Disclaimer:
This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
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You should not read this work if you are under the age of legal consent wherever you reside. This work may or may not contain any and/or all of the following: death, dismemberment, violent acts, implied sex, explicit sex, violent sex, rape, cannibalism, blasphemy (depending on your religion), BDSM, torture, mimes, and just about anything unwholesome that you could consider.
The pokegirl universe was first documented by Metroanime and to him all of us who reside or visit there owe a debt of thanks.
Feedback is encouraged. I enjoy hearing from people. Positive feedback will be appreciated, cherished and flaunted in front of people. Negative feedback will be appreciated, cherished and listened to, that I might continue to grow. Flames will give me a good laugh. Feedback may be delivered to: saethwyr@(SPAM) hotmail.com. Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
Bhavacakra
Eight
(02/16/-09 1300 Mt. Livermore, Texas)
‘Those little bastards are quick.” Misery grabbed Kerrik’s shirt and rubbed her face against his chest to clean off the sweat. “Thank you.”
Kerrik pulled his wet shirt away from his skin and gave her an annoyed look. “I’d tell you that it was my pleasure, but that would be a lie. If you want to cover me in your scent, can’t we at least do something fun at the same time? ”
“She’ll wait until we’re not in the middle of something else or I’ll crush her like a bug.” Raven landed next to him and smiled at the mini-top. “And you, Kerrik, should stop encouraging her.”
His ears canted sideways. “I know I agreed to help catch wild animals to take forward with us, but Whisper can grab them with telekinesis and hold them for you to capture. This chasing them around the park is not only pointless, it could expose us to the few tourists that are dumb enough to come here in the middle of a bloody war.”
You’ll be pleased to know that we’re finished. We’ve whittled the wild animal population down to levels consistent with the passage of the Red Plague. Whisper touched down in front of them. You may also be pleased to know that something good did come out of this trip. After living in the ranch house for the last couple of months, Raven has finally agreed that her cave here indeed sucks and that we should either build a home on the mountain or move one here from one of the townships.
“Really?” Misery grinned when the archmage nodded. “Maybe I will have to reconsider the existence of gods after all.”
Kerrik says they exist.
“Yeah, but he tends to paint a really negative picture of them. I don’t want to believe in gods that are like the stories he tells.”
“I can only report what I’ve experienced. Anything else would be hearsay.” Kerrik gave up on the shirt. “If we’re ready to go, then why are we standing here staring at each other? As pretty as you three are, we do have better things to do. Whisper, let’s get the hell out of here.”
The cabbit wriggled her ears at him. I was just waiting for your request. She lifted into the air and created the deck of her spaceship as she picked him up with her telekinesis. He settled carefully down on the expanding surface. Raven flew up to join them while Misery leaped onboard.
Once the ship was complete, she jumped it to Procyon in a heartbeat and paused under the light of the binary suns. Did you want to inspect the manufacturing facility before we leave?
“I’ve been getting daily progress reports from Virtue on the progress out there and it’s already been programmed for what to do until we get back to it. Therefore, no, I don’t need to see it right now.”
The view jumped again and they were looking down on Venus. Raven sighed and quickly cast the delta bonding spell. “I guess its back into the pokeball. Can you try not to get injured this time?”
“I’ll do my best. At least we’re not carrying the cube this time.” His ears went back for an instant.
For which I am very grateful.
Misery chuckled. “You’re not alone in that.” She gave Kerrik a hug. “Be careful. I doubt they’ll issue me another tamer if I let you get killed.”
Raven slipped her hand into his. “I suspect that’s true enough for all of us, although I think he could always get new pokegirls if we were lost.”
“I happen to be fairly content with the way the harem has gelled. I don’t want new pokegirls. Besides, I haven’t had you three for so long that you’ve lost that new pokegirl smell.” He pulled two pokeballs from his belt and quickly returned Raven and Misery. “I still hate these things.”
We’re never in them for long and, from time to time, they do have their uses. Whisper waited until he’d put the balls away before stepping into his arms. She purred as her antenna touched his skin and she wrapped herself around him. Their minds meshed together until they were almost one being.
The walls of the construct glowed golden around them and they jumped.
(9/04/06 2210 Venus Orbit)
The construct appeared and dissolved, but Whisper created a new, smaller one before the old one was completely gone. She didn’t unwrap from around him until she’d grown the ship to its original size and had it moving away from Venus. I’m glad that went like we expected it to this time.
“You have quite a grip,” Kerrik muttered and kissed her soundly. “I’m pleased too.” He released Raven and Misery before pulling his com from his backpack. “Vice, please tell me the date and time.”
“Commander, according to Bastion Station it is 2215 hours and August ninth in the sixth year of Sukebe. Cassiopeia would like to speak with you when you have a moment.”
“She can wait.”
Raven smiled. “When did we leave?”
“We left at 2214 on the same day. We’ve been gone a minute.” Kerrik frowned. “We must not have been focusing enough.” He shrugged. “We’ll practice more after we get settled at home.”
Raven idly rolled her staff back and forth between her palms. “Is a minute really that big a deal?”
Kerrik’s ears went flat and slowly came back up. “I guess not, but to me it’s more of a pride thing. I intended to exit half a second after we left. That’s an error a hundred and nine times my target. What if we get that wrong in the year portion of the trip next time?”
“I didn’t think of it that way.” The archmage scowled. “If it’s that important to you, when we have the opportunity, we’ll practice until we hit the target every time.”
I’m sure that we will do just that. However, other matters are more important now. Do you want to inspect the manufacturing facility before we return to Earth?
“I would, but we need to go there without using your beam teleport. The area around the facility should be a lot more cluttered than you’re used to.”
The construct turned and accelerated. If I am calculating correctly, it will take about twenty minutes to get there.
“That’ll give us the time to find out how much bad news there is.” He clipped the com to his collar. “Virtue, contact the manufacturing facility and get a status report. Vice, ask Bastion for a historical download for the interval that we covered and start looking for deviations from the one you have from before we left.” He reached for his belt. “Virtue, unless there’s a problem, please keep your report until I ask for it. Vice, send the differences to my pokedex display.”
Three figures crowded around him as he activated it. Vice’s voice came from the display as a map sprang into existence. “The most obvious difference is the existence of Nippon as a separate political entity from the Edo League. According to historical excerpts, when the discovery of Icarod Mathers was made public, twenty Nipponjin soldier-tamers known as kouhei came to the United States via teleport capable pokegirls and joined the battle against Sukebe’s forces. While they didn’t make much of a difference in the overall fighting, they were actually there to capture pokegirls that were then taken back to Nippon and given tamers. When the Red Plague swept through Nippon, any pokegirls who lost their tamers were re-bonded to surviving tamers, forcibly if necessary. This continued until the Red Plague died out.”
“During the time of the Red Plague, Nippon collapsed as much as the rest of the world did, but surviving experts were relocated to Tokyo and quickly rebuilt vital portions of the infrastructure. Today, large portions of Honshu have electricity and running water available for the survivors and plans are in place to extend this to the other islands as resources permit. General and civilian manufacturing has lagged as the focus has been on the military manufacturing complex.”
“When the leagues were established and the Edo league formed, Nipponjin kouhei strike teams destroyed every Edo League coastal port that was directly across from Nippon, crippling the Edo League’s ability to transport troops to Nippon by sea. The emperor, Naruhito, then announced that Nippon would not bow to any league, much less Edo. Evidence indicates that as much as ten years beforehand, Nippon had been shifting their economy to a war footing and this shift was finalized after the leagues began to form. The focus has been on light, speedy war vessels capable of deploying kouhei forces to areas of conflict. The heaviest weapons available are heavy mortars that are carried by strong pokegirls into firing positions. While the kouhei were protecting Nippon, other units, usually formed of an infantry platoon with a core of one to three tamers and their harems, were scouring the islands for pokegirls. This has kept Nippon with the lowest known population of feral pokegirls anywhere.”
Raven blinked in surprise. “Somebody was paying attention in class. I wonder how much of this was Moirai’s work?”
Vice ignored her comment. “Politically, Nippon is not recognized as an entity by the various leagues and their maps show Nippon as a part of Edo. Based upon my knowledge of human history, that will just make the Nipponjin fight harder. Today Nippon has successfully kept Edo forces from her lands, although as more Edo tamers become available, I calculate reverses for Nippon will become inevitable due to the force disparities. This calculation, of course, only takes into account the resources currently available to Nippon.”
The archmage snorted. “And when we start selling pokeballs, dexes and healing potions and equipment to Nippon, what then?”
She looked shocked when Vice answered. “With unlimited support in the form of supplies from Haven or the commander’s manufacturing complex available for Nippon, I calculate a probability of .95 that Edo will be unable to conquer it within the next century. With support from the tamers on Haven, that probability approaches unity. With direct weapons support from Bastion, Nippon could easily conquer Edo.”
“After we start supplying Nippon, is Edo likely to stop attacking?”
“No sir. Edo is aware that over eighty percent of the women in Nippon are fertile and they will not give up on their plans to acquire this bounty. That is why several other leagues are covertly supporting Edo in their attacks, since Nippon categorically refuses to force its women to move to other leagues.”
Raven went white. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to no one in particular.
Kerrik’s ears flicked, but he gave no other indication that he might have heard her. “What about Nippon and refugees?”
“Nippon has practiced a policy of giving sanctuary to anyone desiring it, although all refugees have been routinely checked for sympathies with China or the new Edo league. Anyone found to have them is ejected from Nippon. Refugees have to prove their utility to Nippon, but this has not proven difficult to accomplish since anyone can be a farmer. Many refugees to Nippon have taken up arms against Edo. There are a surprising number of fertile women among the refugees, although there are indications that most of them tested infertile in their home leagues.” There was a several second pause. “An interesting and persistent rumor links the personal pokegirl of the emperor with Operation Cowslip.”
Kerrik looked surprised. “That is interesting. What about Texas?”
“The situation in Texas is almost identical to the one that we left. Indications are that some of the names are different but that otherwise there is little change. Oh, and sir, I have found several hundred online references to a pokegirl research facility in the Blue League located on the site of the Harris Conservatory that is run by a Jamie Harris from the United States of America. Currently it’s known as the Harris Ranch.”
(9/04/06 2300 Vallation Construction Center, Asteroid Belt)
The construct slowed as it approached the location of the manufacturing facility. Suddenly Whisper’s eyes widened and the construct halted so suddenly that Kerrik was thrown to skid across the deck. You were not kidding about things being more cluttered. I am sensing hundreds of objects and all have a very small radar profile.
Raven helped him to his feet as he checked the com. “Vice, do those things have running lights?”
“That is standard protocol, commander. I did take the liberty of giving them stealth systems to avoid confusing Bastion station with their presence. If you’d like, I’ll drop the stealth and let Cassiopeia know about the existence of Vallation.”
Kerrik blinked. “Vallation?”
“Protocol insists that a station have a name for navigational purposes. A vallation is a wall or earthwork built as a defense or it can be the act of building a defensive fortification. As this facility has been building defensive equipment to protect tamers and the name is in line with Bastion’s, I named it the Vallation Construction Center or VCC for short. You may, of course, change the name.”
“I think Vallation is a fine name. Drop stealth and go active on all emplacements except the defensive arrays. You did build those, right?”
“That is protocol, sir.”
Raven gasped as green and gold pinpoints began to appear in the blackness. Slowly they brightened until things became visible. Hundreds of objects lay spread out in front of them, disappearing into the darkness. Each of them was outlined by the green and gold lights. The largest object was a tremendous cylinder that dwarfed the others and, incidentally, Whisper’s construct. Others were smaller cylinders or simple long rectangles while still others were squat and ungainly looking. “What are all of those?”
Kerrik pointed. “The smallest things are tugs that ferry around the others. The cylinders are space only transport modules while the rectangular ones are designed for landings in gravity wells. They’ll contain the supplies I’ve had built. The largest cylinder is Vallation.” He eyed the scene. “Virtue, I wasn’t really expecting you to accomplish this much.”
“Commander, your instructions were to build as much as possible in the time I had.” Virtue’s voice was slightly chiding. “I had a severe shortage of hydrocarbons and other organics to work with until I started sending tugs to Jupiter to skim the atmosphere. Eventually, I built a secondary collection and processing station there; after that I had no more supply problems. I hope you don’t mind, but I had a lot of excess capacity and branched out into other items that you might need, like pokeball transporters, pokeball storage units, full scale pokegirl healing machines, prefab taming buildings and other things.”
“Oh.” Kerrik took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Prefab taming buildings, you said? Good job.”
“Thank you, commander,” Virtue replied demurely. “Do you have a destination for any of these supplies? I have uploaded an inventory to your pokedex.” Most of the cargo ships are loaded, but moving the cargo around between containers will present little difficulty if you wish to change the manifests.”
“I think we’ll leave it all here for now, until I set something up in Texas and talk to someone in Nippon. Virtue, go ahead and commence construction of compact thermal power plants. A lot of people might be interested in purchasing those.”
“Yes, commander.”
“Whisper, let’s head for Earth.”
Yes, commander. She grinned toothily when his head whipped around to stare in surprise. The construct turned and accelerated away from Vallation. I want to find a nearby object to use as an anchor point so I can still jump here. Can I look for one now?
He nodded. “That sounds good.” A blinking light on his pokedex caught his eyes and he frowned. “I took care of all of my mail before we left.”
“Commander, Cassiopeia would very much like to speak with you before you read your mail. She says it is a matter of much urgency.”
He sighed. “Fine. Connect me with Cassiopeia.”
A moment later Cassiopeia’s voice came out of the com clipped to his collar while her image appeared in front of him. “Greeting, clan leader.”
“Hi, Cass. What’s the emergency?”
In the hologram, she drew herself to full attention. “Sir, three months ago I received a message for you. It was sent from a pokedex in Nippon and I was instructed not to deliver it until you returned from this trip.”
A puzzled expression crossed Kerrik’s face. “Ok, I’ll bite. Who gave you those instructions?”
“You did, sir. You informed me that you were jumping in from the future to instruct me to hold the message from Naruhito until you returned from a trip to the past on this date. I wasn’t to tell you anything about it unless you specifically asked, thereby proving you knew of the message’s existence.”
He nodded. “Virtue?”
“Yes, commander.”
“Remind me in twenty five years to come back right after I put Cass in charge of Bastion and instruct her to hold any messages from Naruhito until after I time travel back to rescue him.”
“I will, sir.”
Raven shook her head. “How do you keep stuff like that straight?”
He gave her a serious look. “I do it very carefully. Playing with time is the stuff of nightmares if you screw it up just a tiny bit.”
“If it is so dangerous, why do you do it?”
“Sometimes it really needs to be done, and I’m arrogant enough to think I can get away with it. So far I’ve been right.” His ears flicked. “I’ve also been very careful to only change the specific things that I absolutely need to.”
“I’m sorry.”
He took a deep breath and let it out, but when he spoke his voice still had an edge to it. “I heard you the first time. It’s done, Raven. It doesn’t appear to have changed anything in or around Haven, although I’m sure Shikarou is very curious as to why the Nipponjin are so much more fertile than anyone else on the planet.”
What did Raven do?
The maharani winced. “I volunteered Kerrik to give Naruhito the earth mother technique he developed, so he gave the prince a T2 stone.”
“You did what? You are a stupid fucking bitch. Whatever made you decide you make policy for him?” Misery shook her head. “I’m surprised he didn’t tear a bloody strip off of you for that.”
“In her defense, Raven was just trying to help.”
“So you’re ok with what she did?”
“I didn’t say that.” He fought down a feeling of satisfaction when the archmage flinched as if he’d struck her. “Raven didn’t think about the possible consequences. Hopefully she’ll consult with me before offering my property to strangers free of charge again. Everyone makes these kinds of mistakes from time to time.”
“What can I do to make this right?”
“You really can’t.” Her eyes went wide at his words and he softened his tone. “However, I forgive you. Just use this as a learning experience and try to think before you do something like that again.”
Misery was staring at him. “Let me get this straight. She volunteers your property to someone else and significantly changes the world’s history and you give her a fucking pass?”
“You appear to understand the situation.”
“I don’t understand why you did it!”
Raven’s mouth thinned. “You don’t need to understand why he did it. Just accept that he did.”
“That’s not fucking good enough!”
Raven started forward until Kerrik waved her to a halt. “Hold on just a moment. She has a right to know why I let you slide on this. It is pretty significant.” He turned to Misery. “I will forgive each of you and all of you things that I won’t forgive anyone else, including my children. The reason is simple. You are mine and I am yours. We are bound together in ways that I am bound to no one else. I’m still coming to understand what that means but if, because of a mistake by one of you, a civilization or two gets a nudge in a strange direction; then so be it. Nippon and Naruhito are not more important than any of you three. Now, if you make the same mistake twice, then there’ll probably be some rather serious repercussions. However, I should note that I hold myself to that same rule.”
“How do you punish yourself?”
“Usually by volunteering to do something I really don’t want to, but something that does need done.”
Do I get to pick which civilization I get to nudge?
Kerrik laughed. “Maybe. Is there one you particularly don’t like?”
Not really, but I’m sure that eventually one will annoy me enough.
“I don’t suppose I could replace Raven as maharani?”
“No, Misery, you can’t. Raven is doing a good job of managing the harem.” He held out his hand to her. “You’re a wonderful woman and a good friend, but you don’t have the personality to be maharani.”
Misery took it and the tension seemed to drain out of her when they touched. “I’m not going to win an argument with you if you keep doing that.”
“You don’t want me to stop.” It wasn’t a question.
Her fingers tightened around his. “I don’t want you to ever stop touching me.”
“Then I won’t.” He turned his attention back to the image of Cassiopeia. “Is there anything else?”
“Sir, if Virtue and Vice would let me help, I could probably hunt down discrepancies from when you left and arrived faster than they can.”
Vice’s voice came from the speaker. “You wish. However, her aid would probably make things faster.”
“Then let her help.”
“Yes commander.”
Kerrik shook his head and pulled up his mail messages. “Like we figured, I’ve got one from Naruhito. Let’s see what he wants.”
The message flickered live. Naruhito was staring at them. “Is it on yet?”
Raven burst out laughing as a female voice they recognized as Moirai came from out of view. “I believe so, master. Just talk normally, sir, and I’ll review the message before sending it to see if it needs redone.”
Naruhito’s image steadied. The passage of fifteen years had been kind to him and he looked little changed from the last time they’d seen him. He smiled. “I’m sending this message to Kerrik Wolf. I don’t know how to address this, but Moirai assures me that by saying that, this message will find its way to him.”
He glanced up and apparently whatever he saw reassured him as his face relaxed as he returned to the message he was composing. “I’ve communicated with King Shikarou of Haven. While he seems agreeable, considering the monies involved, even with his offer of a ten percent discount I’d rather enrich the family kami instead of him. He’s also indicated a significant wait for some of the items and I was hoping to get them this year instead of next. I have appended a file of what I want to purchase along with the prices he quoted me. If you can meet it, I’d rather do business with you, especially if you can deliver it faster. The situation is not dire, but it will be soon enough and getting that equipment into place quickly is a top priority.”
The image froze as Kerrik snarled angrily. “Family kami? I don’t fucking think so. What is it with people thinking that they can put up a rock and string some rope around it that makes me suddenly on call to save their sorry asses?” His snarl grew in volume until Raven kissed the back of his neck. He jumped and whirled around, hissing.
She met his gaze calmly. “You were losing it and you need to calm down. I’m sure he didn’t mean any insult and fifteen years of you not showing up has proven that he doesn’t command you.” Mentally, she relaxed when his ears canted sideways and he looked slightly embarrassed. “How much money are we talking about?”
He shrugged. “Vice, take a look at the file and run me up a quick estimate.”
There was a pause before Vice spoke. “I have confirmed with Selene that there was a ten percent discount because of the size of the order. The delay was due to the request for ten storage units and five pokeball recharge units for ones that pokegirls manage to successfully escape from. Vallation has everything that is requested already on hand. The total with the discount is 193,201 crowns, 11 royals and a penny.”
He nodded absently. “”For that much money, I think we can do business. Will all of the supplies fit in one planetary transport?”
“Yes, sir. Shall I begin loading one?”
“Please do so. When it’s ready, let me know.” He looked up. “Whisper, once you get that anchor point, take us to Earth. We’ll probably land where we dropped off Naruhito.” He activated the record function on his pokedex. “Naruhito, I agree to your terms and I can deliver all of your supplies today, if you respond promptly. I will give you the items with the ten percent discount. Our current plans are to land somewhere in the same region where we dropped you off. The base is fairly close and can store the supplies we’ll be dropping off until you can transship them to their final destination. Just remember to remind your people that if they shoot at us, we will respond in kind, and that any agreements between you and me are null and void at that point. Kerrik clear.” He pressed a button on the pokedex. “And sent.”
I have an asteroid coming up ahead that I can use as an anchor point. We should be in position in ten minutes or so.
Misery blinked when the pokedex chimed softly. “Did he already reply?”
Kerrik pulled it off his belt and checked. “It seems that way.”
He activated it and a familiar female face appeared. “Greetings, Wolf-san,” Moirai began. “It is good to finally hear from you, and my master has asked me to inform you that he accepts your offer. The money will be available in bulk form at the delivery point in four hours. We will be waiting for your arrival.”
“Virtue, can we deliver in four hours?”
“Commander, we can deliver in five and a half hours, no sooner. Delivery would be at 2000 hours local time.”
Misery got a thoughtful look. “The money will be ready in bulk? How much will it weigh?”
Kerrik shrugged. “Virtue?”
“At the discounted price, most of the metal will probably be gold. The weight will be a little over nine hundred and sixty kilograms or a cube roughly thirty eight centimeters on a side. It is unlikely that it will be a cube, however. If it is in the normal four hundred troy ounce bars, there will be seventy eight of them. Do you wish me to process the gold into standard Haven coinage once you take delivery of it?”
“You might as well. Send an acknowledgment back to Moirai and let her know when the cargo will be arriving. Tell her we’ll be there about ten minutes before delivery.”
“Yes, commander.”
“What do we do until then?” Raven gave him a curious look.
He stretched. “First of all we need to reset to this world’s time. It’s night in Texas right now. So let’s go to Texas and take a quick nap.”
Misery shook her head. “First we need to find a new place to live. That cave is horrible. Even Raven agreed, remember?”
The maharani’s jaw muscles bunched. “I remember. Can we stay in the area? We do have ties there.”
“That’s true enough.” Kerrik pulled up a map of the region on his pokedex and began zooming the display. He paused. “What about this place?”
His harem crowded around to look at the image. It was a large white building that sprawled at the end of a road. What is it?
“I remember that place.” Misery chuckled. “That’s the hotel at the park there. I chased some deer through there and one fell into the swimming pool. What about it?”
“It’s called Indian Lodge and it’s got thirty nine rooms. That means once we clean it out, each of you can have your own room or rooms, depending on what you might want. The place has a restaurant, too, so there are probably stoves and refrigerators. According to the records I’ve found, the hotel was abandoned after pokegirls attacked it in February of 1993.” He looked up. “That was probably you and your deer, Misery. The lodge was mothballed when it was abandoned, so there wasn’t any food to draw ferals. It has probably sustained minimal damage.”
Raven nodded. “I hunted around there a couple of times before we met. If I remember correctly, it had some light structural damage but little else. We’ll need electricity, since it’s probably got a well for water.”
“Electricity, I can provide,” Kerrik said confidently. We’ll need it for the restaurant anyways. Let’s check it out.”
(9/05/06 0500 Texas, 09/05/06 2000 Japan)
Raven appeared and rocketed straight up at full speed while pulling her staff from her pocket. Yelling came from the kouhei on patrol as they watched her shoot into the air and dart away, hugging the treetops as she raced off into the darkness. A few of their flying pokegirls went in pursuit, but she was too fast and disappeared into the gloom before they could get a bearing. Once out of sight, she cut a wide arc around the landing point and sought out a small clearing to land in.
The archmage waited for a minute to make sure there was nobody following her and vanished. She reappeared seconds later with Kerrik. Right after that, Whisper and Misery appeared nearby, both on high alert. “Nobody attacked me, so it’s more than likely that those were Naruhito’s men that we saw on the satellite surveillance.”
Kerrik scowled. “I wish he’d mentioned the security. If we’d gone in normally, when we found out there were tamers and pokegirls around us, the butcher’s bill would have been pretty high.”
For them.
“He’s right.” Raven was scanning the area alertly. “Although the chances are remote, we could have been hurt too, and there are a lot more of them then there are of us.”
“Whether we got injured or not during the fight, his men would have thought they’d fallen into a meat grinder. I’m pretty sure the survivors would have been a tad miffed at us. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt when you came out.”
She shrugged. “If they had attacked, the instant I came under fire I’d have teleported to you. I have no reason to stay and fight them.”
His pokedex chimed softly and Kerrik pulled from his belt. “I have a call. Surprise, surprise.” He activated it. “What?”
Moirai’s eyes widened at the acid in his tone. “I was calling to see what was wrong, Wolf-san.”
“We weren’t told you’d have sentries all over the damned place. Finding out about them is likely to make most intelligent people a little skittish.”
She looked surprised. “We didn’t think about that when we set up the security. It’s standard for when the Emperor is in the area.”
Kerrik took a deep breath. “He’s here.”
“Yes, he is, Wolf-san. He is here along with his wife and children. All four of them have come to see you.”
Raven gave Kerrik a worried look as the pokedex he was holding creaked in his grip. He smiled slowly, his ears up and still. “I’m flattered, but I’m not sure I’m really worth the waste of their time.” She relaxed slightly.
Moirai gave him a cheerful smile back. “Emperor Naruhito insisted that he and his family be here to meet with you.”
“I see. Very well, I guess I’ll meet with them as my schedule permits.” Moirai’s eyes widened in shock. “Have them move to the vicinity of the landing point. The tug will be depositing a container containing his supplies there in about fifteen minutes, but I assure you it won’t drop it on his head.”
“Sir, there are plans to take you back to Tokyo and let members of the diet meet with you.”
“Then you’ll have to cancel them. I’m not staying here that long. I do have other things to do, you see, and I’m not going to be Nippon’s or the emperor’s poster kami.” He ignored the archangel’s face going pale at his words. “It is his job to be the leader of Nippon, not mine. That’s why he’s the emperor.”
The poor pokegirl almost stammered. “I, I will convey your message to him, Wolf-san.”
“You do that. If he’s too offended, I won’t be hurt if he decides not to meet with me.” Kerrik ended the call and stared at his pokedex for several seconds before putting it back in his belt. “Bitch.”
It appears that my sister has grown comfortable being close to the wielder of power in Nippon and has forgotten that not everyone dances to that tune. Whisper’s ears were back as far as they could go. It made her look like she was standing in a high wind. Shall we remind her that there are other powers in the world?
Misery snorted with amusement. “I think he just did. Still, I’d be more than happy to kick her ass around for a while.” She bared her fangs. “I wanted to do that since I met her.”
“We’re here on business.” Kerrik put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels as he watched his girls contemplatively. “And we are going to keep that in mind. No fighting with the client unless his tally is off. Then we argue while he watches the tug return the container to orbit. We still don’t fight.”
“The customer is always right?”
He snorted. “No. It’s just that beating up his alpha is contradictory to our plans to get us more orders from him in the future. So is beating him up or insulting him openly, as much as I’d like to kick his butt over that family kami crap.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means nothing to me and that’s the way it’s going to be.” He scratched his chin for a second. “We need to get this over with. I think, just to avoid any major misunderstandings, we’ll fly from here. Raven, you’ve got point. Whisper, you’ve got Misery and me.”
A short time later Whisper dropped Misery and him off at the landing site as Raven orbited a short distance away. Almost as soon as they landed, a man emerged from the forest and trotted over to them. He was wearing a splinter camouflage uniform and carried an assault rifle. Amongst the other gear strapped to his belt rode a katana. A psivyx followed closely behind. She was wearing a bikini top and shorts and carried a short barreled weapon that looked like some kind of magazine fed grenade launcher.
The man came to attention, immediately followed by his pokegirl. Her four tails quivered with suppressed emotion as he spoke. “Are you Wolf?”
“I am.”
“The emperor is waiting for you not far from here. Please come with me.” He turned and ran back into the woods, his pokegirl right behind him.
Kerrik touched the com on his collar. “Start the supplies down now. Keep an open link and record this entire encounter.”
Misery’s nose wrinkled. “’Please come with me’? I guess his pokegirl is just an accessory to him.”
“It’s not our place to criticize him. At least, it isn’t yet. Whisper, join Raven. Misery, let’s go.”
Misery easily kept pace with him as they ran after the kouhei. They caught up with him as he approached another clearing. He stopped in the middle of it and waved. Two other kouhei appeared and watched Kerrik halt next to the first while Raven slowed and stopped at the edge of the clearing where she took up station. One of the khouhei disappeared back into the woods. He reappeared a moment later, leading Emperor Naruhito and his family from the forest while the other kouhei set up some battery powered torches around the clearing. All four of the Imperial family were wearing the same splinter pattern camouflage that the kouhei wore and Misery chuckled soundlessly at the sight of the two kids wearing it.
Naruhito bowed to Kerrik, who returned it. “Wolf-san, it is good to see you again. This is my wife, Masako.”
Kerrik bowed to her. “Empress.”
She smiled softly. “You are very careful not to hint that you serve Nippon or my husband. That is a wise move.”
The kami chuckled. “Yes, it is.”
Naruhito joined him in that chuckle as he indicated the two children. One was a tall and slender girl of twelve years old, whose serious eyes never left Kerrik’s face. The other was a boy of five or so. He kept grinning at everything he saw. “This is my daughter, Aiko and my son and heir, Takeshi.”
Kerrik raised an eyebrow. “Your daughter is firstborn. Oh, that’s right; Nippon inheritance is through the firstborn male.” He turned to Aiko and bowed. “Greetings, princess.” He bowed to the prince. “And to you, Takeshi.” The boy just grinned at him.
“Are you really a kami?” Aiko watched him with those eyes. “If you are, why didn’t you save my sister?”
The empress went white and reached for her daughter, but Kerrik waved her off as he squatted to bring his eyes level with Aiko’s. “What have your parents told you about me?” His voice was gentle without being condescending. He always treated serious questions from children seriously and that was one of the reasons that children liked him.
“They said you were a kami and that you saved my father from pokegirls that came to kill him.” Her English was excellent, with just a hint of accent.
“I did do that. Did your parents tell you what kind of kami I am?”
She frowned slightly. “No, they did not.”
“I am a kami of death. It is not within my normal range of abilities to save people from death. Instead, I protect the dead and I help their souls to move on. I’m sorry that your sister is gone, but I cannot and will not take the blame for her dying.”
She started to ask a question and he placed a finger on her lips. Her eyes went wide at his touch. “You should never ask what you were going to ask, but I’ll answer it without the words ever being spoken by you. I know what the question was that you were going to ask because I know you love your sister and because you’re mad at me. Your answer is this, young lady. I saved your father because Nippon needed him alive to be the emperor when the Chinese tried to come so they could be stopped. I saved him because you and your brother needed to be born so that Nippon would have strong leadership in the years to come. I saved him because Nippon deserves better than to be ruled by people in Beijing who will only remember the hatred they have towards the Nipponjin and punish them for things that happened long before most of the men in Beijing were born.” He smiled and took his finger away. “Certainly it happened before you were born.”
She gave him a hesitant smile back. “I like you. Can I talk to you more?”
“I have to leave soon, but yes.” He pulled his pokedex from his belt and placed it in her hands. “This is for you. It has software in it that will teach you how to use it properly. When you learn, you can send me messages that I’ll answer as soon as I can.”
Aiko looked at it for a moment before solemnly offering it back. “My brother will be the emperor. You should probably give this to him.”
“He’ll inherit the one your father has or some toady will give him one to try and curry favor. You keep that one. I have more at my home.” He gave her a serious look. “You’re right; if he lives, Takeshi will be emperor some day. That doesn’t mean the role you will play won’t be significant as well. That pokedex might help you with it.” She suddenly beamed at him and clutched the electronic item to her chest.
Kerrik rose and turned to Naruhito, who spoke before he could. “Will you bless my wife and children? You may be a kami of death, but you did save Nippon.”
“If both you and Masako really want this, then I will, even if I’m not sure what benefit my blessing would have.” He looked at the empress. “Obviously your husband wants me to bless his family or he wouldn’t have asked. What about you?”
She glanced at the children, who were standing together looking at the pokedex in Aiko’s hands. “Could your blessing hurt them?”
“No.”
“If it cannot hurt and might help, then please bless them.”
Kerrik nodded and turned to face the children. He drove a claw into the meat of his thumb and spattered them with his blood as he murmured in a voice too low for Misery to hear even as she strained her ears. Both children glowed golden for a heartbeat as the blood sank into their skin and was gone. They stared at him in surprise before going back to poking at the dex.
He looked back at Naruhito and Masako. “They have been blessed. What this will do to them, if anything, only time will tell.” He shook his head, sending his hair into a rippling wave behind him. “The tug will be bringing down your shipment in a few minutes. What’ll happen is that it’ll drop off a container that has everything you’ve ordered.”
“Where is it coming from?”
“It’s dropping the supplies from orbit.”
Naruhito glanced up at the night sky. “You can do that?”
“Yes.” Kerrik smiled slightly. “Considering the amount of supplies, would you rather the tug drop off the container at Komakado-chūtonchi?”
“That would be easier for us. Some of the equipment is rather bulky.”
Kerrik touched his com. “Virtue, change the landing site to Komakado-chūtonchi. If fired upon, proceed as planned and return to orbit without delivering your cargo.”
One of the kouhei was whispering into a radio. “What does this vehicle look like?”
“It’s the only flying box out there, but before it lands it’ll turn on its running lights. They’re green and gold.”
The officer glanced at the emperor. “The base has been instructed not to attack the transport. It’ll be directed to land on the helicopter pad.”
Naruhito gave Kerrik a curious look. “Do you have satellite communications like Haven does? If you do, I’d like access to it.”
“I do and I’ll send you a price sheet for leasing airtime. It’s really not that expensive, and the pokedexes will be able to access it. Once you’ve purchased a lease, I’ll also give you the frequencies and access codes so you can program satellite phones to work with it.” He grinned. “If you don’t have any, I can provide those as well, both in military and civilian models.” He glanced up as the tug’s running lights came on. A second later the container it held lit up as well. He watched it drift silently down towards the base before turning back to the emperor. “There are your supplies. Is the payment up here or at the base?”
“It’s here.”
“Virtue, have the tug stop off here on the way out and pick up the money.”
“Yes, commander.”
“What will you do now, Wolf-san?”
“I’m going to go home for a while. We’ve got some settling in to do and then we’ll get to training while I investigate the situation in Texas.”
“My offer still stands.”
“You don’t need me here and I don’t want to be here. Besides, you really don’t want me here, either. We both know it would only undermine your authority if I lived openly among the Nipponjin.”
Naruhito nodded. “I have had fifteen years to realize that. I am glad you do too, Wolf-san. May I contact you again?”
“Yes, you can.” He looked at Misery and up at the sky where Raven and Whisper were invisibly orbiting in the night. “Let’s get back to the landing site so we can wrap this up and go home.”
The mini-top nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Name: Wolf, Kerrik
Age: Unlisted
Residence: Kingdom of Haven - Currently Texas League
Status: Active
Rank: NA (5)
HRA rank: Colonel
Security Clearance: Omicron
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Researcher N
Watcher N
Breeder Y
Active Harem
Raven Archmage
Whisper Cabbit
Misery Mini-top