Warning: Reader Discretion Advised. Pokémon x Human relationships. I do not own Pokemon.

Avery's Pokemon

Evangeline/Eva (Umbreon)
Gender: Female
Nature: Rash

Lady (Kirlia)
Gender: Female
Nature: Modest

Chastity (Buneary)
Gender: Female
Nature: Adamant

Dusty (Furfrou)
Gender: Male
Nature: Hardy

Sprite (Surskit)
Gender: Female
Nature: Quirky

? (Zoroark?)
Gender: Female
Nature: ?

Chapter: Threads That Bind

Maybe it was jealousy. It didn't feel like it, it felt like something far worse. An empty feeling in her stomach, at once dread and looming excitement she couldn't avoid, and didn't want to face. Red eyes like moons in the darkness, all Eva knew was that waking up to these despicable sounds, to this sight… made her forget who she was, and why she was here with him. Lady and Avery were… together. Paws over her muzzle, Eva shrunk back a little, biting back a gasp. It was the middle of the night, and the sexual activity between her mate and pseudo-family member seemed intensely intimate; Eva somehow felt like she'd upset Lady if she interfered. The last thing she wanted to do was upset the Pokemon that she saw as a sibling. And that was confirmed when the kirlia's eyes wandered over, caught hers… Lady's expression changed, even as she began to moan more than before, as if being watched was exciting. A flash of guilt, and then something unfamiliar, a challenge… unspoken words. 'I dare you to make me stop.' Eva couldn't understand it, could never see herself acting that way if she'd been in the psychic-type's position. Of course, the aggressive territoriality was nothing new lately, but it never ceased to be hurtful. Somehow, the umbreon had to steel herself, make some kind of internal emotional pelt to weather the blows of her kirlia sister's callous nature. Easily said, harder when Eva being awake, anxious, made Lady more excited. It was written all over her face.

'She's sick with power.' Eva realized, shocked. 'She has been since Darkrai… the way she looks at Avery… It's like he is an extension of herself… like she's not her own being. She wants to possess him utterly when she's with him. Sharing…? No way, she would never. I'd always thought with the way she kissed me that when the time came it'd be both of us with him but… no. Now I see. If she had her way….' Eva flinched as a memory forced its way relentlessly through her.

Not many days ago at all - she'd almost tasted death upon the cliffs leading across Coronet. Tears streamed down her dark-furred cheeks as she remembered the way her paws had scrabbled at the stony edge, the way her oxygen had rushed out of her frame, eyes widening; death brushed against her as the front part of her body began to free-fall, except she'd managed to brace her back muscles, dig her back claws in, scrabble backwards with all her might and- Lady had been delighted, yet calm, a terrifying contrast. She'd all but forgotten that event, passed it off as a kind of strange, childish act, but now Eva couldn't help but see it how it was. Where had that tiny, dome-headed innocent ralts gone? The one who would've done anything to protect Eva… but had it ever been that way?

In the present, moaning, Lady humped Avery's lips feverishly, dragged her hands down her face and whimpered. Suddenly, Lady began to shake with pleasure. She covered her mouth, and wept, her body clearly overtaken by orgasm. The kirlia had turned all her attention away by now, and pretended Eva didn't exist, wasn't awake, without a word or a hint of disturbance in her little sensual dance. Eva felt like she was made of shadows, like she wasn't even there at all. Couldn't Avery just look over, just for a second? Couldn't he see that she wasn't okay… and yet, she was paralyzed with a weird inability to interfere. She didn't want Lady to hate her. She didn't want to ruin their enjoyment of each other, had no right to be mad considering she'd also pleasured the human boy in the same room as Lady. The union between her other partners was a long time coming, but she couldn't stand this, somehow wasn't prepared for it.

Couldn't stand it yet couldn't look away. The umbreon squirmed, resisted the urge to rub her parts into the bundled-up pile of blankets beneath her, just barely. Underneath her belly she felt a red-hot spike of pleasure, betraying her. The arousal just made it all worse. Lady was sitting on their partner's face, soaking his chin, rocking back and forth on top of him. How could she not melt as she imagined the same sensation on herself? But that was a lie, that wasn't all it was, Eva wanted to go over, wanted to crouch between his legs, take Avery's cock into her mouth and use her tongue all over it while Lady did her own part to pleasure him. But the mere idea of suggesting that to Lady was ridiculous. His dark hair, his hands wrapped firmly around the thin wisp of the kirlia's thin waist, were the only parts of him visible. Her first thought: ' What? When did this happen? She really did it….' -then- 'S-She sounds so happy, I… mmm… A-Avery… why right here while we're all sleeping. Don't you have any kindness? I-?' The umbreon squeezed her crimson eyes shut tightly, doing her best to seal back the sight, but it remained there. Lady's back curled, her knees bent, legs thrown wide as she shook her hips again and again and each time, a wet noise, a bunch of wet noises, the sound of Avery's tongue tasting and exploring, pierced the air. Eva shivered in the darkness, and her eyes flickered over to the only light in the room.

The TV screen stared back at her, white noise gently buzzing at the edge of her mind. Somehow, at some point, she fell asleep. Yet the disturbed feeling lingered, even in her dreams, and it was still when she opened her eyes to the first light of morning.

Lady was afraid she would wake up and the previous night would prove to be a lie or a dream, but when her eyes slid open the undeniable truth of what had occurred faced her; she was cuddling with Master, his bare, tan arm wrapped around her slim waist, pinning the small kirlia against his abdomen. She had finally done it; she had made her desires reality. Last night Master kissed, licked, and worshiped her secret place until she was sure she would overheat, drown under the waves of desire. She had orgasmed before; once with Chastity and on her own a few times with Master's tongue while he was sleeping, and then there was the brush incident… but this was different. This was right, how it was supposed to be. The path toward her chosen future. She burrowed deeper into his arms, sighed happily, never had she felt so safe. She relaxed, stretched her frame and pressed their naked skin together as much as she could, ran her few fingers along his skin; his own flesh was so much hotter than her own, and she nearly moaned as she remembered the heat of his lips on her dripping core. The kirlia whined softly when she realized she was growing slick this very second, a warmth spreading from the inside of her belly downward. Pleasure with the master felt like her body was being torn asunder, in a good way.

Master made her entire body turn into an explosion, a wondrous swirling mess of desire. Her motions had almost become mechanical, running completely without her mind's direction; all she'd known was that she needed more of that tongue, more of those lips, more of his sounds, and the sight of his dark eyes gleaming from between her very pale, lime-green thighs. She'd felt shame when she'd done it alone, worked herself with the brush, even more when she rubbed bits with Chastity, but there was none of that shame with Avery. Lady moaned softly, her belly tingling as she re-lived the memory of his willing, hot mouth. He'd found all her weak spots; and there had just been something about the way his tongue rolled along her slit and clit that she would never be able to forget. The only thing she'd ever wanted was for him to not be ashamed and afraid of his desire for her... and to embrace it instead. And he'd fulfilled that desire, all those inhibitions had been shed; she could never go back to being just his Pokemon.

How could she? Her trainer devoured any chance of not being hers when he dominated her, made her drip all down his lips and chin, made her scream into her hands to keep quiet. Because of the way he acted before, she'd imagined when they did it for the first time the guilt would shine through from his mind, but there was none of that doubt last night. Master wanted her, and admitted it, in every way. They desired each other, so they should do the things that desire drives one to do. It was that simple. It didn't really matter that, waking up and seeing it, Eva was bothered. As Lady saw it, if she didn't have the willpower to speak up, she didn't have the right to complain about seeing them. Besides, Lady saw through her. Really, Eva liked watching, let Lady push her around. Any negative feelings were her own fault.

Avery shifted in his sleep. His body felt so big, warm, safe; there was just something so exciting, so right about being in his arms. Logic would dictate that a human and a Pokemon shouldn't be together, hence the long list of physical, cultural, mental differences. As a very young Ralts living in her family den, she'd truly believed that being with a human was an impossibility. After all, humans owned and enslaved Pokemon, and her parents had only ever adored each other. Other than claiming Lady was destined to be with a man, her mom, and the rest of her family, didn't talk about humans. They ate the dreams of human beings, hid far away from human society. She'd been sure she would fall in love with another Pokemon one day, perhaps a Drowzee like her father had been. She'd dreamed of having eggs with a loving mate, but that was an impossibility with Avery; their size difference alone would lead one to believe that they could, should, never be together… but Lady didn't care about any of that. She never had since the day she met him, and he'd protected her.

Avery could've walked away that day. In the wild no Pokemon is safe from captivity; it was seemingly a human's right to capture whatever "wild" Pokemon they desired so long as they were able to battle them into submission. Her father had told her worse stories than her own first encounter with that rich, evil boy, Elton. Interrupting her pleasant thought stream, she remembered the violence of her very first time meeting a human, and phantom pain from the wounds she'd sustained from that Bibarel assaulting her flared up again; her head had hurt so bad, so bad she'd been only capable of a few things… running, screaming, pleading for help; yet her parents were gone, and she was sure no help would come. The memory played out in her mind, so real again. The keen, cold eyes of that strange, disturbed trainer, his huge smile, even though she wanted to forget all that. Back then, her ability to sense the mentality of individuals had been rather weak, but his intentions had been so strong the air had practically reeked of dark desire. That foul human male had wanted to have sex with her, wanted to breed her with another mon, and then mate with her children too. He wanted to sell her weak brood, keep the rest, it'd all been there in his eyes.

And then He showed up. The boy from her future sight. Seemingly from nowhere… and when she looked into Avery's eyes there was no desire, nothing but a powerful warmth, a gentleness, shock that someone could hurt another that way; he didn't want to own her, he wanted to save her, he wanted to protect her. That was why she gave herself to him. Smiling, Lady let her anxious thoughts fall away. Her heart raced in a different way as she pressed her cheek along his chest, lightly kissing his skin there. Was it odd that she found Master's nipples adorable? She sucked on one lightly, enjoyed the way Avery squirmed in his sleep, mumbling and swatting his hand in her direction. She giggled and pulled away. He probably wouldn't mind if she teased him like this now, toying with his body, because they were partners in every way now… she could actually think that. Say that. It was like the weight of the world was lifted off her shoulders. Lady exhaled a gentle breath and let her thoughts drift whichever way they wished.

The kirlia couldn't stop smiling as she remembered the shell-shocked look on her human's face when he'd seen her in the lingerie last night. His face had developed that wide-eyed, slack-jawed, stupid look that she adored so much, and then his mouth had snapped shut, and the panic had set in - she'd known she'd look good in the Pokelingerie, that was why she put it on, but the way he tried to play it cool, head to bed, instead of ripping the clothes off and climbing on top of her was not frustrating like it'd usually be, but aggravatingly adorable. Then, outside, they'd finally properly kissed; that was what really mattered to her. More than him kissing her down there, more than him listening to her council and reaching out to his family.

She'd only ever really kissed Eva, and the umbreon had despised the act, glowering at her the entire time before eventually succumbing, their tongues rolling oddly, hotly together; it felt amazing, but that one-sided pleasure was a fragment of sensation compared to Master's kissing. The first time he'd been slow at first, his emotions slowly working themselves into a frenzy; the second kiss after the call with his mother had been a wet, harsh dance. She'd felt his thoughts while his tongue invaded her, his consciousness had practically waterfalled into her: He wanted to mate with her, wanted to be by her side forever. She'd been jealous before of his human pet, Juliet, but the love he felt for Lady far, far transcended their petty human relationship.

As she was cuddling him, she noticed movement on the other side of the room. Chastity was starting to wake up. The fluffy normal-type was snuggled up between Dusty's front legs, her back against the soft, yielding weight of his chest. Her ears flicking were the tell-tale sign of her starting to wake.

Lady glanced at the bag of Pokemon clothing on the floor: it had been gifted to Chastity and "her trainer", she'd spilled about everything that happened with her, Eva, and the human trainer they'd gambled with yesterday, and it was clear from the way that she talked that she saw every piece of fabric within as belonging to her… but Lady wanted to try on so many of the different outfits. They weren't made for a Kirlia, but the one from last night had looked right enough, clung adequately to her slight curves. She wiggled out from the gentle prison of her trainer's limbs and slipped off the bed, grabbing the dark leather bag and dragging it into the hotel room's bathroom.

It was about as heavy as her, but Lady wasn't in the mood to use her powers right now, last night had been exciting but very draining. Her body was exceptionally relaxed, and she was vaguely hungry. The bathroom door clicked shut behind her, and she leaned her hands against it, making sure that it was really closed. The kirlia grinned as she opened the bag, her crimson eyes gleaming with delight as she drew out handfuls of different garments. There were so many different patterns; stripes, dots, explosions of color, tiny designs like human figures, all sorts of different symbols, and the variety of clothing was shocking; skirts, bodysuits, lingerie like what she'd put on last night, hats, socks, t-shirts, even bows, clips, a variety of things Lady couldn't even recognize… as well as a game board. Chastity had somehow earned this with her seductive nature. Convinced another Pokémon's human being, or another Pokemon, to give up all this. Lady sighed. She found other humans too exhausting to try to get stuff from them, especially ones interested in Master, but apparently, they had their uses… then again, it was supposedly the Lopunny that gave up his belongings. Lady paused in the middle of slipping a beautiful black dress on, remembering the sight she'd seen when she woke up this morning. Chastity wasn't particularly nice to Dusty, neither of them were, yet he'd do anything for the buneary. An old red flag reared up, waved, in Lady's mind. 'She said that she used to hurt other Pokemon. That she was raised to… to do those sorts of things with others. Pleasurable things. What I did with Master… Did she learn how to manipulate others there? It almost seems second nature to her.'

Lady raised herself up with her powers, hovering in the air until she had her feet on the edge of the porcelain sink. She stared at herself in the mirror, turned this way and that… and smiled. She completely forgot what she was worried about. The black fabric bunched up oddly in a few places, but the silken black dress looked adorable. It emphasized her slim green limbs, hid her flat chest in such a way that it accentuated it. When she raised the bottom of the dress, she nearly giggled at how naughty it looked when she finally had her sex revealed between her legs; she stared at herself in the mirror and imagined Master ordering her to show him this place. She turned slightly, and bent over, dress still lifted, and imagined his hitched, hungry breathing as the false him ordered her to strip, but more slowly.

Then, the bathroom door opened: it was Chastity, yawning slightly, one paw pressed against the side of her face. The cinnamon-furred bunny froze when she saw Lady standing on the sink. She glanced first at the mirror image, Lady bent over with her green, dripping sex on full display, and then at the dress. Like a machine gear shifting, her floppy-eared head turned. Chastity's dark cocoa eyes burned into the large pile of clothing on the bathroom floor scattered here and there, some garments still half-stuffed in the bag.

"Lady…. You better take that off right now."

Lady had been ready to agree to take it off, but something about that demand made her blood boil. She straightened and smiled. "No."

"Bun bun bun!"

"Kirl!"

"Frou! Frou!" Something wet and cold was nudging into my neck, over and over. "Fur! Furfrou!" Harsher now, the cold force continued to push into me. Vaguely, I became aware of voices, but I was still half-asleep and couldn't quite get myself to care, or my body to move. Sense was slow to drift in. Then suddenly, extremely loud noises, multiple cries of pain!

"Bun buneary! Hmph!" There was a dull thumping noise, and in the next second, something crashed into the ground, sounding like it shattered into a million pieces from the impact. I sat up now, awareness slamming into me, my eyes shooting wide as I immediately launched myself up and off the hotel bed toward the crashing noise, the sound of conflict. Dusty was on the bed, apparently the one nosing me, probably trying to wake me up. He made a mournful sound as he trotted across the room alongside me, and I came face-to-face with Lady and Chastity squaring off in the yellow-and-jade tiled bathroom.

The black case gifted to Chastity lay open on the ground a few feet away; it was clear that someone had sifted through it, as almost all of the clothes lay here and there; the bathroom was an utter mess. Lady was wearing a beautiful black dress, which seemed to be the source of the conflict. Chastity had a huge, huge problem with it. Seemed like the buneary had somehow knocked the mirror over, as there were shards of glass all over the entire bathroom floor, and despite the discarded glass and clothing, the pair did not care. They struggled and wrestled on the ground, Lady slapping at Chastity with weak hands, while Chastity yelled her name over and over, her little paws tugging at the black lace that bound Lady's body. The psychic-type looked about ready to kill, and I winced as the pair narrowly stepped around a broken shard of glass, their feet/paws landing on the few places where the tiles were clear of debris. I hurried forward.

"HEY! Enough! Are you guys fighting over some stupid fucking clothes!?"

Chastity spun with her hands on her hips. "Bun bun!" She raised one paw, pointed it at the case, and then pointed it at Lady. 'She's wearing MY clothes!' Didn't need to speak Poke to understand how Chastity felt on the matter; I didn't care about who wore what or if they wore anything, but the second I thought how stupid it was that they were fighting over some strips of clothes I was suddenly hyper-aware of how I'd been jealous of Jack's clothes and my inability to procure an abundance of it for me or my family for almost my entire life. Chastity wanted her property respected, and as I understood it the trainer hadn't explicitly said it was for Chastity, but it was clothing meant for a buneary. It didn't even really fit Lady right, even if she did look beyond tantalizing in it.

There was only one solution.

"OKAY ENOUGH! Here's my deal! We're going to fight Roark, right?!" I glowered, glancing from face to face. Lady and Chastity glared at each other, then Lady shrugged.

"Then… with a decent portion of it, we'll go shopping, okay? Lady, give her back her clothes, and we'll buy you your own… okay?"

Lady's eyes lost all their darkness, they grew huge, seeming to shimmer. "K-Kirl!?" She asked in disbelief, then twiddled her little hands together, blushing. The tension left my body, and Chastity's, as the little kirlia very agreeably began to remove the lingerie and hand it back to the buneary. Chastity, suddenly seeming guilty about how harsh she'd been, didn't show it with words; she merely pat Lady on the head, took her clothes back, put it in her little case, and trotted off with the black container hanging from one half-bent ear. Lady stared after her, a curious expression on her face, then cleaned up the rest of the mess easily with her psychic powers. Of course, I helped, and while I did I scolded her.

"Lady, you can't take other people's stuff."

'The trainer never explicitly said it was for her. A-and I wore it first… but I understand.'

I didn't expect her to be so agreeable again, but she seemed to swallow her pride this time, and she turned to look at what evidence remained of their fight in the bathroom. Even with small conflicts Pokemon destroyed a lot. I sighed, wondering how this was going to affect my bill. Reading my thoughts, Lady smiled weakly, and her eyes began to glow. I watched in slightly awed silence as she seemed to very easily pick up each individual shard of glass, gathering it together in a floating pile, and then deposited it all in the trash can.

Before battling Roark came training. Despite my rough start, I still had plans for today. While everyone woke up and had a small breakfast and water, I went out on my own and set up a training routine for me and the team. It seemed nobody minded having "The Relationship Talk" until after training, or at least until later, because nobody brought it up. Eva was, if anything, oddly quiet. She'd been the one most keen on having the convo, but she kept to herself this morning.

As we were heading to the edge of the city, I heard an odd, distant sound. Pausing, I glanced about trying to find the source. The busy city of Oreburgh was bustling at this time of the morning. A stream of human miners wearing hard-caps and drinking from hot, steaming mugs of coffee walked by my left, wishing me a good morning. I murmured something back, distracted, and heard the odd sound again. Narrowing my eyes, hand flat above my eyes to serve as a visor, I noticed a little shape appearing from a nearby street: Roxanne, that beautiful, stern-looking Gym Leader from the Hoenn region was rapidly approaching. Roxanne's hair was drawn into a singular braid today, draped over the front of her shoulder. Despite wearing little make-up, she still had such a pretty face, her eyes shining as the wind buffeted her. My dark leather jacket was oversized for her, and yet she wore it again today, and its long sleeves flapped in the wind as she raced in my direction.

'What does she want?' My kirlia's crimson orbs were locked on the approaching trainer, and she stepped in front of me slightly as if on guard, her expression cool. Eva seemed unimpressed, but she left it alone, faced the edge of the city, impatient to get going and uninterested in meeting Roxanne again. Somewhat wary, I made sure to not let my eyes or mind wander too far. Eva didn't exactly have a happy expression right now either; neither of my pokemon seemed to be fond of Rox. The last thing I needed was them getting jealous or upset before our training even began.

Roxanne finally made it to us; she had a thin layer of sweat on her pale skin, and she took a breath as she slumped slightly, resting her hand on the side of her ribs. "Sorry," the brunette said apologetically, blushing brightly, "I've got a stitch in my side. Not uh, not the most active. I-I've been looking all over for you! I'm so glad I was able to catch you."

"All over for me?" I raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

She pulled open her extra bag and started to unzip my jacket. She hurriedly extended both while profusely bowing. "Sorry! So uncool of me to forget to give it back yesterday!"

I shrugged. "No worries. You can keep it if you want, I'm planning on getting a new one after I take down Roark anyways."

Roxanne's eyes widened slightly, a slight smile touched the corner of her lips, which faded as she said, "You seem confident you're going to win."

"That's because we're going to. Anyways, we're about to go train. You want to join us?" Lady made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, and I gave her a look, attempting to change her mind. "Come on, Lady. This is a Gym Leader. Do you really want to pass up on the opportunity to train against her?"

Lady glanced at Roxanne, steadily burning gaze unwavering, and then she sighed. Apparently not worth the trouble, she rolled her eyes and immediately relented, smiling faintly as she turned and walked off, a certain dancer's grace in the motion of her slim hips. Chastity, who'd had utter disinterest in all of this so far, started giggling when Lady whispered something in her ear. The pair glanced Roxanne's way with a sharpness in their gaze, murmured a few things in Poke, and the two burst into giggles.

Roxanne's cheeks became red. "I-I think your Pokemon might be making fun of me."

"Yeah… they're very opinionated about people."

"Lady and I seemed to get along decently enough last night," Roxanne pouted.

"Yeah, don't take it personally. I think I'll just head out alone with them this morning, but thanks for the offer, Roxanne. I'm working on how to properly catch a hint, and I think they'd prefer just me around for now."

Roxanne worried her bottom lip with her teeth, "I can see that, then… I don't want this," she said in an odd, almost ironic tone, and I wondered if I was missing something. Almost seeming angry, or perhaps hurt, she shoved my jacket against my chest. I decided not to engage with her emotions regarding me, I got the vague sense that she wanted me to change my mind, that she wanted me to invite her along anyways so that she could continue to be around us. But I wasn't going to do that, not this time. If she didn't want my jacket, I'd take it back, and she could worry about being cold on this chilly morning all on her own. When I pulled my coat on, immediately the smell of Roxanne's perfume swept up and embraced me. My mouth moved before I could think better of it.

"Smells like you…."

Roxanne's angry expression morphed, became almost girl-like, and she grabbed my arm, pushed me slightly aside, and walked right past me, facing my team and away from me.

"Hey- can I really not join you guys?"

I was about to respond when I realized she wasn't talking to me. Roxanne was looking directly at Lady. The kirlia stopped gossiping with her fluffy comrade, turning her head slowly when she realized she was being addressed. The psychic-type had a thoughtful, albeit cold, expression, like she was wondering if she wanted to even respond or not. I didn't bother opening my mouth. Trying to push Lady into anything would just make her want to get Roxanne away as fast as possible. The rock-type gym leader held my mon's gaze steadily. The tiny emerald-and-white figure was utterly still for a few seconds.

"Kirl kirlia," Lady murmured softly. "Hmm… Kirl…"

"I think you're just scared that training with me is going to embarrass you." It was both the perfect and absolute worst thing to say.

Lady's face went from day to night, from a chilly calmness to a dark thunderstorm. Her eyes glowed slightly. She smirked and cocked her head slightly. "Kirl!" She was very much agreeing to a battle right now.

If there was one gym leader I could beat with supreme confidence it was probably Roxanne. I'd only stopped keeping up to date with her a few years ago. I knew all her signature Pokemon, and considering almost all her mons were repeated guests on her shows, starring as a partner/co-host, I had a pretty decent chance. I was also familiar with her style of battling. She loved the pure power of rock-type moves, and yet she was also well-aware of the many weaknesses her Pokemon had, and so she had developed a very devastating, quick strategy. Just utter brute force with her biggest, most badass, best-trained mons. It was a good strategy, but not as good as most Gym Leader's. According to her past self on the show, she loved battling but only as a sport and opportunity to teach and learn… she didn't care about winning.

I got the vibe she cared about winning against Lady though, and I hadn't seen her most recent team. I was imagining blowing Roxanne away with Sprite when I remembered that the little insect didn't want to battle. The tiny bug was utterly joyful on my shoulder, at peace. I didn't dare ask her to change her mind, for a bunch of reasons; the most pressing was her health; Sprite's legs still had that strange, occasional little spasm.

Eva nodded towards the mountains. "Umbree! Umbreon!" No doubt, she was thinking about how her rival underground was probably training for their next match at this very moment. She flexed her paws, tail lashing fiercely, glow-rings flickering. I was just as eager to train, and grinned.

"Alright, let's get going then," I said, nodding toward the dense mountains and beckoning tree line. For some reason, hearing me say that, Eva grew moody. She pointedly looked away, cried-

"Umbree!" Her tail swishing this way and that. I'd say it was because of Roxanne joining us, but she'd been moody since she woke up. I didn't press her on it. Maybe she just wanted to train.

As we were about to walk off, Rox suddenly said- "U-Um, I changed my mind!"

I paused, "W-What?"

"About wanting to give you your jacket back. I-Kinda do really want it," the dark-haired woman's cheeks colored.

"Oh, uh, sure-" I was taking it off, about to hand it back, when I felt it.

A wave of psychic energy burst forward through the air, wrapping around the bundle of dark leather, trapping it in mid-air, along with Roxanne's outstretched hand. The gym leader stared in surprise at her limb, as if it was no longer a part of her, and in a way, it wasn't because her movement wasn't under her control. A powerful telekinesis had taken hold. Lady smiled as, with a slight flick of her dainty little hand, the leather jacket floated toward her. She folded it up with ease, and let it drift over to Eva, seeming to want her to be the one to carry it. Eva held my jacket in her mouth and glanced toward me; the dark-type recognized the symbolism of my clothing in this moment - and her expression hardened. She was just as eager to beat Roxanne as Lady; Lady faced the Gym Leader head on, beckoned toward the jacket, beckoned toward me, and then smiled wide.

"Kirlia kirl, kirl." - 'If you want it, take it.'

The message was clear. I sighed as I witnessed all this. Roxanne, if she was smart, probably would've taken the hint and walked off. Why mess with an umbreon and kirlia territorial of their trainer? Instead, the trainer/teacher merely grinned and nodded in enthusiastic agreement. "Ohhhh, it's on! I'm going to make you regret your challenge, you little brat! It's been a while since I've put a snooty little psychic-type in its place, and I'm very much looking forward to it."

Lady clicked her tongue. "Kirl." She didn't care about what the Gym Leader had to say, or so she was emoting. Roxanne persisted.

"Your line comes from my home region; did you know that? I've beaten many, many Kirlia. Really not the most impressive psychic-type."

The perfect-worse thing to say again! Why was Roxanne so good at amping up the anger of my little Kirlia? Either way, the effect was immediate.

'Master, we're leaving! I am going to put this woman in her place!'

"Arceus help us! Eva, what have I gotten us into?!" But she had already run off too. She, just like Lady, Chastity, and Roxanne, were taking the challenge very seriously.

Sprite made a vibrant humming sound from my shoulder, and nuzzled close, rubbing her warm, wet round body against my cheek in an attempt to comfort. I relaxed, reached up to gently pet her, and smiled. "Well, I suppose this will only suck if we lose. Man, I hope Roxanne doesn't mind when we beat her."

Dusty barked. By the way his tail was wagging, he had utter faith in me, and definitely himself. He darted into the woods after the rest of my team. I followed along after them, sighing.