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Pokémon Polyamory

Chapter 14: Trekking through Ilex

Sponsored by Nova_42

By Draconicon

He slept through the night with ease, and surprising ease, at that. Jared half-expected to be hit with another dream, something else to remind him of what he should be doing, but instead, he just conked out hard. He didn't wake up until the morning light started breaking through the mists of Ilex Forest, and he groaned as he rolled onto his side, feeling the string-shot blanket sticking to him ever so slightly. Not enough to trap him, but enough to make it a little bit tricky to get out from under it.

As he negotiated his freedom from the various sticky strands, Shimmer descended from the tree-tops. The new Pidgeotto looked at him with a slightly bemused expression on her beak, cocking her head to the side.

"Need some help?"

"Not really. How are you?" he asked as he pinched at the sticky points and slowly dragged them free. "Enjoying yourself?"

"I suppose that's one way to put it."

"..." He would have slapped himself if he'd had a hand sufficiently free. Instead, he slowly turned his head and fixed her with a stare.

"Really? We're joking now?"

"You can hear me now. I felt the opportunity was right," she said with a slight chuckle before hopping over to him. "Are you sure you don't need help?"

"I don't want to rip anything. No offense, but beak and talons..."

"Well, the latter didn't rip anything last night."

"Don't remind me."

"Are you saying that you did not like my talons?"

The way that she said it made it clear that she was merely teasing, but the way that she held up one set and clasped the air as if she was repeating the same movements she'd made along his shaft last night didn't help. He gritted his teeth, thankful that his morning wood was invisible beneath his clothes and the blanket.

"I didn't say that."

"I know."

She lowered her leg, hopping forward and giving him the gentlest of nibbles along his ear. It was a soft tease, and he sighed.

"Sorry. I'm still...not sure how I feel about that."

"I'm sure. I am out of your league, after all."

"...Sure, let's go with that."

Shimmer took wing, going back up to the top of the tree. He figured that she was trying to find their route through the forest as he worked himself free of the blanket. That would be helpful; for all that he was the one that was carrying everyone along, he didn't know where he was going, and he didn't want to get them further lost if he could help it.

Finally, he managed to free himself from the sticky blanket, and he folded it up. Oddly enough, it didn't stick to itself, but he'd take that. By the time that it was packed up and away, Shimmer had returned from the canopy.

"We aren't far from the edge of the forest, but it will be a trip."

"Why?"

"The paths wind every which way. It won't be easy to find a clear one."

"And we can't go between the trees because..."

"Beedrill."

"...Oh."

"Yes. I am quite strong, but I would prefer not to fight so many of them, if that's alright with you."

"More than alright. More than alright."

As he adjusted his clothes, trying to sort through the right route, he managed to jostle the other three pokéballs at his waist. They fell, bounced, and opened all at once. Croccy, Snugs, and Lurch all popped out, the last of them wobbling as he struggled to find his balance. Snugs lunged for his legs and got to squeezing and nuzzling, while Croccy bounced and danced as he always did when he got free of the ball. As usual, it was rather cute, though the bigger body of a Croconaw left more of an impact on the earth as he danced around than he had done as a Totodile.

"Hahaha! Good morning, good morning, good - oh, what's that?" Croccy sniffed the air, and no sooner had he done so than he grinned. "Hahaha, you two had fuuuuuuun."

"...Great." Jared shook his head, covering his face. "Right. You can smell that."

"Ooooh yeah. And it's a strong smell. How much fun did you have? Hey, Shimmer - oh, wow, you got big."

"I will take that as a comment about my size rather than my weight," the Pidgeotto said, preening a feather. "But yes, I have grown larger. All the better for what Jared will be doing with me in the future, I'm sure."

And there was that reminder. He blushed worse, trying not to think about just what the Pokémon team were going to be expecting from him now. It was one thing when it had been that one-off and he had just had that bit of fun with Croccy, but now that they had all had fun in some way or another, it was almost like the team expected it to continue. Did he really want to do that?

Did he really want to stop?

His dick didn't, that was for sure. The thought of getting in bed with any of the four of them still got it going, though he would have to do something with Lurch to keep from getting those acid burns along his cock-head again. That, uh, that hadn't been fun.

At the same time -

Think about that later. Guilt can wait. For now, get through the forest.

"Hey, let's focus on the path, huh?" Jared said, nodding to the rough trail that they'd been following so far. "Shimmer, you want to get back in the ball for a rest, or?"

"I will fly ahead. The others may follow you."

"Hey, I wanted to know how he did!" Croccy shouted after the flying bird-type. "Hey!"

"I am not one to kiss and tell."

That was all that Shimmer said before she had disappeared down the forest path. Shaking his head, Jared followed, and the three Pokémon followed him. Lurch extended his vines, grabbing hold of him by the shoulder and lifting himself up to ride up there. Croccy kept pace on one side, and Snugs kept up on the other, hissing happily.

"Hehehe, this is niiiiice. Short grass, tickle-grass, but not too tickly. Nice and warm."

"And soft!"

"And smells nice."

They were obviously happy to be out of their balls, and he was more than happy to see that they were happy. He made a mental note to be sure to let them all out a little more often, just so they didn't feel stifled in the balls.

They were making good time, too. The sun hadn't been up for long, and as they walked along, he found himself speeding up from time to time when he wouldn't have bothered for himself. When he spotted different bug-types in the trees and wanted to avoid a fight, he'd put on the gas, making sure that his team followed at the same speed. Best to keep away from the provocateurs, as far as he was concerned.

Of course, they were all curious about how last night had gone. From the way they talked, they knew that Shimmer had had this plan for a while, and they knew that it was something that the bird-type had wanted. They kept asking how Shimmer had done, what it was like, what kind of things he'd enjoyed and she'd enjoyed.

Through it all, he kept his mouth shut. If his new Pidgeotto wasn't going to blab, then neither was he.

It was an odd feeling, and he realized that it was dealing with the sort of different affections that all the different members of the team had for him. Shimmer had this sort of teasing but genuine respect for him, something that allowed her to be both prideful and gentle. Croccy had this boisterous, physical affection that pushed for all kinds of things, macho but silly at the same time. Lurch was shy, reserved, but very wanting to be touched and eager to have the attention and protection and attachment to another. And Snugs -

"Gah!"

He had to grab a branch as the Ekans suddenly grabbed him by one leg in a coiling snuggle. It would have tripped him up and sent him flying to the ground in the space of a second if he hadn't been paying attention and been somewhat ready for it, and even then, he had to sag against the branch for a moment before he could pull himself back up.

"Snugs...later?"

"Hehehehe...alright. Games later."

The snake uncoiled from him, and he shook his head. Silly serpent was silly.

Snugs was different to the other three mostly by the way that he was so...childish. Not necessarily stupid, but compared to the other three, which had some level of maturity, Ekans was the epitome of being silly and affectionate, more like a child than an adult. It made him worry just a bit about what they were doing, and he didn't know if it was an Ekans thing or if there was something else that he needed to be concerned about.

Maybe he should look for some more Ekans, and just see what they were like. Or maybe he had a -

No, he'd wait and find out. That's all that he needed to do.

They followed the path for a time, and eventually, Shimmer returned. The Pidgeotto hovered in the air for a moment before landing on the path proper, sinking her talons through the grass as if eager to be off her wings for a bit.

"We may have a slight problem," she said.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Two-fold, actually. There's a man that's blocking the path up ahead, worrying about a missing Pokémon of his. Normally, I wouldn't call this a concern, but he is standing in the way of the easy path forward."

"Alright, that's...something we can work with. And the other part?"

"If we can get by him, there's some kind of tree between us and the rest of the path."

"A tree?" Croccy asked. "There's trees everywhere."

"Not like this one."

Shimmer seemed oddly serious for the moment, and that meant that he was ready to take what she was saying as seriously as she presented it. If she was concerned about the tree further along the path, then he was willing to treat it the same. He rubbed his forehead, trying to think it through.

Obviously, people passed from one side of the forest to the other. There was no other clear route from Azalea Town to Goldenrod, and that meant that they had to go through this if they wanted to get from town to town. That, or they had to go a long way out of their way, going most of the way back to Violet in order to swing around and make their way to Goldenrod.

So, if there was a way through, how did they find it? Answer, they talked to the man wandering through the forest. And if he was missing something, then finding it would give them leverage.

"Alright. Fan out. See if any of you can find some kind of tracks. Shimmer, how did you know he was missing a Pokémon?"

"He wouldn't shut up," the Pidgeotto said, shaking her head. "He was mumbling, but I have never, ever heard someone so broken up about something like this."

All the more reason to get it back to him, then, I guess, he thought. And here I was starting to wonder if anyone actually cared about their Pokémon...

"What's he looking for?"

"A Farfetch'd, of all things."

"Alright. Fan out and look for tracks, feathers, whatever. I'll wait here; back in thirty minutes?"

"I'll find it in ten!" Croccy boasted.

"Nine!" Snugs hissed with a grin.

"Eight," Shimmer said with a huff.

"...um...it's over there," Lurch said.

The Bellsprout pointed with one shaky leaf off to the side, where the leek-toting bird could be seen marching down the forest path just on the other side of the trees between them and it. The Farfetch'd didn't seem to notice them, and was just tossing its leek from wing to wing, beating the occasional bug out of the way when they decided that they were sick of seeing the feathered being in their territory.

The various Pokémon around Jared all stared at it, and then at Lurch, mouths hanging open. On Snugs, that was particularly wide, and he half-swore that he heard the snake dislocate its jaw in the process.

Jared chuckled, giving the Bellsprout a little pat behind the bulb.

"Good job, Lurch."

"Thanks..."

"Alright, everyone. Let's get a Farfetch'd."

After untold shenanigans that would have taken far too long to explain, a bruised, battered, and scratched Jared climbed down from a tree with a Farfetch'd tucked under his arm. The mischievous thing had run all over the place, leading them on a merry chase, and it had made it very, very annoying to try and catch it. It took a combination of Shimmer blowing Beedrills out of their hiding places, Snugs blasting the Farfetch'd with one Leer attack after another, and Lurch using Vine Whip to immobilize the little guy to finally catch him, and by the time that was all done, they were exhausted. The entire team trudged along in exhaustion, and both Shimmer and Snugs tapped their balls to slide in and get some rest.

Still, at least it was done. He kept the Farfetch'd under his arm the entire way back, and Croccy hopped along at his side. Lurch sagged against his shoulder, obviously tired, but just as obviously rather proud of himself. That made Jared feel better about the whole thing. It just felt right to have his team happy.

Eventually, they reached the crossroads that Shimmer had described and found an older man waiting for them. The dick was standing literally right in the middle of the narrow crossroads of the forest, and it was clear that he didn't even know that he was blocking the various paths through the forest. Jared narrowed his eyes, fighting the urge to complain about stupidity again. He won, and walked up to the man in the fancy suit and top-hat.

"Excuse me," he said, putting his best civil tone on.

"Hmm? Who's there?" the old man said, whirling around. "What the blazes - oh my GOODNESS!"

He ran forward, coming to a stop just before he could bowl Jared over. His hands were all over the Farfetch'd, cupping the bird's beak, leaning down and brushing his head against the little guy.

"Oh, goodness, I thought you were long gone. Oh, you shouldn't have run off like that."

And just like that, the whole thing seemed more worth it. Jared sighed.

"I'm guessing this troublemaker is yours."

"Oh, yes. He's part of the business, part of my little family. Where did you find him?"

"Making trouble for Beedrills and everything else in the forest."

"Oh...well...I suppose he is a little spoiled."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Offering the bird to the older man, he leaned back against one of the trees, making sure not to knock anything over that might have been resting in it. He groaned as he took a little weight off his feet, feeling more tired than he realized.

"So, had a favor to ask," he said.

"Oh, I would be happy to oblige, young man. Not everyone would just bring this poor guy back."

"Yeah, yeah. Look. How the hell do I get out of here?"

"Oh. Out? Um...where are you going, exactly?"

"Goldenrod."

"Ah. Right. Then you're, um...you'll need some help, won't you?" The old man blinked a bit, tapping his chin. "Now how do you...right, right, that's how you do that, but how do you - right. That's the route."

"Sometime today?"

"Oh, right. Sorry. It's just been so long since I've taken that route. Probably overgrown now, but not to worry!" The old man pulled his hat off his head, rooting around inside before finally pulling out a metallic disc. "This will solve that problem."

"...And what's that?"

"Oh. You don't know what an HM is?"

"...Is that the thing that teaches Pokémon moves? Like -" He paused, looking at Lurch, and held a hand over the little guy's mouth. "Like Flash?"

FWOOSH! The light suddenly burst outwards, lighting up his hand and leaving the little guy brighter than anything else in the forest. Even with the shading hand, the old man flinched back, covering his own eyes for a moment.

"Yes, yes! Look away, please, look - oh goodness, that was bright."

"Yeah, well, what's that move going to do?"

"Well, all the HMs teach different moves. This one teaches a better one, called Cut. It slices through things in your way."

"..."

"I'm pretty sure both of your Pokémon can learn it, young man."

How the hell do people have these and not use them to break into houses? he wondered. I mean, that just sounds like something to cut doors apart or something.

Even so, it might be useful. He looked between Croccy and Lurch, and then looked back to Croccy. The Croconaw hadn't actually done much, and still had the most energy of the team. He knelt down, looking his first Pokémon in the eye.

"You want this one?"

"Not really, but - oh, does that mean I get to stay out more?"

"Probably."

"Then yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

He chuckled. So much for any hesitation. He got up, then realized that the old man was staring at him. He shrugged.

"Guessing; he's got some sounds that he makes I've figured out."

"Ah, you've studied him? Good lad."

"Yeah. Sure. So...teach him?"

"Yes, yes, right, right. Let me show you..."

The process was more efficiently done than the last time, though Croccy was still dizzy as could be after the disc was applied. The poor guy wobbled back and forth, both hands pressed to his head, and his eyes were dazed afterward. The old man tossed the disc back into his hat and put it back on.

"He'll be right as rain in short order, no worries there. Just tell him to use Cut whenever you reach something that won't come down."

"How do you have that, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm the Charcoal Cutter. Have to get my material somehow, right?"

"And your Farfetch'd...?"

"Is my cutter."

"...Find a better word for that."

"What? Oh. Oh!" The old man's cheeks went red. "Oh, right, because it sounds like -"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Oh, my gracious."

"Well, there's two favors for you. Now. Move?"

"Oh, right, yes. Feel free to go along your way, young man."

The old guy stepped out of the crossroad, allowing him to move along the path that Shimmer had suggested at the start. He didn't have to go far before he found the plant that she had mentioned, or rather, the tree.

It was big, and more importantly, it was woven through all the other trees in the area. It was like the roots and branches had come down and formed something more like yarn, something that created a dense, woven barrier that there was no way to climb through. Judging by the unpleasant humming in the canopy, climbing over was no better an idea.

Well, shit.

He stared at the big tree, then down at Croccy. The little guy was slowly getting his balance back, though he was still rubbing his head dizzily.

"You think you can do this?" he muttered.

"Do what? Oh, that. Yeah-yeah."

"You sure? Because if you're not, tell me."

"Oh, come on. I'm Croccy! I'm the best."

"Alright then...Croccy?"

"Mmmm."

"Cut."

He pointed at the tree roots ahead, and suddenly, Croccy leaped into action. It was like the little guy suddenly had some horrible grudge against the tree in front of them, because his arms came forward and his claws came down with such force that it ripped through the wood as if there was nothing there. The rending, cracking, ripping sound of wood being torn and shattered filled the air.

He stared at the hole that Croccy was cutting through the tree branches and roots, unable to believe the size of the bark and wood piles that were being left behind. It was almost something out of this world, something impossible.

And yet, there it was.

As Croccy cut through the tree, he lowered himself down and crawled after, pulling his shirt over his mouth to keep it from getting filled with the shavings still flying through the air. It was the right move, not just to cover his face, but to follow. The wood was closing behind him.

What the hell...

The forest was a strange place, he had already decided that, but the fact that the tree could close up after that, shutting behind them? That was something that hit the weird-button in a huge way. It shouldn't be growing that fast.

Then again, it shouldn't have grown out to the other trees, either.

Croccy cut through to the other side and he leaped out after the Croconaw. They both looked back, watching as the wood sealed up behind them over the course of a minute or three, leaving them locked on the far side.

"Well...that was a thing," Jared said, pulling his shirt back down.

"That's so COOL!"

"Yeah, well, wouldn't have been cool if we were caught inside."

"True. But still. Cool!"

"...Heh. Guess so."

He groaned as he pulled himself to his feet, glancing at the path ahead. It looked fairly straightforward, and from what he could see, it went ahead, looped about, and then looped again to take them towards the exit. That was pretty easy to follow, and with the canopy clearing in the distance, it looked like they would be able to make it out without being molested too much by the bugs. The thicker hives were left behind.

"Come on," he said, gently patting Croccy on the head and slowly pulling some of Lurch's vines away from his neck and head. "It's fine now, Lurch, you can let go."

"Mmmmmmmph."

"You can let go."

"I...I...Okay..."

The little Bellsprout was happy enough to return to the ball after that. He shook his head. It was definitely a sad thing that poor little Lurch had such a fear problem, but at least he was there to help the Bellsprout out just a little bit. It was better than leaving him on his own. More to the point, it seemed to help him be brave, too, considering what the little guy had been like in the Well.

He and Croccy followed the trail forward, and the light continued to grow stronger as it poured through parts of the canopy that were no longer so thick. The light mist that laid over Ilex started to fade, and soon, they were walking beside a little pond. He smiled at the way that the water rippled, guessing that there were a few water-types inside that were probably keeping an eye on them.

He was mostly right.

The surface of the pond broke, and before he or Croccy could react, a large, flat-headed yellow shape came flying in their direction. It was just big enough to take Jared in the legs and Croccy in the chest, and it bowled them both over. The yellow thing kept rolling away, but Jared could have sworn that he heard it muttering and yelping and...quacking?

"What...the hell...was that?" he groaned.

"Don't know, but owwwww, my snout..."

"My legs..."

"My head..."

"My hips..."

"He didn't even hit your hips!"

"Yeah, but I feel hard." Jared groaned. "Ow."

As he managed to sit up again, he saw other yellow, duck-billed faces lifting out of the pond. All of them looked at him, then cocked their heads to the side in unison.

"Psy?" was the sound of the loud, uniform quack.

"Psyducks. Figures."

Jared levered himself back to his feet, shaking his head and rubbing his legs before reaching down and helping Croccy up. The Croconaw growled, stomping his feet a few times as he glared at the pond.

"Why'd you knock me down, huh?"

"Psy?"

"You didn't mean to? What do you mean you didn't mean to?"

"Duck."

"You didn't say to duck!"

"Psy."

"Implication? Uh-uh. You were just -"

"Psyyyyyyyyyyyy."

The air rippled with the mass power of psychic energy coming from the pond, and both Jared and Croccy were pushed back a full three paces from the pond. He grabbed his head as a sudden, blinding headache seized him for a few seconds, though it thankfully faded almost as soon as the rippling power from the pond stopped. Croccy, on the other hand, whimpered and cradled his head.

"Owwwwww."

"Let's not shout at them?" Jared suggested. "They get stronger the more of a headache that they have."

"Not my fault...owie owie..."

"Maybe back in the ball?"

"Mm-mm," the little guy muttered, hugging his head.

"You sure?"

"Mm-hmm."

Nodding slowly, he looked over his shoulder. The other Psyduck hadn't waddled back just yet, which probably wasn't helping. Patting Croccy and muttering for him to stay where he was, he walked back to the trees.

He found the Psyduck dangling from a branch only two feet off the ground, but the little thing was gripping it so tightly and flailing as much as if he were hanging from something ten times that height. Jared shook his head, reaching down and gently lifting the Psyduck from the branch. It suddenly stopped squirming, looking left, right, left, and then up at him.

"Duck?"

"You okay?"

"Psy?" it asked, tilting its head to the side.

"Are you okay?" he repeated, tilting his head to the same side.

"Duck," it responded, tilting its head to the other side.

"Yeah, you're alright."

He rubbed the Psyduck's head gently, patting it with the softest of touches to not aggravate its headache further before smoothing down the feathers on top of its head. It gave a happy little quack in response, and he chuckled.

"You're not bad when you're not flying at my legs. Alright, back to the pond with you."

He patted the Psyduck on the back, sending it back to its flock and followed behind to go back to Croccy. The Croconaw wasn't holding its head with two hands anymore, at least, which meant that the migraine was probably going down.

"Come on. Let's -"

Splash.

He turned back. All the Psyducks had leaped out of the pond at once, assembling in a vague line that ran from the pond all the way to him. They were surprisingly organized, and the one that he had just petted took up the spot at the very end of the line, almost dipping its feet back into the pond itself.

"Psy. Duck."

They quacked all together before lowering their heads, exposing their domes as if they were all...asking to be...

"Croccy."

"Hehehe...hehehehehe..."

"Tell me they're not..."

"Oh, they are."

"You're kidding me."

"Nope. They all want the head-pats."

"...We're going to be here all day."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Croccy fell over, hugging his belly and laughing his head off. Grumbling, Jared called the little guy back to his ball, and then turned to the flock of Psyducks. They were still waiting, completely still, completely patient.

Why does this keep happening to me?

The answer was simple. Because he cared about them a bit more than he cared about people. A lot more. And that meant that they kept noticing that he treated them differently than most of the humans did. That, in turn, meant that they were going to treat him differently.

Well, at least they're not interested in...that, he thought, rubbing the head of the one at the front of the line. Let's see how quickly we can get this done...

The End

Summary: Jared continues his journey through Ilex Forest, and gets a few favors.

Tags: no sex, teasing, M/solo, morning wood, cute, Pokémon, series, fun, psyduck, croconaw, pidgeotto, ekans, bellsprout, farfetch'd,