Disclaimer: All humans depicted having sex are over the age of consent. This story is centered around the story from Pokemon Fire Red, using the mechanics of Pokegirls. Sex with anthropomorphic monstergirls.
I suppose it needs stating that I don't own Pokemon, nor do I own the concept of Pokegirls.
Also, big thanks to DickMarks for beta-read and editing. Go read his stuff, it's pretty darn good.
******
"I yield."
Misty looked at me consideringly. "I see two more Pokeballs on your belt, Tamer," she observed.
I shook my head. "I'm not subjecting my others to this. Better to yield now." While the balls had a safety function to retrieve their occupants should they become too injured to continue fighting, it wasn't perfect. There was an entire tower in Lavender Town filled with the graves of Tamed Pokemon that had died in battle. No way was I going to chance that Water Pulse killing Pebbles or Blaze.
I gazed over the pool, the still water somewhat comforting. "You know, I thought for a little bit there that I'd get further than Cerulean City."
Misty cocked her head at me. "So go train your Pokemon to higher strength levels, and come try again," she advised.
I looked at her like she was crazy. "By then your Pokeboys will be that much stronger, too. I don't see it turning out any differently."
Misty laughed, genuinely amused. She recalled her Starmie back into his ball and hopped down from the diving block. "These aren't my Pokemon, Tamer. These are the Gym's."
"Travis, my name is Travis," I insisted. "What am I not understanding here?"
"League rules state that the Cerulean Gym will field a level eighteen Staryu and a level twenty-one Starmie. The League really has to teach you new Tamers how this all works. The point of needing to battle here isn't for me to crush everyone who comes along, it's actually a check on your team's strength. If you can beat these two boys, you shouldn't fall before you get to the next Gym."
That odd question I'd had circling my mind ever since the Pewter City Gym was finally put to rest. I'd wondered why Brock had only two relatively weak Pokemon. I'd also wondered why he wasn't upset over losing to me. In fact, his inscrutable face actually showed a hint of being pleased that I'd won.
Now it made sense. Of course he was happy I'd won. It meant that I could continue on the journey. Of course all he had to fight with were a weak Geodame and Onix, the Pokemon League decreed it to be so.
Blaze's previous Tamer... There was no way he'd gotten past Brock with only a single Charmander. Even if she was level thirteen at that point, which I doubted, it just wasn't doable. Without earning the Boulder Badge, he went through to Mt. Moon anyway, and perished. The purpose of the League Gyms as a strength check made a lot of sense.
Too bad no one told any of us. Especially that poor, decayed Tamer in the depths of Mt. Moon.
There was only one problem now. "I can't get back into Mt. Moon to train my team. Any suggestions?"
She smiled brightly at me, and stretched her arms over her head in a really distracting way. "North. Follow the path north, then east, and you'll find Central Storage. You should go there anyway, and set up a storage account. There's wild Pokemon between here and there, and... two Pidgeys, one stone, ya know?"
I perked up. All was not lost. I now had a plan, and I had as many chances as I needed to get this badge. "Thank you so much, Misty. Really."
I turned to leave, when I happened to glance down at Bubbles's ball on the front of my belt. Turning back to the Cerulean Gym Leader, I sheepishly asked, "Do you think it would be alright if I let Bubbles play in the pool for a little bit after I get her healed again?"
She blinked, and looked at me closer, like she was finally seeing me as something other than a faceless Tamer. "You named your Pokegirls, and you want to let one...
play...
in this pool?"
I cringed a little. I wasn't really ashamed about how much affection I held towards my team, but that didn't mean that I wanted to bear the ridicule from other Tamers over it, either. "Yeah, I mean, if that's okay? If that's no good it's not a big deal or anything."
Misty nodded consideringly, still looking at me with that odd expression. "Yeah, you can let your Wartortle play in the water, as long as she's far away from where I or my assistants are battling. You said your name was Travis, right? Staying at the Center here in town?"
"Uh, Yeah?"
Misty nodded. "Good luck, Tamer," she dismissed me politely.
I wandered back to the Pokecenter, healing my team up, then heading straight to my room to double check that both Bubbles and Sparky still lived. I held the both of them long enough that even
they
became concerned.
After that, I went directly back to the Gym, Bubbles at my side. We walked along the wall to the left of the entrance, and I sat myself down in the corner. "Go ahead, Bubbles. Stay away from the others, but you can play."
My Wartortle's face lit up with such joy that it actually made my eyes water a little. Which no one noticed, as Bubbles jumped into the water with a splash large enough that she soaked me from head to toe.
I blinked the cool water out of my eyes, shocked, and then started laughing despite my mood. By the time I'd gotten control of myself, nearly everyone in the Gym was staring.
Tuning them out, I focused on Bubbles and tried very hard to not slip into a brood over my failure.
I was willing to bet Gary and his Bulbasaur waltzed right through this Gym. It was hard to not measure myself against him. Not only had we started at the same time, but he kept challenging me to battles. I was worried that he'd get so far ahead of me now that the next time he jumped out of nowhere his Pokegirls would crush my team. I'd lucked out in our first battle by virtue of Gary trying to be fancy, and lucked out in the second by paralyzing his Bulbasaur. I couldn't count on luck to win a third time.
Even with those worries of falling behind plaguing me, I really thought I needed a day to take a break. Just to take some time, find my center again. Well, to tell the truth, my Pokegirls would likely rather be fighting whatever feral Pokemon we'd find to the north than taking a day off. Even as happy as Bubbles was, motoring around beneath the surface of the pool, she'd enjoy battling even more.
I wasn't wired that way. I needed a day off. Just one.
******
I barely refrained from pressing my face against the large glass window of the bike shop and drooling like I was still eight years old.
Hundreds of years ago, people used to have vehicles called auto... something-or-others. They moved around by exploding a liquid inside of them, if you can believe that! Loud as you can imagine, they attracted every feral Pokemon for miles around, and their use was abandoned.
What we had nowadays were bicycles. Quiet, innocuous bicycles. Using an ingenious combination of auto-gearing and the same size-reduction tech found in Pokeballs, they could collapse down into a capsule even smaller than a Pokedex. Accordingly, they were so very expensive that only the richest could afford one. The one I had my eye on had a price tag of one million credits.
A million! I had a little over four-hundred credits to my name at the moment.
Glancing over, Sparky looked bored out of her mind. Bored enough that her ever-present cheerful attitude was beginning to fade.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry I made you stand here while I dreamed the impossible dream. Let's go get lunch," I suggested.
Walking up to the reception desk at the Center, I made to order us all something to eat. I didn't get that far.
"Travis of Pallet?" the attendant confirmed my identity. "A transmission from the League came in concerning you. You are to contact them at the earliest convenience."
I blew out a calming breath and walked over to the video conference station she'd pointed at. Settling into the chair, I plugged my Pokedex into the terminal and sent the vid-link request.
I glanced at Sparky, and briefly thought about pulling her down onto my lap for some moral support. Eventually deciding against it, I instead ran my hand down her narrow back slowly and repeatedly, more-or-less petting her and making her purr and shiver a little.
I waited for only a few minutes before the terminal screen flashed, and the image of a woman was looking back at me.
She was ancient, white-haired and wrinkled, and absolutely spooky looking. "Greetings, Travis of Pallet. My name is Agatha of the Elite Four."
I was suddenly very glad I didn't set my Pikachu in my lap. The Elite Four were in charge of the Pokemon League for the entire Kanto region, the de facto ruling body. Meeting one of them, even over a vid-link, with my Pokegirl on my lap would have been mortifying.
"Uh, hi. It's nice to meet you?" I tried.
She smiled slightly, which actually made her look even creepier. "You discovered two fallen Tamers. I'd like you to tell me about it."
I blew out a steadying breath. "Okay. Um, it was in Mt. Moon. The northwest corner of the first level, there's a ladder down to a tunnel, and at the other end of the tunnel is another ladder down. Both the bodies are in the room there."
"From what I could gather, one Tamer died down there, and he only had a Charmander. That Pokegirl was released when her ball ran out of power, and she survived. She's the one who killed the other Tamer. Uh, she was level thirteen when I came across her."
Agatha looked up from where she was taking notes. "Why do you think this Charmander killed the second Tamer?"
"His... The body was covered in burns, and as far as I know there aren't any Fire-Types native to Mt. Moon."
She nodded. "The threat has been neutralized?"
"Yeah. I mean, yes ma'am. I, uh, captured her?"
"Good work, Travis of Pallet. Well done indeed. Time of death on both of the Pokedexs place you far away when they died, in fact you haven't even been Taming for as long as it's been since the first had fallen. There is no suspicion towards you, so don't concern yourself about that."
I broke out in a cold sweat. The thought hadn't even occurred to me until just then, that I could be suspected in the deaths of any fallen Tamers I had found.