Simon woke up slowly. He'd never been much of a morning person, and today was no exception. He groggily pulled himself out of his sleeping bag and began packing his small campsite in Pinwheel Forest up. By the time he had everything stowed back in his backpack he had managed to fully wake up. Simon was a relatively new trainer in the Unova region, and so far had fared pretty well. He had earned a couple badges so far, despite him and his starter pokemon, Snivy, not getting along. Speaking of his partner, he seemed to be absent from the campsite.

"Snivy?" Simon called out, getting worried. He scoured the clearing before dropping his backpack and tearing through that, looking for his partner's pokeball. Clothes, food, and training supplies flew as he pulled everything out, praying that the pokeball had just fallen deeper in. He reached the bottom of the bag with nothing to show for it but a massive mess. He let out a deep sigh and sat back, only to feel something dig sharply into his thigh. He winced and got up, looking to see what had hurt him.

A small fragment of metal, red on one side glimmered up at him from the dirt. Simon cautiously picked it up, noticing that it was curved. He looked around in the dirt and found more fragments, some with white on them as well.

"Great..." Simon mumbled to himself as he began picking up the shattered fragments of what was formerly his only pokemon's pokeball.

"How am I supposed to continue the league now?" he asked seemingly no one as he tossed the useless scrap metal into his backpack and began slowly packing everything back into it. Once he finished the task he slumped down and began thinking on what he should do. He took a mental inventory of his supplies and remembered he had a couple empty pokeballs, but without his Snivy to weaken any wild pokemon he figured it would be almost impossible to catch them. Sighing, he pulled the two capture devices from his bag and clipped them to his belt.

"Alright, I'm going to at least try." He said to himself, "When I run out of pokeballs, I'm just heading home." His self-affirmation complete, he set out deeper into the forest in search of a new partner.

He walked for what felt like hours, occasionally catching glimpses of a wild pokemon like a Vennipede or a Cottonee, but they all scattered before he could get a chance to throw a pokeball. He tried not to let each missed opportunity get to him, but it seemed increasingly hopeless the longer he went. He kept going deeper into the forest, noticing that the light seemed to be getting dimmer as the foliage became denser. He also noticed that the occasional wild pokemon he spotted seemed to be getting bigger, and occasionally were the evolved forms of what he had been seeing to this point, but they still all fled at the sight of him before he could even try to catch them. He walked like this all day with no luck, and it was late in the afternoon when he collapsed against a tree, slumping down after deciding he needed a break. He sat against the tree trunk surveying the thick forest around him and realized he no longer knew where he was.

"Well that's just wonderful." He commented to himself as he pulled his backpack off and opened it up, pulling out a small bag of trail mix. He quietly munched on his snack before he decided he could use a nap. He leaned back against the tree, staring at the light filtering down through the canopy for a while before closing his eyes. He tried his best to relax as he waited for sleep to take him, and after a few minutes drifted off.

He awoke with a start several hours later to near pitch-black darkness. He fumbled around for his backpack, and once he found it felt through the inside to find the lantern he kept there. After a moment he pulled if free and hit the switch, wincing as the bright light hurt his eyes initially. He blinked as his eyes soon adjusted, taking quick inventory of what he could make out of his surroundings. After a moment of getting oriented he took a guess as to which way he had come from and started walking in that direction; he made slow progress in the thick foliage. After about an hour of walking he realized the woods were only getting thicker.

"Great..." He mumbled to himself as he stopped, trying to regain his bearings. He picked a new direction and started walking that way. Another half hour passed and the woods were still only getting thicker. Just as he was about to stop again, his foot caught on something hard and he tripped.

"Crap!" he shouted as he fell face first into a bush. His face lit up with stinging pain as thorns clawed marks into his skin, but instead of hitting the cold dirt like he expected after that, his head connected with something warm and soft. He grunted and readjusted his lantern to see what he hit, and was startled to see two angry eyes staring at him from directly in front of him. Before he could even react something hard connected with his chest and lifted him off the ground. He grunted from the blow and felt weightless for a brief moment before something else hard crashed into his shoulder and sent him flying back. He crashed into a tree behind him with a cry of pain as his lantern rolled away. He barely had a moment to see the silhouette flying at him out of the bush he had fallen in. He winced and put his arms in front of him to try to block whatever blow was coming, just as the figure crashed into him. There was a loud meaty crack as Simon screamed, pain searing throughout his arm. He keeled forward as the figure leapt back, clutching his arm which now felt like it had an extra joint in the middle of it. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to hold back a cry of pain as his arm wiggled it's new joint.

From directly in front of him there was suddenly an angry shout, though Simon couldn't understand what was being said. He looked up to see a short figure dimly lit by the askew lantern. It seemed vaguely human in shape, though wider in the hips. Simon could see the pokemon holding its fist up in front of him as it angrily shouted at him in its own language.

"I-I don't understand" Simon managed to say between grunts of pain. This seemed to anger the pokemon, as it suddenly twisted and whipped it's foot into the side of Simon's head. Simon felt intense pain searing across his face for a split second before darkness overtook him. He vaguely registered slumping over into the cold dirt, and after that only blackness.

...

Jade stood over the unconscious human who had crashed into her meditation. She stared at him for a moment before deciding to look through his mind to find out what he had been doing before invading her territory. The man grunted and twitched as she reached in and assimilated the knowledge she needed.

"You're a fool." Jade thought, looking down on the man, but froze up when she heard rustling behind her. She whipped around, but relaxed when she saw it was only her den-mate Ruby coming to check up on her. She waved and the Mienshao advanced, though she jumped back when she caught sight of the human lying unconscious in front of Jade.

"Relax, I took care of him." Jade said, giving the man a soft kick in the ribs to prove her point.

The Mienshao cautiously approached the human, and carefully rolled him on his back. She checked him over briefly before noticing his left arm was broken and bending in an awkward way. Ruby whipped around, hissing angrily at Jade.

"I know I broke his arm but he deserved it!" Jade said defensively, backing up a few steps.

Ruby hissed and snarled in response.

"No way!" Jade shouted, "He's a human, and he invaded our turf; I'm not going to help him!"

Ruby gave a low growl in response to this.

"No," Jade said adamantly, "I'm going to leave him right where he is and we're going to find a new den further in."

Ruby yipped angrily and snarled some more.

"You wouldn't." Jade said. "We can't afford to keep him around, he'll take too long to heal and you know what's coming for us in the next week!"

Ruby huffed and carefully picked the human up, easily hefting his weight and balancing him on her shoulder as she walked away from Jade.

"Ruby don't!" Jade pleaded. "We can't take care of him and protect ourselves at the same time!"

Ruby just growled as she continued carrying the human away. Jade gave a frustrated growl of her own before punching the dirt, leaving a small crater before she followed after Ruby. The Mienshao carefully carried the human back to her shared den, which was a fairly long journey from where they were. Jade followed her, but kept her distance from the man. By the time they reached their home Ruby was winded from holding the man up for so long and gently laid him out on the soft bed of dry leaves in their little sheltered burrow, which would only be just big enough for him to sit up in if he were awake. She pulled the strange bag off of his back and set it in the back of the den. She started to tend to his wounds as best she could as Jade sat outside the opening to their burrow, keeping a watch on the woods outside. Ruby carefully licked the numerous cuts on his face clean, scowling at the taste of his blood but persevering to finish the job. She noticed the side of his face starting to swell purple from the vicious jump kick he had received from Jade. Ruby huffed and hurried out of the den past Jade, who just watched her rush by.

While Ruby began digging around the underbrush looking for something, Jade retreated into the den and looked the unconscious human over, marveling briefly that all he got away with was a bruised face from her last attack. She looked down at his forearm, still bent at the break. She sighed and did her best to set the bones back straight, knowing Ruby would try and make it worse with her less dexterous paws if she didn't do it herself first. The man grunted and moaned in his sleep as she forced his forearm back into its former shape as best she could. She then took a few sticks and a piece of cloth, which was a very valuable thing to have this deep in the forest and more than once she had to fight to keep possession of it, and made a stint on his arm the way she had been taught to long ago.

Just then Ruby returned with an armload of smooth stones. She murred and licked Jade's cheek happily, seeing Jade was actually helping now. Jade said nothing and took one of the stones from Ruby, setting it on the man's now swelling arm; using the naturally cold object as a sort of ice pack. Ruby set the stones down and held one of her own to the side of his face, trying to slow the swelling there. They tended him like this for the next few hours in silence, keeping a rotation of stones as they inevitably warmed up and had to switch to a new one to let them cool down. Eventually Ruby was satisfied and confident that he wasn't going to swell up and further.

"Don't get attached to him." Jade warned as Ruby curled up for the night next to the human. "I warned you what humans do, as far as I'm concerned he got exactly what he deserved."

Ruby gave an annoyed yip and closed her eyes.

Jade sighed and sat down, crossing her legs and pressing her palms together. She didn't need nearly as much sleep as Ruby did, so she usually spent her nights meditating; though tonight she wasn't going to return to her usual meditation spot. She didn't think she would be able focus with a human so nearby, but she was at least going to try. She breathed deeply as she slowly shut off most of her senses and tried hone her mind, and for the most part succeeded, though she kept just alert enough to keep an eye on the den throughout the night.

...

Simon woke up slowly, and the first thing he noticed was he felt hot. He tried to open his eyes and found that only his left one would respond: the right remained firmly screwed shut. He tried to reach up with his hand to feel it but a searing pain in his arm stopped him. Too groggy to worry about that yet, he reached up with his other arm, which worked just fine, and found half of his face to be very swollen, and after a moment he winced as he realized it was also very tender. He looked over at his painful arm and saw something tied to it, and after a moment of thought realized it was a form of splint.

"What happened?" Simon groggily asked, mainly to himself as he tried to sit up.

"If you know what's good for you you'll lay back down, human." A female voice spoke up in his mind.

Simon blinked and looked around confused until he saw a red and grey pokemon sitting a few feet to his left in whatever little dug out area he was in. After a moment the night before rushed back to him and he recognized her as the thing that had attacked him.

"You did this to me!" Simon said angrily, and tried to pull himself up until a sharp pain in his torso sent him falling back into whatever soft bed he was in.

"I did, and you deserved it." The pokemon said in his mind.

"Why? what did I do?" Simon demanded between grunts of pain, his wounds were starting to wake up now and he actively ached everywhere.

"You're a human trainer for one." The pokemon snapped, "I saw your pokeballs. And for another you were the one that attacked first!"

"I tripped!" Simon grunted.

"I don't believe you!" The pokemon shouted as it stood up and threatened him with her fist.

An angry snarl announced the entrance of a second pokemon in the den, and the one that had attacked him last night lowered its fist and turned away. The second pokemon looked somewhat like a weasel, though purple with long flowing whiskers. The weasel approached him, holding his water canteen in her paws. Simon blinked as she raised it up to his lips, and he drank obligingly as she poured it into his mouth. A strong bitter taste told him there was something else inside there besides water, but the pokemon next to him wasn't giving him any choice: it was drink or drown. Simon did his best to swallow the foul liquid, and just managed. He suppressed a gag as the canteen was removed from his lips.

"You better be grateful to Ruby," The first pokemon warned him, "If not for her you would still be lying in the dirt where I left you."

Simon blinked and turned to the purple pokemon. "Thank you, R-Ruby." He said weakly.

Ruby froze up under his gaze, and after a quick moment bolted out of the den, leaving the canteen behind.

"Is she okay?" Simon asked, looking to the red and grey pokemon sitting a few feet from him.

"She's fine, just..." The pokemon started, "Shy I guess."

Simon thought quietly for a moment, and realizing that the powerful aches in his face in arm were dulling slowly. "So she's named Ruby, what should I call you?" Simon asked.

"Call me the one that will rearrange your face if you make Ruby regret saving you at any point," The pokemon threatened, "If that's too long for you, just use Jade."

"Noted." Simon remarked, and went silent. He stared up at the roof of whatever hole he was in as he tried to ignore the constant throb of his wounds, but after a while the aches faded and he felt drowsy. He blinked slowly, reflecting that there was probably some sort of medicine in the canteen and it was helping him. His thoughts didn't reach much further than that before he passed out from the drug.

...

Jade looked the man over and huffed. She was tempted to just abandon the den right now and let any pokemon who wandered by do what it will to him, but she knew she would never hear the end of it from Ruby if she did. She dutifully kept a vigil over the den until Ruby returned with a fresh load of cool stones for the man. Jade left Ruby to tend to her pet while she went out to stretch her legs. The Mienshao didn't seem to mind.

Jade headed to the nearby spring, thinking she may need to cool off quite literally. After a few minutes of walking, she came across the large stone outcroppings that surrounded the spring. She climbed over the boulders and wasted no time adjusting to the temperature of the water; she just jumped into the deep pool of clear water. What would have been a jarring temperature shift for anyone else, Jade barely registered as she sank to the sandy bottom of the spring. She sat cross-legged at the bottom of the pool, not trying to meditate for she knew she couldn't hold her breath that long, but just trying to calm her mind as the water cooled her body. After a few minutes she felt something bumping up against her belly and opened one eye to see a brave Basculin had swum over and was investigating the new feature to its home. Jade shifted slightly to let the fish know she was alive, and it quickly swam away. She resumed her pseudo-meditation and after about ten minutes was forced to retreat as her lungs were on fire begging for air. She calmly swam back to the surface and took in a big lungful of air as she hauled herself out of the water onto the rocky ring surrounding the pool.

She lay on the shore catching her breath for a while before heading back to check on Ruby. When she returned to the den she found her roommate curled up next to the human dozing lightly. Jade growled to herself, reversing any progress she had made in calming her mind as she sat back down in her spot in the den. Ruby looked up at her sleepily and gave a low welcome yip. Jade ignored her and just pretended to meditate. Ruby stared at Jade for a while before nuzzling closer to the human and falling asleep again.

...

Simon woke up again, feeling even warmer than before, though he thought it had to be more than from the swelling. A slight shift in position proved this as he felt the new warmth move against him. He tentatively felt around with his good arm until he found his bedmate. Judging from the soft fur, he guessed it had to be Ruby. He cautiously ran his hand across the pokemon's fur, eliciting a sleepy murr from her. He couldn't help but smile at this and kept petting Ruby, getting more murrs out of her.

"Just stop!" Jade yelled angrily, causing Simon to wince.

Simon looked over at her "I-I'm sorry." He stammered.

"Don't apologize!" She snapped, "She doesn't even know your name, you have no right to touch her!"

Simon went quiet, withdrawing his hand from Ruby, who let out a dissatisfied grunt. "My name's Simon, if it means anything to you." He said quietly after a while.

Jade said nothing, seeming to ignore him.

"How do you have a name if you're a wild pokemon?" Simon asked.

"Because I'm not a wild pokemon, idiot." Jade said then looked down, "Well, at least I wasn't..."

"I'm sorry." Simon said, seeing she was hurt by something.

"No, I'm glad." Jade said, more to herself than Simon.

Simon went quiet, deciding it was better not to push the issue. After a long while Ruby woke up with a yawn and a stretch, and froze up when she realized Simon was awake is well.

"He's called Simon." Jade remarked matter-of-factly

Ruby nodded and licked Simon's hand once before rushing out of the den like before. Jade just shook her head and resumed her watch over the entrance to the den. Simon sighed and tried his best to relax.

...

The days went by agonizingly slow for Simon and Jade. Simon could barely stand the pain and itching of the healing process and Jade was doing her best not to give him more breaks to whine about. Ruby seemed to enjoy her time though: when she wasn't out foraging or preparing medicine for Simon, she was usually curled up next to him, at least after the first few days she was; it took her a while to wear down her timidity around him. Jade eventually grew tolerant of this and by about the fifth day in the den, she allowed Simon to pet her, which Ruby was all too happy to have. It took a few days for the swelling in his face to go down, but he didn't really keep track of that. After the first few days, time seemed kind of meaningless to him and he just focused on healing. Jade however kept a painfully accurate count of how long he occupied their den; down to the hour.

It was almost to the end of the week before he could sit up without feeling like his ribs were going to cave in on him; though it still hurt like hell. Ruby made sure to clean his cuts every morning, which gradually went from a painful sensation to a ticklish one as they healed shut.

By the time his cuts had healed over Simon had begun to notice a change in the pair of pokemon taking care of him. They were becoming restless: Ruby would often shift position many times throughout the night, often waking Simon up in the process. Simon could have sworn he caught Jade actually sleeping on more than one occasion, but when confronted she would blush and deny it. Blushing was another thing; He had never seen Jade do it before but now she seemed to be doing it several times a day.

One morning, after Simon had propped himself up against the wall with a grunt so he could sit they got a sort of visitor to the den. Ruby was out foraging for supplies at the time, so it was just him and Jade, who was keeping her usual watch over the den. Simon caught a glimpse of a brown pokemon out in the woods past the den entrance. After a moment he recognized it as a Timburr, a fighting type pokemon common to these woods. The pokemon was sniffing the air as it wandered an increasingly straight path to the entrance of the den. Simon was surprised to that Jade didn't notice the pokemon until it was literally right in front of the den. It sniffed cautiously at the dirt as Jade stood up and walked out to meet it.

"What do you want?" Jade demanded. Simon saw that she was easily double the other pokemon's height.

The pokemon kept sniffing as it walked closer to her. Suddenly Jade balled up her fist and decked the smaller Timburr across the face, knocking him over.

"Get out of here pipsqueak, you're not getting what you're looking for." She growled. The pokemon scrambled back to its feet and turned tail, fleeing quickly back the way it had come.

"What was that about?" Simon asked as she returned to the den, blushing heavily.

"You really are oblivious." Was all Jade said as she sat back down and resumed trying to meditate.

"Maybe, but it would help if you filled me in on what's going on." Simon said. "it's not just you either, Ruby's been acting funny too."

"If you're observant enough to pick up on that, you should be able to figure out the rest on your own." Jade said, turning away from Simon.

Simon sighed, deciding he wouldn't get any information out of her, and resumed watching the forest outside as he tried to ignore the constant ache in his left arm, which was still swollen about as thick as his leg.

The day passed slowly and sometime in the afternoon Ruby returned to the den and curled up next to Simon for a light nap. She didn't get any sleep though as it turned out another pokemon had followed her back. A strange blue monkey that Simon couldn't identify was standing outside the den sniffing the air intently. Ruby peaked up over Simon's lap to see what it was, and quickly ducked down out of sight shaking. Simon reached down to pet her, which seemed to calm her somewhat.

"Go away!" Jade roared, getting up again. The new pokemon fled before she even got to the entrance, and she returned to her seat with a frustrated sigh.

Simon was tempted to try asking her what was up again, but decided against it and focused on petting Ruby until night came. He slept fitfully, and Ruby's near-constant shifting around didn't help that any. The next day he noticed a faint, but sour and musky smell about the den. It didn't bother him much, just made him feel a little light headed, not that he was awake for enough of the day to let it get to him. He spent most of the morning and afternoon napping to catch up on the sleep he had lost the night before. Late in the afternoon another Timburr, or maybe it was the same one, visited the den. This one was more stubborn when Jade told it to leave, and actually tried to fight back until Jade proved to be far stronger and faster than him. Simon figured she had the situation under control and went back to sleep shortly after the commotion. When he woke up he was surprised to see Jade staring at him with unfocussed eyes.

"Jade, you okay?" He asked, worried.

She shook her head, blushing deeply as she snapped back to reality. "What's it to you?" She asked.

"Well, despite you seeming to hate me you've done more than your fair share to help take care of me." Simon said matter-of-factly.

Jade blushed more and looked away. "So?" She asked.

"So I'm grateful," Simon said, "Sorry if that makes me worry about you."

She blushed even more. "Y-you're worried about me?" She stuttered.

"Of course I am." Simon said.

Jade went quiet for a while. "I'm not even your pokemon..." She said quietly after a while.

"So?" Simon asked.

"Why would you care about me?" She asked, in an accusatory tone.

"You've taken good care of me," Simon said, "And if that's not enough I can tell you take good care of Ruby too, and I like her enough to be grateful to you for that."

Jade was quiet for a long time again. "Jade was the name my trainer gave to me..." She said finally.

Simon remained quiet, sensing she needed to get this off her chest.

After a moment she continued, "He was nice until we were in battle... Then he only focused on winning, which is fine I guess, I was more than happy to fight for him: to make him happy." She sighed, "Then we got beat bad at one gym, and he got mad. He said we needed to train harder and his mean and demanding side normally only there in battles was a constant issue."

Simon nodded silently, and kept listening.

"I just wanted to make him happy. He just wanted to win. I was little more than a tool for him. He started doing things like not feeding me if I didn't train hard enough for him. He did other things too, but I don't want to think about those again..." She remained quiet for a long time.

"So you ran away." Simon said calmly.

"Yeah..." She said. "I smashed my pokeball and bolted in the night... It was actually pretty funny how easy it was to break."

"Do you regret it?" Simon asked.

"No," She said, though she didn't sound sure.

"What your former trainer did was wrong, he didn't deserve to have a pokemon like you for a partner." Simon remarked.

Jade sighed, "I hate him so much, but I still miss those early days when he was nice. When he gave me a name I felt so special because he had given it to me. That's why I haven't given it up, those feelings mean too much to me now despite what he turned into. They're why I gave Ruby her name too, so she could feel special like I did..."

Simon nodded, understanding. "How did you and Ruby meet?" he asked, "She doesn't look like a pokemon native to this forest."

"She's not." Jade said, "I found her while I was wandering around after running away. Or rather she found me. She saved me from a group of other pokemon that were pissed at me for stumbling onto their turf. She may not look or act like it, but she's really far stronger than I am. She's just too nice to use it unless in a dire situation. After that we traveled together until we made a home for ourselves here. This is the forest I was born in, though no one I knew back then is still around here."

Simon nodded. "You know, I'm giving up on being a trainer." He said.

Jade looked up at him, stunned. "What? Why?" She demanded.

Simon sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "After hearing your story, I figure I shouldn't be." He said, "The reason I was wandering this deep in the woods was to find a new partner pokemon; since my first one did the same thing you did."

"It ran away?" Jade asked, shocked.

"Yeah," Simon sighed, "Smashed his pokeball like you too. Hearing your side of the story I guess he's better off for it, I guess I was too harsh on him. In retrospect I feel like an idiot for making him fight at all, or even keeping him in a pokeball."

"No..." Jade mumbled angrily, "You're not that kind of person."

"How do you know?" Simon asked.

"I've been next to you for over a week, Simon." She said. "I've gotten to know you. I'm a mind reader, or did you not realize that?"

Simon blinked and sighed. "Well I guess you may be right, but I still feel like an idiot after hearing how things are from the other side of the pokeball."

Jade sighed and walked over to Simon, putting her hand on his shoulder. "No, did you miss the part where I enjoyed it?"

"What do you mean?" Simon asked.

"We're not slaves once we're in those little cages," She said, "For me, I was ecstatic to have someone who would always be there to take care of me and be a friend, and fighting for him was a small price to pay when he could take me to a pokemon center and have me fully recover in a couple minutes."

"So why would he run away then?" Simon asked, looking up at Jade.

"My guess is he's just a bad pokemon." Jade said resolutely, "He didn't deserve a trainer like you."

Simon couldn't help but smile at her turning his words back on him, and she smiled with him.

"Thanks, Jade." He said.

"No need to thank me," She said, "It's what friends do."

Simon smiled even wider hearing that, though Jade's Smile faltered.

"Listen," She started, "I'm sorry for hurting you this bad..."

"Oh, don't worry about it." Simon said, trying to sound cheerful.

"No..." Jade said, "It's not okay, I've been mad at humans for a long time just because one hurt me. It's not okay for me to shove that on you when you had nothing to do for it, and it's unforgivable to attack you for it..." She said.

Simon could see tears welling up in her eyes as she looked down at the floor and without thinking, reached out and took her in his good arm, holding her to his chest. She seemed surprised at first, but gave in a moment later, sobbing silently into Simon's sore chest as he assured her it was okay and he understood. They sat like that for a long time until Jade eventually pulled herself together.

"I'm sorry about that, I try to have better control over myself but this damn heat..." Jade trailed off.

"It's okay." Simon assured her, though he didn't think it was particularly warm in the den.

Jade nodded and scooted a few inches from Simon, trying to resume her meditation, and having much better success than before on it. Simon watched her silently, marveling at how she could sit as still as a rock for so long. After about an hour Ruby returned to the den from foraging and stopped in her tacks when she saw that Jade was sitting so close to Simon now. She gave a quiet yip of approval before dropping off her current haul of food in the corner and curling up next to Simon, resting her head on his lap as he pet her. That's how they sat until the sun set, then almost begrudgingly Simon shifted back down onto his back so he could sleep for the night, and surprisingly he passed out quite easily.

...

Ruby watched Simon carefully until she was sure he was soundly asleep. Then, she carefully crept away from him. The burning itch between her thighs had become too much to ignore, and she felt it was time Jade and her helped each other out. She crept up to her den mate, who was still meditating quietly, and after double checking to make sure Simon was still asleep, she gently nosed Jade's chest.

Jade opened one eye. "What is it?" She asked.

Ruby gave a low whine and nosed at Jade's crotch and took a big whiff of her now heavy musk, causing her to blush. Jade shot a glance over to Simon before looking back to Ruby. "All right, but just be quiet, I don't want to try to explain if he catches us."

Ruby nodded eagerly and quickly paced back and forth as Jade shifted to her knees, and once her partner was in position, She got down on all fours and presented Jade with her ass and dripping snatch. Jade licked her lips and leaned forward, taking a moment to savor Ruby's scent before dipping her tongue into her pussy. She started quickly lapping up Ruby's juices as she felt her own starting to flow. Ruby squirmed under the treatment, occasionally letting the a squeak or murr of pleasure out when Jade hit a particularly sensitive spot. Deciding to hurry things up, Jade slipped two of her fingers into Ruby's slit as she focused her tongue on her clit. Ruby's hips bucked in response, and she started grinding her ass back against Jade's face as she fingered her and licked her clit quickly. Ruby didn't last much longer and soon seized up, letting out a squeak as she clenched down around Jade's fingers in orgasm.

Jade smiled and pulled her fingers out of the satisfied Mienshao as it slumped forward in front of her. She sat back down, intending to return to meditating to get her own raised libido back under control, but hadn't so much as closed her eyes before she was knocked over by a tackle from her partner. She grunted as Ruby pinned her and forced her legs apart.

"Ruby, wait!" Jade pleaded, but a low murr from Ruby showed she had no intentions of stopping. Before Jade could even put up a resistance she felt Ruby's long tongue bury itself in her own wet slit. She let out a moan as any thought of stopping her partner melted away, and spread her legs wider for Ruby. Ruby murred quietly as she wiggled her tongue inside Jade's pussy, savoring both the taste and scent of her sex. Jade could only moan as she gave in to the pleasure, and that was probably why she didn't notice the man stirring in his sleep nearby.

....

Simon slowly woke up, partly from the ache in his arm, and partly from the weird noise he was hearing. He turned his head and opened his eyes, and it took him a while to make sense of what he was seeing. At first it looked like Jade was meditating with Ruby laying down next to her, but there was something off about the way they were moving. After a moment the noise and the sights synced up and he realized with a start that Jade was moaning as Ruby pleasured her.

"Jade?" He asked tentatively, not sure if this was a dream or reality.

Jade froze up and tried to push Ruby's head away from her crotch, but she remained stubbornly glued to her, continuing to lick and elicit moans from Jade. "S-simon don't look." She stammered out, "I didn't want you to see this."

"I'm sorry!" Simon stuttered and quickly turned his head the other way, but the thought and image stuck in his mind. He stared at the wall, but could still hear Ruby slurping away at Jades nethers as Jade tried and failed to stifle her moans. With a blush, Simon realized that a certain part of him was getting aroused by this. He shook his head and tried to deny the thought, but as if to spite him he felt his member beginning to swell in his pants. All he could do was blush more and hope they didn't notice him; he was still too hurt to roll over on his side and hide it. The musky smell from earlier was back and now permeated the den, and to his horror he felt himself only getting more aroused from it. He laid listening to Jade's moans as he felt himself grow painfully erect.

Suddenly the noise stopped, and Simon was tempted to peek over to see what was going on, but stubbornly kept looking away until he felt a familiar warmth pressing up against his inner thigh. He looked up and saw Ruby hovering over the tent he was pitching and eying it intently while she licked her chops.

"R-ruby wait-" He pleaded, but she ignored him and fumbled with his pants until she had them open, revealing Simon's throbbing malehood. Simon blushed deeply as she leaned down and nuzzled his testicles, sniffing them deeply with a happy murr. Simon bit his lip as he leaked pre, growing even more aroused, but to his surprise Ruby walked away. A moment later she returned, carrying Jade; her arms firmly wrapped around Jades middle as Jade weakly struggled.

"Ruby you can't just..." Jade mumbled, struggling to keep her focus as she panted. Before she could say anything else, Ruby had plopped her down on top of Simon, grinding her wet pussy against the base of Simon's cock. Simon and Jade both let out a soft moan feeling their sexes rub together. Ruby murred happily as she lifted Jade slightly with one arm and took Simon's shaft in the other. Neither resisted her now as she positioned the tip at Jades entrance and slowly lowered her down onto it. Both Jade and Simon moaned loudly as he slid deep inside her. Simon panted, amazed at her incredible tightness, but before he could even get a moment to adjust to her, she was already rising up and starting to ride him. She didn't waste much time gaining speed and soon they were both moaning as she quickly slid his shaft in and out of her. Jade being already warmed up from Ruby's tongue, and Simon being a week pent up from healing, neither of them took long to finish and after just a few minutes they were both cumming. Jade's already tight snatch clamped down even harder on Simon's cock as he erupted into her, filling her womb with his pent up seed.

Jade collapsed on Simon's chest panting, his shaft slipping out of her still hard. Simon took her in her good arm as she recovered, and jumped as he felt something warm press against the base of his member. He looked up to see Ruby dutifully licking it clean of both their cum, and couldn't suppress a moan as she eventually got to the tip of it. By the time she had finished cleaning him, he was throbbing and ready to go again, which Ruby didn't let go to waste. She crawled over him and positioned her still wet slit over his member before sinking down and impaling herself on it with a happy murr. Jade gently stroked Simon's chest, trying to add to his pleasure despite her winded state. Simon could only moan as Ruby set to work riding him quickly, trying his best to thrust back up into her but his pained ribs kept him pretty much nailed to the floor. Ruby was soon panting and whimpering, and Simon approached his second peak. With a grunt he released his second load, filling her with his seed and causing her to cum around his rod moments later.

Ruby collapsed with a satisfied murr, and Jade caught her before she could collide into Simon's bruised ribs. She pulled Ruby on top of her and snuggled both of them closer to Simon's side as he panted and wrapped his good arm around both of them. Too tired for pillow talk, they all fell asleep fairly quickly together.

...

Simon awoke to grunts and cries of pain. He snapped awake and sat bolt upright despite the stabbing pain in his chest. The den was empty except for him. "Jade? Ruby?" He called out, but got no response. He crawled shakily to the entrance of the den, squinting against the bright light. Once his eyes adjusted he saw Jade pinned up against a tree by a Timburr, she was having a hard time fighting back and blushing intently. He looked around and saw Ruby a few feet away whimpering and already being mounted by another Timburr.

"Get off her!" Simon shouted as he hobbled forward. He tried to imitate Jade his best and decked the pokemon across the face, though it seemed not to feel it. It instead shouted back at him and punched him in the stomach, knocking him back and setting his chest alight with pain again from the impact.

"N-no!" Simon heard Jade pleading weakly as the Timburr began mating with her.

Simon gritted his teeth, he had to do something, but in his crippled state he couldn't overpower them, and Ruby and Jade were too far gone to their estrus to help themselves. An idea suddenly came to him and he scrambled back into the den to his backpack. He unpacked it quickly, tossing his clothes, repels, and potions aside as he frantically searched for his pokeballs. He reached the bottom without finding them and began to panic. "Please tell me I didn't lose them!" He pleaded to himself, then slapped his forehead as he remembered clipping them to his belt. He scrambled back out of the den towards Jade, carefully unclipping one of the pokeballs from his belt.

"Jade I'm sorry," He said, winding up his throw, "It's the only way I can help!"

Jade saw what he was about to do and to his surprise a wave of relief washed across her face as he let it fly. The ball connected with her squarely and popped open, causing her to vanish in a flash of light. The Timburr cried out suddenly, it's member now standing painfully erect in the cold air instead of being buried in Jade's warm slit. Simon didn't even wait for the first ball to hit the ground before throwing his last pokeball at Ruby, who similarly disappeared leaving a surprised and dissatisfied Timburr humping air.

Simon sighed with relief, but it was short lived as both Timburr now turned on him, angry and unsatisfied. He tried to retreat into the den, but couldn't outpace the infuriated pokemon and was promptly launched face first into the den by a powerful kick from one of them. He cried out in pain as he landed on top of his empty backpack. Simon vaguely registered stereo dings signaling successful captures. Both pokemon advanced into the den after him as he scrambled back against the wall, throwing whatever his hands happened across at them to slow them, but the clothes and occasional potion only served to anger them further on impact. Simon felt around frantically until his hand clamped down on the familiar shape of a spray bottle, and he was about to throw it before something told him to see what it was. He looked and read the familiar word "REPEL" on the label. He didn't have time to think as the pokemon were upon him. Simon mashed the trigger and aimed blindly at one of them as it raised it's fist. Instead of fresh pain, Simon was greeted with a scream. He looked and saw he had filled the pokemon's eyes with the bitter spray, and it was now doubled over on the floor. Its friend wasn't deterred by the powerful fumes now filling the den and moved to attack Simon. Ready to defend himself this time, Simon aimed carefully and gave the other one a direct spray to the face as well, sending him reeling back in pain. He shoved past the disabled pokemon and out of the den, quickly snatching up both of his pokeballs and snapped them back on his belt before hobbling off into the woods hoping the Timburr wouldn't recover and pursue too quickly.

The next few hours were a blur that Simon barely remembered, all he can say definitely is he reached the edge of the forest around dusk and had to walk around its perimeter until he found familiar territory. It was around midnight when he stumbled into the pokemon center of Nacrene City and collapsed there. Thankfully there was a nurse licensed for humans on the premises and she made sure he got to a hospital after taking care of his pokemon, who were pretty beat up and disoriented.

Simon woke up in a hospital bed a few days later, his arm properly casted up and his two new pokemon and mates waiting faithfully at his bedside for him. Once they saw he was awake, both pounced on him, hugging him tightly. He did his best to hug them back. Once everyone had calmed down he rung the nurse and had her fill him in on how he got here and what all was wrong with him. It turned out his arm wasn't the only broken bone he had; he had at least two cracked ribs. Jade looked at the floor at this news, but Simon put his hand on her shoulder and assured her it was in the past now. She nodded and did her best to cheer up then.

Simon spent a couple more days in the hospital as the doctors made sure he was fit enough to be moving about, and after that he planned on heading home. He asked Jade and Ruby if they wanted to come with him, and both agreed eagerly to his surprise. It took him a couple weeks getting back to his hometown, but he couldn't help but notice all the strange looks he was getting from people along the way for letting his pokemon walk with him out of their pokeballs. He tried not to let it bother him, but when he got home and his own parents made an issue out of it he decided something needed to change; he refused to keep them in their pokeballs. After a few weeks of looking for an answer on the internet, he found one; and he decided to take it however crazy it may be.

The very next day he pulled his life savings from the jar he kept under his bed and set out for Pinwheel Forest again. Two weeks later, he arrived with his partners and crossed through to Skyarrow Bridge. The massive bridge took an hour to cross, but the view was amazing. Once they had safely crossed into Castelia City he headed to the pier and asked around on what he could do about getting a boat to Jhoto. It turned out there was one boat leaving later that day, but the ticket would cost him almost every cent he had. Simon paid up gladly and boarded. It was a three day journey, and thankfully meals had been included on the ticket.

They arrived in Olivine City with a mixed sense of dread and hope. They were finally where they wanted to be, but they didn't have a cent to their name. The next few months were rough: Simon did his best to hitchhike from town to town, doing odd jobs to pay for food and lodging while searching for stable work. It all seemed hopeless until one day he stumbled upon a suburb of Goldenrod in need of a mailman, and made that place his home.