FA/N: If you want to know what the 'more realistic' Pokémon in Truth and Lies look like, a good place to start would be Joshua Dunlop's art. You can find it at "joshuadunlop (d0t) art stat ion (d0t) c0m." ... Ffnet is getting more annoying with their filters. He's done most of the first 151, and a couple extras (Espeon and Umbreon come to mind), plus his art is amazing in general. Worth a look.
Finally, if you like this story or any of my other stories, please consider supporting me on Pa Tree On. You can find it by going to www. Pa tree / KajaWilder (you must have NSFW filter turned off to find my page). I can only continue my current (or faster) pace of updates if I can pay my bills. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting closer. If you think about how much enjoyment you get out of a movie- about two hours worth of fun- for $10-20- you are getting far greater value by supporting a writer like myself. If even one in twenty people that read this supported me on Pa Tree On at any level, I would be able to easily continue focusing on writing more... and you could read more. I'm going to keep writing anyway. But the pace would be and will be a lot faster if you can spare a few dollars monthly. My lowest tier isn't even a small drink at a theater, any more. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to you? If so, then please support me.
Of course, you can ALSO find more of the same stories there. I post everything on this site at least a week after it's posted on , so if you want more and don't want to wait, well... there you go.
That's enough out of me, though. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Predator / Prey
Alex sighed as his body sank into the hotel bed of the Pokémon Center in Pallet Town. A moment after he did, so quickly as to be almost unnoticeable, Cock appeared just where he had been before, followed by Lingus, and his own pack of clothing and camping gear.
Elle, though, was not in the room, which appeared to have been 'reset' with clean linens, the beds made, aside from the rumple caused by his own occupancy of the bed he'd been logged out from.
For a moment, he thought she might've been logged in somewhere else, but a quick check of his Party screen showed her offline still. Huh. Well... I guess I can wait. What to do...?
A noise from below the bed caught his attention, and he looked down to see Cock's er... well, erection, extended and prodding at Lingus, who rolled over from her back onto her stomach and lifted her hind end obligingly.
It was almost comical watching them mate given the size difference, like a chihuahua and a particularly chubby bulldog in a way, but Alex still felt a moment of jealousy.
Then he had an idea. "Stay here," he told his two Pokémon, and headed downstairs.
As he'd expected, there was no one in the Pokémon Center, as if he'd been logged into an almost deserted MMO world. There was one, though...
"Joy!"
The rose-haired attendant looked up, "Ah, hello. Alex, right? Your Larvitar and your companion's Pidgey are fully healed, would you like to take them?"
"Yeah," he grinned, "And I'd like to take you, too."
Joy blinked, violet eyes glancing around the empty room. "Right here?"
He grinned. "Is that a problem?"
"Well, n- no," Joy said, seeming more than a little bashful, "I just... oh, alright. Come around the counter, I need to stay at work- you can just duck down if someone comes in, right?"
"Sure."
Entranced by the very idea, he was already hard when he lowered his shorts to his knees and lifted Joy's now white skirt.
She leaned forward, resting one hand on the counter and arching her back as she reached behind herself to finger her now bare twat, which was already starting to glisten with moisture.
Using one hand to guide himself, he slicked up and down her crack for a bit, then pushed lower to coat himself in her fluids, making sure to graze her pearl with his cock-head as he passed between her legs.
"Hurry," Joy pleaded, then squealed and giggled as Alex's hand met her bare, pale ass.
Both moaned as his hips pulled away and he grabbed hers with both hands, then stood slightly on his toes as he pushed forward, slipping into the dripping heat of her once more.
He rutted with abandon for more than five minutes before he heard a strange sort of tinkling noise out in the lobby that made him look up.
The door had not opened, and no one had left the stairs or elevator.
Neither fact changed the third: that there was a person standing in the center of the lobby, staring at them. A familiar someone.
"M- Monroe, wasn't it?"
The fifteen year old boy swallowed, nodding, hand holding a data-pad up as if he'd been reading it when he logged out.
"You want a turn?"
He saw the boy's pants swell. "Uh... y- yeah?"
Alex grinned. He wasn't sure why he didn't care if this kid fucked Joy, even though he was the same age as Elle. Maybe it was a double standard?
"I'll be done in a few- you wanna fuck him, Joy?"
"Yeeesss," the nurse moaned, body shaking as he hammered into her, "I want all the cocks..."
That part was said as two more tinkles sounded, and a moment later, two other people, thankfully both male, logged in.
One glanced their way, rolled his eyes, and stepped out through the main door.
The other walked up, eyes wide, "You- you can fuck the NPCs?"
"Apparently," Alex said with a grin, barely sparing the older man a glance as he started moving even faster, "You can fuck just- just about... everything!"
"Oh, thank god! I haven't been any more lucky in the game than in real life, I should've changed my appearance! Can I- can I go next, miss?"
"You gotta get in line," Alex told him, pointing with his chin at Monroe, "He's next."
The older man looked over at the kid, who was adjusting a probably painful hard-on as he watched Alex and Joy go at it. "Him? He's a kid- why should I wait?"
"Because he has dibs? It's not his first time with her, either. Right, Joy?"
"No," she moaned, "He came so hard all over my tits..."
Monroe and the other man both groaned, their timbers different but the meaning the same as far as Alex could tell.
"Cumming," he grunted, "Wh- where, Joy? Tell me where you want it!"
"I- In me!"
He felt particularly proud of her blissed out expression, laying bent over on the counter, as he stepped away a few seconds later, and even more so at the sight of the other man's jealous longing as he gave Monroe a high-five on the way by. "Don't worry, man, she'll have plenty for you. Kind of a nympho, aren't you, Joy?"
"F- Fuck yes," the non-player character moaned, one hand between her legs, the other reaching for Monroe's pants, trying to help him unfasten them.
Alex watched long enough for the boy, hesitant at first, to ease himself into the woman, apparently uncaring that Alex still dripped from her, and take a half-dozen strokes before exploding himself, before he turned and headed upstairs, hearing more and more tinkles as he climbed.
Elle was sitting on her bed, counting out her Pokéballs, when he stepped into the room.
She looked up, smiled, and said, "Your fly's down."
He glanced downward, fixed it, and looked up with a smile, "Hi, Elle."
"Nurse Joy?"
"Yep. Jealous?"
She shrugged, "I'll get mine soon enough. Almost ready to go, but we should get some more food. We heading north, or did you want to go back east?"
"What's north? And why not south?"
Elle pointed to her map, spinning her screen around so it faced him by spinning an extended finger over the top of it, "Water to the south, and we don't even have any Water Pokémon, much less ones that can carry us over miles of water. There's a couple small towns, and a fairly big forest, but the nearest Gym is in Viridian City, that's north of here, and Pewter's at the north end of the region."
"So... why there?"
She shrugged, "Badges? Apparently they help control Pokémon, and you want to win, right? The easiest route for Trainers, according to the guide I met before I met you, is that way. You can go any route, because the difficulty of the Gyms is adapted to your party strength, but there's a recommended path for an easier journey with less grinding, and no, I don't mean that sexually."
"For once."
"For once," Elle said, looking up with a thoughtful grin, "Though, maybe, before the other stuff. Heard it was pretty fun."
Alex shrugged. He'd never dry-humped anyone, either. Most people these days weren't interested in the 'little things', and casual sex was pretty damned casual by any standards.
"So, North then?"
She nodded, "I think so. In the forest we should be able to catch some more Pokémon, too, not that they aren't everywhere. We should probably do some battle training, though."
"Good point. Okay, so let's get some food, and breakfast, and..."
The conversation stayed light while they packed up and headed downstairs.
Then Elle froze, Alex bumping into her at the bottom of the stairs.
In the lobby, there were several annoyed-looking females, a few aroused ones, and no fewer than thirty men in an orderly line at the counter, where Nurse Joy was now splayed, taking a cock in her cunt and her mouth at the same time from either side, her body also covered in white, with another dick in her right hand, the other gripping the edge of the counter to keep her from sliding too far.
"Huh. Looks like I started something."
"This...was you?"
He grinned, "Come on, I'll explain on the way- it wasn't on purpose, though."
They passed through two more small towns quickly, and bypassed a third, still moving through rolling hills and plains as they moved north over the next two days, getting to know each other a bit better as people, keeping up a running conversation of likes, dislikes, favorite colors, flavors, foods, and so on in fits and spurts, but also spending a fair bit of their walk in companionable silence.
They even moved through the night on the first day, grateful that they hadn't felt any real fatigue thanks to the system's modifications, but neither had caught any new Pokémon to add to their teams.
The pair had, however, been in plenty of 'battles' with their teams as-is, and not a one of them hadn't experienced a 'level up'. Some of the weaker ones, like his Oddish, Sappy, had gone up in level a few times, while their starters had each only gained two.
Elle was happy to read out and explain what their new moves were as Alex did most of the work in setting up their first camp a few miles inside the border of an outstretch of Viridian Forest. They'd left the road behind a few hours ago, as it now circled around the woodland, and had to go in a bit further as they'd also come across a small family of players, none of which had a Prowess rating, camping closer to the edge.
"Okay, so my Starter's at level seven now, and I've had it forget Smog since it does so little damage, and it's got Poison Gas instead. Doesn't deal any damage directly, but it's- well, what it says. Very high chance of poisoning anything that inhales it."
"Keep it away from me, then," Alex muttered.
Elle grinned, "You're more useful alive, anyway. Gobbler's level seven too, but she hasn't learned anything except how to suck you off faster."
Alex still scowled, but he had to admit, over the last two days, he'd been put to sleep rather effectively with how much pleasure he'd gotten from the little thing before going to bed, though Elle herself still pretended annoyance even as she ordered the Grass-Type to do the deed for him without him asking. "You're the one who keeps ordering her to do it."
"And you are the one who enjoys it," Elle reminded him too, "so don't complain. Anyway, apparently none of my main four have learned anything new except Poison Gas, but all of them are level seven."
"You might want to fight more," Alex replied, "mine are a bit higher. Some, anyway."
"I know," she grumbled back, "Cock's level eight, but no new attacks for him yet, and Lingus and Sappy are at seven and haven't learned anything else. Spike hasn't learned anything, too, but he's level eight- as strong as your Starter."
"He was strong to start with, and he's not gotten any weaker," Alex said, frowning down at the Larvitar's Pokéball on his belt. "If he wasn't such a little shit, I'd probably be using him even more. Sorry about your leg again, by the way."
"It's fine," Elle said, grimacing herself and scratching at a bandage just past where he'd scratched her rather badly the day before, "He is starting to calm down, at least, and he's pretty powerful."
A light rain began to fall as they ate dinner, so Alex's plans of sleeping under the stars were foiled.
Still, his sour mood from that was removed when his tent flap opened just enough for a little shape to squirm its way inside about an hour after the sun fell.
"Gobbler?"
"Bell?"
He blinked, reaching for the hand-held flashlight he kept by his pillow after his last late-night foray to the bathroom, and clicked it on.
It was, indeed, Elle's second Pokémon, but it wasn't alone. It carried a note, soggy, rolled up in its mouth, too.
He took it gently and unrolled it. The note was short and no doubt hastily made, with lipstick of all things. Borrowing Lingus. Enjoy.
He sighed, and was about to send the Pokémon out when he heard his companion's mewl of pleasure from her own tent some ten feet or so away, and his cock sprang to life at once.
"Fine," he muttered, lifting the sleeping bag and folding it back, then laying down as the Bellsprout's beady eyes crinkled into what he was starting to expect was a smile.
At least I don't have to feel guilty, since it really seems to enjoy it...
As usual, he enjoyed it, too, even if he wished it were a woman instead.
"Damn it!" Adisa cried out as her Vulpix was blasted backward by the powerful, stone-like Pokémon she'd found high on the slopes west of Viridian City. She threw herself downward, a spray-can of healing Potion in one hand, the other reaching for Machop's Pokéball. She hurled it directly at the rampaging monster, which had ripped dirt, stones, and earth from the ground with both fists and hurled them at her Vulpix with enough force to knock it out with a single attack. Even now, it gasped for breath, but her potion seemed to work quickly, knitting together ribs and flesh alike, though it still struggled to move or breathe.
"Machop, Low Kick! Knock it the fuck out!"
But her small, 'superpower' Pokémon's own fist was caught in the other's massive, rocky fist, and she heard a grinding of stone on stone as it laughed.
Machop, however, was quicker and stronger than the other Pokémon expected, or could match. Even at a fraction of the other Pokémon's weight, its little feet dug into the mountainside, pushing its opponent back and into the dirt. "Kick it!"
The Fighting-type did as she said the second time, but went a step further, too, using the enemy's grip on now both of its arms to kick it in the face with both feet, then fling it over his own body as it hit the ground. Their opponent flew through the air, spinning, to land on the ground a few feet away.
It rolled a few times, then came up swinging, only for its fist to hit empty air- Machop and she were both more than five feet away.
"Again, kick it again! One more, then- I want to catch it!"
Machop growled, a deep sound for such a child-sized creature, but Adisa watched as it took two, four, eight hurried steps, dashing down the slope, then hurling itself into the air and bringing one foot down on the hard, round body once more. It crashed to the earth, and she heard stone crack. "Okay, back up, Machop- guard Vulpix! My turn!"
It did so reluctantly, but didn't hesitate. Instead, she watched as her angry starter kept both hands up in an impressive guard position as it moved to her side.
Adisa grinned as the other Pokémon struggled to its hands- it walked on those, as it had no feet. "Okay, let's hope this works... I haven't had good luck with Pokéballs yet."
This time, fortunately, her aim was good. She only had two balls left, and couldn't afford to waste one.
The Pokémon disappeared into a gray-white flash of light, then vanished into the ball. Her entire body felt tense and filled with energy as she watched it, fists at the ready though she knew she could barely hurt such a thing herself, as the ball twitched, then rolled, and rattled against some of the broken rock that had cracked on the thing's impact.
Then it went still. Ding.
Adisa exhaled in relief, feeling her shoulders slump. Machop had plenty of fight left in him, she knew, but Vulpix would need help. At least it was still conscious, if only just- it would learn from this fight. "Well done, you two," she said, sounding just as tired as Vulpix probably felt, "Let me see what it is, then we can head for town. Okay... Geodude. That's a high level, as high as you are now, Machop! And it has some good attacks, too. No wonder it did so much damage to you, Vulpix... I'm sorry, I should have known you were at a disadvantage. I'll be more careful, I promise. Still... you did well. It's time for me to head back to town, though. You'll be fine in a few hours, I promise."
Fortunately, she didn't meet any other Pokémon that gave her more than a little trouble, and Vulpix' Ember even took out one despite her exhaustion and injuries, leading the Fox Pokémon to gain another level on the return trip, too.
She was lost in her thoughts, trying to figure out how to improve, when the young man sat down at the table across from her without being asked or asking. "Hey," he said, grinning.
Adisa looked up from her plate, which was a half-eaten Caesar salad, to see a Caucasian man of perhaps eighteen, wearing a rock-band's t-shirt and with a baseball cap backwards on sandy blond hair grinning at her. "Um... hello."
"You're sexy."
She frowned, "Is... thank you, I suppose, but... was that supposed to be a come-on?"
He shrugged, leaning back as if he were very relaxed, "If you want it to be. I just saw a pretty lady and came to say hi."
She was about to tell him to go away when Mr. Phillips' words came back to her.
So she sighed instead, looking him up and down, "And...?"
"D'you wanna go upstairs?"
Again, there was the burning desire to say no.
But...
"Fine," she sighed, "But can I finish eating?"
"Sure."
The young man stayed, though, watching her with an almost too-eager leer while she took her time, chewing slowly. Am I really going to go upstairs and let this man- this boy, really- fuck me? Is... this what my life is now?
The room, when the boy opened it, was just like any other- a single bed, with a few Pokémon, none that looked very strong, lounging on the floor. A Bug-Type, a Water, and a Normal, if she had to guess.
Machop had just made it in the door after her when the boy pushed it shut, then his hands were on her.
She almost punched him, and Machop seemed like he wanted to, as well, but Adisa forced herself to sigh and remain still while the clumsy hands groped at her chest, then pushed down beneath the waistband of her jeans.
She turned her head away when the boy leaned up- she was taller than he- for a kiss. "No kissing," she murmured.
Not because she really cared, but his breath was unpleasant.
"Whatever," he muttered, then started pulling up her shirt.
Adisa let him take it off, feeling strangely numb about the whole experience, but she had to assist him with her bra, letting it fall to the floor atop her shirt, where he'd carelessly dropped it. Then his mouth was on her chest, and finally, a small bit of enjoyment found its way into her experience. At least he knew how to suckle, even if he wasn't that good at it, and he focused way too much on her nipples over the next thirty seconds, while he struggled to get his pants down, then hers.
She felt him thrust once, twice, against her slit, which was only just starting to moisten, before he pushed in. I'm not ready, but at least he's not large. This boy has no patience or skill.
He groaned against her tit, "Never been with a black chick."
"Nor have I," she murmured, rolling her eyes. She was hardly racist, or she wouldn't have taken this schlub up on his offer, but her own experience seemed relatively lacking, though she was no virgin either.
But she'd never just had someone go at her, rutting like a high-schooler, since... well, high-school.
And at least then, Morgan had been kind and attentive, seeing to her needs at least once with fingers and mouth before they'd done it.
"Fucking hot."
"You're amazing," Adisa forced herself to say, and put her arms around his shoulders, hoping already that he would just finish and be done. It was starting to feel pleasant, but not good enough to overwhelm the dissatisfaction she felt for the whole experience.
Then, just as the first true spike of pleasure happened, long before any orgasm, just enough to get her really aroused, he groaned and grunted, spilling himself into her, body rigid.
"Fuck, I needed that," he groaned, then stepped back, "Thanks, lady."
Adisa cocked one eyebrow up, looking down at him, face blank. "That was the most singularly un-satisfying sexual experience of my entire life. And you came inside me without asking."
Then her fist came up, connecting with lightning speed against the man's jaw.
He fell to the floor, hand already on it, looking scandalized, "What the fuck, lady? I thought I made it clear I wanted to fuck, not have some lovey-dovey making love fest or something!"
Adisa bent down for her clothing, picking both top pieces up with one hand and pulling up her shorts with the other. "You didn't, but even a 'fuck' can be pleasant for both parties, you imbecile. Machop- make sure he stays down. If his Pokémon put up a fight, beat them all."
"Chop," her companion said, grinning almost cruelly as it cracked its knuckles, seeming perfectly capable of judging her displeasure by the tone of her voice alone. It stepped forward between the man's legs and lifted a fist over his groin.
"Wh- What the fuck, lady?! Call him off!"
She dressed quickly, deliberately, only pausing to step into the bathroom and use his toilet paper to wipe away as much of the evidence as she could before pulling up her pants. Then she stepped out into the room again and hurled the three tissues at the man, who was still prone on the floor, before stepping over to him, too. "If I see you again, we're fighting."
"S- Sure, lady," the man, still pretending bravado despite Machop's threatening, ball-crushing position, "I'll beat you then!"
"Come on, Machop."
Her room was just four doors down, which left her no time at all to process.
Her faithful Starter had no idea why she cried for five hours that night, nor did it understand why she hadn't just given it the order he knew she wanted to. It would have been so easy for him to smash the man into the floor, to hurt him for hurting her.
Even if he didn't understand how mating could possibly hurt, it was clear his master was in pain, and Machop didn't like that feeling at all.
Alex woke the next morning to the sounds of Elle in the tent a few feet away moaning repeatedly, just as he'd tried so hard to sleep to the night before, and the lewdness of her increasingly loud cries combined with his normal morning condition to have the young Trainer truly happy, for the first time, to have Gobbler nearby.
It had taken root just outside his tent, and he didn't have to do more than reach out and tug it free from the ground before the creature's mouth was moving, the soft, spongy 'lips' smacking as it sought out another meal. This time, he held it in both hands like a 'stress-relief toy' as it slipped over him, the cool temperature of the night outside quickly warming as his hot flesh combined with whatever remnants of his own sticky fluid from the night before and its softer, more lubricant-like 'saliva' erased almost all friction.
"F- fuuck," he heard Elle gasp from nearby, "don't- don't stop! So damned gooooood!"
He allowed himself, just for a few moments, to imagine the blonde girl, slender and beautiful, writhing beneath him as he plunged her depths with the same vigor he now slammed into her Pokémon with, crying out with the same ecstasy, eagerly reaching up for his chest, throwing her head back as she climaxed...
His dick throbbed just as Gobbler closed her mouth around him completely, suddenly sucking and tugging at him harder than ever before. The sudden increase in pressure triggered his climax extraordinarily quickly, and Alex grunted as he unleashed another load into the Grass-type's eager depths, still stroking himself into and out of it even while its own actions massaged and stimulated him in a way that even a truly great lover might not be able to match. His body actually hunched over it, brown eyes wide in surprise as he found his release.
When he was able, Gobbler again pulled off of him, her lips moving and massaging along his whole length to pull whatever fluid she could from it and retain it herself, then wobbled, heavy now with his seed, back out into the forest, while Alex fell backward, kneeling but catching himself on his palms while his dick slowly wilted, utterly spent. "Holy... holy fuck... wow..."
A few moments later, he was frustrated again and starting to swell once more as Elle cried out, louder now, "Cum- Cumming! Oh my- oh m- nnnnnngghhhaaaaaah!"
With a grimace, Alex wiped off the last remnants of his seed and began pulling clean clothes from his pack.
He had breakfast nearly finished when a very satisfied, very disheveled young woman stepped from the other tent, sheepishly rubbing drool from the edge of her mouth even as she staggered on wobbly knees toward the fire and plopped down on the log they had shared the previous night.
"Have fun?"
Elle let out a sort of low, slow, almost hysterical giggle, "I... fuckin' did, Alex. I mean... I hope you didn't mind. But six times before I passed out, and three more this morning? Lingus is amazing."
He frowned, but nodded. Maybe it had been the eroticism of not just watching but helping Elle get off with it in the cave after the storm, but he'd very much enjoyed his Lickitung's oral attention himself. How could he begrudge her...? And it wasn't like she was shy about her willingness for him to enjoy her Pokémon, either. Still...
"It's not like the real thing," he muttered quietly, prodding at the ashes a bit with a stick, then pulling on his hot-glove to remove the breakfast stew from the fire. "It's good, but..."
"It's kinky," Elle giggled again, giving him a soft, playful shove on the shoulder with her own smaller one, "I mean, I never would've thought of... not beastiality, but I guess Pokéality, maybe, or at least zoophilia, as a kink of mine, but I gotta admit... she makes me orgasm harder than my hands or toys ever did back home."
Alex grunted, but even as he did, a new memory surfaced, one made just that morning, not even a half-hour earlier: how good it had felt, this time, when Gobbler had gotten him off. Hadn't he thought, just then, that even Nadine Lovegood might nod be that good?
Fuck it. If she wants to have Lingus get her off every night, I don't care. It's not like I minded- I was just jealous I wasn't helping. Damn it... I shouldn't be thinking this way. She's still a kid, no matter what she says and thinks.
Alex tried to put the matter from his mind. He really did.
After he finished dishing each of their meals into their respective dishes, Elle leaned onto his arm a bit, and both started eating. Her own meal was half gone, his almost completely so, when she set her fork down in the dish and reached a hand down to pat his swollen dick through his shorts, "Aww... sorry, man, but a deal's a deal. Your prize for Viridian is me sucking you off- and mine is you licking me off. Sex from Pewter. Until then, enjoy Gobbler. Or Lingus, I can be patient."
Alex groaned, but didn't say anything else until they'd both finished eating and cleaned up the camp in preparation for leaving it for the day while they hiked and explored the forest.
"I think I'll leave Gobbler here," Elle said as she hitched her half-full pack onto her shoulders. The Pokémon was still rooted deeply into the ground between their tents, its heavy bulb squirming and wriggling as it worked to digest his second deposit, "I think... Hey, Gobbler, can you watch the camp for us? Make sure no one else tries to steal our things, and that other Pokémon don't try to steal our food?"
Slowly, the mouth opened once more, and in a strange sort of burbling noise, it cried, "Purbloup?"
"Was... was that a yes?"
The mouth moved once more, "Blurp?"
"I think it said yes," Alex told her, frowning down himself as he looked over his own belt, "I think I'm going to leave a few of mine, too. Hm... My Hoppip and Sunkern. In fact, why don't I leave everyone not in my battle team? It's not like anyone can steal them if they're registered to a Pokéball, they come right back as soon as a ball is opened and closed, right?"
"I think so," Elle said, now frowning down at her own extra balls, "That's a good idea. I'm gonna keep my Pidgey but leave those other Grass-types, too. And my Bugs- yours should be enough for any ropes if we need to make one, right?"
He glanced down at the spheres that held his Caterpie and Weedle in turn, and nodded. "Okay... so I'll just keep Co- Nidoran, and Lingus, Spike, and my Sappy."
"Okay," Elle nodded, "I'll take Loki of course, and Gobbler, and my Ledyba and Pidgey. What should I name those? I think... Wasn't... Hera Zeus' wife?"
Alex nodded thoughtfully as he hitched up his own pack, "I think so."
"Okay, so I'll call her that. And my Pidgey... wings of victory. Athena, right?"
This time, he shook his head, "No, I remember this from the shoes- Nikes. The 'swoosh' was supposed to be the Wing of Victory, but that was Nike's symbol."
"Really? Huh, okay... Nike it is. I like it."
They went west, deeper into the heavy forest, far beyond where the undergrowth gave out and the canopy of the mixed woodlands rose high overhead, thick enough to block almost all direct sunlight so that only uneven beams dappled the forest floor on occasion.
Sometimes, the pair spotted a few more normal-looking insects or birds, and even one seemingly regular deer that had bolted away a moment before they had both seen it, but the vast majority of the creatures they saw were Pokémon.
Most were some they had seen or even caught before. Caterpie, Weedle, Pidgey (allowing Alex to catch his own for his Pokédex, but not one he wanted to use), as well as a pair of strange, bagworm-like Pokémon that resembled pine-cones named, appropriately enough, Pineco. There was also a trio, one of whom was accidentally killed by Lingus as she stepped on it, of the squirrel-like Sentret, one of which Elle nuzzled for several minutes before it relieved itself on her shoulder.
After that, while Alex laughed, it was quickly consigned to its Pokéball.
By mid morning, they had started following a stream that had other tributaries joining in downhill. That, in turn, led the Trainers to a broad clearing that itself housed a small lake or large pond, nearly a quarter of a mile across on either side, irregular but mostly bean-shaped, with a narrow, gravelly beach.
"Sunlight," Elle sighed, stretching her hands upward as her fists curled, looking up at the bright blue sky, "I missed you!"
Alex laughed, "It's only been a few hours."
"Yeah, but I like sunny days- don't you?"
He shrugged, slipping his back from his shoulders as he glanced upward himself, "I suppose, but I've been working long enough I'm used to being inside all day anyway. Let's have lunch, then we can keep hiking."
"Nah, let's stay around here," Elle argued, pointing out toward the water, where a fish or maybe Pokémon had leaped out briefly, returning to the water with a splash a few hundred feet from the shore, "I bet there's some Pokémon around here we wouldn't be able to get otherwise- Water-types."
"Good point," Alex agreed quickly, and bent to retrieve one of the packaged, chemically-heated meals he'd bought for his own travel food, while Elle, in turn, reached inside his pack after him and picked one up herself, smirking at his frown as she read the instructions.
"Ooh, pasta."
"That was mine."
"Was," she agreed, tearing it open and preparing the ingredients as ordered, "Besides, you know I'll pay you back, or let you have some of mine. I'm not interested in driving you off by being a mooch. Didn't I just pay for our last Potions, anyway?"
Again, Alex found himself unable to argue. True, he felt like he'd spent most of his funds supporting both of their journeys, but Elle had been paying for things, so it wasn't that big a deal. It was just... they hadn't fought many trainers, and funds were growing low. None, in fact, he was just scraping by on what he'd started with.
Still, a few hours later, he stepped out into the water with his shoes and socks removed, and a dry pair of boxers, shorts, and t-shirt ready for when he stepped out of the lake once more. A few hundred feet away, beyond the spit created by the river as it entered the lake, Elle was clad in her new swimsuit, the top of her head just visible as she came closer.
Something brushed against his leg, but distracted as he was by the anticipation of seeing the swimwear on his companion's slim form, Alex missed seeing more than just a fin as the Pokémon slipped away into deeper waters.
Another, too, as he took a few more steps.
Then she cleared a bush, and he groaned.
It wasn't as revealing as it might have been, it was no string bikini, but Alex knew at once the girl was still trying to torture him.
It was a one-piece, brilliant sky blue, with a cross of fabric that rose from Elle's narrow waist to angle over each modest breast and then around her neck and back down, and he could already tell the back would be bare, as was most of her front, based on how the cloth moved down around her hips and joined together to meet above her ass, circling between her legs once more to split well below her navel and end in two golden rings that connected the thicker and thinner parts over each hip-bone.
"You like?" Elle said with a grin, spinning slowly with her hands raised and elevated from her body.
"Too much," Alex groaned, forcing himself not to stare too hard, even though the girl was clearly daring him to.
"I think that's a compliment," she laughed, stepping past him in the other direction to wade out about a hundred feet past him herself, if not quite as far. "Pick your jaw up, Alex. It's just a bathing suit- you've seen more of me."
"Doesn't make it easier to see this," he muttered quietly, and tore his gaze away forcefully. Damn temptress... There better be some good Pokémon that can put up a fight in here to let me work off some of this tension.
Elle, though, was the first to see one. "There, Loki! Use Hypnosis!"
Alex froze as he watched the air over her shoulder shimmer even in the distance, and a blur of energy flowed outward into the water, which did not seem disturbed by its passage.
"Yes! Okay, uh- use Lick, that's not too strong. Yeah, yeah, Lick again! Again, buddy! Okay..."
He watched with glee as, with no apparent effort aside from calling out a few commands, her invisible Pokémon weakened whatever one she'd spotted again and again, then, "One more time- it just woke up! Hypnosis!"
He saw just a glimpse of a tail as the beam hit it again, then a flash of blue light as the Pokémon was reduced to data.
A few seconds later, Elle's clear voice rang over the lake again, "Got it! I got it! Yeah! Okay... Horsea? It's literally a sea-horse, Alex! Awesome!"
He grinned, waving a hand over his head, "Good job! Now shush, you'll scare all the Pokémon away!"
But it seemed that, this deep in the forest, the creatures had little contact with humans. Some darted away at their calls, but they came back quickly. In short order after that, he'd caught another little fish of his own, a lamprey-like bottom-feeder called Remoraid, and a spiked Water-Poison type (and what was it with all their Poison types, anyway?) called Qwilfish.
Then he heard Elle yelp, "Ow! I think one bit me!"
They had both been lured further into the water by their repeated successes, and even though many of the Pokémon they had found were some they already had, it was worth battling against them to continue to train up his team.
Until, just over her waist, Elle suddenly dropped into the water with a scream and splash.
"Elle? Elle? Elle!"
Suddenly, Alex was numb.
He knew he was driving through the water, just under his own waist, toward her. He felt the droplets hitting his face and torso, heard the splashes as he half-ran, half-swam forward.
But he was on autopilot, and every sensation was dulled. Every noise, muted.
The only thing he really felt was fear.
Then her head broke the surface, water cascading from her blonde hair as she gasped, "Al- Alex! Help! I can't- I ca-"
She went below the surface again, and this time, he knew she'd swallowed water.
But he was only a few feet away now, and he lunged forward, throwing himself into the shallow lake to get a better look at her attacker.
But there was no seaweed, no tentacled horror...
There was only a single Pokéball, already bobbing to the surface, its light still red as it struggled to catch the viciously fighting, probably still-healthy Pokémon inside it.
But Elle was still sinking slowly as he closed the last few feet, her legs folding beneath her, apparently unable to support her weight.
Then he was there, and his arms scooped beneath her at the neck and knees.
It wasn't hard to pick up the girl, but it was a bit harder to fight his way, feet suddenly aching on the uneven rock and moss and weeds of the lakebed, as he ran for the shore and their packs.
At least I brought the first-aid kits. Shit...
The moment he was near shore, he rolled the girl over in his arms, and still walking as quickly as he could, held her at the waist to let the water drain from her lungs. Maybe not the best course of action, but certainly an effective one, as she started to cough weakly even while at least a half pint of mucus-filled fluid sprayed across one of his legs and into the water below with the first convulsion.
But as he set her down, Alex realized she was actually convulsing. The girl's entire body was shaking and trembling, if faintly. She was not cold. "She's burning up," he gasped, while stretching her out on the grass at the edge of the beach and reaching for his larger pack, "This... it's gotta be something else. Allergies, maybe? I... shit, shit, Alex... where's the wound? There's gotta be a wound."
But he couldn't find one in his first glance, or his second, and even rolling her over didn't reveal anything, though it did provoke another gush of water from Elle's lungs, leaving her breathing a bit more regular as he pulled his hands away.
Then he saw it, finally- just underneath the outside of her right ankle.
A tiny little red speck- blood.
And around it, a pale spot that was pushing other blood out.
Toxin. Poison. Shit... but... we have poison-types, so we carry antidotes! Yes, I can- I can use that!
He'd already checked, after all, and knew that the same medicines that worked on Pokémon for first aid would work on their bodies.
Their... avatars. Shit... what are you worried about, Alex? It's a game. Sure it might hurt, but she's fine.
Still, he couldn't help but inject the yellowish serum directly into the flesh, just under the surface, though the increased pressure in the area made the unconscious young woman squirm and moan, her leg reflexively moving.
But he'd been ready for that, and had a hand on her to keep it steady while pushing the plunger down.
An hour passed, then two.
Only as her breathing began to even out did he put the supplies away, but the sun was going down when her eyes fluttered open at last.
"Thank god," he muttered, flopping back onto the muddy grass he'd been sitting on for hours. "Thought you were a goner."
"What... happened?" he heard Elle mumble, her voice not just soft but slurred slightly, "I can't feel my leg."
"You got stung, I think by a Qwilfish. I used an Antidote, though, you should be alright, I hope. Give it a bit longer, it's not working very fast."
"It's like it's real, not a game," she groaned, forcing herself upright even as he raised a hand to protest.
But she stayed seated, only rubbed her still-bare thigh, "It's numb, but tingly, like it's asleep. I hate that feeling."
"I do, too," he said quietly, "I was worried."
Elle nodded, reached a single hand out to pick up one of his and give it a squeeze, "Aww, my hero was worried? Did you come to save me?"
He nodded, but didn't say anything.
"That's sweet."
Her words were still slightly slurred, but it was clear the poison was leaving her system or being neutralized, as every breath came a little easier, and within a few more minutes, the girl was wiggling her little, cute toes quickly. "Okay... so... back to the camp?"
"Can you walk?"
"I think so," she nodded, but still held up her hands for him to help her stand.
She was already wobbling before his arm flew around her waist, which was now quite dry but very warm. Elle giggled, but didn't protest. In fact, she smiled and put her own smaller hand around his, too. "I might need some help for a bit. What will we do with our packs?"
Alex sighed, "I guess I can take both."
Elle stood, shaking a bit but stable enough, as he slipped on his pack once more and put hers over one arm, then offered his other for her to hold.
Slowly, one careful, limping step at a time, they made their way back to camp.
The trip this time took much longer, though Elle had started walking on her own (if nothing else, proving to Alex that she hadn't been faking her unsteadiness, or not just faking it, to milk attention) a couple hours after sunset. The reasons were two: said injury slowing her progress even as he kept a hand on her arm to give her something to brace on when her ankle or knee still intermittently gave out, and because they were running into more Pokémon than they had on their initial trip.
Night, in the Viridian Forest, seemed to be when most of the Pokémon came out.
There were still Weedle, Caterpie, and their cocoon-like evolutions by the dozens, most of which Alex cleared out of their path by sending Lingus and Sappy, his Oddish, ahead with Loki working as support. Lingus might have been doing most of the heavy lifting, but Sappy had started to hang back for a while, her little bulbous body swelling in size until it was nearly twice its original, nine-inch ovoid. Then the roots that she shot out, as well as the little flecks of green light that she pulled from the Pokémon that blocked their path, had grown large enough that even as the Bug-types sharp teeth and pincers cut great wounds into her, she still plowed forward determinedly, the wounds filling with sap- hence her new nickname- and then closing within a few minutes, usually before the next two or three Bugs showed their chitinous faces.
There were a few, though, that gave them both pause.
"Ick, I hate spiders," Elle shuddered, immediately drawing back behind Alex even though the green, spiked body that resembled a cat-faced spider from 'home', though it was far larger, skittered across a newly-spun web between two pines.
Alex grinned, gesturing for Cock, Lingus, and Sappy to step back and let Spike out of his ball. "I don't think it's a spider- six legs. Close enough though, I get it. And that's clearly a trapping web. Uh... Spike, use Bite on that Pokémon!"
He'd found it was much more effective to point his rambunctious, even violent Rock-type in a direction and let it loose rather than try to verbalize targets. It wasn't that it was stupid, but Alex thought there might be a communication barrier in play that kept it from understanding things like names of Pokémon, or people. At least it's learned 'no', though. Trying to keep it out of our food the last couple days was tough.
The Larvitar lumbered forward, looked up into the trees, and turned its head back to its owner with a clear frown and one-eyed look of incredulity.
Alex sighed as it pointed up with one paw, "You're right... okay, open with Sandstorm, then. Maybe it can knock it- shit, not yet!"
He'd been amazed, as had Elle, the first time he had ordered the attack. How could such a small creature generate that much wind and flying earth?
If anything, though, the storm it conjured this time was even more powerful, and hurled Elle's body against him as it started to rage. Sappy had to dig her roots deep into the forest loam even as all around them, pebbles, sand, and loose detritus rose mystically into the air and began to swirl in chaotic, random fashions at high velocity, guided by whipping winds.
Lingus and Cock had to hunker down, but seemed mostly unaffected once they had. Loki, the only Pokémon Elle had been using for a while now, vanished from the fight, blown away by the sudden wild air currents. "Call Loki back," he advised, having to suddenly shout to be heard, even though Elle's head was right below his, her back against his chest.
She nodded, one arm shielding her eyes and face, and fumbled for the rarely-used Pokéball on her belt.
Taking his own advice, Alex quickly called back his Lickitung and Nidoran, but left Sappy out. The Oddish was still swollen from repeated uses of her Growth ability, and he figured that, even if she was tired, she could help finish off the spider and heal whatever wounds the storm might inflict.
Only it didn't work out quite as well for Spike.
The spider did, indeed, fall from the web within a few seconds as several pebbles and small stones battered its shell, but somehow, it landed atop the Larvitar's back. At once, familiar green balls of light, barely visible in the blowing earth, began to flow, and not in a way he approved of. "Shit, it knows Absorb, too. Not good! Spike, shake it off! Use- use Bite!"
Even though the earth and rocks continued to smash against the shell of the Bug-type and bounce harmlessly from the Larvitar's even harder carapace, Alex could tell this would be a losing battle despite the type advantage the Larvitar should have had against a Bug. The Grass-type attack would be exceptionally effective against the Rock-Ground Larvitar, and more than make up for any-
Yes, it's healing faster than the sandstorm is hurting it. Shit... What can I do...?
"Use Sappy," Elle shouted, pointing at the little bulb that seemed even larger still, though not by much, which was now struggling to move its bulk, almost eighteen inches tall, past the wind toward the struggling Pokémon.
Finally, somehow, Spike's little right paw closed around the other Pokémon's foreleg and yanked, sending it down, around the Rock-type's body to the ground on its back.
The green spheres didn't let up, and even as Spike opened its own jaws to deliver a powerful bite attack, smaller insects flew from inside the enemy's shell, fighting against the wind to slither into the softer spots of Spike's body, unprotected by his hard shell.
His Pokémon roared as they started gnawing at its eyes, beneath its arms, and between its legs, a few even crawling into its mouth and starting to work there, though he imagined most were finished off as the jaws clamped around two of his opponent's legs, snapping one off completely below the elbow, and cracking another so that it lay at an odd angle, then was separated too as the Pokémon jerked free somehow, sending it back onto its remaining four feet.
Four dark red eyes, faceted, glistened furiously, and the pedipalps opened wide-
But the strike never landed.
Alex exhaled in relief as the glowing spheres of an Absorb attack rose not from the spider, which might have finished Spike off, but the opponent, and flew into his again-wounded Oddish.
"Good job, Sappy! Hold on, you two- I'm gonna try a ball."
His Larvitar seemed more than reluctant to obey, but its own gnashing teeth made the suddenly much weaker Pokémon begin to cower and retreat slowly, awkwardly, on its four remaining limbs as Alex reached for another empty ball, and aimed carefully around Elle, who he still braced, though the wind was starting to fade.
Of course, that ball went wide, and was lost in the forest several hundred feet away.
Forgot to compensate for the wind, damn it... now I've only got ten balls left.
The sandstorm continued to weaken as Spike began to relax, its dominance clearly established in its own mind at least, and the other Pokémon, now trapped between two foes it knew it could not defeat, almost seemed to give up as the ball opened. There was almost no struggle, only a single weak shake, before it beeped, and the last of the winds died down.
Even while the remaining particles of earth and decayed vegetable matter cascaded downward, Elle shuddered, brushing the darkened right half of her body off before she stood on her own, "Damn it... and we'd just spent a day in the lake, now I'm all dirty again!"
"Sorry," Alex laughed, shaking his own hair out from a few feet away, then stepping around her to gather up his new Pokéball and give both Spike and Sappy a pet for their good work. "Nice job, you guys. I'm impressed by the teamwork."
Elle was the only Trainer who saw the two Pokémon, normally at odds, give each other begrudging nods of respect, though she was too distracted to say anything about it. She hated being dirty, and this...
"I hate Sandstorm."
Later, at the campsite, Alex had escorted the girl down to the stream and pointedly turned away while she cleaned herself again, then helped Elle back up to work on dinner while he did the same on his own.
That night, both exhausted, they slept under the stars, no tents needed, with their Pokémon curled around them for warmth.
Both thought they slept well and peacefully, that the remainder of the night, once the pair had finally crawled into their sleeping bags, was quiet.
It was not.
Cock lifted one eyelid blearily. There was the noise again. It had been bothering him for some time, and it was starting to get truly annoying. The sound was almost soothing, a soft rustle in perfect rhythm, but it was accompanied by a more staccato tapping, a jarring sound that was now keeping him from sleeping peacefully beside his mate and master.
And that just wouldn't do.
The Nidoran lifted its left ear just a little, the extremely sensitive organ quickly pinpointing not just the source of the noise, but what it was, too.
The rustle was feathers shifting against each other.
The tapping, bone or beak or claw against the strange, hard material his master kept his food in. Plasteak, he thought it was called, though the abnormal wood seemed to come in a variety of colors. But he didn't really care about that. He wanted to sleep, to mate, and to keep the other Pokémon from stealing his master's food, not necessarily in that order.
Still... he'd seen and heard that kind of rhythm before. He knew he could chase such a Pokémon away, but... A thought occurred to him.
A single claw extended, agonizingly slowly, from his right paw, and prodded his mate at the edge of her mouth, then slipped inside and started to tug at the edge.
His mate stirred, then rolled over onto her side. A human might have heard, "Uung?"
He heard something different, "Mate time? Okay."
Cock, though he was ready and willing, mostly used the circumstance of crawling up his much larger mate's body to say very quietly, "Ni.. nido, ora, ni-ran..."
In other words, "We've got a Hoothoot trying to get into Master's food. I'm going to attack it, but I want you to wrap it up and hold it down. We can mate later, after the humans wake up."
Lingus blinked lazily, and let her long tongue loll out onto the ground while he slipped back down her body, using his mate to hide his own actions, while he planned how best to go about it.
It was unlikely the owl-like Pokémon could actually get to the food, but he wanted to help his master catch it, or help his master's mate at least. They seemed to like catching Pokémon, and increasing the size of their family was fun, even if the new Larvitar was a bit of a jerk, and seemed to think it should be the alpha.
A small part of himself knew that, if it came to it, Cock would have a hard time defeating Spike in a straight-up fight. But then again, Cock didn't consider himself the alpha, either.
No... that was his master.
His master who was kind to Pokémon, and seemed to love them all, even the ones he rarely used in combat.
Like Caterpie and Weedle, and the more freshly-caught Spinarak.
Hm... they would be at a disadvantage alone, but together I think they can help out a lot. Yes... I should wake them up, too.
He continued to creep slowly around the pile of Pokémon that used the largest among them, his mate, as a heat source, gently prodding the sleeping Caterpie and mostly wakeful Weedle, then dragging them gently by their tails around Lingus' body to tell them the plan quietly, too, and asked them to let loose the Spinarak and explain to their new companion his role as well.
Sappy, he decided quickly, had earned her rest. The little Oddish had returned to her normal size, for the most part, but she'd grown a bit larger over the last two or three days of eating well on the nutrients of other Grass- and Bug-Type Pokémon. It would not be long, he thought, before she evolved.
Like master's mate's Bellsprout, she is getting bigger. But Bellsprout is not going to evolve soon. Should I ask master's mate's Pokémon for help...?
Cock decided against it after a quick, tentative glance around his mate's tail. The Hoothoot was not watching them closely, but it was facing in the direction of the other cluster of Pokémon, and would be spooked if he tried.
Though it's annoying that Gastly doesn't care about master's food- it's laughing! Jerk...
A few seconds later, all three Bug-Types had given their own little affirmations to Cock, and he nodded, then turned his small body toward the Hoothoot, stepping carefully around Lingus' tongue, creeping as closely as he could before the other Pokémon spotted him.
He made it close enough, just about three body-lengths of seven total, before the Hoothoot froze for a brief moment, then the head almost creepily turned to look at him with bright, shining red eyes. Cock burst into motion, dashing forward and throwing himself bodily at the owl-like creature, horn-first.
It let out a surprised "Hoo!" and tried to flap its stubby wings, barely enough to keep it from falling at deadly speeds, and tried to switch feet in preparation for an attack.
But this was not a match battle, and there was no need to play fair.
His horn struck it once, twice, three times, as quickly as he could move his neck, almost like a bird pecking at the ground.
A moment later, he felt the warm, slithery wet embrace of his mate's tongue, large enough to cover his whole body and most of the Hoothoot's, swirl around him. Reflexively, he tucked as many spines inward as he could- he didn't want to hurt her, and knew the organ was extremely sensitive.
The Hoothoot struggled, but the Wrap was effective enough to keep it from escaping for the moment as he began to kick free of the grip.
Lingus, displaying exceptional control over her most useful limb, loosened his side while maintaining a good grip on their captor, and he slipped free to plop back to the ground.
Then he watched, amused almost, as the suddenly terrified Hoothoot screeched louder still. It hurt his ears a great deal, but Lingus had his back. She, without prompt, smashed the Hoothoot into a tree, then hammered him down against the earth, right between the trio of waiting Bugs.
The moment her tongue started to withdraw, Cock laughed again despite his now splitting head. The Hoothoot might have been able to put up a fight against even two of the Bugs, but with the injuries he and Lingus had given it- one of which might have broken a wing- it stood little chance.
He watched as it tried, first, to decide to flee or fight, then which way to go.
In that time, fine filaments had been racing out from the jaws of all three bugs, and they began to fall.
String Shot might not have been useful with just a few threads, the strands were tough but small, and the adhesive weak.
But three at once would be hard for a Tauros to break through before the sticky threads set.
"Again," he called, "Cover it completely, just let it breathe."
His friends nodded, Caterpie giving a little wriggle of satisfaction as one of its most deadly predators fell to their attack.
Within a minute, the Hoothoot had given up, and was now laying limp in the dome of threads that most resembled a large Scatterbug's nest, only enough room for its short beak to stick out free of the shell.
"Good job, everyone," he said with a toothy grin, "Now, mate, let's have some fun, okay? You guys go back to sleep."
"I wanna play," Weedle protested, but did as he said when the larger Pokémon gave him a glare. It was true, of course, that he was not their parent, but among themselves, the group had definitely taken up roles of their own.
He, the father, and Lingus, the caring, but stern mother. Caterpie and Weedle were still children, too young to even have the desire to mate. And it was true that he was young, too, but he felt himself a mature Nidoran. At least, more mature than the truly child-like Bugs.
Spinarak, though, had not established its position. But he knew it was nocturnal, so Cock was not surprised when it protested, too. "I need to eat."
"Well... it may not be Pokémon or insects," Cock decided out loud, "But I do think you'd enjoy some Poison Pellets. I think Lickitung and I can get in there... and it'll make Hoothoot more jealous."
It didn't even take his mate's help. Cock was able to use his sharp horn to push the little pad inside the small hole and one paw to move the clasp that unlocked, then pulled his head back to lift the lid.
And there was a treasure-trove of food in there.
Poison Pellets by the tin, twelve of them, enough for all the Poison-types in the larger group to have three full meals! And some of master's food, too!
"Maybe, mate of mine, the mating can wait...?"
Lickitung grinned and rolled upright, her long tongue snaking out to waft over the cooler. "I think you might be right, mate of mine."
Elle woke to a groan of frustration, and sat up quickly, rubbing sleep crusties from her eyes shamelessly, "What happened?"
But a quick glance told her all she needed to know as her companion growled, "This! Look at this mess!"
His Pokémon, all but his newly-caught Remoraid, were lazing about, some holding bloated stomachs, some swollen in other ways, around his small cooler. All over the area they covered, shredded wrappings of food and torn-open cans of Poison Pellets lay, adding bright colors and white to the mostly dark browns of the forest floor. "Little shits," she laughed, looking over at each of them. But there were more than that... more than his own Pokémon. "Shit, mine too? Sorry... I wonder which of them had the bright idea?"
"Doesn't matter," Alex grumbled in frustration, running both hands through his unkempt hair, "I'm almost broke, and they ate nearly everything in there. I... damn it! I need to go find some other Trainers to beat up, or something. Shit..."
"Nah," she protested, waving one hand even while she failed to stifle a yawn, "I got money still."
"I can't take your-"
"Bullshit," she laughed, gesturing at her own Weedle, Caterpie, and Bellsprout, "I think my Pokémon ate their share of your food, too. Besides, you've been buying plenty, that's why I still have so much. Let me pay for things for a bit, and I'll rebuild... half your food stores. Until then, just eat what I've got. We'll have to cut our visit short, but we should still be okay for a few days."
"Maybe," he muttered darkly, glaring down at the Pokémon, only two of whom looked remotely awake, "Or maybe I'll just cut up and eat you, Lingus."
The Lickitung groaned and rolled her bulk over, nearly smashing Elle's Weedle in the process, but it scuttled out of the way just in time.
It was only then that she noticed...
There was more of a difference here than just an open cooler.
"Wait... you don't have a Weedle or a Caterpie in that pile. You have... what are those?" She pressed buttons in the ever-present screen after opening it quickly, then looked through the scanner. "Kakuna instead of Weedle, and Metapod instead of Caterpie. Hey, your first evolutions- and you weren't even awake."
"Damn it," Alex groaned again, "I mean, I don't mind- I was going to evolve both eventually for the Pokédex at least- but I wanted to see it. Bastards... wait, how did they evolve? We haven't fought anything."
Elle shrugged, then reached down to unzip her bag and throw it off, "Dunno. Maybe they only evolve overnight after reaching whatever they need to, in 'level' or whatever?"
"Maybe... or maybe that's it."
She followed his pointing finger to the dome of white, slightly taller than it was wide, that wriggled occasionally, near where she'd been sleeping but on the far side from Alex.
"Nido- doran."
"I... okay, I have no idea what you said, buddy."
Cock lazily shook its quills, then pushed itself laboriously to its feet, the swollen belly of the little Pokémon dragging on the ground as it lumbered toward his pack, then pulled out a Pokéball, put it in its mouth, then dropped it at Alex's feet.
"You... want me to catch it?"
Cock sat back on its haunches, almost rat-like, and gave a definite nod. "Ni."
"Even I understood that one," Elle said with a laugh, "I wonder what it is?"
Her flashlight beat him there, and the girl grinned, "It's an owl! It's so cute! Let me catch it, please! Please, please, please!"
Alex frowned, then shrugged, "Fine... I guess."
"Sweet, thank you," Elle cried, then threw herself into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist before giving him a searing, if brief, kiss. He was motionless when she dropped back to the ground and dashed for her own pack again. It hadn't been their first kiss, but he was still surprised by her exuberance, and the ease with which Elle displayed physical affection.
He had barely mustered raising a hand to touch his own rather dry lips in surprise when she cheered again, another Pokémon added to her collection. "Athena did have an owl for her symbol, I remember that, so you're gonna be Athena, oh wise one!"
Alex shook his head as he started gathering up the trash. Clearly, her leg was feeling better, but Elle would be no help just yet as she held the spherical, fat owl-like Pokémon to her cheek with a very happy grin.
Elle could not believe her luck. She'd always liked Flying-Types, preferring indirect attack methods, but in the real world, the mythical, long-extinct owls had been her favorite birds. Having a chance to catch a Pokémon that was like those creatures was...
Amazing, she decided, that's the only word for it.
Don't forget to check out my Pa Tree On (/KajaWilder; NSFW filter off!), and my Discord! / discord . gg / DcwWWDYA If the link has expired, wait a day (at most) for the next chapter, or skip to the latest and scroll to the bottom for it (they expire after 7 days). :)