1
The probability wavefront spread through our dimension sometime between 0200 and 0300 on that fateful day, changing what had taken place in our world and partially overwriting it with what we now know came from a neighboring dimension. The only reason this field of study even exists is due the fact that one in a million persons was, for reasons still unknown, unchanged by the event and it is their struggles which brought attention to the facts as we now know them to be. As the semester progresses we will touch on aspects of what they experienced and discuss its relevance to this course.
Dr. Johanna Running Bear-Singh
Texas Institute of Interdimensional Research
In a speech to her Introduction to Interdimensional Probability Physics Class, September 12, 2241AD
Benjamin Davis slapped at his alarm and scowled at the ceiling. Ben (Benji to his friends) rolled out of bed and attended to his morning routine, throwing a Hot Pocket in the microwave as he poured himself a cup of coffee and checked his email. Nothing.
He sighed and decided once again that his long distance relationship with Liz was finally over.
He was so busy thinking about Liz that he burned his mouth on that damned pastry and gave breakfast up as bad deal before heading out the door for work.
“Benjamin.” Benji sighed and pulled up a smile.
“Morning, Chuck.” Charles Redd was his next door neighbor, fiftyish and aging fast; a legacy of licking too many LSD impregnated Snoopy stamps in the seventies. Chuck was also not an early riser and curiosity trickled faintly through Benji’s mind.
“Happy birthday. You’re eighteen today, right?”
“Yeah.” Parents dead at sixteen, declared an adult by a social system with too many kids and too few caregivers, Benji actually managed to graduate from high school a year early. He worked make ends meet, although the insurance on his parents had finished paying off the family home and left him enough to invest. He’d deliberately listened to his godfather and put the money into long term investments that he couldn’t touch for years.
“Jessie turned sixteen a few days ago and she’d like to stay near home.” Benji blinked at the sudden change of topic. “So I was wondering if?”
If what? Fuck it. “Chuck, I have to get to work or I’ll be late.”
“Fine, fine. Think about it, will you? We’ll talk later.”
“Sure.” Benji jumped into his truck and pulled out, noticing Jessica watching him from her upstairs bedroom window. He blinked and looked again. He knew her from school, she loved to party and was into the whole rebel thing, but he’d never seen her with green hair before. She waved and he cautiously waved back. “What the hell?” She was just like her father and never friendly except when she wanted something. He wondered for a moment what it could be and then put it out of his mind.
He noted idly that traffic was very light although apparently the city had some new mass transit program going, he saw a lot of busses with a PGT logo on them.
He pulled into the Oswald’s Garage and double parked in the employee section. Dave, as usual, came out to say hi. “Can’t you fucking park that thing right?” Dave had the same breakfast every morning, a cup of something from Starbucks, a Danish and a bitch. However, once breakfast was out of the way he usually turned out ok.
“Dave, I’m just helping you to not scratch my truck again.” Benji grinned. “So what have we got today?”
Benji half tuned Dave out as he started listing the day’s work. Dave owned Oswald’s and thought the name gave the place a touch of class. Considering that they were the only garage that worked on high end imports for miles, he needed all of the class he could get.
Benji was working on finishing his accreditation, but it was just the paperwork, he knew cars inside and out. He frowned and replayed Dave’s last comment. It still didn’t make any sense.
“What was that?”
“I asked if you were free on Saturday night.” Dave wiggled his eyebrows. “You know, for a date.”
“We had this out when I came to work for you. I do good work, you pay me well, and you don’t hit on me.”
“Come on, Benji, you’re eighteen and you don’t have a girl. You have got to come out of the closet.”
Benji sighed. “I’m not gay, Dave. I’m just picky and most girls are nothing more than black holes for money. Let me get to my work.”
“Fine. Just remember the offer still stands.”
The day went quickly as Benji immersed himself in his work. Dave dealt with the customers and Benji had to admit he was very good at schmoozing them into the extra stuff that kept Dave in his boytoys. Business was always brisk.
Finally Dave rang the quitting bell. Benji grinned as he put down a spanner and stretched. Dave always went for the dramatic touch and had a real bell that he rang. He always claimed it was his one nod toward being a flamer, or as he put it, a flicker.
Dave grinned as Benji clocked out. “So are you leaving tomorrow? I’ve already made the arrangements for your last paycheck to be deposited so you won’t have to come back for it.” He simpered. “You won’t forget me will you?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Well today is your last day and you’d talked about getting an early start on your journey.”
He had been thinking about going to Mexico for a week or so, but didn’t remember mentioning it to Dave. Mentally he shrugged. Maybe he needed to get some more rest. “I haven’t decided.”
“Well, give me a goodbye hug.” Benji shrugged and let himself be pulled in. Dave was always into hugs.
“Dave, let go of my ass.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“I can and I do.”
Traffic was heavier than the morning, but still very light, which was odd for Friday evening. Benji just enjoyed the drive.
He pulled in and went into the house and frowned at the smell of cooking. Grabbing the poker from the fireplace, he crept into the kitchen only to stop in shock as Jessie looked up from the table. “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.” Her eyes narrowed at his confused look. “Benjamin Antonio Davis you are not going to ditch me. You made me a promise when you were twelve to take me on your journey and I’ll level your house if you bail on me.” Suddenly she smiled. “So now that’s settled, go clean up, and don’t worry, I’ll leave after I watch you eat. You haven’t been taking good care of yourself since your parents died and if you aren’t in good shape, how are you going to take care of me?” She turned slightly pink.
“How did you get in?”
“You left your bedroom window unlocked.” He frowned. It was on the second floor and there wasn’t any easy access. What did she do, fly up to it? He snorted and went to take a quick shower.
When he returned downstairs, Jessie had pulled a store bought lasagna out of the oven and filled a plate for him. She grinned. “Yeah, I know this is the limits of my cooking, but we’ll find you someone who can on the road. I’m just trying to point out that I think about you and would make a good alpha.”
She sat and ate dinner with him before putting the plates in the sink. “I’ll take care of these in the morning before we leave. Oh, and I checked your mail. Two guys want to meet up with you on your journey, but they want to talk to you about where. I already packed the bike with the stuff you have to take so all you have to do is figure out what you want to take and if it will fit in the saddlebags.”
“The bike’s in the garage?”
“Of course it is. I’ll see you later.” She blew him a kiss and headed out the back door.
Benji headed for the garage. The bike was a bizarre hybrid and he looked it over carefully. The chassis was street legal but the suspension was pure off road and the tires were multipurpose and made of solid rubber. He’d never owned anything like it in his life. The saddlebags were filled with odd stuff, some computer thing he’d never seen before along with a bag of little red and white balls. There was a cover for the bike and some flares and such with a little room left over. There was also a heavy backpack leaning against the bike and it was mostly empty.
He frowned and pulled out his driver’s license. Apparently he suddenly had a motorcycle certification and the title to the bike was also in his wallet. He’d owned it for over a year.
Then he looked closer. His address still said he lived in Fort Worth, in the Texas region? And what was the Indigo Plateau? Where was the USA?
“Time to do some surfing.” He headed for his computer.
Two hours later his confusion had only grown. There had never been a United States and while Texas had been a country for a brief time, it was after winning its independence from someplace called Johto.
So he’d done some historical research. His mind whirled with pictures of Pharaoh’s tombs of the ruler and his harem? Roman pokegladitorial fights? Jack the Ripper only killed bug types?
He’d had one thing answered. Only twenty percent of the population was male and girls couldn’t legally drive. That explained the light traffic.
That didn’t explain why girls were really called pokegirls, even if only scientists used the full name.
He nodded to himself as he stood up. Maybe a trip was just the thing for someone who’d just gone completely crazy. And since it was all in his head, Chuck wasn’t likely to come find him if he took Jessica along with him.
***
2
Benji was busy until late in the evening. He’d received several phone calls and apparently whatever he was planning, he’d thought it out. The first call was from the house sitting service to confirm he’d be leaving by the weekend and that they already had all the keys they needed.
Next was his godfather, Justin Callahan, who wanted to wish him a happy birthday and to let Benji know that he’d come by in a few days to pick up the truck and clean out the fridge of any perishables. He also suggested that since Benji was going to be gone for more than a year that he consider renting the place out and if he thought it a good idea, Justin would be willing to handle everything for him. Numbly, Benji agreed.
Other calls had been to verify that the newspaper had been terminated and that the cable would be shut off in three days. Another call had been to verify that his cell number had been transferred to his pokedex and that his cell account would be canceled and the last call had verified the same thing about his internet access.
He also spent a couple of hours doing more research and finally quit with the observation that the more he knew, the less he understood.
It was close to midnight when he finally climbed into bed after making sure that all the doors and windows were locked.
“Benji?”
He awoke with a start. “What the fuck?” He peered into the darkness at his clock and winced when he realized it was 2 AM. “Damn, I thought someone said my name.”
“I did.” He jumped. “Sorry.” It was Jessie.
He rubbed his face blearily. “Jessica, what are you doing here?” He frowned. “How did you get in here?” He reached over and turned on the light.
Her face was red and puffy from tears. “I, I didn’t know where to go. Dad’s going back on his word and I’m scared, Benji.” Her lip trembled.
He sat up. “Do you want to talk about it with me?” She nodded slowly. “So you made me bad lasagna,” she smiled briefly, “and went home. What happened after that?”
“After I got home this guy came by. He collects girls and found out I was of age and he doesn’t have any girls like me yet. He offered Dad some money for me.”
Benji’s face tightened with anger. Slavery, in this day and age. Then he remembered what he’d read online. It was pretty common, only they didn’t call it that. “So your Dad’s a bastard. I already knew that. Did he accept the offer?”
Jessie shook her head. “No, he told the guy he wanted to check on some other offers he’d received. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth or just holding out for more money.”
“He’s holding out. He started to talk to me before I went to work about you and he wouldn’t have done that if he’d had an offer of money for you.” He frowned. “So what can I do?” Yeah, Jessie was a bitch, but not that much of one.
“I thought if you tamed me tonight and we sneaked out in the morning, we could escape before Dad got up. Once I’m bonded there isn’t anything he can do.” Jessie’s eyes were bright.
Thanks to his research Benji knew what taming was. “You want to have sex with me?”
She flushed slightly and looked down at the bed. “I’ve wanted you to be my Tamer since I was ten.” She looked up into his eyes. “You’ve always been nice to me. Everyone told me it was because you were a boy and next door, but I never changed my mind, even when you broke my nose.”
“That was an accident.”
“You did mean to hit me; you just didn’t mean to break my nose.” She smiled again. “Of course I did try to pull your ear off, so I suppose I may have deserved it, at least a little. Do you want to tame me?”
Benji was acutely aware of the fact that the last time he’d gotten laid had been over six months before and if Jessie looked down she would know this as well. He nodded towards a door. “The bathroom’s in there. Go freshen up and get ready for bed.”
Her eyes brightened. “Can I use your toothbrush? I didn’t bring one.”
“You had better use it because I know you had some of that lasagna too.” She grinned and dashed for the bathroom while Benji got up and padded downstairs to get some stuff.
When Jessie came out she looked much happier and had left her jeans and t-shirt in the bathroom, leaving on an iridescent green bra and panty set. She frowned at the stuff he’d put on the nightstand. “Uh, I was hoping for something a little more conventional for my first time.”
He grinned. “Relax; the chocolate syrup is for the milk.” He held up a glass. She blinked in surprise. “And the milk is for the cookies.” He held up a bowl filled with several types of cookies. “The house sitters will just steal them if we don’t eat them.”
She settled onto the bed next to him. “I thought you were going to tame me.”
“I am, but I wanted to get you into a good mood first, since you came over here all weepy eyed and sad. So I decided that decadence was the order of the day and how much more decadent can you get than cookies in bed?”
She giggled and grabbed a cookie. So they ate some cookies and then he fed her a cookie and she had to feed him one. So they fed each other cookies and then he placed a cookie in his teeth and fed it to her that way and of course she had to do the same for him.
That of course led to kissing when they fed each other cookies which led to kissing without bothering with cookies at all.
As they kissed she kind of slithered into his lap and he realized as she worked on removing his briefs that at some point her bra and panties had vanished.
She broke their kiss and sighed. “Do you have any restraints?”
“I thought you didn’t want anything unconventional tonight?”
She kissed him again as he pushed her backwards onto the bed. “I’m a lot stronger than I look, so restraints are recommended.”
“Then hold onto the headboard,” he murmured as he took a nipple in his mouth. She moaned and grabbed the sides of the bed as he sucked harder. “If you are that strong, you’ll just have to be careful with me.”
He kissed his way down her stomach and she shivered. He paused and she made a whimpering sound. “Don’t stop.” He chuckled and slid between her legs and his mouth covered her pussy. She started to yelp and it dissolved into a long moan as he sucked gently. Her legs twitched and started to wrap around his head until with an obvious effort she laid them back on the bed.
He sucked and nibbled until her back arched and she screamed as she came. The bed groaned as she convulsed.
Benji licked the sweat from her body as he moved back up and kissed her hungrily. She draped her arms around his neck and sighed contentedly into his mouth.
Her eyes flew open when he nuzzled the head of his cock into her pussy. “Oh yes, do it,” she whispered. “Make me yours.”
He slowly forced himself into her, feeling her tightness ease as his length sank deeper and deeper until he nudged her womb. She moaned softly into his ear. “Fuck me, oh god, FUCK ME!” Her body writhed beneath his as she came again.
Benji slowly pulled his cock back out and drove it in again, increasing speed with each thrust. She was hot and tight and he knew he wouldn’t last long, so he quickly began driving into her hard and fast until his orgasm rose up and exploded into her as she screamed again.
She draped her legs around his waist and smiled tiredly up at him. “You feel so good inside me I don’t want you to ever move.”
He chuckled. “Did it work? Are you mine now?”
“God yes and then some.” She pulled him down for a kiss. “I am yours now.”
“Good.” He reached over and touched his clock. “It’s 3:30 AM. I want to be gone before your father comes looking for you, so we get up at five and get out of here.”
“You’re the boss.” She nuzzled against him happily and drifted off.
They had sex again in the shower but still managed to get out the door before 6:30, mainly by skipping breakfast. The only strange note was that when she went into the bathroom before him she’d been nude and he’d spent several minutes looking fruitlessly for her bra and panties but when he came back into the bathroom after their shower with a clean t-shirt of his for her to wear, she had them on.
He pushed the bike down the street while she slipped into her house for a small pack of stuff she couldn’t live without.
“Ok.” She strapped her pack onto his and slipped his onto her back. “Oh, here’s my ball.” She handed him a small red and white ball. He looked at it for a moment. “Put it in the pokeball holder on your belt.”
He nodded and made a decision. “We’re going to have to talk later about some things.”
“Did I do something wrong?” She looked worried.
“It’s nothing like that. I need to talk to you about something else.”
She nodded. “Ok. So where do you want to go first?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure, got any advice?”
“Well,” she tugged on her hair, “I would advise you to go somewhere we can add at least two more girls to your harem. That guy who wanted to buy me from my father comes from a wealthy family and I’ve heard that sometimes he obsesses and if he comes after us we want to be ready.”
Benji started the bike and listened critically to the engine. “So does this jackass have a name?”
“Tatewaki Kuno. His dad is the principal.”
“The fruitcake who never wears a suit? Mr. Hawaii?”
“The same.”
He frowned at a sudden thought. “Hey, you’re still in school. What about the rest of your education?”
“I’m done. Sixteen is the cutoff and from now on it’s the school of hard knocks.” Her tone indicated that it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Benji blinked suddenly. “Wait a minute. Kuno? I know that name. Is there a sister?”
“Yeah, Kodachi. She’s my age.” Jessie grimaced. “She’s a nutjob, but considering what I’ve heard about that family, it only makes sense.”
“Great,” he muttered to himself. “Not only am I cracked, but I’m channeling anime. Kunos. What’s next, Rick Hunter and Minmei or Allucard, Seres Victoria and Integra?” He looked back. “Get on.”
Jessie slipped onto the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Ready and willing, sir.”
He drove slowly and finally accelerated once they were on another street. The bike handled well and he kept it just under the speed limit as they headed out of town.
Jessie leaned forward and half yelled into his ear. “We might want to stop in the towns we go through. A lot of farmers will pay us to catch any ferals that they are having problems with and often they advertise in the local paper. Sometimes pokegirl centers have some freebies too, but usually you are just inheriting someone else’s problem. After all, nobody would dump a good girl, right?”
He turned his head so she could hear him. “First we find someplace and get some sleep. An hour and a half isn’t long enough for long distance driving.”
“Ok.”
They drove until noon and ended up parking the bike underneath a bridge and sleeping next to it until dusk.
3
“So let me get this straight. When you went to bed two days ago you were somewhere else?”
Benji shook his head. “I used to read a lot of science fiction and one of the things about alternate universes is that little things are different. I spent a good part of the day after you left tearing my house apart and looking for those differences. Nothing was changed. Even the stains matched up with what I remembered. That can only mean that I’m still in the dimension I originated in.”
Jessie sipped at her coffee. It was early evening and the stars were just starting to appear overhead. “So what does that mean?”
“It can only mean that the universe has changed around me. Somehow, overnight, things went from normal to what is happening here.”
“So why is it that you are the only one who thinks this? Wouldn’t it be easier to say that you’ve gone gonzo?”
“If that’s true, where does that put you?”
Jessie blinked in surprise. “Ok, we’ll proceed with the idea that you’re not crazy, because if you are then I have to go home and my dad will sell me to Kuno.”
“I’m glad you’re on my side,” Benji said sarcastically. “Now all I have to do is prove it.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’ve already started. While you were still sleeping I posted some anonymous messages on some oddball websites asking if anyone else had experienced anything unusual on that day. I’ll get a lot of kooks responding, but then since I know exactly what kind of response I’m looking for it’ll be easy to filter the answers.” He sighed. “There were also a couple of people who seemed to be asking similar questions and I replied with a version of what I know that doesn’t sound too freaky. Hopefully I’m not alone in my delusions.”
Jessie laughed in his face. “And how do you make ‘while I was asleep the universe changed and only I know it’ not sound freaky?”
Benji looked down at the tiny campfire. “I did my best,” he said in a small voice.
Jessica sighed. “I do want to help you, Benji. You’ve been good to me.” She flashed him a grin. “Or at least the false memories planted in my mind by the changes in the fabric of reality make me think you’ve always been nice.”
Benji shook his head. “Now that’s the bitch I remember.”
“Hey, I’m always glad to make my Tamer feel comfortable in his new surroundings.”
“Look I told you what I know about the world before it changed.” Even to him, his voice sounded plaintive.
“And I do have to admit that what you’ve said sounds very cohesive. If you’re a loon, at least you’re an organized one.” Jess frowned. “Unfortunately, while I’m a psychic type, I don’t have the abilities necessary to look inside your pretty head.”
Benji frowned. “That reminds me, what kind of girl are you, other than cute?”
“Now that kind of talk will get you lots of opportunities to re-bond me to you.” Jessie’s eyes flashed with amusement. “However, to answer your question, I’m a Psi-a-Knight. That’s a form of Battle Angel.” She frowned when he continued watching her politely. “This is where you say ‘wow, I’m so lucky I got a powerful girl to start with’.”
He gave her a sardonic look. “Wow, I’m so lucky I got a powerful girl to start with. Sadly, I’d know more about you if you’d just told me that you were Wonder Woman.”
“I don’t know that one. Look me up in your pokedex.” She gave him a sour look. “You’re not faking are you? It’s the metal thingy in your backpack. The one with the displays on it. Shit.” She got up and went through his pack. “Here.”
He looked over the device she’d handed to him. It was red and had a symbol of a pokeball on it. There was a folding flap that covered a keypad and electronic display. He remembered seeing it in his pack but hadn’t touched it before. “Kind of clunky. Why didn’t they build it into a Blackberry or something?”
“I have no idea why you’re talking about fruit.” Jessie sat down next to him. “Here is the detector lens. You point it at the girl you want to scan and it does the rest. You can either set it up to put text on the screen, talk to you, or do both.” She held up a finger. “However, anyone with a talking pokedex is a dork.”
“Dork, huh? Well I can’t have you being tamed by a dork, now can I?” Benji pointed it at her and immediately the display filled with information and a picture. He read quickly. “You have retractable armor? Where?”
Jess held out her arm. “Everywhere, but here, look.” The arm looked normal for a second and then green flowed up out of her skin like time-lapse photography of sweat pooling until her arm and fist were covered in metal. “See. All Battle Angels can make their armor look like plates that retract, but the one’s with fine control can do this. Mom taught me how to do it because she says it’s much more comfortable. I can even change the color if it bores me, but right now it’s the same shade as my hair.”
Benji felt her arm. “Wow. I am impressed.” He glanced at her. “Your bra and panties were that armor, weren’t they? That’s why I couldn’t find them when you were showering.”
“You looked for my undies?” She grinned and leaned against him. “Oh, that’s so sweet.” Her smile widened. “Nope, I don’t have any, so don’t get any ideas of panty raids on this girl.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m only interested in getting your panties off, not in keeping them.” Benji was pleased when she turned bright red and looked away.
She was actually quiet for a couple of minutes, blushing again each time she caught him watching her. Finally she sighed. “I’m going to have to share you and right now I don’t want to.”
“So don’t.”
“I can’t take that chance. Kuno’s supposed to be one of those obsessive types and if he comes after us, he’ll be ready to face a psychic and steel type. We need to get some more members for your harem so we can fight him. Even if he doesn’t there will always be someone who wants to take me from you.”
“Then we do need to get more girls.” She blinked at the sudden determination in his tone. “You are mine, Jessica Redd, and no one is going to change that unless it’s something we want. So we are going to do everything we can to make sure we are strong enough to keep you around.”
Jessie slithered into his lap and curled up in his arms. “That’s good to hear,” she said quietly. “I don’t know if you can do it, but I’m certainly going to help you to try.” She kissed him gently. “Even if you are crazy.”
The next morning they were on the road early. “So how does this small town thing you mentioned work?”
Jessie tightened her arms around his waist. “If the town has a pokegirl center there will be a bulletin board inside and if the town doesn’t have a center the board will be in the town square.”
“So how do we know which towns have pokegirl centers?”
She shrugged. “There will be a symbol of a pokeball on the city limit sign. Most county seats and anywhere that has a library should have one, but sometimes they don’t.”
“Does my pokedex have a map that’ll tell us?”
“No. It’s supposed to, but the towns that didn’t have a center sued the Leagues to have it removed. Tamers can be a valuable source of income to a small town and the ones that didn’t have a pokegirl center were being bypassed and they got a bit testy about it.”
“What about a website? Let me guess, the towns lie on them.”
“Pretty and smart. I did get lucky with my Tamer,” Jessie purred against the back of his neck.
He shivered. “It sounds like our best bet is to hit every small town we come across. Right?”
“Only if it’s at least a couple of hours outside of a city. Towns closer to a city than that are routinely picked over by Tamers who daytrip out to catch another girl. They aren’t going to have anything most of the time, much less anything interesting.”
“I read your entry this morning. Aren’t you supposed to be on some kind of crusade?”
Jessie snorted. “Right now my crusade is to keep out of Kuno’s slimy clutches and getting you some help.” She was quiet for a minute. “If we can get someone to believe you and if someone can help, are you going to go back to where you belong?”
“I am where I belong; it’s just that here isn’t what it should be.”
Jessie squeezed him hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. “Thanks.” Benji realized that she’d completely misunderstood his answer. However, maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.
They stopped for lunch in a small town south of Houston. Benji looked up from the map he’d spread out on the table. “I was planning on going to Mexico, I mean Johto. What do you think?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Jessie frowned at him over her burger. “Going north might be a better thing to do. Johto is ok, but how much Mexican Spanish do you speak?”
“Some. Enough to get by.”
She shook her head. “That’s just enough to ensure you get challenged by every Tamer we run across down there. There are always some two-bit Tamers who like to challenge every foreigner they run across. It happens to them up here, too.”
“All right, how about we head over towards San Antonio and head north from there? If we stay to the west of Austin we can head up towards Abilene and from there either we can go to Lubbock or Wichita Falls. Either way is off the beaten path and is almost nothing but small towns. From there we can decide if we want to go north, west or east.”
Jessie nodded. “That sounds a lot better.”
“What kind of girls should we be looking for?”
“Kuno’s best bet against me would be fire or ground types, so we definitely want a water type girl. Other than that, a wide range of types is always the best. I’d also recommend a pure psychic type like an A-Bra or something like that. She also might be able to help your delusion or verify your story.” A quick chuckle. “Whichever you happen to need most.”
“So water, psychic and something else. How many girls do you think I need?”
She eyed him speculatively. “I’m not sure. As a base Tamer you are allowed six girls, but you may want some storage capability too. There’s a test for that. Did you take it?”
Benji gave her an uncertain look. “How would I know?”
“Give me your pokedex.” He handed it to her and she flipped through some menus. “Yes, you have storage for twelve pokegirls.” She gave him an amused smile. “Apparently this new reality wants you to be ambitious.” The smile vanished when he swiped some of her fries. “Hey!”
“That’s hey, master, to you.” He grinned at her.
She shook her head. “Which brings us to how you want to be addressed. Believe it or not I have to listen to you on this.” She gave him a disgusted look. “So if you want to be called master, then I will call you that.” She glanced at the slowly growing number of people coming in to get lunch. “In fact I should do it when we are in public, master. Or would you prefer lord?”
“I’d prefer Benji, but I don’t want to get you into trouble.” He chuckled. “Unfortunately all of the fun things I can think for you to call me would probably not be acceptable in polite society, so master Ben in public and Benji in private. Later if you want, you can give me a pet name.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Pet name? What would you want me to call you?”
“I’d prefer something complementary, so no ‘little dick’ or ‘dumbass’, if you please.”
Jessie snickered and coughed as she sucked a bit of potato down her windpipe. When her coughing fit had passed she wiped tears from her eyes and shook her head. “You’re serious.”
“I am indeedy. If you are pleased enough with me to give me a pet name, then I will wear it with pride.”
“Even if it’s something like ‘bee’s knees’?” She gave him a teasing look.
“I was hoping for something slightly more grand, but yes. And in return I may elect to reward you with a pet name of your own, oh, say ‘punkin’ or something along those lines.”
They shared a laugh and finished their meals before leaving.
As he turned the bike west, Jessie tightened her arms around his waist and kissed the back of his neck. “Where are we going next?”
“Goliad. We’ll stop there for the night and check the bulletin board tomorrow. We might as well start our look for more girls there.”