Ch. 72
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Zorah
"Yeah? So what?" I'd asked her, as she fumed and sulked about their little conversation. "He didn't lie to you, he didn't take advantage of you, he was exactly who we thought he was." She was being a damned child about it. "So he loves, and is loved. So they all share something beautiful together. What's it matter to you? Who did he hurt?" She was a sweet girl, but damn she could be selfish.
Even Shizuka agreed with me. We never agreed too much on anything. He'd been forthright, she'd pointed out. Had been honest with her and it was a dangerous thing for him to have done so. He showed her a trust he wouldn't have shown just about anyone else in the world and we knew it. "He'd already treated you with more decency than either of your exes had ever managed, even in the middle of their makeup manipulation with you." the haunter had scolded her. It was strange to see her that animated about anything, but apparently even she could get emotional. "If anything, it's annoying you're so mad. Like him, hate him, whatever, but don't pretend you were wronged!"
Sharon deflated at that, and sat heavily on her bed. I hated seeing her down, I did. But if her retelling was even close to accurate, he'd done nothing wrong. He'd done right by her, and I owed him a thanks. Calming her down would have to do. I doubted I could convince her of anything else.
But I was going to try, anyway.
"Sounds to me like he gets it. Understands them. Understands us." I'd said, as I began to weave my illusions for her. Not the first time. Shizuka helped, a sudden shock from behind Sharon, forcing her to numbed paralysis, to lay down and dream the dream we gave her.
So I painted. With my words, and my mind, I showed her what I needed her to see. Shizuka filled in gaps, and I was grateful that she remembered so much of what he'd said. In all of his stories, he'd been alone with them, except for a very few moments. The ones he kept, the ones he retold, he was with them. They were his whole world. His sun, his moon, and his stars. He fought for them. They for him. Was it so surprising that they might fall in love?
And when they found a person who shared the road with them? One they all could rely on together? One who accepted them, who they all were, what they were together? She'd been welcomed to the fold. Even when things were rough, he looked after her, too. They'd found their way, loved and shared, and separated only because they needed to, not because they wanted to.
He'd given Sharon a trust beyond anything she had a right to expect, and her acting like a spoiled child about it was just disappointing. She should have been better than that, I told her. But if she really wasn't, I was glad he was able to get away from her. He deserved better than she gave him. Rejection aside, being maligned about it by her was a disheartening thing to see from her.
I knew that stung her, but she needed to be stung.
"Pokemon mostly don't look for one mate for life the way humans try to. You weren't going to be his first, or his last. He wasn't going to be your first either, so don't be a hypocrite. He loved and cherished and honored his pokemon, and his friendship with the girl he mentioned. He honored the heart you wanted to give to him, too. Or he wouldn't have brought them up at all. He treated you right, and you're an idiot if you can't see that much. I'm going to sleep."
Once again, Shizuka seemed to agree, at least in as much as ending the conversation, drifting away between the walls without a word. Doubtless to go enjoy the moonlight in silence. These were her hours, and I was glad she had the freedom to enjoy them.
Sybil
"I really thought he was just going to go for it." I'd recounted the story to Helena, who scoffed at the notion. Shook her head and flashed me a grin as we set up the next song to dance to. It was a quiet hour in the arcade, a few handfuls of people gathered around the cabinets and machines, content to while away their evening among friends and flashing lights. "I mean, it wasn't like the last time. She was sober, and into him, not just looking for anything she could get. They were getting along, even. She ended up kicking him right out. And as soon as he was out the door it was like a weight was off his shoulders, you know? Just grinned, scooped me up and off we went to split dessert!"
"He's a risk taker, but he's also a worrywart." She'd replied, with a nod as she settled into the groove. "He's not afraid of getting hurt, himself. Losing a fight or beating the piss out of some hapless fool, but hurting someone else? Their heart, like that? No way. He'd never have done that to her. Not in a million years. That's fine with me though, ugh, can you imagine? I wouldn't want to fuck her, if I was him." A moment passed before she changed her mind. "I dunno, I take that back." She'd said, pausing to hit a complicated pattern with her usual precision. "Cocoa's good to him, and I've seen her getting plowed. There's a few things she can do a lot better 'cause she's a big girl. Who knows, maybe it would be a good show. Still. He could do better, don't you think?"
I hadn't seen her that way, good, bad or otherwise. Maybe I just couldn't. Human girls and I never did seem to get along.
We'd lingered a while, a few more songs between the two of us while the remaining people seemed to drift away. Another day coming to a close. Only halfway there, and honestly the ship was starting to feel a little claustrophobic to me. Big, and full of stuff, but more empty every day. I'd shrugged at Helena when she asked what we should do next, and I think it was the first time I ever said the words. "I want to go home."
Home... to the little cabin where he was. To hug him tight, and reassure him. To make him feel better, if he was still worrying about it. To take his mind off of things if he was struggling. Home, to that weird fucking human I couldn't get out of my mind any hour of the day. It was a surreal feeling, having someone to go home to. Having someone I wanted to go home to. A friend, a partner, someone I really cared about.
I wasn't sure when I started feeling that way, but I did. It wasn't about what I owed him, or what I wanted to earn, I just wanted to be near him, that was all.
So we did exactly that, I'd caught him in the shower, and damn the misery of wet fur later, I slipped right in and wrapped him up tight until he scooped me up to return the favor. I could feel the stress in his hands, see it in his eyes. The sigh that left him when I took his hand, held him, nuzzled into his neck and shoulder. It had been a long day. Tempest and Claire both had already readied a few drinks. Enough for all of us, and finish off the bottle I'd brought back the other night. A luxury we could enjoy while Cocoa and Mira had pulled the bedding back down and made a nest, half propped up against Penance, who was in the middle of a quiet conversation with Helena.
I'd volunteered to sleep on the tile in the claustrophobic little kitchen space, but he just laughed, and pulled the balcony door open, the breeze chilling me through my fur, and the warmth of his skin beneath my back warming me to the core. Between him, and the warmth radiating off of the arcanine half curled up around us, it was as warm and safe as the nest I was born into. He'd begun to relax, too. Mira had him wrapped up, and kept nuzzling into his hand until he began to drift to sleep.
In the morning, we'd try again. I'd be with him. I wouldn't let him struggle alone. I wouldn't let anyone sour his sweet smile. We wouldn't let anyone do that. Today was rough, but tomorrow... tomorrow we'd make sure he knew exactly how much we loved him.
Trainer
It was the murmur of their voices that quieted the one in me at last. I had troubled sleep, woke up a couple of times, laid awake and stared at the ceiling. I didn't feel rested by the morning, but I'd have to take what I could get. Breakfast might as well have been gruel for all I tasted it, my bleary eyes fixated on a weak cup of coffee that almost felt insulting. The girls had picked up on my mood, and let me have as much quiet as we could get in the main dining hall at that hour. The murmur of everyone else's conversations grinding on already frayed nerves.
Claire was apologetic, for having left the day before. Having lived it vicariously through my thoughts, she felt guilty that she'd misread the situation. Was hoping I'd have something juicy or delicious to share, not stress and drama. She'd misjudged the girl, and she'd be more careful, she promised. An apology she didn't need to make. It wasn't her fault. It was just different for humans, different for us, maybe. I wasn't interested in anyone who wasn't invested in all of us. Honestly, I'd decided that maybe Wendy was the only girl who could share the road with me that way. A thought that made Claire poke my nose and shake her head, refusing the idea of it outright.
'I love you, but I don't need to own you, master. I feel safe with you, and love how things are. So don't push the whole world away over me, okay?' Her thought was tinged gold and pink. A little embarrassment and a whole lot of feeling flattered. 'I know you're my mate. I know you're going to have other mates. I don't care, remember? I'm the one who started it, anyway. So find the ones who don't need to own you to be happy, and have fun. The world's a big place and we've only seen a tiny bit of it. Why should we close doors already?'
It amused me, realizing that they were all a lot more adventurous than I was. A lot more willing to take chances, make mistakes. Sybil wasn't even close to being a fringe case. Did I just attract the crazies, or were pokemon just like that in general? If it weren't sure to get me arrested, I'd have maybe made a study of it. It was with wry amusement I conceded to myself that someone probably already did. Professor Redwood out there investigating lopunny mating with scientific rigor.
I almost choked on the coffee when I burst out laughing, a fine spray of caffeinated mist making it halfway across the table as the tension was instantly dispelled.
Fuck it! What was done was done, and it hardly mattered now.
I knew what I needed, and I wanted them to just hang out with me today. So after breakfast we hit the gym, and those of us who weren't too beat up to do so got some proper reps in. It felt good to just be with them. Felt good to go through the motions, practice my punches, my kicks, even got some sparring in with Claire, who really pushed herself, and was clearly making some progress. Slipped and ducked a lot of my punches, and managed to block the ones she couldn't avoid. She was getting better at it, faster and more confident.
It was a good morning, and it was going to be a good day, hell or high water. I wasn't alone, and I didn't need to do a damned thing but take it as it came. Why overthink it?
Tempest
He had done it at last. Let something go. I was proud of him. Whatever magic happened at that table, it felt like he walked through himself and came out a new man. We all breathed a sigh of relief, shared a moment, a glance among ourselves that was almost giddy, just to see him laugh it off and decide to do something for himself, take us with him and not feel guilty about it.
Of course it'd be the gym first. But that was just him. That was my mate, my friend, my lover. His passion, and a big part of why I loved him the way I did. He was as strong as ever, maybe even more for eating well and actually sleeping. Seemed to shrug off the strain of the lifts, and stepped into the boxing ring with Claire, went through a few rounds with her, kept her on the defensive, before letting her have a round where he would only block or evade.
Seeing her explode from her corner was kind of sexy. She wasn't big enough to do any real damage, wasn't that kind of fighter. But she still put her whole heart into it, and that was every bit as hot as any fire she'd ever started. When all was said and done, she was breathless, panting, leaning heavily against him, as we made our way topside. Take in the sun, share stories. Everyone had to have a few, at least. We'd never really taken the time, not had the chance to, maybe. Helena hadn't said much about her life before, but she was happy to go along with the mood. Sybil seemed to bring it out of her, too. Sharing her own moments, what it was like growing up, stories about her siblings, her family.
Cocoa talked a little about the farm, commiserated with Penance about how dull it could be, the routine of it all. But painted some really sweet stories about the beauty of the place, the way the sky seemed to go on forever, how bright the stars were on a clear night. Reminded me of the mountains, but in a good way. I talked about being a rockruff, and it felt like so long ago that they weren't quite my stories anymore. How long had it been since I was that small? Since I was wandering on my own just for the hell of it?
Finding Claire was the best thing that ever happened to me. My family. My lovers. My friends.
Mira shared the sentiment, the little sap, had hopped to my lap for once, nuzzled against me, and didn't complain at the way she came away a little scratched for it. She was warm, made me feel warm, happy. Safe. Was that what master felt all the time with her? I'd have to hang around her a little more. It was nice. Her ribbons wrapped around me made me feel a kind of calm I hadn't since a rainy day ages ago, listening to the water beating against the tent, and the wind whispering through the trees above us.
It was nice to have a day to rest. A shame we weren't in the finals, but not really, I'd decided. I'd kind of wanted to watch, but this was where I belonged. This was where I wanted to be.
I realized then that I understood. Understood a lot of why he was how he was. Why the tournaments didn't seem to matter. There would be other tournaments. We would have our gym matches, the strays along the road, always another chance to test ourselves. I finally knew why he was so quick to just shrug and go on to the next thing. The next thing was always us. Win, lose, it wasn't important to him. Being there with us was enough. We were enough. I was enough.
We'd always been enough, hadn't we?
It was at my suggestion we went to the pools, and while I wasn't in a state to be in the water, I was happy enough relaxing in a deck chair with Claire at my side as the others played. Master ended up lingering at the side of the pool close to us, a vaporeon he seemed to know chatting with him for a few moments before diving into the water and disappearing. It was some time later he'd launched himself up from the water and padded his way between Claire and I, making himself right at home, curled up in the sun.
Helena had padded over to us, shortly after. She was soaking wet, and with a grin that spelled trouble, shook herself off all over us. I couldn't help but laugh when Sybil came and did the same. The duo had dragged over an umbrella to shade us all, and seemed content to rest beneath it while master floated on his back, drifting free with Mira riding atop him. Cocoa had gone to get drinks, returning with a tray of iced juices just waiting for us to enjoy them.
Penance had waited until our drinks were finished, and that was the ONLY reason I wasn't mad at her. We'd already mostly dried from the misting that Helena and Sybil gave us... arceus help us, but arcanine fur might as well have been a sponge. When she shook herself off, all over us, it was like being caught in a storm. Every last one of us went from damp to drowned rattata in the span of a few moments.
Sybil cussed, laughed, and swore she'd get her revenge, before blowing a kiss at the aggravating arcanine as she stood there, wagging her tail and admiring her work. Master had halfway hauled himself out of the pool before the laughter left him half doubled over as he staggered toward us. Claire looked to me, and I'd understood her expression without a word. At least someone was having fun.
The wind had picked up, and we'd dry off again, but damn it all, I'd been comfortable!
Rillet
I couldn't be mad. Couldn't stay mad, at least. Seeing him talking with them made me realize that absol had set me up a bit. I could've been offended, could have felt taken advantage of or used, but what was the point? He wanted it. I wanted it. She made it happen. And in the span of a few minutes, I asked him if he wanted more, and while he lingered at the edge of the pool, I gave him a little taste of what I'd be doing for him back in their room later.
He was pretty daring with me, too. One leg wrapped around my back, pulling me in tight, making sure I got all the way down on him in the water. Nobody would see, so nobody would care, and I loved the way his cock felt sliding to the back of my throat. I loved the way he used me, a sneaky hand dipped into the water, pushing my head down, fucking my muzzle as the water rippled and flowed with other people and pokemon cavorting around behind us.
I loved the way he tasted, when he let go. There was something special about the way humans came, it felt like. About the way it tasted, the way he twitched and the way his grip tightened when he pumped his load in my mouth. Arceus did he! Jet after jet of that thick human cum. Hot, thick, salty. A reward for a job well done, and as I moved back up, a whispered promise to milk him dry later, with a much tighter hole just waiting for him to enjoy. My body brushed close to his, and the feeling of his fingers running down my belly before I left his side. Curled up to enjoy the warm glow he gave me.
When his pokemon came and splashed us all down, I just basked in it. It felt good, cool and pleasant on a day that had grown a little stifling. And it was fun to watch the others sputter and cuss. Nice to be around folks who weren't tied up with my work. A happy change of pace between all the filming we'd had to do lately. I'd had some other offers, but he'd been especially enthusiastic.
I'd be on camera again later, judging by the way the absol was looking at me, but a private production was exciting to think about. Always intense. He'd want to make really good memories, after all. Better yet, we could afford to make a bit of a mess this time. I had to shift, and curl my tail up to hide what that thought did for me.
And if I never saw him again after that, I'd get to carry a little piece of him with me. Apparently he had no idea who I was. He was in for a treat. I'd had something special to put in his bag before I emptied his beautiful, heavy sack.
It was going to expand his horizons, for sure!
Wendy
We'd taken a lazy day, the four of us. The rain was enough to convince me the hotel we had stayed overnight at could keep us one more day. It had taken some doing, and I'm sure my back wasn't going to be happy later, but I wasn't about to keep poor Stacky cooped up in his pokeball. So with Sprinter's help I managed to move the furniture around enough to give Staccato some room to settle in, and we enjoyed just curling up and listening to the rain for a while.
Well. I enjoyed the rain. Stacky enjoyed watching while Sprinter enjoyed me. Boys!
I was glad that our little bounsweet friend didn't seem to mind. Or notice, for that matter. She'd settled in on the windowsill, and scarce even looked our way once the storm picked up, swaying happily enough with the sound of water dancing across the rooftop. After we'd tidied up, I joined her, an idle quiet moment sitting at the window, watching the storm. I hadn't done anything like that since I was a girl, and while the view from the barn loft was better, it was still a happy thing to remember, to feel again.
It was nice to hold her in my hands, if a little bittersweet. How long ago had it been, that I was holding Penance and watching a storm like this? I wondered what she was doing. If she was happy. If she missed me, the way I missed her. She deserved so much better than I gave her. They all did. I was glad for a chance to start over, but I wished with all my heart it didn't hurt so much, sometimes.
Rein, I'd decided. Spur of the moment maybe. Rein, to guide me, if I wander off the path. Rein, because we were watching the rain when it came to me. Rein, because she was part of my reincarnation. Every time I looked at her. Every time I called her name, I'd have a fresh reminder of what I needed to be, what I needed to do better than I had before.
"Rein," I'd more whispered than spoken, scooping up the bounsweet who squeaked in surprise before looking to me, puzzled at the sudden change in focus. A playful little hop, one side to the other, as I brought my forehead to her, as soft as a swablu's down. "Thank you for being here with me. For bringing me a rainbow, and helping the flowers bloom."
Maybe she wouldn't ever understand. That was fine, I knew I did. I knew I understood now, more than any words could've given me.
I was a little closer to him, that's what I felt. A little closer. One step, one very important one.
Belle
We'd had time to settle in, get unpacked. Share more than a few cups of tea. Gwen and I had made our way to her home town, a quiet, almost dreary little place. A few small houses, a post office attached to a library, and a diner that she had a hundred stories in. She wasn't lying when she said the place would be boring. I couldn't even remember the last time we had blue skies, almost a constant gray, and a light mist of fog to blanket the land.
She wasn't wrong that I was going to miss Helena, miss the man she went with. I envied her so much. But this was right. This was where I had needed to be, at first. Gwen wasn't quite protesting my company yet, but I could tell she was ready to let me go. She'd kept his information. Could send me right to him, anywhere he found himself. That was the promise she made him make. He'd turn up at a pokemon center, and I'd be there just as soon as his ID came up.
It was an anxious feeling. Not a frightened one, not exactly. I knew what I'd promised him. What I'd said beneath that starry sky as he held me and let me feel everything I'd been so afraid to face. It was an anxious feeling, a sense of longing, and anticipation and doubt. I had no idea how to be what I wanted to be with him. I'd have to trust him to show me, to teach me. And that kind of surrender was an intimidating thing.
In my memories, it still hurt. All of the things I'd never see, never know. Missing Anna, not knowing whatever became of Sophie. It was an emptiness in my heart and in my mind that I could almost pluck out of my own aura, but there was something different there now. He'd left something different in my aura, and I knew where I belonged. Sooner or later, I'd be back in his arms, and we'd have to answer for those feelings. For the way his colors changed mine.
I wasn't afraid of being in his arms anymore. I wasn't afraid of the way he might touch me, might kiss me, might take me as a lover. Not like I had been that night. I wasn't afraid, the way I had been, of all the memories that had burned so painfully bright in my heart. He wasn't the one who hurt me, he could never be that. I'd have to confront it, and that was scary, but I wouldn't be alone. I knew I could trust him, and I knew Helena would be with me through it.
So Gwen and I had begun to talk about it. The donphan in the room. It was a hard conversation, for both of us. I needed to be honest with her. I needed her to understand how I really felt. What he really was to me. What I hoped he'd let me be for him. What I hoped I was brave enough to be. She was startled at first, the idea that he was involved with his pokemon that way. Doubly so at knowing that I desired him, as my trainer, and as my lover. But as I explained, as I told her what I'd come to understand; what his pokemon had confided in me when nobody was there to defend him except them_,_ she'd accepted it the way I had. That what they had was love, romance, acceptance. That not a single one of his pokemon would ever wind up in a sanctuary like that because of what he did to them.
In the end, there was a smile on her lips I'd never seen before. A warmth to her aura that hadn't been in years. Lively, and whole. I don't know what I expected from her, what I had hoped she would tell me. But when I was done explaining it to her, she took my hand in hers, and I realized how frail she'd grown since the day we met. I understood, as painful as it was, that when I left I'd probably never see her again. Never sit and sip tea with her. She knew it, too, and that hurt my heart even more. She'd known it since we left the sanctuary together.
"Some folks wait for lightning to strike. Some go chase the storm. You weren't meant to sit around and wait." She'd said, as she gave my hand a squeeze. Her grip was as firm as it had ever been, more than it had been in a while. "So as soon as you're ready, you go to him, Annabelle. You go to him and you never look back. Not to here, not to the sanctuary, not to before. That's all I ask. You want to make me proud, then you start living for tomorrow."
"You'll be disappointed then." I'd said softly, looking up into her eyes. "Because there's not going to be a day that goes by where I don't look back to you. Where I forget how grateful I am for everything. For every moment, for every memory, for every time you were nothing less than my mother."
We shared the memories, we shared the tears, and we shared the smile when it was said and done. She'd never be disappointed in me, I'd make her proud. But it was time. It was finally time, and I would be by his side soon enough. I wondered how surprised he would be, when I arrived. What he'd say, what he'd do.
Sleep would be long in coming, but in my dreams, I was there in his arms, gazing at the stars above. It was warm, and safe, in a world that had been anything but.
It was about time for me to go chase my storm.