The Original L4J Fics - 1

Deep within the secret mountain base, scientists once again labored at their tasks. Manipulating DNA strands, splicing, twisting...forcing, if you will, a new being to life. She awoke much the same as her fellow failures had, floating suspended in a test tube of sorts, encased in a life-supporting fluid. Thoughts raced through her newly-awakened mind…but one kept returning, over and over again…

Why?


--


Chuckling, the dark haired man stroked his Persian while it vibrated contentedly under his hand. He turned his attention to the female creature before him.

"Because I said no. And soon you will not fight me on this matter…or any matter," he stressed this last while she stared at him balefully. Her voice was a smoking hiss.

"But why can I not go outside?" a hand came smashing down on the ornate desk he sat ensconced behind, as if on a throne. Claws raked the mahogany surface, peeling little curls of wood in the hand's wake. The man simply watched, idly rubbing his pet's ears.

"You are not fit for the outside world yet." He paused, darkness creeping into his voice. "I made that mistake once before-and I do not mean to make it again. You'll not leave here until your loyalties are secure." He stood abruptly, and tapped a button on the desk. Two black-uniformed young men walked in and stood at either sides of the door. "You will take this little minx to her quarters now. We are through. For now." The men nodded and gestured to the young female, and she stalked out, leaving them to trail behind her.

Giovanni sighed. He had considered how strong-willed she was going to be, and planned accordingly. He had no wish to be rushed, but could delay no longer. He tapped lightly on another button and spoke into an intercom. "I believe we should enable the genetic bonding process now," he murmured into the mike. "She grows too strong-willed for my taste." An evil smile curved his lips. "Let's curb that right now, before she grows too powerful to be willed by another." The Persian purred just as evilly as its master and rubbed against his legs as Giovanni, the Leader of Team Rocket, gloated over the new prize he was going to acquire. This time, he would control the most powerful pokemon alive!

The female stomped angrily to her quarters, followed by Giovanni's black-uniformed henchmen. She stopped them at her door.

"That's far enough. I know the way into my own room." She snarled, and they backed off quickly. When she snarled fangs appeared in her lightly furred face and pulled her lips back. Somehow she managed to pull off appearing as a dangerous animal in a ladylike fashion. Now the girl smoothed her short brown hair back and flicked her ears in annoyance. She glanced about her and spied a mirror…and stood very still. She saw herself reflected back at her, a human-form figure, about the size and slender height of a young female…but the similarities stopped there. Her ears were eevee-like, and so was her tail-her entire body was covered in brown fur, with a swatch of cream color on her midriff. Her facial features had the long snout but also warm, amber eyes that bespoke human intelligence. She wore a white uniform similar to the black ones worn by the generic henchmen - she knew not what this meant, but only that she was somehow even more different than they were. What made her freeze in place, however, was the image behind her. When she had stepped in the door she saw a swatch of black. But nothing now.... She paused.

"Who goes there…?" Another snarl threatened her lips. "Giovanni will not like it if you decide to play games with…" her ears perked. Her eyes widened. She felt the soft coolness of an airgun penetrate the flesh on her arm, and then drooped into the arms of those same henchmen that had escorted her to her quarters.

"But…they said we can't see the Boss," someone was whining. Male. She could surmise that much.

"Shut up. We have to. He summoned us. Now let us in, you idiots!" A female voice. Where was she…? She sniffed lightly, and determined that she was back inside Giovanni's office, where she had demanded her freedom only minutes ago. But there sounds of a scuffle, and then Giovanni's voice.

"What are those morons doing?" he sounded more furious than she'd ever heard him, and she wondered what was going on. Feeling slightly woozy, she opened her eyes just in time to see the door burst open and two figures come tumbling unceremoniously in. A gasp shook her entire body as her eyes fixed on the male, who was the first to pull himself up, rubbing his rear as he did so. She whined softly. And then, just as abruptly, she fainted.

Giovanni was livid.

"What have you done?!" he screamed at his cowering minions. The boy looked about to faint himself, from pure terror, but the red haired girl looked slightly annoyed.

"You told us to come and see you," she said slowly. Then, "Sir."

"Yes, but not now! My God, did you know what you just - what you -- what he just did?!" he virtually raged at the young male, who looked ready to crawl under the carpet.

"I'm sorry, Boss," he whimpered. "I thought you wanted to see us.." then he spotted the female on the floor, where she had passed out. "Yeeeek!" He leapt on to the girl next to him and she stumbled and fell, dumping them both on the floor again. "What is that?!" he half shrieked.

"That," Giovanni said ominously, his teeth clenched, "Is now your responsibility." He pointed at the prone figure. "The most powerful pokemon in the world, again -and I lose control of it -- again!" he slammed his fist on the desk and his persian growled in agreement, perfectly in tune with it's masters' moods. "You two are lucky that that James Bonded with this female," he waved his arm, indicating the fox-lady's sprawled form, "because you were going to be fired! Now, do better this time…or…" He walked over to the furry form.

"What...what do I..." James stammered.

"Pick her up, and carry her to your personal quarters, James. You'll get instructions from the Lab on how to deal with her." The boy looked up uncertainly but realized he'd better do it. He grasped the furry woman about the waist and lifted her easily. Then, dismissed, the two walked out of the room, the boy carrying the third party in his arms, albeit uneasily.

"What is …she, Jess?" he murmured. He absently blew a stray lock of blue hair away from his face. "She looks human but, the tail…the whiskers.."

"The fur," Jesse said wryly. She was sprawled on the floor of James' quarters, as indeed the only furniture was the cot-like bed that James had placed the unconscious form of the fox creature upon. "I think you'd better call the Lab, like the Boss suggested."

"Good idea." He tapped the intercom and placed the call, not bothering with the video relay. The Lab answered, presumably prepared by Giovanni in advance. He cleared his throat nervously. "This is James." He paused. "I…uh…the Boss said you would know what to do…he said to call you…." Jesse flared up, as she usually did when James got flustered.

"You idiot!" she turned to the com system. "We were told it's James responsibility to take care of a creature we found in the Boss's office." She paused, giving them about 5 seconds to absorb that data. "What are we supposed to do?" she demanded impatiently. There was a surprised silence, and then the Lab's head Scientist responded.

"Oh dear…Giovanni is not going to be happy," he murmured. "That was his pet project, after all his other failures."

"What?!!!" Jesse looked as if she was going to smash the intercom, and perhaps the tone of her voice warned the scientist. It certainly spared him her loosening her tongue at him, at any rate, for he responded by telling them a quick tale that shocked them all.

"A few years ago," the Rocket sceintist began, "Our Leader decided he wanted to-once again-try to create the most powerful pokemon on the planet. Having failed misreably so many times, he finally perfected one by mixing human and pokemon DNA." Jesse's eyes flew open incredulously, and James' mouth hung open in shock. "It was decided to start with ground pokemon-Giovanni's specialty, you know - but these never took, and we finally reverted to normal pokemon, something he found suitable. Psychic pokemon remained a bit too tricky, and indeed too chancy, to clone or mix generally…but the alternative would be an eevee that was a combination of all the species' forms. Specimen #L4J.03-the third in the production-survived."

"A…mix…?" James' green eyes blinked incredulously. "But-why did I get…what am I doing with her…?"

"If you'll forgive me for being brief," the scientist coughed, embarrassed. "Giovanni wanted to secure the creature's affections and loyalty. He chose to have the creature bond with him emotionally and…" here he coughed again, but went on "…physically, making the bond stronger."

"Physically…?" James' face reddened, and Jesse put a hand to her head.

"Yes…that means what you think it means. She has to mate with the person the Bond began with every 10 hours." Here he paused again. "Or die. You know, it's a fact of nature that some creatures live this way, and it wasn't hard to find the right codes to swap with human ones."

"Does this mean..?" Another cough.

"I'm afraid so. Planted henchmen had just started the reaction in her hormones and systems and the first male she saw was you." The reception faded but James didn't even notice. On the cot behind them came a small sound, such as a hurt animal will make. They both turned.

"I heard." The voice was soft, purring, obviously in in agony. Then, softly, "He didn't mention the pain…"

Jesse stared. James winced. "If you'll leave I'll just lie here and…go quietly." She turned her head, but they both saw she was blinking back tears. "I will not prostitute myself this way." There was a pause, then, fainter…

"I won't…"

Even softer yet.

"Come back in ten hours. Tell the Boss that I fought you, and it was hopeless."

Then she was silent, and James suddenly found himself crying.

"That's not fair!" he wailed. "I can't! I mean…" he stopped. Looked briefly down at himself with a frown. He was having trouble restraining his physical reaction, much to his embarassment. Maybe it had been the talk of sex, but no, no way... He whirled on the intercom and this time he switched on the video unit. "What's happening to me?" he nearly shouted, panicked, at the baffled technician who appeared. The man gestured and the scientist who had been talking to them before answered.

"What's wrong?" He barked. James glanced suddenly at Jesse. He wriggled uncomfortably.

"I…uh…the problem L4J has…" he stammered. The man blinked.

"You've named her already?" He stopped in his tracks, noticing immediately why James was uncomfortable. "Oh, my! The hormones are pheromones…" he ran to a computer terminal and started calculating, gesturing to himself excitedly. "I'd never have thought it possible! She's literally bonded with you!"

"What?" Jesse demanded, irritated again. She swept her hair back, nearly knocking James over. She hated not being the center of attention, but the poor thing was dying...

"When a female pokemon with psychic talents goes into heat," he explained, (Jesse couldn't help but raise an eyebrow) "she emits a mental pulse. It transfers her feelings to her would-be mate. It is, in fact, a quaint sort of way to explain the 'love at first sight' phenomenon." He grinned, excited. "I never thought this would happen!" Now Jesse was blushing. He didn't hear what the tech told James then, for she was staring at the fox woman on the bed. She turned off the unit herself after a bit.

"I'm leaving," she murmured. "It's late anyway. I'll see you two in the morning," she added diffidently.

James stared at the form on his cot. She was shaking lightly, as if cold, but it was warm in the room. He switched off the com unit and walked over to her. He sat carefully on the edge of his bed.

"It looks as if we're stuck together," he said, not unhappily. Then he gently turned her over. The lightly furred features didn't repel him at all, and her form was quite lithe and shapely. Slowly, gravely, he removed his white outer shirt and let it drop to the floor. L4J's ears perked slowly, and she stopped breathing momentarily, as if shocked. His black bodysuit clung to his slender form, revealing almost as much as if he were wearing nothing at all. She saw his slightly concave chest and lithe, narrow hips come into view as he undressed before her, closing her eyes with embarrassment before she could stare at his lower half. She dared to reach an almost-human hand out to him, claws sheathed, of course, and he closed his lustrous green eyes in rapture as she stroked his cheek. A soft purr was emanating from her throat, and her eyes were deep violet. The purr became a soft meow when his warm hand pulled her closer to him. James did not bother to turn the light off. He undressed her, lying beside her on the narrow bed. When she was nude he stared down at her body. He couldn't see anything…it was as if she were still wearing clothing! He frowned slightly and ran an experimental hand over her fur. She hissed softly, trembling, her features uncertain and in need of reassurance.

"James?" She asked this uncertainly, as if unsure she was correct.

"Yes?"

"I'm…scared," she whispered. His glorious emerald eyes darkened. A flush spread across his cheeks.

"Why?" he asked, knowing what she was about to ask him.

"I'm…I've never…"

"I know." He gulped and held her close, marveling at the sensation.

"Have you…?" it was the closest she could come to asking if he was a virgin or not. James sighed and swallowed hard.

"No. But I hope it's not difficult," he ventured. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I feel so bad," she whispered. He could see she had strong feelings for him but she felt terrible about what had happened. She was at war with herself, the emotions pulling her one way and her brain screaming at her that she couldn't possibly be in love with someone she just met. She knew it wasn't possible. "I can't do this just to live."

"What?!"

"I wanted to wait for real love, damn it...but who's going to love a creature like me?!"

"But it's my fault and I don't want you to die."

It took a lot of stammering persuation and, in the end - more than a few lingering kisses. But L4J lived come 10 hours later. For good or for ill.