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.
This work is the property of Kerrik Wolf (saethwyr@ (SPAM) hotmail.com). Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
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
Nine
(9/05/06 1500 Texas League)
Kerrik spread the last of the seeds over the roof and put the pouch away before hopping off the edge to drop the two stories to the ground. He landed heavily and grunted in annoyance.
“Problem?” Raven landed next to him and gave him a quick once-over. She’d been patrolling the area while he worked on the roof of the hotel.
“I forgot that I’m not as strong as I used to be, which meant that the drop was longer than I should have taken. It’s all part of the learning curve about the new me.” He shrugged. “I didn’t break anything and I got the roof prepared. All we have to do now is to wait for the sunlight to activate the seeds.”
“Are we going to have a green roof like they do in Haven?”
He shook his head. “No, we’ll have a black one. This grass will cover the roof like theirs does, but it also absorbs just about every frequency of energy and converts it to electricity. We’ll run a line down to a storage unit which has an inverter and then we’ll have power available. I’d considered going with direct current on everything, but then we’d need all new appliances and fixtures. And if we decide to string power lines, AC is much easier to transmit. Later I’ll replace the parking lot and roads with thermal absorbing material, which will give us greater power generation capability.”
“How long will the roof take?”
“The roof will take about a week to grow. In the meantime we’ll stay in the rooms that don’t have leaks. Tomorrow we’ll go to Austin and see about buying the land in the area. Maybe we’ll get lucky and we can just claim it.”
Raven nodded as she watched a hawk go floating by overhead. “What about the others who live here?”
“The satellite infrared scans of the area don’t show anyone except a few feral pokegirls. Apparently the whole region was abandoned either during or after the Red Plague. It was pretty isolated beforehand and nobody bothered to come back afterwards.” His ears suddenly went back. “Crap.”
Raven whirled as she looked around wildly. “What is it?”
Kerrik walked over and picked up a small roll of vellum bound by a white ribbon. It hadn’t been there ten seconds before. “This.” His nostrils flared as he sniffed the bundle.
“I repeat my question. What is it?”
“It’s a cross-dimensional letter.” He untied the ribbon and slipped it into his pocket before unrolling the message. “Grandfather, we’re in trouble and need your help. Everyone in my harem is dead and all that’s left is me and Celestine. Don’t tell mother. Graeme.” His fist clenched around the message. “He needs my help and I can’t make a fucking dimensional portal for another twenty years.”
“Teach me how to do it.”
“I can’t, not right now. One of the fun little tricks about dimensional portals and most magic users is that you have to be able to make one to teach someone else how to do it.”
“Then how did the first mage learn how?”
Kerrik gave her a sour smile. “A certain type of mage can learn it without outside help, but you’re not that kind of magic using being.” He grimaced. “We’ll have to go to Haven. Not only can Shikarou cast a portal spell, but they’ve got a portal generator in Alexandria.”
“What about Poppet? I thought we were going to avoid the people of Haven except for making Jamie a kami until she apologized.”
“I’m trying not to think about her right this instant. We could try to get to Alexandria without running into her, but if we can’t Graeme and Celestine’s safety is more important than my ego or her being a bitch.”
“Who are they?”
“Graeme is my grandson and Jamie’s twin brother. Celestine is a pokegirl, his lover and is carrying his child.”
“I thought the letter said his harem was dead.”
“Celestine is a Sanctuary goth and doesn’t need a tamer, so she probably doesn’t consider herself part of his harem. They weren’t created by Sukebe and they’re unique in not needing humans for sex.”
She looked surprised “Pokegirls that don’t need a tamer? Sukebe wouldn’t have wanted them around and I don’t see why humans would make them. How do the leagues there feel about them?”
“First of all, nobody, not even Sanctuary, is sure who made them. Second, Sanctuary is in Africa, which they call the Dark Continent. It’s far away from any of the leagues and so it’s a case of out of sight, out of mind for them. Most of the leagues try to pretend that Sanctuary doesn’t exist, and the ones that don’t have already been subverted by them. It’s my understanding that several disguised Sanctuary goths are highly placed in the governments of some of the more liberal leagues.” He shrugged. “They’ve got some policies I don’t like, but they have never bothered the family so I’ve never bothered with them.”
“Why would he not want his mother to know about the situation?”
“Poppet can be precipitous and she hates Sanctuary for some things they did. Since she probably doesn’t know that Celestine is pregnant, she might rescue Graeme and leave her behind. Graeme knows I won’t do that.”
Raven began to carefully pry the message from his hand. When he realized what she was doing, he gave her a rueful smile and opened his fist. She scanned it quickly. “Could the message be a fake and intended to draw Shikarou and Poppet out of hiding?”
“It only had Graeme’s and Celestine’s scent on it and it’s my magical scroll design. It’s not a fake.” He snorted. “Vale and the other mages of Prime might have something similar, but they can’t duplicate my work well enough to fool me. I’d stake my life on it.”
“You are. All of our lives, in fact.” She looked up into his eyes and nodded at what she saw in them. “When do we leave?”
“Just as soon as you find Misery and Whisper.”
(9/05/06 1630 Haven)
Raven appeared and let her tamer go as Misery and Whisper teleported in next to them. He looked around, his ears rotating as he sampled the sounds of their surroundings.
Finally he pointed. “Alexandria is that way, about a kilometer from here.”
His pokegirls fell closely in around him as he started walking in that direction and he finally stopped to look at them irritably. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t someone be out on patrol? There could be ferals here, too.”
Raven shrugged. “If a feral pops up, we can handle her before you get too badly injured. Besides, we want to be here in case Poppet makes an appearance.”
His ears went flat. “Poppet is just a unicorn. It’s not like she’s bloody Typhonna.”
Who? Oh, the creature that Sukebe released while he was preparing his pokegirl forces. She was supposed to be a distraction, but it turned out that she was a non-event. That was before us, but I remember the controllers bitching about the waste of resources. Why compare Poppet to her?
He snickered softly. “You’ll find out when we get to Pokegirl Prime. Typhonna wasn’t a non-event there.”
“Why is it that place is called Pokegirl Prime and not this one?” Misery gave him an odd look. “This place is the primary universe, right?”
“The place we’re going is called Pokegirl Prime for the simple reason that it’s the first place my family found. This is Pokegirl One, although it’s actually like the twentieth place we located. It is the first place we decided to settle after fleeing Prime.”
Misery looked interested. “I’d love to hear about the other places. Were they all like this one?”
“No. Later I’ll tell you about some of them.”
A voice drifted up from behind them. “Kerrik! Kerrik, wait up!”
He stopped. “Shit, we’ve been spotted. Selene probably ratted us out.” He plastered a smile on his face as a slender dark haired woman carrying a small toddler almost ran up to them. “Afternoon, Elizabeth.” He winked at the little girl. “Melanie, how are you?”
Melanie grinned and held out her arms. “Gwanpa!” Tiny fangs gleamed in her mouth and Raven’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Mellie good.”
Elizabeth put her daughter down and kissed Kerrik on the cheek as she hugged him. “You didn’t call ahead, you devil. What brings you here today?”
“We’re just passing through. I need to use the portal generator in Alexandria.” He winced suddenly and grunted in pain. “I don’t suppose you’d mind prying your daughter off of my wrist.” His voice sounded slightly strained. “My temper has been kind of short recently and she’s hitting bone.”
“Melanie! You release him this instant!” The young vampire had her mouth locked on Kerrik’s wrist and was sucking blood as fast as she could.
Whisper reached out and grabbed Melanie’s hair close to her scalp. The sapphire in the cabbit’s forehead flashed blue and the child collapsed. Only the cabbit’s hold on her kept her from falling and ripping Kerrik’s arm open. You need to keep a closer watch on your child if she’s biting everyone.
Elizabeth carefully removed her daughter’s fangs from Kerrik’s wrist and lifted the unconscious child into her arms. “I forgot about this. She doesn’t bite other people without permission, just him.”
How would you feel if someone kept biting your male? If this is going to be an ongoing problem with her, then every time she goes for him I will put her to sleep until she learns that my tamer is not her snackbox. I love children, but I will not tolerate this behavior. Whisper looked at Kerrik. I need to ask if you do like being bitten by her on a regular basis. If so, I will not interfere.
“Not particularly. I’ve put up with it so far because she’s so young, but my patience is reaching an end. Over the next year she needs to start learning boundaries and drinking my blood is going to be one of them.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I’ve been working with her on it and I’d really appreciate the help.” Her brow furrowed. “You said you need to use the portal generator? Did you lock that ability away, too?”
He looked slightly embarrassed. “I should have thought out what I might need for the next twenty years a little more carefully than I did. In my defense, I’ve never done this before. Sadly, that doesn’t excuse my being an idiot. I need to make quick trip to pokegirl prime, so here I am.”
Her face lit up. “Really? I’ve got to go there later today, too. It must be providence, since Shikarou’s too busy to go with me. Why are you going?”
“I don’t think I should discuss it until I return. It’ll keep things from being too awkward.”
The vampire nodded. “Sadly, because of everything that’s happened, I’ve come to understand operational security all too well. I’ll be on a black ops mission myself.” She hesitated. “I have to ask, since you’ll be there anyways, would you be willing to pretend to be my tamer? I’ve already got the paperwork making me a free pokegirl, but it would be a lot easier if you were around to punch people in the face for being stupid.” Her eyes swept over his harem with an interested look. “And if I’m there too long, I might ask if one of your ladies would help me stay sane.” She grinned. “I’d ask you to do it, but in spite of his protestations of not being possessive, Shikarou would have a screaming fit if I slept with you.”
“While I’m not the same way he is, I can understand his sentiment. I’d have to say no, in any case. I’m not sure I’d trust myself to return you to him.”
Elizabeth looked surprised. “That’s sweet, and the fact that you can’t lie makes it that much sweeter, but I know you wouldn’t keep me against my will.” She met Raven’s stony gaze. “And I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to be your subordinate.”
The archmage didn’t look any less unhappy. “I don’t want you in my harem. You’re not what he needs.” Her gaze softened as it dropped to Melanie. “Although, I must admit that it would be nice to have a child around.”
“There’ll be a lot of young pokegirls looking for a tamer where you’re going. Maybe you’ll find a nice one for him.”
Raven shrugged. “We’ll be there on business. I doubt we’ll have time to do any sightseeing.”
“Speaking of time, you will make sure to be back in two days, right?”
Kerrik raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Elizabeth smiled. “That’s right; I forgot that Selene can adjust the portal to make sure you come back before Jamie is scheduled to become a kami, so it shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve set everything up that you said we needed, but I’m sure Poppet has more questions for you. In fact, as soon as she hears you’re here, she’ll probably come looking for you.”
Kerrik winced again and wiped his wrist on his pants. “Yeah, I’m sure she will. Look, we need to get to Alexandria. When you get to Prime, contact me and we’ll work something out if you need tamed or need me for anything else.”
“Don’t worry, Kerrik, I will.” Elizabeth gave him another quick kiss. “Be careful.”
“I will. Contact me when you get across and we’ll meet someplace.”
“I have to go to the Harris Conservatory. Would meeting there be ok?”
He nodded absently. “That’s fine. Ladies, let’s go. Bye, Elizabeth.” The vampire waved and began trying to wake her daughter as they headed off.
The four of them made their way to the entrance to Alexandria, which was disguised as a flat rock face in the side of a hill. Kerrik stopped and faced it squarely. “Selene, open up.”
A dusky skinned woman appeared in front of him. “Greetings, Colonel.” She looked over the group. “Are these your pokegirls? We haven’t met yet.”
His ears flicked. “I’m sorry about the oversight. This is Raven, Misery and Whisper. They are my harem and are to be given full access to Alexandria and omega level eyes only clearance to all information.”
Selene cocked her head. “That access level will require DNA samples from them for access to the armory, the command chamber and the weapons morgue. They can provide those samples at the first aid station in the portal chamber.”
“I’ll take care of it when we get there. Now, please open the door.”
The hologram bowed with a sweeping motion. “Open simsim.”
The rock slid sideways, revealing a recessed metal door. A woman with ankle length blonde hair and a short golden horn in the middle of her forehead was leaning against it. She was wearing a comfortable looking pink cotton skirt and blouse. “Got a minute?”
Kerrik’s ears went still. “Hi, Poppet. Can it wait?”
The unicorn shook her head. “I don’t think so. You tend to disappear when I take my eyes off of you and you’re sometimes hard to find.” She gave him an affectionate smile. “Besides, this won’t take long.”
“I don’t suppose you’re here to apologize?”
She blinked. “Apologize?” She looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do I need to apologize for?”
Kerrik’s eyes glittered angrily. “Don’t you remember insulting my harem, calling them the faces of death and stating that they couldn’t be trusted around family?”
Poppet looked confused. “It’s true that the analogs of your harem that I knew on my world were individually named Death by those who feared them, but I’d never call any of the members of your harem by that name. They didn’t chose it and it would be extremely rude. As for the idea that you would bring anyone here who represented the slightest danger to your family, that’s absurd. You’d never do that and I’d never be stupid enough to accuse you of something along those lines.” She stepped forward and looked into his eyes. “Are you well? You said that becoming young again might have some unexpected consequences, but you never mentioned anything like this. Should I call Stardust or Candace?”
Kerrik stared at her before pulling his mouth shut. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. If you’ll wait until I get back, we can talk briefly, but I am in kind of a hurry.”
She nodded and leaned back against the door. “That’s fine. I’ll be right here. You’re ok, right?”
“I’ll be fine.” He took Raven’s hand. “Take me to Whisper’s former home in Edo. Misery, Whisper, follow along.”
They emerged in the clearing where they’d first arrived before. Raven turned to him as the others appeared nearby. She started to speak, but instead jumped when he smashed a fist into the tree in front of him, shattering the trunk. “I DO NOT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS,” he bellowed as his claws raked the tree next to the first. Wood flew as he slashed at it again, growling in fury.
His three pokegirls looked at each other and jumped him. Misery kicked his legs out from under him while Raven and Whisper each grabbed an arm and wrapped themselves around him as he hit the ground. As he went down, the mini-top wrapped her arms around his legs and swung her body up over the other two pokegirls, adding her weight to the pile. Kerrik thrashed like an eel underneath them until finally he stopped and was still. They continued to cling to him, their chests heaving from the exertion of trying to hold him down. Misery chuckled. “You’re a strong little sucker. I’d hate to try and do this when you’re at full strength.”
“If you weren’t important to me, I’d be free and you’d be dead.” His voice was calm. “Let me go.”
Not until you explain why you’re so angry.
“I’m angry because she did it again. I finally had her dead to rights on something and it turns out that she doesn’t have to apologize for being a royal bitch to you because it never fucking happened.”
Raven snorted. “We were there. Of course it did. She’s just playing games with your mind.”
“You might want to remember that I can tell when someone is lying to me. She’s not. When we jumped around, the event where she said that to us got changed and Poppet was in a good mood that day or something and she never uttered the words. A good secondary verification is the fact that apparently I told her that I was going to become younger and that Jamie’s transformation to kami has been scheduled, events that we don’t remember taking place, since I wasn’t on speaking terms with Poppet until she apologized. And people wonder why I think that the universe just wants to fuck me over every chance it can.”
Why do you say that?
“Because every time a little thing like that changes, it’s always something that’s important to me and it always results in me not getting satisfaction from the situation. I fucking hate these tiny little hops through time.”
Raven lifted her head to look at him as he stared blankly at the night sky. “What are you going to do about it?”
His eyes flicked in her direction before he went back to looking into space. “There’s nothing to do. I can’t be angry at Poppet for something that never happened. That’s an act of the insane. So I have to pretend that she never gave any insult to us and bury my anger so deeply that it will never be found by her, even if she accidentally ends up in my head again.” He twitched underneath the pile of pokegirls. “Will you let me up now?”
Raven loosened her grip. “Let him go.” The others let him go and she watched him push himself up into a sitting position as Misery rolled off of him. “Are you mad at us?”
“Of course I’m not. You were trying to help.”
He rubbed his eyes as the others got to their feet. Misery touched the tree he’d slashed and whistled softly. “This thing is almost completely sliced through. You did this? With those tiny little claws? That’s impressive.”
“I’ve been fighting since before Sukebe’s ancestors began using copper. I have learned something about how to hit during all that.”
“Will you teach us what you know?”
Kerrik eyed Raven and nodded. “If you think I can teach you anything, I’d be more than happy to.” He stood and began wiping his clothing off. “I guess it’s back to see what Poppet wants before we head to Prime.” He reached out and took Raven’s hand. “And ladies?” Three heads swung around to look at him. “Thanks for stopping me. I’m never sure what will happen when I get that way. Fortunately it’s not that often.”
It was our pleasure. The last time you were that mad, we had to fight each other for three days and we don’t want to do anything like that again.
Misery nodded. “Yeah, what the mute said.” Whisper started to glare at her and then shrugged.
(9/05/06 1800 Haven)
Poppet was still waiting calmly at the entrance to Alexandria when they teleported in. Kerrik checked his internal clock and was startled to realize that they’d only been gone for about ten minutes as the unicorn smiled and hugged him. “Are you feeling better now?” Her eyes searched his. “You know, I worry about you sometimes. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders and eventually it’s going to be too much for you.”
Kerrik fought an urge to ask her where the real Poppet was and what it would take to get her back. An idea struck him and he leaned forward to surreptitiously sniff her. Nope, it was her. He sighed and let her go. “I’m fine. What did you want to talk about, Poppet?”
“I know we’ll be having Jamie’s ceremony to become a kami ceremony in a couple of days and I wanted to see if we could have a party afterwards to celebrate it. I don’t completely agree with the decision he’s made, but it is his to make and there’s no reason not to let him be happy about it. That and I’m still not sure the Ginevra didn’t badger him into it.”
Kerrik blinked. “You want to have a party?” He stared at her for a second before his mind ground into motion. “Actually, that might be an inopportune time for a celebration. He’ll be acclimating to being different. Perhaps it would be best if the party were delayed for a day or so. That way there aren’t any unfortunate accidents.”
Poppet looked vaguely disappointed for a second before nodding. “Maybe that would be for the better. Then we can schedule the party for the early evening instead of after midnight.” She suddenly looked hesitant. “There’s one more thing, I’ve had a request from someone who isn’t a family member to see the ritual. I’d like to grant that request, but I know better than to insist they be present when it’s your show. So, I’m asking you.”
“That is a very wise decision. I must admit I am curious as to why you’d want an outsider to see such a personal family event. Who is it?”
The unicorn took a deep breath. “Poppet and Jamie Harris.”
Kerrik’s mouth dropped. “You know her?”
“Of course I do. You don’t think I couldn’t investigate the presence of the Harris Ranch exactly where my Harris Ranch was, now did you? You may not know this, but my place was the Harris Ranch before I changed the name to Harris Conservatory.”
“I was hoping you’d do just that and leave it and them alone. Why do you want them there?”
“Someday she may want us to make Jamie live longer. This is one of her options and she wants to see what it looks like.”
“Jamie Harris has no kami blood. Making him either kami or sidhe would entail far more than the ceremony Jamie Wolf will undergo.”
“I know, but this will give her a starting point.”
Kerrik’s ears flicked. “I take it you two aren’t out to kill each other?”
Poppet gave him a look he recognized all too well. It was one of amused arrogance. “I had Candace regenerate Jamie’s arm and we talked about the tumors he already had and scheduled him for surgery. After that, while we’re not fast friends, we have managed to get along.” From the look in her eyes, she was the superior in the relationship, something she no doubt saw as proper. He wondered briefly how the other Poppet felt about the arrangement and then decided it probably wasn’t important. Still, he made a mental note to suggest to Candace that she keep an eye on all of them, including the new Jamie Harris.
“The two of you working together is kind of a scary thought for the safety of the rest of the world. However, if you want her there and my grandson Jamie doesn’t mind, I won’t have them thrown out in such a way that Poppet Harris can’t teleport back when my back is turned.”
“Thank you.” The unicorn frowned and gave him a slightly curious look as if waiting for something. Finally she spoke. “You’re not going to ask the question everyone else has?”
Kerrik looked blank for a second and then grinned. “You’ve got a lot of faults, Poppet, and I sometimes wonder if both of us would survive trying to be a couple, but the one thing that I have never questioned about you is your love for my son.”
Suddenly he had an armful of unicorn as she hugged him as tightly as she could. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Even Shikarou has silently wondered about my feelings for this Jamie Harris.”
He hugged her back. “I seriously doubt that. Or if he did, it wasn’t for very long. Besides, that’s not your Jamie, is it?”
She shook her head where it rested against his shoulder. “No, he’s not. My Jamie died and I mourned him. This one is a complete stranger to me.”
Kerrik carefully peeled Poppet away from him and held her at arm’s length as he nodded. “And he’ll never be, because you only have room in your heart for one man at a time. Having Jamie and Graeme settled things forever for you as far as your Jamie Harris is concerned.”
She pulled away from him slowly. “Exactly.” Her eyes searched his momentarily, obviously looking for something that she didn’t see. “Do you believe I insulted Raven and the others? If you do, and you explain what I did, I’ll apologize for it.”
He resisted the impulse to try just that and shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”
“It wasn’t the other Poppet, was it?”
“No. I made a mistake. It would be really confusing to try and explain. Can we just let it go?”
Poppet nodded. “Ok. Be careful on Prime, would you? You’ve got some pretty rare pokegirls and even as a tradesman there will be some jerks.” A bittersweet smile appeared. “That and the name Wolf isn’t unknown to the authorities.”
“I’ve got licenses for all of us to carry firearms in Blue and my name hasn’t appeared in Blue League records, which is why they couldn’t find me again after I spoke to Jamie’s Corporal Hines about his tamer’s disease. If someone tries to take one of my ladies, I’ll just laugh at them.” His ears flicked amusedly. “If they persist, I’ll either do something violent or go to the police. Or perhaps I’ll do both. In any case, I’ll do it carefully.”
“That’s all I can ask. Give Devon and Tobias my love if you see them.” She stepped out of the way as the door irised open.
“I should see them and when I do, I will give them your message.”
He stepped past her and into the elevator. Poppet gave them a slight wave as it slid shut. “Selene, I’d like you to initiate power-up protocols on the dimensional portal.”
The wall of the elevator was a display screen and the whole thing filled with Selene’s appearance. The Egyptian was sitting in a comfortable looking chair with a martini in her hand. “I’ve already started up the portal. By the time you arrive at the chamber, it’ll be ready for translation.”
“I’m surprised Shikarou gave you that much autonomy.”
“He wants me to get the mail and any news from Prime every day and after a week of me contacting him to get permission he authorized me to operate the portal generator independently.” She grinned. “I made sure to contact him at the most inopportune times and he never caught on.”
“Good job.”
The elevator door opened to reveal a hallway. Raven gave him a startled look. “That was a really smooth ride.”
Kerrik headed down the hall. “The elevator system uses antigravity to keep anyone in it from figuring out where things are in relation to one another. Once Selene has your DNA on file, she’ll allow you to access the base maps with your twee.”
How do you access the maps?
“I’ve seen them once and I had to memorize them since I don’t have a twee.” He stopped outside a door. “This is the portal chamber. It’s based off the one I have in my lab in Tirsul, but Selene should have changed the writing on anything to English by now.” He glanced at the door. “That’s a hint, by the way.”
The door opened as her laugh sounded around them. “I got it, Colonel. Everything is in English, although there’s not much to read.” The door slid open.
The portal chamber was several yards across and held a handful of lockers, a first aid station and the portal itself, a vertical disk of green light. As they entered the room, a robot went through the portal and vanished. Selene’s voice came again. “That’s the mail robot going through to get messages, news and to deliver any messages from Pokegirl One that are going to Prime. There isn’t much traffic right now, mostly mail between Stephen and Candace and Shikarou. Privacy rules forbid me from giving any more information about mail.”
“I wouldn’t ask about them.” Kerrik pointed at the first aid station. “Ladies, this way.” He opened a medical kit and pulled out a small cylinder. “This is a medical scanner and I’m going to use it to read your DNA for Selene. It doesn’t hurt.” He pressed it lightly against Raven’s arm. “This is Raven.”
“She has intriguing DNA. I don’t suppose I could do a complete workup on her?”
“No, you can’t, not without her permission and not now.” He moved on to Whisper. “This is Whisper and this is Misery.”
“I’ll have to ask all of them for permission for a workup later. They’re all very unique.” She appeared in front of Misery. “Why do you have such a sad name?”
The mini-top looked startled. “I was pretty miserable at the time I took it.”
“Are you that way now? If Kerrik is that bad for you, perhaps you should seek someone else. If he’s not, perhaps you might consider a change of life name.”
Misery shot a glance at Kerrik. “What is she talking about?”
“Tirsuli often change their names when a significant event happens in their lives. It’s one of their quaint customs. Selene is just trying to be helpful.”
“Oh. Could I change my name?”
“If you want to, of course you could.”
She nodded and returned her attention to the hologram. “I hadn’t thought about it. Maybe I will.”
“You’ll think about it or you’ll change your name?”
The mini-top’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not fucking you, so I’m done with your questions.”
Selene smiled. “Fair enough.” She turned to the kami. “I have DNA representative samples of your harem members and they have been given the access you requested. Please remember that if their status changes, only you or my commander can change their access level. Will there be anything else before you translate?”
“Yes, please transmit the portal design plans to Vallation.”
Selene shook her head. “I’m sorry, colonel, but Commander Shikarou has forbidden me to give or transmit interdimensional transport technology to anyone. It’s a security precaution that he’s instituted.”
His ears went flat for an instant. “I see. Then I apologize for asking you to violate his orders.”
“You didn’t know about them, sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“What is the exit point for the portal?”
“The Cobalt Point facility is today’s destination, sir.”
“That makes sense.” He looked at Raven, who was watching the robot as it returned through the portal. “One of the issues with leaving anything behind on Prime was the question of where to put it. Since we really don’t want the portal facilities found, we didn’t want to site them anywhere where humans or non-feral pokegirls might try to live. Three places were chosen and a tiny facility put in at each location. The first is Ruby Ridge, which is in the perpetually frozen mountains somewhere in the northern Ruby League. Cobalt Point is a small island inside the Orange League that’s got some algae growing on it but nothing else. Murray Island is the third and the entire island is a tidal rock about three feet in diameter that’s located over a mile off of the north coast of Ireland. We rotate portal openings randomly amongst the three so as to not leave a signature the humans can track if, or when, they develop the technology to do so. Each facility has room for the portal and some minimal generating equipment that anchors the portal on that end. The anchor reduces the power requirements by a factor of ten thousand.”
Raven looked at the hologram. “Do I have access to maps of Prime now, Selene?” She blinked suddenly. “The world there is a lot different. What happened to it?”
“Typhonna did. She did a lot of damage to the existing continents while Sukebe was busy waging war against humanity.”
Whisper’s eyes went wide. Damn. I see what you mean. Misery just whistled softly as her twee downloaded the maps of Prime.
Kerrik motioned towards the glowing portal. “Once we get through, we’ll go to the surface and Whisper will transport us to the Harris Conservatory. That’ll give you a teleport point for our next visit. Then we’ll be off to find Graeme.”
Selene perked up. “Graeme? Is something wrong with Graeme?”
He scowled. “You’re such a busybody. You didn’t hear me say anything was wrong with him, now did you? Through the gate, ladies, before she can close it and try to question us.” He dashed through the portal, closely followed by his harem as Selene shouted questions at them.
They were standing in a room that was a cube roughly ten feet on a side. Three strips of softly glowing material inset in the ceiling provided a dim light that was almost outshone by the portal itself. A computer display was built into the wall on the opposite side of the room from the portal and a hatch in the ceiling was securely closed by six lugs visible against the ceiling. A handwheel in the middle of hatch presumably operated the lugs.
Raven ignored their surroundings. “Why is Selene so interested in Graeme?”
“That’s one of the things Shikarou did right. Selene considers herself to be part of the Wolf family and worries about ‘her’ children as much as any flesh and blood woman does. She even helped to educate them.” He clipped his com to his collar. “The first order of business is to get out of here. Whisper, please unlock the hatch.”
Misery was looking around. “This is kind of simplistic.”
“It’s supposed to be. Except for the portal anchor equipment, which will self destruct if the place is invaded; everything else in this room is from tech manufactured on this world. Even the glow lights were made here in the Orange League.”
The handwheel started to spin as Whisper used her telekinesis on it. What lies beyond the hatch?
“There’s a tunnel to the surface and another hatch. Once we’re outside, one of you will bring me back in here where we’ll seal the hatches up again. They don’t open from the other direction and are only there for people with pokegirls who don’t have a teleport point on this world.” The lugs retracted into the hatch surface and opened upwards as Whisper pushed it, revealing darkness. “Ok, Raven, you and your light get up there and open the upper hatch.”
The archmage summoned her light and flew into the tunnel that the light revealed. A moment later her voice floated down. “Open.” She dropped back down. “The surface is a small island without any signs of life. There’s ocean on all sides. Whisper, you take Misery up. Kerrik and I’ll seal the room and teleport out.”
The cabbit’s tail lashed. Very well. Behind or in front, Misery?
The mini-top readied her submachine gun. “I’ll be in front.” She lifted off and headed up the shaft with Whisper close behind her.
Misery is on the island. The tunnel darkened suddenly. I am closing and securing the upper hatch so you only have to do the lower one. It’s locked shut now. I’ll see you on the island.
Raven chuckled without humor. “I’m pleased she’s helpful and annoyed she didn’t do what I told her to.”
Kerrik placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let it go for now. Both you and I prize initiative. Now we don’t have to go into the tunnel.”
Raven drifted up, pulled the hatch closed and spun the handwheel until the lugs locked into position. “Will Selene send someone to follow us?”
“She’ll let Shikarou know that I’m going to visit Graeme, but they’ll probably figure that I’d tell them if he was in trouble. Normally I would, but Graeme’s request has tied my hands since they’ll tell Poppet.” He slipped his arm around her waist. “Let’s go.”
The island was a dozen feet across and Misery squinted against the night breeze as she scanned the area. Her eyes flicked in their direction as Raven and Kerrik appeared, if only to verify her delta bond with him, before she went back to alertly watching for threats. Waves crashed against the rocks, sending a fine spray of salt mist over the four of them. Whisper hovered above Misery as her antennae searched out possible problems. She settled to the ground and began forming her construct around them. There is a large group of water pokegirls about a hundred yards to the north. They’re below the surface of the ocean and are not aware of our presence.
“There’s going to be a lot more pokegirls than any of you are used to seeing. That definitely includes ferals. If we’re attacked, it’ll give you three a chance to practice capturing. Anything we catch we’ll take with us as stock.” Kerrik’s ears twisted sideways and he tapped the com link. “Virtue, get the date from the satellite net and move one of the ones not masquerading as an old one over the Dark Continent. Set it to look for any twee or Graeme’s pokedex.”
“Commander, it is September the seventeenth in 319 AS. The satellite will take sixteen thousand seconds to get into position. I will update as soon as I know something.”
“Good. Vice, set me up as a tradesman from the Blue League and verify the status of the bank accounts we set up in the various leagues. Give them a little activity and then set me up with some basic funds, say about twenty thousand SLC. Also set up the records for my harem.”
“As you wish, commander.”
We are ready to depart. I have a vector to the Harris Conservatory. How do you wish to proceed?
“That’s right, I almost forgot. Virtue, send a message to the Harris Conservatory to let them know we’ll be dropping by to set up a teleport point and make sure they’re willing to let us come by. Tell them that we won’t be staying for long, but that we’ll be back if we’re welcome. Whisper, let’s do an orbital bounce. We don’t want to cause too much disruption.”
One orbital bounce coming up. The construct shrank until it was cozy for the four of them and then shot into the air, quickly accelerating past the mach barrier as it headed straight up. We’ll be about four minutes getting into space and then it’ll be half an hour before we’re over Scotland.
Virtue spoke. “Commander, I have a message from the Harris Conservatory. It is from Devon Harris. ‘Kerrik, you and yours are always welcome here. I’ll be glad to put you up if you need a place to stay for a few days. Tobias will be pissed that he missed you. Devon.’ Will there be a reply?”
“Just let him know we’ll be arriving in less than an hour.”
Misery was peering over the side of the construct. “Everything is so tiny.” She grinned at them before going back to staring down.
Kerrik shook his head slowly. “Sometimes I forget that you are less than twenty years old.”
Raven shrugged. “What does that matter? We’ve still lived a lifetime.”
He looked at her, his ears flicking slowly. “That you have. Now we’ll see if maybe you can have a bit of fun, too.”
“I’m not sure I’d know what fun is, but I’m willing to try it if you want me to.” She snuggled up against him. “What’s different about this place that we need to know?”
He snorted “Where to start? Listen to your twees and they won’t lead you wrong. Tamers here have had three hundred years of being taught that pokegirls aren’t really people and they use pokegirls to battle each other for fame and prizes. The prizes can be money or even the loser’s pokegirl or girls. I’m a tradesman, and because of that I’m not allowed to battle for that sort of thing, but some tamers may still be asses about it. They may also try to buy you, which I’ll just laugh at. Pokegirls have to defer to humans almost all of the time, although you are my property and you only obey me. It’s expected that you’ll call me master or sir in public. You’ll also be expected to call other humans sir.”
Misery gave him a disgusted look. “Please, continue with the good news.” She turned to watch the sun coming up over the horizon as they rushed towards it.
“All three of you are rare pokegirls, although most tamers won’t be interested in a mini-top because of their fearful reputation for injuring their own tamers. If you do hurt someone, I’m responsible for it and I can go to jail while you get killed.”
“It just gets better and better.” Misery looked at Raven and shrugged. “So, is there any good news?”
“We won’t be here for long? As soon as we get Graeme and Celestine and then deal with whatever Elizabeth wants, we’ll be headed home.”
Whisper’s green tail whipped sideways as her ears flicked. What will they think of me? I am unique.
“Yeah, that will probably make you even more popular than anyone else. Raven is probably the closest to what’s considered a normal pokegirl here.”
She grinned, showing fangs. “They’d think that until it came time for me to have breakfast.”
“And then you’d be dead too. I think I’ll just tell any tamers to go to hell. I really don’t expect to spend any time in cities this trip. We’ll go to the Conservatory and then to find Graeme.” His ears went flat. “He’d better not be in some stupid city someplace.”
Finally they began to descend. The Harris Conservatory is straight ahead.
“Put us down a mile away and we’ll hike in from there. The Conservatory has a top notch security force and I’d hate to have to kill a bunch of them when they jump us.”
As soon as the construct touched down, it vanished. Raven pulled out her staff as Misery sighed and put her submachine gun away. “I know I’m licensed to carry it, but we all know there’ll be less trouble if I’m not waving it around all the time.”
The archmage turned to Kerrik. “Well, master, how shall we proceed?” There was a vast feeling of amusement from Whisper and Misery snickered.
Kerrik laughed too. “Well, my maharani, normally you or Whisper would be overhead providing aerial security while Misery kept me safe since she’s my only land bound pokegirl. However, since we’re so close to the Conservatory, just stay close and let’s get over there before something happens to your tamer.”
Raven nodded. “Misery, point. Stay in sight.” The mini-top trotted ahead and the rest fell in beside Kerrik as the headed after her.
There are elves spreading out around us. They believe they are part of the security element for the Conservatory. One is radioing for instructions. They have had paramilitary training and are working as a unit, but they would be just meat for us.
Kerrik reached out and stroked one of Whisper’s ears. “Down, girl. We come in peace, remember?” She gave him an annoyed look and jerked it out of his fingers.
“Incoming.” Raven jerked her head up as a form dropped from the sky and hovered in front of them.
“Kerrik, it’s good to see ye again.” It was Kathryn. The ladyien settled to the ground and folded her wing cases shut. “Devon is on his way and I’ve told the security teams to stand down.”
She is right. The elves are withdrawing. Whisper landed next to her tamer. Who is this?
Kerrik blinked. “Oh, sorry. Whisper, meet Kathryn. She’s Devon’s alpha, lover, friend, mother of his daughter Kimberly and the Managing Director of the Harris Conservatory.” He smiled. “Kathryn, this is Whisper, the woman with the purple hair is Raven, my maharani, and that’s Misery.”
Raven gave him an amused look. “Maharani is the equivalent of alpha. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kathryn.”
The ladyien was staring at Kerrik. “Ye finally have a harem. Rhiannon is going to be pissed. She’d bet some of the others a lot of money that ye wouldna ever have one.”
“It sounds like it sucks to be her. How’s Tess?”
“She’s moody and she’s stopped flying. Apparently someone described her as lumbering and she didna take it well.”
“I understand why. That’s a cruel thing to say around an expectant mother with her first human pregnancy.”
Kathryn gave him a grim smile. “Aye, tis indeed. And I made sure she’ll never say that around Tess again. Maybe ye could have a word with her since she knows ye can’t lie about how she looks and I know ye find all pregnant women beautiful.”
“We can’t stay long right now, but I’m supposed to meet up with Elizabeth here later. At that point I’d be happy to.”
“Elizabeth did say ye’d be coming here when she was here this morning. And I thank ye about being willing to talk to Tess. She’s the one who warned us to be expecting ye to look as different as ye do.”
Raven blinked. “How did she beat us here?”
“Shikarou probably cast a portal for her and timed it so she’d arrive before we did.” He looked past Kathryn. “And here comes Master Harris now.”
At thirty five years of age, Devon had grown several centimeters and filled out. He’d obviously kept up his training and his grip was strong as he shook Kerrik’s hand. “You’ve been away for a while and after the Wolf family moved to wherever they are now I honestly never expected to see you again. I’m glad I was wrong.”
“It’s good to see you too, Devon.” He bobbed his head at the dark haired feline who trailed along behind her tamer. “Alexia.” The shadowcat nodded back. She’d never warmed up to Kerrik since they were both ruthless killers and both very much aware of it. Still, they respected each other. “You mentioned Tobias being upset that he’s going to miss my visit. Where is he?”
“London. He’s going through orientation to be my deputy on the Council.” Fangs glinted as Devon grinned. “In a decade or so, I’ll turn everything over to him and I’m off to school.”
“Where?”
Devon’s smile dimmed. “I was going to go to the Institute, but I’ll not darken their doorway if the Order of Pendragon runs it. Instead I’ll go to Vale. Has Kasumi reopened the Institute there?”
“She’s already broken ground and should be opening her doors in about a year. You could go across and attend.”
He shook his head. “If I go to your new world, I might not come back. I still have to hold the Conservatory in trust for Christopher and the others until they’re ready for it. After that, I just might take you up on it.” He folded his hands behind his back. “I know you can’t stay, and for you that means you’ll be gone in a few minutes. Is it anything I can help with?”
“Not unless you know where Graeme is.”
“The last I heard from him, he had a farm outside Wellham. He should be there.” Blue eyes narrowed shrewdly. “Is he in trouble?”
“If you’re holding this place in trust for your kids, you can’t get involved. Not if the tattooed ones are behind what’s going on, although I’m not sure exactly what is wrong yet. Have you heard any interesting news from Jennifer’s mother about them?”
Devon shook his head. “No, I haven’t. That doesn’t mean they’re not more active. She only really pays attention to them if they’re doing something that affects her.” He frowned. “Poppet doesn’t know or else she’d be here.”
“I can’t tell her, Devon, and neither should you.” Kerrik slipped his arm around Whisper. “I’ll be back when I can and I’ll bring Graeme and his wife if it’s ok with you.”
“Of course it is.” Devon eyed Kerrik’s harem. “Nice girls you got there. Be careful with them and with your own hide.” He grinned. “If you’re anything like your sons, I don’t envy them the job of trying to keep you safe.”
Misery laughed. “You got that right.” She paused. “Sir.”
Devon was staring. “You’ve got fangs. Mini-tops don’t have fangs.”
“I’m not exactly standard issue. None of us are. Sir.”
Raven tapped Misery on the shoulder with her staff. “You’re not supposed to hesitate before calling them sir.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Trust you to have pokegirls as strange as you are, Kerrik.”
It does only make sense.
Harris gave him a curious look and Kerrik shrugged. “Whisper can’t talk. Her vocal cords won’t work that way.”
Devon blinked. “Another pure telepath? Ming Die is going to love her.”
Kerrik’s women looked at each other. “Ming Die is here?” Raven turned to her tamer. “That could be a problem. She’ll think we’re here to kill her. It was her and her sisters that made our existence necessary in the first place.”
“She knows that she helped kill two of you. That might throw her off a bit about your presence. Besides she already has one of your kind in the same harem she’s in. A demon-goddess named Hatsumi who started out as a youma.” He frowned as his ears flicked. “Would you try to kill her?”
We are yours now. We only kill at your order or to protect you. None of our possible former prey has any reason to fear us unless they fall afoul of those two circumstances. Are you likely to order us to kill her?
“Devon, please warn her about my harem. They are named Raven, Misery and Whisper and are all hunter pokegirls, but they don’t mean anyone here any threat.”
The young man nodded. “I’ll let her know. If there’s a problem, can I contact you at the same mailbox?”
“Or you can contact the tradesman Kerrik Wolf.” He grinned. “I’m a licensed pokegirl hunter.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Kerrik tightened his arm around his cabbit. “Whisper, it’s time to go back to Cobalt Point. Ladies, please meet us there.”
It was night on the island and they paused to let their eyesight adjust. “The satellite won’t be in position for another hour, but there’s no reason we can’t beat it to the Dark Continent and be looking for Graeme and Celestine when it arrives.”
Yes, my master. The construct formed around them and they lifted off. Who is Jennifer and who is her mother?
“Jennifer is a sphinx who is in Devon’s harem. Here, Sexmet considers herself to be the mother of all of the sphinx. Advertising that you know much about her isn’t a good idea since the leagues, several criminal organizations and Sanctuary wants to get their hands on either her or the sphinx.”
Misery’s mouth worked like she wanted to spit. “Please tell me you don’t have anything to do with that furry dingbat and her slut girlfriend.”
“If you’re talking about Sexmet and Bastit, no, I don’t. I’ve met Sexmet and she doesn’t like me. I take it you and she don’t get along?”
Raven snorted. “After Sukebe disappeared, the two of them tried to coerce a lot of hunters to be their personal assassins. Bastit even tried using her pheromones on several of us. We were not amused, but Sexmet is too powerful for any of us working alone to kill and we don’t normally work in groups. You’ve seen how well our personalities mesh without you around.”
“It’s not going to be a problem. I’m not going to her unless Graeme and Celestine fled there, which is unlikely since Sexmet would kill Celestine out of hand and Graeme knows it. So we’re not going to get in touch with her. We’ll do this on our own.”
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