Dee looked out over Pewter City with a look of happiness on her face. Ryun looked up at Dee and suddenly looked away, blushing under his fur again.

What’s wrong with me? He thought to himself.

Dee noticed his look and asked, “Are you alright, Ryun?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” Ryun answered.

“If you say so…” Dee said, not fooled for an instant. She looked out at the city again before setting off for the gym where another of Ash’s companions awaited her.
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Dee walked through the city, unperturbed that she was receiving glares and other looks as she passed the people in the street. Ryun looked out over Dee’s head from his perch on her shoulders and wondered why people stared at them so much. He shrugged and put it out of his mind for a while.

Dee reached the Pokémon Center and decided to head into the building to get herself and Ryun checked out. As she walked in the door, a man with black hair and perpetually squinted eyes walked out, nursing a wound to his back from a Croagunk that was walking a little ways ahead of him. He noticed Dee and stopped suddenly and started to flirt with her. The Croagunk growled menacingly at the man and he cringed and said, “Sorry….”
Dee just walked past, ignoring the man and entered the building.

Joy noticed the proceedings and said, “I see you’ve already met Brock then.”

Dee looked back in surprise and said, “That was Brock? Is he always like that with girls?”

Joy giggled a little and said, “Only with the ones he thinks are attractive, it really doesn’t matter to him if you’re a hybrid or not. Now then, what can I do for you?”

“Wow…” Dee said softly, “um… I’d like to get a check up for me and Ryun here.” She lifted Ryun off of her head and held him close to her chest lightly. He squirmed when he got picked up, then stopped when she held him. He blushed a deep crimson as she held him to her chest, feeling the softness of her breasts against his fur.

“Alrighty then,” Joy said with a quick smile, “Let’s get started shall we?”
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After their check up, Dee and Ryun went over to Brock’s gym. It was a large building, shaped like a boulder, symbolizing Brock’s original element, the rock type Pokémon. They entered the building, Ryun tensing up in Dee’s arms, getting ready for the fight he knew was coming. As they walked in, a man that looked like Brock looked up and called out, “Brock! We’ve got a challenger!”

“Moving, dad!” was Brock’s reply. He came running, pulling out a Pokéball from behind his belt, Brock’s father doing the same.

“Alright, shall we get this started?” Brock said, then doing a double take and starting to run at Dee with a look of “first love” on his face. Before he could even get close to Dee, Croagunk hit him in the back with a Poison Jab and dragged him back to his position next to his father. Brock’s dad just burst out laughing and said, “You’re on your own here, and I’d rather ref this match.”

He moved off the field and put his Pokéball back on his belt. Brock recovered from his momentary paralysis and said, “Sorry… I guess you already know that I’m Brock, You must be Dee.”

“How did you know my name?” Dee asked as she put Ryun down and moved onto the field herself.

“Professor Oak called ahead of time, he’s friends with Misty, the gym leader in the next town as well,” Brock answered, “Alright, no holding back, ONIX!”

With that last word, Brock tossed out a Pokéball and his trusted Onix appeared from the light. Dee looked up at the towering figure of the rock snake and took a step back, fearing that she’d get crushed under its tremendous weight. She stopped and remembered her own personal training from back at the orphanage. She took three deep breaths, exhaling slowly, and on the fourth breath, let out a small plume of fire from her mouth. Brock looked surprised. He’d never heard of a trainer fighting, instead of the Pokémon, but then again, he’d never fought a hybrid trainer before.

Brock’s Onix took a look at Dee, then looked back at Brock questioningly. Brock studied Dee, then said, “Onix, dodge!” as Dee attacked with Wil-o-wisp. Onix didn’t dodge in time and was burned pretty badly. Before Onix could recover, Dee attacked with a Flamethrower, coating Onix in cherry red after the attack ended. The rock snake tried to keep itself up, but couldn’t for very long and passed out, the smoke rising off of his body triggering the sprinkler system. Dee looked up and covered herself with a Poncho before she got too soaked to fight anymore. She jumped back and Ryun took her place. Brock looked at the body of his Onix and recalled it into its Pokéball.

“That was a good one, Dee!” He said, “But we’re not done yet!”

At that last word, Brock tossed out another Pokéball and his Forretress took the field. Ryun looked back at Dee for instructions and she complied. Ryun attacked with a Force Palm, effectively damaging the Steel/Grass Pokémon. Forretress countered with a Pin Missile attack. It hit Ryun dead on and he grunted in pain. He stood his ground, using Bone Rush to defend as best he could. Eventually, Forretress stopped the attack, looking exhausted from the intensity of its attack. Ryun took that opportunity to finish off the weakened Pokémon, then was caught off guard by a sudden Explosion from Forretress. Ryun was sent flying into the other end of the stadium, while Forretress was knocked out cold. Dee watched Ryun’s Progress in horror as he flew into the wall and made a small crater in the granite that had stopped his flight. She ran to her first Pokémon’s side, checking to see if he was alright.

“Ryun… Ryun!!” Dee said desperately.

Brock ran over to check on the Riolu as well and said, “He’s hurt pretty badly… but he’ll make it, he’s just knocked out. I’d put him in his Pokéball.”

Ryun woke up a little and said, “No… I’ll wait on the bench for her…” then he got up and hobbled over to the bench where Brock’s father was refing the match. Brock and Dee took their respective sides of the field, Dee being at a disadvantage due to the water that was still falling from the sprinkler system. Brock looked at the last Pokéball he was allowed, then threw the ball. It burst open, revealing Croagunk.

The frog like Pokémon just looked at Dee with a bored look in its eyes. It suddenly ran at Dee, its hand glowing a violent shade of purple. She recognized the attack as Poison Jab and dodged it the best she could with her poncho on. Croagunk pressed the attack and ripped the poncho to shreds. The water hit Dee like a slap to the face. Steam started to roll off her body in waves as the water hit her fire type body. Dee took three controlled breaths, then let the fourth one out as a roar of flames that arched upwards towards the ceiling, melting the sprinklers shut. Dee shivered as the last of the falling water hit her. Brock looked surprised at her daring, then recovered a bit so he could finish the fight. Brock sent Croagunk in with a Shadow Ball, which Dee made explode in the air with a well placed Ember. Then she went in to attack with Mega Kick, a tactic that surprised the hell out of Brock as Croagunk was thrown against the wall. Croagunk tried to get back up and retaliate, but Dee finished the battle with Flame Wheel. Croagunk was out cold against the wall, smoke rising off of its skin.

Brock recalled Croagunk, then started to clap as his father said, “Brock is out of useable Pokémon! The winner is Dee!”

Dee looked surprised, as did Ryun. They had expected the battle to go on for hours, but It had only lasted about thirty minutes. Brock walked over to Dee as she walked to Ryun, who was still on the bench. Ryun hugged and kissed Dee before he knew it, and blushed madly afterwards at his own daring. Dee recognized his attraction to her in an instant.

Brock offered to cook lunch for them both as they recovered from their fight, Dee accepted of course.

She took one bite of Brock’s food and exclaimed, “WOW! That’s the best Chicken Alfredo I’ve ever had!”

Ryun looked appreciatively at his teriyaki chicken and said something similar, even though it was his first time eating human food. Brock said that it was especially made so that he could enjoy whatever Dee was eating and even offered to teach Dee how to cook it just right so that Ryun didn’t get sick from eating all of the same foods as her.
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After the meal, just as Dee and Ryun were getting ready to leave, Brock came up to her and said, “I probably should’ve given this to you after our battle, but here.” In Brock’s hands were a Badge Case, a Technical Machine (TM for short) and the Boulder Badge. “I probably should have given this to you right after our match, but you both looked like you could use a home-cooked meal,” Brock said, “But here they are now, so… yeah…” Brock trailed off at the end, looking warily at his Croagunk, which was now out of its Pokèball and keeping a close eye on Brock as he spoke to Dee.

Dee shook Brocks hand and said, “We’ll be going now, I can’t keep Misty waiting, now can I?”

Brock shook his head and waved at Dee’s retreating form with Ryun on his usual perch.