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Sweet as Salac

Chapter 002: Curiosity and the Cat

A long, long time ago, hundreds if not thousands of years gone, a nomadic clan stumbled upon a quiet valley oasis in the middle of the mountains of Johto, and made it their permanent home. They've been known throughout history at various points as dragon worshippers, then dragon tamers, and finally dragon masters. It's unknown whether they found dragon Pokémon in the mountains, or if the dragons simply followed them there, but the rugged, isolated land was apparently a good fit. Some stories say the clan made the land fit: that they crushed solid stone into dirt to grow food from, and that they dug an entire lake right into the mountain face. Whether or not any of this is true, there is a spring in the mountain there today, deep in a cave, where the clan constructed it's famous shrine.

The Dragon Clan had no interest in outsiders. It was probably the fact that those mountain lands were so isolated, that made them so attractive in the first place. Perhaps the clan felt responsible for protecting the dragon Pokémon… or, maybe they just didn't want to share their power with anyone else. As it happens, that valley, which is now Blackthorn City, is still one of the least visited places in all of Johto, being just about as far from and out of the way of anything else as you could imagine.

Blackthorn was a kind and quiet place to grow up… but, true to its heritage, it had a reputation for producing nomads. My classrooms were always bloated with students much older than I; anxious, restless youth, flunking repeatedly, stalling until they were old enough to just drop out and hit the road. It was the “Golden Age" of the Pokémon League and, for better or for worse, most of my generation was entirely fixated on it, at the exclusion of all else. My parents gave me the discipline to persevere through school, but as one of the youngest people in all of my classes, I never made many friends. I felt too out of place. And so I spent my childhood lonely and unambitious, even if I was a 'flying star' in comparison to my peers. That's what my teachers would call me.

Such low, low expectations…

It wasn't too long before I first heard the town sage's stories of the dragon Pokémon, though. Everyone heard them at some point, if you grew up in Blackthorn. Their depictions captivated me: enormous, intelligent creatures with incredible strength; magnificent and benevolent, working alongside humans. In addition to producing nomads, Blackthorn also had a heritage of revered dragon trainers, like the long-time Johto League Champion, “Lance."

So I guess I got swept up in the whole Pokémon Trainer craze as well, to some extent. It was a nice little fantasy… maybe I could be a powerful trainer, too? And, if fame and power didn't finally attract some kind of social recognition, I could always throw balls at wild animals and they'd become my friends. Or, at least, I imagine that's what I must have been thinking around that age.

You can imagine too, then, how devastated I was, when on my thirteenth birthday, I told my parents about this – that I wanted to become a Pokémon trainer – and they said, “No." And if you've never experienced it, let me tell you… it's a very distinct sensation, having your childhood dream ripped away and smashed to pieces.

My parents attempted to explain to me that it was for my safety, but their words fell on deaf ears, delirium and tantrum. Resentment brewed as I realized, very acutely, how alone in the world I was… especially having recently learned how my family wasn't actually blood, and that I had no known biological relatives. Depression seized months of life. Any illusion of ambition I had, was now utterly gone, and I started habitually skipping school. More than a few times, I contemplated just walking out of the town and getting myself lost forever. And, once or twice, I did try to do just that. I felt isolated and alienated – right then in my life, I really, really needed a friend.

It was my uncle Ljeold who, in his wisdom, figured that out. Ljeold Markov, henceforth my “favorite uncle" (in little-kid speak), was a fun-loving and empathic man in his late fifties at the time; my mother's older brother, and the first person she reached out to for help when I tried to run away. Apparently having experienced something similar in his own youth, Uncle Ljeold immediately offered what he thought was the perfect solution. Though, I hear, it took every bit of persuasion he could muster before my parents would hear to it, considering what they had just told me months before about becoming a trainer.

But eventually, his persuasion won out, and during one of my many weekend visits to his place across town, Uncle Ljeold finally introduced me to Shikimin, the recently newborn Shinx.

My initial gut disappointment that Shikimin was neither a dragon, nor a Pokémon for me to 'train,' was replaced with delight when, a few seconds later, the little scamp tackled me. He was so playful! Not to mention adorable, and curious – almost as curious as I was – and soon the two of us were practically falling over each other in excitement. I'm more than certain that, on that day, I became the happiest kid in the entire town.

But I also came to an important realization that day… and a pretty introspective realization for a thirteen-year-old, I think. I realized that this dumb game I'd played out in my head, where I captured Pokémon and fought people with them for fame, wasn't really what I wanted, or needed. Just as Uncle Ljeold had predicted, what I needed was a friend. And I quickly came to find that this new friend of mine was a fascinating creature. Just like that, I was hooked. I wanted to know more about him, about Pokémon.

I wanted to know… everything.

I'm not sure whether my parents were more surprised or more concerned, at how fast I attached myself to that little Shinx. At first, all they would allow were my typical weekend visits to my uncle's place. That was fine, I just made it into a regular habit. Every Friday, without fail, I went over to Uncle Ljeold's place after school got out. Admittedly, the visits were… mostly to spend time with the energetic little lion cub; and he was as happy to see me each time, as I was to see him. Still, Uncle Ljeold seemed to get a kick out of it, and he always had something new to teach me about Pokémon, too. And that was cool.

Skipping ahead four years – not long after my seventeenth birthday – it was a Friday, which meant another visit to my uncle's place, as per usual. I'd not missed a single Friday to date, barring a scant few occasions my uncle couldn't accommodate. This particular Friday, though, was special. It was the most special of special Fridays, in fact, because it would be the last Friday like this. Today, I would get to bring Shikimin home with me.

I still vividly remember that day. Actually, I remember the night before as well, when Uncle Ljeold called and told my parents and I that Shikimin had evolved. Right then, the wait seemed impossibly unfair, that I now had to somehow make myself sleep, wake up early, and endure an entire day of school before I could see my newly evolved Pokémon friend.

And then… then Ljeold started talking about the possibility of having Shikimin move into my parents' house.

My face must have lit up like a light bulb. The call dragged on for at least an hour, and I could barely stay put in my seat. My parents fought against it for a while; my uncle fought back with his clever rhetoric and trademark wit; I just kind of said, “Please, please, please!" over and over. It was… embarrassingly hard to contain myself.

My parents said they were worried about how attached I was to Shikimin, especially given how unattached I was to pretty much anyone else in the city. They felt like they were essentially giving in on their decision to not let me become a trainer. But Uncle Ljeold was a driven man. I would be eighteen next year anyhow, he said. That would make me an independent. Even at this point, it had already been four years. I was older, more responsible (I liked hearing that); I'd had time to recover from my breakdowns, to grow and learn… especially about Pokémon, from my weekly “lessons." Shikimin, now evolved, was plenty well mannered, friendly and smart… and housebroken, of course, which might have been one of the most important factors to my parents.

Somehow, he convinced them.

Needless to say, that Friday was a very, very long day of classes. I was wired, yet simultaneously running on very little sleep. I'm not sure I absorbed a single important fact or skill that day in school, though I had quite a surplus of energy to burn off in physical education. Running the mile that day seemed… trivial, as did my almost passing out from dehydration and lack of sleep. It took every bit of restraint I had not to bolt from the seat of my last class, and sprint even more, all the way to Uncle Ljeold's house when the final bell rang.

But I did hold myself back. With a peculiar surge of dignity, I forced myself to walk the whole damn way.

~~~

The streets of Blackthorn City all looked the same, I recall. The few trees that were planted around each block, or in the meridians on the street, were planted in soil that had to be imported from elsewhere in the region. I guess if the ancients of Blackthorn really did crush rocks into soil, it wasn't a practice that lasted very long. Today, at least, very little if anything actually grew up in the mountains. Accordingly, most everything was made of stone: the streets were cobbled, the sidewalks were cut slabs; many of the houses had ornate stone foundations and finishes. These decorations were incredibly cheap, considering the ready availability of nice rocks and minerals. It was the rest of the house – the wooden supports and frameworks and floors – that made construction so expensive. In fact, if there weren't serious architectural issues with constructing an entire house out of rock, I think people might have started doing that instead.

Despite the similarities in all the streets and houses, it was a place I'd so far spent my entire life in… and this walk, one I'd made countless times now; I navigated the neighborhoods with almost supernatural ease. The city was rather small, too, and even though it certainly felt like an eternity of walking, that day in particular, I was at my destination in less than five minutes. Though, I was almost shaking at that point. So I straightened myself out as best I could and took a deep breath, before ringing the bell.

He'd been expecting me, of course. Seconds later, the door opened, revealing the very tall man that was my Uncle Ljeold. “Ah, hello there, Izák!" he boomed, in his great, gravely low voice.

“Good afternoon, uncle!" I said cheerfully. Each week, I had to remind myself to look up, at the man I was actually the guest of – my uncle – as opposed to the Pokémon I was more interested in seeing. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I didn't like my uncle; I had tremendous respect and love for the man, and I owed him more than a little for all he'd done for me. But, well… what can I say? We all have our selfish priorities, here and there.

Ljeold was a big man, almost six and a half feet tall and… well, just big. All around. Which was weird, considering how much hiking he did. Other than his roundness, his aging was very subtle, and the only other hint of his advancing age were a few fine traces of silvery-gray hair. And even then, only really when he caught the light just right. Ljeold was a craftsman by trade, despite his gigantic hands and poor short-distance vision. For the vision, he wore a distinct pair of frameless specs, cut wide, very modern looking. For his hands… well, I guess he was just really, really careful.

His glasses… I remember really liking their suave look. In fact, when I got my own pair before heading off to college, I got mine cut to the same shape.

“Why don't you come on in, eh?" the man said, smiling broadly, beckoning me in with his great big hands. “There's someone here who really wants to see ya."

I nodded excitedly and stepped in behind him. While he headed into the kitchen, I carefully removed my shoes, which were thoroughly dusted with gravel just from walking around Blackthorn in them. I placed them in the corner, next to Ljeold's hiking boots. His boots were giant, compared to my feet. Sturdy looking. Worn, but reliable.

Before I could follow him into the kitchen, the familiar scratch of claws scrambling across the wood floor alerted me of an ambush. Shikimin came bolting around the corner at top speed, almost tackling me like he had as a Shinx, stopping just in time, looking up at me with such pride. “Whoa! Hey, buddy!" I exclaimed, beaming at the newly evolved Luxio. No, he was certainly no longer the tiny little kitty Pokémon whose head barely reached my knees. His shoulders were about that high, and his head was almost waist-level. Gosh, he'd doubled in size. “Wow… look at you!"

I sat down on the floor, and immediately Shikimin tried to clamber into my lap. It was an interesting exercise, but futile. He quickly realized he was a little too bit to fit between my legs now. Yes, Shikimin had grown pretty substantially… and had grown a pretty substantial amount of fur, too. His head, once covered entirely in short, blue fur, was now outlined in black, thick and long: the beginnings of his adult mane. It looked a little funny, how it stuck up on top, and draped over his shoulders on the sides, in some ways resembling a furry cowl. Elsewhere, the darker fur that used to completely cover his hind legs and rear paws had receded a bit, giving way to short, fuzzy blue 'mittens.' Finally, I noticed with interest that his front legs had each gained an additional yellow ring-shaped marking, as if indicating his newfound power.

“Shikimin here's been eating a lot more, already," Ljeold said, coming back into the hallway from the kitchen once he realized I'd been intercepted. He carried with him a long strip of dry jerky. Shikimin immediately abandoned his quest to insert himself into my lap, and trotted over hungrily to grab the snack from my uncle. Ljeold chuckled at his enthusiasm. “Good thing we have so many damned cows down on the cliffs… even if they are eating the only grass we've got up here."

He paused, squatting on one of the stair steps. “Now, my guess is… you're not terribly interested in a long visit today, right?" he asked, cutting to the chase.

“I'm in no rush," I lied, trying to be polite. Well, only partially a lie, in my defense. In truth, as long as I was with Shikimin, I didn't mind all too much whose house I was at. The newly evolved feline Pokémon pawed around my lap, butting his head against my side… anything to get his smell on me, I figured. Gosh, he was still so playful! It was warmly reassuring, that he'd not changed too much since his days as a Shinx.

“You're bad at hiding it," Ljeold laughed, and I blushed furiously. So much for the niceties, I guess. “Hah hah! Naw, it's fine, Izák. I appreciate the sentiment. You can be honest, though, I know this exciting for ya."

“Y-yeah, it is…" I admitted.

“Right. So, you're takin' Shikimin here home with you," my uncle continued, gesturing at the electric Pokémon, who had laid himself out across my lap at last. “How much thought have you given it?"

How much thought? Like, about what? “Uh…"

Uncle Ljeold just gave me a wink. “I figured as much," he teased me. “Well. These next few days are going to be quite an adventure for ya, then."

“Is there, uh… something I should know?" I asked hesitantly. My uncle shrugged.

“Nothing you won't figure out on your own, I reckon," he went on, with this funny little smile that I couldn't quite decipher. Uncle Ljeold had a weird way of talking, sometimes. “I'd like to think I've taught you a fair bit over the last few years, but… well, no amount of theory compares to actually living with a wild Pokémon. Ya get me?"

Yes indeed, Shikimin was a wilder. Initially, this concept was hard for me to understand. I had just always assumed Pokémon were captured when they came to live with humans. Uncle Ljeold sternly talked me out of that mindset, for sure. “Shikimin is not for capturing!" he would say, not angrily, but definitely with force. Then he'd usually add something like, “How would you like it if he stuck you in a ball, eh?"

With time I came to accept it. Enjoy it, even. Shikimin always seemed much more… lively, than any of the captured Pokémon my neighbors owned. It wouldn't be until years later that I would actually learn why, though…

“Anyhow, basics should be simple enough," my uncle went on to explain. “Shikimin's pretty resourceful, he can probably take care of himself most of the time. Just make sure he isn't goin' hungry or anything. Help him stay clean… keep him outa trouble, hah hah!"

“Doesn't he, you know, clean himself?" I asked. “Like, with his tongue?"

“He'll try when he has to," Ljeold said with a shrug. “Can't imagine he loves the taste of gravel and mud, though."

Shikimin blew a loud raspberry, mocking a contorted face to show his agreement. Then, he gave my arm a playful lick, causing me to giggle ticklishly. The barbs on his tongue raked my sensitive skin in a way that made my hair stand up on end. Still, it felt… funny. Good, I guess? Just, you know, peculiar.

“Oh, one other thing you'll want, though…"

At that, he rolled a Pokéball across the floor to me. A special Pokéball, in fact – a Luxury-Grade novelty ball – but a ball nonetheless. I frowned as it came to a rest at my legs. “Wait… you always tell me Shikimin isn't for catching."

“And that ball ain't for catching, either," Ljeold clarified. “It's stripped."

Picking the thing up, I found that, in fact, the mechanism under the button had indeed been yanked out. In its place was a cold, dead metal disk. The Pokéball was a harmless husk. You couldn't squeeze a Ratatta into it.

“Gives ya a bit of psychological defense, you know?" he explained. “Don't want trainers getting the wrong idea and trying to snag your friend."

It was moments like these that I could truly appreciate the genius my uncle fostered so inconspicuously beneath that simple face of his. “Clever," I said, smirking. With a nod, I pinned the faux ball to my belt, where hopefully I could forget about it. “Very clever. Alright then, any other advice?"

“Like I said, nothin' you won't figure out on your own," he repeated, this time with a laugh. “Just… try to keep an open mind, is all."

I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, at the time, so I just smiled and nodded. Though, years since then, I figure from the way he talked that my uncle knew a whole lot more about Pokémon – and about Shikimin and I – than he ever let onto.

At any rate, our visit had more or less come to a close. But, before we departed, I had one more thing to deal with. “Uncle Ljeold? Um… thank you," I finally said, giving the big man a hug. “Really, for everything. The visits, the lessons… you have no idea how much all of this means to me."

“Oh, I do. More than you know," he said, returning the hug with a squeeze like you'd get from an Ursaring. Shikimin gave his leg an affectionate rub as well, prompting Ljeold to chuckle again. “Though… you know this wasn't entirely for you, right? This little guy here reminds me it's Friday before you do."

“Really?" I laughed. Shikimin gave an affirmative meow, tail waving happily in the air.

Uncle Ljeold gave me a wink. “Now… you two keep an eye out for each other, alright?" he said, giving both of us an encouraging pat. “Might surprise you to know, but you're probably about the same age, now. And I know how you youngsters can get. You've gotta keep one another outa trouble."

“Excuse me? Youngsters? What happened to that whole, 'Look how much Izák's matured,' spiel?" I said with only slightly mock indignity, giving my uncle an incredulous look. “And Shikimin's, like… four, technically."

“Oh, alright; young adults," Ljeold amended. “Sheesh, both of you are going to grow up to be great old peacocks, me thinks. And yes, Shikimin's a young adult too, now. Pokémon mature very quickly, you know."

Shikimin puffed up his chest, as if this fact was an enormous source of pride… the fact that Ljeold had just called him a peacock was lost on him. I snickered. It was endearing in a way. I'm not sure how perceptive I was at that age – if I perhaps saw a bit of myself in Shikimin right then – maybe that was the real beginning of our camaraderie. But I'm pretty sure that, despite Ljeold's assurances about Shikimin's 'Pokémon age,' I wasn't really that convinced.

Yet.

I would find out how similar he and I were, soon enough. But in the meantime, as we departed from my uncle's house back down the road to my parents', I was at least convinced of one thing: that, unmistakably, this was the start of something wonderful.

The two of us waved back at Ljeold as we went – Shikimin pantomimed me using his tail, which I decided was incredibly cute – all the way until we rounded the corner out of the neighborhood. When he turned to face me and showed me that adorable, toothy grin of his, I remembered Ljeold's words… that, in fact, this was as much of a new adventure for Shikimin, as it was for me. If he was nervous, though, he made no show of it.

Either way, the walk home felt much quicker, now that I had Shikimin by my side. Though, it was perhaps a bit quiet. The one thing Uncle Ljeold could never teach me was how to understand Pokémon speech… and so, Shikimin and I didn't do a lot of talking. I mean, conversation, at least. I said things to Shikimin, but I always had to guess at his reactions as to how he was trying to reply. My guessing would get better over time, though, and the connection was already there. Energy seemed to flow between us. We moved fast, almost skipping down the cobbled streets, constantly casting each other those infectious, gleeful grins.

It was just before 4:30 PM when we got home. “Well, here we are," I said, gesturing in front of us. Shikimin for the moment seemed unimpressed – at least by the exterior – I suppose I couldn't blame him, it looked the same as any other bloody house in the city. The foundation and first floor were patterned in cobbled stone, and other stone formations were abundant elsewhere, as if it were somehow shameful to have too much woodwork showing. Stone pillars, stone arches; the fence in the front of the property was stone, and while the mailbox itself wasn't stone, it was set into a hole in the fence in a way that made it look like it could have been.

I unlocked the front door and the two of us went in. Despite his initial reactions, Shikimin immediately set off to investigate the new territory. He didn't get very far before I caught a glimpse of how much dirt he was tracking, though. “Hey, hey! Wait up, you!" I called after him, grabbing a towel and chasing him down. Kneeling beside the impatient feline, I wiped off his paws as best I could. They had become… quite filthy, from the walk across town. “Huh. Well, looks like we'll need to be getting you washed up on the sooner side, after all."

At the very least, I got his paws clean enough to the point at which they weren't tracking stuff anymore. Then, I led him around the house.

My parents' place was a two-floor building, like most houses in the city: a first and second floor, no basement. Basements were too expensive to construct on most plots, with how hard and rocky the ground was. Just digging a building's foundation was hard enough. Anyhow, the first floor was laid out with a living room, a kitchen and a dining room, as well as a small bathroom; all were connected by a central hallway, which led to the front door. The stairs to the second floor were by the door as well. Upstairs were three bedrooms, one of which had been converted into another living space, since no one actually used it. When he had overnight guests – not a common occurrence – the sofa in there could be folded out into a bed. Finally, between the master bedroom and my own, was the house's second bathroom; a master bathroom, so to speak, which was much larger than the one downstairs. It housed our only bath and shower.

Shikimin was very enthusiastic about exploring the place. Fortunately for me, his investigations did not seem to involve marking anything; something I'd heard cats often do. Maybe that didn't extend to Pokémon, then? Well, he had other interesting habits, I guess: for example, he seemed very drawn to all of our electronics. Each time he found a new one, he'd kind of just… sit down in front of it and stare. This lasted maybe a full minute each time. It was like he was trying to divine their inner workings.

When he came to the house's back door, he once again sat down and stared, head cocked up, looking at the door handle. “What's up, buddy?" I asked, popping a squat next to him. Shikimin just kind of blinked. Then, with a little leap, he reared up and bopped the lock of the door with his paw – an electric lock, I realized – there was a small crackle of static, and then Shikimin had the damned thing open. The door swung aside harmlessly. “Whoa. Um… you didn't, like, break that, did you?"

He shook his head, giving the lock another few jolts. The latch popped out and in a few times in demonstration.

“Cool," I mused, impressed at his little feat. If nothing else, it meant he could let himself in and out of the house without my assistance, especially when he had to take care of business. Though, before we moved on, I grabbed the door and tested the lock a few more times myself. You know, just to be sure. Satisfied that it still worked, I shut and locked it once more. By then, Shikimin had already moved onto the next interesting device in the room, which was the TV.

It was pretty clear to me that Shikimin had some kind of affinity for electronics in general. I wondered if it was just a natural thing for an electric-type, or if Ljeold had somehow gotten him interested in human contraptions over the years. Either way, his ability to… manipulate them, and of course without destroying them in the process, was quite impressive. My uncle was certainly right about Shikimin's resourcefulness.

Though I will say, Shikimin never did made heads or tails of the microwave. Probably for the best, I decided.

Upstairs, I quickly showed Shikimin my parents' bedroom, and then my own, making sure he knew the difference between the two. It's not that my parents didn't like Pokémon; at this point, my guess was that they bordered somewhere on indifference and caution, for good reason. But as such, they probably wouldn't be too keen on getting surprised in the middle of the night by a large, electrical feline.

When I showed him my room, I was surprised Shikimin didn't immediately check out my alarm clock. Rather, he made a beeline for my bed, hopping up onto it and prancing about on the comforter for a bit, before plopping down. With his muzzle buried in the sheets, and his tail waving contentedly in the air, he began to purr, long and loudly. Curious, I sat down on the bed next to him, intent on giving him a bit of petting. Before I could even reach over, he scooted closer and butt his head against my side, rolling over slightly in the process. He did this funny thing where he flared his nose, before giving it a quick flick with his tongue… I think Uncle Ljeold told me that cats sometimes do that to whet their sense of smell. Or to calm themselves? Maybe?

Either way, it got me thinking, that my bed was probably the single thing in the house that smelled most like me. Well, you know, other than me. And furthermore, that seemed to make Shikimin very happy. “Hmm," I muttered in thought, sluicing my fingers through the contented kitty's black and blue belly fur. “You're gonna want to sleep up here too, aren't you?"

Shikimin gave a simple nod. 'Okay,' I thought; 'That'll be interesting.' Not that I anticipated a problem, I fancied myself a pretty heavy sleeper. I hadn't considered up to that point that he might want to share my bed, but… well, it probably would be fine. Could even be nice, falling asleep with a big, purring ball of cat.

Just so long as he didn't zap me.

After our brief petting break, I decided I was mentally prepared for the daunting task of somehow introducing the growing Luxio to our kitchen. So, I hopped off the bed and began to lead Shikimin back downstairs. But as it happens, we never made it that far; Shikimin, passing in front of the second floor master bath, gave a meow of interested before prodding open the door and shimmying his way inside. “Huh? Ah, that's the other bathroom," I explained. I briefly worried he'd set about investigating each and every one of my mom's styling instruments – the curling iron, the hair dryer…

But rather, he made his way straight to the shower bath. Rearing up on the side of the tub, he poked his head around, seemingly taking special interest in the showerhead hanging from the wall. Turning to me, he gave another loud meow, this time a little more… excited than the last.

“That's where we're gonna get you cleaned up, later," I said with a teasing chuckle, sitting down on the side of the tub next to him. What an adventure that would be, trying to clean such a large feline without making a gigantic mess. “Uncle Ljeold probably washed you up in something like this while you were living with him, I'm guessing? You didn't… give him too much trouble, did you?"

The apparently eager Luxio just meowed again, and suddenly reached out to paw at the faucet knobs. Of course, it was just a playful gesture; he wouldn't be able to get the bath going without quite a firm twist. Still, I laughed and played along. “You'd better be careful, or you'll get yourself all wet!"

The threat of a soak didn't seem to dampen Shikimin's excitement. He hopped a bit in place, tail lashing back and worth; a clear invitation to play. He licked his nose again… “What, you want to get a bath now?" I asked in amusement. “I uh… didn't peg you as the kind of Pokémon that'd like water."

Shikimin shook his head, but continued to prance about eagerly, occasionally reaching out at the faucet knobs again. It took me a minute to realize he was still staring at the spout at the top of the wall.

“What… the shower?"

A nod.

“You want a shower," I reiterated, my face blanketed in disbelief. Shikimin gave another affirmative meow. Color me surprised: so he wasn't adamantly opposed to water. And, in fact, seemed rather interested in it. “Hmm… that'll kinda make a mess. You have to close the shower curtain to keep the water in," I went on to explain. I grabbed the white, plastic sheet that hung from the top of the shower, illustrating my point. “And that'd make it a little hard to wash you up. Unless I was, like, in the shower with you at the same time or something."

At this, Shikimin nodded and meowed again. “I – that wasn't a suggestion!" I laughed, but he would have nothing of it. He paced back and forth along the side of the tub, butting forcefully against me, as if intent on shoving me backwards into the tub. “Man, me and my big mouth. First you want to sleep in my bed, now you want to shower with me, too?"

Another nod.

“Well gee. If that isn't gay, I don't know what is," I muttered under my breath, barely loud enough to hear myself. But I did hear myself, and I think I regretted those words immediately. In truth, Shikimin was being pretty adorable – his enthusiasm was contagious – and, regardless of what I thought about my sexuality at that moment, I think his touchy-feely-ness was rubbing off on me. I suppose, when I thought about it, if he were just some pet, I probably wouldn't have had any problem showering with him… or letting him sleep on my bed with me.

But, of course, Shikimin was not a pet. He was smart. He probably had some idea as to what nudity meant, even if he more or less was always in the nude. If I were having a sleepover with another human friend, I certainly wouldn't have invited them to come shower with me. That would be weird.

On the other hand, I didn't ask Shikimin to shower with me. He asked me to shower with him.

So was it… really that weird?

“You know what? Fine, let's do it," I said with a shrug. Uncle Ljeold told me to keep an open mind, so I tried to do just that. Perhaps it wasn't weird to Shikimin. So why not let him have his fun? My parents wouldn't be home until later, anyhow, so… you know, couldn't hurt to try.

Still, I was not entirely sure what I was getting myself into.

I gave the knobs a few turns. Water came pouring out of the bath faucet, loudly drumming against the bottom of the basin. Then, I closed the curtain and flicked the latch just above the spout, redirecting the water up to the showerhead. The plumbing coughed for a second, before the shower hissed and a cold rain came pouring down, scattering Shikimin and I from the side of the tub until it could heat up.

Closing the bathroom door, I hesitantly began to strip. I turned around as I did, doing what I could to preserve at least a little bit of modesty. Though, it was probably an inevitability that he'd be seeing me nude at some point, since it looked like he was interested in sharing my bed with me. I'd not worn pajamas in many, many years and, awkwardness be damned, I wasn't going to start to again.

Either way, Shikimin didn't seem to pay any particular attention to me as I undressed.

With the water suitably warm, I slipped into the shower, holding the curtain for Shikimin. Before he joined me though, he shuffled over to the air vent on the floor and brushed it with his paw. There was a crackling sound. The lights in the house flickered momentarily, as did his fur coat. Was he… grounding himself? That must have been what he was doing. Sure enough, when he hopped into the shower with me, it was like he was any other ordinary, non-electric animal. What an unfortunate surprise that would have been for me, had he not discharged himself. “Huh. Uncle Ljeold sure taught you a lot, didn't he?" I muttered in wonder.

Hearing me, Shikimin turned and cast me this silly grin. Then, he arched his back and slapped his forepaws down in front of him, splashing me with water. I snickered – so, this was playtime for him, after all. I had to brace myself against the wall as he batted my legs with his wet paws, to prevent myself from slipping. “Jeez, okay, okay!" I went on laughing, finally giving up and sitting myself down on the shower floor. Better to sit than stand and fall. Shikimin, now quickly dissolving into a veritable mop of fur, crawled across my lap, rubbing his side against my chest, back arched in typical cat form.

“We should probably get you washed up, you know," I said as I wiped some water from my face. It took some convincing to get Shikimin out of my lap – he was being quite playful – he probably didn't even care about getting washed at this rate. This was just an opportunity for him to roughhouse with me… or, uh, rub against me. I cleared my throat loudly. “C'mon, either you can let me help wash off all that gravel, or you can give yourself a tongue bath later."

That got him out of my way pretty quickly.

Once free, I sifted through the soaps and shampoos. Though, it struck me that we didn't necessarily have anything to wash a Pokémon with. I frowned at our selection. Well, there's another thing neither I, nor my parents, had considered. Nothing explicitly said 'Safe for Pokémon,' or even 'Safe for animals.'

I bit my lip. “Well… I guess we're all animals, here," I muttered to myself. One way or another, I was pretty sure that no matter what soap I put into Shikimin's fur, he wasn't going to be happy about it if he tried to groom himself later. I attempted to select the most unscented, inoffensive looking shampoo I could. Opening the bottle, I offered it to Shikimin. “You think you can at least cope with this, just for today?"

The sopping wet cat Pokémon sniffed the open bottle. Just as I thought he might tolerate it, he recoiled sharply, gagging for several seconds as if overcome by a hairball. “Hm. I'll take that as a 'No.'" I'd have to go do some research on this later, I decided. “Alright then, no shampoo today. We'll just have to get you as well-rinsed as possible this time."

Shikimin plodded back over to where I sat, allowing me to run my fingers through his fur. Unsure of the 'optimal' bathing technique for Pokémon, I pretended I was lathering shampoo into my own hair… even though no shampoo was actually being used. Fingers curled like claws, I scritched and scratched, up and down his neck and shoulders and chest and back, working the water deep into his undercoat. A warm tingling sensation emanated from the wet Luxio, like there was still a bit of remnant electricity in his fur. It never shocked me, but it did feel ticklish. The big cat purred contently as I worked at his fur, and between his rumbling and the faint static coming off of him, it felt a bit like my hands were getting massaged back.

Sometimes, it was hard to tell if Shikimin was more lion or more housecat; with the way he craned his head and arched his spine as I moved down his back, it was definitely housecat shining through. When I scratched his lower neck, his shoulders pressed up into my touch; his back rolled like a wave, following my fingers as if drawn to a magnet, until I stopped at his flank, and his fuzzy rump was up in the air.

But Shikimin's real weak spot, it turned out, was his belly. My fingers moving through his short tummy fur elicited a cute little growl, his fangs bared in the image of a blissful grin. He gave a happy wobble, all of the strength gone from his legs. Without further protest, he collapsed on his side, against my leg. With a twist of his back and a kick of his legs, he rolled himself the rest of the way around until he was belly-up, practically begging for more petting.

“You can have your petting time in a minute," I told him, before seizing his raised forepaw. “Now, hold still for a sec…"

Grabbing a washcloth, I carefully but firmly scrubbed Shikimin's paw pads, and between his toes, where all the dirt had accumulated from our walk. He writhed in my lap a bit, craning his head back against my stomach. Whenever I got between his pads, every digit on that paw would reflexively spread and curl, and I swear a few times I thought I heard the cat cough back a snicker. Was he actually enjoying this? Or was he just really ticklish? Either way, I was glad I had the washcloth, because more than once, his claws involuntarily came out, seizing the poor bath linen in a grip of death.

“Okay, that's uh… one down," I laughed, moving onto his other forepaw when I felt I'd gotten all the grime off the first one. He was a little more amiable with his left paw than his right, but I still had to tread carefully around his claws. Finally came his hind paws; rather than try to reach across him and try to pull his leg closer to me, I shimmed out from under him and moved around until I was on his tail side. The water beat against my neck and back, temporarily giving Shikimin a dry zone.

Except that, of course, he was already wet.

His hind paws were no easier than his forepaws – harder, actually – though he didn't have as much of an inward grip with his claws, he did have a kick. And that kick hurt. Shikimin gave an occasional ticklish snort as I tried to clean his rough paw pads, trying as best he could to not kick me in the chest a second – then third – time. His tail, too, began to be a bit of a problem: it flailed around, much less under control than the Luxio's legs, smacking me in a few places I didn't want to acknowledge.

“Gah! Just… hold still," I said, still laughing… mostly out of frustration, but partially because I'd just gotten a face full of tail and decided that it was somehow funny. Shikimin didn't respond to me, though. He was leaning against the back slope of the bath basin, forepaws over his face. Still grinning. His leg gave an errant twitch. “Uh… you alright?"

What I got was a long, unsteady sigh. He did that tongue thing again, his paws still draped over his snout. Actually… the blue fur that covered most of his muzzle was beginning to look a bit crimson. His leg twitched a few more times in a steady rhythm, and I looked down to see if I'd accidentally hurt him, or –

– And that was how I found myself suddenly staring at two inches of spiny cat gender.

I wasn't… uneducated in terms of sex anatomy, but the schools simply didn't teach anything about Pokémon. So, what I was presented with was really rather alien. It was slightly curved and kinda thin, especially at the tip where it came to a tapered point. The head was covered in what looked like tiny bristles… I watched in morbid fascination as they rose and fell, unable to comprehend how an animal could mate with such a violent-looking tool. Its skin tone was also much more red than I was expecting, though it became very dark, almost black, right at the base where it disappeared into a small sheath of skin.

The… thing, was also twitching, in time with Shikimin's leg, and a long, thin rivulet of something pearly white was streaked across the feline's lower stomach.

And it was about then I realized I'd been staring.

“Oh! Fu – ah, jeez, sorry!" I stammered, quickly relinquishing his twitching paw and crawling back a few feet. “Sorry, sorry! I didn't… I wasn't even paying attention to –"

But the feline Pokémon was not paying attention to my senseless babbling. Peeking out from under his forepaws, he looked down at himself in… well, no. I guess I really had no idea what was going on behind that face of his. He was flushed, for sure, and panting hard, with his little pink tongue poking out of his mouth. For a moment, he just kinda sat there, his member occasionally giving a little throb. Finally, with a low growl, he reached down between his legs with one of his forepaws, until his length was squeezed between two of his digits. And then his hips jerked.

Whatever I had been trying to say to him, I stopped, aghast as the Luxio quite literally pawed himself off in front of me. It was quick – quick enough that I didn't have time to realize I was staring again – his hips rolled faster than I could blink, sliding his mating tool through his wet paw in quick, shallow thrusts. Maybe five seconds later, he stopped, back suddenly arched, fangs clenched. Another snarl. The barbs on his member flared up at once as he released maybe three quick spurts of cat jizz onto his foreleg and chest.

Finally, I wrenched my eyes from the display between his legs, shaking my head hard as if trying to awaken from a trance. Shikimin was peering up at me again – still flushed, still panting – he gave his nose yet another lick, and then meowed at me. “I – I wasn't staring!" I blurted out, averting my gaze with a guilty blush. Shikimin saw through that, of course. I could hear him snicker at me, even under the drumming of shower water. “I… okay sorry, I was staring."

With an agile twist of his spine, Shikimin rolled around onto all fours again, hiding his slowly retreating sex from my wandering eyes. I'm not sure what I was expecting from him then, but I was definitely surprised when he padded over to me and affectionately butt his head against my chest. It was as if nothing had happened. A loud purring filled the shower as he nuzzled me, and for a moment, I couldn't help but chuckle… embarrassed though I was. “I uh… guess I got you a little excited with the whole foot massage thing, huh?" I teased, trying to make light of my weird little accident. “Look, can we just, like, pretend this didn't haAAa~?!"

My voice cracked and jumped perhaps two full octaves, and whatever was left of that sentence was gone. My entire body froze, as if I were some small animal that had just been scruffed. Looking down, I realized that I'd gotten myself extremely hard watching Shikimin get off, and that Shikimin, realizing this, had given me a lick there – a lick that had not finished, actually – hearing my weird, high-pitched protest, Shikimin had paused with his bristly tongue about half-way up my cock. His mouth was still agape, giving me a frighteningly good look at his fangs. He stared up at me in concern, as I stared down at him in terror. Neither of us dared to move.

The words seemed to slip from my mouth. “… Oh god that's good."

My heart rate started to race when I realized what I'd just said. All the blood in my body was, at that moment, concentrated in my loins, or in my face. The shower seemed to spin briefly, and then I was lying against the side of the shower with a sore shoulder. Something like the last fifteen seconds seemed like a distant dream. I had stopped breathing – I caught my breath hard, my nervousness causing me to sputter awkwardly until I was more or less laughing. “H – h-heh. Haahh, hah…" I gasped, bringing my hands to my face. I was burning up. Had I just… passed out for a second?

And why couldn't I stop laughing?

Shikimin meowed at me again, jolting me back into reality. Concern. Of course, I'd just fallen over, I guessed… while sitting. “Hh-hheh. I'm f-fine. Fine! I'm okay!" I sputtered between awkward chuckles. “I'll be fine… just need a sec."

I took a few hard breaths, then swallowed. It was harder than I expected. My heart rate gradually came back down, and I looked over at Shikimin, who was still peering over at me. A giddy rush washed over me up as I considered what had just happened. “Okay, we are… never discussing this with anyone," I clarified, grinning at the electric Pokémon. “But ah… would you, like… do that again?"

Shikimin's ears perked at the lewd request, his tail giving an excited flick. He paused though, cocking his head a bit – another meow.

“…Would you?" I asked again. My face was aflame with embarrassment, but I just couldn't not ask anymore. Something in my rationality had been turned off – maybe it was my slip – it wad replaced instead with burning curiosity. The only thing I could think about was how his tongue had felt… and maybe a dozen other naughty things along the same lines. It was bad – it was so bad – thoughts and perversions I never knew existed. Was this always a part of me, only just now come to the surface? Would this continue to be a part of me?

For better or for worse, Shikimin gave a nod… and I think he was grinning too, now. He gave his nose another lick – why did he keep doing that? And why did I find it so cute? – stepping over my leg, he settled himself down just in front of me. My heart beat a little faster again, as he leaned in; he just nosed it, this time, as if testing me. My cock jumped a bit when his cold nose made contact, but I managed to hold the rest of myself still. Didn't want to startle the poor guy again…

So he licked it. I held my breath as he did – the sensation was so incredibly intense – his tongue, like at least one other part of his anatomy I guess, had hundreds if not thousands of little bristly spines. They weren't exactly sharp, but it was more than a little noticeable against my sensitive organ. His tongue curled around my length as he gave it a slow, careful lap from base to tip, the rubbery spines dragging along like a soft brush… a wet, warm, fleshy brush.

Okay, that's not a sexy image. But it sure as hell felt good.

He licked again, and again, slowly investigating my male parts, looking up at me every now and then as if to make sure I'd not passed out a second time. Within a few seconds, the rough texture of his tongue stopped being so over-stimulating. It was still intense, but I no longer felt like I might jump out of my skin at any moment. It was… peculiar. It was good.

Almost on their own, my hands found their way under Shikimin's jaw. I gave him an encouraging scratch, quickly getting a purr out of him – his tongue carried the vibrations to my cock, and my toes curled as I fought to stay still. Fuck this was good. Why did this have to feel so good?

Still, there was something more I wanted now. Slowly, I tried to coax Shikimin up to the tip of my shaft. He cooperated, giving the head a little lick when he got there and forcing a less than masculine grunt out of me. My loins began to stir, but I held myself back. I had to try this. Carefully curling my thumbs around his gums, I – as gently as I could – pried his jaw open. He seemed to get where I was going with this, and just rolled with it, letting me 'manipulate' him at my pace. His tongue lolled out as his muzzle opened wide, showing me his sharp fangs, and the dark red abyss of his throat. Swallowing hard, I slowly, very slowly, began to lower him down over my cock.

I watched, half in anticipation, half in terror, as my very delicate male bits disappeared inside the Luxio's maw, guided by my own two hands. I could feel his breath along my shaft now, warm and slow. He gradually closed his muzzle around me, until he secured me with a very, very soft bite. His front most fangs barely touched my skin, but they were absolutely there; his much sharper canines surrounded me on both sides. My length came to rest against his tongue, which was wet and slippery and still very rough. And… it was vibrating.

“Oh fuck…" I breathed, almost forcing myself to close my eyes. My manhood gave a happy throb within its dangerous prison, tickled by fangs, caressed by breath… Shikimin couldn't lick me anymore, but he could kind of move his tongue around, back and forth. And he did just that. And it was crazy. I don't know if it was more from the sensations or more from the thrill, but pretty soon I had stars dancing in my vision. I shot right past the point of no return before I knew what was happening. “S-Shikimin… I, ah… oh fffff~"

Unable to hold myself in anymore, I gave another grunt and let loose. A torrent of spunk shot from my virgin manhood, running right down Shikimin's gullet. He flinched as I fired off my first shot, giving me a bit harder of a bite than I was ready for. Yelping, I grabbed his head to hold him in place. His throat squeezed around the head of my cock, and I yelped again, this time in bliss. Fifteen seconds I held him there, unable to let go, unwilling to let go, his throat contractions milking me in an unbelievably sensual manner. I could not believe I was doing this.

I could not believe how amazing it felt.

A shiver brought sense back to my limbs as I came down from my high, and I carefully released Shikimin. There was no… elegant way to pull a cock out from half way down his throat, so he kind of just yanked back. I flinched as his fangs came free, leaving several red marks near the base of my shaft. No blood, fortunately. That would have been awkward to explain to someone.

Shikimin wasn't having a great time, either. A pang of guilt intermingled with the warm buzz of a recent orgasm – I'd just been choking him, hadn't I? He coughed for a few seconds as he tried to get air back down his irritated throat… before abruptly switching to gagging. It only lasted a brief moment, but he was not a happy cat afterwards. Ears down, tails between his legs, snout contorted; his tongue lashed out, over and over. I could see the mess I'd made, dribbling from his lips, and he spat a few times as he tried to cleanse it from his mouth.

“Ah… it doesn't taste very good, huh?" I asked, realizing what Shikimin was so bent out of shape about. He shook his head vehemently and gave a great, long hack, before spitting out another wad of spunk. The hot shower water swiftly carried the saliva and semen down the drain. “Jeez… sorry about that, I guess."

Shikimin unsteadily sauntered back over to me, where he… kind of rubbed himself against me, like he'd done before. Well, he tried. A little tired, and a little dizzy, his footing was off, and he more or less just slumped against me. Lying down across my leg, he nuzzled my thigh, and once more he began to purr. At that, my worry began to dissipated and, with a sigh, I leaned back against the side of the tub again. The water was slowly losing heat, but I didn't mind sitting here for a bit longer. I ran my fingers through Shikimin's soaked fur with one hand, and scratched his neck with my other. “I… still really don't understand what just happened," I admitted as I pet him. As my hand wandered to his belly, I inadvertently sluiced through something slick and sticky, reminding me Shikimin had one more mess that needed to be cleaned up. “You didn't, like… plan this, did you? Was this why you wanted to shower with me in the first place?"

The tired Luxio gave an amused-sounding snort, but shook his head no.

“I see…" I muttered. “Did you, uh, enjoy it though?"

At that, he gave a definite nod.

~~~

The two of us continued to talk for a while, I remember – for a long time, until the shower grew cold and the two of us were rather turning to prunes – but the remnants of that conversation grew muddled until they ultimately vanished into the back of my unconscious. A few formless memories danced in my head, in no particular order: Shikimin, looking like a giant ball of fuzz for a few hours once he was dry; minutes earlier, my mom walking in on the two of us toweling off. Boy did she ask a lot of questions; later that night, the two of us crawling into bed together, smiles on our faces.

Before I knew it though, I was 22 again. Still in bed, but in Cianwood, rather than Blackthorn. Shikimin still slept with me, though he was a much larger Luxray now, rather than a waist-high Luxio. I wiped my eyes, looking around. The clock on the dresser read 6:12 AM, and just a bit of ambient sunlight was starting to come through the window.

Two yellow eyes peered up at me from the foot of my bed. Shikimin, the notoriously light sleeper that he was, always knew the moment I was awake… for whatever reason. He gave a quiet, low growl of concern. I chuckled, shaking my head. “Don't worry… wasn't the nightmare this time," I whispered. Still, he shuffled up the mattress to my side, where he lied down again. Gently, his muzzle came down on my shoulder, tickling my cheek with his whiskers. His weight against me was… calming, and I gave a long sigh. “Mmm… when did you become such a big softie, huh?"

Shikimin replied with a little huff, a blast of warm breath rolling across my face. Other than that, he simply ignored me. Closing his eyes, he went back to his catnap… at least for a few minutes.

Though, as the clock on the desk slowly ticked its way up to 7:00, I began to figure I wasn't getting back to sleep again, and thoughts of the coming day wiggled their way into my head. Thinking about the Buizel from the other day, I gave Shikimin a little nudge.

“So I was thinking…" I said softly, turning towards the big cat's upturned ear. “How'd you like to go to the beach today?"