A Shockingly Bad Pun
An Electrifying Valentines
Valentines, love was in the air, pink confetti was in the air. Hell, a lot of things were in the air. But for some people, holidays and valentines weren't a happy time. They were a brooding, joyless time, where there were constant reminders of how little happiness one's life held.
And the same went for Pokemon.
Abandoned as a Luxio, Lex had learnt survival in the harshest of ways. Years of living on the street had dulled her once-proud fur, from a vibrant blue, down to a muddy, discolored turquoise. The yellow star at the end of her tail was more mustard than yellow, now, streaked with grime and dirt from dragging constantly on the ground behind her. She was the picture of a stray pokemon in a harsh city, but most noticeable, were her eyes. Once blood-red, glistening with intelligence and curiosity, now dull, lifeless, jaded to the world.
She had evolved herself, after being attacked by a stray Mightyena in the forests. It had scared her. As a Luxio she had been smaller, more vulnerable, and she was beaten in the extreme. The Mightyena had been moving in for the kill when she felt that surge of energy, and had evolved. She had then taught that pokemon the last lesson of its life; Don't mess with something unless you're sure you can take it down.
It had been snowing, and the soft mush sat silent and still upon the streets and alleyways, blanketing everything with white. Lex was in an alleyway, one of her usual haunts, looking for food.
With a quick twist of her powerful frame, she upended a garbage bin, and rifled through the contents with a slow, methodical fore paw. She couldn't afford to be picky. Sometimes, she could steal a meal from someone, or beg for food outside the lower-class restaurants, but more often than not, she was chased away. And thus, she had to rifle through garbage to find a meal.
It was a long, long time ago that she had lost her distaste for it. Every bite of food she could get was a blessing.
But today was not a good day.
A faint whine escaped the Luxray's muzzle, and she nudged the trash can forlornly with her nose, making it rock faintly, rattling with the faint sound of refuse on thin metal. A Ratatta went scurrying away from the dumpster nearby, and slid into the shadows.
Lex just sighed faintly to herself. It had been days since she'd last eaten, and she just didn't have the energy to hunt it down for a meal.
Her eyes wandered, towards the street, and she felt a deep, gut-wrenching sensation as she saw a kid present a valentines card to a pretty girl, his cheeks flushed and nervous.
She almost felt a savage glee when the girl snorted with derision and threw the card to the snowy ground, turning her back and walking away, leaving the heartbroken kid to pick up the card and sniffle faintly.
But then she felt sick to her stomach, and whined, snuffling faintly towards the kid, taking a tentative step towards him, to offer comfort.
"Get away from me!" the kid said in a snarled tone, waving the card at her as if to swat her on the nose.
Lex made a hurt sound and retreated into the alleyway, ears drooping, forlorn.
Even lonely people, kindred spirits, didn't want her anywhere near them...
Even though it was valentines, arts and crafts shops still sold those horrid pink heart-shaped cards to hopeful youths and childish adults, to then be given to their beloved.
It was at one such shop, on the intersection of a lonely alley and a busy street, that an odd thing happened.
Their power box just exploded.
There was no warning, no surge of electricity, it just went boom! as the front panel blew off, and sent a scatter of shrapnel careening across the alleyway. No one was hurt, but the resultant explosion drew attention from everyone inside and outside the store. They all went to see what it was that had happened.
A few minutes later, they returned to business as normal, a helpful employee using his Pikachu as a temporary power source.
No one noticed the few cards and crayons that had gone missing, and the cleaners cleaned up the faint, muddy paw prints that had been tracked in from the back door without any qualms, or concern. After all, a lot of pokemon passed through the store in an average day.
The Mansion on the hill was an impressive affair. It stood alone, on a walled compound rife with grass and maze-like hedge work. It was stone brickwork, three stories tall, and wide as hell, the front turnaround, used for carriages in times long past, having an actual working fountain in the centre, showing a trainer holding a pokeball high, with his Vaporeon squirting water from its mouth at his feet.
It was a fairytale Mansion. The kind of place a princess would be happy living in. And it was the object of Lex's affections more often than not.
She had a good little spot, away from the front gate, mostly hidden from direct view of the Mansion itself by one of the many apple trees that were scattered about.
The owner of the Mansion was pure decadence, or so he was to Lex's mind. Everything about him enticed her. Just watching him go about his daily business set a deep longing inside her. She wanted a trainer like him, someone who would love her, and care for her, someone who she could lie with in the lazy hours of the afternoon and just pass away the time with...But reality always came back to her with a hard thud. Daydreaming was all good and well, but it didn't keep her belly full. She was a stray, and her only objective was her next meal. Or so it should have been...
But there was just something about him that attracted her. The smell of him, that curious mix of pleasant food-scents and earthy undertones, and the scent of clean, something she hadn't scented on herself in a long time.
His form was slender, but well-developed. She saw him some days, practicing an odd form of movements humans found interesting, making his body flow and shift in elegant, flowing movements, so at odds with her own clumsy, large paws and ungainly movements...
And he was kind. Several times, when she had been caught staring at his Mansion, he himself had come down and left food for her, the first few times just leaving it on the ground, as she had retreated the moment he had come within ear shot.
But then, she had grown more bold, and actually let him set the food down right in front of her, almost touching her quivering forepaws. Then, he had stood to the side, and just watched.
Neck stiffened with embarrassment, cheeks flushing, she had leaned down and delicately nibbled on the edge of the food he had provided for her, whimpering softly at the tastes that had exploded across her senses. It had taken all of her restraint, all of her sense of honour, not to just devour the food in its entirety, stopping after just three bites and nudging the platter gently back towards the man with her muzzle, too proud to let him see her true hunger...
And he had taken it back wordlessly, stepping past her, and lightly ruffling her ears in passing.
The sensation had made her shudder and writhe, and the sparks that she felt cascade between them were both emotional and physical. She was smitten.
He had yelped at the faint electric shock, and her ears had lowered, along with her head, whining piteously in apology.
But he had just smile and stroked at her ear once more. "Good girl." he had said.
Lex felt that she had never gotten a more decadent compliment than that.
And now she sat, on her haunches, muzzle smeared with red from the crayon she had clumsily held in her maw, a square card carefully bitten into a crude misshapen shape, having failed at making it into a love heart, instead clumsily scrawling the love heart on the inside of the front page of the shredded card.
Watching visitors piling into the Mansion, leaving their fancy cars and walking up the paved path to the front door, clothes fancy, bodies clean, Lex cast a comparison with herself.
There she was, a stray Luxray, abandoned by her trainer, alone, friendless, so woebegone even the kids at the schools didn't pay her any attention, and went for Pidgey's and ratatta's over her, once-lustrous fur matted with dirt and a slurry of snow and mud, muzzle marked with red crayon, holding a shredded, ruined valentines card in her maw destined for a person she needed but could never have, a daydream of epic proportions her only sustenance as she couldn't even beg sufficiently for food...
Looking up at the mansion, the perfect antithesis of her existence, she put her head in her paws, and for the first time since she was abandoned, she cried.
The sound of footsteps shlushing through snow reached her ears, jarring her from her bout of self-loathing. But before she could move out of the way of the human, he was in front of her.
Red-rimmed eyes blinked open as her head lifted from her paws, seeing first those shiny black boots, marred and disfigured from the melted snow mixed with mud, gaze shifting upwards over the brown pants, the white shirt and carefully pressed black vest, and onto the face of the object of her desires...and she just huffed, giving a resigned sigh and laying her head on her paws again, closing her eyes partway and trying not to cry again.
She was proud.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she reeled, staring at those shoes, those neat black shoes, so shiny and new, forced to walk through the melting snow, marring their beauty. And if he had marred them just to come see her...then that was the height of pointlessness. She was worthless. It was a stark realisation, but she knew it was the truth.
What exactly did she have to live for? The vain hope that, one day, someone might care for her? It had been years, and no one had even so much as thrown a pokeball in her direction. She had no friends, no family, no trainer, no one to look after her if she got sick, no one to keep her warm on the long, cold nights. She had nothing. Was nothing.
"Don't be like that, girl." the man said, crouching down to be more on her level, brow furrowing a little bit, gently stroking at her muzzle with the tip of a finger, tracing a line of red crayon with a frown.
She felt the tingle, the sparks that shot between them, or, more importantly, the sparks she felt for him. A hopeless love. Or if it wasn't love, it was the closest to it she'd ever felt for anyone. But it only went one way, from her, to him. It surely wasn't reciprocated.
"C'mon girl, don't be down." he said with a warm smile, tilting his head down at her, starting to gently pry the mangled piece of paper from her jaws. Her pathetic attempt at a Valentines card. Worthless.
"What's this?" he asked, gingerly opening it, and peering at the crudely drawn love heart, tilting it to the side so it lines up properly, brow furrowing, before he closed the card and eased it back between her forepaws, dropping to his knees in front of her. "Must be a lucky guy who's getting that." he said with a warm smile at her, tilting his head. "Why are you out here all alone on Valentines? Don't you have anyone to go to?"
His words were like daggers in her back, and she swallowed hard, eyes misting over again, a single teardrop streaking through the fur of her cheek, to drip slowly to the snow, leaving a start streak of almost-clean fur in its wake. He was...belittling her?! Teasing her about not having anyone?!
Her one last hope for happiness was dashed, another asshole in a world of pricks, and a raging fire started in her heart. If she had the energy to electrocute him, she would have, instead bouncing straight onto stiff paws, back arched faintly, tense, head held high.
She was proud.
She'd never let them see her falter.
With a twist of her jaws and a dismissive twist of her head, she flicked the card into the assholes lap, and then turned, walking stiff-leggedly away, not even aware of the confused and stunned look on his face, before she gave a howl of pain and bounded away, breaking into a sprint, leaping blindly through the alleyways until she collapsed behind a dumpster and clasped her paws over her ears and eyes, wailing her pain and trying to block out the horrible, cruel world.
Her howls of anguish were easy to follow, but she didn't notice the footsteps this time, blocking everything out, oblivious to the world, to the cold, only caring about the pain she felt, the utter hopelessness of it all. She wanted someone to love her, needed someone to, but no one did. Not a single person in the whole, asshole world. She was just another number, a statistic on someones chart, a stray Luxray.
She. Was. Nothing.
The tentative touch of a hand to her ear made her spring to her feet, slipping in the snow a moment, but holding her head high, proud, teeth baring at the human, electricity starting to dance over her form, static at first, but slowly building as she grew angrier. He was back?! What right did he have to follow her?! Didn't he get enough of her humiliation the first time around?!
Angry thoughts chased themselves through her head, and her eyes narrowed on his own dangerously, a cornered stray, a wounded animal, an unloved statistic.
"C'mon girl. I didn't wanna upset you." he was saying, holding up his hands placatingly, palm upwards, showing that he held nothing other than her card.
Her eyes fixated on it, on the frayed edges, trailing tatters of ripped paper, and she longed to swipe it from his hand.
"Was this...for me?" he asked, holding it up by his face a moment, and her eyes slid back and forth between them, not lessening her stance but an inch.
"Well...I..." he started nervously, reaching behind him a moment. "I...know it's not much. But I got you something as well." he said, pulling a black, felt-covered box from his back pocket and holding it out at arms length, gently placing it in the snow.
"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." he said, seeming quite sincere, peering down at his feet and shuffling them a little, carefully laying the card in the snow.
"I know you come to the Mansion walls...I've seen you." he said, and she felt a pang of remorse. Obviously, she didn't hide as well as she thought she could. "And...well, I didn't think you had anyone else around to look after you, so I got you that." he said, motioning towards the box with his chin, frowning faintly. "Just so you know that some people do care...y'know?" he asked, grimacing a moment.
"I'll leave you alone, girl. I think I'm just making it worse." he said helplessly, before turning about and walking calmly out of the alley, leaving her alone with the present.
ÂLex stared at it, having finally relaxed enough to think, to breath properly again, the static electricity dancing over her form having dissipated, her ears drooping once more, alone again.
Alone with the present.
She stared, longing to open it.
She was proud.
She couldn't open it.
She was proud.
She was so fucking alone.
Lex fell upon the black felt box with a heavy pounce, and ripped it open with such force that the hinges broke and the top of it snapped clean off, sending the red collar bouncing into the snow.
Her paws shook as she she gently lifted it for a closer look, feeling her breathing increase, her eyes misting over again slowly.
It was just her size, a shiny, polished red, with golden thread stitched on either side of it in a long line, with a single silver loop near the buckle, holding a blue tag with embedded golden writing, which read: 'Strength isn't the only thing gained by numbers: There is always someone out there who will care'.
Lex stared at the collar, feeling lightheaded, the world dancing crazily about her a moment, as if she was going to faint, and she felt a new well of tears coming to her eyes. But this time, they were different somehow...he throat felt constricted, and she couldn't swallow...
With a faint sound, she picked up the card the human had discarded, and did what she did best; She ran.
Lex was panting for breath, swallowing repeatedly to try and rid her mouth of the taste of lactic acid, feeling it burning in the back of her throat, her tail bobbing through the snow behind her, card clutched in her mouth, collar carefully hooked over a paw, hold tight to her side so it wouldn't slip.
And there he was, rounding the corner, brow furrowed in concern, it seemed, fresh from his encounter with her. She had beaten him back to the gate!
His gaze lifted, and he caught sight of her, blinking a few times and canting his head to the side, walking right on up to her, shaking his head. "I'll not accept you returning it." he said sternly, before he stopped in front of her, his stance firm, decided.
She choked back a sound, and gently laid the card at his feet, nudging it towards him with her nose.
It wasn't much.
But...It was all she had.
The human smiled, and bent down, picking up the card with his fingertips, opening it and peering at the frayed edges, and the crude crayon love heart on the inside. He gave a wry grin at her, folded it closed, and slipped it inside his coat, reaching out a hand, "Here girl, let me help you put that on."
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head vociferously, drawing back a little bit, eyes narrowing, paws shaking slightly.
"What's wrong, girl?" he asked, leaning forwards to tentatively stroke one of her ears, making her melt, swallowing hard.
Lex drew the collar off her paw with a shake of her shoulder, tentatively laying it in front of her, and then laying her dirt-covered paw besides it, licking once over it, and then spitting into the snow.
An ugly glob of brown and black dirt streaked the saliva, and the human nodded slowly in understanding.
"You don't wanna get it dirty, girl?" he asked, gently touching her ear again.
She nodded ashamedly, shuddering at the stroking to her ears. It felt nice. Really nice. But she didn't want to show any weakness.
She was proud.
"C'mon girl, we'll take you in and get you clean. Get you a nice meal. It's Valentines." he said with a smile, playing with her ear, not even caring that he was transferring dirt onto his fingers.
Lex swallowed hard, and a blush appeared on her cheeks, peering down at the collar, feeling a lump form in her throat, eyes misting over again.
She was proud.
She was lonely.
So lonely it hurt.
ÂShe tried so hard not to touch anything, not to brush against anything in passing, not to let her dirty fur mar the beauty of her surroundings as the human led her into his home, that giant, imposing structure of stone and wood, his Mansion.
Her shoulder brushed against a burnished door arch, and she yelped, quickly drawing back, whining and looking back and forth between him and the faint mark she had left, ashamed, ears and tail drooping, giving a faint 'Luxxx...' in apology, her voice broken, a deep growl, the first time she had cause to use it in so very, very long.
,
"Don't worry girl, it's just a smudge." the human said with a faint laugh, and stroked her ears once, reassuringly, before leading her farther into the Mansion, towards the back of it. He bore her collar around his wrist, careful not to lose it as he led her to a large, sunken bath, more like a small swimming pool than anything.
"You'll have to use this one, I'm afraid. My own bath wouldn't fit two people." he said apologetically, and her eyes widened, her heart starting to race, thudding in her chest.
...He couldn't mean to get in with her?!
The tub started to fill rapidly as he flicked the faucets on, laying her collar aside and smiling at her faintly, neatly starting to remove his clothes, putting them in a tidy pile to one side, and casually sliding into the water.
He was unashamed in his nakedness, completely without fear, or embarrassment, and she couldn't help but stare.
She didn't think she was physically attracted to him, but something about the way he just stripped off in front of her made her admire him.
Carefully, she placed a fore paw in the water, testing the temperature, finding it the perfect mix of warm and cool, swallowing hard once and furrowing her brow at the tendrils of dark dirt that started to wash off her paw, quickly snapping it back out of the water.
"C'mon. It's a bath, it's meant to get you clean." he said with a laugh, drifting closer to her. "If you don't make the bath dirty, you won't get clean." he said convincingly, hands on her forepaws, peering into her eyes.
In that moment, she had never felt closer to any other person, any other pokemon, any thing...and she found herself nodding slowly, tentatively stepping into the water, until her footing slipped clumsily and she tumbled into the water.
With a gasp for air, her head popped up, her limbs automatically juggling at the water to keep her afloat, chest heaving in fear, before she realised her paws could touch, tentatively standing in the water as high as she could get, head tilted back, to keep her muzzle clear above the water.
A soft laugh greeted her ears, and she peered down at the water...it was already murky brown!
She felt the hands before she realised what he was doing, feeling them quickly scrubbing across her body, through her fur, scouring at her fur and dislodging the greatest amount of dirt possible at first, quickly shifting across her body, making her shudder and writhe faintly. She had never been touched, not in any real way, other than being picked up a few times, as a Shinx, definitely nothing like this.
Lex was almost painfully aware of the humans presence, and as he moved to empty the tub, pulling out the plug, she couldn't help but stare at him, head tilting to one side.
She didn't think she was physically attracted to him...
But emotionally was another matter entirely.
The tub emptied quickly, the dirty water fading, leaving them sitting in the empty bath, the Luxray sitting down on her haunches a moment, peering down at her fur. It was still dirty...
ÂAnd then he was scrubbing her again, a bar of soap in hand, lathering her up with it, scrubbing the soap deep into her fur, while brackish brown fluid dribbled away from underneath her, towards the plug hole, her tailtip scraping across the base of the tub.
A soft, booming purr started, deep in her chest, and her eyes widened in surprise, and faint confusion. What was this...? But then she realised, that was her, making that odd, content sound. Content? Her? ...No, it couldn't be.
The human started to fill the tub again, splashing her with a little water, making her recoil slightly, shying away reflexively from the splashing, tailtip giving a little flick.
Tentatively, she coiled her paw, and swept it through the rising water, sending an amazingly large wash of water against the human, her eyes widened and paw pausing as she realised what she'd done.
He paused a moment, and then started to laugh, and Lex realised, belatedly, that she was grinning at him, actually smiling, ear perked, lips drawn back in a smile.
"C'mere, time to clean you properly." he said, sauntering over closer to her and leaning against her side, wrapping an arm around her neck.
Swallowing convulsively, she lifted her head a little, for him to get at her easier, and he took the offer eagerly, lifting his free hand to lightly trail along her lips, starting to scrub across the crayon marks in her fur. "Did it taste nice?" he asked casually, grinning at her.
She smiled back at him, and shook her head slowly, leaning in and gently licking his cheek.
Lex felt the sparks between them that time, really felt them, and he paused a moment, staring at her sideways, before hugging her, cheek tingling from the static electricity imparted onto him by her tongue.
A soft, booming purr started in her chest again, and she leaned against him as he started to scrub into her fur again, and soon, the water was back around their necks. steamy and warm, and the tendrils of dark dirt that swept off her form were slowly starting to thin out.
The Luxray couldn't help but lean into the caresses of the humans hands running over her form, eyes closing slowly, contentedly, feeling the dirt and grime being scrubbed from her fur until her natural sheen returned.
Another emptying of the tub, and a good, strong lather later, and she felt actually clean, for the first time in so very, very long.
The sensations of the humans naked form against hers were also giving her some odd sensation, in the pit of her stomach, and she wanted him close, wanted him hugged between her forepaws, against her chest, where she could listen to his breathing, his heartbeat...
But she was proud.
She wouldn't let anyone see her weakness for this human, even him.
Lex could feel her cheeks flushing with heat as the human leant against her rear, stroking his hands across her back and underbelly, sinking fingertips into her fur to remove patches of dirt she had thought were a permanent part of her body now, and she subconsciously arched her back and rear towards him.
But then he was moving away, sliding to the other side of the tub and leaning against the edge of it casually, stretching out. "There, all clean, girl." he said with a warm smile at her.
She looked down at herself a moment, and made a faint sound. She was indeed clean now, her blue fur actually blue now, sheening slightly, matted and wet, but clean.
Automatically, she moved towards the human, pressing him back against the edge of the tub with a strongly affectionate rub of her head, holding him carefully to her with a delicate fore paw, tailstar swirling in the water behind her as she leaned in and gave his nose a lick with her broad, rough tongue, surprising herself with the act of affection.
But he just smiled and kissed her nose, making her flush hard and shudder all over. No one had ever kissed her, or shown her such an act of affection before...It was...pleasant.
Nuzzling her nose in against his neck again, she started to lap slowly at his form, deciding to return the favour of a bath onto him, in the only way she knew, with her tongue, lightly drawing the rough surface over his skin, rasping it against him cleaningly.
The water started to drain around them as he pulled out the plug, and she purred gratefully, nuzzling him affectionately and lapping over him more eagerly, swiping her tongue over his neck and chin in broad sweeps.
She was proud.
But she could ignore that, for this one day.
Purring faintly, she started to follow the line of the receding water, lapping along the humans body, tasting his sweat, the faint lingering aftertaste of soap and dirt from her own body, undetectable to human senses, but faintly permeable to her own, carefully making sure not to miss an inch of him.
Her tongue gradually slid across his chest, along his sides, and down to his stomach, lapping at it, almost giggling as he drew back reflexively, muscles twitching.
Slipping lower, she paused, blinking once and peering up at him, ears perking slowly, tailtip giving a little flick back and forth, inhaling the peculiar scent from this region of his body. He had fur down here, coarse and scraggly, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she realised what it was down there...but she was determined to clean him all.
Rough tongue sliding over him, she delivered several long licks, making him squirm and push faintly at her head, but now that she had started, she couldn't finish, that would be admitting weakness, lacking conviction.
Lex blinked, and her brows furrowed as she felt it grow against her licks, which only caused her to lap at it more firmly, with more conviction, not quite realising what she was doing, even as she heard the human gasp in mortification and shudder, through the pressure against her head was lessening.
Taking that as a sign of admittance, she purred and lapped over him, carefully coiling her rough tongue about the growing flesh and rasping against it, hearing him gasp and moan. And yet, still, that odd, strangely intoxicating scent and taste remained. This part of him just wouldn't come clean!
Very quickly, it was long, and firm, and throbbed faintly against her tongue, giving her pause, to take a step back and inspect it, brow furrowing, peering at it.
A dribble of sweet-smelling liquid was seeping from the tip of it, rife with the scent she was trying to remove, and she frowned deeply at it a moment. It was coming from...inside it? How was she supposed to clean that?!
Frowning to herself, she pressed her muzzle downwards, and diligently lapped at the tip of it, tasting the odd liquid seeping from the end, purring helplessly at the potent taste, her tailtip flicking behind her as the human leaned back against the edge of the bath and shuddered hard, panting and moaning softly.
He really seemed to be enjoying this...perhaps he really liked being cleaned?
With a frustrated growl, she opened her mouth, and slid the strange thing into her maw, closing her lips over it and starting to suckle harshly, rubbing her tongue along the tip to try and prise the scent and taste from the stubborn piece of flesh, feeling it swell against her tongue, only increasing the taste flooding her senses.
Purring around the piece of flesh, she drew it deeper into her muzzle, where she could clean it all at once, her eyes narrowing down at him as she suckled as hard as she could possible get, feeling the length of flesh almost in her muzzle.
Her eyes widened, and she jerked faintly as it exploded in her mouth, or so it felt to her, a cascade of warm, intoxicating spurts splashing over her tongue and the back of her throat, forcing her to swallow or gag, so swallow she did, quickly working her head back and forth to try and get the liquid not to dribble from her maw and make a mess. God she hit the motherload that time! No wonder she couldn't get it clean, with all of that...strangely intoxicating liquid concealed in it!
Panting faintly, she drew back, and inspected the length, nosing it a moment, and then licking up it slowly, carefully coiling her tongue about it to ensure it was perfectly clean, scenting it, and frowning deeply. It only smelled stronger now! Like her actions had made it dirtier!
With a harrmph, she skipped that part completely, moving onto his thighs and knees, and then his legs, carefully rasping her tongue over his flesh, to clean him, and then leaning up and licking his nose, smiling at him, purring softly.
"All done girl?" he asked, his tone breathless, like he had run a long race.
She nodded, peering at him, mystified by his reactions to her actions.
With a faint smile, he stroked her ears, and she purred happily.
But then he stepped past her, or tried to, heading towards her rear. She turned with him, nuzzling against his chest affectionately. Again he tried, and again she followed him, frowning in confusion.
He sighed once and laughed softly, stroking her head. "C'mon, guess we'll get you something to eat then." he said.
Lex's eyes widened, and she nodded hopefully, nuzzling against him hard, her breathing automatically increasing in speed, eagerly bouncing up out of the empty tub and onto the edge, shaking herself dry with a hard flick of her body back and forth.
He was much more sedate, climbing out and toweling himself off, peering at her sideways, admiring her form, now clean, glistening with moisture still, making her pretty, attractive. He climbed into a pair of pants, but not pulling on a shirt or anything else, hair tussled and moist from the water, leading the way towards the dining room.
The grand table in the centre of the hall had been piled with food, enough for a feast, and it was deserted, the servants having left to do their own thing while their master ate.
Lex stared at the feast on the table, and shied away from it. In her experience, food was eaten off the floor by pokemon, or from a bowl. Food on tables was forbidden.
"Well, dig in." the human said, waving a hand at the table as he sat down himself at one of the seats, smiling at her sideways.
She paused a moment, and swallowed hard, peering at the table, and then looking away. Surely he couldn't mean for her to eat off the table?!
But that was what every indication was, and so she tentatively stalked over to the table, pausing and peering down at the most succulent, delicious-looking piece of fish she's ever set eyes on. The scent drifting from it was sublime, and it made her mouth water instantly, just from the delicate, teasing, enticing aroma rising from it.
Her nose drew closer and closer, and she felt herself almost delirious with her hunger and need to eat that piece of fish, before her nose touched the plate...and she lightly slid it towards the human with a push of her muzzle, reaching instead for the least-appetising thing she could find on the table, a plate of scones.
The gentleman laughed faintly and pushed the plate back under her nose, before she could wrap her teeth around a scone, making her shudder and pause, head swaying a moment, whining.
"Go on, eat. You may have anything on the table." he said with a firm nod, leaning over to stroke at her ears a moment, reassuringly, soothingly, making her purr and pause a moment, before peering down at the fish.
She was on it in an instant, devouring it with eager, hungry bites, neatly tossing back the mouthfuls, swallowing them hurriedly.
A sharp fish bone scraped down her throat, but she barely noticed, switching her attention to a piece of steak, and turning that into her 'second course', biting down on it, and neatly cutting it in half, tossing back the food hungrily, before slowing down a little, the edge of her hunger gone.
Lex didn't even notice the human, or where he was in relation to her, but she felt his hands on her body, warm and reassuringly.
She was reaching over the table for a plate of what seemed to be muscles, paw stretched right over to the other side to reach it, other paw on the table, when she felt the delicate play of fingertips between her legs.
That made her pause, brow furrowing, confused a moment, before she jerked and let off a little static discharge as she felt his tongue press between her legs.
A long shiver passed over her form, and her brow furrowed a moment, her breathing picking up.
He was...cleaning her? Again? Why?
And then a second stroke of his tongue touched her, and she shuddered hard, eyes closing and forepaws going weak, sprawling her upper half across the table as her eyes clenched shut, feeling an odd rush of heat fill her nethers, and a faint wetness start to seep from within her.
God, she was dirty inside too?!
Obviously, he thought so, because he quickly pressed his tongue against her flesh, prying her open with his fingertips and lapping at her eagerly, making her shudder and writhe on his tabletop, rapidly starting to drip liquids over his floor.
Her breathing came to her faster, and she found it hard to catch her breath, her ears splaying against her skull a moment, tailtip coiling upwards, to give him better access, forepaws tensing up slowly, in rhythm, claws sliding free, starting to scratch and marr the table, though she barely noticed, too focused on those odd, sublime sensations starting to coalesce inside her.
Why couldn't she catch her breath? And why was his cleaning job feeling so damn good?!
Long shudders passed over her form, and her tailtip started to spasm, shuddering and flicking back and forth, her back arching hard and eyes snapping wide open, jaw opening, quivering convulsively as a long cry escaped her, static electricity dancing over her form as her tight sex throbbed and convulsed against the humans tongue and fingers, giving up her orgasm to his ministrations.
Hot liquids poured from inside her aching body, and she gave a cry of mingle mortification, and pleasure, at once realising how embarrassing it was, to be making a mess of his floor, and of him! But the other, pleasure-riddled part of her mind just didn't give a damn.
With a soft cry, she sprawled backwards, legs giving out, forepaws flailing for purchase, dragging parallel lines through the tabletop, before she landed almost atop the human, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, purring in such contentment, eyes closed.
She felt him kiss her cheek, and her purring redoubled, wondering, in a hazy way, whether life as a normal pokemon was this good every day?
Strange voices reached her, and she awoke with a start, head jerking up, blinking rapidly, panting a moment as she tried to regain her composure.
But she was alone, lying on the floor of the kitchen, with a blanket over her. No light was shining in from outside. It was dark, night time.
The human was no where to be found, but she could hear voices.
"Look, ya' break into rich folks 'ouses on valentines cause the fuckin' muppets are out gettin' drunk and wooing the ladies, ya' punce. Aint no one gonna be here." one of them was saying, and Lex's ears perked slowly.
Were they friends of the human? Why were they here so late...?
"Well...I 'spose you're right. But it still don't feel right, mate. Places like this're usually crawlin' with pokemon." answered a second voice.
"Listen 'ere, aint no pokemon in this mansion! The owna' don't beleive in keeping pokemon around. I did my homework, ya muppet. Now get on up them stairs! I'll go check see if he got some grub. I'm starvin'."
Lex realised that one of them was going to come into the dining room, and her eyes widened, before a crash from upstairs made all three of them jump.
"Oi! What the hell are you doing?!" Came a voice, and Lex's heart jumped into her mouth, realising her human was at the top of the stairs in the next room, yelling at them. Obviously, they weren't friends.
She bounded to her feet, and went to watch, standing at the door and peering out at the scene.
ÂHer human was at the top of the stairs, like she'd thought, while two men, both carrying torches and lights, were in the foyer, just inside the main entrance.
"Get 'im." one of them, obviously the leader, said, and the younger man went sprinting up the stairs towards him.
Somehow, the robber had expected the gentleman, a rich kid, to be weak, or stupid, or powerless. Of course he wasn't expecting the hard kick to the jaw from a shiny, polished boot that he got, sending him reeling sideways, and over the railing, down to the floor with a hard thud, where he lay, groaning and twitching.
Lex watched with wide eyes, swallowing once, and then yipping in fright as the robber pulled a knife, and started up the stairs.
"You better start running, you fucking ponce!" he called out, starting to charge up the stairs with knife in hand.
The Luxray watched with wide eyes, static electricity starting to dance over her form. She'd never actually used a thundershock or anything before. Even at her lowest points, the most she'd managed was a few bursts of fuzzy electricity, harmless, really.
But now...this...this...insignificant prick was threatening her human?! Threatening her one break in life?!
Righteous indignation coursed through her body, and she snarled, teeth baring, stepping into a shaft of moonlight coming in from the open windows, claws scratching across the floor once, sparking, and sending a ziiiiiiiiiing of sharp sound resounding into the air around her.
That made the second robber pause, and turn around...and his face went slowly white.
"W-wait! Y-you aint got no pokemon you fucking li-" he neved finished his sentence.
Lex snarled, and arched, feeling her body come alive with electrical conductivity. It was so easy, all she had to do was let it come out! She couldn't believe it had been so simple, all this time...
A yellow bolt of brilliance arced from the Luxray's body, and up the stairs to the robber, pinning him in place, sending him crashing back against the stairs themselves, and then bouncing off them, rolling hard down the marble steps with bouncing, jarring movements, before he landed, sprawled out, at the bottom, the air filled with the scent of singed hair. The insulating properties of Mareep wool used in his clothing had saved his life, but he wasn't going anywhere. Not until the cops came and hauled his ass away.
Lex stalked forwards, careful to stop on the robbers stomach in passing, bounding up the stairs, and pressing her head firmly to the humans chest.
She didn't even know his name...and until that morning, had known him only as a friendly face in a dark, uncaring world. She almost wanted to cry again, right there, that she couldn't give voice to her feelings, couldn't tell him that she loved him, couldn't let him know how much he meant to her...
And so she told him in the only way she could, nuzzling againt him desperately and whining, holding him tight to her with a clumsy forepaw, forehead buried against his chest.
"I know girl, I know." he murmured, stroking at her ears soothingly, peering down at the robbers, vanquished, on the floor, and then turning his gaze to her, smiling. "I love you too, girl." he said with a firm nod.
Lex felt like she would faint, her heart throbbing her chest, and she clung to him desperately, crushing him against her and nuzzling him furiously, tailtip spasming back and forth behind her. Was this what happiness felt like? Even when she was still a Shinx, it hadn't felt this good!
She was proud.
But now that she had him, she had something more to live for than just pride.
It was still valentines, the day of love, and she had found what she had needed all along. And it was in that instant that she realised what she'd been waiting for all those years.
Just love.
Valentines, love was in the air, pink confetti was in the air. Hell, a lot of things were in the air. But for some people, holidays and valentines weren't a happy time. They were a brooding, joyless time, where there were constant reminders of how little happiness one's life held.
And the same went for Pokemon.
Abandoned as a Luxio, Lex had learnt survival in the harshest of ways. Years of living on the street had dulled her once-proud fur, from a vibrant blue, down to a muddy, discolored turquoise. The yellow star at the end of her tail was more mustard than yellow, now, streaked with grime and dirt from dragging constantly on the ground behind her. She was the picture of a stray pokemon in a harsh city, but most noticeable, were her eyes. Once blood-red, glistening with intelligence and curiosity, now dull, lifeless, jaded to the world.
She had evolved herself, after being attacked by a stray Mightyena in the forests. It had scared her. As a Luxio she had been smaller, more vulnerable, and she was beaten in the extreme. The Mightyena had been moving in for the kill when she felt that surge of energy, and had evolved. She had then taught that pokemon the last lesson of its life; Don't mess with something unless you're sure you can take it down.
It had been snowing, and the soft mush sat silent and still upon the streets and alleyways, blanketing everything with white. Lex was in an alleyway, one of her usual haunts, looking for food.
With a quick twist of her powerful frame, she upended a garbage bin, and rifled through the contents with a slow, methodical fore paw. She couldn't afford to be picky. Sometimes, she could steal a meal from someone, or beg for food outside the lower-class restaurants, but more often than not, she was chased away. And thus, she had to rifle through garbage to find a meal.
It was a long, long time ago that she had lost her distaste for it. Every bite of food she could get was a blessing.
But today was not a good day.
A faint whine escaped the Luxray's muzzle, and she nudged the trash can forlornly with her nose, making it rock faintly, rattling with the faint sound of refuse on thin metal. A Ratatta went scurrying away from the dumpster nearby, and slid into the shadows.
Lex just sighed faintly to herself. It had been days since she'd last eaten, and she just didn't have the energy to hunt it down for a meal.
Her eyes wandered, towards the street, and she felt a deep, gut-wrenching sensation as she saw a kid present a valentines card to a pretty girl, his cheeks flushed and nervous.
She almost felt a savage glee when the girl snorted with derision and threw the card to the snowy ground, turning her back and walking away, leaving the heartbroken kid to pick up the card and sniffle faintly.
But then she felt sick to her stomach, and whined, snuffling faintly towards the kid, taking a tentative step towards him, to offer comfort.
"Get away from me!" the kid said in a snarled tone, waving the card at her as if to swat her on the nose.
Lex made a hurt sound and retreated into the alleyway, ears drooping, forlorn.
Even lonely people, kindred spirits, didn't want her anywhere near them...
Even though it was valentines, arts and crafts shops still sold those horrid pink heart-shaped cards to hopeful youths and childish adults, to then be given to their beloved.
It was at one such shop, on the intersection of a lonely alley and a busy street, that an odd thing happened.
Their power box just exploded.
There was no warning, no surge of electricity, it just went boom! as the front panel blew off, and sent a scatter of shrapnel careening across the alleyway. No one was hurt, but the resultant explosion drew attention from everyone inside and outside the store. They all went to see what it was that had happened.
A few minutes later, they returned to business as normal, a helpful employee using his Pikachu as a temporary power source.
No one noticed the few cards and crayons that had gone missing, and the cleaners cleaned up the faint, muddy paw prints that had been tracked in from the back door without any qualms, or concern. After all, a lot of pokemon passed through the store in an average day.
The Mansion on the hill was an impressive affair. It stood alone, on a walled compound rife with grass and maze-like hedge work. It was stone brickwork, three stories tall, and wide as hell, the front turnaround, used for carriages in times long past, having an actual working fountain in the centre, showing a trainer holding a pokeball high, with his Vaporeon squirting water from its mouth at his feet.
It was a fairytale Mansion. The kind of place a princess would be happy living in. And it was the object of Lex's affections more often than not.
She had a good little spot, away from the front gate, mostly hidden from direct view of the Mansion itself by one of the many apple trees that were scattered about.
The owner of the Mansion was pure decadence, or so he was to Lex's mind. Everything about him enticed her. Just watching him go about his daily business set a deep longing inside her. She wanted a trainer like him, someone who would love her, and care for her, someone who she could lie with in the lazy hours of the afternoon and just pass away the time with...But reality always came back to her with a hard thud. Daydreaming was all good and well, but it didn't keep her belly full. She was a stray, and her only objective was her next meal. Or so it should have been...
But there was just something about him that attracted her. The smell of him, that curious mix of pleasant food-scents and earthy undertones, and the scent of clean, something she hadn't scented on herself in a long time.
His form was slender, but well-developed. She saw him some days, practicing an odd form of movements humans found interesting, making his body flow and shift in elegant, flowing movements, so at odds with her own clumsy, large paws and ungainly movements...
And he was kind. Several times, when she had been caught staring at his Mansion, he himself had come down and left food for her, the first few times just leaving it on the ground, as she had retreated the moment he had come within ear shot.
But then, she had grown more bold, and actually let him set the food down right in front of her, almost touching her quivering forepaws. Then, he had stood to the side, and just watched.
Neck stiffened with embarrassment, cheeks flushing, she had leaned down and delicately nibbled on the edge of the food he had provided for her, whimpering softly at the tastes that had exploded across her senses. It had taken all of her restraint, all of her sense of honour, not to just devour the food in its entirety, stopping after just three bites and nudging the platter gently back towards the man with her muzzle, too proud to let him see her true hunger...
And he had taken it back wordlessly, stepping past her, and lightly ruffling her ears in passing.
The sensation had made her shudder and writhe, and the sparks that she felt cascade between them were both emotional and physical. She was smitten.
He had yelped at the faint electric shock, and her ears had lowered, along with her head, whining piteously in apology.
But he had just smile and stroked at her ear once more. "Good girl." he had said.
Lex felt that she had never gotten a more decadent compliment than that.
And now she sat, on her haunches, muzzle smeared with red from the crayon she had clumsily held in her maw, a square card carefully bitten into a crude misshapen shape, having failed at making it into a love heart, instead clumsily scrawling the love heart on the inside of the front page of the shredded card.
Watching visitors piling into the Mansion, leaving their fancy cars and walking up the paved path to the front door, clothes fancy, bodies clean, Lex cast a comparison with herself.
There she was, a stray Luxray, abandoned by her trainer, alone, friendless, so woebegone even the kids at the schools didn't pay her any attention, and went for Pidgey's and ratatta's over her, once-lustrous fur matted with dirt and a slurry of snow and mud, muzzle marked with red crayon, holding a shredded, ruined valentines card in her maw destined for a person she needed but could never have, a daydream of epic proportions her only sustenance as she couldn't even beg sufficiently for food...
Looking up at the mansion, the perfect antithesis of her existence, she put her head in her paws, and for the first time since she was abandoned, she cried.
The sound of footsteps shlushing through snow reached her ears, jarring her from her bout of self-loathing. But before she could move out of the way of the human, he was in front of her.
Red-rimmed eyes blinked open as her head lifted from her paws, seeing first those shiny black boots, marred and disfigured from the melted snow mixed with mud, gaze shifting upwards over the brown pants, the white shirt and carefully pressed black vest, and onto the face of the object of her desires...and she just huffed, giving a resigned sigh and laying her head on her paws again, closing her eyes partway and trying not to cry again.
She was proud.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she reeled, staring at those shoes, those neat black shoes, so shiny and new, forced to walk through the melting snow, marring their beauty. And if he had marred them just to come see her...then that was the height of pointlessness. She was worthless. It was a stark realisation, but she knew it was the truth.
What exactly did she have to live for? The vain hope that, one day, someone might care for her? It had been years, and no one had even so much as thrown a pokeball in her direction. She had no friends, no family, no trainer, no one to look after her if she got sick, no one to keep her warm on the long, cold nights. She had nothing. Was nothing.
"Don't be like that, girl." the man said, crouching down to be more on her level, brow furrowing a little bit, gently stroking at her muzzle with the tip of a finger, tracing a line of red crayon with a frown.
She felt the tingle, the sparks that shot between them, or, more importantly, the sparks she felt for him. A hopeless love. Or if it wasn't love, it was the closest to it she'd ever felt for anyone. But it only went one way, from her, to him. It surely wasn't reciprocated.
"C'mon girl, don't be down." he said with a warm smile, tilting his head down at her, starting to gently pry the mangled piece of paper from her jaws. Her pathetic attempt at a Valentines card. Worthless.
"What's this?" he asked, gingerly opening it, and peering at the crudely drawn love heart, tilting it to the side so it lines up properly, brow furrowing, before he closed the card and eased it back between her forepaws, dropping to his knees in front of her. "Must be a lucky guy who's getting that." he said with a warm smile at her, tilting his head. "Why are you out here all alone on Valentines? Don't you have anyone to go to?"
His words were like daggers in her back, and she swallowed hard, eyes misting over again, a single teardrop streaking through the fur of her cheek, to drip slowly to the snow, leaving a start streak of almost-clean fur in its wake. He was...belittling her?! Teasing her about not having anyone?!
Her one last hope for happiness was dashed, another asshole in a world of pricks, and a raging fire started in her heart. If she had the energy to electrocute him, she would have, instead bouncing straight onto stiff paws, back arched faintly, tense, head held high.
She was proud.
She'd never let them see her falter.
With a twist of her jaws and a dismissive twist of her head, she flicked the card into the assholes lap, and then turned, walking stiff-leggedly away, not even aware of the confused and stunned look on his face, before she gave a howl of pain and bounded away, breaking into a sprint, leaping blindly through the alleyways until she collapsed behind a dumpster and clasped her paws over her ears and eyes, wailing her pain and trying to block out the horrible, cruel world.
Her howls of anguish were easy to follow, but she didn't notice the footsteps this time, blocking everything out, oblivious to the world, to the cold, only caring about the pain she felt, the utter hopelessness of it all. She wanted someone to love her, needed someone to, but no one did. Not a single person in the whole, asshole world. She was just another number, a statistic on someones chart, a stray Luxray.
She. Was. Nothing.
The tentative touch of a hand to her ear made her spring to her feet, slipping in the snow a moment, but holding her head high, proud, teeth baring at the human, electricity starting to dance over her form, static at first, but slowly building as she grew angrier. He was back?! What right did he have to follow her?! Didn't he get enough of her humiliation the first time around?!
Angry thoughts chased themselves through her head, and her eyes narrowed on his own dangerously, a cornered stray, a wounded animal, an unloved statistic.
"C'mon girl. I didn't wanna upset you." he was saying, holding up his hands placatingly, palm upwards, showing that he held nothing other than her card.
Her eyes fixated on it, on the frayed edges, trailing tatters of ripped paper, and she longed to swipe it from his hand.
"Was this...for me?" he asked, holding it up by his face a moment, and her eyes slid back and forth between them, not lessening her stance but an inch.
"Well...I..." he started nervously, reaching behind him a moment. "I...know it's not much. But I got you something as well." he said, pulling a black, felt-covered box from his back pocket and holding it out at arms length, gently placing it in the snow.
"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." he said, seeming quite sincere, peering down at his feet and shuffling them a little, carefully laying the card in the snow.
"I know you come to the Mansion walls...I've seen you." he said, and she felt a pang of remorse. Obviously, she didn't hide as well as she thought she could. "And...well, I didn't think you had anyone else around to look after you, so I got you that." he said, motioning towards the box with his chin, frowning faintly. "Just so you know that some people do care...y'know?" he asked, grimacing a moment.
"I'll leave you alone, girl. I think I'm just making it worse." he said helplessly, before turning about and walking calmly out of the alley, leaving her alone with the present.
ÂLex stared at it, having finally relaxed enough to think, to breath properly again, the static electricity dancing over her form having dissipated, her ears drooping once more, alone again.
Alone with the present.
She stared, longing to open it.
She was proud.
She couldn't open it.
She was proud.
She was so fucking alone.
Lex fell upon the black felt box with a heavy pounce, and ripped it open with such force that the hinges broke and the top of it snapped clean off, sending the red collar bouncing into the snow.
Her paws shook as she she gently lifted it for a closer look, feeling her breathing increase, her eyes misting over again slowly.
It was just her size, a shiny, polished red, with golden thread stitched on either side of it in a long line, with a single silver loop near the buckle, holding a blue tag with embedded golden writing, which read: 'Strength isn't the only thing gained by numbers: There is always someone out there who will care'.
Lex stared at the collar, feeling lightheaded, the world dancing crazily about her a moment, as if she was going to faint, and she felt a new well of tears coming to her eyes. But this time, they were different somehow...he throat felt constricted, and she couldn't swallow...
With a faint sound, she picked up the card the human had discarded, and did what she did best; She ran.
Lex was panting for breath, swallowing repeatedly to try and rid her mouth of the taste of lactic acid, feeling it burning in the back of her throat, her tail bobbing through the snow behind her, card clutched in her mouth, collar carefully hooked over a paw, hold tight to her side so it wouldn't slip.
And there he was, rounding the corner, brow furrowed in concern, it seemed, fresh from his encounter with her. She had beaten him back to the gate!
His gaze lifted, and he caught sight of her, blinking a few times and canting his head to the side, walking right on up to her, shaking his head. "I'll not accept you returning it." he said sternly, before he stopped in front of her, his stance firm, decided.
She choked back a sound, and gently laid the card at his feet, nudging it towards him with her nose.
It wasn't much.
But...It was all she had.
The human smiled, and bent down, picking up the card with his fingertips, opening it and peering at the frayed edges, and the crude crayon love heart on the inside. He gave a wry grin at her, folded it closed, and slipped it inside his coat, reaching out a hand, "Here girl, let me help you put that on."
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head vociferously, drawing back a little bit, eyes narrowing, paws shaking slightly.
"What's wrong, girl?" he asked, leaning forwards to tentatively stroke one of her ears, making her melt, swallowing hard.
Lex drew the collar off her paw with a shake of her shoulder, tentatively laying it in front of her, and then laying her dirt-covered paw besides it, licking once over it, and then spitting into the snow.
An ugly glob of brown and black dirt streaked the saliva, and the human nodded slowly in understanding.
"You don't wanna get it dirty, girl?" he asked, gently touching her ear again.
She nodded ashamedly, shuddering at the stroking to her ears. It felt nice. Really nice. But she didn't want to show any weakness.
She was proud.
"C'mon girl, we'll take you in and get you clean. Get you a nice meal. It's Valentines." he said with a smile, playing with her ear, not even caring that he was transferring dirt onto his fingers.
Lex swallowed hard, and a blush appeared on her cheeks, peering down at the collar, feeling a lump form in her throat, eyes misting over again.
She was proud.
She was lonely.
So lonely it hurt.
ÂShe tried so hard not to touch anything, not to brush against anything in passing, not to let her dirty fur mar the beauty of her surroundings as the human led her into his home, that giant, imposing structure of stone and wood, his Mansion.
Her shoulder brushed against a burnished door arch, and she yelped, quickly drawing back, whining and looking back and forth between him and the faint mark she had left, ashamed, ears and tail drooping, giving a faint 'Luxxx...' in apology, her voice broken, a deep growl, the first time she had cause to use it in so very, very long.
,
"Don't worry girl, it's just a smudge." the human said with a faint laugh, and stroked her ears once, reassuringly, before leading her farther into the Mansion, towards the back of it. He bore her collar around his wrist, careful not to lose it as he led her to a large, sunken bath, more like a small swimming pool than anything.
"You'll have to use this one, I'm afraid. My own bath wouldn't fit two people." he said apologetically, and her eyes widened, her heart starting to race, thudding in her chest.
...He couldn't mean to get in with her?!
The tub started to fill rapidly as he flicked the faucets on, laying her collar aside and smiling at her faintly, neatly starting to remove his clothes, putting them in a tidy pile to one side, and casually sliding into the water.
He was unashamed in his nakedness, completely without fear, or embarrassment, and she couldn't help but stare.
She didn't think she was physically attracted to him, but something about the way he just stripped off in front of her made her admire him.
Carefully, she placed a fore paw in the water, testing the temperature, finding it the perfect mix of warm and cool, swallowing hard once and furrowing her brow at the tendrils of dark dirt that started to wash off her paw, quickly snapping it back out of the water.
"C'mon. It's a bath, it's meant to get you clean." he said with a laugh, drifting closer to her. "If you don't make the bath dirty, you won't get clean." he said convincingly, hands on her forepaws, peering into her eyes.
In that moment, she had never felt closer to any other person, any other pokemon, any thing...and she found herself nodding slowly, tentatively stepping into the water, until her footing slipped clumsily and she tumbled into the water.
With a gasp for air, her head popped up, her limbs automatically juggling at the water to keep her afloat, chest heaving in fear, before she realised her paws could touch, tentatively standing in the water as high as she could get, head tilted back, to keep her muzzle clear above the water.
A soft laugh greeted her ears, and she peered down at the water...it was already murky brown!
She felt the hands before she realised what he was doing, feeling them quickly scrubbing across her body, through her fur, scouring at her fur and dislodging the greatest amount of dirt possible at first, quickly shifting across her body, making her shudder and writhe faintly. She had never been touched, not in any real way, other than being picked up a few times, as a Shinx, definitely nothing like this.
Lex was almost painfully aware of the humans presence, and as he moved to empty the tub, pulling out the plug, she couldn't help but stare at him, head tilting to one side.
She didn't think she was physically attracted to him...
But emotionally was another matter entirely.
The tub emptied quickly, the dirty water fading, leaving them sitting in the empty bath, the Luxray sitting down on her haunches a moment, peering down at her fur. It was still dirty...
ÂAnd then he was scrubbing her again, a bar of soap in hand, lathering her up with it, scrubbing the soap deep into her fur, while brackish brown fluid dribbled away from underneath her, towards the plug hole, her tailtip scraping across the base of the tub.
A soft, booming purr started, deep in her chest, and her eyes widened in surprise, and faint confusion. What was this...? But then she realised, that was her, making that odd, content sound. Content? Her? ...No, it couldn't be.
The human started to fill the tub again, splashing her with a little water, making her recoil slightly, shying away reflexively from the splashing, tailtip giving a little flick.
Tentatively, she coiled her paw, and swept it through the rising water, sending an amazingly large wash of water against the human, her eyes widened and paw pausing as she realised what she'd done.
He paused a moment, and then started to laugh, and Lex realised, belatedly, that she was grinning at him, actually smiling, ear perked, lips drawn back in a smile.
"C'mere, time to clean you properly." he said, sauntering over closer to her and leaning against her side, wrapping an arm around her neck.
Swallowing convulsively, she lifted her head a little, for him to get at her easier, and he took the offer eagerly, lifting his free hand to lightly trail along her lips, starting to scrub across the crayon marks in her fur. "Did it taste nice?" he asked casually, grinning at her.
She smiled back at him, and shook her head slowly, leaning in and gently licking his cheek.
Lex felt the sparks between them that time, really felt them, and he paused a moment, staring at her sideways, before hugging her, cheek tingling from the static electricity imparted onto him by her tongue.
A soft, booming purr started in her chest again, and she leaned against him as he started to scrub into her fur again, and soon, the water was back around their necks. steamy and warm, and the tendrils of dark dirt that swept off her form were slowly starting to thin out.
The Luxray couldn't help but lean into the caresses of the humans hands running over her form, eyes closing slowly, contentedly, feeling the dirt and grime being scrubbed from her fur until her natural sheen returned.
Another emptying of the tub, and a good, strong lather later, and she felt actually clean, for the first time in so very, very long.
The sensations of the humans naked form against hers were also giving her some odd sensation, in the pit of her stomach, and she wanted him close, wanted him hugged between her forepaws, against her chest, where she could listen to his breathing, his heartbeat...
But she was proud.
She wouldn't let anyone see her weakness for this human, even him.
Lex could feel her cheeks flushing with heat as the human leant against her rear, stroking his hands across her back and underbelly, sinking fingertips into her fur to remove patches of dirt she had thought were a permanent part of her body now, and she subconsciously arched her back and rear towards him.
But then he was moving away, sliding to the other side of the tub and leaning against the edge of it casually, stretching out. "There, all clean, girl." he said with a warm smile at her.
She looked down at herself a moment, and made a faint sound. She was indeed clean now, her blue fur actually blue now, sheening slightly, matted and wet, but clean.
Automatically, she moved towards the human, pressing him back against the edge of the tub with a strongly affectionate rub of her head, holding him carefully to her with a delicate fore paw, tailstar swirling in the water behind her as she leaned in and gave his nose a lick with her broad, rough tongue, surprising herself with the act of affection.
But he just smiled and kissed her nose, making her flush hard and shudder all over. No one had ever kissed her, or shown her such an act of affection before...It was...pleasant.
Nuzzling her nose in against his neck again, she started to lap slowly at his form, deciding to return the favour of a bath onto him, in the only way she knew, with her tongue, lightly drawing the rough surface over his skin, rasping it against him cleaningly.
The water started to drain around them as he pulled out the plug, and she purred gratefully, nuzzling him affectionately and lapping over him more eagerly, swiping her tongue over his neck and chin in broad sweeps.
She was proud.
But she could ignore that, for this one day.
Purring faintly, she started to follow the line of the receding water, lapping along the humans body, tasting his sweat, the faint lingering aftertaste of soap and dirt from her own body, undetectable to human senses, but faintly permeable to her own, carefully making sure not to miss an inch of him.
Her tongue gradually slid across his chest, along his sides, and down to his stomach, lapping at it, almost giggling as he drew back reflexively, muscles twitching.
Slipping lower, she paused, blinking once and peering up at him, ears perking slowly, tailtip giving a little flick back and forth, inhaling the peculiar scent from this region of his body. He had fur down here, coarse and scraggly, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she realised what it was down there...but she was determined to clean him all.
Rough tongue sliding over him, she delivered several long licks, making him squirm and push faintly at her head, but now that she had started, she couldn't finish, that would be admitting weakness, lacking conviction.
Lex blinked, and her brows furrowed as she felt it grow against her licks, which only caused her to lap at it more firmly, with more conviction, not quite realising what she was doing, even as she heard the human gasp in mortification and shudder, through the pressure against her head was lessening.
Taking that as a sign of admittance, she purred and lapped over him, carefully coiling her rough tongue about the growing flesh and rasping against it, hearing him gasp and moan. And yet, still, that odd, strangely intoxicating scent and taste remained. This part of him just wouldn't come clean!
Very quickly, it was long, and firm, and throbbed faintly against her tongue, giving her pause, to take a step back and inspect it, brow furrowing, peering at it.
A dribble of sweet-smelling liquid was seeping from the tip of it, rife with the scent she was trying to remove, and she frowned deeply at it a moment. It was coming from...inside it? How was she supposed to clean that?!
Frowning to herself, she pressed her muzzle downwards, and diligently lapped at the tip of it, tasting the odd liquid seeping from the end, purring helplessly at the potent taste, her tailtip flicking behind her as the human leaned back against the edge of the bath and shuddered hard, panting and moaning softly.
He really seemed to be enjoying this...perhaps he really liked being cleaned?
With a frustrated growl, she opened her mouth, and slid the strange thing into her maw, closing her lips over it and starting to suckle harshly, rubbing her tongue along the tip to try and prise the scent and taste from the stubborn piece of flesh, feeling it swell against her tongue, only increasing the taste flooding her senses.
Purring around the piece of flesh, she drew it deeper into her muzzle, where she could clean it all at once, her eyes narrowing down at him as she suckled as hard as she could possible get, feeling the length of flesh almost in her muzzle.
Her eyes widened, and she jerked faintly as it exploded in her mouth, or so it felt to her, a cascade of warm, intoxicating spurts splashing over her tongue and the back of her throat, forcing her to swallow or gag, so swallow she did, quickly working her head back and forth to try and get the liquid not to dribble from her maw and make a mess. God she hit the motherload that time! No wonder she couldn't get it clean, with all of that...strangely intoxicating liquid concealed in it!
Panting faintly, she drew back, and inspected the length, nosing it a moment, and then licking up it slowly, carefully coiling her tongue about it to ensure it was perfectly clean, scenting it, and frowning deeply. It only smelled stronger now! Like her actions had made it dirtier!
With a harrmph, she skipped that part completely, moving onto his thighs and knees, and then his legs, carefully rasping her tongue over his flesh, to clean him, and then leaning up and licking his nose, smiling at him, purring softly.
"All done girl?" he asked, his tone breathless, like he had run a long race.
She nodded, peering at him, mystified by his reactions to her actions.
With a faint smile, he stroked her ears, and she purred happily.
But then he stepped past her, or tried to, heading towards her rear. She turned with him, nuzzling against his chest affectionately. Again he tried, and again she followed him, frowning in confusion.
He sighed once and laughed softly, stroking her head. "C'mon, guess we'll get you something to eat then." he said.
Lex's eyes widened, and she nodded hopefully, nuzzling against him hard, her breathing automatically increasing in speed, eagerly bouncing up out of the empty tub and onto the edge, shaking herself dry with a hard flick of her body back and forth.
He was much more sedate, climbing out and toweling himself off, peering at her sideways, admiring her form, now clean, glistening with moisture still, making her pretty, attractive. He climbed into a pair of pants, but not pulling on a shirt or anything else, hair tussled and moist from the water, leading the way towards the dining room.
The grand table in the centre of the hall had been piled with food, enough for a feast, and it was deserted, the servants having left to do their own thing while their master ate.
Lex stared at the feast on the table, and shied away from it. In her experience, food was eaten off the floor by pokemon, or from a bowl. Food on tables was forbidden.
"Well, dig in." the human said, waving a hand at the table as he sat down himself at one of the seats, smiling at her sideways.
She paused a moment, and swallowed hard, peering at the table, and then looking away. Surely he couldn't mean for her to eat off the table?!
But that was what every indication was, and so she tentatively stalked over to the table, pausing and peering down at the most succulent, delicious-looking piece of fish she's ever set eyes on. The scent drifting from it was sublime, and it made her mouth water instantly, just from the delicate, teasing, enticing aroma rising from it.
Her nose drew closer and closer, and she felt herself almost delirious with her hunger and need to eat that piece of fish, before her nose touched the plate...and she lightly slid it towards the human with a push of her muzzle, reaching instead for the least-appetising thing she could find on the table, a plate of scones.
The gentleman laughed faintly and pushed the plate back under her nose, before she could wrap her teeth around a scone, making her shudder and pause, head swaying a moment, whining.
"Go on, eat. You may have anything on the table." he said with a firm nod, leaning over to stroke at her ears a moment, reassuringly, soothingly, making her purr and pause a moment, before peering down at the fish.
She was on it in an instant, devouring it with eager, hungry bites, neatly tossing back the mouthfuls, swallowing them hurriedly.
A sharp fish bone scraped down her throat, but she barely noticed, switching her attention to a piece of steak, and turning that into her 'second course', biting down on it, and neatly cutting it in half, tossing back the food hungrily, before slowing down a little, the edge of her hunger gone.
Lex didn't even notice the human, or where he was in relation to her, but she felt his hands on her body, warm and reassuringly.
She was reaching over the table for a plate of what seemed to be muscles, paw stretched right over to the other side to reach it, other paw on the table, when she felt the delicate play of fingertips between her legs.
That made her pause, brow furrowing, confused a moment, before she jerked and let off a little static discharge as she felt his tongue press between her legs.
A long shiver passed over her form, and her brow furrowed a moment, her breathing picking up.
He was...cleaning her? Again? Why?
And then a second stroke of his tongue touched her, and she shuddered hard, eyes closing and forepaws going weak, sprawling her upper half across the table as her eyes clenched shut, feeling an odd rush of heat fill her nethers, and a faint wetness start to seep from within her.
God, she was dirty inside too?!
Obviously, he thought so, because he quickly pressed his tongue against her flesh, prying her open with his fingertips and lapping at her eagerly, making her shudder and writhe on his tabletop, rapidly starting to drip liquids over his floor.
Her breathing came to her faster, and she found it hard to catch her breath, her ears splaying against her skull a moment, tailtip coiling upwards, to give him better access, forepaws tensing up slowly, in rhythm, claws sliding free, starting to scratch and marr the table, though she barely noticed, too focused on those odd, sublime sensations starting to coalesce inside her.
Why couldn't she catch her breath? And why was his cleaning job feeling so damn good?!
Long shudders passed over her form, and her tailtip started to spasm, shuddering and flicking back and forth, her back arching hard and eyes snapping wide open, jaw opening, quivering convulsively as a long cry escaped her, static electricity dancing over her form as her tight sex throbbed and convulsed against the humans tongue and fingers, giving up her orgasm to his ministrations.
Hot liquids poured from inside her aching body, and she gave a cry of mingle mortification, and pleasure, at once realising how embarrassing it was, to be making a mess of his floor, and of him! But the other, pleasure-riddled part of her mind just didn't give a damn.
With a soft cry, she sprawled backwards, legs giving out, forepaws flailing for purchase, dragging parallel lines through the tabletop, before she landed almost atop the human, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, purring in such contentment, eyes closed.
She felt him kiss her cheek, and her purring redoubled, wondering, in a hazy way, whether life as a normal pokemon was this good every day?
Strange voices reached her, and she awoke with a start, head jerking up, blinking rapidly, panting a moment as she tried to regain her composure.
But she was alone, lying on the floor of the kitchen, with a blanket over her. No light was shining in from outside. It was dark, night time.
The human was no where to be found, but she could hear voices.
"Look, ya' break into rich folks 'ouses on valentines cause the fuckin' muppets are out gettin' drunk and wooing the ladies, ya' punce. Aint no one gonna be here." one of them was saying, and Lex's ears perked slowly.
Were they friends of the human? Why were they here so late...?
"Well...I 'spose you're right. But it still don't feel right, mate. Places like this're usually crawlin' with pokemon." answered a second voice.
"Listen 'ere, aint no pokemon in this mansion! The owna' don't beleive in keeping pokemon around. I did my homework, ya muppet. Now get on up them stairs! I'll go check see if he got some grub. I'm starvin'."
Lex realised that one of them was going to come into the dining room, and her eyes widened, before a crash from upstairs made all three of them jump.
"Oi! What the hell are you doing?!" Came a voice, and Lex's heart jumped into her mouth, realising her human was at the top of the stairs in the next room, yelling at them. Obviously, they weren't friends.
She bounded to her feet, and went to watch, standing at the door and peering out at the scene.
ÂHer human was at the top of the stairs, like she'd thought, while two men, both carrying torches and lights, were in the foyer, just inside the main entrance.
"Get 'im." one of them, obviously the leader, said, and the younger man went sprinting up the stairs towards him.
Somehow, the robber had expected the gentleman, a rich kid, to be weak, or stupid, or powerless. Of course he wasn't expecting the hard kick to the jaw from a shiny, polished boot that he got, sending him reeling sideways, and over the railing, down to the floor with a hard thud, where he lay, groaning and twitching.
Lex watched with wide eyes, swallowing once, and then yipping in fright as the robber pulled a knife, and started up the stairs.
"You better start running, you fucking ponce!" he called out, starting to charge up the stairs with knife in hand.
The Luxray watched with wide eyes, static electricity starting to dance over her form. She'd never actually used a thundershock or anything before. Even at her lowest points, the most she'd managed was a few bursts of fuzzy electricity, harmless, really.
But now...this...this...insignificant prick was threatening her human?! Threatening her one break in life?!
Righteous indignation coursed through her body, and she snarled, teeth baring, stepping into a shaft of moonlight coming in from the open windows, claws scratching across the floor once, sparking, and sending a ziiiiiiiiiing of sharp sound resounding into the air around her.
That made the second robber pause, and turn around...and his face went slowly white.
"W-wait! Y-you aint got no pokemon you fucking li-" he neved finished his sentence.
Lex snarled, and arched, feeling her body come alive with electrical conductivity. It was so easy, all she had to do was let it come out! She couldn't believe it had been so simple, all this time...
A yellow bolt of brilliance arced from the Luxray's body, and up the stairs to the robber, pinning him in place, sending him crashing back against the stairs themselves, and then bouncing off them, rolling hard down the marble steps with bouncing, jarring movements, before he landed, sprawled out, at the bottom, the air filled with the scent of singed hair. The insulating properties of Mareep wool used in his clothing had saved his life, but he wasn't going anywhere. Not until the cops came and hauled his ass away.
Lex stalked forwards, careful to stop on the robbers stomach in passing, bounding up the stairs, and pressing her head firmly to the humans chest.
She didn't even know his name...and until that morning, had known him only as a friendly face in a dark, uncaring world. She almost wanted to cry again, right there, that she couldn't give voice to her feelings, couldn't tell him that she loved him, couldn't let him know how much he meant to her...
And so she told him in the only way she could, nuzzling againt him desperately and whining, holding him tight to her with a clumsy forepaw, forehead buried against his chest.
"I know girl, I know." he murmured, stroking at her ears soothingly, peering down at the robbers, vanquished, on the floor, and then turning his gaze to her, smiling. "I love you too, girl." he said with a firm nod.
Lex felt like she would faint, her heart throbbing her chest, and she clung to him desperately, crushing him against her and nuzzling him furiously, tailtip spasming back and forth behind her. Was this what happiness felt like? Even when she was still a Shinx, it hadn't felt this good!
She was proud.
But now that she had him, she had something more to live for than just pride.
It was still valentines, the day of love, and she had found what she had needed all along. And it was in that instant that she realised what she'd been waiting for all those years.
Just love.
Date:Sep 17 2013 Chapter:A Shockingly Bad Pun
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Lightning Strike
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