Chapter 02 A Glimpse into the Heart

Chapter 02

A Glimpse into the Heart

The next two and a half weeks had been relatively peaceful. He and his little Witch... (who couldn't settle on a name. She wanted a different one near every day... 'said she was waiting for true inspiration. Well... not entirely true... the last three days she hadn't changed it... didn't say she wanted it to stick though yet --- so he wasn't going to hold his breath) Were near the end of the program... the final test was here. He would be let out into the wilds, and all he had to do was survive, and get a feral.

“What's on your mind?” Youka asked... her silver hair catching the light from the campfire and shining.

Arimen dropped the wood he had gathered for the fire, and winced and then cringed as one of the heavier logs hit his foot, he bit back a growl before muttering a curse (or two) beneath his breath. “Everything...” He immediately sat down and started rubbing his foot. The two of them had been hard at work setting up the camp for the past two or three hours, and she had caught him several times drifting off. He couldn't help himself. It was so peaceful outside of Camp Holmes. So beautiful. So unhurried and calm. So serene. So ambient.

Youka skipped over to him and plopped down on his lap, sending him sprawling to the grass with her not far behind. She immediately laughed and pulled a leaf from his hair, a smile on her face and in her eyes, “Like what?”

He rolled his eyes and sat up, “Like... if there were no ferals, no other tamers to worry about... just you and I... Just the woods. These peaceful woods...”

She grinned, placing a kiss on his lips, “So you like wood too huh?”

He gave her a slap on the ass and made a face at her, “You know what I mean!”

She made a slight sniffling noise and rubbed her rear, her face scrunching up almost like he had actually hurt her... though it was much to over-exaggerated, and he knew he couldn't have done any damage, despite how frail she was as a Witch. “I can't say that I do...” she crawled over to him doing her trademark tongue-wink-smile, her face right in front of his, their lips almost touching, “Why don't you...” she shook her rump on the air behind her, “Explain it to me!"

He rolled his eyes, “You sure the pokédex is right? It say's your libido is supposed to be normal...” He leaned backwards a little as she pressed in on him, “You act like it's closer to extreme.”

“Oh?” Youka grinned again as she crawled on top of him, “If it was extreme...” An evil smirk crossed her face and a devious sparkle appeared in her eye, “You'd never get done taming me.”

They shared a short laugh for a moment before he looked at her, “Though... in all seriousness... we need to finish setting up camp.”

She sat up on top of him and pouted for a moment. Standing she huffed and went back to her duties. Leaving Arimen to collect the wood he had dropped a few minutes ago and add it to their stockpile. They had had a really good meal at Camp Holmes before leaving, Arimen had made sure of it, so food wouldn't be an issue for the two of them for the night... but starting tomorrow and for the next few days it could be, he hoped he'd be able to find a few natural sources for food... like berry bushes... but he wasn't counting on it. Which was why he had collected all the firewood he'd need, now, instead of later... 'because now he had all the energy he needed.

Arimen spared a glance over to his 'girl, and sighed when he noticed how happy she was at the moment. He preferred people happy... but he wondered how she didn't seem worried at all, then he remembered. It was her job to keep him alive, it was his job to keep the both of them clothed, fed, healthy, moving, tamed, sane, and together. He just hoped what he had learned in the camp would be enough... 'cause once you got out into the world. There were no allotted sick days, there were no chances for extra credit, there were no warnings for when important projects were due, there was no forgiveness for letting your guard down, there was no going back and trying again, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Yeah, life was harsh, but when he saw Youka putting such an effort into her work... he thought that maybe... just maybe, it was all worth it.

~~O~~O~~( II )~~O~~O~~ 

The last two days had been relatively uneventful, and he was glad for that, it had allowed them to set up a good camp. They had plenty of stockpiled food, and a source of clean water nearby. The only thing that bothered Arimen though... he hadn't seen a single pokégirl... that meant one of two things. One, there weren't any out there and he was just fucked as far as finding and capturing the feral that he'd need to graduate. Or Two, and this was the option he was really worried about, there weren't any out there because they were scared of something that saw this as her territory... and that something... that was guaranteed to not be initially cute, cuddly, or friendly.

Arimen had always been a light sleeper... but since he hit puberty he only became more acute, and the camp seemed to heighten it more. It was like he didn't need to sleep... but he always went to bed anyway, just because it was something he was taught to do when he was younger. Whenever he rested, some part of his mind stayed awake, wary... almost like he wasn't even asleep. This part of his mind woke him up, and he knew something was out there... he just wasn't sure what...

He quickly ran through the checklist of what he knew. It wasn't Youka... she was fast asleep right next to him, a little drool, or perhaps cum, spilling out of her mouth and clinging to her cheek from last night's activities... That meant it was something else. Another tamer? Probably not... not this late at night, and it definitely wasn't one of the other students. The instructors at Camp Holmes made it a point to drop all the candidates quite a ways away from each other. Only the idiots would go wandering too far, since they're pick-up zone was where they had been dropped off. The footsteps were much too light to be male... or any heavy pokégirl. Which meant it was probably low on the evolution tree, a fighter, or one of the more stealth oriented breeds... thought if it was one of the more stealth oriented breeds... he was pretty sure he'd have never heard it anyway.

Arimen quietly got to his feet, squatting inside the tent ready to move if he had to. He didn't want to wake Youka if he didn't need to... but if that was a feral outside his tent... there wouldn't be much of anything he could do against her. He shook Youka gently awake, hoping that she would have the sense to not make too much noise.

Youka sat up quickly. Her mind quickly coming out of its resting state. He had never woken her up before, and him doing it now immediately sent her to an alert state, her senses taking note of everything... scanning for danger.

Arimen reached a hand around her face and tapped her ear... a silent signal that he wanted her to listen. He himself again focusing on the sounds of the night, outside of the tent. She grabbed his arm when she heard it, a few soft footsteps... then a pause... another noise that Arimen couldn't identify... a few more soft steps... another pause. It sounded like it was making it's way to the tent. They had no idea what it was, but if they stayed in the tent... they'd be victims... and that didn't sit well with either of them.

Youka threw herself out of the tent and immediately sent the only attack spell she knew that only required a thought component, at her foe. The small, and admittedly weak, ball of ice struck the lightly gray-furred girl in front of her. Who immediately crashed into the ground in a spasm of pain, fainting as a squeak escaped her lips.

Arimen pulled himself out of the tent, and pulled out his pokédex and pointed it at the downed pokégirl.

WOMBUTT, the Hole Dweller Pokégirl

Type: Animorph

Element: Ground

Frequency: Common (In Orange League), unknown in other leagues (Extinct)

Diet: vegetarian

Role: construction

Libido: Average

Strong Vs: Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel

Weak Vs: Flying, Ice, Plant, Water

Attacks: Dig, Furry Swipes, Scratch, Bite, Earthquake

Enhancements: Enhanced Strength (x4)

Evolves: Koalass (Leaf Stone)

Evolves From: None

Wombutt's are like the tit-mice of the Orange Islands. They aren't easy to spot, but that doesn't mean people care to capture them. They live in holes in the wild and cause little trouble when feral. Because of their hole-dwelling nature, they are nearly always covered with dirt, which seems to be reason enough for most potential pet owners to look elsewhere. Though they can learn Earthquake, only the strongest ever do, and it is very taxing even then.

Some have found them to be highly valuable labor in laying foundations, digging tunnels and laying pipes. Civil engineers and construction workers that can afford it often take Wombutts as pets. They seem to be highly adaptable and learn quickly, as long as what they have to do isn't overly complicated. No self respecting tamer would use a Wombutt in a fight as sometimes in the heat battle, they will even do what their opponents tamer tells them to do.

They don't seem to have any qualms when it comes to taming. Wombutt's are very submissive and are happy in any position as long as they get to orgasm. Several cases of threshold have been recorded. In each case, there was little protest as the Wombutt's submissive nature readily accepts any such change. Families are generally more distraught as said nature tends to eclipse their sister/daughter's personality almost immediately.
 

Sighing, he rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that he'd actually been afraid of a Wombutt... but then his rational mind took over, berating the thought he just had. Had it been anything else, Youka would probably not have been able to drop her quite so easily, and Youka could have also gotten hurt, or killed... and if she couldn't protect herself, then there was no way Youka could protect him... and there was definitely no way for him to protect himself. They had been lucky. He couldn't afford to rely on being lucky. 

After a moment he thought to pull out a pokéball and capture the downed Wombutt. Who, obviously, couldn't resist, and was captured without a struggle. He collected the pokéball and held it for the time being, he would clip it to his belt when he was... more properly attired. There was just the last few days... then he'd be able to graduate. Since this counted as his prerequisite 'capture'.

Arimen had planned to use tomorrow as his day of hunting... but since the Wombutt had saved him the trouble, he wondered whether he should do some studying up on this magical 'potential' the instructor had claimed he had... or something else. He had been so busy the last three weeks, he hadn't even really thought about it... magic could possibly give him a way of protecting himself... against the weaker pokégirls at least. Which was better than any of the other methods he had available...

~~O~~O~~( II )~~O~~O~~

Late in the morning --- a few mornings later

Arimen had been up since sunrise... but he felt no need to move... as moving would disturb Youka, and she was sleeping rather soundly. He sighed... the three weeks they had been together... they'd not talked much about their pasts. Youka didn't appear to have much of one... she was born and raised on a ranch outside of the Orange League. Her mother died when she was rather young, and there weren't many around who could teach her magic... so she tried to pick up as many other skills as possible. She had been shipped over to the Orange League almost immediately after “maturing” into a pokégirl... at least, thats what she told him. Not that he didn't believe her... but... there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head. A nagging feeling in the back of his head that she wasn't telling him everything, almost like she was afraid.

Not that he had told her much more than she had told him. He told her he was born in Eva Klear. He had told her his mother was a DenMother, that his father was a “retired” tamer... air quotes included... that he was the youngest of five, two older brothers and two older sisters. He sighed and ran his hand through her hair, stirring her from her sleep. When she blinked sleepily at him, he couldn't help but smile. She was truly cute. Her nose twitched a little as she sat up slowly. She yawned and stretched, the pull of the muscles beneath her skin lifted her breasts.

“Good morning, dove.” He pulled her up on top of him and kissed her forehead. Her hands finding his bare chest, his finding her bare back.

Her leg slipped between his and a large grin spread across her face, “Good morning indeed...” She felt his erection against her leg, and started rubbing against it. Her grin turned to the most innocent facial expression he had ever seen, “Is that for me?”

He chuckled lightly, reaching down under the blanket he slid her leg over to the other side of his body to where she was nearly straddling him, “I don't know: ...”

She immediately switched from her innocent face to a pouting one, which he found truly humorous, she was quite the character.

He squeezed both of her ass cheeks before kissing her forehead again, “... are these for me?”

Her fervent nods spread a smile on his face.

“Good...” He pulled her up closer to him, her breasts hanging just in front of his mouth, “... and these too?”

She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his head, holding his head to her chest, “Always.”

~~O~~O~~( II )~~O~~O~~ 

Arimen sighed, he had caught a few more Wombutts and a Boobisaur, and he had seen a few flying types soaring overhead, but they hadn't bothered him... so he didn't bother them, not that he could have done much about it if they had decided to bother him, though... so he wasn't complaining. The rest of the day had gone by slowly however, and he had honestly expected them to have picked him up by now... that was what he had understood at least, but as the sun started to set... he wondered what was going on.

He and Youka had already taken down their camp, most of it anyway, and he wasn't about to go through the trouble of putting it back up. They were leaning against a tree and cuddling, she seemed to enjoy cuddling... a lot... almost like she had been denied being close to people, just enjoying their presence and their touch, when she was younger, and was trying to make up for it now.

Or, maybe, she was trying to prove to herself that the last three weeks hadn't been a dream... that he was real... that he wasn't going to leave her.

He honestly didn't know what was going on in her head... but he knew she was happy... completely content... and that was enough to make him happy. He'd honestly never expected to feel like this about anyone... he looked up at the sky and a single thought crossed his mind... love.

Arimen tapped Youka on the shoulder, and pointed up over the canopy, there was a black dot on the horizon, approaching quickly... it looked to be an air ship, probably the one coming to pick them up. Arimen sighed, kissed Youka and then whispered a few words into her ear, a slight frown formed on her lips as she got to her feet, and helped Arimen up as well.

He nodded to her, hugged her for a few minutes, whispered a few words in her ear... which brought a smile to her lips, and the put her in her 'ball... Less than a minute later the ship was there, and landing. It was a grey basket-shaped carrier-type ship. A near hollow interior except for the cockpit, and the two rear mounted propulsion engines. The sheer force of the hover-drive sent leaves and small twigs flying.

A large man with an equally large jacked hopped down off of the ship and walked over to Arimen, a grin on his face as he looked at the younger boy. “Glad to see you look well.” His grey hair was a tad unkempt, or perhaps that was from the engines from the ship tossing the light clusters of hair around wildly. His face was stern, but not cold... not too cold anyway.

Arimen nodded towards the larger man, careful to keep his expression flat, he had learned that that was the best way to deal with this man, and the thousand willing, after camp... he'd never have to see him again. “Thank you.”

“Did you catch yourself a feral boy?”

Arimen nodded again, lifting up a pokéball slowly, making sure not to seem aggressive, “A few.” That was one of the best ways he had learned to deal with this particular instructor: Act like you hadn't had an aggressive thought since you were born, and move slowly. Rapid movements seemed to make him really, r-e-a-l-l-y mad... which made Arimen wonder what type of pokégirl he had in his blood.

“Good!” The first word of praise he had ever heard from the man, “Now! Get yourself up here, we have a camp to be getting back too.”

Arimen grinned, his emotionless facade fading for a moment, and hopped onto the transport without further prompting, his mask sliding back into place. Mentally berating himself for letting it slip in the first place. He took a seat near the back, and wondered why there were so few other people on the ship. He had been one of the last to be let off... shouldn't he have been one of the last to be picked up? Then it hit him. Some... probably didn't make it... he had been lucky not to run into anything more dangerous than he did... others... ... weren't. Then he spared a glance over to the instructor, and wondered if seeing so many students die... seeing so much death, and blood... seeing so many of the people you taught, that you instructed, not make it... if that's what made him so cold...

Arimen sighed, rolled his head back, and looked up at the roof. He finally had a glimpse into a cold man's heart, and saw a little of his father there...

“When someone under you care dies... it's not that your lessons, your words, your advice, your instruction, or your guidance weren't enough... it was because they didn't apply your teachings... but then...” Arimen closed his eyes and thought, “You still feel guilty for their death... like there was something more you could have done... more effort you could have placed... more information you could have given... and thus more lives you could have saved...” 

~~O~~O~~( II )~~O~~O~~

Arimen was more than glad to be back at Camp Holmes... there had been hardly any daylight left when the transport got back... and the first place he headed was to his room... he wanted to take a quick shower... then he'd go take care of a few other orders of business... not that there would be much else 'till tomorrow... or the day after perhaps. When everything would be finalized. And open... considering how late in the day it was...

Closing his bedroom door he began to strip. He pulled the pokédex, and all of his pokéballs off of his belt and tossed them to the bed... all but Youka's pokéball... he fingered it for a moment before releasing her from it.

She immediately took stock of her surroundings and grinned when she realized where they were, “Couldn't handle being away from me, eh?”

Arimen sighed, then patted Youka on the ass, to which she yelped and scurried a few steps away. Arimen then laughed and grinned. “You could look at it that way...” He pulled off his belt, “Though I called you out, to tell you that I was going to take a shower... a real shower... and wanted to know if you'd like to join me.”

The giddiness that spread through the Witch's body made him shiver... and instantly wonder if asking her to join him in the shower wasn't the best of things to do.

Chapter End