A mustachioed announcer man stands in the middle of a raised stage surrounded by a massive crowd of people. The man raised his microphone and let his voice ring out over the loudspeakers “In the red corner, a trainer from our very home in Driftveil city as well as last year’s home champion, let’s hear it for Krystal Junepei, and her partner pokémon, Froslass!” at this introduction, a young woman, probably early twenties, in an elaborate blue and gold dress tossed a pokéball high into the air. “Ok Yuki, lets win this!” A bright flash of purple light emanated from the open ball in mid air and seemed to smash into the ground as the light solidified to reveal the previously announced pokémon. Upon being released from the ball, Froslass gave a twirl as it sprayed the area with a barrage of ice crystals which sparkled in the afternoon sunlight of the open stadium. The crowd gave a roaring cheer and applause at the spectacle displayed before them.

Krystal and her pokémon gave a nod to the announcer signifying that they were finished with their introduction. He then turned towards the other side of the stage to begin my introduction.

“And in the blue corner, a trainer from Anville town and returning champion all the way from Lacunosa, give it up for Luke Irving and his partner pokémon, Zorua!” I calmly stepped onto the stage from the sidelines dressed in my black suit and red bowtie giving the crowd a wave as they started cheering for me. I tossed my own pokéball into the air in the same fashion as Krystal did, but where as her’s released a pokémon, mine did not. It simply fell to the ground and the crowd fell silent save for a select few who gave out a laugh. It was all part of the show. Mina and I had worked out our introduction in the pokémon center room before and boy did she love an entrance.

I took on a feign surprise face as I pretended that Mina had refused to come out of the ball. Little did everyone else know, Mina had never been inside that ball, or any ball for that matter. In fact she was hidden from the crowd’s sight on top of the VIP spectator boxes. To continue the act and signal for her to take the stage I reached into the depths of my lungs and pulled out a shout that was heard almost as good as the announcer on the loud speakers.

“MINA!” I yelled into the sky cupping my hands around my mouth. The little fox had then almost instantly jumped from the top of the spectator boxes, taking nearly a 100 foot drop in free fall into the center of the stage. I heard the people in the stands give out gasps in surprise until they figured out it was part of the show and soon began applauding once again. The Zorua gave one, two, three front flips before using her illusion powers to cloak herself in black flames as she plummeted toward the ground. During her descent, she had acquired a lot of speed and I was genuinely worried about the possibility of her getting hurt when we were discussing how she would present herself, but seeing it in action was nothing short of amazing.

Mina hit the ground with a force that made the whole arena shake, but judging how her illusion was still in existence, it seemed as though she was completely unharmed. The black flames spun around the gigantic dust cloud and started to constrict and pull it to the ground where it exploded outward instead of upward. The flames were next to extend in a circle away from Mina and I could feel the heat from the dark fiery tongues as they licked the air. It seems as though Mina preferred real, fake fire as opposed to fake, fake fire… Weird, and confusing I know, but it’s not my place to tell her otherwise.

Once the flames had fully dispersed, Mina could be seen standing proudly uninjured. She turned back at me and gave a beaming smile which I then passed a nod to the announcer. “Amazing folks!” the microphone rang, “Without further adieu, let the 35th annual pokémon contest begin!” The stadium went completely crazy. People shouting, pokémon giving out their respective cries, anything they could do to release the excitement of two contest champions dukeing it out for this year’s championship title.

The battle started with Krystal and Yuki taking the first move. “Yuki! Use icy wind!” At the command of its owner, the Froslass swung its arm which unleashed a hailstorm toward Mina. At this point in our experience, I knew she didn’t need any instruction, but for show I belted out a command anyway.

“Use faint attack and follow with shadow claw!” At the last second, Mina disappeared as the Froslass’s attack went through her image. The little fox had completely disappeared from sight. Even Yuki on the opposing team was confused until it caught a glint off to its side. The glint being Mina’s shadow claw drawing nearer in mid air without a body attached to it.

Krystal gave out an exasperated grunt as she soon realized what was happening. “Use protect!” a green shield materialized around the Froslass and absorbed the shadow claw, but the pokémon didn’t expect what happened next. Thanks to Mina’s faint attack, she was able to pass right through the green sphere, and without me having to command it, she had already charged a night daze attack and released it just moments after she appeared.

The attack spun around inside the protect barrier until it eventually cut it in half. Each hemisphere floated off in its respective direction before breaking apart in the shape of green sakura petals. Through the blackness of the night daze attack, I could see Mina kick a back flip off of the Froslass and land gracefully on all fours only a few feet away from it. Yuki was momentarily cloaked in swirling darkness as it confusingly floated to the ground. Its trainer’s voice was the only thing to break its wobbling. “Focus! Use icebeam to break the darkness!”

The black mass began to swell as the pokémon used its attack. Eventually the ball began to crack apart though it didn’t want to release Yuki just yet. White light started to pierce through the blackness as strips of ice began to force its way out in jets. The power was too much for the night daze to contain and it finally burst releasing all of that energy in one explosion which surprisingly did absolutely nothing to the Froslass.

Mina was quick on her feet though as she jumped side to side to avoid the oncoming ice shards and frozen beam energy. Before waiting for a command for me, the Zorua leapt to run towards her opponent. Krystal saw this as an opportunity to give out a late counter for Mina’s last attack.

“Ice shard, Yuki! Over charge it! Follow up with aurora beam!” The Froslass summoned up five giant ice crystals which floated around it in a pointy ring. One by one the pokémon fired the crystals at Mina, who was still running towards it. She managed to gracefully dodge each one as they stuck into the ground. On the last ice gem, Mina took a vaulting leap into the air as the Yuki charged its aurora beam. Its target wasn’t Mina however; it was the ice shards stuck in the ground. Upon contact the beam refracted off of all five crystals before focusing on Mina’s mid air location. It was finally fired in a beam separating its rainbow colors in a wide fan like formation, which only served to add visual appeal and actually did nothing to strengthen the blast but only make its area larger.

I hate to admit it, but I didn’t see this coming and I could offer Mina no help as to what she could do. Mina on the other hand, did see it coming, though I didn’t know how. She gave a twirl in the air before using foul play and all but diving into the beam. The attack didn’t seem to faze her much; in fact she was wearing it. Really… she was wearing a refracted aurora beam like she absorbed it or something! I’ve seen her cloak herself in just about everything, but never in our five years of contesting have I ever seen such a marvelous display of her power. Mina landed on the ground after absorbing the beam, the rainbow energy radiated from her body. The Zorua had effectively changed her appearance from dark to shining light as she glowed on the center stage. I remain on the sidelines, slack jawed myself. I could only give out one command, taking the hint she gave me when she looked back to look at me with a smile that said, “Lets finish this!”

“Charge!” I managed to get out. Suddenly, Mina jumped into action and ran the few feet towards the Froslass with a rainbow trailing behind her, lighting up her previous positions. It didn’t take long for her to reach her opponent who could only brace itself for what it knew was about to happen. Krystal was out of commands; Mina’s display had put a shock into her face as well. A rainbow tackle was good enough to finnish the contest, but I wanted to try something new, and I knew Mina would love to take advantage of this moment just as much as I did.

“Mina, Rainbow Shadow Claw!” her ears perked up at the sound of the command and she must have knew where I was coming from with this order so with a smile and a trickster laugh she hopped 6 inches from the ground and cork screwed as she charged a shadow claw in her paw which was immediately taken over by the aurora beam energy. There it was, the attack was released flawlessly. Four claw marks ripped through the air resembling diamonds trailed in a deep purple after shadow, had made contact with the Froslass who was now being pushed backwards by the force of the attack made twice as strong by its own blast. If this were a standard battle, it would be over by now, but contests are based on beauty, so as I saw that Mina had a little bit of glow left on her, I gave out a new and final command.

“Get behind, and use rainbow shadow ball!” she did just that. Using faint attack to move herself a few yards behind the pokémon still defending and being pushed by the rainbow claw. Mina sat down and lifted her muzzle to the sky as she charged a shadow ball which was taken over by the last of the multicolored energy. Then she braced herself, and fired.

The iridescent orb flew through the air and collided with Yuki. Upon contact both attacks exploded sending bright hues in all directions. Mina and Yuki remain at the center of the blast; Yuki clearly defeated, but not seriously injured, Mina standing over her slightly wagging her tail. Moments after the explosion faded, the stadium was oddly silent and I was beginning to wonder if the crowd had enjoyed it as much as Mina and I did. I was soon relieved as I heard the people explode in their own over powering cheers applauses; I guess they were glad that the championship final was well worth the ticket price.

The Announcer took out his mic and declared the contest over and Mina returned to my side jumping into my awaiting arms. “It seems as though we have a winner!” the announcer man lifted an arm to my side of the arena. “Congratulations Luke! You are the winner of our grand prize, the golden ribbon, the title of championship as well as the prize of 500,000 pokédollars!”

With Mina still in my arms I took a bow to the crowd before I walked to the center of the ring where the announcer was. Krystal had gone to the center as well to give her congratulatory handshake as well as Yuki who was already floating on its own again. “Good match Luke,” she said with a weak smile, “that was the most exciting match I’ve ever been in!” Krystal turned to leave me alone with the guy but with a look from Mina, I stopped her and took the announcer’s microphone. He objected of course and I played hell trying to take it from him at first, but he soon gave it up.

“Krystal,” I began, “you and Yuki really gave it your all out there, and I know that these people wouldn’t have gotten to see that show otherwise… so, Mina and I have come to agree that you should take half of the prize money. Just to say thank you for proving, that my girl still surprises me every day.” Mina gave me a lick on the cheek before coming up with her own speech in the microphone, I could understand it of course, but to everyone else it just ended up sounding like a jumble of yips and barks.

“Thank you for the battle! I really enjoyed competing with Yuki, and like Luke said, I would be glad to see half of the money to go to our show partners.” Mina had barked into the mic which sent out a wave of laughter throughout the audience and a chuckle from Krystal who, even though couldn’t understand what she said, still thanked Mina for her words anyway.

Eventually the crowd began to filter out of the stadium. Mina and I, followed by Krystal and Yuki, had gone to the contest office to claim our prizes. Inside the small office cubicle was a fat man in a business suit reading over a stack of papers. Although he was wearing a tanned hat, anyone could clearly see he had grey stripes running through the sides of his hair and perhaps the hat was covering up an acute balding problem. He looked up from the papers as I knocked on the door to the office, and taking his fat cigar out of his mouth, he cracked an open smile and motioned for me to come in.

“Eeyy, ‘ere he is yea? Man ‘o the hour!” he said to me in his funny, obviously foreign accent. He paused for a moment as Krystal walked into the room, but soon continued with, “Oh and who’s dis then?” he took a hard look at her with his dark brown eyes and thick brow. “Ah yeh, you’s dat Christa gir’el aint ya? Well, congratz on comin in second, but I gotta talk to Luke privately at duh moment.” Krystal was surprised by the man talking to her, but managed to stammer out a few words before stumbling out of the door, “O-okay, sir.”

The fat man waited for her to leave the room before continuing. “Cute kid, I know you’s is younga, but, C’mahn. Don’t ya know a classy broad when ya see one?” He grunted out with his smirk and raised shoulders. I had to slightly blush at the statement as Mina, who was still in my arms gave out a small snicker, obviously understanding the situation.

I already knew this man; I had to deal with him just about every time I won a contest. He was some sort of regional contest official and I knew how he operated enough to know a friendly banter from the old guy. I took a seat across from his desk and I put Mina down in the chair next to me. “Hey Jean, how’s it going? Usually you just gimme the money and stuff and send me on my merry way. What’s up?”

Jean raised a bushy eyebrow to me as he reached in one of his desk drawers for a remote to turn on the TV hanging in the corner of the room. “Wat’s up? Wat is up?? I don’t see you’s for two months ‘an you wanna know, wat’s up? Where da hell have you two been? Dats wat’s up!” He pulled the remote out and turned on the Television to view one of my last contest appearances. It just so happened to be the one in Lacunosa town, with the finals being between Mina and I versus an Umbreon and its trainer, both of whoms’ names I had forgotten a while back. Jean had replaced his cigar back in his mouth and had begun to speak around it which only made his speech that much more incomprehensible.

“Dish is ya lasht contesht in Lacunosha town. Shee ‘ow ‘ig dat crou’d ish?” I watched the video and payed attention to the crowd of people in the stands behind the battle I had already won about two months ago. “Yea, I see the crowd, what about it?” At this, Jean eyeballed me as he took a puff of his cigar. He let his breath go before continuing to speak which just about filled the room up with smoke, I took a glance at Mina sitting beside me and she gave out a cute sneeze.

“Okay… Lemme show ya dish-un. It’sh a contesht held in Cashtelia Shity, tree weeks after.” He flipped the channel to a contest that I had missed due to traveling; I once again took a look at the crowd and noticed that is wasn’t as packed as in the Lacunosa town contest. “Okay, so what? I don’t see that big of a change, so what if there are a few people not at the Castelia City one?” I retorted.

“Wat, are ya shtupit or shometin? Cashtelia Shity should ‘ave twishe ash many people ash Lacunosha! Lacunosha ish like in da fuckin booniesh or shometin!” Jean took another puff off of that cigar filling the room up with smoke, causing Mina to tear up, and I started to cough as well. I got up from my seat and took the thing out of the fat man’s mouth which made him remove his feet from the laxed position on top of his desk. “I hate these damn things, Jean!” I said while holding it up. “I can’t understand a single word you’re saying! You’re making Mina tear up, I’m coughing, it’s terrible!” I found the ashtray on his desk, put the cigar out and opened the adjacent window. “Now, please… get to the point!” I sat back down in my chair, my outburst earning a snicker from Mina.

“Alright, Alright, jeez, damn kids ‘an there no smokin” He mumbled under his breath before taking a more serious pose and faced me before turning the channel to today’s contest win. “Look -ehh, you ‘an dat rat there got talent, ‘an tha people? They like you too. You’s guys make ‘ese contests interestin start to finnish. ‘an dis win today, is no exception.” He paused before leaning closer to me taking a deeper tone now. “I know ya’ve neva been on a plane before, and I tink, dat if you flew around instead of walkin everywhere, you’s could get in more contests, get more money, ‘an make us money too”

I finally realized what his point was, he wasn’t seeing enough profit coming from ticket sales when I wasn’t performing and to make up for that, wanted me to fly instead of travel, well… I have news for him. “Jean, you know I can’t fly everywhere in a plane. I left school when I was thirteen to travel and see the world. In fact the only reason I even compete in these contests is because Mina enjoys it, and we need cash to live.” The little fox put her paws on the desk and gave out a yip to show she was agreeing with me. “Besides, I have plans to go to the Heonn region shortly, I can’t be tied down like this…”

The old man gave out a long sigh as he brought up his crossed hands to his forehead. “Yea, yea, I know, kid. Do me a favor will ya?” I looked into his eyes willing him to continue. “Jes’ don’t forget about little ‘ol me when ya make it big in Heonn, okay?” I thought about it for a little bit, it seemed weird to me that a man like that could actually care about whether I remember him or not. “You know I can never forget you. I doubt you have a fat, smoking, balding, clone in Heonn after all. Who’s to say? Maybe I will miss your obnoxious cigars.”

Jean burst out laughing at my comment. “Heh haha! Yea, you’s a good kid, Luke.” He reached into his desk drawer again and pulled out a wad of bills. “’eres your cut of da contest. Five hundred thousand pokédollars! I hope it gets you far.” I took the bill out of his hand and I stood up to leave. “Thanks, and I see ya sometime.” I said.
“Yea, yea, arivaderchi, nah get outa ‘ere kid, I gots business to do.”

I walked out of the office with Mina close behind and saw Krystal waiting on the bench. Counting out the money into an even 250000 pokédollars, I handed her the money and thanked her again for giving us a great battle. Mina and Yuki also gave each other a couple congratulatory words. Eventually, with all the craziness of the day out of the way, Mina and I headed back to the pokémon center where she had a routine checkup. By the time we had gotten back to the center, it was well past 9:00 and I was nodding off in the chair waiting for Mina to return. When the Nurse joy found she was in good health, the little fox jumped back into my arms and we re-rented our room for the night. Our stuff was already in the room when we left for the contest, I thanked the nurse joy and with that, Mina and I calmly walked to our room, but we were both jittery with excitement despite our evident exhaustion. We entered the room a few minutes later and the little fox jumped up on the bed and stared at me patiently as I slowly shut the door. The second she heard it click shut, Mina began jumping on the bed!

I made a fast crouching walk towards her, wide eyed, mouth agape and arms spread, as I came closer, my overwhelming joy took over me. “Oh Arceus Mina! That was amazing! How did you do that? It was so cool!” Mina didn’t answer me and just continued to jump up and down on the bed laughing, clearly ecstatic about her recent win. I came to the foot of the bed and jumped on top of it as the Zorua came down from the air to land on my chest. I gave her a big hug as she continued to have giggle fits. We continued to just roll around on the bed in laughter reveling in after contest high. Finally Mina broke through her laughs to speak to me directly the first time since the contest was over.

“Did you see that jump I did at the beginning? I was all like, whaaawoaaoo” she imitated herself falling in slow motion. “Hell yea I saw it! I was right there! Haha! The crowd, oh Arceus the crowd went absolutely WILD! Those were real fake flames weren’t they? I could feel the heat off of them!” I held the fox above me at arm’s length while I laid on my back. She gave a giggling squirm but couldn’t keep it up; she was starting to run out of breath. “I told you it was gonna be cool, Luke!” “You did, you so did Mina!”

I put her down to sit beside me again as I continued, “How did you absorb that aurora beam thing? You were all like Nyan fox with the rainbow trail!” Mina beamed a grin at me as wide as she could. “I… Don’t… Know! I knew I could get around the attack with foul play, but I had no idea I would end up absorbing it!” I was shocked to hear that even she didn’t know the mechanics behind it, but that didn’t make it any less amazing. “That doesn’t matter, Mina. It was still the coolest move you’ve ever done!” Mina lowered her head to nuzzle my cheek before giving it a lick; I could tell she was out of breath both from the excitement and the contest.

“Thank you for doing this for me. I know you don’t like to battle, but it really means a lot to me.” I gave her a pat on her head fluff as I drew her closer to my chest. I put my nose into her fur and drew in her welcoming familiar scent. “Hey, it’s ok. I know you enjoy it, and that’s all it takes to make me happy.” I gave her a kiss on the forehead and drew back to look her in those beautiful emerald eyes. “It’s your birthday tomorrow after all, what kind of a partner would I be if I didn’t give you the best week ever, huh?” I rubbed her scruff as I smiled into her eyes. “Which reminds me, what do you want for your seventh birthday?”

Mina gave a blink as the thought flashed across her mind. She hadn’t thought about what she wanted, but thinking on the fly revealed her one desire this year which was stronger than all the previous years combined. “Luke…” The fox looked to the covers on the bed for a moment before continuing with her request. The silence urged a soft ‘hm?’ from me. “If it’s not too much trouble, could I… evolve? Please?”

The thought registered through my mind, at first I was appalled. Why did she think she needed my permission to evolve? Then after thinking for a moment longer, I realized what she was actually asking me. Evolution takes place because of the bond between trainer and pokémon who are bound by a pokéball. Pokémon, who are not captured, will eventually grow into their evolved states, but this process could take years depending on the species. I managed to look up on the internet that Zorua take approximately fifteen years to fully change into Zoroark. Mina of course was not bound to me with a pokéball. I made sure that she was with me only because she wanted to be with me. I hated the idea of pokéballs, but I have to admit, they do make situations like these pretty convenient. The only pokéballs I carried around were the empty ones I had gotten five years ago when I left Anville town. Even then, I only use them as crowd shockers in contests so they don’t really have a function in our daily lives.

I spoke up to her in a soft tone, “Mina… in order for you to evolve tomorrow, I would have to capture you.” Taking a long pause, I looked into the Fox’s eyes once more. “Is that what you really want?”

“More than anything in the world…” The Zorua gave out a tired yawn at the end of her statement, which made me yawn in turn. “Ok then” I replied. “We’ll do it tomorrow then.” I finished the sentence and looked down at my partner who had just fallen asleep next to me with her head on my chest. It didn’t take long for me to pass out as well. The room had an auto off light function which kicked in sometime after I fell asleep. It wasn’t often I slept fully clothed, and un-showered for that matter, but I figured I could let it slide tonight.

---------------------------------------------------

I awoke in the middle of the night with a sharp pain in my chest. During the night I had managed to roll over and the pain subsided as I lifted myself from the bed. At first I didn’t know what happened, I looked to the alarm clock on the nightstand to my left side, 4:00 AM. “Oh jeez…” I managed to grunt. Pulling myself to sit at the edge of the bed, I then searched my chest for the source of the pain and paused as I felt the soulstone necklace underneath my fancy black suit that I had neglected to take off before falling asleep. I opened up the front of the suit and let the crystal light up the room with its light blue luminescence. Mina still slept on the pillow which was near my head, and I didn’t expect her to wake up any time soon. I however, would not be able to fall back asleep no matter what I did, so I decided to just get up and get moving.

Slumping up from the edge of the bed, I moved towards the bathroom door, the soulstone being the only thing lighting my path. Which wasn’t a bad source of light, in fact it was really bright, and I would even venture to say it was twice as bright now as when I had originally found it. I stopped at my backpack near the bathroom door and rummaged around for some clean clothes, while I was in there, I thought ‘Why not, I’ll put that ribbon in the ribbon case while I’m at it.”

The case was easier to find than the clothes were, I kept it in the front pocket. I pulled the case out and quietly popped it open. The first thing that drew my attention was the green ribbon in the center of the case. It was a 4th place ribbon, the first ribbon Mina had ever won. I smiled as the memories of that day came back to me. We had just started our journey, it was three weeks after leaving Anville town until we came upon civilization. Mina and I took the arduous journey through the dense forest. Being able to talk to pokémon helped a lot with directions! We only managed to get lost eleven times!

Eventually we came across Mistralton city where, coincidently, an amateur contest was being held. We didn’t enter that one, but we did get tickets to watch the show. It just looked like fancy battles to me, but I soon found out that Mina had fallen in love with contests. From that time, we stayed in Mistralton until the next contest was held. That is where the green ribbon came from. We didn’t win first in that contest but Mina couldn’t get enough. From there, we began training hard to make her moves as flashy as possible. Eventually we started winning more and more contests, and apparently gained a number of fans, from what Jean had said. All in all, Mina collected 23 ribbons, with this recent one making it 24. I closed the case and put it back in its pocket after putting in the new ribbon. Once again, I stumbled onto my feet, gripping my clean clothes and headed for the shower. Throwing my clothes on the sink I turned on the water to let it warm up. I took a look in the mirror and saw that I could use a shave, but that can wait until after the shower.

I walked out of the bathroom thirty minutes later being careful not to make a sound as I peeked around the corner to where the bed was. To my surprise, Mina was still sleeping peacefully curled up in a ball on top of the pillow. I didn’t want to wake her up, so I reached into my backpack to get some paper and a pen. Before leaving the room, I left the note along with a large sum of cash on the night stand. I took another look at the sleeping fox. “Love you sweetie.” I said as I leaned down and kiss her on the forehead. I had a long day of preparing ahead, so with that final kiss, I left the room. Today is Mina’s birthday, and I’m going to make sure it’s the best day ever.

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(Mina)
I had fallen asleep next to Luke that night, I remember asking him a question, but I didn’t remember the answer… or the question for that matter. I was really worn out after that contest, but the look on the pokémon and peoples’ faces was more than enough to keep me going. Everything after Luke and I got back to our room was a blur though. I was happy, excited and really tired… speaking of Luke, where did he go off to?

I woke up to hear the birds chirping outside and the sun had peeked through our room’s heavy curtains. I lazily rolled off the pillow I had apparently taken as bedding and looked around the room as I stretched out the tiredness in my muscles. Sure enough, Luke wasn’t anywhere in the room. I could smell the faint aroma of Pidove brand soap emanating from the bathroom, which told me that he had gotten his shower and left me in the room! At first I was hurt that he would leave me, but was soon put at ease when I rolled over to look at the alarm clock and found a note. It sure is a good thing that Luke taught me how to read while we were kids in school. Truth be told, it has come in handy more times than I thought it would. I got up on all fours and stepped closer to the note to read it.



---------- ‘Dear Mina,
I want to wish you a happy birthday. In fact, I want you to have the happiest birthday ever. By the time you read this, I will have set up and elaborate trail for you to follow all throughout the town. I know how much you love these games. When you solve it, I will be there waiting with something I think you’ll really love. Here is your first clue. “--Moo Moo milk.”
Remember to turn into your human form so you don’t get into trouble. I’ll see you when you get here. Love you sweetie.
-Luke

“Awww” I let out in a soft voice. I do love clue searching. ‘This is why I love him so much’ I thought as I switched into human form. ‘He always goes out of his way every day to show how much he appreciates me.’ My human form reflected my human age, which as Luke had once pointed out, was somewhere between seventeen and twenty. We still didn’t know for sure whether it was my age that did it, or if it was my attachment to Luke that made me mature at the same rate as him. Either way, we didn’t question it too much and just accepted that it happened that way.


I got up from the bed, not feeling self conscious of my nakedness. Technically I’m always naked, so it doesn’t really bother me, but Luke insists that I wear clothes if I turn human. For that reason, he always keeps a few sets for me in his backpack… actually I have more clothes in there than he does. I pulled out my favorite pink shirt, dark blue shorts and red sneakers accompanied by a gold necklace he had gotten me after a contest win in Black City. I went into the bathroom, put on the outfit and gave a turn in the mirror. My shoulder length, red tipped, black hair was a little frizzy but nothing a good brushing couldn’t fix. After a quick groom, I washed my face and was ready for the hunt! I returned to the night stand and pocketed the note as well as the stack of Pokédollars Luke had left me, and before leaving the room, I made sure to lock the door.

I came down the bottom of the stairs leading into the pokémon center lobby. I tried to be discrete; no one knew around here knew I could turn into a human. Luke and I have taken advantage of this from day one. He would take me to those fancy restaurants that didn’t allow pokémon out of their balls. Even when we went to a normal restaurant I would take on human form anyway. It made it easier to use the silverware; pokémon with human like arms could use the pokémon cutlery, but I, having four legs and paws, would have to eat out of a dish otherwise.

Ducking out the front doors of the center, I gave a sigh of relief as I knew I went unnoticed by Nurse Joy. I took out the note from my shorts pocket and read over it again. “Moo Moo milk” I said aloud to myself. “I don’t think there are any farms around here, he must mean the store!”

I started to run in the direction of the general store which I knew from experience, had moved from its original location to set itself just a few blocks away from the new contest coliseum. Driftveil city has undergone a lot of changes since Clay had taken over as mayor. I didn’t like the old guy, something about him left a bad taste in my mouth.

I crossed the bridge to the man-made island where just about everything one could want was all in one place. There were shops, parks, arenas, coliseums and more! The only thing that wasn’t on this island, was the Driftveil gym, and the pokémon center of course.

After a few minutes of running I had made it to the store. The guy at the counter greeted me with a smile as the automatic door gave way to my presence. I smiled back at him and went straight to the milk isle. I must have looked like a fool digging for buried treasure as I dove into the refrigerated shelves, picking up each container of milk and inspecting it carefully before setting it off to the side. I could see the cashier out of the corner of my eye, giving me a disturbed look as he saw the numerous bottles all over the place, and I gave an embarrassed blush finding the one I was looking for. It had another note taped to it, which I gently removed and unfolded, but before I could give it a read the cashier came over to me.

“Find what you were looking for?” he asked in an annoyed tone. At first I forgot that I could speak human in this form, so I just looked up at him with wide eyes, until the thought finally came to me.

“Oh, um. Yea… s-sorry about all this.” I gave in a nervous chuckle hiding the note behind me. “I’d, uh- like to buy this?” holding out the bottle of Moo Moo milk towards the cashier who held his hand to his forehead.

“You know what, you can have it. Just go… please” He knelt down to pick up the containers on the floor and mumbled to himself, “Arceus in heaven, what is the deal with people and the milk today?” I could only silently laugh at his comment. I thanked him and left the store with the bottle, but not before leaving a bit of money on the counter, I still didn’t really get how it worked so I just left a few bills. Once outside, I took a look at the note I had found taped to the milk bottle.



---------- Dear Mina,
Was this one too easy? I bet you got it in under 30 minutes. There are still 3 more clues for you to follow after this. You have that money I gave you right? That’s great! Because I figure you might be a little bit hungry after the first hunt. Why don’t you get a bite to eat at your favorite restaurant? You know the one. I’ll see you soon I’m sure of it.
Love, Luke.


He was right, I was feeling a little hungry, but I had to think about what my favorite restaurant was. We had been to a lot of them in Driftveil, but I would have to say that the best one would be an all human one by the name of Café la Tran. It was a really weird name; had to have come from the Hoenn region. I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it though, as I pocketed the note I heard the cashier give out a loud wail, “WHAT!? 20,000 POKÉDOLLARS!?”

‘Uh oh…’ I thought, ‘I must not have given him enough.’ The guy ran out of the doors clutching the money and saw me sitting on the curb. “Excuse me miss, there must be some mistake! You gave me 20,000 pokédollars!”

I was in a state of shock! He said I could just take the milk but he still wants more money? I didn’t know what to do other than what my instincts told me, which was, “RUN GURL!” I leapt up from the curb and started booking it towards Café la Tran, which was on the natural land side of Driftveil. The cashier didn’t follow me though, he just looked off in my direction with a lost look on his face. It’s not like he had a chance of catching me anyway, I may look human, but I can run at least twice as fast as one.

I came upon the restaurant in no time flat. Running nearly the whole length of town at full speed and didn’t even break a sweat. Here it was; my favorite restaurant. They may be incredibly up tight and judgmental people for not letting pokémon in, but I have to admit, the food is fantastic! I opened the door and my sensitive nose was soon filled with the delightful smells of freshly cooked steaks. I really felt bad for the pokémon who were chosen as food, but being a carnivore myself, I knew all too clearly about the circle of life and the food chain.

This wasn’t the first time I had dinned alone. I understand that sometimes Luke had to run a few errands without me, mostly setting up our next contest entries. I thought they were boring anyway, and asked if I could explore on my own. He didn’t want me to go for fear that I would get into trouble, but I insisted that everything would be fine. Since that time, he completely trusts me.

I walked into the fancy sitting room. It was so tacky. Leather seats, lined the walls in an “L” shape. Above the seats were photographs of famous people who had come here to have dinner. Alder, the Unova league champion. Brycen, who is now a famous actor. A few other people who I didn’t recognize, probably music and theatre artists, and of course there was Driftveil city’s mayor, Clay. All of these people had their picture taken on the bar side of the restaurant.

A finely dressed waitress stood at the podium. She waived for me to come closer. “Hi there, welcome to Café la Tran is it just one this afternoon?” the girl said with a smile. I gave a smile back to her, she had no idea that a pokémon was about to dine in this “no pokémon allowed” restaurant.

“Yea, it’s just me today. Could I get a booth please?” I replied, though I also had another question on my mind. “Hey, did you see a trainer come in here earlier, a little taller than me, brown hair blue eyes? Maybe even with a bit of hair on his chin?” The waitress paused for a moment to think but then said in her cheery voice, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen anybody like that come in since I got here.” With that, she grabbed a menu from the podium and extended an arm to guide me through the tables. I gave a nod to her before proceeding.

“Any particular booth you want?” I heard her say from behind me. I could remember the first time Luke and I came here, we got a booth by the front window, and every time we came in here, we got the same table. I spied our booth in front of the window, empty. “I’ll take that one.” I said as I pointed towards our table. The waitress gave me a smile and set the menu on the table after I took a seat. “I’ll give you a minute to decide what you want, but for now, can I get you anything to drink hun?”

“Um… I’ll take some Pecha juice, and I don’t need a minute to decide, could I have the cherri berry marinated steak with a side of Kingler claw?” I handed the menu back to the young woman who gingerly took it back. “Okay then, your meal should be ready in about twenty minutes. Just call if you need anything.” I thanked her and she walked away with her notepad.

After the waitress was gone, I immediately began to search my surroundings for another note. I looked everywhere, under the table, upside the salt shakers and even inside the paper towel dispensers, but I didn’t find anything. Maybe the clue wasn’t supposed to be here? Or maybe I wasn’t at the right restaurant? I decided to pull out the note and read over it again. I flipped it to the back side and around again, and even tried to read it upside down. Nothing changed, was this really where my hunt would end?

I calmed down for the moment and figured, ‘I’ll figure out what to do later but for now, I’m really hungry.’ I sat at the table alone for a few minutes until the waitress came back with my drink. “What’s wrong honey?” the waitress asked, “You look like you just got stood up.”

I looked up from the glossy tabletop and gave a soft fake smile, “Oh its nothing, I’m fine.” Everything was not fine I was lost, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. She obviously knew I was lying though and reached out to put a hand on my shoulder. The touch sent shivers up my spine; I was worried that her hand may pass through my human body as normal illusions act, but was reassured when my form didn’t even waiver. “Well whatever it is, I’m sure everything will work out.” Without another word she left me to my thoughts.

-----------------------------------------------

(Luke)
Where was I? OH YEA! Now I remember… the pokémon center at 4:30 AM. Well, I won’t boor you with the details, and I don’t really want to spoil the surprise. Let’s just say that by the time I was finished leaving notes all around town, it was nearly 6:30, which meant that the shops were now open. Really I didn’t have all day to prepare for this, and Mina’s request last night put me a bit off guard. I would have to get to the pokéball shop as soon as I could; I wasn’t going to stuff my beloved Mina into a normal pokéball. I didn’t want to stuff her in ANY pokéball, but if that’s what she wants, then I can at least make sure it’s the best ball I could get for her.

I arrived at the pokéball shop and entered through the automatic doors getting a nod from the cashier in a green shirt wearing a pair of glasses. All over the shop, shelves were cluttered with pokéballs. I had never actually been in one of these shops; I had no reason to be, but I knew they were all over the world. People actually made a profit for custom balls. Painting, accessories, as well as different types and even shapes; I even saw some shaped like pyramids and cubes on the shelves… they didn’t seem to be too popular though. I was soon overwhelmed with choices. Each of the balls had brief descriptions under them, but they all promoted high catch rates.

The guy at the counter must have noticed my confusion and called me over to him. “Yo man, you findin’ everythin’ alright?” he said with what sounded like genuine concern. “Usually trainers prefer these ones over here.” He pointed at the pokéballs inside the class counter he was leaning against. I actually did recognize a few of these balls: standard pokéball, great ball, and ultra ball. Then there were a few I didn’t recognize: some white ball, a blue one with a crisscross pattern on it, a camouflage one, and an all red sparkling ball.

“Um… this is the first time I’ve ever been in a pokéball shop, and I wanna get someone important to me a gift.” I said telling the truth, for the most part. The store clerk almost got what I meant by it as he started to rattle off the specs of several balls to me. Then he finished with, “So, what is this someone? Another trainer? Boy? Girl? If it’s a trainer, I recommend one of these, but with enough money, I have a master ball for sale, one hundred percent catch rate…”

“No no no…. I need something really special. This isn’t for some trainer, this is for… m- my pokémon.” I had to stall for a second as the words came out of my mouth, I didn’t like to refer to Mina as ‘my pokémon’, but there really wasn’t any other way to get him to understand what I meant.

“Oh, I see.” He finally got it, “well then, what kind of ball are you looking for then?” I had to think for a second before continuing. I knew what I wanted from the ball, but I really had no idea what Mina wanted, but I thought it would be fine if I could say what I needed and go from there. “I need a ball that won’t trap Mina. She needs to be with me because she wants to, not because of the ball.” Surprisingly enough, the clerk seemed to know exactly what I meant and reached into the case to pull out the sparkling red ball.

“This little guy here is called a cherish ball. Some guy in Sinnoh apparently thought the same as you do, only he’s a pokéball programmer.” I looked at the ball with curiosity, looking up close I noticed that it had a black stripe that circled around the middle. “And what’s the catch rate on this ball?” The guy chuckled at my question. “Pokéballs have catch rates because once the pokémon are transported inside them, the ball initiates in a small rewrite in the pokémon’s brain. If the pokémon has even the slightest inkling of taking to the trainer, the ball will attempt to magnify those feelings.” He rambled off to me, not really answering my question. I already knew how pokéballs worked, and that’s exactly why I didn’t like them. Rewriting anything’s brain was just wrong, no matter how it’s done.

“I can see that you care a great deal about how much this ‘Mina’ thinks of you, I can also tell that you have strong feelings for her as well… This ball actually has a zero percent catch rate. It has absolutely no rewriting ability, so, if ‘Mina’ stays in the ball, it means she made that decision all on her own.” I stared at the ball for what felt like forever. Was this guy telling me the truth? Was there really such a ball that would let a pokémon decide on its own? I picked up the ball to hold in my hands, turning it, inspecting it. “A-are you sure it won’t force her?” I had to be sure.

The clerk picked a piece of paper out from the box the ball came from and held it out to me. “This is the ball’s information ticket; one has to be provided with every ball we sell. It has the cost, the maker, the weight, the size, recommended use, and of course the catch rate. As you can see, right here it says, ‘Catch rate- 0%’. Most trainers don’t buy this brand because of it, but I figure it would be perfect for you.”

I looked over the ticket and, yea… he was right. I decided I was going to buy this ball, but first I had a special request. “This is going to be a birthday present… Could you do me a favor? I heard that you can customize pokéballs here.” The man looked to me with an entertained quizzical look. “Yea, of course I can, what do you have in mind?”

I pulled out the soulstone from underneath my thick, black shirt. “Would it be possible to make some glowing paint from this?” The man’s eyes lit up behind his glasses. “W-where did you find this?” he said as I gingerly handed him the glowing crystal. The light reflected off of his rims as he turned it in his hands. “Are you sure you want me to make paint out of this? This is possibly the rarest stone in the world!” I didn’t know it was that rare, where I found it, there were hundreds around, but come to think of it, I’ve never seen a single cave with these stones inside.

“Yea, I’m sure. That’s just how much I care about her… how much of the stone do you think it will take?” I asked. He looked at the ball for a little bit, then back at the soulstone. “Well, I would ask if I can buy the whole thing off of ya, but seeing as how you’ve taken the time to put it on a necklace, I don’t think that would be feasible… How much of the ball do you want painted with it? And what do you want painted on it?”

This is the question I was waiting for, “Can you paint it like a Zoroark and make all of the red parts with the glowing paint? And the eyes have to be an emerald color, also in glowing paint.”

“A Zoroark huh?” The clerk thought about the request for a moment. Then he typed something into the computer sitting next to him. I guess he wasn’t familiar with the species. He took a few pauses to look away from the screen and at the pokéball before responding with, “Yea, I can do that.” He stepped away from me for a few seconds to get a clip board and a pen, scribbling my order on the paper as he mumbled to himself. “One cherish ball, Zoroark paint job, luminescent paint, glowing red parts and glowing emerald eyes.” He put the clip board down and picked up the soulstone again. “Judging on how much you want done, and how bright this thing is, I don’t think I’ll need more than five millimeters.”

“That sounds great.” I said, “Could you collect it now? I’m sort of on a tight schedule at the moment.” The store clerk gave a half smile as he nodded and took the glowing crystal to the back room. After about five minutes he returned with it, and a small pile of blue glowing dust in what looked like an ashtray. He handed me my soulstone back, and if it wasn’t for the pile of dust in front of me, I would swear that he didn’t take any off of it at all.

The man looked to me with his clip board, “Okay, the ball will be done in three days, I got quite a few orders backed up at the moment and you know the saying, first come first serve. The ball its self costs 400 pokédollars, but painting as well as a particularly odd glowing request makes your order total to be, 6000 pokédollars.”

Something he had said in that long string of words made me bolt in surprise, and I pointed it out specifically. “Um… did you say three days? I don’t have time for that, I need it done by 3:00 PM today.” The clerk gave his head a jerk in return at my words. “Yeeaaa, I can’t get it done by 3:00 today, I've got too many orders backed up as it is and I-”

I quickly cut him off, I didn’t want to hear that he couldn’t get it done because of another order. “I’m sorry, how much did you say the price was going to be?” I asked in a calm tone. The man raised an eyebrow clearly expecting me to yell or something. “Its, 6000 pokédollars.”

I got close to him putting an assertive arm on the glass counter top as I spoke these next words, “Listen buddy… Mina’s birthday is today. Now, she told me that what she wants more than anything in the world is to evolve, and I can’t give her that wish without this ball.” The man looked right back into my eyes and in a soft voice, he made his counter argument. “I understand your problem sir, but I have six other people to get done first.”

He still wasn’t giving me the answer I needed. I had planned this day out from the beginning, and this guy was the only hitch. I already had the notes scattered around, I needed that ball… bad. “Ok, I’ll make a deal with you,” I said, “If you can get this done by 3:00 today and it looks top notch, you can tack another zero to the end of that price.” The clerk’s eyes widened at my offer, now hopefully aware of how important this was.

“O-okay, I’ll push your order to the top of the list. I can’t guarantee it will be done by 3:00, but it definitely will be done today.”
“Thank you for understanding” I said as I laid half of the agreed amount on the counter. It was still five times more than the original price, but with any luck this would give him some extra incentive to get the job done.

I left the shop and returned the soulstone to its place around my neck. I still had a few more things to set up before I met Mina at the spot I planned out for her to meet me. Without further hesitation, I continued on my way to make sure today was absolutely perfect.

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Mina)
I had been waiting at this table for quite a while, the strong aroma flowing in from the back kitchen teasing my sensitive nose, driving me mad. I still hadn’t managed to find Luke’s next note, but I didn’t have much more time to worry about it as the waitress came back with my food. Embarrassingly, I started to drool as the young woman placed the platters in front of me. “Enjoy your meal hun!” I could barely hear her say through my own hunger. I had managed to regain my composure to thank her and wait until she was out of sight before I started to dig in.

Since I was in human form, I could use forks and knives to do the job my kind would normally do with fangs and claws. I liked the human way of eating far more than the pokémon way of doing it, so without further adieu, I plucked up the steak knife and a fork and began my meal.

Oh Arceus, it was so good! The meat just fell off the bone in the center, but it wasn’t so soft that I couldn’t chew it, and the flavor… oh jeez, I couldn’t even describe it. The whole thing was marinated in cheri berry sauce, which gave it a semi sweet-spicy flavor, then it was sprinkled with the bitterness of a strength root which I could feel invigorating me. Once I had polished off the steak I set my sights on the Kingler claw. I loved these things, even though this was an all human restaurant, I took a peek around to make sure no one was watching. Once I knew it was safe, I gave the claw a shadow claw slash attack which split the food into four equal parts; an easy way to deal with those nasty shells. Kingler meat was possibly the best sea food out there! Added with the house special butter blend the Café la Tran was famous for, my super sensitive taste buds had quite a few “food-gasms” throughout my meal.

It all seemed to be too good to be true, but then my mind came back to the problem at hand. I still haven’t found that note from Luke. The waitress returned a few minutes after I was finished with the bill and a complimentary mint. I put another wad of cash into the billfold before handing it back to her. I only hope I got close to the amount right, I didn’t want any more people yelling at me. The waitress looked at me wide eyed, but then thanked me for my generosity as she took the plates.

Suddenly, I saw it! Stuck to the bottom of the platter I had the steak on, was the note! I quickly jumped up from the chair which made the waitress freeze in shock. “Uh- can I help you?” she asked in a somewhat scared tone. “YES!” I shouted earning another meep out of the young lady. She still stood there with the plates in her hands as I knelt down to view the bottom of the plate and quickly peeled off the note. “Okay,” I said happily, “I got it now, thank you.”

The waitress gave me a weak smile as I sat back down at my booth taking another sip from my half empty glass of pecha juice. Realizing that I didn’t need her help anymore, she nervously darted towards the kitchen. Meanwhile, I stayed at the booth to have a small laugh at my most recent success in finding the next clue. Without much delay though, I unfolded the note and gave it a read.



----------Dear Mina,
I guess you might be wondering how I managed to give you this note. I knew you would pick this place, and I told the cooks in the back to attach this note to the first person who orders this exact combination, pecha juice, cheri berry marinated steak, with a side of Kingler claw. It took some convincing and I bet they had their doubts, but seeing as you’re reading this now, proves that I was right, haha! After this one, you have two more clues to follow, so for this next step, you need to go to the place where we kissed for the first time in public. Man what a rush.
Anyway, by the time you read this, it should be somewhere around 12:30, which means that I am almost done setting up for your party. This shouldn’t be too hard, so I’ll see you soon honey.
Love Luke.


I blushed at the letter; he had brought up the first time we showed our affection in public, it wasn’t as bad as one might think. I was in my human form when it happened, so we didn’t turn many heads, but it was a very tender moment none the less. Afterwards, he said something about it not feeling as right as when I was in fox form, but I can’t really remember specifics at a time like this… speaking of time. I managed to look up at the clock for the first time today and began to laugh to myself as I realized that it read 12:33.

‘How does he do that??’ I thought between my laughter. The noise I was making caused the waitress to peek over at me from her podium. I quickly apologized and got up from my booth, pocketing the new note. From there I left the restaurant and headed to where I knew for sure, the note was talking about. The park just north of the Driftveil gym was where we did it. It happened on a park bench near the large fountain that was pretty much the centerpiece of the nature filled land.

I had my reserves about the park in Anville town for reasons that I’m not comfortable speaking of right now, but this one seemed very pleasurable to me. It contrasted Clay’s industrial city in a way that almost made me think that he cared just a little, for nature and wild life, but I knew that he didn’t. The only reason he had the park made was to attract wild pokémon, and in turn, fresh tourists and trainers.

The park wasn’t very far away from Café la Tran, maybe two, three blocks at the most. I took it slow and walked along on the sidewalk, greeting the people, and pokémon alike. I wasn’t really worried about people discovering me. Humans are sight based creatures; all of their other senses have been dulled to give them the best sense of sight and their intelligence. No, it was the pokémon who worried me most. I knew they could smell me. My fur casts a particular smell and only pokémon, with their sensitive noses, can detect what I truly am. To this extent I found a few Mightyena give me some barks as I passed them and their trainers, who immediately tried to ‘correct’ their behavior. I just shook it off whenever one of them apologized to me, offering me some gifts of condolence which I turned down. I felt bad for the pokémon who had to put up with those trainers, especially since they didn’t know that their pokémon were right to question things around me.

I had made it to the park in no time, and navigated my way to the bench, but soon discovered that it was occupied by a group of kids who were gathered around reading something. I stepped closer, and my heart skipped a beat as I realized that they had gotten to Luke’s note before I did! I let my eyes widen, and my jaw went slack as I just watched them over there, whatever was on the note must have been funny in some way, because the kids seemed to be having a good laugh at its contents. Really, it’s hard telling what Luke would have put in those notes, if he would have written about the time we made out here, that’s why I had to get that note from those kids.

I quickened my pace to come upon the spot the kids were at on the bench. I gave my best smile under the circumstances as I made out my request. “Hi there boys, my name is Mina, and I believe that note you have there is fore me… so if I could just have it please, that would be great.” The boy holding the note looked up at me, clearly holding back a laugh in his reddened cheeks. The group seemed to be at the most 14 human years old, and they didn’t look like they would cooperate with me. “Y-you’re Mina?” He said giving out a bit of a chuckle.

“Yes, and I really need that note please!” I was all but begging him to see things my way, but his next statement made it all too clear that he wasn’t going to give me the note without putting up a fight. “Why do you want this thing? It’s written by a crazy person who thinks you’re a pokémon and if that’s not funny enough, it says ‘I can remember our first time in that cave in Anville town and I know that no human could ever make me feel that way again!’” The boy and his friends started busting out laughing as my face burned as red as a cheri berry.

OH!! I was going to KILL Luke when I found him! How could he think it would be ok to put stuff like that in notes all over the town!? My anger started to rise to the top of my emotions list. “Look kid!” I started to raise my voice, giving a clear sign of my frustration at the situation. “Give me, my note, and there won’t be any trouble!” I said through gritted teeth. The boy just looked at me for a few moments before jumping off the bench and bolting off with his friends.

“UGH!! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT!” I yelled at the top of my lungs in their direction, but I wasn’t finished with them just yet. I immediately started booking it towards them. Being a pokémon, I caught up to them in no time at all, but they still refused to give me the note. I had no choice, I hope Luke would understand and I really hoped no one else was around to see me do this. I slowed my pace to be just behind them and outstretched my palm and shot out a night daze attack, as weak as I could make it. The dark orb passed up the group by a few feet then exploded, sending its stringy shadows in all directions around the blast. The boys were soon overtaken with the dark globs and fell to the ground covered in blackness. The 14 year olds didn’t move, they weren’t hurt, only knocked out from the pressure.

I walked up to the one who had the note and angrily snatched it from his grip. ‘That’ll teach you to mess with a woman’s things!’ I thought. I was about to read the note, but for some reason I decided to put the bodies in a more secluded place. Dragging each of the five kids one by one, I had found the perfect tree to place them under. I set them on the ground with their backs leaning against the trunk. I took a step back and noted the writing black scribbles still surrounding them. For now, they were blinded, paralyzed, and out cold. When they were due to awaken, they would probably remember nothing; and even if they did remember, who cares? Bratty kids like them didn’t have anyone who took their word.

I raised my hand towards the boys and then dropped it, signaling for the night daze to dissipate. I then turned to walk back to the bench where they had found the note to read the embarrassing little monster.



----------Dear Mina,
I can remember our first time in that cave in Anville town and I know that no human could ever make me feel that way again. This bench marks the spot where we stopped caring what people thought of us, even if you were in human form at the time. I know I am only human, and by the laws of nature, am inferior to you in every way, but I really hope you never think any less of me for it. You know how much I love you, and I would never ask you to change for me. I only want you to be happy. On another note, I hope you haven’t spent too much money, I know technically it is yours, but from my experience, you can be pretty generous with the tips lol. Other than that I just hope you are having a great birthday so far, and I’m sure you haven’t caused any trouble or anything, so here’s your next clue:
Our first tour of the city.
Good luck honey.
Love, Luke


No wonder those kids were laughing! It wasn’t because the note was funny; it was because it was the sappiest piece of paper they have probably ever read! My blush burned deep in my skin. Any more blushing today, and my human face just may be stained a permanent red color. I stood there stunned at the note for what felt like hours, but it was probably only five minutes. I didn’t want to, but I read it over a second time… ‘Our first tour of the city.’

I can remember exactly what we did that day, but we did so much- saw so much, the next clue could literally be anywhere! I sat down on the bench holding the note in my hands, between my knees. I kept thinking of how the day was going. I was having so much fun with this little hunt, despite those naughty kids. Sometimes Luke amazed me with his ability to predict my next move, it’s so accurate sometimes, it’s like he could really see into the future!

Now I was lost though. I kept thinking about where he wanted me to go. On the day of our tour, we started at the tourist center, and then were guided around the city to the contest arenas, the shops, restaurant and finally the light house. Then the thought finally occurred to me, ‘The lighthouse! That’s the only place I haven’t been to today!’ The light house was quite a ways away from the park though; I would have to walk just about a mile and a half, and even then, still have to find the note hidden in the building.

Without much fore thought, I stood up from the bench and started in the direction of the lighted tower. I glanced over at the boys still sitting up against the tree I had left them. They would wake up eventually, and with any luck, won’t remember what happened. I didn’t have the time to dwell on such things though, I had the last piece of the hunt to find, and Luke said he would be waiting for me at the end. I smiled to myself at that thought, not knowing whether to punch him, or kiss him after a day like today.

----------------------------------------------------

(Luke)
After I had successfully dealt with the artisan clerk, I ducked back into the pokémon center around 7:00 AM. I knew Mina wouldn’t wake up until 11:00 if she wasn’t disturbed, the trip to the store would take about 15 minutes, and by the time she was done eating at the café would put her at around 12:30. Despite how lazy I am, I really do have great time management skills. Sitting on the couch in the pokémon center lobby, I pulled out my pokégear, a Jhoto import model, and called my mother on the phone.

“Hello, Luke?” I heard her say on the other end. “Hey, mom!”
“Oh! Luke honey, how’ve you been? I haven’t heard anything from you in a while!”
“Well, you know, same ol’ same ol’. Mina won another contest yesterday,” I replied as nonchalantly as I could. It really was a big deal to my mom, and she just loved hearing every detail. When she did ask me for details, I recalled the story for her putting a lot of emphases on how well Mina’s plans went over.
“Wow Luke! That sounds amazing!” she congratulated me on the win, but I brushed it off, with the usual, “It wasn’t my win, mom. Mina did it.”
“Anyway mom, Mina is the reason I called you, do you remember what day it is?”

My mother had to think for a few seconds before she came up with the answer. I knew she had known the whole time, but mom always has a habit of hamming things up.
“Oh yea! Today is Mina’s birthday isn’t it?”
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t know!” She had a quick laugh at this and asked me what she wanted. To which I could only reply that she had told me that she wanted to evolve.

“Okay,” Mom gave a distant remark after I was finished, then continued, “So, what’s the problem? If you have been doing the things you say, then Mina should have already evolved by now.”
I knew I had to deal with this. I had told everyone that I wanted Mina to be my first partner; the whole school, my mom, professor Juniper, the pokémon league, everyone. The problem is that I had never registered her with a pokéball, so by all rights, she was still wild and anyone could come up and steal her from me and it would be considered legal. Not only that, but by contest rules, technically Mina and I have never won a single contest in our five years together. As the rules state that pokémon must be captured, in order to participate. The only reason we were able to enter any of the contests was thanks to Mina’s ability to cast illusions. She would fake her registration on the contest screens and no one questioned it.

“See, mom…” I managed to let escape from my mouth, “I uh… I never actually, um, caught, Mina.” After finishing that sentence, I heard my mother raise her voice on the other line, “What do you mean you’ve never caught Mina!?” It was sort of a rhetorical question, of course she knew what I meant, and by not letting me answer, made it even clearer that it didn’t need an answer. “You know how reckless that is Luke? You two have been traveling for five years and you say you’ve never caught her!? What would you do if someone else had tossed a stray pokéball at her? NOTHING! There would be nothing you could do!” I could tell this would go on for a long time if I didn’t say something.

“MOM!” I got her attention, before she started to ramble off on to her next statements. “Its okay, I’m going to catch her today. The reason why I haven’t already done it is because I needed a ball that wouldn’t influence her decision! This day is special, I’m going to give her the ball, and if she chooses to stay with me, she’ll most likely evolve right there. I want you to be here for that.” I heard a small amount of shifting on the other line before I hear her speak up again.

“OK Luke, I’ll be there. Where is ‘here’ by the way?”
I knew she couldn’t see it, but I gave a smile as I answered, “Driftveil city.” She started to chuckle as I could only guess fond memories of that city came into her mind as well.
“Alright honey, I’ll be there in a few hours. I’ll be taking a train.
“Thanks mom. Love you.”
“Love you too Luke. Bye bye.”

The line clicked on the other side, signaling that mom had hung up. I closed the pokégear and sat back on the couch. Today, at 3:00 Mina would be done solving the hunt, and I would be waiting with her gift. Nothing to do now other than wait for future events to pan out…

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(Mina)
Well, it took a couple hours, and I managed to get lost a few times, but I finally made it to the large cylindrical building! I had to ask several people for directions, because of my poor navigation skills. However, looking up at the building now, I couldn’t believe I missed it; this thing was huge! Looking up at the massive white stone structure, I crossed the bridge leading to its front door. Knowing Luke, he had to have hidden the note at the very top of the light house. I had hoped there would be an elevator inside, but just like last time, my hopes were wasted as I was greeted with an unappealing set of stairs spiraling all the way up. I took a deep breath as I placed my sneaker on the first step.

“This is gonna take a while.” Saying it out loud seemed to do nothing special or magically lift me to the top, so with that I began to climb.

---------------------------

After what felt like forever, I finally made it to the top of the tower. The huge light spinning in circles never went out, beaming its brightness out away from shore for miles. Through the glass windows I could see all the people on the ground scurrying around like Durants; going on with their daly lives.

I put my hands against the glass and brought my face close to look at the ground below in an attempt to gauge my height, but as soon as I laid the first palm an aged voice scolded me from behind. “Excuse me young lady, please don’t touch the glass! I just cleaned it!” I jumped at the sound; not expecting anybody else to be up here.

Turning around, I got a good look at the old woman who had yelled at me. She was shorter than I was, with long grey hair that trailed over her purple blouse. Despite my wrong actions, she wore a smile that displayed a couple missing teeth through her wrinkled face.

Seeing this woman, I immediately apologized for my actions. The woman just smiled and waved it off. “Welcome to the lighthouse dearie, you’re a little behind the tour, it just went by maybe an hour ago…”

“Actually mam, I’m not with the tour, I’m just, uh… looking around.” The sentence started off strong, but began to waiver near the end, finishing with a nervous chuckle. The old woman gave herself a snicker as well and began her response, “Well, you can stay here as long as you like. My name is Nora, I am the owner of the lighthouse, inherited it from my grandfather.”

She was introducing herself to me? That was weird, not many people do that unless they plan on having a long conversation. Judging by the woman’s age thou, she should have many stories to tell, but I didn’t really have time to listen to all her tales. However, I did manage to remember my manners, and introduced myself to her anyway. “Nice to meet you Nora, My name is Mina an-” I was about to thank her for letting me stay in the lighthouse for the time being, but she cut me off right after I said my name.

“Oh, Mina? You’re Mina?” her eyes grew wide with surprise as she started to give out a loud cackle. At first I was confused, had I done it wrong? I've introduced myself to lots of humans before and I thought I had it down by now, but her reaction was a bit off putting.

The old woman came down from her giggle fit as she turned away from me and motioned for me to follow. I did as she instructed and we went around the top of the tower a little ways until we came upon a door leading into a small room in the center of the tower. Nora opened up the door and held a hand out for me to go first. I was a little shy of closed rooms when I wasn’t with Luke, but after a little hesitation, I went ahead and entered the room with Nora following behind me.

Once inside, Nora closed the door behind her. The room may have been a bit smaller than our pokémon center room, but it was fully decked out with everything a house would need. There was a sitting room with hanging pictures and a television which was just adjacent to a bed. On the other side of the bed, was a small table next to a stove and wood topped counter. The room seemed to be split into thirds with each section having its purpose. In the sitting room side, there were a set of steps that went down a level, presumably to the bathroom section.

The woman offered me to sit in a chair in the sitting room portion of the room, which I kindly took up. She then opened up a drawer and pulled out a folded piece of paper which I instantly recognized as one of Luke’s notes. Seeing this, I buried my face in my palms and hunched over my knees; trying to make myself as small as possible. ‘Oh Arceus,’ I thought frantically, ‘please don’t let her have read that!’

Nora turned back to me and took a seat in one of the dining chairs. “You know, I was debating whether or not to throw this away. I thought you’d never come, I mean, who would come to a place like this just for a note?” she gave me a wide grin after she finished her first sentence. “But… here you are, just like he said you would.”

He? My eyes snapped open in my palms, Luke gave the note to her? “That boy didn’t want me to have it at first.” She continued through my silence. “I caught him taping it to the glass outside. I told him that tours would be coming through here all day, and you know what he said?” I had finally got over my embarrassment and looked to the woman, silently asking her to continue. “He said that this was a very important message to a very important friend, and he asked if I could deliver it to a girl by the name of Mina.”

I gave a weak smile at the comment Luke had apparently made. ‘Very important friend.’ Not just friend, or just a girl, but a very important friend. Hearing that made me feel real good inside. “You know the strangest part about this, he actually gave me a time of when you might arrive… he said that you’d definitely be here by 3:30, and here you are! 3:30 on the dot! If it wasn’t for that little detail, I would have missed you. I usually stay in my room here in between tours.” With that, she handed me the note and gave me her wide grin.

I gingerly took it out of her hand and stared at it with wonder, ‘this is the last one,’ I thought to myself, but I also had another thought that crossed my mind and this one I voiced to the old woman. “Y-you didn’t um, read this… did you?” In response to my question, Nora smiled and shook her head, “I would have, but I promised that young man that I wouldn’t peek at it until you got it.” Now that, I liked to hear! Honesty, this city is just chock full of tropes, angry store clerks, bratty kids, concerning waitresses, and honest old women! This last note was turning out to be my favorite so far!

I opened it up and gave the paper a read. I was surprised to find that there was a spot that had been scratched out, Luke must have quickly changed the words around when Nora discovered him, changing his plans slightly.



----------Dear Mina,
This is the last clue! Remember when we went on the tour here? You were a little nervous of going up in this tower, and held my hand all the way up, but once we were at the top, you weren’t scared anymore and let me go to look out the window. I am leaving this note [on the glass. If you look straight out you will] with the lighthouse care taker. She can tell you how to find the drawbridge at the east end of town. As you know, when we came to Driftveil for the first time, we saw a small grassy area with a statue in the middle of it. I have spent all morning getting things ready, perhaps I’ve even seen you running around looking for clues. I will be waiting for you at the statue, and let me say again: Happy birthday Mina, I love you.
Love, Luke.


I folded up the note and wiped a tear from my eye as I mouthed the words, ‘love you too.’ He really out did himself this time and I shook with anticipation as I chuckled ready to find that grassy island. Nora had apparently caught on to my movements and sat back in her chair. “You know, it’s not every day I see a pokémon who loves a human as much as you do, especially one that’s still wild.” The comment made me lose it; I began sweating, and reaching around trying to figure out how she could have known that I was a pokémon! I couldn’t find a single thing that could tip her off, my ears were hidden, my tail wasn’t showing, how did she know!?

I looked at her with a tinge of fear in my eyes as I realized that there was no way to get out quickly. What was this woman’s intention now? Did she want to capture me? These worries were soon dispelled as she caught on to my fear. “I've been around for 76 years dear, nothing gets past me. My eye sight may have faded, but my nose is stronger than it has ever been. Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me. Now go to him sweetie, and never let him go. Humans like him only come around once in a life time!” she started to laugh.

“T-thank you mam,” I said as I bowed to her still sitting in the chair. “but, I need a little bit of help… Can you show me where the drawbridge is from here?”

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(Luke)
Whelp… Here I am, 4:00, waiting for Mina to show up. She was due to get here at the statue any minute now. I looked over at my mom and gave a smile as if to thank her again for getting here on such short notice. She held in her hands, another gift for Mina. I didn’t know what it was, but she said it was to be given as a compliment to my gift which was also in a box, but not wrapped only enclosed. We both sat down on the edge of the concrete ring that traveled around the statue. Water separated us from its center.

I thought back to the time I went to pick up Mina’s pokéball roughly an hour ago. The artisan had put my order above all the others, and worked on it from the time I left until he got it done, surprisingly not taking any breaks in between. He did manage to get it done a little before the time I requested and for that I chipped in an extra 1000 pokédollars.

The ball turned out better than I could have hoped for. The store clerk had said he had extra glowing red left over, so he gave the ball a red ring where it would normally be black. The colored indentation gave it more depth and made the overall paint job radiate heavier. The main color was glossy black, but the way it was painted was like black flames had risen themselves off the glowing red of the Zoroark’s hair. Just above the button that activated the catching mechanism, there was the dark grey of a Zoroark’s face accented with glowing red face patterns above the eyes and at the corners of its mouth. To represent Mina specifically, the Zoroark’s eyes were painted the most splendid color of glowing emerald green that could only be out done by Mina’s eyes themselves. Then there was something painted on that I had not ordered, but I thought really tied the ball together. The button was painted a light blue color that matched the soulstone’s natural hue, and as if that wasn’t enough, it also glowed along with the reds and emerald. Over all it was a wonderful ball that really suited a dark type like Mina. Yes it was mostly dark with the glossy black finish, but the fact that it glowed contrasted the otherwise gloomy appearance. I really hoped Mina would like it as much as I did.

Now I sit here at the statue next to my mother, who hasn’t seen my gift yet. Taking another look at my pokégear I read out loud to myself. “4:05… should be any minute now.” I didn’t have to wait long however, because just as I said that, I looked up and saw Mina walking towards us in her human form. She was still quite a ways away from us, three, maybe four blocks, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I had spent all day planning, leaving notes, getting her gift, basically building for this moment to happen. I handed mom my present to Mina.

“Hold this please, be careful.” Mom just gave me a smile and nodded, she knew how much I was starting to miss Mina. Without any further confirmation from mom, I leapt up from the concrete ring and started to bolt towards Mina’s walking form. She must have seen me coming, because she started running at full speed towards me as well. Her pace was easily twice as fast as mine so it was her who covered the most distance between us.

Once the gap had been closed, we collided into each other’s arms and released the kinetic energy with a tornado like spin with me as the axis. “LUKE!” Mina shouted near my ears almost deafening me. “Luke, I had the best day! Thank you!” I was now being crushed by her hug but I held her tight to me not letting her onto the intense pain ripping through my sides.

She pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes with her beautiful smile. “C’mon Mina,” I started, “my mom’s waiting.” We began strolling back to where my mother was waiting for me, hand in hand. Mina had started telling me all about how her day went, and I was particularly surprised when she said something about a group of kids. All in all, I found her adventure to be a lot more interesting than what I had originally planned, especially the part with the old lighthouse keeper.

It only took us a couple minutes to reach where mom was waiting by the statue. Mina and mom exchanged greetings, with mom telling her how much she grew since last time she saw her. Of course, her fox form didn’t look that much bigger than five years ago. We had her whole party right there, mom had gotten a cake which surprised me of how she managed to slip it by my attention. After we were done telling stories and all but devouring the cake it came time to give Mina her presents. I offered for mom to give her’s first but she insisted that I should give her mine before her.

I got up and turned to face Mina as I dropped to one knee. This was both as a joke to replicate a marriage proposal as well as a serious proposal to continue to be with me. I held the ball case in front of me, keeping it closed for now.

“Mina…” I started in a mirthy tone. “Would you do me the honor, of staying with me, through the good and bad, through thick and thin, until the end of time?” After finishing the proposal, I opened the case in a sort of “ring like” fashion, as I held out the ball for her to keep whether she accepted or not. My mother drew in close to get a good look at the ball and all of its glowing splendor as I slowly lifted off the lid eliciting a gasp from both of them.

Mina’s eyes grew wide and her jaw went slack as she gazed upon the gift for the first time. Picking the glossy glowing orb out of the padded box, she held it in her hands as her eyes started to well up, and eventually release a tear to run down her cheek. At first, I didn’t know what she was thinking. Tears are usually a bad sign though, I thought maybe I had messed it up in some way, but my fears were quickly tossed away as Mina finally said with a gasping cry. “YES! I will always be with you!”

I looked to her with a grin, and she looked back at me with a tear strewn grin. Her form suddenly disappeared from view in a flash of purple light, leaving nothing but her clothes and the pokéball which I had been quick enough to catch in mid air. She had pushed the magic button and got sucked inside. The ball didn’t even move, I thought it would wiggle or shake like I saw happen on TV or when ever another trainer catches a pokémon, but Mina’s ball remained still. Truth be told it was a little unnerving, but a quick gesture from mom broke me from my trance and I pushed the button again, releasing Mina back into the world only this time, she wasn’t in human form. The little Zorua happily shook off the rest of the glowing light and jumped into my arms.

“I’ve been waiting for that for a long time…” she said nuzzling against my cheek, “and I’ve been waiting for this, even longer.” Still in my arms, the fox began to shine brightly, the intense white light encompassing my entire view, not that I wanted to see anything else anyway. She continued to shine brighter and brighter, and suddenly, I felt her furry lips press up against mine. I held her firmly as her form began to change, letting her rear end drop as her legs became more elongated.

I felt her tongue slip into my mouth and the overwhelming amount of energy her body was producing flowed into me as well; I started to feel stronger as her light flowed inside and out of me. I rebelled against her tongue with my own, our saliva mixed together as she started to form long arms that wrapped around me just as I was wrapped around her. The light of evolution encompassed us both as we continued to embrace each other, both shining ferociously. Mina’s hair began to grow out and it too circled around us in loose strands.

The moment seemed to have passed by so fast; I wanted us to stay that way forever, but alas it had to end eventually. We both ceased our glowing as Mina’s evolution came to an end. I no longer had to hold her up to see eye to eye; she was as tall on her own now as her human form was. We finally separated and for the first time in her new form, Mina opened her eyes to look deep into mine. We stood there silently, for some time. Her red mane almost reached the ground in its post evolution dishevelment. I could feel her claws along my back, not hurting, just touching.

“Ah-hemm…” I heard from somewhere behind Mina, which was directly in front of me. Mina’s eyes were glazed over; the evolution process must have felt amazing, she wouldn’t turn her loving gaze away from me, even to notice that the sound had come from my mother, whom I just realized, had been there the whole time. “Well then, you were right Luke, I should have given her, her present first… Kinda hard to trump that.” She finished with a chuckle.

It seemed as though Mina had finally figured out what was going on as she turned to face my mother with a blush that glowed even brighter than her pokéball did. “Oh! Um… Lu, ah…” I guess she forgot that she was in her pokémon form, which meant that my mother couldn’t understand her even if her stammers had made any sense. My mom of course waved it off, it certainly surprised me how much she was okay with what had just happened. Pokémon/human relationships were not illegal in the Unova region, but you almost never saw humans and pokémon kissing in public, and you NEVER see anything like that.

Mom just put a finger to her lips in a shushing motion, and held out her gift to Mina who gingerly took it in her paw claws. The Zoroark blinked a few times before remembering what today was and why we were all here. She gave an embarrassed smile as she began to tear into the wrapping paper. I was curious as to what was in the box as well.

It was about the same size as a pokéball, but it was marbled dark blue with a small rubbery hole in the middle of it. I could see that one side had tiny hinges on it while the other had a locking mechanism. Mina didn’t seem to know what it was either and looked to me for an answer, but I could only give a shrug as I looked to mom who smiled and laughed to herself.

“Mina, you need to hang out with more girls, don’t you know a hair tie when you see one?”

Oh, now I saw it! Mom had known Mina was most likely going to evolve today and, being a trainer herself, knew that she would have long hair in her new form and would normally droop over her shoulders. I looked at the tangled mess of Mina’s, almost body long, mane and thought of how much work it must be in the wild to groom that thing all the time. Luckily, mom had done a little more preparing than I had as she pulled out two brushes from her purse. I took one and she kept the other one as we began to groom Mina’s giant fluff to silky smooth perfection.

It took quite a long time but mom and I had finally managed to get all the tangles out, and she was the one to complete our work as she snapped on the hair tie near the end, giving Mina a wonderful looking red ponytail. Mina stood up on her two legs once again and walked over to the water to view her reflection. With her image displayed in the water, Mina gave a twirl to get a good look at herself for the first time in her new body.

She turned back to mom and I, and with tears in her eyes, she said thank you and hugged us both. I put my arms around her and rubbed the back of her head, “Happy birthday.” I whispered in her ear, which earned a joyous sniffle.

-------------------------------------------------

The party had gone off without a hitch. With the exception of that surprise kiss during her evolution, the day went by pretty much as planned. It was the perfect birthday, and I don’t think I could have done it any better. Mom had said her goodbyes and boarded the next train back to Anville town, so now Mina and I were left alone. Once again, we rented the pokémon center room for the night, same room, different Mina. Nurse Joy congratulated Mina on her recent evolution after she had another check up just to make sure everything was alright.

We walked up the stairs to our room, hand in paw, just as we had come into the pokémon center, turning a few heads, but not too many to matter. I started to talk to Mina about what she wanted to do.

“You know Mina, there’s a contest going on in Opelucid City in about a month, it would be a great opportunity to try out your new body.” I closed the room door behind us, letting the soft click resound through the room. Mina stood in front of the bed, letting her blood red hair droop along the covers. “I can think of way better ways to try out my new body.” Something about the way she said that was a bit off to me, but I didn’t question her tone, I just took a seat on the bed next to where she was standing.

“Oh, really? What’s that?” I asked. Hearing this, she turned towards me, put her paws on my chest, and laid me back and crawled on top of me. “Do you really have to ask?” She answered in that same tone. I didn’t quite understand what was happening right now, but whatever it was, I was enjoying it, maybe a little too much. The Zoroark drew herself closer to my face and for the second time today, locked her lips with mine. Looking back now, I’m amazed that I didn’t get the hint sooner. I still didn’t get the hint until I could feel her claws undoing my pants.

I spoke up through the kiss, “Mina, what are you doiiinnngahh-” I managed to get out before I felt her take my member in her paws. She pulled out of our kiss and slipped herself down my body, taking my pants with her, still looking me in the eyes. I was shocked at what was happening, we had never done this before, and needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about continuing we were both still virgins after all. Yes, I was an 18 year old virgin, problem? Mina crawled back up my body causing my hardening rod to rub against her fur as she rose.

“Mina… Mina, no. This, this isn’t right.” The words escaped through my grunts of pleasure. The Zoroark brought her snout close to my nose. “And what’s not right about it?” she asked still in her seductive tone. Then she looked down at herself, and back to me. “Oh, I see. How about this then?” Mina closed her eyes and transformed into her human self. Apparently her evolution had an effect on that too. She no longer looked between 17 and 18, now she looked 27 ish, and sported large breasts, and long black hair that retained its redness in the tips. I couldn’t believe she would do that, did she really think I was that shallow?

“No, I don’t mean that!” I exclaimed, “I mean, I don’t think we are ready for this yet…” Mina gave a small chuckle, “Don’t be ridiculous Lukey, I've been ready for this for a long time, I’ve just been too small until now.” I blushed deeply as she used my pet name, and the fact that she’d been hiding this attraction for me all this time for the simple reason of, she was too small… Suddenly I felt my body tense up, I couldn’t move anymore. “Besides, how else can I ever thank you for doing this for me?”

“Did you just use imprison on me!?” I frantically questioned, but I had already known the answer. Mina just nodded her head as she drew in for another kiss. “I have to make sure you don’t go anywhere, because I know that if I don’t make you, it will never happen…” She was right, but in this situation, I had no choice in the matter, she was going to have her way with me, it would be worse, if I didn’t want it too. “Okay Mina, but please… Turn back.” The human on top of me tilted her head to the side, obviously confused by what I meant.

“I don’t want some human illusion, I want the pokémon I fell in love with.” Hearing this, Mina give a big grin as her human image faded away to once again show her true face. I would have leaned forward to kiss her again, but the paralysis from her imprison attack left me motionless as she started to grind herself against my, now fully erect, member. I think I read somewhere that male Zoroark have knots at the base of their penises, and while I didn’t have one, I hoped my size alone would be enough to satiate her lust.

Mina sat up from my chest and craned her head to view the match up near her nethers. “I hope you’re ready Lukey, because I have no idea what I’m doing.” With that, she lifted herself up, supported by her knees outside my thighs, to hover over my twitching rod that was now glistening with pre. As she lowered herself down on top of me, we both let out whines of pleasure. I would have to say it was a good thing I was paralyzed, because if not, I would have thrust deep into her, and that may not have been the best feeling for her at this stage.

She slowly slid me into her warm entrance, one, two, three inches, until I felt a wall inside her tunnel. Mina gave out a small pained whelp when I touched it. This was what I was afraid of. Her hymen had not been broken despite how rigorous she trained for competitions. Truthfully, this was the real reason why I didn’t think we were ready, I was afraid of hurting her, but she didn’t seem to mind that much. Apart from the initial shock, she started to warm up to the idea of breaking that little devil; testing its durability with prods from my member.

“I know there’s more in there, this can’t be all the deeper I can go.” She whispered close to me, I felt like I needed to answer her plea. “There is,” I said, “But to get to it, you have to break through that little bit of skin… are you sure you want to keep going?” Mina considered it for only a couple of seconds, and without even answering me, she quickly slammed her rump down on my groin making her grit her teeth and groan out as the pain and pleasure ripped her in two.

Mina’s tunnel started spasming out of control, the feeling of new flesh inside of her sending her over the edge, while the pain of her hymen being broken still lingered. The walls inside started milking me for the seed they so desperately craved. That and the feeling of her climax juices made me cum into her; spurt after spurt, coating her insides. Coming down from our first orgasm, I could begin to feel her claws lightly digging into my shoulders not enough to really hurt, but just enough to draw pin pricks of blood. She soon let them fall loose as she came down from her climax.

I lay there panting with her; the feeling of our first time was overwhelming. She opened one eye and looked to me with a weak smile. “I can tell you’re not done yet,” she said as she gave my member another squeeze inside her. “If I let you go… promise me you won’t run away?” I didn’t have to think about it, the hymen breaking was the worst part of this whole experience, and it was already over. Nothing to do now other than make sure she was taken care of.

“I promise, I’ll never run from you again love.” Mina snickered at my comment and in a nodding motion, released me from imprisonment. I felt my body relax again as I regained control of my limbs. Mina rolled us over so now I was on top of her, still attached at the waist. “I did the hard part Lukey, now it’s your turn. Make the pain go away big boy.” She giggled as she finished the comment, to which I nodded and ran a hand behind her back.

I began to slowly pull myself out of her, earning a soft whine as she started to become aware of the emptiness inside. Mina put one of her clawed paws around my arm and gave out a moan as I slowly pushed back inside. The trickle of blood from her hymen, as well as both of our fluids, made great lubricant allowing my pole to slide in and out with ease.

The room’s automatic light switch turned itself off and the room went dark. The only source of light was the soulstone beneath my shirt. Its brightness lit up Mina’s face, and I could see her wince in pleasure as I slowly thrust into her. “Oh look,” she said through her gasps, “the light went out, you’re going too slow. Faster… please.”

Heading her word, I doubled my pace. Mina started to whine as her inner walls clenched my member tighter. At this rate, I wasn’t going to last much longer, but I didn’t have to. “Oh, Luke…” she whined, “I-, I’m eehhh… J-just a little more!” She was getting close. I began to hump her even faster as I could feel my own climax approaching. The head board on the bed began to softly tap on the wall making Mina giggle through her gasps.

After just a few more pumps, Mina finally hit her limit and out a howl. I had to think fast; someone might hear us, so without much hesitation, I planted my lips firmly to her furry muzzle. She continued to loudly moan into my mouth as her second orgasm hit, with her fresh juices flowing. It didn’t take long before her tunnel’s clamping made me orgasm as well. I gave a few more soft thrusts as my cum, once again, mixed with her own, and coated her walls. Some of our fluids leaked out of her and onto the bed sheets, to which neither one of us cared.

After a few moments of bliss, I pulled away from her mouth, and from the glowing of my crystal, I could see her smiling face as she panted with me. We rolled onto our sides and I attempted to pull out of her, but she wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me back in. “Don’t pull out yet.” She pleaded. With a smile and a nod, I submitted to her request.

Mina laid her head down on my arm with a soft paw on my chest. She looked up to me with love in her eyes as I wrapped my arms around her. We stayed in this position for as long as we could. Mina had fallen asleep in my arms, and my penis eventually deflated and slipped itself out of her.

I stayed awake for a little longer, left thinking about what had just happened. My childhood friend really had these feelings for me, and wanted to share them. We had kissed in the past, but that was nothing compared to this, and I didn’t think she exactly thought of me as a mate. After thinking with Mina in my arms for what felt like ages, I could feel the darkness creep on me. Remembering my rude awakening that morning, I had decided to take off the crystal and put it in the night stand drawer to stifle its glowing. After doing that, it didn’t take long for me to drift off to sleep. Something about Mina’s new body made it all the more comfortable.