I Want To Lay the Very Best!

270 – Flashing a Smile

Sharpy rose to her full height and out of the water; it was no less intimidating. Calcine would have been a little taller if she had been a Coalossal, but her Fire Stone hadn't refilled yet, so the Carkol had to look up at the grinning Mega Sharpedo with everybody else. Blahaj stroked Sharpy's hip, leaning her head to nuzzle a breast, but the Mega Sharpedo didn't take her eyes off Brandy for a moment. Her red eyes glowed brightly as she took in the team of naked women arrayed in front of her with a quiet intensity.

 Calcine cracked her knuckles and took the lead, a hand raised forward, and the sand rippled around her as she took control of the earth. Sparky clamped all four of her arms around Brandy and gave her a protective hug. She popped her head onto Brandy's shoulder and poked her tongue out at Sharpy, a crackle of electricity running along the wet muscle. Morgan had taken off to float above them all; her wings spread in wide beats as the wind swirled through her feathers. The brim of her hat shaded her eyes, but you could see a dull red gleam in there, staring down her nose at Sharpy. The message was clear. Sharpy could be as tall as she liked, but Morgan owned the skies.

 Brandy squeezed one of her newly evolved Galvantula's hands as she felt the static fuzz of Sparky's fur tingle against her bare back. Right now, at this very moment, she felt like she could have toppled a Legendary. Everyone had her back.

 "Sure, you don't want to give in?" Brandy said, trying out one of Sparky's manic grins. "Be embarrassing to get broken like Ziggy."

Sharpy didn't reply; she just took them all in. Slowly, the corner of her lips twitched to a smile as her tail swished behind her. Her long tongue snaked out from her jaws and licked along her sharp teeth. It made Brandy shiver; she couldn't help it. Sharpy just oozed power and confidence, and Brandy would be a terrible liar if she tried to say she wasn't drawn to that.

"My beautiful wife here is so eager to get her teeth into you," Blahaj said, kissing Sharpy on the side of her breast. The Mega Sharpedo's chest mushed into her face as it heaved from her heavy panting. Not hot breaths of exertion; Brandy wasn't that lucky. Sharpy was furiously worked up, and it looked like it was taking her an effort of will to not break off from Blahaj and attack.

 Brandy would have to keep an eye on Blahaj. The light blue-skinned woman was a gym leader and had the strength to hold back someone like Sharpy; she certainly wasn't going to be a pushover.

 "Once I let her loose, I don't think we're going to get to talk much." Blahaj said, "The ocean is big, and it's sudden and shocking when things finally happen. Let's enjoy that quiet moment and feel the flutter in our stomachs and the beating of our hearts as the tension rises. You must have a few questions for me?"

So many, but Brandy wanted to use them wisely. Sharpy was a coiled spring ready to pounce, and she wasn't the only one. Brandy wanted to get at that tongue stud, to tussle in a kiss with the giant shark lady, and let her press some marks into Brandy's flesh. It was a fight, but Brandy fought to make everyone happy. If she had to be a chew toy, she'd be the best chew toy ever. Squeaky noises and all.

 Every question delayed that. Still, some had to be asked.

"Cherry, you talked to her. Only she knew about my embarrassing fanfics. When? How?"

"She took my gym challenge, of course." Blahaj grinned and stepped away from the Mega Sharpedo, who growled as she took a sprinter pose, her tail lashing around in the air behind her. "What happened in it? You'll have to ask her, but as you've guessed. You did feature a bit."

Cherry was a Trainer! Good for her, Brandy had been heartbroken when her family had moved to Wyndon. They'd tried to keep talking on the Dex, but as the years passed, they'd just drifted apart. Messages got less and less frequent until they'd just stopped. It wasn't a big moment or an angry falling out. Just a slow parting, messages left unresponded to so long it'd seem crazy to pick up it.

She was sure Cherry must have moved on. The girl could bounce back from anything. Blahaj letting on that Brandy was still something she worried about? Brandy wasn't sure how to feel about that. It gave her a strange elation that came with nervous sweat and lightheadedness. None of what she felt fit together, a confusing mess of emotions. Brandy had loved her time with Cherry, but the worry that it hadn't ended tore her up, and she wasn't sure that anything she could do would make up for it.

Sparky sensed her tension and used all those arms to give the best squeezy hug, forcing the air out of Brandy's lungs.

 "This is still the challenge," Sparky whispered. "You going to be okay?"

Brandy nodded slowly; Sparky's fur had only got thicker and softer. She couldn't have asked for a better comforter to calm her down. Blahaj was still trying to get her to be honest with her feelings, digging at the edges of her worries with a predatory instinct for weakness. No wonder Maple had found this so hard to get through, and this gym was much more merciless than Brandy had anticipated.

 "One more question. Why do you run the test like this?" Brandy said, "I can't stand making people feel bad. You upset Maple, dragged up Cherry's past, and you're making me feel rotten. Why do that?"

"Because you're going to come out of this stronger." Blahaj grinned. That sharp-toothed smile gleamed as she spread her arms, and the blue color of her skin rippled, and, as ink dropped into water, it blotched and deepened to an even darker color. Brandy's eyes could pick out the skin becoming textured, a series of tiny flowing bumps that'd feel really good up close. "Life will throw challenges at you all. You'll have fights. Get into arguments. Let things simmer for years, and it can all fester. I pick at wounds so you can see that they will heal."

"Every bite makes you stronger," Sharpy nodded. The Mega Sharpedo was practically salivating as she watched Brandy. "Going to make you strong as fuck."

"Crude language, but you're right." Blahaj chuckled. "So, Brandy Joyce, will you keep fighting and prove that you're strong enough to take everything this world can throw at you, or will you give up and cry?"

"We'd be there for her if she did," Calcine said, feet sliding through the sand as her Rock Tomb power suffused the ground. "We've got her back, no matter what."

"It's a gorgeous back," Sparky grinned. "And this butt is so much fun to squeeze. Our Brandy has got nothing to cry about."

Brandy looked up expectantly at Morgan to add her piece.

 "Are we fighting or what?!"

Morgan's exasperation made her laugh, and it was a welcome relief. She knew her challenge-obsessed bird loved her, but she wasn't wrong. Wallowing was a trap; they were here to win.

 "Let's do it."

The Mega Sharpedo leaped forward, her claws digging into the sand and pushing her forward. She was fast, Brandy knew that, and even out of the water, she had a wicked turn of speed. At least she was visible when she moved now. If they were going to have any chance of winning this, Brandy couldn't let her use her terrifying speed.

 "Calcine, trenches! Sparky, triplines. Morgan make the air hostile!"

 Sparky peeled off Brandy's back, her four arms letting go and releasing Brandy to a rush of cool air. Calcine stamped her feet on the sand and threw her hands out, the earth shifting as her Rock Tomb power surged. A line of crags thrust out of the earth and cut Sharpy off from rushing directly at her, but they weren't nearly wide enough that she couldn't just leap over. Sparky and Morgan helped there. Hurricane winds were building up, blowing Sharpy back. At the same time, Sparky's arms flicked out, lining the edges of trenches with crackling lines of Electro Webs.

Blahaj was also pretty damn quick. She darted in the wake of Sharpy and dove into one of the trenches, rolling out of their sight. The trench might have worked against them as Morgan's winds couldn't get at her in there, but Brandy just saw it as a foolish move.

 "Calcine, Tomb her!"

 Calcine slashed out a hand to collapse the trench before disappearing under the massive bulk of Sharpy. Electro Webs trailed off her body where she'd dived through the triplines. She rode Calcine's body along the ground, digging out a small trench and leaping off before coming to a complete stop.

 "Poison Fang!" Calcine called out, pushing herself up. She had a few punctures along her shoulder, but they'd not gone deep, a clear liquid oozing out of the scratches. "I can shake this off, but don't let her get you."

"Morgan Sucker Punch drop!"

 It didn't work quite as well calling it out, but Sharpy couldn't dodge it entirely as Morgan trimmed her wings and dropped like a dart right onto her back. Morgan didn't have a lot of weight, but going at that speed, she still hit hard enough to throw up a dust cloud of sand. It didn't put Sharpy fully down on her ass, Mega Pokémon were ridiculously powerful, and it'd take something much bigger than this to lay out Sharpy. But it drove into the sand, her body wriggling like an eel as she tried to swim through it, then got back onto all fours and dashed back off towards the trench line. Her speed had been trimmed a little, but she was already building it back up.

 Speed Boost, a Sharpedo ability. The more she moved, the quicker she got. They had to do everything they could to bring her to a stop and then tie her down.

 There was a blue blur, and Morgan was tackled. Blahaj rolled with her and cackled as she peppered Morgan with kisses. The Gym Leader had inherited Speed Boost clearly and built up enough speed in the trenches to move like a comet across that battlefield.

 Fuck, this was going to be impossible dealing with two speed-blitzing opponents. But Sharpy clearly was going to leap in to save Blahaj if they didn't focus on her, and if they tried to tackle the biggest threat, then Blahaj would pick them off at the edges. They couldn't win this on strength. They were just outclassed.

Time to use the ol' Brandy brain smarts.

 "I got a plan," Brandy called back to Sparky. "Can you make me sticky?"

"Ehehehe. Ehehehehehehehe"

"With webbing! Not what you're thinking."

Honestly. Bugs.

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