4
“Welcome to Goliad.” Jessie muttered as she read the sign. “Doesn’t look like much. It’s not close to any other community. It should be a perfect place to look for feral pokegirls.”
He disagreed. “It’s not that far from Victoria; but yes, it’s a quiet little community.”
Benji turned into a filling station as she continued: “There are probably some Tamers here who would be willing to trade but, unless you’ve changed your mind and want to get rid of me, that’s not a viable option.”
“I’m not getting rid of you.” Benji shook his head as he dismounted and reached for his pokedex. He’d already learned it had an RF chip that took the place of the credit cards he’d had before. He paused suddenly as a thought struck him.
“Maybe I need to come up with a formal name to describe my life before it went strange. That will help to define before my world changed and after. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”
Jessie had been rummaging through a saddlebag. “Before? Oh. How about ‘pre-crack’?” She sobered at the look he gave her. “Sorry, master. I know, your journey started the day after you think things changed, so how about ‘pre-journey’? That way, if you need to mention something to me about it when others are around, hopefully the conversation won’t sound too odd.”
Benji gave her an odd look. “I always thought you were just an air headed little brat. If you were this smart before I, um, started my journey, I don’t think I gave you sufficient credit.”
Jessica turned pink and suddenly became very interested in her search. “I’ve got to go to the ladies room. I’ll be right back.” She hurried away.
Benjamin watched her go. “I’m still can’t believe she’s my property,” he muttered. “She’s just a kid. And I have to use her to beat up other girls so I can keep them too? This is totally screwed up.” He sighed. “I hope I can do this, for both our sakes.” He glanced at the display as he put the pump back. “Two hundred credits. I’m still having problems with how expensive everything is. Maybe it’ll help if I pretend that I’m in a video game and this is Monopoly money.” He snorted. “Of course, there are the other little things too. Like the fact that this is an Esso station and their slogan is ‘put a Tigress in your tank’. Well, unless I want to see what a 24 hour psychiatric hold looks like as a guest, I’d better keep my opinions to myself.”
To keep from gawking openly at the strange pokegirls as they went in and out of the food mart, he practiced using his pokedex to scan them and read the entries. Jessie grinned as she swung onto the bike behind him. “You look like a real Tamer. Checking out the opposition and seeing if they have anything worth battling over. I checked and this place is too small for a pokegirl center.”
He snorted again. “Real Tamer? Looks can be deceiving. Let’s find the town square.”
***
The bulletin board was obvious. Across the top in foot tall letters was the legend: “Pokegirl Buy/Sell/Trade/Feral”. Pieces of paper of various sizes were tacked on it and there was a section behind a plastic cover for official announcements. A one inch border on the bottom informed all posters that personal postings had to be dated and would be removed after one week. Whoever had put that up was apparently serious since none of the personal ads were over a week old.
The most prominent posting was behind the plastic and announced in brilliant scarlet letters that the bounty on Jacobson’s ghost had been increased again to 750,000 SLC. Smaller print advised interested parties to see the town police for details.
Jessie noticed him reading the advert. “If the bounty is that high, I don’t think we should be going after whatever it is.”
“I’ve noticed that things are pretty expensive here. It couldn’t hurt to talk to the police and see what’s going on.”
She sighed. “You’re the Tamer. I’m just the one who gets healed if you’re wrong.” Her face brightened. “Still, I’m pretty powerful against ghosts.”
***
For an instant, Benji thought the two women in the police station were twins. Then the blue hair color registered. “Good afternoon, ladies.”
The closest one gave him a brief once over and smiled broadly. “Good afternoon, sir. What brings you to the Goliad police station?” She politely ignored Jessie.
“I wanted to get the details on Jacobson’s ghost.”
The smile vanished. “I see. Please, this way, sir.” She led them into what looked like an interrogation room. “Are you making a report of another killing?”
He exchanged a startled look with Jessie. “No, I’m not. I wanted to get the details so I could decide if I wanted to go after the bounty.”
Her face lightened but remained grave. “Have a seat. I’ll get the file.” She was back a moment later and took the chair on the other side of the table. “Here. I can give you the pertinent facts while you read.”
He opened the file as she took a deep breath. “Five months ago, a Tamer by the name of Donald Jacobson died of a stroke on the banks of the San Antonio River. According to his last records, he had a full harem and we recovered all but two, a Wet Lass and a Minotaura.” She shrugged, making interesting things happen to the front of her uniform. Benji felt Jessie’s gaze on his neck and forced his eyes back to the file. “At the time, we figured that both of them had been captured by passing Tamers and never reported. I want something to drink; how about you two?”
He blinked at the sudden change of topic and glanced at Jessie, who nodded. “That would be nice.”
“I’ll be just a minute.” She got up and left once more.
“She’s an OfficerJenny.” Jessie kept her voice a whisper. “Her nametag says Tanya. You might have noticed that if you hadn’t been staring at her breasts.”
“I didn’t stare; I glanced at them when she jiggled.”
Tanya’s return stopped Jessie’s retort and the Psi-A-Knight released her breath in a low hiss.
The OfficerJenny put sodas in front of each of them and sat down again. “There you go.” Benji glanced up to say thanks and blinked. She’d unbuttoned the two top buttons on her uniform and flesh gleamed enticingly. She smiled slowly as he wrenched his eyes back down to the file. “A month later, a Tamer was killed in the Goliad State Park by a feral pokegirl. Since then there have been six more humans killed by what the coroner thinks is the same pokegirl.” She shifted and smiled again when he glanced up.
“We’ve since verified that the Minotaura was taken by another Tamer and we think the attacks were perpetrated by the Wet Lass. The locals call the killer Jacobson’s ghost. Since we posted a bounty on her, Tamers have tried everything they could think of to catch her.” She grimaced. “One genius even had his poison pokegirl poison the river upstream of any of the attacks. He killed a lot of fish and is now our guest in the county jail. There have been attacks since then, so he didn’t succeed in stopping her.”
Benji was looking over a map showing where all the attacks had taken place. “All right, I think we’ll have a go at her.” He looked up. “Can I get a copy of this?”
***
Jessie stopped and stared at him in amazement. “You didn’t realize she was coming on to you?”
“Jessie, less ‘you’re an idiot’ and more stomping.” She blinked and went back to using the foot pump. The half limp form began twitching again as he reached for a wrench. “I didn’t ask if she was coming on to me, I asked why she was doing it.”
“She’s a civic pokegirl. Most of them don’t have a regular Tamer and have to make do with whoever they can convince to help them out.” She gave him an uncertain look. “Everyone knows that; everyone from here, at least.” Her voice trailed off.
“Are you actually starting to believe me?”
“I’m not sure. I am starting to disbelieve you less.” She shook her head abruptly. “She’s a police pokegirl and probably works long shifts. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for finding a Tamer. There are bars where, if you go, you are assumed to be ready to be tamed; according to mother and some of her friends, many of the guys who go there are pretty sleazy.”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You’re in good shape, you bathe regularly and you carry yourself confidently. A lot of civic pokegirls are going to be interested in you.” She gave a tiny shrug. “If I hadn’t been so possessive, you probably could have picked up another couple of girls before you ever left home.”
The last nut loosened. “While I’m not sure why I didn’t go with a complete exhaust system, having a slip-on makes this a lot easier.” He glanced over at her as he pulled the muffler off. “Did you keep them away from me?”
She smiled slightly. “I knocked out four of Shelly Jenkins’ teeth before she got the message that I was serious. Twice. The same four.”
“This is part of that miraculous healing you pokegirls can get, right?” When she nodded slowly, he chuckled. “So if you get your ass kicked by this Wet Lass, I can heal you up and try again while she’s still nursing her wounds from the fight.”
“Yes, you can. How is this going to work?” Jessie pushed the plug in and lifted the now fully inflated DragonQueen doll. “We’ve got an inflatable sex doll, some cable and a metal bucket.”
“A lot of Tamers keep blogs of their activities and I read some of the ones for the Tamers who tried to catch this pokegirl. Most of them used the brute force approach of patrolling around and looking for her. Others used electric pokegirls to attack the river, hoping to drive her out. With her fade ability, they might have knocked her out and never known.” He grinned suddenly. “I sound like I know what I’m talking about, don’t I? Anyway, I guess that’s the way they teach Tamers to approach a problem, especially since most pokegirls are a lot like hammers.”
“What I didn’t see was anyone trying to play to her weaknesses. I don’t mean her type weaknesses, I mean her individual weakness. Feral Wet Lasses are as aggressive as a Grizzly sow with a cub. Most animals that aggressive are territorial too, so that’s where this stuff comes in. We are going to lure her out of the water by giving her,” he motioned towards the sex doll, “a rival. The rest of the stuff is to make sure she comes here in a timely manner.”
“How?”
“Did you ever make a string phone? I made one with the Jessie I remember.”
She laughed. “We didn’t know you had to keep the string taut and ended up yelling at each other until your dad took pity on us.”
“That’s right.” Benji chuckled at the memory. “What I’m going to do is punch a hole in the bottom of the bucket and put the cable through it. The bucket goes in the water and the end of the cable gets attached to my tailpipe. When I rev my engine, the rival will be roaring a challenge. If the pokedex entry is accurate, that should bring her running to do battle. Then you beat the crap out of the poor girl and we catch her.”
Jessie gave him a curious look. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m not sure I want to do this full time.” He turned the muffler idly in his hands. “You beat some pokegirl up and you get to make her your slave. That doesn’t seem right. I don’t have a problem with this one, she’s been killing people, but I don’t know if I can just have you attack wandering pokegirls that aren’t causing any trouble.”
The Psi-A-Knight settled down next to him and took his hand. “Benji, my mother once spent a year being feral before she was caught. She said that she lost a year of her life to no purpose and we are one of the pokegirl species that has a reduced feral state. For others, the time period spent feral is like being insane. Usually the pokegirl doesn’t remember what she did while feral. Often that’s a blessing, because most don’t want to know that they hurt or killed someone. Catching feral pokegirls, especially ones that were not feralborn, is helping them to become human again. And, for the others, you’re helping to make them whole for the first time in their life.”
He gave her a cynical look. “Is that the truth or the party line?”
She smiled. “The story we’re told in school is that feral pokegirls are a threat that needs to be controlled. What I know, I’ve heard from my mother’s friends. Many of them have had feral periods and none of them regret having that taken away from them.”
He sighed. “Taming for Dummies says that Tamers are supposed to kill any pokegirls they can’t keep or trade. I guess that goes along with the threat story. I’m not comfortable killing people unless they’ve done something to deserve it.”
“Then don’t kill unless it’s unavoidable.” Jessie grinned. “I’m not going to try to change your mind on that.”
“So you think that by catching a feral pokegirl and taming her, I’m rescuing her?”
She nodded. “That’s exactly what you are doing.”
“All right then.” He put the muffler down. “Let’s rescue her. The rest of the cable gets attached to the back of the bike. When she attacks the doll, you put a loop of the wire on her and I’ll use the weight of the bike to keep her from bailing back into the river while you smack her around.”
“If bailing means escaping, that sounds like a reasonable plan.”
***
Benji revved the bike one last time and let it go back to idle. Without the muffler, even that was loud and Jessie shook her head instead of trying to yell over the motor as he reached for the kill switch.
Suddenly the water exploded outward in a line straight towards the hapless DragonQueen doll. It went down hard and popped as the attacker jumped on it, snarling loudly. All Benji could see was a blur of blue.
Jessica grabbed the cable at her feet and flickered, appearing behind the Wet Lass. She dropped the loop over her opponent and tossed the coil in Benji’s direction. He grabbed it as she pulled the knife from her belt and used it as the focus for psi-blade mark II.
Benji grabbed the cable out of the air and hooked it over the gas tank. He gunned the motor and spun the bike in a half circle so he could see the fight.
The Wet Lass was still savaging the doll when Jessie drove the psychic blade into her back. She screamed and whirled, slapping her hands against the suddenly armored Psi-A-Knight. Water exploded from between them as she used hydro pump. Jessie was blasted across the campground.
The Wet Lass used quick attack to charge. Her running form seemed to melt as she used fade and then she was gone.
Jessie looked around wildly for an instant before another hydro pump hit her in the chest. “ATTACK THE END OF THE CABLE!” At Benji’s words, she spun to face the cable and stabbed wildly with her blade. A shriek announced a hit and another hydro pump knocked the Psi-A-Knight flying. The cable raced in her direction once more.
The rear tire screamed as Benji spun the bike directly away from the fight and accelerated hard. He was going a good forty miles per hour when he hit the end of the cable. The bike jerked but kept going. He braked hard enough that the rear tire left the ground for a heartbeat. Once the bike was slow enough, he spun to look behind him.
Jessie was charging towards the now visible Wet Lass, who lay motionless. She knelt and pressed a pokeball against her opponent’s chest. The water type disappeared in the containment beam as Jessie tossed the pokeball a few yards away in case the Wet Lass got free.
Benji spun the bike around and drove slowly back as the ball lay quietly. Jessie’s armor melted away as he killed the bike. “Where did you learn to drive like that?”
He looked into the river for a moment. “The summer that mother and dad died, I told you I was going to school. Did I?”
She nodded. “You told me that where you were going wasn’t any of my business.”
“I wanted to race bikes and I signed up for a camp to learn how to ride motocross. Dad was going to buy me a bike that fall so I could practice and maybe compete if I could find a sponsor.” He shrugged. “After they died, I had other priorities.”
“That was impressive. The cable was around her neck and you almost killed her.”
Benji turned white. “My god, I only wanted to keep her from getting to you again. I didn’t think.”
“It’s ok. She’ll be fine once we get her healed. The police station will have a healing machine and, since we’ve got to take her there for the bounty, we might as well see if we can get her healed there.” Her eyes narrowed. “But not Tanya.”
5
Jessie slipped off the bike as Benji pulled it to a stop. “Remember, Tanya is right out.”
“You are a jealous wench, aren’t you?” He grinned when her mouth set in a thin line. “Don’t worry, I’m only here to prove I caught Jacobson’s Ghost and get my bounty before we head out again. I thought we’d skip San Antonio and stop for the night in Sonora or Sheffield. I can tame the Wet Lass then.”
She nodded. “I just don’t think you want an OfficerJenny on our trip. She might have issues about how you acquired me.”
“You might be right. Let’s get this over with before Tanya can get topless to greet me.” He headed inside as Jessie dissolved into giggles.
Once again there were two pokegirls in the police station, but only one of them was an OfficerJenny. The other was what he recognized from his perusing his pokedex as a Growlie. The OfficerJenny grinned and he recognized her from the day before. “This is Tanya’s day off. You might want to try at her apartment.”
“Actually I’m here because of Jacobson’s Ghost.” He held up a pokeball. “I caught her and I’m here for the bounty.”
The OfficerJenny looked startled. “You caught a feral Wet Lass in the park?”
“That’s right. She attacked my lure and we captured her. Jessie did most of the work.” Jessica turned pink at the praise. “I recorded the entire thing if you’d like to see it. Now I’d like my bounty please.”
The OfficerJenny held out her hand. “Give her to me and I’ll verify your story.”
Benji handed over the pokeball with a flourish. “She’ll need healed. The capture almost killed her.”
The pokegirl snorted. “I’ll bet. Have a seat, this won’t take long.” She disappeared into the back as Jessie settled onto a hard bench. Benji quickly joined her.
The OfficerJenny came back about ten minutes later. She gave him a warm smile. “Sir, I’d like to congratulate you on catching her. If you’ll hand me your pokedex I’ll go ahead and put the bounty into your account.”
Benji handed her his pokedex and frowned as he watched her work. “Where is the Wet Lass?”
“She’s being taken care of.”
“How long before I get her back?”
The Growlie snickered. “You won’t.”
Benji’s frown deepened. “She’s my pokegirl. I caught her.”
The OfficerJenny nodded as she typed. “It is correct that you caught her, but she’s killed seven humans. That’s an automatic death sentence.”
His jaw set as anger flared slightly. “I want to see that rule.”
Jessie gave him a slightly worried look. “Master,” she said in a low voice, “this is not the place for a display of your temper.”
“It is if I’m being robbed. We need her, remember.” His eyes glittered angrily as he tried another tack. “That bounty isn’t worth the price I’d get if I sold her.”
The OfficerJenny was watching him alertly. “Sir, you are quite correct, but the law is the law.”
“So what is my incentive to do this shit again?”
“Reign in that attitude,” the OfficerJenny said in a flat voice. “We will issue a credit for a pokegirl at any participating ranch in Texas.”
Jessie cocked her head. “That Wet Lass was a second tier evolution. She’s far more valuable than a starter.”
The OfficerJenny shrugged. “I can only give what the law allows. I’ll print out a list of the participating ranches if you’d like.”
Benji took a deep breath and forced down his anger. It didn’t work completely, and he was left at a slow simmer. It did let him compose his features so it looked like he wasn’t angry anymore. “Fine.”
The OfficerJenny finished her work quickly and handed him his pokedex. “I’ve uploaded the credit for a new pokegirl into your records along with the bounty.” She gave him a slightly sympathetic smile. “While I can’t give you any more than that, I can point out that you’ve never picked up your starter pokegirl, so you could get two,” she gave Jessie a hard look, “legally.”
Benji felt his anger flare again. “Are you saying I got Jessica illegally?”
The OfficerJenny looked amused. “I’m saying you never picked up a starter and I suspect I shouldn’t investigate how your Psi-A-Knight came to be in your possession.”
“I was his neighbor,” Jessie shot back. “He swore to take me when we were kids and I, for one, am glad he was honorable enough to keep his promise. It’s not like that is particularly common anymore.”
The Growlie grinned. “She’s got a temper. You’ll need to keep her under control, sir.”
“How I treat her is my business.” Benji turned on his heel. “Jessie, let’s get out of here.”
He paused on the steps and took a deep breath, holding it as he closed his eyes and counted to ten. “You’re still angry,” Jessie said quietly.
“You of all people should know I have a temper that’s sometimes hard to control.” He sighed and rubbed his temple. “We worked hard for our capture and if I’d known she was going to be executed, I could have skipped the bounty.”
“We’ll capture others.” She watched him glare at nothing in particular. “You need some time alone. That always seems to help you. Put me into my pokeball.”
He smiled slightly. “I’m not sure that you knowing me so well is going to be a good thing.”
“It’ll help keep you out of trouble.” She flashed him a sudden smile. “We both know that nothing will keep you out of everything, but I can help. For example, I kept you from being arrested by the cops.”
“You think it was that close?”
She shrugged. “You never know what will make them decide they’ve had enough and whip out the handcuffs.” The smile appeared again. “And I don’t ever remember any of your girlfriends talking about you liking bondage.”
A shocked looked appeared. “You talked to my girlfriends?”
“I’ve been planning to be your alpha for a while, so of course I did. I wanted to know what you liked and didn’t like.” She gave him a suddenly shy smile. “I also wanted to make sure you weren’t going to ditch me.”
“I didn’t.”
She grabbed her pokeball from his belt. “The credit for which goes entirely to me.” She winked when he groaned. “Now to recall me, you press this button here to expand the pokeball and then you press it again to activate the containment beam.”
He looked at the ball as she pressed it into his hand. “Are you aware when you’re in there?”
“Yes, that’s why a pokegirl can go feral inside her pokeball. Most pokeballs have a continuous light conditioning cycle running to remind a pokegirl that you are her master. It’s really useful against ferals. It puts them into a receptive mood for the initial taming when you bond them to you. A more experienced pokegirl can ignore it.” She frowned prettily. “You’ll need to do some shopping before you leave Goliad. I know you hate that, but it needs to be done and since I’ll be up, you’ll have to do it. There’s a list in the side pocket of your backpack.” She leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Don’t forget to let me out when you’re not angry anymore. Riding with you is fun right now and I want to enjoy it before it becomes blasé or you get anther pokegirl who wants to take turns.”
He nodded and pressed the button on her ball. “I won’t. I usually get over these things fairly quickly.” He glanced at the police station as he tucked her ball into his belt. “I won’t forget you putas, either. Next time I’ll blow off the bounty and keep her or sell her myself.”
***
The wind felt good on Benji’s face as he sped down the road. The shopping had gone without incident and he’d even managed to pick himself up a new toy to play with later. He’d tried it out briefly when he purchased it, but was looking forward to spending more time getting acquainted with it.
Unfortunately the closest ranch that was in the credit program was in Seguin, and so that’s where he was headed. He planned to stop at noon in Stockdale and grab some lunch. It would also be a good time to let Jessie out. She hadn’t been his for long, but he kind of missed the company.
One of the differences from where he remembered being from was that once you were off the main roads, everything was gravel instead of paved. Considering the damage he’d seen a group of workers repairing at one point, he could understand why. When he’d asked the catgirl controlling traffic, she’d mentioned something about a rampaging Neo before waving him through. He’d made a mental note to find out what a Neo was when he got a chance to talk to Jessie.
He’d passed through Karnes City and was roughly halfway to Stockdale when he saw a flatbed truck pulled over to the side of the road with its hood up. Two men sat near it with almost identical desultory expressions on their faces. One stood and waved, obviously trying to flag him down.
Benji was going about a hundred miles per hour so he had to turn around once he’d braked. He pulled up in front of the truck. “Problem, gentlemen?”
The taller of the two nodded. “It died and won’t start.” He looked around nervously. “We were starting to get worried about ferals. Can you take a look at it?”
Benji killed the bike as he got off. “Yeah. I can’t make any promises that I’ll be able to help you, but I’ll give it a shot.”
The second man spoke. “Thanks. I’m Doug and this is Julio.”
“Ben Davis.” Benji peered at the engine. “Try to start it.”
The second man got into the truck. “Nothing.”
A few minutes searching revealed the problem. “You’ve got a loose wire.” He glanced up and grinned as he pulled his multitool from its belt holder. “That I can fix.” A little work and he looked up. “Try to start it.”
Julio grinned when the engine roared to life. “That’s great. What are you, a mechanic?”
Benji nodded. “Actually I am.”
Doug and Julio exchanged a surprised look. “We could really use a mechanic,” Benji barely heard Doug murmur.
Julio nodded and reached into his pocket. “I know it’s not much, but I want you to have this.”
Benji opened his mouth to refuse any reward and only reflex made him catch the pokeball the guy threw at him.
There was a frozen tableau as he stared at the two men who stared back until Doug suddenly screeched in rage and leapt out of the truck. “Fuck! It didn’t work! Hit him with another one!”
Julio threw a second pokeball, which took Benji in the chest and bounced off to roll on the ground in an aimless circle.
Doug cursed again and leaned into the truck, coming up with a belt containing two pokegirls.
Benji needed to clear his hand so he hurled the pokeball back at Julio before spinning to sprint back to the motorcycle. Behind him there was a flash of light and an anguished scream that cut off suddenly.
He drove his hand into the saddlebag as he remembered Jessie. His spare hand fumbled at his belt as he turned back, raising the pistol he’d bought in Goliad. Doug was pulling a pokeball from his belt and Julio was nowhere to be seen.
Benji didn’t have the muscle memory he really needed and dropped Jessie’s pokeball as he pulled it from his belt. He grimaced and shot Doug twice in the chest, aiming for center of mass as he’d been taught.
There was a spray of blood as the armor piercing rounds came out the back and whined off into the distance. Doug stared at him for a moment and slowly began raising the hand holding the pokeball. “Bastard.”
Benji shot him two more times. This time the man went down, dropping the pokeball as he fell. It rolled under the truck.
Benji immediately crouched, looking under the truck for Julio as he grabbed Jessie’s ball. He finally managed to activate it, releasing the Psi-A-Knight.
She materialized and looked around before finally noticing him crouched at her feet. She dropped to her knees and looked around as she drew her knife. “What is it,” she whispered.
“There’s a man out there somewhere and they tried to attack me. I shot that one.”
The pokegirl turned faintly green as she looked at the trickle of blood heading away from Doug. “Is he dead?”
“I certainly hope so. The other one ran off after throwing this at me.” He grabbed the pokeball that Julio had bounced off of his chest and held it up for her to see.
Jessie went white and slapped it out of his hand. “Don’t touch that, it’s a love ball! It turns humans into pokegirls.”
“It’s defective then, because it didn’t do anything but sting. That twit threw two of them and I beaned him with the first one.”
Jessie blinked. “Did anything happen?”
“I was trying to get to my pistol, but I think he yelled. There was a light, too.”
Jessie stared at him for a heartbeat. “Help me find the ball you threw at him.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s been captured and turned into a pokegirl.”
Benji suddenly looked ill. “If you think I’m going to fuck a girl who used to be a guy, you are crazier than hell.”
“Huh?” She suddenly grinned. “You don’t have to tame her, and since she’s already tried to hurt you, I don’t want the bitch around. However, you can sell her or turn her into the police.” She suddenly looked speculative. “If they owned the truck, you could try to claim it as salvage.”
“I’ll have to put a disclaimer on the sale, right? Wait, what are the police going to say about me shooting Doug?”
“They’ll verify it was in self defense and that’ll be it. Help me find that pokeball.” Jessie scrambled after the pokeball she’d knocked out of his hands and after armoring her foot, crushed it with a stomp.
They looked around briefly and Jessie paused when she realized that Benji had stopped. He was staring at Doug’s body and slowly turning pale. “Dear god, I killed him.” He sat down hard, still staring at the corpse. “I’ve killed animals before, but that was my first person.” He took a deep breath.
“It was you or him.” Jessie held up the standard pokeball she’d found. “He was going to attack you with whatever is in here. It was obviously self defense.”
“That just means I won’t get into trouble over it. I still have to live with the fact that I took a human life.” He took another deep breath. “He was someone’s son and may have been someone’s father.”
“Benji, they were going to turn you into a pokegirl and when that failed, they were going to kill you. If they’d succeeded, we’d have been tamed by them. You did what you had to do in order to protect yourself. You were also protecting me.”
He stared into the woods for a moment and suddenly nodded. “You’re right.” He slid to his feet and tucked the pistol into his pocket. “Someone was going to get it in the neck. I’m just glad it was them.”
“Where did you get the gun?”
“I bought it in Goliad.” He chuckled. “It was an impulse buy. I’d never seen a .400 caliber magnum before.”
“I’m glad you had that impulse, but I think I need to stay out from now on.” Carefully reaching under the truck, she grasped the frame and lifted the rear of the truck off the ground. “Do you see that missing pokeball?”
“Yes, no, wait.” Benji grabbed a stick and smacked a pokeball out from under the truck. “Nothing against you, but I’m not crawling under that thing.”
“That’s perfectly understandable.” Benji marveled that her voice showed no signs of strain.
“Damn, that’s the one Doug dropped. Wait, there’s another one.” Another smack and the ball shot across the road into the grass. “Damn it.”
Jessie put the truck down. “Where did it go.”
“I knocked it into the rough. I’ll need another three strokes to get it out.”
He received an uncomprehending stare. “What?”
“It was a golf joke.”
“Oh. Was it supposed to be funny?”
“Apparently not.”
Jessie followed him into the grass. “I know you don’t want to keep the former male, but what about the other two pokegirls?”
He scowled. “What’re the chances they are male too? Nope, I’m not going to chance it. They go up for sale too.” He dropped to his knees. “Found it.” He held up the errant pokeball. “How can we tell if he’s in there? I don’t really want to let him out if he is. He’s likely to be a tad upset.”
“Scan it with your pokedex.”
“Oh, right.” He pulled the dex from his belt and finally aimed the scanner at the ball. The display lit up. “It says there’s a Hottie in here.” He looked up. “How can we tell it’s him?” His mouth twisted. “I mean her.”
Jessie was staring at him. “Your mother was a Sorceress. That ball should have captured you. It only fails when used against a pure blood human, or at least that’s the theory.”
“Theory?”
“There aren’t any. Everyone has some pokegirl DNA.” She blinked and licked her lips nervously. “I believe you.”
“About what? The Hottie?”
“About you not being from here. There’s no way you can be a pure blood unless you’re not from here.” She shook her head suddenly. “We have to keep this a secret. You’d be locked up and milked for sperm for the rest of your life. Too many powerful people would love to know their daughters wouldn’t threshold.”
“That sounds like a good reason to keep mum about it. Still there may be others and I’d like to see if we can get home.”
She paled. “What about me?”
“I’m responsible for you. You go where I go.”
He whuffed when she threw herself into his arms. The pokeball went bouncing away once more as she tried to wrap herself around him. “Thank you, Benji.”
Slowly she let him go. “What do we do now?”
“I’ve still got those messages out, so we wait. In the meantime, we need to find that pokeball and put my bike in the back of the truck along with the corpse. We’ll drop everything off at the next police station and head on to the ranch in Seguin.
“Ok.”
6
Stockdale was a sleepy spot in the road, just big enough for a street light on the main drag between the gas station and the town’s only restaurant. Benji pulled the flatbed into the restaurant’s parking lot and parked in the very back of the lot before he killed the motor.
He rested his forehead against the steering wheel until Jessie touched his shoulder. “Are you ok?”
Without lifting his head, he shook it from side to side. “No. I keep thinking about the fact that I shot Doug. I keep wondering if I should have wounded him instead or if there was something else I could have done. Anything.”
“Benji, you did what you had to. They would have taken or killed you and taken me.”
He took a deep breath. “I know you’re right, but I killed him. It’s going to take some time to come to grips with that, even if he deserved it.” He lifted his head and rubbed his face. “Let’s find out where the police headquarters or sheriff’s office is and get this over with.”
“Do you want some lunch?”
He shook his head again. “I’m not hungry, but we can get you something if you are.”
“How about we eat in Seguin?”
“That sounds better. We’ll get some cokes from the gas station before we head out.” He got out of the truck and stretched slowly. “My bike is more comfortable than that thing.” He glanced at the bed of the truck to make sure that the corpse was securely hidden before heading towards the entrance.
Jessica blinked when he held the door for her and then smiled warmly. “Master, you’re spoiling me.” She eased inside and he followed.
A young woman with rabbit ears smiled at them as she picked up a couple of paper menus. She was green and flowers were scattered on her ears. Her nametag said that her name was Pam. “Hi. Can I help you?” Her ears twitched and fragrance filled the air.
Benji nodded as he tried very hard not to stare. “Yes, Pam, I need to get in touch with the local police or sheriff.”
The pokegirl frowned. “Sheriff Williams isn’t here yet. He usually doesn’t show up until lunch, but I can call him if you’d like. What is this about?”
He gave Jessie a hesitant look before turning back to Pam. “There was an incident. Someone was killed.”
“A man,” Jessie added helpfully.
The bunny paled slightly. “I’ll call him right away. Let me seat you at a table and I’ll get you some tea. Do you want sweetened or unsweetened?”
“We’ll both have unsweetened.” Jessie steered him to a booth and settled him down before sitting next to him and leaning against his side. “Do you want to keep the truck?”
“No.” He draped an arm around her and she snuggled closer. “When we get to Seguin, we’ll find that ranch. Should I get two pokegirls or just one?”
Pam put two glasses in front of them. “The sheriff will be here in twenty minutes.”
“Thanks.” He sipped at his tea and reached for his pokedex as Pam headed back to the kitchen. “She’s a bra-er rabbit. Interesting.”
“I don’t know anything about them.” She slid out of the booth. “I’ll be right back. Ladies room.”
Benji nodded and kept reading. When Jessie rejoined him, he slipped his arm back around her and repeated the question. “Should I try to get two pokegirls at the ranch?”
She gave him an unsure look. “We still need a water pokegirl, but I don’t want to share you with anyone else and definitely not two newbies at the same time.”
“The Nolte Island Ranch doesn’t seem to specialize, so we can see what they have when we get there. Their website says their stock changes quickly.” He squeezed Jessie against him. “One addition at a time sounds good. If I decide I need a starter pokegirl, I’ll try at a different ranch before we leave Texas.”
Jessie leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thanks.”
Benji reached for his tea. “I sometimes have trouble juggling one girlfriend. More than one is going to be something completely new and I’m not interested in jumping into the deep end. I’d rather wade out slowly.”
“What do you want to do after this?” She glanced around the slowly filling dining room. “Master.”
“I think we’ll continue on up to Boerne and catch I10 north. It’s 555 miles from San Antonio to El Paso and we can do that in a day if we push.” He shrugged. “Whether or not we push is something we’ll decide once we get on the interstate.”
Pam appeared; leading a man wearing a sheriff’s uniform. An officerjenny followed behind them. She stopped at their table. “Sheriff, this is the tamer who wants to report to you.”
Sheriff Williams wasn’t much older than Benji and he looked them over carefully before grabbing a chair from a nearby table and sitting down. “Who are you?” The officerjenny went to parade rest behind him.
“Ben Davis.” Benji had already learned that introducing Jessie tended to make people uncomfortable. “I’m a tamer out of Dallas.”
“All right, Mr. Davis, what’s this about a killing?”
Benji took a deep breath. “Sheriff, about halfway between here and Karnes City I was flagged down by two men whose truck had broken down. I repaired it and they responded by trying to hit me with love pokeballs.”
The sheriff’s eyes hardened. “You can prove this?”
“I can. In the ensuing scuffle, one of them ended up captured inside a love pokeball, which I have. The other, I was forced to shoot. He died.” Benji offered up his pokedex. “I record everything as I travel and flush them when the memory gets full, so I have the recordings of the incident and, of course, the captured man. His name is Julio.”
“What happened to the body?”
“I put it in the back of the truck and covered it. The truck is in the parking lot outside.” He sighed. “I didn’t have any other idea about what to do with it.”
“I’ll need to question Julio. I take it since she’s still named Julio, you don’t intend to tame her.”
“No, that just feels kind of creepy.”
“What is she?”
“She’s a hottie.”
Williams blinked. “Really? I may buy her from you, if I can.”
“If that’s what you want, I’m sure we can work something out.” Benji sighed. “I don’t want to be here too long. I’ve got business in Seguin and then I’ll be heading northwest.”
“If your story holds up, I don’t think this will take long.” Williams frowned. “You were lucky.”
“They had three other pokegirls. What do you want me to do with them? They might have been men, too.”
“They aren’t now, but I’d like to question them to see if they remember who they were so I can let any next-of-kin know.” Williams held out his hand and Benji dropped Doug’s tamer belt into it. “Thanks. Have lunch on me and I’ll try to get back to you in about two hours.”
“What about the truck and the corpse?”
“If you defended yourself, the truck is yours. If not, you won’t be in a position to worry about it anymore. I’ll get the body before I leave.” He smiled grimly. “They get ripe pretty quick and I don’t want Pam angry at me. This is the best food for miles.”
“Is there someplace I can sell the truck?”
Williams shook his head. “If you lived around here you could post a note on the announcing sign next to the gas station, but I don’t think you want to wait here until you can sell it. There’s a dealership in Seguin where you should be able to get rid of it, but that’s the closest one.” He looked around the restaurant. “Now, where is that bra-er?”
When the sheriff motioned to her, Pam trotted over. “Yes, sheriff?”
“These folks will be having lunch on the county, Pam. Do ‘em good and keep them here until I get back, would you?” He rose to his feet and nodded to his officerjenny. “We’ll be leaving. Carrie, pull the car around next to the truck in the back of the lot.” He headed into the kitchen while his pokegirl slipped out the front door.
Pam smiled brightly. “The sheriff said to take care of you and I will.” The bra-er rabbit dropped menus in front of them. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order.” She headed off, tail swishing.
“You’re staring at her butt.”
“I can’t really help it. It’s something new for me. Kind of cute, too.”
Jessie gave him a disbelieving look. “Bunnygirls are pretty dumb. You’d be better off with that blow-up doll we left. It would serve the same purposes and it wouldn’t break something when you’re not paying attention to it.”
“Pam doesn’t seem stupid.”
“She’s not a bunnygirl and you won’t find one like her at a ranch.” She snorted. “Master, even if you did, a bra-er rabbit would cost way too much money for you to afford. She would not be a starter pokegirl.”
He nodded and focused on the menu. “Ok, then we’ll find something that isn’t stupid and not quite so expensive.”
***
Larry West was thirty years old, a bit wide around the middle, and he seemed to ooze smarminess. He gave the two of them an oily smile and patted the hood of the flatbed. “That’s an old truck and there’s really not much of a market for one that shabby. However, I’ll cut you a really good deal.” His smile became what he probably thought was warm. To Benji, it merely looked hungry. “I’ll give you a hundred grand for it.”
Benji kept his face pleasant and nodded as he glanced at his psi-a-knight. He’d seen this kind of game before, but since he’d acquired the truck for free, he could afford to not get the going price. It also made sense to take somewhat of a loss since this was the only used car dealership in this area and he didn’t want to go to San Antonio to get rid of the truck. Still, Jessica’s look of shock gave Benji the feeling he was getting shafted and some haggling sounded like a really good idea.
After about fifteen minutes, Larry was still happy and believed he had managed to fleece yet another customer, while Jessie didn’t look like someone had killed one of her siblings anymore. Benji hadn’t raised the sale price a lot, but if it made Jessie think him less of a fool, it was worth the effort.
As they waited for Larry to process the paperwork, Benji slipped his hand into Jessie’s. “In a different market, I could have gotten him higher, but I had to stop when he began balking,” he explained quietly.
“He seemed like he was balking from the beginning.”
Benji nodded. “That was his act. He was still dealing with us when he was leaving to talk to his manager, but when he stopped I knew he’d reached his limit on how high I could get him.”
“I wish I was a telepath so I could help.”
He looked deliberately at her tight shorts and crop top. “You did fine by just being cute as well as sexy as hell.” She gave him a suspicious look and he grinned. “All men, no matter how well sexed, are aware of that next pretty one that they’re not doing. It’s genetic. Besides, I’m sure they scanned you and if you’d been telepathic they’d have taken steps to neutralize that advantage. They are in business, after all, and you never give a sucker an even break if you can avoid it.”
“You aren’t a sucker.”
“To people like Mr. West, everyone who wants to buy or sell something from him is a potential sucker. Everyone except,” Benji shrugged, “possibly his close family, but then again, maybe not.”
“That’s a sad way to live.”
“If he’s happy doing it, who are we to judge him as long as his actions don’t affect us?” Benji leaned back against the wall. “We’ll be selling all of the pokegirls, so money won’t be as much of an issue as it might be, and the only way we’d get a better price is if we went to San Antonio.”
“So there isn’t much of a market for trucks in the country?” She gave him a disbelieving look.
“The problem is that there isn’t much of a market for anything. If you need a truck, you’ve probably already got one and you’re not going to buy a second one unless you need it, too. That leaves the people who just realized that they need one to come to the dealership here to buy something. That’s why this place sells everything you can think of.” He nodded out the window. “You can see a tractor, a horse drawn wagon, a couple of lawn mowers and other odds and ends out there.”
“That’s a pokegirl drawn wagon. What’s a horse?”
Benji frowned. “It’s a large four legged animal that was domesticated a long time ago and was used for transport.”
“We use pokegirls for things like that. Ponytaur and rapitaur are used the most for that sort of thing.”
Benji pulled out his pokedex and pulled up their entries. “I didn’t know that pokegirls could change shape.” He glanced up at her. “Can you do that?”
She shrugged. “Technically no, but they can’t summon armor like mine. Mother told me that some researchers think that armor summoning is a variant of metamorphic ability. I guess it depends on who you talk to, but the scientific community as a whole disagrees, so my ability isn’t considered metamorphic in nature.”
“You know a lot about that.”
“Since it concerns me, I thought I should, master.” She smiled. “At least I live in a league where pokegirls are allowed to read. Some don’t want literate pokegirls. They’re afraid that it will make them want to rebel.”
Benji nodded. “That argument has been used to oppress people before.”
“Do you think I’m oppressed?”
He rubbed his eyes wearily before speaking in a low voice. “You’re not allowed to vote, you’re not allowed to have a complete education, and you can be sold or even killed if your tamer wants it to happen. Your own father was going to sell you off and he tried to give you to me. Yes, I think pokegirls are oppressed. However, I don’t see where I can do anything about it except to treat you as best I can.”
Jessie glanced at him. “It could be worse, you know. Father could have kept me and tamed me himself. I know he thought about doing just that, but mother had a fit. Besides, he wanted the money more than he wanted to bang me.”
“That’s sick.”
“Didn’t you just say that all men want the women they’re not taming? The law says there’s nothing wrong with it and, socially, it’s ok, too. The only reason mother got upset is because she didn’t want to be replaced by me as dad’s alpha.”
“You’re his daughter and inbreeding is bad.”
“I’m a pokegirl. Until I become a pokewoman, I can’t pass his genes along to my children, so inbreeding isn’t an issue.”
Benji’s jaw set. “I say it’s wrong. Maybe it’s just the way I was brought up, but it’s dreadfully wrong. You’re not going back to him, so it’s a moot point.”
“It’s a strange place you come from.” She leaned against him. “But I like how it’s made you. Are we going to the ranch next?”
“I thought that would be our best bet. Do you have another idea?”
She shook her head. “That sounds good to me. Hopefully they’ll have a nice water type to replace the one we didn’t get.”
“What other pokegirls should I be looking for?”
Her response was interrupted by Larry returning. He grinned. “Ok, the title search had some irregularities but a call to the sheriff cleared everything up.” A stack of papers were plopped onto the table. “Now, if you’ll sit down, we can get this done. By the way, I notice you’ve got a nice little bike there. I don’t suppose you’d care to sell it, would you?”
Benji dropped into the offered chair and pulled out a black ink pen. “No thanks, but I need the bike.” Picking up the papers, he began to read carefully.
***
Jessie’s breath tickled his ear. “Can we stop at that park?” They’d just passed a sign mentioning a park a quarter mile ahead.
Benji began slowing the bike. “Sure.” He pulled into the park and stopped next to the restroom building. A sign indicated that anyone using it had to use the hand pump to flush or wash. “Here?”
“Let’s go back by the picnic table.”
He dutifully pulled the bike further into the tiny park and killed it next to the table in question before dismounting. “Ok?”
Jessie grinned. “That’s fine. Now, hold still.” She dropped to her knees in the soft grass and quickly opened his pants before fishing out his cock. She jerked his jeans to his knees and leaned forward.
Her breath was warm as her lips closed around him and Benji fought not to stagger as he felt himself growing in her mouth. “Um, Jessie?” He moaned as her head bobbed and she sucked him deeper. “Oh, god.”
Blue eyes looked hungrily up at him and she released his cock with a soft popping noise before pulling him down to the grass with her and pushing him flat. He rose up to look at her just as she sucked him back into her mouth. His head dropped softly back to the ground as his eyes closed and he gasped as she raked him gently with her teeth before going back to sucking.
He blinked when she slithered up his body and straddled him. Her sapphire eyes were dark with passion as she rose up and dropped, driving his shaft deep inside her. She sighed in pleasure and fell forward to kiss him eagerly as her hips began to rise and fall.
Benji wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back as he thrust upwards to meet her as she dropped her body onto his. She moaned into his mouth and sank her teeth into his lower lip as her body shuddered through an orgasm.
Slowly, they increased speed together until she rose up so she could drive herself down to meet his thrusts. Her face twisted in pleasure as she rode him, until she froze for an instant before throwing her head back and screaming. Benji grabbed and rolled, putting her underneath him and thrusting wildly as she wrapped her legs around his waist, until he buried himself to the hilt and filled her with liquid heat. She pulled him down and kissed him as he pulsed inside her, and then held him tightly as she shuddered again.
Slowly, they relaxed and, finally, he rose up and kissed her gently. She smiled lazily and cupped his face with her hands. “The ranch is going to be full of pretty young things who are going to do their damnedest to convince you that you want to take them, no matter what you’re looking for. We’re going to stay here until I’m sure that only the head on your shoulders will be determining which pokegirl joins our harem.” He felt her tighten around him rhythmically as she pulled him back down for another kiss. Her eyes met his as she whispered against his lips. “No matter how long that takes, master, I will sacrifice myself for your wellbeing.”
He chuckled and ran his tongue over her lips lightly before sitting up to begin pulling her crop top over her head. “One question: how did you get those shorts off?”
She giggled and raised her arms to help. “They unbutton down the sides and then just peel off.” She gave him a coy look that, with her green hair a disheveled cloud around her face, made her look very young and vulnerable. “I want to be ready to answer any of my master’s needs.” She arched her chest up at him. “Any of them,” she breathed.
Benji felt himself stirring inside her. “Damn, but you’re a sexy bitch.”
Her legs tightened around his waist and she gave him a look that made his blood simmer. “No matter how long it takes, master, use me as you will.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
***
“Are you all right?” Jessie gave him a slightly worried look as he gingerly got off the bike.
“My balls hurt.”
She blinked and turned pink as she glanced around to see if anyone was in earshot. The ranch parking lot was empty except for their motorcycle and two cars parked in reserved slots, which meant they were probably employees. A tiny smile crossed her face. “Good. A potion will set you right, master, but you shouldn’t take it until after we get done here.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry; my dick doesn’t want anything to do with sex right now. I’ll be doing the thinking for both of us.” He winced. “Especially not with friction burns.” A deep breath and he smoothed his face. “Let’s go see what they have.”
The Nolte Island Ranch was a collection of a dozen buildings set behind a seven foot tall fence topped with four strands of razor wire. A sign on the fence warned that something, somewhere, was electrified and that trespassers would be killed. In the center of the complex was a twenty foot tall observation tower with a brace of security cameras endlessly searching the compound.
A kiosk was set outside a heavy security gate and a bored looking pink pokegirl sat inside the booth, humming to herself as she watched them approach. “Hi! Can I help you?” She winked at Benji and took a deep breath, making her chest expand impressively.
Jessie leaned close and whispered. “That’s a wigglymuff, a professional singing pokegirl.”
He realized that the wigglymuff was completely nude except for a yellow barrette in her hair and was suddenly glad that his groin hurt. “Um, yes, I have a credit for a pokegirl and I wanted to see if I could get one here.”
The wigglymuff beamed at him. “Why, yes, sugar, you can. That’s what ranches are for.” She held out her hand. “I’ll need your pokedex, please.” He handed it over and she connected it to the computer in the kiosk. “A police credit? You caught Jacobson’s Ghost.” She looked up. “Thanks. We market the occasional wet elf and she was making everyone round here nervous about the breed.” She handed the 'dex back as she picked up a handset. “I’ll let Mandy know you’re here and she’ll take you around.” The wigglymuff spoke quietly into the phone for a moment. “Ok, she’s on her way. Now for the rules: We don’t have taming facilities here for customers and we don’t give free samples. No taming, blowjobs or anything else, even if the pokegirls try to talk you into it, and they will if they can get you alone. We keep them all more than a bit horny, so that when they leave they won’t prove reluctant for their initial bonding.”
She took another deep breath and frowned slightly when he didn’t seem to respond. “Unfortunately for you, we don’t blame the pokegirl, we blame the tamer who can’t keep it in his pants and we’ll throw you out if you’re caught in a compromising situation with any of our pokegirls.” She gestured to the barrette. “Staff members wear these and they are not available for adoption. We’ve got one that’s going up for sale, but that has nothing to do with your credit and we’re getting rid of her because she’s a troublemaker; so, as a beginning tamer you definitely don’t want her. Keep all of that in mind and we hope that we can match a pokegirl with your needs.” She suddenly smiled again. “Oh, and the closest taming facilities are located at the pokegirl center in Seguin.”
“Thanks, your rules seem fairly straightforward.”
The security gate slid open and a blonde wearing a saffron yellow bikini came out. Her staff barrette was clipped to the middle of the bikini so that you had to stare at her cleavage to see it and a small pack was attached to a gold chain around her waist. She smiled at them. “Tamer Davis, I am Mandy and I am Mr. Nolte’s alpha. I’ll be showing you around so you can see what we have ready for placement.”
Benji realized that tiny horns peeked out of her bangs and tried not to stare at them. “Sounds good. I’m looking for a water type, but I’m not locked into that.”
She nodded. “Let’s start out with the water pokegirls that we have on hand to limit your choices. We’ll move on to the others if you can’t make a selection from them.” She cocked her head. “Sir, you do actually have two credits, are you looking to fill both of them today?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not. I want to be able to focus on one new addition at a time to help her get settled in properly.” Jessie had anticipated this question and had coached him carefully in what to say.
Mandy’s eyes glinted with approval. “A wise decision, sir, and one that will prevent undue upset in both the pokegirl you choose today, as well as amongst the established members in your harem. Now, please come with me. Rachel, call ahead and have the waters assembled for inspection.”
“Yes, my alpha.” The wigglymuff picked up the phone again as Benji followed Mandy inside. Jessie fell in behind him, staying carefully close.
“We have three water pokegirls that are available for you to choose from. One of them is a catfish while two of them are krabbits.”
Benji unhooked his pokedex and started pulling up information. He glanced up at Mandy’s back and scanned her quickly as well. It informed him that she was an oni and an electric pokegirl.
As they walked, he scanned the entries while looking up from time to time to keep following the oni. “Here we are, Tamer Davis.”
Benji looked the three pokegirls over while they smiled at him with varying degrees of interest. The krabbits were identical down to the patterning on their carapace while the catfish was covered in a light layer of soft green fur.
Mandy waved a hand. “Turn around girls, and let him see all of you.” The girls rotated in place slowly, twisting their heads to watch Mandy as they did so. “Very good.” She turned to Benji. “As you can see, sir, they are healthy and obedient. All are of age and can go with you today.” Expert eyes scanned his face and she sighed. “You don’t like any of them, do you?”
“Sorry, but no. Nothing against them or you, but I can’t see myself taming the krabbits. As for the catfish, well, I’ve never been partial to cats. My mother said it was because I’m too much like a cat myself.”
She nodded. “If you don’t favor them, it’s best if you don’t choose, young sir. Still, that’s all of the water types we have available for adoption.” She cocked her head. “Unless,” she trailed off suddenly.
She looked into his eyes for a moment before making a decision. “You really did us a favor by capturing that marauding wet lass, so I think we can do you one in return. There is another possibility, but she’s not exactly what I would call starter pokegirl material.” A hand waved, dismissing the water pokegirls as Mandy continued. “She’s feralborne and we haven’t had her for long, so she’s had minimal training. She’s not a water pokegirl, but she evolves with a water stone and I can have that done before you take her. Think you’re up for a challenge?”
Benji glanced at his only pokegirl. “What’s your opinion?”
“What is she?”
“She’s an eva and I’d evolve her to vaporita for you.”
Benji pulled up the entry on the vaporita and read it before he turned to Jessie. “What do you think? Can we handle something like that?” He offered her the ‘dex.
The psi-a-knight skimmed it and frowned. “That would give you a second tier evolution pokegirl, although vaporita can take a lot of work. They can have confidence issues about fighting. I think I can work her through that, though. Can she talk?”
“She’s got a basic vocabulary. She seems quite sharp and is a quick learner.” Mandy’s eyebrows had risen when Benji consulted with Jessie. “I think the two of you won’t have any problems with her.”
Jessie grinned at her tamer. “She won’t have a fluffy bunny tail, but otherwise she sounds like a good choice. Of course, we won’t know for sure how she’ll fit in until we bond her into the harem, but that would have been an issue if you’d kept the wet lass.”
Benji turned to Mandy. “We’ll take her.”
The oni nodded. “I’ll have her prepared and evolved. Do you want her conditioned to a particular level?”
Jessie glanced at Benji and answered when he nodded. “No, just have her cleaned up and completely healed. My master won’t know if he wants her conditioned until he sees what she’s like. Can you have her given a cooking T2?”
“I can, for a nominal fee. Is there anything else you’d like her to have?” Mandy pulled a small PDA looking device from her pack.
“No, that should be all.”
“I can have that added to her repertoire for ten thousand credits.” Mandy looked up at Benji, who merely nodded. “Very well, I’ll take you to the waiting room and she should be ready to go in less than half an hour.”
Jessica nodded. “Now we just need to find a name for her.”
“What name does she have now?”
Mandy blinked. “I don’t see where that’s important, but if you must know, her current name is Fluffy.”
“Oh, yes; that will definitely need to be changed,” Jessie murmured to him.