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The buizel first strode up to me when I was shoulder-deep in an aguav berry bush, straining to find any berry I might have missed. I hadn't wanted to travel all the way across the valley to the other bush, even though it probably had more berries. So instead my arm got scraped up as I fumbled around the tightly woven branches and twigs for a few shriveled remnants that neither deerling nor taillow had already plucked.

The buizel looked at me like I was chasing my own leafy tail. After a moment, it asked, "Are you Kirill? Are you the sceptile who owns this territory?" Its voice was distinctly female.

There it was! I closed my fingers around a stem, my eyes narrowed in concentration as I followed it down to a shriveled, browning aguav berry. But it was an aguav berry nonetheless. I twisted it from the stem and pulled it from the bush with a long sigh.

"Hello?"

Oh, right, the buizel. "Nope, never heard of the guy," I lied as I took a slow bite of the end of the berry. The bitter and tangy flavor of it flooded my taste buds, sending me to cloud nine. Damn these things were good. There was a slight aftertaste as the main flavor profiles faded, but by this time in late summer there were very few left at all, so I had to take what I could get.

The buizel gave me another look, half a scowl and half disgust as I wiped some of the juices off my chin. "Alright then," she said, turning around to leave.

"I was joking, buizel. Yeah, it's my territory. I'm Kirill."

This time her eyes were more appraising, but clearly didn't like what they saw. She said, "I was told that Kirill was one of the toughest fighters on this side of the Popili River, and that he even sent magmortars raiding from Mount Ire running back up the slopes whimpering like kits. I must have heard wrong."

I slowly grinned. That story had been exaggerated, but yeah, I'd taken down a few magmortar back in my day. However, that had been many years ago, back when I was still trying to carve out a name for myself. "That's right, I--"

"Now all I see is a lazy, chubby sceptile with berry drool running down his chin who probably couldn't hit a pidgey."

That was uncalled for. I growled. Not wanting to waste my aguav berry though, I popped the rest of it in my muzzle as the buizel folded her arms and stared at me expectantly. Who did she think she was talking to me like that? In my own territory too! "You've got an arbok's tongue."

"Yeah?" She asked. She puffed her chest up and stepped forward. "You going to do something about it, or are you scared of a buizel you've got type advantage over?"

It surprised me that my withering look didn't drop her dead on the spot. I had even scared myself with it once or twice when practicing on my reflection in puddles. I was sure I'd gotten it down. Who did she think she was, anyway? What did she think would come of goading me on like this?

And then I realized. Oh. She wanted to fight me. She was just being clever about it unlike most other pokemon I sent off. Of course, I'd done the exact same thing back years ago before I'd taken my territory. But nowadays I didn't have the energy for this. And I certainly I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of goading me into it.

"And what would I get out of that, buizel? Come on, I really don't want to fight. Please leave me alone," I said. I worried that she wouldn't take me seriously asking like that, and that I'd end up having to show off how atrophied my skills were in a fight, anyway. So, I put on a tough face and growled, "I don't go chucking leaves at every asshole ratatta with an attitude I find in my territory. You clearly want to fight. Arceus only knows why. But I'm not seeing any benefit to me other than the satisfying image of your ugly orange propeller tail beaten into the ground. But that's not enough."

She glowered at me. Then, she sighed, turned her tail and walked away.

I thought she was gone for good, and I got to relax. Out the door went another reminder of how pathetic I'd grown. Now, I could guiltily stuff myself with berries in peace. But, as soon as I was shoulder deep in the bush grasping for an aguav berry again, I heard the buizel's shuffling footsteps behind me. I withdrew my arm, turned, and gave her the most annoyed look I could manage.

She lugged a burlap sack behind her. After a long moment of hesitation where she stared at the thing, she opened it and dug five Rindo berries out. She hesitated, staring at the things, before finally saying in a quiet voice, "I brought these for me, but you fight me, you win, I'll give you them."

I was struck by the frank honesty she was showing. But then I hardened my expression and snorted. Rindos would have reduced the effectiveness of my grass attacks against her. "Wanted to get a leg up, huh buizel? I've got to admit, that's some good planning. I brought occa berries of my own when I took down that magmortar near Mount Ire."

"Stop calling me buizel," she hissed. "My name's Anja. Now, are you going to fight me or not?"

I hesitated. Her eyes were on my feet, not meeting my own. Her muzzle stretched thin, lips pursed. Fuck, I really didn't want to have to fight, though.

I scowled. My excuses were wearing thin and Anja spoke to memories of myself. "Sure, buizel. I don't get rindos around here often. They'd be a nice treat," I said. She cringed at my words. They had clearly taken some effort to procure given her protectiveness over them. However, she recovered after a moment and returned to her stoic glare.

She stepped forward and set her legs into the ground, ready to dash if I tried something. Her chest rose and fell with quick breaths, betraying her hard look with the nervousness that she must have felt.

I was ready to end the fight right out of the gate. There wasn't a point in drawing it out. If I beat the shit out of her quickly, I could take the berries and she would leave. It was simple and straightforward and the most direct way to get back to my life.

My feet thudded on the ground as I burst into action, charging her head on. Vibrant green energy buzzed across my arm as I readied my leaf blade. I kept my eyes on her feet, watching for which direction she'd dodge in so that I could correct my course.

When she dodged right, I dashed immediately towards where she was headed, slicing the powerful energy in my arm towards the spot I predicted she'd end up. I realized after a split second, though, that I had corrected myself too fast. Her movement was a feint, and she had dodged the other direction.

My foot stung with an unexpected burst of pain. I yanked it away and whipped around to see the buizel standing in front of the aguav berry bush with a shimmering white beam bursting from her muzzle that frosted even the air around it.

Despite the still searing pain in my leg, my quick attack still gave me the bursts of incredible speed that I needed to yank myself from the path of her attack, and then to keep away from it as she angled her head to swing the beam of painful cold back towards me. I dove forward underneath that shimmering icy ray as it arced right where I had been the moment before, and my quick attack closed the distance between us in a heartbeat.

My claws dug into the orange fur on her thigh and ripped three ugly gashes along her skin. They weren't deep, and not quite as bad as my throbbing, painful leg, but I hoped they would bring us back to even ground. She hissed and darted away, and I immediately dodged back as well to keep my eyes on her.

I was surprised to realize that I needed strategy to fight her. There was no brute forcing this. She wasn't some pokemon deciding on a whim that they wanted to learn to fight and then seeking out the biggest, baddest pokemon around. She had serious skill--I hated to admit it, but she was close to my level.

We stood facing off against each other for a long, tense moment, both of us staring intently at each other's centers of gravity, waiting for the slightest twitch that would betray which direction we were going to move in for our next attack.

Then, I made my move. Anja shifted her weight off her injured right foot, and so I came in from her left, forcing her to dart away with that foot leading. She predictably stumbled. That was my chance. My arm lit up with glowing green and the distance between us closed in seconds.

When the energy sliced into her back, she didn't cry out, she just grunted and lurched forward. A grisly patch of skin on her back bruised purple before my eyes. My leaf blade didn't cut deep, but it applied a great deal of force, especially against a water type like her.

Besides, I didn't want to seriously injure her. I wanted her to learn her lesson and go away, leaving me in peace. I figured I had done that. But I wanted to be sure. I hated this reminder of who I used to be--who I wasn't anymore. I stepped up to her and shoved her down onto her back. Her eyes were wide and her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She breathed heavily. I hated myself for doing that. But I hated how she had made me feel more.

"You should give up, buizel." I said. "You really didn't have any chance against me. It's not worth the pain. You're a weak, small pokemon, not even evolved. How did you think you could beat me? Take it easy and live with what you have. Go back to wherever you came from and don't bother me anymore."'

Her sharp eyes narrowed towards me. There was a flash of anger there, but then something that hurt even more to see--hopelessness. I had wanted her to feel that, to feel how I felt every day. But damn if it didn't tear into me.

She lazily scooped her twin tails up in a paw and idly fiddled with the tips. I recognized her look. It's the one I had when an upstart monferno claimed a piece of my land for herself all the way across the valley. I confronted her, furious. She dared me to fight her. But I hadn't fought anything in too long, and I was afraid of what weaknesses I'd show if I even tried. So I growled and told her I was generous in allowing her to remain nearby.

She eventually moved on to bigger conquests to the west. But I stayed haunted by that moment. Could I have fought her? I was so afraid of what losing would mean for me. I didn't want to take any risk. And I was scared that even training myself to try and fight her would end up with me humiliated and her taking everything from me. My land shrunk farther after the incident with the monferno. I blustered and made noise, but I let it happen.

Anja looked like I did when I got home, shoved a pile of berries in my muzzle, and realized how pathetic I was.

After a long sigh, I left towards one of my winter berry stores and returned with a sitrus berry. By that time, Anja had propped herself up against a tree and was nursing her injuries. I tossed the berry onto her lap and then turned and left. She didn't say anything to stop me.

***

The next morning, I woke up and went to go garden. The encounter with the buizel had pumped me up with motivation, and I was filled with the confidence that yes, I could do everything I wanted to.

My garden was only a half hour's walk away from my den, where it was scarily close to the territory of a no-nonsense persian. I thought I could take the guy. He didn't seem particularly impressive of a fighter. But I hadn't fought for any territory in so long and what if I lost? Luckily, the persian seemed content not to encroach on my garden.

First, I rounded the ring of watmel berry trees that enclosed my garden, leaning down next to any that seemed particularly scrawny so that I could burst one of the seed-pods on my back and release the tree-revitalizing nectar inside.

There was a nice feeling that came with releasing the seedpods onto the trees. A relaxation like I'd just scratched a really hard to reach itch. Plus, the fact that I was growing trees successfully brought with it its own satisfaction.

However, when I finished with the trees, I looked into the small garden inside the ring. It was a neglected thing, with exposed soil patches haphazard around the interior and not all of them planted in. Of course, by now it was too late in the year for more planting, and that bothered me a lot. I'd put it off so long that I wouldn't be able to fix it.

Of course, I had planted a few flowers and herbs in those patches. I had a full bed of wildflowers that I'd finished on a day when I felt as motivated as today. Other plants sat lonely in groups of two or three that I had planned to be more.

The garden was depressing, and made me disappointed in myself. I looked down at the pail I used to water them and thought about lugging a load of water over. Was it worth it?

After forcing myself to make the trip to the river once, and watering the full wildflower patch, I set the pail down and stared at the rest of the plants. Shit, I really didn't want to do this. They weren't going to look good. I'd failed them.

I went home without watering them and felt horrible about it. That evening, I ate berries until the juice dripped down my chin.

The next morning, my fight with the buizel felt distant, and now I was just full of resentment at myself for having ignored my garden. Instead of encouraging me to go water the plants, though, I just sat there and stewed.

When I was young, I had a sparring partner, a sunflora. She and I were inseparable and kept each other going day after day, encouraging improvement and making sure we practiced. Now, I couldn't even keep myself gardening let alone training.

I wished I had someone like her again. I wished I had a mate, but that was a lost cause. As much as I told myself that any pokemon would be lucky to have me, and that I should go searching for a pokemon to mate with, I knew deep down that I didn't deserve it. Searching for a mate would only force me to reconcile with the fact that I couldn't get one. Because I couldn't do anything.

I ate more berries.

***

After four more days, the pain of my encounter with Anja had all but receded from memory. I still didn't like that it reminded me of how I barely fought anymore. That brought uncomfortable thoughts about how much worse I'd gotten and how depressing I'd become. But somehow, the fight itself had been somewhat enjoyable.

However, all that positivity evaporated the moment the buizel stormed in on me trying to relax and enjoy my bath in the ever-warm river that flowed down from the mountain. My muscles tensed and I glared at the creature.

"What are you still doing here?" I said, my voice halfway to a growl. "You had your chance. You lost. Get out of my territory."

I didn't quite understand why just seeing her again grated against my nerves so much. It was as if her mere presence was abrasive, when somehow the annoying aipom that called insults from the trees every day just made me laugh as I passed by. She should have been easy to brush off and forget about. But she wasn't.

Her voice was hard as stone. "Our last fight was on your turf, Kirill. You couldn't beat me here in the river, I know it. And I bet you'll be too much of a lazy, green slowpoke to try."

"You know that's not going to work," I said, shaking my head. I closed my eyes and let the sensation of the flowing current around me bring me calm. "Go find a floatzel to teach you to fight, then come back when you've evolved yourself."

A sharp pain blossomed in the side of my temple. I rubbed my digits over it and cracked an eye. There was a stick laying on the riverbank where it had landed after bouncing off my head. A few meters behind it stood the absolutely fuming buizel.

"Shut the fuck up," she said. Her voice was somewhere between a shout and a growl, clearly being held back from the screaming she wanted to do. "Why are you such an asshole? Arceus damn it. I thought you were strong, I thought I could learn something from you, but all I've found is a lazy sceptile loser who's given up on himself!"

My stomach twisted at her words. I hadn't accomplished anything in years. It was always tomorrow that I was going to do something -- build a better den, get stronger, find a mate. Mespirit's mercy, my anxiety spiked again at the thought of trying to find a mate. It was always so much easier to put it off.

Hearing her words made me want to throw up, but I forced myself to smile and answer as if they had just bounced off me like the stick she threw. "I don't want to keep hurting a weak little buizel who hasn't learned her lesson. Come back when you're a floatzel."

I had to wrench my head underwater to avoid the shimmering beam of frost that stabbed through the air where my head had just been. The beam disappeared, and I surfaced just in time to see the back end of the orange and tan pokemon dive into the river with a splash.

Shit, I hated fighting in the water. I wanted to pull myself out immediately, but the rippling water that marked the buizel's movement would reach me far faster than I could do so. Instead, I braced myself, ready to bring a leaf blade to bear as she approached.

I swung and my blade sliced across her thigh, but the water slowed my arm and the buizel swirled out of its path right as my attack began to connect. She landed her teeth around my shoulder and tore a painful gash that leaked blood out into the water. My arm went numb and spiked with pain every time I tried to move it.

As soon as she had passed, I wrenched myself out of the water by the thick root of a tree. There, back on land, I felt much more confident. As I waited for her to leave the water, I began to dance back and forth with purpose. Power moved through me, and I felt strength solidify my muscles as the strange effects of the dance washed over me.

"What the fuck is your problem?" she demanded, surfacing and climbing out of the river with the grace of a water type. "Are you so determined to make me hate you? Look, don't attack me. Just tell me why you're being such a complete asshole. The stories I heard about you gave me every reason to want to--you know, uh--look up to you. But this..."

I scoffed. "You just want to stop fighting because you know I'm going to win. You started it anyway!"

"I know I started it. I know I'm going to lose this fight! This isn't about beating your sorry, lazy ass. It's about me getting better. I want to be better at fighting, so I'm attacking stronger pokemon until I learn enough to whoop their asses! It's worked for me so far. But I've never dealt with a pokemon who was quite as," She paused, gesticulating with wild strikes of one paw into the palm of her other, "infuriating as you are!"

I growled. Her words had me taken aback, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing that they did. "I don't want to deal with this. I've got territory, a name, a reputation..."

"Your territory is half of what I've heard it used to be. Your name doesn't fit you anymore, and your reputation changes from a big scary sceptile to the loaf of the forest as soon as you cross into the valley. Have you grown your territory in years? You don't even have a mate! Your big puffed up pretend version of yourself doesn't match that lazy, old-person attitude you seem to cultivate with everyone around you."

"I'm not old," I said, scoffing. I was breathing hard, though. I felt like I was about to have a heart attack. Something about her words had me wanting to buckle over, curl around myself and just hold myself while shaking. I tried to bolster myself with words that rang hollow, "And I--I could find a mate whenever I want to! I just haven't felt like it. I've been too busy."

"You haven't tried to find one because you fucking hate being like this, don't you? But you aren't like this, are you? You don't want to be. You act like a wet sod of grass with a few ugly yellow bulbs, but there's still that ferocious sceptile you used to be right there under your scales. That sceptile would have every pokemon in the forest fighting to be your mate!"

I shook my head dumbly. "I've still got it. I can fight. I can find a mate. That's still me."

"Sure," she said. She stepped forward, as if she were pressing an attack, "but you don't have the drive anymore. When I first saw you, I saw that terrifying, tough sceptile that I swooned over. But you didn't act like him. You want to find a mate? Take the initiative! Don't let her come to you. Just. Fucking. Do. Something. Show me the sceptile you think you are!"

I stared at her. She was breathing hard. Her little orange paws had been wildly gesticulating with her words, but now they just held up in the air in front of her, waiting for something. I shook myself. I hated to hear it, and I hated to admit it, but she was right. I needed to do something for myself, to take initiative. I'd gotten lazy and complacent. I'd dreamed for so many nights about being the scariest pokemon in the valley, the toughest around. I'd dreamed about finding a mate and impressing her with my skills and reputation. And then, every single morning I woke up to chilling disappointment with the realization that I had done none of that, and I was too scared of failing to even try.

I stepped forward and looked the little buizel in the eyes. "I, uh, can you--I mean would you--would you mate with me, Anja?"

A grin spread across her muzzle. "The tough, studly Kirill? The legendary sceptile of the valley who wrecked the shit out of an Arceus-damned magmortar? Fuck yeah, I would," she said. "Work on your delivery, though."

Her body blurred with a quick attack. I was ready to dodge to the side, but I steeled myself and stood my ground. As a reward, a buizel all of a sudden was propped up on my chest, hanging down from my shoulder by a paw. I quickly wrapped an arm around her back to support her. Her paw slid behind my head and wrenched it down to hers.

Soft buizel lips slid along my own tougher, leathery ones. The paw of hers that wasn't looped around the back of my head set gently down on my upper chest. It slid along fine green scales.

The feeling of her lips on my own and her paw on my chest was like a shinx's static shock. It compounded with the adrenaline still pumping through my blood to give me an exhilarating need that ached in every muscle for her and set a stirring in my groin. Her slight touches felt so good. I wanted more.

My long, reptilian tongue snaked into her muzzle. Although her eyes widened for a moment, she grunted and then yanked my face farther into hers. With our muzzles locked together already, there wasn't much closer they could get. But that pressure, the passion from her, sent butterfree fluttering through my stomach.

Despite wanting to sit myself back and let this horny buizel decide what she was going to do to me, I knew she wanted me to show my drive. She wanted to see ambition. I snaked a paw down the center of her back, cool scales sliding through soft, warm fur until my digits wrapped around the base of her tail. A strangled sound that was half a grunt and half a sigh escaped her mouth through our kiss. I took that as a cue to continue and dragged my paw slowly out along the length of her tail.

Her tail was thin and fuzzy. The fur was shorter and stiffer than the soft pelt of her back and belly, but it still had plenty of give to it. It was bristly against my leathery fingers, like a soft brush, but one flush with warmth. I could feel the tail twitch and flick between my digits.

I followed it out to the tips of the two ends that split off halfway, then slowly back down to the base of her tail. A shudder convulsed her body. Shifting, my paw slid over an ass cheek before coming to rest with my fingers at the very edge of her inner thigh. Heat radiated from the spot just beyond them.

She redoubled our kiss, her much smaller tongue wriggling around my own. Her tongue lacked my reptilian dexterity, but made up for it with plenty of fervor. I moved my fingers forward and felt hot, damp fur that was both soft and short, puffy skin underneath, and the crevice right down the center.

This time, she let out a full moan. The sound reverberated through our kiss. I grunted in response. I was rock hard already, though I held her high enough that she couldn't feel the red cock that was standing at attention for her. It strained in the air, veins along the tapered length pronounced with my excitement.

My digits pressed down on both puffy warm folds between her legs and spread them apart. I couldn't see what I was revealing, but I still couldn't help but shiver. My third digit slid slowly between her lips. The tender skin was as soft as silk and slick with arousal.

"Oh shit, Kirill," she moaned, "Just like that." She broke from our kiss to press her orange muzzle into the crevice of my shoulder. The warmth of her body and soft furry texture felt so pleasant against my scales.

I continued sliding that finger between her folds, a slow rhythmic back and forth. It ran over ridges and grooves, gently rubbed the little bump of her clit that sent a convulsing shiver through her whole body, and then slid carefully around the clenching muscles at her entrance.

Grasping for a handhold, she gripped the two yellow seedpods highest on my back and squeezed hard as I explored her pussy. They popped and sweet nectar burst from inside to soak both her paws and a good portion of my back.

"Oh A--Arceus," She said, interrupted by another violent shiver as my fingers slid back over her clit. "Holy shit. I just--is that okay? Are those supposed to do that?"

"It's fine!" I said. I knelt and set Anja on the ground as I shook with laughter. I clutched my chest with one arm and set the other on her shoulder as the riverside echoed with my mirth. She shot me a withering look, trying ineffectually to shake the sticky sap from her paws. She clearly did not appreciate being the butt of the joke.

"Those seed pods hold a nectar that helps me cultivate trees. I've got a wonderful little grove of Watmel berry trees that I've been growing with them." I felt a pang of guilt as I thought about how neglected they, and the small garden in the middle of them, were. Then I shoved the thought out of my mind and sat down on the ground with my back to a riverside tree whose roots wound down into the water itself.

The nectar would naturally slide off my scales as if it was water, so I wasn't particularly worried about cleaning myself up. Looking at Anja's paws, though, drenched a bright yellow to contrast with the natural orange fur around it, I had to keep from laughing even more. "You may want to wash those off. You'll be a combee magnet if you don't."

She grunted, raising each paw to her muzzle to thoroughly blast with water. Luckily, the nectar didn't stick to her fur all that well either. She wiped her wet paws along her side, looked at me expectantly. She then widened her eyes as she got her first look at my cock, which still stood proud for her.

"Holy shit that thing's big," she said.

"Of course, it is! You're like a third of my size. Maybe if you evolved to a floatzel--" I started, but Anja cut me off. She stepped around my side and squeezed my maw shut between her two still-wet paws.

"It'll fit just fine," she growled. After releasing my mouth, she knelt hesitantly to examine my shaft as if it were a fragile thing that could shatter in an instant. My cock stood proud and thick between my legs, almost eight inches of smooth pink flesh that thinned around the tip. Viscous, milky-white precum already drooled down the side. When she brought an exploratory paw to the base, it throbbed with a mind of its own, straining for purchase and the release that it wanted so badly.

"Hey, is there something about being a floatzel that--"

"Just shut the fuck up for once, Kirill! Suicune's succulent tits, you really can't leave well enough alone, can you?"

I froze, not certain what to do. I really wanted to follow up and ask more, my curiosity getting the best of me. But I saw the furious, hard look in her eyes and knew for a fact that if I followed up with another question, this whole thing was likely over with.

Pleasure buzzed up my body like a static shock. Her tongue pressed to my length and dragged along it. The erotic sight was almost as good as the act itself, especially when she paused at a dribbling trail of precum.

Her whole body swished as her eyes narrowed seductively on mine. She slowly lapped upwards as the translucent fluid pooled over her tongue. Her lips closed around the very tip of my cock. Shivers cascaded through my scales. When she pulled off, she swished around her cheeks, making a show of savoring the flavor. Her muzzle opened with a display of strands of opaque precum-mixed saliva connecting tongue to lips to the roof of her mouth. Then, shutting her muzzle with a satisfied smirk, she gulped it down.

"Oh Arceus," I moaned. My cock throbbed, more of the musky fluid oozing out and down along my length.

Anja leaned back towards my tip. After giving it a lick that made me shudder, she wrapped her small muzzle around it and sent me to heaven. The warmth and wetness of her small mouth surrounded me. Her tongue lathered over my tip.

Then, she started bobbing steadily up and down. Flashes of sensation washed across my body, her tongue topping it off with more electric pleasure as it swirled around my sensitive length. I could barely handle it. It'd been so long, and her muzzle felt so good.

She hesitated, adjusted herself, and then dove down past her previous stopping point, continuing along my throbbing cock until almost half of it was inside her. I could feel her throat squeezing and constricting around me as she tried to swallow. The tightness brought with it a web of pleasure that stretched upwards through my body. I clenched the ground with both paws for support.

After holding herself there on my cock for a few moments, she pulled back up until my cock tip rested just past her soft lips. She opened her muzzle and panted, tongue relaxing under my length. "Dialga's diamond nutsack, you're big," she said, her words partly obscured by my cock.

It felt cold now as fresh air met the layer of buizel spit that covered half my length. I shivered. I set a paw on her back to gently stroke digits through her soft fur. "That was absolutely incredible. I--it's a bit embarrassing, but I don't think I would have lasted much longer if you kept going at it like that."

"Is that right?" she asked. "I've got to see that for myself." She closed her mouth back around my shaft. After the brief cold of the air, the warmth of my length partially enveloped again was sublime.

Her tongue began swishing back and forth over my tip again, and the electric pleasure picked up right where it left off. I half expected it to be more difficult after the interruption, but I found myself struggling not to cum right then and there.

When her muzzle descended along my length, it brought along flashes of pleasure, I squirmed, legs straining and paws squeezing. I released the fur on her back, worried I was holding it too tight, but then I remembered what she said to me. She could take it. I gripped a rough fistful of fur and held her down on my throbbing cock. Anja growled, but I saw the smirk on her muzzle as it bobbed up and down even faster.

She wrapped a paw around my shaft and started stroking it in time with her muzzle, the spit and precum lubricating my throbbing red cock plenty for it to slide pleasurably up and down. Every time she rubbed near my tip, or her lips passed over that spot, I shuddered with the intensity of the sensations that washed over me.

She focused wherever she got the biggest reaction from me, whether it was my muzzle breaking out into a pant and my arms and legs turning into jelly, or me tensing up as I felt an overstimulating rush of pleasure that made me want to squeeze my legs shut and grip the ground tight enough to turn dirt into diamond.

Her eyes were on me, watching my expressions with a grin that stretched her muzzle even while it suckled and slid along my length. The incredible feeling was growing so intense, and I just wanted it to reach its peak.

The continuing slow buildup as she sucked and licked, and her lips slid along my length was like a pleasurable cage that I wanted to tear my way out of. I let go of her fur and wrapped my hand around her sturdy head-fin like a handle. For a moment, I held her still. I leaned over to growl in her ear, "I'm going to fuck your throat."

She growled back the same growl as before, aroused and inviting. She yanked her muzzle back off my cock so she could meet my eyes and say, "I can hold my breath for eight minutes."

She took a deep breath, winked, and then her lips wrapped back around me. With my firm grip on her head-fin once again holding her in place, I thrust my hips forward. My cock penetrated back down into her tight throat, but this time I was in charge. As the pleasure flooded back up through me, I knew just what I wanted to do with the buizel. I knew just how to take that pleasure and ramp it up to the next level.

As my hips thrust up into her maw, I yanked her head-fin back towards me. My shaft battered its way into the squeezing passage, deeper and deeper with each rough thrust. I pounded my hips up into her muzzle as I wrenched her towards my hips to meet each motion head-on. I was seeing stars. My mind was fuzzy with the overloading sensations--burning, blood pumping, tingling pleasure.

I felt her cold nose against my reptilian slit. Looking down, she had enveloped my full eight inches of cock. The outline of it bulged her throat. Her eyes were shut tight, her face scrunched up, but her tail buzzed with flicks and twirls of excitement.

I rammed my length repeatedly into her maw. My climax was drawing close as pleasure spiked me over and over and over. The friction along her tightly squeezing throat massaged ecstasy up my body. My cock was straining as it simultaneously felt each motion in her squeezing throat with incredible sensitivity and also felt numb with a fiery pleasure that yearned for release.

Then, it hit me. The warm suckling around my throbbing shaft was too much. I shuddered, grunted, and gripped her head-fin tight as I felt my orgasm washing over me. It was incredible, waves of intense pleasure washing up from my cock as it pulsed in the buizel's throat.

A large spurt of my thick, nectar-like cum burst deep into her throat. Her eyes widened, and her warmth retreated from me, but not fast enough to keep a second spurt of cum from splattering her tongue and a third splashing off of the top of her mouth. After pulling off, she gasped and heaved for air as my cum dribbled down her lips. Meanwhile, more of it launched onto her face, flotation ring, and upper chest in ropes of white.

Even with the cool air once again chilling my spit-soaked shaft, the pleasure from her paw continuing to stroke it up and down was plenty to stretch out and make the most of my orgasm. I was in heaven as rope after rope of thick white cum patterned the sexy buizel's fur. I shook and moaned. She continued stroking me with fervor, milking out every drop of my seed to spatter on her body.

When my orgasm finally died down and her stroking grew suddenly so intense and overstimulating that I had to say, "Ah! Anja, stop. Stop! Oh fuck! Oh sweet Arceus."

She finally let go of my cock with the last few drops of my thick cum dribbling down onto her paw.

She smiled up at me. More cum drooled past her closed lips and clung to the fur at the bottom of her muzzle. She looked almost comical with how much her orange and tan fur had been stained white with a thick coating of my seed. However, any humor I might have had was drowned out by how incredibly hot she was. I could see my mark all over her. I smelled my potent, salty musk overpoweringly strong over her own fishy scent.

She stepped onto my lap, thighs brushing along my still semi-hard cock. Some of the cum left drooling down my length smeared onto her fur. She pointedly angled her muzzle up and pulled at my shoulder. I followed her lead, leaning down to meet her. Our muzzles met for another kiss.

My eyes widened when I found out just how much of my cum she had held onto in her muzzle. With a devious smirk, she snaked her tongue into my muzzle and flooded my senses with my own masculine flavor. It was salty and tangy like a bitter herb with a tropical berry. I found myself with a dollop of my own seed on my tongue when her lips retreated. I shuddered, looking down at her and her coy grin. It wasn't a bad flavor, and hey--if she had to deal with the taste, I could show the same courtesy. But holy heatran if the way she had done that wasn't hot as a fire type's pussy.

"Hey Kirill," Anja cooed. Her words caused yet more of my cum to dribble down her lips. She brushed another glob of it off her brow where it threatened to drip down into her eye. Of course, she smeared it on her side where I hadn't painted any of the orange fur white. I shuddered. My half-mast cock was already hardening again. With the machinations of this sexy buizel, going again would be no problem at all.

Anja continued, "If you want to get that taste out of your mouth, you could always replace it with something else." She turned her back to me as she spoke and strutted two steps towards the river. Her orange-furred ass swayed with clear exaggeration. Her twin propeller tails lifted high to show off the damp fur and the slight indentation between her thighs.

Then, after turning back around to face me, she slowly lay down on her back. Her legs spread for me, and I got my first good glimpse at the puffy lips between her hind legs. They were coated with a light dusting of the same orange fur that covered everywhere except her tan belly, cheeks, and tail tips. It was light enough that I could still see the pale skin underneath, especially with how her clear arousal dampened all the fur around. There was a hint of darker pink near the base of her folds where her spread legs naturally separated her lips ever so slightly.

Although Anja's own scent was distorted by the lines and splatters of my opaque white cum that still stained her fur, through my strong musk I smelled the distinct scent of her tangy arousal like a tropical jungle after a storm.

Her paws snaked down between her thighs and squeezed each puffy lip before spreading them wide apart.

The buizel's bright orange fur vibrantly complemented the dusty pink of her inner folds. Grooves and ridges lined the otherwise silky-smooth skin in layers, one longer and looser that rounded up to a peak where it hooded the little nub of her clit. The others were smaller and less defined. They ringed her entrance, which contracted right in front of my eyes. A drip of arousal leaked out.

I got to my feet, shuffled forward a step, then knelt in front of her. My cock was still half-mast out of my slit, the cool air sending chills through me as I moved. I carefully placed two fingers down on the soft, velvety inside of her pussy, as if anything but that extreme care could break it. Really, I was just nervous.

I'd been occupied for so long with my own goals until everything fell apart for me. After having withdrawn from the world, this was my first time doing anything with another pokemon. The blowjob had been incredible, but that was about me, not her. It couldn't show how inexperienced I was at giving her pleasure. A nagging voice in my head told me that my muzzle wouldn't be good enough, and that she'd get frustrated and leave. There was no point trying this. I should just go home.

"You're so fucking hot," I breathed out, expelling those thoughts from my mind. I slid my two fingers down along the inside of her pussy. I felt the shudder that rattled up her body. The way her cum-stained, tan-furred muzzle hung slightly open when I dragged my fingers around inside her set my heart beating like a drum.

"Shit, Kirill, I didn't think you'd be such a tease," she said after a sharp intake of breath when I dragged my fingers over the little nub of her clit. Her body convulsed for a brief moment before she got herself under control. She breathed hard, tan furred chest rising and falling rapidly. Her pussy glistened with slick arousal. The muscles around her entrance visibly squeezed almost in time with her breathing.

I felt as if any other pokemon had courted my lazy self and hadn't pushed me over the edge, I would have backed out. But I wanted to impress this buizel. I wanted this buizel and I wanted her to want me. I lowered my muzzle until the bitter, tangy smell of the Anja's arousal flooded my senses. My tongue dragged from base to tip along the slick, silky skin. She moaned and thick buizel thighs clenched around my head.

I struggled not to cough at the unusual bitter taste of her fluids. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly great, either. However, she had held my cum in her muzzle and let it stain the fur all over her body, so I figured it was only right to return the favor. I slid my tongue between her folds again. The moans and little squeaks she made when it ran over her tender clit spurred me on.

"Hot and bothered Heatran, you--you can use that tongue!" she said in between sharp intakes of breath.

I smiled. Her taste was growing on me. I wasn't used to it, but I did like bitter and tangy berries. I set my paws on her folds to replace her own in holding them spread wide open. My tongue started working constantly, slipping and sliding around the slick skin. Every circuit over her tender pussy brought my tongue flicking against her clit. Sometimes she just tensed and sometimes she spasmed like an electric type had jolted her without restraint.

As I got into the rhythm of my tongue swirling around her inner folds, muscles began to tense along her whole body. When my tongue slid down to her entrance and flicked back and forth there for a moment, I could feel just how tight she was clenching. Then, she arched her back ever so slightly, feet straining out next to my shoulders.

I continued eating her out with fervor. I wanted to impress the tough buizel, but more than that, I wanted to pay her back for the wonderful pleasure she had given me. So I watched what caused her body to twitch, her muscles to tighten, and her back to arch just a little more. My long tongue dexterously danced over her folds to raise the volume of every moan she squeaked out and tighten each tensing of her body.

I centered in on her clit. At first I had dragged my tongue in long circles around the whole of her slit, toying at her entrance and feeling the small inner ridges of tender skin shift underneath. Now I made tight circles just around her clit, only occasionally letting her relax as my tongue lapped the full circuit around her inner folds. When the muscles in my maw had their moment of rest, I returned my focus to that sensitive nub.

Her back arched higher and higher. Her squeaks and gasps and moans filled the air around me. They were constant now along with the tight, rapid rising and falling of her chest as it held itself arched, trembling in the air. Her tail flicked to the side of us, twitching with the wild abandon the rest of her tensed body must have wanted to join in on. "Fuck, Kirill," she moaned, "fuck!"

Then it happened. As I vigorously wriggled my tongue back and forth over her clit, she let out a breathy, moaning cry. Her tensed, arched back seemed to buckle in on itself and flatten down to the ground where her chest rose and fell with large, full breaths. Her pussy tensed even harder despite the relaxation of the rest of her body under my tongue. She shook in time with her breaths, squeaking, moaning noises escaping with each exhale.

"Oh Arceus. Shit! Ahhh. Kirill stop! Ah, stop!" she said as her body started to shake. She squeezed her legs shut and pushed my head away with her paws. I withdrew with them and watched as she continued her heavy breathing as another shudder washed over her. After a long moment of slow, barely controlled breathing she said, "That was really good."

I had to catch my own breath after having my face deep in her folds. Her smell was still overpowering. It was all over my muzzle, and my nose was still damp with traces of her arousal. "Y-yeah," I said. "You felt incredible too."

Anja leaned up for a second, looking down her cum-stained orange and tan fur, then slumped back down on her back. "I need a minute. Shit, that was nice."

I hesitantly circled around her to lay down by her side on cool, soft blades of grass. She had picked a good spot. No rocks jabbed into my side. As I got close to her again, my own musk wafted up to meet me in force. The salty, masculine scent harmoniously mixed with the bitter, tangy odor of her fluids where they stuck to my muzzle and nose. It smelled like sex by a tropical beach.

I wrapped an arm around her upper chest. Her fur was still damp and stained all over by my seed, but I didn't care. I pulled her close and then nuzzled my nose up under her ear. She turned her muzzle to mine and we kissed again, sharing the tastes of each other until it was just one interweaved flavor.

When we broke the kiss, I shut my eyes. I was ready to relax, drift off to sleep there on the riverside with this incredible buizel. But I felt a paw on my chest, then another one, then damp fur pressing down on top of me. I opened my eyes again what felt like moments after closing them to see Anja straddling my belly with a devious grin. "We've rested long enough, snorlax."

My cock was still somewhat hard. It had been stiff as a onyx while I was eating her out and had only finally started to soften after we finished. But now the buizel straddled me, lines of my cum coating her fur. My scent soaked her and a smirk stretched her muzzle. My cock stiffened like a board.

Anja shimmied back along my belly, somehow strutting her thighs as she did so. Her tail whipped around to drag along my side, the light touch eliciting a shiver down my spine. My shaft pressed down uncomfortably flat as she continued moving back, sliding over top of it. I felt the wet fur around her pussy. Slick arousal greeted my cock as it dragged underneath. Then, it popped back up in front of the little buizel. She grabbed it like a handle.

I drew in a sharp breath. Her touch brought with it slight pleasurable tingle alongside a flood of desire to be in her warm muzzle again, or inside her tight passage.

Anja stood up on my chest. With her shorter legs, she had to climb onto me herself, though she fell forward onto all fours to help distribute her weight. I found myself nose to nose with her. I panted, my cock straining and bumping into her chest fur.

"Hey uh, Anja? Don't you think I might be a bit big for you?"

She just smiled and put a single digit of her paw to my lips. "Shut the fuck up, Kirill."

Heat washed over my cheeks. It was half embarrassment and half excitement. Her body shifted as she positioned herself. The tip of my cock dragged through her belly fur, smearing precum along its path as she guided it towards warmer, wetter fur, and then the slick, furless skin between her folds.

I shivered as Anja slithered over my body like a seviper to line herself up with me. Then, she lifted herself up with short legs barely pulling her high enough off my body to set my cock against her entrance. As usual with the determined buizel, she managed it.

When she lowered herself, my tip was enveloped in an impossibly wonderful cloud-like embrace. It was like a warm, smooth silk slipping over me--gentle, but tight and wonderfully pleasurable. I moaned with my exhale, watching the cum-stained buizel slowly descend around my cock. Her face was half a grimace, half euphoric, and wholly resolute.

"Fuck a psyduck, you're big," she finally gasped. She panted, halfway down my cock. Despite that, she pushed up, lifting herself almost all the way from my length, then drove back down. A rush of bliss washed over me. My paws gripped the grass by my sides.

She was slick and wet as could be, but her tightness was intense. I already felt myself awash with pleasure radiating through me. I worried for a moment that I was going to cum too fast, and that after having put all this work in she'd be left unsatisfied. But I managed to hold myself back. Instead, I focused on enjoying the incredible feeling as she drove herself down on my throbbing length again and again. Each time, she buried a little more of it inside her.

"Sweet Arceus," I moaned, as she drove my cock inside her until only an inch remained outside her pink folds. Each movement up and down my throbbing length sent waves of pleasure rocking through me. Her muzzle had been great, but the tightness of her tender passage was an entirely different world. It flooded me with incredible sensations. I thanked the stars that I had cum beforehand, because otherwise I wouldn't have lasted moments.

She was straining to get that last inch in. She battered herself down on my throbbing cock, a grimace on her muzzle. As much as she strained though, as much as she clenched her muzzle and rammed her body down on my shaft, a half inch of my length stubbornly stayed outside of her.

"Hey, uh--Anja, are you alright?" I asked between sharp intakes of breath. Some of my words came out stutters with the pleasure of her body slipping along my cock.

"I'm fine," She snapped. "Just--" She grimaced as she rammed herself down on me again. "Just shut your damn muzzle and let me do this."

My own muzzle twisted with concern. Her motions on my cock felt good, but suddenly they didn't have the same magical feeling that they had a moment ago.

"Hey uh, I think it would help me to try a different position," I said. My paws slid under her armpits, keeping her from descending back down onto my length.

She considered my words, and then said with an exhausted sigh, "Sure."

I gently lifted her up from my throbbing length. It was so cold back in the forest breeze. It strained futilely in the air for the hot, wet home it had pleasurably inhabited just a moment ago.

After sitting up, I laid Anja down onto the grass and ran my paw down the fur on her cum-stained tan and orange chest. I felt the shiver that coursed down her body. Her frustrated expression wriggled with a slight smile.

My paw slipped lower, down to her crotch where the fur was sopping wet from our sex just moments ago. One digit slid between her folds and fiddled around until I found the little hood of skin and the nub underneath to gently stroke back and forth. She shuddered and shut her eyes, a gasping breath escaping her muzzle.

As I leaned down over her, lining my cock back up with her slick entrance, the musk from both our sex and the cum on her fur flooded my nose. After angling my tip inside her, I let go of my cock to caress her cheek. I slowly pressed myself back inside her, feeling the extreme tightness of her wet passage. I pressed my muzzle to hers.

Her eyes flashed open, and I felt a jolt of surprise jump through her body. But then she relaxed into it. Her own paw wrapped around the back of my neck and played with the base of my ear as her muzzle welcomed my own. Her tongue snaked into my mouth and wriggled around mine. It wasn't as long or as dexterous as my own tongue, but feeling her do it gave me goosebumps.

I rocked my body against hers, driving my shaft back inside farther with each motion. It was easier this time with my cock slick with her juices. Her pussy was soaking wet and used to my size, too.

However, I didn't make the same effort to get myself all the way inside her that she had. Once I had most of my cock buried in the enveloping warmth of her body, I focused on thrusting in and out of her tight, warm embrace.

My paw stayed at her clit, massaging it as I rolled my hips into her body. It got in the way just enough that I couldn't push my hips all the way up against hers, but I couldn't quite fit all the way inside her anyway. And the moans she made in my muzzle--the way her jaw clenched and her tongue froze and she went perfectly still as if an iota of movement would steal the pleasure away from her--that was plenty worth it.

We broke our kiss as I arched my back to thrust faster and faster. The pleasure was returning in full force and crashing over me like a tsunami. It threatened to take over as I increased my speed to match it. My finger rubbed vigorously over her clit and her body clenched around me tighter than I thought possible.

Her back arched. Her paws gripped my shoulders. I would have thought that any tighter and she wouldn't have been able to fit me, but her passage wrung me like a vice. She gripped ever more intensely, and it only made my movements feel more incredible each time my cock buried itself deep inside her.

I moaned at the intense sensations. My hips had taken on a mind of their own. I was hardly conscious of how they moved, just how I felt while moving inside her. Her own face was scrunched up with her muzzle hanging just barely open while sharp breaths rapidly raised and lowered her cum-soaked belly. She shivered when I pressed a paw to her cheek. Her own squeaky moans resonated across the riverbank.

Her body clenched up as tight as a vice around me. I stopped my thrusting. I was afraid her tight passage wouldn't be able to fit me back in if I slipped out. Held still there deep inside her, I felt the tight clenching and releasing of her muscles as she wrung my cock inside her. "Ahhhh!" she moaned as her body crumpled in a release of all its tension. Then her breathing sped up. With each exhale came another, moaning, "Ahh... ahh... ahh..."

I held myself deep inside her, finger still working her clit until her own paws scrambled down to yank my hand out of the way. She slumped back and shuddered. "Fuck, Kirill. Musky Moltres on a stick, that was intense."

With her body slowing and her orgasm dying down, I slid my hips back out and then back into her. She moaned softly, and I took that as a go-ahead to speed back up. My cock throbbed hard inside her, straining against her walls which were still tight as a vice after her orgasm.

The pleasure that had built up before her orgasm came rushing back to me. Within a few thrusts, I was already seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Every nerve in my body screamed with fiery bliss. My cock strained, itself a nexus of the intense pleasure washing up through me. Every wave of sensation that crashed over me brought me ever so much closer to bursting.

I thrust into the cum-drenched buizel as she moaned and writhed underneath me. My cock strained against her tight walls, each movement cascading pleasure that then radiated up through the rest of my body, building like a flood about to break through a dam. "I--I'm close!" I gasped

"Fucking cum in me!" she said.

My heart skipped a beat. "But, Anja. What if you--"

"We aren't compatible, asshole, I checked! Cum in me!"

That was all I needed. My hips pounded her like a drum, the pleasure overwhelming me. I let every bit of my self-control go as I fucked the buizel, feeling the wild peak of the pleasure right out of my reach. My cock throbbed, straining inside her to find that last little push.

Then I had it. I felt the growing, fiery intensity in my shaft. Over the course of seconds, it grew more and more overpowering. My muzzle scrunched. I tensed so tight. My whole body following the lead of that single source of incredible pleasure.

My cock pulsed. I shuddered. The pleasure washed over me like a soothing wave of enveloping warmth. A thick spurt of cum pumped inside the buizel. Then another. I moaned and gave a half thrust, but the pleasure from that movement was almost too intense. It rocked my body. I breathed hard. Everything felt so incredibly amazing.

I realized I was gripping her shoulder far too tight, so I let that go and just held myself still, nestled deep inside the buizel's tight pussy. Cum spurted inside her with each throb that flooded me with another bout of euphorically intense pleasure.

Finally, I pulled my cock out from inside her. A small cascade of cum and fluids followed, drooling down her splayed pussy and sticking to the fur around it. My cock pulsed a few last times, spurting globs of my thick cum over her hips and lower belly until, finally, it was over.

I shuddered and groaned. My body couldn't process the incredible feelings that Anja had just put it through. I lay down next to her on my side, then shifted until I was pressed up against her.

"That was incredible," I said.

"Fuck, Kirill, you were too," she said back. I wrapped my arm over her chest, still damp with cum clinging to her fur, and could feel that her heart was still beating fast.

We lay there for a period of time that simultaneously felt tremendously long and instantaneously short. Her heartbeat slowed back to a steady thump. The remnants of my orgasm shifted over to a tingly afterglow. Her twin orange tails flicked back and forth by my feet.

"How do you do it, Anja?" I asked.

She turned her head towards me with a quizzical look to her eyes. "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath, but when I exhaled, it came out shaky and uncertain. I tried to steady myself, but all I could think about was how I was afraid of anyone knowing this about me. It was something I was afraid to admit even to myself. "Where do you get the such a drive to improve? You're... you're going to be better than me soon. I could maybe keep up, but I just--I just can't get the motivation."

She trailed a paw up along the scales of my chest. Her fur tickled, but the gentle press of her digits comforted me. "Oh, that. It's not a good reason," she said. "Actually, it's really shitty. It's stupid. I can't help it."

There was another silence between us. It wasn't an anxious silence. We were giving each other the space to think about what to say--how to frame those deep thoughts that, only an hour ago, we had thought we would never share with anyone but ourselves.

"I'm afraid to evolve," she said. For the first time since I met her, her voice cracked. Another silence filled the air. This time I was about to say something to try and comfort her, but she spoke again first. "I like who I am. I like being a buizel. And I've always been afraid that if I change, if I go through the sudden transformation of evolution that I--I won't be myself anymore. Assholes have always looked at me not having evolved and thought I was young, immature, or weak. And I guess--I think this is all me trying to prove them wrong. I can be a buizel and still beat the shit out of them." She chuckled, but it was the morbid kind of chuckle at a joke that was more sad than funny.

"Oh," I said. Guilt tugged at me for the times I told her to come back when she was a floatzel. I desperately wanted to make that right, but I couldn't think of what to say to her to make it all better. So I just said, "I'm sorry."

"It's whatever."

My breathing grew tight. "I--No, Anja. There's no better you than you. Buizel or floatzel, you're just right the way you want to be. I mean, the way you are. You know that?"

She stayed quiet for a while before saying, "Thanks." Hearing just that, my heart sunk. I felt like I'd failed. I hadn't said the right words when she deserved to hear them.

But Anja's earlier condemnation still rang in my head. I needed to be confident and take charge. I needed to accept that not trying was often worse than not succeeding.

"You don't need to be a floatzel," I said. "I think you're amazing how you are right now. I've never seen a stronger buizel, and I've only rarely seen a pokemon as good at fighting as you are. You're going to be better than me in a week or two, Anja. You're damn good, and anyone who thinks you're weak for being a buizel is in for a nasty surprise."

I paused to catch my breath, but then continued before she could say anything, "And immature? Anja, you knew exactly what was going on with me. And--and I'm not out of it yet. But you helped. You're smart, and you knew just how to get me to see things how I needed to. You're sure as hell not immature."

Then I was done. I looked at her, but she curled away from me and covered her face with her paws. I wriggled back around her, so her back was pressed to my chest. I felt the sobs coursing through her body. For everything I had just reconciled with myself about confidence and trying things even if I might not succeed--I had no idea where to even begin with the sobbing buizel under my arms. So, I just held her.

"There, there," I said lamely.

She sniffled and buried her muzzle deeper in her paws. When she spoke, her voice came out gravely and shaking. "I'm sorry for being an asshole to you. When we met."

"It's fine, Anja. I kind of needed it."

"You didn't deserve it," she said. She peeked out of her paws with red, puffy eyes. Her cheek fur was damp with tears.

"But I needed it," I said. "Everything you said was right. I'd just--I'd given up on challenging myself. I was too embroiled in my complacency. I wanted to be respected, and I had earned respect a long time ago. Before I settled down though, I had hit a wall where no matter how hard I tried, I just wasn't improving. And--I was afraid that I'd never be better than I was. So, one day I skipped my training. Then I skipped it the next day. Then I felt like shit for skipping my training, so I gorged myself on berries and didn't do anything I should have done. And I kind of went down into a spiral. I ruined everything about myself. I barely held onto my territory because I was afraid to see how bad I'd fight. I wanted a mate, but I didn't want to look for one because I... I don't deserve one."

"You do deserve one, Kirill," Anja said. "I just--you said really nice things about me right now and I'm not good at getting my words right like that, but you really do. You aren't that asshole I thought you were. When you try, you're actually pretty great. You did it before, you got really good at fighting, and you're still that person. You're still that good. You just need a bit of a push."

I squeezed her tighter and blinked away tears. I didn't know what to say. The lump in my throat wouldn't let me talk anyway, so I kept quiet and hugged her.

She said, "I--would it be alright with you if I stayed around a little while? I don't have anywhere to stay but--"

"You can stay with me," I interjected. "And I uh, would you like to train in the mornings with me? I think you'll be better than me in not too long, but I think I could still get better too. Dust off my skills."

"I'd like that," Anja said. "I think we're a damn scary team. Won't be long until we could beat a legendary's ass."

I smiled. "We'll work hard enough. We'll get there."