Catch Me if You Can
Catch Me if You Can
by Havoc
"Never give up, never give in, and when the upperhand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss."
-Doug Williams
In the forests surrounding Sandgem Town in the Sinnoh Region, a certain Luxray lived. An uncommon enough pokémon in the wild as it was, this particular Luxray was especially notorious. She was known around the area as the Blue Mirage, although the name her mother had given her was Cheris, because no trainer had ever been able to catch her. Cheris was too fast, too strong, too smart to give a trainer more than a fleeting hope of ever capturing her. For the young trainers who grew up in Sandgem, it had become a rite of passage to have their first, and likely only, encounter with the Blue Mirage.
And there was no trainer who ever quite gave up the desire to have that Luxray as part of their team. Cheris had a beautiful, sleek blue coat of fur, marred only by a long, thin scar along her flank, which would have made her perfect for Pokémon Contests. She possessed a fighting skill that was legendary among the pokémon of her forest, and would make her a valuable addition to any trainer's team. If any of them ever caught her. And, as she so often proudly told the other wild pokémon in the forest, none ever would.
On one particularly fine day in late spring, Cheris had emerged from her den in the forest to look for food. The sun was out, and the forest floor was a riot of shadows and pockets of bright morning sunlight. She contemplated hunting for a fat Bidoof or some other small animal, but decided that her mood was more vegetarian for the day. Padding her way through the soft grass and moss, she proceeded to an area of her territory where wild berry trees grew. The early-year fruits were out in force, and she braced herself against a Cheri plant that was heavy with berries. The Luxray shook the tree hard, and hundreds of the red marble-sized berries fell to the grass. Cheris gleefully gobbled up as many of her namesake fruit as she could find, savoring the spicy flavor upon her tongue. She was hungrier than she could remember being in a long time, and she wondered what might account for that. Later, the answer would be clear, but by then it would be too late. When she'd had her fill, she began the return trip to her den, intending to spend the balance of the morning napping before it was time to go back out for lunch.
Halfway back home, a rustling in the trees caught Cheris's attention, and she paused, turning her head towards the noise. She peered closely, her sharp huntress's eyes penetrating the dense foliage. She caught a glimpse of something moving through the forest, and was surprised to find that whatever it was had apparently spotted her before she had spotted it, because the source of the disturbance was no longer where she expected it to be.
Whatever it is, I can already tell it's of a higher caliber than the run-of-the-mill trainer that usually stalks me, Cheris thought to herself. She knew that the thing out there had to be human, because she herself was the dominant predator in the area, and so only a human would be reckless enough to challenge her.
The noise had ceased, but Cheris did not drop her guard. She resumed walking, her ears alert for sounds of movement, and her tail twitching with anticipation. Despite her contempt for trainers who dared to try to remove her from her home, she found the encounters exciting, and wished that the human pursuing her would get a move on. He was taking his time, though, and she had just begun to lose interest when a human jumped into her path, utterly surprising her.
He's good, she thought. Recovering from her shock, she set her paws on the ground in an aggressive stance, baring her teeth and growling in an attempt to intimidate the human.
To her astonishment, the human showed no fear. "So, you must be the legendary Blue Mirage," he said. Cheris intensified her snarls, hoping to make him think twice about standing up to her. "I hope you've enjoyed your last free morning, because you'll soon belong to me."
Not likely, Cheris said to herself.
The trainer reached for his belt, and pulled off a poké ball. The dance was familiar to Cheris by now, and she prepared for the trainer to toss out his prized Turtwig, or Starly, or some other puny little thing that a foolhardy beginner would delude himself into thinking would stand up to her. She watched the ball sail through the air and hit the ground in front of her, releasing the pokémon that lived within. Imagine her surprise when, instead of some novice trainer's starter pokémon, a fully-grown Froslass. Cheris had only seen that kind of pokémon once before, during a particularly harsh Sinnoh winter when the ice pokémon had ventured down from the northern regions to escape cold that had been too fierce even for them. Cheris knew that this pokémon was a Ghost-type, and her usual fighting tactics of overwhelming physical force would be useless.
"Froslass, use Ominous Wind!" the trainer ordered. The demonic pokémon raised its "arms" and conjured up a swirl of purple energy. Cheris started charging the Froslass, but before she could attack, the enemy pokémon sent the energy at her. Cheris staggered slightly from the attack, but she sustained her charge and leapt at her opponent. Of course, all she managed to do was pass through the Ghost-type, but it did make the other pokémon flinch and retreat a ways.
This gave Cheris time to ready one of her non-physical attacks. Reaching within herself, she began building electrical energy. As strong as she was, it took only a few seconds before she had overloaded her own capacity. She released the electricity, discharging everything she had at the Froslass. Her attack connected, and the enemy pokémon recoiled from the punishing shock. Cheris took the opportunity to spin around and run at the trainer, hoping to frighten him enough that he would run away.
Before she could get close enough to him, however, his Froslass darted in between them. Displaying fierce loyalty, the enemy pokémon stood its ground and shot an Ice Beam directly at Cheris. Taken aback, the Luxray was hit in her right side, and the fur on her flank was instantly frozen in a huge chunk of ice that projected out from her body. Yelping in surprise, Cheris turned tail and ran, trying to put as much distance between herself and the trainer as she could.
She ran for a long ways before she decided it was a good idea to stop. Breathing hard, she hunkered down in a thicket and listened for sounds of pursuit, trying to ignore the throbbing chill of the ice still attached to her flank. When she heard nothing that indicated she was being followed, she crept out from cover. Finding a large tree, Cheris grunted and slammed her side against the trunk, crushing the ice off of herself. She sat down for a minute, licking away the ice crystals that stubbornly clung to her fur.
"Irritating thing, these trainers," she said. "Can't a girl just live in peace?" When she was ice-free, she stood up, shook herself, and resumed what she'd been trying to do before the trainer had appeared, which was to return to her den.
She managed to make it back without incident, but that was where her luck ran out. Coming upon the site of her den, she stopped short, seeing the very last thing that she had ever expected to see. Her den, a small cave in a hillside, was not as unoccupied as it ought to have been. To her anger, she saw the trainer from before had set up his camp at the mouth of her den. He had a fire going and was sitting on the ground, whistling.
He's waiting for me! she realized. How...How dare he? Furious, Cheris roared and ran at the trainer. He looked up, and Cheris saw that his face showed not the expected shock but rather a knowing expression. The trainer turned his head, and issued a command that she could not make out in the noise of her charge. From inside her den, a fearsome-looking Garchomp emerged. It was the appearance of such a pokémon that made her realize, finally, that she was facing no novice trainer, but an experienced one. Cheris had run right into a trap.
Too enraged to consider running away from the encounter, Cheris continued running towards the waiting opponents. Her mind clouded by the anger she felt at having her home invaded, the Blue Mirage unthinkingly shot a Thunderbolt at the Garchomp. The enemy unflinchingly absorbed the attack with no effect, and Cheris belatedly recalled that the shark-like dragon pokémon was half Ground-type. It was too late to turn back, though, so she ran full-tilt into the Garchomp, tangling up with it in a confusing jumble of tails, limbs, and gnashing teeth.
Cheris vaguely heard the trainer calling out orders to his pokémon, and moments later she felt intense pain as the Garchomp's fangs clamped over her shoulder. She snarled and struck at its neck with her forepaws, slashing over and over in an effort to free herself. Finally, her opponent lost its grip and she was able to get back a few paces. The Luxray panted, winded from an encounter that felt like it had lasted hours, when in reality it had taken mere seconds. Both fighters took a few minutes to collect themselves. Cheris's shoulder was throbbing, and she chanced a half of a second to glance at it. She was bleeding a bit, but the damage didn't look bad to her, just very painful.
Despite the strength of her opponent, Cheris knew she was in better shape for this battle than she had been for the first. She could hit this opponent, and her real skill was in physical fighting rather than resorting to special attacks. If it came down to it, she thought she had a real chance to take down this Garchomp.
The trainer and his pokémon were ready to give her a run for her money, though. "Garchomp, use Dragon Claw!" the trainer commanded. His Garchomp brandished its razor-sharp claws and made a move for Cheris, going faster than anything she'd fought before. She tried to dodge, but couldn't get out of the way quite in time, and felt a claw graze her side.
Pushing past the pain, Cheris struck back at her opponent, latching onto its side with her front claws. Now that she had a handhold, she opened her powerful jaws and bit the Garchomp as hard as she could. Her teeth ripped into her opponent, opening gashes in its back. Blood flowed freely, and she bit again and again, trying to cause her opponent as much agony as possible.
"Shake her off!" the trainer called. His pokémon obeyed, twisting this way and that violently. Cheris lost her hold, her claws slipping out of the Garchomp's flesh, and she was hurled off of its back. The Luxray sailed through the air, and hit a tree headfirst. She flopped to the ground, dazed, her head ringing and little pinpricks of light dancing before her eyes. She tried to get up, but her legs were slow to obey her brain. Cheris willed herself to stand up, knowing that the trainer was probably preparing something else.
She almost didn't make it. Just in time, she got out of the way of the poké ball that had been thrown at her. Wobbling on her feet, she sidestepped the ball, and it thwacked against the tree trunk where she'd been just a moment ago. Realizing that she was once again at a severe disadvantage, Cheris turned around and beat a retreat into the forest, leaving her den behind her. This time, the trainer was determined not to let her escape. She looked behind, and saw that the Garchomp was pursuing her, blood dripping from the wounds she had inflicted. Cheris pushed herself as hard as she could go, but she knew that the pokémon chasing her was much faster than she was. If she was going to get away, it would have to be through cunning, rather than speed.
Noting a break in the trees coming up on her left, Cheris made as if she was going to turn right, and then darted into the clearing. The Garchomp followed her through the turn, although it had difficulty managing the sharp maneuver at its speed. Cheris grinned to herself; she could use her opponent's pace to her own advantage. She began making random zigzags, going around trees in a manner that was beyond anticipation. The other pokémon struggled to keep up with the sudden twists and turns, and began to fall behind despite the fact that Cheris would have been a far slower runner on even terrain. The Luxray was just more nimble than the Garchomp ever had any hope of being.
After a few minutes of concentrated maneuvering, Cheris had enough of a lead that she was out of sight of her pursuer for several seconds after each turn. She watched what was ahead of her carefully, looking for an opening. Finally, she saw a dense clump of bushes. She approached the bushes as she had been running, making twist and turns that she knew would confuse the less than maneuverable Garchomp. After a particularly sharp turn, she made one final dash and leapt into the bushes.
Just as planned, the Garchomp sailed past her, having lost sight of her after the series of deft maneuvers. It flew off into the forest, trying to catch up with a quarry that was no longer actively involved in the chase. Cheris smiled, but her smile turned to a grimace as the pain from her battles finally caught up with her. She took the opportunity to survey her wounds. The Luxray was sore all over, and her shoulder was bleeding where she had been bitten. She cleaned her wounds, lapping away the excess blood with her tongue. When she was finished with that, she took a few minutes to rest. Normally, she could go for hours without feeling fatigue, and battles like what she had faced today would not have exhausted her, but she felt abnormally tired today. Cheris lied down and rested her head on her front paws, listening to the faint sounds of the Garchomp tearing the forest up in an effort to find her, trying to figure out why a battle that wouldn't typically have fazed her had completely wiped her out. Her whole body was aching, especially...
She jerked her head up as she finally recognized the achy, tingling sensation that was concentrated around her tail area. Oh no, is it that time of the season already? Cheris looked around at the plants around her. Flowers in full bloom...pollen dusting the leaves... "Oh, not now...Please, not now. I can't go into heat now..." This was not the time for it, not while she was being hunted by a trainer who seemed hell-bent on catching, and wouldn't give up nearly as easily as most. "No, no, no..."
Things were starting to fall into place in her head now. Her craving for berries earlier in the day, the instinctual desire to pack sugar into her body in preparation for a possible mating, her ravenous appetite, and her wish to spend the day relaxed instead of hunting finally made sense, as well as the speed with which she had grown weary during battle. There was nothing Cheris could do about it now, and she resigned herself to the torture she would be facing for the next several days. As long as she could bear it long enough to stay hidden from the relentless trainer, she would be alright.
For the better part of the day, she stayed in one place, keeping under cover and doing her best to ignore the ache of her heat, which started to intensify as the hours dragged on. The Luxray fell asleep a few times, but never for more than half and hour before she was woken up by her own frustration.
Once the sun began to set, and the sky started growing orange, Cheris couldn't stay hidden any longer. She was tired, she was in pain, and above all she was extremely hungry. It had been a while since she'd heard anything that sounded a trainer and his pokémon searching the forest, so she decided that it would be safe to leave her hiding spot to get something to eat. Making sure to move quietly, she walked through the trees to her berry grove. When she got there, she realized that she was much too sore and tired to be able to shake any berries down. Dejectedly, she resigned herself to picking up the mushy berries that had fallen to the ground during the day. Many of them were sour, but they were better than nothing. Unfortunately, better than nothing was still worse than what she wanted, and even when she had eaten all of the berries she could find she was still very hungry.
Just when she was trying to decide what she should do next, Cheris heard the thing she had been dreading. Turning around, she saw the trainer who had been after her all day emerging from the trees, his Garchomp by his side. The Luxray felt as though she was going to cry. After everything that had happened, this was just too much. Injured, starving, and in heat, she was overwhelmed.
I just want this to end. With that thought, Cheris collapsed on the ground, thoroughly worn out. The thud of the poké ball on her side came as a surprisingly welcome relief, and she knew no more as the device captured the Blue Mirage.
Her senses came flooding back to her in a rush of light, and Cheris perceived that she had been set free from the poké ball. A little confused, she looked around and saw that she was still in the forest, just outside of her den. A tent was set up nearby, and she realized that the trainer who had captured her must have taken her back to his camp. It was dark outside, and there was a small campfire burning nearby.
"Hello, there."
Cheris turned her head and saw the trainer staring at her from the other side of the campfire. He was just looking, surveying his new catch, looking quite proud of himself and a little tired. Cheris gazed back at him, wondering what she should do. He had caught her fairly, and it seemed unsporting to try to escape, but then again she was physically able to escape. Her wounds began to ache, and she lay down on the ground, wincing.
"You look a little beat up," the trainer said. "Sorry about that. Hold on a minute." He walked towards her, and Cheris shied away a bit. But he went past her and kneeled down on the ground, where he began to rummage around in a bag of some sort. The Luxray watched him, getting her first really good look at him. He looked about a foot or so taller than her when she was standing up, and he had fair skin with dark brown hair. His eyes were a deep brown color as well, and he wore clothes that were a mottled assortment of green, brown, and black, which was probably part of how he had been able to sneak up on her. The human didn't look very old, although he was a bit older than the beginning trainers that Cheris had usually faced in the wild. She guessed that he was about twenty years old, from what she knew about humans, which wasn't all that much.
The human came up with a small white box, and began to move towards Cheris. She edged away from him, unsure of his intentions, and afraid because of the vulnerable state she was in. She was a little leery of letting him near her, but he gave her a friendly smile and spoke in a gentle voice upon seeing her fear.
"It's okay," he said. "I just want to take care of those cuts you've got." He crouched next to her and placed the white box on the ground. Upon opening the box, he withdrew a clean, white cloth and a bottle of some clear liquid. He poured a little of the liquid on the cloth and started to rub Cheris's shoulder where his Garchomp had bitten her. She hissed a little as she felt the liquid come into contact with the bite marks, giving her a sharp, stinging sensation. A moment later, though, the pain from the wound went away almost completely. The trainer took the cloth away, and Cheris saw that it was covered with dried flecks of blood. He rinsed it off with water from a canteen, and went over the wound again, and the cloth came away nearly clean this time.
Next, the human took a purple and pink spray bottle from the box, and began to spray the contents over her shoulder. Cheris felt an unexpectedly pleasant sensation as the medicine went to work, helping her body to begin to heal the cuts. A few minutes later, and she wouldn't have been able to tell that her shoulder was hurt at all, unless she looked at it.
Cheris tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn't support her, and throbbed with an aching pain, so she lay back down again. Seeing this, the trainer took a plastic container from within the box, and from it he extracted a little pink object that looked sort of like a berry.
"Eat this," the trainer said, holding it out in front of the Luxray's face. Cheris looked at him, her expression suggesting wariness. "It's not going to hurt you. It'll help with the pain."
Cheris was suspicious. I'm still not sure if I can trust this guy, she thought. She looked at the small pink object, and then back up at the human. Then again...he did just tend to my injuries...if he wanted to hurt me any more he would have done it already... She bent her head down and lapped up the small tidbit from his palm, and chewed it slowly. The thing definitely was not a berry, but it tasted sweet, and not at all disagreeable. Cheris swallowed, and in a few seconds the ache in her muscles began to ebb away. Whatever the trainer had given her, it had definitely done what he had promised it would do. She murmured a small sigh of relief.
The trainer smiled. "There you go, that feels much better, doesn't it?" He petted her head. "Good girl."
He scratched behind her ears, and Cheris unconsciously tilted her head into his touch. The light scratching felt pretty nice, especially after the long day she'd had. She caught herself, though, and pulled her head away from his hand, stubbornly refusing to enjoy it.
"Heh, okay, okay," the trainer said. He stood up and went behind his tent. "You're probably not feeling too friendly towards me right now, but that's okay. I bet you're just hungry at this point. I thought that might be the case, so I went and got something for you after I caught you." He came back around, and Cheris saw that he was carrying a collapsible basket full of ripe berries. The trainer spread out a small blanket on the ground in front of her, and dumped the contents of the basket onto it. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got a little of everything."
Delighted, Cheris began to tear into the berries, ravenous from all of the fighting she'd had to do. While she was eating, the trainer sat down and watched her. She paid him no attention, concentrating on the food that was in front of her.
"Wow, you sure can eat," the human remarked. He was quiet for a few minutes. "I wonder if you have a name," he mused after a bit. "I'm sure you don't call yourself Blue Mirage..."
Pausing for a minute, Cheris looked at the trainer, and then she searched through the berries and found a small clump of Cheri berries. She separated them out from the pile, and indicated them with her paw.
"Huh? What are you trying to tell me?" The trainer looked at her paw, confused for a few seconds. "Those are Cheris ...Cheris...Cheris? Are you trying to say that your name is Cheris?" Amazed that he'd managed to understand her, Cheris nodded. The trainer smiled. "Okay, so you're Cheris. That's a pretty name. My name is Daniel, and it's nice to meet you, Cheris."
Not knowing what else to do, Cheris just nodded again, and went back to eating. When all of the berries were gone, she licked the flecks of juice off of her lips and gave a gentle purr of satisfaction. She put her head down between her paws, starting to feel a bit sleepy, and beginning to feel at ease around her new trainer, if only a little.
Daniel saw that she was growing tired, so he pulled her ball from his belt, preparing to return her to it for the night. Seeing this, Cheris's eyes shot wide open, and she began shaking her head furiously. In a ball was not how she was planning to spend the night.
"What, you don't wanna be in here?" Daniel asked. Cheris nodded fervently. "But you're my pokémon now. Trained pokémon stay in their poké balls."
Cheris didn't care what trained pokémon did. She wasn't going in that ball, and she wanted to make sure he knew that. She bared her teeth, growling dangerously, clearly displaying her opposition to the idea.
Her trainer seemed not to be intimidated, but he clipped her ball back to her belt anyway. "Alright, that's okay. You can stay out for tonight, I guess. But you're going to have to learn to stay in a ball eventually, okay?"
Sensing that was the best offer she was going to get for now, Cheris reluctantly nodded. Her trainer chuckled a little, and headed into his tent, pausing before he did to rub a hand down her back. The Luxray couldn't help arching her spine against his touch, and she cursed herself for the inexplicable comfort that the feeling gave her. Somehow it reminded her of her mother's touch.
Daniel zipped up the flap of his tent, and Cheris could hear him undressing and settling in to sleep. She curled up on a soft grassy patch of ground, and tried to relax, but found it difficult. With her wounds cared for, her belly full, and her new trainer out of sight and in bed, her mind now had nowhere to focus except for on her heat, which was beginning to make quite a nuisance of itself. She could feel her loins throbbing, begging to be mated no matter what she tried to do to tell herself that she couldn't right now. Cheris shifted around, trying to find a position that would not put pressure on her tail area. Whenever anything even slightly brushed against the region, she would get an uncomfortable tingling flash. It was like scratching a bug bite only once, and trying to stop at that, knowing that scratching it over and over again would feel a whole lot better. But if she tried to do that, it would only prolong the torture.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the Luxray found a position in which she could lie reasonable comfortably, and she tried to sleep. No matter how exhausted she was, though, sleep would not come. She was becoming increasingly frustrated, until the only thing that occupied her head was the overwhelming desire to mate. Even though she'd only just found a comfortable sleeping position, Cheris began tossing and turning again, her body refusing to remain still.
Her trainer must have heard her, because the flap of the tent unzipped, and he poked his head out, his body clad in a white T-shirt and boxer shorts. "Everything okay out here?" he asked.
Cheris turned her head his way, her face clearly showing distress. She didn't want anybody to see her like this, but she couldn't have done anything to prevent it at this point. Daniel came over to her, and kneeled beside her.
"What's wrong, can't sleep?" he asked in a soothing voice. He put his hands on her, rubbing her back and scratching behind her ears. "Is it lonely out here?"
The human stroked her deep blue fur, and Cheris felt herself begin to calm down. His touch was comforting, and somehow she could sense that he really cared about how she was doing. Her movements ceased, and she settled down, a slow, low purr rumbling through her body.
"There, there," Daniel whispered. "Good girl." Cheris rubbed her face against his knee, grateful for the attention. He chuckled and continued to pet her, and Cheris eventually rolled onto her side, presenting her belly to him. Daniel looked a little unsure of whether it was wise to pet her there, but he reached a hand out and began rubbing her stomach. Cheris gave a thunderous purr and stretched her front paws out, not caring how undignified she looked at the moment. Daniel laughed at the sight. "You're just like a big cat, aren't you?"
I don't know what a ‘cat' is, Cheris thought. But if he keeps doing this, he can call me whatever he wants. She curled her toes as he stroked her belly, and her head twisted around, her eyes closed and her tail limp. The Luxray was extremely disappointed when he stopped petting her a few minutes later, and leaned back from her.
"Alright, I think we both need to get some sleep now," he said. He hugged her around the neck. "I'm in the tent if you need anything, okay?" Daniel got to his feet and started walking back to his tent, but stopped when Cheris made a small whining noise. He turned back around. "What's the matter now?"
Cheris looked at him with a doleful expression on her face. All of a sudden, she didn't want to spend the night alone anymore. She wanted to be with someone while she slept, and she was quickly growing fond of this human. Cheris got up from the ground and padded over to him, butting her head against his side gently. She pawed at the flap of his tent, and looked up at him.
"What...you wanna sleep in here?" Daniel asked. Cheris nodded. He thought for a moment. "Well...if there's enough room, I guess that would be okay. But just for tonight." He pulled open the tent flap, allowing Cheris to crawl inside. He followed her in, and they set about arranging themselves so they would both fit. Space was a bit limited, so they wound up with Daniel more or less in the middle of the tent, with Cheris curled up around him. He ended up using her side like a pillow, and Cheris rested her head on his legs.
Cheris found herself once again surprised by how close she was allowing herself to be with the human, someone she had been violently trying to scare away and escape from not even a day ago. With this sleeping arrangement they had worked out, she felt almost totally relaxed. Daniel brushed his hand across her side, and she growled tiredly.
For an hour or so, the pair lay in comfort, warmed by each other's bodies. Cheris couldn't stop thinking about her heat, though, no matter how relaxed she was like this. The notion began to creep into her head that she had a male right here, and unless she was gravely misinformed about humans he was equipped to assist her with her little "problem". But she reasoned that even if she was to make him understand that she was in need, he wouldn't be willing to satisfy it. Once the thought was in her mind, however, it was impossible for her to banish it away.
Maybe Daniel sensed that she was thinking about something, because he brushed a hand over her face. "What's the matter, Cheris?" he asked. "Still can't sleep?"
Cheris mewled, a noise she hadn't made since she was a kitten, and began licking his legs with her rough tongue. He jumped a little, surprised, but didn't do anything to stop her. She purred and playfully nipped at the hem of his boxers, her actions at this point out of the realm of rational thought and in the domain of the instinctual lust that was taking over her brain.
Daniel was watching her with detached interest, his mind not yet putting it together. "What are you up to?"
By way of an answer, Cheris rolled onto her back, her legs splayed, displaying the source of her wild behavior for him to see. His eyes widened as he saw he saw her sex, the area swollen with heat, a sight that would have had males of Cheris's species fighting each other for the chance of mating her. She lightly swatted him with her tail, trying to make him understand what she wanted. He brushed her belly absently with one hand for a minute, his eyes never leaving the space between her legs. Finally, he looked up at her face.
"I...I didn't realize you were...like this right now," he managed. He looked back down. "I guess I know why you can't sleep..." The trainer's eyes flicked up again. "And you're showing me this...why?"
Stupid man..., Cheris thought. She twisted her back, her front paws up in the air, staring at him unflinchingly.
"You...you want me t-to...?" he stammered, showing the first signs of uncertainty that Cheris had seen from him since first encountering him that morning. She gave him no response other than to blink her eyes once, slowly. Daniel's throat bobbed slightly as he swallowed, and Cheris watched as he inched a hand slowly to her sex. He paused, drawing back slightly as a moment of indecision made him hesitate. She growled softly, and his hand completed its journey, finally touching her where she needed to be touched.
Cheris sighed with relief as Daniel's finger traced around her swollen flesh, making a tremor of pleasure pass up her spine. She let her legs fall open even wider, giving him better access to her tail area. His fingers trembled with nerves; he'd likely never even thought of doing something like this before. His legs still lay beside her head, and she rubbed her cheek over them, trying to calm him down as he had calmed her earlier in the evening. It seemed to have an effect, and his hand grew steady, his exploratory touches growing bolder.
Daniel took his hand away from her belly, bringing it to where his other hand was occupied with the center of Cheris's heat. He parted her nether lips with two fingers, and gazed in awe as her inner secrets were exposed to his increasingly eager eyes. He placed a finger near her entrance, swirling the tip in the moisture that was beginning to collect there. Curious, he brought the finger to his nose, smelling the fluid that clung to his skin. Her essence was faint, oddly enticing, and hinted slightly at the berries that had composed her diet for the past day. He touched his tongue to his fingertip, and found that she tasted just as enticing as she smelled.
A daring thought coming into his mind, Daniel bent his head down and pressed his lips to her swollen genitals. He put his tongue out, dipping it into Cheris's needy sex. Cheris's eyes shot open, and her lips parted, her breath coming fast as she felt something that she'd never felt before. Daniel lapped at her moist folds, giving her a pleasure that was wholly unknown to her. She tossed her head, growling and purring. Although it would definitely not be enough to douse her burning heat, it felt very, very good.
While the human was occupied with her lower area, Cheris began wanting to see what he had to offer her. A thin cotton garment was all that was preventing her from having access to him, and she set about removing that barrier. Cheris hooked her claws into the material and started pulling. The boxers slid down a little ways before they stopped moving, and she tugged, trying to free them. After a second, she saw that they were pinned to the ground by his hips. She considered ripping them off with her teeth before Daniel lifted his hips up slightly, and she was able to remove them. His erection sprang to life before her eyes.
Cheris sniffed at Daniel's penis, taking in his scent. He smelled like the forest, and the faint aroma of perspiration clung to his skin. Eagerly, she extended her tongue, taking an experimental lick at him. He jumped again, and uttered a small moan. Cheris curled her tongue around the sensitive organ, bathing him in the warmth of her mouth. She could feel him twitching in her mouth, and closed her lips around him, sucking softly, coaxing him along.
After a few minutes, Daniel stopped licking at Cheris, and pulled away from her, rising to his knees. His head brushed against the top of the tent, and Cheris looked up at him, wondering why he had stopped. Her question was answered a moment later when he pulled off his shirt. He looked down into her eyes, and she could see her own lust reflected in his expression.
"That's my good girl," he whispered, leaning down to stroke the fur on her stomach. Cheris closed her eyes, purring, knowing what was going to happen next. Daniel kneeled at her tail, so that his body was positioned between her legs, and pulled her closer so that she was pressed up against him. Being on her back was not the position Cheris would have preferred, but it was the best they could manage in such close quarters.
Daniel gripped himself with one hand, and pressed the head of his penis against Cheris's entrance. Using a finger as a guide, he slid into her vagina, pressing in to the hilt. Both of them moaned, and Daniel sank forward onto Cheris's body. She licked at his face, feeling the satisfaction that her body had been craving all day.
When they were both ready, Daniel eased himself out of her and began thrusting, pressing into her body again and again. His vigor increased with each passing second, and Cheris began to pant as the sensation of being mated began to spread throughout her body. She could see the feelings inside of her mirrored in Daniel's face, as he was surely experiencing the same pleasure that she was. He pressed deeper into her body with each thrust, reaching her innermost depths and caressing her most sensitive spots with his rigid cock.
If there was one drawback to mating during the period of heat, Cheris knew that it was the brevity of such an encounter. Her body, held for so long by a fragile thread, would not allow her to remain suspended for much longer. Already, she could feel the waves of cascading bliss that signaled the approach of her release. She gritted her teeth, trying to make it last as long as she could. She at least wanted to feel Daniel cum before she lost control of herself. The Luxray brought her tail up between his legs, curled it around his back, pulling him into her and encouraging his movements, begging him to join her.
Daniel needed no encouragement. His lips drew back into a passionate grimace, and he slammed into her one, two, three times. On the fourth stroke, he wrapped his arms around Cheris's body and held himself inside of her. She could feel the warm rush of his seed spilling into her depths. The feeling pushed her over the edge, and she cocked her head back, a feral roar escaping her lips as she hit her peak.
Cheris awoke to see light filtering through the thin material of the tent. She stretched her forepaws, flexing her toes, and yawned. The pain from the previous day's injuries was a faint memory, as was the discomfort from her heat. She felt sated.
A light sigh made her turn her head. Daniel lay beside her, his eyes still closed and his expression suggesting that he was in a deep, peaceful sleep. Easing away from him, she poked her head out of the tent flap, which Daniel had neglected to zip up the night before. She crept out of the tent, and stood outside, looking at the forest. Now was her chance. While the human was still sleeping, she could make a run for the forest. The Blue Mirage could make a run for it, and find a new den a hundred miles away in the much denser forests of the northern temperate regions. He could search for years and never come close to finding her.
The Luxray looked around the small campsite, her fur bathed and warmed by sunlight shining through the trees. The campfire was all but out now, merely a slightly smoking pile of ashes and charcoal. Nearby sat the pack from which Daniel had taken the supplies with which her wounds had been treated. The blanket from which she had eaten was bunched up next to it, spots of berry juice staining the cloth.
Cheris looked back at the tent. In the quiet of the early morning, she could hear Daniel snoring softly. She turned back around, and nosed her way back into the tent. Cheris curled her body around Daniel's sleeping form, nudging him gently with a paw. Barely waking up, Daniel shifted, putting an arm over her and resting his head on her furred shoulder. Cheris yawned again and put her head down, drifting back to sleep.
Perhaps being a trained pokémon won't be so bad, after all...
"Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future."
-Denis Waitley