Swole-POV:
I overdid it, didn't I?
...
Snot flows freely from Ursula's nose while her fingers and hand tremble as she reaches up. At first, she limply holds my hand before grabbing it tightly with both of hers.
Still, the rest of her body refuses to move a muscle. Her teary eyes stare deep into mine as if expecting me to lash out at her.
Defiance glares inside her eyes but disappears within a split second. Finally, I understand - feels like I've been in her situation a few times before after training.
Placing my feet near hers, I allow her to brace herself against me before pulling her up to her feet. She wobbles and almost tips over until I sling her arm over my shoulder.
Using my free arm, I slide it underneath the hem of her skirt... for very valid reasons! I feel along her thighs until the shapes of her pokeballs brush against my fingers. Three button presses later, and her pokemon are safely within the confines of their homes.
Ursula trembles even more, looking left and right before finally settling on me. "W-what's going on? Why can't I feel my legs?!"
"Aura exhaustion." Name still pending. "You've used up too much Aura at once - which is your life energy. Thus, your body feels exhausted and your mind feels sluggish. It gets easier with practice."
I feel like passing out as well. Lopunny must have noticed; she flanks my left side. Lucario follows suit, readying herself on our right. Not even Salazzle messes around - she carries Swadloon with her tail and leads the way through the crowd.
Step by step, we lumber past the stunned onlookers. Their cameras are staring like unblinking eyes.
"A-and what the hell did you do?!" Ursula still screams, even though her feet limply drag across the cobbled stones. "What was that?! And you attacked me! Me!! Why?!"
"Shhh." I try to calm her, but she just flails more, nearly slipping from my hold if it weren't for Lucario bracing her. "Come on, let's at least leave the crowd behind, alright?"
They're making me nervous now. It's like a gaggle of dumb animals, watching, staring, and avoiding us like the plague. The only ones preventing them from overreacting and attacking us are my pokemon.
I try to change the subject. "How did you like the battle?"
"Terrifying!"
"Not exiting?" Aura let me feel the truth. "Be honest. At the height of the battle, you had the time of your life."
"No! I was terrified! I still am!" She tries to escape again, fumbling around to try and reach her pokeballs. "Gabite!-- Oh no! Gabite, Eevee, and Eevee are hurt! We need to help them!"
"We're already on the way to the pokemon center. Just relax." My advice causes the opposite.
Her breathing hitches. Shallow breaths turn to rapid, panicked, weak panting and flailing until suddenly, her head falls limp.
"Ursula?"
Her breath stabilizes. I brush my free hand against her neck and feel the rapid pulse slowly approaching normalcy. She passed out?
Wow... I really, REALLY, overdid it. "Hey, if you can still hear me in there, at least you have something in common now with Red. According to the legends, he also whited out when he lost battles early in his career."
No reaction.
The crowd stays behind, letting us leave. Some are making phone calls - probably trying to reach an Officer Jenny.
I hope I'm not in trouble. Either way, explaining it to Officer Jenny or Mable will be difficult... What if Mars gets involved?
Fuck. Why did I do something like that in the heat of the moment?! Good grief... No use panicking over it. I'll handle it when it becomes a problem.
The pokemon center comes into view. The sliding doors of the familiar orange building glide open as we approach, and Nurse Joy spots us from her front desk. Immediately she rushes to action, ordering her Chansey into the emergency room and vaulting across the desk.
"What happened?!" Nurse Joy shouts on her approach, reaching out with her hands and grabbing Ursula's face. She pats along her neck, holds a finger underneath her nose, pulls at her eyelids, and even prods at her tongue.
"We've... uhhh... had an intense pokemon battle, and she fainted."
"You were there? Did she hit her head? Can you carry her to the emergency room?"
I bring her to the ER while answering. "She didn't hit her head. I think she just had a panic attack. Her pokemon team needs more help, though. They're all KO, and Gabite might have really hurt himself. He was knocked out in the middle of the air and fell."
Nurse Joy jots down the information on a clipboard - her squiggly lines might summarize what I told her, but the illegible text could mean anything. Suddenly, she dashes ahead, pressing a button next to the door to the ER, opening it.
Inside is a row of beds in all sizes and an empty rack for pokeballs with unmarked labels underneath. Nurse Joy instructs me to place Ursula on the first bed while she grabs a pair of gloves and a flashlight. Meanwhile, Chansey brings a tray of syringes, scalpels, and liquids in bottles with tiny, unreadable labels.
"Can you remove her pokeballs while I check her pupils?" Nurse Joy asks before pulling the eyelid wide open. She waits for a few seconds, inspecting movements and changes in Ursula's eyes. After shining the flashlight into her face, she hums and repeats the process with the other eye.
In the meantime, I fiddle with the zipper of Ursula's skirt. The ruffles make it an arduous process, but I succeed and peel off her clothing, revealing pure white panties underneath.
Pulling it lower, I reveal the pokeballs strapped to her thigh.
Nurse Joy points at the rack for pokeballs. "Can you place the pokeballs there? And good thinking; she'll be put into a hospital gown, so we need to remove all her clothes." Then she looks up from Ursula. She was holding her wrist. "Good news; she seems alright. Passing out is never good, but her eyes are responsive, and she has a pulse. It's very weak though..."
Perhaps overusing Aura weakened her entire body, including her heart?
After stashing her pokeballs away, I return and help Nurse Joy with Ursula's turtleneck pullover. She holds up her arms while I pull up her shirt.
"Huwah?" Ursula mumbles in her sleep. Her stomach briefly twitches and shivers. Her eyes slowly flutter open. She wakes up. "W-what?"
Immediately, Nurse Joy begins fussing over her again, prodding everything in sight. "Hold still." She commands.
Ursula doesn't. Instead, she pushes herself upright, her arms blocking me from removing her pullover. "What's going on?" In the end, Ursula's stuck with her bra-covered breasts on display, her arms restrained by Nurse Joy, and her legs bare. "Why am I naked?! Nurse Joy?! Swole!! What the hell are you both doing?!"
"Nurse Joy, I'm not an expert, but I think Ursula might be in distress."
She inspects Ursula's eyes deeply before giving me a glance. "Shush. I'm the expert, and she seems fine to me. She looks like a healthy specimen but also an enigma. How did she pass out?"
"We had a pokemon battle..." Should I tell her about Aura? I should, shouldn't I? Worst case, she just won't believe me. "I tested a hypothesis - that Aura forms bonds faster when fighting together or against each other. My test was a success, but it must have overburdened Ursula, and she passed out briefly afterwards."
"Aura? Like the myths?" Nurse Joy asks, and Ursula parrots. "Aura? Bonds? You mentioned that earlier; care to explain?"
While Ursula is distracted, I pull her pullover the rest of the way with a swift tug and take a few steps back before-- "Hey! Give that back!" -- Before she can claw out my eyes.
Chansey holds out the hospital gown for Ursula to wear while Nurse Joy keeps her restrained.
"Aura is the life force of every living thing. And the bond is a literal connection of Aura forming between living beings as their lives become intertwined. By training Aura or bonds, pokemon and trainers become more powerful."
Ursula crosses her arms in defiance, preventing Nurse Joy from wrapping the gown around her and prolonging the exposure of her body. "That's crazy. You're crazy!"
"You don't believe me? Can't you remember what you felt during our battle? You felt the bond between us - the way our souls connected. You've sensed what I feel. How could I have made that up, huh?"
"I--"
"And your bond to your pokemon has become so much stronger, hasn't it? I can see that clearly. Gabite evolved to protect you. Eevee and Eevee did their very best for your sake."
"..." She remains silent. Her eyes wander across the room until she spots her pokeballs within the rack. Tears bud in the corners of her eyes. "Can I see them?"
"Of course." Nurse Joy gives up trying to make Ursula wear the gown and simply places it on her lap, hiding Ursula's panties from sight. She mutters and muses about Aura while crossing the room. Her arms reach for the pokeballs while her eyes roam a digital display underneath the rack.
Ursula sounds tired and worried. "How are they doing?"
"Eevee and Eevee are already recovering nicely. They'll need a few hours of rest, and they'll be right as rain again." She removes their pokeballs from the slots. "Gabite must have fought beyond his limits. I'd like to keep him here for another hour or two for observation. Chansey, can you recharge the machine?"
"Cha!" She salutes with her stubby, short arms and disappears somewhere behind the device. A green glow shines from it shortly after.
In the meantime, Nurse Joy hands over two of Ursula's pokeballs. "Here you go."
Exhausted eyes stare at them in her hands. A tear escapes before she shakes off the depression, her hair fluttering wildly, undoing the purple ribbons that kept her twin tails bound up. Determination spreads on her face and through her Aura as she points the balls and presses their buttons.
Eevee and Eevee appear on her lap, mirroring each other perfectly in their battered forms. "Eevee." Eevee croaks, and Eevee parrots with her own defeated voice. "Eevee."
"No. Don't be. I am sorry. I never put in the effort I had to as your trainer. Our loss is solely my responsibility. I'm sorry for being such a disappointment."
"Ee--?!" - "Eevee! Eevee!" They shout before pouncing on their trainer and overwhelming her. Ursula falls over as the onslaught of fur presses against her naked skin.
She laughs out loud and shields herself while Eevee and Eevee lick and cuddle her face. "Ahaha! Alright! I get it! Haha-- come on, off you rascals. I-- huff..." The moment they let up, exhaustion catches up with her, leaving her breathing heavily and almost collapsing again.
Still, she pulls herself together, takes a deep breath, and speaks. "Eevee, Eevee, and Gabite too. I promise you, I will become a worthy trainer for you."
She hugs her pokemon as tightly as she can in her weakened state. They cry and return the affection with licking, purring, and nuzzling - rubbing their furry faces against Ursula's cheeks.
My experiment must have worked even better than I imagined... But maybe that's because I overdid it. Scaring a lady into passing out was really not what I intended.
It hurts watching her. The way her eyes dart at me and Lopunny - the way her sweat keeps pouring from her pores whenever we get closer...
It was just supposed to be a little fright.
I should apologize. "Ursula... I'm sorry for scaring you so much during our fight. When I said we'd break-- I mean, when I said those things, I didn't mean it. I just wanted you to take the battle seriously."
"It's alright." She hastily nods.
It's clearly not. "I had to reach your Aura somehow, you know?" She obviously doesn't. "And it just wasn't working the whole time I tried. But when you had accused me of not taking it seriously, I realized what we were missing. Your heart hadn't been in the fight... so I upped the stakes a little bit."
"A little..." She mutters.
"Alright. A lot. I'm sorry for threatening you. A lot."
All of a sudden, the doors slide open, catching me off guard. "Was that a confession I heard just now?" Officer Jenny walks in, closely followed by Mable in her super-suit and Mars in her uniform.
"Yo." Mars lifts her hand in a greeting.
"Don't fraternize with the suspect, Commander Mars."
"Suspect?" I look at Officer Jenny, whose eyes tighten in a glare.
"Affirmative, suspect. Just moments after we had wrapped up our previous case, reports came in of an out-of-control pokemon. When we've arrived at the scene, witnesses have described you and your Lopunny as the evildoers."
Mable gasps dramatically, taking a few steps back from me and Lopunny.
"Out of control? Lopunny is entirely under control. The witnesses have just been overreacting."
Officer Jenny tightens her eyes even further into an even meaner scowl. "Don't lie to me, boy. I've seen eyes like hers before. She is most definitely not tame."
"A wild pokemon." Mable nods accusingly.
"Hand over your trainer ID, civilian, and don't make this any harder than it needs to be."
Good grief. I knew this would get me in trouble.
As soon as I reach for my pocket, a pokeball pops open, an Arcanine appears, and Officer Jenny strikes up a battle pose. "SLOWLY!"
Good fucking grief! "Alright, alright! I will slowly reach into my pocket to retrieve my trainer ID!"
"Good!"
Slowly, very slowly, I reach for my pocket, past my belt, pulling free a state-sponsored pokedex. Next, I pull free my wallet that had been difficult to remove - tight suit pants don't have nearly deep enough pockets. I miss my old cargo pants.
Within the wallet are a few tens of thousands of pokedollar in cash - hopefully they don't raise any suspicion - and a card made of miracle material that is very similar to regular plastic. But it's not plastic.
"Rrruf!" Arcanine suddenly barks for no reason, just to make me squirm, I guess.
"Grrrrr!" Lopunny growls in return.
Or Lopunny must've caused problems, and that's why Arcanine barked... Good grief.
I hold the card out as far as I can, and it begins levitating on its own somehow, making its way to cross the divide between Officer Jenny and me.
She picks it from midair and glances over its surface before tossing it back. It floats into my wallet. "Swole Solo..." She says with pursed lips. "... I'll let you off the hook this time."
It's that easy?
My eyes widening in disbelief must've triggered something in her. "If! you prove that Lopunny is really under your control."
"Sure. Easy. Lopunny, do a flip."
She rolls her eyes before jumping into a somersault and landing on her feet.
"Not like that." Officer Jenny rolls her eyes. "Go and slap her ass instead."
... Did I hear that right? No way. I'll just ask - 'What?' - and then she'll tell me something completely different.
"What?"
"Go and slap her ass instead."
She said the same thing again. Are my ears broken or something? "What?"
"Are your ears broken or something?" Arcanine growls to emphasize Officer Jenny's words. "Slap. Her. Ass. To prove she's tame."
"Why?!" This makes no sense! I must be hearing it wrong!
"Because pokemon from the wilderness despise disrespect. If she breaks your hand, she's not tame."
Oh. That actually makes a lot of sense.
"If you're too afraid, you can just give up and come with me to the police station--"
Smack
I give Lopunny a meaty smack on her arse, briefly digging into the muscles and her thin layer of fat. Her tail begins to wiggle.
"Huh." Officer Jenny struggles to reach for words. "She seems just slightly agitated from it. I guess you told the truth after all. Alright." She shrugs her shoulders. "You're off the hook. Come on, Mable, let's get some donuts for dinner."
"Yay! Donuts! You're the best, aunty Jenny!"
They leave without another glance back. As they approach the sliding doors, Chansey hurries to press the button to open them. They slide open and reveal: Mars chortling right outside - rolling on the ground and laughing her arse off.
... Nurse Joy sits at her desk, her head braced on her hands, muttering about 'this being way too much clowning around in her ER room.' - I refrain from pointing out the R already stands for room.
... Ursula chuckles. "Haha! Well, it's nice to see some karmic justice, isn't it, Swole?"
Methinks the test wasn't necessary. Methinks someone thought it would be funny to get Officer Jenny to make me uncomfortable.
... I turn to the most likely culprit of the prank. "Mars! You're way too old to be laughing so childishly!"
She stops in an instant to glare at me. "I'm seventeen! You brat!"
---
After the joys from messing with each other faded, and after Nurse Joy's patience grew thin, we got kicked out of the pokemon center.
By we, I mean me and Mars. Ursula has to stay for the night for observation and mandatory bed rest. Nurse Joy was adamant about it.
"Mars." I need to speak up because she's still chuckling over her own prank. She barely responds and just continues to laugh in my face. "Old." That gets her to stop. "How was your day? Did you catch the criminal?"
Once again, we pass the town's plaza with its cobbled roads and its sweaty Lucario fountain in the center. Scratches remain on the stones where Lopunny, Eevee, Eevee, and Gabite battled.
"It has been neither good nor bad. It's work, I guess? I'd rather not do work, but I do it anyways. The criminal has been apprehended. With Bronzong's Future Sight, it was easy catching him."
The market has been closed. The stalls are emptying - the vendors pick up their unsold products before heading back home with pockets filled with pokedollars. Only a few people remain out and about, strolling like we do, checking out restaurants, the bistro, or the benches to sit down and talk.
"Future Sight - the move? How does it fit into your investigation? And..." That bench looks really inviting... "And why do you keep working if you'd rather not do it? I can't imagine you're low on money."
The streetlights are turning on. They're ancient in design but modernized. Black painted metal and a holder for a fire - except there is a lightbulb shining from within. The light's a little harsh on the eyes. A little softer, and it could have been a perfectly romantic place for people to go on dates.
"I'm rich already. My mom's in the same business--"
"Zoey's grandma works for Team Galactic?"
Mars growls, then clears her throat. "She works for Team Rocket, actually."
"As a spy? Wait, didn't you tell Zoey earlier your mom is dead?"
"..." Mars pirses her lips. "She's not a spy."
"Are you saying that because you can't reveal that she's a spy?"
Silence falls over us for a few moments. Her heels tapping on the stones are the only sounds I hear. Lopunny, Salazzle, and Lucario all have silent steps wherever they walk, and I got rid of my shoes when we left the pokemon center.
I've already gotten blisters on both heels because of them. I'm not even blaming it on a lack of Aura - it's just these damn shoes are too tight.
Mars changes the topic. "Contrary to what the name implies, Future Sight can also see flashes of the past. That's also how the move is trained up from scratch. First, a psychic pokemon has to concentrate on its own memories, then the past, and then it can predict the future and where to strike."
So her mother is a spy. "Interesting." Cool even. And that knowledge about Future Sight might come in handy. None of my pokemon should be able to learn it, but Lucario might be able to anyway. She knows loads of moves that she shouldn't know, and the last time she had used Confusion, it really did look strong enough that it could have been Psychic.
Perhaps training Future Sight will unlock Psychic for her as well? Maybe Candice has some information on psychic powers in that book she gave me?
I can search through it before bed tonight-- "Yaaawn." Or not. "Sorry." Yawning without hiding the mouth is rude.
"Awe, is my little Swole tired?" Mars coos. "Want me to read you a good night story and tuck you in? Or maybe you want a glass of warm milk?"
I smirk and check her with my hip. "Your milk?"
"Hmhm. Want some of Mommy Mars' milk straight from the tap, my greedy little child?" She sways her hip and slams it into mine in retaliation.
I stumble. My foot must've caught on the cobblestones. Her hands try to grasp me in time, but I land on all fours; dirt, pebbles, and small stone shards dig into my skin on impact.
Turning around, I reach out, expecting Mars to help me up... but she just watches me like a squirming insect under a magnifying glass.
Her breathing accelerates, her face flushes, and she rubs her thighs together.
"Mars?"
A jolt runs through her body. "Hold on. Stay like that a little longer."
"What?"
She steps closer. One high-heeled foot placed between my legs for better leverage. She grabs my hand and pulls-- ... and pulls it towards her chest until my fingers cup her breast.
"Looks like my greedy little boy had a little stumble." Her heart beats so hard, I feel it hammering through the uniform and her decently sized breasts. She's not wearing a bra. "Don't cry, I'll help you up."
She bends over to reach for my other hand, accidentally pressing her boobs in my face in the process. Then she moves both of my hands to her butt. "Hold on tight. I don't want you to fall again." She whispers into my ear before kissing my cheek.
Mars then bends down even lower while rubbing herself against me with every chance she gets. She cups my ass and scoops me up. "There you go." Instead of patting my back, she squeezes my butt. "All better now."
I don't know what to say.
When she exits the butt-grabbing hug, a massive smile is plastered on her face. Her legs tremble. She turns her head and points at her cheek. "Now, instead of saying thank you, how about you show me your appreciation instead?"
... Appreciation... I'm not sure that's the right word. I think I just got sexually assaulted by a p-- shota-con.
When I close in to kiss her cheek, Mars suddenly turns her head, catching my lips with hers. "Whoops." She smirks and then smacks my ass really hard. "Come on. Let's stop playing around and get back to the train. You're tired, aren't you?"
With that, she just walks ahead, stumbling a little on her wobbly legs but catching herself.
~"Master?" Lopunny walks beside me. ~"I am confused. Was I supposed to save you there?"
"I-- I'm not sure, actually."
I follow after Mars, catching up quickly because she didn't get far. The moment I reach her side, she intertwines her fingers with mine, and we walk silently along the empty streets for a while.
After some time, "Mars?"
"Yes, Swole?"
"Have you ever been kicked out of a playground?"
"Yes. It happened 109 times. No, 110, actually. They also kicked me out of the room in the Team Galactic building where working mothers can leave their children to play."
She's a menace. "Is that why you're working at Team Galactic? So you can get away with being a--"
Her hold on my hand tightens. "A what?"
"A... very kinky person?"
"Good recovery." She relaxes again. "But no. Until you knocked on my door, I'd always just looked from afar. Watching isn't illegal, you know? Others watch Pidgey; I watch boys - same thing."
Not the same thing.
"The reason why I work at Team Galactic is more important than that - more important than my personal desires. I believe in Cyrus' vision for the future. He's the man who'll advance humanity into our next chapter."
I raise my eyebrows. "Cyrus? The businessman?"
She nods, looking up at the sky. Stars twinkle to life, mirroring themselves in her deep red eyes as the last vestiges of the orange sunset fade, giving way for the night. The streetlights, the moon, and the ocean of stars are all around us as she speaks. "He is a brilliant man. He's always working to create a better world - he's an inspiration to all of us."
He's the man who competes with Giovanni over world domination. "The same guy who canceled your vacation?"
"The very same." Mars just chuckles. "I missed out on a few hours of relaxation, but at the end of the day, I know I made a real difference in the world. The man I handled was a murderer. He fought a battle and ordered his pokemon to kill his opponent's in a fit of rage. When he realized what he'd done, he murdered the other trainer as well. Last week, a fourteen-year-old boy - one just like you - was murdered, and his killer had been hiding since then."
She takes a deep breath, eyes darting to our connected hands. "Earlier in the train, I lied. I never grew callous to the killing. I don't feel apathy. It was pride that grew instead." Her smile widens; it outshines the lights of the night. "I am an executioner, and I love it."
The streets are deathly silent. Her voice doesn't echo; nobody is around, not even an insect buzzes through the air.
"Today, I made the world a better place. Tomorrow, the sun will shine a little brighter." She tilts her head, searching my eyes and staring deep inside. "The boy's name was Craig Carter. He'd set out from Veilstone City this year with his partner pokemon Luxio. In the mornings, he would jog together with Luxio before starting his day. He traveled here in hopes of finding a wild Riolu. He looked up to Veilstone City's new gym leader, Maylene, and desired to become just as strong as she has become, so he saved up his allowance and lived on wild fruits, berries, and hunted game, while spending everything he earned on his pokemon."
Sounds like he was a good trainer.
"His efforts showed results, but his future has been snuffed out by Mallory Ellwood. An older man with a failing career as a trainer who dabbled in black market trade. When he lost a fair 1vs1, he used his other pokemon to turn the battle in his favor. His Onyx did the killing blow on his order."
Cowardly.
"Seeing Luxio in such a battered state had devastated Craig. He ran out of potions, but the nearest pokemon center wasn't too far away, so he begged Mallory for help. The boy must've thought it was an accident... But Mallory realized he'd already killed Luxio. Mallory knew what this meant for him in the face of the law."
His pokemon will be taken away, his license will be shredded, and he will be sent to prison.
"So he murdered the boy too. He strangled him to death. I saw the life escape his young body through Future Sight. Mallory left Craig to rot in a ditch, where he was found by chance the next day. Officer Jenny and I found Mallory in a shack in the forest. Mable was ordered to wait outside, and we took care of it."
"You killed him."
She nods, still smiling as brightly as if she were just telling me about her most recent battle victory.
"I strangled him to death. I watched the light fade from his eyes as he begged for a second chance." Her hand suddenly feels a lot heavier in my grasp. "You know how living things can't be stored inside infinite space bags?"
She doesn't wait for me to nod.
"I have him in my suitcase."
The suitcase in her other hand suddenly stands out like a sore thumb.
"Want to see it? The face of a monster?"
"N-no." I stutter. "I'd really rather not see him."
"... You think I'm the monster, don't you?"
Her smile breaks down in an instant. Her fingers tremble, still locked within mine.
"You think I'm a murderer. You think I'm evil! You think I'm disgusting for remembering every single one of my kills..."
"Woah, hold on! You didn't even give me time to think of anything!"
She releases my hand, and a weight falls off my heart. Her face relaxes. Mars smooths out the creases in the skirt part of her uniform. "Right. Apologies. I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have burdened you with that." She takes a deep breath and releases it through the nose. "Let's return to the train and meet up with the others."
With that, she just turns away and leaves. Her heels clicking on the floor as her slender figure casts long shadows from the streetlights lining the road to the train station.
"Hold on!"
She pauses her gait, freezing mid-step, but refuses to turn around or meet my eyes.
"I don't think you're a monster. And I really like you."
She makes a sound like a snort of laughter through the nose before muttering how childish that sounds.
"I don't really know about all the rest right now. I'll need some time to think about it - it's really overwhelming, you know?"
"Yeah. I know."
"And don't worry, I won't stop liking you no matter what I think of you, deal?"
"Ha. It's a pinky promise." She waves a hand with her pinky finger stretched out but simply resumes walking away to the train station.
...
I'm left behind, overwhelmed with thoughts racing through my mind. I'm at my limit.
Body, mind, and soul are all connected, and my soul and mind are done.
... "Lopunny?"
"Lo?" She tilts her head.
"I need you to carry me the rest of the way. My legs stopped working." My whole body feels ready to shut down any moment.
---
Salazzle opens the door to our train wagon and scurries in; Lopunny follows her inside with me slung over her shoulders like a backpack.
"Swole?" Dawn startles. She's in the middle of pulling up her panties. Another pair lies discarded on the ground next to her other clothes. Her pubes are all shaven, and her pink nipples are out on display.
Next to her sits Zoey in her underwear, patiently waiting - probably for someone to help her out of her bra. Her face is flushed red.
Jupiter covers her breasts with an arm, purple panties doing the same job for her privates. She's glaring daggers at Mars, who sits open-legged with everything on display. Mars shoots me a wink.
"Mars!" Dawn hastily covers her breasts and slit - her panties still dangle around her knees. "You said he would stay at the pokemon center tonight!"
"Oh? Did I?" Mars has her arms spread out wide, placing them on the backrests of their quad seat. "I meant to say he was going to be here any second now. My bad."
I'm trying my hardest to imprint that sight deep into my memories, but the fog in my mind makes that difficult.
Mars lifts a single finger and points at me. "Why is Lopunny carrying you around?"
The smirk on her face looks genuine, but I don't need Aura to tell me that she's putting on a mask... She's always such a liar.
"I just wanted to ride my pokemon."
Zoey mutters about phrasing, and Jupiter laughs out loud - but she catches herself quickly.
"Is it hard?" Mars asks. "Or is Lopunny doing most of the work?" That earns her a slap against the back of her head by Jupiter.
"Oh, it's very hard." Her back muscles are too hard to be comfortable. "Not many can handle such a wild ride, but I can." Because I can barely feel my body.
Salazzle crawls up Lopunny and me before hissing in my ear. "Ssssalazzle."
"What did she say?"
"No idea, Zoey. But I can only assume it's something innocent and innocuous."
That's when Mismagius emerges from Zoey's backrest to whisper something into her ears. Zoey's eyes widen. Her blush deepens into crimson red, matching her hair and eyes. "No way. Holy shit, that's perverse."
"... Alright, what did she say? I really couldn't understand her just now."
"I-I shouldn't say." Zoey squeaks. "It's way too perverse! Mismagius must have lied!" She nods her head firmly as if trying to convince herself. "Right!"
I shoot Salazzle a glare. She knows exactly that she needs to tone it down in public.
"Swole?"
"Yes, Dawn?" Damn it. I've missed the moment when she pulled up her underwear the rest of the way.
"Can you leave while we're all undressed?"
Jupiter slaps Mars over the back of her head when she motions for Swole to stay. "I am inclined to agree." She says. "While you're free to explore the others with your disgusting-- I mean, wandering eyes - I prefer not to be ogled like a piece of meat at an auction."
"Sorry." I try not to look at Jupiter any longer. I don't see how she sits down on her seat, how she lifts one leg and places it on the other, or how she briefly exposes her breasts to wear a t-shirt instead... No, no, no. I saw none of that... directly. It happened in the corners of my eyes.
Speaking of the corners of my eyes... is it getting darker? "Lopunny? Can you carry me into the bathroom?"
Darkness seems to be creeping in from the edges of my sight. Jupiter disappears completely, shrouded in shadows. The floor passes by sluggishly slowly.
"Are you alright, Swole?" It is the last I hear as my eyelids drift closed.
...
...
...
I open my eyes, only to be consumed by darkness. Silence permeates the air... There's a heavy feeling on my chest; it's cold and suffocating. I take a deep breath, but the air simply flows from my lungs until they're completely empty. The weight presses down on my ribcage; dust enters through my nostrils and mouth.
I remember. We're underneath the Snowpoint City temple.
"Candice!" I try to scream, but my lungs are empty. I try to breathe only to choke on dust. "Lopunny!?" No sounds escape. I'm stuck in the silence.
"LOPUNNY!" Where is she? I can feel her. Her bloodied fur presses down on me. I can't move, but my fingers dig into her fur.
We're buried underneath a mountain. Fall damage - or rather crushing... none of us are dead yet.
But... I need air. Lopunny needs air. We're stuck underneath a mountain and can't breathe...
How long can we survive? Seconds? "Help!" Candice has tried her best. Her plan simply failed. Alpha Regigigas woke up a little bit too early. Her igloo wasn't ready yet.
We're dead.
Crushed to death.
Asphyxiation.
...
...
...
I open my eyes again, only to be greeted by a face I hoped I'd never see again.
"Victor!"
The man grins in my face. He looks down at me with a pair of gardening scissors in his hands. They drip a crimson liquid from the tips of the shears - blood. Drip, drip, they fall on my face.
"I'll kill you!"
My body won't move. My voice sounds awfully quiet too, as if it never escaped my mouth. And what's with that metallic taste?
"Murderer! Monster!"
He just keeps grinning as he wipes the shears clean on my clothes.
"Lopunny! Kick his ass!" I try to look around but just can't spot her, and my head won't move either... She sleeps on my stomach usually, doesn't she? Why can't I feel her?
"Lucky me." Victor whispers as he places the shears aside and grabs my head between his palms. "I heard you have a Lopunny - but lucky me, you've kept it in a pokeball the whole time. A strange design too - one worth studying."
One hand leaves my face to hover over my belt. But then he shakes his head. "No. I mustn't challenge my luck. Let's not risk disturbing its slumber and finish the job instead."
He grabs both of my cheeks again and lifts me up, leaving my torso, legs, and limbs behind. Blood flows freely until he puts me in a little box with strangely glowing patterns inside.
It's dark. It's silent. A few sounds come through. Muffled manic laughter and the rhythmic pumping of machines.
Then, everything disappears.
...
...
...
I open my eyes again. I'm lying on the ground, on top of an island of bones. Buneary, Salandit, and Riolu lie scattered around me.
The sky is pitch black with scattered crystals glowing in a pale blue like twinkling stars.
Crunch
A painful feeling spreads through my chest as a figure looms over me.
Hatterene.
Her sickly hair is sparse enough to let the dim light pass through. Her slender, malnourished body is hidden just behind her strands and an appendage growing from her hat ends in the shape of a three-pronged hand, tipped with deadly claws.
It's currently digging through my stomach, searching through my entrails for the tasty bits. When she finds one, she pulls it out and grabs it with her smaller, real hands before sticking it in her mouth.
She giggles happily, smiling, munching on what must've been my liver, humming a happy tune the whole time.
Zzzzzip
All of a sudden, a zipper tears through the sky, replacing the beautiful view. Two more zip open like eyes. Blood-red eyes with slitted pupils stare down as the big zipper opens like a mouth to talk.
"Your dreams are terrifying."
---
I tear my eyelids open and jump to a stand.
"Looo!" Lopunny tumbles off me and crashes to the floor.
"Lopunny?!"
~"Master?! You're finally awake!"
She scrambles on the floor but keeps slipping and falling. Blood rushes through my veins, pumped by a deafeningly loud heart. My breaths come rapidly as if I ran a marathon at sprinting speed.
I can barely make out her shape as I look around in the dark. There's a streetlight outside past a window, slightly illuminating the room we're in.
Lopunny scrambles at my feet, and I'm standing within the bathtub.
This is real now, right? I'm not about to die again, right?
"C-calm down, Lopunny. Grab my hand."
What will kill me this time? A random attack by Palkia?!
Then I feel her. Lopunny grabs my hand, and I instinctively help her up. Her footing is awful as always, but the sleeping bag I had been using as a mattress within the bathtub had only made it worse.
~"What happened? I couldn't wake you up at all!" She asks.
~"None of us could." Lucario sits on the bathtub's rim.
Salandit hangs from the ceiling, the patterns along her back and tail helping illuminate the room.
We're in the train wagon bathroom. I try to ask why, but can't even choke out a word. My heart threatens to tear through my chest, and breaths escape faster than I can fill my lungs.
"He had nightmares." A sound bores straight through my skull, penetrating deep into my mind.
Once again, light fades at the edges of my vision, and I stumble - right into Lopunny's arms.
Her fur fills my mouth as I keep breathing through it - out of control.
She digs her fingers through my hair, holding me closer with her other arm. Her scent envelops me. Hazelnut and caramel. And a hint of something else. Probably grime. I didn't have the time to wash her since we got buried underneath a mountain.
~"But he never has nightmares with me around." Lopunny speaks softly and gently. So different compared to what assaulted my brain earlier.
It was Banette. "Well, you were gone in his nightmares."
Nightmares... I remember them so clearly. Lopunny died protecting me from the weight of a mountain.
I kept Lopunny locked in her pokeball because she-- because of what happened in the underground temple.
Hatterene killed us all because she hadn't evolved during our battle against Roark...
But none of this happened. Lopunny is right here! I am alive... Banette pulled me free from those dreams. "Dream Eater. Banette... You used Dream Eater to save me... Didn't you?"
My breathing finally calms down. Each breath is no longer unbearably painful. Just a little stinging.
I can feel Lopunny stroking my back.
But I can't see properly. Where is Banette? And where is Swadloon? Are they alright? "Can you turn on the light, Salazzle?"
~"Yess, ssir!" She crawls along the ceiling, past the corner, and down the wall, poking her claw against the light switch.
The bathroom light flickers once before casting a steady shine, reflecting off mirror-polished marble, golden decorations, and the full-body mirror mounted beside the shower stall.
Pure, decadent luxury. No wonder I decided to sleep here... "Did I decide to sleep here?"
~"I suggested it." Lucario raises her hand. ~"I didn't think you'd want the others to worry about your condition."
~"But I ssaid, it would be better for him if humanss looked him over."
Maybe it would have been better... but I also wouldn't have wanted that... "I don't have a condition. I'm just exhausted."
~"I get it." Lopunny whispers, still keeping me in her arm. ~"It's just like when pokemon battle. You were KO."
"Right. I got knocked out."
"Swadloon?" She must have asked, 'by what attack'?
"Ladies, let's not take the metaphor too literally. I just passed out after an exhausting day. It's--" It's definitely not normal. "It can happen with humans. Remember, we are weak and fleshy."
~"Right. You're weak and fleshy." Lopunny agrees.
"Well, not me. I'm tough. But humans in general."
~"I haven't seen another human pass out before. Maybe you are weaker than average?"
~"She'ss got a point."
~"I have to agree, dad-- master. Should we be concerned?"
Are they messing with me?
~"Wait, if masster is essspecially weak, doesn't that mean we can do whatever we want with him?" Salazzle stalks closer on all fours, leaving the patterned wall behind and crossing the floor made from dark red mahogany wood.
I roll my eyes. "Girls, it's just Aura exhaustion. I expended all my Aura yesterday, and since Aura, body, and mind are all closely connected, that made me pass out."
~"That makes sense." Lucario nods sagely.
Lopunny shakes her head. ~"But it's still night, so he must've meant today instead of yesterday." What? ~"If he's wrong about that, he could be wrong about the other thing too."
Lucario nods again. ~"That also makes sense."
I facepalm before pulling out my phone and checking the time. The screen lights up, and a picture of a younger me with Buneary on his shoulder greets me. The day everything went downhill...
"It's 2 AM, the next day. That means it happened yesterday."
~"What's a tuam?"
~"Idiot bunny, he ssaid two A M. Which iss sshort for ante meridiem - meaning before midday."
I didn't know that.
~"She's got a point." Lucario agrees once again.
"Exactly. It is two ante meridiem; therefore, I am a very tough human."
Everyone nods firmly in agreement, as if my argument made any sense at all. Swadloon even agreed so hard, she tipped over, now lying face-down in the nest-- bed someone made in the bathtub.
"Alright, Lopunny, you can let me go now. The tough human needs to prove he can stand on his own again."
She lets go and then stumbles and slips. Her butt lands on the slippery part where the sleeping bag rests on the slope of the bathtub, and she crashes into my legs, sweeping me off my feet.
I stumble and land right on top of her. Our foreheads collide and then our lips.
~"Oof." She blows a breath of hot air into my mouth as I impact on top of her chest, pressing down on the small mounds of her breasts.
Her eyes are wide open, and so are mine. My eyes reflect in her pink pools, and there's even a hint of pink within the reflection. They say eyes are a window into the soul - and hers is beautiful. Alluring.
I release our kiss. "You have pretty eyes."
"Looo..." She slowly caresses my back, tilting her head at the same time. ~"Your eyes are too small."
~"And too round." Salazzle hisses. ~"It'ss creepy how perfectly round your pupilss are. It lookss sso wrong."
~"Well, I like master's eyes. I feel a little warmer whenever I see them."
~"I didn't sssay I don't like them, Lucario. They're jusst a little ssstrange."
~"They're not pretty. Too small. But I like them too." Lopunny grins.
"Hmhmhm!" Swadloon's muffled voice comes from Lopunny and my feet. She got swept up in the chaos and blanketed in layers of the sleeping bag.
"Haha! I'm glad you all like me even though I look like a strange creature to you."
~"Who said I just like you, master?"
"... What? Are you saying you like someone else too, Lopunny?"
~"... Huh?"
"Huh?"
~"I don't just like you. I love you, master." She lifts her head to kiss my lips. Her large eyes gaze up and down my face. ~"Despite your strangely tiny eyes, your impotent ears, and that furless skin of yours."
Well, my ears aren't as powerful as hers, but I don't like the word she used for it.
~"I love you too, masster!"
~"You are my whole world."
"Swa wuve u." Swadloon's voice is still muffled.
"I love you all so much too."
Lopunny places her palms against my cheeks. ~"Despite our strangeness?"
I gently shake my head, enjoying the feeling of her fuzzy hands. "I love brushing my fingers through your fur. I love the way you use your ear as a pillow when I'm not around to be your mattress. Salazzle is so cute when she tries to annoy me with her tongue, and Lucario is always so sweet."
"Swa?" I imagine Swadloon asked - 'what about me?'
"... You're adorable, but I can't wait until you have limbs again."
"Swaaa..."
Maybe I should have lied for her sake... Or maybe not. I think they can all tell when I'm lying. They all know my habits so well... They know I'm in pain.
At least Lopunny would definitely know. Just like how I know she'll always tilt her head and slows her speech whenever she lies.
~"Mayyybe your eyes aren't so bad after all." She lies. ~"They make you look young and cute."
"Thank you."
She untilts her head and kisses my lips once more. ~"No problem! By the way, I think you've got something on your back."
"Yeah. Your fingers." They sneaked underneath my shirt at some point, gently caressing me along the spine.
~"No, I mean yes. But your skin feels different there." She brushes her finger against a tender spot. ~"From here to here. And from down there," Her finger trails all the way up my spine, never losing contact. ~"Up to here."
~"It is red." Lucario comments. ~"Did you hurt yourself? It almost looks like scar tissue."
"Huh?"
~"Yeah, your back isss really hurt. You sshould undress and let uss take a better look."
"So you can watch my strange skin some more?"
Salazzle blushes, her face heating up and the patterns along her stomach brightening. ~"I like your sskin. It has an exotic color, but it's ssso ssmooth..." She slurps up her tongue that lolled out as she spoke. ~"And ssalty. I like how you taste, masster."
Not sure how I like that. "Please don't literally eat me."
~"Of course not!" She shakes her head before snapping back to me and lidding her eyes. ~"But I really want to have a tasste of your meat. If you know what I mean."
She means my-- "Let's ignore that for now. Sorry, Lopunny, I have to cut our cuddling session short. I should check my back." It sounds like I have a rash or something.
~"Aweee... Alright." Lopunny kisses me one last time before removing her hands from my shirt and back and pushing me up.
I climb out of the bathtub before freeing Swadloon from her prison. Holding my hand out for Lopunny, she looks at it and shakes her head. ~"No thanks. It's still the middle of the night. Salazzle, it's still your turn to guard us."
She takes one ear and bunches it up before lying down with it as a pillow. "Cute. Salazzle, you can go to sleep too. I'll make sure nobody... attacks us, I guess." Who would ever attack us here?
~"Sssweet! Thank you masster! You're the besst!" She briefly nuzzles my face before shooting off.
She scurries along the floor, up the wall, and onto the ceiling, where she crawls around, curls up, and snores.
There's no way that's comfortable... Her tail hangs limp like ceiling decor. "Cute."
Lucario just sits down and crosses her legs. She tends to meditate until wakefulness proves too difficult - until she falls asleep.
Swadloon... I can't tell if she's already sleeping. Her chitinous body doesn't move with her breaths. Her eyes are closed. She never moves... Probably asleep.
Last but not least, Banette. Her head pokes out of a corner in the ceiling. I've never seen her for so long. She's just staring into the center of the room, thinking about... Mary.
"Thank you, Banette, for saving me from those nightmares." - She just nods in response. A simple acknowledgement that she heard what I said. - "I think your zipper is cool."
This time, her eyes lock onto me. Piercing, blood-red, and filled with sorrow, they tug at my heartstrings and soul alike. Her ever-present frown shifts ever so slightly.
But then she retreats into the wall. A shadow is all that remains of her.
This just leaves me... and my reflection in the mirror.
Swole Solo stares back at me - a battered man with heavy bags under his eyes. The makeup he borrowed for the contest has served its purpose well at hiding them, but I must've rubbed it off during my sleep.
His hair is decently maintained, but some strands are splitting at the ends. I'll have to visit a barbershop before the damage spreads. The man moves back his hair to inspect the hairline... a few strands look a little too white to still count as blonde.
He bends over the basin, turns the tap, watches the water flow, and finally washes his face. His earlier showers didn't get all the dust off - some remained at the creases forming in the corners of his eyes. When we climbed out of the wreckage of the mountain, the dust got everywhere. Every nook and cranny had been covered. Yes, even my ass crack.
Breathing had been difficult. The excavation was tedious. Our pokemon had to press against the rubble while Lucario, Glaceon, Weavile, Mamoswine, and Abomasnow froze the boulders in place. Salazzle kept us from freezing to death, and Jynx ensured there was always a way for fresh air to reach us.
It was terrifying.
Despite it, Candice had to go back to work without a moment of rest.
... Good grief... That was all just yesterday.
It really had been the longest day of my life. And he is the result. A wreck. Wearing a mask barely held together with makeup and a tough pretense. But that's just who Swole Solo - the man - is.
He is a boulder weathering any storm. He's the human who all his pokemon can always depend on. He's the perfect boyfriend who deserves all these wonderful people in his life.
This is who I want to be.
I pull at the corner of my mouth with my left hand. A large chunk of my molar broke off, and a finger is missing. A worthy sacrifice to return Zoey and save the day.
My eyes travel down his face as I unbutton my shirt. A rash stands out around my neck... it's not a rash at all.
The shirt drops to the floor, and I inspect his back.
It's another scar.
It goes all the way from the neck, along the spine, down to my ass, where Salazzle held on to me while evolving. She burnt an image of herself into me, a memento that will remain for the rest of my life.
I couldn't be prouder.
... But I have to use both hands to make myself smile.
It's not just a tender spot. Every motion stings. The air feels ice cold. I just want Aura to numb the pain again and to simply pass out until then.
But I need my Aura to recover before I can go back to sleep to strengthen my mind, or else the nightmares will return.
Can't believe they've gotten so bad. I thought Lopunny kept them away, like in the past.
It just makes sense, doesn't it? No Aura, the effects of our bond weaken, and suddenly it stops working the way I got used to.
"Yaaawn." I should just start my day.
I unbuckle the belt of my pants and take them off along with my underwear. A nice, hot shower will fix me right up.
Oh. "Hi, Banette." She hovers just above the ground, in front of the shower. "How are you doing?"
"..."
Eurgh. She connected to my mind. Gross. Feels like someone stuck a wet finger all the way through my ear canal.
"You're tired. I can help."
"Don't worry, Banette. I can manage." I step past her and enter the shower. "But thank you. Really."
"I can't let you break. I need you." She looks up at me as her words slowly crawl all throughout my mind. The zipper on her mouth slowly moves to the left; purple gas escapes between her lips. Then, she opens her mouth. "Goodnight."
The lights go out.
"Good night, Swole."
That voice! "M-mom?" It's her! With her brown - nearly black - hair, her bright blue eyes, and a smile that melts my heart. "W-what are you doing here?"
"I came to wish you good luck, of course. Did you think I'd miss my own son battling for the number 1 spot in the league? You're fighting Cynthia tomorrow, remember?"
Right... I will become the champion tomorrow.
"But a champion needs to rest. Just look at all your pokemon; they're already fast asleep, just waiting for you."
She's right. The bed is filled to the brim. Lopunny is fast asleep but sluggishly reaches out as if waiting for me with a satin blanket pinned underneath her body.
"You need to recover as much as possible before tomorrow, son." Son? "I said hun." Hun. Right. That's what Mom calls me sometimes. It's Dad who always calls me 'son' - as if to remind himself of that fact.
I should listen to her. She's always full of really useful advice. And it would be objectively smarter to go to sleep in my pile of pokemon.
Lopunny, Salazzle, Lucario, Leavanny, and... Mary... they are all waiting for me.
Have I really made it to the finals with just five pokemon? Isn't someone missing? But who?
"Swole?" Lopunny's eyes creep open. "Are you coming to bed soon?" She makes a little more room for me.
It looks so inviting.
"You should just rest, Swole."
"Mom... Alright. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The bed feels perfect.