Chp 24: Market 
 
There was a boat, and a great distance travelled.  
 
Seth awoke alone in a small cage. He was still a lucario. The size of the cage left unable to stand up, being forced to crawl on his hands and knees. Three walls, the ceiling, and the floor were all blocked off, with only one side having bars. He crawled over and looked out. The rest of the room was large, with a sterile and scientific look. It brought back memories of Team Purity. There was nothing identifying, save for a large opaque window on the far wall and a large metal door. There were also some cameras. "Soul!?" He called out.  
 
"Be quiet." An angry female voice called out. She sounded like she was to his left. "You a newbie?"  
 
"Newbie? What is all this?"  
 
"This is the pit. Two pokemon enter, either one or three leave." 
 
"You will either breed or kill!" A voice screeched from a loudspeaker.  
 
"How about neither!" Seth barked back. "We don't have to do anything!"  
 
"Idiot." The female scoffed. The cages made a buzz, and the gate unlocked. Seth charged forward, escaping from the stifling box. He looked over to see a female luxray nearby. Her fur stood on end as she growled at him.  
 
"I'm not going to fight you." Seth said, holding up his paws.  
 
"And I'm not going to fuck you." She said.  
 
"Neither am I!" Seth shouted, turning and looking around the room. A bolt of lightning shot past him. "Stop! We can break out of here!" The doors were too thick, looking like blast doors, but that window... He charged to the side, jumping into the air and slamming his fists into the hardened glass. Nothing happened at first, but he hit it again, harder and harder, his punches causing him pain. But the glass chipped a bit. There was another loud buzzer, as the blast door opened. Three men came in, two holding pokeballs and one with a gun. Before Seth could even try to go for them, everything went black.  
 
+++ 
 
Seth awoke back in a cage. It had been awhile, that he knew, but nothing else helpful. They kept the pokemon on shelves in their balls. He was sure of that. Then they likely brought them here to the pit. If they breed, they get a new pokemon. If they fight, the stronger pokemon wins. Either way, they get more value. Based on that, he was likely being held by that black market. Or maybe another evil team. Whoever these people were, they were scum. Seth looked down at his paws. There was dried blood on them, and they hurt badly. If this was a fight, he would be in trouble.  
 
"You will either breed or kill!" The voice called out. The cages opened and he crawled out. Out of the other cage crawled another lucario, very likely female. 
 
"Hello?" Seth asked. 
 
"Well hello to you too~" She said with a sultry gaze. She leaned back against her cage, spread her legs wide, and her paw went down to her pussy to spread that too. She made a come hither motion with her other paw. "Let's get down to it. A stud like you, mmm~" She licked her lips. 
 
"No deal." Seth said. He sat down. The air was laden with her lust. She was in heat but that was nothing. He'd been in way deeper before. He closed his eyes and focused as she began to moan lewdly and finger herself in an attempt to coax him. He began to sense for aura, as far out as he could. There were two people behind the window. Three more outside the door. They were all human, based on shape. Further out, there were more people and pokemon. He was looking for one aura in particular though. 
 
+++ 
 
"Where..." Soul muttered as she awoke. Where ever she was, it wasn't good.  
 
"You will either breed or kill!" A scratchy voice called out. The cage unlocked and she pushed her way out. 
 
"Like hell." Soul said quietly. She looked more around the room. It looked like something out of a movie. One large door, one window, and two cages. Nothing else besides white and light blue walls. Out of said other cage, another pokemon exited. It had red and white fur, and walked hunched over on its hind legs. A midnight form lycanroc. 
 
"Just go ahead and bend over." He growled, an angry erection bobbing between his legs. "I don't want to hurt the mother of my pups." 
 
"I'm not in heat you dumbass." Soul mocked him.  
 
"A first timer huh? You don't need to be. These humans do something. Now present bitch!" He began to close in on her.  
 
She turned around with a devious smile on her face. "Fine, just be gentle. You're my first."  
 
"Heh heh, a nice juicy virgin..." He said as he closed in.  
 
She felt his breath on her rear and grit her teeth. Not yet. He moved forward to mount her, and she whipped around, delivering a powerful headbutt to his crotch. He let out a emasculating whimper as his balls were squeezed and his cock pushed in the wrong direction. He fell to the ground, rolling up into a ball and whimpering more. "Who's the bitch now?" Soul proclaimed, planting a paw on his side triumphantly.  
 
+++ 
 
"What's her lot number?" One of the men above Soul's enclosure asked. 
 
"Let me see... S-11247."  
 
"That's recent. And that lucario is S-11248. Where were they captured?" 
 
"Iron Island, Sinnoh. They were apparently together at the time." 
 
"No trainer?" 
 
"None." 
 
"They're both troublemakers. 11248 tried to break the glass if you didn't hear. And he almost did. And she's about to maim A-1546. Break it up. We can't lose him." 
 
+++ 
 
There she was. Seth tried using his meager psychic ability to reach out to her. But she was distant. And a dark type. 
 
+++ 
 
"Now, how about some answers? What is this place? Who, what, when, where, why and how." Soul ordered.  
 
"We got captured by a group that sells pokemon. I've been here for years. They don't want an alpha like me to leave." 
 
"No self promotion." Soul said, digging her claws into him. "And..." She looked up, moving her paw and allowing the wounded male to crawl away. Seth? 
 
+++ 
 
Soul! Where are you?! Seth asked. It was tough, but he maintained a link to her mind.  
 
Some room with a little bitch boy. 
 
No time for joking! We have to find a way out. 
 
Yeah, I know. Maybe if we- 
 
Soul? "Soul!" He accidently said out loud. He had lost her. 
 
+++ 
 
Maybe if we- Soul blinked a few times as the door opened. The distraction broke the link. A trio of men came in and Soul saw a red beam coming right for her. 
 
+++ 
 
"Soul? Who's that?" The female lucario asked. She removed her paw from her cunny. 
 
"My mate." 
 
"You should... You should just forget her." The lucario said. She had tears welling in her eyes. "I once had a lover, but not since I was brought here. It's either mate or kill. So please..." She turned over, presenting for him. 
 
"No! Forget that! We can break out of here! There's an army of angry pokemon just sitting in storage!" He formed an aura sphere and fired it at the window. The door opened again. Seth was ready this time. He used extreme speed to vanish.  
 
"Where did he go?!" One of the men asked, pointing the ball all around. 
 
"Back up." The one with a gun ordered. They all stepped back and out of the room. "We need help over here!" 
 
Seth bit his lip. His plan wasn't working as well as he thought. These guys were- 
 
"He's on the wall over the door." The loudspeaker screeched. 
 
"Damn." Seth growled. He removed his paw from the wall, leaving a dent in it from his grip. As he dropped to the ground, he formed a sphere of aura around himself. One of the men fired his shotgun at him, the buckshot hitting harmlessly against the sphere. The one with Seth's ball tried to recall him, but the aura prevented that. If Seth still had his old talent with aura, he could have fought from safety. "Hey! Help me!" He called out to the other lucario. 
 
"It's no use." She whimpered. 
 
"Dammit." He began to roll forward in his aura ball, towards the exit. A huge yellow hided tyranitar stepped in the way. It opened its maw and fired a huge hyper beam at Seth. The ball held for a split second, before it shattered, sending Seth flying back and skidding on the ground. A moment later and he got recalled. 
 
+++ 
 
"Those two are a problem." 
 
"There are always fighters."  
 
"Not like them. Are you absolutely sure they aren't trainer pokemon? They are way too strong." 
 
"I have an idea." 
 
+++ 
 
Seth awoke again. He was even more beat up this time. They weren't healing him in the ball, and time seemed to pause for his body while inside, as he wasn't even hungry or thirsty.  
 
"You will kill." The voice said. The cages clicked open and Seth exited.  
 
"Soul?" 
 
"Seth?"  
 
He smiled and ran for her, clutching her tightly. "Are you okay?" 
 
"Not if you strangle me!" She whined.  
 
He lessened up. "They messed up now. Let's bring this place down." He let go of her and looked around. This room was different. There was no window. Instead, there was a single security camera above the door. This door seemed even tougher, as if it was made to survive a nuclear apocalypse. "Sky is probably worried sick..." He said. 
 
"They want us to kill each other." Soul said. "Isolate the problems and let them fight it out."  
 
"That makes too much sense. I think I have a way out though."  
 
"Me too." Soul said. She walked over to the camera and swung a night slash at it, cleaving it in twain. 
 
"Well that was part of mine. But they probably have more. Come over here and help me." He began to turn his cage around and push it towards one wall. "I'm going to get in and transform." 
 
"Good idea. If they knew about you, they'd never risk you dying." 
 
"Exactly." He got in his cage. "Go ahead and push it against the wall. She grunted and the box began to move, until he was plunged into darkness as it was pressed against the wall. "Now, do you have something to obscure sight?"  
 
"Blizzard should do it."  
 
"Good. Do that for as long as you can." 
 
Her fur bristled as a wind began to pick up. Snow appeared and was whipped up into a fierce storm of cold. As she did, Seth changed and pushed against the wall and the cage, pushing his way out. He stumbled his way to the center of the room, being blinded by Soul's biting storm.  
 
Soul stopped the storm and was breathing heavy. "There. Seth?" She looked around. There was a light covering of snow over parts of the floor. And lying in a pile was a bloody lucario. "Seth!" She cried and ran over. "What happened!?" 
 
"Shh." A voice whispered in her ear. "Bite my neck, and then you'll get recalled." 
 
She decided not to ask. Speed was important here. She leaned down and clamped her teeth around the lucario's neck. A spurt of blood flew out, but there was no taste or wetness. "Clever." She muttered as she sat down to wait for the guards.  
 
After about twenty minutes, the door opened. She could have probably took the guards down and made a break for it, but no sense taking risks now. She got recalled and the other guard with a ball tried to use it on the blood stained lucario, but the beam hit it and failed. 
 
"Need a cleanup crew in Isolation cell one." One said into a radio. They turned and left.  
 
"Fuckin' perfect plan." Another said.  
 
Seth waited a bit. The guards left the door open after they left. He sat by the door, ready to bolt if it started to close. He couldn't get too far away yet.  
 
A few minutes later, the cleaners came in, two men. They spotted the bloody carcass and began to go for it. Seth stepped through the door and into the hall for the first time. It was a long corridor with tons of doors. And the electronic controls for it were situated right next to it. Seth slammed his paw on the button marked close. Hopefully the guys in there didn't have radios. Either way, he needed to work fast.  
 
"What the!" One of the men inside yelled as the door began to close. At the same time, the body on the floor and all the blood vanished as if it was never really there. 
 
Seth smiled on his vulpine muzzle, his black fur parting to show sharp fangs. If he were visible that is. His paw fur muffled his steps well, but his claws were going to be a problem, forcing him to walk on his heels. While he may have been invisible, he was not untouchable. He stuck to the sides of the walls. There were tons of doors, at least ten. But he couldn't stage a breakout yet. He had to find storage.  
 
An alarm began to blare. "Emergency! Emergency!" A voice called out.  
 
Had he been discovered? The men in the hall all started at the noise and began to move for the way Seth was going. The other way of the hall was a dead end, with the isolation cell at the end. None of them looked for anything, just moving along. Seth remained perfectly still as several went past him as he held himself against the wall. Soon the hall was empty, allowing him to continue on. He remained stealthy though. The alarm let out a blare about once a minute, and the place seemed abandoned. Once he passed through another blast door, he saw some signs. The one from where he came was marked "Training cells". There were several other signs, leading to other places. Observation, staff rooms, dining hall, armory, storage. That last one caught his eye. He headed in the direction of the sign.  
 
As he walked, a group charged past him. Five in all, all armed with guns. But they didn't do anything to Seth. They just ran past. Seth waited a moment, holding his breath. While his body was hidden, that was it. He still made noise and had presence. When it was safe, he continued on. Soon he reached a door marked storage. There were two people in front of it, one on either side, both armed. Seth quickly formulated a plan.  
 
He projected his illusion further down the hall, a lucario appearing. One of the men noticed it out of the corner of his eye and jumped, aiming his gun and yelling to get the attention of his companion. Before they could start shooting, the illusion turned and ran around a corner. The men chased after it, giving Seth enough time to hide the door from sight in case they looked back, and slip in, closing it behind him. His head was pounding from keeping his ability active for so long, but he could finally drop it. The room was dark and empty.  
 
A zoroark materialized out of thin air, seemingly blinking into existence. His eyes were used to the dark, the faint glow of the electronics providing all the light he needed. Computer systems were all over the room, along with a PC hooked up to it. There were also a couple shelves, marked for training. Each section was marked for a room, and the balls were setting on a display that showed the species and the pokemon's name. He quickly scanned these, but didn't see Soul. In fact, the isolation room one section was empty. He went over to the PC and turned half human half zoroark. Using his more dexterous fingers, he booted it up. The selections were very different on it. He didn't have access to any of the usual ones. This PC was running on a private network, storing pokemon in the servers behind it. Seth selected the legend option and was given some helpful information. They used abbreviations based on where the pokemon was captured. He went to storage and searched for Sinnoh, finding tons of pokemon. He narrowed the species to absol, and had only ten hits. He withdrew the highest number, a female, and the ball formed in the slot. He took it out and released her. 
 
"Soul?" He asked the absol as she opened her eyes. 
 
"Fuckin' zoroark! Genius!" She praised him. 
 
"SHHH!" He hissed, looking back at the door. "Be quiet." 
 
He turned to the shelves. There was another pokemon he thought could help. A luxray, female, S-7823. He grabbed the ball, turning lucario before releasing the pokemon. 
 
Her bright yellow eyes opened and looked around. "Where..." She saw Seth and Soul and began to growl. 
 
"Relax, it's me. Remember, the newbie who almost broke the glass." He whispered. 
 
She squinted at him. "Explain." 
 
"I'm Seth, and this is Soul. We managed to escape containment, and we're gonna bust out. But we need help. We need an army, and you must know all the tough pokemon."  
 
"Hah. That must be a joke. I've been here for a year, and I don't know a damn thing. I almost got bought, but I scared the fucker off." 
 
"Bought? So it is the pokemon black market." Seth said. 
 
"Yeah. They get all the best pokemon and show em off to the human who pays most. As for your question about knowledge, I only know the assholes who raped me. At least they didn't kill me I guess. Cause now I can get revenge." She smiled cruelly. "Speaking of which, two pokemon, one human, coming towards the door." She said.  
 
A moment later the door was kicked in. A man wearing a dark blue trench coat and wearing a reflective visor stood in the opening.  
 
"Wes? Wait, don't attack!" Seth called out, but it was too late. The luxray shot out a thunderbolt, aimed right at Wes. His umbreon leapt in front of the attack, a dark wall forming in midair to intercept the attack. Light, his espeon, stepped forward and was about to retaliate, but Seth got between the two, spreading his arms. "Stop!" He looked at Wes' pokemon. "It's me, Seth, that trainer from Floaroma town."  
 
Light stepped forward and sniffed at him. "He is. How are you... what you are?" 
 
"I'm a hybrid, I'll explain later. What is going on?"  
 
"We're attacking this place. We're going to free all these pokemon." 
 
"And there's another human with us. Dark, by the way." The umbreon said. "And we have your espeon with us. Sky?"  
 
"You do? Thank you so much." Seth said. "So what's the plan?"  
 
They both looked up at Wes. The human nodded and stepped past all the pokemon, sliding his visor up and tapping through the computer.  
 
"In storage!" A voice yelled from outside. 
 
"Three men, armed." The luxray said.  
 
Just as the first stepped into the open doorway, Light howled out, spikes of darkness shooting out of the ground and knocking the man down. The spikes spread out into the hall, and there were two more cries of pain. 
 
"We'll stay here. You go meet up with the other human. Go towards the signs that say showroom." Light told them. 
 
"Got it. You come with us..." Seth looked at the luxray. "Name?" He asked when she didn't respond. 
 
"S-7823." 
 
"Your real name." Seth urged. 
 
"Zip." She said angrily. "Now move it."  
 
The three of them ran out, to the nearest fork. The signs there pointed them in the right direction. As they drew closer, a loud racket began to get louder, quickly raising in volume. It was the sound of gunfire, and lots of it. Seth came out of a hallway, pushing open a pair of doors, and coming into a warzone. There was a sudden flash of pink light and all three of them were teleported. They found themselves in a crescent of intense fire, next to a charizard and a human. The charizard was mega evolved into its Y form. 
 
"I see he was successful. Good. You three can go on ahead. My pokemon have this." The man said. He looked familiar to Seth. His glasses glinted in the fire light. 
 
It was difficult to see through the flames, the heat distorting the visuals, as well as turning any bullets that came their way to dust. Seth could barely make out two pokemon taking on the small army of men. A mega gallade, presumably their teleporter, and a mega metagross. To have three mega pokemon at once, this guy was no joke. Seth turned and walked through the door, out into fresh air.  
 
They were near a large dock, with several boats docked. Most were fancy looking, rich person boats, but one was painted black. Seth went for that one. As he stepped onto it, an espeon came out of the cabin. "Sky!" Seth cried out, lunging for her and picked her up in a tight hug.  
 
"Oh Seth..." She whimpered, tears wetting his chest fur. "I was so worried!" She wailed, burying her face against him. He had so many questions for her, but he remained silent and let her cry, rubbing her back.  
 
"I got your pictures." He said, trying to cheer her up. This caused her to start bawling harder. 
 
+++ 
 
After about an hour, the battle wrapped up. Seth didn't help with combat, as he was too busy making sure Sky and Soul were all right. The authorities came, rounding up the beaten and broken criminals. Seth wasn't asked to make a statement, as he was still a pokemon. The two trainers did, and the island was given over to the custody of police, allowing them to see that all the stolen pokemon were returned. They were on an island off the coast of Kanto, in a chain of islands.  
 
They all gathered on Wes' boat, and took to the water, going slow. Seth turned human at this point, much to the surprise of Wes, and not so much the other man. 
 
"Okay, so I want the whole story." Seth said.  
 
"I could... Wes, would you start?" The other man asked. 
 
Wes glared at him. But Light stepped forward. "Can you still understand me Seth?" 
 
"Yes." 
 
"So we came to Canalave city chasing a rumor. We found Sky there, who was looking for you. She recognized us and decided to come with us to try and find you. We also met Aien, and he provided the infor-" 
 
"Aien! I knew I recognized you. You're that guy who fought Cynthia and I." Seth said. 
 
"Likewise." He said. "Allow me." He said to Light. "We met in Canalave, and went to Iron Island to thwart the goons who were taking pokemon from there. We teamed up with Riley there, but he declined to accompany us to their main stronghold. Wes and I came here alone, thankfully he had his own boat, and, well, you know the rest." 
 
"That seems like a lot of coincidences." Seth said. 
 
"The world works in mysterious ways." Aien said.  
 
"Yeah, okay, so what now? How do we get back to Sinnoh?" Soul butted in. 
 
"You can take the S.S. Anne. It makes round trips to all the major continents. It should be coming into port soon. You'll have to check the route, but it will eventually take you back to Sinnoh." Aien explained.  
 
"Ship?" Sky asked. "Oh, yeah, Riley! Seth we have to go meet that guy! He lives on Iron Island and he can use aura. He's amazing!" 
 
"Hey, can I tag along?" Zip asked. "Sinnoh was my home, and I'd like to go back." 
 
"Sure." Seth said. "So Aien, I saw your pokemon in there. How did you not beat me and Cynthia?" 
 
"Cynthia and I." He corrected. "I don't like to use more force than needed. This was important, so I went all out, as did my pokemon. Regardless, we all played our parts." 
 
"How on Earth did you have three mega pokemon at once?" Seth asked 
 
"Well, there are many ways. When first discovered, mega evolution was much more strict. The bond I share with my pokemon, our ideals, allow us to fight at our limits. I'm sure your own bond allows you to extend beyond your limits." 
 
Seth blushed and looked away. "How much do you know about me?"  
 
"Those two are your lovers. The gap in species cannot hide the way you look at and treat each other." Aien explained. "And you are a hybrid, based on what just hapened." 
 
"And even with that, I didn't do anything there. If you guys didn't show up..." 
 
"Nonsense. I'm sure you were causing plenty of havoc on the inside. Ah, before I forget, they were using a derivative of a device called the snag machine. The items they used were pokeballs modified to overwrite the data of any other ball. It allows them to capture already captured pokemon, with a high success rate. Be cautious about that. But it will not render a previous ball useless, so your old ones should still work." 
  
After a long ride, they arrived at Vermilion city in the Kanto region. Goodbyes were said, or motioned, in one case, and they all separated. Seth and his group, with a new addition, checked into the pokemon center for the night. As luck would have it, the cruise liner would arrive tomorrow. And its first stop was Sinnoh.  
 
"Seth... can we talk... alone." Sky asked, sounding nervous.  
 
"Of course." He said. "I'd say you deserve a lot more than that."  
 
They both stepped into bathroom. 
 
"I'm... I think I was pregnant. But... I haven't laid an egg yet." She said quietly. 
 
Seth was stunned. He couldn't scrape two words together. 
 
"I think it happened in Celestic town... but I should have laid an egg by now, but my stomach..."  
 
Seth reached down and felt her stomach, feeling the hard spot there. It was slightly bulging now that he looked. "Soul's eggs took a while, but not this long." 
 
"That's what I was thinking. Maybe it has something to do with their father. A usual pokemon egg would be laid in a day, and hatch in less than a week." Sky explained. 
 
"As long as you're okay." He rubbed her head. "Either way, that's great news." 
 
"You're not mad?" She asked. 
 
"Mad? No. Nervous maybe." He said.  
 
"CONGRATULATIONS!" Soul yelled, bursting into the bathroom and nuzzling Sky.  
 
"Eavesdropping isn't nice." Seth said. 
 
 "Who cares, this calls for a celebration!" Soul cheered. "You think the baby'll be a hybrid?!"  
 
"That would explain a lot..." Sky said.  
 
"My eggs took like a month to lay, and they never had a chance to hatch, so I would say you've got some time." Soul said casually. "Wait... I have a theory. Maybe, hybrids can turn other things into hybrids? Like that porn where people turn into pokemon." 
 
"What kind of smut are you reading?" Sky asked. 

 "Hear me out. How can I turn anthro then? Maybe it's about sex. The more we have sex, the more hybrid DNA we get, until we become hybrids ourselves."  
 
"You sure? That doesn't sound too scientific." Seth said.  
 
"Then how can I transform? Huh?" Soul asked. She was on a roll. 
 
"I have no idea. But if I can turn other people into hybrids, then we've got more to worry about."  
 
"I think it's cool. We've got a whole family of half humans! I mean, the baby has to be at least a quarter hybrid."  
 
"You're all weird." Zip said from outside.