Chapter 4 Home
Earth to Triiiinity. Hello-o? an annoying voice bounced around in my head. I opened my eyes tiredly and surprise jolted through me as I saw Leah's face right above mine. She snickered in my head.

"Very funny." I said sarcastically, sticking my tongue out at her. She stuck her tongue out at me in return, giggling some more. I couldn't help but look into her eyes as she laughed, and I didn't see a change in her. That was good, I didn't need a friend that constantly read minds.

"Okay ladies, if you're done being silly, I'd like to get going."

I looked to Nick who looked ready to leave. "But we haven't even had breakfast yet." Leah floated skyward, floating higher that the first branches of the trees.

"We'll be home by noon. You can wait that long, can't you?" Nick asked. I sensed Nick was feeling anxious.

"Okay, but I expect a reward." I pouted.

"Fine, just get up."

I lift my hand to him. "Help me." I smiled, teasing him. He sighed and hoisted me up.

"Can I at least have a berry?" I asked.

Nick nodded and took his pack off and quickly snatched a few berries out of it. He gave one to me and looked up at Leah, looking down at us above the treetops. I felt strange as I looked up at her, floating seemed like fun.

"Catch!" Nick said, throwing berry high into the air. Leah's speed and reflexes were amazing. She was a good ten feet from the place where the berry was going to be, yet she made it and caught the berry as it was still going up not down.

"Wow." I smiled as Leah gloated, doing a showy loop in the air.

Leah continued to float above us as we walked down the path. After about an hour, I saw something besides trees in the distance. I asked Nick what it was.

"That's lost tower." Nick replied. "It's about a mile from Solaceon, meaning we're almost home!"

I smiled inwardly, I had a new home, and maybe a mate. It would be interesting to live with him.

"Trinity, you've got to see this." Leah called to me. I looked up, confused at her excitement. I suddenly felt my feet leave the ground.
"Woh!" I yelled, flailing my arms. I spun upside down. Leah laughed.

"Stop flailing and I'll flip you. I don't think you're ready to fly without my help yet."

It took a lot of willpower to still my arms and legs, but eventually I managed to keep still. I was turned back over and raised higher. I yelped as I went above the branches of the trees around me.

"It's okay, I'm not going to drop you." Leah said as I finally reached her height. I looked down. "Uh-oh" was all I could think. I grabbed Leah's wrist.

"Look around." Leah said. "And let go, that hurts."

Slowly I turned my head away from the ground and looked around. I gasped at the exciting sight. I saw lost tower looming ahead next to a small town that I guessed to be Solaceon. Around that trees and lake spread out as far as she could see until purple mountains far to her right. "Wow." I managed to say.

"I thought you'd like it." Leah said, an impish expression coming over her face. "So how are you and Nick getting along?" I blushed. "You love him right?"

"Have you been reading my mind?"

"No, I just heard you tell him that over and over. I was watching out for you two remember?"

"Well, I do love him." I said, looking down at him. I wasn't sure how to feel, knowing that she had been watching me all along.

"And you hope to become his mate?" Leah said, smiling widely.

"Leah!" I blushed, but I couldn't deny it. "Yes."

"At least you fell in love with someone who won't break your heart. Some boys say they love you because of how you look, believe me. Finally there's going to be another girl like me living with us." She seemed to be speaking from her heart.

"What do you mean living with us?" I asked.

"Well, me and Nick live at his grandfather's house."

"He said you two were neighbors!" I said, confused. He lied to me?

"Well, we are. We live in the same house, but we're not related. I live there because my Mom is the maid. We're neighbors I guess."

"Why does he live with his grandfather?"

"Because he's an orphan."

"Oh..." I wanted to change the subject. "Did you say your mom was a maid and you lived there because of that?" She nodded. "How big is his house anyway?"

"Oh, it's really big!" Leah said. "It has thousands of rooms, too."

"Like a mansion?" I didn't know where I was getting the word from; I just knew the meaning.

"Exactly. His grandpa has like a million dollars or something." Leah said it like it was no big deal. "But Nick doesn't like to gloat about it. He even has a job at the daycare to make his own money. Just between you and me, he barely even spends it. I think he does it just to show that he doesn't think he's better than anyone else." Leah smiled.

"Nick really is a good guy isn't he?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yup, and he loves to go exploring. Most of the stuff he has he bought himself as a souvenir."

"Like my everstone?"

"Yup. He always takes me along because he has no Pokémon. We've been in hairy situations, but we've always managed."

I was starting to get that Leah and Nick were more like brother and sister than anything. I hoped that I'd get to go on adventures with them. I probably didn't realize that anywhere he went, I would go, too.



"Well, here's Lost Tower." Nick said as we stepped into the ring of trees surrounding the looming building made of white marble. "Lost Tower is a place where Pokémon trainers honor their fallen Pokémon."

"Murkrow!" I shouted as a flock of Murkrow suddenly shot off the top of the spire. I pointed up as I spoke.

"That's odd." Leah said puzzled.

"What?"

"Murkrow never leave their home in such great numbers." Leah said. "I'll go ask what's going on." Leah hovered for a moment before shooting into the sky.

"When Murkrow flee, you've got to know something's up." Nick said, stepping a bit closer to me.

"I can protect myself." I said, but stepped closer to him anyway. I didn't believe that. I watched as the Murkrow didn't even stop for Leah, nearly crashing through her. One flew straight into her stomach, which made her lose altitude for a moment before she recomposed herself. She floated back down to us and shook her head.

"We should get out of here." I advised. "The Murkrow in my forest would never leave all at once unless their lives are in danger."

"Who knows why they're moving?" Nick said hopefully. "They could just be finding a new nest."

"Or they could be running away from a homicidal spirit of the dead." Leah said. "Either way, we need to get home."

"What do you mean homicidal spirit?" I asked.

"I suppose you wouldn't know." Leah said. "It's just a ghost story made up because the place is infested with ghastly. It's just about how a guy did such a bad thing, he wasn't even welcome in hell and he took refuge in Lost Tower to prey on the souls of Pokémon."

I had heard ghost stories from my mom and this one seemed babyish compared to the things she could come up with. By now, the retreating Murkrow seemed about as threatening as a rock or a twig.

We continued walking and the Murkrow quickly left our minds. The boredom of traveling quickly set in. I fully understood the saying, 'if you've seen one tree, you've seen them all.' My mind wandered and I began to daydream about Nick. He was the first person I've ever fallen in love with. I always thought I'd fall in love with a Pokémon, not a human, and my first impression of humans was still fresh in my mind.

When Leah was out of earshot I asked Nick what most humans are like.

"What do you mean?" Nick responded.

"You know what I mean. Are most humans like you or are they like those people who caught me?"

Nick smiled at me. I knew he was thinking my question was cute and naïve. "Well, humans are like Pokémon. Some are good some are bad. For the most part though, I think they're good, especially in Solaceon." He put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my cheek. I giggled like Leah. "I live with my grandfather on his estate. He owns a lot of farmland and makes a lot of money. It'll be no problem having you around."

"What's your grandpa like?" I asked, hoping he was the good kind of human.

"He's nice." Nick said. "But he's too old to do any field work so he hires people to do it for him. Leah's mother is a maid at the house, so she lives with her mother in our house."

"How many people live there?" I asked.

"There's me and my grandpa, Leah and her mom, two other maids, the cook, my cousin, and the gardener." He said, counting off each on his fingers. "That's nine plus you."

"That's a lot of people living in the same house." I said, surprised.

"And most of them are anthros." Nick smiled. He must've been thinking I'd feel more at home.

"I'm happy I'll be with you." I smiled, nuzzling his neck. Nothing could make me feel more at home than him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

My heart fluttered as he said it, just as it did every time he said it. It made me think of how much I wanted him to be my mate. "Nick..." I began, but didn't know how to say it.

"Yeah?"

"I-I..." My voice failed me. I didn't know what made me nervous about asking him to be my mate.

Nick seemed to wait patiently for me to continue. I guess he saw me scared or something, because he just kissed me, on my lips this time, and told me that I could tell him anything.

I looked into his eyes and felt that I really could tell him anything. I was just about to tell him when, of course, Leah came flying by excited.

I looked away from Nick, losing the nerve quickly. In doing so I saw that we had broken through the trees and what now lay before us was a vast cornfield on either side of the road. Down the straight dirt road I saw small buildings. They looked so... out of place from everything else I'd seen in my short life.

Nick smiled and shook me a bit to get me out of a trance. "We're almost home now, Trinity."

"I can't wait to finally eat Tina's cooking again!" Leah said, hovering just above our heads. "She can light your taste buds on fire with flavor!" she giggled her melodic laugh that sounded like someone bouncing a ball on the high notes of a piano..

"Why don't you go ahead and tell everyone we're almost home?" Nick suggested.

"You're trying to get rid of me!" Leah said after a moment. "You're not too good at hiding what's on your mind."

"Just go." Nick ordered.

"Alright, alright, mister pushy." She giggled again and was off, speeding quickly over the corn field.

Nick and I resumed walking. I didn't know whether or not to bring the subject back up.

"What were you trying to tell me earlier?" He asked casually a couple moments later.

"Nothing..." I sighed. "I just wanted to ask... Well, I-I..." I looked at him. "I want you to be my mate."

Nick stopped, shocked. He stared at me, his mouth open. I stopped as well, feeling my world crash at his dramatic response. I felt that he really didn't know what to say. "Y-you do?"

Not looking at him, I nodded. "I do."

"You really love me that much?"

"I do."

He sighed. "Don't you think we're a little young for that?"

"Nick, my heart wants you badly." I started to cry. "I-I want you to be my mate more than anything I've wanted before."

Nick approached me and brushed a tear away. "I don't think having a baby is the right thing to do."

"I don't mean having a baby." I said. "I just want you as my mate. I love you, but I don't want a baby yet."

"How could you know about birth control?" Nick asked, puzzled.

"My mom told me that if I ever wanted a mate without a child, I should eat a Babiri berry before mating." I told him.

"Too bad Babiris are very hard to find." Nick said. "I guess I could get some from the kitchen."

"Is that a yes?" I asked hopefully.

"Maybe. I still have to sort some things out." Nick petted my head and I purred gratefully. "We'd better get going."

As we continued to walk down the road, I was nearly bursting with happiness. Nick had practically said yes to me.

When we did finally reach Solaceon, I felt so out of place, I clung to Nick. I had never walked on a stone path, much less so with other people. The houses seemed to glare at me, and everyone seemed in such a rush. Up until now, Leah was the only girl I had seen who was remotely humanoid in my life. I wondered whether human women could be like the men who had caught me.

I shied away from contact with any of them, fearing whatever poison they might have.

"Nobody's going to hurt you." Nick smiled reassuringly at me. Although he made me feel better, I still didn't want to have contact with any of them.

"Hey Nick!" A boy made his way through the thin crowd to us. He had on a mischievous smile in a small freckled face under hair the color of hay. He looked a bit younger than Nick, perhaps 14. "Mr. Jacobs is missing you." He spoke with an energy that seemed different than the stuff that belonged to the rest of humanity. "The Pokémon seem lost without you 'round, and hmm?" He finally seemed to notice me. "This the gal you set out to buy? She's a tad shy, don't you think?"

"This is Trinity." Nick introduced me. "Trinity, this is Kevin. He works at the daycare with me."

"Hi." I managed to say.

His eyes went wide. "They had the guts to sell a 'morph to you that could talk!" He growled.

"He taught me how to talk." I said.

"And they had the guts to try to take her back at a higher offer. Luckily I had Leah with me." Nick continued.

He growled again. I could tell that this was a passionate kind of guy from the way his feeling flared. "How much did you pay for her?"

"10,000." Nick said.

"That much? She doesn't look like she's worth that much."

"Excuse me?" I asked, glaring at him.

"Oh, uh, what I meant was, uh..." Kevin squirmed a bit under my glare.

"They were selling her for people who would use her body for something else." Nick said in a hushed voice.

"Something else as in what?" Kevin asked. I didn't know what was going on either.

"I think you know what." Nick said.

"I think that, by the way you said it, that they were-" Kevin started but backed down at a glare from Nick. Nick gestured at me and I got the feeling that he didn't want me to know. But he was to be my mate, right? He wouldn't keep secrets from me. Right? Was he talking about rape or something?

"Nice to meet you Trinity." Kevin said, quickly leaving.

"What were you talking about, Nick?" I asked.

"C'mon let's go home." He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me.

"Nick, what was I being priced for?" I asked, resisting his pull. Despite a month of no exercise, I was still easily stronger than him.

"They were pricing you to be a slave." Nick said. I knew he was lying, or at least only partially telling the truth.

"Tell the truth."

"Let's talk later." He said. I could tell he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Promise me." I ordered.

"I promise." Nick complied. Feeling unfulfilled I followed him down street after street until we reached a pair of wrought iron gates in a metal fence surrounding a beautiful garden and a huge mansion.

I gasped when Nick stopped. "It looks like a hundred people could live here." I said.

"That's probably true." Nick laughed, opening the gates by hand. It squeaked as he opened it inward. I stepped in along with him, and he shut them behind me. the mansion was huge! With three visible stories, it was the highest building I'd seen so far. On the roof were four pointed gazebo-like structures, each with a different statue on top. the one on the left had a blue roof with a silver angel on top. The middle left one had a green roof with a silver tree on top. The one on the right had a yellow roof with a guard rail around a golden lightning bolt. The middle right one had a red roof with a gold flame on top.

"Yoo-hoo, lovebirds!" Leah's voice came as she swooped down on us. "What took you guys so long?" She asked, landing in front of us.

"Sorry, we can't all have your supersonic speed." Nick replied.

"Lucky for you two that I'm a patient girl." Leah said, hovering off the ground and down the path that led to the doors of the mansion. She didn't get more than two feet when a blast of water soaked her and she fell to the ground. She sputtered, looking like a baby as she sat in the puddle of growing water that was continuing being blasted at her from behind a hedge. She threw her arms up in defense and I wondered how a Pokémon or anthro could use water gun for so long.

"I told you I'd get revenge on you for ruining my hedges!" A voice came and the water stopped.

"Thanks Terry, I really appreciated that." Leah said sarcastically as she pouted in the puddle. A man stepped out from behind the bushes, and I hid behind Nick out of instinct.

"Hi Terry." Nick greeted. Terry was a normal human, having green hair considered normal in this world. His face was young, barely over twenty I would guess, and he seemed to still have kid in him considering the way he had given Leah a shower with that green-tube-thingy he had in his hand. It was tipped with some sort of yellow gun.

"Oh, Hi Nick. I finally got Leah back for trashing my hedges last week. Who's your friend? Is she a girlfriend?"

Nick blushed. "This is the girl I told you I'd be buying from F.A.T.A. And I suppose she is sort of my girlfriend."

"I'm the gardener Terry." Terry stuck his hand out.

"Trinity." I replied, refusing to leave Nick.

"Nice to meet you. I have to warn you to stay away from my hedges or you'll end up like her." He said, gesturing toward the Latias who was now trying to sneak away. He sprayed her with the yellow gun thingy and she yelped, floating away quickly.

"C'mon Trinity, let's go inside." Nick smiled, watching Leah shake herself off in mid air.

I looked down the walkway surrounded by hedges at the mansion's double doors that were up a small flight of stone steps. The scents coming from all the flowers were overpowering my senses.

As we walked, Nick told me how Terry had a gift with plants, how he could make a weed grow in a field poisoned with pesticide. I didn't bother telling him it was supposed to be herbicide.

Nick didn't knock on the door when we reached it. He just opened it and ushered me in, closing the door before Leah could zoom in. the doors opened into a large room with a staircase heading up from the center, splitting up into two parts about twenty steps up. Each step and the floor seemed to be made of white marble like Lost Tower.

Nick whistled. "Hello?! Anyone here to welcome me home?"

I smelled a familiar, yet different scent as a red object zoomed down the hall. At first I thought it was Leah, but it smelled too different to be her. I realized it was her mother when she stopped. She looked like Leah, but older.

"Welcome home, Nick!" She said. "You must be Trinity." She landed in front of us.

"Hello Jane." Nick smiled.

Jane looked at me and I looked at her, instantly connecting our eyes. "My daughter told me you had a mind that worked differently, but..." Jane said, startled for some reason. "Never mind that. I'm Leah's mother." She didn't stick her hand out like Terry. I guess she saw how I was hesitant to shake hands.

Something about her made me smile back at her. Maybe it was how she was like a grown up, less peppy version of Leah.

"Let's go see your room, Trinity." Nick smiled and walked past Jane. I followed him.

We went up the steps on the right and came to a hall full of doors. We went down the hall and stopped at a door, but before Nick could open a door, a little anthro girl came running around the corner at the end of the hall.

"Nick!" She cried in a cute, naïve voice.

"Melly!" Nick replied, kneeling to compensate for the girl's lack of height as she leaped into his outstretched arms. He hugged her and looked up at me. "Melly, I have someone for you to meet."

"Who?" Melly asked, releasing Nick. Melly, I realized, must be a Beautifly anthro, judging from her Beautifly wings, gray skin, silver hair, and two small antennas.

"This is Trinity, she'll be staying with us from now on." Nick said, standing up.

I felt in no way threatened by the pipsqueak.

"Hi! I'm Melly." She smiled. She wore clothes, unlike every other anthro I had seen so far.

"Okay Melly, I've got to help Trinity get settled. Why don't you go play with Leah?"

"Okay." She smiled widely and ran down the hall.

"Melly is so cute." I said absentmindedly.

"She's my cousin." Nick said.

"How can she be your cousin?" I asked.

"Half cousin actually." Nick explained how his dad's brother had married a Beautifly anthro that already had a Beautifly baby.

"Why is she here?" I asked.

"Her, uh..." Nick opened the door to my room. "Our parents are dead."

"I'm sorry for asking." I said.

"It had to be said." Nick said. "This is your room. It's a little bland, but it's manageable."

I looked inside. All there was, was a bed, a dresser, some empty shelves, a desk, and a small closet. The carpet was faded blue and the walls were painted the same color. My ears drooped, mates were supposed to be together.

"c'mon, let's go see my room." Nick smiled, petting my head. I murred half heartedly. He took my hand even though I would've followed him anyway and led me down the hall to another door. He opened it, and I gasped.

His room was huge! Much larger than mine, his room took up whatever space that had been above his room on the third floor, giving his room space for two levels. The bottom level was carpeted with soft, blue fabric. The wall to my left had a desk with a computer and a flat monitor sitting on it (which I did not know the name of at the time) with a filing cabinet to its right and a large monitor hanging on the wall to its left. Papers were scattered on the desk from the last time Nick had been home. The space between the file cabinet and the wall with the door in it was taken by a large display case with shelves behind thick glass showing off assorted items.

The wall on my right was an alcove made by couches surrounding a plasma screen T.V. (which I also didn't know) hanging on the wall a small table was pulled up to the couch and had a half-finished coloring book page on it with crayons in various places on the table showing Melly had been there recently.

The wall we were facing was completely one window, letting in sunlight. A spiral metal staircase in the middle of the room led up to the second level where the floor was a strong metal grate hanging above the couch area. On it I could see his bed in the corner away from the window, large enough for two I noted happily, an end table next to it, his dresser, and a bookcase. The second level was surrounded with a metal grate to prevent accidental falls.

"Wow." I managed to say even though it didn't cover it.

"Yeah, my grandfather is an awesome guy for letting me renovate my room." Nick smiled at me, and I melted. I wanted him right now. My body really wanted him. Double checking that the door was closed, I quickly snatched Nick into a hug and kissed his lips tenderly.

Nick smiled as the kiss ended. He put his arms around me and squeezed my furry, little ass cheeks. I moaned in surprise, and he kissed me, his tongue quickly snaking into my mouth. I smiled at him, quickly taking back control.

My instincts were telling me that it was time for me to mate him. I tugged at his shirt, pulling it up over his head which momentarily stopped the kiss. When the fabric was clear, I quickly vaulted back to his body despite his protests. My instincts were clogging my judgment as I pulled at the button of his jeans. I heard a light 'snap' and his pants went slack.

"Trinity!" Nick gasped, pushing me away momentarily. "Stop!"

I didn't want to stop, but... he did. "Why?" I asked, getting tired of waiting.

"You haven't eaten a Babiri yet. I know you love me, but I can show you I love you without becoming your mate." Nick said calmly.

I sighed. "Okay." He redressed himself and kissed me.

"I promise that when I get you a Babiri, we'll do it your way." Nick said. I nodded sadly. "How about we go and check if Tina has any in the kitchen?"Chapter End Notes:sorry for missing New years. I blame laziness. I also blame the chapter for being so long and me having to cut it in half.
anyway, I hope you guys like it, although I think I rushed my description of the mansion.
Well I guess it's time to start the next one