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“There we go.”
Brendan groans as he sits himself down on an overturned log. In front of him, a campfire gently crackles, casting a warm light on the camp he just finished setting up. The sun set mere moments ago, and the beautiful starry sky above the forests of Johto fill him with a sense of ease. After letting out a deep sigh and stretching his back with a satisfying “pop,” he removes his bag from his person and begins to rummage through it.
“Alright, it’s safe for you to come out.”
Removing a luxury ball from his bag, he gently presses the button and holds the capsule steady. Predictably, the black top of the ball snaps backwards, releasing a stream of red light into the space before him. This red light morphs and grows, slowly getting bigger and bigger until the blob of color begins to take on a solid shape. Finally, after a few more moments, the light disappears, revealing the Pokémon that had been contained inside.
“...I-I’m sorry, Brendan.”
“Hey, don’t start beating yourself up. You did great today.”
Before Brendan stands a particularly large Goodra. Standing at about nine feet tall, the pudgy dragon would have an intimidating figure if not for how soft and squishy her outward appearance is. Said appearance is appropriate to her character as well, as her quiet, sheepish demeanor does little to make the powerful Pokémon seem threatening by any definition of the word.
Right now, however, her body is covered in all sorts of scrapes and bruises. The mucus that typically covers her body seems more scattered, and the areas of her stomach and back that lack said mucus appear to be quickly drying out. There’s a scratch under one of her eyes that looks as though it had been bleeding, but stopped thanks to her aforementioned mucus’s swiftness at helping clean her wounds. All in all, none of her injuries are all that severe, but it’s clear from a glance how her most recent battle played out.
“You say that, but this is my fourth loss in a row.”
“OUR fourth loss. Don’t start blaming yourself, Deedee. You did everything I commanded, and you did it excellently. We were simply outmatched, nothing more. Now, c’mere.”
Brendan motions for Deedee to come closer, which she hesitantly does. Without needing to say a word, she sits herself down on the ground in front of him. She’s still noticeably taller than he is, but this at least closes the gap somewhat. Meanwhile, he reaches back into his bag and retrieves a bottle of hyper potion, a cloth, and some bandages. Without missing a beat, he sprays some of the potion onto the cloth and gently presses it against the scratch beneath Deedee’s eye.
“Ah!”
“Eesh, sorry. That Kingdra really did a number on you.”
“I wasn’t fast enough.”
“And I didn’t come up with a strategy to work around that.” His voice is gentle as he continues to apply the medicine. Almost like magic, the scratch seems to heal over instantly as the effects of the hyper potion kick in. It’s a quick burning sensation that makes Deedee wince every time, but such is the nature of medicine. “A more defensive approach would have benefited us, I think.”
“S-sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, dummy. I’m criticizing myself, not you.” With a smile and a chuckle, Brendan places a quick, teasing kiss on where the scratch was moments ago before making his way down towards her chest. A deep blush spreads across her cheeks as she looks away from her trainer. Meanwhile, he begins repeating the process on the numerous other injuries across her body. “This is a pretty nice clearing. We can review how the battle went and do some training tomorrow, okay?”
“Y-yes. Thank you, M–Brendan.” It’s taken Deedee a long time to heed Brendan’s advice and refer to him by name rather than the typical “master” or “trainer” that is common amongst other speaking Pokémon. However, he was quite insistent that they be on a first-name basis. “I really need to stop picking fights, don’t I?”
“What is that saying people throw out all the time? ‘If two trainers’ eyes meet, they have to battle?’ It was gonna happen anyway, haha!”
“Maybe, but I shouldn’t have insisted on being the one you sent out. Gardie would have been a much better fit for that battle.”
“But you were the one that wanted to battle. Who am I to deprive you of that?”
“A trainer that just got his butt kicked, that’s who!”
“And we both learned from it, didn’t we?” Once again, Brendan places a smooch on a healed wound as he reassures his anxious giant of a Pokémon. The way that this simultaneously makes her blush and calm down reveals that this is routine for them. “We’ll get ‘em next time. I promise.”
After giving her another warm smile, he pats her on the thigh. Taking that as her cue, she shuffles around to show Brendan her back. Her tail went mostly unscathed, so Brendan unabashedly stands up from the log and places himself down on top of it as he works on her back. Said tail is thick and squishy, making for a comfortable seat. Most would likely be turned off by the goo-like mucus covering it and the rest of Deedee’s body, but Brendan doesn’t mind. If anything, he finds it comforting.
“...You’re always like this. Every single time.”
“Hm?”
“You’re so… patient, I guess. You act all kind and loving whenever I lose. O-or win, for that matter.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not at all! I-it’s just… not what I was expecting when you caught me.”
“I don’t really make a habit of catching Pokémon willy-nilly without their consent, but I wasn’t about to leave you to die in a mountain blizzard.”
“...” Deedee lets out a long, deep sigh. “It never really was much of a home for me. I’ve always been weak. I had to evolve quickly just to beat out my peers on the food chain.”
“Do you wish you were still there?”
Deedee lets out an incredulous snort, and Brendan smiles at how cute it is.
“Absolutely not! You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I-I just figured I’d be out of the frying pan and into the fryer. Or… out of the blizzard and into the… analogy.”
“Well, if nothing else, I’m happy to have you around.”
Finishing up with the last of her wounds, Brendan puts the potion and the cloth aside before throwing his arms around her torso, giving her a warm hug from behind. She lets out a small gasp, but makes no effort to stop him. At this point, the blush on her cheeks is more or less permanent.
The two of them stay like that for a long, quiet moment before Brendan pulls away and grabs the bandages.
“Can you wrap yourself up, or do you need my help tonight?”
“I-I think I can do it. Thank you.”
Brendan smiles and nods as he hands her the bandages before reaching into his bag yet again. From it, he retrieves a wooden mortar and pestle, as well as a smaller bag filled with an assortment of berries. He grabs two oran berries and a leppa berry, carefully places them into the mortar, and begins to pound them into a purple mush. By the time they’re sufficiently crushed and mixed, he tips the mortar’s contents into a pot and places the pot above the fire. Satisfied with his work, he turns to Deedee, who has finished bandaging her more sore injuries.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
“Good. Our little miracle cure is just about done.”
“I can’t believe those guys in Cianwood gave you the recipe.”
“They only did because we beat them in a battle. You went to town on that poor Tyranitar!”
“O-oh. Right.”
“And in a few days, you’ll go to town on that Kingdra, too.”
“You really think so?”
“Of course. I believe in you.”
“...”
“...We’ll win.” Reaching over, Brendan grabs one of Deedee’s hands. Despite her massive stature, her hands are small relative to the rest of her body. As a result, they fit quite comfortably in Brendan’s own. “We’ll learn, we’ll get stronger, and we’ll win. Just like we do every single time we lose.”
“...Every single time. Right.”
“And then I’ll treat ya to a nice dinner!” Brendan lets go of her hand and instead grabs the pot, pouring the now-liquified contents into a bowl and handing it over. “Unlike tonight. This stuff tastes awful.”
“Eh, I don’t really mind it.” True to her word, she throws the bowl’s contents down her throat without a moment’s hesitation, not even flinching as it goes down. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand before a tiny burp escapes her, causing her to look away in embarrassment. “I-it’s better than what we had on that mountain, at least.”
“I believe it.” With a slight groan, Brendan stands up and stretches his back yet again, his hands balled into fists and pointed at the air. “Anyway, if you’re holding up alright, I think I’m gonna go to bed. Your ball is on top of everything else in the bag when you’re ready to retire.”
“W-wait!” Brendan freezes just as he was opening the flaps to his tent, turning his head to look at her with confusion at the sound of her objection. “C-can I… no, never mind.”
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yes, I…”
“What’s on your mind?”
“I just wanted to know if I could… you know… sleep with you?”
“What was that? You’re gonna have to speak up.”
“I… I want to sleep with you tonight.”
“Sure.”
“Yeah, I– wait, really?”
“Come on in. It might be a bit tight for both of us, but I don’t mind.”
With a tiny, excited gasp, Deedee quickly scrambles to follow her trainer into the tent. True to his word, it’s tight when they’re both inside. It’s a completely average tent, but her massive size does them no favors. Brendan lays down on his back, prompting Deedee to do the same next to him. However, her sheer size causes her to lean heavily on the tent wall, which threatens to collapse under her weight. This, in turn, forces her onto her side, where she faces Brendan directly. She feels her face growing even hotter than it was.
“I-I’m sorry, this was an awful idea. I’m just gonna–!”
Before she can move, Brendan, too, turns on his side. He wraps his arms around her huge, pudgy figure, allowing himself to sink into her soft form. Although she is permanently covered in a layer of goopy mucus, he takes comfort in it. It’s warm. It’s safe. It’s downright inviting, and he’s never been more comfortable.
With his head nestled just beneath her own, she isn’t sure how to react. After remaining frozen in shock for what feels like an eternity, she allows herself to wrap her arms around him in response. He, too, is very warm, and being around him makes her feel just as safe as she makes him. She can’t prevent a smile from spreading across her face.
This is where she’s meant to be.
Closing her eyes, she tilts her head downwards. She puckers her lips so that she might kiss her trainer on the head, only for him to shift at the last minute. Her eyes shoot open as she realizes that he’s turned to greet her head on, their lips meeting somewhere in the middle. Despite her shock, he seems completely unphased. If anything, he appears quite content as he closes his eyes and presses against her.
He planned this!
Suddenly feeling bold, she presses back with just as much force. The next thing either of them know, their tongues are dancing in each other’s mouths, her moans escaping her and filling the dark tent. Even after they pull away, a messy trail of saliva links them together. Neither say a word. Neither need to say a word.
Moments later, they feel the sweet embrace of sleep overtake them as they hold each other close.