Timber Fall

As Max and Scarlet were walking down the road, Scarlet couldn't help but stare at Max with a smile.

"What?" asked Max, almost feeling her eyes burning his head.

[…Nothing. It just feels good to see you that happy. Did something happen between you and Aurora?] She asked almost eagerly.

"N-nothing special. She just thanked me for last night, that's all." Max answered, a bit embarrassed.

Even without her powers, Scarlet knew all too well that he was lying. However, seeing him in that state was making her so happy and she didn't want to ruin that for him and let it slide.

[At least she did, which is nice.]

"Yeah. I think that she's really starting to change now."

[Good news.]

For half of the day, Max and Scarlet kept traveling until it was noon break.

"Alright, we should be at peace from the zoroark by now."

[Good riddance.]

"I think it's time that we get back to our move training after eating."

After Scarlet nodded, they went off the road to sit under a tree after Max took his team out to eat. Half surprised, Aurora wasn't acting much different than usual besides eating close to them while making fewer mean remarks. After lunch, they went further in the woods to go on with their schedule. This time, instead of doing nothing, Max wanted to train on his own as well, meaning that his team could focus more on themselves. However, Scarlet insisted on personally training Max from now on. Bonny didn't like the idea, but the gardevoir promised that she could 'wrestle' with him like usual from time to time. As everyone went on their own to do their things, Scarlet and Max left to a more isolated zone.

"Any reason why you explicitly want to train me yourself?" asked Max.

[Since that incident with that zoroark, I noticed that you're still lacking power. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I train you and how many times I do, you're still a human, so you can hardly compete against a pokemon in terms of strength and speed. However, I can try to make you as strong as possible, making you at least able to hurt them or resist a fatal blow.]

"…Okay."

[Upon realizing that I can easily lose you, I told myself that I had to do something about it. I'm sorry master, I really don't want to…] She explained before making her fists burst into flames. [But I'll have to go a bit rough on you from now on.]

"Whoa whoa, are you planning on killing me?"

[Don't worry, I'll stop before it happens. I still know Healing Pulse, so you risk nothing.]

"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

[… I almost lost you, last night master. I don't want that to happen again.]

"Yeah but…"

[I'm very sorry master.] Scarlet apologized with a sad face. [Prepare yourself.]

"Is there another- whoa!"

Before Max could finish his sentence, Scarlet had dashed towards him with Fire Punch. Even though he dodged it in time, Scarlet was far from being done as she immediately assaulted him with multiple Fire Punches. Unable to dodge them all, Max had to block most of them, burning his arms along the way.

"Gha." growled Max painfully. "Scarlet, can you at least-"

Unable to finish again, Scarlet threw a Psybeam attack at him. Max thought he had dodged when he moved to the side, but quickly found out that he wasn't fast enough as the attack hit his shoulder, tearing off his flesh a bit. Growling painfully again and holding his shoulder in pain, Max glared at Scarlet that was slowly moving towards him. When in arm's length, she used Healing Pulse on his arms and shoulder, making his wounds already a thing of the past. Moving his shoulder after looking at his arms, all his limbs were brand new again.

[As I said, you risk nothing as long as I can heal you.]

Still not liking the idea, Max had to admit that it only hurt for a moment until Scarlet healed him.

"Do you still think it's the best thing to do, going that drastically?"

[Yes, even if it hurts me to do it.] She replied a bit sadly.

Thinking for a moment, Max then decided that it could be a good opportunity to really improve himself.

"… Alright. Just as long as your hits stay above the belt."

[Rest assured master. Your precious thing is the last thing I want to damage.] She answered with a smile.

"Eh, very nice of you."

[Then get ready.]

With Max nodding while getting in position, they resumed their draconian training. Even though Scarlet was holding back a lot, she wasn't going easy on him as Max was ending up with a few bloody injuries from time to time. After Scarlet healed them, they resumed where they left off. After a little while, she even began to use Gravity on him with 1.5 of the power, restraining Max's movement tremendously. Almost stuck in place, Max couldn't do anything else but take her hits, at which point she reduced the power even more since she knew that he wouldn't be able to dodge them. In the end, Max was panting heavily on the ground while feeling really sore due to being injured as well as being healed right after. Now on his back, Max didn't even have a scratch, but his entire body was hurting him.

"I don't know… if I'll be able… to survive… that kind of training." Max told between heavy breaths.

[You will don't worry. I'll make sure of that.]

"Hehe… A little help though?" Max said, too tired to stand up on his own.

[Of course master.] Scarlet replied before holding out her hand.

After he took it, Scarlet pulled him on his feet, with his legs slightly going limp from time to time.

[You can hold onto me if you want to.] Scarlet proposed.

"Wouldn't I be too heavy for you?"

[If I can lift a boulder a hundred times heavier than you, so I think I can manage your lightweight.]

"Hehe, fair enough."

After Scarlet put one of his arms around her neck, she used her power to make him almost weightless and lead him towards the campsite. Once they arrived, they noticed that no one was there except for them.

"Looks like the others are still training."

[Looks like it.] Scarlet agreed before dropping Max next to the tent. [You should let your body rest for a bit. It needs it.]

"Will do, thanks."

[I'm sorry again.] She apologized again with guilt showing in her face and voice.

"Don't worry, love. Sometimes, you have to suffer to be strong."

[Yeah, or be broken.]

"… Yeah," Max replied with a morose tone.

[… Good thing it's not our case, isn't it?]

"True. We're lucky to have each other."

[Indeed.]

For a moment, neither of them knew what to say anymore.

[Well, I guess I'm gonna go meditate a bit.] Scarlet informed a bit awkwardly.

After Max nodded, Scarlet then left him to rest on his own.

"Shit, that was intense," Max muttered before resting his back on the tent.

Then, he quickly grew uncomfortable and got inside the tent instead before lying on his bed. Closing his eyes for a moment, he soon reopened them when someone entered the tent.

{Master? What are you doing here?}

Raising his head, Max saw that Bonny had entered the tent.

"Oh, it's you, Bonny. How's the training going?"

{Slow.}

"Oh, no progress so far?"

{Nope. I didn't even start to feel my fist getting colder.} She said before lying next to him.

"Already giving up for today?"

{What do you mean 'already? I've been trying to do it for a couple of hours now.}

"A couple? What time is it?" said Max before looking at his watch. "7:49? Shit, I must have fallen asleep for a moment."

{Asleep? Was your training with Scarlet that exhausting?}

"Exhausting would still be a weak word."

{How so?}

"She didn't like when I almost died in that forest last night, so-"

{Say no more. I can already guess what it means.}

"… Yeah."

{So she decided to go rough on you huh?}

"Pretty much."

{Surely she didn't like it any more than you.}

"Well, besides the wounds, it wasn't that bad. I didn't know that my pain resistance had gone that high."

{Well, you can end up with a few broken bones when you train with a pokemon.}

"Yeah, like the one you broke?"

{How many times do I have to apologize? It was an accident. You were going all out, so I thought that you could take a few stronger hits.}

"Hehe, don't worry Bonny, I'm just messing with you." he chuckled while rubbing her belly.

{Tsk, you never stop, do you?} Bonny replied, smiling a bit.

"Nope. Not for you."

{Really now?} Bonny said before rolling over Max. {I must admit that I also have something that I never stop for you.} She continued lustfully while looking at Max with lewd eyes.

"Oh, what is it?" Max asked with a smile.

{Want to find out?} she proposed while grabbing his cheeks with her face an inch away from his.

"Well, my body is quite out of energy so…"

{Don't worry about that, I'll do all the work.} She reassured before starting to kiss him, with him returning it immediately after. {…It won't change from usual anyway.} She teased after breaking the kiss a moment later.

"Fuck you." Max retorted, almost seductively.

{If you insist.} She said before kissing him again while starting to rub her womanhood against his crotch, slowly making it harder.

To Bonny's pleasure, Max was fully hard after a very short moment.

{Looks like not everything is out of energy.} Bonny seductively claimed, rubbing her entrance against the rock-hard member of Max.

"Well, it has been at rest for the past few hours so…"

{Let's remedy that then.} replied lewdly the horny lopunny.

Bonny then skillfully raised her hips a bit and unbuttoned his pants before using her rear paws to push them down, making Max's shaft spank her butt cheek a bit.

{Ooh. Eager to start I see.} Bonny remarked with a grin.

Now able to go flesh on flesh, Bonny resumed her rubbing against his member, coating it with her juice while making out with him. Breaking the kiss with a strand of saliva, Bonny used a paw to aim correctly and moved backward until Max's shaft was all the way inside the lopunny.

{Hmmm.} Bonny moaned.

Slowly and oddly tenderly, Bonny began to move back and forth on him, forcing Max to feel every inch of her love tunnel. To compensate for going rather slowly, Bonny tried to be as tight as possible, which seem to do pretty well as Max began to moan very softly after a moment.

{I see… that you're all tense there. Good thing… I'm here for you.} Bonny told, starting to moan as well.

"Yeah, what would I do without you?" Max proclaimed before grasping her rear with both of his hands, making the lopunny squeak in pleasure.

A bit lost in pleasure and unable to reach his head, Bonny began to lick Max's chest as well as his nipples where she mostly focused. Quickly enough, she wasn't able to keep doing that due to her moans getting a bit out of control as her head was resting on its side on Max's chest, tongue stuck out. When her claws sank slightly into Max's skin without hurting him, she felt her orgasm coming, with that she sped up a bit. When she reached her climax, Bonny loudly moaned ecstatically while pressing her forehead pretty hard against Max's chest. Unfortunately and even though Bonny crushed him with her orgasmic contractions, it wasn't enough for Max to explode as well due to Bonny coming too quickly.

{Damnit! Again… I came… before you.} Bonny announced, feeling light-headed.

"Still way too sensitive I see."

{I wish I could practice more, but without you, I can't really do it.}

"Unless you-"

{Nope. Not gonna happen.} Bonny objected, knowing too well what he was about to say.

"Suit yourself. However, I wonder if you still will keep that determination if you ever come across a sexy, handsome, and well-equipped male lopunny."

Not even looking fazed, Bonny looked at him with an unamused face.

{No matter the size of that male, you always will be bigger than him. Unless that is, we came across a giant male lopunny that is roughly the same height as you.}

"Which is…"

{Very unlikely.}

"If you say so. Let's see if your lopunny hormones and genes will agree with you if it happens."

{If they don't, I'm gonna give them a little reminder.}

"Haha, that's my Bonny." Max praised, petting her head.

{Don't worry master, the male that will turn my head away from you is still not born yet. But let's forget about it. For now, there's a male 'human' that still need to come.}

"If you're already satisfied, there is no need to push yourself anymore."

{No master. If I come, you also have to come at least once. That's my way of life.}

"Haha, what kind of way of life is that?"

{Mine.}

Sighing desperately with a smile, Max couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Alright. Anyway, there is no way I can change your mind."

{You know me very well master.} she replied with a grin.

"Yeah, a force of habit. Or rather, a force of 'rabbit'." Joked Max.

{...Booouuhh!} Hooted Bonny {That was really bad master.}

"Ah come on, that was a good one."

{No it wasn't.}

After giving a lewd smile, Bonny then resumed her riding on Max, shaking a bit due to her increased sensitivity. Slowly but surely, Bonny could gradually get back to her previous speed and strength while trying her best to squeeze Max's member as hard as she could. Luckily for both of them, she pretty much succeeded as Max was slightly thrusting his hips despite himself, meaning he was close to finally reaching his peak. Speeding up while moaning loudly, Bonny then felt the wanted hot sticky juice inside as well as hearing Max lowly moan in pleasure, triggering a second orgasm for Bonny. After shooting his last spurt, Max's hands and head dropped to the ground, taking deep breaths.

"Good as usual," Max commented.

{Thanks. You weren't so bad yourself.}

"Ah, modest as always too." Max chuckled, petting Bonny's head.

{Always.} Bonny approved before both of them began to giggle together. {Well, not that I don't like your company master, but I think I need a good cleanup.}

"Are you gonna wash in the water stream?"

{Yes, why?}

"I guess I could too then."

{Sure master, always up to bathe with you.} Bonny shared before booping his nose.

After Bonny stood up, Max got a pair of underwear that Scarlet had washed the day before with all of his clothes and tailed Bonny outside.

"Oh!" Max exclaimed after feeling the temperature.

{What is it?} Bonny asked.

"It's a bit chilly tonight."

{Yeah, quite a bit.} Bonny affirmed, not looking bothered by it.

"A bit? The water must be freezing cold."

{Nah, I'm sure it will be fine. Come on.} Bonny told before motioning to follow.

Unsure, Max then followed Bonny to the water stream that was next to the tent. When at the edge, Max put a hand in the water.

"Holy… never mind the bath."

{What's that problem? It's not that cold.} Bonny pointed out after putting her two legs in the water.

"You're kidding, right?"

{What? Don't tell me humans are sensitive to cold too?} Bonny said, looking discouraged.

"If I got in there, I'm sure to die of hypothermia," Max complained, making Bonny facepalm while sighing.

{You're very troublesome, you know that?}

"I'm not a pokemon that can withstand extreme harm, okay."

{It's not so bad once you're in.}

"What about when I'm getting out then?"

{'sigh' Why don't you go get Dusk so she can dry you up after you're done?}

"…I… indeed can do that. Don't know if she will want to though."

{Why wouldn't she?}

"Well, seeing me naked and all."

{First, she already say you naked a couple of times already, and second, like everyone here, she wouldn't want to miss a chance to see that nice body of yours.} she proclaimed with a small grin.

"…Alright, if you say so. If it can prevent me from freezing to death."

{I'll be waiting for you.} Bonny told slightly seductively while starting to wash her most dirty places.

Rolling his eyes, Max left Bonny alone and began to search for Dusk. After a couple of minutes of searching, he came across May who was practicing her Iron Defense move. Since she was looking really focused, Max tried to get past her without disturbing the pokemon. Unfortunately, a forest floor filled with dead branches and twigs is not the best place to be sneaky.

{Master?} May wondered after she heard him cracking a dead branch.

"Sorry May, I didn't mean to disturb you." Max apologized.

{It's okay, I was almost done anyway.}

"Doing well?"

{Actually, not half bad master. I can already feel a very faint energy flow inside of me when I'm focused.}

"Well, you do have a pretty high physical defense and it's a steel-type move, like you, so it wouldn't surprise me if you master it in a week or so."

{That would be neat, learning it before the next battle.}

"It would indeed."

{… But if you didn't plan on disturbing me, where were you going then?}

"Oh, I was just about to get Dusk."

{Dusk? Why?} May asked, sounding slightly jealous.

"Nothing like that, rest assured. It happens that Bonny wants me to take a bath in freezing water, so I need Dusk to keep me safe from dying of frostbite."

{Come on master, I'm sure the water isn't nearly that cold.}

"You too? What's up with you girls not feeling coldness?"

{We feel it. But I guess we're more resilient to it.}

"Thanks for reminding me how weak I am."

{N-no, I didn't mean… like that. Sorry if I-} May apologized, sounding guilty.

"No it's okay May, you did nothing wrong," Max reassured, soothingly petting her head. "It's just true that I'm weaker than you, so it tends to make me feel a bit insignificant sometimes."

{Well, you're not.} May fervently objected.

"Thanks, May. Feel free to go join Bonny if you want to."

{I think I will. I also need a good bath. Dusk is that way.} May mentioned, pointing towards a direction before walking to where Max came from.

Walking for another few minutes in the indicated direction, Max finally found Dusk, with her practicing her psychic powers by lifting things with her stick. Not wanting to break her focus, Max then leaned against a tree with crossed arms while looking at Dusk levitate some rocks and gently making them dance in front of her. However, she quickly noticed that she was being watched and dropped the rocks to look behind her.

{Ah, master. You scared me.} Dusk exclaimed, surprised.

"Sorry Dusk, really not my intention."

{It-it's okay master.} She reassured, shyly playing with her stick.

"I see you're making progress."

{S-Scarlet suggested that I should strengthen my psychic powers before learning a psychic move. She was kind of right as we both noticed that my psychic abilities weren't that good since I never really used them after I evolved.}

"Really? I'm sure I saw you used them quite a few times now."

{…Hehe.} Dusk giggled.

"What's funny?"

{Hihi, it's funny to see how Scarlet can read you that easily.}

"What do you mean?" asked Max, raising an eyebrow.

{She knew you would ask a question like this, so she explained to me how my powers work so I can explain it to you afterward.}

"I'm not even that surprised," Max commented, rolling his eyes.

{Hihi. Scarlet told me that since I'm a fire and psychic type, I can use two types of psychic powers. Telekinesis and pyrokinesis.}

"And what's that?" Max asked, not having a lot of knowledge in that matter.

{Pyrokinesis is what I was mostly using since I evolved and it's the ability to raise the temperature of things while telekinesis is the ability to control the physical integrity of things.}

"…Okay," Max said, barely following.

{Pyrokinesis is mostly about my fire type while telekinesis is about my psychic type, so if I want to learn psychic moves and be stronger, I have to practice the last one.}

"I think I get it. So in short, if you get better at that, not only could you heat things, but you could also do feats like Scarlet?"

{Well, I won't be as strong as Scarlet since psychic is not my predominant type, but roughly, yes.}

"Oh, okay. Wait, what do you mean by 'not my predominant type'?"

{Oh, hmm…It's something that Scarlet also talked about, but I don't remember it very well. Something about… a percentage strength in the power of type depending if it's your main one or not.}

"Not very clear."

{S-sorry. Like I said, I don't remember it very well.}

"Don't worry about that. I'll just ask Scarlet later."

{Okay. Anything else master?}

"Oh yeah, I was wondering if you could help me."

{Sure master, anything.} Dusk replied, quite happy to be useful to her master.

"The girls and I are probably gonna take a quick bath in the stream to clean ourselves, so I was wondering if you could dry and warm me up quickly after I'm done."

For a moment, Dusk then went thoughtful, something Max rarely saw her do.

{I…think I can do even better than that.} She told, almost proudly.

"Really?"

{Yes. I'll show you when we're there.}

"…Okay," Max replied, a bit surprised by Dusk's confidence.

When Max and Dusk were back to the stream, he saw May and Bonny washing themselves.

{O-okay master, y-you can get ready.} Dusk told a bit shyly while getting close to the stream a bit further from the others.

"What are you planning to do?" Max wondered.

{…Y-you'll see.}

Still amazed by her bold behavior, Max had a hard time not complying with her desires and began to strip.

{Whoo master, show us what you got.} Bonny cheered, staring at him.

Sighing, Max decided to mostly ignore her until he was completely butt naked.

"I'm ready Dusk."

{A-alright.} She shyly said while looking away.

At that, the braixen then began to focus on a large part of the stream with her stick for a moment.

{…It should be okay now master.} Dusk announced, keeping her focus.

{Oh, I think you'll like it, master.} Bonny claimed.

Still unsure, Max then put one leg in the water.

"Whoa, it's not cold anymore. I mean, it's not hot, but not cold either." He exclaimed before putting his other leg in the water. "Thanks, Dusk, you're the best." Max praised, making her blush heavily.

{Now you can wash yourself without complaining.} Bonny teased before shooting some water at Max.

"Yeah. I'm glad that I managed to avoid being transformed into an ice cube."

{If it were to happen, I would have used my body warmth to heat you up.} Bonny affirmed a bit lewdly.

"With that burning passion of yours, it sure would be effective."

Then, after a couple of minutes of staying in the water, all of them were all cleaned up as they left the stream. As soon as they were out, Dusk stopped focusing on the water and used her powers to dry them.

"Thanks, Dusk." Max thanked before dressing up again.

{A-any time master.} She happily replied.

"Will you go in too?"

{M-maybe later.}

"… Okay."

{Mind if I join you, Dusk?} Scarlet asked after she appeared from the woods.

{Not at all.}

"Don't do too much nasty stuff together in there." Max jested.

{Why not? Jealous?} Scarlet retorted with a grin.

"Of course I am."

{Then join us as well and you could be part of it.}

"Tempting, but no thanks. I just got out."

{Suit yourself. Dusk and I will have fun without you then.} Scarlet taunted before going in the water with a very embarrassed braixen.

"How unlucky I am," Max muttered sarcastically while going to the tent.

Then, as he was about to get in, he saw Aurora coming towards him, almost looking worried.

"Oh, hi Aurora. Something wrong?" Max asked, concerned.

{Well, not… really.} She answered, a bit shyly.

It was quite a shock to see Aurora acting like that, but it was rather refreshing as well.

"I'm listening."

{Well… firstly, I want to state that I still don't like you, just to make it clear.}

"… Alright."

{And… secondly… I was wondering if… not that I care at all but… I kind of don't want to sleep outside when it's… well, that chilly.}

"Huhhuh." Max hummed, starting to get what she wanted.

{So, maybe just for tonight… I was wondering if… I could sleep in the tent.} Aurora said, struggling on saying it. {But don't get the wrong idea though, I just want to prioritize my restful sleep.} She corrected quickly.

"… Well, it happens that I have a few inflatable mattresses that I don't use, so I'm sure we can work something out."

{I-I don't need a mattress.}

"You sure? They're very comfy. More than the ground."

{… W-well, if you insist that much, then maybe I'll accept so you don't feel bad about it.} Aurora conceded, trying to sound like she didn't care.

"Welcome aboard then," Max replied with a smile.

{Just get in and get my bed ready already.} Aurora commanded.

"Sure thing. But… before going in, may I ask you a favor?"

{Already asking things from me?}

"To be honest, I'm quite curious about the thing you did against that zoroark, so I was wondering if I could learn more about you."

Staring at Max for a moment, Aurora finally complied before sighing.

{… If you must. But it's not because I want you to know more about me. I'm just a bit curious myself.}

"Thanks, Aurora." Max thanked her while taking out his pokedex.

With the lucario standing still, Max then scanned her with his device laser for a moment before her data appeared on it.

"Okay. Lucario, Gender: Female, Age: 9, Nature: Bold, not very surprising if you ask me." Max commented, making Aurora roll her eyes. "Height: 3.5, slightly shorter than Bonny like I thought, Weight: 235 lbs, heavy like I already experienced."

{I'm not heavy, it's just that you're weak.} Aurora retorted.

"Hehe. Yeah, maybe. Known moves: Aura Sphere, Bone Rush, Close Combat, and Force Palm. Hmmm, your move pool is quite limited."

{So what? I did well until now.} Aurora argued.

"Yeaaah, but more moves could make you stronger."

{Pfff.}

"And finally, Ability: … Aura Lock? Never heard of that ability. Let me check what this is about. Maybe it has a link with what you did."

{No shit.} Aurora said arrogantly.

"Alright…" Max started after he went through the ability description. "Aura Lock, a lucario exclusive ability that can have its good sides as well as having bad sides. The reason for that is that the ability has the function of drawing the inner power of the aura of a lucario by unlocking its inner chakras that control the aura flux, allowing the lucario to have a huge boost of their powers and combat abilities. Up to three times, a lucario can unlock a chakra to increasingly boost its strength and speed each time. However, the drawback to this is that it will slowly consume the vital energy of the user. The more chakras that are unlocked, the more power the lucario will get, but the faster their vital force will be drained as well, resulting in fainting when out of energy."

"Warning: A lucario can exceed the three times limit by opening more chakras up to six times, but it's a forbidden action in the lucario race. If a lucario unlocked their aura flux for the fourth time, their power will increase even further, but at the risk of permanent physical injuries. At the fifth time, the same thing will happen but with more drastic injuries, almost to the point of making the lucario permanently handicapped. And at the final one, a lucario will consume every spark of life force and transform it into pure power, making them an extremely dangerous and destructive pokemon, but at the risk of the pokemon's life. Whoa, that's quite heavy stuff right there!" Max exclaimed after reading the entry.

{… Aura Lock huh?} Aurora grumbled, going thoughtful for a moment.

"I'm not sure about this Aurora. It seems very dangerous."

{It's not if I don't go over three times. You said it yourself.}

"Well, maybe but…"

{The worst that can happen in battle is that that I faint before beating my opponent, which would be very unlikely to happen.}

"… I… suppose. Let's keep it as a last resort then."

{Works for me. After all, I don't need that to beat anyone.} She affirmed fervently.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? You know too well that you should never underestimate your opponent, as you already have experienced two times now." Max reminded.

{Whatever.}

"Alright, that should be enough for now. Thanks, Aurora."

{You're not welcome.}

Unable to contain a chuckle, Max then went inside the tent.

"Alright girls, mind if I invite someone to our party?" Max told Bonny and Dusk, busy talking inside.

{Someone? Who?} Bonny wondered.

"Someone you already meet," Max said before moving to the side so Aurora could get in.

Upon seeing the lucario inside the tent, both Bonny and May looked at each other with shocked faces.

{It's not what you think.} Aurora asserted a bit aggressively. {It's just that I don't like sleeping in the cold.}

"Yeah, and it's also a bit humid outside. Surely it's not the best place to sleep, isn't that right girls?" Max replied to Bonny and May.

{… Y-yeah, totally.} May agreed.

{Yeah, that would be bad if you catch a cold.} Bonny agreed.

{Whatever. It's just for this night anyway, so don't get used to my presence here.} Aurora retorted a bit arrogantly.

{What about the other days?} Bonny asked.

{What about them?} Aurora replied, half interested.

{Cold season is getting closer, so surely the nights will get more and more chilly from now on.}

{… W-we'll see when we get there.}

"Alright Aurora, I bet you didn't come in here to chat, did you? I'm sure you want to rest as soon as possible, right?" Max intervened.

{Hmpf, for once, you said something smart.}

"Good. Let me prepare your bed then."

{I'll do it, master.} Bonny proposed.

{What's wrong with him doing it?} Aurora wondered, quite intrigued.

At that, Max then wondered if she actually just defended him or was just curious.

{It will take a lot less time if I do it.} Bonny explained.

"Thanks for believing in me Bonny." Max jested, faking being offended.

{I'm stating facts, master. Your lung power is, well, not top-notch, so...}

"Whatever." Max conceded, rolling his eyes.

{I'll go with the fastest way then.} Aurora claimed, not caring that much.

{Great.} Bonny replied before taking out an unused inflatable mattress.

A few minutes later, a brand new mattress was ready to use as well as a pillow. After she gave them to Aurora, the lucario went to the furthest part of the tent before lying on her bed with her back facing them.

{Am I dreaming or…} Bonny whispered, at which Max motioned no.

"Well, Scarlet and Dusk should be back in a moment, so might as well get ready in the meantime." Max proposed changing into his sleeping attire.

When they were ready to sleep, May almost immediately climbed onto Max's chest when on his back with Bonny hugging him from the side.

"Back to your previous sleeping spot?" asked Max.

{Not really, but I miss a bit being this close to you. Your crotch is good but, it's not the really the same as here.} said Bonny, nuzzling Max.

"If you say so," replied Max with a smile, rubbing Bonny's cheek fur.

{… Maybe someone else would like it too someday.} whispered Bonny very lowly in Max's ears, knowing that Aurora had a very good sense of hearing.

"Maybe."

After a moment of just enjoying each other presence, Scarlet and Dusk were back and got inside the tent. After Dusk entered first, Scarlet followed behind with both of them surprised to see the lucario already in too. With Scarlet looking at Max with a puzzled and surprised face, Max only answered with a 'Looks like it' expression.

[I guess it can only get better from now on.] said Scarlet, lying next to Max.

(I think so too. The method was quite harsh and slightly barbaric, but it still proved to her that I did mean what I said to her.) thought Max.

[Even a magikarp will understand stuff after a while.]

(Not very fair to compare her to a magikarp.)

[You're right. A magikarp is way nicer than her.] said Scarlet, making Max looking at her with an unamused face. [Just kidding master.]

(Anyway, it's still not the perfect friendship between us, but at least she doesn't think of me as a jerk anymore, which is nice.)

[Yeah, about time too. I'm not sure I would have endured her attitude much longer.]

(Don't say that. It's not that hard to get accustomed to that, look at you and me.)

[Oh, am I dreaming, or did you just ask to be punished.] seductively said, Scarlet.

(Why? It's not an insult if it's the truth.)

[Hmm, you do want to be punished I see. Well, let's hope you'll survive it then.]

(You can throw anything at me.) provoked Max, rubbing Scarlet's cheek with one hand.

[You bet I will.] She softly and warmly replied before starting to kiss Max.

After making out for a moment, Scarlet broke the kiss to look into Max's eyes for a moment before Bonny moved to her usual place so Dusk could have hers. With everyone closing their eyes, they were asleep after a short moment.

The next day went pretty normally and without anything special until they again settled camp at the end of the day for the night.

"Aurora? Can I speak to you for a moment?" asked Max to his lucario after releasing his team.

{If I can't avoid it.} answered Aurora, not really interested.

"Thanks," said Max before motioning her to follow him.

When a bit isolated from the others, Max stopped to face Aurora.

"I realized last night that I didn't thank you properly for saving me from that zoroark that night, so here it is. Thank you, Aurora, for saving me and being here for me."

{D-don't get all emotional over that, idiot.} said Aurora, blushing a bit. {I-I didn't do it especially for you, I just hate that kind of pokemon, attacking without a real reason.}

"Thank you anyway."

{Beside, you shouldn't thank me.} told Aurora, crossing her arms.

"Why?"

{'Cause you're the one that saved me and the others, remember?}

"Well, saving would be a big word…"

{Don't get your head inflated, idiot. You're lucky that zoroark wasn't really intending on killing you.} retorted Aurora.

"… Good point. I indeed am. That would have sucked big time if I weren't able to see any of you ever again."

{Hmpf. We would have got through that loss pretty easily.}

"Really? So it does mean that it would affect you and the others," said Max with a small grin.

{K-keep dreaming. It sure would have been a shame for you to die before I got the occasion to know who you really are, but that's it.} She said, looking away while blushing.

"Hehe, we agree on that," said Max, playing along. "But whatever may be the reason, you put on a great fight and helped us a lot, so you will have a thank you, whether you like it or not."

{Whatever.}

"So… I was wondering…"

{What?}

"I… kind of always wanted to… know how the cute hair between your ears feels like, so I was wondering if… I could touch them?"

{Geez, what's up with you and always wanting to touch me?} protested Aurora.

"I'm sorry. Feel free to refuse if you want. It's just… my way to thank you."

{I already told you that you don't need to thank me.}

"You're right. I shouldn't have asked. Let's join back with the others." said Max before passing in front of Aurora.

{… Fine.} said Aurora after sighing.

"Huh?"

{You can… do it if you 'really want to.} said Aurora, almost unwillingly.

"You sure?"

{Just get over here and end it quickly.} said the lucario impatiently.

"… Alright," answered Max a bit shyly while getting near Aurora.

After kneeling in front of her so he could be at almost the same level, Max then stared at her mid-long black hair that was covering almost her entire forehead and stopping right above her eyes.

"That hair you have is very pretty. It really adds a huge feminine part to you."

{What is that supposed to mean? That I'm not feminine enough?} She said, upset.

"Of course not. Your body shape sure is plenty feminine enough already. It's just that without that hair, it wouldn't be the same. Look at a human girl, she can have the most gorgeous and sexy body of all time, but if she doesn't have beautiful and long hair, her feminine side would take a heavy hit, don't you think?"

{I didn't look at human girls a lot to ask myself the question. To me, with or without that hair, they look the same.}

"… Oh, then my example sunk in water."

{… But… I guess I can understand what you mean. It may sound strange if you didn't see a lot of lucarios in your life, but hair between our ears is rarer than you think. Most of us are… bald if I remember the word correctly.}

"Really? Then that makes you extra special."

{… Just… do what you have to do so you can leave.} She said, blushing again.

"Alright," said Max, not wanting to press her embarrassment more than necessary.

As Aurora closed her eyes, Max moved his hand closer to that cute tuft of hair of hers until he touched it.

"… Whoa."

{W-what?}

"It's like, really soft." He said, amazed by the softness of the hairs while brushing them.

{Well, I-I do take really good care of it.} Aurora said, blushing heavier than ever.

"Does that mean that you take a good pride in it?"

{… Quite a bit, yes.}

"It sure paid off," replied Max, petting Aurora's head in a quite pleasant way.

After a short moment of petting her, Max then found himself staring at Aurora's bright ruby-like eyes. Even though they were similar to Bonny's, her iris pattern was completely different, and looked a bit more fiery, unlike the slightly more pinkish and crystalline pattern Bonny's eyes had. For a few seconds, neither of them didn't know what to say or to do.

{O-okay, that's enough now.} said Aurora after a moment, looking away.

"I Agree. I don't want to mess up that pretty hair," replied Max a bit awkwardly.

{Shut up and go join the others already.}

"Sure thing. Feel free to sleep with us again tonight if you want to."

{… No thanks. You may be a bit less hopeless than I first thought, but it still doesn't mean I like you.}

"Not even in the slightest?"

{… Well, liking would be an exaggeration. Let's say that I hate you less.}

"Good enough for me," said Max with a smile.

{Sorry if it disappoints you, but I'm not the social type.}

"Alright. In that case, good night then, Aurora."

{Yeah... good night.}

Smiling, Max then left Aurora alone while joining the others to finish the evening with them.

For the next couple of days, nothing too exciting happened besides Aurora asking Max to sleep inside the tent on chilly nights, which happened one or two other times. Like Bonny had stated, nights and days were starting to get slightly colder, meaning that fall wasn't very far away. Aurora was still quite distant towards Max, but a bit friendlier with the few interactions they had. With their usual schedule back to normal again, Max and Co. were slowly progressing to Corsocoast. Then, a few days after the zoroark incident, Max and Scarlet arrived at a small human settlement. By the looks of it, it looked like a logging town.

"Hmm, doesn't look like a place we can stay for the night," told Max as they both stopped in front of the settlement in the late afternoon.

[Why?] asked Scarlet, mostly because of curiosity.

"Places like these usually are just meant for the workers."

[Ah.]

"But it's in our way, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to pass through."

[If we must.]

As Max nodded, both of them then proceeded to go inside the encampment. Quickly, they were surrounded by sawmills, woodcutting machinery, and lumberjack materials. As they were walking through, they saw very few people roaming around, as well as even fewer pokemon with them.

"It must be the end of the day for them," stated Max.

They then were quickly noticed by the locals as one of them called out for him.

"Whoa whoa there young man, this is not a place for youth here!" said a rather imposing and bearded lumberjack, which seems to be the one in charge around here, walking towards them with a gurdurr.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb anyone. I'm just a trainer that is heading to Corsocoast." explained Max.

"A trainer huh? It was kind of easy to guess with that pretty and rare looking gardevoir with you." said the lumberjack while eyeing the gardevoir, which made her uncomfortable before covering herself.

"If you want, we can pass around this place."

"… No, I think it will be fine."

"You sure?" said Max, a bit puzzled.

"Yes. Tell you what, we can even offer a small spot to pitch your tent up for the night if you do a little something for us."

"… Hmm... sure. Depends on what," answered Max, not sure if he should agree with the suspicious-looking lumberjack.

"Nothing untellable, don't worry. The thing is, since we work all week long before going home for the weekend, we tend to get bored sometimes, so some entertainment is always welcome."

"… Okay."

"Since you're a pokemon trainer and we also have pokemon here, what do you think about pokemon battles?"

"Battles?" said Max, looking at Scarlet. "Why not. It could be fun." accepted Max.

"Great."

At that, the imposing lumberjack then whistled quite loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright guys, what do you all think about some pokemon battles for this evening?" asked loudly the lumberjack as a bunch of other lumberjacks and pokemon were gathering around them.

As the others were agreeing gradually with some cheering here and there, Max didn't really like the attention they were getting.

"Who wants to go first?" asked the chief.

"It won't be you?" replied Max.

"Kiddo, if we want some entertainment, we need more than one battle."

At that, Max looked at Scarlet once again, not sure about this whole situation.

"But since you seem like a beginner trainer, I would understand that you would lower your head at the proposition. Can't blame you, everyone here is a hardy worker, human and pokemon, and surely won't go easy on you."

Not liking the way he said it, Max wanted to retort, but Scarlet interrupted him.

[If it's a fight they want, a fight they will have.] said Scarlet, threateningly glaring at the leader lumberjack.

"Your gardevoir looks hyped to battle though. However, I hope you have a pokemon that have more… 'punch' than this one."

{I'll show you how my punches are human.} threatened Scarlet, clenching her fists while glaring at him.

Then, as Scarlet moved an inch towards the lumberjack, the gurdurr got between them with Max also stopping her. Then, while eyeing the chief lumberjack, Max noticed that none of the men had ergowatches.

"I see that you don't have the trainer watch."

"We're not trainers, so no."

"And you still want to fight? You know your pokemon can be badly injured without it."

"I'm not really worried about the pokemon here. As I said, they all are tough."

(… That's a bad idea.) thought Max.

[Don't worry. I know recover and Healing Pulse, just in case. Besides, you still can use it on your own pokemon like when you face a wild one.]

(… True.)

[Not that I will need it that is.]

"… Alright, we accept." confidently agreed Max.

"Great. Mike, you first." said the leader to one of his men.

As everyone was backing up to make a huge circle around them, Max and another lumberjack known as Mike was facing each other in the center.

[I'll crush him.] said Scarlet, getting in a fighting position.

"Actually Scarlet, I'll send someone else."

[Why?] asked Scarlet, unpleased.

"With last time, I don't think it's a good idea to let you fight while angry like that."

At that, Scarlet stared at him for a moment before returning to a normal state.

"Besides, they want someone with 'punches' right?" said Max, taking Bonny's pokeball. "Why don't we give them what they want?" he continued with a grin.

[… Eh, I love how you think. Fine, I'll let her fight for us then.] replied Scarlet, floating next to Max.

"I'm counting on you to heal her if something goes wrong."

[No problem.]

"Are you fighting or what?" arrogantly asked Mike.

"I will don't worry. But I see that you don't even have a pokemon yourself."

"I have, don't worry. Come here buddy," called Mike before a scizor appeared in front of him.

"A scizor huh? Not a good typing against Bonny," said Max before letting out his lopunny.

{I'm ready master.} said Bonny while getting in her fight stance.

Then, for a moment, a heavy silence could be heard in the settlement before a few laughs exploded in the crowd, with Mike also chuckling.

{… What is going on?} said Bonny, looking around, confused.

Not responding, Max could only angrily glare at the lumberjacks.

"Seriously? A lopunny?" scoffed Mike.

"What wrong with it?" asked Max, mad.

"Well, technically, nothing but, when Richard asked for a pokemon with more punch, I surely didn't have a cutesy bunny in mind." mocked Mike.

"I… wouldn't call her 'bunny' if I were you, dude," warned Max.

"Why? A bunny is a bunny."

Even while being behind Bonny, Max could almost feel her furiously staring at the human.

"Bonny," called Max.

{What?} She aggressively asked before turning her head.

"How about we show them what a 'bunny' can do?" challenged Max while tapping on his keystone, at which Bonny responded with a very mischievous and wide grin before facing them.

Around them, people were still laughing as most of them began to make bets about the winner.

"Your bunny looks confident," said Mike.

"You have no idea. Let's go, Bonny."

{Roger, master.} replied Bonny before both of them touched their stone, making Bonny flash in intense light before reappearing in the form of a bigger and stronger-looking pokemon.

"A mega evolution huh? Well, in that case, scizor, use-"

Before Mike could even give an order to his scizor and before Max even had the time to use his ergowatch to protect his pokemon, Bonny had launched herself at full power at the bug/steel pokemon. Landing a very powerful Jump Kick, the scizor was propelled at the nearest house wall a couple of meters away and cracked it on impact. The scizor then immediately fell on his stomach, already fainted.

{How do you like that 'bunny' kick, you son of a muk.} growled Bonny after stomping the ground.

"Good job Bonny." praised Max.

{Like hell I would lose to an insect.}

"Is the scizor okay?" asked Max to Scarlet.

[Judging by his brain waves, he will be in huge pain when he will regain consciousness, probably meaning that his internal organs have taken quite a hit. However, probably thanks to his exoskeleton, his life doesn't seem in danger.]

"Great. They may be not the most refined people around here, but it's not a reason to badly injure a pokemon."

[Only pokemon? What about the humans?] Asked Scarlet, a bit surprised.

"… No comment."

[Oh, do I sense some antipathy?]

"Not really." answered back Max, making Scarlet grin.

{Is that all, no one else?} called out Bonny, facing the crowd around them.

At that, almost everyone in the crowd went quiet.

"If it's enough for you guys…"

"Hold your horses there kiddo. You just won one battle. Sasha, if you may." called the leader.

After Mike and another one helped the scizor to get up, another man stepped into the circle accompanied with a grovyle.

"What if we let them the chance to attack once now, Bonny?" said Max, a bit cockily to Bonny.

{Eh, whatever. It won't make much of a difference as they all will be squished.} Aggressively retorted Bonny.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. Grovyle, use Razor Leaf." Ordered the man known as Sasha.

Almost like she was amused, Bonny just stood there with her arms crossed before quickly and easily dodging the incoming attack of the grovyle.

"Those guys sure don't have battle experience," stated Max.

[What did you expect? They spend all day here moving logs around and nothing else.] commented Scarlet.

"What a mistake they made then. Bonny, I think we don't even need to use any combos. Putting your cute ears to good use will be plenty enough."

Not sure what Max was talking about, the grovyle barely had the time to block the too-fast Ear Punch from Bonny, looking more like an Ear Whip with how she used them. Almost losing his ground after being propelled, the grovyle was then immediately attacked by Bonny again with Charge, making him hold onto his belly after falling on his knees.

{That's all you've got?} haughtily provoked Bonny with her paws on her hips.

"Go easy on them Bonny. It's just a pokemon battle."

{Yeah yeah, I hear you.} said Bonny while waving the back of her paw at Max.

"Can you stand still now so I can use the protection?"

{Don't need to. They are not even a threat.}

"Pfff. Sometimes I see a lot of similarities between you and Scarlet."

{So?}

"… So nothing I guess. Just be careful okay?"

{If you insist.} responded Bonny, not really agreeing with what he said.

"Alright, I suppose we may have underestimated you. How about we raise the challenge a bit. Flavien, Bob." said the leader before two other lumberjacks stepped in with a scyther and a pinsir.

"Whoa, not very fair." protested Max.

{Calm down master, I got it. In fact, I think it may even be more of a challenge now.} said Bonny while cracking her neck.

"Tsss, that one is unrecoverable," said Max, making Scarlet giggle. "Okay Bonny, green, combo one, brown, combo three," commanded Max.

{Alright.}

Dashing towards the two pokemon, Bonny feigned to go for the pinsir as it was getting to either block or dodge the attack, but both of them were caught by surprise when Bonny changed direction at the last second and used Charge at the scyther. Too late to react, the green pokemon took the hit and was sent flying a couple of meters away from the pinsir. Not letting the scyther have time to recover, Bonny immediately chained with Ear Punch from above after jumping, making the green pokemon drop face-first on the ground. Now standing in front of the now unable to fight scyther, the pinsir wanted to use the opportunity to attack Bonny in the back. Readying its pincers, the brown bug pokemon charged at Bonny. Unfortunately for the assailant, Bonny jumped again at the last second and found herself above the pinsir before dropping towards it while using Jump Kick, also making him eat dirt. With now both unable to fight anymore, Bonny did a huge backward leap to get closer to Max.

"… Or you could just attack randomly, which is also fine," said Max.

{If all fights are like this, I won't even break a sweat.} growled Bonny.

"Not sure if you even need me."

{Of course, I do. Moral support is very important.} said Bonny while looking over her shoulder, making Max sigh and shake his head desperately.

After that, Max battled a few more other lumberjacks until he was now against the leader of the bunch.

"You did pretty well and I must say that it's pretty fun to watch. However, I'm not the kind to let an outsider win." He said with his gurdurr getting in front of him to face Bonny with its big metal beam.

{Bring anyone you want, bitch.} said Bonny, getting in a fighting position while slightly panting.

"No need for mean comments Bonny," said Max.

{Yeah, listen to your scrawny master.} said the gurdurr, readying his metal beam.

{… You better watch your words if you don't want me to shove that metal bar up your ass you inflated bastard.} aggressively spat Bonny.

{Why don't come here and try it?} provoked the gurdurr.

{With pleasure.}

"Bonny, calm-"

Unable to finish, Bonny had already begun to dash towards her opponent.

"Goddammit," muttered Max.

When Bonny got close to the gurdurr, she went for a strong Jump Kick at him. Suddenly though, the fighting-type pokemon was moving faster than Bonny could expect as he swung his metal beam at her as soon as he was in range, not only deviating her hit but also propelling her a few meters away from him with a pretty loud impact noise.

{Fuck.} cursed Bonny, a bit in pain. {That's gonna leave a bruise you asshole.} loudly growled Bonny before rushing at the gurdurr once again.

"Why the fuck does none of my pokemon listen to me in battle?" complained Max while facepalming.

{They all have strong personalities, master. You really shouldn't be that surprised.} explained Scarlet with crossed arms.

Close again, Bonny, this time went to Ear Punch, which the gurdurr blocked with his beam. Having expected that, Bonny then grabbed it to snatch it away from him. However, they roughly had the same strength so the beam wasn't moving either way. However, the gurdurr played smarter and raised it above him, making Bonny follow it into the air before the gurdurr crash-landed Bonny on the ground when he lowered it after turning around.

{Gha!} growled Bonny after she landed on her back.

Quickly getting on her feet, Bonny was far from being done and charged at her opponent once again. But this time, instead of going in a straight line, she wanted to surprise him by jumping in the air and going for another Jump Kick. Unfortunately, not only did the gurdurr dodge it moderately easily, making Bonny hit the ground instead of him, but he swung his beam once again at Bonny after doing a 360, sending her flying, landing close to Max.

{That fucking bastard.} cursed Bonny while getting in a sitting position and wiped off the blood that was slightly coming out of her nose. {It's not over yet.} She angrily continued while standing up.

"Time out." loudly called Max before running towards Bonny before grasping her to stop her.

{What the fuck are you doing? Let me go already so I can burst open that skull of that motherfucker.} angrily snarled Bonny while trying to keep going towards the gurdurr.

"Bonny, look at me," ordered Max while forcing her to look at him. "You won't go anywhere that way."

{Then what am I supposed to do then mister genius?} She aggressively asked after stopping struggling.

"Actually, something pretty simple. Here's what we're gonna do."

For a few seconds, Max then whispered into Bonny's ear so that nobody else could hear what he was saying.

{… Hhooo, I like that.} said Bonny with a smile when Max was done with his plan.

"Great. Now go over there and show them what you can do."

{Will do, I got this master.} said Bonny before tapping on Max's chest and moving in front of the gurdurr again.

{Did your master manage to prevent you from crying?} mocked the gurdurr.

{Actually, no.} said Bonny starting to walk rather slowly towards the pokemon with her paws behind her back. {He instead managed to convince me that it wouldn't be such a noble win if I were to break into tiny pieces.}

A bit confused, the gurdurr then put himself into a defensive stance at the slowly approaching mega lopunny, with his beam in front of him.

{Yeah, like that would happen.} retorted the gurdurr.

{Well, not anymore. However…} She said after stopping a meter away from the pokemon without attacking. {It doesn't mean it won't hurt… a lot.}

Going as fast she could, Bonny then went for Ear Punch again, making the gurdurr block in extremis with his beam. Again, Bonny wrapped her ears around it and tried to snatch it away from him. However, this time, Bonny was the one that played smartly as she immediately let go of the beam as soon as she felt the gurdurr began to pull, making him lose his balance. Using that opportunity, she went for a strong charge before jumping behind him. As soon as she landed and that the gurdurr had regained its composure, the fighting-type pokemon then did a 180 in the hope to hit the lopunny.

Unluckily for him, Bonny used her ears once again to block his attack before grasping his beam. More or less using the same technique as her opponent did earlier, Bonny then back rolled and used all of her might send the gurdurr in the air. Since he was a bit high, she could gather enough energy to use her most powerful move, Return. When he was where she wanted to and close to the ground, Bonny's thighs grew slightly bigger before doing a powerful leap towards the falling pokemon, leaving two tiny holes where her hind paws were. With barely visible materialized energy coming from Bonny, she hit the gurdurr like a cannonball would hit a castle wall, almost making the same noise as it sent the gurdurr very, very far away. A few seconds later, everyone in the place went silent until they heard a slightly distant loud impact noise.

{I… think that gurdurr just passed through the wall at the other side of the village.} commented Scarlet, with Max having its jaw almost on the ground, as well as most of the present humans.

"Is he… still alive?" asked Max, shortly after the leader began to run towards his pokemon.

{Hmmm… he unconscious with a couple of broken bones, but yeah, he is.} reassured Scarlet after focusing a moment.

"Thank god," said Max, sighing in relief.

{Gurdurrs are pretty tough master, don't worry. They can withstand worse than that.}

"That's a good thing."

{Ah, I guess it's my victory.} proudly said Bonny before returning to her normal form. {Unless… I did a bit too much?} She added while turning towards her master.

"Well, he's still alive, so maybe just a tiny slightly teensy bit. But you did great." praised Max.

{Thanks master.} She said, smiling a bit.

Upon seeing the other lumberjacks talking to each other while looking at Max, he decided to go see the state of that gurdurr as well. A moment later and after Scarlet sighed, all three of them moved to the wall with a hole in it and the leader kneeled in front of his pokemon.

"You're gonna be okay buddy. Just a few days of rest and you'll be in tip-top shape." reassured the lumberjack.

{… Not gonna lie, it hurts.} the gurdurr said a bit weakly, on the ground.

At that, Max started to feel sorry for him before looking at Scarlet.

{They are the ones that wanted to fight that way.} commented Scarlet.

"I know, but you know that pokemon act like their trainers so they can be accepted by them, so it's not really his fault."

{… Fine.} growled Scarlet while rolling her eyes.

"Thanks, love." lowly said, Max. "My gardevoir knows Healing Pulse, so she can get your gurdurr back on his feet," said Max to the leader.

"… Alright." He simply said before moving away from the pokemon.

Strangely enough, the lumberjack chief wasn't looking that worried about his pokemon. After Scarlet got near the injured pokemon, she began to use Healing Pulse on him.

"… That was quite an impressive victory." said the lumberjack.

"Like I was already told, never underestimate any pokemon."

"Well, I guess we learned that the hard way."

"If you ask me, you should treat your pokemon with more respect. It's okay when both of them are protected and risk nothing in trainer battles, but outside that it's extremely dangerous."

"We make tougher pokemon that way."

"Is it what they really want? Besides, what if you had fought a more sadistic trainer than me?"

"Then he would have been in real trouble here." said the lumberjack, a bit arrogantly.

Rolling his eyes, Max then waited for Scarlet to finish with the gurdurr. When she was done a minute later, she floated back next to Max as the pokemon was sitting up, inspecting his body.

{Whoa, I feel like I'm renewed.} He said before standing up.

"You're welcome," said Max.

{… Well, I guess I do owe you a thank you.} replied the gurdurr, half thinking it.

"Well, a deal is a deal. Feel free to install your tent wherever you want in our little paradise." said the leader lumberjack before motioning his gurdurr to follow.

"Sorry for the wall."

"Don't worry about it. Nothing a few hours of work can't fix." He said, not even looking back.

{… Do you still think it's a good idea to stay here? I don't really like this place.} commented Bonny when he was out of sight.

"More or less. I don't especially like them either, but it's safer with them than all exposed in the woods. I don't really want to come across a pokemon more dangerous than the zoroark we encountered a few days ago, so the less we are all alone in the woods…"

{I… suppose.} complied Bonny.

"As soon as we're all rested, we leave this place, even if it's really early in the morning."

{… Okay.}

"Let's set up that tent and go to sleep as soon as possible," told Max before heading inside to find a good place to sleep.

Searching for a moment, they found a spot that seemed quite isolated from the lumberjacks with Scarlet setting the tent immediately after.

"… Okay girls, we're gonna spend the night here. If you ever need anything around here, I would like you to move around in pairs okay?" explained Max to his team.

{Something wrong?} asked May, puzzled.

"Not really, but I don't-"

"Hey, Max was it?" said a voice behind him.

Turning around, Max saw one of the lumberjacks.

"Yes."

"Richard wants to invite you and your pokemon team to dinner if you're interested."

Not sure if he should accept or not, he then decided that maybe he poorly judged them.

"…Okay."

"Cool. We all will be in the dining area."

"Where is it?"

"Trust me, you can't miss it. See you later then." He said before leaving them.

"…Maybe they aren't so bad after all," said Max.

{Not sure about that.} replied Scarlet, not looking pleased.

"Feeling bad about them?"

{I don't trust them at all. I could scout their minds to know what's up with them, but I don't really want to dive into those flighty humans' minds.}

"That's okay. Whatever may happen, we'll manage."

{If they ever try anything stupid, you know what will happen.} warned Scarlet.

"Let's just hope they don't then. So Aurora, mind sleeping with us tonight?" asked Max.

{If you think it's necessary.} replied Aurora, not caring that much.

"Thanks. I don't think you would risk anything, but better be safe than sorry."

After that, all of them then walked towards where the previous lumberjack had gone until they began to hear noises. Getting closer and closer, they quickly found that it was a bunch of people talking.

"Must be over there," said Max while heading towards the noise with everyone.

Like he was told, it was hard not to see the rather big assembly that was being held in the middle of the place. A minute later, he was in front of a couple of campfires, a few trunks carved into something that looked like benches around them with a lot of lumberjacks scattered everywhere. Max was quite surprised at the number of workers that were there. Surely there weren't more than fifty, but that was quite a lot for Max nonetheless. As soon as they arrived, Richard, the one in charge waved at them to join him.

"Glad that you came." He said after Max and his team sat with the small group.

"Well, you did allow us to stay in here, so it would have been quite a dick move not to accept."

"Hehe, indeed," replied Richard before handing Max a bowl of stew while his gurdurr gave meals to his team.

While passing in front of her, Bonny glared almost hatefully at the pokemon before grabbing the bowl.

"So, is it your entire team?" asked Richard a moment after they all started to eat.

"Yeah. They don't all have the same battle experience, but they all are pretty strong." Proudly said, Max.

"You don't say. Your lopunny almost pulverized my gurdurr."

{She could have if she really has wanted to.} commented Scarlet, making the gurdurr look at her almost provocatively.

{Good thing I didn't.} Said Bonny, not looking that guilty.

"Indeed." agreed Max.

"What was that?" asked Richard.

"Oh, yeah sorry. I can understand pokemon speech, thanks to my gardevoir," explained Max.

"Really? How did she manage to achieve that?"

"Brain trafficking, but I don't recommend it."

"uhhuh."

For a huge part of dinner time, the lumberjacks mostly talked between themselves as Max and his team quietly ate their food.

"Say, I was wondering…" started Richard after a moment. "I can't help but notice that your team mostly looks female. I'm not sure about your mawile and braixen since I'm no expert, however."

"Why do you ask?"

"Just by curiosity. It's a bit odd though, for a trainer to have a pokemon team comprised only of the opposite gender. Almost all trainers I've seen so far had two genders in their team, even if it was only one or two of the same one."

At that, a couple of other lumberjacks were staring at Max and waited for a response.

"That's... just how things turned out. Anyway, thanks for the meal, but we have to leave early in the morning tomorrow, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave now!" announced Max before dropping his bowl and heading towards his tent with his team.

[You did well by not telling them.] told Scarlet.

"It's none of their business if my team is female-only or not. I don't want them to have unnecessary suspicions."

{It's quite true though, and with reason.} commented Bonny.

"They don't have to know."

{I guess you're right.}

"Let's go to sleep so we can leave as fast as possible."

With all of them agreeing, they all went inside the tent so they could go to sleep. Luckily for Max and the others, their night was quite peaceful as they weren't disturbed like Max feared they could have been. After awakening at the same time as Scarlet, both of them woke the others up.

{Master? I think you should come see this.} said Bonny, who had gone outside the tent while Max was getting dressed.

"What is it… Bonny?"

After exiting the tent, Max's eyes widened almost at maximum capacity at what he was seeing.

"What… happened last night?"

Before them, Max and Bonny saw a bunch of lumberjacks, laying on the ground and scattered everywhere, not moving.

"Are they… dead?" asked Max, at which Bonny shrouded her shoulders.

After leaving the entrance of the tent to go check one, the rest of Max's team also left the tent.

{… Okay. That's a quite unexpected awakening.} said Scarlet, looking around.

{The hell is happening here?} asked Aurora.

"… I don't know, but they all seem to only be unconscious," said Max after inspected a few of them.

{What could have caused this?} asked Dusk.

"Don't know, but my best bet would be that they all drank too much last night and all ended up like this."

{Possible, but they sure all did it silently. I mean, wouldn't that kind of thing be quite loud?} said, Scarlet.

"Maybe they just partied far from here and couldn't get into their homes and ended up here."

{Maybe. What's odd though is that they all seem pretty distant from each other.}

"Well observed. Honestly, I really don't know and I don't really feel like waiting here to find out. Let's just leave."

With his team agreeing, they packed everything before Max returned his team to their pokeballs and left the lumberjack settlement.

"That was quite weird," said Max after they put some distance between them and the lumberjack outpost.

[Yeah, but they're just humans, and shitty ones at that. Just a shame that they all are still alive.]

"Still. Well, never mind that. Like I said, I'm pretty sure they just abused booze, so no need to overthink about it. We have more important matters at hand."

[You're right. In fact…] started Scarlet before hugging his arm. [We do have an important matter at hand.] She added seductively.

"Let me guess like a horny gardevoir?" guessed Max, pretty convinced of already knowing the answer.

[Good guess.] She said with needy eyes before starting to pull him off the road.

Oddly enough to Max, Scarlet had only pulled him a few meters away from the road before making his back lie against a tree, still in sight of the road.

"Shouldn't we get a bit further? We're kind of still visible if someone passes by," told Max as Scarlet began to kiss his neck.

[That's even better.]

"How so?"

[Look at how wet the thrill of being caught makes me.] said Scarlet before putting his hand on her already soaking wet entrance.

"I…Can see that. Or rather, I can feel it." replied Max, slightly rubbing her lower lips with his now slippery fingers.

[Then what are you waiting for? Do something about it.] lustfully commanded Scarlet.

"If you insist." complied Max with a grin.

As Max began to make out with his gardevoir, he started to gently rub her clit making her start to moan soon enough. When soaking wet, Max then shoved his middle finger inside while rubbing her pleasure button, starting to finger her. As Scarlet's juice was slowly coating Max's hand, she broke the kiss to stare intently into his eyes.

"Something in mind?" asked Max, knowing that glare.

After only smiling mischievously, Scarlet used her power to paralyze him against the tree, rendering the human unable to move his limbs.

{Actually, yes. I owe you a punishment or two.} she told with a devilish grin.

"Really?" said Max, grinning as well.

{I still haven't come out with a better punishment, so I guess for now I'll keep doing it like this.} She lustfully said while rubbing his crotch.

"Do your worst then." provoked Max.

{Oh, you don't have to tell me twice.}

After getting rid of his pants and underwear, Scarlet got on her knees in front of him before making Max's semi-hard member glow in blue light.

"That trick again huh? Let's see how resilient I've become."

{Yeah, let's see.} She said, mischievously grinning a second after stopping the glowing.

Slowly getting her head closer to the hardening member, Scarlet opened her mouth, making Max wishing she would go faster. However, instead of doing what Max was expecting, she only blew some air on the tip of his shaft.

"Shit…" cursed Max while his legs went limp for a second.

{If only air can do that, imagine how my tongue will feel.} She said with the same grin.

"Are you planning on killing me?"

{Hehe, where has your confidence have gone human?} playfully asked Scarlet.

"Up your ass." retorted Max, playing along.

{My, you still haven't learned your place, do you?} She retorted before lightly brushing a finger across his shaft.

"Ghaa…" moaned Max with his legs going limp again.

If it wasn't for Scarlet's powers, he would probably have fallen on the ground already.

{I guess…A little reminder is required.}

After mischievously grinning once more, Scarlet then grabbed the base of his shaft, making him already wince in pleasure before sticking out her tongue.

"Is it too late to say sorry?" Max begged, knowing how intense the pleasure would be.

[…Yes.]

Before Max could say anything else, Scarlet gently and slowly brushed his tip with her long, slender, and warm tongue.

"GHAA!" loudly moaned Max as all of the strength of his legs left him.

{Is it…Too intense for you?} She said with a satisfactory grin.

"Eh…Like something like that would bother me." provocatively answered back Max.

{Oh, I suppose it means that I can go…Up a notch.}

Opening her mouth again with a seductive look, Scarlet this time put the entire thing in her mouth without touching it before wrapping her lips around the base of his shaft.

"Aaahh…" moaned Max, already feeling the heat and pleasure of her mouth.

With one last grin, Scarlet then pressed her tongue against Max's tip, making him feel intense pleasurable pressure on it.

"GNnhaa!" moaned Max when Scarlet began to move her tongue slowly.

Contracting all of his muscles due to the too intense pleasure, Max was clenching his teeth to prevent himself from moaning. Barely able to, only faint growls were escaping his mouth.

"Can you…Reduce it a bit, please…It's…A bit too much." begged Max, already feeling his orgasm after only a few seconds.

[I'm sorry master, but I can't do that.]

"W-why?" asked Max, hardly thinking.

[Because I don't want to.] she simply said before putting a bit more pressure on his tip, forcing him to let out a pretty loud moan.

As she was gently assaulting his tip for not even half a minute, Max felt his climax getting close.

"It's there…Already." moaned Max before exploding inside the gardevoir's mouth.

Reducing her speed a bit, she kept sucking until nothing was coming out anymore before swallowing everything.

{Thanks for the meal master.} she said while standing up.

"N-no problem. Take that as thanks for always bringing mine."

{Haha, you can be funny when you want to master. But… there's another mouth that needs to be fed.} she lustfully said while rubbing her entrance against his still hard member.

"Y-yeah, we can't let anyone starve, right?"

{Indeed.} she said while levitating herself a bit before pushing the meat rod inside her love tunnel.

Luckily for Max, the pleasure intensity was quite reduced, but he was still experiencing a tremendous amount of it.

{Maybe you want… to sit.} proposed Scarlet between a moan while Max's member was pushing in.

After she made Max sit on the ground, Scarlet was sitting on his lap with the shaft all the way in, pushing against her womb.

{Let's begin… your punishment.} She said before starting to move up and down.

The pleasure Scarlet was giving to Max had the effect of a thundershock and was making almost his entire body going limp from it. With Max unable to use any of his limbs, Scarlet put her hands on his shoulders to endure the pleasure a bit more with half-closed and lewd eyes while moaning. After only a minute, Max was already about to burst, but like any of Scarlet's punishment, she didn't allow Max to come until she decided to. As Max was always on the verge of his climax without reaching it, Scarlet slightly went faster as her own orgasm was also getting close. When her orgasm was initiating, that's when Scarlet allowed Max to come as well, exploding again but inside the flesh prison of the gardevoir that was contracting quite a lot due to the pokemon's blissful moment.

"Phew… that was… pretty intense," commented Max, taking satisfactory deep breaths.

{You think? Would another round be too much for you then?} She said, almost pleading while rubbing one of his cheeks.

"…Of course not. Always ready for you."

{That's what I love to hear. That and 'I love you', hihi.}

"Well, since I do love you, Scarlet, I want another round."

{Hmmm, I'm so gonna drench that crotch of yours.} She eagerly said.

"Then go ahead."

{With pleasure. But first, let's try something else.}

Without unplugging herself, Scarlet turning on Max so that her back was now facing him, bringing a small amount of pleasure in the process.

{How this?}

"Well, not the best of best with the back part of your crest poking at me, but since it's you, I can very easily get past it to enjoy this moment," reassured Max, kissing her neck.

{Damn, I love your sweet talks.} She said while rubbing one of Max's cheeks affectionately with one hand.

A second later, Scarlet began to go up and down once again while having her neck being assaulting by Max's kisses. Closing her eyes in pleasure, she was still rubbing Max's head as her moans were quickly back.

{Fucking hell, it feels so good.} moaned Scarlet, pulling Max's hair a bit in pleasure with her other one grasping strongly on one of his thighs.

"Does it?"

{Touch me!} commanded Scarlet before grabbing one of Max's hands and put it in her clit.

Complying with her demand, Max began to rub Scarlet and tried to synchronize it with her movements with Scarlet immediately starting to moan louder with her hand over his.

"…I'm…Already close to again," warned Max after a couple of minutes.

{Go ahead…Burn my inside with your hot seeds master.} said lustfully, Scarlet.

With Scarlet's fleshy walls getting a bit narrow due to her incoming orgasm, Max had reached his limits and released his seeds one last time in a powerful orgasm. A split second later, Scarlet followed and came as well, making Max's blissful moment more intense.

{…So? How was your punishment?} asked Scarlet after a moment, resting her head on Max's shoulder.

"Horrible. You can be sure I won't disrespect you anymore," replied Max, rubbing her hair.

{Aww, but I want the complete opposite. I love punishing you.}

"Is it not a bit sadistic?"

{…Nhha.} lied playfully Scarlet.

"Hehe, if you say so."

After a quick kiss, Scarlet left Max so he could stand up and that she could put his clothes on again.

[I was wondering…] began Scarlet when they back on track. [That place was a working human place, right?]

"Yeah, their job consists in to chop down trees and cut them into logs to sell to merchants. Why?"

[I was just curious about if you already did that kind of job?]

"You mean cutting woods?"

[Yeah. That or something else.]

"Well, no. I had a couple of jobs here and there, but was never able to keep them for long."

[Why?]

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with them never being happy with what I was doing."

[And why is that? I mean, you're pretty skillful with your hands, or should I say fingers.] told Scarlet with a small and lewd smile.

"Well, in the human world, there is no job that requires fingering a girl, much less a pokemon. Except for a pornstar I guess."

[Why didn't you do it then? To me, you would have been good at that.]

"You're kidding right?"

[What?]

"Seriously? Me fingering another girl, and a 'human'?"

[…Good point.] replied Scarlet, wincing a bit.

"Humans often say that if you're good at something, make a profit out of it. Honestly, I don't really agree with that. If we're not talking about survival matter, I think you should serve others more than yourself."

[Pretty altruistic of you. Too bad it serves the wrong race.]

"There are good humans out there Scarlet. They are just…pretty rare."

[I always go with the most logical probability.]

"Yeah, that's my cold-hearted and calculating gardevoir I love."

[Yeah, traits that almost all cold-hearted killers or psychopaths have.]

"Well, you may be a killer…And a psychopath sometimes…"

[Thanks.] replied Scarlet, rolling her eyes.

"But surely you're not cold-hearted. In fact, there is a lot of love in there," reassured Max before pressing his hand on her chest, next to her crest. "Some non-killer humans don't even have any."

At that, Scarlet didn't answer but showed a small smile.

"And to be honest, a killing machine that is only nice to me and at my side is quite…Appealing."

[Really?] said Scarlet, a bit skeptical while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I mean, I can send you to anyone that I hate to get rid of." joked Max.

[…Haha. Master master, I always keep asking myself what would I do without you.] She said while hugging his arm.

"Eh, same here." He answered, petting her head.

For the rest of the day, Max and Scarlet keep following the trail through the forest until it was noon break.

"Break time girls," announced Max after he let out his team.

{Finally. I was dying of hunger since we haven't had breakfast. And I'm not even talking about the small portions of food the other humans gave us yesterday.} complained Bonny.

"What do you mean small portions? You took like, two plates of theirs food."

{Still not enough.}

[You know master, that could also be a side effect of the mating season.] said Scarlet to Max.

(I was thinking the same thing.) thought Max. "In any case, you have free will to make your belly explode if you want now, so enjoy."

{Oh, I will. And who knows, maybe I'll enjoy 'you' after I'm full of energy.} said Bonny with a wink before leaving for her gathering.

"There is no stop on the mate train." joked Max.

{Hehe, looks like it. Well, I guess I'm off getting your dinner then, master.} told Scarlet.

"Actually Scarlet, do you mind if I go get it myself today?"

{You will hunt your own food?} said Scarlet, raising an eyebrow while crossing her arms.

"Of course not. I just want to wander a bit in the woods, that's all. I'll eat along the way and who knows, maybe meeting a few nice pokemon."

{Yeah, meeting.} said Scarlet, looking at Max skeptically.

"Not like that." retorted Max, rolling his eyes.

{Chill out master, you know I don't care who you mate with, as long as it's not a human or another gardevoir. Jokes aside, I, however, really don't want you to come across another pokemon like that zoroark we met a few days ago, so someone will go with you.}

"Sure thing, but why not you?"

{I won't be looking for the same food as you. Also, roaming around the forest like a little girl isn't really my thing.}

"Hey!" protested Max.

{But I know someone that does. Dusk, mind of keeping an eye on master while he's doing his things?}

{Of course not. It will be a pleasure,} happily responded Dusk.

"Good. At least someone will like spending time with me," said Max a bit haughtily to Scarlet, at which Scarlet stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on Dusk, let's enjoy our little walk." finished Max before leaving with Dusk.

{'Sigh', he's lucky I love him.} muttered Scarlet desperately but with a smile.

{Hmpf, I agree that he can be quite childish when he wants.} commented Aurora.

{True, but that's a part of his charm.}

{If you say so.}

{But what about you? I noticed that he and you have become…friendlier.}

{Not really.} replied Aurora, looking away with a faint blush.

{Really? Not even after what he did?}

{… Well…I admit that he isn't the lying coward that I first thought he was, but he is still pretty annoying.} stated Aurora before handing towards the woods too.

{…That lucario, I tell you. If she keeps not being honest with herself, she will miss a lot of opportunities.} said Scarlet as she and May were the only ones left.

{At least she's less mean to master, which is quite a start.} the mawile said.

{Maybe she's not a waste of time after all.}

{Maybe.}

{Anyway, let's get our food too. I'm sure you're almost as hungry as I am.} told Scarlet, leaving for the woods as well.

{You have no idea.} answered May, following her.

With Bonny alone in her spot and Scarlet with May and Aurora, Max was walking further in the woods with Dusk.

{Master? Are you sure it's reasonable to go that far?} asked Dusk, feeling insecure.

"I still haven't found my favorite berries yet. Besides, you're with me, right? I risk nothing as long as you're with me." confidently said, Max.

{I… suppose.} Dusk replied, behind Max.

For a short moment, both of them kept walking through the forest until Max finally found what he was looking for.

"Jackpot!" exclaimed Max before rushing towards the big bush. "The Cana Berry. The perfect balance between sweetness and spiciness. Aren't they your favorite as well Dusk?"

Max then waited a moment for Dusk's answer while picking some berries.

"…Dusk?"

Turning around to see what she was, Max gasped in surprise when he saw his braixen lying on the ground, on her belly, and not moving.

"Dusk!" He exclaimed before he dropped the berries and rushed towards her.

When he was next to her, Max grabbed and turned her to make her backrest against his thighs when on his knees.

"Are you okay Dusk?" He asked, shaking her lightly.

Not responding and having closed eyes, she was looking unconscious.

"What the fuck happened?" wondered Max, confused.

Then, at this moment, Max felt a presence behind him.

"Who's-"

Unable to finish, Max only had the time to see a pair of pink glowing eyes before everything went dark.

{… And I'm telling you that those berries are not for steel types. Trust me, I know.} told Aurora to May, who had a berry in her tiny hands.

{I'm pretty sure it's a berry meant for steel types.} argued May.

{Suit yourself. Don't complain to me when you'll be sick afterward.}

{Well, I think there's-}

Instantly and in the middle of her sentence, Scarlet's head perked up and while dropping the few berries she had in her hands.

{What is it Scarlet?} asked May.

{… I… just lost connection with Master's brain.} She said with a puzzled look.

{What? What does that mean?} asked May, confused.

Not answering, Scarlet only teleport away.

{What the? Where is she off to?} said Aurora, confused as well.

{I don't know, but what she said doesn't seem good. Can you track her smell?} asked May.

Nodding, Aurora then smelled around her.

{That way.} told Aurora before rushing towards the direction quite quickly.

{Wait!} said May, trying to tail her.

Unfortunately, even if she tried to keep up, May was quickly distanced by the fast-moving lucario. Then, as she was going as fast as possible, May came across Bonny.

{Hi May.} greeted Bonny, making May stop. {Is Aurora okay? She seems in a hurry.}

{She is and so am I.}

{What's wrong?} asked Bonny, seeing May's slight distress.

{There's a problem with master.}

{… Hold on tight.} said Bonny before grabbing May, put her under her arms, and began to run after Aurora.

Since she was faster than the lucario, she quickly caught up to her.

{Thanks for leaving me behind.} said May when Bonny was next to her, both running.

{Sorry, but if there is a problem with Max, we can't afford to lose time.}

{Well, for someone that doesn't like him, you sure are devoted to him. And you also called him Max.} said Bonny with a small grin.

{T-that's not what you think. If something happens to him, I won't be able to find out his true nature, that's all.} She said, trying to hide her face as much as possible.

{Yeah, right.} skeptically replied Bonny.

{You should save your energy for whatever we may encounter.}

{You're right.} agreed Bonny, focusing again on her running.

A couple of seconds later, all three of them arrived at a spot where Scarlet had Dusk's head on her thighs, trying to wake her up.

{What's going on?} asked Bonny when they were next to her.

{I don't know, when I arrived here, she was in that state.}

{Where's master?}

Raising her head, Scarlet then stared at them for a short moment before answering.

{I… don't know.}

{Wha… what do you mean you don't know?} said Bonny, starting to freak out.

{I… don't know because… I can't track his brain waves anymore.}

Chapitre 37: Timber Fall

Chapitres de déverrouillage par lots

Chapitre 37: Timber Fall

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