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Into the Fire
Twenty
April looked at Iain out of the corner of her eye as they headed up yet another interminable street. His face was the same iron mask of indifference he’d had since they met Janise and her family and the Arachnae had upbraided him for his behavior to Eve. She started to speak before remembering who could be in earshot. Are you ok?
Mental communication, by its very nature, was loaded with emotion. Every thought that a person had was colored by their feelings at that moment. That was doubly so in regards to mental communication over a delta bond created link, since the very existence of the bond was predicated on strong emotions between the bond sharers. It’s one of the reasons that it is nearly impossible to lie over a telepathic link, except by deliberate omission. While they really hadn’t been together long enough for a traditional delta bond to form, April did have strong feelings for Iain and knew he had similar feelings for her. So her question was shaded by the concern she felt over his rather unusual non-emotional external state.
He didn’t look at her. I’m fine.
The fact that his response was as empty of emotion as his face tipped her concern over into outright worry. Iain, talk to me. Please?
He stepped away from her to go around the freshly decapitated corpse of a Zombabe. As they approached the edge of town the number of the undead that the Dragonesses had been dealing with had steadily increased. Apparently even the dead were fleeing the city. I just committed my very first cold blooded murder by executing an innocent child. My descent into monsterdom has taken yet another big step. Whatsoever could be wrong with me?
April flinched at the rage and self loathing that leaked through his thoughts. It’s not your fault. You didn’t have a choice.
Yes, yes, I was putting a victim out of her misery before she became a monster. Eve and Scheherazade have already tried that line on me. Even though I agree with them, even if she was already dead and just waiting to bite someone, I executed Lisa. Even though I did it so someone else wouldn’t have to and even though I did the right thing, I still committed murder. He glanced at her. And killing Lisa didn’t bother me at all. That’s what has me scared. I should feel grief or guilt for killing her and I don’t.
The Duelist nodded to herself. What do you feel about the killing?
I feel satisfaction for a job well done.
Then let that be what you feel and don’t agonize over the possibility that you’ll become a monster because of it. You have two dedicated celestials, a blessed Archmage, Irena and me. We would not be here if you were a narcissistic psychopath. Trust me when I say I’ve seen enough tamers who are headed for monster to be able to recognize it and I would never have joined your harem if you were one. She flashed him a quick smile when he gave her a surprised look. Even if I’d somehow missed it before joining, I would have left you as soon as something like that became evident. After all, a psychopath would never love me or our children and he would kill them or me if we became a problem. Psychopaths do not make loving or understanding fathers. You killed Lisa because you are extremely protective of us, your family. You feel satisfied over what you did because we are safe and also because Lisa didn’t suffer. You should feel satisfaction for both of those things. She reached out and patted his arm. The fact that we are a family to you is proof that you are not what you fear yourself to be. We would be merely objects in your world if you were. We are not.
She relaxed slightly when his eyes suddenly held a hint of wry humor that matched the thread woven into the anger in his thoughts. You’re a sneaky one. I thought Irena was supposed to be the psychologist.
The fact that she’s the medic does not make her any sort of therapist. As an Ingénue, I wasn’t ever really a combatant so I made sure I was useful in other ways in order to ensure my tamer and alpha would want to keep me around. Working the counter at a pokegirl center afterwards just honed those skills even more. Even though I can fight now, I am still me and I can still help you.
And I appreciate your help. Since you’re being so helpful, perhaps you can help me with another issue I am debating. Should I marry Eve?
“What?” April stared at him in shock. Too late, she realized she’d not only spoken aloud, she’d almost shouted the word and that Eve, Janise and Teresa were staring at them. She waved dismissively at them. “We’re good. Don’t mind us. I stubbed my toe. We need to keep moving or the Zombabes will get us.” Now you’re just being silly. Pokegirls don’t marry.
I am well aware of Blue League law. However, this is my life, my world, my family and my rules. I love Eve and she loves me. But would it cause too many problems with you and the others if I asked her to marry me?
April started to reply and stopped for a few seconds to examine the ugly feeling of jealousy that suddenly swept through her. It demanded an answer. What about the rest of us?
Tirsuli practice line marriage as a norm. Considering my feelings for you and the others as well as your feelings for me I don’t see why we can’t as well.
What is that?
Group marriage is form of polygamy in which more than two people are married to everyone else in the marriage. This means that there can be more than one husband or wife. Usually there is more than one of both in a Tirsuli family group. A line marriage is a group marriage in which the marriage never ends because more spouses are added over the course of time even as some leave or die. Everybody helps to raise any children. Sometimes there is seniority involved based on the time in the marriage and sometimes there isn’t. It really depends on how the family thinks things should be. While I’m not really all that keen on sharing, I do understand that someday I’ll be too old to take care of all of you as you should be and we’ll need to find another husband to help out before we reach that point. He smiled slightly. I do intend to eventually marry all of you, but I want to do it one at a time so we have different anniversaries to celebrate. If nothing else, I want it so all of you and our children will have my last name. Collars are kind of stupid, so I’ll mark you as mine this way.
April hugged him so hard the breath was driven from his lungs in a wheeze. You may marry us with my blessing.
***
They’d been rejoined by Eirian and the others. Taking advantage of the additional firepower, they’d established a second line of defense to intercept any leakers before they could get to Iain and his harem. He let out a sigh of relief when the buildings finally began to thin out as they reached the edge of Wellham.
Then he looked ahead and wondered if his relaxation wasn’t a bit premature.
A hundred yards ahead of them, a line of vehicles had been pushed into line and turned on their sides with the bottoms facing into town in an ad hoc barricade that blocked the road to travel. For the first time, he could see Zombabes dead ahead of the Dragonesses. They were scattered out towards the barricade and they all looked like they’d been shot in the head. He glanced at Irena where she walked nearby and cleared his throat loudly. “We might want to halt to evaluate the situation ahead of us.”
She reacted instantly. “Everybody stop! Iain, pull the security net in tight while we see what’s going on.”
“Eirian, you heard the mistress.”
The silver Dragoness didn’t visibly react as the others pulled their coverage in closer to the living beings they were protecting. She’d been coached on how to report and Iain was gratified she did as he’d quietly asked since her pattern of obedient behavior in little things was a lot like his. The Arachnae and the human tagging along with them did not need to hear her talking about living and dead harems or harem members. “There is a group of people behind the car. I saw one of them look up at us and duck back down. To the right over the brown sedan I saw a flash of light that could be either binoculars or a rifle scope. The destroyed walking dead suggest that it is the latter.”
Irena nodded. “Eve, see if they’re amenable to talking or if we need to backtrack around them.”
Sable laughed viciously. “If we want to go through them there is little they can do to stop us. I could destroy them myself.” The black Dragoness laughed again in a tone reminiscent of nails on a blackboard.
Irena gave the black Dragoness a haughty look. “Be silent.” Sable stopped in mid laugh as if a switch had been turned off and turned her head to look at the adult chibi Sanctuary Goth for several seconds before stalking away. Irena shivered. “I don’t like her or the way she was looking at me.”
“I won’t let her hurt you,” Iain said softly.
“She knows that, right?”
“I was very specific in my instructions. They bring any problems with you ladies to me instead of trying to resolve them on their own.”
“Please remind them regularly.”
Iain started to speak but broke off as Eve cast a spell and cupped her hands. Her voice was amplified so loudly that dust vibrated from the ground in front of her and yet she could be heard perfectly clearly. “None of us are infected with Zombabe poison. We wish to approach and discuss the situation with you. I represent my mistress, Irena the Sanctuary Goth. What is your response?”
A feathered head popped up and stared at them before yelling back. “And how can we trust you not to be lying?”
Eve glanced back at Iain and Irena. The Sanctuary Goth nodded to her. “Find out who they are and then I’ll decide if you’ll reveal who we are.”
“You’ll reveal who you are?” Janise and Teresa exchanged a look. The grieving mother hadn’t said two words since her mistress had led her away from Iain after he’d killed Lisa. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing to you,” Dominique snapped.
Eve cupped her hands again. “We are DCWS. Identify yourself immediately or be destroyed.” Her words echoed around them, the word coming back again and again before slowly fading away.
Sable grinned hungrily and stalked forward until Eirian grunted something that brought her to a halt.
The Arachnae sneered at them derisively. “Lost your uniforms, did you?”
Dominique fixed her with a stern look. “Shut the fuck up.”
Janise blinked and her mouth began twisting in a snarl until Emerald snapped her fingers to get the spider pokegirl’s attention. “I will tear you in half if you don’t do as Dominique says.”
The Arachnae looked at Emerald as the Dragoness looked back at her and closed her mouth with a snap.
The pokegirl at the barricade looked to her left as another feathered head appeared over the brown sedan down the way from her. The newcomer yelled. “I’m Sergeant Annie from the DCWS 10th Recon. We were ordered into the city looking for some lost VIPs and our lieutenant told us to stay here while she continued on with the rest of the squad after our vehicle was damaged when we hit a Zombabe who had been an Ogre. Who are you?”
Irena glanced at Iain, who nodded confidently. “Eve, give our name and rank only.”
“Yes, mistress.” She raised her voice again. “I am Sergeant Eve and I speak for Major Irena. We’re coming in so stand down.”
“We’ll be ready.”
Irena looked around. “Dragonesses are the rearguard, so, Iain, move them to the back. I want Scheherazade and April to keep my pet safe. They have permission to kill anyone who even tries to touch him. You and Dominique are my guards, Eve.”
“Yes, mistress.” Eve turned to April. “Fill Scheherazade in on what she’ll be doing. Mistress, what about Janise and Teresa?”
“They can leave whenever they want. If they stay, they’ll keep quiet and out of our way just like they’ve been doing.” She smiled at Iain. “And you just stay yourself.”
He gave her a droll look. “I can’t. Change is a constant.” He looked up when metal shrieked. The car in the middle of the line was moving outward. It cleared the others and turned to reveal a nude bronze skinned pokegirl was doing the work of moving it. The metal of the car’s roof was crumpled around her hands where she gripped it. She stopped and dropped into parade rest, obviously waiting for them. “Mistress, I think they’d like us to hurry.” He looked at Eirian. “You and yours stay on this side of the cars and keep the Zombabes off of us, please.”
The silver Dragoness turned to face the city. “We will.” She tilted her head to look at him with one eye. “Be careful. We will protect you from the walking dead, but it will take valuable seconds to come to your aid if the living choose to make trouble.”
“I’ll try.”
Once they got past the line of cars the pokegirl pulled the one she’d moved back into position while another wearing a black uniform comprised of a loose tunic and a knee length skirt trotted in their direction. Chevrons on her sleeve denoted her as a sergeant. She was wearing a scoped rifle slung across her back. She stepped forward and came to attention before saluting Irena. “Major Irena, ma’am? I’m Sergeant Annie.”
Iain looked around quickly and broadcast across his links with the harem and his dead harem. The nude one is a Tyrannodame. The other four wearing the DCWS uniforms are all Dameosaurs.
Teresa shoved her way in front of Irena and pointed dramatically at Iain. “That man murdered my nine year old daughter! He shot her to death!”
All five dinosaur pokegirls turned to stare at Iain. The sergeant hissed softly. “Did you now?” They started advancing on him. “Explain yourself, male, and quickly.”
April hastily put herself between Iain and the oncoming DCWS soldiers. She quickly pulled a handful of cards from her shirt pocket while the still armored Scheherazade moved to join her.
Eve and Dominique knocked Janise to the ground as Irena drove the muzzle of her submachine gun into the right side of Teresa’s lower back with all of her strength, rupturing the right kidney. The human screamed and twisted futilely as she scrabbled at the small of her back with both hands. The Sanctuary Goth kicked the human behind the knees and knocked Teresa sideways as she toppled. She threw up her hand as she stepped forward. “I order you to stop!” She lashed out with her aura of command.
Dameosaurs are conditioned from birth to obey anyone they consider their master. Almost all of them believe that any Sanctuary Goth outranks them and can command them unless they’re already working for a higher ranking Sanctuary Goth. The fact that most Sanctuary Goths tend to use their magical auras on the people around them if they even look like they were shirking their duty or hesitating in the slightest helped that conditioning to remain in force.
The truth is that all non Sanctuary Goth pokegirls inside Sanctuary’s territory received that kind of conditioning as part of their upbringing. It meant that not only were the subjects of Sanctuary trained to respond to the slightest touch of auras, the Sanctuary Goths never really had to exert themselves in controlling anyone. The only time they really pushed their powers were in emergencies or when they were punishing someone who’d run afoul of their sometimes capricious rules. Even their agents in other countries didn’t use their aura powers much to avoid being unmasked for who they really were.
Irena hadn’t been born in Sanctuary or conditioned about using her auras by Sanctuary raised Goths. She’d learned how to use her power against Iain’s harem, all of whom were very strong willed and experienced. They also fought her as hard as they could and they’d learned a lot about resisting a Sanctuary Goth’s various abilities. When Lucifer had heard through Eve what was going on, she’d sent her strongest willed celestials and their tamers to pit their strength against Irena, not only to force her to get stronger, but to train her people to resist the powers Sanctuary could bring to bear since they’d never encountered them before. Even Lucy had spent some time training against the chibi Sanctuary Goth to see if she could resist. The fact that Irena usually got pummeled by her ostensible victims if they managed to reach her or override the compulsions she was laying on them had given her a strong incentive to improve the strength of her techniques even as her targets learned ever better ways to resist her. The result had been a pokegirl powers arms race where sometimes she held the advantage and other times her targets did. But the end result was that everyone involved in the program had gotten stronger.
Iain had been excused from the training because he and the Dragonesses had proven time and time again that they were completely immune to Irena’s best efforts. Because of this, he’d missed a lot of what had been happening while off practicing his skills and trying to master his magic.
Her command aura hit the five dinosaur pokegirls and froze them in place so abruptly that they all fell facedown in the road, their bodies held in the exact position they’d been in when Irena had attacked them. The angry Sanctuary Goth spun and her eyes narrowed. “You too, bitches,” she hissed. Janise went as rigid as a board under the assault and Teresa’s screeching stopped instantly as she stopped twisting on the ground as Irena’s will smashed hers aside. “All of you on your feet and line up side to side. Now!” Her aura cracked in time with her voice and everybody on the ground jumped to their feet and ran to form a line even as Janise began struggling to get free from Dominique. The Archmage released her and the Arachnae quickly moved to stand next to a quietly moaning Teresa.
Irena stalked forward and glared at the line of pokegirls. “Sergeant Annie, which of your squad is the strongest?” Her power flared.
The sergeant barked her response. “Private Montsho is, major!”
“Private Montsho, Teresa, you will take five paces forward and turn around.” The bronze skinned Tyrannodame and the human obediently stepped out five paces and rotated to face the lined up Dameosaurs and Janise. Irena moved so that all of them could see her. “This is just a taste of what I will do to you, Teresa, if you start spreading that lie about my Iain murdering your daughter again. She was not your little girl anymore. She had become a Zombabe who hadn’t bitten anyone yet. As for you, Private Montsho, you are going to show that my power is not just limited to humans so that all of you will be inclined to look to me for commands instead of haring off on your own.” Irena’s tattoos began to glow as she gathered her will and magic simultaneously. “Teresa, Montsho, I order you to stop breathing.”
Both female’s eyes went wide as they obeyed. Montsho trembled as she fought the compulsion and failed.
Iain touched April on the shoulder. I’ve never seen this use of her powers. Is this new?
The Duelist didn’t look at him as she watched the tableau. No. Irena’s gotten a lot more powerful and has used this as a test of her power on some of Lucy’s people.
Irena watched them until both female’s lips turned blue as they went cyanotic from lack of air. Then she released her control. “You may breathe.” Her smile was cruel as they began gasping to fill their lungs. “Teresa, if you accuse my male again, I will kill you that way.” Her eyes flicked to Janise. “And if you let her act so irresponsibly, I will make you stand there and watch her die. She is yours to control. I suggest you do so. And, Janise, if you try to hurt Iain or you accuse him of anything, I will make Teresa skin you before she cuts your throat.” She released everyone so abruptly that they staggered. “Sergeant, I am sorry to have to inform you that we came across an abandoned vehicle from the 10th Recon in the city and there wasn’t anyone alive around it. Your lieutenant is probably dead.”
April stepped back to stand next to Iain. She can’t really kill with that technique. If she keeps it up for too long, the target falls unconscious and she loses control of them. At that point they start breathing again.
That’s still pretty nifty. I wonder if that aura trick can be used in an interrogation to force the truth out of someone.
Good question. I’ll pass the idea along for testing.
Iain nodded. However, just for the record, Janise will always die before Teresa. That’s an order, by the way, and you are free to pass that along to Eve and everyone else. We are not going to take a chance that they’re delta bonded.
Is that important?
Vitally so and I’ll explain why it is later.
Sergeant Annie saluted again. “Then you are our mistress, major. Command us.”
Irena didn’t hesitate. “I have other business, sergeant. You can’t stop the Zombabes by yourself and so I’m changing your orders. You and your squad will do your duty to Sanctuary and escort Janise and Teresa away from the city and to safety. Then you will report to the commander wherever you end up and they will get you back to your unit. If either Janise or Teresa tries to spread that lie about me and my male, you will kill both of them, but until that point they are not your prisoners. However, you may use Teresa to keep from going feral.” Janise had been comforting her human and stiffened when Irena said that. However, wisely she didn’t say anything. “Eve, heal Teresa.”
“Yes, mistress.”
The Dameosaur sergeant waved to her squad as Eve headed for Teresa and Janise. “We’ll keep them alive unless they violate your orders, ma’am.” She hesitated briefly. “Major, since you’re out of uniform I’ll need to see some ID.” When Irena produced her badge, Annie whistled softly. “No wonder you’re so strong, ma’am, and that explains the lack of uniforms, too.” She raised her voice slightly. “Girls, our new mistress is a shujaa specialist. Don’t fuck with her harem or her male.”
One of the other Dameosaurs, a private, grinned toothily. “Does that mean we’re shujaa now? They get better pay.”
Annie smacked her in the chest. “Shut up, Nancy. You’re on point.”
The private’s grin broadened. “Great, sarge. The Zombabes are going to be behind us and point’s very likely the safest place to be.”
Annie smiled slightly. “They definitely will be behind us after we pick up our passengers and run for a while.” She turned and yelled. “Squad, form up!” The Dameosaurs joined her and stood together quietly as she began issuing orders.
The Tyrannodame turned to Irena and knelt, dropping her head in a deep bow. She spoke to the pavement. “Major, I was shujaa once. I can serve you well if you let me join your unit.”
Irena blinked in surprise and then glanced at Eve. “What do you think, sergeant?”
Eve scowled. “Why aren’t you shujaa now, private?”
Private Montsho didn’t look away from Irena or raise her head. “My team was broken up when our mistress was killed by rebels. We got them all, but by then it was too late and the captain was dead. I was assigned to the recon unit as heavy support. I haven’t been needed much.”
“Do you speak Swahili?” All of the dinosaur pokegirls, including Montsho, raised their heads to stare at Iain. He chuckled softly. “Yes, I can talk. I’m even housebroken.”
The Dameosaurs glared but he saw a tiny smile cross Montsho’s face before she looked back at Irena’s feet. “I was born here and learned Swahili at home before I learned English.”
Irena reached out to him through her delta bond. Well?
If nothing else, we can learn Swahili from her before ditching her. But make sure the sergeant won’t have a problem giving Montsho up to you.
Irena turned to Sergeant Annie. “You have a problem with me taking Montsho?”
“No, ma’am, I don’t. She’ll just slow us down and I was going to leave her behind to fend for herself.”
Irena blinked in shock but kept the rest of her face expressionless as she turned back to the Tyrannodame. “Montsho, you’ll stay with us. Eve, take charge of her and get her settled in.”
“Thank you, major.” The Tyrannodame rose smoothly to her feet.
“Sergeant Annie, we will guard your post until you and your team has gone. Pack up and get the hell out of here.”
“Yes, mistress.” The sergeant Dameosaur went back to spitting out orders and quickly their protesting charges were trussed for transport. “We’ll head south and find somebody to give them to. If nothing else, we’ll hit the rest of the 10th Recon and turn them in there.”
Iain pulled out his map and surreptitiously passed it to April. “Mistress, perhaps the sergeant could be kind enough as to point out all the military units she’s aware of and where they’re located. It could be helpful in carrying out our mission.”
“You’re right, Iain. Sergeant, do so.”
A few minutes later the troop of Dameosaurs raced south, carrying two bound figures with them as they ran. Irena watched them go before turning to Eve. “How much trouble do you think we’ll have with Montsho?”
Eve shrugged. “I’m not sure. Iain?”
The Tyrannodame watched him come over with curiosity filled eyes. “I have never been this close to a male. It’s not allowed. However, major, I will be no trouble.”
Iain shrugged. “They’re worried that your breed can be bonded to males, so Sanctuary works hard to keep you away from them unless you’re feeding on them. What did you want, Eve?”
“We’re concerned about how much trouble having a newcomer in the unit could cause.” She paused and grimaced slightly. “There is one way to make sure that Montsho wouldn’t be a problem for us, Iain.”
“I don’t understand,” he broke off and stared at the Megami-sama in shock. “Fuck.”
She nodded. “Pretty much. Would you be willing to do it?”
Iain rubbed his eyes and turned to the Tyrannodame. He looked her over thoughtfully while his mind scrambled to accept the idea that Eve was suggesting. Montsho was nude, and her ebony skin gleamed in bright sunlight that pounded down on them. Her eyes were brown and were framed by the dark gray feathers that trailed down the sides and back of her head. She was busty, not as much as Barbie had been, but more than anyone else here. She was a lot taller than he was, standing well over two and a half meters in height and a powerful tail extended out behind her almost the same length. “Do you understand what Sergeant Eve is telling me?”
She frowned. “No, I don’t.”
“She’s hinting that I try to bond you to me through taming so you can’t betray us. How would you feel about that?”
“Why does what I feel matter? If your mistress wants this to happen then we will do it.” She leaned forward and sniffed the top of his head. “I will admit that you have an oddly interesting scent. What is it like to be with you?”
“Well, to begin with you’ll have to be in restraints. You’re way too strong for me to take a chance on you cracking my skull open like an egg.” He frowned. “Do we even have any restraints that could hold you?”
Montsho smiled. “I have my own set.” She gestured at a small pile of gear that the Dameosaurs hadn’t bothered to take with them. “It’s in my pack over there. I am easily capable of killing any pokegirl I am with while taming, so my shujaa mistress requisitioned a complete set of heavy restraints for when I was apart from her.”
Iain shook his head. “We’re kind of dancing around the important question, ladies. Do you really want me to bring her inside my bubble?”
The Tyrannodame frowned. “Bubble?”
“It’s a long story. Well, ladies?”
Eve sighed. “No, I don’t want to share you with more women and that sentiment is pretty popular with everyone else. However, she is a powerful fighter and she’s familiar with the way things work around here. The truth is, though, you haven’t answered the really important question, that being you need to decide if you want to have her join us. Do you?”
He smiled. “I get a choice for a change? What happened to ‘this is preordained’ or ‘I see that you’ll find the one we need inside that breadbox’? What do you see?”
His maharani glared at him. “I see that she could be very useful but not indispensable. We can do this without her; it’ll just be more difficult and riskier.”
“Now there’s the celestial vagueness we’ve all come to love so much.”
While watching you two lovebirds spat is usually amusing, the fact that the Dragonesses are intercepting ever increasing numbers of Zombabes suggests that you two make the fuck up now and we get out of here. Or did you forget there are all these dead things around that want to eat our brains?
Iain looked embarrassed. “Guilty as charged. Scheherazade is right. Irena, move everyone out.”
Montsho grabbed him by his shirt and hoisted him up to her level to glare at him face to face. “Why are you giving my mistress orders?” She watched as emotions flicked across his face and vanished as if they’d never existed. “What are you thinking?”
Iain fought to keep the fury from his voice and remain outwardly calm. “I’m wishing I had the power to make you release me without having to ask for someone else to get involved so I can be free of you.” His eyes shifted sideways as Eirian and Sable vaulted over the line of cars and landed easily before turning to face Montsho. “Irena, tell her to let me go before there’s a fight.”
“Montsho, put him down immediately.” Irena smiled as the Tyrannodame complied without hesitation. “Thank you.”
“‘Thank you?’” Montsho gave her a perplexed stare. “Mistress, why do you thank me?” She sounded very confused and a note in her voice suggested she was almost desperate to understand what was happening around her.
Eve put her hand on Iain’s shoulder and tugged him backwards out of Montsho’s immediate reach. “It’s a sad indictment of Sanctuary that what just threw her the most out of this entire discussion is being shown a bit of courtesy instead of threats. Irena, treat her carefully until she’s bonded.”
The Sanctuary Goth reached out and took Montsho’s hand. “Sister to be, I thanked you because you did what I asked without my having to force you to. We are shujaa and every shujaa team is different in how it operates. Just relax and understand that we will not do anything to hurt you while you learn our ways.”
The Tyrannodame looked down at the hand holding hers and back up at Irena. “Mistress, what if I need hurt or punished? I am stupid and clumsy sometimes.”
April looked appalled. “What if you need punished? Who told you that?”
“Everyone knows it. It’s true. Sometimes I do the wrong thing and I must be punished for my mistake. I am too stupid to learn otherwise.”
“You poor thing.” She smiled slightly at Dominique’s confused look. “We all know that not all abuse is so overt as to cause evolution to Penance, but it can be no less severe or scarring. I used to see it a lot at the center. Sometimes pokegirls get told horrible things about themselves so much that in their minds it becomes fact.”
Irena frowned. “Like the fact that she’d be abandoned because according to the Dameosaurs she was too slow?”
Eve nodded. “Exactly. Now, Iain’s right. We need to put some distance between ourselves and Wellham before dark.”
***
Once a couple of kilometers outside of Wellham, Eve had sent Scheherazade up to see if anything was going to attack a flying pokegirl. When nothing happened to her harem sister, they’d put April, Irena and a surprisingly unresisting Montsho into pokeballs. The Dragonesses faded into shadows and were gone as Eve, Dominique and Scheherazade had carried Iain and his gear while they flew a good fifty kilometers before finding a defensible position for the night and releasing everyone to set up camp.
Iain pulled the decanter from his pack and put the pokepack down before moving several steps to the side. “Are you ready?”
I am more than ready to get this crap off my armor. Do you realize that this is the longest I have gone without touching you since we escaped together?
“Give me a second.” He braced himself and activated it at full power. Water exploded from the mouth of the canteen and Iain staggered backwards before getting control of it. “This fucking thing needs a harness of some kind,” he growled between clenched teeth as he aimed the stream of water at the armored Dread Wolf. Swinging the canteen slowly, Iain repeatedly washed Scheherazade’s armor clean as she rotated to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Finally he stopped. “Ok, that should be good.” He picked up his pack and backed up a dozen paces. “Beryl?”
The Dragoness breathed fire over the Dread Wolf, keeping the flamethrower technique going as she walked completely around Scheherazade in order to make sure all of the armor was bathed in flames and completely sterilized. Finally the flames died away. “I am finished, my lord.”
“Thank you, Beryl.”
Scheherazade’s armor vanished and the Dread Wolf stretched for a moment before pulling Iain to the ground and wrapping herself around him with a contented groan of satisfaction. “I missed this so much.”
He dug his fingers into the parts of her coat he could reach and she sighed with pleasure. “I’m very glad to hear that, Scheherazade.” A smile flicked across his face when he heard her tail thumping on the ground as he groomed her.
With nothing to do right now, Montsho was standing near Eve and Irena while they built a fire. She watched Iain and Scheherazade with fascination. “Mistress, what are they doing? It looks sinful.”
Eve’s head came up. “You have sin in Sanctuary? I didn’t think you had any religions here.”
The Tyrannodame shrugged without looking away from watching. “Some of the outsiders who come here bring their ideas about gods to us, but they’re not very popular. Here, sin is doing anything that goes against what the leadership would want us to do. Using humans to stay sane is fine, as is using a human to bring someone out of being feral. However, we are not supposed to take pleasure with them. It is one of the first rules new mistresses learn.” Her head came around to look at Eve and Irena. An odd expression was on her face. “And yet my new mistress does not know this. Who are you?”
Irena shrugged, trying very hard not to show the tension that suddenly gripped her. “I was evolved to Sanctuary Goth without any other Goths around. We made our way to the Dark Continent on our own and without help, coming out inside Wellham. I don’t know much about my new breed, except that we’re hunted wherever I could go anywhere else in the world. Iain was my tamer before I became a Sanctuary Goth and I’m still pretty fond of him. As for taking pleasure from him being a sin, that’s absurd. Pleasure for everyone involved is what is supposed to happen if sex is done right. If he tames you tonight, I suspect you’ll receive pleasure from it.”
“How did you evolve to one of the mistresses if there weren’t others around?”
“She died before she could evolve me, but I knew where the ebony stone was hidden so I used it.”
Montsho’s tail slowly swung from side to side in a rippling S pattern. “I have never heard of anyone evolving by themselves except for the Founders. It doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, after all I am stupid and people don’t tell me things because I wouldn’t understand them.”
“That’s enough of that.” Eve reached out and patted the Tyrannodame on the shoulder. “You are not stupid. You may be uneducated, but that’s entirely different from being stupid.”
Irena nodded. “She’s right. Nobody here is stupid. That includes you.”
Montsho stared at Irena and then bowed deeply. “Thank you, mistress. I will work hard to be smarter.”
“Oh, you’ll work hard all right,” Eve said gently. “We’ll work you until you drop and then heal you and work you more. You’ll learn from us and we’ll learn from you.”
The Tyrannodame looked surprised. “You can learn something from me?”
“If nothing else, we don’t speak Swahili yet.” Iain dropped to the ground next to her. “You’ll be teaching it to us as we travel.” He smiled at her look of surprise. “I’m Iain. Sorry we didn’t get the chance to be formally introduced earlier, but things have been kind of hectic, what with the whole Zombabe disaster and such.” He arranged his pack behind him and leaned against it. “You’re a Tyrannodame. Did you evolve to one or were you born one, Montsho?”
She ducked her head as her cheeks reddened. “I am one of the unlucky ones to be born a Tyrannodame and didn’t have the honor of being a Dameosaur first.”
Eve blinked. “What kind of garbage is that?”
Iain smiled slightly and patted the ground next to him. “Montsho, please sit down.” He watched as she settled down beside him and draped her arms over her knees. “Dameosaurs are brutal and aggressive to each other. In a regime based on power, differences are exploited as weakness and denigrated instead of celebrated. Add those two things to the fact that while a Tyrannodame is individually much more powerful than a Dameosaur there are a lot more Dameosaurs than Tyrannodames around, the life of a Tyrannodame kit is probably filled with abuse from her contemporaries as well as their parents. After all, if you break a Tyrannodame’s spirit while she’s young, you’ll maintain control of her for life. The trick is to make the victim believe it is being done for her own good. Montsho was probably told that she was beaten and abused to make her tough.”
“But it did make me tough.”
“Yes, it did. However, it didn’t make you any tougher than a basic program of physical conditioning and practice combat would have. What it did was psychologically condition you to always think you were less than the Dameosaurs around you so they didn’t have to worry about you creaming them when you came into your own. It’s a fine line they walked between breaking your will and accidentally making you psychotic enough to go on a rampage at the first opportunity.”
Sudden heat filled Montsho’s eyes as she glared at him. “If my mistress wouldn’t be angry with me because of it, I would strike you down for what you are saying. Everything that was done to me was done for my own good. You do not understand the way that things are here.”
Iain nodded. “I am challenging your basic tenants and I shouldn’t, at least not yet. However, I would like to make a quick point, if you don’t mind. It doesn’t insult your beliefs, either.”
She gave him a sullen glare. “What is it?”
“You realize that I am important enough to Irena not to hit me, which we both know would result in my sustaining several broken bones at the very least. That means you’re intelligent enough to recognize the bond between Irena and me and you’re smart enough to understand the consequences of striking me. That is not the mark of a stupid person and gives me great hope for your development.”
Montsho blinked and flushed slightly. “Thank you. I can see why the mistress keeps you around if you flatter her like you do me.”
***
The morning sun lit up the heavy clouds on the south and eastern horizons. Eve looked up from the frying kattle strips just in time to see a broad grin on Dominique’s face vanish. “What is it?”
“Keep your voice down and look over there.” She pointed with her chin.
Iain was sitting cross-legged while stripping down his pistol and cleaning it. Montsho was sitting next to him. She would lean in his direction and then, with an obvious effort, sidle away from him, only to stop and slowly begin inching her way closer to begin the whole process again.
Dominique’s smile reappeared. “It’s so cute. I wonder if she’s ever been bonded before.”
The Megami-sama watched Iain and the Tyrannodame for a second before returning to her cooking. “I suppose it’s possible that she hasn’t. This is Sanctuary and they are trying to repudiate the relationship between human and pokegirl as much as they can.” She began turning strips of bacon with a fork. “Considering how the Goths want to keep their dinosaur pokegirls safely under their control, she may have only had pokegirl lovers her whole life. Do you have any idea how old she might be?”
Dominique’s red eyes narrowed slightly. “I only know how old she might be in the most general terms. She’s a pokegirl so she’s between fifteen and thirty five, unless she’s got longevity. Does her breed have that?”
“Nobody knows much about Tyrannodames, except maybe Iain. We’ll have to ask him about her.” She chuckled softly. “I just asked him about it. Iain says he knows what Montsho is doing, but is going to ignore it since he’s not sure how she’d respond if he acknowledged her issues.”
April dropped to the ground next to Dominique. “What issues?”
“Montsho was raised to believe that sex with a human was only supposed to be done if absolutely necessary. Enjoying sex with one, and especially a male, is considered a sin in the semi-secular rules they set up in the place of organized religion.”
The Duelist grinned. “Enjoying sex with a human is a sin?” Her eyes flicked in the direction Iain and Montsho were sitting. “I am pretty sure I heard a whole lot of sinning going on last night. It was enough that she could be completely damned this morning.” Her grin widened. “I want some sin like that.”
“I think I’ll let Montsho have another night or two with him.” Eve’s face twitched like she was fighting to suppress a smile of her own. “I want to make sure she’s as full of sin as possible.”
“Full of sin, is she? I hadn’t heard it called that before.” All three women laughed.
A little while later everyone was assembled around the fire while the Dragonesses stood guard. Montsho had obviously hesitated between sitting with Irena and sitting with Iain and had finally settled down next to Irena but on the side of the Sanctuary Goth closest to Iain where she could regularly look over and watch him as he ate.
Scheherazade filled her plate and settled back with it. “Iain, do you know much about the dinosaur pokegirls Sanctuary uses?”
He nodded absently as he chewed. “I read up on them, so yes. The information the leagues have is spotty at best and wrong at worst.” He gave her an apologetic smile. “I guess a briefing should be in order, especially since Montsho has joined us.”
Her ears flicked back amusedly. “Yeah, I thought so too.”
Iain leaned back against a rock and looked thoughtful for several seconds. “To understand the dinosaur pokegirls you need to first understand the philosophy behind Sanctuary itself. In 196 AS a group of human hating pokegirls fleeing abusive tamers ended up in the southern part of the Dark Continent. Here they stumbled across the remains of a hidden research facility set up by Sukebe during the Revenge War. Some of the security system still worked and they were captured and subjected to a process that converted them into the first Sanctuary Goths. It only changed their bodies, while their minds and their complete hatred of humans remained completely untouched. This is something vitally important to remember, because that hate has colored Sanctuary’s attitude towards the rest of the world ever since. As far as Sanctuary is concerned, the perfect world would have humans in it only to provide the necessary services required to keep lesser pokegirls from being feral. They don’t want humans breeding with pokegirls, they don’t want humans involved with harems and they don’t want lesser pokegirls doing anything but serving Sanctuary and its noble leadership. They have made alliances with leagues, but those will only last as long as it is to Sanctuary’s benefit.” He glanced around. “Oh, and the Goths do want humans as pets for themselves, but then they don’t need tamers, they just like the fucking they get.”
Montsho sneezed food on the ground and stared at Iain in shock as he continued. “In the past century, Sanctuary has bootstrapped itself into a fairly powerful police state with the goal of conquering the rest of the world. In the process of expanding north, they absorbed humans and pokegirls living in areas that they conquered. In many cases, these pokegirls were pressed into service in the DCWS, which was established to monitor the movement of enemy forces into Sanctuary’s claimed lands. However, Sanctuary has always been uneasy about the fact that if a tamer defeated a DCWS team, he could bond members of it to him and, in their obedience to their new tamer, they would divulge a lot of information about Sanctuary that the leadership wanted kept out of enemy hands. So in 214 AS their research teams, using material from the same lab that converted the original Sanctuary Goths, created the first Dameosaurs as a remedy to that potential problem. Not long after that, they found how to evolve Dameosaurs into Pterodames and Nessidames with evolution stones.”
He paused to finish his meal and put his plate down on his knees. “Dameosaurs and the others were supposed to be completely lesbian, since few tamers are female, and Sanctuary’s propaganda is that the program was a complete success in this regard. It’s a lie, but it sounds really good in the propaganda campaign they keep going inside their lands. Dinosaur pokegirls as a whole prefer female tamers, but whether that’s because they’re a lot like Psi-dykes or because they haven’t had much access to men hasn’t been established yet. I suspect it’s the latter, by the way, and my guesses in stuff like that are usually pretty accurate.”
Dominique snorted. “I wonder why?” Montsho just looked puzzled for a second before her face smoothed and she returned to her meal.
“All of these new pokegirl breeds are predators by preference, and Sanctuary quickly turned them loose to feed on the feral population in their lands. Thanks to the dinosaur pokegirls and their stomachs, Sanctuary has the lowest proportional population of ferals in the world. A lot of the ferals they ate were Cheetit and their evolutions, which is the reason Sexmet and Bastit hate everything about Sanctuary.” He smiled slightly. “Irena’s presence would mean that Sexmet would attack us without bothering to ask any questions first. Montsho would just be the final proof we were completely evil and needed destroyed post haste. Fortunately Sexmet doesn’t come into Sanctuary’s lands often, so it’s unlikely we’ll have to kill her.”
Montsho frowned. “One endures Sexmet like one endures the weather. She comes seldom and randomly, but she has never truly hurt Sanctuary with her attacks. She kills some people and leaves. But it is impossible to kill her, just as it is impossible to kill the monsoon.”
Iain shrugged. “Anything can die, and I’m pretty good at figuring out how to kill things if I have to. I could probably figure out a way to kill Typhonna if it became absolutely necessary. Killing Sexmet shouldn’t be that hard since I know where she lives and I know her weaknesses. But I digress. Once they realized she was pissed off at them, Sanctuary tried to kiss up to Sexmet like they’ve done with some of the leagues and dispatched some diplomats to negotiate with her. Sexmet responded by sending parts of the emissaries back home in boxes and a state of what both sides calls war has existed ever since. For the most part this war consists of the occasional raid by either group. They haven’t even worked up to real guerrilla warfare. A few people get killed, some stuff gets broken and life goes on. But Sanctuary never stopped obsessing about their northern borders and in 299 AS they came up with the Tyrannodame, the so called ultimate evolution of the Dameosaur. It involves using a Dawn stone on a Dameosaur to evolve her.” He smiled at Montsho, who gave him a hesitant smile back. “Of course, they’ve been breeding parthenogenically ever since, which is good for the Tyrannodame since Dawn stones are really, really hard to come by.”
“The Tyrannodame is stronger and tougher than the Dameosaur, but she gives up a lot of the Dameosaur’s mobility and almost all of her sheer speed. Of course, with teleport and hyperbeam used properly, a lot of the advantage for speedy pokegirls goes away. Unfortunately, when transformed into their battle form Tyrannodames also lose a lot of the mental acuity and become little more than hyper-aggressive killers.”
“I get more stupid.” Montsho frowned. “Or is that what acuity means?”
“It means you lose a lot of your ability for cogent thought as a side effect of the egregious arrogance of Sanctuary’s so called researchers in playing god. I don’t think you’re stupid, Montsho, just uneducated.” He glanced around while Montsho tried to understand what he’d just said. “All dinosaur pokegirls are limited metamorphs. When the Tyrannodame assumes her transformed state, also called her battle form, she takes on the physical appearance of a dinosaur called a Tyrannosaurus Rex. She becomes roughly four meters tall and has a body length in excess of thirteen meters. She gets a little faster than she is in her alternate form and, of course, puts on some weight. But her abilities and techniques don’t change, which is why I don’t want Montsho to assume her battle form if at all possible. The only advantage her battle form brings is that somebody can ride her in battle and she’s got more mass to use as leverage when bringing her strength to bear. Since she’s the biggest thing around and will therefore draw a lot of attacks from people, even some from panicky allies, being on her back at that point is just asking to get killed. Add to that the fact that in her battle form, thanks to her reduced mental state, a Tyrannodame is pretty much limited to tactics involving bellowing and charging and any rider is doomed in a regular melee. The Sanctuary Goths have managed a partial solution to this by rigidly controlling their Tyrannodames when riding them, but it means she becomes the dinosaur’s tactical computer and isn’t free to use her own abilities to protect her and her steed. Effectively it reduces the number of combatants on the battlefield by one.”
Montsho frowned. “What about if we face one of my breed sisters? Shouldn’t I face her battle form with my own?”
“I think that’s not the best method. Instead, I think you should use your hyperbeam and blow out one of her knees. At that point she becomes more of a threat to her side than to ours, because in her pain maddened rage she’ll think the closest thing just attacked her and she’ll savage it. Even if she doesn’t, she’ll most likely lose her rider and then you’ll be able to more easily take advantage of her reduced mental state.”
Irena patted the Tyrannodame on the knee. “We’ll help you out in a fight. He’s always coming up with new things for us to do.”
“Mistress, are we likely to fight other Tyrannodames? We are shujaa after all and we’re supposed to be protecting Sanctuary.”
“Our orders are pretty specific and we’re allowed to fight anyone who tries to stop us. Remember, Montsho, not every member of the DCWS has the best interests of Sanctuary at heart. Many of them are just out to enrich themselves, often at the expense of others, including their own harem mates.”
The Tyrannodame nodded firmly. “I have seen that in the mwanajeshi, mistress. We are allowed to stop them?”
“If I say so, yes.”
Montsho smiled broadly. “I will look forward to that, mistress. They need punished.”
Dominique began wiping out her cup with a towel. “Iain, what kind of abilities does a Tyrannodame have?”
“They’re a little stronger than Scheherazade in her armored form and they have really tough skin. They also have an enhanced olfactory sense.” He shrugged. “I never understood why that was tacked on, but hey, I thought that about a lot of Sanctuary and its stuff. Tyrannodames have mostly melee attacks, but they do have hyperbeam. Of course, the recharge time cuts its usefulness a lot, but I think I’ll ask Eirian to make sure she learns dragonbreath as a backup ranged attack. Tyrannodames are a dragon type, after all, and that’s a signature dragon move.”
“If my mistress wants me to learn it, I will.”
Irena smiled at her. “I do.”
“Do Tyrannodames have longevity?”
“No, they don’t. Sanctuary Goths don’t and there’s no way they’d give a pokegirl breed something that they themselves don’t have. That might cloud their moral and physical perfection. If they don’t have it, others don’t need it.” Iain was eyeing the clouds. “I think we need to wrap this up and get moving. That looks like some pretty serious rain we’ll be flying into.”
“I still do not understand why you give my mistress orders.”
Iain looked at her for a few seconds. “It’s a valid question. Did you feel the urge to obey me when I said we needed to finish up here and get moving?”
Montsho blinked and her mouth dropped. “I did!”
“That’s because you were alpha bonded to me last night.”
“I was? But that’s a sin. I’ll be punished.” Montsho looked at Irena. “I’m sorry, mistress. It was just so nice.”
Irena giggled. “It’s ok. We’re all bonded to him. That’s why he gets to give orders too. When you add that to the fact that he’s right a lot, it only makes sense.” She reached out and took the Tyrannodame’s hand. “And you’re not going to be punished. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Eve was watching the oncoming clouds. Lightning flicked across them and there was a faint rumble in the distance. “Crap. Scarf down your food and pack the camp, now!” She glanced at Kerrik. We could just go back home and wait this storm out.
And then we’d bring a Tyrannodame to the Blue League. Do you really think that if we give the universe a chance to cause us that much trouble it would just look the other way?
She sighed. “I’m becoming as cynical as you are.”
“It’s a nice life once you give in.”
A few minutes later Iain was being carried by Eve while Scheherazade and Dominique flew security as they raced southeast. Eve leaned down and spoke into his ear. “I’m sending Shay up to see if we can fly above the storm.”
Iain shook his head. He’d already considered the idea. “It’s too high. Unless flying pokegirls come with oxygen tanks we’re all either going to have to fly through it or land.” He watched lightning crawl from cloud to cloud. The bolts of electricity were easily visible against the inky blackness of the thunderheads. “Call her back and let’s find someplace to ride this out.”
They landed and Iain released Irena, April and Montsho. “We’re in for a fun storm, ladies. Look around for someplace to take cover from it.”
The Tyrannodame looked at the clouds and shook her head as the wind began to rise. “Mistress, we’ll be better off if we find someplace in the open. We’d stay dry in a cave, but just about every cave around here has something living in it. We’re better off being wet than fighting a pitched battle in a cave.”
April looked at Eve and Iain. “I can give us some cover from the rain. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll keep the worst off of us.”
Iain didn’t hesitate. “Do it.”
April pulled a card from her pocket and activated it, summoning her Black Skull Dragon. The construct spread its massive wings and crouched at her command. “We’ll shelter under the wings.” Lightning crashed and they all jumped.
They clustered under the Black Skull Dragon’s wings as a curtain of rain swept towards them and the skies opened in a deluge that instantly reduced visibility to less than few meters. Rain drummed on the wing membranes above them and thunder crashed every few seconds. After half an hour the deluge softened into a heavy rain.
The Lioness bounded over a rock, landed lightly and launched herself at Iain without warning. She slipped in the mud as she pushed off, which is the only thing that saved his life since she landed in the mud a meter short of him instead of on his body as she’d intended. She snarled her rage and swiped at him even though he was out of range as she struggled to rise in the deep mud.
Behind the first one, five other Lionesses launched themselves at the prey standing conveniently in their chosen shelter spot from the rain.
The Black Skull Dragon snapped its wings backwards as it rose, batting four of the Lionesses back over the rocks. The fifth landed and leaped forward, only to be intercepted in midair by Scheherazade in her armored form. Metal and organic claws flew as they slashed at each other mercilessly.
Eve’s magic armor glittered around her when she shoved Iain sideways to sprawl in the mud just as the first Lioness found her footing. “April, go after the other four. Irena, command Montsho. You’ve got point defense. Dee, you’ve got Iain.”
April summoned her Dark Magician and sent it flying into the storm as the Black Skull Dragon smashed a massive fist down on the first Lioness, who threw herself backwards and only took a glancing blow that sent her tumbling. “I’ve got this one, too.”
Eve glared at her. “Fine. I’ll help your play card.” She shot into the air and raced after the Dark Magician.
Irena put her hand on Montsho’s shoulder. “You stay with me and do what I tell you to.”
“Yes mistress.”
Scheherazade whirled in midair and slung the Lioness away from her in a high arc. Her armor showed rents that were already closing as she put her hands together and fired a hydropump at the falling Lioness. The blast of water smashed her target spinning to splash heavily in the mud.
The Black Skull Dragon spat a ball of energy at the first Lioness that blew a meter wide crater in the mud as the Lioness sprang away and then leapt on the construct’s back. Her claws slashed and April gasped from the feedback. The construct fell backwards, crushing the Lioness into the mud beneath it when it slammed to the ground. April gasped again and recovered the Black Skull Dragon from where the still fighting Lioness was trying to claw her way to air.
Scheherazade’s Lioness charged the Dread Wolf and dodged at the last second to race towards Irena. Montsho spun, slamming her tail into the oncoming Lioness with all her strength. Bone snapped and the Lioness flew limply to crash into the mud.
Iain pegged her with a pokeball and she vanished.
April recreated the Black Skull Dragon just as a crimson beam of energy struck the Lioness in the arm and sliced it off above the elbow. The cat pokegirl screamed in agony. “Hey, that’s mine!”
Dominique shrugged. “Then take her.”
The Black Skull Dragon grabbed the Lioness by the head and slammed her sideways into some rocks before holding her in midair, still by the head, and punching her with its other hand. There was a noise like a branch breaking and the Lioness went limp as her bladder and bowels voided.
Iain’s pokeball bounced off the Lioness’s side and buried itself in the mud with a squelching noise.
“Oh no you don’t!” Heads whipped around at Dominique’s yell. Hanging in the air was a furious Lioness. She was huge, and much more massive than any of the others. She thrashed wildly as she fought Dominique’s spell, howling and spitting as the levitation kept her safely away from anything she could use for leverage. It also kept her facing away from them in case she was powerful enough to use any of the Lioness ranged attacks. Dominique’s staff began to glow as she raised it up and brought it down on the Lioness’s head with all her strength. There was a crack and for an instant the Lioness was surrounded by a red corona. The floating pokegirl went limp. “Now you should be able to capture her, Iain.”
Eve stopped and hovered to watch while a Lioness jumped at the Dark Magician only to be smashed away as the Dark Magician blasted it with magic. One Lioness turned to snarl at the Megami-sama, who instantly centerpunched the cat pokegirl with an ice beam. Then Eve dove to the attack, summoning her sword and shield as she slammed into one of the Lionesses. Her target was bowled over from the impact and came up snarling angrily until Eve shield bashed her in the face, breaking her muzzle.
The Dark Magician blasted away a Lioness that was trying to get behind Eve. April hadn’t given it enough true power to take the cat pokegirls down quickly, but it was perfect in a support role while Eve waded into the melee, using her longer reach against their enhanced agility in an uneven contest that could only end one way, since the Lionesses wouldn’t flee.
It was just a matter of time.
Scheherazade joined her as she was pokeballing the last Lioness. “I see you didn’t need any help.”
Eve smirked. “April’s construct helped when I needed it. Help me gather these up and let’s get back to Iain.”
When they returned, the Black Skull Dragon was back to sheltering the group against the rain. Iain was using the hem of his shirt to rub the mud off of a pokeball. His pants and the rest of his clothes were caked with gooey muck. Even the back of his head was covered with it.
Eve landed and handed him the pokeballs she’d filled. “What happened to you?”
He gave her a slightly disgusted look. “You did, when you knocked me off my feet. I’ll admit that you were trying to save my life at the time, so I’m not really upset about it.” He eyed the water still falling from the sky. “I’d like a hot bath to get cleaned up, but I guess I’ll have to settle for a cold shower.”
“We could find a village. They’d have a bath.”
He shrugged. “I think I’ll pass on presuming on some village’s amenities that may or may not exist. However, we do need to find a village anyway so we can figure out where we are. I don’t want to end up looking at the ocean and wondering how we managed to miss the city of Sanctuary, so we’ll be stopping every couple of days and verifying our location.”
Montsho gave them a curious look. “You are going to Sanctuary?”
“That right.” Eve smiled at the Tyrannodame. “We have business there.”
“I have never been to the capital. I have been told that it is a beautiful place filled with wonder.”
Iain opened his mouth and changed his mind about what he was going to say before the first word left it. “Well, since we’re going there you’ll get the opportunity to see just how beautiful and wonderful it is for yourself.”
***
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Eve - Megami-sama (alpha)
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Scheherazade - Dread Wolf
Irena- Chibi Sanctuary Goth
April - Duelist
Montsho - Tyrannodame
Dragonesses
Eirian - Silver
Skye - Blue
Emerald - Green
Sable - Black
Aurum - Gold
Beryl - Red