Chapter 5: Rainbow 
“I should probably not have this on.” Nick turned off the flashlight. “I don’t want to waste too much battery.” The tent returned to darkness, very little light penetrating the violent storm clouds, billowing canopy, and the thin tent fabric.

“Eevee.” I responded, uncomfortable with him in the dark, that sense of mistrust wriggling around in the back of my head starting to gain ground. My ears perked up, straining to hear any noise that wasn’t the roar of the rain.

“So…” Nick started. “Trinity… you should practice speaking a bit.”

I cocked my head. “Mmm…” I said, not knowing what to say. “Oo… ut… Ah… baht?” I scowled, frustrated at my inability to speak clearly.

“What did you say?” Nick shuffled in the dark. I flinched a bit, glad he couldn’t see me do that.

“What… abow…t?” I asked again, getting it a bit better than before.

“I don’t know, Trinity.” Nick shuffled again. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Um… I’m… n… Eevee.” I said.

Nick laughed. “I know that. I meant more about you. What’s your favorite food? Music? Well I suppose you wouldn’t know too much about music, actually, but stuff like that.”

“I like Pa… ek, no… echa. Pa-echa… berries.” I responded.

“That’s a start I suppose. What do you like to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have to like doing something.”

“I don’t know.”

“What did you do before FATA captured you and… did stuff to you.” Nick said, disgust tainting his voice.

“I lived n a first… I mean fore… est. I didn’t do n-e-thng.”

“Nothing at all?”

“All I da-id ws sir…vive.” 

Nick was quiet then. “Trinity…” I shivered when he said my name. “I promise that I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to help you.”

“Eevee.”

“I’m not your owner, Trinity, I’m a friend. You can trust me.”

“Okay.”

Nick sighed. Everything was quiet again save for the wind and rain. His silhouette put its head in its hands.

“Why?” I asked after a long while.”

“What?”

“Why did you ba-I me?” I asked.

Nick thought for a moment. “You looked like you needed help. I couldn’t let you stay there knowing what was going to happen to you if I didn’t buy you.”

“Oh.” I said skeptically.

“I heard about the auction FATA was having and I was enraged.” Nick confessed. “I wanted to stop it, but it wasn’t against the law. As long as an anthro or a Pokémon isn’t able to speak it’s perfectly legal to strap them down and rape them as much as you want.”

“Tare…able.”

“It is.” Nick agreed. “But I wasn’t the one who was supposed to be talking. You were. Do you like pulling my strings?”

“I didn’t do anything!” I exclaimed. It was only when he laughed at the seriousness in my voice that I realized that he was kidding. I giggled a bit when I realized my error.

“You have a cute laugh.” He said out of the blue.

“Eevee…” I said, feeling a flutter in my chest. I pushed it away angrily.

“What’s your favorite color?” Nick asked.

“Rrr-eh-duh.”

“Leah would like hearing you say that. My favorite color is blue.”

We went on and on that night. We talked, or rather he talked and I commented, about weird things. He told me about music, video games, books, movies, and all sorts of other things I had never heard about before. 

We ended up sitting close together, still facing each other with my tail between us, his hands running through the long, soft fur absently as we conversed. He made jokes and I laughed. He asked questions and I answered. I asked questions and he answered. All the while that feeling deep inside me grew, and so did denial of my feelings for him. It was easier to talk to him in the dark.

Eventually the storm passed and night fell. Leah didn’t return. I was worried but Nick assured me that she disappeared all the time, only to reappear later.

“She never goes far.” He said without a hint of worry in his voice. “She just likes some time alone sometimes.”

Nick decided that due to our hunger and cramped limbs that we should get a fire going.

“Can I trust you, Trinity?” Nick asked me, hands on the release of my leash.

“I prom-iss ta-hat I won’t run aye-way.” I swore.

“You know what will happen if you do.”

“FATA will get me ah-ga-en. I know th-at, Nick.”

Nick sighed. “I hope I’m not making the wrong decision here.” He released my leash and my spirits instantly multiplied tenfold.

“Than… ka… you. Thank you! Thank you!” I hugged him for the first time then and he gasped, startled by the contact I had initiated.

“Y-You’re welcome.” He replied. He handed me a flashlight. “Go see if you can find some dry wood to burn please.”

“Don’t need.” I replied, pushing away the outstretched flashlight. “The mmm-ooo-nnn is al-most full. I kin see.”

“Take it anyway.” Nick insisted. “For me.”

“Uh… Okay.” I conceded reluctantly after seeing the look of concern on his moonlit face.

“Don’t get lost. I’ll get whatever kindling I can find and try to start the fire.”

And then I was in the woods. Alone. With no leash. 

I looked around, desparately wanting to run, but not nearly as much as I did a day before. As I looked through the trees for wood that was sufficient, I couldn’t get my mind off of Nick. It was all the funny and interesting things he said to me, the way he looked at me. I felt something in my heart jump as I thought about him. Suddenly I was very angry.

“Eevee!” I yelled at myself, throwing the wood I managed to collect at a nearby tree. “Why!?!” I asked myself in my native language, struggling with my feelings. “I don’t love him!” I yelled at the poor tree.

I fell to my knees in the wet shrubbery, feeling tears welling in my eyes. “All I want is for everything to just disappear. I don’t love him.” I buried my face in my hands.

“Are you okay?” Leah’s voice asked from above me.

Surprised and not wanting to give her the satisfaction of see me broken like this, I leaped to my feet. She was above me like I had expected, blue eyes almost glowing in the dark. “None of your ba-is-nis.”

“Your speech has improved tremendously, but your lying hasn’t.” Leah floated down to me. “Tell me what’s wrong, Trinity.” 

“I said nutting was rung.” I responded coldly, picking up the discarded firewood one by one, trying so desperately to look composed. I doubt she fell for it.

“I certainly hope you didn’t escape.” Leah said idly. “If you did I’d question your intelligence in collecting wood, but I know you’re not that stupid. You’re anything except for stupid.”

“Are you trying to ma-ake me fa-el better?” I asked, having reclaimed my misplaced load of twigs.

“Well to make you feel better, something would have to be wrong with you to begin with.” Leah turned so she was laying on her back. “I know how it feels to love someone that you don’t want to.”

Had she been listening in on me? Apparently so. “I don’t love him.”

“I wasn’t implying anything.” Leah flipped back over. “I just wanted you to know that if you wanted to talk I’m open. I’m a girl, too, and I’m an anthro. I get things that Nick doesn’t, like how people look at us.”

“I don’t need your help.” I said. “I don’t love him!” 

“I’m not saying that!” Leah called out, but I was already running away, pushing through dark, groping brush and tripping over unseen stones. When I stopped I was out of breath and out of rage, asking myself what I was running away from. Leah? Nick? FATA?

“This is stupid.” I told myself. “I can’t run away. I can never run away. Apparently I’m worth money.” I stood up straight, looking at the moon through the leaves. I eventually reasoned with myself enough to start heading back, collecting more wood because I once again dropped it all, including the flashlight Nick had insisted on me brining. I’ve been in the woods at night long enough to know how to find my way around without light.

When I finally made it back, Nick already had a fire going with wet logs drying next to the flickering flames. He was sitting on the dirt with his back to me, hugging his legs.

“I… I got some wood.” I said uncomfortably holding odd bits and pieces of dead branches I had managed to gather on my way back.

Nick jumped up. “Trinity!” He looked embarrassed for a moment. “I was afraid you weren’t going to come back.”

“So was I.” I confessed, a pang shattering my heart. “But I came back.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that you did.” Nick beckoned me. “Come sit by me. I don’t really feel like cooking so we can share some berries.”

I smiled, dropping the wood next to the fire to dry out more. “Okay.” I plopped down next to him and he opened another expanding ball. This one had multiple compartments with different berries inside each compartment.

“You said you like Pechas.” Nick commented, opening one of the many doors and pulling out a few pink berries.

“Thank you.” I accepted them, surprised that he remembered. Having not eaten a berry in more than a month, I immediately took a monster sized bite out of one. Its sweet juice exploded in my mouth and ran down my chin. To me, it tasted like home. “I r-an into Leah out in tah woods. Did sha-ee ca-ome back?”

“No. She doesn’t need to sleep very much, so she normally flies around all night.” Nick remarked tossing a few spicy Cheri berries into his mouth. I winced at that. I hated spicy berries. “She’s a creature of the sky all right. I don’t think she’s ever as happy as when she’s flying through the clouds.”

“Why not?” I asked after finishing my first pecha.

“Why not what?”

“Why doesn’t she sl-ee-pa?”

“Latias and Latios just don’t sleep. They spend a lot of time flying, so I guess they just stopped sleeping like most Pokémon do.” He grabbed a few more of the spice bombs and threw them into his mouth. I whinced again. How the hell can he stand that?

“She must get lonely at night.” I bit into a new berry, trying to avoid covering myself in its delicious juice. Success was moderate. I quickly finished it.

“I never thought of that.” 

“What else can Leah do?”

“As a psychic type or just as Leah?”

“As a psychic type.” 

“Well,” he swallowed another berry of agony, “she has a lot of different abilities. She can obviously fly. She can move things with her mind. She can transform into anyone she’s seen before, but she can’t talk when she’s in their form.”

“That still bothers me.” I noted, finishing another Pecha off.

“She can even turn invisible. Her other powers are a bit more pervasive. I don’t think that I should be the one to tell you them.”

“Please?” I asked, looking at him with puppy dog eyes.

“Ask her tomorrow. I’m not at liberty to tell you them.”

He reached for more berries and I reached for more. Our hands touched briefly and he quickly withdrew. 

“Oh sorry.” He said.

“I don’t my-end anymore.” I smiled, my heart rushing. “I la-ike you now.”

“That’s great to hear, Trinity.”

“Thank you by the way.” I said. “If you had-n’t ba-ought me I don’t know way-er I’d be.” A tear slid down my cheek. “But you saved me from be-ing a sex slave, and for that I can’t thank you enough.” More tears slid down my cheeks and my breath started to get thin, my heart pumping as he moved closer to me.

“It’s alright Trinity.” Nick comforted me. He put his hand on my shoulder and I threw my arms around him. He was shocked as I initiated the hug, crying into his shoulder a month’s worth of frustration and anxiety.

“You even gave me a nnn-ame and taught me how to spa-eak. No one be-sa-i-des my mother has ever treated the way you and Leah have. Not even pa-oke-ee-mon.”

“It’s all over now, Trinity; that will never happen again.” Nick promised, his arms wrapping around me. “Wipe away those tears.”

“I-I love you Nick.” I said to my own surprise. I pulled away from his grip, looking in his shocked eyes. “I-I don’t know how it happened, or when it happened. I just… I just fell in love with you. Nobody’s ever treated me like you do a-and I…” I looked away, tears blurring my vision. I fully expected him to decline my feelings.

“I-I…” Nick stuttered. I braced myself. “I love you, too.”

I deflated. “W-what?”

“I love you, too, Trinity. I didn’t want to tell you because you were already skittish and nervous. Revealing my feelings for you would only serve to distance you further. You just grew on me, and when I taught you to speak you were so beautiful and had such interesting things to say. You were so cute and so different from any other girl I’ve ever met that I couldn’t help falling in love with you.”

I blushed under my fur. “No one’s ever said tha-ings like that to me.” Was I dreaming? It felt like it.

“You deserve things like that to be said to you.” Nick moved closer to me.

“I love you.” I said, this time intentionally. Nick suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a hug, our mouths touching in an unexpected kiss. Surprised, my instincts pushed him away and I tore his hands away from me.

“I’m sorry, Trinity, did you not want me to do that?” He apologized, looking sincerely sorry and heartbroken.

“No, no, no. That’s not it. You just… sur-prize-ed me. You can’t do things like that. I can’t con-trol myself all the time.” I slipped my hand into his, fingers interlocking. My head was swimming through mist.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked curiously. 

“My refl-exes of my feral self will tear you to bits.” I smiled, seeing shock in his eye. “But I love how upfront you are with what you want.” 

I put my other arm around his neck and pulled him in, my tail wrapping around us to prevent him from running away. My puckered mouth touching his briefly. It wasn’t a very satisfying kiss so I opened my mouth, tongue begging for entrance into his.

He gladly granted me the key and his mouth opened. His shy tongue touched mine and we danced inside each others mouth. I tasted the spices from his Cheri berries on his tongue and it mixed with the residual flavor of my Pecha berry. When we broke our kiss, he was blushing.

“I’ve never kissed a girl with fangs before.” He commented, brushing my tail. I think he had a thing for my tail.

“Do they bother you?”

“Of course not. Nothing about you bothers me.”

“Well never eat Cheri berries before kissing me again, because I hate those things.”

Nick laughed. “I won’t, but your mouth is really sweet.”

“Then I suppose I can let it slide this once.” I moved in again, and we were kissing once more. This time my hand went from around his neck to the front of his pants, feeling a stiff erection. I stroked it through his clothing. He quickly ended the kiss then.

“What are you doing?” Nick asked, blushing as he snatched my groping hand.

“Don’t humans mate or were those men doing something comple-letel-ly different to me?” I responded, annoyed with the abrupt end to the kiss.

“Yes, we mate, but not right away.”

“Well Eevees mate right away to show love.”

“Trinity, I could never look my grandpa in the eye and say that I bought an anthro that was for sex planning on not having sex with it, and then have sex with it anyway on the way home.”

“So you don’t want to have sex with me?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but I won’t do it for your sake.”

A smile spread across my face. “You have no idea how happy it makes me knowing that you turned me down. After so many men always lusting after my body it feels… revitalizing to have someone who loves me for me.”

“Trinity… what did those men do to you?”

The smile on my face faded. “They… They did a lot of bad things to me.” The smile returned. “But now I’m with you so that makes it all worth it.”

“I’ll trust you on that.” He kissed me quietly. “I love you.”

“I love you.” I couldn’t say it enough. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”