章 9: Revelation
Going again to the town's entrance, Max and Scarlet took the opposite direction of their previous place and managed to find another good spot just a few meters down the edge of the road. They traveled a bit further on the path just to be sure to not get in the way of eventual travelers and to prevent them from being disturbed. Max then released Bonny and Dusk, both greeting their master with their respective smiles. But Max could be seen hesitating a bit to release May.
"Do you think I should let her out now? I know I said I was going to present her to the others, but maybe she'd like some alone time after what she just went through," Max asked Scarlet.
[She needs to face the reality sooner or later. If she really wants to stay alone so badly, she can always go back in the woods on her own.] Scarlet bluntly commented.
"That's a bit harsh to say, don't you think?"
[Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude or anything... It's just that she doesn't seem aware that she had a fairy tale as a life compared to others, and I have a bit of trouble tolerating those kinds of pokemon.]
"Yet you didn't hesitate to help and convince her to come with us."
[Well, I knew that you wanted to help her and that you would be glad to see her fine.]
"Is that really the only reason?" he asked her with a skeptical face.
[*sigh* And maybe I wanted to help someone who didn't deserve that fate.] She confessed, albeit a bit reluctantly.
"Hehe. Thank you, Scarlet, for helping May in her time of need. That's something probably no other human would ever do."
[I must agree on that one.] She arrogantly proclaimed.
"Alright, let's give it a shot, then. Come out, May," Max called out before May appeared in bright light from her pokeball in front of the others.
"Bonny, Dusk, meet May, our new family member."
{Hi there, May, I'm Bonny.} The buneary eagerly saluted.
{A-and I'm Dusk.} The fennekin timidly followed.
"...Ma, wile," May replied, though her greeting sounded a bit reluctant, morose even.
[There's one thing we need to do before starting our training, however.] Scarlet told Max before motioning him to follow her.
"Alright, girls, make sure that May feels welcomed. We'll be back soon."
{Will do.} Bonny confidently responded.
Max then followed Scarlet for a quite long distance for his taste, getting deeper into the woods.
"Is it necessary to go this far?" Max inquired.
[Yes, I don't want to be disturbed.]
"Didn't know that that operation required a great amount of concentration."
[There are a lot of things you don't know about, which isn't bad, in my opinion. I like that little innocent part of you.] She said with a smile.
When they were sufficiently isolated, they both sat on the ground close to each other with their legs crossed.
[You remember? Empty your mind and ignore the uncomfortable presence in your mind.]
"Yeah, I do. Now that I already went through it, I know what to expect."
[I can tell. You're a lot less stressed than the last time, which should make things easier for me. Now, take a deep breath and close your eyes.] Scarlet calmly instructed.
Doing as told, Max then felt Scarlet's hand being pressed on his head, immediately followed by the aforementioned presence. Unlike last time, he quickly fell into the same trance he experienced last time for a moment before being awakened by Scarlet.
"...Already done? Time sure flies when you do this," Max said, feeling a lot less dizzy compared to last time.
[Yes. It just took me almost an hour this time.]
"You also seem less tired, too."
[Indeed. I wasted less time and energy in your head. I even have plenty of energy left to do this.] The gardevoir cheekily informed before putting her hand on Max's crotch.
"Woah. Tsk, so that's why you made us go this far, huh?"
[You sure are slow to understand, but I like the surprised face you make when you finally do.] She replied while starting to rub his hardening manhood.
"I'm sorry to deceive you but I'm starting to know you better, so you don't surprise me that much anymore, being the pervert that you are," Max confidently jested.
[Can't be surprised anymore, huh? Well, I'm curious to confirm if it is true.] She retorted with a challenging and mischievous grin.
"...Scarlet... what do you have in mind?" he cautiously inquired, raising an eyebrow.
[Nothing yet, rest assured. But I'll think about it.] She nonchalantly responded, increasing the strength of her rubs on Max's hardening member.
When she was satisfied teasing him, she then unzipped her master's pants, freeing his hard shaft. With an eager look, she grabbed it with one hand and started pumping it softly while nearing his face to start kissing him passionately, gently fingering herself with her other hand. After a moment of foreplay, she broke the kiss and moved her lower body to ride him, embracing him while being careful with her crest. Being already soaking wet, Max's flesh rod slipped in and reached her bottom very easily after Scarlet impaled herself with it. Immediately after that, Max felt a surge of pleasure due to her usual tightness.
[Aaahh! Y-yeah. I really love it... when you... fill me up like this!] She hardly told him, softly moaning after she started to move up and down.
"Ghhng. S-Same here."
Scarlet went quite slowly at first, enjoying the sensation of being filled up. But despite that, she quickly wanted more pleasure and sped up her pace, wanting to reach the same prime objective when mating with her trainer. Max wasn't in a position to do a lot, but nonetheless, he was greatly enjoying his gardevoir choking his shaft with her very narrow flesh cave. And no matter how many times they do it, Max was never able to hold on for very long, already feeling his penis starting to throb heavily for release. Luckily for him, it was the same case for her as she was barely able to withstand his manhood stretching her insides and hitting the right spots, and being particularly sensitive today, Scarlet was the closest one that was nearing a climax. After a minute or so, she couldn't withstand the pleasure any longer; her whole body shook and her internal muscles contracted and tightly crushed Max to an almost painful point while she tried to contain an ecstatic scream, with Max just barely able to endure her body desperately milking him for his seed. After taking a small break, Scarlet then resumed her actions once again, feeling a bit upset that she failed to make him cum.
[Resisting, huh? Well, try to resist this!]
Scarlet then tightened her vaginal walls a bit more and increased her speed, confident that that would make Max reach his peak. And soon enough, her efforts paid off as he wasn't unable to endure it any longer. Giving in to it, he gave one last thrust and his throbbing member exploded inside the pokemon's vagina, spreading his hot and creamy goo to her womb. That had an immediate effect on the female as Max felt Scarlet's second orgasm intensely crushing him while she gushed out a plentiful amount of her juice, staining the two and the grass below them.
[Gaaaahh! Too quick!...] She only let out, her whole body uncontrollably trembling due to still being very sensitive from the previous orgasm.
After her high bliss ended, Scarlet completely fell limp on Max, to which he proceeded to gently embrace her.
"You okay there, Scarlet?" he asked, softly panting while gently rubbing her back.
[Yeah. *pant* I'm just not used to cumming two times in quick succession.]
"Hehe. The more we do it, the more we'll experience new things."
[That's one reason why I will never get tired of that.] She tiredly but surely claimed.
"Same here. Well, let's go see how May is doing with the others."
After Scarlet nodded, she freed him by standing up, allowing Max to do the same while he pulled his pants back up. After a quick clean-up on both with her powers, Scarlet followed Max to where the others were. Arriving back, Max was pleased to see that Bonny and Dusk were playing together.
"Aww, they're so cute," Max commented.
But then he saw May just sitting against a nearby tree, alone.
"Scarlet, think you can start training the others without me? I'm gonna go see if May is fine."
[Sure.] She agreed though she was half-pleased with the request.
With Scarlet going with the others, Max headed towards May. While doing so, he could now properly see that she looked rather sad. After a couple more steps, he was now in front of her.
"Hi, May. Can I sit with you?" Max kindly greeted the mawile.
{You're my new master. You can do whatever you want.} She spoke in a submissive and morose tone, her arms resting on her raised up knees and with her chin resting on them.
"What exactly do you mean by 'master'? I want to be sure that you don't see it the wrong way."
{You're my new master, which means you can do whatever you want to me and I don't really have a word to say.} She replied with the same tone.
Hearing those words, Max lightly let out a sigh.
"I'm not that kind of master. I see you as a friend, and I want you to see me as your friend, too, instead of a master," he said, sitting beside her.
{If that is your command, master.} The mawile replied, momentarily glancing at Bonny and Dusk trying to attack Scarlet, to which the gardevoir either blocked the attacks or dodged very quickly.
"No, that's exactly what I don't want. You're not trapped here with me and I will not force you to do something you don't want."
{If I don't obey my master, I will get punished. No one likes a bad girl.}
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. I kind of like it," Max commented jokingly.
May then looked at Max with a confused look.
"N-nevermind," he said, now feeling a bit embarrassed.
{...Anyway, obeying is the only thing that I'm good at.}
"Don't say that, May. You're a pokemon, and with your powers, there is plenty of stuff you can attempt."
{Like what?}
"Well, you can easily beat me and force me into submission if you wanted to."
{You're a human. Almost all pokemon can do that, even a small caterpie.}
"Hey, that hurt my feelings," Max retorted playfully.
{S-Sorry!} She apologized in fear, expecting a hit from him.
"Calm down, May, I wasn't serious about it. It was just a joke."
{...A joke?} May repeated, wondering what that could be.
"Yeah, a joke. You know, it's the thing you say to make others laugh and have fun."
{...I've never heard of that.}
"...Okay. Well, never mind that, then... What I'm trying to say is that you have nothing to fear from me. You can be yourself... I don't know for how long your previous trainer has been belittling and mistreating you, and judging from what I managed to hear from him during... that, I can only guess he was leading you on the wrong path to develop properly your potential. And probably after a while, you even started to believe all those horrible things he said to you."
{...And... all those things he said to me... aren't true?} She inquired.
"Hell no, they're not. A pokemon has limitless potential. All it takes is the pokemon and the trainer to believe in themselves."
{I believed in my trainer and we were still losing.}
"But did you believe in yourself?"
{...I wasn't important.} May gloomily stated.
"Sorry if I come off as blunt, but you are important. What do you think will stand still better: one single wall or two walls?"
{...}
"Whatever your previous trainer told you, you do matter, not to mention you're a cute little pokemon that can do great things."
{How can I believe what you say if I've never done something like that?} She remarked with doubt.
"As I said, you were led on the wrong path. If you give me a chance, I can prove to you that I'm right. You only have to give me one chance."
May just went silent for a moment, thinking carefully about what he said. She spared another glance at the others and saw that Bonny and Dusk were starting to get a little tired. Despite what the red gardevoir promised her, she was still having a hard time believing that Max will be better than her previous trainer. Sure, her old trainer was aggressive towards her but he was the only companionship she had throughout the few years spent with him. However, Scarlet was right, she was delusional and shouldn't have accepted that way of life. She then looked back at her new trainer, to which he just gave her a reassuring smile, and she saw true sincerity and kindness in his gesture, something she never saw with the other one.
{...Can I...?} May started.
"Hmm?"
{...Can I... sit on your lap?} She shyly requested.
"Sure, May, anything you want," Max happily obliged.
Those words were strange to her, never having any request of hers being accepted. May then slowly stood up and with a bit of clumsiness, she got on his lap, being careful not to hit him with her giant maw.
"Is it comfortable?"
{Well, I never did this with my old trainer. It... it kind of is.}
"Glad to hear that."
May wasn't referring to being in his lap, per se. What was comfortable to her was the warmth and security she sensed sitting with him, which was another thing she never really experienced.
{Can you... put your arms around me as you did earlier?}
Chuckling a bit, Max coiled his arms around her and went for a gentle hug, making her feel even safer. Closing her eyes, she then felt something: Was it happiness? Comfort? Trust?; she thought that it was probably a mix of all of them.
(What do I have to lose with him? I was denying it but my trainer had already abandoned me when he arrived. I pleaded to him to keep me and that I would do anything to make it up to him, but I only made him angrier. But then again, he never understood anything of what I said... If it wasn't for him and his gardevoir, I would be all alone and lost by now. He's doing what my old trainer, who I thought loved me, never did: taking and accepting me, even if I'm worthless... I think I'm starting to understand why that gardevoir loves him so much.) May thought.
Despite taking her long to notice it, she briefly went wide-eyed as something didn't add up to her.
{Master?} She addressed him, looking up at him.
"Yes?"
{Can you understand what I'm saying?}
"Yeah, hehe. Since the start of our conversation, actually."
{...How? You didn't seem to understand me at all inside that building.} May replied, greatly confused.
"Well, I have Scarlet to thank for that. The reason for our long absence is because she was transferring to my brain the knowledge of your language."
{Really? Wow, that's so cool. I didn't know her species could do that.}
"Neither did I. I can also understand Bonny and Dusk over there thanks to her again," he informed, staring lovingly at his gardevoir. "I love Scarlet so much, and I'm very grateful for the things she has done for me."
{Oh... Do... do you think... you can l-love me like you love... h-her?} She hesitantly asked with hopeful eyes.
"Like Scarlet?... Hem, well..." he started, now feeling awkward.
{It doesn't have to be right away, but...}
"May... I'm sorry but I can't love you like that."
At his words, May felt another spear-like pain piercing through her heart.
{Oh... If you can't, then... it's okay.} She replied, sounding very sad and disappointed.
"Don't take it personally, May, but I can't love anyone else like Scarlet. You wanna know why?"
{Why?}
"Because she's different than you and the others. I don't love Bonny like I love Scarlet. The same goes for Dusk, but I do love all of them equally and you won't be an exception. I'll love you just as strongly as the others."
{You... really mean it?} May queried, feeling rays of hope growing inside her.
"Of course, May. But the fact that you believe me or not is up to you. I can promise you that the worst physical touch you'll ever feel from me is this," Max affirmed while caressing her head beside the base of her maw.
Having nearly forgotten what it was like being held gently by someone she trusted, she was paralyzed with surprise at the good feelings flowing through her.
"Aahhh," May involuntarily moaned when Max went to caress the side of her cheek near her neck, proceeding to cover her mouth in shame and embarrassment.
"Sorry, did I hurt you?"
{N-No... I just haven't felt something that good for a very long time and I couldn't control myself.}
"Oh," Max replied, relieved that he didn't hurt her.
{Can you... do it again?} May inquired, almost pleading.
"As you wish, princess," Max complied while caressing her cheeks again.
This time, May was able to control her moans but not the sudden tears of joy that were dripping from her closed eyes, lightly wetting Max's hand, which he didn't mind.
(Maybe I was really unlucky until now.) She thought, feeling a small amount of happiness.
"May, do you mind if I learn a bit more about you?"
{N-not really...}
Expecting questions, May was a bit surprised when she saw Max withdrawing a strange device from his pocket.
{W-What is that?} May said in a bit of fear.
"It's a pokedex. This device will tell me more about you," he explained, pointing it at her.
After the scan was complete, he pressed the global info button first.
"Mawile, the jaw pokemon. Despite their cute-looking appearance, mawiles can be very dangerous. The maw connected to the back of their head is composed of a third of their full weight and is extremely strong, able to bite through steel like it was butter. The maw can also be used for defense and intimidation purposes, capable of ending a fight before it even begins," Max read. "Wow, that maw looks very powerful," Max exclaimed in wonder before going to touch it, making her flinch. "Oh, sorry about that. Maybe it's a place you don't like to be touched, right?"
{It's okay. I don't hate it, but it feels... a bit uncomfortable.}
"Okay, I won't do it again, then," he assured, making her blush a bit from his consideration towards her. "Now, about yourself..." he continued, choosing personal info.
"Age: 7; Nature: Naive; Gender: Female; Height: 1.10 ft.; Weight: 45 lbs. Wow, you're quite heavy for your size."
{I'm part steel-type, so it makes sense.}
"Good point. Ability: Strong Jaw, and finally, Known moves: Tackle, Pound, Headbutt, Crunch, and Steel Fang. I'm impressed, May, you sure are a fighter. You know quite a few moves, and some sure sound like they pack a punch."
{Well, I-I did have my fair share of battles with my old trainer.} She said, starting to blush again from his words.
"It's great that you already have some battle experience. That could be handy for the gym leader tomorrow," Max praised, petting her head again.
He looked back in his pokedex to search what her ability did.
"Strong jaw: It increases the power of bite moves by 50%. Neat," he concluded before putting it away.
They then remained seated like that for a little while and the little pokemon ended up falling asleep on his lap. While petting her head during her slumber, Max also felt a little sleepy, beginning to close his eyes. Later, Scarlet was now waking up her master, Bonny, and Dusk being alongside her but in a weary state.
[So, how'd it go?] Scarlet asked when he opened his eyes.
"I... think everything is alright between us," he answered a bit sleepily while petting the sleeping pokemon's head again.
[Not that much of a surprise. It's like you have a natural magnetism with pokemon.]
"Eh. That would certainly make things a lot easier. How'd the training go?"
[Pretty good, if I do say so myself.] She answered while the others just let themselves flop to the ground; Bonny was on her back and Dusk was on her belly, heavily panting from the long exercise.
"Damn. You sure made them work."
[I could already feel a difference in their power near the end. I don't know if they are ready for tomorrow, but they sure will be stronger for it.]
"Awesome. You okay there, girls? You look like you went through a marathon," he addressed them with a small chuckle.
{I'm... I'm okay, master. I just feel... reaaaally tired. And sleepy.} Bonny remarked.
{Me too. But we couldn't... even touch Scarlet at all. Sorry, master.} Dusk apologized.
"Don't sweat it, girls. You trained very hard today and that's more than enough for me. You both earned a well-deserved rest," he replied with a smile.
*pant* {...I'm very glad that you're happy, master. I'm ready to battle that gym leader... and win.} Bonny tiredly stated but with determination.
"That's the spirit. Thanks for helping them, Scarlet."
[Don't mention it. It was quite fun to see them struggling so much trying to get me.] She said with an amused giggle.
"Well, I suppose it's time to call off the day, then," Max announced, looking at the sunset.
[Yep. This was quite an eventful day. Can't wait for more.] She commented with a bright smile.
"Haha. You sure have an adventurous spirit. Well then, Bonny, Dusk, May, return," Max softly said as to not wake up his mawile, returning all of them in their pokeball.
After standing up, Max and his gardevoir headed back to Coaltown again and to the previous Inn.
"Oh no," Max muttered when he saw the same girl from yesterday at the reception.
"Oh my gosh, it's you and your beautiful gardevoir again!" the too energetic receptionist enthusiastically greeted them.
"Yeeaah. Don't mean to sound rude but we are tired and we would really like to go to sleep as soon as possible."
"Oh, of course. You do look like it. Here's the key for Room 3. Have a good night."
After Max thanked her, they immediately headed towards their new room.
[Sweet, sweet comfy bed.] Scarlet expressed while floating over the bed before letting herself land on it.
"Yeah. Nothing like sleeping on a comfy bed. Pretty sure the girls will think the same."
[Maybe you should keep Bonny and Dusk in their pokeball. They are really tired and probably are already sleeping soundly. You will just disturb them.]
"Good thinking."
[However, I think someone will really appreciate knowing what it's like to be snuggled all night.]
"You're talking about May? Are you sure she wants that?"
[I have the feeling that yes. I can always ask her just to be sure.]
"Okay, if you say so," Max replied before grabbing May's pokeball and letting her out.
{At your command, master.} She greeted him a bit more confidently like she now didn't feel forced to say that.
"Hi, May. Scarlet wants to ask you something."
{Huh?} May wondered, turning to face Scarlet with a puzzled face.
{Listen, have you ever slept with your previous trainer?}
{Hum...} May started, a bit embarrassed by the question.
{Hihi, I'm not talking about that kind of sleeping.}
{Oh. Then, n-not really. Why?}
Max was a bit lost as he was only understanding May's part of their conversation.
{Do you want to try it out with your new one?}
{I... hem... I don't know. I don't want to bother him.} She shyly answered.
{Don't worry, you won't. I think it's time for you to feel and experimen the thing we already talked about.}
{Well... I'm kind of really trying to forget my last trainer but... things are going a bit fast.}
{I'm not forcing you and you're free to refuse. It will make our master a bit sad, though, but he will understand.}
{Sad? Why?}
{You still don't understand? Our master wants you to be happy to the best of his ability, and by helping you feel happy and cared for, that'll make him happy in return.}
{I don't know what it's like, but...}
{You'll love it, I guarantee you that.} Scarlet assured May with a smile.
{...Well, he seems... very nice so far, so, as a pokemon, I kind of... want to be closer to him, even if I don't know him that much.} She confessed while looking away from Max.
{There we go. Don't be afraid to show how you feel.} Scarlet said encouragingly.
{...A-alright.} She finally complied.
{Wonderful. Master and I are gonna take a shower. Feel free to test the bed in the meantime.}
{Okay.}
[Okay, master, she agreed on snuggling with you. Now, let's go wash away all of that dust.]
"Sure. Right behind you."
After Max and Scarlet left for the bathroom, May climbed onto the bed.
{Wow, it's soft and comfortable.} She mumbled, now resting on her back.
In the bathroom, Scarlet was already under the warm water while Max was undressing, and while doing so, he had something on his mind.
"...Say, Scarlet, why haven't you used your power to make me able to understand you, too?"
[Silly master. You already understand what I'm saying.] She replied after she popped her head out of the curtain.
"I know but, I couldn't understand a word you said to May and it became difficult to follow your conversation."
[Why would you want that? Do you want to spy on me?] She questioned accusingly.
"What? No, it's not fo-"
[Calm down, master, I'm only joking. But there is really no point in doing that.] She told him before going back under the water.
Max could tell that she seemed evasive of that topic, so he didn't insist further. However, he was wondering what possible reason she could have to refuse him that. Just shrugging, he then jumped in the shower and joined Scarlet, who had already cleaned herself.
"You didn't wait for me?"
[Sorry, you were taking too long to enter, but I can wash you if you want.]
"I don't mind."
As Scarlet took the soap and started rubbing her master with it, Max could feel that she was oddly a bit distant.
"Are you feeling okay, Scarlet?"
[Yes. Why do you ask?]
"You sound a bit mad. Did I ask something that you don't want to talk about?"
[I am not mad.] She quickly responded, her tone of voice betraying her words.
"...If you say so. I just have the feeling that you're hiding something from me."
At those words, Scarlet halted her motions.
[I'm not hiding anything. There are just things that you don't need to know.] She replied a bit gloomily.
"Like what, exactly?"
[I believe the point of my last sentence is exactly about not telling.] She assertively told him.
Max stared at her a bit suspiciously, beginning to feel like maybe he didn't know her as much as he thought.
"Scarlet..." he began, slowly lifting her chin. "...please tell me what's bothering you."
Despite saying that, it didn't yield the results he had hoped.
[...Sorry.] She simply replied while avoiding his gaze, still reluctant to talk.
"Why are you being so evasive of this? I want to help you however I can," he remarked with slight annoyance.
[How about you start to help me by respecting my privacy!] She angrily blurted a bit too excessively.
Taken aback, he just stared at her, feeling very hurt. Scarlet sensed his emotions but she just remained silent.
[...We have a battle to prepare for tomorrow. I'll go to sleep now.] She informed him while putting the soap in Max's hands and left the shower.
Now all alone, he then slowly continued cleaning himself, now having confused feelings about Scarlet. He loved her, which he couldn't deny, but the idea of her still being a bit reclusive didn't sit right with him.
Leaving the bathroom, he saw Scarlet resting at the extreme edge of the bed, getting the impression that she didn't want any sort of contact. Getting under the sheets with a bit of sadness, Max didn't notice that May, who was between both of them in the bed, was blushing heavily from seeing him in his underwear.
"...I'm sorry for that, Scarlet. I didn't mean to pressure you... I know that we haven't known each other for very long, and... I understand that there are some things that you'd prefer to either keep to yourself or try to forget."
[It's okay, master, I know you only want what's best for my well-being. Anyway, you should take this night to show May how awesome of a trainer you are.] She responded through a subtle coldness that remained in her voice.
"Alright. Good night, Scarlet," Max wished, thinking it was best to leave her alone for now.
{Are you two okay, master?} May asked, a bit worried.
"We are, May, don't worry. We're just tired from the day."
{Oh. Okay then.}
"Well, good night, May."
{Emm, y-yeah.} She replied, her voice sounding like she was expecting something.
"Is there something wrong?"
{Well, hmm...} She started while playing shyly with her fingers.
[She wants to sleep in your arms, remember?] Scarlet reminded him.
"Oh, right. Come here," Max said while opening his arms for her.
May then shyly and slowly went into his arms and lay on her side under the sheets, facing him.
{Good night, master.} She wished with a smile, feeling safe in his grasp.
"Good night, May," he also wished with a smile of his own.
Squeezing herself tightly to her new master, May slowly fell asleep, getting slowly more attached to him with every minute she was trapped in his arms.
The next morning, Max was roughly awakened by May's maw hitting his face during her sleep.
"Ow, what the...?" Max exclaimed, quickly waking up.
After he opened his eyes, he looked down and could see that May was still sleeping in his arms but with her back facing him, explaining the hit. Max then saw Scarlet leaning against an open window, looking outside.
[Morning, master.] She greeted him warmly.
"Morning, Scarlet. It's always refreshing to wake up to your beautiful red shape."
[Hehe, and it's always nice to wake up to your sweet talks.] She retorted with a smile. [Ready for your gym battle?] She added, turning to face him.
"Yes. I hope that my team is ready, too. I think May will be a good asset for the battle."
[Yeah. She's the one that has the most experience in battles.]
"Yup. Let's go, then. May? Wake up, little princess," Max called while gently shaking the mawile.
{Hmm... just a little bit more.} She drowsily replied, still having her eyes closed.
"Come on, May, we have a big battle today. Our first gym leader battle, to be precise."
May then stirred up from her sleep and stretched her body. She suddenly looked a bit nervous but she quickly tried to hide it.
{O-Okay, master. Let's do this.} She said with an unsure voice.
"You don't sound very enthusiastic about it, though," Max noted, a bit perplexed.
[Well, what did you expect? This will be her first battle with her new trainer.]
"Fair enough. It sure would make anyone a bit nervous, I suppose. But just to let you know, you don't have to battle if you don't want to."
{No. I'll do it, master. It's the least I can do.}
"Very well. Let's get ready for the battle, then," Max told her while taking her pokeball.
{I'll... I'll do my best, master.}
"I'm sure you will," he replied before putting her back in the pokeball. "Let's do this," he added with a clenched fist of confidence, starting to get dressed.
Max and Scarlet then left the building after paying and returning the key and headed straight towards the gym's location, stopping in front of the entrance.
"...I can do this," Max asserted after taking a deep breath.
[I'm sure everything will be fine, master. You can do this for sure.] Scarlet cheered him on with a smile.
"Yeah. I have to focus on the victory."
[Exactly.]
Max then pressed a small button next to the door with a speaker right above it.
"...Yes?" a voice answered from the intercom after a moment.
"Mmm, hello, I'm here for a gym battle."
"Very well. The gym leader will be waiting for you inside. Just a moment, please."
After a minute, the door unlocked and opened by itself, letting them enter. The interior's decor was rock-themed; boulders were everywhere with the ground also being made of rock but it was smoothed out. A white rectangular outline of roughly twenty-five meters long and seven meters wide was painted to highlight the area of the battlefield, a square outline was painted on each end of the battlefield for the battlers to stand on and a giant pokeball was painted in the middle. A bit further on a rocky chair, an odd-looking person was sitting on it, wearing a miner outfit and holding a rather big pickaxe.
"So, you came here to challenge me, hmm? And with a peculiar gardevoir, at that," the gym leader told Max.
"That is correct. I'm here to claim your badge!" Max eagerly declared out loud.
"Hahaha," the gym leader let out a hearty laugh. "You sure are confident. I like it. Very well, I accept your challenge."
The gym leader stood up and walked to his place on the battlefield, carrying his big pickaxe over his shoulder. As Max did the same with the other square in front of him, he was quite impressed by the frame of the gym leader, being quite imposing even from a distance.
"Okay, kid, it will be a three-on-three battle and only you, the challenger, can change pokemon at any time. You okay with those rules?"
"Of course, sir."
"Great. Let's begin, then. Geodude, let's go!" the gym leader announced before letting out a grey geodude with a tint of yellow color from one of his pokeballs.
"Geo!" the floating rock pokemon with only two arms roared.
"What is that geodude made of?" Max inquired.
"Limestone. He's quite resistant, and fast, too."
"In that case... Bonny, time to shine," Max called, releasing his buneary.
{Graahh!} Bonny roared as well, trying to be intimidating.
"Let's get this place ready for battle," he told Max, pressing on his Ergowatch that he also had.
Max did the same by pressing the blue button. The watch took a few seconds to process the command before showing: 'Trainer detected. Battle dome activated'. For a brief moment, a rather large, circular energy dome began to surround the battlefield before disappearing.
"You can make the first move."
"Alright. Bonny, start with Tackle!"
Bonny then sprinted towards her opponent rather quickly. Barely dodging her, the geodude was a bit surprised by her speed, with Max also sharing the same thought.
"Whoa. Yesterday's training really produced some good results," Max mumbled.
"Geodude, make the earth fall!" the gym leader called out to his pokemon.
Max didn't understand what he meant by that, but his geodude got the message and stood still, preparing an attack. A second later, the move Rock Slide was in action and rocks were falling from the sky everywhere. Bonny tried her best to dodge them all by hopping from one place to another but one rock managed to hit her and sent her to the ground, damaging her quite a lot.
"Are you alright, Bonny?" Max asked with a bit of worry.
{Nnngh... Yes, I'm okay, master.} Bonny assured him after standing up, brushing the dust off of her.
"Great. Continue with Tackle, Bonny, charge at him multiple times."
Bonny resumed using Tackle on her opponent, still running at a fast speed. But even so, the geodude was dodging every attempt of hers. Then, on one opening...
"Bonny, Ear Punch!"
Feigning to charge at it when very close, Bonny successfully landed an Ear Punch, inflicting little damage and making it back up a bit.
"Not bad, kid, but we're just warming up. Geodude, time for a spin."
Again, another order that the leader's pokemon could only understand. The geodude then curled itself into a ball and initiated Rollout, hurling itself at moderate speeds towards Bonny, but she easily dodged it. However, to her and Max's surprise, the geodude performed a 180 degrees turn, still on route to its target.
"Dodge it again, Bonny!"
Not needing to be told twice, she dodged the pokemon fairly easily again but the rock pokemon remained on the offensive, turning around for a second time with a small increase in speed. And with each time that Bonny dodged the rock pokemon, it just came back with even more speed, making it more and more difficult for her.
"Darn it. Bonny, go for Ear Punch again!" Max commanded, sensing the inevitable.
Bonny wasn't sure of doing that, but she obeyed her master, nonetheless. She then charged at the incoming and unstoppable rock ball and tried to land an Ear Punch on it. Unfortunately for her, the attack was too strong as it ignored her attempt and just sent her flying a few meters away, landing hard on the ground and unable to stand up anymore.
"No, Bonny!" Max exclaimed, dashing towards her.
{...I'm sorry, master... I failed you.} She sadly apologized, avoiding his gaze slightly.
"No, Bonny, it's my fault. But don't worry, I'll make sure we win. You should rest now, you deserve it," Max reassured, petting her head before calling her back into the pokeball.
Going back to his place, Max sent out his next pokemon.
"Let's go, May," Max called out, making the mawile appear in a flash from the pokeball, facing the opponents.
"Oh, a mawile. That could be troublesome," the gym leader commented.
"Okay, May, go and use Crunch."
As Max was saying his command, May's legs could be seen shaking, being unable to move or react.
"...What's wrong, May?" Max inquired after noticing her not moving at all.
[Oh no. I feared that this would happen.] Scarlet commented.
"What do you mean?" he questioned, turning to look at her.
[I mean that she is paralyzed by the fear of losing again. Judging on what I'm currently feeling from her I can assume that she succumbed to pressure and fear during battles, no thanks to that human's aggressiveness... Add to that the insults or worse after losing said battles and you've got a pokemon that cannot perform well anymore.]
"That son of a bitch," Max angrily muttered.
"Is everything okay there?" the gym leader inquired with confusion.
"Y-Yeah. Just give us a minute, please."
Max then walked towards May, crouching when arriving at her side.
"May..." Max gently said while putting a hand on her head.
Flinching, May slowly turned around to face him.
"It's okay, May. Everything will be fine. Just do your best, okay? I won't be mad if you lose. You will still be part of the family."
Max's words seemed to slightly reassure May.
{...A-alright, master. I won't fail you.}
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's not about winning, it's about doing your best and giving everything you have. You can do this, May," Max added, caressing her head.
After her master walked back to his square, May took a deep breath to try to calm herself.
(He's right. I have to do my best. Otherwise, he'll just hate me like my old trainer.) She thought while getting in a fighting stance.
"Thanks for waiting. We're ready now," Max informed the gym leader.
"Great. You shall have the first move again."
"Thanks. May, go and use Crunch."
Not paralyzed by her emotions anymore, May launched herself towards the geodude. But since she was slower than Bonny, it was able to dodge her easily.
"Geodude, go for a ride in the rain."
(Again with that. Is it some kind of coded order or something?) Max thought.
After using Rock Slide, the dude immediately curled for Rollout as May was trying to dodge the falling boulders.
"May, behind you!"
After she had just dodged one boulder, May wasn't able to react in time to Max's warning and got hit with the geodude's Rollout. Luckily, since the rock-type move wasn't very effective against a steel-type, the damage power wasn't very high but it was enough to send May flying a couple of feet away. A few seconds later, she was up on her feet, having resisted the attack pretty well.
"Geodude, make some good statues."
Geodude then slammed the ground and initiated Stone Edge, making rock pillars emerge from the ground one by one. The move started close in front of the user but it was dangerously approaching May. She tried to run away from the straight line it was making towards her but was caught off guard when a pillar emerged beside her, sending her flying in the air for a moment before landing on the ground with a resounding thud.
"May! Are you okay?" Max asked again with a worried voice.
{...Y-yes, master.} She answered him after several seconds, standing up with some difficulty. (I... must win. I don't wanna lose again!) May thought with rising nervousness.
"May, don't pu-" Max started before being interrupted by Scarlet's hand on his shoulder.
[Don't stop her, master.]
"Why not? I don't want her to pressure herself."
[She's trying her best just like you told her. But she also wants to prove her worth to you and earn your recognition.]
"But I already..." *sigh* "Alright, I get it," Max complied to May's desire. "May, use Headbutt, and then follow it up with Steel Fang."
May knew that Headbutt wasn't a really good attack to use against a rock-type but went with the fact that it would just dodge her, so she followed the command. Like Max predicted, the geodude dodged the Headbutt attack, but to his and everyone's surprise, May's maw was faster than expected, her opponent being unable to escape from her jaws of steel, taking heavy damage due to its weakness against steel attacks plus the damage boost of May's ability. After shaking itself away from the mawile, the geodude was ready to attack again.
"Damn! That geodude is really resilient," Max remarked, impressed by the pokemon.
"Okay, geodude, time to end this! Make those fists roll!"
The geodude then went for Rollout again. Being weakened by the previous attacks, May was a bit sluggish but was still able to dodge her opponent by jumping sideways. After dodging it three times, the geodude just returned for a fourth time, which May barely dodged, the move managing to graze her. Unfortunately, before May could focus again on her opponent, the geodude abruptly stopped rolling and launched itself at her while using Rock Punch, its fists of rock growing wider. As soon as May looked behind her, she was met with an uppercut and the geodude finished the attack by sending her flying away. Landing very hard and rolling on the ground until stopping, she now wasn't able to stand up, being out of energy but still conscious.
"May!" Max blurted with great worry.
After rushing towards her, Max crouched and then took her in his arms, hearing May starting to quietly sob.
{I'm sorry, master. I-I beg you... d-don't hurt me!} She weakly whispered in apology, covering her face with her arms.
"...May, I would never do such a thing. Don't worry. You did everything you could and I'm proud of you," Max softly assured her, giving her a gentle hug.
At that very moment, being in the caring embrace of her new trainer and hearing those caring words directed at her, even after her humiliating defeat, May felt her heart skip a beat. In a matter of seconds, her heart melted for him.
{...Master.} She thankfully whispered while returning the hug tightly, her eyes beginning to release the waterworks.
"You should rest now, May, you did well," he told her before returning her inside her pokeball.
Max then returned to his square, now feeling a bit down.
"This is not good. I'm already down to one pokemon and he hasn't lost a single one... I guess we weren't ready for this yet. It all rests on you, Dusk," Max mumbled while staring at Dusk's pokeball.
Max was about to release Dusk to the battlefield but Scarlet stopped him by placing her hand on his shoulder again. Looking at her, Scarlet just gave him the 'I'll do it' eyes and slowly floated to the battlefield.
"Scarlet? I thought you didn't want to battle."
[I won't let a stupid trainer make you sad, master. More importantly, I don't want you to be annihilated in your first gym battle.]
"But... I don't know any of your moves."
[Don't worry about that.] She simply replied while facing menacingly the gym leader.
"She will be your last pokemon? Alright, you'd better not disappoint, kid. Give me your best shot!"
(Oh, I will, don't you worry about that.)Scarlet thought with slight anger.
"Ladies first," he spoke arrogantly with a small smirk.
With an unhealthy grin and without any orders from her master, Scarlet used Psybeam. A fast ray of psychic power went towards the geodude who couldn't dodge it in time and took it full force, dropping to the ground and instantly fainting.
"What the...?!... Heheh, well, I did ask for it," the gym leader admitted with a chuckle, impressed by Scarlet's power. "Geodude, you did well. Return."
A few seconds after his geodude was back in its pokeball, he tossed out another one.
"Go, lairon, it's your turn!"
After a flash, a quite intimidating lairon appeared in front of Scarlet.
"Lairrrrr!" the steel-plated quadruped pokemon growled menacingly.
"You can-"
Not letting him finish, Scarlet threw another Psybeam attack at her opponent, pushing him back quite a lot, almost making him faint in one shot.
(Resisting, huh? I'll have to increase the power a bit, then.)Scarlet thought, feeling her blood boiling.
"Lairon, show them how much of a metalhead you are!"
The lairon then quickly charged at Scarlet with his head down in front, activating Iron Head and his head shined a bright metallic light, which Scarlet effortlessly dodged by suddenly disappearing and reappearing a bit further behind him.
"Woah, that's Teleport!" Max exclaimed to himself.
Scarlet then charged a Shadow Ball attack that she quickly threw at him, exploding into an obscure light and releasing black particles, propelling him away before making him faint.
"Tsk, it seems your gardevoir was your secret weapon. Take some rest, lairon," the gym leader said before calling back his pokemon.
(Come on! Is that all you've got?!) Scarlet haughtily thought with a daring tone, feeling bored.
"Let's even the odds with my own one, then. Come on out, rampardos!"
A big and imposing rampardos appeared in front of Scarlet, looking more than ready for the challenge and letting out an intimidating shriek.
"Okay, rampardos, Giga Impact! End this fight!"
(Aww, what's wrong? Not letting me go first anymore? Are you perhaps starting to lose it, human?) She mockingly thought, feeling that the gym leader was getting a bit nervous and desperate.
The rampardos ran at Scarlet at a quite furious speed, shrouded with a monstrous force.
"Dodge it quick, Scarlet!" Max hastily called out to her with a bit of fear.
Despite her master's warning, Scarlet didn't even bother using Teleport and just protected herself with a psychic barrier, a big explosion occurring after contact was made.
"No! Scarlet!"
The gym leader and Max waited with anticipation, the latter now feeling a sense of sadness and defeat as the smoke slowly started to clear. After several seconds of arduous waiting...
"...Impossible!" the gym leader shouted in great shock.
"...Holy shit!" Max only let out after also witnessing the results.
Even after receiving the hit point-blank at full force, Scarlet didn't budge one bit, the barrier apparently still intact.
(Got you now.) She mused with a malicious smirk.
Scarlet then launched a Shadow Ball at the stunned rampardos from the recoil of Giga Impact, the attack pushing him back quite a lot and then exploding, though the pokemon still resisted from fainting but was now heavily panting.
(Another tough one, eh? We'll see about that.)
"T-That's... I-I don't believe it," the gym leader stammered, hardly believing that a gardevoir of all pokemon had endured the attack like it was nothing.
Scarlet's eyes and one of her hands glowed blue, starting to engulf the rampardos a second later. Due to his weakened state, he was easily caught. Immediately, he was floating and Scarlet began raising him higher. When high enough from the ground, Scarlet stopped and held him in place.
(This is our victory, master.) Scarlet told herself with a self-satisfied tone.
Then, Scarlet clenched her glowing hand, producing a small shockwave with a loud and weird sound. Scarlet then let go of the rampardos, letting him fall to the ground, now unconscious. After a hard landing, the gym leader was just staring at his best pokemon, speechless.
*sigh* "Rampardos, come back now. You deserve a long rest," he simply said in defeat after a moment.
When the pokemon was returned, the energy dome disappeared and Scarlet teleported back to her master.
"That...was awesome, Scarlet! You defeated them all!" Max praised her, feeling very astonished.
[It wasn't much of a challenge, to be honest. And don't get used to it 'cause this is the only time I'll help you win. You're on your own for the rest of the gym battles.] She informed him while crossing her arms.
"Oh. Fair enough."
The gym leader was now walking towards them.
"Damn, kid, you really surprised me there. You have a really strong gardevoir with you. I'm sure you're gonna go very far with her. Though I have no idea how you managed to fight without saying any command."
"Thanks, sir. We were talking through telepathy," Max lied.
"Huh. That's quite an advantage in battle, surprising your opponent."
"Yep. But I was wondering, you weren't really giving any clear orders to your pokemon. How'd your pokemon knew what to do?" Max questioned.
"Ghaha! You must be a rookie. That's a common beginner's mistake. It's more efficient to use coded orders and strategies to call out moves and attack combos. If you just yell out the move you're gonna use, it will be easier for your adversary to counter it, don't you think?"
"Hmm, makes sense."
"Well then, since you beat me fair and square, I'm glad to hand you the Rock Badge," the gym leader said, handing Max a badge with an ordinary rock shape but the design and feel of it were pretty impressive; it was a mix of a matte and glossy texture with smooth rounded corners and some bumps here and there to give it the appearance of protruding rocks.
"Thank you, sir," Max thanked, taking it.
"You're welcome, kid. Good luck on your journey. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do," he replied while heading in the opposite direction towards a door.
"This is cool, Scarlet, we already have our first badge thanks to you."
[Happy to help you, master. And this battle taught us that we have to spend more time training our team if they want to stand a chance for next time.]
"You're right. I'm gonna make sure that they are ready for the next gym battle," Max assured her while heading back the way they came from.
[Good. Just remember that I won't always be here to save you.]
"You won't?"
[Well, technically yes, but not for battles anymore like I said.]
"Right. It must've felt uncomfortable being on the battlefield fighting."
[Yeah, you could say that.]
Now outside the building, Max looked in his pokedex for their next destination.
"Okay, next gym will be... at Zino City."
[Is it far?]
"More or less. It looks to be four to five days of walk."
[Okay. That will give us ample time to properly train the others while getting there.]
"Yes, but we should go heal our team and get some provisions first."
[Indeed.]
After some minutes of making their way through the town, they arrived at the pokemon center. Entering it, Max went to the counter, seeing the same nurse from before.
"Hi there, mister. How's your mawile doing?" the nurse inquired with a smile.
"Hello. She's doing great, but she and my buneary just finished their battle against the gym leader and, unfortunately, they both lost," Max informed her while handing over his two pokeballs.
"I see. The gym leader is really strong. Did you manage to win?"
"Yes. My beautiful gardevoir defeated all three of his pokemon all by herself, and here's the proof of our victory," Max stated with a cheery smile, showing her the badge.
Scarlet couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at his positive emotions directed at her, and also because he said that she was beautiful.
"You must be kidding. All three on her own?!" the nurse commented in disbelief while going to a machine behind her, proceeding to place the two pokeballs in two out of six small holes on it before a gentle green light shone on them. "You've got a really strong gardevoir with you, then. I haven't heard of a feat like that in a long time."
"Is that so?"
A couple of seconds later, the healing procedure was complete.
"Here you go, mister. Take great care of your team, especially your mawile.
"Will do, thanks."
With the nurse waving goodbye at them, Max and Scarlet left the building and started searching for a poke-mart. Unfortunately, there wasn't one but they were able to find a small general shop. Entering it, Max found the place to be more filled up than what he expected judging from its outside appearance. Max approached the checkout counter while Scarlet went on a small tour of the place.
"Hello, sir, what can I do for you?" a quite handsome man, the shopkeeper to be more precise, greeted Max.
"Hi. I'm here for some trainer supplies like food and such. Do you perhaps also have tents here?" Max inquired.
"Unfortunately no, we don't sell tents, but we do have basic supplies for trainers. Have a tour of our shop. I'm sure you'll find something else you may need," he answered politely.
"Okay, thanks."
Leaving the man, Max then went to the different aisles. The first one he walked into was reserved for pokemon food on the left racks and human rations on the right. For the pokemon products, different kinds of boxes and bags were presented.
"Hmm, looks like the pokemon food is quite expensive. I hope that the price reflects the quality of it," he noted to himself.
Max took a small red box and read it.
"'PokeBites: Fire-type edition. For a nutritious and complete meal for your fire-type pokemon. Not edible for humans."
From what Max was seeing, there was an assigned color for each different type of pokemon; blue for water-type pokemon, yellow for electric, grey for steel, and so on. And there were different sizes, too, probably to match the pokemon's respective size; there were small boxes, big boxes, and huge bags on the floor rack.
"Alright. Let's begin taking some."
Max then grabbed two small boxes for normal-types and fire-types respectively.
"...Damn, I don't know what May eats."
Putting back the food boxes on the rack, Max withdrew his pokedex to do a little research.
"'Mawiles have an omnivorous diet but prefer fruits and food rich in minerals over meat. Despite having a dual-type, mawiles enjoy more fairy-type food'. Okay then, fairy-type food it is."
Picking back his last selection plus two small boxes for fairy-types, Max was now looking for the psychic-type food. Going to pick two of them, Max noticed that he wouldn't have enough space in his arms to hold everything.
"Scarlet?" Max called, making Scarlet appear at the end of the alley.
[Need some help, master?]
"Yes, please."
With a chuckle, Scarlet used her powers to lift the boxes and held them in the air.
[Ohh. Look, master, this looks tasty.] Scarlet told him while showing him a box from another rack he hasn't seen yet.
"'Poffins: A little snack for every pokemon to enjoy. Made from a very special sugar'. Well, it sure does look very tasty. Let's take two of them."
After Scarlet gave him a warm smile, Max now turned to browse the human food section.
"Hmm... Beans, beef jerky, foods with conservatives, and complete meal rations. Let's take a few of these as well."
Scarlet then grabbed twelve of them in total.
"Uhh, not too much, Scarlet, heheh," he said with a chuckle, scratching the side of his head.
[We have to. You should at least eat two times a day.]
"Well, if you insist. I just hope I'll have enough money left after finishing here."
[I got you a big pile of it the other day, no? I think there is still plenty left.]
"If we don't take too much stuff, then maybe."
Max then proceeded to the next aisles. Entering another one, there mostly was hygiene stuff; soap bars, shampoos, toothbrushes, etc. Max took a pack of body soap that also served as a shampoo and it came bundled with a toothbrush with two tubes of toothpaste.
"Hmm, maybe I should take some toothbrushes for my pokemon, too."
Max grabbed four more of them. He then passed in front of a few specialized hairbrushes for pokemon.
"I'm sure that Bonny and Dusk will like these," Max commented, taking two of them.
Done with that aisle, Max went on to the next one. In there he found some painkiller pills, some for humans and some for pokemon; there were also healing potions, energy restorers, and potions that removed status conditions, though they were costly, too. Max took a bottle of painkillers, one for humans and one for pokemon, and a few potions, just in case. Giving mostly all to Scarlet, Max had gotten everything they needed and went to the counter to pay.
"That will be $157, please," the shopkeeper said after scanning everything.
After paying, Max put everything in his backpack. Being quite empty despite his bed stuff, it had enough space for all of it. After saying goodbye to the shopkeeper, Max and Scarlet left the shop.
"Uuff, this now feels heavy to move around. It kinda sucks that they didn't have any tents. I guess we'll still have to share the one we already have with everyone else."
[I personally don't mind. Maybe there will be some in the next city.]
"I hope so. If they have a bigger shop, we could buy more different things, too."
[Onward on our adventure, then.] Scarlet announced.
"Hey, I'm the one who says that," Max playfully complained, faking being upset.
With both of them laughing a bit, they headed towards the exit of Coaltown in the direction of Zino City. Suddenly, after only a couple of steps outside the town, Max and Scarlet were intercepted by three thugs, coming out from behind trees.
"Hey, you! Are you the one who beat up our friend and stole his pokemon?" one of them inquired aggressively.
"Beat up? Are you talking about the one with the mawile?" Max replied.
"So it was you, punk!" the second one spoke.
"...So what if I did?" Max retorted, trying to put on a brave face.
"Give us back the pokemon and just maybe, we won't beat you to death," the last thug snarled, cracking his knuckles.
Max was getting a bit nervous, he was sure that he couldn't handle three assholes at the same time. Scarlet then interposed herself between him and them.
"Garde, gardevoir," she menacingly warned them.
"Oooh, a gardevoir, and a rare one, too. Take her as well, guys," the leader commanded as the other two moved forward and released one pokemon respectively; a nidorino and a houndoom.
[Stay behind me, master, I'll handle them. And I still don't need that device to protect me.] Scarlet urged him.
"...If you insist," Max complied, backing up a little.
"Nidorino, use Poison Sting," the nidorino's trainer commanded.
The nidorino then opened his mouth and launched the attack directly at Scarlet, but she blocked it with a psychic barrier.
"Get up close and use Fire Fang, houndoom," the houndoom's trainer ordered.
The houndoom ran at Scarlet with fiery fangs at the ready. Dodging him with ease, Scarlet lifted the pokemon with her power and threw him at the nidorino, who didn't react in time.
"What are you imbeciles doing?! Get her!" the leader bawled with anger.
"Hrrgh, houndoom, use Smog!"
The houndoom then spat a purple smoke from his mouth, completely blocking Scarlet's sight.
"Nidorino, time for your Horn Attack."
Flanking around, the nidorino charged at Scarlet with his glowing horn, but Scarlet blocked it in time.
"Houndoom, Flamethrower!"
Unable to react to the dog's presence behind her, Scarlet got hit on her back by the scorching attack.
"Gaard!" Scarlet bellowed, gritting her teeth in pain.
When the smoke dissipated, everyone could now see that her back was all burnt, with some ember remains still burning a bit of her flesh. Before letting the others get the jump on her again, Scarlet focused her psychic powers and started healing herself, the burnt mark completely disappearing.
"Gar...deVOOOOIR!" she bellowed loudly with extreme rage, catching everyone present off guard.
Then, both the houndoom and nidorino were lifted to the air and were forcibly brought close to be face to face with Scarlet.
"Garde, gardevoir. Garde...voir," she threatened them with the most terrifying eyes they had ever seen.
The two of them were now greatly trembling from fear. Scarlet then smashed the two pokemon together to stun them and strongly threw them away at their respective trainer, knocking out all four of them.
"Stop right there, you bitch," the lead thug told her, his voice behind her.
As she turned around, her eyes greatly widened at the sight in front of her. Max was being held hostage by the man with a knife dangerously close to his throat.
"D-don't try anything funny, o-or your precious trainer gets it," the man threatened, but small traces of panic could be heard in his voice.
Unable to control his hand properly, the tip of the blade cut a bit of her master's flesh, making drops of blood run across the blade. At seeing what was happening, Scarlet lost control of herself, rage taking over her mind. Without any movement, her eyes were now eerily glowing and she froze the thug's whole body, immediately fracturing the arm that was holding the knife, making the human let out a scream and dropped the weapon to the ground. Scarlet then violently threw him against a nearby tree, almost breaking his back.
"GHAAA!" the man excruciatingly screamed.
Floating slowly towards him, she let go of his entire body to solely focus on his neck, choking him.
"Hhharhh... hhha... gahg..."
Applying more and more pressure as seconds passed, the thug was now unable to let out any sounds or even breathe.
"S-Scarlet!" Max called out to her, feeling frightened and alarmed.
Scarlet couldn't hear him, her mind only being focused on crushing his neck, with the man starting to lose consciousness.
"Scarlet!" Max called out louder.
As the man was not moving anymore and with Scarlet still strangling him, Max rushed towards her and grabbed her shoulders.
"Scarlet! Stop this!" Max yelled.
Abruptly turning to look at him with a deranged and psychopathic face, Max looked into her eyes and it was like Scarlet was a completely different being. After a moment of seeing her master, Scarlet realized what she was doing and let go of the man, who landed on the ground like a rag doll. Going to inspect the man, Max was relieved to see that he began breathing again, falling unconscious soon after.
"...Scarlet, what the hell was that?!" Max asked in bewilderment, greatly unsettled.
[He was about to kill you, what else should I have done?] Scarlet simply replied.
"I don't know, anything else besides what you just did, maybe?!"
[Yeah, sure. You want me to offer him tea while we're at it?] She angrily argued.
"That's not the point!"
Max then took a few seconds to try and calm himself.
"L-Let just leaves it at that. At least he's alive and frankly, this situation is too much for me to take in," he yielded, rubbing his forehead for a bit. "The police will eventually discover these guys, but I will say that that was so unnecessary, Scarlet."
After Scarlet rudely huffed, she began to approach the human she choked seconds ago.
"What are you doing?" Max demanded, afraid of whatever she was going to do.
Ignoring him, Scarlet placed a hand on his head and closed her eyes for a minute before leaving him there and teleporting to the other humans and pokemon.
[They all won't remember ever seeing me.]
After a few minutes of processing what just transpired, Max decided to leave them be and tried to forget about it, resuming their travel.
For the rest of the day and evening, they didn't talk to each other. After finding a good spot, Scarlet didn't bother to talk or help him and just left for the woods. Wanting to leave her alone, Max then began to settle up the tent, and during it, night had fallen. After finishing and thinking that enough time had passed, Max went to the woods to find Scarlet.
After a few minutes of searching, Max finally found Scarlet floating in the air in a meditative position surrounded by a green energy bubble, facing a cliff. Getting next to her, he could see that she had her eyes closed and her breathing was almost non-existent.
"Scarlet?" Max called softly.
Opening her eyes, the bubble around her disappeared and she returned to a normal stance.
"What were you doing?" he calmly inquired.
Scarlet then looked at her master for a moment before responding.
[It's a little something I do in order to calm and control myself.] She nonchalantly answered while moving away to sit at the base of a tree.
"Is that a kind of meditation?" Max asked, following her.
[I don't know what 'meditation' is.]
"Well..." Max started, sitting next to her. "...it's something that humans do to empty their mind to get rid of negative emotions, like stress and such."
[Then yes, I was doing that.]
"...Was this what you were doing the other night before reaching Coaltown?"
[Yes.]
"Hehe, I guess it makes sense since you were kind of a beast that day," Max jested, trying to lighten up the mood.
In normal circumstances, she would have answered with a perverted reply, but she was very quiet, just looking at the sky. Following her gaze, Max's eyes landed on the almost full moon and felt a small breeze.
"Beautiful night, isn't it?" Max told Scarlet, who remained silent.
Despite himself, he couldn't forget about what happened earlier, and he assumed that she was thinking the same thing, too.
"You're thinking about earlier, aren't you?"
[Not really.]
"Oh...Okay... I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but... Scarlet, what was that back there?"
[...I guess you could say that what you witnessed it's who I really am, master.] She responded after a moment of silence.
"What do you mean? You almost killed him."
[I should have.]
"What? Are you serious?..." Max retorted, shocked at her words.
[*sigh* I didn't want this moment to ever come, master... but... I suppose I can't hide it anymore.] She replied while standing up.
"...What are you talking about, Scarlet?" Max asked, getting a bit creeped out.
Scarlet then floated to the very edge of the cliff and put her hands behind her back, staring at the moon.
[Master... did you know that red gardevoirs don't exist?] She softly and gloomily shared.
"Well... yeah. I'm aware that you're probably the only one."
[No, master. What I mean is that it's literally impossible for a red coloration of my species to exist.]
"..."
[I wasn't born as a red ralts. Remember how a shiny gardevoir is?]
"Kinda."
[Well, I am what you humans would describe as a reverse shiny.]
"Reverse... Wait, is that even possible?"
[I'm living proof of that. If you picture a shiny gardevoir, just imagine the blue and orange color being swapped, which made my crest and eyes blue while my hair, arms, and chest became orange.]
"Orange? But... how come you have that red color, then?"
Scarlet then slowly turned around to face her master, a soft breeze blowing at her hair and gown, making them dance in the wind.
[I have this color because it's the stain of the blood of the many humans I have murdered.]
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