I Want To Lay the Very Best!

"I'm going to throw car batteries into the ocean," Sparky said, face pressed to the boat's living room window. The rain was hammering down on the other side of it, a soft rhythmic patter, like gentle fingers drumming out a tune on a woman's stomach.

"That's illegal," Morgan said, fully splayed out in Brandy's lap, pressing her back into a delightfully soft sofa. "Araquanids will write mean protest songs about you if you do that. You're a better rascal than a villain."

"Says the villain." Sparky huffed. Morgan just chirped happily in response. "She's ruining your flying too, you know! Rain Dance is a petty way to win an argument."

"But she is winning," Morgan shrugged, holding up a wing. Brandy dutifully ran her hands through the feathers, fluffing the wings with gentle strokes. "We don't have a way to turn the rain off, and fighting her when she's even stronger seems like a bad plan."

Ignoring Monique had consequences. The Milotic was clearly old from her expansive move set, which meant she knew practically everyone in her bit of the ocean, and she wasn't above calling on friends. When they saw her snake-like tail swishing through the waves, a Pyukumuku was on her back, just absolutely busting out some elaborate breakdance routine. Pyukumuku were odd Pokémon. Dark-skinned women with pink spikes in rows along their shoulders and cute pink eyes, their dark skin was more of a gel casing for their white insides, which they could form into simple shapes. They usually used hands and fists, but they had a bit of flexibility in it. It reminded Brandy of Dinah, who used her silk costumes to contain her true black form.        

As intriguing as the Pyukumuku was, her Rain Dance was getting pretty annoying. It'd been nearly a full day since they'd set sail, and while they'd had a few visitors on board, Maple and her team had mainly dealt with them so Brandy could gather up her strength and avoid the driving rains from the Pyukumuku's Rain Dance. It'd been good for Maple's team to test themselves against so many Water Types. Only Marina had any real interaction with water, a little resistant to their charms and moves thanks to her Ice, which meant their fights were done without worrying about good matchups. The Rain Dance meant everyone but Tess had their Water Moves boosted, which meant Tess had to work hard to carry her weight. To Brandy's delight, she was doing just that. She hid her Poison Spikes in the water surges, and she had an ability that let her just touch people and poison them. It was scarily good when powerful Water moves swept about everyone haphazardly. She'd gone with Mardi's tactic, claiming space and making it too dangerous for their opponents to enter. But if they avoided her, they still weren't safe. Tess could charge herself up with Focus Energy and absolutely destroy someone with a Double Kick if left to her own devices. It'd been pretty awe-inspiring to watch her drop kick a Tentacruel into the ocean, and her cute bounces and excited punches in the air afterward as her team had come in for a big hug made Brandy smile. The former stripper bunny was quickly finding a welcome place in Maple's team.

"A thousand tons of glitter," Sparky growled. "Straight into a jetstream, so it goes everywhere. Lime Green, so it'll clash with her stupid shiny scales."

"I'm the one who suffers in Water," Calcine said, calling out from the helm. Marina had shown Calcine how to keep a course and wisely trusted her not to get distracted while she fought. "Your electricity would be even better with the deck soaked."

"Yeah, but I'll get wet fur and smell like a soggy forest all day."

"Calcine would be happy to dry you off," Brandy said, enjoying the happy little rumbles Morgan was making when she got her fingers deep into her feathers and massaged those wonderfully soft, downy feathers underneath. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind you being a stinky bug."

"I would!" Calcine yelled from the front. "Wet forests smell gross!"

"You could convince her to like it. I believe in you."

"Bleh, not worth it. It's no fun without you all there." Sparky said, walking over and flopping into Morgan's lap. Who was currently on top of Brandy. The weight of both of them was a heavy press, but Brandy could handle it, and if Sparky thought she was going to annoy Brandy, she'd foolishly put her neck in scritching range. 

"You just have to be patient! Monique's trying to get us to chase her down. The longer we ignore her, the more desperate she'll get," Brandy said as she scratched Sparky's fur mercilessly. Morgan helped by attacking the Galvantula's belly. Sparky tried to fight all the hands off, but she giggled too much to put up a decent fight.

"It's good tactics," Morgan said, taking a bite of Sparky's neck and getting a quick moan out of her. "You get a Pokémon all worked up, and she makes mistakes. Monique fought us all, saw she was outmatched, and retreated. Now she's throwing her friends at us, watching to see how we react."

Morgan trailed off, fingers tip-tapping on Sparky's stomach as she sank into deep thought. Brandy had seen her do that before; when she'd found a problem she couldn't just Super Luck her way through. Brandy didn't want to disturb her, so she teased Sparky with some heavy fur petting while Morgan's devious mind spun away. Sparky had also noticed and slowly settled in Morgan's lap, winding her fingers through Brandy's hands and holding on, acting as the sandwich bread for a Murkrow lost in thought. 

That Sparky didn't try to tease Morgan was a good sign they were getting along better. Brandy had worried Morgan wasn't making bonds with Sparky and Calcine, and she had some ideas of how to fix it once they got to Spikemuth, but that little bit of support from Sparky was welcome to see. Morgan and Sparky had the same impish humor, and Brandy wasn't sure how Calcine and Morgan's relationship would eventually settle, but they were both very clever women. She had no doubts they'd work something out together. 

A roaring boom came from outside, and water splashed hard against the windows. Some high-impact water explosion had just gone off; Maple was still giving them all hell out there. The attacks weren't difficult; most sea types were hungry for attention and affection. Maple and her team had plenty of both to spare with the endless rain, and a Water Ace team was probably full of abilities that benefited from a constant water supply. Brandy would have to tease out what Maple had inherited once this was over just so she could have a bit of fun with it when they finally got a room together.

"I feel we're being played." Morgan finally said, "Something's wrong here."

"Explain!" Sparky said, bouncing in Morgan's lap. "Don't make me bite it out of you."

"Monique tried to fight us all, then retreated and has let her friends try to wear us down."

"Which won't work," Brandy said, "because Maple and her team recharge in the rain."

"Exactly, and it should have been obvious that was the case fairly quickly. So why is she still doing it? She's just letting the practice at this point."

That was a good point. If Monique wanted to win, giving Maple and her team some exercise seemed like a bad idea.  

"What if she's not trying to win?" Sparky asked.

"No, you heard Monqiue," Brandy said, sitting up a bit. She took a moment to push the girls into each other, worming her way out from under them and walking over to the window. It was a bit blurry from the constant rain, and she couldn't see much besides the waves and the dark grey sky. "She's got hundreds of victories and thought she would beat us easily. She's like Mercury. She won't let this go until she's won. She's prideful."

"What if she's not," Morgan said, "What if all she cares about is winning. No matter the cost. Think about it. If you were a Wild Pokémon, how would you get that many failed captures?"

Morgan was right. Tough as Monique was, Wild Pokémon had to have a limit. A powerful Trainer would beat them eventually. All but one of her Moves was known; it wasn't like Mercury, where she reset the challenge each time with some psychic amnesia. So, what was the point of letting Maple warm her team up on the rest of the ocean? What happened when Pokémon and Humans fought? Their bonds sang, their blood rose, and power flowed in the air. 

Power that could be sensed by any Pokémon needing a little affection. 

"She's using Maple as bait." Brandy said, "The more Maple fights, the more sea Pokémon get drawn into this. She hasn't lost because she's not fighting alone." 

"You got it. We can beat Monique." Morgan said, "We can't beat her if she has a small army of Wild Water Pokémon backing her up."

Fuck. They had been played hard if that was the case. The numbers they'd fought lately, even if half of them came to help, they'd been overwhelmed in minutes. Through the wet window, Brandy saw the blurry form of Maple, arms wrapped around a Seadra, hands stroking the spines on her head. 

Horn slut. Brandy knew it. 

"She's already got her army." Brandy sighed. "I guess Trainers can't complain about having people who love you fight for you."

"Ah, Brandy." Morgan tutted. "I've taught you better than that, don't make assumptions. Examine the situation carefully. Find the cheat."

Monique was having other Pokémon fight for her because they loved her. No. That wasn't entirely true. They were here because Brandy and Maple had acted as bait, drawing them to a good time. Monique might be taking advantage of that, but she didn't have their hearts in her hand. Maybe a few of them were her lovers, but not all, which meant they were up for grabs. 

Brandy had until Monique noticed to try to steal the hearts of as many Water Pokémon she could find. 

"Sparky, Morgan, get ready." Brandy grinned, "We're going to seduce an army."