"Swole!"
I freeze up the moment the name enters my ears.
"Where are you?" It's Dawn. She's just around the corner of the hedge, while I'm stuck in this compromised position: shirtless and covered head to toe in beautiful, naked pokemon.
She passes the corner and spots us. "Oh. There you are. Are you taking a break right now? That's perfect! I brought lunch." She approaches. "I know it's way past lunchtime. Sorry it took so long. Zoey and I were practicing our new move."
Zoey and Ursula seem to be missing.
"Oh. And they've decided to continue their training. Ursula didn't get any pair training done while I was hogging Zoey's attention." Dawn carries a picnic basket with a checkered blanket folded on top. "You got a new shirt? I don't remember seeing you buy thaaaa..."
She stops her steps when she spots the torn pieces of my sports shirt on the ground. The basket slips from her hold and clatters to the ground. From the sound of it, something definitely broke inside.
"Is that a bruise?! And your face is covered in blood! What happened?! Did you get mauled?!"
Dawn runs the rest of the way, falling to her knees and digging furrows into the grass with them before cradling me. "Are you hurting?!"
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine!"
I roll my--
"Don't roll your eyes at me! You're more bruises than skin! OMA, it goes all the way down your chest and stomach..."
"My father survived worse." Well... Play Rough should be about twice as strong as the Tackle he took, and Lopunny is much stronger than Kricketot had been... Gulp. If I didn't have Aura... "Anyway, Lopunny learned Play Rough! Isn't that awesome?!"
"She attacked you with Play Rough?!" At first, she flinches away from Lopunny, but then she tries to shield my face.
"It wasn't an attack. Calm down, Dawn. Think of it like a little training accident. It happens."
Her face goes through a couple of random emotions until it settles on resignation. A sigh escapes her. "People die from training accidents."
"Not me. I'm tougher than people. Also, who? Who died? You grew up sheltered just like I did."
"Touché. But you're not invincible!" She stops herself from slapping me in the face, her hand hovering before touching down gently to caress my cheek. "If I hadn't seen it, you'd have hidden it from us, wouldn't you?"
I flinch.
"Good grief." She sighs. "I made steak, your favorite. And spaghetti - your old favorite. Are you hungry?"
I nod. "I could eat a whole Mudsdale."
"I bet." She gets up and retrieves the picnic basket. The grass left a green stain on her skirt. "Want me to feed you?"
"A bit. I can probably manage though." Good grief. It's another one of these days. Lopunny will have to carry me home again... Can she even?
Dawn spreads out a white-and-red checkered picnic blanket - a layer on the bottom prevents ground moisture from soaking through the fabric.
Once it's ready, I shoo the girls off of me before rolling onto the blanket... Lopunny follows suit, unable to stand. Good grief - who'll carry me?
"You could manage, huh?" Dawn shakes her head as she places utensils and a single plate on the ground. "The other plates all broke. I hope you don't mind me snacking from yours?"
"It's your plate."
"Ours?" She suggests.
I laugh even though it stings in my chest. "Sure. You can have some from our plate. But in that case, you'll need to eat fast. Lopunny, Salazzle, Lucario, and Swadloon are all hungry too."
Dawn grins before stacking the plate high with steak and spaghetti - my mom's recipe. I could recognize the unique aroma of parsley, lemon, and hints of nutmeg any day.
She giggles, struggling a bit to cut the steak with a bread knife. "You know, Akari has a point. If I had cut the steak into slices in the hotel room's kitchen, then I wouldn't have to struggle with it now."
Akari... The last time we had steak and spaghetti was when we three traveled together to Canalave City, right after meeting Lucario. "Do you miss her too?"
"Do you remember when we first cooked spaghetti bolognese together?" Dawn ignores the question.
"I do. Actually, I had been thinking about that too - it seems like we share the same couple of brain cells."
Dawn grins while I prepare my best impression of her.
"Did you mean noodles with tomato sauce, you snob?"
"Haha!" She laughs while twirling up a forkful of noodles. "You really are a snob. It was when we first met Lucario-" Lucario's ears perk up. "Not you, the other one."
"It was a rough day."
"You can say that again." She lifts the fork, bringing it to my mouth, and I take a bite. "I really thought we were going to die that day - or, at least, I was. Remember how that Alpha Regirock chased us? My legs were about to give out - if we hadn't stumbled upon that cave, I would have croaked for sure."
I shake my head. "I'd like to think I would have saved you."
"You'd like to think, huh? Not 'don't worry, Dawn, I'd have picked you up and run to the end of the world with you in my arms'?"
"I meant to say that."
She giggles again before devolving into an outright, full-body chortle. Her hand trembles and smears spaghetti sauce all over my face as she feeds me. "Pahaha! I just remembered!"
I chew and swallow. "Remembered what?"
"I remembered-- haha-- what you really said!"
"Yeah? What did I say?"
"Goose!"
"Huh? What?"
"Akari said duck when the cave turned dark, and you said goose!" She guffaws again, trying and failing to slice through a steak. The plate wobbles too much. "Oh, Arceus! I was nearly coughing up my lungs, and you said goose!"
"It wasn't that funny. If I recall correctly, you called it my shittiest pun ever."
"Pahaha! It really was!"
... It wasn't my shittiest pun.
"It was so dumb!" She feeds me while slowly calming down.
Dawn's laughter proves contagious. Despite the pain, I grin up a storm as well.
Eventually, she places another piece of steak in my mouth. "... Is it hard for you to remember the good parts of our journey?"
"Sometimes." I admit. "Sometimes the bad parts are just overwhelming. Do you get nightmares?"
Her hands freeze mid-motion. She stares at me with a haunted expression. "I haven't had a nice dream ever since. At night, I can't stop thinking about that father with his daughter - all those people on the ship. All those people who died in Alamos Town... Do you ever have nice dreams anymore?"
"I had three."
"Three?! Tell me about them!" But she stuffs more food in my mouth.
After chewing and swallowing, I start with the first. "Remember how I was jerking it in the bushes under the tree of life?"
She laughs.
"That night, I had dreamed of Cynthia from the cover of the pokemon pals magazine. Another night in Eterna City, I dreamt Akari visited me at night and we--"
"Okay! I get it, those must've been very nice dreams - but it wasn't what I hoped to hear. Is the last one any better?"
"Banette helped me sleep after the nightmares kept me up last night. She showed me how life might be when I'm finally challenging Cynthia in the finals."
Another slice of steak enters my mouth.
"My mom was there. My pokemon..."
"Not me?"
"I guess you were in a different room? I doubt the league wants to offer shared bedrooms to save on cleaning costs - if you know what I mean." I wink, and Dawn blushes.
"I don't know what you mean." That's not what her face says. "Anyway, so you still plan on winning this year?"
"Of course. And you're going to win the pokemon contest."
"I'm not so sure about that. Zoey and I have been on quite the losing streak."
"You're not counting the last one in the Kingdom of Lucario, right?"
"Of course I'm counting it. A failure is a failure, no matter the excuses."
Oof. Now I feel bad about winning the contest. Ursula didn't appreciate a free win either.
"Sometimes..." Dawn starts but then just shakes her head and stuffs my face with food.
I chew and swallow before the next one could muffle me. "Sometimes?"
"Sometimes it..." She shakes her head, and the next fork comes. "Never mind. I don't want to talk about it."
Talk about what? Shit. Is there something to worry about? "You--" She shuts me up with a piece of steak.
"You're... pretty impressive, you know that?"
With my mouth full, I just nod and send her a wink.
She giggles. "I mean it. Most people couldn't keep going."
"In other words, you're impressed with how much of a beating I can take? Wooow." I drag it out sarcastically. "I am so very grateful."
"No!" Her eyes widen. "That's not what I meant! I-- Oh. You're messing with me. Here I am, pouring out my heart, and you're joking around!" Her bright blue eyes betray her. She thought it was funny!
"Haha! Sorry! But really, most people aren't like us. We're just better than them."
"You've grown quite the big ego too." She smirks.
I return the same look - probably not working out as intended considering my face is caked in blood. "The biggest ego. To match yours."
"Mine?! Since when do I have an inflated ego?!"
"Remember how you knew for sure you were going to win the pokemon contest in Jubilife City?"
Her face quickly shifts red.
"Yeah. You still remember. Not a single battle of experience under your belt, but you were already practicing--"
"Alright! Alright! I get it! Shut up about it already!"
"Make me."
She makes me shut up by feeding me. "Besides," Dawn says. "I haven't been like that in a while. Sometimes, I feel like my ego has been thoroughly beaten into the mud."
Oof. That is something to worry about.
Dawn took a huge hit to her pride when she lost against the first wild pokemon she fought on her own. Then Zoey beat her in the tournament. Team Rocket had abducted her, and now she's on a losing streak.
And, stupidly, I had been calling her a dummy.
"Don't think like that. You're pretty amazing too, you know?"
Her lips curl in a smile, but it doesn't meet her eyes. "I know."
"Do you? I get the feeling like you're... I don't know."
"Like I'm watching you press ahead and leave us in the dust?" Again, her eyes widen as if she realized what she said. "And I don't want that to change! You don't have to slow down for us... I'm just... jealous."
She always is. "Want to cuddle?"
"What about your bruises?"
"They barely hurt."
She glances at my inviting arms. Then at the bushes around us. "We're in public."
I've already done much worse in public. "It's just cuddling." And some kissing and maybe some groping.
"Wouldn't you rather eat some more?"
"Stop looking for excuses. Just get over here."
Dawn blushes. "But--"
"No butts. Move it instead. Hurry up."
She glances around again. "But--"
"I'm cold. Do you want me to freeze to death?" Salazzle - perfectly capable of heating me to any temperature - rolls her large slitted eyes. "I need you right here, right now."
With an intense blush blooming on her cheeks, she finally approaches, nearly pressing her hand into the leftover tomato sauce as she crawls over the blanket. She lies down with her back towards me as the little spoon, and I wrap an arm around her shoulder.
"Turn around." She startles. "I want to see your face."
Slowly, she turns, careful not to aggravate my tender skin. Her hair brushes along my face until she faces me. She stares in my eyes for a while before glancing at my nose, then at my chin, and finally at my chest.
"This looks really bad." She reaches out her hand and brushes it over my chest. A few chest hairs tickle at her touch. "You should go to the pokemon center."
"And be stuck in a stuffy room with an overbearing Nurse Joy breathing down my neck?" Or worse: constantly joking at my expense. "No thanks. I still have to finish a bunch of work today."
"But you need rest."
"I'm getting it right now." She looks up again, and I send her a heartthrobbing wink. "Your attention is all I need to keep going."
Hers, and Zoey's, and my pokemon's, and Akari's, and Mars'. A smile grows on my lips as their faces shape up in my mind. "I'm back to feeling energized already."
"That's nice, but I'm not letting you train more right now." She wraps her arm around my shoulder. "And I'm not slowing you down; I'm just stopping you from being stupid and reckless."
"Is reading in the hotel room reckless?"
She hums, taking her time to think. She hums again - louder. "I guess. Will it only be reading?"
No. "A bit more. I'll call Akari, for example." I'll have to consult my checklists.
"I shall allow it." Dawn's hand traces along my neck and jaw, coming to rest on my cheek.
I slide mine up her arm until I can grab her hand. It's warm, soft, and delicate, and she smells nice too. Her face contorts in distress when I grab her fingers and give them a kiss.
"What's the matter?"
"I tried to avoid the bloody bits..."
"Oh." Crusty blood flakes from my lips. The coppery scent of blood tickles at my nose, threatening to overtake her flowery perfume. "Sorry about that."
"It's alright. I can wash my hands later."
Speaking of later, now is later. Lopunny and Lucario need to eat. The sooner they binge on protein after training, the more effective their recovery becomes.
I kiss her hand again before reaching in and planting a kiss on her lips. Then her nose. With an aching heart, I retreat and push myself up. "Sorry for cutting this short. I have to make sure my pokemon eat."
Dawn follows suit, pushing herself up and kissing my lips as well. Her hand lingers on me but eventually slips away. "It's alright. I should continue working on Empoleon's grace as well."
"His grace?"
"It's our biggest weakness. The judges are always taking off points because he is clumsy and not cute enough."
"... Cute?" Cute really doesn't suit him at all. "Have you tried just crushing your opponents?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not a brute." She rolls her eyes while unclipping her pokeball and standing up. "Empoleon, come out."
While she takes care of her pokemon, I begin feeding my team. Lucario and Salazzle can handle themselves, and Salazzle handles Swadloon for me.
Lopunny... ~"Master, I'm hungry." She can't move.
"Hi, Hungry. My name is Swole."
---
...
...
~"You're too heavy, Daddy."
"Thank you for carrying me despite it, Lucario."
Buildings pass us on the left and right. Passengers walk around us, trying their best to avoid the bloody pulp of a man and the pokemon that is moments away from collapsing.
"Look at it this way; Lopunny and I have already given our best. She couldn't walk, so she was allowed to rest inside her pokeball. I can't walk, so you carry me, allowing me to rest. You still need to catch up. Therefore, you have to carry me as part of your training."
~"Master... that excuse is too weak." It is. ~"What about Salazzle? Why can't she carry you instead?"
"Salazzle is a weakling." A small mote of Ember strikes the naked skin of my back. "Ouch."
~"That's even more of a reason for her to carry you."
"Nope. Miyagi-sensei was right about at least a few things - one of them being that Salazzle needs to focus on speed and special attack. Currently, that means Flamethrower." What about her speed training? Perhaps simply sprinting? "... You, on the other claw-- I mean paw-- I mean hand... Ahem. Sorry. Even though you are specializing in special attack, you still need a little bit of everything else."
~"Why? What makes me different?"
"First of all, you're still a young, growing pokemon. It's just something you need. Also, you can't avoid close combat as effectively. Your ability - Inner Focus - only works if you can take a few hits, and you need some extra strength to help deflect damage. Lastly, you do have quite a few physical attacks - it would be a waste to ignore them."
~"I guess that makes sense." Lucario hums.
I squint at the back of her head. "You'd better not pick up that habit from Lopunny, Missy. Did you really get it?"
~"Yes, yes." She giggles. ~"It makes sense. Salazzle fights from afar - like a coward-- Ouch!"
Salazzle spat some Ember against Lucario.
~"And I fight more like a mix between Lopunny and Salazzle."
"Exactly."
We arrive at the hotel, which is not too shabby but also not luxurious. There's a red carpet leading up the entrance stairs - but the fabric is stained with about a month's worth of foot traffic.
The door handles are golden, but from their light weight and texture on my palms, it becomes obvious that they're just painted. The lobby inside continues the carpet along the floor, hiding who-knows-what underneath. It doesn't feel like the floor is perfectly even.
At the front desk is a little golden bell and a small sign stating that the desk attendant is currently on a break.
The elevator is within view of the entrance, and Lucario heads straight for it-- "Hold on." She pauses.
A rack holding newspapers and magazines stands nearby. I briefly scan the magazines for a new pokemon pals issue but find none. However, there is yesterday's newspaper.
"Can you grab that for me?" I ask, and Lucario uses her psychic powers to... grab the... "The other one." She grabs the wrong one again. "The one to the left. The other left - have I never taught you left and right?"
~"You haven't. I only get the meaning through your intent."
Hmmm... that means my Aura must be in a weakened state again - ehhh, of course it is. Duh. If my Aura wasn't in a weakened state, then I could walk on my own.
"The left is this side. When something is in front of you, it might still be on the left side as long as it's not on your right."
She nods - her head brushing against my face.
"When I say 'to my left', then it doesn't matter where it is in relation to you. You'd have to look at me, figure out what side my left side is, and then look into that direction. That's why I'll only give orders about your left or right during a pokemon battle - to avoid that extra step of looking at me."
~"Can't I just use Aura instead of looking?"
"What if you run out of Aura?"
~"ME?! Haha! That was funny, daddy."
It wasn't funny. But I guess she is literally built for this, so that's not an issue for her. "Still, I'll only call out your lefts or rights. That streamlines it with everyone else, and you won't have to think about it. Left is that way--" I lift her left arm. Then the other. "And right is that way. Now, can you grab me the newspaper to the left of the one you grabbed before?"
She finds it. It hovers into my outstretched hand. "Thanks." I kiss her cheek, and suddenly her head dongles smack into my face. "Oof."
~"Master?" She turns her head, clocking me with her dongle again. Her eyes widen in alarm, and she reaches up to press her dongles down with her hands. ~"Ahhh! I'm so sorry! I don't know why they did that!"
"It's alright. It was my fault. Can you head to the elevator?" She listens. Her steps are slightly hurried now. "Do you mind if I take a look at your head ornaments later?"
She skips a step - almost stumbles. ~"O-of course y-you can."
We reach the elevator, and I press the button. The display at the top says 10... 9... 8...
The silence is awful. There's a slight humming noise as the cables of the elevator move, but otherwise, the lobby is eerily silent.
As always, my thoughts take the opportunity to wander. Most creep far too close to my most recent nightmares, so I concentrate on finding something else to think about.
5...
My checklists. Do I have anything to add?
3...
No.
My mental shit-list. Is everyone still in their proper place? Is asshole still number 1? Where does Domino go again? What about my dad? I said I didn't want to call him, but what if he's in the Team Galactic Headquarters? What if he knows I'm in the city and he expects a visit?
I could visit him and Mars during the same trainings break. That just means I need to train without wrecking my body completely.
2...
How's that ice cream seller from Jubilife City doing? ... Why am I even thinking about him? Am I hungry for ice cream? I should write Zoey-- I mean Dawn--... Fuck.
I can't ask Zoey because she's... hold up. She wouldn't want to be treated differently because of her injury. I'll write to Zoey!
The door dings before sliding open. Lucario heads inside, and Salazzle follows us. Swadloon is still nestled within her tail - good.
I reach into my backpack... and I can't reach it. "Salazzle, can you reach inside my backpack and grab my phone for me?"
~"Yessss, ssssir!" She scurries up Lucario, over my shoulder and headfirst into the backpack. Of course, she did it in a way that would put her bits right in front of my face.
I blow against her, and her whole body shivers in response. ~"Cooold!"
Hehe.
She clambers off us with my poketch phone held... somehow, she holds it with a single clawed finger. Salazzle must be using her abilities that allow her to walk along walls and ceilings to grab the phone instead.
Then she scurries into the corner of the elevator before poking around with it. "What are you doing?"
~"Nothing."
I should be worried. But what could a pokemon possibly do with a phone? Wait... is she just going to use up all of my unlock retries so I'm locked out for hours?!
"Can you give it to me now, please?" Hopefully the distress can't be heard in my voice - she might use that as encouragement.
~"Sssure. I'm done with it already."
Done?
She hands it over, and I unlock my screen... The wallpaper greeting me is a closeup picture of Salazzle's slit. The patterns of her skin glow in a similar shade to the spread insides of her poke-pussy.
How did she do that so fast?
Why isn't the elevator moving yet?!
Oh. I press the button with the number 5. The doors close. The cables begin to pull us up.
Swiping and tapping along my phone, I try to swap the wallpaper back to... hmmm, which one?
A picture of Zoey in lace underwear, me and Buneary on the ferry, the crystal lake underneath the Tree of Life, a raunchy photo of me, a picture of Alamos Town from inside a hot-air balloon before it was destroyed and rebuilt, a raunchy picture of Dawn ... ? Where did that come from?
In it, she's blushing up a storm while lifting her skirt in front of a mirror to show off her lacy pink underwear. Wow. Didn't know I had that. But I can't use it as a wallpaper.
A few pictures of the underground temple.
A picture of me... sleeping... in the haunted house where we met Mary... Rupert and Emily... all those lives destroyed by Victor Manchineel.
Lopunny and I are cuddling in this picture. It was taken just after we made up.
That one nightmare... it showed this exact scene, except Lopunny was missing. Victor was staring down at me from this angle! Did that really almost happen?! Why did he take a picture of me?!
~"Oh. You found the picture I took?"
"Ahh!"
Salazzle crawled up the wall to look inside the phone.
~"I thought you would appreciate the picture after you and Lopunny had made up again."
Whew. It was just Salazzle back then.
I swipe to the next image--
Ding
The door slides open.
I exit and put my phone away - underneath the waistband of my skin-tight gym shorts. Then-- "Salazzle, can you reach inside my backpack and get the door key?"
---
With a loud snap, the door latch clicks shut. Crossing the negligible living room, walking past a coffee table with a potted plastic plant on top, I enter the bedroom, still riding Lucario.
She approaches the bed, turns around, and carefully lowers me onto the blanket.
Lopunny would have tossed me. "Thanks, Lucario." She's always so gentle. Just like now, when she braces her arms on the bed to look over me, a critical eye inspecting my bruises while she smiles.
~"No need to thank me, master." She lowers herself over me, her face inching closer to mine. Her eyes glance nervously to the side as she gets even closer.
"Lucario?"
Her head dongles - note to self, I need to look up their name. No way those are called dongles - rise on their own while a blush darkens her fur. How does that work? Pokemon are such mysterious creatures.
~"You..." She hovers even closer. Her eyes light up with a pale blue before my hand begins to move on its own. She whispers, her voice barely audible if not for Aura helping me understand. ~"You wished to inspect my horns."
Those are horns?!
She places my hand against the smooth metal surface. It feels solid. It doesn't feel like it's sapping warmth like usual metal, but it's neither warm nor cold. They are entirely smooth, thin near the base and thick to the end - teardrop shaped.
~"I use them to trace Aura. I--" She cringes. Her body shivers when I slide my fingers along the base, feeling for the connection of skin between the horns and her skull. ~"Careful. They are sensitive."
Closing my eyes and concentrating on her Aura, I can feel why. This place contains a stronger concentration of her life force - it appears as if she's wearing a glowing crown when closely inspected through Aura Sight.
I open my eyes again, seeing her eyelids closed as well. "How does that work in battle? Are they weak points?"
Lucario nods; her head bobs pressed against my fingers as they brush through her fur. It's short and stiff near her head. Similarly to Lopunny, the parts of her body that are the most expressive - her face - have the least amount of fur hiding her. Smiling, frowning - all emotions are shown without a coat of hair dampening them.
But unlike Lopunny, the fur all over her body is rather stiff - or firm. Stroking my hand along the grain of her hair feels smooth and silky, but going against it feels tough and almost like thin, bendy needles that try to dig into my skin.
"So hitting them would end up with critical strikes. If you're ever facing off against a Riolu or Lucario, you should aim for their horns with Psychic."
~"Got it." Lucario nods again. This time she really pushes her head into my palm, goading me to scratch her.
"Are you enjoying this? Want me to scratch harder?"
~"Hmhm. Just be careful with the horns."
Curling up my fingers, I change from petting to scratching, raking through the fur on her neck.
Thomp- thomp- thomp
A rhythmic thumping noise comes from the nightstand next to the bed - from behind Lucario. I steal a glance and spot her tail wagging left and right, slapping the shit out of that poor piece of furniture.
Scratching her closer to her ears increases the slapping frequency. Then, her breathing hitches. With closed eyes, she opens her mouth and lolls out her tongue. Her next breath comes as a pant.
She's panting and wagging her tail like a dog. Adorable. I chuckle.
Suddenly, her eyelids snap open. Fear spills from her dark red eyes, and she pulls herself roughly away while her face darkens even more.
~"S-sorry." Huh? ~"I ought not debase myself like that."
I roll my eyes. "Don't worry about that. It was cute."
~"But I'm not an animal. I have some dignity."
Seriously? "That's... strangely human of you."
~"Humans are strangely behaving like pokemon."
~"I don't mind being an animal for you, massster!" Salazzle suddenly crawls out from underneath the bed, as if she had been waiting just out of sight the whole time... When I was a young child, this was exactly what I had been afraid of: a creature lurking in the dark, just out of sight, ready to strike. ~"I'll even suck your d--"
I wrap my fingers around her mouth before she can finish that. This is a PG-13 scene. No d-- or c-- or p-- allowed.
"I'm pretty sure no human acts as perverted and needy as you." I point at Salazzle before looking back at Lucario. "Thus you're the only one who's acting like a human."
Narrator-POV:Swole Solo has never been to a red-light district. Yet.
Red light what? Anyway, I sling my free hand around Lucario's waist before pulling her closer. Her tail is solid like metal, and her whole body is rigid under tension.
"You can relax when we're alone. I won't think less of you." She still resists. "Now come. Let's just cuddle for a bit before I get back to work."
My mind immediately drifts to the next tasks. I have to read a whole lot. And I need to update my research notes on Aura. I can use the desk for those tasks.
Lucario slowly settles in next to me. She carefully drapes her arm over my chest, making sure not to poke me with any of her spikes. With Lopunny out of commission, she actually has the space for that. Usually, she can only grab my arm.
Lopunny! She should be well on her recovery course, but maybe I could ask Nurse Joy to help out anyway? Maybe it'll improve her recovery speed?
Then I can forget about the desk. I'll do the reading and note-taking in the Pokemon Center.
What else can I do while... not waiting? I'm resting. Waiting would imply I have no good reason for this cuddle session. As soon as I can, I'll drag myself to the Pokemon Center!
But while resting, I should think about what Mars told me. She's a murderer. Not just that, but she's unrepentant too. Proud even.
However, she killed people like Domino. Or maybe even worse? The last man she murdered... Mallory... did he deserve to die? Sure, he killed someone - Craig - someone as young as me and left him to rot in a ditch. But could he not have had a second chance?
... Why would he deserve a second chance? The thought creeps up from the depth of my mind.
Craig had a family, friends, goals, and dreams. A pokemon that was dear to him... And Mallory took him away from it all. Those who are left behind deserve justice. Do they even deserve... vengeance?
What about Mallory? He might have been a little older, but surely he had all those people as well. He was ripped away from them all - just for the sake of vengeance...
No. Not just vengeance. Who can guarantee that he wouldn't have murdered again? "Without the ultimate punishment, he would have gotten away with murder once. Then he would have known it could be done again."
~"Master?"
"Don't worry about it, Lucario." I continue stroking her back as the thoughts keep churning.
It's vengeance plus the safety of everyone else. But most importantly... what would I have done? If someone killed Dawn or Lopunny or anyone I care for...
~"Master?!"
My eyes widen. I drifted off. "Sorry, Lucario. Did I mutter again?"
She shakes her head. ~"It felt like you were having a nightmare. And without Banette around, I thought I should wake you."
"No... no. No nightmare. Just dark thoughts. I'll stop thinking those." I resume the petting, and she places her head on my chest again. "Do you think Banette will return?"
Salazzle answers instead. ~"No way." Her words break my heart. ~"She'ss not the type to sstick around. I bet she'ss in some dusty old ruin or abandoned warehouse, wallowing like she alwaysss does."
I flick her snout. "Don't be mean-- Oof!" In return, she slapped my thigh with her tail. I flick her snout again. "Don't whip me either." Her tongue darts out and wraps around my finger.
Rolling my eyes, I pull away, but not before scratching her under the chin.
~"I have to agree with Salazzle. Banette... is probably hiding somewhere."
Wallowing. Depressed... Alone. I have to look for her.
"Alright. Next task tomorrow morning: we're going running. Salazzle, this time you're working out too. We'll work on your speed." And while we run, I'll look for Banette. "And now! ..."
I gently pry off Lucario's paws before pushing myself up. Digging through the bag, I pull out a clean dress shirt, a pair of proper, non-skin-tight pants, and then my eyes just happen to fall on the newspaper headline.
Uncovered: The Secrets of the Underworld.
... A little bit of reading before heading out won't hurt.
---
Uncovered: The Secrets of the Underworld.
16th July
The realm below - myth or mystery? We've sent an undercover reporter underground to find out.
For weeks, Team Galactic and the Platinum League have been keeping things under wraps, behind tight lips, and hidden with thick, waterproof tarp. But Jubilife TV's special reporter - Farage Reportage - successfully infiltrated the underground access point nestled deep within the coal mines of Oreburgh City, posing as an intern.
The on-the-ground - or rather, below-the-ground - reporter worked under a strict schedule: wake up at 3 in the morning, and head to work under the cover of night. At the entrance to the mines, the first security checkpoint verified his identity and gave him an entry badge for the day.
Since Farage was currently employed as a Team Galactic intern, he was allowed to pass after showing his employee tag and filling out the paperwork for his worker pokemon.
Deeper down the mines, signs of a top-secret laboratory were few and far between. Sinnoh's economy still relies on a steady supply of coal, so the work continues in the upper levels. The only hint of something nefarious was the half-meter-thick electricity cable running down the main tunnel.
Near the bottom level, Farage reached the second security checkpoint. This one was asking for his identity again, an employee pass code, and a thorough body search. Luckily, it was not thorough enough. Had they done a cavity search, they would have found a tiny camera wrapped inside a balloon. With it, Farage Reportage was able to provide exclusive photos of the insides of the laboratory.
\[Image depicting the insides of the laboratory. Beakers filled with glowing liquids and crystals, tables littered with ancient shards and inscribed tablets, research notes stacked high up to the ceiling, and buckets full of evolution and mega stones. Pairs of guards in Team Galactic grunt uniforms stand at the front entrance and at the elevator leading deeper into the underground with their trusted pokemon.]
The scientists work day and night deciphering the ancient texts found within the Grand Underground. At first, it was thought to be a prediction. Thousands of years-old texts have perfectly described the events the world is facing today. However, some details were different.
The texts have mentioned regions that do not exist in our world, disappearing in brilliant flashes of light and explosions with shockwaves that crossed the entire world multiple times - very reminiscent of current-day Space-Time Convergences.
Other misaligned details were about Dewford Town, which has recently disappeared but had been described as appearing out of nowhere. Errors in translations could have explained the discrepancy if not for the most recent discovery:
A guide inscribed on a 5-ton stone monolith for future generations that thoroughly explains the ancient text's grammar and sentence structure. With it, the historians were able to conclude with certainty that all the texts they found were actually written in past tense.
This gives us definitive confirmation that the same end of the world we're living through happened in the past. Theories swirled around the pokeweb for a while - unconfirmed until now - that our universe has always been in grave danger.
The written recordings suggest that the Space-Time Convergences begin to appear every few hundred years, culminating in a civilizational calamity - the type that could send us back to cooking with rocks and sticks - before everything swiftly returns to normal.
Every time, humanity works together to prevent the inevitable, succeeding with varying degrees of success. Three thousand years ago, humanity had lost. The Celestica people - the original natives of Sinnoh - had been wiped out nearly completely.
Although 'lost' is not quite the right word. Multiple regions had been eradicated all at once, but the world survived.
Today, agencies around the world are working in tandem to prevent another disaster on that level from reoccurring. The latest info from Team Galactic spokesperson Saturn suggested that a solution is in sight and that Cyrus is betting all-in on this currently top-secret plan.
"Through diligence, backbreaking labor, sacrifice, and sheer determination, we have come much closer to a true end of this whole fiasco." He stated this during a press conference on the 12th of July. "My squad has recently acquired an artifact from ancient ruins buried underground to the east of Solaceon Town."
\[Image depicting an ancient map of Sinnoh carved into stone with illegible text. Research notes beside the stone tablet are written so densely that the grainy photograph cannot show their contents.]
Farage Reportage has revealed that Team Galactic was able to find the buried ruins of Solaceon Town thanks to new information gained from the Grand Underground.
The purpose of the artifact is currently still unclear, and no spokesperson we've reached out to was willing to provide answers to our questions.
However, our business analyst - Alex Jones McAfee - is confident that this artifact must have been the missing piece to the puzzle. He found out that Cyrus is in the process of liquidating the entirety of his business assets, selling his construction companies, his agriculture businesses, his electric vehicle company Trasla, his aeronautics industries, and even his spacecraft factory.
Through undisclosed channels, we have learned the reason for this move: Cyrus is offering the regions of the world fortunes in compensation - in exchange, they will relinquish their champions and their ace trainers in our time of need.
It is clear this is an all-or-nothing bet for Team Galactic, and we here at Jubilife TV wish them all the luck in the world.
If we're all working together, this reporter is sure that we will save the world!
Written and edited by: Karla Kolumna
---
On the second and third pages of today's newspaper is a double page of Cyrus' recruitment poster.
An imposing man with a sharp gaze and dark bags under his eyes. The caption "I want you" is printed over his black business suit.
"Amazing." The word crosses my lips as I keep staring at the poster.
A weight falls from my shoulders - a weight I haven't noticed before. The thought was always on the front of my mind: someone is going to save the world, I've got nothing to worry about, and I just have to focus on myself.
But at the back gnawed the treacherous fear: what if there isn't? What if the world is lost, and I'm just waiting for it to end?
However, here it is, black on white. It's not just cope anymore. Someone really is saving the world!
The bedsprings dig into my back as I let myself drop back into its embrace.
"Lucario?" Her worried voice reaches my ears, and my smile only grows.
I can barely believe it. "We're saved." Not quite yet, but we might as well be!
~"Saved? From what?"
"The end of the world. Or, at least there's hope on the horizon." Ha. Haha... "Hahahaha!"
"Sa?" Salazzle pokes my shoulder, but I ignore her. "Salazzle."
It's unbelievable! ... It's too good to be true.
"... Lucario..." She says with resignation in her voice.
My muscles burn as I lift the paper overhead. My eyes scan the lines as fast as they can.
Is it a lie? An exaggeration to sell more copies? Am I hallucinating? No! Let's not think like that!
This is amazing news! "I've got to show it to the girls!"
My legs had been the least damaged after Lopunny hit me with Play Rough. They don't hurt a lot when I stand, when I pick up my backpack, when-- Never mind. "Salazzle, I can't lift you up right now. Do you mind walking on your own?"
~"Yesss, I mind it a lot."
"Will you walk along with me anyway, or should I recall you to your pokeball?"
She hums... hisses. Her humming sounds like hissing. She taps her chin with a clawed finger. ~"Okay."
"Okay, what? Should I call you back, or are you walking?"
~"Yess."
... "I'm ignoring you for the rest of the day just for that."
~"Nooo--" Her voice cuts off when I start ignoring her.
I pick up Swadloon and place her into the warm embrace of a magically self-moving pokemon carrier. While scanning the room one last time for anything I might have forgotten, I open the front door, cross the corridor, and use the girl's second set of keys to open their door.
Inside-- "Oh." I slow down, trying my best not to be noisy.
Zoey fell asleep at the desk. A blanket lies draped over her shoulders as her head slumps onto the uncomfortable wooden surface.
I sneak up, vowing to tell her tomorrow after she has had a full night's sleep. Getting closer in preparation to carrying her to bed... my eyes widen, and my breath hitches.
An open bottle of painkillers lies toppled on the desk. Tablets spilled out all around it.