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A Friend Indeed

_ DISCLAIMER: All characters and properties are copyright their respective owners. All writing and original characters are copyright 2008 Zephyr Paws. The author is in no way associated or affiliated with any third-party. This original fiction was created with no intention of any copyright infringement against any third-party, and is purely for fan enjoyment._

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Chapter 2

Field of Dreams

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The next morning, I woke up to the feeling of Dew's tongue licking my cheek, nose, and head. "Dew...?" I was a bit disoriented as I started gaining consciousness, but as I got up, I saw Dew looking at me with a wide smile on her face.

"Hi Florel! Good morning!" exclaimed Dew cheerily. I don't think I'd ever seen her so excited in the morning before.

I shook my head for a bit to help wake me up a bit more. "Hmm, what's got you so excited this morning?" I asked.

"You!" she exclaimed, tackling me back to the ground and proceeding to nuzzle and lick me repeatedly.

"Well, I'm glad to see you, too!" Feeling a bit more awake now, I licked her in return, and then held onto her tightly as I rolled us over so we were both on our sides. We both giggled and nuzzled our heads together, enjoying each other's company.

"Are you two up? Breakfast is-" I heard the voice of Moyst, Dew's mom, behind us.

Dew immediately broke our hug and was quick to stand upright. "Mom! We were just-" Dew froze. She must not have been able to think of anything else to say, which I guess is understandable, as I don't think she's acted quite like she was now before.

"You don't need to explain, I know you were just playing," Moyst assured us. "Anyway, breakfast is ready, so why don't you two get some so you can get back to playing. Sound good?" She really was a lot nicer when she wasn't upset. Boy was I glad that we didn't fall asleep outside last night, heh. She proceeded to walk back into the other room of the den, where breakfast was being served.

"Maybe we shouldn't do that when they're awake..." said Dew quietly, looking and sounding a bit more depressed and shaken.

"Hey," I said, "it's not like we were doing anything wrong. Besides, we're going to have to tell her and your dad sometime, right?"

"Yeah... I guess we will, sometime..." she said with a sigh. "So, today, do you want to go to the flower fields again? So we can... um..."

"That sounds great, and yeah, so does that," I answered, smiling and letting her know I knew what she was talking about -- at least, I'm pretty sure I knew what she was talking about.

She smiled and nodded her head, then we both went into the next room to have ourselves some breakfast. The two of us ate it down pretty fast, which prompted a question or two from Dew's parents, but we just couldn't help ourselves -- we were so anxious to get out of the den and be by ourselves.

After breakfast, we asked and received their approval to spend the day at the flower fields, and we were both far too quick to head off there together.

***

As we made our way to the flower fields, we traveled along the usual path. Somehow, walking down the path seemed different. It almost seemed to glow, if that's the best word for it.

I had to admit, I was pretty excited about today. Even though I didn't think either of us would be mating, it would greatly satisfy my curiosities towards females... and I knew that it would help Dew satisfy her curiosities towards males as well. I didn't think of it as wrong or devious, us wanting to do that, but simply as natural and almost as a token of our new kind of friendship.

"Florel," said Dew, "I want to say it right now." She stopped walking, causing me to stop and see what she was going to say.

"Hmm?" I mumbled.

"I love you! I love you, Florel! Ha ha! There, I said it!" Dew seemed absolutely giddy over saying those three words, trotting all around me and smiling widely. Of course, I was flattered every time I heard them. It did feel very nice to know that the Pokemon I've grown up with would be the Pokemon I'd grow old with as well.

"I love you, too, Dew!" Smiling, I chased her around in circles, until we both decided we'd just frolic our way forward to the flower fields.

In no time at all, we both arrived there and took in the refreshing scent of the sweet-smelling flowers. They seemed to smell even sweeter than they usually did, which I was quick to pick up on. The fragrance and beauty of this place really did go unnoticed by me for so long.

It seemed that Dew and I have both become a lot more like the other during our whole little courtship; she became more excitable, energetic, and cheery than she ever had been before, while I had gotten to be a lot more appreciative of the smaller things and even a bit more cautious over what I say and what I do, in consideration of her feelings.

We eventually settled down by the lake and were both sitting down by the lake's edge.

"So, um... can we... maybe cuddle first?" asked Dew shyly, yet suggesting enthusiasm.

"Of course! I'd love that..." I answered, lying down and holding my arm around her. Dew joined me, lying beside me. I pulled myself over to her so we were once again on our sides and proceeded to gently kiss her. While doing so, I wrapped my other arm around her and pulled her in even closer, gripping her in a comfortable hug. She had placed her paws around me, as well, rubbing my back and tail with them.

Over the next five minutes or so, we kept our antics up, cuddling and making out with each other, sending kisses, nuzzles, and cuddles each other's way. Through all of it, I had found my member to become erect and had no hesitance in rubbing it against her underbelly, taking great delight in the feel of her silky smooth fur rub against my shaft. I wasn't sure if she noticed it or not, as she said nothing about it, so I did nothing to restrain myself from keeping it up and enjoying myself, wishing only the same for her.

"I think you're ready," teased Dew, giving a clearly intentional rub against my cock before getting up and off of me. "May I...?" she asked as verification, which I was quick to nod yes to and accept. She wasted no time in taking a few steps over and shifting her focus down to my erection, marveling and completely fascinated by it. The way she was looking at it was so innocent, yet so curious. It did feel a little bit weird being examined so closely, especially down there, but at least I knew it was Dew doing the examination.

"You can touch it if you'd like," I suggested to her, more than hoping she'd be eager to go along with it. Curiously, Dew did so, poking at it with her paw with the utmost of interest. I couldn't help but react to her touch, eliciting a slight moan and a twitch. I knew how good it felt when I touched it, which I had done on a few occasions, but it felt far better having her touch it. The excitement and anticipation, knowing that she would someday be my mate and what we were doing would be commonplace, was very exciting.

Without asking, the curious Mudkip gripped my member in her paws. I was surprised that she changed her position so she was sitting down, enabling her to rub at my shaft with two paws over just one. It felt fantastic, having her touch me in such a way.

"It's cute..." said Dew as she held my boyhood between her paws, staring at it with a smile. "It... it feels good when I touch it, doesn't it?"

"Yeah... it feels great!" I answered, having no shame about admitting it. After all, it did feel really, really good whenever I'd rub it against her belly or have it touched by her gentle paws.

Dew nodded and looked over at me with a nervous smile on her face. "W-would you like me to... touch it some more?" she asked shyly.

How could I turn that down? "Like you have to ask? Please, go ahead! I don't think it's going to hurt or anything, and if it does, I'll let you know... but I do know that the more its touched or rubbed, the better it feels."

Without saying a word, Dew resumed her fixation on my member and began sliding her soft paws up and down on it, from top to bottom, slowly, but gently. It felt so amazingly good that I couldn't help but let out a pleasurable moan. "Ohhhh... Dew... it feels sooo... good."

She kept up her handiwork and continued stroking my shaft until it became slick with moistness. As the unknown liquid lubricated my boyhood, it also got Dew's paws a little wet as well, causing her to stop temporarily to assess what the fluid was on her paws. "F-Florel...? What is... this...?" she asked as she showed her paws to me. I could see that they were a little damp. "It's not pee, is it?"

To be honest, I didn't know what the heck it was at the time, but I did know it wasn't pee and I had seen it once or twice before, but only after touching it a lot. "I don't think it is. It's different, I think, and it's kind of slimy, right?" I asked her. Dew nodded in response. "It only leaked out before, like, once or twice... and only when I touched it a lot."

"Oh. H-hey! When did you do that? I never saw you touch yourself there before..." she said to me, curious as to when exactly I had the chance to do that. Heh, whoops.

"Uh, yeah... a few times when I needed to pee, I hid behind some bushes and rubbed it because it felt good. I didn't want to do it in front of you, because I thought it'd be kind of weird." I felt a little embarrassed for admitting that, but at least I knew that she would quite obviously be more likely to understand it currently. "It feels so much better, you rubbing it..." I added, smiling contently at her.

In response, she returned her paws to my shaft and quickly stroked them up and down a few times, causing me to elicit another moan. "Good..." she said. A few seconds later, she stopped again, although this time leaving her paws still grabbing my boyhood. "Florel..."

"Yeah?" I answered.

"It does feel good being touched there, right?" she asked me again, which confused me, as she already asked me that. Perhaps she was just being considerate... or repetitive.

"Yeah, it does; it feels awesome," I said, smiling back at her, but still puzzled over her repetitive questioning.

She turned her head back towards me, although hung it down, looking nervous as she usually does when there's something on her mind. "D-do... you think you c-could..."

"Hey now, spit it out! You promised you'd talk to me if you had something to say, remember?" I said, reminding her that whatever she could possibly say, ask, or do, I would gladly oblige and couldn't think anything less of her for.

"I-I'm sorry, you're right." Appearing to regain her confidence, the Mudkip turned her head up and looked me right in the eyes with a look of pleading and desire. "Could you please t-touch me...? Florel...?"

"I was hoping we'd get to tha-" It suddenly hit me that I said that aloud rather than just thinking it in my head. "Ah, whoops! Was thinking out loud, heh." I hit myself on the forehead to signify my embarrassment, but I was quick to get over it. After all, there was something far more exciting about to happen.

Dew laughed at my antics, giggling playfully and fortunately not seeming to take offense to my eagerness. "It's okay. I think I need to borrow some of your ability to speak what's on your mind, because I think you have too much of it and I don't have enough!" Again, Dew laughed, although this time at her own joke. I joined her in laughter, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head in a friendly way while doing so.

Our laughter soon subsided and we were left with silence. We were both looking at each other, smiling, Dew turning her head and looking up at me while I was sitting up and looking down at her. Having her as a friend really was all I ever needed, and these kinds of moments, where we could both laugh and enjoy each other's company, reminded me of that.

"Florel..." Dew started, sounding a bit hesitant. "I... I haven't touched myself before... I can't reach my, uh... my vagina... with my paws. So please... can you please...?" Dew appeared to be very needing and wanting to feel the same kind of pleasure she was just giving me.

Speaking of which, I wasn't quite finished with letting her pet my member... It felt too good to just stop right there. Fortunately, I'm a pretty bright Treecko, so I was quick to think of a way we could both get what we wanted. "Dew, I've got an idea."

"What is it?" she asked curiously, although almost reluctantly. I should have just gone along with her wishes, but I simply had to at least suggest the idea that came to my mind.

"What if you lay on top of me, except turn yourself around so you're facing my penis and I'm facing your vagina?" Hehe, talking about our parts like that somehow made me chuckle. I couldn't restrain it either, and I had to hope that she didn't think too much of it. Oh yeah, and I had to hope she'd be fine with the idea.

My Mudkip friend looked at me with a look of desperation and need on her face. After a second or two, she seemed to be thinking about it. I could see the wheels turning in her head about it. Finally, she had a response. "That sounds good!" she cheerfully answered.

Well that made it easy. "That way, we can both touch each other and make each other feel good." I grinned.

"It-it does feel good, ri- I mean...! Right!" Excited, the anxious Mudkip jumped up onto my chest, gave me a hug to which I eagerly returned, and then slid herself around on my body until she was now facing away from me, displaying her finny tail and her rear end.

I looked at it for a bit, never really having a chance to examine it up close before. I pulled Dew's rear closer to my face so I could have an even better view of her cute little booty. It really was... incredible, looking at it like that. Right beneath her tail-fin was her butt, which looked... hmm, I guess kind of dull up close. Not that I was really expecting much; I mean, we've all got 'em. Although it did have a more pink, salmon tone to it in comparison to the rest of her periwinkle underbelly.

Just a bit beneath her butt was the object I was looking for: a small little slit. It looked kind of weird upon first inspection, just due to its simplicity. That much I have seen before, on those rare occasions she was leading me around, but it just didn't seem quite as intriguing then as it did now. Was I really supposed to stick my twig in there? It didn't look like it'd fit very well. Dew's parents made it sound like mating wasn't difficult. What's the catch? Even those Poochyena made it look easy to thrust inside of a female.

"You can... touch it if you'd like," I heard her say, snapping me out of my trance. I saw her looking back at me with an almost pleading look on her face. Well, I figured the best way to learn was to try first hand. All those thoughts made me wonder if that was what Dew was thinking when she was looking at my maleness.

Figuring I'd wasted enough time, I slowly extended my paw towards the small slit. It finally reached its destination and, without further hesitation, I ran my paw across the length of the slit. To my immediate shock, Dew's body quivered as she let out a light yip. Also to my surprise, though, she didn't look back at me, which I was half-expecting her to do.

"You alright, Dew?" I asked her, trying to be courteous. I didn't think I hurt her, but who knows.

"Y-yeah, it just felt... weird." Weird, huh? It should feel good, not weird. Maybe I was doing it wrong? Better try again. I really knew nothing about female parts other than I'm supposed to stick my pecker in one and that eggs are laid from there. Oh yeah, pee, too.

A strange thought hit me for a moment: what if females don't feel the same kind of pleasure males do? I guess I just had assumed that, well, hey, it felt good touching myself down there, so it would probably feel good for a girl to touch her slit. But how would I know that for sure? Dew said it herself that she never tried. That would really be pretty messed up if it wasn't the same.

Ah, enough of these thoughts, I thought to myself before shunning my overactive mind and just going ahead with it. If she really, honestly didn't like it, she'd tell me. She would. So wasting no further time, I ran my paw across her slit once more, earning another twitch from the excitable Mudkip.

I gave a few more light strokes across it, running it up and down hoping for a sign or some further instructions from her, but failing to receive anything but more shuddering and twitches, with the occasional yip. However, I was noticing that the twitching was most strong -- almost exclusively so -- when I ran my digit across the very bottom of it, the area closest to her belly. It actually felt kind of like I hit a small bump, so to speak, up there. It was slightly stiff, too, in comparison to the rest of the slit, which felt more... fleshy?

"Hey Dew, speak up. Is this good? Bad? Are you liking it? What do you like about it?" Hopefully she'd shed some light on it. I was no psychic; I couldn't tell how she was feeling, and worse yet, I couldn't even see her face to get an idea from her expressions. All I had to work with were those darn twitches!

"I, uhh... I like it... it feels good when you, um, first start touching it."

I reached my paw back to the 'bump' and, rather than sliding my paw down the length of her slit, I just slid it back and forth across that little nub. That thing must have been a real sensitive spot, because she was twitching and quivering at a much steadier pace as I ran my digit back and forth across it. "How's that?"

She took a few seconds to respond, although I didn't stop my treatment to give her a chance to. "It-it-it's g-goo-uhhhh-ood! Uhnn-ahh...! Kip!" Good. That proved my fears false; it sounded like she was getting plenty of pleasure from what I was doing. That made me feel a lot better about what I was doing, although I wished I knew what I was doing in the first place.

"Great, just tell me if you want me to stop, okay?" I asked her as I kept up my work. She didn't say anything back to me, but I could tell she heard me and knew that I'd stop in a heartbeat for her.

However, something else was piquing my curiosities: as I continued rubbing that little nub and sliding my digit across the top of her folds, I was wondering to myself just how it was that I could actually fit my penis inside of that. It wasn't thin and flat and wouldn't just slide in there. Maybe it was like a mouth and she could open it when she wanted to eat something? Hehe, that odd thought made me giggle a bit. I hope Dew didn't notice.

I decided to try something. I took my other paw and, while rubbing her sensitive spot with my right paw, I used my left paw to investigate that small slit some more. Lightly, I pushed against it, just to see if somehow it'd fit inside. To my surprise, the flesh around her actually seemed to press inward to accommodate it.

Now I was on to something. It almost felt like I could open the slit wider rather than just press inward. Maybe that was how a penis could fit in there? I had to know, so I tried pulling one fold of the slit apart from the other to see that it was somewhat stretchy and revealed a pinkish fleshy... opening? It looked like there really was a lot more to females than just a little slit.

"Hey Dew, what's inside?" I called over to her, still keeping my sight on the newly revealed part of her slit that I hadn't seen before.

"It... umm... it's where you put it in..." she answered, sounding a bit unsure herself. Well, she did say that she's never touched herself down there, so perhaps I was asking for too much.

"Well, mind if I try figure out how to put a finger in? I'm just not even sure a penis could fit in there." Hehe, now I was definitely asking for too much, but I just had to try. After all, I think we'd both settled on the fact that we were going to be mates someday, so might as well figure that kind of stuff out beforehand.

"I don't mind," she assured me. To my surprise, I felt a familiar and pleasant feeling: Dew resumed touching my cock, sliding her paws up and down on it at quite a fair pace. I had completely forgotten about that! I guess she was getting curious, too.

After getting her confirmation, I took my right paw that was pleasuring her sensitive nub thing and used it to stretch apart the other fold of her slit, revealing what appeared to be an opening amidst the pink flesh. It was surprisingly moist as well, I noticed.

I leaned in to get a better look and saw that just a bit below the larger hole was a much, much smaller one. Then, just a little bit below that, I could see the underside of that little bump to see that there was a bit more to it. It almost, almost reminded me, now that I had a better and more full view of it, of a little mini penis thing. Almost.

"Let's see if it'll fit..." I muttered to myself, thinking aloud. I held the folds open using one of my paws while taking a finger from the other and reaching it up towards the larger hole, figuring that's where it was meant to go. Well, not specifically my finger, but for the sake of seeing if my penis would fit. Oh, never mind...

Sliding it down there, I realized just how wet Dew was! I tried not to pay it much mind at first, although as I took it in more, I actually found the scent of it to be very pleasant... it was very powerful, quite sweet, and unusually addictive. It made me feel relaxed and lightheaded, which I couldn't quite understand. It also smelled familiar... like I'd smelled it before... I stopped and froze for a moment, pondering where I smelled it before.

Suddenly, I felt Dew stop touching and playing with my member. "F-Florel...? Is everything okay?" she asked back to me, sounding really, really anxious. Hearing her voice again reminded me where I smelled that scent before! It was back on that day in the flower fields, with those two Poochyena! I thought it was the two Poochyena mating... but maybe... maybe it was Dew I smelled back then? Hehe, wow, how cool.

"Yeah! Sorry! I was just... Ah, I'll tell you later, don't worry. I think I figured it out, so I'm going to stick it in, okay?" I asked her to confirm once again. I really was asking her 'is it okay' a lot, but it just seemed like the right thing to do, especially since I was touching a once private place of hers. I would never want to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Y-yes, try it...!"

With that, I started sliding my finger into her opening. It seemed to catch on a flap of skin, though, that was guarding the hole. It was much lighter-colored in comparison to the rest, but it looked like I'd still be able to slip my finger inside if I just stretched her folds apart a bit more first. I did that and saw the oddly-colored pieces of flesh stretch along with it, giving just enough room for me to finally slid my finger inside.

I pressed it in and felt it kind of bring the lighter-colored flaps along with it, but not too much, so I decided to keep going and push it in even further. To my amazement, it really was going inside of her! My finger was actually going inside of Dew! While I was mystifying myself with that, I was caught by surprise when I heard Dew scream slightly.

"Kiiip!"

"Dew?!" I reactively pulled my finger out of her vagina, gasping in horror as I saw my digit lightly coated with fresh blood and some blood by the edge of her vagina as well. "A-aaahh!! D-Dew, what'd I do?! Oh no!" I was panicking. I had just hurt Dew, something I'd never done before and had never, ever wanted to happen! How could I ever forgive myself?

"Uhnn, ow," she mumbled, clenching her teeth and hopping off of me to better assess the situation. To be honest, I was glad she did, because I was worried for her as well and felt quite uncomfortable having her lying on top of me.

I was nearly crying, truly and genuinely worried that I injured her and that I went too far by sticking my finger inside of her. "Stupid, stupid! I shouldn't have done that! I should have just stopped there! Now look what I've don-"

"Florel," she said to me, looking over at me. "It's alright, it wasn't your fault..."

I thrust my paw forward at her, showing her the blood on my finger. "But look! You're bleeding!"

She stepped closer to me and hugged me for a few seconds before pulling away again. "It doesn't feel that bad... it just stings a bit." The Mudkip then laid down on her back and looked up at me with only moderately worried eyes. She really didn't seem quite as concerned as I did. "Does it look too bad? I can't see it..."

I glanced down at her slit to see... not a lot of blood, actually. I thought there'd be blood all over the place, pouring out in a non-stop stream given by what was on my finger, but there was only a little bit at the rim of her slit. I got down on my knees to get a better look at it and ran my paw across it to see it was still fresh.

"It doesn't look so bad... I should clean it up, though..." I said to her, more than willing to help her clean off the blood that I was responsible for.

"Alright," she answered simply.

I got down on my hands as well, so I was on both my hands and knees, and then positioned my mouth over her lightly-bleeding slit. I haven't cleaned blood off too many times in the past, fortunately, but I knew that licking it off was the best way to clean it up.

Extending my tongue, I ran it across her slit, lapping up whatever of the salty blood I could. I felt her body twitch, though, as well as light giggling coming from the Mudkip.

"Hehehe, that tickles!" she exclaimed, still giggling.

I felt compelled to try and clean up the mess I caused inside of her, too, so I lowered my head even more and stuck my tongue into her slit to try and lap it up. It really felt kind of odd and seemed gross at first, but when I felt her body twitch and the entrance to her vagina squeeze my tongue, it actually felt kind of... interesting.

"Ah...!! Fl-orrrel! Mmmn, ohhh... what are- ohhh... what are you doing?" she asked through bated breath, panting mildly.

To respond, I withdrew my tongue from her and rested my chin on her belly so I could answer. "I, uh, I was just trying to clean up the blood in there..." I didn't know if I should feel guilty or innocent for what I did.

"It felt really good...! Could you... could you please...? Could you please do it again...?" asked Dew shyly, though eagerly. The look on the cute Mudkip's face was absolutely adorable. She really looked like she wanted it and enjoyed it.

The thought of sticking my tongue inside of her, well, her privates... it felt good while it was in there and didn't seem too gross, but having her ask me to stick it in there was the real selling point for me. If that was what she wanted, I'd go for it. Besides... mixed in through the blood, I tasted a slight hint of that wonderful scent in liquid form. Perhaps there would be more of the delightful fluid for me?

Without saying another word, I slid my head back down her body and inserted my tongue back into her slit, feeling around with it and dipping back into that inner hole, her vagina. I could feel her twitch as I did so, although knowing that it was because it felt good helped to reassure me that I was doing the right thing.

I slid my tongue in and out of her opening a few more times, running it against the fleshy, moist inside and relishing in its accommodating texture. The taste was something that I really couldn't describe even if I wanted to. It was surprisingly sweet yet had a tangy twinge to it. I wasn't even sure I liked it or not. Whatever it was, I couldn't get enough of it!

I reached my two free paws over to her groin and used it to spread her girlhood open even more, allowing my tongue to plunge even deeper inside of her and my face to get saturated with her dampness.

Dew was twitching and squirming around, although her movements never indicated for me to stop, but rather encouraged me to keep up the good work. She had actually begun bucking her hips against my face at times, sometimes causing me to slide my tongue in when I wasn't expecting it.

"Florel, ahh! Oh, Flo-rreel, ah! Uhnn... ah...! It's so go-ooood!" I heard her moan, sounding completely ecstatic over my treatment. I had no idea that something as weird as what I was doing could feel so good! Most importantly, I was glad that I was making Dew feel good, because she definitely deserved it.

After a few more minutes, I still couldn't find myself able to stop. The feeling and sensation of using my tongue to pleasure her was really affecting me. I was almost entranced by the addictive fluid I was so eagerly lapping up from her inner realm. She, however, was yipping and moaning even more wildly, increasing her bucking and erratic motions.

Finally, I heard her scream out and become extremely tense as I felt my tongue squeezed tightly and gripped by her pulsing depths. Before I knew it, a surge of hot liquid gushed all over my tongue, into my mouth, and all over my face. It had even more of a mesmerizing flavor than the previous juices I had been consuming and it was completely intoxicating!

She went limp and panting heavily while I continued lapping up every last bit of the fluid she just released. A few more licks and laps with my tongue and I withdrew my tongue from her, licking my chops proudly and taking a final gulp.

"Mmm, Dew, I didn't know you tasted so good," I said, giggling in a silly tone.

She panted a few times before answering. "Ha... Florel... that was great...!" she said to me, smiling and clearly very happy. "That was... it was the best feeling, ever...! I mean it!"

I smiled at her, so glad to hear that she enjoyed it so much. It made me feel a lot better after accidentally hurting her earlier. It also made me curious, though, of just how good it felt.

She was still panting and remained on her back, although closed her eyes and smiled. I decided to get up and lay down next to her nestling my head against hers and snuggling with her. It wore me out, too, so we both said nothing more and drifted off to a relaxing nap.

***

As I slept after our little experience together, I had pleasant dreams about Dew and I mating, then of chasing her around and playing hide and seek with her. The dreams were bright and vivid, never unpleasant and only reflective of my true feelings for her.

She really was the best friend that I could ever have asked for. Being raised in her family, allowing us to be such close friends, really was a blessing. I often wondered what life would have been like if my parents raised me instead. Would Dew and I even have become friends in the first place?

With Dew and I as close as we had become, I knew that my parents would be proud of me and felt that our separation really did work out for the best. Because they were caught, I had Dew as a friend and her loving parents that really did treat me just like a son.

It really made sense to me, both in our excursion together and in my dreams, that we really loved each other as more than just friends. We really were going to become mates and start a family of our own someday. I couldn't be happier about that thought...

***

After a restful nap, I regained consciousness and found something unsettling: it was dark out! I sprang up from where I was laying to confirm what my eyes first saw to be true. We were going to be in a lot of trouble. "Uh oh... now Dew's parents are really going to kill us."

I saw Dew laying down beside me, except rolled onto her side. She was still sleeping soundly, which made having to wake her up even more unnerving. "Dew... Dew..." I said to her, trying to rouse her from her slumber. "Dew!" I exclaimed, shaking her and trying even harder to awaken her.

"Mmmn... Florel..." she mumbled, still asleep.

"Oh, Dew, get up already!" I rolled her over on her back and started rubbing her belly to try and awaken her. It also felt nice rubbing her belly, but that was beside the point.

"Florel...?" asked Dew as she finally snapped out of her sleep and opened her eyes, looking right up at me. She, too, quickly sat up and looked around in disbelief. "Ah! We-we-it-...! It's night!"

"Don't worry, don't panic... I just woke up and saw it, too. We fell asleep after... hehe, after my snack earlier."

She shot up and nervously stood on all fours, looking around and wiggling that fin thing on her head undoubtedly to listen in or detect any problems.

"Hey, don't worry so much. We'll be fine." I patted her on the back and smiled, although I wasn't sure if she could see my smile or not. Mudkip don't have the eyes of a Treecko, but they are certainly more alert to danger, which would also prove helpful for us for getting back home.

"Mom and dad are going to kill us! And that's if something else doesn't first!" she exclaimed, clearly a lot more worried than I was.

"We'll explain it to them when we get there, but let's get going and get back home before that 'something else' comes and gets us." She didn't say anything in response. "Come on, you can hold onto my tail if you want."

Dew nervously nodded and lightly nipped my tail with her mouth, holding onto it and ready to follow me to get back home. I started walking with her following right behind me and we both made our way through the nightfallen flower fields, back to the foresty path we took to get there in the first place.

***

We walked through the foresty path that once seemed so bright and colorful. The dead of night had transformed it into an entirely new path, lacking all color and pleasantry that it once possessed. It was downright eerie walking through it. Caves were one thing, but being out at night as we were, Dew's parents undoubtedly worried sick about us, really had me scared.

As we cautiously walked along, both of us surveying our surroundings for signs of danger, I felt Dew stop and snag my tail, nearly causing me to trip and fall on the ground as I tried walking on without her. I regained my balance and looked back towards Dew to see her wiggling that head fin of hers, looking over to her right.

"Dew...?" I asked nervously. Why did she stop?

She didn't answer.

"Dew!" I shouted, probably raising my voice more than I should have when there could be danger lurking around.

Without any notice, Dew tackled me and knocked us both down on the ground, taking me completely by surprise. When I got up to ask her why the heck she did that, I saw something truly frightening to my left: it was a ferocious looking Mightyena!

The Mightyena seemed to be regaining its composure, which made me realize that it must have jumped or charged from where Dew was looking. She might have just saved both of our lives from a surprise attack thanks to her attentiveness.

"Graaaah! You dare to ruin my meal?!" the Mightyena scowled, turning to face us with a growl. His voice, which was clearly the voice of a male, was loud and threatening. He ran his tongue along the outside of his muzzle to verify his intentions.

I didn't know what to do. I wanted to fight and protect Dew, but I'd never fought before, not even in play-fighting with Dew. I much preferred exploration and adventures to fighting like a lot of other Pokemon practice, and Dew was certainly no fighter.

Unfortunately, the Mightyena didn't give me any more time to think. He lunged forward, giving me only half a second to respond. Dew was right behind me and would be the first target for the Mightyena, so I rolled to the side, carrying Dew with me by gripping her with my legs as I did so. We both narrowly dodged the Mightyena's attack once again.

"Listen, runts, I've got a mate to feed, so can't you just keep still already and cooperate?" he asked more casually. Wait, a mate to feed? It couldn't be, could it? Regardless of if he was the same Poochyena we saw from before, he was intent on killing us, so of course we couldn't just cooperate.

"No! I've got a mate to protect, too, and I'm not going to let you harm her!" I boldly shouted at him. Actually, I should have worded that better; I really didn't know how I was going to back up my claim. Maybe negotiating with him somehow or saying, 'Hey yeah, I saw you and your mate earlier, how's she doing?' would have been a better option. Drat.

"The Mudkip, huh?" he asked menacingly as he took a few slow steps towards us. I nodded in response, proud to call her my mate even if I wasn't quite as intimate with her as the Mightyena probably was with his mate. At least, yet. Oh no, what if I never got that chance?! "Well Mudkips are probably a lot more filling than shrimpy Treeckos. Ha, probably tastier, too. No offense, buddy, but we've gotta eat..."

"Please, don't eat us!" cried Dew, now upright as I was and hiding behind me. "You know what it's like to be in love! Please, if you have any compassion or understanding of what it's like... to be in love... just let us live!" Dew broke out in tears behind me. I couldn't even imagine how frightened the timid Mudkip must have been.

To my amazement, he halted his approach. "I do know what it's like to be in love... I'd do anything for my mate. It's not that I want to kill you, it's that I have to in order for us both to live and for her to bear a healthy child. You're in love, I know, but so am I, and I would do anything for her. Ha, sorry."

It was actually pretty interesting hearing the predatory Mightyena respond rationally and with signs of compassion to Dew's pleas. I'd be lying to myself if I didn't understand where he was coming from at least somewhat, but I couldn't just let him eat us, either.

Time was running out. If we didn't make a decision fast, he would attack and we'd be without a plan. Mightyena are pretty fast, from everything I've heard about them, so I didn't think that even I would be able to outrun the one in front of me. Dew wouldn't have a chance.

I could have suggested for Dew to run while I stayed to try and fight, but if the Mightyena chose to chase her rather than fight me, I wouldn't be able to catch up to her and save her. Realistically, my only option was to fight the Mightyena to protect Dew. If only she could climb trees...

Again, I ran out of time to act. The fearsome Mightyena sprang forward with his mouth wide-open, ready and eager to take a bite out of whatever he could sink his teeth into.

Rather than try to risk dodging again with Dew, which would be harder now since it'd be more predictable, I did the first thing I could think of to catch him off-guard: I swung my tail at him to try and hit him as hard as I could with my strong tail.

I swung it and hit his face, but it wasn't until I felt an excruciating pain that I realized where I went wrong: the Mightyena clamped his teeth down on my tail and was biting it hard! I screamed out in complete and utter pain, the most pain I'd ever felt, and tried to shake him loose. Through the ringing of my own scream, I heard Dew cry out loudly at my injury as well, filling the air with our two cries.

It was looking bad, like he'd take a chunk out of my tail for sure, but then Dew ran around me and headbutted the hungry Pokemon, freeing his grip on me and knocking him down on his side. I couldn't see it, but I could definitely feel my tail bleeding, and it still hurt like crazy even after being freed from the beast's jaws.

"Come on!" ordered Dew, signaling for me to take the opportunity to try and get away.

I got up and tried to run, but was ultimately too stricken with the pain from the bite to keep up my running and tripped onto the ground.

"Florel!!" shouted Dew. I looked up to see her run back towards me and, even more to my surprise, felt her heft me up onto her back. It was no secret that she weighed a lot more than me and could thus more easily carry me than I could her, but she'd never actually carried me on her back before.

She carried me as far as she could, running away at a fair pace from the Mightyena who was undoubtedly getting back up on his feet. There was no way she'd be able to outrun him, though, but I could tell that she was putting in an extraordinary effort in trying to save me.

The bravery she exhibited was bravery that I'd never seen in her before. Dew was always so cautious and reserved. She'd always hide behind me whenever we were doing something that she considered dangerous, like explore abandoned caves and trek through the forest to find new locations. We never ran into trouble like we were currently in, though, but definitely ran into things that got her worried.

Maybe it was being around me for so long that gave her some bravery or maybe she had some surge of heroism in an attempt to save me. Whatever it was, it was a complete reversal from the role I was used to and I really had no power to have it any other way.

I felt her stop and then looked up to see her head fin twitching again. Having a feeling of what was coming, I slid off of her and managed to stand on my two feet, trying to hold back the pain in my tail so I could stay focused. I looked behind us and saw the Mightyena charging forward, looking a lot more enraged and unreasonable than before.

"Florel, you're hurt, you can't fight..." said Dew in a worrisome tone.

"It's not like he bit off my arm or anything. Listen, we can't outrun him, so we'll have to stand up to him."

"I don't... I don't want to lose you..." the poor Mudkip said, letting her fear reemerge.

Hearing her say that reminded me of what I said to her that night we talked. It was sort of in a life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment, but I remembered myself telling her that losing her was the only thing I really feared. I guess I really did mean it after all.

"I'll do whatever it takes to protect you, Dew..."

With that, I gave her a quick kiss to the cheek, looked at her loving eyes for what might be the final time, and got into a defensive stance in preparation of striking the oncoming Mightyena. She got behind me, either because she was afraid or because she knew that was what I wanted.

Right as the Mightyena was about to strike, baring its fangs and everything, I jumped forward and tried to smash my fist against the beast's head, desperately hoping I wouldn't lose an arm in the process.

Fortunately, I timed it just right and struck the Mightyena right between the eyes before his jaw had a chance to inflict another wound, causing him to fall on the ground again and rub his forehead with his forepaws.

Dew, who was uncomfortably close to the Mightyena, jumped out of the way. I, on the other hand, jumped up on top of the Mightyena and tried jumping up and down on him, pressing my weight against him.

It wasn't proving to be too effective, though, probably due to my lack of weight, and only caused the Mightyena to swipe his paws back at me. He couldn't quite reach me, however, but he got up and made me lose my balance, causing me to fall off of him and onto the ground.

"Graaah! That hurt, you idiot!" he yelled as he prepared to slash me with his claws. I tried to roll to the side, but felt him scratch my back, although not outrageously hard. It did sting a lot, though.

"Oww!" I exclaimed, getting up and rubbing my sore back. I never knew that fighting was so painful. How Trainers could force their Pokemon to fight like this was beyond my level of comprehension and acceptance...

"Florel! Are you alright?!" asked Dew, worried that the scratch hurt. She didn't have the luxury of night-vision that I had, otherwise she would have seen it wasn't so bad.

"Yeah, I'm not dead," I said, chuckling a bit. It was probably a bit cruel to say, though, knowing how Dew worries and just how much of a pickle we were in.

"Let me fix that!" exclaimed the Mightyena as he jumped forward again, pinning me down on the ground and preventing me from getting up. Most importantly, he prevented me from dodging. Not good!

"Florel!!" screamed Dew. I looked over at her to see her do something I'd never seen her do before: fire a stream of water from her mouth at the Mightyena. Although I knew that water Pokemon could use watery attacks, I certainly didn't expect Dew to know how to use them. Did she have any practice? If so, when'd she get it?

It wasn't enough to knock the Mightyena off of me, but I did notice him turn his head and set his sights on Dew. "Hey, you can't squirt me with water, squirt! Well, Mudkips are probably tastier than Treeckos anyway," he said, tossing me to the side and taking a few steps toward her.

I struggled to get up, still a bit bruised from the Mightyena's weight crushing me. I didn't have a very good view of her, since I was right behind the Mightyena, but I did see that she was nervously backing away from him at the same slow pace he was approaching her.

I had to get up and try fight him, but how? Everything I'd done ended up in failure against him. He was just too strong. The reality was, I needed to do something, so I got up and tried to tackle his legs in an attempt to knock him down.

It worked, but he was now crushing me with his weight again, lying flat on top of me. He stood up and placed his back paw on top of me, slamming it down on me and causing me to cry out in pain again. It really hurt and there was nothing I could do to get out of it. Boy did I feel like a lousy fighter...

The pain from the Mightyena's crushing paw was really taking its toll. I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth to try and endure it, hoping that maybe, somehow, he'd lose interest or Dew would come to my rescue again.

My confidence really took a hit during the fight... protecting Dew had always been my ambition, and here it was, the one time I really and truly needed to protect her, she was doing more to protect me than I was to protect her.

Part of me wanted to give up just to end the pain, but I had to keep fighting. I had to do it for Dew's sake. Even if she proved she was better at fighting than I was, I knew that the only way we had just a slim chance of actually getting away from the Mightyena was if we were together. I had to stay strong, for Dew...

However, out the blue, I felt the Mightyena fly off of me and water spill down onto my back. "D-Dew?" I asked, struggling to open my eyes. Ahead of me, I saw Dew, but she looked equally surprised by what happened, whatever it was.

I looked to my left to see a Swampert standing there, fully ready for battle. What was going on? After looking at the Swampert for another second or two, I recognized it. It was Torent, Dew's father! Additionally, behind him I could see another Swampert, clearly Moyst, Dew's mother.

"Mom! Dad!" exclaimed Dew, who ran over to her mother.

"Dew, Florel, are you two okay?" asked Moyst.

"No! Florel's hurt!" answered Dew before I even had a chance to respond.

Torent walked over to me and lifted me up, holding me in his powerful arms. "You okay, kid?" he asked.

"More or less," I answered back, not really wanting to go into the details just then.

He walked back and handed me over to Moyst, who held me and hugged me tightly, seeming to be highly relieved that I was alright. Well, whatever you consider 'alright' to be.

"We'll talk about this later," said Torent sternly as he faced the Mightyena, who started getting up. "No one harms my children and gets away with it, mutt."

"Ch-children? I thought they were mates," muttered the Mightyena. Gah! Why did he have to say that?! I didn't want to tell Dew's parents just yet! "Listen, I'll, uh, just go find some other food..."

The angry father Swampert jumped forward and effortlessly grabbed the Mightyena in his arms, squeezing and crushing him. "I said no one gets away with it. Mutt." At least it didn't seem like he acknowledged the whole being mates thing. Maybe I'd get lucky...

"Please! Unghhh! I've got a mate of my own! She needs food for her pu-" The Mightyena's pleas were cut off by the Swampert butting its head down against the Mightyena's, causing it to yelp out in pain.

"I'll be sure to leave your remains where she can find you," he said in a pretty sadistic tone. I'd never seen Torent fight before and it really made me glad that I didn't. Boy was I glad that I didn't disobey him all that often!

I saw him squeeze the Mightyena even tighter. He was going to kill him! Part of me was glad for that to happen; he almost killed us. But then again... he was just doing what he was supposed to do. He's a meat-eater. He eats meat. He had a mate and would soon have a family.

That Mightyena, who was about to receive the ultimate form of vengeance, could very well be the Poochyena that Dew and I both saw that one fateful day. I had a strong feeling that it was. One of the reasons that Dew and I realized our feelings for each other was because of those two Poochyena.

If Torent killed the Mightyena, his mate would feel the exact same pain Dew would feel if she lost me or I would feel if I lost her. Well, maybe not the exact pain, but still a lot. Even though he had that option and ignored it, we would be making that same mistake. He was at Torent's mercy. I wanted to speak up so bad.

"Stop!" shouted Dew, causing her father to halt his squeezing. Was she really beating me to it once again? "Please... please, dad, don't kill him..." Yep, she was.

"Dewdrop, he tried to kill you! Look at what he did to Florel!"

The Mightyena looked utterly confused by what was taking place. It seemed we were actually giving him that chance that he denied us earlier. I just had to step in. "Dew's right... he has a mate. He was just trying to feed his mate and children."

"Kids, you have to understand something: he tried to kill you! He could have taken you both away from your mother and I, Dew, and what then? It doesn't justify him feeding his family if it ripped ours apart!"

"Dad, please... he won't hurt us... he's in love, too," she pleaded.

"I won't... I'm sorry, Dew and, uh... Flora, is it?" Close enough. "I just evolved... I'm going to be a father and just want to provide for my mate..."

"Please... please..." she continued to beg.

The strong Swampert loosened his grip and then set the Mightyena down. "If I ever, ever see you come close to either of these two again, I will kill you, your mate, and every pup you could ever hope to have, do you understand, mutt?"

The Mightyena nodded, both in shame and gratitude. He looked so incredibly relieved to be alive. I could relate.

"Now get out of here, you scruff-waste!" ordered Torent, to which the Mightyena immediately ran off, far, far out of our sight.

However, just as one threat ended, another threat emerged: Dew's parents. We had a lot of explaining to do...

**-~+~-

End of Chapter 2

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