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Then he slowly stuck one between his lips, let his Raichu fire it up with the tip of her tail, and rocked his head back with a long, triumphant drag.\n\n\t“Whazza matta, chief?” His words hugged his face in fat clouds of ruddy smoke.\n\n“Thoze-a mah rookies.”\n\n\n\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/\n\n\n“Aaugh!”\n\n\tRichard gasped and jumped up into a seated position on the bed, nearly tossing the sheets onto the floor as his head whipped around, scanning his hotel room for signs of any Valories, Delphoxes, or Sylveons. He clutched at his chest, hyperventilating, trying to make any sense at all out of the extremely vivid, extremely lewd memories he had from the night before.\n\n\t“Aaaah! Gods, did I…”\n\nHe felt around his body, looking for any signs of a good time. Then he grabbed up the sheets and felt them for moisture or any other fluids. He leapt out of bed and rattled his hands around the inside of his suitcase looking for the handheld uv-lamp his dad insisted he take. He rolled his eyes at the old man when he tossed it into the bag, but now he was very glad it was there as he ran its purple glow across the surface of all the linens and found nothing suspect at all.\n\nWell, except the spot on his pillow where he drooled in his sleep. No surprises there.\n\nTotally nude, he darted around the suite. “Noooo no no, please no!”\n\n\tHe looked in the bathroom, nothing. He poked his head around to the kitchenette; nobody. He slumped to the ground and peeked under the bed; nowhere to be seen. He did find his pants there, though, and he counted the packages on the strip of condoms he stuffed in his back pocket; all accounted for. He even went as far as to smoosh the sheets into his face, sucking air through his nose to smell for any sign that someone else joined him; just his own body odor and the expensive cologne he’d carefully painted himself with the day before.\n\n\t“Hooo-kay, ok. Oooh man.” \n\n\tHe definitely had a hangover, so alcohol happened, no doubt about that. Maybe he just drank himself into a stupor on those really tasty cocktails, then Val never showed up so his friend made sure to get him back to the room safely. Then he had some insane dream that he got his dick sucked by Sylveon after Val pulled a viciously scathing switcheroo. Surely that was it. “Oh, Cresselia, thank you; it was just a dream.”\n\n\tBut it was so real! He could still feel those silky smooth lips and the rough, spined texture of that tongue stroking his cock. It sent him places; no other partner in bed had ever come close to the erogenous heights he dreamt about flying to that night. The little guy gave him orgasm after orgasm, wrung him out like a sopping wet towel, then left him flopped across the bed with his brains blown out.\n\n…and then he remembered all that warm, stringy cum running down his…\n\n\t“[u]No![/u] No no no, that didn’t happen!” He slapped himself across the cheek. “Maybe I should… no, I’m not bringing this up with my therapist, no way, no how. ‘Oooh, unt how dut zat make yoo feel?’ No-sir-ee.”\n\n\tHe shut the open window, glad that someone remembered to give him some fresh air for when his head ended up in a chemical vice, and started running a nice, brisk shower to knock whatever that crap was out of his system. The chill of his freezing cold shower shook him awake and he left the bathroom ready to forget the whole thing ever happened.\n\nThen he went for his bathrobe by the door and discovered that it wasn’t there anymore.”Oh.”\n\n\nSchwipe. Beep.\n\n\nRichard’s heart leapt up into his throat as he covered up his junk and shouted, “Aah, housekeeping! Sorry, I’m still here!”\n\n\nClick. The door started opening.\n\n\nHe shouted and backed up, trying to hide himself behind the tiny white hutch below the projector. “Aaaah, no! Um… No pas Disturbio!” His voice cracked as he worked to dredge up the words he studied once from a wrinkled tourists guide pamphlet between platters of artisanal cheeses and sampling rounds of Galarian whiskies.\n\n\t“Syyllllvvveeeeeee! Leeonvee!” Spinel whistled out, proudly announcing his return. He purred as he spoke, pushing a shiny rolling cart with two covered food platters and a selection of bottled juices. Hung from a ribbon, he carried in a new, freshly laundered housecoat.\n\n\t[i]Oh, here he is. Hahaha, he’s made breakfast for me before. Nothing strange here at all. [/i]\n\n”Hey, little guy, really comin’ in clutch with that robe. You’re amazing.”\n\nSpinel giggled with a delighted smile as his eyes scanned the man’s body up and down, stopping at his waist, then he wrapped Richard up in his ebony silks and tied the belt around his waist with a neat little Kanto Bun. “Eeeoon vee,” he said as he propped himself up on his ribbons to straighten the collar with his dainty little paws.\n\t\n\t“Heey! So, I was thinking we go–”\n\n\tHis heart stopped beating as Spinel leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.\n\n\t[i]Oh no.[/i]\n\n\tThe color washed out of his face. “Ooh, haha. Thanks.”\n\n\t“Mm hm.” Spinel nodded his head once as he started setting the table for breakfast.\n\n\tRichard’s hands went clammy as he wrung them together with a smile that looked a lot like a painful wince.  “Hey… Did you, ah… get me home last night?”\n\n\tSpinel nodded again, having set the table for both of them to enjoy a fatty, continental breakfast. Cooked by him, obviously, because it smelled way better than the house chef’s stuff. “Syl syl.”\n\n\t[i]Oh, please, no.[/i]\n\t\n\tHe sat in a chair across the little dining table from Spinel, playing with a napkin Spinel had folded into an adorable Pidove shape. “So, um..”\n\n\tSpinel chirped and tilted his head. “Eee?”\n\n\t[i]Oh, merciful gods, please no.[/i]\n\n\tRichard winced a little. “Did we, um...?” he asked, looking back at the bed.\n\n\tSpinel perked up with satisfaction and bashfully covered his nose. “Syl Syl.”\n\t\n[i]Oh my gods, calm down, shut up, don’t say anyth-[/i]\n\nHis brain reflexively repeated the question he asked all his partners. “Was it… um… good for you?”\n\n[i]Oh, Zekrom, why?! Why?![/i]\n\nOne of Spinel’s head ribbons coiled around Richard’s palm and he blushed as he brought it up to his lips for a long, slow kiss of the wrist. “Syyyl,” he cooed, nuzzling his fingertips.\n\n\t[i]What am I even supposed to say? What do I do?![/i]\n\n\tRichard looked down at his breakfast, a veritable mountain of carbs, fats, and proteins with hands shaking as he reached for his fork and assumed the position. He bit into a fat, steaming sausage link that practically melted as he touched it and discovered he couldn’t taste anything at all.\n\n\tSpinel’s head bobbed up and down as he hummed with a cheery disposition, happier than anyone had ever seen him before, relishing every blissful moment as he tried to snag up Richard’s gaze with a smile, chuckle, or a wink any time he could.\n\n\t[i]I fucked a Pokemon! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa![/i]\n\n\tRichard reached for a packet of mayo and coughed as he realized he’d totally forgotten about his hand wrapped in Spinel’s grasp. His hands naturally fiddled with the end of Spinel’s ribbon, enjoying its tingly warmth as his bestest bud purred between bites. He wasn’t sure why, but Richard found it way too difficult to stop himself from closing his hand around the ribbon, so he just kept shoveling invisible calories down his gob to try and soothe those shell-shocked nerves. “Hey, so, uh… I’ll need to find you in the registry later for that trade. Do you have a nickname, or is it just ‘Sylveon?’”\n\n\t[i]I can’t bring this home with me! What am I saying?! Stop![/i]\n\n\tSpinel touched a napkin to his lips, dabbing up a little bit of syrup on his chin, and then he reached into his bags for a card. He took up his little red pen and scribbled, humming to himself.\n\n\tRichard flipped the card around between his fingers, unprepared for what lay within.\n\n\n[i][b]“My friends call me Spinel…[/b][/i]\n\n[b][i]…but you can call me whatever you like.”[/i][/b]\n\n\t\t\n\t“Oh, really? I, ah… Spinel… I’m sorry, I… never asked before.” Richard felt terrible. How would he have felt if he made besties with someone and never took the time to ask their name?\n\n\tSpinel shook his head, squeezed Richard’s palm, and scrawled again with a wink.\n\n\t\n[i][b]“Don’t worry about any of that, lover.[/b][/i]\n\n[b][i]Finally hearing you say it was worth the wait.”[/i][/b]\n\n\n[i]‘Lover?!’[/i]\n\n\tHe had escaped that place of sheer terror in his mind and ended up dropped into a dark, uncanny valley.\n\nHow could he have missed the signs?\n\nThey got on so well; in fact, he was so comfortable with the Captain’s Sylveon it really felt like he’d formed the kind of friendship Em had in Vaporeon. The little guy was practically serenading him outside his window each night. Any time Sylveon reunited with him he was drenched in public cries of elation. Spinel waited on him, hand and foot, fought to protect him from the police, and dragged his entourage around town to show them all the best spots in the city…\n\nAnd the [i]Bouquet[/i], the [u][b][i]Bouquet[/i][/b][/u], how could he have been so fucking [u]stupid[/u].\n\n\tHe’d spent so long vilifying folks wanting to sleep with ‘Mon that he never even considered what he might do if a ‘Mon wanted to sleep with [u]him[/u].\n\n\t[u][i]What[/i][/u][i] am I even [/i][u][i]thinking[/i][/u][i]!? ‘Mon can’t consent; I messed up so bad, I’m so fucked![/i]\n\n\tRichard swallowed another tasteless mouthful of what was surely a culinary masterpiece. “Hey, um. Do you mind if we never tell anyone about… that?”\n\n\tSpinel just giggled, scoffed playfully, and shook his head as he started writing again.\n\n[i]\t[/i]\n[i][b]“Oh, goodness no! That would be a complete disaster.[/b][/i]\n\n[b][i]Valorie knows, of course, but she wouldn’t betray her own like that.[/i][/b]\n\n[i][b]Let’s just make this our little secret, handsome.”[/b][/i]\n\n\n\tSomething about reading those words warmed the frost that had formed on his spine a little.\n\n\tRichard tried to make himself unwrap his palm, but he just kept talking instead. “That’s a good idea, yeah. So, um… How long did you wanna… ‘you know,’ with me?”\n\n[i]Stop talking! Gaaaah![/i]\n\n\tSpinel smiled at that as he scratched the surface of the next card.\n\n\n[b][i]“From the moment I met you, I wanted to know you better.[/i][/b]\n\n[i][b]That day you saved me, I knew you were the one.”[/b][/i]\n[i]\t[/i]\n\n\tAll the ice around his back suddenly melted away and his face ran hot. Then he shook his head as he tried to free himself of those warm, fuzzy feelings wrapping around him like a blanket. “So Valorie, she’s with a…”\n\nSpinel shot him a straight faced shrug and nodded.\n\n\n[i][b]A Delphox, yes, and they’re both very happy that way.[/b][/i]\n\n\nHis chest tightened and his eyes watered a little.“Does this kinda thing happen a lot?” he asked, holding his fingers out for Spinel’s reply.\n\n\n[i][b]Not really.[/b][/i]\n\n[b][i]But it’s not as rare as people think. [/i][/b]\n[i]\t[/i]\n[i]\t[/i]\nSpinel could sense the uneasy turmoil that had spun up inside Richard’s head, so he tightened his grip around his lover’s hand again and physically shushed the boy with a second ribbon carrying a note.\n\n\n[b][i]I know you’re feeling scared and confused, Richard. I am too.[/i][/b]\n\n[i][b]But you have something important that you need to do.[/b][/i]\n\n\n[b][i]So, eat, enjoy, and just focus on your fight today. Ok?[/i][/b]\n\n[i][b]I’ll be here for you, no matter what happens.[/b][/i]\n\n\nRichard didn’t have anything to say to that. The little guy was right, regardless of what their bodies did that night, if he didn’t shape up right then and there the Team would surely be out of sorts. He might even lose because of it; to Clemont and Bonnie, no less! He nodded, wiped his face free of concern, and Spinel sighed a little in relief as Richard’s laid back expression returned to his eyes.\n\n“Right. Yeah. Thanks, Bu–” He stopped himself short and reached for the tendril wrapped around his other palm, cupping them both together. “Thank you, Spinel. I’m gonna go get ready now…”\n\n But he just couldn’t pull his hands away.\n\nRichard could still sense the warmth of those foreign, amorous thoughts thrumming around in the back of his mind, but that wasn’t the thing keeping his fingers curled around the ‘Mon’s sensitive feelers. Consciously, all he wanted to do was let the little guy down as respectfully as he could. To tell him that it was all really nice, but that he just wanted to go back to being bros and to never speak of it again. That he still wanted him in his life, but not like that.\n\nSo why couldn’t he let go… or keep himself from staring into those pretty blue eyes?\n\nSpinel noticed his man was stuck in place for some reason, unsure why he wasn’t instantly yanking his hands free to bolt out the door, and so he decided to do the honors. He leapt down from his seat, hopped back up onto Richard’s lap, and then released Richard’s hand as he slowly leaned forward to give him a gentle kiss on the lips.\n\n[i]What are you doing? Don’t let him kiss you again![/i]\n\nRichard gazed into Spinel's eyes with glowing red cheeks. “Th… That…”\n\n\nThumpThumpThumpThumpThump\n\n\nSpinel gazed back, holding Richard’s fingers in his paws. “Eee?”\n\n\nSchwip. Beep. Click.\n\nBoom!\n\n\nSpinel’s eyes bugged out of his head as the hotel room door burst open and Richard squealed like a terrified little girl.\n\nEmilio rushed up to both of them with Vaporeon around his neck. “Rich, Rich! Oh man Richard, have you–”\n\nSpinel finally let go of his breath as he recognized his friends.\n\nRich, on the other hand, flailed his hands around, squeaking, “Em, Em, It’s not what it looks like!” \n\nSilence.\n\nFor a little while nobody moved as Emil and Vaporeon looked at each other, glanced back at Richard and Spinel, and then soaked in the scene before them.\n\nA cute in-room breakfast for two. Bed sheets tossed around like a salad. A strip of condoms left on the floor next to Richard's pants. Richard dressed in nothing but a sexy, black silk bathrobe with Spinel up in his lap, practically hand in paw, faces inches apart…\n\n…both slathered in the undeniable odor of male satisfaction.\n\n\t“What [u]does[/u] it look like, Rich?” Emil asked, completely devoid of expression.\n\nRichard’s eyes darted back and forth between Spinel and Emil. “Two best buds… having breakfast?”\n\nEmil gave a curt nod. “That's what it looks like to me.”\n\nVaporeon chirped and nodded in agreement.\n\nRichard’s shoulders loosened. “Yeah, ha! Sorry, got a bit of a… Hey, did you always have a mustache?”\n\nVaporeon blinked twice. “Yes.”\n\nRichard knew she was lying, but they weren’t about to get nosy when he clearly chose not to get nosy with them. “Cool. Anyway, what’s got you using the extra key in such a hurry?” he said, trying his absolute hardest to ignore Spinel whistling a tune as he grabbed up clothes to wash.\n\nEmil tossed his Dexnav into Richard’s lap. “Read that.”\n\nIt was a list of League battle statistics, who was fighting who and when and how it went, laid out in the sexiest format; white text on a black background.\n\nRichard slowly read the lines and his eyes stopped on the one that read, “Wayne Harrison vs. Horace Slate - 6B Ultra Singles Special Qualifier [0-6]”\n\nRichard’s jaw dropped. “[u]Zero[/u] Six, not a single faint?!”\n\nEmil nodded. “I'm still hunting down fan recordings of what we missed last night, but nets’ slow out here. The fight was so one sided it didn’t even make the cut for the bulk weekly playbacks, Rich.”\n\nRichard felt his heart warming with excited heartbeats. “That’s incredible. Harrison is a legend.”\n\nVaporeon scoffed. “{He was a self-righteous prick that smelled like bug balls, good riddance.}”\n\nSpinel’s laughing could be heard from the bathroom.\n\n“{Yeah, I wasn’t a fan, either,}” Emil said, head wobbling around with mixed feelings.\n\nRichard glanced up at Emil. “What’d she say?”\n\n“She says she wishes him luck. Anyway, this has me really concerned, Rich. I don’t know anything about Slate except that he recently replaced Brock in Pewter and that he’s bucking tradition with how it's run. I’m reaching out to see if I can hunt down some students of his or video of his training methods. I tried to dig up stuff on his background and It’s like he just popped out of existence as a teen and then rematerialized a few years ago as an elite trainer. One thing floating around the forums is he buries people’s Pokeballs in his Gym and then makes them dig their partners up one by one before they can challenge his gym.”\n\nA pair of feelers massaged Richard’s shoulders as he listened to Em’s report. “Mysterious turbo trainer with a chip on his shoulder.”\n\nEmil shrugged. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”\n\nRichard slapped his knees and sprung up to his feet. “Nothing to do now but follow him up the mountain and meet him at the top. We’ll review the tapes later.”\n\n“You’re that sure he’s gonna be the last bracket?”\n\n\tSpinel handed out bottles of water and tossed a clean bundle of clothes into his Man’s lap.\n\n\t“No doubt about it, and we’re the ones that gotta break him for everyone else.” Richard pumped his fists. “I had no idea the competition would be this steep. It’s gonna be great when we’re on top.”\n\n\t\n\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/\n\n\nFwooossssh! BOOM!\n\nShe was at the top of her game.\n\nSmack, woosh.\n\n\tStronger than any other Stone in the castle.\n\nKrrrrizzzzle! Whooooffffsh!\n\n\tShe would not be broken.\n\nWhack, smack! Slchling!\n\n\tNo… she would break the world first.\n\nWhop! BOOM!\n\n\tIncineroar stopped as she realized the torso of the practice dummy she was nailing with move after move had vaporized around her fist as she Fire Punched it to distortion. She slowly unclenched her clawed hands and its hardened polymer limbs fell apart, crumbling to the concrete floor in a tangled heap. As she stood there, sweating, waiting for the Gym-hands to replace it so she could get back to pushing herself, she couldn’t help feeling some overwhelming doubt.\n\n[i]\tVaporeon wouldn’t sweat over this. We can do more! We need to go further…[/i]\n\n\tIt was easy to see that her fur was going pallid and she had a slight wobble in her step as she crashed into the wall of ‘Mon watering basins and plunged her head into one of the tubs. She did this for two reasons, one she was really dehydrated and tired and didn’t give a fuck about decorum anymore, two she needed to push past her own limits and continue working to eliminate her weaknesses. \n\n\tHer teammates were all working on their weak spots with Emil. Rhydon wracked his brain to keep his emotions under control with roleplay and self guided meditation. Machamp was busy trying to pluck Combee eggs out of an egg carton and then transfer them to a second carton as fast as he could without breaking the shells. Metagross was working on her accuracy, aiming concentrated fields of energies from different types for specific squares on a specially designed target as Emil called her shots. Torterra was outside, quaking the earth with her steps as she chased Vaporeon, who had been forced to wear tungsten weights while she fled from Torterra carrying a heaping bowl of chocolate Pokepuffs on her back. Richard was benching a new record, shirt off, glistening with sweat as Emil spotted him and shouted instructions to the team.\n\nRichard’s turn would soon come, and when that happened Emil would lift and Richard would work on the Team’s strengths.\n\nSpinel danced around them all, giving what was needed as folks needed it, massaged cramped muscles as they cropped up, swapped used targets, cleaned up gobs of raw scrambled egg, and refilled the Pokepuff dish after each round of nom-nom-tag. Between all of these tasks, he took time to appreciate Richard’s body, hopeful that the tiny spark of desire he felt inside Richard’s mind would bloom into a flame as hot as his.\n\n…and he was [u]very[/u] hopeful that Richard’s subconscious still craved his intimacy, because the little ‘Mon wanted to see where that morning’s kiss might have ended up.\n\nOld Biancca was dressed in a sharp-rimmed sergeant’s hat and matching olive-drab uniform with tightly laced boots, whistling and barking orders as her ‘Mon were out doing military style drills: burpees, sprints, physical combat rounds, and a strange practice where she had her ‘Mon experiment with their energy patterns. They’d form their inner energies into complex blends, oblong shapes, and tightly wound paths before tapping into their cores for Moves that don’t even exist, often resulting in humorous, explosively unpredictable effects.\n\nRegardless of the outcomes, Biancca’s squad would huddle around and burst out into breathtaking shows of supportive merriment.\n\n\tIn a quiet little corner, by the weights where Horace Slate was guiding all his ‘Mon through a muscle building Exercise, Opal danced alone. She moved with graceful, slow, deliberately controlled motions, limbs flowing like circles of water as she stretched and breathed. She worked herself into a multitude of impressive poses as she tested the limits of her kinesthetic flow, eventually coming back to rest with her paws at her navel. Slow, meticulous blocking motions seamlessly shifted to slow motion strikes as her footwork carried her around the wide, empty berth everyone always gave her.\n\n\tAll of her master’s ‘Mon were locked down with a collection of expensive devices strapped to their limbs, meant to strain specific muscle groups as he made them fight each other hand to hand without any energy usage. She was happy to join them if Acey ever asked, but he always told her that her meditations were the most important.\n\n\tIncineroar pulled her head free from the sink, gasping for air as her ears and nose smoldered with sooty clouds that made her nostrils and lungs burn. She marched back as she saw the staff had replaced the polymer dummy with a metal one, then she stopped and waited for the delicate humans to get out of the way.\n\nThe bonfire around her waist roared and crackled as she slowly sucked air deep into her lungs, forcing more and more and more with a guttural snarl.\n\n\tShe breathed out as hard as she could, puking out a colossal cone of flame. Her body twitched and jerked around from the strain, her fur went even more pale, and her clawed digits jittered around. It started out red and orange, but slowly shifted to yellow, to white, and to a soft blue as she fought to power the attack. She fell to one knee, but punched the tatami matt flooring to keep her head up and push further.\n\nShe felt her insides ripping themselves apart, and only stopped when she saw her flame turn a solid, bright blue. She screamed as her claws started peeling away, layer by layer, into curls of white confetti that fell to the ground and her teeth started coming loose at the roots.\n\n\tThe dummy glowed white and sloughed off its chains, plopping to the ground in glowing, molten piles of slag. Only then did she let her quivering body fall to the ground, stripped of her life giving light.\n\n\tOpal’s ear twitched and she peeked one eye open as Incineroar’s body slumped to the floor. Several of the more skittish ‘Mon roaming nearby panicked and ran as she broke from her trance, dashing over to Incineroar so fast that her solid black training dress whipped like a flag behind her.\n\n\tShe knelt down and locked arms with Incineroar, heaving her up without a single ounce of discernable effort, and let the exhausted feline slump over her shoulder. “{Can you hear me?}”\n\n\tIncineroar coughed up smoke and placed her paws on Opal’s shoulders, trying and failing to stand. “{Y-yeah… th…thanks for the lift,}” she said with a delirious, uncharacteristic friendliness.\n\n\tOpal giggled and brushed Incineroar’s wiry mane with a paw as she hefted the poor girl up onto her shoulder. “{Come over here, honey. Let’s fix you up.}”\n\n\tShe gently laid Incineroar against the wall, sitting down on a cushy recovery seat, and zipped off to her trainer. She brought her muzzle up to her trainer’s ear and whispered something to him. Ace glanced back at Incineroar, clutched Opal's cheeks, and kissed her on the forehead. “Ya ah sweet thing, Opala. Get ah some red bag meds.”\n\n\tOpal squeaked in delight and hopped a little at the kiss, happy at her suddenly realizing the smell of liquor had finally vanished from her Acey’s breath. “Nee-bun!”\n\n\tThe old, versicolor ‘Mon wasn’t as smart as all the medical staff she’d met, but over the years she’d gotten very good at applying Pokemeds, knowing which formularies would best stitch a critical body back together without complications. A few times she’d even been saddled with the unfortunate task of performing first aid on humans, and so she went through some training with the Red-Rings in Unova after Acey insisted on some weird soul-searching sabbatical.\n\n\tIn all respects it was a really nice trip, but the ‘stitching bodies up under gunfire' thing wasn’t the highlight to her. She’d rather have stayed at the hot springs.\n\n\tNothing special to it here, though. She snapped off a chunk of energy root, palmed an X-Stable capsule from a steel tube, and snatched up the black spray applicator of Ether from their red supply bag. She spritzed Incineroar around her nose and mouth, gently brushing the girl’s fur as her bright yellow eyes finally got some color back and fluttered open.\n\n\t“Yyyrrrrowlllll… {Hah… you… what’re you helping me for?}” she mumbled past smokey rows of razor sharp teeth. \n\n\tOpal smiled and sat beside her, offering up the capsule. “{Because it looked like you needed help.}”\n\n\tIncineroar trapped the pill between two of her frayed, calcified claws and glanced back at Opal with anxious hesitation.\n\n\tOpal nodded, and gestured for her to take it. “{That’ll restore some of your energy and balance.}”\n\n\tShe placed it in her mouth and swallowed, then coughed and choked on it as Opal panicked around for a bottle of water. “Gggrrrk. Aaagh. “{Haha, well, now it’s not punching my throat, yeah, that feels better.}” She glanced around nervously at her team, then back to the strange Lopunny. “{Aren’t you one of that guy’s ‘Mon? Not smart to help the competition, is it?}”\n\n\tOpal giggled at the kitty’s bravado, legs wiggling in her seat at the pleasant feeling of social interaction. “{Oh, I don’t do League battles anymore, so I’m no threat. Hehehe. Besides, even if I was, my Acey would say something like this…}” she slouched her upper body to the side, pretended to have a smoke in her paw, and raised her chin. “{Gots-a fight someone at the top an-uh way; might-a well be friendly.}”\n\n\tThe two of them chuckled at her impersonation and Opal placed the energy root in her palm, along with a sprinkle of a fine white powder from a vial. “{This is an old remedy from one of Acey’s friends in Kanto. It will recover some of the damage that was done.}” Opal gave her a side eye and placed a caring paw on her shoulder. “{You’re working yourself into a struggle to squeeze extra energy out of your body, aren’t you…}” she hesitated, and looked away as she prepared to place a tiny nugget of criticism into the feline’s lap. “{...you really shouldn’t do that, it does really bad things to your body.}”\n\n\tIncineroar chewed on the root and Opal’s eyes went wide as she realized she [u]also[/u] forgot to tell her to take that one in a single swallow. Incineroar very nearly purged the contents of her stomach, but held it back with a few smacks of the knee. She shook her face, slapped her cheeks, and sighed with relief as she saw the color returning to her fur and felt her teeth beginning to firm up in her jaws. “{I gotta get better, I gotta do it fast. Best things I got are my moves, so I need to build my energy supply.}”\n\n\tOpal nodded sagely, still petting Incineroar’s shoulder, appreciating the platonic touch. “{But those aren’t the only tools at your disposal. You know that, right?}”\n\n\tIncineroar chuckled and blew a ring of smoke. “{Ha, so I’m supposed to go out into the most important fights of my life [u]without[/u] using every ounce of energy I can give? You’re funny, bunny.}”\n\n\tOpal’s eyes were locked onto Incineroar’s face, full of sincere intention. “{Well, yes, actually.}”\n\n\tIncineroar crushed the water bottle, emptying it down her throat, and leaned on her shins as she looked back at this strange Lopunny savior of hers. “{Might need to explain it to me like I just hatched.}”\n\n\tOpal pointed to Incineroar’s chest. “{Your core is deep, and your energy density rivals some of the strongest Pokemon I know. In fact, I dare say it goes beyond in some ways.}”\n\n\tIncineroar folded her arms and lifted her nose proudly.\n\n\tOpal placed her hands together in her lap and continued. “{But you use it inefficiently. Your motions are clumsy, your energy patterns are inconsistent, and you burn through large amounts at once like heaps of gunpowder.}”\n\n\tIncineroar snorted in response and looked away. “{Oh yeah, what’s it you do any different?}”\n\n\tOpal fidgeted nervously, feeling a little bit of animosity rising from Incineroar’s voice. “{Well, your moveset is important, and your energy needed to fuel it is too, but not everything calls for a full fledged Move, y’know? Your Physical techniques just need work so they keep up with everything else.}”\n\n\tIncineroar was starting to feel that unsettling pit in her stomach while standing in Opal’s presence, unsure entirely what it was considering the little lady was so pleasant to be around. “{Yeah. Well, being honest, don’t think I got any kinda time for that.}”\n\n\tOpal leaned forward and reached out as she started walking away. “{I-I could show you some things, I’d be happy to!}”\n\n\tIncineroar rumbled in her throat with annoyance, but took Opal’s paw into hers and shook them politely. “{Don’t worry about it, another time. I really appreciate the meds. I promise I won’t make you scrape me up again.}” She could really feel that urge to get away then, and didn’t want to be rude.\n\n\tOpal’s ears drooped and she held them against her chest despondently. “{Oh, ok. No problem, really.}” She left her seat with a dark cloud over her head, all motivation to practice her moving meditations snuffed out. “{Good luck…}”\n\nHowever, instead of leaving to relax in the lounge, she decided to observe Incineroar a little more. The Gym-boys mankeyed around after spraying the wreckage of Incineroar’s dummy-lane in cold water, then replaced the pile of slag with another Polymer target at her request. Incineroar assaulted the thing with insanely powerful clusters of Fury Swipes, Low Kicks, a cheeky U-Turn, and even an Aerial Ace strike mid-backflip. Her movements were uncontrolled; fast, powerful, but required huge amounts of effort to reign in for the next swipe. She really was a powerful creature, able to totally atomize most other ‘Mon regardless of their type or size…\n\n…but Incineroar wasn’t fighting most other ‘Mon. It was very likely she’d be fighting her friends with Acey at the helm soon, and she wouldn’t let anyone go there with such a glaring hole in her technique. So Opal timidly walked up to a backwards-capped Gym-hand, jumpscaring him as he turned around and suddenly realized he wasn’t alone.\n\n“Lobo-nee?” she asked, pointing to a similar dummy with six powerful actuating arms and cushioned bludgeoning fists.\n\nHe grimaced as he scratched at a patch of freckled skin. “You sure? They make people sign waivers that have a skull and crossbones on it to train with that thing, ‘Mon,” he said with an all too regular break in his voice.\n\nOpal’s fluffy tail wagged and she popped up and down with a happy little squeak. “Nee!”\n\nHe collected up the keys for a forklift and shrugged. “Your funeral, little lady.”\n\nShe squeed and gave him a cute little finger wave as he collected his death machine. “Nee-Bun!”\n\nIncineroar watched with squinted eyes as the Strike-Back Dummy was prepared six lanes down and Opal stepped up, stretching while the Gym crew spent ten minutes powering the damn thing up.\n\nA zit faced teen with braces looked to Opal from behind the Automaton they were busy setting up for her. “Moderate difficulty?”\n\nOpal shook her head, pointing upward.\n\n“Hard?”\n\nOpel shook her head again.\n\nThe kid winced. “Master?”\n\nOpal thought for a moment with a claw on her chin, then she shook her head again.\n\nThe boy gulped and shouted to the other Gym-hands. “Max settings! Aaaaaah!” he screamed as he flipped the button, locked the off switch, and sprinted for safety.\n\nThe dummy’s eyes glowed red and it roared. Set free from its stasis, it got down on all eight limbs and bolted for Opal. An apex predator loping towards a baby deerling, tasting blood in the air.\n\nAs it charged her position, she stood in a flexible pose she’d practiced a million times before, eyes closed, listening… Listening…\n\nIncineroar’s eyes shot open. “{What is she-}”\n\nThe thing launched its Polymer and Metal body into the air to pounce on her, growling with a manufactured face forged into the jaws and mane of a Pyroar on a horrifying six-armed torso.\n\nIncineroar panicked as she realized Slate’s Pokemon wasn’t drawing up any juice to attack with. “{Use a counter Move! Something, anything!}”\n\nIt came crashing down with a lashing knot of clubs and limbs, threatening to swallow her up in a feverish cloud of blunt force trauma, but Opal calmly shifted herself back out of the way of her opponent. She didn’t kick off into the air, or backflip, or dance with some extravagant flourish, instead she glided centimeters above the ground and stopped with as little effort as was Pokepossible as the monster crashed with a cloudy thud.\n\nIts head came back up, scanning for that fluffy little victim who’d foolishly decided to let it loose at max intensity…\n\n“Eee-hup!” Opal tightened her diaphragm as the muscles of her body wound like industrial springs.\n\n…then the thing suddenly found itself staring at its own back as Opal slipped forward just as quickly as she disappeared, snapping its neck free from its actuators with an uppercut to the chin; her arm moved so fast her fingers cracked the air like a whip. She followed the fluid motions of her body into a dexterous cartwheel,  bringing herself into an offensive, fist-forward stance.\n\nThe dummy had sensors as backup in case the head was damaged in combat, but the thing flailed about, missing Opal by less than an inch with every swing. She tangoed with the thing for a while before locking on to a tiny, invisible opening in its defenses as one arm smacked the ground with all its other limbs whistling through the air. \n\n“Aaah-aap!” she cried, body turning with her hips in place as she finally blocked one of the swings with a powerful forearm strike in return. The dummy’s arm snapped free at the elbow, tumbling to the floor in a neighboring lane.\n\nIncineroar and everyone else watched in amazement as she proceeded to pick it apart, stepping around with immaculate displays of footwork, striking its Polymer shell so hard she sent chunks of military-grade plastic armor ricocheting against the walls.\n\n“Eee-hup!” She caught another limb in her paw at the end of a failed attack, twisted it into a lock under her arm, and then busted the elbow joint into a hundred tiny pieces with a hammer fist.\n\nIt tried to come down on her shoulder with a crushing elbow, bearing down with all its weight, but she strafed sideways and shoved her torso into its chest to avoid the blow. As it scrambled back she leapt forward and wrenched the offending limb around like an old automobile crank.\n\n“{Eeeeeeaaaah!}” The shoulder joint and its connected structures creaked and groaned under the pressure, finally giving way with an ear-piercing snap as a chunk of shoulder came free with a long strand of crackling wires and gushing tubes still attached.\n\nThen Opal’s silhouette was suddenly lost in a haze of brown and pink and red.\n\nEach moment of metal on flesh came at the end of a smooth, rounded motion optimized for maximum transfer of force from one body to another, raining chunks of plastic that came free in a drumroll of pinpoint strikes all around its structure. Then she caught a gap she’d made in its armored cowl, jammed her foot against its waist, dug her claws in, and swung her body around to yank the front carapace away like she was pulling a ship on a mooring line. \n\n“{Rrrrrraaaaah!}” High voltage lines arced and flashes of superheated air made her close her eyes as its front plate came loose with rows of industrial-grade bolts snapping like dress shirt buttons.\n\nIt stumbled forward, heaved out a distorted roar, and had no time to react as Opal held the chest plate up on one foot. “Aaa-aap!” She kicked with even more force than before and the plate shot like a cannon, shearing a multimillion dollar animatronic leg in two. She showered the gym with debris not unlike the broken fragments of uncooked angel-hair pasta.\n\nOpal advanced on the thing as it scrambled away from her, floating with an eerie lightness in her steps that seemed to keep her just above the floor. She slapped away two desperate strikes to her temple, hopped forward, and swayed around with fists balled tight. The insane development of her muscles became wildly apparent as she tightened her stomach and shoulders, preparing to finish her bout.\n\n“Ayaaaaaaaaaa!” She locked one arm at the hip and turned her torso around for a single, devastating palm strike. She struck the protective cage around its sensitive innards with so much force it imploded, crumpling its robotic guts into dimestore rubbish, and the armor of its back exploded across the Gym. Her enemy collapsed to the ground, leaking coolant and other unsavory fluids all over the floor as it slowly powered down to join its opponent in peaceful rest. \n\nBut Opal found that she was unable to relax again as every single pair of eyes was stuck following her every move. “{Aah, whats wro-}” She suddenly gasped as she realized what she’d accidentally done and Mareepishly scuttled over to her side of the Arena, fetched her things, and rushed out of the Gym.\n\n“Opala?” Ace called out.\n\n“Bun,” she huffed, exasperated with herself, covering her eyes with her ears.\n\nAce nodded to his team, and then chased after her down the hall. “Opala!”\n\nIncineroar stood in awe. That creature had just pulled a military grade training dummy apart with her bare paws, right in front of everyone’s eyes, and she did it without tapping into her core energy, not even the tiniest little bit… \n\n…then she thought about that final, finishing strike again as the murmuring around her died down. Finally, she could think under the familiar drone of gymnasium activity. She remembered it, as she was busy marveling at the practical nonexistence of Opal’s aura, she was sure she had felt a tiny spark of [u]something[/u] escape Opal’s core. She felt it deep in her gut, maybe for just a fraction of a second, but in that exact moment she felt the flash of something bright and fierce and pure…\n\n…and then she felt the pangs of some deep, primal urge telling her to run for her life.\n\n\n\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/\n\n\t\n\tEmil and Richard stood beside Bonnie and Clemont in the darkened tunnel leading out to the tournament grounds. Both looked incredibly tired, but happy to be there all the same. Emil had Vaporeon in pocket, but Spinel was allowed to stay at Richard’s side since he wasn’t a combatant. \n\n\tClemont was jittering at the shoulders, keeping his eyes down at an angle, trying not to look to his right. He was dressed in his Gym Leader attire, a futuristic, bright blue jumpsuit with yellow hazard stripes that shimmered in the sunlight. His utility backpack wriggled around as he scratched a metal plug at the base of his skull, the one he normally kept hidden beneath a flap of synthetic hair and skin.\n\n\t[i]What did those two end up doing last night? How would that even work?[/i] Clemont shuddered as his inventive little mind got to work without him. [i]Oh, gods, nevermind. Abort, abort mission, Brain![/i]\n\nEmil squinted as his brain logged the intricate details of the nylon-mesh cable locked behind Clemont’s head, leading to his backpack.\n\nBonnie giggled and waved at them, giving the boys a strange, knowing look as they marched towards the light. “Hey cuties!” she squeaked. “You look so wonderful together.” She was dressed in a cute, matching pink variant of Clemont’s jumpsuit, complete with white cape and utility belt.\n\nSpinel whistled back and blew her a kiss, carrying a box of refreshments and healing items in case any of their ‘Mon got knocked out and needed some TLC.\n\n\tRichard’s smile disappeared. “Tha– uh, say what now?”\n\n\tClemont panicked, waving his hands and his mechanical appendages at the same time. “Oh, nothing, she’s always this way. She gets it from our dad. Haha. Crazy runs in the family, hehehe.”\n\n\tBonnie huffed, puffing her cheeks out as she kicked Clemont in the shin. “They [u]do[/u] look wonderful!”\n\nRichard grinned with a confident thumb over his shoulder. “Little guy just won’t let me go if I’ve got even a wrinkle in my pants. Can’t help but look amazing anymore.”\n\nSpinel nodded. “{Damn straight.}”\n\nClemont almost puked in his mouth as Bonnie pushed her cheeks in, gushing. “Aaaaaaaw.”\n\nEmil couldn’t hear what was going on around him as he finished his observations and pointed to Clemont’s neck. “Did that hurt?”\n\nThe young prince shrunk a little at the question, but smiled too, with what looked like a strange sort of pride. “Yeah, it did for a while. These days it just itches now and then. Worth it for sure, though.”\n\n\tEm stood up with his hands in his pockets as he spotted a tiny black serial number etched into its chrome surface. He had all the serial formats memorized, but none of the values made any sense. “Silph did that?”\n\n\tClemont nodded and gave his own thumbs-up. “Apogee, specifically! You’re looking at the youngest member ever admitted to the Jade Institute.” He prodded the plug. “Comes with a lot of perks, friend.”\n\n\tEmil’s brow rose. “That so?”\n\n\tClemont nodded at the end of the tunnel, smiling. “Oh yes.” He perked up and turned back to him. “Hey! When we’re done stomping you guys, I can get a good word in with the Dean of the Institute; I bet you’d be a great fit.”\n\n\tEmil chuckled and glanced back at Clemont with his signature tired, wry smile. “Me? Nah, I’m just a washed up mechanic, kid.”\n\n\tClemont tilted his head, totally perplexed. Then he shook his head in frustration and Emil saw him pause a moment with eyes that were fixed forward in a trance.\n\n\tEmil’s dexnav buzzed.\n\n\t\n[b]\tX-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): I watched you ditch the party yesterday, sir.[/b]\n[b]\tX-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): No schlub dodges Father’s security detail like that.[/b]\n\n\nEmilio felt a tingling chill wash over his body and he could taste adrenaline on his tongue.\n\n\n[b]1-218-860-5045 (Emil):[/b][i][b] [/b][/i][b]That so?[/b]\n\n\nClemont flashed him a cheeky little grin as a tiny, Joltic shaped drone crawled out of his backpack and onto his shoulder. Clemont folded his arms and closed his eyes with a self-assured nod.\n\n\n[b]X-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone about your tunnel into the film database either, since the only thing you plucked up was Harrison’s disaster yesterday.[/b]\n[b]X-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): Nice job, btw. No idea how you pulled that little stunt off, but I [/b][u][b]know[/b][/u][b] it was you. You could have just asked nicely, you know.[/b]\n\n\nEmil smiled as he managed to relax again.\n\n\n[b]1-218-860-5045 (Emil): Thanks, I’ll remember that next time.[/b]\n[b]1-218-860-5045 (Emil): Nice to meet you, Your Highness.[/b]\n\n\nThe gate began to lift and they all stared out upon the sunlit stone.\n\n\n[b]X-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): Skip the decorum, friend.[/b]\n[b]1-112-135-0404 (Clemont): Keep in touch. :3[/b]\n\n\n“It’s a wonderful day to bask in Moltres’ light and watch some masters-in-the-making claw their way to the top of the world. Thank you everyone who joined us yesterday for that absolutely [u]stunning[/u] upset. I bet there were some risk takers on the betting boards crying tears of joy last night.” The announcer’s voice echoed all around, booming from amplified speakers and the synchronized voices of three Rotom drones that zig zagged through the airspace.\n\n[b]\t[/b]The two teams walked to their respective sides, crushed beneath the roars of the crowd as the announcer waited for the noise to die down.\n\n\t“From the far flung region of Hoenn, where the cities shine gold and green, we have Richard Stone and Emilio Mallison!”\n\n\tEmil winced as he heard his name announced and the crowd cheered.[i] Damn that feels weird.[/i]\n\n“These two have pushed their ‘Mon to the absolute limit, setting physical conditioning records that will surely stand the test of time. Slung from the end of a long line of Leaders, Masters, and Legends, their record doesn’t disappoint. Will they spark another star in the family constellation, or will these Stones skip across the water and sink?”\n\nEmil gawked as it suddenly dawned on him and he looked over towards a Richard that was busy relishing at finally managing to catch Emil off guard.\n\n“What? Can’t pretend this is a one man operation anymore. Vaporeon was ready to kill me in my sleep, man.”\n\nEmil snickered, closed his tired eyes, and nodded. “Yeah, guess you’re right. You really are evil, Rich.”\n\nRichard looked down at Spinel, who was shaking at all the noise and attention rushing over him, then he smiled and punched his friend’s shoulder. “Told you ya didn’t know the half of it, Em.”\n\nEmil smirked back. “You know she’d wait ‘til you woke up, right?”\n\nRichard spun around. “Wha–?”\n\n“Aaaaaaand how can we forget their team? Give a glorious, gallant, generous greeting to…”\n\nEmil opened Vaporeon’s ball, and Richard grunted in defeat as he had to get busy setting the other five free from their confinement.\n\n“Rhydon!”\n\t\nRichard’s Rhydon looked around in a panic, locked in place by the flashing of a thousand cameras in a sea of people. Spinel whistled at him, made wagging motions with his ribbons, and then Rhydon settled down and remembered his routine. He reached behind his back and then flapped two little red flags with the words ‘TEAM’ and ‘STONE’ in bold print as he roared with his horn spinning, shaking the ground with the stomping of his feet.\n\n“Incineroar!”\n\nShe stood in a haughty pose, glaring up and around at the crowd with her arms folded as the fiery belt around her waist coughed up a mean cloud.\n\nShe smiled, cloaked in smoky, flammable vapors, and snapped her claws.\n\nIncineroar yowled and then ignited with a loud, flashy boom. The blast sent a giant, smokey copy of her own face roaring into the sky that carried her voice all the way up to the bloodiest of noses in the highstands.\n\n“Torterra!”\n\nTorterra didn’t do much of anything for a while, then it suddenly dawned on her where she was and she rumbled the ears of all bearing witnesses to her call as she rocked around. Several leaves shed from the willowy growth atop her shell, popping like green and brown holiday flares.\n\n“Machamp!”\n\nStill sporting his fluffy pink headphones from warmup that morning, the aging hulk of muscle crouched and posed, flexing in a way that shifted every slab of meat on his body in an unsettlingly masterful display of kinetic control.\n\n“Metagross!”\n\nMetagross stood completely still, laid on the ground, and glanced back at Richard. Then she buzzed as a tiny, anticlimactic spark danced between her legs.\n\n“...and Vapoooreooooon!”\n\nEmil smiled as he watched his beloved burst free, showering him in glistening liquid jewels. Around her neck was one of many attuned-item pendants he’d had made for her, in this case a lovely blue drop shaped glass vessel filled with a restless mercurial liquid; a Mystic Water. She launched herself into the air with a powerful Water Gun and pirouetted into a wild somersault. He was sure he caught the cheeky thing winking back at him as she clapped her paws together twenty feet in the air and he caught her as she fell into his arms.\n\nHis lover snuggled into his chest as the entire arena was misted with the gentle, refreshing drops of a glistening afternoon sunshower.\n\nThe crowd exploded into a fury of excitement at their displays; especially Incineroar’s, though she blew a tired puff of smoke at Vaporeon’s sad little drizzle.\n\n“Aaaaaahhh. What a nice treat after that long string of Great-Roster placements! Good thing we’re all cooled off, because this match is going to get hot, hot, hot!”\n\nClemont and Bonnie lifted their Pokeballs.\n\n“On the north side of the arena, we have two delightful peers of the realm that need no introduction. Gym leaders of the prestigious Prism Tower, holders of the coveted Voltage Badge, these two have brought endless glory to Kalos and her petal-blessed skies. Inventor savant extraordinaire and prime mischief maker of the monarchy, heirs to the Lumiose Throne, Prince and Princess Bourbon!”\n\nMeyer, up in his own private stand, jumped up in the air hooting and hollering as he fired off technicolor flares from a pistol in each hand.\n\nBoth his children sulked with embarrassment.\n\nRichard cackled and bent over laughing. “Oh man, this is gonna be a cinch.”\n\nEmil’s mouth tightened. “I’m not so sure…”\n\n“And for those of you unfortunate enough to have climbed the rainbow steps of Lumiose Gym, you’ll remember their team…”\n\nBonnie tossed her three pokeballs.\n\n“Emolga, Dedenne, aaaaaand… Stunfisk!”\n\nThe crowd giggled and jeered at the unpopular, ugly mon with a wet fart for a cry. However, Richard squinted and growled just loud enough for Emil to hear. “Oh…well… That’s not good.”\n\nEmil gawked back at Richard. “You didn’t check their roster?!”\n\n“I was busy!” Richard whined.\n\nClemont tossed out his first mon.\n\n\t“Heliolisk!”\n\nClemont’s Heliolisk appeared from his Pokeball in a spinning dervish of brown, sparking with gemmy dust, then hissed as he sat beside his master.\n\n“Magneton!”\n\nA bulbous, metallic disc with eyes appeared and made no motion other than to float between Clemont and Bonnie.\n\n“....and Rotom!”\n\nClemont’s pokeball opened and what appeared was… a man.\n\nA well dressed man, wearing a tophat-tuxedo combo with folds so crisp they could cut diamond. His white goatee and curly, platinum mustache gave him an air of suave sophistication that made ladies half his age swoon. He grabbed his hat and swung it beneath him, showing off a silky, stirling quiff and a mean widow’s peak as he bowed low to a crowd that was stunned into roars of confusion. \n\nRichard gawked and pointed. “Did that guy just come out of a Pokeball? Nice trick, but you know this is a [u]Pokemon[/u] battle, right?!”\n\nThe entire arena burst into hysterical laughter.\n\nClemont folded his arms with a Gengar’s grin and nodded to Carlisle.\n\n\n[b]1-112-135-0404 (Clemont): Whaddya think? :)[/b]\n\n\nCarlisle held his arm out and reached into his hat to retrieve a glowing ball of orange fire, blue sparks, and white-hot mania. It cackled with a laughter that made all the screens in the arena flicker and pixelate, then Clemont’s Rotom flew into the air and dove back down into Carlisle’s skull.\n\nHis eyes glowed bright with Groudon’s light.\n\nCarlisle donned his hat and chuckled as he brought his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss to the audience that exploded into a fiery heart-shaped ring. “It’s an honor to serve Lady Lumiose, truly!” he said with a voice that tickled the hearts of women worldwide as sparks of lightning danced around his feet.\n\nMurmurs of shock and awe replaced the chaos of hilarity.\n\n\n[b]1-218-860-5045 (Emil):[/b][i][b] [/b][/i][b]Oh, that’s dirty, Clemont. Fine work.[/b]\n[b]1-218-860-5045 (Emil):[/b][b][i] [/i][/b][b]Be a real shame if something happened to it, though…[/b]\n\n[b]\t[/b]\n[b]\t[/b]“Aaaaah. Do not be alarmed, Lords and Ladies, Rotom is capable of possessing and controlling a body made of the machines of man. As you know, our esteemed Clemont loves his D I Y, so it's no surprise he brewed up a body especially made for this grand event!” The announcer seemed to have waited just long enough for the audience to feel the tension going on between the contestants that they were satisfied with the explanation.\n\n\n[b]1-112-135-0404 (Clemont): Show us whatcha got, old man! >:D[/b]\n\n\nEmil smooched Vaporeon on the head. “{Ready to recycle some trash, honey?}”\n\nVaporeon gave him a mean, excited look and nuzzled his palm. “{Waste is such a terrible thing.}”\n\nEvery member of Clemont and Bonnie's Team floated in the air under a magnetic telekinesis and then formed up into an arch that cracked and sparkled as a single colossal tesla coil. For thirty seconds the air around them hummed and raised the hair of everyone in the arena, then they boomed with trails of lightning that flashed the eyes of everyone witnessing the display, searing an afterimage of a three-petaled flower in their vision with the words “Viva la Lumiose!” in flowy script.\n\nEmil suddenly appreciated why the tickets to live League events warned epileptics to stay home.\n\nMeyer hung breathless from his platform, blowing a trumpet in celebration of his babies, and then smacked a button on the railing that sent flowery firework displays up into the air.\n\n“Both trainers, release your starters!” said a single Rotom Drone with a voice that echoed from megaphone poles all around.\n\nBonnie stepped forward with her arm stretched out, pointing to Richard and Emil. “Écouter! You don’t get to ruffle Carlisle’s coat until you get through [u]me[/u]! Emolga, go!” she shouted, and her yellow cheeked rodent leapt from her shoulders, into the starters square.\n\nClemont chuckled atop Magneton as he sat cross-legged, floating around. “Hey, the two of us talked about it and we both agree… if you make it past Bonnie we’ll count that as a real challenge and let you two have our badge as a consolation. Whaddya say, friends?”\n\nRichard fist bumped Rhydon and smacked him on the shoulder for good luck. “If we beat ya both can we stay at the palace too?” he proposed as his Pokemon entered their square.\n\nClemont slouched and shrugged, doing his level best to appear bored and lazy. “Ha. Ha. Ha. Sure, why not? Honestly, if you actually were to somehow beat us we’d hold a banquet in your honor!”\n\nBonnie smiled at them. “And what if [u]we[/u] win, huh?”\n\n“Oooooh, we have a [u]wager[/u]! What will they say?” The announcer Rotom said to the audience.\n\nRichard pumped his fist, grinning. “If [u]you[/u] win you stay at [u]my[/u] house, and we’ll make [u]you[/u] dinner!”\n\nEmil smashed his palm into his forehead.\n\nRichard’s father, on the other side of the world, watched the event on live Dex-Net-Connect from a cushy sofa in a darkened room. He rubbed at his temples as he took another swig from a tall, ice cold bramble mixed by his Gimmighoul from the family Littleroot Gin reserves. “There’s worse things than royal guests, I suppose.”\n\nClemont scoffed, laughed aloud the crowd, and nearly fell from Magneton’s back. He shook his head, about to open his mouth to raise the stakes.\n\n“DEAL!” Bonnie screamed, remembering the intoxicating aromas that wafted from the Cafe the night before, desperate to get a mouthful of the little Sylveon’s cooking. “...and there’d better be that awesome smelling Gumbo or you’re in for a whooping, mister!”\n\nRichard looked around, realizing she was pointing at him, then he leaned over to Spinel. “Hey, uh. You don’t mind cooking dinner again, do ya? You made that… What’d she say, ‘gumbo’… right?” he whispered.\n\nSpinel nodded as he glanced back, trying to hide a shy little grin. “Syl Syl.”\n\nRichard nodded. “It’s settled then. The Battle of the Banquets begins right now!”\n\nBonnie stomped her feet with excitement. “Ooh yeah, I can taste it now!”\n\nThe Drone floated center stage. “Contestants, are you ready?”\n\nBoth nodded with nothing left to say.\n\nIt rose into the air with a corkscrew maneuver, and took a position up high to best judge the action. “In that case… Contestants, battle begins in…”\n\n\n“Three…”\n\n\n“Two…”\n\n\n“One…”\n\n\n\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Forbidden Waters - 22<br /><br /><br />Houndoom was chucked out of the ring in a smoking arc, landing right at her Master&rsquo;s feet.<br /><br />Harrison stood shaking, petrified with pop-eyed horror.<br /><br />What had happened? He started with an advantage, five on six, against an opponent with a number of Ultra League records you could count on one hand. It should have been over in minutes, with his ace perched atop the drunkard&rsquo;s last &lsquo;Mon, howling her cries of victory.<br /><br />Instead, she&rsquo;d been reduced to a twitching mass of singed fur, shattered bones, and bubbling flesh.<br /><br />Harrison&rsquo;s clothes were soaked with sweat, stuck to his body from the insane humidity and heat. His lungs burned as he choked on Ozone, blinking away flash-blindness with ears ringing as he locked eyes with Horace Slate&rsquo;s Alolan Golem<br /><br />&nbsp;Golem started rumbling like a nightclub subwoofer, forming geometric waves in the glistening surface of an arena covered in craters filled with seawater.. &ldquo;Hurrrr&hellip; hurrrr&hellip; hurrrr&hellip;&rdquo; he exhaled, rippling gouts of superheated air as his hump sparked and ignited the open air..<br /><br />\tAce stood at the opposite end of the arena with Opal at his side, opening a pack of cheap cigarettes from his coat pocket. Then he slowly stuck one between his lips, let his Raichu fire it up with the tip of her tail, and rocked his head back with a long, triumphant drag.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Whazza matta, chief?&rdquo; His words hugged his face in fat clouds of ruddy smoke.<br /><br />&ldquo;Thoze-a mah rookies.&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/<br /><br /><br />&ldquo;Aaugh!&rdquo;<br /><br />\tRichard gasped and jumped up into a seated position on the bed, nearly tossing the sheets onto the floor as his head whipped around, scanning his hotel room for signs of any Valories, Delphoxes, or Sylveons. He clutched at his chest, hyperventilating, trying to make any sense at all out of the extremely vivid, extremely lewd memories he had from the night before.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Aaaah! Gods, did I&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />He felt around his body, looking for any signs of a good time. Then he grabbed up the sheets and felt them for moisture or any other fluids. He leapt out of bed and rattled his hands around the inside of his suitcase looking for the handheld uv-lamp his dad insisted he take. He rolled his eyes at the old man when he tossed it into the bag, but now he was very glad it was there as he ran its purple glow across the surface of all the linens and found nothing suspect at all.<br /><br />Well, except the spot on his pillow where he drooled in his sleep. No surprises there.<br /><br />Totally nude, he darted around the suite. &ldquo;Noooo no no, please no!&rdquo;<br /><br />\tHe looked in the bathroom, nothing. He poked his head around to the kitchenette; nobody. He slumped to the ground and peeked under the bed; nowhere to be seen. He did find his pants there, though, and he counted the packages on the strip of condoms he stuffed in his back pocket; all accounted for. He even went as far as to smoosh the sheets into his face, sucking air through his nose to smell for any sign that someone else joined him; just his own body odor and the expensive cologne he&rsquo;d carefully painted himself with the day before.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Hooo-kay, ok. Oooh man.&rdquo; <br /><br />\tHe definitely had a hangover, so alcohol happened, no doubt about that. Maybe he just drank himself into a stupor on those really tasty cocktails, then Val never showed up so his friend made sure to get him back to the room safely. Then he had some insane dream that he got his dick sucked by Sylveon after Val pulled a viciously scathing switcheroo. Surely that was it. &ldquo;Oh, Cresselia, thank you; it was just a dream.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tBut it was so real! He could still feel those silky smooth lips and the rough, spined texture of that tongue stroking his cock. It sent him places; no other partner in bed had ever come close to the erogenous heights he dreamt about flying to that night. The little guy gave him orgasm after orgasm, wrung him out like a sopping wet towel, then left him flopped across the bed with his brains blown out.<br /><br />&hellip;and then he remembered all that warm, stringy cum running down his&hellip;<br /><br />\t&ldquo;<span class='underline'>No!</span> No no no, that didn&rsquo;t happen!&rdquo; He slapped himself across the cheek. &ldquo;Maybe I should&hellip; no, I&rsquo;m not bringing this up with my therapist, no way, no how. &lsquo;Oooh, unt how dut zat make yoo feel?&rsquo; No-sir-ee.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tHe shut the open window, glad that someone remembered to give him some fresh air for when his head ended up in a chemical vice, and started running a nice, brisk shower to knock whatever that crap was out of his system. The chill of his freezing cold shower shook him awake and he left the bathroom ready to forget the whole thing ever happened.<br /><br />Then he went for his bathrobe by the door and discovered that it wasn&rsquo;t there anymore.&rdquo;Oh.&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />Schwipe. Beep.<br /><br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s heart leapt up into his throat as he covered up his junk and shouted, &ldquo;Aah, housekeeping! Sorry, I&rsquo;m still here!&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />Click. The door started opening.<br /><br /><br />He shouted and backed up, trying to hide himself behind the tiny white hutch below the projector. &ldquo;Aaaah, no! Um&hellip; No pas Disturbio!&rdquo; His voice cracked as he worked to dredge up the words he studied once from a wrinkled tourists guide pamphlet between platters of artisanal cheeses and sampling rounds of Galarian whiskies.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Syyllllvvveeeeeee! Leeonvee!&rdquo; Spinel whistled out, proudly announcing his return. He purred as he spoke, pushing a shiny rolling cart with two covered food platters and a selection of bottled juices. Hung from a ribbon, he carried in a new, freshly laundered housecoat.<br /><br />\t<em>Oh, here he is. Hahaha, he&rsquo;s made breakfast for me before. Nothing strange here at all. </em><br /><br />&rdquo;Hey, little guy, really comin&rsquo; in clutch with that robe. You&rsquo;re amazing.&rdquo;<br /><br />Spinel giggled with a delighted smile as his eyes scanned the man&rsquo;s body up and down, stopping at his waist, then he wrapped Richard up in his ebony silks and tied the belt around his waist with a neat little Kanto Bun. &ldquo;Eeeoon vee,&rdquo; he said as he propped himself up on his ribbons to straighten the collar with his dainty little paws.<br />\t<br />\t&ldquo;Heey! So, I was thinking we go&ndash;&rdquo;<br /><br />\tHis heart stopped beating as Spinel leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.<br /><br />\t<em>Oh no.</em><br /><br />\tThe color washed out of his face. &ldquo;Ooh, haha. Thanks.&rdquo;<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Mm hm.&rdquo; Spinel nodded his head once as he started setting the table for breakfast.<br /><br />\tRichard&rsquo;s hands went clammy as he wrung them together with a smile that looked a lot like a painful wince.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Hey&hellip; Did you, ah&hellip; get me home last night?&rdquo;<br /><br />\tSpinel nodded again, having set the table for both of them to enjoy a fatty, continental breakfast. Cooked by him, obviously, because it smelled way better than the house chef&rsquo;s stuff. &ldquo;Syl syl.&rdquo;<br /><br />\t<em>Oh, please, no.</em><br />\t<br />\tHe sat in a chair across the little dining table from Spinel, playing with a napkin Spinel had folded into an adorable Pidove shape. &ldquo;So, um..&rdquo;<br /><br />\tSpinel chirped and tilted his head. &ldquo;Eee?&rdquo;<br /><br />\t<em>Oh, merciful gods, please no.</em><br /><br />\tRichard winced a little. &ldquo;Did we, um...?&rdquo; he asked, looking back at the bed.<br /><br />\tSpinel perked up with satisfaction and bashfully covered his nose. &ldquo;Syl Syl.&rdquo;<br />\t<br /><em>Oh my gods, calm down, shut up, don&rsquo;t say anyth-</em><br /><br />His brain reflexively repeated the question he asked all his partners. &ldquo;Was it&hellip; um&hellip; good for you?&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Oh, Zekrom, why?! Why?!</em><br /><br />One of Spinel&rsquo;s head ribbons coiled around Richard&rsquo;s palm and he blushed as he brought it up to his lips for a long, slow kiss of the wrist. &ldquo;Syyyl,&rdquo; he cooed, nuzzling his fingertips.<br /><br />\t<em>What am I even supposed to say? What do I do?!</em><br /><br />\tRichard looked down at his breakfast, a veritable mountain of carbs, fats, and proteins with hands shaking as he reached for his fork and assumed the position. He bit into a fat, steaming sausage link that practically melted as he touched it and discovered he couldn&rsquo;t taste anything at all.<br /><br />\tSpinel&rsquo;s head bobbed up and down as he hummed with a cheery disposition, happier than anyone had ever seen him before, relishing every blissful moment as he tried to snag up Richard&rsquo;s gaze with a smile, chuckle, or a wink any time he could.<br /><br />\t<em>I fucked a Pokemon! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em><br /><br />\tRichard reached for a packet of mayo and coughed as he realized he&rsquo;d totally forgotten about his hand wrapped in Spinel&rsquo;s grasp. His hands naturally fiddled with the end of Spinel&rsquo;s ribbon, enjoying its tingly warmth as his bestest bud purred between bites. He wasn&rsquo;t sure why, but Richard found it way too difficult to stop himself from closing his hand around the ribbon, so he just kept shoveling invisible calories down his gob to try and soothe those shell-shocked nerves. &ldquo;Hey, so, uh&hellip; I&rsquo;ll need to find you in the registry later for that trade. Do you have a nickname, or is it just &lsquo;Sylveon?&rsquo;&rdquo;<br /><br />\t<em>I can&rsquo;t bring this home with me! What am I saying?! Stop!</em><br /><br />\tSpinel touched a napkin to his lips, dabbing up a little bit of syrup on his chin, and then he reached into his bags for a card. He took up his little red pen and scribbled, humming to himself.<br /><br />\tRichard flipped the card around between his fingers, unprepared for what lay within.<br /><br /><br /><em><strong>&ldquo;My friends call me Spinel&hellip;</strong></em><br /><br /><strong><em>&hellip;but you can call me whatever you like.&rdquo;</em></strong><br /><br />\t\t<br />\t&ldquo;Oh, really? I, ah&hellip; Spinel&hellip; I&rsquo;m sorry, I&hellip; never asked before.&rdquo; Richard felt terrible. How would he have felt if he made besties with someone and never took the time to ask their name?<br /><br />\tSpinel shook his head, squeezed Richard&rsquo;s palm, and scrawled again with a wink.<br /><br />\t<br /><em><strong>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry about any of that, lover.</strong></em><br /><br /><strong><em>Finally hearing you say it was worth the wait.&rdquo;</em></strong><br /><br /><br /><em>&lsquo;Lover?!&rsquo;</em><br /><br />\tHe had escaped that place of sheer terror in his mind and ended up dropped into a dark, uncanny valley.<br /><br />How could he have missed the signs?<br /><br />They got on so well; in fact, he was so comfortable with the Captain&rsquo;s Sylveon it really felt like he&rsquo;d formed the kind of friendship Em had in Vaporeon. The little guy was practically serenading him outside his window each night. Any time Sylveon reunited with him he was drenched in public cries of elation. Spinel waited on him, hand and foot, fought to protect him from the police, and dragged his entourage around town to show them all the best spots in the city&hellip;<br /><br />And the <em>Bouquet</em>, the <span class='underline'><strong><em>Bouquet</em></strong></span>, how could he have been so fucking <span class='underline'>stupid</span>.<br /><br />\tHe&rsquo;d spent so long vilifying folks wanting to sleep with &lsquo;Mon that he never even considered what he might do if a &lsquo;Mon wanted to sleep with <span class='underline'>him</span>.<br /><br />\t<span class='underline'><em>What</em></span><em> am I even </em><span class='underline'><em>thinking</em></span><em>!? &lsquo;Mon can&rsquo;t consent; I messed up so bad, I&rsquo;m so fucked!</em><br /><br />\tRichard swallowed another tasteless mouthful of what was surely a culinary masterpiece. &ldquo;Hey, um. Do you mind if we never tell anyone about&hellip; that?&rdquo;<br /><br />\tSpinel just giggled, scoffed playfully, and shook his head as he started writing again.<br /><br /><em>\t</em><br /><em><strong>&ldquo;Oh, goodness no! That would be a complete disaster.</strong></em><br /><br /><strong><em>Valorie knows, of course, but she wouldn&rsquo;t betray her own like that.</em></strong><br /><br /><em><strong>Let&rsquo;s just make this our little secret, handsome.&rdquo;</strong></em><br /><br /><br />\tSomething about reading those words warmed the frost that had formed on his spine a little.<br /><br />\tRichard tried to make himself unwrap his palm, but he just kept talking instead. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good idea, yeah. So, um&hellip; How long did you wanna&hellip; &lsquo;you know,&rsquo; with me?&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Stop talking! Gaaaah!</em><br /><br />\tSpinel smiled at that as he scratched the surface of the next card.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>&ldquo;From the moment I met you, I wanted to know you better.</em></strong><br /><br /><em><strong>That day you saved me, I knew you were the one.&rdquo;</strong></em><br /><em>\t</em><br /><br />\tAll the ice around his back suddenly melted away and his face ran hot. Then he shook his head as he tried to free himself of those warm, fuzzy feelings wrapping around him like a blanket. &ldquo;So Valorie, she&rsquo;s with a&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Spinel shot him a straight faced shrug and nodded.<br /><br /><br /><em><strong>A Delphox, yes, and they&rsquo;re both very happy that way.</strong></em><br /><br /><br />His chest tightened and his eyes watered a little.&ldquo;Does this kinda thing happen a lot?&rdquo; he asked, holding his fingers out for Spinel&rsquo;s reply.<br /><br /><br /><em><strong>Not really.</strong></em><br /><br /><strong><em>But it&rsquo;s not as rare as people think. </em></strong><br /><em>\t</em><br /><em>\t</em><br />Spinel could sense the uneasy turmoil that had spun up inside Richard&rsquo;s head, so he tightened his grip around his lover&rsquo;s hand again and physically shushed the boy with a second ribbon carrying a note.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>I know you&rsquo;re feeling scared and confused, Richard. I am too.</em></strong><br /><br /><em><strong>But you have something important that you need to do.</strong></em><br /><br /><br /><strong><em>So, eat, enjoy, and just focus on your fight today. Ok?</em></strong><br /><br /><em><strong>I&rsquo;ll be here for you, no matter what happens.</strong></em><br /><br /><br />Richard didn&rsquo;t have anything to say to that. The little guy was right, regardless of what their bodies did that night, if he didn&rsquo;t shape up right then and there the Team would surely be out of sorts. He might even lose because of it; to Clemont and Bonnie, no less! He nodded, wiped his face free of concern, and Spinel sighed a little in relief as Richard&rsquo;s laid back expression returned to his eyes.<br /><br />&ldquo;Right. Yeah. Thanks, Bu&ndash;&rdquo; He stopped himself short and reached for the tendril wrapped around his other palm, cupping them both together. &ldquo;Thank you, Spinel. I&rsquo;m gonna go get ready now&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />&nbsp;But he just couldn&rsquo;t pull his hands away.<br /><br />Richard could still sense the warmth of those foreign, amorous thoughts thrumming around in the back of his mind, but that wasn&rsquo;t the thing keeping his fingers curled around the &lsquo;Mon&rsquo;s sensitive feelers. Consciously, all he wanted to do was let the little guy down as respectfully as he could. To tell him that it was all really nice, but that he just wanted to go back to being bros and to never speak of it again. That he still wanted him in his life, but not like that.<br /><br />So why couldn&rsquo;t he let go&hellip; or keep himself from staring into those pretty blue eyes?<br /><br />Spinel noticed his man was stuck in place for some reason, unsure why he wasn&rsquo;t instantly yanking his hands free to bolt out the door, and so he decided to do the honors. He leapt down from his seat, hopped back up onto Richard&rsquo;s lap, and then released Richard&rsquo;s hand as he slowly leaned forward to give him a gentle kiss on the lips.<br /><br /><em>What are you doing? Don&rsquo;t let him kiss you again!</em><br /><br />Richard gazed into Spinel&#039;s eyes with glowing red cheeks. &ldquo;Th&hellip; That&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />ThumpThumpThumpThumpThump<br /><br /><br />Spinel gazed back, holding Richard&rsquo;s fingers in his paws. &ldquo;Eee?&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />Schwip. Beep. Click.<br /><br />Boom!<br /><br /><br />Spinel&rsquo;s eyes bugged out of his head as the hotel room door burst open and Richard squealed like a terrified little girl.<br /><br />Emilio rushed up to both of them with Vaporeon around his neck. &ldquo;Rich, Rich! Oh man Richard, have you&ndash;&rdquo;<br /><br />Spinel finally let go of his breath as he recognized his friends.<br /><br />Rich, on the other hand, flailed his hands around, squeaking, &ldquo;Em, Em, It&rsquo;s not what it looks like!&rdquo; <br /><br />Silence.<br /><br />For a little while nobody moved as Emil and Vaporeon looked at each other, glanced back at Richard and Spinel, and then soaked in the scene before them.<br /><br />A cute in-room breakfast for two. Bed sheets tossed around like a salad. A strip of condoms left on the floor next to Richard&#039;s pants. Richard dressed in nothing but a sexy, black silk bathrobe with Spinel up in his lap, practically hand in paw, faces inches apart&hellip;<br /><br />&hellip;both slathered in the undeniable odor of male satisfaction.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;What <span class='underline'>does</span> it look like, Rich?&rdquo; Emil asked, completely devoid of expression.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s eyes darted back and forth between Spinel and Emil. &ldquo;Two best buds&hellip; having breakfast?&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil gave a curt nod. &ldquo;That&#039;s what it looks like to me.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon chirped and nodded in agreement.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s shoulders loosened. &ldquo;Yeah, ha! Sorry, got a bit of a&hellip; Hey, did you always have a mustache?&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon blinked twice. &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard knew she was lying, but they weren&rsquo;t about to get nosy when he clearly chose not to get nosy with them. &ldquo;Cool. Anyway, what&rsquo;s got you using the extra key in such a hurry?&rdquo; he said, trying his absolute hardest to ignore Spinel whistling a tune as he grabbed up clothes to wash.<br /><br />Emil tossed his Dexnav into Richard&rsquo;s lap. &ldquo;Read that.&rdquo;<br /><br />It was a list of League battle statistics, who was fighting who and when and how it went, laid out in the sexiest format; white text on a black background.<br /><br />Richard slowly read the lines and his eyes stopped on the one that read, &ldquo;Wayne Harrison vs. Horace Slate - 6B Ultra Singles Special Qualifier [0-6]&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s jaw dropped. &ldquo;<span class='underline'>Zero</span> Six, not a single faint?!&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil nodded. &ldquo;I&#039;m still hunting down fan recordings of what we missed last night, but nets&rsquo; slow out here. The fight was so one sided it didn&rsquo;t even make the cut for the bulk weekly playbacks, Rich.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard felt his heart warming with excited heartbeats. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s incredible. Harrison is a legend.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon scoffed. &ldquo;{He was a self-righteous prick that smelled like bug balls, good riddance.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Spinel&rsquo;s laughing could be heard from the bathroom.<br /><br />&ldquo;{Yeah, I wasn&rsquo;t a fan, either,}&rdquo; Emil said, head wobbling around with mixed feelings.<br /><br />Richard glanced up at Emil. &ldquo;What&rsquo;d she say?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;She says she wishes him luck. Anyway, this has me really concerned, Rich. I don&rsquo;t know anything about Slate except that he recently replaced Brock in Pewter and that he&rsquo;s bucking tradition with how it&#039;s run. I&rsquo;m reaching out to see if I can hunt down some students of his or video of his training methods. I tried to dig up stuff on his background and It&rsquo;s like he just popped out of existence as a teen and then rematerialized a few years ago as an elite trainer. One thing floating around the forums is he buries people&rsquo;s Pokeballs in his Gym and then makes them dig their partners up one by one before they can challenge his gym.&rdquo;<br /><br />A pair of feelers massaged Richard&rsquo;s shoulders as he listened to Em&rsquo;s report. &ldquo;Mysterious turbo trainer with a chip on his shoulder.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil shrugged. &ldquo;Yeah, that about sums it up.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard slapped his knees and sprung up to his feet. &ldquo;Nothing to do now but follow him up the mountain and meet him at the top. We&rsquo;ll review the tapes later.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You&rsquo;re that sure he&rsquo;s gonna be the last bracket?&rdquo;<br /><br />\tSpinel handed out bottles of water and tossed a clean bundle of clothes into his Man&rsquo;s lap.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;No doubt about it, and we&rsquo;re the ones that gotta break him for everyone else.&rdquo; Richard pumped his fists. &ldquo;I had no idea the competition would be this steep. It&rsquo;s gonna be great when we&rsquo;re on top.&rdquo;<br /><br />\t<br />\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/<br /><br /><br />Fwooossssh! BOOM!<br /><br />She was at the top of her game.<br /><br />Smack, woosh.<br /><br />\tStronger than any other Stone in the castle.<br /><br />Krrrrizzzzle! Whooooffffsh!<br /><br />\tShe would not be broken.<br /><br />Whack, smack! Slchling!<br /><br />\tNo&hellip; she would break the world first.<br /><br />Whop! BOOM!<br /><br />\tIncineroar stopped as she realized the torso of the practice dummy she was nailing with move after move had vaporized around her fist as she Fire Punched it to distortion. She slowly unclenched her clawed hands and its hardened polymer limbs fell apart, crumbling to the concrete floor in a tangled heap. As she stood there, sweating, waiting for the Gym-hands to replace it so she could get back to pushing herself, she couldn&rsquo;t help feeling some overwhelming doubt.<br /><br /><em>\tVaporeon wouldn&rsquo;t sweat over this. We can do more! We need to go further&hellip;</em><br /><br />\tIt was easy to see that her fur was going pallid and she had a slight wobble in her step as she crashed into the wall of &lsquo;Mon watering basins and plunged her head into one of the tubs. She did this for two reasons, one she was really dehydrated and tired and didn&rsquo;t give a fuck about decorum anymore, two she needed to push past her own limits and continue working to eliminate her weaknesses. <br /><br />\tHer teammates were all working on their weak spots with Emil. Rhydon wracked his brain to keep his emotions under control with roleplay and self guided meditation. Machamp was busy trying to pluck Combee eggs out of an egg carton and then transfer them to a second carton as fast as he could without breaking the shells. Metagross was working on her accuracy, aiming concentrated fields of energies from different types for specific squares on a specially designed target as Emil called her shots. Torterra was outside, quaking the earth with her steps as she chased Vaporeon, who had been forced to wear tungsten weights while she fled from Torterra carrying a heaping bowl of chocolate Pokepuffs on her back. Richard was benching a new record, shirt off, glistening with sweat as Emil spotted him and shouted instructions to the team.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s turn would soon come, and when that happened Emil would lift and Richard would work on the Team&rsquo;s strengths.<br /><br />Spinel danced around them all, giving what was needed as folks needed it, massaged cramped muscles as they cropped up, swapped used targets, cleaned up gobs of raw scrambled egg, and refilled the Pokepuff dish after each round of nom-nom-tag. Between all of these tasks, he took time to appreciate Richard&rsquo;s body, hopeful that the tiny spark of desire he felt inside Richard&rsquo;s mind would bloom into a flame as hot as his.<br /><br />&hellip;and he was <span class='underline'>very</span> hopeful that Richard&rsquo;s subconscious still craved his intimacy, because the little &lsquo;Mon wanted to see where that morning&rsquo;s kiss might have ended up.<br /><br />Old Biancca was dressed in a sharp-rimmed sergeant&rsquo;s hat and matching olive-drab uniform with tightly laced boots, whistling and barking orders as her &lsquo;Mon were out doing military style drills: burpees, sprints, physical combat rounds, and a strange practice where she had her &lsquo;Mon experiment with their energy patterns. They&rsquo;d form their inner energies into complex blends, oblong shapes, and tightly wound paths before tapping into their cores for Moves that don&rsquo;t even exist, often resulting in humorous, explosively unpredictable effects.<br /><br />Regardless of the outcomes, Biancca&rsquo;s squad would huddle around and burst out into breathtaking shows of supportive merriment.<br /><br />\tIn a quiet little corner, by the weights where Horace Slate was guiding all his &lsquo;Mon through a muscle building Exercise, Opal danced alone. She moved with graceful, slow, deliberately controlled motions, limbs flowing like circles of water as she stretched and breathed. She worked herself into a multitude of impressive poses as she tested the limits of her kinesthetic flow, eventually coming back to rest with her paws at her navel. Slow, meticulous blocking motions seamlessly shifted to slow motion strikes as her footwork carried her around the wide, empty berth everyone always gave her.<br /><br />\tAll of her master&rsquo;s &lsquo;Mon were locked down with a collection of expensive devices strapped to their limbs, meant to strain specific muscle groups as he made them fight each other hand to hand without any energy usage. She was happy to join them if Acey ever asked, but he always told her that her meditations were the most important.<br /><br />\tIncineroar pulled her head free from the sink, gasping for air as her ears and nose smoldered with sooty clouds that made her nostrils and lungs burn. She marched back as she saw the staff had replaced the polymer dummy with a metal one, then she stopped and waited for the delicate humans to get out of the way.<br /><br />The bonfire around her waist roared and crackled as she slowly sucked air deep into her lungs, forcing more and more and more with a guttural snarl.<br /><br />\tShe breathed out as hard as she could, puking out a colossal cone of flame. Her body twitched and jerked around from the strain, her fur went even more pale, and her clawed digits jittered around. It started out red and orange, but slowly shifted to yellow, to white, and to a soft blue as she fought to power the attack. She fell to one knee, but punched the tatami matt flooring to keep her head up and push further.<br /><br />She felt her insides ripping themselves apart, and only stopped when she saw her flame turn a solid, bright blue. She screamed as her claws started peeling away, layer by layer, into curls of white confetti that fell to the ground and her teeth started coming loose at the roots.<br /><br />\tThe dummy glowed white and sloughed off its chains, plopping to the ground in glowing, molten piles of slag. Only then did she let her quivering body fall to the ground, stripped of her life giving light.<br /><br />\tOpal&rsquo;s ear twitched and she peeked one eye open as Incineroar&rsquo;s body slumped to the floor. Several of the more skittish &lsquo;Mon roaming nearby panicked and ran as she broke from her trance, dashing over to Incineroar so fast that her solid black training dress whipped like a flag behind her.<br /><br />\tShe knelt down and locked arms with Incineroar, heaving her up without a single ounce of discernable effort, and let the exhausted feline slump over her shoulder. &ldquo;{Can you hear me?}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar coughed up smoke and placed her paws on Opal&rsquo;s shoulders, trying and failing to stand. &ldquo;{Y-yeah&hellip; th&hellip;thanks for the lift,}&rdquo; she said with a delirious, uncharacteristic friendliness.<br /><br />\tOpal giggled and brushed Incineroar&rsquo;s wiry mane with a paw as she hefted the poor girl up onto her shoulder. &ldquo;{Come over here, honey. Let&rsquo;s fix you up.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tShe gently laid Incineroar against the wall, sitting down on a cushy recovery seat, and zipped off to her trainer. She brought her muzzle up to her trainer&rsquo;s ear and whispered something to him. Ace glanced back at Incineroar, clutched Opal&#039;s cheeks, and kissed her on the forehead. &ldquo;Ya ah sweet thing, Opala. Get ah some red bag meds.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal squeaked in delight and hopped a little at the kiss, happy at her suddenly realizing the smell of liquor had finally vanished from her Acey&rsquo;s breath. &ldquo;Nee-bun!&rdquo;<br /><br />\tThe old, versicolor &lsquo;Mon wasn&rsquo;t as smart as all the medical staff she&rsquo;d met, but over the years she&rsquo;d gotten very good at applying Pokemeds, knowing which formularies would best stitch a critical body back together without complications. A few times she&rsquo;d even been saddled with the unfortunate task of performing first aid on humans, and so she went through some training with the Red-Rings in Unova after Acey insisted on some weird soul-searching sabbatical.<br /><br />\tIn all respects it was a really nice trip, but the &lsquo;stitching bodies up under gunfire&#039; thing wasn&rsquo;t the highlight to her. She&rsquo;d rather have stayed at the hot springs.<br /><br />\tNothing special to it here, though. She snapped off a chunk of energy root, palmed an X-Stable capsule from a steel tube, and snatched up the black spray applicator of Ether from their red supply bag. She spritzed Incineroar around her nose and mouth, gently brushing the girl&rsquo;s fur as her bright yellow eyes finally got some color back and fluttered open.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Yyyrrrrowlllll&hellip; {Hah&hellip; you&hellip; what&rsquo;re you helping me for?}&rdquo; she mumbled past smokey rows of razor sharp teeth. <br /><br />\tOpal smiled and sat beside her, offering up the capsule. &ldquo;{Because it looked like you needed help.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar trapped the pill between two of her frayed, calcified claws and glanced back at Opal with anxious hesitation.<br /><br />\tOpal nodded, and gestured for her to take it. &ldquo;{That&rsquo;ll restore some of your energy and balance.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tShe placed it in her mouth and swallowed, then coughed and choked on it as Opal panicked around for a bottle of water. &ldquo;Gggrrrk. Aaagh. &ldquo;{Haha, well, now it&rsquo;s not punching my throat, yeah, that feels better.}&rdquo; She glanced around nervously at her team, then back to the strange Lopunny. &ldquo;{Aren&rsquo;t you one of that guy&rsquo;s &lsquo;Mon? Not smart to help the competition, is it?}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal giggled at the kitty&rsquo;s bravado, legs wiggling in her seat at the pleasant feeling of social interaction. &ldquo;{Oh, I don&rsquo;t do League battles anymore, so I&rsquo;m no threat. Hehehe. Besides, even if I was, my Acey would say something like this&hellip;}&rdquo; she slouched her upper body to the side, pretended to have a smoke in her paw, and raised her chin. &ldquo;{Gots-a fight someone at the top an-uh way; might-a well be friendly.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tThe two of them chuckled at her impersonation and Opal placed the energy root in her palm, along with a sprinkle of a fine white powder from a vial. &ldquo;{This is an old remedy from one of Acey&rsquo;s friends in Kanto. It will recover some of the damage that was done.}&rdquo; Opal gave her a side eye and placed a caring paw on her shoulder. &ldquo;{You&rsquo;re working yourself into a struggle to squeeze extra energy out of your body, aren&rsquo;t you&hellip;}&rdquo; she hesitated, and looked away as she prepared to place a tiny nugget of criticism into the feline&rsquo;s lap. &ldquo;{...you really shouldn&rsquo;t do that, it does really bad things to your body.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar chewed on the root and Opal&rsquo;s eyes went wide as she realized she <span class='underline'>also</span> forgot to tell her to take that one in a single swallow. Incineroar very nearly purged the contents of her stomach, but held it back with a few smacks of the knee. She shook her face, slapped her cheeks, and sighed with relief as she saw the color returning to her fur and felt her teeth beginning to firm up in her jaws. &ldquo;{I gotta get better, I gotta do it fast. Best things I got are my moves, so I need to build my energy supply.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal nodded sagely, still petting Incineroar&rsquo;s shoulder, appreciating the platonic touch. &ldquo;{But those aren&rsquo;t the only tools at your disposal. You know that, right?}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar chuckled and blew a ring of smoke. &ldquo;{Ha, so I&rsquo;m supposed to go out into the most important fights of my life <span class='underline'>without</span> using every ounce of energy I can give? You&rsquo;re funny, bunny.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal&rsquo;s eyes were locked onto Incineroar&rsquo;s face, full of sincere intention. &ldquo;{Well, yes, actually.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar crushed the water bottle, emptying it down her throat, and leaned on her shins as she looked back at this strange Lopunny savior of hers. &ldquo;{Might need to explain it to me like I just hatched.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal pointed to Incineroar&rsquo;s chest. &ldquo;{Your core is deep, and your energy density rivals some of the strongest Pokemon I know. In fact, I dare say it goes beyond in some ways.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar folded her arms and lifted her nose proudly.<br /><br />\tOpal placed her hands together in her lap and continued. &ldquo;{But you use it inefficiently. Your motions are clumsy, your energy patterns are inconsistent, and you burn through large amounts at once like heaps of gunpowder.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar snorted in response and looked away. &ldquo;{Oh yeah, what&rsquo;s it you do any different?}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal fidgeted nervously, feeling a little bit of animosity rising from Incineroar&rsquo;s voice. &ldquo;{Well, your moveset is important, and your energy needed to fuel it is too, but not everything calls for a full fledged Move, y&rsquo;know? Your Physical techniques just need work so they keep up with everything else.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar was starting to feel that unsettling pit in her stomach while standing in Opal&rsquo;s presence, unsure entirely what it was considering the little lady was so pleasant to be around. &ldquo;{Yeah. Well, being honest, don&rsquo;t think I got any kinda time for that.}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tOpal leaned forward and reached out as she started walking away. &ldquo;{I-I could show you some things, I&rsquo;d be happy to!}&rdquo;<br /><br />\tIncineroar rumbled in her throat with annoyance, but took Opal&rsquo;s paw into hers and shook them politely. &ldquo;{Don&rsquo;t worry about it, another time. I really appreciate the meds. I promise I won&rsquo;t make you scrape me up again.}&rdquo; She could really feel that urge to get away then, and didn&rsquo;t want to be rude.<br /><br />\tOpal&rsquo;s ears drooped and she held them against her chest despondently. &ldquo;{Oh, ok. No problem, really.}&rdquo; She left her seat with a dark cloud over her head, all motivation to practice her moving meditations snuffed out. &ldquo;{Good luck&hellip;}&rdquo;<br /><br />However, instead of leaving to relax in the lounge, she decided to observe Incineroar a little more. The Gym-boys mankeyed around after spraying the wreckage of Incineroar&rsquo;s dummy-lane in cold water, then replaced the pile of slag with another Polymer target at her request. Incineroar assaulted the thing with insanely powerful clusters of Fury Swipes, Low Kicks, a cheeky U-Turn, and even an Aerial Ace strike mid-backflip. Her movements were uncontrolled; fast, powerful, but required huge amounts of effort to reign in for the next swipe. She really was a powerful creature, able to totally atomize most other &lsquo;Mon regardless of their type or size&hellip;<br /><br />&hellip;but Incineroar wasn&rsquo;t fighting most other &lsquo;Mon. It was very likely she&rsquo;d be fighting her friends with Acey at the helm soon, and she wouldn&rsquo;t let anyone go there with such a glaring hole in her technique. So Opal timidly walked up to a backwards-capped Gym-hand, jumpscaring him as he turned around and suddenly realized he wasn&rsquo;t alone.<br /><br />&ldquo;Lobo-nee?&rdquo; she asked, pointing to a similar dummy with six powerful actuating arms and cushioned bludgeoning fists.<br /><br />He grimaced as he scratched at a patch of freckled skin. &ldquo;You sure? They make people sign waivers that have a skull and crossbones on it to train with that thing, &lsquo;Mon,&rdquo; he said with an all too regular break in his voice.<br /><br />Opal&rsquo;s fluffy tail wagged and she popped up and down with a happy little squeak. &ldquo;Nee!&rdquo;<br /><br />He collected up the keys for a forklift and shrugged. &ldquo;Your funeral, little lady.&rdquo;<br /><br />She squeed and gave him a cute little finger wave as he collected his death machine. &ldquo;Nee-Bun!&rdquo;<br /><br />Incineroar watched with squinted eyes as the Strike-Back Dummy was prepared six lanes down and Opal stepped up, stretching while the Gym crew spent ten minutes powering the damn thing up.<br /><br />A zit faced teen with braces looked to Opal from behind the Automaton they were busy setting up for her. &ldquo;Moderate difficulty?&rdquo;<br /><br />Opal shook her head, pointing upward.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hard?&rdquo;<br /><br />Opel shook her head again.<br /><br />The kid winced. &ldquo;Master?&rdquo;<br /><br />Opal thought for a moment with a claw on her chin, then she shook her head again.<br /><br />The boy gulped and shouted to the other Gym-hands. &ldquo;Max settings! Aaaaaah!&rdquo; he screamed as he flipped the button, locked the off switch, and sprinted for safety.<br /><br />The dummy&rsquo;s eyes glowed red and it roared. Set free from its stasis, it got down on all eight limbs and bolted for Opal. An apex predator loping towards a baby deerling, tasting blood in the air.<br /><br />As it charged her position, she stood in a flexible pose she&rsquo;d practiced a million times before, eyes closed, listening&hellip; Listening&hellip;<br /><br />Incineroar&rsquo;s eyes shot open. &ldquo;{What is she-}&rdquo;<br /><br />The thing launched its Polymer and Metal body into the air to pounce on her, growling with a manufactured face forged into the jaws and mane of a Pyroar on a horrifying six-armed torso.<br /><br />Incineroar panicked as she realized Slate&rsquo;s Pokemon wasn&rsquo;t drawing up any juice to attack with. &ldquo;{Use a counter Move! Something, anything!}&rdquo;<br /><br />It came crashing down with a lashing knot of clubs and limbs, threatening to swallow her up in a feverish cloud of blunt force trauma, but Opal calmly shifted herself back out of the way of her opponent. She didn&rsquo;t kick off into the air, or backflip, or dance with some extravagant flourish, instead she glided centimeters above the ground and stopped with as little effort as was Pokepossible as the monster crashed with a cloudy thud.<br /><br />Its head came back up, scanning for that fluffy little victim who&rsquo;d foolishly decided to let it loose at max intensity&hellip;<br /><br />&ldquo;Eee-hup!&rdquo; Opal tightened her diaphragm as the muscles of her body wound like industrial springs.<br /><br />&hellip;then the thing suddenly found itself staring at its own back as Opal slipped forward just as quickly as she disappeared, snapping its neck free from its actuators with an uppercut to the chin; her arm moved so fast her fingers cracked the air like a whip. She followed the fluid motions of her body into a dexterous cartwheel,&nbsp;&nbsp;bringing herself into an offensive, fist-forward stance.<br /><br />The dummy had sensors as backup in case the head was damaged in combat, but the thing flailed about, missing Opal by less than an inch with every swing. She tangoed with the thing for a while before locking on to a tiny, invisible opening in its defenses as one arm smacked the ground with all its other limbs whistling through the air. <br /><br />&ldquo;Aaah-aap!&rdquo; she cried, body turning with her hips in place as she finally blocked one of the swings with a powerful forearm strike in return. The dummy&rsquo;s arm snapped free at the elbow, tumbling to the floor in a neighboring lane.<br /><br />Incineroar and everyone else watched in amazement as she proceeded to pick it apart, stepping around with immaculate displays of footwork, striking its Polymer shell so hard she sent chunks of military-grade plastic armor ricocheting against the walls.<br /><br />&ldquo;Eee-hup!&rdquo; She caught another limb in her paw at the end of a failed attack, twisted it into a lock under her arm, and then busted the elbow joint into a hundred tiny pieces with a hammer fist.<br /><br />It tried to come down on her shoulder with a crushing elbow, bearing down with all its weight, but she strafed sideways and shoved her torso into its chest to avoid the blow. As it scrambled back she leapt forward and wrenched the offending limb around like an old automobile crank.<br /><br />&ldquo;{Eeeeeeaaaah!}&rdquo; The shoulder joint and its connected structures creaked and groaned under the pressure, finally giving way with an ear-piercing snap as a chunk of shoulder came free with a long strand of crackling wires and gushing tubes still attached.<br /><br />Then Opal&rsquo;s silhouette was suddenly lost in a haze of brown and pink and red.<br /><br />Each moment of metal on flesh came at the end of a smooth, rounded motion optimized for maximum transfer of force from one body to another, raining chunks of plastic that came free in a drumroll of pinpoint strikes all around its structure. Then she caught a gap she&rsquo;d made in its armored cowl, jammed her foot against its waist, dug her claws in, and swung her body around to yank the front carapace away like she was pulling a ship on a mooring line. <br /><br />&ldquo;{Rrrrrraaaaah!}&rdquo; High voltage lines arced and flashes of superheated air made her close her eyes as its front plate came loose with rows of industrial-grade bolts snapping like dress shirt buttons.<br /><br />It stumbled forward, heaved out a distorted roar, and had no time to react as Opal held the chest plate up on one foot. &ldquo;Aaa-aap!&rdquo; She kicked with even more force than before and the plate shot like a cannon, shearing a multimillion dollar animatronic leg in two. She showered the gym with debris not unlike the broken fragments of uncooked angel-hair pasta.<br /><br />Opal advanced on the thing as it scrambled away from her, floating with an eerie lightness in her steps that seemed to keep her just above the floor. She slapped away two desperate strikes to her temple, hopped forward, and swayed around with fists balled tight. The insane development of her muscles became wildly apparent as she tightened her stomach and shoulders, preparing to finish her bout.<br /><br />&ldquo;Ayaaaaaaaaaa!&rdquo; She locked one arm at the hip and turned her torso around for a single, devastating palm strike. She struck the protective cage around its sensitive innards with so much force it imploded, crumpling its robotic guts into dimestore rubbish, and the armor of its back exploded across the Gym. Her enemy collapsed to the ground, leaking coolant and other unsavory fluids all over the floor as it slowly powered down to join its opponent in peaceful rest. <br /><br />But Opal found that she was unable to relax again as every single pair of eyes was stuck following her every move. &ldquo;{Aah, whats wro-}&rdquo; She suddenly gasped as she realized what she&rsquo;d accidentally done and Mareepishly scuttled over to her side of the Arena, fetched her things, and rushed out of the Gym.<br /><br />&ldquo;Opala?&rdquo; Ace called out.<br /><br />&ldquo;Bun,&rdquo; she huffed, exasperated with herself, covering her eyes with her ears.<br /><br />Ace nodded to his team, and then chased after her down the hall. &ldquo;Opala!&rdquo;<br /><br />Incineroar stood in awe. That creature had just pulled a military grade training dummy apart with her bare paws, right in front of everyone&rsquo;s eyes, and she did it without tapping into her core energy, not even the tiniest little bit&hellip; <br /><br />&hellip;then she thought about that final, finishing strike again as the murmuring around her died down. Finally, she could think under the familiar drone of gymnasium activity. She remembered it, as she was busy marveling at the practical nonexistence of Opal&rsquo;s aura, she was sure she had felt a tiny spark of <span class='underline'>something</span> escape Opal&rsquo;s core. She felt it deep in her gut, maybe for just a fraction of a second, but in that exact moment she felt the flash of something bright and fierce and pure&hellip;<br /><br />&hellip;and then she felt the pangs of some deep, primal urge telling her to run for her life.<br /><br /><br />\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/-\\|/<br /><br />\t<br />\tEmil and Richard stood beside Bonnie and Clemont in the darkened tunnel leading out to the tournament grounds. Both looked incredibly tired, but happy to be there all the same. Emil had Vaporeon in pocket, but Spinel was allowed to stay at Richard&rsquo;s side since he wasn&rsquo;t a combatant. <br /><br />\tClemont was jittering at the shoulders, keeping his eyes down at an angle, trying not to look to his right. He was dressed in his Gym Leader attire, a futuristic, bright blue jumpsuit with yellow hazard stripes that shimmered in the sunlight. His utility backpack wriggled around as he scratched a metal plug at the base of his skull, the one he normally kept hidden beneath a flap of synthetic hair and skin.<br /><br />\t<em>What did those two end up doing last night? How would that even work?</em> Clemont shuddered as his inventive little mind got to work without him. <em>Oh, gods, nevermind. Abort, abort mission, Brain!</em><br /><br />Emil squinted as his brain logged the intricate details of the nylon-mesh cable locked behind Clemont&rsquo;s head, leading to his backpack.<br /><br />Bonnie giggled and waved at them, giving the boys a strange, knowing look as they marched towards the light. &ldquo;Hey cuties!&rdquo; she squeaked. &ldquo;You look so wonderful together.&rdquo; She was dressed in a cute, matching pink variant of Clemont&rsquo;s jumpsuit, complete with white cape and utility belt.<br /><br />Spinel whistled back and blew her a kiss, carrying a box of refreshments and healing items in case any of their &lsquo;Mon got knocked out and needed some TLC.<br /><br />\tRichard&rsquo;s smile disappeared. &ldquo;Tha&ndash; uh, say what now?&rdquo;<br /><br />\tClemont panicked, waving his hands and his mechanical appendages at the same time. &ldquo;Oh, nothing, she&rsquo;s always this way. She gets it from our dad. Haha. Crazy runs in the family, hehehe.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tBonnie huffed, puffing her cheeks out as she kicked Clemont in the shin. &ldquo;They <span class='underline'>do</span> look wonderful!&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard grinned with a confident thumb over his shoulder. &ldquo;Little guy just won&rsquo;t let me go if I&rsquo;ve got even a wrinkle in my pants. Can&rsquo;t help but look amazing anymore.&rdquo;<br /><br />Spinel nodded. &ldquo;{Damn straight.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Clemont almost puked in his mouth as Bonnie pushed her cheeks in, gushing. &ldquo;Aaaaaaaw.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil couldn&rsquo;t hear what was going on around him as he finished his observations and pointed to Clemont&rsquo;s neck. &ldquo;Did that hurt?&rdquo;<br /><br />The young prince shrunk a little at the question, but smiled too, with what looked like a strange sort of pride. &ldquo;Yeah, it did for a while. These days it just itches now and then. Worth it for sure, though.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tEm stood up with his hands in his pockets as he spotted a tiny black serial number etched into its chrome surface. He had all the serial formats memorized, but none of the values made any sense. &ldquo;Silph did that?&rdquo;<br /><br />\tClemont nodded and gave his own thumbs-up. &ldquo;Apogee, specifically! You&rsquo;re looking at the youngest member ever admitted to the Jade Institute.&rdquo; He prodded the plug. &ldquo;Comes with a lot of perks, friend.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tEmil&rsquo;s brow rose. &ldquo;That so?&rdquo;<br /><br />\tClemont nodded at the end of the tunnel, smiling. &ldquo;Oh yes.&rdquo; He perked up and turned back to him. &ldquo;Hey! When we&rsquo;re done stomping you guys, I can get a good word in with the Dean of the Institute; I bet you&rsquo;d be a great fit.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tEmil chuckled and glanced back at Clemont with his signature tired, wry smile. &ldquo;Me? Nah, I&rsquo;m just a washed up mechanic, kid.&rdquo;<br /><br />\tClemont tilted his head, totally perplexed. Then he shook his head in frustration and Emil saw him pause a moment with eyes that were fixed forward in a trance.<br /><br />\tEmil&rsquo;s dexnav buzzed.<br /><br />\t<br /><strong>\tX-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): I watched you ditch the party yesterday, sir.</strong><br /><strong>\tX-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): No schlub dodges Father&rsquo;s security detail like that.</strong><br /><br /><br />Emilio felt a tingling chill wash over his body and he could taste adrenaline on his tongue.<br /><br /><br /><strong>1-218-860-5045 (Emil):</strong><em><strong> </strong></em><strong>That so?</strong><br /><br /><br />Clemont flashed him a cheeky little grin as a tiny, Joltic shaped drone crawled out of his backpack and onto his shoulder. Clemont folded his arms and closed his eyes with a self-assured nod.<br /><br /><br /><strong>X-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): Don&rsquo;t worry, I didn&rsquo;t tell anyone about your tunnel into the film database either, since the only thing you plucked up was Harrison&rsquo;s disaster yesterday.</strong><br /><strong>X-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): Nice job, btw. No idea how you pulled that little stunt off, but I </strong><span class='underline'><strong>know</strong></span><strong> it was you. You could have just asked nicely, you know.</strong><br /><br /><br />Emil smiled as he managed to relax again.<br /><br /><br /><strong>1-218-860-5045 (Emil): Thanks, I&rsquo;ll remember that next time.</strong><br /><strong>1-218-860-5045 (Emil): Nice to meet you, Your Highness.</strong><br /><br /><br />The gate began to lift and they all stared out upon the sunlit stone.<br /><br /><br /><strong>X-XXX-XXX-XXXX (RESTRICTED): Skip the decorum, friend.</strong><br /><strong>1-112-135-0404 (Clemont): Keep in touch. :3</strong><br /><br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a wonderful day to bask in Moltres&rsquo; light and watch some masters-in-the-making claw their way to the top of the world. Thank you everyone who joined us yesterday for that absolutely <span class='underline'>stunning</span> upset. I bet there were some risk takers on the betting boards crying tears of joy last night.&rdquo; The announcer&rsquo;s voice echoed all around, booming from amplified speakers and the synchronized voices of three Rotom drones that zig zagged through the airspace.<br /><br /><strong>\t</strong>The two teams walked to their respective sides, crushed beneath the roars of the crowd as the announcer waited for the noise to die down.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;From the far flung region of Hoenn, where the cities shine gold and green, we have Richard Stone and Emilio Mallison!&rdquo;<br /><br />\tEmil winced as he heard his name announced and the crowd cheered.<em> Damn that feels weird.</em><br /><br />&ldquo;These two have pushed their &lsquo;Mon to the absolute limit, setting physical conditioning records that will surely stand the test of time. Slung from the end of a long line of Leaders, Masters, and Legends, their record doesn&rsquo;t disappoint. Will they spark another star in the family constellation, or will these Stones skip across the water and sink?&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil gawked as it suddenly dawned on him and he looked over towards a Richard that was busy relishing at finally managing to catch Emil off guard.<br /><br />&ldquo;What? Can&rsquo;t pretend this is a one man operation anymore. Vaporeon was ready to kill me in my sleep, man.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil snickered, closed his tired eyes, and nodded. &ldquo;Yeah, guess you&rsquo;re right. You really are evil, Rich.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard looked down at Spinel, who was shaking at all the noise and attention rushing over him, then he smiled and punched his friend&rsquo;s shoulder. &ldquo;Told you ya didn&rsquo;t know the half of it, Em.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil smirked back. &ldquo;You know she&rsquo;d wait &lsquo;til you woke up, right?&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard spun around. &ldquo;Wha&ndash;?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Aaaaaaand how can we forget their team? Give a glorious, gallant, generous greeting to&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil opened Vaporeon&rsquo;s ball, and Richard grunted in defeat as he had to get busy setting the other five free from their confinement.<br /><br />&ldquo;Rhydon!&rdquo;<br />\t<br />Richard&rsquo;s Rhydon looked around in a panic, locked in place by the flashing of a thousand cameras in a sea of people. Spinel whistled at him, made wagging motions with his ribbons, and then Rhydon settled down and remembered his routine. He reached behind his back and then flapped two little red flags with the words &lsquo;TEAM&rsquo; and &lsquo;STONE&rsquo; in bold print as he roared with his horn spinning, shaking the ground with the stomping of his feet.<br /><br />&ldquo;Incineroar!&rdquo;<br /><br />She stood in a haughty pose, glaring up and around at the crowd with her arms folded as the fiery belt around her waist coughed up a mean cloud.<br /><br />She smiled, cloaked in smoky, flammable vapors, and snapped her claws.<br /><br />Incineroar yowled and then ignited with a loud, flashy boom. The blast sent a giant, smokey copy of her own face roaring into the sky that carried her voice all the way up to the bloodiest of noses in the highstands.<br /><br />&ldquo;Torterra!&rdquo;<br /><br />Torterra didn&rsquo;t do much of anything for a while, then it suddenly dawned on her where she was and she rumbled the ears of all bearing witnesses to her call as she rocked around. Several leaves shed from the willowy growth atop her shell, popping like green and brown holiday flares.<br /><br />&ldquo;Machamp!&rdquo;<br /><br />Still sporting his fluffy pink headphones from warmup that morning, the aging hulk of muscle crouched and posed, flexing in a way that shifted every slab of meat on his body in an unsettlingly masterful display of kinetic control.<br /><br />&ldquo;Metagross!&rdquo;<br /><br />Metagross stood completely still, laid on the ground, and glanced back at Richard. Then she buzzed as a tiny, anticlimactic spark danced between her legs.<br /><br />&ldquo;...and Vapoooreooooon!&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil smiled as he watched his beloved burst free, showering him in glistening liquid jewels. Around her neck was one of many attuned-item pendants he&rsquo;d had made for her, in this case a lovely blue drop shaped glass vessel filled with a restless mercurial liquid; a Mystic Water. She launched herself into the air with a powerful Water Gun and pirouetted into a wild somersault. He was sure he caught the cheeky thing winking back at him as she clapped her paws together twenty feet in the air and he caught her as she fell into his arms.<br /><br />His lover snuggled into his chest as the entire arena was misted with the gentle, refreshing drops of a glistening afternoon sunshower.<br /><br />The crowd exploded into a fury of excitement at their displays; especially Incineroar&rsquo;s, though she blew a tired puff of smoke at Vaporeon&rsquo;s sad little drizzle.<br /><br />&ldquo;Aaaaaahhh. What a nice treat after that long string of Great-Roster placements! Good thing we&rsquo;re all cooled off, because this match is going to get hot, hot, hot!&rdquo;<br /><br />Clemont and Bonnie lifted their Pokeballs.<br /><br />&ldquo;On the north side of the arena, we have two delightful peers of the realm that need no introduction. Gym leaders of the prestigious Prism Tower, holders of the coveted Voltage Badge, these two have brought endless glory to Kalos and her petal-blessed skies. Inventor savant extraordinaire and prime mischief maker of the monarchy, heirs to the Lumiose Throne, Prince and Princess Bourbon!&rdquo;<br /><br />Meyer, up in his own private stand, jumped up in the air hooting and hollering as he fired off technicolor flares from a pistol in each hand.<br /><br />Both his children sulked with embarrassment.<br /><br />Richard cackled and bent over laughing. &ldquo;Oh man, this is gonna be a cinch.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil&rsquo;s mouth tightened. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not so sure&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;And for those of you unfortunate enough to have climbed the rainbow steps of Lumiose Gym, you&rsquo;ll remember their team&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Bonnie tossed her three pokeballs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Emolga, Dedenne, aaaaaand&hellip; Stunfisk!&rdquo;<br /><br />The crowd giggled and jeered at the unpopular, ugly mon with a wet fart for a cry. However, Richard squinted and growled just loud enough for Emil to hear. &ldquo;Oh&hellip;well&hellip; That&rsquo;s not good.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil gawked back at Richard. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t check their roster?!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I was busy!&rdquo; Richard whined.<br /><br />Clemont tossed out his first mon.<br /><br />\t&ldquo;Heliolisk!&rdquo;<br /><br />Clemont&rsquo;s Heliolisk appeared from his Pokeball in a spinning dervish of brown, sparking with gemmy dust, then hissed as he sat beside his master.<br /><br />&ldquo;Magneton!&rdquo;<br /><br />A bulbous, metallic disc with eyes appeared and made no motion other than to float between Clemont and Bonnie.<br /><br />&ldquo;....and Rotom!&rdquo;<br /><br />Clemont&rsquo;s pokeball opened and what appeared was&hellip; a man.<br /><br />A well dressed man, wearing a tophat-tuxedo combo with folds so crisp they could cut diamond. His white goatee and curly, platinum mustache gave him an air of suave sophistication that made ladies half his age swoon. He grabbed his hat and swung it beneath him, showing off a silky, stirling quiff and a mean widow&rsquo;s peak as he bowed low to a crowd that was stunned into roars of confusion. <br /><br />Richard gawked and pointed. &ldquo;Did that guy just come out of a Pokeball? Nice trick, but you know this is a <span class='underline'>Pokemon</span> battle, right?!&rdquo;<br /><br />The entire arena burst into hysterical laughter.<br /><br />Clemont folded his arms with a Gengar&rsquo;s grin and nodded to Carlisle.<br /><br /><br /><strong>1-112-135-0404 (Clemont): Whaddya think? :)</strong><br /><br /><br />Carlisle held his arm out and reached into his hat to retrieve a glowing ball of orange fire, blue sparks, and white-hot mania. It cackled with a laughter that made all the screens in the arena flicker and pixelate, then Clemont&rsquo;s Rotom flew into the air and dove back down into Carlisle&rsquo;s skull.<br /><br />His eyes glowed bright with Groudon&rsquo;s light.<br /><br />Carlisle donned his hat and chuckled as he brought his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss to the audience that exploded into a fiery heart-shaped ring. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor to serve Lady Lumiose, truly!&rdquo; he said with a voice that tickled the hearts of women worldwide as sparks of lightning danced around his feet.<br /><br />Murmurs of shock and awe replaced the chaos of hilarity.<br /><br /><br /><strong>1-218-860-5045 (Emil):</strong><em><strong> </strong></em><strong>Oh, that&rsquo;s dirty, Clemont. Fine work.</strong><br /><strong>1-218-860-5045 (Emil):</strong><strong><em> </em></strong><strong>Be a real shame if something happened to it, though&hellip;</strong><br /><br /><strong>\t</strong><br /><strong>\t</strong>&ldquo;Aaaaah. Do not be alarmed, Lords and Ladies, Rotom is capable of possessing and controlling a body made of the machines of man. As you know, our esteemed Clemont loves his D I Y, so it&#039;s no surprise he brewed up a body especially made for this grand event!&rdquo; The announcer seemed to have waited just long enough for the audience to feel the tension going on between the contestants that they were satisfied with the explanation.<br /><br /><br /><strong>1-112-135-0404 (Clemont): Show us whatcha got, old man! &gt;:D</strong><br /><br /><br />Emil smooched Vaporeon on the head. &ldquo;{Ready to recycle some trash, honey?}&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon gave him a mean, excited look and nuzzled his palm. &ldquo;{Waste is such a terrible thing.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Every member of Clemont and Bonnie&#039;s Team floated in the air under a magnetic telekinesis and then formed up into an arch that cracked and sparkled as a single colossal tesla coil. For thirty seconds the air around them hummed and raised the hair of everyone in the arena, then they boomed with trails of lightning that flashed the eyes of everyone witnessing the display, searing an afterimage of a three-petaled flower in their vision with the words &ldquo;Viva la Lumiose!&rdquo; in flowy script.<br /><br />Emil suddenly appreciated why the tickets to live League events warned epileptics to stay home.<br /><br />Meyer hung breathless from his platform, blowing a trumpet in celebration of his babies, and then smacked a button on the railing that sent flowery firework displays up into the air.<br /><br />&ldquo;Both trainers, release your starters!&rdquo; said a single Rotom Drone with a voice that echoed from megaphone poles all around.<br /><br />Bonnie stepped forward with her arm stretched out, pointing to Richard and Emil. &ldquo;&Eacute;couter! You don&rsquo;t get to ruffle Carlisle&rsquo;s coat until you get through <span class='underline'>me</span>! Emolga, go!&rdquo; she shouted, and her yellow cheeked rodent leapt from her shoulders, into the starters square.<br /><br />Clemont chuckled atop Magneton as he sat cross-legged, floating around. &ldquo;Hey, the two of us talked about it and we both agree&hellip; if you make it past Bonnie we&rsquo;ll count that as a real challenge and let you two have our badge as a consolation. Whaddya say, friends?&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard fist bumped Rhydon and smacked him on the shoulder for good luck. &ldquo;If we beat ya both can we stay at the palace too?&rdquo; he proposed as his Pokemon entered their square.<br /><br />Clemont slouched and shrugged, doing his level best to appear bored and lazy. &ldquo;Ha. Ha. Ha. Sure, why not? Honestly, if you actually were to somehow beat us we&rsquo;d hold a banquet in your honor!&rdquo;<br /><br />Bonnie smiled at them. &ldquo;And what if <span class='underline'>we</span> win, huh?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oooooh, we have a <span class='underline'>wager</span>! What will they say?&rdquo; The announcer Rotom said to the audience.<br /><br />Richard pumped his fist, grinning. &ldquo;If <span class='underline'>you</span> win you stay at <span class='underline'>my</span> house, and we&rsquo;ll make <span class='underline'>you</span> dinner!&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil smashed his palm into his forehead.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s father, on the other side of the world, watched the event on live Dex-Net-Connect from a cushy sofa in a darkened room. He rubbed at his temples as he took another swig from a tall, ice cold bramble mixed by his Gimmighoul from the family Littleroot Gin reserves. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s worse things than royal guests, I suppose.&rdquo;<br /><br />Clemont scoffed, laughed aloud the crowd, and nearly fell from Magneton&rsquo;s back. He shook his head, about to open his mouth to raise the stakes.<br /><br />&ldquo;DEAL!&rdquo; Bonnie screamed, remembering the intoxicating aromas that wafted from the Cafe the night before, desperate to get a mouthful of the little Sylveon&rsquo;s cooking. &ldquo;...and there&rsquo;d better be that awesome smelling Gumbo or you&rsquo;re in for a whooping, mister!&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard looked around, realizing she was pointing at him, then he leaned over to Spinel. &ldquo;Hey, uh. You don&rsquo;t mind cooking dinner again, do ya? You made that&hellip; What&rsquo;d she say, &lsquo;gumbo&rsquo;&hellip; right?&rdquo; he whispered.<br /><br />Spinel nodded as he glanced back, trying to hide a shy little grin. &ldquo;Syl Syl.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard nodded. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s settled then. The Battle of the Banquets begins right now!&rdquo;<br /><br />Bonnie stomped her feet with excitement. &ldquo;Ooh yeah, I can taste it now!&rdquo;<br /><br />The Drone floated center stage. &ldquo;Contestants, are you ready?&rdquo;<br /><br />Both nodded with nothing left to say.<br /><br />It rose into the air with a corkscrew maneuver, and took a position up high to best judge the action. &ldquo;In that case&hellip; Contestants, battle begins in&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />&ldquo;Three&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />&ldquo;Two&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br /><br />&ldquo;One&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>",
  "pools_count": 1,
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