Pain And Love

After a good healing sleep, Max was awakened by the sunlight that was barely passing through the window's curtain. He stood up and went to the bathroom for his morning business. When done, he went to sit on the edge of the bed to put his clothes back. As soon as his pants were on, he felt red arms coiling around his waist.

"Did I wake you up?" asked Max.

[Not really. I'm always waking up at the same time as you,] answered Scarlet while leaning her head against her master's back.

"Do gardevoirs need the same amount of hours of sleep as humans?"

[It's similar, yes.]

"Great. I wouldn't like to prevent you from your beauty sleep."

[Sweet as always,] she replied with a smile.

After Scarlet let him go, Max finished dressing before waking the others up.

"Wake up girls. We have a charged day ahead."

Bonny then lazily stirred up from her sleep with a yawn.

{Morning master,} she greeted while rubbing her eyes and sat up.

"Morning," he greeted back before noticing that Dusk was still asleep.

"Dusk?"

Still not waking up, Max got closer to her.

"Duuuusk," he softly called while shaking her a bit.

Dusk then opened her eyes slowly.

{What… is it… master?} she inquired sleepily.

"It's time to wake up. You sure are a heavy sleeper."

Dusk then stand on her four paws and stretched like a dog with a yawn.

"I bet you're hungry girls."

{I sure am,} declared Bonny.

{Me too,} followed Dusk.

"All right. The town is small so it won't be long to find a place to eat, so do you want to walk with me and Scarlet?"

{I don't mind walking,} responded Dusk.

{I don't like walking,} complained Bonny.

"Eh. Would you like me to carry you then?"

{Yes! Carry me,} answered back Bonny while stretching her arms towards Max.

[What a spoiled little girl,] commented Scarlet while petting her head after Max grabbed her in his arms.

"It's better than a hateful little girl."

[Well, I'm not sure she would be on the team if it was the case, but I agree.]

With that, Max looked one more time to be sure he didn't forget anything before leaving. Fortunately for them, they were lucky to see that it was someone else at the reception and happy for not dealing with an over-excited service like the day before. After giving back his key, they all left the building and went to find a place to eat. Being a small town, the only thing they found was a canteen. When arrived, Max noticed the building's schedule and saw that it opened a few minutes ago, explaining why they were the only customers here. Going to the service window, Max was greeted by a woman.

"Hi, do you have any pokemon food?" asked Max.

"I'm afraid not. We have food that can accommodate some pokemon like our salad for your buneary or a very spicy meal for your fennekin. But for your gardevoir however… I don't think so," answered the woman.

"Oh, okay," replied Max, not sure what to do.

[I'll take whatever you take master.] Scarlet told.

"Not sure if it's a good idea."

[What am I risking?]

"Being sick, food poisoning…"

[It's worth a try. That could be nice and romantic that we eat the same thing.]

"Not really and still not convinced."

[I want, what you take,] she firmly asserted.

'sigh' "Fine. I'll take whatever you think it's good for my buneary and fennekin, and I'll take…" started Max while eyeing the menu. "Three hot dogs for me and…"

[Just one,] finished Scarlet.

"One for my lovely gardevoir with attitude," told Max to the woman with a grin, loving to mess with his gardevoir.

[Oooh! Looks like your last punishment wasn't enough last night. I guess I need to go up a notch again.] she retorted with a predatory and defiant tone.

Max regretted just a bit his words. He knew the next punishment will be more intense, but seeing her a bit mad was worth it.

"Alright. Everything will be ready in a couple of minutes. You can wait on the nearby tables."

"Okay. Thanks."

After the woman left for the kitchen, they all sat on the closest picnic table with Bonny and Dusk directly on the table, being too small for the bench level. Then Max withdrew his pokedex and start searching.

[What are you doing?] inquired Scarlet.

"I didn't know that fennekin was eating spicy. It makes sense since she's a fire-type, so I'm looking at her diet."

When Max got to the fennekin information, he went to global info.

"Okaayyy, let's see… ah, diet. Fennekin, alongside their evolution, have a similar diet as most canine creatures, which consist mostly of meat. However, like almost all fire-type pokemon, they really like eating spicy foods, like the jala fruit and tamato berry, which also fuel their energy. That's neat. I wonder what it will say for Bonny."

Max continued to browse on his pokedex to arrive on buneary info.

"Buneary main diet consists of fruits and vegetables of all kinds. They don't like spicy and sour food, however. To gather protein for their strong body, they usually go with nuts rich with that, such as the Opnuts. That's what the waitress said."

Scarlet then looked at Max a bit funny when he talked about the human she hated.

"I'm curious of what it will say about you Scarlet."

Browsing the pokedex even more, Max went to the gardevoir page.

"Gardevoir: Having a small body, a gardevoir stomach's is not very spacious. It can contain on average three human mouthfuls of food inside. Being psychic, gardevoir eat what energize and nourish their brain more than their body, going with food rich in omega-9 such as the Oma fruit. Normally, a psychic type doesn't like sugary foods, but a gardevoir is an exception. Being partly fairy type, they enjoy a sweet meal, as long as it's not too rich in calories. Their favorite treats are the payapa berry. Wow, you do have a specific diet, and a bit constraining."

'Humpf' [Sorry,] she huffed while crossing her arms and looking away, upset.

"Don't be like Scarlet, even if you were to eat one specific food that grows on the other end of the world, I will make sure that you don't get hungry and get it for you."

'sigh' [I hate you.]

"Why?"

[Because I can't stay mad at you for long.]

"You order is ready sir," called out the woman.

"Coming," responded Max while getting up to go get the food.

After he paid and got back, Max handed the Styrofoam boxes that was containing different meals to everyone. In Bonny's one, there were lettuce leaves, tomatoes slices, and nuts he has never seen before. In Dusk's one, there were a few meatballs recovered with a red sauce. The spice that was emanating from it was strong enough to get inside Max's nose when it was a couple of inches away from it.

"Have a good meal girls," Max wished.

{Thanks,} Both Dusk and Bonny replied before digging in their foods.

As they both seem to enjoy their meal, Max gave a hot dog to Scarlet, which wasn't really pleased by its appearance.

[That's a …hot-dog?] she queried with a bit of disdain.

"Don't worry, it tastes better than it looks," reassured Max.

[I hope so. It looks weird.]

"Maybe for someone who never saw it before. You can add stuff to it if you want. Like ketchup, mustard, or Kijo sauce."

[What's a Kijo sauce?] asked Scarlet about the most appealing name.

"It's a sauce that both humans and pokemon can enjoy that contains fewer ingredients as much as possible for most pokemon to enjoy it. But I don't know if all pokemon can eat it. It has low calories, so you should be alright."

[I think I'll go plain for my first one.]

"Okay. It still quite good without anything on it."

After seeing her master getting a few bites on one of his hot dogs, Scarlet then launched herself and ate a piece of her own one.

[It tastes a bit funny but, it's not that bad,] she commented while chewing on it.

"Told you."

A couple of minutes later, everyone was full and their plate empty.

{That was good,} told Bonny.

{It was, but maybe just a little bit too spicy,} Dusk shared.

"All right, I'll ask next time to be a bit less."

{Thanks master.} she replied with a smile.

"What about you Scarlet?"

[It was okay and one was enough. Not sure that I will always eat it though.]

"You can always try something else. Just make sure that you can handle it."

[I'll keep that in mind. Remind me if I forgot.] she quipped.

"All right. Let's get to why we came here. The gym."

With all of them nodding, Max took Bonny in his arms and left the canteen area with his team. After a moment of walking, Max started to get a bit thoughtful with Scarlet feeling doubt coming from him. After a moment, Scarlet started to get worried.

[Are you all right master?] questioned Scarlet before Max stopped walking.

"I am but… I'm wondering if we're not going a bit fast."

[What do you mean?]

"I don't know if I am ready for that," lied Max.

Seeing through his lie, Scarlet decided to look into his mind, even if she doesn't like doing that without her master's consent. Scarlet then found out that he was indeed doubting himself, but also about his team. Not that they find them weak, but was wondering if they were really ready for this. Bonny and Dusk merely trained since he got them and he doubted about her for never have seen her in a real fight.

[Would you perhaps, want to train your team a bit more?] proposed Scarlet.

Max looked at her at how she knew about that but quickly remembered that she's a psychic pokemon.

[Sorry. I was just worried,] she apologized after she realizes that he found out her mind peeking.

"…That's okay. I think you're right, a bit more training can't be bad for us. We're facing a gym leader after all."

{Is that 'gym leader' really that strong master?} asked Bonny.

"I don't know how much but they sure got there by being the strongest of the town."

{Sounds a bit scary,} shared Dusk with a bit nervous voice.

"So what do you say? Do you what to train one more day before trying?"

{I want to get stronger for master,} affirmed Bonny.

{I-I guess one more day can't do badly,} replied Dusk.

"All right. Then we should find a good spot outside the town so we can train safely."

With them nodding, Max and co. went outside the limits of the town to find a good spot far from it. Seeing a trail going through the forest a bit further from the entrance of the town, they decided to take it. A couple of minutes later, they arrived at a vast plain.

"Perfect," stated Max, putting down Bonny.

[By what should we… gha.] started Scarlet before holding her belly in pain.

"Scarlet, you okay?" asked Max, worried.

[Not really. My stomach really hurt.]

"Damnit, that most be the hot dog you ate."

[Really? Thanks, cap… Blurhh.] she replied while fleeing her body trying to reject the hot dog.

After a few abdominal contractions and falling on her knee, Scarlet emptied her stomach on the ground. Scarlet threw up a couple more times until nothing was coming out anymore. As she was coughing, Max went to rub her back while the others were looking away, a bit grossed out. Scarlet waited a moment until her stomach wasn't very painful anymore.

"Feeling better?"

[... A little. I guess human foods are not for me,] she replied while Max helped her stand up.

"Yeah. I think we will stick to only with what we know that gardevoirs can eat from now on. Does your stomach still hurt?"

[A bit, but it should pass.]

"I hope so. Poor little thing," reassured Max lowering himself to kiss Scarlet belly. "Here are a few kisses to help you feel better."

[Why don't you go a little lower while you're at it?] Scarlet coaxed with a small grin.

"Come on Scarlet, you were feeling bad a few seconds ago. You need to rest a bit before doing something like that," replied Max, creating a reason to evade the temptation before standing up.

[Yeah. Sure.] she answered back while rolling her eyes.

Their conversation then was interrupted by a distant scream.

"What was that?" asked Max, searching where the scream could come from.

[It sounded like a pokemon in distress.] Scarlet answered.

"Damnit! Do you know where it was coming from?" demanded Max, wanting to save what could be.

[This way.] she responded while pointing at the dense part of the wood.

"All right. Bonny, Dusk, stay here, it could be dangerous."

{But master…} started Bonny.

"If anything comes to you and thinks you can't handle it, rush to where we're going and join us, okay?"

{But…}

"Please Bonny, I know you can do it. If we run into a trap or something very dangerous, I won't forgive myself if something happens to both of you," tried to convince Max while caressing her cheeks.

{…Okay, master,} she finally complied.

"Atta girl."

Max and Scarlet then run towards the scream.

{I think we should follow them,} judged Bonny after they weren't in sight anymore.

{What? You heard him, he doesn't want us to get in danger,} disagreed Dusk.

{But what if they're the ones that run into trouble?} argued Bonny.

{If Scarlet failed to protect him, what chance do we have?} retorted Dusk.

{If they don't expect us, maybe you can surprise attack them. Sorry, but I won't let my master disappear too,} she affirmed before running to where Max went.

{Bonny! Wait!} called out Dusk.

Disappearing in the woods, Dusk had no choice but to follow her, not wanting to be alone. However, she had to admit that she was worried for her master too.

As Max and Scarlet were moving towards the scream, they could hear scared moans and squeaks of pain. The more they were running, the more audible the shrieks of pain were getting. After a couple more meters, they finally arrived at a small opening, occupied by a human and a pokemon. Hiding behind the nearest trees, Max and Scarlet inspected them to see what was going on.

"How many times do you intend to lose until you're satisfied with humiliating me?" bellowed the human, who was looking like a trainer.

"Maw, mawile." sobbed a mawile in tears, on the ground on her side in front of maybe her trainer, covered with a few bruises on her body, crying.

"Don't backtalk to me!" The man yelled before slapping her across the face, which made her flinch.

"Is he really doing what I think he's doing?" muttered Max.

[I think he is.] angrily responded Scarlet.

"You really are a worthless piece of trash." spat the trainer before kicking the pokemon hard, pushing it a few inches away, crying even more.

"That's it," growled Max before moving towards them. "HEY! You fucking retarded asshole. Leave that pokemon alone," loudly urged Max.

"What? Who the fuck are you? That's not…"

The trainer didn't have the time to finish his sentence when he was projected away by Scarlet's psychic power, making him collide with the tree behind him. Max and Scarlet then rush towards the severely bruised mawile.

"You will be all right little one. You're safe now," reassured Max.

Max wanted to calm her down with a rub, but when the mawile saw his hand approaching, she flinched, sobbing and shaking from pain and fear.

"Don't be scared, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to…"

[Master! Watch out!] quickly warned Scarlet.

Not having time to react, Scarlet saw her master got it to the back of his head by the trainer who had risen from the previous attack.

"Gha!" Max slightly growled.

At that scene, Scarlet's eyes widened and were locked at the other human.

"Garde, devoir." she furiously bellowed in her pokespeech, preparing an attack in each hand.

Then, Max stopped her with a hand sigh.

"I'm okay Scarlet. I'll handle this."

Scarlet saw in her master's eyes rage that was almost as strong as her. She was furious, but it was a fight that sometimes males have to do themselves.

[If this goes bad…] she told while restraining herself and lowered her hands.

Max then stood up and turn around to face the fucker.

"Now that you're done with someone that is way smaller than you, why don't you go with someone who can offer a better challenge?" Max taunted in a calm voice that was hiding an urge to hurt him very badly.

"Fight back? You? Even a magikarp could kick your ass." he arrogantly retorted.

Not really expecting him to fight back, the trainer received a heavy punch on the nose by Max, breaking it.

"You motherfucker!" The trainer growled, holding his face.

He then charged at Max to take him down. Not wanting to land on the mawile, Max moved to the side, making sure for him to be obvious as much a possible so that the angry trainer change direction, away from the small pokemon. This move however had the effect to make the trainer able to take down Max on the ground. Max then protected himself with his arms the bursts of hits from the trainer, with a few landing on his face. Max then could feel from there that Scarlet's anger was increasing, alongside the desire to attack the trainer.

"Stay out of this Scarlet. I got this," loudly repeated Max, keeping Scarlet at bay.

After a few more hits, Max saw the opportunity he wanted and used that opening to grab his head to headbutt him on the nose again. Increasing the already present pain, the trainer fell to the side of him, holding his face again in pain. Not used to do that, Max's hurt himself a bit, but nothing unbearable, especially in an adrenaline rush like now. Getting up on his feet again, Max wanted to punch the trainer that was standing up but was stopped by him throwing a rock that he found nearby. Too fast for him, Max got hit in the face by it. Fortunately, the rock wasn't very big so, it didn't hurt Max much, but was enough to divert him, making the trainer able to hit him in the chest with a kick, propelling him back a bit, but without falling. Max held his chest in pain while the trainer dashed towards him to throw another punch. Thanks to the movement of his shoulders, he was able to anticipate which arm he will use. As predicted, the trainer launched a punch from his right. Max blocked the hit with his left arm and punched him in the throat at the same time, making him flinch a lot and lose his breath. With the trainer trying to find air, Max launched the same kick he did on him and the mawile on the face, making him fall again on the tree he previously landed from Scarlet's attack. He was now unable to fight anymore due to pain and from being stunned, bleeding quite a lot from his nose. Max then turned back to Scarlet and the mawile with a few bruises on him.

[Master! Are you all right?] she demanded while rushing towards him for a hug.

"I am ouch… just a bit in pain but, I'm okay," reassured Max, at which Scarlet quickly let him go.

At this moment, Bonny and Dusk appeared from a nearby bush.

{Master! I'm so happy you're okay!} exclaimed worryingly Bonny while rushing towards her master to hug one of his legs.

"Bonny! Dusk! What are you going here? I told you not to come," scolded Max, which made Dusk flinch a bit.

{I know master, but I could not just stay there, knowing that something awful could happen to you,} justified Bonny.

{I tried to stop her, but…} tattled Dusk, feeling guilty.

'sigh' "I'm not mad at you, but don't ever do that again, okay? What if you got yourselves into the same danger as us next time?"

{Then I would have become a giant buneary and saved us all.} bragged Bonny.

"Hehehe, you're so cute Bonny, but maybe you should save that for last resort only, okay?" compromised Max, playing along.

{Okay master.} she concealed before letting go of his leg.

[What about that muk-trash over there?] asked Scarlet while angrily glaring at the other human.

"Leave him there. He's not worth spending more energy on him."

[I don't like it. He could and probably will do that again.]

"If we ever see him again doing that, I'll leave him to you then."

[Deal.] she agreed with an unhealthy grin.

"For now, we should take his mawile away from him and get him in a safe place."

[Her,] corrected Scarlet.

"That's even worst, picking up on girls."

[The beauty of humanity, huh.]

"Don't add more oil to the fire please."

Max then knelt to the mawile, who was sobbing a bit less but still shaking from fear and pain.

{Will she be all right?} asked Dusk.

"I hope so. We should take her to the pokemon center."

Max wanted to grab her but flinched hard and tried to escape.

"… Can you do something about it, Scarlet?"

[Okay.]

Scarlet then used her psychic power to lift her in the air, but she quickly tried to resist by struggling as much as possible. Then Scarlet forced her to look into her eyes, and a second later, she fell unconscious, sleeping in the air.

"Is that the Hypnosis move?"

[Don't know. I never named my abilities.]

"Pretty sure it is. It was one of a few moves that marked me the most when I was young."

[Wonderful. When you're done with your autobiography, maybe we could go to that pokemon center.]

"Oh, yeah, you're right. We should do that."

Then, all of them rushed towards the pokemon center in town. Only a few minutes later, they were inside the red-roofed building, the symbol of the pokemon center. They quickly moved to the counter, where Scarlet gently put the sleeping mawile, in front of a woman nurse.

"What's the problem?" she asked while checking quickly the mawile.

"She was beaten by her trainer."

"Her trainer?" repeated the nurse, shocked.

"Yes. I saved her from him."

"Where is he now?" demanded the nurse.

"Probably still in the forest. Before we left he was too stunned to do anything."

The nurse then called out one of her assistants.

"Mary, can you call the police and told them that we have a criminal for pokemon abusing in the forest near the town?"

"On it." replied the girl while rushing towards a phone.

"If the police get their hand on him, they can force him to release his pokemon and prohibiting him from being a trainer anymore."

"That would be great. We will wait here to know if she will be all right."

"Okay, but it could take a while."

"It doesn't matter."

"All right. There's waiting room over there."

"Okay. Thanks."

When the nurse took the mawile and left for to the operation room to heal her, Max and Scarlet went to the waiting room, waiting patiently for news.

"I hope she will be okay."

[Physically, probably.]

"What do you mean?"

[Who knows since how long she had been abused by her trainer. It could scar her for life.]

"Is there anything we can do if it's the case?"

[I'm afraid not. Mental and physical injuries aren't the same.]

"I know that." bemoaned Max, a bit down.

[…But…] she added, getting Max's attention. [If she's willing to give another chance to another trainer, you, for example, it won't make her forget but could ease, even heal her suffering. You just have to show her how good love can feel.]

"Maybe. Since she won't have a trainer anymore, maybe she would prefer going to the wilderness, especially if she has been treated like this by a human."

[That's possible, but not likely.]

"Why?"

[Remember what that creepy 'professor' said. Almost all pokemon become love-dependent once they taste it.]

"Even when beaten up?"

[I don't know that much about the matter, however.]

'sigh' "I hope you're right. I guess I could take her if it can save her from having another bad trainer."

[I know that you will treat her the way she deserves, but it's up to her to trust you or not.]

With Max sighing another time, they mostly spend the rest of the time in silence. After half an hour later, the nurse came back.

"So?" almost urged Max while getting up.

"She will be fine and her injuries are mostly healed, but…"

"But?"

"But she refuses to eat and keeps struggling when we try to approach her."

"Can we see her?"

"I don't think she's really in the mood for visitors."

"We are the ones that saved her. Maybe she will be more cooperative with us." hypothesized Max.

"… Okay, but do not stress her too much."

"Of course."

"I also have good news."

"Huh?" Max wondered.

"Her previous trainer had already released her from her pokeball. She's now free to go with anyone else."

"That's great. Thanks."

At that, the nurse then led them to the room where the mawile was resting. She was sitting on a rather big bed, under the sheets and her back against a big pillow with her giant maw to her side. She had a depressed expression and was sobbing a little. Max then took a nearby chair and sat next to her.

"Hi, there little mawile," Max greeted softly. "Do you remember me?"

She looked at him with her tears filled ruby eyes for a moment before going back to stare at the blanket that was covering her legs.

"I'm happy to see that you're okay."

Unfortunately, she kept ignoring him.

"Looks like she doesn't want to talk to me. Why don't you try Scarlet?"

[Okay.] "Gardevoir, voir gardevoir?" asked Scarlet.

"… Wile," the small pokemon responded.

[She indeed doesn't want to talk to you.]

"Okay. We're progressing already, that's nice. Why doesn't she want to talk to me?"

"Devoir, gardevoir."

"Maw mawile, mawile!"

'sigh' [She doesn't want to because you hurt her trainer.]

"What? Of course, I did, he was beating her."

"Mawile Mawile, wile!" argued the mawile.

[She said that it was her trainer and you didn't have the right to do that.]

"What the… What's wrong with you?" growled Max, a bit pissed.

[Calm down master, you're not helping. Maybe you should wait outside a bit. Maybe a bit of girl-talk will help us.]

'sigh' "All right. Sorry little mawile, I didn't mean to." apologized Max before exiting the room, leaving Scarlet alone with the mawile.

{Now that the scary mean human is gone, do you want to talk?} inquired Scarlet with crossed arm.

{To talk about what?} she angrily replied.

{Why don't we start with why you still consider that human garbage as your trainer?}

{He's not garbage! He's my trainer!} defended the mawile.

{Even after what he did to you?}

{… It was my fault. It's my fault if we lose that battle,} the mawile bemoaned.

{It's not a reason to act like this with his pokemon.}

{We've lost so many battles because of me, of course, he had a reason.}

{You know that if you lose a battle, it's both side's fault.}

{Not him. He's a good trainer. I just try to keep up with him.}

{Would you stop defending him for once?} demanded Scarlet a bit roughly, losing patience.

{No! I love him,} retorted fiercely the mawile.

{You love him?} repeated Scarlet, glaring at her funnily.

{Yes, and he loves me too. He was just in a bad mood from losing because of me.}

{No, he doesn't.} boldly replied the gardevoir.

{What?}

{Sorry to pop your delusional world, but he doesn't love you.}

{… T-That's not true… he… he loves me. Stop lying!} angrily hollered the mawile, tears starting to flow again in her eyes.

{Oh, I'm not lying. That's not how a trainer should love his pokemon. Beating you up, treating you like muk shit. Is that your idea of love?}

{T-that's because he was angry from the many battles I lost. If I was at his place…}

{You would have beaten up yourself?}

Unable to retort at that, the mawile remained silent.

{Do you really enjoy this life? Did you really accept this as your new life, spending the rest of your days being kicked and maltreated?}

{…}

{I didn't think so.}

After a moment of silence, the mawile finally spoke again, defeated.

{He… he wasn't always like this.}

{How so?}

{When we first meet, he was caring and nice to me. As we won battles together, we grow closer and closer, until I fell deeply in love with him. I didn't show any of my feelings for him because I didn't want to take a chance to ruin everything because of some personal emotions. As long as I was with him and making him happy, I was happy too.}

{Okay.} acknowledged Scarlet, hardly believing her sayings.

{But after some time, I began to lose battles. At first, it didn't seem to affect my trainer that much as well as his behavior towards me. However, the more I was losing battles, the more he grew distant, to the point that he was starting to act aggressively, even starting to hit me after each lost battle.}

{Since when did he start being violent?}

{Since a couple of seasons.}

{How many?}

{I lost count.}

{Fucking...} cursed Scarlet, stopping herself before saying too much while facepalming.

{But…} continued the mawile as tears starting to flow again. {But I always hoped… that he would come back to me again.} she sobbed.

{Listen, humans don't…}

{That's why I trained hard again… and again… and again. I even succeed to learn a hard attack on my own to get stronger.} confessed the pokemon, now crying in her hands. {But nothing changed. I'm still bad and my trainer still…}

She wasn't able to finish her sentence as she lost it in sadness. Scarlet then move closer to her and put a hand on her head.

{I don't think you're bad, your trainer is. To make pokemon stronger after they lose a battle, you don't denigrate them, you instead praise them to do better and train hard for the next time.}

{… My trainer never did that.}

{Make sense, only trainers that love their pokemon do that.}

Those words pierced her like a spear, realizing the hard way that she was indeed delusional with her trainer.

{But I love him, why would he not love me in return?} She replied, crying a bit less.

{That's how humans are. They only think about themselves by stepping on things they don't need or taking by force if necessary things they want. If you have no use to them, they ditch you like seeds from fruits.}

{The human that was here too?}

{No, this one's special. Being that nice, I even wonder if he's really human.}

{… That's not fair.} She sobbed.

{Why?}

{Because you have a trainer that praises you and I don't.}

{Maybe I wasn't clear earlier, but now you don't have to deal with your old trainer anymore.}

{But… I can't just leave him. And even if I do, where could I go? No one wants a weak pokemon like me.}

{Hmm… I know someone who would actually.} divulged Scarlet with a grin.

{What? Who?}

{Did you know that a trainer can have up to six pokemon with them?}

{Yes? Why?}

{Well, my trainer happens to have only two pokemon now and has room for four more.}

{You don't mean…} started the mawile, sobbing a lot less.

{I'm pretty sure he would be happy to expand his team to three.}

{I … I can't… do that,} stammered the mawile, confused.

{Perhaps that if I show you how a pokemon and human can really love each other, you will make up your mind.} [All right master, you can in.] called Scarlet into Max's mind while standing up.

"Will she be fine Scarlet?" asked Max after entered the room.

[She will. Now come here.]

"Hmm, what are you-"

As soon as her master was in reach, Scarlet planted a passionate kiss in front of the mawile, leaving her quite shocked. She then placed her hand around his neck and started to make out of him, making sure that the mawile was seeing all of it. After a moment of passion, Scarlet let go of him.

"Come on scarlet, not in front of her!" scolded Max, a bit embarrassed.

[All right master, thanks for your help.]

"You made me come in just for this?"

[Bye bye master.] she replied while waving at him.

'sigh' "Why have I the feeling that I've been used here," muttered Max while leaving the room.

{See? That is how deep relations between a pokemon and their trainer can be.}

{I-I… he… } The mawile stuttered, speechless. {I-I… never… with my master.}

{You can have a similar kind of love with him.}

{L-like… k-kissing?}

{Maybe not that but something really close. It was mostly just an example.}

Then the mawile thought for a bit, processing what she just saw, wondering what to think about it. With her trainer, she would have never imagined that something like that was even possible.

{I don't know. All of this looks so surrealistic. I don't even know what to think anymore.}

{Perhaps you should feel yourself what it's like to be with him.}

{What?}

[Master, we need you again.]

"No kissing this time, okay Scarlet?" Max told after he got in once again.

[This time, it's the mawile that wants affection. She wants a hug to forget her previous trainer,] lied Scarlet.

"... Odd request, but okay."

Max then went towards the mawile with his opened arms, which made her flinched.

{What is he doing?} she asked, afraid.

{He wants to hug you.}

{Why?}

{To comfort you.}

{I don't need his comfort,} the mawile protested.

{Come one, just give it a try. What do you have to lose? Do you really want to pass up what real love can feel like?}

After hesitating for a moment, she reluctantly and slowly opened her arms, letting the human hug her. After she got touched and with Max's arm locked behind her, the mawile felt a strange feeling growing inside her. A feeling she didn't felt since a long time ago. In his arms, she felt so, secured, so cared, and though she doesn't even know him, loved.

{Is that love?} asked Mawile.

{Hehe, trust me, real reciprocal love is a thousand times better than that. When you will leave your old trainer behind and starting a new bonding with my master, just there, you will truly understand what it is.}

{It will be hard.}

{Just give it a chance and be patient. I guarantee you won't regret it.}

{... Okay… I'll try.} she complied while coiling her little arm around Max's neck with tears landing on Max's shoulder.

{That's all you have to do.} Scarlet replied with a triumphant smile.

"So Scarlet? Is she giving us a chance?"

[If you're patient and treat her well, she is willing to give it a try.]

"Wonderful. You can be reassured now little one, I'll treat you the way a pokemon deserve to be," Max announced while tightening his hug a little bit. "If you still want to come with us that is."

"... Maw, mawile wile mawile," responded the little yellow pokemon.

Still not understand what she said, Max turned towards his gardevoir.

[She does.] reassured Scarlet.

"Good. Now, I think we should give you a name. Unless you already have one?"

"Maw, maw mawile."

[Her old trainer didn't give her any.]

"How mean. Hmm... May, should be a good one, don't you think?"

[You really aren't good with names,] commented Scarlet.

"Mawile," she replied, a bit happier.

[But I think it's a good start. She already feels the difference between you and the other one.]

"She'll be happy with us. How about we go get your pokeball May?"

"Mawile," retorted the mawile with a nod.

After the little pokemon let Max took her in arms, they exited the room to head towards the entrance counter of the building.

[Don't worry, I'll do the same thing I did the other day for you to understand her,] Scarlet reassured.

"I don't know. You were pretty worn out last time."

[It's because it was my first time and didn't know where to go. Now that I know what I'm doing, it should be a lot quicker.]

"Okay. As long as you don't push yourself too hard then I'm fine with it."

[Don't worry, I won't.]

When they arrived at the counter, the nurse was happy to see that the mawile was doing great and had lightened up a bit.

"You did it, mister, you healed the only part that we were unable to."

"Well, it was more of Scarlet's work and still in progress."

"Well, the most important thing is that she's okay now. Say, do you want to take her with you?"

"Eh, I was here exactly for that."

"Splendid. Here's her pokeball."

"What do you say May, do you want to travel with us?" repeated Max, wanting to confirm while facing the pokeball towards her.

{Do you want to feel truly loved?} added Scarlet.

After taking a moment of thinking again at her last trainer, she smashed the pokeball with her hand, as if she had just destroyed the wall that was keeping her from going forwards. Going all red, she was transported inside the pokeball, which the red light on the middle flashed a couple of times before stopping, identifying it as hers now.

"Welcome to the team May." he mumbled while putting the shrunk pokeball to his belt.

[Where are the others?] asked Scarlet, not seeing Bonny or Dusk.

"They wanted to go back in their pokeball, not wanting to wait here in this boring place."

[Oh, okay. Still up for the training that we were supposed to intend?]

"Yes, but we should go somewhere else."

[Agree. It will be bad for that human if I see him again.]

"It will also be a good moment to present our new team member to the others."

[I'm sure they're gonna like her.]

"Me too. Let's go then."

Then Scarlet and Max left the pokemon center to go to a different place outside the town for training.