The Pidoves Cooed in the afternoon light, stopping their noise only when I passed them, trudging through the leaves that lined the forest floor. Leaves still left over from the fall that had just passed a few months ago. My breath was still visible in the cold air. If there were snow on the ground, my fur would have been camouflaged perfectly but, being white and surrounded by all of the brown, kinda makes a guy stick out like a sore thumb. My horn accidentally scraped against a tree every now and again putting deep cuts into the bark. With my improved hearing I could hear Deerling and Sawsbucks frolicking about, but for some reason steering clear of me.

I left the sand bank behind me a while ago and continued to walk through the trees. I remember people telling me that Unova was more on the industrious side in terms regions, but along my travels I’ve been in so many forests in this Country it’s unreal! But, I couldn’t think about that at a time like this, I had to figure out so many things. Namely:
Where am I?
Can I use powers now?
How am I going to get back?
What am I going to do when I get back??
And what is that sound?

I heard a rumbling coming from beneath me. Astonished, I looked down but soon came to the realization that it was me. I was rumbling. Because I was hungry. ‘Oh man, I forgot to eat while I was at the Weather Institute!’ I thought, and scolded myself while planting my face between my paws. In all the excitement I hadn’t even noticed that I was starving! No problem though, Aspear trees grow berries all year round, and I was in the middle of a forest that was home to such trees. The only problem being that the berries close to the ground get eaten by all of the pokémon that can reach them, and the ones in the tops of trees are usually claimed by flying types.

Stopping in front of an Aspear tree, I took a look to the top and noticed a bunch of berries just hanging from about mid level of the tree. They all looked so big and plump almost as if they could fall at any second. Maybe the tree just needed a bump? I stood for a moment to think about it and decided I would try to knock them down. Rearing up on my hind legs, I used forward momentum to kind of “shove” at the tree, bringing my front paws to slam against the trunk. Some of leaves on the tree shook, but not much else happened. Back on all fours, I turned 180 degrees and kicked the base of the tree as hard as I could. The berries shook only slightly and it was clear I needed more force if I wanted them to fall. I took a few steps back from the giant plant, and a few steps more. I stepped back so much that there were easily six trees between me and the Aspear. And then I charged. Weaving between each tree, not losing any speed, and in a flash I was once again upon the berry tree. Not stopping, I tucked my head in and shouldered the tree with all I had. The resounding thud echoed throughout the forest, but the berries at the top only swung rhythmically as if laughing at my failure.

If I were in human form, climbing the tree would have been my first instinct, and it wouldn’t have proven difficult, but in this body trying to get up there was going to be a nightmare. I began to wonder if the berries were even worth the effort I’ve already put into getting them. My head said ‘Oh no,’ but the growling in my stomach said ‘Oh yes.’ Giving out a sigh, I brought up one of my paws so I could see the underside of it. White fur, with black pads… I found that if I flexed certain muscles there, black claws would roll out of the top of my paws. Taking claws in paw, I scratched at the bark and found that they dug into the tree quite easily, like a brand new pocket knife. My back claws operated the same way as my front; so there I was standing with all four paws on the ground just getting a feel for flexing those special muscles that I will now refer to as “Claw Tendons”.

That ridiculousness aside, I lowered my front half in preparation to jump. Then as one fluid motion, I outstretched my front legs sending my body in a standing position, then my back legs snapped open and like a spring, I was sent flying into the air. Flying; for about six feet. To which point I flexed my claw tendons, reached out all my limbs and clung to the side of the tree, hugging it with my belly fur pressed up against the bark. Taking in a deep breath I released one of my claws to move it up the tree and plant it at a place farther up. The way I climbed the tree was very Mankey-like and with the exception of having claws it was way harder than doing it as a human. However, inch by inch I worked my way up until I came upon the berries. With just a swipe I brushed away the cocky fruits and sent them hurtling to the ground. “HA! Not so tough now are ya!?” I laughed at the berries for thinking they were better than me. I took the time to swat a few more down for good measure, before taking the plunge myself. Relaxing my claw tendons, I expected to naturally twirl through the air and land on my feet like all feline pokémon do. They really make it look so easy, but what nobody knows is that there is a lot of effort in controlled landing. Too bad for me, I was one of those people…

“OOOFF!!!” After falling from the tree I landed square on my back. The force knocked the wind out of me but other than a small bump on the head, I was fine. Jumping up from the forest floor, I took a moment to shake all of the leaves from my body which made me smile at the falling clingy things around me. ‘Hehe, I always wanted to do that.’ Another low growl from my belly brought me back on track as to why I fell out of the tree in the first place. Looking around my feet, I saw that I had amassed about twelve of the little devils.

Now I knew from the start that Aspear berries were bitter, and that was fine. I actually liked them, but I wasn’t expecting what was to come. Taking one of the berries in my mouth, I pushed the squishy fruit under my teeth and bit down, releasing its juices onto my tongue. As expected the bitter taste came first, but the taste that appeared next I just couldn’t stand! I wretched and squealed as the taste burned into my taste buds, mixed with my saliva and regrettably went down my throat causing me to dry heave. As fast as I could, I spat the berry out and examined it, but from what I saw it was fine! I didn’t want to be stuck with that awful taste for any longer so I quickly tried to down a different berry thinking that one must have just been bad. Once again, bitter foretaste, horrid after taste. I felt my fur stand on end as I spat out another berry, gagging on the bits still left inside my mouth. “Ughhhh, whah ghe hell!??” I shouted aloud with my tongue sticking out.

Those berries tasted like straight up barf!! No. Barf is too good for how those things tasted; they tasted like someone pooped in a shoe, put that shoe on for a day, left it outside in the rain, then let it stay there in the sun until it grew mushrooms on it! To get that taste and image out of my brain, I took up shoving leaves in my mouth and licking up dirt from the forest floor which actually tasted considerably better. After my mouth was sufficiently stuffed with miscellaneous forest things, I took another look at those berries. Poking at them with my claw, I punctured a hole in one and the juice squirted out. I was especially careful to not get any in my mouth, but only sniff at it… I didn’t believe it, they smelled fine, they looked fine, yea they were a little juicy, but that’s when they are ripe for picking! No odd colors, no mold, no black spots, no bruises NO THOTHING!? So why did they taste like shit!?

“HEY!” A yelling female voice echoed from behind me. My ears were the first to swivel around to detect where the sound was coming from. “Are you trying to get sick? Or are you just that Stupid?” My ears detected where it was and my head turned instinctively towards the source, and what I saw made my stomach sink.
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(Mina)
I shook awake suddenly to the sound of the door being opened again and hurriedly touched myself in various places. ‘Interesting,’ I thought, ‘as a Zorua, when I slept, I would change back into my pokémon self… Good to know that I won’t have to worry about surprise awakenings anymore.’ The bandage lady had come in once again with a fresh roll to change Luke’s wrap. The woman nodded apologetically for waking me, but I just waved it off. “Umm. Excuse me, but at Pokémon Centers they change bandages every day, you’ve been gone almost three hours and you're changing them again?” It may have been rude of me, but I had to know; it’s a good thing I’m not a Meowth or I’d have been dead a long time ago.

“Yes, Pokémon Centers change bandages once a day, but that’s only because they don’t get as much funding as we do.” Despite how rude I may or may not have been, the woman was very polite in answering my question. “Changing them once a day is fine, but to really ward off infection they have to be changed every few hours.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just curious is all. Didn’t mean to be rude or anything.”

“Oh it’s fine I understand that not many people even know about this place yet. We've still got tons of things before we go fully public… although that news report earlier didn’t help us with our secrecy, I’d bet that Dr. Brennen is furious about that.” The woman shuffled closer to Luke’s bed side and slid an arm behind his back. “Would you like to help me change the bandages hun?”

I was a little shocked to hear that someone like her asked for my help, but I quickly jumped for an opportunity to help her. He was my mate after all, I mean uh not-mate… what do humans call it? Girlfriends? Yea, we were Girlfriends after all. “What do I do?” I asked as I took a stand on the other side of Luke’s bed.

“Just slide your arm behind him and we’ll sit him up. Lightly.”

Heeding her orders, we gently sat Luke’s unconscious body up in a sitting position. I even took the opportunity to make sure his head didn’t lean back and cause him any discomfort. The nurse then began to unwind the old bandages from around Luke’s chest and stomach. I counted twenty three wraps before it was all gone. That was all it took to completely cover from his waist to neck. She then unwrapped his arm and laid all of the white cloth in the seat I was resting in. I finally managed to get a look at my love’s injuries. The doctors sewed up his chest pretty good and the skin was already growing together. His burned arm wasn’t looking too bad either. ‘Could it have been just the ointment they keep rubbing on that is making him heal up so fast?’

Almost as to read my mind the Nurse chimed into my thoughts. “He doesn’t look that bad does he?” At this I just shook my head in silence, agreeing with her observation. “You know, Dr. Brennen said that it was a miracle he was able to walk as far as he did. I heard her in the O.R. saying that he had lost four and a half pints of blood. And now we are here. Only just a day into treatment and he’s come along pretty far already!”

“But that’s everybody right? Aren’t they already leaving by now? And how can he be almost healed? Don’t bones take a while to fix?”

“Actually that’s an interesting thing. All of our other patients are healing as expected; slow but well. But Luke seems to have taken to the medicine and he’s way ahead of other trainers with similar injuries. Of course there weren’t any injuries as severe as his.” She continued speaking as she started wrapping new bandages around Luke’s body. “Your friend here was in pretty rough shape, but there aren’t any broken bones on record. Of course there was internal bleeding, burns, and that giant scratch, but everything else is just fine.”

What? No broken bones?? I could have sworn he had broken bones! I felt them! Then again, I wasn’t in a very good state of mind at that time, so who knows? The woman and I finished wrapping the injured parts and laid Luke back onto the bed. I was thankful that there weren’t any broken bones like I had thought. That meant that Lukey would be good to go whenever he woke up, not that I would mind carrying him anyway, but knowing his stubborn patootie, he’d walk all the way to Mistralton on crutches. I snickered lightly at the thought of Luke traveling with crutches through the mountain. The only reason it was funny is because it wasn’t true. With the bandaging over, I returned to my seat and the nurse gave me a nod as I handed her the old cloths.

“Thank you.” She said as she turned to the door.

“I should thank you.” I replied. Her response of course was to just smile and quietly exit the room.

I leaned back in the seat, alone with Luke again. Nothing but the sound of the machine beeping away, and the softness his breath. The blanket draped over his waist was held down by heavy arms and imprinted his legs through the light cloth. I took my hand and wrapped it around his.
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(Caleb)
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Up on the hill, directly behind me was a pokémon that wasn’t common in this route. Sure I’ve seen a few of them on my travels, but that was across the region! What were the odds really? That she would happen to be the same species as me. Another Absol looked down upon me, and I was speechless, for a couple seconds anyway.

“Uh, w-whuh?” I tried to say ‘what’ but it came out all garbled. She seemed to get the message however, and started to descend the hill towards me. Her red irises cut through me like knives, paralyzing me to my spot. Her stark white fur flowed in the breeze.

“I said… Are, you, trying, to, get, sick, or, are, you, just, that, Stupid?” She deliberately put pauses between her words cocking her head to the side as she came closer, her red eyes peering into mine. I stayed sitting on the ground rooted to my spot, both nervous and terrified. I would be willing to bet she knew her way around a fight, and in my condition I wouldn’t stand much of a chance. Plus I couldn’t tell if she was here to help me or tear my throat out. Mina was right when she said that eye contact makes pokémon uneasy. I was certainly feeling it.

“Um, I-I don’t want any t-trouble.” I sounded like a kid on the playground trying to avoid getting beat up. My comment only made her laugh a bit.

“Trouble? You really are dumb. I guess that fall gave you brain damage or something.” The Absol came to a stop right in front of me, stamping on one of the berries; squishing its juices onto the ground. “You can’t eat these. These are for humans and prey.”

‘Prey?’ Slightly confused, I tilted my head for a moment and thought it over. I ran my tongue over my teeth and remembered that they were sharp and pointed fangs now. ‘Oh right… Absol are carnivores. Which meant… Oh. Oh no. No, no, no, no!’ If I wanted to eat, I would have to kill something. Apparently I stayed silent far too long, and my stomach began to growl at me again; which of course was heard by the shrewd female standing in front of me. The white feline’s eyes darted away from my pupils and towards my belly.

“Oh. I see. You haven’t eaten in a while and instead of being a proper male and hunting down dinner yourself, you decided to be lazy and wait for someone less pathetic.” Lazy? It was a pain to climb that tree and all for naught too. I was about to interject and say something but she continued speaking. “It’s truly unlike our kind to be this lucky… Come with me, Stupid.” She turned and started to walk away, not caring whether I followed or not. Now there were several reasons why I followed her. One, I was hungry, and if she was offering food then I couldn’t pass it up. Two, I didn’t know what I was doing. Maybe being with my own kind would help me understand a few things about myself. Three, I was curious… Absol aren’t found on route 6 and I really wanted to know why she was here. Four, She was cold, commanding and firm. Something about those three characteristics made me want to listen to her. She must have some compassion right? If she didn’t, then she would have just left me there to suffer with the berries.

The female led the way back up the hill from where she came, with me following a few lengths behind her. “S-so… M-my name’s Caleb, what’s yours?” If we were to be together I would at least like to know that.

“My name is Azure. Now shut up and walk quieter.”

‘Azure’ I rolled the name across my tongue. ‘That’s a pretty nice name for such a mean girl.’ I thought while checking the brown foliage and sticks beneath my paws. The crunching sound coming from me was obnoxiously loud compared to her. Honestly I didn’t know I could walk through the woods any quieter than this. Not wanting to aggravate Azure, I took slower steps, but that only made me fall behind. We crunched our way through the area for about forty-five minutes (not that I had a watch), passing up all kinds of flying and rodent pokémon. I was beginning to have doubts as to what we were even doing. A strong pokémon herself, she could easily have taken a few of the many Furrets we saw, or maybe we could have gone to the river and caught some fish, but no; she just kept walking along. All of the time passing without a meal left my stomach growling more and more and with each growl, the Absol in front of me would glance back in frustration as if I could control it.

Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. I stopped as well, but not before sneaking up closer to her side. “There.” She said in a voice that was barely audible even to my sensitive ears. I tried to look to where her gaze was laid upon but I didn’t see anything but the brown from the various trees scattered about. But I certainly heard something. Crunching of the forest floor, so far away but definitely there. “Listen, Stupid. I’ll take it to the ground, and you cut its throat. We don’t let it fight back, and most important, don’t listen to it cry.” I still didn’t know what “IT” was, but before I could utter a single word, she was already off running to where the noise was coming from.

With a start I took up Azure’s behind and tried to keep up, but she was unbelievably fast. She ran faster in the forest than I did in the open field within that pokéball. By the time I finally saw what we were after she and it were just tiny specs in the distance. A Deerling by its lonesome camouflaged with a brown coat against the tree bark. ‘How on earth did she see that?’ I thought as I huffed out another strained breath. It took me a few seconds to reach her and just as she had said; the Deerling was on the ground held down by her fangs and claws sinking into its flesh. The poor pokémon kicked at the air whilst screaming in agony, its blood spattered onto the dead leaves it laid upon. Azure only glared at me, obviously waiting for me to strike the finishing blow.

“Gwaaaa! Please! NO! Let me gooohoo!!” The Deerling took a deep gasping breath. “I don’t want to die! Mommy! Daddy!! HELP ME PLEASE!!” The pokémon pleaded for its life. Tears streamed from its eyes as it sobbed, shaking violently trying to detach Azure from his body, but every time he got a little freedom, her jaws clamped down harder around its shoulder eliciting more screams.

“Waht, ar ou gooing? Gill it, Koopit!” Azures words escaped from her clamped mouth making it hard to understand, but I knew what she said. I knew what she wanted me to do, but as I looked upon the writhing creature, and listened to it beg for freedom I tensed up… I couldn’t do it. I knew we were going to kill something, and I thought I could handle it, but being face to face with the prey, I found that actions are soo much harder than thoughts. I was at a complete loss. I didn’t want to disappoint this Absol I had just met; but at the same time, I didn’t want to take someone else’s life either.

Azure’s stare turned fierce as she came to the realization that I wasn’t going to kill the Deerling. “AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” The pokémon’s screams became louder as Azure’s fangs dug deeper into its shoulder. Then I heard the female Absol grunt as she jerked her neck back, pulling out a massive chunk of the Deerling’s back and neck with her teeth. The blood soaked through the creature’s fur, turning it red around the hole that once was its shoulder. Red dripped from Azure’s mouth as well as staining her own white fur. I looked to the Deerling with horror in my eyes as I heard it take sharp frantic breaths, squealing with every exhale. Without taking her eyes off of me, the blood stained feline tilted her head, placing her blade like horn across the pokémon’s neck.

“Stupid.” She said to me in her familiar sharp tone. Then, like she was whipping hair out of her eyes; she slit the Deerling’s neck, causing it to gag on its own life fluids. I only watched as it laid there on the ground, the frantic beating of its heart pumping more and more blood out of its neck. Flailing. Kicking. Twitching. Flinching… Dying. I saw the soul leave its eyes and felt my own start to water over. I felt nauseous, and dizzy. What was once so desperately fighting for its life was now just a corpse, silent and still.

“If you want ANY of this… I suggest that you drag it back to my den.” Suddenly I wasn’t hungry anymore. The bloody spectacle that lay out before me was more than my stomach could take and I genuinely felt like throwing up. However, with my failed killing blow, I didn’t want to piss Azure off any further so I would have to drag it to where ever her place was. Azure decided to walk away in the direction of where I guessed her den was and I mulled over on how to move the dead Deerling.

I started by digging my front claws into the creature’s back and tried to drag it as if I were still human, but that proved to be a pain. I tried to roll it, but the legs got in my way. Finally I just decided to bite the bullet, and by bullet I mean the back of the Deerling’s neck. I sank my fangs through the flesh and instantly got what little blood was left in the corpse in my mouth. I was about to spit it out, but then I finally tasted it… It was warm and sweet. Not like sugar sweet, but the kind of sweet that you wouldn’t expect from a recently dead carcass. The body was only about forty pounds and I found that I could easily drag it along in this position.

Azure was intentionally walking slower as to not leave me behind, so I was able to catch up to her in a few minutes. Within a few more minutes we came across the tree I had climbed, and I was relieved to let the Deerling’s body roll down the hill. When we started hunting, we were moving in a large “zigzag” pattern, but now that we were done, our path was a straight line and it was a shorter walk from the kill to where we were now. At the bottom of the hill, I picked the corpse up again and continued dragging it past the tree. A little farther, back in the direction I had come from the river, was quite a large hole in the ground. I must have missed it when I came through the first time. The female stopped at the entrance and looked to me for the first time since we started walking back.

“Go in.” Her command short but clear, I turned to crawl backwards into the hole with the carcass being drug in front of me. With the exception of the sharp initial drop, the tunnel wasn’t that steep. Within moments my night vision kicked in and I could see that it was a shallow downward shaft that continued for about twenty feet before opening up into a “bean” shaped room that was large enough for her as well as two or three more Absol. In this case it would be her, the Deerling, and me, together in this space. I drug the dead body until I came to the farthest wall and finally released it from my jaws. Also for the first time on the way back, I looked down at my fur to see that just as she was, I too was covered in blood. Not long after, Azure joined me in her den and immediately began eyeing what was to soon be her meal.

“I think you have earned a leg. Or maybe a couple bites out of the leg…” Pushing me out of the way, the now pink female sank her fangs into the corpse’s back and ripped out a huge chunk of meat and flesh, accompanied by the sound of muscles being peeled away from bones. She then walked over to the opposite side of the “bean”, laid down and began gnawing on her prize.

“I… I- uh. I’m not. Very hungry… anymore.” My brain said I wasn’t hungry, but my stomach said told me otherwise. Just as I had finished speaking, it began growling long and deep causing pains to ripple through my abdomen. No use lying, I would have to eat some of it whether I wanted to or not.

“Stupid. You act like you’ve never killed anything before. How old are you?”

“I- uh, sixteen.”

“Yea right. An idiot like you couldn’t last past suckling on your mommy’s teat!” She took a chomp out of her meat. By this time, the dirt from the den floor covered the raw meat and stuck to the blood forming clumps of dark brown mud balls, but the Absol didn’t seem to mind.

Deciding to avoid the fur, I hesitantly took a bite from the same spot Azure did and stripped off a small portion of meat for myself, the sound making me gag a bit. I held the bit of “food” in my paws and took a slow bite from it. I thought to myself, ‘she would have to do this same thing every other day until she died or was captured. Take the lives of hundreds so that one may live.’ A lot of times, I forgot how luxurious it was to be human in today’s world. Actually I couldn’t think of a single time before now that I didn’t take it for granted. Humans have the luxury of not having to hunt for themselves; or forage for themselves, or even listen to the pleading cries of the ones they eat. If I wanted a burger as a human, I would buy one. If I wanted a burger here, I would have to kill something myself. Even then I probably wouldn’t be able to cook it.

I chewed the meat, sloshing it around in my mouth, tasting the still warm venison. It was delicious. I couldn’t believe it; it was raw, bloody, warm… and delicious. I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat it, but it slid down my throat and the hunger pangs subside for the moment. Azure was still devouring the last of her chunk, not paying any attention to me. ‘Good’ I thought. ‘The more she didn’t pay attention, the longer I could stay…’ Not that I thought I could stay forever or wanted to; I just needed to spend as much time with this female as I could so I could learn. My stomach gave a smaller quieter growl meaning I had to rip off another chunk from the carcass to make it shut up.

Doing so was just as bad the second time as the first. This time I had taken a bite out of the shoulder where Azure had bitten it in the forest. I made sure to take off a bit more than a few bites this time. The meat was a bit cooler, but still tasted more or less the same. Sitting up on my hind legs, I held the ‘food’ between my paws as if I still had hands and took a bite from the red mass. “What are you doing, Stupid?” The fur on my back stood up on end as I looked up and saw Azure glaring at me.

“Uhhh… I’m e-eating?” Stuttering out every word, I tried not to sound sarcastic, lest she rip my throat out. I thought she was talking about me sitting up like this, but that wasn’t the case.

“Who do you think the alpha is here!? YOU? Don’t make me laugh!” Her eyes burned through me and I tried to look away. “First I had some, and then you had some. Now, it’s my turn again. Jeez, you act like you’ve never been in a pack, Stupid!”

What was her problem? If she wanted some more she could have gotten some! But as I sat there with the hunk in my paws not taking another bite, I noticed that she wasn’t budging from her spot. My eyes darted to my paws, then back at her. To my paws, then at her. Her red irises narrowed and I finally got the hint. I quickly gripped the meat with my teeth and returned to all fours. Lowering myself to the ground I crawled over to the female and dropped the venison at her paws.

“Good boy.” Azure began eating at what I had given her. “Next time, make sure it’s a warmer piece!”

Slowly, I returned to my spot. Having given my food to the alpha female, I would have to get another piece. ‘Uhg… this is torture!’ I thought to myself as I bit into another chunk. This time I didn’t care whether or not it had fur. The meat tasted good and besides the sound it made as it left the bone, and the fact that the thing I was eating once had a voice and was probably a baby or something didn’t seem to matter as much now. I sank my teeth into the body’s hind leg, placed a paw on the former creature’s rib cage, and pulled hard. Within moments, I had ripped off the back of the Deerling’s left leg. I cringed through the sound and the blood dripping to the ground, spattering around my feet. After returning to my sitting position I began devouring the muscle; still trying to avoid the brown fur, I ate it from the inside out.

After that arduous task, I wasn’t starving anymore. Not full, but at least I could stand not eating for the rest of the day. I looked down at my front legs and chest to find that my white fur was stained pink with darker hues closer to my neck. ‘Great.’ I thought. ‘This probably won’t ever come out.’ I knew where her den was now, and if I left I could surely make my way back here. Getting up from my spot I gradually made my way to the exit tunnel. As I was just about to enter the dirt tube, I heard Azure call from behind me.

“HEY!” Her shrill voice made me jump and my horn dug into the ceiling causing small bits of earth to fall on my head. “Get back here. I didn’t say you could leave yet, Stupid!” Pulling the blade out from the dirt, I turned on my heels to face the alpha, her commanding voice controlling my body. “I said, come over here.” My eyes widened in terror. What was she going to do to me? I was basically defenseless down here; not as if I could put up any fight outside either. But the thought of dying in this den with a white widow, didn’t appeal to me at all. But what if she didn’t want to hurt me? What if she just wants company and doesn’t want me to leave?? Perhaps she only needs someone to melt her icy heart? These thoughts raced through my mind at a million miles a second, but all of those seconds added up, and the female got impatient. “STUPID! I told you to come over here!”

Her roar made my skin crawl. Immediately, I dropped to the ground and crawled to lay right next to her, my eyes wide staring straight forward. “You just keep messing up, over and over.” Azure laid her paw on me and rolled me onto my side. I tried to right myself but she held me down. “There aren’t any other Absols around here. You walk weird, you stink like humans…” The she bent down, moving her black face closer to mine. “You don’t hunt. You don’t know pack rules.” Her face came closer and closer to mine with every passing word. “And after all that, even after I feed you; you don’t even have the decency to clean up?” Azure’s muzzle passed mine and I felt something brush up against my cheek.

It was her tongue! She was licking me! “Wh-what are you d-doing?” I asked; which seemed like a logical question for me but it seemed like she wasn’t going to answer. “Shut up, Stupid, and roll over.”

Confused, but not even wanting to question her, I rolled over, belly up and felt her spiky tongue roll over my chest fur. Again and again, she brushed me and I finally noticed that she was cleaning the blood stains from my fur! Her tongue glided over my neck; sending a wave of Swanna-bumps down my spine. ‘Oh Arceus this feels good!’ I thought, and suddenly I felt a rumbling in my throat. It sounded like a motor bike, and it got louder when I exhaled. ‘Holy Miltank; I’m purring!’ I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment, letting Azure’s licking take me away into heaven.

She must have been at it for at least fifteen minutes, but to me it was over in seconds. When I opened my eyes, I found that I had been licked clean, and my purring had stopped. There wasn’t even so much as a speck of dirt left on this white coat; she even got my legs! “Wow… That was great.” My opinion was voiced out loud and for the first time since the fountain, I felt relaxed. The female laid down next to me and rolled onto her back. “Now clean ME.”

Not wanting to be disrespectful, I got up and prepared to return the favor. Looking at her displayed below me, covered in blood, fur matted, eyes glaring… I could tell I had my work cut out. Bending over to bring my face to her belly, her scent filled my nostrils. ‘Wild. Mud. Forests. Blood. Water. Leaves. Vines. Death.’ The smells of nature filled my mind as my lips parted ways for my tongue and I took the first lick along the female’s chest. The sweet irony taste of blood was the first to hit my brain. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I couldn’t get over how sweet blood tasted now. I tried to imitate what she had done and take long strides through her fur. The spines on my own red ribbon pulled and yanked at the white hairs. I counted the laps it took to make a spot clean and came up with seventeen.

I moved slightly from that spot and continued sweeping through her belly fur; catching a nipple here and there eliciting twitches from the alpha female. I could tell I was doing it right because it didn’t take long before she started purring, and I gave a small, silent chuckle as I found out that beneath that cold exterior lied a sweet, lovable pokémon. “Tch. Stupid… You're making me purr.” She whispered with her eyes shut, obviously not wanting me to stop any time soon. Not that I would. Apparently I enjoy cleaning just as much as I enjoy getting cleaned. The smells wafting up from Azure’s fur and the taste from the blood stains were intoxicating. I felt a kind of weird attraction to her all of a sudden; some kind of lust perhaps? Having witnessed her brutality, and then seeing her rolled onto her back pretty much underneath me, was messing with my head.

Never the less, I continued stroking her fur unhindered. I was almost finished now. All that was left was a dark red patch on her neck, and in the position we were in, I had to kind of “straddle” over her to get to it. The hairs on our chests brushed up against each other as I took long strokes from her collar bone all the way to the underside of her chin. Her fur texture changed between the neck and face. Where the white fur turns to black, the white hairs are long and rough but the black ones are smooth and fine. Almost as if she were wearing a parka. Just a few more savory licks and I would be done. I could see her fur becoming whiter with every pass.

But of course I was destined to screw this up too. Half way into a lap, my back foot slipped and my body fell an inch closer to Azure’s chest, and for a split second I could feel the warmth of her form against mine. I guess it was too close for her taste because her eyes snapped open and her purring ceased. Then before I knew it, her back legs were tucked in between us and she kicked me all the way across the bean. My back hit hard against the dirt wall sending chunks of dirt to fall on my head again. Getting up from the ground, I looked wide eyed to Azure across the den; who was fiercely glaring at me, fangs barred.

“That’s strike three Stupid…” The female started to growl at me now.

‘What the hell?’ My mind raced trying to think of what I could have done wrong. So my foot slipped, what’s the big deal!? I thought we were having a good time, but apparently I had gone too far? Then without warning, the feline lunged at me claws extended. Truthfully I was surprised that I could move as fast as I did, but I managed to avoid her attack and make a break for the exit tunnel. ‘Oh Arceus! This girl is going to kill me!!’ My brain screamed as I popped out into the open air. Taking a few steps away from the passage, I turned to see if she would continue to chase after me. Sure enough, she popped out of the hole and leapt into a sprint after me. I didn’t really care for her to catch me, so I launched myself into action, kicking up dirt and leaves behind me. I could hear her paws beat the ground behind me, and she was coming up fast. I had to think of something before she reached me.

‘Come on! What do I do!?’ I screamed at myself. It was a good thing I was scatter brained because I replied back ‘Tree.’

Tree? Would climbing a tree really help me? And could I climb it fast enough to avoid Azure’s claws? Both of these questions were ones that I didn’t have time to think over. My body moved on its own and within an instant, my claws extended and dug into the nearest tree. I slung myself to the other side of the plant to buy more time. The female didn’t hesitate to follow me around the trunk, but by the time she was there, I was already fifteen feet up the natural pole.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN CLIMB AWAY FROM ME!!??” I looked down to see her fierce eyes glaring at me. “I HAVE CLAWS TOO STUPID!!”

The white Alpha reared up into a half biped stance, holding her right paw outward, claws erect. I saw darkness envelope her mitt. The energy had a red tint to it as it swirled into larger spikes becoming seemingly solid masses.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed aloud in an exasperating voice as I began climbing higher. I didn’t know how far that shadow claw could reach, but judging by how powerful she looked I guessed she could turn it into a projectile if she wanted. But as I climbed higher and higher, I found that she wasn’t going to shoot it at me; instead she took a swing at the tree trunk. The base of which splintered away as her elongated black energy claws ripped through the bark and through the core.

“HUUAAW!!” Azure gave out an echoing grunt as her claws came out of the other side of the trunk.

The tree swayed for a moment, but then started to topple to the ground with me still in it. The Pidgey who were once peacefully roosted were now scrambling to get as far away as possible. I received a few feathers in the face as they flew away, letting out their calls to warn others of their home’s imminent demise. “AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” I let out my own screech as the chilled air pushed its way under my coat; with more wind whooshing by. At the last second, I leapt from the tree I was rooted into and clung to another one, still suspended above the ground, but not nearly as high as I was.

“You cannot escape Me In THe TREES!” I looked to the ground below and saw Azure running towards the base of the tree I was currently depending on for safety. Once again she was charging up an attack but this one was surrounding the horn on the side of her head.

‘Oh geez! Night slash!?’ I didn’t even finish that thought before she had once again sliced through the thick barked stalk sending me downward for the second time.

“I’ll cut down EVERY tree in this forest if I have to Stupid!”

I reached out my paw to latch onto another giant stalk, and felt my claws dig in. Letting go of the falling tree, I tried to wrap my arm around yet another safety zone, but I failed. My claws slipped through the bark and I was sent hurtling to the ground. The landing was rough to say the least. Just like a true feline, I managed to land upright but, in my clumsiness, immediately fell backwards, belly up. Azure was on top of me quicker than a six year old to an ice cream truck and I felt her claws dig into my flesh, holding me into place.

“AAAHHH! OOOWWWuhhuh!” I screamed feeling the sting of my skin splitting to make room for her sharp nails. I tried to fight to get away, but she dug in deeper until I eventually gave into the pain and exhaustion.

“Gotcha.” She said simply staring into my eyes, a cruel smile etched across her face. Running like that and cutting down two trees didn’t seem to have an impact on her stamina, as she wasn’t panting at all.

Was this really where I was going to end? Would I be killed by my own kind (sort of)? What about my pokémon and Mina, and Luke? Would any of them even miss me??
“Azure!” I gasped. The alpha’s eyes narrowed pausing in her actions and allowing me my final words. “Why?” I asked. “What did I do? At least give me that!”

The pokémon’s face came closer to mine as she brought her muzzle to my ear and whispered. “I’m on top…” Her claws receded from within me returning to soft pads and her legs lowered her body to come to rest right on top of me. In my confusion, my mouth parted open on its own, but it was soon covered by the female’s lips, and filled with her tongue. My eyes went wide with bewilderment. I couldn’t really grasp what was going on at the moment, but I knew my face was hot with rushing blood and if it weren’t for the black fur on my face, a deep blush could have been seen.

With Azure lying on top of me, her tongue in my mouth, her scent in my fur… I got caught up in the moment. I could feel myself getting bigger below the haunches. My member slipped out of its sheath and slid its slick, spiny head between our bodies. Our tongues danced together in my mouth, rubbing up against each other like sand paper for a few seconds. Then her lips parted from mine bringing with them, a thin string of saliva.

“Do you have any idea how alone I’ve been?” She panted; her voice soft and quiet. Her question of course was rhetorical, and didn’t need an answer from me. “The last time I saw another Absol I was just a pup… I was stolen from my family at the ripe old age of eight months.” The ripe old age part was said as though it was dipped in liquid sarcasm. “I was taken by a red haired human male. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, he used me to knock out my parents! They wouldn’t hurt their little girl.”

‘Oh no… that’s terrible.’ I thought. ‘Who would be so cruel as that?’ But then I remembered. I probably did the same thing when I caught Terkin, and Pawniard, and maybe even Axew and Emola. My father probably did the same thing when he caught Glade as a kid. My eyes started to water up. All of the pain that trainers cause, the loss of a family member, the betrayal of your own kin; even death and destruction sometimes. I have been guilty of all of those things. Most trainers probably were.

“One night, I finally managed to break free. I destroyed the ball and thought about what to do with my sleeping former master.” Azure continued with her story. “I thought about slitting his throat or gutting him alive… but, that would mean sinking to his level… so, I just… left. That’s why I’m here. All by myself. And I’ve been here for about twelve summers or so.” I shuddered as the white feline scooted herself up my belly, dragging juices from my cock down her body. The Absol extended her front legs to raise her front half away from my chest slightly. Still looking into my eyes she put on a sly smile. “But now I have you and I’m not alone anymore… Caleb.”

Azure slowly sat upright and looked down at the slimy mess I had made all over us. My stiff rod bobbed away from my belly fluff and hung in the air. Underneath my black face fur I was blushing profusely. The female craned her neck to sniff at my red private and at this point, I didn’t know whether to let her continue or stop her. Her ribbon like tongue rolled out and gave my member a long lick, from the base where my sheath was, all the way to the tip. The rough appendage gliding over me and catching on my own barbs, sent shivers up my spine and only made me harder down there. With every passing moment, it was getting more and more difficult to say no to this. As with everything that Azure had done thus far, this was pure pleasure despite the now mild stinging in my shoulders from before.

She gave me another lick and this time my voice broke out, displaying my bliss. As if that was some kind of password, she stopped her licking and sat up further to expose herself to me. I hadn’t noticed because of my thick fur, but she too had juices flowing from her nether region, and the slick liquid was flowing around my furry balls and onto the ground. Her lower lips were swollen with lust and the pheromones that wafted to my nose sent me in a haze of passion. Some kind of instinct kicked in and took over my body… I wanted to be inside her, I wanted to pump my engorged erection into her hungry hole, I wanted to spray my seed all over her inner walls, and I wanted to fill her up until my testis were drained dry, and then do it all over again. And again. And again. And again!

The Absol scooted her way up my body still sitting up, dragging her dripping cunt along my penis, effectively coating it with more lubricant. She gave out tiny whimpers and whines as the tiny pricks on my member massaged her clit as she moved. Her entrance was half way up my shaft and getting closer to the tip with every fleeting moment.

‘n-n N-NO!’ My mind over came the intoxicating aroma of sex for a split second and allowed me to reject this most tempting offer. “No!” this time aloud, “Azure! No, not now. Not no… no, j-just wait a, a n,no!” I wiggled underneath her, pushing myself backwards along the ground, pulling myself away from her sex tunnel. Azure’s juices were spread over my sheath and tail base before I was free from underneath the female. “I-Im’ sorry. I just, I can’t… we. Can’t. I- I’m I’m not r-right for y-you.” The alpha was still hunched over as if she was still on top of me, but her eyes avoided me and her face turned to depression. Images of romping still lingered in my mind as I staggered to my paws. My penis still erect and flaccid with the barbs clinging to a few stray hairs on my belly.

I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts from my brain but they were really persistent. I needed something stronger to get rid of these thoughts. “A-Azure, I-I’m really sorry. Please don’t be mad… I’ll be right back okay?” The pokémon stopped hunching over and came to stand up, but her eyes were still fixed on the ground, her tail drooped down, and her red eyes half closed, a general ‘hurt’ expression.

“I’ll be at the den.” She mumbled in monotone and then began to slowly shuffle towards her home. I felt really bad for not giving her what she wanted, but I couldn’t have sex with her! I didn’t even really know her for one, I’m really a human for two, and I’m way too young to take a chance of having babies! Even though sixteen for an Absol isn’t exactly childhood. Also what would happen when I was human again? She would probably hate me! I needed to clear my head, and get rid of this erection; a feat that would be easier if I wasn’t drenched from the waist down in feminine honey. Azure had shuffled far enough away so that I could go where I needed to be without being disrespectful to her. I quickly figured that the river would be my best bet of calming my libido.

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

I carefully made my way to the river I had to swim through a while ago in my journey. I hadn’t gone very far in the nearly eight hours I had been a pokémon. At least that’s how long I assumed I had been a pokémon. I took a look at the sky and saw that the sun was indeed going down and I guessed it must be somewhere around five o’clock. Walking with this red rod bobbing up and down was all too uncomfortable. Every now and then it brushed up against my leg which sent another wave of pleasure through me, regrettably prolonging my erection.

By the time I had made it to the bank, I had come close to orgasm four times because of the rubbing against my legs. Avoiding shrubbery and logs with a big dick proved to be a challenge, but I made it! I came closer to the water and my cock bounced one more time and that was all I could take. I couldn’t stop it anymore, I was going to cum. Swanna bumps rolled along my spine as I hunched over preparing myself for the event. I felt one final wave of pleasure coarse through me as my muscles seized up. My member started twitching, and then began to pump out squirts of spunk onto the sand. I groaned in relief as the seed left me, but the moment of bliss left me vulnerable to the smells of Azure’s juices still stained in my fur and I began to lust for her even more. Without much else to do, I threw myself into the rushing water to wash off my torment. As I came into the cold stream, my member immediately began to shrink back into its sheath. The smells of sex left me and my head was finally clear.

I pulled myself out of the river after swishing around for a few minutes. My fur dripped onto the sand causing dark rings to form around my white paws. I took a few steps on dry land and shook myself semi-dry. Letting out a low breath, I looked in the direction of Azure’s den. The look that she had on her face flashed through my mind, and I began to think about everything we have been through in these few short hours. She was fierce, cold, unforgiving but most of all… she was lonely; and even though I knew what that meant, I couldn’t really relate to it. Sure I have felt lonely at times, but I could call my parents and I always had company being a trainer and all that. What Azure had said while she was on top of me really hit me deep. That being said, I really wanted to give her a hug, but she would probably either rip my throat out for trying to attain dominance or rape me because I got too close again. Either way, I hoped she wasn’t mad at me because Azure was the only pokemon I would be able to learn anything from. Being an Absol, I couldn’t learn anything from the Deerling, Pidgey, and Furrets that hung around this place. Mina could probably teach me things, but she has other issues on her plate at the moment and it didn’t seem like the Zoroark wanted to cooperate with me anyway. I sat along the river bank looking at the waterfall and feeling the cool breeze rustle my milky coat for a few minutes and decided to start heading for the den.

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When I returned to Azure’s home, I could still smell a very faint presence of pheromones in the air. They didn’t hang nearly as heavy as they did before, and they weren’t enough for me to get horny again so that was a plus. I cleared my throat at the wide hole and called out to the female. “A-Azure? Are you in there?” I waited for a few seconds for a reply but only silence came from the tunnel. Truthfully I was a little worried about her, with that look she wore as she walked away I was afraid she might have hurt herself out of frustration. However, I was about to stick my head in the den when the alpha female came completely out of the hole.

“Where have you been, Stupid? We have to do one more thing before we go to sleep tonight.” Azure’s tone was almost like nothing had even happened, and she seemed to have cleaned herself up as well because as she passed by, I didn’t even get a whiff of either of our fluids on her. I didn’t quite get it, when she left me she was mortified, was she just pretending or did she really not care? “Let’s go. I know the best place to do it.” She bluntly said while strutting off through the dried leaves.

I didn’t know what “it” was but I hoped it didn’t have anything to do with killing or intercourse, but just to make sure I decided to ask what we were doing. “Hey uh, where are we going?” I started as I kicked myself in motion to follow. “And what are we doing when we get there~?” My voice kind of broke away at the end. It’s not because I was afraid of the answer… it’s just that I was… you know, afraid of the answer, heh heh. Anyway, I didn’t have an answer to be afraid of because she just ignored the question all together. Still, I followed the female through the forest, trying to avert my eyes from her backside. Though, her tail swinging side to side was hypnotic to say the least and I found it hard to avoid looking the entire time.

Azure had taken me to an open field surrounded by trees. The Sawsbuck, Deerling, and other smaller pokémon had fled from the sight of us which told me that we weren’t hunting again. The area that we had entered actually looked similar to what was inside that little boy’s pokéball except the sky had the golden orange glow of the late evening and at the center of the clearing, were a number of vertical standing white obelisk like stones. With soft grass blades beneath my paws I was finally free of the obnoxious crunching of leaves. The vertical stones were loosely arranged in a circle to which Azure was leading me. As we approached the large rocks I could tell that these weren’t natural, but who could have put them there and why was beyond me. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were faded weathered stone with tiny cracks, mold, a number of scratches and cuts as well whole chunks taken out of the rock faces. Who ever put these here must have done so a long time ago, or they have been under recent abuse… or both.

Azure and I took a stance in the middle of the “circle” and then I understood where the scratches came from. “Go ahead. Try to break that rock.” The white feline commanded as she took a seat; her head gesturing towards a pillar with the most damage.

‘wut?’ I was boggled for a few moments. ‘She wants me to break this thing? It’s like six feet thick on either side!’ Azure obviously thought I was just an average Absol with all of the average Absol abilities but truth be told, I didn’t think a normal one could even crack this thing let alone break it! I started to think of a few pokémon that could manage to destroy such a monument:
An Onix
Machamp
Hariyama
Garchomp?
Maybe even a well trained Lucario.
All of those thoughts aside, I still had to give a valid attempt, but I didn’t know what Azure would accept as an attempt. Seeing all of the marks on the stone, I guessed that just slashing at it wouldn’t work. So instead I went with a more blunt force method. I used the same strategy as when I tried to knock the berries out of the Aspear tree. After sizing up the rock and a look to the alpha female I took a running start towards the massive object. At the last second I planted my front paws firmly in the ground, spun around and kicked the rock face as hard as I could. My actions were regretted immediately. Upon contact with the stone, my paws screamed in agony as it felt like needles were sent through my legs. I scrunched up my face and gritted my teeth as the pain ripped through my thighs. When the vibrations subsided I was left gasping for air lying on my belly. Taking a short glance at the stone, I was disappointed but not surprised to find that my attack had done absolutely nothing.

“Tch. That was dumb. Why didn’t you use any of your powers?” I turned my head and looked up from the ground to see Azure stepping towards the rock. “Watch me.” She muttered while taking a wide stance. I dragged myself away from her as she started doing something familiar. Just like before, the horn on the side of her head started to exude black and red energy. “HUAAH!” The female gave out a grunt before turning her head and dropping her right shoulder to bring the blade to a downward slashing motion. The sound alone was enough to curdle my blood; a sharp whistle while swinging and a piercing scraping sound like nails to a chalkboard. The energy was unleashed onto the obelisk and hung in the air for a moment before dissipating into nothingness. When the smoke had cleared there was a fresh gash in the earthen face. Hardly breaking the rock, much more like vandalizing it.

‘HA! And she wanted ME to break that thing!’ I laughed at her in my mind. However I had no right to laugh at her, she still did a hell of a lot more than I managed to do. Now the female stepped aside and looked to me to copy her action. I didn’t think that I could, but decided to give it a shot anyway. Getting up to my sore feet I turned to face the stone Azure had struck and took on the same wide stance as she did. Closing my eyes I imagined the black energy swirling around my horn. I took several deep breaths and made the blackness glow bigger and brighter. I could feel the power brushing my fur and the earth seemed to drift away. This was it. This was my moment. My eyes snapped open and I rushed the stone, arcing my neck the same as Azure had done, bringing my horn to slice down on the rock. The black blade made contact and I felt the pressure of the old stone grind against it as it drug along the surface. There it was; I had made the same movements as the female had, and my attack was finished. However, after looking at what I had done, I realized that all of the power effects were only in my head, and nothing but a small white streak was made into the obelisk.

“That’s it? You didn’t even do anything!” Azure’s comment stated the obvious. Of course I couldn’t do anything, I didn’t know how to use my powers, if I even HAD powers that is! Mina couldn’t even tell me if I would have the abilities of pokémon. Sure I have the form, the walk the talk and even the senses, but who knows if I have the moves? I sure didn’t. But just in case I did, I thought that I could make a teacher out of the white feline.

“Azure, I don’t know how to do any of that stuff. No one taught me.” Looking at Azure through sorrowful eyes, I could see a flash of disappointment on her face, but it quickly turned into frustration. “C-could you possibly, teach me how?” Upon hearing my question, Azure hung her head, closing her eyes with a furrowed brow.

“You're shitting me, right?” her words cut through me like the blade on her head. “Geez, now I’m really glad I didn’t mate with you! I couldn’t possibly cover up all of your worthlessness; our pups would have been terrible!”

“Hey, I stopped YOU remember? You were all gung-ho about it, and I can’t take that right now!”

“Shut up!” Azure’s teeth bared at me for a moment as her eyes came to just slits. “And listen to me…” Upon finishing her command the feline’s eyes softened a little and the fangs were brought out of ‘attack mode’. I could tell she was about to continue, so I sat down on my haunches and waited for her instructions. “I want you to close your eyes, and think of something that you really care about.”

Something that I really cared about? I cared about a lot of things. Choosing one would be a problem. I started to think of what would be strong enough to let me use my Absol powers? I liked to watch a lot of movies, and usually whenever someone is confronted with a request like this, they think of their families, so I came to the conclusion that family might be the right answer and thought of that. The image of the day I left home with only Glade in my party at the time. My mother and father, aunt and uncle, as well as all of their pokémon, gathered outside to see me off in our home town Lavaridge. The site of them all waving, as I took my first steps with Glade out of the small town and headed toward Mauville city brought a tear to my eye. As much as I went through to distance myself from my old man; dying my hair, not telling anyone my last name, lying about where I am from… I still cared about him. So I used that.

“Do you have something?” Azures voice didn’t break me out of the thought, but I could still hear her. With my eyes still closed, I only nodded. “Good, now think of what would happen if a predator came along, and destroyed what you cared about.” Azure’s words might have worked on another pokémon, but they didn’t make sense in my case. My father was a former league champion, and after finally losing to someone, he took up martial arts for a few years in Kanto. By the time he graduated from there he could easily keep up with most fighting pokémon and he was even able to beat Glade’s psychic abilities. So I always thought that him being destroyed was improbable if not impossible. As for my mother, there would be no way my dad would let anything happen to her; he virtually never left her side. If my aunt and uncle were to pass; yea it would be sad, but I don’t see them enough or know them enough to be really hurt. I would cry for a few weeks, but then… life goes on you know?

I decided to think of something else. Oh! How about that Kirlia from back home? No. That wouldn’t work. It’s not that I didn’t care about her; it’s just that what we had was, you know… “puppy love.” And I’ve done way more with Azure in the past few hours than we had done in all our time together. Besides she probably doesn’t even remember me; that was so long ago. Okay now, I still had to sift through so many things, but the eventuality was that it could only be one thing, and when I finally thought of it I couldn’t see how it would have been anything different. Despite what Luke or anyone else had thought; I cared deeply for my pokémon, and even though they wanted to beat me up just recently, I would be mortified if anything were to happen to them. With the Archangel attack that had just went down the other day, it’s entirely possible that they could be taken or even killed, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if that were to happen.

Thinking about it was painful, but that’s what Azure insisted I do. My feelings were a mixture of sadness regret and anger. “Do you feel that?” She inquired “That’s what fuels all dark type’s powers. Feelings of loss, anger and sadness. The stronger the feeling, the stronger the power. It feels like a pit of hatred and depression right in your chest.”

She was right. As I imagined my pokémon being taken away and brutally beaten or killed I could feel the emotion swell in my chest. I started getting angry. Angry at the illusions of death in my brain, furious of myself for doing nothing to prevent it, hate of Archangel for wanting this weather they actually did or not. Still sitting with my eyes closed, I started getting hot. Surely the black energy would encompass me at any moment.

“Now. I want you to move those feelings. Concentrate those emotions into your horn. Turn your regret into a weapon, make hate your blade!”

I tried to move the feeling from my chest, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was my heart that was aching, but it was my horn that needed it. Gritting my teeth, I managed to move the feelings from my chest to the black jewel on my forehead. The burning it gave off made me jump to my feet, eyes still tightly shut. The feelings wanted to return down below and I had to fight to keep them concentrated there. Just a little more now, and I felt the burning leave my forehead and almost jump to the black horn on the side. Now I could hear it; the high pitched ghostly whispering sound of the energy emanating from the blade.

“NOW! The one to blame for all of this pain is right there! SHOW THEM YOUR WRATH!!”

Azures commanding shout made my eyes snap open and for a split second I could see the dark energy circling around my head. The sound it made echoed throughout the field. I had to slice the rock before the feelings faded so I turned on the spot, facing the obelisk and brought my blade to cut the stone once more. “HUWAAAHHG!!” I screamed to further my efforts. I didn’t feel the scraping this time, there was only pressure against my head and when it was over, I jumped back from the standing stone in surprise. The residual energy faded away and left behind a large indentation. It was now the largest cut taken out of the object. Being about a foot wide, and at least four inches deep and stretching six feet long from one side to the other; I was shocked that I could accomplish such a feat. My eyes went wide as my jaw dropped at the sight.

Azure came up beside me and took a seat on a tuft of tall grass. I looked to her, closing my mouth but not changing my expression and for the first time in our time together, I saw her smile. Not a sinister grin. Not a wicked crazed smile. But a real, true, happy smile. “Hmhmhm” the female gave a small chuckle, also a first for our time. “See, Stupid? Now, wasn’t that easy?” I didn’t exactly think that ‘easy’ could accurately define what that was, but I was glad to know that it was possible for me to do it.

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(Mina)

“Come on guys, can’t you give the kid a break? I mean he’s only been a pokémon for like ten hours!” It was about six PM now. The sun was pretty much on the horizon, and at this point I was debating whether or not Caleb would even come back. I kept thinking, ‘Oh no, I hope he didn’t get captured, or drown, or fall off a cliff, or starve to death.’ But knowing it’s only been half a day, I doubted he would have starved. The other half of me was saying ‘Maybe he just wants to stay as a pokémon? Maybe he met some girl and he’s off living a bright new life. Or maybe he just decided to abandon his pokémon and everything?’ I didn’t know either way. None of us knew, and here we were; sitting at the fountain where Caleb’s pokémon and I were having a nice, neat, calm discussion.

“WE CAN’T GIVE HIM A BREAK!! HE HAS TO ESTABLISH DOMINANCE NOW!” Terkin’s booming roar deafened the rest of the pokémon’s shouting. “THAT’S HOW IT WORKS!”

The other pokémon chimed in on his comment. “Yea! If we have to follow him he has to be a leader!” Juko punched the air finishing off his outburst. Kimi was next to speak. “He has to be stronger than us!” I chuckled a little bit at the Emolga’s addition. She couldn’t possibly be very strong; she was just a tiny little thing. Gyro, the Pawniard offered his opinion. His shallow voice belayed his ninja like appearance. “I will not follow someone weaker than I am.”

Okay. So it wasn’t exactly as calm and civilized as I would have liked. At least Glade was calm. He appeared to be the only one who wasn’t shouting or arguing with me as he sat on the edge of the fountain dragging one of his green fingers along the surface of the water. “Guys! Guys! Please, calm down!” I tried to shout over the noise. “Don’t forget, I’m a pokémon too! And I know the rules, but Caleb is still a human, and he’s still your trainer no matter what form he takes!” Caleb’s team seemed to quiet down just a little bit, but I could tell I haven’t changed their minds. “Besides, you know he won’t be any match for you. He probably doesn’t have any powers, he's probably still uncoordinated, and most of all he might not even be back…” My words washed over the five of them and now they became completely silent now aware that they may not have a trainer to follow anymore anyway. “If Caleb doesn’t come back by tomorrow, then I guess we’ll assume he got caught, or ran away. And if that’s the case, then I’ll crush your pokéballs and let you all free. Then you can go off and… hunt him down, or live here, or whatever it is you want to do!”

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(Caleb)

Azure and I spent the next few hours sparring with each other. After learning how to first conjure the power of misery, and using it time and time again, I no longer had to really think about my pokémon being taken and killed anymore. My body kind of did it on its own now. Whenever I made a certain gesture, or took a certain stance, the black energy would shroud the body part that was attacking. I found through combat, I could use shadow claw, night slash, and a dark variant of zen headbutt. Those were just standard identifiable moves I learned in trainer school, the reality is; I could put that energy anywhere and make any kind of outrageous move I could think of… Dark tail slash. Black shoulder nudge. Double darkness kick. The possibilities were endless!

The sun had left the sky, leaving the moon to hang over our dancing forms; our fur shimmering in the moonlight. The white Absol leapt at me with her charged horn. It whistled through the air until it came down on my own blade causing a piercing clanging sound as the two collided. Waving my head I managed to force her off to the side making her take a jump back. Seeing an opening, I decided now was a good time for a counter attack. My back legs kicked me forward as I raised a paw, concentrating the power there. My claws ripped through the air not touching Azures perfect white fur. The female had dodged my attack, but I wasn’t finished yet. I let the force of my swipe carry my body to spin in a circle where my black tail was waiting to strike. She wasn’t expecting this bizarre tactic and I had managed to land a hit on her. My tail had slapped her across the muzzle, but it wasn’t charged and didn’t affect her much. I continued the spin to face her once again and was surprised to see a shocked look on her face. Then it turned from shock to a mean grin and she jerked to a bowing stand.

Knowing what was going to happen, I turned and started running in the opposite direction. Just as I thought, it didn’t take long before she was in motion to chase me. I laughed loudly as I ran to the stone circle making sure to look back every so often to taunt my pursuer. I looked back and lolled out my tongue at the alpha. “HAHA! I’m gonna get you, Stupid!” Her voice called from behind me, breaking from her laughter. Being around her now was actually enjoyable! No more was she shrewd, mean and commanding. Now whenever she called me Stupid, it was more endearing than insulting. Perhaps I could even call her a friend now?

I ran right up to the stone with Azure chasing after me and without stopping, I planted my paws on the obelisk and bounced off of the wall like object. My Absol friend stopped at the wall and skidded to a halt as I was sent flying over her. I landed just a few feet away solidly on my paws with a wide stance. At this point, I was almost exhausted; I took deep breaths as I stared down the female. She copied my actions and backed away, but then jumped in surprise as her butt brushed against the standing rock. Knowing that she had nowhere to run now, I leapt at her and caught the slippery feline. Now the hunted had become the hunter and I tackled my prey to the ground.

“OOFF!” Azure sounded as she fell to the ground with me on top of her. I beamed a smile at the pokémon below me and she smiled back. Did I mention that I was really enjoying this side of her? “I knew you were a real Absol…”

Azure’s comment took me off guard and I didn’t know what she had meant about it, but I decided to come clean anyway. She seemed to like me so far maybe telling her I wasn’t a pokémon wouldn’t be that big of a deal? “No… I-I’m not really an Absol.” My voice was quiet but clearly audible over the slight breeze and the rustling grass.

“I know you're not, Stupid.” Her tone was as quiet as mine was, and her words were spoken with a ‘matter of fact’ tone. “I wanted to MAKE you into an Absol.”

“Huh? How did you know?” I didn’t quite get how she knew, I mean for a little bit even I was starting to believe I was a pokémon.

“Are you kidding me?” Azure’s voice ended in a chuckle. “I knew you weren’t an Absol from the moment I saw you. I’ve been following you for a long time. I've met lots of pokémon who were captured by humans and you smell more human than they did. I saw you with that little boy, you jump into the waterfall and I only showed myself when you climbed that tree. The fact that you could be sucked inside that ball meant that you weren’t captured yet… That’s how it works… right, Human in disguise?”

I couldn’t quite believe it; did she manage to put it all together? From what she told me several hours ago, she should hate humans, and if she knew I was one, then why would she be helping me?? But as I continued to think about her thinking about me, I didn’t move from my spot on top of her and she didn’t try to stop me. Her comfortable gaze into my wide eyes was all I received from her.

“S-so. Yea. I’m a, a h-human.” The words came out as a stuttered mess. From what she already said, Azure knew, but I was still fearful of confirming it. I thought that the second she was absolutely sure, she would snap and kill me or something; but she didn’t. She just laid there on her back.

“Alright. So that’s that.” Azure rolled me off and sat up on her haunches. I stayed lying on the ground as the feline gave a reaching stretch and then looked down to me. “We’ve had a long day. Time to get some sleep.”

I rolled to my belly and stood up as she turned and walked away. “Wait, don’t you want to know how I’m not human now? Or what I’m doing here? Or how about where I came from? You don’t have any questions? You're not mad??” My rambling string of questions seemed to completely miss her ears. I didn’t know that she even heard me until she responded simply.

“I don’t care, Stupid.” Azure yelled back to me from several yards away. She never even stopped to look at me. Her nonchalance made me chuckle to myself, I guess she really didn’t care… Maybe, just maybe… I could get her to come with me, and be the sixth pokémon in my team.

Yea.

I’d like that.