This fan fiction is rated M for blood, gore, dismemberment, strong language, and suggestive themes. If you do not like the listed then do not read, I do not own Pokémon or associated Medias.

She who stubbed her toe

Vix woke to the loud blare of her alarm clock. Her paw fumbled through the thick bedding until she found that damnable device to silence it. She extracted herself from the bedding and found her cane knocked onto the floor.

“Ugh, it’s too damn early for this. Where’s my damn watch?” the Delphox droned. Her paw searched the bed stand until she felt the familiar cloth band.

“Ah there you are my dear, would you be so kind as to tell me the time?” she spoke after fastening the watch to her wrist and pressing a button on the side.

“Time is Six-oh-Four, Thursday, March, Twenty Third,” the watch bleated. Vix yawned and stepped to the bathroom to finish her normal morning ritual.

Anthony snored on the couch of the main living space of the apartment, oblivious that the Delphox was up and about. The Pokémon heard his snore as she exited the water closet.

“Anthony,” she cooed into his hear. He woke with a brief start but he quickly relaxed when he noticed the fire type.

“Rosehip?” he muttered when he smelled the fragrant ash that dusted the Delphox’s fur.

“Yeah, I figured I would wear something nice for your birthday,” the fire type smiled.

“Figured you’d wear cinnamon considering the time of season,” the teen droned as he sat up.

“Nah,” she grinned before she gave her mate a kiss on his head. Vix stepped around the couch only to find Anthony’s prosthetic leg with her toe.

“Ow fuck! Anthony you left your leg in the middle of the floor again,” the Delphox cursed when she stubbed her toe.

“Sorry I thought I left it out of the walkway,” the teen yawned. The fire type’s sensitive ears picked up the clack of her mate’s new laptop and the creaks and pops from his frame as he reached for his prosthetic leg.

“Geez you sound like a bunch of twigs,” Vix remarked.

“I’d blame the Malamar for that,” Anthony groaned.

“He’s long gone now,” the Delphox nodded as she reached her paw for her Trainer’s back.

“Yeah but he still left his mark,” he grumbled as he felt her paw rub the dark scar that remained on his back. “The doc said that I’ll have some problems as I get older.”

“I know,” Vix sighed as she gave Anthony a hug.

“Well I’m still here thanks to a sexy Delphox that’s bringing in the bacon,” he smiled before he turned to give the fire type an awkward kiss.

“Bacon sounds good for breakfast,” Vix mused.

“I’m cooking it though,” Anthony laughed.

“No I can cook,” the Delphox protested.

“Vix the last time you tried to cook bacon we had a grease fire. Now I love you but I’d rather not douse you with baking powder again,” the trainer reminded.

“Fine,” the fire type huffed with a mock sneer. “Then you better get to cooking.”

“Alright I’m going, but can you get Arrow his breakfast?” Anthony asked as he slid his prosthetic leg back onto his stump.

“Yes I can go feed Arrow,” Vix nodded before moving towards the balcony.

“Alright Kris and Lucy are you two done screaming at each other?” she heard her mate say as she opened the sliding glass door.

“Good morning Arrow,” she beamed.

“Good morning Foxy,” the Talonflame warmly greeted.

“Still seeing that Skarmory three floors up?” Vix teased.

“She’s a good flyer,” the bird blushed.

“Be careful Arrow, if she winds up laying an egg, her trainer’s going to dump it onto Anthony,” the Delphox warned. “And right now we can’t afford raising a hatchling on top of the high rent of this apartment.”

“I can fish, Tinny likes fish, Hatchling will like fish.”

“Arrow,” Vix growled, but before she could continue scolding the Talonflame a knock sounded at the door.

“Lucy can you get that?” Anthony called from the tiny Kitchenette. Vix quickly dug a cup into the nearby bag of bird seed and dumped it into Arrow’s food dish before the Florges could answer the door. The Delphox entered the room just as the door opened to reveal a rather loud and irate woman with a rather pungent dye-like smell to her.

“Hello Tammy,” Vix greeted. “I can see you changed your hair color again.”

“Where’s your master?” the woman barked.

“My ‘Master’ is in the kitchen cooking breakfast before I have to go to work,” the Delphox sneered. The woman shoved passed Lucy and stomped into the kitchenette.

“Yes Tammy what can I do for you?” Anthony droned as he tended a skillet full of popping grease, eggs, and bacon.

“Your Talonflame was out flying about last night with my Tinny!” The woman yelled.

“No he was tethered to his post last night, so unless he was cut free I doubt he could cut the thick leather himself without a running start,” the young adult answered as he plated up the bacon and eggs.

“Don’t you dare implicate my little Tinny, I saw them flying together last night,” the blue haired trainer growled.

“I’m not denying that they were flying together last night, but your Skarmory isn’t innocent in this,” Anthony retorted. “Now if you are done yelling at me, I would like to enjoy my breakfast.”

“Fine, but if my Tinny lays an egg…” she started.

“Yes I know you’re going to shove it into my lap and have nothing to do with it,” the teen finished. “Luckily Skarmory are not in season right now.”

Tammy’s face flushed with anger as Anthony sat down with the plate of bacon and eggs.

“Lucy can you please see our guest out,” the teen droned, ignoring the glare from the blue haired girl.

“Florges,” the fairy nodded.

“I’ll see myself out,” Tammy snapped before she turned to storm out of the small apartment.

“I see she is as cheerful as ever,” Vix remarked.

“Yeah, but I’m going to have to have Arrow inside for tonight,” Anthony sighed. The two sat down at the tiny table and enjoyed the simple breakfast.

“So what do you want to do for our anniversary?” The Delphox asked.

“I was thinking a…”

“No picnics on the beach. The last one we had I got sand in my privates,” she remarked dryly.

“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly comfortable for me either,” the teen chuckled nervously. “But I was thinking a nice fancy dinner and then a private massage session.”

“That sounds nice,” the fire type smiled.

“So, what are you planning for my birthday?”

“Stuff,” Vix dismissed. “Just be back here by four.”

Before Anthony could reply another knock sounded at the apartment door.

“That’s Ben, I gotta get going,” the Delphox informed as she quickly finished her breakfast.

“We still good for lunch?” the teen asked as Vix grabbed a belt and radio.

“Yes,” she answered before leaning over to give Anthony a kiss. “Love you, bye.”

“Love you too Vix.”
***

“Sir we’ve finished excavation on the ancient weapon and we managed to find Lysander’s team,” a Black Ball Breeder courier relayed as he delivered a folder and a box of decayed pokeballs.

“Open his Gyarados,” the Leader commanded.

“Sir?” the courier gulped. “It wouldn’t have survived the blast of the weapon, and even if it did it wouldn’t be in any condition to fight after the years of stasis.”

“Release it!” the man barked.

“Yessir!” the subordinate flinched. The courier pressed the button on the face the pokeball. The device suddenly exploded in the man’s hand and what was left of the Gyarados materialized upon the floor.

“Gah!” the man shrieked as he held the bloody remains of his hand. The boss’s nose crinkled at the stench of the dead Gyarados as he stepped around the desk to inspect the dead dragon-like fish. Clearly the stasis feature of the pokeball malfunctioned over the years as the leader looked over the putrefied body. The leader’s gaze was inevitably drawn to the glint of a cracked collar fixed around the beast’s neck. A roughhewn cluster of crystals was the cause of the cracks within the collar. A smile spread across the leader’s face as he carefully extracted the sharp crystal.

“Go to the physician about your hand and send another courier to collect this,” the leader instructed as he deposited the crystal onto his desk.

“T-thank you sir,” the courier grimaced before he slowly shuffled off still holding the bleeding stump of his hand.

“And send a cleaner as well,” the man choked.
***

“Alright Luther, try a force palm now,” a young blond haired trainer instructed as another Lucario instructed the more inexperienced aura Pokémon.

The younger Pokémon launched himself towards the training dummy with his paw alight with aura. Wood splintered under the paw of the steel type before the force of the aura exploded forth and sent the dummy flying back on its track.

“That looked like it packed a punch Luther!” Anthony announced from the double door of the gym.

“Hm!” the Lucario beamed.

“Well he’s coming along, my guess is that he was never properly trained when he was a Riolu,” Korrina offered.

“That could be blamed on amnesia,” the teen suggested.

“No he would have some form of muscle memory, however he does know ice punch,” the Gym leader explained.

“Oh cool,” Anthony grinned.

“Was that pun intentional?” Korrina turned.

“Not really but now that you mention it.”

“Don’t!” the leader threatened.

“What, I was just going to break the ice with a good punch line,” the Teen jibbed with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

“Painful,” Luther groaned.

“Perhaps you should save the comedic genius to the actual genius that you call a Delphox,” Korrina sighed.

“Hey Vix would vouch for me that, that was funny,” Anthony tried.

“Nope,” the Lucario disagreed, earning a snicker from the Gym Leader.

“Okay, okay I’ll leave the comedic genius to Vix,” the trainer sighed, defeated. “Anyway, you ready to get some lunch Luther?”

“Hm!” the steel type beamed.

“Want to tag along Korrina?” Anthony offered.

“Nah, I gotta help out Tony with a report, something about Breeders being sighted on the islands to the north of us,” The Leader declined.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” the teen smiled as he and Luther ambled towards the exit.

“Hm,” the Lucario growled disapprovingly once they were out of earshot of the Gym leader.

“Relax Luther I was just being polite, besides were meeting Vix and her bodyguard for lunch,” Anthony placated before he let out a chuckle. “Like she needs a body guard.”

“Kris and Lucy coming?” the Luther asked.

“Didn’t you hear that screaming match last night?” The trainer turned. “Kris is joining us, but Lucy is staying with Tony right now.”

“Bad match,” Luther remarked.

“Yeah, they were cute at first but now…”

”Bad match,” the Lucario repeated.

“Yeah, but they’ll probably make up… eventually,” Anthony shrugged.

“No.”

“No?”

“No,” Luther affirmed.

“Too much said huh?”

“Yeah,”

“Geez,” Anthony sighed. “Well not every relationship works out I guess.”

“Nope,” the steel type shook his head. The pair fell into silence as they continued their walk to the restaurant where Kris, Vix, and her bodyguard waited.

“Good afternoon Anthony,” Vix greeted pleasantly.

“Afternoon? I think you’re off a little Vix. it’s still morning,” the trainer corrected.

“Time,” the fire type commanded her watch.

“Twelve-thirteen,” the device blurted out.

“See, thirteen minutes afternoon,” the Delphox smiled. Anthony simply gave a razzberry as a reply.

“That’s hardly an appropriate noise to make in present company,” Vix chastised.

“I don’t know,” Anthony smiled before stepping to the Delphox side to whisper into her ear. “You seemed to enjoy it a couple of nights ago.”

Vix blushed and cleared her throat as her mate placed his arm around her.

“Anyway, Anthony this is my bodyguard Ben and his Goodra Cadbury,” she introduced while she delivered a sharp elbow to the trainer’s ribs.

“P-pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Anthony choked.

“Did I miss something?” the ranger appointed bodyguard asked, oblivious to what transpired.

“No,” the Delphox answered sweetly as she led the way into the restaurant.
***

High on a bluff overlooking the town, a Gourgeist watched the group of trainers and Pokémon enter the restaurant.

“Blossom?” a Trevenant called.

“Yes Druid?” the ghost answered.

“Are you-” the Pokémon started.

“I’m fine, any luck locating Fay?”

“No, but she is alive,” Druid answered.

“Good,” Blossom sighed before she turned to the Banette next to the Trevenant. “Anything from the triple B Spooks?”

“Yeah, they seem to be building some sort of device and testing it on the local Pokémon, but I have no idea what it does though,” the Bannet answered.

“Hm, anything else?”

“Yeah, they’re shipping in non-native Pokémon, Magikarp to be exact.”

“Magikarp? Why Magikarp?” the Gourgeist pondered.

“I have no idea, but they seem urgent in their tests.”

“This travel ban is expensive for them,” Blossom explained. “If something doesn’t change we can expect a change in leadership.”

“Remember that the Kalos government is also feeling the pressure from the travel ban,” Druid added.

“Too true, I’m thinking something going to snap and it’s going to be soon,” Spooks concluded.

“This type of operation has to be spearheaded by a Lieutenant and if it’s the man that destroyed my life-” the Gourgeist started.

“Blossom,” Druid paused when the ghost turned a venomous glair to him. “Kill him if you must but please, save something for the return.”

The ghost’s glare softened for a moment before she turned away.

“I’ll try,” she whispered. “I’ll try.”
***

Anthony looked through a simple jewelry store unhappy with what they offered for an anniversary present for his starter.

“Any ideas Luther?” he asked the Lucario that stood behind him. The steel type simply shrugged as he looked through the display cases.

“I know, it’s kind of hard to top that watch I gave her last year,” the trainer sighed.

“Aker?” Luther spoke.

“Yeah, I can give her her pokeball. It would be the next step for us,” Anthony answered oblivious to the second Lucario that entered the jewelry store.

“Anthony,” The detective announced.

“Oh, Detective Aker, I didn’t notice you were there,” the teen corrected. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Yes, what have you heard of the Travel ban?” The Lucario asked.

“Not much except that it won’t be for much longer. Three years without trainers on the road is bad for the region,” the trainer shrugged.

“It is going to get lifted but it will be in stages,” Aker explained. “Stage one will allow trainers caught outside their home town to return.”

“My uncle will like that!” Anthony deadpanned.

“Stage two will put the league into standby and permit general foot travel, and finally stage three the travel ban will be lifted and the league opens,” Aker continued.

“Good?” Luther turned.

“It means we get to go home. Whether that is a good thing or not is a matter of debate when considering my uncle,” Anthony grumbled as he folded his arms. Luther gave a contemptuous huff at his trainer’s remark.

“Oh relax Luther I’m just being pessimistic,” the teen sighed. “Besides, there are other factors in play aside from him wanting to protect me.”

“Avoiding a fight Anthony?” the Detective smirked.

“Vix and I have been walking a fine line and my Uncle isn’t stupid. The second he sees us together he’s going to know that we are more than just Pokémon and trainer,” the teen explained.

“Well I don’t think he’ll do anything more than a lecture,” Aker shrugged. “But I must ask how things are going between you and Vix. Heh, I can’t imagine that bedding a fire type is very comfortable.”

“Depends on the time of year, but Vix’s body temperature isn’t as high as you might think, biggest problem is the fact that she sheds when the season changes.”

“I see but…”

“We’ve done a lot of research on the ritual and while there are not many loopholes it doesn’t have to happen all at once,” Anthony interrupted

“Like a large tattoo?” Aker concluded.

“Yeah, and there is an island colony of Delphox that use a special sap in the ritual. It essentially stains the skin when set on fire without harming the recipient too much since there are several Leafeon that intermingle with the colony,” the trainer explained.

“And that conforms to the ritual?”

“Yup, but Vix and I haven’t tested it out yet.”

“No? but you smell…”

“That is my work at the Pokecenter; I work in the maternity ward,” the teen interjected.

“I see, well I must advise that Vix is operating as a ranger translator and as such she is under scrutiny by the Kalos government,” Aker sighed.

“I know, but it just seems hypocritical considering the Pokémon rights law,” Anthony huffed. “Anyway, thank you for the information on the travel ban.”
***

Vix waited quietly in the darkened apartment waiting for her trainer to arrive. Her sensitive ears picked up on the tell-tale sound of Anthony’s keys followed by the ker-clack of the apartment lock.

“Happy Birthday!” the room roared when Anthony entered the room with Luther. The trainer smiled as he looked over the sparsely populated room until his gaze landed on his starter. Sensing the gaze from her trainer Vix raised a simple cake into view. The party was short lived and it wasn’t long after that Anthony found himself on the balcony with the Delphox.

“It’s been a difficult three years Vix,” he lamented as he wrapped his arms around the fire type’s waist.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “But at least Tony and Blair managed to make the most of it.”

“Heh yeah, she’s started to show signs of a baby bump,” The teen smiled. “Granted that they had to wait to take artificial means for it to work.”

“It kind of makes me wonder about us,” The fire type sighed as she turned towards her mate. Anthony felt a slight mystical tingle from a small fire shaped scar on his chest as Vix touched it.

“It’s almost completely flat,” she observed.

“It’s only a year old,” Anthony whispered.

“I can’t believe we managed to keep it a secret for so long.”

“It’s not so surprising to me, with you wearing cinnamon for a perfume and my work in the pokecenter’s maternity ward…”

“It’s starting to wear on us though,” Vix cooed as she hugged her mate tighter. Anthony felt a soft shudder course through the Delphox.

“A little birdy told me that this travel ban will be lifted enough for us to head back home,” Anthony soothed.

“That’s good,” the fire type sniffled.

“Come on, let’s head in for a cup of tea,” the trainer offered.

“I was thinking of something more tiring and a hell of a lot more relaxing Anthony,” Vix smiled.

“Heh, good thing I stopped by the drug store on my way back.” Anthony grinned in return.
***

Yeah half a year to complete this was a bit too long, and I hope to pick up the pace for future chapters.

Your late but just as loving

Kolofox