[c] Partners, ch 5

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#5 of Partners

In which a figure from Sydney's past gets the drop on her, and she has to make a compelling choice. Story, idea, and characters belong to blessedkittens, for whom this is a commission series. As always, hope you enjoy :)


The puppy nuzzled against Sydney's chest, nursing, and she smiled.

It had been a few months since she and Arcanine had laid their eggs. The pink egg had disappeared one night, with only the ghost of fey laughter on the wind promising where it went. As soon as the others had hatched, Sydney had adopted them out to responsible, trusted trainers. Even the Ekans--they couldn't help who their dad was.

But the Growlithe, she kept.

They were a male and a female--Blaze and Zen, respectively. Blaze shared his mother's coat, but Zen was special. A shiny.

It was this little one, rambunctious and golden-furred, who was cuddling up to Sydney now, happily sucking away and wagging her tail. Sydney laughed and gave her a small boop on the nose.

"Enough of that," she said good-naturedly. "Come on." She set down the little pup, who immediately placed her paws on Sydney's shins, whining and begging to be carried and to be nursed more.

But Syndey was immune to her daughter's charms. "Come on," she repeated, buttoning up her blouse, "follow me." With Zen at her heels, she strode to the stables, where she'd just had a side room installed. Opening the door, she revealed a room that was part den, part playplace--covered in straw and strewn with chewy toys. "You and your brother have been getting too energetic in the house," Sydney said with a smile, happy with Zen's immediate, obvious delight. "And it'll get worse when you're weaned, so the two of you will be staying here for now."

The little Growlithe bounded in, squeaking with excitement. On the far end, the pups' other mother, Arcanine, was nursing Blaze, but at the sound of his sister, he tore himself away and pounced on her, the two pups rolling and tumbling with laughter.

Arcanine trotted over to Sydney, panting happily, and Sydney rested a hand in the mane of the pokemon she had grown exceptionally close to the past few months. "Yeah," she said, "they're growing fast, aren't they?"

Shaking her head, she took her leave, Arcanine following on her heels. She had a match scheduled tomorrow she had to get ready for.


"And the winner is... Sydney!"

The crowd erupted, praising Sydney for her debut after a months-long sabbatical, and she answered with a lazy wave, smiling. Her suppositions had been proven correct--her team's new intimacy with her (and each other) had borne dividends on the battlefield. Charizard and Aggron had made a great team to lead things off, and she'd closed the fight with her newest addition, Blastoise. He was still a bit unproven, but with more training he'd be a knockout member of the team--and his shiny coloration had driven the crowd wild.

Across the battlefield, she could see her hated rival, Vion, glaring at her. He'd always played second fiddle to her and had not borne his losses with good grace. He was a bad man who kept a bad team.

Let him stew on his loss, Sydney thought. This was her moment.

After the fight, she gave her pokemon to the nurse in the stadium's Pokemon Center and then went to the women's showers to get cleaned off while her team was healed. She'd arranged to be interviewed shortly after the match and wanted to freshen up.

She didn't hear the sound of the door quietly opening and shutting as she showered; the water masked it.

Turning off the spray and toweling herself, Sydney stepped out into the main locker area, humming--and that's when it happened.

A sudden force knocked her onto her back from behind, and she cried out in dismay only for her words to be muffled as something stuffed itself into her mouth--a thick, cold cock.

"Mmmrrmphl?!" Sydney protested, or tried to, glancing up. A big pokemon glared down at her--a Beartic. The ursine pokemon's paws reached down and pinned her wrists to the bench in the middle of the locker room.

So panicked was Sydney that she didn't realize another shape was approaching her until it had its claws on her hips. She rolled up her head just in time to see a smug-looking Haxorus, his huge cock already pressed at the entrance to her pussy.

He thrust in without preamble.

Sydney arched her back, trying desperately to wriggle free even though there was no way for her to escape the pinning pokemon. The presence in her mouth and cunt was unexpected, but already the pain was starting to morph into pleasure. She gagged as Beartic started thrusting into her irregularly, Haxorus matching him with a chuckle.

These pokemon... she recognized them. A team of brutish males... they belonged to her rival!

As if on cue, Vion stalked around a set of lockers, smirking, hands in his pockets. "Hey there, Sydney," he said, pausing to smirk as Haxorus slammed into her, drawing a long, muffled moan from the Ace Trainer. "Just wanted to... congratulate you on your win." His mouth was smiling, but it didn't meet his eyes. His eyes looked angry and cold.

"Rrrmph... Mrrphl..."

"Shh," said Vion. He was of average height and razor-thin, a lean man with prominent cheekbones. "You know, Sydney, no matter how hard I try, you always show me up. It's one thing to lose, but to fail my team?" He shook his head. "That just doesn't sit right with me."

Stepping closer to her, he squatted down to caress her cheek, smiling at the way she tried to jerk away. But her movement was limited, and Beartic punished her for that with a particularly fierce thrust, his cock going so far in that her throat bulged. Sydney tried to gag--his cock was not only big, it was cold, like deepthroating a giant icicle.

"I figured I might as well give my team some sort of victory," Vion said. "You don't mind, do you?"

Sydney's glare was cut off as Haxorus rammed home intensely, making her vision flutter and her thoughts trail off.

She was completely at Vion's mercy, his and his team, and despite everything, she was... she was starting to enjoy it. Her body, still maternal from taking care of the pups, knew that it had borne pokemon children--and was ready to again.

As passion burned in Sydney's loins like coal, making her blush and moan, part of her panicked. She might very well end up bearing more baby pokemon at this rate.

Not her team's, though. Her rival's.

With Beartic and Haxorus still going at her, each pokemon picking up their pace, she could barely even moan in protest as she rode it out. Still caressing her cheek, Vion smirked. "I knew you'd accommodate," he said, his tone mocking. "And by the way... these two are far from done, but..."

He held up more poke balls, looking wicked. "As you well know, I do have more than two pokemon on my team."


Something was going on. Arcanine was sure of it.

The Fire-type had been released first by the Center employees, since she had barely seen combat in Sydney's fight against Vion. She hadn't minded, pacing her way around the Center and sniffing at odd things--but as the minutes ticked by, she began to get worried. Arcanine knew her trainer, and it was deeply unlike Sydney to not be punctual, especially to such a big event as the press conference. Even now, the small group of reporters outside the Center looked confused.

None of the other pokemon were released yet--not Rhydon, not Charizard, not Venusaur. But she didn't need them. Chuffing to herself, Arcanine slipped out the back of the Center, which connected to the hallways of the stadium. Her trainer was somewhere.

Her nose was trusty and reliable, and she trotted along with purpose. Her teats ached--she was still swollen with milk and hadn't had the opportunity to nurse Blaze and Zen today. She hoped that she could find Sydney soon and help her trainer give milk to their children.

Sydney's scent was easily discernible, and if Arcanine picked up the scent of other people and pokemon as she nosed her way into the women's locker room, she didn't think it was odd. This was a stadium, with lots of comings and goings.

But when she was inside, she started to realize something was wrong. The scent of sex was heavy in the air, and muffled sounds were washing through the tiled chamber. It sounded like Sydney.

Her pulse quickening, Arcanine rounded the corner and stopped dead at the sight. There was her trainer, stripped naked and pinned to a locker room bench, a pokemon on each side. The one fucking Sydney's mouth was a lumbering Beartic, while a smaller pokemon, a Tyrunt, was tirelessly rutting her pussy. Cum leaked out of Sydney's cunt, showing that the fossil pokemon was far from the first to have enjoyed her down there.

A growl furiously boiling in her throat, Arcanine moved forward--but she was too focused on Sydney to see Vion half-hidden in the corner. When she took a step, he released another pokemon with a flash, and Arcanine's growl morphed into a surprised yip as Vion's ace, a Tyranitar, grappled her to the floor.

"Nice going, boy," Vion said. There was a bulge in his pants and he dropped them casually, stroking his erection and shaking at the touch. "Forget battling. Breed her."

Her mouth still occupied by Beartic's cock, Sydney moaned in a way that had nothing to do with Tyrunt's continued thrustings. Arcanine was a beloved member of her team, and more than that, she'd had children with her. She loved Arcanine and didn't want to see this!

But as Tyranitar easily leveraged Arcanine into position, something else took Sydney's attention. Beartic was cumming.

The sensation was deeply unpleasant. His cum was cool and thick, like a slushie, and as she was forced to gulp it down she shuddered as it plopped into her belly. With a growling chuckle, Beartic pulled back slightly and came in her mouth, and then--

Sydney's eyes widened. The cum solidified into a knob of ice, keeping her mouth spread and gagging her, leaving her unable to speak or protest with only a tiny hole allowing her to breathe. With a wave of his paws, the Ice-type conjured small ice cuffs keeping her tethered to the bench.

"Nice going, boy," Vion praised as he recalled him, masturbating more and more. "Sydney, do you know how you look? Helpless, your legs spread for pokemon? You look like you belong that way." His voice chittering with amusement, Tyrunt started fucking her even harder, making Sydney buck and shake with every movement as the dino pushed inside of her.

Arcanine, seeing this, rose her voice in protest, but that bit away into a sharp whine as Tyranitar's massive, thick cock found her pussy and shoved right in. Her voice keened high in protest--small puffs of fire escaped from her, easily ignored by the titanic Rock-type, and her paws scrabbled uselessly for purchase against the tiled floor.

She'd taken a lot of pokemon cock in her day, but Tyranitar was huge, and though his pace was plodding, the sheer volume of his member forced ideas out of Arcanine's head. As he thrust into her again, and again, she felt something start to kindle within her loins--and her eyes widened.

This was no mere arousal. This was the beginnings of heat.

She was as much a breeder as a battler, having squeezed out several dozen eggs in her lifetime, and her body didn't know the situation of why she was being mated--it only knew that she was, and it was happy to tell her that the time was ripe for more kids.

As Arcanine felt her heat unfurl like a blossom, she yiped and yipped and scrabbled uselessly again even as Tyranitar kept his hold on her, fucking away, rumbling with delight. From her spot on the bench, her body shaking with every thrust of Tyrunt's cock, Sydney could see what was unfolding. "Mmmmph! Mrrrrrrmmmmph!" She wanted to demand Vion to stop, to let Arcanine go, but the ice gag in her mouth made it all useless!

Neither female would like to admit it, but their pussies were shuddering with delight from the attention.

Tyrunt's pace grew breakneck, the dino pokemon growling with delight, and Sydney felt his cock stiffen in her and then spurt out, adding his cum to Haxorus', making her blush with shame--and then light filled the room. When it finished, Tyrunt was now a Tyrantrum, Vion watching in appreciation, and the sudden hugeness of the big dino's cock spreading her pussy was enough to wring an orgasm from Sydney, her eyes fluttering and her legs kicking against nothing as her pussy desperately clenched around Tyrantrum's member.

His voice proud, his stamina rejuvenated by evolution, Tyrantrum swung out of her, the sudden emptiness making Sydney moan against the ice gag, and lumbered over to join his teammate in fucking Arcanine. Tyranitar was still furiously pounding her pussy, but she had a perfectly good mouth available. Arcanine's heat had by now all but claimed her, and she spread her mouth wide at his insistence, whining as his hugeness slipped in. She slurped his cock with her tongue, quaked as he pushed down into her throat, and swallowed around it, the feeling massaging him.

Sydney was left cuffed to the bench as she crashed down from orgasm, but Vion wandered over, cock still in hand, and chuckled. "Can't have you unattended to, can we?" he said. For a horrid moment, Sydney wondered if he was going to take her himself--but then with a flash he released a pokemon she'd humiliated on the battlefield today, a Pyroar. The big cat looked down at her with contempt.

"She's all yours, buddy," said Vion, and Pyroar needed no other urging. His paws dug into her sides, making her wince, and his cock--unbarbed despite his felid nature, but long and tapered--lined up with her wide, aching cunt. She half-moaned, half-sobbed as he pushed in, whether from pain or pleasure she couldn't say. Pyroar's cock was hot, as hot as Charizard's had ever been, perhaps even more so, and the heat stimulated her as he ravaged her pussy. Before long, she was in thorough danger of cumming again despite how recent her last orgasm had been.

Arcanine was at this point barely cogent; her heat was always at its worst when new, and the dual sensations of Tyranitar fucking her cunt and Tyrantrum fucking her mouth were only aggravating it, not salving it. She came without even realizing, her muffled voice around Tyrantrum half howling, half moaning as her pussy fluttered and squirted around Tyranitar, desperately trying to milk him for his seed. Her heat was insatiable; her body needed to be bred, it was aggravating, it was all-encompassing, and with every push of Tyrantrum down her throat she massaged and swallowed him almost without understanding what she was doing. As her orgasm wracked her body, making her loins sing with delight, the tiny node of her that wasn't lost to heat and sexual bliss had concerns--but not for Arcanine herself. Her only thought was for Sydney, and she tried to overcome her urges to try and save her trainer. But it was fruitless. Even if her heat hadn't been at its strongest stage, Tyranitar alone had proven capable of subduing her. She had no chance against him and Tyrantrum both. Her only choice--and Sydney's only choice--was to ride this out. Vion's team was going to have them, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Sydney, despite herself, was also losing herself to pleasure. Her aching cunt had reached the point where every push from Pyroar gave her a sweet, sweet burn, the sensation making her swim in ecstasy that spread out from her slit to the rest of her. She shuddered, cumming again despite herself, and Pyroar rumbled with pride, surging forth with renewed vigor that made Sydney whimper.

"Fucking right," Vion hissed. He was leaning against the lockers, his cock firmly in hand, pumping it back and forth. His vision swept from Sydney to Arcanine and back again. He'd mainly wanted to ensnare his rival, humiliate her with his team, watch his much-vaunted adversary reduced to a writhing shape, stuffed with monster cock and leaking cum. That he'd managed to get one of her teammates had only been a bonus. If he had a way to humiliate the rest of her team, especially that Charizard... maybe seeing the big drake pinned and rutted by Haxorus or Tyrantrum, howling as he tried and failed to escape...

But no. He shook his head. He was getting greedy. Sydney herself was more than enough.

As Vion watched, still pumping his cock, Pyroar's voice hitched in triumph as it slammed home, pumping her full of more cum, seeding her for the third time that day. Sydney shuddered, still helpless against the bench, and the sound of her whimpering against the ice gag as Pyroar came in her sent Vion over the edge. He gasped, spurting at the sight of his rival's miserable helplessness, his cum splattering across the locker room floor. As Pyroar slipped out of Sydney and made his way to her head, Vion released his last pokemon, a Talonflame. The bird pokemon immediately got the measure of the situation.

"Fuck her pussy," Vion breathed, his voice still tremulous from cumming. His cock pulsed in his hand. "Make her feel it."

As Talonflame moved in, Arcanine was thoroughly seeded as Tyranitar finally came, the titanic pokemon's voice rising in a roar. He slipped out and with a shared glance, he and Tyrantrum swapped places, Tyranitar slipping into the canine pokemon's mouth as Tyrantrum took his place in her pussy. Tyrantrum was already close from the oral she'd given him; he'd cum soon enough.

As Arcanine continued shaking from the two Rock-type's attentions, Sydney was getting spitroasted again. Talonflame had perched on the edge of the bench, his wings spread wide; he screeched as his cock thrust into Sydney, who rolled from the intrusion.

Amidst the cacophony of sexual overstimulation, her mind grasped on some odd note. Talonflame, Beartic, Tyrantrum, Pyroar, Haxorus, and his ace, Tyranitar... every one of Vion's battling team was male. She knew why. It was an open secret in the battling circuit that he considered females--whether pokemon or person--good for only two things: sating a male's desires and swelling with offspring. He'd raised his pokemon to share his views. It had alienated him from the others in the circuit, and was why she tried her hardest to show him up--and probably why the fact that he was always second place to her left him so infuriated.

As Talonflame mercilessly ravaged her cunt, Pyroar took his place in Sydney's mouth. The heat of his cock melted the ice gag, but before she could get a word in, he was stuffing himself into her. She had no choice but to take it, trying not to gag as he pushed down into her throat, her swallowing reflex making the lion purr. He apparently didn't need much goading; after only a minute or two of fucking her mouth, she felt his cum splash down into her throat. Chirring, Talonflame matched him, the bird's cum seeping into her.

Both pokemon panting with delight, they glanced up at their trainer and Vion, his cock now deflated and tucked back in his pants, recalled them. Suddenly free of imprisoning pokemon (Pyroar's heat having melted the ice cuffs) Sydney gasped, shuddering as pokemon cum seeped from both her holes, and she tried to roll onto her side, accidentally rolling off the bench and landing on the locker room floor, absolutely drenched in cum.

Vion strode up to her and gazed down with a smile. "You look better like this," he said, and meant it.

Quivering, Sydney glanced up at him, never feeling hate for anyone quite like she had at that moment. "You--" she began and then coughed, wincing, her throat raw and sore from Pyroar and Beartic forcing themselves into her. "They'll... ruin you for this," she croaked.

The smile left Vion's face. "You already ruined me," he snarled back, but it didn't make what she was saying less true. He knew he was a pariah in the circuit for his contempt towards women, and the League hadn't removed him only because they couldn't prove misconduct (odious views on their own not being misconduct.) Between his team's cum, the security feed showing him walking into the locker room, and his own DNA from jizzing on the floor, there'd be enough for the authorities to take action. He'd known that going in. He was prepared to live a life on the run if it was worth putting his hated rival in her place.

"You come back from a sabbatical and humiliate me in front of everyone," he growled. "No matter how expertly I battle, you always show me up. I'm better than half the Gym Leaders in the world and people only know me as that asshole who's never won a fight against you! Fuck you!"

Composing himself, he tugged at his sleeves. "But I suppose my team already did," he said coolly. Behind him, Arcanine moaned as Tyrantrum came in her pussy, Tyranitar rumbling as he jetted cum down her throat mere seconds later. Vion recalled them without a thought and the Fire-type was left shuddering against herself on the floor, panting from heat.

"I'm done battling," he said. "My dreams are broken. You crushed them. I told myself that if I didn't win against you today, I would pay you back. I thought about having my way with you, redeeming you by making you bear my child..."

He reached over and Sydney tried to flinch away, but he grabbed her breast and squeezed. She moaned as the pressure forced some milk out of her, the pale liquid dribbling down her chest. "Thought so," Vion hissed. "You hid it well but your figure looks a little fuller, like you've had a kid. But you weren't showing a few months ago, so let me guess? You let a pokemon knock you up?" He read the answer in her eyes and shook his head. "Disgusting. Can't believe I lost to a degenerate like you. When I realized your womb had pokemon babies in it, I knew it wasn't worthy of my seed. But hey. If you're going to get in the business of breeding pokemon yourself, at least I could get you that way." He nodded at her tummy. "What knocked you up? Your Charizard? Whatever it was, fuck them. My team is superior. You can even keep the babies as a memento, your Arcanine too. My treat."

Sydney tried to raise herself from the floor, but her body was too weak, and she collapsed almost as soon as she started. She curled in against herself, still leaking cum, only half-conscious.

"No matter how high you get," Vion growled, "remember that I beat you. I beat you and bred you full of monster babies and the only reason you're not pregnant with my kid right now is because you don't deserve it." Then with his hands in his pockets, he stalked out of the locker room before people really started looking for the missing trainer.


Every high-ranking trainer in the battling circuit has a liaison with the League, a representative who works with them and others to set up headlining matches and arrange for high-profile trades. Sydney's liaison was Tammy, Tam to her friends. The two of them had gone to the same high school together, had flirted and dated briefly and even after breaking it off got along like Piplup and poffins. Tammy had been the one who had set up the interview, had been the one who'd been called when Sydney had been late, and was now the one walking through the halls of the stadium, worry growing.

"Sydney, girl, where are you," she muttered.

She checked the pitch, first, just to get it squared away, and then immediately headed for the locker rooms.

Immediately on stepping inside, she knew something was wrong. It smelled of sex.

Her heart spiking, Tammy rushed in to find both Sydney and one of her pokemon, the Arcanine, huddled wearily against each other. Sydney was naked and both trainer and pokemon were covered in cum and, Tammy noted with increasing alarm, had some leaking out of both mouth and vagina.

Sydney met Tammy's eyes and she opened her mouth to speak. "V--V--"

"Vion," Tammy finished with a snarl. She immediately figured out what had happened. The sheer amount of cum, plus the force needed to stop a pokemon like Arcanine from interfering, indicated that Vion had let his team force themselves on the two of them.

Human/pokemon relations were an open secret in the League; everyone knew they happened, and a number of high-profile female trainers (even a few Gym Leaders) were suspected of bearing offspring for their pokemon. But to force a pokemon on a person was the ultimate taboo.

Tammy was going to destroy him. Not just his League credentials. Not just his career. He'd spend decades in jail at least, and his pokemon would be kept in holding facilities for dangerous creatures for as long as they lived.

As Tammy gently helped Sydney to her feet, the Ace Trainer croaked out, "The... The interview..."

"I can cancel it," Tammy said. "I'll tell them you're not feeling well." Which is certainly the case, she thought. "Come on. Let's get you looked at."


As soon as she was checked into the Center (which, while no hospital, was capable of looking after people as well) Sydney had insisted that Arcanine needed to be brought out of her heat. When Tammy had inquired how, Sydney had given her the contact information for a rancher whose land adjoined hers. "His Rapidash is her usual partner," she said. "Tell him I'm calling in a favor. I need her out of this."

The rancher had arrived posthaste, and though Tammy hadn't given him all the details, he'd been willing to help upon figuring out that something had happened to Sydney. Arcanine had been acting up since the locker room--partly because of the heat, and partly, Tammy thought, because of what had happened to her trainer. She had been locked in a room for pokemon who were difficult to control, and was pacing it, alternately growling at nothing and rubbing her nethers against the wall, whining.

The rancher had used a special device to let Rapidash inside without going in himself, and Arcanine had whirled at the sight of an intruder--

Only to see her oldest and most trusted breeding partner.

Immediately melting, Arcanine whimpered desperately, turning and showing herself off to the stallion, communicating to him that bad pokemon had made her horny and she wanted to be there for her trainer but she was just too consumed with heat! Rapidash understood; trotting over, he was willing to give her attention.

They fucked throughout the day, Rapidash being a tender and passionate lover, using all his past knowledge from breeding Arcanine (who had borne nearly a dozen of his children) to help sate her. Sometimes he took her hard and fast, his pace breakneck, and at other times he was soft and gentle, listening to her whimper from his ministrations. He knew she liked getting surprised with sex while in heat and after making sure she was still okay with it, he made sure to surprise her--cantering up to her as if to play only to mount her, and at one time even taking her while she was eating.

They spent the whole day making love, mating over and over, and Rapidash came inside of her more times than he could count--but eventually, after a day's attentions, Arcanine was finally sated, her heat abated.

She nuzzled up to him, murmuring her thanks, and then she paced, waiting for the moment the humans would realize she was in control and safe to let near her trainer.

Sydney needed her.


The rancher had done another favor for Sydney: at Tammy's request, he had brought over the two Growlithe pups who were frolicking in her stable. Tammy had gasped at them--they had such handsome, healthy coats, and one was even a shiny.

A few days after the incident, the day before Sydney was due to be released from the Center, Tammy had walked into her room and stopped dead. Sydney had one of her two pups, the male, curled up against her chest. The puppy was at her breast, happily drinking away, his little belly rounding slightly from so much milk; her other breast also dribbled a little fluid, showing that the other pup, now curled, dozing, at the foot of her bed, had just finished getting her dinner.

Sydney met Tammy's eyes and looked weary, but she nodded. "Hey, Tam," she said. "Come on in."

Swallowing, Tammy moved almost robotically into the room and sat down on a chair. Sydney finished nursing Blaze within a few minutes and set the Growlithe down, where he plodded sleepily over to his sister and curled against her, instantly falling asleep.

Sydney smiled down at them with what Tammy realized could only have been a mother's love.

Catching Tammy's eyes, Sydney nodded. "...yeah," she confirmed with a sigh. "They're mine."

But how? Tammy wondered. Sydney had an Arcanine, but she was female!

Seeing Tammy's confusion, Sydney laughed. "It's... a long story, Tam," Sydney said. "But they're mine and I love them."

Looking down at her belly, Sydney's face tightened as if she was about to cry. "I had the nurses run tests on me," she said. "They came back a couple hours ago. I'm... I'm p-pregnant again. At least one of Vion's team knocked me up. Probably all four that forced themselves on me."

Tammy's mouth dried. Fuck. Fuck.

She'd directed the League in a manhunt to find Sydney's assaulter, but Vion had all but vanished. He was likely out in the wilderness, living off the land--with six pokemon as powerful as his, it would be easy for him. He was still at large.

"Sydney," Tammy began tentatively, "what are you--"

"I'm keeping them," Sydney rejoined fiercely. She met Tammy's eyes. "He thinks he broke me and humiliated me, but he didn't. I'm going to--I'll bear these pokemon, lay the eggs, and when they hatch I'll keep them and I'll raise them to be better than Vion or his team, and I'll love them and be proud of them. They won't be his, they'll be mine," she pressed, "and I'll raise them right and when they're fully evolved and well-behaved and proud and powerful, that will be my revenge against him, because I'm a better battler than he could ever be, and I'm better at raising pokemon too, and I'm a better person, and I'll prove it by raising these little ones. They don't deserve for me to get mad at them just because of what he and his team did, it's not their fault!"

After she finished, her breath was short, as if she just finished a race, and she looked at Tammy almost as if expecting to be challenged.

"You're right, Sydney," Tammy said. "I support you. I think it's a good decision." She reached out to grab Sydney's hand almost tentatively and Sydney took it, smiling at her, and Tammy blushed--it was like they were in high school again, giggling and stealing kisses after class.

"Thanks, Tam," Sydney said. Then she sighed. "I'll need to take another sabbatical again, and so soon after the last one, people will ask questions--"

"I'll help," Tammy said instantly, and Sydney glanced at her with relief. "I'll--say it's League business or something, I don't know. Your secret's safe with me."

Sydney smiled coyly at her. "Promise?"

Tammy's breath caught. In high school, they'd sealed secrets with a kiss. Sydney had just undergone a lot, but she was looking at Tammy expectantly. Did she--did she dare--

She did. Quickly, before she could talk herself out of it, Tammy leaned in and planted her lips on Sydney's. Syndey let out a small meep before instantly melting against Tammy's touch. She pulled her hand up to caress the back of Tammy's head, running her fingers through her hair.

When the kiss broke, Tammy met Sydney's eyes. "Promise," she breathed, and Sydney blushed and smiled and then Tammy dived back in, kissing her even more passionately, and she felt Sydney's hand trace down the side of her neck, trailing over her shoulder before reaching down to cup Tammy's breast, and Tammy moaned at the touch--

A knock at the door immediately split them apart, Tammy blushing and Sydney blushing harder. One of the puppies raised their head at the noise, blinking and yawning, before going back to sleep with a snuffle.

"Who--um, come in," Sydney said lamely.

The door creaked open and one of the hospital staff let in her Charizard. Sydney squealed with delight--she hadn't seen him since the battle.

Charizard rushed over to Sydney with worry; Arcanine had brought him up to speed on what had happened, and he nuzzled her with concern, his voice low and gravelly. Tammy watched and realized that Sydney's relationship with Charizard was more than just trainer-pokemon.

Well, she thought, I don't mind sharing.

After Charizard had cuddled with her for a few minutes, he grew anxious. Worry for his trainer--his mate--had morphed into anger at what had been done to her, and both Sydney and Tammy watched with alarm as his tail flame flickered blue, a sign of furious wrath in his species. Sydney tried to reassure him by saying that she was alright, no lasting damage, she was going to keep her head high and not let this defeat her, but Charizard was too worked up. As he stalked out of the room, he glanced behind him to see Tammy close in on Sydney, the two of them touching foreheads and holding hands.

Even in anger, Charizard wasn't an idiot. Sydney was his mate, but he knew that she loved Arcanine as much as him, and he didn't mind--after all, he had sex with Aggron almost as much as he did with Sydney, so it would have been hypocritical otherwise. And now Sydney was being courted by this female human? Well, she was allowed.

Besides, he had to admit: the League woman was pretty attractive.

But that clinical observation didn't turn aside his anger. Stalking out of the Center, he flew off a few miles to a secluded mountaintop clearing--then, imagining that the boulders and trees were Vion and his pokemon, Charizard unleashed his fury, searing stumps black and leaving rocks scorched and hot.

Messing with Charizard's mate had been a mistake, and even if they didn't know where Vion was at the moment, Charizard knew: he was going to make the human pay.