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[b][u][center]Pokémon Polyamory

Chapter 23

Sponsored by Lorvianne

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

Croccy and Shimmer remained with him as they walked through Ecruteak City toward the Burned Tower. The former hopped and skipped along at his side, the Croconaw keeping his energy high – probably trying to hide some of his nervousness about the ghost types waiting for them – while the latter clenched her talons into his shoulder from time to time. Letting Croccy have a little headway, he turned his head towards the Pidgeotto and lowered his voice.

“Something wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” she muttered, nibbling at one of her feathers. “But I’m getting a feeling. A very…strange feeling.”

“Anything to worry about?”

“Maybe. It feels like a storm.”

Shimmer looked toward the skies, and Jared did the same. There were no signs of clouds in the sky, and the wind was no worse than it usually was. Whatever sort of storm might be in the offing would probably be mild…unless it wasn’t a real storm that Shimmer was feeling.

“We’ll be careful,” he said.

“I would hope so.” She stroked the back of his head with her wing. “My pretty shouldn’t be roughed up.”

“You certainly don’t let up with that.”

“Jared.” She slid one set of talons to the side of his neck, and he swore that she managed to tilt them, almost using them like the back of a person’s knuckles, stroking the side of his neck. “One like me wouldn’t choose to offer themselves to just anyone. I have standards, even if I have that ball hanging from your waist. Trust me. I call you what you are, my pretty.”

“…I’m going to have to think about that.”

“As you wish, so long as you admit that I am telling you the truth.”

She settled herself on his shoulder properly again, and he tried to wipe the budding blush from his cheeks. He didn’t want to have someone asking him what that was about. Most people in Johto seemed to be pretty oblivious to the world around them, particularly if it didn’t involve Pokémon battles, but he didn’t want to risk seeing someone that [i]did[/i] pick up on what he was doing with them.

Particularly as…as some of them didn’t really have the ability to talk.

[i]It’s not just the sex. It’s this…thing that happened to Croccy,[/i] he thought as they walked toward the edge of the city, entering the small forest that surrounded the base of the Burned Tower. [i]Croccy went through something before, that lab…and then it passed to me, I guess…and every time that it passes to one of my other Pokémon, they can talk to me, too…[/i]

There were exceptions. Bright Eyes could do that without sex, due to being a Psychic, but that was going to charge sooner than later, he was sure. There were others that had relations with their Pokémon without having that verbal link, which meant that they were getting something else from it.

But that was besides the point. It was a reminder, just as much as the dream of the lab had been the night before. He had to keep focused, keep on that mission, or…

Well, he didn’t know what would happen. He wasn’t going to be arrogant enough to believe that this would spread, but he didn’t know what Team Rocket was doing down there, or what it would cause in the long run. Hybrid Pokémons with humans, perhaps, things that could be wielded as weapons? Or something else, ways of controlling Pokémon without owning them in pokéballs?

He didn’t know what their plans were, but he knew that the longer that he ignored it, or the longer that they went unchallenged, the worse that it was going to be in the long run. He had to be ready to take steps. He had to keep focused.

Croccy waved through the trees at him, jumping up and down. Jared chuckled.

“Find it?”

“Yeah-yeah-yeah, right over here!”

“Alright, show me.”

It didn’t take long to reach the clearing that the tower stood in. Despite being burned down, the remnants of the Burned Tower were still quite stark. Up to the third story still stood, though only in fragments, and he could just make out pieces of the rooftop that had fallen on the upper stories and gotten caught there rather than falling all the way to the ground. More than that, though, he saw the old reliefs that had been engraved and carved into the interior walls, showing art of many species of Pokémon, and many views of the landscape that the tower must have seen over the years.

“Must have been a hell of a place when it was still standing,” Jared muttered under his breath, shaking his head. “How do you think it happened?”

“Lightning,” Shimmer said, and not without a small shiver of fear in her voice.

“How do you know?”

“I can smell it. It still burns here.”

Considering she [i]was[/i] a Flying-type, one of those that would be very weak to electrical attacks, he supposed that she would know. He shook his head, bringing his eyes down –

“Oh.”

The tower’s ruination didn’t stop with the scorched walls and consumed floors. There was a massive hole in the floor right in front of him, one that went into the lower areas of the tower and earth. Croccy had already run right up to it, leaning over the edge and peering downward.

“Wow. That’s deep. Real deep.”

“I’m sure; how about we step away from the edge, hmm?” Jared said.

“Come on. It’s cool.”

“Croccy. Please.”

“Okay, okay,” the Water-type muttered, grumbling as he backed away from the edge. “So, what now? Where’s the ghost guy?”

“Good question.”

He’d hoped to find Morty on his way out of the Burned Tower, but there was no sign of anyone at all. It seemed that the ruined building was more or less abandoned by the town, which was fair enough – after all, there was only so much value one could put on something that burned down who knew how long ago – but it meant that there was less chance of finding whoever the Gym Leader had come to visit.

[i]Unless he’s somewhere IN the tower, I suppose…[/i]

“Shimmer? Could you take a quick flight, see if you can find any tracks?”

The Pidgeotto nodded, taking to the skies. As soon as she was aloft, Croccy nuzzled up to his leg, leaning against him and resting his head nearer to Jared’s hip. Once the bird was further out of earshot, the Water-type sighed.

“Is it going to be bad down there, you think?”

“I don’t know. This [i]is[/i] a ruin, but I don’t think that it’s going to be ghostly. The last time that I was around any of them, well…they left something in the air. Something haunting. This feels different. More…”

“Stormy?”

“Yeah.”

Much as he didn’t know how something like that could linger, that was the only way that he could think to describe what the tower felt like. It was like a storm had hit, and it wasn’t quite done. Something [i]had[/i] happened here, and whatever had started it had led to some serious destruction.

He looked back at the forest. For all that the tower had clearly burned nearly to the ground, there was none of the destruction that he expected in the woods for something that bright and violent. Surely some of the trees would have borne some damage from the destruction to the tower, right? Yet, the bark was as fresh and clean as it could be, and none of the trees showed the usual damage that a forest fire might have brought about.

The more that he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

Shimmer returned, flapping loudly to announce herself before taking her position on his shoulder again. She gestured with one wing toward the left side of the tower.

“The ash was disturbed over on that side; I believe that the Gym Leader might have walked in from there.”

“Awesome!”

Croccy ran off before they could stop him, and Jared gritted his teeth as he chased after the eager ‘mon. He could guess why Croccy was showing so much more energy and eagerness than usual; considering how spooked he’d been at the gym, he probably wanted to prove that he wasn’t afraid of ghosts. This was not the time to be reckless, though, and –

Creak.

Jared’s eyes went wide as he heard the first warning sound. Not under him, but ahead. Croccy was darting over the floorboards to the far side of the hole, and each step made another creak, and another, each one louder than the one that came before.

“Croccy!”

“I’m not going in the hole.”

“Croccy, wait!”

The Croconaw did, and proceeded to start hopping back and forth in place instead. Jared rushed for him, arm outstretched –

CRACK!

But it was too late. The floorboards gave way beneath him, and they both tumbled down. Croccy screamed, flailing his arms and legs, and Shimmer squawked as she flared her wings and let go. Jared bit back his own reaction and tried to tilt himself into a roll, hoping against hope that his momentum would at least keep him from falling on a bad spot.

Fall.

Fall.

Thump. He hit the ground and kept rolling rather than falling flat, taking the impact in one shoulder and spinning forward. Jared bit back the scream that wanted to fly from his lips, just spinning head over heels until he came to a stop six rotations later. He huffed, gritting his teeth from the swelling heat and throbbing pain in his shoulder, reaching up with his good arm to probe at the joint for any serious damage.

[i]Not popped out…no…no clear fractures…[/i]

Okay, that was something. Nothing broken, nothing cracked, hopefully. And he hadn’t knocked it out of its socket, either, which was a serious plus. It was just probably bruised to hell and back after that sort of fall. Air knocked out of his lungs, too, but that was getting fixed the more that he panted for breath, forcing them to inflate again and fill with air.

As he rolled onto his back, he could just make out Croccy. The over-eager lizard had hit the ground hard, and his eyes were closed. Probably knocked out, judging from the hard dent in one of the broken bits of wood near him. No help from that quarter, unfortunately.

“Ugh…”

Jared tried and failed to use his left arm, his shoulder protesting against any serious movement, and had to lean on his right, instead. He pushed himself upright, groaning in discomfort, and wobbled as he looked up at the hole they’d left behind.

“Well, this is just great,” he muttered. “About…twenty feet up?”

“Thirty,” Shimmer said as she descended, landing on his right shoulder and shaking her head. “You are lucky.”

“I learned how to do that a while ago.” And a damn good thing he had; that could have been deadly as hell if he had fallen through without knowing how to take a fall. Sometimes, you learned some useful stuff on the wrong side of the law. “Oof. Should have bought that rope a while back. Least we could have climbed out with that thing.”

“I do not think I can fly you back out.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so, either.” Jared shook his head. “Ugh…Okay…down one arm, down in a pit, and nobody but the Hint-Man knows we’re down here. That’s just peachy.”

“And not alone, either,” Shimmer said, panning her head from side to side. “I can hear other Pokémon wandering around outside the light.”

Not that they had much of that. The basement of the Burned Tower had some light coming through the hole in the ceiling, but it didn’t extend far. He could hear the occasional flutter of wings – probably Zubats – and a couple of other huffing, grunting sounds further in the distance. They were most definitely not alone down here; the local Pokémon had managed to convert it into another one of their habitats.

He doubted that they’d be ‘safe’ in the light, either. Once all the wild ones got used to intruders being a thing, they’d start poking their heads out to see what was going on. Best to move while they were still confused.

“There’s got to be some stairs out,” he muttered getting to his feet with a hiss of pain. “If we can find that, we’ll get out. Wait for Morty back at the gym.”

Where they should have waited to start with, as far as he was concerned. This had been a damn stupid idea, and he shouldn’t have gone through with it. He should have been patient, but no, he started thinking that he needed to get it done [i]fast[/i] rather than get it done [i]well.[/i] Idiot. Just a fucking idiot.

“Shimmer?”

“I will keep watch.”

“Thanks.”

Pulling one of his pokéballs from his waist, he pointed it at Croccy. The unconscious Croconaw turned to light and fell back into the ball, and they began their journey through the underground level of the massive tower.

#

The gust of Shimmer’s wind attacks were far stronger than they had been a few towns back, but Jared could feel how they were slowly losing potency. No less than six battles against isolated Zubats and a Koffing had taken their toll on the bird, and the Pidgeotto returned to him with feathers out of place and clearly struggling to keep herself upright. He supported her with his good hand, and she leaned against it without protest for once.

“You’re not going to be good for much more,” he said. “I’m sorry, but you aren’t.”

“I can do…a few more,” she said. “But…if something stronger comes…”

That was what he was worried about. They were being overwhelmed by sheer numbers so far, and they’d yet to find the stairs. It was like a maze in the underground; every time that they tried to follow the walls around the perimeter, they were blocked off by some fallen wood or stone, and had to turn around and try a different route. And every time that they tried that, one of the locals popped up.

Even now, they were leaning against one of the wooden panels that had once been a wall, surrounded by the ragged remnants of old storage sacks, and they had two different routes. One would take them straight ahead toward the north wall of the basement, the other would take them to the left and into a winding series of pathways. He knew for a fact that they would get ambushed in the latter, but the former, straight path…

He looked down the wood-walled corridor, shaking his head. The darkness at the far end didn’t fill him with confidence, and there was too much space down there for it to be completely empty.

He was just about to take the left turn when a sudden burst of light rounded the corner. Jared backpedaled quickly, barely avoiding setting the edge of his jacket on fire as a Magmar stepped into view. Long-lipped and covered in fair from its head to its tail, the Fire-type seemed to grin as it saw him.

“Ma…ma…”

“Shimmer –”

Before he could stop her, she was already aloft, leaving multiple feathers along his shoulders. He cursed under his breath as she rose as high as she could, the Magmar’s eyes following her rather than him. Jared shook his head and tried to charge towards the Fire-type –

“Nnngh!”

But the sheer heat coming off the other Pokémon pushed him back. The fire was more intense than what he’d get off a campfire, and he knew that if he tried to intervene, he’d just get burned. And badly.

[i]Really bad time for you to be off the team, Croccy,[/i] he thought. [i]You could take this thing out, no problem.[/i]

The Magmar threw its head forward, a stream of fire blasting past its lips. Singed wood glowed orange as the fire traced new lines across the old, burned surfaces, tracking and chasing the bird through the sky.

Jared couldn’t even see where Shimmer had gone, but the bird had to have something in mind. She was flying the fire? Or was she doing something else?

He pulled back, holding one hand over his face as the Magmar spun in place, chasing her with one blast of fire after another. The Flamethrower attacks were more dangerous than the Ember that he was used to seeing, and some parts of the building were already at risk of catching fire again. If the burned wood was taken further, reduced to ash, the whole thing could come down.

“Shimmer!”

He heard nothing in response. Instead, the air filled with a strange itch, and…

[i]Sand attack. You’re doing a sand attack, and –[/i]

Jared threw himself to the ground, and just in time. The air was filled with sand particles and fire, and the result…

Well, it was somewhat predictable.

Shimmer screeched, flapping her wings one more time, and both sand and glass went flying back at the Magmar. The roar of flame turned into the shrieks of pain, and the fire died as the other Pokémon turned to flee. By the time Jared lifted his head from the ground again, there were a few bloody spots where the Magmar had been standing, and more silvery, clear debris from the fire and sand than he expected.

It wasn’t without consequence, though. As he looked up, his Pidgeotto was clearly damaged. Her tail feathers were singed, and one talon looked darkened, burned along the toes. Jared shook his head, immediately reaching for his belt and fumbling for her particular pokéball. She was done.

“I can –”

“No. We’re out of potions, and you’re [i]not[/i] doing any more of that,” he said. “Anything else that comes out can come after me, instead.”

“I will [i]not[/i] let you be tarnished further.”

“Well, Shimmer, this time, you can’t really stop me.”

He found her ball and pulled it free. She didn’t try and dodge the light that summoned her back; maybe she couldn’t. It didn’t matter. At least she’d be safe in the ball. He should have made her back down earlier than that.

Shaking his head, he struggled back to his feet. He could already hear the flapping of more Zubats coming his way, and while he could maybe handle one without the help of his team, he doubted that he could handle more. They were dangerous Pokémon when they came in a swarm, and he remembered the time that swarms of them had been called down on innocent people, the Rockets using them for impromptu executions. It was a bloody business.

He dragged himself forward, taking care to step around the glass shards. With the Magmar having retreated down the side hallway, his only way out was through the one straight towards the north side. Jared pushed himself along, shaking his head.

[i]Just a little further. Just…a little…further.[/i]

And so, he kept walking into the darkness. The fires were already going out behind him, lacking fuel or further fire to keep them going, and what little smoke they put off drifted through the hole in the ceiling above him.

He was just about to step into the room when the flutter of bats stopped him. A chance shift in the light coming through the ceiling let more come through, and it illuminated – if only for a split second – a whole swarm of Zubats. Dozens of them, if not a hundred, were fluttering away just out of sight, and their eyeless faces turned to him as soon as the light struck one side of the swarm.

[i]Oh, Arceus…[/i]

There was no chance against that many. They could strip his blood from his bones in seconds. Jared tried to take a step back, but the swarm was already turning, facing him as they screeched. Their sonic attacks not only froze him in place, but he knew that it would tell the entire swarm where he was. He tottered, almost falling over as the swarm of blue bats flapped toward him.

[i]I’m going to…[/i]

Time seemed to slow, the Zubats on the verge of flooding over him. One was about to bite down on his finger when a white light surged. One of his pokéballs burst open, and the swarm fluttered up, around, backward. They retreated as the light formed into a more solid shape.

“Bright…Eyes?”

The Abra said nothing; they weren’t looking at each other, so the Psychic’s powers couldn’t connect so well. Instead, the small creature stared right at the swarm. Chitinous skin clicked as the Psychic-type rolled his shoulders, shaking his head, all but vibrating as he stared straight ahead.

Whatever he was doing, it didn’t stop the Zubats. They regrouped, turned, twisted around and flowed down the hallway again. They were hungry, coming right for him and Bright Eyes. Jared fought the paralysis that they’d left him in, trying to break through and reach for the ball again –

“NNNNNNNNNNNN!”

It was nothing more than a dull vibration of a sound, one that rippled through the air and cut through the wingbeats of the bats, but it was so loud that it was like being surrounded by a swarm of angry bugs. The corridor bent, the walls cracking sideways, and the Zubats crumpled like they’d been hit over the head with mighty swings. A barely-visible pulse of something passed through the swarm, cutting them down in swathes, reducing them from a hundred-strong to a few dozen, and then to one or two stragglers that tried to flee before they, too, were swatted out of the air.

It took all of three seconds, and by the time it was done, Bright Eyes was swaying on his feet, the small Psychic-type barely keeping himself upright.

Jared wrenched one arm free of the paralysis and pulled the rest of his body out of it shortly after, rushing forward and grabbing the Abra before he could fall backward. Bright Eyes sagged into his arms, huffing and shivering.

“What the hell was that?” he whispered.

“[i]Nnngh…Psychic…power…[/i]”

“You’re exhausted.”

“[i]Yes.[/i]”

“Get in the ball.”

“[i]N…no…[/i]”

“In. The. Ball.”

“[i]…We…talk…tonight.[/i]”

“Sleep now, talk later.”

“[i]…Better.[/i]”

Bright Eyes didn’t seem too well-inclined to take to the ball once more, but he submitted to it regardless. Even as the light of his most troublesome team member faded away, Jared still couldn’t quite believe what had happened. He knew that the Psychic-types were one of the more powerful base types in their own rights. The ability to use the mind to screw with the world around you was a powerful ability, after all, and he knew for a fact that Hypnosis had far more sinister uses than most people were willing to admit.

But to see one of his own Pokémon use something that wasn’t even an official move, using it to cut down threats with just a look and a thought, was more than a trifle scary. Bright Eyes hadn’t been able to transform normally due to his lack of sleep before, but now that he had rested and was more focused, he was able to cut down whole swarms of Zubats at once.

Well, a swarm. Once. And then he was exhausted. Somehow, that made it a lot more comforting, knowing that it was something that still showed that the Abra had limits. Considering some of the other issues that they had between them, that was probably a good thing.

Shaking his head, he got back to his feet. The crack of Bright Eyes’s power had done more than just push the Zubats away. It had opened up the ceiling slightly, allowing light in the dark, and –

“…Oh, come [i]on.[/i]”

It was a massive chamber, alright, and there was even a ladder against the far wall. It had been the right way to go, but there was a major problem before him. Three major problems, as a matter of fact, in the form of three great beasts.

Were they Pokémon? If they were, he had never seen their like. Though they were all vaguely shaped like great hounds – each the size of a person or larger at the shoulder – they all had different colorations and shapes. One was sleek and pointed, blue-white in color with a series of streaking tendrils that came off it, flowing as if blown by an unseen wind. One was brown and red with a gold crown across its head, with a muscular body and a deep stare. The last was yellow and white, with a blue x across its face and long feline fangs that swept across either side of its muzzle.

All three, however, were staring at him…and all three were not looking pleased at having their time interrupted.

“I…”

Jared didn’t know what he might have said to them. The minute the word left his mouth, the yellow one got to its feet. As soon as it moved, the whole room sparked, bolts of lightning leaping from all corners of the room as if they were at the center of a thunderstorm. One paw stepped forward, and the ground cracked with the thunder that followed.

The next stood up, and the brown-red one filled the room with heat. Fire and smoke filled Jared’s nose, leaving him choked out for a half-second, and sweat drenched his clothes. The beast took one step forward, and the earth trembled under his feet.

The final one rose to its feet, and the heat faded, replaced with a humidity so high that it felt as if he was already underwater, choking on it. The world swam before his eyes, and he felt as if he would drown where he stood.

[i]So…strong…[/i]

They stared at him, and he saw…he saw anger, and fear, and so much more. They had the power to break anything that disturbed what they saw as theirs, and they were contemplating whether he was worth the breaking. He could not speak, not even when their eyes glowed and they stared deeper –

[i]He is under my command.[/i]

A deep voice, familiar from the dreams, spoke through him. He did not know what it was, but he knew where it came from. The dreams, the link with the underground facility, and the [i]thing[/i] in there that was pushing him to rescue the Pokémon that were held there: somehow, it was speaking through him…and whatever it was, it had weight with the three beasts, because the pressure in the air faded, and Jared collapsed backwards, grabbing his throat as he wheezed for breath.

The three beasts glanced at each other, and without warning, leaped for the skies. Jared watched them soar out through the hole far above, then split in three directions, disappearing from sight. Shaking his head, he debated just collapsing there. It seemed like a tempting idea…so tempting…

But if he did, there was no telling if the other Pokémon down here would leave him alone. The idea of becoming a feast for a different swarm of Zubats, or worse, the new torch of a sadistic Magmar, was enough to get him back to his feet.

The ladder, thankfully, was slightly sloped, allowing him to climb with only one arm to his name. He leaned against it, more sore than he wanted to admit as he dragged himself further and further up, and his mind raced as he tried to imagine just what he had stumbled onto. He had heard of Legendary Pokémon with power like that, but he’d never experienced it. Even the most powerful Rocket experiments that he’d heard of had never, ever gone that far with what they’d created.

Well, there were legends of one, but…

No, no. This was insane. [i]One[/i] of those would have been insane enough; all three of them together felt like something that would break people, the world, and more.

He reached the top rung of the ladder, grunting as he rested his hand on the first floor. He took a moment to catch his breath, just letting the knowledge that he was almost out settle in his head, when a new, less dangerous creaking sound caught his ear. Jared turned, and saw a blonde-haired man looking down at him.

“Not exactly a sane place to take a rest,” the other man said. “Are you injured?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Give me your hand.”

Jared didn’t have the energy to argue. He held out his hand and let himself be lifted from the hole. The other man helped drag him from the ruins, pulling him past the broken walls and resting him against one of the trees not far from the tower itself. Jared was thankful for the support, and hoped that his nod of appreciation communicated it.

As he caught his breath, the other man noticed his injured shoulder. Shaking his head, his rescuer pulled something from his pocket.

“Allow me.”

A firm, if somewhat cool hand pushed his shirt out of the way, giving the stranger room to work. A couple of sprays and a gentle prod of a hypo brought a surprising amount of relief to his arm, and he groaned as he felt the actual pain fade away. He couldn’t move his arm too well, but at the very least it no longer brought him such intense pain just to touch it.

“What were you doing down there?”

“One of my Pokémon was dancing around the place and fell in. I went to get him.”

“Why didn’t you just call him back from a distance?”

“Because I was trying to stop him from dancing and falling in the first place; he kind of took me with him,” Jared said, shaking his head. “And after that, no rope to get back out, so I had to find my way out.”

“I see. Then – I assume that you saw [i]them.[/i]”

There was no need to ask which ‘them’ that was. Jared nodded.

“Fascinating. They do not let intruders pass easily.” The blonde-haired man smiled slightly. “Perhaps there’s more to you than meets the eye. Come; I would like to talk to you while you recover, and it will give you some time while your Pokémon recover, as well. Do you have a room at the center?”

“I do.”

“Come on, then. My name is Morty, and I think that we have a great deal to discuss.”

So, he’d found the Gym Leader, after all. Well, it could have been more awkward, he supposed. He groaned as he fell in step with the other man. This was going to be interesting.

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

Summary: A trip to the Burned Tower goes awry rather quickly.

Tags: No Sex, References to Sex, Pidgeotto, Croconaw, Pokémon, Series, Polyamory, Care, Battle, Fire, Injury, Stupidity, Human,