As a reminder, you can find MORE of this on my SubStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted up past chapter 60 there... And if you guys haven't seen an update in at least a week, please let me know! I have a busy life, and I get distracted and forget things. This story (and PTaL) are supposed to be updated WEEKLY from now until they're both caught up with each other (like I was doing with FwB until this weekend).
And if you're just interested in discussing things with other readers, of course, you can go to my DISCORD here: h- t_ t_ p-s -: -/ -/ -discord . g-g / N9yDA8t6Cw (taking out hyphens, underscores, and spaces of course).
Chap. 35: (B)Rigid Ruleset
As was quickly becoming tradition, the pair took a rickshaw through the crowded downtown area of Pewter City from the central hotel to The Steelworks Pokémon Gym. Unlike the several times they had ridden one in Viridian, or the previous trips in Pewter, on that fine morning after frotting Alex until she had a most delicious orgasm in front of a total stranger- a perverted old man, at that- Elle and her lover were pulled by an actual Rock-type. A Rhyhorn, to be more precise.
It was a Pokémon she had actually fantasized about before, one of the original classics. The ridges up top for pleasure while actually riding it, and the massive dong the things sported even in their youngest evolutionary stage (before the cunt-breaking Rhyperior, which would break a Miltank in half)... well, it was a fantasy. She'd probably never actually dare take one because even the Rhyhorn pulling them around had a dick as long as her whole lower leg, and she doubted it had the control not to kill her with it. It didn't mean she wasn't interested, but maybe just a hand-job or two. And probably not on the one pulling their cart... it looked healthy enough, but was dirty, as if it hadn't been given a bath in several days. Pewter was far less polluted than any Mega-City district she had ever been to in the real world, but it was still... well, a mining and refining town.
Even Poison-type Pokémon could only do so much, and that was not a type you saw a lot of in Pewter anyway.
Still, despite being a relatively slow, plodding mass of rock and muscle, the Rhyhorn got them to the Steelworks fairly quickly. Her pussy was still throbbing and swollen from the friction and pressure Alex had given it such pleasure with that morning, so it couldn't have been too long. But she already wanted more. The wait was becoming unbearable. If he didn't pass, then she just didn't know what she would do.
Maybe she would actually let Kole take her virginity. She didn't know how much longer she was going to last.
But she had faith in Alex. He could do this. He would. Even if the Gym was relatively unknown to them, even if they'd never been in... it couldn't be worse than The Aerie. Alex's style was well-suited to the Gym, too. He would be fine. He had to be. She needed him inside her, damn it.
When she took Alex's offered hand to help her out of the rickshaw (how chivalrous!), Elle was shocked at the size of the Gym once more. Not because it was a towering tree at the top of a huge mountain... but because it seemed so small.
It was hardly the small cottage-sized entrance to The Underground, but The Steelworks was, at most, three stories tall and about as large as the footprint of an average apartment building in Pacific Mega-City, perhaps three hundred feet on one side and one-fifty on the other. Large smokestacks rose from the center, a quartet of them, and at the one currently belching black smoke, she could see a handful of strange, ball-like Pokémon floating around. Eating the toxins, perhaps? Certainly there was less of the smoke after it passed through the group of creatures.
It was still an imposing building, and fit right in with the architecture around itself. Blocky, squared angles with various pipes and vents moving into the ground or out of it filled all but the front side, while a steady line of ore moved in huge cars from the north wall and came out of the south in flat-bed train cars piled high with bars, rods, and beams that in some cases still glowed red-hot. The air was thick with a tangy, acrid odor, but at least her lungs didn't burn like they often did when walking outside in Pacific.
Elle turned to her companion and put her hand in his. He was looking at the building too, but unlike her own jittery nerves- so very much like she had felt before defeating her own first Gym- Alex seemed calm, steady. He often did, that was one of the best things about him, and part of what had drawn her to him in the first place what felt like a lifetime ago.
He was someone you could depend on.
"You got this, stud," she told him.
He jumped a little, apparently lost in his own thoughts. Perhaps thinking about the morning they had. Or the night to come. More likely, though, he was thinking about what was to come in the more immediate future. "I know," he told her with a small smile, then leaned down and kissed her. Not on the lips, or forehead, but her nose.
Elle giggled, and pulled him in for a tight hug. He let her, and his own arms felt so warm and safe and strong around her that she couldn't help but wish she'd had someone like him in her life growing up. A big brother, maybe, or even a young father. Just someone like him, rather than her own drunkard of a sperm donor and porn to teach her about life.
She might be sick, but at least he was a good man. "Go get 'em, tiger. I'll be watching."
"Alright," he said as she pulled back, but kept her smaller hand in his as he started walking forward across a good sized parking lot.
Several cars from the building, she thought, NPC Trainers were scattered around the public section, but an entire two-thirds of the lot was sectioned off for 'employee parking only'. A great many more were there, most of them heavy-duty vehicles like old-fashioned trucks or vans. A few people here and there still moved in and out of the Gym Entrance as they walked across the lot. There was a heavy-duty, side-scrolling door and a chemical wash station just inside that, with a row of lockers on the others side. A long sign proclaimed the Gym's rules, which seemed quite numerous until Elle realized why.
Pewter City Gym: The Steelworks
RULES: Follow them or DIE!
Rule 1: Do NOT step off the marked paths. Machinery moves by quickly and without care for your presence. There are sheer drops. There is literal MOLTEN STEEL. If you are dumb enough to walk into that, your life is forfeit for sheer stupidity.
That rule alone made Elle gulp, but she understood the necessity of it. No doubt, some dumbass got themselves killed, or nearly so, on a daily basis thinking they were good enough to evade... whatever hazards were present. The rest of the rules followed in a similar vein.
Rule 2: If a Staff Member- whether Pokémon or Human- tells you to do something, you DO IT. Or you will die. We have no room for stupidity here. More lives than your own could hang in the balance. You don't hesitate. You don't wait or look around to see what the problem is. You just do it.
Rule 3: Spectators are allowed ONLY in the Spectator Sections. These are denoted by GREEN lines. If you step out of a green area, your death is your own damned fault. Cheering is permitted.
Rule 4: Thrown objects coming from the Spectator Section will result in your entire section being kicked out, and the offending party receiving a permanent ban. We are tired of replacing entire sixty-ton batches of steel because some moron thought he'd throw a flower or shoe or whatever- the-fuck into the stadium, and missed. Don't do it. Period.
Rule 5: Shower. We don't want contaminants in the steel. (See Rule #4)
Rule 6: Wear the protective gear provided in the lockers. If there ISN'T gear in an open locker, tell us. We'll get you some (when there's some available), and prosecute the thief. That shit's expensive. If you DON'T wear the gear, you will get poisoned, and possibly burned to death.
ADDENDUM: Protective gear does not protect against stupidity. All above rules still apply. It ONLY protects against most accidental harm.
Rule 7: Brigid "Rock-Crusher" Stirling does not take autographs while working. STOP ASKING.
ADDENDUM: Or photos. Flashes are annoying. Stop it. We see enough spark as it is.
Rule 8: League Rules Apply. No subs, one item per battle for Challengers. The final Gym Trainer in each room can use one Potion, up to a Hyper Potion per Challenger.
Rule 9: The Gym Leader, Brigid "Rock-Crusher" Stirling, does not appreciate your bullshit. Leave it at the door. Her Gym, her Rules. She is allowed TWO items of her choice per Challenger. You are allowed as much as you think you need, scrub. It's your money. This rule is subject to change. Without notice.
Rule 10: Overseer Stirling will not accept any proposals for a date, phone number, Pokémon Trade, intimate act, social activity, party, get-together, gathering, social club, outing, associate with, escort, follow, guard, guide, hang out with, keep company, lead, shadow, show about, take out, or usher (or any other synonym thereof) any human with less than six Gym Badges. This includes any offer of participating in sexual content with Trainers, their Pokémon, non- Trainers, or any combination thereof.
ADDENDUM: If Ms. Stirling offers, that's an entirely different thing. Don't get your hopes up.
Rule 11: Copies of Brigid "Rock-Crusher" Stirling's erotic videos, audio, writing, and educational products are available in The Steelworks Gift Shop, on the third floor left of the entrance to the Spectator Seating Area. Prices are non-negotiable. Copying said products using any method will result in your immediate assignment to Ms. Stirling's hit-list. That is a place you do not want to be. Just pay for it.
Rule 12: The Hit-List is real. It is a (currently very short) list of four people Brigid "Rock-Crusher" Stirling has marked for death. In the previous year, she has personally slain-
Here, Elle noticed the neatly-printed letters replaced by a flip-card placard with another one further on.
-6 of the 9 people that have made the list. In the last five years, only 1 person has escaped.
So far. He will be dealt with soon.
Rule 13: Ignorance of the Rules is your own damned fault, not ours. Don't blame us if you fail to follow them and are disqualified or die because of it. The Steelworks Gym, Pewter City, and the Indigo League are not responsible for any accidental death or dismemberment, maiming, or other injury that may occur during a challenge at The Steelworks.
Elle finished reading the last two rules with wide eyes and short, rapid breaths. She realized she was sweating, and that her hands were drenched. She looked to Alex, who finished a moment after she did. Then he snorted, "I guess we'll see who listens and who doesn't, then."
Without another word, he turned, leaned down to give her a peck on the lips, then a small smile. "Relax. I'll be fine. I've worked in factory floors before. This can't be that much worse. Pacific didn't exactly have a good record for worker safety, after all."
"But this is-" Elle tried to say.
Alex only kissed her again, and she forgot for a moment what she even wanted to get across as his tongue slid over her lips. Then he was gone, heading for the lockers. Of course he picked the first and uppermost on the left. The safety gear inside was simple-looking, and it made Elle gape as her lover looked them over, then slid the arm-guard onto his right arm. It looked like nothing so much as a black-tinted sports guard, covering the back of his hand and arm in two semi-flexible pieces with straps to go around it.
The other piece was, if anything, worse: safety glasses. That was it, just clear safety glasses made of plastic or some similar material. With a frown himself now, Alex scanned the small instructions taped to the inside of the locker then turned to her again. "Apparently they're activated by heat, so they'll turn on when I step into the floor of the Gym. Uh... wish me luck?"
The simple statement, just three words, told the girl he was far more nervous than he was trying to convey. She couldn't blame him. She got giddy and hyperactive to show her nerves, he apparently hid everything. That was just how he was. Still, she had been asked to do a favor for the man she hoped would be in good enough shape after all this to make her his that night.
She stepped forward several paces, he met her half-way. Another trio of Trainers were chuckling as they came in from the parking lot, but Elle ignored them even as Alex's hands wrapped around her ass and gave it a squeeze, their tongues dancing in plain view. "You don't need luck," she told him softly as they separated. His brown eyes were so full of caring, of happiness, that she knew she'd done what he needed. But she could do more. "You don't need luck, because you're just that good. Knock 'em dead, stud. I'll be waiting for you."
"Right," Alex replied with a firm nod. She saw him glance once at the newcomers, two girls and a boy, maybe a year or two older than herself, then turn for the Challenger entrance, marked by bright hunter-orange lines.
The blast of heat that hit her and the other Trainers the moment the door slid open nearly knocked her to the floor, and it definitely caused a heat-shimmer around it. Fortunately, Alex's hair ruffled along with his clothes, but a light blue shield, translucent but just visible, flickered into existence the moment it did. Without another look, only a moment to make sure he wouldn't cook by doing so, Alex strode into the Gym itself.
"Your guy's brave," the taller of the two girls commented, "Kenny here waited like, five minutes at the door."
"Sh- Shut up!" the man shouted.
Elle laughed along with the two girls. They were cute, all three. Siblings, she thought, or maybe cousins. The girls might even be twins. Not identical, but they looked an awful lot alike, with floofy, dark hair, chocolate skin, and tall, slender bodies. The boy looked just like them in the face, far more feminine than he might have preferred, though she thought it was a good look for him. His skin was a little lighter, more like milk-chocolate, and his own hair hung in long dreads down to his waist that she thought might have been intended to make him look tough.
What it did, in her opinion, was make him look even more like the girls. Not that she was complaining. "Wanna sit with ne?" she asked with a smile, "Alex is his name, I'm Elle. I guarantee he's gonna win."
"I can't," the shorter girl said with a bit of regret, "I'm Challenging, too. But maybe you can cheer me on too?"
"Sure!" Elle agreed.
"I'm Lana," the Challenger introduced herself, "and this is Lilah and Kenny. He's our half-brother."
"Good to meet you," Elle grinned, "Come on, we gotta hurry. Uh, make sure you read the rules, Lana. And don't forget your gear!"
"I was here a week ago," she shook her head as she headed for the lockers, "unless they've changed. But go on, go get seats- and don't forget the drinks, it was way too hot last time!"
Alex felt his pulse hammering as the door opened. Elle was a great source of strength. More than she should have been. Maybe he was just too attached already? He wasn't complaining, though. Not about her. Even before that wonderful morning where they'd all-but had the sex both of them were craving, he knew he was falling for her. Had fallen, and hard. But he hadn't expected the girl, two and a half, or three years younger than him to be so mature about things. He certainly hadn't expected her to tell him exactly what he needed to hear.
But she had. And she was right. He didn't need luck. The people the sign called scrubs, they might need luck. He wasn't a fool, he was a good trainer, a good tactician. His Pokémon were strong. He was strong. Yes, this Brigid "Rock-Crusher" Stirling was probably strong, too. He knew The Sparrowhawk was strong, and Nadine Minier was certainly among, if not the, hardest opponent either of them had ever faced.
But Spar Rowe had lost. And even though they had no idea what they were in for, Alex had almost made it to The Underground's Gym Leader himself. If he hadn't been distracted by Elle's injury, he probably would have. She herself, even hurt, had killed one of the crazy Gym Leader's Pokémon, and seriously injured another to the point where it might well have died, too. That was in a League Battle, where, at least in theory, Yggdrassil, the AI responsible for the game's meta-control, should have kept it from being that grievously damaged.
They had nearly beaten Gym Leaders, or had beaten them, before. He was at least as good as Elle. She'd won.
Even if this Rock-Crusher woman (was it a woman?) was a relatively unknown quantity, he could win. She had to abide by some rules, too. Rules not written on the card. Things they had learned from the differences between Minier and Rowe, if nothing else. Nadine Minier might have been a 'gut check', or a 'gear check' type of opponent, meant to show people they should take things seriously and come prepared... but Rowe had explained to Elle, along with most of his Gym, that people without Badges had an easier time than those without.
In other words, the difficulty was meant to ramp up as your skill and power grew.
He was Badge-less, for the moment, so no one knew how good he was. Maybe not even himself. No one but he and Elle really had any idea how strong his team was, or how prepared they were. Which, in his humble opinion, was about as prepared as one could be without doing actual research on the specific Pokémon Stirling used, or what her battle style was like.
Maybe he should have. But just then, Alex didn't care. He knew he could handle it. And if not, well... there was always tomorrow. Elle would wait. He had faith.
He had even more faith he would win.
Then he noticed the young woman with a familiar set of safety goggles and a bracer to match his own, otherwise dressed in a conservative pantsuit coughing at him pointedly. "Excuse me, Sir? Sir! You really need to come sign in, you can't take the Challenge without filling out the paperwork!"
Red-faced, Alex turned to the desk on his right. "S- Sorry. I was kind of lost in my head for a bit."
The woman, middle-aged but attractive enough, huffed loudly. "It happens. At least you weren't thinking about the Overseer naked... I hope." Her eyes flicked down to his crotch, then back up. "Good. You'd be shocked how many men or women Challenge her daily just to see her in person. Not that most ever get that close."
Alex blinked, confused by her look as much as anything else. "Uh... Why? Is she that... attractive?"
The woman rolled her eyes, "I suppose to some, yes, but that's beside the point. It isn't like her Gym Leader videos aren't out there. You can see exactly what she looks like in high detail, if you pay for it. But the gawkers- often men like yourself- mostly just waste all of our time. This is a functional Steelworks, in addition to being a Gym. Most of us have jobs to do besides sit through one Challenge after another. Overseer Stirling certainly does. At least fewer than one in twenty make it to her, but that's... well, neither here nor there I suppose. Thank you, young man... Mr. Ward. Got it. I've got your team registered, you're wearing your safety gear as instructed... got your supplies and potions... just one thing left, then, and you're good to go in."
"What's that?" he asked, genuinely curious.
The woman reached below her desk, providing a nice view of her cleavage, before bringing up an ice-cold bottle. "Stay hydrated! It's hotter than you can feel in the gauntlet's shield, but you're still going to sweat. And good luck!"
"Er, thanks," Alex muttered, as another door opposite the one he had entered slid open the same way.
He was greeted with a bright orange glow from one side, a dimmer reflection from the other, and a great deal of noise. Banging, clanging, metal on metal screeches or crashes, and, along one side of the first cavernous room, a series of Trainers standing apart from the Steelworks themselves on a raised dais.
He swallowed, stopped to wish Elle was beside him instead of watching from the so-far unseen stands, then stepped inside. The door slammed shut the moment he did, sealing him inside. This... was going to be fun. He hoped.