details about their biology and weaknesses.

Eri went wide eyed as the Poacher began explaining their 'big score' target. "Now these Kommo-o and Hakamo-o are all 'dragon' types, so this already adds a bounty on them for each one we bring in. But we aint interested in 'just' bring them in alive. Their armored 'scales' are what we want, each scale on its own can net us fifty g's each."

"How much we getting paid for each of the Kommo-o or Hakamo-o we wrangle up?" One of them yelled.

"We bring a Kommo-o in, it's a hundred grand, a Hakamo-o we get fifty, but we get the scales off of em and we get fifty g for each scale!" The leader said. "The Jangmo-o aren't worth our time; their scales aren't developed and we'd only get five g. Now don't be thinking of Pokedollar signs yet cause these things aint pushovers. Fighting one of em is a nightmare all on their own cause they 'never' stop fighting as Hakamo-o. A Kommo-o is a veteran of countless battles and will give even seasoned trainers a run for their money. So, our plan is going to be to single out 'three' of them. A Hakamo-o and a Kommo-o for capturing alive, while the third Kommo-o we find is offed! What we're after are the multi-colored armored scales that cover their bodies."

"So, kill a Kommo-o and rip off the scales huh, sounds easy enough!"

"Yea, but our buyers got a 'special' request for us, they want us to find and skin the scales from a particular Kommo-o. One that has 'pink' scales, they offering 'double' for the special colored scales of this one we spotted running around out here. We rip em off it and we're set for retirement!"

At that they all wooo'd and hooted, but all he could think of was the only pink scaled Kommo-o he knew in his life.

"Azula…" He whispered fearfully.

He had to get out and warn the Kommo-o, they had to be careful, these Poachers were serious business. But more importantly he had to find and warn Azula to save her.

"Hey who are you?" Someone shouted behind him.

He snapped his head to look to his side at someone to his left and knew that his time in the camp was up. He instantly ran away as the whole camp took notice of what was going on, and within moments he had dozens of people chasing after him, some releasing their Pokemon to help. Soon he had not only people but some Mightyena, Houndooms, and even Sevipers and Arboks chasing after him as he tried to outrun them all through the vehicles.

He made a dash to the ridge to try and climb up it and get away, but every time he tried to make for the ridge he would come face to face with either a Pokemon or a Poacher. He ran, jumped, rolled and threw anything and everything that he could to shake his pursuers, but he couldn't evade them all.

Then a Seviper intercepted him just as he tried to vault over a truck and struck him in the side with its poison tipped tail. He felt it slice through his jacket and cleanly into his skin, causing him pain and delivering a toxin into his system.

He fought through the pain though and ignored a pair of Houndooms that blocked his path now, instead pushing through them as they snapped and bit his legs wounding him further.

He tumbled and stumbled out of the Poacher camp, losing focus momentarily as he made for the ridge, but soon he could run no longer as the Poison began paralyzing his limbs.

Instead he turned and faced the Poachers and their Pokemon to fight them, taking his camera off, intending to use it as a weapon to fight with.

The Poacher leader stepped forward, releasing a Tyrantrum as he did while two others released a Hydreigon and even a Garchomp.

"Well well well, looky what we got here boys an girls, a wanna-be hero." He said. "Sorry pal, but we can't let you spread word about our little operation. See we invested quite a bit for this job, and we aim to get our pay."

"I don't care, I won't let you kill my friend if I can help it!" He said, losing all feeling in his feet while his legs began to go numb as well as his side.

"Your friend huh, guessin that Pink Kommo-o is your pal." He said with a grin. "Well in that case we have a better use for you. I was ganna tell the boys to kill you, but since your friends with that paycheck, we can use you to get what we want."

"Kroaaaaaaaawr!" A loud roar sounded causing all of them to look up including Eri.

Seconds later a Kommo-o with pink scales and yellow body landed heavily in front of him, stood up to its full height and assumed a defensive stance.

Azula had once again, found him just as his life was in danger.

"Well would you look at that, our 'paycheck' has come to us!" He yelled. "That makes this so much easier…"

"No, Azula… you have to run…" He said pushing past her to get in front.

"Kom… mo?" She asked as he stood in front of her.

"You have to run… warn the other Kommo-o… and get help to save the Pokemon here…" He said as he stared at the Poachers and their Pokemon. "They plan on killing you, and ripping your scales off for profit… you have to get out… go, I'll stall them…"

"Kommo-o!" Azula yelled as she tried to get in front of him, but he shoved her back.

"I won't let… them hurt you!" He said trying to fight to stay conscious as he felt his body beginning to weaken. "I'll protect you no matter what… no matter what… I have to do…"

"Kommo oo…" She said but her voice was becoming fainter.

"Go… I can't… even…" He began saying, but the Seviper poison began taking its toll on his body as his legs finally shut down and he fell forward.

Then everything went black.

(Azula's PoV)

Azula watched in horror as Eri fell forward, exposing his ripped clothes to her and revealing the injury he had suffered. Comprehension dawned as she realized 'why' he had come here, he had come not only to figure out what was going on but to 'protect' her.

Him… a lowly human… with no claws or fangs, powers or strength… wanted to protect her.

In that moment she felt something spark that she'd never felt before.

But first she glared at the 'threat' to her human, and she had to protect him. She did what she was told to do and took several steps forward, stomping and clanging her scales to threaten her foes.

"Alright you wanna do this the hard way, then we do this the hard way!" The first human said. "Alright Tyrantrum, crunch that scaly hide of hers!"

The largest creature, the 'Tyrantrum' as he called it ran forward with its massive jaws full of teeth. But she didn't care as its movements weren't subtle, and she easily countered with a powerful swing of her tail. She then unleashed her powerful Dragon Claw into its hide and swiped it away from Eri. Then the Garchomp tried to attack her but she too countered its Dragon Claw with her own, getting the powerful attack off and burying her attack into its chest before it could do the same. While she dealt with the Garchomp the Hydreigon roared and unleashed a powerful Focus Blast from its jaws, directing its attack at her.

She reflected it by using her powerful scales which easily blocked it from doing any harm, and turned her mighty claws on the Hydreigon, delivering a powerful Sky Uppercut and sending it reeling away.

"Get around it, go after that guy!" Someone yelled, which caused her to focus on Eri now as several of the weaker Pokemon were going to attack him.

She reacted instantly and leapt over to him, positioned her body over him and laid down, protecting him by forming a shield using her body and scales.

She tightened her grip and curled her body around him, protecting any possible exposed part of him with her scales. She growled threateningly to anyone who dared attack her Eri. She would not let any harm come to him, not another scratch would befall him, and if any of them tried they would only be met with her powerful scales. One of the Houndooms sent a flamethrower at her, but she endured it instead of dodging or counter attacking. Then an Arbok moved in to attack her from behind but she used her tail to sweep and shove it away, refusing to budge to from her position to fight back.

"Well well, looks like our 'paycheck' has a soft spot for her friend." The human who was leading them said with a laugh. "If she wants to sit there and protect her friend, fine by me! Tear her scales off one by one!"

At that all of the Houndooms and Mightyena charged in and bit into her scales, just as the three Dragon Type Pokemon she beat before started to recover. She scrunched her face in pain as she felt their hound's teeth dig into her scales, but she couldn't fight back without exposing Eri beneath her to danger.

Thinking of Eri she tightened her grip around him as much as possible, wanting to keep him safe from all these dangers. He had only come to this place to protect her from them, to help her species and all the Pokemon here the only way he knew how.

'So, what if he can't fight like I can… so what if he doesn't have the same strength I have…' She thought as they began tugging and pulling her scales, trying to rip them off while she protected her human. 'I don't care about any of that now, what good is my power if I can't keep 'you' safe Eri?'

If she tried to fight back, they'd threaten and maybe kill Eri. If she surrendered to them if they spared him, they'd just kill him after she was dead. If she tried to run, they'd cut her down before she could flee and then they'd both be dead. No matter what she did, they were both dead.

'If we die… then at least we die together.' She thought as she felt one of her scales along her back beginning to shift from the constant pulling. 'I'll die with you… protecting you till the last of my scales are ripped from my body… my Eri~!'

That was when she felt a piercing gaze tear into her body, and all of the Pokemon stopped moving.

"Hey… did anyone else just feel that?" Someone called out.

"Feels like someone stepping on my grave." Another called out.

"Ignore it, just finish ripping off that shela's sca-"

She looked up to see all of the poachers staring above her in shock, and she took the chance to turn her head enough to gaze behind her as well.

There, standing high above her gazing at all of them was the Totem One. In a second, he leapt down and landed with a resounding CRASH. The moment he landed all the Pokemon backed away from her and retreated to their Poacher masters.

She looked up at him as he stared at all of the Pokemon and humans before him, his gaze showing no more anger than he ever showed her in her life, but the fear she felt from his silent fury left her speechless. How could the Totem hold back such powerful rage with a gentle expression, as if he were holding back an unspeakable force with just his calm will alone. He then shifted his gaze to the man-made contraptions, their vehicles and cages, and though his expression did not change the power of his anger grew ever stronger.

"That thing is 'massive'!" Someone yelled.

"What is that?"

"Is that what a Totem Pokemon looks like? It's enormous!"

The Totem One however turned its back on them and stared at her with a warm smile. "Little one, little 'Azula'." He said warmly. "Take your 'mate'… and care for him. I will deal with these 'untested ones' and rescue their captives as your human tried to do. Take him to the sacred cave of power, where our kind go to obtain our greatest power with our trainers."

"Don't be afraid of it, it's just like all the other Kommo-o. Tyrantrum Head Bash!"

"Raaawr!" The Tyrantrum roared as it ran at the Totem One.

The Totem however didn't turn to face it, instead lifting its tail up and proceeding to smash it against the Tyrantrum head, using the move 'Iron Tail' if she remembered. In one move the Tyrantrum collapsed to the ground.

The Totem one breathed deeply before exhaling. "Go… little Azula… I will take care of these… 'guests'." He said, before turning to face the Poachers.

She nodded and got off Eri and scooped his weak form into her arms, being sure to grab his 'camera' as well and began running with him away from the encampment.

(Poacher Leader's PoV)

He watched as the Totem took several steps toward them and his crew, glaring at them with malicious intent, its piercing gaze stabbing through his false bravado and making him back up in fear.

"H-hey now… we can… talk about this… right?" He stuttered as it stepped over his Tyrantrum. "How about a deal… w-we let all the Pokemon go… and we'll just leave an… never come back… sounds fair right?"

If the Totem Pokemon was listening it was not impressed or interested, instead it stared at them all with its gaze, silent fury written on its face.

It stopped just short of their group with a resounding stomp.

All 'he' could do was watch as the Totem smacked its clawed fists together and begin clanging its many scales, as the very air around it radiated with an energy he only read about as 'Totem Aura'.

=RotoDex Appears=

-Bzzzt I wish I could tell you that the Totem scared the Poachers off with just that display, that the Poachers released their captives and left Poni Island, never to be seen again~-

-Bzzt but I'm a Rotom in a Pokedex, and I can only talk about facts! Speaking of facts, the Clangorous Soulblaze move is a move that uses sound to attack all in a wide radius, how wide depends on the size of the Kommo-o, the number of opponents, and how high the Kommo-o can jump. The Totem Kommo-o of Poni Island has been seen jumping as high as ten stories!-

-When it decides it wants to jump that high at least bzzzzzst!-

=RotoDex Leaves=

[Narrator]

[Azula did as the Totem commanded, and carried Eri to the Kommoium-Z cave, where Trainers and their Kommo-o partners went to obtain the power of the Clangorous Soulblaze, the ancient power of the Kommo-o. There, she labored day and night to heal and care for her human. As she did she thought about the Totem's last words to her before she left, and how he referred to Eri as her 'mate'.]

[She was confused at first, wondering why the Totem would view this human as her 'mate'. But as she continued to tend to him and care for him, helping him recover from the grip of death he had been in, she found that he was indeed as close to a 'mate' as she ever had.]

[Kommo-o choose mates based on how strong they think they are and choose only the strongest to be their mates. Eri was far from strong, he couldn't hope to wrestle with a Pokemon that wasn't already weaker than a human. He couldn't fight against Pokemon and he wasn't exactly a fighter against other humans either. Yet he was strong in his convictions, he pursued a goal no matter the danger, and despite the injuries or even risk of his life it brings he continued to move forward toward it.]

[So, after two weeks of helping him, Azula decided to ask of Eri what she had spent long and hard thinking about.]

(Eri's and Azula's PoV)

"Thank you for helping me Azula, I'm glad that you saved me when you did but, honestly I'm just happy that you aren't hurt." Eri said as he sat next to his friend.

"As am I…" She said, keeping her human close.

"When I saw what those Poachers were doing, and heard what they were planning to do to you and your fellow Hakamo-o and Kommo-o. I just had to do something… guess I didn't really do anything huh?" He chuckled embarrassingly. "Just got myself into trouble again, only this time 'I' nearly died, and you had to rescue me."

"It's alright…" She whispered softly.

They sat together still in silence, Eri enjoying the quiet while Azula enjoyed the peace of the cave. This cave was sacred to the Kommo-o and people of Poni Island. Only trainers who had raised or gained the trust of the Kommo-o could enter it with their permission. As such they hadn't once been disturbed by any of the wild Pokemon near the area, not even by another Kommo-o, allowing Eri to fully recover and Azula to keep him protected and care for him.

While they sat she would glance at him every so often, thinking about how to approach the subject.

"So… uh… what are we still doing in here Azula?" He asked. "I mean I've been fully recovered since yesterday so why are we still here? I'm not a trainer and I'm only here because you brought me."

This gave Azula her chance, as she looked back down at him.

"Eri…" She whispered as she got up to sit in front of him. "I want to talk to you about something important."

He was confused as she got up to sit before him, figuring that she had something 'important' to tell him.

"What is it Azula?"

Azula felt her heart pounding as she looked into his blue eyes with her own red eyes. It wasn't until now that she thought about it, but seeing his cold blue eyes was very soothing to her, they reminded her of the sea. And it was at that moment that she felt the 'spark' ignite in her again, and she felt a 'connection' to him. That was when her calm, clear and thinking mind took a backseat to her sheer instincts that forced their way forward after what felt like an 'eternity' since she last listened to them.

She inched closer to him and gently nudged him onto his back before placing her arms on either side of him.

"W-hey Azula, what are you…" Eri began saying before Azula placed her talon-like mouth on his lips.

He sat there on the floor of the cave watching as Azula gave what could be the equivalent of a 'kiss'. After a while he began thinking about Azula and 'why' she was doing this, before deciding that she was doing this because she loved him.

He too cared deeply for her, after all they've been running into each other for three years since he saved her. She was a beautiful pokemon, strong in her power yet gentle with him. Though she always had to rescue him when they had moments of peace while she escorted him home, they were always moments of fun and joy between them. Plus, he felt that he too loved her, and if she was willing to do all of this for him then he could do all he could for her.

He agreed with his heart this time, forget logic for the moment, he cared about her and she obviously cared about him. If she wanted to be with him, then he'll be with her.

He wrapped his arms around her neck and did his best to deepen the kiss, closing his eyes and just melting in the moment.

Azula felt Eri deepen the kiss between them and took that as an acceptation to her mating ritual. So she proceeded into the next phase of the Kommo-o mating ritual, the part 'she' decided was next at least.

=RotoDex appears=

-Bzzzt the Kommo-o Mating Ritual involves three parts, the first is the 'acceptance' of the mates, in which both mates hold each other and lock their lips together. The Second part is the dominance ritual, in which both play wrestle to determine who will be the more 'dominant' partner of the two. The Third part bzzzt is the act of mating~! Azula has chosen to ignore the second part, since her partner is human, and only has seven percent of her muscle strength-

=RotoDex Leaves=

Azula lovingly laid down atop Eri and spread her legs on either side of him, positioning her sex over his groin. She knew where his 'tool' was, having observed him in the wild many times bathing or 'relieving' himself. And while she had never thought much of it then, her instincts were now in control instead of her thoughts, and all she wanted was for him to unsheathe it.

Eri could feel her subtly trying to hump his groin, and he had to admit it was quite something for this normally strong girl that was so focused to be wanting to mate with him so rapidly. He however wasn't entirely 'ready' yet to go that far, and instead began to gently rub and scratch Azula's softer scales underneath her armor scales.

Feeling Eri scratching her soft scales gave her a wave of pleasure that was so foreign she pulled away from her kiss and gasped in pleasure. She looked down at him and smiled lovingly.

"I… I'm sorry about that…" He whispered. "I kind of got caught in the…"

She silenced him with another kiss before nuzzling his cheek. "Don't be… I want this more than you think…" She said lovingly.

She loved his gentle approach, his soft touch, and his warm body in comparison to her hard scales and rough exterior. It was a softness that she always treasured and wanted to protect.

"I want to ask this Azula… before we uh… make any mistakes." He said softly, causing her to look at him in confusion. "Are you doing this because you 'love' me… or because of some instinct of yours?"

That question confused her indeed, but she decided there was only one way to answer him. She took his hand in her own claw, and gently placed it against her heart, feeling thoroughly embarrassed to have her heart felt by him. She nodded to get the message across.

"So, you really do love me?" He asked.

She nodded again.

"Well… I won't lie to you either, I love you as well." He said, causing her to smile. "I know I'm not strong, and I get myself into trouble… but I only do so because I want to protect you and your home. All the pictures I've gotten were to help convince people to not touch or damage your homeland, it's the only way I'm able to help."

"So, all this time you 'have' been fighting…" She said warmly, using a claw to rub his soft cheek. "My warrior…"

She leaned back in and resumed kissing him, only this time offering her tongue to his mouth. He responded to her wish and allowed her tongue to enter his own mouth, and there their tongues touched and rubbed, tangled and embraced together, sharing their mouth essences with the other.

While he used one hand to continue to rub her soft scales he had his other hand reach down and massage the soft scales of her underside, starting first with her chest, then her belly, and finally her inner legs and thighs.

That was when he felt a 'slit' between her legs.

She only reacted with a sudden intake of breath before pulling him closer and letting him explore even more. He began to rub her sex's entrance with his fingers, feeling it become slightly wetter with his touch.

Feeling her entrance was like feeling a marble door, it was soft yet had a hardness that couldn't be denied. As for her mouth, the more their tongues danced, the more he found the taste of her 'intoxicating'.

Azula was in complete bliss as she felt her new mate tempting her sex. This was a brand new experience, one she had NEVER had before, having spent so much time training and fighting. The more pleasure she felt the harder it was to think clearly and remain prepared for a battle. Her human wasn't stronger than her, yet the more he caressed or touched her, the less strength she seemed to have.

Eri decided to massage the inside of her now and traced the entrance to her sex with his fingers, before subtly sliding his middle and index finger inside of her.

"Ahhhh~!" She moaned as she felt him enter her virgin sex.

Her insides felt completely different from her exterior, her body was covered in tough scales, soft scales, and hardened scales that made up her armor. Yet her insides felt like velvet and easily gave way to his fingers. He felt the inside of her sex with his fingers as she began panting at his touch.

"How does it feel Azula?" He asked.

"More~…" She moaned, before locking lips with him again and grinding against his hand, trying to feel more pleasure.

He nodded and just resumed kissing and rubbing her body where she liked it and proceeded to slide a third finger inside of her pussy. Her passage was extremely tight, as with the third finger he couldn't move very well inside of her. Yet the look on her face showed extreme pleasure because of what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Azula decided to use one of her claws and gently rub his groin where she felt his dick growing, struggling to break free of the garment he wore. While she enjoyed feeling him and his touch, and the feeling of his tongue and mouth with her own, it was his male 'scent' that was driving her nuts. Being trapped in this cave with him for two weeks had driven her female instincts to insanity, and now that her instincts were let loose they were driving her to find the nearest male and 'mate' with him.

Well there was a male beneath her indeed, as she finally figured out how to undo his pants (with his help) and glanced down at the male 'meat' she desired.

It was standing erect at seven or eight inches.

Her mind questioned if it would 'feel good', but her instincts bellowed at her to shove it in.

She decided to heed her instincts and let her mind decide, as she prepared her sex to take in his dick for the first time. She positioned her sex so it lined up with his, and then began to insert it.

"I don't know about Kommo-o but… for a human girl the first time they do something like this it hurts." Eri said, holding her cheek so she'd listen. "I just wanted to warn you…"

She nodded and grinned in response. "I'm stronger than you think my love~." She whispered lovingly, before nuzzling his nose with her own.

Then she pushed down and inserted his dick into her pussy.

He felt her insides and felt her Hymen break, but unlike what he imagined she didn't express any pain. Instead she moaned in pleasure and began to ride him almost instantly, ignoring the lines of red that dripped from her exposed pussy.

Azula had felt the 'pain' he warned her about, but the pain had been only a moment, before a wave of pleasure had coursed through her body and her instincts began to move her hips up and down. She didn't tell him that her species reacted to the pain of sex differently their first time, instead of pain she felt enormous pleasure.

The instant the pain occurred her mind, her instincts, her whole being changed. She saw Eri not as a human, but as a Kommo-o, a strong Kommo-o, and as such she felt that tiny moment of pain as the binding lock that signified he was her mate. As such instead of pain she felt joy, instead of apprehension she felt bliss.

While her pussy leaked tiny traces of blood from her once virgin barrier being broken, her walls pulsated and tightened around the intruder, learning every inch of its length and its width and molding itself to fit it perfectly. Her insides were on fire, but they did not lose their softness, which caused his dick to feel warmth each time it entered her.

Her insides to Eri were so different than before, her walls tightened around his length and each time she humped him her pussy tightened ever more.

"Azula, you feel so tight…" He muttered into her ears as he held her tightly. "How did you… get so good so fast?"

"I don't… know~!" She groaned as her body acted on its own. "But I feel so happy!"

She leaned backward and used her tail as leverage while she pulled Eri to a sitting position, where he began to thrust his dick into her pussy, causing her juices to spill slightly.

"Ah~ that feels good!" She cooed.

Indeed, before she was feeling good cause of her actions, but now having him do the thrusting and pounding her sex was causing a different kind of sensation. It was like her body 'wanted' to be pleasured, to feel it while another caused it.

He continued to thrust into her pussy for a few minutes before he began to speed up, ramming into her with more strength as he felt his release approaching.

Then, somewhere, somehow, he gathered enough strength to temporarily lift Azula to a standing position and 'leaned' her against the wall. She was so amazed by his achievement that she submitted and allowed him to do as he wished. She wrapped one leg around him, used the other to stand on, and her tail to keep them up while he focused on humping her.

Her pussy walls stretched and tightened, her entrance spread and reshaped itself, and her body cried in blissful agony as she felt her first release hit.

"Aaaaaaah~!"

"I'm coming… Azula~ I'm cumming!" He yelled as he slammed into her one final time and his dick exploded his sperm into her.

She felt her walls fill with a strange gooey warmth, which seeped and spilled into her womb and onto the cave floor from her entrance. She cried in pleasure and held him tight as he released, her body twitching occasionally every few seconds. Each time his dick spilled seed he thrust into her the tiniest bit, and he did these three times more after the initial release before he was spent.

Then he leaned heavily against her to breathe in exhaustion. She took the chance to lean him onto his back, keeping his dick firmly in her pussy, and covered his body with her own, both to protect him with her armored scales and to let them both rest.

As she did she felt a pair of eyes piercing into her and turned to see just around the corner of the cave's entrance, the Totem One looking in and watching her. She feared that he was going to punish her, but instead he smiled, closed his eyes and nodded in understanding. Then he mouthed the words 'Be safe' before he left the two of them alone.

She smiled in gratitude before nodding in thanks, knowing that Eri, and her, had received his blessings.

'Thank you… father…' She thought happily.

Before returning to her human and sharing in another kiss with him.

(Totem Kommo-o's PoV)

He marched out of the cave and turned to head back to the Vast Poni Canyon, to await the next trial goer, his thoughts of his daughter giving him a sense of peace and joy. One thought though had given him the greatest peace. He no longer needed to watch over his daughter, she had found a mate to protect her.

Then he grinned.

"It is the job of 'every' Kommo-o, to watch over the Jangmo-o, until they are ready…" He said happily. "No matter how old… or if they are even Jangmo-o anymore."

With that he walked off, thinking of finding 'Azula's' mother to inform her of the good news.

"If he doesn't give her an egg within the first few years I'm going to be 'very' disappointed." He said more seriously.

=One Year Later=

Eri watched from his spot as a Lucario trained its two Riolu offspring in the ways of using Aura, at the crack of dawn just as the sun was beginning to rise. He readied his camera and watched through the lens as the family practiced their skills.

"Almost…" He muttered, before the sun peaked over and began to bathe the sky in its golden orange light.

[CLICK]

Good, not bad… now let's see if we can get you using an aura sphere…"

While he sat he felt Azula lay her head above him, resting her head and snoozing. He chuckled as she lay on top of his body, covering him with her protective scales.

It had been over a year since Azula mated him and he became a 'married' man. After the incident with the Poachers he took his photos to Hapu to let her know what was going on and thanked him because she finally had the evidence she needed.

It turned out that the Totem had beaten up all the poachers 'and' their Pokemon all on his own and freed all the Pokemon. The totem then had dragged all the humans and their Pokemon, as well as their vehicles to her farm and let her deal with them. She only needed the evidence to turn them over to the authorities and after that they were sent for a trial.

He continued to do odd camera shot jobs for Hapu but with a new Photo Club on Poni Island he had more steady work in town.

Today he was taking pictures of the Lucario and Riolu, all in the safety of underneath Azula.

Azula in order to stay with her new mate, followed with him everywhere and even had a Pokeball around her neck as a sign of 'mateship'. He never had to fear being attacked anymore because she would lie atop him and cover him, thus concealing his existence from view. All the Poni island Pokemon stayed away from the Kommo-o and thus refused to go near her. She became the perfect camouflage for the photographer, allowing him to get up close to them and keeping him safe from harm without being spotted.

For the next few hours he captured pictures of the family as they trained, before they ran off, and he and Azula got up to return to their camp.

Azula for her credit enjoyed these ventures, loving the scenery and especially her time with him.

But what she loved most of all, as they settled back into their campsite and under their makeshift tent which consisted only of a large tarp propped on sticks, was the 'fun' she would have with him out here.

Back in Seafolk Village they couldn't do anything outside of walking next to each other and laughing, but out here where nobody was around, they took full advantage.

As he put his camera stuff down she reached over and pulled him into her embrace, not even bothering to let him get ready.

He responded with only minor surprise but quickly melted into her embrace and began to massage and touch her in her favorite spots. Then he gave a shove and pushed her on her back and laid down on top of 'her'.

"Naughty girl… always lying on top of me, now it's 'my' turn to lie on top of 'you'~!" He said smoothly.

She grinned as she felt him kissing her cheek and rubbing her soft scales.

Another thing she'd changed on was who was 'on top'. After he managed to momentarily lift her in the cave during their first mating ritual, she'd fought less and less over being on top, and now accepted her position as being on bottom.

"Oh… you are soooo much more manly than you used to be darling~." She cooed as he lifted her legs, so they'd wrap around his waist.

He pulled her into a loving kiss and began to share his saliva with hers.

"You know Azula… there's something I want to do with you… now that I have some money saved up…"

She perked up at his words as she felt him reach down to undo his pants.

"Your dad gave me a stare last time I was alone, and I think I got the message this time." He whispered soothingly. "Let's make an egg honey~."

While she looked warmly at him in response, inside a cartoon version of herself was jumping for joy at those words.

=RotoDex appears=

-Bzzzt this is my last time here so here's my last fact~! Kommo-o females biologically are only able to get pregnant after they have mated for a second time. This is to ensure that their mates stay true to their conviction of being mates. Once they mate the third time an egg is guaranteed to be created Bzzt!-

-bZZZT because this is Azula's third time, she is going to have an egg now! Isn't that awesome!-