And as if the situation wasn't already completely fucked, the heavy, suffocating sensation wouldn't leave her alone—she felt like she was being watched. Every nerve in her spine was screaming at her that something or someone was lurking right outside the light, stalking her from the shadows. Or maybe she was just turning completely paranoid and scared out of her goddamn mind.
Refusing to take any chances, she fumbled for her own Pokéball with her trembling left hand and threw it forward. "Nidoran, out," she wheezed.
With a soft flash, her small female Nidoran materialized on the damp earth. Lucy then knelt awkwardly over the unconscious Odin, her eyes scanning his waist until she spotted his specialized Rocket Pokéball—the stark black-and-white custom capsule with the brilliant red 'R' emblazoned right on the front, the exact same one Odin had bragged about like a massive, arrogant prick. Even with him half-dead, looking at that ball caused a sharp pang of irritation to ripple through her chest. She grabbed it, hitting the release button to summon his low-level Male Nidoran beside her own.
Now, with these two low-level poison-types on the field, she finally felt a tiny shred of security. They were weak as shit for anything dangerous down here, but at least it was an extra pair of eyes, sharp noses, and wild Pokémon instincts to guard the perimeter.
But the relief didn't last. The air in the deep cavern was turning freezing cold, the temperature dropping lower and lower by the minute. "Not fucking good," Lucy muttered to herself, her teeth clicking together.
Forcing her aching legs to move, she decided to scout her immediate surroundings with both Nidorans trailing close at her heels. Her eyes frantically searched every crevice, every boulder, and every dark patch of grass. After a thorough sweep, she discovered that there truly wasn't a single wild Pokémon or human around. Yet, no matter where she walked, she couldn't shake that deeply uncomfortable, sickening feeling of eyes locking onto her back from the dark.
She violently shook her head, trying to clear the panic, and focused on mapping out the cavern's exit pathways—or entrance paths, depending on which side of the mountain rock you were looking at. But the reality of their combat readiness crushed her spirit completely. Her Arbok was visibly exhausted, panting heavily as she guarded the Ekans egg incubator. Arbok was her only active powerhouse because Graveler was completely out for the count, Odin's Koffing was somewhere on the surface with Angel, and both of the Nidorans were far too weak to defend against any real subterranean predator.
"Fuck my life... fuck this whole goddamn situation," Lucy whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of the hopelessness settling over her.
She decided her only real option was to head back to Odin and try to get some rest. It was suicide to try and find an escape route or hunt for food right now; it was better to wait until tomorrow morning after Arbok had fully recovered her stamina.
As she stood there talking to herself in the dark, she suddenly noticed a thick plume of white smoke billowing from her lips. Her hot breath was condensing rapidly against the brutal, dropping temperature. The sight instantly snapped her out of her daze, a cold jolt of pure panic striking her chest. She turned and ran frantically back toward Odin's motionless body.
"Shit! Fuck! No, no, no!"
She dropped to her knees beside him, her left hand flying to his face. Odin was freezing, his pale skin completely covered in goosebumps as his body shivered uncontrollably against the damp earth. Of course he's freezing, his goddamn uniform is still soaked through with water from the rapids! And now he was facing a rapid drop in temperature while trapped in a deep coma, meaning his immune system was completely down for the count.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! He's already weak enough as it is!" Lucy shrieked, her voice echoing hollowly off the cavern walls as tears of absolute desperation finally blurred her vision. "I don't need to deal with any versions or stages of hypothermia right now! My fucking plate is full enough as it is! Goddamnit, wake up!"
Panicking, she forced her brain to find a solution. She frantically ordered both Nidorans to start ripping up the wild patches of grass from the cavern floor, while she used her one good hand to desperately claw at the earth, pulling up as many thick clumps of vegetation as she could carry. Moving with manic speed, she dragged the piles together and cleared out a small, circular area of wet dirt, carefully patting it down to create a firebreak to keep the flames from spreading across the cavern floor.
Once the dry grass was nicely piled in the center of the ring, she turned to her exhausted partner. "Arbok! Use Fire Fang on the pile! Do it multiple times, now!"
The giant snake slithered forward, her jaws igniting with roaring orange flames as she bit down into the brush over and over again, until the entire little area Lucy had built was fully lit with a bright, crackling fire. Lucy quickly stashed the remaining patches of grass to the side to use as fuel for later, letting out a ragged breath as the beautiful, radiating heat finally began to push the freezing dark away from their small camp.
Fully satisfied with the fire, she turned her absolute attention back to Odin. She gently positioned her body on top of his shivering frame, leaning down to press a few deep, passionately desperate mouth-to-mouth kisses against his cold lips, her heart breaking at how unresponsive he was. "Come back to me, you jackass," she whispered against his skin.
With her good left hand and her teeth, she began the grueling, awkward process of undressing him completely. His wet clothes had to go; she dragged the heavy, waterlogged fabric off his long limbs and carefully spread them across a nearby rock to dry by the heat of the flames. Once he lay completely bare, she didn't hesitate. She reached for her own uniform, unbuckling her gear and shedding every single piece of her clothing until she was entirely naked, her jaw-dropping, hourglass body fully exposed to the flickering amber light.
Looking down at his bare, motionless chest, a weak, tearful laugh escaped her lips. If that arrogant, horny douchebag were awake right now, he wouldn't have spared a single second. He would have instantly pinned her to the dirt, completely devouring her naked flesh and passionately dominating her body and soul just like he always did. But the small smile vanished from her face as fast as it had come.
She looked up, her crimson eyes tracking her Arbok, the glowing Ekans incubator, and the two small Nidorans staring at her from the edge of the light. Standing completely naked in the glow of the fire, she forced her shoulders straight, letting her natural authority as an Elite Officer cut through her fear as she delivered a brief, desperate speech to the team.
"Listen to me," Lucy said, her voice shaking but firm. "Get some good rest tonight. All of you. We are going to need every ounce of strength we have for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we hunt for food. Every single one of us needs to eat to survive this hole, especially Odin." She looked back down at the comatose prick, a dark, heavy thought crossing her mind. "I have an idea on how to force food down his throat... but I don't know what the fuck we're going to do about Graveler. We can only pray his natural recovery wakes him up by morning."
She sharpened her gaze, looking out into the pitch. "Be aware of your surroundings. Stay incredibly vigilant. If anything touches the light, you kill it."
The second she stopped speaking, that exact same sickening sensation slammed back into her chest. The feeling of being watched was overwhelming now, a visceral weight pushing down on her bare skin. Driven by pure survival instinct, she spun around and walked entirely naked down to the edge of the shallow riverbank where they had washed ashore. She stood in the freezing mist, her eyes frantically scouting the rushing water and the deep, black shadows of the opposite wall, searching for the stalker she could feel in her bones.
Nothing. There was nothing but the rhythmic, mocking bubble of the shallow current against the shale.
Defeated, exhausted, and feeling utterly helpless, she dragged herself back to the fire. She carefully crawled next to Odin, tenderly pulling his heavy, six-foot-two frame against her chest. Even in a complete coma, she noticed his body still had a hard, massive boner casting a shadow against his thigh. A fresh sob of genuine, ridiculous laughter broke through her misery. "Of course you do, you unhinged scumbag," she whispered, the sight miraculously easing the suffocating pressure in her mind. "It really is fucking big..."
She melted completely into his side, wrapping her long, slender legs around his and pressing her big, round breasts flush against his bare chest, using every ounce of her raw body heat to keep the hypothermia from taking him. The familiar, toxic smell of his skin and the grounding weight of his frame wrapped around her like a protective shield. For the first time since the mountain collapsed, she felt truly safe.
As her heavy eyelids began to droop and a profound, bone-deep drowsiness settled over her mind, she began softly whispering into his neck. Her voice was a low, desperate murmur, talking to his unconscious mind just to keep the crushing silence of the cave away. She told him stories about her early, brutal adventures with Arbok when she was just a fresh Rocket recruit, and about her chaotic, arrogant cousin Ariana back at the Pewter base. She paused, her lips brushing against his cheek as she pressed soft, lingering kisses down his jawline, his shoulder, and his chest.
"Hey, Odin..." she sobbed softly, her hand resting over his weak heartbeat. "What is Angel actually like as a person? You're so goddamn obsessed with her... when we get the fuck out of here, will you finally introduce her to me? What does your little ghost girl look like?"
She squeezed him tighter, biting her lip as the physical pain in her crushed arm flared one last time. Before the heavy, black veil of sleep finally consumed her consciousness, her stubborn instincts forced her to open her eyes and look over his shoulder toward the dark silhouette of the river one last time. She kept her eyes locked on the moving water, staring hard into the misty shadows as if waiting for the devil to walk out, until finally, her strength gave out completely. Her vision went dark, and Lucy fell asleep, peaceful and warm, buried deep within Odin's freezing warmth.
□■□
THE NEXT DAY (Day 2)
———————–
The blinding glare of the morning sun pierced through the dense canopy, striking Lucy right in the eyes. She groaned, the harsh light instantly shattering whatever peaceful slumber she had left. Nearby, the campfire they had relied on all night was dying out, its flames reduced to a faint, pathetic smolder amid a bed of gray ash. At least the sun was generating some actual heat now, cutting through the damp chill of the wilderness, but the sheer brightness of it was infuriating.
"Just let me fucking sleep some more!" Lucy snapped at the sky, her voice thick with exhaustion and irritation.
Grumpily, she tried to roll over to shield her face from the rays. The movement was a massive mistake. The second her weight shifted, a blinding wave of agony ripped through her upper body. She had completely forgotten that her arm was broken and crushed.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHFUCK!"
The raw, piercing shriek tore through the quiet clearing like a gunshot. Instantly, the peaceful atmosphere shattered. Every single Pokémon in the area jolted awake, their instincts kicking into overdrive. They lunged forward into a tense, aggressive defense position, baring teeth and scanning the brush, completely ready to fight to the death to protect both Lucy and the unconscious Odin.
Panting heavily, tears of pain pricking her eyes, Lucy cradled her mangled arm against her bare chest. "Ouch... sorry guys," she wheezed, her voice dropping to a guilty, breathless whisper. "My bad. False alarm... I just forgot about my arm."
Sensing no immediate threat, the Pokémon slowly relaxed, though they kept their ears perked. Lucy sank back down beside Odin. Seeking comfort, she crawled closer to his still, silent form. She wrapped her legs tightly around him, her limbs looping over his body like a snake constricting its prey, anchoring herself to the only familiar thing she had left.
Leaning down, she began kissing his neck, burying her face into his skin, inhaling deeply. She sniffed him, a bitter, dark humor bubbling up inside her chest to mask the absolute terror of their situation.
"Hmm... yeah. What the fuck does fate even smell like anyway?" she whispered against his neck, a bitter, tearful laugh bubbling up from her chest as she stared at his unresponsive face. "I really don't get you, you arrogant prick... are you also fated to be a fucking vegetable for the rest of your life? Hahaha. Seriously, Odin... I could really use some of your goddamn fate right now. Just a little bit of your ridiculous fucking luck would be great."
The hopelessness of their situation pressed down on her chest like a solid block of granite, but she stubbornly fought the despair away. She squeezed him tighter, her large, rounded breasts crushing flat against his bare chest, filling his pale, unmoving face with a torrent of sloppy, desperately passionate kisses all over his cheeks, his forehead, and his closed eyelids. She didn't want to think about the lack of food. She didn't want to think about the fact that they were buried hundreds of feet below the bedrock. She just wanted to hold him.
For thirty minutes, the cavern remained completely peaceful, the passage of time moving rapidly as she lay there in his frozen embrace, trying to pretend the outside world didn't exist. But the illusion couldn't last forever. A sharp, loud, violent rumble erupted from her midsection, her stomach aggressively twisting in pain.
GROOOOOOWOOOL.
Her stomach roared with an aggressive, empty ache.
"Fuck... I'm so goddamn hungry," she muttered, her teeth grinding together.
Realizing she couldn't afford to be lazy anymore, she reluctantly unlocked her slender legs from around his waist and stood up onto the cold silt. Her body shivered as the cool air hit her bare, exposed skin, but she forced her posture straight, looking down at the comatose man. She leaned down, giving his cold lips one more reassuring, deeply emotional kiss, before offering a thumbs-up with her good left hand.
"Be right back, mister vegetable," she said, forcing a warm, bright smile across her face, her eyes shining with a deep, protective tenderness. "I'm going to go bring us some food and whatever else we need to survive this hole. Despite the throbbing in her arm. She held up her good hand, flashing a thumps up!
She knew it was crazy. She knew he was completely unconscious and couldn't hear a single word, let alone reply. But she kept talking anyway. In a fucked-up situation like this, the sound of her own voice was the only thing keeping her sane, collected, and grounded.
Turning away from Odin, her expression instantly hardened into a grumpy, vengeful scowl as she stomped toward Arbok and the rest of the gang.
"I swear to Arceus!" she barked at the empty air, shaking her fist toward the ceiling crack. "Once I get out of this fucking place, I am going to personally annihilate every single Voltorb and Electrode from existence! Just fucking watch me do it, Arceus! I'll wipe those rolling exploding bastards off the face of the map!"
She stomped over to where her Arbok and the Nidorans were waiting, her wide hips swaying with a natural, model-like grace despite her raw fury.
She let out a sharp breath, trying to focus on the immediate problem. "Come on, guys," Lucy said, her voice dropping into a focused, serious register. "We need to check the riverbank or just follow the current deeper into the paths to see if there are any fish Pokémon out there. Anything that's edible, and hopefully, something that isn't completely poisonous... but fuck, I really don't want to leave Odin completely alone and exposed out here while we're gone."
An idea struck her. Reaching down to her belt, she unclipped a standard, normal Pokéball. With a click of the button, she tossed it forward, summoning her next companion.
In a flash of red light, Graveler materialized on the dirt. To Lucy's absolute joy, his eyes flickered open. He was awake. However, her sudden burst of happiness was instantly dampened when she saw how weak he truly was. He was heavily injured, his rocky hide cracked and scraped, his movements sluggish. The sight of her battered friend ruined her mood all over again, twisting her heart with intense guilt and gratitude.
The sight broke her heart, and the sheer emotional pressure made her discard all her Elite Officer dignity. Lucy lunged forward, throwing her entire naked body against his rough, cold form. She hugged the massive rock-type with everything she had, her big, bare breasts and nipples squishing completely flat against his rough stone face as she sobbed out her gratitude.
"Oh, thank goodness," she cooed, her voice trembling with genuine emotion as she began thanking him with all her heart. "You survived... you actually survived."
She held him close, remembering the chaos of the previous day. Even when Graveler had reached his absolute limit and fallen unconscious, his instinct to shield them had never wavered. He had stayed a solid, unyielding barrier until the final moments. In her eyes, he wasn't just a Pokémon anymore; he was the undisputed MVP of their survival. She felt a profound, overwhelming surge of love for him—a bond so deep she knew he needed a real name, just like how Angel had lovingly named her Koffing 'Poopie.'
"Rocky," she whispered, pulling back just enough to look into his weary eyes. "I'm calling you Rocky. My Rocky... my lovely Rocky!"
She began profusely praising him, her words turning sweet and sugary as she cooed over him like an absolute baby. She hyped him up, showering him with compliments, cradling his heavy, stone form as best as she could with one arm, her bare breasts and nipples brushing and crushing against his cold hide with every movement.
"You're alive... thank god you're alive," Lucy cried, her voice thick with sugary, unadulterated love as she cooed over him like a newborn baby. She began profusely kissing the edge of his stone brow, hyping him up with everything she had. "Thank you so much, Rocky! My beautiful, lovely Rocky! You are the absolute MVP of our survival, do you hear me? You're a hero! You instinctively protected both Odin and me until the final fucking seconds, even when you were losing consciousness. I love you so much, my amazing boy!"
"You are the strongest, most amazing boy ever," she purred, her voice dripping with affection. The sweet, sugary compliments and the intense, naked pressure of her body heat completely blindsided the massive Pokémon. Graveler's rocky heart literally fluttered, skipping a massive beat as her bare skin and erect nipples brushed and crushed against his face. The pure adoration from his master mate, instantly injected a sudden influx of lost vitality and fighting spirit straight into his broken core.
"I know you're incredibly weak right now, Rocky," Lucy whispered softly, pulling back just enough to lock her crimson eyes onto his. She gave him a smile so blindingly beautiful and radiant it looked like it belonged to a literal angel. "But the gang and I really need to go hunt us some food down by the river paths. So... can you do something incredibly important for me? Can you use your big, awesome, powerful body to hide Odin away from any potential danger while we're gone?"
She pointed toward Odin, then looked back at Graveler with an intense, pleading gaze. She patted his side gently. "I just need you to act like a huge, ordinary boulder. Just stay completely still, don't move a single goddamn inch, and use your mass to rest and cover Odin's body from view. I will be back here very soon with food for all of us, okay, Rocky?"
She flashed him a dazzling smile—a look of pure, angelic beauty that cut right through the Pokémon's exhaustion.
His heart completely fluttered, skipping a heavy beat as the sheer force of her affection washed over him. The sweet words and the physical closeness acted like a sudden jolt of adrenaline.The radiant smile and the immense trust she placed in him was the ultimate catalyst. Graveler's chest puffed out, his cracked arms tightening as he let out a roaring, defiant battle cry that shook the loose gravel around his feet.
He squared his rocky shoulders, crying out with newfound determination: "Grav... GRAVELER!!"
"That's a good boy, my Rocky!" Lucy cooed once more, giving him one final flurry of praises and sweet compliments.
"That's a good boy! That's my Rocky!" Lucy cooed profusely, showering him in one final round of sweet praises as she watched him carefully haul his heavy, multi-ton stone mass over Odin's bare form. Graveler positioned himself perfectly, curling his massive body into a hollow arch that completely sealed Odin away from sight, creating a perfect, impenetrable stone bunker that looked like nothing more than an ordinary cave boulder.
Seeing that everything was settled and her companion was safely hidden, Lucy took a deep breath. She adjusted her posture, ignored the throbbing pain in her crushed arm, and looked toward the rushing waters of the river. It was time to hunt.