FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was dawn when a green cab labeled Cherrygrove Chariots pulled up the gravel driveway to Lucas's home. From out its door stepped Leor: she wore a bathrobe bought the night before, which she pulled open to ease the early morning heat soon as the cab left. Her bloody clothes dumped in a bathroom trashcan at the police station, Nina had the robe delivered there when she learned Leor was being detained.

It was that or let them take Strypes. Which, the cops of course blamed for the dead human. Leor either had to return to the station with Strypes or surrender her pokemon. Leor was within her rights as a ranger to use lethal force on someone discharging a firearm at her, but under no circumstances was a pokemon ever allowed to kill a human. Any that did faced euthanasia, and unlike humans they did not have the same legal rights to trials. So despite being drenched in the man's blood, it took one of the Rocket thugs corroborating at the station that she did indeed kill their compatriot. They had been there that night because they believed Lucas had an alpha typhlosion, but of course when the records of Willow's ranch were run, there were no alphas registered there.

Some small victories. No one on their end had blabbed about there being a Hisuian Typhlosion, but someone—likely someone who worked wherever Lucas got his two female typhlosions—leaked some kind of details about the ranch.

She retrieved Strypes' ball from the pocket of her robe and tossed him out. He hugged her soon as he materialized.

“Hey," she said, “I missed you, too. Can't remember the last time I had to have you balled for so long."

He wrapped both paws around the back of her head and pulled her brow to brow. His red eyes bore into hers.

“I know I don't look great, but I'll be fine." She reached up and touched his now regenerated ear. Cops had been nice enough to run his ball under a restore machine, at least. Leor tried to offer him a smile, but it faltered, and the corner of her eyes watered.

“Goon…"

“I'll be alright—just need a shower. Still got that guy's blood on me." They'd given her something to wash her face and hands, but she really needed time to scrub it out of the fur on her arms and chest.

Strypes huffed, but stepped to her side, one arm wrapping around her shoulder. She leaned against him as they walked back to the house. Nothing had been disturbed, the door left unlocked. Inside the threshold, Leor muttered, “Can you cook up some bacon and eggs for me?"

A grumble, he did not want to leave her side, but assented.

Leor checked down the hall, no Lucas in his bedroom or his office. She went out onto the deck and saw one of the barns had its doors completely ripped from its hinges. She cursed, which got Strypes attention from the kitchen. He went out onto the deck and tilted his snout up, nostrils flaring a moment before dismissing the sight with a wave of his paw.

“Kypha and Lucas?" Leor asked.

Strypes made a little O with two claws and shoved three from the other paw inside it.

“Well, mission accomplished, I guess."

Not that she felt like celebrating.

***

“You should go on day hike with Joule and River."

Matthew frowned, standing on Lucas's porch. Leor had greeted him at the door, a backpack packed and Joule and River's pokeballs in a holster dangling from one of the straps. “What about checking on the barns, Dr. Willow—"

“I can handle it," Leor said with a smile that seemed strained. Were those bags under her eyes? “I already talked to Doc about it—well, not about the three of you, but he agrees it'd be good for the both of them to get out, so that's your job today. Take your boys out. If you walk the eastern forest trail over there up the slope there's a hunter's cabin that won't be in use this time of year. If something happens, I promise not to tell." She winked, and this time it was much more genuine.

“Oh-okay. Are you sure Dr. Willow won't mind?"

She thrust the stuffed backpack into his chest. “You leave him to me."

He took the bag from her and noticed her hands. “You clipped your claws?"

She yanked her hand away and the strained smile returned. “Yeah! When they get too long they can get really brittle and it hurts when they get caught on things. It was overdue, really."

“Alright, um, actually, is everything alright?"

Leor sighed, and whatever facade she put on came down. She hugged him tight, squishing the backpack between them. When she pulled away, she brushed away a tear. “It was a rough night. I was helping Lucas with Kypha. I'll tell you about it when we're both ready, but right now I need you out of here, kid."

That was the first time Leor had ever called him that, putting the distance of their ages between them in a way she never had before. “Leor if I did something—"

“No!" Leor grabbed his arm. “Really, Matt, it's going to be okay. Things are just kinda a mess right now, and I'd rather you get a chance to have one really good day with Joule and River before your internship ends. With any luck, there will be really good years with those two ahead of you, but first there are things I need to take care of here without you, okay? That's all. I promise I'll tell you what's going on soon, okay?" She released him and stepped back through Lucas's door.

“Whatever it is, I hope you feel better, Leor."

“Thank you, I'm sure I will."

And she shut the door.

***

His internship had made Matthew a little more used to staying on his feet most of the day, but the prospect of a hike would have been daunting without the accompaniment of his companions. Joule and River practically frolicked through the woods, chasing each other, trying to surprise Matthew by jumping from the overhead canopy, and keeping things from becoming a listless trudge.

Soon enough the trail climbed upward, though, a slow incline that eventually turned to a steeper switchback up the slope. Joule and River stopped playing by then. The smell of petrichor tingled in his nostrils as Joule trotted ahead, tail clearly raised to tease him while River held his hand. Despite it being a cooler day, Matthew was already sweating through his shirt by the time they reached the top of the slope: the steep hill had leveled into a plateau that ran to the start of the Blackthorn Mountain range, cut by streams that swept south into the Cherrygrove watershed. Fortunately, they remained below the treeline still, forest canopy keeping them cloaked in shade.

Matthew stopped next to an aspen, ready to take a break only for Lucario to tug on his finger. “No River, I really need a minute." An hour of mostly uphill hiking was still a lot for him.

“Cari!" River chirped, pointing down the trail. Joule was there, having cut through the trees, and, catching sight of the luxray, Matthew noticed a clearing with what had to be the cabin. Joule stamped down the undergrowth as he went. He turned back and yowled at them to follow.

Matthew sighed, “Fine, fine."

River led Matthew through the trail Joule made, his azure aura flowing off the front of his body to further force down shrubs and leaves, making it so all Matthew had to do was duck under some errant branches his shorter companions didn't think to move.

The clearing greeted them with the sound of rushing water. The A-frame cabin had hanging from it some old repel dispensers, a satellite dish mounted to its roof next to a chimney. Matthew noticed a water pump next to its base, and stopped to swing his backpack off and grab the canteen strapped to its side. He took a drink, then spilled the rest of the contents over his head before asking River, “Mind pumping that for me?"

River let out a happy little, “Lulu!" while Joule drank straight from the nearby stream. Matthew filled his canteen, then headed around to the front porch, noticing a sign nailed to the door:

LEAVE THINGS BETTER

THAN YOU FOUND THEM

“Shouldn't be a problem," Matthew muttered before heading inside.

Twenty by thirty paces, the whole cabin was a singular room. A fireplace opposite the door with stacked firewood and next to that an old woodfire stove with pots and pans nailed to the wall above it. An overhead lamp didn't work, but the wooden shutters built into the upper roof let in enough light to see by. Two thick beams held up a loft where several bunks with cheap down mattresses sat. A long table with benches covered most of the lower floor, and as Matthew stepped inside, he noticed a small generator tucked into a corner. It was old, well-used, and clearly meant for an electric pokemon to power. The walls were covered in carvings and graffiti collected over the years.

Matthew dropped his backpack on the table as Joule and River followed him inside. River tugged on Matthew's shirt and led him back to the door. Against the wall behind it, River pointed out a heart with the initials “R+J" inside. Matthew asked, “You've been here before?"

River nodded, beaming, and knelt down before the carving, extending a single claw. Matthew watched wood peel away as River modified it to “R+J+M." The right leg of the M pushed out of the heart itself.

Matthew actually blushed, but before he could say anything, the light had flickered on. At the generator, Joule had bitten down on an exposed copper handle and was channeling electricity into it. The motor inside whirred to life, a display on it flashed and showed the battery already quickly filling up.

“Thanks Joule."

The luxray let out a pleased, “Xray" between its teeth.

River, meanwhile, had gone up to the loft, calling back with a yap.

“I'll be up there in a minute. I just want to see what Leor packed for us," Matthew said as he unzipped the bag's main pouch. Joule had finished charging the generator's battery and now went to Matthew's side. Upstairs, they heard a TV click on then start dumping a noisy commercial through the cabin.

At the top of the bag was an unsealed envelope that read, “It's now or never. Don't be afraid of what comes next. We'll figure that out together."

He overturned the envelope and out fell an antipokegenic: the small red-white pill making his face increasingly flushed as he put the pill back in the envelope. Hands now shaking, he went through the rest of the bag: a change of clothes from Lucas's closet in case he needed it, half a dozen protein and granola bars, a bag of pokefeed and two bowls for the boys, a container of instant coffee, and a small black tablet with a single button on its bottom.

He set everything on the table, keenly aware of the smell of the cabin. Lingering traces of mildewed wood were becoming more and more the smell of Joule, who waited until Matthew went through everything before nosing his side.

“Sorry if I'm boring you," Matthew said, scratching behind Joule's ear.

Above them, a morning news stinger sounded out followed by a newscaster saying, “And now more on a developing story from last night as rural residents east of Route 30 along Pineco Road reported being woken up by gunfire." As she spoke, River turned up the volume before calling down to them both.

Matthew grabbed one of the granola bars and his canteen before going around and climbing up to the loft. A dozen beds, six along each wall, ran down to an old, dusty couch where River sat watching a TV mounted to the wall.

The broadcast had cut to a reporter standing at the edge of a clearing, where a ruined van was in the process of being loaded onto a tow truck. “—Thank you Kelly, as you can see this is the remains of a fight that broke out last night between six members of the Rocket Kanto Crime Syndicate and a member of the International Rangers Guild. The police believe Rocket planned a raid on the nearby ranch of Dr. Lucas Willow, a decorated Pokemon Breeder whose work has helped repopulate over a dozen declining species native to Johto."

“Arceus… Leor? Why wouldn't she tell me…" but Matthew trailed off as he got closer, listening to the reporter as she held up a shell casing.

“This is just one of over two dozen casings found along with three semi-automatic rifles and two pistols. Cherrygrove Police have already confiscated and dismantled the illegal weapons, citing this as the first time in three years that a criminal case in the county has involved firearms. At the scene, police found the ranger with five of the six Rocket members bound and in some cases wounded. The final Rocket member, which an unnamed source at the coroner's office identified as Lionel Summers, was killed in the fighting. Police have yet to disclose the names of the other Rocket assailants as well as the name of the ranger who heroically fought them off."

The broadcast cut back to the newscaster who said, “Thank you, Helena. Now we turn to a press conference Chief Casey Shores has just started—"

Another cut to a thickly mustached, uniformed policeman. “—the IRG has already filed with Judge Kieran an injunction that has sealed certain details of this case for the next five years so they might protect the ranger involved. What we can say is this: Ranger T engaged the suspects at around 0130, declaring who they were and that the suspects were trespassing. They assaulted Ranger T with several pokemon, at which point Ranger T and their pokemon engaged the suspects. After a brief melee, which resulted in the death of one of the suspects, Ranger T subdued them. Police in the area, already responding to reports of gunshots from locals, quickly made their way there. At the scene officers found one of the six suspects dead from what appeared to be an attack from a pokemon. We took Ranger T in for questioning and after determining it was not a pokemon that killed the suspect, we released them. The remaining suspects are waiting to be indicted for assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, unlawful possession of firearms, possession of unlicensed pokemon, and assaulting a human with a pokemon. The CPD would like to thank the International Rangers Guild for helping apprehend these criminals and keeping our county safe. Once we have developed our case against the suspects, we will release what details we can about this incident. We will not be taking any questions today."

It cut back to the newscaster who said, “Currently the IRG has refused to comment on the events of last night, except to state that they have been working closely with law enforcement on the case. We now turn to Devon Clineman who is at the home of Dr. Lucas Willow for a statement—"

A cut to Dr. Willow's home, Matthew's car in the frame. His pocket violently buzzed and Matthew started, fumbling for his phone, his mom on the other line—

***

They had a merciful hour of quiet before Strypes heard the sound of tires crunching across gravel. Leor still slumbered in his arms, curled up against him. He needed to check who now snooped around, but Strypes hoped he could resolve it without waking his partner.

Gently, he slipped out of bed, pulling the quilt kicked to its foot over Leor. He glided down the stairs, hearing a knock on the door before someone opened it. Now on the first floor, in the dining room, Strypes could see Lucas in the doorway, human as ever, in a lab coat and slacks.

“Now what is this nonsense?" Lucas asked the camera crew and reporter outside. His smell was off, a dead giveaway that it wasn't Lucas speaking to them.

“We apologize for the disturbance Dr. Willow, we just wanted to know if you had any comment on the altercation that happened last night near your home."

“Altercation?"

“The fight between Rocket and the ranger who stopped them. Several of your neighbors reported gunshots last night so we assumed—"

“I sleep with earplugs in. This old house wakes me up all the time with its creaking. You're saying someone was firing guns last night?"

“Yes, members of the Rocket Syndicate were discovered by a ranger who engaged and dispatched them. The police believe they were here to raid your property."

The fake Lucas snorted. “Why would they ever waste their time with me? There isn't a single valuable pokemon here."

“But isn't it true you work with declining pokemon populations to rehabilitate them? Wouldn't you say those pokemon would be more rare?"

“Tsk, Arceus you guys are some amateurs. Yes, I rehabilitate wild populations, populations decimated since the passage of Johto's Right to Capture Act. Ever since we've become a capture for cash country, every pokemon's wild populations have been in decline. Do any of you even know how large the population of captured pokemon is in Johto? Pokemon that are sitting in warehouses, trapped in pokeballs, waiting for someone to buy them? Ten million since last year. That's nearly a fifth the size of Johto's current wild pokemon. Hey—I didn't say you could stop rolling, you're gonna bother me about some nonsense then you can listen now.

“Imagine if a fifth of Johto's human population was rounded up at random, put in a prison, genetically tested, a value assigned to that result, then bought and sold across the world. That's what we're doing to the pokemon of this country—don't you turn away! Listen to me: at the rate we are capturing pokemon, Johto is going to experience an ecological then economic collapse in the next three decades. And pokemon breeders like me won't be able to knock up hoppips fast enough to stop it!"

By this point, the fake Lucas had followed the news crew down the driveway. Harassing them until they were in their van and driving off. Strypes had gone to the door, watched them leave and turn the corner before the fake faced him. It blew up in a cloud of charcoal and red smoke, quickly dissipating to reveal Penumbra. She blew Strypes a kiss and called out, “How's my acting?"

Strypes stuck up a thumbed claw. Penumbra probably wouldn't convince anyone who knew Lucas, but scaring away the press with pro-pokemon politics would at least keep most reporters from thinking there was a story here for them.

“I expect you to thank me later, pet," Penumbra said after closing the distance between them. Under the porch's facade, her red mane pressed against its ceiling. “I was quite pleased with the last egg you gave me, so I expect another when you have the time."

A series of growls rumbled up Strypes' throat before clicking his tongue.

“Oh, no trouble at all, pet," Penumbra knelt down so they were eye to eye, “You're worth the wait."

It irritated him that her scent did make his sheath swell. That maddening musk: like someone had found a way to combine the alluring yet dangerously sweet scent of a victreebel with the appetizing aroma of roasted chesto berries. Rather than dwell on embarrassing memories of eating out Penumbra's sex till his tongue was too sore to continue, Strypes opted to step inside and shut the door on her.

“There's no need to be rude, pet!"

***

“I promise, mom, we're completely safe."

“Nonsense, you need to come home immediately," Matthew's mother, Sable, said.

Matthew grimaced, half-watching a reporter try to talk to an unusually belligerent Dr. Willow till the broadcast cut away and the news shifted to the weather, at which point River turned the TV off to watch Matthew, who said, “Listen, I've not said anything because, well, I was told not to, but that ranger they mentioned on the news? She's here with us. She's been staying at Lucas's place while doing a job in the mountains, there's no way she'd let anything happen to us. She's a total badass."

“Baby, I don't care if she can call Lugia down to her, Rocket will come back. Mobsters don't turn the other cheek."

Matthew had thought that, too. Was that the real reason Leor sent him out here? But still… “Mom, my internship ends in a week. I'd really like the chance to stick it out, make the most of my time with the pokemon out here."

Sable said, “I can't believe you, do you want to give me a heart attack? Here, talk to your father."

Matthew pursed his lips, both pokemon watching and waiting. His dad said, “Hey son, what's going on there? Does Dr. Willow—"

“He knows, we've already talked about it," Matthew lied. “Dad, this ranch doesn't have anything rarer than a Sceptile someone sent from Hoenn. Whatever was going on with Rocket doesn't have to do with the ranch. I promise I'm safe here—I mean, the cops haven't asked us if we needed any protection, so clearly they don't think we need it."

“Your mom is really worried about you."

“I mean, when is she not?" Matthew snapped before wincing. “Sorry—it's just, this is really important to me. This is the most I've gotten to interact with pokemon my whole life, and I want to make the most of my time out here while I can."

“You're sure you'll be safe?"

“I already told mom, but that ranger who caught them is staying here, surveying the mountains, using one of the barns to work out of. She's the real deal. Those thugs didn't even touch her or her pokemon last night. I promise we're safe."

“You know your cousin went to school with that kid she killed. You know, Lionel?"

“I… not really, no."

“You think you're safe around a killer?"

“They were shooting at her with guns, dad."

“Mmmm, fine Matty. Finish up your internship—"

“Leon don't just—"

“It's fine Sable," Leon quickly cut off Matthew's mother who still tried to protest in the background. “Your mom is going to give you an earful when you get home, but you're your own man, son. We can't force you home, just text us every couple hours, so we know you're safe."

“Sure thing, love you both."

Matthew hung up and sat down on the couch, head in his hands, trying to figure out what exactly he should do.

“Cari?" River chirped as he sat down next to him, head tilted.

“Hey, sorry, parents are just worried."

Joule mewled from behind the couch, hopping onto his hind legs and planting his forepaws on Matthew's back. He started to knead and massage Matthew, who sighed and leaned backwards into it.

“Mmmm, I don't know what we should do."

River yipped and darted back to the bottom floor, quickly returning with the tablet Leor brought. River used a single claw to write out characters in a slapdash handwriting before turning it to Matthew:

“Stay here," it said.

“You think so? Shouldn't we see if she's really okay? She seemed pretty shaken up."

River pressed the tablet's button, erasing the characters on it so he could write again. Joule stopped massaging him and hopped onto the couch. The luxray placed a paw on his thigh, claws barely pressed through the fabric of his shorts. Matthew squeezed his paw in kind.

River held the tablet up to Matthew's face, letters smaller and squished together to fit: “We don't want to wait any longer."

“I know, really, I don't want to wait any longer, but…" Matthew trailed off, staring at the reflection of the three of them on the TV screen. “I mean, will we really even make this work? Are we just—"

River placed his paw on Matthew's cheek, stroking it before it slipped to his nape and pulled him mouth to muzzle. River's lips hot against his, awkward at first till tongue pushed into his mouth, lapping at his tastebuds. Joule nuzzled his ear, licking the lobe and purring as Matthew melted between them, face flushed red as River continued mixing their saliva. The lucario's metallic yet sweet spit made Matthew's mouth tingle. A sharp fang nipped his lip, then River turned his head, shoved his tongue deeper, almost making Matthew gag before a fresh wave of drool filled his mouth. Deposited there and swallowed so quickly he barely even processed it before River finally pulled away.

Matthew was panting, head swimming. It made it easy for Joule to shove him down into the couch. River grabbed his legs, and both pokemon guided him into laying down, Joule now kneading his chest, purring. The luxray watched him smugly as he occasionally squirmed when a claw sank too deep into his skin, all while River took off his shoes. Matthew reached up to stroke Joule's face, but yelped when a bolt fired from a whisker into his finger.

“Ahh, Joule, why…" he trailed off as Joule had stopped kneading, planting his forepaws on Matthew's hands, as if to pin him. The luxray's front sank, bringing them nose to nose. Matthew gasped when he felt River unbuttoning his shorts, which Joule cut off by kissing him. He squirmed on the couch, finding it easier to make out with the luxray's shorter muzzle. Electrified fur against his chin, soft lips so inviting, melting together with his as Matthew kissed him back. While River more lapped his tongue in and out, Joule's forced its way inside, dragging its tiny, electrified barbs over Matthew's oral muscle. Were paws not pinning his hands, Matthew might have tried to shove Joule away, as it felt like his tastebuds were being scraped off. But Joule's tongue explored elsewhere, his gums, the roof of his mouth, his lips, it left all those places flushed, a little swollen, but that strange charge of electricity soothed the sting somehow. A balm as Joule tainted Matthew with more pokegenic-laced spit.

By now, his HPS had flared so much that he didn't even notice River tossing his shorts over the couch, or the warm black nose nudging his balls, taking in his scent. Only when a hot tongue dragged over his half-hard cock, did Matthew's hips jerk upward, moaning into the Joule's mouth.

“Ruu-ray!" Joule mewled as he broke the kiss to turn around. Matthew caught sight of the ceiling before a black furred butt blotted it out. Joule sat on his face, grinding his taint into Matthew's nose. Senses flooded with the sweet earthiness of petrichor mixed with a sharp heat of sweat. The undeniable scent of Joule's asshole being rubbed across Matthew's face, marking him for any other pokemon. He groaned and thrust his hips into the air, grabbing onto that shapely rear. Its static sent tingles through his hands and face, but it could not stop him from opening his mouth, letting Joule grind his taint into Matthew's tastebuds.

The hapless human's cock stood rigid and leaking by now. River watched its urethra open and close. His first human penis, soaked in sweat from the hike, smelled so pungent and full of need. He couldn't help but shut his eyes and drag a deep, musky breath of Matthew before River nuzzled into his partner's sack. River's pink canid cock had begun to drop, tinging the air with a more metallic musk. Joule loomed over them, conical, black and barbed length rising from its sheath and leaking all over Matthew's chest. The smell of all their lust had River panting—he needed more. He lapped his way up Matthew's shaft before kissing those glans, adjusting his position so that when—

Matthew's hips jumped when those canine lips touched his tip, and suddenly his shaft was wrapped in a hot, wet, suckling maw. River's tongue a bed upon which Matthew's cock pumped and ground against, drool going down his balls, a wet nose brushing against his pubes. River easily took all of Matthew's shaft, those glans pushing into the pokemon's throat. And all the while Matthew remained buried in a hot, sweaty tomb of musk. The wrinkled rim of Joule's entrance now kissed his lips, and Matthew had to worship it, lapping up musky sweat, sucking on the flesh. His grip on Joule's rump now used to keep that musky hole in place. He dug his tongue into every wrinkle, lapped at Joule's hole till it and his face were smeared in spit. Yet he craved more, nostrils flush to flesh, unable to breathe as he wrapped his lips over that seductive pucker, tongue drilling into Joule's asshole until it ached.

Meanwhile River continued bob his head on the human's shaft. He had found a nice steady rhythm, broken up by Matthew's desperate humping. The neediness, a need for more, for them, had the lucario's dick dropped and leaking all over the couch. The member in his maw pulsed and spat more and more precum.

Matthew's lungs burned, but he didn't stop pressing, even as his head got foggier from the lack of air. The tension in his waist, the boiling heat churning in his balls. He was going to cum, but he continued licking, wriggling his tongue against that hole, to wedge it just deep enough—and suddenly he pierced Joule's anus. His tongue wrapped in the heady taste of the luxray, earthy and sweet, stabbing so deep into his senses that his world exploded.

River massaged Matthew's balls as his muzzle went still, lips wrapped tight and suckling, tongue working up and down that fat vein as it dumped salty ropes of cum into his maw. River growled as the flavor got him more worked up, mouth quickly filling with spurt after spurt while Matthew shrilly moaned under Joule's rump. River's other paw squeezed his knot, almost sending him over the edge, but the lucario stopped himself. His load was for their little slut's throat.

Both Joule and River knew exactly where their seed should go if they wanted to keep Matthew permanently under their spell.

River sat up, mouth still swirling with globs of semen. He pulled Joule into a kiss, the luxray gladly opening his mouth to sample the seed of their new mate. Sticky globs of protein were squished between the tangling tongues, catching on Joule's barbs until River felt most of it stolen, scooped into the hungry feline's maw. He leaned back, falling on his rump between Matthew's legs, and both pokemon swallowed the human's load.

Matthew had almost passed out when Joule finally lifted off him. Flushed face covered in sweat and saliva, Matthew could only watch the ceiling spin, someone climbing over him until River was there again, forcing another hungry kiss on Matthew, who moaned weakly, accepting the tongue forced into him. Saliva tinged with the flavor of his cum forced down his throat. Matthew barely moved, drugged out of his mind on pokemon pheromones, entire body buzzing, each sensation a new lash of pleasure that drew him deeper into doped bliss. His hands had wrapped around River's head, keeping their lips locked, feeling River hump against his stomach, spilling precum onto his navel.

River growled and broke the kiss, climbing onto Matthew's chest and grabbing the back of his head. Suddenly, the sharp, metallic musk once again made him shiver as fat, pink pokecock rubbed against his cheeks, leaking precum on his forehead. Past that meat practically blotting everything out, Matthew saw River's aura glowing. And a force washed over him, a command pressed from that aura into his very spirit.

“Worship."

Matthew clumsily kissed the fat throbbing knot hanging in front of his lips. Despite the lucario being smaller than him, that tool easily outclassed Matthew's, which only made him all the hotter. His hand cupped River's balls: they were fat and full. He lapped at the lucario's shaft, its sharp metallic flavor strange yet enticing, consuming. River guided him to the canid glans, to the pointed tip, River's urethra, which drooled a thick, clear precum.

Taking it into his body would be the point of no return.

Matthew wrapped his lips around that pointed urethra like it was a straw, sucking hard until more pokeprecum flooded his mouth. Its salty, metallic flavor made his whole body quake. Matthew moaned as he shoved his head as far down that shaft as he could, already an addict. River snarled and slapped his hips forward, jamming dick down Matthew's gullet. Lips kissed knot, tears streamed down Matthew's face as River held his head tightly in both paws. Another pulse from the lucario's aura, flattening his emotional landscape with a single thought:

“This is where you belong."

River fucked his face, not gently, but with the blind rut of a beast, making Matthew gag and choke as cock stabbed into his throat again and again. Barely able to suck in a breath, and yet Matthew's own prick was still hard, aching in the air till something soft and warm crushed it against his abdomen. The still slick hole he worshipped before now ground down into his shaft.

Behind River, Joule rolled his hips along Matthew's. After all that tongue, Joule did want something back there, but he could not do it himself. Yowling, he lifted his rump, pleasantly surprised how quickly Matthew responded by reaching down and holding his shaft up, other hand lining up Joule's clenching rump till his tip pressed into pucker. Joule yowled again when he sat down, dick digging inside him. A human's for the first time in so many years. Something about that made the fullness, the teasing, tantalizing pressure against his prostate all the more satisfying.

Matthew could barely process his cock hugged and squeezed between tight and tingling walls. His shaft turned to a lightning rod, electricity running through it, sending pleasurable little shocks down into the rest of his body. That soft yet tight rump rising before Joule plapped right back down, balls smacking against Matthew's while River's smacked his chin with each thrust.

River's thrusting had turned hypnotic. Matthew's eyes fluttered, almost closing, as that prick punched in and out his slack jaw, as it fed him more pokegenic liquid his body reflexively swallowed. Being drowned by River. Drowning in River. Drowning in transformative enzymes that had enthralled him. His veins charged with rapturous heat. Their touch turned electrifying.

Especially his electric partner's cock-milking rump, whose warm fur smushed up and down against his pubes and thighs while the feline's hole constricted around him. He couldn't stop himself from cumming again. Matthew dumbly moaned around lucario cock while Joule planted that juicy ass down on his hips. The luxray clenched around his shaft, squeezing after each pulse to wring out Matthew's second load. Somehow more than the first… had his penis grown? He felt its inches soaked in his liquid heat, tingling with electricity. Purring, Joule stood, cum leaking out over his balls. Matthew's cock flopped onto his thigh with a wet plop. It had grown, he felt its extra heft, his tip a little more pointed, but as he tried to run his fingers down his shaft River hunched over his face. The lucario's fattening knot now smacked his nose, too big to fit in his mouth. River humped him like a canine rutting a heated bitch, barely letting him breathe now, snarling. The thrusts had gotten shorter, faster, half that rigid shaft never leaving his lips.

Matthew wanted his lucario's release, and so grabbed the bottom half of River's knot, squeezing tight and letting it tug against his hand with each thrust. River howled and collapsed on top of his face, bulbous pink flesh pulsing against his lips, feeling blood raging through that shaft flattening his tongue. The fuzzy blue balls against his chin jumped, followed by an explosion in his throat. Matthew whimpered as a thick, hot pokecum flooded down his esophagus, struggling to swallow it, lungs starting to ache for air.

And behind River, Joule lifted Matthew's legs up with his paws, forcing him to spread eagle. Matthew tried his best to accommodate while pushing against River's hips, partly so he might breathe, but more so to taste the nectar he craved.

The panting pup obliged, River sliding backwards, Matthew quickly snatching his tip with one hand while the other still squeezed and pumped behind his knot. River whined, his nuts clenching again, and another deluge washed into Matthew's mewling mouth. The metallic, salty, gooey seed made his eyes roll back. Why did he ever wait this long to taste River's cum? He should have gotten on his hands and knees and worshipped those fat, blue balls when he first saw them months ago. He gulped down the mouthful of cum as more drooled in steady pulses, oozing across his eager tongue. Once full, he swallowed, River's tail wagging against his chest as he did, that viscous liquid sliding down his still sore throat. River's cum would be a steady balm for the abuse Matthew suffered, as he continued to nurse on the tip, grip tight behind the swollen knot. Lucarios, like many canid pokemon, would cum continuously for upwards to half an hour so long as their body thought they were tied to something.

Keeping his palms pinched to that pink bulb was easier said than done when Joule's prickly tongue began swiping his rear. Matthew squirmed, feeling his pucker burn against the abrasive muscle. This time, though, Joule channeled electricity to numb his sensitive skin, his normally tight ring of muscle going a little slack, his backside tingling almost as if it fell asleep.

“Xray-ay!" Joule yowled, to which River grunted and, careful to make sure his tool never left Matthew's lips, spun around to face Joule. His paws spread the human's rear, making a clear landing strip for Joule who mounted Matthew. Butt still tingling with electricity, it was strangely soothing to feel hot, pointed pokecock push on his pucker. Torrid precum dribbled onto his wrinkled rim, which only resisted a moment before caving in.

Matthew nearly choked on a mouthful of cum as he was penetrated for the first time. Coughing, he kept a death grip on River's knot while he caught his breath, wiping tears from his eyes, only to notice his fingers covered in a fine layer of fur. In his stupor, he hardly felt the alarm that would normally surge to his brain, instead moaning and wrapping that hand around River's shaft to pump it, urging more liquid change into his receptive body.

When Joule finally hilted Matthew, panting a little now over lucario and human alike, River released the rear he would knot next to suck again on Matthew's cock, sixty-nining their new mate. Each rock of Joule's hips slamming the fatter shaft in then out of River's drooling maw. He already noticed the flavor and quantity of the human's precum changing: thicker, the salty taste now subtly metallic.

It surprised Matthew that his dick wasn't totally overstimulated, but his body seemingly craved more and more of this depraved pleasure. And now, Joule's every thrust shoved against something that sent heat and pressure down his shaft and electricity, possibly Joule's, through his body. All he needed, really, was to let his partners consummate this union while he suckled the sweet nectar from River's balls.

Given everything before, Joule had been close by the time he started breeding his mate's rump. He'd never had the opportunity to make someone carry his eggs, so he wouldn't let Matthew leave this cabin before knocking him up. The feline's balls clapped against his cheeks, Matthew's legs wrapping around Joule's middle so it was easier for him to pound that rear into the couch. It felt so good to let his barbs rub raw that hole, now nicely lubed by his precum, which leaked in a pearly trail around the ebon shaft splitting that rear open. Those soft walls wrapped so lusciously around his meat, tugging and squeezing his shaft with each lurch of his hips.

Joule couldn't help but spill his first load after only a minute of hard rutting. Beneath Joule, Matthew screamed, inner walls clamping down as electricity shot through his muscles and made them convulse. It also zapped his prostate into clenching so hard he almost pissed himself, instead shooting again into River's waiting maw. The lucario's tail wagged, tickling his nose, which had, like much of his body, started tingling as well. As his third orgasm came to a sudden, stifled end, with pokecum still drooling into his slack-jawed mouth, Matthew felt a soreness and heat along most of the joints in his body. Something certainly was wrong, but he couldn't think past the gooey warmth seeping deeper into his core, the salty metallic cum creeping cross his tongue.

Joule growled and started thrusting before his first orgasm finished. Matthew hadn't even considered the mating habits of luxrays, or how once mounted they would breed their partner up to ten times in a row. A series of short, rapid ruts that amounted to a marathon he was now a part of. But Matthew now welcomed it, trying, through the numbness in his electrified lower half, to squeeze the pokecock now drilling away at him.

Little mattered now. Matthew's HPS had vaporized all his normal thoughts and feelings within his heated euphoria. Enveloped in a fog that wouldn't end until the two pent up pokemon's nuts had been entirely drained into their new, rapidly transforming mate.

***

Raana and Kypha had been asked to look into reports of a zoroark baiting humans from their settlements with wisps before devouring their souls. They were one of four hunting parties, most looking to kill the ghostly white and red pokemon, but Raana had hoped to talk the zoroark into leaving the region, or at least capturing and releasing it elsewhere. Kypha knew better than to expect an amicable solution, but Raana, ever the optimist, wanted to try.

Knowing they preferred the icy caverns of the Alabaster Icelands, that's where they went. It was hardly their first time spelunking in the area, so they had nothing to really fear. Perhaps if Kypha had been more on guard, perhaps if they had tried to talk with the other hunting groups, they would have known the survey corps planned to collapse one portion of the caverns in hopes of scaring the zoroark into the open. Kypha only learned this after the fact, after three avaluggs caused a seismic shock great enough to crack ice and rock all through the caverns.

The cave-in bellowed through the tunnel they traveled. Preceded by a gusting front of ice and dust so great it blew out the flames on Kypha's collar. He barely had time to react, simply throwing himself over Raana.

Pummeled by rock and ice as the cavern collapsed on top of them, Kypha felt his left leg snap when a boulder crashed onto it, but he kept Raana safe, even as they became buried in a blanket of rock, ice, and snow.

“Are you alright?" Kypha asked her. He wanted to light his collar to see in the pitch darkness, but too much detritus pressed against his back, no air there to feed his flames.

“I… I'm fine. You're hurt."

“I've dealt with worse."

Within the black, he felt Ranna touch his chest. “They'll come for us. People know we're down here. Whatever caused that… they have to be trying to dig people out right now."

“I'll dig us out."

“You can't even move. I can barely…" she trailed off as the hand on his chest went down to her belt.

He knew immediately what she meant to do. “No."

“Kypha… I love you. You know this is the only way."

He fought to move, but buried alive, he could barely even shrug his shoulders. “Please Raana, let me try to get us out."

“We only have so much air, and you need three times what I need. You'll die if I don't."

“Please…"

“It's our only chance. I'm sorry, I promise I'll see you again."

To his sternum she touched his pokeball. And sucked into a different darkness, Kypha stayed. Even if he wanted out of his ball, he couldn't get out, as the ice and earth shifted again, and there was no space to rematerialize.

For Kypha, time passed dreamlike, uncertain how long he waited until something gave. The pressure sealing him tight in that ball released, and he barrelled out into the open. Harsh light reflected off the snow, blinding him till his eyes adjusted. He smelled her first, and also smelled…

He turned around and found her lying next to a man from the Pearl Clan with an ursaluna beside him, both shocked to see him. Every sense in his body told him she was gone. Not even a spirit waiting to be guided into the next life. She had died and passed on. His everything was gone.

Against the wishes of the Pearl Clan search and rescue team, he took her body. Carried it to a clearing away from prying eyes and set her down. It was a simple thing, her pyre. His flames cascading into her body, the ashes tossed upwards by icy winds.

He stayed at the site through the night, and in the morning heard the familiar lightning crash of a space-time distortion. Those storms that came and went throughout Hisui. Kypha and Raana had largely avoided them, but they both understood how they worked.

That was where Kypha got the idea. He would see her again, in whatever form she took in a life before or after this one. To be taken by the space-time distortion, he simply needed to let it turn him into an energized state.

***

Lucas woke with a gasp, feeling like he carried a raw, open wound in his chest. He hadn't known a grief this wretched and deep in his life. He curled up against Kypha's chest, who held him tight. The sting of tears in his throat as he wept, Kypha rubbing his back and licking the top of his head. Despite the mess of last night, Kypha had already groomed him clean while sharing these visions.

“Now you know where I have come from," Kypha said, and finally Lucas saw how Kypha saw him.

In another life, Lucas had been Raana. Kypha's obsessive pursuit of him came from a coincidence Lucas had no say in.

Lucas rolled over, stumbling to his feet, almost falling over as he found his footing in his new body. Now, able to think clearly again, the grief thrust upon him by the typhlosion alarmed him.

“All this time…" he muttered, finding the words strange to shape in his altered tongue, especially fricatives like the th in “this." He cursed, looking down at himself, as he existed now, in the between space of human and typhlosion. His spine and torso had lengthened, while his now digitigrade legs no longer raised him quite as high off the ground. He hadn't lost any height, but no amount of antipokegenics would snap his bones back into place. Kypha had shot his body past the point of no return. He ran padded fingers along his creamy, furry chest, asking, “Did you know I would change this much?"

Kypha rolled onto his side and opened his legs, presenting his sheath to him with a smug grin. “Did you not think bedding an alpha would change you to suit my needs?"

“No!" Lucas snapped. “I mean—I knew it would change me, but this…" he hated how the sight of Kypha aroused him. Part of him craved sliding back to Kypha's side, to the pleasure and union of last night. He turned his back, panting, hand now clutched over his heart as it pounded. “C-can you stop leering at me and be serious. We had a bargain—"

“Present your females to me and I will keep it."

“You weren't supposed to make me look like I've been taking blood transfusions from you for the last month!" Lucas spun back around, almost falling over again.

Kypha stood and took a step towards Lucas, who backed away. “Why are you mad? We can finally be together again."

“I am not Raana!" Lucas barked. He didn't mean to yell it so loudly, but he still struggled to regulate his voice… and emotions? Fire types were the most emotional pokemon types. Lucas, out of necessity to deny his own inclinations, knew only the scientific principles around pokegenic transformations; what he understood was how to work safely around pokemons bodily fluids, not how those changes actually affected one's personhood.

Kypha had been staring at him, wide-eyed, but eventually shook his head. “You will come to accept things with time."

Which only made Lucas angrier. “You know what? Fuck you! I am not here to replace your mate. I know losing her was hard, I probably know better than anyone possibly could, but this is not how you move on. I thought you genuinely wanted me. That you were fighting for me, but no… We both know I'm not her. You've shared every memory of her with me and I can say for certain I'm nothing like her. For one, I'm a goddamn coward—I don't want to go exploring dangerous ruins or battle pokemon just to study how they produce water or electricity. I don't sing. I don't dance. I don't like working in the field. What are you going to do when you finally wake up and realize I'm a boring man who likes looking at data tables and improving systems, likes hanging around his house and reading all day? Will you leave me like this?" Lucas clapped his hands to his chest. “And run off with some girl—"

Kypha's collar flared as he snarled. “Do not dare question my loyalty—"

“To who? Me?" Lucas scoffed. “You don't care about me. You never cared about me. If you did, you would have realized a long time ago that Lucas," he held up his left hand, “and Raana," then his right, “these are two different people, and no matter how much you try to smash us together," he clasped them into a fist, “—no matter how much you try to do this, you're going to realize having the same spirit propel us doesn't create the same person." His hands fell to his sides. “Then what will you do?"

Kypha just glared at him, smoke pouring from his nostrils.

“Well?"

“Someday you will accept—"

“Fine, go on denying it." Lucas walked to the ripped open barn door, noting it was sometime in the afternoon. He looked over his shoulder and said, “I'm not trying to break your heart… I just know that…" he choked and had to swallow down tears. He couldn't actually look Kypha in the eyes and say this, so he stared at the trees swaying in the distance. “If the basis of your attraction to me is some version of me that doesn't exist, if I'm stupid enough to believe you want me, believe you love me, then in the end you'll just resent me for not being what you want, and it'll be you who breaks my heart."

And for once, Kypha let him walk away.

***

Leor woke with Strypes spooning her. Soon as she stirred he licked across her nape, giving her a small shiver. While he groomed her, she reached for her phone on the nightstand. Lockscreen: 15:25—she'd slept long enough. Waiting were two texts from Nina:

Got things sorted with Rocket.

Our client asked to be filled in about last night. I'm going to need solid evidence of progress soon if we're going to keep this contract.

Leor sighed and rolled over. Strypes dragged one wet lick across her nose and she giggled. “Hey, enough. We got work to do, silly."

“Obst," Strypes rumbled, grabbing her hand, his claws touching her trimmed ones. “Goon."

“I shouldn't have cut them off, I know."

He drew her hand to his heart and placed her palm there.

“I love you, too."

He nuzzled her, then signed between them, “No need to stay here. If you need time—"

She grabbed his wrist. “I promise, I can do this. I just… we've had to kill pokemon before, right? I've never liked doing it, but… I can still see the way he looked at me. I've never been that close to it, but at the same time, if I really think you and I are equal, then it shouldn't upset me more than the pokemon we've killed, right? I…" she choked back a sob, “Am I just a fraud?"

Strypes hugged her tight, and for a few minutes she let her tears wash into his fur.

Downstairs, they both heard Lucas call out, “Leor? Matthew? Is anyone here?"

Leor cursed and pushed herself away, rolled out the bed. She needed to get dressed, she couldn't cut and run now, she needed to see this through. She hopped one leg then the next into a pair of shorts as she reached the door.

“Stagga," Strypes called, and she stopped, hand on the doorknob, to look back.

Carefully, Strypes signed, “It is okay to grieve for the lives we take. I grieved for mine. You will grieve for yours, and we will be there for each other no matter who is lost."

“I…" she teared up again but heard Lucas climbing the stairs. She cursed and rubbed her eyes clean. “Thank you for saying that." She opened the door, stepped into the hall and saw Lucas.

He struggled to take the stairs in his new form, the steps almost too steep for his legs. He looked up at her, and Leor could count it as perhaps the first time he seemed happy to see her.

“There you are—"

“Arceus, Lucas, I didn't know—"

“It's fine—I mean, it's not, but we need to talk, if you have a moment. Do you know where Matthew is?"

***

“The boys should be back soon—do you want to borrow a skirt?" Leor asked, leaning against the door to Lucas's bedroom. He sat on the foot of the bed, struggling to get a pair of gym shorts around his warped legs.

“I'll be fine. I don't want to give Kypha the wrong ideas."

“Wrong ideas?"

Lucas finally wiggled into his clothing, creamy fur poking around the buttons of the shirt he wore, which now did not go down far enough to reach the waistband of his shorts. He sighed. “Where do I even begin?"

Leor frowned and sat down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Take your time."

“The reason Kypha came from nowhere is because he isn't from this time."

“Alright… I don't really know what to say to that."

“Farfetched, I know. Centuries ago, before Sinnoh was colonized and made the Sinnoh we know today, there was an era where space-time distortions were fairly common. It only lasted for a few decades, coming in waves before Dialga and Palkia stabilized these rifts. The history is so murky it would be considered a myth if there weren't artifacts from that era incongruous with the technology of the time."

Lucas stared at his pawed hands. A thumb and three fingers now, his pinky and ring finger having fused last night. Leor squeezed his shoulder. “Go on," she prompted.

“Sorry, anyways, you know the dreams Kypha's been sharing with me? They were memories, his. Not of a past life, but the last ten years of his life. My connection with him deepened as he changed me. When I'm near him I can feel his thoughts and feelings, like how you feel heat coming off a campfire. And last night, every moment we slept together I was being flooded with his memories—it's all mixed up. I know that he's a few years older than me, that he met Raana—"

“Raana?"

“I'll get there," Lucas said with a dismissive wave. “He met Raana shortly after evolving into a typhlosion, and she did not capture him so much as court him. They became each other's mates. And as a consequence of that, she was banished from the human settlement she lived and worked in. She spent the rest of her life as a researcher, living in the wilds with Kypha. She completely turned the first time she and Kypha had sex, too." He balled his hands into a fist. “Wish I'd known that."

“I'm sorry…" Leor muttered. “I-I knew you'd change some, but I didn't realize how potent an alpha would be."

“I mean, most alphas live in the restricted areas of safaris to keep them away from humans. How could you know if you've never even met one?"

“Actually—no, nevermind."

Lucas gave her a look.

She sighed, “You'll probably find out eventually. I'll tell you, but this information is so classified that if you go blabbing the Rangers Guild might actually disappear you."

“Arceus, alright. Can't guarantee Kypha won't know."

She shrugged. “I'm sure Kypha's sensed her. I work with an alpha Zoroark named Penumbra. She's not in any registry and has no pokeball, and I can give her orders about as well as I can give Kypha orders. That whistle you heard last night? That was her. She only reveals herself in emergencies."

“Well what happened last night, then?"

Leor detailed her encounter with Rocket the night before, trying to be vague, then at Lucas's insistence, going into detail.

Lucas shifted to better face her, his knee touching hers. He took her hand. “I was wondering why you clipped these."

“Spur of the moment thing," Leor said. “Now that I'm less upset I wish I hadn't. It's going to take weeks for them to grow back, but… even after I washed it off, I couldn't stop seeing blood… chunks of skin—"

“You don't have to describe it," Lucas said with a little grimace.

“Sorry, didn't mean to make you squeamish."

“Are you okay?"

“Mostly," Leor said with a weak smile. “You know, no matter how much we might be able to get close to becoming pokemon, there's always one thing we can't do, and that's convert ourselves into an energized state. I've known a charizard who had a hole blown in his chest the size of your head and survived because his trainer balled him before he died. I wish we could save humans that way, but once something is fatal, it just is."

“That's actually…" Lucas felt that tremendous grief again and had to fight back tears. “When Raana died, she managed to save Kypha by balling him. They were buried alive in a cave-in, and Kypha threw himself on her to protect her, then she balled him to protect him. By the time they dug up her body, she was dead."

“Arceus…" Leor glanced to the door where she knew Strypes had to be nearby, eavesdropping. “I would have done the same."

“I think it was the right call. Why would anyone let someone they care about die when you could save them?" Lucas sighed. “Anyways, Kypha cremated her body, then decided he would find her spirit in whatever life it reincarnated into. Space-time distortions only affect inanimate objects and pokemon. If they enter their energized state, they get pulled in and spat out elsewhere. That's how Kypha ended up here, his latent connection with Raana was apparently strong enough that I was a homing beacon."

“Fuck. It was never about you, was it?"

“N-no," Lucas sniffled and wiped away tears. “I wanted to believe he saw something in me, but I was just a replacement for the person he actually cared about."

“That fucking asshole. Lucas if I'd known—"

“If he told us, would we have ever agreed to any of this?"

Leor shook her head. “He wasn't ready to move on, but you shouldn't have been involved. I'm sorry… about all of this."

“It's not on you to shoulder all the blame."

“I mean… sleeping with him was my idea," Leor mumbled.

From the door, a wrapping of claws. Strypes didn't wait for them to get up, opening it and signing, “Problems. Matt."

“Oh no."

***

“I told both of you, both of you promised me you wouldn't go too far, so what in the fuck happened?" Leor yelled at both Joule and River on the back deck.

Inside, Lucas was helping Matt into the bath. He'd come back as transformed as Lucas, a blend of lucario and luxray: blue-black fur coat, thicker around the neck and chest like a mane, fingers and hand reshaped to a lucario's, face more pointed with whiskers sprouting from his cheek, eyes heterochromatic with one yellow the other red, a whip like tail that ended with spiked yellow tip, and, of course, his legs and feet snapped to the shape of River's.

How in Arceus's name did she manage to kill one person and ruin two other people's lives in less than twenty-four hours? But she wasn't the only one to blame. She clung to that thought so she could think clearly, channel her anger and frustration into something useful.

Both River and Joule glared at her defiantly. Leor shoved River's tablet into his chest. “Say something, at least."

River huffed, glanced at Joule.

“Don't look at him, look at me."

“Xrrrr—"

Leor flicked Joule on the nose. “Don't growl at me. Do you know what happens when someone with HPS turns like this? Well?"

They both shook their heads.

“They get committed to an asylum. They'll put him on enough antipokegenics to make him sick for a year. All that fur will fall out, his muscle mass will shift but his bones won't. So he'll end up just looking like a deformed and sick human. They might try reconstructive surgery if his parents shell out for it, which will be years of surgeries and physical therapy, all while he remains totally isolated from any pokemon. Sure his family might visit from time to time, but he will spend the rest of his days alone. And that's the best case scenario if he's caught. You basically turned him into a lifelong fugitive."

River angrily scratched at the tablet and turned it over: “Wanted to make him stay with us."

“He'll never be able to see his family again without being arrested. Did you tell him that? Did you ask him if he wanted to never see his friends and family before you fucked him for what, the seventh time?"

Finally, both of them actually grimaced. River wrote: “We thought he'd be like you."

“In a just world, maybe. But this is Johto. People with HPS are second-class citizens because of what they represent."

Joule nudged the tablet. River set it down in front of his paws, and, clumsily, Joule wrote, “Help him."

“I will, best I can. Right now Lucas needs to wash the mess you left on him so he can think clearly. Fucking dammit. You couldn't just talk to him, you couldn't just wait—this gods-damned case is turning into a nightmare."

Strypes, who leaned against the house with his arms folded over his chest, signed, “Sun setting."

“Right. You two are gonna help me get the pokemon in the barns fed. They have to be starving. You can see Matthew after we've dealt with that."

They followed Leor off the deck. As they headed to the closest barn, she spotted Kypha emerging from the ruined entrance of the barn he had been sleeping in. “You three get the feed in barn one set up, I'll meet you in a minute."

She jogged over to Kypha, who plucked those cords inside her to ask, “Where is my mate?"

“Tsk, yeah, great job wooing him," Leor said as she closed the gap between them. “You couldn't have told anyone before where you were from, huh? Couldn't let us know why you insisted—"

“You were not entitled to it."

“And he wasn't? At least not until you had him in your claws."

Kypha's collar flared to life and he snarled, taking a step and looming over her.

“I'm not afraid of you. I genuinely thought you saw something in him. You know we humans aren't toys you can just replace—"

This time, Kypha yanked so hard on her spirit it tugged her head back a little; if not for her partial normal typing he might have knocked Leor off her feet. “Don't you dare compare Raana to a toy."

She scowled up at him, the back of her skull feeling like someone just pushed a hot poker inside it. “Then see Lucas for Lucas. You'd think a ghost type, one that ferries spirits no less, would know there's more to a person than just their soul. Maybe you did once, but now—"

He grabbed her shirt and hauled her up in the air. Another yank on the back of her head while he roared and bellowed acrid smoke in her face. “Your insolence will not be tolerated—"

“Put her down big boy," Penumbra cut him off. She'd snuck up on them both, crouched beneath the billowing flames of Kypha's collar, arm wrapped around his waist and a single shadow claw extended, pressing into the top of Kypha's scrotum. “That human pet of yours already has an egg inside him, so we don't need to protect these anymore."

Kypha was genuinely shocked, but before he could drop her, Strypes lunged between them and slashed Kypha's wrist. She dropped into her obstagoon's arms before he leapt half a dozen paces away and set her down.

“It's okay, Penumbra," Leor said.

“Fire types and their idiotic pride," Penumbra grumbled before retracting that obsidian, sickle-shaped claw. Kypha wheeled around, bellowing a cone of purple fire, but Penumbra had already disappeared.

“Fucking one thing after another," Leor said as she ran to the waterhose mounted against the barn's side, Strypes keeping himself between her and Kypha. “Great! Guess wha you flaming asshole, now you get to help me put this fire out."