"Hey Excavator Joe! We’ll be arriving at Slateport city shortly" came a call over the ship’s PA system. The fast moving ship I had chartered slowed slightly which made me look up from the book I was reading to look out the porthole of my cabin. I could see the sky turning red as the sun started to set over the horizon as the ship gently rocked. The ride on the S.S Sea Shoal had taken a bit longer than I had thought it would have, but that can happen when you travel to and from a new region Of the world. That’s right, I was on my way home from the newly discovered Albion region; the Newest region to pop up in this weird pokemon filled world. People were already exploring the newest region so that it could be settled by people and set up a pokemon league for all the little kids. 

I got to go there early to help carve out a path through the mountain that would become the new  "victory road”. It was always amusing to explain my job to trainers who thought that the maze that was the mountain had occurred naturally. I had spent the last 6 months there with my Lai- my Aggron, Ludmila. After years of being a Lairon, she had finally evolved while we were heading back to the nearest settlement to resupply. I was ecstatic at first, but there had been a slight hiccup in her evolution.

Ludmila had evolved into an Anthro Pokémon, which was a new evolution type from that region. It was similar to Mega evolutions or Z Moves except it was permanent; Ludmila had apparently eaten a specific berry while we were walking and had evolved. 

I had immediately taken her to the local Pokémon professor, worried that something had gone wrong. The professor had explained that while she was fine, this new “anthro evolution” had positives and negatives. For positives, Pokémon could speak actual words beyond their names, were smarter than the average member of their species and had more human-like features. For negatives, they were less likely to enjoy battles, they didn’t want to go into their pokeball anymore, and lastly they had more human features.

I stole a quick glance at Ludmila, who was lounging on one of the provided cabin beds while tapping gently with her claws on my Pokegear, my phone, presumably learning about the world now that she could understand it. I was still unused to seeing her as a 6’11 steel behemoth that stood on 2 legs instead of 4. That and I was totally unused to seeing the…tracts of land she had grown during her evolution. She noticed me looking and broke into a wide smile 

“Joe, Ludmila, home?” She asked in a deep but distinctly feminine voice. Since she had only evolved recently she was still learning to speak  correctly, so she used single words or small disjointed sentences. She wore a huge T-shirt that I had been able to buy from a local pokemart, but she made it look too small and tight due to her sheer size.

“Yea, we’re back home in the Hoenn region” I answered her as I tried not to stare at the newly formed orbs. It was weird hearing her talk somewhat normally, however I really did enjoy having her actually be able to have a real conversation with me, even if it was a bit disjointed at the moment. We had spent months together, just the two of us deep in the mountains digging tunnels and overall enjoying our time. I used to talk to her and she responded in the usual way Pokémon answer, just saying their names that is. That was nice to have, but it wasn’t quite the same as having a conversation.

“Hooooonnnne” she rumbled, testing out the word with her mouth.

“Hoenn” I corrected gently “ try Hoe then IN”

“Hoenn” 

“Good girl, we live in Slateport City” I responded as I moved to sit on the bed next to her; gently, I took the pokegear from her, swapped it to a map of Hoenn and then pointed out the city on the map. While most pokemon have some degree of intelligence, Ludmila hadn’t been able to grasp maps and money; but then again why would she? She never dealt with either concept as a  normal Lairon, just living with me, digging holes and eating any metal she found. Ludmila traced a claw over the map, her eyes taking in the information.

I felt the ship’s engines drawdown and instead of a dull roar I heard soft burbles of water and the ship began docking. A quick glance out the porthole revealed we were indeed at Slateports docks, where both men and pokemon were working hard to tie down the ship and raise the gangplank. The city always did have a bustling port so I wasn’t surprised to see it all done quickly. I stood up and motioned casually to Ludmila, getting her attention.

“We’re headed home, do you want to get into your pokeball?” I asked as I packed up some of the loose things I had in the cabin. We had been at sea for 5 days but I hadn’t really bothered to unpack much so we could head home quicker. Ludmila paused, clearly thinking about the question.

“Why pokeball?” She finally asked, her eyes on my backpack which held said pokeball.

“You’ve evolved Ludy, and not in a way anyone expected. People will stare and some might even try to battle us” I answered truthfully and without any sugar coating. While Lairons and Aggrons weren’t a rare sight in Hoenn, her new anthro evolution would gain attention which was a problem because Ludmila was shy to the point of trying to hide from others.

Around wild pokemon she was fine for the most part, although she didn’t like to battle them; but around other humans and trained pokemon she was extremely timid. When I had picked her up as an Aron from the breeder they said she had been there for several years because she ran and hid from any potential adoptees. However, when I arrived to pick out a pokemon she had actually come to me instead of hiding. Our job together actually helped with her shyness; turns out living in a cave for months on end alone was paradise for a very shy rock pokemon.

Ludmila looked from my eyes to my backpack with visible consternation as she fidgeted with the shirt I had put on her to cover her boobs.  She opened her mouth to say something but stopped, closed it, then looked back and forth again. Even before she had become an anthro I could tell what she wanted and now that she had Anthro evolved her emotions were even more on display. She wanted to walk with me and be by my side but didn’t want people staring. 

"Ludmila wants-" she started.

"Ah no Ludy, Its "I want"" I corrected gently, making her stop, think and nod.

"I want out of pokeball" She said haltingly, a bit of fear on her face.

"OK then, let's go. '' I said simply with a nod, hefting my Rucksack onto my shoulders with practiced ease. I opened the door of our cabin to the rest of the ship, suddenly able to hear the caw of wingulls and the sound of waves.  I stepped into the hallway and led Ludmila through the galley of the ship. I think it was the galley anyway, I didn’t really know nautical terms and those I did know I didn't really know how to use them in any real sense.

"Excavator Joe!" called out a voice " I was just coming to get you and your...Aggron. We've landed in Slateport and we are ready for you to disembark"

I saw the owner of said voice and smiled. Captain Bill was an older man with thick white hair and constantly had 2 trained Pelippers with him and a whole flock of wild flying sea pokemon that followed the ship. I had worked with him before when traveling to the Alola region and we had shared a beer several times together. He had deep smile lines on his face and a pipe that I never saw lit along with his trusted pokemon which would scoop out fish from the ocean for him to cook.

"You know it’s just Ludmila, thanks for letting us charter your ship on such short notice. We didn't want to be bothered on our trip home. The last time I took the S.S. Tidal some kid burst into our cabin demanding I battle him"

The captain nodded knowingly, his eyes on Ludmila as she tried her best to hide. She failed spectacularly since she was unused to being her current size and well, where was she going to hide on a boat? Going from 2'11 to 6'11 was still new for her, so she eventually just buried her face in her clawed hands.

"No problem at all! I was in the area and almost everyone who charters my ship says something along those lines, kids always disregarding common decency"  He said, his eyes still on Ludmila; who in turn shuffled awkwardly and turned to hide behind me.

"How did she become like...like this? The boobs and talking and such?" he finally asked, motioning broadly with his pipe in his hand at Ludmila.

"Some kind of new berry that causes changes in a pokemon, the professor back in Albion said it can even make fully evolved pokemon change into anthro forms, I never even saw what it looked like before Ludy ate it" I answered as I started walking towards the gangplank. The captain looked from Ludmila to one of his Pelippers, who was nipping at a dock worker, clearly trying to imagine the bird as an anthro.

"So I can get my bells here to change into something like Ludmila? and then they can talk?" he finally asked. I nodded absently as we emerged from the bowels of the ship and onto the deck, squinting at the sudden bright sunlight.

"I was told it’s still pretty rare, but yes; you'll be able to get your Pelippers to change into anthros" I answered "We were walking on the path to town and Bam! Evolved Ludy, scared the crap outta me” 

He looked thoughtfully at me, nodding slightly as he considered it.

"I guess I’ll head back to Albion then! mayhaps I’ll find one of those fancy new berries" He said as he extended a hand to me which I shook. He then extended a hand to Ludmila, who every gently shook his hand. "Have a good one Joe, call me next time you head out and with any luck I'll have some pretty pokemon with me."

I simply nodded to Bill and waved with my free hand to his Pelippers as I walked down the gangplank to the docks. It groaned threateningly as Ludmila stepped onto it but it held fast. Ludmila had basically glued herself to my back as her head swiveled, trying to catch anyone looking at her. To her misfortune, a LOT of people were staring, partially because she looked silly trying to hide behind a man that was shorter than her and partially because she had her large breasts squished to my rucksack. I nearly tripped as Ludmila stepped on the heel of my boot while she tried in vain to hide behind me as someone pointed at her.

"Ludy, you can't hang onto me like this" I quietly chastised her as I stopped to readjust my boot and tried to get free of her grip.

"People stare" She quietly murmured, still trying to hide with little effect.

"Well you can get into your pokeball if you want to hide better"

"NO! I stay with Joe" She responded with a huff.

"Fine, but walk next to me" I said, motioning her with my free hand to my side.

She hesitantly took my hand in hers as we resumed walking through town. Much to my surprise her hand was soft, feeling less like the steel I had been expecting and more like firm flesh. I wondered why I had just noticed this, thinking back on the time since she had evolved. With a slight frown I thought back to the times since her "Anthroization" and realized i hadn't really touched her since then. Back when she was a Lairon, we had hugged a lot and even shared a large sleeping bag when we were deep in the mountains, but I had avoided touching her recently. 

What changed? She was still the same in terms of personality and the same in her feelings about me. She was still my best friend and partner in everything; yet since her change I had stopped doing some of the things we used to. Ever since I had brought her home for the first time we had shared a bed, cuddled ,and played together. But now it was...weird. Was it appropriate for us to sleep in the same bed together anymore? Would people assume the worst about us if we displayed affection like we used to? Did she even want to do that anymore? I was pulled from my thoughts as a High pitched voice shouted at me.

"Hey! That's a rare pokemon! I wanna Battle you!"

I stopped and looked around, annoyed to be shaken from my thoughts; eventually finding the source of the shout. A kid who was basically running towards me with an annoying glint in his eyes. He looked like an annoying tween with 6 pokeballs displayed prominently on his belt. 

"Ah, a trainer taking on the League challenge" I thought to myself as Ludmila looked panicked. Almost every kid with more than 3 pokemon was taking on the "challenge"; which was actually fake. In reality the league was just there to give kids a goal while they wandered the region. Ever wonder why when a kid beat the elite four and became the newest champion they didn't stay to challenge the next comer? That’s because it was just a thing to let kids see the world, learn about different peoples jobs, and how to work with pokemon in adverse situations. That’s why when someone enters a cave or something every puzzle is reset, it teaches kids memorization and problem solving skills with pokemon.

"No" I answered simply as I walked, passing the kid who had struck a stupid pose.

"W-what? you can't say no! Let me battle your pokemon!" He cried out from behind me. I heard his footsteps as he ran in front of me, trying to bar my path.

"I can totally say no kid, I’m tired and trying to get home" I responded as I tried to walk past him again. However he moved in front of me with a scowl.

"I. Want. To. Battle." He almost yelled at me "I want to see what your pokemon can do!"  

He pointed at Ludmila, Or at least where Ludmila had been a second ago. Currently, she was attempting to hide behind a streetlight, which had illuminated at some point while I was walking. Obviously anyone who wasn't blind could still see her, but there was an attempt on her part. I groaned internally as I awkwardly swung my Rucksack to the side to dig into one of the side pouches; I had just the thing for situations like this. A solution that worked on annoying trainers and wild pokemon. The kid looked smug like a Purrlion until I sprayed him in the face with a squirt bottle.

"H-hey! Stop that and let me ba-" he sputtered until I sprayed him again, interrupting him mid sentence.

"Shoo" I said with disdain; shaking the bottle at him menacingly.  I heard Ludmila snigger as she peeked from her "hiding spot" and the kid looked utterly flabbergasted. 

"You can't just kee-" he tried again, only to get another spritz of water.

"Leave me alone, I don't want to battle and I'll just keep spraying you" 

"But!"

Spray.

"Rare pok-" 

Spray.

"That’s not fai-"

Spray spray spray.

Eventually the kid seemed to get the picture and was thoroughly damp. He sulked off, peering over his shoulder at Ludmila as she rejoined me. I shook the nearly empty bottle at him, earning another snigger from Ludmila. 

"High five" I said to her, holding my hand down low like I always did with her. She looked from my hand to my face for a moment and gave a look that said "Really?". I had to think for a moment before I raised my hand up higher so it was easier for her to slap. Muscle memory is a hell of a thing and I was used to her being 2'11 on all fours, not 6'11 on 2 legs. Regardless, she slapped my palm gently with hers as a big smile crossed her face.

"Low five" She teased, looking down at me.

"Laugh it up dirt girl, you used to come to my hips" I retorted with a light slap to her back. I always teased her when she was a Lairon by calling her the dirt girl while I was the excavator. Back then she would stomp around angrily, now she still stomped around but bigger.

"NO! Am Excavooter" she pouted to me

"Excavator" I corrected gently, speaking slowly so she could copy my words better.

"Ex-ca-va-tor" She said slowly, as if she were feeling the word in her mouth.

Buildings passed us by as we strolled at a leisurely pace through the heart of the bustling portside city, seeing a huge mix of different people and pokemon. I could see tons of pokemon that were native to Hoenn, but almost an equal number from other regions. The city had plenty of things for people and pokemon to see and do; the seaside museum, the open air market, the beach, and lastly where we were headed, the pokemon contest hall.

Ludmila looked at me with confusion as we entered the brightly colored building together, my eyes taking a moment to adjust from the dusk to the fluorescent lights of the hall. Several people were milling about, some in line to enter a contest, some were just waiting for contests to start to view rare or cute pokemon. I wasn't here for any of that though, I was here for the pokemon dress up area.

People routinely dressed their pokemon up for these contests to enhance their natural cuteness or fierceness but I was more interested in getting Ludmila some clothes that actually fit. They had clothes for all sizes of pokemon here and Ludmila couldn't just keep wearing an undersized t-shirt that was stretched out to the point I wondered what the seams were made of. I led Ludmila through the hall directly to the clothing selection, ignoring everything else as people stared at us. I started browsing the clothes in high spirits, hoping this was going to be a quick in and out only to find nothing that really fit ludmila.

"Can I help you find something?" a cheerful woman asked me as I dug through clothing made for large pokemon. I smiled at her and motioned at Ludmila with a resigned sigh.

"it's probably a long shot but do you have anything for a pokemon like her?" I asked, motioning to Ludmila, who was looking at hats and goggles with detached interest. The retail worker stared for a long moment then snapped her fingers in realization.

"Oh! We might actually have something! There was a guy with a Nidoqueen about your Aggrons size who ordered some outfits and the clothes they had should fit, but they never came to get them and it's been like 3 years so we've been trying to get rid of them!"

I sighed in relief as the woman ran off with an almost giddy look on her face. I was a bit worried by that bit but decided to disregard it because I didn't have much of a choice in terms of clothing, so I decided to just wait for her to return while I browsed a bit more in vain.

After about 5 minutes of Ludmila trying to hide in the clothing racks and me telling her I could still see her, the saleswoman reappeared with a large white box.

"Voila! Have your pokemon try them on and if they fit we can figure out the payments" She said cheerfully as she basically shoved the box into my hands. I simply nodded in thanks then looked around, finding a sign reading "Dressing Rooms" with an arrow pointing to a doorway. I motioned to Ludmila with the box and we started heading to the area together while I wondered why someone would order clothing for a pokemon then never pick them up. A mystery for sure but one I was certain I would never learn the answer to.

Through the doorway were several doors leading to private areas to dress up, similar to any other dressing room. I supposed they were private because Pokemon coordinators wanted to hide how they would dress their pokemon up for contests to get an edge in the competition, but I was just grateful Ludmila had a place to change away from prying eyes. I pushed the box into Ludmila's claws and pointed to one of the doors that was a bit larger for bigger pokemon.

"Go change and see how it fits Ludy, I'll wait here" I said calmly as I ignored a peeved glare from a woman who was with a Vulpix.

Ludmila looked at the box in her claws apprehensively, then looked up at the door leading to the dressing area.

"No help?" She quietly whined "Need help"

"You know how to dress" I whisper hissed to her "you've seen me get dressed before and know how to put on shirts and pants!"

That last statement got me even more glares, a quiet gasp from someone, and I swore I heard a quiet "pervert". I sighed loudly and began pushing my giant pokemon to the door, while she just looked shocked and confused at the words and glares from the few coordinators around us. When I finally got us through the door, Ludmila looked on the verge of tears.

"Joe mad I'm pervert?" She asked, her entire body trembling in sadness.

"No Ludy they mean me, you're now an anthro pokemon and people don't really know how to react to seeing me with you, so they just assume I’m doing lewd things to you" I sighed in resignation, reaching up to gently stroke the side of her head like I used to do when she was a Lairon.

"What is lewd?" She asked, her sadness giving way to sheer confusion.

"Stuff done between mates" I explained quietly as I took the clothing box from her  "Remember when you found that magazine under my mattress when I was a teenager?"

Dawning realization crossed her face as she recalled the porno mag I had stashed. She looked down at her body, then up at me as if suddenly realizing she had a very curvaceous body. Once more tears welled up in the corners of her blue eyes.

"Shouldn't have evolved! Just want to live with Partner Joe" she said sadly. Seeing that broke my heart a bit and I gave her a tight hug.

"Hey hey stop that" I comforted "I'm happy that you evolved into this, it's pretty awesome if you ask me"

She wrapped me tight in a hug and I recognized that this was the first hug I had given her since her change and that was weeks ago. Before, her body had been rock hard and somewhat uncomfortable to hug tight. Now she was soft like a very firm bed and while I might not like a bed that firmness, it felt perfect for her. We hugged for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was more like 5 minutes. I could feel her body quivering with what I assumed was happiness and I realized her large breasts were pressed against me. I told my monkey brain to shut up as it recognized that they were in fact very big and very squished against me.

"Come on Ludy, let's get you changed and go home" I said as I patted her back gently. She gave me one final squeeze and released me from the hug.

"I want to go home with Joe" 

"I want to go home with you too, now let's get you out of that shirt" I said motioning to the stretched and dirty shirt that was covering her. The clothing box had been dropped during our hug since we were busy, so I grabbed it and opened it. Inside of it was a neatly folded outfit and a small card that read "Girl next door". I was a bit confused by the card so I pulled out the clothing and gawked at what was in my hands. 

The outfit was cute, that's for sure; a pair of shorts, hot pants I think they were called and a shoulderless t-shirt. It looked like what something your childhood neighbor who hadn't realized she had matured would wear. I was guessing the shoulderless shirt was to avoid the spikes that a Nidoqueen would have. I held it up to Ludmila, who just looked at it in mild interest.

"Well uh..guess you'll have to try it on" I said hesitantly as I set the outfit aside "Arms up Ludy" 

Ludmila raised her arms letting me grab the hem of the shirt and pull it off of her. It took a bit of finagling to get the stretched fabric over her head but we got it off eventually. She kept her blue eyes on me as it came off her and kept her arms raised while I got the new shirt ready; I tried to keep my eyes off her body and was able to mostly but my view did drift downwards to sneak a peek a few times. 

Picking up the outfit, I was able to get a full view of her body. tall, slightly chubby, a full rack and everything in between; not the classic hourglass but still a picturesque vision of beauty. She caught me glancing I guess because she struck a pose I recognized from a pin-up calendar that Captain Bill had up in his ship. I tossed the dirty shirt into her face when she did that.

"Stop that!" I scolded, earned a deep chuckle at my expense.

"I'm pretty?" she asked, tossing the dirty shirt down on the floor and looking at me expectantly.

"Yea you are Ludy, now get those arms back up" I said in mock annoyance. She followed my instructions, raising her arms back up but started shaking her chest side to side ever so slightly causing bits to jiggle. 

"Where did you learn this stuff?!" I asked in real annoyance.

"Pretty ladies on the beach" She answered right away "Joe always stares when they do this stuff"

I internally groaned; Of course before she evolved I had taken her to the beach with me and had no issues looking at the woman in bikinis in front of her; hell she probably had even seen me browsing adult stuff on my phone.

"Well stop it" I said as I shoved the new shoulderless shirt over her head, She chuckled again at that. She then smoothed out the shirt on her chest and tummy. It didn't quite fit right; her boobs kept it from sitting flat and there wasn’t enough fabric to cover her midriff. I had her step into the shorts and pulled them up around her ample waist, but they were a bit loose on her hips and too short. I stepped back to look her over and she watched me; She looked just like the girl next door if the girl next door was a giant steel dinosaur.

"Well it's not perfect, that's for sure, but it fits close enough and is better than that shirt" I mumbled to myself. "What do you think?" I pointed to a mirror in the wall behind Ludmila and she turned to stare at herself.

"Clothes weird" She said, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. 

"Only cuz you aren’t used to them, besides people will stare a LOT more if you aren’t wearing anything" I responded, pushing the door to the dressing room open and holding it for her. She squeezed past me into the contest hall and we headed over to the counter where the sales woman was sitting and looked extremely bored. Her eyes lit up a bit when she saw me and Ludmila.

"Ohh it looks like it kinda fit! Did you want the rest of the clothes that the guy ordered? again it's been here for years and I might get a bonus if I can get rid of it" she said with a far too happy expression. I pondered her question for only a moment before nodding.

"Eh why not, she’ll need clothes anyway" I sighed while thinking about the price tag. There went my whole bonus from our last job.

"One moment then" she said cheerfully, seeming to ignore my dejected look. 

I could feel the eyes of people on my back as I stood next to Ludmila, who was holding my arm and trying to be as small as possible. I swear I heard more whispers behind my back but I just stood stalwart and ignored them. I knew this would be my life until anthros pokemon became more widespread although I also swore I heard some guys mumbling about how Ludmila looked. Not sure how I should've felt about that.

After about 5 minutes the sales woman came back with 4 boxes precariously stacked on each other; I saw the label on the top one that said "Business suit". I don't know why she didn't bring that out first but whatever. I held Ludmila's claws as I discussed the pricing of the outfits and was surprised that they were all severely discounted.

"We just want them gone and no one else has even bothered asking about them" the woman stated blandly when i asked about the price. "Plus they're pokemon clothes, not a huge demand for pokemon clothes"

I couldn't argue with that logic. She bagged everything for me and I handed it to Ludmila to carry in her free hand so I wouldn't be so burdened. I still had my rucksack on after all; although it occurred to me that no one cared I was carrying a huge rucksack into a contest hall, but that's the nature of this wacky pokemon filled world. We left the contest hall together and iI could tell Ludmila was feeling much happier after that hug. It was a thing I had to get used to, but I knew it would make Ludmila happier and therefore make me happier.

Fireflies flickered on and off and the cries of wild pokemon could be heard from the nearby woods. The night air had crisp coldness to it that invigorated me as I breathed in the faint seasalt air. Along the sides of the well worn stone path were scorch marks, overgrown areas and the occasional pile of stones from pokemon trainers battling and not cleaning up afterwards. Ludmila walked quietly, a small smile on her face as we held onto each other; however I heard a slight grumble from her stomach.

"When we get home, want to run to the market for dinner while I unpack like usual?" I asked as we walked towards the outskirts of the city. 

"get the ramen from Kanto?" She asked, Her eyes looking back to the city and the open market where there were all kinds of food,

"Of course, just get enough cuz you're bigger now" I responded, squeezing her clawed hand.

Soon enough our home came into view; a cozy cabin tucked away from the main route. It was mainly made of wood due to Ludmila's earlier forms. Aron and Lairons ate iron ore in the wild and Ludmila was no different then. She had dug through the drywall of our old place to get at the metal ducts for the AC. This cabin still had AC but I had the vents put in the ceiling so she couldn't get at them.

I unlocked the door and we headed into what had been our home for the last decade. It was a simple one bedroom house that felt cozy. There was a barely stocked kitchen attached to a main living room with a very dusty TV and a brick fireplace. A laundry room sat off towards "the back" where we had access to a decently sized backyard.  I shrugged off my rucksack and kicked my boots off, happy to be home after so long. Sure we both enjoyed our time in the mountains just digging and not having to worry about anything, but home was home. I sighed and turned to Ludmila, digging in my back pocket for my wallet.

"Alright Ludy, here's your mission! Go get us some food and remember to ask for extra hot sauce" I said with an air of authority. Ludmila giggled her gravelly laugh while taking the money I held out for her. She knew her way to the market and knew which stall to get food from. I was sure the stall owners wouldn't recognize her but she could talk now so that shouldn't be an issue. 

As Ludmila left the house I unpacked my rucksack, dumping my dirty clothing into the washer without separating the whites and the colors. Honestly, I had never had an issue with colors bleeding so I just never bothered. Next I set the fossils and interesting stones we had dug up onto a large set of bookshelves. We Had quite a large collection after doing this for years and I was proud of it. Next I took out Ludmila's new clothing and set them in a drawer just for her. I was sure I would need to get another dresser soon for new clothes for her but that was a problem for me in the future.

After about 30 minutes Ludmila came stomping back through the door carrying a plastic bag with to go boxes. my mouth nearly watered at the sublime smell that came from the food. I was a decent cook, especially over a camp stove but i wasn't insecure enough to not admit that i couldn't make food as good as someone whose job it was. 

We enjoyed our meal together, not bothering with the TV since we were just used to not having it around. I was in the process of teaching Ludmila table manners as she was used to just eating with no regard to etiquette. However, I was no paragon of manners as I ate with my elbows on the tables and loudly slurped up my noodles; Ludmila was no better, she was basically shoveling her food into her mouth so fast I was slightly worried she would choke. Luckily she didn't and we enjoyed our first meal back home.

 

After our meal I lit a fire in the fireplace with flint and tinder (yes I know most people keep lighters or fire pokemon but I enjoyed using flint and tinder).Our couch groaned softly as we both settled on it in front of the flickering light that was our wilderness TV. Ludmila was looking through my pokegear again, learning about the regions and other pokemon while I cataloged the extra stones we found while digging. I had no use for extra water stones or whatever so I usually just sold them at the market in a stall I would occasionally rent.

Before long Ludmila yawned, causing me to yawn shortly after. stupid contagious pokemon moves. As I got up to check our bedroom a thought hit me like a brick, We would be sharing a bed. We always used to sleep in the same bed before and it wasn't right of me to kick myself or Ludmila to the couch, especially after our talk and hug in the contest hall.

Our bed was one of those custom beds that took up most of the room. As much as I loved Ludmila as a Lairon she had spikes and liked to kick a bit in her sleep so I had gotten a large bed for when she evolved; plus the bed was just comfy. 

"Ludy, get ready for bed, we can relax tomorrow" I called to the living room from the bedroom.

"Snuggle time!" She called back happily.

I was brushing my teeth when she stomped into the bathroom completely nude. I nearly choked on my toothbrush as she clumsily grabbed her extra large toothbrush and began brushing the inside of her mouth next to me. She watched me in the mirror's reflection as she brushed vigorously, causing her breast to shake side to side again.

"You're doing that on purpose aren't you" I asked a little nonplussed. She didn't answer but did give what I assume was supposed to be a sly grin.

"don't like?" she asked innocently

I pointedly ignored the question instead opting to get into my sleepwear, which was just a shirt and boxers. Ludmila just crawled onto the bed (Which creaked in protest) and watched me finish getting ready. I couldn't put off going to bed for long so I sighed and climbed into our bed in my usual spot. Ludmila immediately latched onto my side as soon as I got settled laying on my back. 

She was adorable the way she looked up at me from where her head waqs reading against the pillow next to me, her blue eyes piercing yet soft as she snuggled up to me like she used to when she was smaller. I kissed her forehead softly, earning a deep pleased rumble from her as she pressed herself closer to me. I ignored her boobs that were squished to my side and wrapped an arm around her as she nuzzled me, wrapping a leg and her tail around me. 

"Love you Ludy" I murmured as i began to drift off

"Love you Joe" She parroted, nuzzling closer.

We drifted off to sleep together in our shared embrace, happy to be with each other and happier to be home.