FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

-1-

The palace floor had become a swarming mass of humanity, their mingling presence all gestating collectively towards the core of the building. Painted faces darted in and out of existence, as blank and lifeless as the vapid conversation being continued around her.

“Do you think the emperor will make an appearance?”

“What are the chances we can make a deal?”

“Why don’t you let me buy you a drink?”

Sycophants and schemers alike parted ways in her rushed presence. Fia was surprised at how well she slipped into them, even with her backpack and her rather extravagant attire. It was a far cry from the long-trained, flowing dresses that accentuated the beauty in the feminine bodies around her. Say what you would about trainer attire, she knew she made the black and red-accented pants and jacket look good. Now if only she weren’t aware of the stares she was starting to garner behind those vapid, empty faces.

Fia had traded one prison for another, although this one was far more opulent.

The urge to throw an elbow or shoulder through was her first notion. A simple, brutish technique, she had to admit to herself. It would have been too noticeable, all she needed was one angry party goer to call out to her and draw the guards attention to her-

A chorus of music sprang up suddenly, and if that strange calm that permeated her entire being wasn’t keeping her steady she might have jumped like a startled skitty. The crowd seemed to move as one, turning towards the far end of the room near where Fia had first entered this chamber.

A raised platform of white, marbled stone stood as imposing as the walls surrounding the castle. It was a few feet above the floor, no doubt allowing those that stood upon it the opportunity to gaze down on their subjects. A throne of dark wood gilded with rich, golden metal stood an imposing vigil over the room, and seated upon it was a small figure.

There was something about the moon-pale face turned up in a friendly smile that made the hair on the back of Fia’s neck rise. She was young, the flowing purple robes that she wore hanging around her like a child playing pretend with their parent’s finery. Her hair was tied up in a neat bun with a long, golden needle set through it, the auspicious jewelry accentuated by large hanging earrings.

When she spoke, it was with an authority that betrayed her small stature and carried with it a grandiose sense of purpose that carried it over the hall.

“Honored guests, thank you for joining me on such an important night.” As she spoke, she raised one of her hands towards the ceiling, allowing the sleeve to fall back revealing fingers adorned with large, jeweled rings. “Sadly, my father is unable to join us tonight, so I will be overseeing the festivities. And what festivities we have planned!”

Fia began to back up slowly, shifting between silken-clad bodies. Despite the seriousness of the matter, a new thought came to mind, one that she wasn’t sure where it had originated from.

It’s just a game.

Don’t touch anyone, keep moving, don’t rush and don’t draw attention to herself. Beneath her vulpine mask, she even found herself smiling for the first time since entering this horrible place. What reason was there to be unhappy when she was presented with a challenge? One that she could easily solve if she were skilled or wily enough to pull it off?

The guards standing at the edges of the room had turned their attention to the youthful speaker. Their lack of focus just made the game all the easier for her, and as whispered voices began to rise around her she moved faster.

“The princess again…”

“-never see the emperor anymore-”

The sense of victory that enveloped Fia was enough to make her want to yell with delight, a bubbly excitement that left her nearly bouncing on her feet. Just a little further, just a little more and she’d be free.

The entire building groaned, like some sleeping beast angry at being disturbed. The floor trembled and those that stood next to her started to look around in uncertainty. It sounded again as a large doorway on the opposite side of the throne pushed open, and through it walked a haunting visage that made Fia’s blood run cold.

The man stood towering above the crowd, wearing dark gray, metallic armor that covered his chest and arms. It was festooned with a number of golden bands of some importance which were lost on Fia; that wasn’t what she was focused on, though. His face appeared as if it were carved out of solid stone, with high, sharp cheekbones and a jutting forehead made all the more apparent from the lack of his hair. A gasp rose from the crowd in a collective wave, one that she found herself joining in.

The hulking goliath was massive and each movement he made was accompanied by a sound akin to grinding stone. He moved slowly, but with definite purpose. One part of him stood out to her more than anything else, however. One part that she couldn’t ignore once she realized it was there.

It might have been the heat that was radiating in her face when her eyes fell upon it that told her it was there. The pinpoint pressure on the stone in the center of her own mask made it feel like someone was pressing a finger against her forehead. Fia might not have noticed the square shape just above the man’s eyes, but something told her she knew just what it was.

A square stone like the one that had been pried from the Oni mask, and the one in her kitsune mask.

The man stopped at the foot of the stage and turned towards the crowd slowly. His face made no meaningful expression, blank and lifeless. When it split into a rictus grin, she knew that stone wasn’t stuck in a mask.

It was embedded under his skin.

“It is my honor to introduce you to the man who single-handedly captured the most notorious villain this kingdom has had to suffer. I give you, Daichi, The Breaker. The man who single handedly captured The Ebony Oni.”

The response from the crowd was stilled at first, silent as the forest under the first rays of the morning sun. There was a stir, slowly, but surely, hands were being brought together and cheers began to rise above the gentle music.

“Blessed by the emperor himself. He carries with him the strength that empowers our empire and the will to fight. It is he who we give praise to on this auspicious night. Please, friends. Eat, drink, and enjoy all the bounty that Sinnoh offers to us.”

Now was her chance.

The focus was solely on Daichi and there was no one who cared to notice the lithe shape darting out of the entryway. There was nothing that could keep her rooted to that spot any longer, nothing that could prevent her from rushing on her way out. Her earlier game returned, leaving her fleet of foot and carried as if her heels were ablaze with flames. Not even the servants batted an eye at her, leaving her to step forth into the early evening air with a deep, shuddering breath.

Fia was free.

-2-

Fia hadn’t realized just how long she had been wallowing in the depths of the palace. The cloudy sky still hung overhead, darker now with the occasional rumbling boom of thunder that sounded so much closer now than it had before. A strong wind kicked through the pavilion, tossing up her hair and throwing it about her shoulders. Fia ignored the crimson red locks that danced in her face like the embers of a raging flame and pushed them aside. She was already walking quickly across the flagstones before realization hit her.

Red?

Fia grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled it around so she could better see it. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw it, trying to comprehend just what had happened to her golden locks.

Her hair was bright red, the same color as blood freshly spilled on fallen snow. It was captivating, mystifying, and it took her some time to come to terms with just what she was seeing. Sometime between her exploration into the depths of the building and her escape, her hair had turned red?

She was about to pull her mask off when she heard soft voices nearby, carrying just above the gusts. Fia immediately darted behind one of the large cherry blossom trees planted around the courtyard and planted her back against it firmly. Right, she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Far be it for her to come this far and run afoul of a patrolling guard.

Where was her way out anyways? They had come through the courtyard to get to the loading bay behind the palace.

Would Mei still be there waiting for her? Fia could only hope she had given up waiting and left for home. With how hard the rain was starting to come down, there was no doubt she would have guided Titan back to the farm.

It was just her luck that it seemed like whatever god was dogging her steps waited for her to get outside before the heavens erupted with lightning. The crack and boom of thunder got her moving again through the pouring rain that enshrouded her like a cloak. It was heavy, causing her hair to stick to her form and running down her outfit in thick streams. At least a side effect of it being fireproof was that it was also waterproof, she thought in amusement.

Fia would have removed the mask if it wasn’t doing an admirable job of keeping water out of her face.

That and…she liked it.

Maybe it was the warmth, the reassuring press of the stone against her bare skin. Maybe it was the reigniting giddy, silly excitement that came as she pressed her back to the towering palace walls. It was invigorating to be faceless, free and anonymous with no one knowing who she was. Was this why she had never seen Kuran without a mask on? It made her smirk thinking of how different hers was from Kuran’s mask.

Simple, hollow, just like all those people in there. Nothing more than an empty shell.

Where that thought had suddenly come from she could not tell. It slipped into her mind with a venomous hint of mockery that had her biting her tongue.

Fia waited before the guards were well away from the entrance to the exit corridor, and the promise of freedom gave her wings. Her shoes pounded across the cobblestone, the sound swallowed by the great deluge letting loose from the sky. It was coming down so heavy now that she couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of her. The towering defensive walls were a constant guide, showing her the way forward.

The torches on either side of the exit corridor had been snuffed out, bathing her in darkness and leaving her traveling by instinct. The passage grew tighter, reminding her of the dark tunnels she had passed through under the palace and momentarily eliciting a burst of fear-induced speed out of her. She was not going back there, not again. Never again.

She didn’t stop until she passed under an overhang and the water bathing her was cut off. With weary eyes she looked around and saw that she had come to the place where the strange symbols had been carved into the floor. What had Mei said about them? A mark to ward off evil spirits?

Well, at least they weren’t as effective at keeping out thieves.

That was what she was now, after all. For the first time she had the chance to pull her backpack off, more to make sure that she still had it on than anything else. The exterior was damp, but she had been caught in enough rain storms with it to be certain that the interior was safe and dry. Fia had just rested her hand on the zipper when she heard the sharp, demanding tone of a throat clearing.

“About time.”

Fia’s hand tightened, squeezed into a tense knot around the straps of her backpack.

Empty. Hollow.

“Kuran. I figured you’d never show up.” Fia’s voice grew bitter when she turned to regard the dark shape standing just beyond the reach of the overhang. “No, ‘hey, you’re alright, good job!’. I have your stupid mask, what’s left of it anyways.”

If Kuran was bothered by the rain pouring down on her, she didn’t show it. If anything, it almost looked like the rain was coming down around her, avoiding her like Fia so desperately wanted to do.

Except, she could feel the way Kuran stared at her. Fia had thought that with her faceless mask, it was impossible in the past to know how she was feeling. Now though? Now she could see the tensing of her shoulders, her hands clutching at the air and the telltale hiss of animosity. It was a physical presence that surrounded Kuran, anger and vitriol that was only barely contained by a thin veneer of humanity.

It was rage incarnate, and Fia found herself taking a step back.

“Where did you find that?” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. It was as cold as steel slipping between your ribs. “Where did you find that mask?!”

The rain had faltered, easing just enough that Fia could hear the fitful burst of a bird whistling.

Far too cheery for a night like this.

Before she could raise a word of warning, she felt the air next to her ear hiss with the presence of a physical object hurtling past her. Another inch and it would have caught her in the back of the head, instead it passed her by and collided with Kuran’s mask.

It sent the wooden edifice of entropy hurtling across the ground, bouncing along the cobblestones until it came to rest at the foot of the great wall. Just below the eye hole was a deep rivet gouged across the middle, marring the face with an imperfection that felt blasphemous.

Kuran had dropped to her knees before her, holding her face in her hands and shuddering. She did not cry out in pain. She almost rocked forward and back, hiding her face from Fia’s prying eyes.

At once the rain stopped, as surely as if a tap had been turned and it was cut off. There was nothing but the loamy scent of damp stone and the sound of a bowstring being drawn back. Fia didn’t even need to turn to know whom it was, for she recognized the sound. That entire night had been imprinted in her mind down to the most minute detail, and now the vision of the bowman blazed in her mind.

“I had hoped I would catch at least one rat in my trap, but it would seem that the warren was overflowing.”

Fia moved slowly, raising her arms high above her head as she turned towards the robed figure. He seemed unblemished by the recent rainfall, his brown cloak impeccable and his green hood pulled tight over his head. He wasn’t alone, a half dozen guards flanked him and held their polearms at the ready. They were twitchy, Fia noticed, waving their weapons at the smallest movement that she made.

Fia wasn’t surprised to see another arrow was knocked and the bow was pointed right at her. The memory of arrows piercing flesh, of men screaming, it made her shudder to imagine just how sharp those tips must have been.

“You should know. Stealing from the Emperor is an offense punishable by death.” He paused, before regarding Fia’s masked face in amusement. “What are you? No, let me guess…the…Crimson Kitsune? You bandits love your little costumes, don’t you?”

For the first time since the arrow struck her, Kuran made a noise. It was loud, breaking the silence and leaving the hair on the back of Fia’s neck prickling. It was a sob, a deep, guttural cry that seemed so unlike her that Fia couldn’t believe this was the same woman that had haunted her dreams. The arrow must have been sharp, but to sob? She had not expected such a show of weakness from the faceless woman.

“Kuran the Faceless and the Crimson Kitsune. Daichi can keep his pathetic accolades. Imagine what the emperor will say when I present him with you. Thieves with the gall to taint the royal palace.”

Fia opened her mouth, before closing it shut tight.

Unless she spoke, there was no reason he would be able to realize they had met already.

Fia was wearing her gym trainer attire, her hair had somehow changed color, and she was wearing a mask. Her voice was the only way he could have possibly recognized her.

Her first thought was to throw her backpack at him and take the chance to run, and that urge was only fueled when he nodded to the guards.

Would death be preferable to imprisonment? The thought left her feeling empty.

Hollow.

The guards spilled around Fia like a stream around a rock, eyeing her suspiciously before they approached the downed Kuran. It wasn’t like they needed anyone to hold Fia down, she realized with a slowly sinking heart. This man could leave her a pin cushion in the time it took to blink. What was her choice, then?

Die here? Die as a prisoner?

Wait for the guards to slap irons on her and drag her back down to the dungeons? Back into the darkness, the all-consuming void of stagnant air and suffocating claustrophobia?

Movement caught her eye, and her resolve hardened when she saw the climbing ax swaying from its strap on her backpack.

Fia wasn’t going back there. She would not be caged, not now, not ever.

I will not be trapped again.

It was a fleeting thought, but one that held such poisonous intent in it that she recognized it hadn’t come from her. It had come like a whisper in her ear, one that urged her to action with no time to spare.

The hand clutching her bag released it, and as the man’s hand released the taut arrow, several things happened at one.

Her hands closed around the familiar handle of her ax, her trusted tool that had seen her through so many climbs. The strap gave way as the bag fell, and time almost seemed to slow, seconds passing in painfully slow intervals. Fia saw the arrow already flying towards her, aware of the most minute curvatures of its pointed tip. The tips of the feathers adorning it fluttered in the air, carrying it straight and true.

A pressure closed around her wrist, before it was suddenly yanked forward just in time for the arrow to collide with the metal ax head. There was a loud clunk of metal on metal and a spark of light before the arrow fell to the side, leaving Fia standing there in awe at what she had just done…and fear at what had so suddenly controlled her.

We will not be imprisoned.

The bowman stood there, stunned into silence before taking a cautious step backwards, just over the seal carved into the wood.

“I thought Kuran and Daku were the last of their kind.” In the blink of an eye he pulled an arrow from the quiver on his leg. In one fluid motion he drew the string back to his shoulder, held taut and ready to fly. “Very well. When you are brought to kneel before the princess, you will tell her that Jiro was the one who claimed you.”

A scream tore through the quiet night air, ending in a raspy, wet gurgle that reminded Fia of ripping paper. Jiro’s eyes darted away and just over her shoulder, widening at whatever he saw there. Every instinct in Fia screamed not to turn her back on her opponent, but an unnatural curiosity compelled her. It was as irresistible as the urge to be free of the palace confines, a compulsion borne of whatever these feelings that possessed her.

Fia turned, and instantly fell still.

The guards had surrounded Kuran in a circle, but the woman was no longer kneeling on the pavement. The sounds of her sobbing had ceased, instead she stood hauntingly silent, her head cocked at a minute angle. Her back faced towards Fia, one arm lifted high and clutching at the throat of the guard in front of her.

No, Fia realized with a dawning sense of horror, through his throat.

Her fingers were buried in the throat of the man, causing red bubbles to swell up around them while he desperately gasped for air. As Kuran turned to face her, Fia wanted to run. She wanted to get away from whatever it was that stood before her, a figure that even made Jiro gasp under his breath. Horror kept her in place, refusing to relinquish her from the icy claws that dug into her very soul.

“I always wondered what was under her mask…”

The answer was nothing.

Her face was blank, smooth and featureless except for one unblinking blue eye. It stared at Fia with an unmatched furor, one that screamed of malice. Hatred. As it began to darken and grow a pale, virulent yellow, she could see there was no remorse left behind.

Empty.

With a swift jerk of her hand, Kuran withdrew her fingers from the throat of the guard, sending a spray of blood over the gray cobblestones. Her fingers were unnaturally long, the tips ending in sharp, wicked spikes longer than daggers. Kuran flicked some of the blood off her hand with no shortage of disgust, as if she had swatted a bug and was left to regard its crushed remnants

Her face wasn’t entirely smooth, Fia realized. It seemed to ripple like heat rising off of a pond’s surface, flexing and twisting as if it were alive and fighting to maintain its shape.

The blow came before she could avoid it, and only the sound of running steps had alerted her enough to tense up before Jiro’s bow crashed into the side of her head. There was a dull ‘thunk’ where it smacked against her mask, the wood absorbing most of the blow and leaving her reeling under the weight of his strike.

Jiro didn’t speak, only faced Fia with grim determination dogging his steps and keeping him close to her. He swung again, and this time she had enough time to react and juke backwards before the blow connected. Whatever was happening with Kuran would have to wait, Jiro was seeing to that.

Fia hadn’t been in a fight before. Not unless you count the ‘fistfights’ on the school yard with boys and girls alike. She hadn’t always been the instigator in those fights, just most of the time, mostly when her father was brought up. That sore subject had always caused her to fly off the handle back then, and it usually meant she was on the offensive. Having to dodge was foreign to her, and she hissed under her breath when the bow caught her in the shoulder.

It took everything in her not to drop the climbing ax, as if she had she was certain she would have lost the fight then and there. It was a lifeline, and whatever had caused her to raise her wrist to deflect the arrow was back.

Breath. Inhale. He is not a true Chosen.

Fia noticed it now. A hint of a pattern, the tells of his strikes in what direction they were going. It was a dance, a waltz that she could manipulate as well as she had the game in the ballroom. As easily as the guards in the catacombs. It was all just a game, fun to be had at the expense of another.

Fia swung the hooked end of the ax around and caught the bow just as it went past her, a powerful yank on it pulling Jiro out of position. Jiro proved to be no slouch, however, and whatever opening she had created was only there for a split second before his guard came back up. He was fast, the coattails of his robe swishing and fluttering about him with all the intensity of a gale force wind kicked up at his feet.

The sound of panic was growing louder behind her, metal on stone, claws on bone, it was a captivating chorus that sickened her to her core. She wanted to look, but Jiro wasn’t giving her the chance to catch her breath let alone drop her focus off of him.

As he swung his bow in a wide arc, alarm bells went off in her mind, a screaming siren that caused the hairs on her neck to rise. She didn’t realize why until he held his bow before him, and she saw that he had managed to notch an arrow in the time it took him to swing. He released it, but Fia was already moving.

Or rather, whatever guided her was doing it for her.

Her ax came around in a wide arc, cutting through the air and colliding with the arrow. There was another thunk, another spark of light, and suddenly a wave of heat burst to life between them.

It happened so fast Fia almost missed the sparks igniting into a fire that illuminated the head of her ax. The metal head began to glow with a dull, red light as the temperature increased. The handle was warming, but not painfully so, just enough that she could be aware of what was happening to it.

Her ax was on fire. The head was engulfed now, blazing like a torch in the growing darkness.

Fia didn’t need her guiding hand to show her where to cut, and this time when her ax was swung it left behind a cascading light of flames licking through the air. It collided with the wood of Jiro’s bow, partially embedding itself in the surface before it ignited into flames. The bow string snapped, causing the tension to go out of it and sending the arrow nocked in it towards Jiro’s feet.

“What is this?!”

The sense of triumph that overwhelmed her was only limited by a cold feeling. One that was nothing in the face of the roaring flame at arm's length. One that was borne of the depths of the catacombs and carried with it an edge as cold as the sepulcher.

Press the attack, end him.

The voice - for that was what she had to refer to it as now - had no mercy. It held within itself the same indifference she had seen in Kuran’s eye, a complete lack of empathy for her opponent. Fia faltered in her swing, letting her weapon linger in the air before it could collide with the side of Jiro’s head. Just long enough for the man to move.

In less than a second he had leapt backwards more than a dozen feet, buffeting her with an intense gust of wind that left Fia struggling to maintain her footing. It wouldn’t have surprised her if the storm had brought with it a cyclone with how intense the rush of wind was, and her hair danced in it, the crimson strands brought to life. Jiro stood across from her, watching her with calculating eyes.

On either side of his shoulders unfurled two long, orange and brown wings. He was shirtless, leaving her to realize that what she had thought was his robe were actually the wings wrapped around him like a second-layer of skin.

Fia noticed it as he turned away from her, only because he had lingered long enough to spare her a second glance. It was in the small of his back, right where the wings met his skin, and if she hadn’t seen it on Daichi, she may not have realized what it was.

A small, square indent just beneath the skin, a mark that made the stone in her mask heat up considerably.

The flame on her ax had dulled in the errant windstorm, popping and snorting like an enraged beast that was quickly starting to tire itself out. The exhaustion that suddenly sank into her was almost enough to knock her off her feet and left her weary. When Jiro’s large wings flapped against the ground, she could only watch as his feet left the earth. He drifted backwards while taking to the sky above her, watching Fia with such complexity she couldn’t parse the emotions she saw on his face.

Anger, disappointment? Respect, amusement? It was all too much for her to take as he turned and headed for the palace.

Then the hand came down on her shoulder.

It was warm and wet to the touch, gentle at first and slowly tightening until it became a crushing presence. Fia grit her teeth and hissed in pain as she turned into the empty face of Kuran.

The front of her body was doused in red that rivaled Fia’s hair. That dark, yellow eye twitched in its socket, rapidly looking over her while Kuran’s chest heaved with deep, desperate pants. If the material of her gym attire wasn’t so strong, the tips of those sharp blades on her fingers would have pierced directly into her skin with how hard she was pressing on her.

Behind her were the scattered bodies of the guards, some feebly trying to crawl away, the majority of them laying still and lifeless.

“Kuran w-what are you doi-” Fia choked off into a distressed cry when sharp pin pricks dug into her shoulder. The material on her gym attire might have been strong enough to stop her from breaking the skin, but it did nothing to protect the nerve. “Kuran!?”

You are not defenseless. Strike her!

Her movement was more out of desperation than intent to follow that command. As the last flames flickered out of existence she brought the dull, flat side of the climbing ax down on the side of Kuran’s face. The impact was jarring, and through it provoked a sound she could have never imagined. A snarl, if one could call the strangling cry of animal anger produced by human vocal cords a snarl. The faltering facade of her face struggled to maintain form before it melted away like a candle held to the flame.

It started at the base of her chin, jutting outwards in a long, triangular snout coated in white fur. It was tipped with two flaring nostrils, ones that seemed ambivalent to the blood spilled all around her, or perhaps they relished in its proximity. The crumbling rose upwards, over her face where her flat cheeks fell away and rose to her eyes. On the right that piercing, yellow eye that was now locked on Fia, showing her a world of pain that promised no end.

On the left was an empty socket, yawning open into a black void with no end.

Her features instantly reminded Fia of the very mask resting on her face. It was vulpine, but unlike any pokemon she had ever seen before. If Kuran realized what had been hiding her true form was shattered, she made no indication of it. Her clawed hand snapped forward and grabbed hold of the front of her gym attire, effortlessly lifting Fia off her feet.

The next thing she knew, she was being thrown backwards.

The feeling of weightlessness was almost peaceful, making her wonder if this was what Jiro had felt. It made the exhaustion settling into her limbs at least a bit more bearable.

Then it hit her.

Or rather, she hit the ground. Right on her back, actually. It was a collision that knocked the air from her lungs and left her struggling to move back into an upright position. Kuran was approaching her, moving with all the determination of a pyroar on the hunt, ready to sink its fangs into its prey. Fia tried to lift her arm, but it wouldn’t respond to her. There was no voice in her head to guide her now, either.

Fia was alone, and the only person she thought could help her get home was about to kill her.

Kuran leapt forward, bringing her arm down in a sweeping arc that revealed a hand lined with three long, sharp claws. Fia closed her eyes, waiting for the blow to come, only to hear a howl of pain and the intense odor of ozone hitting inches from her face.

A puff of smoke hung around Kuran’s hand, the claws darkened, making her humanoid arms start to fade away like her visage had. They were long and lithe, white and covered with ugly red scars that ate into the skin. Kuran’s dark robes evaporated away with the rest of her, leaving behind ghostly tendrils of fur that moved with a mind of their own, possessed by some autonomy independent of their master.

Fia wouldn’t have been able to avoid the second attack, not with the avatar of raw animosity throwing themselves at her. There was a crack, a burst of light in the air as if Kuran had collided with a solid wall. It left Fia scurrying backwards, away from the fox that was quickly starting to grow into a wild frenzy of swipes at air that appeared to be solid.

No wonder hitting the ground had hurt so much. Fia realized as she stumbled to her feet. She had landed right atop markings carved into the wood.

The ones that were meant to keep out vindictive spirits.

Kuran’s howl of rage was overwhelming, and Fia knew that any attempt they had of getting out of here unnoticed were over. In the courtyard behind them, shouts were being raised, torches lifted as the front doors spilled open.

Guards behind, a maddened beast in front of her. As Fia bent to pick up her backpack she had to wonder which she would have preferred facing.

“Kuran…whatever the fuck you are…you need to get out of the way!” Fia spoke in hurried, hissed whispers, but whatever she said was lost, scattered to the wind before it could even alight on deaf ears. Her prey so close and yet so far, Kuran had devolved into a wild maelstrom of swiping claws and glistening fangs. The tendrils of fur surrounding her moved like roaming snakes, searching for a way around the barrier, for any chance she might have had to get in.

She was almost thankful to hear the voice in the back of her head.

Find her mask. Leash the mutt.

The mask.

That made her brow furrow and she turned, looking for it amongst the bodies that had been scattered like broken toys. Fia might have missed it if it didn’t react for her like Daichi and Jiro had, a warming of the stone pressed against her forehead when her eyes fell on it. It was propped against the wall, the gouged face of it pointed towards them in an accusing stare with empty purpose. That it was just over her line of protection made Fia’s stomach twist in a sickening lurch.

It wasn’t like she had any other option.

Fia took a few deep breaths and stilled her racing heart, thanking Arceus above - or Sinnoh, whomever they wanted to worship - that she was starting to catch her second wind. It was an unnatural feeling in her muscles, a dull heat that didn’t exactly hurt, but left them feeling taut yet nubile. It was the only chance she had, and the next time Kuran swung Fia darted forward with all the desperation of a bidoof being chased down by a mightyena.

A hand like a wrecking ball came down between her shoulder blades as soon as she came within reach of Kuran. It caused her to hiss, her shoulders twitching from the crushing blow and launching her forward with propelled force. Hitting the ground hurt, but what was approaching her with heavy footfalls would do so much worse to her, and she desperately grabbed hold of the mask sitting before her.

When her hands closed around the smooth wood, she almost sobbed in relief while rolling onto her back and scooting back a few inches. The back of the mask was just as nondescript as the front, with a dull gray stone seated in it that filled Fia with a sense of…melancholy? It was worth mourning how plain, how worthless the stone seemed, as if it served no purpose other than to sap away the splendor of its surroundings.

Right now, that was all she needed from it, though.

Kuran dropped to all fours, no longer wearing any remnants of the illusion that had enshrouded her. Her lips curled back to reveal yellowed fangs upon red gums, her growl akin to nails ripping through a chalkboard accompanied by the screech of stones smashing together. There was no promise of remorse in her voice, not as she leapt towards Fia, her claws outstretched before her.

Fia raised her arm and shoved the mask forward just as Kuran came into range, and while she felt the press of her claws on the front of her shirt, they disappeared seconds later. Kuran’s vulpine face seemed to shrink inwards as the mask situated itself in place, covering her features and hiding them under that vestige of nothingness. The last part of the beast Fia saw was the yellow eye through the solitary hole, watching her with fury as unforgiving as the storm that had been raging moments earlier.

It spoke of another time, another place. As the yellow faded away and the blue replaced it, she still found herself seeing that yellow eye.

This time, the hand grabbing her wrist wasn’t a spectral presence, and she welcomed the firm solidarity that it offered. She didn’t fight it, how could Fia possibly do that, especially now that the rain was beginning to fall again. Small drops that morphed into fat rolls of water pounding over Kuran’s bloodied form, washing away the remnants of the men that she had killed. The masked woman said nothing and instead focused on staring straight ahead.

They ran, through empty streets, through back alleys desolate and deserted. There was no one to stop them. Not a voice willing to implore them to stop.

Through it all the storm danced overhead, the sky breaking open in their wake and eventually washing away the bloody trail that Kuran left behind.

-3-

The forest was quiet, as if its occupants were respecting the solemn silence that hung over the two women. They walked without anything to say to the other, Kuran leading the way and making no effort to slow her pace if Fia didn’t keep up. Every so often she would glance back at her, stare at Fia in silent contemplation that made the hair on the back of Fia’s neck rise. But nothing ever came of it.

Just a glare, an anger directed at her, but nothing like the burning hatred that had engulfed the feral face hiding beneath that mask.

Was that all that was stopping it from being unleashed? A simple mask?

At some point the sun had broken through the storm clouds, but its brief impact on the world was already beginning to wane. It was setting behind the trees, bathing them in a rich twilight that hung around them like a cozy blanket after the events of the day. Fia would have liked nothing more than to sink into the hay back at the barn, to just bury her face in Akio’s fluff and forget that this world existed. To finally release the tension she had been holding since she first stepped on the wagon that morning.

“Well?”

Fia had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized that Kuran stopped in front of her, arms crossed over her chest. They looked at each other like two duelists waiting for high noon, their shadows cast long and heavy by the falling sun. It was funny, she realized, looking down at Kuran’s shadow she swore she could see it extended behind her.

Almost like she had a tail.

Mutt.

“Well, what?” Fia snapped, a bit more aggressively than she might have liked.

“Where is my mask?” That question, asked with such simplicity, such disregard for the way the shorter woman’s hands curled into fists. “You didn’t leave without it, did you? Or did you only take the face of that bitch?”

Kuran didn’t flinch, refusing Fia another step towards Akio and the barn, and Fia hated her for that.

All at once, the dam that had been holding back the waves of ire was breached. Fia threw her backpack at the ground near Kuran’s feet, nearly hitting her in the process. She would have liked to strike her, Fia realized, if only to prove that she could.

“Your fucking mask is in there. What’s left of it.” She scoffed. “You want to tell me just what in the hell that was back there? What are you?” Fia demanded, invigorated by a courage that burned through her, leaving her feeling fearless. “Those men…you killed them with your bare hands. You’re what, a monster? A pokemon? What are you?”

Kuran bent down and grabbed the bag with a greedy hand, plunging into it and digging around desperately before she found one half of the mask. Her body froze in place, a statue among the flowers and trees. For a few moments she could only stare at the mask shard before she slowly turned it over, and when she saw the black stone still embedded in it she let out a loud sigh.

“You really don’t know anything about this world, do you?” Kuran tossed the backpack towards Fia and clutched the shard to her chest. Her hands held it there with a ginger care that Fia had never seen from her before, cradling it close to her chest like a mother and their child. “I guess you wouldn’t. They don’t teach the true history of this land, they haven’t for a long time.”

“You want to stop with this cryptic bullshit?” Fia grumbled, “I already told you that I’m not from here, were you seriously still doubting me?”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps I had been doubtful that Sinnoh would finally answer my prayers and deliver me assistance.” Kuran turned, moving with a weariness that made her movements appear rough, janky, as if a poor puppet master were guiding her limbs. She sat on a fallen log and dropped her hands into her lap, her masked face staring off into the distance. “You have so much to learn about this world, and unfortunately…you will have plenty of time to learn about it.”

It should have come like the crushing blow of Kuran’s paw between her shoulder blades. With all the ripping intent of claws tearing into her very core. Instead, all Fia felt was cold acceptance.

“You can’t send me home.” Fia whispered.

“No, I am afraid that I cannot.”

What should she have expected? For her to rip open a portal out of nothingness and send her cascading back home? It was laughable, Kuran had already proved that she wasn’t a miracle worker. She was a demon hiding behind an empty face, caring not for anything but her own interests.

She made you into a fool.

“You lied to me.” Fia tried to keep her voice level, to not let her anger consume her. It was hard, though, by Arceus it was difficult not to let it spill out of her like molten lead. “I trusted you.”

“That was your first mistake.” Kuran said, not even bothering her to give her the service of looking up at her. “And like it or not, we’re stuck together, you and I.” The trees stirred around them as a soft wind rose, little more than a light kiss on the nape of Fia’s neck. “You want to know why that mask was so important to me? You want to know why your hair turned red?” She nodded towards her, as if sensing the question that hung in the back of her mind.

“These aren’t mere stones. They’re the Plates of Sinnoh. They are gifts from the land itself, items that no mortal should possess…and now…you are the owner of one.”

Fia reached up and grabbed the edges of her mask before pulling it off.

In an instant everything was too bright, the wind too cold, Kuran was moving too fast. It made her want to pull it back on, but instead she gazed down at the glimmering red stone embedded in the center of it. How it shimmered and swirled with an inner light that was far more beautiful than the dull stone in Kuran’s mask could ever be.

“You have…two of them?” Fia asked, glancing at the mask shard and then Kuran’s mask.

“The Blank Plate and the Dread Plate. You have the Flame Plate.”

“Daku had one of these. And that man with the bow, Jiro, he had one. They were…” Fia shuddered, the events of the night painting all too clear a picture in her mind. How many times had she come close to dying, whether by arrows or claws? “They were inside them.”

Kuran growled, and suddenly Fia remembered the monster that she had been faced with. If all that prevented her from regressing into a wild beast was that scarred mask, she was thankful for its presence. Perhaps that plain, unassuming stone was good for something after all.

“Where that palace stood, there was once a great tree.” Kuran began, her head tilting backwards to stare at the evening sky. “These masks were carved from wood harvested from its fallen branches.” The stars were starting to come out, twinkling as they looked down on the two women from so far away.

Fia thought of the great stump she had seen at the base of the curling metal tower, of the forlorn rings that ran along its impressive bulk. How long must it have stood there before it was torn down, how grandiose it must have been.

“These aren’t just masks. While it pains me to see that the Oni mask has been…destroyed.” Kuran’s voice hitched, but whether it was from anger or sadness it was impossible to tell. “No mortal is able to contain the power in one of Sinnoh’s plates. The masks act as buffers, slowing their…effects.”

Before Fia could react, Kuran had reached out and grabbed a locket of her hair, letting the crimson cascade through her fingers. Fia instantly got the sense that Kuran was smirking when Fia jerked away from her.

“You should think yourself fortunate. My first time wearing the Oni mask and I grew a tail.” Kuran chuckled, and let her voice hold with it a kindle of happiness, one that spoke of better days far from this forest. “There were eighteen of us, then. We thought ourselves…invincible.”

Fia felt tongue catching in her mouth, any question, any word she wanted to say swallowed up by the night sky. There was peace in listening to Kuran, hearing just what it was that she had stumbled into.

“Of coure, we crumbled in the end.” Kuran shuddered, with disgust or anger it was hard to say. “We had tried to hide our masks so no one would find them.” She trailed off, her voice growing faint and soft enough that Fia could hardly hear it. “Clearly, we didn’t try hard enough…and of course the first mask I’d seen in all this time was that traitor’s…”

You cannot trust her.

Fia jumped at the harshly whispered voice. It was shrill, right in her ear and leaving her standing on the tips of her toes. Her fingers brushed along the warm stone set in the mask, her lifeline to sanity in this cold existence that only felt pain settling into her overworked limbs. Kuran never stopped examining her, but she made no mention of her sudden reaction.

“So…these masks change you?” Fia mumbled, the words feeling pointless. “That doesn’t tell me, though. What…what are you?”

Truthfully, what did it matter what Kuran really was? She was a monster.

A mutt.

“I was a person like you, once. Ambitious, headstrong, out of her element.” Kuran began to stand, moving once more with that malevolent grace Fia had come to expect from her. “Do you know why I couldn’t enter the palace?” Kuran stopped just before her, her finger idly rubbing against the black stone in her hands. “Do you know what those marks are meant to do?”

It should have felt like Fia had her where she wanted her, but all she could feel was a sense of dread that permeated the air between them. It was nothing and everything, holding her mouth closed until she was certain of just what she was going to say. What were those marks for? Why did her form shudder and twist, fighting against reality to maintain shape?

“Mei said…it’s meant to keep hostile spirits out. I thought she was talking about ghosts, or ghost pokemon, I mean, but…”

Fia wanted Kuran to tell her that she was wrong. She wanted her to laugh at her, mock her for such a foolish suggestion. That she remained silent, still as the grave, didn’t impart much confidence in Fia.

“You’re…dead?” Fia asked. “Are you serious?”

“For simplicity's sake, let’s say that you’re correct.” If Kuran intended her calm, level-headed answer to not provoke shock in Fia, she was dead wrong. “You don’t need to be afraid of me. As long as I have my mask and the Blank Plate to tether me to this form, I have no desire to hurt you.” She chuckled, “I had once mocked my partner for having such a…pathetic power. The ability to nullify another.”

“You just hurt those men, and then you would have…” Fia began, only to shudder when Kuran nodded curtly. “You tried to kill me, too.”

“Yes, I did. But I didn’t.” The taller woman hesitated and tilted her head to the side, but all Fia could hear was the rush of the wind. Kuran turned swiftly, grabbing hold of a branch on a low-hanging tree and pulling herself off the ground with one hand. “I know you want answers, but I need some time to think. There is much to be done, you and I. Like it or not, putting on that mask made this just as much your problem as it is mine.”

“Wait, what does wearing this mask do? Am…am I-I going to turn into a pokemon? You can’t just drop this all on me and leave!” Fia complained, her voice straining after the events of the day. “Why…why did I get dragged into this mess?”

A warm barn. Hay. Akio’s fluff in her face. That was all she wanted.

“If you wear it enough? Yes, you will.” Kuran said it casually, as if she were discussing the current state of the weather. “The previous owner…she grew tails. Nine of them.” Kuran leaned forward, perched like a gargoyle on the side of a steeple and just as foreboding. “Homura…”

“...the fire of the people?”

The way Kuran cringed wasn’t lost on Fia. Nor did the way her shoulders tensed and the branch cracked with the force of her nails driving into the wood. Only, she knew now just how sharp Kuran’s nails actually were, and she was reluctant to see them again anytime soon.

“Homura the Traitor.” Her form trembled, the barely contained outrage leaking out of her like a dense web that made Fia feel heavy. “The bitch with red hair.”

Suddenly, Fia felt rather self conscious of just how red her own hair had become.

“As for why you were chosen? I…do not know. Perhaps Sinnoh saw in you something that neither of us yet realize. Sleep on it. Do not return to Godsreach until I contact you next.”

Kuran tilted her head to the side and allowed the silence of the forest to wash over them. Soon, that oppressive weight that had been crushing Fia began to lessen before releasing its grasp on her. It didn’t disappear completely,but she felt like she could actually breathe again.

“You are not the first to arrive from a distant land. To have the items you do, the clothing you do.” She pointed to each part of her body in turn. “His fate was tied to the plates, and now so is yours. We have a lot to discuss, but we will only do it the next time we’re alone.”

Fia was about to say that they were alone, that there was no reason to leave her waiting longer.

Plates of Sinnoh, masks, eighteen people, it left her mind a jumbled mess trying to comprehend it all.

“Wait!” Fia cried out one last time, her hand clenching tight around the mask as she debated how to word this. “Does…does your mask…talk to you?”

Kuran remained silent, watching her with that lonely blue eye. She remained so still perched in the treetops that the shadows seemed to blend around her, swallowing her into darkness that made it difficult to see so much as her outline.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Then Fia heard it, a loud crashing through the underbrush that was gaining speed as it approached her. Images of guards rushed through her head, and she spun around just in time to catch a flash of russet red fur before she was knocked to the ground.

She would have thought she was getting used to colliding with the ground, but, nope, it still hurt just as badly as it had earlier that day.

“Fia, thank Sinnoh you’re alright!” The voice was deep, masculine with a hint of boyish charm to it that betrayed the speaker’s youth. “I thought you…when you didn’t come back sooner, I…I…why is your hair red?”

After the last few days, Fia would have known the caress of Akio’s fur from anywhere. Her eyes opened to see that handsome, regal canine face, that long muzzle that looked down at her and the beautiful green eyes hanging above it. This wasn’t the first time he had pinned her down, but it was definitely the first time he had put what seemed like the entirety of his weight on her.

“Mei is mad. She is madder than I’ve ever seen, but I had to come find you and…why are you looking at me like that?” His large head tilted to the side in an expression of puppy-like curiosity. “Do I have something caught in my fur.” Akio bent down and pressed his cold, wet nose into the crook of Fia’s neck, sending a jolt down her spine and making her shiver as he snuffled about. “Is this one of your weird human things? You want attention? Heh, is that why you changed your hair like that? To look more like me?”

If Fia could have spoken, she would have proclaimed how she understood him. How the barks and growls she typically heard coming out of his mouth were replaced with such rich, rippling tones that made her shiver. How she wanted to hear that voice soothe her and whisper her sweet nothings until she faded off to sleep in a bounty of fluffy warmth. It was a voice that she found herself being more desperate to hear than anything else in her life.

And now, she couldn’t even say anything with his dinner plate-sized paws resting on her breasts.

“A-Akio…” She managed to choke out, before gesturing with her head towards her pinned chest. “Can’t…breathe…!”

Bless his heart, the canine looked from her face down to her chest and back again before he realized just what she was talking about. “O-Oh, gees! I’m sorry!” He barked, pulling one paw off of her and setting it next to one of her shoulders, before placing the other on the opposite side of her. If his intent was to give her some breathing space, he didn’t do much of it. He never truly did respect her personal space, he was lucky she had gotten used to the musty, spicy scent of his fur and no longer tried to push his head away. “You humans don’t like being touched there, right? Mei always used to get mad at me when I sniffed her there. Sweet Sinnoh, I’m so glad to see you again. I can’t begin to tell you how much I worried about you.”

His tail wagged, the fluffy thing wiggling back and forth without a care in the world. His entire personality was cheerful and bright, basking her in soothing rays of positivity. When he spoke, Fia felt herself believing that he was right to assume everything was okay.

“Like that stopped you…from putting your nose in there to begin with.” Fia mumbled, more in amusement than annoyance. “It’s not like I don’t wake up with your muzzle between them every morning…”

Fia had thought that the silence between her and Kuran was intense, but she didn’t expect how hard it would hit Akio. She could almost see the rusty gears turning in his head as he considered what she had said, his head tilting from side to side occasionally and causing his diamond shaped ears to flop back and forth. Was he afraid to ask? With how his mouth opened and closed a few times, she guessed that he was.

“Did you…understand me?” The way he pulled back, his ears perking and his dumbfounded look, it was all so cute. “You didn’t, right?”

Before he could pull too far away from her, Fia grasped his muzzle in both hands and pulled his head closer to her. It was difficult with how stunned he was, he wasn’t doing much to help her move his body. He did, however, noticeably shiver when Fia planted a kiss on his dark, black lips. They were slightly slick with his drool, but after the day she had had? It was a welcoming touch that she didn’t think she would ever complain about ever again.

Despite his lack of returning it, this wagging tail told her all she needed to know about how he felt.

“I understand you.” It was hard for Fia to understand her feelings. Excitement? Obviously, she could finally speak to the one thing that had kept her tethered to sanity. Fear at just why she could do this? Most certainly. “I don’t know why, but I can.”

Because I’m turning into a pokemon, she thought in merry amusement, because I have entered into an insane world that makes no sense.

Trying to explain it right now would just confuse him. Hell, she would have just ended up confusing herself further. Kuran had painted the basis of a picture, and the last thing Fia wanted to do was connect dots that didn’t exist there. Not now, not when Akio was so close. Having him here, getting to hear his voice filled Fia with enough joy that she couldn’t help herself from kissing him again, a little further down his jawline this time.

“H-Have you been able to this whole time?” Akio asked, the timid sound to his voice making her raise an eyebrow. “Like, have you heard what I uh…have been saying about you?”

“What exactly were you saying about me, Akio?” Fia giggled as she moved to sit up, pulling herself out from under his furry form. She didn’t release her hold on him, he wasn’t allowed to separate from her, not after today. “With how you usually act at night, I can certainly imagine what you’ve had in mind…”

What was this feeling that made her want to get so close to him, that made her feel like she was losing herself? It wasn’t a bad feeling, it was as much a rush as the fight with Jiro had been, as much as when her climbing ax had caught flame. It made her heart race and left her breathing a little more heavily under her breath, each moment sealed with a soft pant from her lips.

Damn, did she ever feel hot.

Akio shifted, looking in her eyes then down at her stomach, then back again. His ears folded against his scalp, his tail dipping between his legs in a show of such submission that Fia had never seen from him before. It was enchanting to think she could ever make such a powerful creature feel this way, and it endeared him all the more to her. It was why she couldn’t stop herself from peppering gentle kisses up and down his muzzle, intent on touching every part of him.

“What did you say about me, Akio?” She asked again, her voice a near whisper.

“I…” He began, that same shame barring his words and leaving him prancing in place. “I told Titan and Levi that you were…that you w-were going to be my bitch.”

There it was, and with his admission came Fia’s laughter. It was impossible to hold it back, not with the relief from her escape, the joy of seeing him, and the chance to finally talk with him. Why wouldn’t Akio see her like that? Especially after she had spent so much time throwing herself at him? For the first time, he responded to her kisses by letting his large tongue dip out to run along her mouth, the size of it dwarfing her own and leaving her trembling under its bulky weight.

“You're so sure of that, huh?” Fia had begun to push back against him, one of her hands drifting down to his broad chest and burying itself in his thick fur. He might have fought against her before, but now he moved with a surprising amount of urgency. “You think I want to be your bitch? You know I’m trying to get home, and you still think I’d stick around for some big, smelly, drooling…mmmm…” Fia trailed off, because as her lips met the center of Akio’s muzzle, it split open.

His mouth was sweltering, filled with viscous drool that pooled on her tongue and made her face warm with shy heat. It was a constant reminder she was kissing a dog, that and the sharp teeth that made her tremble whenever her tongue brushed against it. Their kiss was awkward, as was to be expected from their difference in species, but it wasn’t the first time they had shared such an intimate moment. Akio had gotten much better at kissing since they first tried it and with how determined his tongue was, it was impossible to deny that he enjoyed it as much as she did.

If only he could have been her first kiss. Although she couldn’t deny that right was reserved by another man close to her heart.

Akio’s growl was deep, the rumbling of an engine on a massive truck brought to life by her caressing hands. From his mane, to the back of his head, to his muscular chest, Fia touched him all over. The caress of his fur, the sour tang of his breath, she wanted to drink it all in, to erase any memories of the day that haunted her.

Why would she go home when she could have him?

Reluctantly, she pulled her hands away from him, garnering another growl from her feral lover. He had become more forceful, licking all over the interior of her mouth and forcing her to simply hold her lips open for him. There was nothing she could do to stop him, there never was when he got like this, and she wasn’t about to try.

Those late nights had all led up to this moment, hadn’t they? Had she really thought that they wouldn’t go further than that?

Having him eat her out, Akio letting her feel up his hefty sheath. Every single look, every comment she made to him. That unspoken connection that burned between the two of them whenever they locked eyes. Everything had led her to this point, and she was done trying to hide it.

Fia wanted to be his bitch. If that was what it took to finally take him.

Although it was difficult, she wasn’t willing to break their feral kiss. Saliva drooled from the corner of her lips, running in soft rivulets from what she wasn’t able to drink fast enough. There always seemed to be so much of it, and it made her wonder if Akio even tried to hold himself back. It was just like the cheeky canine to force feed her his drool.

As much as she wanted to go further, as badly as she desired it, she was held back by a lingering hesitation. What if Kuran hadn’t truly left, but was simply hovering around the area, watching, judging this? Fia broke the kiss, her breath coming in hot pants while she grasped Akio’s muzzle and gave it a squeeze.

“Let’s go…somewhere. Just the two of us.”

Within minutes she was on his back, racing across the moonlit forest and clearings of this world, the cold wind whipping around her form. Never in her life had she felt so free, his powerful body beneath her flexing with every movement he made. Fia clung to him, knowing if she had the choice, she’d never let him go.

—

Akio eventually came to a stop atop a group of hills surrounded by a copse of trees. There were no wild pokemon to be seen, at least, none that dared show their face while the huffing canine made a quick patrol around. Fia watched him in amusement, nibbling on her lower lip and finally taking the next step. Akio surprised her, however, when he came back around to the front of her and nearly bowled her over with the insistence of pushing his slobbery tongue back in her mouth.

While she was taken aback, she didn’t dare deny him, and instead got to work.

The zipper on her gym attire came down easily enough, and she shrugged aside the fireproof material, leaving her in the white servant’s undershirt. Akio rumbled questioningly in her mouth, but didn’t bother pulling his tongue from her mouth. That rich, spicy odor that she had smelled that morning permeated the air, tainting every breath she took and causing the back of her throat to tingle.

Fia drowned in it, the overwhelming odor of feral musk leaving her brain feeling numb and her thoughts fleeting like a ship cast on the shoreline. She barely realized that her numb fingers were beginning to undo the buttons on her undershirt, though they fumbled quite inefficiently as she went down the line. Fia had dreamt of this moment, of being bold enough to throw away her modern hangups and embrace the lifestyle that Mei personified. Even when Akio’s snout was buried between her legs, some part of her had still been able to deny that she was a pokephile.

Well, admitting it to herself was relieving.

It had started with Jaeger, hadn’t it? Waking up in those tents, seeing the growlithe’s fuzzy orange balls hanging under his tail. Those late nights when they sat around the campfire together and she held him, urging herself to just…let her hand slip down his stomach. The memory of that night had carried with her for so long that she could still picture Jaeger's ears perking up when she touched his sheath, and the eager lap against her lips that acted as her first kiss.

That was what first started her down this path, and Akio had nurtured her desires, molding them until all she could think of was submitting to his feral needs. It was raw, pure, nothing but animalistic desires and needs that couldn’t be described as anything other than natural.

Fia was a female, a bitch, why wouldn’t she submit to a man like Akio?

The last button came undone and Akio finally released his hold on her mouth, his tongue popping free with a wet slurp that lapped up the trail of saliva that briefly connected their lips together.

“Did you like that?” He mused softly, his eyes half-lidded and carrying the weight of his lust for her. “I never get sick of your taste…” His tongue fell from his mouth, a large glob of drool like the lake filling Fia’s stomach momentarily hanging from the end of it before it fell to the ground between his front legs. “From both ends of you…I’ve been wanting to tell you that.”

Fia tried not to let the goosebumps forming on her arms dissuade her from unhooking her bra. It wasn’t from the cold, Akio was producing enough heat to make her feel as if she were standing in front of an open oven, no, it was more than that. They had only ever done this sequestered away in the barn, hidden from the world with no one to see her shame. Now she was throwing that all away for him.

To hell with it, let the pokemon, let this Sinnoh know what type of girl she really was.

With a gentle click her bra came undone, freeing her breasts to the cold, damp air of the forest. They weren’t the largest, nor had she ever put much pride in them, but they were high and perky on her chest. Her nipples were a soft, rosy pink, quickly beginning to harden from the enthralling arousal that toyed with her body like some sublime musical instrument. Akio regarded her for a moment, before leaning forward and pressing his nose against them, the cold touch of it forcing a gasp from her.

His touch was electric, sending jolts through her that had her perking up against him, leaning forward with the urge to really grind his muzzle against them.

“Human males really like these, don’t they?” He asked, more questioning than teasing. He nosed at them, testing their weight and how malleable they were under his snout. “Heh, not too sure why…you make pretty funny faces when I touch them, though.” Akio wasn’t wrong about that, she could only imagine the face she made when his tongue darted out to lap against one of her nipples.

It was so rough, so hot. It left a glistening trail of sour saliva behind it that quickly cooled on her skin and left her nipple painfully hard. It ached in the cold night air, and she greatly welcomed it when he licked again over the hardened nub.

“Just like y-you do when I hold your balls…” She grumbled indignantly. “T-They’re really sensitive, so be gentle with them…” Although she might have felt a bit perturbed by his almost innocent wonderment at this part of her body, it was amusing in its own right. That was her Akio, after all, the big fuzzy goofball that got her heart racing in ways no other man had been able to do.

If only she had allowed Jaeger the same chance to explore her body.

“Heh, fair enough. I guess I just prefer the other end of you…” He grinned as much as his feral features allowed him to, and dropped his eyes to her lap. “Why do you think I keep sniffing it?”

That alone was embarrassing. More times than she could count she had caught Akio pushing his muzzle directly between her ass cheeks and taking a deep sniff. The first time she’d told Mei, she had laughed and just insisted that it was the way canines said ‘hello’. That might have been true in some regard, but Akio insisted on ‘saying hello’ multiple times a day, also with heavy snorts and great inhales of breath.

“But you never do it back, I’m almost hurt.” He cooed in mock disappointment, one of his large paws pressing against his chest in an all too human expression. It was hard to imagine him as a mindless brute, a beast, he was so different than she ever imagined and yet exactly how she pictured him. “Would love to get your nose under my tail sometime…”

“W-Well, keep dreaming, buddy.” Fia coughed and tried to fight the blush that rose to her cheeks. Was it that far-fetched? If he were serious and he really wanted that, could she possibly deny him? Sniff his ass like a dog? Since when had she become so beholden to him that the thought of refusing his request seemed utterly alien to her. “Now seriously…let me get the rest of this off…”

Before she could grab for the front of her jeans, however, Akio brought his paw down on her hand. His expression softened, still roiling with lust barely hidden under the surface, but restrained for now. A tamed beast, caged against bars that were straining and groaning against the onslaught of feral intention desperate to get out.

“You’re…certain you want this, right?” He leaned closer and brushed his muzzle against the underside of her neck. It was a soft caress, one that betrayed just how strong he was. “I want this, but I don’t want you doing it because you think you need to. Or if you’re even a little uncertain. I know we’re…we’re pretty different, you and I.”

That was an understatement, but it was good to know that Akio realized it. Did he worry what other pokemon might think of him for such a sordid affair? With how he seemed so proud to boast to Titan and Levi, she wondered if that were the case. Perhaps it was a sign of superiority, being able to take a human as your lover.

“Yeah…you’re right. I want this, but…” Fia began, her eyes slipping towards the ground. “It’s just that…you’re a complete dork, and I’m like, the coolest person on that farm.”

There was a beat of silence between them, before Akio snorted and started to laugh. It didn’t take long before she found herself joining in. Whatever tension had been building up between them, at that point it evaporated like dew under the rays of the morning sun. It was hard to stay serious with Akio, Fia had come to realize that since the first day she spent with him.

“A fair point, I will admit. But…do you really think you can handle this?”

Akio began to turn, slowly at first and milking his reveal with all the grandiosity of a magician on stage. He did a complete circle, flicking his tail upwards just high enough to reveal the dark, black-skinned asshole hiding beneath it. It was surrounded by russet red fur, a twitching pucker that hung above his massive, black-furred balls which swung with his movement. It was fast, just enough for her to see it and make her wonder if the intent was to show off his asshole.

The main show, however, had to be the russet sheath that he finally presented to her. It had seemed so large that morning, and it was even larger now that his black-skinned tip was poking free of it. It brought with it the overwhelming scent of an aroused male, the very same one that had her taking deeper breaths, forcing herself to inhale as much as she could before regrettably releasing it. It wasn’t easy to resist, nor could she possibly do it at this point.

“I know we had to cut our fun short this morning, but…we have all the time in the world now, don’t we?” He asked, his head slyly tilting to the side. “You can get all you want…my lovely bitch.”

It didn’t sting as much to be called it this time. If anything, that derogatory title for her - whether as a canine he meant it to be, or not - was so deliciously sinful that it left her smiling. It was possessive, declaring that she was his, and he was hers, that the other was incomplete without the other. Two halves of the same circle, and they were about to join their union together for the first time.

Fia’s hands were as still as stone as they reached forwards, not stopping until she could feel the heat radiating off of his genitals. It felt so much hotter than it had that morning, perhaps he was just so worked up that he wasn’t trying to contain it any longer? Or maybe he had been holding himself back that morning, and now didn’t care what she saw.

His tip was large and fat, a little smaller than her fist in girth with a wickedly pointed tip to it. The skin was a dark, ebony black crisscrossed with numerous veins that left it an almost ugly, but unique patchwork. The longer she stared at his cock, the more of it began to push free of his sheath, bringing more of that deliciously rapturous scent that left her mouth to start watering. Soon, she was going to be drooling like Akio, she thought with a soft giggle.

“How are you able to hide that…?” Fia thought, not realizing that she had said it aloud. “It just keeps…coming…”

When her hand caressed the underside of his sheath, Akio bucked his hips forward and freed another couple of inches. From the tip came a soft spurt of watery liquid, the fluid jetting across the ground and splattering over the fallen leaves. Its scent was heady and intoxicating, enough to make her head spin as the feral assault plagued her senses.

Her body was unprepared for the masculine pheromones that would entice even the strongest willed canine bitch to lift her tail.

“Keep rubbing and you’ll see just how much I have for you.” Akio whispered, a silent promise of just what was to come. That rumble in his voice was ever present, always amused and lusty. “There’s enough to make sure you’re satisfied, I can guarantee you that.”

Akio wasn’t wrong about that, but Fia had no frame of reference for this kind of thing. Already he was reaching the same size of a human man, at least, the ones she had seen online when she was first discovering her sexuality. It had always seemed strange that she quickly lost interest in the curvature of the human form back then. As she stroked Akio’s sheath and toyed with the spongy fur surrounding the opening, Fia had a pretty good idea why that was.

Had she always been destined for this? To be a canine’s bitch? Had she always secretly wanted it?

Perhaps, perhaps she had just fallen into it, like she had this world.

But then, what of Jaeger?

Akio reacted to her rubbing with gentle twitches of his hips, minute movements that ground his veiny flesh against her calloused palms. It was slick to the touch, and only grew wetter with the heady pre that constantly spurted from it like a firehose. There was so much of it that soon Fia’s hands were glistening, and Akio was groaning under his breath from the smooth strokes she gave him. His black cock was fascinating to her, from the pointed tip to the girthy center where it began to thin out as it neared the root of his cock. It was so different from what she had seen those human men online possessing, it was almost grotesque in how alien it was, but she couldn’t draw herself away from it.

“I knew you’d be all over it as soon as you saw it…” Fia heard him rumbling. “A bitch and her bone, never knew a more perfect match…”

At that point, Fia knew that he must have been aware of the reaction he was getting out of her. The inflection of his voice, the way he so pointedly declared her as such, she had always known him to be a smart dog. It was the thing that nearly had her panting, any chill of the night replaced by a burning lust as powerful as a raging wildfire.

“You’re lucky you’re so damn cute.” Fia gently squeezed around the base of his cock where it exited his sheath, rising a snort out of him. “I almost consider myself lucky to be your bitch...”

Her voice trembled with the inescapable giddiness that had possessed her, rendered her little more than a willing participant in this insane game. There was no stopping now that she was this far, especially when a firm buck of Akio’s hips pushed out the last of his manhood. It was all she could do not to stare at it, for the girthy length seemed as thick as her wrist at its widest point, and had to be over a foot long. She stopped in her stroking, simply taking in the majesty of his tool, at what he must have struggled to hide from her all this time.

If he feared he might have scared her off with it, well…he was probably right. It was nothing like the massive tool that Titan wielded and Mei was so aptly able to handle, but it was at least fifteen inches of fat, canine cock that radiated a heat almost as strong as her blazing climbing ax. It was awe-inspiring, magnificent to view, and she realized that her mouth was hanging open when Akio leaned forward and ran his tongue over her parted lips.

“When I first met you…the only thing I could think of was how lucky I was there to catch you.” Akio whispered. “My father always told me that I’d know when I met the right girl, and well…I never expected her to fall out of the sky and land on me.”

Fia knew her face was blazing as red as his fur, she knew that she was wearing an embarrassed expression that no doubt gave away exactly how she was feeling. After everything she had gone through, after everything they had done in the barn late at night, far from prying eyes, she had truly come to share this feeling.

A feeling that almost made this all worth it, since it meant that she got to meet him.

Her pants were constricting her, a constant pressure that needed to be remedied. She reluctantly drew her hands away from her object of worship and finished with the last pull that left her in only her underwear, a flimsy shield in the face of what awaited her. Akio watched her with eyes that reflected her want, her need, everything that she felt mirrored across from her in a four-legged form that gave rise to a passion she had never known.

“Can you get on your back?” She heard herself ask, the words coming from so far away.

Akio obliged her, wearing that same wry grin as he flopped himself onto his side before rolling onto his back. His front paws dangled over his chest and his hind legs fell open, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. It was all on display, all for her, and she intended to take it.

How many nights had they done this? Her crawling slowly up his form, letting her hands sink into his fur while his strong body supported her? It was the only way she could sleep at night, having him hold her against his heated form as his heart beat deep in his chest like a soothing drum. Now, however, she felt that fur grinding her bare body like it had always meant to.

It was common for her to end her nights with Akio’s snout buried between her legs, his tongue lashing out at her with firm, determined licks. Every time he did it he brought her to new heights of ecstasy, delivering her onto a world of comfort she had never known. Every night, however, she had denied him a release of his own, she had dressed herself and fallen asleep with him. How he must have suffered to pleasure her and not be reciprocated for his loving actions.

As his panting face hung in front of her, bathing her in hot, moist doggy breath, she knew that she could deny him no longer. Both hands cupped the underside of his muzzle while she moved backwards and sat directly in his lap. They could only look at each other, wanting, needing, lusting as his manhood throbbed against her lower back. It was so damn slick, so powerful, it was as big as a club and just as unwieldy.

“You realize if we do this…I’m going to consider us mates.” Akio whispered as if he were fearful someone might hear him offering his heart to her. One of his large paws came around and landed on her covered rear, and she felt the poke of one of his claws beginning to dig into the thin fabric that hid her from him. “I expect us to mate often. Perhaps not every day, but this will not be a one time thing.”

Fia found herself smiling, because she knew that he was right. There was fear, but there came with it a calm sensation that put her at ease. As he pulled her panties down, letting the rivulets of pre run down her asscrack and pool in the base of her groin, she knew that she wouldn’t have it any other way. The kiss she gave to his nose was quick and chaste, but it was no less meaningful than their full lip lock had been.

“If that’s what I have to do to get you all to myself, then so be it.” Fia giggled, although the sound of fabric ripping made her wince. “H-Hey now, I don’t have many…” She trailed off when she felt the shreds of cloth fall away, the last bastion in the way of him effectively torn away. “Damn it…”

“I’m not sorry.” Akio said, his voice dripping with feral lust. “It was in the way of what’s mine, maybe I’ll just ask you to stop wearing it for now.” Akio’s confidence made her tremble despite knowing that was exactly what he wanted. “That way you can just drop your pants, and I can mount you whenever I want.”

“Let’s focus…let’s focus on right now, big boy.” Fia urged him, more to calm her racing heart than anything.

“Oh? Is that too much for you to handle, little bitch?” Akio leaned down and pressed his muzzle against her ear, his lip pulling back and vibrating with his growl. “Does it excite you to think I might make you drop everything…just to relieve me?”

By Arceus everything he was saying was getting her more and more riled up. He had her number and was pushing her buttons. She knew that not all of the wetness between her legs was solely his, and looking down she could see that her pubic hair was already glistening. It was kind of amusing, she thought with half a mind. Her pubes had turned the same shade of scarlet red as the hair on her head.

“Stop making me wait.” Akio exhaled like a pair of furnace bellows, his chest momentarily deflating before rising again. “This is the position you wanted, is it not? I would assume that means you’re taking the lead. Are you having second thoughts?”

What was it about this that made her melt? What was it about the way he spoke to her, the way he shifted from her loveable pup to the domineering alpha that made her weak? The dichotomy was astounding, that he was hiding such a creature beneath the surface, just waiting for the chance to release him. She loved him all the more for it, it just confirmed what she knew about how important he was to her.

How could she resist? In his powerful paws with his hold on her ass cheeks not giving her the choice to pull away. With his sharp fangs nibbling softly on her neck, just enough to excite her though she knew he would never hurt her. That was the thing that made this so perfect, she wanted this, he knew she wanted it. They were perfectly synced at that moment.

Her hand was shaking while she reached behind her blindly, feeling around for what she knew was going to be the first thing to penetrate her. Sure, she had considered it in the past with toys, had even used her fingers on herself quite frequently, but this? This was going to break her, mold her into the perfect holster for him.

Fia wanted it bad enough that when she grabbed hold of his cock, she didn’t hesitate to sit up on top of him, her face buried against his fluffy mane. It smelled like rich charcoal and spice, the aroma so soothing, so calming as she adjusted his positioning. This time, as she began to lower her body, she felt the pointed tip sliding down her ass crack, pressing against her pubic hair and smearing more of its wet mess over her groin.

It was so close, so close that its continued avoidance made her hiss under her breath. Was she too tight? Did she not have the right angle? It seemed every time his bony cockhead jabbed against her entrance, it was so unyielding that his tip veered off right at the most pivotal moment.

Akio picked up on it quickly, and the powerful paws that held her ass suddenly tightened their hold. This time, when she began to press down on his shaft, his paws joined in the effort, creating an almost unbearable pressure on the front of her groin. It built up continuously, getting stronger with every passing second and soon causing her eyes to begin watering.

“Fuck, Akio…is it…is it not going to fit?” Fia was embarrassed by how panicked she sounded at that. “What else can w-”

The sharp pain that filled her suddenly robbed her of words. It left in its place a sharp gasp and an urge to pull off of him, but there was nowhere for her to go with how tightly he held her. Akio wasn’t going to let her get away, his grip was as unyielding as a mountain face.

“Easy now…” Akio whispered to her, his voice ever soothing while she tried to get used to the feeling of being stretched like this. “I know it’s a lot to take, but if you want to be my bitch, you’re going to have to get used to it.” It wasn’t cruel, it was matter of fact; there was no way for her to get around this.

And damn did she want that title. She wanted it to be official.

Fia grit her teeth and filled herself with as much determination as she could, because she knew this was going to be an almost insurmountable challenge. There were mountains she had climbed that were more welcoming and forgiving than the thick slab of canine flesh prying open her femininity, its constant pulses calling for her. It seemed as if one wrong move would cause him to slip out of her, and then they would be back at square one. Her hips trembled with the effort of holding herself up, but she knew if they gave out she would plunge directly onto that meaty skewer.

She clung to Akio like the rockface above a bottomless chasm, caught in the throes of fear of moving, but knowing that she couldn’t stay here. Her hips swayed gently from side to side while she tried to wiggle herself down on it, and she did find some success in managing to more firmly secure his tip in her. It was, at least, certain now that he wasn’t going to accidentally pop out of her. Her damnable body was trying its best, however, to deny him what he so verbosely declared was already his.

That thought aided her in slipping another inch in. To be his, to be this big, hulking canine’s female to do what he wanted. It made her head spin, left her gasping for air while her mind struggled to cling to her body. There was so much of it, and every time she lowered herself a little further, there was just more to greet her. More thick, black, veiny arcanine cock that she had dreamt of for the past week.

It hurt.

Something within her tore and with it was the realization that she had lost her virginity. The last vestige of resistance to canine might that had no place in her world anymore. She wouldn’t be sad to see it go.

It was impossible to squeeze such a large object into such a tight hole without there being some noticeable discomfort. Thankfully, for how commanding Akio’s verbal taunts had become, he seemed content to lay back, to let her do all the work for now. The twisted, pleasured expression on his muzzle and the tongue flopped from the corner of her mouth made her garner that he was enjoying the heavenly tight squeeze on his cock.

It figured that he would be loving this.

The thought was as sweet as a pecha berry, and it had a soothing effect on her. It was a minute effect, granted, enough that she didn’t clench around him as tightly as she had been. It certainly helped that his copious pre was spreading along her inner walls like a soothing massage, the heat of it, oh Arceus the heat so unspeakably delicious that she wanted to melt in his embrace.

For the first time, she moaned for Akio, and when he growled deeply in response, she knew this was what she wanted.

The feral connection, a wild and untamed lust that had her almost panting like a dog. It was inexcusable, so wrong that she couldn’t understand it. Mei had been right to have such love for pokemon, twisted though Fia had thought it was at first. Mei was free, able to give herself what her heart wanted so desperately and flourish in the natural beauty of the world.

Fia’s eyes fluttered before falling shut, the final wave of shame that washed over her more than she could handle.

“You look…so sexy wrapped around my cock…” Akio had lifted his head close enough that she could feel his wet nose brushing against her cheek. “You have never been more beautiful to me than you are now, Fia.” The way he breathed her name, so sultry and with such a fire of passion. Fia opened her eyes a crack and found the large canine staring into them.

“I can tell how badly you need this,” he whispered, continuing before she could find anything to say. “The first time I saw you, I knew that you would be mine.”

Fia had forgotten about the paws that were resting on her muscular ass, their dull claws gently digging into her taut skin. She gasped sharply when the pressure he applied on her became inexorable, unable to be ignored. All at once her eyes rolled upwards, staring into the darkening sky and silently pleading whomever was watching over her to grant her strength.

She was going to need it, because now that he had half of the damn near fifteen inches of fat canine prick buried in her, he was beginning to move his hips. She had daydreamed about those muscular haunches working the air, how fast they could thrust, how much power he could put behind him. Awkward though their position was for him, he was still able to give her a taste, a sampler of what she would have when she took him like a proper bitch.

“That’s it, whine for me.” Akio actually snarled, a sound that took her breath away. “Tell me how badly you want this.”

What was coming over her? Why did he consume her every thought, why did nothing else in her world matter but him? Her fear, her anxiety, her stress, it had all congealed into a blob of emotions that were being burned away with the fire of lust erupting from deep within her. It was a feeling she had never experienced, something that at once seemed part of her and alien. Like it was coming from someone else, and she was just a party to it.

“I want…I want it!” Her voice was so far away, she didn’t realize just how loudly she was shouting. “I need your c-cock, Akio! Oh Arceus, fuck your bitch! Give her what she needs!” The words fell from her, an uncontrollable tide that revealed her deepest, darkest feelings. There was no use hiding them anymore; Akio had successfully torn them out of her.

She clutched large handfuls of his mane in her hands and actively tried to force herself down on him, the searing pain of being forcibly stretched mixing with the satisfaction of having him buried deeper in her with each passing second. Akio was her lifeline, her only source of comfort in a world gone wrong, why wouldn’t she cling to him with such intensity?

Fia lost herself in the descent, her mind vanishing under the constant pressure against her inner walls, until she could go no further. It startled her at first, to think that she had reached the end of his shaft, and looking down told her that she was wrong. While her stomach bulged minutely with his outline, and with it came a sense of pride at what she had done, there was still more of him left.

At the base of his penis, right after the entrance to his sheath, was a large, fist-sized object that was jammed against her spread lips. It was just as hot as the rest of him, veiny and pulsating each time he delivered another spurt of watery, hot precum into her. Akio must have picked up on the shocked expression that she wore, for he chuckled and lapped across her face, caring not for the trail of saliva he left behind.

“What? Did you not realize I had that…?” He mused, his voice growing mirthful and teasing as he nosed against her cheek. “All canines have those. It’s my knot, the part of us that ties us to our bitches. It would officially make us mates…don’t you want it?”

Those words echoed in her mind, bouncing around in her head with no recourse. Didn’t she want it? How could she want it? It wouldn’t fit, would it? It was so large that even with her full weight in his lap, it seemed like she had reached the end of the road. To take anymore seemed impossible, already she felt as if she were going to burst at the seams. But yes, yes she wanted it.

By Arceus, she wanted it badly enough that she was willing to push her body to the limit.

To go to a place where humanity wasn’t meant to go, to take a cock that was meant for a member of another species. It was a challenge, an obstacle in her path that made her heart race with excitement. Would she even be able to overcome such a thing? There was only one way to find out.

“I want it…”

“You want…what?” Akio mused, his devilish panting picking up in pace. “Tell me what it is you want.”

“I want to be your mate.” It felt so natural to say it. Never had Fia had a boyfriend, but here she was so willingly trying to bond herself to the canine so close to being buried balls deep in her. “I want to be your bitch.”

Those paws on her ass, the ones that had held her so tightly, they began to apply downward pressure. For the first time, Fia realized just how easily Akio had been taking it on her. His strength was incredible, and he was barely flexing the muscles in his front arms, if he wanted to…

She shuddered to think, but in that thought process was excitement. He was so powerful, a brutish beast that could have claimed her whenever he saw fit. That he had been so willing to spend the week lulling her into orgasm after orgasm with his tongue, never seeking out satisfaction for himself, what did that mean? Was he saving himself for this moment?

Fia watched in awe as her poor body, pushed to its limits, strained around the massive orb. No matter how much she tried not to clench up on him, it was no use. And then, Akio’s paws suddenly reversed direction, making her gasp aloud.

“A-Akio!”

He pulled her body up until he revealed six inches of his glistening, black flesh, before dropping her back down into his lap with a powerful upward thrust of his hips. They joined each other in a feral chorus, Fia left gasping while he snarled his delight. He lifted her again, faster this time, and began to buck his hips like a wild rapidash.

This position wasn’t what his species was used to, and Fia was surprised by how quickly he adapted to it. There was nothing she could do but hold on for the ride, manipulated like a toy and brought crashing into his lap with bone-jarring force. Each time he slammed her down, a little more of that thick knot spread her, coming closer to forcing her body to submit to canine rule.

It was hard for Fia to concentrate, hard for her to control the way her body had begun to overheat. She was left panting desperately in the night air, the cool kiss it had left on her earlier outdone by the sweltering inferno kicked up by the two of them. They rutted like beasts, carefree and thoughtless, their bodies moving to a clunky rhythm that was already beginning to smooth out.

Fia spread her legs wider, letting her body tilt backwards so she could look up at that starry night sky. The pinpricks of light danced overhead, and she was left wondering if they were real or just a figment of her overwhelmed mind. They danced and twirled in the most beautiful patterns, leaving behind them tracers of pure stardust. She only came back to reality when she felt Akio’s thick tongue lapping at her neck. It came with growls, it came with the nip of sharp teeth that warned her to hold still and the snarls to back it up.

It wasn’t that she feared Akio. Even now while he did everything in his power to pile drive her into his crotch. As his girthy, bestial cock tore through her formerly virgin body with single-minded determination. It wasn’t that she thought he would hurt her, but something deep within her had stirred, and now it couldn’t be returned to the dark recesses of her mind. It was the thing that made her steel herself, and when he took her down the next time, she dropped her full weight into it.

“That’s it!” Akio snarled, feeling her walls beginning to give under his feverish humping. His fangs glistened with saliva, and he made no effort to wipe away the long strand hanging from the corner of his black-lipped maw. “You’re my bitch! My bitch, Fia!”

His bitch, Akio’s bitch.

It was simple, it was nature. It was all that her overtaxed, overburdened mind wanted and needed to accept. That she was a bitch, and that she was going to be okay when she was in the paws of her alpha male lover.

Fia didn’t realize she had cum for him at first. It had happened so suddenly that she suddenly doused his groin in her feminine juices, coating his knot in a fresh layer of desperately needed lubricant. Then, it happened again. Another climax quickly followed the first, racing through her and rendering her almost limp. The only thing she could do was drop into his thrusts, ensure that he was getting what he wanted, and what he deserved.

“Get ready!” The warning came from far away, on ears that were muted to the world around her. “Fia, you’re mine!”

Fia’s eyes fell just in time to catch the moment it happened, when her lips eclipsed the halfway point on his knot. There was a moment where he tried to pull back, as if intent on continuing his mad thrusts, but she would not release him. She watched with glazed eyes as her body sucked him into her tight pussy, her lips closing around the small space at the base of his cock. His sheath ground firmly against her obscenely bulging lips, every last inch vanished within her body.

And she was cumming again.

Fia was cumming, because Akio had tilted his head back to the sky and erupted within her with all the force of a volcano. His seed was scorching hot, radiating deep within her and coating her inner walls with his claim to her body. The arcanine’s heavy balls twitched with every pump, his cockhead buried so deeply within her that she was certain she’d be carrying his seed around in her for days after this.

Fia dropped her face into his smoky, fluffy mane and simply screamed, letting out all her pent up stress, her tangled web of emotions. She let it all go with the force of his orgasm, giving him what he wanted and by extension, what she needed.

Akio’s paws had moved to her lower back, holding her in a tight embrace bordering on pain that kept her pressed against him with no chance of escape. It wasn’t like there was, after all, she could feel as that orb within her began to swell, pushing her walls further apart and locking them together. Tying them together as mates. As lovers across species.

Time passed seemingly at random, at times the sound of Akio’s panting was a distant memory, and at other times it was right in her ear, the only thing she could hear. He had become her everything while everything outside of this moment meant nothing.

Fia didn’t know how long she remained planted in his fluffy mane. She didn’t know how long his knot had resided in her, or for how long his firehose of a cock had been unleashing its pent-up load. Fia only knew that she felt a sense of satisfaction that compared to nothing else she had experienced in her life. Not even climbing to the summit of Mt. Chimney for the first time compared to this, not even her first time wearing her gym trainer uniform. This was truly the pinnacle of completion, fulfillment that she would have never imagined coming from another person, let alone a pokemon.

She only stirred when she realized Akio was lapping at the top of her head, dragging his rough tongue through her crimson hair. One of his heavy paws had begun to trail up and down her spine in a soothing caress, whispered sweet nothings raining down on her from above. It was just as glorious as she had imagined it would be, and she had to fight to hold back a watering in her eyes.

“You look so beautiful like this…” Akio whispered to her. “I love you, Fia. I knew it the moment I met you. My dad always said that he knew the moment he met my mom that they’d be together forever.” His nose, wet and cold, pressed against the top of her head and snuffled around her crimson hair. “I want that with you. I want you to be in my life forever.”

His declaration was almost…commanding. Fia shifted, finally finding the strength to pull her face from his fur. It was a challenge to drag her eyes up to meet his face, and when she did, she found sorrow written there. As soon as their eyes met, his paw clamped down tighter on her lower spine.

“Don’t go back…” He leaned closer to her, confiding in her with a soft voice that left him seeming more like a shivering pup than the powerful guardian he had come to be. “I never knew how badly I needed you until now. We’re mates now, and if I lost you…”

Everything was moving far too slowly, even her hand which trembled as it reached up to caress his muzzle. She held it firmly, using it to steady herself and steel her resolve against what she was going to say.

“I’m never going to leave you.”

It was a promise, one that she might regret when this moment of sensational bliss came to an end. But, it was what her lover, her mate, wanted to hear, and she could feel his tail swishing about under him. Akio embraced her tightly, almost crushingly so, and released a heavy breath over the nape of her neck.

“I love you, Fia. Now hold still.”

The pain came suddenly. She hadn’t been expecting it when his teeth dug into the back of her neck, nor the sharp sensation of stinging pressure when they broke the surface of the skin. It did, however, bring her back to some semblance of reality and left her bucking against him, which only caused his knot to tug firmly against her poor, spread lips.

“F-Fuck!” The darkness had cleared from her mind and like the sun breaking through the clouds it came to her just what he had done. “Akio let g-go!”

But he didn’t let go. Akio held the bite for a few moments more, his massive body refusing to yield to her. Only after some time had passed did he release her.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry. I needed to mark you to truly make you mine.” Akio spoke fast, letting his tongue caress the bite marks and clear away the blood that had begun to bead up there. “It was what we both wanted, right?”

Fia, for the first time, was beginning to truly realize just what the extent of what she had done. It was a sobering thought, like a bucket of water tossed over her raging loins. She was tied, she was bitten, she was covered in dog slobber and scratch marks littered her backside. And by Arceus did she feel so damn satisfied. Not just because she was stretched to her limits, either.

It made her face flush with heat, and she returned to the privacy of his mane to try to gather her thoughts. This allowed Akio to keep tending to her with his soothing licks, his whispered words doing little to soothe the anxiety building in her stomach.

She had fucked a pokemon, or rather, a pokemon had fucked her. She had practically thrown herself at him, and each movement she made caused his knot to rub salaciously against her friction-burned pussy. Hadn’t this been what Fia wanted? It had been so easy to declare how badly she wanted to be his mate, and now…

Her hands tightened into fists, and she tried to let the tension release from her clenched shoulders. It seemed to make Akio relax as well, even though his doting snout hadn’t moved more than an inch away from her.

“It was what you wanted, right?” He whispered. She could only imagine the look of worry on his face, she could hear it in his voice after all. “Aren’t you happy we’re mates, now?”

“I…” Fia began, but faltered. “I am, it’s just…”

Akio didn’t push the subject, and for that she was grateful. All she wanted to do was to lay there on him, to simply exist, to feel his heat conflicting with the returning blanket of cool night air that calmed the fire in her heart. It was all she wanted, to feel free, to know that she had succeeded after a day fraught with peril.

“I love you Fia.”

“...I love you too, Akio.”

-4-

It was an awkward walk into the farm the next morning, and Fia was struggling to maintain a straight line. It took Akio’s form providing support at her side for her to continue putting one foot in front of the other, and even then her poor womanhood cried out at the exertion. How long had she held that damned knot in her body? It seemed like damn near an hour of being inflated full of it, and even afterwards he had been reluctant to pull it out of her.

At that point in the night, she had been too tired to complain.

The marks on her neck weren’t terrible. That was to say, they were more cosmetic than serious. They were absolutely visible from multiple angles, she had discovered when checking herself in a flowing stream that morning.

She had been thankful to find it, to wash the memory of their fierce mating from her body. Although the cold water stung on her fresh scratch marks and made her wince when it splashed against the slightly stretched lips of her cunny, it had been a welcome wash. Her fingers had cautiously probed her tender womanhood, testing herself and imagining just how thick that knot must have gotten, and how wide it must have stretched it. It was stunning to her to think such an enormous thing could ever fit in her.

Unfortunately for her, Akio didn’t share the same interest in cleaning himself. He seemed to wear the remnants of the night before like a badge of honor, and that meant his musk was potent enough to make heat rise to her face. It was so obvious where it hadn’t been before; was it because she knew where to look for it now? Damn dog, his mere existence near her was rekindling the fire in her stomach, but it didn’t have the same fuel to burn as bright as it had the night before.

Now that she could think with a clear mind, she had asked herself again and again why she had done the things she had done the night before. Relief? Stress? As she nearly stumbled once again and felt Akio there to keep her from tumbling, she knew the answer.

Love, she did love him.

Damn him and his goofy smile, the theatrics he put on to pull her out of her dour mood that morning. It was nothing like the beast that had claimed her, putting her to the tips of his fangs and leaving her dangling from his knot.

It was Akio. Kind, sweet, and carefree.

“Mei’s going to freak out when she sees you like that, you know.” Akio pointed out, chuckling under his breath. “She’s been going on and on about how she always wanted a friend to talk to about fucking pokemon. Looks like you’re it.”

“Aren’t I the lucky one…” Fia mumbled as they passed through rows of berry bushes. That she was trying to keep her head down and her presence to a minimum wasn’t lost on her companion.

“You know she’s uh, kind of, well, really angry about yesterday.” Akio glanced towards the silent farmhouse and picked up his pace towards the barn, forcing Fia to hurry. “You’re going to have to talk to her about what happened. I hope you have a good explanation.”

Despite the terror in the moment, Fia found herself eager, almost excited, to talk about what had happened in the depths of the palace. There was so much to tell him, so much he needed to know. From the way she had felt when she first put on the mask, to how her hair changed, the way her climbing ax caught fire.

The ax hung from her backpack now, and no matter how many times she had swung it around that morning to try and mimic the day before, it remained completely inert. The only sign it had indeed caught fire was the black-tinted metal head of it. Skeptical as Akio was, he had made the joke that she certainly felt like a fire type the night before. He had gotten a flick to the snout after that one.

“I…have an idea that might get me on her good side, at least…” Fia whispered as they approached the dormant barn.

Akio tilted his head and shrugged, before nudging open the barn door just wide enough for her to slip into the darkened depths. Almost as soon as she did, the barn rattled with the sound of a hoof coming down hard on the floor followed by a powerful snort. What had seemed so quiet and welcoming proved to be anything but, and she instantly groaned under her breath. That nap in a bed of hay had never seemed so close yet so far away.

Fia had hoped that Titan wouldn’t be up this early, but the stallion had always caught her sneaking out of the barn. He usually regarded her with a twitching tail and flared nostrils, but never made much of a fuss about her presence. Now he stood at his stall door, watching her with his upper lip pulled back far enough to show off his square teeth. Titan stomped his hoof again, bringing a cloud of dust down from the rafters and causing the ground to tremble under their feet.

“You have some nerve.”

Fia had mused with Akio whether she would be able to understand other pokemon, or if it were just him. Despite his insistence that perhaps it was ‘true love giving their feelings words’, it would seem that her new vocal acumen extended to other pokemon as well.

“You left Mei to explore the palace? Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten her into?! You could have had her banned from selling in the city!” Titan kicked at the front of his stall for emphasis, although he winced when the wood splintered from the force of his kick. “Akio, she needs to pack up and go, her time here is…”

Fia tried her best to ignore him as his nostrils flared, breathing in great gusts of air before he finally exhaled. With it came a loud, agitated sigh while his large head swung towards Akio.

“You bred her, didn’t you? Great, now we’re never going to get rid of her.”

Akio smirked and led Fia past Titan’s stall, his tail held high and wagging fervently back and forth.

“You’re damn right I did. Kotted, bred, and marked. Don’t be jealous you don’t have a bitch as sexy as mine.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that she needs to be out of here!” Titan snapped after them, the sound of him fussing about in his stall accompanied by the stomping of hooves.

Fia could feel the heat rise to her face, bringing cascading crimson across her cheeks. Arceus, was this what it was like to have a boyfriend? She didn’t exactly want her love life shared this openly, but, then again, it wasn’t like she was trying to hide the bite marks on the back of her neck. She knew that walking past Titan’s stall gave the stallion a good, long look at them and just confirming what Akio so boldly stated.

Titan could wait for now. Fia had more important business to attend to.

Levi was where he typically was, tucked into the back corner of his stall with the pitiful flames on his back barely illuminating him. He hadn’t so much as stirred from the ruckus caused by the stallion across the aisle, and he only lethargically lifted his head when he heard his stall door swing open. Levi looked up at her with round, brown eyes that were exhausted to the point of struggling to stay open, and soon he closed them and let his head hang again.

“What…do you want…” His voice was raw, choked with phlegm and struggling to maintain itself. “I want to sleep…”

If this didn’t get Mei back on her good side, nothing would.

Fia set her backpack on the stray-covered ground in front of the colt and undid the zipper, before reaching into the medical bag. It had been a big mistake not going to the pokemon mart before the gym that fateful day. It meant she was fishing around a minimal amount of supplies. It wasn’t exactly reassuring, but she did have some hyper potions left, as well as what she was most interested in.

“Hey big guy, this may not taste the best, but I think it will help you feel better.” Fia approached Levi slowly, but the ponyta might as well have been dead to the world. He barely twitched an ear when Fia rested one of her hands on his shoulders, and for the first time she felt just how cold he was. “Okay, I need you to open your mouth just a little, can you do that for me? Mei asked me to give you your medicine today.”

She waited, wondering if he had actually heard her, until finally his mouth cracked open and he let his tongue hang out. Fia knew he was expecting the powdery mixture that Mei had been giving him, but instead she brought the spray nozzle of the bottle to bear right in front of his muzzle. Before he could pull away from her, she pressed down on the nozzle and unloaded the entirety of the bottle straight into his muzzle and down the back of his throat.

Levi started, snorting and snapping his mouth shut before turning his head and coughing a few times. The flames on his back sputtered once, twice, and then they began to weaken. It was a sickening feeling, watching the flames receding until they appeared as minuscule as pilot lights on a furnace.

“What? No, no, no!” Fia swore as she looked at the bottle and then at the swaying pokemon growing increasingly unsteady on its feet. His tail was practically nonexistent at this point, and the mane finally snuffed itself out in a soft, pathetic whisper of smoke that drifted up to the rafters. “Why didn’t that work? It should ha-”

“What have you done?!”

Fia couldn’t bring herself to turn towards the accusing voice. Was it something to do with it reacting negatively to the medication that he had already been taking? That shouldn’t have been an issue, he should have-

Feeling a set of arms grabbing her from behind and suddenly shoving her away didn’t surprise her. As her back collided with the wall of the stall, she was left staring at the inert ponyta.

“What did you give him? What did you do to my pokemon!?” Fia didn’t know what to say to the angry, red face of Mei. Fia could see the moisture beginning to grow in the corner of her eyes, the way her lip quivered and the sheer desperation in her movements. “You abandoned me at the palace. You poisoned my pokemon?!” Mei accused, her voice cracking under the weight of Fia’s sins. “I thought you were my friend!”

Fia wanted to say something, but what would she be able to do in the face of such anger? There was nothing that would make this right. Even Akio and Titan were rendered silent and staring at their owner.

“Mei…”

The sudden onrush of heat that burst within the stall forced Mei back a few steps, although Fia found herself better able to withstand it after her night with Akio. Mei retreated back to the entrance to the stall while Fia was bathed in the splendorous warmth of burning flames that rose high enough to tickle the timbers overhead.

Levi lifted his head, testing out the muscles in his neck that had so long remained dormant, and stretched out his equine form.

The flame on his neck and tail had ignited once again, now blazing with a bright, orange and red light that filled the entire barn with light. He was nothing like the pathetic creature Fia had come to know him as, now he burned with all the majesty of a raging bonfire. He seemed just as stunned as they were, looking over himself with none of the silent defeat Fia had seen etched into his eyes.

Levi took a step forward, then another, his movements holding no hint of weakness or uncertainty in them. Mei stood to one side and Fia quickly moved out of his way as he headed for the stall door, and when he got to the center aisle, he suddenly took off running. With a joyous whinny he raced past Titan’s stall, past Akio, and through the barn doors all while Mei rushed after him.

“What…was that..?” Akio asked her, the dumbfounded expression on his face shared by Titan.

Fia’s lips trembled, and she found herself truly smiling as she headed for the barn door. “That’s called…a full heal.”

Fia found Mei hanging on the edge of the building, watching in wonderment as the living embodiment of flame raised across the fields. Levi ran like his hooves were carried by the sun itself, the distant sound of his hoofprints carrying with it the sound of thundering majesty. There was not one second that he didn’t burn bright in that early morning sun, a beacon chasing away the darkness of the night.

“Mei, we need to talk about some things.” Fia whispered. “I haven’t been honest with you and…and I want to fix that.”

Mei, bless her heart, wiped the tears away from her eyes before looking at Fia, and then at Akio as he came up to her side. Something clicked in her, and Fia didn’t resist when Mei raised a hand and reached out to touch the edge of one of the bite marks on her neck. Fia could only imagine the emotions that were overwhelming Mei, and hell, Fia had gone through the same problem the night before.

“What did you do to your hair…” Mei finally mumbled, flicking her fingers against some of the crimson locks. “Guess you wanted to match with your new man.”

Fia cleared her throat, letting the dark-haired woman toy with her bite marks a little longer. Pride swelled up in her, made her tilt her head forward to better show off the fresh scars in their entirety.

“I uh, know that…you still need to give Titan his attention still. Would you mind if…if Akio and I joined…you?”

It was a testament to Mei’s fortitude that she only wore her stunned expression for a few moments. Then came embarrassment, and finally…the same nervous excitement Fia had recognized in herself the night before. Akio had appeared to be right that this was going to be the most surefire way to apologize to her, even if it embarrassed Fia to no end.

“You’ll…do it with Akio?” She asked, and when Fia nodded, Mei bit down on her lower lip. “While I do it with…Titan?”

“Do what with me?” The stallion poked his head out the barn doors and glanced at them in curiosity, before turning his sights on the ponyta running across the fields. He chuckled, and in his deep voice mumbled. “Acts like a stallion that just got his first rut…what were they talking about, Akio?”

“Oh,” he began, brushing his strong form against Fia’s side. She didn’t need to look under him to know that he was poking free of his sheath, the scent of his arousal was spicy and musty in the air. “Why don’t we go back into the barn, I think the four of us need to have a talk about…our future living arrangements.” Akio chuckled and shot a barred-tooth grin up at the mudsdale. “Hey Titan, ever wonder what it’d be like having two humans under you at once?”

When Fia looked at him with no shortage of surprise, Akio simply grinned and began to wag his tail to and fro.

“What? Just because you’re my bitch doesn’t mean you can’t play around with other men. Just so long as you know who the real boss is.” Akio tilted his head back and held it high with all the pomp of royalty while trotting back into the barn, his tail lifted high to show off his low hanging balls to the two women.

“So…” Mei whispered from behind her, and when she turned to meet her, Fia could see just how red her face was. “You uh, maybe…want to give me a ‘hand’ with Titan?”

Any other day, Fia might have said no, she might have vehemently opposed the idea of so much as going near the large battering ram that had already begun to poke from Titan’s sheath. He was staring at the two of them in silent regard, his lip pulled back and nostrils flared.

Fia’s heart raced in her chest as she looked back out towards the field where Levi was working to burn off what had to have been months worth of rust from his extended sickness. The fluttering sensation in her stomach grew stronger as she looked down at the mask attached to her backpack, and she took a deep breath. Confidence overwhelmed her, a sensation of calm and reassurance for the future.

She had already slept with one pokemon. Surely, as long as Akio was okay with it, there was no shame in trying it with another?

“Mei…I’d be happy to.”