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[b][u][center]Pokémon Polyamory

Chapter 9: Old Colleagues

Sponsored by Lorvianne

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

Waking up to having a snake wrapped around his chest wasn’t exactly something that he was used to, but Jared would be the first to admit that it felt better than having Snugs wrapped around his head. Sure, it might have made it a little hard to breathe, but better that than having someone wrapped around his head to the point where he couldn’t even think.

He patted the snake’s head, and Snugs opened one eye.

“Mmm…”

“Let me guess. You can talk now?”

“…Maybe,” the Ekans said.

“Yep. You can.”

“Mmm. Good. Hehehehe. Hehehehehehehe…yesssssss.”

It wasn’t even a hissed ‘s’ sound, just a long, extended, happy yes. The Ekans uncoiled from his chest, leaning up and booping him on the nose. Jared chuckled, patting the snake on the head again.

“Well, looks like there’s two of you that can talk to me now.”

“Hehehe…I’m glad. It’s good to talk to –”

“Boop.”

Jared tapped the snake on the nose, and just like before, Snugs jerked back, mouth hanging open, eyes utterly wide in shock. His mouth hung open and he sputtered. The sight of a sputtering snake, not to mention the sound of it, was nearly enough to make Jared break out in a giggle.

“Why the boop?!”

“Why not?”

“I do the boopins here! Nyeh!”

Boop. Jared blinked as he got a gentle head-butt to the nose, staring at the smirking snake.

“Gotcha.”

“…You have a very interesting personality.”

“I am the winner.”

The snake slithered off his chest, and if there was a way for a serpent to slither and strut at the same time, that was precisely what Snugs was doing. He bobbed his head back and forth as he worked his way up and down the spare room, and he looked utterly pleased with himself.

All in all, it was probably one of the better ways to wake up.

Shaking his head with a small, bemused chuckle, Jared swung his legs off the side of the couch. He was cleaner than he expected to be after the long walk here and falling asleep in slightly sweaty clothes, but considering the fact that he was on a time limit, he didn’t want to waste any more time getting clean, so that worked out. He stretched his neck to one side, then the other, cracking it in the process.

“Ugh…now…Let’s see if we can find Kurt.”

“Kurt?” Snugs stopped, slithering over and coiling at his feet. “Who’s Kurt?”

“Someone that I’m supposed to meet down here. Kind of…well, it’s a bit over your head right now. I’ll explain after the meeting, okay?”

“Sure, but…just be careful, huh?”

“Why are you telling me that now?”

“Well, you did get attacked by angry fan-girls.”

“…Did Croccy tell you that?”

“No, we just kinda heard it from inside,” Snugs admitted.

“We?”

“Me and the others. We could hear it in the pokéball.”

“…Well, that’s news for me.”

“You’re going to be careful, right?”

“Don’t worry. I will be.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good. Because I don’t want to squeeze someone for hurting you.”

He imagined that Snugs could do a lot of damage by doing that, and he imagined that it would be a lot more towards humans than Pokémon. Much as he appreciated the loyalty, he made a mental note to set aside some time with his Pokémon to start talking about rules. After all, he needed to make sure that none of them got taken away from him, and if they started beating up people for him making stupid decisions…

Well, that’d be a quick trip towards the police station for him.

Calling Ekans back into the ball with a gesture and a word, he glanced out the window. The sun was still up, though not by much. At a guess, he imagined that there was about three hours of daylight left, if that, and that was probably giving it a bit more than it deserved.

Still, should be enough to meet with Kurt before the night fell.

He pulled his shoes back on and left the room. As soon as he reached the lobby for the Pokémon Center, one of the nurses waved at him.

“Hey, we’ve finished working on your Bellsprout.”

“Good. What was wrong with him?” Jared said, dropping any of the affection that he’d had for Snugs and going back to basic civility.

“Nothing. He was just recovering from HM installation.”

“That’s something that needs recovery time?”

“Well, it [i]is[/i] installing a bit of data directly into their brains, sir,” the nurse said, shaking his head. “I imagine that if you were having something shoved into your brain, you’d need some time to put your head back on straight, too.”

“…That’s…a good point. Sorry.”

“It’s alright. It [i]is[/i] safe, but it’s still a bit of a big thing for a Pokémon to do, particularly one that’s so inexperienced.”

Jared nodded absently, looking down at the pokéball. He hadn’t even thought about that, and he imagined that it was something that most other trainers didn’t think about either, at least, past the point of making sure that they were able to use their Pokémon after getting that move in their brains.

[i]We’re basically programming them with that disk, then…Fucking…[/i]

Making another mental note to apologize to Lurch the second that the Bellsprout came out of the ball, he tucked it against his belt. Before the nurse could hustle away, however, he waved them back.

“Look…sorry, about that. I know that was a stupid question, but…I was worried.”

“Apology accepted. And it’s good that you’re worried. Not many people that bring their Pokémon through here are.”

“They should be.”

“Should and would are two different states of being.”

“Yeah, but…fuck. Anyway. Can you tell me where to find Kurt?”

The nurse arched an eyebrow, the mustaches on his face twisting and twitching a bit as he looked back and forth. Recognizing the behavior of someone covering for someone else, Jared put two and two together.

“I’m not from Team Rocket. I’m here for something else.”

“Yeah? What can you do to prove that?”

“Not much.”

“Tell you what. You punch one of their Grunts in the face, and I’ll tell you where Kurt is.”

“Deal.”

“Huh?”

“Just have a first aid kit ready.”

#

“I can’t believe you just punched a Grunt in the face!”

Jared rolled his eyes as he sat on one of the medical tables in the backroom. The whole idea had been a bit of an idiotic one, he had to admit, but he had no issue with getting into fights with other people. Particularly with people that he knew were assholes.

Of course, usually, he did that one on one, not with three other guys backing his target up. He groaned as the needle poked through some of the torn flesh on his forehead, pulling it back together with a few stitches. Pokémon medicine was fairly advanced, and some of it was applicable to human problems – Burn Heals were wonderful, for example – but potions and other such things only worked on Pokémon. He had to deal with the old-fashioned methods of getting himself put back together. In this case, that meant a bandaid over his lips, a set of three stitches along his forehead, and an ice-pack for his jaw.

“Seriously, what were you thinking?”

“You wanted me to prove that I wasn’t part of Team Rocket, right?”

“Well, yeah, but –”

“Now you know.”

“Crazy…”

“You going to tell me where Kurt is or not?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you, after I make sure that you’re not on something. Don’t want some drugged-up crazy meeting with him.”

“Yeah. Can’t blame you there.”

Jared shook his head, resisting the urge to rub the side of his face where the ice-pack was pressed. He knew that he needed to keep his jaw chilled in order to keep it from swelling, and he doubted that he was going to get away with anything less than a fair few bruises.

[i]He was right about one thing. That was crazy.[/i]

And it had been risky, besides. Sure, it felt good to punch one of those assholes in the face, but at the same time…At the same time, even though they were criminals, they could call someone on him. If the cops weren’t rooting Team Rocket out of the streets, that meant that they didn’t have anything to fear from the cops here, and that meant, in turn, that he had everything to be concerned about.

Yeah, that had been pretty stupid.

Jared rubbed his forehead after the last of the stitches had been put in, a little bit of anesthetic following. The nurse stood up, taking off his gloves with a shake of his head.

“I’ll be back in a minute. Just have to run the test on one of your hairs to make sure you’re not on anything.”

“Yeah, you do that.”

“I have your permission?”

“Yep.”

The nurse walked off, and he leaned back on his arms. Knowing better than to lie down just in case all the blood rushed up to his head and caused a problem, he took a deep breath and rolled his head around slowly. A feeling of dizziness followed, and he was rather thankful that he was sitting down rather than standing up.

[i]Well…at least we’re making progress.[/i]

He rolled his legs over to the side of the exam table, leaning forward a bit and then leaning back, not trusting himself to stay still for long. His pokéballs hung a bit heavy on his belt, and he imagined that Croccy and Snugs, at the very least, were formulating some words to have with him later.

And he probably deserved it. He’d give them the chance to let him have it, this time.

Eventually, the nurse came back, shaking his head.

“I don’t know how, but you’re clean.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“You’re nuts.”

“I know.”

“…I really shouldn’t be doing this, but you’re obviously not one of them. Kurt’s over in a house that’s halfway hidden in the woods. An old abandoned building, one of those houses that got overtaken by the forest that nobody bothered to dig out again, you know?”

“I know the kind of place.”

“There. Now you know where he is. Don’t cause any more trouble, okay?”

“Heh…”

[i]No promises.[/i]

He got to his feet, wobbling for a moment before he found his balance, and then nodded his thanks at the nurse one more time. It wasn’t the easiest or happiest nod with the giant headache that was starting to build behind his eyes, but at least it was something.

By the time that he stepped outside, sunset was well and truly underway, and he doubted that there was any chance of getting much beyond a meeting done before it was completely dark.

Thankfully, the Rockets were off the streets, too. Either they were reporting back to Proton that some screwball had attacked them out of nowhere – which he’d love to be a fly on the wall to hear about – or they were getting tucked into bed wherever they were basing themselves. Either way, it meant that he had a free shot without someone following him…hopefully.

He let Shimmer out of its pokéball, and the Pidgey immediately took to the sky, flitting about over his head. He knew that the bird would call out if it saw anything following them, and while it wasn’t as bright out as he imagined that the flyer would like, it wasn’t yet night.

With that done, he set a course for the edge of town, making his way towards the hills and ridges to the forests that overlooked Azalea. He imagined that there’d be plenty of Pokémon between them and the house, and he winced at the thought of fighting his way through all the Grass-types out there…or worse, Bugs.

A shiver ran down his spine, and into the forest they went.

It wasn’t as bad as he feared, though not as good as he hoped. There were quite the variety of Caterpies inching along, and there was a plethora of Weedles in the branches overhead. He could hear the soft hum of a few more powerful bugs further on, too, and he shook his head, wanting to push forward as fast as possible.

Not that he could, unfortunately. The undergrowth was thick and plentiful around the forest edge, and it seemed like the people in town did nothing to push it back. No wonder it had started reclaiming houses. The whole place seemed like it was on the verge of launching an all-out, year-long assault to claim another row of them if the townsfolk didn’t do something about it.

He was just about to mutter another complaint when he stumbled over something big, pink, and slow.

“Gah-ah-ooof!”

Jared managed to catch himself with one arm, but it still jostled his head around. The sudden dizziness, the spike in pain along his lip and head, and the general discomfort of having an ice-pack swung forward and then swung back was more than sufficient to leave him feeling beaten up all over again. Even so, he managed not to pass out, though that was a bit of a close call.

“What…the hell…”

He turned around, sitting down while he collected himself, and found himself face to face with a Slowpoke. Blinking at the little guy, he started to reach out, intending to shift it out of the way, only to notice something he’d missed at first.

The Slowpoke didn’t have a tail.

[i]…Oh, you sons of bitches…[/i]

He crawled over to the tail end of the Slowpoke, looking down at the missing piece. It was clear that it had been caught off, and while it had been done quickly and smoothly, it had not been done painlessly. The flesh was still inflamed, and it had obviously been treated with very little medicine, if any. He could still see the damn bone sticking out from where it had been lopped off, for crying out loud.

“Sloooooow…”

[i]It has to have felt that by now…[/i]

He knew that someone would argue that Slowpokes wouldn’t feel it, but they were [i]fucking[/i] wrong. Slowpokes had a delay to what they felt, yeah, but that delay also meant that they had whatever they felt stretched out far longer than the average Pokémon. Something that would be over in an hour for a Pidgey, for example, would take a day, or longer, for a Slowpoke.

By doing this, Team Rocket had essentially doomed the Slowpokes to days of torment, if not weeks, and they’d left them in seriously horrible conditions. And why? No reason that he could see.

His blood was boiling, so much so that he didn’t even hear someone come up behind him until there was a poke against the back of his neck.

“Appreciate you getting so angry for them, sonny, but you better be telling me what you’re doing so close to my home.”

Jared slowly turned, glancing over his shoulder. Standing behind him was an older man, white-haired with a gnarled old branch in his hand. Either a club or a walking stick or both, it looked thick enough to brain someone.

“Guessing you’re Kurt.”

“That’d be me. You must be the idiot that punched out a Rocket.”

“Heh. You’d be right.”

“Any particular reason?”

“So I could find you. Got told that we needed to talk.”

“Yeah? And who told you?”

“Passcode’s Scylla, I think.”

“Ah, goddammit…”

“You and me both…”

With a groan of more than usual discomfort, he pulled himself to his feet, resisting the urge to shake his head in the process. Glancing at the sky, he got a nod from Shimmer that there wasn’t anyone following, and he called the bird back to his ball. By the time that he’d tucked it into his belt, Kurt had worked up a fair old blue streak, one that was only just starting to taper off into sputters.

He let the old man have it. It was something that he had been muttering under his breath long enough.

When Kurt was done, the old man turned to him again, narrowing his eyes.

“So, you’re the one they sent out here to look into all this trouble. Well…congratulations. You found a whole heaping pile of it.”

“Yeah. I noticed.”

“And you’re all they sent?”

“Yep.”

“Arceus…”

Jared nodded, though he was hoping that the old man would stop with the complaining and get around to telling him what he needed to know sooner rather than later. Kurt kept swinging his walking stick around, hitting trees and – once or twice – almost hitting him.

The third time that he had to dodge around a swing, he grabbed the old man’s stick and took it away. Kurt stumbled, almost falling over before leaning on a tree.

“Sonny, give me my stick.”

“You gonna keep trying to hit me?”

“You – oh. Heh. I was doing that, wasn’t I?”

“Yeaaaaaah.”

“Sorry. I’ll be better about that.”

Nodding, he passed the old piece of wood back.

“So, care to tell me what the fuck is going on with Team Rocket strutting around the place?”

“Couldn’t tell ya what they’re planning, young’un, but they’ve been cutting off the Slowpoke tails.”

“Yeah…” Jared nodded, looking down at the poor thing. “I gathered.”

“All I know is that they’re selling the tails. Cutting them off, selling them at…any price would be outrageous, but they’re making thousands. Thousands, shipping them off and putting them on the plates of stupid rich folk that just want the latest ‘fashion’ in food.”

“…”

“They’re – goddammit, I can’t stand for this any longer!”

Kurt shoved past him, and Jared tumbled over, falling back against one of the trees in shock more than anything else. He yelped as he watched the old man push forward through the greenery, beating the plants in his way out of the path with his walking stick and shouting at the top of his lungs about the foulness of Team Rocket.

[i]So much for getting any information out of him…[/i]

Grunting, he pushed himself upright again, looking back towards the path to the house. He had been planning on talking to Kurt in privacy, but –

Wait.

Wait.

[i]…Shit.[/i]

The people at the Pokémon Center had been reticent about telling him where Kurt was until he proved that he wasn’t part of Team Rocket. That meant that the team probably was looking for Kurt. Which meant that Kurt was heading right towards the very people that wanted him.

Why? Who knew, but it meant that whatever job the criminals were supposed to accomplish had just gotten easier.

[i]Shit, shit, shit![/i]

He pushed himself to his feet, following after the old man and the path he blazed through the forest. Kurt must have been moving quick, though, because he didn’t catch up in the woods. Not nearly fast enough, at least.

#

When he reached Azalea Town again, he found people in the streets. Not a Rocket in sight, but that didn’t mean anything. Sometimes, they were smart enough to dress up as plainclothes. Not often, but sometimes. He slowed down, perking up his ears to listen.

“Did you hear?”

“What happened?”

“Kurt came storming through, and –”

“The idiot, he’s going to get us all in trouble.”

“He chased them right out of the streets and all the way back to the well.”

“Holy – you’re kidding.”

“No, but he hasn’t come back.”

Back to the well. That must have been where Proton had been standing earlier. Jared wanted to slap himself from just how off the rails everything had gone, but he knew better than to waste time. If Kurt had just thrown himself into the hands of Team Rocket, then he needed to take care of this. Fast.

Thankfully, everyone was gathered around the Pokémon Center and the shop, probably not wanting to be seen sympathizing with the agitator. That was how it always went with these things. Someone stood up to the assholes, and then everyone else decided to distance themselves, not wanting to look like troublemakers to the assholes.

[i]It’d be easier if you just did the right thing…Yeah, like I’m one to talk…[/i]

Considering how long it took him to turn evidence against the guys that employed him before, he sure didn’t have a leg to stand on. He’d just have to go and take care of this himself.

As he reached the well, he was surprised to find nobody standing up top. There was a ladder that ran down the side of the well, and a long one, too; it must have been a long time since it had been replaced, but considering that it was bolted into the side of the well, he assumed it was strong enough to hold his weight. And it did look like it had been used recently.

Looking over the side, he saw that it was completely dark going down into the well. He shook his head, tapping his pokéball.

“Lurch, come on out…”

White light flared, followed by the shape of his Bellsprout. The little guy landed on the edge of the well, and no sooner had he made contact with the stone than he started wobbling from side to side, almost falling in before Jared grabbed him by one leaf.

“Yeah, don’t start lurching that way.”

“Beeeeeell…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I just need you to do something for me, okay?”

“Sprout?”

“Yeah, then you can go back into the ball.”

“…Out.”

“Hmm?”

“Out, out.”

Lurch waved its leaves up and down, almost like it was gesturing that it wanted to stay out. Jared raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t have time to ask about it. Nodding down the well, he pointed to the dark depths.

“I want you to use that Flash move that the guy in the cave taught you. Can you do that for me?”

“Be-bell.”

Lurch held out a leaf for him to hold, and he kept a tight grip on it as the little guy leaned over the side of the well. The little plant seemed to open his mouth that much further, and for a second, Jared swore that he saw light blooming in the space inside. Then, thankfully, he got his head out of his ass and turned to look in a different direction.

“SPROUT!”

The flash of light was brighter than lightning, to the point where even though he was looking away, he still had an afterimage of brightness in his face. He blinked rapidly, turning to look at his Grass Pokémon, and was grateful to see that he hadn’t somehow exploded from his move.

Instead, he had a bright light pouring out of his mouth, almost like a flashlight, except exponentially brighter. When Lurch turned to look at him, he had to look away, covering his face to keep from being blinded.

“Ah, ah. Down the well. Look…look down.”

“Be-beeeeeeeeeell!”

And just like that, Lurch latched onto his arm so tightly that he might as well have been a wrist-mounted flashlight. The poor little guy was so terrified of the fall that he refused to let go, just staring straight ahead.

“…Not the original plan, but that works. Hold tight, okay?”

He slowly rolled his leg over the side of the well. As soon as he found a foothold, he started the slow climb down, hoping against hope that he wasn’t going to walk into a catastrophe down at the bottom of the well.

[i]Angry old man…Hope I can be like that when I’m his age…[/i]

If he lived that long, he probably would be. Jared didn’t see himself changing anytime soon.

The ladder was far longer than it had any right to be, and he was just about ready to give up when they finally left the well behind and reached the cave below. He could hear the running water before he saw it, and there, running alongside the water, was Kurt. The old man was swinging his stick with abandon, chasing men in white-and-black outfits all over the underground place.

[i]Well, he’s gotten them mad…[/i]

Shaking his head, he hit the bottom of the ladder and let go. He was just getting his balance back, his head aching from the throbbing in the back of his skull, when he heard a grunt from up ahead.

“Ugh…crazy old man…didn’t think he’d follow us in…”

[i]Great, one of them is still awake…[/i]

He doubted that he’d be able to just take him down with a punch. He’d gotten the crap beaten out of him already, so there was no way that he could take a stand-up fight with someone that was probably in better shape than he was. The idea of getting into a Pokémon battle was not a pleasant one, but…

Jared looked down at Lurch. The little Bellsprout still clung to his wrist as if it had taken root there, and he had an idea.

“You think you can do that move again?” he asked.

“B-bell? Sprout.”

“Okay…here’s hoping that means yes…”

He took a deep breath, crouching down and holding it as he snuck up towards the grunting, complaining thug. The Team Rocket member wasn’t taking any care to be quiet, nor was he doing anything to keep anyone from noticing him. If the townsfolk had just had the spine to come down and check…

Then again, considering what Team Rocket made their Pokémon do…maybe it was for the best that they stayed topside.

Shaking his head, he rounded the rocks to find the Grunt, a young man in his mid-twenties with a beret and the black shit with an R on his chest, just starting to sit down. Jared clenched his hand a bit tighter, looked down at Lurch, and got a small nod in return.

[i]Be fast,[/i] he told himself, and jumped out from behind cover.

“Wha –”

“Flash!”

Bellsprout’s mouth opened again, and a blast of light came shooting free, right into the Grunt’s eyes. The other guy fell over flat on his back, covering his eyes and opening his mouth to scream –

“MMMPH!”

Only for Jared to cover his mouth just in time. The sound died before it could come free, and he pinned the Grunt down, holding him in place.

“Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep…”

It took more than a little bit of pressure to knock the Grunt out, but soon, he was still. He just hoped that it wasn’t another act. Jared let go, panting softly as he glanced down at Lurch again.

“You know, you’re pretty handy.”

“Bell!”

“…We gotta find a way to make it easier to talk without doing…that.”

“Bell?”

“Never you mind. Come on.”

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: Jared leaves the Pokémon Center to go find Kurt, only to find himself chasing after the old man when it turns out that he can’t control his temper any more than Jared can.

Tags: No sex, human, Pokémon, series, fight, fighting, emotional, anger, team rocket, plot,