A Different Kind of Trainer - Chapter 4
#4 of A Different Kind of Trainer
"Come on, Shrewie! It's just through here!"
Trey heard something heavy moving through the underbrush. Thud, thud, heavy footfalls loud enough to wake the growlithe from his nap. Interspersed between the footfalls he heard the "slsh-slsh"ing sound of a knife, probably carving a way through the bushes. As it moved closer, he finally caught a scent. Sweat and polyester. Human. He struggled his way to full consciousness as the human bumbled near.
Quick as a thought, Trey scrambled away from the apparent path of the human. His canine body wasn't well suited to climbing, but he'd found that the low boughs of pines worked remarkably well at letting him scale far enough to see over the undergrowth. He bounced from springy branch to branch, and after just a few moments, he spied his first pokémon trainer.
The boy was clearly pre-pubescent. He was struggling with every step through the waist-high bushes, a long machete held clumsily in front of him as he attempted to clear a way forward. While Trey's orange fur wasn't ideal camouflage for the flaky bark of the forest, the human child's eyes slipped over him heedlessly. Perched on the human's head was the characteristic red and white cap, bisected circle sitting prominently on its brim. Trey kept himself from sighing. He didn't see many trainers this far out in the woods. In fact, he reminisced, it's probably why he stayed here. The pompous idiots could barely tell a bitch from a dog, let alone "train" the pokémon that followed them around like puppies. As far as Trey was concerned, they could stay to their concrete forests, as long as they left peaceful pokémon like him to their wooden ones.
Ready to dismiss the trainer as an uninvited (and thus ignored) guest, Trey stepped back to the ground. Before he could lope back to his den, though, the timbre of the slashing changed.
"Look, Shrewie! Just where grampa said it would be!" With that enigmatic statement, the human's path changed, turning perpendicular to their previous path and striking off to the right.
That action immediately garnered Trey's attention again. They weren't going to just pass through. They were headed straight to a bad place. Not, in the small growlithe's opinion, a good place for a young pup of a human.
Trey scampered silently through the bushes, careful to stay out of the thin patches of direct sunlight that might illuminate his rather garish fur. True to his fears, the human altered course again, angling himself directly for the old camp site. It'd been growing lichen and creepers for longer than Trey had lived in the forest. He knew, along with every other smart forest dweller, that the abandoned camp site was some place one simply did not go. It had been abandoned for a reason. Grumbling himself, Trey cut in front of the human's path. Annoying human it might be, but it still shouldn't be allowed to wake the monsters in the camp site.
He'd been to the camp site once or twice, just long enough to see it for himself. It hadn't changed since he'd last been here, except that the Carnivine feelers were perhaps just a few feet longer. They just looked like old creepers unless you knew where to look, but to someone who was aware of their peril, the camp site was a veritable minefield.
Arranging himself comfortably on a stump at the edge of the camp site, Trey settled in to wait. Soon, the human would arrive, and if he was wise, he'd see the camp site's makeshift guardian and leave the way he camp. If he wasn't wise, then Trey was prepared to make sure he left the way he came, if a little scorched for his lack of wisdom.
True to his predictions, ten minutes later, the "slsh-slsh" sounds approached quickly, and just as Trey was starting to become bored, the bushes parted, and the human boy stepped into the side of the clearing.
"Grrrr!" Roughly translated, that would mean "Go away." Trey would be patient. He'd had kits of his own, and he knew they took a little bit of teaching.
Instead of acting intimidated of turning around at the sight of him, the diminutive human reached into his khakis, pulling an ingenious little device from a deep pocket. The trainer pointed the device at Trey, and a human voice chimed in from hidden speakers. "Growlithe, male. Growlithes are the unevolved state of Arcanines, fiercely protective and territorial. Fire-type, commonly physical."
Confused, Trey stood on his tree trunk. "Grrr?"
"Neat! Didn't think I'd find a growlithe all the way out here. Ready, Shrewie?" Further adding to the confusion, the human's proclivity to talk to apparent thin air was the last piece of the puzzle. This human cub wasn't just young and inexperienced. It was crazy!
At least, that was Trey's expert opinion before the ground beneath his stump let out an ominous rumble. "Grro?" The growlithe let out half a cry, before the stump dropped half a foot into the ground. Earth sprayed up around Trey's body, mussing his tail and landing in the long fur of his orange pelt. Momentarily blinded by the assault of dirt particles, he missed the signs that he should move, and quickly. Long claws reached in through the cascade of gravel, swiping cruelly at Trey before disappearing. Stunned and disoriented, the growlithe stepped backwards off of the stump, collapsing on his rear as he stumbled. Through the tumbling fall of earth, a tan-pelted creature with sloth-like claws as long as its hands span, catching Trey a vicious blow to the head. Trey's senses spun. The little human had a sandslash following him around.
"Go Shrewie! Okay, come back. Leave it. I don't want to waste a good pokéball on it if it's not evolved." The human child passed by blithely, stomping heavily on those over-large feet, straight into the camp site From the spinning haze of concussion, Trey heard the whining snap of vines, and the surprised grunt of the sandslash. Then, over the creaking growl of thicker and meatier vines lifting from their earthen home and winding, the human child's voice cried out. "Shrewie! No!" Then, the child shrieked. Then there was silence. And then, much later, there was darkness.
And now it was happening all over again. Trey had just managed to keep up with the trio after they'd left the river. His hindleg was giving him more trouble than he wanted to admit, and it wasn't until just after dusk that he found their path heading straight past the safe wayhouse. Concern broke into worry, and worry broke into fear as the path wended deeper and deeper into the forest, straight towards the carnivine's den. The closer he got, the more clearly he could smell the vine's sickly-sweet aroma, alluring unless you knew what it hid.
So now he found himself sprinting through the bushes, in too much of a rush to sneak silently. Sharp, jagged branches which would normally bounce off of his lush fur were digging into his exposed thigh. It'd probably need another of those magical potions the humans always seemed to carry around. If, he thought to himself, he could save the human in the first place.
Embarrassment clouded his mind for a moment, and he almost stumbled. How stupid had he been to cornered by a beedrill? To be found like he'd been, injured and mewling like a pup in the bushes, had hurt almost as much as the sting itself. But the human hadn't been like the other trainers he'd seen passing through the wood. They'd been so confident and aloof that they'd never have even noticed him there, even if their pokémon had. Even if they had noticed him, who would waste time with an unevolved growlithe? It'd seemed such a brilliant decision before; unevolved, he'd draw less attention from the idiot trainers, and even better, he knew there was still more to learn. His brothers and sisters had all evolved early, hunting down and consuming wild firestones before their third winter. As large as they grew, and as brilliant a coat as they wore, they always seemed to become dense, stale. It's as if their brain crystallized with their new bodies, and the curiosity of youth had fled.
No, so he hadn't evolved. Here in the forest he was many days away from the closest firestone (and temptation.) And every day, he learned something new, even if it was just little tidbits of technique. It was hard, but the rewarding feeling was well worth the effort.
But earlier today, this human had set all that on its edge. Instead of airy and aloof, the human had seemed down to earth and practical. He'd listened to that floatzel of his, and surprise of surprises, he'd actually understood her, as if she'd had a human voice! That alone would have been enough to gain Trey's respect. But then, the human had taken the wounded growlithe and shown it care as if it was his own pokémon. After his leg had been cleaned and healed, Trey had lay in the human's arms for significant moments, expecting at any point for that red and white spherical omen of doom to emerge, and the human to claim him. But just as Trey had decided that he wasn't going to go without a fight, even with the respect and surprise treatment, the human had just let him go.
And so surprised was Trey that he'd dashed back into the forest, feet carrying him as quickly as his legs could pump. But as much as he yearned for the safety of anonymity, he simply couldn't leave completely. Somewhere in the jumble of confusion of emotions that'd grown around this enigmatic human, Trey felt a debt. A debt that, if his stubby legs couldn't carry him faster to the camp ground, he'd never be able to repay.
Swallowing his pride, Trey blinked, and following an instinctive tug on a muscle that didn't actually exist, he dug into the incorporeal flame that was his element. From the span of one frenzied step to the next, a liquid sheen of heat flowed down the growlithe's form, and the faux-flames in orange and yellow in his fur were replaced with a smoking wreath of incandescence that poured light and choking fumes into the underbrush. It was lucky it'd rained today, Trey reminisced, because there just wasn't any subtler way to do this.
With his body encased in flames, Trey stopped hopping from clear patch to patch. Instead, he lowered his head and charged. In front of him, the thin branches of the bushes dried and incinerated in mere milliseconds, leaving just the wet, waxy leaves to slap against the growlithe's head as he dashed past. Finally making headway, he sprinted at his fastest, ground-devouring pace, fully aware that every minuscule sliver of time could mean the difference. The forest blurred to either side around him, and with a last, growling bit of effort, he burst into the camp site clearing...
"Razz, careful, hit the tips, but not the one with Lusu."
Another spark arced through the space in front of the luxray, so sharply bright that my night vision, already poor, was shot. Except for quick flashes, then horrifying images in negative, I was completely blind.
'That's got to get sorted if I'm going to be of any use.' That thought sparked quick action. I shuffled around in my backpack for a moment, then pulled out a long cylindricle bottle. My fingers could feel the raised and embossed label across the bottle's front: "Repel". Fat lot of good that did me now. I popped the plastic stopper off of the top, then with a sharp tug, pulled the spray nozzle from its tip. A sharp odor filled the air, vaguely offensive even to human senses, and most definitely poisonously alcoholic. I held the spraying cannister in front of where I knew Razz was standing, and urged, "Again!"
The space between the luxray and the invisible Carnivine twitched again with the aftershock of electricity, a bang as loud as an explosion echoing strangely off of dilapidated buildings and distant trees. In front of Razz, the repel ignited, chasing the fumes down to the broken nozzle. The clearing, now lit by the bluish flame, was in chaos. At each edge of the makeshift camp, feelers and tendrils had risen, flicking about like living bars of a cage. One of them had hoisted the unconscious Lusu aloft, and was dangling her precariously by the foot.
To the center of the camp site, in between the desolate buildings, the creature's "head" lay gloating. It had no eyes, no ears, only a single mocking mouth, opened like two grotesque halves of a hamburger bun, with tough, frond-like teeth serrating each side. Surrounding it, a ring of primary tentacles waved like the flailing arms of a puppet. Each time one approached Lusu to drag her towards the Carnivine's hungry maw, a sharp jolt from Razz scorched its tip.
I gulped in fear. This wasn't good. I'd read about Carnivine's, but thankfully, they were rare around Twinleaf. Whenever one got large enough to pose a threat to people, they were eradicated At this size, though, those feelers would be as strong as a sapling, and a lot more difficult to avoid. Further, the thing only "felt" by vibrations. If Razz or I took a step, it'd be able to find us instantly, and our temporary safety would cease.
To further complicate matters, the zots of electricity from Razz weren't doing much. Oh, it'd singe one of those vine-tentacles, but it was just recoiling in pain, not because it was doing any real damage. Even with as dim as Carnivine's were known to be, it'd eventually figure it out, and Lusu would be a goner.
"Razz, I could do with one of your grand ideas right now."
While talking, I'd pulled one of my modified pokéballs from my backpack. Some trainers were vain enough to inscribe custom messages and images into their pokéballs, so each time they activated, the audience would be treated to a neat little light show. It didn't take much of a leap of logic to realize that there might be other uses for something like that. I triggered an empty pokéball, one marked as a signal ball, and threw it high, above the leaf cover. High in the sky, at the apex of the ball's arc, bright neon green and phosphor glows lit the air. I couldn't read it from down below, but I knew that anyone looking in our direction from the east or the west would clearly see "S O S". They wouldn't arrive in time to save us, really, but if Razz was out of ideas...
And he was. He glanced up at me, the spiky fur crown atop his head sagging a bit in effort as he kept discharging into the uncaring carnivine.
"Nothing?"
He shook his head sadly, jumping a little as he arced another fifty-thousand volt shot through the humid air towards the Carnivine.
"Then I'm sorry." I reached to my belt, and picked up another pokéball. Razz looked up at me quizzically, then leapt in panic. Halfway through his leap, his form faded and shrank, absorbed into the ball's innards. "I'm so sorry Razz." I pulled a second ball from the other side of my belt and aimed it at Lusu. With another press of a button, she disappeared as well, sucked into the pokéball by some weird contrivance of modern science.
Holding the pokéballs of my two most loved companions, I felt a strange, almost distant sense of disappointment. Somehow, I thought our travels would last longer than this. But if this needed to be the end, at least they'd escape. I only hoped that whoever found them was as kind and loving to them as I had been.
I turned, and with careful aim, I threw Razz's ball over the feelers waving that the edge of the camp grounds. I heard the ball thump against the ground beneath the bushes, and once I was sure that it was out of the Carnivine's grasp, I quickly tossed Lusu's ball along with it. Now alone, I stood and waited for the Carnivine to notice me.
Time passed strangely as I stood. The pokédex that Uncle Cedar had given me had a clock built in. I counted the seconds as they passed, while the Carnivine's tentacles waved about in search of its meal. They passed blindly by me, but for some reason, it wasn't giving up. Maybe it could feel me out there, somehow. Maybe it was my heartbeat. Whatever it was, I wasn't getting out of this quickly. It had taken me hours to get here from the closest wayhouse, and these woods were at the least a day out from Eterna City. Even if someone had seen my signal, it'd be too late.
Twice over the next half an hour, I felt myself falling asleep. Like an idiot, the first time, I lifted a foot, and just before I put it back down, alarm bells rang in my conscious mind. Vibrations, can't make a sound! So after that, I perched on one leg as the tentacles grasped around, the malicious head clacking up and down as the creature sought me.
The second time, I put the foot down.
All it took was a moment of inattention. My footstep jarred me awake, and I only had a second to realize my mistake before one of the mammoth tentacles slapped me to the side. Another caught me before I tumbled to the ground, lifting me stories into the air. Blood ran to my head as I felt the world invert, and I hung by my legs, upside-down in its grasp. 'So much for waiting for help.' I thought sardonically. It's not that I wanted to die, but Lusu and Razz were safe. At least I had no regrets. Well, except for not becoming a grand-master. Or for starting my own gym. Or seeing Lusu's eggs hatch and helping her raise little buisel pups. Fuck, okay, I had a bunch of regrets, but they weren't going to help me now.
But as I descended towards that monstrous jaw, a bright shape flashed through the undergrowth. In the giddy haze of mortality, I waved at the glowing figure, wishing it goodbye as I expected the tough jaws of the Carnivine to close over me any moment.
And just moments later, the tentacle that held me convulsed in pain, and I was thrown free. The glowing figure dashed about, dodging the slapping feelers and tentacles with consummate ease. Smoke and ashes followed in its wake as it sprinted from one tendril to the next. The carnivine's limbs withered and snapped. I lay dazed on the ground, staring crookedly at the flashing creature as I begged my senses to return to me. Just in time, I regained use of my limbs, rolling to the side as a collapsing tentacle splattered into the ground where I'd lay. As I stood, I realized that the glowing thing was small, no more than up to my knee in height. It looked like a miniature fireball, animated and given a purpose, as it snapped appendage after appendage from the wildly flailing Carnivine.
As more of my thought and logic returned to me, the tactical reactions of a trainer returned. I watched as the waving foliage crumbled to dust, but they would only grow back. This much I knew about Carnivines, kill the head, and the rest dies. I watched the remaining tentacles as they lashed out at the diminutive avenger, and quickly I noticed a pattern.
"Whatever you are," I called, "If you can understand me, jump there." I pointed, the blue flame of my repel starting to flicker, but the brightly luminous creature provided his own torch. The prancing fireball hesitated, and I saw it turn what appeared to be a face to me. It was the growlithe! I could see its canine features though the mirage-like waves of heat that lifted past its face. It glared at me for a moment, then looked where I was pointing. "It'll be open, trust me, in 5! 4, 3..." I started to count, and the growlithe sprinted at me. I flinched as it approached. What was it doing? "There! It's over-" I was cut off as the miniature fireball rebounded off of my shoulder, diving straight towards the Carnivine's head on the leap. My skin felt scorched, but I ignored it like I'd ignored the rest of the pain, intent on the fight.
Just as I'd predicted, the tentacles spread for a moment, and the growlithe slipped through. And as it fell, the jaws of the Carnivine slapped closed around the growlithe.
I stood stunned for a moment, waiting for something, anything. "Please..."
Then a second later, the Carnivine detonated. I can't think of any more appropriate word. One moment, it sat peacefully, mouth closed around the meal I'd fed it, then a moment later, pulpy plant parts rocketed from the central head. I felt a wave of heat, and the burning shape of the Growlithe stood in profile atop the defeated Carnivine's corpse.
At least, he stood for a few seconds. As the last twitches worked their way to the collapsing feelers and tendrils, the growlithe's patina of flame guttered and extinguished, and he stumbled. Then, as he watched the Carnivine's death throes cease, he fell.
"Come on, little guy, wake up." I sprayed the last of my potions over the growlithe's doubly-wounded thigh. The wounds had already closed over, but I wasn't going to spare anything to get this pokémon back on his feet. After the Carnivine had fallen, I checked to make sure the growlithe was still breathing. I fetched Lusu and Razz (who was none too happy about the abrupt pokéball-ing) and retreated a ways away from the camp site, to another, smaller, clearing. Behind me, Lusu and Razz stood anxiously, silent as I tried to revive the growlithe. Slowly, ever so slowly, I saw consciousness begin to bloom in the his eyes.
"Grrr?"
At the first unsteady growl, I picked up the growlithe and hugged him to my chest. I was quickly rewarded with a bite to the shoulder. Realizing my mistake, I slowly released the canid, letting him back to the ground carefully on all fours.
"Eh, sorry, lost myself there. Thank you, from all of us."
The growlithe shrugged emphatically, then sat on his haunches. I fully expected him to dash off at any second, but instead, he sat in front of me, unmoving and contemplative. Razz approached him from the side, and after a cursory sniff in his direction, the growlithe returned his gaze to me.
I returned the contemplative stare, sitting back and hugging my knees. "So, you're not going to dash off again? Any particular reason why?"
The growlithe considered my words for a moment, then stood up abruptly. He looked around frantically for a moment, then shot a hard glance at me.
"What? What'd I do?"
Sometimes, it can be a bit disconcerting when there's a conversation going on around you, and you seem to be the only one not in it. Just as soon as I'd asked, Lusu let out a chirping laugh behind me. I felt her nudge against my back, and I spared a second to look back at her. "What am I missing?" Lusu was rifling around in my backpack. When she stood back up, she was cradling in her forepaws a standard pokéball. I glanced back to the growlithe, and saw him edge back nervously.
I thought for a moment, then realization dawned on me. "You thought I'd captured you?" I asked incredulously. In response, the growlithe looked back and forth between the ball and me. "That'd be stupid. You saved my life! I wouldn't even consider capturing a wild pokémon, let alone the one who just personally assured that I'd be waking up on the right side of the dirt tomorrow morning!"
Razz pushed against my side, and I reached over his back. "Fine, Razz, you're right. You used to be wild, but I don't hold it against you." He added another bite to my shoulder. "Ow, okay! Alright!" I turned back to the growlithe. "I swear, with these two pokémon as my witness, that I don't capture. The only pokémon I've ever used a ball on is Razz here, and he asked me to do it."
Razz nodded, and the growlithe seemed to calm even further. "So you didn't want to run off, because you thought I'd already captured you?"
Somewhat ashamedly, the growlithe nodded.
"Well, I haven't, and I won't. Just go with my thanks. If you see us passing through here again, and need us, all you ever need to do is stop us." I smiled at him, with my lips closed. I'd noticed a while ago that showing a smile full of teeth to a pokémon isn't a sign of happiness.
I stood to go, but Lusu held on to one of my legs. I looked down at her, and she looked back at the growlithe. He was still sitting there, looking at me with the same contemplative look on his face. I looked at Razz, then back at Lusu. All three of them were staring up at me.
"Okay, something's going on, and none of you are being clear." We've had this problem before, where what my companions were trying to say was simply too complex for our language of body motions and expressions. We didn't need it very often these days, but there was another way to solve that. I sighed, and reached into my backpack, where I had a pouch of small word and picture cards, which my pokémon could use to form more coherent statements.
But before I reached it, the growlithe decided to answer the question himself. As I bent in front of my backpack, I felt something thump against my leg. I glanced aside, and found the empty pokéball (it was my SOS ball) resting against my calf. The growlithe was gazing up at me with a look that I could only interpret as hopeful.
"I thought you specifically didn't want to be captured." I gazed down in shock at him. He nosed at the ball again, and I hesitated. "Right. This is a decision for the team." I looked at Lusu. She wore a smile that almost split her muzzle, and she nodded enthusiastically. I think I expected that response. For her, the more the merrier. It was looking at Razz that shocked me. He waited to catch my eye, then gave me his own emphatic nod. I had expected the habitual loner to veto the idea, but much to my amazement, he was just as excited about it as Lusu was, in his own way.
"Well, I guess the jury has spoken." I bent to one knee, and reached out. The growlithe seemed to fight his nature for a moment. I could see the fear and apprehension play across his face. He sat for a minute, and I couldn't have honestly said whether I expected him to take my invitation, or whether he was going to flee again.
After a tense minute, the growlithe finally took an unsure step forward. I held my hand still, waiting for him to make the first move, but I needn't have worried. He ducked under my hand and pushed his skull up against my fingers. For the first time, I really paid attention to his lush orange fur as I stroked my fingertips against the back of his head. He almost purred with pleasure, leaning against my palm while I scratched my nails behind his ears.
As I stroked his head, I spoke up, giving him just a few tidbits of introduction. "I'm Riki, the spiky furball is Razz, and the oversexed slinky is Lusu. You have a name, or you need me to give you one?"
The growlithe turned his head to the side. "Grrrey."
"Grey? Okay, Grey it is."
He shook his head. He growled again, this time trying to emphasize a little cough before the name. "Gh-grrey."
I stumbled over the pronunciation. "Guh-grey?"
Exasperated, Razz chimed in to my side with a little cough of his own. With the way his mouth was formed, though, it made it sound like he was clucking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Tch!"
"Tchrey? Trey? Does that work?" The growlithe paused in his attention-seeking headbutting, considering it for a moment. He rolled it over his tongue, replacing the cough with the tongue-click. He shrugged, then nodded, pushing his head forward for more rubbing. I grinned. It was as close as I was going to get.
"Fine name. Trey. Okay, Trey, you can join us, but there's a couple of rules. First, you walk with us. I don't use pokéballs unless it's absolutely necessary. I'll "capture" you, to make sure that you can't be "caught" by anyone else, but that means I won't carry you in a pokéball, and on the flip side, you're free to leave us if you feel the need." The growlithe cocked his head to one side. "You understand all that?" I asked. I could have been overestimating his ability to understand humans, but it seemed my fears were ungrounded. "Right, next, I won't ask you to fight for sport or pay, but if any of us are in trouble, we'll all fight for you, and we expect you to do the same for us." I felt a sudden pang of guilt. "Well, not as if I need to worry about that, with how you showed that Carnivine up tonight." I stroked down his back, and he lay on his front. That purr I'd heard earlier surfaced. It surprised me a bit, I'd thought growlithes were all dog. Guess I was wrong.
"And lastly... Eh..." I turned to Lusu for help, but she just shrugged and nodded at me. Mixed signals. Great. "We're a bit closer than other pokémon and their trainers. Well, if you were on the river bank today, then you know what I mean. What I mean is, the three of us..." I stuttered a bit at that. It seemed so natural to me to share that with Lusu and Razz, but trying to force it and actually state it was somehow a whole lot harder. "That is, we..."
Tired of my stumbling, Razz hopped forward. He gave me another steely glare, then walked forward to Trey's side. He nudged at the growlithe with his nose, and after some complaint, the canid rolled onto his back. I lifted my hand as Razz urged him over, and it's probably best that I had, at least for my own sanity. With his forepaws in the air, the growlithe was gazing down at me through his spread hindlegs. Just as Razz had intended, I glanced down and got a very in-depth tour of Trey's anatomy.
Which is not to say that the growlithe was blatant about it. No, instead, that lush, creamy yellow fur proceeded all the way down between his legs. No matter how the fur lay, though, it wouldn't have hid the sizeable sheath laying at a slight angle across Trey's belly. It was covered with the same yellowish fur, but shorter, and it thinned towards the sheath's tip. Much to my amazement for his light fur color, the skin at the lips of Trey's sheath was black, glistening smoothly with just a hint of moisture.
My voice had cut off, and I caught myself staring at the overtly canid structure to Trey's equipment. Suddenly caught like a peeping tom at a keyhole, I glanced up at him guiltily. The growlithe had stopped purring, and was simply staring down at me impassively. Suddenly unsure of myself again, I reached up and ran my fingers through the growlithe's chest fur. An hour ago, this growlithe was just a wild pokémon sniffing at the proverbial edges of our camp fire Somehow I felt that I should wait, get to know him, see how he gets on with Lusu and Razz, before I did something rash like-
But Razz was having none of it. All of those concerns were human thoughts, human emotions. He tugged at my wrist with his mouth as I stroked the growlithe's chest, and I felt something wet poke into my palm. I tugged my hand back, as if I'd stuck my fingers into the camp fire, but the expected complaint from Trey never came. He remained sprawled on his back. Glancing down, I saw a blush of red flesh poking between the smooth lips of his sheath.
I was about to complain. The denial that this is what I'd intended was on the tip of my tongue, but it never made it past my lips. That was a uniquely human foible. Instead, with a little reticence, I placed my hand back down, cupping Trey's sheath. He, in turn, sprawled and stretched, reaching his forepaws over his head and arching himself towards my tentative touch. Another growl built in his throat as I squeezed, allowing myself time to really explore his anatomy.
He wasn't built like Razz, even though the requisite parts were the same. Unlike Razz, his sheath was positioned further towards his front, running a little ways up his belly. As it flopped about underneath my palm, I felt a thin stretch of skin connecting it to his front. My inspection must have been having a bit of an effect on Trey, because as I prodded and squeezed, that hint of pink at the tip of his sheath slowly slid further into the fire light. I was in for a second surprise as I felt a bulge at the base of his sheath begin to swell. I'd heard of this in canid pokémon, but I'd never seen it. I was entranced, and with my curiosity getting the better of me, I pulled at Trey's sheath, sliding it further back from his lengthening shaft.
The tapered length of Trey's cock thickened impressively towards his base, but then ballooned out with the twin bulbs of the canid's knot. The entire length was slippery with liquid (which now also coated my fingers) and still a bit floppy. As my fingers played over it, it twitched and wriggled, quickly gaining thickness and firmness as the growlithe became more and more excited.
Somewhat guiltily, I broke my fascinated gaze and glanced to Lusu and Razz. Both of them were staring intently at my hand, with mixed amounts of their own anticipation and arousal. I paused in my ministrations, and both Razz and Lusu met my eyes. "Are you both sure?" I knew it was my human side talking, but I wouldn't be who I was if i didn't ask.
Lusu fell to her forepaws and lurched over with a unique hopping motion that only something with as short legs and long back as she could manage. "Buiii." She put a paw over mine, and when I shifted, her leathery pawpads landed on Trey's shaft. I felt Razz nuzzle up against my side, and I knew the answer to my question without question or doubt.
So with that confirmation and acceptance, I booted my inhibitions back into their rusty little mental cage and dove into the experience with both hands. Well, both hands and mouth, really. While Lusu bounced around the supine canid, I ducked between his hindlegs and licked up his lightly twitching shaft. A sharp squirt of pre splattered against my lips in reward. Trey didn't taste very strongly of anything, unlike Razz, but there was a lot more pre than there was with the feline. So much so that it dribbled into his belly and chest fur as he prodded his hips up towards my tongue.
With my eyes closed, I gave a surprised jerk as I felt another tongue join my own. I glanced up, smiling to myself as Lusu's nose poked at my cheek. She smiled up at me, then with a pushy gesture, she placed her forepaws on my shoulder and shoved.
"Fine, but if you get dibs on that..." Whether it was the remaining nerves from the battle, or the sudden appearance of a fourth for our little party, or even just a sudden interest in growlithes, I was rock hard. While Lusu tilted her head and started licking and nibbling on the curiously shaped cock, I pulled at the fly on my trainer's pants. As soon as the button popped free, a throb of my straining shaft forced the zipper halfway down, and my thumb and forefinger joined the job.
Now that I was free of the restraining cotton and polyester, I rubbed fingers beneath Trey's tail curiously. In our experimentation, both Lusu and Razz had enjoyed a bit of play under their tails, but I wasn't about to assume in Trey's case. I knew how much it hurt when Razz took me, if I wasn't ready or in the mood for it.
I shouldn't have worried, though. Trey had lifted his head, baring his neck submissively in a broad tract of creamy yellow fur. My finger found the smooth skin of his pucker, tucked beneath his tail, and prodded slightly. Trey lifted his hips, and my finger slid in to the first knuckle, dry skin sliding almost frictionlessly. I felt him contract around my knuckle as Lusu found a particularly sensitive spot near the base of the canid's knot.
Razz left my side, stilting his legs a bit. He was walking with his hindlegs spread a bit, sporting a dripping erection dangling between them. He nosed at Lusu's hips, and at his insistence, she hopped to the side, keeping her mouth around the growlithe's drooling shaft. Razz nosed her again, and there was a mix of startled yips as the floatzel tripped over the growlithe's head. More carefully this time, she stepped timidly over Trey's head. The growlithe wrapped his forepaws up and over her back, burying his muzzle between her hindlegs. Lusu let out a few chitters as the growlithe's tongue slid over her slit, skipping any pretence of foreplay.
Getting the idea, I stroked Lusu's head. She reached up and gave my own erection a few licks, before she returned to the growlithe's cock. As Razz mounted Lusu, we bumped heads softly, making a neat sandwich of the floatzel and growlithe.
"Good idea Razz. Re-." He put his forepaw on my mouth again. Right. Shut up. Got it. I tugged at Trey's hindlegs, lifting his hips off of the ground. As Lusu gave an excited chirp beneath us, I replaced my finger in the growlithe's rump with something a bit thicker. I was starting to lose track of which of my companions were making which noises, but I was pretty sure that the hitching growl I heard was Trey's as I pushed the tip of my shaft into his grasping tailhole.
Razz laid his head on my shoulder, and I felt his body tensing and shivering as he thrust into Lusu. Slowly, I felt Trey relaxing, and after a few moments, my cock slid loosely deep into the growlithe, until my balls rubbed the base of his tail. His tunnel squeezed in slow waves around me, smooth and slippery, and so hot that it was almost uncomfortable. To add to the new sensation, he flicked his tail up between my legs, cradling my balls and jiggling slightly as he wagged side-to-side.
I heard a soft "ruf" from Razz, and I felt him shuddering against me. I lifted my arms and wrapped them around his back, holding him tight as he jerked and spurted into Lusu's tight slit. He bit my shoulder softly, and I rubbed his scruff, then as he started panting in the afterglow, he lifted his muzzle and licked at my neck. He'd be ready to go again in just a few moments, though, so as I held him, I started doing some thrusting of my own.
Trey was tight around me, but not so tight that I couldn't give him a good hump. My shaft slid free of his rump with a quick rush, and as he squeezed, my rolling hips pushed my cock deep again. His tail slid between my rumpcheeks, and tickled softly at sensitive parts. I tugged back again, giving him another firm hump. Velvetty walls squeezed around me, stoking the fire of lust that was burning like a sugar rush just beneath my consciousness.
Lusu beneath me gave another chirp, and Razz started moving again. Curiosity got the better of me, and one of my hands reached down to where Razz and Lusu were joined, feeling the luxray's tapered length sliding in and out of my treasured floatzel's cunny. A tongue lathed over my fingers, and I moved them so Trey could continue licking at whatever bits of flesh and skin were showing at any given moment. My fingers cradled Lusu's tail, and as I squeezed it, my forefinger found her tailhole. I squeezed again, pushing just the first knuckle into her. In return, she obediently writhed and wriggled, squealing out a lustful cry as she peaked around Razz's shaft.
With my two beloved happy and sated, I dropped both of my hands to Trey's hips. With a sharp tug, I buried myself deep in his rump and ground my hips against his. He growled loudly, muffled by the floatzel straddling his muzzle, and I felt him clamp down around me. I smiled, and moved one of my hands to the growlithe's knot. It throbbed and pulsed as he came. I squeezed around its based, and was rewarded with another tight clench around my cock. While he rode his high, I figured that I'd waited long enough. I rolled my hips back and gave a hard thrust, then another.
My eyes closed, and the lusty buzz of approaching orgasm flowered in the subconscious, instinctual part of my mind. I'd been riding the edge all day, from the interrupted fun in the river, to the erotic dream that I'd been so rudely awakened from by the Carnivine. As I approached my peak, I held myself hilted in the hot little growlithe. My mind paid attention to nothing outside the silky feeling of the hot passage squeezing around my throbbing shaft. Unconsciously, my hips jerked forward as my peak hit, Trey giving a mild complaint as I forced him forward a few inches across the ground. Incandescent sparks lit at the edges of my vision, exploding like fireworks on the insides of my eyelids. I felt my shaft jump once, then on the second throb, a hot splash of cum splattered Trey's innards.
I held myself completely still, all of my senses had shut down except for the blissful feel of emptying myself into Trey's upturned rump. Time dilated, and I could feel my heart beat in between each glorious throb of my shaft. I usually don't like to deprive myself, but this time I was happy that I'd waited through most of the day and the whole of the night. After a few throbs, the growlithe clenched again, and my slippery cum was forced around my invading shaft, turning the silky smoothness into a weird, slick friction. I felt my own liquids leaking down my perineum, dribbling into Trey's tail fur as it wriggled against my balls.
Slowly, senses seeped back to me. First, I felt a slight rocking motion; Razz was thrusting again. His head was curled into the spoon of my shoulder, and he was drooling a bit. Hearing second; Lusu chirped up at me. I opened my eyes and looked down. streamers of watery growlithe spunk adorned her whiskers, draped over her muzzle like party decorations. Much to my surprise, she wriggled forward and stood up. Before I could pull away, she squashed her muzzle against my face, smearing the liquid over my cheeks and licking with her fish-scented breath at my lips. Much too involved to complain, I hugged her tightly.
My mind quickly reminded me that she'd recently been riding Razz, and he was still humping against my shoulder. Curious, I looked down. Sometime after Lusu had peaked, he must have slipped free, because Trey had caught the luxray's shaft in his muzzle, and was currently suckling at it noisily while Razz slapped his balls against Trey's snout. Each thrust rocked the growlithe a bit, and a slippery sensation reminded me that Trey and I were still rather connected. He slid just a few millimeters up and down my shaft as Razz hammered into him. If I hadn't just emptied myself in one titanic orgasm, I'm pretty sure the sensation would be pulling me into round two.
Standing next to me on her hindlegs, Lusu was watching us all intently. She was rocking unsteadily a bit on her hindlegs as she watched Razz hump away, and I felt a little pity for her being stuck on the side while the boys played. As she gyrated her hips, I sneaked one hand down between her two tails. She gave a little yip as two of my fingers probed between her hindlegs, but as soon as my index finger found her slit, she sat back on my hand. She was slippery, slippery enough that I wondered how many times Razz had squirted in her while I was busy with the growlithe. I knew how she liked her pleasure, so skipped teasing, and simply sank my fingers to the last knuckle in her needy crevice. She bobbed her hips against my hand maybe ten or fifteen times in rapid succession, then went stock-still, shivering slightly as her tunnel trembled around my fingers.
All of our attention was drawn to Trey, laying submissively between Razz and I. As the luxray pounded away towards his own second (or maybe third) orgasm, the growlithe let out a loud growl and started humping his hips violently against me. The sensation was overpowering, and I let out a few choice words of my own as he rode on my shrinking cock. On a particularly high thrust, I slipped free of his tailhole with a loud slurp, followed by a rush of creamy liquid. Trey humped his hips up into the air one last time, then to my surprise, an arc of watery cum shot from the tip of his bouncing cock. The liquid splattered against Razz's belly, then dripped slowly down onto Trey's own chest and muzzle. Whether because of the surprise of Trey's peak, or because of something the growlithe had done, Razz let out his own squeaking growl. He ground his crotch against the growlithe's muzzle, hips jerking every few seconds.
For a few moments, none of us moved. Sticky and sated, none of us wanted the afterglow to end. But as minutes ticked by, my bladder struck up a chord and informed me that I should be seeking a private tree in the near future. With an aggrieved sigh, I slowly removed my fingers from Lusu, and pulled away from the sticky Trey. The hair around my groin had started to stick to the fur on his inner thigh, and it took a few moments of tense tugging before I could stand. Finally disentangled, Trey rolled and bumped Razz away. As I left to find a tree, the three of them started to groom, cleaning up wayward fluids and trying to make some decent sense out of matted fur.
When I returned, they were looking at least moderately presentable. Both Razz and Trey had put themselves away, and Lusu's whiskers were clean, even if they didn't look particularly straight. With a quick flick, I ducked and grabbed the empty pokéball. Trey, noticing the action, stood and steeled himself. Without ceremony or pretence, I clicked the activation in its top, and Trey disappeared. There was a faint whooshing sound as air raced to fill the space Trey had just inhabited. In my hands, the pokéball rocked, and the ring around the activation button spun slowly from black to red. Ten seconds later, the ball stopped moving, and the ring was completely red. Pointing back at the ground where he'd been, I pushed the activation button again. With a smokeless flash, Trey reappeared. Twigs snapped under his weight, and my ears popped as air rushed outwards to make room for him.
"Well, welcome to the team, Trey."
Dear Mother,
We've added another pokémon to the team! He's a wild we met east of Eterna City. We'd found him wounded, and as you taught me, I didn't waste the opportunity to do some good. He's a growlithe, and as such, he rounds out my team nicely. As I remember from classes, unevolved pokémon learn quickly, so I'll be making sure he knows everything he needs before I hunt down a firestone for him.
Say hello to Jun for me, and let my cousin know that he can't terrorize us with his treecko anymore. We're prepared.
- Riki