Chapter 6: The Shepherd and His Flock

I woke up to the most annoying of birds that would just not let me sleep.

As my eyes opened, the only thing I saw was some grey fabric separating me from the sky. Not very happy at that, I shot up out of panic and looked around, seeing Nick’s sleeping form not too far away inside of the belly of some sort of cushion monster called a sleeping bag. I groggily wondered what I was doing inside of Nick’s tent until I remembered, blushing to myself.

Last night after the longest time of exchanging kisses, I yawned one time too many and he decided it was time for bed. Me being his new lover, he insisted that I should sleep in his tent. I would’ve been more than happy sleeping on the ground like I had for most of my life but he was unmovable, afraid for some reason that I would run away. I would never do that to him. Below that, I would never do that to myself. His love was the first love I had received since the death of my mother. I reluctantly complied with his wishes on the condition that he had to carry me.

I smiled, remembering everything. I leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek. His eyes stayed closed. Smiling, I let my instincts get a hold of me and I licked his exposed neck lightly. That received a better response.

“Eevee?” He sat up, blinking. “Oh, Trinity.” He blushed. “Good… Good morning.”

“Ga-ood… Ma-orn-ing.” I kissed him again as he yawned, trying to remember how to sleep through the fog of my sleepy mind.

“I could get used to waking up like this.” He smiled. “Why don’t you wait outside while I change?”

“Is there something you’re hiding?” I giggled.

He leaned in and I closed my eyes, soon feeling his lips on mine. “Just wait outside please. I need to figure out how to break it to Leah that she’s become a third wheel on this journey.”

“What’s a third wheel?” I asked, getting up.

“I’ll explain later.”

“I love you.” I said, wanting to hear him say it one more time just to make sure he wasn’t lying last night.

“I love you, too.” 

I smiled and slipped out of the tent into the morning sun, stretching my limbs. I felt better than I had ever felt before. Even before I was captured, I never felt like this. The morning sky was still a dark blue and dew was in the air. Everything smelt fresh from the rain and was tinged with the slightest dash of smoke from the firepit…

What was that?

I sniffed the air again. “Eevee…” I shifted uneasily. Among the remains of Nick’s subtle scent, Leah’s pungent scent, and my scent was a faint, almost familiar one wafting through the brush. This one held memories of dread for me. I pushed the worries away uneasily. It had to be in my head. It just had to be.

A hand grabbed my collar around my neck from behind and yanked it brutally, ensuring without a doubt that it was not in my headr. “EEVEE!” I yelled, too distressed to remember speech.

“Hello there, little slut.” A man’s stinking breath met my nose. I twisted around in his grip. It was one of the many men who had sexually assaulted me. Even worse was that there was at least ten other men with him. “That was much easier than I thought it would be.”

“Hey!” Nick cried out as he exited the tent. “Let go of her!”

“Sorry kid.”My blood ran cold as Boss himself walked into my view. I struggled in the grip of the man, but all that earned me was a groping hand on one of my breasts and a muttering to behave in my ear.

“Keep your hands off of her!” He interjected, starting toward me.

“This product is defective and we’ve come to reclaim it before any harm comes to you or your lady friend.” Boss continued.

“You can release her. I’m wholly satisfied with the quality of the product I have received.” Nick glared at Boss, trying to hold himself back. He looked back to me, seeing the fear in my eyes.

“Oh, I certainly understand your reluctance to part with such a valuable commodity. Rest assured, you’ll get a full refund or you can swap her out for any one of the other sluts we have trained.” Boss offered. “You’ll also get whatever money that is left over if it was a slut of lesser value of course. You can even have a slightly more expensive one if you wish.”

“I’d rather have the Anthro that I have purchased.” Nick responded icily.

“Let go of me!” I yelled. Every one of FATA gasped simultaneously out of shock. I wrenched out of the man’s grip as he was surprised and ran to Nick’s side. All of the men suddenly began talking at once, unsure of what to do. 

“B-Boss, she talked!”

“We can’t sell her now.”

“It’s illegal to sell talking ‘morphs.”

“Shut up!” Boss yelled at his men. It was almost comical seeing so many men unable to think for themselves. They were like sheep. “Like it or not, that bitch is worth 60,000 goddamn dollars. I don’t care what the excuse is, we are reclaiming that slut.” Boss turned back to us, I glared at him.

“You’ve just made a lot of trouble, boy.” Boss said, a dangerous edge in his voice.

“She’s mine. I can do whatever I want with her.” Nick spoke, grabbing my forearm protectively. It was a nice gesture even though I was probably stronger than he was.

Boss reached into his back pocket and took out a familiar weapon. “It would really be a shame to spill such young blood.” He said, turning the gun over in his hand, examining it. “The refund is still up if you want to take it.”

My breath came fast, torn between what I wanted Nick to do.

‘Trinity…’ Leah’s voice echoed in my head. ‘Go to Boss’s men now.’ I looked around, confused until I remembered that telepathy existed. I looked uneasily at Boss then Nick. ‘Just trust me. Please, do it if you truly love Nick.’

“Don’t think I won’t shoot you.” Boss said, snapping me out of the one sided conversation that Leah was having in my head. “Your little act of valor doesn’t make you look good. It makes you look stupid.” He raised the gun at Nick.

“No!” I shouted, stepping in front of Nick. “Don’t shoot. I’ll go with you.”

“Trinity.” Nick looked surprised and almost hurt, gripping my arm harder. “You don’t need to…”

I ripped his arm from mine, looking at him with sorry eyes before running over to Boss. “Just don’t shoot him.”

“Shut that slut up!” Boss yelled angrily. Another man came out of the crowd of timid FATA workers and secured me with a leash.

“Welcome back, bitch.” He said to me, yanking the leash hard so I fell down. When I looked up I saw that his pant already had a bulging erection. I hoped they wouldn’t rape me in front of Nick.

“Hey, don’t hurt her!” Nick yelled, starting to run to me.

“Nick, don’t!” I warned. I shook my head at him. Even getting raped was better than seeing him die. The man pulled me up, looking greedily at my snatch.

“Now I supposed I promised you a refund. I’m afraid I don’t have the money on me.” Boss smiled a sadistic, evil, ghastly smile. “Unfortunate. I guess this will have to do.” He raised the gun.

“NO!” I screamed. I closed my eyes as a loud bang rang across the clearing. I heard one collective gasp. I didn’t want to look. I could already feel tears starting to form in my eyes.

“Now that’s cheap.” Leah’s voice rang out. I almost thought that she was speaking in my mind again until I heard several men react to the voice. I opened my eyes to see Leah floating in front of Nick, the remnants of some kind of barrier flashing in midair. “A fully grown man using a gun on a mere child. You sicken me.” Behind her Nick stood completely unscathed. I thanked god. I thanked every god. My life’s only meaning now was safe.

Break free now, Trinity. Leah spoke in my mind. Looking around I saw that the man who held my leash was completely entranced by Leah’s appearance. Wheeling back, I shot my fist forward as hard and fast as I could which, despite a late warning from one of his coworkers, hit him square in the nose, knocking him down and out easily. He lay so still that I was actually afraid that I might have killed him.

“Nick!” I ran to him and lunged at him, pulling him into a hug as we toppled over together. I kissed him squarely despite his protests.

“You sought to separate the bond that these two had for mere money!” Leah shouted in an angry tone that I didn’t think was possible for her jovial, light-hearted voice. Nick pushed me away and was back on his feet, bring me up as well. A look at Leah’s face showed it contorted with rage in a way that sent chills even down my spine despite not being the one it was meant for.

“Who are you?” Boss demanded, waving his gun at her.

“A wanderer of the skies. I don’t take kindly to the inflated preying upon those smaller than they.”

“Then perhaps you’ll take bullets a bit better. Open fire on her.” 

“Boss, the Eevee! We might hit her.”

“I don’t care! Just shoot!” Boss yelled at him.

Shots rang through the air, and I screamed again, my sensitive ears not taking the loud noises well. Those things had killed my mother so I knew they meant business.

“It’s alright Trinity.” Nick whispered into my ringing ear when the shots stopped.

“I was afraid you were shot.” I admitted.

“That’s impossible.” Nick said.

I looked to Leah. Bullets floated around her, each surrounded with a pink aura, caught by Leah’s telekinetic powers. Another one of the men came from the crowd carrying a much larger gun than the rest. I recognized this man. He was one of the many that took pleasure in raping me in those large gangbangs, always going for between my breasts first and coating the valley with his sticky cum. He took aim in our general direction and fired.

A dozen or so shotgun pellets suddenly appeared around Leah as she caught the projectiles. “You WILL leave these lovers alone, do you understand?” her voice echoed sinisterly, making many of the men from FATA cower.

“Boss, the bullets didn’t even hit her!”

Boss turned to them, eyes burning with rage. “Fire again!”

Leah had had enough. The bullets surrounding her dropped to the ground. She brought her arm back and shot it toward Boss. Boss’s face suddenly contorted in pain as his body rocketed away and smacked with amazing force against a thick oak tree.

“Hey! Leave Boss alone, you bitch!” The man with the shotgun shouted, leveling it again at Leah. She snapped her hand up and the barrel of the gun was propelled to his forehead with a sickening crack. He fell limp.

“I said that I did not wish for you to harm these innocent people anymore. You continued.” As she said it, it echoed through the clearing, yet came off as not loud at all. “You will pay.” She pointed at Boss, who was recovering from being smashed against the sturdy tree. He spit blood at her.

“Dirty goddamned whore.” He cursed. “I will fuck you.” He took a retractable knife from his pocket and pointed it at her. “And then I will kill you.”

“I think you will find that quite hard to do with only one arm.” Leah flicked her hand at him, sending him spinning around quickly. His arm met the same tree he had hit only moments earlier and it snapped like a twig, causing Boss to cry out in utter agony.

“Okay, Okay, Okay!” He shouted. “I-I’ll leave them alone!” He cradled his mangled arm.

“Apologize first.” Leah said, sternly. “To them and to me.”

Boss looked angry, but his throbbing arm and probably the rest of his body as well told him not to act on his anger. “I-I’m s-sorry.”

“Put more meaning into it.” Leah scoffed.

“Whore.” Boss replied.

“I said apologize.” Leah flicked her hand at him again; I looked away, not wanting to see something else happen. I saw plenty of that kind of stuff while I was in the wild and had no interest in seeing it again. I heard the sounds of vomiting as Nick hugged me.

“I’m sorry.” Boss spit out his words much like the first time only louder.

“Good.” Leah smiled sadistically, probably taking notice of my distressed state. “Now get out of my sight. If I ever so much as see one of you ever again I will not hesitate to end you.”

They quickly cleared out, hauling off the two unconscious men in the process. Leah glared at them until they were out of sight, not letting either of us move until they were out of sight. As soon as they disappeared, Leah’s evil face disappeared and she fell to the ground, landing gracefully on her feet.

“Oh man, I’m hungry. Nick, make me something to eat. I haven’t eaten all night.” Leah smiled.

“Thank you.” Nick nodded, one arm around my body protectively. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I hugged Nick tightly as he said it, feeling a growing sensation from within my body’s depths.

“Well I am your bodyguard, but really I’m more interested in what you can cook than what you can say unless if it has something to do with how Trinity went from a skittish Eevee to your overzealous lover in one night.” Leah grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away from him. “’I don’t love him’ eh?” She whispered slyly in my ear. “That sure looks like love to me.”

I blushed under my fur, forgetting FATA for the moment. “How da-id you do that?”

“Do what?” Leah cocked her head. “Wait a second, don’t try to change the subject!” Leah glared playfully at me. “And you,” She pointed at Nick. “Food. Now.”

“How did you speak in my mind and do all that other stuff?”

“I’m a legendary, psychic Pokémon anthro. I can naturally read minds and speak to people through them. I have a lot of powers actually.”

“You can read my mind?” I was taken aback. I should have expected it and deep down I probably did, but it still didn’t sit right with me. My mother had had the ability to read minds and it didn’t bother me while she was alive. I didn’t get why it disturbed me so much that Leah could.

“I’m limited.” She confessed, a bit too jovial, making me wonder why she would ever want to keep it private with the way she was talking about it. “I can read minds whenever I want, but I can’t dig through them unless someone looks directly into my eyes.” 

I instinctively looked away from her beautifully blue eyes and stared at her collarbone.

“Relax.” She said, floating from the ground once more. “I rarely do it, and I’d never do it to you. At least not anymore. I let you distract me. You two,” She pointed to me then Nick who was now relighting the fire, “are suddenly boyfriend-girlfriend in the span of a couple days. I deserve an explanation. Now tell me… where did you two go for your first date?” She smiled widely.

“I will throw something at you.” Nick threatened, laughing.

“Why would you do that? I just saved your life and the life of your girlfriend.” Leah pouted. “I’d think that you’d be a bit more grateful than that.”

“Haven’t you heard? I’m one of those spoiled rich kids. I’m never grateful.” He smiled fondly at her. “Could you two go get more firewood please?”

“Sure! C’mon Trinity.” She touched down lightly. “I’ll walk beside you.”

I quickly kissed Nick one last time. “It never gets old.” I whispered to him, feeling something inside me pumping and squeezing. I pushed it away.

“C’mon Trinity!” Leah urged me as well. “You can kiss him all you want when we get back.” 

“Hurry back.” Nick urged me, love in his eyes.

“I will.”

I ran to catch up with the walking Latias, ducking branches as I did. It was much easier to get around when it wasn’t dark. Leah immediately began gathering firewood in floating stacks, making me useless.

“I wish I had some sort of power.” I said, idly watching her do all the work. “I was useless when that man fired that gun at Nick.”

“You were not.” Leah smiled reassuringly at me. “You easily punched that guy out.”

“But that didn’t help at all. You could’ve easily taken care of that guy instead.”

“But I didn’t need to. My power isn’t unlimited. Besides, all you have to do is evolve you know.” Leah stated absently as she gathered more wood. “If you evolve into an Espeon, you’d be able to do some of the things I can do.”

“I don’t know…” I hesitated. “My mother was an Espeon, but she wasn’t nearly as powerful as you are.”

Leah stretched her arm out at a tree, snapping off dozens of dead branches. “Be thankful for that.” I was about to ask what she meant by that when she continued her earlier thought. “If you become an Umbreon you’d have a few of my weaknesses covered.”

“I… I haven’t really given much thought to ev-ol-va-ing. I don’t think I’m ready.” I confessed.

“Well you have plenty of time.” Leah said. “I’ve never evolved and never will. I can only imagine how scary it must be to fit into a new body.” By then Leah had already collected a hefty pile of wood for burning and I had nothing to show for my time spent in the forest. “I love how you’re finally not afraid of me.”

“No I am.” I replied. “But only a little. I trust Nick, so I might as well trust you.”

“You don’t trust me for me?” She asked sarcastically. “That’s nice of you.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Relax, I was joking. Let’s just head back.” She smiled, her feet leaving the ground again.

When we got back, Nick was waiting with the remainder of the firewood from the night before burning steadily. He held a clear, plastic bag full of a light brown powder and a water bottle.

“Is that what I think it is?” Leah’s mouth watered.

Nick nodded. “Tina’s pancake mix.”

“I love you.” Leah said. “Screw Trinity you’re mine.” 

“I haven’t even made them yet!” Nick laughed. He closed one of those balls that he always got things out of and pressed the button to make it shrink, placing it in his backpack. He took out a small pan that wasn’t in one of the spheres.

“What was that?” I asked.

“This?” Nick took out the ball again.

“It looks like a Pokeball, but it doesn’t hold a Pokémon.”

“Here.” Nick threw it to me and I winced, catching it out of luck. “My family owns a company that sells a lot of different things and this is one of them.”

I turned the sphere over in my hand. This one was white on one side and a light yellow on the other. It had a line through the center and a button on the line to make it expand. It wasn’t particularly spectacular or flashy. On the opposite side of the button was the word DEVON in small, glossy calligraphy.

“My dad owns the company now, but my grandpa founded it and made it popular.” Nick said, mixing some of the pancake mix with water in a pot before pouring it onto the pan. “It’s called a storage expansion sphere or SES.”

“How does it work?” I asked.

“I don’t know, some inventor in my dad’s company came up with it.”

I frowned, not satisfied by that answer. I threw it back to him and he put it in his bag again.

Nick flipped a pancake. “We’ve got another long day of walking ahead of us Trinity.”

“Where are we going?” I asked curiously.

“My grandfather’s estate in Solaceon.”

“It’s really big.” Leah butted in. “It’s got like a bajillion empty rooms and a pool. The pool is fun to push people into.”

“And it’s got a big garden full of hedges.” Nick added. “With a grove of trees in the back with a clearing that attracts Pokémon from all over the world. It was modeled after the garden of a friend of my grandfather’s.”

“Your grandpa sounds like he likes Pokémon.” I said as Nick finished the first pancake, putting it on a plate and handing it to Leah.

“Where’s the syrup?” She asked.

“I forgot it at home with the refrigeration SES.” Nick replied. “Don’t you remember?” Leah pouted a bit before digging into her pancake like a Latias possessed.

“Sorry what was that Trinity?” Nick returned half of his attention to me as the other half poured more pancake batter onto the pan.

“I said your grandpa sounds like he likes Pokémon.” I repeated.

Nick nodded. “He does. He believes that Pokémon are just as smart as humans; a belief he failed to pass on to my dad. He hires a lot of anthros. Leah’s mom is one of the maids at the house.”

“She’s a good maid but a bad cook.” Leah giggled a laugh as gentle as Christmas bells. She had already finished her pancake and Nick was just flipping the second.

“What does Leah do?” I asked.

“Sit around and be lazy.”

“I do not!” Leah jumped into the air and floated there. “I never sit around.”

“She does act as a good bodyguard though.” Nick admitted, smiling at Leah. “We’ve gotten out of some pretty bad situations together that I might have died from if it weren’t for her.”

“That’s more like it.” Leah floated higher. “Oh, before I forget.” She stopped. “You should probably teach her some manners before we reach home, or at least teach her some common knowledge.”

“I’ve taught her to speak an entire language in the span of two days.” Nick defended himself.

“Her mother taught her most of that.”Leah stated. “I’ve been in her mind, Nick. She knows enough to survive in the wild, not in a house.”

“You’ve been in my mind?” I growled.

“She’s not that bad.” Nick defended me.

“She peed in front of you yesterday.” Leah countered. “All I’m trying to get at is that your grandpa might be a little less angry if she knew how to act in a house. She can’t use eating utensils, she can’t use a toilet, and she can’t even brush her own teeth.”

Nick was quiet. My anger roiled inside of me, but I knew she was right. I didn’t even know what half of the things she was accusing me of not knowing how to do were.

“Your pancake is burning.” I said.

“Oh crap!” Nick snapped back to attention, scooping up the smoking pancake.

“I’ll be right back.” Leah said. “I have to go pee.” She then flew away like a majestic, fat Pelliper.

Nick, sighing, looked to me. “I guess you wouldn’t want this.”

I didn’t really want to be trouble. “I’ll take it.”

“No, I’ll make another one.” Nick pulled it away from my reaching arms. “I’ll eat this one. I will not let your first pancake be burnt.” He was quiet as he mixed up another one, placing the burnt one on a plate next to him on the ground. 

“Nick?” I inquired.

“Hmm?”

“Are you angry at me?” I asked cautiously, afraid he’d blow up like the men at FATA.

“How could I ever be mad at the woman who stole my heart?” He smiled at me. “I’m just thinking. Leah has a point. We’ll be reaching Solaceon tomorrow and there’s a lot you don’t know. I want you to be as presentable as possible.”

I smiled. “Make me presentable then.”