Ch. 82
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Trainer
Exhausted didn't begin to cover it. Between the past few days exertions. The rain, the cold, and every other thing along the way, I couldn't be fucked to do anything but shuck my wet shorts at the door of the tent, and stagger vaguely in the direction of the sleeping bag. Penance followed in behind me and with a little growling and nuzzling eventually managed to convince me to move into a more comfortable position.
I was pretty sure I fell asleep immediately. My dreams were an inky muddled mix of the past few days. Of aches and pains that had settled as deep as my bones. A dull throbbing in one ankle that made me shift in discomfort from one side to the other looking for somewhere to put it where it would just be quiet. Fragments of conversation seemed to twist and loop in my thoughts, and the tense way Alcyon swam out into the sea was a focal point in what soon twisted into a nightmare.
The last few things she'd said to me bothered me. I fixated on them. The idea of her only being around while we were here in Alola was fine, of course. Even in my nightmares I knew I had no right to take her from her home, or even expect her to come with us. But that she was so obviously torn and hurt by it all made me wonder what I'd done. Left a question and a wound in me that I was only just beginning to dig at. Was all of this unkind to her, in the end? Should I have not said anything? My questions turned to anger at myself, but that wasn't getting me anywhere.
I felt like I'd been asleep for hours, but when I opened my bleary eyes, it maybe wasn't even one. I was still exhausted, it didn't even seem quite fully dark yet, and the tell-tale drip of water from the slightly open window betrayed how the rain still hadn't let up. Wouldn't, probably, for the rest of the night. But I was too tired to even raise my head or comment on it. If someone opened it, it needed to be opened. I didn't care enough to change it. Residual feelings from my nightmares lingered, and for a moment I indulged in honest self-loathing. I had been an asshole to suggest or even entertain the idea that she come with us. Hadn't she made it clear she was afraid to?
My mind was still uncomfortably churning through nightmares, pain, and fatigue, but I'd begun to pick out the good things in the moment, trying like hell to center myself like I would between rough bouts in a tournament. Being fair with myself, as open to the good as the bad. Acceptance, to all that a moment was. I might have asked an unfair question, but we also moved a mountain, didn't we? It wasn't as if the only thing we'd done was make her unhappy. She wasn't unhappy to be invited, she was unhappy because she had conflicting feelings. Nobody gets through life without a little of that. Whatever was rent could be mended, this time. We just needed to talk it out, maybe.
Thanks to Penance and Claire, it wasn't too terribly long before we were all warm and dry. Than Arceus for small mercies! My girls all looked a little funny with heat treated fur puffed out in all directions, like a startled meowth. Nobody would ask me to brush them out just yet, but I knew it would only be a matter of time. All that was left were my clothes, which Tempest had graciously hung from the top support of the tent, to dry in the warmth of Penance's occasional purposefully heated breath while I slept. When she had done so was a good question. But I bet they could have set off fireworks and not stirred me, as tired as I still was.
Sleep... I needed more, and so I relaxed. Tried to relax at least. The soreness had settled in, and it was almost impossible to find a position that would let me. I could have asked them to help, any one of them. But we were all in the same boat, I knew that. It would have been selfish and completely unfair of me. So I did my best with where I was, same as the rest of us. Tomorrow, I'd do what I could to ease their aches out. Tonight, I was simply far too exhausted.
I'd found myself drifting in and out again, finding the rhythm in it all. The pattering of the rain and the occasional gust of wind. The way Penance's chest rose and fell, my head and shoulders against it, in time with her breath. Mira's ribbons wrapped around me, a subtle squeeze as her dreams carried her away. As if she were afraid she'd drift apart from me if she didn't hold on tight.
Further, I'd begun to drift and dream. Recognizing in my semi-conscious state the motion of Penance raising her head, a deeper breath, let out slowly and purposefully. A sensation that didn't make sense until I focused on it. Heat. She was heating the tent for us. For me.
It was soothing, in an odd way, the bursts of warmth from her had settled into a pleasant rhythm in my sleep. Somewhere in the midst of it all, my mind anticipated the shift of her shoulders as she raised her head. The warmth filling the tent anew. The way my muscles had begun to relax as the chill of the rain and wind had been replaced with her quiet, steadfast gesture of love. Penance was looking after me in a way I hadn't anticipated, hadn't even considered.
I was alright. My heart was fine. Whatever came of it in the end, I wasn't alone, and I knew that. I was grateful to her. To all of them. For everything they'd done to help me the past few days. My body ached but in the end it was somehow a comforting thing. Familiar, in the way that a hard won tournament was. In the middle of the night I'd shifted, stretched, I think I might have groaned as something in my shoulder popped and settled. The last thing I really knew for sure was a hand, or a foot rubbing at my back. I wasn't certain who it was, could have been any of them.
I was grateful, and lulled into a peaceful sleep, with everyone crowding around me close, so my negative thoughts couldn't gain any more ground. It felt like every time one popped up, it was swatted away by a paw or a tail, or the odd ribbon squeezing me tight. The rain settled on a soft and steady roar.
Alcyon - Lapras of Alola
I needed time. Needed time without everyone and everything being right there. I played in the waves, and I wondered if I was even happy there anymore. I'd been looking toward land for so long now I wasn't sure if I was really even the same lapras I was when I was little. He'd... They. They had treated me with so much love, and how did I repay them except to bite them when we got close? It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to them at all.
But I hurt, too. I was allowed to hurt, wasn't I? To not know? To be afraid? Afraid of going back and feeling like I'd missed out forever. Afraid of going on, and maybe leaving all of this behind. Afraid of falling in love with someone who already had his hands so full. Afraid of being alone, like I was always alone, surrounded by everyone and lost in my own heart.
Afraid he'd do the same thing she did.
But I still found myself swimming back to him in the dead of night. Trying my best to sing for him past sobbing tears in the rain. Hoping my voice would reach him. I didn't understand, and maybe that was the point. For once I didn't know anything except the ache in my heart was so much less when I saw him come out of the tent. For once it didn't hurt to sing, when he crossed the sand, wet and naked, to wrap his arms around me, to welcome me back. To ask if I was okay.
For once I couldn't just smile and say I was. It had all been so much. The past few days had been too much. But I would be, so I told him that. And he didn't dig at me, didn't try and get under my shell. Just let me be not okay right then. It was ... confusing. To not have to answer. To not have to be questioned. Did he care? Did he not? All of my doubts just hovered around me.
I was so afraid it was all just a dream. An illusion. A lie or a trick. That I'd end up having to watch and wait. That I'd never be noticed, or cared for because he had so many others around him. That he was too busy to care how I felt, and I'd end up in a pokeball out of human convenience, and I'd just made the second worst mistake of my life and I was about to end up alone in a crowd again.
It was just for now, I reminded myself. I hadn't promised more. Wouldn't. Not even for how good he made me feel, how quiet all the ache in my heart was at the top of that mountain. Not even for him would I promise more. I already promised too much. Humans made a lot of promises because they were expected to break some. I had to remember that. It wasn't his fault, whatever happened. He was a human, and humans were just like that.
Trainer
Tense. She was so tense. Her neck was tight, and as she hauled herself up the beach, it was obvious what a difficult task it was. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she didn't have an answer. We stood there on the beach, the waves lapping at the shore, a long and indecisive moment before she turned her gaze to me. Tears, and turmoil. She was frustrated already.
"It's gonna have to be a pokeball. If we're going to even try, it's going to have to be that way. I can't help it any more than you can." She admitted, head swinging low in resignation. "I'm afraid, but I don't have a choice."
"Nonsense." I said, with a shake of my head, my hand reaching up to her cheek. "You hate the idea of a pokeball that much? We'll camp out on the beach anywhere we go in Alola. I don't mind it so much, and honestly I don't have the money for the luxury hotels anyway."
"Oh stop it! Stop doing that. Stop making shitty empty promises!" Alcyon replied, swatting at my leg with a flipper. A halfhearted gesture, fortunately for my wet skin. It still stung quite a bit. "You need human things. Showers, and warmth and a proper bed. You think I didn't notice you limping? And don't blame the sand, I see people run and play in it almost every day." She sighed, in weighty resignation. "Besides, if you tried to do that, you'd miss out on most of the islands, being chained down to the shore line for me. It isn't fair and there isn't a way to make it fair. Not really."
"Maybe so." I admitted, with a shrug, as I pulled myself up onto her shell, wrapping my arms around her neck and leaning in close. She was cool to the touch, but not as much as the sand had been. "So that's it then? Since it can't be fair, it has to be better for me? Is that like... a pokemon thing, or what? Because I'd swear I heard this song before."
I shook my head, as much as I was able, held so tightly against her. "I don't like that. I've never liked that. I'm selfish enough, Arceus!" I admitted, with a sigh. "All these girls around me, and what do I do but flirt with the first beauty with an elegant neck and a laugh I like!"
I was glad she saw the humor in the honesty, I did actually like her laugh, and it dispelled some of the tension. "I want them all to have their mountaintop moment, you know? I wasn't kidding about that. But honestly, in their own ways they're all twisting themselves in knots trying to make me happy, and I wish I could answer everyone's wishes. I don't have an answer for you, Alcyon. The best I can come up with is 'we'll pull you around on that surfboard cart we made.' And I would. I absolutely would. I wouldn't be alone in it, and we'd all do our best, as much of a struggle as that might become. And that means there's a lot of places we couldn't go, and I know it."
"So you're not wrong... there's no easy answer, no way to make this fair for both of us... but that doesn't mean I'm okay with you hurting every day for it." I admitted, rapping my knuckles against one of the hard spurs of her shell. "That feels like a terrible choice to me."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Alcyon asked, with an impatient snap of her jaws at nothing in particular. "You can't damn well carry me everywhere you go, I can't carry you anywhere but the water, and dragging me up the mountain was cute and sweet, but fuck if that wasn't exhausting for me, too! There's no other answer, and I hate it!" She shouted now, the storm seeming to quiet around us as she did. An odd lull that took the wind out of her sails, leaving her to repeat the words in bitter defeat. "I hate it." She more whispered than spoke, craning her head around me, a soft affection in the midst of it all. "But it's just how things are, and you can either accept that, or you can let me go. We don't have a choice, maybe tomorrow we'll find one, but until then, you and I are just going to have to deal with it!"
"You're right." I admitted with a weary sigh. "You're right, and I'm sorry. So... truce? Why don't we settle on some rules then? Like... how often do you want to be out, how do we handle camp, should we let you out in hotel rooms, or was that 'no hotel pool' statement meant to cover a broader topic?" I asked, trying to shift the discussion to something more practical than getting yelled at.
"Hotel rooms are fine. Hotel pools are fine, as long as you're in the water with me, but if you get out to go further than sitting at the edge, you're taking me with you. You DO NOT leave me in a fucking pool while you and your friends go off and play. And I mean ever. I will fucking drown you." She more growled than said. "If I'm not out a few hours a day, at least? There'd better be a damn good reason for it. I'd prefer some time at the shore as often as possible, or somewhere big and deep enough for me to swim, and maybe dive a bit in. I get it though, you're not here to spend all day underwater, and the island challenges are island challenges, not ocean challenges. I'll live with it. Any time you all stop for a break, I expect to be a part of it. And if we're somewhere you can use the sled? Use the fucking sled. I want to travel with you all, not shoved somewhere dark and quiet to wait my turn to exist."
"I can do all of that. Um..." I paused and shook my head. "You probably already know my girls and I ..."
"Fuck like it's going out of fashion? Yeah, no. That's as obvious as my purple face. You and I aren't there yet. Don't get any ideas." She said, although she craned her head around to wink at me. "There might be things I'm willing to do. Well. Do again. As for the rest... let's just say you're making the right waves, and I like your song. I like you, don't let it go to your head, and don't push me. We can talk about that some other time. As for them? I don't care if you're fucking them right in front of me. Just not on my back. Fuck's sake, but that's been a problem before! And not while we're eating, either! You humans, I swear!"
I felt a little called out. Okay. A lot called out. If she hadn't specified, we probably would have had an argument later. Us humans, indeed! Still, she brought up something more important than fucking, at least, as far as a hierarchy of needs went. "Food, yeah..." I paused and smiled. "You're going to need a lot of it, more than we're used to getting." I sighed, scratching my cheek. "Okay, that's ... actually a really big problem, isn't it?"
"Nah, we're actually really easy." Alcyon said with a wink. "We normally go swimming to feed every couple of days, but can go three or four if we need to. Or just feel lazy enough to not care about being hungry. Won't kill us that easily! I can get my own food just fine, although I expect you to share meals and treats, and I'm happy to bring fish to you, like before. I don't know what you all can eat, but I'll try to find things I've seen humans fishing up. Not getting sick is your problem though. So don't eat just anything I bring you. It's okay to let me have it, instead."
"I think... that's probably enough to get us started then." I said, hopping down from her shell, my head coming to rest against hers. "And we can figure out the rest as we go, I think."
Wendy
We'd managed our third badge, the shiny little pin seemed oddly heavy in my hand. Rein was ecstatic, bouncing from one foot to the other. The little bounsweet she used to be became ... well, she was still little, but the steenee she was now was still energetic, even after having to go toe to toe with a gym leader's pokemon. Her bright eyes filled the screen, hopping up into my lap as I recorded the message to send. From above my head, my dratini, now as long as my arms, and presently halfway draped over my shoulders, let out a cry of welcome.
I still hadn't thought of a name for her, but it felt like we'd been together long enough it was getting awkward to call her dratini. I felt guilty, but we hadn't had our moment the way Rein and I had. She was patient though, or maybe it didn't matter to her the way it did to me. Neither would have surprised me, I guess. I wish I could have asked, and that was how I spent most mornings, it seemed. Wishing I was close to him, for him to bridge the distance between my pokemon and I.
It was both a guilt and a joy to be able to say that to him. To tell him I missed him. That I wanted to be there with him. I knew that wasn't the plan. Even this was a departure from what we'd originally said, for all I loved getting messages back from him. When I ended the message, I had a hundred things spring up I wanted to tell him. Wanted to share. Mostly I just missed him. But I had said that. Said that a few times. Damn it, I went and made a fool of myself, didn't I? Should've talked about sparring with Sprinter. Maybe asked pointers.
I'd picked up a few tricks fighting with Sprinter, even without the help of my martial artist friend. I knew the lopunny was still holding back, but I had begun to believe he was holding back less. We were trading shots far more than I was on the receiving end. As guarded as he was, I was still finding ways through. I knew he still had plenty of surprises in store, but I felt like I was getting to a point where I could handle it as it came. Or at least... I wouldn't go down without a fight.
Except for tonight, maybe. But he earned that. They both did.
I'd started with Sprinter, we'd figured out together that Stacky enjoyed the show we put on. Enjoyed seeing me used for pleasure, before he took his. It was obvious why. He was smug, maybe arrogant, stepping in when he decided it was his turn. Like he was showing Sprinter how to really make me scream. He loved upstaging Sprinter by sheer size and intensity. Not that the lopunny ever seemed to mind it, keeping my mouth full so I didn't make too much noise.
I'd gotten used to the musky taste of Stacky's cock, and I'd at one point supposed maybe I just assumed every pokemon was the same that way, Sprinter was meticulously clean, he didn't really have much of a taste until I started getting his pre. Then it was sweet and sour, like an overripe berry. The salt came after, if I did it right. The way he bucked and trembled, all but falling against me when I really got him going. I was glad he was small enough to enjoy that way. Poor Staccato was just too big to get my mouth around in a way we could both have fun with.
Fortunately for him, I could get his cock somewhere just as wet and eager. He had learned just how much I could take, and positioned himself accordingly. Every thrust and every pull from his mighty hips dragging that flared head almost fully free only to drive it back in so hard it made me cry out. It hurt but it hurt in ways I'd gotten used to, and in the end came to love. I could feel everything. Every ridge and vein, the way that immense cock throbbed with his pulse, heated breath above me as he rutted me. It was overwhelming, it was always overwhelming, and all I could do was endure until he came, emptied those heavy balls into my aching cunt and left me dripping as he pulled himself free. He always made Sprinter clean up his mess, first licking me off of his cock, and sucking the last of his cum out. Then shoving the lopunny between my legs to eat me out until I couldn't take it anymore.
I wondered, an odd thought tonight, if maybe my friend would like to watch. If he'd like to nudge Sprinter out of the way and use us the same way. It sent a tingle up my spine, the thought of it. Of him pumping me full and pushing my lopunny down to clean up after. I should have stuck to the plan, but I was already preparing to spend the rest of my evening looking up flights to Alola. My thoughts churned in on themselves, and every last one seemed to circle back to him. To wonder if he'd put on a show for me with his girls, the way I'd put on a show for him these days.
I loved my boys, of course. But I needed my best friend, too. Maybe not tonight, but it wouldn't be long now before I broke away, and went to him no matter what we'd promised or why. It was wrong, right, beautiful. My time with my best friend had changed me, but I was the one who ran away with it. I'd have given him anything, maybe. Everything.
The heart wants what it wants... and the rest of me was bound to follow. After dinner, and dessert, I still had an appetite. I was aching from everything they did to me but my thoughts ran wild, I couldn't get the idea out of my head and before long I was laying in bed entertaining it. Enjoying it. Savoring it like a fine wine, or a good race.
I wondered if Sprinter would like him. If he'd join us. If my friend would let him. Would he fuck the lopunny the way Staccato did? I didn't think he was gay, but... maybe he'd like getting his dick sucked. Maybe I could just... get him caught up in the moment, show him how good it could be if he'd relax and take what he wanted. I wondered how it would feel to spread my legs for Sprinter, and take my best friend up my ass. Or the other way around. I'd have to pick up some lube before I found my way to Alola with him. I didn't know if I'd enjoy it, but I knew he'd love it and that was good enough!
Arceus I was ashamed of myself, but I wanted to see it happen. I knew how much Sprinter liked being fucked, and I bet he'd love going down on a human cock. Really getting his mouth around it, instead of just licking and teasing along the sides of one too big to enjoy completely. I wanted to watch him bounce on my best friend's lap. To ride that gorgeous man like a tauros at a rodeo. I was dripping now. So sensitive. Too sensitive. I didn't even realize I had my hand in my panties until the first wave of pleasured, pained climax, and the desperate hushed cry of my best friend's name.
Just the thought of it was enough to send me over the edge again afterward. My panties were a sodden mess! It was fantasy, just fantasy, I wouldn't ask it of them, wouldn't push it. But I wanted to see it. I loved watching him fuck Penance, too. Fuck, I loved the way her tongue felt. I was torn between wondering what was wrong with me, and wanting to ask Sprinter if he'd do it for me. Go down on my best friend just so I could watch and play with myself. The league would have had a field day if they knew. My parents would kill me, themselves!
So why did it feel so good?