Inspiration
#1 of Therapy
Chris has just arrived in Pewter City. He challenges Brock for the Boulder Badge, but things don't go as he planned. What's a disheartened, depressed trainer to do?
Chapter One: Inspirationby Havoc
If there can be such a thing as the worst day in the history of bad days, then Chris certainly felt like he had come as close as he had ever come before in his twenty-one years of life. Oh, the day had started off nice enough. He had woken up at eight o'clock in the morning, sharp, and had taken his first real shower in nearly a week in the bathroom afforded by his motel room. It was amazing how much grime had accumulated in his light brown hair after only seven days on the road. As a Pokémon Trainer, he spent a lot of his time travelling, and for the past week he had been journeying from the Sinnoh region, his home, south to the region of Kanto. With all of the gym badges of the Sinnoh League securely under his belt, he'd felt like he was ready to take on what he had heard to be the much tougher gyms to be found in Kanto.
He certainly had about the best pokémon he could imagine with him. After five years of training and capturing, he had assembled a stable and solid team: Douglas, a male Luxray; Aisha, a Vespiquen (female, naturally); Liam, a male Garchomp; Yaphet, a male Gastrodon; and lastly Lara and Farah, his two female Weaviles. Lara and Farah had not been captured by Chris, but had been given to him by his brother, a failed trainer who had recognized that Chris was better at the job than he was. Instead of releasing the pair, who had been Sneasels at the time, he had entrusted them to Chris. Lara and Farah were twin sisters, and for the longest time it had been a near impossibility for him to distinguish the two from each other. A hard battle one day, however, had given Farah a rather distinguishing scar across her left eye, which, while unfortunate, certainly made telling them apart a bit easier. Chris normally saved them for double battles, and they were the only of his pokémon that he allowed to remain free of their balls. They were well-behaved and friendly, and besides that they did not like to be apart, so he felt like it was unfair to keep them confined.
When Chris stepped out of the shower, he had gotten dressed, woken up Lara and Farah (who had seemed to not appreciate the early rise), and checked out of the hotel, ready to hit the road again. After about an hour-long walk down the road, they'd arrived in Pewter City. He had asked around about Kanto with the other trainers who were staying in the same motel as he, most of whom were going the other way, and had learned that the gym in Pewter City was where most Kanto trainers started off their gym challenges. With this knowledge in hand, Chris had found the Pewter Gym and gone inside to make his first Kanto gym battle.
Now, in the middle of it, Chris was quickly realizing that he'd made a very severe error in thinking that this gym would be a pushover. Brock, the leader of the gym, had been a trainer for far longer than Chris, and was at a skill level a step above what he had been expecting. Douglas, Aisha, and Liam had already fallen before the onslaught of Brock's team. His Rock-type pokémon were formidable foes, and the only of Chris's pokémon who had a clear advantage over them was his Gastrodon, Yaphet. And even he was having trouble, especially since he was fighting Brock's extremely powerful Kabutops.
"You're pretty good," Brock said, as the two pokémon tangled in the center of the gym. The gym trainers, all of whom Chris had defeated prior to taking on Brock, were watching the fight. "I can see how you got through all of my disciples. But still...there's something lacking from your fighting style."
Chris's expression was defiant. "Shut up!" he yelled. "I'm just getting started! Yaph, hit it with an Earthquake!" Yaphet reared up on the back half of his sluggish foot and came crashing down, sending a shock wave radiating out from his body.
Brock sighed. "Kabutops, show it what you've got." The Kabutops jumped into the air, avoiding the shock waves even as the gym trainers all around cried out in alarm and fell to their feet from the very edges of the attack. The fossil pokémon seemed to hang up near the ceiling for several seconds, before it came down behind Yaphet. It clasped Chris's Gastrodon around the neck with its scythe-like arms, causing Yaphet to twist his head back and forth in an attempt to shake it off. Brock's Kabutops squeezed its eyes shut and began to glow with green light. Chris recognized the attack as Giga Drain. Yaphet's mouth opened in a pain-wracked gurgle as his energy was sucked right out of him and into the attacking pokémon. Before long, it was over, and Yaphet collapsed to the gym floor, while the Kabutops strode rather nonchalantly back to Brock.
"You...," Chris hissed. "I'll show you! Lara, get in there!" His unscarred Weavile growled and began to advance into the ring.
"No."
"What?" Chris couldn't believe what he'd just heard. And yet the word had come out of Brock's mouth. "What do you mean, ‘no'?"
"I mean I'm not going to allow you to continue. This battle is over." Brock returned his Kabutops to its poké ball, his expression one of the utmost seriousness. "You're good, there's no questioning that. But you can't win."
Chris was furious. "Send your pokémon back out, and I'll show you how much I can't win!"
"Be realistic. I have two dual Rock/Water-types, Kabutops and Omastar." Brock shook his head. "The only pokémon you have left are your Ice/Dark-type Weaviles, and my Rock pokémon will tear them apart." Lara and Farah both snarled at that assessment of their abilities. "I'm not going to let you fight me any longer when you're obviously not ready. You have no sense of trust in the natural abilities of your pokémon. I'm not sure how they do things in Sinnoh, but around here it takes more than brute strength to win, and right now brute strength is all you have."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you lost. I beat you. Go home and train more." Brock turned around, showing obvious contempt for Chris. "You're not ready for the Kanto League."
Later, Chris walked through the streets of Pewter City, his anger at the casual way that the gym leader had dismissed him quickly giving way to depression. Now that the adrenaline rush from going into battle had worn off and he was out of the fighting environment, he was able to see more clearly just how reckless he might have been in the gym. For God's sake, the first pokémon he'd sent out had been Douglas, an Electric-type. Against a team that was mainly Rock/Ground-types, that had been suicide. Next sending out Aisha, a Bug/Flying-type, had likewise been a rather poor choice. Were the gym leaders really that much worse in Sinnoh than here in Kanto? Was Chris just lacking the proper perspective? He'd never had all that much trouble taking down the likes of Roark, Byron, and Candice. Overwhelming power had been plenty to do away with those leaders.
He found himself walking into Viridian Forest, a short hike south of Pewter City. Bug pokémon skittered among the trees as he walked along the winding path through the woods, with Lara and Farah in tow. Finding a quiet spot a little ways off the path, he sat down in the shadow of a huge tree. He rested his back against the trunk, and his twin Weaviles took a seat on either side of him, Lara on the left and Farah on the right. Chris just sat there, absorbed in his own thoughts. Some indeterminate amount of time passed before he said anything.
"That thing he said," Chris mumbled. "He said ‘brute strength is all you have.'"
Lara and Farah looked at one another. Farah, the quiet sister, said nothing, but Lara chattered something in the pokémon language and put a comforting claw on Chris's knee. He mustered a little smile for her.
"If you're trying to cheer me up, I appreciate it, Lara," Chris said. "But I think he might be right. Remember when we battled that trainer on the way here? You know...what's-her-name...Cynthia. She said the same thing to me. That I have strong pokémon but I don't know how to bring out their full potential." He sighed. "I think I might have made a mistake in coming here."
Lara looked at Farah. *Listen to him,* she whispered to her sister. *Barely two days in this place, and he's already about to give up. Pathetic.*
*Hush,* Farah said. *He had a rough loss.*
*Well, he needs to man up and get over it. It's not the end of the world.*
Farah allowed the crest on her head to flatten back, a sign of irritation. *Give him a break. Anyone would be a little depressed after getting flattened like he just was.*
*He should have let me at that asshole gym leader,* Lara grumbled. *I'd have taught him some respect.*
"What are you two girls whispering about?" Chris asked. "No fair talking in front of me when I can't understand a word you're saying."
Lara and Farah both rolled their eyes.
Later that night, Chris returned to Pewter City and found a hotel that still had some vacancies left. All he could get was a two-room suite, but he figured that would sit well with Lara and Farah, since they usually all had to cramp into a single room. He got settled in his own room while the Weaviles looked around theirs. After they had their fill of exploring the room, they went back to Chris's room, where they found him slumped in a chair, his eyes glazed over and his mind far off someplace they could only guess at. Bored, Lara and Farah went right back to their room.
*Sister, I'm worried about him,* Farah said to Lara, jumping up on the bed and laying back on the pillows. *He's never gotten like this before.*
Lara hopped up beside her, although she remained sitting up instead of lying down. *What can we do about it? He's the one with the problem, not us.*
*You could be a little more caring,* Farah said. *He's our trainer, after all. We're supposed to be there for him. I know I'd do anything to help him.*
*I never said I didn't care. I'm just saying that there's nothing much we can do other than hope he pulls out of it.* Lara shrugged, flipping the edges of her red collar up a little. *Maybe we can try to get him to beef up his training regimen, but that's about it.*
Farah frowned. *There must be something else we can do.*
*Well, when you think of something, let me know.*
Through the crack underneath the door separating their two rooms, the Weavile twins saw the light in Chris's room go out. The springs on his bread creaked, and they heard him give a huge yawn. After a little more bed shifting was heard, it appeared as though he had gone to sleep.
*Finally,* Lara said, grinning. She bent over her sister and kissed her full on the lips. Farah relaxed into the kiss, but spoke up when her sister broke away.
*Should we be doing this here?* she asked. *Chris is in the next room, after all. What if he hears us?*
Lara smiled again. *He's never heard us before. C'mon, what are you afraid of?* She kissed Farah again. They both opened their mouths, twisting their tongues together. Lara put a hand to her sister's chest. The breasts of females of their species were small and rather flat, but they were definitely there underneath the feathered collar around their necks. She found Farah's nipples and tweaked them gently. Farah squeaked a startled noise of pleasure into her mouth. *Besides, he's going to find out sooner or later. And it would actually be kind of nice not to have to hide it anymore.*
*Yeah, but...Ah!* Farah bit off whatever she had been about to say when Lara slipped a hand in between her legs. *Oh, sister...*
Contrary to what Lara and Farah thought, Chris already knew that their relationship was quite a bit more extensive than what sisters usually shared. In fact, he'd known since he'd received the twins from his brother, who had been the one to discover it. Some trainers might have discouraged the behavior, but Chris didn't care. If he could have mustered the courage to encourage it, as a matter of fact, he would have. It made them unstoppable in double battles. But he realized that using that fact to try to manipulate Lara and Farah would be in extremely poor form. So, he left them to their own devices.
Right now, Chris lay in bed, doing his best to block out the noises coming from the other side of the wall. The sounds suggested that things were heating up in there, so that task was somewhat difficult. As he attempted to fall asleep, he kept thinking about the day and what had happened.
I've been going about everything all wrong, he thought. My whole career, I've been focusing on power and strength, when it turns out that there's a lot more to it than that. Sure, I did great in the Sinnoh League, but the Kanto League looks like it will be a step above that. He rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. And if both Cynthia and Brock were really right, then I'm totally unprepared for what lies ahead of me. I've jumped out of the airplane with an umbrella instead of a parachute.
After a while, he looked at the bedside clock. The digital display read 11:44 PM. He'd been lying awake for nearly an hour later than he'd planned to be asleep. He listened for noises from next door. Nothing. The Weaviles must have fallen asleep, or at least stopped what they'd been doing. Well, at least he wouldn't be distracted by that anymore.
Must be something about a guy's mind, Chris thought. They sure aren't human, but even the thought of two girls... He ceased that train of thought right there. He had enough to think about without that particular aberration.
Early the next morning, around about six o'clock, Chris got up and got dressed. He eased open the door to Lara and Farah's room and peeked in on them. They were both still asleep. Typical of them; they would probably sleep the whole day if given the choice. He shut the door again, taking care to do it softly so he wouldn't wake the girls. The trainer left the suite by way of the main door in his room, and emerged from the hotel into the early morning light. The sun wasn't visible yet, hidden behind Mt. Moon to the east, and mist still hovered over the ground. Pewter City was just now waking up, and even as he watched the street lamps flickered off.
Chris stopped in at a restaurant that had just opened and ordered breakfast. The food in Kanto was a little different from back in Sinnoh. The eggs tasted the same, but the milk in his coffee tasted better. He guessed it had to do with the fact that Kanto was closer to Johto, the main milk-producing region, and as such the milk didn't have as many preservatives in it and was fresher. The fruits were different as well. He was used to having Pecha berries with his breakfast, but in Kanto it seemed as though Nanab was the berry to start the day with. Not his favorite, but not bad. Trying something new was always good in his book.
Breakfast finished, he paid his check and left the restaurant for his next destination: the Pewter Gym. When he arrived at the entrance to the building, he took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Inside, the gym trainers were milling about. Obviously, their training day hadn't quite begun yet. Several of them noticed him and walked up.
"What are you doing here?" one of the trainers asked. "Here to get you tail kicked again?"
"Maybe he likes pain," another said, laughing.
Chris ignored the taunts. "I'm not here to battle today," he said. "I was just wondering where your leader was. I want to talk to him."
"He doesn't wanna talk to the likes of you," a third trainer scoffed. "Why don't you get the hell out of..."
"Don't speak out of line, Dix."
The trainers who had accosted Chris turned around. Brock was walking up, his face stern. He stopped beside them, his expression clearly projecting his disapproval of their actions.
"Boss, we were just...," the trainer identified as Dix began.
Brock cut him off. "I don't want to hear any excuses. I won't have any sort of rude behavior towards guests of this gym. It took a lot of courage for this young man to come back here today, whatever his reasons." He jerked a thumb behind him. "Get back with the others. We'll be starting our routines soon." The trainers reluctantly retreated back to the group. Brock turned to Chris. "Sorry about that. Those guys are new and they haven't quite learned their place yet. So, what brings you here at this early hour?"
"I was hoping I could talk to you about what you said to me yesterday," Chris said. "I did a lot of thinking about it, and I need some advice."
Brock nodded thoughtfully. He turned to the group. "Christina, get them started," he called. A female trainer who looked about the same age as Brock looked up. "I'll be with you guys in a minute. The usual routine, if you please."
"Yes, sir," Christina said. She gathered the gym trainers and led them away.
"Come with me to my office," Brock said. "I'll see what kind of advice I can give you."
Brock's office was on the second level of the gym. The room was furnished as Chris would have expected a gym leader's office to be. There were trophies and cases full of badges filling the walls. A very nice dark wood desk sat in the office, covered with all kinds of memorabilia. One wall was made completely of a window, which overlooked the battle floor. Brock invited Chris to sit, and he did. Chris noticed a picture in a small frame on the desk. The photograph showed what looked like a much younger Brock standing with a red-haired girl and a young boy with a Pikachu on his shoulder. Brock noticed him looking at the picture and picked it up.
"An old memory from my past," he said. "Back in my younger days, I traveled around with those two. The girl is now the leader of the gym in Cerulean City, just over Mt. Moon. Last I heard, the kid...well, not a kid anymore...last I heard he was retired and living in Hoenn with his wife." He set the picture back down. "But you didn't come here to listen to my stories. What's on your mind?"
Chris collected his thoughts for a moment. "Yesterday, something you said just kind of struck me," he said. "You said that I didn't trust the ‘natural abilities' of my pokémon. I've been thinking about it all night and I can't figure out what you meant."
"Well, what do you think I meant?"
"I don't know," Chris said. "I've always encouraged my pokémon to be as strong as they can. I train with them all the time. Whenever we battle, I'm right there with them, telling them what to do."
"There," Brock interrupted. "That phrase you just used. Say it again."
Chris looked confused. "I'm...telling them what to do?"
Brock nodded slowly. "That's what I meant. That's the problem."
"I don't understand."
"Then I'll explain." Brock scratched his chin for a moment. "When you're telling your pokémon what to do, that's great. They need to know that you're involved. That's key to being a good trainer." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "But to be a great trainer, you can't just tell your pokémon what to do. A well-trained pokémon can sense the way a battle is going. To be a truly great trainer, you have to be able to trust your pokémon enough to let them do their own thing. I barely even speak to my pokémon anymore in battle. We've gotten to a level where they quite honestly could do it without me."
Frowning, Chris slumped in his chair. "So, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying it's important to have pokémon that are physically strong," Brock explained, "but it's absolutely essential to have pokémon that are mentally strong and have a strong bond with you."
"So how do I train for that?"
The gym leader sat forward in his chair. "That...I can't tell you," he said. "It's not something that anyone else can tell you. You have to figure it out on your own."
"That sounds like a cop-out," Chris said.
Brock laughed. "Maybe it is, son, maybe it is." He got up from his chair and came around the desk. "Regardless, I'm afraid I can't help you anymore. The rest is up to you." He extended a hand. "Thanks for coming by. It shows you care, and caring is the one thing that you need to be doing right now."
Chris shook his hand and walked out of the office. He went back downstairs and left the gym. Before he headed back to the hotel, he took one last look at the gym. He wondered if it was the last time he'd ever look at it again.
Farah awoke at the sound of the door to their hotel suite opening and closing. She looked beside her. Her sister Lara was still fast asleep beside her. Curious, she quietly got out of bed and entered Chris's half of the suite. When she walked in, he was flipping his shoes off and sitting down on the bed, propping his head up on the pillows so that he was half-sitting and half-lying down. The Weavile stepped over beside his bed and put her clawed hands on top of it. Chris had his eyes closed and didn't notice her. She nudged him and he started, looking down at her.
"Hey, Farah," he said, ruffling her red feathered crest. She rewarded his efforts with a sort of growling purr. "Did you just wake up? What have I said about sleeping in so late?" Farah hopped onto the bed. She curled up next to him and put her front claws on his lap. Chris began absentmindedly scratching behind her ears. "I went back to the gym this morning, Farah. I wanted to talk to Brock and try to figure some stuff out. But I think I'm more confused now than I was before."
Farah stared blankly up at him, unable to respond in any way he would understand.
"He said I have to let you guys ‘do your own thing,'" Chris continued. "But I don't get it. That seems like it would defeat the purpose of having a trainer around. How do you train without telling your pokémon what to do?" He sighed.
*Cheer up,* Farah said. *You'll figure it out.*
Chris smiled weakly at her. Of course, he hadn't understood a word of it. "I'm thinking it might be best if we went ahead and returned home. I don't think there's any future for us here in Kanto."
Farah frowned at Chris. He seemed so disheartened right now. She wanted to make him feel better, but she couldn't think of anything she could do that might lift his spirits.
Her trainer was rubbing the fur on her back. "I wish I could sort all this out, Farah, I do. But I can't."
The feeling of Chris's hand on her back felt very good to Farah, but it was tempered by the sadness she could sense in him. Trying to alleviate his depression, she got on her knees and craned her neck up, giving him a small lick on the cheek. It didn't seem to do any good. She desperately racked her brain, worry for her trainer heavy on her heart. Suddenly, in a burst of inspiration, she remembered something she had witnessed a long time ago, when she still belonged to Chris's brother.
Chris's brother used to have a female friend that was around his house a lot. Often, when he was feeling bad, she would do this...thing...to him. Once, Farah had caught a glimpse of what she was doing through a cracked bedroom door. The idea was a little strange to her, but if it had the slightest chance of cheering up her trainer, she was willing to try it.
Farah bent over, so that she was kneeling perpendicular to his legs, and started plucking at the button that fastened the top of Chris's pants. He didn't seem to notice what she was doing until the button was undone. Then, he looked down and saw what she'd done. By that time, Farah had the zipper down and was tugging at the legs of his pants.
"Whoa, Farah!" Chris exclaimed, grabbing her arms. "What do you think you're doing?"
The Weavile jerked her arms out of his grasp and succeeded in dragging his pants down to his knees. Before she could go any further, Chris had grabbed her again and was trying to push her away.
"What's gotten into you?" he asked, incredulous.
Again, Farah tore herself out of his grasp, baring her teeth. *Stop it!* she growled. *This is for your own good!*
Of course, all Chris saw and heard was a pissed-off sounding Weavile with a scar over her eye and easy access to the most delicate of human appendages. "Okay, okay," he said, his eyes wide with fright. He let her go. "Calm down."
*That's better.* Farah fiddled with button on Chris's undershorts, and all of a sudden his penis flopped out. It was the first time Farah had seen one so close up. She thought it looked kind of funny, like a weird mushroom or some sort of sausage. She touched it with a single finger.
"Hey, be careful with that!" Chris said.
Farah glared at him, as if to ask "what do you take me for?" She knew how to use her hands to avoid hurting someone. After all, she had plenty of practice with Lara. Keeping her claws clear of Chris's skin, she wrapped a hand around his cock. Slowly, she began to move her hand up and down, just like she remembered seeing before.
"Oh, geeze, Farah," Chris said, closing his eyes and putting his head back. "What are you...doing?"
*Making you feel better, I hope,* Farah said to herself. She continued stroking his penis. She must have been doing something right, because it began to grow. His member swelled to fill her hand, and it became stiff and straight. Chris started to breathe harder, and a small bead of clear liquid oozed from the tip.
He put a hand down, and Farah tensed, expecting him to push her away again, but instead he started rubbing the back of her head. Surprised, she looked at him. His eyes were barely open, and his other hand was on the bed, gripping the sheets tightly. Farah slowly grinned. Her efforts seemed to be having the desired effect. Now, what came next? Oh, that's right.
Chris watched through slit eyes as Farah opened her mouth. He felt a little apprehensive as he eyed the inch-long fangs inside, but what was he supposed to do? If he made her angry, she could go ahead and bite it off anyway.
Farah tentatively put her tongue out and touched it to the tip of his penis. Chris groaned and put his head back again. The Weavile began to give him small licks over the head, thinking carefully about the taste. It was very different from the taste of her sister, but not bad. She withdrew her tongue and closed her lips over his cock, slowly moving down the shaft until it was halfway in her mouth, as far as she could go. She liked the feel of it in her mouth. His member pulsed with his heartbeat, and the clear liquid was flowing more steadily now, giving her hints of a salty flavor that she wanted a better taste of.
For his part, Chris was in heaven. All he could think about now was how great this felt, his previous thoughts a mere whisper in the back of his mind. Farah's mouth was very wet and very warm. Her tongue swirled along the underside of his penis. He gasped as she started to move her head up and down, licking all along the shaft as she went.
While she was working her mouth over his hard cock, Farah became aware that Chris's hand was gradually sliding down her back. She didn't think anything of it until his hand reached her rump. She made a small noise of shock in the back of her throat as his hand came between her legs. Farah moaned around his cock as he wiggled a finger between the folds of her sex, searching for her entrance. Moistness began to collect there, and she wiggled her rear end, trying to help him find her vagina. Finally, he managed to slip a finger inside of her. He started to thrust his finger in and out of her tight hole. It felt amazing, and Farah increased the pace of her assault on his cock.
Chris could feel his climax building, rising up along his penis. All at once, he felt his balls tighten and he took his free hand off of the bed, pressing it into the back of Farah's head. At the same time, he thrust his finger into her as far as it could go and began to piston it inside of her.
Farah cried out as Chris shoved her down on his cock, partly in discomfort from the rough intrusion, but mostly from pleasure as her vagina began to ripple in orgasm. Chris's penis jerked in her mouth, and she felt a hot liquid spurt against the back of her throat. Resisting the urge to gag, she swallowed as fast as she could, trying to keep up with the pace as more liquid flowed into her mouth. At last, she had swallowed the last drop, and she pulled her head out of her trainer's lap, gasping for air.
Amazed at what had just happened, Chris eased his finger out of his Weavile and stared at her. Farah stared back, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. Then, she quickly gave him another lick on the cheek, hopped down from the bed, and retreated into her and her sister's room. His mind blank, Chris slowly tucked himself back into his shorts, pulled and zipped up his pants, and just sat there.
Lara's eyes drifted open as Farah slipped back into their shared room. She sat up in bed, blinking sleep away from her eyes. *Where have you been?* she asked groggily.
Farah licked her lips, the taste of Chris's semen still clinging to her tongue. She hopped onto the bed and hugged her sister. *I'll tell you all about it later,* she promised. *But I think now we're going to be spending a little more time here in Kanto.*
Chris shuffled off of his bed and went to the window. He looked out over Pewter City. The sun was finally cresting the peak of Mt. Moon. The light shone into the room, and he squinting, the glare hurting his eyes. He turned away, a smile suddenly appearing on his face.
Time to stop pitying myself, he thought. I've got work to do!