autobot314
Indeed
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...Wait a minute, did Mega Evolving spontaneously allow Lee to understand Sceptile AUDIBLY?!? Or is Lee just THAT GOOD at intuiting what his Pokemon who aren't Nine are saying?
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Borne of Caution (Pokemon Isekai)
- Thread starter Fuggmann
- Start date
Rin_Morita
[Hunter of Hunters] [Wielder of Malfeasance]
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I honestly expected that to be her response. Thankfully, from my own experience, actual foxes aren't as vindictive as a Ninetales would be. At least, not the ones at work. And before you ask, no, I don't handle animals for a living; I work private security, there just happen to be many, many foxes that live on/near the property.
Most I get are fox noises made at me if I don't pet them when they see me walking around. Aside from that, they're content to follow me around.
And yeah, needed this chapter too. Would have been nice to have it to read while I was home sick yesterday.
ScotttheBard
Know what you're doing yet?
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I fear for anyone who ends up having to fight Lee and his Pokemon A10 combo, be they in battle or in war
Switchflip
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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so we got Airtillery bombing runs, that are absolutely willing to do melee or a Megaman battle network P.A. double hero.
a youkai that can do suicide bombers/glass cannonfodder or nuke you.
a samurai fast and sharp enough to slice and dice everything below serious tank defense, who has a transformation power up.
a fairy and a zap cat genius fighter.
this can only get worse
ScotttheBard
Know what you're doing yet?
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Yes, imagine what his next few Pokemon are going to be like if this is his first full roster
Arkatekt
Harbinger of Shitluck
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It's not uncommon in Pokemon media for trainers to be able to understand their Pokemon, if not perfectly then at least in a general sense. If I recall correctly, Lee has commented previously that he was starting to understand what his 'Mons were trying to say.
There could also could be some partial bleedover from having a gestalt with Ninetails, who can perfectly understand other Pokemon.
Blasterbot
Versed in the lewd.
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Fox translator. he had Nine do it for Corvi in the past.
midnight_mint
Getting out there.
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I swear to God, foxes are literally begging to be domesticated.
AwkwardHymn
Know what you're doing yet?
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And racoons. They are in fact actively domesticating themselves. There are even scientific articles about this it's becoming so widespread.
Act 3: Chapter 8
New
Fuggmann
Inventor of Sex 2
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Take a look here!
I'm reader-funded, and need your help to keep writing indefinitely. If you like what you're reading and want to help out, see at the place of patrons. Patrons get to see 2 chapters early, suggest edits to final drafts before they go live, and participate in polls to choose what gets updated next during my moments of indecisiveness.
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As always, thank you for reading.
With the phone still vibrating away, Lee untangles himself from Ninetales and speedwalks to his bedroom, Nine hot on his heels. Once a golden tail gently shuts the door, Lee answers just before the call rings out. "Hello? Champion Stone?"
"Lee, it's a pleasure to hear from you."
Lee blinks at the tired (hell, maybe haggard is the right term) voice on the other end. "Ah, Champion Stone? Are you feeling alright? You sound a little…" he trails off, unsure if his words might offend.
Steven lets out a weak chuckle over the line. "Just Steven is fine for now, Lee. I apologize if I sound tired, but the last few weeks have been, well, they've been something. I'm only just now getting some time to slow down, and I was a bit horrified to realize I had an unanswered voicemail from you dated weeks ago, so I'm returning your call."
"Voicemail?" Lee mouths to Ninetales, only for both to remember at the same time.
Hello, Champion Stone. This is Lee Henson. I apologize for disturbing you, but I need to arrange a meeting with you. This is in regards to a matter similar to the one we discussed in Lavaridge.
The Draconid Prophecy! He completely forgot about that call he made!
"Oh! Right, right, yes, it is a pretty important matter regarding the region's safety," Lee begins, pacing about in the small bedroom and looking over at the alarm clock on the nightstand, just as the timer rolls to 9:45 PM. "Due to how sensitive it is, it's probably better discussed in-person rather than over the phone. I… have a few other things I should probably bring to your attention as well."
'You intend to tell him about the encounter with Archie, and about our Megastones.' Ninetales tilts her head from where she sits by the door. 'Do you believe that the latter is wise, beloved?'
'We want Steven to play ball with the prophecy, and dropping it with news about Aqua and Mega Evolution, two very real and dangerous things, is going to make the prophecy feel more real as well,' Lee reasons during the lull over the phone. 'If we want his help, it's better to show some of our cards to try and show that we're willing to trust him in return. Besides, the Draconid Elders more or less gave us their blessing to blow the secret wide open, so Mega Evolution won't stay a secret for long.'
"Meeting in-person is probably for the best…" Steven murmurs. "On-top of your piece, I have some proposals I would like to make to you, and if the topics you wish to discuss are what I think they are, then everything will line up quite neatly."
A proposal? To them? Lee and Nine's eyes meet for a moment, then Lee gives his phone his full attention again. "Of course. I'd be happy to listen."
"Fantastic. What is your schedule looking like? I have openings for the next few days, but the week after this Friday is totally full. Are you still in Petalburg?" Steven pauses. "Oh, and congratulations on your badge."
"Thank you, Steven. We're still in Petalburg," Lee says, his feet carrying him to the window. Outside, Petalburg is dark and sleepy, and he can make out an Arcanine on the street with a small form on their back, hastily bounding to escape the evening chill. "We can stay for another day or two, or if it's all the same to you, meet in Fortree. We'll be flying that way in the morning."
Steven takes a moment to think, and during the quiet, the sound of a keyboard clacking comes through the speaker. "Fortree is a bit closer, so how about we teleport in to meet you there? We can hash out the details once you land, and - Oh! Right, let me…"
Lee's phone buzzes, and pulling it away from his ear, he can see he's got a text message from an unknown number. All that's in it is "It's me!"
"There we go. That's my personal number. Naturally, it'll get answered much faster than my office phone. Please don't spread it around, I just had to change it…"
'Arceus almighty, I have the fucking Champion on speed dial.' Lee shakes his head and saves it. "No worries on that end. I'm not one to even bother my contacts on the regular. Emergencies only, promise."
"Ha, I believe it. I've seen how you post on BattleNet, or rather, how you don't post."
Unsure how to process the idea of Steven Stone creeping on his BattleNet profile, Lee simply decides to ignore it.
"I'll let you go now. See you soon, and have a nice night."
"Same to you."
His phone beeps and the call ends, leaving Ninetales and Lee alone in the small bedroom.
"Ugh…" Lee slumps on his feet, his lethargy from earlier coming back with a vengeance. "Busy day, tomorrow, it seems…"
'Lets turn in, then,' Nine replies, hopping into the bed and settling, her tails fanned to the side in the promise of a warm blanket. 'We'll need rest for the morn.'
The moment Lee's head is on the pillow, silken fox tails wrap around him, and the warmth sends him to dreamland in short order.
"I'm telling you, Lee, it's fine!"
Leaning on the doorframe to Zinnia's room the next morning, Lee watches with a frown as Zinnia packs up her things.
"It doesn't look fine to me," he says back, noticing how ginger the grip of her bandaged right hand is as she stuffs a shirt into her Sliph pouch.
The tanned woman shoots him a narrow-eyed look. "Its just a burn, a training accident. It happens." She belts her bag to the small of her back and reaches for her jacket, which lies rumpled on the equally messy bed. "Every Draconid is acquainted with burns."
"I'm acquainted with them, too."
Zinnia falters, her annoyed stare losing much of its edge. She looks away as she dons her jacket.
"Training accident, you said?" Lee continues on, straightening up and stepping into the room proper. "What happened?"
The woman leans to the side, looking past Lee for a moment, and when she finds nothing, she bites her lip in an unusual moment of nerves. "I took Salamence to the coast and Mega Evolved him, like you did with Mean Green."
Lee's eyes shoot wide open.
"Next time, Dolittle, go further out of town before you go Mega with Sceptile. Anyone even slightly sensitive to Dragons felt that."
"We were five miles and some change out!" Lee exclaims, silently wondering how many people knew something happened out there.
Zinnia smirks at his expression. "Geez, don't have a Miltank, Dolittle. Any lesser Dragons in Petalburg probably freaked out, but I don't think any full-blooded Draconids live around here, so I was the only human who knew," she practically reads his mind. "Make it, like, ten miles and you'll probably be fine."
"Let's get back on topic," Lee grumbles, crossing his arms. "Your hand?"
Like a ball passed to the other side of the court, it's once again Zinnia's turn to be on the backfoot. She holds the bandaged hand with her good one, looking down at it pensively before raising her gaze back to him. "Things went fine. Salamence was just a little too over-eager and didn't keep a good lid on his flame breath. The very moment he realized what he did, he reverted back and we took a break."
Lee drums his fingers along his arm as he thinks what he's been told over.
In the back of his head, through Nine's eyes, he watches her try and fail to wake Brendan and Swampert, who are tangled up in one great lump under their covers. Pokes, yanking the covers, even an echoing, foxy screech all do nothing. It doesn't take long for the vixen's annoyance to thrum through him, and she simply flips the bed with a burst of telekinesis.
Thud!
"I'm up! I'm up!" Brendan's sleep-slurred voice faintly calls through the wall, along with a deep, tired groan.
Finally, Lee sighs and drops his arms to his sides. "Okay. I'd still like to look at it, though, to ease my own mind more than anything."
Without Nine's ears to borrow, Lee can't make out the grumble that Zinnia lets out, but he's sure 'mother hen' is uttered. Regardless, the tanned woman holds her hand out. "Fine. I was just about to re-wrap it anyway."
Smiling, Lee reaches behind him, and is rewarded with his first aid kit dropping into his hand. The sensation of telekinesis, like moving water with a slight static buzz, brushes his fingertips. 'Thank you, love.'
Kit in hand, Lee drops it on the bed, takes Zinnia's burned appendage with a light touch, and carefully unwraps the linen bandage haphazardly tied around it. It sticks here and there, but Zinnia doesn't show any pain on her face, even if Lee is sure she feels it.
"Oh…" He winces.
The outside of her forearm along with her pinkie and ring fingers have the worst of it, with the skin pink-red and blistered in places, but thankfully, there isn't any char or epidermis totally burned away. Still, a nasty 2nd degree burn. The inner side of her arm is a lighter, less intense color that readily stands out against her normally darker complexion.
Popping open his medkit, Lee finds a fresh bandage roll and a travel-sized bottle of rawst ointment. "So you flew all the way to the coast?" Lee asks, spreading a bit of berry-blue ointment on Zinnia's hand, being careful with the blisters.
"Yeah." Zinnia nods, looking out the window, where Petalburg's morning traffic lazily coasts by on the road below. "Salamence was thrilled, Dolittle. You should have seen it. Should have felt it. It was like… like standing under Sala in his prime." She pauses and turns her hand over, letting Lee start wrapping it up. "The sand all around us dried up, and the wind kicked up, it was unreal, and… And…" Her good hand rises to her chest, right over her heart.
It takes Zinnia until Lee is finished treating her burns to his satisfaction for her to find her words again. "Is that what it's like with you and Ninetales, Lee?" she finally asks, left hand still on her chest.
"It's… A little like it, yes." Lee resists the urge to mirror her pose, and closes up his medkit. The moment it's packed away again, a purple corona takes hold of it and pulls it back out of the open doorway.
Lee follows the plastic box with his eyes as it floats back to his room. It nearly collides with a standing lamp that Nine forgets about, but a little mental nudge from him sees it neatly curve around and finish its journey. "When Sceptile went Mega, it was more rigid, more physical than what Nine and I have, for lack of a better word."
He returns his attention to Zinnia, who is staring holes into him as he answers. "The first thing I noticed right away was that our heartbeats synced up, that I could feel his body as if it were my own. Did that happen to you and Salamence?"
Zinnia's answer is one clipped nod.
"Yeah, it's intense, and I say that having been connected to Nine, mind and soul, for months." Lee lets out a breath and sits down on the edge of the half-made bed, prompting Zinnia to sit as well. "Having someone else's thoughts and feelings running through your head, up and down your nerves, it's an experience you don't ever forget. My, ah… 'foreknowledge' never went into great detail about how intimate an experience it is, so it was a shock to me too."
Zinnia nods, absently now, her eyes on the floor and brow furrowed in thought. So distracted is she that the dragon tamer almost jumps out of her skin when Lee lays a hand on hers.
"Are you okay, Zinnia?" Lee asks quietly, searching her face.
She lets out a huff, her black locks bouncing as she shakes her head to clear it. "I mean… It's… Fuck, Lee. I-I don't think that I am," she admits past clenched teeth. "I'm trying not to think about it. I don't know the words for what I'm trying to say! Salamence ascending and the connection, it was - Fuck!"
Zinnia stands and paces, frustration in every step. "I want to do it again, I want it to be like that all the time! But I'm…" She stops herself short, but Lee knows what word she held back.
Afraid.
Although he's been told what he and Nine have is strange by Nigel, Mable, Anabel, and others, it's Zinnia's shaken words that finally drive home why others would find such a thing distressing.
Two separate minds, two separate souls, aren't meant to be melded together in such a way… Or are they?
Standing, Lee wraps an arm around the woman's shoulder and guides her back to the bed, where both sit heavily. Zinnia lets out a shaking breath, but doesn't pull away as he rubs a thumb on her shoulder.
"It's fine to be afraid, Zinnia," Lee begins slowly, still trying to think over what he wants to say. "A connection like that is wonderful, wonderful in a way that I'm not sure people were supposed to actually experience."
Her eyes snap to his. "But you-"
"-Are connected to Ninetales permanently, and I love it, I know. I still stand by what I said," he continues, keenly aware that Nine has her mental ear turned to them. "Would I have gone for it if I knew the consequences beforehand? I don't know. Now?" He gives her a hard stare. "I'd rather die than be separated from her."
Zinnia goes still, listening.
"I've thought a lot about the subject, as you probably guessed." Lee gives her shoulder a squeeze. "And it's okay to be unbalanced and even scared. The only things we know for certain are true is ourselves and what is in our heads, as we have to trust that our senses are telling the truth, and there is always a little doubt there, no matter how confident a person is. When you suddenly get a direct, raw measure of someone else from the outside, from someone who loves you, and it finally hits bottom?"
Unbidden, Lee reaches a mental hand down towards Ninetales, and a ghostly appendage meets him halfway. Phantom fur, warm and silken, runs through his fingers, making his palms tingle.
How can one hope to describe the texture of love, or even give it up after feeling it?
"...It changes you, and there is no going back." Lee licks his lips, idly musing that he needs some chapstick now that the fall air is growing dry. "Don't be ashamed of shying away from something so extreme. The weird emotions you're feeling after all of that is normal."
"When Salamence accidentally burned me, I felt what he felt. He was so guilty that it was like getting kicked in the gut," Zinnia murmurs. "Does that happen with you and Ninetales too?"
"All the time," he says back gently. "We both have to endure the lows that come with the highs together. It's not all upsides. Nothing ever is."
The woman has nothing else to say, just leaning into him, but from the corner of his eye, he can spy her hand resting on the lead pokeball clipped to her belt, her fingers rubbing it anxiously.
"Take some time to think, Zinnia," Lee tells her, releasing her and standing. "I'm not sure how much my advice will help since the whole soul-bond thing is so intimate that it'll be different to everyone, but if you ever need to talk, both I and Ninetales will be there. Promise me you'll say something."
No reply.
"Zinnia." Lee frowns. "Promise me."
Still fingering Salamence's pokeball, Zinnia lets out an exasperated sigh and stands up herself. "Fine, I promise," she vows.
Lee nods, satisfied. 'Huh. Another mystery to look into,' he thinks, looking down at his watch and the rainbow stone inside of it.
Just having it close to his body lets him 'sense' it on the edge of his mind, like a finger that is perpetually asleep. It's dull and has little feedback when compelled to move, but it doesn't require much force for it to be roused.
He gives the stone a little mental nudge, and it sparkles, but without a sister stone to connect to, the inner light fades shortly after. 'How much does mine and Nine's gestalt bond differ from a Mega?'
Zinnia then tilts her body, looking past Lee and into the living room.
He doesn't need to turn and look himself, as he can see Brendan, Swampert, Latias, and the rest of Brendan's team tidying up the living room before they leave like the good kids they are, all through Nine's eyes.
"We should be there when Mister Hero decides to go mega with Swampert," Zinnia declares.
"Agreed."
With their hotel keys turned in and their pokemon mounts saddled, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia stand in a huddle outside the hotel, bent over a map in Lee's hands as they plan the flight to Fortree.
Around them, their pokemon form a loose circle. Corvi towers over Lee, casting a long shadow, while Latias, who is causing a traffic jam out on the street as cars slow to look at her, hovers close to Brendan, studying the map as well.
The only outlier is Noivern, who stands hunched awkwardly behind Zinnia. The older dragon's face says nothing, but her tense stance and the repeated twitch of her dish-like ears speaks of deep discomfort. Her yellow eyes keep looking between the balls on Zinnia's belt and her saddle.
'No Salamence…' Lee withholds a frown. 'I hope they talk things out soon.'
"Okay, so we stop in Rubello for the night…" Zinnia's finger is pressed to a small town far north-east of Mauville, and only a hop, skip, and jump away from the dense green splotch of Fortree. "Short flight to Fortree, errands and rest, then-"
"-Safari Zone!" Brendan exclaims, a wide grin on his face. He dances foot to foot, barely able to contain himself. "Dad told me all about it! There are so many pokemon that can only be found there! Once we get checked into the Gym and the hotel, we gotta go right away!"
Lee gives the boy a lopsided grin. "Sure thing. I'm curious myself. I know I'm not actively looking for a new pokemon, but I do have that 7th slot…" He looks up. "How about it, Zinnia? Coming with?"
"Any Dragons there?"
Lee opens his mouth to answer—
"You'll find the Hoenn Safari Zone is home to a small population of Dragonair and Dratini, Miss Draconid."
—Only for a light, refined voice behind him to answer.
Lee turns, with Corvi stepping aside to let him see. Lee blinks. "You're…"
A few paces away, a woman only slightly taller than Zinnia stands, her hands folded in front of her. With her dark indigo hair pulled into a pair of buns, skin like porcelain, and a kimono whose threads shine in the sun, the woman could easily pass as an actor in some traditional Kanto theater. The only out-of-place accessory is a Silph-branded purse that isn't the same shade of pink as her kimono.
"...Have we met, ma'am?" Lee blinks, swearing he's seen this woman from somewhere before.
Even more oddly, there is a flash of vague recognition from Ninetales from within her ball. It's short and dim, but still leaves the fox with a mental frown. 'Something seems off here…' Nine mutters. She takes a deep breath through Lee's body, but his human nose can only pick up a delicate perfume with hints of citrus. With Corviknight standing so close, it's nearly drowned out by the scent of iron and polish.
"Oh, hey! You're the lady I bumped into a week ago!" Zinnia butts in with a smile. She pushes past Brendan and Latias (who is shyly hiding behind Brendan) to stand next to Lee. "Small world, huh?"
"Indeed it can be," the woman nods with a small smile of her own. "How fares your recently evolved pokemon, Miss Zinnia? I recall you were returning homeward after a day of training when our paths crossed. You said it was your…"
"My Sliggoo. The little booger is doing pretty good. Thankfully he's gotten used to being blind, but he's eager to evolve and get his eyes back," Zinnia grins and pats one of the balls on her belt. "Did you catch that match you wanted to see? The one with your daughter or whatever?"
The history woman sighs and shakes her head. "I did not."
As Zinnia and the woman talk, Lee studies her face, taking care to not be too obvious. Something tickles the back of his brain from the inside, a tiny, instinctual murmur of something amiss, but for the life of him, he can't figure out what. The woman is beautiful to the eye, but almost seems… Too beautiful.
Where has he seen this lady before? During their travels? Somewhere in the games or anime?
Oh! She was glaring at him from the crowd in the gym! Now, a new question pops up: what did he do to upset her?
"-was cool to see you again, miss…" Lee tunes back into the conversation in time to hear Zinnia stumble over the woman's name. "Er… Jeez, I kinda feel like an ass, but I forgot your name," The dragon tamer punctuates her words with a sheepish laugh.
"No offence taken. We met only once, after all," the kimono-clad woman waves Zinnia off, then turns her sharp, brown - nearly red - eyes to Lee. "As for you, Mister Henson, we have indeed met, but not in person. How fares your Ninetales?"
We have met, but not in person.
How fares your Ninetales?
"Lokoko?" Lee blinks, hardly believing his eyes.
What in the world is some shadowy, Ninetales-focused Pokemon Master doing out here in Petalburg? Why did she sit in on their Gym match? And…
Did you catch that match you wanted to see? The one with your daughter or whatever?
Daughter? Does Lokoko have a daughter who is running the Hoenn circuit? Lee gives her another once over. 'If she has a daughter, then Lokoko either had her young or aged like wine.'
The woman smiles. "Indeed. It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Mister Henson. I apologize for interrupting your travel plans, but I understand you are preparing for a flight to Fortree, yes?"
Lee looks down at the map now folded between his fingers. "That we are. Why do you ask?"
"I was hoping to convince you to delay your flight, so I might borrow an afternoon from you and your Ninetales," Lokoko states, her eyes looking to the lead pokeball on his belt, where Nine silently stares back, then back to him. "You and she are indeed one of the most… interesting partnerships I've yet seen, and I've many questions and even experiments I would administer with your blessing. It is in the name of furthering knowledge of the Ninetales line, you see, something I'm certain you understand."
'A test?' Lee wonders to himself. 'Regarding what?'
Nine is quick to answer. 'Madam Lokoko was not pleased to hear of our connection and the plans to mediate it the last time we spoke,' the fox says, her mental words a touch defensive. 'If there is anything she might wish to meddle with, it could be us.'
Frowning lightly, Lee sticks his map in his back pocket and nods outwardly. "I do understand, and I would be happy to help out normally, but…" Lee looks back to Zinnia and Brendan.
Zinnia doesn't seem to care either way, giving him a little shrug, but Brendan's youthful face is decidedly impatient.
Well, not that it's much of a choice. Lee remembers not only his meeting with Steven, but how he planned to bring the rest of the group in on the Giratina business. Turning back, he gives Lokoko an apologetic smile. "I'm on a bit of a timetable right now, so I'm afraid that I can't today. I can fly back after we're finished in Fortree, if that is okay?"
Lokoko blinks like a Hoothoot, clearly not expecting a rejection. "Ah, I see…" She chews on her lip for a moment, looking away at a crack on the sidewalk before turning her head back up. "In that case, could I perhaps travel with you to Fortree?"
"You want to fly with us?"
Lee's halting question is answered with a firm nod. "I would see my studies be done sooner rather than later."
"And what of her daughter?" Corviknight croaks, looking down at Lokoko. Something metallic rubs under the great raven's helm as he tilts his head.
"Good point, Corvi," Lee scratches his chin as he thinks. "And your daughter? Aren't you also out here to see her?"
"I'll see her soon enough," Lokoko waves off the question quite literally, raising a thin hand to make a dismissive gesture. She doesn't seem surprised or perturbed by the level of understanding between Lee and Corviknight, either.
With a bit of uncertainty still poking him in the gut, Lee turns his whole body to Brendan and Zinnia. "Ah, just a sec. Lemme talk it out since it's not just my call."
"Take all the time you wish," Lokoko states, bringing her hands together under her kimono sleeves.
The trio of trainers put their heads together, with Corvi hanging from above, and Latias and Noivern poking their heads in between their trainers. "You know this chick, Dolittle?" Zinnia whispers, asking the obvious first question.
"Not know per se, but we're acquainted," Lee begins. "Lokoko is a certified Pokemon Master, with a capital 'P' and 'M', who specializes in the Ninetales line."
"A real Pokemon Master?" Brendan asks, mouth open and eyebrows rising so high they vanish into his beanie hat. "And she found you because of Ninetales?"
"Because I was introduced to her by another Ninetales trainer online," Lee corrects, remembering the ghost town of a BattleNet group he almost never peers into. "She had been keeping tabs on us before that, though."
Beside Brendan, Latias's feathers ruffle for a moment. 'Are Ninetales and Vulpix the only pokemon she specializes in?'
The Eon Dragon's mental voice, to Lee at least, is quiet and tinged with girlish youth. More and more the shy dragon has been reaching out to him and Zinnia, as well as their pokemon, pulled free of her shell by Brendan's bright smiles and endless cheer.
The first time Latias actually spoke to Lee, it was a bit of a shock, as it was the first time he'd heard a telepathic 'voice' other than Nine's with genuine inflection and emotion.
In his and Ninetales' conversations with Anabel, her Espeon, and the rarer ones with Lucian and his Bronzong, none of them had much, if any emotion behind their words. It was akin to having closed captions read aloud by a machine, the words literal and flat.
Latias, however? It's the first time he's ever had something to compare Nine's tone to. Compared to Latias, his fox's 'voice' is smokey, rich even, as if her words were dipped in honey.
'Oh, my beloved trainer flatters me,' Ninetales giggles as she reads his thoughts, excluding Latias from the message as she does so. 'I'm heartened to know you love my voice so, but I do wonder… Were I immature enough to stoop to it, would a lewd sound from me within your skull leave you flustered?'
'Nine, you're the other half of my soul on what looks like a literal level according to modern poke-science. You can't make it weirder no matter how hard you try.'
'Spoilsport.'
"We're getting off topic here. Do you trust her?" Zinnia once again hops back into the important questions, and drags Lee back to the conversation at hand. "You know what happened last time we let some strange woman hang around with us."
Brendan looks away, red with embarrassment.
"And it was totally our fault, so we don't wanna do it again," Zinnia amends, giving Brendan a slap on the back, before fixing her gaze on Lee once more.
He hesitates. "Trust? I trust that she knows what she's talking about in her field of mastery, and that she's plenty educated, but on a personal level?" He hazards a look backward.
Lokoko stands calmly, waiting for them to finish.
"...I don't think she's got any malicious ends," Lee finishes. "Plus, I am curious about what kind of experiments she has in mind. Anything that could help Nine and I understand ourselves better is something neither of us want to pass up. If we tell her to buzz off, I'm not sure when we'll get another chance to talk to her in person."
"If you're okay with her coming, then I don't see why not," Brendan begins after a protracted silence. Like Lee, he gives the pink-wrapped woman a once over, not missing her lack of pokeballs. "Erm… She won't be able to ride with me and Latias. Our saddle isn't big enough."
Zinnia takes a bit longer, then nods slowly. "Yeah, she's kinda weird, but I guess you don't become an expert in something without being an oddball," she grins, giving Lee a wink and a jab with her elbow.
"You're one to talk, Thelban," he grumbles.
"So, your call, Dolittle," Zinnia ignores his comeback and pats Noivern behind her red, pronged nose, making the bat-dragon purr. "She's flying with you, though, since my other ride is…" she trails off.
"Corvi?" Lee asks, looking up. "Are you up for a trip with two passengers?"
The raven narrows his eyes, as if to say "Does it look like an extra human could weigh me down?"
"Noted," Lee raises his hands on mock surrender, then turns back around with a smile. "Miss Lokoko, if you'd like to come with, we can give you a ride. I'd hate to say no after you came all this way."
Lokoko's doll-like face takes on a subdued smile, and she gives them a shallow bow. "Thank you, Mister Henson. I'll be in your care."
It takes a bit of creativity to get Lokoko situated on Corvi's saddle with her kimono, and she's forced to hug herself firmly to Lee's back, but the addition of a passenger doesn't delay them too long, all in all. A bit before ten AM, they take to the sky and begin the flight due east, which will take them over an unnamed mountain, over Oldale Town, then from there, they'll follow route 103 north-east to Mauville and beyond.
As they rise higher and higher, Lee swears he can feel little touches, not unlike idle brushes from Ninetales, over his legs. 'Nine?'
'It's not I, beloved, but I feel them, too.'
Lee takes a deep breath, figuring it's the thin air and lack of oxygen playing tricks on him.
At least he doesn't need to worry about the cold, however. Lokoko is a furnace against his back, wholly unbothered by the whipping winds and nippy temperature that only drops further as they level out at their altitude ceiling. He has to wonder if she used the old camper trick of placing disposable handwarmers in her clothes, for how else could a petite woman keep so warm?
For a time, they fly in silence, the only sound being the whistle of the air as Corvi's bladed wings cut though it.
"You did not heed my advice, did you?" Lokoko asks suddenly, voice raised to carry over the wind.
Lee frowns into his scarf, knowing exactly what she's referring to. "We didn't."
The arms around his middle tighten, and Lee withholds a grunt at the grip such a small woman can muster.
"Do you not think it selfish, Mister Henson?" Lokoko's words come out more as an accusation than a question. He doesn't turn to look at her, but he doesn't need to, he can imagine her expression from her tone alone. "To force such misery on your Ninetales? To force the pain of inevitable separation on her?"
"There was no force involved," Lee's frown falls into an open scowl, one he knows Nine is mirroring in her ball. "We decided this together."
Lokoko lets out a humorless laugh. "Of course an addict will affirm the other addict. I gave you my warnings with good reason, but you've spurned them. Why? Did you lack the bravery? The nerve to do what had to be done?"
Lee stares down at the ground passing below, then up to the pale blue above, his jaw working as he thinks. "Let me ask you a question. Is it better to love with all you can, and deal with the changes that come with it? Or is it better to love from a distance, because there are less complications?"
He doesn't get an answer, so he continues on.
"Maybe what we have will cause some pain. Hell, it already has in some ways," Lee continues. "And… It'll have to come to an end one day,"
Arceus above, even talking about it hypothetically makes his chest a touch hollow, but a surge of silent adoration from Ninetales dulls the ache.
"But doesn't everything end?" He asks, turning his head to look at his passenger's flat expression. "If you focus only on the ugly parts in a painting, then haven't you missed the point?" he finishes, looking down to check the instruments in Corvi's saddle.
Lokoko says nothing more until they land.
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With the phone still vibrating away, Lee untangles himself from Ninetales and speedwalks to his bedroom, Nine hot on his heels. Once a golden tail gently shuts the door, Lee answers just before the call rings out. "Hello? Champion Stone?"
"Lee, it's a pleasure to hear from you."
Lee blinks at the tired (hell, maybe haggard is the right term) voice on the other end. "Ah, Champion Stone? Are you feeling alright? You sound a little…" he trails off, unsure if his words might offend.
Steven lets out a weak chuckle over the line. "Just Steven is fine for now, Lee. I apologize if I sound tired, but the last few weeks have been, well, they've been something. I'm only just now getting some time to slow down, and I was a bit horrified to realize I had an unanswered voicemail from you dated weeks ago, so I'm returning your call."
"Voicemail?" Lee mouths to Ninetales, only for both to remember at the same time.
Hello, Champion Stone. This is Lee Henson. I apologize for disturbing you, but I need to arrange a meeting with you. This is in regards to a matter similar to the one we discussed in Lavaridge.
The Draconid Prophecy! He completely forgot about that call he made!
"Oh! Right, right, yes, it is a pretty important matter regarding the region's safety," Lee begins, pacing about in the small bedroom and looking over at the alarm clock on the nightstand, just as the timer rolls to 9:45 PM. "Due to how sensitive it is, it's probably better discussed in-person rather than over the phone. I… have a few other things I should probably bring to your attention as well."
'You intend to tell him about the encounter with Archie, and about our Megastones.' Ninetales tilts her head from where she sits by the door. 'Do you believe that the latter is wise, beloved?'
'We want Steven to play ball with the prophecy, and dropping it with news about Aqua and Mega Evolution, two very real and dangerous things, is going to make the prophecy feel more real as well,' Lee reasons during the lull over the phone. 'If we want his help, it's better to show some of our cards to try and show that we're willing to trust him in return. Besides, the Draconid Elders more or less gave us their blessing to blow the secret wide open, so Mega Evolution won't stay a secret for long.'
"Meeting in-person is probably for the best…" Steven murmurs. "On-top of your piece, I have some proposals I would like to make to you, and if the topics you wish to discuss are what I think they are, then everything will line up quite neatly."
A proposal? To them? Lee and Nine's eyes meet for a moment, then Lee gives his phone his full attention again. "Of course. I'd be happy to listen."
"Fantastic. What is your schedule looking like? I have openings for the next few days, but the week after this Friday is totally full. Are you still in Petalburg?" Steven pauses. "Oh, and congratulations on your badge."
"Thank you, Steven. We're still in Petalburg," Lee says, his feet carrying him to the window. Outside, Petalburg is dark and sleepy, and he can make out an Arcanine on the street with a small form on their back, hastily bounding to escape the evening chill. "We can stay for another day or two, or if it's all the same to you, meet in Fortree. We'll be flying that way in the morning."
Steven takes a moment to think, and during the quiet, the sound of a keyboard clacking comes through the speaker. "Fortree is a bit closer, so how about we teleport in to meet you there? We can hash out the details once you land, and - Oh! Right, let me…"
Lee's phone buzzes, and pulling it away from his ear, he can see he's got a text message from an unknown number. All that's in it is "It's me!"
"There we go. That's my personal number. Naturally, it'll get answered much faster than my office phone. Please don't spread it around, I just had to change it…"
'Arceus almighty, I have the fucking Champion on speed dial.' Lee shakes his head and saves it. "No worries on that end. I'm not one to even bother my contacts on the regular. Emergencies only, promise."
"Ha, I believe it. I've seen how you post on BattleNet, or rather, how you don't post."
Unsure how to process the idea of Steven Stone creeping on his BattleNet profile, Lee simply decides to ignore it.
"I'll let you go now. See you soon, and have a nice night."
"Same to you."
His phone beeps and the call ends, leaving Ninetales and Lee alone in the small bedroom.
"Ugh…" Lee slumps on his feet, his lethargy from earlier coming back with a vengeance. "Busy day, tomorrow, it seems…"
'Lets turn in, then,' Nine replies, hopping into the bed and settling, her tails fanned to the side in the promise of a warm blanket. 'We'll need rest for the morn.'
The moment Lee's head is on the pillow, silken fox tails wrap around him, and the warmth sends him to dreamland in short order.
"I'm telling you, Lee, it's fine!"
Leaning on the doorframe to Zinnia's room the next morning, Lee watches with a frown as Zinnia packs up her things.
"It doesn't look fine to me," he says back, noticing how ginger the grip of her bandaged right hand is as she stuffs a shirt into her Sliph pouch.
The tanned woman shoots him a narrow-eyed look. "Its just a burn, a training accident. It happens." She belts her bag to the small of her back and reaches for her jacket, which lies rumpled on the equally messy bed. "Every Draconid is acquainted with burns."
"I'm acquainted with them, too."
Zinnia falters, her annoyed stare losing much of its edge. She looks away as she dons her jacket.
"Training accident, you said?" Lee continues on, straightening up and stepping into the room proper. "What happened?"
The woman leans to the side, looking past Lee for a moment, and when she finds nothing, she bites her lip in an unusual moment of nerves. "I took Salamence to the coast and Mega Evolved him, like you did with Mean Green."
Lee's eyes shoot wide open.
"Next time, Dolittle, go further out of town before you go Mega with Sceptile. Anyone even slightly sensitive to Dragons felt that."
"We were five miles and some change out!" Lee exclaims, silently wondering how many people knew something happened out there.
Zinnia smirks at his expression. "Geez, don't have a Miltank, Dolittle. Any lesser Dragons in Petalburg probably freaked out, but I don't think any full-blooded Draconids live around here, so I was the only human who knew," she practically reads his mind. "Make it, like, ten miles and you'll probably be fine."
"Let's get back on topic," Lee grumbles, crossing his arms. "Your hand?"
Like a ball passed to the other side of the court, it's once again Zinnia's turn to be on the backfoot. She holds the bandaged hand with her good one, looking down at it pensively before raising her gaze back to him. "Things went fine. Salamence was just a little too over-eager and didn't keep a good lid on his flame breath. The very moment he realized what he did, he reverted back and we took a break."
Lee drums his fingers along his arm as he thinks what he's been told over.
In the back of his head, through Nine's eyes, he watches her try and fail to wake Brendan and Swampert, who are tangled up in one great lump under their covers. Pokes, yanking the covers, even an echoing, foxy screech all do nothing. It doesn't take long for the vixen's annoyance to thrum through him, and she simply flips the bed with a burst of telekinesis.
Thud!
"I'm up! I'm up!" Brendan's sleep-slurred voice faintly calls through the wall, along with a deep, tired groan.
Finally, Lee sighs and drops his arms to his sides. "Okay. I'd still like to look at it, though, to ease my own mind more than anything."
Without Nine's ears to borrow, Lee can't make out the grumble that Zinnia lets out, but he's sure 'mother hen' is uttered. Regardless, the tanned woman holds her hand out. "Fine. I was just about to re-wrap it anyway."
Smiling, Lee reaches behind him, and is rewarded with his first aid kit dropping into his hand. The sensation of telekinesis, like moving water with a slight static buzz, brushes his fingertips. 'Thank you, love.'
Kit in hand, Lee drops it on the bed, takes Zinnia's burned appendage with a light touch, and carefully unwraps the linen bandage haphazardly tied around it. It sticks here and there, but Zinnia doesn't show any pain on her face, even if Lee is sure she feels it.
"Oh…" He winces.
The outside of her forearm along with her pinkie and ring fingers have the worst of it, with the skin pink-red and blistered in places, but thankfully, there isn't any char or epidermis totally burned away. Still, a nasty 2nd degree burn. The inner side of her arm is a lighter, less intense color that readily stands out against her normally darker complexion.
Popping open his medkit, Lee finds a fresh bandage roll and a travel-sized bottle of rawst ointment. "So you flew all the way to the coast?" Lee asks, spreading a bit of berry-blue ointment on Zinnia's hand, being careful with the blisters.
"Yeah." Zinnia nods, looking out the window, where Petalburg's morning traffic lazily coasts by on the road below. "Salamence was thrilled, Dolittle. You should have seen it. Should have felt it. It was like… like standing under Sala in his prime." She pauses and turns her hand over, letting Lee start wrapping it up. "The sand all around us dried up, and the wind kicked up, it was unreal, and… And…" Her good hand rises to her chest, right over her heart.
It takes Zinnia until Lee is finished treating her burns to his satisfaction for her to find her words again. "Is that what it's like with you and Ninetales, Lee?" she finally asks, left hand still on her chest.
"It's… A little like it, yes." Lee resists the urge to mirror her pose, and closes up his medkit. The moment it's packed away again, a purple corona takes hold of it and pulls it back out of the open doorway.
Lee follows the plastic box with his eyes as it floats back to his room. It nearly collides with a standing lamp that Nine forgets about, but a little mental nudge from him sees it neatly curve around and finish its journey. "When Sceptile went Mega, it was more rigid, more physical than what Nine and I have, for lack of a better word."
He returns his attention to Zinnia, who is staring holes into him as he answers. "The first thing I noticed right away was that our heartbeats synced up, that I could feel his body as if it were my own. Did that happen to you and Salamence?"
Zinnia's answer is one clipped nod.
"Yeah, it's intense, and I say that having been connected to Nine, mind and soul, for months." Lee lets out a breath and sits down on the edge of the half-made bed, prompting Zinnia to sit as well. "Having someone else's thoughts and feelings running through your head, up and down your nerves, it's an experience you don't ever forget. My, ah… 'foreknowledge' never went into great detail about how intimate an experience it is, so it was a shock to me too."
Zinnia nods, absently now, her eyes on the floor and brow furrowed in thought. So distracted is she that the dragon tamer almost jumps out of her skin when Lee lays a hand on hers.
"Are you okay, Zinnia?" Lee asks quietly, searching her face.
She lets out a huff, her black locks bouncing as she shakes her head to clear it. "I mean… It's… Fuck, Lee. I-I don't think that I am," she admits past clenched teeth. "I'm trying not to think about it. I don't know the words for what I'm trying to say! Salamence ascending and the connection, it was - Fuck!"
Zinnia stands and paces, frustration in every step. "I want to do it again, I want it to be like that all the time! But I'm…" She stops herself short, but Lee knows what word she held back.
Afraid.
Although he's been told what he and Nine have is strange by Nigel, Mable, Anabel, and others, it's Zinnia's shaken words that finally drive home why others would find such a thing distressing.
Two separate minds, two separate souls, aren't meant to be melded together in such a way… Or are they?
Standing, Lee wraps an arm around the woman's shoulder and guides her back to the bed, where both sit heavily. Zinnia lets out a shaking breath, but doesn't pull away as he rubs a thumb on her shoulder.
"It's fine to be afraid, Zinnia," Lee begins slowly, still trying to think over what he wants to say. "A connection like that is wonderful, wonderful in a way that I'm not sure people were supposed to actually experience."
Her eyes snap to his. "But you-"
"-Are connected to Ninetales permanently, and I love it, I know. I still stand by what I said," he continues, keenly aware that Nine has her mental ear turned to them. "Would I have gone for it if I knew the consequences beforehand? I don't know. Now?" He gives her a hard stare. "I'd rather die than be separated from her."
Zinnia goes still, listening.
"I've thought a lot about the subject, as you probably guessed." Lee gives her shoulder a squeeze. "And it's okay to be unbalanced and even scared. The only things we know for certain are true is ourselves and what is in our heads, as we have to trust that our senses are telling the truth, and there is always a little doubt there, no matter how confident a person is. When you suddenly get a direct, raw measure of someone else from the outside, from someone who loves you, and it finally hits bottom?"
Unbidden, Lee reaches a mental hand down towards Ninetales, and a ghostly appendage meets him halfway. Phantom fur, warm and silken, runs through his fingers, making his palms tingle.
How can one hope to describe the texture of love, or even give it up after feeling it?
"...It changes you, and there is no going back." Lee licks his lips, idly musing that he needs some chapstick now that the fall air is growing dry. "Don't be ashamed of shying away from something so extreme. The weird emotions you're feeling after all of that is normal."
"When Salamence accidentally burned me, I felt what he felt. He was so guilty that it was like getting kicked in the gut," Zinnia murmurs. "Does that happen with you and Ninetales too?"
"All the time," he says back gently. "We both have to endure the lows that come with the highs together. It's not all upsides. Nothing ever is."
The woman has nothing else to say, just leaning into him, but from the corner of his eye, he can spy her hand resting on the lead pokeball clipped to her belt, her fingers rubbing it anxiously.
"Take some time to think, Zinnia," Lee tells her, releasing her and standing. "I'm not sure how much my advice will help since the whole soul-bond thing is so intimate that it'll be different to everyone, but if you ever need to talk, both I and Ninetales will be there. Promise me you'll say something."
No reply.
"Zinnia." Lee frowns. "Promise me."
Still fingering Salamence's pokeball, Zinnia lets out an exasperated sigh and stands up herself. "Fine, I promise," she vows.
Lee nods, satisfied. 'Huh. Another mystery to look into,' he thinks, looking down at his watch and the rainbow stone inside of it.
Just having it close to his body lets him 'sense' it on the edge of his mind, like a finger that is perpetually asleep. It's dull and has little feedback when compelled to move, but it doesn't require much force for it to be roused.
He gives the stone a little mental nudge, and it sparkles, but without a sister stone to connect to, the inner light fades shortly after. 'How much does mine and Nine's gestalt bond differ from a Mega?'
Zinnia then tilts her body, looking past Lee and into the living room.
He doesn't need to turn and look himself, as he can see Brendan, Swampert, Latias, and the rest of Brendan's team tidying up the living room before they leave like the good kids they are, all through Nine's eyes.
"We should be there when Mister Hero decides to go mega with Swampert," Zinnia declares.
"Agreed."
With their hotel keys turned in and their pokemon mounts saddled, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia stand in a huddle outside the hotel, bent over a map in Lee's hands as they plan the flight to Fortree.
Around them, their pokemon form a loose circle. Corvi towers over Lee, casting a long shadow, while Latias, who is causing a traffic jam out on the street as cars slow to look at her, hovers close to Brendan, studying the map as well.
The only outlier is Noivern, who stands hunched awkwardly behind Zinnia. The older dragon's face says nothing, but her tense stance and the repeated twitch of her dish-like ears speaks of deep discomfort. Her yellow eyes keep looking between the balls on Zinnia's belt and her saddle.
'No Salamence…' Lee withholds a frown. 'I hope they talk things out soon.'
"Okay, so we stop in Rubello for the night…" Zinnia's finger is pressed to a small town far north-east of Mauville, and only a hop, skip, and jump away from the dense green splotch of Fortree. "Short flight to Fortree, errands and rest, then-"
"-Safari Zone!" Brendan exclaims, a wide grin on his face. He dances foot to foot, barely able to contain himself. "Dad told me all about it! There are so many pokemon that can only be found there! Once we get checked into the Gym and the hotel, we gotta go right away!"
Lee gives the boy a lopsided grin. "Sure thing. I'm curious myself. I know I'm not actively looking for a new pokemon, but I do have that 7th slot…" He looks up. "How about it, Zinnia? Coming with?"
"Any Dragons there?"
Lee opens his mouth to answer—
"You'll find the Hoenn Safari Zone is home to a small population of Dragonair and Dratini, Miss Draconid."
—Only for a light, refined voice behind him to answer.
Lee turns, with Corvi stepping aside to let him see. Lee blinks. "You're…"
A few paces away, a woman only slightly taller than Zinnia stands, her hands folded in front of her. With her dark indigo hair pulled into a pair of buns, skin like porcelain, and a kimono whose threads shine in the sun, the woman could easily pass as an actor in some traditional Kanto theater. The only out-of-place accessory is a Silph-branded purse that isn't the same shade of pink as her kimono.
"...Have we met, ma'am?" Lee blinks, swearing he's seen this woman from somewhere before.
Even more oddly, there is a flash of vague recognition from Ninetales from within her ball. It's short and dim, but still leaves the fox with a mental frown. 'Something seems off here…' Nine mutters. She takes a deep breath through Lee's body, but his human nose can only pick up a delicate perfume with hints of citrus. With Corviknight standing so close, it's nearly drowned out by the scent of iron and polish.
"Oh, hey! You're the lady I bumped into a week ago!" Zinnia butts in with a smile. She pushes past Brendan and Latias (who is shyly hiding behind Brendan) to stand next to Lee. "Small world, huh?"
"Indeed it can be," the woman nods with a small smile of her own. "How fares your recently evolved pokemon, Miss Zinnia? I recall you were returning homeward after a day of training when our paths crossed. You said it was your…"
"My Sliggoo. The little booger is doing pretty good. Thankfully he's gotten used to being blind, but he's eager to evolve and get his eyes back," Zinnia grins and pats one of the balls on her belt. "Did you catch that match you wanted to see? The one with your daughter or whatever?"
The history woman sighs and shakes her head. "I did not."
As Zinnia and the woman talk, Lee studies her face, taking care to not be too obvious. Something tickles the back of his brain from the inside, a tiny, instinctual murmur of something amiss, but for the life of him, he can't figure out what. The woman is beautiful to the eye, but almost seems… Too beautiful.
Where has he seen this lady before? During their travels? Somewhere in the games or anime?
Oh! She was glaring at him from the crowd in the gym! Now, a new question pops up: what did he do to upset her?
"-was cool to see you again, miss…" Lee tunes back into the conversation in time to hear Zinnia stumble over the woman's name. "Er… Jeez, I kinda feel like an ass, but I forgot your name," The dragon tamer punctuates her words with a sheepish laugh.
"No offence taken. We met only once, after all," the kimono-clad woman waves Zinnia off, then turns her sharp, brown - nearly red - eyes to Lee. "As for you, Mister Henson, we have indeed met, but not in person. How fares your Ninetales?"
We have met, but not in person.
How fares your Ninetales?
"Lokoko?" Lee blinks, hardly believing his eyes.
What in the world is some shadowy, Ninetales-focused Pokemon Master doing out here in Petalburg? Why did she sit in on their Gym match? And…
Did you catch that match you wanted to see? The one with your daughter or whatever?
Daughter? Does Lokoko have a daughter who is running the Hoenn circuit? Lee gives her another once over. 'If she has a daughter, then Lokoko either had her young or aged like wine.'
The woman smiles. "Indeed. It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Mister Henson. I apologize for interrupting your travel plans, but I understand you are preparing for a flight to Fortree, yes?"
Lee looks down at the map now folded between his fingers. "That we are. Why do you ask?"
"I was hoping to convince you to delay your flight, so I might borrow an afternoon from you and your Ninetales," Lokoko states, her eyes looking to the lead pokeball on his belt, where Nine silently stares back, then back to him. "You and she are indeed one of the most… interesting partnerships I've yet seen, and I've many questions and even experiments I would administer with your blessing. It is in the name of furthering knowledge of the Ninetales line, you see, something I'm certain you understand."
'A test?' Lee wonders to himself. 'Regarding what?'
Nine is quick to answer. 'Madam Lokoko was not pleased to hear of our connection and the plans to mediate it the last time we spoke,' the fox says, her mental words a touch defensive. 'If there is anything she might wish to meddle with, it could be us.'
Frowning lightly, Lee sticks his map in his back pocket and nods outwardly. "I do understand, and I would be happy to help out normally, but…" Lee looks back to Zinnia and Brendan.
Zinnia doesn't seem to care either way, giving him a little shrug, but Brendan's youthful face is decidedly impatient.
Well, not that it's much of a choice. Lee remembers not only his meeting with Steven, but how he planned to bring the rest of the group in on the Giratina business. Turning back, he gives Lokoko an apologetic smile. "I'm on a bit of a timetable right now, so I'm afraid that I can't today. I can fly back after we're finished in Fortree, if that is okay?"
Lokoko blinks like a Hoothoot, clearly not expecting a rejection. "Ah, I see…" She chews on her lip for a moment, looking away at a crack on the sidewalk before turning her head back up. "In that case, could I perhaps travel with you to Fortree?"
"You want to fly with us?"
Lee's halting question is answered with a firm nod. "I would see my studies be done sooner rather than later."
"And what of her daughter?" Corviknight croaks, looking down at Lokoko. Something metallic rubs under the great raven's helm as he tilts his head.
"Good point, Corvi," Lee scratches his chin as he thinks. "And your daughter? Aren't you also out here to see her?"
"I'll see her soon enough," Lokoko waves off the question quite literally, raising a thin hand to make a dismissive gesture. She doesn't seem surprised or perturbed by the level of understanding between Lee and Corviknight, either.
With a bit of uncertainty still poking him in the gut, Lee turns his whole body to Brendan and Zinnia. "Ah, just a sec. Lemme talk it out since it's not just my call."
"Take all the time you wish," Lokoko states, bringing her hands together under her kimono sleeves.
The trio of trainers put their heads together, with Corvi hanging from above, and Latias and Noivern poking their heads in between their trainers. "You know this chick, Dolittle?" Zinnia whispers, asking the obvious first question.
"Not know per se, but we're acquainted," Lee begins. "Lokoko is a certified Pokemon Master, with a capital 'P' and 'M', who specializes in the Ninetales line."
"A real Pokemon Master?" Brendan asks, mouth open and eyebrows rising so high they vanish into his beanie hat. "And she found you because of Ninetales?"
"Because I was introduced to her by another Ninetales trainer online," Lee corrects, remembering the ghost town of a BattleNet group he almost never peers into. "She had been keeping tabs on us before that, though."
Beside Brendan, Latias's feathers ruffle for a moment. 'Are Ninetales and Vulpix the only pokemon she specializes in?'
The Eon Dragon's mental voice, to Lee at least, is quiet and tinged with girlish youth. More and more the shy dragon has been reaching out to him and Zinnia, as well as their pokemon, pulled free of her shell by Brendan's bright smiles and endless cheer.
The first time Latias actually spoke to Lee, it was a bit of a shock, as it was the first time he'd heard a telepathic 'voice' other than Nine's with genuine inflection and emotion.
In his and Ninetales' conversations with Anabel, her Espeon, and the rarer ones with Lucian and his Bronzong, none of them had much, if any emotion behind their words. It was akin to having closed captions read aloud by a machine, the words literal and flat.
Latias, however? It's the first time he's ever had something to compare Nine's tone to. Compared to Latias, his fox's 'voice' is smokey, rich even, as if her words were dipped in honey.
'Oh, my beloved trainer flatters me,' Ninetales giggles as she reads his thoughts, excluding Latias from the message as she does so. 'I'm heartened to know you love my voice so, but I do wonder… Were I immature enough to stoop to it, would a lewd sound from me within your skull leave you flustered?'
'Nine, you're the other half of my soul on what looks like a literal level according to modern poke-science. You can't make it weirder no matter how hard you try.'
'Spoilsport.'
"We're getting off topic here. Do you trust her?" Zinnia once again hops back into the important questions, and drags Lee back to the conversation at hand. "You know what happened last time we let some strange woman hang around with us."
Brendan looks away, red with embarrassment.
"And it was totally our fault, so we don't wanna do it again," Zinnia amends, giving Brendan a slap on the back, before fixing her gaze on Lee once more.
He hesitates. "Trust? I trust that she knows what she's talking about in her field of mastery, and that she's plenty educated, but on a personal level?" He hazards a look backward.
Lokoko stands calmly, waiting for them to finish.
"...I don't think she's got any malicious ends," Lee finishes. "Plus, I am curious about what kind of experiments she has in mind. Anything that could help Nine and I understand ourselves better is something neither of us want to pass up. If we tell her to buzz off, I'm not sure when we'll get another chance to talk to her in person."
"If you're okay with her coming, then I don't see why not," Brendan begins after a protracted silence. Like Lee, he gives the pink-wrapped woman a once over, not missing her lack of pokeballs. "Erm… She won't be able to ride with me and Latias. Our saddle isn't big enough."
Zinnia takes a bit longer, then nods slowly. "Yeah, she's kinda weird, but I guess you don't become an expert in something without being an oddball," she grins, giving Lee a wink and a jab with her elbow.
"You're one to talk, Thelban," he grumbles.
"So, your call, Dolittle," Zinnia ignores his comeback and pats Noivern behind her red, pronged nose, making the bat-dragon purr. "She's flying with you, though, since my other ride is…" she trails off.
"Corvi?" Lee asks, looking up. "Are you up for a trip with two passengers?"
The raven narrows his eyes, as if to say "Does it look like an extra human could weigh me down?"
"Noted," Lee raises his hands on mock surrender, then turns back around with a smile. "Miss Lokoko, if you'd like to come with, we can give you a ride. I'd hate to say no after you came all this way."
Lokoko's doll-like face takes on a subdued smile, and she gives them a shallow bow. "Thank you, Mister Henson. I'll be in your care."
It takes a bit of creativity to get Lokoko situated on Corvi's saddle with her kimono, and she's forced to hug herself firmly to Lee's back, but the addition of a passenger doesn't delay them too long, all in all. A bit before ten AM, they take to the sky and begin the flight due east, which will take them over an unnamed mountain, over Oldale Town, then from there, they'll follow route 103 north-east to Mauville and beyond.
As they rise higher and higher, Lee swears he can feel little touches, not unlike idle brushes from Ninetales, over his legs. 'Nine?'
'It's not I, beloved, but I feel them, too.'
Lee takes a deep breath, figuring it's the thin air and lack of oxygen playing tricks on him.
At least he doesn't need to worry about the cold, however. Lokoko is a furnace against his back, wholly unbothered by the whipping winds and nippy temperature that only drops further as they level out at their altitude ceiling. He has to wonder if she used the old camper trick of placing disposable handwarmers in her clothes, for how else could a petite woman keep so warm?
For a time, they fly in silence, the only sound being the whistle of the air as Corvi's bladed wings cut though it.
"You did not heed my advice, did you?" Lokoko asks suddenly, voice raised to carry over the wind.
Lee frowns into his scarf, knowing exactly what she's referring to. "We didn't."
The arms around his middle tighten, and Lee withholds a grunt at the grip such a small woman can muster.
"Do you not think it selfish, Mister Henson?" Lokoko's words come out more as an accusation than a question. He doesn't turn to look at her, but he doesn't need to, he can imagine her expression from her tone alone. "To force such misery on your Ninetales? To force the pain of inevitable separation on her?"
"There was no force involved," Lee's frown falls into an open scowl, one he knows Nine is mirroring in her ball. "We decided this together."
Lokoko lets out a humorless laugh. "Of course an addict will affirm the other addict. I gave you my warnings with good reason, but you've spurned them. Why? Did you lack the bravery? The nerve to do what had to be done?"
Lee stares down at the ground passing below, then up to the pale blue above, his jaw working as he thinks. "Let me ask you a question. Is it better to love with all you can, and deal with the changes that come with it? Or is it better to love from a distance, because there are less complications?"
He doesn't get an answer, so he continues on.
"Maybe what we have will cause some pain. Hell, it already has in some ways," Lee continues. "And… It'll have to come to an end one day,"
Arceus above, even talking about it hypothetically makes his chest a touch hollow, but a surge of silent adoration from Ninetales dulls the ache.
"But doesn't everything end?" He asks, turning his head to look at his passenger's flat expression. "If you focus only on the ugly parts in a painting, then haven't you missed the point?" he finishes, looking down to check the instruments in Corvi's saddle.
Lokoko says nothing more until they land.
Below are the names of some patrons who got to view this chapter early and felt like signing it. A huge thanks to them and everyone else who supports this story and everything else I write.
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OrkKaptin
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Well isn't this a lovely surprise?
Had some chores to do, sat down for a break with my tablet, and found a very pleasant reward!
I wonder how much of a fight Lee, Nines and Lokoko are about to have.
Had some chores to do, sat down for a break with my tablet, and found a very pleasant reward!
I wonder how much of a fight Lee, Nines and Lokoko are about to have.
edk
Versed in the lewd.
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I enjoyed the chapter and quite liked Lokoko getting told off for her beliefs (even if done with the best of intentions) but this made me laugh out loud. It's so cutesy that imagining Steven, the metal man himself, sending it was hilarious.
Fernando
Part-time Loaf
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Lee Henderson! Hero of the Ninetales!
Zendrelax
"All yours. I think it always was. Welcome home."
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So is Lokoko planning to reveal that she is a Ninetails herself, or is that not going to come out until they run into Ash and Brock lmao
Fun chapter. It's interesting to see another member of the cast get some insight into what Lee and Ninetails' bond is like. Plus it's going to make the revelation of what Maxie and Claydol have been doing to Camerupt even more horrifying.
Fun chapter. It's interesting to see another member of the cast get some insight into what Lee and Ninetails' bond is like. Plus it's going to make the revelation of what Maxie and Claydol have been doing to Camerupt even more horrifying.
ThunderBasilisk
Well Worn Bastion
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I can already tell this is going to be a fun conversation
doomqwer
Well worn.
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Yup you jumped into the deep end my friend good luck.
Yeah that would be interesting to some people, as someones habits can help you figure them out as person.
yup Mega evolution is quite dangerous with the just the sheer boost in power, so you need to be damn sure to train and control it.
I am glad this is being touched, as this show just why only those with the closest bonds can achieve Mega evolution because process requires the bonding of souls.
And the fact that you are touch on the addicting nature of the bonds and how it does give some insight on Lee and Ninetales is an interesting touch.
I do look forward to how the Safari Zone is played out as that is a complicated system play with and it will be interesting how you make it work.
I can see where she is coming from with just how deeply this can effect him and ninetails but i dont she knows how deep the bond has gotten and that the likely really cant take it apart.
A good point made as closing yourself off because you fear the pain of loss and never opening up is no way to live life.
There is actually pretty good song about that by SuperTramp.
Switchflip
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i like to think it was his metagross
because its more at odds with its terminator-tank style looks than the rock nerd (who is a steel specialist).
Crazy7809
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Yeah, Steven himself may not pay too much attention to Lee's posting habits but that doesn't mean someone on the League's payroll hasn't sent in a report about one of the major up and comers this year.
Act 3: Chapter 9
New
Fuggmann
Inventor of Sex 2
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Take a look here!
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As always, thank you for reading.
By the time they come in to land on the outskirts of the town of Rubello, the sunset is obscured by the dark, rolling clouds of a coming storm, sending the town into an early night as people and pokemon alike scramble inside, not wanting to be caught in the rain.
With how diminutive the town is, the sight of a giant Corviknight, a Noivern, and a Latias coming in for a landing on the street outside their hotel for the night prompts a round of wide eyes from the people still out and about, but the onlookers are ignored as the trio of pokemon are recalled.
"Just in time." Lee smiles as they step into the hotel, the gradual plit-plat of fat raindrops marking their entrance.
Inside, the lobby is sparse. There's little more than the front desk and a breakfast nook that is currently empty. At said front desk, the woman behind it perks up and puts away the phone she was scrolling on when they approach.
"Hello. Lee Henson and party checking in," Lee greets.
"Of course! One moment!" She smiles back and types away at the computer behind her desk. Her smile falls as she reads something on the screen. "Oh, that was two double bed rooms you were renting for the night, correct?"
"Uh-huh." Lee nods, sharing a quick look with Zinnia and Brendan.
Behind them, Lokoko just watches the proceedings patiently.
"Ummm…" The front desk attendant looks up at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, sir. It looks like we overbooked our double-bed rooms. We do have a four-bed trainer suite available. We can give it to you with no upcharge as an apology."
'Huh. That's a bit of a bummer…' Lee looks once more at Zinnia and Brendan, then over his shoulder at Lokoko.
Honestly, sharing a room with Zinnia doesn't bother him. She's by far the (human) woman he's felt most comfortable around, and it's not like she'd hold a grudge if there were any slips caused by close quarters. If anything, she'd have a blast with the resulting red faces and jokes.
Lokoko, on the other hand…
Lee clears his throat. "Opinions, everyone?"
"I don't really care," Zinnia chimes with a shrug. "Shit, I don't know why we still do separate rooms when a group suite is cheaper on average."
Brendan wrinkles his nose. "I don't mind doing it once. No offence, Zinnia, but you're like a sister. Yeah, you're pretty… I guess, but I don't want to see all tha-ACK! Lemme go!"
The boy is cut off by a tanned arm taking him in a headlock.
"What do you mean 'pretty, I guess'!?" Zinnia demands, violently rubbing her knuckles across his hat-covered head. "You need to work on your manners, shrimp! That's not how you talk to a lady! You should be like 'Oh yeah that sounds awesome! I want to be around Big Sissy Zinnia all the time'!"
Brendan, flailing, seizes her wrist to stop the painful noogie. "Getoff! If I wanted to see a naked ape, I'd get a shaved Rillaboom!"
"You snotty little-!"
"Children, please, not right now," Lee sighs, reaching in and pulling both apart by their shoulders.
"Sorry about them." He gives Lokoko a sheepish smile. "Uh, this is a bit awkward. If you're not comfortable with the arrangement, Miss Lokoko, we can call around and see if there is another hotel with a room open, then either my Ninetales or Octillery can escort you there with a telekinetic umbrella to keep you dry," he finishes, glancing outside at the deluge.
As if to punctuate his statement, lightning flashes, and the low rumble of thunder rolls across the town.
Lokoko follows his eyes, taking in the downpour herself. "I believe that you and young Mister Birch will be proper gentlemen, Mister Henson. If you will have me, I will lodge with you for tonight. Besides," she returns her attention to him, a glint he can't place in her eye, "it will give us ample time to talk, you, your Ninetales, and I."
In her ball, Lee knows Nine is frowning.
Smiling back unsurely, Lee then turns back to the front desk attendant. "The trainer suite will work fine, thanks."
Once Lee's credit card is swiped and keys are handed out, the four of them make their way down the hall behind the front desk, where the hotel's trainer suites are located, to Room T4-1. Swiping his keycard and hearing the lock click, Lee pushes the door open and leads everyone inside.
Compared to their upscale accommodations in Petalburg, the room tonight is rather plain. Directly to the right of the front door is another door for the bathroom, and diagonal to that in an alcove on the other wall is a small kitchenette. Further in, the room opens up into a decent whack of floor space for larger pokemon and two sets of bunkbeds in the corners. On the wall is the expected cheap TV with a laminated channel list taped to it.
"Home sweet home," Zinnia jokes, pushing past. "Calling top bunk!" she says, scrambling up and tossing her bag on the flat pillow.
Lee and Brendan gravitate to the right bunk, while Lokoko and Zinnia take the left. Once settled in, then comes the spectacle of the night:
Dinner.
With his jacket shrugged off, Lee drops his backpack at his feet at the kitchenette with Brendan at his right. Eyeballing the stove space, Lee frowns lightly. "Four burners, but electric coil ones… Euh…" He grumbles a bit more, then unzips his backpack. "Brendan?"
Like he's done a hundred times before, the boy takes the lips of Lee's bag and opens them wide, letting Lee dip his arms in and pull out a full-sized stockpot without catching on anything.
Lokoko, who had been carefully laying out a lighter kimono for the morning, looks over when Lee sets the heavy pot down with a clang.
"What is Mister Henson preparing that requires such a large cooking vessel?" Lokoko asks, her eyes on the stockpot as Lee fills it with water and sets it on the largest burner. "It seems excessive for four people."
Lee laughs, reaching back into his bag. "Four?" He pulls out a wrapped bundle of red meat, then another, then a carton of eggs. "I'm cooking for everyone, Miss Lokoko. Pokemon included."
The pile of ingredients grows steadily on the limited counter space. Rice, beans, mushrooms, fresh vegetables, a whole raw chicken, a container of shellfish on ice, and more besides. Lokoko's eyebrow climbs higher with each addition, her composed mask slipping just a fraction as the modest kitchenette begins to resemble a restaurant prep station.
Lee clicks his tongue as he runs out of room, a packet of seasonings in hand with nowhere to put it. Before he can voice his frustration, Ninetales' ball pops open of its own accord, and the golden fox pads up to his side, her tails swaying behind her.
'Allow me, Beloved.'
A soft purple glow envelops the overflow of ingredients, lifting them into a neat hovering arrangement just above the counter. Ninetales settles on her haunches nearby, keeping one eye on her telekinetic juggling act and the other on Lee as he works.
"Thanks, love." Lee gives her a smile that she returns.
Then he gets to work.
The next twenty minutes blur into a rhythm of sizzling pans, bubbling pots, and the steady thunk-thunk-thunk of a knife on a cutting board. Lee moves through the cramped kitchen easily, barely needing to give it any mind at this point, preheating the burners, adjusting temps, tasting and adjusting seasoning with quick, economical movements. His focus narrows to the task at hand, the rest of the world fading to background noise.
'Never thought I'd learn to like cooking,' he muses with just Ninetales to hear. 'I wasn't any good at it before.'
'Bachelor life is hardly conducive to developing culinary skills,' Ninetales says back, gently lifting the cleaver from his hand and replacing it with a spatula.
'I'm still a bachelor, Nine.'
'A technicality if there ever was one.'
At his right, Brendan works as his sous chef, having fallen into the role so many times that he no longer needs direction. The boy dices vegetables with great technique, slices a Sitrus berry paper-thin for each dish and answers Lee's occasional questions without breaking stride.
"How's Swampert feeling after yesterday? He push himself too hard in that fight with that Mightyena?"
"Nah, he's good," Brendan replies, scraping his diced onions into a waiting bowl. "Ate like a Snorlax this morning, so I figure he's recovering fine. Maybe up his protein a bit?"
"Got it. Latias?"
"Umm…" Brendan pauses and thinks. "She's grown a little, so maybe more of that fish sauce for extra omega-3s?"
Lee nods, then looks over his shoulder. "Miss Lokoko, Zinnia, what were you two thinking for dinner?"
"Anything you make is good, Dolittle," Zinnia says, kicking her feet from the top bunk as she watches the barely-controlled chaos.
Lokoko, however, seems surprised by the question. "Well…" Her eyes fall to the pan where the meat portion of Ninetales' meal is being seared, and she licks her lips. "Perhaps… Perhaps I could have a meal matching your Ninetales'?" She holds for a beat. "J-Just to investigate the quality of the food you feed her, as you understand."
"Sure thing." Lee nods back, then returns his attention to the stove. "I understand where you're coming from. I don't feed my pokemon anything I wouldn't eat, so I think you'll enjoy it."
The room grows more cramped as the minutes tick by. One by one, pokeballs pop open of their own accord as dinner approaches, the pokemon within roused by the smells wafting through the air. Swampert has to duck to avoid scraping his head on the ceiling, and he crowds the kitchenette alongside Breloom and Tyrunt, all three craning their necks to watch the proceedings with undisguised anticipation.
Lee has to push away Swampert's blue bulk to check on the meat sizzling in the largest pan, but he doesn't complain. Pokemon gathering for dinner is just part of the routine at this point.
Finally, with the cooking winding down, Lee begins plating, his eyes running over each dish with a critical eye.
Ninetales' bowl is largely unchanged from its earliest form, just scaled up with a few variations to keep things interesting. Tonight, it's fatty cuts of red meat, seared rare, mixed with boiled eggs, wild rice for carbs, and freshly diced vegetables for balance. A proper omnivore's spread fit for a queen, if Lee does say so himself.
'Queen?' Nine catches his thought with a small smirk. 'Well, you said it, not me.'
'Hush, you,' he sends back, moving on.
Sceptile used to be tricky to cook for, his palate finicky in ways Lee struggled to pin down. Not anymore. The gecko gets a hearty portion of mushrooms and protein-rich beans over rice, topped with a colorful vegetable medley and drizzled with a sticky, aromatic spiced sauce for flavor.
Corviknight is easy. His menu mirrors Ninetales', just with a portion size that would make a sumo wrestler balk and a heavy dose of iron supplements mixed into the meat. The king-sized raven needs the extra fuel to keep his armored body in peak condition.
Shinx's bowl gives Lee pause, and he has to push down the pang of melancholy that rises in his chest. She's been eating more lately, her appetite steadily climbing in a way he recognizes all too well. Evolution is cresting the horizon for his baby girl, whether he's ready for her to grow up or not. Shaking off the thought, he inspects her plate: a pair of juicy chicken breasts, rubbed down with savory seasonings and glazed with honey to mask the Sitrus flavor she's never liked.
Octillery's meal is the simplest of the lot. Fresh shellfish, served raw and glistening, with a small dish of cocktail sauce on the side. The octopus has developed a taste for the acidic tang, apparently, which Lee supposes makes a certain amount of sense for a sea creature.
Finally, Sylveon's plate. Lee winces just looking at it.
A double-fried country steak, slathered in thick, fatty gravy, with a little frosted cupcake perched beside it for dessert. The whole thing looks like a heart attack waiting to happen, the sort of carnival fare that would make a cardiologist weep. Yet no matter what gut-busting, artery-clogging meal Lee serves her, Sylveon practically glows afterward, her vitals showing no sign of elevated cholesterol or any other ill effect.
Fairy-types and their eating habits still make absolutely no sense to him, even after seeing the phenomenon in action dozens of times.
"Okay, back up!" Lee shoos away the pokemon hovering nearby, making Swampert and Breloom give him room, but Tyrunt just bares his teeth with a growl.
Lee stares down, meeting the dino right in the eye. "Don't play that game with me-"
Beside him, Ninetales feigns a yawn, showing off white fangs with little flames licking the corners of her mouth.
"-because mine's bigger."
Tyrunt snarls, but takes a few steps back.
Smiling, Lee looks to his fox. "Love?"
The first wave of plates go out, hovering in outlines of psychic purple, then a second wave, and finally a third. Before long, every bit of noise in the room is eschewed for the sound of eager mouths munching on dinner.
Sitting with his legs crossed against the bed he's claimed for the night, Lee watches his pokemon dig into their meals with a smile, slowly lifting a fork of his own food. Popping the morsel into his mouth, he chews at a slow pace, letting his tongue get acquainted with all the flavors. 'Hmm… Maybe a little less salt next time. How is yours, Nine?'
Beside him, Nine raises her head from her bowl, licking up a stray rice grain on her lips. 'Fantastic. The cuts of beef have just the right amount of char. Did you do something to the rice? It soaked up the excess juices.'
'Just let it stand for a few minutes before serving is all,' he sends back, looking up to Lokoko.
The woman stares at the bowl in her hands, filled with the same food served to Ninetales minus any sitrus, with what looks like trepidation. She doesn't seem to notice them watching her sidelong, or if she does, she says nothing. Finally, the dark-haired woman lifts her fork, inspects the rice, peas, and carrots atop some beef, then takes a bite.
Lokoko's eyes shoot open wide in the most bold-faced expression yet seen on her as she works her jaw. Swallowing, she gives her food a look of distaste, and Lee wonders what he did wrong.
Then she takes another bite, and another, moving a little too eagerly to be proper despite what her face says.
"Is your food alright, Miss Lokoko?" Lee finally asks, breaking the silence.
More than a few heads lift from their meals, eyes looking towards the woman.
Lokoko freezes in place, then sniffs and continues slower. "You feed your Ninetales such every day?"
"Every day," Lee confirms. "I don't trust premade, mass-produced pokemon food."
She considers his words, then turns her gaze to the window, where the streaming rain has turned the outside world into a wobbly smear. "This is… Good. I can find no fault."
Sitting cross-legged over her own plate just a few feet away, Zinnia lets out an unladylike snort.
The clatter of utensils fades as bowls are scraped clean and plates are licked spotless. A comfortable lethargy settles over the room, the kind that only comes from a warm meal on a stormy night. Outside, rain continues to drum against the windows, punctuated by the occasional rumble of distant thunder.
One by one, the pokemon begin to drowse. Sceptile is first to go, giving Lee a thankful nod before vanishing into his ball with a flash of red. Corviknight follows, then Octillery, then Sylveon, each succumbing to the pull of a full stomach and a warm, dry place to sleep.
Brendan hasn't moved from his spot on the floor, his back against the lower bunk. Latias is curled against his side, her eyes half-lidded and content, while Electrike has claimed Brendan's lap with his large head, the canine's nose twitching as he dreams. Against Electrike, both Shinx and Sliggoo lie, using the largest of their trio as a pillow.
Brendan strokes Electrike's fur absently, then looks up at Lokoko, who sits primly on the edge of the bottom bunk across from him.
"Hey, Miss Lokoko?" Brendan asks, breaking the comfortable quiet. "What made you want to become a Ninetales expert? Like, was there a specific moment, or...?"
Lee's attention sharpens, and he feels Nine do the same from where she's sprawled beside him, her head resting on his thigh. The question has been lurking in the back of his mind since Petalburg, and he's grateful Brendan asked it so he didn't have to.
Lokoko doesn't answer right away. Her hands, folded in her lap, tighten almost imperceptibly, and her gaze drifts to the rain-streaked window.
"I knew a Ninetales once," she says finally, her voice softer than Lee has heard it. "A long time ago. She bonded deeply to her master, so deeply that their souls became intertwined in a way few could comprehend."
Lee's heart gives a strange lurch. Beside him, Ninetales has gone very still.
"And when he vanished one day..." Lokoko trails off, her composure cracking for just a moment. A shudder runs through her, too deep and too raw to be anything but genuine. "She... I..."
She catches herself, smoothing her expression back into something more controlled, but the damage is done. Lee can see the old wound beneath the mask, still bleeding after all this time.
"I understand what it is like," Lokoko continues, her voice steadier now, "to have the foundation of one's life ripped up by the roots. And I know it is worse for creatures of such profound emotion. Pokemon like Ninetales feel more deeply than most humans can fathom. When that bond is severed..." She shakes her head slowly. "I have made it my mission to ensure no one else must experience such a thing."
Her eyes find Lee and Ninetales, and the implication hangs in the air like smoke.
"If you're implying what I think you are," Zinnia cuts in, her voice sharp enough to draw blood, "then you're wasting your worry."
Lokoko's jaw tightens, a flash of something hard passing through her eyes, but she doesn't look away from Lee and Nine. The stare lingers for a long, uncomfortable moment.
'Beloved...' Ninetales' mental voice is cautious, her hackles not quite raised but close.
'I know,' Lee sends back, his own discomfort a mirror of hers. 'Just... let it be for now.'
The silence stretches, thick and heavy. Even the rain outside seems muted.
Finally, Lokoko pulls her gaze away. She lets out a small breath and when she speaks again, her tone is lighter.
"Forgive me. I did not mean to make things so somber." She smooths an invisible wrinkle from her kimono. "Perhaps you would care to hear of a lighter subject? In my travels, I met a curious theatre actor, from whom I've learned methods of infusing perfumes into fur. It works quite well for other pokemon as well."
"Oh? That might be up Lee's alley." Brendan throws a grin over his shoulder. "Didn't you want to enter a pokemon contest with Ninetales?"
"I did," Lee admits. "Her kimono is just collecting dust, so I want to enter one eventually."
Lokoko visibly perks up and Lee swears he sees her dark eyes twinkle red. "Finery, for your pokemon? Mister Henson, I must see!"
The tension in the room eases as the subject shifts to safer ground. Lokoko's enthusiasm for pokemon finery proves genuine, and before long she's produced several folded garments from her Silph purse, each one in traditional Kanto style with flowing fabric and delicate embroidery.
"This pattern dates back to the Tokugawa period," Lokoko explains, holding up a deep blue haori jacket sized for a quadruped. Silver thread traces the shapes of cresting waves along the hem. "It does not complement, but rather contrasts a natural Ninetales coat, a tradition that started in what would eventually become Goldenrod City. You see, the lords of the Golden Coast…"
Ninetales, for her part, tolerates the impromptu fashion show with the patience of a saint, likely aided by all the interesting history Lokoko is too happy to share. She steps into the middle of the room and allows Lokoko to drape fabric over her back, to fuss with the fit around her shoulders, and to make thoughtful noises about color theory and seasonal appropriateness. Lee watches from his spot on the bed, quietly amused by the sight of his proud fox being treated like a life-sized dress-up doll.
After the fourth outfit, however, Nine's patience reaches its limit, and she slips away before more silken robes can be pulled from Lokoko's space-bending purse.
"Enough! I tire of being a mannequin," she grumbles out loud, padding back to Lee's side and nosing into his backpack.
'You lasted longer than I expected,' Lee sends back, hiding his smile behind his hand.
Ninetales withdraws her calligraphy set with a pointed huff, the wooden box and rolled paper floating in a gentle telekinetic grip. She settles on the floor beside the bed, arranging her materials with practiced ease. Once her inkwell is carefully uncorked, she dips her brush and begins her nightly practice.
Lokoko's eyes light up anew. "Oh, how wonderful! She practices the old arts as well?" The woman rises from her seat, moving closer to watch the careful strokes taking shape on the paper. "Tell me, has she begun to properly learn the language yet? The classical forms, I mean. So few take an interest these days."
"I am learning," Ninetales answers aloud, not looking up from her work. "Lee has been helping me study."
Helping. Ha! Nine's grasp of her ancestral tongue is all her own, and yet another curious example of a pokemon's ancestral memory. Giratina claims to have formed her from mere data out of a video game, but her steel-trap mind and her heart of gold, true as any other Ninetales, couldn't be more real.
Ninetales catches his thoughts, and Lee notices the tips of her ears going pink.
"Marvelous." Lokoko smiles as she watches. "Your brushwork shows real promise, if I may say."
Lee blinks, a thread of surprise worming through him. Lokoko responded to Nine's vocalization without hesitation, without even a flicker of confusion at the vulpine speech patterns that most humans find impenetrable.
'She understood you,' he sends to Nine. 'Perfectly. Without any context clues.'
'I noticed.' Nine's mental voice carries a note of wariness. 'Most humans require months of exposure before they can parse our speech with any reliability. Even a quick study such as Brendan still struggles with most of my words. Prior experience speaking to one of my kind, perhaps?'
'I would have to assume so,' Lee replies, scratching his chin in thought.
Lee studies Lokoko's profile as she watches Ninetales work, that nagging sense of familiarity scratching at the back of his mind again. The way she carries herself, the depth of her knowledge, the almost instinctive understanding of vulpine behavior and speech...
'I feel like I should know her from somewhere,' he muses. 'Was she in the anime? The games? Some side character I'm forgetting?'
The thought slips away before he can chase it down, lost in the flow of conversation as the evening wears on.
True to her title, Lokoko proves to be a font of knowledge. The subjects flit from grooming techniques to regional mythology to the finer points of fire-type metabolism, and on each topic, she speaks with the assured authority of someone who has spent decades in study. Lee finds himself taking mental notes more than once, filing away tidbits about fur maintenance and dietary supplements that he'd never encountered in his own research.
Outside, the storm has grown teeth.
What started as a steady rain has become a howling gale, wind shrieking around the corners of the hotel and driving sheets of water against the windows hard enough to rattle the frames. Lightning strobes across the sky in rapid succession, close enough that the thunder follows almost instantly, shaking the walls. The lights flicker once, twice, then hold steady, though the TV cuts to static for a brief moment before Zinnia smacks the side of it.
Lokoko turns toward the window, watching the tempest rage beyond the glass. "Are storms of this magnitude common in Hoenn?" she asks, a note of genuine curiosity in her voice. "This seems rather... intense."
Zinnia, who migrated to the small couch an hour ago to watch some reality show about pokemon breeders, glances up from the screen. "Eh, Hoenn usually gets some nasty ones come autumn. Cool air from the north mixing with the warm ocean currents and all that." She frowns, tilting her head as another gust makes the building groan. "It is kinda weird that it's this bad this far inland, though. We're not exactly on the coast."
With a discontented hum, Lee pulls out his phone, thumbing to the weather app. Without wifi, Rubella's cell signal is sluggish and the loading icon spins for what feels like an eternity. He watches the little circle turn, a frown slowly creeping onto his face.
The forecast had called for rain over Rubello before they left Petalburg, though nothing severe. And unlike the Earth where he was born, where meteorology was as much guesswork as science, this Earth has pokemon-assisted weather tracking down to a fine art. Wildly advanced sensory tech combined with good old reliable ad-hoc methods, like watching pressure-sensitive Psyduck or flying-type migrations, means institutes staffed by experts can put out forecasts with actual ninety-nine percent accuracy.
The forecast had called for showers with scattered lightning, not a storm.
The page finally loads and an ice-cold lump forms in Lee's stomach.
The weather map shows a massive, swirling supercell dominating the northeastern quadrant of the region, its spiral arms reaching out like grasping fingers. The coloration is an angry red at the center, fading to orange and yellow at the edges and even as he watches, the system pulses, growing more intense. Sidebar headlines scroll past in rapid succession:
RESIDENTS ADVISED TO SHELTER IN PLACE
UNPRECEDENTED STORM SYSTEM BAFFLES EXPERTS
HOENN WEATHER INSTITUTE UNRESPONSIVE TO INQUIRIES
Lee stares at that last one, then looks back at the map. His eyes trace the spiral inward, toward the center, toward the eye of the storm where the rotation is tightest.
The eye sits directly over the Hoenn Weather Institute.
His stomach drops.
Unexplained storm appearing out of nowhere, the Weather Institute going silent, and the eye of the monster storm parked right on top of the region's foremost meteorological facility like a bullseye…
If this is anything like the games...
He looks up, and Ninetales is already watching him, her ruby eyes sharp.
'Aqua.' The thought comes from both at the same time.
Lee stands. "Zinnia, shut the TV off."
Something in his voice makes her hand move to the remote without argument.
"Everyone, quiet. Now."
Brendan's mouth, half-open to ask a question, snaps shut. Even Lokoko, who has been watching Lee with renewed interest since his expression changed, says nothing. The sharp words wake Shinx, Electrike, and Sliggoo, but the trio of babies don't let out a peep and merely watch pensively. The only sound is the howling wind outside and the rain hammering the glass.
Lee scrolls through his contacts, finds the one he's looking for and taps it. He raises the phone to his ear.
One ring. Two.
'C'mon, please pick up…' Lee prays. 'If the storm killed cell service here, I think I might scream.'
Click.
'Thank Arceus… Or Giratina.'
"Hello, Lee." Steven's voice is calm but alert, the tone of a man who wasn't sleeping despite the late hour. "I take it this isn't a social call?"
Lee's jaw tightens. "Champion Stone, we need to get boots on the ground at the Weather Institute." He glances at the window, where lightning splits the sky in a blinding fork. "Team Aqua is making a move."
The line is silent, then Steven sighs.
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
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By the time they come in to land on the outskirts of the town of Rubello, the sunset is obscured by the dark, rolling clouds of a coming storm, sending the town into an early night as people and pokemon alike scramble inside, not wanting to be caught in the rain.
With how diminutive the town is, the sight of a giant Corviknight, a Noivern, and a Latias coming in for a landing on the street outside their hotel for the night prompts a round of wide eyes from the people still out and about, but the onlookers are ignored as the trio of pokemon are recalled.
"Just in time." Lee smiles as they step into the hotel, the gradual plit-plat of fat raindrops marking their entrance.
Inside, the lobby is sparse. There's little more than the front desk and a breakfast nook that is currently empty. At said front desk, the woman behind it perks up and puts away the phone she was scrolling on when they approach.
"Hello. Lee Henson and party checking in," Lee greets.
"Of course! One moment!" She smiles back and types away at the computer behind her desk. Her smile falls as she reads something on the screen. "Oh, that was two double bed rooms you were renting for the night, correct?"
"Uh-huh." Lee nods, sharing a quick look with Zinnia and Brendan.
Behind them, Lokoko just watches the proceedings patiently.
"Ummm…" The front desk attendant looks up at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, sir. It looks like we overbooked our double-bed rooms. We do have a four-bed trainer suite available. We can give it to you with no upcharge as an apology."
'Huh. That's a bit of a bummer…' Lee looks once more at Zinnia and Brendan, then over his shoulder at Lokoko.
Honestly, sharing a room with Zinnia doesn't bother him. She's by far the (human) woman he's felt most comfortable around, and it's not like she'd hold a grudge if there were any slips caused by close quarters. If anything, she'd have a blast with the resulting red faces and jokes.
Lokoko, on the other hand…
Lee clears his throat. "Opinions, everyone?"
"I don't really care," Zinnia chimes with a shrug. "Shit, I don't know why we still do separate rooms when a group suite is cheaper on average."
Brendan wrinkles his nose. "I don't mind doing it once. No offence, Zinnia, but you're like a sister. Yeah, you're pretty… I guess, but I don't want to see all tha-ACK! Lemme go!"
The boy is cut off by a tanned arm taking him in a headlock.
"What do you mean 'pretty, I guess'!?" Zinnia demands, violently rubbing her knuckles across his hat-covered head. "You need to work on your manners, shrimp! That's not how you talk to a lady! You should be like 'Oh yeah that sounds awesome! I want to be around Big Sissy Zinnia all the time'!"
Brendan, flailing, seizes her wrist to stop the painful noogie. "Getoff! If I wanted to see a naked ape, I'd get a shaved Rillaboom!"
"You snotty little-!"
"Children, please, not right now," Lee sighs, reaching in and pulling both apart by their shoulders.
"Sorry about them." He gives Lokoko a sheepish smile. "Uh, this is a bit awkward. If you're not comfortable with the arrangement, Miss Lokoko, we can call around and see if there is another hotel with a room open, then either my Ninetales or Octillery can escort you there with a telekinetic umbrella to keep you dry," he finishes, glancing outside at the deluge.
As if to punctuate his statement, lightning flashes, and the low rumble of thunder rolls across the town.
Lokoko follows his eyes, taking in the downpour herself. "I believe that you and young Mister Birch will be proper gentlemen, Mister Henson. If you will have me, I will lodge with you for tonight. Besides," she returns her attention to him, a glint he can't place in her eye, "it will give us ample time to talk, you, your Ninetales, and I."
In her ball, Lee knows Nine is frowning.
Smiling back unsurely, Lee then turns back to the front desk attendant. "The trainer suite will work fine, thanks."
Once Lee's credit card is swiped and keys are handed out, the four of them make their way down the hall behind the front desk, where the hotel's trainer suites are located, to Room T4-1. Swiping his keycard and hearing the lock click, Lee pushes the door open and leads everyone inside.
Compared to their upscale accommodations in Petalburg, the room tonight is rather plain. Directly to the right of the front door is another door for the bathroom, and diagonal to that in an alcove on the other wall is a small kitchenette. Further in, the room opens up into a decent whack of floor space for larger pokemon and two sets of bunkbeds in the corners. On the wall is the expected cheap TV with a laminated channel list taped to it.
"Home sweet home," Zinnia jokes, pushing past. "Calling top bunk!" she says, scrambling up and tossing her bag on the flat pillow.
Lee and Brendan gravitate to the right bunk, while Lokoko and Zinnia take the left. Once settled in, then comes the spectacle of the night:
Dinner.
With his jacket shrugged off, Lee drops his backpack at his feet at the kitchenette with Brendan at his right. Eyeballing the stove space, Lee frowns lightly. "Four burners, but electric coil ones… Euh…" He grumbles a bit more, then unzips his backpack. "Brendan?"
Like he's done a hundred times before, the boy takes the lips of Lee's bag and opens them wide, letting Lee dip his arms in and pull out a full-sized stockpot without catching on anything.
Lokoko, who had been carefully laying out a lighter kimono for the morning, looks over when Lee sets the heavy pot down with a clang.
"What is Mister Henson preparing that requires such a large cooking vessel?" Lokoko asks, her eyes on the stockpot as Lee fills it with water and sets it on the largest burner. "It seems excessive for four people."
Lee laughs, reaching back into his bag. "Four?" He pulls out a wrapped bundle of red meat, then another, then a carton of eggs. "I'm cooking for everyone, Miss Lokoko. Pokemon included."
The pile of ingredients grows steadily on the limited counter space. Rice, beans, mushrooms, fresh vegetables, a whole raw chicken, a container of shellfish on ice, and more besides. Lokoko's eyebrow climbs higher with each addition, her composed mask slipping just a fraction as the modest kitchenette begins to resemble a restaurant prep station.
Lee clicks his tongue as he runs out of room, a packet of seasonings in hand with nowhere to put it. Before he can voice his frustration, Ninetales' ball pops open of its own accord, and the golden fox pads up to his side, her tails swaying behind her.
'Allow me, Beloved.'
A soft purple glow envelops the overflow of ingredients, lifting them into a neat hovering arrangement just above the counter. Ninetales settles on her haunches nearby, keeping one eye on her telekinetic juggling act and the other on Lee as he works.
"Thanks, love." Lee gives her a smile that she returns.
Then he gets to work.
The next twenty minutes blur into a rhythm of sizzling pans, bubbling pots, and the steady thunk-thunk-thunk of a knife on a cutting board. Lee moves through the cramped kitchen easily, barely needing to give it any mind at this point, preheating the burners, adjusting temps, tasting and adjusting seasoning with quick, economical movements. His focus narrows to the task at hand, the rest of the world fading to background noise.
'Never thought I'd learn to like cooking,' he muses with just Ninetales to hear. 'I wasn't any good at it before.'
'Bachelor life is hardly conducive to developing culinary skills,' Ninetales says back, gently lifting the cleaver from his hand and replacing it with a spatula.
'I'm still a bachelor, Nine.'
'A technicality if there ever was one.'
At his right, Brendan works as his sous chef, having fallen into the role so many times that he no longer needs direction. The boy dices vegetables with great technique, slices a Sitrus berry paper-thin for each dish and answers Lee's occasional questions without breaking stride.
"How's Swampert feeling after yesterday? He push himself too hard in that fight with that Mightyena?"
"Nah, he's good," Brendan replies, scraping his diced onions into a waiting bowl. "Ate like a Snorlax this morning, so I figure he's recovering fine. Maybe up his protein a bit?"
"Got it. Latias?"
"Umm…" Brendan pauses and thinks. "She's grown a little, so maybe more of that fish sauce for extra omega-3s?"
Lee nods, then looks over his shoulder. "Miss Lokoko, Zinnia, what were you two thinking for dinner?"
"Anything you make is good, Dolittle," Zinnia says, kicking her feet from the top bunk as she watches the barely-controlled chaos.
Lokoko, however, seems surprised by the question. "Well…" Her eyes fall to the pan where the meat portion of Ninetales' meal is being seared, and she licks her lips. "Perhaps… Perhaps I could have a meal matching your Ninetales'?" She holds for a beat. "J-Just to investigate the quality of the food you feed her, as you understand."
"Sure thing." Lee nods back, then returns his attention to the stove. "I understand where you're coming from. I don't feed my pokemon anything I wouldn't eat, so I think you'll enjoy it."
The room grows more cramped as the minutes tick by. One by one, pokeballs pop open of their own accord as dinner approaches, the pokemon within roused by the smells wafting through the air. Swampert has to duck to avoid scraping his head on the ceiling, and he crowds the kitchenette alongside Breloom and Tyrunt, all three craning their necks to watch the proceedings with undisguised anticipation.
Lee has to push away Swampert's blue bulk to check on the meat sizzling in the largest pan, but he doesn't complain. Pokemon gathering for dinner is just part of the routine at this point.
Finally, with the cooking winding down, Lee begins plating, his eyes running over each dish with a critical eye.
Ninetales' bowl is largely unchanged from its earliest form, just scaled up with a few variations to keep things interesting. Tonight, it's fatty cuts of red meat, seared rare, mixed with boiled eggs, wild rice for carbs, and freshly diced vegetables for balance. A proper omnivore's spread fit for a queen, if Lee does say so himself.
'Queen?' Nine catches his thought with a small smirk. 'Well, you said it, not me.'
'Hush, you,' he sends back, moving on.
Sceptile used to be tricky to cook for, his palate finicky in ways Lee struggled to pin down. Not anymore. The gecko gets a hearty portion of mushrooms and protein-rich beans over rice, topped with a colorful vegetable medley and drizzled with a sticky, aromatic spiced sauce for flavor.
Corviknight is easy. His menu mirrors Ninetales', just with a portion size that would make a sumo wrestler balk and a heavy dose of iron supplements mixed into the meat. The king-sized raven needs the extra fuel to keep his armored body in peak condition.
Shinx's bowl gives Lee pause, and he has to push down the pang of melancholy that rises in his chest. She's been eating more lately, her appetite steadily climbing in a way he recognizes all too well. Evolution is cresting the horizon for his baby girl, whether he's ready for her to grow up or not. Shaking off the thought, he inspects her plate: a pair of juicy chicken breasts, rubbed down with savory seasonings and glazed with honey to mask the Sitrus flavor she's never liked.
Octillery's meal is the simplest of the lot. Fresh shellfish, served raw and glistening, with a small dish of cocktail sauce on the side. The octopus has developed a taste for the acidic tang, apparently, which Lee supposes makes a certain amount of sense for a sea creature.
Finally, Sylveon's plate. Lee winces just looking at it.
A double-fried country steak, slathered in thick, fatty gravy, with a little frosted cupcake perched beside it for dessert. The whole thing looks like a heart attack waiting to happen, the sort of carnival fare that would make a cardiologist weep. Yet no matter what gut-busting, artery-clogging meal Lee serves her, Sylveon practically glows afterward, her vitals showing no sign of elevated cholesterol or any other ill effect.
Fairy-types and their eating habits still make absolutely no sense to him, even after seeing the phenomenon in action dozens of times.
"Okay, back up!" Lee shoos away the pokemon hovering nearby, making Swampert and Breloom give him room, but Tyrunt just bares his teeth with a growl.
Lee stares down, meeting the dino right in the eye. "Don't play that game with me-"
Beside him, Ninetales feigns a yawn, showing off white fangs with little flames licking the corners of her mouth.
"-because mine's bigger."
Tyrunt snarls, but takes a few steps back.
Smiling, Lee looks to his fox. "Love?"
The first wave of plates go out, hovering in outlines of psychic purple, then a second wave, and finally a third. Before long, every bit of noise in the room is eschewed for the sound of eager mouths munching on dinner.
Sitting with his legs crossed against the bed he's claimed for the night, Lee watches his pokemon dig into their meals with a smile, slowly lifting a fork of his own food. Popping the morsel into his mouth, he chews at a slow pace, letting his tongue get acquainted with all the flavors. 'Hmm… Maybe a little less salt next time. How is yours, Nine?'
Beside him, Nine raises her head from her bowl, licking up a stray rice grain on her lips. 'Fantastic. The cuts of beef have just the right amount of char. Did you do something to the rice? It soaked up the excess juices.'
'Just let it stand for a few minutes before serving is all,' he sends back, looking up to Lokoko.
The woman stares at the bowl in her hands, filled with the same food served to Ninetales minus any sitrus, with what looks like trepidation. She doesn't seem to notice them watching her sidelong, or if she does, she says nothing. Finally, the dark-haired woman lifts her fork, inspects the rice, peas, and carrots atop some beef, then takes a bite.
Lokoko's eyes shoot open wide in the most bold-faced expression yet seen on her as she works her jaw. Swallowing, she gives her food a look of distaste, and Lee wonders what he did wrong.
Then she takes another bite, and another, moving a little too eagerly to be proper despite what her face says.
"Is your food alright, Miss Lokoko?" Lee finally asks, breaking the silence.
More than a few heads lift from their meals, eyes looking towards the woman.
Lokoko freezes in place, then sniffs and continues slower. "You feed your Ninetales such every day?"
"Every day," Lee confirms. "I don't trust premade, mass-produced pokemon food."
She considers his words, then turns her gaze to the window, where the streaming rain has turned the outside world into a wobbly smear. "This is… Good. I can find no fault."
Sitting cross-legged over her own plate just a few feet away, Zinnia lets out an unladylike snort.
The clatter of utensils fades as bowls are scraped clean and plates are licked spotless. A comfortable lethargy settles over the room, the kind that only comes from a warm meal on a stormy night. Outside, rain continues to drum against the windows, punctuated by the occasional rumble of distant thunder.
One by one, the pokemon begin to drowse. Sceptile is first to go, giving Lee a thankful nod before vanishing into his ball with a flash of red. Corviknight follows, then Octillery, then Sylveon, each succumbing to the pull of a full stomach and a warm, dry place to sleep.
Brendan hasn't moved from his spot on the floor, his back against the lower bunk. Latias is curled against his side, her eyes half-lidded and content, while Electrike has claimed Brendan's lap with his large head, the canine's nose twitching as he dreams. Against Electrike, both Shinx and Sliggoo lie, using the largest of their trio as a pillow.
Brendan strokes Electrike's fur absently, then looks up at Lokoko, who sits primly on the edge of the bottom bunk across from him.
"Hey, Miss Lokoko?" Brendan asks, breaking the comfortable quiet. "What made you want to become a Ninetales expert? Like, was there a specific moment, or...?"
Lee's attention sharpens, and he feels Nine do the same from where she's sprawled beside him, her head resting on his thigh. The question has been lurking in the back of his mind since Petalburg, and he's grateful Brendan asked it so he didn't have to.
Lokoko doesn't answer right away. Her hands, folded in her lap, tighten almost imperceptibly, and her gaze drifts to the rain-streaked window.
"I knew a Ninetales once," she says finally, her voice softer than Lee has heard it. "A long time ago. She bonded deeply to her master, so deeply that their souls became intertwined in a way few could comprehend."
Lee's heart gives a strange lurch. Beside him, Ninetales has gone very still.
"And when he vanished one day..." Lokoko trails off, her composure cracking for just a moment. A shudder runs through her, too deep and too raw to be anything but genuine. "She... I..."
She catches herself, smoothing her expression back into something more controlled, but the damage is done. Lee can see the old wound beneath the mask, still bleeding after all this time.
"I understand what it is like," Lokoko continues, her voice steadier now, "to have the foundation of one's life ripped up by the roots. And I know it is worse for creatures of such profound emotion. Pokemon like Ninetales feel more deeply than most humans can fathom. When that bond is severed..." She shakes her head slowly. "I have made it my mission to ensure no one else must experience such a thing."
Her eyes find Lee and Ninetales, and the implication hangs in the air like smoke.
"If you're implying what I think you are," Zinnia cuts in, her voice sharp enough to draw blood, "then you're wasting your worry."
Lokoko's jaw tightens, a flash of something hard passing through her eyes, but she doesn't look away from Lee and Nine. The stare lingers for a long, uncomfortable moment.
'Beloved...' Ninetales' mental voice is cautious, her hackles not quite raised but close.
'I know,' Lee sends back, his own discomfort a mirror of hers. 'Just... let it be for now.'
The silence stretches, thick and heavy. Even the rain outside seems muted.
Finally, Lokoko pulls her gaze away. She lets out a small breath and when she speaks again, her tone is lighter.
"Forgive me. I did not mean to make things so somber." She smooths an invisible wrinkle from her kimono. "Perhaps you would care to hear of a lighter subject? In my travels, I met a curious theatre actor, from whom I've learned methods of infusing perfumes into fur. It works quite well for other pokemon as well."
"Oh? That might be up Lee's alley." Brendan throws a grin over his shoulder. "Didn't you want to enter a pokemon contest with Ninetales?"
"I did," Lee admits. "Her kimono is just collecting dust, so I want to enter one eventually."
Lokoko visibly perks up and Lee swears he sees her dark eyes twinkle red. "Finery, for your pokemon? Mister Henson, I must see!"
The tension in the room eases as the subject shifts to safer ground. Lokoko's enthusiasm for pokemon finery proves genuine, and before long she's produced several folded garments from her Silph purse, each one in traditional Kanto style with flowing fabric and delicate embroidery.
"This pattern dates back to the Tokugawa period," Lokoko explains, holding up a deep blue haori jacket sized for a quadruped. Silver thread traces the shapes of cresting waves along the hem. "It does not complement, but rather contrasts a natural Ninetales coat, a tradition that started in what would eventually become Goldenrod City. You see, the lords of the Golden Coast…"
Ninetales, for her part, tolerates the impromptu fashion show with the patience of a saint, likely aided by all the interesting history Lokoko is too happy to share. She steps into the middle of the room and allows Lokoko to drape fabric over her back, to fuss with the fit around her shoulders, and to make thoughtful noises about color theory and seasonal appropriateness. Lee watches from his spot on the bed, quietly amused by the sight of his proud fox being treated like a life-sized dress-up doll.
After the fourth outfit, however, Nine's patience reaches its limit, and she slips away before more silken robes can be pulled from Lokoko's space-bending purse.
"Enough! I tire of being a mannequin," she grumbles out loud, padding back to Lee's side and nosing into his backpack.
'You lasted longer than I expected,' Lee sends back, hiding his smile behind his hand.
Ninetales withdraws her calligraphy set with a pointed huff, the wooden box and rolled paper floating in a gentle telekinetic grip. She settles on the floor beside the bed, arranging her materials with practiced ease. Once her inkwell is carefully uncorked, she dips her brush and begins her nightly practice.
Lokoko's eyes light up anew. "Oh, how wonderful! She practices the old arts as well?" The woman rises from her seat, moving closer to watch the careful strokes taking shape on the paper. "Tell me, has she begun to properly learn the language yet? The classical forms, I mean. So few take an interest these days."
"I am learning," Ninetales answers aloud, not looking up from her work. "Lee has been helping me study."
Helping. Ha! Nine's grasp of her ancestral tongue is all her own, and yet another curious example of a pokemon's ancestral memory. Giratina claims to have formed her from mere data out of a video game, but her steel-trap mind and her heart of gold, true as any other Ninetales, couldn't be more real.
Ninetales catches his thoughts, and Lee notices the tips of her ears going pink.
"Marvelous." Lokoko smiles as she watches. "Your brushwork shows real promise, if I may say."
Lee blinks, a thread of surprise worming through him. Lokoko responded to Nine's vocalization without hesitation, without even a flicker of confusion at the vulpine speech patterns that most humans find impenetrable.
'She understood you,' he sends to Nine. 'Perfectly. Without any context clues.'
'I noticed.' Nine's mental voice carries a note of wariness. 'Most humans require months of exposure before they can parse our speech with any reliability. Even a quick study such as Brendan still struggles with most of my words. Prior experience speaking to one of my kind, perhaps?'
'I would have to assume so,' Lee replies, scratching his chin in thought.
Lee studies Lokoko's profile as she watches Ninetales work, that nagging sense of familiarity scratching at the back of his mind again. The way she carries herself, the depth of her knowledge, the almost instinctive understanding of vulpine behavior and speech...
'I feel like I should know her from somewhere,' he muses. 'Was she in the anime? The games? Some side character I'm forgetting?'
The thought slips away before he can chase it down, lost in the flow of conversation as the evening wears on.
True to her title, Lokoko proves to be a font of knowledge. The subjects flit from grooming techniques to regional mythology to the finer points of fire-type metabolism, and on each topic, she speaks with the assured authority of someone who has spent decades in study. Lee finds himself taking mental notes more than once, filing away tidbits about fur maintenance and dietary supplements that he'd never encountered in his own research.
Outside, the storm has grown teeth.
What started as a steady rain has become a howling gale, wind shrieking around the corners of the hotel and driving sheets of water against the windows hard enough to rattle the frames. Lightning strobes across the sky in rapid succession, close enough that the thunder follows almost instantly, shaking the walls. The lights flicker once, twice, then hold steady, though the TV cuts to static for a brief moment before Zinnia smacks the side of it.
Lokoko turns toward the window, watching the tempest rage beyond the glass. "Are storms of this magnitude common in Hoenn?" she asks, a note of genuine curiosity in her voice. "This seems rather... intense."
Zinnia, who migrated to the small couch an hour ago to watch some reality show about pokemon breeders, glances up from the screen. "Eh, Hoenn usually gets some nasty ones come autumn. Cool air from the north mixing with the warm ocean currents and all that." She frowns, tilting her head as another gust makes the building groan. "It is kinda weird that it's this bad this far inland, though. We're not exactly on the coast."
With a discontented hum, Lee pulls out his phone, thumbing to the weather app. Without wifi, Rubella's cell signal is sluggish and the loading icon spins for what feels like an eternity. He watches the little circle turn, a frown slowly creeping onto his face.
The forecast had called for rain over Rubello before they left Petalburg, though nothing severe. And unlike the Earth where he was born, where meteorology was as much guesswork as science, this Earth has pokemon-assisted weather tracking down to a fine art. Wildly advanced sensory tech combined with good old reliable ad-hoc methods, like watching pressure-sensitive Psyduck or flying-type migrations, means institutes staffed by experts can put out forecasts with actual ninety-nine percent accuracy.
The forecast had called for showers with scattered lightning, not a storm.
The page finally loads and an ice-cold lump forms in Lee's stomach.
The weather map shows a massive, swirling supercell dominating the northeastern quadrant of the region, its spiral arms reaching out like grasping fingers. The coloration is an angry red at the center, fading to orange and yellow at the edges and even as he watches, the system pulses, growing more intense. Sidebar headlines scroll past in rapid succession:
RESIDENTS ADVISED TO SHELTER IN PLACE
UNPRECEDENTED STORM SYSTEM BAFFLES EXPERTS
HOENN WEATHER INSTITUTE UNRESPONSIVE TO INQUIRIES
Lee stares at that last one, then looks back at the map. His eyes trace the spiral inward, toward the center, toward the eye of the storm where the rotation is tightest.
The eye sits directly over the Hoenn Weather Institute.
His stomach drops.
Unexplained storm appearing out of nowhere, the Weather Institute going silent, and the eye of the monster storm parked right on top of the region's foremost meteorological facility like a bullseye…
If this is anything like the games...
He looks up, and Ninetales is already watching him, her ruby eyes sharp.
'Aqua.' The thought comes from both at the same time.
Lee stands. "Zinnia, shut the TV off."
Something in his voice makes her hand move to the remote without argument.
"Everyone, quiet. Now."
Brendan's mouth, half-open to ask a question, snaps shut. Even Lokoko, who has been watching Lee with renewed interest since his expression changed, says nothing. The sharp words wake Shinx, Electrike, and Sliggoo, but the trio of babies don't let out a peep and merely watch pensively. The only sound is the howling wind outside and the rain hammering the glass.
Lee scrolls through his contacts, finds the one he's looking for and taps it. He raises the phone to his ear.
One ring. Two.
'C'mon, please pick up…' Lee prays. 'If the storm killed cell service here, I think I might scream.'
Click.
'Thank Arceus… Or Giratina.'
"Hello, Lee." Steven's voice is calm but alert, the tone of a man who wasn't sleeping despite the late hour. "I take it this isn't a social call?"
Lee's jaw tightens. "Champion Stone, we need to get boots on the ground at the Weather Institute." He glances at the window, where lightning splits the sky in a blinding fork. "Team Aqua is making a move."
The line is silent, then Steven sighs.
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
Below are the names of some patrons who got to view this chapter early and felt like signing it. A huge thanks to them and everyone else who supports this story and everything else I write.
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hotkinkajou
Shanghaied in Shanghai on a junk full of junk
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When the gang finally realize what kind of hot woman Lokoko really is, they should keep their mouths shut and instead try to bait her into revealing herself.
Say, let her witness a slow and oddly sensual
Ninetales brushing, and then, when she gets distracted, ask her what kind or brush she prefers.
NooneImportant
Know what you're doing yet? Because I don't!
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TFTC
*"Open Your Heart - Crush 40" intensifies*
*"Open Your Heart - Crush 40" intensifies*
Freeze046
Know what you're doing yet?
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Problem is that Aqua is looking to awaken something far worse than Perfect Chaos in this instance.
Kitty S. Lillian
Transhuman
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Was good to re-read this.
Corrections offered without malice.
Psst, you seem to have forgotten to do that.
Take your own advice, Lee, and don't take the name in vain, perhaps?
weird way to put that.
Lokoko is making moves, I see.
Corrections offered without malice.
peeking, unless it's noon. (Given ||Giratina|| pointing out noontime coming, later, it's not noon.)
that doesn't play second fiddle, don't you mean? Or are you using the idiom more literally in that it's still second-best [and thus above all other moves save Frenzy PLant itself]?
It's just their legends. Urban legends are by definition false.
testpilot24
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Nine and Lee already looks as old married pair. Just mate already. I do not care what people on SB thinks.