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Chapter 3
Cherry’s head came up when the roaring started outside. “What the hell is that?” She gave Jamie and Dee-Dee curious looks as the three of them headed for the window. “Anyone have an idea what all of the racket is?”
Outside, two BLSF Specter transports were hovering while a third settled into a landing on the parade ground. All three were sleek and deadly looking, with a chin mounted weapon system and a tail cupola housing an array of heavy weapons. Each one used four ducted fans in armored nacelles that were powerful enough to keep the craft airborne with the loss of one of them.
Jamie knew that their elegant deadliness was both truth and illusion. The Specter’s greatest protection was its speed, since a lot of pokegirls would tear through its light armor like tissue. Many pokegirls were faster and many pokegirls flew, but what made the Specter successful was the fact that only a small number did both and they were fairly rare. However, the armament could drive off attackers that were not determined to press home an attack or perish in the attempt, while the crew had pokegirls of their own and they were well trained in deterring threats to their Tamer’s existence. The Specter was too fragile for combat and, while armed, it normally dropped troops and fled before it could be destroyed.
They were, however, far superior to the much slower and vulnerable airships in delivering armed personnel and supplies in a timely fashion and so the Blue League built them exclusively for the military. As antigrav became more common, Jamie knew the BLSF had plans for replacing them with more durable and quieter vehicles such as the Gremlin. That, however, was an ongoing process and so the Specter was presently still in common use.
Dee-Dee grinned. “Our rides for tomorrow’s festivities have arrived, Cherry.”
The redhead ran her fingers through her hair. It was a nervous habit. “This isn’t going to be fun. Usually we’ve got our pokegirls hauling enough gear for a long time. Hell, I even watch my soaps when I’m out.”
“We all aced survival.” Jamie patted her on the back. “Just remember what you learned and, if push comes to shove, stick to berries.”
Cherry gave him a disgusted look. “I struggled, remember? Not everyone is like you and remembers everything.”
There was an echo of laughter in his skull. If she only knew the truth.
“You’ll be fine. You’ve got two good pokegirls to my one and, while Donna slacks off if you let her, Cammie will save your butt.” Donna was a Kung-Ewe and thought just about anything except fighting was beneath her. She had a tendency to blow off everything else, which was why it was a good thing Cammie, a Ladyien, was the alpha. Cammie had one focus; to learn everything she could to keep her Tamer safe. Since she had total recall, she could be frighteningly efficient at it.
Jamie nodded towards Doyle. “And Dee-Dee will be fine too. Her pokegirls are both paragons of military excellence.” Doyle had a Kay-D-Bra and an Amachoke who both strived to be better than Corporal Hines. “I, on the other hand, have Ginevra who doesn’t eat the same things I do and will, in fact, increase the amount of food I have to consume since she feeds off life energy.”
“You’ll be fine.” Dee-Dee stuck out her hand. “Last person back has to buy the drinks.”
Jamie and Cherry covered hers with theirs. Cherry gave them a rueful grin. “Then I can’t afford to be last. I’m dirt poor.” Cherry came from a farm in Ireland and her family made their living selling handcrafted furniture and the odd feral pokegirl.
Dee-Dee was from London. She smacked Cherry on the arm. “You shouldn’t have to worry about it. Wolfie is their special child and I’m sure they’ll drop his ass a lot farther from home than ours.”
Jamie groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
Cherry smirked. “I’ve got good news.” When the other two gave her a curious look her smile grew. “It’s supposed to rain tomorrow. Lots.”
***
It was still night when the recruits assembled on the parade ground, but the sky was dark and forbidding, with no stars visible.
Lieutenant Reyes stood and watched as Shepherd pulled a datapad from his waist and keyed it live. The sergeant gave his charges a chilly smile. “When your name is called, you will proceed directly into the Specter on the far left and follow the commands of her crew.” He glanced at the list. “Armstrong.” A young man peeled out of formation and ran to the indicated transport.
Shepherd continued down the list until he’d called forty names and the Specter was full. Jamie noted that he did not appear to keep to alphabetical order and mixed men and women. Cherry was the seventh person he called for.
The sergeant stopped and watched as the transport lifted off, turning as it climbed and headed east. Once away from the camp, they could see pokegirls appeared and took up station around it. When it was gone, he turned back to the recruits. “When your name is called, you will proceed directly into the craft on the left and follow the commands of the crew.”
Forty more names later, the second Specter roared into life and was gone. Doyle had been on that flight.
Shepherd gave the remaining recruits a smile. “When I call your name, I hope to hell you know where to go.”
Jamie was the first person called and he ran for the Specter. A corporal jerked his thumb to the back of the craft. “Last seat, recruit.”
A Pidgeota showed him how to strap in and made sure nothing was loose. She gave him a quick smile and quickly moved on to the next recruit. When the last one was strapped in, she turned and looked them over. “I’m Private Hess and, now that you are all here, I want you to stay in your seats and do not release your straps until you are specifically instructed to. The weather today looks like it will be rough and you can get seriously injured if you’re tossed around in here.”
Her gaze swept over them. “In the event that the Specter is attacked, you are not to release your pokegirls. They won’t know what to do and, at best, will get in the way of us, the real professionals. At worst, they’ll do something stupid and crash us, making your simulation very, very real.” A quick grin appeared. “Nobody wants that.”
“If you have to vomit, you will find at your side a handy assortment of bags that are meant to keep you from getting it on other people. Use them.”
Jamie leaned back as the pilot fed power to the fans and the Specter surged upwards. It turned and picked up speed quickly as it headed west.
Ten minutes into the flight, the craft shuddered violently as the storm broke over it. Jamie woke up as the wind hammered it in varying directions quickly and several recruits turned green. Rain pounded the aircraft as the pilot drove it ever onwards.
Only a few minutes later, people started throwing up as the Specter bobbed like a cork in the ocean.
It seemed like hours before the pilot brought the machine into a hover and landed to disgorge the first of their passengers. It was then that Jamie learned they were unloading them in the reverse order in which they were loaded. He sighed and shifted around to make himself more comfortable. While it made sense, it did not bode well for a short and cheerful trip back to camp.
After the first, they touched down every ten minutes or so to drop off another recruit into the pouring rain. While the last one was getting off, Jamie released his restraints and moved to the first seat. Hess watched him closely as he locked the harness down. “You’ve had experience with those.”
“Aye, I have. My nephew’s ranch has a grav car that uses identical ones.” He settled back and put his beret in his pocket.
“You’re out of uniform, recruit.”
He shrugged. “I’m going to be running in that deluge in a few minutes. I’ll lose it and have to backtrack once the rain stops if I’m wearing it.” He flashed a grin. “And that’s if it doesn’t get blown away in the backwash from the Specter.”
A slow smile appeared on her face. “That is true, recruit.” Her eyes dancing, she settled her harness into place and keyed the mike on her helmet. “Ready for liftoff.” The Specter climbed once more into the storm.
Fifteen minutes later, it spiraled in for a landing. Private Hess grinned at him as the rain pounded the aircraft harder than ever. “Time to get wet.”
He sighed and unbuckled the restraints as the Pidgeota slammed open the door hatch. Mist swirled inside the vehicle as Jamie took a deep breath and threw himself into the storm. He ran straight away from the Specter as its engines bit deeply into the air and climbed sluggishly out of sight.
He was soaked before taking three steps in the driving rain. He threw himself under a tree and looked around, shielding his eyes against the storm. Although he knew that dawn wasn’t far away, the sky was still an unrelieved black. Visibility was only a couple of meters and this wasn’t good since a feral would be upon him before either of them knew about it.
“You need to seek shelter.”
Jamie screamed and threw himself sideways, clawing at his knife. Ginevra watched him with a curious expression. He stared at her, his chest heaving as adrenaline poured through his system. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
Light flared multiple times as lightning cracked overhead and he saw as a slight smile appeared. “How should I scare you next time?”
“That’s not the slightest bit funny.”
The smile spread as her eyes glittered. “It is from here. Still, you need shelter from the storm.”
Jamie wiped the water from his face and grimaced when he realized it did no good at all. “We need to find a rise or hill. There will either be a cave or you can dig us a den for the night, but I want it elevated to keep the water out.”
Accessing pokedex satellite uplink. Location established and I am downloading local maps. His twee threw the map into his vision, superimposing it over what he saw with his eyes in a fifty percent mask.
Jamie studied it for a moment. “Thanks.” His vision returned to normal as he turned and pointed into the rain. “We go that way.”
Ginevra cocked her head. “How do you know?”
“It’s a long story. Move it.”
The storm continued to pound them as they slogged across a field. Suddenly, the ground started rising and Jamie stopped. “If we split up, we may never find each other before the storm lets up. Can you sense any life around us?”
His pokegirl cocked her head. “Just a moment.” She muttered and changed to her Daimon form. “I see farther when I am like this.” She pointed up the rise and off to the left. “That way. The life I sense is too powerful for a rabbit or bird.”
Daylight had brought a dull gray light that gave everything a surreal feeling as it appeared from the driving rain and vanished behind them as they climbed the slope. Finally, a cave entrance loomed out of the storm.
Ginevra went still. “There is a pokegirl in there. A snake of some kind, but I do not know what she is.”
Jamie sighed. “Great. Still, she might be useful.” He pulled an empty pokeball from his belt.
The Daimon plucked it from his grip. “There is not enough room for me to fight her if you are in there, too. I will catch her for you.”
“It’s against the law for harem pokegirls to capture without a human being present.” In theory it was possible for a free pokegirl to become a Tamer, but it seldom occurred.
“Your mother would say we must do as we must.”
Jamie blinked. “True. What do you think?”
“We are the law out here and will do as we want.” She slipped into the cave.
Jamie suddenly looked contemplative. “That’s a seductive line of reasoning and I’m going to have to be very careful of it.” He grimaced suddenly. “I’ll not let her alone in there.” Carefully, he crept after her, feeling his way in the darkness.
Ginevra paused briefly. The cave narrowed ahead and then turned before widening out into the primary den of the snake pokegirl. The air was humid and warm, reeking of reptile and feces along with the faint smell of death and decay. Her target was coiled up on the far side of the chamber, which was nearly four meters across. It appeared to be asleep, its body expanding and contracting slowly as it breathed.
For the Daimon, light and dark were the same and she “saw” in a complete sphere around her at all times. At the edges of what she could see, everything became gray, but through it she could sense the lives of rabbits in digs on the surface of the hill as well as a grouse that was hidden in a bush. They called to her, singing a quiet song of defenseless life that she longed to devour.
At the Conservatory, she and her sisters had been extensively studied for their method of sight and she knew that she processed what she saw into an image roughly analogous to that which creatures with normal vision possessed. She knew there was a wall between her and her target, but to her vision it was nebulous and indistinct, only becoming sharp if she focused on it. The only things that always remained clear in what she saw were the lives of others, ready for her to feed on.
The absolute limit of her vision was hard to define. She appeared to be able to see farther when she was hungry, but even completely sated, she could see for a dozen meters in all directions. Two of her sisters had been sold to Tamers and were much more powerful than she was now. Their vision range was more than double the one she currently possessed.
Clothing was no hindrance and one of her sister’s Tamer provided security for a paranoid official of the Blue League since she could examine potential attackers at a distance. Her final sister was being groomed for parthenogenesis to provide more like her. She would live a quiet life of ease and plenty and was understandably upset over the whole thing.
Ginevra also possessed normal sight and could see in lighted areas just as well as any predatory pokegirl. Her hearing was exemplary and she could easily hear Jamie as he felt his way into the cave behind her.
While admirable in one way, his desire to follow her was the height of foolishness. He was blind here and if she were to die, he would as well once the feral heard him. Unlike him, magic held no particular difficulty for her and she quickly cast a tiny light spell that she attached to him. It immediately zipped off to find him and help him find his way.
The feral’s breathing changed, starting to quicken as she felt the vibrations Jamie put out as he crawled forward.
Ginevra knew there was no time to waste; she used quick attack to race into the den as the feral rose up and began to uncurl. It struck out with its tail and smacked her sideways. The pokeball spun away and was lost in the clutter in the den.
Ginevra immediately changed tactics and threw herself on the feral, which responded by wrapping itself around her body. Its mouth opened and it struck as its fangs moved into attack position. The Daimon sank her talons into its eyes to hold it off, as her tail twisted to drive the spines on it deeper into the flesh of her opponent.
The feral screamed and twisted free of Ginevra only because her blood made her slippery and hard for the Daimon to hold. Her tongue flicked as she darted forward to use lick as the Daimon summoned her energy blade. The feral, partially blind and in total darkness, never knew of the blade until it drove into her belly.
Ginevra ripped it up the feral’s body in a spray of blood and other fluids. She then dismissed the blade as she grabbed the dying pokegirl and began consuming her life.
Jamie spilled into the den with the tiny light moving smoothly with him. He blinked at the wetness that glistened from the walls and the sight of his pokegirl holding tightly to the fading feral.
It is a Lamia.
“Thanks, but I think it’s a corpse now.” Jamie sighed. “I thought I told you to capture her.”
“She knocked the pokeball away before I could catch her. Since you only have six, we’ll need to find it.”
Jamie nodded as he looked around. “What a mess. We might be better off in the storm.” He frowned. No, I can’t be struck by lightning in here.”
“You have rations for two days and I am now fully fed.” Ginevra dropped her now dead prey. “Should we keep her?”
Jamie looked disgusted. “I will not eat pokegirl meat unless far hungrier than I am now. Get rid of it, but don’t leave it close to the cave.”
She nodded and lifted the front part of the corpse. “Do not follow me.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. Wash off while you’re out there.” He looked around and took a deep breath. He gagged on the stench. “Stupid,” he muttered to himself. He glanced at the light. “I don’t suppose you get brighter.” When nothing happened he nodded. “Yeah, thought not.”
When Ginevra returned, Jamie was seated against the wall and gingerly trying not to touch anything. He glanced up at her. “Come here.” He pulled her down into his lap. “You’re clean and I don’t see any reason for you to get covered with gore again.”
She snuggled against him. “You can use my body heat, too.”
He nestled his head against her hair. “Aye, that’s true enough. I really hope the rain passes soon. We can’t stay here for long, there are no ventilation holes.”
She raised her head. “I will not fail you again. I will catch the next pokegirl you order me to, or die trying.”
He kissed her lightly. “You did what you had to do. You dying out here would leave me alone and probably dead not long after you.” He shrugged slightly. “Another pokegirl would be useful, but not if catching her results in you being severely injured. We’ve got no healing out here other than what you can provide.”
She nodded. “I wish to evolve to Demoness. Then I will be able to teleport and you will never be in this situation.”
“You could just learn it now, but if that’s what you want, I’ll see what I can do.” Jamie grinned suddenly. “I don’t think the survival kit includes a psi-crystal, but I’ll look again in the morning.”
She smiled and curled back against him. “You do that.”
***
Jamie opened his eyes and blinked in the utter darkness. Neurons fired in his eyes, making sparks seem to appear and disappear. The warmth in his arms shifted slightly. “You are awake,” a voice whispered and bright light bloomed, making him wince and shut his eyes against the glare. When his eyes adjusted, he slitted them open to realize that the light was tiny and barely lit the area around them.
Ginevra pushed upright in his lap and he groaned softly as stiff muscles protested against her movement. He sighed. “Has it stopped raining?”
She slid to her feet and pulled him up by his arm. He gasped at the pain the movement brought and gritted his teeth as he started stretching. The Daimon moved to the entrance to the den. “No, but it is much lighter than this morning.”
Jamie finished his stretches and moved over to join her. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“You need to eat.”
“No, I need to forage. The rations are for when I can’t find anything else.” He gave her an odd look. “We’ll also need to find someplace else tonight. I don’t want to tame you here and I don’t want to go more than a day without it, in case of problems.”
She paused. “I would like that. When you tame me, I want there to be only us and not any distractions.” Her lips curved in a frown. “Did they let you bring your meds?”
“No.”
“Then we must keep you sated, lest you lure feral pokegirls.”
He nodded. “That was a part of my reasoning. Let’s go.”
The rain had slowed to a gentle fall and the wind had died. It was still gray and dark, but visibility had returned to something reasonable enough to give a feral a chance to evade contact if she saw them and wanted to. Many did and most Tamers often never knew they were even there.
The base is 116 kilometers that way. A pulsing gold dot appeared in his vision. The intervening terrain is rugged, with forest and hills being the primary landscape. In some places, you lucky guy, you get both.
“Still, it’s less than a week’s travel. It could take as little as three days.”
That presumes you encounter no difficulties. The odds of that are low.
“We’ll make do.”
“Who are you talking to?” Ginevra peered into his eyes, or at least that’s what he thought she was doing as she placed her face directly in front of his.
Jamie blinked. “I was communing.”
“I thought you couldn’t do magic.” There was a suspicious tone in her voice.
“I can’t. I was talking with someone who lives in my head.”
She cocked her head for a moment. “You have a twee. That wasn’t in my briefing.”
“I didn’t conduct your briefing, so it’s not my fault. It was probably decided it wasn’t any of your business at the time.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. It would be wise to make sure that we are compatible before I learn something that critical.” A smile appeared. “You should use it to send a distress message to BLSF command. It would be amusing when they tried to figure out how you radioed without a radio.”
“My pokedex has that capability and they’d presume I used it.”
The smile vanished. “You are correct. Which way do we head?”
Jamie pointed. “We’ve got over a hundred kilometers to go, all of it rugged terrain.”
She turned to face in that direction. “We cannot get lost now. That will help.”
Jamie grimaced and tapped the nearest tree. “Luck to us.” He adjusted the survival pack over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
***
Ginevra halted and grabbed his arm. “Kattle.”
Jamie looked around slowly. They were in the middle of a thicket of new growth trees and he couldn’t see more than five feet in any direction. They’d been hiking for several hours and the rain still hissed down around them. “Where?”
She pointed straight ahead. “About thirty meters from here.”
He looked. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“Will you eat that?”
Jamie had emptied one of the emergency ration pouches into his survival bag and filled the pouch with a squirrel nest they’d found. He pulled it from inside his pants where he’d stuffed it and carefully shielded it against the rain as he peeked inside. “It looks like my body heat is finally drying the tinder and we’ve found some nice flints. I can roast us some and turn the rest into jerky.”
Ginevra nodded. “Good. I will kill one for us. Wait here.”
“No.”
“It isn’t safe there.”
He gave her an amused look. “It may not be safe here. I make the decisions and I’m coming along.”
She tried a different tack. “You’ll get in the way.”
“Then tell me what to do so I don’t.”
“You won’t if you stay here.”
“Tell me something else.” She growled softly and he chuckled. “You are cute when you’re frustrated.”
“I am not cute and I am not frustrated. It is only that you are not funny.”
“Why is it you are almost emotionless when you look like a Youma, but not when you look like a Daimon?”
“I am emotionless when I am a Youma. It is when I am a Daimon that things aren’t as they should be.”
“I think they’re normal for you being a Daimon. Besides, if I stay here, you might try to execute one of those overly detailed plans that Daimon are noted for, and it’ll take three days for you to catch a kattle.”
“Not all of us are needlessly complicated,” she snapped back. “I can function perfectly well without your guidance.”
“That remains to be seen.” He raised a hand when she opened her mouth again. “Enough. Let’s get you fed and then me.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Yes, Jamie.” She led him soundlessly into the woods for several meters and then paused to slowly push a bush to the side. “There they are.”
The kattle were grazing only a few meters ahead of them while two stood sentry duty over the flock. Their coats were a dappled green and tan, hinting that they lived exclusively in the forest. It made them easy to lose if one didn’t pay close attention.
“Will you stay here?” There was a slightly plaintive tone in her voice as she quietly spoke.
Jamie carefully concealed his grin. “I will.”
Her lips shaped the word “good”, but no sound emerged. “I will be back soon.”
Suddenly, trees on the other side of the flock shattered as something lunged from behind them at the kattle, who tried to scatter. Jamie had an impression of something huge and bright blue as it smashed several kattle flying and grabbed another in massive jaws, biting down in a spray of blood.
He grabbed Ginevra as she moved between her Tamer and the new threat. “We don’t want to draw its attention,” he whispered as he pulled his pokedex from his belt.
I have no record of such a creature and am accessing the archive at Alexandria. Selene has no records of such a creature, either. There was a pause. Aggie is searching the web for information.
“I do not feel its life.” Ginevra sounded faintly worried as she watched it head back into the woods, still clutching the dead kattle in its jaws. “Could it be mechanical?”
“Maybe. See if it’s magical.”
The Daimon nodded and quickly cast the spell. “It has a strong magical aura.”
The pokedex holographic display lit with the images it had recorded. The beast was a good ten meters long and bluish purple in color. It was hexapodal, with what looked like one functional wing along with a second one that ended in a jagged stump. It had a powerful head and jaws full of menacing teeth, the efficiency of which they had just witnessed.
Aggie says it resembles a non-pokegirl dragon but that as far as is known, none exist on this world. Your mother sends a message to report its presence and to avoid it otherwise.
He realized belatedly that she would have given Aggie orders to keep tabs on him. “Noted.” He glanced at Ginevra. “I want to follow it. Can you keep close enough that you can see it but it cannot see us?”
She almost sneered. “Of course I can. What about the kattle? The monster left at least one dead one behind.”
“Leave it. I don’t want to smell like blood while we’re following that thing.”
“That would be wise,” she said approvingly. “Then come with me and be quiet.”
The creature shoved aside trees when they were too thick to pass through, making following it relatively easy. Finally, Ginevra halted. “There is a life ahead.”
Jamie nodded. “That makes sense if I’m right.”
Care to explain?
The Daimon turned to look at him. “What do you think is going on?”
Jamie smiled slightly. “Since the thing we saw isn’t alive and is magical, it’s some kind of summoned creation or something like that. That would suggest that there is a summoner and would explain why it carried off the kattle it killed. It’s taking food for someone else.”
That would make sense. I’ll pass the idea along to Aggie.
Ginevra expressed a different sentiment. “That could be important. Do not keep such things to yourself in the future.”
He cocked his head. “It was a theory until now and I didn’t want to talk and possibly be overheard.” He played with his pokedex. “Now we need to see if it’s a human or a pokegirl.”
It was suddenly snatched from his hand by his pokegirl. “If I climb that tree I should be able to see the life. You will need to move over there so as to be out of the way if I am seen. I will fare better if I do not have to be concerned with protecting you.”
Jamie gritted his teeth and suppressed a glare. The fact that she was entirely correct didn’t make it grate any less. He moved away from the area, quietly circling around the presumed location of their target.
Your pokegirl has established a line of sight to the area. I see the creature and there is another being present. Scanning. It is a pokegirl, a Duelist. There was a pause for a heartbeat. The creature is a Luster Dragon, a card used in Duel Monsters. Aggie suggests that the card may be damaged, which would explain the injury to the dragon.
“I take it that having a referent made the search much more precise.”
Of course it did, until then Aggie was searching blind for a picture. Ginevra is coming.
“You did not move far enough.” She dropped into a crouch next to him and offered the pokedex.
“And where would that have been? The base?”
She smiled slightly. “Perhaps that would have been far enough. It would depend upon your propensity for trouble.” Her smile vanished. “If she has a Tamer, it is nowhere that I can sense its presence. She is alone.”
Jamie ignored the jibe and considered her other words. “What you’ll need to do is to get around the dragon and go after her. I’d like to capture her, but if it’s going to be too much trouble then she’ll have to die. In any case, she’s too powerful to leave out here.”
“I said I would catch the next pokegirl you wanted. If you want her, then she will be joining the harem.” She paused for an instant. “Will I be replaced as your alpha?”
“We work well together and I’ll have to see how you are with a subordinate.” Jamie wasn’t going to lie to his Daimon. “However, you have a tendency to be headstrong that I’m going to have to consider. I don’t mind initiative, but I can’t have you giving me orders when I’m the one who is supposed to be in charge.”
She nodded. “I was trying to decide if you were weak. You are not and I accept that fact.” Her head ducked in a quick bow. “You are the master in our relationship.”
“Will you constantly be testing to see if that has changed?”
She gave him a seductive smile. “Of course I will. Any smart female would want to control you. I am no exception in that regard.”
“I am so screwed.”
She nodded. “Yes, you are. Tonight you will be screwed with your new pokegirl when I capture her or with me if I do not.” That alluring smile appeared again. “Perhaps you will be with me, even if I do catch her.”
He took a deep breath. “I have a plan for you to get to her. Listen closely.”
***
Ginevra eased forward slowly and surveyed the night around her as she put the boulder she’d carried silently to the ground. The rain had turned into fitful sprinkles and crickets were tuning up for the evening’s festivities while a frog or two croaked, checking for predators.
She reached down and again adjusted Jamie’s Tamer belt, which she wore for this mission. She didn’t like clothing, but would put up with it for him. For now.
She lifted the pokedex to her lips and whispered. “I am in position.”
Jamie’s voice answered. “I’m ready. Begin the capture.” It wasn’t really him, it was instead his twee using his voice, but she understood that it spoke for him tonight.
Although too far away for her to see or even sense, she knew he was a hundred meters behind her, sitting in a tree, with a light spell she’d created. The light was as bright as she could make it and would be easily visible here when he uncovered it. As soon as he revealed it, he was supposed to leave the tree and move along a path tangential to the one the dragon would hopefully be following.
She hoped he would be safe. Even if he was currently too strong to manipulate, he was the only person to want her and that granted him some measure of affection on her part. The fact that Poppet had ordered her to protect Jamie with her life was incidental. She was Jamie’s now and obeyed him.
She turned to look back along the track she’d traveled and watched the light appear. Then she lifted the boulder and aimed carefully before hurling it. Once it had left her hands, she quickly moved a handful of meters to her left and went to ground.
The Luster Dragon was curled up in front of the cave where the Duelist slept. While nonliving, it had to obey the rules the Duelist gave it when she created it. Since she was feral, she’d not given it any specific orders, allowing it to act like the living creature it mimicked. This meant it was essentially asleep when the boulder struck it squarely.
It screamed in rage and pain as it lurched upright. Its head swung as it searched for the foe that’d attacked it and it paused when it spotted the light in the tree. It lurched forward in a lumbering charge, its good wing tucked in close to give it good balance as it raced to do battle.
Ginevra waited until it had passed before rising and darting silently forward. When the Duelist appeared in the cave entrance and looked around sleepily, she slowed and began using the available cover to close the distance between them.
The Duelist wasn’t worried. She clutched the dragon’s tattered card close to her chest as she scanned the darkness. Anything too weak to defeat the dragon would be destroyed by it and anything too strong would be damaged before they overcame it. Then the attacker would be destroyed by the dragon when it returned to her card and she summoned it again. Dimly, she wished she had more cards, but they had been lost in the flood when she’d been swept away from her Tamer. She knew he would replace them when he returned and, until then, she would wait here for him.
She was aware enough to know she was feral, but not aware enough to remember that she’d been on a mission to get help for her Tamer when she’d been struck by the flash flood. He’d suffered a stroke and she’d decided to go for help when her cards couldn’t heal him or explain what had happened. Not understanding the situation and too terrified to move him, she’d been racing to bring back aid.
His mummified remains rested in the back of the very cave where she waited for his return.
When only a handful of meters separated her and her target, Ginevra used quick attack and surged forward. The Duelist screamed when the Daimon summoned her power and struck outward with a wave of fear, which overwhelmed what little remained of the mind of the feral pokegirl.
The Duelist dropped to her knees and keened in fear, incidentally making Ginevra’s stone fist attack miss. The Daimon growled in frustration and began a spin to drive her tail spines into the face and chest of her opponent, but checked herself when she remembered she wanted this one relatively unharmed.
Behind them, the Luster Dragon heard its mistress scream and turned to begin the charge back to defend her. It bugled a challenge as it charged.
Ginevra smashed the Duelist in the belly with a savage sucker punch and followed it up with an elbow smash to the temple. The Duelist went down, jerking spasmodically as her brain tried to function.
The Daimon grabbed a pokeball from Jamie’s belt and tapped the Duelist with it.
The Luster Dragon faded into nothingness as its creator was trapped inside the pokeball.
***
Name: Wolf, Jamie Harris
Age: 17
Residence: Caomh Sith, Blue Continent
Region: Scotland
Status: Active
Rank: 15
Security Clearance: Epsilon
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Researcher N
Watcher N
Breeder N
Active Harem
Species Name
Youma Ginevra