Into the Fire
Twelve
Iain Grey hadn’t made it two steps inside the Buncrana sheriff’s office when he was grabbed up in a hug that pinned his arms. He froze until Patricia let him go. A huge smile covered her face. “Thank you, Kerrik, for what you did. Bertram is out right now, but he’ll also want to thank you when he gets back.”
“You’re very welcome. I’m just glad that Richard wasn’t hurt.”
The Officerjenny gave him a curious look. “He told me what you did. Was what you said to Landry true? Are you part of some kind of celestial strike unit?”
“I can’t answer that, Patricia.”
She nodded. “I understand completely. I shouldn’t ask that question again, should I?”
“No, you shouldn’t.”
Iain gave Eve an amused look and she smiled back at him before tugging Patricia gently away. “We’re glad to have been able to help you, Pat, but we can’t stay. We’ve got work to do and I need him to do it. In fact, the real reason we came by was to see if you still needed to investigate Irena.”
The Officerjenny shook her head. “I should have realized that a celestial tamer wouldn’t abuse a pokekit. Sorry about that.” She gave him a slightly guilty smile.
“Trust me; it’s not the strangest thing anyone has accused me of.” He grinned. “There was this one fellow in Indigo who accused me of having a Titto turn into farm animals to satisfy my sexual fetishes.” He shrugged when she looked shocked. “I’ve never had a Titto in my harem or my bed.”
Patricia looked outraged. “I hope you set him straight.”
“It’s all taken care of. I just mentioned it to let you know I didn’t take offense over Irena. You won’t be the last person to think that about me. So, if we’re good about Irena, Eve and I have got to be going.”
“Bertram and I want you to bring your harem by for dinner one of these days. You came through when we needed you and that makes you family.”
Iain let the thought of being friends with the local law enforcement percolate through his mind for a few seconds. When he added what he knew about Officerjenny incorruptibility into the equation, it just sent a chill through his soul. He plastered a pleasant smile on his face. “That sounds wonderful. We’ll have to arrange something soon. Now we’ve got to go. Eve?”
Once outside, the Megami-sama gave him a sympathetic look. “I saw that look in your eyes. I take it you don’t want to go to dinner with them either.”
“I know she means well, and in a normal world I’d be glad to partake of her hospitality and friendship. But we don’t live in one and the fact that she always follows orders means I can just see her using that to bring us in to be collected for questioning whenever her husband’s masters wish.”
“Do you ever feel paranoid?”
He grinned. “I’m not paranoid if they’re really out to get me.”
“That’s true enough. So we’ll keep away from Bertram and Patricia.” Eve blinked. “Are you aware that both the sheriff in Dundalk and the one in Buncrana have the same first name?”
Iain looked surprised. “Damn, you’re right. What an odd coincidence.” He suddenly flashed a grin. “That just goes to show this is real and not one of my stories. I’d never make that kind of rookie mistake in my writing.”
“I sometimes wish this was just a story.” Eve said softly. “We’ll never have a normal life, will we?”
“Not here, but we do have other options.” He stopped and gave her a hard look. “You know, I could probably convince Magdalene to let us emigrate to Pokegirl One now and just avoid this whole fight with Sanctuary.”
Eve cocked her head. “And how do you think you’d feel if we just ran away?”
“I can live with being a safe coward.” He grimaced when she kept looking at him. “Ok, I could try to live with myself, but the important thing would be that my family would be safe.”
“That’s more truthful.”
“Sometimes the fact that you can see inside my head is fucking annoying.”
“You’re telling me? I have to live with what goes on in your brain. Some of it is very uncelestial.” She slipped her arm through his. “But that’s ok if the thoughts are about me. Are you ready to go to Dublin?”
Iain nodded. “Irena can get her stuff and say goodbye to her mother before we disappear again.”
“Good. Now what was the whole Titto story about?”
“If you can come up with something freakier than what someone is feeling guilty about accusing you of, they feel better about not being the craziest person around. Besides, that story did sort of happen to me.”
“Do tell.”
“It was D&D. I was playing a Drow wizard and our party came to this village where we had to stay for a few days while a sage pretended to do research before answering a question and taking a lot of our gold. While we were there, my character, who was the only mage around, got accused of turning a local girl into animal forms so I could have carnal knowledge of her.”
Eve blinked. “Carnal knowledge?”
“Sorry. They said I was screwing her. My wizard had a tendency towards pomposity.”
A slow smile spread on her face. “I’ll bet. What was going on?”
“It turned out the girl was adopted and her brother had seen her turn into a wolf. She blamed it on me, trying to keep secret the fact that she was a born lycanthrope.”
“What happened?”
“We were a mostly good group, so we tried to argue instead of fight. When that didn’t work, we ran. A week later we snuck into town to get the answer from the sage, who promptly called the villagers and kept our money, the prick.”
“What was the final result?”
“Oh, the villagers caught us since we were unwilling to slaughter them all, and my character got a quickie marriage. As soon as it was done, we escaped from where we were being held and never went back.”
Eve looked surprised. “What about your wife?”
“Oh, good god. Do not go there. It’s a fucking role playing game. She was my fantasy character’s wife and the result of a shotgun wedding. Well, a crossbow wedding. With a werewolf. I had no urge to either be an infected lycanthrope or her midnight snack some night.” He groaned when she gave him a faintly troubled look. “It was a game. This is real life and I am not going to leave you. I want to be with you and the others.”
She visibly relaxed. “That’s good to hear. It took me three hundred years to find the man I want to be with, and it would hurt to hear he doesn’t want to be with me.”
“You’ve been looking for me for three hundred years? That should be good for a couple of days of performance anxiety.”
She gave him a wicked grin. “Then I’ll schedule your nights with the others until you get better.”
***
It was raining in Dublin, and Iain pulled the hood of his cloak up after letting go of Eve’s hand as she summoned a similar cloak in sky blue for herself. “I should have asked you to make me some new clothes.”
She smiled. “I can only make clothes for myself. How do you think you’d look in a dress?”
“That depends on the color. I am a winter, you know.” Eve chuckled softly at the image of him in a pinafore.
Irena grinned up at him as she tucked herself inside his cloak and pressed her body against his legs. “Dominique and Scheherazade will return in a few minutes. They went back to the house to get their rain gear.”
He nodded. “Note to self, check weather before teleporting whenever possible.”
Scheherazade appeared. She was wearing her cloak and held out an umbrella. “I brought this for Irena until we get her stuff.”
The Night Nurse scowled as she took it. “I was doing just fine with Kerrik, I mean Iain.” She glanced around and sighed. “Oh, right, we’re in Dublin again. I mean Master Grey. You people are just a bunch of bad habits for me.”
Eve looked startled. “I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me.” Dominique appeared and the Megami-sama touched her on the shoulder to get her attention. “City rules apply, Dominique.”
The Archmage rolled her eyes. “Yes, my alpha. Where in Dublin does Irena live, sir?”
“Why she doesn’t live in Dublin at all. She lives with us, of course. However, I don’t know where she used to live. Irena will take us there.”
“It’s this way. I called mother this morning and let her know we were coming by so she’ll be home.” She headed off a brisk walk.
Iain considered stopping someplace to get her a cloak, but the rain was falling almost straight down and so the umbrella worked well enough for now. “Irena, is there a father in the picture?”
She shook her head. “Dad died a couple of years ago and mother never found a tamer she liked.”
Eve poked him gently. “She mentioned that when we met, remember?”
“Oh, right. Um, can I cover by saying that I was checking to see if her mother had gotten a new tamer?”
Dominique grinned. “No.”
He snorted. “That’s no, sir.”
“Yes sir. That’s no, sir.”
“Gah.”
Scheherazade was watching their backs. “Irena, I know that chibi pokegirls don’t have many parthenogenic births. Are you the only daughter?”
The Night Nurse looked over her shoulder. “Mother’s not a chibi and I’ve got ten sisters. Everybody else is long gone, though.”
Her eyes drifted to him and held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I have no plans to get rid of or replace you, Irena. You’re part of this family now. Besides, I doubt any of your sisters are as pretty as you are, even if they were still at home.”
Her eyes lit up with pleasure. “Thanks.” Then she sped up. “Let’s go.”
The house where Irena had lived was a detached two story set a little back from the road. Iain rang the doorbell and Irena gave him a surprised look. “I have a key.”
“Do you? Then you’ll be giving it to your mother before we leave.”
“Why?”
“This isn’t your home anymore. It belongs to your mother now and you have no right to trespass without warning.”
The chibi Night Nurse stared at him in shock. Then sadness filled her eyes. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, sir. It hurts, but you’re right.”
“It’s part of growing up. I’m sure you’ll always be welcome, but that’s different from being able to mooch out of the fridge while she’s not home. But if she says you can keep the key, that’s between you and her.”
“Thanks!”
Iain shrugged when Dominique gave him a curious look. “I’m not really an asshole. I just sometimes play one on TV.” Her look went to confused, which changed to neutral as the door opened.
Irena’s mother smiled warmly at her daughter. It chilled but remained on her face as she looked at everyone else. “Please come in. I’m Lily.” She stepped out of the way to let everyone enter her home.
“I’m Iain Grey, and the Megami-sama is Eve, the Archmage is Dominique and this is Scheherazade.”
Lily blinked. “Sir, I thought Irena called you something else at Sadie Pokens.”
“She did, but there was a misunderstanding going on at the time. We were still getting settled in. No harm done.”
Irena grinned disarmingly. “Can I go upstairs and pack my stuff?”
Eve smiled slightly. “I think your mother might want to make sure you don’t take stuff that’s not yours since you’ve got a pokepack now.”
Lily’s eyebrows went up. “A pokepack? I think I will escort you, young lady. You have an unhealthy affection for my jewelry.”
“Mother!”
The adult Night Nurse smiled. “Oh, I’ll continue the tradition and give you a few pieces to start your collection, but you touch my diamonds and Iain will be looking for a new Night Nurse for his harem.” Her smile broadened. “And I know of one who might be interested, if he doesn’t mind older women.”
Irena scowled. “Find your own. He’s mine.”
“For now.” Lily pointed at the couch. “You sit right there while I make some tea for my guests and then we’ll go upstairs.” Irena looked at her tamer and Lily’s eyes narrowed. “I gave you an order, Irena.”
Scheherazade’s ears flicked. “I see it’s been a while since you were in a harem. She’s no longer your daughter, Lily. She’s our harem sister and doesn’t answer to you. We’re very grateful you are allowing her to take some of the things she used to own, but if her presence here is disruptive, we’ll just return your key and be on our way.”
Lily took a deep breath. “You’re right, and I apologize.” She turned to Iain. “Sir, I want,” she broke off when he raised a hand.
“This is more than a little awkward for everyone, Lily. Since we’re in private, please call me Iain. You have had to give away every pokegirl child you’ve had and you have no idea what the people who took them are like. You can’t protect them, and you can’t even show how frightened you are for them because it’ll scare your daughters witless. So you put on a brave face and you lie and promise them that they’ll be valued too much as Night Nurses to be treated badly and that everything will be fine.” He smiled slightly. “I understand and I am more than willing to ignore you wanting to keep her as yours for as long as you can.” His smile grew. “At least, that’s true as long as you don’t irritate my harem when you do.”
Lily was watching him. “She’s too young for you. She can’t appreciate what she’s found.”
“That matter is settled.” His voice was firm. “I am Irena’s and she is mine.”
She nodded abruptly. “So it is. I’ll get that tea. In the meantime, please don’t let Irena upstairs unescorted by either myself or your Megami-sama.” She paused. “Eve.”
Eve nodded. “We’ll all still be here until you return. Dominique, give Lily some help.”
“I don’t need any help.”
Dominique smiled. “You don’t trust us, we don’t trust you. Pokegirls are just one big dysfunctional family.”
Lily blinked and chuckled. “That’s true enough. You can carry the tray while I get the biscuits.”
After the tea had been served, Lily looked at Iain. “Iain, is there anything you don’t want her to have?”
“She can’t take anything you forbid and everything needs to fit in her pokepack. Other than that, I don’t really care.”
Lily looked at him for several seconds before turning to her daughter. “You have no idea what a gem you managed to find. You’ll need to keep a close eye on him. He’s going to be very popular with pokegirls who know him.”
Eve grimaced. “He already is.”
“I’ll bet.” She put her cup down. “Let’s get Irena’s stuff sorted out. Iain, you do understand that this may take a while, right?”
“I’ve scheduled the whole day for it. If I get too bored, your couch is pretty comfortable and I’ll just nap.”
“You could go out and find something fun to do.”
Iain met her gaze. “You threatened a member of my harem. I’ll just stick around until we’re done.”
Lily blinked. “I did nothing of the sort.”
“Did you not threaten Irena’s life over your jewelry? My presence will ensure that she respects your property, which will hopefully keep any unpleasantness to a minimum.”
Lily started to say something and stopped, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I always talk that way to my children, but I can see how you could perceive it as a threat. You’re more than welcome to my couch while she packs.”
“I appreciate that. Eve, it might speed things along if someone helped with the packing while Lily and Irena discuss what she can and can’t take.”
Eve looked at Dominique, who looked back at her. Finally the Archmage sighed. “I don’t suppose I could challenge for this.”
“Sure.” The Megami-sama held out her fist. “Ready?”
Dominique lost the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
After the Archmage, Irena and her mother had disappeared upstairs, Iain patted the couch next to him. “Eve.” When she sat down and curled up against him, he gave her a curious look. “Rock, Paper, Scissors?”
Eve shrugged. “We had to find a non-violent way to settle disputes quickly.”
“Is Dominique aware that you have precognition, and that means you always know what she’s going to throw if you want to?”
Eve shrugged again. “She knows all Megami have precognition of one sort or another, but I don’t think we’ve ever discussed that particular use of it.”
Scheherazade’s ears went back. “You cheat?”
“How is it cheating? The game is all about knowing your opponent. I just know them better than most.” Eve gave the Dread Wolf a bland look. “You do it in other things. Dominique could do it if she considered it. She is a mage.”
Scheherazade blinked. “I didn’t know you knew,” she said defensively.
Iain chuckled. “While the image of the three of you standing around for hours with everyone using their precognition to know what your opponents are going to do while they know you know which changes their decision could be amusing, you’re going to have to find another way. If you don’t, eventually Irena will end up with all the shit jobs.”
“You might get some of them too.”
He snorted. “I am not dumb enough to get involved with precognition and games of chance or partial chance. If someone asks me to help, I will if I can. If someone offers me a game to decide something, I’ll just order whoever is best suited for the job to do it.”
He flashed a grin. “Even if it’s me.”
***
Irena lashed out with her wing but was too slow as Scheherazade jumped over it and then crashed down on top of the wing, pinning it to the ground. “Gotta be faster than that,” the Dread Wolf taunted.
“She does not, at least not at first.” Scheherazade whipped around and blinked at the golden Dragonness. Aurum ignored her. “Little one, you must learn three things when attacking with a wing. First, you need to learn accuracy. Second, you need to learn speed, but after accuracy, speed is easy. If you learn speed first, accuracy is very difficult to attain. Third, you must never commit fully to an attack, for it shows a lack of flexibility in your thoughts and makes you easy prey.” She turned to Scheherazade. “You will provide an example.”
Her ears flicked. “Uh, ok.”
“I will strike as she did. Respond the same way you did.” The Dragoness dropped to her knees and lashed out with a wing. Scheherazade jumped into the air and yelped as the wing twisted in mid swing and shot up between her legs to take her in the groin, halting in the instant it made contact. “You see, little one, with that strike you could incapacitate or kill your foe, even with dull wings like mine. Yours might cut her in half.” The Dragoness carefully folded up her wings and stood.
“I’d need longer wings to do that.”
Aurum fixed the Night Nurse with a stare. “You do have longer wings. The fact that you do not train with both of your forms is a sign of weakness on your part and a lack of due diligence on your maharani’s part. I will speak to her about remedying this lack.”
Irena paled. “Oh shit.”
“There are many things you must master in a very short time. Flight is one of those things, but combat with all your abilities is another and right now is critical. Either is also more important than pretending you are not a true pokegirl.”
Scheherazade gave her a thoughtful look. “You’re right, Aurum.”
“I usually am.” The Dragoness turned and stalked off.
The Dread Wolf’s tail twitched. “And there goes a pokegirl without any self doubt. You won’t see that very often, except in some of the stupid breeds like the Dark Lady. Most of them don’t have the power to back up their insolence, although they often think they do.”
Irena still looked worried. “They might not be able to back up their insolence with you, but I’m a different story. Maybe being dead makes her that way.”
Eve joined them; leaning on the staff she conjured during training. “What’s the matter?”
Scheherazade smirked. “Has Aurum talked to you yet?”
“What about?”
“Irena.”
“No, she hasn’t. Why?”
“She has some suggestions for Irena’s training. I think they’re very good ones and I’m kicking myself for not realizing it myself.”
Eve nodded. “If you think they’re that reasonable, then you and Dominique can start her on them tomorrow.”
“Crap.”
Eve smiled. “Irena, it’s better to deal with things during training. I want to be able to trust you implicitly to not only carry out your orders, but to have the skillset necessary to do so. Speaking of trust,” she turned and drove the end of the staff into Scheherazade’s throat, crushing it. The Dread Wolf tried to gasp and bent halfway over as the second stroke took her in the chest, knocking her flat on her back.
Eve knelt next to her and put her hand on Scheherazade’s chest. Energy poured up from the Dread Wolf and disappeared into the Megami-sama. Once her victim was too weak to move, Eve healed her neck. Air whistled down Scheherazade’s throat as she began breathing again.
The Megami-sama took Scheherazade’s muzzle and pulled the massive head around to look at her. Her voice was conversational. “You can lift almost two tons when you’re not armored and two and a half tons when you are armored up. Your claws can pierce steel. Iain was not in more danger during the assault on the airship than he was when you drove that claw into his skull and almost pierced his brain. If you had been off just the slightest bit, he would be dead now and I would be alone.” She leaned forward slightly. “If you are going to be the greatest danger to him, I will deal with you as such. During the war, I killed when I had to. We all did. However, there are things that I did then and afterwards that I will always regret. If you ever put his life in danger like that, you will become one of my regrets. Do you want to be one of the things I regret?”
Scheherazade’s eyes were wide as she shook her head slightly.
“I’m hoping that this correction will keep you thinking about keeping him safe. If you decide to attack me because of this, you had better kill me or I will certainly kill you. You were out of line, but I value you and he doesn’t want me to kill you.” She leaned down and kissed Scheherazade gently. “I like you, Scheherazade, and I would miss you. Do not make me disobey him.” She pulled a pokeball from her pocket. “I’m going to pokeball you until I can get you healed. You take that time to think about what I’ve said.”
Scheherazade vanished into the recovery beam and Eve looked at Irena, who was staring at her with wide eyes. “I don’t see that Iain needs to know about this. Technically this is intra-harem business, and while he thinks he would like to know everything that goes on, he really doesn’t need to.”
“I won’t tell him anything.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Eve rose and brushed off the skirt of her dress. “When Aurum finds me, will she have some good ideas for your training?”
The Night Nurse blinked. “Why are you asking me?”
“She may know things, but she isn’t a Night Nurse and doesn’t know your limitations. You have drive, but I’ve noticed a tendency to slack off if you don’t think something is important.” Eve gave her a grim smile. “If that continues, I will take over your training personally. Now, will Aurum have some good ideas for me?”
Irena nodded. “She will. I’ve not been training in my adult form. I’ll correct that tomorrow.”
“Good. I’ll be monitoring your progress. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get Scheherazade healed.” She turned away.
“Eve?”
The Megami-sama turned around. “Yes, Irena?”
“You’re ok, you know that?”
Eve’s eyebrows went up. “Even after what just happened with Scheherazade?”
“Actually, because of it.” Irena smiled. “You saw a problem and you moved to correct it without letting her have the chance to fight back. That’s very smart, and very professional.”
Eve smiled. “I’m not sure I could beat her in a fair fight, and in any case this isn’t about fighting. It’s about Iain. For him I will do whatever needs to be done, and do it to whoever I have to in order to keep him safe.”
“What about this business with Sanctuary? It’s not very safe.”
“If we don’t stop them, they never will stop pursuing us. They think he can save them, and because of it he’s going to damn himself to stop them. I don’t like it, and I will do whatever I can to keep him safe, but he’s right in what we have to do.” She winked. “The fact that stopping them will save a whole bunch of other people is nice, but very much beside the point. We can save the world after we save ourselves.”
“You don’t sound like any celestial I’ve ever met.”
“I’m not. Most people don’t meet the ones like me.”
***
They’d moved to the village of Dingle and were renting a home while supposedly looking around the peninsula for a place to build. Dingle had a population of less than three hundred, and everyone stared at them when they were outside, but that was the price of living on the frontier.
It was morning and Iain was sitting on a bench watching the fog pool in the light of the setting moon. Eve was sitting next to him and she handed him a cup of tea before pouring one of her own. He looked at it and put it down on the arm of the bench. “I wonder what would happen if Blue ran out of tea.”
Eve gave him a look of mock horror. “Don’t even joke about that.”
He nodded absently. “Don’t you think you were a bit harsh towards Scheherazade?”
The Megami-sama almost dropped her cup. “Who told you?”
“You did.”
“How?”
“I dreamed about it from your point of view. Hers, too.”
Eve turned to look at him. “I see the delta bond has a downside.”
“Only if you’re keeping secrets.”
“She almost killed you.”
He shook his head. “No, she didn’t, but you didn’t almost kill her, either. Should that make it a wash?”
“A wash?”
“Should both sides of the scale balance because nobody almost died? There are a couple of centimeters her claw would have had to travel before it killed me, and she was very careful about what she did.”
“No, she wasn’t. She doesn’t know anatomy and got lucky.”
“I don’t care. I won’t order her to do anything like that again and I need her to be confident that you’re not going to stab her in the back when she’s fighting.” His mouth twisted. “I also don’t need her stabbing you in the back when we’re fighting.”
“I’ll work it out with her.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll talk to her, too.”
Eve nodded and settled against him. He’d already noticed that pokegirls liked physical contact, but Eve was easily the most touchy-feely of the group. “I have been asked, in my formal position as maharani, to approach you about something.”
Iain picked up his tea. “Something serious, I take it.”
“It’s very serious, and I think it is a reasonable request or I would not be discussing it with you now. On a personal note, I think it’s a good idea and I’m in favor of it.”
“With a buildup like that, I’m almost afraid to point out that you haven’t told me much yet.”
Eve nodded. “I haven’t, and that’s deliberate. I wanted to get my feelings for the idea out of the way first, so we can deal with yours and April’s.”
“Then you’d better explain what’s going on.”
“Are you familiar with the town of Dogpatch in the Indigo League?”
He nodded. “It’s where the so-called chosen one, Ranma Saotome, gave his speech about parity during a Sadie Pokens Day event.”
Eve looked relieved. “So you know who he is.”
“You might say that. All of the authors would know who he is.”
“I’m glad you hold him in as much regard as we do.”
Iain snickered. “I didn’t say that. At heart he’s a good guy, but he’s far from perfect. I do know he was accidentally sent to the wrong world and Shikarou had to rescue him and take him to his proper one.”
Eve looked surprised. “I never heard about that.”
“It’s unlikely the Alliance would want the details known. However, this is about April, my pokegirl, and therefore much more important to me than any offworlder.”
“While he was here, he assembled a harem.” Eve smiled slightly. “But you already knew that.”
“Yeah. The attack on the Tendo Ranch by Happosai’s flunkies was responsible for most of that.” He drained his cup and put it down. “Think you can cut to the chase?”
“I’m getting there.”
“Go faster. I know of Ranma, he has a harem, what?” When Eve glared at him, he shrugged. “Now you go off script.”
She sighed. “Was he an author?”
“Nope. Ranma had problems writing his name. Why?”
“He evolved at least one pokegirl into something not in her evolutionary line. You have evolved Scheherazade into something that never existed before. April wants you to evolve her.”
Iain blinked. “I’m not sure what to say. I don’t have any idea how I evolved anyone.”
“You can obviously accelerate evolutions and can jump stages. April isn’t a combat breed and she’s terrified of becoming a Damsel. Will you at least try to help her?”
Iain didn’t hesitate. “Of course I will. If April wants me to try to evolve her then I will.”
“You’re not going to argue with me about it?”
“Eve, if you wanted me to evolve April because you wanted it, I’d tell you to get stuffed. But if April wants it for herself, then I have to try to fulfill what she wants.”
Eve blinked. “Maybe it’s that simple.”
“What?”
“I wanted to become a Megami-sama. I’ve wanted to be the ultimate evolution of my breed line since I became a Megami. Maybe what you did was give me what I wanted.” She got up. “I need to talk to Dominique and Scheherazade and see if that’s what you did for them.”
“Scheherazade didn’t know about the Dread Wolf,” Iain said quietly.
“No, but I know she wanted to become more powerful. Maybe that’s what you picked up on and gave her.” Concern appeared in her eyes. “If this is true, then we need to keep this a secret more than ever. If anyone ever got the idea that you can fulfill a pokegirl’s dreams you would get mobbed wherever we went. Everyone would be trying to steal you, not just the Goths.”
He grimaced. “You got that right. I am not going to be trying to turn infernals into Dark Queens or crap like that. However, if true this does bring up an interesting question.”
Eve nodded. “It does indeed. What did Evangelion want and what did you give her.”
***
April settled down on the couch next to Iain and watched him with a slightly wary look. “You’re not upset?”
He grinned. “Of course not. Pokegirls are all competitive, even the so-called non-combat breeds. You can see how powerful Eve and the others are and you want to be more like them so you can be more helpful. That and Eve mentioned you didn’t want to be a Damsel.”
April nodded slowly. “If that’s what you need me to become I will, but it’s not my first choice.” She shuddered. “Since you’re special, I was hoping you help me to evolve.”
“What about the other evolutionary paths of the Ingénue?”
“I don’t want to be a Diva and you don’t need one. With Dominique, a Sidekick is superfluous, and from discussions with Eve, neither of you is defensively minded, making a Shieldmaiden unnecessary.”
“That leaves Battle Angel.”
She nodded. “It does, but if I stay very near human, I can continue to work here and keep an eye on the League for you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. “What is it that you want, April? Eve mentioned Ranma Saotome and I got the distinct impression that you already had something in mind.”
She curled up in his lap and rested her head against his chest. “When I was a kit, I had a dream. Like most dreams, it was silly, but it was one I could have reached. My tamers always thought it was silly and most of them tried to find a heavy metal so they could evolve me to Battle Angel. Even Edward thought my dream was silly.” Old pain flitted across her face. “He gave us money that we could use and I saved mine until I could buy a dream stone. He said I didn’t need it, took it from me and used it to evolve Maggie to Lay-More. Then he died and she got a new tamer because she’s useful.” Her voice was bitter.
Iain squeezed her hard. “Come back to me, April. That was then and this is now, where you are mine and I’ll do whatever I can to give you what you really want.”
April shivered in his arms before relaxing. “Please don’t laugh. I want to be a Duelist.”
“Duelist? That explains the dream stone. I take it you would challenge any Duelist you could find, hoping to become a duel template pokegirl.”
A hesitant smile appeared on her face as she looked up at him and realized that he wasn’t the least bit amused. “That’s right. It never worked, though. I think you can evolve me into a Duelist. You evolved everyone else.”
“I didn’t evolve Irena.”
April made a dismissive noise. “I meant all of the other originals. I’m one of them, you know. Besides, Irena can’t evolve.”
“Technically, you want me to evolve you to something you normally can’t evolve to, either.”
“Kerrik, I mean Iain, will you do this for me?”
He looked into her eyes and knew there was only one answer. “I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try.” He rested his cheek against the top of her head and closed his eyes. “This may take a little while,” he said softly.
“I’m not going anywhere. Is it ok if I fall asleep?”
His voice was a whisper. “Yes. I may too.”
Eve and Dominique had kept their part of the bargain and had let him twine his consciousness with theirs while they accessed the portions of the Awareness that they could. Later, he’d tried to do it while they watched him. The results had been mixed, but one thing had quickly become apparent. For him, relaxation was the key. He’d probably never be able to access anything in the heat of combat or even in a stressful situation.
Iain took a deep breath and slowly breathed it out into April’s brown hair as he let his mind drift. He focused the portion of his mind that never slept on April and what she wanted. Images flitted past his mental viewpoint, but none was what he hoped to find/sought and none stopped.
Then an image drifted up and halted in front of him. It was a pokegirl, but he couldn’t identify it. It began to melt, revealing its construction and how it worked to him. But something wasn’t right. Then he realized that it wasn’t a pokegirl at all, and comprehension bloomed in his mind.
Sukebe had established several labs and production facilities for making pokegirls, but there were never enough to make his goal of the multitudes of pokegirls and the variety of breeds a reality, so he’d cheated just a bit. What Iain was looking at wasn’t a pokegirl design. It was instead a template, something that could be grafted onto a living being to change them in new and sometimes radically different ways. But it wasn’t any of the established templates that he recognized. It was a template of a pokegirl or rather it was a conglomeration that could, if tweaked properly, produce any of them.
In fact it could produce much more than that. It wasn’t a template for a pokegirl at all; it was a template for a human. More exactly, it was a template for a pokegirl that worked on a human.
Sukebe, being an engineer, had solved his shortage problem by using already existing resources. His lab-produced pokegirls had been sent to various nations around the world where they’d collected human women to bring back to his facilities. By spreading out the depredations, the kidnappings were never noticed. Even homeless women and the occasional stray jogger had been brought from the United States and Canada. These women had been infected with this template, and it had turned them into pokegirls, the resulting breed varying based on the presence of an evolution stone whose radiation bathed the area where they were held. Eventually he learned to use this radiation to contaminate water that was used to quickly convert the captives. Later it would be called Jusenkyo water, and it would contain both the tuning radiation as well as the basic pokegirl template.
This was the true secret of where threshold came from. Women who thresholded were born with this template and were almost always doomed to become pokegirls. But to have this it required enough DNA on both X chromosomes, and the buildup was slow.
With two exceptions, templates did not transfer from mother to daughter. The hunter was specifically designed to do this, but it wasn’t really a template at all. Instead it was a sub-breed or variant of certain existing pokegirls. The only true template that was inherited was the chibi, and it wasn’t always passed on. But this was how new breeds could come about, and the chibi would go from a template to a true pokegirl breed on the day that a human thresholded into one or when a normal pokegirl evolved into a chibi breed.
But, until she became a pokewoman, the pokegirl template always carried over from mother to daughter. This ensured that first generation pokegirls would reproduce via parthenogenesis and populate the world with their offspring.
Iain also realized that due to DNA crossover between genes, unless something were done about it, eventually the Y chromosome would accumulate enough pokegirl DNA to cause first blood traits and, eventually, full blown threshold among males.
However, like any threshold, these new pokegirls created by force retained their memories, and therefore their ties to things outside of Sukebe and his minions. He needed a way to make them controllable. What he came up with was a process that scrubbed the minds of the new pokegirls almost completely clean of everything except basic abilities inherent in the new breed. Once complete, his psychic pokegirls would fill the minds of the now quiescent converts with the things he thought were important, the first being loyalty to him and his now rapidly growing armies.
Later the leagues would find this process and it would become the conditioning cycles. They refined it, lowering the intensity in steps to allow it to be used as a punishment tool in addition to its primary use as a personality killer.
In his mind’s eye, he touched this template, and it unfolded, changing to become what was necessary to change a human to a CardCaptor. He touched it again, tracing a portion of it and understanding why it would also accidentally cause the Duelist breed to spring into existence. It wasn’t really a flaw in the design, it was just an unforeseen event.
And since the template worked on a human, something that had no pokegirl genes, it would also work on any pokegirl. If properly applied. And his magic, limited though it was, could apply it properly to April.
Without opening his eyes, Iain lifted April’s face and kissed her gently. A glow spread from her lips until it covered her completely even as it spread to cover him, once more allowing him to function as the catalyst for the evolutionary process. Inside the Ingénue, DNA activation markers turned off while others activated, allowing a new expression. The evolution process read these new markers and followed the instructions that they pointed to. April evolved.
Dimly, Iain realized that her eggs were unchanged, and, although April had been born an Ingénue, there would be a significant chance that if any of April’s human daughters underwent threshold they would become Bunnygirls. While Bunnygirls were cute and he had a special place in his heart for Mini-tops, he applied the knowledge of the template to change her eggs too, just as the original version had done for Sukebe’s captives. When he was finished, all of her daughters that were born as pokegirls would be Duelists.
As an interesting unanticipated effect, the change actually purified April’s DNA. None of her human daughters or granddaughters would be candidates for threshold.
The glow died and Iain opened his eyes at the same time April did. She smiled gleefully. “That was incredible.” She pulled back and slid out of his lap, grabbing his hand and tugging him to his feet. “Let’s go see.”
He was pulled into the bedroom. April opened her closet, opening the door wide to reveal the mirror on its back. She stood squarely in front of it and stared at herself. Disappointment filled her eyes, but before she could speak, Iain wrapped his arms around her from behind and hugged her against him, slipping his arms up under her shirt to rest against her skin. “You are a Duelist, which is a very near human type and looks like a human, just like an Ingénue does. You wanted to keep working, so you have to look the same as you did before.” Her reflection’s hazel eyes blinked at him and he smiled over her shoulder. “I presume you own some dueling cards? Summon them to you. You’ll know how to do it.”
April held out her hand and her face lit up when a deck of cards appeared in it. She touched them gently and Iain watched a tear run down her cheek. “It’s a miracle.” She twisted in his arms and cried against his chest.
***
“What’s the news?”
Eve glanced at April and the others eating dinner before turning to her male. “Things are interesting. April is determined to learn everything she can right now, and she doesn’t take failure as a setback.” The conversation at the table slowed as the others realized what Iain and Eve were discussing.
“How long before she’s as good as the rest of the harem?”
The Megami-sama flashed a conspiratorial grin. “That’ll take about two hundred years, but she’ll be as good as most non-longevity equipped pokegirls in a month or so.”
April beamed happily. “It’s so nice to actually be able to fight.”
Irena, however, scowled. She was in her adult form, and the expression didn’t look right on her teenage face. Self deception wasn’t part of her psychological makeup and she tended to be honest about where she saw problems, even if they lay within her. “I’m jealous of April’s sudden delta bond with Iain.” They’d discovered it once April had started training. “Now I’m the only one who doesn’t have one. I want to evolve.”
Dominique speared a piece of rabbit and bit off the end. “You’re a Night Nurse. They don’t evolve into anything else. Trust me when I say I’m working on the delta bond spell as quickly as I can.”
Irena shook her head. “Everyone else has evolved into something that is more useful for what’s coming except me. However, I’ve been thinking and I know how I can be more helpful.”
Eve gave her a serious look. “After dinner, you and I’ll discuss it and see if it’s feasible.”
“If April can jump evolutionary tracks, so can I.” Irena stated quietly. “This isn’t even a jump at all and it could be very helpful.”
“After dinner I can give your suggestion the seriousness that it deserves.”
Irena nodded. “You’re the maharani and you haven’t lied to us yet.”
Iain frowned. “Why can’t we talk about it now?”
Eve reached for her glass. “Its dinnertime and dinner is not for business unless it’s an emergency.”
Dominique smirked at Scheherazade. “Someone is feeling domestic. Do you think she became a pokewoman today?”
Eve colored slightly but her voice was cool. “I’ve seen your room, Dominique, and it looks like you’re still living in a cave somewhere. Someone certainly needs to be more family oriented.”
Dominique shrugged. “I’ve never been a neat freak. What do you think, Irena?”
Everyone looked at the Night Nurse, who made a face. “You mean besides the fact that I think you’re a bitch for trying to pull me into this? My mother would beat you both for your attitude and for your room, but she’d be careful not to do any permanent damage. If you think I’m going to take the chance that Eve might respond similarly, you’re nuts.”
April eyed Iain, who gave her a supportive smile. She took a deep breath. “I know I don’t live here, but if it bothers you so much, Eve, why not take a day and have everyone clean the house? I’ll be glad to help.”
“I think that’s a great idea. We’ll do it tomorrow.”
The Duelist blinked. “Can you reschedule? I already agreed to pull a double shift for Cheryl so she can attend her daughter’s christening.”
“You can help next time.”
“I’d prefer to help this time, Eve. I’m part of this harem and right now I really need to work just as hard as everyone else. If I don’t, my presence will be resented by the others. I really want to fit in from the beginning, especially since I am his second pokegirl. He did bond me before he met you.” Every pokegirl but April froze. “You’re the maharani, a job I’ve never held, and I respect that. However, I have a lot of experience in harem dynamics. You seem to be doing a good job, but I think I’d like to strenuously request that you reschedule the cleaning for the day after tomorrow, and if you overrule me I’d like to take that request to Iain.”
Eve gave her a confused look and turned to Iain. “Is it really so important that she be here for this?”
“Harem dynamics can be pretty convoluted, so I’m not sure. However, does it really hurt to put off the cleanup for a day?” He winked. “Whether April has a point or not, you’re the maharani and I’ll support your decision. But I think I need to point out that I do not believe she’s challenging your authority. She’s just being firm on something that she thinks is important.”
Eve relaxed slightly and nodded. “Thank you, Iain. April, you’re right. A day either way isn’t going to hurt anything and, if you think it’s important that you be here to help clean, then I’ll put off the cleanup until the day after tomorrow, but no later.”
“The day after tomorrow will be fine.” April cocked her head. “Eve, I want to thank you for listening to my request. It would have been easy to think I was being confrontational and I’m glad you realized that I wasn’t. A lot of alphas that I’ve had before wouldn’t have understood that or even bothered to hear me out.”
The Megami-sama’s lips pursed. “I’ve avoided harems for most of my life and I’ve never been maharani before. I realize I don’t know it all and I’m willing to try and listen to someone who might know more than I do. Sometimes it’s hard, though.”
April looked surprised. “Eve, you just went from a good maharani to a great one.”
Eve flushed slightly and gave the Duelist a teasing smile. “It’s in the job title, so I had to try for it.”
Everyone laughed.
***
Eve stared at the Night Nurse. “Do you think there’s a prize for coming up with the strangest evolution idea?”
Irena gave her a stubborn glare. “Are you dismissing it out of hand?”
“No, I’m not.” She looked at Iain and her eyes began to glow. When the glow faded she shook her head. “It helps. It could help a lot.”
“That’s what I said.”
Dominique touched Irena on the shoulder with a fingertip. “That’s enough.”
“Sorry. Both of you.”
Iain looked at the Dread Wolf. “Scheherazade?”
Her ears flicked. “Tactically it makes sense. I didn’t think about it, and coming up with ways that are more efficient is supposed to be part of my job. It doesn’t mean they won’t consider the idea but we’re not planning to go in the front door.” Her tail swished idly. “It will help to make us invisible. Purloined letter invisible instead of not there invisible, but sometimes that’s better than true invisibility.” Recently, Iain had been reading Poe to them.
Dominique sighed and rolled her eyes. “I hate to say this, but working with the authorities on this would expedite things greatly, and it would work to build a reservoir of goodwill that we might need later.”
Eve looked thoughtful as Iain shrugged and asked the important question. “Yes, but which authority do we play with? If we exclude the Blue League, we’re going to piss them off. If we include them, that’ll probably mean that all three groups will be represented.”
Dominique frowned. “Three?”
Eve nodded. “The Blue League, the Order of Pendragon and the Celestial Alliance.”
“Crap, I forgot about the celestials. If we work with the league, we might work with the Blackguards. This is the kind of thing they were created for.” Dominique smiled broadly. “They’re consummate professionals and very tough.” She snorted. “Not like the Alliance.”
Iain chuckled. “Not all of them are morons. Eve, I think I want to talk to Lucy before we talk to the league. If we’re going to play with these people, we might as well play with the best.”
Eve was staring in shock. “How do you,” she broke off and smacked herself in the forehead gently. “You’re an author.”
“Can you contact her?”
“As you probably already know, yes, I can. Whether or not she’ll come is another question.”
“Tell her not only who I am, but what I am. And tell her I can answer her question.”
Eve blinked. “I don’t really need to know what that means, do I?”
“I think it would help right now if you didn’t. However, I’ll tell you what’s going on as soon as I can.” He smiled when her mouth opened to ask her usual question. “I promise.”
Eve frowned, looking at the ceiling. “If I leave at midnight I can get there when they’re having breakfast. That’s when she’s the least likely to be busy.”
“Wake me up before you go and I’ll be dressed in case she comes immediately.”
Scheherazade looked between her male and her maharani. “This must be some question.”
***
“Danielle pled your case most adroitly.” Her seductive voice came softly from the doorway behind him as he sat on the porch looking into the predawn. “I was interested enough to come and see for myself.”
“Her name is Eve now. Good morning, Lucy. I will answer your question, and I will answer it without requesting anything for myself in return. The answer is no.”
The woman who sat down next to him was attractive, but not like most pokegirls were, but then she was the very first Megami-sama Sukebe had ever made. She regarded him with faint curiosity. “That is a very simple answer to a very difficult question. Can you prove it to be correct?”
“I believe I can.”
She nodded to herself as if she’d expected no other answer. “Then, Kerrik Wolf or Iain Grey, please do so.”
“First, as you had hoped, Sukebe wasn’t a god. He was a man. A very intelligent man, but a man nonetheless. Second, he saw himself as the avenger of the deaths of his women and all he cared about was punishing those who he saw as responsible. Even Operation Cowslip was part of that punishment since he blamed human women for all of his woes and intended to replace them with pokegirls. If it hadn’t been for the Chinese, they would have been fought over by the men wanting children.” Iain smiled slightly. “After humanity first rejected and then destroyed them, it would have pleased him no end to watch man murder man over his creations. Third, he knew what he was doing was wrong, and he didn’t care. He knew very well the anguish and destruction he was unleashing on an unsuspecting humanity and the only feeling he felt for it was satisfaction. He felt pain for the losses he’d sustained and he demanded that the rest of the world wallow in the same agony. If he saw himself as anyone, it was as Shaitan. Fourth, he brooked no dissent among his forces, as you know, and if he had foreseen what you where going to do, he would have destroyed you utterly before you could have acted.” Out of the corner of his eye he watched her watching him. “Lucifer is Latin and means Dawn Star. That’s why he called you his little star in private. Sukebe did not name you Lucifer because he knew that you would betray him and stand against him. In fact, if he’d thought it through, he’d have known that no celestial could stay with him while he carried out his plans against humanity. Any who tried would have become Fallen Angels.”
Lucy suddenly looked tired. “And you know this.”
“I do. For three hundred years you have feared that you were truly evil and waged an internal war against a foe that you know now was your imagination. Now it’s time for you to understand that you’re not, and that you and your people have done great things to protect humanity.”
“I know I will thank you for this someday, but right now I feel empty. What is it that you would demand of me for this?”
“I am not in a position to make demands, Lucifer. I gave that information freely and without obligation on your part.” He looked directly at her for the first time. “I knew something that would bring you eventual peace and I wanted to give it to you.”
“Do you want something?”
He nodded. “Yes, I do. I’d like your help with something, but whether or not I get it is entirely up to you, and if I don’t, I’ll make do without it. Soon I will approach the Blue League and make them an offer. There will be celestials there as well as mages from the Order of Pendragon. I would appreciate it if I knew I could trust the celestials not to be idiots. At least then I could focus on the other two groups, especially in light of the fact that the Order of Pendragon people might just want me dead for killing their king.”
Lucifer shook her head. “I cannot replace whatever delegation they send with my people. The Celestial Alliance does not know of our existence, although a few suspect it.”
“No, but you have agents within the Alliance. Can they try to make sure that at least most of the celestial delegation is competent? If they try to kidnap me when we are with them, my pokegirls will defend me and I really don’t want anyone to get hurt if they don’t have to.”
“Do you intend to destroy Sanctuary to protect your family?”
“I sent them a message and they apparently didn’t think I was serious. I intend to deliver the next message personally, but most of my complaints lie with the leadership. I hope that the regular citizenry is like the citizens of most places in that all they really want is to be left alone. I plan to leave them alone if I can.”
“I will make the arrangements for the delegation to be composed of mainly reasonable celestials. Do you wish a member of my people to join your harem?”
Iain gave her an amused look. “Why would I need two of them?”
Lucifer just smiled.
***
The conference room table was large enough for twenty people, and while every chair was filled, only two of people in them really counted. The first was filled by a fiery haired Megami-sama named Sif and she was in command of the celestials who’d been invited to the meeting. The other important person was a nondescript woman named Lindsey Harris, and she was the deputy minister of Department 6, the intelligence arm of the BLSF.
She was not related to Devon’s family.
Every other chair was filled by their staffers, people who thought they were important but really weren’t. While the Order of Pendragon didn’t have any official representation in this meeting, three of the Minister’s staff and one Seraph all wore the green cloak badge, ensuring that whoever the new king or queen was, they would get the information Iain was going to reveal today.
Iain and the members of his harem weren’t seated at the table, which was good since he thought his ladies the most important of all. He was standing in front of a whiteboard while his harem was scattered around the room. Scheherazade was to his immediate right and was, as usual, his bodyguard.
Minister Harris leaned back in her chair. “You’re telling me that you can identify any pokegirl, no matter how well she’s disguised?”
Iain shook his head. “I said that I can identify any Sanctuary Goth on sight. I never said anything about other pokegirl breeds.” There was a truism about working with governments that said it was good to be useful and valuable to them, but those who made themselves indispensable risked being bound to them forever. Iain agreed with the second part of that, but not necessarily the first. They also had no need to know about the true extent of any abilities he might possess.
Sif was watching him with eyes that were eerily prescient. “Mr. Wolf, are you volunteering to do this out of the goodness of your heart?”
“No, I’m not. I want something and this is the easiest way to get it.”
Harris smiled slightly. “And what would that be, Mr. Wolf?”
“At least one of the Goths will have an ebony stone somewhere in her possession. I have a use for it.” He blinked at the blank expressions on the faces of everyone at the table. “That’s right; you probably don’t know what an ebony stone is. There are two stones that Sanctuary uses to help accomplish their goals. The first is the oil stone. It’s a black stone that has an oily sheen to it and its soft enough that it can be slightly molded by hand. When anyone with pokegirl genes comes into skin to skin contact with an oil stone, they will immediately turn into a Doll. Supposedly, oil stones are exclusive to the Dark Continent; but I received some information right before I came to the Blue League that suggested that the Kuno family in Indigo was dumb enough to figure out how to manufacture synthetic stones that work perfectly well.”
Sif blanched. “You know about them?”
“I know more than enough about Sanctuary to ensure they’ll chase me forever unless I can convince them that I’m more trouble than they want.” He shrugged. “This is part getting the resources to do the convincing. The second stone is called an ebony stone, and it’s a baseball sized black stone with a white number eight in it. If you turn the stone sideways, it becomes an eternity symbol. I want one.”
Sif nodded. “What does an ebony stone do?”
“Ebony stones have two uses, one of which Sanctuary isn’t aware of and would be stunned to find out about. When applied to any pokegirl other than a Doll, she will turn into a Sanctuary Goth.” Eyes went wide around the room. “However, unknown to Sanctuary, ebony stones turn Dolls into Terminatrixes.” This brought gasps of shock, but Iain had expected the upper echelons of power to know about the Terminatrix breed.
Minister Harris nodded her head as if his words had confirmed something she’d already known. “And you want one of these stones for?”
Iain shrugged. “I don’t really want to reveal what my plans are, Minister. While I’m sure that everyone here can keep a secret, you might be scanned by a minion of Sanctuary or scried by their mages at any time. I suspect that you will be when I help you purge most of Sanctuary’s Goth agents from Blue.”
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Eve - Megami-sama (alpha)
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Scheherazade - Dread Wolf
Irena- Chibi Night Nurse
April - Duelist
Dragonesses
Eirian - Silver
Skye - Blue
Emerald - Green
Sable - Black
Aurum - Gold
Beryl - Red