Disclaimer:
This work is fiction. The work is presented under fair protection where applicable.
Feedback will be read, processed, and if it’s a flame it will be given the finger, then I will burst into hysterical laughter. Constructive feedback, be it criticism or praise, will be read, processed, given a smile, and filed away. To contact me, please send an email to socom.seal@(SPAM)yahoo.com. Remove (SPAM) for a valid email.
You should not read this work if you are not of legal age where you reside. This work may contain concepts or written actions that some readers may find excessive or disturbing. This may include (but not be limited to) rape, BDSM, or death.
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Chapter 5
Motivations
Sera stared out into the pouring rain. “So, I usually wouldn’t ask this…”
Nicholas glared at her. “Maybe I should put Nessa in her pokeball and force you to suffer this with me.”
Sera giggled nervously. “Well, she wouldn’t be suffering, since she’s a Water-type, so…”
“I still don’t want to get my clothes wet,” Nessa retorted.
“So take them off.”
Nicholas chuckled. “I’ve got a better idea.”
“NO.”
Nicholas laughed when both pokegirls rounded on him. “You didn’t even let me speak!”
“It’s been long enough that we know what you were going to say,” Nessa said, “and we’re not stripping for your amusement.”
“Really? What changed from last night?”
Nessa’s mouth firmed while Sera choked back her laughter. “Nicholas.”
“Please. You’re a pokegirl. When you hear your Master say ‘I like seeing you naked’, you get excited, not angry.”
“That is so horribly stereotypical. I can’t believe you’d say that about us.”
Nicholas smirked at Nessa’s pouting face. “I don’t hear you denying it.”
Nessa rolled her eyes and pulled her top open in the same motion. “Just because it’s true doesn’t make it any less insulting.”
“Mmmmm-hmm.” Nicholas grinned. “You coming, Sera?”
The Zubat watched Nessa pull her skirt off. “Umm…”
“You don’t have to.”
Sera sighed and began unbuttoning her shirt. “If it’ll make you happy.”
Nicholas chuckled, accepting their clothing and stowing it in his backpack, quickly followed by his own shirt. “I’d join you, but human governments have made human laws saying humans aren’t allowed to.”
Now it was Nessa’s turn to smile. “Mm-hmm.”
Nicholas winked at her, pulling his backpack back on and adjusting the straps so they weren’t going to chafe his bare skin. “Ready?”
The two pokegirls stared out of the cave they had taken shelter in.
“Ready.”
A few hours later three thoroughly drenched figures sprinted out of the forest and into the outskirts of Azalea Town. Nicholas glanced around as they ran, noting the old and half-demolished buildings as well as a circular stone structure that he could see a few pokegirls clustered around. They quickly moved into the city proper, ducking from awning to awning until Nicholas spotted the pokecenter.
“There!” He dashed through the rain, skidding to a halt in front of the door and holding out an arm to catch Sera when she slipped on the wet grass and nearly faceplanted. He took a moment to make sure Nessa was fine before pushing the doors open and getting into the dry safety of the building.
A few appreciative whistles greeted the nude pokegirls when they entered but the noise stopped when Nicholas singled out the perpetrators with a glare. Sera shook her wings, shivering a bit as the water evaporated. “I need to get dry.”
“Come here.” Nicholas led the way to the bathrooms, grabbing a towel and vigorously drying her off. Sera yelped when he patted down her wings, blinking when he moved on to help Nessa. She slowly extended the membrane, noticing how he hadn’t even bruised the gentle skin.
“Better?” Nicholas dropped the soaking towel and reached for a new one to wipe himself with. “Nessa?”
Nessa snagged the towel and returned the favor, wrapping it around his dripping pants afterwards. “Better.”
Sera bent and extended her wings a few times. “I thought you were going to…” She glanced up to see Nicholas looking at her. “How did you know?”
“To be gentle?”
Sera blinked.
“You’re not the first pokegirl with wings I’ve had.” Nicholas smiled at her with a slight tilt of his head. “Yeah, I’m a massive pervert, but I do try to take care of my harem.”
Sera nodded slowly, looking for his backpack and shaking it off before retrieving her clothes.
“So what’s this town? Something with a gym?” Nessa asked.
“Yep. This is Azalea, and the gym here specializes in Bug-type pokegirls.” Nicholas looked at Sera. “We need to work on your wings.”
Sera finished dressing and nodded. “What did you have in mind?”
“Not sure yet. But nothing while this rain keeps up.” Nicholas extended his arm, snagging Nessa and pulling the still-nude Totodile close. “I figured we’d take the rest of today and just relax.”
Sera looked down at her outfit. “And I just got dressed.”
“Your loss,” Nessa taunted, letting out a happy moan when Nicholas nibbled her neck.
Sera had never stripped faster than she did in that bathroom and within moments Nicholas’ pants were gone. Unfortunately the staff interrupted them rather quickly, though they simply moved to a provided room and spent the rest of the day, and some of the night, taming to their hearts content.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Still a bit of a drizzle.”
Nessa stuck her head outside. “Didn’t you say we were going into the forest?”
“Yeah. I think it should be a bit drier in the forest to the west. The trees should act as an umbrella.”
“It’s definitely lighter rain than when we first got here.” Nessa tested the air for a bit before turning to him and nodding. “Let’s go.”
This time Sera got to avoid the rain in her pokeball, but Nicholas released her once the air went from misty to clear under the towering forest canopy. Locals said that Ilex Forest’s trees grew so close so as to block out daylight, and he could easily see that effect in action with how the entire forest seemed perfectly dark and dry.
“Well. Here we are.” Nicholas shifted his backpack, looking around at the trees and striking forwards.
A few minutes later the three slowed. The path had opened wide and the trees, while still forming their canopy, had thinned enough for them to see a clearing coming up. As they entered Nicholas whistled low. A modest sized building sat in the middle of the forest, stone steps leading up to a wide wooden shrine.
“What in the world is this?” Nicholas moved forwards, slowing when he neared the stone and coming to a halt before he took the first step. “It’s so strange, this is obviously not natural, but the way it fits into the forest…” His eyes picked out how polished and well maintained the building looked and he smiled wistfully.
Nessa noticed him taking a bit to continue and Nicholas grunted when she elbowed his side. “Whatcha thinkin’?”
“Just remembering our conversation a few days after we first met.” Nicholas returned to looking at the towering forest behind the shrine. “There really isn’t anywhere like this in Kanto. But there are a few places back home.” He sighed. “Maybe you’ll get to see them some day.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Nicholas blinked. There hadn’t been anyone at the shrine a moment ago, but now he could see a woman seated in front of the small wooden pagoda that denoted the offering box. “Hello?” Nicholas grimaced. “Ah, we didn’t mean to interrupt, I didn’t even see you there. Sorry.”
“That’s perfectly all right. I hadn’t yet arrived to when you did.” Nicholas felt his brain skip a step as it tried to process the woman’s words and by the time he figured out what she had said, the woman was standing at the top of the steps in front of him. “It’s good to see that my words were accepted so quickly.”
Nicholas was still catching up so it was Nessa who blinked away her confusion to focus on the face in front of her. “Aren’t you… Celine? From Sprout Tower?”
“Arrived to when…” Nicholas mumbled. “Wait, what?” He looked up. “Celine? Yeah, you were at the tower.” He blinked a few times until finally enough clicked into place. “Wait. You weren’t here a moment ago.”
“That is correct. I am here now.”
Nicholas slowly raised a finger to point at her. “’Now’, ‘When’, you aren’t using those words normally.”
Celine smiled. “As sharp as you will be. I was worried that you had arrived too early.”
Nicholas winced and rubbed his temples. “This is the part where I look at the mysterious human in front of me and suddenly go, ‘Oh my goodness! You’re a pokegirl!’, isn’t it?”
“I believe that was set to occur soon, yes.”
“Great.”
“A pokegirl?” Nessa shifted a bit in front of Nicholas. “You’re a pokegirl?”
“I am. Welcome to my shrine, little sister.” Celine cocked her head with a happy smile. “And it is so nice to see you doing that even as far back as this.”
Nessa blinked. “Uhhh…”
“Who are you really, then?” Nicholas held out a hand when Sera stepped towards Celine. “You’re acting like you know us, or will know us, but as far as I know the tower was our first meeting.”
“It was yours.”
“You’re a time-traveller, then.”
Celine laughed and clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh, yes, yes! A beautifully logical conclusion. You’d make her so proud.”
“Who?”
“Mmm, no, I shouldn’t say. Or you may never meet, and that would be a horrible shame. For now, I suppose I can say… Yes, Cassidy would be so proud.” Celine winked at him. “I would say Kali, but we both know that she prefers to use her intellect for battle.”
“I know very little about her, actually,” Nicholas said cautiously. “She’s a new pokegirl in my harem.”
Celine snorted. “Your effort to protect the one humans call Mewtwo is admirable, but I know all about her. I was when she was born, when she first killed, when her mother – oops!” Celine giggled again. “I almost gave that one away, didn’t I? Regardless, Nicholas, rest assured that I know… Most things.”
“Because you’re a time-traveller.”
“Precisely.”
“All right.” Nicholas finally lowered his arm now that Sera had stopped fidgeting. “If that’s all true, then who are you, really?”
“Celine is close enough to my name. Can’t I be Celine?”
“I’d like to know what your actual name is, if that’s all right.” Nicholas glanced behind her at the shrine. “If this is your shrine, as you claimed, wouldn’t it make sense for this to be our first, true meeting?” Celine’s smile widened when Nicholas returned his eyes to her. “Though, you knew I was going to say all that. Didn’t you.”
“Not necessarily. I move through time, that is true, but I am limited to my own linear path. For me to know what you would say, I would have had to experience our conversation, then return to the beginning… A beginning where I already existed, and was having the conversation in question.” Celine made a show of looking around the clearing. “I don’t see myself. Do you?”
“But you had an idea, because you’ve obviously spent… a lot of ‘time’ with me.”
“I did, yes.” Celine cleared her throat, standing tall before twisting her head down in a bow. “I am known to the humans here as Celebi. It is my pleasure to finally meet you.”
“That must get confusing.”
Celebi straightened back up and laughed. “Not as much as it would confuse you.”
“You’ve finally met me in your timeline, at a time where I hadn’t yet met you in mine. How do you keep it all straight?” He blinked when Celebi drifted backwards. “Are you…”
“Floating? Yes.”
“No, I was going to say… Shrinking.”
Celebi glanced down. “Oh. I relaxed too much.” She shrugged and with a wave of her hand Celine had vanished, replaced by a hovering pokegirl almost two feet shorter. “Or maybe now that you know what I truly am, my illusion wasn’t enough. No matter.”
Nicholas watched Celebi drift to a stone pillar and take a seat. “Being able to move through time is an incredibly powerful ability. Am I correct in saying that no regular pokegirl could do what you do?”
“I know at this point in your life that you are still highly wary of the ones your researchers call Legendaries.” Celebi looked at him with sadness in her eyes. “I am not here to harm you. I ask that you accept that.”
“I don’t have much of a choice against a pokegirl that can move through time.”
“You believed that a stranger could be kind. When I pretended to be human,” Celebi said quietly. “Is it truly different now that you know what I really am?”
“You have your own agenda. Now that I know part of what it might be, yes. It makes a very large difference.” Nicholas folded his arms. “I’ve had the misfortune of running into two legendaries before. Both tried to kill me when we first met. Both effectively succeeded. If Articuno hadn’t changed her mind, and if Mewtwo hadn’t believed what I was saying, I’d be dead. I was purely at their mercy. I’m not interested in being at yours as well.”
Celebi barely nodded. “I understand.” She got up, hovering into the air and turning away. “I understand that I found you too soon.” She shook her head. “But what was I supposed to do? Was I meant to watch as my... as you spiraled ever deeper into self-doubt?” Celebi bowed her head, a shimmer running along her body as it began to fade. “I will leave you now. But please, if you listen to nothing else, remember this.” Her eyes pleaded with him when she glanced back over her shoulder. “You are everything that you claim not to be.”
Nicholas blinked and she was gone. A light breeze blew through the clearing as he gazed at the shrine before eventually turning away. “Come on.”
Nessa and Sera fell in behind him when Nicholas pushed back through the forest. “What are we doing now?”
Nicholas took a turn and slowed when he saw two humans talking. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to be here.”
“Hey! You’re a tamer, right?” One of the men waved and Nicholas winced but changed his path to intercept them. “Can you give us a hand?”
“I was just leaving.”
“This shouldn’t take long, I hope.” The caller pointed down a small path. “My two Farfetch’d ran off somewhere and I can’t follow them safely. Can you go find them and let them know that it’s time to get back to the house?”
Nicholas rubbed his eyes. “Yeah. Sure.” He glanced at Sera and nodded towards the path. “You take the lead. I want to give you as much time training as possible.”
“All right,” Sera replied carefully. The three moved back into the undergrowth, Nicholas’ eyes wandering.
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“Thank you again for helping us out.”
Nicholas raised his glass of water slightly. “You’re welcome.”
They’d found the Farfetch’d in a matter of minutes, though the two mischievous pokegirls had led Sera on a merry chase through the woods before the Zubat had finally closed in and grabbed them. Now the humans and their pokegirls were enjoying lunch back in town at the charcoal maker’s house.
“Tell me again why you have a couple of bird pokegirls to help you make charcoal?” Nicholas asked. “Wouldn’t you want a Fire-type?”
“For what, throwing a flame? I can handle a firestarter just fine,” the older man snorted. “I have Cammy and Neya because they’re excellent at navigating the forest to find and chop the young trees I need for charcoal.”
“I’ve never tried to make charcoal before so I didn’t even know you needed a special kind of tree,” Nicholas confessed.
“Aye. There’s a certain age you want the wood to make the best charcoal.” Nicholas nodded along while the man explained the process, but he wasn’t really listening.
Eventually the man glanced at the clock before looking at the younger man. “Sylvester, would you go check the latest batch? It should be about done.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Sylvester stood and nodded at Nicholas. “Nice to meet you, Nicholas.”
“And you.” Nicholas stretched and clambered to his feet. “We should probably get moving as well. Thank you for inviting us into your home.”
The old man grinned. “It was my pleasure, I enjoy having guests. I wish you well on your journeys.”
Nicholas waited for his pokegirls to join him before following Sylvester out the door. The light rain had cleared since they had sat down and now the sun shone between scattered clouds.
“I don’t know where else to go and train.” Nicholas stared off down the street as he mumbled. “Maybe back towards the mountains, but...”
Nessa had been quiet ever since their encounter with Celebi but now she took a deep breath. “Master.”
Her sudden use of the term shook Nicholas out of his thoughts and he looked at her. “Huh?”
“You’ve said that we can speak our mind. Right? That we shouldn’t be afraid around you.”
Nicholas’ brow furrowed. “Of course not. I thought we’d established that weeks ago.” He looked to Sera. “Right?”
Nessa interrupted before Sera could speak. “You say these things, you make us feel like more than simple pokegirls. You talk, and talk, but that pokegirl - Celebi - was right. You don’t believe any of what you say. You know it’s true, but you don’t believe it yourself.”
Nicholas felt her words pound at his mind and he gripped his head when a twinge of pain shot through him. “Nessa, you’re not a therapist. We’ve been over this-“
“And I’m not trying to be.” Nessa moved in front of him, her eyes daring him to look away. “I’m speaking my mind. Like you’ve told me to. Like you’ve said you wanted. I won’t pretend like I know what you’ve gone through, what your life has been, but I know mine. I know that in my short time since arriving at the lab I only thought I wanted one thing. The Master who claimed me a month ago was what I thought I wanted. It’s what you thought you wanted. But you’re not what I wanted - the true Nicholas is who I need.”
“Nessa...”
“Don’t lie to me.” Nessa moved closer, her gaze searching him. “I saw my true Master come out back there. Back in Violet City. In the tower, and the gym, I bit my tongue but I saw it.” She finally looked down. “For a little while, I got to see who you truly are. And it was so much stronger than the fake champion stuff you try to be. I know you talked about how that isn’t you. But you haven’t actually changed,” Nessa finished. “And the only time you did was after Celebi spoke to you.”
“I can’t trust her.”
“So don’t.” Sera stepped up and laid a wing on Nessa’s shoulder. “She’s right, Master. Nessa, I mean. I felt the same things that she’s talking about.”
“What, you’re suddenly calling me Master again too?” Nicholas snorted.
“You’re trying to deflect again.” Sera gave him a small smile when Nicholas blustered. “Master Nicholas, you don’t have to trust that pokegirl to listen to her.” Sera’s eyes grew hooded. “After all, you don’t trust me either.”
The group went silent. After a few moments Nicholas bowed his head.
“Not yet.”
“I’ve killed humans.” Nessa choked back a gasp when Sera quietly spoke. “I’ve lied to you. I’ve hurt you. I don’t blame you for not trusting me. And yet, you still treat me with respect. In a way I doubt any other tamer would. You don’t treat me as the monster I see myself as.” Nicholas saw her reach out and he lifted his head when she cupped his chin in her hand. “You do that for me. Why can’t you do it for yourself?”
Sera grunted when he lunged forwards and wrapped her in an embrace. “I don’t know.”
Nessa sighed and Sera patted the man’s head. “Maybe that pokegirl can help.”
Sera instantly regretted speaking when she felt Nicholas’ arms tighten around her. “No.”
“O-okay,” Sera laughed nervously. “I’m sorry.”
Nichols released her and stepped back, taking a moment to look at the two pokegirls. Sera was hiding a scared look and he mentally berated himself for hurting her. Nessa was looking at him worriedly at the same time and he steeled himself. “I’m so-“
“Don’t.” Sera rubbed where he had bruised her. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s just go.”
“Sera-“ Nessa reached out but the Zubat brushed her off and took a few steps down the road.
Nessa turned back to Nicholas, but whatever she wanted to say died on her lips and she turned to chase the walking Zubat.
I can’t even hold myself together long enough to talk to them, Nicholas thought despondently. Failure after failure.
Nessa had talked about what he had done in Sprout Tower, and in the gym. He knew what she was talking about. The problem was that those were feelings he didn’t have any control over. They came and went on a whim. His true self was a failure. He knew that.
You don’t have to trust her to listen to her, Sera growled.
You are everything you claim not to be, Celebi whispered.
Nicholas screwed his eyes shut. He’d promised them he wouldn’t pretend anymore. It was impossible for him to just...
Something was so close, just on the edge of his mind as his thoughts reached. The puzzle he had been struggling with for a year nearly had its final piece and-
“NICHOLAS!” Nicholas’ eyes popped open and the revelation vanished like a puff of smoke. “She won’t stop, come on!”
Nicholas tried to remember what he had been reaching for but it was gone and he sighed. He’d figure it out later. For now, he hurried after Sera and Nessa.
He caught up to the two pokegirls near the outskirts of town, around where he had noticed a large group of wild pokegirls the day before. Today they were nowhere to be seen with only a few humans standing about the area.
“Sera, please stop,” Nessa pleaded, jogging every few steps to keep up with the briskly stepping Zubat. “Look, he’s come running, all right? Can we all just... reset?”
“Yeah, let’s just pretend today never happened,” Sera growled. “Nice and convenient and lets us all keep our comfy little problems.” She rounded on Nessa when the Totodile got close again. “Get your hands off me. You really love sticking your face where it doesn’t belong, don’t you? You’re not a therapist so stop fucking pretending you’re one!”
Nessa took a half step back in surprise. “Sera? But a few minutes ago you-“
“BECAUSE IT WASN’T ABOUT YOU!” Sera screamed. “WHY DON’T YOU GET THAT OUT OF YOUR LITTLE HEAD FIRST. NOT. EVERYTHING. IS. ABOUT. YOU!”
“I’m not trying to-“
“No, you just can’t get over yourself. It’s not much better.” Sera strode up to Nessa and shoved a wing against her chest. “You know nothing about me. You know nothing about him. But you can’t resist taking over every conversation that’s around you. ‘Oh don’t worry Nicholas, everything will be fine,’” she warbled in a falsetto. “‘Oh Sera that’s so horrible but have I ever told you about how I CAN’T EVEN RELATE?’” Nessa yelped and stumbled backwards when Sera pushed her. “You always talk about this lab place you grew up in. You’ve had every advantage, from birth to now, and I’m sick of hearing about it. I was born in a damp cave, surrounded by pokegirls who only knew how to be animals. Nothing but instincts. I was almost killed in probably my second day of life because one of them was hungry. I don’t even know who my mothers were. The one who tried to eat me could have been one of them.” She turned to Nicholas with tears running down her cheeks. “I had to slowly waste away in that cave. The first few weeks of a pokegirl’s birth are the most important. We want to learn. Want desperately to escape our fate to become mindless beasts. I learned to talk from a human that the colony dragged back one day, still early in my life. When I still had my mind, but it was slipping away.”
Nicholas reached a hand out. “Sera-“
“I killed him.” Sera’s tears were flowing freely now. “His pleas were what sparked my instincts. It was hard, but I managed to respond to him eventually. He tamed me. Helped me avoid the inevitable for another few weeks.” She bared her fangs with a strangled cry. “But I was too far gone, and I KILLED HIM!” She whirled to Nessa, not even caring that the Totodile’s mouth hung open and her eyes bugged wide. “And YOU! You have never experienced the pain I know. You probably hatched into a world full of humans and tame pokegirls. You probably could speak fluently by the end of your first week. I bet your first taming was routine, something happy and normal. I never had that. Never, until I woke up with my fangs in the neck of another human. So don’t even try to ‘understand’ me or our Master. You have no idea what either of us have gone through.”
“You don’t know what I’ve gone through either, Sera,” Nicholas retorted. “Nessa was just trying to help.”
“She was sticking herself where she doesn’t belong,” Sera snapped back. “Maybe I don’t know. But I know when I hear you speak that you’re in pain. I can’t help you. Nessa... maybe she can. But from what I’ve seen, she shouldn’t. And if you can’t accept that I feel that way, then... I should leave.” Sera glanced away. “I know she was here first. I’m not as important.”
“Sera, I’m not making anyone leave.” Nicholas studied her for a few seconds. “I don’t have all the answers either. But I don’t think Nessa meant any harm.”
“That’s the point.” Sera turned away from them. “She didn’t, but she still caused it. Because she doesn’t know anything but her cushy world. She’s never had anything hard in her life.”
“You’re right.” Nicholas’ mouth closed when Nessa interrupted them. “You’re right. I don’t know what you’ve gone through. I can’t relate, and I can’t help Nicholas. Neither of us can.” She looked at Nicholas before sighing. “I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking about these things since we met, but I guess I let my ego get the better of me.” She smiled to herself. “That’s one thing I know about me. When I get something in my head, I don’t let go.”
“Hmph.” Sera still didn’t turn towards them but Nicholas could hear her smile in her voice. “That’s one good thing you have about you.”
“I need help.” Nessa gingerly put a hand on Sera’s shoulder and relaxed when the Zubat let her. “I need someone to teach me to be a pokegirl. Can I teach you... to be more like a human?”
Sera finally turned. “Maybe a little.”
Nicholas breathed out in relief when Nessa let go and the two didn’t make any moves at each other. “I’m glad you both figured that out.”
Nessa nodded slightly and looked at him. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but Celebi helped you too. It’s what I - we - saw, right Sera? After she talked to Nicholas as Celine, he got better.”
Sera nodded slightly. “You did.”
“I know. I’ve heard what you both had to say about it, and... I need to think.” Nicholas shook his head. “But I also don’t want to lose time. You two need to train, I can’t be holding you back because of my failure. We’ve got gyms to challenge, and...”
The two stared at him when he trailed off. “And...?” Nessa prompted.
But Sera saw Nicholas’ eyes move past them and focus on something in the distance. So she turned.
“You’re hurting the pokegirls! Leave them alone!”
“Look, old man, you’re not going to stop us. Don’t make me hurt you and just walk away.” The black shirted tamer turned away from a seething man, a Zubat in a similar shirt getting between the humans. “You don’t even have any pokegirls.”
“That’s them.”
Sera whirled back to see Nicholas’ eyes narrowed. “What?”
“That’s them,” Nicholas repeated. “That’s the uniform of Team Rocket.”
Nessa quickly turned to see for herself. “Those guys over there?”
“The old man doesn’t seem like he’s part of them. But the tamer and his pokegirl? That’s their uniform. No doubt about it.” Nicholas gritted his teeth when the old man tried to push past the Zubat. “They’re going to-“
“Hey, watch it!” There was a yell as the Zubat tried to passively deflect the old man’s attack but when she couldn’t, she pushed.
Nicholas saw red. As the older man stumbled, tripping over the scattered stones, he broke into a run. And when the man lost his balance, tumbling towards the old, broken-down well that sat nearby, he screamed.
“Oh, shit-“ the grunt dove in an attempt to catch the old man but it was too late; with a cry he vanished into the hole. “You stupid old fuck!” He whirled on his pokegirl. “Why’d you push him down there! We’re supposed to keep anyone FROM going down, remember??”
“S-sorry, Master.” The Zubat stuttered.
“Damnit let’s go down-“ the grunt blinked when he heard Nicholas scream, looking for the source of the noise. “-and... huh? AGH!” He leapt backwards when he saw Nicholas sprinting in his direction. “Down, go!”
“What is it with old people and Team Rocket?” Nicholas spat. “First Mr. Fuji, and now this guy?”
“Enemy?” Nicholas staggered a bit when a burst of air buffeted him and he gasped when he saw Sera shoot by. “Well?”
“Sera?”
Sera whirled, braking with her wings. “ENEMY OR NOT?”
Nicholas’ eyes set. This was nowhere near as long as he had hoped before their first encounter, but life wasn’t fair. He’d work with what he had. “Anyone wearing that uniform is an enemy.”
Sera nodded. Nicholas shielded his eyes when she flapped, taking to the sky and bearing down on the scrambling duo.
Taking to the sky. He slowed, letting Nessa catch up before continuing to run. He’d barely noticed before, but Sera had grown into her wings on their long trip here. She was flying.
The anger and pain of the previous few minutes was pushed away when Nessa and Nicholas nodded to each other. They’d work through it. But right now, they needed to trust each other.
And just like that, Nicholas felt himself change.
It came easier this time. Maybe because he had finally decided to accept his doubt. Or maybe because the situation had forced him to look beyond himself. But he recognized it this time. Felt as his breathing evened. Felt as the chaos around him fell into place. He looked forwards, to where Sera was about to engage the enemy, and the only thing he could think was one simple command.
“HIT AND RUN!”
Sera almost ignored him. Her target was right there; she had a perfect opportunity to drain her. But at the last second, she pulled up. Her claws flashed out, scoring bloody streaks across the enemy Zubat’s face before she zipped past.
Sera blinked when the other Zubat whirled, a blast of shimmering air passing through where she would have been if she had stayed to attack. He’d known. She twisted her head, a wild smile spreading across her lips as she realized. There he was, running towards her, but it was his eyes that she looked for. And they matched her own, calm and resolute. Her tamer - no, her Master - was here. Whatever else they’d just fought over, this part, at least, had been worth it.
Nessa ducked under a wild attack and struck, her fists sinking into the Zubat’s side. The girl choked, falling backwards and bouncing once before going still.
“All right. What are you-“ Nicholas had turned towards the Rocket grunt but the man was running, stumbling over the ground and vanishing into the woods.
Sera winged down as Nicholas moved to the broken well and looked inside. He couldn’t see the bottom, though there was a rope hanging along the wall, and he could see a jagged, broken set of stones forming a ladder that twisted down into the darkness.
“Is the old man all right?” Nessa asked.
Nicholas shook his head. “I can’t see anything.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted down. “HELLO! ARE YOU OKAY DOWN THERE?”
Sera cocked her head. After a few seconds she nodded. “I can hear someone groaning.”
“He’s not dead then,” Nicholas replied. Without any further thought he grabbed the rope, swiftly descending along the wall.
When Nessa moved to follow she found Sera’s hand on her arm.
“What?”
“I think we need to have that reset for today.”
Nessa blinked. “You said...” she trailed off. After a few seconds she nodded. “Reset. We can figure things out tomorrow.”
Sera nodded back. “You saw him, right?” When Nessa looked confused she smiled. “He did it again.”
Nessa’s eyes widened. “Like in the gym?”
“Yeah.” Sera glanced down at her hands, clenching them after a moment. “I’m... not perfect. But we’re going to work on that, right?” She looked back up at Nessa. “We’re going to be better, and we’re going to be stronger. For Nicholas.”
Nessa nodded. “I know you told me not to stick my nose where I don’t belong, but... I think you need to hear this.” She embraced the Zubat. “We’re going to do it for Nicholas, but you’re going to do it for yourself, too.”
“Thanks.”
Nessa pulled back. “You all right?”
Sera wiped her eyes. “I want to fight something.”
Nessa grinned and gestured at the well. “Lead on.”
Nicholas looked up when Sera dropped to the floor, closely followed by Nessa. “Took you two long enough. What if there had been enemies down here?”
“I wouldn’t have taken the rope,” Sera retorted before moving towards a hole in the wall and taking a defensive stance.
Nicholas couldn’t do much more than smile at her response. When Nessa approached he gestured at the resting man nearby. “Nessa, meet Kurt. Kurt, this is my Totodile I was talking about.”
“I’d pretend to be happy to meet you, but my back is killing me right now,” Kurt grumbled. “Damn these thugs.”
“We’re lucky it’s not broken.” Nicholas sat back. “Kurt says that Team Rocket has been in and out of town for months, but never giving away what they were up to. Until a few weeks ago.”
“The same time?”
Nicholas nodded. “I’ve told him we’re here to help.”
“I’d be right beside you, if that fall hadn’t taken so much out of me.” Kurt groaned when he tried to shift, giving up after a moment. “I’ll recover. Go.”
“It’s safer for you here since you don’t have any pokegirls.” Nicholas stood. “You’re sure you’ll be all right?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“What if I send the Rockets running for their lives? You’ll be in the way.”
Kurt opened his eyes. “I can move. It just hurts. If I have to, I’ll climb out.” He winked at Nicholas. “I’m not invalid. Not yet.”
“All right.” Nicholas glanced at where Sera stood and back to Nessa. “It’s a cramped space, according to Kurt. I’ll need you in front.”
Nessa nodded and moved towards Sera, exchanging a few whispered words that sent the Zubat back to Nicholas’ side. Once Nicholas was sure they were ready, he moved into the dim cave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What are they doing here?”
Nicholas pushed past a jutting piece of rock before answering. “Kurt didn’t know. But he said that ever since they arrived, the number of wild pokegirls has been slowly declining.”
Sera opened her mouth. After a moment she reconsidered and spoke. “I was about to say that sounds like a good thing, but it isn’t when it’s this gang, right?”
“No. It’s not.” Nicholas paused with one hand on the next obstacle. “The last time I heard about Team Rocket and missing wild pokegirls…” His fingers tensed against the stone when he trailed off. “I discovered them butchered. Dead or dying. Dozens of them.”
Sera swallowed nervously.
“There’s an opening.” Nessa was crouched ahead of them. “I see movement.”
Nicholas made his way up to her and peeked over her shoulder.
At first, he didn’t see much; just the movement Nessa had mentioned. Then he picked out a form. Then another, and another. Nicholas shivered when his eyes adjusted and he could see half a dozen uniforms in the room.
“Nessa-“
“I know,” Nessa whispered. “I see it. And there are more. The wall curves to our left.”
“This is too much.” Nicholas sighed. “We need to get help. I may want to fight them, but I’m not stupid. We can’t fight if we lose or die immediately.”
“There’s no one else, though. Is there.”
Nicholas froze. Nessa didn’t turn to look at him, choosing instead to keep watch over the activity in the cave. “What did you say?”
“I’m not stupid either. And maybe I don’t know when to stop poking my nose where I don’t belong. Maybe I’m a bitch who doesn’t understand when to shut up.” She finally turned to look at him. “But I’m not stupid. You’ve already hinted that for some reason you can’t call for the others, can you? We’re all there is.”
Nicholas’s mouth hung open. How she had figured that out, he didn’t know. He knew she hadn’t overheard his conversation with Sabrina, back in Violet City. But she’d figured it out on her own.
“How?”
“I put it together.” Nessa turned back to the cave. “There are pokeball transport systems. And I’d bet that the Pidgeot, Ashley, she could fly here in a week if she needed to, even if she was carrying the other pokeballs. We were on the road for a week, maybe a bit more, and she didn’t show up. You didn’t pick them up from a pokecenter. So for some reason, they couldn’t come.”
Nicholas leaned back against the wall. “You’re right. They can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because someone I know, someone I trusted, is part of Team Rocket. If the harem leaves our house to come here, they’ll know. And Team Rocket will know. And then they vanish again.” Nicholas glanced at the activity in front of them. “We’ll probably never have another chance to finish them off.” He grimaced. “Or for me to find out who the traitor is.”
“Then we don’t have a choice. Do we.” Nessa reached up and pulled her zipper open, shrugging out of her top before moving down to slip her skirt over her legs. “We have to fight them.”
“This isn’t a fight we’ll win.”
“No. But they don’t know that, do they?” Nessa turned and handed him her clothes, now wearing nothing but her pendant. “Here.”
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t want them to get destroyed.” Nessa took his hand when he reached out. “I… I’m sorry. But I want to do this.”
Nicholas held her for a moment before letting go. “You don’t have to prove anything to me, Nessa. You don’t have to do this.”
Nessa sniffed and rubbed at her watering eyes. “I know. But… I need to do things, even when I’m afraid. I need to be forced to change. I can’t pretend with words my whole life.”
Sera stirred. “Nessa?”
Nessa looked back at her. “Yeah. That’s why I don’t know when to shut up. I’m a coward.”
Sera slowly shook her head. “I thought we were putting this off until tomorrow.” She stepped forwards and embraced Nessa. “I don’t think you’re a coward. Let’s get out of here and figure out something safe. All right?”
“No.” Nessa pushed away from her. “You heard what Nicholas said. We’re all that’s here. We can’t run away.” She shuddered. “We can’t run away every time it gets hard.”
“There might be a way to make this work.” Nicholas nodded at Sera. “Sera, your voice. You’re able to scream pretty loud when you want to, right?”
Sera nodded. “Yeah?”
“Don’t go supersonic with it this time.” Nicholas gestured into the cave. “How would you like to impersonate the police?”
Sera slowly grinned. “That sounds like fun.”
“Good.” Nicholas turned back to Nessa. “Don’t charge in at first. Fire attacks from a distance, let Sera shout a bit. If the Rockets don’t panic, we run. Deal?”
Nessa smiled. “Deal.”
“Good.” Nicholas took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He could still feel the confident emotions twisting, just underneath the surface. He needed to control them before they could vanish again. Nessa would need him at his best if they were going to do this.
But as Nessa stepped into the cave, and Sera followed, he began to panic. All that he could find was doubt. Fear. He knew he couldn’t do it, it was always random! He was going to fail them again!
No, maybe if he just did what he’d done before. Maybe it wasn’t random. Maybe he could control it.
What was the secret? In the gym battle, the tower, on the surface, what had he done?
With a gasp he flashed back. It hadn’t started on this new journey. He’d had this same problem in the Elite Four. Facing Lorelei.
How had he overcome it then? How could he have forgotten?
Sera took a few deep breaths. “I’m ready.”
Nessa nodded, her eyes sliding half shut. She could feel the power in her pendant and she focused on it, letting the energy suffuse her body. Unlike during the gym battle, this time there was no glow. The energy joined with hers, not as an addition, but as part of her. Only someone with the ability to see auras would have seen Nessa’s expand as it was fed by the Mystic Water.
After a few moments she spoke. “Do it.”
Nicholas stood silently. What had he done?
Somehow, he didn’t even hear when Sera began shouting, her voice crashing through the cave and punctuated by blasts of water from Nessa. The two had started their attack, but Nicholas was lost in his own thoughts.
He’d given up then as well. It had been Kary who had brought him back.
The Dragonite’s face appeared in front of him, her lips moving, but Nicholas didn’t have to hear her to know what he needed to remember.
How could he have forgotten his own words?
“True dragon, false dragon. What does it matter? What matters is their heart.”
When the final piece clicked into place, it was like a blindfold had been lifted from his eyes. It wasn’t that he’d randomly find the strength he needed; rather, he had been trying to hide it. It wasn’t something that had to come to him; it was what he’d always had.
All of the conversations, everyone who had encouraged him, every interaction where he had tried to deny or deflect, it all washed over him at once. Freshest were the failures; the first fight with Falkner, his depressive episodes before and after. But strongest were his memories of hope. Kary, Sabrina, Dahlia, Cassidy, Kali, even Celebi managed to be a positive memory despite his distrust of the legendary. He relaxed, letting his emotions come instead of reaching for what he thought he needed. And he sighed.
He had two pokegirls who needed him. And he had selfishly tried to run from who he was.
Nessa stumbled to the side when she felt someone push next to her. When she turned her eyes widened. “Nicholas?”
Nicholas stared into the roiling activity. Next to them, Sera continued shouting, her voice shifting just enough every few lines to create the illusion of a dozen voices, all shouting in unison. “They look panicked to me.” He turned to Nessa. “Are you ready?”
Nessa’s breath caught. She already felt empowered by the energy from her pendant, but when Nicholas looked into her eyes she felt a different kind of power fill her. This was the Master she had dreamed of, yet it was also the Nicholas who had saved her. And for an instant, she thought she saw his eyes flicker, shifting from human to… something else.
Nicholas blinked and the illusion vanished. Nessa quickly turned back to the cave, finding the closest pokegirl. “I’m ready. Master.”
Nicholas clapped her on the shoulder. “Go. I’m here.”
With a bloodcurdling scream, Nessa charged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POKEDEX UPDATED
Tamer: Nicholas Topolski
Badges:
Zephyr Badge
Harem:
Nessa, Totodile – Level 17
Sera, Zubat – Level 17