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Not that it matters, but I wrote the part of the story with Evertide by myself.

Cast list is at the end of the story.

Solar stood with Charm in front of the recently-constructed building in Evertide's hometown of Celadon in Kanto. The sign read, "Celadon Midwifery Center: All Are Welcome." He sighed: his girly senses were going off. Evertide had been bothering them for weeks to go and take a tour, or at least consider having their doctor appointments there when they were in Kanto, until it was clear he wouldn't leave them alone until they went. "I have a bad feeling about this."

She shrugged and patted the starts of her belly. To the average person she had not grown much but she felt it and saw it. She already had to have what little clothing she had altered, now dressed very casually in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Of course she would rather just go naked but no one would let her. She opened the door with her free hand. "You have a bad feeling about everything, come on mister doom and gloom."

"Don't tell me you really want to be here," he went on as they went inside. The lobby was definitely geared to its target audience of parents-to-be who wanted to be somewhere comfortable to have their children, but didn't want to go to a hospital: in fact, it looked as much like a home-run business as it did any sort of doctor's office.

They walked up to the desk, and the secretary smiled up at them. "Ah, Solar and Charm. We've been expecting you. Please, have a seat," she said, gesturing to the chairs.

Charm nodded and smiled, covertly giving Solar a sharp elbow and her "I will kill you dead" look as she plopped into a nearby chair. "Don't get us kicked out of here or I swear, embarrassment will be the last of your worries." She had been grouchy lately; everyone played it off as hormones and such. But really, she was quickly finding out pregnancy was not nearly as fun as people make it seem: she was not sleeping well; her body ached for reasons beyond her comprehension; and she was getting motion sickness for little or no reason. Even now she felt uncomfortable as she scooted down in the chair some.

He grumbled a little and sat down next to her, having been taking the brunt of her grouchiness, and crossed his arms and looked aside. His eyes settled on one of many parenting and pregnancy magazines, and glad to have something to do other than complain and incite her wrath even more, he picked it up and started leafing through it. "...Great Rayquaza...yours were big before you got pregnant..." he murmured, cocking an eyebrow at one...particular article.

She hissed at him and gave him a swift stomp to one of his feet. "Don't remind me..." she said in a mild huff and put her hands on her sides and looked down. "You better be cute as hell."

"Ow! What?!" he grumbled, wondering (hoping) maybe the doctor could relieve some of her gripes so she'd at least be a little nicer.

"You know what, bad enough my wasteline is uncontrollably growing outward, you gotta remind me I'm getting soft too." She then grumbled something about being fat and them not letting her work out and train like she wanted to, in fact her family would only let her do some lame aerobics crap with some giant rubber ball.

"That's not what I meant..." he trailed off, shaking his head and looking back at the magazine, wisely keeping his mouth shut.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long, as a matronly brown bear woman came up to them. She was dressed pretty casually for a doctor; in fact, the only way they could tell she worked here was her name tag: Dr. Kathryn. "You must be Solar and Charm?" she asked.

Charm nodded and stood up, dwarfing the mammal. Unsure what to say she instead turned to Solar and took the magazine away from him and thwapped him with it. "Get up, I'm not going in there alone."

Blinking it off, Solar stood up too. "Don't hit me...you always hit me...." Forcing a smile, he offered a hand. "Yeah, I'm Solar, she's Charm," he said politely.

She shook it back, smiling warmly. "So, you're here for an appointment and a tour?" she asked.

She snorted at Solar and gave him "you will get worse" look before turning back to the doctor. "Yes, we're here to partake in the many horrors of the bearing of children," she said with a half-hearted smirk. Despite being a bit more grumpy than normal she was scared to death. She had heard some scary stories, and in the past saw the effects on Cerberas when she had her baby: she couldn't walk quite right for a week and that scared Charm to no end.

"Well, here, you'll find minimal horrors, of that I assure you. Just women doing what they were made to do," she replied, her smile not wavering. "If you'll follow me, please? There's only a few women here today, so it shouldn't get too crazy."

Charm nodded and followed behind, her hands firmly planted on her still-rock-hard (despite definitely feeling something beneath the muscle) tummy as they passed a few other expectant mothers, some quite large. It all just kept reminding her she was going to eventually have to get the baby out. She silently wondered to herself if they would let her just get a C-section...or if she could sneak off when the time came and have it done. Then again, she also hated the idea of being cut open. Solar noticed her indisposition and surreptitiously tried to slip his hand into hers.

After passing a few Chansey assistants (complete with annoyingly cute nurse hats), the three came to an empty room. It looked like a large bedroom, with what looked to be a very large and comfortable bed in it, as well as a rocking chair meant for someone of Charm's stature, among other nice amenities including an adjacent bathroom. The baby scale, cabinet of doctor's tools, and other pregnancy-related equipment, though, showed that this was in fact a doctor's office, nice as it was. "This is pretty much the basic room. You wouldn't be obligated to stay here while you were in labor, of course, but most of our patients find it quite comfortable," the bear said.

She held Solar's hand and unconsciously squeezed it every time the word "labor" was mentioned. She couldn't manage much besides a token, "Uhuh," and a dopey nod as she followed the bear doctor around the place.

Leading them to the bathroom, Kathryn flipped it on to show it was similarly well-furnished. "I know it probably doesn't mean much to you, being Fire-types, but this was meant to accommodate women of your...scale, so the shower and bath is quite spacious too, if you wanted to relax in it."

"I like showers..." she said in the same dopey, half-amazed half-stupid tone all of this was giving her as she just looked around, her eyes wide. She held Solar to her side as she began to think that maybe this whole birthing nonsense might not be so bad, at least the digs were nice.

"Yeah, we like hot springs too," Solar added.

"Oh, well, then we could definitely make arrangements to have water heated to a temperature comfortable for you," she replied, happy she seemed to have struck some kind of chord.

Charm continued to look around in amazement. "This place is way nicer then the LHA* Sanctuary." She was actually getting a little jealous now, which was a definite sign she was calming down now and not worrying so much or letting herself get so grumpy.

Leading them back to the main room, she motioned for them to sit on the bed as she sat in the chair. "So, did you have any kind of plan for how you have your baby?"

Solar cocked an eyebrow as he and Charm sat. "Plan? You mean, other than just getting it out?"

"Well it's a good idea to have an idea of what you want to do should certain situations come up. Helps prevent confusion, and labor can be a very...disorienting experience to the unprepared," she continued.

Charm scratched her head and pursed her lips; she was with Solar on this one. "We're...kinda new at this and have been playing it by ear. I don't even fully know what's going to happen when that day arrives...only there will be a mass exodus of water from my not-so-happy place followed by pain," she said with a weak chuckle. For all her toughness, she hated pain, and from what she had gathered this was going to hurt worse than anything else she had ever felt before.

Kathryn rubbed her chin. "From your reputations, you're two Pokemon who love a challenge, so now you're expecting this to be one. Now, while giving birth is not something for the faint of heart...I have two children, so trust me, I know...there's really no reason to think of it as a big challenge either. Not in the way of a battle, anyway. It's all about going with the flow."

Solar squinted, trying to digest that. "Um...what?"

Charm to cocked her eyebrow at that, not really comprehending it much herself, which frustrated her a bit. "Can you uhhh...*sigh* maybe just show us so we know what we're in for?" It horrified her to think about actually watching it but she could think of no other way to understand it all fully.

"Hm? You mean, you want to see a birth?" Kathryn asked. "Well, people who come here generally like to have privacy...and really, you can learn that in a library or a class."

"Pictures, drawings, something. We're...not the brightest bulbs in the box and I know dum-dum here is grasping it less then I am," she said with a mild chuckle and motioning to Solar.

He gave her a droll glance before looking back to the doctor, who thought a bit. "Well, this isn't the best place to learn what's going to happen: it's where you go when it happens. The best I can do is give you some stuff to look up," she suggested.

Charm nodded and sighed a bit in frustration but gave up on the subject. "Well, bring on the probes," she chuckled lightly again.

Kathryn chuckled back. "I take it you don't want to listen to me harp on about the beauty of childbirth and such," she said with a smirk.

Charm lay back on her elbows and wrapped her tail around Solar's middle affectionately. "I just want to hurry up and get this kid out. If someone had told me being pregnant would be like this I would have made him have our baby." She laughed and pulled him with her to give him a light kiss.

"Ngah," the Blaziken grumbled, but knew better than to fight back.

"Heh, well, from the looks of you, you still have a while to go. At least unlike me you have the bulk to handle the weight," Kathryn replied, standing up. "Anyway, we don't do examinations in the labor rooms, so if you'll follow me."

Charm nodded and got up, still holding onto Solar with her tail, warming his crotch some with her flaming tip to let him know if he was a good boy he might get lucky later as they walked behind the bear.

She led them to what looked like a fairly standard-fare doctor's office, though the calm, homey feeling of the decor spread in here too. "So, would you rather have your mate wait outside, or...?"

Solar snickered. "I had to make her like this, so I think I've seen it all."

She tightened her tail around him a bit. "Careful, I may want to play doctor later." She gave an intentionally sinister chuckle and she hopped into the chair and finally let him go with her tail, putting her feet in what looked like unadjusted footrests.

Kathryn sweatdropped a little. "Um...usually we get to that a bit later...first I was going to take your weight, measurements, blood pressure...that sort of thing, but if you insist," she trailed off, noticing Solar looking between her legs.

Charm raised an eyebrow at that. "What, it's just a chair...." Then it clicked and she bounced out of it quicker than a woman of her size should be able to. She then thumped Solar on the nose lightly. "You perv, you knew what that was and you let me sit in it anyway."

"Y'mean you didn't?" he asked with a blink. "And you called me the dum-dum."

Sensing it was okay for Solar to be here, Kathryn went to turn off to the side of the room. "Well...just, come on over when you're ready?"

She thumped Solar one more time and walked over. "Sorry, we're usually not this comical and scatterbrained, like I said, this is just new."

"Well, if you can just step on the scale, we'll get started," Kathryn invited, gesturing to the scale. Solar just rolled his eyes.

She nodded and hesitantly stood on the scale, her tail moving a bit in anticipation of hearing not good news regarding the direction her body was taking. "Hit me...I can take it...I think."

Kathryn waited for the numbers to finish blinking until the Charizard's weight was up. "'Kay, 416. You're normally around 400, correct?" she asked, marking it down on a chart.

The Blaziken nodded. "Yeah, about."

Charm shot Solar a "This is your fault" look before looking back at the doctor. "Any clue when it will stop?" She bit her lower lip; she didn't want to get fat, but she kept getting the mental picture of herself being a huge ball of lard because of her pregnancy and all and it scared her, not being used to not keeping her body rock hard.

The bear shook her head. "That's actually a pretty healthy weight for you right now. You have to understand that being pregnant means your body is going through a lot of changes, and the best thing you can do for your child is not to fight them. Besides, it's not all fat. It's increased blood volume, breast tissue mass, the placenta, the baby itself...." Solar just shrunk at Charm's glare. He hated when she blamed her pregnancy problems on him, but in public, he wouldn't argue.

She sighed and leaned on the scale. "Just not used to getting heavier and not being able to do anything about it...I can see the changes happing, I can see my middle slowly inching out day by day...I can even feel it."

Kathryn tentatively reached up to rest a hand on Charm's shoulder. "It's all right, you know. I think every woman feels like that. I did."

She nodded and stepped down from the scales. "What's next?" She didn't say very much, not knowing what to say; other than Ever's constant begging to take pictures of her body from every angle and his endless questions, this was the only other time she had had her pregnant body examined.

"Next we'll measure your waistline. There probably isn't too much change now, but it'll be useful later on," Kathryn said, taking a tape measure from the counter.

She nodded and hiked up her shirt and pulled her sweats down some. This was one part she knew about already as she stood up straight and put her arms over her head.

The bear wrapped the tape around Charm's middle, leaning in to look at the number. "...Hmm...well, take comfort, you're in way better shape than I was in my first pregnancy," she remarked.

Solar smirked. "She's a machine."

Charm sighed in relief. Maybe she wasn't going to turn into a lard ball...but she still put up the first three fingers of her right hand. "Read between the lines, dear." She then pulled her shirt back down and pulled her pants back up to a more comfortable position. "I have been feeling funny lately...and from talking to my sister who has a one-year-old, she says I shouldn't be feeling anything this early, so could you know, dig a little deeper and put my head to rest?"

Solar didn't bother with that sophistication, just flipping her off outright as Kathryn replied, "Feeling funny how? Like, nausea, cravings, soreness...because I guarantee you should be feeling a lot of things even within a few weeks of conception."

She nodded. "Tired, worn out, sore, kinda like I have the flu or something. Even my hips hurt," she said, rubbing them with her hands, they were sore now that she brought it up.

Kathryn nodded back. "Sounds like the hormones are hitting hard. I'll see what I can find out, but in all likelihood the baby's just having fun with your hormones."

After her blood pressure had been taken and the rest of the routine exam had been performed, Kathryn smiled at them. "Well, now for the fun part. Hearing the heartbeat."

Charm smiles as she lay on the bed, now wearing a hospital gown with her stomach exposed, holding one of Solar's hands tightly. Up to this point, her pregnancy was just symptoms to groan about, but this was going to make it real; she was going to get to hear her baby and know beyond any doubt it was there.

Kathryn wheeled over an ultrasound machine and took a bottle of gel off the side. "This is a little cold, sorry," she said as she spread some over Charm's stomach.

She flinched and the stuff hissed at first. She had to concentrate hard to lower her temperature enough to keep the stuff from just melting off her belly as she lay there. "Sorry...happens if I get surprised or something....kind of an automatic reaction."

"Happens." At that, she turned the machine on and held what looked like a microphone to the Charizard's gel-covered stomach. And sure enough, the steady thumping of a heartbeat came to their ears.

A smile crept across Solar's face. "That's...that's the baby?" he asked.

Charm had an ear-to-ear grin on her face as she reached out and touched the speaker, forgetting all about the cold, wet gel on her belly, about all the aches and pains, the morning sickness, the unexpected grumpiness. In that instant, it all became not so bad.

Kathryn, however, flicked an ear as she listened, turning on the screen and letting them see a very indistinct picture of whatever was in Charm's stomach. She studied it closely with a, "Hmm...."

"Hmm?" That snapped her out of it in an instant as her head shot over and looked at the bear woman. "What hmmm? Am I broke? What? Tell me!" She started to hyperventilate a bit as her mind began to wind itself up.

"Just, just, please settle down. I can see the baby here," she said, pointing at part of the blurry image.

"And, what? Does it have two heads or something?" Solar asked, his own paternal instinct stoked by Charm's reaction.

"No, no, it looks fine. But there are two...heartbeats..." Kathryn trailed off, moving the wand more.

Charm's eyes went wide as dinner plates and her mouth fell open and she emitted what would be described as a tiny squeak of a noise, her mind blanking out at the news of not one baby, but two.

Solar also went almost completely limp at that. "...And...one of them is not Charm's...?"

Kathryn shook her head. "No, I can hear- ah!" She stopped the wand and pointed at the screen. "That there? That's a baby." She moved her finger. "And that is also a baby. You're having twins."

Charm came back enough to give Solar a sideways glance at his comment and made a mental note to have the whole breeding thing explained to him later when they were back home. "Talk about beating the odds...I'm pretty sure we are smashing them into the ground."

"Well, congratulations, you two. You are definitely having twins," Kathryn said with a smile.

Solar just nodded slowly. "Can I get a 'holy shit'?" he muttered.

Charm slugged his thigh. "No you may not." She took a towel and de-gelled herself as she sat up. "So...how much different am I going to have to run things now that there's two in me?"

He rubbed his leg, giving her a "What?" look.

"Well, actually, not too different. We just have to keep in mind that with two babies in you, you'll have to be that much more careful," the bear replied, still smiling.

Charm nodded and rubbed her sides as she milled it all over in her head, leaning back and looking at the ceiling for a while, not being able to think of much to say other than, "Wow...."

Solar just looked at her stomach in fascination. As if it didn't already take enough to get him to come around to the idea of being a father, now he was going to be a father of two already? "Wow," he echoed.

Kathryn looked between them. "...Do you need some time alone?"

She nodded. "Please." Once Kathryn was gone she started to get dressed, talking to Solar as she did. "That settles it, I know you don't want to, but we have to move to the same place, I'm going to need your help and comfort."

The Blaziken nodded a little. His stomach felt as if it were in a knot. "Yeah. Good idea," he muttered, looking ready to fall over.

Charm smiled and gave him a kiss once she was done dressing. "It's not going to be all bad, just think, we will have our own little family, our own lives. How many Pokemon get that chance? To be truly independent?" She then wrapped her arms around him and let out a happy sigh.

He nodded again and hugged her back a little limply. He couldn't even care that his face was in her breasts. This was just too much, too fast.

"Come on, featherhead, let's get home and give everyone the good news. Ever's probably going to have a heart attack," she said with a smirk as she gave Solar a gentle push towards the door.

Kathryn was waiting for them up front. "Oh, wait a minute, I have something for you," she said, handing them a folder. "There's things you may want to know about carrying twins in that, and," she opened it to show them a picture from the ultrasound machine, "your babies' first picture."

Charm smiled warmly and gave the bear woman a hug, nearly smashing her in her breasts. "Thank you for everything, sorry for all the bull, should make for one hell of a story to tell at least."

"Mref!" the bear grunted at the hug, hugging the other woman back a little.

She stuck the folder under her arm and prodded Solar again. "Wake up, you can go into a coma once were home."

"Hm? Oh, sorry. Yeah, thanks a lot, Kathryn," he said to the bear with a little smile.

They walked to the bus stop and sat down on the bench. Charm would rather have flown, but Snow forbade her from flying, especially after her last fatigue spell happened when she was flying around and she nearly crashed. She leaned against Solar and cooed quietly to her self and rubbed her middle, at that moment, content as can be.

Solar, though, was still in his own little world, looking ready to pass out. What was she so happy for? They weren't ready for a kid, much less two. But he knew she would drop the hammer on him if she knew what he was thinking. "Sorry, Charm. Looks like my seed's as super strong as I am," he offered.

Charm sat up and furrowed her brow as she turned to him. "Okay, spill it, or I swear I will give you a nut tornado so bad, I will twist them off." She knew he was at first in shock, but now she was starting to catch on there was more to it than that.

"...Why do you always gotta break my balls..." he muttered, very unlike him to not butt heads back with her but rather accept the threat.

"Because I know you and I know you're thinking something, something you don't want me to know, now spill it." She put her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

He let out a long sigh and leaned his face on his hands. "I can't handle this. It's just...too much. I feel like I'm going to freak out."

"I'm not expecting you to turn into super dad over night, hell I'm not super mom, but this is something I know we both want." She took his hand and put it on her stomach. "This is our true legacy. Prize fighting Pokemon come and go, so do championships. What we are embarking on is something that will really make us remembered by making sure our children grow up stronger, faster and smarter than us, that they look back and tell their grandkids how badass their parents were, about all the love and devotion they got."

Solar looked around, then pulled Charm down so he could speak into her ear. "Don't you dare tell anyone, but...I'm scared. I know how pathetic I sound but I...I'll just say it, I need help with this."

She didn't laugh, or get angry. "And I'm not? It's okay to be scared, we're going to be parents, but we will always have help. Look at our families: as long as we try, we can't fail."

"I need to get ready for this, so...I've made up my mind. I'm quitting Ever's team at least until the baby is...babies are independent enough for me to go back and fight for him. I don't want to let you down," he muttered, hugging her around her thick torso.

She hugged him back. "Ya old fart. As long as you put up with my grumpy old ass you won't ever let me down. Now c'mon, the bus is here." She smirked and stood up.

He stood up with her. "...Well, actually, that's a little bit of a lie. Ever said he wanted me to help him with...well, I don't want to talk about it now. After that though, I'm yours to kick around as you see fit."

The crowd was on the edge of their seats tonight, gathered around the pit that reeked of violence and death. The matches were spectacular, and they were looking forward to the ringmaster's personal favorite Pokemon taking the stage and doing what it did best. For now, they were content to watch the exhibition matches, calling out for their favorites and waving money at the bet collector walking the stands.

The one-eyed Arcanine circled his opponent, a Sneasel with a foreleg hanging limp from a nasty Crunch delivered earlier in the battle. It knew the score: if it could not fight anymore, it would be used as fodder for the crowd's amusement. It eyed the Arcanine as it tried to ignore the disquieting numbness its arm was starting to feel.

The Arcanine suddenly rushed forward, ramming the Sneasel with its head and knocking it on its back, to the cheer of the crowd. It then blasted a Flamethrower at its downed opponent, who rolled out of the way just in time. But the urge to press the advantage had flared up in the Arcanine, and it lunged upon its prey, pinning it to the ground. A swipe of the Sneasel's claws across its face bought the Sneasel enough time to rear up its hind legs and rake its footclaws on the Arcanine's belly. Roaring, the Arcanine tried to close its jaws on the Sneasel's throat, but the claw swipe had blurred its vision from blood in its eye, instead catching the Sneasel in the shoulder. The Sneasel hissed and gave the Arcanine's face another swipe, freeing it and letting it scurry to its feet.

Nearly blind, the Arcanine resorted to blasting Flamethrowers about the arena whenever it heard movement over the din of the crowd. The Sneasel was quick, but not quick enough to dodge a lucky shot, thrown back against the wall and collapsing.

A voice announced on the loudspeaker, "Okay, time to decide [name]'s fate!" The crowd erupted into a chorus of "Live" and "Die," indicating their choices by raised or lowered thumbs. The TV screens above the pit changed from cameras showing the battle to a pair of tallies, one column marked "Live" and the other marked "Die." As marks were made on either side, the Sneasel tiredly looked up, its vision too blurry to see how its fate would be decided as the Arcanine loomed over it, waiting for the crowd to dictate its next action.

The tallies finally ended with 23 votes for life and 19 votes for death...the crowd had decided to show mercy this time. Sensing it was not going to have to kill its opponent, the Arcanine stepped back as its trainer beamed it back into his Ball, giving the Sneasel an apologetic look before it disappeared and the Sneasel was likewise returned to safety.

To the crowd, it was business as usual then. Money changed hands, verbal praise and abuse was shouted at the winner and loser, and some people went to use the restroom or get a drink. No one, then, would notice that there was something odd about the next challenger in line: he was supposed to be a golden retriever anthro, but his fur was a little too dark to be normal, nor were the ears under his hat floppy.

Eventually, everyone returned his or her attention to the pit, and the next combatants approached their respective positions. The loudspeaker came on again: "Next up, we have Alan and Auroch!" The TV changed to show pictures of a zebra anthro and a Stantler, along with win/loss statistics and ranking. The zebra threw his Pokéball into the pit, releasing a Stantler with a few chips on its antlers and a mean look in its eyes, to the crowd's applause. "And opposing him is Harold and Alastor!" The images on the TV turned to pictures of a golden retriever anthro and a Golbat.

One can imagine, then, the confusion caused when the trainer threw in a Pokéball that released not a Golbat, but a Blaziken.

"Wha...Harold, the penalty for failing to use your registered Pokemon is disqualification!" the loudspeaker reminded.

An almost predatory grin spread across the canine's face as the Blaziken straightened up, looking around with narrowed eyes. "No," the canine called to the Stantler, "I'm not here to fight you." Looking up at the zebra he continued, "I'm here to crush you." Pointing at his Blaziken, he commanded, "Solar! You know what to do!" The Blaziken cracked his knuckles and took a fighting stance as the canine unclipped another Pokéball from his belt.

Confusion turned to realization, and then to panic as the crowd realized just who was among them, and a small chorus of "It's Evertide!" erupted from the crowd. Everyone scrambled into action, most starting to run to the exit, but some releasing their own Pokemon and ordering them to attack the canine. By the time they had, Evertide had released another Pokemon, a Steelix, who interposed itself between the rushing Pokemon and giving the canine time to release a third Pokemon, a Magneton, which proceeded to fly about and zap its enemies with Thunder Waves while using the Steelix as cover.

It was then that the doors were broken down by a Rhyhorn from outside and the police stormed in, taking advantage of the confusion to subdue the criminals with String Shots, Hypnoses, and Stun Spores. The fighters released their own Pokemon to try to combat them, but with all the braver ones having engaged Evertide, the runners were quickly overtaken.

Meanwhile, in the pit, Auroch was looking around in alarm at the confusion, its trainer having tried to flee. Solar spoke up, "Your trainer has abandoned you. You don't have to fight for him anymore. Just come quietly and I won't have to hurt you."

Auroch turned back to the Blaziken and pawed at the ground, replying in the Pokemon language, Thrashing its head from side to side once, it bowed and charged antlers-first.

Sighing, Solar stood his ground, catching the Stantler's antlers and flipping it over his head, onto its back, and immediately stepped over Auroch, holding all four of its legs together. Disoriented by the unexpected move, Auroch tried to stand up, but was held fast by Solar, not ceasing its struggle even now.

Everything was over soon after that. Trainers were arrested and taken to police wagons, Pokemon were restrained and administered to by accompanying Pokemon doctors, and evidence was collected for later use. Evertide stayed behind to have his Pokemon help restrain uncooperative and dangerous Pokemon, as well as to gloat over his triumph. He sat on the stands with his Magneton floating next to him, a very satisfied smile on his face. "Winning trophies and awards is well and good, Amp, but when you steamroll over an illegal fighting ring and no one gets away...it's like Christmas," he remarked.

The Magneton gave a slight nod. It was glad to have helped, but this was a scary place full of bad memories, and it wanted to leave.

"I just can't wait to see them all-" Ever began when he was interrupted by a police officer running towards him from the doors that led to the sub-basement of the building.

"Mr. Evertide, sir! You, you have to come see this!" he panted.

Ever waved off the officer. "You don't have to call me 'mister' or 'sir,' and if the place is full of Pokemon in cages, that's not only hardly surprising, it's also up for the doctors to deal with."

"No, there's only one, but it's...well, you have to see for yourself!" the officer exclaimed, clearly shaken at whatever he had seen.

Cocking an eyebrow, Ever nodded and stood up, motioning for Amp to follow him. The three went down the stairs, and upon reaching the door at the bottom, the officer rested his hand on the doorknob, saying, "We got the key from the ringmaster's office, so we knew whatever was in here was important...but we never thought-"

"Just...get it over with, I'm sure I can handle it," Ever interrupted.

"R-Right...sorry," he apologized before opening the door.

Stepping inside, Ever was in a small room lit only by the light coming from the hallway, nearly bare save for some basic Pokemon care supplies in a corner next to the door and two rows of ceiling-high and wall-wide steel bars, one after the other. Each row had a door that looked to be also key-opened. The room looked more like a prison cell than anything else.

What caught Ever's eye was a black figure sitting in one of the far corners. "So the Feds finally came, huh? 'Bout damn time," it said in a masculine voice. It sounded as if it had trouble speaking, as if its mouth were being held shut, but the light was too dim for Ever to make out what it was.

"Yeah. Who're you?" Ever replied.

"I was going to be the main attraction, 'til you showed up," the figure replied, "so I guess I should thank you."

"You're welcome. Now...what are you?" Ever continued, squinting to try to see what he was talking to.

The figure stood up, showing that it was humanoid. "Come closer and see for yourself," it said.

Taking a second to think, Ever took another step in. The police officer handed Ever a flashlight, but the blink dog shook his head. "Amp, a little light, please."

The Magneton hovered over Evertide's head and moved its magnets together and charged a ball of electricity between them, filling the room with flickering light. Ever's eyes widened as he saw what was standing at the end of the rows of bars: a male anthropomorphic Houndoom. Unlike most of the Pokemon they had rounded up here, this one was in impeccable shape, the scars dotting his body notwithstanding. Now Ever could see why he had trouble speaking: he was muzzled.

Squinting in the suddenly brighter light, the Houndoom kept staring at the ones who had come to see him, apparently not at all ashamed of the fact that he was naked. "Shocking, isn't it, that the head of an illegal fighting ring could own something like me?" he asked mockingly.

Ever nodded. "Quite."

The officer spoke up, "As you can see, this is much too serious for the police department to handle, so we cannot release him until someone from the Pokemon League arrives to handle him."

Ever was quiet for a few seconds as he looked at the Houndoom, and then said, "You got a Pokéball you're carried around in?"

The Houndoom nodded. "An Ultra Ball. For being taken to and from the ring...can't let something as dangerous as I am just walk around."

"Where is it?" the blink dog asked.

"The boss has it."

Nodding, Ever turned his head to direct his speech at the officer, not taking his eyes off the Houndoom. "Is he still here?"

"Er...yes, I think so. Why?" the officer asked.

"Go and get it. The Ball."

The officer looked at him in confusion. "What? ...You can't mean you're going to just take this Pokemon out! He's a-"

"I can see what he is," Ever snapped, "and I can see he's lived a violent life! Now I'm taking charge of him!"

The Houndoom squinted slightly in confusion. "What?"

The Magneton looked similarly confused, its sections turning to look at Ever as one cocked to the side slightly, the rough equivalent of a cocked head. "Ton?"

Turning just enough to look the officer in the eye, Ever continued, "Furthermore, I am a League Champion, so I think you know what kind of authority I have, and I am taking this now-masterless Pokemon into my care."

The officer cowered slightly before Evertide's sudden change in demeanor, nodding. "Y-Yes, sir..." he replied before hurrying out, Ever turning back to the Houndoom.

Now it was the Houndoom's turn to be quiet, eventually asking, "What do you mean, 'you're taking me into your care'?"

"I mean, I want to give you a second chance at life. There are shelters that can take care of the other Pokemon we're rescuing here, but you're different, and not just because you're an anthro...I can feel it," Ever answered.

The officer soon returned with the Ultra Ball, enlarging it and handing it to Ever. "Thanks. Now, you can go," Ever said, the officer nodding and hurrying off, glad to be away from them.

The Houndoom sighed a little. "Great. Now I get to be the slave of some other trainer," he said dejectedly, waiting to be beamed into the Ball.

Ever shook his head, pressing the button to shrink the Ball and then holding it up to Amp. "Amp...zap it," he commanded.

If the Magneton were able to show much expression, it would have looked astonished at the command. "Mag?"

"Amp...trust me. He's lived at the whims of others long enough. Help me free him."

The Magneton thought, and then nodded, reaching to hold the Ball with two of its magnets, electricity arcing across and around the Ball and soon reducing it to a short-circuiting mess.

The Houndoom looked at its former Ball, and then at Ever. "You're serious? You're setting me free of this place? This life?"

Ever nodded, smiling. "From now on, you only fight when you want to. As such, if you're going to join me as my Pokemon, I think it's customary to name you...unless you have a name."

He slowly smiled back. "Yeah...my name's Fenris."

Cast

Charm: Chris.

Everyone else: Me.

* Chris: ((* LHA >..> the name i decided on for my place 'Lost, Hurt, Abandoned.))

Me: (Aww.)

Chris: ((Fitting :3))