I Want To Lay the Very Best! - 122 – Catalytic Conversation

122 – Catalytic Conversation

"I love doing this bit." Pix's glowing eyes were spread across a large wall screen, bouncing excitedly as everyone came over to look. "You ready to see the other side of yourselves?"

Calcine was still helping melt Brandy out of the webbing, but she nodded anyway. Seeing the bond between her partners was just too tantalizing to wait for her to be properly presentable. Tips had gone to take care of her Partner in a small waiting area with a couch and a few drinks, offering some chilled water to the exhausted woman in her arms. They were going to sneak a peek, but Brandy didn't mind. She'd have found it impossible to resist in their place.

"I'll walk you through it all," Fenny said, "It'll look a mess to start, but that's normal, I promise you. Our imaging still needs work."

Sparky was bouncing on her feet, dancing in front of the screen. "Brandy got in so much trouble with us all. I want to see who she loves the most."

"That's not how it works." Fenny waved her clipboard at Sparky with a frown. "I'm sure Brandy is quite capable of loving all of you. She has a lot of Joyce energy."

"Does she now?" Morgan was sitting on the edge of a desk, swinging her legs as she looked up at the screen. "We'll have to put that to the test later."

"Oh yes, Joyce's have a long history of being insatiable in bed." Fenny grinned, "Why, if you'd like later, I could-"

"AHEM," Brandy growled, staring at her mother. "Less flirting, more science."

"Take them all out for a meal and tell them stories." Fenny finished. "What did you think I meant?"

"That you were going to fuck us," Calcine said, completely stone-faced serious.

Fenny didn't have the shame to look embarrassed about it, turning to the huge wall screen instead with a swish of her lab coat. "Pix, if you could! Let's see the full imaging."

Pix's face disappeared and was replaced with a picture that looked like someone had thrown up a rainbow. Bright lines of light curled out of a messy splodge of swirling color.

"We're a huge mess." Sparky said, "I knew it."

"No, that's normal." Fenny got a laser pointer and waved it across the screen, circling the giant splodge of color. "To keep it simple, which helps me because we don't know most details anyway, bond energy is two-way. It's generated by Pokémon. Humans act more like a catalyst, where it is forged and returned in slightly larger amounts."

"That doesn't look small," Calcine said, "By any definition of small."

"Correct! That's because of these" Fenny whirled her laser around to point at Brandy's binding balls. "Usually, the bond flows across in small amounts during peak intimacy. We're not sure yet if that's a hard limit or simply to avoid overwhelming the human. But when a human binds with a Pokémon, that channel can be widened, and much more energy can flow through."

"Binding with a human makes you stronger," Sparky nodded, "So that's why I wanted to do it so bad! Well, that and thighs."

"Also a family trait," Fenny said proudly.

"Can I come to a family meeting sometime? Love to meet all the Joyces."

Brandy flicked some of the last bits of webbing at Sparky, who ducked behind Calcine for cover.

"We should have a family reunion. My sister's been out in Kalos for far too long."

All her Partner's ears pricked up at that, Fenny suddenly the center of a very attentive audience.

"So it's just a blotch?" Brandy said, desperately trying to steer the conversation away from potentially fuckable aunts.

"Oh! No, we've not applied filters yet. Thankfully you've quite a diverse team, so it should be a lot clearer for us. It can be trickier with Ace's. Pokémon that share moves seem to have very similar signatures. "Who do you want to see first?"

"I think I'll be the least exciting," Morgan said, "I'm rather new, so shall we go backward from when Brandy met us?"

"I wouldn't say you haven't been excited," Brandy said, "But if that's okay with everyone?"

"There's nothing special on that screen." Fenny said, "Just a lot of hard work. Which is as it should be."

Brandy blushed and shied her eyes away. "Feels special."

"Good, that means you're doing well. You've got a strong bond with a new Pokémon and a pair who draw strength from each other. Be proud of that, even if you're not some kind of special hero."

"She's our special hero," Morgan said.

"So twee." Sparky snorted. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Don't care, she is." Morgan grinned. "And you all know it."

"Morgan got the whole Train ride with Brandy, and she's singing her praises," Sparky said, "But she's not wrong."

Brandy's blush was there for a different reason now, but she couldn't hide her smile. Even if she weren't some one-of-a-kind trainer, she'd settle for being the best in her Partner's eyes.

"So more testing?" Fenny said hopefully. "It'll be worth it!"

"We'd love to," Calcine said. "But we want to tackle the Gym and Brandy's in a tournament too. I don't think we'll have the time for it."

"Maybe I can convince you yet," Fenny said, flashing Brandy a sly look. "But you said a Tournament? I'll have to follow it. Which one?"

"The Wandering Whimsicott," Brandy said, "We don't know anything about it yet."

"Oh, I do, I do!" Pix said, reappearing on the screen. "It's a traveling tournament. Hosted in a different city every time, you get to really explore for it! Only for Trainers who haven't won a tournament before, too, to keep the competition fresh."

That made sense why Maple picked it, then. It'd be perfect for a group already planning to travel a lot. If they both did well, she might actually get to fight Maple and probably lose horribly to her, but it'd be so good it'd be worth it.

"Look at her blush," Fenny said, an arm around Calcine and Sparky. "She's excited about it."

"No buttering us up. We're busy!" Sparky said, "You can't trick me into the lab again by being hot and tall."

"Could we find you a different group?" Calcine said, "We'll meet a lot of people anyway. Maybe we could find two Pokémon who are close for you."

"Okay! Okay. I'll let you all have your fun," Fenny sighed. "Even if I am very curious why your bonds got entangled."

"'s a mystery," Sparky said. "We're just a pair of regular Partners."

Fenny narrowed her eyes at her, and Sparky tried to put on an innocent face, making her look even more guilty. Calcine trying to diplomatically get them out of it without having to explain their suspicions. Calcine and Sparky had been ridiculously close at times. It made sense that something like this had happened, and good for them, they really got along well.

Morgan leaned in to whisper to Brandy while she watched. "A shame Harper isn't here, or you could stick Calcine and her in there. I'd love to see the readings for that, though they'd probably break the cage given the chance."

Fuck, they really would. Calcine had two Pokémon girlfriends if you included Sparky and Harper. Was that going to be a secret to her Fire side? Brandy had her suspicions helping Calcine accept her more commanding side was the key to it, but maybe it was more complex than that.

Staring at the messy bond interactions left on the screen, Brandy couldn't help but get excited. She didn't mind being messy at all as long as everyone was having fun, and she was happy to help boost their bonds to new heights. She wanted them all to be as strong as they wanted and then some. They'd just have to drag Morgan into the mess with them and really confuse her mom the next time they came in.

At least they'd avoided disaster with Fenny. Her Partners were staying on her side and not causing trouble between them. It really was appreciated that they would get out of here without someone losing all their clothes.

"Fenny?" Pix said, briefly reappearing. "Scoria says she's landing shortly. Do you want me to send her to the balcony?"

Oh shit. Nevermind. Brandy had to get out of here right away. Or they were going to see things they'd never be able to unsee.